#; gg universe we had a good run

[itsyagurlchip]

can I get a goofy reader insert w/ gregory as the older sibling

٠ ˚ ※ ๋࣭ ᯓ⚝ ⋆ .˚✰Radically Chaotic!٠ ˚ ※ ๋࣭ ᯓ⚝ ⋆.˚✰

✰⋆⁺warning: Gregory(!) crack(!) a lil older sibling angst(!)

✰⋆⁺ i know who you are *insert gay dog*naw but fr- I apologize that it took so long for this to come out :(( and ur not online as much, BUT I LOVE U SM ❤️🫵🏾I know it was supposed to be goofy- but i had to get some tears in(I knew it was u bc ur the only one who uses goofy like that @thealphagirl)

✰⋆⁺ You are a 14 year old older sibling. Life just couldn't get harder for you!!!-? Wait- WHY DOES HIS TRACKER SAY THE PIZZA PLEX?

"DUDE! WHY THE HELL DID YOU THINK IT WAS OK TO BE HERE???" I harshly whispered, my breath heaving in the tight hiding spot we were in.

"I DONT KNOW!? I JUST WANTED TO SEE SOME COOL STUFF" Gregory responded, trying to use that damn Journey Kidz ass watch. I don't even know where that came from, Mom hasn't bought anything like that in months.

"AH YES, BECAUSE THE COOLEST THING IN THE WORLD IS GETTING CHASED BY A GROWN AS WOMAN WHO LOOKS LIKE SHE NEEDS 3 YEARS OF SLEEP!" I sarcastically retorted as my voice raised a pitch. We were so in trouble, it's bad enough that I got my tablet away. Now the door is up for grabs.

"THAT 'WOMAN' WILL GET US IF YOU DONT SHUT UP"

"MAKE ME, YOU LIL-" His hand slapped against my mouth just as aggressive stomping flooded both of our ears. My heart dropped to my ass. Forget the door! I won't even have a bedroom to myself if we go to jail!

This is a big ass place, no telling how much it costs. Trespassing gets sued for, and knowing Gregory, he probably broke some expensive-!

oh no...

"Gregory?..." I slowly turned to him, "How much have you broken?"

I'm pretty sure I could hear that loudass daycare music (despite us being closer to the front) from how quiet it became.

*sigh* "We need to get out of here so no one can recognize our faces- I am NOT gonna do community service for your dumbass decisions." I hissed out as I slightly gripped my hair. I had to take another long exhale at the absurdity of the situation, my eyes couldn't even stay open as I did so. The buffoonery, the stress, the-

I hear sniffling from my right and I quickly spun around just in time to see my little brother put on a tough face, not before he angrily wiped away some tears with the bittest of snot from his nose.

I sigh once more, with my eyes tearing up as well. I pull him close into a hug, his head leaning close to my chest. I wonder if he can hear how hard my hard is beating...

"Look buddy... Sorry if I sounded so harsh- or if I worded something wrong". A tear fell from my eye. "I just wish you had told me where you were- or, or...I just wanted you to be okay. I'm older than you, I have to protect you." I looked into Gregory's eyes as I wiped some of the tear tracks away.

"Not only that, and I had to admit it but- you're my number one best friend. I don't want to know what it's like to lose you." My voice cracked a I continued on. I held Gg tight, hoping that we weren't crying too loud.

...

Well that was a shit show! You know, crying isn't as bad as it seems to be. Because I would rather be ANYWHERE ELSE than here right now!

You know, at home, in a nice warmish bed. A non hostile environment. No Self aware machines. Especially ones that chase you, AROUND A FUCKING MALL!!

Me and Gregory were booking it- A raccoon-looking animatronic was chasing us.

'What she needed to chase was a color scheme' I thought to myself. 'And maybe a whole new maw- that shit looks like those furry masks on yt shorts.

Turns out, the only robot that wasn't trying to maul our faces off is good ole Freddicson Fazbearington. But, as if the universe is our 3rd grade enemy, Freddy runs like a goddamn iphone battery.

I could only hope that we made it our here, no fees, no community service, or even trouble on our hands. I couldn't even hop for that- the damn things were trying to kill us!

If wishing wasnt doing anything, me and my little brother will. We'll make it home safe, no scratches, no suspicion. Nothing will be damaged, no one will be harmed.

But the security was breached, leaving a radically chaotic fire in its wake by the start of the morning.

(๑˃̵ᴗ˂̵)و tags: @kittykittyanon @radicallxser @oleander-nin @towomatos @thealphagirl @ziipzeepzop-eez @amorvincitomnia-14 @spongejuice . if you would like to be added, check my blog.

[shizucheese]

I'm going to use some discourse (?) I've been seeing on my feed as a bouncing-off point for some thoughts and theories I have as of TMAGP 8.

So like...I know a lot of people who are arguing about Gerry being goth vs. not goth in TMAGP are basing it off of the idea that he's happy.

"This Gerry isn't goth because he's happy and not traumatized!"

"You don't need to be traumatized to be goth, you can be happy and have lived a good life and still be goth!"

Um...guys? How often does it turn out that the most cheerful people are the ones hurting most?

Gerard Keaye is living with Gertrude Robinson and calling her "GG", and she's calling him her grandson.

Let me say that again:

Gerard Keay, descendent of Friend-of-Jonah Magnus (and finder of books that eventually were stolen by Jonah that may or may not have eventually became what we now know as Leitners) Albrect von Closen, lives with Gertrude Robinson, whose TMA counterpart was the head archivist of the Magnust Institute, and the Archivist, Avatar of the Eye. And calls her "GG." And she calls him her grandson.

Do you seriously believe for even a second that he was telling the truth about not having had much experience or remembering much about the Magnus Institute?

Do you honestly think for a second that those two are actually grandmother and grandson, even by adoption, and that this isn't just a cover? (Didn't they pull this same shit/ let people assume they were related in TMA, too?)

Like here I am smacking myself because I missed the very obvious fact that "there were no survivors"--in reference to the fire at the Magnus Institute--1) may not even be true for all we know (this is the fucking Magnus Institute, ffs), and 2) even if it is true, only means that nobody who was in the building at the time of the fire survived; it does not mean that everybody who worked for the Institute died.

So here's what I'm thinking: Gerry was absolutely part of the Gifted Kids program. Gertrude was an employee at the Institute. Maybe she was directly involved with the Gifted Kids program, or maybe she was Head Archivist again, but somehow had some involvement, even just tangentially, with the Gifted Kids program, or via some other circumstances ended up getting to know Gerry. Or maybe Gerry ending up with her was just pure dumb luck on his part.

Maybe she and Gerry survived the fire (maybe they were two of the very few, or were the only survivors?) And Gertrude took Gerry in after the fact.

Or maybe the Gifted Kids Program was like....exactly the kind of Bad News (tm) that I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking it was, and Gertrude had enough of a conscious that she grabbed Gerry and fucking ran, and so they weren't even there when the fire happened?

Or, wait, like....

What if the fire was a smokescreen to distract from her grabbing Gerry and running, or was to cover up any evidence of their existence or something so they could go into hiding?

What if Gerry isn't Gertrude's only "grandkid"?

The timeline absolutely does not line up for her to have been one of Gertrude's "grandkids," I'm acknowledging this here and now, because by 1999, when the fire happened, Agnes should have been in her 40's. But we also don't know how different the timeline is in the TMAGP universe or how long the Magnus Institute might have been running this "Gifted Kid Program", or what it involved, or what they would have considered "Gifted" in the context of what they were all about. So like...what if?

And if that's the case, who else might be Gertrude's "grandchildren" that we might recognize?

[dailyoyo]

Non Exhaustive list of claims me and pseud havemade about yoyo. do we even believe all of these things in our headcanons? Good quaestion

yoyo once ran a "cringe art" blog very briefly but all he put on it was his own childhood art, without specifying it was his?

yoyo has a bucket list which includes things like "convince a straight person they're actually closeted gay" and "commit perjury"

yoyo likes to follow tutorials its enriching for him

yoyo has his own pirate radio station that roboy helps him run under the moniker of "Undergraduate C". he plays nothing but meme shit and stuff that is straight up unlistenable

yoyo thinks he is a hollow shell of a person with masks upon masks where an identity should be

yoyo, if asked if he thinks people can be born evil, will answer "lol yeah, because i was!" it's hard to say if he's being ironic or not

yoyo would die if he went to the house on ash tree lane because he would do goofy tricks in the hallway and grind down the spiral staircase only to fall off and careen into the abyss

paradox!yoyo is shorter than yoyo's official canon height because it's disturbing for yoyo to only be an inch smaller than me

yoyo just gets real scared when he smokes weed. but this doesnt stop him?

yoyo is a prolific trollfic author with unreadable writings under dozens of pseudonyms for dozens of fandoms

yoyo had a brief stint as a member of poison jam under a different name and identity but he got booted out for consistently ruining movie night with his intentionally frustrating mockbuster choices

yoyo has attempted to join every single gang in tokyo-to and the ggs were his last pick

yoyo eventually picks up it/its pronouns in a mental illness kind of way

yoyo is worse at video games than pots is

yoyo would be really good at among us except everyone just automatically votes him imposter by default so he cant even play properly

yoyo regrets nothing

paradox!yoyo, if confronted with an alternate universe version of himself, would immediately tell them to kill themself

yoyo would honestly probably be a lot less fucked in the head once he's PAST THE DIRE AGE OF SIXTEEN YEARS OLD

yoyo has like one of those bootleg-ass 52-in-one fake game consoles. bastion of his childhood

yoyo often gets mistaken for being younger than he is and this is something he actively weaponizes

yoyo makes up a new backstory every time you ask where he's from

yoyo accepted at the tender age of 12 that he does not have a future and so he should just fuck around as much as possible since hes like doomed anyway

yoyo's hoodie is actually embroidered, which he did himself by hand

yoyo has a lot of really strong feelings about art in all its myriad of forms but good luck getting him to talk about it genuinely instead of saying some dumb bullshit

yoyo made a lot of jokes about himself being super suspicious and Totally Not A Rival Gang Spy Who's Gonna Betray The GGs when he joined because he thought it was funny. the only reason he was allowed to be in the gang at all despite this is because he made such a poor showing trying to prove himself to corn gum and roboy that they were internally like "if we turn him away i think he's going to straight up die out there."

[strxbrymochi]

chapter 11. tequila shots anyone?

masterlist • previous • next

synopsis: when jeno took over his family’s empire, yn was the last person he expected to see given their past. now, she’s in a relationship with one of his best friends, and he’s left wondering about “what could have been”. surely working together wouldn’t revive any unspoken thoughts. right?

word count: 1.5k

well that was awkward... YEET GG

you make your way inside jongwu's house. the loud music fills your eardrums and the flashing lights cause you to squint a little bit as you make your way through the sea of people to find your friends. it looks the same, well, for what it was worth at least. his parties definitely had a big level up from the last one you've attended.

right. the last party you attended. before you decided to move to new york and do whatever you can to escape the embarrassment of being rejected by your. best friend. i mean, who were you kidding? you were best friends for goodness sake. but a small part of you hoped you'd get the fairytale ending like most stories where they say yes.

whatever, now's not the time to think about that night. you have a boyfriend now and a stable job that just so happens to be for that same boy you've tried to avoid for the past 3 years. speaking of boyfriend, mark has really been ghosting you and a sick feeling went straight to your stomach thinking about it.

you close your eyes and shake those thoughts aside. you trusted him. tonight you were going to let loose, have fun. when's the last time you got to do that anyways?

