#(like it didnt make it for whatever reason as an weapon to have for the others/available and then it finds its way as nix's blade?)

[violentdevotion]

wait do you have a fav boys character yet ?

i really like butcher but i feel like that's a basic answer and also the wrong answer. in another world id like frenchie but i can't get over how much i hate the actor. I love maeve theres never a moment she's on screen where im thinking get this woman outta here she's always entertaining to me. i like starlight but (and this is probably a bit nasty to say) there's smth a little uncanny valley about her sometimes where when she's talking im not listening but staring at her face trying to see what features throwing me off. I hate ashley but the actress played an insufferable character in jessica jones too and I really appreciate her ability to play The Most annoying woman you know.

centrist answer i like them all (except stormfront. hated her before i even knew she was a nazi. she was on insta live and i was waiting for her to explode and die) but my fave would have to be butcher bc i find im rooting for him the most and constantly justifying his actions. but sometimes karl urbans accent pisses me off. also black noir but he doesn't Do anything so it's hard to have him as a fave bc he's barely there.

[godzexperiment]

Pinprick, being something he swiped before leaving isolation? Is actually really interesting because rationally he didn't need an weapon. He could have very easily ran right on out and never thought about it. Then fall to Earth so suddenly and never spare it an second thought. But Nix spots this celestial, angelic weapon he's probably well aware was likely in the space for not being "good enough" or some reason. And feels drawn to it; plus the fuck you of swiping it. (as well an little safety thing given he's venturing into unknown territory)

And how it becomes an comfort object, valued.

-in his vega!verses he of course doesn't quite have the same impact/impression of it (yet its still such an comfort object and how he almost never is far from it even when he's using it for target practice etc) likely actually favors an different knife for throwing into things (given its literally the only object he has of the past he doesn't remember)

-not fond of anybody else holding/wielding it and would 100% lose his cool if it was out of malice reasons (otherwise he'll just not be the most thrilled but more soft depending) verse wise, it really depends on intent

-the trust & gentleness of somebody who knows nothing about weapons/knives and nix teaching them some basics+trusting them to hold it (or just trust anybody to hold it in general)

-unlikely he'll ever willing misplace or leave it behind somewhere (he also gets so freaked out if can't locate it, dumping his bag out and all that+rummaging his memory for all known locations since he last saw it etc)

[kaisworlds]

ghillie suit wearing reader who is an absolute fucking unit im talking taller than könig okay

top dom male reader x könig

they meet on the battlefield, now könig knew who you were, of course he did, you were the only one on base who towered over him but he didnt expect his ass to get saved by you plus he had a tiny hallway base crush on you.

he was running through the large amount of trees trying to escape the enemies whose amount was gradually increasing behind him. he was out of ammo and used his gun as a weapon up til now. he dodged a few bullets before feeling a wet patch in his shoulder deciding not to look (to avoid the adrenaline from wearing off) he continues running seeing a lake close by he sprints towards it having the idea to hide out until backup arrived for him. the air was knocked out of his lungs as he got tackled to the ground he tries fighting whatever was ontop of him but feels a hand wrap around his mouth glancing up into the shaggy figures eyes

its the same [e/c] he can never seem to stop staring at in the break room

his body immediately relaxes under the weight of your body pressed up against his, the moment doesnt last forever as the yelling of the enemy soldiers grow louder.

still laying on top of him you lean each of your elbows beside his head resting the tip of your gun on a tree trunk quickly firing, every bullet that leaves the muzzle aims like a tracker into someones skull. könig was so caught up in you being on top of him,his mind running wild, not even registering the low whine that leaves the back of his throat as you get up off of him

furrowing your eyebrows at the noise deciding to leave it to the fact that he was....as much as you tried to find another reason you couldnt so instead you asked "könig right?" while grabbing gauze from one ofbthe patches on your ghillie suit before kneeling down beside him. könig nods looking anywhere but your face eyes widening like saucers as you unbuckle his vest "calm down im just going to wrap the wound before it gets dry and sticks to the fabric, is that okay könig?" the way you say his name has him crossing his thighs to hide the boner pressing up against his pants, his shakey hands slowly move up to take off the gear and clothes he has on. 'why are my hands shaking stop it he's gonna think your weird Scheiße' everything he is doing right now seems wrong in his eyes he can feel his heart racing, he has killed people and faced gruesome shit but none phased him as much as this situation right now after what felt like an eternity to him he finally pulled off his undershirt, his chest completely bare for you to see

taking off the head piece of your suit you start wrapping the bandage over the wound hand resting on his chest surprised by his hammering heart just mumbling out a small "its gonna be okay love" not thinking much of it trying to get him to hold still under your touch

he is so happy the veil covers his face, he wouldnt want you seeing how his cheeks lit up like Christmas lights, he continues to sneak glances at your concentrated face.

of course you noticed, did he really think he wasnt obvious? he shouldve caught on by now the way you subtly licked your lips or the way you've been flexing your jawline this entire time. he was too caught up in his thoughts to even think about that though.

thinking about how he felt your bulge on his thigh while you were ontop of him, about how easily you took him down, you could probably pin his hands down without even trying, how hard could you chok- "such a good boy for sitting still" könig snaps out of his thoughts brain barely comprehending what you said, he makes eye contact with you...you're smirking...did you know he liked you?

"how can you be so oblivious" a teasing tone in your voice he just avoids eye contact slowly shrugging the blush now reaching his neck. clicking your tongue you lean in closer to him hand sliping under his veil cupping his jawline "i like you too if i wasnt obvious enough" gently lifting the black clothe covering his face his hand grabbed your wrist, [e/c] eyes bore into his, as he gets lost in them his hand slowly slips off allowing your hand to raise the cloth stopping when it reaches his nose not wanting to push him.

slowly you lean in crashing your lips onto his he immediately kisses back pulling you closer ontop of him before a call comes in through your radio asking if anyone found könig because he wasnt responding, slowly leaning back grabbing your radio "yeah we're by the lake over"

könig lets the veil drape over his blushing face before slowly putring his gear back on

i love him guys :(

[twoduelsabers]

the weakness

summary -> you never saw your master's face, not once, during all the months of training. you think this is all a loyalty test. a way of having the upper hand. your master has his own reasons though.

hurt/comfort

she/her pronouns

content warnings -> swearing, canon typical violence, no use of y/n

a/n -> english is not my first language, but i tried my best :p

she was so frustrated. every attack, every strike she blew, was either getting deflected or doged. she tightened the grip on her twin blades. her master seemed so unaffected by the fight. so casual about it. and when he landed another painful kick to her stomach, she snapped.

qimir didn't see that one coming. he could sense her frustration. anger. and now his back hit the harsh stone, as his acolyte knocked his lightsaber out of his hand. she hit his helmet with her beskar blade. then another time. he let it happen, although all he had to do was to grip her throat with the force. qimir didn't protest when she knocked him down on his back. or when her hands made their way to his helmet.

she had enough of it. she was loyal, skilled, and spent months training under him. she felt an odd rush of adrenaline. power. it felt good. both their chests were heaving. cortosis felt cold under her bare hands, as she pulled it off of his head slowly.

and instead of victory, she felt defeat. instead of content, betrayal. and anger. anger, anger anger.

