#it’s because my type in women is competent and capable of murder

[queenofbooknerds]

Me @ my blorbos: There is something deeply wrong with you but unfortunately I find that attractive

#blorbos #this post in particular is because of Childe #but honestly I have a type #unfortunately my type in men is pathetic and deeply fucked up #(unfortunately because it also applies to real men and boy is it a lot more annoying when it’s not a blorbo) #genshin childe #hsr blade #hsr dan heng #jiang cheng #wwx *and* lwj #wwx may have been the one who did necromancy and medical malpractice #but people don’t give enough credit to LWJ for confessing so badly to WWX so badly everyone thought he hated him #if you’re wondering why there was no women #it’s because my type in women is competent and capable of murder #admittedly. it does still include a lot of fucked up women #Wen qing #hsr kafka #Kaul Shae #(from Jade City by Fonda Lee if anyone got this far and is wondering) #Camilla Hect #ianthe tridentarius #yes both of them. I have range

[wen-kexing-apologist]

10 BL Boys I Want Carnally

I was tagged by @twig-tea, but I do what I want so I'm ignoring the Boys thing (and on at least one occasion the BL thing). Anyway, without further ado, and in no particular order.

Win!Lin- Cupid's Last Wish

LOOPHOLE FIRST!

gif by @angelbesideme

Thanks to Cupid's Last Wish, Jan is a boy here! So I am choosing Win from Cupid's Last Wish before he body swaps back. HOWEVER, if I'm honest, it was less Win and more masc!Jan that made my brain short circuit so do with that what you will.

Toon- Seneha Stories

I am breaking from the prompt immediately, but this is my post and I can do what I want, so I am choosing Toon from Seneha Stories, which @so-much-yet-to-learn brought my attention to. Seneha Stories is definitively not a BL, but Toon is hot, kind, sad, and he fucks so I'd be living my best life.

Miw, Neo, Shin, and Mae - 3 Will Be Free

THIS IS NOT ME SUGGESTING A FOURSOME, THIS IS JUST ME TRYING TO PREVENT FOUR OF THE TEN SPACES FROM BEING 3 WILL BE FREE.

I like it when my fictional women not only are capable of murder, but have, in fact, murdered. Miw and Mae are hot, competent, killers, fucking over evil billionaires so what is not to love?

I am not immune to Neo and his slutty little crop tops. He has three brain cells and they are all that is keeping him from not dying. Iconic to be honest.

I am not immune to Shin and his glasses, and his kindness. I mean, the boy got cut with a knife and not only comforted the kid that wounded him when he started freaking out but dated him.

Mollie - The Warp Effect

gif by @patpran

MY FIRST NON-BINARY REP IN THAILAND, MY BELOVED. Mollie is so fucking hot, they are talented, they have sick tattoos, they are fighting for themselves, and are changing the landscape of media, what is not to love?

You could also almost certianly put in any of Silvy's characters and I would probably want them carnally, cause...it's Silvy.

(honestly, I'd go for Nim too, but again, not for her character's personality, it's the masc!Jan effect)

Kim- KinnPorsche

gif by @namchyoon

For this scene and this scene only. Honestly, I think if nothing else this shows you that my type is people who could actually maybe kill me in a fight.

Or at the very least, people I could get in to a homoerotic fight with.

Anyway, Jeff gives me gender envy and the first time I saw this gifset, I thought he was a butch lesbian.

Speaking of homoerotic fights

Phaya and Sand - The Sign

MENACE! A MENACE I TELL YOU! I truly well and deeply have an appreciation for when someone who (I assume) typically would top absolutely just vibrates out of their skin at the first sign they might be topped.

And I'm adding Sand here as well because I think my jaw dropped like ten feet when I saw her on screen.

Sand, baby girl, let me know if Yai doesn't treat you right, cause I will.

King- Bed Friend

gif by @earthfluuke

Shout out to this man, I've seen him on at least three of these lists. But who could blame us? Look at him.

Choy Yu Na- Semantic Error

She did that bisexual sit and my heart was hers.

And for my last two picks, I certainly am asking myself the question, do I want them carnally or do I just want them?

Mork -My Ride

Helloooooooo Mr. Dimples. I mean....I feel like I don't need to explain myself here. We all get it, right? We understand, right? And besides, he gives rides for a living or something...

Minoru- Our Dining Table

HE'S JUST SO NICE, SO KIND, SO TIRED. @isaksbestpillow is so right, he is a mother. I love him.

Tagging @so-much-yet-to-learn, @solitaryandwandering, @respectthepetty and anyone else who sees this and wants to join!

#10 bl boys I want carnally #cupid's last wish #seneha stories #3 will be free #the warp effect #the sign the series #our dining table #semantic error #my ride the series #bed friend the series #kinnporsche #tag game

[anghraine]

I saw a post the other day about tropes, and it got me thinking about how often people talk about how X canon isn’t just relying on tropes, it’s subverting them because it doesn’t replicate the tropes in a simplistic, uncritical way. And I feel like this binary between subversion and simplistic repetition is neither fair nor really accurate.

There’s an implication (and sometimes outright statement) that subverting tropes is better and smarter than using them in any other way. And I think this is a large part of why people can be so eager to claim that their favourite thing isn’t like the other ones, it’s a subversion because it actually explores the trope rather than just replicating it.

And that’s got problems on two fronts. For one, subverting a trope =/= subverting a trope well. It’s not inherently better or more thoughtful or whatever, though it has some cultural legitimacy in some contexts that people try to seize. For another, using a trope without ultimately subverting it doesn’t have to be simplistic and uncritical. It’s possible to ask questions about how the trope would work in the world or how it might really affect people without undercutting it the way that subversion does. More simply put, you can explore a trope without subverting it.

Personally, I think a lot of Chosen One tropes that people claim as subversions are doing this. But the example that leaps to mind isn’t that—it’s one of my favourite characters of all time.

Backing up a little: a popular trope in (at least) eighteenth-century English fiction was the figure of a powerful (usually well-born), virtuous, and highly competent man capable of great feeling. The type is sometimes called ‘Grandisonian’ after Samuel Richardson’s idealized Sir Charles Grandison, though he also shows up in women’s novels, like Lord Orville in Frances Burney’s Evelina.

And my fave is one of these guys, though an even more famous one: Fitzwilliam Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. But he’s much more complex, because Austen essentially asks how someone who has almost everything—money, land, birth, intelligence, looks, principles, good reputation, competence, the affection of everyone he cares about up to this point, the list goes on—is going to be influenced by those things.

He’s aware of them; he could hardly not be. It makes him arrogant—not only in his snobbishness, but in his over-confidence in his own judgment, will, and righteousness. Sometimes he’s a snarky asshole, especially when he’s uncomfortable (but not only then). And he makes serious mistakes!

But. The ultimate revelation is not that Darcy’s Grandisonian sense of himself was purely a self-serving facade or whatnot, but that it’s rooted in very real virtue that manifests—has always manifested—in his conduct towards those most vulnerable to him. People often downplay Mrs Reynolds’s testimony and focus on Darcy’s self-improvement, but in Austen’s treatment, knowing how Darcy has treated his servants, his tenants, his dependent sister, is absolutely essential to who he is and has always been as a person, and to Elizabeth’s understanding of him.

Austen was interested in the sort of flaws that a more realistic Grandisonian type might have and how (as a good person) he would try to overcome them once he grasps that they exist. It’s Austen, so sometimes he (amusingly) doesn’t succeed, but morally what matters is that a) he’s working on them and b) he was already a basically virtuous person anyway. That is, she’s exploring the trope of the Grandisonian hero in a more complex way than it was often treated, but in essentials, Darcy still fits the trope. He’s not a simple or uncritical take on it, but it would be a major stretch to call him a subversion of it.

If you want a subversion of the trope, otoh, there’s something like William Godwin’s Caleb Williams, where the idealized landowner turns out to be a murderer who relentlessly torments the hero, and the very qualities that made the landowner easy to idealize are what lead him to villainy. Or for something later, there’s Frances Trollope’s One Fault, which has the heroine marry a superficially Darcy-like figure who turns out to be a horrifying domestic tyrant.

But, honestly, while I like both of those books, the subversive takes on That Guy strike me as less complex and remarkable than Austen’s achievement with Darcy. There are a lot of ways to explore familiar tropes and those ways can be just as sophisticated and thoughtful as good subversions (and better than poor ones!). We don’t need to claim that every complex use of a trope is actually subversive for it to be worthwhile in its own right.

#anghraine babbles #general fanwank #tropes #subversion #austen blogging #lady anne blogging #anghraine's meta #fitzwilliam darcy

[carmichealroyals]

CHARACTER INSPIRATION // C H A L L E N G E

Rules: Write up a blurb or make a visual collage of the people or characters (from books, TV shows, movies, etc.) that inspired your OC, either visually, personality wise, or just a general vibe.

I was tagged by this by so many lovely pals -- @thelockwoodroyals, @wa-royal-tea AND @ourwillowcreekroyals !!! I only feel bad that it took me so long but I wanted it to be as perfect as it could be while taking time to fiddle with Photoshop more (thank you @royaldevilliers for answering my silly questions). Below the cut are the descriptions for the personality types and tropes for each of the main three kids of this next generation! 

Not sure who’s done this yet, so if you see this and you want to do it, this is me telling you to do it!

CHARLOTTE:

The Protagonist:  Protagonists are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. Forming around two percent of the population, they are oftentimes our politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, Protagonists take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community.

Spirited Young Lady:  She is the girl who bends the rules just a little. Oh, she can dance a country dance or pour tea with the best of them, but she may also be a good walker or horseback rider. She may be the most intelligent girl in the story, and she is almost certainly the wittiest and the most outspoken, sometimes earning her the title of spitfire. She may be talented in more practical ways, as well: if given the opportunity, she may turn out to be a wise investor, and she may harbor talent for music, writing, or art that goes beyond drawing room entertainment and might become a means of financial independence if necessary. In rare cases, she may even solve a murder. Though she occasionally runs into some trouble, especially if she fails to obey the powers that be, she usually comes through in the end.

Deadpan Snarker: A character prone to gnomic, sarcastic, sometimes bitter, occasionally whimsical asides.The Deadpan Snarker exists to deflate pomposity, point out the unlikelihood of certain plans, and deliver funny lines. Typically the most cynical supporting character. In most cases, it is implied that the snarker would make a good leader, strategist, or consultant given their ability to instantly see the flaws in a constructed plan. More often than not, their innate snarkiness is the only thing preventing the other characters from comprehending this for themselves.

Politically Active Princess:  The Politically Active Princess is a princess that takes active interest in and plays an active role in politics. Naive courtiers and commoners alike might view her only as a figurehead, but in truth, she discreetly uses her position and guile in order to achieve her ends. Skilled in diplomacy, she will usually attempt to solve conflicts via conversation or bargaining, rather than combat. Her defining trait is her involvement in politics or diplomatic matters, without letting herself serve only as a bargaining chip.

Inspired by: Mia Thermopolis (The Princess Diaries); Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls); Vex’ahlia (Critical Role); Jenny Lee (Call the Midwife)

PETER: 

The Architect:  It can be lonely at the top. As one of the rarest personality types – and one of the most capable – Architects (INTJs) know this all too well. Rational and quick-witted, Architects may struggle to find people who can keep up with their nonstop analysis of everything around them.

The Dog Bites Back:  Unlike the Bastard Understudy and The Starscream, this character attacks as a crime of opportunity. There is no danger that he will take over the villain's place in the grand scheme of things. There is, however, a possibility that he will menace the others as a True Final Boss. The backstabber often ends up dead, but this is usually not Redemption Equals Death because their motive is not noble. Innocent victims who turn on the villain typically do it only for revenge, while evil victims prove that they were fine with all of the Big Bad's crimes except the one committed against them.

Middle Child Syndrome: Everyone loves the oldest child because the parents can rely on them, they watch out for their siblings, and they're so confidently attractive. The Youngest Child Wins because they're the "baby". But what does that leave the one in the middle? That's essentially the definition of Middle Child Syndrome, in which a child automatically may become The Unfavorite or the rebellious Black Sheep, specifically because they are the easiest child to overlook. They're not old enough to be given the responsibilities and privileges of the oldest, and the youngest child took their spot as the spoiled and doted-on "baby" of the family. This tends to be more of an issue when there are three children rather than four or more. Oftentimes in media, the middle child ends up becoming more of the Deadpan Snarker or the quirky one for this reason.

The Un-Favorite: Where there's an Alpha wolf, there's got to be a Beta. When there is a first banana, there is a second banana. This is the person in the family who can't get a break. For example, this is the child who's the big let-down to their parents, the daughter that was supposed to be a son (or vice-versa), the child the parents had by accident when they'd already decided they didn't need another mouth to feed, the adoptive, foster, or stepchild that came before the parents had a biological child, the illegitimate child conceived by infidelity on the part of one of the parents (if not even worse). But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick. In some extreme cases, this may cause Rich Sibling, Poor Sibling, especially if one sibling is forced into service to the other. A regular line that may be entailed with this is a variant of, "Honestly, [name], why can't you be more like [favorite's name]?"

Inspired by: Edith Crawley (Downton Abbey); Fiyero (Wicked: The Musical); Logan Huntzberger (Gilmore Girls); Rafael Solano (Jane the Virgin)

PEGGY: 

The Mediator:  Idealistic and empathetic, Mediators long for deep, soulful relationships, and they feel called to help others. But because this personality type makes up such a small portion of the population, Mediators may sometimes feel lonely or invisible, adrift in a world that doesn’t seem to appreciate the traits that make them unique.

The Baby of the Bunch: Being the youngest of your group typically comes with some perks and challenges. On one side you're probably the cutest, have a pass to act immature, people like taking care of you, and you can embrace your fun side, knowing that the elders are there to handle the serious stuff. And if there's anything you're naïve about, you have plenty of others to give you the realest unfiltered advice without the generational gap and detachment that your parents or the Old Master have. On the other end, sometimes people don't take you seriously. There you're kinda stuck because no matter how old you get, you'll always be "the baby" in their eyes.

Indifferent Beauty: A character who is attractive, aware of their effect on other people, but doesn't care or at least doesn't value their physical attractiveness over their other traits. Often, this character is a consummate professional who is well aware of the fact that they could use their "assets" to get what they want by other means, but feels that it would be unprofessional or beneath their dignity, and is instead focused on proving that they can compete purely on skill, often to the exclusion of romantic opportunities. While such characters are not averse to dressing in sexy outfits, they don't plan on relying on or even exploiting their sex appeal - but the camera will often do that for them. Other characters' indifference is not due to regarding relying on appearance to be beneath their dignity, but rather that they consider it to be unimportant.

Spoiled Sweet:  The Spoiled Sweet character is a naive, spoiled, rich or comfortably upper-class or upper-middle-class girl, who has everything they could ever want, but instead of being mean, she is as nice as can be to everyone. While still spoiled, slightly naive, perhaps shallow, maybe even a bit selfish at times, when it comes right down to it, she is a loyal friend and doesn't use her money or popularity as an excuse to treat everyone like garbage — though the trope Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense is in play, especially since a particularly common sticking point is that characters of this type often believe their friends and other loved ones deserve to live just as well as they do.

Inspired by: Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls); Beth March (Little Women); Pike Trickfoot (Critical Role); Peggy Schuyler (Hamilton: An American Musical)

#sim: princess charlotte #sim: prince peter #sim: princess margaret

[punchdrunkdoc]

Updated K-drama list (3)

4 more shows DONE and there’s been some changes to the rankings...

FAVOURITES

1. Crash Landing on You

He’s from North Korea. She’s from South Korea. They never should have met, but they’ll change each other’s lives.

This was my first K-drama, and its still my favourite. The full cast of characters is great, the lead romance is ANGSTALICIOUS and its genuinely, laugh out loud funny (when its not making you cry or swoon).

Male lead: Officially the best boyfriend ever. With added dimples.

Tear-jerk factor: 4/5

2. Healer

The lives, and pasts, of a hot shot reporter, a spunky young tabloid journalist and a mysterious thief-for-hire intersect.

This was so addictive - the plot was tight and engaging, and this is one of the few shows I’ve watched where there didn’t seem to be a lot of filler. I loved the central 3 characters, and the romance was amazing. I especially loved that the male lead started off such a brooding loner, but he became super-affectionate as soon as he admitted his feelings. So many good hugs and lots of face-cradling in this one.

Male lead: Effortlessly beats up 2 henchmen while comforting his girl over the phone. What more do you need?

Tear-jerk factor: 1/5

3. Itaewon Class

A young man’s life is forever altered when he runs afoul of a powerful family.

This felt like a big step up in quality from everything else in this list, in terms of the production, soundtrack (which was brilliant), the lack of annoying sound effects, and just the overall ‘real world’ feel of the show. All of the characters were fleshed out and 3-dimensional, and they all had their ‘moment’ to shine. The story itself was gripping and so well done - some of the twists and reveals had me gasping! And what can I say about the 2 leads? I love them, both separately, and together. He is so wise beyond his years, and his journey will break your heart and inspire you. She is borderline sociopathic, but I adore her.

Male lead: Tenacious, principled, kind, innocent, caring, driven, loyal…and he can cook!

Tear-jerk factor: 2/5

4. Descendants of the Sun

A special forces Captain meets a capable and beautiful trauma surgeon. They feel an instant bond, but their jobs and philosophy on life get in the way, threatening to tear them apart.

Halfway through this show, I seriously thought this might overtake CLOY as my No. 1 fav. I absolutely LOVE the male lead character, and the romance was beautiful…but it didn’t quite nail the angst and the last minute was a bit twee which dropped it down the rankings a bit.

Male lead: A cocky, charming, absolute BADASS with the most adorable, cheeky smile.

Tear-jerk factor: 2/5

5. My Holo Love

A lonely woman falls for a holographic AI and then meets his creator...

I love the concept of this show (I’m a big sci-fi nerd), and it was beautifully shot. The lead relationship is well developed and it doesnt fall into a typical love triangle. I’ve come to realise it utilises a lot of K-drama tropes (face-blindness! shared childhood trauma!), but it does it really well, imho.

Male lead: Tortured loner genius. My catnip.

