#and his entire identity is just essentially connected to being the blue king

[kuradoberijam]

For the @k-weekly prompt “burden”

[ID: A half-body illustration of Munakata Reisi from K Project on a blue background. He is drawn in black with white outlines, and splattered with blood. He shakes and lets out a puff of smoke, his expression haunted. The smoke that comes off him and the cigarette in his bloody hand is a dark blue to pink gradient. end ID.]

#k project #k project anime #k anime #k weekly #phantom seance #reisi munakata #munakata reisi #mourir du parlant #my art #I am constantly thinking about how Munakata is only 24 and yet he’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders #and he constantly has to sacrifice people he cares about #for the sake of the world #and he doesn’t have a single confidant or close friend #and his entire identity is just essentially connected to being the blue king #so no one ever sees him as Munakata Reisi #anyways that’s a ramble for another day #eyestrain

[worstloki]

please read the article 'How White Fandom is Colonizing "Character-Coding"' by Shafira Jordan and quit while you're ahead

Okay, so I read it and see the problem, and I’ll try to address all their points in order because I don’t wholly agree with the article. I know it’s a lot to read so I’ve put tldr; sections at the end of each :)

Misusing the Term Reinforces Negative Stereotypes for Marginalized People 

The article essentially argues that labeling characters which are villainous as POC-coded is bad because they’re not morally pure and doing so "reinforces the idea that people of color are naturally dangerous and not to be trusted.”

Which is fair as you don’t want all the representation to be of ‘bad’ characters, but I also don’t believe all representative characters have to be ‘good’ either as it would be equally racist to divide good/bad in such a way. Not that I would place Loki under ‘bad’ to begin with, but arguing that characters shouldn’t be labelled as POC-coded for reasons unrelated to what’s presented in the narrative or because they did bad things is :/ even if lack of good representation is a prevalent issue in current Western and influenced media. 

Ideally there should be a range of representative characters that fall into ‘good’, ‘bad’, and ‘anywhere in-between’ because variety and complexity in character types should, in theory, be treated as common practice (which can only happen with a multitude of representation!).

And a bit unrelated but... within the fictional context of Thor 1, all the Jotnar (sans Loki) are presented to the audience as ‘bad’ by default. They desperately want to get their Casket back to the point of attempting stealing it (from the ‘good’ characters), they fight the heroes and even when the gang and Thor (’good’ characters) are enjoying or going overboard with taking lives it’s inconsequential, Laufey wants to kill the opposing king (who just happens to be a ‘good’ character) and will resort to low-handed methods to do so, etc. The narrative itself is from the frame of reference of the ‘good’ and we only see warriors of Jotunheim though so we understand why it’s like this, because regardless of their race/experiences the narrative carries, even if it most definitely would be seen as racist from our real-life perspectives if the ‘monstrous’ race were presented by actual people of colour, even if it would make sense for the people on on different realms living in different environments to be different from each other, and realistic even for that to be the root of some conflict. 

tldr; not using a specific label to prevent negative presentations of the characters seems a bit strange to do when the coding would be based off the text, but with limited representation available I see why it would be done, even if I still believe minority-coding is free game to expand/interpret.

Improperly Labeling a Character as “POC-coded” Suggests the Experiences of All People of Color are the Same 

The article argues that labeling Loki as POC-coded “suggests that all people of color have the same experiences, when in reality, people of color come from different places, have different cultures, and have different traditions.” And while it’s true that the term doesn’t go into detail about which particular experiences (and these experiences can vary vastly due to diversity!) the appropriate measure would be to remove the umbrella term POC altogether as people of colour tend to also vary. But that’s also exactly why it’s an all-encompassing general term? It’s a way to denote anyone who isn’t “white” and has the associated cultural privilege that comes with the concept of white supremacy.  

And, obviously, in the fictional setting presented, the concept of white supremacy is not prodded at, but cultural supremacy is definitely one that makes recurring appearances, right next to the parts about Asgard being a realm built on imperialism with ongoing colonial practice. 

My take on this is that Loki’s narrative features a struggle with identity after finding out he’s of a different race and was being treated differently his entire life and being Jotun was presumably a part of the reasoning even if he didn’t know it. He’s basically treated as of less worth for inherently existing differently. I do believe that racism is a common-enough POC experience, but that while Loki was born with blue skin he passes/appears white which is why I don’t say that Loki is a POC, just that he has been coded/can be interpreted this way. 

There’s also the entire thing with Loki trying to fit in and prove he belongs by trying to fit the theory and be The Most Asgardian by committing genocide (which ultimately makes no difference as he’s still not the ‘acceptable’ version of Asgardian), and the denial/rejection of his birth culture in destructively lashing out towards them (which even Thor is confused by because Loki isn’t typically violent), and the fact his self worth plummets and he is passively suicidal upon finding out he’s Jotun (internalized racism? general drop in self-worth after finding out he’s adopted and has been lied to? Bit of both?), but what do I know, I’m sure none of those are, at their base, common experiences or relatable feelings for anyone or decent rep because we see such themes on-screen presented wonderfully in different lights all the time. 

tldr; every set of experiences could be different, some types of discrimination could overlap, if you limit an umbrella term to only very specific circumstances then it’s no longer an umbrella term.

Suggesting that White Characters are Meant to be Seen as People of Color Ignores the Actual Characters of Color that are Present in these Stories

I don’t agree with most of this section, but that may just be the way the arguments are put together, which I don’t blame the author for.

“ Implying that Loki is a person of color completely ignores Heimdall and Hogun, the only Black and Asian Asgardians who appear in the movie. ”

Characters such as Hogun and Heimdall which are played by actual people of colour have smaller roles in the films and any prejudice they could face for being POC in-universe isn’t made apparent, while Loki at the very least comes to the realization that something he couldn’t change (race, parentage,) was having him treated differently his whole life and had to come to terms with it. The Vanir/Aesir are also both treated similarly on-screen, and Heimdall having dark skin isn’t plot relevant, whereas Jotnar are treated as lesser consistently and are relevant through the movie (breaking into the vault, Thor and co. attack Jotunheim, Loki’s deal with Laufey, the attempted regicide (and the successful one XD), destroying jotunheim, Loki saying he’s not Thor’s brother,). 

I also see including characters as POC-coded as... more representation? In all canon-compliant interpretations of the characters Hogun being Vanir is always explicitly mentioned because it’s a fact that just is, up to the appearance and even the world-building of Vanaheim in some fanworks use particularly East Asian culture as inspiration. I have never come across a Marvel fandom Heimdall interpretation where he’s not Black... but because these characters are more minor/side-characters of course they get less attention! 

“ In Loki’s fandom, Heimdall’s name sometimes gets thrown in to suggest that it was he all along who was the real villain due to his “racism” against Loki and the rest of the Jotun. It is, of course, ironic to suggest that somehow the only Black Asgardian to appear in the movie can oppress the privileged white prince. “

I... don’t know where to start with this. But the example of theorizing given in the article wasn’t suggesting Heimdall was bad or trying to explain his actions in Thor 1 by saying he is Black... and just looking at a character’s actions shouldn’t be done less or more critically because of skin tone in my opinion. Heimdall may have been trying to do what was best and protect the realm but if the audience didn’t know that Loki was up to dodgy things then the coding would be switched around because he was trying to spy and committed treason and then tried to kill Loki. People... can hold feelings towards others... regardless of skin... and suspect them... for reasons other than skin... although I do still have questions about whether Heimdall knew Loki was Jotun or not. (Even if I personally don’t think it’d make a difference to how he’d treat Loki?)

Some Loki fans have also suggested that because Jotuns have blue skin that this alone makes him a person of color (even if the audience is only allowed to see Loki in his true Jotun form for mere seconds of screentime). This, again, shows a lack of understanding when it comes to race. It doesn’t matter what skin color the Jotuns have. 

Race can differentiate between physical and/or behavioural characteristics!! Not being blue all the time doesn’t make him any less Jotun!! He’s got internalized stuff to work through and is used to being Aesir!! At least 1 parent is Jotun so even if Loki was passing as Aesir he’s probably Jotun!! (I don’t know how magic space genetics work for sure but Loki being Jotun was an entire very important jump-starting point in Thor 1!!). It’s a fantasy text and typically things like having different coloured skin indicates a different race or is sometimes if a species has multiple then is just considered a skin colour. That’s how coding works!! The Jotnar are very specifically the only race we see in the movie with a skin-tone not within the ‘normal’ human range, which alienates them to the audience from the get-go!! They’re an “other” and on the opposite side to the ‘good’ characters.

Both Loki and his birth father, Laufey (Colm Feore), are played by white men, and it is impossible for a white man to successfully play a character of color. 

The specification of men here bothers me, but yes, you don’t get ‘white’ people to play characters of colour if it can be avoided. (And it can be avoided.)

This also connects with the previous point made that people of color come from various places. There is nothing specifically about the Jotun that could be traced to any specific person of color, and even if there were, there would be no way for white men to portray them without being disrespectful.

This is where arguments about the definition of coding and how specificity/generalizations and do/don’t come in. I know I’m subjective and lean towards the more rep the better, but while I agree ‘white’ people wouldn’t be able to respectfully play a POC I don’t think that rule should have to carry over into fantasy-based fiction. I know texts reflect on reality and reality can reflect within texts, but if contextually there is racial discrimination and there are similar ideas which resonate with the audience’s own experiences I’d say it’s coded well enough to allow that.

tldr; Thor 1′s narrative revolves mainly around Thor and Loki, of which race is kinda kinda a significant theme in Loki’s part of the story. Not so much explored with less-developed side characters such as Heimdall and Hogun, even though their actors are actual people of colour. 

How Much of this is Really Well-Intentioned?

In the fantasy space viking world Heimdall and Hogun don’t face any on-screen prejudice and their appearance is not mentioned (which is nice, for sure! good to have casual rep!) but adding on to the roles they play in the narrative the explicit fantasy-racism in the movie isn't aimed at Asian/Black characters, but towards the Humans -to a lesser extent- and the Jotnar, including Loki, who only just found out he comes under that bracket.

The article mentions how fandom space toxicity often “reaches the actors who portray the characters,“ which is true, and it’s shameful that people have to justify their roles or presences are harassed for the pettiest things like skin tone/cultural background, but I don’t see coding characters as removing the spotlight from interesting characters such as those which are actually POC, rather expressing a demand for more rep, since well-written complex characters which are diverse are often absent/minor enough in the media, and therefore can get easily brushed aside in both canon and fandom spaces.

tldr; It’s obviously not a replacement for actual representation, but, if a character is marginalized and can be interpreted as coded, even if they would only be considered so within the context of the textual landscape, I don’t see why spreading awareness through exploring the coding as a possibility for the character shouldn’t be done, even if the media is being presented by people who are ‘white’ or privileged or may not fall into the categories themselves, as long as it’s done respectfully to those it could explicitly represent.

#please don’t patronize me by asking to quit while i’m ahead #it doesn't help anyone #so anyway i've summarized my opinion on the coding thing here for the many anons whose answers could be answered in this ask alone #i think i covered everything? #the article started out okay but I found it kinda :/ in places even though there were valid concerns #I do believe that in-universe context and creators of the media should be taken into account #and that if marginalized themes can be touched on by non-marginalized groups then... great? fictional texts can help people understand #i do also think that rep being presented should if not on-screen have people working on the product to support and ensure it's done well #the world is cold and harsh and cruel and i just wanted a desi Loki AU but here we are #I've got to try and summarize how I think Thor 1 presents Loki's part of the narrative well with POC-coding there because of fantasy-racism #even if the POC-coding is ignored the themes of racism are far too apparent to ignore #loki spends the entire film being a multi-dimensional character and having an entire downfall fueled by grief and a desire to be loved #I don't think attaching a label to such a character would be a negative thing... but perhaps for casual watchers it'd be a bit :/ #apparently not everyone takes into account the 1000+ years of good behavior around that 1 year of betrayal/breakdown/identity crisis/torture #MetaAnalysisForTheWin #MAFTW #ThisPostIsLongerThanMyLifeSpan #TPILTMLS #AgreeToDisagreeOrNot #ATDON #poc-coding #yes i ignored everything not about loki in the article what about it #hmmm I know people are going to disagree with me with what should and shouldn't be allowed #I know some people are okay with it but some don't like the poc-coding thing #and that's fine #completely understandable #makes me uncomfy to talk about fictional space racism in comparison to real life but I do think that lack of rep is why coding is important #for some people coding is all that they get #but also!! @ifihadmypickofwishes suggested the term racial allegory and I do believe that is also suitable here!! so I’ll try using that too #rather than poc-coding even though I still believe it applies

[legendarysharpshooter]

Lost Prince (S1) Prologue Pt. 1

A/N: My entire tumblr account got deleted for... really stupid reasons, so now I’m  reposting this because I enjoyed having it on tumblr and I’ve had a renewed interest in writing.

Pairing: Shance

Next,

A03

Sirens blare all around them as the Castle takes hit after hit. He stumbles into the bridge and spies Coran running about, struggling to check everything at once. His father, King Alfor, stands in the center of the room. He makes his way over.

“You called?”

“Akiva,” Alfor replies, turning to look at him, expression grim. His son stands tall before him. The two are nearly identical in appearance, though Akiva is lither, less filled out. Alfor knows, however, that his son is just as strong as him, and just as tactical as well. Allura may be too young to understand his decisions, but his oldest certainly will.

The ships jolts as it takes another hit. Coran scrambles back to the front of the bridge, brows furrowed in concentration as he reads the screens.

“We must hurry!” Coran shouts. “Zarkon is getting closer!”

“Akiva,” Alfor says, looking back down at his son. “I have a special task for you.”

“Where are the other Paladins?” Akiva asks, glancing once more around the room. His father sighs.

“They’ve gone to hide the Lions,” he says. “You too, must take the Black Lion and hide it away from Zarkon’s reach.” Akiva’s gaze slides past Alfor to Coran as he takes in the scene. He knows Zarkon is powerful, but to send their only chance at winning away?

“Please, my son,” Alford pleads, stepping down from the podium. He places a hand on Akiva’s shoulder. “You are the only one capable of piloting the Black Lion, you must use that connection and build a stronger bond with it. It’s the only way to protect it from Zarkon and give the universe a fighting chance.”

“And what of Allura?” he asks. “And the remaining Alteans? We can’t just leave them to die!”

“Those that have chosen to stay will remain here to hold off Zarkon as long as possible. Some have volunteered to go with you and help protect the Black Lion. They are down in the hangar, waiting to leave with you,” Alfor answers. The Castle shakes and the pair stumbles.

“We don’t have much time left!” Coran shouts, fingers flying across the screens. Akiva stares out at the ships growing closer. He watches one charge up its ion cannon.

“And where is my sister?” he asks. Alfor places both hands on his shoulders.

“There are many paths to take in life,” he says. “Allura has her own path to walk. I can only hope that one day your paths may cross again.” Akiva watches his father for a long moment, eyes brimming with unshed tears.

“This is goodbye then,” he mutters.

“My journey may end here, but yours must continue so that one day Zarkon can be stopped.” Akiva sucks in a breath and pulls his father into a hug. Alfor returns the embrace quickly before they’re pulling apart and his son is disappearing down to the Black Lion’s hangar.

The hangar is full of Alteans of all ages, moving quickly back and forth as they load the Black Lion up with supplies for their journey. Akiva takes a moment to watch the organized chaos, wishing he had had time to prepare himself.

“My Prince.” A young Altean, no older than Allura, approaches him, bag in her hands. She bows and holds the bag out to him. “King Alfor requested we pack your most essential items for you.” He smiles and takes the offered item.

“Thank you,” he says before getting right down to business. “How close are we to departure?”

“We are loading the last of the supplies,” she responds. “Once everyone is on board we will be clear to leave.”

“Prepare to leave in five doboshes.” She nods and runs off. Akiva watches her go before looking up at the large sentient creature. The largest of the Lions towers over them all, mouth lowered to allow everyone access. A faint growl rumbles through his mind, and he knows it’s the Lion reassuring him. He knows it’s Black’s way of acknowledging and accepting the situation.

It’s Black accepting him fully as its new Paladin.

They traveled by wormhole to a star system far, far away from war and landed on a young, primitive planet. The inhabitants, at first, were wary of the newcomers. They feared the Alteans’ strange technology, leagues ahead of their own. Soon, however, agreements were reached among all and treaties laid out to help the planet grow but also protect the system from the Galra’s looming threat.

Many years passed, and the planet, known as Earth, grew. Prospered under the peaceful guidance of Altea’s Prince.

Sadly, peace would not last and with the Prince’s passing, war reigned supreme across the land. Alteans learned all too quickly the folly of man and the greed of Mankind. They feared what would happen if war returned to their home, reminded all too much of the Galra’s destruction.

Fearful of their home being destroyed, they fled and hid away where none would find them. War on Earth waged for years until finally, Akiva’s granddaughter stood up as a champion of peace. She followed in her grandfather’s footsteps and, with the help of the Black Lion, brought peace once more to Earth.

The Black Paladin became a symbol of peace, and Alteans, warriors and protectors. Together, they-

“Lance, what are you doing?”

A young boy sits by the window of the classroom, papers spilling off his desk. His white hair glints in the sun as his pencil scribbles across the page before him. His tongue pokes out the side of his mouth in concentration. Bright blue Altean marks rest on his cheeks. His feet swing back and forth, too short to reach the floor.

“Drawing,” he answers, pushing away his paper and starting on a new one.

“Maybe you want to do that later?” she suggests. He shrugs.

“I have to do it now,” he says, hand feverishly scrawling across the paper.

“And it can’t wait until recess?” He shakes his head and frowns, blue eyes scrunching up in frustration but never leaving the paper. The teacher sighs and steps over to his desk. “And why is that?”

“Because I’ll forget.”

“Forget?” she asks, confused. He nods. “Forget what?”

“What it’s showing me,” he answers, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. He starts on a new picture, the old one fluttering off the desk.

“What it’s showing…” the teacher’s eyes follow the picture as it lands on the floor. She stares at it a long moment, taking in the old, scraggly looking cat. Her gaze takes in all the pictures around the desk then. They range from landscapes with strange flower and two moons, to hooded figures with strange masks.

Her attention lands on one particular piece. This one contains a young Altean with long, curly white hair. Her eyes remain closed and she slumbers inside some type of pod. A tiara circles her head.

Eyes wide, the teacher looks at all the other ones. Of the one of a planet long thought destroyed, yet here it is fully intact. An image of large creatures with purple fur, yellow eyes and sharp teeth. She looks at a picture, clearly of the Black Lion, and four other lions with it; below them the Paladins of old.

She sees a ship, sleek and elegant in design; one created to maneuver quickly through space. Another ship appears in a second picture, this one cut in half through some type of hole.

A prince with white hair and purple skin, gazes back at her, surrounded by four others.

“What are all of these?” she asks, but Lance shakes his head and continues to draw. “Lance?”

He breaks his pencil and rips through the paper but continues trying to draw. He drops the pencil and picks up another, shoving paper off his desk until he finds a new, clean piece.

“Lance!” The teacher tries grabbing his arm, but he shrugs her off, determined to see this one through as well. His hand slows as he begins to take his time with this one.

Slowly, a boy with big, yellow eyes, shaggy black hair and large, fuzzy ears emerges on the paper. Next to him is another boy, this one with a scar across his face and a splotch of white in his hair. He places the pencil tip on the paper and begins drawing another person but stops and drops the writing utensil.

Tears begin streaming down his face as he stares blankly at his desk. They drip onto the paper, smudging details on the drawing.

The nurse rushes in then, an Altean herself, long blue hair pulled back into a braid. She kneels beside the boy and leans over to try and catch his attention.

“Lance?” she asks, voice gently. He continues to stare down, eyes seeing something that nobody else can see. Carefully, she places a hand on his shoulder and give a small shake. It snaps him out of whatever trance he had been in. He blinks and looks over at her.

“There you are,” she says, smiling. “Are you feeling okay?”

“I…” Confused, he looks at all the pictures around his desk, and then at his teacher. Weren’t they talking about something important? Why is everyone staring at him? His head swims, trying in vain to piece together something he can’t seem to remember. It dances at the edge of his mind, just out of reach.

“Why don’t you come lay down in my office for a bit?” the nurse suggests. His teacher begins picking up the pictures, haphazardly stuffing them into a neat pile. He watches her for a moment before slowly rising out of his seat.

The whole class watches him gather up his things and disappear out of the room.

The day Krolia shows up is one Lance will never forget. It had been a day like any other, up until Galra cruisers are spotted by Earth’s moon.

Lance is with the Black Lion when the sirens go off. He jumps up, startled, and runs over to the wall. There he activates a switch that sends the Lion further into the ground and seals it off from danger. He watches it go before running out of the cave himself and finding his way home as quickly as possible. Once he’s out, the path itself closes giving the outward appearance of being a rocky wall.

His half-sister finds him wandering the halls of their home. Her short, curly brown hair bounces in the air with every step she takes. Deep, dark blue Altean marks are the only indication that they’re even remotely related; a result of his Altean mother marrying their Altean father after their human mom passed away. His sister stops him in the hall.

“Everyone’s been looking for you, you know,” she says.

“I was busy,” he mutters. She eyes him skeptically.

“With?”

“Lance! Veronica!” The pair jumps and slowly turn to face their mother. She stands at the end of the hall, hands on her hips and frowning at the both of them.

“Can’t you hear the sirens? Now is not the time to be playing around,” she hisses. “Come here at once!”  

They slowly skulk over to their mom and step into the security room with her. She mutters to herself, chastising them both as the door shuts with an audible click. Lance’s other half siblings sit around the room with Altean military personnel and government officials.

