#AND was probably (as pointed out to me) like. robot middle aged. during the war flashback. I thought he was like 20something or he could be

[extremelyblackandwhite]

heiress - 6

pairing: bucky barnes x reader

a/n: i am really excited writing this lately and it’s totally not me avoiding to actually write any uni work. 

previous chapter

    - I think you need to make a choice, dear. - she cocked her head to the side, her own expression muffling the sound of Wanda’s voice cutting through the woods. 

She took a step backwards, unsure. She didn’t remember the time she was allowed such a choice. Her father had forced her into HYDRA’s hands before she could even speak, Bucky had forced her out of the Red Room and Hayward had forced her into SWORD. Looking back, she couldn’t find a single instance where she had been allowed her own agency. She was always dormant, carefully nodding, afraid HYDRA would come and take her back. She had been thrown into a cell during the Civil War’s events by her own agency and kept locked during the Thanos’ situation. The only time she had willingly stepped back was out of fear in Washington. Seeing her father handle the man she loved as if she were a mindless robot had thrown her into the same pit of fear she had always been kept into. It still haunted her to this day, she could still hear the television’s reporter voice as she explained what had happened. Once again, she was taking a step back. - Oh for heaven’s sake.

Agatha rose her hand  in the hand, twirling it as the darkness became sickening light and the woods turned into walls of places of sad occasions whose name and place she preferred not to remember. The ambience was sickly in dark and light green tinges with rusty bars. She did not want to remember it but she did and turning around she was face to face with one of the only happiest memories she had which overtime had became bittersweet. The music was low and muffled, coming from down the hall  were the staff was holding a meeting but it was well heard enough in the soldier’s cell, they could dance. And they did. She could see him and her past self in front off her, her head leaning on top the leather of his bodice, slightly tilted up so she could look him in the eyes, his flesh hand wrapped around hers as they moved side to side. She watched that scene with a sad look, feeling a lump in her throat become bigger and bigger.

   - Ain’t that sweet? - Agatha stood behind her. - So tell me exactly what’s taking you so long to take my help? Isn’t that what you want?

   - Yes. - she mumbled, almost hypnotised by the scene. - But it’s gone, it’s the past.

   - But that’s the thing, my little traumatised girl, it doesn’t need to be. Not for people like you, like us. 

   - No. Past is past and I can’t return to it ... - she moved away from that scene, turning to look at Agatha. - No matter how sad it makes me. 

   - No, dear, that’s not how it works for you.  - she twirled her hand again and the darkness returned but it wasn’t how it was in the woods. No, this was a large dark room barely light as if a flickering spotlight hovered them. She took steps forward, trying to read her situation only to find a pile of lifeless bodies of everyone she had ever known. She took a step back, hand covering her own muffled cry as everyone she had ever knew laid lifelessly around her. - You see, you’re not an element manipulator, that is a gross understatement of what you do and you should have the people who told you that burned at the stake. No, you have the particular talent of controlling matter ... creation magic. Not just in your own particular universe like Wanda but in every universe. It’s permanent, everything you do, doesn’t need a little dome protecting it. It’s powerful magic however when unbalanced, untrained, uncontrolled it becomes destruction magic which is why my dear you can make things disappear. You just make them cease to exist. 

   - The guards ...

   - Ceased to exist. - she interrupted her. - Of course you can bring it back like you did back at the Red Room but it takes time and control. You, of all people, have no control over it and whatever control you have breaks loose whenever Barnes just strolls around. It’s not very feminist of you. 

   - Y/N! - Wanda’s voice got louder.

   - This ... - Agatha pointed out every dead body surrounding her. -  Is what happens with uncontrolled creation magic. Wanda can’t help you, she’s chaos magic, your foil. I can, I can help you. I can take this burden away from you. Something you didn’t even want in the first place.

   - Y/N! - Wanda’s voice mixed with the sounds of her own thoughts until it broke through Agatha’s illusion. She looked at her feet, no longer surrounded by the corpses of those she loved yet Agatha was still standing in front of her, a sly smile on her face as if she knew her future. 

   - That’s what the future holds for you if you don’t learn to control it. You’re destruction so far, pure, unaltered, cruel destruction. Fitting considering your choice of lover.

   - WANDA! - Y/N replied back turning on Agatha as if she had been woken up from a bad dream. Agatha mumbled to herself before disappearing into the darkness of the night as Y/N searched for the Scarlet Witch. It didn’t take long for her to find her, noticing the look of pure worry in her eyes just like the time when her children were in danger. - Wanda, I ...

   - WHAT THE FUCK, Y/N? Don’t you do this to me EVER AGAIN. - she dropped her hands, eyes returning to her regular hue. - If you weren’t my age, I would have grounded you. 

   - I’m younger than you Wanda. - she sighed, small smile on her face. - I just thought I saw ... something.

   - What something? - they walked together through the hex. Watching the dome like safe haven they had created, Y/N didn’t find it in herself to tell her. Maybe Hayward was right, maybe the daughter of a villain only had promises of becoming a villain herself. Yet again, she had seen it. She had seen what being around them could lead to and that image was tattooed on her brain no matter how much she tried to throw it to Agatha trying to manipulate her. - Y/N? 

   - I thought I saw Agatha. - she said, stepping just a behind the border of the hex. 

   - Did you see her? Did she spoke to you?

   - No. - she said, almost robotically like as the Scarlet Witch allowed the hex to open for them to enter. Instead of finding Bucky on the swings, Vision was sat there, awaiting both of them to arrive. 

Before any of them could speak, Y/N took to leaving the couple, walking straight towards the door of her own bedroom and locking it on her way in. She  leaned against her door, letting herself slide until she hit the ground, hands cupping her head as she told herself not to cry. There was no use in crying about it, the only use was to make a decision; however, she would be damned if she allowed anyone to have agency over her again. No, she wasn’t her father’s daughter, she wasn’t HYDRA’s failed experiment, Hayward’s project or the Winter Soldier’s lover. No, she wasn’t just one. She was a tweaked amalgamation of everything people had told her she was and now that identity was shrouded in fear. Fear of what she was capable of, of what she had made to me. Somehow, things felt simpler before she had any answers. 