Tear-jerk factor: 2/5

6. Goblin

A 900yr old immortal guardian finally meets the ‘bride’ who will end his existence

Once I got over the slight ick-factor of the age difference between the two characters at the beginning, I really fell for this show and it’s world. It had me in tears. And I especially loved the secondary character of the Grim Reaper.

Male lead: Surprising innocent and funny for a 900 year old

Tear-Jerk factor: 5/5

7. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim

An personal assistant decides to quits her job in order to get a life. Her boss has other ideas.

I loved the female lead in this - I’m a sucker for uber-competent people, and the actress is STUNNING. Her boss is self-centred, entitled and vain...but over time, somehow that just becomes endearing! This show also has lots of very good kissing scenes...and when he started to unbutton her shirt during one encounter, I was SCANDALISED (did I mention these shows are usually very PG!!)

Male lead: Like I said, somehow makes vanity and narcissism endearing. Also not afraid to get his shirt off and flash his 6-pack. Bonus.

Tear-Jerk factor: 0/5

8. Legend of the Blue Sea

A mermaid comes onto land to find the man she loves

The (literal) fish-out-of-water scenes in the first half of this show were hilarious - the actress is a comic genius! The romance was nicely done, and there wasn’t a lot of extraneous plot or too many characters. I couldn’t stop watching this one!

Male lead: Cocky, arrogant conman with a soft mushy centre

Tear-Jerk factor: 1/5

9. Fight for my Way

Two life-long friends decide to go after their dreams

I found this during my Park Seo Joon binge and, even though I fast-forwarded large chunks of it (I wasn’t interested in the secondary couple at all), it still made my favourite list because I love the leads - both as separate characters and as a couple. This is one of the best friends-to-lovers stories I’ve seen, mainly because you truly buy that these 2 have known each other their entire lives (their  bickering and teasing feels so natural). And then when they take the next step, they’re so affectionate and refreshingly open with their feelings.

Male lead: I love his contradictions. He’s goofy and childish…but can really turn on the sexy charm; he’s a badass MMA fighter…who loves when his girlfriend sticks up for him and protects him.

Tear-jerk factor: 0.5/5

10. Suspicious Partner

A young, hardworking lawyer has her life turned upside down when she is put on trial for murder.

This has been officially bumped up to my favourites list - partly because I’m now a massive Ji Chang Wook fan, and partly because I’ve rewatched scenes with better subtitiles and it made everything10x better. Its still overly long, but the serial killer plot had some nice twists and it was central to the story, so it didn’t feel extraneous like some of these types of plots do. I really enjoyed the central romance - the 2 characters sparked off each other well and I loved their evolution from sort-of enemies to lovers.

Male lead: Its Ji Chang Wook! He’s so good at playing serious guys who are secretly big dorks

Tear-jerk factor: 0.5/5

Notable mentions

These are shows which I completed and enjoyed but they didn’t set my world on fire. Usually because they were overly long, or the plot got in the way of the characters/love story.  

1. The K2

An ex-mercenary takes a job as a bodyguard protecting the illegitimate daughter of a politician. A sort-of Snow White retelling.

This started off really well, with some amazing fight sequences (hello, shower room scene!). However, the back half became too bogged down in double crosses and manipulations, and it focussed too much on the politicians. The writers did well to give these characters some layers, but they were all essentially doing bad things for the wrong reasons, and I just didn’t care about them. The show was much better when it was following K2’s journey. The romance also started off well, but was a bit underdeveloped (mainly because they barely interacted).

2. I Am Not a Robot

A man who is allergic to human contact finds companionship with a robot…or does he?

I honestly thought I wouldn’t make it passed a couple of episodes of this - the concept was just too ridiculous. But I’m glad I perservered, because it developed some real depth and some proper good angst towards the end.

3. My Love from the Star

Alien stranded on earth meets an actress soon before he’s due to be rescued.

I finally gave this another chance, and I’m glad I did. The female lead got a LOT less irritating, and I enjoyed the present-day romance and all the flashes back to the past. However, the ending was really abrupt and disappointing (which kept it out of my favourite list). There should have been 1 less filler episode in the middle, and a decent, fleshed out finale instead.

4. Her Private Life

A talented art curator tries to keep her professional persona separate from her fangirl obsession with a pop idol.

This was cute and I loved the central relationship - he was so supportive of her, and their interactions were refreshingly mature and their banter felt really natural. Ultimately, it was a bit forgettable (I’m not dying to rewatch any of it), and the last minute tacked-on childhood trauma subplot was really unnecessary.

5. Strong Girl Bong-Soon

A woman with inherited super-strength gets a job as a bodyguard for an eccentric young CEO

The lead couple in this are AD-OR-ABLE and I loved their relationship. But there was a weird tone issue in this show. The romance is super cute...but there’s a whole dark sub plot involving multiple women being held captive by a psychopath. I ended up fast forwarding most of that, and just concentrated on the romance.

6. Touch Your Heart

Star actress rocked by scandal works at a law firm to prepare for her comeback role

This starred the secondary couple from Goblin and I really like them, even though they are playing very different characters in this (more opposites attract, than doomed lovers). At first I found this too ‘cutesy’, but I’ve since realised the sound effects/graphics are a K-drama thing and not unique to this show, so I’m not as down on it as I was. I still had to fast forward a lot of the secondary romances which I wasn’t invested in.

The others…

1. Hyde, Jekyll and Me

A woman becomes involved in the lives of 2 men, who share one body

This stars Hyun Bin from CLOY and he is sooo watchable, especially as the slick-haired, glasses-wearing, uptight Seo-Jin. And the show started well...but quickly went off the rails into a convoluted, dragged-out revenge plot.

2. Melting Me Softly

Two people are accidentally cryogenically frozen for 20 years. They have to navigate the modern world and their new lives together.

Another good concept, but it ultimately descended into little more than a light work-place romance. Had a couple of good kissing scenes, but it was overall a bit forgettable.

And the DNF:

My Secret Romance

I started watching this because I was looking for something a little less PG - the characters have a one night stand in the first episode! But I couldn’t get passed the bad acting and cheap production.

Master’s Sun

I liked the premise but the 2 leads weren’t very attractive (at least in comparison to the insanely beautiful actors/actresses in the shows listed above). Call me superficial, but I couldn’t see myself spending 17 hours watching them and willing them to kiss.

#kdrama #cloy #healer #descendants of the sun #itaewon class #suspicious partner #legend of the blue sea #fight for my way #what's wrong with secretary kim #melting me softly #hyde jekyll me #touch your heart #her private life #strong girl bong soon #i am not a rob #my love from the star

[hellyeahheroes]

Marvel Teen Romance: Girls Edition Part 1

Solo Boys Edition

Romance is a dying art in superhero comics. 

In a medium rife with sexism, the idea of romance becomes tainted with unfortunate cliches in a wave of women’s empowerment. Terms like Damsel-in-Distress becomes less of a person benefiting of a hero’s altruism to ranging from the unfortunate burden of being the one who needs to be saved as a sign of a weakness.

Marvel best example of the romance is Peter Parker and Mary Jane. A romance rife with editorial backlash that never liked the former and did their damnest and are doing their damnest to demean the character for their own ideal partner for Spider-man or Peter. MJ was making grown ass men who resented their wives and marriages project onto Peter. If you want to see an example of the sexism of Marvel, look up Christopher Priest’s opinion of Peter Parker and MJ and then after you pick up your jaw, keep reading.

Now women in Marvel have to appeal to the girls reading them. They have to be strong and strength is often interpreted as independence from men. There is rarely moments of weakness or yearning for these characters. They do not fawn for men or anyone at all and if they do long for anyone, it is for another woman, Today’s Marvel female youth opt for solitude and hyperfocus on the mission because writers refuse to even approach the hormone addled teenaged girl which has been derided as a stereotype. There is no swooning or rarely hint of attraction towards anybody, especially the opposite sex.

The pros are that stories are more varied and page space is not wasted on smitten teen girls being smitten on useless boys.

The cons is that it creates an archetype of stereotypical strong independent female in which their only characteristic is that they are strong and/or independent which contrasts men because men can be more varied in attitude and personality while women writers opt not to even engage in romance while also not addressing the character’s sexuality. They are not allowed to be young or be emotional. 

Also, because of classism, the superhero woman opts for her equal in terms of status and usually only date men or women who are also superheroes while men, again are more varied. Men in romances with superheroic women are never powerless and usually fill an utility role. There is a need for them to want to help a perfectly capable woman. There is only one teenaged hero with a solo and a non-superhero partner and even then most of the male partners who aren’t have to be of use to the heroine in their vigilantism. They cannot just have their own lives separate from what the hero is doing like a Mary Jane Watson. They have to be hyper-competent and be apart of the heroines lives. Again, it wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for the implied sexism/classism. Spider-Gwen does not get the same fantasy as Peter Parker(will get to that later).

On a side note: To Mayday fans, Anya fans, Pei from Iron Fist fans, Moon Girl fans, Squirrel Girl fans, and any girl that I excluded from this post, they will definitely be in part two. I am sorry, but I just couldn’t. You will see how long this post is and this isn’t malicious on my part, but I hope you understand and forgive me. I mean I have to go back and update the boys edition. Cut me some slack. Anya and Pei were part of the original draft but shit got too long and it didn’t feel right to include them as a footnote.

Here are Marvel’s main solo teen women, romances, and romance history:

Kate Bishop a.k.a Hawkeye

Gender: Female

Orientation: ...Questioning? We’ll just say questioning

Love Interests: Johnny Watts aka Fuse(current), Noh-Var, Tommy Shepherd,  Eli Bradley(retconned), Clown

We are starting with Kate Bishop because she is the closest to a modern woman’s love life. She has a cult following made of predominantly white women because Kate is empowered white girl embodied. And her dating life is modern in that Kate is one of the few women in Marvel that has relationships like men and is never shamed for it. Of all the women on this list, Kate was never not the focus or seen as codependent one. In fact, she is the capable and strong personality in her current relationship with Johnny Watts. He plays the supporting role for her. However varied Kate’s romantic history is, it is the prototypical love life of a teenaged Marvel woman. Every single one of her romances are by definition superheroes or vigilantes or villains. She does not have ordinary men in her life.

Now you are probably thinking that Kate is a team character. You would be right, but I think I speak for all Kate fans is that she is exceptional in that she can and has held books before alone where her other Young Avengers can’t be assed to have an appearance. And I like Kate. She is my favorite white girl in Marvel. So here we go.

And no, I am not going to consider her rapists in Central Park as love interests, but I will say that her relationship with men and her overall independence from them even while she is in relationship with them is because of this assault. There...I said it.

Eli Bradley aka the Patriot. Kate and Eli started off from a rocky place. Kate wanting to be super strong and independent rich girl and Eli being super prideful and somewhat sexist. Eli wants to fulfill his grandfather’s legacy and feels that he has to immediately live up to him no matter what probably did not like Kate upstaging him, and Kate mistook what Eli was saying as sexist. It wasn’t that Kate was a girl that was the problem. It was that Kate was a rich white girl who chose to make rescuing herself and then making he and the Young Avengers look like idiots that was the problem. So they argue and fuss at each other all of the time.

Kate misinterprets Eli’s reluctance to have her and Cassie on the team as sexist when in fact, the team was constructed for a specific purpose and have a specific roster pool to draw from. Cassie and Kate just aren’t in it.

So Eli and Kate take each other apart and both take shots at each other.

So Kate and Eli have this tic for tac relationship which is something Kate seems to relish in while Eli seems to be abrupt with her about it.

And also, the two both have Strong Type A personalities. They both want to be the leader of the Young Avengers.

But during a fight with Kang the Conqueror, both Kate and Eli reach an impasse. 

Kate’s and Eli’s relationship starts to develop a bit and after some revelations about Eli come to the surface and the Avengers disband the Young Avengers only for the team to regroup out of spite of the Avengers. They start recruiting again, then come across Tommy Shepherd, Billy Kaplan’s brother and son of Wanda Maximoff.

And Eli doesn’t like him because Tommy seems to be a little too okay with murder and wanton acts of violence.

Kate and Eli start getting along to an extent. Eli is more of a stern individual and cuts Kate no slack. But Kate often challenges him.

And eventually they go on a date.

Uh. Excuse me. Not a date.

After getting jumped by Ronin on their Central Park, Not-A-Date carriage ride, Kate tried to calm him down after a disastrous evening.

So enough about Eli, let’s move on to Tommy.

Tommy Shepherd is the prototypical fun bad boy. He doesn’t challenge Kate to be better. He dares her to keep up. So after Kate loses her bow and arrow to the original Hawkeye aka Clint Barton in a shooting contest, she goes home feeling ashamed. Eli, still raw from their not-a-date, starts relentlessly criticizing her. Kate did not need that on-top of her embarrassment so she told Eli to fuck off and walked away. Tommy, being less stringent than Eli, talks to Kate. Tommy flirts with Kate, in front of Eli, and they both decide to go out. Tommy was not there for Eli’s and Kate’s fight so he has no idea what is going on. Kate catches him up to speed and well...

Tommy is such an awesome dude when he isn’t murderous. So Kate and Tommy break into Avengers manor and steal back her bow and arrows.

Fun and exciting, bad boy.

The two steal back her bow and arrows and it was a fun date.

Now this triangle business and Kate’s indecisiveness plays a role because eventually she starts teaming up with Clint Barton and she witnesses first hand how disastrous his love life is. But I’ll get to that later. But just to be clear, she doesn’t choose to be with either, Tommy or Eli.

Eli quit the Young Avengers after accidentally having a role in the death of Cassie Lang? It’s confusing. So with Eli’s departure, Young Avengers disbanded and thus Kate decided to team up with the other Hawkeye, Clint Barton, when the other members decided to quit.

Kate Bishop takes up an apprenticeship role under the tutelage of Clint and she helps him out on missions from time to time. There is some hint that Kate is somewhat attracted to him, but she realizes that is nasty and Clint is like twice her age. Clint, however, likes teaching her because Kate is a fast learner.

So this pairing of the Hawkeye’s became somewhat of sensation that propelled Kate to mainstream attraction. The crime busting duo became the bane of low level street thugs all over Brooklyn. But under his mentorship, Kate also saw how much of a wreck Clint’s life was. More specifically, his love life.

Clint was dating Jessica Drew at the time. But he slept with Penny, some woman he rescued, while he was dating her. Natasha is more of his work wife in a sense, you’ll have to ask Hawkeye fans if they ever dated, but she is more concerned with the fact that Clint robbed some gangsters and got arrested. Bobbi was Clint’s ex-wife...well at the time of the comic, she was his separated wife. She wants to find Clint to finalize their divorce. So Kate is dragged into this mess.

Kate witnesses what a mess Clint’s life is, and she gains one fear: to not be like Clint Barton.

Fast forward to the Young Avengers relaunch.

Kate wakes up from a booty call. And it is not some ordinary booty call. No-nonono.

Enter Noh-Varr. Like the narration says, she met Noh-Varr and he collectively kicked all of the Young Avengers asses. And I guess she is over that now and Kate and he hooked up. Noh-Varr is the silly himbo. Stupid but pretty as heck to look at.

It is hard to classify what she and Noh-Varr were because to me, they weren’t really an item as he was more like a one night stand that became a multiple night stand... Good dick is hard to find so if you find one, might as well hold on to it for awhile, am I right ladies?

Anyways, I couldn’t tell you the plot of Young Avengers 2015 because...even I was confused by it. Regardless, we are here for Kate’s love life.While facing the final...whatever the fuck they are fighting, Noh decides to confess to Kate.

And telling Kate that he was semi-seeing someone else on the side kind of drove the relationship to hell.

Anyways, we moving on. Also, America suggests something to Kate.

Another oddity in Kate’s love life is that most, if not all, of her lovers are bi. Juries out on Eli(and will probably stay that way), but both Johnny(we’ll get to him) and Noh-Varr, her only serious relationships, are bi and are attracted to each other. The irreverence that Kate has for dating should be dating because she rarely pontificates on her partners. There is no, “I wonder what X is doing.” It is all business, and rarely play. Also, we are not suggesting that women dating exclusively bi-women are bi by association. We are saying that Kate Bishop isn’t as straight as she thinks she is.

What she fears is having a love life like her mentor, Clint Barton: A fucking mess. Kate is the only young woman who has had multiple booty calls and has pulled the, “Well last night is fun, but you got to get the fuck up out of here” on a dude.

And by doing this, she is acting as self-destructive as Clint who is notorious for doing the same thing. Kate declares that she doesn’t need attachments and that the above boy was too clingy for wanting to hang out after knocking boots. He was a distraction for Kate. Miss America points out the irony of her saying something like that.

On top of everything, Kate decides to get away from Clint and heads out to Los Angeles to start a detective agency. She gets up to some high class hijinx there and in the midst of the chaos, she meets a boy.

Johnny Watts.

What I like about Johnny is that he isn’t overstepping of Kate. He is lax and is perfectly willing to step aside and let Kate be a hero and not let his male ego get wounded by the fact that his girlfriend is a kick ass superhero. Johnny also unlike Eli can keep up with Kate’s wit so their banter/flirtation is quick and rapid.

He is also supportive and understanding.

They hook up after Kate defeats Madame Masque again.

Johnny seems like a normal dude, right. There is nothing strange about him at all. So what is with the above preamble if the first Marvel heroine you mention has a normal boyfriend? Well...

Johnny absorbs the matter of anything he touches and can briefly become the item. It ranges from concrete to even vibranium. Why vibranium? Well he has a nose ring that is made of vibranium. Why does he have a nose ring made from a precious Wakandan resource? Johnny and his sister are Wakandan exiles and they kept a piece of vibranium as keepsakes.

So Johnny has powers like all of Kate’s other boyfriends and exes. When Kate forms the new West Coast Avengers, she enlists her boyfriend as her first recruit. He has issues adjusting into being a superhero, but he is learning. He takes up the alias as Fuse and he and Kate continue with their relationship without much trepidation. Until Noh-Varr comes back.

And Noh-Varr being a himbo doesn’t necessarily jive well with the relationship because Noh-Varr has no tact or grace. He is also really attractive and a pretty boy.

And then it dons on Kate that her boyfriend and her ex are attracted to one another.

