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xiyao-feels · 3 years

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sorry if this is something you're not interested in, but how do you think canon should diverge to make nie//yao possible or realistically conceivable?

I'm happy to explain why, but honestly I don't think it can be done, for a few reasons.

First of all I don't think they're at all interested in each other that way. And this isn't, you know, two people who barely interacted in canon—they know each other! They're not into each other sexually, they're not into each other romantically. I suppose NMJ might want JGY to be his permanent subordinate and deputy, but they didn't have a personal relationship at that time (which doesn't mean they didn't care about each other! I think they did, and quite a lot!), and JGY thoroughly isn't interested.

I mean, when it comes down to it, what do they actually appreciate about each other? For NMJ, it's JGY's extraordinary competence; for JGY, it's that NMJ actually appreciates JGY's extraordinary hard work and competence and, basically, has some sense of fairness about things—that JGY should be promoted for his skill, that people shouldn't be complete dicks about him. Granted his sense of fairness and right action completely fails to actually deal with the world the way it is, but I don't mean to downplay things; although he dealt with a lot of it really badly even from the beginning, his willingness to recognize MY's merit and promote him based on that really would be exceptionally rare in that society, and I can understand /why/ MY feels so grateful to him even as he demonstrates he doesn't understand MY's reality. Similarly, JGY's competence really is extraordinary, and not something NMJ can easily find elsewhere.

But like... that can be a basis for a friendship. I don't see how it's a basis for a relationship, especially given everything else about who they are. They don't have interests in common, they don't have...anything in common, almost; putting aside their different understandings of morality (and that's a heck of a lot to put aside!), NMJ's interests are killing Wen, sabre training, NHS, and JGY acting correctly; JGY's interests are long-term strategic planning with an eye to wide social projects, taking care of the people he loves, living and not being in fear of his life, and—you know, I'm pretty sure he does in fact like art and good poetry and nice tea and all that. I mean, they both care about NHS, but even then they both have very different approaches!

And then there's their completely different understandings of morality, and NMJ's complete refusal to engage with the actual facts of the world, that JGY will actually die if he acts the way NMJ wants him to. And NMJ's assumption of permanent authority over whether JGY deserves to live. I mean, I don't want to downplay that! That's a pretty important factor, and it's one that—well, you could maybe change things enough that NMJ didn't feel he had the authority over JGY, but that JGY needs to do some seriously shady things or die is... basically going to be true until after he's Jin-zongzhu, given canon. And if we change things so that NMJ didn't feel that authority, why would they be close? I think it ultimately derives from NMJ having been his superior, and that's the foundation of the positive sides of their relationship for both of them, even as it also leads to its breaking.

I think the very most positive I can see their relationship is...NMJ dies before the stairs (not JGY-related)...and didn't come back as a JGY-targeting fierce-corpse-missile....and then years later after JGY is well established as zongzhu and xiandu, somehow a sixteen-year-old or whatever (could be later, basic idea is after WRH kills his dad but before he meets MY, I'm not sure of the actu age range there) NMJ shows up! Everyone is very confused, but hey, NMJ never kicked JGY down the stairs so JGY still has some positive feelings about him, NMJ doesn't have any reason even emotionally to feel like he has serious say over this well-established clan leader who was apparently crucial to the war and even killed WRH and saved his life! And apparently they were sworn brothers and he helped MY by recognizing his merit—it would appeal to his sense of how things should be, I think, look I recognized this man's merit and know he's being a righteous leader. Granted he'd probably still know the story of MY, but not having met him I think he'd have some emotional separation there...

I mean it would suck for NMJ a whole lot, and he'd still have to deal with my best friend has a new best friend he likes better :(((( But I can see him respecting and thinking well of JGY, in these circumstances, in a way he mostly doesn't? And JGY would want to help him, and...maybe they could be something approaching friends, it not particularly close ones. I don't know, I'm just spitballing here, there's also the complication that NMJ would be hugely upset about the world not being the way he thinks it should and has zero emotional coping skills, so, uh. But putting that aside for the moment, and ignoring some similar considerations (would an NMJ who doesn't relate to JGY the same way get angry for him for indulging NHS???), that's kind of the most positive relationship I can imagine them having that could actually work, because it's not based on JGY being permanently subordinate to NMJ, and because as zongzhu and xiandu JGY doesn't actually need to do terrible things in the same way—I mean, obviously there are tradeoffs and so forth, but he's not going to be pulling what his dad did with XY, say—so NMJ won't get mad at him for them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

#I am spitballing but hey #but yeahhhhh I just don't see it #more than one tag could contain #anger burned in his heart #we can't change places #ship negativity cw

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mashounen2003 · 3 years

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Sonic opinions - 2

In large portions of every fandom, it looks like it prevails the idea that you can only take one of two positions: praising the story in every respect, including both the ideas themselves and their execution by the writers, or admitting not to like the story and not to praise any element of it at all. I think my ideas regarding the Archie-Sonic comics and the Sonic franchise in general cannot be pigeonholed into either of these two extremes.

More below the "keep reading" cut.

I loved all the world-building in Archie-Sonic, the elements the comic introduced, their many characters and the potential to tell stories about them; I also really liked much of the art and personal styles of several artists Archie-Sonic has had throughout its history, with very few exceptions (and such exceptions include Ron Lim, of course). That's why, of all the Sonic continuities, I often use the pre-reboot Archie-Sonic comic as the primary source for world-building elements and story ideas.

What really makes me feel bad about that comic, what motivates most of my criticism, is the ideas’ execution by the main writers, as well as aspects that I think are more linked to each writer as a person, the unique way in which each of them has written their stories.

Firstly, Michael Gallagher: the writer for the first few dozen issues of the comic had a terrible sense of humour, and this hurt the comic hugely since those first issues were fundamentally based on that low-quality comedy style. The characterization of the entire cast also suffered greatly from this; in Sally's case, something quite ironic happened too: Gallagher portrayed her as bossy, annoying, temperamental, usually bickering with Sonic, and now that's also how Sally is seen by many fans of the videogames’ continuity (at best). Other than this, not much more could be said about him.

Karl Bollers wrote quite decent stories with some nice comedy, with “Return to Angel Island” being his best work, one of the best stories in the entire comic and perhaps even one of the best in the franchise; but Bollers’s work was "torpedoed" by Ken Penders and then-editor Justin Gabrie, which ruined the stories’ final versions sometimes or led to elements introduced by Bollers being "retconned" and overwritten by whatever Penders smoked and decided to do when taking over. The characterization of Fiona Fox is one of the main examples, with Bollers's Fiona being a quite under-utilized character but with a great potential that would later be wasted by both Penders and Ian Flynn. Another similar case was Sally breaking up with Sonic: Bollers tried to give context to such a drastic decision by Sally and show how she was the one who was suffering the most at that time and also that both she and Sonic were partially right, but Penders and Gabrie didn't let Bollers develop this subplot properly and all we had was a quite infamous scene that unfairly made Sally one of the most hated characters. It’s also known of several plans Bollers had for future stories, and one of them was Antoine being corrupted by the Source of All and turning into a villain; this had the potential to be a good story by subverting the concept of the Source of All and making it an actual threat, but on the other hand, it’d have meant resorting once again to the resource of "this character isn’t doing anything, let's make them evil", something quite disappointing, which later would have disastrous results when Flynn did the same with Fiona a few years later. However, these plans of Bollers were just ideas, and the quality of a story created from them still depends a lot on execution. In the end, I can't say anything about how good or bad Bollers was as a writer, simply because I have no way of knowing what his stories would have been like if he had been given more freedom and had stayed as the writer longer.

There were two writers who influenced Archie-Sonic comics far more than any other writer in its history: Penders and Flynn. The first of them was a retarded pervert with an overly inflated and fragile ego. He became obsessed with the primitive, toxic ideal of "family" North-Americans have. He wrote nonsensical, contradictory stories, having already decided the end down to the last detail long before even thinking about how the story would come to that end (I also made this specific mistake a few times when I was just starting to write fanfiction, I must admit). He increased Fiona's age in order to be able to pair her with the Don Juan that Sonic had become, which also ruined Fiona's characterization forever. The issues 150s -right before being replaced by Flynn- were the worst part of Penders’s run, as Bollers was no longer there to put a stop to his madness in any way, and it was at this time when there was the most egregious case of Penders pouring into the comic his worst perversions and retarded ideas: he hinted at a sex scene in one of the most infamous cases in the history of the entire Sonic franchise, although it wasn’t infamous for the implied sex per se but rather because what happened was technically a rape by deception; to add insult to injury, the writer implicitly blamed the victim some years later when asked about it on Twitter.

I could go on talking about “Ken Perverts”, but I think that's not necessary and would be a waste of time since, as everyone here already knows, he's been the laughingstock of the entire Sonic franchise for years; @ponett even has a whole secondary blog, @thankskenpenders, mainly dedicated to this. On the other hand, there’s still another writer who has also contributed a lot and also made huge mistakes but is not criticized in the least by almost anyone, simply because he was better than Penders.

Ian Flynn usually reduced the characters to slightly oversimplified portrayals, similar to the personalities of the characters in the most recent videogames. Under his pen, Sonic was more sympathetic but his words sometimes sounded too empty and shallow, his apologies for past mistakes didn’t lead to genuine changes on his part, and sometimes he even seemed plain insensitive to all the tragedies happening around him, especially at the Mecha Sally Arc (I nickname Ian Flynn’s Sonic "Plastic Smile" for this). Admittedly, this had already happened several times with previous writers (Penders portraying Sonic as a Don Juan, as I already mentioned), and this is why I think the original Sonic from Sonic SatAM was always better for feeling more "genuine", less "empty", and more heroic and likeable as a result. Perhaps the only ones to escape the oversimplified portrayal have been Shadow and E-123 Omega, whose characterizations in Archie-Sonic were the best in the whole franchise.

Besides, Flynn had strong favouritism for Amy Rose, which only made things worse because this Amy was much more similar to the one in the videogames from Sonic Heroes onwards. Anyway, this also happened with previous writers, like when Amy wished to be younger at the cost of a chance to save Sally's mother and no one ever berated her for it.

Let’s look at the villains. Unlike the typical Eggman from the videogames, with his follies, eccentricities and other absurd aspects, the Robotnik “inherited” by the comic from Sonic SatAM was explicitly a genocidal bastard and crueller while at the same time being sane enough to realize everything he was doing (@robotnik-mun already spoke in detail about this once); however, Flynn tried to combine the two characters into the pre-reboot Archie-Sonic Eggman, and the result created some severe problems with the stories’ tone. Something derived from this was how Sonic let Eggman live and even felt sorry for his fall into madness, in addition to treating him as if they were the Sonic and Eggman from the videogames, Sonic X or Sonic Boom; it’s worth remembering this Eggman technically is a sort of reincarnation of the SatAM Robotnik (his exact nature is quite complicated and includes parallel universes, but yes, he’s supposed to be exactly the same as the SatAM Robotnik, with memories and everything) and this Sonic is supposed to have fought a bloody decade-long guerilla war against him just like his SatAM counterpart.

Scourge was turned into a massive Mary-Sue who achieved easy victories, as subtle as a huge neon sign saying "the bad guys win"; he was also an abusive manipulator towards Fiona Fox, and Flynn was unable to show that properly for fear of making his pet look no longer cool, which makes you wonder how alike Flynn and Penders might actually be in some ways. To clearly understand the horrible damage this has caused: it not only created a generation of young Sonic fans -mostly boys from the USA- who romanticize abuse either consciously or unconsciously, but also there are even women -including scholars, committed feminists and transgender people who are also activists for social justice- who either sympathize with Scourge or think Fiona made a right, wise, rational or informed decision by joining him in the story (I’ll not give names of those women, I’m not really eager to get into heated fallacious discussions about “the true meaning of Feminism”); to top it off, among the writers who started working with Ian Flynn either on IDW-Sonic or the last years of Archie-Sonic, there’s at least one person who got the job of writing official Sonic comics after gaining quite a bit of fame with a fan-comic where they used the pairing of Scourge & Fiona to inspire its readers to feel sorry... for Scourge. And speaking of Fiona specifically: the subplot of her career as a villain was ill-conceived, was built by using as a cornerstone the A-story of Issue #150 (that quite infamous and widely known story written by Penders where Scourge may or may not have raped Bunnie by deception), and was also seemingly "abandoned" as Fiona ended up merely being Scourge's new abuse victim girlfriend and her status as a traitor didn’t even have a significant emotional effect on the Freedom Fighters.

Flynn also followed something like a pattern of taking tropes from famous works and then using them when writing the comic but not actually understanding why those tropes had worked in the first place. Perhaps the prime example of this was Scourge giving Sonic the Joker's "One Bad Day" speech: it almost felt a bit like giving the same speech to the Batman of Batman vs. Superman, as Sonic had already had a whole "bad decade" and was still a hero despite it; also, Sonic's answer to that speech (telling Scourge it only takes a tiny bit of selflessness and decency for him to be a good person) wasn’t that great, not at all compared to the mildly masterful answer Batman had originally given to the Joker in The Killing Joke, and it even made Sonic look more like a bad judge of character.

Lastly, the entire Mecha Sally Arc was poorly planned, had some contradictions with itself and with previous stories, was stretched through dozens of comic issues no matter if that felt forced, and the main events and plot twists throughout the story arc were heavily based on shock-value without giving any substance to this or making it a bit more sense when putting it under scrutiny; meanwhile, Flynn always seemed to have quite a hard time when writing long story arcs, so these long stories looked like he was trying and outright failing to imitate Toriyama (someone quite known for putting together stories ad-lib according to what seemed most convenient at the time).

Despite this, it looks like those Sonic fans who are still interested in material outside of the videogames will keep buying and reading whatever Ian Flynn or one of his colleagues writes, simply because they’re better than Penders... even though it's been 15 years since Penders wrote something official about Sonic. Seriously, we should have gotten over it by now, instead of continuing to compare all material in the franchise with Penders's work, which sets the bar too low for any official content creator. Now that I think about it, Penders's work is to the North-American Sonic canon what Sonic 2006 is to the videogames: people can criticize the latest games all they want, and rightfully so, but if someone even casually mentions Sonic 2006, any Sonic game from 2010 onwards instantly becomes a masterpiece just for being marginally better than Sonic 2006; the same happens between Penders's work on pre-reboot Archie-Sonic and any other North-American Sonic comic written by Flynn after Penders left.

Right now it looks like it's also forbidden to criticize Flynn as a writer at all just because he's much nicer in his personal life and engages with fans more directly through his podcasts, or because Flynn is truly progressive while Penders claimed to be progressive and a feminist and was affiliated with the USA Democrats but his work showed how misogynistic, perverted, retarded, reactionary and downright sick he was. Also, now saying something about Flynn other than total blind admiration for him and his work, even asking for the Freedom Fighters to return in the IDW comics, has become synonymous with agreeing with those assholes who cry "Rally4Sally" or "Udon4Sonic" on Twitter: "nostalgic" fans of SatAM and Penders's work on Archie, in their 40s or 50s, deeply conservative and absurdly paranoid, who claim that those new inclusive cartoons such as Steven Universe or She-Ra "are ruining their childhood", are mad at Flynn just because he hinted Sally and Nicole may be a lesbian couple (and in a rather platonic way, not even romantic in the traditional sense), and try to justify their own warped ideas and fantasies about SatAM by ignoring any “liberal” political messages SatAM may have had at the subtext level.