All eyes remain on the screen on the far side of the room. Footage of three Galra cruiser plays on a loop.

“They triggered our alerts after entering the inner ring of the solar system,” a Garrison official say, voicing somewhat distorted over the phone. The footage changes then to show one ship shooting down the other two. “For some reason though, this one shot the others down. It is currently enroute to Earth as we speak.”

“Have you sent out a hailing frequency?” Lance’s mom asks.

“They’ve been unresponsive to all our attempts. Would you like us to shoot it down?” She stares at the screen for a long moment, weighing the pros and cons.

“Disable the craft but do not kill,” she answers. “I wish to speak with whoever is in that cruiser.”

“Understood.”

It seems like forever to Lance before the Garrison is arriving with their prisoner.

Lance stands with his mom as they bring the Galra inside. He watches, curious as she stops before his mom, handcuffed and disarmed.

Her skin is purple. Hair a deep, dark purple on top and a magenta below. Her ears are pointy like an Altean’s. The sclera of her eyes is yellow with her irises matching her skin. She has two dark stripes on her face, one on each cheek.

She kneels before Lance’s mother.

“Queen Ourania,” she says. “I am Krolia of the Blade of Marmora.”

“And what business do you have on Earth, Krolia of the Blade of Marmora?” his mom asks.

“We picked up frequencies similar to that of the Lions of Voltron. I was sent on a scouting mission with the Galra to locate the source,” Krolia replies. The Garrison officials beside her raise their weapons, preparing to shoot if necessary. Ourania raises her hand, silently asking them to hold their positions.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” she asks.

“I believe there is a Lion located on this planet,” Krolia says. “And seeing Alteans here only confirms my suspicions.”

“Alteans came to this planet many years ago to be away from Zarkon and his war,” Ourania confirms. “We have found peace and prosperity with the natives of this planet…. And your presence is a clear threat to that peace. Are we meant to leave you free or shoot you where you stand?”

“I shot down the only ones who will bring harm,” Krolia argues.  

“To lull us into a false sense of security, perhaps,” The queen responds.

“I want to help.”

“And why should I believe that?” Krolia huffs, expression conflicted as she weighs her options. She slowly shifts her attention to the boy at his mother’s side, eyes soft  yet tightwith worry. Lance watches her back, a sense of comfort washing over him. Something tells him she’s friendly… but still… his mom seems hesitant to trust her. Maybe there’s something he doesn’t know?

Krolia sighs in defeat, realizing she has no other choice.

“The Blade of Marmora i-”

“I know of the Blade,” Ourania snaps. “Do not recite their creed to me. My ancestors were there at their founding.”  

“Then you should know of what we do,” Krolia says instead. “I have been working undercover in Zarkon’s ranks to put a stop to his empire.”

“What proof do you have, then, of your allegiance to the Blade?”

“My blade,” Krolia responds, gesturing to the guard on her left. The Garrison official shift, eyeing her warily.

“Do you have her blade?” The queen asks him.

“Yes, ma’am,” he responds. “But… we removed it from her when she landed.”

“Give it to her.”

“Bu-”

“Anyone can claim to have a blade,” she says. “Only true members of the Blade, however, can activate them. Please hand it to her.” Hesitantly, he pulls the blade out and hands it over.

Lance watches, eyes wide, as the knife glows and grows longer. When it finally stops glowing a sword rests in her hand.  

“Lance,” she says and the boy jumps. He looks up at her with wide, blue eyes. She smiles and affectionately runs a hand through his hair. “Sometimes for the sake of peace, one must fight. I know that your lessons have said some bad things about the Galra... Zarkon’s reign will forever be a dark stain on their long history. It’s important to know, though, that even Alteans aren’t perfect. The Galra are not inherently bad, they have become misguided. It’s important to know that too… and to remember that they were once our allies and they can be our allies again.” She looks to Krolia and then the guards.

“Release her,” she says to them. “She can be trusted.” The Garrison officers, lower their weapons as Krolia turns to be released from her handcuffs. Ourania looks back to her son. His eyes swim with confusion and curiosity. A desire to know more, lurks in the depths of his conflicted gaze. She smiles softly.

“There are pieces of history not even your teachers know about,” she tells him. “Secrets that only those of Akiva’s heritage are privy to, and I think it’s time you learn about his involvement with a young prince and their mission to take down a corrupt leader.”

#voltron #vld #shance #lost prince #fanfic

[hiroasu-akika]

Yo everybody, here have some VRAINS Fanfic Ideas/Prompts

I'll probably try my hand at these myself at some point, but I'm putting them out for anyone to use because I probably wouldn't write them well. Prompt #1: Yusaku can see and/or summon Duel Spirits. Just a general thing, feel free to do whatever you want with this one. Some of the following prompts are a more fleshed out version of this concept.

One of the thoughts that spawned this idea was what if Yusaku was spirit sensitive during the Lost Incident, and thus was pretty much adopted by Duel Spirits. Fast forward ten years, and he has a Jiraiya of the Sannin-level spy network without anyone being any the wiser. There was also the thought of stern and standoffish Playmaker being Soft(™) with his monsters. Animal-like and The simple machine monsters would be pets. The human-like monsters would range from parental figures, to older or younger siblings to small children. The Code Talkers would absolutely act like how medieval knights would toward their king/liege. His dragons would be the seemingly ferocious guard dogs that growl at anything within 30 feet of Yusaku, but are in reality “the attention span of a sparrow” puppies. (They are adorable and Yusaku loves them, yes he does. Firewall really is a ferocious guard dog with everyone except Yusaku tho)

You could also do a Yusaku slowly awakens to the ability to see/hear Duel Spirits mid-canon (at any point in the plot you want). 

This could be funny: Yusaku being confused(™) until it makes sense, or angsty: Yusaku getting incredibly paranoid/anxious or thinking he's actually going insane while his friends/allies/fans begin to worry as he begins to act strangely.

(I just really want Spirit/Psychic Duelist!Yusaku in any form okay?)

Prompt #2: The one where Yusaku catches the eye of Stardust Dragon, and is subsequently adopted by said dragon without any say in the matter.

(Bonus if Yusei is just there and serenely lets it happen.)

Stardust: this is my son I will vaporize anything that hurts him

Yusei: yea cool guess I've got a little brother now

Yusaku: ...do I get any say in th-

Stardust: shh my sweet child I will protect you

Yusei: no not really

Yusaku:

Random Knight of Hanoi #179: *hurts Yusaku, is realizing his error* OOOOOH SHIIII-!!!!! SOL Tech: *sweats*

Note #1 - Yusaku can see Duel Spirits in this AU. They tend to materialize themselves [read: to defend their precious child] in his general vicinity whenever they feel like it. Den City as a whole is pretty much resigned to and somewhat fond/proud of this fact. (Most of its residents have in fact all adopted Yusaku as well. Tourists are usually hella confused.)

Tourist: hey does that kid have a Kuriboh on his head? Den City Resident: that's just Yusaku, don't mind him

Tourist: is that a goddamn DRAGON??? Den City Resident: *serenely, not even looking* that's normal everything is fine

Tourist: ?!??! Note #2 - Yusei can be along for the ride. If so, he and Stardust are pretty much post-5D's immortal gods that watch over mankind while the Crimson Dragon sleeps.

Note #3 - Can be cracky, serious, angsty, or anything in-between, go wild! Prompt #3: How to Train Your [Cracking/Borrel/Stardust/Sky/Winged] Dragon - The one where Duel Monsters wander freely and peacefully around VRAINS when not in use during duels, and Playmaker stumbles across an injured Cracking Dragon. Chaos ensues as he helps and inadvertently befriends the beast. Note - Could alternatively have the Duel Monster be one of Revolver's "Borrel" Dragons, Stardust Dragon, or- for the lols- Slifer the Sky Dragon or the Winged Dragon of Ra. Prompt #4: The one where Yusaku is thrown headfirst from Link VRAINS into the world of My Hero Academia, with Ai along for the ride. (Can be cracky, serious, angsty, or anything in-between, go wild!) Suggestions that don't have to be used - Yusaku's “Quirk” could be his Link Sense, only amplified to the point where he has the ability to connect to/hack the network and manipulate it however he wishes with any electronic device or his thoughts. He can also summon his Cyberse monsters by forming them from raw data. Yusaku can also turn into Playmaker to hide his identity.

Ai can either remain in Yusaku’s duel disk, or leave it in either his tiny or full sized “human” forms. He can also transform into his six-armed monster form, in which he can consume data to either save or delete it. Kaminari could possibly trigger Yusaku's PTSD with his Quirk on accident. Prompt #5: The one where Yusaku is unknowingly infected with a virus, and all hell breaks loose. Can either be pretty-much-drunk/high!Yusaku, or essentially Berserk Jinchuriki!Yusaku, or just angst. NOTHING sexual, please. Prompt #6: The one where Link VRAINS falls prey to a virus/hacker, leaving everyone currently logged in with no way to log out- including Playmaker. Basically SAO, YGO-style. Go wild with this one. Prompt #7: The one where VRAINS and the real world are merged without any warning, and Yusaku is unfortunately smack in the middle of Algebra when his Link Sense goes crazy...seconds before he forcefully glitches into Playmaker right in front of his entire class. (This one was a random thought, and can be cracky, serious, or angsty.)

Prompt #8: The one where Yusaku’s account is hacked so that his avatar has the features of Firewall Dragon, and he can’t remove them. (...It was Ghost Girl’s fault, he just knew it.) Note - Yusaku has Firewall Dragon's halo, wings, tail, and can have some of its armor. He can also have elongated canines and claws. (And yes, the original thought was Ghost Girl pranking Playmaker.)

Prompt #9: The one where Yusaku is blind or deaf IRL due to permanent damage suffered during the Lost Incident, but he has his sight/hearing while in VRAINS because it isn't his physical body. (Conversely, he still lacks his missing sense(s) even while in VR, and is just really good at hiding being blind/deaf.) Suggestions for this AU that don't have to be used:

Note #1 - Can use one of two types of damage as the cause of Yusaku's disability:

Direct Damage: Yusaku suffered damage directly to his eyes/ears, allowing VRAINS to ignore said damage and for Yusaku to temporarily recover his lost sense while logged in. Brain Damage: The electric shocks caused damage directly to the parts of Yusaku's brain that are responsible for sight/hearing, which causes the damage to carry over even while Yusaku is logged into VRAINS. Note #2 - If blind, Yusaku programs his avatar's eyes to automatically track people's movements and faces so that he can “look" at them, and his cards to either have braille text, or an audio feed that only he can hear that reads his cards off to him. May have Ai and/or Roboppi serve as something similar to a seeing eye dog. Or you could throw Prompt #1 into the mix and also have Duel Spirits help Yusaku out. Yusaku can have a specially programmed set of (Ai-themed) headphones that Ai can inhabit that allow the Ignis to speak with him privately or IRL. They are a headset in VRAINS and earbuds IRL.] Note #3 - If deaf, Yusaku knows sign and is mute as well. He has specially programmed text boxes that allow him to read everything his opponent says during duels, and follow whatever is going on easier. Yusaku can have a specially programmed phone that Ai can inhabit to send him text messages when IRL. Ai can also learn Sign.] Note #4 - In either version, Yusaku knows Morse Code and programs his avatar to have a higher sensitivity to vibrations as well. Ai is also quite a bit more protective of Yusaku.

Prompt #10: Playmaker counts out his convictions in threes for everyone to hear. Fujiki Yusaku hasn't spoken in ten years. (AKA The Selectively Mute Yusaku AU.) Prompt #11: The one where the same virus that killed Dr. Kogami traps and fragments Playmaker's consciousness data (mind) in Link VRAINS, thereby rendering him comatose, and his allies are left with no way to rescue him- save for delving into his fragmented mind to wake him up in person. Basically the Danny Phantom's-class-enters-his-mind fic, VRAINS-style. If you've ever read one of those fics, you'll get the concept, but I'll try to explain it a little anyway. [Note #1 - Suggestions for the people who enter Yusaku's mind are: Ai, Kusanagi, Takeru, Flame, Ryoken, Spectre (follows Ryoken), Akira, Ema, Aoi, Aqua, Go (hacks in), Roboppi (brought by Ai), and Kengo (also hacks in).] [Note #2 - The group has to experience Yusaku's memories as they attempt to save him- including those of the Lost Incident- in visceral detail. (I, personally, would serve still-in-his-asshole-phase-Go a nice heaping helping of #Guilt/Remorse/Horror(™) if you have him witness the memories.)] [Note #3 - The facets of Yusaku's personality are fragmented, with each being represented as their own separate version of Yusaku. Some suggestions are as follows (feel free to use them or do your own thing). Anger: Playmaker, and his eyes as well as the glow lines of his suit are red. Fear: Yusaku in his pajamas, as he was when he was shown suffering night terrors. Happiness: Six year-old Yusaku before he suffered the Lost Incident. Sadness: Base Yusaku, but he barely reacts to anything or anyone. His eyes are blue and he is constantly crying in near silence.

Hate: Think pissed off and severely injured Playmaker, but if he also had Vector(Zexal) or Lightning's twisted personality traits. 

Self Doubt: Yusaku as a nervous wreck and blaming himself for everything that has ever gone wrong. Shyness: Yusaku, but if he acted like Reira(ARC-V) or Hinata from Naruto.

Confidence: Playmaker, but friendly and smiling and enjoying dueling.

Selflessness: Yusaku, but his color scheme is predominantly white. Would sacrifice himself for his allies.

Selfishness: Playmaker, but his color scheme is predominantly black. Would cast his allies aside without a second glance.

The true Yusaku can him as he normally appears, or his beat-up six year-old self just before being rescued, or a beat-up six year-old Playmaker.] Prompt #12: Dark Signer AU. The one where Yusaku didn't survive the Lost Incident, but thanks to being a Dark Signer, nobody realizes this little detail. (I need more Dark Signer!Yusaku m'kay? Nemesis by DarkZorua100 is glorious, bUT i neeD mORe) [Note #1 - Angst obviously, unless you can somehow put a humorous spin on Yusaku trying to hide the fact that he's, y'know, dead from everybody. And semi-failing. Takeru: ooooh my god he's f*cking dead yoU'RE a f*CKinG zomBIE-

Yusaku: wait i can expla-

Takeru: *illegible screeches of terror*

(i'm a terrible person who would make this funny heLP)

Can have the temperament of Yusaku's Immortal vary depending on whether you do angst or humor:

Angst: Either a complete asshole that makes Yusaku's unlife hell, or semi-benevolent. Humor: Excited puppy.]

[Note #2 - Stray thought was that Yusaku's Earthbound Immortal could be Ai's monster form? Or at least based on it. (or even be the reason Ai has it, since none of the other Ignis seemed to have alternate forms.)] [Note #3 - In my version, Yusaku was the only Lost Child to actually die. But you can have some or all of the rest of the children be Dark Signers too.] [Note #4 - Yusaku appears normal to everyone IRL- save for the facts that he-

Has no heartbeat and is strangely pale.

Exudes no body heat.

Never eats/sleeps or seems to react to pain when hurt (he doesn't bleed either).

He's a walking corpse and most people just don't connect the dots. In VRAINS, he's Playmaker as normal, but his sclera can change to, or permanently are, black. He also has a mark on his left cheek under his eye that's vaguely reminiscent of lines of digital coding.] Feel free to use any of these! Please send me a link to any stories you may write!

#vrains #yu-gi-oh #yusaku fujiki #writing prompt #fanfic #yu-gi-oh! vrains

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 - “The Golden Spear!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Bob Snow

Storyboard by: Jean-Sebastien Duclos, Sam King, Jason Reicher

Directed by: Jason Zurek

Look to La Luna.

The episode jumps right off with some jumping. Specifically, Della jumping around on the moon with a huge sack of gold that she will use to repair and fuel her rocket back to her home. There's a good bit of detail where Della is happy skipping along with this presumably super-heavy bag of gold, but as soon as she gets into the Spear, she ends up having to strain to lift it up.

Another neat detail that was in the last few Della cameos that I didn't really talk about: she has a working TV up there that gets Duckberg's news. Any question about how she knew what her triplets looked like, and knowing that Scrooge is still okay, is answered just with that.

Suddenly, this episode cuts back to the Earth. We're still in the cold open for the episode when we get the first glimpse of the B-plot: Donald Duck trying to get his doctor-mandated rest on a prescription hammock. This is all interrupted when Huey and Webby run towards him. Donald tries to explain his situation, and Webby is a bit skeptical at first, thinking he can't be that stressed with...

Webby: That luscious head full of... (sees Donald pull out quite a few of his head feathers) ...eugh.

Would these ducks call those head feathers hair? This episode ends up not telling us.

Huey and Webby just want to try out this haunted VHS tape that causes the dead to rise, though Huey tries to cover it up by saying it's just a silly little B-movie. This might be out of his actual belief, due to being the Scully to Webby's Mulder, though his sweating seems to indicate even he realizes Webby turns out to be right 99% of the time. Donald just pushes them aside and lets them do their thing while he gets his needed rest. In this episode, his motto is...

Donald: (as calm as he can be) Everything is fine.

If you imagined flames surrounding him, you're not alone. Well, it doesn't turn out to be flames here, as a rising zombie hand pinches him in the butt. Sorry, I had to mention that; I saw it, I can't unsee it.

Needless to say, this B-movie is about to get real, and, in the face of his nephew and his nephew's best friend being in danger, he has to save them by going as Ash Williams as TV-Y7-non-FV can allow. And it can allow a lot; I guess as long as they're green and don't have anything nasty coming out of them, getting their torso chainsawed is a-okay!

As opposed to that zombie's torso to the zombie's legs, I had the feeling these plots are probably going to converge. A-plots and B-plots converging are not always the case; the Tenderfeet plot in The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck never really ties in with anything. It never becomes good either, but that's another thing entirely. However, it's clear that they wouldn't just have this without having these plots converge somehow, right?

Back on the moon, the episode re-establishes the two main Moonlanders, with General Lunaris on the side of "let's see how this Earth creature plays out, especially since she doesn't look that threatening" and Lt. Penumbra on the side of "get this creature out of here, preferably by either getting speared or lasered into oblivion".

In an attempt to get Penumbra to change her mind, Lunaris talks to Penumbra about how his people were in fear of the pale blue dot due to all the mysterious objects that come out of it. They may be talking about the moon landing, but I can't help but think about missiles as well. It's well established that, while they have warriors, their "planet" has been in peace for quite some time. He then points to Della, saying that she doesn't look nearly that terrifying.

Lunaris decides to have Penumbra, or Penny as Della calls her much to how much she despises it, monitor Della. Even Della comments that this is the "classic odd couple". Penumbra constantly gets angry at Della not taking anything she says seriously, her playing with her childhood training spear, and not really thinking it's funny that both she and Della have spears.

Also, Penumbra thinks Della is just this treacherous spy, and doesn't think her fellow Moonlanders are going to fall for her Earth ways.

Needless to say, "they fall for her earth ways". It helps that she saved them from the Moon-Mite in her last episode, and she just keeps talking to them about all of her adventures, including one about how she strung the Beagle Boys up like a yo-yo. This leads to them being curious about this mystical "yo-yo".

Della: The Earth, the moon orbiting around the Earth...

(Penumbra attempts to zap her for her vile crime of not believing in selene-centricity)

The others don't seem to mind, especially when she talks about all the other amazing things the Earth has, including the wonders of the slap bracelet that comes in many different colors! Penumbra tries to argue about all the cool moon things, like the identical outfits made out of gold! You know, gold, the material that, as established before, is so common that they practically give it away. Needless to say, this doesn't budge anyone.

I'm not really going to say much about the Donald plot that we cut back and forth between in this episode, but I have to point out something. While the two plots are on completely different planets, there's some masterful transitions between them. We hear Della talk about how her family is unstoppable, we see Donald Duck cowering in fear of Zeus's lightning strikes. It's a long story. We see Storkules catapult Donald right into Zeus, again, long story, and then we see Lt. Penumbra's golden spear hit a crudely drawn Della.

One can also argue that this shows how connected Donald Duck's situation is with Della's. Not necessarily that they're living the same situation, but how Della's situation is tied to Donald's. As said in the other episode that has the word "Spear" in it, Della's disappearance was a pretty major reason why Donald stopped adventuring. Most of the times he's ever involved in such things is that he's either forced into it, or has to keep his nephews safe from harm, both of which are heavily featured in his plot.

Going back to the Della plot, Penumbra's attempt to make the moon look good doesn't exactly work, as everyone starts to help out and be interested in all of Della's stories from back when she was on Earth. Outside of the comics, and I mean the comics based on this reboot, we never really saw them, so it's neat to hear in here.

Penumbra eventually decides to use that training spear, but General Lunaris prevents that bad ol' Penny from offing that stupid duck for making the moon look bad. Lunaris tells her, oh, she's just telling them the wonders of her culture...specifically, her rocket.

Even more specifically, he points out a particular feature of this rocket. One of these switches puts the rocket into an irreversible emergency launch. It's here where Lunaris's motives may not be as clear as we once thought; if he didn't want Penumbra to think about using this switch, what did he think was going to happen?

Penumbra's last attempt to get the Moonlanders on her side: if the Earth was so cool, why doesn't she just take everyone there? This backfires immensely when Della decides to answer that with a "why not?", as the people cheer.

She does complain to Lunaris about this, but he keep reassuring her that the people have to make their own decisions. Before he can elaborate, Della shows up, saying thanks for the help, and brings back her spear. She knows what's it's like to be separated. This appears to touch her heart. To put this as vaguely as possible, we can see the beginnings of a turnaround, in more ways than one.

After going into a mystical realm filled with treasures as led by a magical goat, they don't really show much of it anyway, and losing all of his feathers in the process, Donald Duck finally realizes...