"qimir..."

her voice was breathless, and it cut through the silence.

"surprise."

was all he said. a smirk, a fucking smirk tugged at the corners of his lips. she got off of him to grab her blades. he summoned his saber. it was all a blur. his smug expression changing to a frown, and her fast movements. her throat felt sore, and she realised she screamed. he promised. he promised he wouldn't betray her like the jedi did.

he didn't offer much resistance, and it fueled her rage further. a few blows, and he was kneeling on the ground, her blades crossing at his neck.

"you're improving."

she was so tempted to cut his throat right then and there. her eyes stung and she tried to blink the tears away, so they won't blur her vision. so they won't blur the face of a man she thought she knew.

"go on, kill me."

of course. of course he was inside her head.

"you promised me! you promised-"

he tilted his head, his dark strands falling over his face.

"i didn't betray you."

so confident. calm. he wasn't qimir. whatever is that he was, he wasn't qimir.

"you didnt- you made me think you cared about me! you made me think i'm not alone, not a monster, not a tool!"

qimir frowned. she wasn't a tool. not now. not during her training with him. he didnt want her to think that she was. the entire ordeal played out different in his head.

"i do care about you."

pause. she almost believed him for a moment. her blades touched his pale skin. but she couldn't make herself do that. the stranger had the face of the man she loved, the dark brown eyes that provided comfort. she couldn't stop the tears falling down her cheeks, and she couldn't stop her weapons from falling to the ground. she couldn't stop herself from falling to her knees.

qimir was a sith. that's what he wanted to be, what he chased after. power. knowledge.

a quiet sob echoed on the shore.

but he will never truly be one. not when she's around. his weakness. a weakness he tried to eliminate many times. but now, he welcomed it.

he pulled her close. wrapped his arms around her defeated form. his weakness. his acolyte. his death.

her.

masterlist

reblogs appreciated<3

[karoochui]

What im hearing is:

Little crow feet outside my window bcs im feeding them- that’s besides the point!

Is there magic??? His shovel looks magic and they look magic

And do give me every detail you are thinking of for the series even if its in the distant future or not that relevant but you want to share

Crows!! Cute!! Also sorry i didnt get to this sooner my laptop BROKE (still broken but usable) and my mom and i have been looking for someone to fix it. Ive been drawing with it sparingly to be careful.

YES there is magic. Of course im still working on this storywise but im getting characters designs n whatnot done right now. Dynamics n stuff. BUT i do have some refs i made before my laptop broke.

I like to draw out certain stuff so that it helps with descriptions in the future; i have the worst memory so it helps to be able to do so. (More beneath cut)

Im so excited for moon's shadow form. Oh my god. Its probably my favorite thing right now.

Fun thing about it is that in this form he can touch you but you cant touch him. Something something you can be cast in shadow but you cant take it off yk? He's still light sensitive like this though, so if the area hes in isn't dark enough or he's hit with anything too bright he just reverts back. At that point he'd just have to rely on normal hand to hand stuff and his sand lol. The shadow form is just better for sneaking and speed. Really, he's some amalgamative idea of the sandman and boogieman. I thought it fit well with his whole "naptime attendant gone wrong" thing.

Sun's design, however, is more like if you mixed a cowboy, wizard, and gravedigger together. I made it a while ago on a whim with no intention behind it but then i ended up thinking "ykw would be so awesome".

The hat dips to cover the crescent side of his face (not intentional on his part) to symbolize his resentment towards moon and how he basically damned him to an hourglass. His eyes are easier to see bc of this which could seem more trusting (eyes are the window to the soul or whatever), but the thing is thats not normal for him (as we know) so it's meant to make him look suspicious and looming to 4th wall viewers. There's also the fact that i just thought it was cool too.

He also doesn't get a second form. Moon's sneaky and weird so i thought it would fit to give him some freaky thing iykwim. Sun, however, is a pretty "in your face" kinda guy, so his look and fight style is more extravagant and boisterous. Lots of swinging amd yelling and boom bang zap! Despite the showiness he's actually a longer range fighter. Mainly because unlike moon, thousands of years ago, he wasn't often one to get violent with his hands. His weapon is just obnoxiously large too though.

They are still one animatronic and their transformation is still triggered by light. Instead of an AI chip though (which is still in there but long dead), they live through the work of a soul. They're still physically inorganic but as far as spiritually they're as close as they're gonna get to being human. Their life and functionailty is derived from the magic itself, not the machinery. Like if for some reason they lost all their magic they'd just drop dead from a battery life long since drained.

The hourglass has a carousel-like design to it purely as reference to moon's level in Help Wanted 2.

Sorry for rambling so much but this is what i've got for you so far! I have a general idea for the plot but im tryna to make it more than what it is rn, so i dont wanna share too much of that just yet in case i change or completely toss away an idea.

[genderkoolaid]

something ive noticed as a very effeminate trans masc that dresses pretty androgynous & has been on hrt for many years is that the status of being a "dangerous man" can and will be placed on you (ime most often by cis white women) whenever expressing any kind of negative feelings. if i told friends of mine - even queer ones - that something they did hurt my feelings or made me upset, i was suddenly a dangerous man or a (man)ipulator or whatever - even if i didn't raise my voice. the very fact that i am unhappy combined with my proximity to manhood makes me a supposed threat in their eyes.

a couple years ago i had a group of cis girl friends. they would constantly pull me into women's bathrooms n such so i wouldn't be left behind saying its fine its fine bc im one of the girls (gender neutral) but then as soon as i was upset about something i was suddenly a dangerous man who needed to stay out of women's spaces,,,, despite the fact that of the 4 of us, the girl who joined after me was the one spreading this shit around my friend group so... how was i encroaching on womens spaces if i was there before her and i was invited in? luckily one of my friends told me that the other two were plotting to kick me out of my friend group on the sole basis of my proximity to manhood so i at least knew why they were suddenly treating me like shit

its just.. i cant understand why people dont think trans mascs and trans men are discriminated against when they literally said it was my "toxic man energy" that made them want me out WHILE ALSO being the ones convincing me to go into womens spaces bc they wanted to go somewhere and didnt wanna have to leave me behind & like i said im extremely effeminate and faggy and also NONBINARY so i dont understand what "man energy" they were talking about other than the fact that im on testosterone and thinking testosterone = man is just transphobic no matter how you try to twist it

but my taking testosterone was never a problem or made me evil or scary when they wanted me to go with them into women-only (&nonbinary too i guess unless youre amab (and they can tell) or been on testosterone for too long) spaces, it was only a problem when they wanted 1. a reason to criticise me relentlessly, borderline bullying or 2. a reason to dismiss any of my concerns or criticisms of their treatment of me

all of that, to me, is transandrophobia point blank. i dont know what else you could call it other than transphobia, but transphobia doesn't address any of the very blatant and obvious connection of how my transness affects their perception of my proximity to manhood and how that affected the situation

God that sucks. I'm sorry you went through that.

