#magneto was never the villain fuck you

[devotedlystrangewizard]

something about how subjective videogames (and media in general) can be regarding their own characters

#like yeah maybe thats just MY clouded judgment bc im always fixating on the characters the narrative wants you to hate #but you can really tell. in a lot of games #its annoying when its too obvious #whem good & evil are arbitrarily assigned to characters #how personal bias shines through SO easily #and im not going to go complain! because i might just be really fucking biased myself! #but also why is zenos unforgivable. why can we work with gaius & be kinda friendly with emet-selch & then when zenos helps ur options are: #'fuck you' and 'you can help but also fuck you' like ????? #i absolutely understand like narratively they need to pick a path and also there are a lot of people who hate him and i get it #and like. ffxiv is one of the lesser offenders. yk all those superhero movies where the villain is a leftist with some really good point #s and also a terrorist so theyre evil. yeah #magneto was never the villain fuck you #you cant give some of your characters depth and ignore others thats not how it works #you cant give me a fucked up family and expect me not to feel bad for the youngest member of said family sorry there i said it #i cant be objective sbout him rn bc of the hyperfixation but i am trying. very much #im not even talking about a redemption arc fuck no let him stay dead but can you. stop forcing me to be a bitch when hes relevant #obviously after so many thoughts i have probably crafted my own version of him in my head but that is irrelevant sorry

[pearwaldorf]

The problem with mutants is they are a convenient metaphor for whatever oppression you need. Sometimes multiple at once.

Which is to say they destroyed Genosha* in X-Men 97 and I Had Some Emotions about it and *gestures vaguely around*.

You should read this article about Magneto and how his ties to Judaism parallel changing attitudes about the Holocaust, Zionism, and Israel:

Read enough X-Men comics, and you’ll notice that the fundamental feature of the franchise—the idea of mutants as eternal stand-ins for Jews, or black people, or queer people—is its essential pessimism. In X-Men, minority life is wholly defined by oppression. No improvement can last; progress is always an illusion; as figures in an ongoing, eternal piece of intellectual property, mutants must always be hated and feared. This enforced, recursive Marvel-Time unwittingly echoes what we might call Jewish-Time: the idea that Jewish people were, are, and always will be oppressed by antisemitism, cast as the same villain in different costumes. Persia is Rome, Russia is Germany. Rather than discrete historical occurrences—contingent, contested, complex—they are foreordained, essential, and inescapable. There is only the pogrom, forever. 

It is one of the most thoughtful examinations of what's going on in Gaza in a historical context that I've read, and it is genuinely brilliant.

ANYWAYS. I am going to watch Dead Boy Detectives and hope it doesn't poke any tender spots.

--

* Again? I can never keep any fucking Marvel timeline straight, especially if it's based on the comics.

#pear text #x-men 97 #this was supposed to be the cheeky fun nostalgia romp #not a way for me to process world events

[strawberryraviegutz]

I really REALLY hate those kinds of stupid “hot take” posts. I think they’re just garbage to purposely farm more discourse to cause infighting, but I’ve been holding this in for so long and I need to get it out of my system so here it goes.

Alastor fans are allowed to dislike Valentino. Valentino was made to be a dislikable Villain while Alastor BY VIV’S OWN WORDS is a chaotic neutral antihero based off of Dexter with a moral code. Of course people are gonna like Alastor more than Valentino. The antihero/vigilante is a very popular beloved trope. I mean just look at Magneto and Venom.

You guys claim to want more nuanced characters but when we try and tell you that Alastor is more nuanced BASED OFF OF EVIDENCE FROM THE CREATOR and little possible context clues in the show we get accused of “babying/woobifying him”(as if Val fans haven’t done that to Val). This isn’t a hit piece against all Val fans/simps btw. I may hate that moth, but you guys should be allowed like him without receiving hate and or death threats.

It’s not “hypocrisy” to dislike Valentino or the Vees and like Alastor for the reasons I said above and the four of them aren’t comparable. Yeah they share some traits but overall the only thing Alastor and the Vees have in common are the mistreatment of the souls they own. Like I said, Val fans shouldn’t be attacked for liking him but the thing is…if you’re gonna preach those words then do the same for Alastor fans/simps because we get attacked too.

(Again it’s not all Val stans but it sure it a lot of them. I’ve all so seen Val haters do it too.) Yall claim not to harass people over fictional characters yet will go under Alastor posts and or discussion threads and be like “Uhm actually him and Valentino are the same🤓☝️”.

“He’s worse than Val” “Why can’t we just have a good villain” “Just accept that Alastor is a villain stop babying him” when we’re just minding our own business. Not to mention people going under fanart of Angel! Alastor and being like “erm actually he’d never go to heaven🤪”.

Along with yall bullying the hell out of Alastor selfshippers/simps and using tumblr sexyman as an insult(which reaks of internalized misogyny btw because majority of Alastor simps are women + women are always the first to be made fun of when it comes to characters that Classify as tumblr sexymen being found attractive by them or any character you personally wouldn’t find attractive.)

And yall going around and keep calling Alastor ugly under posts about people gushing about him and i don’t mean lighthearted jokes either because i make fun of the back of his head sometimes too. And full blown harassment. When an Alastor fan provided evidence of Alastor being a more nuanced character which were clips from Viv’s streams, people in the comments and qrts were being extremely rude and dismissive. It got so bad that op deleted the og tweet.

Don’t go around and claim to be against cringe culture but then make fun of people for finding Alastor attractive. And for goodness sake STOP FUCKING CALLING HIM A SLAVE OWNER. And yes he owns souls but that doesn’t matter.

Alastor is canonically half black and its overall disgusting to slap the label “slave owner” onto him knowing damn well that he grew up in the Jim Crow era of America in the Deep South of Louisiana. His existence as a mixed black person back then was basically considered an abomination. With how terrible it was for black people back then, Alastor probably bore witness to a lot of messed up shit growing up and if that’s the case then it’s no wonder he’s so messed up in the head.

This type of behavior has been going on since the days where we only had the pilot and it’s only gotten worse since the show came out. As soon as I saw that scene with husk and Alastor in hell’s greatest dad I automatically knew what was coming. I’m not saying that Alastor Is a good person nor am I saying that what he did to husk was ok. But to go after/make fun of Alastor fans,purposely denying evidence of his character while in the same breath preach against bullying people over liking certain characters makes YOU the hypocrites. So much for anti-harassment. I’m tired. Bye.

#hazbin hotel #vivziepop #vivzieverse #alastor #hazbin alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor #valentino #hazbin hotel valentino #valentino hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel husk #husk hazbin hotel

[random-conspiracy]

Ok, I'm entering my villain (& heroes!) arch aajshashasa. This stupid fixation of superpowers and fiction comic stories.

WELL, HOT TAKE OF THE DAY:

The majority of superpowers in fiction and oc's are boring because they're straightforward. Picture it, there's aaaaaaaaaaaaaaalways someone with the power of:

Mimic someone's power

Invisivility

Steel skin

Puppeteer or any variation of body and mind manipulation (because *wink wink* we're all edgys and saw creepypastas a lot hashas)

Perhaps fly

Ultra speed

And shit like that ajshashasa. Don't get me wrong, those are amazing superpowers. Even just one person in a normal-esque world is a fucking anomaly and represents a game changer.

HOWEVER it's quite boring and honestly quite lazy. Because oh yes! The evil twisted villain of the wee has the power of... mind control. OH BOY! I fucking wonder what is gonna happen! (sacarsm). Or shadow control powers or super force and you know the rest. WHAT a twist! (/s).

And the same goes for the heroes that GOD forbid they're not teenagers or young adults in well shaped bodies BECAUSE UUUUUUFFFFFFFFFF. Call me crazy but if you can fly I doubt you're using at all your muscles the same way a common person does ahshasa. But why fucking not, we can never have enough twinks and women in spandex, can we? ahshahsa.

