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favoniuscodex · 3 years

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genshin characters + video games headcanons

prompt: what video games the genshin characters would play warnings: ???? uhhhh just mentions of typical toxic video game culture i guess LOL characters: literally every playable character a/n: not much to say so here are some songs i listened to while writing: black pearl by sunmi, the winner takes it all by abba, la vie en rose by iz*one. anyways these headcanons were debated upon in a gc of my friends. sorry if u disagree w/ any of these jkdsfdkjkd

albedo would play slime rancher. 100%. he likes how you can combine the slimes to make new ones and how it has a bit of a science-y aspect. it’s calm while still entertaining. he definitely has multiple different worlds where he collects different slimes. he’s very into it.

amber plays animal crossing and is SUPER into it with the cute nice ACNH island. will get excited when she finds out someone new is playing it and give them materials to help them get started on their island.

barbara and xinyan play osu together. xinyan is likely the one that gets barbara into it and they get carpal tunnel together <3

beidou doesn’t play video games much, but will play as rosalina in mariokart. she’s not the best but she’s got the spirit!

bennett is a fortnite kid. bennett sweetie i’m so sorry but #1 victory royale yeah fortnite we boutta get down, ten kills on the board right now just wiped out tomato town

childe plays call of duty and takes it way too seriously. probably also plays pubg. will fight with people over voice comms but also yells at the people who are misogynistic. probably moans into the mic when people accuse him of being a white knight.

chongyun plays smash. somehow has all the combos memorized. he doesn’t talk when playing either and sits there eerily calm.

diluc plays league of legends. probably a jungle main. kaeya plays a game with him once and diluc refuses to tell kaeya how to play and also refuses to gank his lane. diluc blames kaeya when they lose.

diona also plays league of legends. is the toxic yasuo player that goes 0/10 and flames you. has probably been banned 3 times for toxicity.

fischl is an undertale kid. insists her eye underneath her eyepatch glows blue like sans’ eye but refuses to take it off to prove it. bennett believes her but nobody else does.

ganyu plays the sims. she likes making sure everyone is ok and plays it in a nice, calming manner. it lets her feel efficient.

hu tao LOVES horror games but also probably plays animal crossing. she definitely laughs at jump scares. will definitely play animal crossing with amber although hu tao’s island isnt nearly as organized as amber’s. hu tao likes the messiness of her island which is a whole mood.

jean plays call of duty. is silent the entire time and only comes on the mic at the end of the game to be like “good game, guys!” if she senses a misogynist in her presence.

kaeya plays splatoon. idk anything about splatoon the gc just told me that he would play splatoon so it’s probably a game for cool ppl. probably also cries while playing undertale because he relates too hard with whole “your actions have consequences” thing it does lol idk but its a mood.

keqing says she has better things to do than play video games but has a soft spot in her heart for pokemon. it reminds her of when she was younger and she had less to do. probably plays pokemon go because she feels like she’s still efficient while playing it.

klee has a copy of grand theft auto. yes, she plays it exactly how you think she would play it.

lisa plays league of legends and is a support main. will vehemently deny it if you ask her but she rlly likes how u have to calculate what each item does and stuff! lisa’s a smart girl so she likes having to actively predict the actions of others

mona 100% plays the sims but does so in a chaotic way. probably uses it to get out her stress by creating sims of the people she doesn’t like and giving them questionable lives.

ningguang probably knows how to play smash. plays as zero suit samus or the wii fit trainer. refuses to play as any male characters except for pikachu, kirby, and yoshi.

noelle probably plays uhhh breath of the wild. she just seems like she would like the open world stuff and being able to roam around and stuff.

qiqi plays toca boca games with klee. due to her memory, qiqi probably sticks to simple games, but klee has no problems with showing her friend how to play games again, no matter how many times it takes!

razor has an old busted DS in which he plays pokemon. probably also likes nintendogs. is super serious about taking good care of his dog friends.

sucrose plays overwatch. she is a mercy or a d.va main.

venti plays exclusively mariokart. however, if placed in the vicinity of a real car, venti loses all capable thought and cannot drive. plays as cat peach for the meme.

xiangling plays cooking mama and overcooked. she loves cooking games. if you’re over at xiangling’s, chances are she’s making you play overcooked with her.

xingqiu doesn’t play video games. he’s bad at them. will play smash with chongyun but only knows how to play kirby. will down-b over and over.

xinyan loves music games. probably invented guitar hero and rock band. will play two instruments at once if playing rock band along with singing. one woman band.

xiao plays call of duty. encounters childe who teases him so badly that xiao swats childe. the fatui show up at childe’s place in which childe taunts xiao with the fact that childe is the police. the two somehow end up on each others friends list and continuing to play with each other. for xiao, its because he has unsettled beef with childe. for childe, its because he thinks xiao’s anger is hilarious.

zhongli shocks everyone when he reveals that yes, he plays video games. if you go on his steam account, he has many different games, but only one has 500+ hours. it’s civ 6. zhongli says it “reminds him of the good old days”. nobody knows what that means, but zhongli does as he’s all too familiar with building actual civilizations from the ground up.

#feel free to fight me on these in my anons ill be down for discussions #genshin impact #genshin impact headcanons

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toomanyanimefics · 3 years

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MHA General Dorm Head canons

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The main living area has one communal bluetooth speaker- its constantly causing fights and is the main tool for trolling and annoying everyone in the 1A dorm... -There's constantly some two students fighting over who connects their playlists to play (Denki and Mina mostly). Everyone agrees to have a shared Dorm playlist, Jiro ends up making this playlist and adds everyone's favourite songs and bands to keep everyone happy.

This however has been used for purely chaotic actions like - Kaminari playing Smash mouth (original -_-) at 2am after a dare gone wrong... Lets say Bakugou definitely made enough noise to drown out the speaker, and it was quickly confiscated by Aizawa the next morning.

Jiro will practice her instruments, however she often still gets shy- so she always has an ear jack plugged into her bedroom door and if she hears footsteps close she immediately stops playing and gets flustered. She'll sit and wait for the traffic to stop before she continues. The class discovered this and now is extremely quiet so they don't throw her off, and so they can hear her amazing music through their thin dorm walls (they love their punk rock classmate so much!)

Everyone, both boys and girls have a silent pact that they protect (mostly) the girls rooms from Mineta. Todoroki and Deku have unfortunately on numerous occasions caught Mineta outside one of the girls closed dorm room, eavesdropping on their sleepovers. Lets just say Mineta backed right off after that, quickly realising that he wasn't going to get anywhere with the strongest and talented boys and girls in the school breathing down his neck for being a creep. :(

Deku has a huge whiteboard on wheels in his room that Todoroki stole from general studies for him so he can right and erase notes as he pleases, Sometimes Deku will roll it into the main living room and use it for study sessions, Iida bought him nice coloured whiteboard markers after deku’s ones black marker got harder to read as he kept squeezing in more: "important notes and information" onto the board.

Also with the whiteboard. - While Midoriya out training, Tsuyu, Tokoyami, Uraraka and Todoroki will draw little scribbles and cute sketches over it in the spare spaces, Midoriya hasn't erased any of them yet, and when he has to he always takes photos of them!

The Dekusquad and the bakusquad constantly having super smash bros tournaments on a friday night, however with an overwhelming skill gap towards the bakusquad, sero and kaminari will often jump and play for team deku. The best super smash bros players being Sero, Kirishima, bakugou, todoroki, denki, deku, and tsuyu is very good at playing exclusively kirby.

Mock cooking shows with Sato, where Sato often tries to get his classmates to bake something edible while avoiding disaster..... Kaminari is now banned from using the oven and stovetop...

(I believe i've seen this written somewhere else before, but I live for this one so i'm carrying it on) Sero and Mina always have their dorm room open through the day so anyone can come in to talk or vent, and of course mostly chill. However only a few certain people have hammock privileges in Seros room.

Iida and Momo have made a copy of all of their notes combined across all classes, they got Midoriya to help organise into a binder - that sits on the kitchen counter so anyone can use it to study or review notes they might of missed. It was mocked for about one week for being the nerdiest thing ever- but now kaminari and sero fight over who gets to use it and its now the dorm room bible. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I love domestic and slice of life headcanons so this was a treat, I would write this stuff forever so feel free to request more! Lowkey will write more on my own accord anywayssss -mod Quartz

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tiny-stack-of-knights · 3 years

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WOOHOO FINISHED ANOTHER REF

Here’s Galacta Knight! He’s a good boy (:

I’ve got some notes for him in general as well as his place in the galactic crisis au I’m makin, feel free to read them below the cut!

Here are some general notes about him before the galactic crisis:

-Galacta is actually a real knight! (unlike somebody else...)

-He was actually Halcandra’s best knight! He rose to the position through his excellent defensive skills and efficiency in energy based magic.

-As strong as he his, Galacta only fights to protect those who aren’t able to fight for themselves, and as such, his fighting style is very defensive. Well, it used to be...

-He’s a big lovable dude! Literally, he’s like 6’3 and doesn’t even wear heels!

-Personality wise, Galacta is kind of a himbo...very loving and well intentioned but not always the smartest. Very emotionally driven.

-He’s not DUMB, he’s just very inclined to follow his emotions and instincts in the moment rather than think far ahead. Combined with his raw energy, it’s a miracle he’s still alive.

-A miracle and plenty of help from Morpho Knight, who helps slow him down and actually think about things.

-He’s a haha funny family man..for real though, he gets very protective of his friends and family. He is very quick to trust people and gives them the benefit of the doubt. As such, many have branded him as foolishly naive and hopeful (which he absolutely is)

-He loves people..very much an extrovert! And also a peace maker, he really just wants everyone to get along. He wishes that someday, the mounting tensions between Halcandra and Jambandra will die down and everyone will be able to live peacefully.

now lets get into the stuff you guys are likely here for, the story stuff (:

(also uh warning there’s a lot, since galacta’s like the main focus of this au, most of the story relates to him. however, i plan on spreading out this information across two other refs, coming hopefully soon)

-Galacta was born into a small village in ancient Halcandra, during a sort of “cold war” between the two factions of ancients we’ll call the Halcandrans and Jambandrans.

-As a bit of a side note, this is who I interpret to be the ancients mentioned in the series (at least for the sake of this au). The Halcandrans are more technology based, and as such are responsible for the Novas. The Jambandrans, on the other side, are more magic based, and are responsible for stuff like the Amazing Mirror and the Master Crown, etc. The two factions were originally one, but their divides grew big enough to establish a boundary line, where certain planets are considered either Halcandran or Jambandran (with either of those two planets being the source of authority to the others). While they’re not at war yet, the tensions between them have been mounting enough for both sides to have built up an arsenal of their own weapons (again, stuff like the novas and the master crown) to use in a potential war. In fact, there are frequent skirmishes between the two sides, however they’re small enough for neither side to outright declare war....yet (and we’ll get to that)

-As for the reasons of their divide, I feel like its mostly obvious (their differences on what they rely on (technology or magic)). However, there’s some unseen force at play that’s been causing “natural disasters”, and as tensions mounted, the two sides began secretly blaming the other for them, however as they’re not able to prove it, neither side has directly addressed this.

-Back to Galacta. He was appointed to be one of Halcandra’s knights after a stunt he pulled in his village, saving multiple people from one of the natural disasters that they all assumed was the fault of the Jambandrans. He went away for training.

-Right after he was knighted, he went back to his village to celebrate only to find it in shambles. The only “survivor” was a red clad, butterfly winged knight. Unable to process what had happened, Galacta breaks down, and is surprised to find the other knight in a similar situation.

-After this, Galacta becomes a little less loud and energetic, and a bit more solemn and resolved. Morpho helps him cope as he advances through the ranks of Halcandra’s knights, starting to rely more on his lance and magic attacks.

-Without spoiling what I’m going to put on Morpho’s ref, the two begin meeting each other in secret. However, for reasons I will later explain on, Morpho is only ever seen around the sites of the small skirmishes and “natural disasters”, which is where the two end up meeting.

-The Jambandrans are quick to take notice of a well established Halcandran knight hanging around the sites of these casualties. They begin to believe that Galacta is one of Halcandra’s super weapons. Halcandra, however, is completely oblivious to this.

-In response to Galacta Knight, the Jambandras start building their own “super weapon”, the Jamba Heart.

-When Halcandran intelligence suggests the existence of this Jamba Heart, they send several knights to shut it down.

-Galacta, at this point, had risen to the position of Halcandra’s top knight. He was sent to command the mission to seal the Jamba Heart. Things did not go well.

-After sending the knights, Halcandra warns Jambandra that if any such weapon exists, it would be violating their codes. Jambandra lashes out, and accuses them of hypocrisy. Tensions rise to a breaking point, and Jambandra finally admits that they’re able to prove what they beleive to be the source of the natural disasters: Galacta Knight.

For the sake of still having two other refs related to Galacta’s story, this is all I’ll divulge for now! Look forward to Kirby’s ref, which should pick up the story notes I have from here..I swear, when I get the other two refs out, I’ll make a master post with all the refs and story notes... if you guys are interested of course!

I tried to base as much of the story I could on canon, but I know there’s a lot of speculation and just plain making shit up, which is why it’s an au and not a fan theory (although if anyone’s interested, my theories as to the ancients line up pretty close to how I wrote them here). That being said, I’ve had a ton of fun working on the story, and there’s still plenty more to come (:

Once again, if you read all of this, holy shit thank you and I hope it was fun for you too :D

#galacta knight #gijinka #galactic crisis au #my art #IM SUPER STOKED ABOUT THIS AU AHHHHH #MAN #I CANT WAIT TO GET THESE REFS OUT CAUSE IVE BEEN WORKIN ON THIS STORY FOR AWHILE #to be fair its a galacta based au sooooo of course he has a lot of notes #sorry in advance (:

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wtfgaylittlezooid · 3 years

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I’ve lost to temptation so here it is

My interpretation of magolor lets fucking go

So first section: How this bitch works

So Magolor is from Halcandria, a planet who’s core is essentially magic. There’s so much magic on this single planet that it leaked into the life and even some objects that could contain it. Magolor is no exception. Magic energy is essentially stored in a second heart (tho it’s more of a container than a heart), and runs through the body very similar to blood. It’s created and flows through his body, and allows for things like his eye glow, floating, and obviously powers. When he’s asleep, it regenerates. If there’s already enough magic energy while he’s asleep, it disposes of the old magic mostly by floating in sleep or by more severe means like insomnia aka magical overdose (which I’ve gone over before).

Next, is the glowing eyes!! Why he have that, I’ll tell ya. It makes it easier to detect other halcandrians as well as make it easier to detect light such as fire. Which is very useful when you need to look through ashy clouds and make sure a giant rock isn’t about to slam into you from above. It’s also a way to show the health of a halcandrian. Though the eyes glow yellow, they have a brown color very similar to their fur. If they’re sick or very unhealthy, they lose their glow and it slowly reverts to the brown color.

As a side effect of the master crown though, Magolor’s magic energy got boosted by the crown so he didn’t just die instantly by overwhelming power. It sounds like a good thing on paper, having so much energy to the point where he can fight non stop without getting tired magically, but magic overdose due to him not being able to deplete enough of it fast enough is a bitch. He gets sick a lot easier, bad insomnia, as well as occasionally using magic without realizing. So this clears out how he works and shit!! Now onto...

Before RTDL

So before RTDL Magolor had little social skills or experience with interacting with other people that wasnt lying to them to get them to do stuff. It was just how Halcandria worked. People kept to themselves and if you needed help you’d have to twist the truth in order to convince them. Relationships of any kind are very rare in Halcandria as well.

So when he met Marx, it was weird. He originally planned to let him stay until he got better and told him about why he was found in a Nova’s wreckage, so he could hopefully get Marx to lead him to something else he could use to defeat Landia. It didn’t go as planned. Marx was an unpredictable dude who immeadiatly fell for Magolor (but mags didn’t notice cause he’s never experienced someone else crushing or a crush) and due to that Marx spent a lot of time with Magolor during recovery and grew on him. He also ended up showing Magolor what friendship was, and honestly: magolor liked it. He liked having someone around. It was a nice change, and it was nice to have someone around to help (and rarely give him affection). So, Magolor wanted Marx to rule the universe with him once he killed Landia. He didn’t want Marx to leave. Though things started going downhill when an accident happened one time while exploring and Magolor was distracted, leaving to Marx having to use Nova’s power to make sure Magolor was safe.

