#which is why he still has the mantle in dark crisis

[the-shark-is-a-mammal]

DC watching Damian and Tim stans fight because of a marketing ploy

#they are literally using the 'greatest robin' thing to cause outrage among dami fans and thus increase the outreach #this whole thing is stupid #dc is stupid #the robin (2021) plot is gonna be continued in batman vs robin don't worry about it #and I have faith they are walking towards a new mantle for tim since two of the recent mags by the same author of his upcoming solo have #featured characters pointing out how he needs to move on #if I were to bet I'd say the real title is just tim drake and robin is a subtitle that can change before he undergoes some sort of #traumatic event that causes him to regress to robin because it's known and comfortable to him #which is why he still has the mantle in dark crisis #but what do I know #tim drake #damian wayne #tim drake robin #robin 2021 #dc #dc comics #batman #batfam #batfamily #robin

[sporkberries]

Tim Drake and Red robin

 Aka the whole identity problem.

So there’s a lot of discussion over Tim and what identity he is going to take up- this is by no means recent, it's been going on for over a decade. So for a lot of people who are newer to comics I want to explain why Red Robin isn’t really an option as a permanent identity for Tim, and what Red Robin means to Tim personally

So first off, for expositions sake, Tim didn’t create Red Robin. The costume nor the identity.  It originated in the Kingdom Come Storyline and belonged to Dick Grayson

(Dick Grayson, Earth-22) Honestly i don’t want to get into the can of worms of Kingdom Come and it’s not that important to my point so just know this is where Red Robin comes from.

Okay now the first appearance of Red Robin in Main Continuity was in Countdown to Final Crisis where the mantle was taken by * drum roll*

Countdown #14 Jason Todd!! This is also not very important because Jason mainly does multiverse shenanigans that isnt important to my overall point. I just find it very funny that Jason was Red Robin before Tim. Also he kills an alternate universe version of the joker- Good for him!

Now into the stuff that actually affects Tim and why he chooses to don the Red Robin Mantle in the first place-towards the end of Tim’s robin run. Where we see Red Robin stalking Tim around Gotham.

Red Robin in Robin(1993) #177 This Red Robin ends up being Ulysses Armstrong( a gang leader and recurring baddie from Tim’s Robin run) and to say the least he does some not very nice things!! Said things including luring Tim into a warehouse and blowing him up(what is up with robins and warehouses seriously?) anyways looking good tim!

Robin(1993) #181

After this injury Tim wears the Red Robin cowl to hide/protect his identity while he takes care of Ulysses. And in the ensuing fight a bunch of children get blow up- it’s great and definitely good for our protagonists declining mental health, Now for a bit more exposition after this incident Tim helps break Jason out of prison who then dons a cringe batman suit and kills a shit ton of people- the infamous Battle For The Cowl storylines ensues. With Dick Grayson taking the mantle of Batman and Damian Wayne being gifted the Robin mantle. Though Dick wasn’t wrong to do this(which is a whole other thing to argue about) it upset Tim and he needed a new costume to wear on his quest to bring Bruce back. He chooses Red Robin, as it’s an identity he considers dirty and disconnected from both his previous titles and the rest of his family.

Red Robin(2009) #1

Tim is at a VERY dark place in his life during the Red Robin run. A lot of fanon characterizes Tim as pretty depressed and sad and almost all of that stems from this period of time exclusively- and it makes sense. Tim underwent a series of very serious and brutal losses under a pretty short period of time( Steph[briefly],his dad, Conner, Bart, and Bruce all dying). And though pretty much everyone was right to doubt him about the whole Bruce being alive thing that rejection definitely didn’t help things. For Tim Red Robin offers a sort of outlet he doesn’t have to be Tim he doesn’t have to necessarily be a good person he just needs to do what needs to be done( I’d argue for the beginning of Red Robin that’s his main philosophy)

Red Robin(2009) #2

Red Robin(2009) #4

In Adventure Comics(2009) #3 Tim reunites with Conner while he’s in Paris, where in Conner says this

Conner knows Tim better than anyone, keep that word Punishment in mind. As it comes back up again in** Red Robin(2009) #9**

And okay this being brought up again is a joke but i still think its true. Tim IS punishing himself. He hates he situation he’s in he hates that he can’t save anyone he hates that he keeps making the wrong decisions(having the children be near the bombs, helping Jason get out of prison, and basically everything that’s happened in Red Robin as well) Tim IS a good person and he has a very strong moral compass- so betraying any aspect of his conscience- pretending to be someone he’s not HURTS him.

At the end of Red Robin(2009) Tim tries to kill Captain Boomerang, the man who killed his father( see: identity crisis) , or he very nearly tries to anyways. He wants to kill him, HE IS ABOUT TO KILL HIM. but he doesn’t.

Red Robin(2009) #26

Tim is at a crossroads. He’s hurting but he still WANTS to be good. He ends up doing the right thing but is that what Tim wants? Tim is changing he’s not Robin anymore he’s becoming his own person his own individual.

So you may ask, what happens after this? Does Tim figure out who he wants to be? Does he make a decision? HAHA silly you!! NO!! Dc resets the whole universe, retcons Tim’s backstory erases all his character development then un-retcons his backstory etc etc leaving Tim Drake in character limbo for essentially a DECADE.

So all this backstory withstanding why do I think Red Robin is a bad choice for Tim as an identity(discounting the fact he’s not even RR anymore but just robin which is stupid and also dumb) ? Well Red Robin was never MEANT to be permanent- Red Robin was a temporary means to end, a tool to get to his destination. I see Red Robin as a chrysalis of sorts. Tim as Robin was the caterpillar, red robin was the chrysalis and his next identity would be who he becomes, or rather who he DECIDES to be. Having Red Robin as Tim’s main identity is a disservice to his character but also doesn’t allow him to complete his arc. Tim doesn’t have an identity he chose and wanted for himself; he hasn't even moved on from ROBIN. In order to develop as a character Tim NEEDS to discover an identity for himself, abandoning the robin mantle entirely.

I think there is hope, a lot of Tim’s content since and including Urban Legends have been largely about him discovering himself and searching for his identity. Let’s just hope DC actually follows through.

#this was inspired by a poll i saw where people were voting for what tims identity should be and somehow Red Robin had the second most amount #of votes #boggles my mind #Tim Drake #Tim Drake Meta #Red Robin #Robin #Batman #dc #spork says stuff #long post

[agentrouka-blog]

so much of asoiaf is a conversation with other epic fantasies + fairy tales, i was wondering if you have any thoughts on the patterns for what kind of tropes grrm likes to clearly subvert and break vs which he likes to expand and elevate but still largely adhere to (like how he plays with beauty and the beast, the image of princesses in towers, and boy kings)

Hi anon!

I'm not enough of a scholar to do this ask proper justice. I lack the background in literary history to put the various literary influences (and historical and biblical and mythological...) into a relationship with each other. From his own interviews, GRRM has always been attracted to both dark drama and literary romanticism, acting out complex soap operas with his turtles and swooning over "radiant" Elizabeth Taylor in Ivanhoe as a young boy. He loves Shakespeare and superhero comic series. ASOIAF seems like an intuitive, self-indulgent playground for swirling it all into a tasty soup.

Generally speaking, GRRM seems attracted to the idea of interrogating what makes tropes or scenarios tick from the inside, and he sometimes allows them to disintegrate in order to show what doesn't work. Where a trope is a mere clichè. It's the same way he tries showcasing why certain behaviors are productive and creative while others are destructive and ultimately futile. It's not so much the specific tropes as the way he uses them.

What does it mean to command supernatural powers, practically and philosophically? Dragons? Warging? What's the personal motivation of the unfathomable apocalypse moving toward humanity? Where is the line at which conflict veers over into plain abuse in popular romantic tropes? What specifically marks the inherent difference between a hero and a villain ("the hero of the other side")? Can we tell if that difference blurs and disappears? What does it take for genre conditioning to give way to objective information?

GRRM lets the Beauty and the Beast trope disintegrate with Sansa and Sandor because mere familiar imagery doesn't bridge the fact that a grown adult is terrorizing, sexually harrassing and assaulting a pre-teen. There is no romance there, though some are blinded by the shape of the box to what's actually inside it.

GRRM uses the imagery to explore a dynamic between idealism in the face of oppression vs. a self-serving cynicism born from disillusionment. Instead of romance, it becomes a confrontaton of values, which Beauty wins. Sansa stays true to herself while the cynical Beast ends up in an existential crisis about his life choices. The same is, ultimately, true of Jaime and Brienne. If there is a hidden prince underneath the mantle of a Beast(ling), his true identity is yet to be revealed. Ahem.

Princesses in Towers occupy a range from Sansa Stark over Lyanna Stark and Val and Arianne Martell and they are all different, with varying ambitions amd levels of personal power, and you're invited to conclude that maybe it's not the princess that's the problem but the fact that people keep putting her into towers at all.

Warrior maid with a sword - badass, or maybe the purest way to examine what it means to choose - truly choose - to wield a tool designed to kill other people? What is she doing to herself that boys are never even allowed to question - lest they be condemned as a waste of space like Samwell? What might justify this choice?

How many people can a character rape or murder before the reader questions their hero status if the author doesn't explicitly point it out? POV trap, do your magic.

Basically, GRRM puts a trope on a table and raises a scalpel to take it apart, and maybe he puts it back together again, depending on what he finds.

#grrm #tropes

[galaxyregent]

Here we have Dagur's Family, his mother Iona and his sister Brenna as a child. As you can see Brenna and Dagur favor their mother. I imagine Oswald had red hair too, though faded from the years. All three of Oswald's children got his eyes. Heather got dark hair from her mother.

Iona was a fierce and well respected warrior of the tribe, coming for a prominent family. She came from a family where she had one brother (Harold/Herald) and two sisters.

When I picture Iona and Oswald's relationship, I dont picture one of deep love but practicality. Iona was a good match for the chief and she found fulfillment in bettering her tribe and assisting him in war. She was never the type to stand still. Even though they weren't in love, they respected each other deeply. There was never a whisper of infidelity on either party while Iona lived.

Iona loved her children fiercely, wanting only the best for them in the future. It was actually more from Iona than Oswald the children get their mental instability from. Iona was great at managing it, on the battlefield she always let loose. For those who don't know, Berserkers were a supposedly real type of warrior among vikings. They would drink some kind of medicine, likely a serious stimulant, and charge into the battle fields, destroying all in their wake. It was said in battle they couldn't even differentiate between friends and foes so even allies had to give them a wide berth.

Brenna and Dagur loved their mother in turn, but only Brenna remembers her with any clarity. Still, Dagur remembers the fierce-some warrior his mother was from stories and faint memories. In BB I always right Dagur having deep respect for women, which seems to be canon too. That was partly due to Brenna being a domineering presence when they were children. She forced him to do her chores a lot.

It's never been clear why Oswald became agreeable, but I have a theory in the BB universe. Brenna is older than Dagur, and when she was born, there were many talks about a potential spouse. Wars between the tribes make intermarriage difficult, so they were trying to think of a spouse on island. However it was difficult, the population of the Berserker tribe is pretty much all related, more or less, especially the more influential clans. Now, inbreeding was nowhere near as understood as it now, but people understand cause and effect. Blood being too close has long since a valid reason to dissolving marriages of aristocracy.

When tribes are at war, blood becomes concentrated leading to sickly babes and deformities. Oswald found that every potential, suitable partner for Brenna was too close in blood. Then he had an idea. Even though he was at war with other tribes, he respected their leaders as warriors and men. What if there was a way to conquer tribes without bloodshed? What about marriage?

Slowly he begins his journey and establishing peace with other tribes. Brenna is promised to young heir of Hysteria tribes, one of his chief rivals. This bring peace and boost of commerce and fresh blood into both tribes, alliance also helps with dragon problem.

Peace with the Hooligan tribe is equally important, so he's thrilled when Stoick has a daughter while he has a son. Considering the difficulties with Hiccup's birth and the slew of failed pregnancies prior to her it's unlikely Stoick would have another child. This is confirmed when Valka is taken and Stoick refuses to take another wife.

It's an added bonus because law would support Hiccup's right to inherit the chief mantle. In the beginning it looked difficult because Stoick wanted his girl to stay close and resolve the succession crisis by marrying her to his nephew, his next closest relation. Eventually, Oswald convinces him to marry Hiccup to Dagur.

This plan actually kind of works because four of his six grandchildren are chiefs in their own right; his three grandsons through Dagur and his granddaughter Silvi through Brenna. Each chief ruling over a powerful tribe.

Iona means both Dove and Island

Brenna means burning or torch, again referencing her hair

#berserker's bride #iona #Brenna #my art #my artwork #fan art #httyd #dagur the deranged #oswald the agreeable

[thethirdgenesisbooks]

Members of the Pantheon

To build their pantheon of false gods, the people of the Empyrean Corporation selected the best, brightest, and otherwise most important from among them. Here is a list of the various members of the pantheon and their roles in the Genesis II project.

Nyx:

Known among the others as “Dr. Gabriel Nyx,” the de facto leader of the corporation, Nyx took the mantle of the “God of Light,” and first-born son of the first god. Nyx is the overseer of the others, and his followers worship him as the creator of all light, warmth, and goodness. Out of all the false gods, he is the least directly involved in the project. The mythology surrounding him says that he created the archons from the sun’s rays, which is why their blood is golden in color.

Enlil:

This ancient deity is a pure myth invented by Empyrean. Supposedly, he was the first god to come into existence, the “Father of All.” He, then, created two other gods, Nyx and Sygin. All of existence would have continued in perfect harmony, had Sygin not murdered him. The false gods of Empyrean teach that one day he will return, and when he does all will be made right once more. This, they claim, is why it’s important that the mortals mine adonium, because the adonium is his blood, and they need it to resurrect him. All of this, though, is a lie, and Enlil never existed. As far as the false gods know, anyway.

Sygin:

Like Enlil, this deity too is pure myth invented by Empyrean. Just as Nyx is supposedly the god of light, so too is she the fabled “Goddess of Darkness.” In her boundless and baseless hatred, she slew Enlil, subsequently creating fiends to help in her fight against the other gods. Though all of this is false, there are still many fiends, even within the Rebellion, who believe in Sygin and say their prayers to her.

Nebo:

Also known as “Dr. Adryan Nebo,” he is the most gifted of all their genetic engineers, and the supposed “God of Science and Knowledge.” Despite the commonly accepted mythology on Ymir, it was Nebo who created the archons, humans, and fiends of the world, using genetic engineering. He has always had a love for mythology, mysticism, and religion, and it shows in his work.

Liita:

Dr. Jaleah Liita is the physicist who first discovered how to refine adonium so that it can be used. Thus, she became known as the “Goddess of Magic.” She set up a system on Ymir by which the people of the planet could cast spells and otherwise use the world-changing capabilities of adonium, but each time they do they have to spend a seleni coin. Seleni coins are made up of a combination of adonium and silver, and each time someone casts a spell using these coins they pay her for the magic.

Seth:

Also known as “The Honorable Judge Axtin Seth,” he has resided over countless cases, deciding how to interpret the law. His desire for righteous law is why he became the “God of Justice” over Ymir. He wrote many books on morality and ethical philosophy. At the end of the First Age of Ymir, when the false gods of Empyrean decided to wipe out all that they had created and start anew, Seth had a crisis of conscience that ultimately led him to start the Rebellion. After that, all the books he wrote were declared heretical, and the other false gods claimed he had become the “God of Chaos.”

Montu:

Admiral Jastin Montu loves warfare the way most people love music. From childhood he was fascinated with every aspect of war; from strategy, to inspiring the troops, to weaponry, to basic combat. He won many battles for Empyrean and quickly rose up the ranks, becoming the scourge of many throughout the galaxy. For this, when the Genesis II project began he was made the “God of War.”

Shun:

Bentom Shun is the chief of robotics in the Empyrean Corporation. He also knows ways to motivate workers, and thus has been made the “God of Stone and Labors,” as well as the patron deity of automatons.

Anu:

Dr. Atticas Anu specializes in studying strange weather patterns. He has often made machines that can alter the weather. When the Genesis II project started, Empyrean encountered some odd storms caused by adonium, and Anu stepped in to solve the problem. For this, they made him the “God of the Sky,” but, being an avid philosopher, he requested that they make him the “God of Wisdom” as well.

Ashtoreth:

Lady Jynna Ashtoreth is a member of a noble house that is respected by many throughout Empyrean’s territory. Her family rules countless planets and brings immeasurable wealth to Empyrean. When she caught wind of the Genesis II project, she insisted on being allowed to be a part of it. Given her breath-taking beauty and talent for making people love her, she was made the “Goddess of Love.”

Kernun:

Dr. Erock Kernun is one of Empyrean’s top Xenobotanists. Several times, he has successfully cross-bred plants from completely different planets. The false gods feared that if they allowed the people of Ymir to thrive too much, they might eventually make the world uninhabitable, as had happened to Earth. So, Kernun was called in to be the “God of the Wilds,” to ensure that the people of Ymir had a respect for nature.

Rakos:

Dr. Erisha Rakos has long specialized in finding new ways to cheat death through science. While advances in medicine had already ensured that the people of Empyrean would no longer age, she was not satisfied with this. She discovered ways to digitally store human consciousness so that people could live on in machines, and later have their consciousnesses put into new, biological bodies. The discovery of adonium on Ymir has intrigued her, and she immediately requested to be placed on the Genesis II project so that she could develop new paths to immortality that adonium offered. Fittingly, she was made the “Goddess of Death,” and patron goddess of the faithful undead of Ymir.

Chronos:

No record of anyone named “Chronos” exists anywhere in Empyrean’s archives. Even so, a man named Chronos has been with the false gods since the Genesis II project began. Every time one of the other false gods gets it in their mind to investigate Chronos or call him out on this, they forget all about it shortly thereafter. Often, they even forget he was ever there, and sometimes even those on Ymir who are loyal to the false gods forget that Chronos exists. None of his temples, shrines, or chapels can be found on any Ymirian map, yet his priests always insist that they have visited these holy places recently. A true enigma.

#bookblr #bookauthor #writingcommunity #reading #bookrecommendations #fantasybooks #romancebooks #authorsofinstagram #booktok #bookworm #booksbooksbooks #thethirdgenesis #thirdgenesis #apostateprophecy #nicholasscasale #book blog #literature

[ectonurites]

so i guess the dc batman twitter account tweeting that belen image proves that it’s very likely not pride related. so maybe a mini is coming or a full on solo. if we do get a mini i doubt he’ll be getting a new identity since chip zdarsky’s batman run will still have tim as robin (this depends on how long the mini is & how long tim’s involvement in zdarsky’s run is i guess).

Oh yeah no I highly highly doubt it's pride related.

Now, the second part of what you said- I don't necessarily agree. I'm gonna try to articulate why but I feel like what I'm about to say is gonna come out jumbled bc my thoughts are scattered. And just before going into it I want to reiterate the concept of a Tim mini is all still hypothetical, we don't know for sure what that image we got today is gonna be part of and we could all EASILY be off base. This is just a lot of me looking at the little info we do have about what's coming down the line and going all Pepe Silvia on it.

BUT anyways.

In terms of 'things happening at DC that we know for sure' rn, there's some timelines I think are relevant:

Dark Crisis will have issue #1 in June and thus carry through to #7 in December. We know Zdarsky's initial arc (which is what we know for sure Tim's involved in and has been marketed as Robin in so far) is 6 issues long, starting with Batman #125 in July and thus carrying through to Batman #130 in December.

After a big event is a time where things often change in the DCU, so to me the end/immediate aftermath of Dark Crisis feels like a timeframe that would be most likely and make most sense for a Tim mantle change. The end of that big event also (in terms of release month) lines up exactly with the ending of the arc we know Tim is going to be firmly still acting as a Robin. We also know that Death of the Justice League/Dark Crisis won't be 'derailing' other monthly books, but things will eventually connect- thus Zdarsky's arc while it'll be coming out alongside Dark Crisis definitely takes place beforehand anyways.

But these two things lining up in terms of release months means that even though they'll be taking place in different timeframes in canon... If Tim's mantle were to change as Dark Crisis ends, Zdarsky's story with him as Robin wouldn't really be coming out at the same time to contradict/cause confusion (like, they'd only maybe contradict during December depending on which things come first within the month), meaning it could potentially be a very clean transition.

But so, in terms of how this relates to a Tim mini, what I think could work very well is:

Tim gets a 7-issue miniseries starting in June.

As this isn't a pre-existing monthly book that would get derailed, this series takes place more so as Dark Crisis is happening (timeline-wise after Zdarsky's arc and Death of the Justice League).

Tim has his own whole plot going on, but occasional references to the bigger goings on of Dark Crisis could be happening, as it'll be coming out on the same schedule. (It could even like, tie-in to the event at some point, Williamson has said there'll be tie-ins! And it's not unprecedented for mini series to tie-in to bigger events- Nubia and the Amazons' final issue this past week was a direct Trial of the Amazons tie-in)

Since they're on the same approximate release schedule, this mini would also end the same month as Dark Crisis. In the aftermath of the event and whatever plot happens in the mini, Tim could then step into a new mantle! (based on exact release dates this could get a bit contradictory in terms of what mantle he's in where, but timing between things would only be off by potential weeks here within December)

Ideally at this point right after Dark Crisis (like, as we enter January 2023) the rest of DC's books would reach that eventual connection with Dark Crisis' effects that Williamson mentioned, and would all be on the same timeframe moving forward (and thus the new Tim mantle could be used across the board in his appearances, no lingering 'him as Robin' in stories set beforehand, this is what I meant by a clean transition)

(ALSO dream bonus thing: in January 2023 a new Young Justice book launches and that's where Tim's stuff gets continued AND we get to see him with his friends again)

Again. All of that is hypotheticals/speculation/just what I personally think could work if they pulled it off. I'm probably off base. But I just think it's totally possible that something we get announced for Tim soon could lead into a new mantle.

[quiet-onset]

New Suit

Pairing: Sam Wilson x Black!Reader

Word Count: 3.8k+

A/N: it’s been forever since I’ve posted, but I have been writing since I was stuck at home with covid 😅 Hopefully I can post something else next week too! ANYWAYS, this fic does not have any TFAWS spoilers and (as usual) does not give a fuck about Endgame, meaning our favorite dysfunctional couple Tony and Steve are alive. Steve simply passed on the mantle. Enjoy!

So Sam was Captain America. And he was proud of that fact. 

The day that Steve decided to retire and give him one of his most prized possessions was a day Sam would never forget. A whirlwind of emotions had swelled in his chest. Shock, unworthiness, gratitude. But after talking it over with Steve — and surprisingly enough, with Bucky — Sam agreed to take in the role.