There's no twist and creative work in a superheroe or a villain or whatever that has JUST that exact power that conveniently works.

I'm a slut for the characters with random and incoherent powers!

That's where this shit goes hard. Beacuse it's so easy to be a superhero whn you can walk through walls or move at high speed. But what happens when you have the power to deconstruct objetcs? Fly just 50 cm off the groud? Exact knowledge of the pupulation in Taiwan (while you live in Argentina)?

What happens to them??? I wanna see the shenanigans, the creative solutions to abnormal problems! And what happens to the powers that become a burden or that straight up are incompatible with the common society. What happens if you're born without bones? If TV signals sometimes cross without way to evade it into your mind?

I wanna see creative villains. With powers like super healing and bubblegum madness. Concidental induction and urbomancy. Hhahshahsas

The thing is not actually that the pwoers are common or simple, the thing is for me that the weaponization in battle is the number one thought. Like, yeah, I bet turning sound waves into lethal blades is powerful but out of battle, does it matter? It means somethig? Can you cut a frozen pizza for dinner or you destroy your whole kitchen?

(Tbf, a story a bout a character struggling to see beyond his powers shapped to battle could be interesting BUT that's another story ahsahsas).

And I'm also bored of the god-like powers. You can fly and you can control minds! For free I guess and with no real consequences. Bceause let's be serious, Spidermand and Superman as archetypes of the hero had their own limitation (not precisely linked to their powers by themselves BUT WHATEVER). They're more or less the exception to this.

I Wanna See Limits

LIMITS. I care 0 if the character can eat the fucking Sun. What I want to see is that power in personal impact and relativity. Sometimes the right (or wrong!) word has more power that destroying the Earth. And a lot of it comes from the limitations. How easy is everything when you have all the power, but the limitations are what shape the plausibility, the humanity and the imagination around it. For example Magneto. It's because of his clear limitations that he scaping from the plastic underground prison in the movies is so fantastic. He uses a creative solution to work around his limits. Amazing!

Idk man, Brandon Sanderson said this shit already. Go see him go see him.

#superpowers #superpowers ideas #superhero #superheroes #supervillain #writing prompt #prompt #I'm so fucking normal about this #ideas #superpower ideas #superpower #oc

[positivelybeastly]

So, a very dear friend of mine asked me why I think that Hank is such a performer - why he's so good at it, why he enjoys it so much - and it's one of those things that I think is so integral to Hank's character that really determines if you 'get' Beast or not.

I think the brass tacks of it is - he enjoys the attention, he enjoys the affirmation, the praise. There's some lines of dialogue from his parents that state that he was basically the best case scenario they could've hoped for, considering his father's radiation accident - sure, he was weirdly strong, sure, his limbs were oversized, but he was otherwise extremely healthy and intelligent and not deformed like they feared he would be.

So there's a degree of a miracle baby thing going on, where they showered him with love and attention and found it hard to be genuinely angry with him, and especially as he went on, as he got more and more plaudits for being brilliant, I think he chased that high a little bit.

He throttles back a bit when he's older, to try and hide because mutant and he does like being normal even if he loves being praised and affirmed as well, but everyone is telling him to keep going, to be as brilliant as he can be - which, to him, means be VISIBLY brilliant, be VISIBLY great at what you do.

And even when he joins the Avengers, even after he achieves that status symbol, he's STILL chasing that affirmation, he's starting to create impossible standards for himself. He feels notably down when he isn't contributing in fights or with his scientific acumen, he takes it hard when people criticise him, and he starts to feel the need now to be a public face for mutantkind.

It's not really something he mentions as being a thing in Avengers because 70s Avengers wasn't all that interested in addressing the mutant angle, but it does become a plot point in New Defenders, where a college student calls him out for being one of the most public mutant faces there is (remember, this is before Xavier outed himself, so, like, the public mutant faces are probably Hank, Magneto, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver . . . PROBABLY A LOT OF VILLAINS, and the X-Men, but they're secretive and known only as a weird paramilitary group) but not DOING anything with that status. And then he takes that hard, and forms a mutant advocacy group, because he wants to be good and be seen to be doing good.

There's also the aspect of needing to aggressively perform both masculinity and humanity - especially in Avengers, he's so hypersexual and so casually intelligent (he spends an entire issue just alternating between the dozen languages he knows for fun) because he wants you to consider him a man, and a human, before he's a Beast.

That's an element of his character that you see really obviously in his human form, where he's a fucking walking thesaurus, but there, it's to stand out, to seem smart, there's a degree of smugness and 'look at meeeee,' but the instant he turns blue and furry, it's more about 'look at me not being a freak.'

That only intensifies when he becomes feline, where you see a sort of melding of the two - he's a lot less casual with his speech, he almost slides back into his Big Words mode, but he also wants you to consider him friendly and approachable, so how much he drops a million dollar quote or word starts to oscillate depending on his audience. He changes depending on who he's talking to.

He also almost never shows his teeth when he smiles.

As for why he's so good at it - practice, a lot of reading, and I think a degree of underrated emotional sensitivity. In his way, he's more empathetic and kind and gentle than Jean can be - granted, Jean was fucking MEGA PISSED over the affair with Scott, but if you look at the way he treats Emma, it's very soft and teasing and nurturing, and he stands up for her even against his best friend Jean, who had psychically brutalised Emma.

She has the cheat code of telepathy, but Hank is just - naturally warm and tender. He's a very sensitive soul, not just in terms of being vulnerable but just knowing what people need to hear and being there for them. He's even capable of empathy for Mr. Sinister of all people.

If Percy had even an ounce of this insight into Hank's character, X-Force Beast would just be a performance. "This is what Krakoa needs, so I'll become it," but he just. Doesn't. Get. That. There are glimmers of it! HE'S SO CLOSE. SO CLOSE TO GETTING IT.

This SHOULD be why X-Force Beast is so overtly evil, why he's so despicable, why he's so stupidly villainous - because it's a performance, because that's the only kind of evil Hank can do, and it's KILLING him to do it. One last great performance, to save everyone he loves.

THAT. THAT. WHERE DID IT GO, BEN?

And, like . . . he's getting . . . a reaction. It isn't the reaction he wants, it isn't a reaction he enjoys, but it's a reaction, people . . . ARE paying attention to him, so in a way, that's telling him to keep going. Like, that'd be such an interesting, fucked up dynamic to lean into, that this is just a bit that went too far, that Hank can't stop himself, that his emotions are all fucked up and no-one can tell it's a performance anymore and no-one can pull him out, that he became the performance, but no.

Just evil.

It just sucks because I bet we're not even going to get a resolution on X-Force Beast's feelings about Krakoa and the Hellfire Gala. About the idea that he was the necessary bastard but it didn't keep them all safe, that all of his plans and gambits failed, that he sacrificed everything for nothing. Judging by X-Force #48, he's probably just going to do some Bond villain shit and get taken down. In his own villain turn, he's just - stripped, of all emotional complexity. There isn't a character there. It sucks, man.

It isn't even subtextual. It's just. It's there.

Like, Hank's fatal character flaws are: a complete insecurity in his own self-worth, a worrying fear that he's failed at everything he's ever tried to do, an anxiety that he's not truly human, never will be, never can be, and will in fact only get worse.

THOSE ARE ENOUGH TO BE GETTING ON WITH.

And he ameliorates those things by being charming and funny and playing to type so people like him.

Like, if these writers understood Hank, they would USE that by emphasising the fact that Hank's insecurities and fears and anxieties are growing to such a scale that it's affecting his ability to make emotional reads on people, and thus he's playing the WRONG role that he thinks they want from him, because that's tragic, and that's understandable, but instead they make it that he's just got an ego, or that he's just plain evil.