You make a very good point. This is why I don't want to define transandrophobia/ATM as just transphobia and misogyny directed at transmascs. I still think transunity theory is a really valuable way of looking at transphobia & its important to me that we are vocal about how masculine tropes are weaponized against trans people by cis people on the regular because of how we are positioned in relation to gender. Too many people think the that the only thing wrong with saying trans people have "dangerous male energy" is that its misgendering. So trans people who choose to associate themselves with manhood are left in the trash by the people who should know best how much being made out to be a Dangerous Male Invader hurts!

[dragonstailbutch]

Hey sorry i am trying to like. find examples of what you mean when you talk about mra stuff and (trans)misogyny in forcemasc content and tumblr search has betrayed me once again, can you explain?

(sorry I normally wouldn't ask but I wanna make sure I'm not perpetuating anything!! Also fucking tumblr search!!! it is ridiculous!)

so ive been sitting on this ask for months since ive got it. i want to do it justice and try to take it at face value that its being honest in asking.

The thing is, theres this trend and a weird amount of effort to be like force femme, to be forceful and like its something to fearful of and give in to. But we cant do that, cause all that does is reinforce the idea that being a man is a toxic thing. I saw this post the other day where a transman talked about like, the whole "raised as a weapon" thing, the violence and horror of being a man and raised that way versus how they felt growng into it as a transman. How they wanted to reclaim that phrase or something? i could be misremembering.

But that was never the intent of forcemasc. It wasnt actually about being a dude, literally *forcing* someone who was unwilling into masculinity, none of the posts that i made that started the community (and yes i, a transfem butch woman, started and made this community and some of yall need to get over yourselves) were ever about that, it was intended to be a soft mimic or even a call to forcefemme.

i was all about making it soft and tender for a reason, cause if i didnt i was only reinforcing the toxic masculinity narrative, "men fighting in the mud" "men are dominant and cool" " to be a man is to be forced into masculinity and to be disgusted with the feminine" or whatever. When masculinity isnt about just men, and being butch isnt just being masculine. masculinity should also be sensitivity, not domination. i wanted it to be better, show a better side of what masculinity could be, what being butch is.

Ive spoken before a bit too, about the tags people used and added to forcemasc, and really maybe i was wrong in ever naming it forcemasc. people used and still use tags like autoandrophilia, autoandrophile, androphile, autogynephilia, androphilia, and autogynephile. Ive seen so many people with urls and tags and posts calling themselves transandrobros, literally calling themselves MRAs, as if that was something to be proud of, as if they dont understand that they arent fighting for their and our rights, they're fighting for cis-mens rights by using those names and terms, not transmascs/transmens rights. I can understand ignorance, but weve talked about how the words you use have history, especially those like the tags i mentioned and androphilia and androphobia and others, all of them have roots in deeeeeeeply misogynistic and transphobic people and history.

Literally all of these are awful and are phrases that arent and wont be reclaimed because theyre history is one of pain and hurting trans people, one of coercive 'help', literal forced detransitioning and reinforcement of MRA and terf narrative that men are both good and the worst creature alive and that to be a woman is to be disgusting and the purest thing all at once. That to be a transwoman is sick and we shouldnt be trusted.

Im trying to be very kind, not scream and rage, not because i dont desperately want to, but because if i do, as a butch transwoman, ESPECIALLY cause i claim being butch, people wont listen to me no matter how much of what i say is meaningful. one of the reasons why im doing this NO, instead of in anothr day or two, is that im coming to terms with the fact that the situation will just get qorse, not better without words.

Part of why im still sane is that ive gotten a couple asks here and there about how my posts and creation of the community has helped them and its so wonderful to see that, genuinely so amazing to see people recontextualize and love themselves. its wonderful and im so fucking happy about it.

i personally made this space so i could love myself, who i am as a trans person and my body, and i knew that other people needed and wanted that for themselves too and i wanted to help, share this love with more people. That to be hairy and chubby and masculine and butch was a nice thing. But to me it feels like it was coerced into being a thing for Men. A thing no longer for me or people like me who share the butch culture and name to no longer enjoy cause people unfamiliar with kink and tran history have decided that masculinity and butchness are the exact same thing. Id say people should go be a bear, but you wont learn their culture either and thats cruel and insulting to bears.

We deserve better You deserve better. Stop falling for the lies and hate. We beg you

[cookii-moon]

ok ok so. I had.i had this thought. And I think it’d be really funny but only in the right situations.

so imagine if Cole could feel vibrations through the earth, right? Since that makes sense, and a lot of animals can do that anyways. but he doesn’t clock it as a master of earth thing. So he thinks it’s just. Like that for everybody.

so imagine he’s like sneaking around with the group, and to them, they’re like, the stealthiest ever!!! But since they’re so close Cole can sort of “hear” the vibrations of their steps so he’s like what the heck guys youre not stealthy at all we’re gonna get our cover blown!!!!! Because. He thinks they’re being really noisy. But really it’s just him that can hear them.

And ofc the others would be sort of like. Dude. We’re not making a single sound!!!, because to them they’re being very quiet, and so it’s sort of shrugged off as just. A Cole thing.

but snakes can also feel vibrations. So when the serpentine come up, imagine if they can ALSO hear the ninja and are just like smh you’re not good at sneaking at all. And obviously they’re really upset about this but also Cole is just taking it as an opportunity to go “i told you so”, the ninja STILL can’t hear their own or eachothers footsteps so they have no clue what’s up, but whatever, we’ll trust Cole!!!!

