#321 nationals

[blairwarbler]

Glee TV Show Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans (+Ryder) Unpublished Wardrobe Tag Photos from Various Episodes

[thorsenmark]

There's Not a Lot of Traffic in Jasper National Park by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the northwest while taking in views of the Maligne River as it flowed by from a roadside pullout along the main road in this part of Jasper National Park. With this image, I attempted to center the river flowing by this forest of evergreen trees, with a backdrop of ridges and peaks of the Medicine Lake Slabs.

[bahrlee]

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Zutarians adultifying Katara and thinking that's "empowerment" (and also outright lying) yet again: https://www.tumblr.com/longing-for-rain/760214836385824768/just-something-i-felt-you-should-know-about-five

The one and only thing I agreed is that at some point Katara is drawn with more, ahem, "developed" body. This started in Book 3, and... I honestly always concidered it to be the bad thing. Not because I'm a prude (although maybe I am), but because I thought the whole deal of main characters were that they are children. They are kids. Of course, a girl at fourteen can have curves - or not have it - the girls are all different, in the end, both of these cases are normal. But Katara is a drawn character, she looks the way the creators want her to look. And the thing that they drew her "pronounced breasts" and "wider hips" never sat right with me, it always irked me. It doesn't look empowering to me, it looks like sexualization, combined with the fact that in Book 3 she is always drawn with partly or completely loose hair, which is not good for battle at all, but looks more aestetically appealing (but that's only my point of view). I prefer her Book 1 and 2 designs any time.

What also irks me is zutarians obsession with "hot, sexy, horny yet naive Katara plus sexy experienced Zuko, the only man who can give her intense sexual pleasure she craves so much" idea. No wonder they cheer when Katara looks older and drool over her "revealing" Fire Nation outfit, it all aligns with their fantasies.

Also, the choise of proof screenshots is hilarious. Three of them are drawn by one studio, the top right one and the final one - by the other. "Wider" or "narrower" eyes are just the result of different drawing styles. For example - the same studio that pictured Katara as "honestly creepy, like a babydoll" draws her in the scenes with Zuko:

https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/cap-that.com/tv/avatar/109/images/avatar-the-last-airbender1x09_1138.jpg https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/cap-that.com/tv/avatar/220/images/avatar-the-last-airbender2x20_0904.jpg https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/cap-that.com/tv/avatar/321/images/avatar3x21_0391.jpg https://www.cap-that.com/avatar/321/index.php?image=avatar3x21_0413.jpg

The necklace scene, the catacombs, the battle against Azula. Same baby face with big eyes. And, dare I mention, in first two seasons her breasts are only slightly hinted at, which doesn't stop zutarians from sexualizing these scenes.

The lenghs they'll go to justify their sexual fantasies... Ew.

I'm gonna be real, Katara wasn't really sexualized by the show. I can only think of two scenes in which I got any kind of fanservice vibe from it (both included her bathing in a waterfall). People are just weird about girls, especially non-white girls, going through puberty, and zutarians in particular want to adultify Katara no matter what to go "See? She's too old for Aang, but not too young for Zuko, even though the age gap is the same!"

Acknowledging "Girls have breasts" is not the same as drawing her in a sexy way, much like not every scene of male characters firebending without shirts on was sexualization. The hair down also doesn't strike me as trying to make her look desirable, just a little bit older - the passage of time is not sexual.

For fucks sake, even a scene like Sokka clearly getting ready to "have fun" with Suki wasn't anything that would be inappropriate for children to see and it's just acknowledging the basic fact of "Sometimes teenagers wanna do more than kiss each other."

If you want to see the characters be sexualized, look at the Fire Nation teens, especially Ty Lee and Zuko - and I'm okay with that because they're not real teens. They're lines in a piece of paper. No minor is being exploited or put in an inappropriate situation, and considering Nickelodeon has a history of sexualizing REAL children in the live action shows, I just don't care that Avatar let Ty Lee wear a bikini or made Zuko attract a bunch of girls by dramatically taking off his shirt at the beach. They're not being harmed, just like no real child was harmed when Ozai disfigured his own son.

