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ectonurites · 3 years

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idk how to quote tags on mobile where is the conner kent essay i NEED it

ALRIGHT OKAY! here’s 5k+ words plus panels & screenshots of me comparing and contrasting the two drastically different versions of Superboy (comics vs young justice cartoon) and going over what makes them such distinctly separate characters. someday i’ll refine this a bit more its kinda just a word dump that’s been living in my brain that i wanted to actually articulate after i read through Reign of the Supermen but here we go:

Pretty frequently I see the question “Why is Superboy so different in the Young Justice cartoon?” float around in DC circles. I think there are two main approaches to answering this:

Why did the writers of the cartoon decide to create a very different version of Superboy?

What factors make this Superboy so different from the comic version?

For the first approach the answer is relatively straight-forward, from the start Young Justice as a cartoon was never meant to be a direct adaptation of the comics. They just used the title and a few elements so they could create their own approach to the DC universe with a focus on younger heroes. For example, Artemis Crock in their show is also COMPLETELY different from her comic counterpart, Zatanna is aged way down to be a member of the teen team, and Kaldur’ahm was created for this show (and integrated into the comics as Jackson Hyde). They were always trying to do different things than the main comics universe, so them making a different version of Conner also makes sense. Their approach to him is also very clearly influenced more by how he appeared in the Teen Titans comic run that was still coming out as Young Justice started airing (his design, and some other elements we’ll discuss along the way), as opposed to his original version from the 90′s/the Young Justice comic.

So the basic “why” is that from the start they wanted to create something unique to their universe, which they definitely did accomplish.

The much more interesting subject to dive into, though, is looking at the differences in Superboy’s story that contribute to him becoming such a different person.

The drastic changes made to the following factors are what I view as the main source of his differences in personality/outlook/characterization:

The conditions and history of the world at the time he is introduced

The circumstances around him being introduced/leaving Cadmus

The reaction Clark has to him and how their relationship starts

The people he first interacted with & became close to, and how he interacts with the world

The timing of him finding out about his connection to Luthor

The State of the Worlds

In the comics, Superboy is first introduced in Adventures of Superman #500 by iconically saying “Don’t ever call me Superboy!”

during a 1993 event called “Reign of the Supermen”, a follow up to the 1992 event “The Death of Superman”. Based on the title of the 1992 event, I think you can, uh, guess what one major difference in the setting here was vs. the state of the world at the time he was introduced in the cartoon. Obviously Clark didn’t stay dead forever, but Superboy first comes onto the scene as a young clone of Superman who insists he is the new Superman (one of the four characters trying to do so during the event). This is in the main DC universe in the early 90’s, which means that heroes in general, including teen heroes, aren’t a new thing! Not only has the Justice League been around for a while but so has the Teen Titans. Once Clark is alive again, Superboy goes off on his own to establish himself as an individual teen hero.

So how is that different in the cartoon?

In the cartoon, Superboy is first introduced in the pilot episodes “Independence Day” and “Fireworks”

on the 4th of July in (what most people consider to be) 2010. This was supposed to be the day that Robin (Dick Grayson), Speedy (Roy Harper), Kid Flash (Wally West), and Aqualad (Kaldur’ahm) would get to see the true Justice League HQ at the Hall of Justice, which... doesn’t go exactly as planned.

In this world, superheroes are a newer thing, this is something that the creators have talked about before. At this point, while there is an established Justice League, there are no known teams of teen superheroes. Just the fact that as of season one Dick Grayson is still Robin is a pretty good indicator that this world is early in it’s time with a Batman. Now, the sidekicks aren’t a secret, as they appear very publicly in this first episode, but they are almost always seen acting with their mentors at this point. Again, there is no Teen Titans in this setting, and there never has been.

So when they do form the first teen hero team? It is kept covert-ops. They do not publicize that they act as a superhero team, and the members who weren’t already publicly known heroes (mainly Miss Martian and Superboy) end up being pretty… unknown to a lot of the world outside the hero/villain community! Again their existence is not strictly kept a secret, but they keep the fact that there’s a team of minors who are heroes going on independent missions VERY under the radar on purpose. Thus, those who aren’t going around doing super public hero activities just don’t have nearly as much of a presence.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy is immediately put in a spotlight (he befriends a reporter and is all over tv and literally trademarks the name Superman) becoming known to the world and establishes himself as a solo acting hero YEARS before joining any teams.

In the cartoon, Superboy is kept relatively out of the spotlight, immediately becomes part of a covert-ops team and doesn’t act solo very often. The well known teen heroes in this setting are sidekicks working under a mentor, and Superboy does not actually act as a sidekick.

What does this mean for Superboy?

Superboy in the comics gets to, right away, act on his own and get a taste of what being Superman is like. In the cartoon, he’s brought into the world at a time where there already is a Superman. I think back to this bit from the therapy episode, where he says:

“See, from the moment I first opened my eyes in that Cadmus pod, there’s been one thing I’ve wanted, and feared. To know what it is to be Superman.”

Comics Superboy started out getting to do that! He immediately got a shot at filling that role, and he then makes the choice to relinquish it back to the original once he’s alive again. He (begrudgingly at first) understood that it wasn’t yet his time to be Superman, and knows he’ll someday fill those shoes for real- but in the meantime being Superboy is gonna be his own thing and he’ll embrace it and make it work.

Cartoon Superboy is left in a shadow, not ever truly knowing what it’s like to fill those shoes (except in a doomsday scenario training exercise gone awry that he then just feels intense guilt over). This leaves him a lot more frustrated and lost, and I think is a major contributor to how angry this version of Superboy is compared to his much more ‘chill go with the flow’ attitude in the comics.

Cadmus

In the comics, in that same issue he’s introduced, we find out that Superboy broke out of his cloning tube prematurely and left Cadmus with the assistance of the second Newsboy Legion, who also gave him his first leather jacket, before the programming that would allow Cadmus to control him was implemented.

He quickly gets up to speed with the situation, that Clark is dead. So he comes on the scene starting to save people and saying he is Superman, or at least the clone of the original one. A major thing that does influence his character here is the fact that… this is the 90’s. He is designed around the idea of what is ‘cool’ back in 1993. (look, even his original character design sheets call him cool)

So right off the bat he’s got a stereotypical ‘cool teen guy in that era’ personality, which is often played for comedy to add a little lightness to some of the dark things happening during this event.

Anyways, he has left Cadmus, he’s acting on his own, and he starts realizing that his powers aren’t exactly the same as Superman’s over the course of the Reign of the Supermen story.

After the main conflict is settled and Clark is fully alive and acting as Superman again, the two of them end up going back to Cadmus to find out what the exact deal is with him. I’ll go into this more in a later point, but they find out he’s not exactly a clone of Superman (or Lex- him being actually involved as a DNA donor is a retcon that happened a decade later). They agree to let someone from Cadmus (Dubbilex- the grey guy with the horns in this pic) leave Metropolis with him, as he sets out on a press tour to establish himself as Superboy now that he relinquished the trademark on the Superman name back to Clark.

Let’s pause and look at how this is different in the cartoon.

In the cartoon, when the trio of Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad decide to prove themselves to their mentors they run off on their own to attend to a fire at Project Cadmus when the Justice League got called off to do something else. Upon arriving, they accidentally uncover some weird things about Cadmus, like the crazy amount of sublevels, the creatures roaming around, and the fact that it’s not on the main power grids. They eventually find Superboy, still in his cloning tube. They break him out, but then get captured themselves.

When they are then put into tubes by Cadmus personnel, they manage to convince Superboy to help free them by promising him things like getting to meet Superman, and see the moon. The group of four now working together manages to escape from the building and it topples down, where they are then greeted by the Justice League who are Not Happy.

Superman flies away shortly after, and the group of kids explain to their remaining mentors that sure, they disobeyed orders, but they accomplished something good here, and they are going to keep doing it, whether the League likes it or not. The compromise is the formation of The Team, to be covert-ops while the Justice League acts publicly, and the boys are joined by Miss Martian.

So to summarize:

In the comics, Superboy leaves Cadmus pretty independently (with some assistance) to go act on his own as a hero immediately. He returns to Cadmus later for more information, and they reveal truths to him about his existence. After he knows his truth, he goes off to continue establishing himself as a solo hero but lets Cadmus still supervise what he’s doing through Dubbilex.

In the cartoon, Superboy is rescued from Cadmus by Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, without knowing pretty much anything about himself besides the fact that he is a clone of Superman, and is immediately put on the covert ops team.

What it means for Superboy:

Comic Superboy goes to act on his own, even after he admits he’s not the real Superman anymore. Yes he’s not 100% alone in terms of ‘he’s got people (Rex, Roxy, Dubbilex, Tana) around him’, but as a hero he’s a solo act and ends up taking residence in Hawaii. In the cartoon, by joining a team right away, he’s taking on a very different style of being a hero, especially because the team itself is covert-ops. Rather than regularly saving the day all on his own much like Superman, which can help comic Superboy feel like he’s still living up to the name more, cartoon Superboy is working under the radar in a group setting, while still wanting to desperately fill those Superman shoes.

He is overconfident in his abilities and wants to be the hero he was created to be, so him being put into this very different type of superhero situation is another major contributor to the frustration/anger. Even later on when comics Superboy is part of forming the Young Justice team, they were never a secret covert-ops team, they were always publicly known. (hell, a reporter is the one who gave them the team name Young Justice because he’d misheard Bart)

Superboy & Superman

In the comics, as we have established, Clark was dead at the time Superboy first came on the hero scene. Clark comes back to life, during a little bit of a lull in the middle of the huge conflict. He immediately accepts that Superboy is one of four who came forward to try to replace him, and one of the only two (Superboy & Steel) who genuinely only had good intentions in doing so. Clark, Steel, Supergirl, Hal Jordan, and Superboy then all work together in the big battle against the Cyborg Superman.

Once things are settled, Clark is curious about him, and where he came from and his origin, so they end up going to Cadmus together with Guardian and learning more about him, as I previously mentioned. Once it is established that Superboy is in fact a metahuman clone who was created to mimic Superman, but is not actually a clone of him, Superman still accepts him and thinks he’s earned his right to continue using the ’S’ shield and have the name of Superboy.

They part ways so Superboy can go on his press tour, but in general they have pretty positive interactions where they mutually respect each other! Not too much later in the comics even (I forget exaaactly when this happens but it’s definitely before the 1998 Young justice comic), Superman is the first one to give Superboy a real name, “Kon-El”, something he is so happy about he literally cries.

How is this different in the cartoon?

When the boys first escaped, and Superboy first meets the Justice League, Clark is standoffish. Other members of the league need to nudge him over to go actually talk to Superboy, and it’s not much of a conversation before he flies off and away, leaving Superboy frustrated and alone.

This… turns into the standard for almost the entire first season. Other characters constantly telling Clark that he needs to reach out and be support for the boy (like in this iconic diner scene with Bruce and Clark), but Clark consistently being too freaked out by the fact that someone made a clone of him without his knowledge to properly accept Conner. While this does over time get better, this being the immediate reaction when Superboy is brand new in the world definitely… has an impact!

He is rejected by the person he idolizes, and feels neglected and abandoned, and definitely kinda overcompensates with ego to try to make up for it.

So:

In the comics, Superman and Superboy work together from the start, not falling into a hero/sidekick situation but rather acknowledging each other as individual heroes with respect for one another. They grow to see each other as family much faster, and little tension between them. A crucial difference in situations, though, is that at the time these versions first meet Superboy is not actually a clone of Superman.

In the cartoon, Superman at first avoids Superboy, and does not offer guidance or mentorship or anything the boy needs. It is clear that he wants to work with Superman and be like him, since it was what he was created to do. It takes a lot of time for Clark to accept Conner in this setting, and there is a lot of tension for the first several months Conner exists. (they seem to settle this towards the end of season 1/during the gap between season 2, but it still has it’s impact on who Conner is early in his life)

What does this mean?