AND THEN JAY GETS SERPENTINE’D. And for a short while he can ALSO hear vibrations. So he’s like. Really confused before he notices, like wow,,,, I guess I just wasn’t listening well before!!! And then he realizes he’s becoming a snake, but he doesn’t connect the two until he turns back and suddenly he can’t hear it at all, and so now he’s 100% convinced that actually he was always right and Cole was always wrong and that no that’s just a serpentine thing.

but see now he’s just confused as to why Cole can feel them, because at that point they aren’t aware that the elemental powers weren’t just their weapons, and Cole’s been feeling them since day 1, but the fangpyre only got released recently and Cole’s been perfectly normal for the entire time he’s known him so like, he’s definitely not bitten or anything, so now he’s trying to argue with Cole that, no, they’re not loud, they’re being very stealthy, that’s just a serpentine thing and APPARENTLY also a Cole thing, no he does not know how they’re connected, and ALSO that Cole was JUST as loud as the others and he knows that because he could feel Cole’s footsteps too for a short time so he has ZERO right to bother Jay about it.

And like eventually itd just descends into a feud between Cole and Jay on whether theyre good at sneaking or not and the others just. Don’t even know at this point. They can’t be bothered. And then obviously they’ve found out Zane is a nindroid, so he can measure seismic and acoustic sounds, so he’d literally be able to tell, except he couldn’t be bothered getting involved, so the entire argument goes on for several seasons, up until the point where Jay asks Zane to help them figure it out and he’s just like. No that’s just a Cole thing he’s just hearing seismic frequencies lol. And jays just like. “WELL WHY DIDNT YOU TELL US THAT EARLIER?????”

And like at this point they would know about their powers so Cole would be forced to admit that no, he wasn’t right, he can just hear seismic frequencies, and by some chance, the very first villains they faced were serpentine who can also hear seismic frequencies, but for completely unrelated reasons. But he doesn’t want to admit that he’s been wrong for several years, so instead he’s decided that actually he was technically right and they weren’t stealthy during the serpentine fighting era because the serpentine COULD feel the vibrations thus making them not stealthy.

the others have decided that this is the best they’re ever going to get.

[ramons-elevator]

I just wanna take the time to list the fucking bugs on the QSMP because they range from mildly inconvenient to this has changed history forever and they are the weirdest fucking bugs

Broken hearts: this is the bug of when people log in, it shows half of their hearts just being blacked out and it take someone smacking you to get them back. Its very funny when an egg or someone randomly goes "hey hit me". Honorary mention is when someone gets withered and the withered hearts stay. Very angsty I love.

Broken voice: this is many things, but mainly when someone has to deafen and undeafen when someone relogs. It was a big problem in early days because people didnt know and it was annoying, but now its just common knowledge.

Sweeping edge: Me and my homies hate this bug. Basically it was a line of code in one of the mods that got bugged and instead of sweeping edge dealing 0.5 of the damage of a hit, it would deal 5 time more. For example, when Etoiles and Bad were testing it out, Pomme hit Bad with a weapon and it killed Etoiles who was next to Bad. This is more than likely the cause of deaths for Tilin and Juanaflippa. Im glad it got fixed, but it still installs fear into OG islanders to this day.

Dorime bug: The funniest and stupidest bug of all. Dorime randomly playing out of nowhere and the only way to get it to stop is to turn musicbox noises on and off. It happens enough that people usually have their musicbox noises turned off at all times

Sound bug: Sounds be loud. Even from hundreds of blocks away. This is elevator sounds, monster/demon sounds, camera sounds, etc. Its normal at this point, but it sometimes freaks people out and think admins are fucking with them.

Dapper's flying hammer bug: A recent bug, but when Dapper and someone fight and Dapper hits them with their hammer, they start flying indefinitely or until they relog. The first time this happened was fucking insane because it was Dapper and Ramon doing their usual fighting and then Ramon started flying away. Fit, Bad, and Dapper all had no idea what to do and were all freaking out/crying laughing.

Ramon's duping bug: A bug that's been fixed, but Ramon figured out that if you sling shot something in a certain way (I think it was in the Copacabana ocean?) it would dupe a whole stack of whatever was shot. This also lead to Ramon and Fit figuring out that if you sling shot a waystone, it fucking crashes the server. Which led to a day where everyone was using that so they can keep doing Lucky Ducks.

Death bug: This is when someone has the visual of "0.0/100.0 Time left 00:00:00" stuck on their screen. Usually leads to someone BEGGING someone to let them kill them. Pretty funny and dumb.

Eggs being tall: Aka eggs models not loading for people. It usually makes people try to roleplay their way out and being scared of tall eggs. I.E. "Tall Richas isnt real" or Cellbit screaming in horror in purgatory when the lil eye guy model wasnt loading and saying the castle is haunted.

Teleport bug: Not very common, but some times if someone is trying to use their warpstone, they particles start to fly around them and they dont stop until the person lets go of the warpstone. This can make a wall of purple particles around someone.

Egg names: This is a very early "bug". In the beginning, in order for the parents to name their egg, they had to right click their eggs and name them. This made people accidentally name their eggs stuff like "eee" or "Wwww". Also other parents naming other eggs other names (Mariana named Leo "shit" and Foolish named Juana "Marianaisabitchjr"). On the first day, for some reason, everyone was named "TILIN" for like 5 minutes. This 'bug' also got the iconic clip of Phil right clicking on the OG code and he got a chance to name it and it freaked him out.

Im pretty sure there's a lot more, but I love how insanely modded server has the weirdest bugs known to man. Feel free to add any you remember.

[lazyveran]

ask about your arranged marriage au you say >:) :evil_hand_rub:

So. to begin with. Why and How is this what happened? is it a postwar diplomatic treaty thing, and Zuko is already too married to Mai to be the one wed? How much Hell did Azula and Katara put whoever suggested it through, and how did it end up happening anyways? What were each of the girls up to prior to the engagement? how do they feel about it? What does the world look like at the time of this AU, both in terms of the big worldwide stuff and the roles and relationships between the Gaang, whatever side characters are around, and their political positions? Be warned: highly likely that I will continue to enquire

you have unleashed the most self indulgent lore dump. thank you so much for asking. my long winded rambles under the cut

the setting of this au has two major changes; aang is never discovered (im so sorry my baby boy) and iroh is a much more active player within the fire nation. essentially, iroh begins consolidating the white lotus almost immediately after azulon's murder. as such, the fire siblings become terribly co-dependant in both ursa and iroh's absence as he's constantly away scheming against ozai. zuko doesnt get burned at 14. he gets burned at 19! and azula kills ozai for it, setting off a domino effect that lands an underprepared iroh on the throne trying to end the 100 years war as per his agreement with the white lotus members (before azula jumped the gun)

the azutara marriage occurs for like 2000 reasons but the main one is that iroh is forced to make several concessions in order to end the war as his ministers are terribly pro-ozai, thanks to ozai's scheming before azula prematurely offed him, and that the northern water tribe refuses to sign and end the war with the FN, unlike the other nations. azula, having been the princess-general ravaging the earth kingdoms in a five-year long campaign, therefore didnt get to show her face in the water tribes, gets chosen as the one to marry into the southern water tribe. as both a savvy diplomatic move to solidify the peace and to work with said wife towards peace with their sister tribe. iroh has no choice but to agree, and azula as a loyal princess with duty to the throne, also has to agree. (she is terribly, extremely unhappy with this due to ursa-parallel related reasons. and its azula.)

