#i don't because i also want to draw a million other things but she's always in my brain

[evgar]

more gunslinger abigail! and this time with her horse athena (to match sadie's hera yes)

[hyunjilicious]

most to least kinky [skz ver.]

A/n: this has probably been done a million times before but I thought I could make my own list, right?

Warnings: this isn't full on smut, but A LOT of things are mentioned (from slapping to ass eating to crying to cnc) I can't possibly mention them all. Needless to say, this is strictly 18+, please proceed with caution!!!!

Disclaimer: I'm sorry. I'm incredibly sorry, ok? I don't understand Seungmin 😭😭 I absolutely love him with all my heart, but he's a mystery to me. I've also only been in this fandom for a few months so maybe with time I'll be able to write for him but until then, I'll just keep apologising to my Minnie biased readers for doing their baby dirty. I'm sorry, I promise I'm trying!! 🥺

Please let me know what you thought and if you have other ideas!! I'd love to hear different opinions!!!

1. Lee Know 

Do I even have to explain? At this point, you could basically write an entire encyclopedia only using the stuff this man is into - he knows it all and wants to try it all. The thing is, whether he trusts you enough or not, because if he's too shy to bring up the one thing that's on his mind, he'll bombard you with hints, hoping he'd "manipulate" you into mentioning it first. Not that he'd ever do anything you're not 100% comfortable with, but he'd much rather you be the one who asks. He'd slap your ass, bite it, mark it, grope it, eat your pussy from behind and send you porn links - all while hoping you'd finally get the idea and ask him to eat your ass. Because he's shy like that. But once you do catch on and tell him about it, he's all in. 

And then, as he grows more comfortable around you, all these little games you two play will slowly start to shift. His main priority will always be you, but with time, his teasing nature will replace the old Minho you used to have sex with, and literally everything this man does will be about driving you insane. 

He'd make you beg, whine, crawl on your knees, hump pillows - hump his leg, just so you can prove yourself, only to deny you again, always with a grin on his face. A loving smile as he looks at you, right before he throws a very swift "No" in your face and makes you start over. You have to be spent, exhausted, dumb and drunk on him before he finally gives you what you want. But when he finally does, it's everything you ever wanted and more because he doesn't.hold.back.

2. Jeongin

To be fair, it might be because he had to go through the "Watch your mouth, there's a child in our grup!" phase, which - cute and all, got old very fast. Maybe this side of him would have never surfaced like this, but you can't possibly know, there's only one Jeongin and he's a meanie. He's stern, he's serious and there's only one way, his. 

He takes the safe word very seriously because otherwise, he doesn't take no for an answer. There's no "too much", "too hard", "too fast". He doesn't care. He knows you can take it and you have to. 

You don't move, he moves you. If you don't shut up when he tells you to, it's 'ass up, face down into the pillow' - no questions, no warnings. 

It all starts nicely, though. His good little girl, his angel, who needs to do absolutely everything she's told otherwise his punishments will be downright cruel and you'll be nothing more than a "dumb, fucking whore" until he's done with you. 

One thing that makes him draw the line though, is crying. He loves to see little tears at the corner of your eyes as he fucks you into oblivion, just so he can mock you for it, "Oh, is my sweet, little baby crying?" and then go faster. But if you let out anything more than a cute, little sob, or if you start actually crying, even though you're still down to keep going, he won't. He can't. He's cruel, but not that cruel, it hurts his heart to see you like that and absolutely never lets things get that far.

3. Felix

This man is into… everything. His eyes light up every single time there's something new for you two to try, and he puts his whole soul into it. 

On one hand, he's into the basics - he goes crazy for your tits, will lick, bite, suck and eat anything off of them (absolutely adores eating cream off your body, but yeah, your tits are his favorite spot). He loves lingerie, loves ripping it off of you, loves seeing you dress up, pretend to be a nurse, a teacher or the girl next-door who just so happened to leave the window open. 

Doesn't have a daddy kink but he's just so obsessed with doing absolutely anything for you, he'd go with it. Most likely prefers 'Sir' but it isn't a must. Will melt and cry if you allow him to fall you 'Mommy'

The definition of a switch. When he's a dom, 90% of the time he's soft, full of praises and encouragements, loves making you feel all safe and loved as you degrade yourself for him. He'll whisper in your ear the absolute sweetest, most loving words you ever heard in your entire life, all while completely breaking you in half with his cock. But also, there are times when there's just one way for him to relax and let loose, and during those days, he's lazy and he's condescending, judgy and a little bit mean, and these are the absolute worst moments for you to be brat. 

But all of these are only half of him, because this man is probably the most dedicated and enthusiastic sub in the world. He'll do absolutely everything he's told and then beg for more. Way too eager to humiliate himself for you. Also very, very vocal, he'll cry, whine and beg and will also never fail to let you know just how obsessed he is with worshiping the ground you walk on. 

4. Chan

Also a switch, but it takes months, if not more, for you guys to get there. He's a leader by nature, used to having a lot of responsibilities and a lot of control over the things around him. He likes to be in charge, knows how to do it, and loves the responses he gets. Probably one of the best doms out there because even though you have a safe word, he's so fucking careful with you at all times that he knows to slow down before you even have to think about using it. It only happened once, and your voice still rings in his head - he still hasn't forgiven himself for it. 

But since he's so observant and trusts you to put a stop to whatever is going on in case you need to, he feels free to go crazy. Unlike Jeongin, he likes to hear you cry, likes knowing he has that power over you and the fact you know how easy it is for him to absolutely wreck and ruin you, but still allow him to go crazy, drives him wild. Trust is probably what gets him off the most, he absolutely adores how you give up control and leave yourself at his mercy. 

But then again, as your relationship strengthens and he slowly realizes that maybe he doesn't always have to be the one to do it all, that others can take care of him too, that he can actually let loose and renounce all control, you start to see another side of him. 

He's an exemplary sub, not one brat bone in his body. He tries sometimes to test you, but he goes back to being doe eyed and whiny for you in no time. He's not as vocal and not as eager to let all his enthusiasm show, but just like Felix, he'll do absolutely anything you tell him, and then thank you for allowing him to do it. 

5. Han

Another switch. He can be a dom and he can be a sub, but I think there are two other sides of him. This man will go back and forth between being the absolute, most cocky motherf on the planet, to being absolutely wiped and wrapped around your finger. And while these for aspects of him can pair up in any way, leaving you with a teasing dom, a loving and soft one, or a bratty sub that will try to make you prove to him just how badly you need him to worship you and so on, I think he's not always like this.

You can't really tell whether there's a pattern, but maybe if you spent more time together you'd be able to spot one. Maybe it depends on how his day went, how tired he is, how his social batteries are like at the moment, but I think there are many, many days when this man just needs to feel you, to smell you, hear you. To collapse into the sheets with you, forget about the world and melt in your arms. Yeah, he's down to try a lot of stuff, but what he loves the most are the simple things. Like missionary late at night, with the lights on so he can see every glimmer of anything in your eyes, to wipe the sweat off your temples and to be able to smother you with kisses. Impromptu sex in the morning, lazy sex in the shower, cuddling that turns into you riding him on the couch while watching a movie. That's what I think he's into the most.

6. Changbin

Thank god this man is not the kinkiest because he'd probably break you in half and no amount of aftercare would be able to fix that. This man goes hard. No matter if you're the one that woke him up, all needy and clingy, or if he came home riled and ready to go, he's already ready to give you his all. That dumptruck isn't there for nothing, he doesn't even have to try that hard to make you scream. 

But it's not just physical, he goes all out in all ways. He doesn't just want you on your back, legs spread open so he can eat you out, no, you have to be on his face, full weight down on top of him, and you have to ride. Other than that, you don't really have to do much, because he's a sucker for handling you. He'll hold up your weight when he fucks you against the dresser and he doesn't mind being the one who gets rid of all the clothes in the way when he randomly decides he wants to fuck you bent over the kitchen table. 

So I don't think he needs much more than you two already have. Of course, he's usually fine with trying things you're into, and yeah, he likes them, but that's just more like 'fun' to him. He's not the kind to call you degrading names or spank you until you cry, through he might enjoy a little bit too much seeing his hand print on your ass or the bruises he left on your hips just from hard he was holding onto you while fucking you into oblivion.

Out of all the things you'd get him to try, I think one of his favorites would be wax play. He'll probably ask you to do it again, maybe like 3 months later. Also, one other thing that gets him going and that he still might be shy about it, is just how hard his cock twitched when you called him daddy. Oops. I don't like it, please do it again.

7. Seungmin 

Ok, again, disclaimer with this one. I wanna start by apologizing to Minnie and to all the Minnie biased readers that are here with us today, but I can't read this man. At all. And that's the reason I put him so low on the list because while I do have some ideas, associating him with certain kinks and stuff felt completely empty to me. Like I have no idea what he'd like? But in case you've read this far, lemme tell you what I did manage to come up with and please let me know how you see it!!

I think trust, communication and fun are the most important to him. I feel like he'd have so much fun guiding you and giving you instructions on how to do different things, from how to suck him off just the way he needs it, to how to use a toy on yourself. And I think it goes both ways, he'd love to have you tell exactly how and what to do at all times.

I also think he can be stern and commanding, serious and totally focused, but he also probably adores being a giggling mess, unable to control himself as you give him your all, worship him and make him feel absolutely cherished. I'm sorry, but I feel like this man thrives on love and appreciation. Other than that, my brain is empty, please help me!!

8. Hyunjin

Ok, maaaaybe I shouldn't have put him last. But fuck it. Sue me. I don't think he's kinky at all. I think that again, he'd be the type to try out most of the things you come up with, but I don't think he associates them with sex like that. I think it's just some form of fun you two have, I don't think there are too many crazy things that necessarily get him going. 