The thing was, no one knew yet. At least, no one outside of the Avengers facility.

Immediately after Thanos, there weren’t really any Avengers level threats. Most threats could be handled by one team member, and it was usually one of the newbies — Peter, Scott, even Wanda. That being so, Sam didn’t have much of a reason to even make public appearances. So he didn’t.

Sometimes, he’d stand in the training room, the red, white, and blue shield strapped to his arm, and just stare in the mirror. Something felt wrong. Out of place. Like the reflection before him was almost right, but he still couldn’t tell what was wrong. Tony had caught him one time as he stepped into the room, a sports bottle full of ice cold water in his hand. “Mid-life crisis?”

Sam jumped at his loud voice and almost scrambled to detach the shield from his arm, like a kid caught with his grubby little hand in the cookie jar. “My bad, I’ll just—“

“No no, keep it on.” Tony waved a hand. “I gave it to Steve, he gave it to you. It’s yours, no give backsies.”

Sam nodded but took the shield off anyway. He decided that he didn’t need to train anymore and headed toward the door. “I’m just gonna go put this back.”

“What is going on with you, Wilson?”

“What do you mean?”

Tony raised a brow, “What do I mean? You staying cooped up in this facility. Barely training with the shield. Opting out of assignments. That’s what I mean.”

“There’s not much of a need.”

“There is. You just don’t see it yet.” Tony walked toward him. “Look, I know being the new Cap has you freaked out—“

“I’m not freaked out.”

“Sure. But Steve chose you and that should be good enough.”

“It is.” Sam huffed as he turned the shield in his hands. “I don’t know, man. I just… It’s just hard to believe. Hard to put in action, I guess.”

“Well, seeing is believing.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Head to room 626 when you get a chance.”

“What’s in room 626?”

“You’ll see.”

—

Sam exited the elevator on the sixth floor to loud muffled music. Looking around, he realized he’d never even been to that part of the facility before. The white walls and obscure art seemed strange and misplaced in a building full of superhumans. Too clean, too elegant. 

Each of the rooms seemed that way too. Sam paused in the hallway, glancing through some of the glass doors with people’s names painted neatly at the top. Hardwood floors and marble countertops in each room. So impeccably clean that even dust bunnies wouldn’t dare step foot inside. 

Yet, when Sam approached room 626, he realized this was where the loud music was coming from. Different from the other rooms, this one was messy and colorful. He slid the glass door open, flinching at loud volume. 

He recognized the track — his father used to listen to it all the time when he was growing up. He could almost hear his dad’s deep voice teasing him: “You don’t know nothin’ ‘bout this, son. This was before your time.” Of course Sam knew the song. His dad was the one who put him on. Still, Sam’s dad always got a kick out the playful fight he put up. 

The long, seemingly endless hallway was painted a blinding white. He could make out a peculiar smell as he walked toward the end of the hall. Wet paint or fumes, he wasn’t really sure. He just pulled his shirt over his nose and kept looking for… well only God really knew. 

Finally, he arrived in the main room and saw you and your controlled chaos. You had ten or twenty different fabrics pinned to one wall and sketches of different outfits pinned to the opposing one. Against the back wall were mannequins wearing your works in progress. And just in front of Sam on a large wooden desk were schematics and what looked like engineering tools. Soldering iron, wires, circuit boards, and the like.

Everything seemed like a tornado of colors, clothes, and fabric. But you? You were as cool as a cucumber with your expensive looking spray painting mask strapped on as you sprayed the back of a jean jacket with bright pink paint. Sam chuckled when he heard your muffled voice sing along to the song, not noticing his presence. “Sherry bay-yay-by. Sherry, wontcha come out tonight.”

Sam pulled his shirt back down with a small grin on his lips, debating whether he should disturb you. In the end, he decided to save you the embarrassment, but by then, you’d already moved on to the next verse. You dropped your voice down low in an attempt to sound just like Nick Massi, singing, “Why don’t you come on.”

Sam let out a loud laugh, only covering it with his hand as you jumped, finally realizing someone else was in the room. “Sorry.” Sam chuckled. “Didn’t mean to interrupt your concert.”

You pulled the mask over your head, revealing a nervous smile. You jogged to the desk and grabbed the remote to switch off the stereo. “Concert’s a flattering choice of words.”

“Well you were really nailing that Massi.”

You raised a brow as you set down the can of spray paint. “You listen to Four Seasons?”

“Growing up, it was a staple in the Wilson household.” He offered his hand. “I’m Sam, by the way.”

“Y/N.” You shook it, an impressed smile on your face. “So what can I do for you, Sam?”

“I’m actually not sure. Tony just kinda sent me up here.” He raised a brow when you gasped, amused with your excitement. He smiled as the cute squeal that pushed past your lips. “I assume you know what that means.”

“I’ve been asking him forever if I could design your new suit!”

“New suit?”

“I mean, if you’re okay with it.” You added.

“I just don’t see why I need a new suit is all.” Sam shrugged as he looked around at all your work. He knew, way deep down in the rational part of his consciousness, that he needed a new suit. There wasn’t anything wrong with his Falcon suit, but wearing a new suit seemed too definite. If he put on a new combat suit, it meant that he was fully stepping into this new role. That he would be Captain America in more than just name. People would look at him, at his suit, and recognize that he was the Captain America.

“How about this?” You stepped toward him, prepared to bargain. “Let me make you a suit. If you don’t like it, I’ll just give your Falcon suit an upgrade. Deal?”

He let out a nervous chuckle at your offer. He had nothing to lose, really. Either way, he got upgrades. Still, he looked over at you and decided he couldn’t be the one to snuff the ambitious look in your dark eyes. He shook your hand, smiling softly at the triumphant grin that broke across your face. “Deal.”

“Great!” You were bouncing on your toes when he agreed. You practically raced back to your desk and started shuffling through your sketches and until you found the folder you were searching for. You handed them to Sam, “You can come back tomorrow morning so I can take your measurements. Till then, look through these sketches and tell me what you like.”

“So you’ve been working on this for awhile?” Sam asked, briefly flipping through the many colorful sketches.

“Ever since Tony told me about you.”

He let out a breath of amusement through his nose. Of course it was Tony, trying to set things in motion before Sam was even sure of what he wanted. Still, he knew Tony was trying to help. Sam gestured with the folder. “I’ll take a look.”

“Cool. Tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

— 

When Same woke up the next day, he found himself immediately thinking about meeting with you later. He felt weird. Nervous, even. Whether it was due to the idea of a new suit — of being Captain America — or seeing you, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he felt like a swarm of butterflies had flown from his stomach to his throat and decided to make a home there.

After stepping out of the shower, which took twenty more minutes than usual, he fumbled around for something to wear. What was he supposed to wear to fitting anyway? Sweats? Jeans? As his mind wandered, he thought of you. Rather, he thought of how you would see him. Maybe I should wear the green shirt, he thought. Girls always seem to like the green shirt.

He paused. Why was he thinking that?

He’d just met you. He knew a total of two facts about you: your name was Y/N and you listened to Four Seasons. That was hardly enough for Sam to be worried about how he looked for you. Yet, there he was, slipping on the dark green shirt that seemed to stretch ever so slightly across his broad chest. He settled on a pair of dark jeans before heading down to the kitchen for a cup of coffee.

As he stepped into the communal kitchen, Bucky was already sitting at the island, back facing Sam. He had just returned from his daily run, still in his sweatpants and white T-shirt with a cup of coffee in front of him. “There’s still fresh coffee in the pot.” Bucky mumbled into his cup as he flipped to the next page of the newspaper.

“Thanks.” Sam walked past him, slapping the newspaper into Bucky’s face as he walked by. “Why are you reading a newspaper?”

“To keep up with the news. Like a normal person.”

“There are these great new things called cell phones. Most people read the news on those now.” 

“Well, I’m not most people, am I?” Bucky lowered the newspaper and furrowed his brow at the sight of Sam. “What girl are you trying to impress?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Green shirt.”

“What about it?”

“That’s your ‘I want a girl to like me’ shirt.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sam scoffed as he poured a second cup of coffee. “This is just a shirt.”

“The shirt.”

“I’m not having this argument with you.”

“Not much of an argument when you know I’m right.” Bucky smirked. “Who’s the second cup for?”

Sam paused as he realized he’d been caught, but quickly recovered with an eye roll. “For me. So I don’t have to come back and hear your annoying ass voice.”

“Mhm. Tell the girl I said hi.” 

“Screw you.” Sam left the kitchen to the sound Bucky’s chuckles, reluctant to admit that he was right. Moments later, he was waiting for the elevator, tapping his shoe to distract himself from the butterflies that were starting to flutter around again. When the doors slid open, Tony briefly greeted Sam before stopping and pulling off his glasses. “Green shirt?”

Sam stepped past him. “Shut up.”

Every step closer to your workspace had him jittery. Not only was he forced to deal with these unfamiliar feelings for you — if that’s what they were — but he was finally being confronted with his new position. One step closer to replacing Steve. To being Captain America. Yet, he couldn’t deny, he could envision himself in some of the suits you had sketched for him. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

When he entered 626, there was loud music playing once again. Another old song he recognized, Van Morrison. He smiled at the thought of you dancing around your space again, singing along to Brown Eyed Girl. It wasn’t so much about him catching you in the act. It was nice, a privilege really, to see the natural you. Eyes closed, arms up, hips swaying. Seeing how you act when you believed no one was watching was like strangely endearing.

And there you were, almost matching his wandering thoughts to a tee. You were setting up for work, once again not noticing Sam’s arrival. You danced across the room as you moved things from place to place. You began to sing out the words as you prepared to lift your tri-fold mirror. Sam broke from the trance and called out your name. You jumped and placed a hand over your heart, laughing quietly when you saw it was only him. “Caught me again.”

“To be fair, you seem pretty easy to catch with the way you get lost in music.” Sam smiled, placing the coffee cups on your desk, far from any of your papers. “Let me get that for you.”

“Oh, you don’t have to—”

“It’s no problem. Just tell where you want it.”

You stepped away from the mirror, tossing a stray braid over your shoulder with a smile. “Just over there, in front of that pedestal. Thanks.” When he went to lift it, your eyes were drawn to his arms, watching his biceps flex. You caught yourself before you could begin to stare, heat rising to your cheeks as you went to look for your measuring tape.

“Oh, by the way, I brought you a cup of coffee.” Sam mentioned as he set the mirror down. “You know, if you drink it? I didn’t know what you put in it, if anything, so it’s black. Is that okay?”

“That’s perfect, actually.” You sighed happily. “I’ve been trying to replace coffee with loud music in the mornings, hence the dancing.”

“Of course.” He chuckled in response.

“And while I love to blast Morrison at nine in the morning, it’s not the same without a hot cup of coffee.” You took the cup he offered with a smile. “Thanks for thinking of me.”

Sam couldn’t help how his heart skipped a beat. “Don’t mention it.”

You took a sip, “So, you ready to get measured for your new suit?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Great, just step onto the pedestal for me, and relax.”

“Got it.”

It was quiet as you brought the tape measure under his arms and around his chest. It wasn’t exactly uncomfortable, but Sam was sure his nerves had to be radiating out of him. The butterflies were beating against his ribcage as you pulled just tight enough on the tape measure. You took note of the number and bent over to write it down on your notepad. Being so close to you, Sam felt himself tense up as you measured around his waist. You chuckled and looked up at him. “You gotta relax.”

“I’m relaxed.”

“If you don’t loosen up, your new suit is gonna be super tight in all the wrong places.” You joked. “Talking usually helps.”

“About what?”

“Anything.” You shrugged. “Like why are you so opposed to a new suit?”

Almost as if it was a reflex, Sam tensed up again with a nervous and playful chuckle. “Way to get me to relax.”

“I’m just saying.” You laughed, adjusting the tape once again. “It’s not like you’re not qualified. I mean, Steve chose you.”

“Yeah, he did. I wish it were that simple in my mind.” He admitted.

“What’s your mind saying?”

“What isn’t it saying?” Sam rolled his eyes at himself. “It’s just… I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.”

“I don’t want to put that on you. That’s not your job.”

“It’s not.” You agreed with a chuckle. “But that’s not why I asked. You can tell me.”

Again, with a wave of confusion, he felt the tension melt away. He didn’t know why he felt this way, like he could tell you anything and everything. There was a familiarity about you, like you were someone he’d known his entire life despite only meeting twenty hours ago. His father probably would’ve called you an old soul. Maybe in some other lifetime, in another universe, you knew each other. Or maybe, this was just fate coming to pass. Destiny finding, not two halves, but two wholes — putting them together like some sort of experiment to see what would come of it.

“It’s just… how am I supposed to follow after Steve?” He asked. “He has such a huge story, this legacy just hanging over my head. He’s been saving people since before either of us were born. And now here I am, some dude from the Air Force that met Steve completely by accident, about to take up his shield. It just seems unbelievable. Literally.”

You nodded as you measured around his left thigh. “First, let me say that your feelings are completely valid.”

“Why do I feel like you’re about to decimate everything I just said?”

“Not decimate!” You laughed. “Just gently prove wrong.”

“Oh, in that case.” He smiled down at you.

“Shut up.” You snapped him with the tape measure before measuring his other thigh. “Steve is not the only one with a story. I mean, Sam Wilson, the guy who grew up in Harlem, lost his parents and his best friend, and still managed to not give up? The guy Steve Rogers trusted with his life almost immediately after meeting him? The same dude who stole a top secret government project and used it to become a superhero? I think that’s pretty badass.”

Sam considered your words with a small smile. Sure, he may have seemed normal — maybe even mundane — to himself, but the fact is that he had also been through a lot. Just like Steve, Sam realized that his life was no walk in the park. Not many people couldn’t have lived Sam’s life and come out the other side not just okay but strong. He wasn’t Steve Rogers, but that didn’t matter. He was Sam Wilson, and maybe that was okay. 

“You’re good at that.” He commented quietly, looking down at you. He just about caught himself staring at you. The bright smile across your ruby shaded lips, the almost childlike excitement in your eyes. And your eyes — jesus. They were the same color as his, a dark brown. Yet, he couldn’t help but find yours so much more interesting.

“At what?”

“Talking to people.”

“Not everyone. Just...” You shook your head as you stood up straight. There was something indecipherable in his eyes — or maybe you wanted to believe it was. Still, it was there. Admiration, confusion, gratefulness? You weren’t sure. But the intensity of his stare made heat spread across your cheeks one more, and you ducked your head, moving to the side to measure the length of his arm. “Just people like you.”

Minutes later, you finished his measurement and moved on to the designs. You and Sam went through each and every one, noting his likes and dislikes. As time went on, it became very apparent that he was ready to be Captain America. Even if he wasn’t sure yet, you were. Much too soon, every detail of his new suit was planned out, and it was time for Sam to go. 

“If I make this my top priority, I can have your new suit finished in two weeks, tops.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Sam said bashfully. “I’m sure you have other work to do.”

“None as exciting or as important.”

“Now you’re just stroking my ego.” He joked.

You scoffed painfully, “Like you need me to do that.”

You walked beside him, down the hall and to the elevator. He couldn’t help but wish he had some sort of excuse to stay, but leading the Avengers meant a mountain of responsibilities. Still, he wanted to see you again. Not for work and not for designing a new suit. He wanted to get to know you away from the fabric and tape measures. He wanted to find out how someone as sweet and breathtaking as you could even exist in a world filled with such evil left and right. So, he rocked back and forth for a moment before turning to you. 

“And um, Y/N?”

“Yes?”

Sam fully intended to ask you out just then. But he felt like he couldn’t move. A feeling of nervousness he hadn’t gotten since he was a teenager, he was frozen. Staring at you like a deer in headlights, his brain screamed at him: Just ask her, you dumbass! Then, the elevator announced its arrival with a ding and broke his concentration. He cleared his throat and smiled nervously. “Thank you again. You’ve been a huge help.”

You blinked in confusion but stammered out, “Glad to be of service.”

It wasn’t until a few days later that Sam had gained the courage to do what he should’ve done in that moment. 

The city was in danger — some high-level Hydra threat — and the Avengers were needed. Everyone rushed off to suit up, including Sam. That’s when he saw it. You had just finished his suit, and it was more than Sam could’ve ever imagined. A shiny white breastplate with red decals on the torso, blue pants lined with bulletproof material, and to top it off, his signature red wings. That was something he wanted to keep. They reminded him of his humble beginnings, of what made him the man that Steve chose to be Captain America. 

And Captain America he was. 

Sam was aware of all the stares he got as he fought the Hydra agents and ended the crisis with the rest of the team. He knew it would take some getting used to. But he was pretty sure — no, extremely sure that he could do this. He could be the symbol that the public needed. 

He strolled back into the Avengers Complex, handing a handcuffed Hydra agent off to be questioned, when he saw you. You were usually there waiting, ready for feedback on your new toys and inventions. But what Sam said surprised you. 

“Hey Sam,” You started. “Did your new suit fare well? I was already thinking of some modifications based on —“

“Would you like to go out with me this Saturday?”

You blinked, lowering your clipboard in shock. “What?”

“Would you like to have dinner with me on Saturday?” He smiled wide and unabashedly. Then, with no hesitation, you smacked him on the arm with your clipboard, making him bark out a laugh. 

“Took you long enough.”

#sam wilson x reader #cap!sam wilson x reader #marvel x reader #marvel fanfiction #sam wilson x black!reader #cap!sam wilson x black!reader #marvel x black!reader #sam wilson fanfiction #cap!sam wilson fanfiction #captain america x reader #captain america x black!reader

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Midnight”

Happy Saturday, everyone! I’d like to extend a formal congratulations to every Cinder fan in the community. Criticisms of the writing aside, you all struck gold with twelve whole minutes devoted to your fave and I’m absolutely thrilled for you.

We again start with a dark screen and some audio, in this case Cinder’s scrubbing. This technique—along with closeups on eyes—is a real favorite of RWBY’s this volume, to the point where I think they’re a little too enamored with it. But at least this is just a preference, not something that actively harms the storytelling in any way, so it’s welcome to stay. This time, unlike our premiere, we stay on Cinder as her life is summed up with three events intercut with one another: scrubbing floors, getting taunted by boys, and the sound of heels making their way towards her. It’s clear that Cinder leads a poor, miserable life, if her dirty clothes and stronger guys throwing her around is any indication, but all that changes when the rich woman says “I’ll take her” and Cinder is transported to a better life in a wealthy hotel.

At least supposedly.

Here’s my problem with the worldbuilding. This moment has Witcher vibes and Witcher, in turn, built itself off of a trope seen a hundred times before: A young woman is treated terribly by her family, is whisked away by a wealthy/powerful caretaker, and though her life has arguably improved, she quickly learns that the new world she’s entered is just as dangerous and harsh as the one she left. In Witcher’s case, Yennefer is a disabled woman abused by her family, bought by Tissaia, and taken to Aretuza where the other girls hate her and the curriculum is potentially deadly. Cinder is a poor woman arguably abused by her family (scrubbing)/the locals (fights), is taken by an unnamed woman, and whisked away to the swanky hotel where the daughters hate her and the work is potentially deadly due to shock collars. The difference between these two setups is that Tissaia bought Yennefer because of her magical potential. Why does our hotel lady take Cinder?

I mean yeah, obviously she wants a slave, but it’s a little weird isn’t it? Usually when a young woman falls headfirst into a new and questionable life, there’s a solid reason for her entry. This woman—whose lack of a name also says something about the worldbuilding—could have hired anyone she pleased to abuse. As we saw in regards to Atlas and Mantle in the past, every city has its poor and downtrodden. So what made her go out to some random farm and snatch Cinder up? It just, as always, feels a little too convenient. Cinder didn’t enter this life because something about her characterization or origin justified it, the plot simply ensured that she, out of everyone possible, and with very little reason, was the one chosen to follow The Plot™ .

It also messes with the Cinderella parallels. Originally (or “originally,” going off of Disney here which is likely what RWBY is using as a template too) it’s her step-family that abuses her and yes, we recreate that via the hiring (“hiring”—I doubt she was paid), but Cinder was already scrubbing floors back home. Her status as the servant already existed. So why change locations? Why not just keep Cinder as an abused farm girl, or have her a part of the hotel family right from the start? Part of the reason why Cinderella resonates is because of the contrast between the happy life with her father and the new, horrific life she falls into once he dies. Which is then further contrasted by the rest of the outside world. Fairy Godmother, Prince, and party-goers alike are all presented as kind, decent people. They represent the “real” world that Cinderella can escape to. By making Cinder’s original life horrible, her new life worse, and everyone connected with that life cruel and/or indifferent (with the exception of this one, special huntsmen)… you paint a very different picture of the world as a whole. Which is something RWBY has been vocal about trying to accomplish—it’s not a fairy tale—the only problem is with how these moments are undermined the second the story wants Ruby to ~Believe in People~. Cinderella is a story about enduring and eventually overcoming temporary hardship. Cinder’s story is about endless hardship that creates villains. A dark and fascinating story… but how does that fit into last week’s episode where Ruby told the whole world about Salem, expecting them to band together in peace and harmony? This is how Remnant’s world treats people when there’s not a global crisis, and Cinder isn’t even a faunus.

Which, I want to make clear going into the rest of this recap, does not excuse Cinder for her actions. At all. I think there are some complicated acknowledgements to be made in terms of her abuse and the Huntsmen’s responsibility in it continuing, but that does not give Cinder a blanket pass for all the horrific shit she has pulled over the years. Cinder didn’t just defend herself from abusers, she became one. More on that in a minute.

First though… is the Huntsmen’s name Rhodes? Did we hear that in the episode? If we did, I totally missed it because I have a note here about the one important character not getting a name. So yeah, idk. If we got this from more supplemental info, bad RWBY. If I missed it, bad Clyde. Either way, I’ll use that name going forward.

Back to the plot at hand. The hotel is, as said, populated by indifferent and shallow people and there’s no desert nearby, so I presume we’re supposed to be in Atlas? (Why did this woman buy a girl from another Kingdom?) There are customers getting drunk, flirting, and generally just enjoying their wealth, which harkens back to Weiss’ comment in Volume 4 about all their problems being superficial. We’re introduced to the owner’s two daughters who are, as expected, quintessential Mean Girls. 

They love ordering Cinder around, not just with hotel chores, but personal ones as well like, “rub my feet”… despite the fact that this place is massive and must have an equally massive staff to stay in business. Why aren’t the girls terrorizing anyone else? Again, it makes sense for Cinder(ella) to be the focus of their abuse when she’s in a single household, but transplanting that to a hotel raises a lot of questions that RWBY hasn’t bothered to examine. You can’t move a story like that and not think about what further changes that would evoke.