"YO YN YOU'RE BACK!"

you turn to the source of the voice and see donghyuck approach you with a red cup in hand. behind him, jeno and renjun follow. it was weird seeing him in more casual clothing after only seeing him in suits at work. not that you've never seen him in casual clothing, you thought but quickly shove aside any thoughts and smile at the boys in front of you.

"hey guys," you say, flashing them a smile. "have you seen my friends anywhere?"

the boys shake their heads and you nod, looking around. great, you think to yourself.

"it's nice to see you here yn, it's been a while huh since we all got together." renjun says, smiling at you.

"yea, it's nice to see you guys are all doing great!" you mirror back.

"well, we'll let you go find your friends. see ya around yn!" renjun says, and he drags donghyuck by the arm who in the span of that short conversation was already taking up shots in the next table with a couple of other people from your university before you had moved to new york.

you start looking around for your friends when you hear a "did you want me to stay with you til you found them?"

you turn to see jeno standing beside you, hand rubbing his neck. he looked almost... nervous?

"it's just... i remember how anxious you get at parties or big gatherings like this and well, i didn't want you to be alone or i don't know... i'm kind of rambling right now, maybe i've had a little too drink." he says, showing you a small smile.

he remembered. "thanks for the offer, but i think your friends over there need the help more" you say, nodding behind him where donghyuck had started an imaginary performance on the table with chenle beside him and renjun trying to get the two of them to get down before someone fell.

he sighs a small chuckle before looking at you again. "are you sure? i'm sure renjun-"

you stop him. "jeno, it's fine. go to your friends." you say with a reassuring smile.

"okay. if you say so." he says before running off to his friends to help renjun.

----------------------------

"and that's another win for yn!" rinji shouts over the loud music.

"seokwoo i swear when are you gonna get it in your head that i'm better at beer pong than you are." you say laughing.

"ONE MORE GAME PLEASE" seokwoo whines from the opposite end of the table.

"man are you sure?" dongju laughs beside him. "you're pretty gone."

"I CANT LOSE." seokwoo says, reaching over to the vodka bottle behind him to start filling up cups for another round.

"WAIT VODKA? ARE YOU SURE?" brie asks him panicked.

"the beer was a practice run, we're doing the real game now" seokwoo says, with dongju and rinji laughing along with him and start helping setting up the cups.

"it'll be fine brie, you don't have to drink if you don't want to," you assure her. "and anyways, we'll beat seokwoo again so don't worry" you say, laughing.

"beer pong without me? really, i'm kind of offended."

you freeze, you know that voice. you turn and you're met face to face with that smile. his smile.

"MARK?? y-you're here"

"hi baby, i missed you too and yes, i'm here." his arms wide open and you run towards him.

"why didn't you reply to my messages" you say into his chest, hugging him a lot tighter as if he would slip away if you let go.

"well, first it was the client but it wouldn't really be a surprise if i had told you my plans would it? i knew if i spoke to you i wouldn't help telling you so i just turned off my phone til i got here. that was a pretty long flight too in my defense." he says.

you smile. honestly you didn't care, you were more happy he was finally here with you.

"okay yn back off we want to say hi to mark too." you hear seokwoo say behind you.

you sniff and let mark go to say hi to his friends. "whats up dude? it's been a while."

"so i don't want to ruin the moment but... does mark know about jeno?" brie asks quietly beside you.

you shake your head. "nope, all he knows is that we were friends and we drifted apart." you say, smiling looking at mark reunite with his uni friends.

"YO, MARK? IS THAT YOU?"

the next thing you know the dreamies make their way to your group of friends.

mark stands to greet them. "yo donghyuck it's been a while!" he says, hugging his friend.

"renjun, jeno, jaemin, nice to see you boys. i hear you're all doing great now hey. big names in the business now are we?"

"well, if you don't say yourself" renjun says laughing. "it's nice to see you again hyung"

"and you two, chenle and jisung right? i don't know if you remember me," mark says addressing the two younnger men, adding a small chuckle to lighten the awkwardness.

"no hyung we've met! it's nice to see you again" jisung says smiling.

"so what brings you back to seoul hyung? i thought you were thriving in canada? or was it new york? or is this for vacation?" chenle asks mark.

"i'm here visiting, my girlfriend recently moved back so i thought i'd surprise her."

"awww hyung that's so sweet! can we meet her?" jaemin asks.

you watch mark talk to his friends and you find yourself flash a small smile. you completely forgot mark was friends with the dreamies before he moved to new york for work. by then you already had been there for a year.

"HEY YN EYES ON THE GAME OR ILL BEAT YOU THIS TIME" seokwoo shouts across the table, bringing you back to reality.

"in your dreams loser." you say, smirking, shooting another shot right in the center. "drink up."

seokwoo groans, downing the shot. but your victory is short lived when you hear your name being called. "yn can you come here for a minute?"

you get brie to take over your side as you make your way to mark still talking to the dreamies.

you show a small smile as you stand beside mark. "wait, yn? what are you doing here?" donghyuck asks, confused.

"yn noona did you hear! mark hyung has a girlfriend!" jisung says, all giddy. you and mark both fight a small laugh.

"uh guys, well here, meet my girlfriend, yn" mark says. you smile and give a small wave. that smile suddenly turns to small laughter looking at the reactions of all of the dreamies staring at you two with mouths open.

"w-wait," chenle starts. "yn is your girlfriend?"

"yup. we met in new york and well thanks to seokwoo." mark says.

you catch donghyuck flash a look at jeno but you couldn't tell what that meant.

"yo, jeno you've been awfully quiet, you okay?" mark asks.

you see jeno blink and for a split second seemed like he just got back brought into reality. he clears his throat and flashes a small smile. "i'm fine hyung, and nice to meet you yn"

"YN HURRY UP YOURE LOSING" you hear dongju shout behind you. "I CANT LOSE MORE MONEY PLEASE SAVE US"

you flash an apologetic smile to mark letting him know you have to go finish up a game. he lets you go and turns back to the dreamies who still don't seem to have processed what just happened.

"they always took beer pong so seriously" he says laughing, trying to get the awkwardness out of the room to no avail.

"ANYWAYS who wants a drink?" he says, ushering them all to the bar.

"hyung. you have so much to tell us." renjun says.

"tequila shots anyone?"

taglist: @n0hyuck @toodleeee

[autumnrory]

it is always so wild to me reading gg fics that were written WHILE it was airing just because like yeah i was watching it i think from season 5 on but we didn't even have internet at my house i mean a good thing probably because me watching that kind of show at age 10 is fine whatever but reading fic at that age would've been bad but yeah like this one was all published after season 4 aired and i'm like yeah this is an entirely alternate universe but you didn't even KNOW what, if anything was ever gonna happen between rory and jess again after he asked her to run away with him and she slept with dean like. hell lorelai and luke had only just had their first kiss you hadn't even seen them as a couple yet it's wild

[chronologicalhomestuck]

karkat pov liveblog: part 10 (i am ditching the act thing for now because i dont want to keep track of that and it has reached the point of being a stupid thing to attempt)

whoops its been a while since i last posted here. graduated highschool, lazed around home to celebrate summer beginning, yknow how it is. when i last posted, karkat had just finished trolling john for the second time, at the point in time when john had just had a poorly timed vriska-induced nap that caused the creation of bec noir. i think i fumbled the cause-and-effect and chronology a bit in that post, but whateverrr the minute details are unimportant. im more interested in seeing what karkat is gonna toss my way next!

looks like jade is his next target of torment.

CG: HI AGAIN, IDIOT. GG: oh nooooooo CG: SO I GUESS TODAY IS FINALLY THE DAY YOU FUCK EVERYTHING UP. GG: >:O CG: IS THERE NOTHING I CAN DO TO CHANGE YOUR MIND?

oh, i saw someone point this out recently i think, but the parallel to calliope and jane's conversation here is pretty obvious

UU: good morning, lovely. ^u^ GG: Why, hellooooooo. UU: so i gUess today is finally the day yoU make everything better. GG: :B! [...] UU: is there nothing i can do to ease yoUr mind?

but back to jade and karkat! based on karkats messages and the timestamp, its the afternoon (13:04) of april 13th (in jade's timezone, at least, not that any of this matters much).

this conversation consists mostly of

karkat trying to contact the other most obviously responsible member of bec noir's creation

jade getting very mad at this guy! she blocked him already!! leave her alone!

jade blocking karkat again after just a few messages back and forth

from karkats pov this is quite funny.

like this is the entirety of this conversation. jade is already tired of him from conversations karkat hasnt had yet, and karkat is not getting off to a great foot!

i wonder if the way blocking works is that ... karkat wasnt blocked bc from his perspective he hadnt been blocked yet?? does that even work? what kinda paradox is this man ok. thats enough lingering on a 2 minute long conversation.

-- ectoBiologist [EB] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] -- EB: karkat!!! EB: hey buddy, you were making me worried there... EB: are you ok? CG: WHAT IN THE NAME OF SWEET GLOBE TICKLING FUCK. CG: EGBERT, I JUST GOT DONE ERUPTING A WHOLE VOLCANO OF MERCILESS FUCK YOU ON THE PRIMITIVE VILLAGE LOCATED SQUARELY ON YOUR CROTCH. CG: ASSUMING THAT'S A SUITABLY TERRIBLE PART OF HUMAN ANATOMY FOR A VILLAGE IN JEOPARDY TO EXIST.

karkat receives a message from john out of nowhere. understandably, he is confused to receive such a caring check-in, given how their last conversation went.

CG: SHUT UP. HOW DARE YOU CONTACT ME WHILE I'M IN THE MIDDLE OF MY BACKWARDS MARCH OF HATE THROUGH YOUR TEDIOUS TIMELINE. EB: oh god, this is not right! EB: you aren't supposed to hate me anymore, you're supposed to be kinda my friend, sorta! EB: when is this? CG: WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHEN IS THIS CG: OK, LET ME JUST CHECK THE UNIVERSAL CLOCK WHICH KEEPS CONSISTENT TIME FOR ALL FRAMES OF REFERENCE AND ALL PLANES OF REALITY. CG: IT'S HALF PAST YOU'RE A MORON. EB: ok, duh! i know that. EB: i mean, how many times have you talked to me before? CG: WE JUST GOT DONE WITH OUR SECOND CONVERSATION. HOW CAN YOU NOT KNOW THIS? EB: AUGH! EB: this isn't good, i need to talk to future you! CG: WHY EB: because it sounds like you're in trouble. EB: i think maybe you are running from jack? CG: OF COURSE WE'RE RUNNING FROM JACK, I JUST GOT DONE FUCKING TELLING YOU THAT.

everyone here is equally frustrated with the inconsistent timelines! karkat took a quick break to yell at jade that was interrupted by her blocking him and followed up by karkat getting these messages from a john looking for a future version of karkat. from karkats pov, these strike me as a bit ominous! obviously theyve already hidden from jack, but john makes it sound like he catches up and finds them. if i were karkat id be getting pretty worried abt what the future holds--not that theres much help in trying to avoid it!