These characters age matters when it comes to understanding their reasonings and the ocasional "immature/naive" reaction, and nothing else. And once again, the show didn't really do anything too crazy.

[colefrr]

THIS IS FOR THE AMERICANS WHO NEED IT B4 TRUMP'S PRESIDENCY!!

get your banned books, and NOT on Kindle, I repeat NOT ON KINDLE OR ANY E-READING PLATFORM!! PAPER!!!

stay for the next generation, life may look like a burning heap of garbage, but you and the millions of other Americans, fighting for their rights are here to put that fire out and plant a growing tree in its place

ASK, NAG, SCREAM, YELL AND RIOT FOR THAT REVOTE/RECOUNT!!!!!!!!!!

TRACK YOUR BALOT AND MAKE SURE IT HAS BEEN ACCEPTED MANY PEOPLE'S BALOTS AREN'T BEING ACCEPTED FOR SEEMINGLY NO REASON!! CHECK URS HERE!!!

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

national suicide prevention

national domestic violence hotline

national sexual abuse hotline

trans lifeline and resources

U.S. suicide hotline: call or text 988 (available 24 hours)

U.S. trans lifeline: (877) 565-8860 (when you call, you’ll speak to a trans/nonbinary peer operator. full anonymity and confidentiality)

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline: 1-800-662-HELP (4357) – provides 24/7 confidential support and referrals for individuals and families facing mental health and substance use disorders, including panic attacks and anxiety.

LGBT National Help Center: (888) 843-4564

Trevor Project: Call (866) 488-7386, text START to 678-678, or chat online.

PROOF THE ORANGE THING RIGGED THE VOTES!!

STOP PROJECT 2025!!!!!!!!

REBLOG W MORE INFO IF U HAVE IT

[queering-ecology]

Chapter 11. ‘fucking close to water’: queering the production of the nation by Bruce Erickson (part 2, final)

Land

First ‘canoe’ that European colonists saw were likely Mi’kmaq gwitnn, birchbark boats designed for both ocean and river travel (318)

The colonist’s name is mentioned but the natives in these stories don’t ever get their names so…the colonist realized that to go further inland he would need the gwitn,  he needed “the boat derived of the landscape realities of the new world” (Raffan 1999a, 24) (318)

the ‘canoe’ as a symbol unique to Canada (Jennings 1991, 1) (319), reworks essentialized aspects of indigenous cultures into a symbol of national health and success” (319) and as a “gift” from natives to settlers. The canoe as unique entity, because of the exploration done by canoe, the canoe is the guard that maintains the boundary of Canadian identity.

A vague connection could be made to the American symbol of the cowboy to the American west except the canoe is more ‘natural’ for being of the land and from the native people and further substantiated in its uniqueness by its use in colonialism.

Canada as a nation has ‘perfected’ the canoe; the only way the canoe can be made perfect is through its ability to be incorporated into European expansion (320) the connection of the land to the canoe as a discourse of inevitability illustrates the privileging of the European subject as the natural inheritors (indeed, the rightful inheritor) of First Nations land…and implicitly heterosexual and patriarchal subject (320-321)

Possibility

“We cannot possibly anticipate what might happen, if we were really to consider the ten million bodies at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean "(Shannon Winnubst, 190) (324)

“Rethinking nature that is not bent toward the utility of power” (324) Opening ourselves to the possibilities of history means addressing the ways in which the ideologies and concrete practices that have formed our current understanding of nature represent more about the desired human outcome than they do about anything nonhuman (324)

Similar to really considering 10 million dead bodies in the Atlantic Ocean, this would mean really considering (as a broad list) the malicious wars over land and fur, the forced conversions, the repeated exposure to flu epidemics, the establishment of reservations and classification of First Nations as wards of the state, and the widespread physical and sexual abuse in residential schools designed to assimilate and civilize a supposed “savage” population” (324).