I feel like this is another major factor that contributes to Conner being so angry all the time in the cartoon, he feels immediately rejected by the person he’s supposed to be someday, rather than accepted by him. Again, very different from how comics Superboy got a chance to be Superman, and a chance to then work with the real deal as equals.

Friendships, Relationships and Identity

When Superboy is freed by the second Newsboy Legion, it’s primarily out of a ‘we’re clones who are stuck here, but you need to be out there, you’re what Metropolis needs right now!’ kind of idea. The first person he actually becomes close to is a reporter named Tana Moon.

Tana and Superboy’s relationship is… bad once it actually becomes romantic due to their huge age difference (she’s around 23, he is for all intents and purposes 16), but during the Reign of the Supermen where they’re still just friends for the most part, it’s not as bad. Tana becomes the GBS correspondent who focuses on everything Superboy (at this time still insisting he is the new Superman) is doing as a hero, and they become close friends.

GBS then also brings in Rex Leech (and his daughter Roxy) to be his agent, to promote Superboy and manage things for him. Rex is exploitative as hell, but Roxy does become another really important person to Superboy. These characters along with Dubbilex are his main supporting cast at the start of his solo comic when he’s in Hawaii.

In this whole era, Superboy is pretty much a celebrity. He’s cool, he’s a superhero, and I think it’s very notable he does not have a secret Identity. For a decent chunk of time, he is always just ‘Superboy’ (until, as I mentioned earlier, Clark gives him the name Kon-El. Even so, he doesn’t adopt a regular secret identity [Conner Kent, although he actually used a different one, Carl Grummett, before that!] until he begins living with the Kents in the early 2000s). By the time he joins any teams, Kon is pretty damn confident in who he is as a hero and has a relatively good grasp on who he is in general, if anything he’s a little too confident.

Young Justice was created in the aftermath of World Without Grown Ups when the trio of Superboy, Robin (Tim Drake) and Impulse (Bart Allen) had teamed up. After they saved the day they realized they worked well together and formed their team, utilizing the old Justice League base in Mount Justice. They were eventually joined by more members, especially relevant here is Wonder Girl (Cassie Sandsmark) who Kon later dates for a portion of the Teen Titans run that these four are in after Young Justice ends.

The four of them become close, and when Kon dies during Infinite Crisis it rips a hole in everything they had established growing up together over the past several years (Cassie joins a cult dedicated to bringing him back, Tim tries to clone a new Kon, Bart got aged up and took on the mantle of the Flash, etc) and Bart’s death that followed similarly shook the remaining Cassie and Tim. This group eventually does get to reunite, with Kon and Bart coming back during Final Crisis, solidifying how even things like death don’t keep them apart for long. It’s hard to look at the comic book versions of these four characters and imagine how they would be without their connections to each other... until you look at the YJ cartoon and see a world where they’re not even all part of the same generation, let alone a friend group.

Now in the cartoon…

The first people Conner primarily interacts with are Dick, Wally, Kaldur, and M’gann, along with the League members who interact with The Team pretty regularly, Red Tornado, Batman, and Black Canary. He’s shown to be friends with the other memebers of the team and get along with them relatively well, but in general he’s not much of a social person.

Much like in the comics, Superboy is considered very attractive, and immediately upon their meeting, M’gann is interested in him. Very, very interested in him.

At first it definitely does seem more just like an innocent crush, but it’s later revealed to be a little more… concerning than that. As in ‘Megan subtlety influencing Superboy to become her dream boyfriend based on a TV show she likes’ concerning. Like… she literally gives him the name ‘Conner’ after the TV show character that was the boyfriend of the character she bases her human self and entire identity on. The two date and once that becomes a thing, a lot of their plot lines in the following seasons revolve around the ups and downs of their relationship.

In general in this show, Superboy doesn’t really get much of a chance to establish himself on his own terms. Within months of him leaving his cloning pod, he and M’gann start going to high school with secret identities, so he’s already having to hide who he truly is to blend in with other people, before he even knows who he truly is.

So to compare:

In the comics, Superboy gets to figure out who he is as Superman’s Clone/Superboy very publicly, has multiple love interests and a celebrity status, and over time becomes part of a tight-knit group of friends. He doesn’t use a regular secret identity for the first several years he’s active.

In the cartoon, Superboy has one love interest with a very large impact on him, not nearly as much focus is given to his other friendships, and he immediately adopts a secret identity meaning he needs to hide who he is from the start.

What it means:

These factors play a big difference in his attitude, particularly highlighting how extroverted his comic version is and how introverted his cartoon version is. Comic Superboy never really needed to hide who he was until years into his career, vs being told to do so early on in his life. When you get used to needing to hide things so early, that can definitely lead to being more private/disconnected from others. Also somewhat related- in the comics, when Kon is given knowledge in his cloning tube, more pop culture got included. He mentions knowing Star Wars without having seen it, and references a ton of TV and Movies, vs the cartoon version of him that seems to have been given a lot of history of the world but not the current fun stuff. It’s the difference between knowing what’s going on in the world and what’s popular, vs only knowing the past and what’s fundamental. Not knowing pop culture like this can also really contribute to feeling alienated and lead to introversion. (I just... I think about how in the comics Kon’s favorite TV show is Wendy The Werewolf Stalker, in the cartoon Conner just... watches white noise static)

Also, having a completely different set of friends with different personalities has a big effect, people are always gonna be influenced by the people they’re close to to some extent. Bumping Conner up to Dick’s generation of heroes instead of Tim’s not only gives him completely different friends, but it also puts him in this position of being one of the ‘Original Team Members’. By this I mean, a member of the first iteration of the only teen team, one of the people that younger heroes coming onto the scene and joining the team in later seasons see as an experienced and older team member to look up to (despite the fact that cartoon Conner is permanently 16- they never fixed that for him like in the comics). That just creates a different dynamic entirely, because in the comics even when the Tim/Kon/Cassie/Bart group are more experienced on their team late in the Teen Titans run, they are still always going to have heroes like Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Wally West etc as the older generation of ‘original teen heroes’ who came before them.

Also, while I am talking mostly about in-universe reasoning here, I do wanna bring up one slightly more meta reason that might also have contributed to them choosing to go for a more ‘introverted brooding hero’ characterization with him: the fact that their version of Wally already filled the ‘flirty jokey’ archetype original Comics Kon fits into. Having two characters like that in the show from the start would definitely get... overwhelming. And at the time this show was first airing, in the comics, he was relatively devoted to Cassie and not nearly as flirty anymore anyways.

Lex Luthor / Details of Cloning

In the comics, as I have already mentioned and will now actually explain, when Superboy was first introduced he was not the clone of Superman and Lex Luthor as we know him to be today. Kon was a metahuman clone, made with the DNA of Paul Westfield who worked at Cadmus, that they genetically altered to look like Superman, and gave powers based on the energy aura they discovered to exist around Clark’s dead body. This telekinetic field gave Kon the distinct powers he had for his first decade of existence: His Tactile Telekinesis (often referred to by him as TTK)

Lex Luthor was originally not directly involved in his creation, but he was aware that it was going on as is revealed during the Reign of the Supermen arc. Kon’s TTK allowed him to mimic Superman’s flight and strength, but not all of his powers. TTK also gave him powers Superman DOESN’T have, such as his ability to dismantle machinery or mold materials he is touching into different shapes. (The reason this is called Tactile Telekinesis is because there needs to be a tactile element, he needs to be touching the things)

It is not until 2003, a decade after Superboy was created, that writer Geoff Johns in his Teen Titans run decided to alter Superboy’s origin. He established that Lex Luthor had been the real human DNA donor and that Superman’s Kryptonian DNA was actually used in the cloning process. Around this time, Conner also begins to exhibit more of the typical Kryptonian powers, like Clark did around this age.

This information is at first only known by Conner and Tim, because the email had actually been sent to Tim directly. The two keep it a secret as Conner was not ready to tell the rest of the team, because he fears the implications it has, and is afraid of becoming evil or being rejected. This revelation about Lex being one of his ‘parents’ DNA-wise coming years into his hero career changes a lot of things for Conner, and makes him begin to question who he is. Unfortunately, Lex does at one point take control of Conner and force him to break Tim’s arm and attack Cassie directly (as well as the rest of the team, but these two specifically are what Conner expresses the most guilt over after the fact). This era of Conner in the comics is where he’s definitely closest to his cartoon counterpart, because he’s very troubled and dealing with a lot of heavy stuff regarding himself as a person. Yet there’s still traces of who he has always been in there. I mean, if you’re only familiar with cartoon Conner, can you really imagine his final words as he’s dying after saving the world being “Isn’t it cool?”

Now, looking at the cartoon…

Conner finds out about his connection to Lex in November, only a few months after having existed outside of a cloning tube. He finds it out on his own, from Lex speaking to him directly, after Conner went back to investigate the remains of Cadmus and ended up having a fight with Match (another clone who is able to pass for Conner’s duplicate who they… their version of Match is another thing they drastically changed from the comic version but as we’ve established that’s something they like to do so I’m not gonna dwell on it).

In the cartoon, Conner’s powerset is, from the start, different from both Superman and comic Superboy. Here he has heightened senses and strength and the ability to leap really far, but he lacks actual flight and some of the other standard Kryptonian powers, and has no TTK. The cartoon explains these gaps in his powers as being due to his half human DNA, and they introduce these patches that are able to suppress his human DNA and give him temporary access to full powers. Lex uses these patches as a way to manipulate him. Much like in the comics, Lex has a code word programmed into Conner that effects him, although it isn’t quite used for the same amount of ‘total mind control’, and he doesn’t get fully brainwashed and turn against the team or anything. Instead, the code word (here “Red Sun” rather than “Aut vincere, aut mori” [Translated as “to conquer or die" / "victory or death”]) just leaves him stuck in a hypnotic trance.

So:

In the comics, Kon finds out after years of believing he was a metahuman clone who was given powers to mimic Superman, that he is actually a clone of Lex Luthor and Superman, which alters his entire perspective on himself! This causes him to become a lot more unsure and anxious about who he is, in stark contrast with how confident he was before. There are still traces of his old self within him, but this is a development in his character that influences him moving forward, making him a bit more serious but still at his core the same person he used to be.

In the cartoon, Conner finds out after months of thinking he was a clone of just Superman, that he has half human DNA and the donor was Lex Luthor. While he always had confidence in his abilities, he was still somewhat lost as a person in knowing who he really was outside of things other people have assigned to him (teammate, boyfriend, superhero, etc), and finding out this information about himself just adds to the uncertainty and frustration.

What it means:

Having this struggle be something Conner has to deal with so early in his existence is one of the most fundamental changes in my opinion. Finding out that Lex Luthor is one of your clone parents is something that will alter your entire perception of yourself and who you are! In the comics, Conner had already been confident in who he was so it shakes his world in a really big way, but in the cartoon he still didn’t know who he really was so it just adds to further confusion.

I think that even with the more serious characterization Kon starts getting in the 2003 Teen TItans run, his history and past as the fun cool 90′s Metropolis Kid isn’t entirely forgotten, it’s still a part of who he is/was. Sure, maybe he’s sometimes even embarrassed by how he used to be, but it’s not treated as though it didn’t happen. All of his history comes together to create the character and who he is by the time he wears just a T shirt as a costume.

By skipping over the fun era of his life and jumping right into who he was when he started facing these huge changes, it creates such a completely different set of challenges for him and that contributes directly to how he’s characterized.