LIKE.

YOU COULD LITERALLY HAVE HANK BE PAGLIACCI.

"Heard joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain.

Doctor says, "Treatment is simple. Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up."

Man bursts into tears.

Says, "But doctor...I am Pagliacci.”

Hank is always playing the clown, because it makes people happy and that makes him happy, but when they aren't happy, when the jokes don't work, there's no clown to make him feel better. That's when the bottom falls out. That's when you start getting the troubles. And that is tragic.

THAT is how you justify Hank doing horrible things, by making him chase ever greater jokes to tell, ever greater acts of devotion and amusement and entertainment for his audience, desperately hoping it'll bring the soothing balm of someone telling him he did good, because that is horrible, and that is real, and that is so sad.

But nah, evil.

#outofmuffins #hank mccoy #long post for ts

[pool-of-gwens]

the unofficial rules of reading comic books (in my completely unqualified opinion)

1. do not start by reading Alan Moore comics (speaking from experience,, they're good but I would recommend getting used to the medium and understanding the social context of them first)

2. adapt to any new information given and accept that you will likely never fully understand everything

3. you will eventually find that comic writer that you hate with a burning passion (everyone has one) (and if you don't, you will)

4. new 52 fucking sucks (there are a few exceptions)

5. sometimes they will set up a storyline and then drop it

6. you do not need to understand the context of everything you read

7. you do not have to read everything in order

8. most comics have arcs of about 5-6 issues, these will likely come out at trade paperbacks or graphic novels later

9. YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY HAS GRAPHIC NOVELS!!!

10. try not to get stuck, I know it's easy to just read batman or just read marvel comics but please try to branch out or try something new,,,, reading only X-Men is fun and all but sometimes you gotta read some Blue Beetle too

11. other comic fans have different opinions to you, that's fine

12. every single comic has a biggest fan and a biggest hater (this is okay)

13. support your local comic shop/comic fairs

14. comics can be very dumb

15. the biggest difference between Marvel and DC is the name of the publisher

16. most DC writers/artists have written/drawn Marvel comics and most Marvel writers/artists have written/drawn DC comics

17. You should check out other comic publishers like IDW, Archie, Dark Horse or Image,, or even check out local comic makers in your area

18. canon is the things that stay the same when a different person writes a character

19. at some point every comic fan will read these comics, House of M, Watchmen, One of DC's many Crisis Events, a Marvel comic where The Phoenix Ruins Everything, the Comic you Hate Most in the World, Probably Something Written By Stan Lee and The Sandman

20. no one stays dead except Bucky Barnes, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben

21. the nineties in comics were the nineties in comics

22. you must read comics that don't have batman in it (please I'm begging you)

23. your favourite cartoon was likely inspired by comics (or written by) a comic writer

24. someone else has a completely different interpretation of your favourite character (and both interpretations can co-exist) (it is the nature of a medium that has so many creators telling stories about the same characters for details to contradict sometimes)

25. comics are artforms, they tell stories, they can be beautiful and thought provoking and gut wrenching and heart breaking and hopeful (or they can be none of these things)

26. questioning character choices, small details and information given in the comics you read is the first step to analysing and engaging with the material (so you think batman should kill??? now think about why he doesn't.) (you believe magneto is right??? now tell me why he's considered a villain)

27. sometimes it's deeper than you think

28. sometimes it isn't

29. remember the names of the writers and artists you love, too often comic creators are under appreciated

30. Jeff is people too

(feel free to add more)

#might add more later #comics #marvel #dc comics #batman #x-men #the avengers #jeff the land shark #long post

[stupid-sloot-headcanons]

Okay I don't know if you saw the star and stripe fight for season seven and I won't spoil it, but I think it's interesting to see how a Japanese author perceives an American hero, though I think hero society would be totally different to Japan if bhna was real. Like with how we treat the government, extensions of that government like heroes probably wouldn't have the same celebrity appeal, and because freedom of speech is very strong in America in contrast to Japan which is controlled by government news (apart of the reason why news in Japan is positive, or has some kind of agenda), there's probably footage of hero corruption every day on social media. Hero antis, then there would be the difference in quirk laws. I mean even thinking about American hero comics to Japanese comics, all the American heroes are vigilantes as the default, even if their organizations they work alongside the government or work with them but they aren't under them. Dcau, did it best with Amanda Waller and the justice league, on one hand the government let's them solve the world's problems but are also launching a death attack on them at the same time, because no one is sure what to do. Since the justice league isn't heroes for America their heroes for people who need help. Opm and bhna are very different since hero society is a government organization with vigilantism seen as a crime. All heroes work for the government which leads to them not always helping people who need help, but also being allowed to kill. Batman would never kill since it's the only thing that separates him from his enemies but Hawks can because what separates him from his enemies also happens to be part of his paycheck like or not. Heroes in opm or bhna might not agree with the government or even point out the corporation but that's their government, they're even bound to the country they operate in. Heroes like in marvel or the justice league just solve whatever needs help whenever help is needed, and even will fight against the government if it turns corrupt. Which I think is a very interesting contrast of cultural mindsets

Tbh that's why I like Star and Stripe because she's a very interesting interpretation of American hero celebrities by a Japanese creator. She's much more like a DC hero since Marvel's characters are often maligned or even hated by the citizens in their universe; one of the crossover comics has a panel showing Wanda and Pietro looking in astonishment at a magazine praising heroes and even showing corporate tie ins and ad campaigns with metahumans front and center. So I think Horikoshi as a giant comics fanboy is giving Star and Stripe more of a DC portrayal despite her look being very Captain America inspired.

I've been replaying MUA 2 and remembering various bits of Civil War, including how the catalyst for the entire fucking thing was a disaster that happened on a reality show starring heroes taking down criminals. Treating hero work as entertainment is something a lot of Marvel characters disliked and it led to a villain nuking himself and wiping out an entire town on live television. And I think Hori also takes some inspiration from the Civil War arc showing that ideological split among the Pro Heroes.

Though the biggest inspiration in BNHA is likely X-Men given how Quirks work and esp regarding the metamorph subplot. Of course the Japanese manga interpretation casts Spinner as a roided out rioter that's going too far in fighting against his oppressors, whereas in America you get a lot more readers going "...no fuck this, Magneto is right". Americans are much more willing to side with factions like the League of Villains and the Brotherhood, and I think part of it is because a LOT of American political change came as a result of disrupting the status quo and marginalized people outright fighting for their rights. Ffs our country was founded after we revolted against the British monarchy over taxation and we had an internal conflict over the perceived right to own slaves vs. the right to be free as a supposed pillar of our nation.

I also think a lot of American comic characters are powerful without having powers: ie. Batman and the entire Batfamily, The Punisher, Green Arrow, Iron Man. Given how Deku started out Quirkless I really think Hori wanted him to not ever get powers at first but either he or the editors changed his mind.

#sloot's essays #.bnha #also America would never let their number one representative and hero be a woman lol #I do like that she is very American in terms of her personality tho. like. what we saw of it and her backstory five minutes before she died #also her design is so good. i may not always like how he portrays women but hori kinda popped off with her

[snotsloth]

10 Characters/10 Fandoms/10 Tags

Tagged by @icehearts

Tagging, but don't feel pressured! (Also you do not have to make pretty pictures. Graphic Designer brain just took over and this happened.) @physicalvocalist, @sarenraegalpaladin, @vorpalbun, @captainqster, @leagor-majere, @sundered-souls, @ardberts, @hinganskies, @lilbittymonster, @janzoo

1. Harrowhark Nonagesimus - The Locked Tomb Trilogy

Harrow has true scrungly wet cat energy. I want to put her in one of those little backpacks with a window and carry her around in it for her enrichment. She's an absolute bitch. She is a pathetic little meow meow. She lobotomized herself to save the soul of the woman she refuses to admit she's in love with. She tried to kill a saint with soup made from her own bone marrow. She is a war crime. I like her so much!