All and all, Kate is the standard for super-heroine women in Marvel in.

Miss America Chavez

Gender: Female

Orientation: Lesbian

Love Interests: Ramone Watts(current),Lisa, Ultimate Nullifier

Yes, she is lesbian. Ultimate Nullifier was simply an experiment that she didn’t like after the first kiss. Like one kiss with a guy and she said, “umm nope.”

She is lesbian. She likes girls and from the general reception of the character, girls like her too.I am not going to bother covering her relationship with Ultimate Nullifier because who the fuck really cares about that guy?

I can’t tell you much about Lisa other than America isn’t necessarily a good girlfriend. 

Well she isn’t? Like there was this whole convoluted thing that made America break up with Lisa for a reason I can���t really explain and the narrative tried to paint America as in the right when she was a shitty girlfriend. I just wanted to put Lisa in there because I like to confirm that she existed and still doesn’t have a last name.

Anyways, on to the good shit.

America and Ramone met through mutual colleague and also shared friend, Kate Bishop. Kate was dating Ramone’s brother and America kept Kate around so Kate could ogle her. Anyways, Ramone was trapped in a collapsing building and America saved her and caused Ramone to have what could only be described as gay panic. So naturally, the two decided to date because...well have you seen Miss. America Chavez. If one could describe her, she would be the one woman “reason why I’m gay” justification for women.

That image alone just created like 10 lesbians.

Anyways, the two are just cute. Like I can’t even describe how the two are just cute around each other.

But no one wants to be like deadweight as Nero from Devil May Cry can attest to. So Ramone, like her brother, turn out to be exiles from Wakanda.

And then this happened.

And Allow was born. So after Alloy rescues America and the West Coast Avengers, let’s just say that America was very excited about the new development that her girlfriend has powers just like her.

And they lived happily ever after and are still the item until this day. 

Laura Kinney aka X-23 aka Wolverine

Orientation: Indecisive

Love Interests: Julian Keller,  Warren Worthington(ewwwwww)

tw: sex trafficking, rape, and incest mentions

I don’t know what I expect out of franchise spawned the likes of Wolverine being with anybody or the idea that Wanda and Pietro practicing incest or Professor Xavier being in love with Jean Grey. I honestly don’t know why I hoped they would handle this character with tact as she is the most popular X-character made in the past 20 years. God forbid I expected that the  franchise that insisted on Emma Frost mind raping Cyclops and then being an item  would actually think about Laura Kinney as a character and not do some inappropriate shit...but here we are.

Let me explain the life of one Laura Kinney in the Marvel comics and why everything about her being in a relationship with a man who is the same age physically as her father is a bad idea. We all know about the X-periment and how she was the gender flipped clone of Wolverine...or is she her biological daughter? Who the fuck knows or even cares, let me get to the point.

Laura Kinney is a victim of sex trafficking. She was pimped out and did some weird dark shitty shit and yes, it involved her claws. So her history with sex in general should be handled tactfully. Her life has been nothing but violence and death and dismemberment. And I am not saying that Laura should not find love. I am saying that a girl like Laura should not be with older men, but what do I know. It seems the X-men franchise seems to be looking for writers whose only criteria is that  you have to have a creepy fascination with Kitty Pryde.

Granted, Julian Keller aka Hellion had a relationship with Laura that allowed her to express emotions like a teenaged girl should be allowed to express without the influence of an older men. Julian’s relationship was born of resentment because Laura was not a real mutant, whatever that mean to fear that Laura was nothing but an assassin to admiration after witnessing how much Laura endured. Notice how Julian could never push or influence Laura to do things that she did not want to do. 

Warren is the same fucking age as Cyclops. If you are going to make a stink about Rachne being with Josh Foley, then why in the fuck is this 30+ year old man with a fresh faced teenaged abused girl?

I’m just saying that any character with rape and/or sex trafficking as their backstory should be handled as gracefully as possible in regards to romantic interests and sexuality. Her being with Adam is not handling gracefully.

Gwen Stacy aka Ghost Spider

Gender: Female

Orientation: ?

Love Interests: Peter Parker, Harry Osborn, Miles Morales, ...fuck it, I am going to go ahead in put Mary Jane Watson in here

Okay.

“But, Gwemj isn’t canon so why would you put that in here?”

First off, Spider-Gwen is the quintessential pinnacle of everything that is wrong with how Marvel deals with superhero romances with solo women. There is no reason why in the 4 years as of this writing, that you have yet to introduce a love interest that is Spider-man viable in the 50 issues she has starred in. There is no excuse that her first kiss was not with anybody within her supporting cast, but with another established hero. Spider-Gwen, you have an underdeveloped supporting cast and setting, and it fucking shows.

Second, it was clear that the original plan was Gwemj, but Gwen Stacy became popular and marketable so they derailed the sapphic train and landed on the most forced and out of theme romance in recent comic book history. Like for fuck’s sake, she is Spider-man for girls and women. You know how many superheroes Peter Parker dated, 3-4 if you count Kitty Pryde and every time it never worked out because they could never relate to Peter Parker.

That is the fucking point, Marvel/Latour/McGuire although the last person isn’t the biggest offender.

Giving Gwen a superhero love interest negates the fucking point of Spider-man. It is against theme and it is really sexist as shit because every male hero has a love interest that is not superpowered. Not a one woman can hook up with a non-powered boy if they are in hetero romances.

Miles Morales and Gwen Stacy is the most cynical pairing shill that I’ve ever seen.

The fact of the matter is that Gwen has the most chemistry with Mary Jane and most of her romances have been bouts of forced heterosexuality. And it is not that she is possibly heterosexual that is the problem. It is that you refuse to develop said romances and try to make sure the man involved is just as empowered as the girl for no fucking reason. 

It’s pure laziness.

Anyways, it’s hard to pindown where I should start this because the comic creates Gwen’s origin out of flashbacks so it’s hard to figure what came first.. And I guess it begins with Peter.

I’m working with assumption in trying to nail down the chronological order. Okay, Peter noted Gwen’s music in her headphones and identified it. Gwen was on that Neku Sakuraba tip except without the angry at the world attitude so she was this disheveled girl who listened to music openly and isolated herself from cast. But she wasn’t bullied or anything like Pete.

She was a cool loser.

So after their shared taste in music, Peter and Gwen become fast friends, but it is hinted that Peter had a crush on her and it more than platonic feeling for her. Anyways, Gwen’t and Peter’s duet became a 3 man band as they added residnet outcast, Harry Osborm to the crew.

Now do the math, two boys and one girl. 

It is obvious that both boys have a crush on the one girl. Now it is hard to discern Gwen’s feelings for either of the two boys because there isn’t a lot shown. But the main takeaway is that Peter was broken down by bullying. He channelled his inner Vergil because he wanted power. This universe’s Peter is the Peter we see in Ditko’s early Spider-man run without the powers and none of the growth he received later. Harry, on the otherhand, is well aware of how broken Peter is and resolves to not be like him while hoping to move in on the cute blonde.

“...They won’t break me like they broken [Peter]”

So Peter is not exactly the kid you’d say after a school shooting, no one would expect that he was the culprit. I’m pretty sure no one at Midtown would be surprised. So guess what sends Peter over the edge?

No surprise here that Peter Parker without the character growth of becoming Spider-man becomes an incel asshole.

Anyways, some time passes and Prom happens. Guess who is going stag?

No that is an actual question because I am not sure who went with whom. Did Gwen decide to go out with Harry? Are they dating? Who the fuck knows because there isn’t a lot to infer from these panels.

Judging by the clothes, Gwen isn’t dressed up or gussied up. She is wearing a white T-shirt at Prom. She doesn’t appear to be with anybody. Harry isn’t with anybody either and Peter definitely isn’t. And this is why when you make a character, you start at the beginning. This shouldn’t be background or filer. This is essential information because I assumed that we had a love triangle going on with two wayward boys pining after the same girl. It’s clear that Harry has a crush on Gwen. It’s implied that Peter had a crush on Gwen as well with his reaction and calling Harry a traitor.

It’s really unclear and it is a situation that defines Gwen’s story and stories going forward. We really don’t know what happened at prom and the first Midtown attack. We really don’t know exactly what led to Peter turning himself into the Lizard. There are inferences and implications, but nothing is concrete. This series is built on the idea that Peter Parker’s death matters without giving a reason why to care about Peter Parker. And just to remind you that while the Night Gwen Stacy Died didn’t focus on Gwen Stacy, you had nearly a hundred issues to care about her prior to her death. Gwen is not just some iconography and symbolism. She was an actual character. A bad one, but nonetheless, she had more than a few pages to get represent a character.

So after Prom was a murderous incel Lizard shitshow and Gwen stopped and accidentally killed the Lizard(Key word: accidentally because it’s not clear if Gwen killed him because it was weirdly effective punch and she toyed with him like she usually does), Spider-Gwen goes on a severe depression and isolation streak and doesn’t talk to anyone ever...possibly. Again, it is the case of Gwen’s origin not exactly being clear. We don’t know much and what we are shown was presented through flashbacks.

Until she gets wrapped up in Spider-verse and she meets several Spider-folks with most of them looking like her Peter Parker and falls into a depressive episode realizing that maybe her Peter should have been the one who was bittem and she was destined to be miserable all of her life. Following a confrontation with a grief-stricken 616 Peter Parker stating that she isn’t ‘his’ Gwen, Gwen just doesn’t want to deal with any Spider-men that look like Peter Parker or are Peter Parker. And also, she is still being tormented in her own universe by a smear campaign that unfairly places the blame of Peter’s death on her shoulders. Because of said campaign, Gwen is a fugitive and her enemy, Matthew Murderdock, is extorting her for her own powers that only he has access to and  her father’s life in exchange for working with him.

In summary, Gwen is stressed and is at a breaking point. She is miserable and facing an existential crisis that every adaptation of herself has died or suffered horrible consequences and questions if she is incapable of experiencing happiness. She has lost her Spider-power and has to rely on her sworn enemy to have them. And her whole city sees her as a murderer.

Enter Miles Morales.

I already explained why Miles was in E-65 in the previous post. I don’t need to repeat myself. But I can elaborate on why Miles was attractive to Gwen Stacy. For one, he is a Spider-man that doesn’t remind her of Peter Parker. So she isn’t feeling guilty and at least he isn’t a literal anthropomorphic pig. Two, Miles is around her age. This is debatable because in spite of what Bendis says, Miles was 15 at the time of this arc and he clearly aged Miles up so Gwen didn’t look like a cradle robber for daring to be interested in a kid4-5 years younger than she. And finally, this.

Miles presents the one alternate dimension where she is happy and with children. So combined with Miles being a nice if not horny kid and being overwhelmed with guilt and stress in her daily life. Miles starts becoming more attractive to Gwen. Which leads to....

Okey-doke.

I have made myself clear about how I feel about this ship. If you want a summary, I wish it never existed but here we are.

Anyways, Miles goes back and immediately starts pursuing more interesting love interests and Gwen continues to deal with being stressed. I am going to stop it here. But I want to posit a theory.

Spider-Gwen was supposed to be with Mary Jane or EmJay. For the longest, the tension between Mary Jane and Gwen was honestly the only non-superheroic related with the most tension and description outside of her own father and EmJay seemed focused on Gwen to an absurd degree. It wasn’t until it was reported that Marvel pinned Gwen for her popularity that they didn’t want to damage her marketability so being a lesbian superhero in Marvel is kind of a no-no in terms of profit. But GweMJ was and still is a popular ship so to appease fans, Latour basically threw MJ at Glory in a random and spontaneous manner if only to appease those fans.The issue is that Glory and MJ aren’t super prevalent in the book. I mean Glory Grant isn’t even that important to Spider-man mythos as a whole. So it became a case of pandering to the base while simultaneously throwing the lesbians away.

That is all I am going to say on this.

Kamala Khan aka Ms Marvel

Gender: Female

Orientation: Heterosexual

Love Interests: Bruno(current), Kamren, Dante Pertuz, Red Dagger, Miles Morales(one-sided), Sam Alexander(one-sided)

Ms. Marvel is a teenaged love story with superheroes. It is a romantic literature geared towards Muslim women or girls. It’s true. And I have earned the right to fucking say it. This is going to feel like I am harping on her religion, but Ms. Marvel’s religion is the core of her character and her story. Believe it or not, it is what makes her a hero. It is her “Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility.” So it’s important that we discuss how Kamala’s religion has to do with her love interests.

Anyways, let’s start from the beginning.

Bruno has had a childhood crush on Kamala Khan. This subplot is intertwined throughout the book. The struggle however isn’t because Kamala is irreproachable. Her religion is the obstacle.

Kamala’s parents would never accept Bruno Carrelli as a viable partner. In fact, homegirl is not even allowed to date without male supervision.

Kamala initially only sees Bruno as a friend. Her best friend. Don’t say ‘friend zone’ because...grow up honestly.  Kamala didn’t care for boys, but she does care about her independence. Freedom that her cultural mandated patriarchy did not afford her or at least was regimented. I am not Muslim nor a woman, but I would surmise that a lot of teenaged Muslim girls would rebel or want to rebel against such a strict culture especially when they live in America. Kamala strikes the core of conformity to the West being seen being against the Uniformity of Islam and she struggles with being too anti-Muslim to the point that she risks allowing Islamophobia or allowing the cultural misogyny of Islam to guide her and restrict her. That is the internal conflict or religious conflict that Kamala somewhat addresses and part of it has to do with marriage or partnership.

But what makes Kamala heroic is her religion and what makes her strong is her drive to be free.

“Whoever kills one person, it is as if he has killed all of mankind and whoever saves one person, it is as if he has saved all of mankind.

-the Quran

This part sticks with me because while she is quoting a heroic purpose from her religion’s text, she is using patriarchic language so that that quote isn’t referring to who she is not does it apply to her exactly.

Kamala takes the good of her culture and applies it to a purpose to be a hero while somewhat resenting the implied patriarchal stances. This is why Ms. Marvel took off and became the quintessential Muslim Western Hero and Sooraya sadly didn’t. Kamala addresses the internal conflict that a teenaged Pakistani American would have.

I am going to assume that almost every Muslim American girl knows that exact line Kamala’s mom is saying or at least a variation of it.

“But this has nothing to do with her love interests”

It does. Because if her parents control and has the final approval who she is allowed to see, that man is more than likely going to perpetuate the same cultural traditions onto her.

Feminism is a big thing for Kamala so she respects a man that doesn’t overrule her like her father does his mother and her. Which is why Bruno not being a superhero and also being her sidekick is something that she respects and desires. She wants him to assist her and not much else at first when she gained her powers. Bruno becomes her confidant and also her conduit to being Ms. Marvel.

For the bulk of the first volume of Ms. Marvel, Kamala is oblivious to Bruno’s feelings towards her. In fact, Kamala sees him as part of her aesthetic of being a superhero: he is her sidekick. I suspect Wilson didn’t want to have a girl portray a stereotype that girls constantly think of boys.So she flips it on the genders. It is Bruno whose every interaction has to do with Kamala. He is the smitten boy while Kamala is doing her Shounen hero routine. And it is not that she is oblivious to romance. She is just having too much fun being a superhero.

“Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”

I know it sounds bad and Bruno is absolutely correct, fellas. There is no such as a friend zone and seeing anyone like that shows that you really don’t care for them.

Apologetic moralizing aside, Kamala just did not see Bruno as anything, but a friend.

So Kamala simply is unaware of Bruno’s feelings. And Nakia kind of reinforces how her family feels about Kamala’s future prospects.It is less about the person and more about about the status.

Enter Kamren

Kamren came with a bit of controversy. The idea is that Kamren was supposed to be a classic villain love interest. The implication was that Muslim men are controlling and white men are liberating.

Normally, Kamala’s father and her brother, Aamir, would be seen as protective if they were in any other culture, but being Muslim and arranged marriages are a well-known and often scrutinized practice in Islam, Willow who is a white Muslim woman, unintentionally opened another can of worms: Commentary on Muslim men being evil.

Look, I am not Muslim and I know the bullet points of Islam. Never read the Quaran, but I understand that the Quaran is supposed to be read in Arabic which given the ideas of the Haj and other Muslim traditions, the religion focuses on tradition and a fidelity to that tradition. Coupled with Western Cultural Imperialism, Ms. Marvel faces the problem of delving into some muddy political waters that in every other book,would just be a typical romance trope.

So I suspect Willow meant no harm because she has been a substantial Muslim feminist champion in a political climate in which that would be an oxymoron to a lot people(Not me, but again, I understand 3rd World Feminism ideals of not seeing feminism in the same lens as the west). You can’t escape the notion that depictions matter and having Bruno, white Italian, being seen as the chief romantic interest while depicting the Muslim one as evil and controlling is going to raise an eyebrow or two.

Kamren was set up as an inevitability cultural and the narrative during this arc was made for the reader to sympathize with Bruno.

Bruno is Emineming this shit and Aamir gives him the cold hard reality.

Up to this point, Kamren has been portrayed as an otherwise decent guy. His only flaw was that he wasn’t Bruno. So of course, the facade of him being the perfect Bollywood male lead begins to come down.

“There’s no reason for you to keep wasting your energy to protect people who don’t believe what you believe.”

That is not an obvious parallel that implies some sort of cultural insensitivity. He is talking about Inhumans, but the cultural parallel to other Islamist radical groups is intentional. So swap Inhumanity with Jihadist Islam, then Kamren’s character becomes even more unsettling.

He uses victim-blaming tactics on Kamala in that she chose to be part of this InHumanist movement the moment she enetered the car with him as if he didn’t zap her body unconscious after he revealed his true intentions. Kamren is a disgusting individual and of course Kamala whoops that ass, but I wanted to point out the unfortunate implications of this romance before I moved on.

Meanwhile Bruno gets an SOS from Kamala and tries to save her. He fails miserably, but at least he has this moment.

This cover encapsulates everything about Kamala’s and Bruno’s relationship in Ms. Marvel Volume One.

And just before the end of the world, Bruno finally spits it out.

So that’s it, right? They are just friends, right? 

It’s a love story, you dumbasses. Read this like a teenaged romantic sitcom. This is just phase one.