EB: ultimate riddle shit? CG: I CAN TELL THIS CONVERSATION IS GOING TO BE A UTTER FUCKING JOY TO PARTICIPATE IN. CG: I HONESTLY ENVY ANYONE IN THE POSITION OF NOT HAVING TO PUT UP WITH READING IT. CG: BUT YOU ASKED FOR IT, JOHN, SO HERE WE GO. CG: ARE YOU READY EB: no, i just want to talk to future you. :( CG: NO YOU DON'T CG: TAKE IT FROM ME CG: THE GUY IS A BASTARD.

karkat starts attempting to make a point...but then makes the idiots boner of jumping back to troll a john...lets see...over 1500 pages in the past!

CG: SEE THIS IS A CASE IN POINT. EB: what point? CG: THE POINT I WAS JUST MAKING. CG: ABOUT THE ULTIMATE RIDDLE. CG: YOU BLITHERING FECULENT SHITHOLE. [...] EB: so what was the "case in point" you were making, anyway? CG: I WAS SCROLLING BACK AND NOTICED YOU WERE IN THE VEIL. EB: whoa, i am? CG: YEAH DUMBDUMB, YOU'RE TUMBLING AROUND ON A BIG GODDAMN METEOR.

seriously though karkat, what were you trying to achieve with that jump? im starting to think you might just be a bit of a dumbass on top of the shenanigans. maybe take another nap? you could really use the sleep!

EB: hey, i have an idea. EB: why don't you get back to me in a few minutes? EB: i mean like a few minutes of my time, not yours. EB: all of these little pink monkeys are getting way out of line and i have to tend to them. EB: if you message me in a couple minutes, we can continue conversing in a sane, linear fashion for a change! CG: UM, OK?

such a reasonable and logical idea!!! how about you try it?

CG: OK IT'S A FEW MINUTES LATER. CG: LOOK HOW SANE AND LINEAR WE ARE BEING. EB: yeah! CG: OK AWESOME, NOW FUCK YOU AND GOODBYE.

karkat...you strange little boy... how you enchant me.

CG: JOHN EGBERT, YOU HAVE ASSASSINATED MY PATIENCE. CG: ADIOS LOSER. EB: wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EB: get back to me in a couple minutes, ok? CG: SD;LKFJSD;LKFJSDLFKJ; CG: FINE.

SO ASTOUNDED BY THE MERE SUGGESTION OF MAINTAINING LINEARITY!

cmon, karkat, i believe in you! you can do it! keep this up!

you are doing so well bestie.

EB: what happens in our game that's different from yours that makes things go so badly? CG: JACK NOIR. EB: who is jack noir? CG: AN AGENT OF DERSE. CG: WHO FLIPPED OUT AND ROSE TO POWER. CG: HE KILLED YOUR BLACK QUEEN AND KING AND NOW HE'S IN CHARGE. EB: so you didn't have him in your game? CG: NO, WE DID. CG: BUT HE WAS HARMLESS. CG: ACTUALLY, HE WAS AN ALLY, SORT OF.

he stabbed you, karkat. multiple times. but sure, "harmless" is fine.

CG: THE WORST IS YET TO COME. CG: FOR YOU. EB: oh no! EB: what is the worst thing? CG: ALREADY TOLD YOU. EB: dammit!

(psst. john. your sisters god dog is gonna give him some nasty powerups.)

and back we go again. nevermind about being in a reasonable order i guess!

CG: I KEEP SCROLLING BACKWARDS THROUGH YOUR ADVENTURE. CG: TRYING TO PIECE TOGETHER HOW YOU BOTCH THIS UP SO BADLY. CG: AND I KEEP FINDING THESE STRIKING POCKETS OF FOOLISHNESS. CG: LIKE WHAT YOU'RE DOING NOW. CG: RIDING YOUR LITTLE RED ROCKET.

for a lot of this, his trolling order isnt even "oh i fucked up and embarrassed myself time to jump back again and start fresh!" its literally just him being a sleep-deprived dumbass jumping to random points he comes across and thinking every single time that for some reason it wont be a fucking nightmare to attempt a conversation with john!

TIMELOOP PARADOX PRANK!!!!

EB: well, we're friends by then, aren't we? EB: or sort of like, uh, reverse anti-mutual friends. CG: WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN. EB: look, you're going to have to face it at some point... EB: that you're learning the meaning of this human emotion called friendship. CG: IS FRIENDSHIP REALLY AN EMOTION? EB: yes, absolutely.

friendship isnt an emotion, fucknuts!

CG: SO GO AHEAD, ASK ME ANYTHING. EB: ok... EB: what's the point of the game. CG: ASK SOMETHING ELSE. CG: ALREADY TOLD YOU THAT. CG: IT WAS THIS WHOLE BIG CONVERSATION WE HAD. EB: augh!

"ask me anything" (asks question) "no not that" teenage boys. am i right.

EB: where are you now? CG: IN THE MEDIUM. CG: A SEPARATE SESSION FROM YOURS. EB: no no, i know that! EB: you already told me. CG: I DID? EB: yes, in your future. CG: DAMMIT.

see karkat? how does it feel?

EB: derse? CG: THE DARK PLANET. CG: PROSPIT'S THE LIGHT ONE NEAR SKAIA. EB: well jeez, how am i supposed to know any of this?? CG: YOU'D PROBABLY FIND OUT SOONER OR LATER FROM YOUR DUMB GRANDMA. CG: BUT BY FUSING WITH THE SPRITE SHE HAS TO WITHHOLD STUFF AND BE MYSTERIOUS AND ALL. CG: TO MAKE YOUR ADVENTURE SEEM MORE "MAAAAAAGICAL!!!!" CG: IT'S INFURIATING

we dont get to see a lot of the trolls' session (compared to the kids', hardly any) and only catch a few glimpses of ... crabdadsprite? karkat sure makes it sound like hes speaking from experience. what sort of secrets did he have to pry from his crabdad? i would love to see his frustration there lmao.

i will give him this, though: hes actually been pretty helpful in this conversation! he gave john a ton of new information and all.

CG: I'M OUT OF HERE. EB: ok, but wait... EB: can you give a message to GC for me? EB: tell her nice try. CG: WHAT CG: WHY WOULD I GIVE HER A MESSAGE FOR YOU CG: DO IT YOURSELF, I'M NOT A RELAY SERVICE. EB: oh, well i thought you'd be cool with it since you asked me to give her a message for you last time. EB: but whatever.

"last time" being in karkat's future, i suppose.

CG: I FIND THAT HIGHLY IMPLAUSIBLE. CG: I'M NOT FALLING FOR ANY MORE OF YOUR HUMAN PRANKS. CG: "NICE TRY" JOHN CG: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

and on to the next conversation, where important discussions on con air are taking place:

EB: no, it's about these criminals on a runaway plane, and they've got to be stopped by nick cage and john cusack together as a team. CG: OH. CG: OK, THAT ACTUALLY SOUNDS PRETTY GOOD I GUESS. EB: it is sweet, so sweet, you would probably like it. CG: I'VE HEARD OF JOHN CUSACK I THINK. CG: WASN'T HE IN SERENDIPITY? CG: THAT WAS PRETTY GREAT FOR A HUMAN FLICK.

isnt it lovely, this disease called friendship?

EB: hahaha, oh man, that sucked so bad! CG: OK I DON'T SEE HOW WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BECOMING FRIENDS IF YOU RECOIL FROM MY OLIVE BRANCH LIKE I'M WIGGLING A GNARLED TREE MONSTER'S DICK IN YOUR DIRECTION.

... and thus the blossoming friendship collapses like a house of cards.

EB: well, i've got one of your godly players helping me now, so we can't be in such bad shape. CG: WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. EB: GC gave me a map. EB: and showed me a shortcut. CG: WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING. CG: THIS ISN'T WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT DOING AT ALL. CG: HOLD ON LET ME ASK HER ABOUT THIS... EB: ok.

now what could this human egbert be up to?

CG: OK... CG: NOW SHES JUST OVER THERE GIGGLING AT ME LIKE AN IMBECILE. CG: WHAT ARE YOU TWO UP TO, WHY ARE YOU IN CAHOOTS NOW? EB: umm... CG: OW FUCK!!! CG: OK SHE JUST WALKED OVER AND PUNCHED ME. CG: AND SAID IT WAS FROM YOU. EB: uh, sorry i guess?

not totally relevant but pitch johnkatrezi is really funny. can you imagine.

EB: i don't know why you guys are doing this to yourselves. EB: all this time jackassery, it's giving me a headache.

now that is exactly what i have been saying!

CG: OK IF YOU TALK TO HER AGAIN WHEN SHE TRIES HATCHING MORE PLANS GIVE HER A MESSAGE INTO THE PAST FOR ME. EB: ok.

now karkat...didnt you JUST say you would NEVER resort to relaying a message through john? i think you might need a good nights sleep! that month of no sleep really explains just about everything he does throughout this backwards convoluted trolling quest.

CG: TELL HER TO POLISH MY HEAVING BONE BULGE AND SET A TABLE FOR FUCKING TWO ON IT. CG: ITS FOR OUR CANDLE LIGHT HATE DATE.

the idea of a candlelight hate date is so fucking funny. i think one of those candles just might get used as a weapon.

EB: oh, did you talk to jade yet? CG: JADE, WHAT WHY WOULD I WANT TO TALK TO HER? EB: ummm, that's what you said you wanted to do last time you talked to me, i dunno. CG: OH DAMMIT. CG: ARE YOU SURE?

oh shit, is the timeline extension busted? i think we already saw that conversation, is it not supposed to happen yet? if i figure out the proper chronology, ill come back and edit this or something! whatever.

EB: but next time you talk to me, you might want to tell me to calm down first so i don't just block you.

lets see how that goes...

CG: HEY JOHN. CG: CALM THE HELL DOWN. EB: aaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuggghhhhhhhh!!!!!!! EB: how did you find me????? CG: FIND YOU? CG: WHAT DO YOU MEAN. EB: i changed my chum handle to ditch you guys.

so i guess this is one of the first conversations (or THE first?) they have from johns point of view, since john changed his chumhandle when terezi was trolling him a while before the events of the story!

EB: ok, this time i'll believe you that you aren't human. EB: because the skepticism center of my brain is starting to wear kind of thin i guess. EB: but you're still a major asshole and i don't actually want to talk to you, so bye. CG: WAIT. CG: BUT I'M NOT HERE TO TROLL YOU THIS TIME. CG: WE'RE FRIENDS OK? EB: hahahahahaha! EB: oh man, look at this outburst of little human words i'm saying! EB: from my human mouth!

yknow its pretty funny how the dynamic has turned on its head. now karkat is insisting they are friends while john responds more angrily!

CG: IT'S REALLY WEIRD. CG: THIS HUMAN EMOTION YOU CALL FRIENDSHIP. EB: friendship isn't an emotion fucknuts.

karkat- lets be friends and beat this game together john- ermmmmm no!

EB: i'm still not really sold on this friendship thing yet. EB: but i've got to go now and get on with my petty little quests. EB: so talk to you in the future i guess. EB: jerkface.

shouldnt have sent him all that hatemail karkat! look where it got you now!

[dianight]

It's very interesting to see others' perspectives when it comes to pvp, because my own "journey" has been pretty wild.

I used to play a lot of Quake live. For like ~5 years, during 2 of those 8+ hours almost everyday. School -> Quake -> sleep -> repeat 5 days a week, sometimes even on weekends. Eventually reduced the hours and the days; and the breaks where I would not play would get longer and longer. It happens.

Best way to put it, most players would embody might makes right. If player A is better than player B, player A is always right. Many times it was clear who was better, a few times there would be a 1v1 or perhaps a damage competition on team modes. There was a sort of hierarchy where pro players>>>>old q3 players>good players>everyone else.