2. Magneto - X-Men

He is the platonic ideal of my favorite trope, "Does all the wrong things for all the right reasons." Magneto has gone through the polar opposite of villain decay. The longer he exists, the longer the universe has to prove him increasingly correct on most things. All I can really say is, "Magneto was right."

3. Wei Wuxian - Mo Dao Zu Shi

Truly the most blorbo of all time. Are you also an ADHD burned out gifted and talented submissive brat with a praise kink? Boy howdy, do I have a character that you are going to imprint on like a baby goose! Wei Wuxian also has a hearty dose of, "Does all the wrong things for all the right reasons." Also like who multiclasses in wizard (specifically necromancer) and bard? This fucking guy apparently.

4. Hythlodaeus - Final Fantasy 14

I am so normal about Hythlodaeus, I made an entire AU around him. That is a reasonable thing to do about a character that you like a normal amount, right? The idealized lost love, trapped in amber, untouchable but also incorruptible by the sands of time that keep eroding the edges of your soul. And then they gave him lavender dead anime mom hair!

5. Varric Tethras - Dragon Age

I literally have a semi-viral post about how much this character has consumed my thoughts. Rule Number 1 of Dragon Age: Varric lies. He's a charming scoundrel. He's loyal to a fault. He knows everything worth knowing about Kirkwall. And he's a dirty fucking liar. The only reason Varric isn't romanceable in DA2 is that no other romantic interest would get any attention if Varric was on the table. I desire him carnally.

6. Temeraire - Temeraire

My most precious and smartest boy! I adore Temeraire so much. Swear to god, I did not read the Temeraire books before creating Orion as a character, but the parallels are so strong, you would think I had! He's a bookworm, a little awkward but full of opinions, and he has an unwavering moral compass. Temeraire will forever be one of my favorite dragon characters.

7. Jaina Solo - Star Wars Legends

I will never forget what Disney took from me. As a weird, nerdy girl who was also kind of a guy growing up, Jaina meant so much to me. She was an active participant in the stories she was in. She was an ace pilot, a skilled mechanic, and a Jedi to boot. She had her dad's sense of humor and her mom's moral certainty. I thought she was the coolest. Still do.

8. Ansur - Baldur's Gate 3

Ansur! My beloved! If you had told me that the character I would be most obsessed with from BG3 would be an undead bronze dragon who you don't even know about until the third act -- actually, no that checks out. He was so in love, and so loyal, and so bitter at Balduron for embracing his corruption! And that reveal! All the build-up, only to find his bones and then wham! the entire narrative of the Emperor gets turned on its head. I still get chills. Also, they were absolutely fucking.

9. Viktor - Arcane

Listen, as a disabled, obsessive nerd with too much to do and not enough time to do it all in, Viktor is my gender. I love just about everything about Arcane, but Viktor's storyline is my favorite part. I, for one, am very excited to watch his fall from grace and further corruption. I have already forgiven all of his atrocities. I do not care. He's babygirl.

10. Clark Kent - DC

You thought I was going to say Jason or Dick for a DC character didn't you? (Or even Roy!) Those would all have been very reasonable expectations. I am pretty obsessed with all of them. However, Clark Kent is a very special character to me, and yes I specifically am focusing on the Clark persona and not the Supes persona. Yeah, they are ultimately the same guy, but I much prefer Superman stories grounded in his Clark Kent identity. Superman is at his best when he is attached to the mundane world by things like his job, his family, and his love for Lois. (Lois/Clark is the ultimate het ship. I will not be taking questions on this. It just is.) Clark is essentially a demigod, and yet he chooses to spend his time loving people and living as one of them, and I think that's really fucking cool.

#PS: do not ask me how long this took to make #The brainworms took over

[cookieandbread]

I rewatched X-men Apocalypse like today and here are my thoughts (keep in mind I barely remember the other movies and have not read a single X-men comics in my entire life. also I am incredibely sleep deprived and english is not my first language)

I don't remember much from first class but I remember I LOVED ALEX. AND THEY KILLED HIM. THEY KILLED MY BABY. (I barely remembered his name but I'm emotionally attached okay)

I also remember Erik and Charles being gay as fuck and it's so funny how hard the writers of this movie try to say "no no they're not gay" but fail miserably

Erik losing his family (AGAIN) killed me tho. he's not even my favorite character but PLEASE give him a happy ending. PLEASE. I could write an essay on why he needs a happy ending.

about Erik's family... I love and hate the "Peter is secretely Erik's son and he has to tell him" storyline. love because I have daddy issues and I love Peter and hate because there's one thing and one thing only I remember from Dark Phoenix and it's that PETER DOES NOT TELL ERIK HE IS HIS SON. IN FACT, PETER ONLY APPEARS IN LIKE THE 20 FIRST MINUTES OF THE MOVIE AND THEN FUCK OFF. I HAVE TO LIVE WITH THE FACT THAT I'LL NEVER SEE THAT DAD REVEAL ON SCREEN AND I DON'T THINK I'LL EVER BE ABLE TO HEAL FROM IT. I'll never recover. "I'm your... I'm here for my family too." will haunt me til the day I die. (Now don't get me wrong I 100% understand why he didn't tell him at that moment and it would have been fine by me IF HE HAD TOLD HIM IN DARK PHOENIX)

why does Pietro Maximoff gets so little respect? in the MCU they kill him in the first movie he appears in and the Fox changes his name and shits on the only storyline he has. why do they hate him?????

still on Erik: did he really need to be the villain again? if I remember correctly he kind of turned bad guy at the end of First Class because he killed the guy who murdered his mom because he couldn't make the coin move and then he was full on bad guy in that one X-men where they went in the past (Days of Future Past according to google) and it made sense because of his past and how he was forced to see violence as the only answer but like... AGAIN? with Apocalypse???? (according to google his name is En Sabah Nur) I get the guy had kind of manipulated his four accomplices into joining him but like... did it have to be Erik??? I get the whole repeating the cycle of violence, but isn't the point to break out of it? it feels kind of repetitive

still on En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse, I would have loved to see more how he manipulated Storm, Magneto, Angel and Psylocke to join him. while Erik had a reason to join back the X-men (he's super gay for Charles), Storm changing sides felt kind out of nowhere???? like we see her hesitate a little but we don't understand why she hesitates now when Apocalypse is fighting for the world he promised and not when he killed people (albeit to protect her but like...) I mean I guess there's the whole hero worship for Ravent but then why did she went with Apocalypse in the first place? Raven is a hero because she showed how mutants could cohabitate with humans, not by destroying them!!!! if Storm admires her, why going against everything she represents???? AND WHY DID THEY ALL WENT "yeah okay still rooting for that guy" WHEN APOCALYPSE WAS EXPLAINING TO CHARLES HOW BIG HIS CONTROL ISSUES WERE

whatever is going on with Hank and Raven... I just... don't like that ship. it made me uncomfortable when I watched First Class, it still makes me uncomfortable.

I remember liking her more in First Class and Days of Future Past tho??? she kind of annoyed me in Apocalypse. like wdym you wanna make child (I think they're children? not Peter but the rest) soldiers???? did the first X-men not teach you anything???? YOU AND HANK ARE LITERALY THE ONLY SURVIVORS OF THAT?

they never give us Storm's name??? or maybe I wasn't paying attention but I'm pretty sure THEY NEVER GIVE US HER ACTUAL NAME??? I guess I could find it if I searched on internet (update: I did, she's called Ororo Munroe, that's so cool) but I'm pretty sure they never say it in the movie???? like they just call her Storm???? DO THEY EVEN CALL HER STORM BECAUSE NOW THAT I THINK ABOUT IT I DON'T REMEMBER PEOPLE CALLING HER THAT EITHER???? (I have a short attention span tho)

from the little I remember of the 2000's trilogy, my favorite chatacter is Storm and I was so sad she had like so little dialogue. I hope it's better in Dark Phoenix??? I mean I'm not gonna rewatch it because I remember really not liking it the first time but PLEASE I BEG YOU let my girl TALK and have a PERSONALITY

Kurt is adorable. I just want to wrap him in bubble wrap and make sure nothing happens to him ever again.