So Volume 2 of Ms. Marvel kicks off and the world didn’t end. So you think after that awkward but somewhat romantic confession on the rooftop, Kamala and Bruno would hit it off, right?

Brno/s gay? He is with Mike now? Bruno just skyrocketed in popularity with Yaoi fangirls.

Oh, Mike’s a girl and her full name is Michaela Gutierrez ....AND SHE THICK

It’s over Kamala. You lose before you even knew that there was a game. Bruno took that no and went on and found Barbie Ferreira. Bruno figured out what a skinny girl can do that big girl can’t. Answer: Not a goddamn thing! Ahead of his time, really.

Nothing against Mike, she is delightful and honestly, I’m cool with it. Sure, she is destined for failure because she is in the way of the OTP, but goddammit, put both hands up for the big girls.

Kamala takes it personally and decides to give her not-boyfriend the cold shoulder.

Now, if you are a guy and you think Kamala is being a bit of a hypocrite, you are not thinking about this optically. Bruno confessed that he loved her on that rooftop. That is not some shit you just say capriciously especially to your best friend. It looks like on the surface that Bruno just happened to have a backup just in case Kamala said no thus making his confession not as genuine. If you are pursuing someone as much as Bruno was to the point that he confesses love to that person, you don’t have back-ups like that. It makes his confession seem less genuine.

And yes, Kamala is being jealous and she hates that Bruno unintentionally made a scenario to make her jealous. Because if she had known about Mike instead of being blindsided like she was, then maybe she could have managed that moment on the rooftop better, but it feels like to her that Bruno just gave up and it drives her crazy to see it rubbed in her face.

In defense of Bruno, there is no set time when you are expected to get over someone that rejected you after confessing something. And maybe 6 months is too soon for Kamala, but if she had a problem with him being with anyone and needing to be told, then maybe she isn’t being honest with herself.

Also, sidenote to all writers of superheroines: this dialogue about a sub-plot is what you miss out on if you refuse to approach romance.

Anyways, It sucks to realize that you love someone and possibly took them for granted when you see them with someone else.

Oh and now your best friend who confessed his love for you is now having safe sex with another woman(implied).

Yeah, I’d be a little miffed too.

Since Kamala and Bruno are on break, I’m going to touch and go on their situation because at this point, Kamala’s popularity afforded her several appearances and a lot boys from outside her comic book did a double take.In summary, Kamala’s milkshake brought all the boys to the yard.

First is Miles Morales.

Let me just say that Sara Pichelli draws a gorgeous Kamala Khan. I mean she just makes beautiful teenaged girls in general for some reason. The boys are always ordinary looking, but the girls are always trendy or fashionable or bombshells if not all three.

Anyways, Miles has a definite crush on Kamala, but unlike Sam who I will get to later, he is mostly lowkey about it when they interact. He is also a very supportive friend of hers and honestly her and Kamala are like Peter Parker and Johnny Storm.What is weird about it is that there is no on-page formal first meeting between the two. So we never see when or why Miles revealed his identity to Ms. Marvel. I guess there was a miscommunication between Bendis and Waid and Wilson.

There isn’t much on page thoughts from Kamala about Miles as she mostly kept the air living up to be a hero she admires the most, Carol Danvers. Again, Karol is the model of typical Marvel heroine. As far as I’ve read, Carol doesn’t really have much in the way of romance compared to Spider-man who as @traincat​ would say, is a Himbo(yes, I am going to keep plugging her so you guys can follow her because she is the only Peter Parker expert that I respect). So her and Miles relationship is professional friendship. There was a time when Bruno mentioned something that implied Kamala gushes about a Spider-man’s abs, but that could be just jealousy and it never states which Spider-man he was talking about. All in all, she is not interested in Miles and Miles is interested in her, but respects her too much to act on it. Until Miles confuses an Infinity Stone for a mood stone and spills the beans to her.

Kamala doesn’t return the gesture and it is seen as a way to lightly put Miles down which is okay because he handles it like a champ.

Next is Sam Alexander aka Nova.

He is a little less tactful than Miles about his attraction to Kamala since he immediately hits on her upon first meeting.

Kamala of course thinks he is a brash idiot who shows-off too much.

Sam is persistent in their first meeting, but keeps on hitting the wrong marks and saying the wrong things at inappropriate times.

Sam pretty much can’t take a hint and eventually catches Ms. Marvel in the middle of changing costumes.

*insert the sound of an airplane falling and crashing*

So Kamala and Sam don’t initially like each other as initially, Kamala thought she was being mean to Sam unintentionally and Sam thought he was being idiot. They are both right in their own way, but in the end, Sam sees Kamala as an uptight do-gooder personality and Kamala sees Sam as a reckless jerk. Which has a lot to do with their powersets because Sam is not really meant to be doing street level crime or protection.

And finally we have Dante Pertuz aka Inferno. Now this is one time where Kamala’s interested in a guy and not the other way around or at least it is implied by a third party.

Over the course of Secret Warriors, Kamala and Dante interact and while nothing is initially made out of it, Dante and Quake hook up and Kamala appears to be jealous and annoyed that Dante likes Quake mainly because Kamala does not like Daisy Johnson.

Now we could take Daisy’s word for it, but again, she is kind of a jaded jerk so take it with a pinch of salt. Kamala also denies it.

Ms. Kamala not only shoots down her own ships, but she also bombs other people’s, sheesh.

Now that is done, let’s get back to the main attraction.

Kamala and Bruno and now Mike pretty much go back and forth. Bruno makes kissey faces at Mike, and Mike returns them while Kamala dies a little inside. Bruno is pretty much that guy from the meme who is with his girlfriend, but he keeps looking at the girl they pass and Mike is not a moron and knows that she is pretty much the Cyrano and is conscious of this fact. It hurts because Mike is actually a cool character and her and Kamala become good friends in spite of having the same romantic attraction to Bruno. While Bruno did care for Mike, he could not help but be jealous of the men Kamala encounters as Ms. Marvel such as Spider-man(not sure which). 

Point is that this entire comic is a delicious mess and should be read with the same intention as the audience of Dawson’s Creek.

Eventually, Kamala starts to realize that her idol has a huge authoritarian streak and implements her version of Hitler Youth to patrol Ms. Marvel’s turf. And I think this is a something we need to address in regards to Carol. Yes, she is good, but she is socially aware as a....white woman. No really, she does not stop to think as to why people of color would not be too for a system that arrests people because they are foreseen to commit a crime. It’s profiling or in this case assisting in racial profiling. I always found it weird that of all people, a Pakistani first generation born American would idolize her. But that had to do with Kamala’s own self-hatred than anything Carol was.It is like being a Mexican Trump Supporter.

Anyways, Kamala is reluctant, but she joins Carol’s little SS and starts putting people in detention camps. And people are pissed. People like Bruno are pissed.

So Bruno decided to break Josh, who was wrongfully detained on the suspicion of wanting to bomb a school. Kamala goes and tries to stop him from breaking in the detention center.

Well....

Shit.

This haunts Kamala. You see, Bruno and Kamala are close obviously, but for once, it was her ambivalence that nearly got him killed. She wants so desperately to be her own ideal hero that she completely neglected her own support system in pursuit of being accepted by Carol.People like to point to Kamala’s fandom in superheroes as a main characteristic, but neglect to mention that it was Bruno introducing her to the world superheroes that started it in the first place. It was Bruno who introduced her to Ms. Marvel. 

Bruno becomes paralyzed on his left side.I haven’t mentioned this, but Bruno is an inventor. He creates things and he is also left handed. So his dream was in jeopardy because he was willing to help Kamala out with her dream. So Kamala feels guilty as fuck.

Bruno decides to take a trip to Wakanda and get some schooling. Thus making Bruno the first white boy to be legally allowed to learn in Wakanda.

I’m as surprised as you are. I mean Wakanda gives a scholarship to some white boy in New Jersey, but rejects Lunella Lafayette. Ain’t that some shit?

So just to recap on this drama, Kamala turned down Bruno in favor of superheroism. Bruno got with Mike. Kamala becomes jealous, but Mike is cool so can’t bring herself to hate her. Bruno is jealous that Kamala is hanging out with superhero studs like Spider-man. Mike is just tired of being overlooked for an apparently nice girl. Bruno is annoyed that Kamala is siding with Carol’s harebrained George Orwell fanfiction idea over her friends and decides to break everyone out. He gets injured in the process and leaves New Jersey, but not before lashing out at Kamala for not appreciating him.

A fucking teenaged love story, I tell you.

And the only person happy is the gay one. tsk...

So the two are basically apart at this point. Bruno is on a no-speaking terms with Kamala and Kamala is respecting that. This cover pretty much sums it up.

Kamala took Bruno for granted and Bruno resents Kamala for taking for granted. And of course, it did bomb his relationship with Mike because he is resenting a relationship with a girl that is not currently his girlfriend. But with Bruno in Wakanda getting reverse affirmative action, that means Ms. Marvel is taking a break from romance, right?

Kamala’s milkshake be bringing boys from across the ocean.

Okay, this is Red Dagger aka Kareem. Kamala first met Kareem when she visited her cousins in Pakistan with and without costume. Get your head out of the gutter, they met eachother while they were in civillian identity and superhero alias without connecting the two. Lareem eventually moved to New Jersey because he studied abroad from which Kamala quickly deduced that his identity.

So the two have a team-up from which Kamala feels uneeded so she runsaway and  attends a private school without anyone, even her parents knowing(and people wonder why I felt that Wilson’s Ms. Marvel read like a Saturday Morning Cartoon). Eventually she comes out of it with absolutely no consequences for abandoning her superhero duty because she felt unneeeded and forcing her friends to fight crime in New Jersey in her stead. Whatever, Red Dagger feels bad for making Kamala feel unappreciated and...

This is nice.

That is right, Kamala, You get over your ex, by getting underneath another person. I mean, girl you bold. You went to your boy interest’s former place of employment and hangout spot, and made out on top of the roof. Extra thot points for making him watch another man’s tongue down your throat.

I’m kidding, but yeah, ackwarrrrrrd.

Of course, Bruno and Kamala talk about that situation and Kamala swears that it didn’t happen to spite him in spite of it happening on top of Circle Q. They eventually reconcile and get back on speaking terms and then...

Mike catches the pair holding hands. Actually not what it looks like. Kamala was helping Bruno up the stairs. So much drama. 

Kamala freaks out because she thinks she is a two timing thot because she out here kissing men and thotting and shit. So she runs to her Masjid in hopes to get some spiritual help for her crisis.

So Kamala has a confessional with a third party and surprisingly, he subverts the entire stereotype of Muslim religious patriarch.

He tells her that he laments not teaching young Muslim people in his Masjid to not know how to properly be themselves and not know how to deal with their feeling. He also laments not teaching their parents to not give stern warnings in place of recalling what is like to feel like you are in love for the first time thus giving kids an echo chamber because they don’t feel safe to talk to their parents about this for fear of admonishment.

He tells Kamala to be true to herself unleash the inner thot....I’m kidding.

He tells her to be true to herself and be real with Bruno.

I think this is the most important scene in Ms. Marvel because too many times, media has used the Muslim patriarch as this oppressive tool to admonish Islam as a faith.Is it sexist? Yeah. I can’t lie about that shit, but ultimately it is up to those women who practice it to reform it and modern male muslims tend to be more open to feminism especially if it doesn’t come from white feminism brand that loves to target those cultures.

Anyways, back to the drama, Mike and Bruno break up. Kamala and Red Dagger end things amicably. And now it is a rat race to see how long it takes for Kamala and Bruno to finally hook up because why not? If you have been reading up to this point, you know what is about to happen so I’m going to get straight to the point.

Nadia Van Dyne aka Wasp

Gender: Female

Orientation: Not interested in boys in the very least, but girls who like science....that is a jam so...sapiosexual lesbian

Potential Love interests: Amber

So Nadia Van Dyne is the daughter of Hank Pym who took after the last of Hank Pym’s abused ex-wife, Janet Van Dyne.You should all read the first two volumes of Unstoppable Wasp because Nadia in general was a welcome, wholesome surprise for me. Regardless, I am not just here to gush about Nadia, but explore her love interests, but to be honest, she doesn’t have any so this will be pure speculation and subtext until otherwise stated.

So what is different about Nadia is her disinterest in all things of the opposite sex and her interest in all things about science. She was raised in an Assassin/Scientist school where Nadia was trained to be a super scientist assassin along with other young people. She is a genius, but Nadia developed a love for science. When she was freed from the Red Room, Nadia kept her love for science and sought to make sure all girls like herself could be allowed to express their love for science without a glass ceiling. So she wanted to recruit a science girl gang of sorts.

You could make an argument that Nadia is ace and I wouldn’t argue against you. However, as you can see, it is easy to write off character interactions as that when in actuality they are underdeveloped. I think Nadia is a sapiosexual lesbian because her attraction directly correlates with how intelligent a person the person is. And she hates overly intelligent scientific men like Peter Parker and somewhat resents her abusive father as they kept a glass ceiling in the intelligencia of academic science that chased women out. However, any woman with a compelling interest in science immediately piques her interest. And sure, we could say that this attitude is fostered due to her mission statement of uplifting women of science and girl geniuses in the place of attraction towards said girls, but sometimes we forget that no matter how wholesome Nadia is, she is still a teenager.

This Amber and I’d say that this was the first and only time Nadia exhibited an actual crush on somebody.And sure, Nadia’s innocence could be taken to mean that she was just being her normal bubbly self, I want to take note that she really didn’t ask about Amber’s scientific prowess. She complimented her looks first and then her tattoos and then she saw the Teleforce Tattoo. 

But just like the others on this list, Amber could not just be a normal girl. Nope, she had to be a supervillain.

I am just pointing out a pattern. Boys need their love interests to be non-superpowered and not necessarily the physical equal. Girls have to have their romantic counterparts be just as physically capable as them.

Amber aka Seeker becomes a rival to Nadia until they realized that they aren’t necessarily enemies of each other as the real threat was an Ultron merged Hank Pym who wants to take over the world or whatever does Ultron want to do anymore. Who knows?

So Seeker and her AIM Anti-Ultron think tank joined Nadia’s GIRL. And we never knew what happened between her and Nadia.

Riri Williams aka Ironheart

Gender: Female

Orientation: ?

Love Interests: Xavier King, Viv Vision

Okay, Riri is a bit complicated because her story goes as this: 

Girl goes to school.

Girl becomes bored with school.

Girl starts acting out because she is bored with school.

Girl gets tested and it is revealed that she is a super genius.

Parents of girl freak out because they realized that by boring her, they could have made the next super-villainess.

Girl is then handled with care to ensure that she is not alone all of the time thinking about her inventions and struggles to make human connections because she is smarter than everybody in her neighborhood.

Girl meets another girl who becomes her best friend.

Girl’s best friend and her super nice step dad die in a drive-bye shooting.

Girl decides to close herself off again and be stuck working on her inventions.

So it makes sense that Riri has problems making connections with people. Or Bendis didn’t really bother to give the girl a romantic interest so he hastily came up with one. Xavier King.

Xavier King didn’t get much characterization until Eve Ewing took over and he went from boy that Riri Williams might have fancied to being Riri Williams’ Ron Stoppable to her Kim Possible.

She is the hypercompetent woman and she is pretty much the silly sidekick. I can’t say that the two are dating or romantically inclined, but I can say that I love their friendship

Xavier doesn’t necessarily become a boyfriend. He has a better role: he is her best friend.

He makes her laugh and most importantly, she feel comfortable around him. Which leads us to someone who isn’t as warm....physically....or is she? What is the temperature of synthezoids?

When Riri joined the Champions, her communication skills continued to be sorely lacking. She kind of kept to herself and really only got along with Nadia, Amadeus, and Viv Vision. Just to be clear, she only got along with the geniuses as Miles was too friendly and somewhat got on her nerves. Kamala simply avoided Riri and gave her space and everyone else except for Miles apparently followed suit.  Viv on the other hand doesn’t quite have a grasp on social cues yet.

And the two socially awkward girls connect. Riri and Viv get along quite well. The girls didn’t really advance their friendship until Riri did something monumentally stupid: she tried to take on Thanos.

So after that humiliating shitkicking, Riri pretty much developed PTSD and our favorite synthezoid decided to check on her teammate.

And Viv consoled Riri and the two decide to make Riri a new Iron Man armor.

The end result.

Girls don’t want flowers. They want cool power armor.

Viv and Riri sort of connect more with Viv letting her pet synthezoid hang our with Riri and Riri being the most open to her. And Viv read too much into this cordial relationship between her and Riri...and well...

now I’d like to point out that this isn’t because Riri doesn’t swing that way. On the contrary, it isn’t the gender that Riri had a problem with in regards to Viv. It is the invasion of space that turned Riri off. You have to ask Eve Ewing and Jim Zub, but Riri never explicitly stated that it was orientation incapability that turned her away from Viv. It was because Viv made her feel uncomfortable.

And Viv’s unawareness as to why exactly kissing Riri was distressing to Riri didn’t help.

And this is why Riri actively stayed away from Champions’ related activities for the majority of the run. Viv made her uncomfortable and Riri decided to keep her distancing while still reaching out to Kamala and Nadia.Later Riri was mind controlled by Blackheart who brewed those fears and emotions towards Viv and made those insecurities toxic and violent. So under his manipulation, Riri knocked out Viv and the rest of the Champions.

Riri went for the killing blow, but Viv 2.0(long story) rebooted and took over for the then comatose Viv. 

THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING!

Viv rounds up the remaining Champions and Blackheart mind controls the Champions that Riri took out. There was a final battle and Viv eventually took control of her own body and finally confessed to Riri and apologized.

So after the battle between the Champions and Blackheart, Riri and Viv have a heart-to-heart.

So this is all for part 1 for now. It took forever. I may do some updates on characters because it is a growing and developing story for characters. But this is mainly for Marvel. I don’t know if I want to tread the minefield that is DC love interests because that shit is crazy. I also have been trying to figure out wht to do with inner team romances like X-Men, Inhumans, Avengers Academy, Runaways, and etc. So those Nico and Karolina fans, I am aware of y’all and I didn’t forget. It is just that this takes time. Be patient.

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day.