Pure elitism, and I loved it. I was 15 (?) when I started playing, I got really really good and all these older dudes were impressed. Not like any big event changed how I thought, but over time I realized that way of measuring people is a bit fucked up. I enjoyed playing with many "lower skill" players not to stomp but because we got along. I actually tried to not be as much of an asshole as many others were. Banter and all that hypercompetitive attitude is way behind me now. What these days people call toxic, I suppose.

Later on I played starcraft 2. I had played brood war with my friends, I met a couple semi pros who were friends of a relative of a friend, they were way too good and we were kids who had no idea how to play anything other than big game hunters and turtle. Fun times.

When sc2 released, I played ladder very seriously (terran). Like watch replays and practice and test BOs and all that. My micro was terrible but I understood that what wins games is macro, so I abused mmm and learned how to play mid/late with mech. Learned a couple cheeses, tried a few ideas that were actually really good (blue flame hellion rush vZ was so cool) and played a lot.

The vibes of 1v1 in sc2 where way more honourable(?) compared to quake. GL&HF was literally automatic, to not type it meant that I was the worst kind of imbecile. Sure some people raged at me, but many others would GG into surrender or GG, compliment you and surrender. Very little hatemail, a lot of lovemail.

I was in university at the time, so way less time. After the diablo 3 fiasco, decided blizzard was done and there was no point in being so invested in sc2. Moved on, played other games, more multiplayer coop with friends. And dayz.

For years after I stopped playing dayz, I'd have dreams were it was a factor somehow. Maybe we were in cherno. Maybe there were firefights. Maybe zombies appear. Maybe just some running through woods. Maybe some walking through a road.

According to steam, I played dayz for ~240 hours. It feels like way more. Until then, no other game I'd played combined so many things. It was a survival game, a zombie game. But also a pvp game with other players. But sometimes you'd talk to people so no reason to fight. Also a base building game (with mods). A horror game too. A running simulator, as me and my friends put it.

I got many stories but that'd be too much of a tangent. Point being, I was used to pvp in a controlled enviroment. Maybe ffa, ctf or tdm, even duels in quake. Almost exclusively 1v1 on sc2. And then just open world pvp.

Thing is, I had played a few mmos before. Played metin2 with friends for a bit. Didn't like it much but it's the "playing with friends" part that matters. Tried wow for a bit. Didn't dislike it, but it was boring. The pvp part that I was promised was like, super bad. Back to the elitism of quake. Pve was somehow even worse.

This was around the time when mobas (I'll use this term, very incorrect) were getting massive. Tried dota2, was ok. Tried lol, it was like a kids version. Got a few friends to try dota with me. Good times.

It was around this time when I had some sort of epiphany. This was what "toxic" was. People raging, complaining, insulting each other. For no particular reason. It was somehow new to me. It's one thing to get antagonized because you beat someone in 1v1, or because they are upset you used some cheese, or because you were taunting them (guilty, I was young ok).

But this was a totally new level. I assume most people who've played these games understand.

This might seem exaggeration, or a straight up lie (I don't lie): in ~5000 hours over almost 10 years, I have only raged in 1 game of dota2. We were losing pretty badly and I kept doing my best, but my team could not follow up a single time. I was playing with a friend and I got very frustrated over voice call, but even then I would not think to shout at my teammates. A girl's gotta vent ok?

Anyways, things happen, and me and my friend stopped playing dota (nothing to do with that 1 game, just life). I stayed off pvp games completely, save for ds2/ds3 invasions. It's not pvp in my mind, more like trolling to have some laughs.

So once more, I love hearing/reading about other people's experiences because they are always so different. I find it really cool how others approach these things.

[aledethanlast]

I actually had this exact convo with a friend (hi ben) a few months ago and here's the conclusion we came to: Taylor vs Cecil, no winners.

For maximum funsies lets say Taylor is dropped into the invincible universe with her powers intact post season 1/start of season 2. Initially Taylor would be a little suspicious of...everything, but ultimately this universe does not make a big deal of people of who don't make big deals of themselves, so it's pretty easy for her to go under the radar even with the bugs.

But we're talking stories, not reality, so story will eventually come knocking. Let's say a filler episode plot that should have taken Mark 35 minutes to get done takes Taylor about 15, and the rest is spent clarifying that no, she's not a villain (her cause is undermined by the part where she keeps laughing to herself every time she says this) and was simply in the area.

The episode ends with Mark and Taylor both finding each other weirdly intense/overeager but overall easier to work with than other coworkers they've had. All is well and good...until Cecil shows up.

Things start out cordial enough (Cecil may not be a public figure, but Taylor knows a Director Costa Brown expy when she sees it), and she's quick to promise to stay out of the game unless something big comes up and they need all hands on deck. Back on Bet this would have been basic courtesy from a cape, but here and now it only sets off Cecil's Nolan alarms. In his defense, Taylor is very cagey about her origins. In Taylor's defense, being honest about her origins would have been worse.

Not three minutes later, Taylor overhears via bugs how Cecil uses Mark's guilt to keep him in line, and her own trauma bells start ringing.

It doesn't take Taylor long to realize that while Cecil is by no definition popular, there are very few heroes who don't follow his lead blindly, and the Invincible status quo has no breathing room for her brand of coalition building. There's no need for endbringer protocols or status quo rules when the GG really do have the time to handle whatever.

Her growing proximity to superhero shenanigans will eventually have her running into the Guardians, who would piss her off with their lack of cohesion and unprofessionalism. She would consider allying with them for fights a chore and she wouldn't be able to hide it.

(It should be noted that throughout all this Taylor is just barely calling bullshit on everyone's superhero origin stories. Aliens and lab experiments? Fine. Mad scientists? Weird but close enough to what she knows. Literal demons? Absolutely not. Fuck all of you.)

Mark, meanwhile, comes to connect with Taylor after she calls out his growing unwillingness to extend grace to opponents. She becomes a solid voice alongside Atom Eve's that his trauma and guilt are being taken advantage of, and he can't dismiss her words as plain discomfort with extreme violence because...it's Taylor. Have you met her.

Her big blind spot, however, is Cecil and the GDA. While AE is no fan, and Mark is quickly growing tired of Cecil's shit, they'd both be entirely unable to convince Taylor that the organization is worth preserving, and that courting villainous elements is not worth the time or effort. In Taylor's defense, she's trying to prevent the next potential (possibly magic??? fuck this place) Gold Morning. In Sam and Mark's defense, they still haven't had their first major crossover event and think the status quo can stick indefinitely.

Anyways Taylor ends up shooting a baby again and everything goes to shit.

Hey so, thought exercise, how do you think Taylor would fare if she got dropped into the invincible universe? For the sake of mechanics let's say she literally gets dropped in via doorman portal or something.

So one thing about Invincible is that I think it's setting is protagonist-centric in a way that Worm's isn't. To the extent that Invincible's setting has worldbuilding- worldbuilding that isn't, like, ported in from the books's early association with the confederated Image Comics shared universe- it's worldbuilding that exists to convey the impression of a big-two-flavor universe. Here's our spin on the undersea kingdom, here's the riff on the Martians, here are our riffs on SHIELD, on Gotham, on Themyscira, on 70s blaxploitation-adjacent heroes, and so on. This is the entire ethos underpinning the Guardians of the Globe in particular- piggybacking on pre-existing audience affection for the Justice League to convey that it's a Big Fucking Deal when the guardians get blendered in issue 7.

You have flashbacks demonstrating that there was capital-S Superhero Stuff going on in the seventies and eighties, or as far back as the thirties with Immortal, you create the impression of a status quo, a big pond in which Mark is a little fish. And to Kirkman's credit, some effort clearly went into making sure that the non-Mark capes are sufficiently fleshed out that you can believe that they've got other stuff going on in their lives. But at the end of the day, it's the Invincible universe. You don't see a lot of people talking about the Guarding the Globe spinoff. Many of the most interesting characters- Cecil being a big example here- are interesting because of the ways in which they bounce off Mark specifically, the ways in which he chooses to deal with them. The universe is less of a character in the story the way that Earth Bet is- it's just the place where Mark's story, specifically, is happening. If there's a codified setting bible, I'll eat my hat.

Now of course the world of Worm is, in many ways, equally Taylor-centric, because that's what it means to be the protagonist. But owing in part to the themes of the story, and in part to the sheer number of false-start protagonists Wildbow played around with before settling on Taylor, it's very good at conveying the idea that there are many stories happening in this setting and Taylor's is just the one this particular work happened to focus on. There's an actual point to doing OC worldbuilding for what the superhero scene looks like in Wormverse Denver or Seattle or whatever- whereas you can come up with superhero teams for Invincible-verse Denver, but what actually ties them to that universe? What are you getting out of putting them in Invincible specifically, that you wouldn't get from whipping up a barebones MASKS setting to support your OCs? Anyway. This is a really long way of getting to my real point, which is that I think the question is less "how does Taylor bounce off the Invincible setting" and more "How does Taylor bounce off Invincible the character, around whom the setting orbits even when it pretends not to."

This I'm unsure of, because where do you stick her in his life where you get an interesting dynamic? One thing that's interesting here is that Mark's overall character arc already involves learning a lot of taylorisms- the strategic ruthlessness, the shift from a good-evil dichotomy to a helping-not-helping dichotomy-so what about his arc is going to change if they spend time together? Why would they spend time together? Given the different power levels on display, what would differentiate her, in his experience, from the dozens of filler capes that exist for him at the level of "vague acquaintance?" This is assuming she's active as a cape at all, which she might not be if this is Post-GM. Mutual association through Cecil and the Global Defense Agency might be a hook- maybe they're paying for her new arm or something- but would she latch her cart to Cecil's wagon in the first place, barring some obvious crisis situation? Hard to say. If she's depowered, and present in his life somehow in a civilian context, well, that's a fast-track to not being part of the story anymore either, given how Mark's civilian connections slowly fading away was kind of a quiet plot point.

There's some configuration of these pieces that could be interesting, but I'm not quite sure what they are. Soliciting input here.

[halothief]

millennial culture is never wanting to ask people if they like you/are your friend because you grew up with toxic positivity and hyper-independence culture shoved down your throat, telling you to not give a fuck about other peoples’ opinions because if you do you’re a sad little turnip that is totally unlovable. thoughts?

[newtonsheffield]

Molly I have just realized that we have not seen the first time Anthony and Kate have sex in GG. Since it is still Sunday, in my timezone at least, could we see it perhaps?🌶❤

I don't remember if you have written this already

Can you tell us what their first time was like in the good girls universe?? Sweet or passion filled??

Okay so We've seen this from Tom Sharma's POV but not Kate or Anthony's, but let's take a look.

And I think it was probably both.

Kate couldn't stop thinking about it these days. Some days it was all she could think about, even as his fingers slipped between her legs and her body rocked against him, and all she wanted was more. She'd waited, and waited, for weeks for Anthony to ask if she was ready, and he hadn't. Because he was Anthony, he was sweet, and kind, and so genuinely elated anytime they spent any time together, even more so when he popped back up from under her skirt, a lazy grin on his face, his voice rough as he slipped his tongue against hers filthily, Taste how incredible you are Princess. And it was a little infuriating honestly, because she knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him, but he wouldn't ask for it.