He's a romantic, ok? His main goal is pleasure. He's the kind to absolutely not give a shit about anything, all that he needs is you. If he has you and a surface (not even mandatory) he's satisfied. He'll do absolutely anything, worship every single inch of your body. The kind to kiss his way up your leg before eating you out, to kiss you before you even finished swallowing his cum. Nothing to him is gross, to him, bodies are beautiful and made to be worshiped. He'd paint your body, lay back and allow you to do absolutely anything you want to him, he's just full of want and passion. 

I don't think he'd ever be the kind of person to associate pain or humiliation with pleasure. Like he knows they're valid kinks and will not shame anyone about it, but with him, you have to feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, loved, cradled and appreciated in absolutely every way. 

Absolutely the type to eat your ass and then be like "What? People don't do that?". Doesn't think spitting in each other's mouths is degrading because, "We literally kiss all the time, what?" 

Will ask you to slap him just to see what it's like but will probably malfunction if you ask him to do it to you. 

I think he'd be down for a lot of stuff, but doesn't see any of them as kinks. Doesn't need any of them. They don't get him hard. It's all just for fun. 

Please let me know what you thought!! I'd love to talk about this!!! ❤️

[m1ssunderstanding]

Understanding Lennon McCartney Rewatch Part 4.3

Oof! Got him!

“She loves you and he loves him and they love each other”. You know when you've got something to say but you don't want it to look like you really wanted to say it specifically so you throw it in between two other things? No? Just me and John?

I'm obsessed with John just heaping praise on Paul in this interview. Every song the interviewer brings up it's “best” “my favorite” “all Paul” “good piece of work” “somewhere I have the tape of him doing it” “damn good” “one of his masterpieces” See also: Paul’s a good lyricist, he just doesn't try because he's insecure. And: one of the most innovative bass players of all time.

John mixing up In My Life and If I Fell “although I don't know why I'm confusing them, they're nothing alike but they have the same–” The same what? Same target? Same muse? Hmm? “It's really about–it's not about Cyn.” He's barely hanging on to not saying it here, like, by a gossamer thread. 

John confessing that the consistent character flaw of Paul's which hurt him ((hurt. Not annoyed. Not angered. Hurt.)) was insensitivity. Not bossiness or lameness or sneakiness. Insensitivity. What John couldn't handle in the end about Paul was that he wasn't aware enough of John's tender feelings. 

He's also so cruel in this interview. And what you've got to pay attention to is the theme connecting the songs he's cruel about: Let It Be (let John go) and The Long and Winding Road (the long and pointless fight). 

The Japanese Monk comparison doesn't quite land for me because it implies that John purposely broke up the Beatles because he knew they were at a peak and he wanted them to stay gold. And I think that's what John would like the story to be. It makes him feel better inside. It makes him look incredibly wise and courageous. But it's clear – John even stated it himself more than once on record – that the breakup was not purposeful or calculated. It was a terrible accident that nobody wanted, least of all John. 

More quotes to live by when examining John's post breakup “ow!”

I find it fascinating that John thought of Paul's and Dylan's lyrics as very similar and says so twice in this documentary. But nobody else ever draws that comparison. In mainstream thought, Bob Dylan is one of the greatest lyricists of all time if not the greatest (it's me. I'm mainstream. Subterranean Homesick Blues my absolute beloved.) and Paul is the worst lyricist to ever get successful. And you know what? I think Paul gets punished for being physically pretty and financially savvy, and I think in the exact same way his music gets punished for being melodically pretty and commercially successful. 

John about Paul's inscrutable messages in his songs: if one knows the person, one knows what's coming down. John in I Know (I Know): and I know. What's coming down. 

I will always love how he says in the same breath . . . “I've compared it to a marriage a million times" and "Paul and I were together.” 

You really do gotta be like “Johns say the darndest things sometimes.” I mean that's what Paul did, right? Because genuinely most of the time he's a fucking sweetheart. After he's sat there defending Paul's insane mourning bus movie, the interviewer asks him to compare himself and Paul. And after saying there's never been a question about commerciality, he says this. 

Nobody think about Paul writing “One of These Days” just before John's death then “This One” a decade later. Don't do it. I do recommend. 

Free as a Bird is such a beautiful song. It's a gorgeous melody, and it's got such complex emotions. He's still mourning something that was lost, but he's hopeful. He's on his way home. 

You all know that long distance interview Paul did right before John died where they bring up some of the awful things John said recently about him (ignoring the millions of loving and admiring things). When Paul's voice cracks and he looks up at the ceiling and struggles for a minute and the lights go out, I have a theory that it's one of their kids being protective. She was messing with the lights before to be silly and then when the bad question comes she turns them off again as a sort of protective sabotage. 

What If though? What If that's true? 

Quote of all time!!! “The person I actually picked as my partner, who I recognized has talent and who I could get on with, was Paul.” He doesn't say ‘as my sidekick’ or ‘running mate’ or ‘captain’s mate’ or ‘second string’ or any of those things that traditional Beatles fans tend to push on them. Partner. 

Serious question, because I swing all over the place as to what I think actually happened between John and Paul physically and emotionally. If we agree that Real Love is about Paul (a baby and another on the way lalalalalala farm . . . Just call him on the phone) Then what about this lyric? “Was I just dreaming (a word of theirs and something they thought they shared) or was it only Yesterday (Paul's biggest song) I used to hold you in my arms? Is that to be taken literally? John used to hold Paul in his arms? i.e. frequent hugging and cuddling?

The heart monitor cuts so harshly into John singing “Grow Old With Me.” As we see beautiful images of John and all the people he's leaving behind. I'm dry heaving. This documentary is so much more painful this time around than the first. 

Anyway I'm glad we got coverage of all the “for Paul” songs. Which. Btw fuck you Sean and Peter. You proved absolutely nothing.

[zhoufeis]

What just bothers me simply about the discussion of TTPD being all so great is neither the fact that some reviewers literally ignore some of the very gruesome lyrics this album has to offer nor the fact that the whole album has the same tune and I could not tell apart these tracks even if I wanted to, no. After all, we can always argue that tastes are different... arguably. It's something utterly different that's bothering me.

It's three things entirely different.

1) The fact we pretend 31 break-up tracks, written entirely out of the perspective of victimhood, of some love stories are worth calling "The Tortured Poets Department". Mind you, Swift, I like love songs, I like break-up songs, I like them poetically, I like when they touch me. But writing 31 break-up songs (not entirely, right, more like 25 or so) for one album makes me wonder if there is anything deeper... more touching to write about. You stay on the surface describing relationships (romantic as well as parasocial) in which you come out as a victim. But the self-reflection is missing entirely. And if I learned one thing in language classes it's that it's poetically dull if we only ever stay on the surface. We gotta dig deeper. And I'm not referring to some poetic lines to make a song sound more beautiful. I'm talking about true depth, true self-reflection, something that makes you defenseless. Cause all this woman does is writing songs out of the perspective of defense - and victimhood. Never does she actually draw herself as defenseless or vulnerable, always knowing how to use the right words to make her fans defend her.

2) Which leads me to that other thing that really bothers me. Her PR team was more involved in this album than the persona of Taylor Swift could ever be. Or maybe Taylor Swift is only PR at this point. Maybe there is no actual person behind all of this. Cause if there's one thing that's utterly apparent, it is that this album hinges SOLELY on any media drama she was involved in. Everyone out there trying to decipher which song is about whom - is this storytelling? Is this poetry? If I only care about songs and judge them by who they are about? The beauty of music is that it binds people together, makes people feel heard or seen through the text and voice of another person. What she's doing isn't that. She is not binding people together by selling her songs as something that could happen to anyone, no, all of it is always only about one person's story - her own. She also doesn't create fictional stories to write about, things to further the limits of our imagination and tell a story that doesn't even exist, and never will. She doesn't use imagination, she doesn't try to connect to other people, she's trying only to connect people to HER. Can this album even be judged neutrally if everyone just knows about her relationships and is guessing who the songs are about? Is there one person out there like "I have never seen any of the TS relationship drama and the like, and I only like to review this album lyrically and sonically by the lyrics and tune within"? Because she is SO present in everyday media press, it is impossible to miss her relationship drama. So are we actually still reviewing Swift's album as a standalone media for its sound and lyrics? Or are we actually just reviewing TS's terrible love life which she apparently has no responsibility for? And mind you all - she knows exactly what she's doing. Don't even think for a second she doesn't know that you all are following her every footstep. Don't think she doesn't use it to her advantage. (Aside from that, she has been considered a storyteller for so long, but she seems to have a lack of stories she can come up with if the only ones she writes about are her own...)

3) Which leads to the entire capitalist thinking behind the release of this album. Not only did she publish 19 different versions of this album to be acquired, no, she also literally had millions of fans pre-ordering her (normal-length) album, only to drop an extended version right after its release. Which means that all these fans had to buy yet another album. And don't think she meant this as a surprise for her fans - she did that cause that's how you make money. Cause that's how capitalism works. And she's part of the problem.

[74n5n]

i made their i2 illustrations except for i didn't change the outfits because i'm lazy. and also i wrote their profiles and voicelines. a lot of text under cut

4th Dimension

Star | Mental DPS | Heal Medium: Individual Perception Inspiration: Crossing of Reflected Rays [Star] Mirage of Own Mind

Garments: — Default Indulging in fancy clothes is a sin. Most precious things are those that are impossible to touch. — No Time, No Space Even when the basics of our world stop to matter, I'll see you, like colors hidden in the white light.