@ubernegro​

#Kate Bishop #Hawkeye #Young Avengers #X-23 #Laura Kinney #America Chavez #Ms. America Chavez #Nadia Van Dyne #Unstoppable Wasp #Wasp #gwen stacy #Spider-Gwen #Ghost-Spider #Kamala Khan #Ms. Marvel #Eli Bradley #Patriot #tommy shepherd #speed #Noh-Varr #Marvel Boy #Hellion #Viv Vision #marvel #Marvel Comics #teen marvel #Champions

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Mindhunter: No Magic

I’ve been reading the book Mindhunter. You might have seen the Netflix/David Fincher TV show (or read the book?) - it’s based on the life of FBI agent John Douglas, the guy who pioneered criminal profiling, especially of serial killers, in the 70s, 80s and 90s. An interesting element of Mindhunter is how many cases Douglas worked on where the police consulted a medium. I kid you not! In tough, high-profile cases where the local police needed a breakthrough, they would sometimes call a psychic to ask for confirmation on their leads, hoping that the medium could magically intuit something about the case that the cops had missed (where does the killer live, what does he look like, what’s his line of work, etc.). It doesn’t sound like Douglas himself ever called a medium, or put much faith in their psychic intuition, but he does mention that they were around and contributing to cases he worked on. It seems like in the early days of profiling, people had a similar opinion of Douglas’ work: that it was superstitious, unscientific, unreliable - this even extended to his testimony and analysis as an FBI expert sometimes being inadmissible in court:

Though I’d already been qualified as a crime-scene analysis expert in several states, the defense referred to me as a “voodoo man” for the way I came up with my interpretations, and the judge ultimately ruled that I wouldn’t testify.

In “Killing Types”, a post on this blog from January 2016, I compared two accounts of how the criminal psychological profile of the Butcher Baker was developed. One account was from Wikipedia, and the other was Douglas, who personally developed the profile:

The serial killer in question was Robert Hansen AKA the Butcher Baker (everything I’m gonna write about him is via Wikipedia. You should just read their article if you want a more detailed account as I’m just summarising here). He was a very shy, skinny young boy with acne and a stutter. He was horribly bullied and the cute girls in school didn’t like him. Wikipedia doesn’t have a citation for this, but apparently: because he was “shunned by the attractive girls in school, he grew up hating them and nursing fantasies of cruel revenge.” As he grew up, Hansen became an adept hunter. Like many serial killers, Hansen was also a thief and an arsonist. From 1971 to 1983 he murdered at least 17 women ranging in ages from 16 to 41.

Hansen’s typical move was to abduct women (usually sex workers) and take them to his cabin near Anchorage, Alaska. There he would rape them and then set them loose so he could hunt them in the woods. Of his confessed murders, many of the bodies have not been found.

By 1982, three bodies had been found in shallow graves in the woods and the Alaska state troopers called in the FBI to assist in putting together a criminal profile. According to Wikipedia, FBI agents put together a profile for a person with the following characteristics:

Experienced hunter

Low self-esteem

History of being rejected by women

Would keep ‘souvenirs’ from his murders

A stutter

...[Douglas] devotes a chapter to Hansen, and the way he describes what happened is actually kind of different from Wikipedia’s version of events. Wikipedia makes it sound like the FBI turned up and pulled the profile out of thin air just based on looking at the crimes, whereas Douglas says that when he and his boys rolled into Anchorage, Hansen was already a suspect. So what they were doing was comparing what they knew about Hansen to what they knew about the crimes and seeing how things matched up and if he was a likely suspect. So the profile they put together did include the bullet points above and, yes, some of that would have been speculation (such as the self-esteem problems, the history of rejection, and the souvenir keeping), but the rest (such as saying he had a stutter) were based on the fact that they knew Hansen and it was completely fucking obvious he had a stutter and acne scarring. Anyway, Douglas describes his profile and process as follows:

“[Hansen] was short and slight, heavily pockmarked, and spoke with a severe stutter. I surmised he had had severe skin problems as a teenager and, between that and the speech impediment, was probably teased or shunned by his peers, particularly girls. So his self-esteem would have been low… And, psychologically speaking, abusing prostitutes is a pretty standard way of getting back at women in general.

“I also made much of the fact that Hansen was known as a proficient hunter… I don’t mean to imply that most hunters are inadequate types, but in my experience, if you have an inadequate type to being with, one of the ways he might try to compensate is by hunting or playing around with guns or knives… I was betting that Hansen’s speech problem disappeared when he felt most dominant and in control.”

So I think we can call that another case closed: it is not possible for an FBI profiler, no matter how gifted, to look at a crime scene or a string of murders and miraculously determine that the killer has a speech impediment.

As you saw above, my read of the passage from Mindhunter was that Hansen was a top suspect, that Douglas made some additional speculations about Hansen, but essentially just endorsed the guy the local cops already suspected. So specific details in the profile that seem like magical inferences weren’t as magical as Wikipedia made them seem. In January 2016 I hadn’t read Mindhunter, but I looked up what I thought was the relevant section on Google Books and that was the basis for the above section of my blog post. (If you’ve never tried to read things online for free, you may not be aware of this, but Google Books provides previews of lots of books, but you have to buy the book to read the whole thing - so back in 2016, I just looked at the pages of Mindhunter that Google had made available for free.)

Now I’m finally reading Mindhunter in full, my take on the process of profiling has changed: I do believe that Douglas and co. could have inferred that the killer had a stutter or bad skin without knowing Hansen (a man with a stutter and bad skin) was the top suspect. Indeed, Douglas tells a number of stories where he and his team correctly made similar inferences - for example, in the profile they wrote up on the Trailside Killer (not covered by Wikipedia but chronicled elsewhere). On the process of developing the profile of Hansen, Douglas writes:

We didn’t profile Hansen or devise a strategy to identify and catch him according to our usual procedure. In September 1983, by the time my unit was called in, Alaska state troopers had already identified Hansen as a murder suspect. But they weren’t sure of the extent of his crimes, or whether such an unlikely individual, a family man and pillar of the community, was capable of the terrible things of which he was being accused...

Even though the police had a suspect before I heard about him, I wanted to make sure my judgement wouldn’t be clouded by the investigative work already done. So before I let them give me the specifics of their man during our first phone conference, I said, “First tell me about the crimes and let me tell you about the guy.” 

They described the unsolved murders and the details of the young woman’s story. I described a scenario and an individual that they said sounded very much like their suspect, down to the stuttering...

In a sense, this was the opposite of what we normally do in that we were working from a known subject, trying to determine whether his background, personality and behaviour fit a set of crimes.

Is he a wizard? How’d he do that? How could Douglas know from the description of the crimes that Robert Hansen had a stutter? 

The truth is common, ordinary, sensible: he had seen, heard about and worked on cases like this many times and had developed an impression of the kind of person who is capable of hunting women like animals in the woods. He’d spoken to serial killers in prison about their crimes, observed them up close, understood their motivations (control, domination, power, punishment, lust, rage). He’s a walking database of crimes and correlations, which allows him to mentally compile the information he’s received, query it against similar cases and then make what seem like totally uncanny inferences. In terms of demystifying something that seemed arcane and inexplicable, I don’t think I’ve ever read a book as satisfying and steady as Mindhunter. This guy isn’t magical - he’s just fucking sick at his job. He knows his shit. He’s a towering obelisk of professional competence. 

That’s not to say they got everything right. For example, Douglas and his unit saw a big difference in lust killers who raped their victims vs. killers who masturbated at the scene. If a killer doesn’t rape his victim but masturbates over her, Douglas and co. would infer that the killer lacks confidence, that he’s inexperienced with women, he’s single, anti-social, probably has a shitty job or no job at all, and because of that he likely lives at home or with a relative, he feels he lacks control, etc. This type of analysis was often correct, but did sometimes lead them down the wrong path (which Douglas acknowledges in the updated foreword for the 2017 reprint of Mindhunter). Since the publication of Mindhunter in the 90s, a number of prominent non-rape lust killers have been caught and it turns out they were married with kids, they were upstanding members of their community, they were homeowners who worked decent jobs, and they seemed normal around women in social settings (see: the BTK Strangler). They simply weren’t the conspicuous, twitching deviants Douglas and his unit imagined.

Mindhunter feels like a book from a different time. Douglas is vociferously pro-death penalty. He’s more sympathetic and vengeful when the victim was a cute lil blondie than a street worn whore. He is interested in the psychology of killers, but is unmoved by their troubled backgrounds: Douglas acknowledges that practically every serial killer he studied had abusive parents, never felt loved or safe, were victims themselves in many ways - but he’s pretty indifferent towards that angle. This perspective would probably get more play in a book on criminals written today - modern writers might be interested in a holistic view of criminality and suffering as cyclical. Douglas does say the number one thing we could do to prevent the development of serial killers and psychos is love our children more and have more resources available to intervene when kids seemed to be headed down the path of darkness... but, look at Douglas’ description of a guy they were looking for in Illinois:

Like so many of these guys, this one is a real loser with a poor self-image. He may come across as confident, but deep-down, he is extremely inadequate.

The UNSUB is a real loser! 

One of the key sources of information for Douglas is the killer’s signature. A signature differs from a modus operandi (MO) in that the MO is how the crime is carried out (e.g. killer surveils house for weeks in advance, cuts phone line during the night, breaks in via a window, uses the victim’s tights as a ligature, etc.) while the signature is what the killer does to get off: posing the body, keeping trophies, torturing the victim, taking photographs. Douglas says a killer’s MO may change over time based on failed crimes, stressors, changes to police work, etc. but a signature will remain steady. For example, when Bundy was at his most desperate after escaping from prison (for the second time!), he went on a poorly planned spree. By now, Bundy knew it was all over. The police knew who he was, what he’d done, and were searching for him - it was a matter of time until he was recaptured. The electric chair was waiting. Bundy’s MO had developed with experience and he was typically an organised killer who used a kit, props, and had the skill to lure his victims, but when he knew the net was closing in, he became disorganised - his MO changed. Instead of approaching a pretty girl on the street, luring her to his car and then taking his time to torture/kill her, he broke into a sorority house in the middle of the night and attacked the residents in their own rooms in vicious, quick attacks. Interestingly, this methodology was similar to his original technique when he was younger and less experienced. When he was under pressure, he regressed. Via Wikipedia: 

Bundy's modus operandi evolved in organization and sophistication over time, as is typical of serial murderers, according to FBI experts. Early on, it consisted of forcible late-night entry followed by a violent attack with a blunt weapon on a sleeping victim. Some victims were sexually assaulted with inert objects; all except Healy were left as they lay, unconscious or dead. As his methodology evolved Bundy became progressively more organized in his choice of victims and crime scenes. He would employ various ruses designed to lure his victim to the vicinity of his vehicle where he had pre-positioned a weapon, usually a crowbar. In many cases he wore a plaster cast on one leg or a sling on one arm, and sometimes hobbled on crutches, then requested assistance in carrying something to his vehicle. Bundy was regarded as handsome and charismatic by many of his victims, traits he exploited to win their confidence.

For Douglas, an MO is not a reliable way of tying crimes together - because an MO can change. But a signature (which is often at the crux of why the crime was committed) will remain relatively static and is a good clue that two crimes carried out in different ways may be related. The MO may tell you some practical details about the killer (he owns or has access to a car, he’s a local who’s familiar with the back roads, he was known the victim because he was able to gain access to the home without a struggle, etc.) but the signature is driven by behaviour - and that’s what reveals the pits inside a person. 

What’s been revelatory for me in Mindhunter is how there is a real, meaningful link between private behaviour and the surface-level details a person. We like to think that our interiority is private and inscrutable to others, that we’re boxed canyon mysteries with rich inner lives and motivations that are inconceivable to the people around us, that our true selves transcend superficial things like how we look or where we work - but Douglas can tell whether a guy will get a haircut after he’s killed someone. He knows if the killer was drunk at the time of the crime. He can tell if they were in the military or not - and if they were, whether they had a dishonourable discharge. How old the killer is. His race. Whether he’ll want to talk to people about the crime. The chances of him owning a German Shepherd. Whether he finished high school. If he keeps a journal. Whether he’s ever been married - and if it was a happy marriage. Most of these are visible details of ourselves that we display to the world, and feel safe displaying because they don’t give too much away: you don’t think people can accurately read anything serious or private about you based on something like how old your car is or whether you watch the nightly news. But all these insignificant details do reveal something. Maybe it is kind of magical.

#Trailside Killer #david carpenter #robert hansen #Butcher Baker #John Douglas #Mindhunter #David Fincher #FBI #Ted Bundy

[7r0773r]

A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance by Hanif Abdurraqib

There were no Black people who clowned me or any of my pals for listening to so-called "alternative" music, because the people who introduced us to that music were Black people. Of course, there were the hip-hop stalwarts, just like there were the overly devoted punk kids or metalheads who didn't really have much interest in crossing genres up. But these were not a malicious bunch—one simply respected the territory as needed. Keep a wide range of cassettes in a bag, so that if the fate of school bus seating shook you out next to the devoted rap heads, you'd have something to pass around and collectively nod to. And if you found yourself with a committed Black goth, you could pull the dubbed tape of Cure songs out of your back pocket. I first learned to code-switch through the musical movements of my people, and done among my people in this way, it didn't feel like a shameful burden. It felt like a generosity—a celebration of the many modes we could all fit into.

I think of this particular part of my upbringing when I hear other Black people reference what they grew up listenIng to or watching in an attempt to distance themselves from other Black people, or to make their experience exceptional or unique. A better and more interesting conversation to have, I think, is the one about how we are all outside the borders of someone else's idea of what Blackness is. To someone else Black, I am either too much of something or not enough of something else. The impulse when confronted with these facts, it seems, is to either attempt to assert whatever ness you claim and know well, or punish or deride those who might dare question your identity.

But if Blackness and the varied performance of it are to be embraced, then what also has to be embraced is the flawed fluidity of it. How the performance is sometimes regional, sometimes ancestral, often partially forged out of a need to survive some place, or some history, or some other people who didn't wish you or your kinfolk well. And yes, sometimes forged out of an ambition to appeal to the limited imagination of whiteness. The problem is that there is no way to prove oneself Black enough for every type of Black identity in the States, let alone the world. There is not always a way to prove (and possibly no way to trace) the how and why of your personal performance, until it becomes calculated. And in trying, high-profile figures often spiral further into being scrutinized by their doubters. I am thinking often on how crucial it is to love Black people even when feeling indicted by them. Even when that indictment is not out of love (which of course it sometimes is), but out of them clocking you for a standard you are not capable of rising to. I don't have any solution for this, but it has often seemed to me that even nodding and keeping it moving is an act of love when faced with the alternative of publicly debating the small or large nuances of specific modes of Blackness. And to not, in turn, make yourself a victim of Black people for the sympathy of a white audience. (On the Certain and Uncertain Movement of Limbs, pp. 103-04)

***

A country is something that happens to you. History is a series of thefts, or migrations, or escapes, and along the way, new bodies are added to a lineage. Someone finds a place where they think themselves meant to be, and they stop moving. Had the first job my father interviewed for come through at the start of the '80s, I would have been born in Providence, Rhode Island, instead of Columbus, Ohio, where work at the time was more plentiful. A city adorned with the name of a violent colonizer, his statue looming over the center of the downtown, his history a happening unto itself. I never asked to be in this country, or this city, of course. But what we end up with in the earliest moments of our lives can be beyond asking. I think now about the story of my two pals sitting down with their three-year-old only child and telling her that she was soon going to be the older sister to a new, younger child—the introduction of whom would require a halving of attention. The child took all of this information in, sat quietly for a moment, and then plainly replied, "No, thank you." (The Josephine Baker Monument Can Never Be Large Enough, p. 142)

***

Merry Clayton never gave birth to the baby she showed up to the studio pregnant with. Shortly after getting home from the session, she miscarried. There are those who say that the physical strain Clayton exerted in the studio contributed to the miscarriage, though she herself has never blamed the song or the Stones or the studio, which may be her way of keeping her grief her business and not aligning it with another piece of rock 'n' roll mythology. I don't know anything about what it is to carry or give life, but I know that when Merry Clayton's voice cracks in "Gimme Shelter," a part of me wants to jump as if it is the shot that begins the war itself. A part of me hears Mick shout and wants to know what he saw in that moment. A pregnant Black woman balancing on a stool, summoning all she had in order to leave behind something memorable. The backup singers, man. They get to be memorable for a few minutes at a time and forgotten in all of the minutes in between. I want to know if Mick saw every wretched tooth in the mouth of the world's most wretched beasts trembling and falling to the ground. There is some awful reckoning to be had in a song like that. Some awful things to be lived with. (I Would Like to Give Merry Clayton Her Roses, pp. 200-01)

***

I would like to give Merry Clayton her roses. I would like roses to burst forth from the walls of every room Merry Clayton is in. I would like to give roses to every singer who had a name tied up in liner notes and not on the tongues of people who sang along to their pristine vocals. I would like to bring roses to the doorstep of the house Merry Clayton walked out of at midnight in 1969 and I would like to lay roses on the stool where she sat, her pregnant belly hanging over the edge while she sang murder, murder, murder. I would like roses to come out of the ground somewhere any time a person's voice cracks under the weight of what it has been asked to carry, I would like to do this while the living are still the living, and I don't want to hear from any motherfucker who isn't with the program. I would like roses for Merry Clayton to fall from the sky whenever a gunshot echoes above and I would like roses for Merry Clayton in the hands of whoever could throw the first punch but doesn't. I want the small red fists to come from the earth and slowly open wherever Meredith Hunter's body is, or wherever his body had been. I want Merry Clayton to be as big as the Rolling Stones. I want teenagers to wear her face on T-shirts, and I mean her good face with her good afro and her fur coat and her father's eyes. I want record stores to stock the solo records of Merry Clayton in the front case and I want them to play all of the songs she sang alone, with no one else. I want enough roses to build headstones for everyone I love. I want the moment when the drums kick in on any version of "Gimme Shelter." I want that feeling in my chest to always remind me what I'd miss if it were taken from me. I want shelter, and I don't even know what that means anymore. I want nowhere, nothing sacred. (I Would Like to Give Merry Clayton Her Roses, pp. 203-04)

***

Late in 2016, after the election results had come back and the demographic voting breakdowns began to circulate, the most jarring of all the stats was that white women voted for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton at a 52 percent to 43 percent clip. Resting underneath that, however, was that Black women overwhelmingly voted Clinton, at 93 percent. A lot of the conversation centered on the intersection of gender and power, and how white women will vote in the interest of the latter if it means ignoring all else. But what also began was a groundswell of appreciation for Black women that read as disturbing to me, largely because it was rooted primarily in their ability to fix the country, or labor on behalf of a mess many of them didn't ask for. The discomfort was most visceral because a majority of people engaging in this narrative in its early stages were white, and potentially "well-meaning," but not considering what the building of those ideas might be doing. Or not considering the motives behind these actions. To shout "Black women are going to save us all!" might feel good to type out to send in a tweet, but it reads as less good when one stops to consider that Black people—specifically Black women in this case—are not here in this country as vessels to drag it closer to some moral competence. The American obsession with immorality and a willingness to push its hardest labor off on its most marginalized is integral to the Black American experience, and so it occurred to me that maybe Black women were simply attempting to save themselves. That many Black people in the country have to go to jobs they don't love, or deal with waves of microaggressions at work or at the coffee shop or at the gym, and still know that voting won't save or stop any of this but did it anyway because the bet was already bad but the dealer had the cards in his hand to make it worse, and so many of us knew it. (Beyoncé Performs at the Super Bowl and I Think About All of the Jobs I've Hated, pp. 215-16)

***

Friends, I come to you very plainly afraid that I am losing faith in the idea that grief can become anything but grief. The way old neighborhoods are torn to the ground and new ones sprout from that same ground, it feels, most days, like my grief is simply being rebuilt and restructured along my own interior landscape. There is not enough distance between tragedies for my sadness to mature into anything else but another new monument obscuring the last new monument. When the interviewers asked Buster Douglas what his plan was in 1990, days before the fight, he responded I'll just hit him, I guess. And trust, I have dragged myself back to the walls of my fears and thrown my fists into them, hoping a crack might open for the sunlight to gallop through. But it turns out I'm not the fighter I once was, and I was never much of a fighter in the first place. It turns out all of my fears have become immovable.