#sonic fanfiction by mashounen #sonic opinions by mashounen #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #archie sonic #sonic comics #sonic satam #michael gallagher #karl bollers #ken penders #ian flynn

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vgckwb · 3 years

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P5R: Rebel Girl (A FeMC Story/P5R Rework) Chapter 61: 4 Targets

The next day, as Ren and Morgana were heading to school, Morgana popped his head out. “So, what are we doing today?”

“Well, I was thinking of going into Mementos,” Ren answered.”Take care of a few requests , as well as getting Makoto more acquainted with the Metaverse.” Morgana smiled, and nodded, and the two of them went to school.

During class, Ren took out her phone and messaged the group.

Ren: We’re meeting up today.

Makoto: Do you always text in class?

Ryuji: Woah! He really didn’t say anything.

Makoto: Who?

Ryuji: Nothing…

Makoto: I’ll ignore that for now.

Ann: So, are we going after Kaneshiro?

Ren: Not quite.

Ren: We have a few Mementos missions to take care of, and I feel like we should do those first.

Makoto: Mementos?

Sumire: Right. She wouldn’t know.

Ryuji: Mementos is everyone’s palace, I think.

Makoto: Could we attack Kaneshiro through there?

Jose: Nope.

Sumire: Palaces are formed when desires are so warped that they don’t fit in in Mementos.

Sumire: While Mementos itself is more of a collective of everyone else’s minds.

Yusuke: Mementos is quite fascinating actually. I’m interested to see what you think.

Makoto: Well, it sounds intriguing.

Ann: OK. Sounds like a plan.

Ren: See you after school at the hideout.

They put their phones away.

After school, they all arrived at the hideout. “So, how does this work?” Makoto asked.

Ren took out her phone and the sheet of paper Mishima gave her. “Well, it’s fairly simple. We make the target aware that we’re going to steal their treasure, then we go in and steal it.”

“That’s also how it works for palace rulers,” Morgana explained, “but unlike the palace rulers, we don’t have to do as much to get to them.”

“I see,” Makoto said.

“We do usually end up having to fight them” Ann lamented.

“But it’s fine,” Ryuji added. “We don’t hurt them in real life this way.”

“But we can get hurt ourselves” Yusuke finished.

“Well...yeah…” Ryuji admitted.

Sumire smiled. “But that’s why we come prepared!”

Jose nodded. “And we also work together to overcome the odds.”

“Hm” Makoto grinned. “Sounds like you have this all down pat.”

“Well, as much as we can,” Ann said. “I mean, none of us even KNEW about this strange parallel world until Ren showed up.”

Ren shoved Ann. “Don’t make it sound like I brought it with me.”

Ann shoved back. “Why not? You were the chosen one in all of this.” The two girls shared a giggle as they continued to playfully fight each other.

“Well then,” Makoto said, causing them to stop, “let’s get crackin’.”

Ren nodded. She looked over Mishima’s paper. “Let’s see. First, we have our follow up. The person pressuring Daisuke into bullying: Yoshimori Sakoda.”

“Wait, someone was bullying Daisuke?” Makoto asked.

Sumire nodded. “Apparently, this guy had some blackmail on Daisuke, and he was using that to manipulate him.” Makoto looked disconcerted. “What’s wrong?”

“Oh!” Makoto exclaimed. “Well, when we confronted him, he brushed us off saying ‘there’s more going on than you know’. At the time, I thought it was just bluster. I did notice a change in his behavior recently too. Was that you?” They all nodded. “I see.” She grew a little frustrated.

“OK, next on Mishima’s list, we have a girl named Hikari Shimuzu,” Ren continued. “She’s been torturing this one guy, basically making him her slave. He’s been coming to school with bruises all over.”

“Sounds horrible!” Ann said. “We MUST put a stop to this!”

“Did he put the request in?” Jose asked.

“It doesn’t say,” Ren answered.

“Hm” Jose thought.

“What’s wrong Jose?” Sumire asked.

“Well, in my studies on humanity, I’ve heard of people who derive pleasure from pain,” Jose explained. Everyone else was stunned. “What’s it called again?”

“Even if that was the case, this sounds like it’s going too far!” Ryuji interjected.

“Oh?” Jose wondered. “And how do you know?”

“Uhhhhhhhhh” Ryuji stammered.

Yusuke jumped in. “Well, if someone thinks it’s enough of a problem to raise awareness of it on the Phan-site, it’s at least worth checking out.”

“Well put, Yusuke-senpai,” Sumire chimed in.

Ren nodded. “And last on the list is a restaurant manager named Nozumi Ono, who, according to the request, does little to no work, berates their employees for even the slightest mistakes, and takes all the credit and money for himself.”

“Disgusting” Makoto reacted.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Morgana added.

“Sounds like a total jerk” Ryuji piled on.

“So, we’re all in favor?” Ren asked. Yusuke raised his hand. “Yusuke?”

“If I may,” he began, “I found something I think we should investigate as well. A string of burglaries being tied to us.”

“WHAT?!” Ryuji shouted.

“Oh, those,” Jose said. “Well, from what I’ve heard, the perpetrator has been using calling cards that resemble ours, but apparently, not even the police believe them.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Morgana said sardonically.

“But they still don’t know who did it,” Jose said.

“If I may, I wasn’t finished” Yusuke said

“Sorry” Jose apologized.

“You are forgiven,” Yusuke assured him. “Ahem. I did overhear a student planning said burglaries.”

“Really?” Ann asked. “How’d you manage to swing that?”

“I’m not sure myself,” Yusuke replied. “I was just passing by, and he was talking to himself as if no one else was there.”

“Did he just not hear you coming?” Sumire said.

“I suppose so,” Yusuke answered. “Although, I am curious as to how he didn’t see me. I was walking toward him.” The rest of the group looked on blankly. “Well, whatever the case may be, I know who it is.”

“Great job, Yusuke” Makoto cheered him on in an embarrassed tone.

“Why thank you” Yusuke said, not picking it up at all. “His name is Kazyua Makigami.”

“I’ll ask Mishima to add him,” Ren said, texting Mishima.

“Oh, right,” Makoto said, realizing something. “Mishima-kun’s involved in this?”

“Yeah” Ren answered. “He’s in charge of the Phan-site.”

“Oh. I thought that was you guys” Makoto said.

“Well, he knows who we are,” Ryuji explained.

“But he’s on our side” Ann continued.

“Besides,” Ren said, “having him manage the site leaves more time to plan and do things like this.”

“I see,” Makoto said. “Well, as long as you trust him.”

Ren smiled and nodded. “I just sent the word to him. Are we ready?” Everyone else nodded. “Then let’s go.” They all headed into Mementos.

Upon entry, Makoto looked around. “Woah! This isn’t exactly what I expected. But it is interesting nonetheless.”

Ren smied. “Welcome, to the garden of madness.”

“Well, no time like the present,” Makoto said. She started to walk off the platform, but Ren and Sumire caught her.

“Woah, Queen-senpai,” Sumire said.

“What is it?” Makoto asked.

Ren and Sumire helped her back up. Ren then explained. “Memento is huge. It’s too big to walk through.”

Makoto was confused. “Then how do you get around?”

“Myeh heh heh” Morgana chuckled. “My time to shine! Transform!” He transformed into the car.

“Woah!” Makoto said.

“Heh heh” Morgana laughed.

Makoto thought about it. “So, this world is based around people’s perceptions…”

“Correct” Ann answered.

“And I’m guessing that this is because a lot of people have the image of cats turning into vehicles” Makoto went on.

“Also correct,” Ren added.

“But according to Mona himself, he’s not a cat,” Makoto finished. Everyone stood in silence for a few moments before Ren broke down laughing.

“Well…” Morgana began uncomfortably, “...I guess it’s because most people see me as a cat…”

“Oh. That makes sense” Makoto responded.

Ren finished her laughing fit. “Alright. We should get going. Hop in.” Everyone got in and they started driving off.

Once they reached the end of the first floor, Makoto was stunned. “That’s it?”

“No,” Ann answered.

“Then how big is it?” Makoto asked.

“No idea,” Ryuji responded.

“Huh,” Makoto remarked.

“We believe Eris is hold up at the bottom,” Ren explained.

“Oh!” Makoto said, excited. “So, we need to break through to the bottom?”

“Basically” retorted Ren. “Although to gain the ability to do so, we need to make a bigger name for ourselves as the Phantom Thieves.”

“I see,” Makoto pondered. “Well then, let’s give it all we got then!”

Sumire chuckled. “I love your attitude, Queen-senpai!”

“Although it seems easier said than done,” Yusuke explained.

“It seems like we have to play Eris’s game to be able to get to the bottom,” Jose iterated.

“I don’t care,” Makoto said. “If this Eris can turn someone like Naoko into someone willing to murder, I’ll do anything to put them in their place.”

“Woah! Scary” Ryuji remarked.

“No, I get it,” Yusuke said. “Eris really messed with someone she cared about. I have a similar feeling towards her about Kosuke.”

“I’m not saying I don’t get it,” Ryuji explained. “I’m just saying that she’s scary.”

“You want me to be sunshine and roses about this?” Makoto asked.

“That’s not what I meant either,” Ryuji continued.

“Just stop,” Ann said. “You’re going to keep digging a hole for yourself.”

“...Yeah” Ryuji relented.

Ren giggled. “I think what Skull’s trying to say is that if he is afraid of you, whoever we’re fighting better be incredibly worried.”

“Yeah. Something like that” Ryuji agreed.

Makoto nodded. “Very well.” They continued onward.

They came upon a portal and hopped in. “I think that guy is Yoshimori’s shadow,” Ryuji exclaimed. “The guy that’s been bullying Daisuke.”

“Well then, let’s put a stop to his reign of terror once and for all,'' Sumire said aggressively.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Makoto said, cracking her knuckles.

They walked up to him. “Tch. Looks like someone ratted me out.”

“Sure did,” Ren said. “And we’re going to put a stop to you and your fledgling school empire.”

“PAH!” Yoshimori spit. “I’d like to see you try!”

“He’s not trying to convince us to join him,” Yusuke remarked.

“We aren’t meeting on my terms,” Yoshimori explained. “I would have liked to ally with you, but apparently that Akechi boy was wrong. If I had your power, I’d make all bow before me.”

“Well that’s why we have it and not you!” Ann shouted.

“C’mon!” Yoshimori shouted. “Do you really think the people in the school care about scum like us? I’m just evening the odds.”

“By forcefully recruiting people!” Sumire snapped.

“Well, how else are you going to get people on your side?” Yoshimori asked. “Deep down inside, all people are nothing but selfish jerks.”

“Enough!” Makoto screamed. “You go on and on about how it’s you vs them, and you don’t even try to differentiate yourself. You’re no better than Principal Kobayakawa.”

“No better?” a shocked Yoshimori retorted. “No BETTER?!” He transformed into Black Frost. “WE’LL SEE ABOUT THAT!”

“BRING IT ON!” Makoto shouted back. After a well-fought battle, the Phantom Thieves won.

“Gah!” Yoshimori grunted. “Why does no one like me?”

“Um, probably because you blackmail them?” Ryuji took a stab at answering.

“Even before that,” Yoshimori added. “I always have to make people try and like me. But it all just falls apart.”

Makoto glared at him. “It’s because you’re not honest with yourself.” Yoshimori gasped. “You don’t like doing this either, do you?”

Yoshimori looked at her. “N...No…”

“And yet you do it,” Makoto said.

“How do you know how I feel?!” Yoshimori yelled.

“Because I was there once too,” Makoto answered sternly. Yoshimori gasped again. “The problem isn’t everyone else. It’s you. Once you find a you that you can be comfortable with, then you can start reaching out to others earnestly.”

Yoshimori smirked. “Thank you. I needed that. It might take some time to find myself, but I’ll dissolve my network based on blackmail.”

“That’s a good start,” Makoto said.

“If I reached out to you when I find myself, could we be friends?” Yoshimori asked.

“Of course,” Makoto answered. Yoshimori smiled and faded away. Ren took the treasure.

“Wow,” Morgana commented. “People are complicated.”

“True” Makoto agreed. “But we are meant to be social creatures. We ought to help each other in need.”

“I see,” Jose noted. “Fascinating.”

“I guess you’re right,” Morgana responded. “I feel that way too sometimes. I guess that’s part of the reason I feel split.”

“Well, hopefully staying at my place is helping,” Ren added.

Morgana smiled. “Yeah.” Ren smiled back.

Makoto smiled too. “Well, we should get going. We’ve got other people to help, you know.” Everyone nodded, and they left.

They continued onward until they got to the next door. Standing between them and said door was another shadow. “That’s Hikari Shimizu’s shadow!” Ann remarked. “The girl that’s been abusing someone.”

“I feel bad for him,” Ryuji said.

“Well, we’re here to help,” Jose reminded him.

“You said this boy is covered in bruises in real life?” Yusuke asked. “If that’s the case, she might be a dangerous opponent.”

“True. We should be on guard” Makoto reminded them. They walked forward.

“Ugh. So you’re the Phantom Thieves?” Hikari bemoaned. “Why are you bothering me?”

Ren dramatically pointed. “We;re here to stop your abuse.”

“Yeah, you’ve been treating this boy like he’s your slave!” Ryuji added.

“Please. He wants it” Hikari explained. “I just give it to him.”

“He wants bruises?” Yusuke remarked. “I don’t quite think that’s true.”

“I am his queen!” Hikari snapped. “He takes whatever I give him!”

“Yeah?! Well, you shouldn’t treat him like dirt!” Ann snapped back. “If you’re his queen, make yourself a respectable queen! Not just some annoying monarch that holds absolute power over him!”

“Grrr” Hikari growled. “I’m smart, I’m pretty, and he worships me. I’m allowed to do what I want with him!”

“No you’re not!” Ann yelled. “He’s a person too!”

“Grrrrrrah!” Hikari yelled, transforming into Yaksini, “I’ll just do whatever I want with you!” The thieves fought Hikari’s shadow. While it was a tad bit tricky, the thieves won. “NO!” Hikari yelled after defeat. “I don’t want to lose him…”

“Lose him?” Ann asked.

“Yeah. If I apologize, and say what I’m doing is wrong, he’ll run away…” Hikari explained. “And I don’t want that.”

“How did this all start?” Jose asked.

“He came up to me one day… Hikari began. “He asked me if I needed anything. I told him ‘a foot massage’ as a joke, but he really did it.”

“And you didn’t stop him?” Jose inquired.

“Well...I liked it…” Hikari continued. “...And him…”

“Oh” Jose said, surprised.

“You mean like like like?” Ann asked.

Hikari nodded. “Day in and day out, I’d ask him to do more and more ridiculous things, and it just spiraled out of control. Now I feel like this is the only way I can hang onto him.”