Putting it all together

The ultimate point I am trying to reach in all of this is that, beyond just ‘they made a writing choice to make him different’ the environment that Superboy was brought into and the events that took place right when he came into the world greatly influenced the type of character he would become. Every time an adaptation is made of something like comics, there are going to be changes and alterations to fit the world the creators want to make. Sometimes these changes are minor and don’t actually change who a character is (an example for the YJ cartoon’s universe itself: In the tie-in comics [issue 6] it’s established in this universe that the Flying Graysons weren’t just Dick and his parents, but other family members were active parts of it too. One was an uncle also named Richard, who actually survived the fall that killed the rest of his family but was left paralyzed and thus unable to care for him. This uncle already used the nickname ‘Rick’ which is likely why Dick ended up using ‘Dick’ as a name in a modern setting even though it has fallen out of popularity as a nickname because uh, connotations. This is something that is mostly unique to their world and helps to explain some things, but it’s not like tragically losing a few more family members changed their version of Dick and his backstory that drastically. At his core, he still has many similarities to his comic self) but they’re still changes, and that’s okay. Superboy, though, is such an extreme case where they made so many changes that at his core he really does become a completely separate character. Sure he has the name and design, but I was able to write five thousand words about differences here and am struggling to come up with more similarities beyond that.

I think there still could be specks of the original Superboy buried inside cartoon Conner, and that maybe he could have been more like his original version under other circumstances. Looking at these differences and where they come from is, I think, a cool way to begin to understand what elements contribute to who each version of Conner Kent really is. I think it’s clear from how I wrote this that I prefer the comic version, but there are definitely things that are fun to look at and think about with both.

if u read all of this UH thanks for listenin to me ramble! sorry if this is incomprehensibe!

#rainbowroadimpulse #sam writes #conner kent #superboy

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shihalyfie · 3 years

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Shiramine Nokia, and her role in Cyber Sleuth’s narrative

This one’s on request! Cyber Sleuth is quite the interesting game and a rather landmark entry in the franchise, mainly for being a love letter to the franchise and its long history itself, and for being the franchise’s very first work exclusively aimed at adults, meaning that it can explore different topics that wouldn’t normally be Sunday morning timeslot material, while also being a little more willing to assume that the people playing this are familiar with a lot of older parts of the franchise (not that it’s advisable to have complete lockout, but the game benefits greatly by not needing to assume lockout by default).

One of the ways Cyber Sleuth exhibits its “franchise love letter” status is by starting off the game all the way back at the franchise’s roots, before Digimon Adventure changed the game and everyone’s perception of Digimon and Digimon partnership, when the V-Pet lore was intertwined with Digimon as elements of hard sci-fi. As the game proceeds, the atmosphere slowly starts to resemble the more fantasy-like version of the franchise established by Digimon Adventure and its follower entries -- and that change is represented in none other than Nokia herself.

Before we begin: As anyone who follows my meta work has probably noticed, I generally prefer to have my analyses use tons of references and screenshots so that it’s easy to follow and the evidence is concrete, but Cyber Sleuth is a game, and it’s much harder to get those things without replaying the entire game, so I hope this won’t be too hard to follow despite being mostly text.

Nokia’s background and personality

If we want to apply the producer’s statements on Twitter, Nokia is 17 years old at the time of Cyber Sleuth, and has a backstory of having originally been a shy, bullied child who broke out of her shell thanks to the influence of her cousin (who, of all people, happens to be none other than Date Makiko). The flashback we get with Nokia in chapter 18, however, portrays her as just a fairly cheerful, go-getter child, but (although we only get to see her hair) she’s not quite as “flashy” or in-your-face as the description entails.

A possible hypothesis for rationalizing this all together comes from a what we learn about the process of memory wiping in Cyber Sleuth chapter 14: even if memories are extracted from the person, there’s some kind of residual memory left behind (the producer’s above statement also states that the same thing had even happened to Suedou). In Hacker’s Memory chapter 16, Arata confesses to Ryuji that the first Under Zero incident and Jude's loss to the Knightmon had re-triggered his trauma from having lost Yuugo years prior -- “not the memory, but the feeling.” So in other words, there was some feeling of loss that came after the loss of Yuugo that impacted those involved -- and it’s very possible that this deeply impacted and traumatized Nokia as well.

Assuming we’re still following this line of thought (since, again, this background point wasn’t actually in the game proper), Nokia eventually decided to break out of her shell thanks to Makiko’s influence, and become eccentric and assertive, and thus, the game begins.

While we’re here, I also want to point out that Nokia is also voiced by Han Megumi, possibly the Digimon franchise’s most notorious “promoted fangirl” who freaked out after getting to meet her childhood characters’ voice actors while cast as Airu in the Xros Wars crossover and ended up casted in a handful of major Digimon roles thereafter as a result. Which is not to say that her voice performance wasn’t also absolutely perfect for the bright and aggressive Nokia, but, you know...considering the below analysis, food for thought.

Nokia as a representative of “the conventional franchise”

Cyber Sleuth opens on a world where Digimon are largely seen as hacker programs, and even the hackers themselves only see them as non-sentient programs; there are ones like Chitose who treat them with empathy, but his attitude seems to be kindness towards them in a way not entirely unlike a family would treat a Roomba. Although he doesn’t admit to it at first, Arata himself also comes from this “world” of hackers, and we later learn that Yuuko herself is as well (via her “Yuugo” persona), meaning that, other than the playable protagonist, Nokia is the only “outside-context” person -- a completely ordinary civilian who’s gotten dragged into all of this.

Much like, say, the protagonists of Digimon Adventure.

With this background behind her, once she’s thrown into the world of hackers, she immediately has a “fateful encounter” with Agumon and Gabumon, instantly recognizable as two of the franchise’s most prominent Digimon (and complete with their Adventure voice actors, too). And I do especially bring up Adventure specifically, because while Nokia’s position in the game does end up taking in certain elements that roughly came around that era and possibly slightly predated it (mostly Digimon World and V-Tamer), Agumon and Gabumon weren’t particular mascots of the franchise until Adventure basically blew everything to pieces.

Right off the bat, Nokia does not have a single shred of doubt that Agumon and Gabumon are living beings and should be treated as such (again, much like the protagonists of Digimon Adventure; even Taichi in his “is this a game?” mode never doubted this). And they open up their meeting with this conversation:

Agumon: Umm, who are you? Nokia: It... It can talk?! It's so... so... so adoooooorable! M-M-M-M-My name's Nokia. What're your names? Agumon: Me? My name is Agumon! Gabumon: I... I'm Gabumon. Nokia: Agumon and Gabumon? Hee hee! What weird names! Gabumon: Hey, they're not weird! Agumon: You're the one with the weird name! Nokia: As if! My name's not weird! Hee hee!

And on top of that, Agumon refers to Nokia as having a “familiar” scent. Remember this for later.

Nokia’s second encounter with Agumon and Gabumon in Cyber Sleuth chapter 3 involves her properly partnering herself with Agumon and Gabumon, and learning about the existence of the “Digital World”. Note that, for all intents and purposes, EDEN had been treated like the functional equivalent of the Digital World in this narrative up until this point -- cyberspace with hackers, coming from the network, it’s basically a “digital world” from top to bottom, and yet here Agumon and Gabumon are introducing the concept of a more fantasy-esque incarnation of a digital world. (And, in fact, despite EDEN being right there, many long-time Digimon fans playing this game often complained about how little you get to see the “Digital World” in this game, because of how associated that term is with something more fantasy-like.) So, again: here we have Nokia, who’s forming a partnership with Agumon and Gabumon as equals instead of recruiting them as hacker tools (even the protagonist wasn’t immune to this method), and being indirectly responsible for introducing the more fantasy-like concept of the Digital World that the modern franchise is currently associated with.

Nokia embarks on the conventional shounen anime character arc of starting off cowardly, but eventually learning to have her own inner strength, with her Digimon evolving in accordance to her emotions. And, eventually, in Cyber Sleuth chapter 8, she decides to form her own hacker team, called the “Rebels”. She ostensibly bases it off the old creed of Jude, having heard that they were a team that never caused trouble for others, but we later learn via Arata turning out to have been its former leader, and the even later portrayal in Hacker’s Memory of its spiritual successor Hudie, that this is an extremely rose-colored image of them -- Jude (and Hudie) was not a well-intentioned team by any means, but rather a sort of mercenary group meant to enforce the “freedom” of EDEN, often taking on shady jobs and “punishing” entities they considered to be causing chaos. But in this case, Nokia forms her team under the idea of legitimately fighting for justice and good will -- again, much like a Digimon Adventure protagonist.

In case the metaphor weren’t clear enough, Nokia decides that the members of her group will not be called “hackers”, but “Tamers” -- the same lingo used by the franchise to refer to a human who partners alongside a Digimon to help them get stronger -- and that she wants to promote the idea of humans and Digimon working in tandem (complete with emotional bonding exercises). For this, everyone looks at her weird, and yet her methodology, initially naive as it seems, keeps working, because Nokia’s natural charisma starts bringing people from different places together and making quite the formidable team. Everyone is perplexed by this, but perhaps it’s only natural, because Nokia has just independently invented the modern concept of Digimon partnership in a world where it did not exist. And this is eventually solidified by the Under Zero invasion in Cyber Sleuth chapter 10, in which Omegamon is finally formed (from sheer guts on her part).

Omegamon is yet another symbol of the modern franchise, but it’s important to remember that he hasn’t always been so; even his appearance in V-Tamer was as more of a tactical piece than any kind of game-breaker, but the impact of Our War Game! has led him to constantly make a resurgence in major franchise roles (maybe a little too much these days). However, on top of Nokia basically embodying the modern franchise itself by doing this, Nokia and Arata’s positions are an obvious reference to Our War Game! in particular, being Omegamon and Diablomon Tamers -- but they’re not seen directly fighting each other. In fact, Arata’s partner only ever reaches Diablomon when he’s at the highest point of his morality, so the reference is more ideological; Nokia represents the more idealistic and heroic side of Digimon, whereas Arata represents the more dirty-playing and cynical hard sci-fi side of it (remember that Diablomon himself was rather detached from the fantasy conflict of Adventure, being a mysterious entity that sprouted out of nowhere on the Internet and wreaked havoc). Moreover, Nokia’s usage of Omegamon embodies a theme that’s central to both Our War Game! and Cyber Sleuth itself as a whole -- while most people associate Omegamon with Taichi and Yamato these days, the original method of formation back in Our War Game! came from “bringing people from different places together”. Nokia managed to bring together a formidable army in a place where everyone else in the hacker world was trying to promote a dog-eat-dog philosophy, and the sense of cooperation is arguably making her stronger than anyone else.

(I should also point out that Nokia’s name is, obviously, a reference to the Finnish telephone communications company, and this has a lot of relevance to the game’s theme of connection, along with her phone Digivice...and, also, the method used to bring everyone’s powers together in Our War Game!’s spiritual successor, Diablomon Strikes Back. Feels a bit too on-the-nose here.)

In the second half of the game, when the world starts falling apart due to the Digital World portal opening, Nokia becomes one of most important people holding everything together as Arata goes off the deep end and Yuuko starts fixating on her own personal problems and revenge -- because she’s the one most in tune with treating Digimon as the living beings they are, she’s most active in advocating for them and helping them bond with humans, and and she’s the one making the chaos be a little less chaotic. The second half is basically the more fantasy-esque version of Digimon leaking into the sci-fi, with the sidequests progressively resembling your average Digimon anime monster-of-the-week episode, and holding that all together is Nokia, who becomes a vital figure in maintaining that fellowship by being in tune with the modern franchise’s philosophy.