See, RWBY could have done something interesting here by considering some of those other changes. Like having one or both step-sisters be the one to help free Cinder from her abuse, playing the villain before becoming the fairy godmother. Up until she turns villain instead of hero, this is just Cinderella’s story copy and pasted into RWBY. It’s moments like this that should make us wary of using fairy tale allusions as evidence for our readings and theories. Whether RWBY is deconstructing or upholding a story varies wildly, and we never know what we’ll get until we actually see it on screen. Even then we can’t count on a choice remaining consistent, as we saw with Ironwood’s deconstruction being tossed out the window in Volume 7.

Cinder is originally just as meek as her fairy tale counterpart too. We don’t hear her speak until the owner is about to leave when she simply goes, “Food?” The sisters laugh at her and a roll is thrown to the floor with the comment that she should get busy because it “looks filthy.” I quite like that moment. Your job is to ensure the floors are clean enough to eat off of—literally.

We see a montage of Cinder doing just that, lots of chores, with a new song listing all the tasks she’s now responsible for. During this, Rhodes is seen in the background and witnesses when Cinder (presumably) first uses her semblance by heating up the brush and chucking it at the sisters, creating a massive cloud of steam.

 It’s that moment which “earns” her a shock session with her necklace and I’m staring at the screen, a little open-mouthed. I mean, that’s the second child torture we’ve seen this volume (with Cinder being ten here). Again, I’m not making a specific accusation, just going, “Really?”

Also, note the anti-faunus sign. Nothing like continually showing us racist establishments rather than actually writing a story that deals with the racism needless put into the story world. I’d like to remind everyone of my previous comments this Volume about how the story works hard to paint Mantle as sympathetic, but refuses to show anything that does the same for Atlas citizens, people who are in just as much danger with Salem as an equalizer. A whole city is not actually made up of shallow racists, the show is just showing us only those people to create a simplistic “They’re all bad” reading that encourages us to reject Atlas and, by extension, Ironwood. Weiss is walking proof that Atlas citizens are both complex individuals and capable of bettering themselves. If we can come to adore the Schnee heiress, we should be questioning why nearly every other citizen is painted as an abuser, too wealthy to care, or has conveniently left the story (Rhodes dead, Klein gone, Whitley rejected, etc.).

As Cinder is being tortured, we see that she’s forced to say, “Without you, I am nothing.” Now see, this is excellent... in theory. This is the kind of line we needed to hear with some consistency over the last seven years (if RWBY still insisted on waiting that long for a backstory), setting up that this line is clearly engrained in Cinder and she repeats it on instinct. Instead—to my recollection, anyway—we only get it this Volume, in two episodes. If it appeared before then it wasn’t notable enough to remember. I commented on this before, but it wasn’t a, “Ah, this line must be important” reaction, it was a “Lol why is RWBY using the same line twice? That’s weird.” By only giving it to us twice before the backstory and in such a short timeframe, the impact of this reveal is lost. We’re only now realizing that the line is important, rather than coming to realize why.

Our writers know just enough to recognize what techniques work, but not enough to have figured out what makes them tick. They get that providing a RWBY-vised version of Cinderella is cool, but not how to adapt that 100% successfully. They know that repeated lines have power, but not how to create good setup for the reveal. They know the camera should use closeups, but not what moments are important enough to warrant that. RWBY, eight years on, still feels like a newbie writer copying what the great stories are doing without yet understanding why those aspects work and, thus, how to recreate them.

I mean, Cinder’s backstory appearing now attests to that most obviously. I waved at the Cinder fans before, but the reality is that most viewers don’t care, either because Cinder herself is so bland, and/or because the story waited too long to make her a little more interesting. This entire flashback was handled badly simply by virtue of it arriving over seven years past the character’s introduction. 

So after this torture session Cinder steals Rhode’s sword. We hear some dialogue in the background of him getting pissed that it’s missing and the sisters promising to find it, implying that Cinder will have this tool at her disposal for a while. Instead, seconds later he’s found her hideout and confronts her. I don’t know if I’m impressed with Rhode’s skills, or rolling my eyes at how contrived this all is. Chuck in the question of whether Cinder was talented enough to steal the sword out from under him, or if Rhodes was stupid enough to leave it lying around, and I’m edging towards the eye rolling.

He dodges Cinder’s attack, rolls her more weapons to prove he’s not here to hurt her, and acknowledges that she’s not getting “the most fair treatment.” Okay, here’s where things start to get complicated. Rhodes tells Cinder she shouldn’t run away because then she’ll be running her whole life (don’t really agree with that). He likewise (rightly imo) tells her not to straight up murder them because look, no matter how much of a shit stain someone is, I can’t condone slamming a sword through their chest on an individual’s say-so (especially when two of those people are also kids growing up under an abuser, like Whitely). So what’s left? Rhodes says Cinder can train to become a huntress. At ten years old, she has seven years to prepare for the exam.

But she has to stay with her abusive family until then.

My problem is far less with the claim that this “has” to happen and far more with the writing’s failure to tell us why. Cinder could have begged to come with Rhodes and he says she can’t because… idk. Make up a reason. He doesn’t make enough to feed the both of them. It would be too dangerous out on missions without training and he doesn’t have a permanent place to stay (hence using the hotel all the time). He could even go the “They’re your legal guardians” route with more explanation because it’s arguable that Rhodes had no idea about the collar. Doesn’t mean Cinder’s treatment isn’t “that bad” in his eyes, just that he might not have known the extent and thus thought it was preferable for Cinder to put up with “just” being insulted and overworked until she’s 17. That this life that he only has a partial picture of is preferable to the life she’d have at his side. Something to explain the stakes here, the risks, and why he took this stance. 

And/or give us a reason why Cinder doesn’t try to run, a suggestion I make very cautiously because it’s not my intention to put the responsibility solely on her. This isn’t meant to be a “Just save yourself! It’s easy!” claim. Rather, it’s an acknowledgement that young, barely trained kids go out into the world all the time in this show—Ruby, Oscar—and it’s an acknowledgement that Cinder tugged off her collar easy-peasy. The point is, practically speaking, Cinder could have left and braved the streets like Emerald did… so give us a reason why she decided to stay. Maybe she’s scared of living on the streets, acknowledging that a little food and a place to sleep is better than nothing. Maybe she’s scared that if she doesn’t have a direct connection to the hotel (convenience), Rhodes won’t train her anymore. Maybe, as an abuse victim, she can’t articulate why she won’t leave, she just can’t. Something to acknowledge these gaps because, right now, we just have the fandom going, “See? This is why the huntsmen are all evil cops. Rhodes took the lawful route and look where it got Cinder! He’s the responsible adult in this situation, so it’s all his fault.” Problem is, this take ignores: 

The fact that our heroes are also huntsmen and were pretending to be huntsmen before they had those lawful licenses. So what does that make them? We can’t continually criticize these professional roles without criticizing our heroes’ use of them as well. Ruby just ensured the world would take her message seriously by introducing herself as a huntress. We can’t condemn these laws and privileges while likewise letting Ruby continue to use them however she please. It’s okay if she’s a part of the system, because Ruby is inherently good! That’s not how this works. I’ve just described every American cop show that tumblr is currently turning against: The system is corrupt and needs to be overhauled, but our protagonists are different. 

The story fails to tell us why Rhodes won’t do more outside of a single line about Cinder being of legal age. That just acknowledges that age has some bearing on his decision, not whether it outweighs other considerations (can Cinder survive if she leaves?), or whether Rhodes even has a full picture of what’s happening to her (the collar). The takeaway is that we don’t know what his though process was because RWBY didn’t show it to us, not that his thought process is automatically awful. 

Rhodes, as a literal stranger entering her life, is not 100% responsible for what happens to Cinder. I know people don’t want to acknowledge that because leaving a child in that situation is absolutely horrific, but if RWBY wants to be ~realistic~ (and it does) then we need to acknowledge that reality too. If you saw a child employee getting yelled at in a hotel and then found her with your sword, would you rip the collar off her neck and be like, “Congratulations, you’re my child now”? Nice as that trope is, probably not! Or hell, maybe a lot of you would upend your life and risk legal action to whisk them away, but a lot of other people wouldn’t... and they're not the devil for doing what they can within the bounds of the law. The idea that because Rhodes unexpectedly had one (1) encounter with Cinder means he’s now responsible for her life and outcome is, well, crazy. “But, Clyde, you can’t just see that kind of horror and not do something about it.” You’re right. You know what you do? Tell the authorities. But does Remnant have the equivalent of social workers? We don’t know! Which means we can’t assume that Rhodes didn’t call them just because he’s a bad person. Or maybe they exist and the fandom considers them too corrupt to be useful, like so many other authorities in this show. So… what else is there for him to do? There doesn’t seem to be anyone above Rhodes that he can turn to, he doesn’t (for whatever reason) want to essentially kidnap Cinder and start a new life with her, so what’s left? Try to give Cinder a healthy relationship and a way to escape in the long run, which is precisely what Rhodes did. 

Honestly, I’m kind of salty that this guy went out of his way to help her, he saw what everyone else saw and was the only one who would help her, but because he didn’t do more—because he didn’t entirely upend his life and/or risk arrest to take her away to this hypothetically better situation—the fandom is acting like it’s his fault Cinder killed her abusers. It’s not. Cinder made that choice.

At the end of the day, blaming Rhodes reveals the expectation that it’s his responsibility to solve this massive problem purely because he had the bad luck to be the one Cinder stole from. That’s like telling a teacher who learns about abuse from a paper that following the lawful channels and going out of his way to assist the child in other ways is responsible when the kid murders their family one day. “Why didn’t you just barge into the house and take the kid?!” Because there are a hundred reasons why that would go incredibly badly? Rhodes can’t help Cinder if he’s in jail. Rhodes can’t help Cinder if she ends up dead on a mission while following him. Rhodes can’t help Cinder if their attempt at escape fails and she bears the punishment. 

The only thing I think Rhodes did absolutely wrong was giving Cinder the sword while she was still under the owner’s thumb. Stupid, but not cruel. And again, stupid does not equal blanket responsibility. I’m likewise seeing, “Rhodes gave her the sword and thus it’s his fault that Cinder got in trouble. It’s his fault they died. What was Cinder supposed to do, not defend herself?” Are people forgetting that Cinder stole the sword herself in the beginning and then readily accepted it again? She had agency in obtaining weaponry and what she wanted it for. Are people forgetting that, in accepting it, she likewise accepted the risk of keeping it hidden in the hotel? Are people forgetting that the time skip shows this happening years later and that Rhodes clearly thought Cinder was past her murderous streak? Are people forgetting that Cinder killed the owner by snapping her neck and resisting the shock collar, no sword required? She could have killed them any time she pleased based on the crime scene, whether Rhodes had given her a weapon or not. The weapon was just the catalyst that, truthfully, could have been caused by anything else. Cinder snaps when they find the sword and she’s tortured. Cinder snaps when she drops another tray and she’s tortured. She had planned to kill her abusers and never completely let go of that. 

Honestly, I’m just annoyed that we have another good hearted, takes action, does his best and makes some mistakes character getting blamed for everything another character chose to do, erasing their agency in the process. Rhodes did not abuse Cinder. Rhodes did not force her to kill her actual abusers. And Rhodes is certainly not responsible for what Cinder later becomes. Could Rhodes have done more? Of course, but every character could always do more. 

The tl;dr is that this complex situation needed far better setup in the show and the fandom needs to stop using that lack of setup as “proof” that characters are horrible people when they fail to magically fix said complicated, badly explained problems. Cinder chose to murder three people. Whether that was justified in the face of her abuse is up to you to decide, but it was still her choice. Please stop blaming the adult male characters for the choices the teenage girls in this show make. RWBY is too convoluted and attempting to tackle too many complex issues to reduce that to, “Every man here is the evil, responsible party and ever girl is a #queen. Even when they go on to murder Pyrrha ^_^” As a woman who would very much like to be rooting for the mostly-woman cast more than I now do, this isn’t the feminist take people want it to be.  

But I’ve jumped waaaay ahead. Let’s backtrack a bit.

That first interaction between Rhodes and Cinder is super weird because the camera keeps covering Rhodes’ face and I don’t know why. 

We segue into that montage of him training her for presumably years (Cinder’s hair changes) until we see him giving her the sword in what’s meant to be a moment of pride and trust. Soon after, Rhodes (randomly) comes back to the hotel when everyone else is asleep and hears noises in the back. Moving to check them out, he discovers that Cinder has murdered the two sisters and is in the process of murdering the owner, throwing back the line, “Without you, I am nothing, but because of you, I am everything.” Again, much more impactful if this had been a line we’ve associated with Cinder for years now, not a couple of episodes.

After she breaks the owner’s neck (damn, strong hand!) she tells Rhodes she doesn’t have to run anymore. Cinder clearly expects him to be happy for her and is shocked when he takes out his weapons.

I’m sorry, this is not a “betrayal.” Could Rhodes have just let Cinder go? Sure. Should he have? Given what she becomes, that’s very debatable! Rhodes clearly thought he’d helped her grow into someone who was not inclined towards murder (giving her the sword) and thus is probably going to be a little rattled when he walks in to find her killing three people. Again, there are obvious differences given the level of abuse Cinder seems to have suffered in comparison, but imagine that Glynda, after teaching Weiss for years, walked in on her killing Jacques and Whitley in revenge. Is she supposed to just ignore that? Shrug her shoulders and wish her well? I know a lot of people consider that the “fair” outcome given the inclusion of abuse, but that’s because we’ve had an omniscient view of Cinder’s history and insight into her emotional state. Rhodes doesn’t have that. All he has is his oath as a huntsmen to prevent things like, you know, murder sprees. I’m not going to delve into the overall ethics of a judicial system, either in RWBY or the real world, and thus I’m not going to make any naive claims about it being fair—it’s fucking not—but I don’t think the answer to these systematic problems is, “Why wouldn’t you just let the teenager murder three bad people and then go on her way? She totally deserved it!” Rhodes is not in a position to decide that, which is the entire point of having a judicial system in the first place. 

So Rhodes wants to bring Cinder in. Kind of like how Clover wanted to bring Qrow in once he had an arrest warrant. I can’t emphasize enough that wanting to start a legal process rather than letting clearly guilty/potentially guilty people go because they WANT to is not a “betrayal.” Regardless of what teen dramas may have taught us, you don’t have to potentially throw your own freedom and your morals away because you found out a friend is wanted by the authorities. Or you walk in on them currently snapping someone’s neck. There are options other than, “Believe your friend is right without question and help them hide the bodies” (looking at you, Maria, Pietro). Whitely is not insane for going, “Hey, can you not make me an accomplice to a crime by forcing your way in here with a bunch of fugitives?” I’m constantly surprised by the number of fans who can, in one breath, condemn characters for not throwing a middle finger up at the law and in the next praise Jacques’ arrest. Do we want to benefit from this system or not? If yes, that means you have to weigh which laws can be broken (such as in a protest), which should be obeyed (bring murderers and wanted men in), all while working to change the laws that are prejudice and aren’t working. 

Anyway, they fight. It’s short and sweet, backdropped by the large clock striking midnight, hence our title. I’m incredibly suspicious of Cinder breaking Rhode’s aura first, given that she’s still the student in training, but here we can more persuasively say he wasn’t fighting seriously, given that he then stupidly rushes towards her without a weapon. Still, that would be the second time now that RWBY has relied on elite fighters “holding back” to explain how the kids in training beat them, the first instance, of course, being with the Ace Ops.

Rhodes does rush Cinder though when she hits the wall and breaks her own aura, clearly concerned. She uses the moment to stab him with both swords. He uses his last breaths to put a hand on her head, conveying that he doesn’t blame her for how this all turned out.

Then Cinder pulls off her collar with a single snap and looks up at the broken moon, crying her single tear.

I’m dragging the flashback for multiple reasons, but I want to emphasize that I think this episode is leagues better from what we got last week. Absolute night and day. It’s just that, as always, improvements are incredibly comparative in RWBY. It’s not really good for numerous reasons… it’s just better than what we’ve gotten before. It’s “great” provided you go in with standards buried in the ground.

We then return to the present as Cinder wakes up in Salem’s whale. This scene gives us a great shot of her grimm arm, so cosplayers take note!

Emerald arrives soon after and immediately rushes to her side, expressing how worried she was. She grabs Cinder’s grimm hand without hesitation. Honestly, I don’t care much about either character… but this single frame activated some sort of ship button in my brain.

Not fully because I’m personally not drawn to toxic relationships in fiction (which, as I’m about to explain, would absolutely be the case here), but just the tinniest bit. Because I’m a sucker for monstrous people being loved despite their monstrous nature, so having Emerald take that hand over the other is like a ship speed run for me.

I’m predictable, folks.

But we need to talk about less happy things for a moment. I mentioned above Cinder becoming an abuser herself. I hope I don’t need to lay out the laundry list of murders, attempted murders, sabotage, and general taking-over-the-world-ness she’s engaged in since Episode One. Don’t let a sad backstory erase all that. Hell, for all we know the hotel owner had a horrific backstory too! Doesn’t justify how she treated Cinder. The point though is beyond her clear status as a villain, we now know that Cinder treats Emerald just like the owner once treated her.

Cinder was “rescued” from her life on the farm by the owner. Emerald is “rescued” from her life on the streets by Cinder.

Both realize over time that the situation they’re now in is actually worse.

Both reiterate that they “owe” the other “everything,” with Cinder having that shocked into her and Emerald seeming to willingly believe it.

The owner treats Cinder as a slave. Cinder treats Emerald as a slave. “Both of you, get out. I’ll let you know when you’re needed.” The only difference is that Cinder’s orders were things like “Scrub floors” and Emerald’s are “Convince an audience this girl attacked our ally.”

Both use threats to keep the other in line: the owner with her shock collar and Cinder with her Maiden powers. Cinder doesn’t need to resort to violence (yet) because Emerald adores her, but the threat is always there. 

There are even visual similarities this episode, such as kneeling and gem necklaces, though I acknowledge fully that those are just interesting details as opposed to anything like persuasive proof. 

The point is that Cinder became exactly what she hated, she just turned the dial up to eleven by going after the whole world instead of a single child. “But Cinder never had a chance to be anything else.” Sure she did. Blake and Weiss are proof of that. Even if we believe that Cinder was doomed to be a villain due to the extent of her abuse, what does that say about the hotel’s owner? We don’t know anything about her history, so what if she was abused too? Does that mean she was always “doomed” to treat Cinder that way? Does that excuse everything she did to her because she supposedly never stood a chance of becoming anything else? Of course not.

Though very iffily done, this is a commentary on the cycle of abuse. Each case is horrific, but it doesn’t excuse what comes later. Every abuser was once an innocent child and every innocent child has the capability of becoming the next abuser. Cinder’s life up until now was beyond awful and yes, she lacked a lot of privileges that others had to help them head down a better path, like Weiss’ wealth. On the other hand, she lacks other difficulties that would make that path harder for others, like Blake’s status as a faunus. Everyone has a choice to make: Will you treat others the way you were treated because that’s “fair,” or will you decide to treat others better than what you were dealt? There are lots of aspects that factor into the likelihood of someone choosing the latter—which is why I really like Rhode’s hand on Cinder’s head, acknowledging his understanding that she’s an abused kid taking the only path she thinks is available to her—but individual agency is by no means removed from the equation. Cinder escaped her situation and decided she’d never be powerless again. What does that mean to her, perhaps becoming a community member who works to prevent abuse like the kind she suffered? No, it means grinding the entire world under her heel until she’s the only one with power left.

This GIF continues to be the only one I need.

(No, the fact that it comes from a cop show and I’m using it for such an anti-law, anti-establishment story/fandom isn’t lost on me.)

(Also, if anyone is curious, this is why I love Ozpin. Out of everyone in this cast, HE has suffered the most, tenfold, and yet he still chooses to be kinder to those than they’ve been to him.) 

Anyway, I should really stick to the plot lol. Cinder realizes that her waking up means that they’ve lost, which I still think is BS. Cinder needed a win to come across as a formidable villain again and the likes of Neo, Emerald, and a Maiden with years of practice under her belt should have wiped the floor with a scientist, retirement grandma, and a girl who got the powers an hour ago. But I again digress.

Mercury reveals that he will no longer be following Cinder’s orders because Salem has a special job for him. They’ve all been told to meet on the bridge.

Then we cut to Ozpin and Oscar.

My poor boy is a mess and Ozpin is in the process of begging Oscar to take a “break.” “I would like to express again that this is my burden to bear, not yours.” Take note, fandom. In a few moments Hazel will accuse Ozpin of being a “coward” because “All this time, it could have been you, but you let him suffer.” I just know a bunch of people will be going, “Yeah! Ozpin just let a kid get tortured instead of him. WTF??” Okay 1. We should always be suspicious of agreeing with the takes villains have and 2. Oscar just refused to let Ozpin do that. It is—again—his choice because he thinks that Hazel is “holding back” with him. Oscar is being a brave and logical dude trying to make the best of this situation for both of them. Don’t take that away from him just to make Ozpin look bad. What would we even want him to do? Take control back? The fandom has been yelling at Ozpin for that since Volume 5.

So they’re going back and forth when Oscar suddenly announces that they “can’t leave yet. This is our chance.”

Ozpin even says he thinks Oscar must have taken one too many hits because… yeah. What? Long story short, Oscar recognizes that they’ll never be this close to Salem’s subordinates again and that they should try to undermine her from the inside out, just like she’s done with the world since she knows she can’t take on everyone at once. I love Oscar taking charge here, I love them speaking in unison, I even love the hope of achieving something epic while in captivity despite my own belief that Oscar should break and reveal the Lamp’s password. What I don’t love is:

Another messy, unexpected belief that Salem made her choices because she “knows” she can’t win any other way. Except that—like Ruby’s line in the recording—Salem’s current attack blows that idea out of the water. She IS taking on the whole world. Granted, Ozpin and Oscar presumably don’t know that the whole world literally knows of her existence now, or that Salem was smiling about it, but they do know that she’s attacking Atlas head on. What else is that except a declaration of war with all of Remnant?