“Listen,” Ann said, beginning to offer advice, “being in a relationship requires the two people to be on the same page. If neither of you are happy, you need to feel confident enough to say so.”

“Yeah,” Ryuji added. “I mean, it sounds like this guy also kind of likes you too. And even if he’s willing to do some things for you, if you push him too far, you’ll just push him away.”

“But…” Hikari groaned.

“I know,” Ann said. “It’s hard. But you have to try. If you want this to work, you both have to be happy.”

Hikari started crying. “You’re right. Thank you.” She faded and Ren stole the treasure.

“Well, I think that went well,” Ann said. Jose was looking at her, puzzled. “What is it Sunshine?”

Jose tilted his head. “I know you told Fox, but are you sure you and Skull aren’t a couple?” Both of them started to blush. “Because you sounded like a couple just now.”

“Ha ha” Ann laughed nervously. “Of course we aren’t a couple.”

“Yeah” Ryuji said, equally as nervous. “Our advice applies to all kinds of relationships.”

“I see,” Jose said.

Ren stifled a laugh. “Well, if we’re done here, let's see what the next bit of Mementos looks like, shall we?” Ren walked over and placed her hand on the door. It opened up. Once it finished, she turned around. “What are we waiting for?” The thieves all walked over and headed deeper into Mementos.

Soon after, they found another portal and jumped in. “I think this is Nozomi Odo,” Morgana said. “The slave-driving restaurant manager.”

“Ugh, people like him make me sick!” Ryuji remarked. “Let’s do this fast. The sooner we do this, the sooner he’ll be a better manager.”

They nodded in agreement and approached Nozomi’s shadow. “What do you want?” he asked indignantly.

“What we WANT is for you to treat your employees with kindness!” Sumire said, stomping her foot on the ground.

“Tch” Nozomi reacted, brushing it off like it was nothing. “Have you ever worked in a restaurant?”

“Well, no…” Sumire admitted.

“If you did, you’d know that that’s the law of the land,” Nozomi explained. “You get treated like shit, until you work up to a place where you treat others like shit.”

“What garbage!” Makoto said, stepping forward. “You’re a leader! You need to step up and act as such.”

“I am,” Nozumi said.

“No” Makoto seethed. “You’re a coward. A REAL leader looks out of their team. Not just themselves.”

“Tch. I don’t have time for this” Nozomi said. He transformed into Setanta. “Starting now, I’m YOUR boss!”

“You should know, we don’t take kindly to those in authority,” Yusuke quipped.

“GAH!” Nozomi yelled. The thieves charged into battle, and won. “It’s not fair,” Nozomi said after losing. “I went through all of this before. Why should they be treated differently?”

“Look,” Makoto said forcefully. “What your employees are going through sucks, and what you went through was also probably terrible. But you don’t need to continue the cycle of abuse. You can end it here.

Being a leader is hard work. I should know. But you need to make sure all that hard work is worth it in the end. Otherwise you’re going to wake up one day and realize you hate the person staring back at you in the mirror.”

“Heh. You’re right” Nozomi said. “Man, getting lectured by some kids really puts things into perspective. Thanks.” He faded away, and Ren took the treasure.

They continued onwards and found another portal. Again, they hopped into it. “By process of elimination, this would be Kazuya Makigami’s shadow,” Yusuke said.

“The jerk thief who’s using our name to steal things,” Morgana added.

“But didn’t Sunshine say that not even the police believe that we’re associated with him?” Sumire inquired.

“I did say that, yes,” Jose said.

“Well...it’s the principle of the matter,” Morgana said.

“Whatever the reason, we need to put a stop to it,” Yusuke said.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Ren nodded. They walked over to him.

“Ah, the glorious Phantom Thieves,” Kazuya said. “Have you come to join forces?”

“No. Of course not!” Makoto refuted.

“Then why?” Kazuya wondered.

“Put simply, we’re here to stop you,” Yusuke explained.

“WHAT?” Kazuya shouted. “But we have the same goals. We’re on the same side. There’s no need for fighting.”

“Then will you just stop burglarizing people?” Sumire asked.

“And using our name?” Morgana added.

“WHAT? You don’t like that?” Kazuya asked.

“Of course not!” Ann said.

“Grrr. I thought you were cool” Kazuya grumbled. “Fighting for the underdogs. I thought the world needed people like you. But I guess power just corrupts, as the saying goes. SO…” he transformed into Mithras, “...I guess I’ll just use my power to stop you!”

“...You literally just said power corrupts,” Ryuji said, picking up on the irony.

“SHUT UP!” Kazuya shouted. The thieves charged into combat, and while it was a bit tough, since they’ve been going for a bit, it was nothing they couldn’t handle. Once Kazuya was defeated, he was breathing heavily.

“Pardon me,” Yusuke wondered, “but why do this at all?”

Kazuya looked at them. “Fine. I guess I owe you that at least. Ever since I was a kid, my parents were always more impressed with my little brother. He was more successful at everything, and because of that, he was their favorite. It almost felt like I wasn't even there sometimes.

Yeah, I was jealous, but I didn’t do anything. I felt like that was just how things were. And then you came along, and taught me that maybe things can change. So I began abusing my brother. And when that wasn’t enough, I took out my anger on every bigshot I could find. I started gathering some like-minded people, and I assume you know the rest.”

“How terrible,” Sumire remarked.

“Yeah,” Kazuya agreed. He sighed. “I probably should have said something earlier.”

“It’s not too late…” Sumire pointed out.

“I guess you’re right,” Kazuya replied.

“Well, as long as you’re making it up with him,” Yusuke said.

Kazuya smirked. He took his own treasure out of him. “If you can find my brother, tell him to use this key to open my nightstand drawer and burn what’s inside.”

“Are you sure?” Yusuke asked. Kazuya nodded. “Very well.” He grabbed it.

“Just promise me you’ll keep going after people who deserve it,” Kazuya said.

“You have our word,” Yusuke said. Kazuya smiled and faded away.

“How are we supposed to find his brother?” Ryuji asked.

“He also goes to Kosei,” Yusuke said. “I can give it to him…”

“That might be a bit conspicuous,” Morgana pointed out. “I’ll just drop it off in the cover of night.”

“Very well then,” Yusuke said. They left.

Ren asked “Do you want to keep going, or is that fine enough for now?”

“We did get all of our targets” Ann pointed out.

“Eh, I at least want to get to the next door,” Ryuji said. “It probably won’t open, but it’s a good marker of progress.”

“I agree,” Jose said.

“Anyone have any objections?” Ren asked. No response. “Very well.” They kept rolling. Eventually, they made it to the next door. “Well, we’re one step closer.”

“If I’m assuming correctly, this will open once we defeat Kaneshiro?” Makoto asked.

“Sees that way” Ryuji answered.

“Do we want to do that right away then?” Makoto wondered.

“No,” Ren answered. Makoto looked at her. “We shouldn’t keep blitzing through things. We are tough, but going through the metaverse is exhausting. We need our rest.”

“I see,” Makoto said. “What smart and thoughtful advice. Truly, you’ve adapted to the role of leader quite well.”

Ren was embarrassed. “Thanks.”

“Well, then, I guess that’s all we’re going to get now,” Makoto said. “Should we head out?” Everyone nodded, and they all headed up to leave Mementos. On their way back, Makoto noticed Sumire seeming awfully distant. “Something on your mind Violet?”

“Huh?” Sumire gasped. “Oh yeah. My meet is coming up, and being down here, and seeing everyone’s different problems has got me thinking.”

“You know we’re here for you” Ren reminded her.

Sumire smiled. “Thanks senpai” Sumire said, smiling and blushing. She looked down. “I guess seeing all those people suffering just has me in a tizzy. I mean, I was fraught with so many problems that I didn’t know what to do. So, in a way, this was kind of cathartic. It really helped me put things into perspective. If they can improve, then I know I can!”

“Way to go Violet!” Ann cheered.

“Yeah! You show them!” Ryuji followed.

Jose looked at them. “Are you really sure you’re not a couple?”

“YES!” they both answered, slightly embarrassed.

Sumire giggled. She then covered her mouth. “Oh. Sorry.” Ren then started snickering. One by one, people started laughing along. Pretty soon, the entire PT crew was in stitches. Between the laughter and the exploration, they felt exhausted and remained silent until they left Mementos.

As Ren and Mogana were heading home, Ren bumped into someone. “Oh, sorry.”

“It’s OK,” the woman Ren bumped into said. Ren looked up, as did Morgana. They recognized her as Ryoko Aino, the person who kidnapped cats and almost kidnapped Morgana. She took notice of Morgana. “Oooo. What a cute kitty. Mind if I pet him?”

Morgana hissed. Ren put her hands on him to stop him. “I’m sorry. He’s usually really kind.”

“Oh no,” Ryoko said. “I think it’s my fault.” She fished through her purse. She handed a can to Ren. “Um, for a little while, I was, um, kidnapping cats. And I almost got this little one.”

“Oh?” Ren inquired.

“I was saddened by the loss of my own cat, Snowball” Ryoko informed her. “I panicked, and I got it in my head that I needed to protect all of the cats in the area. But I came to my senses after the Phantom Thieves saved me. So, I’m sorry.”

“I see,” Ren said. She looked at Morgana. “Well, what do you think?”

Morgana was pouting, but knew the answer. “I guess it’s OK.”

Ren smiled. She turned back. “He says he’ll let you pet him.”

“Really?” Ryoko said, beaming. She started petting Morgana, and Morgana started purring. After she was done, she bowed and said “Take care.”

“We will,” Ren said. “And thanks.” The two nodded and went their separate ways. Ren looked at the can. “Wow.”

“What is it?” Morgana asked.

“It’s some fairly expensive tuna,” Ren said. “I guess this is part of her apology.”

“WOW,” Morgana said, drooling. “I know what I want tonight.”

As they were entering Leblanc, they passed by two young adults and an old man, who they recognized as Heiji Ono, the former belligerent old man in Kijijoji. As she came in, she looked at Sojiro and said “I haven’t seen them before.”

Sojiro grinned. “Maybe they’ll start a trend. It’s always nice to get new customers. You know, they only came by to spend some nice quiet time with their grandpa, but I hope they tell others how good the food was.” Ren smiled. Sojiro went on. “The old guy sure was somethin’ else. When he got his drink, he quietly toasted the Phantom Thieves. His grandkids didn’t hear it, but I caught it.”

Ren sat down at the counter. “What do you think of these Phantom Thieves?”

“Well, if that guy is toasting them, they can’t be all bad,” Sojiro said. “But I’m not one to accept things like that so easily. Maybe if they came in and had some curry, and we got to chatting, I might soften up to them more.”

Ren smiled. “You want me to start an ad campaign?”

“Huh?” Sojiro said, taken aback. “Of course not. That prosecutor’s been on my ass enough. I don’t need her breathing down my neck thinking I have a link with the Phantom Thieves.”

“I getcha,” Ren said. “It can be hard to trust people sometimes.”

Sojiro looked at her. “Well, I know I can trust you. I hope you can trust me too.”

“Of course,” Ren said.

Sojiro smiled. “Here. Let me make you some curry. But then I gotta head out.” Sojiro prepared some curry and handed it to Ren. She took one bite and was delighted. “Heh heh. Well, seeya.” Ren waved as Sojiro left.

Morgana was pouting. “Don’t think I forgot.” Ren said. She got up, fetched a can opener, and opened up the tuna for Morgana.

“MEOW!” he frenzied. He plopped his face in the can and went to town.

Ren smiled. “Hm.” She took another bite of her curry. After she swallowed it, she said “Today was a good day.” She continued eating, then went to bed soon after.

#persona 5 #persona fanfiction #persona 5 royal #p5r rework #p5 rework #p5 femc #p5r #p5 #FeMC #female ren #ren amamiya #morgana #ann takamaki #makoto niijima #Sumire #Ryuji Sakamoto #yusuke kitagawa #jose #sojiro sakura

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movie-magic · 3 years

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Loki: Every MCU Easter Egg In Episode 1

Loki has officially begun on Disney+, and Tom Hiddleston comes bearing plenty of Marvel Easter eggs in the premiere episode. Here's what we found.

The premiere episode of Loki is burdened with glorious Marvel Easter eggs, from potential future villain teases to skulking Skrulls. Even before the considerable success enjoyed by WandaVision and Falcon & The Winter Soldier, MCU fans were eagerly anticipating Tom Hiddleston's return as the God of Mischief. Now blessed with his own Disney+ solo series, Loki has all of time and space to bother, and the premiere wastes little time throwing Hiddleston from the Avengers' frying pan into the TVA's fire.

After using the Tesseract to escape The Avengers in Avengers: Endgame, Loki is swiftly picked up by the Time Variance Authority - a seemingly omniscient organization overseeing the entirety of time and space. Evidently not ones to take prisoners, Loki's fate at the TVA looks grim, but Owen Wilson's Major Mobius intervenes, handing the silver-tongued variant a reprieve. In the opening episode, Mobius successfully digs to the root of Loki's dastardly ways, breaking him down to (presumably) build him back up, all with the aim of enlisting Loki's services as an ally to hunt down an especially vicious variant murdering the TVA's Minute Men.

Loki's premiere is predictably heavy with exposition, and relatively limited in scope, mostly taking place within the walls of TVA HQ. Nevertheless, Michael Waldron (creator) and Kate Herron (director) pepper the 50-minute installment with an array of references to the Marvel comics, MCU history callbacks, and hints of the multiverse madness to come. Here's every Easter egg we discovered in Loki's "Glorious Purpose."

The Avengers Intro Sequence:

Loki's introductory scene is somewhat of an Easter egg itself, retelling the famous Tesseract heist from Avengers: Endgame. Much of the footage here derives straight from the 2019 box office behemoth, meaning no other MCU stars filmed additional footage or recorded new dialogue especially for Loki. With that said, a few extra Tom Hiddleston moments are spliced into the existing footage to show events entirely from Loki's point of view. The villain's Steve Rogers "search and rescue" gag is zoomed-in, and there's a closer shot of Loki waving goodbye to Hulk in the elevator, as well as fresh reaction shots during the Stark scuffle in the lobby.

An Iron Man Callback:

After commandeering the Tesseract in New York, Loki finds himself falling from the sky above Mongolia's Gobi Desert, landing unceremoniously in the sand below, and this scene might trigger a sense of déjà vu for longtime MCU fans. In 2008's Iron Man, Tony Stark escapes capture by creating a rudimentary suit of hi-tech armor. Flying to safety, the genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist also lands roughly in a remote desert. There's a symbolic correlation in how Iron Man marked the beginning of the MCU, while Loki is now ushering in a whole new chapter, and both begin with their protagonists in matching predicaments. Both characters also crash while evading incarceration, though only Loki immediately finds himself in chains once again.

"Burdened With Glorious Purpose":

As a man who rarely shuts up, Loki has plenty of wry MCU catchphrases, and one of his most famous would be "I am burdened with glorious purpose" from The Avengers. Disney +'s Loki premiere leans heavily into the line's popularity, with Tom Hiddleston repeating the quote on several occasions throughout the episode, the phrase becoming less sinister with every utterance.