katara is chosen both for her position as the daughter of the chief, and for her prowess as a master bender (to match azula's known reputation). katara herself has been working as a sort of renegade freedom fighter away from the south pole, mostly working against the admiral-prince zuko and his three year campaign against the water tribes. sokka and herself work with an elite team, the black tail wolf pack (extremely indulgent name please forgive me) as guerilla fighters against the fire nation essentially. katara is EXTREMELY unhappy about the marriage alliance that her father has signed her off to, but like azula, her duty to her people and to peace overrides her extreme dislike of the situation.

zuko is the admiral-prince, heir to the throne, burned and shamed by the late firelord ozai, and... marrying toph bei fong. NOW PLEASE hear me out on this. stay with me. as part of the peace agreed by iroh, and the fire nation's precarious position now that expansion and pillaging cant fund their economy, an agreement is made with the earth kingdoms to marry into the wealthiest family in the world. its purely an economic marriage, but since the bei fongs are essentially the only homogenous earth territory ''royals'' that aren't strictly attatched to one kingdom but all of them, and have a daughter to spare, well. their relationship is the funniest to me, they're very much a platonic-married-besties situation. zuko himself is conducting a dreadfully obvious affair with mai, and his siege-weapon of a wife does not care in the slighest. in fact she actively encourages it, as being wife to the heir to the fire nation throne gives her freedom away from her family to be herself. there will be rising tensions between the bei fongs and the fire royals, naturally, as well as toph's own character clashing with the 'no fun allowed' fire nation.

azutara's relationship is an EXTREME slow burn, enemies to enemy-wives to friends to lovers. they're both 20 at the time they're married, but both have been child soldiers for years. azula spends a week acting like an arrogant prat and treating her wife like a peasant through politicking power plays before katara just kicks her ass three times over and azula realises theres actually no power imbalance to play off of. she promptly begins acting like mr darcy. katara has to grapple with the very alien culture of the fire nation and stumbles through all the subtlties of both court and royal life, as well as having to deal with her enemy turned wife and the absolute paradox of a woman that azula is. AND negotiating with her hostile sister tribe into trying to broker peace after a generation of war. i think marrying azula is harder than the whole 'world peace' affair really. they're both miserable and angry and cant understand each other but still see each other

sokka will be an intermitten character, as he becomes a diplomat for the southern water tribe as well as a member of the three nations peace council set up in the wake of the war. im trying to add in suki but im unsure on how, perhaps as another representative or something. ursa will have a plotline and azula will NOT be happy about it at all. iroh is frankly wracked with guilt that in order for peace he has to make the last of his family utterly miserable. all their relationships are complicated and messy and everyone's a little awful

i think a really fun aspect of this au is my odd ideas about azula and gender. azula is, in the eyes of the fire nation, both male AND female. female as a princess, a woman who's royal duties involve marriage and so on. but her status as a master fire bender legally classifies her as male. honestly the fire nation cannot afford to disregard azula on gender lines, since she's the most powerful fire bender on the planet at this point. she's a general in the military too, a traditionally male held role, and so azula herself becomes a grey area in terms of legal gender. as such, azula is technically kataras HUSBAND, not wife. and with that comes all the expectations of a husband over a wife in a royal imperial court. very very indulgent of me i fear

i hope this lore dump/word vomit makes some sort of sense. please feel free to ask more abt this au!!!! i have many many worldbuilding hcs for the fire nation and this au <3333

[its-no-biggie]

okay i just finished rewatching fma brotherhood and can we please talk about how fuckin 15 ed is. like lots of anime protagonists are 15 but ed is *so* 15.

like- he needs to disguise the car so he makes it into a 15 year olds idea of a really cool car, and its so cringe the adults force him to change it. he makes ling a sword and puts a little skull on the handle (for literally no reason except that he presumably thought it would be cool, even though they were in the middle of getting their asses kicked by envy) and then gets defensive when ling calls it lame. he gets riled up unbelievably easily over NOTHING. his fighting style is scrappy- hes experienced but not disciplined, and he'll use whatevers on hand to get the job done. he'll mess around in the middle of a fight, use unnecessarily flashy moves/weapons, and hes just generally a nuisance in combat. he gets really flustered when people insinuate that winry is his girlfriend, and then when he DOES confess to her 2 years later he uses a fucking alchemy metaphor because hes a NERD.

im saying all of this with affection by the way- hes a cringe 15 year old because 15 year olds are cringe! i feel like most of the time these high school age protagonists are basically just adult characters with more naive ideals, or theyre a bit more emotional, or they have "childish" interests. ESPECIALLY with these high stakes action-adventure stories, where the fate of the world is in their hands. but a kid can have the weight of the world on their shoulders and still handle their emotions poorly, act recklessly, goof off at inappropriate times, and generally think and act in a way that adults wouldnt. and still be mature and competent characters! i mean, ed is a GREAT protagonist. he has a full understanding of the stakes and he knows how and when to get serious. but he also does shit like breaking into a secret government laboratory, alone, in the middle of the night, with no plan, and nearly gets himself killed in the process. because hes a reckless kid! and if he HADNT done that, they never would have found out the enemys plan in time!

and its just so perfectly executed- instead of childish traits being sprinkled on top of adult problem solving and emotional regulation, him being 15 informs how he acts all the time! sometimes this is a good thing because he solves problems in a unique way, and sometimes it causes even MORE problems. its a fundamental aspect of his character that contributes to both his strong and weak points.

and my absolute favourite part is that hes still treated like a person worthy of his title and reputation- not only by the adult characters, but by the narrative itself. but he isnt treated like an adult either! the adults around him dont talk down to him, but they also dont have adult expectations of him. theres a whole bit about how the adults shouldnt stand by while the children are on the battlefield- insinuating that while the children are worthy of standing on the battlefield alongside them, they also feel some responsibility to lead them since theyre the adults. which is super reasonable! its probably the best take on adult mentor figures for child main characters ive ever seen.