The Kiss of the Fur Queen is a novel by Tomson Highway, Cree playwright and novelist. Two Cree brothers are taken from their parents to a residential school several hundred miles away at the age of six, baptized into the Catholic church and have their names changed, they forbidden to speak their language and are abused by the priests of the school. They are alienated from their parents by the education and sexual predation of the school priests, but also are disconnected from the land, language and culture of their people…(the canoe plays a central role in the story, where difficult conversations about their alienation take place). As they grow up one of the brothers finds “continual inspiration” from the traditional Cree culture and discovered a “need to know the cultures that were suppressed by the residential school”. “As the crowd dances to the migisoo, the eagle, Gabriel realizes its power: ‘Gabriel saw people talking to the sky, the sky replying.” (Highway 1998) (324-326) (this is a poor summary, i apologize.)

“The movement between tradition and innovation is always fluid and uncharted” (327)

“Thus, while as a quirky national joke, the idea of making love in a canoe surely belongs to the post-sexual revolution of the later twentieth century, we need to remember that as a national symbol, the connection it strives to make between the canoe, nature,  and nation signals a sexual politic that was born of the age of imperialism. “

“As Foucault reminds us, the legacy of the Victorian repression of sexuality is held within the resistance of the sexual revolution that fails to move outside the biopower networks of modern sexuality.” (327)

[master-john-uk]

The latest BBC television news reports have focused on possible terrorist attacks originating from Russia, Iran and China.

This is not the whole picture. The current detected threats are mainly from Al-Qaeda linked Islamic groups, and extremist right-wing UK groups.

The worrying part is that all potential terrorist attacking groups, and nations are using social media to recruit the help of the criminal underworld, and people under the age of 18.

My company's main focus changed in 2017, from providing technology to the military, to protecting the public against a possible mass attack. Our early surveillance equipment in Central London helped prevent at least three incidents in the first year.

The systems have since been upgraded... and since Monday my teams have been installing new Intelligent Cameras, and updating the software on the existing ones.

STAY ALERT... and report anything suspicious by dialling 999, or contacting the anti-terror hotline on 0800 789 321.

[mawls2thewalls]

Taylor Swift has me refreshing my feeds like a mad woman. What does she mean by red herrings and 321, everyone's icons are B&W, Taylor Nation is lurking, the website is intentionally glitchy. I am shooketh. Her red carpet entrance and the Grammy's will end me.

[ophilosoraptoro]

I think 'false flag' is the wrong term here. 'False flag' implies an attack carried out against yourself, while pointing the finger at another group or nation. Like giving yourself a black eye, then blaming someone else nearby.

Oct 7 looks more like what happened at Pearl Harbor. Japan actually attacked, but Eisenhower knew it was coming and did nothing to stop it or warn Hawaii. I'm not sure if there's a term for it like false flag.

Oct 7 wasn't an inside job, but someone on the inside definitely knew it was coming.

[kyleth]

HELLO BEES! IF YOU WANT TO JOIN A WHOLESOME HECKING DORYM DISCORD SERVER JOIN US! we are over the MOON about last night's episode! join us!

[p1f1]

A list of linelines :) (USA)

Lifeline 13 11 14 Suicide Hotline 1-800-784-8433 Adolescent Suicide Helpline 1-800-621-4000 SH 1-800-DONT CUT (1-800-366-8288) Depression Hotline 1-630-482-9696 Rape/Sexual Assault 1-800-656-4673 Eating Disorder Hotline 1-847-831-3438 The Trevor Project 1-866-488-7386 Sexuality Support 1-800-246-7743 Runaway 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000 National Child Abuse Hotline 1-800-422-4453 National Association for Children of Alcoholics 1-888-55-4COAS (1-888-554-2627) National Domestic Violence Hotline 1-800-799-SAFE (1-800-799-7233) Grief Support 1-650-321-5272 Pregnancy Hotline 1-800-4-OPTIONS (1-800-467-8466) National Drug Abuse Hotline 1-800-662-HELP (1-800-662-4357) National Youth Crisis Hotline 1-800-448-4663 Adolescent Suicide Helpline 1-800-621-4000