The TVA:

The addition of the TVA to MCU canon was confirmed ahead of time via Loki's trailer and, sure enough, the paradoxical pen-pushers play a prominent part in the premiere. Although their motivations and methods are somewhat altered from the source material (as well as their aesthetic, which now sits closer to The Umbrella Academy's Commission), the TVA hails directly from the Marvel comic books. They were introduced by a 1986 issue of Thor that featured several time-hopping agents, one of which picked a random Earthling up for jaywalking.

A Skrull At The TVA:

Given their propensity to shape-shift and assimilate the forms of other races, it's not surprising that a Skrull might be lurking around the TVA's front desk. One of the MCU's green aliens can be spotted in the background as Loki gets marched in, and though it's not clear why the Skrull is present, the distinct lack of guards would suggest they aren't a variant. A timely reminder that Secret Invasion is right around the corner.

The Time Twisters:

As you'd predict, Loki tries running away. With minimum effort, Hunter B-15 (played by Wunmi Mosaku) clicks a device, and Loki is pulled back to where he stood moments earlier, effectively making escape impossible. These time twisters appear to be standard issue at the TVA, and have a vaguely similar counterpart in the Marvel comics called the Retroactive Cannon. Far more lethal than Loki's little clickers, these devices would rewind a person completely until they were unwritten from history. Like The Algorithm in Tenet, but less confusing.

Life Model Decoys:

For someone who spent many, many years unaware he was actually a Frost Giant, Loki probably shouldn't be shocked that some people don't realize they're secretly robots. Heading through the TVA's airport scanner, Loki passes the test with flying colors, though he remains perplexed by the idea someone could be unknowingly cybernetic, Loki's line is a nod to Life Model Decoys, which have appeared in both the Marvel comics, and Agents of SHIELD. These lifelike androids can mimic mankind so perfectly, the LMD itself isn't always certain of the truth.

Secret Wars?:

Whether you've accidentally arrived late for work, or just escaped a group of costumed vigilantes by seizing a glowing blue cube from the beginning of time, being labeled as a variant is confusing stuff. Luckily, the TVA has put together a short animation to fill quantum criminals in on the basics. The helpful Miss Minutes finally provides an explanation of the MCU multiverse, revealing how, long ago, separate timelines fought an inter-dimensional war for supremacy that almost resulted in total annihilation. Since then, the TVA has strictly maintained one single reality - the Sacred Timeline *echoes*. The history lesson bears some similarity to 2015's Secret Wars comic event, in which conflicting universes came together in Battleworld (the setting of the original Secret Wars), and attempts were made to streamline Marvel's sandbox.

The Time-Keepers:

The TVA's infomercial also confirms the organization are led by three Time-Keepers, who oversee the combined reality and dictate the proper flow of history. This big-faced trio were first introduced in the late 1970s, created from the sole remaining survivor of the previous universe's destruction. The mysterious overlords performed much the same function in the comics as they do in Loki, and possessed virtually complete mastery over time.

Kree And Nova's Attack On Titan:

As the animated exposition rumbles on, Miss Minutes (voiced by Tara Strong) uses "starting an uprising" as an example of something the TVA might potentially frown upon. The corresponding image shows two armies clashing, with the blue folk on the left appearing to be Kree, and the force on the right possibly the Nova Corps. Based on the spiky ruins in the background, the battle is taking place on Thanos' home planet of Titan. In Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan confirmed the Kree and Nova Corps were at war for 1000 years - was the TVA involved somehow?

Nexus Events:

This week's lesson from Miss Minutes explains how stepping off one's designated path can create a "Nexus event," and spiral out of control to spawn countless alternate timelines that trigger another war. This word has cropped up several times in the MCU, first as an internet facility in Oslo (Avengers: Age of Ultron), and then as an antidepressant drug during one of WandaVision's fake commercials. The latter was most likely a reference to the Nexus of All Realities from the Marvel comics, which is essentially a gateway between every possible timeline. The TVA's Nexus events could take their name from the very same source.

The Timeline Diagram:

Throughout Loki's Disney+ debut, the TVA repeatedly use diagrams of a single flowing timeline with branches shooting off to represent unwanted deviations. MCU fans might recognize this from Avengers: Endgame, where the Ancient One drew something extremely similar while explaining the consequences of time travel to Bruce Banner. Perhaps Ms. One has visited the TVA herself once or twice?

Devil In The Church:

MEPHISTO. There, we said it. When Mobius asks a young girl who committed time crimes in 16th century France and the child points to a stained glass window depicting the Devil, Loki knew exactly what it was doing. WandaVision dropped several hints that Marvel's own Satan would appear, all of which proved fruitless, and Loki seems to be heading down the same hellish vein. Alas, there could be a simpler explanation. Mobius claims to be chasing an alternate version of Loki, and it's highly likely the child has mistaken the God of Mischief's famous horned helmet for the demonic horns of Lucifer.

Ravonna Renslayer:

Though her name isn't mentioned in Loki's premiere, Gugu MBatha-Raw's TVA judge is actually Ravonna Renslayer, who made her debut in a 1965 Avengers issue. In the comics, Renslayer is a human from the far future, most often a villainous figure associated with Kang the Conqueror. She certainly isn't a legal official sat behind a desk. One would imagine Marvel Studios has something more interesting in store for Renslayer further down the line.

Explaining Endgame:

During his TVA interrogation, Loki quite rightly points out that it was not he who meddled with the timeline. T'was those pesky Avengers who penetrated the Quantum Realm and disrupted the natural course of events in the aftermath of the Battle of New York; Loki merely picked up the Tesseract that fell at his feet. Unfortunately, this excuse falls on deaf ears, as Gugu MBatha-Raw confirms the Avengers' ambitious time heist was entirely sanctioned by the Time-Keepers. This exchange more or less clears up every single timeline wrinkle in the MCU, including Steve Rogers' reunion with Peggy, and Gamora from the past staying in the present. It's not altering time that irks the TVA; it's altering time in a manner the Time-Keepers haven't permitted.

Loki's "Wooing":

After Owen Wilson saves Loki from being "reset," the pair sit down for a more friendly conversation, but when Loki warns Mobius that cooperation isn't an option, the TVA officer retorts with, "even when you're wooing someone powerful you intend to betray?" Loki has betrayed a fair few people during his time, and Mobius' accusation could easily apply to Odin or Thor. Most likely, however, Mobius is alluding to Thanos here - a powerful figure Loki tried buttering up with intent to usurp him once the universe was brought to its knees.

Josta:

While not strictly a Marvel reference, it's worth noting that Mobius is a big fan of an ice cold Josta. Viewers of a certain age might not recognize this soda brand, but Josta is a genuine Pepsi product that was available in the late 1990s before being discontinued. An early variety of energy drink, there's evidently a few perks to hunting down timeline criminals. In Mobius' case, this includes sugary contraband.

Loki's Greatest Hits:

In a twisted version of It's A Wonderful Life, Mobius tries to change Loki by examining his choices in the past, present and future. Unlike the jaunty 1946 holiday classic, Mobius has access to a handy hi-tech screen which displays Loki's "greatest hits." The footage begins with the God of Mischief's defeat and arrest in 2012's The Avengers - perhaps not an entry Loki himself would've picked for the highlight reel. The screen next switches to Phil Coulson's death (which Loki definitely would pick), before moving on to images of civilian deaths from the Battle of New York, the gala eyeball removal scene, and the dictator speech, all from The Avengers.

D.B. Cooper:

More an Easter egg from real-world history than Marvel lore, Loki reveals the truth about D.B. Cooper - it was Agatha Loki all along! In 1971, an as-yet-identified man boarded a Boeing 727, held the aircraft ransom for $200,000, then parachuted out with the cash. Mobius' dive into Loki's past reveals that, thanks to a lost bet with Thor, the God of Mischief descended from Asgard to pull the plane heist himself as some kind of stunt. From Loki's hairstyle matching the real D.B. Cooper artist's impression to the smattering of bank notes left behind, there's an impressive attention to detail in this scene.

Infinity Stones In The Desk:

The Infinity Stones... Thanos would give his own daughter just for one. Entire worlds brought to their knees by their power. Humans turned into Gods at the merest touch. Gary from the TVA's HR department using one as a paperweight. Threatening Casey with a fishy demise, Loki finally gets his hands back on the Tesseract, only to discover even Infinity Stones are useless within the TVA's jurisdiction. To Loki's immense surprise, Casey's desk draw is chock-full of discarded Infinity Stones, most either of the Time or Reality variety (no surprises there). The scene essentially confirms that the power of these fabled jewels has led to more than a few timeline variant incidents over the years, but perhaps also undermines the once-unstoppable power of the Infinity Stones. Well, the Infinity Saga is over.

A 3rd Millennium Kang Hint?:

In its final scene, the Loki premiere might just be hinting at the future villain of Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania. The MCU will soon introduce Kang the Conqueror, a major comic book baddie played by Jonathan Majors, and "Glorious Purpose" could represent the first step toward his arrival. Called out to 19th century Oklahoma, TVA agents find a piece of technology hailing from the 3rd millennium. Though it might be a coincidence, Kang hails from the 31st century, and is known for using advanced tech in his dominion of the timeline. The mysterious hooded figure is more likely a Loki variant than Kang himself, but since Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania and Loki both deal in temporal themes, it wouldn't be strange for the Kang foundations to be laid on Disney+.

- Screen Rant

Loki releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

#loki series #loki #loki odinson #loki show #loki spoilers #tv news #tv show #movie magic #mcu #marvel #movies #marvel cinematic universe #movie news #mcu phase 4 #news #disney+#tv series

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bigskydreaming · 4 years

Note

Whenever Batman refers to criminals as street scum or anything similar, I shall emerge from the shadows so I can go "Have you thought about the seriously classist and/or racial implications of that word? Especially coming from a blue blood like yourself?"

Mooooooooooooooood.

And the thing is, as critical as I am of Bruce, I don’t actually find that to be in character, and even the times in canon when he’s expressed something like that, I simply make the sign of the cross to ward off the Frank Miller fanboy who probably wrote that.

Like, erm, no. When writers pull that I’m like nah that’s a you thing. Its like how I am when people write Jason calling Dick ‘Dickhead’ and making fun of the original Robin costume (like he didn’t also wear it himself). I’m just like, nope, that’s just you using Jason as your mouthpiece for your particular sense of humor or whatever, cuz I don’t buy that literally homeless and lived on the street Jason Todd mocks other people for the non-physical reminders they keep of past loved ones because they didn’t actually get to hold on to any physical ones.

He knows what that’s like, and it makes him a total unsympathetic hypocrite to pretend otherwise just to take cheap shots at Dick, especially when he’d likely be shooting someone at least in the kneecap for ever daring to make fun of him for some tradition he keeps to in honor of Catherine.

And not at all incidentally, I always wanna point out that nowhere in the comic books does Jason ever refer to Dick by names like Dickhead or Dickwad. In fact, he usually just calls Dick “Grayson” the same as Damian does. Again, not an obsession with canon that makes me point this out, lol, but rather just to emphasize the fact that this widespread-as-hell trend was 100% fully and completely made up entirely by fandom. It doesn’t exist anywhere else BUT fandom, its not in any of the adaptations. People treat this as commonplace and without a second thought given to it in-story, but they didn’t get it from anywhere else, it was fans who created this trend.

And that’s why Im critical of fanon, because its not like I don’t bitch endlessly about canon, lmfao, so I’m always bewildered when people are like “why do you care so much about fanon, look at what canon’s doing” - its like, umm, I can do both, I can even pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time. What, like its hard?

But when there are tropes that there’s legitimate criticism of - like the fact that Dick has huge self-esteem issues, and your story is missing a huge piece of the picture when you have all his closest friends and family ONLY ever addressing him by ‘name’ in the form of constant sexualized insults that make a mockery of his right to be sentimental and hold onto things that remind him of his parents....and you like, don’t treat this in-story (not out of story, I don’t care what jokes people make about his name then, he’s fictional, he’s not hurt, its just IN STORY that its a big deal), but like, when you have this huge constant trope that casual mockery, disdain and dismissiveness is embraced by EVERYONE in his life, and you don’t at any point connect any dots between this and....his many self-esteem issues, its like.....ummm....so we’re just....supposed to not view this as a problem and just ignore the very obvious ways the former plays into the latter here? Is that how that logic goes?

LOL no, I’m not going to ignore when Cause A is directly relevant to Effect B, in your own damn stories, just because fans invented the trope instead of canon, sorry not sorry. That’s so weird to me that people take it for granted that we should? Its like the frequent textbook abuse apologism. Its like....so when you’re writing a story about abuse....and you’re still falling back on literal real world excuses used by abusers to obscure their own wrongdoing....we’re just not supposed to mention ‘hey you’re writing about abuse but that thing you patted Jason on the back for doing was also literally abuse so wth dude” because it was a fanon derived view of the situation and not a canon-based one?

....no, that’s not how logic works, that’s not a thing people get to hide behind. Criticism is not the same as critique. If I’m saying I have a problem with the view of abuse your story validated or perpetuated here, it has nothing to do with me feeling entitled and offering up unwanted suggestions or improvements to the story-telling of a fan who just came out to have a good time and doesn’t want constructive criticism.

Its just....me saying I have a problem with the view of abuse your story validated or perpetuated here, literally the exact same as I would object to you expressing the exact same phrasing or idea out loud if we were just two people having a real-world-specific conversation about abuse out loud, without any connection to fiction whatsoever.

Ideas don’t just magically become disconnected from the choices we make based on internalizing various ideas, like, just because we entered the realm of fandom where nothing people say or do has ANY connection whatsoever to....actual internalized views on extremely complicated topics. Its not a one to one correlation, its not like everything we express in fandom mirrors exactly what we do or act like outside of fandom, but there’s the flip side of that where it IS like the things we do or say or act on in fandom do still have to come from SOMEWHERE and that somewhere is still something internalized inside of us to some degree, it didn’t just magically appear on the page.

There’s not a clear and easily defined connection or correlation always, but there’s not like this impassable chasm between Fandom Us and Real World Us like so many people pretend at. We don’t magically become totally different people with completely different viewpoints and perspectives the second we take off our fandom hat for the day and go back to interacting with people in the real world.

I swear, sometimes fans sound like kids chanting “i’m not touching you, can’t get mad” while waving their hands around in someone else’s face. “I said it in fandom so it doesn’t count as a real opinion, you can’t get mad.”

.....uh....no?

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fallen029 · 3 years

Text

Who wants a middle of the chapter spoiler for Operation Bosco?

“Hey.”

He whispered this when the hour was even later and they’d washed off again, this time together, in a hurried way. Now, in bed for the final time, Haven draped herself over his lap as Locke sat up, glancing around the room and sighing, frequently, though the noises hardly even got the smallest of peeking from his girlfriend. She laid there, eyes shut, just breathing, in and out, steady. She was topless, fully unconcerned with this fact, and seemed content to drift off this way, for as long as he would allow her.

Locke found it difficult to move her.