And Magolor was fascinated, and god he was excited. He pried Marx for questions about his wings, constantly stared at them when they were out, and started talking about if he and Marx used their combined powers they could finally kill Landia and get what they want. But Marx didn’t want to. His want for power by then left, and he knew the consequences. He was happy just hanging out with Mags, and didn’t want to risk his life fighting a dragon with a crown of infinite power. But Magolor, despite liking the change of company, was used to being a loner and believed he could do it again since he’s halcandrian. He said Marx could leave if he didn’t want to, and that was when Marx started to see just how desperate Magolor was for the Master Crown. It was all too similar to his own desperation with Nova, and all words were useless and failed to change Magolor’s mind. So Marx left, and Magolor continued. He felt a little bad (and lonely) but pushed it down and decided no turning back and opted to modifying the Starcutter more like a weapon and attacking Landia that way, but failing.

Though he had a backup plan, thanks to Marx. Which brings me to..

The Betrayal

So this is RTDL time, before the betrayal. His back up plan was going to the pink hero Marx ranted about and using them to get the crown. After all, if they could defeat someone with the gift of Nova’s power, they could defeat a wyvern with a crown. They landed, and Magolor met everyone, but he couldn’t stop thinking about a certain someone. Chilly, who volunteered to stay with him while the others collected the spheres and parts (tho it was because he was suspicious). Mags didn’t know this, and assumed he was being nice. So the second person who (he thought) was being friendly with him enough to stay with him, and fill that hole Marx accdientally left by leaving him. He couldn’t not get attatched. He became REALLY REALLY clingy, and did as much as he could to keep himself focused as well as make sure they were friends. It backfired, making Chilly agitated most of the time, but it also semi worked later on. Most of his time between the betrayal and his crash landing was spent monitoring everyone’s progress, and trying to get Chilly to like him so he could do what he had to do during the betrayal.

Now during the betrayal! The closer he got to achieving the crown again, the more desperate and ooc he got. By the time he was at Halcandria, there’d be no way to talk him out of it, since he was THIS close. But there was still one thing wrong that he assumed the crown would fix: he couldn’t go back to being alone. He assumed he would adjust, since that’s how it’s been for his whole life. But now, that he’s actually had two people really close to him (and one leave) that showed him affection and didn’t only use him like in Halcandria, he didn’t want to go back to being alone. He couldn’t. But he came too far to turn back, and continued anyway (not like he ever changed his mind, but he did have moments of doubt). He told Chilly to stay in the Starcutter, wanting to keep him safe, which obviously didn’t go well for him when Chilly responded with freezing the ship from the inside to stop Magolor from using it in its attacks.

And of course, when Magolor sees this, he has a moment of “oh shit I can’t let him do this. I can’t lose someone else.” And tries to convince Chilly to join him. He talks about the two of them ruling and even giving Chilly Popstar to rule. He means it. He wants someone with him, somebody that he genuinely loves and treats him like a friend. He assumed that if he didn’t force Chilly into working with him like Marx, he would join in the end. And like any person with common sense, Chilly denies, loyal to Kirby and Popstar. THIS was the moment Magolor became truly desperate, he tries to convince Chilly to join him but he can barely get any words other than “but you were only friend” out while crying (in the middle of battle lol). Kirby and everyone take this chance to attack, while Magolor is just kind of broken. He fucked up again.

And he’ll be alone.

He has one thing left now, and that’s the power to rule the universe.

And he’s desperate to have this one thing go right for him, and he uses the remaining power of the Master Crown... which brings me to the next topic!

The Master Crown

Full section for the master crown let’s go. It gets its dark power from a leader/creator of dark matter (think 0), and is sentient. It only knows to shroud the world in darkness, and will do whatever it takes to get it. It’s powers are held at bay by Landia, who is Halcandria’s guardian and can resist its powers due to being a magic guardian. Magolor however, isn’t a magic guardian, and can’t resist. To him, it’s a shiny piece of jewelry that’ll make him strong so things can finally go his way.

The way it works is by drawing people in, like a venus fly trap. It just amplify people’s interest in it, as well as bring out the more negative traits about them that makes them easier to control. The most common traits is desperation, impulsiveness, frustration, and determination. And once the crown is on their head, it locks on and is irremovable and works like a parasite, basically completely erasing whoever put it on and molding them to the perfect puppet. Magolor essentially just sped up the process completely by using the last of its power in a desperate attempt to get what he wanted.

After the Betrayal

Magolor, after the betrayal, is left just floating around Another Dimension. He’s exhausted, in a lot of pain, and completely magically drained. He couldn’t even float if he tried, and that uses the bare minimum of magic. He’s stuck here for a long time, and at first, he’s extremely frustrated and upset. He spends a lot of time replaying the events in his head (not magolor soul, he has no memories of that aside from snippets that come into his dreams that are partially due to the master crown’s lasting effect) and just getting more and more angry at everything. He was so close to having control over EVERYTHING, and he lost it over himself the second he used the rest of the power. He was infuriated that he manged to let that stupid puffball beat him, along with their friends.

He cries, screams, shouts, but it doesn’t matter. Rage can only last so long, and it’s not much before he’s just exhausted and tired. He’s given up on escaping, knowing he can’t. He cant form a dimensional portal strong enough to pull him out of a dimension. He only has the skill to use it for teleportation. After a few days, he’s accepted what happened, that this is his fate. He hates being alone, floating in space with no silly jester to crack a joke or scratch his head, and no snowman who’s bell jingled with an adorable tune whenever he laughed and even gave him hugs. He ends up getting habits of scratching his head (despite the pain because of master crown injuries) and hugging himself as a way to fill that hole the two left when leaving. He misses them, and starts to regret going after the crown in the first place. He comes up with scenarios in his head to pass the time as he basically waits for himself to rot. He imagines apologizing and having his friends back. He imagines Marx somehow finding him similar to how Magolor found him. He imagines not being alone, and being happy. Not plagued by agonizing exhaustion and self fury. He even comes to miss Kirby and their friend one he actually realizes the kindness they showed him, since he was too focused before to realize.

He spends a few days in the hell dimension before he finds something. He ends up finding an energy sphere that floats past that was lost during the battle. He grabs and clings to it, now having only one thing from before. It doesn’t make the loneliness any better, but it does make things a little less bareable. But of course, energy spheres are a sphere doomer’s favorite snack, and it doesn’t take long before one comes along really wanting it.

Magolor at first, pushes it away desperate to keep this one thing he had before, and the sphere doomer keeps coming back desperately wanting its food. Eventually, Magolor and the sphere doomer form a slight bond since this was when Magolor started slowly regaining magic again and tries attacking it with his revolution orbs, but it’s just a treat for the sphere doomer. The sphere doomer keeps coming back for more treats and another attempt at a snack, and Magolor feels a little less lonely. Over time, he actually gains enough of its trust to pet it and even talks to it. He names her Lor II.

Lor II is the reason he gets out of Another Dimension and back to Halcandria, via opening a rift. Lor II basically gives Magolor a second chance to make things right, and he immeadiatly takes it. Of course, he has to steal the Starcutter to do it, but he makes his way to Popstar to apologize, because he REALLY regrets his major fuck up and at the very least, he can make things better (and maybe get a chance at being less lonely).

So that’s all I got lmao hope you enjoyed

#kirby series #my hc #magolor #marxochilly #hope this is coherent

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soyouareandrewdobson · 3 years

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Andy on Asian Animation or SYAC: The Master Review 2

Let’s talk a bit about anime and Dobson’s work relation with it.

I think we can all agree, that starting from the late 90s and early 2000s on, anime and manga became extremely popular in the western world. Sure, Japanese animation was nothing completely new to us (Speed Racer, Nadia-Secret of Blue Water, Samurai Pizza Cats, Sailor Moon, Kimba and Akira e.g. come to my mind as properties already known in the west before 1995) but it really was around this time that thanks to “mainstream” stuff like Dragon Ball and Pokemon people became aware of how different Japanese animation was from western. Eventually resulting in the really good shit (like Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon, Kenshin and Heat Guy J) coming over and enriching nerd culture for more than just a few people who knew of it as an obscurity at that point. Now, if you know anything about Dobson, you likely know that his relationship with anime is rather… complicated to say the least. Or, to let him explain it with his own words…

Dobson essentially likes silly and wacky 90s anime. But later on he hated anime in general, because it got too popular and a bad experience with an anime club in college soured his enjoyment of it. Furthermore, he put the blame on his lackluster art style and storytelling capabilities as seen in the likes of Formera, Patty and Alex ze Pirate, on anime in general, while also claiming that Disney pulling the plug on 2D animation is the result of the “anime inspired” Treasure Planet, meaning anime in a sense deprived him of his chance at working at his dream job and “ruining” western animation.

Which to me has always been ignorant as fuck. For starters, I can understand not liking certain stories or genres, either for objective or subjective reasons. But to hate on an entire nation’s form of entertainment (not just individual shows or genres), depriving yourself of the chance of potentially watching a lot of good stuff while also being rather insulting to these other works and people enjoying them? Especially when the stuff you can supposedly “stomach” has been rather simplistic compared to other things?

Second, blaming Japan for “poisoning” your art style? What, did the ghost of Osamu Tezuka possess you and FORCE you to put sweatdrops on your characters forehead while also going for the rather simplistic character style of Rumiko Takahashi, as well as emulating the slapstick of the likes as Slayers and Ranma ½?

Next, if he had emulated them successfully, I say he would have actually managed to tell decent enough stories worth to read online. Not create Uncle Peggy aka “Discount Happosai” or the bland proto-Isekai known as Formera.

I mean, let’s give some context here: There have been people who successfully managed to emulate certain anime and manga aesthetics into western animation and make it work. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten the likes of Avatar-The last Airbender, Samurai Jack, the Animatrix, Thundercats 2011, Super Robot Monkey Hyperforce Go, Kim Possible, W.I.T.C.H, Megas XLR and Wakfu. You know, shows that are actually awesome as hell.

Heck, Dobson’s favorite animated show of the last decade, Steven Universe, is heavily inspired by anime aesthetics to the point of being embarrassing.

But Dobson… well, he emulated anime aesthetics in his work the same way as these crimes against animation did.

Combined with his general shortcomings as a storyteller it is no wonder his initial comics did not do well.

Lastly, and sorry for digressing here a bit, but if the Wikipedia entry on Treasure Planet is something to go by, there was no real inspiration by anime involved in making this movie.

Supposedly the idea of making an animated Treasure Planet in outer space movie was already pitched by Ron Clements WAY BACK in 1985 but only came to be after Michael Eisner greenlighted stuff in the late 90s. Design wise the movie was supposed to look 70% traditional and 30% sci-fi inspired and people took inspiration for the art style by illustrators associated with the Brandywine School of Illustration. A western style of illustration established in the 19th century, that had a big impact on the illustration styles for many 19th and early 20th century adventure novels and short stories.

What, is anime supposed to be the only form of animation allowed to have sci fi elements or steampunk in it? Fucks sake, The Lion King and Atlantis, which came out one year earlier to Treasure Planet, were likely more inspired by anime. Don’t believe me? Watch Atlantis and then a certain anime by Studio Gainax called “Nadia-Secret of Blue Water”. Or read up on the controversy surrounding the two.

The truth is, it is not entirely clear what caused Disney to shut down 2D feature film animation in the early 2000s. In fact, if anything, most people put the blame on Michael Eisner and a certain change in the publics taste in movies in general, combined with Disney trying to turn almost every movie they had into a franchise via cheap follow up movies on video and DVD.

And even if Disney did not shut down, are we really supposed to believe that a certain guy with fedora would have made it big at Disney to the point Alex ze Pirate would have been made into a feature film?

But Dobson could never quite understand this and instead of “reinventing” himself properly, he would rant about anime and its fans in one form or another…

And on the peak of his hissy fit create this little art piece he baptized Anime Sux. Alternatively “West vs East”. Or as I like to call it, slap a jap.

Now, the pic was done in 2008 and Dobson claimed sometimes in the last decade, that he no longer holds his old opinions. Unfortunately, by that point he would also more or less use the chance to vent in his webcomic about anime (or rather its fans), which brings us finally back to SYAC.

While Dobson never outright thematized in more detail WHY he hates anime and manga in SYAC (likely cause if his comic reasoning was even slightly like his reasoning in his blogs, people would have torn him apart like a bag of paper) he did use the format to punch down on anime fans and their preferences.

For example, for someone who has a 4chan story going around of having been rather arrogant towards others in college for not liking Ranma ½, Dobson has THIS little college related comic to show off, where he portrays an aspiring manga artist as a delusional jackass.

Then in this strip titled manga, his manga fan is essentially portrayed as a young woman dressing up like a very stereotypical high school anime girl, who is in the wrong for even just DARING to draw her comics in the direction manga are read.

On one hand, I get Dobson’s point. She could be at risk of alienating a market of readers as she is obviously drawing for a western audience. Then again, if she doesn’t draw a traditional western comic but a manga, why shouldn’t she? I mean, as long as she enjoys it, which I assume she does as she seems genuinely just happy when stating that she likes manga, why not let her? Plus, this comic was drawn in the late 2000s. I think by then most people kinda knew how to read from right to left, so Dobson’s claim she would alienate or confuse people is kinda redundant. If anything I find a) Dobson getting angry at her just very petty (just let her have fun) and b) portraying a western manga fan as someone who would be confused by the sheer idea of reading stuff from right to left is also in itself just really dumb and insulting. What is Dobson trying to imply? That anime fans are so stuck in the way they consume certain media, they can’t act according to “western standards” again?

Then there is this strip where yet another female anime fan is essentially portrayed as the embodiment of how “ignorant” manga fans are of the idea of different art styles...

Which becomes rather laughable once Dobson describes his style as a mixture of European, American and Japanese. Why? Because he is the one oversimplifying things, rather than the anime fan.

You see while anime and manga of all sorts do share certain aesthetics (like the black and white art style, emphasize on the eyes of characters, the way hair is drawn, recurring tropes within certain genres and so on) style wise (both in art and storytelling) there can be severe differences, depending on the artist alone. Akira Toriyama’s style differentiates significantly from the likes of Eichiro Oda, Rumiko Takahashi, Kentaro Miura, Tezuka, Kaori Yuki and so forth.

The same also goes for many western artists. Herge had a significantly different style from Uderzo and Goscinny. Don Rosa has a different style in which he drew Scrooge McDuck than Carl Barks did. Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee draw mainstream superheroes differently compared to how Jack Kirby, George Perez and others did. Heck, Ethan Van Sciver and Jim Lee were closely associated with Green Lantern in the 2000s and look how they differentiate.

Which btw is the kind of skill level Dobson would have needed to have, to make it in the mainstream industry

So when Dobson says “I draw in a combination of American, Western and Japanese” all I can think is the following: THAT DOESN’T NARROW IT DOWN! WHAT THE HECK HAVE YOU LEARNT IN COLLEGE ABOUT COMICS? WHICH ARTISTS, WORKS AND STORYTELLERS DO YOU TRY TO EITHER EMULATE OR HAVE BEEN INSPIRED BY?

Then there is this little thing…

Where do I even begin? How about the fact that Dobson’s hand in the last panel looks like he has lost a thumb? The fact that the little boy, anime fan or not, is aware of Sae Sawanoguchi, a character from a short lived OVA and anime series from the 90s, which considering his age, I kinda doubt he would be aware off. Unlike Dobson, who got into anime in the 90s and admits in fact within the posts I loaded up earlier, that he had watched the anime in particular, known in the west as Magic User Club.

Then there is the implication by Dobson, that anime is so “corruptive” as a medium, little kids don’t even know the most basic characters in western animation because of it. I expect in a next panel, that all of sudden some 50s PSA guy comes along and lectures me that if I want this kind of thing not to happen at MY convention, I need to teach little kids more about the GOOD western animation, instead of the BAD eastern one. Then there is this rather unflattering portrayal of a shonen ai/shojou ai fangirl…

Which makes me laugh cause honestly, even some of the worst shonen ai and shojou ai can do better in portraying a “realistic” gay relationship than Patty if you ask me.