  - Y/N? 

  - Gosh. - she put her hand over her chest as Vision passed through her wall as if it weren’t concrete. - The door is closed, Vision. It is not an invitation to pass through my wall. 

  - I am terribly sorry about that but Wanda is worried. - he sat next to her. - And since you are the godmother of my children, I do consider you part of my family.

   - Are you here to give me a philosophy lesson, Vision?

   - It is not my place to tell you what to do. You’ve done well enough for yourself over the years. 

   - Your intelligence is much more mathematical than mine.  I actually have a question for you.

   - Please do not ask me again what is the meaning of life. - Y/N laughed at his worried voice, shaking her head no.

   - Do you believe creation and destruction can live together? Balanced?

   - Well, I don’t think one can live without each other. Humans are born and then they die, creation and destruction. Nature is filled with it, it’s almost based on it. I mean, isn’t love creation and destruction? Heartbreak and emotion.

   - Destruction is overwhelming. -  she leaned her head against  the door, looking up at the ceiling. - It’s merely a downfall. 

    - Maybe you should chose a different philosophy question.

    - I don’t think I can. - she mumbled to herself before turning her face to the synthezoid. -  You should probably return to Wanda. She hates sleeping alone. 

He gave her a sympathetic look only to leave her standing in the middle of her room surrounded by her own insecurities which always clawed at her during the evenings. Raising her hand and seeing the familiar white glow everything felt much more scary to her. She had been better off thinking she could control the elements rather than matter itself. Yet part of her scoffed at HYDRA for not being able to figure it out soon enough. Still, it was not natural, not for her. She was a hand to hand combat trained fighter, barely using that which lied straight at her surface. Agatha was right, she couldn’t control it. She knew she couldn’t and whatever power she had around it was fickle. Too fickle. 

It was best to forget and move ahead. Have a cup of tea, it will make you feel better, Monica would tell her whenever someone particularly got on her nerves while at SWORD and right now it sounded like the best idea. However, opening her tea box, there was nothing but dust. She sighed, removing her boots and grabbing her nightgown before unlocking the door and walking towards the kitchen. Finding the kitchen, she also found the same person who seemed to hover over her thoughts, putting the kettle on top the hob.

   - It’s an electrical kettle. - she said, sly smirk as she turned on the hob before Bucky could destroy Wanda’s precious kettle. - It doesn’t go on the hob.

    - Oh ... - he felt stupid not knowing that yet he felt even more speechless in front of her as she put the kettle on the base and turned it on. - Less fire prone?

    - Oh no, Billy has set it almost on fire several times. - silence installed between the two as they tried to find something to say which sounded organic and not just forced.

    - Night cravings? 

    - I guess you could call it that. You?

    - Can’t sleep. 

    - Sam annoying you? We could always put you two on different rooms. 

    - Just nightmares, really. - he stood by her side, watching the water boil on the glass kettle. - Did I use to have them ... back then?

    - It depended. - she sighed. - Most of the times, yes. I’ve been having them too lately so I have resorted to not sleeping. 

   - That’s not very functional, is it doll?

   - I wouldn’t really use functional as a way to describe myself. - she looked at him, mostly wanting to lighten the mood yet it only seemed to harden his expression. - No one in my direct family is very functional either. 

    - You are not your father. You know that, right? - his hand lingered over her wrist as her torso moved to stand in front against his. His hand found her, fingers intertwining as if it was second nature to him. - I figured you would’ve found that out over all this time.

    - Do you think I could become like him? - she looked at her own feet. - Evil is not born, evil is made. Do you think I could become like him ... a villain?

    - No. - he shook his head as if her words were mere ramblings of a crazy person. - I’d bet my own life on it. 

    - There’s a way ... there’s someone who keeps offering me the opportunity to be normal. Not have whatever it is I have, just ordinary civilian life in a regular town surrounded by regular people. 

   - Y/N, the last thing you will ever be is ordinary. Nothing about you or me for that matter is ordinary. You can’t pursue an ordinary life ... you can pursue something that makes you happy. 

   - What if what makes me happy is being ordinary?

   - I spent most the last year wanting to ordinary, Y/N. I was not happy, I was just going through the motions and now ... well I found peace in the unpredictable, no matter how much I cannot control it.

    - Are you happy now? - she looked into his eyes, an honest and truly scary question. One that she could barely answer if it were her. 

     - You always made me happy. - her hands left the marbled kitchen stone so she could wrap her arms around him, head leaned against the soft fabric of his jumper. He sighed, kissing the top of her head, as his hand caressed her back, the other one keeping her flushed to him. Y/N slowly raised her head to look at him, watching his eyes reflect the moon light like they always did. Some things  never change. Bucky hand climbed from her back to cup her face, allowing her skin to sink into his roughed hand which probably had more cuts than it should. She looked at him like no one else did and she had seen it all. Heck, she’d seen things Bucky wished she would’ve never seen but she still looked at him like any other woman looked at their cared ones. 

    - It hurts every single day. - she mumbled, almost ashamed to admit to the man who had been through the most that it was starting to become hard to get up every time she fell down. - Everyone says they can help me but I feel like I’m being constantly knocked down and I’m just so tired. I’m so tired of always getting up, it hurts so much and for once I just want to lay down. 

    - It’s okay. - his finger caressed her cheek, metal arm still rubbing up and down her back. Bucky never liked to touch his face with his metal hand, he refused. - You don’t have to get up every single time and if you can’t there’s so many people here who’d give you a helping hand. You’re not alone, Y/N.

    - Yes, I am. - she bite the inside of her lip. - I’ve seen it and it’s only a matter of time before I hurt everyone. 

    - You’re not gonna hurt anyone, Y/N. 

    - It’s not my choice. - she took a step forward away from him. - It was decided for me.