They'd stolen away at lunch, their fingers intertwined as they sat behind the football sheds, his fingertips running little patterns over the tops of her thighs as she sat on his lad, straddling his waist, Anthony' lips lipping at her neck, and apparently, she was done waiting for Anthony to make a move.

"Anthony, honey." He made a questioning noise in the back of his throat, his hips bucking under hers, and she could feel him against her and just the thought of it made her squirm.

"Anthony, I want to have sex." She didn't see any point sugar coating it.

He chuckled against her neck, pulling back to look in her eyes, "Babe, we have sex all the time."

Her eyes fluttered closed, Of course he was being this sweet, "No, Anthony, I know, I said I wasn't ready before but I-"

Anthony's mouth fell open, "Oh! You wanna have like sex."

It was her turn to chuckle, brushing her nose against his. "Only if you're ready. I just... Want to feel really close to you."

Anthony groaned dropping his forehead against hers, "Kate, I'm definitely ready, I just... I don't want you to think you have to do this, I'm so happy with our relationship, and I don't want you to regret this."

Kate had rolled her eyes, "When have you ever been able to make me do anything?"

And so it had been settled, and they'd both known, when he dropped her home that afternoon, knowing her Dad wouldn't be home for a while, knowing Mary had taken edwina to her figure skating lesson, known what they were going upstairs to do.

Heat was already licking at her stomach as she tugged him upstairs, his feet stumbling behind her on the stairs, his eyes glued to her as she dropped her backpack on her desk, shedding her blazer, tension thickening the air around them.

"I don't have any condoms!" Anthony blurted out awkwardly, wincing as he said it.

Kate shrugged, "I do."

He choked a little, stepping closer, "So you've wanted this for a while?"

They were nearly chest to chest, his own backpack abandoned, his hands in his hair. "Yeah."

Anthony let out a sharp exhale. "Why didn't you just ask me?"

Kate laughed, despite herself, "Honestly? Because you're a teenage boy I didn't think I'd have to convince you to shag me."

Anthony shook his head, his hand resting tentatively on her waist, "You definitely, definitely don't."

Kate rolled her eyes, "Okay, maybe you could-"

His lips claimed hers, cutting her off, softly at first, nipping and teasing deepening with every touch, his tongue slipping over hers, comfortable and safe. His hands were tugging at her tie, on the buttons of her shirt tugging it from her shoulders, to join his own already on the floor. Anthony walked her backwards, shedding her skirt, a playful laugh falling from both their lips as they fell back against the mattress, her hips cradling his, bare skin against skin.

"I want to make you feel really good first okay?" his eyes were shining down at her, so much love pouring from them that her heart caught in her throat.

She nodded, her eyes fluttering closed as his fingers slid up her legs slipping between them, a groan rising in her chest as they slipped inside, echoed by Anthony's.

He was so gentle, always, when they tried something for the first time, and she felt it again, her heart stuttering and stammering as he pushed her closer to the edge, his tongue against hers, his teeth tugging at her neck, tension coiling in her stomach and it was all too much as she fell over the edge, her mouth falling open wordlessly.

"So beautiful." His lips brushing hers again softly before he stood, shedding the rest of his clothes.

"They're in the desk drawer." Kate hummed, anxiety suddenly clawing at her stomach, her mind racing. What if she didn't like it? What if she was bad at it? But everything stopped, the second her eyes met his again.

He walked slowly back towards her, his eyes holding hers as she tugged him down to cover her again, his hips slotting against hers.

"Princess if you don't like it, just tell me, and we can stop, okay?" His jaw was clenched as her lips met his neck, sucking a red mark into existence, marking him as hers a little desperately, pride settling in her chest as she nodded.

"I love you." She was already grinding against him, her body screaming at her for more, the heat of his body burning through her, a groan rising in his chest as he cleared his throat.

"I love you so much, Kate."

And then he was there, a startled gasp falling from her lips as he moved tentatively against her, his chest freezing under her fingers, "Are you okay? Do you wanna stop?"

Kate shook her head a little overwhelmed, "Keep going, babe I'm fine, it just kind of... It's a lot."

He nodded, his hips thrusting shallowly against her until she felt like she'd burst, finally, hip to hip, full. The air was tight around them, Anthony's eyes rolling back in his head, his jaw clenched tightly.

"Fucking hell you feel amazing. No one's ever felt like this, kate."

Pressure was building desperately inside her as he stayed still against her, his breathing already laboured, and she couldn't help but grind her hips up. "I need you to move Anthony."

His groan rumbled through her chest, his hips grinding over hers in a wide circle that already had her eyelids fluttering closed, something intense building in her, like she'd never felt before. Anthony's face was flushed, his cheeks red, his hair falling into place as he tilted her hips tentatively the new angle pulling a sharp groan from her, stealing the air from her lungs. She could hear the desperate noises in the back of her throat,, hot and tight and wild, bouncing off the walls joining Anthony's own desperate voice.

Oh my god, Oh my god, Kate, You're so perfect baby, it so good, It's too much

She couldn't breathe as one of his hands slipped between them moving over her, pushing her even closer to the edge,

Let go, princess

She fell apart with a sharp cry shuddering against him his name falling from her lips desperately again and again, Anthony pupils blown wide his hips stuttering erratically, and he fell as well.

The front door slammed shut

"KATIE?! ARE YOU HOME?!" Her Dad's voice broke through the quiet reverie seconds after Anthony collapsed against her.

Panic roared to life in her chest as she pushed firmly on Anthony's chest.

"Honey I love you, but you need to get in the closet."

She tossed him inside, shutting the door on the dopey grin still on his face as she scrambled into her pyjamas from last night, her Dad's footsteps on the landing.

She threw open the door, trying her best to appear casual.

"Hey Dad, what's up?"

His eyes narrowed as he peered into the room, and christ she could smell them in the air. "Nothing." He said softly, awkward silence swelled between them before-"You just screamed though."

FUCK! He'd heard, her father had heard her having sex with her boyfriend. Surely this was how she died. "Oh um, I er fell, stubbed my toe. I'm fine, though, pretty fine, good actually, maybe great."

Her father fixed her with a look of pure disbelief, his eyes scanning the room behind her before he sighed, "Okay." Walking downstairs.

Kate bit back a curse as she slammed the door closed again, humiliation seeping into her chest.

"We're never doing that again."

Anthony's voice called out from the wardrobe.

And really, she just couldn't help herself.

"No, we aren't, next time I'm riding you."

Anthony burst free from the wardrobe, still completely naked, his eyes wide, "Do you have anymore condoms?!"

[jess-the-vampire]

Sooooo whatya think of the new episodeee?

Oh it’s definitely my favorite episode of the series so far, i was having such a good time at every turn. I’m glad i went out of my way to avoid spoilers, cause i was glad to actually be surprised by some elements on first watch.

I think this had by far the best opening for an episode so far, we finally get back to the villians, we meet the coven heads, we get insight on belos’s plans-

and then belos gets constipated, which starts getting into the more character driven lore, which is the best part. You instantly can tell GG and Kiki have some bit of tension between them to be Belo’s favorite, though granted i wonder if hunter is the only one to know belos is cursed and actually just always insists to help belos with his fits to prevent others from seeing them.

Including kiki.

It’s honestly unclear how aware anyone is that belos is cursed, like him eating pailsmans is apparently not something he hides, but like....i feel him being cursed is something that people would know universally if it got out...so i’m left wondering if anyone knows besides hunter.

Regardless, belos turns into a goop monster with an angry side, and i guess his mask doesn’t transform with him compared to the rest of his body so he breaks it again because i guess he goes though masks like crazy.

Hunter turns away in this scene from his outburst and even though he’s masked here i can already tell he’s most likely pained in these scenes. Like he’s probably seen this happen so many times, and i can’t imagine it gets any easier for him, it’s probably awful to watch belos suffer like this for him (Regardless of the abuse)

And to be honest, it seems pretty painful for him, i think this ep seems to at least confirm whatever this thing is that takes over belos’s body.....belos never actually wanted it in the first place. 

Yeah so after Hunter tells belos there’s not enough trees to medicate him anymore, we’re hit with the “UNCLE”. Which, when i first watched it i needed a second to even process the fact they confirmed their relation.

and i was like “CLOSE ENOUGH”, not his kid but uncle still works just fine for me, i’m just happy my assumption they were related actually came to ahead.

And i rewatched this episode a few times, and on second watch i realized more what happened in this scene. Hunter was talking about his interest in wild magic, and making more pailsman to help belos, and some method that could heal him and as soon as belos looked at him he instantly shut down.

He was clearly rambling about wild magic cures for belos because of his interest in it, and then suddenly remembered his uncle hates wild magic and felt super awkward.

It seems highly likely his interest in wild magic came from trying to cure belos and spending a lot of time reading up on the stuff. 

And then we get hit with the whole “Our family is dead because of wild magic” line, which.....i’m curious to know what happened there. But it does at least explain why belos feels how he does, if wild magic both killed his family beside hunter AND cursed him in the first place. We’re just gonna need more info on what exactly happened.

Also while Belos is def abusive and does not treat hunter how he should, this scene actually does read off to me like belos does care about hunter to some degree. If belos is cursed and his curse works in similar ways to how Eda’s curse works, then it’s worth reminding ppl that eda mentions early this season how stress can amplify the curse even more.

And sure enough, belos goes goopy on hunter’s shoulder all of a sudden when he grasps him. Which could be considered a sign of stress and that the idea of hunter dying or being in danger actually does stress him.

You could very much also assume this is just due to his curse not being fully handled and just getting worse, or that belos only cares about hunter for selfish reasons....but i’m not taking anything off the table here.

Belos can still be a shitty uncle, and still care about hunter, these aren’t mutually exclusive traits. But we need more episodes for now on this.

But anyways he asks hunter if he can rely on him, kiki is pissed......and we move on.

So i’m glad luz’s impulsiveness is addressed a ton in this episode, they actually bring up a lot of good points. That luz has no plan, that the time she’s spending here might render moot if she goes back to earth, ect ect.

Hunter even calls her out a lot later for not thinking things through, it’s a whole deal in this episode. I’m glad it was brought up cause it’s actually worth asking a lot of these things.

the set up here works, they actually made a good reason for why a pailsman didn’t bond with her. Speaking of which the adoption thing is cute and i love it, it’s a great idea. The designs are all very cute and fun.

Bump face reveal was a lot for me to process, but i find the idea of his pailsman being a pet that can help with his disabilities a good idea.

Also like, i did find it odd that they got staffs so early because we’ve never seen kids their ages with them before, but i guess it’s a new tradition? Does everyone at hexside now have one?

Honesty not sure why batqueen left the nest there overnight, i meant i guess she assumed they were safe with that shield but in context i dunno why she didn’t take them home after the school day was over.

but whatever, luz stays there overnight hoping  a pailsman will bond with her and GG just kidnapps them cause of pure luck on his part a bunch of pailsman were in a vulnerable spot tonight.

So GG continues to be charming, by whistling the theme song and then being blasted off his ship hilariously, before cockily teleporting himself right back on it seconds later. Like he and luz have great banter, he’s so extra like this it’s so funny, and god he’s so FAST with that staff it’s scary but so awesome.

Yeah so then hand dragon crashes them and i was so excited cause it meant face reveal. Poor dude looked so in pain and then we find out kiki tried to effing murder him because of course she did. But like, i think killing your boss’s nephew is the WORST way to get a promotion tbh.