Through all of this, Nokia ends up taking a role rather similar to a Digimon protagonist, which is highlighted very strongly in Cyber Sleuth chapter 18 when she ends up literally becoming the player character while the main protagonist is out of commission. During that time, Yuuko and Nokia learn the truth of what happened during the EDEN incident eight years prior -- and we also learn that the five children involved had an extremely conventional “first meeting in the Digital World” experience that could have been pulled right out of the first episode of a Digimon anime, with them having a lovely adventure meeting new creatures. And at the center of that “first contact” was none other than Nokia, Agumon, and Gabumon themselves:

Agumon: Um... who are you? Nokia: Ahem! I am Nokia! And just who are you? Agumon: Me? My name is Agumon! Gabumon: I... I'm Gabumon. Nokia: Agumon and Gabumon? Hee hee! What weird names! Gabumon: Hey, they're not weird! Agumon: You're the one with the weird name! Nokia: As if! My name's not weird! Hee hee!

Nokia, Agumon, and Gabumon’s meeting at the beginning of the game had been an (accidental) reenactment of their first meeting in the Digital World eight years prior -- and, in the flashback, Nokia invites them to go on an “adventure” with them. So in other words, Nokia getting involved in the hacker conflict at the beginning of the game was, unknown to all of them, her attempting to restore that beauty and idealism of the Digimon Adventure-esque philosophy and fun in a world where the Eaters had torn it away and EDEN had turned into a haven of cynicism and hacker battle royale.

In the end, the game’s conflict is only resolved by bringing everyone together; Arata has to be retrieved from the deep end, and Yuuko has to settle her deep-seated personal grievances. Everyone makes a promise to return together, in the sense of making things right and repairing the connections between them that had been cut in that incident. The final battle (momentarily) causes the playable protagonist to literally fall apart, and the one reaching out to them and sending her message to them at the end of the game is none other than Nokia herself -- again, in the absence of the game’s protagonist, Nokia is the one with the closest role, because in the face of the new world going forward, she was the one who contributed most to restoring its idealism.

Ultimately, all of this is especially because Cyber Sleuth works under one of the most terrifying imaginable premises for a fan of a kids’ franchise: “we made an entry for this, but for adults.” Many of us can testify that this kind of premise can go very well, or very badly -- the latter especially in the case of things that decide “taking the opportunity to do things that you can’t do on a Sunday morning kids’ timeslot” means “going out of your way to put edgy violence and sexy things and cynicism just because you can”, or, in other words, looking down condescendingly on its kids’ franchise roots with malice and deciding that something for adults means “more suffering” and not “issues that require more life experience to understand”. The reason the game ended up getting as much acclaim among longtime Digimon fans as it did was that despite being the franchise’s first venture into this territory, it did end up setting itself up as something that took that opportunity to do something new and unique that would have never made it into any of the prior entries (holy hell the doll quest) and yet never gave up on the idealism and themes of connection that make up the franchise at its core, and paid respect to everything that had contributed to all of that while it was at it.

And at the center of that is Shiramine Nokia, who is effectively the spirit of Digimon Adventure, condensed into a single character.

#digimon #digimon story cyber sleuth #shiramine nokia #nokia shiramine #shihameta

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tefilovesreading · 3 years

Text

It’s a match! Part. 2

Pairing: Charlie Gillespie x Fem!Reader

Word count: 2k

Warnings: None, language but that’s it.

A/N: LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANNA BE TAGGED.

Edited by: @theamazingtomholland

MASTERLIST // PART 1 // PART 3

“What do you mean he sent you a good morning text?” Jo asked, almost choking on her toast.

“He asked for my number last night,” Y/N explained, her hands shaking while she tried to unlock her phone, “and when I woke up, I had a text from him saying good morning and wishing me a good day.”

“Damn the boy is a keeper,” her friend whistled and winked at her after she read the message.

“He told me he wanted to FaceTime.”

She sat on the stool next to where her best friend was sitting and rested her chin on her hand. The butterflies in her stomach felt more like hundreds of bees buzzing fiercely in there.

“And you?” Jo questioned with an intrigued look on her face, “do you wanna do it?”

“I think so,” Y/N answered, biting the inside of her cheek, “he’s really cute, and I had fun texting last night.”

“Well that’s a new one,” the ginger girl joked. All their friends knew how much Y/N hated texting, leaving messages on read for days, or taking absolutely forever to respond. She always felt weird texting, not knowing very well how to keep the conversation going over text.

“Tell him you have thirty minutes, and then you have to go do something else,” Y/N furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and Jo rolled her eyes, “that way if you don’t feel comfortable you have an easy exit.”

“And what if I’m enjoying it?” Jo looked at her as if she was trying to explain how the water cycle worked to a kid, “Jo I’m being serious!”

“In that case, my love, you hang up and call him again after you tell me everything.”

“Who said I was gonna tell you anything, uh?” Y/N smirked and blew her a kiss after her friend gave her an offended look.

“Whatever, Y/N,” Jo flipped her off, “just tell him your professor was sick or something like that.”

“You’re a lifesaver, did I tell you that?” Y/N kissed her friend’s cheek and then jumped off, “I’m gonna go take a shower, see you later.”

“See you later, babe,” Jo said, “don’t forget to eat!”

“I won’t!” Y/N yelled, on her way to the bathroom they shared.

Y/N: Good morning! Hope you have a great day too

She smiled satisfied at her reply and hit the send button.

Y/N couldn’t remember the last time she felt so giddy about a guy, it was exciting, to say the least. Charlie seemed like an easygoing person and really easy to talk to. Sure she was nervous talking to him, but who wouldn’t? The guy was super cute and so nice to her, she already knew she’d be crushing hard.

Thirty minutes later, she was on her way to class with time to go to her favorite coffee shop and have a quick breakfast.

Charlie: Didn’t think you’d answer me so early hahaha Y/N: I have a class in like 20 minutes, wouldn’t have woken up this early if i didn’t have class lol Charlie: So you’re not a morning person Y/N: Oh no, absolutely not!!

She smiled at the boy in the cashier and laughed softly when he asked her if she was ordering the same thing she always did.

“Oh, can you add a brownie please?” Y/N asked politely, while she looked for her card on her bag. After paying for her food, she went to one of the tables in the back.

Charlie: Noted! I swear i try to not wake up early but i can’t Y/N: I bet you’re the kind of friend that wakes everyone up with a lot of noise Charlie: How did ya know that hahahaha Y/N: I was just guessing, but you do seem like a loud person Charlie: I am, i won’t try to deny it Charlie: What about you?? Y/N: Mmm Y/N: It depends Y/N: But my laugh is extra loud, so I can’t say I’m a quiet girl

“Vanilla latte!” Y/N put away her phone and stood up to get her order.

“Thanks, Dylan,” she thanked the boy and grabbed a few napkins before making her way back to her table.

Charlie: I bet your laugh is really cute

Her cheeks were burning after that message, and it took her a couple of minutes to tame the butterflies in her stomach before she was able to type a response. Because as much as she wanted to laugh it off and change the topic, she knew he was flirting with her and if she didn’t flirt back, their conversation was basically dead.

Y/N: Guess you’ll have to find out yourself ;).

That was a nice reply, right? She screenshotted their chat and sent it to Jo. If anyone knew how to flirt while texting, it was her best friend.

Y/N: How does it look? Is it too much?? Too little?? Y/N: H E L P

Jo’s response was quick as always. One of the many reasons she loved her.

Jo: Girl it’s fine Jo: Stop worrying about it Jo: It’s mysterious and a good way to tell him you wanna FaceTime Y/N: Ok ok thank you love ya Jo: Love you more

Checking the hour on her phone, Y/N finished her bagel and gathered her stuff. She waved Dylan goodbye and left the coffee shop. She spent more time than she expected to in there and if she didn’t hurry she’d be late for class.

It was times like this one that made her regret not knowing how to drive because even if all her classmates liked the Lyft program they had for free, she still felt unsafe getting in the car without a friend.

Back in the day, when she was still dating Lance, he’d made sure to call her and talk to her during the whole ride to wherever Y/N needed to go just to make her feel safe. After all, he was never a bad boyfriend, their paths just went in different ways and they both wanted different things in life.

Charlie: Yeah i guess Charlie: What if i call you later when you’re done with your classes??Charlie: No pressure

She could feel the blood rushing to her cheeks for the second time in less than an hour and had to bite her lip to stop herself from smiling.

Y/N: Sure, i’ll let you know once i’m done Y/N: But i have to say bye for now Y/N: Gotta pay attention haha Charlie: Get that degree! Charlie: Talk to you later!

Focusing on whatever her professor was saying was a hard task, she just wanted to pull her phone out and text Charlie, see what he was up to and get home as soon as possible, so they could FaceTime.

Sitting on the edge of her seat, she couldn’t help but bounce her leg to relieve the eagerness rushing through her veins. She still had fifteen minutes left, and then she’d be sprinting out of the classroom and going back to her apartment.

“Dude, do you gotta use the bathroom or what?” Sadie, the girl she always sat with during class, whispered through gritted teeth.

“Sorry,” she apologized, crossing her legs to stop herself from bouncing her leg. Although the new position didn’t stop her from moving her foot.

“What’s up with you?” Sadie snorted once she realized Y/N couldn’t sit still.

“Nothing,” she replied quickly, scribbling on her notebook the pages she needed to read for the next class, ��I just wanna go home.”

“But you have never been this eager to leave this class,” the girl commented without looking at her, too focused on taking notes, “you love this class.”

“I don’t know,” Y/N let out a sigh and checked the hour on her watch, “I just don’t feel like sitting here right now.”

Her classmate didn’t make another comment about her eagerness to leave the classroom, she just nodded her head as if she was telling her she understood.

“I think that’s all for today, guys,” the professor mentioned, leaning on the desk, “have a good day, and don’t forget to read the articles I mentioned.”

Y/N hurried to gather her things and waved Sadie goodbye before walking as fast as she could to the door. She needed to leave before the halls flooded with students. Y/N considered taking the stairs instead of the elevator but knowing how clumsy she could be, she opted for the latter. Falling down the stairs wasn’t on her plans.

Twenty minutes and a mile later, she dropped her keys on the bowl next to the door of her apartment and kicked off her shoes. She checked her out in the full-length mirror Jo had in their living room and shrugged. Charlie knew she was a college student, and it wouldn’t be weird to see her wearing a hoodie with her college’s logo, also, she was comfy and didn’t want to change into something else.

She fixed her hair and made sure she didn’t have smudged mascara under her eyes and then made herself comfortable on the couch.

Y/N: Just made it home

Y/N: That was one hell of a long class haha

She bit her nails, the nervousness kicking in while she waited for a response from Charlie. Maybe he was busy now that she wasn’t. God if their schedules didn’t let them at least FaceTime, she felt like she’d start crying and delete the app. It wasn’t like she was talking to other guys though.

Charlie: Finally!! Charlie: Wanna FaceTime?? Or are you tired?

“Fuck no,” she whispered to herself before she started writing her reply.

Y/N: Nah! Let's FaceTime

Her heart started pounding on her chest when the video call entered and the phone started vibrating in her hand.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she cursed before putting a smile on her face and answering the call. “Hey!”

Holy shit. His pictures didn’t make him justice.

“How you doin’?” Charlie said and her cheeks blushed.

“It’s that a Friends reference?” she asked trying to hide her smile.

“I swear I don’t mean it in that way,” he laughed, and the way his eyes crinkled when he smiled made her heart flutter. “But seriously, how was your day?”

“It was good even though I hate waking up early,” the way Charlie was looking at her with so much attention, even if it was through a screen it made her feel so confident, “I had breakfast at this little coffee shop near my apartment and then went to class.”

“But that sounds like a nice morning,” Charlie mentioned, his sweet smile never leaving his face.

“What were you up to anyway?”

“Not much actually,” he shrugged and the gesture made him look young, “I went for a run, then I had to film some tapes for a few auditions, and now I’m chilling.”