    - Whatever you do ... - Bucky scratched his neck, trying to compose himself, his own words running through his mind as he wondered if he had done something wrong. - I’ll stand by your side. 

    - I ... I should probably get going. 

    - Me too, Sam might woke up and think I tried to escape ... again.

    - See you tomorrow, Bucky. - she spoke as he took initiative to leave first, wondering if he had done something to make her upset, said something wrong. 

Y/N waited for him to be far off before she took further and further into the building. It was always dark there and not a lot of people were allowed in that particular area of their own base. Wanda herself had stuffed some particular nasty things in that area as well as some of SHIELDs and SWORDs experimentation notes. Only some people could get in and she was one of those people. Despite this she twirled her hand, opening the door without using a card. The darkness only seemed to intensify, as she got closer and closer to it, the room only barely light by the almost scary aura. The room where Wanda Maximoff had stored the Darkhold.

taglist: @lookiamtrying��@austynparksandpizza​

[tyrantisterror]

I did a four part series of trivia posts when ATOM Volume 1: Tyrantis Walks Among Us! came out, and that was pretty fun!  You can see that set of trivia posts here if you’d like.  I thought it’d be fun to do another now that ATOM Volume 2: Tyrantis Roams the Earth! is out - just one this time, because a lot of the trivia I talked about with Volume 1 still applies.

I’m gonna divide this into two sections: non-spoiler trivia, for things that really don’t give a lot of plot points away, and spoiler trivia, for things that DO give away major plot points.  I recommend not reading the spoiler trivia until after you’ve read Tyrantis Roams the Earth!, for obvious reasons, and will put the spoiler trivia under a cut.

Ok, let’s go!

- So if you read ATOM Volume 1, you probably noticed that the book is split not only into chapters, but “episodes,” which consist of four chapters a piece.  It’s kind of a nod to how the series owes a great deal of its DNA to various monster of the week shows, with Godzilla: the Series and The Godzilla Power Hour being obvious influences.  It also allowed me to pepper in some illustrations and cheesy b-movie style titles into each volume.

- The first “episode” of Volume 2, Tyrantis in Tokyo, pays explicit homage to the giant monster movies of Japan, perhaps even moreso than the chapters that came before it.  Given how much Japanese media influenced ATOM - from tokusatsu like the Godzilla, Gamera, and Ultraman franchises to anime like Digimon and Evangelion (hell, the title of this episode itself is a tip of the hat to Tenchi Muyo by way of one of its spinoffs) - it kind of felt obligatory that Tyrantis visit Japan and pay his respects.

- Tyrantis in Tokyo also fits in a tribute to another staple of Atomic Age pop culture: Rock and Roll.

- Kutulusca, the giant cephalopod that appears in Tyrantis in Tokyo, is one of the oldest kaiju in this series, dating back to the first iteration of Tyrantis’s story that I put to paper back in 2001 or so.  It’s changed a lot since then, but its fight with Tyrantis goes more or less the way it originally did.

- Old Meg, the giant placoderm/shark, and Nastadyne, the bipedal beetle, both owe their existence directly to Deviantart’s Godzilla fandom.  Old Meg originated as a dunkleosteus monster I submitted to a “create a Godzilla kaiju” contest held by Matt Frank, while Nastadyne is based on a Megalon redesign I made during the “redesign all the Godzilla kaiju” phase of DA’s kaiju fandom.

- The second episode, Tyrantis vs. the Red Menace, gets dark as we visit the USSR, which had enough REAL horror with atomic power in its history to make creature features seem a bit defanged by comparison.  It’s probably the episode with the strongest horror elements - ATOM’s always been influenced by Resident Evil, and this is probably where that influence shows the most strongly.

- It also features the first fully robotic mecha in the series, the mighty Herakoschei!  Its name is a combination of “Heracles” and “Koschei the Deathless,” with the former part being added by its Russian creators to make it seem a bit more international as they offer it to the U.N. in hopes of gaining aid for a very extreme kaiju problem they’ve developed.

- Most of Tyrantis vs. the Red Menace takes place in the Siberian Monster Zone.  Its name is a reference to the Lawless Monster Zone in Ultraman, which is such a cool fucking name I wish that I wish I could go back in time and steal it.

- The next episode, Tyrantis’s Revenge, is... full of spoilers, so we’ll move on for now.

- The penultimate episode, Tyrantis vs. the Martian Monsters, is a love letter to MANY different sci-fi stories that involve life on Mars, though the most prominent of them is of course The War of The Worlds (one of my top 3 favorite books) and its various adaptations.  From its tentacles sapient martians, the tripodal leader of the titular monsters whose name includes the word “ulla” which is uttered by said sapient martians, the plant monster made of red vines, the cylinder-shaped spacecraft the Martian monsters are sent to earth on, the copper-skinned stingray-esque flying martian who shoots lasers from its tail, and the fact that every chapter title in this episode is a quote from the book, the H.G. Wells influence is STRONG.

- The final episode, Invasion from Beyond!, is shamelessly inspired by Destroy All Monsters, although there’s a dash of “To Serve Men,” Godzilla vs. Monster Zero, and The Day the Earth Stood Still mixed in as well.  It’s also sort of a tribute to my first “published” bit of a kaiju fiction - a rewrite of Destroy All Monsters that included EVERY Godzilla monster that had appeared at the time, which my middle school self wrote back in 2002 or so for Kaiju Headquarters, a kaiju fansite I’m not sure exists anymore.  Invasion from Beyond! is just as ambitious (but hopefully better executed) as my DAM Remake, with dozens upon dozens of different kaiju duking it out, earthlings vs. aliens.

- There were three different documents I made to outline the final battle of Invasion from Beyond!  It’s the largest episode of the series so far and more than half of it is that fucking fight.  My inner child is pleased, though, so hopefully you will be too.

Ok, that’s all I can share without spoilers.  READER BEWARE WHAT FOLLOWS BELOW THE CUT!