An arcanist's work. Exhibited in the first half of 20th century for 25 years. Completed in Summer, on June 17. The exhibition had to frequently move and postpone the opening before settling in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

First Encounter: Hey, care to be a drawing model for me from time to time? Ah, excuse me for skipping unnecessary steps. Like hello, nice to meet you? If I haven't turned away yet, isn't it obvious I'm glad to meet you? 

Suitcase Climate: Why the hell do you call this weather chilly? Just what kind of world do you live in? I'll throw you into the snow! Then you'll see! 

To the Future: There's nothing that you can do about the future coming, and nothing keeps in a stable state ever, so just avoid thinking about it at worst, and convince yourself that it's going to be alright on its own at best. 

Idle: Hm-m. Hm-m... Hm-m... When given the chance, I'll take revenge on you for abandoning me.

Greetings: Oh, look who decided to come! Felt up for a small talk out of sudden? Huh? For your knowledge, I can't stand small talks! 

Morning: Maybe I should go to sleep soon? I think I'll be going to sleep soon. ...Oh, I haven't noticed you. I'm not available for a chat, I'm sleeping. 

Bond: Morning: (scribbling) Don't look! Don't look! ...I'm just noting down drawing ideas to work on later. What if I were writing my deepest secrets? That's really rude of you! 

Night: Ms. Timekeeper, can you tell the ballerina girl to shut up? Her singing is getting on my nerves, but she's not listening to me. ...Even if she uses "it's a lullaby" as an excuse, I hate lullabies the same as any other songs!

Bond: Night: Is everyone going to sleep? Will you stay awake? On second thought, it's not like I needed your company. Go! Go! Shoo! 

Hat and Hair: What's the point of brushing one's hair? How does it become better? Maybe it's merely a plan to sell more unneeded hairbrushes to you. Have you considered this?

Sleeves and Hands: Eh-h... My gloves are always covered in paint, so be careful when touching them... Besides... Well... Hm... I'm not a fan of my hands being touched. 

Clothing and Torso: People who are obsessed with their appearance think they rule the world! I don't care! Even if I cared, I don't have money! Who do you think you are to make conclusions about my personality from my clothes? What an annoyance! 

Hobby: The human mind has its limits, and each individual brain has its individual limits, so it's all in all silly to search for the "objective reality"! Rather, isn't the whole fun in millions of subjective realities coexisting? Well, it does get a bit lonely if you think about us being isolated in our own versions of the world.

Chitchat I: Hm-m... Let's see... Just as a what-if... Would you get mad at me for accidentally splashing the paint all over the floor? 

Chitchat II: Everyone says that fresh air walks calm them down, but going outside only irritates me further. I don't get it. How does it make me inferior that I want to always sit at home and do my things? If you had cold weather 8 months a year, you would understand. 

Intimacy:  Isn't it marvelous, the way our dearest friends are those we met by pure chance? A long set of decisions from both sides to end up united in this moment, a few talks and you can't imagine what you'd be like without them. Like rays of light intersecting to create a color. The friendship between you and me... The color is silver. 

Monologue: They invented cameras, so artists are no longer needed to capture the moments forever. You must depict what you see... In the way that is more complicated yet simpler than replicating the objects in front of you. What is your own vision of the shape and color? Can you convey what's on your mind with single dots and lines? 

Deployment: Guess I'll act like the calm one.

Battle Victory: Is it over? Am I allowed to tremble now? 

Yakov 

Mineral | Reality Support | Control  Medium: Draft Inspiration: Crystalline Carbon [Mineral] Abandoned Authenticity 

Garments: — Default Don't look back at what you might have been. — Tracing Paper An art material made to have low opacity, allowing light to pass through.

An arcanist's work. Exhibited in the beginning of 20th century for 21 years. Completed in Winter, on January 26. Exhibited in St. Petersburg of the Russian Empire.

First Encounter: Eh... Um... It's not like we're going to be friends, so why would I introduce myself? ...The hell do you mean we're going to be friends?

Suitcase Climate: The weather is constantly bad... It feels like I'm carrying a curse...

To the Future: The problems should be solved as they come. I can't solve even the past ones, much less prepare for the future.

Idle: (scribbling) (pencil breaking) Uh, d-did I press too hard again? No way... 

Greetings: —Ugh! Why do you have such quiet footsteps?! What do you mean it's me who's unaware of my surroundings? What's this blame-shifting? 

Morning: The day starting makes me depressed... Like I need to hurry up and do something... And my mind is going to fight me this whole time...

Bond: Morning: Is it Alcyone singing? Well, we usually spent mornings preparing the scene... Perhaps she's growing impatient from not receiving as much attention as she used to.

Night: The day ending makes me depressed... Like I've meaninglessly wasted all this time... There was no point in living through today, there will be no point in living through tomorrow...

Bond: Night: No thank you. I'm having too many negative thoughts to fall asleep even if I want to, so I'll stay awake until my brain goes completely numb.

Hat and Hair: You people live in a better world where you don't have disordered sleep, I guess... Well, I'm not that lucky. Of course I look tired...

Sleeves and Hands: My sketches are always too messy... How do others manage to do them delicately? 

Clothing and Torso: Both moving and staying in place bring you the same amount of pain. Really, are there hobbies that don't make your whole body hurt? If I can find one, I might abandon being an artist.

Hobby: It's impossible to become popular in the fields that everyone else is pursuing, but I'm not anyone special to take on a niche path and bring it to light... Hm... Just do what you like? I don't really like anything that much.

Chitchat I: Even if there's absolutely nothing left to do, I can't help falling asleep when I'm trying to read... I'm only interested in the illustrations, but I need to know the text to illustrate...

Chitchat II: I was given the ability to use a pencil, but not to create. Is it actual art if I'm parasitizing on already existing stories? 

Intimacy: Being yourself is bad as it will always make you fall behind... If you want to improve, you need to become a shadow that absorbs... This is the kind of place I'm raised in. I feel homesick for a home that I've never known.

Monologue: Art is personal, but it's hard to consider something art without the presence of its audience... Artists are seen as geniuses, but only geniuses are artists, otherwise you're wasting your time, and no one including you is entertained by it... It would be nice to get a response to anything you want to share, but in the end, you must say only what's liked and acceptable...

Deployment: Please, no more thinking...

Battle Victory: I didn't even do anything... Right? See? Better to not ask more of me.

Alcyone 

Beast | Mental DPS | Nasty Wound Medium: Ballet Inspiration: Paradise Bird of the Underworld [Beast] Calamity-Bringing Lullaby 

Garments: — Default Remember to be a delicate young lady, princess of the night birds. — Unwritten Fairy Tale Come take me company, right to the underworld.

A mixed work. Exhibited in the beginning of 20th century for 21 years. Completed in Spring, on March 25. First exhibition location unknown, later moved for exhibition in St. Petersburg of the Russian Empire.

First Encounter: Come closer, come closer... You're special, so I'll tell you anything you want to know about me... But only as whispers, hidden from everyone else.

Suitcase Climate: I'm used to the grey sky, so I'm not really fond of the sun. There are people whose opinion is completely different from mine though. They won't stop whining about bad weather.

To the Future: Beauty will save the world. Do you know this saying? As long as we continue to create, we'll be finding, conveying, spreading hope... Nothing special about the art itself — it's merely the power of human emotion that it holds.

Idle: Hm? Is no one coming to my performance? 

Greetings: Did you come at the sound of my voice? Is someone complaining that it's too loud? This makes singing only more fun.

Morning: I need to stretch my body and prepare my voice. Warm herbal tea would be nice to start the day.

Bond: Morning: I'll bring my drawing album to breakfast. A few quick study sketches of people around me are going to be a great exercise. Yes, I'll make a few sketches, like... Maybe two.

Night: In summer, there is a period of white nights in my hometown. With the tender blue and yellow of the twilight, all the fears go away. Let's celebrate with a lot of performances, right on the streets! 

Bond: Night: If you wish, I'll gladly sing you a lullaby. But I don't hold responsibility for the effect it might have on you, alright? He-he.

Hat and Hair: Oh, was my headpiece tilted? I should peek in the mirror more often...

Sleeves and Hands: Want to invite me to a dance? Be more gentle when taking my hand, then I'll consider.

Clothing and Torso: My body is completely human-like, definitely human.

Hobby: "If you're a costume designer, you must also do your job and create drafts"... Hmph. Isn't it natural that one is an assistant who prepares the visuals, and the other is a leading star who is busy shining on the scene and has no time for trivial matters, like... drawing... Ahem. I should not say it in front of him.

Chitchat I: My favorite part of drawing is lining. Sketches are too messy, and coloring is too complicated. Lines are neat and simple.

Chitchat II: Um... I know that it's hard to resist my charm, but it’s... Aren't there too many of you? —Dear audience, keep your distance from the scene! 

Monologue: Persisting to convey what you want even though giving a form to it is complicated and tiresome — I think it's more precious than running from things when they get too hard... Although the competition between "talent" and "diligence" is an old, old tale.

Intimacy: These name and body of mine are a part of the talented actress' performance off-stage. The secret of the "Paradise Bird"... Come closer so I can whisper it. 

Deployment: Keep your eyes on me.

Battle Victory: I hope you didn't perhaps notice that I might have gotten too loose. I should remember to be a delicate young lady.

[sweetbottletops]

Neat little interview with Arai Sumiko.

(Bad MTL below the cut. Especially note already nuanced love talk in the original language further removed by MTL)

── What was the idea for the story of two girls, Mitsuki and Aya?

I've always wanted to draw a story between girls. I also like the story of two people from opposite worlds with gaps, and I think that's where I came up with the idea. I love to draw, and I used to post things like two-page comics with no dialogue on social media from time to time. I thought that if there were no lines, it would be easier for people overseas to spread the word, and even if they didn't understand Japanese, they would enjoy it. One of them is the source of 『気になってる人が男じゃなかった』.