I am afraid not of death itself, but of the unknown that comes after. I am afraid not of leaving, but of being forgotten. I am in love today but am afraid that I might not be tomorrow. And that is to say nothing of the bullets, the bombs, the waters rising, and the potential for an apocalypse. People ask me to offer them hope, but I'd rather offer them honesty. Black people get asked to perform hope when white people are afraid, but it doesn't always serve reality. Hope is the small hole cut into the honest machinery. The milk crate is still a milk crate, but with the right opening, a basketball can make its way through. If I am going to be afraid, I might as well do it honest. Arm in arm with everyone I love, adorned in blood and bruises, singing jokes on our way to a grave. (Fear: A Crown, pp. 248-49)

***

August 2016

Young Thug is wearing a dress on the cover of his mixtape Jeffery and the Internet wants to argue about what it all means for the future of masculinity and I need a haircut tomorrow but I'm not going to the shop to hear them talk about this shit and I go because it's the only shop in town but I hate their politics but I gotta stay fly because I don't feel like myself without a fresh cut. Let me try this again. I don't feel like myself without something that makes me desirable to people I don't know, and to know this is to know that the future of masculinity is probably not in the shape people want it to be. But Young Thug is wearing an expensive dress on the cover of his mixtape, and on the Internet, there are people insisting that this will be the thing that pushes the conversation forward. Someone shares a video of Young Thug flashing guns and this is the juxtaposition: You can still be hard and wear a dress is the sentiment. I scroll through comments and see variations on this theme, but I don't see anyone mention the idea that perhaps one problem is the public's concept that the masculine antithesis to wearing a dress is showing that you are willing to enact violence. Within an hour of the cover art's release, outlets write about it, labeling the art as controversial. No one suggests that the very idea of gender norms themselves are controversial, or that any binary aggressively enforcing itself through rigid definitions is controversial. Young Thug wore a dress on the cover for a mixtape that had some good songs about that same shit Thug had been rapping about forever and no one I know really listened to it all that much because the talk about the dress eclipsed all else. About a month later, a man walked out of the train station near my apartment wearing a crop top, a full face of makeup, and tight jeans that flared wide at the bottom. The papers say he was chased by another group of men until they caught him on a corner two blocks from where I lived. He was beaten bloody by one man while the others stood over him, mocking the way he curled up in a ball while being kicked. This story made the last five minutes of the local news. I wonder what clothing masculinity could cloak itself in that might drive it further away from an obsession with dominance through violence. I don't get my hair cut for three weeks. (On the Performance of Softness, pp. 252-53)

#hanif abdurraqib #book quotes

[extraneousdominomask]

*collapses* I shoulda typed this BEFORE sending the ask. Ah well, live and learn.

Alrighty, here we go.

As we all know, once upon a time, Doctor M served as a planner and technical expert in one of the many incarnations of the Cooper Gang, with Conner Cooper serving as the leader and field agent while Jim McSweeny served as the muscle. Under mysterious circumstances, Doctor M would start to feel slighted by his friend, implying several times that Conner wasn’t as loyal a friend to the doctor as Sly was to his own friends, having a few choice words to describe the Cooper line on the whole while making this clear. Interestingly though, he was quite willing to concede that Sly might indeed have been a better man than his father was, a level of self-awareness and insight that implies that his assessment might just be more than bitterness and jealousy talking.

Notably, he singles out Bentley, a fellow intellectual who serves the same role that Doctor M himself did on the original team, and for a moment is even able to plant a seed of doubt within Bentley before Murray is able to bring him back to his senses. The Doctor’s gambit failed and he was subsequently… well, not really ‘defeated’ per-say, given that he chose to go down with the Cooper Vault, but either way, he met his end shortly after.

Doctor M’s entire interaction with Bentley raises a myriad number of questions, and while it’s definitely possible he’s more than capable of psychological manipulation, one must note that he had no prior research on the Gang before this moment. He spotted Bentley, understood what purpose he served, and then proceeded to accurately poke at the personal doubts Bentley had regarding his friendship with Sly. That’s a VERY intimate level of understanding for someone with no prior contact to have based purely on short-term observation.

So, what am I getting at here? What I’m getting at is that the parallels between Bentley and Doctor M are closer than anyone could have guessed, and it directly led to the destruction of the original Cooper Gang and the death of Sly’s family at the hands of Clockwerk.

Before we proceed onward, we must also do a rundown of a personal interpretation of the character of Sly’s father, Conner.

In-Universe evidence of regarding what Conner was like a person is quite scant. We have only Sly’s childhood memories, the word of Jim McSweeney, and a single flashback in Sly 4 to paint a picture. Sly naturally idolized his father but was willing to confront that maybe he wasn’t perfect. Jim McSweeny spoke rather glowingly of the man, but then that might have been the result of the two being closer than Doctor M was to him. Finally we have the Flashback, which showcases him outwitting Le Paradox’s father and leading to his imprisonment, which is only natural.

And then we have Doctor M’s words, which given the fact that he is objectively a homicidal lunatic need to be taken with a grain of salt.

All of this hinges though on a single premise- what if Doctor M, bitter and warped as he was, was in fact almost entirely correct about Conner?

My theory is that Conner, while not really a BAD guy, could be a much more selfish and jerky person than Sly was, at least during his younger years. The core of this difference is that while McSweeney and Doctor M were his comrades and friends, it was never to the same extent as Sly, Bentley and Murray- those three grew up together and are as close as brothers. Conner met McSweeney and the Doc when he was older, having already had a prolific career as a solo thief. In all likelyhood he encountered them during his adventures and took them along for the ride… but the simple fact was, he was never quite as close to Doctor M as he was to Bentley, and at some level, he took the man and his skills for granted and was ultimately far closer to McSweeney.

Why would this be? I theorize at some level there was a difference of class at work- Doctor M’s refined accent and mannerisms make me feel as if he was from an old money family, and ultimately was drawn to the criminal life because he wanted to make his own destiny rather than follow in the pre-planned footsteps of his father and his father before him. However, his background and education meant there was a slight rift between him and the others- Jim McSweeney was very much a blue collar bruiser, and while the Cooper family defies class distinctions, they’re still closer to the ‘little guy’ than they to anyone who might qualify as ‘aristocracy’. As such, there was always a slight bit of tension over the fact that a ‘rich boy’ was mixing it up with the gang- at some level it might have been suspected that Doctor M was only slumming it up and could easily return to the life he had before, meaning he had fewer stakes in everything than Conner or Jim. Naturally this wasn’t really the case, but people will have their assumptions.

By and large though, the group functioned well enough… until one day, something happened.

Sly’s mother.

The Cooper Vault indicates that Conner was a more technologically savvy Cooper given the computers and microscope kept over at his section. My theory however is that while he DID have something of a scientific education (primarily computers, courtesy of his cousin Bruce O’Coop in an effort to keep him ahead of the curb, as Bruce accurately predicted the impending importance of the Internet), he was not exactly an expert at it in the way that Doctor M was.

My theory though is that Sly’s mother WAS much more scientifically inclined and savvy than Conner was, and it was through her help that he devised his signature ‘laser rail’ move…. somehow.

And this is where the problem started, and where the repetition of history would get its start- before Conner set his eyes on her, Doctor M was already in love with Sly’s mother. That’s right- she was the Penelope to his Bentley. They shared much in common, and Doctor M was entranced by her intellect and her ability to keep up with him in a conversation. The fact that she was quite the looker didn’t hurt none either. Slight problem- Conner was handsome, outgoing, daring and charismatic, and Sly’s Mom (one day I need to headcanon a name for her) found herself drawn to him despite having more in common with M.

This is where the fundamental difference between Sly and Conner comes in- Sly is naturally polite and charming towards women, but he was never really interested in Penelope the same way that she was with him, and he never tried to pursue her affections, nor would he ever have knowing that Bentley was into her. He could never hurt his friend that way. Conner by contrast, as befitting the Rogue Hero of Yesteryear, was something of a serial womanizer- she was beautiful, she was interested, and that was all that mattered. The fact that his friend and colleague was already demonstrating an interest didn’t matter- survival of the fittest is the thief’s game after all, and if you don’t have what it takes to get what you want, then you don’t deserve it.

And so, Doctor M and Conner would compete for her affections, and ultimately, Conner was triumphant… though ironically enough, a funny thing happened during all of that- he found himself genuinely falling in love with her, and suddenly rather than becoming the latest in a long line of conquests, she was something new, strange and frightening.. someone he would want to spend the rest of his life with.

Doctor M, as you can imagine was heartbroken, and this series of events helped to allow much of the resentment and anger that had been building up towards Conner to start festering inside his soul. Doctor M built the machines and made the plans, but Conner got the glory. Doctor M risked his life for the sake of the thief, but was left to fend for himself more than a few times. Conner mocked Doctor M for his interests and mannerisms despite needing him to succeed. Conner could have any woman in the world, but STOLE the one woman that Doctor M wanted. It wasn’t fair, it just wasn’t any damn fair.

Still, despite all this, all might have ended well. Doctor M might have chose to be a bigger man and accept that Sly’s mom would be with Conner rather than him. M was always a rationalist after all. Focusing on this sort of thing was beneath him. All might have been well.

If it hadn’t been for that one conversation with Clockwerk.

During a job gone wrong, Doctor M found himself in the most nightmarish predicament imaginable- alone, face-to-face with Clockwerk. He prepared himself for the end, for surely the millenia old serial murderer would have little difficulty eliminating an ally to his most hated enemy. Clockwerk did no such thing though. Instead, Clockwerk did something even worse- he talked. He conversed. Bit by bit he peeled back Doctor M’s insecurities, and then found his way into pushing the right buttons- he revealed how he knew that Doctor M felt more like a lackey than a friend to Conner. He told Doctor M that this was a pattern with Coopers- they use people, you see, they pretend to be friends and then they use them until they can give no more. The Thievius Racconus is filled with the glories of the Cooper Lineage, but no mention to the people they depended on to succeed.

Doctor M didn’t want to believe the ancient owl, but so much of what he said made sense. He could recall all the times when Doctor M’s brains had won the day, only for Conner to act as if it had been all him. Most of all he recalled Sly’s Mother. How happy she made him feel, how nice it was to have someone who could talk to him and appreciate him, how nice it felt to not be alone… and how Conner took it all away because she was another pretty face he needed to fornicate with.

Clockwerk allowed Doctor M to live. He knew he had planted the seed of hatred within his enemy, and that one day it would bloom into something great and terrible. All he had to do was wait.

Things continued on for the Cooper gang, but Doctor M was starting to become more and more openly resentful of Conner, and things finally came to a head when Conner married Sly’s mother and had Sly. McSweeny mentioned that things in the gang got ‘tense’ after Sly was born and that they split up afterwards, and this was the reason why. Doctor M just couldn’t contain his anger and hatred anymore, and so, the gang was split. Conner, as a result of his marriage and new life as a father, gradually became aware of the fact that he had been less than stellar a friend to Doctor M, and swore he would make it up to him. To him AND Jim. So, when Sly was very young, Conner contacted his former partners, and revealed to them the existence of the Cooper Vault and gave them clues to its location, as well as revealed that he had made them the legal godfathers to his son if anything were to happen to him.

Conner was certain it was the best way to make up to his friends after having taken them for granted, and perhaps he was correct. But by that point, it was FAR too late for Doctor M. Doctor M was now consumed by hatred, warped by it. Conner thought he could fool him? Claimed he had changed? He saw through the transparent lies in an instant. He was still trying to use him and Jim, just like he always had. Well this time it wasn’t going to work. This time Doctor M was going to get EXACTLY what he deserved. EVERYONE was going to get what they deserved- Doctor M for wasting his life on the Coopers and their nonsense. Jim for refusing to see the truth. Conner for reducing him to a lackey. Conner’s wife for choosing Conner over him. Everyone was going to get what they deserved.

Everyone.

The first move was to eliminate McSweeny. Doctor M framed his old friend for a crime he didn’t commit, and had him sent to prison as a result. Then, after locating Sly’s family, he came into contact with Clockwerk and the Fiendish Five. All he asked for in return was the deed to Cain Island. Clockwerk more than obliged, and you know what happens next- Clockwerk and his gang raid the Cooper home, Conner and his wife die, and Sly is made an orphan. With McSweeny jailed, no other living family left, and Doctor M renouncing his custodial rights, Sly is sent to the orphanage where he will meet Bentley and Murray.

Doctor M meanwhile gets to work- first he finds Cain Island, and using his family money (procured after his father’s mysterious and sudden death) and the earnings from his career as a thief, immediately begins converting it into a fortress and research facility where he conducts his biological experiments, even beginning to experiment on himself as the years go by. Finally he is able to locate the door of the vault, but to his horror, he finds he has made a major miscalculation- it can only be opened by the hook-cane of a Cooper. Despite several attempts to fabricate a cane to bypass the lock, nothing works. Worst of all, he cannot locate Sly- by this point Sly and his gang are old enough to have successfully escaped the orphanage and begin their lives of crime.

Doctor M however does not despair, and instead ramps up his efforts to bust in, reasoning that one of two things will happen- either he will eventually manage to bypass the barricade, or sooner or later, that accursed whelp will endeavor to find the Cooper Vault and *bring* the cane right to him. He’s a Cooper. Those greedy, money grubbing little parasites cannot help themselves and their sticky fingers. One thing that is assured though is that the Cooper Vault and all within it will belong to Doctor M.

It’s just a matter of time.

*wipes brow* Whew! Well, there you have it. A personal take on what exactly caused Doctor M to go off the deep end. I hope that I have managed to convey that this is purely an explanation and not an excuse- Doctor M was indeed legitimately wronged in a very personal way, but that does not begin to justify his actions, nor does it excuse the very wanton sadism he indulges in. I just sorta like the idea that Doctor M’s parrallels with Bentley go way deeper than the surface, and the fact that in the end, Sly really ISN’T his father, despite what Doctor M would like to think.

So, yeah, food for thought- full course buffet in this case, but there you go.

[This is some excellent stuff! I really dig Sly’s mom as a scientist - a nice change from the usual assumed careers of “thief” or, somewhat oedipally, “policewoman”. The idea of both parents contributing to the laser walk is a lovely sentiment, and goddammit, I want her to be more involved in general. I also really like that Clockwerk talked to Dr M just as Dr M tried to do with Bentley - that forms a nice chain. Really, with Clockwerk being immortal, there’s so much potential to see him interact with past characters. Finally, I share your headcanon that Dr M totally Wormtail’d the Coopers and was the one who told Clockwerk where they lived. It just makes sense.]

#long post #(very long) #dr m #Mr Cooper #Sly's mom #jim mcsweeney #clockwerk #bentley the turtle #villain angst #submission

[tedbundy2019-blog]

Who was Theodore Robert Bundy?

The first episode out of four in this documentary, “Handsome Devil”, starts off with showing us crime scene photos of Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman. Then different reporters, detectives, and family all saying nice things about him while they’re showing his victims. Throughout the first episode of this documentary it talks about the victims stories and how Ted Bundy was tied to them. It also talks about Ted Bundy and his life, like what could have led up to this point. 

The second episode out of four in this documentary, “One of Us”, starts off with showing us a strike for women’s rights, equal rights, and how women should be united. Ted Bundy says “A person of this type chooses his victims for a reason. His victims are young attractive women. Women are possessions. Beings which are subservient more often than not to males. Women are merchandise.” This is important to see women fighting for their rights and then comparing how he thinks of them because it’s not very highly. Throughout this episode they interview one of his victims from Utah that got away, Carol Daronch. Ted Bundy was caught by getting pulled over by a cop with a mask, rope, an ice pick, handcuffs, and more in his trunk. Carol looked at different men in a line-up and pointed out Ted Bundy. At the end of this episode Ted Bundy is served a warrant for his arrest for the murder of Caryn Campbell in Colorado. Ted started preparing himself for his escape. He would jump off the top bunk in his cell to brace his legs for the impact, he mentally measured the distance of the corner of the court house to the alley, then the alley to the riverbed, then the riverbed to the mountains and ran those distances in his cell. He practiced how long it would take him to change out of his courtroom attire into shorts. Ted Bundy escaped.