JUST MAKING SURE you know that SPOILERS will follow from here on out.  Read at your own peril!  YOU WERE WARNED!

(I’m gonna start with lighter ones just in case you scrolled too far and want to turn back)

- There’s a number of explicit Spielberg homages in ATOM Volume 2, from a “we need a bigger boat” joke during a chase with a giant shark to the fact that Invasion from Beyond! opens with a group of people flying to an island of monsters to review whether or not it should get more funding.

- When Tyrantis appears in the first chapter, I snuck in modified lyrics of The Godzilla Power Hour’s theme song.  “Up from the depths”... “several stories high”... “breathing fire”... “its head in the sky”... Tyrantis!  Tyrantis!  Tyrantis!

- The two rock bands in Tyrantis in Tokyo have real life inspirations ala Gwen Valentine, albeit a bit more muddled than hers.  The Cashews are inspired by The Peanuts (see what I did there), while The Thunder Lizards are a mix of The Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Buddy Holly, and the Big Bopper.  I wanted The Thunder Lizards to be more akin to the myth of a famous rock and roll band than the reality - less the real Beatles and more the Yellow Submarine cartoon version of them.

- The song The Thunder Lizards write for Tyrantis was written to fit the tune of “The Godzilla March” from Godzilla vs. Gigan, though ideally if someone made an actual song of it it would be its own song.  I got the idea from Over the Garden Wall, which used the Christmas song “O Holy Night” as a a starting point for “Come Wayward Souls.”

- Perry Martin, UNNO reporter and peer of Henry Robertson, is a nod to Raymond Burr, with his name being a combination of two of Burr’s most famous roles: Perry Mason, and Steve Martin from Godzilla King of the Monsters (1956).

- Dr. Rinko Tsuburaya is a few homages in one.  Her name comes from Rinko Kikuchi (who played Mako Mori in Pacific Rim), while her last name is obviously in homage of Eiji Tsuburaya.  Her being the daughter of an esteemed scientist is inspired by Emiko Yamane from the original Gojira.

- Nastadyne’s Burning Justice mode is named after a similar super mode from various Transformers cartoons, though it’s more directly inspired by the Shining/Burning Finger super move from G Gundam.

- Martians sending kaiju to different planets via shooting them out of cannons (with or without cylinder spaceships around them) is another War of the Worlds shoutout.  So is martians living on Venus after their homeworld was made uninhabitable, actually.

- Kurokame’s vocalizations are described as wails in explicit homage to Gamera.  His name can be translated as either “black tortoise” (a reference to the mythical guardian beast Genbu, which can also be construed as a Gamera reference thanks to Gamera: Advent of Irys implying Gamera and Genbu are one and the same) or a portmanteau of the Japanese words for crocodile and turtle - “crocturtle.”

- Burodon’s name is just a mangling of “burrow down.”  It also sounds vaguely like Baragon, who Burodon is loosely inspired by.  AND, since Burodon is sort of a knockoff/modified Baragon, that kinda makes him a reference to various monsters in Ultraman!

- The final battle of Tyrantis in Tokyo is sort of a hybrid of the finales of Ghidorah the 3 Headed Monster and Destroy All Monsters.  

- The Japanese kaiju teaching Tyrantis the art of throwing rocks at your enemies is both a joke on the prominence of rock throwing in Japanese kaiju fights AND the tired trope of an American hero learning secret martial arts from a Japanese mentor ala Batman, Iron Fist, etc.  In this case, the secret martial art is throwing rocks at people.

- When introduced to Herakoschei and its pilot, we are told that the strain of piloting this early mecha is so intense that many pilots have died in the process, with the current one passing out on more than few occasions.  This is of course a Pacific Rim homage - sadly, no one invents drifting.

- Herakoschei’s design is a loose homage to Robby the Robot and Cherno Alpha, because big boxy robots are cool.

- The Writhing Flesh and ESPECIALLY Pathogen are both hugely influenced by Resident Evil and The Thing.  Giant body horror piles of raw flesh, tendrils, mismatched mouths and limbs may be a bit outside the main era of monster design ATOM homages, but they fit the themes and bring a nice contrast.

- I came up with Pathogen long before Corona but MAN it definitely feels different in 2021 to have a giant monster whose name is a synonym for disease driving other creatures crazy in a quarantine zone than it did when I plotted out the story in 2016.

- The chapter title “Hello, Old Foes” is a riff on “Goodbye, Old Friend”

- Minerva, the kaiju-fied clone of Dr. Lerna, is meant to be an homage to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, which is a genuinely good giant monster flick.  I am sure many of you will also believe I included her because I’m a pervert whose into tall women, but you’d be wrong!  I included the seven foot tall Russian mecha pilot Ludmilla Portnova because I’m a pervert whose into tall women.  Minerva’s inclusion was just coincidental, I swear!

- Since Promythigor is a play on the archetypal ape kaiju to contrast Tyrantis as a play on the archetypal fire-breathing reptile kaiju, their fight has a lot of nods to King Kong movies.  Promythigor attempts the famous jaw-snap maneuver of Kong (with less success), J.C. Clark paraphrases the “brute force vs. a thinking animal” line from the King Kong vs. Godzilla American cut, and Tyrantis slides down a mountain to knock Promythigor off his feet in a reversal of Kong doing the same in King Kong vs. Godzilla.

- Tyrantis sliding down a mountain on his tail doubles as a Godzilla vs. Megalon homage.

- Though Promythigor is the archetypal Ape and Tyrantis the archetypal Fire-Breathing Reptile, I think it’s fun to note that in some ways, Promythigor is the Godzilla equivalent in their matchup, and Tyrantis the Kong.  Promythigor has a slight size advantage, was scarred by humans performing unethical weapons technology, and is associated with violent explosions.  Tyrantis is a good-at-heart prehistoric beast who humanized in part by his unlikely friendship with a human woman.