Also, as much as I think fangirls can be extremely thirsty (I have read my fair share of extremely stupid yaoi and yuri fanfics) I think that in hindsight Dobson is really not anyone to complain about shipping obsession and sex when he himself has KorraSami, the Ladybug fandom and a certain rat pirate under his floppy belt.

As you can imagine, Dobson would get heat for those comics, considering how he himself has been greatly inspired by anime and manga for his major comics. And while I don’t have any explicit deviantart posts of him reacting to criticism in that regard, I do have this comic which addresses it directly.

And yeah, if I were schoolgirl number 4, I would just sigh and walk away after telling Dobson that his mistakes and shortcomings are not related to having consumed anime, but rather by what sort of anime (and other stories) he had consumed and the amount of effort he had put in creating his stories instead of emulating just something more popular. Plus, if you really want people to draw more from life, how about drawing more from life yourself down the line? And no, tracing Star Wars movie frames does not count.

Finally, Dobson, considering how very little most people think of your work, I say mission accomplished: People have learnt from your mistakes and know not to be a Dobson.

And at last, there is this comic, which kinda wraps up Dobson’s “vendetta” with anime and manga fans within the pages of SYAC.

By trying to mock anime fans and make them look just as shallow as he is. I at least suppose. Honestly, the message of this comic is rather muddled. On one hand, I would say the strawman accusing Dobson hates anime just because it is popular is very simplified. After all, Dobson has made his reasons for not liking anime clear in a few more details. It’s just that the details in and on themselves in real life are still rather shallow and boil down to a lot of personal bias rather than an objective criticism of actual flaws. Which I think is worth pointing out.

But frankly, what is Dobson trying to say or point out here? That the strawman is not so different or even dumber than him, because he hates Justin Bieber for “shallow” and superficial reasons too?

Okay, this doesn’t quite work as well as Dobson wants. First, the argument Dobson’s strawman makes is in huge parts based on some verified statements Dobson made for not liking anime. Second, he just says a name and that triggers the guy to express his hatred for Bieber. We don’t know why the guy hates Bieber and you could make in fact the case, that he hates him not because he is popular, but because he has a genuine issue with the artist, his work or his behavior as a human being. Third, if you want to make yourself look like the better person Dobson, try to argue with the guy and make solid arguments why you don’t like anime. Instead you just deflect the criticism by changing the subject and then try to make yourself look like the “smarter” person in the room by mocking your critic in the most condescending manner.

Which as I think about it, sounds like your modus operandi on twitter and tumblr.

Weirdly enough, that more or less marks the “end” of Dobson tackling anime fans and the beef he has with them within the pages of SYAC. Despite how much Dobson’s negative reputation especially in early years was build around him hating on anime and belittling its fans, he didn’t really do more afterwards in the Dobson focused pages of SYAC. And mind you, those strips were also separated by other strips in-between, focused on Dobson just being at conventions.

Unfortunately for him, the strips didn’t really help in any way to diminish that negative reputation and instead just confirmed for many, that Dobson can’t handle criticism about his flawed opinion on anime. If anything, it just made people think even less of Dobson, as the strips just painted him as someone who would rather portray his critics as strawman he can be “rightfully” annoyed at, instead of fellow humans with slightly different tastes in entertainment, who are still worth listening to.

So, now that we have the anime fan related “annoyances” out of the way, what other sort of silly problems in making webcomics would Dobson cover in his strips and are “relatable” to everyone?

Lets see some of these examples in the next part.

#anime / manga #manga #Andrew Dobson #fuck you Tom Preston #Tom Preston #syac #so...you are a cartoonist #so you are a cartoonist #review #webcomic #comic #adobsonsartwork #adobsoncomic #adobsonartworks

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empathiics · 3 years

Photo

ETHAN SINGH is a mutant with the ability of EMOTION MANIPULATION. they’ve been in new york for TWENTY-TWO YEARS where they spend most of their time as a TEACHING ASSISTANT AT XAVIER’S INSTITUTE. when i think of them, i think of DOE EYES; A BEDROOM FLOOR LITTERED WITH CASSETTE TAPES; AND LATE NIGHTS SPENT PLAYING THE SUPER NINTENDO. @c23intros

NAME: Ethan Singh

DATE OF BIRTH: March 17th 1975

BIRTH PLACE: New York

AGE: 22

GENDER: Male

PRONOUNS: He/him/his

SPECIES: Mutant

ABILITY: Emotion manipulation

SEXUALITY: No clue Heterosexual

background

The only child of two powerful mutants, Ethan’s enrolment at Xavier Institute could only be described as his birth right. His mother and father are both esteemed faculty members at the Institute; and their strong sense of morals, combined with their background in education, ensured that Ethan would grow into a young man with a heart of gold.

Ethan is an empath whose ability has over time progressed into the power to manipulate the emotions of others. Discovering his ability as a child, Ethan has dedicated a great deal of his life to understanding his power to ensure that he never puts it to misuse.

Despite having a solid grasp on his empathic ability, Ethan may struggle when in the presence of a person experiencing strong emotions.

Growing up around Xavier Institute, Ethan would actively seek out and welcome new students. Whether or not his efforts were well-received, it stood to reason that the natural next step for him after studying was to pursue teaching as a career.

Following in the footsteps of his biggest idols, his parents, Ethan is currently working as a Teaching Assistant at Xavier Institute. Ethan has on occasion been overheard comparing himself to Yoda from the Star Wars franchise.

Ethan has lived an indisputably sheltered life, believing in the best in others simply because he has no reason not to. Aware of his privilege, Ethan often overstays his welcome in his efforts to befriend those less fortunate than him.

Although fundamentally opposed to violence, Ethan—at his parents’ behest—has developed a sound understanding of martial arts.

Ethan owns an impressive collection of video games. Cruis'n USA, Kirby Super Star, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, Street Fighter—you name it.

Ethan’s dorky demeanor extends beyond pop culture references: he also has a deep interest in science, particularly astrophysics. His bedroom is an unimpressive hotchpotch of 80′s cassette tapes, video game cartridges, and science textbooks.

wanted connections

COLLEAGUES: A Teaching Assistant, Ethan is often found lending a helping hand to the teachers at Xavier Institute. A character employed at the Institute may know Ethan reasonably well; and his penchant for childish, albeit well-meaning behaviour could lead to either a harmonious working relationship or a total disaster.

ENEMIES: Ethan can be very talkative, especially on topics relating to pop culture, so suffice to say that he may not be in everyone’s good graces. His reluctance to use his empathic ability, combined with his people-pleaser personality, finds Ethan far outstaying his welcome with people that aren’t interested in being friends.

FAMILY FRIENDS: Ethan’s parents, Mr. & Mrs. Singh, are long-time employees at Xavier Institute, and would be well-known by students, faculty, and other out-and-proud mutants. His parents would have acquaintances in the mutant community who may know Ethan by extension, opening up a potential connection between him and a friend of his parents.

FRIENDS: Whether meeting someone once at a convenience store, or knowing someone his entire life, Ethan can—and will—talk their ear off. While some may not like that, others may, finding him to be easy going and harmless. Warning: if you give him the time of day, he will invite you over to play video games.

IDOLS: Ethan recognizes the similarities between the Omegas and the superheroes in his comic books. If he were to run into a member of the Omegas, he would likely ask a million questions before pulling out a journal and begging for an autograph.

PADAWAN / JEDI MASTER: With great power comes great responsibility. This connection could see Ethan mentoring a young student with a similar ability to his; or could even extend to him under the tutelage of a trained mutant(who could, unbeknownst to Ethan, be a Brotherhood member).

RIVAL: Yes, Ethan is easy going; yes, Ethan is not known for holding a grudge; yes, he can despise a character who has consistently one-upped him throughout school or in video games. He contains multitudes!

#make your day go sun to rainbow — ( introduction. )#c23intro #new fc! new theme! same bio with minor alterations!

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friendship-ended-with-pokespe · 4 years

Text

Kirby: Rescue the Friend in the Great Labyrinth! Chapter 5

Having returned to the Great Labyrinth of the Mirror, the group proceeded forward with Kirby Rocket in the lead. Their painful venture just now seems like all a lie. Kirby Rocket locates the correct paths without losing his way even a little.

“That’s odd. My body is moving on its own even when I’m not thinking of anything. It finds out which way it should go.” “It’s all thanks to the radar. So convenient.” Waddle Dee was impressed. There may occasionally be enemies showing and getting in the way, but the Kirby Rocket is invincible. Dealing headlong impact, he blows enemies away one after another. In delight as if Kirby’s work is his, Waddle Dee boasted at Magolor. “Hey, it’s just as I said, right? Nothing that Kirby does is of no use. We were able to receive this wonderful gift from working hard for Claycia and Elline.” “What’d you mean? Of course I know that. There’s no mistake in what Kirby does!” Retorted Magolor sourly, and rushed over to Kirby. “That’s what I expect from you, Kirby! Keep at it just like that!” “Uh-huh! We should hurry up and rescue your friend, huh.” Kirby is replying energetically. Waddle Dee felt a bit disgruntled, but he held it back. He doesn’t want to make a displeased face in front of Kirby doing his best. Deciding not to pay heed to Magolor, he followed after Kirby and the others. “......This ain’t no fun.” Hearing a voice like that of a groan, Waddle Dee raised his face in surprise. He thought that someone had read his feelings, but that wasn’t the case. King Dedede was the one grumbling in a low voice. “It ain’t no fun......what’s so Kirby Rocket about it. It’s such a lame name. King Dedede Rocket would sound way stronger......” “Are you jealous, King Dedede?” Said Meta Knight in a teasing manner, where King Dedede gave him the fish eye. “Who are ya calling jealous!? I’m not jealous of that lame rocket even a little bit!” “At the incident with Seventopia, both you and I were deprived of our colors and thus unable to move. It’s a shame that we couldn’t take an active role, King Dedede.” “Hmph, I was able to move! I broke through that spell of hers easily, but I left it alone only because the case was too trivial for me to even appear in.” “Heh......” Meta Knight gave a slight laugh, where he turned his back on Dedede and started walking. King Dedede becomes more and more irritated. “Curses......that Kirby......no fair. Even when I have way more dignity and strength befitting a rocket......” “Your Majesty......” Waddle Dee looked up at the grumbling King Dedede. It bodes ill once the king assumes this attitude. He’s bound to be up to no good. Noticing Waddle Dee’s view, the king looked down at him. Waddle Dee is holding the present from Claycia tight. The moment he lays his eyes on the papers and the crayons, King Dedede has a dubious smile on his face. “Let me borrow that for a while, Waddle Dee.” “Huh!?” “Once they drew something on that paper, he was able to transform just like that.” Waddle Dee realized the king’s intention and stepped back. “N-No can do, Your Highness! This is needed for when Kirby’s transformation wears off......” “Yer noisy. Just give it here!” Dedede tried to take the papers and the crayons by force. Holding tight to the papers and the crayons, Waddle Dee ran away to prevent it from being taken. “Ah, hold it, Waddle Dee! Are you disobeying me!?” “I-I’m sorry, sire. This I can’t, even if it’s your order! Ms. Claycia went through all that trouble to give it to us......!” “Wait, Waddle Dee! You won’t get away with this!” He stomped his feet and chased after his underling. Something was then shoved beneath his feet. His foot stuck, the king rolled furiously. “Owwwie!! That hurts! What was that just now......!” “Don’t be so shameful, King Dedede.” It was Meta Knight. He stuck his sword out suddenly and made the king tumble. “Meta Knight!!! You chump......!”

“He’s correct. Those drawing papers and crayons are reserved for the hour of need. You cannot use it.” “Be quiet! I’m sure that King Dedede Rocket will reach the destination way faster than Kirby Rocket could......!” It was when the king’s voice trembled in frustration. Having been proceeding in the lead, Kirby changed his direction and came back. “What’s wrong, Kirby?” “There’s a pitch-black door right ahead of us, and I can hear a strange voice coming from the other side.” “A voice?” “Yup. I can’t make out what it’s saying, but I feel like I’ve heard it before. Whose voice could it be......?” “It could be my friend!” Shouted Magolor in delight, and broke into a run before the others.

It was just as Kirby had said. A jet black door is shut tightly with an enormous wall blocking the way. To ward off intruders, multiple layers of plants resembling thornbush were twined around the door. A faint voice came from the other side of the door. Magolor said in a buoyant voice. “No doubt about it! That’s my friend’s voice!” “......Wait. That voice sounds familiar.” Said Meta Knight. He had his hands in his sword in a tense manner. “This voice......Magolor, could this friend of your be?” Without answering, Magolor called out to the opposite side of the door. “Listen to me, Taranza! It’s me!” The door didn’t open however. The voice coming from the inside is continuing as well. Kirby and his friends were left speechless from the surprise. “So that Taranza was your friend. Why were you hiding that until now, Magolor?” “I wasn’t hiding it. I heard that Taranza fought against Kirby and you guys before, you see. I thought that you guys might not save him had I said his name.” “I wouldn’t do that......” Said Kirby in a low voice. Taranza certainly is one of the foes that fought Kirby and his friend before. Believe it or not, mistaking King Dedede for Kirby, he was a fearsome enemy who abducted him and controlled him as he pleased. But Taranza wasn’t actually the mastermind behind the curtain. He was merely acting on orders. Giving him orders was the evil bewitching Queen Sectonia. Reigning over Floralia, the Floating Continent, she was an evil queen who oppressed the people with her cruelty for many years. Taranza was her loyal subordinate, but the queen didn’t forgive him, who failed and over again. -I have no use for a fool who cannot follow orders. Blurting cold-heartedly, the queen blew Taranza away in one blow. At that time, Taranza realized at last. The exceedingly evil, greedy heart that the beautiful Queen Sectonia had. “......Taranza isn’t our enemy anymore. We brought Queen Sectonia down with our powers combined.” Said Kirby in a heavy mood, recalling the battle at that time. Magolor was overly surprised. “Wha, that’s what it was? I would’ve said his name if I knew that from the get go!” “We can’t trust what you say.” Meta Knight turned to face the door. “We need to open this door at any rate. Our voice doesn’t seem to reach Taranza inside.” “For a case like this, all we have to do is smash this door.” King Dedede stood ready with his hammer. Meta Knight looked up at the immense gate and said. “It won’t work out that simply. Take a look at the thorn bushes twined around.” “Ugh......” Even King Dedede has his breath taken away. Vines as thick as the king’s arms are thickly covering the whole gate. The king exhaled deeply and put on a brave front. “Those brambles ain’t no bother. I’ll smash them in one blow with my hammer!” “......No.” Meta Knight said calmly. “That isn’t just any thornbush. It’s a symbol of Taranza’s heart secluded inside.” “What?” “I don’t know the reason for it, but Taranza has shut himself inside and isn’t responding to the voice outside at all. That thornbush is the very heart of his. It won’t be easy to destroy it.” “W......What! Wouldn’t it be the same as a bramble if I go at it with my hammer......!” However, Kirby shouts before the king could raise his hammer. “You can leave it to me! I’ll smash whatever it is with the power of this rocket!” “Wait, Kirby. Listen to me. That isn’t a normal bramble, but......” But it’s usual for Kirby to not lend his ears to others. Kirby Rocket began emitting strong light suddenly. “Let’s go!!! Star Daaaaaaaaaash!” Kirby Rocket was colliding against the gate in full strength. The door didn’t even budge for the first time. But Kirby isn’t discouraged even the slightest. “Open up, door!!!” He repeatedly hurls himself as he shouts several times. To such tremendous power, the gate started cracking at last. The entwined thornbush shrivels as well. Meta Knight flinches. “That’s what I thought. The power of Kirby’s heart prized open the sealed heart of Taranza.” “Amazing! Hang in there, Kirby! Just a bit more!” Waddle Dee cheered him with glittering eyes. Even King Dedede, who would argue with him, shouts with wide eyes. “Go, Kirby! I’ll lend you a hand as well!” Raising his hammer, King Dedede lunged at the gate. Before the two’s power, the gate collapsed at last with a loud noise. “You did it, Kirby! Amazing!” Shouted Magolor in joy, and plunged into the other side of the door. Kirby has used up all his strength from the all-out attack just now. The transformation wore off simultaneously with him hunkering in exhaustion. “Are you alright, Kirby!?” Waddle Dee rushed over to him. Having reverted back to normal, Kirby took a deep breath and answered cheerfully. “Uh-huh, I’m ok-ay! Although the transformation wore off......” “We don’t need the rocket anymore, since we reached our destination and broke the door as well!” Waddle Dee extended his hand. Kirby took his hand and stood up. The group followed Magolor into the room.