and yeah theres an argument to be made that it was pretty fucked up of mustang to recruit ed to the military at 12 years old. but he was super upfront with him about what it would entail and didnt force him into it. so watching it as an adult, yeah, its fucked up. but the target audience is kids and thats how kids want to be treated! yeah its a lot of responsibility, but ed knew that going in AND he has a huge support network of trustworthy adults who are looking out for him. hes fine. and hes DEFINITELY better off than most high school age protagonists, who are just sort of thrust into high stakes, life-threatening situations with little guidance. the dynamic is less "you are The Chosen One who will singlehandedly save the world" and more "i mean you certainly have the skills and we really appreciate you working with us but what the fuck is a child doing in the military. who authorized this?? youre going to get yourself killed PLEASE be more careful!" and like. if youre gonna have a show about a 15 year old saving the world, then thats definitely the way to do it.

and what really seals the deal is how pissed ed gets when people treat him like a kid. thats the most 15 year old thing ever! he FEELS like hes being talked down to and disrespected just because hes not given the same expectations and responsibilities as the adults. watching it as a 20 year old im super impressed by the way the adults treat ed, but i can also understand why ed gets so frustrated. its the nature of being a teenager and thinking you can handle more than you can. which really just solidifies how fuckin 15 he is

btw im not saying ed is the only well written teenager in the show. hes just the clearest example- hes so LOUD about who he is and it makes it really easy to talk about his character traits. also hes like my favourite character ever and i just have to talk about him. so like al and the rest are also really convincing kids, and a lot of this stuff kind of applies to all of them! im just talking about ed because i want to lmfao

[graceful-not]

SORRY IM INSANE??????? WHAJT THE FUCK??? I CANT EVEN FOCUS ON WHATEVE NYA AND JAY ARE DOING RIGHT NOW THERE'S ANOTHER FUCKING ZANE???? MY BOY???? EXHO???? DI WE EVER SEE HIM AGAIN??? ISTG IF THEY JUST LEAVE HIM IN THIS LIGHTHOUSE AFTER THIS WHY ARE THEY NOT FREAKING OUT?!?????? HE WAS STUCK HERE THIS WHOLE TIME?? WHY DID DR JULIEN NOT SAY ANYTHING IM INSANE?!?!?? HES SO RUSTED IM. I. ok I actually really like the steampunk vibes VS zanes more modern ones but HUH???? JULIEN JUST LEFT HIM HERE?!?!??? ok good they're fixinyg him up but ????? WHYAT???? I LITERALLY. HUH. HUH SO DOES ZANE HAVE ABROTHER THEN??? IVR NEVRR HEARD OF TJIS GUY WHICH MEANS HE ISNT RLLY IMPORTANT BUT I. THERE ARE SO MABY GODDAMN IMPLICATIONS THIS SHOULD BE SO IMPORTANT I. WHY ARE THEY BRUSHING THIS OFF??? I UUST GOOGLED IT AJD HE WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE AN ARC BUT IT WAS TOO COMPLIXATED SO THEY CUT IT??? WHY ADD HIM??? THE ROLE COULD BE FULFILLED BY TAI-D WHY WOULD YOU GIVE ME TJIS AND THEM RIP IT AWAY FRO ME. IM SO WORKED UP IM DOING THE FLAPPY HAND STIM AND I /NEVER/ DO THE FLAPPY HAND STIM. WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK. IM INSANE ABOUT ECJO?? AND THEN THEY JUST LEAVE HIM??? I DJONT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT NADAKHAN WHRE IS MY BOY? MY SON?? WAS HE JUST IN THE SECRET BASEMENT WHILE JULIEN GREETED THE OG ZANE?!?????? I CAN'T DO THID WHAT THE FUCK. THIS IS SO TRAGIC. WHERE IS HE GIVE HIM BACK TO.ME. WHY WERE THEY ACTING LIKE HES JUST SOME CONVENIENT WEAPON OR TOOL HES A WHOLE ASS PERSON?? LIKE THEYRE SO NONCHALANT ABOUT IT ALL "aww awesome we have another Zane at our disposal!" HES A WHOLR PERSON. HE HAS FEEKINGS??? LIKE HE FEELS THINGS HES NOT JUST A COOL WEAPON??? IF THAT WAS A HUMAN CHILD THEYD HAVE BROUGHT HIM WITH THEM???? I CANT DO THIS WHAT THE FUCK

ECHO ECHO ECHO MY SON IS BACK MY BOY MY SON MY DARLING MY SWEETHEAR COME HERE I NEED TO PICK YOU UP AND KISSYS YOU. he seems. okay with being in there??? has he ever left the lighthouse??????? does he KNOW what's out there??? HE CANT HAVE UNTIL JULIEN LEFT BC OF THE KRAKEN THING SO??? HAS HE EXPLORED SINCE THEN IS THAT WHY HE SEEMS SO CONTENT THERE??? HE DOESNT MIND BEING LEFT THERE?!???? I DONT UNDERTSTAND. HES JUST CHILL. LIKE *salutes* yessir! NO ECHO!! ASJ QUESTIONS!! I LOVE YOU BUT RHAT WHOLE SEQUENCE WAS FOR NO REASON HE ADDS NOTHING TO THE REPLACEMENT NINJA TEAMM. WHY DID THEY GIVE ME THIS WHOLE ASS CHARACTER WITH 300000 IMPLICATIONS AND THEN JUST NOT MAKE HIM RELEVANT AT ALL!! HE DIDNT EVER NEED TO BE THERE I HONESTLY WISH HE DIDNT EXIST BC NOW IM GONNA BE THINKING ABT HIM FOREVER!!! WHAT THE FUCK!!! ZANE WHY ARE YOU CHILL ABOUT HIS EXISTENCE "I see you brought some friends" YOU SHOULD BE FREAKING YOUR SHIT RIGHT NOW!!!! WHAT THE FUCK???? YOUR DAD BUILT THAT DUDE THATS SO FUCKED UP. TJATS UR BROTHER. THATSUR FUCKING BROHTER. AND THEN THEY JUST RESET TIME???? SO HES STILL IN THAT GODDAMN LIGHTHOUSE IM INSANE??? HES STILL IN THERE IS HE FUCKING ALIVE??!???? WHAT??? IS HE OKAY??? IM INSANE IM LITERALLY INSANE. AND UR TELLING ME TJEY NEVER MENTION OR DO ANYTHING WITH HIM AGAIN?!??? IM INSANE ABOUT THIS. IM INSANE. I CANT DO THIS WHAT THEFUCKN????? AUUAUAUAU. WHAT? HUH. WHATA???I need to find contebt of him right nowwhy is it all just shipping with Morro. good for them I guess but I don't CARE about the gay ghost what the FUCK is echos DEAL!!! WHAT IS UP WITH HIM???? ITS LITERALY ALL CITRUSSHIPPING ART WHERE IS ANY SPECULATIVE LORE??? WHAT ABOUT HIM AND ZANE WHATS THEYRE DEAL WHAT IF THEY METM WOULD TJEY BE BROTHERS?? IM HAVING SO MANY THOUGHTS RIGHT NOW. Zane deserves a little bro dude... another one I mean. falcon and Tai-D can be bestfriends. I'm insane I'm fucking insane. I love Morro and all but goddamn that's really all there is here shdbsjdb. it's cute and all but very "what if errytjung was ok and they were alive and we didn't have to worry about canon" but WHAT ABOUT THE OTHERS??? DO JAY ABD NYA JUST NEVER TELL ANYONE?!?!?? THATS A WHOLE ASS SAPIENT BEING??? HES LITERALY CONSCIOUS??? WHAT THE FUCK. YOU LEFT A WHOLE ASS PERSON BEHIND THATS SO FUCKED UP. IM INSANE.