The third episode out of four in this documentary, “Not my turn to watch him”, starts with the manhunt for him. He eventually came back into town after going into a state of shock because it rained and he needed food. After being put in prison again, he escaped… AGAIN. He slipped through a small hole in the ceiling of his cell that he carved out. He just walked out of the front door and disappeared, nobody knew where he went. After 16 days of being missing, he killed two out of four women in a sorority house at Florida State University. After 40 days of being missing a 12 year old girl goes missing, Kim Leach. After 46 days of being missing, he gets arrested for looking suspicious. They found out his car was stolen from the sorority house and he had 20 stolen credit cards, and he refused to identify himself. The police started investigating and questioning him about the sorority house but he wasn’t fully cooperating. He finally told them who he was in exchange for a phone call to his girlfriend Elizabeth. He told her that he was sick and he couldn’t contain himself anymore. This episode ends with showing the darker side of Ted Bundy. He hasn’t shown this side of him to the public. You can tell he’s a little crazy looking, he’s eager to talk to the press, and he becomes a little aggressive.

The fourth and final episode of this documentary, “Burn Bundy Burn”, starts with dozens of reporters in a room talking about Ted Bundy. This was the first time a trial had ever been on TV. It shows Ted Bundy turn on his attorneys, saying he didn’t intend to plead guilty and he tried to fire him, in the middle of court. Ted Bundy cross examined the first police officer on scene. He asks questions about what it looked like, what the girls looked like, their body positions. He asks the police officer to describe in every detail. It seemed like Bundy was trying to relive the murders. The next court hearing, Ted Bundy locked himself inside his cell and then shows up late. The judge tells him that they will operate whether he’s here or not and Ted tries arguing saying the conditions he’s living in are holding him back from functioning properly. When the jury came to their decision and found him guilty of all seven counts his demeanor changed completely.  He didn’t want to die, his mom believed he didn’t deserve to die but he was put on death row. When he went to trial again for not being competent, his lawyers found someone that specialized in the brain chemistry of violent men. She found out he was depressed, bipolar, and had manic episodes. By discovering this, Bundy got a 24-hour extension before his scheduled execution. Three days before his next execution, he decided to confess to try and extend his life. He started confessing to everything, revealing all of his secrets to clean his soul before dying. Thousands of people showed up the day of his execution screaming “Burn Bundy Burn” outside, making shirts, signs, singing songs to mock his death. Ted Bundy said they’re crazy. He talked about killing himself because he didn’t want to give Florida the power of killing him but Dr. James Bobson talked him out of it. After he was pronounced dead, everyone outside cheered and screamed with joy.

Ted Bundy was a very interesting man. He manipulated over 30 women, killed, and raped them. His charismatic personality helped his manipulation. It was hard to believe for some people that he was capable of doing such horrifying things because he seemed like one of them, normal. After years of going to trial and being in prison, it changed Bundy. He became more impatient with the court, he started becoming more aggressive, and he started showing more of the anger built inside. The true Bundy started to reveal itself. The act he was putting on for everyone to see was disappearing. 

Throughout the documentary, Ted Bundy would be describing his opinion about things and they would show pictures or videos of exactly what he was talking about. For example, in episode two, he talks about how women are merchandise and how someone who kills young attractive women like this does it for a reason. While he was talking about that, videos of women in nice clothing were showed walking across the street, smiling, living their life. I think they did this because it puts the image in your head that he killed innocent women, just trying to live their lives. Another thing the documentary did was show the crime scene photos and pictures of all the victims. This was very heart wrenching for me because they didn’t do anything wrong, none of his victims did. He killed whoever fell into his trap.

I learned a lot about Ted Bundy and his character. Information I learned in this documentary is information I wont be able to find anywhere else. I thought of Ted Bundy as just another serial killer before watching this. After watching, I can’t believe how manipulative, scary, and crazy he truly was. This left me wondering if there is more than the 36 victims he admitted to. 

The bigger question is, is Zac Efron the perfect choice for this role? Again, I think he is because of Ted Bundy’s personality he showed the public and his victims before he killed them. Ted and Zac share common personality traits like being trustworthy, attractive, and charming. I also think it will be a challenge for Zac to get into the mindset of such an evil person. Another very interesting fact i found out while watching this documentary is, the Judge sentencing him to Death Row called him an “extremely wicked, shockingly evil, and vile” human being. This is also the title to the movie Zac Efron is starring in. 

If you want to watch the Ted Bundy Tapes, it’s on Netflix. 

[dageek87]

Nick Spencer doesn’t read about the comic book characters he writes: A treatise

Ok. So fans have gotten a lot of recent news about the upcoming Secret Empire event.  Needless to say, the girls are not pleased.  It seems as though the new Hydra contingent will not only be headed up by Steve Rogers but that the Master of Magnetism himself, Magneto, will be amongst the Hydra rank and file.

I remember back in the days of 2016 when the first issue of Steve Rogers: Captain America came out.  There was a civil war (teehee) amongst the fandom about Steve being revealed as a Hydra agent.  The against camp argued that it was an insult for Captain America, THE CAPTAIN AMERICA to be an agent of a Nazi Death Cult considering he was made by 2 Jewish people (Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, also WW2 veterans) to fight said Nazis. The for camp then countered with creative license and give the story a chance and technically they’ve done this story before.  

I was firmly in the against camp.  Not only was it insulting to the Jewish creators, readers, fans, etc.  It also didn’t make sense to me as I understood the character.  The thing that makes the charater is his moral center.  It is unshakeable not just because he was raised right or his life experiences. He is the way he is because he is.  He would be Steve Rogers: Captain America regardless of anything.  The man is incorruptable and he always bends to the side of goodness. Much like Tony Stark’s true superpower is his intelligence, Steve Rogers’s true superpower is his moral compass. This is why, depending on the times or the issues, Captain America is either with you or against you. And if he is against you, you are wrong.

However, after hearing all of these glowing “reviews” about the story, I relented and read. Don’t ask how I read the books. SHHH! Just don’t think about it! And my determination is that Nick Spencer’s run on Captain America and Marvel’s all around new direction with the character is good...if you don’t think about it too hard.

Like, no joke, if you know even a modicum about the CA continuity and that branch of the Marvel Universe, the story falls apart. While I was reading the comic, I was thinking wow this would be a great story if it was anyone else.  The facts about Steve Rogers do not match up to any of his actions in the story.  So here’s my issues and complaints. 

SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1.  It is revealed in the 1st issue, that Elisa Sinclair is a woman in his altered memories that turned Sarah Rogers, Steve’s mother, into a Hydra activist. Elisa engineers both Steve’s parents murders and absconds with Steve to Europe. 1st of all it’s public record that Steve’s parents died of disease.  In the story they have yet to explain what happened to Steve’s grandfather (who was still alive when he was a child) or Steve’s childhood friend, Arnold Roth. This creates a problem because both characters would notice his kidnapping and fingers would be pointed at the weird woman who was constantly hanging around the house. Who also suddenly disappeared.

2. It is revealed in the run that Steve was sent to a Hydra school after he was kidnapped by Elisa. He develops a friendship with one Helmut Zemo, when Zemo defends him from some bullies. This is framed as a mirror of MCU Steve Rogers’s relationship with MCU Bucky.  However, in the continuity, Helmut wasn’t even alive at the time.  He was born well after CA “died.”

3.  In the 1st issue, Steve tosses Jack Flagg from a plane leading to his death.  Not only was it unnecessary, it was down right fucked up.  Regardless what happens next, Steve killed an innocent man. On purpose. How can the character recover from that?

4. Then there is the issue of the serum. Spencer already set up that in the alternative memories that Steve didn’t get the Super Soldier Serum from Erskine. But the explaination doesn’t hold up under examination. The serum is designed to work on a mentally, emotionally, (morally?) perfect human.  It’s almost magic. All other versions of the serum have failed to varying degrees on EVERYONE ELSE. Including the near perfect Isaiah Bradley because of flaws in character.  If Steve was trained to be a morally corrupt nazi, wouldn’t the serum fail him too?

5. Kobik is the key to all of this and that is a PROBLEM. Mind you, Kobik’s character is so vaguely and poorly written by multiple writers, we don’t really know how exactly her powers work.  I mean she has the power to turn Steve into...this with no resistance from him at all. We learn that she can change anything into something else in the Thunderbolts comics. She is the Cosmic Cube in the form of a 4 year old girl, whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean.  And she has been turned by the likes of the goddamn Red Skull?! I get it she’s 4, but either she’s a child or a god. Either she can competently weild her powers or not. And depending on who’s writing her, it’s either or.

6.  Then there’s the biggest problem of all: Steve Rogers’s friends and the rest of the superhero community.  Bucky has been knowing Steve for years. Sharon and Steve share a bed. And Sam has done both (no joke).  If anyone knows anything about Steve, it’s them.  So there’s no real reason that they haven’t found it out yet. The only person who know’s Steve has been brainwashed is Kobik, Red Skull and a brainwashed Eric Selvig. The people who know him the least.  Now to be fair, they tried to explain why his friends wouldn’t suspect him. But that dog ain’t hunting.  Especially with Bucky, who knows firsthand what someone being turned looks like.

I could go on. It seems that Nick Spencer is a shock value type of writer.  He writes something shocking in one issue then tries to make it make sense later and it is not working out. It also seems like this dude really doesn’t like the character and really wanted to write him in the worst light.  Spencer has written a conniving, power hungry, meglomaniac, who hates doing his own dirty work. There is nothing honorable about this Captain America.  Nothing is redeemable about this Captain America.  And that’s the point.  Nick Spencer, much like Zach Snyder and Frank Miller with Superman, wanted to break this character.  Because it is fun.  It’s exicting to put our dark fantasies into the mouths of our icons.  It certainly is easier to write.

But therein lies the problem with life and comics.  No one walks away from their wrongdoings clean.  Hank Pym didn’t get redeemed after he beat Janet Van Dyne.  We’re still talking about how Iron Man betrayed and imprisoned his friends during the 1st Civil War. This fall from grace that the original Captain America is facing is a fall in the worst way.  Because it is not him, mainly.  But also, this a fall he won’t be able to walk away from.  I legit don’t know what they can do with Steve Rogers after this except kill the character and put him on the self.  For them to go be to the way he was: the occasionally self- righteous but good at heart Pater Familias would ring hypocritical.  It would be unearned.

And now he wants to do this same thing to one Eric Lensherr.  I hate Hydra Cap and I am sad that the character came to this.  But making Magneto Hydra is the greatest slap in the face to the people who made comics what it is today.  People have this notion that Magneto is a bad guy because he hates humans.  This is a false equivalency that is shared with his inspiration Malcolm X.  See they hate so they are just as bad as their enemies.  This is All Lives Matter at its worst.  Magneto has a right to be hostile!  Humanity, in particular the Nazis, killed the whole of his family.  Humanity was the reason his current family is broken.  He lost his whole life to the bigotry of man, so you damn right he hates humanity.  He learned how to hate and kill (to paraphrase) from the foot of his masters!  Magneto is an adversary, he is an antagonist, he may sometimes even be a villian.  But a bad man? How could he be when everything he does is for the betterment of his PEOPLE! The people who are being killed due to bigotry and bottom lines. And now the alledged House of Ideas is lumping him in with a group of people he fought his whole life against?!  A group of people who wouldn’t hesitate to kill super Jewish ass?!  If anybody was to be the hero of this Nazi Death Cult takeover story, IT’S MAX GODDAMN EISENHARDT because NOBODY knows better what Hydra is capable of than him!

Now, I’m hot.  Let me wrap this up.  I don’t want anybody to get me wrong.  I would love to see twists and changes in these characters.  Stasis is the death of characters like these because they do not live and die in just one book.  They are legacies, passed down through the years. So long as there are new and interesting stories to tell, they should be told.  Or else they go the way of Prince Valiant or the Shadow.  But these characters don’t just belong completely to one person.  They belong to the company, yes.  But without the consumer, without the fan.  They are worthless.  And there is only so much you can bend, and ignore the history of the character until you have warped it for good. Stories have meaning and a bad story leaves everyone worse off. My best advice to people who are mad at the direction Marvel is going with these characters is to read up and watch the stories where they get it right.  Then write, draw, envision the characters the way you see fit (within the legal limits though).  And lastly use your power as a consumer to show the company the way.  Boycott this event.  Support other artist who are doing the work and telling the stories, especially if they’re women and POC.  Hell, I might have to fall on the sword and see what the Distinguished Competition is up to.  Maybe they will fix it, maybe they won’t but it doesn’t have to be something you tolerate.

Fin

#nick spencer #captain america #hydra cap #magneto #secret empire #longest i have ever wrote about comics

[vegas-glitz]

The Long term of the Legislation School

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I grew up in the 1980s when it seemed that everybody needed to be a law firm like the types on LA Law. The 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s (up until 2007) was the period of Big Legislation when the guarantee of a $ 100,000 to $ 160,000 wage was, it appeared, prolonged to anyone graduating from a leading 20 school and to a lot of folks graduating from a top 50 regulation school with terrific grades and clerkships.

Even in previously bad economies - 1990 to 1992, 1998-2000 - the legislation career seemed to endure, if not thrive. Hundreds of 1000's of clever (and even not-so-good) folks were being inspired to come to be attorneys by a blend of outrageous salaries - in 2007, Cravath, one particular of the best company regulation companies in the country, made available bonuses of practically $ 100,000 for major accomplishing associates - federally subsidized college student financial loans, the meant safety of a secured job (with its bar tests), and putative prestige (see any John Grisham novel).

Of training course, the truth of the matter of all that was usually a tiny suspect. While a top rated 20 law grad back again in the day could expect to make a 6-determine income, except he chose to go into public curiosity law, several graduates did not have the very same luck. And whilst it's genuinely neat to consider of yourself as a large minded constitutional litigator, or a trial attorney from a Grisham novel, the simple, day-to-working day practical experience of getting a lawyer was often (and however is) grinding.

Moments of glory are number of and far concerning. Don't get me mistaken, I enjoy the exercise of criminal regulation and take pleasure in serving to consumers. And as my father may say, it's greater than digging a ditch. But the working day-to-working day practice of regulation is not out of a film script. It entails helping people with a DWI, drug cost, or embezzlement or larceny. Only not often are most attorneys concerned in substantial profile murder trials involving film stars!

The need for law faculty and the government subsidization of school led to the progress of the school business, aided by publications like US Information with its ludicrous faculty rankings. Schools became economic earnings facilities of universities (like successful sporting activities courses) and in numerous situations had been necessary to kick again funds to the central university administration to assistance underwrite the rest of the fewer worthwhile elements of the college.

The expenses ended up passed on to current graduates and, eventually, the authorized client in the sort of large legal costs, particularly in company law.

Who benefited? 1 of the beneficiaries was the regulation college college. The typical college member at a first rate regulation school has following to no realistic expertise. The human being went to a best law faculty, practiced for a year or two, and then went out into the legal academy position market at the age of 28 or 29 to get a school job. A number of regulation professors preserve up their practical capabilities by carrying out professional bono lawful get the job done, or by consulting on the facet.

Most regulation professors know cherished very little about what it means to be a lawyer, and they're actually happy of this. That's mainly because the rest of the college has constantly appeared at legislation colleges (and enterprise universities) as fundamentally trade educational institutions. Because law professors don't want to believe they're engaged in a large Vocational Technical school, they consider to distance themselves from the follow of legislation.

Next, the genuine curriculum connected with legislation university has adjusted very little from the 1930s, when it centered on 19th century common legislation concepts or historical tort or property law thoughts. These concepts have extremely very little to do with the primary way residence, tort, or criminal legislation is practiced in modern The us. Most of these regulations are statutory, not prevalent law, in any case.

As if to excuse their woefully insufficient capability to train legal professionals, legislation professors and law college deans appreciate to...explain to incoming pupils that they don't teach you how to be a law firm, they practice you how to feel like a lawyer by means of the Socratic Method.

Of program "pondering like a lawyer" is a silly idea. All it truly means is wondering cautiously about an difficulty. Certainly, it demands a tiny little bit of self-discipline. But it is not complicated, and does not call for three several years of school.

The Socratic Method - the one particular that was manufactured well known by John Houseman's Professor Kingsfield in The Paper Chase - is also bunk. Most professors don't do it effectively. And all it quantities to is inquiring pointed thoughts and hypotheticals about anything that was just study, and will soon be overlooked.

The trouble with the Regulation Faculty - which has nearly often been ineffective at teaching attorneys - is that it has a built in constituency - the law professor - who is going to combat like heck to retain his or her privileged place.

Regulation college has been encountering a boom in the past 4 a long time, as routinely takes place when the overall economy can take a dive. That's since rather than go out into an uncertain occupation market place, a whole lot of younger the latest higher education grads (and even mid-vocation specialists) choose to go to faculty in the hopes of increasing their employability. (What they're normally undertaking is growing their financial debt load, with no acceptable hope of paying out these financial loans again. As a result the clamoring to make pupil loans disconnected in personal bankruptcy!)

But as the authorized market proceeds to endure, even in comparison to other components of the financial state, likely college students are heading to acquire other paths, and convert to other sorts of occupations, even if people professions are a lot less monetarily fulfilling, mainly because the sheer amount of money of revenue it requires to go to college for a few a long time is far too much to take into account spending.

In the latest discussions with fellow attorneys, I've listened to about how even prime law universities are owning difficulty putting their college students. That places the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, which is a good regulation university, but not a great regulation college, in a incredibly hard situation.

If the College of Virginia (a best 10 law school) has difficulties placing one particular-3rd of its student course in top rated law organization positions, what does that necessarily mean for the UNC-CH which is not as prestigious and also which has the unlucky problem of becoming in a state with only two medium sized legal marketplaces (Charlotte and Raleigh) and competing with other fantastic law educational institutions, such as Duke (although Duke tends to send pupils out of state) and Wake Forest, as nicely as Campbell (which is an underrated university that trains its graduates far better than UNC) and North Carolina Central (which is the greatest benefit for a lawful education and learning in the state and trains some great attorneys).

There are also lots of UNC Chapel Hill grads in North Carolina authorities to at any time let the regulation college disappear completely, but its privileged situation will start out to erode. As will the privileged situation of several regulation educational facilities.