- Of course, in the context of the famous quote from the American cut of King Kong vs. Godzilla, they remain in their archetypal lanes.  Promythigor is the more intelligent of the two (though not necessarily wiser), and Tyrantis is in many ways a brute reptile.  Their battle is a rebuttal of sorts to the assertion that Kong is the “better” animal because he is closer to human.  Promythigor’s near human creativity and emotions don’t make him the kinder/more benevolent monster, but instead fuel a very self-centered and destructive attitude that makes him the far more dangerous threat.  On the other hand, Tyrantis, who is less intelligent, limited in communication with others by his reptilian mindset and instincts, and simple in his thoughts and desires, is nonetheless a sweet creature that is easily dealt with when others consider his animal needs and mindset.  There’s a quote from Hellboy I love that probably sums up all of my writing thus far: “To be other than human does not mean the same as being less,” and that’s what the matchup between these two in particular tries to illustrate: the “less” human Tyrantis is nonetheless more benign than the “more” human Promythigor.

- Kraydi the psychic lizard began life as a soft sculpture I made of the Canyon Krayt Dragon from The Wildlife of Star Wars.  The sculpture didn’t look much like the illustration, but I liked how it came out, and so I made it an original monster named Kraydi (see what I did there).  Figuring out an explanation for that name in ATOM’s world was possibly the most difficult kaiju naming task in the series, but it worked out in the end.

- Kraydi and Promythigor having psychic powers is a result of my time on Godzilla fan forums in my middle school years.  Most of the forums had OC kaiju battle tournaments, and SO many of those kaiju had a wide array of beam weapons and psychic powers just to win the tournaments by beam-spamming and mind controlling their foes into oblivion.  There’s a special kind of rage you get when your original creation is beaten by “Fire Godzilla” because he has a genius level intellect and the power of unstoppable telekinesis.  Kraydi began as (and still is I suppose) my attempt to do a psychic kaiju well, while Promythigor’s villainy being tied to psychic powers being forced on him is sort of my passive aggressive commentary on people foisting powers on a monster without any real thematic reason for them.

- Henry Robertson and Dr. Praetorius chewing out the laziness of people giving kaiju completely unaltered names of mythic beasts will probably be seen as a jab at the Monsterverse and/or the numerous writers in the kaiju OC scene who do the same, but it’s ACTUALLY a jab at my past self, who had DOZENS of kaiju whose names were just Greek mythological figures verbatim.  There are dozens of kaiju named Hydra, Scylla, Charybdis, Chimera, etc., past me, try to make the names stand out!  Oh wait you did.  I mean, don’t pat yourself on the back too much, you still went with “Mothmanud” as a canon name and never came up with something better, but, like, good on ya for trying I guess.

- Dr. Praetorius takes his name from the evil mad scientis in Bride of Frankenstein, who basically has all the wicked traits that Universal’s Frankenstein downplayed in their take on Dr. Frankenstein.  Ironically, ATOM’s Dr. Praetorius is a bit less evil than his fellow mad scientists in ATOM.  I really like how his character turned out, he surprised me.

- Isaac Rossum, the pilot of the USA mecha Atomoton, is named for Isaac Aasimov, whose robot stories are to robot fiction what Lord of the Rings is to high fantasy.  His last name is a reference to Rossum’s Universal Robots, which is where the word “robot” came from.

- The unfortunate pilots of MechaTyrantis in ATOM Volumes 1 and 2 are all nods to Jurassic Park.  John Ludlow = John Hammond and Peter Ludlow, Ian Grant = Ian Malcolm and Alan Grant, Dennis Dodgson = Dennis Nedry and Lewis Dodgson.

- A good way to pitch Invasion from Beyond! would be “what if the staff and monsters were able to fight back when the Kilaaks tried to take over Monsterland?”

- Ok, here’s a fun joke that no one will get but me because it requires a very specific chain of logic based on some obscure and loosely connected nerd bullshit.  There’s a rocker in ATOM’s universe named Sebastian Haff, right?  One of his songs, “Darling Let’s Shimmy,” is referenced right before a mothmanud larva emerges from the ground in both ATOM Vol. 1 and 2.  Ok, so, in the Bubba Hotep, an aging Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff claims he is actually the real Elvis Presley, having changed places with the real Sebastian Haff as a sort of Prince and the Pauper deal that went wrong.  Got that?  Ok, so, in UFO folklore, a common joke is the theory that Elvis didn’t die, but was rather abducted by aliens (or he actually WAS an alien the whole time - the whole “Elvis didn’t die, he just went home” joke in Men in Black is a good example of this).  Ok?  Ok.  So, in ATOM’s universe, we can surmise that their equivalent of Elvis, whose name is Sebastian Haff, WAS abducted by aliens, and that his song “Darling Let’s Shimmy” is subconsciously influenced by his repressed memories from his time aboard the Beyonder spaceships, which is why it accidentally awoke a Mothmanud larva in Volume 1.  There’s a lot of bullshit jokes I put into ATOM, but this is perhaps the bullshittiest of them all.

- One of the most common bits of feedback on ATOM Volume 1 I got was “I kept waiting for something to eat Brick Rockwell, he’s such an asshole.”  And I had to smile and go, “Oh, yeah, guess he never got his, huh?” the whole time without letting on that he was going to die here all along!

- Dr. Lerna and Brick Rockwell’s nature as foils to each other is probably most apparent in Invasion from Beyond!, where both are given fairly similar situations - a nonhuman approaches them with a solution to a global crisis - and react to it very differently.  I worry that some people may think they both made the same choice and got different results, and that that’s hypocrisy on my part, but I hope I wrote it so you can see how their choices and situations actually differ in key ways, and why their decisions, while similar on the surface, are ultimately very different, and thus result in almost opposite outcomes.