Donald: Everything is not fine.

Again, it is possible that a certain dog with a hat inspired this bit of writing. The boys finally realize, yeah, there's definitely a time for a break.

They decide to surprise him a month-long vacation on a boat filled with hammocks. Donald seemed totally fine with leaving the kids at be in the original, but this Donald needed a little more convincing. They do have other family that can protect them, and Scrooge already paid for it.

As for Della, let's say her hopes to bring the Moonlanders to a place Penumbra has known for being nothing but a place of nightmares and horror are going to be dashed.

That switch that Lunaris pointed out gets pushed, and Della is given no choice but to get on the Spear and fly home. Lunaris suddenly shows up, apparently touched by all of her stories of this wondrous blue planet, and asks Della for the rocket science book so he can build a fleet. His word for that, not mine, and also his total change of mind of what he thought the Earth was. Hmm...

This all eventually leads to the shot that's in all the trailers of Della announcing to her boys that she's coming home. If Disney is going to spoil it, I will too. However, there's a lot more twists than this one. What will happen when Della reaches Earth? What will Lunaris think of Penumbra's actions, and what will he do with that rocket science book Della gives him at the last minute? Most importantly, will Donald finally get his rest? Those questions are answered right in the last minute of the episode, and...it's pretty heavy. I don't feel like spoiling it now.

How does it stack up?

We go from a very bizarre episode involving a 20 minute tantrum to a delightful closing and opening of a new arc. Of course, it's going to be much better. While the two plots could get a bit repetitive, it never really becomes boring. The Della plot has great use of expressions, the Donald parts have some good humor. Most importantly, it's quite clear this is just the beginning. This is a golden episode.

Next, a Mother's Day episode that sadly aired one day after.

← The 87 Cent Solution! 🦆 Nothing Can Stop Della Duck! →

#fpb dt 2017 #ducktales 2017 #ducktales #disney #fpb reviews

[aegor-bamfsteel]

What do you think of Aegon's Brightfyre theory ? (Illyrio is Bittersteel's and Calla's descendant, Serra is in Aerion's illegitimate line). Do you really think Bittersteel's descendant would want to father with Dyanna's and Mariah's descendant ?

‘Aegon Brightfyre’ is one of the more complicated versions of the Aegon Blackfyre theory I’ve read about in fandom (meaning it requires both the Blackrivers and Brightflame lines to survive to canon era and for those scions to reproduce, none of which is made at all clear in the text), and for that reason it’s not one I’m particularly attached to. I figured I might as well answer this ask now because I’ve recently learned that GRRM has said Aegor Rivers probably didn’t have children, essentially putting an end to all Blackrivers-related speculation (although, as I’ve said in the linked meta, there are still several possible people who could be ‘female-line Blackfyre’ ancestors, including Bittersteel’s previously-assumed-to-be-wife Calla). Although even without the 2018 interview, I still don’t buy the Illyrio Blackfyre theory because it relies on the provincialist thinking that “well, Illyrio is from Essos and has interest in the Iron Throne, the Blackfyres lived in Essos and were interested in the Iron Throne, so they must be related” as if a whole continent with a myriad of diverse cities and cultures must all be connected in a way that relates to the goings-on in Westeros. Illyrio Mopatis was born and grew up in Pentos as a poor bravo “living by his blade”; the Blackfyres were descended in the female line from a Tyroshi woman closely connected to the Archon. We don’t even know if Illyrio served with any sellsword companies in his youth, let alone the Golden Company; he got his wealth fencing stolen goods with Varys. I’m not seeing any details in Illyrio’s past (though granted, we don’t know much about it) that indicate any blood relation to the Blackfyres. He may have had “long, straight blond hair” as a youth and be morbidly obese right now, but so do other characters (the Lannisters, Wyman Manderly) and barring any other odd details this late in the game, I’m standing by him having no Blackfyre blood.

As for Serra being from an illegitimate Brightflame line…

I’ll admit out of all of the secret parentage theories surrounding Aegon VI, I like this one the most. I believe it requires the least amount of assumptions: as far back as 1999, GRRM said that Aerion may’ve sired bastards in Lys; it makes sense for him to be a possible ancestor to a Lysene pillow-house worker. It’s also incredibly strange for Illyrio to divorce his first wife, the cousin of the prince of Pentos, and risk her relatives’ ire (being barred from the Prince’s manse forever) to marry Serra just because “she pleased him well” (that hurt to type, I’m sorry). Granted Illyrio is rather eccentric (preserving Serra’s stone hands) and egocentric (he’s got a statue of himself as a young man in his own house), but on the surface it’s hardly a profitable move for a self-made man. A plausible explanation for the divorce/marriage could be Serra’s significant bloodline and to make sure her putative children by him are legitimized. It’s also a deeper-rooted, subtler alternative to the Serra Blackfyre theory; Aerion and his possible children have been set up since the first Dunk and Egg story, and his death by drinking wildfire has been mentioned about once a book since Game of Thrones; by contrast, most of the Blackfyre hints have been hastily dumped on us in Book 5. However, the theory that Serra is a Brightflame and Aegon VI is her son by Illyrio isn’t airtight: if Serra was illegitimate, then how would she know about her Targaryen ancestor? And if she was legitimate (as in descended from Aerion’s son Maegor) then why in the seven hells was she working in a pillow-house presumably as a bed slave? Princess Saera Targaryen owned a pillow-house in Volantis, and Johanna Swann was a noble girl who eventually became a powerful courtesan in Lys, but those are far more prestigious positions than Serra’s. Furthermore, Serra had blue eyes while Aegon VI has purple eyes, which casts both Serra’s Targaryen identity and her relationship to Aegon VI in doubt (the silver-gold hair/blue eyes combo is typically Lysene and even low-born Lyseni have it). And of course, it’s never been confirmed that Illyrio has any offspring. So while I think the theory is interesting, I’m not entirely convinced.

Do [I] really think Bittersteel’s descendant would want to father with Dyanna’s and Mariah’s descendant? I understand what you’re asking, and I strongly disagree with the implications. I’m going to answer this question assuming Bittersteel did have descendants because I believe the facts need to be set straight here.

Bittersteel’s descendants would’ve spent generations in Tyrosh, an ethnically-diverse Free City that values wealth more than birth. It’s also logical to assume they would be close to the Golden Company, which is again mixed ethnically and socioeconomically (from exiled nobles to freed slaves). Why would they care if their partner had Dornish ancestry? They themselves are mixed-ethnicity (Targaryen-Valyrian, First Men Riverlander, non-Valyrian Essosi/possibly Ghiscari, some distant Lysene-Valyrian and Andal Vale, among probably others).

There is no evidence that Bittersteel harbored a grudge against the Dornish: While certainly one to hold grudges, Bittersteel’s were canonically against House Targaryen and above all Bloodraven. The Brackens did not fight in Daeron I’s War for Dornish Conquest and thus lost no family members to the fighting. Although Aegon IV wished for a return to war with Dorne, Aegor had every reason to hate the murderer of half of his family and was not even at court for the majority of his reign. In fact, he may’ve even supported the Dornish out of spite/solidarity at being outsiders in King’s Landing; after all, Arianne says in AFFC that the Yronwoods rode with Bittersteel during all three of the Blackfyre Rebellions in which he participated. So again, why would it bother him or his descendants if their partner had Dornish ancestry?

Perhaps a more accurate question to what we know of Bittersteel’s character is: Do I think a descendant of Bittersteel would really father with Daeron II’s (involved in exiling his mother from court) and Aerion’s (did horrible things during the Third Blackfyre Rebellion) descendant? I certainly believe Bittersteel himself would’ve minded, although perhaps his descendants, worn down by constant wars and craving escape from Tyrosh, may’ve felt differently. However, I believe that Aenys Blackfyre’s murder in 233AL spelled death to any chance that a Blackfyre and a Targaryen might interact peacefully, let alone intermarry. While it is a moot point for now, I hope it’s confirmed that the Blackfyres never married into the family that butchered their kin for over 60 years.

#ask #asoiaf #asoiaf theories #aegon vi targaryen #aegor rivers #bittersteel #aegon vi #illyrio mopatis #serra of lys #anti targaryen #asoiaf meta #house blackfyre #Aerion Targaryen

[yasbxxgie]

Now that the cast is coming together, Denis Villeneuve’s upcoming adaptation of Dune is getting more attention than ever. And with that attention an interesting question has started cropping up with more frequency, one that bears further examination: Is Dune a “white savior” narrative?

It’s important to note that this is not a new question. Dune has been around for over half a century, and with every adaptation or popular revival, fans and critics take the time to interrogate how it plays into (or rebels against) certain story tropes and popular concepts, the white savior complex being central among them. While there are no blunt answers to that question—in part because Dune rests on a foundation of intense and layered worldbuilding—it is still an important one to engage and reengage with for one simple reason: All works of art, especially ones that we hold in high esteem, should be so carefully considered. Not because we need to tear them down or, conversely, enshrine them, but because we should all want to be more knowledgeable and thoughtful about how the stories we love contribute to our world, and the ways in which they choose to reflect it.

So what happens when we put Dune under this methodical scrutiny? If we peel back the layers, like the Mentats of [Frank] Herbert’s story, what do we find?

Hollywood has a penchant for the white savior trope, and it forms the basis for plenty of big-earning, award-winning films. Looking back on blockbusters like The Last of the Mohicans, Avatar, and The Last Samurai, the list piles up for movies in which a white person can alleviate the suffering of people of color—sometimes disguised as blue aliens for the purpose of sci-fi trappings—by being specially “chosen” somehow to aid in their struggles. Sometimes this story is more personal, between only two or three characters, often rather dubiously labeled as “based on a true story” (The Blind Side, The Help, Dangerous Minds, The Soloist, and recent Academy Award Best Picture-winner Green Book are all a far cry from the true events that inspired them). It’s the same song, regardless—a white person is capable of doing what others cannot, from overcoming racial taboos and inherited prejudices up to and including “saving” an entire race of people from certain doom.

At face value, it’s easy to slot Dune into this category: a pale-skinned protagonist comes to a planet of desert people known as Fremen. These Fremen are known to the rest the rest of the galaxy as a mysterious, barbaric, and highly superstitious people, whose ability to survive on the brutal world of Arrakis provides a source of endless puzzlement for outsiders. The Fremen themselves are a futuristic amalgam of various POC cultures according to Herbert, primarily the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, the San people, and Bedouins. (Pointedly, all of these cultures have been and continue to be affected by imperialism, colonialism, and slavery, and the Fremen are no different—having suffered horrifically at the hands of the Harkonnens even well before our “heroes” arrive.) Once the protagonist begins to live among the Fremen, he quickly establishes himself as their de facto leader and savior, teaching them how to fight more efficiently and building them into an unstoppable army. This army then throws off the tyranny of the galaxy’s Emperor, cementing the protagonist’s role as their literal messiah.

That sounds pretty cut and dried, no?

But at the heart of this question—Is Dune a white savior narrative?—are many more questions, because Dune is a complicated story that encompasses and connects various concepts, touching on environmentalism, imperialism, history, war, and the superhero complex. The fictional universe of Dune is carefully constructed to examine these issues of power, who benefits from having it, and how they use it. Of course, that doesn’t mean the story is unassailable in its construction or execution, which brings us to the first clarifying question: What qualifies as a white savior narrative? How do we measure that story, or identify it? Many people would define this trope differently, which is reasonable, but you cannot examine how Dune might contribute to a specific narrative without parsing out the ways in which it does and does not fit.

This is the strongest argument against the assertion that Dune is a white savior story: Paul Atreides is not a savior. What he achieves isn’t great or even good—which is vital to the story that Frank Herbert meant to tell.

There are many factors contributing to Paul Atreides’s transformation into Muad’Dib and the Kwisatz Haderach, but from the beginning, Paul thinks of the role he is meant to play as his “terrible purpose.” He thinks that because he knows if he avenges his father, if he becomes the Kwisatz Haderach and sees the flow of time, if he becomes the Mahdi of the Fremen and leads them, the upcoming war will not stop on Arrakis. It will extend and completely reshape the known universe. His actions precipitate a war that that lasts for twelve years, killing millions of people, and that’s only just the beginning.

Can it be argued that Paul Atreides helps the people of Arrakis? Taking the long view of history, the answer would be a resounding no—and the long view of history is precisely what the Dune series works so hard to convey. (The first three books all take place over a relatively condensed period, but the last three books of the initial Dune series jump forward thousands of years at a time.) While Paul does help the Fremen achieve the dream of making Arrakis a green and vibrant world, they become entirely subservient to his cause and their way of life is fundamentally altered. Eventually, the Fremen practically disappear, and a new Imperial army takes their place for Paul’s son, Leto II, the God Emperor. Leto’s journey puts the universe on what he calls the “Golden Path,” the only possible future where humanity does not go extinct. It takes this plan millennia to come to fruition, and though Leto succeeds, it doesn’t stop humans from scheming and murdering and hurting one another; it merely ensures the future of the species.

One could make an argument that the Atreides family is responsible for the saving of all human life due to the Golden Path and its execution. But in terms of Paul’s position on Arrakis, his effect on the Fremen population there, and the amount of death, war, and terror required to bring about humanity’s “salvation,” the Atreides are monstrous people. There is no way around that conclusion—and that’s because the story is designed to critique humanity’s propensity toward saviors. Here’s a quote from Frank Herbert himself on that point:

I am showing you the superhero syndrome and your own participation in it.

And another:

Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says that mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader’s name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question.

At the center of Dune is a warning to be mistrustful of messiahs, supermen, and leaders who have the ability to sway masses. This is part of the reason why David Lynch’s Dune film missed the mark; the instant that Paul Atreides becomes a veritable god, the whole message of the story is lost. The ending of Frank Herbert’s Dune is not a heroic triumph—it is a giant question mark pointed at the reader or viewer. It is an uncomfortable conclusion that only invites more questions, which is a key part of its lasting appeal.

And yet…

There is a sizable hole in the construction of this book that can outweigh all other interpretations and firmly situate Dune among white savior tropes: Paul Atreides is depicted as a white man, and his followers are largely depicted as brown people.

There are ways to nitpick this idea, and people do—Paul’s father, Leto Atreides might not be white, and is described in the book as having “olive” toned skin. We get a sense of traditions from the past, as Leto’s father was killed in a bull fight, dressed in a matador cape, but it’s unclear if this is tied to their heritage in any sense. The upcoming film has cast Cuban-Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac in the role of Duke Leto, but previous portrayals featured white men with European ancestry: U.S. actor William Hurt and German actor Jürgen Prochnow. (The Fremen characters are also often played by white actors, but that’s a more simple case of Hollywood whitewashing.) While the name Atreides is Greek, Dune takes place tens of thousands of years in the future, so there’s really no telling what ancestry the Atreides line might have, or even what “whiteness” means to humanity anymore. There’s a lot of similar melding elsewhere in the story; the ruler of this universe is known as the “Padishah Emperor” (Padishah is a Persian word that essentially translates to “great king”), but the family name of the Emperor’s house is Corrino, taken from the fictional Battle of Corrin. Emperor Shaddam has red hair, and his daughter Irulan is described as blond-haired, green-eyed, and possessing “patrician beauty,” a mishmash of words and descriptions that deliberately avoid categorization.

None of these factors detract from the fact that we are reading/watching this story in present day, when whiteness is a key component of identity and privilege. It also doesn’t negate the fact that Paul is always depicted as a white young man, and has only been played by white actors: first by Kyle MacLachlan, then by Alec Newman, and soon by Timothy Chalamet. There are many reasons for casting Paul this way, chief among them being that he is partly based on a real-life figure—T.E. Lawrence, better known to the public as “Lawrence of Arabia.” But regardless of that influence, Frank Herbert’s worldbuilding demands a closer look in order to contextualize a narrative in which a white person becomes the messiah of an entire population of people of color—after all, T.E. Lawrence was never heralded as any sort of holy figure by the people he worked alongside during the Arab Revolt.

The decision to have Paul become the Mahdi of the Fremen people is not a breezy or inconsequential plot point, and Herbert makes it clear that his arrival has been seeded by the Bene Gesserit, the shadowy matriarchal organization to which his mother, Jessica, belongs. In order to keep their operatives safe throughout the universe, the Bene Gesserit planted legends and mythologies that applied to their cohort, making it easy for them to manipulate local legends to their advantage in order to remain secure and powerful. While this handily serves to support Dune’s thematic indictment of the damage created by prophecy and religious zealotry, it still positions the Fremen as a people who easily fall prey to superstition and false idols. The entire Fremen culture (though meticulously constructed and full of excellent characters) falls into various “noble savage” stereotypes due to the narrative’s juxtaposition of their militant austerity with their susceptibility to being used by powerful people who understand their mythology well enough to exploit it. What’s more, Herbert reserves many of the non-Western philosophies that he finds particularly attractive—he was a convert to Zen Buddhism, and the Bene Gesserit are attuned to the Eastern concepts of “prana” and “bindu” as part of their physical training—for mastery by white characters like Lady Jessica.

While Fremen culture has Arab influences in its language and elsewhere, the book focuses primarily on the ferocity of their people and the discipline they require in order to be able to survive the brutal desert of Arrakis, as well as their relationship to the all-important sandworms. This speaks to Herbert’s ecological interests in writing Dune far more than his desire to imagine what an Arab-descended society or culture might look like in the far future. Even the impetus toward terraforming Arrakis into a green world is one brought about through imperialist input; Dr. Liet Kynes (father to Paul’s companion Chani) promoted the idea in his time as leader of the Fremen, after his own father, an Imperial ecologist, figured out how to change the planet. The Fremen don’t have either the ability or inclination to transform their world with their own knowledge—both are brought to them from a colonizing source.

Dune’s worldbuilding is complex, but that doesn’t make it beyond reproach. Personal bias is a difficult thing to avoid, and how you construct a universe from scratch says a lot about how you personally view the world. Author and editor Mimi Mondal breaks this concept down beautifully in her recent article about the inherently political nature of worldbuilding:

In a world where all fundamental laws can be rewritten, it is also illuminating which of them aren’t. The author’s priorities are more openly on display when a culture of non-humans is still patriarchal, there are no queer people in a far-future society, or in an alternate universe the heroes and saviours are still white. Is the villain in the story a repulsively depicted fat person? Is a disabled or disfigured character the monster? Are darker-skinned, non-Western characters either absent or irrelevant, or worse, portrayed with condescension? It’s not sufficient to say that these stereotypes still exist in the real world. In a speculative world, where it is possible to rewrite them, leaving them unchanged is also political.

The world of Dune was built that way through a myriad of choices, and choices are not neutral exercises. They require biases, thoughtfulness, and intent. They are often built from a single perspective, and perspectives are never absolute. And so, in analyzing Dune, it is impossible not to wonder about the perspective of its creator and why he built his fictional universe the way he did.

Many fans cite the fact that Frank Herbert wrote Dune over fifty years ago as an explanation for some of its more dated attitudes toward race, gender, queerness, and other aspects of identity. But the universe that Herbert created was arguably already quite dated when he wrote Dune. There’s an old-world throwback sheen to the story, as it’s built on feudal systems and warring family houses and political marriages and ruling men with concubines. The Bene Gesserit essentially sell their (all-female) trainees to powerful figures to further their own goals, and their sexuality is a huge component of their power. The odious Baron Harkonnen is obese and the only visibly queer character in the book (a fact that I’ve already addressed at length as it pertains to the upcoming film). Paul Atreides is the product of a Bene Gesserit breeding program that was created to bring about the Kwisatz Haderach—he’s literally a eugenics experiment that works.

And in this eugenics experiment, the “perfect” human turns out to be a white man—and he was always going to be a man, according to their program—who proceeds to wield his awesome power by creating a personal army made up of people of color. People, that is, who believe that he is their messiah due to legends planted on their world ages ago by the very same group who sought to create this superbeing. And Paul succeeds in his goals and is crowned Emperor of the known universe. Is that a white savior narrative? Maybe not in the traditional sense, but it has many of the same discomfiting hallmarks that we see replicated again and again in so many familiar stories. Hopefully, we’re getting better at recognizing and questioning these patterns, and the assumptions and agendas propagated through them. It gives us a greater understanding of fiction’s power, and makes for an enlightening journey.

Dune is a great work of science fiction with many pointed lessons that we can still apply to the world we live in—that’s the mark of a excellent book. But we can enjoy the world that Frank Herbert created and still understand the places where it falls down. It makes us better fans and better readers, and allows us to more fully appreciate the stories we love.