──『気になってる人が男じゃなかった』 received a great response when it was announced, and now Arai's X has more than 1 million followers. Was the announcement on social media also due to the ease of communication overseas that you just mentioned?

I didn't think it would be like this, so I didn't think too much about it (laughs). I was very happy to be able to connect with people from overseas through SNS. There was a time when I lived abroad, so I feel that spending time in a completely different environment has made me who I am today. Perhaps, the number of stories between women in the world is not as large as that of love stories between men and women, or between men, so it may have been suitable for social media.

── Why did you want to depict the relationship between two girls?

I think the relationship between women is very intimate. That feeling when we got really close…… They wear matching clothes, listen to the same music, and spend hours together without talking. It's not like love, it's a love that has always been there. Isn't love over when you break up? I have a bit of a prejudice in me, and I want to draw something that transcends it. If we can be together even if we don't have a relationship title, I think that's love. I'm sorry, it's hard to understand.

── I've always longed for a relationship that can't be named, or a relationship where it's just two people, so I feel like I understand it.

We all have a lonely part and loneliness that we can't share with others. Especially when you're young, everyone has a lot of different feelings. However, I think that if I can create an existence that resonates with such a soft part of my heart, it will last a lifetime.

── How did you come up with the character of Mitsuki, who was thought to be mysterious older brother, but was a cool girl? It's completely my preference, but I love people who are women but can see the masculineness, so I created the character of Mitsuki from there. What if a sober girl actually has a tattoo? And such? I also wanted to depict her kindness. Mitsuki is unconscious, but she is naturally compassionate.

── Handsome and gentle, isn't it? As a way of depicting sexuality, the feeling that the existence of the person is affirmed as it is, including the fact that she is a woman, is conveyed from the drawing, and it is exciting.

Thank you. I'm happy because I'm particular about the shape of Mitsuki's slightly bony wrist line, fingers, and nails. There are parts of the picture in Volume 1 that make me think, "Wow" when I reread it now, but I did my best to make Mitsuki's expression when she tells Aya that she wants to be friends. From the time of the name, I drew a lot of facial expressions (laughs). I've improved a bit at drawing, so I've been drawing a lot lately, and I think I'm good at it a lot.

── It's a memorable scene where the two become friends at school.

I love the American TV drama "Glee" (a music-comedy-drama about a high school choir where minorities gather), and I grew up watching that show. I was moved by the story of a sparkling person who seems to have everything, but in fact has emotions that cannot be told to others, so I wanted to draw it myself. Aya has that element in it. Aya is feminine on the outside, but she is shy. When it comes to other people, she's the kind of girl with a lot of grit who confronts her with a "huh?"

── In the second volume, the individuality of each of them became more apparent.

Mitsuki hides herself at school, but the way she hides her personality is actually very attractive. It's fun to depict how talking to Aya brings out more and more of her true self at school.

──It's so nice to be the most yourself when you're with the people you love. Being able to be yourself means having confidence in yourself. By not worrying about what people think, you will be able to see what you care about and the right person for you. Like Mitsuki brought Aya closer. The person who is most saved by being dignified is yourself. That's why I want to value my own individuality, and I draw manga with the hope that I will be able to do so.

── Music is also an important element of this manga. It is colored in two colors, yellow-green and black, which are rare in manga, and when I first read it, I thought it was rock.

Actually, I chose yellow-green 15 minutes before the first episode was posted on social media (laughs). I didn't think it would go viral, and I thought it would be nice to have a rock feel and a slightly dangerous color, so I put it in on a whim. That Last Minute Decision (the last minute decision) may have been a good one.

── NIRVANA and other music are featured in the film, but what is Arai's own musical journey?

When I was little, I loved BECK's album "Guero" the most in the world, and I remember dancing to it at my father's office. That's where my love for rock music started. NIRVANA's music is exceptional, but I also sympathize with frontman Kurt Cobain's feminism and pushing the boundaries of gender. I was an only child, so I spent a lot of time alone, and I moved to a place where I didn't speak the language, so I feel like I was able to cultivate my imagination while filling in the silence with music.

──Even in 『気になってる人が男じゃなかった 』 the music connects the completely different worlds of Mitsuki and Aya and expands them even further.

Let's see. The last scene of Volume 2 is very memorable for me. Aya stops Mitsuki from getting off the pedestrian bridge that can be taken as a stage, but I think it's a friend, and I think it's love. There's also a love for the music that Mitsuki makes.

── "This song connects the world!!" I was also fascinated by the straight line. Is there anything you keep in mind when drawing music?

In my case, I'm completely self-satisfied and just put in the music I like, and I can't say anything admirable, but I think a lot about which songs go well with each scene. There are scenes made from music, and the scene where Aya and Mitsuki hold hands in Volume 2 came to mind when I was listening to The Shins.

──Official playlist But it's also fun to read while actually playing music.

I'm a little embarrassed because I choose it myself (laughs), but I'm happy. I didn't tell anyone, but the official playlist is trying to arrange the songs that Mitsuki and Aya each chose so that they alternate as much as possible. Of course, the flow of music is the most important priority.

──Knowing that changes the way you listen even more! I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for them. Thank you very much.

[x]

(Is she a Dianna Agron stan? This is the second connection after this earlier in the year. Also I think this Glee thing gives her an honorary Tumblr diploma too.)

[average-egirl]

Today's my b day! So here's some little birthday hcs. I wrote this at 4am so sorry if the grammar is bad lmao.

Birthday headcannons

Tw: mention of sex in Asmos and levis, mention of blood in bps, nothing else.

Characters: Jane the killer, Nina the killer, Bloody painter, Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Vincent Sinclair, Mammon, Leviathan, Asmodeus.

Jane the killer

First of all she's a very busy woman but she would never in a million years forget your birthday.

She luvs you too much :)

She would get you a dress/shoes/some kind of accessory.

Probably something leaning towards the gothic style.

Would get you your favorite kind of cake and sit in your room while you too eat it.

Slightly more affectionate on this day.

Nina the killer

Of course she wouldn't forget your birthday!

You silly silly goose.

She would get you some plushies.

By the time she gave them to you she had already given them a name and social security number.

Would get the other creeps to help throw a surprise party for you. :))

She's already very affectionate but it's like 5x as bad on your b-day.

Bloody painter

Helen would definitely remember your birthday.

Your the best thing to ever happen to him after all.

He would make a painting of you and give it to you as a gift.

It may or may not be made out of your ex's blood.

I hc that he can bake so he would make you some cupcakes. <3

Normally he's not super affectionate but today he's a little more clingy.

Michael Myers

This man would not remember your birthday 💀

He wouldn't get you a present either.

Okay okay he MIGHT throw some pads at you. Tough luck if you don't use them.

Ain't no way in hell he's gonna so much as look in your direction. 🥲

Overall 0/10

Jason Voorhees

Obviously bby boy would NOT forget.

He's way too sweet.

Would get you some flowers along with random things he took from victims.

And probably a condom he thought was chocolate.

He can't bake :( BUT no worries because pam can :)

He's just as affectionate as any other day.

Vincent Sinclair

Just like everyone else on this list he wouldn't forget.

You lil cutie. <3

He would make a little wax figure of you as a gift.

He might also draw some lewd pictures of you and him.

With the help of his brothers you would get a barely edible cake, but it's the thought that counts.

Normally he's not very affectionate, and today's no different.

Mammon

He probably forgot until the day before honestly.

Once he remembers tho he would immediately run to get everything needed.

He would get you some very expensive jewelry.

Did he go into even more debt to get it? Yes. Does he care? No, not really.

He and his brothers through you an epic birthday party.

Very affectionate. Like always.

Leviathan

He wouldn't remember until like three days before your birthday.

He only remembers because of his brothers tho.

He got you an awesome anime figurine and some video games.

+ He probably got jealous seeing you hang with his brothers so- BIRTHDAY SEX.

Again, he and his brothers through you an epic birthday party.

Just as affectionate as any other day.

Asmodeus

He wouldn't forget, he never forgets.

TRUST ME HE NEVER FOR-

Your present is...Sex.. tbh you should know that tho.

What do you mean you want a real gift? He is the gift.

Aaand once again, He and his brothers through you an epic birthday party.

He's always incredibly affectionate. and hot.

[northwindow]

favourite podcasts? (If u don’t mind sharing)

yeah totally! here are some—

a recent favorite is you must remember this, the film history podcast by karina longworth. the show explores everything hollywood's first century can tell us about the surrounding cultural ideals, shifts, etc. and it's so impressively researched by someone who knows a ton about movies. i started with the most recent season called “erotic 80s” and now i'm in the middle of “make me over” which is about hollywood and the beauty industry. cannot wait for the next season "erotic 90s" but thankfully there's also a huge back catalog.

aack cast, jamie loftus' podcast miniseries about the cathy comics. you don't actually have to know much about cathy to enjoy this lol, the comic is sort of a gateway to investigate the lives of boomer women when it comes to feminism, consumerism, work, etc. it's a mix of interviews, jamie's writing, and even some narrating of the comic strips. i really like all of jamie's shows, she has a really natural style that is funny and curious and heartfelt. her lolita podcast is another favorite that is stylistically similar but obviously heavier territory.

between the covers with david naimon is a longform author interview podcast, i love it because david is best interviewer i have ever heard in any context. he really close-reads his guest's books and comes up with these very thoughtful thematic questions that draw out conversations about craft, social justice, society and culture, feelings, and a million other tangential things. i would recommend starting with an episode about a book you've read before, but now i use it for recommendations or just to listen to interesting people talk even if i don't know their work previously. i also really like commonplace with rachel zucker which is similarly in-depth, it has a different but also wonderful interview mood.

some other shows i like: the allusionist, everything that branched off you’re wrong about (YWA, you are good, maintenance phase, if books could kill), twenty thousand hertz, decoder ring, literary friction, poetry off the shelf, vs., thresholds with jordan kisner, articles of interest, american hysteria. when i just want to listen to friends talking i like poog with kate berlant and jacqueline novak. and the podcast form of democracy now for news. always looking for new stuff if anyone has suggestions! ❤️

[wutheringmights]

<shakily rolling into your inbox> Would you gift us with chapter commentary, please?