“You’re an actor,” Y/N pointed out, not even surprised about the new information he just revealed. It was Los Angeles after all.

“I am,” he smiled, and she swore she could see a pink tint on his cheeks, “I started back in Canada when I was about fourteen or fifteen.”

“Any chances I’ve watched it?” Charlie scrunched his nose and shook his head.

“Maybe, if you are into foreign films,” Y/N tilted her head confused at his answer, “It’s in French.”

“You learned how to speak in French for the movie?” Y/N furrowed her eyebrows together when Charlie started laughing.

“I grew up speaking French and English,” he explained with a soft smile, “I’m French Canadian.”

“That makes a lot more sense now,” she laughed off her embarrassment, “I’m gonna blame the fact that I woke up early today. I’m not this dumb, I swear.”

“Don’t worry,” he said and the smile faded just enough for her to notice his intense stare, “I thought it was cute.”

She bit her lip at his words and tried to look away from the screen, but Charlie’s eye contact felt as if he was looking right into her soul and she couldn’t break that connection even if she wanted to. And she definitely didn’t want to do that.

tagged: @chevyimpala00067 @samanthawilliamspring @searchingunderthestars @luke-patt @moneybagmgk @angisbr @happinessinthedarkesttimes @knitsessed @cordeliascrown @crybabyddl @phantompogues @the-romanian-is-bae @doaspeggy-says

#charlie gillespie x reader #charlie gillespie x y/n #charlie gillespie one shot #charlie gillespie fanfic #charlie gillespie imagine #charlie gillespie fanfiction #charlie gillespie fluff #jatp cast imagine #charlie gillespie

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help-i-need-a-cool-username · 3 years

Text

Been reading a lot of twitter fics recently and its got me thinking how the Avengers would actually use twitter

(written by someone who has never had a twitter lol)

Bruce — i feel like he wouldnt even have a twitter and if he did its because Tony set one up for him. He either never touches it or its on private

Tony — being a celebrity and all i feel like Pepper or someone else was responsible for the majority of his account. And then he actually got into twitter and started posting whatever he wanted. He's not actually all that active on it. Still has a massive following though

Steve — used to pretend he didnt know how it worked when Tony made him a account. He has periods of lots of activity mixed with periods of no activity. He says a lot of political stuff but the majority of his content is everyday stuff. His most popular content is whenever he tweets about learning something basic or watching a old classic. Has a massive following

Natasha — Tony also made her a account but being a spy and all she never uses it. Whenever she does come on its to embarrass or bully her teammates. Massive following

Clint — has a private account and that was only to stay in touch with his family while he was working at SHIELD. Tony couldnt find it because his account and his family's accounts were under fake names so Tony made him a account with everyone else. He only has like five original tweets and the rest are retweets. Is one of those people who's on all the time but never actually presses the like button. Has a large following solely because he happens to be a superhero

Thor — the only Avenger other than Tony to have already had a twitter (Jane and Darcy helped set it up). He knows how it works but doesnt quite grasp when he should use it. He'll try and tweet when he's off-world and doesnt understand that its not posting. He has a phone but he doesnt carry it around with him so pretty much all of his actually working twitter activity comes from him on a ipad on the couch because he's bored in the middle of day because everyone he knows has a job or something. His tweets either make sense or they dont. Has a massive following anyways

Alright now that the mains are out of the way lets talk about the others

Peter Parker — definitely has two or three accounts. His Peter account is private and his Spidey account is public. His third is either a Peter account May doesnt know about or a "intern" account where he can post about stuff that happens with the Avengers when he's not in the suit (so the Avengers don't figure out who he is and his school friends dont know he actually hangs out with the Avengers). His private account is normal high school aged twitter user stuff, Spidey account is mostly just public announcements but he does Q and As pretty frequently, and the Intern account is a lot like Natasha's in the sense its almost exclusively embarrassing content of or light bullying of the Avengers. Spidey has a massive following and Intern has a large amount. Theres a lot of controversy over whether the Intern account is real despite Tony Stark saying it is because all Stark employees have to sign a form saying they won't talk about what happens at work on any social platforms

Rhodey — uses twitter like a normal person. He didnt have that big a following until he got a suit. He debated turning his account private but decided not to. He does use his account as a platform occasionally

Bucky — he's like Steve, it took him a while to get into it but when he's on it he'll be on it all day. Has the same types of tweets/tweet ratio as Steve. Has no trouble embarrassing Steve online. A large following, almost entirely made of Captain America fans

Sam — a normal person twitter. Sometimes he posts about Steve or the other Avengers and thats gotten him a lot of followers

Dr. Strange — has a twitter but is never on it

Wong — has a private twitter with more followers then Strange. Will never let Strange know he has a twitter

Scott — Luis made him a twitter to help distract him after he got out of prison. He has like 15 followers but posts like he has 1.5 million followers. Really wants to make a Ant-Man account

Hope — has a twitter but for work

Hank — has a twitter but doesnt use it

Luis — a normal person twitter

Shuri — only one from Wakanda to have a Twitter. She has a lot of fun knowing people cant stop her and don't know she's talking about them (cough T'Challa cough). Im not sure if she's using her real name though. When the outreach program begins (i forgot what it was called) she makes several accounts for it

Fury — does not have a twitter

Maria — was only allowed a twitter to monitor the Avengers. Posts a few "normal" things to make the account look real (especially after SHIELD went down)

Carol — does not have a twitter. Enjoys looking at tweet screenshots though

Shaun — a normal person twitter. Private account

Katy — a normal person twitter

Did i forget anyone? I feel like im forgetting someone. Many if this gets some notes i'll do a TikTok account one

EDIT: I FORGOT WANDA AND VISION AHHHHH

Wanda — has a private account because she's smart and values privacy (also scared of public disapproval (i.e. CA:CW)). Was thinking of going public because all the Avengers (minus Bruce but he's not around) have public accounts but Clint recommended she wait till she was adult to get a public account if she wasnt sure about it now. She posted a lot of justice and political stuff when she was in Sokovia

Vision — Actually made himself a account because he wanted to feel included. Does not need a phone to tweet he can do it "mentally".

#hinacu mcu #marvel #mcu #avengers #twitter #twitter fic #chat fic #the avengers #aaou #spider man #shang chi #captain marvel #black panther #iron man #captain america #black widow #hawkeye #bruce banner #thor odinson

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brywrites · 4 years

Text

Long-winded thoughts on canceling the Criminal Minds cast and accountability from an abolitionist perspective below, if you’re into that sort of thing

Yes, the cast has done some problematic things. Also yes, many of them occurred years ago when "times were different.” That doesn’t mean it was okay then - it’s always been offensive, but people didn’t automatically go “oh hey we shouldn’t do/say that” because it was considered normal. Aisha’s SoupTalk video is yikes, but bear in mind that jokes like that were very common before women started speaking out about things and #MeToo became a movement. The r-slur has always been offensive but it was incredibly commonplace for a long time.

Which is to say that it is important to hold people accountable for when they’ve done wrong, and to explain why things aren’t okay - but it’s also important to recognize when people have changed and give them space to do so. MGG for example has done a lot to support and raise money for an organization that offers programming and resources to adults with intellectual disabilities that he’s clearly very passionate about – he’s doing work to be better. Would a “hey I said this thing a few years ago and definitely should not have said it but now I know better and etc etc” be nice? Yeah, it definitely wouldn’t hurt. But in an age of 40 minute long YouTube apologies and half-hearted notes app screenshots, I (personally) would rather see someone putting their money where their mouth is and doing the work.

I think calling people out when appropriate is important. Holding people accountable is important. But I also think cancel culture is toxic and antithetical to the world we’re trying to achieve. We want people to want to learn and change and be better. If we say they’re cancelled forever, that defeats the point**. Especially if you’re an abolitionist!! Abolition is all about grace, forgiveness, and growing together. Cancelling began as a form of accountability but has now become a toxic culture of performative woke-ness. It’s not woke to tell people they can never do better. True radical thinking is believing that people can do better, and working together to raise our collective consciousness. Radical accountability looks less like “you did/didn’t do X and now you’re cancelled,” and more like “you did/didn’t do X - do you realize why that was harmful/offensive/disappointing/etc? Here’s a thoughtful explanation and some recommendations for further reading, I would be happy to answer any questions or talk more about this.” It looks like an invitation to educate themselves and ask questions rather than an assertion that because they don’t have the knowledge already they can never be redeemed.

Celebrities are not heroes. Class privilege is a hell of a drug, and while many have begun doing the hard work of learning, they still live in a relatively isolated world in which the everyday experiences of discrimination, poverty, etc. affect them very differently. Shemar Moore said “all lives matter” in 2017 and recently talked about how there’s “good and bad on both sides” in regards to racism. Caitlyn Jenner thought Trump was going to help LGBTQ+ people. When you’re famous and wealthy, you experience the world differently, and you aren’t radicalized as easily because things don’t affect you the way they do the rest of us! We shouldn’t excuse all their bad behavior, but we should be mindful of the fact that it might take them longer to learn to do better.

You’re allowed to be upset and hurt and offended and disappointed by things the cast have said/done. That is COMPLETELY valid. You’re allowed to decide you don’t want to be in the fandom anymore! You’re allowed to express your frustration or disappointment! But when it comes to calling people out online or in person, I think it’s important to keep all of the above in mind. Are the ways in which we hold people accountable encouraging them to reflect and learn? Or are we just shouting into the void with no real strategy?

Especially if we’re for the abolition of prisons and policing because everyone deserves grace and the chance to be held accountable and restore justice for harms they caused in a way that allows them to grow while supporting the people they’ve hurt - we cannot just apply that grace in places we see fit***. We have to be willing to apply it to celebrities who did something problematic, to people we knew who used to say problematic things but are now trying to learn in the wake of BLM, and so on. We all had to learn at one point. And it’s amazing that we all learned so young and have fought for so much. But not everyone has had the same experiences and the same education.

Anyways.

**obviously this is meant for people who said or did something problematic, not for someone who is like a literal Nazi or actively advocating for conversion therapy or something

***there are types of harm that are extremely harmful and you should not at all feel pressured to give grace to someone who has deeply harmed you (eg someone who assaulted you) if you aren’t in a place to do that! You can! But you don’t have to! Also we’re talking grace for people who have made mistakes and are ready to change and recognize they did wrong, not for like Harvey Weinstein or people who commit the same grave harm over and over and over for their own pleasure knowing full well what they are doing.

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criquette-was-here · 3 years

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Replies

Anonymous said:

Hi Criquette! I love your work and tutorials, in fact, you taught me how to make hood deco buildings light up at night! However, I'm having an issue with the transparency. The day window texture and the main building textures have a transparent gap between them even though they line up perfectly in the image program and GMND preview. Do you know what may be causing this?

Hey anon! Thank you! I’m glad you’ve managed to get your decorations light up at night. As for the gap, sometimes, if a material has ‘alphatest enabled’ on ‘1′ it can interpret almost opaque (i.e. transparency at 50-70%) areas of the texture as fully transparent. Alphatest renders transparency strictly as true/false, or 1/0. I would recommend to turn alphatest off (set to ‘0′) and if you still need to have transparency in your day windows texture, make it work with ‘blend mode: blend’.

@saralynnx said:

I'm just in total awe right now. Feverfew completely blew all of my expectations out of the water, and is a prime example of 'TS3 and TS4 could never!' I seriously feel bad for people who are no longer active in the TS2 community for missing out on this masterpiece.

Oh, thank you Sara! Well, this game can wait (i’ve had a break for six years myself) and if someone decides to get back to TS2, Feverfew will be available :)

Anonymous said:

Any chances you could upload just the sc4 terrain for Feverfew?