- So, when I planned out this book in 2016, I swear I didn’t know about the Orca from 2019′s Godzilla King of the Monsters.  Having the plot hang around Dr. Lerna deciding whether or not to use a sonic device to rouse all the kaiju to save the earth was not INTENDED to be a Monsterverse reference - it came about from me looking at Pathfinder’s take on kaiju, who are all explicitly influenceable by music, and thinking, “Oh, wow, music and songs DO have a major connection with kaiju in a lot of media, I should do something with that.”  Whem KOTM came out a few days after Volume 1 came out I realized I was kinda fucked here, because the comparison was definitely going to be made, but I’d also set this all up already and you can’t just change suddenly to avoid looking like a copy cat and make a good story, so... I dunno, I leaned into it a bit, but it is what it is.

- While most people will probably think they’re a reference to the Reptoids of UFO folklore, the Reptodites are more inspired by the Dinosapien of speculative evolution fame and, even morso, by the Reptites from Chrono Trigger.  Me wanting to avoid the “lizard people control the government” conspiracy theory trope is one of the main reasons why Reptodites have this non-interference clause with humanity.

- Lieutenant Gray is a bunch of different humanoid aliens rolled into one - a little Hopskinville goblin, a little classic gray, a little this one weird alien with five-fingered zygodactyl hands, etc.

- There’s some Beyonder Mecha in this volume that are basically kaiju-fied versions of the Flatwoods Monster.  The species that built them ALSO engineered the Mothmanuds, because connecting Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster is fun!

- Pleprah is, obviously, a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people eater.

- Tyrantis’s brush with death, in addition to being so very anime, was inspired by my dad outlining how mythic heroes often have to travel to the underworld/land of the dead before they can finish their journey.  It’s one of the plot points that I’ve had planned for this series since middle school.

- I’m sure some will view it as hackneyed and corny, but as a person who’s battled with depression for decades, having Tyrantis’s choice to live be the big heroic turn of the finale was very important to me.  Tyrantis incorporates elements of a lot of imaginary friends I made as a kid, and in many ways he’s kind of the face of my more positive side in my head.  He’s been telling me to choose to live for a while, and while maybe to an outsider it may seem hackneyed, it’s just... very Tyrantis.  He chooses life and kindness in the face of pain and struggle.  That’s Tyrantis.

- Tyrantis’s powered up form is called “Hyper Mode,” which is another Gundam reference.  Originally it was a lot gaudier and involved him turning gold like a fuckin’ Super Saiyan.  I opted for something a little more toned down here.  

- Also, speaking of KOTM references, I decided to make Hyper Mode Tyrantis’s final duel with Pathogen be a sort of foil to Burning Godzilla’s final bout with Ghidorah in KOTM.  Instead of ravaging the city, Hyper Tyrantis’s pulse of energy rejuvenates his fallen allies, and as a result he is “crowned” not out of fear for his supremacy in the wake of killing a powerful enemy, but in gratitude for his kindness.  See?  Leaning into it!

- And now I can finally reveal that Yamaneon is ATOM’s equivalent of The Monolith Monsters - that is, a kaiju that is also a mineral.  I took the “strange continuously growing rock” thing in a very different direction, though, as unlike The Monolith Monsters, Yamaneon is actually alive.

- At various points in the pre-writing process, either Promythigor, MechaTyrantis, or both were going to die fighting Pathogen.  I ultimately decided to let them both live, with MechaTyrantis even getting his flesh and blood body back, because I think it’s more interesting and thematically consistent that way.  They get a chance to heal their wounds by changing their ways.

- The Great Beyonder and Dorazor both almost didn’t make the cut, as I felt they didn’t have the same pull as villains that Pathogen, Promythigor, and MechaTyrantis did.  But then I thought that could actually be the gag - build them up as the final boss, only to have Pathogen take their crown.  I want to explore post-face turn Dorazor a bit more, though.  We’ll have to see about that in a later volume.

- Volumes 1 and 2 make up what I call “The Ballad of Tyrantis Arc” for ATOM.  I call it that because Tyrantis’s storyline in these two volumes was patterend after Chivalric ballads like Yvain the Knight of the Lion.  Tyrantis, a heroic warrior who is kind but dumb of ass, learns of strange goings on outside his home and investigates.  During his journey into the unknown he falls in love with a powerful woman, whose favor he tries to win.  Through happenstance he is separated from his love and, distraught, wanders around fighting various foes to prove his worth, before finally returning to his love a better hero.  Invasion from Beyond! could even be seen as a sort of Morte d’Artur, with Tyrantis and a bunch of other kaiju heroes (including Nastadyne and Kemlasulla, who are built up as Hero Kaiju of Another Story) take part in a huge battle that threatens their idealic kingdom (of monsters).

- Volume 2 isn’t the end of ATOM, but it’s designed to work as an ending if you want to tap out here.  As a reader I feel a definitive ending is important, but as a writer I’m always tempted to revisit my beloved characters, so I feel giving closure while leaving a few doors open for possible future adventures is a good compromise between these positions.  There will be more ATOM stories, some (but not all!) following Tyrantis and Dr. Lerna, but if you want to know that Tyrantis and Dr. Lerna get an ending and the resolution to their arcs such a thing promises, here you go.  An ending, if not THE END.

[rawsanma]

In Memoriam of "Shin Evangelion: Curse"

*The following article contains a full spoiler for "Evangelion 3.0+1.0".*

I sat together with a person who was not in birth when EOE was released, and after watching the film we talked a bit and thought about the people who passed away without ever seeing this. I understand that fans from the old series and those who came from the new series may have very different perceptions of Shin-Eva. So I'd like to first correct a few things I said in my first impressions.

It may be somewhere between an honorable movie and a mediocre movie in general, but as Evangelion, it's garbage.

After about halfway through the two hours and thirty-five minutes, I started to look at my watch again and again. The double ending, which is both a personal novel and a product, was a fleeting fantasy, and the two songs "One Last Kiss" and "beautiful world (da capo ver.)" were not used effectively in relation to the story, only being played in the staff roll.

When I saw the first 10 minutes of the movie that was released last year, I thought that perhaps Paris was chosen as the setting for the story of "humanity fighting together in the face of destruction" or "the expansion of the Eva world (not G Gundam, but G Eva!)", but that was not the case at all. He just wanted to depict the battle using the Eiffel Tower as a FATALITY,　I realized that he hadn't made a single millimeter of progress since when he asked Hayao Miyazaki if I could film only this action scene of Her Highness Kushana in the re-animation of Nausicaa, he was scolded, "That's why you're no good!"