Your wish is my command:

Framing the past section around headlines was not my original plan. I wanted to do a repeating refrain of "This is how the war ended," but when it came time to actually write it, I was bored with it. Yeah, kinda thought about it too hard. So I went back to the drawing board.

I also considered framing the chapter around the passing seasons, but that seemed too boring. I wanted something with a bit more pizazz.

Plus, one of my favorite genres of fan work is in-universe media like newspapers and magazine covers. This is a pretty weak attempt at it, but at least I threw my hat into the ring.

I've been trying for a while now to imply that the original HW storyline is what was spread as propaganda to the people of Hyrule, but this is the first time I made it really, really clear.

So the engineer being assigned to the coast is a reference to how the DLC that features Toon Link is the one where there's suddenly an ocean. Very smooth of me lol

This chapter ended up being a bit of a dumping ground for all of the relationships I was ignoring in favor of writing about the brothers, ironically because I too was too consumed with the engineer and the child to write about anything else, which in turn really drove home how all-consuming their presence was for Link

The fun thing about Midna's scene is that her and Link going on nightly walks together was one of the very first ideas I had for CTB by virtue of it being inherited from when I thought I was going to write a romcom. Incredible that it took half a million words to finally get to it.

My favorite part of the past is the bit where Link writes all of the letters to the engineer. It's just a lot of fun to sit there and figure out what kind of bullshit he would spout to kinda apologize but not really. It was even more fun to punch him back down with Lincoln's brutal response. Just rereading it, I feel like you can tell I was having a blast.

I also had a lot of fun finding ways to show symptoms of Link's alcoholism getting worse without him realizing it. The constant headaches, the nausea, the shakey hands, the sensory sensitivity-- him experiencing all of this and going so deep into denial that he can't understand why his body is reacting that way.

It's been so long since I've managed to give Toto some screen time that I kinda forgot how much I like his character? He's just a guy, but I like that he's just a guy. But I don't think I made it too clear in the chapter that in their friend group, they were the least friends with each other. Link was closer to Anders, and Toto to Uri. They're being driven together by virtue of being the only ones left, moreso than I initially conveyed.

And, of course, I got to talk about Uri again. Again, Uri is always so interesting to handle because he is a character who we will never see in person and Link is too traumatized by the death of to think about in detail. Even now, Uri feels like a mystery. All we know about him is how Link feels about him.

And finally, Zelda. The thing about Zelda is that I feel like her goals are really transparent, but I always get comments from people who want there to be this moment where everything about her is spelled out. And, despite the fact that she monologues about her feelings here, I don't think this is exactly what everyone was hoping for. The more I read it over, I can see how she probably just got more confusing.

Also, I know I need to stop writing monologues. But have you considered that the monologues are sexy?

I feel like I should say something about how Zelda's relationship with Hylia, but it really speaks for itself. I will say that as much as I like how BOTW is so ambiguous with Hylia, I am a little bit more fascinated with the idea that "your god is real and they specifically hate you." Like, how are you supposed to cope with that? We should all be thankful Zelda isn't more fucked up than she is.

I should also say something about her thoughts on the engineer... so first, my goal with that relationship was always for it to be toxic from both ends, with the engineer trying to use her while she uses him-- which gets even more complicated when you consider all the ways Zelda echoes Link. Like Link, she sees parts of herself in the engineer. Unlike him, she wants to save be saved, so she in turn saves him. Link hates himself so much that he has to drag everyone else down with him.

In the era of everyone wanting Zelda to no longer be a damsel in distress, it's kind fun to give her the traditional goal of being saved by someone else, to then twist it around. She is begging to be rescued, but she won't fix anything herself.

This idea really goes against the popular depictions of HW Zelda, which is why I have iterated before that this Zelda is not Artemis. She's her own thing.

There was going to be more about how the war ended, but I decided to keep it for next chapter because (you guessed it) the word count got too long.

On to the present--

Congrats to everyone who said they wanted to see more of Spirit and Warriors talking shop. You really won with this chapter.

That being said, I always think that I never write what people want when they want it. Like I will write a chapter with a lot of action, so everyone says they want more action next. But then I follow it up with a chapter of people just talking, so I get a lot of people requesting more of that. But then, it's back to heavy action.

All that's to say that I feel bad that there wasn't more character drama this chapter

Also, I feel really bad for not including either Hyrule or Wind in this chapter. Those two are the characters people ask me to write more about the most. But unfortunately, the thing about juggling a large cast of characters is that some times you have to sit down and get a few of those characters out of the way for a bit so that we can focus on other things.

I don't want to make it sound like I was targeting those two on purpose. They just had the best excuse for not going on the Nephus mission.

Speaking of which, I feel terrible for constantly finding ways to leave Lana and Linkle out of the action-- and that's after I've talked so much about adding more women into the story to balance out the default nine dudes LU requires me to add. But again, there are so many characters that I have to find ways to leave some of them behind. And again, it was really easy to give them an excuse to not be in the main action. But It's probably a bad thing that they are easily excused. I should work on that.

And I know I can write scenes with a shit ton of characters talking together. I've done it plenty of times in CTB and other ensemble stories before it. But it's a lot of work, and when I need to focus on more important plot points, the last thing I want to juggle is balancing every scene so that everyone has something to do.

Sorry to belabor that point. Sometimes, I get really annoyed with how big the cast it when it's not even my fault.

It is my fault. I just want to complain.

I appreciate everyone who has their own version of Spirit going on more legendary adventures while he is wearing his OSHA mandated work uniform. I know the Heroes of Hyrule are not unionized, but I at least would like to make sure he is properly dressed with an adventure.

That being said, his Castle Guard uniform was partially inspired by the uniform for the Free Planets Alliance in the original Legend of the Galactic Heroes:

That is not a great photo, but I was envisioning something like this-- "this" being a more modern cut with clear nautical influences (cause the Castle Guard was probably originally a navy)

Also the crest on Spirit's uniform is Tetra's pirate emblem. Do not get be started about how I fucked up the crest of the New Hyrulean royal family back in chapter 6 and how I have been looking for some band-aid to place over that mistake so that it would look like I did it on purpose

I didn't expect the scene where Spirit talks to Four to be so polarizing. I didn't even think it was a significant moment when I wrote it. Yet I've seen a huge gambit of reactions, from people calling Spirit cruel or others saying that the moment was sweet. That being said, I am living for this. If there is one thing I want right now, it is for everyone's opinion on Spirit to be split.

Did you guys enjoy me trying to write about how machinery works? Honestly, I could have probably cut all that, but I did so much work establishing the mechanics behind the ganons in previous chapters that I felt like I had to go through with it.

My original plan was for Warriors's plan to involve taking Philo hostage from the start, but I changed it because writing a kidnapping scene would have been too much work. It still really bugs me. The way the chapter is written now feels really cheap, but again. I didn't feel like I had enough space.

I also ran into the fun problem of wanting to show the nuances of Philo and Icarius's relationship when one can't speak and the other would not speak Hylian. Legend saved my ass a bit with this one, but I don't know if all of the little details got through.

Speaking of which, I should talking the House of Nephus

So obviously, I wanted the House of Nephus to reflect the original brothers dynamic. The idea is that they are what Warriors, Spirit, and Time/Mask would turn into if both Spirit and Mask stayed.

Except, in practice, I had to give them their own distinct personalities so that they wouldn't be boring as fuck

Icarius and Philo got away with getting small but really effective changes. They both still feel like reflections of Spirit and Time respectively

But Nephus.... so my original personality for him was someone as jaded and mean as Warriors is at his worst. But he felt too much like Zelda or Impa. So I went back to the drawing board to find some character angle that would be really interesting and effective for how little screen time he will ultimately get.

My inspiration came from the Virginia Woolf seminar I was in when I first started working on CTB. I was thinking a lot about rich, British assholes; very specifically about the kind who are self-prescribed intellectuals who fetishize non-white cultures while maintaining the superiority of Western imperialism.

So with that in hand, I got rid jadedness and turned Nephus into a guy dripping with charisma but is unaware of how terrible of a person he is. And as a reflection of Warriors, he works thematically.

But you can make the argument that this is not the story for this kind of a character, especially when I have already gone through such lengths to clarify that Hyrule is an imperialist nation that echoes America. You can see me poking fun at it in some of the dialogue during this scene, but still.

(And it gets worse when you look at the subtext of how light vs dark magic is treated between Hyrule and Faovaria).

So, yeah. I deserve some criticism for this one. I know it. But I didn't change it because I just liked how immediately interesting Nephus was. I couldn't think of an alternative that would have been as effective as this affable evil. Sorry about that.

Another idea I had was that Nephus was going to be the Faovarian equivalent of the Hero of Hyrule, and he would even have his own dual blades of dark and light magic to prove it. I ended up not doing this because it was too heavy handed.

I originally was going to keep the swords, and I even realized that if I had planned things out a bit better, the dark magic sword could have been Ghirahim. I decided that it would have been too out of left field to have worked, but man. I have regretted since day 1 that I cut Ghirahim from the story. I'm sorry, Ghirahim.