I like Jean but I really don't care for her whole Phoenix thing. it probably has to do with how many times I've watched X-men 3 when I was younger (too many times) and how much I did not like Dark Phoenix but it bores me. like okay we get it she has that dangerous thing inside of her and it's very destructive and it's going to kill everyone she loves and she's going to have to die to prevent that. we get it. can we move on now? idk it frustrates me that Jean gets to have a movie centered around her not once but twice while both Peter and Ororo (and so many other but they're my favs) can't have basic character development.

I genuinly did not care for Scott. also how did he not get character development when his brother died??? he cried about it 2 seconds and then poof. out of sight out of mind. I wanna know how he gets rid of his grief so easily

I've checked when the other movies take place and... I don't understand... how are they aging... I'm so confused... wtf is that timeline... why is there a movie every 10 year? what is everyone's age ????

do I regret rewatching this movie? yes. yes I do. now I am going to obsess over how they could have handled so many things (notably Peter's daddy issues) so much better and lose all my sleep to fix-it fics.

#xmen apocalypse #magneto #erik lensherr #charles xavier #raven darkholme #mystique #peter maximoff #quicksilver #ororo munroe #jean grey #scott summers

[thewitchandtheassassin]

Young Love and Old Money (Jean Grey x Reader)

Summary: AU/ as real as young love feels, it doesn’t always last.

Words: 2500

Warnings: past Wanda x Reader, language, angst, heartbreak, exes, drama.

A/N: So this is comic!Wanda and MCU!Wanda combined. It makes sense with the mutants thing. But keep that in mind going into it because it doesn’t fit a MCU timeline. Based on a song by the same name.

Taglist: @natasharomanoffswife​ @natasha-danvers​ @aaron-despair​ @xjiasx​ @nowthisisliving27 @higherfurther-romanova​ @summergeezburr @marvels-writings @imnotasuperhero @miscmarvelwritings @captain-josslett @onlyafewfindtheway​ @hayleyokami @b-5by5 @lostandsearching @evilcr0ne

-X-

Tucked below the blossoming magnolia tree, you brushed a wild strand of red hair from Wanda’s face as she regaled you with tales from her training. Her father, the villain-turned-recluse Magneto, had ventured from his self-imposed isolation in hopes of connecting with Wanda and her twin, Pietro, and things had gone pretty well.

Except for the fact he hated you.

A mutant with no understanding of your powers, he saw you as lowly of such a high-ranking mutant’s attention. He couldn’t stand that Wanda had befriended you. And she didn’t dare tell him you were anything more.

I can’t. What if he leaves? He’s all we have left.

It hurt, but you understood her reasoning. Their mother was gone. Sokovia was gone. To ask for anything more would be selfish in all the wrong ways.

“Dad is coming for a visit tomorrow,” she suddenly blurted, eyes wide with apologies as she bit her lip. Her words were simplistic but they left you deflating as they settled in.

You were supposed to be celebrating your anniversary tomorrow.

“I’m sorry,” Wanda mumbled, grasping your limp hand. “He spoke with Charles and they have a ceasefire so he can wish us an early birthday.”

Swallowing your pain, you forced a false smile and nodded. “Makes sense.”

“We can celebrate another day,” she offered brightly.

“…yeah.”

-X-

Except another day never came.

Magneto’s arrival brought nothing but heartache. Whisking them away for a short time, it only took a few promises and fatherly words for the twins to decide to leave the sanctity of the mansion. She came to you in a wisp of red and frantic energy, imploring kisses and soft words begging for understanding.

“I’ll come back for you,” Wanda swore, cupping your flushed cheeks as tears trickled from your eyes. “I’ll convince him you’re powerful and then he’ll let you come too. I just need time.”

Your heart cracked. There was no way you’d ever flutter to that man’s side. The man who had murdered humans and his own kind recklessly. The man who was stealing your heart away. But you couldn’t tell her that. Wouldn’t shatter her fantasy like that. She chose her side.

It just wasn’t with you.

-X-

They say young love and old money don’t mix. And, despite that it was mutant status instead of money, it was true. Weeks turned to months which rolled into years and you realized she wasn’t coming back for you. No longer a young mutant with uncontrollable powers, you were slowly working into your Omega-level status with grace.

Charles noticed your power early on – when you finally started to discover the things that made you special – and left you under the proverbial wing of the impressive Jean Grey.

Mimicry was something he’d only seen once – with Rogue – but you were something more. A brief touch of skin left you permanently gifted with abilities. No running out. No accidental deaths. You could just… learn the things that made a mutant special and master them.

It was utterly mind-blowing.

But it hadn’t meant anything. That status you worked into. Because the next time you saw the beloved witch-like mutant, she was clinging to the arm of a robot. Not even a fucking mutant, which left you reeling as it dawned upon you that maybe it wasn’t status. Maybe it was you.

You weren’t enough for her.

Part of you didn’t want to accept the hug she offered – a halfheartedly breathless “hi” escaping – but you couldn’t stop yourself from sinking into the embrace one final time. As skin met skin, you inhaled sharply at the powers joining the plethora of others settled inside. The only thing you could think was how well Jean had taught you to keep your mutation suppressed in moments like these. Otherwise the poor coffee shop you were awkwardly hugging in would’ve been left with only red magic and pain.

Wanda could feel the shift – her mutation reaching out to you – but you were quick to force it out, sending her stumbling away in surprise. When you’d known her, your powers had been far too repressed for either of you to know what was truly happening. It wasn’t until she was gone…

That the seal broke and everything came tumbling out.

“I… um… Vis, this is (Y/N),” Wanda finally announced as she remembered the robotic thing she’d come strolling in with. He was wearing a human face but your x-ray vision that you’d picked up could see what was truly inside.

Nothing but bolts and wires.

“Pleasure to meet you.” His voice was pleasant but you could hear the tension lying underneath as he studied you.

You hummed, nodding briefly at the introduction. It was weird, seeing Wanda clinging to a glorified toaster, but you refused to be snide or make a nasty remark so you kept your expression neutral.

“How’s Piet?” you inquired, ignoring the questions lingering in Wanda’s eyes.

“He’s good. How are you? Did you ever –”

Darkness fell over your expression for a moment and your voice waivered slightly. “Does it matter? You never came back. Just like your father. Nothing but pretty words. I’ll come back except you didn’t. I knew you wouldn’t, but you only proved me right and that’s what hurts most.”

Wanda’s cheeks went warm and you saw the robot take a step forward, though you had no qualms about ripping him apart with your bare hands if he got too close.

You decided a cup of cheap coffee wasn’t worth dealing with whatever was going to happen if you stayed. Sidestepping around the floundering witch and her weird boyfriend, you paused just before the door, hand inches from the handle.

“But to answer your question, yes. I did.”

Sweeping out of the café, you left before she could say anything.

Petty, but effective.

The closure that came from seeing Wanda again was all you needed to accept your new truth. Jean was not just a friend – and you were okay with that. You’d grown together, as friends and as mutants, so when the sting of Wanda’s appearance faded, you were swift in showing the beautiful woman what she meant to you. Flowers, sweet dates, a first kiss under a budding pink dogwood you’d brought into existence years ago when you were starting to understand your mutation.