The idea of undermining Salem from the inside via Hazel. For anyone who reads my other metas, I just said that this idea wouldn’t work because Emerald isn’t the one torturing him, the one character who has consistently demonstrated hesitation (or, now, Neo). Hazel despises Ozpin so much that he would never listen to him. He despises him so much he doesn’t even see Oscar as his own person… at least he didn’t before. That’s been retconned now with Hazel going “easy” Oscar and having an actual conversation with Ozpin. Whereas before, he was slamming Oscar into walls and screaming about how he’s going to kill the “murderer” of his sister. They basically softened his character to make this plan possible.

The fact that this scene came about without Oscar and Ozpin ever getting to reconcile their problems. Last we saw them, Oscar was saying how he hated that Ozpin came back and refusing to acknowledge their merge. Now, they’re working together like they’ve always been solid allies. I get that the danger they’re in helps to put it all into perspective, but why can’t we get a few lines of them hashing this out? Or at least putting things aside until they’re out of Salem’s clutches? If you don’t need to re-write Hazel’s character with “he’s going easy on me” lines, you can use that space to deal with the conflict we’ve already established. Especially given the strange choice to have Oscar refuse to give up control and be the one coming up with this plan... but then Ozpin does take control and (maybe, see below) enacts it? I feel like we’ve missed huge chunks of this story. As it is, I wonder if RWBY will bother coming back to this. The questions of if/how Oscar will accept Ozpin and if/how he’ll reveal this secret to the group feels like they’re being swept under the rug and it will likely go unnoticed by a lot of viewers simply due to how intense the kidnapping plot is.

So things are a little messy, but otherwise enjoyable, and they’re about to get downright confusing. For me, anyway. See, Hazel reveals that he follows Salem because she can’t be beaten (cue my continued worry about Ruby telling the whole WORLD). She “can’t be stopped. She’s a force of nature,” and Ozpin is fighting a “cause with no victory, no end.” He yells back that “Someone has to try!”—bless this man—and then looks down at the ground going, “Salem can be fought. Unless… she brings the Relics together, if that happens…” and mentions summoning the Gods.

So here’s my confusion. The scene makes it feel like Ozpin is planting some sort of seed in Hazel’s head. He and Oscar JUST got done agreeing to try and undermine her from the inside out, then we get this line that feels like him “accidentally” dropping a secret that will turn Hazel against her. Except… Ozpin doesn’t lie here? The line isn’t useful to them as far as I can tell. They are screwed if Salem gets the Relics. …Right? Because if not, why the hell have the heroes been working so hard to keep them out of her hands? So I can’t decide if:

A) This scene is just written badly and none of this is part of the plan to undermine Salem.

B) Ozpin is going, “NO. Don’t collect the RELICS. That would be the WORST THING EVER /s” in an attempt to trick Hazel into doing it anyway and this is somehow supposed to hurt Salem, despite being presented since Volume 5 as the worst outcome for our heroes? 

C) Ozpin specifically wants Salem to make the mistake of summoning the Gods because he thinks he’s completed his task? Or something? But what in the world would make him think that—especially without seeing Ruby’s message (not to mention the lack of unity that mess should cause)—or what makes him think the Gods would just destroy Salem regardless of what he’s achieved? If summoning the Gods was ever a defeat Salem option, why hasn’t he done it before?

I’m leaning towards A just because it makes the most sense by far, but that would also mean we had Ozpin and Oscar decide on this plan, have a chance to start this plan… and then didn’t actually do anything. Yelling at Hazel for following Salem isn’t a new strategy, they were doing that before, so what’s new? Or has the new strategy not been revealed yet? Idk, as happy as I am to see them being BAMF together, I’m slightly unsure about how it all hangs together. I’d much rather have an internally consistent and clear outcome that’s predictable (Oscar breaks or just holds out until rescue) rather than what appears like a super cool, badass, unexpected plot on the surface… but crumbles once you poke at the foundation a bit.

So whether Oscar and Ozpin started this plan or not, they’re dragged into the throne room where they’re forced to kneel before Salem. Yikes. She sits on her throne with the Hound, who I’m only now realizing could be read as a messed up Toto

We learn that Tyrian heard from Watts about his incarceration and hacking Penny. What? Okay, I took the time to go back through “Amity” just to find this screenshot.

That’s not a working Scroll! Idk what I thought Watts might do with it at the end of last week, but it wasn’t send a full, uninterrupted message to Salem that updates her on everything that’s gone down in Atlas. This thing is toast! Moments like this make me question how much communication there really is between the writers and the animators, despite last Volume’s disaster with Oscar telegraphing his punch like whoa. Are we still getting that level of miscommunication? 

Salem then punishes Cinder for disobeying her by hurting her grimm arm. See, this here (for me, anyway) is the mark of a newbie writer. When the moment first started I went, “Oh nice. Just like the shock collar!” Then the scene made that abundantly clear by cutting to flashbacks of Cinder in her collar. That’s too heavy-handed. We already got the parallel, but then the show went, “Do you get it??” It shows that the writers are too scared that the viewers won’t get it, that their nuance will be lost, so they scramble to make it as obvious as possible, rather than trusting in their own writing.

And if you’re like, “So you want RWBY to be more clear and also… less clear?” the answer is, sadly, yes lol. The things that are already confusing due to retconning and inconsistent themes need to be made explicit, whereas the details that are already strong don’t need an in-your-face, “Okay, but did you really get the parallel here? We’re just making sure.” It’s like launching into explaining why a joke is funny when it’s already landed vs. telling a nonsensical joke and then waiting for the laugh that will never come. RWBY struggles in both areas.  

Salem delves into this speech about how this is actually all her fault and she should let Cinder spread her wings or something. AKA, go free Watts and track down Penny. Then you can have your precious Maiden powers. 

There’s a massive earthquake across Mantle and we watch a + medical symbol go out. Again, heavy-handed. We don’t need that in order to understand that the whole city shaking while the grimm look happily up to the sky is a bad thing.

We cut to Winter listening to the Ace Ops complain about Penny. She tells them to act like the elite they are, likely because she hates how they refer to Penny as “junk.” Still being set up to betray Ironwood, I bet. During this scene we learn that they have “confirmed visual of her leaving Amity. She appeared to be malfunctioning.” So Penny is alive? Also, they have eyes on Amity Tower and were able to see Penny leaving, but didn’t see any of our trio coming to launch it in the first place? Did Ironwood want it to launch? Did they see Cinder? I just don’t know.

Before they can get there though a message from Jaune comes through. Serious kudos to Team JNY for asking that “anyone” respond/taking the personal risk of calling for help in the first place. They’re finally putting—as Harriet says—they’re own selfishness aside in favor of the greater good. Yang obviously hates that it’s “you guys” they ended up with, but she’s not outright attacking the Ace Ops or anything. I’m like,

Excellent job, Yang. 

Jaune is a little harsh in his panic. He said in his message that a “large mass of grimm” is heading towards Mantle and then when Harriet leads with asking about Penny, wants to know what’s wrong with her. Why are you asking about Penny when lives are in danger and “it’s” (the grimm) are “right there”? Except he, uh… points at nothing. There’s the chasm with (I presume) the weird grimm goo down it? Not sure based on the shot, but the Ace Ops expected a “mass of grimm” and then land to see no grimm anywhere nearby. So yeah, they’re more focused on the missing Maiden than the seemingly imaginary enemy Jaune is freaking out about.

They only get on board when the river launches itself at Atlas.

So the goo is, like, sentient before it becomes individual grimm? Or Salem is controlling it from her whale? Either way it’s BAD.

I want to briefly gripe about how the hell everyone is watching this. What, is there a camera conveniently trained on this one random part of Atlas’ underside and everyone’s scrolls tuned into that the second the attack started? It seems far-fetched, to put it mildly. In RWBY’s favor though, I want to acknowledge that we finally have appropriate expressions for the situation! This is good!!

I’m going to level with you all. My notifications have known no peace since I made the mistake of criticizing the adored trio that is Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. I thought supporting Ironwood would get me heat. Nope. Not supporting the main girls is what did it and honestly? I shouldn’t have been surprised. Last week I pointed out that having them smile and, in Ruby’s case, coo during a moment of horror is not good animation and implies some pretty uncomfortable things about their overall sympathy level. The image in question: 

It doesn’t set a good tone, especially when we add in what we’ve gotten for Ruby’s group across the rest of this volume. The counters of, “They need and deserve a break. Why won’t you let them be happy?” fall flat when we ignore that this group has been animated as consistently goofing off post-premiere. Sneaking into the guarded military base of a former friend? Tube shenanigans! Need to find your way around? Funny Penny moment! Semblance reveal? Cutesy chibi explanation! Need to do more sneaking? Silly coffee plan! Nora gets electrocuted? Joke about how awesome that was! Even Wiess telling Whitley to go to his room reads as funny to the audience.

Ruby in particular has been a problem, given that she’s our main character and the others’ leader. We take our emotional cues primarily from her. Alongside being a part of all these fun and games, her animation during more serious moments has been less than stellar. This is Penny when Nora goes down.

This is Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. No worry, just focused on the fight.

This is Penny when the fight is over.

This is Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. No worry, just chatting about suspicious activity.

This is Penny in the airship, worrying about Nora and the situation they’re in. This is also Ruby in the airship, apparently not worried at all.

This is Ruby when she learns her uncle is in jail. Is there shock? Fear? Horror that he might be in serious trouble? No, she just maintains the same emotion she had before: fury at Harriet.

So when we reach them watching the recording and they look like this:

No, I’m not convinced that this trio is taking the situation seriously, or that they really care about the people involved. I know they’re supposed to care, they all obviously care from a meta perspective, but the “obviousness” of that only exists in our personal understanding of the characters if we don’t see it on screen. I completely believe that Penny is worried about Nora because she’s animated expressing that worry. I completely believe that JRY are in the middle of a warzone because they’re (mostly) animated as fearful and angry. The rest of Ruby’s team has a scared line from Blake and Weiss holding Nora’s hand, whereas the majority of the emotion across this adventure has been indifference or playfulness. That’s a problem given how horrible the events of this Volume have been, most of which the group is aware of. 

All of which is an incredibly long-winded way of saying that this

finally feels appropriate. Well done, RWBY. 

Alright, this recap is already over 7k long so I want to return to our plot with the summarized: IRONWOOD WAS RIGHT. He said they couldn’t withstand a head on attack by Salem and he was right. It literally took seconds for her grimm to burrow into Atlas, knock out a tower, and disable the shield. Everyone still claiming that leaving is useless because it’s oh so obvious Salem’s grimm could fly however high it wants (when did we learn that?) are ignoring that leaving was at least a plan with some kind of hope attached to it. And, given her focus on the Staff, may have saved Mantle by drawing Salem’s attention away from the city. The point is we don’t know. All we do know is that Ironwood tried to do something in the face of hopeless odds, Ruby’s team stopped him, and now look, everything is awful. No one could have possibly seen that coming. 

Salem: “It’s time.”

I’m very pleased that Salem is finally using the tools at her disposal. Upon reflection, I still don’t buy why she had to wait. “Well, she was waiting for the grimm goo.” She couldn’t have used flying grimm to take out the tower? Take a burrowing grimm and give it wings? She couldn’t have used the goo that was apparently inside her whale the whole time?

It’s all very convenient. In the sense that we’re drawing out the volume by having the villain inexplicably hang back, despite not having a good reason to. In the sense that—unless Ruby’s message comes back to bite her—the villain’s passivity also conveniently let the heroes accomplish the one goal they were desperate to achieve. All of that’s still not good, but at least the Volume seems to be moving out of the “not good” category and into the “slightly better” territory. 

Although, as I just acknowledged to a friend, RWBY seems to alternate for me. Every time I have an episode where I think, “Okay, there are still massive problems here, but I can see a glimmer of hope” the next episode is inevitably the pits. 

Still, grabbing onto that hope with both hands: Atlas should be decimated, folks! Grimm are swarming, our idiot heroes herded everyone directly under the city, the world should be panicking, and the cold should still be killing people if the story remembers that it exists. At this point my only question is wtf our heroes are supposed to do next, but regardless of what the plot gives us, it’s going to be wild. You all know what’s coming. Next week is our final episode before a two month hiatus, which means we’re going to witness all kinds of awful and then end on a six week cliffhanger. It’s inevitable, so best to emotionally prep for that now lol.

I don’t believe we have any Bingo updates, with the exception of edging towards a few: “Winter betrays Ironwood,” “Army of grimm conveniently doesn’t kill any civilians,” “Atlas somehow survives,” and “Ironwood dies” being the most notable. We’ll have to see what, if anything, gets checked off next Saturday.

As always, thank you so much for reading (I feel like I don’t say that enough :D) and I’ll see you next week! 💜

[Ko-Fi]

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby volume 8 #rwby recaps #rwby midnight #mymetas

[afaimsarrowverse]

Arrowverse Update 2021:

(No, I won’t call it The CW-Verse).

 Yes, I promised you one of these ages ago, but then RL turned everything around on its head, and I did not want to make one before all the shows were back in production and there was anything solid to tell you. So now I have lots.

 Only facts here, not politics, and only slight speculation regarding future developments, as always.

Batwoman

 Season 2 will start airing on the 17th of January and return to the shows usual time slot. They are planning to produce 19 episodes for this season. However given the times we are living in another production shutdown could prevent that number tob e fullfilled again, so take it with a grain of salt.

One of these 19 episodes will be part of this years Crossover-Event, which is a two parter and crosses over with „Superman& Lois“. Characters from the other shows are set to appear as well, however who that will be is unknown at this point. The Flash will probably be in it, aswell as someone from „Supergirl“, however if this someone is Kara is up for debate right now. John Constantine, Mick Rory, and Nate Heywood are the most likley candidates for someone from „Legends“. „Black Lightning“ is most likley not participating in the crossover. However someone from „Arrow“ might show up in it instead.

Ruby Rose is off the show and so is Kate Kane.

Just to clearify: Ruby Rose was not fired from the show , the higher ups at Warner and The CW were as surprised as we were about her decescion to leave, and Season 1 did not fail, quite the opposite actually: Until „Stargirl“ came along, „Batwoman“ was Number 3 on The CW, only „The Flash“ and „Riverdale“ did better. If the ratings of „Batwoman“ would have been bad, the whole network would be forced to shut down. Yes, the ratings dropped after „Crisis“ (but they dropped for all the shows except for „Arrow“ after the crossover), but they recovered, and overall „Batwoman“ was doing a lot better than let’s said fan favourite shows like „SPN“. The Powers That Be had every intention to go forward with Season 2 as originally planned.

Ruby Rose hurt her back a while back and had an emergency surgery after which she returned to the set of „Batwoman“, thereby disregarding her health. She has been suffering from chronical pain ever since. Thanks to Lockdown she was able to live the difference, a life without Batsuit, stunt work, and shooting days – and decided to quit. On the long run this might have happened eventually anyways. The actress has a history of depression and has been bullied online since the day it was announced that she got the part – by her own community as well as by Alt.Right Fanboys, who hate woman, LGBT-Characters, The CW, and the idea of anyone but Bruce Wayne being a Bat-Hero. Add that to physical pain, hard working hours, and a dislike for Vancouver, why should someone do that herself on the long run? However, it would not have happend between Season 1 and 2, and the writers would have had a chance to write Kate out of the show gardually and to build up an heir to her mantle at the same time. Now none of this will happen.

The producers decided against recasting Kate Kane as well as against making an established character into the new Batwoman. They even decided against bringing another Batfamily character from the comics into the show or introduce someone with ties to the established cast into the show for that purpose (like a cousin of Kate or Luke Foxs sister). Instead the quickly made up a brand new character – Ryan Wilder.

Ryan Wilder was invented for the show. Yes, she has shown up in a recent „Batgirl“ Comic, but make no mistake, she was inserted into that comic to make it look like she is a character from the comics, even though she isn’t. The Scripts for Season 2 predate that comic appearance by quite some time.

Javicia Leslie will be the new Batwoman, who has no ties to anyone in the show, but will witness whatever happens to Kate. So this will be a Miles Morales kind of situation, by the sounds of it. However we were told Kate won’t be killed of. Instead the Bat-Eating Monster that ate Batman will get her. Well kind of, she will disappear like Batman before her.

Ryan Wilder will have ties to Scarecrow though. If that means that somewhere along the line he will replace Alice as the main villain of the show is unknown. Safiyah is going to show up though, and will be played by Shivaani Ghai. She will face of with Alice, which seems to be one of the few preplanned elements, that will make their way into Season 2 after all. A female assassin named The Whisper will work for her, and a guy called Ocean will show up.

Pictures of the new Bat Suit have been released online. The most important part about the new look seemd to be the fact that you can tell that it’s an Afro American Woman by the silhouette. Juding by this the main focus of the show will shift. Discussions about DADT and Coming Outs are in the past, BLM it is instead. Ryan Wilder is supposed to be lesbian though. And a (former?) drug addict and goofy and „not the right person“ for the job of Batwoman at „this time“ of her life.

Given that there is a „Kate has disappeared“- storyline – either offscreen or via body double – it would make sense to have the character return to the show at some point in the future. However don’t expect that to happen in Season 2. As long as the two week quarantine period for people coming into Canada is in place guest stars won’t come cheap and might prefer to work in the US instead.

Also don’t expect to get Kate Kane back as a main character any time ever for that show. If she returns it will only be to wrap up her storyline and to give the new Batwoman her blessing.

Season 2 is currently filming in Vancouver. „Batwoman“ was one of the first shows to return to filming and has had a small filming break forced on them already, due to testing issues. However those seem to have been resolved. The production has been running smoothly for the most part.

Expect a proper trailer around December time and expect Season 2 to be treated like a new show by the network. Because that’s bascially what it is. (International distrubiton deals will however remain the same, so don’t worry about that, wherever you saw Season 1, it’s likely you will be able to watch Season 2 there too).

 Black Lightning (+ Painkiller)

 Season 4 will start airing on the 8th of Febuary and take the Monday night 9:00 pm slot. The season will consist of 13 episodes, and consdering that it’s the shows final season all of these episodes will be made and aired, come hell or high water.

We don’t know a whole lot about this season. Chantal Thuy will be part of the main cast in this season, so hopefully that means that Grace will consistently hang around all season and won’t do her usual disappearing act inbetween episodes.

What we do know is, that around the middle of the season a backdoor pilot for a potential Painkiller Spin-Off will air as episode 4.7. In it Khalil will end up in an new city Askahic Valley, where he will aim for a fresh start and find trouble instead. Helping those in need he will have to find a way to use his inner darkness  aka his Painkiller personality for good.

The backdoor pilot sounds engaging, kind of like a more down played version of „Legion“, but as for the chances for it to get picked up, we will have to wait and see. Being more of a follow up for „Black Lightning“ then a spin off the chances for a pick up are much better than most of us thought, when we still believed it to be a sister show to the adventures of the Pierce-Family. However it may be too high concept to find an audience. Furthermore the reboot of „Batwoman“ (see above) may also be enough for The CWs need to live up ist own diversity statement. So we will have to wait how the backdoor pilot works out for an audience and for the network, and also how the future plans for the Arrowverse in particular and their whole program in general for the 2021/2022 season will look like. Diversity also means not too many of those superheroes shows at the same time.

As for why it was decided that the series has to end with Season 4, this is currently still unknown. The ratings were always the poorest out of all the Arrowverseshows and also among the lowest of the whole program of the network, and Netflixs decision to go from weekly episodes to whole seasons also indicated that outside the UK and Australia the show did not do overly well, however the reason behind the decision might have nothing to do with any of that given that the show was rather consitent where the numbers where concerned. It might have been a creative decision, the fall out from the desire of on of the main actors to leave the show, or even a demand from Warner or AT&T. As of right now, we just don’t know, but the truth will come out eventually.

For International Netflix the season will likely be put on after it finishes airing in the US, just like Season 3 was. The Series Finale will probably air in May.

Season 4 is currently shooting in Atlanta. Due to this crossovers with the other shows are more or less out of the question for this season, however in theory characters from „Arrow“ could show up in the final season. But given that „Black Lightning“ always was its own thing, I would not count on it. However after the show is finished, Black Lighting, Thunder, and Lightning could show up from time to time in the Vancouver based shows, if the actors are willing (and in „Painkiller“ of course), so maybe „Black Lightning“ will be fully integrated in the Arrowverse after it’s finished in the same way „Constantine“ was.

 The Flash:

 Season 7 of „The Flash“ will start airing on the 23 of Febuary on Tuesday night right before  „Superman & Lois“. It’s planned to have 18 episodes in total. One of those is 6x20 („All’s Wells That Ends Wells“) which was already more or less finished, when the production shut down. Most of the episode will now be 7x01, however there might have been some reshoots concerning the scenes Hartley Sawyer was in (more on that later). 17 additional episodes are being filmed, provided there isn’t another  production shutdown.

The first three episodes of the season will be the slighty rewritten finale of Season 6 and deal with the Mirror Mistress. The rest of seasons will consists of two volumes again, shorter ones than usual though. As of now there are no plans for a crossover episode. Barry will however almost certainly show up in the „Batwoman“/“Superman & Lois“ Crossover Event.

Godspeed will be the main villain of at least the first half of the season. However it won’t be August Heart, it will be a new Godspeed instead. Also set to return are Top, Bloodwork, and Abra Kadabra.

Kayla Compton and Brandon McKnight will be part of Season 7s Main Cast. Hartley Sawyer however is off the show. After his Twitter was scammed, old tweets from long before he even joined „The Flash“ resurfaced, that included offensive jokes. One or two were racist, so he was fired. Ralph will be written out of the show in the first few episodes of the Season. He will shapeshift into another established character for storyline reasons and take his leave in this form. He might return later down the line, when the waves of his departure have subsided. In which form and played by which actor depends on how everything goes until then. Sue Dearborns storyline will be rapped up accordingly, however she is not of the show. She will return over the course of this Season and help out Team Flash time and time again.

There has been a lot of speculation about other actors leaving the show, given that their initial contracts are up and they cost a lot of money or might want to leave. Jesse L. Martin, Tom Cavanagh, und Carlos Valdes are the main concern here. However given that Season 6 was never finsihed, everyone from the main cast (including for story reasons of course Victoria Park and probably Patrick Sabongui) except Hartley Sawyer is returning for Season 7. If there are plans to kill anyone of in a shocking fashion in Episode 3, they obviously wouldn’t tell us. So it is of course possible that someone will leave the show during Season 7, however even if there were plans in place, Covid might have changed them. As for Jesse L. Martin, he might be safe, because we were told that a Joe West related storyline about the Police Issue will be part of this season (however that could of course happen during the first three episodes as well). Danielle Panabaker however will be back sooner than expected, and Frost will be part of the Mirror Mistress wrap up episodes. Given that the show started filming much later than usual, her maternity leave for which she departed the show in 6x19 was over before the returned to filming.