[death-limes]

fuck v*vz*epop, i am the ceo of alastor hazbin

here are some True facts about him, ignore the show it was made by idiots who don’t know him like i do:

-he has ibs (all sexy ppl have ibs in case you didnt know)

-the voodoo stuff is actually just normal demonic magic, but he makes it look like stereotypical voodoo on purpose to take advantage of ppls’ racism and freak them out (in my perfect world he wouldn’t do the voodoo stuff at all, but this list is meant to be canon-compliant)

-he has a tail. 100%. let no one tell you otherwise

-as a Deer Man™ he has the ability — nay, the instinct — to chew his cud. he resists this urge constantly because ick. it’s one of the major contributors to both his anxiety AND his ibs. cmon Al youd be much happier & healthier if u just regurgitated ur food a couple times, its a natural part of ur digestive system

-^^^ regurgitating is a bit different from full-on vomiting, however. he has never properly puked before, in life or in afterlife, and if/when he ever does he develops severe emetophobia. this does not help the aversion to cud-chewing.

-part of why he refuses to show any skin with his clothing choices is bc he has quite a bit of fur, in a distinct pattern all around his body, and it makes him look more animalistic than he would like. notably: he has a mane going down his back, tufts of fur on his shoulders kinda like loona, and his leg fur starts mid-thigh so it looks like he’s wearing thigh high socks

-along with being a weapon, his cane is also a mobility aid. he doesnt ALWAYS need it, and when he does he often uses magic to walk normally bc he doesnt wanna look weak. but if his magic ever fizzles out or something then he’ll use the cane as an actual cane. it’s hell, of course the gout is gonna follow you

-he’s demi but doesn’t know it, since he’s never been close enough with anyone to actually develop those kinds of feelings for them. closest is rosie, but she’s more of a motherly presence. if/when he finally does get close enough to develop ~Intimate Feelings~ for someone, he has a bit of an existential crisis

-as mentioned by fizzypoop or whatever her name is, he does have a moral compass, and part of it is that he only hurts/kills people whom he believes “deserve” it in some way. he justifies his wanton violence in hell by reasoning that, it’s hell, no one there is truly innocent. it is for that reason that a) he doesn’t believe in charlie’s idea, and b) he’s in denial about the fact that some ppl end up in hell bc of s*icide. both of those things imply that there are in fact some people in hell who are not worthy of his wrath.

-he would never admit it willingly, but he has a soft spot for truly innocent/“pure” cinnamon roll type people — not because he wants to corrupt them, but because even he gets tired of all the debauchery sometimes. (again, would never admit it willingly.) he thought of charlie as one of these people when he first met her, but overtime he began to just find her annoying.

this has been true facts about alastor hazbin by the ceo of alastor hazbin. thank you for coming to my tedtalk

[12thbiologist]

I just got into the southern reach trilogy. Have listened to the audiobook of the first book and have now started actually reading it. But anyway, I had a thought. (May contain typos and non sensical statememts written at 00h30

The moaning creature is described in a later book at looking boar-like, right? And we know the Psychologist is able to hyponotise the others into seeing the abnormal things as normal.

When the boar attacks, the phrases 'it's face becoming stranger and stranger... inner torment... its head pulled willfully to the left... great cry of anguish'

And with the moaning creature:

This close the sound was more guttural, filled with confused anguish and rage

...

It was coming so fast, too fast. I could tell I wasn’t going to make it, couldn’t possibly make it, not at that angle... But then the way was clear, and from almost right behind I heard a high keening, and the feeling of the space, the air, suddenly filled, and the sound of something massive trying to brake, trying to change direction, and being pulled into the reeds on the opposite side of the trail by its own momentum.

But anyway, I'm wondering if the boar was maybe the moaning creature but they just couldn't *tell* it was the moaning creature because of prior hypnosis (i know the Psychologist didn't have time during the charge to hypnotise, but surely they had been hypnotised to see things as normal before that? After all, the biologist see the tower as stone until she gets the spores in her face.)

And, if the boar and the moaning creatuee are the same, whether it wasn't her brightness that allowed her to escape the moaning creature but rather it was whatever had caused the 'boar' to veer aside. Just, the imagery of the charges seem so similar to me.

OOH FASCINATING!!!! i have not seen this idea posed anywhere else but i really love it and i think it fits well. the moaning creature is not described as looking boar-like (the biologist never actually sees it), but i dont think that makes this any less viable. the vibes feel EXTREMELY similiar!!

its important to remember that before the biologist is exposed to the brightness, all of her narration and thoughts are completely unreliable and change at the whims of the psychologist. the psychologist can also give commands that are completely forgotten, but still followed. there are a couple times where the biologist thinks things that are completely out of character for her, so its evidence of the psychologist's tampering. i think the situation with the boar could be one of these times! the biologist thinks:

"There was no time for the psychologist to prepare any hypnotic suggestion designed to keep us focused and in control; in fact all she could offer was 'Don't get close to it! Don't let it touch you!'"

which is odd, to me, since it makes it seem like the biologist wanted to be hypnotically suggested AND its just wrong! the psychologist had plenty of time to suggest, the boar was coming towards them for long enough that the anthropologist started giggling. so probably a minute, at least. the psychologist suggests more complicated commands in less time later in the book, and she has no reason to assume it would take longer. so why is the biologist thinking of this?

maybe because the psychologist DID suggest to them, but didnt want them to catch onto the danger of what it actually is and especially didnt want them to open fire and anger it! i'd imagine the command was something like "You see a boar in front of you. You are too afraid to fire any weapons and are intimidated by it. You wish I had commanded you to focus. You won't remember any of this," or something. the psychologist may have had reasons to believe the moaning creature was extremely dangerous/infectious, so she probably wanted to avoid a real combat with it!

as for why the boar veers to the side and why the biologist is able to escape the moaning creature... i'm not sure! what the boar is experiencing sounds a lot like the brightness:

"Inner torment ... I had the startling impression of some presence in the way the gaze seemed turned inward ... A kind of electricity sparked in it's eyes that I could not credit as real."

the moaning creature, presumably, is the transformed form of the man the biologist finds in nasty shell form later on. maybe he was still in the beginning his transformation here (under the boar vision), so he has enough sense to veer away from an expedition team? but thats really just a guess.

i absolutely love this, 100% incorporating it into my canon of the story now. really really good find!!!! welcome to the southern reach fandom, you already found something awesome \o/ !

edit: aha! i was wrong! the moaning creature IS described as looking hog-like, in acceptance! i'll admit, its been a while since i read acceptance so i totally forgot about that. adds even more credence to this!