Though he needed to stretch out himself, get full usage of the fact they were in an inn, with a nice, cozy bed and, well, maybe questionable sheets, but way better than their sleeping bags, the man found it difficult to make the motions. He knew Haven would give easily, as she no doubt wanted to get some usage out of a fluffy pillow, more than his bony, crossed legs, anyways, but he just couldn’t bring himself to take the action.

Sometimes he forgot. About how beautiful his girlfriend was.

She was the daughter of Mirajane Strauss, a name he’d grown with and mostly ignored, hearing it exchanged with everything ranging from the guild’s barmaid to, maybe, one of it’s greatest mages.

But once, he heard her name used in a different way. Mentioned in passing. About magazine spreads and modeling and...she’d just always been Haven and Marin’s mom. The Master’s wife. He thought she was pretty, maybe, when he was a little boy, but once he stopped being a little boy and heard of this past, it was difficult not to spend a night up in his parent’s attic when they were gone on a job, digging through old boxes to find the old stack of Sorcerer mags that he knew his mom had, because she never threw out any written work, and it…

Made him feel gross.

The next time he saw Mirajane.

And Haven called him out on it, the way he blushed when her mom served them juices, back then, as he was still a year or so away from openly getting away with slinging beers at the hall, the blonde even longer. She couldn’t understand (and he’d have never even ventured to explain) to her what he thought of for a good month, every tie he saw her mother.

That’s what Haven could be.

Now.

In current day.

Or could have been, maybe, as she’d aged past Mira’s prime modeling days.

Still, she’d always more or less rejected this legacy in favor for the one her father had carved. The one her mother, actually, had rejected for herself.

Haven had grown into being a woman the same way she went about being a child or teen; by putting all her focus into how talented of a mage she could become. Not how to properly dress to accentuate her body or accurately match shades to her complexion.

Sometimes, when Marin became only slightly interested in the most basic of beauty concepts (and Laxus relinquished some of his leash on his youngest) and Mirajane would ecstatically give her tips or even try out different makeup with her, there was a vague offer to Haven. To join them. Or even just her mother.

But that idea felt gross and wearing dresses or even a nice top felt restrictive and it was hard enough for her to even pull on something other than a sports bra and Mirajane gave up, eventually, while her Aunt Evergreen would only sigh sometimes, at her teenage nice, chiding her in snide ways over how very little interest she’d garner this way, from boys her age.

She wasn’t interested in boys though, then. Or after, Locke thought sometimes. Even now. Or maybe he just worried.

Her feelings towards other people, or at least the other relationships she let him know about, all seemed based purely on physical power. The men were stronger than her, better connected, and this bothered her in a way that she couldn’t quite explain that eventually bled into what Haven derived as sexual attraction.

Or at least that’s how Locke viewed it, when he broke it down, and it made sense, maybe.

Maybe.

This left a rather big hole though. A him sized hole. Because he knew Haven had long surpassed him in the offensive magic field and he had no hope of catching her. He had no interest in it. He might physically be able to overpower her, but her magic was the greatest equalizer. He had no match for it. Only cures.

So what did she want with him? Anyways?

She’d call him whiny if he questioned it.

Actually, she had, any time he tried to explain it to her, growing annoyed or thinking he was passing some sort of judgment over her, over her interests and though he saw where she was coming from, was able to recognize both their person insecurities were butting up against one another, he would have liked an answer.

Why him? Or them?

She said frequently that she could feel it, when she was with him, just this absolute need to be together, and Locke guessed he felt it too, maybe, but the way Haven talked about it…

He had to address internally, at times, just why he wanted to he with her too. It was, after all, part of the equation. Sometimes he felt unsure.

When he was a teen, it kind of felt like the natural turn in their relationship. He dated most all of the girls he knew, seriously and in that stupid teenager way, where it felt serious for all of a week and then unimportant the next.

Haven was his best friend and though he was young and dumb, he wasn’t young and dumb enough to not realize that if that next week turned and it all turned out for not, then he’d be losing that. But it felt worth the risk. She was a girl, who was interested in him, and pretty.

Those were most of his only qualifications.

But Haven came with the bonus of having known one another their entire lives, so there wasn’t as much guessing over the little things. They could go on jobs together, blow their jewels together, and while she was his first, in the important way, he’d gotten all the unimportant things out of the way before while she hadn’t, which finally gave him something of an upper hand over her.

He got to play the older, cooler boyfriend for awhile, instead of the friend she tried to instigate physical fights out of at every turn.

Thing about it any deeper back then would have been dumb.

At the first chance of things possibly getting more serious, Haven ran.

He liked to think that he had no part in this, but maybe…

Had they never dated, were they not together when her father finally excommunicated her (because Locke imagined this coming to pass eventually either way), he always kinda thought that, maybe, she’d have asked him to come with her.

Like you would a best friend.

But asking him to run away away with her, taking him with her, would have implied something much deeper. Something Haven couldn’t face then.

So she ran away.

He didn’t blame her for that anymore.

He scared her, maybe, in he bedroom that day, when he offered to move in together, that they could live together, really together, and they’d figure it out.

Together.

Together took a lot longer for Haven to come to terms with.

He convinced himself sometimes, that year and some odd months, when she wouldn't talk to him, before they just happened to cross paths in Crocus, that he never really liked her. That they never really fit.

How could they?

Locke liked nice girls.

Nice people, really.

All of his friends were good guys or women who didn’t spend the free days seemingly plotting how to annoy him once he arrived home. The people he dated, the women he was serious about, even after Crocus, were all smart and sweet and they’d never purposely say something to him, to hurt his feelings, to win, in a singular moment, at all costs.

Being interested in Haven was childish.

Their relationship was rooted in how they felt, as children, when she decided she had to be the best, at everything, a goal he stood in the way of, while he attempted to do as he’d been told, ordered almost, from a young age, too early to remember, to look out for her. Haven. Make sure she was okay and watch over her, because she’d get herself in trouble, Locke, if you don’t keep her from it.

The fighting and clawing they did some times, the yelling and screaming, the way she pushed him away first, always, before accepting his affection was part of childhood quirks that they couldn’t outgrow together, that they brought out in each other, that she didn’t have.

He imagined.

When she was with other people.

That he didn’t have.

He knew.

When he was with other people.

He could be with most any woman. Or at least he liked to think. He was reasonably attractive, fit, and was the newest S-Class wizard in Fairy Tail. If his intent was to find a woman who drove him mad, he could find one that would allow him to do it from the comfort of his own home, waiting around for him after S-Class jobs, where she’d take half his money and they could hate each other too. They could hate each other just as much as Haven hated him, any time he told her off or attempted to keep her from getting herself killed, and fuck just as passionately, maybe, driven by that hatred and sick attraction, but without the constant headaches and mental turmoil that came about from loving the only woman in the world that seemed equally as pleased with your pain as she did your pleasure.

Haven’s body was scarred. And broken, in some places, reminders of hard fought battles that he hadn’t been there to heal. She seemed to fluctuate between under fed and toned depending on her current financial status and, given that they were coming off living in Magnolia to now scarping by between jobs in Bosco, she was losing definition again. Her eyes were striking, but there was something in them that wasn’t present in her mother’s. Something almost sinister.

She wasn’t perfect.

For him, he knew that, but she also just wasn’t perfect, in general, and it was easy to think of her, at times, in the way she presented herself, unstyled and almost boyish, in certain ways.

Masculine, but only parts that were toxic and cruel.

These weren’t traits that he naturally found himself attracted to, but they worked on his girlfriend and it was just easy to forget.

Not that night though, as her breasts rose and fell as she was nearly asleep, before his words, only peeking an eye open then to stare up at him, a solid, “No,” ready on his lips, no doubt expecting him to be interested in something more that night.

But he wasn’t.

Not even as he raised a hand to gently trace over her breast, where her guild marking lied now. He knew the pattern well, the emblem ingrained in his brain, but it still tripped him up at times. Seeing it there. Instead of adoring her back, not exactly centered, but slightly lower, and he used to laugh when he was a kid.

Because it reminded him of the Exceeds.

The memory was overrode now, with distant memories of making out in his bed at his parents house, cuddling or just spending time together, in his room, when his finger would stroke at her back, tracing the fairy that laid there as Haven seemed to struggle between how she felt about this.

The color had changed. Somewhere along the way. It was red now, Locke knew, instead of black like it had been when she was trying to imitate her father, maybe, as a child. It meant more now, different things at least, and he liked to think about how well it matched his eyes, even though he knew this would never be Haven’s true reasoning.

Red was for Ravan, who’d sacrificed his own in losing her.

She never told him this, out loud, but Locke was very good, he knew she had to know, at figuring most things out.

“Mmm?” Haven moaned then, softly, her eyes only blinking open from his word, no matter how soft it was.

“I just…”

And he hadn’t wanted to. The whole point was that he didn’t want to. Move. Shift. Stop whatever moment they were having, or he was having, then, because she looked too beautiful there, with the moon just peaking around the curtain of a room they’d never seen again, in a place he hoped to avoid from here on out, and he didn’t think he just should just bring it to a close.

Just like that.

“You’re my best friend.” He was moving as he spoke, shifting, so he laid long ways on the bed as well, nuzzling heaving into Haven, beneath her previously outstretched arm, into her armpit, hiding maybe, from himself and the fact he’d let it pass, forced it to fade, caused the closure of the moment. “That’s all.”

“I’m your best friend,” she muttered tiredly, “and that’s all I am?”

“No.”

He took in a slow breath and she smelled so good then, so did he, they smelled good together, and he wanted to get her under the covers, where they could snuggle and drift off.

Together.

“Then,” Haven whispered and she shifted away at first, as always, only giving in when he moved with her, “that’s all you wanted to tell me? And we can finally really go to bed?”

“No.”

It wasn’t.

All he wanted to tell her.

It’s all he could get out, because the rest would sound bad, he thought, to speak aloud, even to the only person he could speak aloud anything.

She didn’t want to fight about Porter again, and he was fine with that, he understood why she felt that way.

But the thoughts that were bothering him now went a lot deeper than that.

To explain them though, to mention her family, her mother, their upbringing, what it all meant, why she loved him or even liked him and what she thought about herself, the way she was and looked and acted, as well as what he thought about it too, as well as himself and what she thought about him and it would only end in an argument.

That night.

Because he could never get it out to her in a way that wouldn’t sound like an attack or just an attempt to bring up old wounds for the sack of rubbing it in her face that he was there, the whole time, waiting for her to come to her senses, to come back to him, and she’d been the one in the wrong, who’d gone off and ran around with the wrong people and had gotten hurt, been killed, all because she wouldn't just listen to him.

All because she couldn't be together when him, when she’d only been a week away from seventeen.

“Then what?” Haven asked, a frown present in her voice as she insisted, “What other option is there?”

“Too many.”

“Locke-”

“You’re so beautiful, Haven,” he insisted then, as she sat up some, just to frown down at him, and the man only stared back up at her, into her so deep blue eyes, the exact opposite of his flat reds, with every ounce of honesty he had to him. “You always are. And I don’t tell you that enough. I love so much about you and I think sometimes I just get so caught up in all the madness that’s constantly in front of us that I forget-”

“Shut up!” And she was moving then, to the head of the bed, shoving at him in the process, even grabbing a pillow in the end, to hit him with. “You big idiot.”

Locke only moved to lay properly in the bed as well, insisting, “It’s true. You’re the most beautiful woman I know.”

“I’m still not going to blow you.” She snatched her pillow back one she’d kicked down the covers some, only to snuggle back under them. And, after a moment’s thought, she offered him simply, “Tonight.”

He allowed himself to smile, as he tugged the blankets up around himself as well, hiding out from the moonlight with her beneath them as he whispered, “I don’t wanna fight with you. Have. I never do.”

“Liar.”

“I’m not.”

“Are too. Fighting’s part of it.”

“Part of what?”

“You know.” But she didn’t seem to, as she couldn’t quite explain it. “Locke.”

Falling onto his back, he shut his eyes and she stilled out, back to him, but beside him, close. So close.

“When it’s all over,” he muttered to the once more close to sleep woman, “and we can go back home, I’ll buy us a nice house. With my first few S-Class jobs. Bet. With a pool and one of those kitchens you can invite all your friends over to hang out in, you know? With, like, stools and space and… And an actual dining room. For when we want to have real, adult dinner parties. A pool. Room for our...our kids. Yeah?”

She was either asleep or good at faking it, either was likely. But both were enough for the man as he let out one last long, heavy sigh before deciding to join her.

#Remember Me

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rora-s · 3 years

Text

The Derivative Chapter 10: Influence

Chapter 1 <- Chapter 9

I slammed the door as I came trudging in from the backyard. My grandfather looked up at me from where he was leaning on the counter.

“In a mood are we?” he asked.

“I’ve just been banished from the garage by Charlie and Larry,” I explained grumpily. “Apparently their working on something I can’t see but my book is in there somewhere”

“Somewhere?” Alan questioned “don’t you remember where you put it?”

“I remember where I put it but it has evidently been moved in the course of their work” I informed.

Alan sighed and straightened up “well come on I’m sure I can negotiate for its rescue”

I smiled slightly “thank you”

He led the way out into the backyard and over to the garage. “Charlie you in there?” Alan called as we approached the door then he looked around the door frame “hey your niece needs her book that you two moved around in here” he explained.

“Alright” Charlie sighed “she can look but I don’t want her messing with any of this” he gestured vaguely at the chalkboards and papers he had spread about.

“Wouldn’t dream of it” I muttered looking around for my book.

“What are you two geniuses into now?” Alan asked, looking at the work. “And what are my old city planning maps doing out like this? What’s happening?”

“To me it looks like they’re working in probabilities based off the variables and labels. I'd say some kind of public location” I informed looking behind one of the chalkboards.

“Abby what did I say?” Charlie snapped uncharacteristically.

“Jeez I was just looking not messing” I stated in defense.

Uncle C sighed looking exceptionally stressed “no one’s really supposed to know.”

“Charles, perhaps it would be best to inform your father and the enigma of the impending Armageddon.” Larry objected.

“Armageddon?” Alan questioned as Charlie muttered words of anger to his friend “No, don’t tell me you two spotted another one of those asteroids hurtling towards the Earth, huh?”

Alan was joking but my stomach began to churn as I took a closer look at the math. All the locations were big public areas. Soft targets.

“Several thousand, actually, but that Armageddon we have decades to resolve” Larry objected to my grandfather’s statement.

“Charlie what is he talking about?” Alan questioned with a chuckle.

Charlie was about to brush his father off when he was cut off by the high pitched exclamation of his best friend “a truck carrying nuclear waste was hijacked. Yesterday.”

“What?” Alan questioned.

That was when all the pieces clicked in my mind “wait so the locations you’re narrowing down their possible targets aren’t they?” I asked in shock. “My God”

“Now wait a minute” Gramps spoke up “why didn’t I hear anything about this on the news?”

“Because they’re not telling anyone” Charlie muttered with a pointed glare at Larry.

“What do you mean they’re not telling anyone?” Alan asked with slightly irritation edging his words. “How the hell are people supposed to protect themselves? And what does she mean about targets?”

“In the first place, uh, we- we’re not even sure that there, that there is a bomb, so-”

“A bomb?!” Alan cut his son off.