In the innermost part of the Great Labyrinth of the Mirror was-: A mirror just like the Dimension Mirror that Kirby and his friend to dove into at the outset. “Huh? There’s a Dimension Mirror here too......? Then what about the mirror that we dove into at the beginning......?” Said Kirby in wonder. “Looks like that was a husk which lost its original power. The Dimension Mirror with the true power was hidden in the deepest part of this labyrinth.” Said Meta Knight. “......Hmm......” “Setting that aside, look.” In front of where Meta Knight pointed, someone was facing the mirror and continuing to mutter something. He has smooth silver-colored hair with sparkling golden horns. Orange objects resembling eyes are attached to his hair. He shows no interest in Kirby and his friends. Patterns like spiderwebs were drawn in the back of his cape. “Taranza......” Kirby called out to him, but Taranza didn’t turn around. If anything, he doesn’t even seem to have noticed that his name was called out. Kirby tried to walk up to him, But Meta Knight stopped him. “Wait, Kirby. Listen carefully.” “......Huh?” “Taranza is acting strange.” Kirby and his friends strained their ears. Taranza’s murmurs can be heard. “......Secto......a......let’s together......kuhuhuhu......wait......to......nia......!” He was talking to the mirror while laughing out in delight.

“This is......” Meta Knight turned his gaze sharply to Magolor. “What is the meaning of this, Magolor? What happened to Taranza?” “No idea. I wonder what happened?” Magolor shook his head with his hands spread. “He’s calling.” Said Kirby, his eyes fixed on Taranza. “What?” “He’s calling Queen Sectonia. Taranza is talking to Queen Sectonia.” “What a load of baloney.” Sneered King Dedede. “Queen Sectonia ain’t here no more. I did away with her in that fight!” “But Taranza is saying “Queen Sectonia”......” “Aye, he’s acting odd.” While staying alert vigilantly, Meta Knight drew closer to Taranza bit by bit. “Taranza was a loyal subordinate of Queen Sectonia. He would always use formal words when speaking to her.” “Yeah, but it’s different right now.” His joyous laughter resounded. “Wait, Sectonia......uhuhuhuhu! It’s dangerous if you hurry like that. Ah, there’s a cliff there. This way......be careful!” “-It’s an hallucination.” Muttered Meta Knight. “Taranza is looking at an illusion within that mirror.” “An illusion......?” “Of Queen Sectonia......no, the illusion of the pleasant days before she became evil and bewitching.” Meta Knight groaned. “Dimension Mirror was a mirror that grants your desire. I heard that Taranza used to get on well with the kindhearted Sectonia. He must’ve sincerely wished to return to those days, where the mirror is showing the illusion just as he desires.” “Taranza......!” Kirby called out to him once more. Nevertheless, Taranza isn’t turning around. He is immersed in talking to the mirror. “This isn’t good. We need to pull him away from the mirror somehow.” Said Meta Knight. “Humph, it’d be fine to leave him alone.” Said King Dedede. “Doesn’t he look all bright and sunny? And here I was, wondering what heck of a time he’d be having, from how he said that he was swallowed up by the mirror. We should just leave him be if he’s having a pleasant dream.” “That we cannot. Look at how Taranza is.” Meta Knight walks up to Taranza and looks into his face. He isn’t responding. Gazing vacantly into the mirror, he is continuing to call out Sectonia’s name. Kirby raised his voice. “Taranza! Geez, Taranza! Pull yourself together! It’s me, Kirby!” “He can’t hear your voice. As I thought, it’ll be dangerous if we don’t pull him away. At this rate, he’ll be possessed by the illusion and be destroyed!” “This is terrible!” Magolor started making a ruckus. “Taranza is in danger! Save him! He’ll be destroyed at this rate!” “What should we do......!?” Kirby looked at Meta Knight in a panic. Kirby wouldn’t hesitate if he’s fighting an enemy. But no enemies were in sight right now. How should he rescue Taranza......? “The mirror.” Meta Knight laid his hands on his sword. “We break that mirror. That’s the only way to save him.” “Huh!? You musn’t, Meta Knight!” Screamed Magolor. “That mirror is......Dimension Mirror is a precious mirror that can make everyone’s dream! You must not break it!” “That mirror has been smashed to pieces before. But we gathered its fragments and restored it. We’ll do the same this time as well......” “We have no idea if we can restore it or not! What are you gonna do if you can’t return it back to normal!?” “It can’t be helped then. Taranza will be in danger if this keeps up.” “The mirror is more important than him......!” Magolor, having slipped his tongue before he knew it, realized suddenly and sealed his lips. “That is your true motive, yes, Magolor?” “N......No......” “It doesn’t matter what your motive is right now. We’ll save Taranza in any case.” Magolor went silent and stepped back. “Magolor......” Kirby called out to him involuntarily. He wanted to ask if what he said right now was his true feelings or if he misheard it. But Meta Knight said quickly. “Let’s go, Kirby, King Dedede!” “......Uh-huh!” They have no time to talk to Magolor. Together with Meta Knight, Kirby made his way to the mirror. King Dedede too was about to ready his hammer, but-stopped moving, as though he was struck with an idea suddenly. “......Sire?” Waddle Dee looked up at King Dedede. The king ordered Waddle Dee, holding his hand out to him. “Hand over the papers and the crayons, Waddle Dee!” “Huh!? But this is......” “Since we reached the destination, we don’t need the Kirby Rocket anymore, do we? Now’s the time for King Dedede Rocket from here on out!” “H-His Highness Rocket......” Waddle Dee held tight onto the drawing papers and the crayons. The king approaches Waddle Dee with a frightening look......!

Meanwhile, Meta Knight and Kirby were taking aim at the mirror. Meta Knight raised his sword, while Kirby breathed in deeply and jumped up. But Taranza turned around before the two’s attack got through. “What are you up to-!?” Shouted Taranza loudly, where he protected the mirror with his six hands spread widely. Meta Knight drew his sword back just before he ended up slashing at Taranza. Kirby also spitted air out and landed. “What do......you think you’re doing......!?” Said Taranza in an eerily low voice.

“Snap out of it, Taranza.” Shouts Meta Knight. “Stop it......I won’t let you......pick on......Sectonia......!” “Queen Sectonia is gone. An illusion is all that you’re looking at. Open your eyes, Taranza.” “I shall protect her!” Taranza’s six hands swiftly stretched threads out. Kirby jumped aside in a hurry, but Meta Knight was a moment too late. The strings twined around Meta Knight’s limbs and deprived him of his freedom. “Meta Knight!” Shouts Kirby. Meta Knight tries to cut the string in desperation, but Taranza’s threads are powerful. No matter how much he struggles, he cannot tear them off even with how nigh-invisibly thin they are. Taranza laughed in a gloating manner. “Kuhuhuhu......you’ll get to feel my power!” “Stop it, Taranza! You’ll be in danger at this rate!” Yells Kirby, but Taranza isn’t lending his ears. On the contrary, he turned his eyes filled with fury to Kirby. “You’re next!” Taranza firmly pulled his hands controlling the strings. Meta Knight raised his sword overhead and slashed at Kirby.

Kirby just barely avoided the sword. “......” Meta Knight once again stood ready with his sword in silence. Not only his body, but even his mind has ended up under the control of Taranza. Taranza is a ‘Master of Puppetry;’ an expert in a frightening magic that makes the opponent that he seized move as he wants. “Meta Knight!” Even Kirby’s shouts couldn’t bring Meta Knight back to his senses. Kirby is doing all he can to avoid his swift attacks. Taranza laughed out loud. “Uhuhuhu! Look, Sectonia. I really am helpful, see!” “Taranza!” Kirby was driven to the wall slowly but steadily. If he had a Copy Ability, he would definitely be able to cut Taranza’s strings and have Meta Knight come to his senses. But had no opponents to inhale right now. Meta Knight rushed at Kirby, having lost his mind.

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#kirby novels #kirby of the stars #light novel #translation #kirby rocket #waddle dee #king dedede #meta knight #magolor #taranza

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stevetonygames · 4 years

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Spotlight Post: Canon Soulmate Bonds

Yooo, this is a blog takeover, Mizzy here, ready to champion one of my favourite fictional causes: canonical soulbonds in the Marvel universe.

We all love a good soulbond fic. Words on your body, names on your wrist, red string of fate...so many glorious versions, and all of them *completely awesome*. The problem sometimes with starting a soulbond fic, though, can be all the worldbuilding required to make it work. But what if I was to tell you that no worldbuilding was necessary? That you could technically write a soulbond fic without having to set it in an Alternate Universe? What if you could set your soulbond fic *directly in main canon?*

Marvel 616 delivers you a canonical soulbond mechanic… not once… but at least *twice*. There could be more. There’s a lot of comics to go through and I’m only smol. But here’s the two I know about and I’m here to introduce you to today. :)

The was a ripple of mild confusion around fandom when Kevin Feige announced that the Eternals were getting a title movie in the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Created by Jack Kirby in the 1970s, in a wild combination of mythological fascination and spite at DC comics for not letting him finish his New Gods saga, the Eternals were an offshoot of humanity, created by the Celestials for humanity’s protection; this reason for their existence would lead them into their ongoing conflict against the deadly Deviants. There have been a few Eternals runs (notably one run by Neil Gaiman, which did not serve to bring the Eternals the commercial success Marvel was searching for with the title, that nevertheless remains the most fun and accessible Eternals volume), but they’ve not yet really reached wide-reaching traction among even the most die-hard comic fans. The MCU might change that, and here’s hoping, because I love these nearly-immortal idiots, and I’m hoping not to be alone in that for much longer. :D

But even my Eternals-happy soul has to admit, Eternals canon for the most part is dense and can be convoluted, and the spellings—both of their character names and one of the main fun parts of their existence, the Mahd W’yry—are enough to give one a headache. The idea of the Eternals is that they’re long-lived and have interacted with human history over the years in various impactful ways. You might think at first glance that you’ve never heard of the Eternals Sersi, Ikaris, Makkari, but I think you wouldn’t find Circe, Icarus, or Mercury unfamiliar names.

The Mahd W’yry is a symptom of the Eternals being so long-living. In order to stop them going insane, the Eternals have to bond into something known as the Uni-Mind, which basically squishes all their consciousnesses together into one, where they can share memories and blend temporarily into one mind. Regularly bonding into the Uni-Mind allows them to stave off the Mahd W’yry. (Yep, that’s just a headache-inducing spelling of ‘mad worry’, we know.)

Anyway, did you need to know all this? Eh, maybe, a little bit of canned backstory is always handy for you to briefly glance over and promptly forget. Because along with some dense mythological adventures, some glorious angsting across beautiful landscapes, and that ability to turn into a big massive floating brain, the Eternals also gave us a beautiful gift:

The Gann Josin.

In Avengers #361, Ikaris comes down to Earth and decides that Sersi needs to be bonded to Dane Whitman, an Avenger who canonically didn’t have any powers, he was just a *really good guy*, destined for tragedy. Honestly. That’s his bio. Really good guy. Destined for tragedy. The character creation in the 90s was peak talent. Dane, sadly, was in love with another woman, but did this matter to Ikaris? No. Apparently the Eternals don’t know about the dangers of letting himbos like Ikaris have life-changing powers, like the ability to create the Uni-Mind.

Because the power to control the Uni-Mind also gives an Eternal the power to form a Gann Josin bond. And that’s what Ikaris does in Avengers #361—he forces a Gann Josin bond on Eternal Sersi and tragic human Avenger Dane Whitman.

Gann Josin (sometimes Gan-Josin because what is spelling continuity in Marvel comics) is both the name of the bond, and the title given to an Eternal and their chosen life-mate. It has a bunch of cool side effects. Both Gann Josins get glowing full-red eyes. It’s a really intimate tiny form of the Uni-Mind (without the part where you become a big floating brain), and creates a small scale mental union. The Gann Josin bond makes the Eternal and their partner lifelong soulmates. As the bond progresses, it creates a telepathic/empathic bond that strengthens in time. According to the Eternal Sprite, humans are rarely chosen by Eternals for the Gann Josin.

Now, Dane Whitman does manage to break the Gann Josin several issues later. But… it’s not easy. It’s rare. When Dane manages it, it is called an “astounding act.” It’s pretty dang hard, in other words. There’s every chance your chosen Gann Josins won’t have the mental fortitude of Dane Whitman to break it. (Although, we’re talking about Steve and Tony, and are there any bigger stubborn idiots in the universe? Probably not.)

But Mizzy, I hear you saying. I don’t want to write about Ikaris, even if he is a party king and that sounds pretty nifty. I don’t know anything about the Eternals and I don’t want to go down that gnarly rabbit hole.

That’s totes fine, my friend. I am here to save you. Because in very recent canon, during Jason Aaron’s turn at the helm, the Eternals are all dead. Very dead. That whole Mahd W’yry thing got ‘em, it got ‘em good. But before Ikaris died, he granted his Uni-Mind power to someone we all know and love.

Yep. Tony Stark. Tony Stark currently has the power of the Uni-Mind.

Which means that Tony Stark can now Gann Josin people.

In Avengers #361, Ikaris performs the Gann Josin by basically just pointing his hands at Sersi and Dane and some light goes WHEEEEEEE!! in their direction, and bam, this rare and special bond is done. And Tony Stark can do that now. To anyone! Unfortunately Ikaris is dead and didn’t leave Tony with an instruction manual. But the point is, he *can*. You can make up all sorts of fun things with this canonical fact (or write your own version because lbr Canon Is Dead; Long Live Canon.)

There are so many possibilities. Does Tony deliberately learn how to use it so he can bond himself to Steve? Does Tony *need* to be able to hear Steve’s thoughts (to thwart some bad guys) and thus end up soulbonded forever to Steve in result? Is Tony’s power activating at random because he can’t control it, and he ends up soulbonding everyone around him? Does he just subconsciously bond himself to Steve without consciously meaning to? Do Tony or Steve want to try it for science?

Gosh, I love comics.

But WAIT. There’s MORE.

It’s not just 1990s comics going ham on the soulbond idea. No, we got some *this year*. Canonical soulbonding? TWICE? In one universe? Two different kinds??

And this time, it’s not in a D-list Marvel title. We’re up the ranks to the big leagues this time, folx, with a brief trek to the world of the Fantastic Four.

In Fantastic Four (Vol. 6) #15, we’re introduced to a Spyre citizen called Sky, a winged team member of the Unparalleled (more cosmic-powered superheroes), who work under The Overseer. (The Overseer, in a burst of beautiful retcon in the way Marvel comics keeps doing to us, is apparently the entity who is responsible for giving the F4 their powers. Huh. The more you know.)

On the planet Spyre, all children are brought before something called The Great Eye. This measures them against the radiation signature of everyone on the planet, divining who their perfect match is.

Sky looked into The Great Eye, only to find out her match was Johnny Storm, who was 44 light-years away at the time. Long-distance relationships can be tough. Anyway, plot happens, the F4 get stuck on Spyre, get told they can’t leave, and Sky tells Johnny Storm that she is his soulmate. Oh, and she attached a soul binding onto him while he slept. Neat, huh, all the bodily autonomy people get in this universe before being force soulbond to people? So neat, much consent, wow.

Johnny feels a connection to Sky, which is supposed to let us know this lack of choice is a good thing I guess. The Overseer wants Sky to renounce Johnny and crush the F4 which obv doesn’t happen, so of course she leaves The Unparalleled and skips off to Earth to be with Johnny.

Who knows how this relationship is gonna last. I mean, you can look at the rest of Johnny’s relationship history and have a good guess. Who knows. Anyway, Reed and Sue are each other's soulmate, and also share a “Soul Binding”, so there’s some canonical proof right there that maybe this system has some validity going for it.