That said what might happen this season is something most people probably noticed during Seaon 6 already: Not everyone will be in every episode, and some might only have cameo appearances in certain episodes. Also US based guest stars might be a problem as long as the 2 week Quarantine for travelers to Canada is still in place. Don’t expect people to show up for only one scene or something like that.

As far as the Mirrorverse storyline goes, Iris will escape from there pretty early on in this season, however there will be lasting effects for her character (as you might have guessed from the last few episodes of Season 6). She will be confronted by a splintered part of her persona and might make a visit to the Eva McCullloch crazy town. If she will have Mirror Powers like Eva after she is out of the Mirrorverse is still unknown but possible, at least until the Mirror Mistress/Mirrorverse storyline is wrapped up.

The Volume after that will deal with Speedster and revolve around the new Godspeed. Originally Season 6 was supposed to end with a cliffhangar involving Eobard Thawne. If this is still the case for 7x03 is unknown. However it stands to reason that Reverse Flash could very well show up during the Speedster Volume. Wally West might also make his return. Und maybe a certain female West-Allen Child will as well. Jesse Wells could also show up at some point. The Wells-Situation will play into Season 7, so she might be connected to this storyline or the Speedster One or both.

What about the future though? There were plans to bring „Stargirl“ into the Arrowverse via „The Flash“. However „Stargirl“ is filming in the US, which means that these plans were postponed for the moment. We will see a Crossover between these two shows eventually (or if „The Flash“ ends before than between „Superman & Lois“ and „Stargirl“). However not until travelling between the US and Canda is easier again.

As for potential future seasons, we still don’t know whatever came of Grants talks about Season 8 and 9. It’s extremly unlikely (but not impossible) that Season 7 is the final Season for „The Flash“, however don’t take Eric Wallaces talks about „many seasons down the line“ for granted. Season 8 might be the last one, or the first of many more to come. We just don’t know at this point.

Season 7 is currently filming in Vancouver. They were forced to start a few days later than originally planned because of issues with testing results (those were delayed), however since they started the prodcution has been running smoothly, so fingers crossed that we will get all of those 18 episodes.

 Superman & Lois:

 „Superman & Lois“ will start airing on the 23 of Febuary on Tuesday nights right after „The Flash“. 13 episodes were ordered. It’s the big new show of The CW, but it did start filming relativly late, which is why they postponed the start date for the show from January to February. The pilot was supposed to shoot in spring, but couldn’t because of the production shutdown in Vancouver. Therefore they have just done the pilot and went directly on to Episode 2. Normally an episode order of a show like this one would be extended to 16, 20, or even 22 episodes pretty early on. This year however everything is different, and I personally don’t even think that they will extend to 16 episodes (there are clues that point into that direction), so it’s likely that we will get only 13 episodes in this first season. However if the extend the order, we might get 14 or 15 episodes instead.

One of those first 13 episodes will be the crossover episode with „Batwoman“. Characters from the other Arrowverse Shows will show up in it aswell, however it will be a much smaller Crossover than the latest ones. The Flash will probably be in it, as well as someone from „Supergirl“, and maybe someone from „Legends“. There is talk about John Diggle and a Green Lantern storyline, but none of this has been confirmed. However due to the fact that John und Lyla moved to Metropolis, „Superman & Lois“ is the most likely place for him to show up again.

Yes, the pilot script has been leaked, but please keep in mind, that they had months to change it. While the main points of the scripts probably remain the same, don’t expect everything you read to actually happen in the pilot.

That said, here is a summary of the shows synopsis: Clark und Lois have to learn to balanace their lifes as world famour reporters and superheroes with their lifes as parents. On Earth Prime they don’t have an infant son, but two teeange sons instead, that may or may not have inheretied their fathers powers. The Pilot sees them returning to Smallville out of family reasons and reconnecting with Lana Lang (Clarks first love) and her family (her Husband and her teenage daughter). While Lois father General Lane (recast for the show) expects his son in law to focus on the superbusiness, the couple would preferable focus on Smallville, which is in real estate troubles, but even the idyllic small town is all but this when a mysterouis stranger turns up and … well turns the show into a Superhero Show.

Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch return to their roles als Clark Kent and Lois Lane. Superman gets a new suit for the show. Pictures have leaked, but are of bad quality, however the main point of the suit change is to have him wear an endurable suit. His original suit was not made for long term use and was more or less falling apart by the time of „Crisis“.

Their sons are played by Jordan Elsass (Jonathan) and Alexander Garfin (Jordan). They are both thirteen, so apparanly twins, and don’t know that their father is Superman. Jonathan is good in sports but kind and well liked. Jordan on the other hand is smart, but a loner with an anxiety disorder. The new Sam Lane will be Dylan Walsh, Earth Prime hasn’t changed his attitude much, however he might be on better terms with Clark, whom he knows to be Superman. Emanuelle Chriqui is this shows Lana Lang-Cushing, she works at a bank and is in a difficult period of her life. Her husband Kyle Cushing is played by Erik Valdez and chief of the towns firedepartement. He is a drunk and a smalltown guy at heart. Their daughter Sarah Cushing is played by Inde Navarette, she is fourteen, tried to take her own life some time ago, and befriends the Kent boys. Wolé Parks downgraded from the devil to The Stranger, who … well !spoilers!  is said to be a Luthor from another dimension, stranded on Earth Prime. He is the main villain of the season and wants to prove that the world that it does not need Superman anymore. Presumable with violence.

If this is true, the events of „Crisis on Infinite Earths“ will play a rather massive part in „Superman & Lois“. Another massive part is tragedy it seems. Something happend to Martha Kent that bringts Clark back to Smallville, and something did happen to the Cushing Family (it might have something to do with their younger daugther Sophie). Also Clark has lost his job at the Daily Planet. So this is quite a dark set up for this new show, which will mainly take place in Smallville, while Metropolis will take the backseat, but will factor into the show. Perry White is set to appear. So is Morgan Edge, who is the one who fired Clark, because after not getting CatCo he appearanty bought the Planet. And is not in jail, but buying real estate in Smallville as well. Sadly he is another character they are recasting for the show. He is probably supposed to be the Earth Prime Version of the character we know, but maybe not. Nevertheless he is is the other main villain of the Season. (The Stranger might be Clarks villain, while he is Lois‘).

As for other news, yes a writer was let go from the show and then complained on Twitter about it, making it into a toxic workplace thing, but the main thing I took from that is the „no extension for this seaons episode count“-clue. Everything else is none of our concern. Of course she would say her writing is good. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. She was probably let go, because there were too many writers on the show, and for none other reason. If however there was something untoward going on, Warner and The CW would know (at least by now) and do something about it, they have a history of doing exactly that, e. g. Andrew Kreisberg. That does not mean that all the other scripts are bad, it only means that she was frustrated because she was sacked and felt it happened because she pushed certain points in the writers‘ room, that were incooperated into the scripts long before she was sacked. She might not haven been the only writer pushing for those points, others might have put them into their scripts without discussing it in the room beforehand, we only know her side of everything. So just wait and see.

As for: Will Kara turn up in the Pilot? Normally she would. It’s a Spin Off from „Supergirl“ after all. If the pilot would have been shot in spring, Melissa surely would have turned up in it. However given that she allegedly won’t go back to shooting until next year, she might not. They could film a short scene with her and insert it into the Pilot before it airs, as soon as she is back to Vancouver. But given that she will have to catch up with her own show, maybe this won’t happen. Maybe it was never even planned, because they did not feel the need for it. Everyone knows who Superman and Lois Lane are. Even people who never touched a comic book in their life. Maybe they thinkt that showing Kara would ty the new show too much to the established Arrowverse and „Supergirl“ in particular. However it would be a major disappointment, if she does not show up at all in this show. But sady given the shooting reality of this season it’s a high possibilty that she won’t. Let’s just hope that she in it in some shape or form. Maybe even in the crossover.

Anyway, Season 1 of „Superman & Lois“ is currently shooting in Vancouver. They had to postpone the start of the shoot several times, but they are up an running now, and should be able to complete the 13 planned episodes, if there isn’t a major production shutdown coming their way again.

Legends of Tomorrow

 Season 6 of „Legends of Tomorrow“ will air in 2021, starting with „Ground Control to Sara Lance“ around June, maybe May, if we’re lukcy. Season 6 will consist of 13 episodes and will be pretty complex, but if any show can pull of the concept behind the Season in times like this it’s „Legends“.

Shayan Sobhian and Adam Tsekhman will be part of the Main Cast in Season 6. The Waverider will also gain a new crewmember in the form of Esperanza „Spooner“ Cruz, who will be played by Lisseth Chavez. Oliva Swanns Astra will return to the show as well. Newbie Spooner will be tough and self sufficent and won’t play well with the others in the beginning. Definitifly not a warm presence in the beginning, she believes that she was abducted by aliens as a kid and has gained the ability to telepathically communicate with them since then. That will make her the key to find the Waveriders abduted Captain Sara Lance, provided she is not only a paranoid crazy lunatic and actually can do all of this.

The show has also cast Raffi Barsoumian as a new character named Bishop, who is a genuis, but also very dangerous and might actually be the big bad of the season. Structurally the Legends will encounter a new aliens species every week. The idea of using the Waverider as an actual space ship has been around in since Season 1, and now comes to fruition. If one of these aliens species they encounter will be a certain Hawk-related one remains to be seen. It would make sense, however I am not so sure the writers would want to hawk back (sorry) to Season 1 at this point.

Sara will be on her own journey for a while in this season. She won’t be immedeatly rescued in Episode 1. Meanwhile Ava will have a hard time coping with the loss of her Co-Captain and unravel. Maybe Nate will try to lend her a hand, but at the beginning of the season the Legends will very much be dysfunctional without their Time Mom.

Astra will try her hand at a human life and life with John in his house, while Zari und Behrad will be the shows version of the Wonder Twins, sharing the Totem, and learning how to be a team. Essential to this will be Episode 2 of this Season („Meat: The Legends“), which will also explore what is was like for Behrad to grow up in his child star sisters shadow.

There have been contradicting claims about how exactly the aliens will be introduced in the shows. The initial claim made by the writers was that the Legend would visist a different alien planet every week. However later the claim surfaced that different alien races would pop up in Earths History in different time periodes every week. The first claim would make every kind of crossover with the rest of the Arrowverse really difficult, however when „Legends“ is going back on air, this seasons crossover will most likely be over already, and furthermore the character who would have made the most sense in it – Sara Lance – wouldn’t be able to be in it anyways, given the Season 5 Cliffhangar Ending. Still a Legend could show up in the Crossover, maybe John Constantine or Mick Rory or even Nate Heywood. On the other hand, Gary war in „Elseworlds“, so mabye Spooner will just run around in „Superman & Lois“ in the backround while chasing aliens, one never knows with „Legends“.

This is pretty much most of what we know at this point about Season 6. So I guess, I have to adress some of the obvious concerns around this season right now. Number One would be if Season 6 is the last season. With both „Supergirl“ and „Black Lightning“ ending this season, it would be very stupid of The CW to end „Legends“ as well, especially given that „Arrow“, „Supernatural“ and „The 100“ also just ended in 2020. However the ratings were never the greatest, and the show is the most expensive and most complicated out of the Arrowvers Shows. But it also got pretty good press in the last couple of years. So maybe there will be a Season 7. The producers obviously bought themselves Season 6 by trading in Brandon Routh. They might do something simelar this season. Given that Caity Lotz is the face of the show, the most likely and most expensive candidate to get kicked out it Dominic Purcell. So will Rory leave in the middle of Season 6? Maybe. The problem here is that his most logical reason for him leaving is currently shooting Season 3 of „Lost in Space“. However she is doing it in Canada, and I have no idea what the shooting schedule for „Lost in Space“ looks like, so they could bring Lita back in to write Mick Rory out with her. However, they would not do this, if they knew beforehand that there is no Season 7 (because why waste an fan favourite character for nothing?). Dominic also already had reduced Screentime in Season 5 and might want to leave after Season 5 anyway. So we will have to wait and see.

The other concern revolves around John Constantine. Warner is trying to re-establish the character in it’s DC Movies or at least it seems like that. Right now we are in a phase were pretty much all DC Characters can be used at the same time in different continuities, however that could change any moment. Obviously they wouldn’t cancel „Superman & Lois“ once it’s on air because of this, but they could force the producers to write John Constantine out of the Arrowverse. However, until John is scheduled to appear in a DC movie, at least two more seasons could have gone by, so while it is possible that we will have to bid John goodbye after Season 6, it is also possible that we will have him around in Season 7. If there is a Season 7 that is. We’ll have to wait and see.

I have said multiple times that in theory „Legends of Tomorrow“ could go on forever, if they keep rotating the cast. But The CW is not known for thinking that much outside the box. Every additional season they have been given to their shows with lower ratings, including „Legends“, was already thinking outside the box. No other network would have done this. Plus At&T or Warner or both are pushing HBOmax right now and would prefer new shows that stream there over older shows that stream on Netflix (in the States that is). Therefor „Legends“ will probaly go away rather sooner than later. Sadly.

However, Season 6 is currently filming in Vancouver. You can follow Keto Shimizu on Twitter, if you wanna get updated when they start filming a new episode. The original start date had to be pushed back a couple of days because of testing issues, but those have been resolved, and since then the first round of episodes has been done without a hitch.

Supergirl

 Season 6 of Supergirl will air 2021 around June or maybe in late May, if we are lucky. It will be the final season and will consist of 20 episodes. Don’t worry, „Supergirl“ will be 2021s „Supernatural“, those 20 episodes will be made and aired, if it’s humanly possible, they will find a way, no matter what.

„Supergirl“ is my White Whale among the Arrowverse Shows right now, I can literally tell you next to nothing about what is going to happen in this season. I can’t even tell you what is happening behind the scenes. There is next to no confirmed information about the final season out there.

What I can tell you is, that they will pick up where Season 5 left off, that Jon Cryer will be a big part of Season 6, and that Karas and Williams slow burn relationship will continue to … slow burn, I guess. And that’s it. Sorry.

Season 5s Main Cast ist back together, expect for Andrea Brooks, but I can’t even tell you that for sure, because while she has not be confirmed to be in the season yet, nobody said she wouldn’t be in it either.

Yes, the ending leaked, or so some people thought, but this ending has mainly been an educated guess based on fan wishes. It’s plausible but not set in stone.

What I can tell you is: No, „Supergirl“ has not been cancelled. If it had been up to The CW the show would have gotten another Season, at least. „Supergirl“ always did fairly good for the network, better than „Arrow“ actually. What happened is pretty simple, it’s the same thing that happened to „Arrow“. The Leads contract was up, and said person did decide against an extension. There have been rumors about Melissas contract spanning seven seasons, but those have been based on wrong assumptions. The standart contract a lead actor signs when he or she does a pilot contains six seasons. Melissa signed one of those. But as you might remember „Supergirl“ did not start out on The CW, it did start out on CBS and Season 1 was filmed in Los Angeles. After Season 1 swollowed too much money, Warner moved the show to the cheaper network and to Vancouver. At this point the contracts were renegotiated. Calista Flockhart even left the show – which she could without breaching contract, because „Supergirl“ was not any longer the show she signed on for originally.

At this point Melissas contract changed – she has less screen time from Season 2 onwards than she had in Season 1, because she demanded more time to travel home to L.A. at the weekends. However what did not change and would not have changed was the six season thing. It would have been very irregular for her to sign a new six season contract at this point. Or for the network to extent it for a season. Especially for The CW who is actually used to shows with fewer seasons (forget SPN for a moment, that was its own thing). So it was and always has been six seasons.

Now between Season 4 and 5 Melissa and Chris decided they wanted to try for a baby. Which is by the way the real reason Supergirl got a new costume in Season 5. Melissa got pregnant, informed the producers and the network. Plans for Season 5 were shifted from 22 to 20 episodes, and to an early start for the filming of Season 6 with a break in the middle so they could work around Melissas pregnancy. But then Covid hit, the production was shut down amidst the Season Finale, and Season 6 became a problem because it would collide with the leads pregnancy leave. During all of this Melissa was in negotiation for a contract extension. And did not sign it. So the producers and the network decided to end „Supergirl“, because without Kara there would be no point to continue. They ended „Arrow“ when Stephen decided to leave, even though they had enough potential replacements from both genders ligned up. They only possible replacement for Kara was written out of the show with the end of Season 3. So that’s all that is to it.

It was definitly not axed to make place for „Superman & Lois“. „Superman & Lois“ has been in works since around „Elseworlds“, and the dream has always been that those two shows would co-exists. However the fact that „Supergirl“ is ending may have factored into the decescion to pick up „Superman & Lois“, so that the successor show is already in place, when „Supergirl“ ends.

So they are currently filming Season 6 in Vancouver, at least some of them are, because as predicted Melissa is still on Maternity Leave. It’s said (and I can’t confirm that) that she will return to filming in January, because the production will take an extended christmas break. Extended because of the two weeks quarantine period. Everyone who goes to the States to see their family will have to quarantine for two weeks before they can go back to shooting after they return to Canada. So that would mean that they filmed for quite some time without Melissa. If that means that she is only in 10 to 15 episodes of the final season or that her scenes are filmed seperatly and she will get stuck in the faceless suit again or if she is deaged and played by an other actress for a couple of episodes or gets turnes invisible and is there in voice only I don’t know. I only know that they are currently filming without her.

And what about crossovers? Given that it’s the final season, there will be no crossover episodes in Season 6 (however someone from the other shows might show up in a small way). As for the characters crossing over to other shows, I again don’t know. Someone will be in the Two Part Crossover between „Batwoman“ and „Superman & Lois“, probably, however we don’t know if this someone will be Melissas, because the focus will be to produce those 20 final episodes with as much her in it as possible. So maybe J’onn or Alex will be in the crossover instead.

And yes, they were originally meant to start filming in September, but there was a problem with the test results. Now, that problem hit all the other shows as well, „Batwoman“ even had to halt shooting for a few days, while the other shows pushed their start date back until the results were in. The strange thing is, however, that most of the other shows only lost of couple of days, a week tops, „Supergirl“ however started almost two weeks later, then it was originally suppossed to. Now, that would be the „someone was testes positve“ period, but they were allowed to go back to shooting around a week after their original date. But took another week or so to get going. Maybe. They might have started earlier, however all the other shows told us via Social Media when they started shooting (or picked it up again) and „Supergirl“ didn’t do so until about two weeks  into October. I have no idea why.

But sadly that’s how the show is communicating with its fans right now: Not at all. I wasn‘t even sure they were really back to filming, when I saw those first very cryptic posts until two days later, when David (bless his heart) tweeted that he was on set and started shooting again. Before that Jon Cryers ring-story (check it out online, if you want to, it’s heartwarming and great) was the only thing somehow related to the shooting of Season 6 anyone could find.

So yeah, they are filming. And plan to do that for nine more months at least. After that, it’s over. Which is sad, but well, it is what it is.

 Green Arrow and the Canaries (+ Wonder Girl)

 As for the „Arrow“ Spin Off, I wish I had news in any form. The show has not been picked up, but it has not been axed either. At the moment it can go both ways. I always guessed that The CW was considering „Green Arrow and the Canaries“ for the 2021/22 Season and not for the Current Season, and this has turned out to be true, but the backdoor pilot aired in January. And now it’s November! Normally we would have heard something either way by now.

And there are two problems: There is that very important thing I have been going on about in the „Supergirl“ Section quite long about called contracts. There is an expireing date on those things - actors can’t stop making money, just because some executives can’t make up their mind about a pilot. And then there is the bigger threat which is the new „Wonder Girl“ show which is in development for The CW, and which is more likely to be picked up by the network to fill the Female Lead Superheroe Show Hole, that „Supergirl“ is leaving behind than „Green Arrow and the Canaries“. I don’t think the network would pick up both of these shows in the same season (or maybe even at all).

So it does not look good, right now for the show, but as long as there is no word about it not going forward, there is still hope. Also, we may get a new version of it in form of a new project instead, if it does not go into series. You never know.

 (Stargirl is not one here because I don’t consider it part of the Arrowverse yet).

#Blog #Arrowverse #Arrowverse Update #2021 #The CW #The Flash #Legends of Tomorrow #Supergirl #Black Lightning #Batwoman #superman & lois #The Flash Season 7 #Supergirl Season 6 #Legends of Tomorrow Season 6 #Batwoman Season 2 #Black Lightning Season 4 #green arrow and the canaries #Painkiller #Wonder Girl

[afni-fics]

My thoughts on canon: Red Robin - The Grail (1-4)

Researching original Red Robin comic series plot points - The Grail - Ignoring all the globe trotting instances of these first 4 books for now. Focusing on the Gotham backstory, which is the chronological start of Tim’s journey.

It’s a bit much, so since I’m writing this on my laptop instead of my phone, I’m slipping it under a cut.

Timeline in Gotham City I. Dick takes the mantle of Robin away from Tim and gives it to Damian without talking to Tim first II. Tim has an epiphany moment where he realizes Bruce Wayne is alive and he leaves to prepare to search for him IV. Steph tries to reach out to Tim, which Tim rejects because he doesn't trust her V. Cassie (WG) tries to speak with Tim, but when she doesn't believe him/hear him out, he rejects her V. Dick eventually confronts Tim and the two have a spectacular falling out before he leaves to go overseas

Tim's emotional/mental state - Has an "epiphany" he can't explain where he "knows" Bruce Wayne is alive (even Tim questions his own sanity about this at several points in the first 4 books)

- Dick betrays him. He takes (without warning or permission) the most important thing Bruce ever gave to Tim and just gives it away to Damian, a person who's tried to kill him and has caused him a number of severe injuries

- Damian is still a spiteful arrogant child who continuously looks down on Tim both in words and actions despite now having the Robin mantle, and Dick does next to nothing to reprimand him in the moments when those hateful, verbally abusive actions happen

- Tim doesn't trust Stephanie. He thinks Dick was the one who sent her to check on him and makes a lot of angry assumptions, but that point is never really made clear (could it have been Alfred? could she have gone just on her own?)

- Cassie does check on him of her own free will. Learns Tim had been exposed to the Anti-Life Equation during the most recent Crisis

- Anti-Life Equation: loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding x guilt x shame x failure x judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side

- Tim tries to open himself up to Cassie by telling her how he believes Bruce is alive. He doesn't even get a chance to explain how or why he feels this way before Cassie shuts him down by saying, "Oh, Tim... He's not. He's gone. Superman said so..."

- When Tim finally responds to her saying "This was a mistake," can be interpreted as Tim berating himself. "He" made the mistake of opening up to someone he thought he could trust.