+Dune’s Paul Atreides Is the Ultimate Mighty Whitey

#white savior #white saviors #white savior trope #tropes #racism #amerikkka #burn hollywood burn #tor #tor.com #dune #arrakis #fremen #harkonnens #superhero syndrome #paul atreides #muad’dib #kwisatz haderach #david lynch #hollywood whitewashing #whitewashing #mahdi #bene gesserit #leto atreides #duke leto #lady jessica #dr. liet kynes #worldbuilding #baron harkonnen #eugenics #science fiction

[timespakistan]

I know why the caged bird sings | Art & Culture Nightingale With Lock. A young unkempt boy, paper in hand, utters an incomprehensible word, and weavers pick a certain shade of wool, and start adding it to the half-woven rugs on their looms. Different sounds – rather commands, make them replace colours, tie more knots, modify design, till an entire piece of the tapestry is complete. Anyone who has ever visited such a place is intrigued by this form of communication – a secret dialect shared by workers at carpet-weaving units across the Punjab, if not the entire country. Besides this mundane but practical and professional language, there is another language attached to carpets. Floral patterns and geometric motifs are actually codes for complex meanings and refer to faith, spirituality and sublimity. What we step on could be a garden, even Eden; and what we hang on the wall could be the Tree of Life. In both cases, extremely stylised, and with a rich chromatic scheme possible due to indigenous dyes. A number of artists have been inspired by the tradition of carpet making, but Parviz Tanavoli’s interest in this conventional method/imagery is more than cursory. Belonging to a society known for manufacturing rugs of high aesthetics, he collected carpets, and wrote several books on this practice including Kings, Heroes and Lovers; Lion Rugs and Persian Flatweaves. Tanavoli has also created works based on the vocabulary of carpet, screen prints from 1974, shown recently at Grosvenor Gallery London. A person familiar with Parviz Tanavoli’s art is aware that his inquiry into the Persian carpet is not a surface infatuation. Tanavoli’s entire corpus of work is rooted in the cultural expression of this region. He is known internationally for his sculptural work and referred to as the Father of Modern Iranian Sculpture. He has also produced paintings and scholarly works. One of his most celebrated sculptures consists of Persian word heech, which means ‘nothing’. He says, “the shape of this work, which is composed of three letters, fascinated me so much that for four or five years I worked on it, making many, many heeches.” At the Grosvenor Gallery, Tanavoli’s screen prints, intended as layouts for rugs and tapestries woven in Iran, were on display from April 26 to May 8. Though all these prints are almost 47 years old, they do not appear outdated just as traditional carpets do not date easily and sometimes acquire more meaning, significance and worth with the passage of time – not as antique pieces, but as part of everyday existence. A carpet by its essence, is not to be used as a museum exhibit, but handled as an essential possession of the household – to sit, step, recline and sleep on. It is only for outsiders that these rugs are exotic pieces, purchased and preserved like precious items; because to a traveller, a cultural tourist, a European connoisseur – who is unable to crouch, or comfortably sit cross-legged, and eat and hold conversation – these rugs have more decorative importance than any practical value. On the other hand, Parviz Tanavoli, born in 1937 in Tehran, investigates the practice from an insider’s position. With this privilege, he is able to deviate from the standard sensibility of a carpet. His prints recall the language of pop art, since these rugs, in a sense, are ‘popular art’ of the Near East and Central Asia. Tanavoli, admirably, has not followed the typical colour scheme, traditional motifs and conventional content. Employing a chromatic order that ranges from bright blues, greens, scarlet, yellows, vibrant turquoises, pinks, peaches and greys to stark black, has assembled a new narrative. Eventually, they were fabricated by tribal weavers, all interpreting original design differently and supplying their unique responses. Talking about this and his travel in the region from early ’60s to early ’70s, Tanavoli recalls: “I noticed that they weave their rugs by looking at another rug, and do not use cartoons like city weavers. This is how I decided to make my own rugs”. Purely because of this observation, preliminarily ideas of rugs – his screen prints, are open to manipulation, alteration and addition. In any case, when an image (or for that matter a text) is translated into another diction/medium, it is bound to change its contours – and context. Parviz Tanavoli’s pieces had potential for elaborations; and the exhibition catalogue documents how one print, Farhad and I, (originally a painting of the same title from 1973) was modified separately by Qashqa and Lori weavers. Probably the greatest contribution of Tanavoli is not continuing with a rich heritage, but bringing artisans into the realm of contemporary art, and recognising their aesthetic choices and respecting their pictorial solutions. In a sense, the intervention Tanavoli accepted in his work, is what he has done to the tradition of rug making. Tanavoli travels between intervention and invention in his art, particularly his 1974 prints. Proportions of these screen prints conform to the conventional rectangle of rugs; but it is the imagery that determines how an artist converses with tradition, and morphs it. His visuals are ingrained in the cultural history of Persia, but his approach is that of a modern, fearless, yet reverent painter. Akin to traditional mode of weaving stories in patterns, he also infuses a narrative in his art, a narrative that deals with language, love, and freedom. An important – and readable ‘picture’ in his ‘carpet-prints’ (or car-prints) is of the nightingale. Either caged in a block of buildings, or with a locked beak. This state of the bird signifies restrictions (one recognises the prophetic power of Parviz Tanavoli here. He was envisaging a scenario of repression and curbs on speech five years before it was witnessed after/with the 1979 Revolution in Iran. The nightingale also announces the presence of love, because in historic Persian (and Urdu) poetry, it is associated with passion, love songs and longing. Besides drawing the bird in profile, Tanavoli writes its Farsi name, bulbul. In another print, a poet – stylised to an unbelievable height – is holding the fowl. Another work, Oh, Nightingale, is filled with a composite figure, partly a human form with feet and legs, and partially modulated head of the bird, with windows and locks. Farhad Squeezing Lemon. For Tanavoli, the poet and the bird are companions, as witnessed in Poet & Bird, with its variation of human-type figurine holding a simplified version of birds. The artist recounts: “The poet… was the freest of all humankind. I consider him to be like birds in the sky, belonging everywhere”. His Last Poet of Iran looks like a document, of poet’s multiple variations, without names/identities. A print from the same series, Disciples of Sheikh San’an, with its architectural structures – and the caged bird – refers to a story from The Conference of Birds, the poem penned by Faridoddin Attar in the twelfth century. Regardless of the detail of his subject, characters, references, it is his way of transforming a living being and objects in delightful patterns that connects him to the tradition of carpet weaving – as well as to the convention of modern art. Mostly evident in his lion series (Lion and Sword, 2008; and Lion and Sun 2010), in which the ferocious animal (a symbol of political power, the king) is rendered like a simplified toy. In their colour, shapes and arrangement, Tanavoli’s people, birds, things, are at once traditional and modern. Created by an individual, who taught sculpture in Tehran and Minneapolis, and lived in Iran and Canada, the imagery is one of the most convincing proposal for a marriage between the past and the present. Because both the historic Persian rugs and Parviz Tanavoli’s prints made in 1974 are works of art that in the words of DH Lawrence, “will be for ever new”. The writer is an art critic based in Lahore. https://timespakistan.com/i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings-art-culture/18742/

[ganymedesclock]

Can I just say I love your Coran metas? One thing that really frustrates me in reading (otherwise excellent) VLD fanfic is ~angst~ that could be cleared up if everyone just talked to Coran! Especially Allura, who canonically discusses her fears and grief with Coran.

So I really like the elemental symbolism for the five initial paladins and I think it informs a huge amount of their character, that led me to try and ascribe elements to Coran and Allura. Because I think even when Lance, Keith, and Allura shuffled positions, they retained their respective symbolism.

Lance working with Red still acts like a leg, still acts like a water-aligned person. His focus is still on support, coordination, empathy, interpersonal connection. We don’t see him taking up a “firelike” disposition as VLD codifies that, or operating more according to passion and loyalty as Red’s virtues. He also doesn’t act like an arm pilot, with that kind of high-energy, slightly volatile and fractious disposition.

This is, I think, the nice underlying implication to the paladins’ all having their own colors that they retain whatever Lion they’re flying. It’s because their inherent nature, what initially drew their respective Lions to them, remains unchanged. 

So Allura has her own element, her own identity, and working with Blue doesn’t negate that because Lance’s character wasn’t negated working with Red, nor was Keith’s working with Black.

(I promise, this comes back to Coran, and what you’re talking about in him being overlooked in fic, but bear with me)

With Allura, the element I think that best describes her is light. Not just because she’s conflated with it practically- all of her shows of power come with these flares of radiance- but it’s also reflected by the arsenal of the Castle, which is functionally Allura’s Lion.

The Castle shields itself in a barrier of light, and it attacks by raining devastating beams of far greater power and intensity than any of the other laser attacks we’ve seen. And its dominant color is white, like Allura’s gorgeous, eye-catching silver hair. 

It’s also worth noting that Allura is the only paladin who appears to have multiple colors- she’s associated with white, cyan, to a certain degree the same darker blue as Lance, and her ‘signature’ pink. This would seem to again create an image of Allura as a prism, as light, opalescent in her associations.

In personality, while Shiro is often more of a strategic head in small scale, Allura is the leader of the coalition and she’s the leader of the paladins- she’s their guiding light, and beacon of hope. When it seems like she’s gone in s2e13, the situation is depicted as actively unwinnable. It helps that both the pose she assumed in s1e8 literally reviving the Balmera, and the position Voltron holds when she empowers it in s4e6 are very stereotypically messianic- arms spread, palms upright, head thrown back to the heavens, standing upright and gazing skyward.

So why am I talking about Allura in reference to Coran? Because I think a lot of Coran is informed if you consider both Alfor (fire-aligned) and Allura (light-aligned) and their incredible importance to him.

Fire in VLD is associated with illumination and enlightenment, as well as passion. Instinct in this case refers to a kind of certainty, but also a kind of higher knowing, distinct from the learning and adaptation embodied by the Green Lion and wood. Keith is, functionally, the team’s prophet- and Alfor, his predecessor, was Voltron’s. So this creates a very strong image of a fire that casts a bright light into a dark cavern. Which makes sense- Alfor and Allura were very close to each other.

I think Coran’s element is darkness.

Because the thing is, Allura and Alfor are characterized as luminous people. Charismatic, front and center, brilliant and colorful, seizing attention and connections. And Coran was a part of that; he wasn’t ignored, or pushed aside, but rather, it’s his nature to follow. Light and darkness can be seen as mortal enemies, but that’s not necessarily the case.

Allura at full strength, seated at the helm of the Castle, is a kind of archetypal force. The castle’s size and shields outstrip those of Voltron itself- it can rain devastation on entire imperial fleets. And it is also a symbol- literally, being the castle of a kingdom that long after said kingdom fell to ruin, the sanctity of its castle was never truly defeated. It’s been invaded- some have come close- but in effect, this is the unbreakable will of Altea’s legacy, of Allura as its last living princess. It bears the same sense of lore, decorum, and ideals entwined together with sheer determination that Allura herself does.

Conversely, Coran has no ship of his own. He can work the castle’s systems, but not all of them, and not perfectly- that sort of thing is really reserved for Allura. And he was spectacularly rejected by the Red Lion in s2e6. This, to me, is a pretty glaring indicator that despite his great adoration and fondness for Alfor, Coran and Alfor are wildly different mentalities. Different essential characters.

(Allura was also rejected by Red- but Red let her in, Red allowed her to sit at the console, and Allura is able to understand Red clearly when he calls for Lance, which suggests that they do have their notes of harmony- and Red was likely denying Allura to guide her towards Blue, who would do her more good in that situation)

But think about that. Coran has no signature ship, but he’s able to work Allura’s. Because of this, while all of the other paladins, and Allura even without a Lion, are glaringly obvious, known entities to their foes, Coran? Isn’t. Coran is a virtually untraceable ghost to the team’s enemies. It would take a foe far more attentive and far more focused on them than even Lotor to notice the red-haired man running the microphone for Voltron events is more than he seems.

And with Alfor and Allura both being very light-aligned people... bright lights cast very large, dark shadows. In that sense, a shadow can be perceived as a loyal thing- something that follows light.

Allura is a kind of archetypal active force at the height of her power. On foot, she’s a match for her castle- supernaturally powerful and a potent front line attacker either with the weighted staff she used in season 2 or grappling and immobilizing foes with a bayard. 

Coran, I think, is a kind of archetypal supporting force.

His own identity is probably the most well-developed given his age and maturity compared to the rest of the team. But at the same time, it’s very difficult to pin down. It doesn’t have an obvious glaring hallmark of its presence. We don’t see a signature weapon or ship from Coran to clue us in to his affinity. If my theories about his comment in s1e9 reflecting his weapon of choice are true, then even him revealing said weapon and taking the field as a combatant won’t clarify the matter, by wielding something fundamentally formless and impossible to define.

Because darkness doesn’t clarify itself. It obscures, it vanishes, it acts behind, underneath, and through with the certainty of always knowing what it is, but comfortably remaining an unknown factor.

Coran- happily and comfortably- lives as the man behind the scenes. He is not the king, he is not the princess, he is not the leader- but he will follow them, to the ends of the universe if need be. He will do, and be, what they need of him.

And he’s compassionate, and he’s nurturing, and we see that sort of accommodation also applying to the paladins. After all who could you possibly count on to have your back in any situation, always, but a shadow?

And I think this also comes back to the fact that Coran, quite frankly, has the full capacity to be terrifying and we’ve been treated to multiple innocuous or otherwise offhanded nods in that direction. Such as.... so why was Coran, seemingly, the go-to guy for explaining how to wrestle with one of the deadliest enemies in space back in the day in s2e9? At the same part of his life where he was very noticeably muscular as hell?

(it’d also lend some hilariously meta context to his adolescent emo phase that we found out about in s2e1)

Hell, Coran in s1e11 alludes to us that he was actively planning revenge on Zarkon over Altea. Friendly mustached dad figure seems to have mostly dealt with the loss of his planet by neatly compressing a grudge, bundling it up neatly with cloth, and not acknowledging it until he is actively in a position to shoot Zarkon in the face, in which case he unfolds it like a lovely picnic lunch.

So how this all comes back to what you were saying, anon, about Coran and fanfic and him being overlooked is that- it’s arguably Coran’s quintessential character to be easy to overlook. He’s a really fascinating head to get into with a huge amount of depth, but, you really have to trawl those depths to get to the good stuff. And I’ve said it before- there’s a lot of perfectly good fanwork whose primary struggle is not scratching any of the characters deeply enough. Coran is just a case where it shows very often, because he’s so at peace with, and arguably pretty much lives in, his own depths, that unless you’re paying attention it is beyond easy to forget he’s even there. And the show’s begun to poke at him, his history and deeper undercurrents- 

S4e4 may have been comical on the surface but it is an incredible case study in just how much the team means to Coran, what he’s willing to do and what he’s able to fight off just to be there for the team- and, hell, the fact that he needs to be hijacked by a brain parasite for him to ever push them the way that he did.

-but there’s still way more with Coran than we know. It’s a reason I keep comparing him to Iroh from ATLA: because he very much does the same thing.

Iroh is a master firebender with personal ties directly to the royal family, grieving the loss of his son, and also part of an organization against the fire nation’s aggressive politics, not to mention his own lengthy history as a warrior (see, his history with Ba Sing Se and his mythic defeat of a dragon) and for all that... the first impression he gives is Zuko’s goofy tea-loving advisor. And after coming to understand the serious side of him, it makes it much clearer that he is, in-universe, doing that completely on purpose.

Even Azula, who arguably knows a lot of Iroh’s history, dangerously underestimates him in not immediately going “oh, crap” when he stands up and goes “Do you know why they call me the Dragon of the West?” in a particularly knowing and unconcerned tone.

The thing is we haven’t had Coran have his obvious moment of flexing those hidden claws- there’s been small ones but not really a massive “oh, holy shit, don’t mess with Coran” .....yet. I frankly think that’s completely inevitable, given these guys and again, given every underlying nod to his capabilities. But I think if you’re not really delving in and carefully poking at things, it’s easy to read Coran as someone who just doesn’t have much depth since he’s very much, to a degree, the unsung phantom of Team Voltron. His work is important but often not particularly glamorous or narratively “heroic”.

But really... I think that’s kind of the point. Especially if you consider that Zarkon places a great deal of importance and focus on Alfor, and on Allura- the people he considered worth dealing with.

Coran? Coran was a lesser noble and an attendant to Alfor. In Zarkon’s books, exactly the sort of person he probably would barely even make eye contact with or speak to.

But Coran was the one who flew the castle away from Altea. Coran was the one who made the Black Lion disappear out of Zarkon’s hands and comprehensively denied him that decisive victory ten thousand years ago. It’s arguably on Coran that there’s any ability to counterattack at present.

And Coran- who lives in darkness, who thrives on eyes being turned away from him. Coran, who actively has confessed to holding a grudge and his not acknowledging it since tells us after that season 1 finale, he just folded it right back up and kept it there, maybe rolling it around between his fingers every time he hears more about what happened to Shiro, every time he sees what’s become of the universe under Zarkon, every time he remembers what became of Alfor, of Altea, because they trusted him. Calmly saying things like “Alfor’s affection for his former colleague blinded him to Zarkon’s true intentions.”

Coran is really not someone Zarkon should be ignoring, if the dear emperor has any ability to evaluate serious threats.

#voltron legendary defender #vld #Coran #Allura #Alfor #Zarkon #readmore #this got long and far away from Coran as a caretaker #but just #Coran's got a LOT in him #and it's fascinating #Anonymous

[lizzybeth1986]

Did you know that the Grotta Azzurra was not only a bathing hole for the Roman emperors (thanks for that factoid Liam) but was also seen as a private place where they could spend time away from matters of the state? An article on the grotto explains it thus:

There was a time (27 - 37 AD) when the seat of Roman Empire was in Capri island - the Emperor decided that his life would be more safe on this secluded island. Several posh villas were built on the island and he enjoyed a dissolute way of life here, mostly forgetting about the obligations of emperor.

I think it’s interesting that the first place Liam takes the MC to in Capri is a former private pool for royalty. Especially one that allowed them to relax and be normal people for once. In my last essay on the Applewood bedroom scene, I mentioned Liam’s desire to have some semblance of a normal life while still doing justice to his role as King. In a lot of ways this entire sequence expands on that idea, and it is telling that it takes place in a grotto where an emperor of the ancient times could “forget about his obligations as an emperor”.

When he meets her on the shore, Liam admits to the MC that the Blue Grotto was once a childhood haunt that Bastien helped discover so the younger Prince could relax, play and explore Capri like a normal child. Interestingly he also connects it to a time when he didn’t have to think of becoming King, a small statement he makes now that will grow in significance when Liam and the MC finally talk at the grotto.

We have talked about how Applewood bedroom scene marks a watershed moment in the Liam x MC ship, where Liam finally opens up to her about things that deeply affect him, rather than just stick to the nicer, happier moments. In the Blue Grotto, they tackle deeper, more difficult questions regarding their relationship. Questions that, in other circumstances, could have been brought up much later in their relationship. Why does Liam raise them now?

But before we explore the crux of the Blue Grotto sequence, let’s discuss what takes place before:

The Pearl

I’d like to think of this as the first gift Liam ever gives the MC. He has received a gift from her already - the Statue of Liberty keychain - a gift that is of significant value to both of them and one that invokes memories of the night they met. The pearl, on the other hand, is something that Liam found before he ever met the MC, but is deeply connected to what she represents in his life.

Liam tells us that he had found the pearl while diving in the grotto with Leo, who claimed that it would “win the heart of any woman I gave it to”.

He does find it again, while swimming in the grotto with the MC, in the same corner where he left it last. “Knowing it was there…and that I finally had someone I wanted to give it to…”.

Liam asks her to keep it, as a token of his love for her. Depending on how the reader feels about the current status of their relationship (or whether the reader wants them to have a relationship at all), the MC has the choice of accepting it, rejecting it, or asking Liam to keep it with him until her name is cleared.

Liam tells us that the pearl is symbolic of beauty, purity, new beginnings and protection. In a way, it is symbolic of everything he wants his relationship with the MC to be, and everything he hopes to give to her. By giving it to her, it is possible that he wants to convey how eager he is to give a newer, better start to their relationship (one where she gets the respect she deserves), and his determination to protect her. But I feel the pearl symbolizes something else as well.

Let’s look back at the circumstances in which the pearl was found. He finds it with diving with Leo, a man who eventually will - at the very least - find himself free to marry whoever he wants, whenever he wants. Liam no longer possesses that freedom (he probably wouldn’t have in any case, since there were early talks of a match between Liam and Olivia). If the trip with Leo to Capri was taken anytime after Leo confided in Liam about his decision to abdicate, then it makes sense for him to refuse. Liam could not afford to envision anything beyond an arranged alliance. Even so, he leaves the pearl in a safe place, hoping to find it again “if it was meant to be”.

At a time when he has resigned himself to the thought of a loveless marriage, Liam still holds on to some thread of hope that he is meant for better. By keeping it safe in the crags, he allows himself the brief freedom to dream…of a life that does have love in it.

Similarly, the MC’s mere presence in Cordonia allows him to finally believe he has the right to love and be loved. Having her in Cordonia, knowing that she has travelled miles away from home for him, knowing that his people love her, he finally believes he can do justice to Cordonia while still loving her. Until that hope is dragged away from him, on the night of his Coronation.

The pearl isn’t just a symbol of protection or new beginnings. It is also a symbol of hope.

Liam found this pearl at a time when he couldn’t afford to hope for love. Now, when the hope of ever being with her slowly grows dimmer, he finds it again.

He gives the pearl - his symbol of hope - to the one woman who (to him) embodies hope itself.

Relationship Dynamics

What amazes me about the Liam x MC dynamic in this scene is how comfortable they have gotten with each other. It’s not necessarily as hard for the MC, whose default characteristics allow her to be funny, sarcastic and light-hearted when the need arises. Liam on the other hand doesn’t get to show his playful side very often, and he finds plenty opportunities to do so here, such as this snippet of dialogue:

Liam: An eye for an eye, a dunk for a dunk.

MC: So says the King, and so it shall be!

Their playful banter really shines, however, when they talk about their life sans the Crown. Whichever option the MC chooses, Liam and the MC manage to crack inside jokes and poke fun at each other (claiming that Maxwell will be the entertainment at their dinner parties in the Cordonia option, quips about how their two dogs will prefer the MC to Liam in the New York one).

Around the MC, Liam is freer, more playful, imbibes more of his happier childhood self. He allows himself to relax and give himself the opportunity to not worry about what other people think of him, and allows the MC access to parts of him that very few people get to see.

We managed to see the more emotional aspects of the relationship in Applewood, and we have discussed how their conversation breaks many, many walls that Liam seems to have erected between himself and everyone else. Having crossed that hurdle, it only makes sense that the two are more relaxed around each other in this sequence.