And then I didn't even include the swords. Motherfucker.

That actually was a genuine mistake on my part, because the point of the swords would have been to give Nephus's speech on his religion more credence. We as the audience know that the goddesses exist. And yet... why does there seem to be more to the gods of this universe? Are Hylia and the Golden Three really just oracles? If Nephus has these cool swords, what other powers and weapons does Faovaria have within its borders? You know, just world building stuff.

I came up with too much story for the House of Nephus than what I will ultimately have space to include in CTB. I'll try to strategic so that you won't be annoyed with the lack of answers from some of the questions you probably have.

As important as Nephus is, he's ultimately not the main antagonist of the story. If I was willing to write 20 more chapters, I could do a lot more with him, Philo, and Icarius; but I would like to see the end of CTB someday lol

Originally, only Time, Spirit, and Midna were going to go with Warriors to meet Nephus. There was definitely going to be this bit where Spirit and Warriors were going to be like "oh fuck, he's hot" as Nephus flirted with them. Meanwhile, Time (a married man) would be sitting there like "really??? both of you have horrible taste??"

I am also realizing I forgot to write a moment where Warriors is horrified to realize that Nephus was going to make Philo sit there in pain instead of rushing him to a doctor. Fucking hell.

Also, that Nephus's spirit feels normal to Spirit is important. Not on a plot level, but thematically. Just hang on to that thought next time you think about the whole spirit sensing thing.

I always knew that CTB was going to evolve into a Triforce quest story. There's no way I could write about a guy who's supposed to be this brutal strategist and not let him realize he has an easy solve to everything. But I also didn't want this to be easy or feel cheap. It's why I went through all that effort to establish that getting those pieces would involving going up against the Royal Family and the Knights of Hyrule. It's going to be hard, and it will involve all the fighting and manipulating you expect CTB to have. It'll also involve moral dilemmas.

After all, we've been talking about the moral dilemmas presented by the Triforce since at least chapter 6 (remember when I said that there was so much set-up in that chapter for stuff that was for far later in the story? Hello, pay off!)

All that's to say that I am worried that people don't like this direction. I have gotten a few comments about how excited people are for Warriors's plan, but only time will tell if this ruined the story for some people.

And I know I worry a lot about ruining CTB. That's not a problem that's going to be solved any time soon, so let me have this one.

Finally, the chapter was going to go until Time's talk with Warriors. Decided to move it to next chapter because, you guessed it, space.

[cryingalexanders]

thoughts about pre-crisis Lex Luthor

now that I've read all of earth-one/pre-crisis lex's main canon appearances, I thought I'd list some things I noticed or found interesting.

It was consistent that pre-crisis Lex didn't care about money. Some stories went as far as to emphasise he could've been rich if he'd wanted to but he would actively scorn it!

By the time we get to the early 80s he's living a comfortable lifestyle, and had his own secret island base. But he still frets when Superman smashes millions of dollars worth of equipment

In the silver age he would buy abandoned places to use as bases under false names and keep them at the ready, presumably using money from bank robberies. They were usually on-theme too like museums, observatories, etc. I definitely think this is an element that should come back

The way he dresses. the coloured pants! his little ascots! they were such a thing for pre-crisis Lex

He also has this escape-artist thing going on, where he "enjoys the challenge" and there's a scene which hints at him being bored at having been out of prison for a while

I don't really mind this change and I think either way makes sense, but before Cary Bates and Marv Wolfman brought in elements influenced by the 78 movie in the early 80s... there was no indication that Lex ever mistreated his goons/lackeys. he would at least pay lip service to their wellbeing. it was his interactions with other villains that were much more hostile and laden with betrayal. (as well as cellmates when he had them)

Cary Bates had a great take on Lex, don’t get me wrong, he wrote some of his best pre-crisis stories, but he seemed to be taking a lot of cues from Donner/Hackman Lex going into the 80s, and I feel that kind of synergy lessened what was special about the comic counterpart.

There were writers, especially in the late silver age/early bronze age, who wrote Lex as more cold and overtly misanthropic. That's what I see in Waid's take on him. So it is drawing on the silver age, it's just specific stories rather than the general trends. e.g. Action Comics #363-365 is a very Waid-esque version of pre-crisis Lex.

Silver age Brainiac was actually pretty loyal to Lex and wouldn't leave him behind (Lex wasn't the same way back unfortunately). there was definitely subterfuge but they had a weirdly sweet relationship. it's sure different from modern stuff where they're always 2 seconds away from murdering each other whenever they interact (hell even the bronze age was like that because Brainiac became a darker character)

there's this one Superboy comic where it's established that Jonathan Kent and Lex hate each other because Jonathan denied him parole as a member of the reform school board. most of the time Jonathan seemed more indifferent to him though

on the other hand, silver age Martha felt sorry for Lex (and lowkey wanted to adopt him), even when he was trying to kill her son (if you don't know, pre-crisis Lex started trying to kill Superboy when they were teenagers in Smallville, but regardless of that goal he was generally considered a more lighthearted "menace")

I know that technically he had an older sister who was Nastalthia's mother but the actual flashbacks to his childhood treated him as the oldest sibling and it just being him and Lena, and that's the dynamic I prefer.

Lex as an uncle though. he’s so cute with Val (well, for the most part. it was complicated). his relationship with Nasty was bland though.

His relationship with Lena and by extension, Supergirl, was so interesting. Lex was usually so chill whenever he showed up in Supergirl, the way they had an understanding that he could be counted on to protect Lena, and I wish he and Kara would’ve interacted more during those times he had truces with Superman, considering she saw his protective/selfless side before Superman did.

[sistervirtue]

i think i hauve a crush on you can you talk about ibara more

okay um teehee ill try to say something i havent just said a million times before o7

um but!!! one thing i think is interesting about her is ofc her hairstyle and the fact the crown of thorns very clearly had to have been styled herself (given we see her without it as well and just like, the nature of her hair) and in the sheet for her hero costume it says that "if she gets cold she can just wrap herself in her thorns". which is like, curious to me in that we know her thorns have some cutting and scraping power-- she expresses being worried about people getting scratched in the light novels, we see kirishima and kaminari covered in scrapes after getting wrapped up, etc. so this to me implies one of two things: either her skin is naturally just like, too tough to feel it, or shes gotten used to it

given like, what the crown of thorns represents and ibaras whole hardcore humble nature, personally i think that instead of being predisposed to thorn immunity, shes just gotten used to the prickles over the years. thats why i like drawing her with a lot of teeny tiny blemishes and scars on her face/neck/shoulders when i draw her!

(some of these are old as fuck fojeroijtgojogj sorry)

i would really. really like to see the vine sweater though like whatever "wrapping herself in thorns" means. please horikoshi i want to see it

i also think ibaras personality is full of some really fun and interesting contradictions and sillyisms like i know ive hammered on about how a lot of the times she just kinda does her own thing, but i think its cool to note that shes not like, obscenely arrogant or reckless or whatever. we see her express uncertainty a few times; she gets stage fright before class b's play, as well as in the ova when she tells jirou that she hasnt ever played baseball before. I think with ibara, it's not that she believes shes good at everything and always correct: i think ibara knows what shes good at, and so on THOSE things she doesnt really give a lot of wiggle room, but with other things, shes a lot more willing to let other people take the lead because shes like idkkkkk idkkkkkk girl

theres also times when she does lie! i know youre gasping. scandalized. but i think its also a really interesting little bit of insight

in the light novels, theres a chapter about the girls luring mineta into revealing himself while hes trying to peep in the training camp baths so they can kick his ass, and in that chapter, kendou, yui, and ibara act as the "decoys". they fake a conversation while they fill the room with smoke with a machine yaomomo made, and then all the girls hang out after and have a slumber party. ibaras well aware of what theyre doing and why, and she doesnt express any regret or uncertainty on the matter, even though shishida using her as a decoy in combat was something she was shocked and upset by. not to mention, she also mentions having stolen minetas headband in a "deceitful way" during the sports fest, and only mentions it possibly being a bad thing when their team wakes up after being brainwashed by shinsou and is like "was that karma for doing that"

like, there's very clearly this precedent of her explicitly and exclusively thinking of deception as 100% okay against mineta, which is hilarious, because we even see her apologize to gigantomachia.

This guy is trying to kill them. He is a "walking natural disaster". and shes still apologizing to him for outnumbering him. Which is hilarious. But she never once apologizes to Mineta. Given what that kind of thing means to Ibara, I think this makes her the character to express the most outright malice and hatred towards Mineta in the entire series. And she's right for that. (I don't know why so many people seem to ship them together also like what....anyways)

the biggest thing with ibara i think is that a lot of people will write her or write her off a certain way because of her initial gimmick and so they just kinda automatically assign a personality and traits based on the very western american concept of a devout christian. which is fair, i guess, like i get it, but ibara isn't in america (shes in a country where christianity is very heavily a minority) and i think most importantly, she's still a 16 year old girl. a very weird, very super powered 16 year old girl, but the appeal of the bnha students as characters is that even with all their funny habits and quirks, they're still VERY 16, and ibara is no different. the girl may talk about flayings and the body of the lord, but she still wears little pink sneakers to gym and gets nervous performing in a school play and has to worry about her math class.

and another one of her funny contradictions ive also spoken about but the way in which she speaks i think is another interesting facet. we know ibara is a very above-board, straightforward, honorable kid who hates lying or any type of deception. she has a moral panic over basic tactical maneuvers. but the way she talks is so esoteric that a lot of her peers dont seem to really understand her, and she seems almost completely oblivious to that fact? again, take an example from the light novels: iida asks what he just ate in the hot pot penalty game, and ibara says "the body of our lord..." to which he responds "A BODY?!" and its only when Yaomomo clears up that she's talking about bread does it get clarified at all. I can only think of one or two instances when Ibara clarifies what the fuck she's talking about at any time, and that's with a very direct set of questions. Another example is Shishida and his nickname:

It's very clear that he doesn't want to be called that, but they continue nonetheless.