- Tim knows his epiphany sounds crazy. He says as much to Dick during their final fight. "You don't think I don't know how it sounds?... I know how it sounds. I lost everything. I snapped... I know how it sounds. But I know that I'm right, Dick, and I'm going to prove it!"

My thoughts: I. Dick fucked up. Point-blank he fucked up his relationship with Tim and has no one to blame but himself. He keeps "saying" that he considers Tim his equal and that he knows how Tim feels. However, for Tim "actions" always speak louder than "words" and Dick's actions (giving Damian the Robin mantle w/out Tim's permission, not reprimanding Damian's constant verbal abuse, not asking "why" Tim might believe Bruce is alive and just "assuming" Tim's being affected solely by grief and denial) completely undercut Dick's words and paints him as a liar.

II. Tim's still being affected by his past exposure to the Anti-Life equation. With all the pain and suffering and loss he's experienced in the last few years, even if he's not under Darkseid's control anymore, the wounds of that trauma are still there. I have a mental image in my head of the equation existing in the dark corners of Tim's psyche in fragments. Tim's last days in Gotham before going on his search for Bruce and his experiences with Dick, Steph, and Cassie basically prove fragments of that equation as true. The Anti-Life equation fragments, when validated, makes Tim strongly feel depressed, angry, distrustful towards the person or event that triggered it, and other negative emotions

III. The fact that Tim is looking for proof shows some indication that he's open to being proven wrong. Tim knows this epiphany about Bruce is not normal. He is constantly asking himself "What am I doing?" "I know how it sounds." The logical side of his mind knows it doesn't make sense, but there's a part of his psyche that has latched onto this theory and won't let it go. He can't get it to stop nagging at him. So, he feels he has no choice but to go looking for proof that this epiphany is either right or wrong. How differently would his journey and his relationships with his friends or family have been if even one person, upon talking to him, just said something like this before he left Gotham:

"It sounds unbelievable, but this 'theory' is obviously important to you. So let's make a deal. Let's investigate this together. Let's BE the detectives Bruce taught us to be. I'll watch your back while you just be you. If we can find proof that Bruce is alive, that... would be incredible! HOWEVER, if we can't find proof within six months, we come back home and we accept this reality. We grieve... we mourn... we go to therapy... but whatever we do, we do it together. Is that reasonable?"

I could see Tim asking for at least one year... but the fact that his friend/family is willing at least to indulge in entertaining this notion, to agree to watch his back even for a set period of time while he goes on this journey and investigates this crazy feeling of his... To promise to be there for him on the very high chance it will all fall part in the end.

What kind of different story would this have been?

#tim drake #red robin #dick grayson #stephanie brown #cassie sandsmark #fic research

[thevindicativevordan]

Mongul

Wanted to chat about another Superman Rogue who has been around a while: Mongul.

Background

Now this guy enjoys something of a mixed reputation. On one hand he, unlike many other Superman classic Rogues, has actually been in some good stories. There’s the iconic For The Man Who Has Everything by Alan Moore which is the perfect encapsulation of his core character traits. There he’s a hulking brute, with enough raw power to go toe to toe with Superman and actually hurt him with physical force alone. He’s crude, making misogynistic comments to Wonder Woman, and gleefully reveling in the conquest he plans. Yet he’s also clever, using the Black Mercy to incapacitate his foe, and has an air of faux affability to him that only adds to his menace. 

It should come as no surprise that an Alan Moore story is still Mongul’s best showing, but there are other stories worth mentioning as well. There’s Superman: Exile, the first meeting between the Post-Crisis Superman and Mongul and personally one of my favorite Post-Crisis Superman stories. There’s Mongul’s debut Pre-Crisis issue where he and Warworld first appear. There’s his attempt to hijack the Sinestro Corps during the Johns era of Green Lantern. Finally there’s his usage in Bendis Superman, which has been the first time in ages he’s been treated as a serious threat, and given an interesting way to serve as a contrast as Superman.

So why does he suffer from a mixed reputation? Well...

He sure does look familiar doesn’t he? He was created by Len Wein and Jim Starlin, and Starlin you might recall was the creator of Thanos, who was a ripoff of Darkseid. So Mongul is a copy of a copy, lacking the grandeur of Darkseid and the ambition of Thanos. He and Apocalypse are both cast in Darkseid’s mold, and have both gotten one really great and iconic storyline that guarantees they’ll stick around, but have also not traditionally fared well outside that one story. Also like Apocalypse:

He has a really bad habit of jobbing and being used by writers to prop up their characters. Jurgens used him to prop up Hank Henshaw in Reign of the Supermen and Henshaw again along with Zod in the Rebirth arc Revenge!, giving him a reputation as a joke. He also got killed by Sinestro pretty easily during his coup attempt.

Besides that he’s also unfortunately been treated as a generic tyrant for Superman to beat up, lacking much in the way of characterization, or in being a meaningful contrast to Superman beyond “Superman uses his strength to serve others, Mongul uses his to oppress them”. For a while I kind of wrote him off as a lost cause, someone that really didn’t offer anything as a Superman opponent beyond that one Alan Moore story. But recently I’ve changed my opinion; I’ve come to believe Mongul does in fact serve an important purpose and should be treated as an essential part of the Superman Rogues Gallery. Part of this turnabout was caused by really enjoying his usage in Bendis’ Superman run, which caused me to do a reread of Mongul stories, and got me thinking about who Mongul is, what he’s about, and what role he plays.

What Role Mongul Plays

A crucial realization hit me while I was rereading Mongul stories: Mongul is The Bully of the Supermythos.

He’s the guy who doesn’t delude himself into thinking he’s the hero like Lex does. He doesn’t consider himself above petty emotions or notions of right and wrong like Brainiac. He doesn’t have a sympathetic background like General Zod does. He’s the guy who enjoys pounding people into the dirt, who doesn’t mask his desire to lord over the populace behind pretenses of noble intentions. He’s gleeful as he crushes his enemies beneath his heel, he’s petty in that he enjoys forcing people to fight for his amusement, he’s dangerous in that while Darkseid can be bargained with, Mongul is always going to prefer to take what he wants via force and is powerful enough to do just that. In other words, he’s the exact kind of guy Superman started out wanting to take down, just living in the cosmic space where Superman can actually kick his ass without it feeling like punching down. 

That core ethos, beautifully summed up in All-Star Superman, is in direct opposition to Mongul’s entire lifestyle. When the United Planets starts to form in Bendis’ Superman, Mongul is outraged, not just because it may pose a threat to him, but because the very idea of the “weak” uniting into a stronger whole downright offends him. He runs Warworld to cull the “weak and unfit” of the universe for his own amusement and entertainment, the petty schoolyard bully who has turned a planet-sized Death Star into his own playground, and he climbed to the top via crushing anyone that stood against him with his own two hands or outwitting them with his brain. He’s got no time for others who think they can rise above their station in life without the physical/mental power to back that desire up. If Superman believes that everyone is capable of greatness, Mongul is a firm believer that greatness is the sole purview of the very few (and really only himself). 

This core conflict allows writers to bring back the bully hunter of the Golden Age and early New 52 t-shirt and jeans Supermen. Here’s a guy, a foreign ruler no less, who is actively oppressing people. We get to enjoy seeing Superman taking on a foreign dictator because he’s off in space instead of doing so here on Earth where thorny parallels to American interventionism abroad would be raised. Superman can be the Champion of the Oppressed again, and that’s always something I enjoy seeing.

I’d also like to bring up why Mongul was originally created. Len Wein wanted a foe for Superman who could match him physically. In other words, Mongul is like Doomsday if Doomsday actually had a personality. Mongul offers the opportunity for deeper exploration of Superman that Doomsday can’t. We know this literally because Mongul’s best story isn’t just a slugfest between the two the way Doomsday’s is. For The Man Who Has Everything is one of the best explorations of just how damn lonely being the Last Son of Krypton is for Kal. Exile explores the ethics of Superman’s no kill rule, his belief in the sanctity of life, his struggles to hold onto that belief in the face of the cruelty of others. His usage in Bendis’ run is to illustrate just how fragile the United Planets is, how easily it can break apart, and how hard Superman is going to have to strive to make it work. PKJ used Mongul in his Future State Superman: Worlds of War stories to show the lengths Superman will go to liberate others, his defiance in the face of Mongul’s attempts to break him. There’s an opportunity for psychological evaluation of Superman when Mongul shows up that just isn’t there with Doomsday. That alone is reason to keep him around, but he also brings a bunch of cool shit in addition.

Cool Aspects Mongul Brings to the Supermythos

He’s got a Death Star that doubles as a gladiator coliseum, where we get to see Superman compete with other gladiators from across the cosmos. Mongul lets Superman channel that Conan brutality in a very entertaining way, putting Superman in a setting where he’s facing lots of foes who can go up against him with raw strength and numbers alone. 

It’s a place that channels that pulp science fiction that Superman was borne from in a very entertaining way in my opinion. Also they should set a Superman video game there (but that’s another blog post). The gladiators are also useful, either as oppressed prisoners for Superman to liberate, and showcase directly how he makes life better, or as bloodthirsty mooks that can actually challenge Superman without dimishing him.

The Black Mercy is an awesome science fiction concept. While it’s been overused in relation to Mongul, it’s also the embodiment of the unknown wonders and threats of DC Cosmic. In the right hands it’s a great tool for exploring characters’ psychology. 

Bendis and Fraction reestablished that the name “Mongul” is a legacy one. The current Mongul is from a long line of Monguls, the sons killing their fathers when their fathers show weakness. Given how Rebirth has established the importance of legacy to Superman with Jon, something continued by Bendis, this may be a very crucial aspect to play off of. The way “Mongul” as a mantle is assumed is a dark contrast to the way the “Superman” mantle is taken up by others after Clark. Exploring the Mongul father-son relationship in contrast to the Clark-Jon relationship may be in the cards for the PKJ run given Mongul will be the first classic Superman Rogue appearing in PKJ Action. If not I hope some other writer will take a chance to explore the way the two contrast and compare with one another because it could be very interesting.

What I Would Change About Mongul

I think there’s already a pretty damn solid base to build off of with Mongul, but some aspects that I would play up to better establish him as separate from both Clark and Darkseid:

Making him more of a hedonist. This is a guy who eat, drinks, and fucks, and enjoys himself while doing so. He loves being a bad guy and isn’t “weighed down by his sins” or any such nonsense

Showcase his knowledge more. Mongul is smart, he’s been all over the cosmos, he learned about Warworld and the Black Mercy, show that he knows other dangerous secrets as well. Weapons, planets, florua, fauna, Mongul knows stuff not even the Guardians do

Establish some underlings. Instead of having Mongul job, use some of his gladiators, elite ones raised above the riffraff who can pose a threat and hold off Superman while Mongul accomplishes his goals

Appearance wise I’d like to make him look more different from Darkseid. I’d want to draw on dinosaurs for his look. If you need to justify it, just have another son replace the current Mongul and become the new Mongul, or have Mongul modify himself with enhancements in order to beat Superman

Mongul is cool and brings a lot to the table, DC just needs to stop treating him as a jobber and more as a legitimate threat. I was happy with how Bendis used him, and I am hopeful that PKJ will continue to treat him well. He’s a villain who actually has stories that showcase why he rocks, and not just cool ideas that have never come together like other Superman Rogues. Hopefully he’ll get more opportunities to showcase that.

#superman #mongul #dc comics #alan moore #brian bendis #phillip kennedy johnson #len wein #jim starlin #warworld #future state

[marithlizard]

First Impressions of RWBY v8e13, “Worthy”

"Worthy",  huh.    From Watts' impassioned rant.  So will this be Cinder's ultimate attack,  and fall?  

The tagline certainly suggests the plan is going to fail horribly; I just hope it doesn't  take the population with it...

Oh, we're skipping back in time a bit!  JNRE grappling with the problem of how to tell people to enter the portals.

Portal-space certainly looks cool.   It reminds me of jewelry,  the disks of the portals linked by golden strands, strewn across space.  Specifically, it reminds me  of the chain-jewelry that Ambrosius wears.  

Most of them going ahead to warn Vacuo, smart.    They're convinced the Academy there is "armed to the teeth" (how do they know, though?) ,  which helps explain why they chose it as a destination. And I'd thought about the major problem of feeding and housing X thousand refugees, but not the big honking wave of Grimm that will be coming their way with all the feelings.

Ren looks so proud of Nora there.   And yeah, she and Jaune are the right  choices to persuade crowds of people to walk into mysterious portals.

Emerald: oh my god,  it's like a mandatory corporate morale-boosting meeting with you people EVERY FIVE MINUTES.   Oscar:  Yes and you signed up for it, so look perky.

That was a very bossy little silent display for someone half Emerald's height,  Oscar.   Like a headmaster to a student.

Question that will probably never be answered;  how do they know where each of all those portals goes?  They aren't labeled or even color coded.

Atlesian prairie  dogs.  

Whoa,  and we're in Vacuo already! That was quick.  

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh crap.   I'll take "Obvious-in-hindsight things I did not see coming" for 200, Alex.

Can't they just have them wait inside portal space?  That's horribly dangerous, with the risk of falling off the edge, but probably better than a sandstorm.

OH NO.  No, no they can't.     When Ambrosius said "Do. Not. Fall."  I didn't think it was foreshadowing random civilians!

They left Penny alone with the staff????

"Your little friend Oscar was right" about what?   She's taunting them about having bugged all their scroll discussion,  presumably.    Which means she knows just about everything.  

I don't know what I'm more surprised by - the prospect of the lamp question being  used, or a sincere-sounding apology from Cinder.

Roman would've been tickled to know what his hat was being used for, I bet.

Watts looks more stunned by Jinn than anything else so far.

Jinn has to answer, but she doesn't seem at all happy about it.  No small talk from  her this time.

Cinder looks momentarily distressed at the sight of Emerald, but it's only a flicker.  

....Uh.  That's dark. I hope Bill called in sick today.

A happy Watts is not a good thing.  And I'm impressed by how Cinder has bounced back and changed her tactics to be more diplomatic.  Is any of it sincere?  Doubtful, but it does the job.

oh my god,  is Watts eating an apple as a deliberate reference to Death Note?   That's hilarious.   (Okay, it's not a potato chip. But  I can't be the only one who instantly made the connection, and eating apples *was* a thing in that anime...)

ohhh no, this is bad.  Shades of Beacon.

Kamikazebot. Elegant.

Annd Elm and Vine make a flying exit.  They're going to be surprised by the state of the world outside.

Oh, shut up Jacques.  Even Ironwood doesn't -  well, maybe he does deserve to be stuck with you, but what a punishment.

Watts really is clever.  I don't know what Ironwood will do, but it's reasonable to assume it'll be something awful.    Will he really sabotage the evacuation out of spite?  I know every time I've asked "but would he REALLY"  the answer has been "Yup!",  but this time.... this time I think we're approaching a classic Star Wars style atone-for-my-sins-with-my-heroic-death scene.  Will the writers roll with the cliche or surprise me again?

They just left his guns on the floor outside his cell?   I suppose they were in a tearing hurry and it seemed safe, but geez-

uh.  what.

what

I'm certainly surprised, writers. But not in a good way.   *cough* Moving on for now -

That's a very fetching disguise, Neo.  And a nice fire tornado.

ohshitohshitohshitohshit

YANG!!

You can't do that.  I mean, they can't do that.  Can they? No.

So volume 9 will be the rescue mission?

Penny, you're not staying on task. That's bad.   Get the effing relic to effing Vacuo.

Where *is* the staff?  She must've done something with it.

Harriet is as crazy as her boss.   Please don't let them join forces again.

Annnd all Watts has to do is autopilot the ship to the most damaging place possible. Which will be...I dunno.  The Mantle crater, with lots of people still in it?  

Winter, out of the loop.  That must be so terrifying.

...oh.  Now that's a showdown I hadn't expected.  I don't know that she can solo him.

What  on earth is the point of getting the staff now,  Ironwo-  oh nevermind.  Completely insane villains are boring. I liked him so much more when he had a logical but diametrically opposed perspective.

"Oh dear"?   I suppose Oz has been through too many catastrophes not to stay calm, but that seems excessive.  (Also Ozpin never actually volunteers any plans or ideas anymore.  He must’ve vowed to stay quiet and let Oscar handle everything, but also I suspect he’s lost all confidence in himself.  And possibly was never all that good at crisis plans in this incarnation.)

They did clearly say one-way.  I don't think this can be blamed on Ambrosius.

And here come the Grimm.     Flying monkeys, your moment has arrived at last!

Er.  ...Housing the refugees won't be nearly as big a problem if most of them are dead?  I'm still totally unclear on how many people were in Atlas and Mantle, never  mind how many have come through the portal vs. are in gatespace vs. are still back in the frozen north.   The sandstorm conveniently obscures everything, so we could be looking at  hundreds or thousands of casualties.   Not much of a survival rate unless the Vacuo cavalry is right around the corner.

Oh duh,  Watts is sending the bomb to the Vault.  Which no longer strategically matters with the staff gone, but Ironwood is there,  and who could resist the ultimate fuck-you of blowing him up with his own bomb?

Yep.  That there was some penultimate-episode doom.  It's going to take a bit for all this to sink in.

#rwby #rwby spoilers #rwby v8 spoilers #rwby v8e13 #rwby v8e13 spoilers #rwby volume 8 spoilers

[rohirric-hunter]

Léonys of Rohan Part 6

Part 1 | Part 5 | Part 7 | Part 10

So if you saw me complaining about writing in the past -- *consults calendar* -- month and a half, it was about this. Despite everything, I’m reasonably pleased with how it came out. I have provided myself with a sufficient amount of vague-metaphor-enrichment, which is what I live for.

This is a Boromir Lives fic too now, and the reason for that is this scene and this scene alone. I tried to sketch it out with Éowyn and I just ran the risk of changing canon in a way that I didn’t want to change it. Also with most Boromir Lives fanfics I’ve read they tend to take the position that Boromir would be more or less over Amon Hen by this point, and I’m not about that. I had a half-finished Boromir Lives fanfic years ago where Aragorn wouldn’t let him go on the Paths of the Dead because it’s not a place to be while you’re dealing with that kind of mental weight and I borrowed that idea and expanded on it. Mind you, Léonys has no clue what kind of crisis he’s dealing with, so that’s pretty irrelevant, but I wanted to say so anyway.

                         ***

This is how it is to be Léonys of Rohan:

Dunharrow is cold in the early dawn air. You have been sitting in the same place for long enough that the earth beneath you has gained some of your body heat, but the stone pillar at your back is still chill as death. Your bow lies across your lap, half-strung, and at your side lies one of your knives, unsheathed. There are tales of orcs and worse things in the Harrowdale, but you have seen nothing, not for hours, not since the Grey Company departed into the dim slot that they say leads to the Paths of the Dead, and your fingers are tangled in the wet grass before you, slowly teasing the roots loose.

It is not the same bow that you once used to bring food home to your family. That bow was broken in an accident, in Angmar, when you had fallen into a ravine and it had shattered against the rocks below you. You had replaced it with a war bow from a fallen man of Angmar, and your forearms had bled until someone had taught you how to wield it. You bear that bow now, and it serves its purpose. You wonder, idly, if it could be used for hunting. Your hunting bow had been turned to war easily enough, though with nothing near the harsh efficiency of this weapon.

Unease tickles the back of your spine, and you know its source is the narrow path before you, barely visible as a deeper shadow in the wall of rock on the far side of the Fireinfield, but you remain there, knowing you will not find rest this day.

You are aware of the Man approaching long before he comes up behind you, but you do not acknowledge him, hoping he is simply passing by, patrolling, perhaps, or gathering weapons and food, or tending to one of the many other tasks that a war camp such as this needs to maintain itself. No such luck. When he speaks he is close behind you, much closer than you anticipated, and one hand strays to the hilt of the bare knife at your side before you recognize the voice.

“Has sleep escaped you as well?” Boromir of Gondor asks, stepping alongside you and shielding his eyes as he gazes down the road, though the sun has not yet climbed high enough to peek over the walls of the dale.

“I haven’t tried,” you respond, not offering him more than a glance.

A long, silent, uncomfortable moment passes. You wrap your cloak around yourself a little tighter and lean forward, finally repulsed by the chill of the stone you had set your back to. There is little comfort in the Man’s presence, but he does not speak again, and you are unwilling to disturb the relative stillness of the morning with your voice. Even the sounds of the camp behind you are muted under slowly melting fog.

You wonder why he was excluded from the ride of the Grey Company. It was not by choice, that much was made clear by the stony look on his face after Aragorn finished speaking to him during a lull in your swift ride here. You do not press. This is only your fifth, or perhaps sixth conversation with the Man, if conversation it can be called, and though your previous interactions have been amicable, you do not consider him a friend.

And yet he is here, a bleak darkness draped across every line of his body like a mantle; something weighs heavily upon him as it does upon you, and he must see it as clearly as you do. And you are here, watching an evil road like one of the statues on the path climbing the valley behind, emptiness behind lifeless eyes.

You do not press.

For yourself, you believed you would have followed Aragorn and the Dúnedain to any end, as you have so many times already, but a sliver of doubt curls in your chest, that perhaps you would not have. Perhaps, at the end of that dark road before you, lies something that you would have fled, by any means necessary. You had fled, during the battle at Helm’s Deep, staggered away from the body of Lheu Brenin, lying facedown in a pool of water in the caves beneath the keep, one of your knives still buried in his back. He may lie there still if no one has bothered to move him. Your running feet had taken you only to more battle, inescapable battle, to a tall lord of the Rohirrim who had taken command at once, who had made snap decisions and executed them with easy confidence, calling someone to inspect Gimli’s injury, directing you and Golodir and a small posse of men first to plug up the caves that had let the Dunlendings into the refuge and then to the entrance of the cave, where your bow sang as you picked off every orc and Dunlending who dared come within your range.

The evil presence from the road is dimly familiar. A cavern in the Enedwaith had borne the same stink of undeath, albeit quieter. You have struggled not to think too hard of that dark street, or what happened on it, or what almost happened on it, but the memory comes uninvited in the shadow of its older sibling, and once you open your mind to it, the horror of watching a ghostly blade slice across Candaith’s back as he turned to face you, and the petrifying chill in the space between the moments for those few minutes when you truly believed he was dead, you can’t seem to retreat out of it into the cool dawn air of Rohan.