The Throne

Fun as the conversation is in the grotto, it gradually turns serious as they settle on the rocks. This part of the Blue Grotto sequence is essential to the growth of the relationship, because it addresses the two elephants in the room: his ties to Cordonia and his engagement to Madeleine.

Is his offer to abdicate meant to be similar to Leo’s offer in RoE? Not at all, in my opinion. They emerge from entirely two different places. Here, in my opinion, is why.

On the outset, it looks like both brothers make the same offer for the same reason. Leaving for love, yearning to have a fairer relationship with their lovers, reluctant to have anything whatsoever to do with Madeleine. But this would be valid only if we took in a shallow view of their character development.

Leo has reasons beyond his love for the RoE MC to abdicate. His decision to do so was set in motion years ago, and he abdicates regardless of whether she chooses him or not. He does it not just because he wants to be free and explore the world. He does it because he knows he doesn’t possess the abilities, acumen or interest to lead the country. He knows he will be a terrible king.

Liam’s letter at Leo’s wedding mentions that the latter has made an embarrassment of himself at court, several times. Leo himself has admitted to the TRR MC that he never really understood the mysteries of the court. He considers himself Cordonian, but for him the country has become a place that traps him and doesn’t allow him to explore his true potential.

If you look closely at the sequence where Leo confesses his plans to the RoE MC, you realise that he has actually thought everything out beforehand. He knows how to go about it, he knows who he wants to put on the throne, he lists reasons why Liam would be a considerably better choice.

Leo clearly has had enough time to think about his abdication, and to understand that it is a decision that will benefit everyone in the long run. The wheels had already been set in motion before the RoE MC met him: her presence in his life only quickened the process and solidified his decision to leave the throne.

Liam, in contrast, has a stronger, more lasting bond with Cordonia. Being its leader isn’t just his duty: it’s who he is. It’s his life’s purpose. It’s the core of his identity. Drake tells us, at the Italian restaurant, that he finds more fulfillment in “focussing on the needs of the Cordonian citizens than reading press statements and attending parties”. As I mentioned in the bathhouse essay, he doesn’t just blindly follow his country’s traditions, but has a deep, intimate knowledge of its history, folklore and rituals.

For Liam to offer to give it all up for the MC, she has to be extremely indispensable to him. She has to be someone he simply cannot do without, someone who has changed him enough for him to contemplate leaving his world behind. And remember, this isn’t just about wanting to just be with the MC - this is about wanting to be fair to her. It’s about wanting to give her the life she deserves.

In a write-up @feisty-mary wrote on his offer to abdicate, she highlights how monumental a step this is, and how much has changed since his entry in Book 1. At this point he isn’t just giving up his power and position and country, he is ready to give up who he IS, just to be fair to her.

Like I said in my last essay of “The Crown, the Flame and the King”, this book is about Liam proving to be worthy of the MC, and - if he is her LI - showing her that he is as committed to her as she is to him. However, Liam’s life is so deeply tied to Cordonia that a life without it - no matter how tempting the prospect sounds - would never be a completely fulfilling one.

This is something the MC highlights once they have finished imagining what a normal life would look like:

It’s important to note that it is the MC who points this out, not Liam. It’s even more important that this particular dialogue is default to the character, whether she is in love with him or not. Whether she is friend at this point or lover, she now knows him well enough to realise that giving up the throne would only hurt Liam in the long run. That he may even go the extra mile and give it up (because he is a man of his word) but unlike Leo he will never feel happy or fulfilled doing so.

The MC, in highlighting this, is (if he is her LI) making her own sacrifice here. She is leaving behind the possibility of an easier, more convenient life, knowing he would give it to her in a heartbeat if she just asked. Because she knows it’s not who her lover is meant to be. She knows that doing so would mean taking away from Liam all meaning to his life.

Incidentally, losing the MC would be as devastating for him, as losing Cordonia.

The Madeleine Question

Before I tackle the real elephant in the room, I would first like to shift tracks here and ask another question.

How much do we know about Liam’s side of the investigation?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Neither what his leads are, nor who he suspects, nor who he’s talking to outside of his exchanges with his friends, nor what he’s discovered. He simply does not tell us, and given his reluctance to open up to people about more difficult issues, this isn’t entirely surprising. We don’t know whether he has made progress, but perhaps his conversation in the grotto might give us some kind of idea.

The first major thing we notice is that while he does discuss abdication, he doesn’t seem to have fully thought it through. Unlike Leo, he doesn’t highlight who he might put next on the throne, how long the procedure may take, what state that country will be left in once he abdicates. He doesn’t seem to have a clear, charted-out plan for how they will manage the aftermath.

Similarly, when he asks the MC about the possibility of marrying Madeleine, he doesn’t have a very concrete idea of what exactly he wants. All he knows is that if they don’t unmask the traitor in time, he will have no concrete reason to break his forced engagement, and he is terrified that the MC will either leave him, or that they will be forever trapped in an incomplete relationship.

If the MC tells him she doesn’t want that kind of a relationship, or that she isn’t sure, he respects her decision but feels conflicted about letting her go. If she tells him however that she will stay with him no matter what their relationship is like, he is touched by her words, but reveals that he hates the idea of putting her in that situation. He literally tells that she deserves everything. He tells her that it kills him to force her to accept anything less.

While he is consistent across all three options about going through with whatever she wants, regardless of his feelings, he seems confused, conflicted and quickly running out of solutions.

It’s also interesting to note that he raises the question of abdicating before he talks about the possibility of marrying Madeleine. He refers to abdication as “the only action I can take to change” the status quo. When the MC reminds him that abdication isn’t an option for him, this truth takes away from him the only possibility he has right now to break out of this poisonous cycle.

Right before speaking of abdication, he refers to himself as being “powerless”. This leads me to believe that he has either not found any successful leads, or that he is hitting a dead end in his investigation, and isn’t sure they will track the traitor in time.

Think of how Liam has been depicted throughout the book. Level-headed, decisive, in control. Even during a highly stressful situation like his coronation, he manages to eventually keep his game-face on and outline what Drake and Hana are to do. He is able to chart out plans and execute them to the last detail. This is the first time we see him this conflicted and confused, and I think it’s fairly obvious why. He is clearly panicking at this point.

This is why he is not able to clearly articulate what he wants and how he plans to go forward. He isn’t just worried about the uncertainty of their future - he is terrified.

Conclusion

The Blue Grotto scene is pivotal to the Liam x MC love story because it reveals them tackling their biggest issues with the relationship, and it gives the Liam-shipped MC (and the reader who ships them) a chance to communicate clearly to Liam the limits of their relationship, and where she stands on the “secret-lovers” question. By giving her the pearl, Liam is laying at her feet the hopes of his past and the (tentative) promises of his future. By offering to abdicate, he is letting her know how far he is willing to go to give her a better, fairer relationship. By exploring the possibility of marrying Madeleine, he is being honest about their chances, and preparing them both for whatever eventuality comes their way.

Essentially, Liam is letting her know that he is willing to give up himself to give her the kind of love she deserves.

–

Your Views:

1. What are your thoughts on the alternate scenarios Liam provides us of their life together?

2. Do you think the pearl will feature in a future storyline?

–

#the royal romance #liam x mc #king liam #trr liam #king liam the sexy #liam: diamond scenes #blue grotto #grotta azzurra #cordonia #capri

[r-2-c-c-blog]

Name origins for Super Mario Characters

Nintendo characters make their VR (arcade) debut with new Vive-driven Mario Kart

Bandai Namco revealed a virtual reality version of Mario Kart, Mario Kart Arcade GP VR, that is going to make the debut of its over a VR arcade the company is opening using Tokyo, Japan following month.

The game appears to draw the VR debut of 1 of Nintendo's flagship franchises, though it is crucial to observe it's licensed by Nintendo and also developed by Namco - the same as the non VR predecessor of its, Mario Kart Arcade GP.Not many specifics are still available in English about the game, however, it's listed about the arcade's site as running on HTC Vive headsets and also specially designed racing seats.

Nintendo has so far been publicly reticent around the promise of VR - last calendar year frontman Shigeru Miyamoto told investors that for VR in specific, we are continuing the homework of ours, along with looking into enhancement with a head to the way our present main products are intended to be played for a somewhat lengthy time period of time.

We're considering the possibilities of supplying an adventure which gives value when played for a little while, he continued. And the way to eradicate the issues of long-duration use.

When I found that out I did two things. For starters, I whipped out my message (yes, I ensure that it stays that real/nerdy that I still have an old NES connected in the room) of mine and then made positive I can still match the game at will. (I can. Childhood not wasted.)

Secondly, I started down a rabbit hole of reading through Mario internet sites and Articles and Wikis. In the procedure, I stumbled upon the etymologies of the brands of a few of the major players in the Mario universe. Therefore, in honor of the video game that changed the world, right here they are, presented in handy 11-item describe form.

Mario.

When Mario debuted in the arcade game "Donkey Kong", he was simply called Jumpman. (Which even is the generic brand regarding that Michael Jordan dispersed leg Nike logo. Two of the most celebrated icons ever both have generic versions of themselves known as Jumpman. But simply one has today reached the effort of simply being so effective that he shaved himself a Hitler mustache prior to filming a professional and not one person had the balls to correct him.)

In 1980, as the Nintendo of America crew brought in Jumpman to elevate him into a franchise-leading star (Hayden Christensen style), an individual discovered that he looked just like their Seattle office building's landlord... a fellow known as Mario Segale.

Mario Segale didn't get a dime for being the namesake of essentially the most well known video game character by chance, although he most likely is not absurdly concerned; in 1998 he sold the asphalt company of his for more than $60 million. (Or 600,000 increased lives.)

Luigi.

Luigi has among probably the weakest name origins of most of the mario characters list in the Mario universe (once again displaying precisely why, for life which is real, he would have a greater inferiority complex than Frank Stallone, Abel or even that third Manning brother).

"Luigi" is merely the product of a team of Japanese males trying to imagine an Italian label to enhance "Mario." Why was the Italian brand they went with? When they each moved from Japan to Seattle, the pizza spot nearest to the Nintendo headquarters referred to as Mario & Luigi's. (It has since gone out of business.)

Koopa.

Koopa is a transliterated variation of the Japanese name for the opponent turtles, "Kuppa." Stick with me right here -- kuppa is the Japanese phrase for a Korean dish known as gukbap. Basically it is a cup of soup with rice. From what I will inform it is totally not related to turtles, especially malicious ones.

In an interview, Mario's originator, Shigeru Miyamoto, said he was deciding between 3 different brands due to the race of evil turtles, every one of that were called after Korean foods. (The alternative two were yukhoe and bibimbap.) Which means among two things: (1) Miyamoto adores Korean food and needed to provide it with a tribute or (two) Miyamoto considers Koreans are evil and should be jumped on.

Wario.

I sort of skipped the debut of Wario -- he debuted in 1992, right around when I was hitting the generation where I was too awesome for cartoon y Nintendo games. (Me and my middle school buddies happened to be into Genesis only. I was again on Nintendo within four years.)

Appears his label operates both equally in Japanese and english; I kinda assumed the English manner but didn't know about the Japanese feature. In English, he is an evil, bizarro world mirror image of Mario. The "M" turns to become a "W" as well as Wario is produced. The name likewise functions in Japanese, wherever it's the variety of Mario as well as "warui," which implies "bad."

That's a pretty excellent scenario, since, as I covered extensively in the list 11 Worst Japanese-To-English Translations In Nintendo History, only a few language difference finesses back as well as forth quite efficiently.

Waluigi.

When I first read "Waluigi" I believed it was hilarious. While Wario became an all natural counterbalance to Mario, Waluigi felt so comically shoehorned (just tacking the "wa" prefix before Luigi) -- including a huge inside joke that somehow cleared every single bureaucratic phase and after that cracked the mainstream.

Well... in accordance with the Nintendo individuals, Waluigi isn't only a gloriously lazy decision or an inside joke become massive. They *say* it is based upon the Japanese phrase ijiwaru, which means "bad guy."

I do not understand. I feel like we'd have to cater for them much more than halfway to get that.

Toad.

Toad is designed to look as a mushroom (or maybe toadstool) because of the massive mushroom hat of his. It is a great thing the gaming systems debuted before the whole generation realized how to generate penis jokes.

Anyway, in Japan, he's named Kinopio, which is a combination of the term for mushroom ("kinoko") as well as the Japanese variant of Pinocchio ("pinokio"). Those blend being something along the collections of "A Real Mushroom Boy."

Goomba.

In Japanese, the men are known as kuribo, which results in "chestnut people." That is sensible because, ya know, if somebody requested you "what do chestnut individuals appear to be like?" you would most likely get to food just about similar to these heroes.

Once they had been brought in for the American version, the staff stuck with their Italian initiative and also referred to as them Goombas... primarily based off of the Italian "goombah," that colloquially will mean something as "my fellow Italian friend." It also sort of evokes the photo of low-level mafia criminals without too a lot of skills -- such as people's younger brothers as well as cousins who they'd to retain the services of or maybe mother would yell at them. That also applies to the Mario Bros. goombas.

Birdo.

Birdo has nothing to do with this first Japanese name. Generally there, he's called Kyasarin, that translates to "Catherine."

In the training manual for Super Mario Bros. two, where Birdo debuted, the character explanation of his reads: "Birdo considers he is a girl and additionally would like being named Birdetta."

What I think all this means? Nintendo shockingly decided to generate a character that struggles with the gender identity of his and referred to as him Catherine. In the event it was some time to show up to America, they have feet that are cold so they determined at the very last minute to call him Birdo, though he's a dinosaur. (And don't give me the "birds are descended from dinosaurs" pop paleontology series. Not shopping for that connection.) That way, we'd just know about the gender confusion of his if we look at the mechanical, and the Japanese had been confident Americans had been either way too lazy or illiterate to do it en masse.

Princess Toadstool/Peach.

When we all got introduced on the Princess, she was regarded as Princess Toadstool. I suppose this made perfect sense -- Mario was set in the Mushroom Kingdom, so why wouldn't its monarch be called Princess Toadstool. Them inbreeding blue bloods are always naming the children of theirs after the country.

No person appears to be certain why they went that guidance, nevertheless. In Japan, she was known as Princess Peach from day one. That name didn't debut here until 1993, when Yoshi's Safari came out for Super Nintendo. (By the way -- have you ever played Yoshi's Safari? In a bizarre twist it's a first-person shooter, the only woman in the entire Mario times past. It's like the equivalent of a country music superstar producing a weird rock album.)

Bowser.

In Japan, there's simply no Bowser. He is simply known as the King Koopa (or perhaps comparable variations, including Great Demon King Koopa). And so just where did Bowser come from?

During the import procedure, there was a concern that the American crowd would not see how the small turtles and big bad fellow could certainly be named Koopa. Thus a marketing team developed dozens of options for a title, they loved Bowser the very best, and also slapped it on him.

In Japan, he is nonetheless hardly ever called Bowser. Over here, the name of his is now very ubiquitous that he's actually supplanted Sha Na Na's Bowzer as America's many famous Bowser.

Donkey Kong.

This's a far more literal interpretation than you think. "Kong" is based off King Kong. "Donkey" is a family friendly way of calling him an ass. That's right: The label of his is an useful version of "Ass Ape."

Great Mario Bros. is a video game released for the family Computer and also Nintendo Entertainment System contained 1985. It shifted the gameplay away from the single-screen arcade predecessor of its, Mario Bros., in addition to instead highlighted side scrolling platformer concentrations. Although not the very first game on the Mario franchise, Super Mario Bros. is the most legendary, along with launched many set staples, coming from power ups, to timeless enemies like Goombas, to the standard idea of rescuing Princess Toadstool from King Koopa. Along with kicking above an entire series of Super Mario platformer video games, the untamed results of Super Mario Bros. made popular the genre as an entire, helped revive the gaming sector after the 1983 video game crash, as well as was largely the cause of the first good results of the NES, with which it was included a launch title. Until it was finally exceeded by Wii Sports, Super Mario Bros. was the best marketing videos game of all of time for nearly three years, with more than 40 million duplicates marketed overseas.

#mario characters list

[star-trekkin-across-theuniverse]

Cover You in Oil, pt19

Word Count: 6455 Tags: @outside-the-government, @yourtropegirl @to-pick-ourselves-up-7, @ghostssss, @rampant-salamander, @saysay125, @sistasarah-sallysaidso @shewhorunswithfandoms, @flirtswithdanger @supermoonpanda @rayleyanns 

“That’s not fucking funny,” Sally hissed. Sasha dipped his head, closing his eyes. He sighed heavily and looked back up at her, his blue eyes resigned to the reality of the revelation he’d made.

“Outside,” Sasha tilted his head and led her toward the door. She pulled her coat on and tromped out into the snow behind him. Her eyes were narrowed and her gaze was fixed on the back of his head. He turned to face her once they were about twenty feet from the garage. “It wasn’t supposed to be a joke.”

“Dude,” Sally started, and sighed. “Pops couldn’t have trained you without us having met at some point. I spent half my childhood and teen years on the farm.”

“He trained me before that,” Sasha sighed. Sally squinted in confusion.

“There’s no way you’re that much older than me. I would have –“

“Jakey Manners served with the 107th. He was taken as a prisoner of war at Azzano, and subsequently freed by Steve Rogers. Shortly after that, the Howling Commandos were formed, and Jakey stuck around as their mechanic, primarily working miracles on the Jeep they kept blowing up on missions,” Sasha offered.

“That’s all public record. You could have learned that at the Smithsonian exhibit,” Sally shrugged. “I mean, except no one ever called him Jakey. Except for –“ she trailed off, eyes widening.

“James Buchanan Barnes, ma’am,” Sasha snapped his heels together and gave her a jaunty salute. “At your service.”

“Bucky?” Sally gaped. “Holy shit, does Steve know you’re alive? Here?”

“He knows I’m alive,” Sasha nodded. “But not where I am. And I’d appreciate you not informing him. The last thing you need is Team Avengers pouring across the border.”

“So I am in danger,” Sally acknowledged.

“Victor isn’t exactly the most stable guy. I’ve been trying to figure out what he’s got going on here for a while. I was planning on using it as a bargaining chip,” Sasha explained.

“A bargaining chip?” Sally echoed.

“I don’t exactly have a simple history,” Sasha explained. “I didn’t end up frozen in the arctic for seventy years. It’s a long story but essentially, I’ve been a weapon.”

Sally stared at him, taking in the fantastic reality Sasha was presenting. If she hadn’t met Steve in person, if she hadn’t had the connection because of Pops, she never would have believed the tale unfolding before her. She tilted her head, taking in the contours of Sasha’s face, and shaking her head as the neurons in her brain finally connected Sasha’s face with that of Bucky Barnes’ photo in the Smithsonian, a photo that her Pops had donated to the exhibit, and she’d grown up staring at as he’d told her the amazing exploits of his team.

“I’m not going to call you Bucky,” Sally commented. Sasha smirked.

“I’d prefer you didn’t. At least, not until we’re out of here,” he nodded.

“I won’t tell Steve about you, but I will be asking him about the car and the power cells,” she countered.

“That’s fair,” he agreed.

“Does Mariya know you’re a senior citizen?” Sally smirked.

“Five minutes and already with the old man jokes?” Sasha threw up his hands in surrender, and led her back inside. She hung her coat up again and returned to the alternator, determined to repair the housing before she had to wrap up for the afternoon. It took a little ingenuity, but she managed to patch the narrow scratch with a soldering iron and a little bit of sanding. She was just finishing putting together the alternator when Sasha’s alarm sounded, warning her it was time to clean up for the afternoon.

“So tomorrow, we’ll finish assembling the engine and see if we can’t get it to turn over. I’ll see about talking to Steve tonight about those power cells,” Sally commented as they walked back to the castle. She showered and dressed for the meal, and headed down to the dining room, only to discover Victor had been detained again by something. It was probably better that he wasn’t there, she reflected, realizing the bombshell of Bucky Barnes had made her shoulders tense. It would be easier to sleep on the revelation, and try to maintain her poker face the next morning.

She folded her napkin and dropped it beside her plate before excusing herself to the serving staff.

“Can we video chat on this satellite network?” Sally typed.

“Private chat time? Let me change into something more comfortable!” Tony’s response was quick, but Sally had grown used to the idea that he stopped whatever he was up to in order to talk to her.

“Not so fast, loverboy. I need to talk to Steve. Securely.”

“It’s your lucky day. He’s right beside me. We’re working on his motorcycle.” The StarkPad in her lap started to chime and she flipped it open. Steve’s face took up the entire screen, concern etched into his eyebrows.

“Tony said you’ve been having issues with the car, is there something you think I can help with?” Steve asked. Sally smiled and nodded. Of course Steve would have it figured out. The guy was a stunning tactician.

“Yeah,” she breathed. She held up the hood ornament in front of the camera and watched Steve’s eyes widen in response.

“Where did you get that?” He asked.

“We found it tucked away in a storage cupboard today. I should have realized sooner, Steve. This is Schmidt’s car,” Sally explained.

“That thing was powerful,” Steve nodded. “I should have probably realized too, when Tony told me it was 16 cylinders and too big to photograph.”

“So I was repairing the alternator today, and Sasha was digging around looking for the batteries, and we both came across the same thing at the same time,” Sally started. “There’s a weird power source for the alternator, and the batteries have it as well. It’s a weird glowing blue. I’m forwarding pictures right now. Do you know anything about that?” She chose her words carefully, knowing to give away too much she might also give up Sasha, and she’d promised not to give Steve any indication of his real identity. Steve’s eyes flicked away from the camera and she watched his face as he examined the pictures. His eyes flashed a bit wide and then narrowed before he looked back up.