Jean was fine with taking things slow. It wasn’t a secret what had happened between you and Magneto’s daughter and the toll it had taken on you. Plus she had little experience of her own (only an awkward, brief relationship with Scott having filled some of her time). But you knew you’d wasted too much life on a woman who only enjoyed the affection you offered so it didn’t take long for your two separate bedrooms to morph into a bigger room within the mansion and for things to shift forward into forever.

Nights once spent in dismay became nights of passion. Of declarations of love and hope. Of lives spent together. Never a single thought of the lost twins flittering through your mind.

-X-

Christmas morning was in full swing by the time you both wandered into the main rooms, fingers tangled together and a swagger in your step as memories of your personal celebrations played like movies in your head.

(What could you say? Your partner was hot.)

Gifts were floating through the air as the professor passed presents to the children bounding about. With so many diverse backgrounds, he made it a point to celebrate every holiday and the people he housed and loved – and that loved him in return – appreciated his dedication. You could hear Frosty the Snowman coming from the television (low volume meant nothing to enhanced hearing) and you chuckled.

“Always a classic,” you mumbled, pointing to the television when Jean glanced at you.

Shaking her head in amusement, Jean pressed a kiss to your cheek and settled into your side as you stood by Charles.

“Ah, good morning, you two,” he greeted with a wide smile. “Merry Christmas.”

His chair twisted to face you, his smile genuine though his eyes held a worry you weren’t expecting.

“Why is she coming?” Jean questioned abruptly, startling you from your confusion.

“They’re both coming,” Charles amended, silently imploring Jean to steady herself. “They have been celebrating their holidays but wished to join in ours for the day. Pietro has missed Kurt dearly and while I may not trust them after being with Magneto for so long, I don’t think they plan to ruin the day. And if they do, I’m confident it wouldn’t be a terrible task to send them away.”

Pausing, you peered between the professor and your frustrated girlfriend. You weren’t an idiot; it was obvious what was happening but you could admit you really didn’t care if they came to spend the day at the mansion.

“They were here for a long time. It makes sense,” you chimed in, squeezing Jean’s hip affectionately.

“Will you be alright, (Y/N)?” Charles asked, gaze earnest as he stared at you.

“Of course,” you shrugged. “There’s no hard feelings anymore. Besides, I would pick Jean in any lifetime. Without hesitation.” You would’ve kissed her, had you not been standing before the man you both saw as a father. Loving Jean was probably the easiest thing you’d ever done if you were being honest with yourself.

Jean pressed tighter into your side but her response – though it was closer to a swoon – was silenced by a pointed cough. Peeking over your shoulder, you caught sight of your expressively wounded ex and her awkwardly swaying brother. She was clutching a gift in her hand and you knew – for whatever reason – that it was for you.

Gods help me.

-X-

It was weird, having to dodge Wanda whenever you were left alone for longer than a few seconds. Despite how hard she was attempting to stay with you, Jean was often called away to help with one thing or another (though the professor was quick to send her back) and Wanda would attempt to wiggle her way into the place she vacated – figuratively.

Pietro had hugged you when they first appeared and apologized quietly, both for never returning and for whatever madness his sister was planning, and you simply patted his back. You never held bad blood with him; you’d only been angry with Wanda for lying, after all. You understood wanting to rejoin your lost family, you just wish she hadn’t made promises she never intended to keep.

It was evident you weren’t going to escape so you stepped away from the throngs of children and teenaged mutants, waiting for the inevitable.

In a different world, seeing Wanda strolling shyly over to you with a timid smile and blushing cheeks would’ve lit your heart ablaze but here, you only felt a slight bubble of… something. Not love or even friendship but not apathy either.

Your feelings were very… neutral. Like you were fine with her existence but you didn’t need her to be a part of the life you were building. Once upon a time, you would’ve hated yourself for feeling this way but that version of yourself had died long ago.

“Happy Christmas,” she breathed, offering you the small present held tight in her hand.

Accepting it reservedly, you didn’t attempt to open it and instead chose to watch the woman who’d both gripped and broken your young heart. She seemed remiss you hadn’t opened it but you could see the nerves she was steeling as she took a deep inhale.

“I’m sorry,” she finally said, shoulders falling as she apologized. For which part, you didn’t know but you were intrigued by whatever was going on. “You’re right. I abandoned you when I had promised to come back. Dad pushed so hard against the idea of you that I couldn’t bring myself to come back. Then Vision came into our lives and Dad thought he was worth something, even if he was just made in a lab instead of being a mutant and I fell for it.

“We were even going to get married.” This didn’t come as a shock. Wanda had always wanted the married with children lifestyle. “But I couldn’t say I do. I was standing there, staring at his face, and I only saw you. It might’ve been young love back then but I still love you now. With you being an Omega, Dad wants to meet you properly this time and…”

So that’s what this was about. She only came back because of status. It was always about status.

“Young love and old money don’t mix,” you cut in, tilting your head slightly. “This isn’t about love. This is about your dad. About some stupid mutant status that doesn’t mean a fucking thing. I don’t care how you found out. I don’t care what your fucking father wants. I don’t care that now I’m worth something to you. You were fine without me then, and you’ll continue being fine without me now. I feel bad for the fridge you left at the altar but I’m sure he found a lovely toaster somewhere to stick his robotic man parts in.

“You’re so caught up on the delusion of making your father love you genuinely that you’d sell your own soul for him. When we met, you wanted to change the world. But then you got drunk on affection from me and attention from your father. I don’t want whatever is in this box. I don’t want you professing anything else.”

Pressing the box into her hand, you watched the realization you were truly gone wash over her.

“I will always remember you fondly,” you admitted, “But I want Jean. Not… whatever the fuck this is. I want the woman who continuously picked me. I want the woman who stood by me while I figured out my mutation. The woman who helped me control it. Who helped me learn what it meant to be powerful.”

You could sense Jean before you saw her, noticed how she slipped between you and Wanda protectively without sparing it a single thought. Her back was tense, poised to defend.

“You sure have a thing for redheads, huh?” Wanda hissed, stepping away from the enraged X-man.

“At least mine is natural,” Jean deadpanned.

A snort of surprise filled the stifling space, your hand flying over your mouth as you watched your girlfriend square off with your ex.

“You don’t deserve her.”

Hand falling to Jean’s back, you pressed against her as you stared at Wanda. “She deserves better than me, honestly. But she chose me too, Wanda. Which is more than I can say for you.”

The silence was deafening, Wanda’s devastation palpable. She was gone before you could say anything else though (which was probably a good thing, all things considered), leaving behind nothing but the unseen shards of her shattered heart.

Some things will just never mix, like young love and old money.

#jean grey x reader #jean grey imagine #wanda maximoff imagine #wanda maximoff x reader #mcu imagine #marvel cinematic universe #marvel imagine #x-men imagine #MCU fic #reader insert #reader imagine #scarlet witch imagine #dark phoenix imagine

[morose-magnetrix]

Magneto #3 by J.M. DeMatteis (writer), Todd Nauck (artist), Rachelle Rosenberg (colorist), Travis Lanham (letterer)

I've super wanted to enjoy this series - but it continues to bother me ever so slightly. I adore Magneto, and my favorite period for the classic stuff is when he's Headmaster Magneto, posing as Charles' cousin. On paper, I should be thrilled with this - especially since Max is dead rn in the main continuity.

But it's just kinda... lacking, a little bit. The plot is fine - a young reckless traumatized mutant who worshipped the 60's Magneto, trying to force 80's Magneto to resume his former ways. Great, cool, love it - I even love Irae's design and I don't mind the mildly contrived origin. The art is great too overall, very expressive, and the coloring really emphasizes the emotional mood of the scenes.