And I don't think any of this is at odds with Ibara's very straightforward, guileless nature. I think it's just a "translation error"-- Ibara thinks what she's saying is exactly the same as what everyone else is saying, and doesn't get that most people don't have the context or background to decode how she speaks. They're "synonyms"-- but only to her, and nobody else. It's interesting! And I think it could provide a lot of interesting play with other characters who haven't had to adapt to it yet, or even with characters who by necessity would-- like Kaminari and Sero, who do work studies with her.

anyway eeeeek i have to get ready to go to work love you bye <3

[marshmallowprotection]

somebody on tiktok said saeran and yoosung have a breeding kink. thoughts?💀

I tend not to answer NSFT comments because my blog is safe for work. But, I will break my rule for a moment just to give you a basic response because I get so tired of that one.

I disagree with the notion that Saeran would have one. You're looking at a character with complex trauma, and his entire life was built up on the idea that his very birth was meant to benefit his Mother. He went on to admit in the game, if you tell him that you don't want to have a kid, that he is fully aware that he loves you most of all, and he is kind of anxious that he would put you before a child every time.

A lot of people who're child-free come to the conclusion that they don't want kids for similar reasons. There are many reasons, but one of the most important ones is knowing what you value and how you value it. Do you think you're the kind of person who wants to be with your partner and just them for the rest of your life? Do you know that you won't be able to apply the right amount of dedication and care to a young human that will one day be an adult?

It's not even about being able to afford raising child, though, that can be a factor for many people. There's also feeling morally conflicted in every sense of the word by bringing a child into this crumbling world and knowing that they might not have a future no matter how much love you give him. But, again, there's a multitude of reasons why one may choose to be child free.

Because, that's the thing, if you have a child, you have a young human that is one day going to be an adult. That journey is a hard one and that journey is for life once you make the decision to have a child. You need to mentally prepare yourself to put your kid first and think of them always, raising them with the knowledge that they have needs you need to think of as they experience the world for the first time and learn how to exist as a person.

This information has nothing to do with someone having a kink, but I do think when you think about Saeran's trauma, the way he owns up to the thought that he's nervous about the idea of a family, and how readily he communicates that fact, I just can't see him having that as a kink.

The idea of lording control of another person and taunting them by saying you'll make sure they have a kid and can't escape you just isn't it for him. Even in the confines of consensual intercourse. It just feels like his parents, and that's the last thing he wants to feel. His mother purposefully went after his father with the intent of trying to tie him down for money, that's my own assumption, and while I don't think she attempted to have a family with him before tying him down in a marriage first, the fact that she inevitably would've tried that with his father...

It's another reason why I can't see Saeran being turned on at the thought of pretend baby-making. There's just so many reason why I'm not going to believe he has this interest. There are definitely other things he's interested in, but this one and hell, I don't want to see any more people drawing Saeran tied and bound. Stop doing that by the way. Unknown doesn't even do that to MC, and he tends to be most guilty of having fanart drawn this way. That ain't a kink for him and I implore y'all to not, LOL.

I'm going to be honest, even Saeyoung, who wants to be a father by his own admission, arguably, likely doesn't have this kink, either. I'm just saying, I don't think their trauma would make them comfortable with the idea of this particular kink. I suppose someone might could argue for Saeyoung if he's in a world where he doesn't have a gun at his back from a million different sources, but even then, I just don't see it.

As far as Yoosung goes, there's nothing there as far as trauma goes to push him one way or the other, so hey, if that's what you want him to be into when you're fantasizing, who am I to stop you, LOL. After all, I am just one person with an opinion, and even with what I've said, the fact remains that you can imagine whatever you want because this is fandom and my thoughts don't have to align with your thoughts.

[animentality]

I was going to unfollow after disagreeing with your opinions on Steven Universe

But your philosophical discussion on how mpreg and omegaverse are the collage girls and milfs of fandom?

That's content I just can't turn down.

Listen, I was around for when mpreg was hot.

Everyone used it as an example of how deranged the internet was. Now omegaverse is the new thing, and people don't really use mpreg anymore.

And you see way less negative reactions to omegaverse vs mpreg. Possibly because mpreg was this infamous creature of the early 2000s, which lurked on fanfiction dot net and other fan sites, this taboo little beast that people only brought up to laugh at.

But omegaverse is classier. It's evolved and matured.

It's no longer the screaming spring break college girl, but the older and wiser mommy who knows what she wants and isn't ashamed of it anymore.

She's a CEO in a sharp pants suit and 6 inch heels and glasses and a scarf that costs 40,000 usd.

I also propose the idea that omegaverse is more trans inclusive than mpreg, because it has a more nuanced understanding of how gender operates in this fanfictional word.

Back in the old days, mpreg was like...men shit babies out their asses.

Not many people really knew what else they could do.

They still wanted the gay sex but didn't understand exactly what they were craving.

I have always felt that "yaoi" and "bl" and m x m pairings all arose from this longing for connection.

See, in the 2000s, whether you watched Naruto or supernatural, you just noticed how female characters were just these... non people.

They were love interests. They were sexy and didn't do much, except get killed off for drama, or they were dutiful lovers, waiting for the main character to finish the plot.

Women gravitated towards gay pairings because first off, many of them are attracted to men, so two guys getting it on had this irresistible sexual draw for them. But also, these two male characters just had this genuine feeling of affection for each other.

They were well written and nuanced and had genuine connections. Women responded to that.

Where there was no compelling canon het relationship, women decided there would be a compelling, almost canon homo relationship.

So that's where boy x boy found a home.

In the hearts of women who wanted romance outside of romance novels, but didn't get compelling heterosexual ones in other media.

But mpreg was a weirder thing, where perhaps you want to impregnate this character...but he's male.

But you don't know how to do that exactly. So you go to this fictional thing...where men shit babies.

But omegaverse is better.

Omegaverse will do you one better.

It'll propose that we can acknowledge...that women can have dicks. Men can have vaginas.

Men and women can have both.

Omegaverse like...transitioned from mpreg!!!

It became gender fluid and gender inclusive.

I have always felt also that saying yaoi is just a straight woman's plaything to be wildly shallow and dismissive.

You know how many nonbinary and trans people who are afab realized they were not women through yaoi???

A thousand million trillion hundred.

Omegaverse is cool to me, ok.

Mpreg was alright, but it was sort of strange just so far as, you don't need to recreate a whole organ when you can just say, yeah. He's a man and he has a vagina.

So what.

Maybe he still has a dick. Maybe he doesn't.

But that's the beautiful thing.

He doesn't need either. He can have both.

A female character can have a big old dick too.

Gender is just...it doesn't matter.

You can prefer anal sex between two characters with penises, or you can prefer vaginal sex between a trans character and a cis one.

You can have two penises, if you want. Three. Four.

Spiked penises.

Doesn't matter.

Omegaverse to me was just like...the next step in fandom evolution.

It brought with it a whole other gendered system that I find interesting.

And fascinating from an anthropological standpoint.

I am pro omegaverse.

Not necessarily what I wank to, but...I like it better than mpreg.

I think it took the best of mpreg and tossed out the problematic side of it.

I think...the kids are alright.

And the girlies are wellfed.

Also on the Steven universe thing...I fully admit, my brain was sort intoxicated by a lily orchard video and another video by some guy.

I've been re watching it and I think I was too harsh.

In retrospect, I still think the pink diamond reveal wasn't well thought out and was an easy cop out...but I still like the series in general.

The music and the visuals and the world itself are fun. It also did way more for gay rep than its haters will admit.

So I admit my brain was seeped in toxic fumes.

But anyway.

Omegaverse.

Good thing.

Classier.

[kdinjenzen]

on the same topic of "why no werewolf art"- as an artist who'd love to draw more werewolves and the FUN FUN THINGS, the teens breathing down necks to cancel any artist for drawing more than two people snuggling or kissing definetly don't help either, especially when one is a 'beast'

Here’s where I drop the fun-silliness entirely and start talking very seriously.

The idea that there is some sort of need or desire for a puritanical sanitation of art, of queer people, and of society as a whole propelled forward by certain people will ALWAYS be a fact of life.

This, unfortunately, is how so many marginalized groups have become policed in their own spaces.

You can easily see this, almost constantly, with people trying to force arbitrary rules upon queer labels. Labels that we, as queer people, have made for ourselves. And when these things “don’t fit perfectly in a societal box” they are torn apart and people get hurt.

There is no progress gained in these moments of infighting and they only serve to suffocate diversity and marginalized people as a whole.

It’s very much why the idea of “kink at pride” being a bad thing was tossed around and is now propelled forward by some people within the queer community because “if this is here, the cishet people won’t accept us”…

NEWS FLASH MY LOVELY DEARS, DARLINGS, AND DEGENERATES! The people who want to sanitize who you are as a person, and show no sign of learning to be a better human being, will NEVER accept you even IF you decide to bend the knee and give into their suspicious and ugly demands.

So while I said ALL THIS I’m going to also point out my post about “Why Is Bridget (Guilty Gear) SO Popular While Catalyst (Apex Legends) Is NOT” and here’s some VERY SIMILAR reasons as to why that happened:

While Guilty Gear, as a whole, is one of the most average to low selling fighting game franchises of all time. Strive was the first game in the entire series to break 1 million sales across all platforms. Which, if you know anything about game sales, is ABYSMALLY small in sales.