“That’s Tesseract power. Schmidt used it in his weapons, and in the engines on the Valkyrie.” Steve’s words were short. “That’s very dangerous tech, Sally. Does your client know what he has?”

“Neither Sasha nor I think he realizes what it is,” Sally started, “I, I mean, we, we didn’t know what it was either. But Tony had said I should track down someone who knew history and once I saw that Hydra symbol, I thought you might be the right person.”

“Is there any way for you to switch out those cells?” Steve asked.

“What do I do with them once they’re out? Can they be destroyed? Neutralized? It’s not exactly something that Victor is going to let me slip into my carry-on when I come home,” Sally laughed. Steve furrowed his brow and glanced to his side, obviously looking at Tony.

“Do you think Fury has any information on this?” He asked.

“Him or the new director at SHIELD?” Tony replied from off-camera. “Wouldn’t hurt to ask, but we’ve gotta be careful. We don’t need SHIELD swooping in there getting my girl killed.”

“I hate to ask, but can you hack –“

“I can hack anything. I’ll get going on the SHIELD database,” Tony replied. Steve looked back at the camera.

“Tony will let you know if there’s anything you can do to neutralize those Tesseract cells, as soon as possible. In the meantime, be careful. Tony said you were concerned that your communication is being monitored,” Steve led.

“I know it is. Sasha has as much as confirmed it,” Sally nodded. “I’m even starting to think my room is probably bugged, based on how careful Sasha is when we speak.”

“Sasha?”

“He’s the guard assigned to me,” Sally said.

“You can’t trust him.” Steve’s words were quick.

“I can,” Sally shook her head lightly. Steve’s eyes narrowed again.

“Be careful who you blindly trust, Sally. He works for a man who is monitoring your communication. A man who is the king of a country with closed borders. He’s going to have loyalties, and they aren’t going to be to you,” Steve warned.

“Believe me, Steve. Even you would trust Sasha,” Sally promised. Steve arched an eyebrow but said nothing. He glanced away from the screen again, and it was obvious he was looking for something or someone.

“I would pass you back to Tony, but he’s disappeared. I have a text here that says I am to say ‘I love you, princess’, so uh, I love you, princess.” Steve winked. “And stay safe. I don’t care how old Jake is, I wouldn’t want to face him if something happened to you.” The screen beeped as the call disconnected and Sally sighed. She almost felt like she had more questions than she’d had before talking to Steve.

Rather than try to make small talk, Sally allowed Victor to direct the course of their meal conversations over the next few days, and was disturbed to notice that he rarely asked after the car. He was working on something big, he explained, and was often so lost in his own thoughts that meals were completely silent. It made having to attend each one all the more frustrating on days when he said nothing.

“Tell me how the car is,” Victor prompted after an awkward silence over breakfast. Sally jumped, and choked on her coffee. When she regained herself, she looked up at him, suspicious. She and Sasha had been working on switching out the Tesseract power cells on the battery the previous day when a passing sentry patrol had popped in to check on them. She’d thought they’d covered the eerie blue glow before it had been noticed, but the patrol had turned out to be beta unit robotic sentries, and had scanning capabilities. They’d questioned her about the strange power signature coming off the battery, and she had thought she’d covered by saying the battery was old and malfunctioning. Victor’s sudden interest was too much of a coincidence.

“The pistons your fabrication shop made are perfect, and the engine is back together. I rebuilt the alternator earlier this week and we’ve just been getting the battery back in shape. It’s a specialized battery from the period, and I think a modern battery would be more appropriate. Sa – uh, my guard said he would grab one from one of the convoy trucks so we could try before I bothered you for a new one,” Sally explained, choosing her words carefully.

“I understand my new robotic sentry patrol checked on you yesterday?” Victor countered. Sally bit her cheek and nodded, taking a deep, quiet breath to calm her nerves.

“Yeah, those are pretty cool technology, Victor. I honestly thought they were soldiers, and not robots,” Sally offered, hoping to deflect the conversation away from the car.

“The Servo-Guards are both, Sally,” Victor laughed. “A robotic soldier could be so much more effective in battle. No emotions to cloud its judgment. No need to worry about casualties when your platoons are all made of replaceable parts. It’s ideal. I developed them to protect Latveria, but I am sure the world military powers will want my soldier sentries.”

“No morality encoded in their DNA to give them judgment?” Sally countered.

“There’s no place for morality in war,” Victor scoffed.

“It could be argued that the most important place for morality is in war, Victor. That’s why we have international codes like the Geneva Convention,” Sally shook her head.

“If both sides send robots to the frontlines, there is no need for the Geneva Convention,” Victor argued.

“And if one side is human?”

“To the victor go the spoils,” he shrugged. “I’m sure the human side would be clamoring for my tech by the end of the first day.” Sally shuddered.

“Do the robots have any artificial intelligence?” Sally asked. “I mean, if they have no moral code, do they have the capability of thought? How do they determine who is and isn’t an enemy?”

“I’m so pleased that you are interested in my project, Sally.” Victor smiled, causing a chill to run down Sally’s spine. “They are all programmed with A.I., the basic ability to differentiate between an ally and enemy.”

“How do they tell?” Sally’s confusion and interest were genuine. She knew nothing about artificial intelligence, so learning more about the Servo-Guards was actually interesting, and not just strategic.

“They have advanced capabilities to sense physiological reaction in humans, in order to discern the truth. The only people who lie are those who have something to hide,” Victor shrugged. “And if you are willing to lie to your leader, you are obviously an insurgent. And if you are lying about who you are, you are clearly seeking to destroy Latveria.”

“Other than that, how can they tell?” Sally asked. “I don’t know much about robotics and artificial intelligence, Victor, I apologize. But what if a Servo-Guard was questioning one of your subjects who had a fever. They would have an abnormal physiological response to everything in that situation, right? So how would the robot know it was because they were sick, and not because they were lying?”

“An honest citizen of Latveria would not be harmed just because they were outside of normal range. They may be detained for questioning, but not harmed,” Victor responded.

“Don’t you think people might be upset about being detaining without cause?” Sally asked, eyebrows knotting between her eyes.

“If they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear,” Victor dismissed. “And cooperation with the Servo-Guards will be noted for future reference.”

“Well, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, but I trust you have it well in hand,” Sally allowed a nervous laugh; trying to show him she wasn’t bothered by the direction of the conversation. And she’d seemed to deflect the conversation from the car, at any rate.

“The Servo-Guards yesterday reported that the battery you have was giving off an abnormal power signature.” Or maybe she hadn’t deflected the questions after all, she thought.

“Like I said, the battery is the original from the forties, and the power cells have degraded over time.” Sally wracked her brain for a suitable, believable story that wouldn’t trigger a ‘physiological reaction’ in her own body. “Some of these old cars use nickel-iron batteries, which fell out of favour in the 1940s. Which is cool because they last forever, without leeching toxins into the environment, but this one hasn’t been used in 75 years, so needs a little help to get going again.” It was mostly the truth, she reasoned. Nickel-iron would have been the likeliest battery for that car had the Tesseract power cells not existed. Victor nodded.

“That seems reasonable. I’ll have the specifications for nickel-iron batteries added to the scanning banks of the Servo-Guards,” Victor nodded. “Now, tomorrow, is Vurdalakovich taking you to snowboard?”

“That was the plan. I really want to try those hard runs!” Sally was relieved to have the change of conversation, and focused on the inanity of weekend plans for the rest of the meal.

“So those robots are some new guard Victor has developed,” Sally offered as they tromped through the snow to the garage.

“Yeah, a Servo-Guard. I did a little research of my own,” Sasha replied.

“He said he’s going to add the specs on nickel-iron batteries to their scanning array so that we won’t rouse suspicion next time they pop in,” Sally started.

“Which means we have to get those Tesseract cells out of here,” Sasha finished her thought. “I’m sure I have figured out how to pop them out. I did some digging in my memory.”

“Digging in your memory?” Sally asked, tilting her head.

“After Azzano, when we were taken prisoner, we were taken to a Hydra base where we worked on the Tesseract power cells that Schmidt was developing for the Valkyrie airplane he was building. The guy was obsessed with size. Look at his car? The plane was just as disproportionately huge,” Sasha began. “Anyhow, I worked on those power cells. And I think I know how to make them inert.”

“Shut up,” Sally breathed. Sasha laughed.

“I’ll show you. It’s easier than you would think,” he assured her. “But if we do this, we are going to have to neutralize that alternator too. And the destroyed cells are not going to read as nickel-iron.”

“What are you suggesting?” Sally asked.

“That this could be a very dangerous step,” Sasha sighed heavily. “If I neutralize those cells, I am putting you at very real risk to your life.”

“Okay,” Sally nodded.

“So I’m not sure we should do this right away,” Sasha continued. His tone was leading, as though he didn’t really want to get into the details of what he needed to say. Sally narrowed her eyes.

“There’s more to this, isn’t there?” Sally demanded.

“Yes,” Sasha nodded.

“Cough it up, pretty boy,” she ordered. Sasha flinched, and scrubbed his hand through his hair, sending the snow that had landed on it flying around him.

“At the parade,” Sasha began. He paused and heaved out a sigh.

“Yes?” Sally waited.

“Victor introduced you during the ceremonies. That you were his honoured guest. That you were to be treated as though you were an important part of Latveria,” Sasha prompted. She could tell he wanted her to make some connection without having to spit it out himself.

“Yeah, he’s been on about me behaving as though I am family ever since I got here,” Sally nodded. “So?”

“I didn’t realized it at the time because a lot of Latverian is conveyed through tone, and nuance. Mariya clued me in last night,” Sasha apologized. “I’m so sorry, Sally. The way Victor was introducing you is the traditional way a Latverian regent introduces his intended.” The words hit Sally like a slap across the face, and she was suddenly short of breath.

“We need to neutralize those power cells and get the fuck out of here.” The words came out in a rush. She looked around the snow-covered land between the garage and the castle, then over to the hill leading up the mountain, and back toward the castle. It was snow as far as she could see.

“I don’t think Victor intends to let you leave,” Sasha agreed. Sally took a deep breath to steady her nerves, and felt the cold fingers of rage seeping out from her core through her body.

“How did you get in?” She asked.

“I took a mountain trail that is considered impassable and isn’t guarded,” Sasha responded. Sally glanced up the mountainside again. Snow and trees. Even the paths that had been visible in the early autumn looked impassable now.

“But you managed?” She pressed. Sasha cringed a little.

“Schmidt had his scientists give me a version of the serum at Azzano –“

“The serum?” Sally interrupted.

“The same serum Steve had. It’s part of the reason I haven’t aged,” he offered. Sally nodded.

“Makes sense. Is that why you didn’t die when you fell off the train?” She asked. Sasha nodded, and pulled off his gloves.

“That, and this,” he held up his left hand. But it wasn’t a hand; it was a metal robotic hand.

“Oh my god, are you one of his robots? He said they had artificial intelligence. Is this a fucking trap?” Sally backed away from him, and wound up tumbling into the snow piled along the path the garage. Sasha reached for her, and pulled her up effortless, despite her struggling to break free of his grasp.

“I lost my arm. Hydra gave me a cybernetic one. It’s a long story –“

“Yeah, like 75 years long,” Sally interjected, settling as he stabilized her.

“Exactly,” he nodded. “So yeah, it’s impassable. To an unaltered human. But I’m not.”

“I am, Bucky.” Sally looked up at the mountain again.

“I’ll be with you. The whole time,” he promised. “We’ll take off tomorrow once we’re at the ski hill. It’ll be a few days hike from there, but at least the steepest part will be done already.”

“We should really go inside and do some work,” Sally flicked her eyes over to the camera that pointed towards the path. “Help me dust off once we’re in range of it so if he’s watching he knows I fell.”

Sally removed the alternator and sat down beside Sasha. “Now what?”

“Open it up to the power cell again,” he directed. Once she had the power cell in her hand, she scraped back the solder from repairing it until the blue light leaked out again. Sasha pulled a pocketknife out and stabbed his thumb. He allowed a bead of blood to well up and smeared it into the opening she’d made. The power cell flickered, snapped and stopped glowing. As she watched, he pried open the battery power cell compartments and milked his thumb into all three cells. The blood sizzled, snapping and popping, and then, just like a switch had been flicked, the blue glow winked out.

“How does that work?” She asked.

“As near as I can tell?” He shrugged. “It has something to do with the adenosine triphosphate in the blood.”

“The what?”

“ATP is the main coenzyme used in energy transfer in the blood. It sort of controls your metabolism by transporting chemical energy. I think it, combined with the copper in the blood, does something the short out the Tesseract’s power source. Ultimately it’s an alien power source, and my blood, even altered, is still human. It’s like a game of rock paper scissors. Aliens can kick my ass, but we can wreck their weapons. And without their weapons, they can’t really kick our asses,” Sasha explained.

“Pops always said you were smart when no one was looking,” Sally laughed. Sasha smirked.

“It’s hard to hold your own when you stand beside Steve,” he replied. “But I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

Sally bodged together the alternator into a semblance of working, and reinstalled it, while Sasha dropped the battery he’d brought from the convoy garage into the battery housing and connected it.

“Should we at least see if I’ve got this thing running?” Sally asked. Sasha pursed his lips.

“Let’s do it,” he decided. “But after lunch.”

Lunch was another painfully silent meal. Sally didn’t know how to act or what to say based on Sasha’s confession earlier. She could see the courtship in Victor’s mannerisms, now that she was looking for them. Touches to her hand across the table that she’d put down to cultural differences, the unnecessarily effusive apologies for missing meals together when he worked through them, it all was so obvious now that she knew what he was up to.

It was everything she could do to not yank her hand away when he placed his over hers as he spoke. She gritted her teeth and tried to focus on what he was saying.

“And so I thought that in order to celebrate the success of my Servo-Guards, we might have a movie night. I know I’ve cancelled on you more often than we’ve actually sat down for a viewing, but I’ve freed my calendar tonight, and would like to spend the evening with you.” He squeezed her hand as he spoke. Sally forced her face to remain neutral.

“That would be lovely. More Doctor Who?” She asked.

“If that is what you would prefer,” Victor nodded. “Tell me, have you resolved the power issue with the batteries?”

Sally swallowed and forced herself to smile. Lying wasn’t part of her nature. It was why she hadn’t been able to hold out and not speak to Tony when she’d arrived in New York. And now she was being forced to feed lie after lie to Victor. “I think we have. I’ve patched up the alternator as well as I can, and we have a battery. We’re going to try firing it up after lunch.”

“I am unfamiliar with car restorations,” Victor began. “Where do you expect to go once you have the engine working?”

Sally smiled, genuinely. It was an easy question to answer. Boring, but easy. “Well, just because the engine is working doesn’t mean I’ve got everything installed yet. I’m going to have to do quite a bit of work to the exhaust, and it’s a huge exhaust system. After I’ve fixed that up, and reconnected everything, the bodywork will start. The body is in remarkable condition, so it won’t need a lot, but it’s such a huge car that the hours will still be there. Finally, once I’ve got all that managed, I usually wrap up with the rewiring. I mean, that’s glossing over a lot, but that’s the basics of it.”

“So it’s not as different as you expected?” Victor prompted.

“Well, let’s just say an engine is an engine,” Sally laughed. “The principle is all the same. I was terrified when I first saw the car, but now that I’m working on it, it’s not so bad. It’s the same, but more time intensive.”

“I’m glad to hear you are feeling confident,” Victor smiled.

“Starting to be,” Sally smiled. She glanced up at the clock and sighed. “I should get back to work.”

“Of course,” Victor nodded. “This evening then.”

“So everything is a million times more creepy now that you’ve told me what he did,” Sally complained as they walked back toward the garage. Sasha smirked and shook his head.

“He was creepy before that, Sally,” he retorted.

“Well, yeah, but now even more so,” Sally grumbled. “And I apparently have a date tonight. No getting out of it.”

“So what’s the plan with the car? Are you going to leave it where we’re at, or are you planning on booby-trapping it?” Sasha asked. Sally could see the Bucky Barnes that Pop told stories about in the mischievous look on his face.

“It’s so tempting to rig it to blow, knowing the history. But honestly, I just want out of here. I don’t want out with a target on my back, you know?” Sally thought aloud. Sasha nodded and held the door open for her. She stepped inside and hung her jacket up, stomping her boots off as Sasha followed her in.

“Good tactical awareness. Steve would be proud,” Sasha laughed, scrubbing a hand through his hair to dislodge the snow that had fallen.

“Uncle Tim would have told me to blow it sky high,” Sally laughed in response. “Let’s see if we’ve managed to fix this monster up enough that the engine will fire.” She grabbed the key and sat behind the wheel. Once she slid the key into the ignition, she shifted into first, and depressed the clutch as she turned the ignition. The engine coughed and wouldn’t turn over. She tapped the gas gently, priming the engine, and tried again. Again, the engine coughed, but wouldn’t turn over. She tapped the gas one final time, hoping she wouldn’t flood the engine, and turned the key. The engine coughed, sputtered, and just as Sally was about to give up, roared to life.

And it roared. It was deafening. The garage started to fill with exhaust and Sasha ran to the bay and hauled it open, letting the cold air clear out the toxic cloud of smoke that had formed almost instantly. Sally turned the car off, and ran out into the snow bank at the garage bay. She turned and stared back at the car.

“We can’t let this car be a thing,” Sally coughed. “This thing is a weapon.”

“It’s not really,” Sasha contradicted.

“No, it is. What the hell did Schmidt use this for? Leisurely afternoon drives? The implications of how fast you could go, the ease of weaponizing it,” Sally rambled. “This was intended to be a weapon. And it can’t fall into the wrong hands.”

“So we sabotage it,” Sasha smirked. Sally shook her head.

“I can’t. It’s also a work of art.” The conflict was evident in her voice.

“Okay, here’s the plan. Sleep on it. If you want me to rig it up, tell me in the morning before we leave to the ski hill, and I’ll do it,” Sasha compromised.

“Yeah?”

“If it makes you more comfortable with the decision, doll, I’m up for it. But we’re out of here tomorrow, so you don’t have much time,” Sasha shrugged.

“Okay. Let’s get to work on the exhaust. It obviously has more wrong with it than I’d initially realized.” Sally switched back into work mode again. It was easier to pretend she would be back to work on the car on Monday than to try to wrap her brain around why she was going to do another few hours’ work on a car she was abandoning in the morning. They took apart the exhaust system, piece by piece, inspected each piece and finally found the damaged part. Sally took detailed scans of the piece and forwarded them to Victor with a request for fabrication, recognizing that requesting a part would be a great smoke screen for the planned escape.

When Sasha’s alarm went off, Sally was a grimy, sweaty mess.

“You’ll be a pretty picture tonight for your big date,” Sasha teased as they made their way back to the castle.

“It’s called a shower. You should try it sometime,” Sally winked as she headed up to her room.

“I’ll try that tonight. You can smell me in the morning!” He called after her. Sally shook her head and turned into her room, heading toward the shower. She hesitated at the desk, wondering if she should fill Tony in on her plans, but realized that doing so would risk bringing the Avengers into Latveria, and it was too great a risk so soon after Sokovia. Once they were clear of the borders, she would contact him for pick up. Or extraction. Or whatever it was that superheroes called rescue missions

Dinner was much more formal than she had become accustomed to, and despite the repeated assurance from Victor that she was not underdressed, she felt like she had missed some important cue when she saw his dark suit. His tie was loose, and the top button of his shirt was open, but he still wore the jacket. Sally felt dowdy in her charcoal thermal leggings and black shift dress. Victor slipped his jacket off and rolled up his sleeves before sitting.

“I find myself apologizing to you quite frequently, Sally. I am grossly overdressed tonight,” he excused, fiddling with one cuff. With a careful fold, he managed to make rolled sleeves look nearly as formal as the jacket had been. The sharp lines of the tailoring, coupled with the strong lines of his lanky frame made him quite striking, Sally reflected, realizing with a start that much of his physical appearance was being presented in the best light. As he seemed to think he was wooing her. She was torn between shuddering and being flattered that her opinion mattered. In a different world, she may have been very flattered by the attentions of such a handsome, intelligent and powerful man. But that would have meant a world without Tony, and it wasn’t one she was willing to contemplate.

“I was just thinking I must have misunderstood your plans tonight, and dressed inappropriately myself,” Sally forced a smile. Victor shook his head to reassure her.

“No, no,” he smiled. “I am afraid I have to beg an indulgence from you tonight, if I may?”

“Too busy for movie night?” Sally hoped she didn’t sound too excited by the prospect.

“I have a particular client that I need to go meet with. And she’s very particular about what she expects in a sales pitch,” Victor began. “I’m afraid my dancing skills are quite rusty. Would you oblige me with some dancing tonight?”

Sally blanched. “I can’t dance.”

“I believe the man is expected to lead. Allow me to practice leading you, and I will be well prepared for my business assignation,” Victor’s words were intended to be smoothly persuasive, and Sally realized that refusing would only rouse his suspicions.

“Well, when you put it that way, how could I possibly refuse?” Sally laughed.

“Excellent. Let us eat, and then I will prepare the ballroom while you change.” Victor clapped his hands like a delighted child.

“Change?” Sally asked. Victor nodded.

“Of course. Dance is a form of exercise, Sally. You’ll be far too warm in leggings and your wool dress,” he smiled.

“So my running gear then?” Sally arched an eyebrow and smirked. Victor met her gaze and responded in kind.

“How about that lovely black wrap dress you wore when the weather was still warm?” He suggested. A server presented them with their dinner plates, effectively interrupting the conversation for long enough that Sally couldn’t respond.