I just don't buy the "Magneto was pretending to be evil in the 60's stories." I really don't. I don't think that it was a performance. The logic of it being a performance, designed to make the X-Men more effective... it just doesn't really hold up to me? It reminds me of the fake cover for X-Factor in their first run, that they were mutant hunters by day, and one of Louise Simonson's main points when she took over the series was how fucked up that was. X-Factor ended up just bringing on even MORE anti-mutant hate. So then to me, it seems like Magneto "pretending" to be a mustache twirling villainous mutant who steals nukes and claims he's going to wipe out the human race would only make things worse. Not better. He's giving the humans "reasons" to hate/hunt other mutants.

The real issue I think comes down to the fact that it's really hard to square Magneto's 60's characterization with what comes later, when Claremont establishes a backstory + motivations. It's part of why Grant Morrison has Magneto become a horrifying fascist in their run, as they never bought in to Claremont's Magneto, instead viewing him still as the evil nut from the 60's. I'm honestly not sure it's even possible to really make the character progression from the 60's to 80's make sense, but I think my bigger point here probably is I'm not sure there's even value in trying.

Tons of Silver Age characters didn't really have their personalities, their backstories, motivations, etc etc worked out. The X-Men as a concept didn't even really work until Giant Sized anyways. Jean Grey, for instance, was just the girl - she didn't really get much of a role beyond that! I think it's okay for things to be a little disjointed/disconnected, because we know what we have now (at least RE Magneto's characterization) works. I don't think we need to come up with excuses / explanations for why he behaved the way he did in the 60's. I think you can have him grapple with his past as a villain, without trying to explain it all away.

And like, if you are tackling the 60's stuff, isn't it more interesting if he really did believe all those things - if it wasn't an act? If he was pretending, then he's significantly less complicated as a character. Let him atone for the things he did! Let him have a dark and problematic past!

#magneto #jm dematteis #magneto 3 #marvel comics #xmen #irae

[mandatory-blog-stop-asking]

"X People Can't Shoot Laser Beams!"

Hey so I've been seeing a lot of people, now that X-Men Is Hot Again, coming to the conclusion that "X-Men doesn't work as a metaphor for marginalized communities because gay people can't shoot laser beams, so it doesn't hit for me". Do not get me wrong -- people have been coming to that conclusion since 1963. It's nothing new. And, it's great that you're engaging with it! Stories are meant to bring about thoughts and be controversial. But I need you to understand that's already text.

That's not something the stories pretend isn't the case, or something that authors are afraid people will bring up to nullify their experiences with the work -- trust me, the X-Men know, in-universe, that they're not just a harmless ethnic minority.

If you are stuck with "Gay people don't shoot laser beams", please, I am just asking you to keep going one single step and then go "But even if they did, we probably shouldn't genocide them."

Like, this is the crucial thing that I see people who stop conversations about X-Men with "It's a bad metaphor" never engage with. Yes, Cyclops should be held accountable for his powers in a public setting, no one is pretending he shouldn't-- but that's not the point. That's not who suffers the most.

The point is that just because that's the case, mutant children shouldn't die in their homes. Mutant pregnant women shouldn't be told hospitals don't do mutant pregnancies by default. Mutant children shouldn't be barred from schools. Mutant elderly shouldn't be denied access to healthcare.

Just because you're afraid of some people, it doesn't mean people from their group are not people. You do not get to umbrella an entire group connected by genetics and say they all deserve to die just because you're afraid of a few of them.

Of fucking course you should be afraid of Magneto, Professor X, the Phoenix and Quentin Quire. You should also be afraid of anyone who holds nukes, anyone with that much inherited wealth and social standing on birth alone, anyone who doesn't have control of themselves all the time and has hurt others during episodes, and any incels with access to weapons. That doesn't actually have anything to do with them being mutants; that has everything to do with their lives and what they do with their time. Them being mutants just informs the ways they can hurt you, but everyone can hurt you.

A child like Leech didn't deserve to get exploded by a machine just because people are afraid of Wolverine's claws. Stopping the thought at "well Black people can't kill you with a thought" robs the story of the actual point. My man, even if Black people could kill you with a thought, a government-sponsored apartheid state that invades other countries to kill and capture people would still be horrendous.

I am begging you to read these stories not as just a superficial insert-your-favorite-group here allegory, but also as an exploration of how easy it is to get people to agree with villains. How easy it is to manipulate populations, or to sell you on things you would never really agree with in other situations, even highly politicized people who see stories as extensions of their beliefs.

To imply the story doesn't engage with that is to give up without getting to the point.

The messy conversations about power, about community, about responsibility, about leaders who fail and problems with movements that have some points but fail in several ways is valid, and it is there for you to engage with. There's no X-Men story that would genuinely stare you in the eye and tell you "Magneto is not scary."

Of course he's scary. But he's not attacking you because he's a mutant. He's attacking you because he's being persecuted. You shouldn't persecute people on the off-chance one of them will do something to you just because they're born different.

But, yes, Jews can't shoot laser beams. At least not usually. That's true, and thus, X-Men is not 100% about oppressed groups in real life.

It's also a very boring take, dude, like, come on. The thought is incomplete. Please complete it.

#x men #fandom takes

[super-hero-confessions]

I've seen all kinds of apologism and denial in fandoms for all different kinds of terrible things.

But I think the ones that hit me the hardest are the fascism and genocide apologism.

The reason I ended up liking the super hero genre is because it's about people rising up to the occasion to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

I'm disabled and I've always been a weak link in my family. But instead of getting bitter about it and hating because of it, I told myself I didn't want that for other people. That if I did that, I'd just be perpetuating the cycle further and not working to solve anything.

I don't fight to hurt them to supplement my pain, I fight to change minds and guess what. People's minds change. It's not always easy, but they do.

Being a hero means doing the right thing and treating everyone fair and justly. And I don't have a problem with people liking villains either, I like villains.

But I guess I'm just bewildered and jaded at this point by so many of the awful things people say to justify a character's actions instead of just liking the character. Or even how obtuse some people will be to claim others are justifying a character's actions when they actively don't.

I like Homelander but he has rape apologist stans.

I like Loki but he has genocide apologist stans and that also applies to Billy Butcher.

I like Magneto but he has fascism apologist stans, sometimes genocide too if not just general mass murder apologists.

I like Valkyrie, and hell, admittedly I've seen more claims of slavery apologism than actual slavery apologism, but even I have enough good sense to know there are going to be actual slavery apologists who stan her.

The genocide apologism fucking hurts more than anything though. It shows how much people have become desensitized to violence and what the loss of a life really means. And it perfectly explains why people are so quick to jump to suicide baiting someone which is never okay.

Your life is the most precious thing you have. And that goes for everyone, not just you. Life is precious and should be considered such before any of the fictional nonsense. We should be cherishing good fiction and creativity instead of trying to use it to hurt people or justify such awful things or as some kind of virtue catapult to see who has the next big revolutionary take.

Worse when they justify violence against certain groups while trying to make a bigger deal of it for different ones. No. No violence is okay, it doesn't matter who it's against. Self defense is not violence, and violence is not self defense so stop conflating the two. Creating double standards does not help and never will.

I'm tired of this and wish it would stop. Criticism should be acknowledged and considered with nuance, if not researched at the very least. Not everything is a personal attack just because someone disagrees with you or points something out you may have not noticed. You are not the only person in the world nor are you the smartest with end all be all opinions. The disingenuity is insidious in fandom and getting old or never was young to begin with, but it all needs to stop.

It's not just some pixels behind the screen, there's a real living breathing person on the other end with thoughts and feelings just like you, and their life is just as precious as yours and should be treated as such.

Please just be human.