IF YOU ARE IN A CRISIS, PLEASE CALL OR SPEAK UP

[thorsenmark]

Just Nature's Soul to Experience (Jasper National Park) by Mark Stevens Via Flickr: A setting looking to the northwest while taking in views of the Maligne River flowing by a nearby forest. This is in Jasper National Park at a roadside parking area along the Maligne Lake Road. What I loved about this setting was the backdrop of the Medicine Lake Slabs off in the distance with this river and forest setting. In composing this image, I zoomed in a little with the focal length and then aligned myself such that the river, as a leading line, would be more or less centered in the image. I had to watch the metering, as there were definitely highlights that could be blown from the mid-afternoon sunshine present. But I also wanted to be able to bring out the more shadowed areas in the nearby forest later on in post production. I later worked with control points in DxO PhotoLab 6 and then made some adjustments to bring out the contrast, saturation and brightness I wanted for the final image.

[wildtravelsafaris]

4 Days Double Gorilla Trekking Uganda experience is a life-changing experience. 2 times Gorilla trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park it covers an area of 321 sq km and is among the oldest forests lasting over 25,000 years. You will be able to trek one of the 19 habituated mountain gorilla groups.

[little-red-book-daily]

Qualitatively different contradictions can only be resolved by qualitatively different methods. For instance, the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie is resolved by the method of socialist revolution; the contradiction between the great masses of the people and the feudal system is resolved by the method of democratic revolution; the contradiction between the colonies and imperialism is resolved by the method of national revolutionary war; the contradiction between the working class and the peasant class in socialist society is resolved by the method of collectivization and mechanization in agriculture; contradiction within the Communist Party is resolved by the method of criticism and self-criticism; the contradiction between society and nature is resolved by the method of developing the productive forces. . . . The principle of using different methods to resolve different contradictions is one that Marxist-Leninists must strictly observe.

"On Contradiction" (August 1937), Selected Works, Vol. I, pp. 321-22.

[lgbtqiamuslimpedia]

LGBTQI+ rights in Senegal 🇸🇳

Senegalese LGBTQ+ citizens has to exprience legal & social challenges, not exprienced by non-LGBTQ+ citizens. In Senegal, homosexuality & sex outside the traditional marriage is a punishable crime.

Legality of Homosexuality

Same-sex sexual conducts between men & between women are illegal in Senegal since 1966.There's no equal age of consent.

Article 319 in the Senegalese Penal Code states,

Without prejudice to the more serious penalties provided for in the preceding paragraphs or by articles 320 and 321 of this Code, whoever will have committed an improper or unnatural act with a person of the same sex will be punished by imprisonment of between one and five years and by a fine of 100,000 to 1,500,000 francs. If the act was committed with a person below the age of 21, the maximum penalty will always be applied.

Same-sex unions

Same-sex unions,marriages are not recognized by the state. Senegalese society sees same-sex relationships & unions as a deviation of west.

In 2008, Icone magazine reported about an alleged gay marriage that had taken place in Senegal. The wedding's photographs created an outrage among public.

Adoption

According to 2011 United States Department of State's report, “a (heterosexual) married couple for a minimum of 5 years or an unmarried person who is at least 35 years of age is eligible to adopt a Senegalese child if there is at least 15 years between the age of the child and the age of the adopting parent.”

There is a probability that a single homosexual/bisexual person may adopt a child, because the state do not specifically ban adoption by a homo/bisexual person. We don't know about transgender & intersex persons.

Public Opinion

According to the 2013 Pew Global Attitudes Project, 97% of Senegalese people believed that homosexuality should not be accepted by the society.

Discrimination

LGBTQI+ people in Senegal face widespread discrimination, violence & social stigma. According to local human rights groups, LGBTQI+ people usually face harassment by police and ill-treatment in prison.