(Also i got confused for a bit cause his mask has always been drawn as a mask, but now it’s a helmet in this scene for whatever reason but-)

Anyways, face reveal, Like honestly ppl weren’t too far off with their guesses, really the only thing people didn’t get was the tooth gap (That was fair tho, we couldn’t have guessed that). But it did make him even cuter.

like the banter is funny, he licks her hand, she slaps him, he looks SO pissed at her for this mess.

and i guess that outfit is his under armor apparently.

He’s lucky she didn’t run away immediately and followed him, but maybe he assumed she would since she had no where else to go.

Also his expressions in this ep are glorious, these had to be fun to draw.

Also we find out that the coven team members have never seen his face i guess? They just assume he’s a silly kid and are awful to him, so i guess he’s not only the youngest member of the coven but he never really shows his face much.

(”Call your parents”, ha ha.....whose gonna tell them who his uncle is?)

He is however, REALLY good at parkour and he’s fast even without his staff, so he’s well trained alright.

And then they reveal he’s not magical and i was SO happy cause i was so sure something was up when he wasn’t doing magic like the other witches despite his pointy ears. So they outright confirmed what i thought.

Hunter is pretty smart tho, like he can tell luz wouldn’t hurt him and wouldn’t flee so he knows he has the high ground here. Like he might be being a bit of a dick, but to be fair luz has been nothing but a dick to him throughout the whole episode (Everyone in this episode has been a dick to him tbh)

They team up and i get excited cause i love this kinda stuff and it gets more wholesome because hunter is super interested in her magic, he thinks it’s cool and you can tell how much he actually loves wild magic but then again...shuts himself down because of belos making him fear the stuff.

An then because luz asks, he tells her his backstory.

honestly with how this world treats people who aren’t magically powerful, living and growing up in a world that would find you useless sounds....awful. Hunter must be an anomaly around here, human blood or not.

Luz coming here to learn is different then growing up in a world and being the only one with no abilities and no future without them. Belos provides him with magic and a future, it’s no wonder he stays with him despite everything.

the whole “Found me” thing is weird, cause belos implies they’re blood related and hunter makes it sound like belos semi-adopted him. Which....if he did i dunno why “Uncle” and not “Adopted dad”, but ok....guess that’s for later.

Apparently hunter is important for something tho with the “Titan has big plans for me” thing, not sure what, but-

But yeah as soon as Hunter talked about wanting to make his own future and Rascal tried to land on him i knew EXACTLY where this was going, it was so cuteeeeee. The lil birb wanted to be with hunter, that’s so wholesome.

And he’s so terrified because of belos and what wild magic did to him, the poor bab.

But yeah, luz then trusts him with his staff back, because again....impulsive. But hunter does actually ask if she’s sure, so he might as well be asking if she trusts him.

The plan goes ahead, and hunter nearly betrays her.

though granted, hunter never promised her he’d stop and let her take them away, the truce was supposed to last till kiki was stopped and they were gonna fight out who got the pailsman. But it does bother luz cause she was hopeful he was better then this.

But just like he did before, she calls him out and he doesn’t betray her, because he’s ALSO too nice to do it, just like he said she was. He says his name (Which also took a moment to process), and then beats the crap out of kiki while letting luz get away and protecting her like a badass.

He might not have magic, but he’s good at fighting

like he can easily teleport to luz and take the pailsman, but he doesn’t, he lets them get away and luz knows this. Even though she also knows hunter has to go back to the emperor too and they have to separate.

It’s only slightly bitter terms, because in the end he came through for her and she knows it.

honestly, the worst part is i can’t even be mad at hunter for it, i’m sure he was terrified to fail belos. Both because he loves him and doesn’t want him to suffer....but also because of well...being punished. Really says something when his near betrayal doesn’t even make me mad at him, and i can understand why he nearly did it.

He let her go, knowing he’d be in SERIOUS trouble and that it would hurt someone he actually loves, so....ouch.

so yeah at this point i knew rascal wanted him so it was only of matter of what happened next.

Which was, luz getting the wood, which i like more anyway. Eda and King doing this offscreen and coming home like this is actually very funny, and honestly i appreciate the message of it being ok to wait.....means a lot to me.

yeah so belos is like...being an ass, like the kid tried his hardest, you don’t need to hit him with the “Is this the thanks i get?”. He’s a kid and he’s trying to cure you you dick, give him a break he doesn’t remotely have to help you like this.

Also apparently belos has not even told hunter HOW this happened, like...dude. Hunter is trying to be entirely reasonable here and belos spikes at him, which does imply some physical abuse though the only reason hunter doesn’t get a new scar is because he moves.

but how he reacts implies this has happened before, he is bracing for impact and he flinches. It’s pretty sad tbh, especially since hunter loves him and belos’s respect means something to him.

Belos is such an idiot, like c’mon dude, hunter is trying to help you and you don’t listen to him you dick. Kid shouldn’t have to say sorry for anything he did nothing wrong, he was just trying to help.

Anyways, he gloats at kiki (So at the very least she knows what he looks like under the mask), which he deserves a chance to do anyway. So i guess he didn’t rat her out for trying to kill him, personally my guess why is blackmail.....he was gonna hold it over her head to keep her from doing it again and threaten to tell belos.

But kiki quickly tells he LET the pailsman get away since he was the one to fight her (Curse his cute loose hair strand). So i guess now they have dirt on each other, so that’s fun.

His room is adorable, though the med kit by the bed is concerning.

Rascal comes for him and it;s so cute....though you can tell hunter nearly hurts him on instinct because of force of habit, but it’s so cute how he cares and how the birb loves him and is his new staff.

it was well hinted to as well, it’s so subtle, but the bird being cheery, curious, and his constant habit of escaping boundaries was perfect for hunter. He represents what hunter wants to be and why they got matched is done so well, all without explaining anything.

Hunter indirectly stated his deepest wish, to make his own choices, and rascal resonated with that. 

can’t wait to see where this goes.

great ending shot, love me some conflicted shots looking out of windows like trapped birds.

also this title was a pun the whole time i can’t-

[ccfan1999]

Seems more like vague intuition from what ive seen.  And as much as I wish that applied…I don’t think it has for a while now. The “original sin” from the original usm was to bring terrible decompression to the genre and it has stuck in nearly every book not done by someone from before the 2000s.

I mean, given the sheer level of interest in this (the only comic currently in the stands to actually sell out physically across stores leading to them forcing a one comic per person policy)…it seems like its an effective setup to contrast with out of  all the different ways that spidey’s been played with. Well honestly the changes all play into the generally known stuff about spider-man so idk. I mean it’s a pure AU, that’s what those are lol. And idk, I respect you immesnly but it does seem like changing the goalpost. Marvel was pretty open about it being a radically different take, people latched on to the family thing but even in the covers they don’t get that much play, being in 8 out of 18.

Ehh, I mean the ultimate universe as a whole was, hence x-men matching more with the movie astethically (and being changed from its original pitch to make it match further like mystique not being an x-man or wolverine not being an antagonist). Ultimate was thought of as a line first. It did absolutely play into the growing “spider-man is about youth” movement and all. Tho giving bendis some credit, it was during the period where spider-man was a widower in one of the most malgined asm status quos (history does rhyme, doesn’t it), so that perspective isn’t totally wrong, and for its worth he did defend the marriage and spider-man actually getting to age, maybe why he never got to write ASM if I had to take a guess.

I did say from the ground up, as in reinvention. We can debate its merits, and I do agree with nearly all your crticisims mind you, but it was always sold as a radical new take, to the point that seeing how the characters would be different in the ultimate universe was a consistent selling tactic used by it. Tho id say…I don’t think Hulk-Goblin is the worst..i get making him mutated rather than wearing a mask and playing to a David vs goliath imagery with spidey and him, tho I do wonder why the hell they dropped the cape he had in his first two apprences for just purple pants. I guess they had to compensate for ult hulk being grey?

I do think spectacular is better (I mean spectacular is superb overall), but spectacular was also fundamentally an adaptation, ultimate wasn’t as a setting.

The foruth arc was the legacy GG arc, I thought it was the peak of bendis writing norman Osborn overall, as its all downhill from there in either setting. The idea of norman’s sense of ownership over spidey given the changed origin is also a neat play on the responsibility stuff. Kingpin id say was the highlight of the run, both itself and the really good mj id issue. Ock’s arc was the weakest of the initial roster, but its very much above everything that comes afterwards. The angle for kraven is terrible. But the peter/mj and may stuff was pretty good. I guess the next arc over could also count, but that one rushes trough captain stacy’s death way to fast, and then you get to venom which is where usm goes off the rails with only  a few good points afterwards.

And since bendis there’s been 4 well known movie series as well as a super prominent video game series and a bunch of other adaptations. A greater level of base familiarty is kind of expected. If anything this plays a lot with elements that people would be familiar with those, I mean goblin is literally raimi goblin with purple and a different mask.

I dunno I think the sense of life on autopilot and then getting validated that you could do more makes enough sense. And being fair, if peter’s a journalist or photographer he’s already risking his life presumably so its not that big a leap, that and its not like supervillains are presented as an enduring element of this world, neither as superheroes (there’s like, one pre-existing one?) so there’s a lot less frame of reference to make that choice.

It is presented as MJ being in the known, as the next issue previews kinda suggest.

I mean cute is physical attraction.  Soft but still. On the personality side, we see that peter is portrayed as being “responsabile” off how he’s described as a father. Also remember he’s some kind of jourlnaist so there’s still an “exciting” part to draw her in (see how she was presented originally pre-id retcon in the Romita run as finding peter’s photographer job as fun). He also has his sense of humor definitely as shown a few times.

I dunno if id disagree, but my argument is more so that its not that big a leap that it could have happened. Like an easy way is that without spider-man peter would be a bit more perceptive about people rather than having the tendency to hyperfixate on just himself, maybe noticing mj’s façade as that sooner. Or because she’s the first girl that would have hsown interest in him the two hit it off more sooner and then deal with that later.  And being fair, we don’t even know if peter went to ESU since neither he or mj know harry as its directly stated, and if he went gwen was specifically attracted to him initially because he didn’t jump on responding back to her advances. So realistically peter would never have been with her.

And I mean this book is intended to be read with some base pop culture familiarity of it, and given that spider-man is the most popular superhero..it doesn’t seem all that far fetched.

I mean they’re still examples of settings that don’t diverge from a specific point, and they have changes that aren’t exactly logic driven about it.

Earth One was built around being dc’s answer to ultimate, so a pure au reimagining of stuff but “modern”

I said the new 52’s earth two, not the main earth from the new 52 lol. That one was a pure au on the original earth two.

I mean the point seems to be to use it as a drastically different setting from 616 to explore superheroes just starting out as a phenomenon in the 2020s without long established sueperheros. Like Wakanda on the backfoot or the x-men as outcast students without a school to rely on.

By reversal I mean the setting overall being a mirror reversal to the original ultimate. Which is what hickman said was the intent too so like it’s the driving idea behind it.

-the original ultimate tony was a man who wanted to do good with the little time he had left due to having a tumor, the new ultimate tony is a teenager who has all the time in the world left to the point that he’s implied to become kang eventually (also I guess that’s a play on the original ultimate kang being a future sue)

-The original ultimate hulk was a monster ruled entirely by its ID and often used as a pawn in the schemes of people like fury, the new ultimate hulk is a monk who is in specific control of his ID while being the unnoficial second leader of the cabal, both however are some of the most antagonistic ptorayals of hulk  being totally fine with killing and  gray rather than green.