Sally tugged her lip between her teeth as she changed, wondering if she really ought to fill Tony in on what was going on. She had already decided once to just get in contact with him once she was out of Latveria, but Victor’s behaviour at dinner made her uneasy. She wrestled with it as she touched up her make-up, wondering if she just didn’t want to tell Tony because she liked the attention, or if she honestly feared that he would bring down the wrath of what he liked to jokingly call ‘Earth’s mightiest heroes’ on Latveria. She needed to talk to someone, and wanted to bang her head against the wall as Clint’s chastisement about being a hermit rang in her ears. Everyone she trusted was somehow tied to Tony, and she couldn’t confide in them lest they bring their concerns to him. She supposed she could talk to her mom, but Betty was just as likely to turn to Tony now as any one on the team. It would have to wait until she could talk to Sasha in the morning, and by then, it was going to be moot. They were heading across the mountain pass by the afternoon.

A gentle knock sounded at her door, and the decision was no longer Sally’s to make. She smiled and took Victor’s offered arm, allowing him to lead her through the castle to the ballroom.

The lights were dimmed, and there was already music playing when they stepped into the room. Sally started at the sight of a small orchestral group and looked at Victor in alarm.

“I’m pleased to say my Servo-Guards are also programmed to play a variety of instruments, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to test that function,” he explained smoothly. Sally fought the urge to roll her eyes, and allowed him to lead her to the middle of the ballroom floor. He slid his right hand under her arm, leading her arm up onto his shoulder. “The waltz was, when it was first introduced, a horribly scandalous dance. The Germans introduced it, and they danced so close that their cheeks touched. It was felt to be indecent.”

“Our cheeks are not touching, Victor,” Sally pointed out the space between them. Victor pulled her closer until his breath was warm at the crown of her head.

“We are rather poorly matched for cheeks to touch, but I believe we are at that level of indecent closeness now.” His voice was a whisper against her hair. He stiffened his arms, making space between them again. “Of course, eventually the English had to make the dance decent. And the way we dance changed again, and the waltz seems like the dance of puritans compared to what I’ve seen in American nightclubs.”

Sally let out a bark of laughter. “I somehow can’t see you in a nightclub.”

“Funny, I thought the same of you,” he smiled. He led her around the dance floor until the song ended, and the Servo-Guard band started a different dance, and Victor slid his hand further across Sally’s back, bringing her back close to him. “I’ve always been more fond of the foxtrot myself. There’s less room for secrets between the dancers, there needs to be trust in order for a dance so swift to be successful.”

Sally stumbled a little as he spoke. “Just relax, Sally, and let me lead you. If you follow my strong lead, I can promise you safety and enjoyment.”

She swallowed thickly, and tried to empty her brain of whatever thoughts were bouncing around in it. She tried to reassure herself that all Victor was looking for was a dance partner for the evening to knock the rust off his technique, but Sasha’s words rung in her ears, and coupled with the press of his strong chest against hers, she was having a hard time believing that she was just doing her friend, no, her employer, a favour. She stumbled again, and used the opportunity to break out of Victor’s hold.

“I’m so sorry Victor, I should have known I would be all left feet. It was a long day on the car, and I’m exhausted.” She faked a yawn for good measure. “You’re an incredible dancer. I’m sure your client will be dazzled into buying dozens of Servo-Guards if you give her this same sales pitch.”

Victor nodded, a small wrinkle forming between his eyebrows that Sally thought might be annoyance. “Of course, Sally. Allow me to escort you back to your room. I appreciate your willingness to be my guinea pig tonight. Perhaps if you aren’t too tired tomorrow after your skiing expedition, we could practice again.”

“That would be lovely,” Sally nodded, thinking it would be anything but. Victor stopped outside of her door.

“I do so enjoy spending time with you, Sally. Your refreshing company makes me less lonely,” he started. Sally faked another yawn, covering her mouth and looking at him in apology. She dropped her hand on the doorknob and turned the latch. “But you are exhausted, iubită.” He leaned in a brushed his lips across her cheek.

“Goodnight, Victor,” Sally leaned against the door, allowing it to open with her weight, and stepped into her room. She smiled as brightly as she could manage as she shut and locked the door for the night.

[onestowatch]

22 Rising Artists on the First Record They Ever Bought

Crinkly reverbs, satisfying vibrations, and blissful tenderness are all essential to the intoxicating experience of playing a vinyl record. Even just watching the spiral groove spin around the needle is utterly gratifying, and it’s a tradition we here at Ones To Watch think should be kept alive. 

In honor of Record Store Day, we asked 22 rising artists to tell us about the first record they ever bought and their answers are definitely taking us back to the days when vinyl was the talk of the town. Keep reading for responses from FINNEAS, grandson, Olivia O’Brien, and many more!

Ashe - John Mayer’s Continuum (LP 2006) or Carole King’s Tapestry (LP 1971)

“It was either John Mayer’s ‘Continuum’ or Carole King’s ‘Tapestry.’ Both those albums feel like coming home.”

AUGUST 08 - Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (LP 2010)

“First Fridays before the album dropped, they put out a bunch of songs leading up to the album.”

Cautious Clay - Lenny Kravitz’s Greatest Hits (LP 2000)

"The first album I bought was a Lenny Kravitz’ greatest hits album. I remember listening to it on repeat and loving the sax solo on the record ‘Let Love Rule.’ The melodic and chordal structure around this song felt perfect as well."

Dennis Lloyd - Linkin Park’s Meteora (LP 2003)

“It is still one of my all time favorite albums and was a massive part of my childhood.”

DUCKWRTH - Ludacris’ Word of Mouf (LP 2001)

“Going to my first public school. Wearing uniform (dark blue dickies, white button up). The little homie was selling bootleg CDs with legitimate printed covers. I still wasn’t allowed to listen to rap, so this was my chance to gain entry to hip hop. I copped it, threw it on my CD player, and I remember hearing the phrase, ‘The royal penis is clean, your highness,’ and started dying laughing.”

Ella Vos - TLC’s CrazySexyCool (LP 1994)

“The first record I bought… was TLC’s ‘CrazySexyCool’ on TAPE! I remember feeling so cool that I owned my own music and that it was not my parents’ music! My cousin came over not long after I’d gotten it and we drew “crazy sexy cool” on our underwear, sagged our jeans, and danced in front of the mirror to the whole album front to back.”

FINNEAS - Leon Bridges’ Coming Home (LP 2015)

“First vinyl I ever bought was ‘Coming Home’ by Leon Bridges. To me, that album sounds like it was made to be played on vinyl.”

grandson - James Taylor’s Sweet Baby James (LP 1970)

“I found a used copy of James Taylor’s first album, ‘Sweet Baby James,’ in Amoeba on Sunset Boulevard. I had just moved to Los Angeles and was getting into sampling old records so I bought myself a terrible Crosley record player with a janky built-in speaker and started digging. I grew up with James Taylor and older folk music around me, so it connected me to home and to my father in some way. I had been digging for old soul and jazz records for a while and finding that record reminded me why I’m doing this in the first place. Connection, family.”

Greyson Chance - Coldplay’s Parachutes (LP 2000)

“The first album I ever bought was Coldplay’s ‘Parachutes.’ I remember my older brother driving me to the record store to get it after I had expressed a strong liking to ‘Yellow.’ I have distinct memories of my brother and I blasting that song anytime it came on the radio when we were in the car. I remember thinking that Chris Martin was an actual God after listening to the album a few weeks after buying it. Even at a young age (I think I was eight or nine at the time), there was something mesmerizing about his lyrics and the piano lines on that album. Favorite tracks include ‘Shiver,’ ‘Sparks,’ and ‘Don’t Panic.’”

HONNE - Radiohead’s OK Computer (LP 1997)

“The first record I ever bought was ‘OK Computer’ by Radiohead--which I still believe, to this day, is one of the best albums ever made. I have so many memories of putting it on and just sitting and taking it all in. No other distractions, no phones, eyes closed, wondering how they made everything sound like it did.”

Jasmine Thompson - The Ting Tings’ We Started Nothing (LP 2008)

“The first record I ever bought was The Ting Tings’ ‘We Started Nothing.’ I remember singing loudly to each song with my brother in a car for hours as we traveled from London to the Lake District. I knew all the lyrics!”

KALLITECHNIS - Sade’s The Best of Sade (LP 1994)

“The first record I ever bought was Sade’s ‘The Best of Sade.’ My dad had been playing her music my entire childhood, and buying this particular record felt like a musical torch had been passed onto me. It marked the start of my own musical identity--with Sade’s unmatched soulfulness being the foundation.”

Kodie Shane - Ashanti’s Ashanti (LP 2002)

“The first record I purchased was Ashanti’s self-titled. ‘Ashanti…’ my strongest memory is that I was only five years old and I asked my mom and dad for it. We purchased the album in cassette form and a Walkman. And that became the background music of my little pre-K life and on… (I loved Ashanti and JaRule. Lowkey, I still do.) When I think about it, I miss the feeling of anticipating a record you really want and having to wait to get it, the pleasure you feel at the counter paying for the music of the artist you support, excitedly unwrapping the packaging popping it in and pressing play!”

Olivia O’Brien - Miley Cyrus’ Breakout (LP 2008)

“I remember playing it in this white bulky CD player that my mom gave me… I had drawn all over it with Sharpie and colored the speakers with green and pink highlighter markers. I would sit in my room and play it over and over.”

Phony Ppl - *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached (LP 2000)

“My first album that I ever bought with my own money for my eighth birthday was *NSYNC’s ‘No Strings Attached.’ I remember buying it with a couple other albums at the time because my dad wanted me to pick some music for my birthday party, but that was definitely the first one I went for and in 2019, I gotta say it still slaps stupidly. I actually just heard Ariana Grande sample one of their songs on the radio the other day.” - Elijah Rawk

Pink Sweat$ - Mario’s Mario (LP 2002)

“No particular memories come to mind - other than my mom loving it and buying it for me.”

Role Model - The Notorious B.I.G.’s Life After Death (LP 1997)

“I honestly don’t remember if I’ve ever bought a record in my life, but I used to go through my brother’s car and steal shit when he wasn’t home. And I remember the first CD I ever had was ‘Life After Death’ because I took it from his car. I think hearing that album at such a young age made me hit puberty instantly and I became a big boy. I learned all my bad words that day.”

slenderbodies - Aaron Carter’s Aaron’s Party (LP 2000)

“The only story I can offer is actually based on a CD that I bought at Tower Records, so not technically a record itself. When I was young, for my fourth or fifth birthday I was given a small Walkman-style blue CD player. My mom had tons of CDs so The Beatles and Paul Simon were covered. The first record I remember picking out and buying was Aaron Carter’s ‘Aaron’s Party’ purely off of seeing ads for it on TV. This was the first pop record I ever bought and I listened to it pretty religiously. I took out the inside insert and unfolded it and hung it on my wall as a makeshift poster--a habit I’d continue well into being a teenager. In a strange way, I think buying that record and wanting to listen through all of it because I had bought the whole album inspired a persevering kind of attachment to appreciating albums as whole pieces of work.” - Benji Cormack

SWMRS - *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached (LP 2000)

“*NSYNC - ‘No Strings Attached.’ Was my first concert. And it changed my life.” - Max Becker

UMI - Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life (LP 1976)

“First vinyl I got was Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs in the Key of Life!’ I found it at the thrift store and bought it before I even had a record player because I knew future Umi would be happy to have it. Now I have a record player and it’s one of my favorite records to play in the morning.”

Valentina - Kanye West’s Late Registration (LP 2005)

“The first record I bought was ‘Late Registration,’ and I’m 100% sure that every single time I cried in high school I listened to that album. It was the soundtrack to all my happy and sad moments, and still is.”

Yoke Lore - Green Day’s Dookie (LP 1994)

“My first album was ‘Dookie’ by Green Day. And it changed my life. The first song I learned with my middle school band was ‘When I Come Around,’ and I learned to play drums listening to Tré Cool.”

#record store day #ashe #AUGUST08 #Dennis lloyd #DUCKWRTH #Ella vos #FINNEAS #grandson #Greyson chance #HONNE #jasmine thompson #KALLITECHNIS #kodie shane #Olivia obrien #phony ppl #pink sweat$ #role model #slenderbodies #SWMRS #UMI #valentina #yoke lore

[lunagalemaster]

Dannymay Day 2: Ice

(I’m late and this was overboard. Is this going to be a theme?)

Setting: Master of Space AU once more, sort of. Astral is narrating. No specific time period. 

Special thanks to @skyereminiscing​ and @ninjagorocksdealwithit​ for letting me use their Ice Sprite and Ice Prince Dannys! 

With that, let’s begin!

There was a huge difference between Cores and cores.

In short, Cores referred to the Dannys. The infinite, unfortunately incredibly important Dannys. Each universe created a Core once in its way too long lifespan (with a minor glitch here and there creating either an odd knock off or amusingly, an actor playing Danny). It was a ridiculous cycle. A Core was born, they lived, and if everything went well, they died after a long eventful life.

Astral noted that things only went well half the time.

The other half either were Cores with boring lives, those who died early, or those who never died at all.

Cores were important for sustaining a universe. No matter what they did, as long as they did something, their deaths would, at the very least, extend the longevity of the universe by a great number of Earth years Astral never bothered figuring out.

(Clockwork probably told him a few times, but considering it sometimes felt like he blinked and missed an entire millennia, the actual number of years were lost to him).

Whatever the actual number of years, it didn’t particularly matter. A Danny lived, they died, and their energy helped to make a universe live longer. Since Clockwork’s and Astral’s goal was to make universes live as long as possible, it was usually in their best interest to make sure that a Core was born.

Not that they could do much to keep the Core alive once he was born, but that was another story for another day, and by another day, Astral meant never.

On the other hand, cores were (with a few exceptions here and there), the lifeline of a ghost. Like Cores helped power universes, ghost cores were the literal center of being for every ghost, holding their power, personality, and essentially their very existence.

Unless you were a halfa, of course, then it had half of your existence...sometimes. Other times cores were in the halfas literal heart, and that really made a mess in some of the universes where a ghost managed to dispose of a Core by destroying their core.

The weirdest thing about cores, in Astral’s opinion, were their elemental effects. For some reason, some cores had elements. Not all of them but some of them. Astral could never figure out why (well, there was always an in-universe reason, but they varied and were way too complicated for his tastes). Of all the abilities ghosts could have, those related to their elemental cores always felt different than other powers. They didn’t relate to a ghost’s past, nor did it particularly relate to ghosts in general. Elemental cores were just another power….for no reason except to have an additional power.

Don’t even get him started on those with “musical” and “adaptive” cores. He tried to wrap his mind around these variations, and he  just came to the conclusion that they sounded cool and so the multiverse made it happen.

The Rule of Cool was a legitimate law, one that Astral himself indulged in quite often.

Generally, Cores tended to have ice cores….for some reason. Again, sometimes the sudden cryokinesis explained and other times, they just generally appear whenever the timeline demanded it. Astral tried to rational it all out, but by the time he found out that at least a fourth of the Common universes didn’t have cores, let alone ice cores, Astral realized that was a stupid thing to try to understand.

This, by itself, wouldn’t be too much of a big deal. Like ghost powers themselves, not every single universe had to have the same abilities. Fuck, the multiverse threw logic out the window as much as Astral did, which made sense when he thought about it. No, the reason why he was hung up on the stupid ice thing had nothing to do with lack of consistency or the consistent lack of consistency.

It was because for some damn reason, universes just loved to center ice as a Core’s main theme, even in Common universes.

If the ice theme was similar to the stars, Astral might have understood. Nearly every universe, with the exceptions of a handful had Core that either loved space or centered space around their universe. Space was loved by all of them in one form or another, and while the stars were simply a backdrop to him now, Astral distinctly remembered his pre-Master days and even his early days just staring out into the great infinity in wonder.

Ice on the other hand? Nothing. There was no reason. It was a theme and nothing less. The Cores didn’t have any attachment to ice, no memories, fuck, they usually hated the winter holiday. (Was this entire thing some great irony in the multiverse?) The only connection to ice they had was to their inconsistent occurrences in their ice core.

Clockwork said it was because the original universe had a Danny with an ice core. Astral preferred to think that the Rule of Cool had evolved into the Rule of Cold.

Whatever the case, it didn’t matter. Ice was a Core’s theme, and as a result, there were several universes dedicated to centralizing it to the point of extremity.

OoOoOoOoO  

Phantom, king of ghosts, leaned leisurely on the armrest of his throne, face impassive, as he eyed the babbling ghost before him. Bright blue eyes, bored at this endless routine strayed to the walls of his palace. The walls, changed to match the reign of the new king, packed to the brim with solid snow to the point only the most powerful of fire cores could even hope to melt it. Icicles clung to the ceiling dangerous, the pointed ends like spikes ready to close down on the rest of the room. The floor was slick and shining. If he wanted, Phantom could see his reflection.

“M-m-m-my K-king?” A voice whispered.

Phantom’s eyes snapped to the ghost, who jumped away in fright. The poor thing was shivering, from fear or the temperature, the king could not say.

Phantom smiled softly, “Please continue. I was just distracted. Not harm done.”

The ghost hesitated a moment, before nodding and continuing on.

The smile dropped from the king’s face, and it was all he could do not to let out another sigh. He wrapped his cape closer to his body, the snowflake design glittering nicely with the rest of the room. If he could, Phantom would be anywhere else, trying to proactively find a way to improve his kingdom.

But no, he was here, listening to some councilman explain boring economic efforts that he’d just hand off to someone who knew what they were doing. It was a boring thing, but a necessary one. He just wished that it wasn’t.

Phantom huffed out a breath and watched it float through the air. Crystallizing, making patterns, before breaking away.

Sometimes being  the Ghost King had a powerless quality to it.

OoOoOoOoO

Astral understood on some level.

On others he didn’t.

It was as much of a symbol as it was a mark of power.

However, for some, it was something new, but just a part of their lives just the same.

OoOoOoOoO

Danny frowned as the little wings fluttered behind him.

They felt...odd on his body, but at the same time, perfectly normal. Like an extra limb that had been asleep for who knew long, it at first was awkward almost painful, but now?

He turned his head to look at them, their fluttering stopping at the moment. Snowflakes trailed up and down the dragonfly esque design of the appendages. The base of the wings were a light blue, almost white, and probably would be if it weren't for the lighting. Even when they weren’t moving they seemed to be shimmering, twitching, ready to take off for a long flight.

Or maybe it was just him.

He shook his head and hopped off his bed. He headed towards his mirror to get a better look at himself again. The combination of morbid fascination mixed with a strange inner peace had him skitting his now, much brighter eyes toward any reflective surface he could find. Even if he jumped at the alien in the mirror (well, sprite), he couldn’t help but think that he looked...right for once.

Fueled by a desire to see his reflection, he felt himself floating off the floor in little hops, wings buzzing excitedly behind him. He couldn’t exactly understand flying just yet, but some deep instincts had him using his wings with whatever limited uses he could find.

He must have miscalculated his jumps because he found himself stumbling nearly on top of his vanity. Grumbling to himself, he gripped the edge and lowered his feet back on the ground.

Then he caught his reflection.

He looked like a Smurf. At least, that was always his first thought. Although, his skin wasn’t that deep of a blue, the shade of blue always closer to a light sky rather than deep blue of the little creatures, the deeper blue of his eyes and the dark blue spots of his freckles made it difficult not to make the comparison.

As he absently poked at his freckles,  his eyes trailed over the rest of his face. More pointed features of his jaw with pointed ears to match. Yet his hair poofed more than usual. Maybe it was to give the effect of powdered snow, but after his transformation, his black hair turned snowy white and seemed to shine softly off his head.

Danny didn’t even realize he was leaning forward until he pressed his hands on the glass. Startled, he looked behind him only to find his wings fluttering up a storm and his body floating gently off the ground. Slightly panicking, he leaned forward towards the glass, and he found his breath creating trails of frost, the ice crawling intricate patterns on the mirror in a way he’d only seen in movies.

Despite his predicament, Danny couldn’t help but smile.

OoOoOoOoO

For others, ice was their very of life. Their identity was tied to the snow and freezing cold just as important to them, as the very air they breathed. It was their story, their beginning, their end. Astral couldn’t disconnect them if he tried.

Yet despite it all, there was a certain innocence when it came to ice, snow more specifically. It should have been mundane, yet as the Cores explored the vast snowy plains, their eyes glittered as they eyed the land

There was an innocence and beauty in watching these Cores love the world around them that Astral appreciated even if he didn’t particularly understand.

OoOoOoOoO

Phantom snuggled under the snow, keeping his breaths low. It was dark and more than a little cold, but that was alright. He knew what he was doing. Paja taught him how to keep warm when he was lost in the snow.

He wasn’t lost now. He didn’t even need to fly very far to go to the village, let alone see it. Yet, quietly, as he could, Phantom camouflaged himself under the light cover of snow. He was sort of cold, and he was pretty sure he had snow in some weird places, but unlike the time he jumped into a giant piles of it only to have his Paja needing to take icicles out of his frozen hair, this time it was different.

He waited, anticipation building, his core buzzing with excitement. He tried his best not to shift too much. To keep quiet. Hidden. Not visible even by the greatest of-

“Found you, Little One!” Suddenly, Phantom found himself being lifted in air by two strong, familiar paws. He screamed in surprise, before the sound turned into a wave of laughter and giggles, as he hugged the Far Frozen who surprised him.

“Paja! You found me!” Phantom exclaimed. He floated up to rest on Frostbite’s shoulders, legs dangling between his head, as his hands held on tightly to his horns. “How did you know I was there?”

“I am a master tracker!” Frostbite said with a chuckle. He started making his way back to the village.

“But how?”

Frostbite sounded amused, as he replied, “It’s not too difficult to find a wiggling pile of snow.”