Oh, dear anon. There’s no point in doing that. Because the unedited map for thins neighborhood looks like this:

You can still have the Vervainwort SC4 map instead, which makes definitely more sense.

Anonymous said:

Omg I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mind the look of it I just thought I did something wrong! Good to know I’m set. Thank you for replying I know you’re being inundated with messages! Bless!

Not to worry, anon! Happy simming :)

@impassingoveryou said:

Had to chuckle a bit at Mr. Bean‘s car. I didn‘t even notice it until my brother casually walked past me and pointed it out. Was that supposed to be an easter egg? :D

Well, I did show some WIP pics of this little car earlier. Not sure about an easter egg, but it’s definitely a mention :) As for the easter eggs, there’s one and it’s not related to mr. Bean ;)

Anonymous said:

Hi, thank you for Feverfew! I don't have a computer at the moment, so I can't dowload it and wander around in it like I want to, but I already love it just from the pictures. Just curious, are there spaces/suitable terrain for beach lots in Feverfew? I have a couple of ideas for beach lots and was wondering if I can fit them into Feverview.

Hi anon! There’s literally one single beach lot in Feverfew and it has a pub so you’ll have to make it over :)

@veetiesims2 said:

As a detail-crazy worldbuilder I really admire all the work you did on Feverfew. It's not my usual style but it reminds me so much of the village of my childhood that I think I'll adopt it as a side hood! Thanks <3

Ah, thank you Veetie! I’m so glad that so many people see Feverfew this way. I didn’t grew up in a town like this myself, but I really fell in love with small British towns and villages, so it was really something I wanted to try and recreate in-game.

Anonymous said:

This might be dramatic but I literally teared up when I opened up your neighborhood. I wish I was so detail oriented. Your screenshots did not do it justice because W O W

Ahh, thanks anon! Yes, Feverfew looks better in-game than on screenshots ^__^”

@ankapartizankaniko said:

Criquette, you're amazing! and your city is amazing! Thank you for a cool gift for the new year. Now I don't want to finish building my city ;)

Oh, please do finish it! :D You’re most welcome @ankapartizankaniko and Happy New Year!

Anonymous said:

Hi, I saw a YouTube-video about Feverfew, and there was this river-piece neighborhood deco. Would it be possible to share that piece separately? I love Feverfew, but I play medieval, so I can not use whole hood, but that river hood deco would be perfect!

Hello anon! You can download the whole thing, take the ‘FeverfewHoodCC’ folder and put it into your downloads folder without installing the whole thing. All the hood decorations, including river pieces, will appear as usual under ‘landmark’ and ‘misc’ submenu.

@pleasant-lives said:

I was watching the video review of Feverfew and I just kept thinking: I wish we had an open world in ts2! It’s so pretty and detailed, I am amazed

Yes, an open world in TS2 would be nice. But frankly, I’m quite satisfied with the one we have :)

Anonymous said:

2) or, e.g. is it possible to create a default replacement of impostor textures for a lot... by putting its custom textures in a separate package... which would override, upon each load of the game, those textures that game generates after each save? i've never done DRs myself so all of the above is probably nonsense, and even if it's possible it's too much work anyway... but i was mostly just wondering what your thoughts on this topic are. p.s. great worldbuilding in the Feverfew story mode! :)

Is it me, or the first bit is lost somewhere? :D Well, lot imposters work a bit different comparing to usual CC. Although there’s still left some place for experiments and who knows, may be at some point we will be able to improve them somehow!

#replies #pleasant-lives #ankapartizankaniko #veetiesims2 #impassingoveryou #saralynnx

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linguist-breakaribecca · 4 years

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There is this reductionist, ableist assertion among white liberals, stating that anti-Blackness can be fixed just by reading a book — that the source of all racism is clearly just not knowing any better, so all we need to do as white people is to share articles and form book clubs and shazam no more racists.

It makes the commenter feel better by signaling they are of the superior educated class; it demonizes rural people, poor people, and people who have suffered within power structures that tie education to generational wealth and property values; and it ignores the fact that the racists with the most power right now are all college-educated.

The assertion also serves as a weapon to tone-police activists, saying things like “they’ll never listen to you if you cuss or riot! you just need to be patient and teach them! if you can’t take uncompensated hours of your time to educate the people pointing guns at you, then you’re just making things worse!”

Half the officers complicit in George Floyd’s murder were students of the University of Minnesota, enrolled in the Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance program. The program’s description on the UMN site includes:

[Image ID: two screenshots of the course description from the University of Minnesota website. It reads, “Sociology of Law, Criminology, and Deviance. Our sociology of law, criminology, and deviance program examines the socially constructed nature of deviance, whose definitions of deviance prevail, and an understanding that links deviance to power in society. Sociologists seek to understand the relationship between deviance, social control, and the criminal justice system using scientific research methods such as statistical analysis, survey research, ethnography, conversational analysis, and content analysis. — Understanding Social Processes. Different categories of people experience deviance, social control, and the criminal justice system differently, and through the course of this program, you will begin to understand the social processes by which individuals are labeled as deviant or conforming. The results of sociological investigations of law, criminology, and deviance help develop new theories and inform — components, dynamics, and philosophical structure of criminal justice and agencies; enforcement and impact of law on social change and the rights of individuals; the science of crime as a social phenomenon; theories and structures of community corrections programs, and penal policies and practices; current trends in women's participation in crime and their treatment in the legal system; media representations or distortions of prevailing knowledge about crime and punishment”. End ID]

These cops were plenty educated and prepared to act.

Amber Hamilton is a PhD student in the UMN Sociology Department, and raised the public alarm both about the cops being undergrad students there, and about her department subsequently sending out an email directing staff and students not to discuss the matter.

“Stop rioting and go read a book” is a useless direction when anti-Black racism is baked into the academia that produces the books.

[Image ID: A series of screenshots of tweets by Amber Hamilton, @ayeemach, June 5, 2020. “2 of the police officers charged with aiding and abetting the murder of George Floyd were previously students in the Sociology dept. at the University of Minnesota. Yesterday, my dept. sent the grad students an email requesting we stay silent if contacted by media. Y’all. (1/n) - My fellow grad students have issued excellent email responses to that request calling it out for what it is: an attempt to cover-up something that is politically unfashionable in this moment. 2/n - Our dept has a Law, Crime, and Deviance track that is actively marketed to students as a path to law enforcement. So this dept. is actively recruiting and training folks who go on to join the MPD and other law enforcement agencies in Minnesota and beyond. - If you actively market your courses to folks who want to be in law enforcement, you have to accept the consequences down the line. When those officers kill/abuse/main citizens, you can’t shy away from your role in that 4/n - Several of my grad school colleagues have realized that they were instructors/TAs for the two officers and are sick about it. But this is what it is. The Soc dept. has to stand in this and choose a path forward. 5/n - Either they can continue to actively market the LCD major as a path toward law enforcement or they can choose to divest from that practice. But what they can’t do is request my complicity and silence about their failures 6/n. - Last thing: this thread is going to burn bridges for me and I’m probably going to get emails about it. That’s just what it is. But I’m not going to stay silent about Black deaths and white complicity.” End ID]

#linguistics #language #language and power #racism #anti blackness #ableism #cw george floyd #tw george floyd #george floyd #blm #protect black lives #black lives matter #academia #hegemony #university of minnesota #sociology

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echowolfs · 4 years

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Young Justice: Poison Ivy

So i was reminiscing on the first two season of YJ while watching clips from the latest season and vaguely remembered that my favorite villain Poison Ivy was in the show, and that i did not like her design.

A quick google search confirmed that memory for me, but as i was scrolling through images and clips of her scenes, I had a thought after coming across this picture:

I said to myself, “you know, that weird cheek cover or whatever the hell it is doesn’t look half bad here. It just looks like a shadow. Vines are still stupid as fuck but- wait a sec...

So I downloaded a few screenshots of Ivy, Opened them up in my art program.

And made a fucking discovery

I’VE BEEN SLEEPING ON THIS QUEEN FOR NINE YEARS GOOD LORD

I hope she shows up again in S4, hopefully with a new look and voice actress (i’m never gonna like the voice they gave her. Just isn’t an Ivy voice to me). Just so long as they leave the face vines off or figure out a way to do it better on her.

#DC #Young Justice #Young Justice Outsiders #Poison Ivy #dc poison ivy

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hohoz · 4 years

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WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO GET THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK RIGHT !

Hello, so we have some news about the Justice League and Snyder

Snyder’s cut is going to be released in 2021 by HBO MAX, and I have to say congratz to all of you who insisted and believed that this movie would be released, signed petitions and things like that.

But I have to talk to you about my opinion, because I LOVE DC SO FREAKING MUCH, and it hurts when someone says that Marvel is the best and DC is boring, and because of that, I think we all have to understand WHY that happens.

And it’s quite simple

We don’t get the man behind the mask right...

I loved Snyder’s dark style,everything that he did in those movies and how he showed some Epicurean paradox moments , but the versions that he choose to introduce to the normies wasn’t good at all;

Let’s talk about BATMAN FIRST

We can all agree that Snyder used Frank Miller’s Dark Knight as inspiration for the whole movie , but that was completely bad, and I’m sorry to say that, even tho I loved this comic and loved Batman vs Superman, that was really a bad comic to introduce the characters to the normies.

And I want to explain why,

Most people don’t read comics, so If you show in a movie a Batman who kills, people will think that’s what he does, if you show a Batman who marks people so they get killed in jail, people will think “Oh he’s kind evil”.

We all know that Miller’s Batman was someone who retired, okay ? He was tired and depressed and a lot of things that made him a darker person,(it’s kind like a What if story) BUT he is not LIKE THIS.

Let’s use an movie animation as an example to prove a point

The son of batman

Damian Wayne is Bruce son and he was raised by the league of assassins, and he kills like it’s fucking nothing, he is a murder machine, trained in all aspects and weapons,

And Bruce it’s not okay with this, so this whole movie is about Damian seeking revenge and Batman trying to make him understand that you have to seek JUSTICE NOT REVENGE

In this part they argue, Damian is saying that he’s way is EASIER and Batman explains something essential for the WHOLE BATMAN CHARACTER, this is something YOU HAVE TO GET IT RIGHT IF YOU’RE GOING TO WRITE A BATMAN MOVIE.

And this movie IS SO GOOD guys, Damian is my fav character, but the point is, this moral code is something that is always with Batman, this is a part of his character, this is something that Snyder ignored completely.

BTW, Damian always struggle with this, but he follows his dad code.

And this is something that even Nolan brought to his Batman, because this is a part of Batman.

Okay, so enough about this killing batman, let’s go to the main point of this post, when you’re going to write a hero, you have to understand the men behind that hero, and I’m not saying about the moment that his parents were killed in an alley, I’m talking about who Bruce is as a person.

And I know that you guys will say that he lost Jason in Snyder’s universe, but that also happened in the comics and Bruce is not a serial killer !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now let’s talk about Superman

And this is the hardest part to write, because I feel so sorry for Henry, you can see that he loves this character so much, and it’s really sad that Superman its not Superman.

I never saw a movie that actually got Superman right, Christopher’s Supes was the one who got closest to the real one, but they all suffer from the same problems:

Lois lane and Smallville.

First: Lois

SUPERMAN IS SO MUCH MORE THAN WRITING A ROMANCE WITH DAMSEL IN DISTRESS

I HAD TO SAY IT.

Come on, he is a HERO, a symbol oh HOPE.

Look at this

Or when he is saving the world in secret, in this comic, is after New 52, so he just had Jon, and both him a Lois wanted to protect their son, and a lot of stuff happened, but there is one thing, even tho he couldn't appear in media, he still wanted to do EVERYTHING HE COULD TO SAVE THE WORLD.