In February 2008, five men were arrested for an alleged gay wedding; but later they were released without charge.This incident stirred a mass public outrage. On 19 December 2008, nine men were arrested on charges of homosexuality in a private flat in Dakar. One of the arrestees was Diadji Diouf, the owner of the flat and president of the association AIDES Senegal. The detainees were repeatedly tortured while in the police custody. On 6 January 2009, they were convicted of "indecent conduct and unnatural acts" and for "being members of a criminal group". The senegalese judge said that, AIDES Senegal was a "cover to recruit or organize meetings for homosexuals, under the pretext of providing HIV/AIDS prevention programmes". The Court of Appeals overturned the convictions in April 2009 and ordered the immediate release of the detainees. While incarcerated, the nine were held in special quarters because of threats from other inmates. Shortly thereafter, conservative religious leaders & member of parliament Mbaye Niang organized a march against homosexuality. In the mid-2009, Senegalese islamists and homophobes created the Front islamique pour la defense des valeurs éthiques (English: The Islamic Front for the Defense of Ethical Values), advocated for the death penalty of queers.

There were multiple reports around the same time, in which bigot people digging up the bodies of deceased "goor-gigen" (a Senegalese term for transgender, gender non-confirming) in cemeteries. Local and international press reported in May 2009 that the corpse of a goor-gigen man reputed to have been homosexual was twice disinterred from a muslim cemetery in Thies. The first time, the body was left near the grave. After his family reburied him, the body was disinterred a second time and dumped outside his family's home.

In March 2010, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Senegal's National Police had detained persons who were alleged to have committed "unnatural sexual acts". The group recommended that Senegal, "Pay particular attention to detentions on the grounds of offending decency or public morality, with a view to avoiding any possible discrimination against persons of a different sexual orientation" In December 2012, a gay couple was viciously beaten near Dakar by one of the men's parents.

In 2016, Senegalese President Macky Sall denied to decriminalize anti-gay law. He said: "Never, under my authority, will homosexuality be legalized in the Senegalese lands."

Gender Identity

Senegal do not allow trans people to legally change their gender. There's no non-binary or third gender option for gender variants.

Gūrdigan (means man-woman in wolof) is a gender variance folk in Senegal,Mauritania, Gambia. Many of them converted to Islam, when Islam came to Africa. Most gūrdigans are born as male, few are born as intersex. Gūrdigan present themselves in very feminine way & play the feminine gender role in their communities.Historically, they played a role of entertainer in marriage ceremony, other cultural occasions, & matchmakers between men and women. But nowadays they face widespread stigma & hostility in Senegalese society.

Summary:

Same-sex sexual activity - ❌

Equal age of consent - ❌

Recognition of same-sex unions,marriages - ❌

Anti-discrimination laws in hate speech and violence - ❌

Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services - ❌

Anti-discrimination laws in employment - ❌

Adoption by LGBTQI+ person - ✔️/❌ [ambiguous]

Right to change legal gender - ❌

LGBTQ+ persons allowed to serve openly in the military - ❌

MSMs allowed to donate blood - ❌

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #321: The Crossing Line Part 3: MISSING LINKS

August, 1990

STRIKE FORCE!

The Crossing Line. Because sometimes, as a change of pace, superheroes need to punch terrorists on a submarine.

Or, something, I guess.

Anyway.

Last time in the Crossing Line, starring the Avengers: Russian terrorist group Peace Corpse hijacked the British submarine Waterwind with a plan to go to the United States and blow shit up.

The Avengers got called in to reclaim the sub but found that Russian super-group the People's Protectorate were also on the same job. For no reason, they fought. Which aggroed the Atlanteans, which both teams then fought. The Waterwind got damaged in the fighting and fled to Newfoundland for repairs.

The Avengers and People's Protectorate eventually finished punching Atlanteans and chased the sub but Peace Corpse had a lot of hostages. The Avengers very bungled a hostage negotiation, getting Stingray shot in the head, and then Alpha Flight showed up because you're in Canadian jurisdiction now!

The splash page is getting so crowded.