“Well, we don’t know where it’s going to go off.” Charlie advised.

“Well, maybe not. But I would suggest that, uh, people quickly taking a ride out of town in an easterly direction might be of help right now.” Alan stated.

“Well, possibly not, with these current wind conditions.” Larry mused.

“Look, an evacuation without information will lead to mass public panic.” Charlie pointed out.

“Well, speaking for the huddled masses, I’d rather not have some government official making that decision for me right now, thank you very much” Alan declared, picking up one of his maps off the table which revealed my book underneath. “And what are you doing with my maps?”

“You really are something, you know that?” Charlie snapped at Larry. The two began to bicker as I stepped forward to grab my book. Then Larry finally got a word in edgewise with a sharp point.

“He is a planner and she a budding mathematician”

Charlie turned to his dad who was looking at the maps and realization seemed to dawn on him. “You know what, Dad?” he called “you can help us.”

“How can I help you?” Alan questioned. “Charlie, I’m not a physicist and I’m certainly not an expert on nuclear contamination.”

“But you were a city planner” Uncle C pointed out walking over to the man “you know about urban density, and these are your maps.”

“And another person to run equations would be quite helpful,” Larry added, looking to me. I picked up my book with a sigh.

“I wanted to help. Now I wish I didn’t need to” I muttered Larry just nodded in understanding.

We continued to look over the maps and crunch numbers Charlie and Larry guiding me through some of the more complex calculations. Then Charlie's phone rang. “Hey Don” we all turned to him surprised. “Well don’t we have-” a glance at his watch “-six hours… they pushed it-” he turned to those of us in the room “Ah, he needs to know now.” I looked to the boards raising my hands to my head in complete panic. There was no way to be sure, multiple possibilities.

“Well, we still have algorithms to test and variables to explore here” Larry objected.

“Okay, um… okay, we’ve pinpointed seven likely targets” Charlie spoke into the phone “there’s one in Westwood, there’s two in Century City.” Charlie paused as I presume Don spoke to him on the phone “Downtown. Okay. He needs downtown so,” we all eyed the map pointing out the two possible targets. “Okay, there’s, there’s, there’s two. One in Driscoll Plaza and another in Angeles Square.” Charlie looked at us after seconds of tension “he needs one just one, one of them” Charlie murmured.

“Statistically, they’re both of nearly equal probability,” Larry explained.

“Math can’t tell us which one” I breathed out.

“Right. Mathematically, we have no justification for choosing one over the other” Charlie explained just as Alan reached over and grabbed the phone away from his son.

“Donnie, go with Angeles Square.” The man declared into the phone “I know what Charlie says, but I know these maps, and I would choose Angeles Square. It’s the height of the buildings. It creates what we used to call an urban canyon. The air currents through the buildings spread the radiation much further. If I wanted to inflict as much damage as I could, that’s where I would go. Angeles Square. I’m telling you.” Alan pulled the phone from his ear.

“Great now we just sit and hope” I muttered leaning on the table. Releasing the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

_______

“Well we didn’t do so bad today, did we?” Alan asked, coming over to the table a bit more chipper than any of us.

“No, today, was good.” Larry voiced. “But what about tomorrow?”

“Yeah and Don was still very close to a bomb that could have had nuclear material so” I shrugged picking at the frayed end of the ripped knee of my pants as they were pulled up to my chest.

“Yeah, uh, you know I think I understand why you like helping Don so much.” Alan said “it’s not a bad feeling” he paused. Me, Gramps, Larry exchanged looks as the curly haired young mathematician in the room stayed uncharacteristically quiet. “What’s the matter, Charlie? You’ve got that look that you get when you can’t stop worrying about something”

“He’s right. You seem a little perturbed” Larry agreed.

“You’re still not mad about my pulling that phone out of your hand, are you?” Alan questioned.

“I was going to say Driscoll Plaza,” Charlie admitted. “Before you grabbed the phone out of my hand I was- I was about to say Driscoll Plaza, and I would’ve been wrong.”

“Oh” Alan murmured around the bite of food in his mouth “well, come on, Charlie. I was the one that didn’t give you the right variables. You know, the heights of the buildings.” Alan reassured. “Listen, if you’ve got one failing, it’s only that you don’t think like a criminal. Of course, what does that say about me?” he chuckled slightly

“That you’re a great influence” I replied sarcastically.

“I would’ve been wrong,” Charlie murmured again.

__________

3rd POV.

Don pulled up outside his brother’s house and hopped out of his car. His pace only slowed slightly when he saw Abby sitting on the porch reading. She looked up at him.

“Did you catch ‘em?” she asked.

“Got the guys not the cesium” he replied grabbing the door knob then paused. “Wait how did you..?” she bit her lip and glanced toward inside “ah damn it Charlie”

“It wasn’t his fault. Blame Larry’s fear and my nosiness if anything” she objected.

“So if Dad was helping I’m guessing you were as well then?” Don inquired and she nodded. He growled “Abby you can’t do that and if I wasn’t in a hurry you’d be getting an earful right now alright.” he flung the door open and headed inside Abby hurrying behind him.

He stalked over to where Charlie and Larry were seated at the table “alright we have the guys but they aren’t telling us where the caesium is we think it’s still on the truck and in our perimeter but we have no idea where they stashed it.” He quickly briefed them on the situation.

“Larry and I have been doing some research on tracking radiation signatures.” Charlie replied as Abby took a seat at the table “now between the sense that scan from planes and those you could install at random points in the area, we would be able to triangulate a location for that radioactive material.”

“All right, well, that’s great” Don felt some of the anxious energy he had been feeling coming in here ease away. “How long would it take?” it started coming back as the three geniuses in the room all shifted in their seats.

“Like a.. Like a week.” Charlie replied “or maybe two.”

“A week? Charlie, the truck is leaking radiation, you understand?” Don said insistently.

“He’s right, Charles.” Larry spoke up “I mean, these casks were not designed to contain cesium for extended periods of time. This material in particular has an insidious method of attack.”

“Which is?” Don prompted sitting down next to his daughter.

“Look, even in small amounts, whether ingested or inhaled,” Larry began to explain they spread throughout the entire body, they invade and destroy the soft tissue. Longer exposure and we’re talking acute radiation poisoning; the Walking Ghost phase.”

“That sounds bad,” Abby muttered almost to herself.

“The Walking Ghost phase?” Don questioned that tension within him building again.

“Yes, like the people in Chernobyl. Somebody starts feeling nauseous, they vomit, they start feeling better, they think they are better. But no, it’s- it’s just a grace period. A week later, it’s internal bleeding and certain death.”

Charlie let off a breath leaning back in his chair and Abby brought her knees up to her chest in her seat. “You said you have the guys that stole the truck, right?” Charlie asked, getting to his feet.

“That’s right,” Don agreed.

“They don’t know where it is?” the mathematician questioned.

“Well, Charlie, they’re not talking.” Don explained.

“None of them?”

“No. they’re trying to use the truck as leverage if anything,” Don told them.

“They had a plan going in.” Charlie determined.

“We got ‘em separated. We’re trying to play them against each other, but” Don sighed dread creeping into his gut.

“What about putting them together?” Charlie suggested.

“No, Charlie.” Don objected “you keep suspects isolated in the dark. That’s how it works”

“I understand that.” Charlie clarified “that, that’s not what I’m speaking about. I’m actually talking about something completely different. I’m talking about something called The Prisoner’s Dilemma”

Abby straightened behind Don and Larry nodded “game theory”

“Game theory” Charlie parroted his friend and continued “the mathematics of decision making. How to achieve the optimal outcome from a complex situation. So for instance, um” the man thought up an analogy “say two people were to commit crime. Now, if neither of them talk they each get a year. If one of them talks, he gets no time at all, and the other guy gets five years. If both of them talk, they each get two years. So you see, unless they can trust each other not to say anything talking is the best strategy”

“Yeah, but I already told you they’re not talking” Don pointed out.

“Well, maybe that’s because none of them realize how much the others have to lose.” Charlie advised.

“Risk assessment” Abby muttered.

Charlie smirked slightly at his niece's insight “precisely.”

_________

“I mean it was pretty impressive” Don voiced as he and his family left the restaurant. “These are three hardcore dudes, and Charlie’s up there scibbling all these crazy equations”

“Crazy equa..? You hear that, Dad?” Charlie muttered as Abby started to giggle “Crazy equations. Now, I did a risk assessment analysis based on a model used to determine a bank’s exposure to mutual credit obligations. That’s what I did.”

“Yeah, it’s a compliment. I mean, the point is, is that they bought it.” Don explained.

“Don’s right. I mean the important thing is you’re getting the truck back. Isn’t that enough?” Alan pointed out.

“Yeah, I mean, you know, you can get an award for a performance like that” Don congratulated.

“A per..? It wasn’t a performance” Charlie objected. “It wasn’t a scam. That was math. That was actual math. I don’t make this stuff up.”

“Want to hear about math?” Alan chimed in reaching into his jacket pocket “here, here’s math. Dinner was $102 divided four ways is 25 bucks apiece. Pay up.”

“Wait I’m a minor dependant I don’t have money he does” Abby objected pointing at her father who pulled out his wallet.

“Actually I gotta hit an ATM. I don’t have any cash” Don replied.

“Now that’s a scam” Alan complained and the men descended into bickering as Abby laughed.

“Hey keep laughing and I will make you pay your share” Don threatened. “Especially since I’m considering grounding you”

“What?” Abby questioned her laughter quickly fading.

“I told you I didn’t want you helping on cases math or not and you didn’t listen” Don replied firmly even though the expression on Abby’s face was beginning to weaken his resolve.

“But I was helpful I didn’t get hurt there was no way for me to get hurt” Abby defended “what’s so wrong with crunching a few numbers in the garage every now and then”

Don sighed biting his lip “because your sixteen and I don’t want you getting dragged head first into my world of guns and destruction”

Abby looked to the ground and opened her mouth. Don got the feeling she was about to say something poignant but she hesitated and instead closed her mouth looking back up at her father with a determination that caught him rather off guard.

“Fine I’ll stop whining about working on big stuff for now but once I’m eighteen I’m getting my clearance and you can’t stop me” she declared.

Alan and Charlie both smiled slightly at the girl's stubborn statement. Don sighed knowing there was no way he was changing her mind. So instead he hooked her around the shoulders pulling her into his side as the family continued down the sidewalk “alright kid but right now you’re still grounded.”

Chapter 11 ->

#numb3rs #numb3rs season 1 #Charlie Eppes #Don Eppes #alan eppes #amita ramanujan #larry fleinhardt #terry lake #david sinclair #Episode Related #episode per chapter #fanfiction #Don is a dad #abby calvin #Also posted on AO3 #also posted on quotev

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k-s-morgan · 4 years

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Hannibal Is Not a Psychopath: Criteria and Examples

The question of whether Hannibal is a psychopath often comes up. I'd like to start right with TL;DR: no, Hannibal is not a psychopath. It's confirmed in the show textually, with it being said that he's something that can't be defined and that doctors are confused as to what to label him with.

Evidence: E8 of S3.

ALANA: You've long been regarded by your peers in psychiatry as something entirely Other. For convenience, they term you a monster.

HANNIBAL: What do you term me?

ALANA: I don't. You defy categorization.

That's the point of the show. It happens in a heightened reality where labels don't really exist (which is why I think there is no point in such analysis as this, but like I said, it’s for people who keep calling him a psychopath). Both Will and Hannibal are deeply unique, they do have some psychopathic traits, but all in all, their profiles are entirely fictional. You can also see this thread for what Bryan Fuller and Mads Mikkelsen say about this topic. Here are some highlights.

Bryan Fuller: Hannibal Lecter is unique in his crazy. He’s not a psychopath, because he experiences regret. And he’s not a sociopath, because he experiences empathy. So he is unique in his crazy, and that gives him a higher sensibility than just a mortal man ... one of the things that we talked about in our first meeting was not so much about playing Hannibal as the cannibal psychiatrist, as previously portrayed by other actors, but more like Lucifer and how he was a dark angel who had this affinity for mankind and a fascination with the human condition.

Now, let's move on to the actual practical examples from the show as related to two most common models devised for assessing a person with a possible psychopathy.

DSM-5 Criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder

A. Significant impairments in personality functioning manifest by:

1. Impairments in self functioning (a or b):

a.Identity: Ego-centrism; self-esteem derived from personal gain, power, or pleasure.

Ego-centrism.

Standard definition of ego-centrism is an "excessive interest in oneself and concern for one's own welfare or advantage at the expense of others". From S1, Hannibal is doing what he thinks is best to help people he finds interesting at the expense of his own safety and peace. Will is the brightest example (he always is). Hannibal senses a killer in him, understands Will subdues his true self, and he does everything in his power to help him Become. Here's what he says to Bedelia about it in E12 of S1, explaining what he wants to do with Will:

Hannibal: "Madness can be a medicine for the modern world. You take it in moderation, it's beneficial. ... Side effects can be temporary. They can be a boost to our psychological immune systems to help fight the existential crises..." Translation: Hannibal is using Will's illness in S1 to blur his self-control and get him to admit who he is so that Will could free himself of his self-acceptance crisis.

He says the same to Will in E1 of S2: "Our conversations, Will, were only ever about you opening your eyes to the truth of who you are."

Bedelia confirms it to Will in E2 of S2: "It may be small comfort, but I am convinced Hannibal has done what he believes is best for you."

Finally, Will admits it's true many times. One of them happens in S3 during his conversation with Chiyoh: "I've never known myself as well as I know myself when I'm with him."

Conclusion: Hannibal is really trying to help Will be himself and he succeeds in it. Furthermore, he does it at the expense of his safety.

Hannibal endangers himself from S1 the closer he gets to Will. In E9 of S1, Will learns that he helped Abigail bury the body of Nick Boyle. Hannibal's first instinct is to protect himself, so he reaches for the scalpel. But he immediately changes his mind. He takes a risk, choosing to explain his reasoning to Will. He places himself in danger - he did it back when he helped Abigail with the body (because he wanted to help her, too, and he wanted her to be a part of his and Will's family). He protects Will to the point where Jack grows suspicious and comes to talk to Bedelia about it. When Bedelia tells Hannibal that he should take a step back because he's getting too personal and endangers himself, Hannibal downright refuses.

He risks his life in an attempt to make Will free himself, too. He nearly dies after Will sends Matthew to attack him in E5 of S2 and he doesn't press charges - on the contrary, he's happy and he frees Will from the prison for that. He makes a conscious effort not to react in E7 of S2 when Will points a gun at him (just as what he did in E13 of S1). Will could shoot him any time but Hannibal places the need to help him Become above his safety. He's ready to dismantle his good life and run away with Will in the second half of S2. He gives up his freedom literally in S3 to prove to Will that he places him above himself. He proves it again by showing that he's willing to die for him: first, he agrees to Will's plan with the Dragon, knowing Will is planning something but not caring what it results in, perfectly willing to give Will all the control. He shields Will from the bullet at the expense of his safety again, talking about sacrifice and love. He lets Will push them off the cliff.