If you read this comic “Superman: Lois and Clark” you’ll see a different version of superman, a human side you know, before superman he was Smallville, and there is a reason for that.

In this comic we can see that, it’s almost Xmas, and he dint get Jon a present, so he tries really really hard to get a Monk-E monsters for his son, even tho he had to save the world 500x that day.

And even if it was easier to try to buy a toy as Superman, he goes as Clark in every store !

So the Wayne’s went to Clark’s house to spend xmas there (LOOK AT HIS SWEATER)

You know, I could post here a hundred screenshots of a lot small moments that show, who Clark is, he is a man that was born in the middle of nowhere, raised by a good family, he’s naive sometimes and he’s kind, he’s not broody

Every time that we see him in a scene, he looks like he’s mad, angry, I do know, but he doesn't look happy. WTF

I know some of you might not agree with me, I loved BvS and I hated JL, but even tho I loved BvS, it’s was a bad choice to portrait the characters that way.

If you search for news at the day where superman was killed you’ll see that this was covered by a lot of programs (not just in USA) like it was something out of this world, like he was a real person, and that happened because his character was so good, a genuine hero... I wanted to see that hero on the movies...

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simonjadis · 4 years

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It’s so funny that you should ask this, Anon, as I happened to see this tweet today

I’m a big believer in rewarding content creators for the work that they do. Pirating comics, books, and video games that are still being sold can cause real harm. Especially when, you know, libraries exist.

Pirating a TV show . . . does not necessarily do any harm and can actually help. By which I mean that people check out a show on their computers and then may decide to watch, to boost it on social media, to create transformative works such as fic, fanart, even gifs and screenshots. I can’t tell you how many shows I’ve started watching because I saw someone’s screenshots/gifs on here.

I do like buying dvds/blu rays -- both to legally own them and to financially show the creator that it’s worthwhile. It also helps media to endure. Streaming is convenient but it lacks the permanence of a few terrabytes of hoarded TV shows, you know?

I’m amazed that some people can make gifs from streaming. I can’t even take a decent screenshot with the way that pausing so often works on streaming (I can take them, but they don’t look great, which is fine for a sitcom but not for gorgeous spaceships, etc)

most would say that any show worth watching is worth pirating -- especially because, before streaming, that was basically the only way to watch things in college dorms unless you turned on the TV at the exact time to catch it live, like the hunter-gatherers of old

there are a number of torrent programs out there. while I confess to nothing in this, my personal favorite VPN service is PureVPN

I subscribe to Netflix, Amazon Prime, CBS All Access, DC Universe, and Disney+ . . . in part to reward specific shows (The Expanse, Star Trek: Discovery, Young Justice, Clone Wars) but in part to share with my friends. having a streaming service doesn’t mean that you never want to have a copy of something simply to have it

be smart about what you download. be sure to get quality copies (I won’t watch anything under 1080p, so include that in your search bar), and know that some torrents come without subtitles. some sites provide the subs separately, however

if you’re enjoying a show and TRULY cannot afford to stream it or otherwise support it, consider finding another way to boost it, such as livetweeting (you can fake livetweet, a simple one-off tweet of “oh good The Show is on! #TheShow” may be cheesy as fuck sometimes but it helps

again, I truly do not believe in pirating books/comics/games. but as the tweet says, it’s kind of fucked up that somehow people just forgot how to do what, for people my age (not that much older) is an almost universal tool/skill

#anon #ask #anon ask #I ADMIT TO NOTHING

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vrainsrewatch · 5 years

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episode 9 thoughts

revolver vs playmaker round 1 hype! i somehow took another 19 screenshots this episode, even though it was mostly dueling. i guess these are just getting longer as the plot picks up, lol.

so first off:

this line, plus the little montage that follows it, i love. i love how they demonstrate what is going on in his head without telling us straight up yet. i love the air of mystery vrains managed to keep for it’s first season. we didn’t learn about our protag’s backstory until episode 20 or so. that’s so cool!

but yeah, yeah, mr. emissary of revenge.

i’ll talk a bit more about yusaku later. this is our first full episode with revolver, so he’ll be what i talk a lot about for this one. first off,

this line makes me laugh so much now that i know what’s to come. yeah, you didn’t care who he was at first, but later on you care so much that you risk eeeeeeeverything because of it, you absolute fool. i love you.

he also brings up the ignis, to yusaku’s surprise.

more so he acquired it and gave up trying to figure out what it is. again, i love the mystery here. how this line gets you questioning what is it? what do you know? and for me, originally, it also had me wondering are you really the bad guy here?

i love that shit. arc v has some amazing foreshadowing, but i feel like nobody really talks about how vrains actually had some and some really cool set ups, too. i don’t think it tops a5′s, no matter how... ridiculous, we’ll say, it got at the end, but this sets up the 43 reveal really nicely, because he doesn’t really explain anything else other than ignis bad here lol.

this also sets up revolver as a character pretty well, and also i did kind of laugh bc it sets up the rest of vrains, as well. everything in this show is so high stakes lol. a lot of people complained that it made some of the death scenes feel cheap, because every fuckin duel was life or death, and while i agree to an extent, it also is kinda cool when you think about how yusaku’s perspective on dueling was only challenged once, and that happened in the first 10 episodes lmao. dueling really is life or death in vrains, and i like that it doesn’t try and prove yusaku wrong for the most part on that.

moving onto everyone’s favorite meme speech:

i know people meme this to death, but i think it’s a good look at who revolver is, and sparks the beginnings of why part of the fandom thinks him an anti hero. because what he’s saying isn’t... it isn’t an evil thing to say, he’s even saying he wants people to wake up so they don’t destroy themselves and the world they’ve built, but i digress on the anti hero thing.

for another thing, though, we don’t really know right now that AI can have free will. i talked about it in my episode 1 thoughts, but vrains is a series that asks a lot of questions regarding free will, and what it means to be a human -- or to be real. revolver talks about breathing and having a heartbeat, but does that mean you don’t have emotions? your own thoughts and feelings? does that mean you can’t connect to others? revolver thinks yes, because he’s been conditioned to think of the ignis as evil and world destroying. had ai not gone off the deep end after s2, i think he would’ve come to accept that free will means that you can choose for yourself whether you’re good or bad, or whether you want to do good or bad things.

the other thing that’s interesting here is him referencing fake bonds. i think he’s talking about the KOH lackeys that they utilize throughout this season. they don’t really understand, they don’t believe in his cause, they just think he’s cool or they’re doing something cool or whatever. it’s a fairly thoughtless existence, and revolver recognizes it for what it is.

it also calls to question his relationship with his father -- the internet world is fiction. yes, the KOH were able to recreate his father’s brain into LV. but he’s essentially a dead man in the real world. he obviously understands this well, considering he’s the one that takes care of his father irl. i wonder if he holds some resentment, since it really seemed like he didn’t get to spend much time with his father until he was recreated in LV.

also, he apologizes here. you could not think much of it, but because i’m me, and clearly i like thinking way too much about everyone in this show, i’m going to do just that.

this is a stark contrast from the finale of s2, where revolver has completely lost himself and doesn’t care about anything else but fulfilling his father’s wish. it’s also a stark contrast to how he thinks of playmaker after he says his three things speech and revolver starts putting the pieces together on his identity.

he’s enjoying himself a little here,

but ultimately, he doesn’t care who he’s dueling. he himself doesn’t ever go after anyone he deems unnecessary -- hence the amount of lackeys. watching him lose himself this season all over again is going to be fun, lmao.

anyways, though,

honestly, much as i loved s3, i missed ai’s little quips like this lol. vrains has such a serious tone to it, which i love, but i also love these quick little moments of fun.

as a filthy shipper, i could go on and on about this, but i won’t. all i’ll say is i love how they are two sides of the same coin, and i love how vrains paints that picture here for us.

all we really know about yusaku so far is

1) he’s awful with people/doesn’t care about making friends 2) he’s got a strong, but self centered, sense of justice and 3) he will fulfill his mission at all costs

the reason all the revolver vs playmaker duels were so enjoyable for me, at least, was because of how determined they both were. i love a5, it was my second fave series for a long time, but reiji vs yuya never felt like this. i haven��t watched zexal yet (i know, shame me), but in 5ds, jack vs yusei had a bit of this, but they were friends at their core. best friends. and gx was a mess with the rivalries, lol, so we won’t go there. anyways, my point here is that i really, really missed that. these two felt like actual rivals.

anyways, though, then we get this:

to which ai asks how long have you been able to do this? and after a quick shot of yusaku during the lost incident, he says:

this is the biggest thing i wish they hadn’t dropped or just starting ignoring for the most part in vrains. was this why yusaku was the sixth child??? i know takeru doesn’t really have this, or at least not that i remember, but do any of the other children? spectre could sense when earth was erased -- is that because earth was born from him, or is it because of link sense to some degree? or is the LI why yusaku developed link sense? if that’s the case, what made him different? ryoken’s interference?

and speaking of ryoken when it comes to link sense,

is that where his ability to control datastorms comes from??? i know he does one single thing with the storms in s2, but is that like, it? do we ever get to hear about why he can do this? i don’t remember oof. you’d think for how much i write about him, i would know this off hand lol. but seriously, i wonder if his influence in the LI caused yusaku to gain his link sense, and if it somehow effected him, too. that would’ve been so cool to see as a mini arc, or plot point, in s2, but kmoney had to shill a certain deck LOL (i kid i love takeru a lot)

moving on again, though,

if this was how this card worked in the TCG i’d actually still have it in my rokket deck, probs LOL

i love how vrains uses the link summoning chants as a way to get into character’s heads. not as hype as other summoning chants from other series or even vrains, but i really like them.

this is obviously a reference to stardust road. it’s subtle, but it’s there, and that’s so nifty. i didn’t even realize until i was rewatching this episode today that it was a reference to stardust road, or could at least be taken that way.

also,

this. this is so funny to me. ai is so offended that revolver somehow ripped this program. also, does this imply that windy, too, ripped ai’s program? or that he gave it to windy, back before he went all corrupt-y?

then there’s more duel stuff, but this is getting really long again, so i’ll stop myself there lol. i’ll probably watch another episode or two later since it looks my tentative plans have been cancelled lol. that’s fine by me tho, i’m sleepy, and there’s nothing more relaxing then getting to watch my favorite show~

#vrains #episode 9

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katiemcg97-blog · 4 years

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Readerly Exploration 12/4/19 Hard Words: Why aren’t kids learning to read? Top 5 reasons to Eliminate Guided Reading

For this readerly exploration I first read, Hard words: Why aren’t kids learning to read? The main idea of this paper was that educators need to understand the science behind literacy instruction. They need to be able to know the components that make up a balanced literacy approach, and how to encompass phonics instruction within this as well, to benefit the holistic reader.

One of the major stand outs that was surprising to me was the misuse of the term “balanced literacy approach” from the district teachers and principals. The paper stated regarding the teachers’ thoughts on balanced literacy that, “The main idea seemed to be: Give kids lots of good books, and with some guidance and enough practice, they become readers. "We never looked at brain research," she said. "We had never, ever looked at it. Never”. In our literacy course we have been inundated by talking of the balanced literacy approach. The balanced literacy approach is on a continuum comprised with the most time in teacher supported settings where students are exposed to modeled literacy practices like teacher models, mini lessons, interactive read aloud. This is followed with activities where the teacher slowly releases students to continue in group reading activities (shared reading, small group work), and ultimately independent work such as independent reading and assessment. The components for reading within the balanced literacy approach follows read aloud/modeled reading, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading. This misinterpretation from the teachers of the Bethlehem for what the balanced approach is, has evidently significantly impacted their students’ performance. The reading opportunities they have provided for their students is mainly independent practice with minimal modeling. Although everyone (for the most part) can learn to read, some never reach their full potential due to a skewed presentation of the balanced literacy approach. This is due to a lack of professional teaching on the teacher’s part. Students need ample opportunities to be able to observe, practice in group settings, then apply the concepts independently in all courses, but especially literacy.