I honestly hope a new shows up every issue. Let's push the envelope on how crowded we can get. Does Mexico have a superhero team? Let's get them in on this.

So, the adults have arrived. Or the Canadians. Whichever.

Captain America: "We are all here for the same purpose. We want the terrorists who call themselves the Peace Corpse stopped and we want the Waterwind returned to the British Navy." Red Guardian: "The Protectors are responsible for the apprehension of the Soviet military traitors!" Guardian: "We are empowered to order you out of our country. Or you can work with us. Which shall it be?"

Crimson Dynamo doesn't know about these Canadian guys. The Avengers he knows and trusts. But Alpha Flight.....?

Captain America vouches for their abilities. And Vision goes yes but do they have the experience to handle an international incident.

Kind of rude! You're in their territory!

Since the time is almost up before Peace Corpse shoots another hostage, Captain America asks Guardian her thoughts. And her thought is rather than let someone get shot in the head again, they let the Waterwind dock and start making repairs. To buy the heroes time to figure out what to do.

Quasar: "They've already shot Stingray in cold blood -- we can't just-" Guardian: "We aren't 'just' anything! We're doing something that has not been done since this incident began -- we're thinking things through!"

Wow. She hasn't even been around the whole story and she already knows that everyone has been acting the fool.

Which Cap himself acknowledges while admiring what a good job Guardian is doing leading Alpha Flight.

Captain America: "I had heard of her husband's return. It doesn't seem to have adversely affected her though. If anything, Guardian seems to have grown in her role as leader of Alpha. Perhaps Alpha's presence is exactly what we needed. So far, the teams representing the world's so-called super powers have spent most of their time tripping over each other! I'm not surprised, though I am disappointed. I had always hoped the world's heroes could work together in a way the world's nations haven't."

So the Waterwind is escorted to a berth while the heroes regroup to a loading warehouse that overlooks the shipping yards.

Red Guardian offers to have Vostok run an MRI of the submarine (which is apparently something he can do) to figure out what's going on inside.

On top of the sub, second-in-command Peace Corpse guy Strokov discovers a flattened bullet and it's revealed that Stingray isn't dead. Yay, Stingray. He is very unconscious from being shot in the head but his pressurized suit held up.

Leader guy Illyich is like eh, whatever, we got our demands, doesn't matter that the hostage we shot didn't die. Which makes Strokov mad because he sees it as Illyich's resolve weakening.

Sure.

The traitor British naval officer guy takes the hostage British sailors back to the hostage room to guard them.

Meanwhile, Strokov starts yelling to the other members of Peace Corpse that they're losing sight of their ideological purity or something. The others tell him to stfu because they've got bigger problems.

The member called Voroshilov figures that the only reason the heroes would let them berth and repair is to buy time for an assault.

Illyich agrees and decides they'll have to make their final stand here and now in Newfoundland.

Peace Corpse member: "Will the message be the same? After all, destroying Newfoundland does not carry the same amount of international impact as would the destruction of New York!" Illyich: "Agreed. But the fact that Canada will become directly involved could help to precipitate the conflict we desire."

So they go to prepare the warheads. And plan to draw lots to see who is chosen... for some grim task, I dunno.

Illyich: "Implementing our final solution now may be the only chance we have of succeeding! And the only hope this world has of seeing the next century... will be to destroy it in this one!"

I wish you'd explain your ideology in more detail.

Over in the warehouse that has become superhero HQ, planning is afoot.

The heroes have obtained the Waterwind schematics from British Intelligence and have the data from Vostok's MRI of the vessel.

But Peace Corpse still hasn't made any demands. And the superheroes are assuming that they're up to something a lot less dire than blowing up Newfoundland and are worrying that there hasn't been a peep of motive yet.

If the raid goes wrong, the people of St. John's will be in danger, not just the hostages on board the Waterwind.

Vostok uses his computer logic to suggest they establish an acceptable casualty rate. Equally computer logic Vision say that sounds like a good idea.

Shaman: "I find the supposition that a minimum amount of people should be expected to die to ensure our success to be reprehensible."