“Ohhh,” Phantom muttered, pouting a bit, “I thought that I was still enough.”

A giant paw came up and ruffled his hair, causing Phantom to giggle under his breath. The Ice Prince could hear the pride in his Paja’s voice when he continued, “It was a nice start. If you had been farther out, I might not have had that easy a time finding you. But alas, your wiggling and the circumstances made it quite a bit easier on me than you. You’ll learn,” he said, after Phantom gave a little sigh, “But you also need practice, but for now, time to get you warmed up.”

“Wait!” Phantom called out, floating quickly off Frostbite.

He arched an eyebrow, “Oh, what is it, Young One?”

“I just…” He turned away from the village and looked back to the endless snow, “...Can we stay longer? Just the two of us?”

There was a small silence from his Paja, and it made Phantom’s heart hurt. Out here in the snow with no one else around, he was free. No duty, no other Far Frozen, just the Ice Prince and his kingdom, sharing the land with the creature he cared more than anyone else in the Zone.

He looked back at his Paja, eyes wide and pleading, but to Phantom’s despair, he had already closed his eyes, shaking his head no. “I’m sorry. But we must make our way back home. Now come along. I don’t want you to freeze yourself.”

‘You’re my home,’ Phantom thought. And so was Maja and the snowy beyond, but he couldn’t say this, he knew. He didn’t want his Paja to feel guilty for anything. His home was here, and he was happy with his life!

However, as he longed for the vast expanse of the unknown, he couldn’t help but think he could be happier too.

OoOoOoOoO

It was ridiculous. There was no one connection that ice had to the Cores. Yes, there was overlapping ones (how couldn’t there be), but over the many Cores and many universes, they attached themselves to their ice abilities in ways that baffled him. Some for beauty, some for practicality, some simply using them because they were there, and why not? It’s another power, isn’t it?

Astral knew he shouldn’t be harped on the idea of an ice theme or narratives being carried just by this theme of ice, but he has seen the same story so many times and yet the stories of ice could either be completely boring or jaw droppingly emotional.

It didn’t make sense.

But nothing made any sense really, and the multiverse enjoyed beating his sense of reality into little tiny pieces anyway, so why not just go with the flow and enjoy?

Astral supposed the ice thing was just one little problem out of many that represented his struggles as a whole.

If the Cores were enjoying their ice abilities, who was he to judge them?

OoOoOoOoO

It was midnight in the middle of December in what could have been the coldest nights of the year. Danny had zero sleep in the last two days, he failed his world geography test, and he was only one parental late night check-in away from getting grounded for all eternity.

Even so, he found himself floating down towards the lake at the edge of town, the decently sized body of water frozen over for the winter. Despite himself, Danny couldn’t help but smile, clutching the bag in his hand even tighter in his excitement.

Flying was amazing stress reliever, sure, but his favorite pastime was getting riskier by the day. With Valerie and his parents both after his hide, one moment he could be enjoying the rush of air as he rushed toward the ground and the next, he could be plummeting for entirely different reasons.

So, no, with the chaos of his life and his already high stress levels, he did not want to risk being shot at, thank you very much.

Danny gently landed, boots barely making a sound, as the ice gained his light weight. While he was sure it would hold him, just in case, he crouched down, and after shifting the bag, pressed his free hand on the ice. His eyes glowed blue, and there was a woosh of cold air that rose up and unsettled the sparing trees around him.

He got up and pressed his foot down, moving his foot side to side. Danny stepped his foot once or twice, and when he was done, he smiled in satisfaction, giving the ice a little nod. After doing his tests, he floated over to the edge of the lake, made himself an ice bench. He settled himself and his bag down with a plop, transforming back into Fenton.

From here, covered from head to toe with thick winter clothes, Danny opened the bag, revealing a pair of figure skates.

It started out as a way to practice his new ice powers. Some nights, he’d go out, freeze the lake a bit, and try to make some snowmen or something. It wasn’t too big of a deal, and while using his ice powers wasn’t as practical on non-moving objects, as other ghosts, the powers were new enough that anything was helpful.

Although, if Danny were to ever come clean and tell his friends, he will remember never to mention the number of squirrels he pissed off while looking for target practice, or so help him, Sam would fully kill him right then and there.

The reason he started skating was a bit embarrassing. One night he freezed the lake and started sliding around like a clumsy baby penguin. Fenton stubbornness kicked in, and he wouldn’t leave the lake until he could slide around on the ice without slipping. He got the brilliant idea to put skates on the bottom of his boots.

It worked out well for about three seconds before he fell flat on his face.

Normal people would have given up there. However, a combination of dread of coming home and the before mentioned Fenton genes had him huffing, getting back up again, and trying to skate once more. When he got back home, the first thing he did was look up how to make actual skates and, of course, how not to flat out on his face.

He eventually bought a pair of skates when he figured out putting blades on the bottom of his boots was not very effective.

Danny didn’t exactly know what it was supposed to be to him. He never saw himself as a skater. Even if the thought did ever cross his mind, he would have shoved it down, tear it up, and make sure it never did again, in fear of Dash finding out and bashing him in the face.

Good thing Danny stopped caring what Dash thought a long time ago.

If Tucker and Sam ever found out what he did some nights, he’d never hear the end of it. They wouldn’t get it, not exactly, and while they wouldn’t make fun of him (for long), he knew they wouldn’t see this like he did.

It was like flying, except a bit more accessible. Whenever he moved on the ice, the wind flowing, body bending, and twisting, he couldn’t help but feel like he was in a whole other world.

Danny finished tying up his skates. Carefully, he made his way towards the ice,  smile wide on his face, as he started the now familiar motion of skating. He started slow, making sure he knew the motions. The wind picked up, as he went along, as he sashayed back and forth, marking his trail with the cut of his blades.

As time went on, he went faster, nothing too much, but he felt the air pick up around him, the cold holding him like a hug, and he closed his eyes so he could just feel the world turn into nothing but wind, ice, and freedom.

Hours later, Danny sat on the little ice bench once more. He was exhausted, face flushed pink, breath short, and sore from head to toe. He should have stayed home, slept, get some homework done.

Yet, as he stayed at the frozen lake and put away his skates, Danny couldn’t help but feel the happiest he’d been in a long time.

OoOoOoOoO

There may be a big difference between Cores and their cores, but considering their passion, not only with ice, but with the usual hope they had to continue on beyond what should be possible, Astral appreciated them nonetheless.

Ice was a staple of the multiverse. It wasn’t going away.

So why not just sit back, watch the show, and enjoy the winter wonderlands?

#danny phantom #dannymay #dannymay 2017 #day 2 #danny may day 2 #ice #master of space au #unedited #this took way too long #astral #very meta #meta #Now time for a short prompt to counter this monstrosity

[myjourneytoaprocard-blog]

How were chosen the Names for Super Mario

When I found that out I did two things. First, I whipped out the copy of mine (yes, I maintain it that real/nerdy which I still need a well used NES connected in the room) of mine and then made confident I will be able to match the game at will. (I can. Childhood not wasted.)

Secondly, I launched down a rabbit hole of looking through Mario sites and Wikis and Articles. In the process, I stumbled upon the etymologies of the brands of a number of the major players in the Mario universe. Therefore, in honor of the video game which changed the globe, here they're, presented in handy 11-item show form.

Mario.

When Mario debuted in the arcade game "Donkey Kong", he was only known as Jumpman. (Which even actually is the generic label regarding that Michael Jordan dispersed leg Nike logo. 2 of the most legendary icons ever equally have generic versions of themselves called Jumpman. But just one of them has nowadays arrived at the attempt of remaining very powerful that he shaved himself a Hitler mustache before filming a professional and not one person had the balls to correct him.)

In 1980, as the Nintendo of America staff shipped Jumpman to raise him right into a franchise-leading star (Hayden Christensen style), somebody noticed that he looked like their Seattle office building's landlord... a fellow known as Mario Segale.

Mario Segale didn't get yourself a dime for being the namesake of probably the most prominent video game character ever, however, he most likely is not very concerned; in 1998 he sold his asphalt business for more than $60 million. (Or 600,000 additional lives.)

Luigi.

Luigi actually has among probably the weakest label roots of all of the all mario characters in the Mario universe (once again showing exactly why, in life which is real, he'd have a greater inferiority complex compared to Frank Stallone, Abel or perhaps that third Manning brother).

"Luigi" is merely the result of a group of Japanese males attempting to consider an Italian name to enhance "Mario." Why was the Italian name they went with? When they all moved from Japan to Seattle, the pizza spot nearest to the Nintendo headquarters called Mario & Luigi's. (It has since gone out of business.)

Koopa.

Koopa is a transliterated version of the Japanese rap for the opponent turtles, "Kuppa." Stick with me here -- kuppa is the Japanese word for a Korean dish known as gukbap. Essentially it is a cup of soup with rice. From what I definitely explain to it is absolutely not related to turtles, especially malicious ones.

In an interview, Mario's originator, Shigeru Miyamoto, said he was deciding between three labels which are diverse due to the high-speed of evil turtles, all of which were named after Korean foods. (The other 2 were yukhoe and bibimbap.) Which means one of 2 things: (1) Miyamoto likes Korean foods and needed to give it a tribute or even (two) Miyamoto believes Koreans are evil and really should be jumped on.

Wario.

I kind of missed the debut of Wario -- he debuted in 1992, right around when I was hitting the era where I was extremely cool for cartoon-y Nintendo games. (Me and the middle school buddies of mine were into Genesis only. I was again on Nintendo within four years.)

Seems the title of his operates both equally in english and Japanese; I kinda assumed the English manner but didn't know about the Japanese feature. In English, he's an evil, bizarro marketplace mirror image of Mario. The "M" flips to become a "W" as well as Wario is created. The name also operates in Japanese, wherever it is the variety of Mario and "warui," that indicates "bad."

That's a pretty high quality scenario, since, as I covered thoroughly in the summary eleven Worst Japanese-To-English Translations In Nintendo History, not every language disparity finesses back and also forth very smoothly.

Waluigi.

When I initially read "Waluigi" I assumed it was hilarious. While Wario was obviously an all natural counterbalance to Mario, Waluigi felt extremely comically shoehorned (just tacking the "wa" prefix before Luigi) -- including a huge inside joke that somehow cleared each and every bureaucratic stage and after that cracked the mainstream.

Well... in accordance with the Nintendo folks, Waluigi isn't only a gloriously idle choice or an inside joke become massive. They *say* it's based upon the Japanese word ijiwaru, which means "bad guy."

I don't understand. I feel like we'd have to meet them more than halfway to purchase that.

Toad.

Toad is designed to look like a mushroom (or toadstool) thanks to his massive mushroom hat. It's a good thing the gaming systems debuted before the entire generation realized the right way to generate penis jokes.

Anyway, in Japan, he's considered Kinopio, which is a combination of the name for mushroom ("kinoko") and also the Japanese version of Pinocchio ("pinokio"). Those mix being something along the collections of "A Real Mushroom Boy."

Goomba.

In Japanese, these guys are known as kuribo, that means "chestnut people." That seems sensible because, ya know, if somebody asked you "what do chestnut people seem like?" you'd almost certainly arrive at food roughly similar to these heroes.

Whenever they had been imported for the American version, the team tangled with their Italian initiative and also called them Goombas... primarily based off the Italian "goombah," which colloquially signifies anything as "my fellow Italian friend." Furthermore, it sort of evokes the photo of low level mafia thugs without very many expertise -- like individuals younger brothers and cousins who they had to retain the services of or perhaps mom would yell at them. That also goes for the Mario Bros. goombas.

Birdo.

Birdo has nothing to do with this particular initial Japanese name. Generally there, he's considered Kyasarin, which results in "Catherine."

In the training manual for Super Mario Bros. two, where Birdo debuted, the persona description of his reads: "Birdo thinks he is a woman and likes to be known as Birdetta."

What I do think this all means? Nintendo shockingly opted to develop a character who struggles with the gender identity of his and then named him Catherine. In the event it was some time to go to America, they have feet which are cold so they resolved at the last minute to contact him Birdo, although he's a dinosaur. (And don't give me the "birds are descended from dinosaurs" pop-paleontology series. Not shopping for that connection.) In that way, we would just understand about his gender misunderstandings in case we look at the mechanical, and the Japanese have been sure Americans were sometimes too lazy or perhaps illiterate to do so en masse.

Princess Toadstool/Peach.

When everyone got introduced to the Princess, she was regarded as Princess Toadstool. I suppose this made perfect sense -- Mario was put in the Mushroom Kingdom, so why wouldn't its monarch be named Princess Toadstool. Them inbreeding blue bloods are usually naming the kids of theirs immediately after the country.

Nobody seems to be sure the reason they went the guidance, however. In Japan, she was regarded as Princess Peach from day one. That name didn't debut here before 1993, when Yoshi's Safari became available for Super Nintendo. (By the manner -- have you played Yoshi's Safari? In an unconventional twist it's a first-person shooter, the only girl in the entire Mario the historical past. It's as the equivalent of a country music superstar putting out a weird rock album.)

Bowser.

In Japan, there's no Bowser. He's simply referred to as the King Koopa (or related modifications, including Great Demon King Koopa). And so exactly where did Bowser come from?

During the import procedure, there was a concern that the American masses wouldn't understand how the small turtles and big bad man could definitely be called Koopa. Thus a marketing group developed many options for a title, they loved Bowser the best, and also slapped it on him.

In Japan, he is still hardly ever referred to as Bowser. Over here, his name is now extremely ubiquitous that he is actually supplanted Sha Na Na's Bowzer as America's most well known Bowser.

Donkey Kong.

This's a more literal interpretation than you think. "Kong" is based off King Kong. "Donkey" is a family friendly way of calling him an ass. That is right: The title of his is an useful version of "Ass Ape."

Great Mario Bros. is a video game introduced for the family Computer and also Nintendo Entertainment System found 1985. It shifted the gameplay away from its single-screen arcade predecessor, Mario Bros., in addition to instead highlighted side scrolling platformer levels. Although not the original game of the Mario franchise, Super Mario Bros. is considered the most iconic, in addition to introduced a variety of series staples, from power-ups, to classic foes as Goombas, to the standard premise of rescuing Princess Toadstool coming from King Koopa. Along with kicking above a whole number of Super Mario platformer games, the untamed success of Super Mario Bros. popularized the genre as a whole, really helped revive the gaming industry after the 1983 footage game crash, and was largely accountable for the first results on the NES, with that it was bundled up a launch name. Until eventually it had been ultimately surpassed by Wii Sports, Super Mario Bros. was the best marketing videos game of all of the moment for about three decades, with more than 40 thousand copies sold overseas.

#mario characters names bad guys

[via-hermes-blog]

How had been selected the Names for Super Mario

When I discovered that out I did two things. First, I whipped out the message of mine (yes, I maintain it which real/nerdy that I continue to have an old NES connected in the room) of mine and made sure I can still beat the game at will. (I can. Childhood not wasted.)

Secondly, I launched down a rabbit hole of reading Mario websites as well as Wikis and Articles. In the procedure, I stumbled upon the etymologies of the names of many of the major players in the Mario universe. Therefore, in honor of the video game which changed the globe, in this article they're, presented in useful 11 item list form.

Mario.

When Mario debuted to the arcade game "Donkey Kong", he was only called Jumpman. (Which additionally actually is the generic name regarding that Michael Jordan dispersed leg Nike logo. 2 of the most celebrated icons ever each have generic versions of themselves known as Jumpman. But just one of them has nowadays arrived at a point of being so effective that he shaved himself a Hitler mustache before filming a commercial and the balls were had by not one person to fix him.)

In 1980, as the Nintendo of America team shipped Jumpman to lift him straight into a franchise-leading star (Hayden Christensen style), someone noticed that he looked like their Seattle office building's landlord... a fellow called Mario Segale.

Mario Segale didn't get yourself a cent for becoming the namesake of one of the most prominent video game persona by chance, though he probably is not excessively concerned; in 1998 he sold the asphalt business of his for over sixty dolars million. (Or 600,000 increased lives.)

Luigi.

Luigi actually has among the weakest label beginnings of most of the mario characters names bad guys in the Mario universe (once again showing precisely why, in real life, he would have a greater inferiority complicated compared to Frank Stallone, Abel or perhaps that third Manning brother).

"Luigi" is simply the product of people of Japanese males attempting to imagine an Italian brand to complement "Mario." Why was the Italian name they went with? When they all moved from Japan to Seattle, the pizza area closest to the Nintendo headquarters known as Mario & Luigi's. (It has since gone out of business.)

Koopa.

Koopa is a transliterated model of the Japanese rap for the adversary turtles, "Kuppa." Stick with me here -- kuppa is the Japanese term for a Korean dish referred to as gukbap. Essentially it is a cup of soup with elmer rice. From what I will inform it's totally unrelated to turtles, particularly malicious ones.

In an interview, Mario's originator, Shigeru Miyamoto, said he was deciding between three brands that are distinct because of the race of evil turtles, every one of that happened to be called after Korean foods. (The alternative 2 were yukhoe and bibimbap.) Which means among two things: (one) Miyamoto loves Korean food and wanted to offer a tribute or (2) Miyamoto considers Koreans are evil and should be jumped on.

Wario.

I kind of skipped the debut of Wario -- he debuted in 1992, right around when I was hitting the generation exactly where I was way too awesome for cartoon y Nintendo games. (Me and my middle school buddies have been into Genesis only. I was back on Nintendo within 4 years.)

Seems the title of his functions both equally in Japanese and english; I kinda assumed the English fashion but did not know about the Japanese aspect. In English, he is an evil, bizarro world mirror image of Mario. The "M" flips to turn into a "W" and also Wario is born. The name also operates in Japanese, when it's a mix of Mario as well as "warui," which means "bad."

That's a really good situation, since, as I covered extensively in the summary eleven Worst Japanese-To-English Translations In Nintendo History, only a few language disparity finesses back and forth so efficiently.

Waluigi.

When I first read "Waluigi" I believed it was hilarious. While Wario became a natural counterbalance to Mario, Waluigi felt so comically shoehorned (just tacking the "wa" prefix before Luigi) -- including a huge inside joke that somehow cleared every single bureaucratic phase and after that cracked the mainstream.

Well... in accordance with the Nintendo people, Waluigi isn't only a gloriously lazy choice or perhaps an inside joke gone huge. They *say* it is dependant upon the Japanese term ijiwaru, which means "bad guy."

I don't know. I sense that we would have to supply them much more than halfway to pay for that.

Toad.

Toad is built to look like a mushroom (or perhaps toadstool) thanks to his giant mushroom hat. It's a great thing these games debuted before the entire model realized how you can earn penis jokes.

Anyway, in Japan, he's named Kinopio, which is a blend of the word for mushroom ("kinoko") and the Japanese version of Pinocchio ("pinokio"). Those mix being something around the lines of "A Real Mushroom Boy."

Goomba.

In Japanese, the guys are referred to as kuribo, that typically translates to "chestnut people." That makes sense because, ya know, if another person expected you "what do chestnut folks are like?" you'd almost certainly reach food roughly similar to these heroes.

When they had been imported for the American model, the team stuck with their Italian initiative and also called them Goombas... dependent off of the Italian "goombah," that colloquially will mean something as "my fellow Italian friend." Furthermore, it sort of evokes the picture of low-level mafia thugs without too many capabilities -- such as individuals younger brothers and also cousins who they had to hire or maybe mother would yell at them. That also goes for the Mario Bros. goombas.

Birdo.

Birdo has nothing at all to do with this particular original Japanese name. There, he's named Kyasarin, which regularly means "Catherine."

In the instruction manual for Super Mario Bros. two, where Birdo debuted, the character explanation of his reads: "Birdo believes he's a girl and would like to be called Birdetta."

What In my opinion this all means? Nintendo shockingly made the decision to generate a character who struggles with his gender identity and then named him Catherine. In the event it was a bit of time to show up to America, they have cold feet so they decided at the very last minute to contact him Birdo, even though he's a dinosaur. (And do not provide me the "birds are descended from dinosaurs" pop paleontology line. Not purchasing that connection.) That way, we would only know about the gender misunderstandings of his in case we have a look at mechanical, and the Japanese have been sure Americans were sometimes too idle or perhaps illiterate to do so en masse.

Princess Toadstool/Peach.

When everyone got released to the Princess, she was recognized as Princess Toadstool. I guess this made perfect sense -- Mario was put in the Mushroom Kingdom, so why wouldn't its monarch be known as Princess Toadstool. Them inbreeding blue bloods are always naming their kids immediately after the country.

Nobody seems to be sure precisely why they went the direction, though. In Japan, she was recognized as Princess Peach from day one. That term didn't debut here before 1993, when Yoshi's Safari arrived on the scene for Super Nintendo. (By the way -- have you ever played Yoshi's Safari? In a bizarre twist it is a first-person shooter, the only woman in the entire Mario times past. It's as the equivalent of a country music superstar making a weird rock album.)

Bowser.

In Japan, there is simply no Bowser. He's simply called the King Koopa (or perhaps comparable modifications, like Great Demon King Koopa). So just where did Bowser come from?

During the import procedure, there was a concern that the American crowd would not recognize how the small turtles and big bad man could definitely be called Koopa. So a marketing staff put together many choices for a title, they loved Bowser the best, and slapped it on him.

In Japan, he's still hardly ever referred to as Bowser. Over here, the label of his has become very ubiquitous that he's even supplanted Sha Na Na's Bowzer as America's a good number of prominent Bowser.

Donkey Kong.

This is a much more literal interpretation than you think. "Kong" is based off of King Kong. "Donkey" is a family friendly method of calling him an ass. That is right: His title is an useful version of "Ass Ape."

.

#mario characters