You had dragged Candaith’s bleeding body from the cave, you do not quite remember how, and you cannot recall why at all, for you had been entirely certain he was gone until Elrohir had caught the near indistinguishable rise and fall of his chest, a great distance outside the cavern where you had finally collapsed under the weight of your grief, and of Candaith’s body.

That same Candaith who now follows his chieftain down that road unafraid, knowing full well the fate he risks in such an evil place. Your shoulders tremble at the thought of the road ahead, cold and evil; and of the camp behind, slowly waking to further war; and the king that rides toward it, who does not even remember banishing you from the lands you were born in; of the fields of Rohan, wide, and open, and empty; and of the long road back to the North.

Aragorn had bid you remain in Dunharrow with gentle words, but firm, brooking no argument. “There is nothing for you on that road, Léonys of Rohan,” he had said, “and much that lies behind.”

Hathellang, when he saw Aragorn urge his steed forward and you direct Wídethym to the side, slowing her to a walk, had also left the group to ride alongside you, but before he could speak you had reached out and grabbed his hand. “Watch their backs,” you had whispered. “They’re -- they’re not very good at watching their own backs, you know.”

He had paused for a long moment, and part of you had wished he would say no, insist upon staying with you, that someone at least would stay with you, but Hathellang has not made a particular habit of saying no to you for many years, and when the moment passed he had leaned in, kissed you gently on the cheek, and then turned his horse and followed after the company without a word. You are glad, for if he had spoken you would surely have begged him to stay.

Boromir shifts, stirring as if pulling himself free from some invisible bonds. “I have consulted with the Lady Éowyn,” he says abruptly. “Théoden King will come to Dunharrow tomorrow, if all goes well. The armies of Rohan will ride on the following morning. I shall ride among the King’s men, and so shall you.”

You look up then, and look at him though he is not looking at you. “Am I wanted there?” you ask, trying to hold back the bitterness out of habit alone.

He looks at you for just a moment. “We will have need of every sword and bow that can be trusted,” he says, and then he nods and turns away, turning his back on the dark road ahead, facing his own path.

After Hathellang left you, Golodir had passed close by, and he had not spoken, but as he urged his horse past yours, his hand had caught yours and you had felt something pressed into your palm. He had met your eyes, and there was soft understanding there, and pity, and then he was gone, fading into the mist with the rest of the Grey Company. You had watched them go until the sounds of their passing faded into the shadows that lay across the field, and then you had looked down and discovered that in your hand lay the knife you had left buried in Lheu Brenin’s back, catching what light was to be found and reflecting it back, bright, and clean, and deadly.

You stand, and sheathe your knife, and turn to follow Boromir.

Part 1 | Part 5 | Part 7 | Part 10

#lotr #lotro #lord of the rings #lord of the rings online #lord of the rings online fanfiction #lotr oc #leonys of rohan

[thegeekerynj]

All Death Metal Review (And nothing from Sweden!)

Death Metal: Trinity Crisis One Shot 

Writer: Scott Snyder   Artist: Francis Manapul

‘And who are YOU supposed to be? I’ve faced enough Dark Knights that no Batman scares me anymore!

Ha! Then it’s a good thing I’m not a Batman! I’m his MOTHER!’

———————————————————————————————————

Sweet Christmas! That took me by surprise!

Harley kissing Jonah Hex, that was really sweet, and gods awful creepy, and kinda gross,  after the exchange, and some thought…

This is it, Gentle Readers… the Beginning of the End of the Beginning of… Oh, crap, now I’m lost… This is where the story starts rockin’!

The Gang’s all together, and the Black Lantern Bat has determined what they need to do.

The plan? Split up, naturally. That AL-ways works…

When we left them in DM #3, the Lanterns are protecting the Home Base, and taking out the Crisis Energy Antennae on the Earths left in the known Universes, The Flashes are off and running through the Speed Force, trying to find Metron, and stay ahead of the Bathattan who Laughs, while the Trinity (Superman / Antilife, Black Lantern Batman and  Warden Wonder Woman) along with Swamp Thing, Harley, Hex and Jarro, head for Castle Bat, to gain access to the Crisis Earths, where the Crisis Energy is being harvested for Perpetua.

**WHEW!**

Getting into the Castle involves getting past an army of Dark Knights… and we have a bunch of real winners here! 

Bat Monday - Salomon Grundy in Bat ears, I could have busted a gut laughing, until I thought about what kind of weapon a zombie with Batman’s training could be, and shivered…

Kull, the daughter of Batman and Wonder Woman, corrupted by the Dark Universe…

Ark, the living embodiment of Arkham, with all of the knowledge and abilities of ALL her worst inmates…

Chiroptor, the amalgam of Batman and Chemo (Great Elder Gods!!)… 

And the Pearl, Martha Wayne, in the equivalent of HellBat Armor, complete with her iconic pearl necklace.

This is a real mindscrew for Batman, and the panels depict it, most intently.

One nice thing about Scott Snyder… he is consistent about tying up loose ends. Once we are in Castle Bat, we find out what happened to Barbatos, the Big Bad from Dark Nights: Metal. Not that we were actually wondering, since we got Perpetual, and the Batman Who Laughs, but, like I said, it ties up the package nicely.

Then, we are introduced to the character I have been most happily waiting for… the Robin King, and his Utility Belt of Death!

Gentle Readers, this is the story we have been waiting for, the chapter which tells us what the Heroes Plan of Action is, and where the story has been going, for over 40 years. You see, the opening page of this book tells us where this story began… with Marv Wolfman and George Perez, and Crisis on Infinite Earths!

Not to spoil too much, but Crisis, Infinite Crisis, and Final Crisis, ]well… they have all played a part in getting us to this story. It seems, the “Crisis Energy’ has fed Perpetua while she was trapped within the Source Wall, and, now, she wants it all, so she can recreate the Universes in her image.

Great job, if you can get it…

I can’t say enough good things about this story and artwork, as Snyder and Manapul have put together a really tight, hard hitting bottle / lead story, bringing us to the next step in the saga… 

Jeebus on a popsicle stick, I hope no one lets me down… that will hurt!

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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Death Metal: Multiverse’s End #1

Writer: James Tynion IV   Artist: Juan Gedeon

‘Mr. Rabbit?

Yes, Young Lady?

Thank you for saving me.

What a kind thing to say! It was so scary out there, and you stayed so brave. I don’t think I could have done it without your courage.

You’re really, really soft.

I use a special carrot shampoo.

————��——————————————————————————————

Once upon a time, about a million, bazillion years ago in cranky fat man years, somewhere around 1982, Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw! brought Earth-C into the DC Multiverse, the earth of anthropomorphic animals… yes, they brought Super-Hero Cartoon Animals to the Super Hero Universe.

Our introduction to this Earth was Rodney Rabbit, a comics writing and drawing hare, who created the Just’a Lotta Animals comic by day, and was Captain Carrot, a Superman-esque rabbit, who got his powers from super charged carrots, when danger struck.

But, I digress… because I got really excited!

So, we have teams on the 6 Earths, each Earth holding a tuning fork, focusing the psychic pain energy of the population to Perpetual, powering her attempts to recreate the Multiverse in her image. The Earths in play, Earth - 3 (Crime Syndicate), Earth - X (Nazi Earth), Earth - 29 (Bizarroworld), Earth - 43 (Blood League World) and Earth - 50 (Justice Lords Earth) are all worlds of pain and suffering.

Their energy is the right flavor for destroying, and creating.

The heroes, organized and led by the Green Lanterns of Sector 2814 (Hal Jordan, Guy Gardner, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz), are working to take down the Antennae before the energy can be fed to Perpetual to power her Cosmic Undoing. 

So, teamed with the Lanterns, we have Hawkgirl, Kid Flash (Earth-22), President Superman (Earth-23), Wonder Woman (Earth-6) and Captain Carrot, all hellbent on stopping the respective Antennae.

The problem… Each Earth’s inhabitants have been laced into the antennae, to directly feed the psychic energy to it..since the energy is effectively terror, well, what better way to induce some? Of course, this isn’t the only problem to be contended with…

Leave it to James Tynion IV to come up with a way to make a villain creepier than the Batman Who Laughs… How, you ask? Well, take the true polar opposite of Batman, and make him realize HE IS what Giggles says he is, and you have an interesting new ballgame.

You see, while the Batman who Laughs is the Ultimate CORRUPTED Batman, Owlman is the Anthesis of Batman, the purest EVIL to the Batman’s GOOD. And he plans to make sure that he continues to be the True Opposite…

Gedeon’s artwork is rough, but considering the story being told, and the pain portrayed by the characters, it fits, perfectly. Some times, I see Joe Staton and Nic Cuti in these pages, a little cartoony, but that’s not a complaint… The story concentrates a bunch on Guy Gardner and Cap, so, it seems to fit (and the art is reminiscent of the ‘A Guy and his G’Nort’ storyline from 1991). 

All in all, a very good story, and a fantastic use of a truly underused treasure.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶

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Speed Metal #1

Writer: Joshua Williamson   Pencils: Eddy Barrow   Inks: Eber Ferreira

‘Hey, Flash Family, Is it true a Flash has to die in every Crisis?!’

———————————————————————————————————

And the levels of snark from the Darkest Knight have reached Epic Levels!

The first three pages of this issue give us a rehash of everything  having to do with Wally West, since the beginning of the Rebirth Era, from Barry pulling Wally out of the Speed Force, to Barry and Batman finding the Comedian’s Smiley Face button embedded in the Batcave wall, to the events of Heroes in Crisis and Flash Forward.

The action picks up as Barry, Wally, Wallace and Jay leave the Batman’s Vault, in search of Metron’s Chair, with the Darkest Knight hot on their trails. 

In the Speed Force.

With the Darkest Knight’s presence corrupting the Speed Force, Barry and Wally bickering the entire time, I’m reminded of why I hated the post Crisis Flash… Wally wasn’t mature enough to wear the mantle of Barry’s fame.

Sure, he had the speed, he was even faster than Barry, but he was still the same jealous little kid inside, the one who needed to be patted on the head, the one who couldn’t get on with the Titans, even though he was probably the most powerful of them. 

He was just an immature kid, and here, Williamson dragged that all into the foreground once again.

All so Wally West, the King of the Redemption Arc, could have another Redemption Arc…

Sorry, that did me in. 

The rest of the story is pretty good… the art is wonderful, the Jay / Barry / Wallace interplay is really kinda neat, and all the Black Flashes… well, I’m a sucker for Death icons, so a mass of Death Speedsters, well that’s fun with a CAPITAL F!

But, did we need another Wally gets to whine story?

Sorry, this wasn’t the finest arc of the Death Metal Saga.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶

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Death Metal #4 ‘Shot In The Dark’

Writer: Scott ‘Scream King’ Snyder   Artist: Greg ‘The Muscle’ Capullo  Inks: Jonathan ‘Bloodied’ Glapion

“So, ever wonder why you never see A Harley Who Laughs’?’

———————————————————————————————————

And, that Gentle Readers, is the crux of one of those puzzles about this series… Why don’t we ever see more twisted versions of the Villains who infest Earth Prime?

The Robin King (this is the character who rates SECOND on my memorable Characters list, especially with his own One-Shot—— Who’s First?? Time, Gentle Ones in time…) puts the explanation out there, and it is very simple.

And worth the read… But, I digress.

So, Issue 4 picks up with Sergeant Rock describing what has been happening on Earth - Prime, and we finally get to see who has been carrying him around… AMBUSH BUG! Yes, the character that made the Fourth Wall more transparent than an open Anderson window has been carrying Rock around as his own personal narrator…

Which, if you know the Bug, is a joke unto itself.

So, here we go, the ride is picking up steam, and we are now following 6, count’em SIX, separate story lines. A guy could get whiplash, or Bullwhip or some other third rate character… But, I digress.

We have the Trinity storyline, the SpeedMetal storyline, Multiverse’s End, and the Lantern Storyline from the last issue, the Justice League / Legion of Doom story… am I forgetting anything? 

Oh, and of course, the Robin King.

Where to start with this… I guess the simplest place to start is the artwork.

Greg Capullo’s pencils are absolutely wonderful. For anybody who it's to watch the process of drawing I want to watch so he's got a really wonderful touch I recommend Greg Capullo’s Instagram site. As he's drawing pages for these books, he posts the pencils as he finishes pieces of the process . Normally, he has six or seven photo panels showing exactly what he's been doing.  In man cases, this involves crowd scenes, with extensive detail. His work is beautiful, it’s easy to see why he is such a sought after talent.

Jonathan Glapion’s inks on Capullo’s pencils are comparable to Austin on Byrne, and Janson over Miller, Janson over Colan… Enhancing, and not hiding the intricate detail rendered in the pencils, adding that last flash of lightning to bring it all together. The balance struck between them is almost organic, a constant growth between the two, bringing them to levels bordering on the true Classic Art teams of the last 50 years.

I do not make these comparisons lightly

Now, to the story. Scott Snyder is powering a roller coaster with a rocket sled. The coordination between the different aspects of these stories is both intricate and daring. With all the different aspects of this story spinning like plates on sticks, Snyder juggles the plot lines, and what is left to him by the myriad of writers as Emmet Kelly did in the heyday of Ringling Brothers.

His deft touch, and subtle influences are balanced by lace covered sledgehammer blows, leaving the reader reeling, and wanting so very much more.

Scott Snyder, much like Tom Taylor, has pulled out all the stops, cut the brake lines, kicked out the jams, insert favorite euphemism for creating a high speed, non-stop mad ride to Hell!

And, much to my wallet’s chagrin, I am very happy about it.

Now, as it crosses to other books, and other writers pick up the reins, I am sure Snyder will still be the whip hand driving the story, not allowing some of these writers to go too far astray (unless it’s Tom King… then, well Woo Hoooo!)

I can’t say enough good things about this story, or the team creating it. I’m beginning t feel a little biased, but, what the heck.

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

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Death Metal: Robin King #1 ‘The Robin Who Would Be King’

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi   Artist: Riley Rossmo

‘Aw! Come on, this is the fun part!

Get up and let’s FIGHT!’

———————————————————————————————————

Games, within games, within games…

So, the Batman who Laughs wasn’t infallible.

And the Robin King is going to be the bigger threat to the Darkest Knight than any combination of the Trinity, Flashes or their cohorts.

At least, that’s my takeaway from this issue.

We continue the story of the Robin King, as started in the Tales of the Dark Universe one shot.  Bruce has grown up, and grown into his sociopathy, and genius. He has used the family fortune to get all the training necessary, and to accumulate all the tools, to begin his reign as the true Evil Overlord of Gotham.

Utilizing his accumulated weapons, he has taken out Commissioner Gordon, Firestorm, Animal Man, Adam Strange Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), and the Red Tornado, all in truly spectacular and extraordinarily grisly fashion.

While the Black Hole Implosion for Firestorm was a particularly well thought out death, I think, so far, the ‘Mortal Coil’ Death, for the Red Tornado was the most imaginative… making his powers totally uncontrollable, while moving him closer to his ultimate dream, to be a real person, before his form totally destroys itself from the stresses of his own speed.

Marvelous! Fantastic! Gross!

Enter the Batman who Laughs, with the proposition to make the Robin King special, one of his own…

But, he’s a Robin, so, off to the Groblin Pit he goes!

Hence, his mistake, and possibly another chink in the boiler plate of his plans… since Bruce Wayne is NO Robin!

Peter Tomasi’s scripting for this issue is simply remarkable. The creep factor he brings to this iteration of Bruce Wayne is almost eviscerating. Reading this was painful to my eyes and psyche, feeling the levels of insanity drip off the page, and scratch across my mind like a little bird’s unnaturally sharp talons.

He really hit all the horror factors.

Then, there was the artwork for this story. Riley Rossmo’s artwork set the mood for this story. His shattered pencil / inks style, which can be distracting, was integral to telling this story. It allowed the Reader to view this story as if it were playing out in Bruce’s mind, its all the fracturing being how he is viewing the world.

For me, this story has been the highlight of the series… thus far. I am anticipating this, which is near the midpoint of things, is setting up the Wednesday Night Episode…so, - 

Tune In, Gentle Readers! 

Same Bat-Time

Same Bat Channel!

The Best Is Yet To Come!

Did I neglect there is a B-story, with Signal, Spoiler, Orphan and Red Robin taking on Quietus, the amalgam of Batman Ras’ al Ghul and Duke Thimas, from another Dark Universe, written by Tony Patrick and drawn by Daniel Sampere?

This story brings in a plot line for ‘What’s happening for the Other Bat-Family Elements’, as they try to find their way through Castle Bat’s myriad streets… 

I am guessing we will start to see more of these stories.

I am completely fine with this, rather than having to recap things later…

Out of 5🌶        🌶🌶🌶🌶.5

#dark nights: death metal #DC comics #Batman Who Laughs #Scott Snyder #Greg Capullo

[real-jaune-isms]

RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 1 Review/Rundown

This volume is off to a STRONG start if I may say so myself. No big action scenes, nothing to get the blood boiling or freezing over yet, but this is just the first chapter and we have a lot of dreadful stakes and danger ahead of us. This is a setup premiere, and it promises us pain and stress like nothing before. And we’ve all been conditioned to the point that we actually look forward to that. What we got is plenty good, so why not dig in to this succulent appetizer?~

Right off the bat, we get something we knew we wanted but never quite realized how much we needed... A young black haired woman on her knees scrubbing a wood floor. Bandages on one of her fingers and right wrist, modest clothing, and so very little soul to be seen in her amber eyes. Ladies, gentlemen, and that technicolor rainbow in between, we are getting our first look at Cinder’s troubled Cinderella-style past. It’s just this one floor washing scene for now, but we see present day Cinder’s Grimm fingers scratching into the chair in front of her with the same rhythm so we can be pretty confident it’s really her. Hopefully we will get more as the volume progresses, especially with the opening showing her seem to be having trouble controlling her powers. Neo is flying an airship directly up to the giant whale, whom I will continue to nickname Monstro. Concerned by all the other Grimm flying around it, she nevertheless flies along its side and we find there are handily carved out landing pads for ships. Guess Salem modded this beast to be her mobile base. As Neo apprehensively follows Cinder up a staircase, we see these modifications include a throne which the Grimm queen is sitting in awaiting their arrival. This is Neo’s first time actually seeing the woman behind the dark curtain, and I don’t think she was expecting this. What she may have expected even less was that the prideful psychopath Cinder would actually bow down to this woman. Yet bow she does, and Salem greets her with smug condescension, asking if she’s lived up to the responsibility expected of her as Salem’s vessel for the maidens. Has she done as asked and brought a worthy gift for her goddess? Indeed she has, she’s brought her the Relic of Knowledge... and claims she acquired it all by herself, throwing all of Neo’s hard work out the window so she can have all the glory. [Neo will remember that...] But certain poisonous arachnids are unimpressed, as Tyrian emerges from the shadows to say that taking anything from Ironwood is less of a show of Cinder’s skill and more a sign of the General’s incompetence. With a dig pointed seemingly at both Cinder and Neo, he points out that James was not the first person to be outsmarted by Team RWBY and their friends. But unlike Volume 4, Cinder has her voice and claps back at Tyrian, reminding him that according to the Atlesian military radio chatter he too was outdone by Ironwood’s allies. So was Watts, for that matter, and which of them managed to get away unscathed again? Certainly not the good Doctor, and Tyrian agrees that he was a... necessary sacrifice. Speaking of, he sees Cinder brought a fresh face that could be kindling for the fires of their crusade. Salem finally acknowledges that yes, there is someone here she didn’t recruit herself, and she demands an explanation from Cinder. The Fall Maiden of course explains that Neo has powers that will be very useful to them, but refers to her only as an asset, not even a subordinate or teammate. [Neo will remember that...] 

And speaking of the “tools” Cinder has collected, in come Emerald and Mercury in fresh new outfits! I think they both look pretty good, and I especially like Merc’s new jacket with his winged boot emblem on the left side. Emerald looks quite fashionable and I like the necklace, but there’s still a lot of exposed skin for being in Atlas... Of course, some things never change and she excitedly rushes to Cinder’s side, only to be shut down with a single gruff word. Speaking of gruff, Hazel is here with a new look too. His hair’s been shortened/combed back and he has what I can really only describe as a tank top with the sleeves torn open all the way down to near the waist, that shows off the muscles and scars on his arms and up the sides of his torso. It’s a tough look, but again not very winter weather savvy, and I miss the wild man look he had before. Regardless of the new looks, Tyrian has the same old criticisms of Emerald’s loyalty to the ever so incompetent Cinder. He and Watts rained hell (and very cold snow) on Mantle and threw Atlas into chaos, while Cinder merely fixed her mistake from Haven instead of getting new Maiden powers here in Atlas. She blames Penny for that setback, and mark her words she will be going back to rend her limb from mechanical limb to get the Winter Maiden powers... except she won’t be. Salem has decreed no such action, and it seems clear she won’t be doing so for a good while. Cinder tries to object, but Salem exerts her control over Monstro merely by touching her throne and sending a glowing pulse through the entire throne room. Cinder needs to be reminded of the big picture and her very small place in it, so Salem makes a window. This is a game of chess, and Cinder should count herself lucky to even be considered above a pawn. She is still a tool for Salem to use in her own victory, and the only thoughts she should have are how to achieve what Salem tells her to do. Cinder seems to resign herself to this fate a bit, and says that she is indeed nothing without Salem’s help. In a sense, you do have to sympathize with Cinder’s situation. Clearly her childhood had her in a situation where she was forced to do as told and not given much praise or appreciation for it. She probably sided with Salem because she was promised more power than she could have ever dreamed, but now she’s back being stuck in a position of servitude and abuse. And she does what she can to feel strong and in control: pass on that abuse to her own minions. And poor Emerald does not deserve it. At least Mercury has enough self confidence to know he wants to be his own man in all this, and he seems to have the ambition to try and work his way up the ladder for more earned respect. Still, back to Cinder, she’s clearly conditioned to fear any reproach from Salem. Quieted at a raise of her hand, as if knowing that the witch could take away the maiden magic in an instant and she’d be left with nothing again, and just as easily dismissed with a passive wave. To be fair though, that was for everyone, and the others know what she can do to people who piss her off so they scram too. She ominously turns to take the lamp somewhere, but we’ll check in on that at the end. 