I mean, fair. Superheroes are supposed to be better than that, a lot of the time.

Captain America suggests two teams. One raids the sub to incapacitate the terrorists and save the hostages, the other evacuates the civilians.

And they've got to move before the Waterwind is repaired enough to move back out into open seas or the job will be that much harder.

(Since the heroes don't know that Peace Corpse is planning to settle things right here.)

For Team Sub Raid, Cap suggests himself, Vostok and Box for their mechanical aptitude, Vision for stealth, and Puck for being compact and for his experience.

Yes, he does say Puck's size is a factor for choosing him.

Red Guardian volunteers himself for the mission too because Peace Corpse are Soviets and he is the symbol of the Soviet people and is responsible for capturing terrorist Soviets BUT ALSO the Peace Corpse leader Illyich Prokvitch... IS HIS BEST FRIEND

DUN DUN DUN.

And Captain America agrees that this is a good reason for Red Guardian to join the raid team.

Although, it seems mostly because he figures Red Guardian is too emotionally invested not to barge into the situation anyway. Best to just let him join so you can keep an eye on him.

Fun how it works out to two members of each team.

And I guess everyone else (Sersi, Quasar, Guardian, Shaman, Diamond Lil, Fantasma, Crimson Dynamo, and Perun) are on team evacuate the entire city.

Back at the ruins of Atlantis, I guess Atlantis is still in the plot.

God knows why.

Okay, I'm not god but here's why.

Tyrak is big mad that the superheroes kicked their asses. He's mad that when Atlantis is the aggressor, they get their asses kicked. When Atlantis is the defender, they still get their asses kicked.

Because, yeah, usually Tyrak is a villain but here he was just minding his own business in the ruins of his home and some jerks start an international incident in his front yard. He's right to be pissed!

He's maybe not right to then jump to 'hey wasn't there a nuclear submarine involved? Maybe we make it blow up while it's on the surface, see how they like their home blowing up.'

That's maybe disproportionate.

Canada didn't even blow up Atlantis, you guys. It was Lemuria, another undersea city.

Back at the Bay of Placentia, where the Waterwind is parked.

Puck kicks a man in the head.

We like Puck here. He's cool.

Peace Corpse only left one guy to guard the hatch. Captain America estimates that there's one guy guarding the hostages and the remaining four terrorists are working on repairs.

The hatch is locked so Vision visions through to open it from the inside. Vision, Vostok, Captain America, Red Guardian, and Puck enter the sub.

But during choosing teams, Captain America made a slight miscalculation.

Box is just too fucking big to enter a submarine hatch.

Wow, Cap. You are not doing a good job during this arc.

Box offers to scout around the outside of the Waterwind, see if there's anything he can do from there, and transforms his armor into a submersible.

Hey, that's cool! You seem pretty cool, Box.

Inside the sub, Vision found one of the Peace Corpse monitoring the communication systems and knocked him the fuck out.

And Puck finds Allanson guarding the hostages and also knocks him the fuck out.

You're doing a great job, Puck.

The three remaining members of Peace Corpse are working in the missile control room.

Voroshilov, the one lady in the Peace Corpse, hears the gunfire from Puck's rescue of the hostages and goes to investigate.

She runs into Vostok and Red Guardian. Vostok turns her gun into a flower and Red Guardian kicks her face in the face.

Well, that's a cool visual and a very funny symbolic move from the beep boop logical robot man.

But is that how his powers work? He can manipulate mechanical systems but does a gun count? I mean, technically, yes, but then his powers would also work on a pully or a bicycle? It's just kind of overbroad compared to what I thought his power was.

Anyway.

Cap sends Vision and Vostok on ahead to find the two remaining Peace Corpse members since they no longer have the element of surprise.

The two synthezoids find the last two terrorists, Illyich and Strokov.

And they've wired themselves into the missile control.