[feelingthedisaster]

unpopular opinion: piper mclean is the most powerful demigod

not the strongest, not the smartest, not the scariest (even though i'd be scared of her the most if she was real), but the most powerful

let me explain

yeah, percy can make tsunamis and hurracaines, hazel can literally make your weapons and your enviroment against you, nico can raise the dead, they can fight and will win a fight, but the thing is piper doesnt need to do. she doesnt need flashy powers or to even have fights, she can literally control people to do it for her

need a hurracaine? charmspeak percy, he'll do and he cant resist to. need to do anything of insanely amount of things hazel can do bc she is so fcking powerful? piper can charmspeak her into do it if she doesnt want to. need an army? just charmspeak nico into summuning one. you tried to fight piper? she can just charmspeak you into not doing it

the only reason she isnt slaying everyone is because she doesnt want to, she explictly said she doesnt like to have the ability to charmspeak and when isnt extremily nessesary she wont use it, but what if she didnt think that way? what if she charmspeak people into doing basicly whatever she wants?

she has a really really powerful charmspeak, more than other charmspeakers probably and if she would train herself to use it instead of avoiding it, she would be unstoppable.

she could finish wars, start wars. enslave people. make people do everything, and when i say everything i mean everything.

mind-control is one of the most scariest superpowers and the most powerful to have because the powerful people arent the ones with brute force, they are the ones in control

[oflgtfol]

MarvelDC anon x5 sorry im back again I just wanted to say I agree 100% with everything you say and don’t rly have anything to add there that isnt just recycling your points. It’s genuinely fucking crazy how the entire point of the superhero in 90% of cases is that they are vigilantes who operate outside of the legal system and yet so many of them are given plot lines about how the cops or the military are Awesome. Or like will show them buddy buddy with cops or the government. LIKE STOP ITTTT. STOP ITTTTT. And most of the time too it’s for characters where them being hyper connected with the government etc makes their overall story Worse. Ill use flash as an example bc You Know that guy but I LOVE flash I love him as a disabled character struggling w addiction issues for personal reasons BUT HIM LOSING HIS LEGS LIKE SHOOTING PEOPLE IN THE SWANA REGION AND THEN BECOMING A GOVERNMENT GUY IS SO FUCKING ASSSSSSS IT MAKES HIM WORSE AS A CHARACTER AND A PERSON IN A WAY THAT ISNT INTERESTING BECAUSE THEY NEVER SAY ANYTHING INTERESTING ABOUT IT!!!!! Like why the fuck did Flash even become disabled in regard to Going To Commit Imperialism For The U. S. A like NYC gets destroyed on the daily!!!! Have him lose his legs by a building falling on top of him!!!! Im spitballing ideas here but why wasn’t Venom Flash uhhhhhh Him Losing his legs in an event like that, in conjunction with him saving someone else, since this is the era of Symby and Eddie's breakup Symby is slithering along + sees this and helps him out, bc you know they can make their own choices and do what they want and maybe they wanna be a hero too even for a moment, then like maybe a few months later or whatever They Meet again and Symby is like hey….. I felt something when we bonded for that brief time. Im going through something rough too right now (The Divorce) so why don’t we try something new together. AND NOW BOOM. you can have Flash as Venom. Now without the stupid venom as addiction metaphor too! Like if you really fucking want you can include stuff about the government trying to manipulate them or whatever but as a whole this would have been so much better of an angle to start venom flash with but NO that we DIDNT GET Because Of The Military Complex meaning We Cant Ever Have Good Things

i know this is so controversial among the venom fans but like i'm really not that attached to flash lmfao i know nothing about him he's just some guy to me i just know he's so much better than mac gargan cuz by god that was a dark time for venom comics.

so now i'm the one nodding along with you and not adding anything lol. i trust you to come up with a better backstory for him because i literally don't know anything about him beyond the vaguest outline. i don't even know what war he fought in that he lost his legs to i dont know Anything. eddie some little absolute freak to me but flash is just some guy

Like if you really fucking want you can include stuff about the government trying to manipulate them or whatever but as a whole this would have been so much better of an angle to start venom flash with but NO that we DIDNT GET Because Of The Military Complex meaning We Cant Ever Have Good Things

i do have to say though that this is totally how i thought venom 2011 was going to go. the first like, four-ish issues got my hopes up so much. i really honestly thought it was going to be drawing parallels between symby and flash how they are ultimately just tools of the government, just weapons that can be discarded in pushing the military's agenda.

this whole page drove me insane at the time and it still kinda does. the way flash is lying directly to his superior to stay with symby longer despite how much he's been drilled that being with the symbiote too long is a danger. they aren't friends yet this early but there's still this impulse to stick with it. and it's because they're parallels!!! the symbiote is quite literally being treated as a mindless tool by the government - it's deprived of all rights that a sentient, sapient being requires. it's trapped and it's being forced into serving and fighting on behalf of a government that doesn't even care for it. likewise, flash is being given the illusion of choice, and to some extent he still does have a choice, but he's being so manipulated by the government here that really he is also just a mindless tool for them - or at least, they want him to be mindless about it. the final fucking panel at the bottom of the final page is crazy.

it was such a strong start to a run that i was very apprehensive about due to aforementioned lack of knowledge of flash as a character, and my general fed-up-ness with the way the comics had been handling venom and eddie in general during that irl time period. so i was so so hoping that it would be taking a blatant and staunch anti-military stance, or even at the bare minimum if it was even still done in a liberal way, as long as there was still SOME criticism of the military complex i would be jumping for joy. and the idea of flash and symby then also bonding during all that?!! crazy. but then it just kinda. goes off the fucking rails halfway through that run/??? like demons and hell and satan kinda off the rails. absolute bonkers. i need to reread venom 2011 actually i barely remember it it was like a fever dream to me. could have been because i descended into madness shortly after i read it but i digress