So what will happen to the Law School? First, the smarter college deans will give up the pretense that legislation school is not a trade school. They will embrace the thought that the total curriculum should really be revamped to concentration on the functional abilities needed to practice law.

Up coming law college will will need to alter, downward, tuition to replicate the accurate earning prospective related with the diploma, and increased levels of competition from alternative methods of understanding how to practice legislation, and elevated need as men and women understand that becoming a lawyer isn't as financially fulfilling as it at the time was.

At last, endeavours will be released to modify the way the legal profession is regulated. Most state bars require 3 yrs of lawful instruction. This will come below assault as a lot more and much more folks notice that this need is absurd on its deal with.

Resource by Damon Chetson

[punchdrunkdoc]

Updated K-drama list (2)

4 more shows DONE. I’m seriously obsessed guys. 

I’ve also updated the list to include some ratings - mainly how many tissues you’ll need, and how amazing the architecture/interior design is in the houses. Seriously, some shows I could barely concentrate on the subtitles because the sets were so gorgeous!

FAVOURITES

1. Crash Landing on You

He’s from North Korea. She’s from South Korea. They never should have met, but they’ll change each other’s lives.

This was my first K-drama, and its still my favourite. The full cast of characters is great, the lead romance is ANGSTALICIOUS and its genuinely, laugh out loud funny (when its not making you cry or swoon).

Male lead: Officially the best boyfriend ever. With added dimples.

Tear-jerk factor: 4/5

ArchitecturePorn: 2/5  

2. Descendants of the Sun

A special forces Captain meets a capable and beautiful trauma surgeon. They feel an instant bond, but their jobs and philosophy on life get in the way, threatening to tear them apart.

Halfway through this show, I seriously thought this might overtake CLOY as my No. 1 fav. I absolutely LOVE watching competent people doing their jobs really, really well - and this had it in spades. I also ADORE the male lead character, and the romance was beautiful…but it didn’t quite nail the angst, and the last minute was a bit twee, which kept it in the No.2 spot.

Male lead: A cocky, charming, absolute BADASS...with the most adorable, cheeky smile.

Tear-jerk factor: 2/5

ArchitecturePorn: 0/5 (mostly crumbling buildings and sterile hospitals!)

3. Healer

The lives, and pasts, of a hot shot reporter, a spunky young tabloid journalist and a mysterious thief-for-hire intersect.

This was so addictive - the plot was tight and engaging, and this is one of the few shows I’ve watched where there didn’t seem to be a lot of filler. I loved the central 3 characters, and the romance was amazing. I especially loved that the male lead started off such a brooding loner, but he became super-affectionate as soon as he admitted his feelings. So many good hugs and lots of face-cradling in this one.

Male lead: Effortlessly beats up 2 henchmen while comforting his girl over the phone. What’s more to add?

Tear-jerk factor: 1/5

ArchitecturePorn: 1/5

4. My Holo Love

A lonely woman falls for a holographic AI and then meets his creator...

I love the concept of this show (I’m a big sci-fi nerd), and it was beautifully shot. The lead relationship is well developed and it doesnt fall into a typical love triangle. I’ve come to realise it utilises a lot of K-drama tropes (face-blindness! shared childhood trauma!), but it does it really well, imho.

Male lead: Tortured loner genius. My catnip.

Tear-jerk factor: 2/5

ArchitecturePorn: 2/5

5. Goblin

A 900yr old immortal guardian finally meets the ‘bride’ who will end his existence

Once I got over the slight ick-factor of the age difference between the two characters at the beginning, I really fell for this show and it’s world. It had me in tears. And I especially loved the secondary character of the Grim Reaper.

Male lead: Surprising innocent and funny for a 900 year old

Tear-Jerk factor: 5/5

ArchitecturePorn: 3/5

6. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim

An personal assistant decides to quits her job in order to get a life. Her boss has other ideas.

I loved the female lead in this - as I said, I’m a sucker for uber-competent people, and the actress is STUNNING. Her boss is self-centred, entitled and vain...but over time, somehow that just becomes endearing! This show also has lots of very good kissing scenes...and when he started to unbutton her shirt during one encounter, I was SCANDALISED (did I mention these shows are usually very PG!!)

Male lead: Like I said, somehow makes vanity and narcissism endearing. Also not afraid to get his shirt off and flash his 6-pack. Bonus.

Tear-Jerk factor: 0/5

ArchitecturePorn: 4/5

7. Legend of the Blue Sea

A mermaid comes onto land to find the man she loves

The (literal) fish-out-of-water scenes in the first half of this show were hilarious - the actress is a comic genius! The romance was nicely done, and there wasn’t a lot of extraneous plot or too many characters. I couldn’t stop watching this one!

Male lead: Cocky, arrogant conman with a soft mushy centre

Tear-Jerk factor: 1/5

ArchitecturePorn: 3/5 (I want a hidden room!)

Notable mentions

These are shows which I completed and enjoyed but they didn’t set my world on fire. Usually because they were overly long, or the plot got in the way of the characters/love story.  If I have to fast forward large chunks of side-plot and endless tertiary character interactions, its not making my favourite list

1. Suspicious Partner

A young, hardworking lawyer has her life turned upside down when she is put on trial for murder.

This was overly long, but the serial killer plot had some nice twists and it was central to the story, so it didn’t feel extraneous like some of these types of plots do. I really enjoyed the central romance - the 2 characters sparked off each other well, and the female lead actually got to kick some ass in this!

2. My Love from the Star

Alien stranded on earth meets an actress soon before he’s due to be rescued.

I finally gave this another chance, and I’m glad I did. The female lead got a LOT less irritating, and I enjoyed the present-day romance and all the flashes back to the past. However, the ending was really abrupt and disappointing (which kept it out of my favourite list). There should have been 1 less filler episode in the middle, and a decent, fleshed out finale instead.

3. Strong Girl Bong-Soon

A woman with inherited super-strength gets a job as a bodyguard for an eccentric young CEO

The lead couple in this are AD-OR-ABLE and I loved their relationship. But there was a weird tone issue in this show. The romance is super cute...but there’s a whole dark sub plot involving multiple women being held captive by a psychopath. I ended up fast forwarding most of that, and just concentrated on the romance.

4. Touch Your Heart

Star actress rocked by scandal works at a law firm to prepare for her comeback role

This starred the secondary couple from Goblin and I really like them, even though they are playing very different characters in this (more opposites attract, than doomed lovers). At first I found this too ‘cutesy’, but I’ve since realised the sound effects/graphics are a K-drama thing and not unique to this show, so I’m not as down on it as I was. I still had to fast forward a lot of the secondary romances which I wasn’t invested in.

5. Hyde, Jekyll and Me

A woman becomes involved in the lives of 2 men, who share one body

This stars Hyun Bin from CLOY and he is sooo watchable, especially as the slick-haired, glasses-wearing, uptight Seo-Jin. And the show started well...but quickly went off the rails into a convoluted, dragged-out revenge plot.

6. Melting Me Softly

Two people are accidentally cryogenically frozen for 20 years. They have to navigate the modern world and their new lives together.

Another good concept, but it ultimately descended into little more than a light work-place romance. Had a couple of good kissing scenes, but it was overall a bit forgettable.

And the DNF:

1. My Secret Romance

I started watching this because I was looking for something a little less PG - the characters have a one night stand in the first episode! But I couldn’t get passed the bad acting and cheap production.2

2. Master’s Sun

I liked the premise but the 2 leads weren’t very attractive (at least in comparison to the insanely beautiful actors/actresses in the shows listed above). Call me superficial, but I couldn’t see myself spending 17 hours watching them and willing them to kiss.

#cloy #descendant of the sun #goblin #healer #my holo love #legend of the blue sea #kdrama #melting me softly #hyde jekyll me #touch your heart #suspicious partner #my love from the star #strong girl #whats wrong with secretary kim

[cece-essence-blog]

Redeem Codes For Town Of Salem

Place use one a different to lynch the numerous evil positions. I'll restore h fuck farmville. Fuck farmville." basic amnesiac i am just destined to be evil and fuck the location in excess of! Arsonist 1, two, three, four, The way works this video game do the trick then? Clearly, when i previously stated, the aim can be to continue to be lively time-consuming a satisfactory amount of to figure out your current competitors useless, frequently when you find yourself murdered or when you find yourself lynched. |Goods like whispers, last wills and also a democratic voting unit guarantee that absolutely everyone incorporates a reasonable say in who passes away and who's harmless. The murderer can be described as straightforward 1, picking out 1 prey every day and aiming to continue lively as time-consuming as you can. The 2 fundamental lev bot modes, basic and personalized, are normally perfectly well-balanced, and personalized will allow for All right, vigilantics is just not the most beneficial lev bot go into on the globe but it could possibly get unexciting sticking with a couple of complements, but swift method demonstrates promises. This brings about a further air flow of suspense and distrust and assists to make certain that complements with mates really are a great time. Whilst there are many hardships with managing for among the list of modes plus some lev bot modes which happen to be normally deserted, Town Of Salem Codes Free is still a remarkable lev bot to see, which is only getting better in the long run. Most people incorporates a last will that's disclosed around the place when they expire, which is a integral weapon, as You will find at this time 30 positions dangling all round, and some of them obtain their authentic proficiency, one example is using the capability to speak with the useless during the night time or having the ability to tell you one self say for example a mayor, who's an downtown neighborhood associate, in period. Keep on, if there's nobody obtaining the vigilante purpose let's say he's becoming honest? Jailor is known as a townie purpose, even though he will be able eliminate his prisoners, at random. You will probably find your nice liar, or else. You might want to identify the positions, how and if to rest competently and above all easy methods to adequately make use of a desperate observe as well as your will. You are taking irrespective of whether place, mafia, or basic purpose. |This is a nice small deal brand which i have fallen a couple of cash to personally to aid the game. It's basically the exact same layout with some other is apparently experienced down below at nighttime woodland record. The very first, and then the 1 i'd propose is on steam at Town Of Salem Codes Free on steam. You should check out of the blank media channels memberships twitch.television set funnel that the devs enjoy with addicts every week to figure out correctly how online they're employing their regional community. Or you would be normally the one who's over the prowl, and you must do some hurting to your. At the start of each individual lev bot you obtain a role that specifies your proficiency and targets. particularly when it had been your testimony that put them there. If you are working on this with hefty types and extremely categories of mates this can alllow for the enjoyable time wishing to puzzle out who's undertaking what dangling all round. have a hard time searching out men and women to enjoy with. Trouble average lev bot have fun with playing score 4.5/5 graphic score 2.5/5 tracks 2/5 tos spend the basic lev bot is definitely equivalent as mafia for which a small amount of mafia” anyone have to trick, rest and eliminate in cohesiveness versus ‘townspeople’ who don't know 1 anothers identities. arbitrary the great outdoors of your positions and then the acceptance of an lev bot, each individual Town Of Salem Codes Free lev bot is different. Generally the graphic do not know do the trick while you can formally yet have fun with playing without one. |it is actually defense. You realize, women and men memberships you'd have fun with playing in computers while you were found to be uninterested and previously fully understood everything you ended up becoming properly trained due to like a personal pc online gamer for quite some time or perhaps which had been just me…. Then, each individual person is available their purpose, that has a amount of proficiency with an allegiance to 1 of 3 ‘sides’ the townies, who’s fundamental target can be to take away all evil positions, the neutrals, who all their own personal authentic targets one example is ‘survive up until the conclusion of your game’ and ‘kill absolutely everyone who'd oppose you” and then the mafia, who’s fundamental target is definitely to shed the townies. So term of word of caution, do you have to unlike multi person memberships then you definitely will not likely have a very cool time with funding of scotland salem… the game’s graphics are somewhat The voting page has incredibly unfamiliar sounding tracks to offer of your feel of ‘is this person becoming honest?’ You are applying the computer mouse to click through keys along with athletes to help you aim at they all together with proficiency therefore you utilize the keyboard set to model and seek the advice of other athletes. some weeks i’ve carried out Town Of Salem Codes Free, i’ve competent a couple of tad bugs. The sport may perhaps be carried out with the aid of web browser model, which is built in display move set of scripts with machines designed in c . The basic hurting factions is the serial killers, arsonists and werewolves. In order to push someone to the bear, in excess of 50 percent of your person count number have to political election to enable them to be lynched. Only 3 tests may perhaps be presented daily. The evening time takes place when most positions have 35 a few seconds to apply their proficiency. |Soon after becoming Scored memberships contain a jailor, 2 place investigatives, 2 place helps, an downtown neighborhood preventive, 1 place hurting, 1 basic evil, harmless, and hurting. They can be a vigilante, seasoned or mafioso . This purpose has the ability to look at mafia conversation during the night time, which is notified dealing with which the mafia trips that overnight. This purpose can pick to eliminate 1 person during the night time, upto and this includes even more 3 moments. concentrates which has a hurting purpose, the bodyguard destroys the hurting purpose and passes away (this bypasses overnight immunity). This purpose can pick 1 person during the night time. This phenomenal purpose determines anyone every evening for any mafia to eliminate. This purpose determines someone to blackmail every evening. As soon as the consort trips a murderer, the consort will expire. Doused athletes will likely be notified thus. This phenomenal purpose is dynamic only on even numbered night time (night time of your 100 % moon). |Discourse chat time may perhaps be timed or else, depends more details about the bash(your insurance policies, 10-20 minutes is the right starting point time, with 35 a few seconds a smaller amount of for any person wiped out). Judgement the verdict part can or might not be timed. You’re the lookout, paying attention to within place and ensuring no one suspect is hiding. I have been both of them and pointless to say… extremely tough whatsoever unless of course you might be making this cool. Maxresdefault (1) the game is great with good anyone you may enjoy with. Members will evaluate their When it is absolutely everyone has decided their positions, they will set their notes encounter low. The moderator will display that player's purpose card around the investigator. To take action, anyone have to suggest the other man and say, i accuse you . If the majority of athletes political election remorseful relating to the man, that person is put up in addition to their purpose is openly disclosed to the or all athletes. There are many processes the game can complete. Investigator every night you might make a choice someone to researching, showing their actual purpose. |You could possibly make a choice someone to researching, Within the tie your political election would be the planning political election. other overnight you modify through the 100 % moon and choose two adjacent athletes to eliminate. Quite a lot of good memberships surfaced out of this genre like pandemic 2, comfortable wheels and also, if you're able pay a visit to this point, minecraft. Then, each individual person is available their purpose, that has a amount of proficiency with an allegiance to 1 of 3 ‘sides’ the townies, who’s fundamental target can be to take away all evil positions, the neutrals, who all their own personal authentic targets one example is ‘survive up until the conclusion of your game’ and ‘kill absolutely everyone who'd oppose you” and then the mafia, who’s fundamental target is definitely to shed the townies. cycle all sorts of levels during. About 50Percent of your panel is followed through your ui, which which has a anyone will most likely be a vast turnoff explore there’s without a doubt very little aesthetically entertaining going on right behind the ui, i truly do not have that it must be a huge matter. By making use of wording conversation works extremely well extremely to maximum just what the person can tell in a very fixed fee to your time, for example when they're starting their defence versus becoming I furthermore received an collisions that the lev bot decided to not ever reply to the undoubtedly one of my suggestions within a fundamental predicament through which i found myself dangling the godfather and my 1 political election put together the main difference of him trekking of your podium as well as these other mafia rather lynching the only real other townie left behind, giving up us the game because they opportunity me here overnight and won on the other hand i haven't received this condition seem since… same goes with Three of the people place, on the other hand, are incurred anyone of an In daytime, all 15 athletes can discuss, accuse, rest, and discount a different athletes. This is when much of the positions will use their proficiency, where mafia can converse and plan their deeds. |While the lev bot mechanics are certainly well-balanced, it's the key in players theirselves provide you with the sports activity rendering it a fantastic time. Due to this fact, Town Of Salem Codes Free isn't without any vile language, grimy recommendations, and within hygienic allusions. Similar to the bona fide lifestyle lev bot, mafia, Town Of Salem Codes Free trials easy methods to rest your path originating from a lynching, and just how you can easlily back once again some other person within a place. Meanwhile, the entire process of laying covers easy methods to colour a benign image of yourself to sooner or later the location, to allow them to count on you into lynching the highest chap, or they could think that you while you say you've put together an error. To illustrate, do you have to case a sheriff purpose, and you simply say, by is known as a janitor (mafia),” you are unable to prove to be that because the Seeing that purpose tailored plans may perhaps be immediately on the wiki, it's instructed that you must study that for distinctive can help. tvtropes.org, a chewbacca safeguard is winning” a disagreement by difficult your attacker so much they discontinue quarrelling together with you.ins whatever the absurdity of an strategy, this functions. Problematic conclusions are a smaller amount of an individual fallacy, as opposed to normal hefty blend of fallacies. Or probably y states in the usa an individual have to expire, then y is suspect. That is exactly what the jester would love firstly. Generally some specific positions are simply able to be lynched, and not wiped out. Doused an arsonist has doused |This might spell failure in the event the witch can manage a hurting purpose. Beginning back once again on apr 26th, blankmediagames has revealed they're seeking out on-going financing as the lev bot has transpired $131,007 with plainly ways to get were found to be constructed with a $ten thousand target. So lets find out more about what almost all these divisions covers the pilgrim for $20 buying one replicate of your card lev bot. For more information and then the capability to check on of Town Of Salem Codes Free, brain to the assert rrnternet site. Members have arbitrary paired in a very lobby, and after that tossed straight into a community sq. With respect to the financing, there are many processes the designers need to offer the lynching, finger pointing feel. For even more in your impressions on Town Of Salem Codes Free, have our summary of Town Of Salem Codes Free within june distribution of an indie lev bot mag. Lots of people within community are townspeople, who've all sorts of positions and duties, many them slightly crazy, like seeking to do s蠮ces with the useless, nevertheless other ones politics, enjoy being the mayor, or linked to spying and analyzing and jailing/executing. Consistently, it can be difficult to be successful a game title, along with playing my very first 50 memberships i discovered my own file to be a modest little within .500, largely due to becoming trapped playing the mafia frequently. By and large, it's a game that's both of them uncomplicated and enjoyable.