Vostok: "The - two - remaining - members - of - the - terrorist - insurgency - have - biologically - attached - themselves - to - the - missile - control - console. In -essence -- we - find - ourselves - confronting - two - men - whose - sole - desire - has - been - to - start - a - third - world - war... And - they - have - turned - themselves - into - living - nuclear - arsenals..."

Um. Okay? Is this like a deadman switch thing or what? Was it necessary to be shirtless or just because the sub was a bit warm?

Well, I guess we'll find out. And sooner than expected because I'm not alternating for a bit. Sticking with Avengers East Coast through #325.

See, the next Avengers West Coast issue mentions the events of an annual. And I looked it up and the annual best fits after this arc concludes and after an additional one-issue story.

So I'll go through all of those Avengers East Coast issues, then do the Annuals story The Terminus Factor, then swing back to Avengers West Coast to sync up the dates again.

Anyway, men wired up to nukes isn't the end of this issue. The Avengers Crew focused back-up stories continue in MOTHER OF INVENTION.

Apparently, the Avengers book was being published bi-weekly at this time and the back-up stories were to help the creative team out.

This back-up focuses on our good pal Fabian Stankowitz. Y'know, that guy that attacked the Avengers during the Trial of Yellowjacket story and they didn't take him seriously and it didn't backfire at all because he wasn't something they had to take seriously?

And then he also attacked Late Night with David Letterman when the Avengers were guest-starring there? Letterman knocked him out with a big doorknob?

Well, he's a Good Guy now.

Surely, you already knew that.

Well, the refurbishment of the Avengers Subbasement is getting to the laboratory he'll use as the team tech guy.

While going through all the unmarked crates, Fabian finds his first suit of Mechano-Marauder armor.

He reminisces about winning the New York lottery and spending his winnings converting his garage into a machine shop and buying steel and microchips so he could build a suit of armor and go try beat up superheroes.

Fabian: "What a feeling I had back then -- like I was ready to lick the world...! So what'd I do? I tried to lick the world. Staring with the ever-mighty Avengers... challenged them to fight me three times... once on network teevee, no less! What a robot's rump I was. Spending six months in the juvie slammer cured me of wanting to be a super villain, that's for sure. I sure am lucky Cap forgave my youthful escapades and offered me a staff job -- don't know where I'd be now otherwise. As is, I'll probably never live down the Mechano-Marauder! I've got the lowest security clearance of anybody else in this place -- it's a wonder I even have a bathroom pass."

I don't think I knew he was a minor all those times he attacked the Avengers.

I'm glad that Cap gave him a second chance, especially since Fabian seems more short-sighted than malicious.

Anyway, this is the series of back-up stories about Avengers Crew being haunted by their past. So obviously the armor suddenly comes alive and forms around his body.

Obviously.

The suit also seems to be moving on its own, lifting its arms and blowing up all the crates in the room with repulsors.

Then Fabian's mom shows up.

And she is a piece of work.

For one thing, she's supposed to be dead. Fabian's dad told him she died when he was a baby.

But Ma Stankowitz tells him that she didn't die, she abandoned him after his first birthday. Because she didn't want to deal with a screaming baby or a screaming husband. She straight up ditched.

She finally decided to check up on him and found that Fabian is just as bad as her lousy husband.

Fabian: "That's not true -- dad isn't like that! He doesn't hit... much. Only when he's been drinking..." Ma Stankowitz: "Well, Frankie, it is nice to know that I was justified in abandoning you. Goodbye."

GEEZ.

There is something odd going on with the Avengers Crew so it's likely that none of this is real and none of what "Ma" had to say was fact. But still, you gotta feel for Fabian. His mom maybe abandoned him and his dad is Carl from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

Anyway.

The Mechano-Marauder armor then decides to shoot Ma in the back, leaving Fabian to just protest it was the suit what did it, the suit!

Poor guy.

At least next time will traumatize another member of the Avengers Support Crew.

Follow @essential-avengers for more traumatized supporting cast and maybe the Avengers will prevent or cause World War III. We're in a weird era, my friends. A weird era indeed. Like, reblog, comment, whatever. Keep me company on this weird journey through the early 90s.