Conclusion: All this actions show that Hannibal is not overly ego-centric. He's capable of putting other people's needs above himself. Will is far from being the only example. Abigail, Bella, Margot, and Bedelia also fit here. Some could say that Hannibal does all this for Will just because he's in love with him. Yes, he wants to be family with Will in the end of this whole process, but it means that his final goal is their mutual happiness, not something just for his benefit. He knows Will is lonely (Will admits it himself several times in all seasons). He knows Will is going to be much happier after Becoming. Will's words (including those above) prove it.

Self-esteem.

Hannibal has a high self-esteem but it's not derived from the mentioned superficial elements. He has every reason to think highly of himself: he's extremely educated, he helped many people make their lives better (from common patients to people like Randall, who accepted themselves and became happy in their way), he is talented (he plays different instruments, he's an excellent and creative cook, he's fluet in several languages), he has excellent manners, etc. So, his self-esteem does not depend on gain, power, or pleasure.

b.Self-direction: Goal-setting based on personal gratification; absence of prosocial internal standards associated with failure to conform to lawful or culturally normative ethical behavior.

Hannibal's plan are as self-motivated as every person's. For instance, he wants a family with Will. Many people want to have families. But like it was said above, Hannibal doesn't focus only on himself here. He risks to protect Will's interests and he's willing to be put away so Will could be free to make his own decision, even if it doesn't include him. That's love, not personal gratification. He works with patients not just to tell himself what a clever man he is, he's genuinely concerned about them. He shares his worries about making Franklyn feel powerless in S1 with Bedelia. He tries to protect Franklyn and asks Tobias not to kill him. So, his goals are not aimed at his own gratification excessively.

Hannibal has a complex philosophy that doesn't fit the above criteria about prosocial internal standards. He doesn't have a lack of the desire to meet them: on the contrary, he wants to make this world beautiful. As he tells Will in S2, "Discourtesy is unspeakably ugly to me." He doesn't kill random people. He kills rude people that ruin the norms of ethical behavior. Hannibal is very active in being prosocial in his way: for instance, he kills a politician who ruined the forest where rare birds nested to build a parking lot. He killed a homophobic doctor. Hannibal has solid prosocial principles that aim to restore beauty and harmony in this world. He's a monster for sure, but he has principles that make everyone question themselves. Even cannibalism: people act all horrified when they learn they ate other people, but everyone is so joyful about eating animals who can think, feel, and who are smarter than many actual people. Double-standards provide for endless discussions.

Conclusion: Hannibal doesn't meet any of the above two major criteria. It already means he's not a clinical psychopath. But let's move forward.

2. Impairments in interpersonal functioning (a or b):

a.Empathy. Lack of concern for feelings, needs, or suffering of others; lack of remorse after hurting or mistreating another.

This doesn't fit Hannibal either. Like Bryan Fuller's quote above confirms, he does experience empathy and regret. It's obvious in the show as well: for instance, in E7 of S3, he writes formulas to reverse time (which is the embodiment of regret). He regrets hurting Will and he asks him if maybe the tea-cup can still be mended. In E8 of S2, he himself says: "A life without regret would be no life at all." He's almost crying in E11 of S2 when he and Will discuss Abigail. Will expresses his pain at the loss and Hannibal says: "I'm sorry I took that from you. I wish I could give it back." Note that he does intend to give Abigail back to Will: he left her to live because he wants them to reunite. He also tries to soothe Will's pain by hinting at the truth: "Occasionally, I drop a teacup to shatter on the floor on purpose. I'm not satisfied when it doesn't gather itself up again. Someday, perhaps, that cup will come together."

In E13 of S2, Hannibal is devastated to learn of Will's betrayal, but he understands his conflict. He gives him another chance, telling him, "I don't need a sacrifice." When he tells Will he forgives him later, he asks: "Will you forgive me?" This shows that he understands regret intimately. These (just a few out of many) examples prove that he cares about Will's feelings.

He's crying as he walks in the rain, leaving people he loved bleeding. He regrets the ruined plans and he accepts he's to blame to an extent. When in E3 of S3 Bedelia asks him whether Will betrayed him or vice versa, Hannibal replies: "I'm vague on these details." It means that after some time passed, he analyzed the situation and he's no longer sure he did the right thing. This is regret, too. Furthermore, he becomes self-destructive, which Bedelia notices and calls him out on. He doesn't fight against Jack, letting him beat him up, torture him, and almost kill him. Hannibal is an emotional wreck at that point: he agonizes over what happened with Will, he regrets what he did, and he clearly hates himself enough for it to torture himself like this.

I already described the risks Hannibal took to take care of Will's needs in the first section. In addition, he tells Will in S3 finale: "My compassion for you is inconvenient." Despite being hurt after covering him from the bullet, he tries to protect Will again and again. He cares about his suffering and he can't watch him be hurt.

Hannibal also empathizes with Bella, sometimes looking moved to tears. He gives her a chance to die as she wishes by tossing a coin, even though it could lead him to numerous problems with Jack. It's terrible for every normal therapist to have a patient who committed suicide. It's even worse when it happened right in their office, and it's 100 times worse for a serial killer who's one step away from being suspected. The fact that he even gives her a chance tells a lot. He's crying as he sends a grieving letter to Jack after Bella's death.

Hannibal understood Abigail's feelings and suffering and he cared about them, too. He tried to alleviate them. He was annoyed with her in E9 of S1 because she endangered him by digging up Nick's body. Instead of getting rid of her or protecting himself, he just gave her a warning. He tried to defend her in Will's eyes later in this episode. The only explanation for his actions is that he understood where she was coming from despite not liking it. He knew she wasn't just thoughtless or malicious - he understood her turmoil.

Hannibal also understands killers like Will, which proves he has empathy. As Will said about James Grey in E of S2, "Whoever he is, this second killer understood the Muralist well enough to find his canvas. Well enough to convince him to be part of it." Same goes to Randall and Francis, both of whom admit Hannibal understood them better than anyone else. There are many, many more other examples proving that Hannibal has empathy and cares about feelings of some people very deeply.

b.Intimacy. Incapacity for mutually intimate relationships, as exploitation is a primary means of relating to others, including by deceit and coercion; use of dominance or intimidation to control others.

I don't think much is needed to be said here since many examples were already covered. Hannibal and Will have an absolutely mutual relationship that's incredibly deep on all levels. As Will says in E4 of S3: "We have a mutually-unspoken pact to ignore the worst in one another in order to continue enjoying the best." Will chooses Hannibal every time. Hannibal's whole life revolves around Will. He's ready to go to prison for him, he;s ready to die for him, and he's ready to do all possible sacrifices.

Hannibal used deception with Will in S1 to a degree, but this had its own goal (to make WiLL feel better in the end), and the deception was gone for the majority of S2 and S3. Bedelia says in E12 of S2: "What he does is not coercion, it is persuasion." Hannibal tries to get people to see why they should be themselves instead of forcing them to do anything (and he does that since he can relate to them, which proves his empathy once again). Will had darkness in him from the start (which is proven in E2 of S1), so he did find comfort in Hannibal's words. For the majority of time, and all the time emotionally, Hannibal is honest with Will.

He doesn't try to dominate or control Will. He admires how unpredictable Will is in E8 of S2: "With all my knowledge and intrusion, I could never entirely predict you." He admits that Will has power over him in E8 of S3: "I discovered you [in my Mind Palace]... victorious." He doesn't exploitate him either as he truly wants what's best for him. He admits he's in love with him and says he loves him two different times. So Hannibal is capable of love, and his feelings are returned because Will finds his own unique equal in him. He tells Jack that he wants to run with Hannibal twice in S3, he keeps seeking him out, and he chooses him over everyone and everything. The last scene of the show with them eating Bedelia together shows that they're now in comfortable dark companionship where they hunt together.

Conclusion: Hannibal doesn't meet any of these two criteria, never mind both of them.

Now, the standard Hare Psychopathy Checklist. I'll list only those traits pointed here that have relevance (for instance, I'll ignore such points as "Previous diagnosis as psychopath", "Frequent marital relationships", "Poor probation or parole risk", etc.)

1. Glibness/superﬁcial charm: yes. Hannibal is charming for sure and he talks very, very smoothly.

2. Egocentricity/grandiose sense of self-worth: not really. It was already discussed above. Hannibal does like to "defy God", as Will says in E2 of S3, but his beliefs are fully supported by his actions. He's also not self-absorbed and can put others above himself.

3. Proneness to boredom/low frustration tolerance: no. Hannibal enjoys life deeply, always finding something to do, and he's extremely patient even in most aggravating situations. It ranges form annoying patients like Franklyn to Will, whose hypocrisy and self-doubt Hannibal tolerates lovingly till the very end.

4. Pathological lying and deception: no. Hannibal lies when he must, for good reasons. On the contrary, he tends to be funnily honest with his cannibal puns people choose to ignore. For example, when Alana asks what's in her beer, he tells her he can answer only with "yes" or "no" questions, implying he'd tell her the truth if she guessed it. Same thing happens in E11 of S3:

ALANA: I called him. To confirm that he hasn't called you. Not since you've been declared insane.

HANNIBAL: I could have told you that.

ALANA BLOOM: If only I'd known to ask.

HANNIBAL: If only.

ALANA BLOOM: Would you have told me the truth?

HANNIBAL: In my own way, I always have.

5. Conning/lack of sincerity: yes and no. Obviously, being a murderer, Hannibal smoothly misleads many people. At the same time, both Bryan and Mads confirmed Hannibal tends to be emotionally honest, and it's evident in the show as well. He's sincere about loving Will, caring about Abigail and Margot, respecting Alana and finding her physically attractive, respecting Jack and Bella, etc.

6. Lack of remorse or guilt: no. It was already discussed.

7. Lack of affect and emotional depth: no. Many examples were given to show Hannibal's emotional depth. Also, he cries in the opera in E7 of S1. It proves that he has enough “depth” to feel moved and touched by the song. He cries when writing down the poem about loss to Jack in E5 of S3. He cries because of Will several times, falls into deep depression in S3, and so on. Psychopaths can't do all that, especially crying genuinely for such reasons.

8. Callous/lack of empathy: no. It was already discussed. Hannibal can be very cruel, true, but he does have empathy and motivation.

9. Parasitic lifestyle: no. I don't think I should explain that) Hannibal is entirely financially independent.

10. Short-tempered/poor behavioral controls: no. Hannibal can indeed be emotional and impulsive, but he's patient and in perfect control in the majority of instances. He flew into rage after Will broke his heart, but it's natural in such circumstances (of course, killing and maiming people is not normal, but I'm talking about short temper in general. Hannibal doesn't have one. Examples of his patience are above.).

11. Promiscuous sexual relations: no. He slept with Alana for a while, who he knew and respected. He flirted with Anthony and seemed ready to sleep with him, but that's it. Hannibal isn't shown as overly caring about sex and he's focused on Will entirely.

12. Early behavior problems. Difficult to say since his backstory is a mystery in the show for the most part. He did seem to start killing early, so most likely it's a yes.

13. Lack of realistic, long-term plans: no. Hannibal's plans are meticulous and realistic, and he's fighting hard to achieve them (see Hannibal's attempt to make a family with Will). Another example: he's a very prolific killer who stayed hidden for ages and gave himself up in the end only for the man he loves, not because he was caught. So he makes and executes long-term plans perfectly.

14. Impulsivity: no. Hannibal can be impulsive as any other person, it's not excessive.

15. Irresponsible behavior as parent: not really... he tried to protect Abigail at all costs. He encouraged her killing, but I'm not sure if it can be classified as irresponsible, considering who Hannibal and Abigail are and what this show is about.

16. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions: no. Hannibal understands when he's wrong and he accepts the consequences. He takes pride in most of his kills, he admits to Bedelia that he made mistakes, he understands Will struggles to forgive him and apologizes for his actions, etc.

17. Many types of offense: yes.

18. Drug or alcohol abuse: no.

Out of 18 items, we have only 3 hard yes. That's a very low score.

Major conclusion: Hannibal does have some psychopathic traits. He's also cruel and he shows some sadistic tendencies, but he's not a psychopath at all. He can feel deeply and he forms extremely strong emotional bonds. I doubt such people actually exist, but that makes him even more fascinating as a character.

#hannibal #hannigram #will graham

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Marvel’s WandaVision and What’s Next for the MCU

https://ift.tt/3c4phnQ

This article contains WandaVision spoilers.

WandaVision has concluded with a terrific final episode, and with it, Marvel’s first foray into episodic television came to an end with startling success – taking a quiet story about a woman’s grief and loneliness, one of the most emotionally evocative pieces of MCU storytelling to date, and using it as a thread in the greater MCU tapestry. And that tapestry is unequivocally bigger now that the show is ended. Here are some of the pieces of groundwork WandaVision laid for the future of the MCU.

The Scarlet Witch and Doctor Strange 2

Lots of people found it odd that the show used Wanda’s real name in its title when the rest of the MCU uses superhero code names. We know why now: the Scarlet Witch is itself a title, one that Wanda embraces by the end of the show. And now it looks like she’s going to be a huge deal for the future of the MCU.

Wanda ends the show by defeating Agatha Harkness and basically putting her back “in character” while the rest of the Westview illusion dissipates, then letting go of her own grief, dissipating the hex around Westview, and taking the Darkhold, (Agatha’s comprehensive guide to evil magical knowledge that named the Scarlet Witch as the magic user who would eventually destroy the world) to the woods to study for a bit.

Does the WandaVision Finale Set Up Doctor Strange 2?

By Kirsten Howard

WandaVision Episode 9: Post-Credits Scenes Explained

By Gavin Jasper

Wanda is now, to put it mildly, a BIG DEAL. The Darkhold, Agatha tells us, predicts that the Scarlet Witch would inevitably be more powerful than the Sorcerer Supreme, which makes a ton of sense knowing that Wanda is heading to Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness next.

Young Avengers

Or maybe not? Because the last thing we hear in the show are Billy and Tommy’s voices calling to their mother that something is wrong.

Billy and Tommy, like colorful Vision, disintegrated when the hex dissipated. They were entirely constructs, which meant their powers were loaned from Wanda, their personalities derived from her, their existence a nice fiction. Just like in the comics, where Billy and Tommy were absorbed into Master Pandemonium’s hands and never heard from again.

Except the time they joined the Young Avengers.

Here’s how the comics did it, and I bet how the MCU will too: Billy and Tommy were shards of Mephisto’s soul, captured by Wanda and put into hex magic constructs to be hers and synthezoid-so-not-capable-of-reproducing Vision’s kids. When they were reabsorbed by Mephisto, they ceased to exist, seemingly for good. Later, Tommy Shepherd and Billy Kaplan, two seemingly unrelated teenage boys, are united by virtue of their powers (Tommy is a speedster and Billy uses something that seems like hex magic) on a team of teenage Avengers stand ins. After several adventures, Billy and Tommy discover the truth about their powers: they are the reincarnated shards of souls that previously inhabited the made up Billy and Tommy Maximoff. So they’re kinda sorta actually Wanda and Vision’s kids. At least in their hearts.