The soulbond for this form takes the form of a golden bracelet worn on the upper arm, that Sky explains her people call a “Soul Binding”; it represents them as being soul-mates. This bracelet can only be removed by your soulmate. This soulbond doesn’t seem to come with any extra powers, it’s just to show that The Great Eye has measured their radiation signature and declared them a match that is supposed to mean they’re perfectly compatible in every way: spiritually, mentally, and physically.

I don’t know about you, but I have a pretty good feeling that Steve and Tony might just have matching radiation signatures… Or what if Steve and Tony have perfect matching signatures….with other people? (Someone else on Spyre believes Sky is *their* perfect match, after all!) What if Steve has feelings for Iron Man, but he’s a perfect match with Tony Stark? I feel faint already just thinking about it.

So here you go. Two canonical types of soulbonds for your fannish consideration. Feel free to ask me questions! You can find me on tumblr (@mizzy2k) or on discord (addy#0908).

#stevetonygames #mod post #spotlight post #soulmates

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coffee-n-bagels-comic-universe · 3 years

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No Matter What or A Deadly Combination

Quick Tag List: @kuruumiya @spacelizardtrashboys @enigmaticandunstable @nattinngrst @stupidbluegirl

This Passage contains potentially: swearing, violence, blood, whump, fluff and smutty content.

Summary: Kirby and Roddy spend a while together, even planning to fly back to Cardiff together and meeting Kirby's parents while Rod poses as just a 'close friend'.

Kirby's POV:

"Well, unless it doesn't work out that way, yeah, I'd love you until the end of time. I'd die for you, hell, I might even kill for you."

"Roddy, I fly back to Cardiff in a week, I can't deal with all this change at once, it's overloading."

Roddy instantly sat up on my lap, like an excited puppy, "I'll fly there with ya, just as friends. I've never been to Cardiff."

"Rod, if you come with me, there will be questions."

"Like what?"

"Like why I suddenly gained a male friend after talking to my mam about previous men in my life and 'that feeling when you find the one'."

"Oh, so your parents might think that I'm there for, other, reasons."

"Yeah, and my uncles live near my parents, so if you start shit, the whole of my dad's side of the family might not take too kindly to you."

"Why would I start shit with your dad?" he questioned before leaning in to kiss my neck.

"Because you started shit with Damien, and- ." I stopped all of a sudden feeling Roddy's teeth against my neck.

"Family's off limits. Damien's not your real dad." He stated flatly, switching to kissing the opposite side of my neck.

"How come you hate him so much though?"

"Because he's such a dick to other guys, he yelled at me down the phone to 'get the fuck out of' your room before he 'finds a way to end my career'."

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Roddy, I'm so sorry," I whispered to him, trying to be as comforting as possible.

"ROD!" I yelped, clawing my nails sideways down his bare back as he bit against the flesh covering my collarbone, hearing him groan against my skin.

He let out another deep, guttural growl before getting off of me, "I uh, I needed that … and now I need to change my kilt, and wash it, and myself."

"There is a shower in the bathroom, and now, potentially cold coffee on top of the mini fridge and ice cream in the mini fridge." I said, getting up and looking down at the Rowdy Scot.

"How much ice cream?" He cocked an eyebrow before whipping off his kilt, and like a 'true' Scotsman, he had nothing on beneath it.

"You don't need to know and could you, at least, get in the bathroom before you show me your 'Loch Ness Monster'?" I asked, shielding my eyes.

He let out a gentle chuckle, before kissing me on the cheek, "could ya get me some other clothes? my stuff's in the duffel bag in the back of the Paul's car in the parking lot."

"Sure," I tried to sound as sarcastic as possible, "Would you like me to get you a box of condoms while I'm at it?"

He winked at me, "Only if ya want to ride the Hot Rod, baby." He gestured to his groin.

I jokingly fake heaved before leaving to get Roddy some trousers, and hopefully a pair of boxer shorts or briefs, while I'm out there.

I saw Orndorff while I was out and told him about Piper's plans to ride with me, he let me move Rod's duffel bag into the back of my D200.

Coming back to the room, I was shocked to see Roddy, fully naked with a towel underneath him on the bed, looking through my sketchbook and stuffing his face with ice cream. I practically slammed the door behind me, making Roddy jump and look over at me.

"You alright, beautiful?" He was caring, cautious even.

The blush on my cheeks was full on scarlet by this point, I'm certain. I gulped down a mouthful of air and saliva before approaching the bed and to give Roddy a pair of his jeans and black boxer briefs.

"What's wrong, Kirby?" he put everything down and stood up next to me, taking the clothing from my hands before leaning up to kiss me.

"Roddy, why are you so intent on snooping through my stuff?"

"I only look through your sketches, nothing else. I can't believe that you don't seem to show anyone else your drawings?"

"Because most of them are personal."

"Oh, like the ones at the back?"

I stared at him for a moment, "You looked at those."

"Yeah, why? was I not supposed to?"

I slowly shook my head 'no'.

He put his boxer briefs on and then the jeans before once again leaning up to kiss me, I leaned down into the kiss and put my right hand on his chest, feeling his chest rise and fall as he breathed, feeling his heartbeat before moving my hand down to his left hip, and lifting his leg up, supporting his weight with my left arm, I felt down to where the cut had been and where a long thin scar was forming, feeling Roddy's left hand squarely on my ass and his right hand travelling up my shirt to where my bra clasp was, before hearing a small 'thump' as the two sides of the bra separated themselves and hit my back. I let his leg down and pulled away, swiftly removing my shirt and bra and searching for a new, clean bra in my suitcase, before hearing Roddy's voice.

"Holy Mary mother of God, you're stunning." He reached out to touch me and I swatted his arm away, not wanting to end up in bed with him without knowing how deep his commitment truly was and definitely not wanting to become anybody's one night (or day) fling.

"Sweetheart." He cooed, suavely.

"Nuh-uh, hell no." I flatly stated.

"Fine, fine, you get dressed, we got a long week ahead of us."

"You have a long week ahead of you, since when did this become an 'us' thing?"

"Since I said it was, you are my lady, aren't ya?"

I blushed, hurriedly putting on a peach toned bra and a black tank top, "You, you really want me to, but you, and I, but we, we uhm, we wouldn't work."

Rod pulled me closer, kissing me roughly and biting my lower lip, "Really," His voice rough with a mix of anger and passion, "We wouldn't work." He pulled me down into another rough kiss and slipping his tongue into my mouth for a moment before pulling away.

"Rod I can't just jump into a relationship."

"I understand, but you can spend at least a week with me, and that trip to your parents and then decide if you want to be with me."

"True and if you don't like my family, don't start shit, agreed."

I held out my hand for a handshake agreement and he took it.

"Agreed. which car are we taking?"

"Mine, because I won't fit in your small-ass rental." I stated, packing my stuff into my bags and lifting both the duffel bag and the suitcase.

"How did you know it was a rental?" Rod questioned, attempting to take the suitcase.

"Paul told me, oh, thank you Rod," I handed him the suitcase, "I've already put your stuff in the trunk of my car."

"Kirby?"

"Yes, Roddy?"

"Ya ever had sex?"

I blushed again, "No, Roddy."

"Ya ever masturbated?"

"Yes, Roddy."

"So, is that what you meant earlier, y'know about 'needing that release'?"

"Yes, Roddy."

We reached my D200 and Rod helped me place my stuff in the boot before he jumped into my passenger seat.

"Where we headed to, Rod?"

"New York, New York."

"Ya mean, The Garden?"

"Yeah."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. Madison Square Garden, gotta be there for the twenty-third."

"Rod, that's two days away."

"I know, honey, I know." He sounded cocky.

"So, what's the plan between now and then?"

"Get a hotel room, a good hotel room, with two beds, see if you have any matches on the same card and go from there."

"Seems, simple."

"Exactly, that's why it works so well."

"Six and a half to seven hours of us being stuck in my car to go Roddy." I mumbled, just loud enough to hear as we got stuck in our first traffic jam, and just as rain clouds started to roll in.

"Wow, you are just a ray of sunshine today."

"I'm like this all the time, babe." I joked, winking at him.

"Don't make me kiss you." He jokingly warned.

"It would pass the time." I responded, matching his tone.

"C'mere ya dafty."

Rod reached over, gently kissing my cheek and placing his hand on my thigh, squeezing slightly.

"Don't, Roddy."

He removed his hand and the traffic started moving again just before the rain started.

"Oh great. Rain."

"I think rain's nice, it's calming. Y'know I used to fall asleep to the sound of rain as a kid."

"Do you want me to drive?" He offered, cocking an eyebrow.

"No," I yawned, "I'm fine."

Roddy glared at me, as if to wordlessly say, 'Are you serious?'

I pulled over and switched seats with him, quickly passing out despite the easily angered style of Roddy's driving. Rod shook me awake and I could smell the coffee in the car.

"Kirby, Kirbs, sweetheart?"

"Hmm, Roddy, where are we?"

"Uh, a service station. Off I-ninety-five. I got you coffee, a Hazelnut Cappuccino. You're favourite, right?"

"You remembered?"

"It is your favourite?"

"Yeah. Hazelnut Cappuccinos and Blueberry Waffles, best morning pick-me-up." I said, sleep still heavy in my voice.

Rod giggled slightly, quickly stifling his laughter, "Ya slept for like four hours, ya know."

"Really?" I looked over at Roddy, taking the coffee cup from his hand.

"Yeah, Kirby, about earlier … do ya want to be my lass?"

"Of course Roddy, I never wanted you to take my words as me not wanting to be with you."

"So, what did you want? What did ya feel?" He gazed into my eyes, his blue-hazel eyes meeting the gaze of my ocean blue ones.

"I was afraid, I wanted to be sure you were right for me, I pushed you away so I could be sure that I wasn't going crazy, and I-"

Roddy interrupted me by locking his lips with mine, his hand against my cheek and his body relaxed, fully letting his guard down for what seemed like the first time for him in a long time.

I closed my eyes, placing the coffee cup between my legs for a moment so I could hold Roddy's body close to mine. He slowly moved back, pulling away from the kiss. I let go of him and breathed out a heavy sigh.

"I, I needed to know that. I'm serious, Kirby, I adore ya, I've adored ya since the moment I saw your face without the mask. You're such a beautiful woman, yet you hide that beauty."

"Roddy, the universe can be ugly at times."

"I know that, I know that a little too well. God, I turn thirty in April."

"I turned twenty nine on the thirteenth."

Rod looked me up and down, taking a swig of his own coffee before saying anything else, "Ya look younger."

"Shut up, Casanova." I joked, taking a swig of my coffee

"I mean it, ya look at the most twenty-three."

"Ya kidding, really, I, look twenty-three?"

"Take it from a U.S champ."

"I've seen photos of that belt, how did you avoid stabbing yourself with it?"

"Simple," He said in-between swigs of coffee, "never bend over."

I let out a small laugh, trying quickly to silence myself.

"Ya adorable." He swooned, gazing at me.

I studied his looks once more, taking in every little detail from his hair down to his chest, stopping to look away and out of the window for a moment upon seeing a bulge form in the crotch of his jeans, hitting him in the arm and pointing it out.

"I don't control that, Lass." He laughed, grabbing my hand and interlacing his fingers with mine, kissing the back of my hand.

"Well, do somethin' about it." I whined.

"I'll do something about it alright."

"Without just putting your hand down your pants, Roddy."

"Oh c'mon." He whined

"Piper." I said, sternly.

"Trevor." He said, copying my stern tone.

"Fine," I threw my right hand up whilst holding the coffee cup in my left, "But if you're gonna do that, let me drive."

Roddy and I got out of the D200 in unison and passed each other to switch seats, with Rod tossing his empty coffee cup in a bin and climbing back into the passenger seat.

"Roddy," I started, climbing into the driver seat, "You need that release a lot, don't ya."

"I know, I'm sorry." He looked dejected, perhaps even ashamed of his bodily functions.

"Roddy, I don't mean anything bad by that," I paused for a second, adjusting the driver's seat to my proportions and starting the car, "I just, I've never known what that feels like, to need someone else's body against my own, y'know."

"So, ya never had the urge as a teen, to, y'know, 'get with' somebody?" He quizzes, looking me up and down.

"No, I would just deal with myself when I felt like I needed to." I admitted, feeling comfortable admitting this to him, not so reserved as I was when I first met him.

"Would you like to, y'know, uh, feel what it's like to be with somebody." He was obviously implicating himself.

"Are you trying to suggest something, Rod?"

"Valentine's night, me and you, we'll only go as far as your comfortable with, deal?"

"Deal. With protection."

"With protection." He nodded in agreement

The rest of the three hour drive was quite quiet, Roddy occasionally humming out tunes I remember Erik playing on the bagpipes.

Upon reaching a hotel, one that Roddy had pointed out, we got checked in and Roddy made a couple calls, and before long it was nearly midnight and Roddy had passed out, or so I thought, I took a minute to shower and dry myself off before pulling out my mask, I hadn't been wearing it for a while and I wanted to see what it felt like, putting it into it's place and hearing a faint 'I adore ya' from the sleeping Scotsman, closing my eyes for about a minute, allowing myself to let out a couple of silent tears, abruptly feeling Rod's arms around my waist and his lips on the back of my neck, whispering sweet nothings to soothe me.

END OF NO MATTER WHAT or A DEADLY COMBINATION.

#wrestling fic #Lucifarians

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betweenthetimeandsound · 3 years

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Three Minutes to Eternity: My ESC 250 (#180-171)

#180: Fernando Tordo -- Tourada (Portugal 1973)

“Entram guizos, chocas e capotes, E mantilhas pretas, Entram espadas, chifres e derrotes, E alguns poetas, Entram bravos, cravos e dichotes, Porque tudo mais são tretas,”

“Bells, cowbells and capes are coming in, And black mantillas Swords, big horns and defeats are coming in And some poets Brave people, carnations and swear words are coming in Because it's a wheeze at most”

Despite the title ("tourada" translates to bullfight in Portuguese), it's actually a portrait of a revolution in the making. The lyrics were so clever that the censors at the RTP didn’t notice these lyrics were reflecting the current regime.

That’s enough for a 250 appearance for me, but there’s more that makes the song so memorable.

The build with the brass and percussion sets the stage for something important to happen. Sometimes, I do forget I like this song, but listening to it like right now is an experience, like one entering the battlefield.

The last line, "And the intelligent man says that songs are over..." still amuses me, though it's quite cynical in that the intellectuals would eventually not believe in the movement.

Personal ranking: 5th/17 Actual ranking: 10th/17 in Luxembourg

#179: France Gall -- Poupée de cire, poupée de son (Luxembourg 1965)

“Suis-je meilleure, suis-je pire qu’une poupée de salon? Je vois la vie en rose bonbon Poupée de cire, poupée de son”

“Am I better, am I worse than a fashion doll? I see life through bright rosy-tinted glasses Wax doll, sawdust doll”

One of the game-changing songs of Eurovision, in that the general mood shifts from slow-tempo songs to a little bit of pop. The first ten contests had their share of good songs, but seem to blur into each other at points. Afterwards, the song quality rose, and they were better suited to the times.

Beyond the happy orchestral sound is something quite sad—a pretty girl who sings songs without experiencing what they mean. Gainsbourg was quite the songwriter, but it led to a falling out between him and France later on, because of the double meanings of the songs he wrote for her.

The drama related to France Gall and the contest didn't stop there. Kathy Kirby, the runner-up that year, slapped France when she won. Then her boyfriend broke up with her shortly after, and wrote a song that would be the basis of "My Way".

Quite interesting I must say, though I don’t come back to this song often.

Personal and actual ranking: 1st/18 in Naples

#178: Ajda Pekkan -- Petr'oil (Turkey 1980)

"Öyle gururlusun gidemem yanına Girmişsin kim bilir kaç aşığın kanına Dolardan, marktan başka laf çıkmaz dilinden Neler, neler çekiyorum senin elinden"

"You are so proud, I can’t come close to you I wonder who else suffers from your love You speak of nothing but dollars and marks I am so suffering because of you"

My 1980 winner is not only quite groovy and seductive, but also clever.

The 1970s had two major oil crises--one in 1973, and another in 1979. The first one was when OPEC withheld their oil from countries who supported Israel during the Yom Kippur, and the second one when oil production stopped during the Iranian Revolution, resulting in higher prices per barrel. Both resulted in low supply and increased gas prices in the United States; those who grew up during the era were less likely to drive as a result.