The next article I read was Top Five Reasons to Eliminate Guided Reading. The main idea of this blog post was that guided reading negatively affects students and their readerly identities. I had several issues with this blog post from spelling errors to topics weighed down with opinions rather than data. My interesting nugget for this article was that “guided reading teaches kids to hate books”. Well that may be true for some students, it all goes down to how guided reading is presented, and how it prepares students to be let loose and explore books independently. Guided Reading to me is the training wheels to prepare students to ride on their own. I believe for guided reading books although it may be tough to do so, authentic texts should be used to gauge student interest and entice them. I agree if guided reading is only done with a worksheet, it would be boring. However, I’d recommend this author to read any text of Debbie Miller and see how using her guided reading approach may change the author’s mind as to how guided reading is boring or inhibits learning.

For my readerly habit I decided to focus on the first reading Hard words, and Read texts deeply to interpret, critique, and analyze the various layers of meaning a text might offer a reader. The task I decided to complete was Learn something about the author of the assigned course reading(s) and use that to draw conclusions about the motivation behind the reading or the credibility/quality of the writing. Before I began my exploration of the author, I reflected on the key components of the article itself and the various topics it discussed. This article reflected upon the science of literacy, and asked the question what does it mean to learn to read? how do we teach students to read? and why is there a disconnect between what literacy is within our classrooms and the data to promote successful readers? I then made a prediction of what I thought this author may be like or what her educational background or career may be like. I understood this author was well versed in the ability to convey the ideas of the balanced literacy approach and identifying specific conflicts educators have had with literacy instruction. These conflicts included explicit phonics instruction, amount of independent reading, and how educators balanced authentic texts with the basics of decoding words. I assumed that she would have a degree in education, and possibly had/has a career as a literacy coach or reading specialist. I began my search by simply doing a google search and typed in Emily Hanford. The first link that popped up said that Emily Hanford is the Senior Education Correspondent working at APM reports. She has worked as a reporter, news editor, program host, and many more. Her work has appeared in countless journals and newspapers. Additionally, she had won an award for Excellence in Media Reporting on Education Research Award, reflecting on her ability to convey educational research to the public. This page only stated that she attended Amherst college, but did not reflect on her major of study or other educational background. On LinkedIn, I found that she had majored in English and earned her B.A. Her experience had led her to a career as an acting news director, and senior editor in Chicago then in North Carolina Public Radio. Her other work consists of similar topics as to the one I read today including phonics education, schools failing dyslexia, and other educational articles combatting the inadequacies of literacy education today. After sifting through these sources, I came to see how Emily Hanford’s collegiate background in English could have been an asset for her to report on educational topics, and additionally prepared her to report on heavy topics such as fallacies of the education system. However, I wonder if there were other moments in the author’s life that led her to further identify the factors of the reading programs within schools that are failing? If she has children how involved is she within their own literacy program? And why report on educational issues? As a reporter there are so many interesting social justice issues that I personally would have wanted to delve into. What exactly called her to advocate for the education system without a professional educational background in college? All these questions aside, due to Emily Hanford’s prominence and affluence within the journalism world and educational sphere she has proven herself as a highly commendable figure. After investigating the author’s background and reflecting on the process of understanding what may have drawn the author to write this article, I realize that there are sometimes pieces to the puzzle we may never know what compelled someone to write a certain way. I can’t help but to wonder what that tipping point was that allowed her to advocate so much for the literacy programs that attempt to educate young minds today. This readerly exploration helped me to see how important credibility of an author’s career experience can be in authenticating what the article conveys to its audience.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-hanford-a0171223/

https://www.apmreports.org/emily-hanford

This is a screenshot from my author search to gather further information about Emily Hanford.

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rgr-pop · 5 years

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LONG POST AIRING GRIEVANCES ABOUT DUMB SHIT IN BEAUTY COMMUNITY!!

oh my GOD. okay, so, small youtuber who is climbing. beloved by many small youtubers because she is a regular girl and very nice and FROM UPSTATE NEW YORK and has social justice interests, she also posts a lot of drama content and some people (including me tbh) really like the way she kind of ~~democratizes drama content. don’t @ me it’s whatever. reddit HATES her because her mother buys her a lot of makeup for her birthday (literally) and she is not into self-punishing no-buys which is the only thing people like right now very coincidentally (going on a no-buy is apparently how you end landfills).

this youtuber is fat and not conventionally pretty--I really hate even saying the latter because it is objectively not true and also an evil thing to say even nicely, but for example she is always talking about how she doesn’t really care that her lips are small and is not interested in overdrawing or “fixing” them, and getting flamed for it. in the community (the respectable arm of it, which is the rddt, where we are ostensibly not allowed to be like “she looks terrible”), where there is smoke there is fire, and “not skilled at makeup” + maybe some nebulous complaints about whininess = she is a fat girl, end her. (”rude” = black youtuber too much power, end her.)

i’m talking about sm*key gl*w whose name is hannah, hannah #1, i think it is interesting to contrast her with the other hannah that i talk about sometimes--i try not to talk about her too much because we sort of teechnically have real world social connections and, also, i just feel bad for her. i feel desperately bad for hannah #2, because she is in her thirties having lived in art communities and global urban centers but for the first time in her life having to reckon with things like--”it is not appropriate to talk about calories at dinner, etc.” that is the second hannah, and while she is sweet and interesting to many in the small youtube community precisely because she is very alien to them (has mfa), it’s very difficult to watch, and sometimes i think she is the most “toxic” youtuber i follow. she is not an originator in any way, but she found herself in the center of a so-called anticonsumerist movement in small beautube that is kind of taking over, which is related to but not exactly minimalism--you have probably heard me talk about this already, at length. a good example of this is that second hannah recently said in a video that she was thinking of doing a shopping “fast.” i don’t know how she became this person, and how she held onto this kind of personality in spite of being in lots of communities that i am also in or have friends in where i know that if you talked this way about dieting etc. at a social event, someone would probably softly scold you. she somehow insulated herself from this kind of learning, i don’t know, then she threw herself into beautube where a woman who maybe sort of likes art and writes poetry and has heard of “fair trade” before is an absolute anomaly, but that community--like literally, where people do liposuction and skinny teas!--has only encouraged this absolutely unreal nasty and BAD behavior. etc. i have a lot of feelings about this.

so first hannah is a fat girl who is not rich--we will get to that!--but spends her money primarily on makeup. people HATE her. second hannah is thin, possibly rich in family origin (i think she is) but basically your average working artist in life. she frames her so-called overconsumption not even precisely as an addiction but specifically as a lack of willpower that she also struggles with when it comes to sometimes eating sugar (really). both of these hannahs consume and talk about quite a lot of luxury makeup--second hannah is very openly committed to luxury purchase as part of her self-conception. second hannah sometimes goes on “shopping diets” though, so people praise her! it is evil.

above is the shit i hate day in and day out but the points below will have more to do with the screencap +...upstate new york, i guess. henceforth we are only talking about first hannah.

so this girl is from some kind of small town around rochester or syracuse--something up there. iirc she goes to a suny school i had never heard of (i looked it up and it is a “suny comprehensive college,” though i can’t remember if she transferred out of this school to a bigger school. but, as many of you know, sunys are cheap as hell and should be protected at all costs, this school costs well under half what my state school did, for residents anyway.) she is in her mid-twenties and not graduated yet, due to struggles she has had (and spoken openly about) as well as having gone to community college. they LOVE to bring up how she is too old to be a college student! she’s like...idk 24 or something. she is going to school to be a social worker in one of those accelerated programs, which she has found quite difficult (again, spoken openly about this) and which also requires, as many of you know!, lots of extra work, unpaid and paid. she said somewhere that she does not have student loans, but i don’t know if her parents paid for her college or just shouldered loans, or if she paid for it, or if it is all financial aid. (”not having student loans” is something that enrages people, ESPECIALLY when someone doesn’t have loans because they got need-based aid.) again, she probably had some financial catastrophes due to school failures (speaking from experience here), but: sunys is cheap as hell and there are a million reasons why someone could go to one and not be struggling with loans!

where was i...her parents. watching this has fascinated me! her dad was a school teacher and her mom is a social worker--absolutely public servant middle class. i thiiink (could be wrong) that her father retired already and ended up retiring from a principalship, so they were probably extremely comfortable by the time she was in college, but they are definitionally middle class. the biggest controversy around this youtuber is that for birthdays and christmas her mother goes fucking insane--probably spent two to four hundred dollars on her for her birthday. she talks about this all the time: her mother and her are very close and their hobby is shopping. people treat this like the bougiest fucking thing on earth and it is ba nanas. straight up, this girl has probably never even HEARD of anthropologie. listen, i can’t afford to live like her either but i recognize poor shopping when i see it. working class people like to blow their money on bullshit and to take issue with that is demonstrably racist and classist! i will not hear this conversation over again in 2019. for example, hannah made a video about her “high end bag” collection, in which she said she got a bcbg bag on sale for like $30 but had never heard of the brand before. she had once been gifted a kate spade bag and her DREAM was to purchase one on her own. she buys coach at the local coach outlet, which is a regional attraction. THIS GIRL IS NOT BOUGIE! THEY ARE JUST MAD THAT SHE OWNS CLOTHES AND IS ALSO FAT! she did a closet tour where she talked about how she has like 50 crop tops, they were ALL like forever 21. they are just mad about fat girl in crop tops. there is nothing to see here! does she have too much shit, and shop too much? sure. welcome to flyover country you dumb bitches. that is what I think about that!

so, she definitely makes money on youtube, but mostly enough to sustain youtube and makeup buying (possibly some savings? unsure. i know she said this in a video but i forget.) she has lived with this boyfriend of hers for a number of years and they are building a life together that doesn’t immediately include marriage, probably largely for financial reasons. i get the sense that his jobs pay a lot of their bills, but he just finished getting a teaching MA of some kind (i think he is a math teacher? i already forgot) and is entering the regular teaching job market. based on some of the following i think his parents might be wealthier than hers but i think they might also be teachers. as you can see in the screenshot above, people are enraged at this girl for apparently being a gold digger for getting a house with him before they are married!

people are SO pissed that she was “able to buy a house” at age 25, but they did not watch the video! in which she said that they had been dealing with the death of her bf’s step grandpa all year, and the family had decided that they should take over the step grandpa’s house. (step grandpa’s family does sound “richer” because, according to her, this house had been owned by a GREAT grandparent and paid off decades ago.) her descriptions of this house are confusing to me because she keeps referring to it as both “old” and “from the eighties,”; I think it is an actually old house that had not been “updated” since the eighties. seems like the family did not “gift” it to them as much as sign it over to them in exchange for them being the ones to take out the renovation loans, which allegedly she said are $50k. unclear to me if she and her bf got approved for that loan--probably not, I think it was taken out in the family’s name. ($50k is too much to put into a house in rochester imooo but I am reserving my judgment there! rochester has a very flyover housing economy, much like ours, but with a much higher end, I think?)

so anyway, these vultures are sociopaths. “ Who gives someone a house no matter how much they like them? That seems wild to me” ...p-parents? dead grandparents? is your will gonna be like “my kid has to buy their OWN house like i did!” who are these people

YES SOMETIMES YOU STOP NEEDING YOUR HOUSE, WHEN YOU DIE

anyway I’m done. I just thought this thing would be of interest in particular to the upstate new yorkers. the whole condition of the indebted working-middle class is just like inconceivable to people who consume only ideologically pure content by wealthy west coast whites all day long

#makeupblogger fandom

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