-The original ultimate thor was a hippy where him being a god was put under doubt, the new thor is much more aggressive and he’s introduced specifically as a god, both however cant return to asgard at the point of start of the story.

-The original ultimate reed became a doom like figure ruling over his own “nation” with a feeling of betrayal to the cloest person he had to a friend , facial scarring and being the greater scope villain of ultimate by its conclusion, while the new one is literally using the doom name but is heroic despite never having gained his powers but having a more doom-like personality with colder less warm interactions.

-The original ultimate peter got his powers as 15 and then stayed that way for the whole narrative it being hyperfocused on his role as a young her, with aunt may being especially relevant in his story in a way she wasn’t in 616. Here peter is bitten exactly 20 years later putting emphasis on this greater age (down to the first page being ‘peter parker you aren’t getting any younger’), with aunt may being dead before the story starts and instead uncle ben being a more active participant in the narrative than in 616. Both dela with villains in a similar order so far.

-Ultimate cap is the most jiongistic cap’s ever been as well as being a decidedly less “innocent” cap than his mainstream counterpart while being the core of the setting as everything else happens due to trying to createmore supersoliders. Nu-Ultimate cap exists in a world where the USA doesn’t exist and is presented as a remnant of a more innocent/pure age before the changes to it and being erased from records by the maker apparently.

I mean this IS just a first issue, in a modern genre ruled by decompression.

Because the context the speech is a call to action speech, but of a different sort. Its about inaction , its not using the R word, but rather about not letting it just pass him by. It is a fundamentally different message for a fundamentally different story.

Also the lack of villains kind of plays to it, peter isn’t doing this with that genre/context savvy we have. And being fair he also makes it clear mj/his family is his first priority and that he wont let this get in the way of it, which is an interesting flip on the usual which I am somewhat curious how it’d play long term. His job is also now run by kingpin, so its not like he can do that much there either

I read Ultimate Spider-Man #1 by Hickman

So I checked this out in isolation of the whole event or events leading up to it.

I'm trying to decide if this is a case of false advertising or if it is actually as disappointing as it seemed.

This series was marketed on the grounds of 'come check out a married Spider-Man with kids'. But that was by no means the focus of the story. The focus was upon a) Uncle Ben's grieving Aunt May and b) peter's choice about whether to be Spider-Man or not.

Let me steelman and say, hey, the marketing was exploitative but that isn’t Hickman’s fault.

Honestly, this premise is still rather broken.

Let’s say, for the sake of argument, this universe is identical to 616 except the Maker has strategically meddled with it to avert the existence of superheroes.

Okay…so he made sure Peter’s parents died when he was 15 instead of like a toddler. And also that he wasn’t bitten by the spider. And also that there was no burglar. Couldn’t he have just gotten rid of the spider? Why all the extra stuff? And if he didn’t do anything other than get rid of the spider…why are all those other things different?

Speaking of which how/when/why does Jameson know the Parker family at all? Uncle Ben was a factory worker, he had NOTHING to do with the newspaper business and why would a working class guy like him know a millionaire/billionaire like Jameson? Why would he ever go into that business? Why would the Maker change that at all? If he didn’t change that how could ANY of the changed he made in the timeline ever have resulted in that?

Similarly, why is PETER working for the Bugle? Peter’s interest in photography was specifically in relation to his career as Spider-Man. Yes, he developed something of an interest in it later in life in his 20s, but that was a fleeting thing after he left college. It was never really his long term career goal. Sure, you could say he is working on the science section of the Bugle. But…why? Why wouldn’t he just, you know….go into a scientific field in general? What does the Maker gain from changing that if he was responsible for changing that at all?*

And this, in fact, is a microcosm of how the premise of this story is borked. In a world where Peter Parker

Is an adult

Was not really raised by Uncle Ben and Aunt May because his parents died when he was 15

Never experienced the death of Uncle Ben or Aunt May in his teens

Was never a superhero

HOW exactly is he the character we know and love? The fun of a What If or AU is contrasting the new version to the character we are familiar with. But by rights he should be MASSIVELY different as a person. He wasn’t raised by people who were almost a generation older than his parents. He didn’t have to bear the burden of being a provider or caregiver for his household as a teenager. He never had to cope with the guilt of Uncle Ben’s death. And would he even know the Great Power/Great Responsibility thing considering it was a combination of being RAISED by his aunt and uncle along with Ben’s death that drilled that into him? In this universe neither of those things are factors so if he DOES live by that life lesson how and why would he?

As an extension of that, how and why did he wind up with Mary Jane considering his upbringing combined with his life as Spider-Man were important factors in them falling in love. Mary Jane was attracted to his sense of responsibility, but that sense of responsibility came about due to his upbringing and that upbringing has changed. Not to mention, given her abusive father, knowing Peter was a man who had incredible power (like her father had over her) but used it responsibility was a HUGE aspect of her attraction to him, plus she got turned on by the danger to some extent.

So…how did they hook up? Unless the Maker for some fucking reason decided to make sure MJ’s Dad was a successful author and never touched the booze. But WHY would he do that????????????

And then you have the big one which is…Peter can magically sense he is in fact supposed to be Spider-Man….um…Okay, so, yes, Peter does have a certain belief in destiny because he talked about it maybe being his destiny to be Spider-Man when he was a teenager and even older. But…that was a belief. He questioned it. He never SENSED that about himself. You could argue being Spider-Man is from his POV something he doesn’t have a choice about, but that’s like saying a parent doesn’t have a choice to look after their kids. They do. It’ just that you do not have a choice about it if you feel compelled to be a good person. It was never a magical bullshit thing.

Hickman in this regard and in his general portrayal of Peter is almost making this weird ass nature over nurture argument. That Peter wouldn’t been broadly the same kind of guy we always knew him to be albeit he could commit to a 9/5, a family and be less tightly strung because he doesn’t have the stress of heroism or guilt shit. And I guess he has less of a sense of humour? (Although so does Uncle ben, though he is grieving…although Jonah is a lot more touchey feeley than he should be as well sooooooo….)

But that’s just…lame.

It’s making a mockery of Peter Parker’s struggles in the 616 and most traditional portrayals. His experiences are integral in forming him into who he is as a person. Hickman is arguing that Richard and Mary’s DNA was actually the most important thing in shaping his personality. Unless are we really saying Richard and Mary would’ve been broadly the same kind of parents May and Ben were? They were goddam CIA agents!?

And on top of that…the story is making this BROKEN argument for Peter being a superhero. He feels like he is drifting through life. He feels unfulfilled. Like something is missing. Uh huh…um…what about your kids bro?

If you become a superhero aren’t you going to be potentially exposing your family to danger? Don’t you risk your kids growing up without a father because you get killed, crippled or are generally occupied a lot by being a hero.

Now, to be clear, that situation is A LOT different to 616 Peter who already had great power before meeting MJ. He also started his career at age 15 vs this Peter who’s literally going to learn how to web-swing and fight at age 35! Shit, most people whobecome soldiers, fire fighters or police officers don’t START their careers (with 0 training btw) at age 35! And there is a massive support network for those roles too.

I’m not saying Peter can’t be a superhero and a family man, but I am saying it is morally wrong for him to CHOOSE to turn himself into a superhero when he already is a family man. This is like saying it is okay for a man in his midlife crisis to blow a chunk of the family savings on a sports car or get himself a 20 year old mistress because it will make him a more engaged husband and father.

Basically, this first issue represents a lose-lose scenario from where I am standing. We don’t know much about how this Peter is different. The ways in which he is don’t make sense. The ways in which he is similar don’t make sense. These questions need to be answered BEFORE we get to the premise of the story (Peter choosing to be Spider-Man at age 35 when he is a family man). And the premise itself is unbelievable unless we want to buy into Peter being a selfish asshole, which therefore makes him unlikable in general and very much NOT like the Spidey we know and love.

Basically, this series might as well NOT be about Peter Parker in the first place, but some other guy living through a mid-life crisis by becoming a superhero.

*Are you noticing how I kee coming back to the Maker as a explanation for these changes? I don’t even know if the stuff leading into this spelt out what he was and wasn’t involved with, but that is a big question that should be addressed. Unfortunately it is the ONLY way to explain these changes beyond ‘its just different because it is’. And either way it is lazy and lame as shit.

[missmaxime]

GGs Move in Schedule

Just wanna weigh in on the changes in the schedule, I see a lot of worried posts floating about. You gotta remember that to networks shows are products, they get stacked on the shelves like a supermarket does. Cheap and/or low-quality/or lesser known ones get hidden high up, or at the bottom. Expensive or well-known ones get places on eye-level, or easy to reach places. When the former starts getting more known and starts selling better, prices can go up, and its shelve-space moves to a better place as well. GG’s current slot is not one on eye-level, Sunday night at ten just isn’t. You know what is? Thursday’s at 9. That’s a huge promotion for a show. “But maybe they just try to bump the linear ratings, because it’s mid-tier now?’ It could be a component, but remember that shows are products. Networks sell commercials around certain shows, and ads cost more at 9 on Thursdays (30 seconds could cost up to 250.000 dollars, to give some perspective). It would be foolish to put a show on that slot that you don’t trust to deliver on the viewers, after all, that’s a promise you make to the people buying the ad-space. So why move? While GG’s linear ratings are decent, its streaming ratings are absolutely massive. As you can read in this article. Episode 4x01 scored ratings of 1.87 million in the 18-49 demographic (that the demographic everybody wants, it’s the most marketable) on first broadcasting. But in the following seven days it gained another 1.6 million in delayed and digital viewing, totaling it to almost 3.5 million. If you add in the digital platforms Hulu and NBC’s own platform it adds on 2 million more, getting it to 5.5 million in the first week after viewing. GG scores online the most – it has the ratings, just not solely on TV and not it it’s current slot. And let’s not forget that Good Girls dominated the Netflix streaming chart for Feb 15-21 (when the third season came on) with an astounding 1.08 billion minutes. That’s insane. It makes for a very marketable product, again.  Olympics? The opening ceremony is on July 23rd, so it makes sense that the regular schedule has to be jumbled a bit with all the current shows going on. If you remember from early 2021, the initial air date for GG was supposed to be February 14th, but it got delayed to March 7th. They also had a bit of a delay in production around then, so it’s not surprising that we’re going to have 2x a double episode. After all, these schedules get planned well in advance, and the Olympics is an event we’ve known the date for for a while. The running productions like GG (or any other) could encounter some COVID-setback, pushing the schedule inwards like an accordion if they start later than intended. How about that hiatus? There’s an hiatus between May 16th and June 24th, which isn’t a surprise if you ask me. Currently Law & Order: SVU takes the Thursday slot, and it still has the finale on June 3rd, and Manifest (their lead-in)  has a finale on June 10th. Maybe they want to spread that out a little? I can’t be completely sure, but I can imagine if SVU or Manifest has some production delay they might want to dam that in with a few more weeks in between?  Another thing I saw is that NBC will cover a lot of golf (USGA) in May and June, which will probably be a factor in the change up in schedule as well (after all – product is purchased – the live broadcasting, so they have to broadcast it when it’s scheduled to).  Honestly, I’m pretty excited about the move. Clearly NBC sees something positive in rescheduling GG to the Thursday 9PM slot, if they didn’t feel like it could land it’s an easy move to a later (like Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday 10PM, where current shows have their finale as well in the now-scheduled GG hiatus). I’d agree that it might be a bit of a gamble, but rescheduling kind of always is. You pick something with potential to draw a larger audience (after all, SVU has – on average – 2.5x GGs ratings live) and give it opportunity to grow. I can’t imagine they didn’t survey it – perhaps a large chunk of people said they’d watch it live if it was on an earlier time or other day – justifying its announced promotion. Could it still be cancelled? Well, can’t exactly look in NBCs head. But it kind of depends what this network values most. It’s hard to draw in a younger audience as a TV Network in these days, and GG certainly does that – the bulk of that is just not live/linear. Production-wise it’s a safe choice (Lets hope we don’t get another COVID-wave, but if we do) it’s shot on the Universal lot making it a very controlled environment. If you have any questions, or if it’s unclear please ask! :)

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

That’s a good point!!! It really is the symbiosis of the writing and the acting, and for Blair it really all came together. I think in light of that, it’s also interesting to think about Dan’s reception as a character, mostly because (in my opinion) Penn Badgley was by far the most talented and versatile actor in the male cast and basically the only actor (outside of Leighton, in the right project, and maaybbee Blake) who I could see actually winning an Emmy, yet Dan - for most of the show’s run, at least - was hated. It’s not like Penn Badgley became a significantly better actor since the show ended, either - he was always damn good, but the way Dan was written obviously incensed a lot of people. It’s just been really interesting (and weirdly satisfying, if I’m being honest) to see the way that viewers - and even journalists! - that dismissed Badgley as an actor because of their dislike of Dan flock to him now as Joe Goldberg. It makes me wonder how things could have been with Gossip Girl if they had kept Dan as the central male character, kept giving him weighty emotional arcs regularly, the way they did with Blair… if the writing had been there for him, would the fans have followed?