Petr'oil takes this issue and anthromorphizes it, as Ajda sings about the troubles of relying oil as a resource and as a partner. The belly-dance music also emphasizes the tension. combined with the percussion and strings on this piece.

While Ajda has since distanced herself from the song, I embrace it in all its charms. Plus it was heavily underrated in its year.

Personal ranking: 1st/19 Actual ranking: 15th/19 in Den Haag

Final Impressions on 1980: This year stands out a bit, for it had a number of songs dealing with a huge number of topics (including Belgium's "Euro-Vision", which made the contest go meta, haha). Alongside it, the production was a bit bare-bones, because of the Netherlands hosting it four years earlier, but it featured quirks such as a representative announcing their country's song, Morocco competing for the only time, and a steel band for the interval!

#177: The Allisons -- Are you sure? (United Kingdom 1961)

“Are you sure you won’t be sorry? Comes tomorrow, you won’t want me Back again to hold you tightly?”

The lyrics are quite smug, in that the Allisons warn the girl who plans to break up with them she might be sorry and alone. Not unlike with "If I Were Sorry", though there's a bit more charm and teasing towards their soon-to-be ex-, whereas the latter feels a bit more arrogant.

That said, it’s upbeat and almost lines up to the musical scene at the time (comparisons to Buddy Holly are not uncommon), and the musical run time just goes by so quickly (in comparison to other entries of the same era)! It's just a breeze.

Personal ranking: 1st/16 Actual ranking: 2nd/16 in Cannes

#176: Vicky Leandros: L'amour est bleu (Luxembourg 1967)

“Bleu, bleu, l'amour est bleu, Berce mon cœur, mon cœur amoureux, Bleu, bleu, l'amour est bleu, Bleu comme le ciel qui joue dans tes yeux.”

“Blue, blue, love is blue, Cradle my heart, my loving heart Blue, blue, love is blue Blue like the sky which play in your eyes."”

I think I first heard this in the intro to Eurovision 2006's semi-final. While the harp motif stood out, I didn't know where it came from. It was until when I watched the contest this song was in, which is strange because it was notable for having a Paul Mauriat cover which became a hit.

One of many classics which featured in 1960s contests, I like the innocence shown through the lyrics, which uses color and imagery to tell about the different cycles of love. The orchestration along the bridge was especially spectacular, as it provided a cinematic feel towards . Vicky’s accent sometimes gets in the way, but she sings this well and should’ve gotten a podium position.

Personal ranking: 2nd/17 Actual ranking: 4th/17 in Vienna

#175: Kaija -- Ullu joy Hullu yö (Finland 1991)

"En edes halunnut sua omistaa En edes leikisti rakastaa Kaksi kulkijaa yhteen osuttiin Yksi yhteinen hetki jaettiin"

"I didn’t even want to own you I didn’t even want to love you We two travellers came across each other Shared one common moment together"

While I was watching Eurovision 1991, I liked the mysterious verses of Hullu yo, but I found the chorus a bit off, because it was punchier and more energetic. It also had that "minor-verse/major chorus" thing going on, which also made me uneasy with the song. With a few listens, I grew to like a bit more, because of its unique sound. It definitely sounds better with the studio cut versus the live, which shows off the failures of RAI's orchestra.

Another thing about the song, beyond its lyrics about a one-night-stand turned into longing feelings, was the choice choreography. Playing out the turmoiled relationship, it's funny to see how provocative it is, and that's after Toto's hilarious pronunciation of the song.

Elements of the live performance aside, it's still a jam which deserved better. Maybe it would've done so in the televote era.

Personal ranking: 7th/22 Actual ranking: 20th/22 in Rome

#174: Francoise Hardy -- L'amour s'en va (Monaco 1963)

“Si ce n’est toi Ce sera moi qui m’en irai L’amour s’en va Et nous n’y pourrons rien changer"

"If it isn’t you It will be me who will go away Love goes away And we can’t change anything about that"

I was happily surprised hearing this for the first time. It was very melancholic, with an interesting structure between the verses and the chorus. The percussion also helps with the latter, and adds a bit of character to the song.

The fact Francoise wrote this classic gem also warmed me up more to the song, especially because she was from the ye-ye generation of singers (which are known for being young and upbeat). Yet she stands and sings her own composition in a serious, almost bored tone, without taking the substance of the song away

(That being said, I really need to listen to more of her songs; I've found a couple a month ago, though there's obviously more...)

Personal ranking: 2nd/16 Actual ranking: 5th/16 in London

#173: ABBA -- Waterloo (Sweden 1974)

“The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself...”

You don’t need me to tell about this, do you? It’s fun and timeless pop, with some cool costumes to boot.

For more interesting stuff for both, the song Waterloo was an actual risk for the contest--they actually had another song for consideration, the folk-influenced Hasta Manana, but turned to this instead. And it worked, of course!

For the clothes, ABBA apparently chose these glam-rock inspired costumes because in Sweden, one wouldn't have to pay additional fees if the costumes won't be used for normal wear. Both Anni-frid and Agnetha look great, nevertheless.

And as of the moment, my favorite ABBA song is "Knowing Me, Knowing You". Despite the poppy tone, it has a moody vibe throughout, and one knows the relationship is going to end on a bad note.

Personal ranking: 2nd/17 Actual ranking: 1st/17 in Brighton

#172: Gigliola Cinquetti -- Si (Italy 1974)

“Sì, dolcemente dissi sì, Per provare un'emozione, Che non ho avuto mai,”

“Yes, I softly said yes, To feel an emotion That I've never had before”

My friend told me an interesting story about the lyrics—whereas the song Gigliola won with tells of a girl waiting to grow older to find true love, Si talks of the girl growing up and taking the plunge. So she interprets Si as a sequel of sorts.

So why does this beat Waterloo, in my opinion?

I like how the song starts—quietly, but with an interesting guitar part. The instrumentation builds well towards the "Si...", at which it gently but certainly blooms towards Gigliola's certainty on going with the man she loves.

The interesting part of it was how the song was censored in Italy because it was seen as "subliminal messaging" for a campaign on a divorce referendum that May. "Si" sounds like an endorsement for the "no" campaign, as it embraces being in love, even if it requires the death of another relationship.

Personal ranking: 1st/17 Actual ranking: 2nd/17 in Brighton

Final Impressions on 1974: Definitely one of the most memorable years in the contest, if only for who won. The rest was a tale of two halves, with the first half being particularly good, and the other half bad (except for Si, as you can tell). And there were Wombles in the interval act, hehe.

#171: Eugent Bushpepa -- Mall (Albania 2018)

“Lot i patharë ndriçojë këtë natë Sonte kumbo prej shpirtit pa fjalë Vetëm një çast dhimbja të më ndalë”

“Lingering tear, light up this night Find your way out, to soothe my soul Just for one day make this pain subside”

Aren’t the lyrics to this so beautiful? They convey Eugent’s desire to be with his loved one so well, in both its pain and beauty.

The music really helps too--while the pre-vamped version was a whole minute longer, it also has a rockier edge to it. The revamped version cuts it down and cleans up the production, but it's still maintains the overall feel throughout.

Eugent is also a talented talented singer, which proved initial odds wrong and got Albania one of its best results! The bridge between the second verse and chorus has a great chord progression (which was given more space in the revamp), and he deserved qualification for that alone. And those high notes.

(Also, he's probably the best dressed guy of his year...good job Eugent, good job.)

Personal ranking: 7th/43 Actual ranking: 11th/26 GF in Lisbon

#eurovision song contest #esc 250 #esc top 250 #esc portugal #esc luxembourg #esc turkey #esc united kingdom #esc finland #esc monaco #esc sweden #esc italy #esc albania #vintage eurovision #three minutes to eternity

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multi-fandom-nutjob · 4 years

Text

How I’d tweak every Smash Character(Part I)

Hello, everyone! Cinnamon-Guardian here! I love Smash Bros to death, but not everything is perfect. I’ve been mulling over some ideas on how to tweak some characters to be better(or at least more accurate to their series of origin).

This won’t be super concerned with balancing, but tier list standings and how broken or whack certain moves are will be taken into consideration. This disclaimer is just me saying I am in no way claiming that I could do better than Sakurai or any of the other developers! This is purely to have fun and flex my creative muscles to try and get better at this sorta thing.

Mario

With Mario, I’m pretty happy with most of his tech, from his standard moves to his smash attacks and his neutral and recovery specials. The aspects of him that frustrate me the most are his down and side specials, both of whom I ultimately think could be better.

The Down Special works well in theory, pushing opponents back without any sort of hit-stun so that it won’t reset their recoveries any. The flaw I see is that it has no use beyond that. As such, I propose that Flud’s bursts do chip damage, akin to Fox’s blaster. That way, it can do very minor damage and still push opponents back without resetting their recoveries.

The Side Special, in contrast, works decently enough in practice but feels hallow in homage. The Cape Feather that it draws upon appeared only once in Super Mario World, a game that admittedly did exceedingly well, but also came out in 1990. When implemented, it works as a great reflector, but nothing more. As such, I propose it be replaced with the Luma Spin from the Super Mario Galaxy titles! The creators clearly know that there is a sizeable fandom for the dualogy, seeing as how Rosalina joined the roster. The Luma Spin could serve as a valuable reflector itself, but could also act as a secondary, more instantaneous smash attack that could even have some horizontal recovery to it akin to DK’s recovery. It could do all that the Cape Feather did and more with a more contemporary fandom!

Donkey Kong

Off the bat, I think something Donkey Kong needs more of is Speed. While he is the poster child for the slow and heavy characters at the bottom of the tier list, in the games where he is playable, he possesses ample agility.

The main means through which I would propose adding more speed is through a more refined dash attack. In the games, he could steamroll through enemies at ludicrous speeds. While I don’t think it needs to be as fast as Sonic or Captain Falcon, his dash attack could be a powerful roll attack that could boost him forward more.

Adding more onto his agility, I believe that his jumps should have much more of a vertical gain and have ample momentum to it. That way, when combined with his horizontally focused recovery, DK could regain his footing much better than most heavy characters. His special moves don’t need much, if any major alteration.

Link

I think Ultimate gave us the best Link we’ve seen to date, made incredibly distinct from the other two and given more weight than before. My thoughts ultimately fall on his grab and recovery.

In order to keep in line with Breath of the Wild, Link lost the hook-shot grab that he’s had since Smash debuted, severally nerfing his grappling prowess. To replace it, I would have altered it to be the Magnesium Powers you get early on. That way, Link can still have a long-range grab, but it could be slower and easier to break out of so that it’s not broken.

As for recovery, Link is still the same old Link, spinning ‘till he pukes. One thing that stood out in BotW, however, was the glider. If brought into Smash, it could effectively be the same as Peach and Daisy’s, with a sharp upward draft followed by a slow horizontally focused descent.

Samus

Samus has always been sort of the Black Sheep of the Original Roster, characterized by idling shooting inefficient projectiles from a corner. A far-cry from the ass-kicking bounty hunter we all know she is! In Ultimate, most of her competitive gameplay is centered around her charging dash attack and her grab, as if she were a football player.

How do we change that? By letting her move more, of course! As such, her neutral special will get a massive revamp, as it defaults to a pea-shooter mode that allows her to move about as she’s shooting, only having to stop for her side special, which itself will be upgraded to the ice rockets because if she can’t move, you can’t move either! The Charge Shot will only come out after you shoot and hold down the Special Move Button, making it practically the only chargeable move that you can freely move and charge simultaneously! The damage for the pea-shooter and charge shot will stay about the same, as anymore would break the game. Every other special move and her grab are all good, but since she’s so mobile, her charge attack will be replaced with a charge more akin to the energy charge she had in Super Metroid

Dark Samus

Okay, so, I don’t HATE hate echo fighters, but I do hate echo fighters who stick too close to the original’s gameplay. Dark Samus is pretty much on par with Daisy in that regard.

Off the bat, I think a slower but more powerful approach would suit her character better. It would also add to the tone of her gameplay more in my opinion.

The only big change I’d make to Specials are the Recovery and Down Special. The Screw Attack is amazing, don’t get me wrong, but it only really makes sense for Samus herself. As lame as it might sound, a massive boost in whatever direction she chooses, akin to Lucario, would fit Dark Samus better.

As for her Down Special, though, I have a more interesting idea. Dark Samus is made of Phazon, a sort of super energy. If she replaced the bombs with charging it up, it could heavily empower her Neutral Special(again like Lucario but more naturally than taking damage).

Yoshi

I kinda love him as he is. No real changes to be made honestly.

Kirby

Kirby is a character that frustrates me. His games have so much creativity with the premise of absorbing powers, but he only uses the Neutral Special of whoever absorbs him. But I do have an idea on how to change that!

Not only will he gain the Neutral Special of whoever he absorbs, but he will also gain “aspects” of that character. For example, if he absorbs Ganon, he becomes heavier and his moves have dark aura effects. If he absorbs Sonic, he and all of his moves becomes faster. If he absorbs Charizard, all of his moves have dire effects and his Side-Special gets a massive upgrade at the cost of damaging himself.

Fox

Okay, so, the thing that made Fox both legendary and infamous was how fundamentally broken he was as a character in Melee. Watching a pro-player use him was like watching a Shonen fight. At the risk of obliterating the tier list again, my goal now is to recapture that without breaking him too badly.

What Fox needs more of is consistent momentum. The main way to tweak this by reshaping the Side Special into something with more raw power but more need for precision. Being a dash attack of sorts, the main goal now is to make it both faster and more chargeable. When Fox crouches, it will charge until released, and it will go in the direction of the analogue stick akin to the recovery. This can be quicker than it is now if you release it quickly, however, though it will do marginally less damage. If running, it will default to the no-charge version for an instant strike for little damage.

This revision, however, would make the recovery seem obsolete in comparison, which is why the Recovery will default do more damage than even the max-charged side and go much further, almost being a smash attack in comparison. As such, we have a very fast and powerful Fox that can move in every direction.

How will it be balanced, then? Well, the Reflector will still be stationary, and most of his attacks will have reduced damage to ensure he doesn’t end every round before it starts.

Pikachu and Luigi

I don’t really have anything for either of these, besides the fact that I wish they have the same Final Smashes as Brawl.

Ness

Can I confess something? I hate Ness and Lucas. So much. I hate playing as either of them and I especially hate fighting either of them.

And you know what else? None of their special moves are canon! That’s right! All of the PK moves they use are from different characters! So my move would be to replace them with a far more accurate and less spam-ridden moveset. That is all. Fuck PK Fire.

Captain Falcon

Okay so, this is a Football Player that makes sense *cough, Samus, cough*. My main concern is that his side and down specials are too similar((much like another speedster)). While I don’t think taking the speed from the second fastest character in the game is at all fair, I think a set-up move for the Falcon Punch could work wonders.

As such, I think his Down Special should be replaced with a flaming kick spin tornado of sorts! That way he can juggle the opponent for some minor damage and set them up for a Falcon Punch that comes out too fast for them to dodge. Make for the best combo in the game honestly.

Jigglypuff

What is there to be done for a joke character? Well, Jigglypuff isn’t a joke character anymore! So a lot, actually!

Firstly, her neutral special should replace her side special. That side was a waste of a slap anyways. For her new neutral, however, it should be a Fairy Type move of some sort. My main choices as of now are “Dazzling Gleam” or “Play Rough.”

Dazzling Gleam is self-explanatory, essentially being a burst of energy in all directions, which is surprisingly rare in Smash(kind of like a weaker but further reaching version of her Down Special). Play Rough could tackle an opponent into a cloud of dirt as they cartoonishly fight until the opponent jumps out, doing combo damage overtime.

That’s all for tonight! I plan on doing more of these down the line, but I don’t have any sort of schedule for that and make no promises.