A running mystery about Westview was “what happened to all the kids?” And that question was only partially answered during the show – some kids showed up after Wanda was confronted about it, while Dotty (actually a woman named Sarah) begged Wanda to let her daughter out from where she was locked up. We know prolonged exposure to the Hex gave Monica Rambeau her powers. It doesn’t feel like much of a leap for two random kids trapped inside the Hex to have also absorbed Billy and Tommy’s memories and powers when it came down.

Considering how much Young Avengers stuff is being laid on the table elsewhere – from Kate Bishop in the Hawkeye show, to Cassie Lang and Kang showing up in Ant-Man 3, to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier exploring the history of the super soldier program, this feels like a rock solid lock to come back.

Monica Rambeau and Captain Marvel 2

Monica Rambeau, the newly powered Photon, is pretty clearly headed for space.

In the mid-credits scene, Monica was taken aside by what appeared to be a SWORD agent, who revealed herself as a Skrull and indicated that somebody in space was looking for her. That somebody is pretty clearly Nick Fury, who was last seen in Spider-Man: Far from Home working with Skrulls, based on a space station, and dealing with interplanetary and interdimensional threats to Earth.

Through the entirety of WandaVision, SWORD was about monitoring “sentient weapons,” a pretty significant departure from its comics counterpart. Its comics counterpart is much closer to SHIELD but for aliens, something we all expected to happen when we saw Fury hanging out on that space station. It looks like that’s coming true, and the next logical place for that to happen would also be somewhere where we can explore the simmering discontent Monica has with Carol that she expressed at one point during the show. Also Monica’s powers are really cool and should be featured just about everywhere they can be.

WandaVision: How Monica Rambeau Fits in the MCU

By Delia Harrington

Comics

Captain Marvel 2: What We Want to See

By Delia Harrington

It’s a safe bet that we’ll see Monica reappear on the Ms. Marvel TV show, and she’s long been confirmed for an appearance in Captain Marvel 2.

The Fantastic Four

This is just rampant speculation, but our belief that the seeds of the Fantastic Four in the MCU were sown in WandaVision remains strong. The SWORD uniforms are too close to F4 outfits, and the seemingly new mission of SWORD is too close to the Fantastic Four’s origin for there to be another easy, obvious way in. It’s very easy to imagine four SWORD agents, two of them siblings, getting caught by some cosmic rays on a mission in space and catching superpowers.

This also has the added convenience of giving them proximity to the Skrulls, historically as large a part of Fantastic Four lore as that of the Avengers. It’s just too easy to miss, even if neither Reed Richards nor Victor von Doom didn’t end up being the teased aerospace engineer.

X-Men and Mutants in the MCU?

Certain Denizens are adamant that we also saw the dawn of the mutants and thus the first seeds of the X-Men on screen in WandaVision. The theory goes that Wanda had latent powers that she used to defuse the bomb when she and Pietro were little, and the fact that the two of them were the only ones to survive exposure to the Mind Stone indicated latent mutant abilities activated by the stone.

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This theory feels like the biggest reach, but we will admit that there is something to Pietro having latent powers that allowed him to survive. That is probably the strongest circumstantial evidence for this theory, that WandaVision is also the dawn of the X-Men joining the MCU. But it’s still a little bit of a stretch, and if it was the launch of Marvel’s merry movie mutants, we’re sure to get more teases in upcoming shows and flicks.

The post Marvel’s WandaVision and What’s Next for the MCU appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3ej7P1L

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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onebadwinter · 4 years

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Name: James Buchanan Barnes

Meaning of Name: James: It means "supplanter," one who follows., Buchanan: The place name is thought to derive from the Gaelic elements buth, meaning "house" and chanain, meaning "of the canon.", Barnes: Warrior, Nickname(s): Bucky, Winter Soldier, Captain America, The Man On The Wall, Bucky Barnes, Buck, Sarge, Prisoner #56898,, Солдат, The Asset, The New Fist of HYDRA, Fallen Comrade, The Shooter, Ghost, Manchurian Candidate, Semi-Stable 100-Year-Old Man, Canary, Sidekick, W.S., Jim Barnes,

Age: Unknown, a few years younger than Steve Rogers, originally. But willing to make fit Steve’s age, properly if requested and I’m willing.

Birthday/Place: Unknown, March 10th or 20th, 1910-30s. Shelbyville, Indiana.

Species/Nationality: Human/Super Soldier, American, Ice Elf on his mothers side, American, Badoon, German, The Chosen, Canadian, Scandinavian

Accent: American

Language spoken: English, Spanish, Hindi, Portuguese,Galician, German, Russian, Ancient Greek, Latin, Thai, Japanese, Old Norse, Aramaic,

Powers/Abilities: Super Human Strength, Enhanced Reaction Time, Sensory Array, Extended Reach, EMP Discharge, Expert Spy, Electrical Discharge, Bionic Arm, Master Martial Artist, Expert Marksmen, Expert Assassin, Skilled Shield Fighter, Acrobatic, Advanced Scouting, Peak Human Condition, Enhanced Durability, Enhanced Reflexes, Enhanced Endurance, Enhanced Stamina, Regenerative Healing, Cybernetic Enhanced Physiology,

Pet: Mole (Orla)

Illness/Allergies: Not prior to, or after, being genetically altered. PTSD, Brain Damage. Apathy.

Occupation: Solder/Assassin/ Experiment

Faceclaim: Sebastian Stan

Description: Looks just like Sebastian Stan in his twenties. Has blue grey eyes, light to dark brown hair, has a metallic robotic arm. Scars litter his body from injuries sustained during the plane explosion that had originally killed him, plus wounds that followed from his time as a Winter Solder, and a wound between his shoulders from his time as Captain America, as well as several others.

Outfit/Accessories/Jewelry: Tactical outfit, casual clothing, half face mask, goggles, Bionic arm, guns.

Height: 5′9″

Weight: 234 (Counting Cybernetic arm)

Body Build: Athletic

Backstory/Background:

James was born James Buchanan Barnes in Shelbyville, Indiana in the early to late 1920s. Where he was raised on Army bases by his mother Winifred and his father George. He was born the eldest of four children. For most of the beginning of his life he and his family moved from base to base, as most army family's tended to do. Along these moves James had grown up being an Army brat, picking up on and getting actively involved in the army, even for such a young child. The happiness of course, as in most cases, didn't appear to last for too long. As in his young age his mother had died tragically early in his life. Leaving the young James to help in raising his younger siblings while his father had continued to work in the army.

This had affected James' early maternal emotions in wanting to protect others. James had learned these skills while taking care of his younger siblings through the years. As well as picking up how to fight in a skillful manner. To the point that he became a sort of mascot to the base his father seemed to come to settle on. On this base it is here that James comes to meet a boy only a few years older than himself, Steve Rodgers. Here they begin to form a close friendship. James coming to learn all about Steve's home life, and eventual becoming an orphan, as well as Steve's weakened sickly life style. This is until they are both eventually separated off and on until James is older.

This too, also did not last very long, either. When tragic news had come to the teenaged James that their father had died in an accident while away training on another base in a base in Virginia where they had finally moved to. After this event, James, old enough to not be sent to an orphanage has his siblings taken away from him, where they are sent away and eventually taken in by other families. James chooses to remain on the base and indulge in his enjoyment of the man who everyone called Captain America. Which James had been a huge fan of for the last several years since Captain America had started to appear on magazines and on bases.

During these days he tended to get into some trouble but showed he had the potential of being great, one day, if he had worked hard enough and remained focused on joining the army as more than just a mascot. At some point however, while Captain America had been visiting a base, James took the chance to actually meet his 'hero', and when offered a training position on a S.A.S Unit, he took it. Leading him taking fighting lessons from the very same people who also trained the Sentinel of Liberty.

During this training James was considered to be a perfect match in partnering up with Captain America. This all in mostly an attempt to capture the attention of America's you, so they would invest in the building war against the Axis. But it also was to the dirty work. While fighting against the axis. James and Captain America, who James had accidentally stumbled upon one evening when walking in on Steve getting dressed, found out that Steve, his friend from many years ago had gone on to become Captain America, his hero. Which was a bit weird, he had to admit in some part. But eventually he got over it, because it was also so cool.

The two eventually ended up fighting the Nazi's, and doing other heroic things in attempts to protect America and strike down evil. All that *Yawn* hero stuff, you want to know more about, read a Steve Bio. Anyway, eventually while trying to take down Baron Zemo who was trying to destroy and experimental Drone Plane, James had tried to stop the explosion and ended up getting blown the fuck up, as you do. With Steve being tossed into a frozen lake and freezing. James had apparently died. Or well, he literally died.

For quite a few years that followed James' death, he had remained frozen in the icy waters that his body landed in after Baron Zemo had blown the plane up. All but his right arm had frozen over in the icy coffin, as it had somehow become severed before the soldier landed in the waters. Upon being discovered by Hydra, James was soon revived but had suffered from severe brain damage and amnesia following his revival. This of course had lead to James no knowing who he was for many years to follow. During his time with Hydra they had used him to assassinate other political or enemies in general of their interest.

That was until one mission led to James kidnapping Sharon Carter, many years after James' death and revival. Afterward the young woman brought it up to Steve and several others, which prompted Steve to look into it himself and finding out that it was indeed his former best friend. Which would lead to Steve trying to protect and save James, and several attempts to try and bring the other man back to his senses, or as the case was, remember who he was before all of these tragic events happened to him. However, in Steve's attempt to reclaim his friend he had managed to do a bit more damage. Which results in the Cosmic Cube that James had on hand, being shattered.

In the years to follow James had tried in mostly success, at being the hero he had always dreamed himself of being in his childhood. At first he had to do this from within the shadows as the people had still not trusted him. Nick Fury had given him his missions and the chance to redeem himself, however. But these circumstances did not last long when it appeared that Steve had been assassinated, one day while going to trial for having instigated the Civil War over some accords, against the US Government and such else in the like. James had witnessed Steve's assassination and quickly, with the help of others he had befriend that were also Steve's friends, taken revenge on the person responsible, Crossbones, and Sharon?

However, it came to be found that Steve was not necessarily dead, just stuck in a time loop and Sharon was being manipulated and then framed for the assassination on Steve. Whose body had been taken over by Red Skull. James at this time was portraying himself as Captain America and was sent to fight off the Possessed Steve, who had by then started a Hydra Empire in the United States. During this fight James had sustained quite a lot of damage in order to give Steve enough time to fight of Red Skull. After this James decided to then go after sleeper agents for a while until Natasha got her own memories wiped by the last remaining of them, which ended fairly well for James in the end, not so much Natasha herself.

James continues on about whatever doing his Winter Soldier thing, going to prison, breaking himself out, with the help of Natasha, before she got he brain wiped of all memories of him that is. Things are good? Well as good as they can be for a short while. That would be until Kobiks arrived on the scene and started doing whatever it is she enjoys doing. She's made out of the shards of Cosmic Cube, by the way. Steve, who keeps retiring, not retiring and now is the director of S.H.I.E.L.D since Nick killed a Watcher and James confronted him before Nick eventually peaces the fuck out to REPLACE the Watcher he killed, and left James to take Nick's place as "The Man on the Wall". Anyway. So Kobiks revitalized Steve, making him YOUNG, again, because Steve keeps getting older and James is has Infinity Formula in his vains from having died prior, again.

Moving on, James and Steve and everyone of their besties fight Kobiks new band mates who I guess then becomes protectors of Earth. But who cares about that. What's important to note here is that Helmut Zemo, son of Baron Zemo, he's mad, okay. He tries to kill James with the same plan his father tried to do before, intentionally this time, blow up a fucking plane. This family is absolutely, #Original. However, the plan fails, much worse this time, for Helmut because James manages to escape with his life from the explosion and takes out Zemo for daring to even try to front him. With having survived all of the attempts on his life, and mortal wounding up until now, and being abel to stab God Steve with a shard of the Cosmic Cube, since God Steve is all " Let me be a fucking asshole."

Afterward, all is returned to peace and Steve is back to not being a fucking asshole again, as well, they save Kobics by once again reforming the Cosmic Cube. But wait, there's more. James and Hawkeye soon team up to go on wild and crazy adventures together. Also, Thanos comes along and dusts most of everyone and Steve brings them all back, with the help of whatever Heros managed to not get dusted. It's a happy ending for all involved, except for Thanos,...and ...his army. But who cares about anyone of them? I am sure they'll be back, right?! James now lives a moderately 'peaceful life', continuing his teamwork along side Hawkeye and occasionally teaming up with other heroes on the fly every so often, as he would see fit. ....But I don't know, how would you guys feel about this being an evil run? Hehehe.

Quirks/Savvies/Other:

Knows a lot about Weapons.

Is good in a fight, just using a hunting knife.

Likes Heroics and Idolized Captain America in his youth.

Probably pretty good at engineering and science, but had never been trained in it. He is a Fixer, however.

Acts stupid, but is actually very intelligent.

Believes in mythology.

Interested in conspiracies.

Tinkers with things when he’s nervous.

Believes in magic.

Becomes tired when it’s too hot.

When he’s bored he will rearrange things.

Sings to himself.

He believes in dragons.

Is annoyed by Stuttering.

Interested in fairies.

Bothered by not knowing things.

Swears at every opportunity.

Extremely flexible.

Names and talks to his his personal weapons.

Gets uncomfortable in places with no windows.

Dark sense of humor.

Personality:

Charming, Honest, Ruthless, Punctual, Brave, Loyal, Elegant, Brutal, Forgetful, Resilient,Driving, Headstrong, Dangerous, Rustic, Elusive, Unfathomable, Objective, Aggressive, Distant, Sadistic, Ashamed, Just, Earthy, Honorable, Erratic, Self-Contained, Depressive, Tainted, Unlucky, Sarcastic, Moralistic, Tense, Light Hearted, Casual,

Likes: Taking care of his family, Adventure, Tigers, Gothic Literature, Botany, Mathematics, Cats, Science, Technology, Philosophy, Weapons, Peace and Quiet, Taking care of the people he loves, Protecting Others, Captain America,

Dislikes: Goldfish, Hydra, Centaurs, Winter, Jack o'Lanterns, Vampire Hunters, Shoes, Television Comedies, Politics, Performance Arts, The Guilt of what he’s done, Steve getting them into trouble,

Fears: Deep Water, Windowless Rooms, Being Trapped, explosions, Extreme Heat, Strange Noises or any noises at all in the middle of the night, Being held Captive.

Personality Tests: ESTP/INTJ-T, Type 8 The Challenger, Type 7 The Enthusiast, Type 5 The Investigator, 8w7,

Other: Pisces, Tropes,

Spouses: N/A

Children: One or more.

Significant Other: N/A

Parent(s):

-> Father: George M. Barnes

-> Mother: Winifred C. Barnes

Sibling(s): Rebecca P Barnes, Evelyn Harlee Barnes, Harrison Douglas Barnes

Starters

Chat’s

Para’s

Face

Stuff

Information

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Alternate Universes

#Bucky Barnes #Marvel RP #Marvel #Indie Marvel #Winter Soldier #Based on Bucky Barnes from Marvel for the most part #BuckyBio #Bios #And yes I did make him be part alien because #I wanted to #Fight me #You won't XD

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