Yeah, you're right about it all coming together for Blair!! and i do feel the same way about Penn, the way he played Dan was just... idk. there was a lot of heart in there, if that makes sense to say, and he did a really good job at working with the bits of Dan that are contradictory/morally grey....

I agree that it's amazing seeing Penn being successful and praised now!! and honestly, yes, we're back in the territory of that Constance Grady Vox article we pass around here like 20 times every week - the narrative choice to cherish & elevate Chucky traits/values automatically turned Dan, and everything he represented, into something totally different, by virtue of how 180 Dan is to Chuck, and all that. best case scenario, you'd think dan humphrey was naive, average scenario, you'd think dan humphrey was a joke, worst case scenario, you'd think dan deserved every bad thing he got and more, because hey, the universe GG runs in has different morals than the real world, right?

idk, something I hate to see is how fans treated Vanessa, and by extension, Jessica Szohr. i don't think i'm really Jessica's biggest fan for various reasons, but on a recent-ish interview for the Orville in which she'd talked abt being friends with Leight (2018, if i remember right) people flooded the comments of that video with all kinds of rude, disrespectful stuff, going as far as to say that Jessica was "faking" her friendship with Leighton because she was "pathetic" and stuff like that.

I think it's just a big problem of the fandom, and I think it's one of those chicken & egg situations, probably. the show is pretty racist, classist, misogynistic, etc etc in a variety of ways, so it only follows that a large portion of fans - and indeed, the ones who love the show in its entirety, unlike some of us here who love parts of the show and condemn other parts ... it follows that those fans WOULD likely have similar problematic attitudes.

so like..... yeah, maybe! if the show had centred dan, and kept the heart it used to have (sibling relationships, found family, kids who feel like they don't belong, etc etc) it would've probably attracted a different viewer-base, who would've engaged differently.

also.......... they could've done a lot more with Dan than they did. like. Penn is a good enough actor to pull off the kind of absurd plots this show loved to throw around. they could've given him more fun scandals, like, idk.... take some of Serena's scandals and let Dan have those, I guess. i bet Badgley would've done justice to them. yes, i am thinking of that s3 dan/tripp AU that margottenbaum took down a while ago... if you've read it, you know what I mean. if not, don't worry; just imagine the serena/tripp arc with dan/tripp instead. and imagine Badgley acting that out. he would totally ace it, right?

[yenafmd]

sweet like...  — a nam yena playlist

a combination of sexy and fun songs that i think would fit absolutely amazing into calypso’s discography, elevating their already flawless discography to the next tier. the general trend with these songs is just, 2nd gen ggs doing hot girl shit, the girlies these days don’t do it anymore though there is a layer of less out-there fun songs for the girls to party to in this summer too. i just think yena would absolutely eat all of these songs and in some very far parallel universe she would make them her bitch.

i. love dive - ive // ii. poison - secret // iii. joker - dalshabet // iv. no more - uni.t // v. apple pie - fiestar // vi. dr. feel goed - rania // vii. crying - stellar // viii. chewy - d.holic // ix. i (knew it) - sonamoo // x. heart attack - aoa

love dive - ive

this one is probably the biggest deviation from the general tone of the playlist but since the very first second i heard this song... nam yena core. i just think that like some variation of the world yena would be wonyoung levels of 4th gen it girl you know? they just have the exact same levels of iconic. i don’t know love dive is glamour and fun and youthful and i think it fits yena’s vibe and sound really well and if calypso’s was less... calypso (and had debuted more than a decade later) i think this would be a really good direction for them to go in.

poison - secret

the retro song vibe is nothing something i necesarily associate with yena. she just doesn’t suit old glamour very well. she kinda has that face that could never be cast in a period drama cuz this is the face of a woman that knows what an iphone looks like ya know? and also idk yena spends so rejecting tradition and old school things. but poison? she would look so good in that, ugh, she’d just sell the whole concept so well and i think she’d have a lot of fun with it. we all know yena sells that vixen vibe.

joker - dalshabet

a song that’s literally a dick joke? oh come on now! this is made for yena! once in a very far history this was actually part of calypso-adjacent’s discography (rest in piece gal.actic, never forgotten). but yeah this is just raw sex appeal in a way that calypso has dabbled in ocassionally and i think this would be so fun to lean into that and yena would really be feeling her hottest and her sexiest.

no more - uni.t

these girlies... they deserved better, so so so so much better. and i think no more would blend in super well with calypso’s discography? combining their sexier aspects and their (future) summer queens reputation. just something for the girls to party with during the summer time. an underrated banger too, which is also perfectly suitable for calypso. i also can’t stop thinking ab that fancam of uni.t running for their lives behind that camera to get in position, i would love to see yena do that hgdkjfg.

apple pie - fiestar

i think this is the perfect blend of like... quirky and sexy to perhaps suit the more melody day-style of calypso that isn’t appreciated enough but god damn it will i make sure that is appreciated. could yena bake an apple pie without blowing up a kitchen? no dear lord of course not but she would still look hot pretending to do it and isn’t that what really matters? yes it is! i just think she would look hot in a lil apron being an icon!

dr. feel good - rania

this one, she’s one for the history books. ngl this one is largely just for how damn iconic it would be. we love shamelessly sexy song and hot girls in latex fits. i think most of yena‘s enjoyment would genuinely come from the shock factor of the song and i think that is valid. truly, yena’s fun factor is just a scale of how likely that something she will do will give her mom an aneurysm. and oh boy will this song take care of that.

crying - stellar

no but like, forget rollin’, this is the best summer song ever made, no one else is ever topping this. where is her chart reversal? WHERE IS IT? no yeah i think this would be so cute and fun for calypso, just on a more wholesome note than most of their releases? i just have this mental image of how fun this mv would be for all of calypso to film together and have fun playing around with. ...someone bring me calypso members ok please.

chewy - d.holic

the five dollars and a dream music video of this playlist. very much just pure sexual innuendo fun, shameless women embracing their sexuality and feeling good about that i think they honestly deserve. i don’t know i love the concept of yena getting to embrace feeling hot while having fun doing it? i think that’s super important to her. let! yena! have! fun! and! shake! her! ass! while! doing! it!

i (knew it) - sonamoo 

another curveball on this playlist. not very summer-y nor very sexy but idk it has like, a vibe. i think yena sells dramatic heartbreak anthem vibes very well (when after we ride drops, something will shift in the universe, i can feel it). i don’t know this song is more of... it’s an odd one out? but it would be a very nice, fresh take to see calypso take? something like that is sound and vibe wise something i’d like to see yena try, i think she’d enjoy something more lowkey.

heart attack - aoa

no but the original bimbo anthem. yena playing sports gotta be one of my favorit genre’s. i want to see her butcher lacrosse and then do her silly little dance and point at her boobs! the world would be a better place. i love yena being fun and actually showing that on stage and i don’t get to have that very much as yena tends to be very yes queen give us nothing. with this song i can genuinely see her enjoy herself.

[victoriadallonfan]

Well I mean, I think Ward shows that Victoria has some flawed perspectives such as her issues with pedestals, self-harm, and dealing with her feelings on cape culture. She’s not perfect by any means, and she messes up a lot like her handling of Kenzie in some cases or not properly taking care of Tristan.

The fact that she’s ultimately a good person, a heroic person, does not change those struggles she had. Nor does it detract from the fact that her bias against her rapist is well-founded (due to being, well, a rapist).

I think it’s more that… well…

Sorry for the long post below, but I think it’s unfair to say WB didn’t track her character. He did. Her character makes sense and I love her for it. But the issue is far more simple: Glory a Girl was not a fully fledged person in Worm.

Interlude 2 was over 6 years before Ward. He grows and changes as a writer and he was still figuring out perspectives, word count (chapter 1 of Worm was a mere 3k words! That’s puny for WB!), and how interludes should function (again, see interlude 3 for weirdness). He hadn’t even decided if he was going to kill off Taylor yet.

And as much as I love Victoria… let’s be honest. Glory Girl was barely a secondary character in Worm. She had a total of like… 5? Five moments of on-screen time. Maybe 6 if we count her voiceless appearance at the gala fight. 7 if we include her cameo in Leviathan.

And while WB does try to hint at her broader character (she’s smart enough to have college courses, she’s super protective of Vista, she defends Weld against Dennis), the fact remains that she was pretty clearly not important for Wildbow in Worm. He set up seeds for if he wanted to use her as a protagonist like in Guts and Glory down the line, but other than that, the Chicago Wards have more screen time and character exploration that her.

The Chicago Wards! Most people don’t even remember their names! And yet they still have more words to page about them!

The fandom perception of Glory Girl was, essentially, made up whole cloth. This is where bad fanon came in (Victoria beating up people for being ugly, Victoria abusing her aura at school, Victoria not knowing how to fight despite being a cape for 3 years and feared by villains etc etc) and the fandom made her into Emma 2.0. Pushback against this only really happened like a year before Ward came out.

And yeah, of course Victoria in Ward feels different to Glory Girl in Worm. Not only because of in-universe reasons (half of her family dying, being eaten by acid, kidnapped/mutilated/raped, trapped in an asylum for over two years, dealing with therapy, used as a meat shield by Khepri) but out of universe ones too: Wildbow became better at writing characters who feel 3 dimensional and the “Glory Girl” most people thought of was a collective headcanon based on people who only remembered her appearance at the bank job at most, because she was such a minor bit character in Worm.

If Worm had been GG pov, and we had this asshole Skitter running around in the background with a barebones interlude and 5-7 small moments of screen time with tiny hints of her real personality, she would have suffered the same exact fate.

I reread interlude 2 yesterday and noticed more 2011-isms

also personally I feel that the "beautiful" and "gorgeous" dichotomy was invented by the same guys who suck dick and cock