At the beginning of the film, they try to carefully describe the things behind the scenes that were not told in Eva Q.  The third Ayanami like the TV version is the main character, and they go on and on about living in the countryside, copying "My Neighbor Totoro". The large family of our parent's home that we go back to during the summer vacation is presented as an image of happiness in life and a decent human being. It is also connected to Gendou's narrative during the Human Instrumentality Project but isn't it too Showa-era and too simple a solution? I am interested in how the young fans who are children of nuclear families who left their large families in the countryside and moved to the city saw the too sudden depiction of "life in the countryside". It was almost a gag to see Ayanami walking around in a plug suit which is a sexual orientation that has manifested itself after Space Battleship Yamato, in the images of pre and post-war farming villages depicted by recent NHK morning dramas. The director, influenced by his wife, must have been immersed in the LOHAS and vegan lifestyle as a fashion statement, which is only possible because he is an urbanite with too much stuff and too much money. As for this theme, it has already been presented in the watermelon field scene in the second film, and it is merely a re-presentation of the same theme in a diluted form.

I've pointed out before that Eva Q is "a crack in reality because of the loss of reality to rely on. "It's rude not to eat what you're served!", Shinji was scolded by Touji's father, who looked like a subversion of Hayao Miyazaki's work (Gedo Senki!). I have a simple question, how can the interior of a house become so old and wretched after only 14 years? How can a community of people of all ages be formed in just 14 years?　There was a line that implied that Touji had killed someone for the village, and it is possible that the director had extremely beautified the "Showa era" as a sanctuary where people who are hurt and regret their committing murder during the war as a soldier live nearby, and when he opened the last drawer after using up all the materials, he found the image of the original landscape of his childhood.

Misato and Kaji's child, which is only described for a few minutes, is also abrupt, and I don't feel that it is more than a plot device for the purpose of staging the reconciliation with Shinji later on. Some people seem to be moved by the fact that "behind Misato's cold attitude towards Shinji in Q, there was such a conflict in her mind," but it's the opposite. All the answers are just excuses after wasting nine years of work. Even if the wounds healed and treated with a gentle "I'm sorry," after being beaten severely by a raging DV husband, the fact of the beating would not disappear, and the wife would feel nothing but fear at the sudden change in her husband. To a situation that he had set to minus 100, he spent 2 hours and 35 minutes gradually pouring water drawn from other places and past works to bring it back to zero...I've never seen such a horrible match pump. Well, now that I'm writing this, I'm thinking that I've seen this before.

The relationship between Eva Q and Shin Eva is very similar to the relationship between "The Last Jedi" and "The rise of Skywalker" in Star Wars. In a self-absorbed rampage of conjecture that did not listen to the opinions of others, the historical stage of the series that had been built up was turned into a mess, and then the destroyed story was carefully built up again from the ground using unnecessary length, and only the shape of the story was created to end it without being disgraceful, and every scene that tries to make things more exciting is a copy of past work. As for Star Wars, since 8 and 9 were directed by different directors, I was able to settle my feelings of resentment towards Ryan and gratitude towards Abrams, respectively, but as for Evangelion, the director looks like a child who has been proud to clean up his own mess and have his female cronies praise and pat him on the head. Moreover, what kind of sympathy do you expect when you are told to "I'll make amends" for the mere act of wiping your ass after defecating, in a cool, Showa-era chivalrous tone?

In this film, as a recovery from Q and a summary of new Eva, there are elements throughout the story that critics can easily relate to the old Eva. “Oh, I can talk about this in connection with that!” This is what gives them a good impression and it has nothing to do with how the old fans perceive it. The director seems to have a dedicated person in charge of communicating and negotiating with the outside, but now he wants the critics to communicate with the fans about Shin-Eva. As long as he doesn't speak for himself, he can correct their interpretations later based on the "misunderstandings" of the people in between himself and his fans. This is a very Japanese-style system of surmising feelings, a system of authority that is formed when only a limited number of cronies are informed of the true intentions of the president. If I talk about it in too much detail, right-winged Yakuza will show up very soon, so to make it short, it is an indigenous control structure unique to Japan that originated from the "Mikado behind the bamboo blind". This time the director was very conscious of that, and I was able to see that Eva, who was a challenger, has become an authority that does not tolerate any criticism.

And what fan from the past could enjoy watching the endless battle scenes after Shinji returns to Wunder in the middle of the film? One after another, the sister ships of Wunder appear--there's almost no difference in appearance, but Ritsuko is able to guess their names the moment they appear. Right after the line "I'm pretty sure there's a fourth ship," the fourth ship comes crashing upon them from underneath, with no intention other than to make us laugh, right? As well as the repeated tenseless bombardment fight with no description of damage no matter how many artillery shells are hit, and it's quite painful being poured Asuka and Mari's Me-Strong Battles which are already enough by the time of Q, continuously down my throat like a goose with a funnel in its mouth. There's no way to synchronize my feelings with the screen, and it just creates an atmosphere as if the story is going on with the unattractive super-robot action that I pointed out in Q. It's no use pointing out, but the repair and supply problems of Wille side in a world where the industry has been destroyed were shown in the farming village part, though it was inadequate. But those of NERV side, an organization of only a man and an old man, was completely thrown away.