On the other hand Apex Legends has an active “average monthly player” count nearing 65 million, meaning people (by overall numbers) are FAR MORE ENGAGED in the Apex Legends fan base, game, and community.

Which means that Apex is far more popular than Guilty Gear, by sales, by players, and by active users.

Now I have always loved Guilty Gear AND have very much enjoyed my time with Apex Legends. But, again, numbers show Apex is more popular.

So with that said… don’t you think that it FAR more likely that Bridget is more popular than Catalyst because she’s “tiny and cute” and has decades of hyper fetishistic art and culture built around the fact that she was originally billed as “a little boy who cross dresses” until JUST recently and showcases just how much people infantilize trans people as a whole?

Meanwhile Catalyst, at launch compared to Bridget, is an actual adult woman who doesn’t lean into a “cutesy” stereotype or caricature of trans people and is actually portrayed AS TRANS and BY A TRANS PERSON… but is far less talked about or cared about?

Now add in the additional fact that so many white people also love to hyper fetishize AAPI culture and people, especially when it comes to Japanese culture and people? Of which Bridget also falls under because of where and by whom the game and character were originally designed and created by?

SO I ASK AGAIN…

What is stopping people from actively doing things that support queer culture and queer people? What is stopping people from actually supporting the various cultures of BIPOC folks without whitewashing or bastardizing it?

Nothing but self or societal imposed bullshit because “not adhering to the white cishet guidelines” set out in front of the world makes people afraid they will not be accepted.

And thus, marginalized people suffer and feel they cannot BE THEMSELVES while White CisHet folks profit off of the stories and suffering of diverse peoples.

[comicaurora]

Do you find questions about lroe and logistics annoying? How do you draw the line between 'thinking the story is cool and wanting to know how something works' and 'trying to poke holes in the story to feel better about themselves'?

TLDR: It doesn't annoy me, but I do ignore anything that I don't think would produce an interesting answer. There is no line, but I do have thoughts.

I think a lot of media analysis and criticism centers on an invisible variable that is often overlooked, and that variable is "what standard are we holding this story to?"

Media criticism often described as "bad faith" tends to hold stories to standards like real-world physics, shot continuity or other small-scale and potentially irrelevant metrics that have nothing to do with the story's plot, morals, stated goals or overall themes, and will instead - as you put it - poke holes in the story in an apparent attempt to feel smart or score points. This criticism isn't asking how well the story is succeeding at telling itself, it's finding things to complain about by whatever metric is most convenient for that.

This isn't limited to media criticism. In fact, it's the same underlying structure behind almost all forms of bullying. There is nobody perfect enough to be completely uncriticizable, and there is no story that cannot be picked apart with an uncharitable enough angle. If your goal is to pick something or someone apart, you can always find a reason. And a story that's perfect from one angle can be shredded a hundred different ways from a million other angles.

I'm sure I've talked about this before, but one difficulty people encounter when writing any form of representation, for instance, is the existence of opposing stereotypes. If you write a female lead who's demure and gentle, she's playing to a feminine stereotype - that's a criticism point. If you write one who's brash and strong, oopsies, you're tacitly indicating that she can't be a protagonist without ditching her traditionally feminine qualities, thus indicating those qualities are bad! Criticism point. No matter what kind of character you write, you can be criticized for the stereotypes they fulfill and criticized for the stereotypes they defy. There is no way to write a character who cannot be criticized, and it's especially visible for characters in heavily stereotyped demographics.

And there are forms of representation or allegory that work for one thing but are terrible if interpreted as something else, once again producing angles of attack that you can be criticized for. Suppose you have a character whose arc is fundamentally about learning to accept themselves for who they are rather than changing themselves for the approval of others. This can be read as a positive and self-affirming arc for all sorts of identities, but if you reach, you can also read this as advocating against things like transitioning. And on the flip side, if you tell a story about someone changing themselves to be happy, it can be read as a toxic message for people struggling to accept themselves for who they are.

Because of this, it is impossible to write any sort of story that cannot be criticized, and it is unhelpful to act like a story that can be criticized is automatically in some way deficient or morally bad. If you find the right angle, anything can be criticized or deemed problematic in completely legitimate ways. Not enough of this, too much of that, what we got wasn't what I wanted, etc etc.

"Can I find a reason to criticize this" is an unhelpful and often unpleasant mindset. The answer is always yes, but it has the twofold impact of making the permacritic rather unpleasant to talk to (constant negative reinforcement will do that, see the "bullying" thing above) and making it very difficult for the permacritic to actually engage with media in any sort of helpful way. This school of criticism does not ask "what standard should I be holding this media to?" Without controlling for that variable, the criticism is just a lot of complaining.

When criticizing, I think it's very important to maintain focus on that question of the standard you're holding the story to, and the underlying corollary, "what is the story trying to be - and is it succeeding?"

I've seen media criticism that boils down to "this is not the story I wanted it to be." Valuable information, but not a helpful criticism to level at the story itself. Rather than taking the story at face value and judging it on its own merits, it holds it to the standard of a different story. This is where you get things like fix-it fanfics where people change the story to fit what they wanted to see. While I don't have a personal objection to this - fans can do what they want, and if someone wants to see a specific story I think one of the best things they can do is realize that and make that story - I think I'd personally steer clear of it. One of the joys of consuming media is seeing stories I'd never personally be able to think of, and holding all those stories to the standards of my own limited creativity feels like a good way to guarantee that I never grow and improve as a writer.

But if we hold a story to the standards of itself, there's still plenty of criticism to be had! And this is, I think, where valuable criticism lies. If we can figure out what a story is trying to do, we can determine how well it succeeds or fails. If a character is supposed to be overwhelmed with grief but the performance feels shallow and poor, that gives us a solid point of criticism - the story is failing to convince us of its own point, "this character is sad." If a fight scene is supposed to be frenetic and brutal but the editing is so frantic that we can't make out any of the coherent movement, the cinematography is disrupting our ability to buy that this is a serious, perilous fight scene.

This is why I think authorial intent is a very valuable factor in criticism. It isn't the only factor, but it gives us something very solid to measure against. When we're asking "what is the story trying to do?" and we find a comprehensive, clear answer to that, we can follow up with our subjective judgment "how well did it do that, and how and why?" This is the kind of vivisection that tells us how the story is really put together and lets us learn from it.

Without the question "what is the story trying to do," all our criticism is completely unhelpful from an artistic perspective. Does it matter that a scene doesn't conform to the laws of physics? Only if the scene is supposed to conform to the laws of physics! Does it matter if a background prop moves between takes? Only if the prop is important! What lessons can we learn from scattershot complaining that aims to find something wrong with every single frame of a story? We learn nothing, because even if every single "error" was "fixed", this school of criticism could find the exact same number of problems on a second pass. Any artist could tell you that perfection is unattainable and a work can always be criticized. The only people who think "I found something wrong" is an exceptionally clever observation are generally not artists, and typically don't volunteer helpful feedback for artists.

So to get back to your actual question, I think it's pretty easy to tell when someone is approaching your story from a place of affection or curiosity and when someone's just looking to score points off you or take out their personal frustrations on the closest target. There's no hard line because the difference isn't in the critical process, it's in the underlying approach. A bad-faith criticism can stumble on a solid point once in a while, but the critic still won't gain or give anything valuable from the experience. They're just racking up points.

[ninebaalart]

What are some other forgotten Marvel characters that you like? (I understand if it's hard to choose, since there are so many forgotten Marvel characters...)

I love Galacta, daughter of Galactus, def need to draw her in the near future... Addy Brock aka VEN#M is a tragic one but a fucking incredible and dark addition to Peni Parker's story... I know Tempest has gotten like a pretty sizable role in Hickman's run but its more of a "she has a very op power that I can use" thing for his run from what I understand...

There are a lot of Inhumans that didn't really pick up like Kamala that seem pretty cool too. Auran, Xiaoyi Chen, Ren Kimura, Sheath... they are very unlikely to go to the Inhumans well anytime soon so that def sort of sucks.

I've always really liked Doppelganger's design from Spider-Man but he has a figure and was one of the million cameos in Across the Spider-Verse so I don't know if he's really forgotten, lol.

Scorn is a really fun symbiote user, a really unique one in that she utilizes technology along with the symbiote. Earth-65 Black Cat was a really fun addition that they didn't do a lot with in the original Spider-Gwen run as most things with Gwen's relationship with the band tend to kind of be...

Toni Ho rules too. Iron Patriot armor is a little gaudy but "lesbian daughter of the guy Tony Stark was stuck in a cave with" is a fucking excellent premise for a character and it is such a huge shame that she never was capitalized on.

Barbara McDevitt aka Quickfire is sort of an interesting one- I like time-based superpowers and she sort of was labelled as a agent who didn't necessarily need or use her powers before she underwent a "second terrigenesis" that made her into a monster that can infect other inhumans with similar effects. She reminds me of Rachael Foley from Resident Evil Revelations in that way who's also a character I feel could have been executed better but there's interesting premises to both characters in that they show someone who is skilled and overconfident becoming incredibly powerful and dangerous creatures- false otherwise-protagonists who set the stakes as something our characters could face that is worse than death.

Lastly want to shout out Red Widow Ava Orlova. I don't understand if they forgot she existed or if the other Red Widow existed but her story was set up and then they just never went anywhere with it, it seems? She has a cool design but like unless she's just severely underdocumented she never even got a chance to be a real character.

Oh god. I actually just remembered Black Cat's ex-girlfriend Tamara Blake. I knew about her before she was revealed to be Iron Cat and like the moment of reloading her page because I had her tab open for like a couple months (I'm very bad at cleaning my tabs) and seeing it update to Iron Cat was such a unforgettable way to find out that reveal.