For now, we go down down down to a shanty town in Mantle. It’s clearly the slums for Faunus mine workers in the crater, and among them we see a familiar face. Oscar!! He’s sitting by a fire staring off in deep thought, until an old man with badger hands pushes a bowl in his direction and wordlessly indicates for him to sip some. Idk if it’s a hot soup or something, from the view inside we get it looks to just be water but that could be unintended, but Oscar is thankful. No sooner does the old fella walk away than Ozpin pipes in to tell Oscar to be on guard. An airship swoops in overhead, and most of the faunus scurry away (no pun intended). Oscar stands defensively, but the door opens to reveal Ruby!! She and Weiss came to get him, though I don’t know how they found out where he was, and Maria is flying. He gets onboard and we get an aerial shot of snowfall over Mantle followed by a much less pleasant sight. Sabyrs are still getting in through the holes in the wall, and Manticores still swoop through the skies. Oscar berates himself for thinking Ironwood would listen to reason, for so many of his choices ending up being wrong ones, and he clearly blames the current situation at least partially on himself. We see that current situation as people on the streets below continue to huddle around burning trashcans and wood piles for warmth. Ironwood seriously still hasn’t done anything to try and get Mantle’s heat back? Of course he hasn’t, he’s going to abandon them, what was I thinking? Ruby reassures Oscar that he did what he thought was the right thing, they all did. What’s important is that he’s still here. It might just be how hyped up for a certain posse of do-gooders a certain Miss @kdinjenzen has been getting a lot of us over the last few months, but I was genuinely excited to see Joanna Greenleaf come out from around the corner of a building and gesture Maria to land. She rushes the group inside a building and shoots down a camera drone that was about to turn around and spot them before heading in herself. We see sooner than hear May Marigold, coordinating civilian transportation efforts over comms while leaning over a kitchen stove. She’s sending Fiona to transport some folks from one of the sectors on a map we don’t get to see... to the crater. Oh boy, that’ll be something to get into in just a minute. Our girls and boy walk past her into a restaurant dining room. Guess non-essential services really were shut down due to this crisis... okay yeah that’s too topical. The other half of Team RWBY, as well as JNR, Penny, and Pietro, are sitting around tables idly waiting until they hear the doors open and their friends return. All eyes are on the farmboi, and Nora is the first to rise from her chair with a small smile. Oscar braces himself for an energetic tackle hug, or whatever he thinks Nora would be likely to do, but she just walks over and give him a gentle embrace. The poor kid definitely needed that. Ruby and Weiss smile from the sidelines, one of the only shots the two of them share much to my aching shipper’s heart. But it’s fine, this is a time from group joy and union. Blake voices the concerns everyone had for Oscar’s fate when he had run off to confront Ironwood alone, how they feared the worst. Weiss of course is the one to ask how in the world he got all the way down to the slums, but he avoids the question by saying its a long story, and clearly not the only one based on Penny being with them. Internally, Ozpin questions him on not telling the group that he has reemerged in his mind, but Oscar says the two of them have more to discuss first. Instead, he notes the absence of a certain sobering up bird, and that puts a frown on most of the group’s faces. Ruby says they don’t know, last they heard he was with Robyn, but beyond that no news apparently reached them. Clearly they fear he’s dead, and cannot begin to imagine he’s been accused of murder. We only infer this of course, because the convo is cut short by Joanna coming into the room to talk shop. They’re all reunited, now its time to put the group to work helping the people of Mantle. No heat, no military help, just Grimm hovering over the city in a horde unlike any they’ve seen before. Those people need help, and they are huntsmen and huntresses with the skills to provide that help. Ren is the one to question “How?” Ironwood’s not letting people up into Atlas anymore, and Salem’s forces around the perimeter have made escape from the city impossible. Joanna’s solution is to look down, to the crater right under Atlas. It’s not safe, but it’ll be warm and they can better protect everyone if they’re all gathered in one place. The teens seem hesitant, I might even say incredulous, but she assures them that May will send them where they are needed and with their skilled numbers it will be that much safer for the civilians. Their priority needs to be getting everyone into the crater by nightfall, because she believes they’ll stand more of a chance in the slums. As Joanna heads out the door, Weiss gripes that they’ll never sleep again with how busy they’re going to be, but Joanna retorts that you’re either helping or you’re baggage.

I have... some thoughts about the Happy Huntresses’ plan. Yes, evacuation of the cold city seems like a great idea, and getting everyone in a single easy to defend place is sound strategy. But there’s some Atlas sized problems with their choice of location to evacuate to, and I do realize they may not even be aware of the potential genocide they’re setting up. Salem wants the staff, which is currently in use holding up Atlas. If she takes it, as she so clearly intends to do, Atlas will fall. Atlas will fall back into the crater it rose from, where thousands of people are gathered. That is a big SQUISH that I really don’t want to see happen. I get that Joanna, May, and Fiona may not know about the Relic, I doubt even Robyn knows. But we the audience do, and that dramatic irony has us all wincing prematurely at what grim future we hope will not come to pass. Hopefully it won’t come to that, so let’s go back to what conversations are actually being had.

Yang steps up and says that they need to get out there and help the people of Mantle, but Ruby objects and says they need to do what they can for the sake of everyone. Her first thought is on getting Amity launched like Ironwood had initially planned, so the whole world can be warned about Salem being on the attack. They need help, cuz as it stands Mantle and Atlas do not have this handled. Blake, somewhat surprisingly, agrees with Ruby rather than Yang. The Happy Huntresses have a plan for Mantle’s evacuation, they’ve got that under control while these folks worry about the bigger picture. But, Yang points out, Amity isn’t actually finished and ready to be launched. Ruby considers that and turns to the smartest man in the room for an estimate on what it would take to launch Amity at this point. I’m unsure if she means send it up in its incomplete state or power through the process during this crisis to get it 100% complete before then also launching it in the midst of this warzone. Pietro admits they had made some strides in terms of construction and collecting fuel, “all potentially manageable”, so maybe that means it’s close enough to the completed product they had first planned that it can get done as things are now. Or maybe it means that with what they’ve already done its just good enough that they could probably send it up and it’d be okay? Either way, the biggest problem is actually launching it. They need it to be granted clearance from Ironwood’s terminal before it can be launched, such was the nature of its design. Yang rightfully points out the General isn’t about to give that clearance willingly, so this is a fools errand. But Ruby is thinking outside the box about the specific phrasing, and realizes they don’t need the man’s approval, just access to his terminal so they can grant the clearance themselves. That too would be suicide, requiring getting back into the academy... or does it? Pietro reveals there’s another useable terminal, within the main Atlesian military compound at the base of the city. You know, the very bottom of this floating fortress city, surrounded by airships and security drones. Even once inside, there’s a lot of hoops to jump through, more than the good Doctor can wrap his head around in this moment. Oscar notes how this is very convoluted for apparently being the easier option, but Yang rebuttals that it’s straight up impossible and pointless, not to mention they can’t guarantee any help would even come upon hearing the message. This is more than Ruby can take, and she snaps back at her sister. It’s not pointless if it’s warning the rest of the world that Salem will be coming for them next. They need to send this warning.

This is when Yang gets... personal. She brings up the rest of the team’s decision to defer to Ruby’s leadership once they got to Atlas, and how things took a real nosedive soon after that. It’s clear that she’s implying Ruby’s decisions were the reason for their situation being as bad as it is, and you can see the pain on Ruby’s face as that hits her. Some upset looks on the others’ faces show they may have thought similarly but never would have actually said so. Ren steps up and says that helping the evacuation in Mantle is a feasible action they can take here and now rather than a longshot hope. We had seen a short sequence of Yang running through the daylit streets of Mantle on this mission to evacuate groups, and now Ren is in the scene at her side to signify which mission he’s going to take. Likewise, his face visibly saddens as we hear Nora take Ruby’s side about this not just being a matter of helping Atlas, it’s about warning the other three kingdoms so they can prepare for what’s coming. And with that we see her on the rooftop with Ruby where she had been looking up at the base of Atlas. Jaune is thankfully a neutral voice of reason who says they have the numbers to be able to do both, but Ruby is really worried that being divided like this is what Salem wants. Oscar has gotten wiser from his time with Oz in his head, and points out that the division Salem really wants is emotional, not always physical. Disagreements and arguments like this are what she wants, so they need to realize they can be a united group of cooperating minds while still splitting up to accomplish different goals. Penny... has a depressing third option. Let her deliver the Staff to Salem now and hope it will make her leave Atlas before things get worse. Oscar says they really can’t trust Salem to actually do that, and that as soon as she uses it to create anything else... down drops Atlas. Yang acknowledges that at the very least they can all agree turning Penny over to any other forces will not be happening.

Ruby resigns herself to leading a small squad instead of the full team, and asks if Pietro can help them get up to the terminal. He acknowledges they WILL need someone to bypass security, but Penny is the one to offer. I’d like to note that this whole time she’s been almost lifelessly facing away from the group and staring directly forward, and her voice has been bereft of any emotion or enthusiasm. For the cheerful person she normally is, this is heartbreaking to hear. Pietro tries to raise objections, saying she’s too valuable for them to risk anything happening to her, but she looks over her shoulder and firmly repeats herself, Maiden fire burning around her eyes. I get why Pietro is a bit overprotective of his daughter, she was destroyed once and emotionally scarred during Volume 7, plus she now has powers they absolutely can’t afford to lose the use of. But she is her own girl and needs to be able to make her own choices. Coddling her like this won’t help, especially now. Yang accepts this decision with a sigh and heads for the door to start getting down to business. Blake watches her go with a rather pained look, and we see a similar one on Weiss’ face as Yang passes behind her. Team RWBY is splitting up again, and they’re worried. Understandable. Pietro stops her at the door and tosses her a set of keys, which we transition to seeing in that same hand as she’s back in the daytime alleyway with Ren. We pan over to see Jaune and Oscar decided to go with them, and hear Pietro explain there’s some new tools back at his pharmacy that he had been working on for them before the crisis. From the promotional clip we got a few months ago, we know this means the hover bikes.

Heard but not seen is Ren asking Nora where she intends to go, and she affirms she’s sticking with Ruby. Of all people, she had been the one who was the most passionate about helping Mantle, so he asks her about it now, but she says that she’s absolutely saving Mantle. Because she actually believes Ruby’s plan can be done, and so we go back to seeing her on the roof, now joined by Weiss and Blake. Blake reassures Ruby that the group hasn’t been divided where it counts, but Ruby has concerns. Maria chimes in on comms to affirm that she’ll be taking Pietro up to Amity to finish what he can, but that leaves RWBNP without a way up to Atlas. Weiss starts to say she’s got that covered, but is interrupted by someone’s Scroll ringing. Blake, Ruby, and Nora all check theirs, but it turns out it’s Penny who’s getting a call... from General Ironwood. She hesitantly answers, and as soon as Ironwood’s voice comes through Nora starts scowling. Ruby seems rather neutral, but as Ironwood goes on with his very evenly toned request that Penny tell him where she is because he’s worried for her safety and wants to come pick her up, her eyes narrow. She’s been in an abusive relationship before, she recognizes gaslighting. Ironwood says that Atlas needs Penny since Salem is here. Before she can say anything, Ruby comes to her side and puts a supportive hand on her shoulder as she takes her Scroll. Penny’s not going anywhere, she says, not until Ironwood sees the error of his plans and change his mind about helping Mantle. It was a longshot, but at least she went for it. Ironwood starts losing his cool as he berates Ruby for still being hung up on saving Mantle when Atlas is the last hope Remnant has at salvation and Salem’s gathering forces are primed to destroy it. Unless Penny comes back and helps send it high into the sky. If she doesn’t, and Salem gets through their defenses, what comes next will be Penny’s fault. THIS is straight up psychological torment, he is manipulating her and dodging all blame for his actions by pinning them onto a poor girl already going through a crisis of identity. What absolute fucking garbage you are, James Ironwood. Penny retreats into Ruby’s arms, and she embraces her sympathetically. 

But enough of these poor suffering kids, let’s get some poor suffering adults. In an Atlas medical facility, what’s left of the Ace Ops are looking at the corpse of their leader lying cold and pale on a mortuary slab. Marrow is the only one who seems genuinely sad, Elm and Harriet just grumpy. To be fair, that anger could be pointed inward cuz they’re mad they weren’t there to help him in his time of need. Or maybe Ironwood told them that apparently Qrow did it, and they’re pissed they can’t kill him in revenge. Across the hall, Ironwood is watching them from Winter’s hospital room. The doctors have her left arm in a high tech looking cast, maybe it can speed up the healing beyond our normal medical science? Or maybe it’ll boost her strength so she can power through the pain and keep on fighting for the General and his crusade? I was initially worried they replaced the whole arm, given Ironwood’s tendency to substitute cyborg tech for his own human flesh in the event of great damage. Case in point, his burned up hand got the Skywalker treatment. But no, I think this really is just a cast. As Ironwood inspects his new sleek black limb, and the doctors test what Winter is currently capable of with her arms in the condition they’re in, a guard arrives to tell them some prisoners have arrived and are being processed in Stockade B. As the doctors test her right wrist for any tendon pains, and indeed there are some pains, she asks if the prisoners are in fact Robyn and Qrow the soon to be jail birds. He asks the doctors to leave the room, which they do, and Winter assures him she’ll be fine, though her inability to make a fist without pain says otherwise. As someone who got tendonitis in my wrist after a bad scrape on my bicycle, I know that pain. Ironwood thanks Winter for her dedication, and confides that faced with such unprecedented Grimm numbers he wouldn’t know what to do without her. Their hard light shields will hold the Grimm off, but only temporarily. FIRST OF ALL, you have enough money and resources for Hard Light Dust, the rarest and most expensive kind, to be shielding the entire kingdom... but not enough money to give Mantle a decent heating grid that’s not dependent on the SDC????? Or literally anything else that might have helped them now???? Eat the rich and defund the police, folks. Speaking of hot-button political statements, before he can answer Winter’s question about what he plans to do his musings are interrupted by his fellow council members Sleet and Camilla barging in demanding to talk to him. Mass evacuations, declaring martial law? They have several very pressing questions for him, but Ironwood has gone into tunnel vision and says he will be doing everything he can to defend the kingdom, no matter the cost to him or those around him. And he makes that abundantly clear as he strides out of Winter’s room and wordlessly shoots Sleet for daring to call him scared. Judging from Camilla’s screech and the looks on Elm and Marrow’s watching faces, it was fatal. This man is straight up executing his critics, but we kinda already knew this was gonna happen after he shot Oscar off the cliff. Clearly, Camilla will be too scared for her own life to speak up against Ironwood ever again. As the General strolls away, Winter and Harriet share a look through the open door. Harriet seemed shocked, but almost resigns herself to this. She’s in too deep, and as long as she’s loyal she’s got nothing to fear. Winter, on the other hand, let her sister go out into the world as Ironwood’s enemy. Not only is she worried Weiss will be in her boss’s crosshairs, but if he finds out she let her get away with the Winter Maiden then she might be executed for insubordination.

Finally, we get the tearing dripping shot of a portion of Monstro opening to reveal Salem holding the Lamp. Looking into it, she muses how she has questions she wants answered, but she needs the key to how to ask them first. To that end, she holds the Relic out in front of a mystery Grimm that emerged from the fleshy cage she just opened. It gets a good smell of the Lamp, and she instructs it to bring her the man who can show her how to get what she seeks. Oscar is in serious danger...

And so that’s it for Chapter 1! A strong start that doesn’t fill me with despair just yet but is definitely setting up some ways for me to really feel the aster down the line. I won’t review the opening much, because those are usually really abstract and vague about what’s actually gonna happen. We see there may be another encounter between Weiss and Winter now that they’re on opposite sides, and Watts seems to still be up to trickery. Ren and Nora miss each other, and things look particularly bad for Team RWBY. Also we get serious “Penny getting hacked and going evil” vibes, and I really don’t want such a horrible thing to happen to that mecha cinnamon roll. Looks like Oscar really will get captured, and maybe Salem can change her form a little since she has big cool bat wings as she looms over him. The song will take some getting used to, but it slaps hard and Casey is giving it 100% so that’s good enough for me.

Thanks thanks thanks for bearing with me for this long ass post, but I hope you got some joy from it.

#rwby reviews #cinder fall #neopolitan #Salem #tyrian callows #emerald sustrai #mercury black #hazel rainart #oscar pine #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #nora valkyrie #lie ren #jaune arc #penny polendina #joanna greenleaf #may marigold #maria calavera #pietro polendina #general ironwood #winter schnee #atlas ace ops #councilman sleet #councilwoman camilla #renora #if you squint #rwby spoilers #volume 8 spoilers

[evergreen-dryad]

day 5: mythology AU

Title: rain comes when death is sated

Author: evergreen_dryad, betaed by the amazing @bradburymeinfire aka inverseR

Rating: E (for the latter half)

Warnings: mentions of blood, bone, insects etc. Mildly dubious consent for the latter half

Summary:  —he was spring come before, and he made the world anew, but now he is trapped within himself. the black festering rot that comes after every birth and growth: death.

Spring used to come to him every year, but now he has locked himself down in the depths of the underworld, refusing to come out. The world is frozen, unable to live or die.

So Winter sets out to journey into the underworld for the god he loves. He may not want to emerge anytime soon. How can he stay there with him?

(The answer lies in swallowing the seeds of the underworld.)

[Or: the mythological gods AU combining Amaterasu and Persephone starring Yiling Laozu Wei Wuxian as Death, and Lan Wangji as Winter.]

Link to AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23702596

Excerpt:

—he was spring come before, and he made the world anew, but now he is trapped within himself. the black festering rot that comes after every birth and growth: death.

He is Death, and the dark has come to swallow him whole. He is now adjudicator of the dying, of souls reaped by all forms of natural law and violence. He is Death, he of bone-white pallor and gaunt-grey eyes and stark-black hair, that sweeps like the ravens and crows to eke out the last bits of flesh.

You will know it is him when you see the flap of his red ribbon, like the red of rivers run after wars. You will hear the ghostly wail of a flute, heralding the end of times, the screams and sighs of the damned.

The world is dying under his feet (—why did he do it? they cry—), his name lies forgotten. The green-eyed peck out his name from history, call him a tyrant grasping for power in the pantheon from his earth-grown forbearers.

The winds bear whispers of how he caused each one of those delicate, beautiful people that grew on elegant stalks from the riverbank, those people who raised him, child of spring—

—to die. perish horribly, their petals wilted and fluttering purplish-red amongst the rot.

The one that survived through it all was reforged as a storm.

They say they have never met since.

They say after the last death he had to reap what he had sowed, Death went and hid deep into the bowels of the underworld, where no light may reach him, and none of his reek and poison may reach the surface.

He cursed himself. He—

had wrested power for freedom, bit of the forbidden fruit for knowledge, to master Death — but the price was great. Too great, the juice poured down his chin and soaked crimson his hands. 

He bled inside. Blackest of blood ran on

and on

  and on

   for days.

     weeks.

years.

They all forgot that because he was once spring (is still spring, he is life and death incarnate, all coiled up and the same, inseparable aspects) the world could not live (—rejuvenate, breathe—) anymore.

Corpses remained immobile and immaculate. They had wished him dead, but it seemed as if things could no longer die either, without him to section off the souls to their allotted places in the afterlives. 

The world lay in an everlasting winter. Winter breathed in, but he remained. Exhalations of ice stayed frozen, his robes of purest white remained as blankets of snow, feathery and soft. The deep sleep did not lift.

The cold seeped everywhere, and the sun’s rays could not break through.

So the sun lodged a complaint to winter. Winter took it silently, and shook his head slowly at the end of the tirade. 

He did not know what to do either. Usually spring came to take the grasp from him, in the first generations happily (—he would come, capering in with a little tune on his lips, laughing and with a lilting tease in his tone that made the tips of his white ears flush—), then sombrely, but dutifully, and still with a smile to spare, and at last grimly. But he had still come, even while shadows and death draped over his feet, and the white of bones scraped at the air around him.

It seemed that all he could do for now was layer the world most gently in soft snow, and ensure everything stayed alive until spring could take back the reins. He breathed, and plucked a chord. Another. 

-nother. 

     -ther.

           -r. 

              . 

With this, he soothed even the most pugnacious into slumber, together with the bear and the flies. 

He smoothed his robes. He stilled his beating heart, and began his journey into the shadowy recesses of the underworld.

With each step he took, frost took forth, but he quelled it to stay still with a look. Do not go further. Behind him trailed his rabbits, soft and white as the snow that was his mantle. They lolloped, hoping to follow and guide him, with their pure light—

—but he forbade them.

He eyed them a reminder that they were of the living world, and would not come out unscathed. So they stilled, but did not stray until all red and black eyes had watched him descend into the gloom safely.

Winter walked for a long time. It seemed that the fog would be interminable down there, for the underworld was an undulating, honeycomb stretch of tunnels with no sense of space and time — truly the work of a madman, they would have said up above.

Here was full to bursting of souls and ragtag remains of corpses and those of the night, crammed to the brim in every chamber. While Death had not reaped any souls for a time, he had also not expanded the spaces for each section, so the necropolis had become a nightmare of living quarters, a housing crisis for the dead. 

Souls cried out to him, grasping for his cape, for the crisp, wintery coolness he brought with him. When he turned to look at them, they silenced, and stayed at a distance. Nevertheless, that did not stop them from following him to get a taste of his divine aura.

They could not follow him far. No soul could venture further from the section they’d been allotted in afterlife.

Up ahead he thought he noticed a glowing outline of a familiar being ahead (—a ringing bell—). When he turned to follow, it winked and disappeared. But Winter thought he knew the way through Death’s personal hell.

The glint of water greeted him, and he nodded. Just follow the river that runs through, a constant in all layers of the underworld.

Winter walked. Through caves,

through winds,

through storm,

through immense heat,

through the sticky wails of the swamps,

through fire,

through the far lake of boiling blood,

and through the ice that threatened to capture his feet.

But he was Winter. He is Winter, cold personified, and no ice or storm could have halted him in his tracks. Through fire and other conditions, he brought the chill, and made it bearable to cross.

All through the way, the glowing outline had chimed in and out, always ahead, a faithful lantern to guide him through the unknown. Lilac lotuses floated above the murk every now and then like half-eaten dreams.

And at long last—

—he finds the heart of the maze.

Deepest darkness. It yawns, and the abyss stares back at him. Smoke wafts, and it is hair, shifting, roiling. Eyes like swirls of mist to get lost in, in which he could stare forever. There is a god present in his right eye, numinous in his entirety with every sweep of his lashes.

His breath hitches. The pressure of his being is suffocating.

“Why are you here,” it rasps in his voice. The head turns, and there is the incline of jaw, the paleness a relief against the inky sweep of his mane that has swept round him, and the skulls he had wrapped himself round in eternal penance.

#wangxianweek2020 #wangxian #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #wei wuxian #lan wangji #wei ying #lan zhan #mdzs fanfic #my writing #ed fics #the untamed #cql