#confession #rant

[dracaelus]

"i hate when a villainous character gets popular enough to become a hero and writers try and retcon their histories so they never fucked up in the first place" "#magneto" sorry but may i ask if theres a particular example? i'm trying to catch up on the modern comics and i have been bracing myself for seeing this sort of thing cause. you know. nuance is dead lmao

So, I've only recently started to read magneto's comics, and I'm reading mostly some old stuff, so my knowledge is limited, and I can't say if it's a recurring problem in recent comics (I mean, I hope is not, but Idk)

When I tagged magneto on that post I was thinking specifically about the first issue of Magneto's 2023 run, which had been released recently:

Now, I can see the reasoning behind this - magneto was a really one dimensional villain when he first appeared and it is a bit weird to read the Uncanny X-men #01 when you consider his later characterization. And marvel loves trying to give an explanation for everything...

Honestly, now that I finished reading the comic, and thought a bit more about it, I think it was a honest attempt. The comic does acknowledge that his later actions as magneto were not simply an act, that he did let himself get carried away by his rage. Tho still, this explanation does feel a bit hard to believe and makes you go damn man, your logic is weird af and it's so silly. I don't think they were trying to justify his later actions so much as they were trying to explain his first appearance

... without making him look too bad. Because Magneto (1993) already did that, showing magneto's descent into:

But still, I don't mind that much what they did in magneto (2023). I think both explanations are fine when you keep in mind that marvel really wanted to keep the uncanny x-men #01 as canon. As a dc fan I find it hard to understand why... But I appreciate their loyalty. Between the two, I still much prefer the 1993 version bc it has more nuance, and i'm not averse to the idea that magneto had some really low moments and had to go through some personal growth over the years. I'm not whimsical enough to truly like the sillier version, as much as they tried to make it look less silly and more believable.

#i did like magneto 2023 as a comic tho #i'm a simple person seeing magneto holding his younger self in his arms in the last issue made me emotional #also he was cute af buying christmas stuff for the kids on the first issue #tho i was dissapointed to not see him celebratinh hanukkah at the end i think it would have fitted the arc #also is it just me or the kids seem a lot younger than they originally did on their new mutants run? #i'm not sure how old they're supposed to be #in magneto 2023 i would say they look 12-14 at most but they look older in the new mutants #one thing i really didn't like in magneto 2023 was that they implied that magda died with anya #i love the version where she runs away horrified after he uses his powers to kill the man who stoped him from saving anya #i think it makes her more nuanced #you don't know if she was terrified by his powers or the killing or both #hate that they made her an generic death wife #men***** #drac panels #asks #magneto #max eisenhardt #erik lensherr #magneto (2023) #magneto (1993)

[ewingstan]

Was reading @artbyblastweave‘s excellent post here on why the Parahumans-verse has no Magneto equivalent/cape rights struggles, and had some loose thoughts come together. Because apart from all the reasons he lists, I think an aspect that Worm deals with excellently is the fact that the PRT seems constantly worried that capes are one incident away from being seen the same way as Marvel mutants. Cauldron and the PRT both express anxieties about how certain events will be the tipping point that finally convinces the public that capes are more trouble to deal with than their worth, throwing a huge wrench in the “have as much cape firepower available as possible” long-term plan. The Protectorate was founded largely to combat such public movements before they could seriously develop. It’s part of why Glen was so concerned with Taylor’s image past the point of all practicality—having a former villain would naturally make a lot of people distrustful of the new heroic organization, so all the stops had to be pulled to cement a true heel-face turn.

Its especially notable how this undergirds the cops-and-robbers relationship. A delicate balancing act is attempted by all the major organizations where there are never so many villains that the heroes can’t maintain a semblance of order, but there’s also never so few villains that the heroes feel superfluous. This is probably part of why cauldron releases so many case-53s into situations where they’d obviously turn to villainy, and why they program them with a built-in defeat feature for sale. For capes existence to be justified, they need to be seen as indispensable, for them to be protectors against ever-present threats. The Endbringers are great for that, but for the more day-to-day toleration, you need the Fallen. You need the Merchants. Most distressingly, according to the priorities of the powers that be, you need E88.

Its always been a weird sticking point for me that its the ABB we see as the first target of a villain alliance (and silent hero alliance) when the E88 are right there, turning Brockton Bay into the-place-to-be for nazi fucks and actively committing racial violence on a regular basis. Surely a concerted effort could wipe them out, surely Alexandria could take twenty minutes out of her day to raze their organization to the ground. Hell, the Coil/Undersiders/Travelers teamup actually managed to run their splinter groups out of the city. Why is Kaiser leading a cape coalition, rather than being on its receiving end? And the answer the text leaves us is that not just despite, but because of the horrors they commit on a daily basis, their more useful to keep around than not. They’re something for the citizens of Brockton Bay to fear, so that the Protectorate presence feels justified. Having them around inspires the type of mindset we see in Taylor at the beginning, where the Protectorate base having a fully functional missile system is “something that makes you feel safer.” Unlike the ABB under Bakuda, they’re largely a known element, unlikely to disturb the balance that preserves public relations. And while non-capes with any institutional power may be distressed by the property damage caused by Bakuda’s bombing run, and could start general cape outcry, such people wouldn’t have the same response to E88. After all, they could potentially be the victim of one of the bombs! The E88? Their victims will always be someone else. Anyone who cares enough to do something about it isn’t given a voice.

Once you realize this, it becomes the largest indictment of every institution present in Worm.

#worm #wildbow #parahumans #nazis cw #i'm sure you could insert some academic theory on how cops justify themselves with crime they perpetuate #but i don't really have the background for that so I'll leave it to the more capable #btw this was partially inspired by the Decomposing Worm podcast y'all should check that out #leo reads worm #leo says

[keepsmagnetoaway]

X-Men 50 (November 1968)

Arnold Drake/Jim Steranko

For its half-century, X-Men goes all out with an absolutely groundbreaking, balls-out crazy issue with easily the finest art the series has yet seen, starting right off with the cover.

That cover is by Jim Steranko, who also drew the interiors of this issue, and my god is he good at it. Steranko drew extensively for Marvel in the 60s, especially Nick Fury/SHIELD stories, and almost always wote as well: this and the next issue are rare instances of him drawing someone else's script. Steranko was amazing - he brought a level of creativity that verged on surrealism to the medium. He also, as you can see, designed a new logo for X-Men, which became iconic in its own right. That cover is followed immediately by the deeply atmospheric, radically composed first page.

And then that is immediately followed by a two-page splash of an impossibly strange vista, including the issue's title in monumental stone. We're not past the scene setting and this is probably the most exciting issue of X-Men ever.

Steranko clearly owed a debt to Jack Kirby too, and he brings back some of Kirby's high weirdness, including the characteristic energy dots and the bizarre machinery - but he pairs it with a stronger sense of human form and a radical use of colour. This, again, is the very next page. Plot-wise - oh, right, there's a plot - this is Lorna Dane being mysteriously techno-crucified by Mesmero.

Unfortunately there are also some normie X-Men in this issue, trying to break into Mesmero's San Francisco home - but after a fight they too are spirited away to the city in the desert as things like storytelling logic begin to break down in the face of the art.

Look at this! Just look at it!

The machine does indeed turn Dane - now revealed to be Magneto's lost daughter - into a villain queen, arriving in another splash page of massive daring and wild perspective.

It's almost embarrassing to see the regular X-Men in their dorky costumes and leaden wisecracking interfering here.

Fuck! Look at this!

That panel was Lorna Dane revealing that in fact she's not evil: she has simply been massively empowered and was playing along, and then saves the day in a single burst of blue-white force. But it's a double-twist, because machine's true purpose...

...was bringing Magneto back. Incredible. Masterpiece. Indisputably the best issue of this series so far. Steranko also drew the next issue and then never drew X-Men again and I'm so mad about it.

#x men comics #an xmen a day #xmen #uncanny xmen #jim steranko