#super smash switch #super smash bros #mario #donkey kong #link #samus aran #samus #kirby nintendo #fox mccloud #captain falcon #jigglypuff #smash bros

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firbys · 5 years

Note

prompt: surprise

this one literally got so long that i’m putting it under a read more but this includes my favourite fallon headcanon that @kicksenselessmydefenses & i worked on

“Must approach her quietly, lest we make our location known to the packleader and accidentally get trampled. While they may not look like much, the spikes on her rear legs are -” Kirby froze, stifling a hiccup, before clutching the wall once more and continuing her quiet, if not a little slurred, monologue. “The spikes, intelligent design by Christian Louboutin, are worth over four-hundred dollars each, can be responsible for any injuries ranging from mild scrapes, to full on blindness, should the mood strike her.”

Worming around the wall, steadying her vision, Kirby watched Fallon from across the room before surveying the area between them for any obstacles that would be a particularly difficult challenge for her in her inebriated state.

Fallon, unaware, leaned over the dining room table in concentration and crossed one ankle behind the other, head cocking to the side as she read the papers spread out in front of her.

“The only way to properly subdue the beast is the element of surprise.”

Shuffling across the carpet and onto the hardwood with enough pressure and static build up to nearly send all of her hair on end, Kirby rushed at the brunette and grabbed her waist, but before she could let out her expertly-planned cry of victory, she was staring up at the ceiling, laying flat against the pile of papers that the other woman had just been looking over.

“Kirby,” Fallon said slowly, leaning over her and raising an eyebrow. Even in her half-drunken state, the redhead recognized the amused, if not endeared look in her eye perfectly. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

She could feel a surging heat in her cheeks, most likely from a combination of her embarrassment, the alcohol, and the unexpected physical exertion.

“Nothing?” Fallon repeated questioningly, and only then did Kirby realize how strong her grip on her wrists was.

Shaking her head a little, Kirby sighed in relief as she was let go, taking two quick attempts to sit herself up properly and then stand fully, reaching back to straighten some of the papers she’d crumpled.

“It looks like you were trying to sneak up on me. Like a child. You’re drunk.” Fallon observed.

Puffing up her chest, Kirby crossed her arms.

“So what?” the slur in her voice didn’t help her case, but she didn’t waver. “You’re lucky I was drunk. It could have been you on the table.”

“Uh huh.” Fallon smiled openly, now, nodding and closing her eyes for a moment to sarcastically emphasize how little she really believed her. “Good try, babe. Why don’t you go to bed? I’ll be up in a minute.”

Waving a hand dismissively, Kirby spun on her heel to begin the dangerous trek up the marble stairs, clutching the handrail as if her life depended on it - and it probably did.

————

If Fallon did actually come up to bed after she’d finished working, she was already gone by the time Kirby woke up in the morning, a combination of the hangover and the sun streaming in through the part in the curtains making her groan in pain.

“Wakey wakey,” Fallon’s voice was surprisingly welcome despite how cheerful she sounded, and Kirby rolled away from the window to watch her make her way back into the bedroom instead.

“I’m up. I wish I wasn’t, but I’m up.” she promised.

“What possessed you to get drunk alone on a Tuesday, by the way?” Fallon made her way towards the bed and handed the redhead a glass of water before settling in beside her.

“It was an accident,” Kirby hummed, before chugging most of the glass and setting it aside. “You know how jacuzzis are. I took a bottle of champagne in and I felt fine and then, y’know. Stood up. Whoops.”

“Ah.” Reaching out to detangle a lock of her hair, Fallon dropped her hand enough to tilt Kirby’s chin up and squinted at her. “Your eyes are red. I’m going to see if those eye drops are still in the bathroom.”

The bed felt suddenly cold without her, so after a moment, Kirby slipped out of the sheets and headed towards the en-suite that Fallon had disappeared into.

Standing up on her toes and digging through the medicine cabinet top shelf, Fallon had foolishly let down her defences, and the memories of the previous night came flooding back to Kirby in a single mischievous wave.

Grinning through biting her lip, Kirby tensed, softening her steps and sliding slowly across the marble tiles towards her girlfriend, taking one last glance to make sure that she wasn’t holding anything sharp, before reaching out to grab her.

“Hey -” Fallon barely had reacted, before grabbing Kirby surprisingly roughly and pushing her against the wall. Squeezing her eyes shut to prepare for the impact between her head and the medicine cabinet door that she had narrowly missed, Kirby held her breath and waited a beat before opening her eyes again.

Fallon let go of her almost as quickly as she grabbed her, clearing her throat and smoothing her shirt out for her before holding out the eye drops.

“Don’t be annoying when I’m helping you.”

She left without another word, leaving Kirby to her hangover, alone.

————

The next two days were spent with Kirby attempting to catch Fallon unawares, with her luck ranging between ‘bad’ and ‘non-existent’. Her genuine annoyance in the bathroom that first morning had almost been enough of a deterrent to keep Kirby at bay, but by the third or fourth attempt she seemed to be in much better spirits, and a combination of what was her obvious good humour about the game, and the frustration of having yet to actually catch Fallon off guard, Kirby had mentally catalogued the experiment as a war, of sorts.

Trying to startle her while she was watching the news did more to frighten Bo than it did Fallon, reaching over without warning to push her while she was mid-stretch only earned Kirby a sharp elbow to the ribs and then a much more intentional slap to the thigh, which, ouch, and attempting to pounce on her from behind the couch almost got her throw into the coffee table. Almost.

It wasn’t until a bright and early Sunday morning, when Kirby was the first awake, for once, that she had her chance. It was only six o’ clock when she finished her shower and made her way back into the bedroom, noting that the brunette was still fast asleep. She’d been up late working, again, and as worrisome as it could be to see the brunette’s sleep schedule being twisted around, it was a little endearing, too.

“Fallon, you asleep?”

Kirby’s voice was barely above a whisper as she approached the bed, clutching her towel a little tighter around herself.

Her girlfriend only groaned quietly in response, and she wasn’t sure if it was a still-asleep reflexive answer, or a ‘please shut up’ sort of sound, but climbed up onto the bed regardless, and slowly stretched out on top of the other woman.

With her chest pressed to Fallon’s back, she felt her sink further into the bed, a heavy exhale leaving her as she tried to fall back asleep. Her fingers dug into the sheets on either side of her pillow, eyes squeezing shut as if she could feel the redhead looking at her.

“I hate to do this to you, but you have to get up.” Kirby mumbled, pressing an apologetic kiss to her temple. “Brunch, remember?”

Whining softly, Fallon turned away in protest and buried her face into the pillow.

“Noooo, no.” Kirby reached for her hands, trying to pull them down, but Fallon only gripped the pillow tighter, despite seeming to realize that it was futile to try to relax any longer. “Hey. I will absolutely tickle you if you force my hand.”

The threat hung heavily in the air between them for a moment, before Fallon began to shift around. Foolishly sliding back a little to give her room to sit up, Kirby quickly realized her mistake and dove on top of her again when she realized that the other woman was in fact not moving to get out of bed, but rather wrapping her arms protectively around herself.

“That’s -” Kirby grabbed for her arms, trying to wrestle them away. “That’s cheating, and I can still -”

She dropped her arms and reached for the back of her neck, intending to try to tickle her, but was instead met with an ear-shattering shriek, before the brunette nearly bucked her off of the bed and onto the floor.

“YOUR HANDS ARE SO COLD.” Wriggling free from her girlfriend, Fallon practically scrambled to the head of the bed, holding both hands up in protest as if she thought Kirby was going to jump at her. “Don’t. I’m up. Oh my god, what is wrong with your circulation? Are you dying?”

Flopping back against the mattress when the laughter overcame her, Kirby rolled onto her side and tried to muffle herself, despite the tears of mirth from the corners of her eyes.

“Oh, finally. I finally got that sound out of you. It’s been too long.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Seemingly having calmed her heart rate, “I don’t think you get points for attacking me while I was literally asleep.”

“Sleepy and asleep aren’t the same thing,” Kirby managed as she hiccuped the last of her laughter, rolling onto her stomach and propping her chin up on her fist. “How do you do that, anyway?”

Fixing her bun that had come loose in their scuffle, Fallon dropped her gaze to the redhead sprawled out in front of her and raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Do what?”

“Know when I’m coming,” Kirby clarified.

“Because you’re about as graceful as a chimpanzee.”

“Don’t be mean.”

Fallon sighed.

“It’s not just you. I started taking self-defence with Monica after… y’know.” Clearing her throat and dropping her girlfriend’s gaze, she shrugged. “It’s reflexive, now.”

Sensing her discomfort, Kirby frowned and sat up enough to squirm closer, dropping her head into Fallon’s lap before relaxing again.

“Well,” she started, “You can keep practicing on me, then. I’ll get better at it and you can keep from getting cold.”

Fallon glanced down at her and chuckled.

“I think you just like it when I beat up on you.”

Kirby grinned, tilting her head into Fallon’s palm when she started to run her fingers through her damp hair.

“Maybe a little.”

#firby fic #my fic #firby prompts

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muchymozzarella · 5 years

Text

Early Dorian info that I found on google

[DRAGON AGE]: Let's start at the beginning. What can you tell us about Dorian? [DAVID GAIDER]: Dorian is a mage from the Tevinter Imperium, and his experiences are radically different from those of mages elsewhere. [DA]: How so? [DG]: In Tevinter, mages form the ruling class. He comes from a wealthy and influential family, one of many that arrange marriages and raise their children to become perfect mages… yet Dorian has rejected that life. He's seen the corruption to which it leads, and he refuses to play along despite the fact it's made him something of a pariah. [DA]: Can you expand on the "corruption" he's seen? [DG]: Without spoiling the plot, I'll say that Dorian got wind of something that his fellow Tevinter mages were doing, and decided to intervene. As he sees it, someone from Tevinter needs to stand up and say, "We don't agree with what these people are doing. They don't represent all of us." [DA]: Dorian has been described as sharp-tongued, with a knack for producing a great quip even in times of grave danger. How would you describe him? [DG]: Dorian is smart—perhaps too smart for his own good, really. He was raised in a society where both intelligence and wit are prized, where advancing yourself socially means outmaneuvering your peers, and he does so quite well… or, at least, he would if he didn't see through it all. That's left him rather jaded and sarcastic, naturally. [DA]: You're sure you didn't play some small part in cultivating that for him? [DG]: I tend to start at "sarcastic" and work my way from there. [DA]: Dorian is also a highly skilled mage. That sounds pretty useful on the battlefield. [DG]: He enjoys using his magic and doesn't see any reason why he should be ashamed about it. So he unleashes his full power when it's needed… and he has plenty of power to unleash, seeing as he comes from a society where mages are trained to use it rather than hide it. This includes powerful elemental spells, as well as spells involving the control of spirit and the dead—things societies outside of Tevinter might turn up their noses at and claim "distasteful." [DA]: Dorian seems to have a conflicted love-hate-love relationship with his homeland. Does he ever think about just leaving it all behind? [DG]: He doesn't believe that the situation in Tevinter is beyond repair, despite how impossible it seems that he personally might be able to do anything about it. Dorian has a streak of idealism hidden beneath his sarcasm, which naturally can lead him to be all the more disappointed when the world does exactly what he suspects it's going to. [DA]: How does Dorian compare to characters you've written in the past? [DG]: Dorian is an outcast—by choice, but only insofar as he chose not to live according to the expectations of his society. There are a lot of aspects to that which I enjoyed exploring, and which I haven't had to chance to do with other characters. [DA]: Anything in particular? [DG]: Dorian is gay—he is, in fact, the first fully gay character I've had the opportunity to write. It added an interesting dimension to his back story, considering he comes from a place where "perfection" is the face that every mage puts on and anything that smacks of deviancy is shameful and meant to be hidden. Dorian's refusal to play along with that façade is seen as stubborn and pointless by his family, which has contributed to his status as a pariah. [DA]: Are you happy with how his character turned out? [DG]: I suppose this aspect of Dorian will make him controversial in some corners, but I was glad to include it. It made writing Dorian a very personal experience for me, and I'm hopeful that will make him seem like a fully realized character to fans in the end. [DA]: Dorian's sarcasm must create some rather interesting banter with other members of the Inquisition. Any personal favorite combinations stand out for you? [DG]: I think I enjoy his relationship with Vivienne the most. They're complete opposites and will tear into each other viciously—or, at least, that's what it looks like to outsiders. [DA]: After listening to Mary Kirby talk about Vivienne's power, we're not so sure that's Dorian's wisest move. [DG]: Really, they find it good fun, and they'll go from arguing to banding together in order to criticize someone else in a cold second—like the Statler and Waldorf of Thedas. I love that. [DA]: Having a Qunari around has also got to yield some strange interactions. [DG]: Dorian's relationship with the Iron Bull is interesting. The Qunari have been at war with the Tevinter Imperium for centuries, after all, and the fact that neither Dorian nor Iron Bull are typical of their people makes for an intriguing arc.

Found it while looking for the first mention of the Dorian and Bull romance. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-350177-p-4.html

#adoribull #reference

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dmydfilmreviews · 5 years

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MARVEL MOMENTS

So what they really did, as well as making a good load of films, was actually make a vast tapestry of genius interwoven moments like flicking through a big comic book! Ten years! Twenty something movies! A load of rubbish images at the end of the list because the last three films weren’t officially out on Blu Ray! Avengers assssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

Tony Builds the First Suit

Really it was a stroke of brilliance to start the whole shebang with Iron Man the self-made superhero. The backbone of the whole universe is that of Tony making himself and that all kicks off here, in a sequence that’s hugely thematically satisfying given what comes later. There’s also the fact that back in the day all this construction stuff was just fucking cool, a Nolan-lite bedrock for a blend of realism and fantasy that comic-book cinema had never quite nailed before. Seeing Tony improve his tech step-by-step is a quiet pleasure of these movies, the suits getting more and more outlandish but staying absolutely believable, just like the films, and that all kicks off here with one guy and a non-magical hammer.

Pepper Pulls Out Tony’s Heart

I noted these all down before Endgame, honestly. Sob. It was always his story really. The best example of the foundational relationship of the MCU: They finish each other’s sentences!

‘Truth is… I am Iron Man.’

They knew what they’d got from the very first. This ballsy coda sets the tone for the whole MCU, one of backed-up swagger, a willingness to fuck with the source material in the name of story and the general feeling that Robert Downey Jr. was God. All in like two hours. That they flipped the egotistically iconic line into an era-defining declaration of responsibility, growth and heroism a decade later is nothing short of remarkable.

Hulk and Betty in the Rain

It’s uh… it’s a nice comic-book visual of a classic comic book romance, I guess? Look, Hulk came a long way later, but his forgotten love for Betty was the closest they ever came to the source material outside of the Hulk generally smashing and being awesome. It was sweet!

The Bit Where Hulk Suplexes a Giant Zombie Wolf on the Rainbow Bridge of Asgard

wait was this in the Incredible Hulk

I’ve Successfully Privatised World Peace!’ ‘Fuck you, Mr Stark.’

They got Garry Shandling in these movies!

The Suitcase Suit

Now that is a cool-ass adaptation.

Black Widow Kicks Asses

Yeah, after a whole movie of being reductive eye-candy she was still reductive eye-candy here. But the scene as a whole’s basically a perfect realisation of her moves in the comics, and showed Marvel were capable of doing someone who wasn’t Iron Man. Then they did EVERYYYYOONNNNNNEEE bonus points for Happy taking out that one guy and yelling ‘I got him!’

Tony and Rhodey in the Japanese Gardens

Look, they just look cool, OK? No one said this was going to be deep.

Tony and Pepper as the Stark Expo Explodes

They haven’t managed a lot of great romance, but this one hella works: Tony’s overblown mess of a movie expo exploding behind the true love of his life is a visual so great that Shane Black nicked it wholesale for the climax of Iron Man Three: Christmas in Croydon.

The Frost Giant Throwdown

Wait, what’s happening? I thought these were the movies where Jeff Bridges rode a Segway? Are we in SPAAAAACCCCCEEEE?

Thor Can’t Pull It Off

Out of the big three Thor’s arc of mythology to humanity might be the deepest and most satisfying of all. That starts here with his tearful inability to be worthy of his father, his world and, crucially, himself, leading directly into the first great Thor/Loki exchange, then a whole host of movies that eventually put him through the emotional wringer to self-acceptance. Hopefully?

Thor and Loki Battle on the Rainbow Bridge

Yeah, it looks kind of goofy, but this is pure sixties Kirby, shorn of the irony the series would develop later. Beautiful.

Erskine Points To Cap’s Heart

That’s it. That’s the character.

The Star Spangled Man!

Who’ll hang a noose on the goose-stepping goons from Berliiiin?

That Whole War Montage That Ends With Bucky Falling From The Train

Just smash after smash after smash of wartime Cap goodness that we’d never see again, ending with the ‘death’ that’d define the rest of his story. Steve lost as much as Thanos in his quest for peace but, y’know, he wasn’t a total fucking intergalactic dick about it.

‘I gotta put her in the water!’

Man alive he waited for that date... whether you think the ending of Endgame ruins the moment somewhat (it doesn’t. sort of), this was still the biggest heart-tugger in the MCU at that point, and defined the characters of Cap and Peggy for years to come. Watch Agent Carter! Just bloody watch it!

'Lemme Put You On Hold’

The stand out moment of The Avengers is basically all of it, but let’s start with the moment Black Widow finally becomes a character, a sequence of broad-strokes skill from Scarlett Johansson and Joss Whedon that begged for a movie she finally got way too long later. Bonus points for possibly the greatest Coulson reaction shot in a history of great reaction shots.

The Helicarrier Ascends

OK, shit – this is series is big now.

The Whole of Stuttgart

Whedon’s love of classical posh entertainment is seen in Angel’s superior ballet episode and his fondness for Sondheim, and he even gets a bit of the ol’ jewellery rattling in here in a perfectly pitched Loki-loving sequence that culminates in some fantastic bits for Cap before Iron Man AC/DC’s all over the place. This is where the comic book stuff really kicks off.

‘YOU COME HOME!’

This Hemsworth’s fella’s really got something...

Forest Bro Down

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. The first real Avengers mash-up is just wonderful. This is where the wish-fulfilment really begins, in a quiet clearing, where three superheroes nearly beat the shit out of each other in classic comic-book style. The Avengers assembled.

The Whole Fuckin’ Helicarrier Sequence

An absolute masterpiece of blockbuster juggling that had never been done before, this could be the third act of any other film. Over what plays out weirdly like a piece of theatre we get terrifying Hulks, mewling quims and awesome heroics, all expertly laced with wonderful character mash-ups and action we’d never seen before. Then Coulson dies. This is what Joss Whedon does.

‘There was an idea…’

Fuck shit yeah there was, and it made for a hell of an Infinity War trailer six years later.

ALL OF NEW YORK

Yep, all of it, but if we’re being picky it’s Hulk v Loki for the comedy side, the tracking shot for the action. As a sequence it’s never been bettered in the MCU, even in the open-mouthed joy-gush of Infinity War and Endgame. FIGHT ME

Go Fish

Iron Man Three is a wonderful movie that works best as the sum of its parts, but there’s one bit that’s up there with the pantheon: the sky-diving rescue above the bay is such a joyous subversion of the usual third-act super-fisticuffs that it’s like something out of a 70’s Superman movie, only with a hilarious capper at the end where Iron Man explodes under a truck. Beep beep!

Running the Lemurian Star

The Russo Brother’s action calling-card for their incredible MCU run, this sets up their vision of Cap’s super-subtle-super-serum-super-moves. From the off it’s a game changer in the way action’s shot across the MCU, clean-cut raid-alikes becoming the order of the day. AND THEN HE FIGHTS BATROC ZE LEAPER

Elevator Throwdown

Yeah, yeah, we all know the actual bit in the elevator that’s spoofed to tremendous effect come Endgame, but remember this sequence ends with Cap TAKING DOWN A FUCKING QUINJET SINGLE-HANDED. The look on his face at the end says it all.

The Winter Soldier Street Fight

HE FLICKS A KNIFE MID PUNCH

Come and Get Your Love

We’d seen a lot of cool shit from the MCU by this point, but this was something else again. It’s funny! It’s funny as fuck! What the fuck is this movie? And again, they know their own best bits: the return to this in Endgame is top drawer. What a moron.

The Kyln Sequence

This whole breakout is the Guardians at their very best; squabbling in space, reluctant teamwork, loads of cool shit and leg theft. The bit where it all goes anti-grav is a treat.

WE ARE GROOT

That’s it. That’s the movie.

…Stark…

It’s a shame they didn’t delve deeper into Scarlet Witch’s hatred for the man who murdered her parents, but her barely contained rage is the keystone for Age of Ultron: deeper, nastier, more questioning of it’s heroes and their heroism. This one they brought on all by themselves.

Sun’s Gettin’ Real Low

Yeah, maybe it’s for the best the slightly bumbled Hulktasha relationship was forgotten about, but this moment was pivotal in the character development of both. Beautifully shot, and leads to a primo Ragnarok gag.

Lift That Hammer

You genuinely could have made a whole movie of these characters hanging out at an open bar. The Stan cameo’s great, the War Machine story bit gets an Endgame alien planet boost much later, but it’s the drunken worthiness competition that’s the real highlight, a seemingly fun throwaway that actually almost single-handedly sets up the whole character of Vision and the most fist-pumping moment of Endgame, a movie nearly entirely composed of fist-pumping moments.

Hulk vs Hulkbuster

Pure comic-book wish fulfilment again, and how. From Hulk spitting out a tooth to Tony desperately pleading ‘go to sleep go to sleep go to sleep’, this mad clash of science pals knocks every Transformers movie straight through a freshly-bought-building. Veronica!

Well Done.

Alright, Vision’s no one’s favourite Avenger, but he’s one who’s the satisfying product of several movie plots, one beloved supporting AI and the combined brains, magic and cool red capes of his team. Whedon performs his own mad-skillz level script trick to make us accept this fucking weirdo, first by giving him Jarvis’ voice, then having him stare out at a world and see his reflection in it, then having him lift an unliftable character-establishment hammer. None of this could be done by any other film series.

The Geometry of Belief

Ultron’s climactic church-a-maggedon is short but perfect, a swirling mass of splash-page insanity that culminates in a glorious trinity of Vision, Iron Man and Thor blasting the shit out of their mad son like a magic triangle. The Avengers at their peak.

Vision and Ultron Have a Chat

Whedon pops out these gems of detached humanism from time to time, and his sundown final exchange between The Avenger’s success and failure is a doozy. The most poetic little scene in the whole MCU, voiced by two creatures who look like nightmarish dildos. ‘A thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts’ is an all-timer.

Big Bathtub

Ant Man’s bedrock might be its family values, but it’s the shrinking that makes it stand out. The first time Scott drops into tiny-town is a Pixar-esque fun-burst akin to Stephen Strange’s nutso jump into infinity later, with deadly bath taps, thunderclap vacuum cleaners and mid-day apartment raves (?) all bringing a new level of threat and adventure to a series already teeming with variety. They should carry these ones on foreverrrrr

Cassie’s Room

There’s something about this scene that sums up Scott’s whole character and hopefully sets up his daughter for future ant shenanigans: he is (was) unique as a hero with a family, and no matter how many Pym Particles he stuffs into his suit he’s always looked like a giant to his daughter. Plus, y’know, Thomas the Tank Engine.

Some Guy Crashes a Car at Night

The catalyst for the great middle schism. Civil War is a masterclass of twisting, gut-churning reveals, and this is the quiet moment that starts it all.

QUEENS

The perfect Marvel character, introduced into the perfect realisation of the Marvel Universe, perfectly.

Running Into Each Other At The Airport

LITTLE MAN IS BIG NOW I’M CLINT WE HAVEN’T MET YET I DON’T CARE WHERE YOU FROM KID QUEENS BROOKLYN I’M YOUR CONSCIENCE WE HAVEN’T SPOKEN IN A WHILE YOU GUYS KNOW THAT OLD MOVIE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK HOW OLD IS THIS KID ETC ETC OH MY GOD MY BRAIN HAS EXPLODED

Cap vs Iron Man

‘I don’t care. He killed my mom.’

The Big Brain Burst

They keep doing bits to expand themselves, and this is one of the best, with the most potential for the future. Fleeting, but dazzling.

New York Mirror Fest

If the next Strange movies delve into this deranged nonsense then they could end up the greatest of all of them. This is the tip of the iceberg, and it’s still unlike anything else being done in mainstream cinema.

Mr Blue Sky

In a movie that frequently reaches big and misses, at least it hits the spot at the beginning. This glorious celebration of family, space-craziness and genre subversion is everything Guardians does best. The Gamora / Groot bit is adorable.

Peter’s Civil War Adventure

The perfect tone-setter for the story’s most-average joe, this ground-level view of the universe’s biggest clash acts as a whippet quick intro to Peter Parker’s world in the big bad MCU. It’s always a thrill to see him where he belongs.

The Homage to Getting Buried Under a Tonne of Crap

Homecoming’s riffs on classic Spidey-lore are generally pretty subtle, but when it comes time to show what Peter’s really made of Watts rips directly from the best, first with the iconic Parker/Spidey face split and then with him holding up a whole fucking building like he’s nerd Hulk or something. The added ‘come on Spider-Mans’ are the adorable icing on the homage-o-cake.

Anytime That Immigrant Song Plays

Another!

Thor vs Hulk

Yeah, it’s not perfect and it’s a little CGIey. But it’s Thor fighting the Hulk in a fucking galactic gladiator arena place run by Jeff Goldblum and it smashes and it’s full of fun callbacks to previous movies. Yes! That’s what it feels like!

Thor and Loki Do Get Help

The perfect encapsulation of Waititi’s irreverent-but-with-tonnes-of-heart freshgasm on the story of Thor, this bit of hilarious dumb shit acts as amusing action beat and neat character resolution all in one. They’re friends again! They’re brothers! Thor throws him around like a rolled up carpet!

What Are You The God of Again?

Oh right, so he’s the best Avenger now.

Killmonger in the Afterlife

The bloody heart of the most emotional Marvel movie, when Erik Killmonger enters the Wakandan afterlife he finds himself in his own tiny Compton apartment, exiled with his father forever with the plains of eternity just out of reach beyond the window. Heartbreaking, and brilliant.

Thanos Arrives

The opening of Infinity War is another example of their absolute mastery of tone; after the megaton funblast of Ragnarok we’re thrown into the end of that movie being ripped apart, before Thanos appears, dragging a battered Thor into frame, beats seven shades of green shit out the Hulk and murders two beloved supporting characters, all without breaking a sweat. If you weren’t excited before you were now.

New York Tussle

The opening New York section of Infinity War is all very clever, acting as the only grounding Earthy moment in what’s a pretty out-there narrative in terms of existential stakes. You get Tony and Wong helping people off the sidewalk and Strange winking after halting the space-death-machine, but from there on out it’s full-bore comic-book smackdown fun, clashing characters who’ve never met and providing top-drawer banter about wizards and children’s parties. This is the page, up there on screen.

BRING ME THANOS!

The Thanos Fight

Jesus fucking Christ. Up there with the end of Avengers and the Civil War airport battle, this is a perfect realisation of superhero action, with a bigger dose of high-level insanity courtesy of the Infinity Stones and Doctor Strange. Sublimely realised, incredibly satisfying, with real weight and thought put into the spectacle, it’s also fantastic in the narrative of the film, the culmination of its themes of desperation and inevitability. The first time you saw them try to rip off the gauntlet was unbearable.

The Snap

Well, yeah. You’ll never get back the first time you saw this. And imagine seeing it as a fucking kid.#

Just a Girl

Sure the big level-up CGI fest at the end is good, but it’s the comedy smackdown on the Kree ship that’s the most satisfying part of Captain Marvel, the shit-eating joy on Carol’s face as she discovers she’s way more powerful than the assholes who’ve been holding her back. It’s corny sure, but it’s hella fun.

Thor Goes For The Head

Endgame is a shocking, disorientating blur to begin with, all the characters you loved acting in strange, desperate ways in a super-hero version of post-traumatic stress disorder. Tony’s meltdown is bad enough, but it’s when Thor just straight up fucking murders Thanos that you know this is going to get dark and serious. It doesn’t, it remembers it’s a Marvel movie, but the shot of him walking out into the blurred alien sun, cape aflutter, is a fitting goodbye to a more innocent time of heroics.

Ant Man and Cassie

A moment that could be worthy of a whole movie itself, a desperate Scott Lang meeting his five-years-older daughter gives a joke character a serious moment in the same way Infinity War did for Guardians. It’s very odd, very sweet and very Marvel.

Love You 3000

Morgan H. Stark is almost a little too on the nose as a wrap-up for Tony, but hell, she’s still sweet as all hell and a perfect capper to his story of fatherhood and responsibility. It’s a mark of the work they’ve put in that we’ll almost immediately accept the tired trope of kid-taking-over-mantle when she inevitably puts on the armour in a few years.

Steve and Peggy / Tony and Howard

This is the bit in Endgame where I finally started tearing up: a lot of it is too-neat fan-service, but fuck it, they’ve put in so much effort that it works. This is the scene where you realise both of these long arcs are coming to an end, the resolution of Steve quietly making his decision to go back to Peggy and Tony getting the closer of discussing parenthood with his unknowing father. It’s corny sure, but so are comic books, and setting the whole bit at the height of seventies Marvel Comics mania is a loving nod to the imaginations that made all these crazy possibilities possible.

Widow and Hawkeye

There’s a theme here. All of these moments are kind of cheesy and rely heavily on callbacks to previous bits… but at the moment it doesn’t matter because ENDGAME WOW. Maybe we’ll look back at it as a corny misstep, but for the moment, Clint and Tasha having one last, ludicrously overblown tussle for who gets to live is a sweet capper that never goes as deep as the others because they’re supporting characters. It still stings, and it’s a neat mirror to Gamora and Thanos in Infinity War. The red’s gone from her ledger! It’s on the rocks! Urrrgh

Nebula Kills Herself

Again, they’re so good that they can spend a big chunk of time in what’s ostensibly the last big movie for their most beloved characters on making a lesser character beloved. Endgame spotlights Nebula even more than Infinity War did Gamora, using her self-hatred and fear of her father for compelling, wibbly-wobbly plot and character beats. The resolution of her story and her newfound place with her team should make for a whole different Guardians before we even get to Fortnite-Thor joining up.

Cap Wields The Hammer

‘I KNEW IT!’

Thanos’ Army

One last escalation of scale. When Thanos’ army finally arrives it’s like something out of those apocalyptic Turner paintings, where the hordes of a ship-wrecked hell confront eternity under skies ripped from heaven. Only this time they’re facing one guy called Steve, and they’re fucked. Incredible.

Avengers… Assemble

It almost lives up to what you always had in your head. The Marvel Universe, somehow done right.

Tony Hugs Peter Back

Awwww!

New Avengers Run the Gauntlet

A surprising amount of Endgame’s grand finale is given over to the future hopes; while Strange gets stuck in with holding back a Biblical flood it’s up to Black Panther to grab the Infinity Gauntlet from Clint in a delightful callback to Civil War, before embarking on an intense relay race across the entire battlefield that begins with Scarlet Witch crushing the shit out of Thanos’ testicles and ends with Captain Marvel engaging the Mad Titan in a bone-crushing show of super-strength. And along the way if finds time to have Peter Parker dragged through the air by Thor’s hammer which was thrown by Captain America before landing on a Pegasus flown by Valkryie across an exploding sky of alien whales. Maybe the most satisfying run of action since the first Avengers.

I am Iron Man

It was always going to be him really. Bonus points for Downey Jr. originally telling Thanos to ‘Fuck off’. Did anyone else keep thinking he was going to wake up and quip and everything would be OK? That’s how you make movies.

The Funeral

It looks a little weird actually, like they weren’t all on set. But they were! The Marvel Universe again, holy smokes.

The Kiss

Now that’s how you end ten years and twenty one movies. They’re movies! It was romantic! It was exciting! It was fun!

For TEN FUCKING YEARS.

Swing a Ding Ding Sir

After five movies of fresh shit they've finally starting dumping some classic Spider-Man on us; the Euro stuff's fun and all, but it's Far From Home delirious climax that sees Spidey and MJ thwipping through the canyons of New York before bumping into ugly ol' J. Jonah JJ Jay Jay likes it's a freakin' comic book or something. Delightful, and also serves as a wonderful image of hope and joy post-Endgame.

What a fuckin’ ride. Here’s to the next... seventy six? Seventy seven?

wait did I leave any out

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