The last part of the story about the Human Instrumentality Project is like a fanzine where Gendou, Asuka, Kaworu, and Rei are lined up in a row and complemented in turn and then dismissed, whereas EOE was a total complement through Shinji. The director has tried to upgrade his framework by borrowing them from EOE and has failed miserably. Someone who has created works by putting his emotion and flair into a copy has dabbled in copying his own work. As a result, he had to confront his own sensibilities from when he was young and had to compare the old and the new by his old audience. Frankly speaking, only the techniques have been traced, the sound and the screen have become gorgeous, but the emotion and the sense have deteriorated. The face of the giant Ayanami that was replaced with a live-action one -- probably based on the face acting of Shinji's voice actor, and the "untested ordeal" of her tweet means this -- appears in the background like a gold folding screen in the high sand at a Japanese wedding reception. You're getting tired of all this, and you're not making it seriously, are you? The battle between Eva Unit01 and Eva Unit13 in Tokyo-III, which I expressed my anxiety about before the film's release, is a scene where the company's CG team can't produce what the director expects and he is so frustrated that he has the same mindset as in the final two episodes of the TV version, "I'd rather get a minus than a red", and after that, it became like a gag scene, including Eva fights in Misato's apartment and Shinji's school classroom, as if he was staged them in desperation. The side-shooting screenshot of the little Wunder charging at the head of the giant Ayanami is a picture of ”Cho Aniki (Japanese STG)” itself, and it's also meant to be funny, right? It's a series of loose, sloppy, and tenseless scenes that can't be compared to EOE.

What the hell have the CG team been doing for the past nine years, getting paid with no progress and making Eva look like an outdated piece of crap? Didn't anyone have the chivalrous spirit of the Showa era like "Don't embarrass our boss!"? Don't be so relieved when you get the green light! The director has just given up on you! There were a few scenes where the person at the top of the editing and collage, who has been making the coolest pictures, was not given as much good material as he used to be and seemed to make desperate staging in a way that he would never have given the green light in the past. It's been more than 10 years since Xapa was established, but I guess they don't have enough talent to meet the director's vision. Perhaps because of this, the conclusion of the film is exactly the same as the old one, that the director has no choice but to use his personal feelings to finish Eva, but the film ends up being a self-imitation of "Sincerely Yours". It is sad to see a person who "surpasses the original by putting his heart and soul into the copy" start to copy his own past works on the big screen of the theater, because he has become a big name in the animation world after reaching the age of 60, and there are no others left to be copied. However, right after "Komm, süsser Tod" started playing in the old movie, the scene where the titles of each episode and the reverse side of Cels were played in succession was projected on the wall of the studio using a projector -- the title of the new movie was added.  It made me mad and thought, "Don't touch my EOE with the dirty hands of the merchant.  I'll kill you."

The last things that the man who "transfers his own life onto films" presented in his costly self-published private novel were a naked confession of his own mental history up to the point where he met his wife, which he temporarily entrusted to Gendou, and the words "I think I loved you" and "I loved you" exchanged between himself and the former lover who could not be together and themselves who had separate spouses, just a reckoning of the muddled love affair that existed behind the scenes of EOE. I half-jokingly said that the distance between the director and Asuka's voice actor was important for the end of Eva, but it turned out to be true in a different way. During the recording session, Asuka's voice actor was told by the director, "I'm glad Miyamura is Asuka," which sent chills down my spine as it conveyed the horror of a creator who doesn't hide everything about his life and relationships and uses them to create his works.

In the scene where Shinji says "I liked you too" to the adult Asuka, who is wearing a tight latex suit and drawn in a more realistic character design (making us aware of the cosplay by Asuka's voice actor), while she is lying on the EOE beach, I thought "You guys should do this in a coffee shop or something between recording sessions! Don't make us watch middle-aged man and woman having unpleasant conversations on the big screen of the theater!", I almost screamed out. I think that's the scary part, the director's one-sided love for Asuka's voice actor is falsified by having the character say that she liked him, as if it was a mutual love. The director's statement at the beginning of the pamphlet says that he started working on the sequel right after Evangelion 2.0 without hesitation, using the worldview of "Q". I'm not trying to quote the line "You can change the reality you don't like by getting on Eva.", but it's not as if he's trying to cover up the fact, but he really believes that using his strong imagery, and it made me feel a bit chilly that there was no one around to correct his misconceptions.

At the end of Human Instrumentality Project, I wondered if the fact that a senior member of the movie industry had praised the shooting of EOE by flipping Cels over as a "tremendous deconstruction" was still fresh in his mind. This time, too, it was postponed after postponement, and even though the makings have been done in time, he showed the other side of the production with line drawings and roughs. The reason it was so innovative was that it was the first time anyone had tried it then, and now, 25 years later, it's just a rut. It's disgusting that everyone is praising the master's strange drawing habit and saying, "Oh yeah, that's it, that's it." As I've said before, it's like "defecating in a sixty-nine," which was successful because the first partner happened to be a scatologist. The expression of EOE was sharp and ”Rock’n’‐roll”, but Shin-Eva's "fun of anime images" has gone into the realm of traditional art, like slow "Gagaku".

The director hadn't decided who Mari Makinami was for a long time -- he was so indifferent to her that he threw the actor's acting plan to a sub-director -- but with Shin-Eva, he's changed her into an equal to Moyoco Anno, his wife. In other words, the flashy battle in the middle of the film, which is unimportant to many viewers, is revealed to have been a very pleasant pretend play for the director, in which he has his former love and his current wife fight on his favorite robots. Once again, we are shown the director's so-what-attitude, which has not progressed even a millimeter since "I'm an asshole," and which he can complete his work only by masturbation. So it's no wonder that they couldn't depict the extremely simple catharsis of Shinji's great success with Eva Unit01, which is what most of the old fans want. Because a robot with a pathetic old man on board can't get an erection due to impotence, let alone masturbation!　Oops, excuse me, sir.

And as I said before, it's time to realize that the English language has become so popular in Japan that it's become lame. You use Infinity, Another, Additional, Advanced, Commodity, and Imaginary, just because it sounds cool to you, right?　Everyone criticized the naming "Final Impact", but I never thought I'd see the time when I'd faint from the lack of taste and coolness in Evangelion, such as Another Impact, Additional Impact.

And the ending, with the wedding report in a live-action aerial shot of the director's hometown, newbie fans are screaming that it is like, "They're doing a very positive version of the old "Return to Reality!". But I felt it was too empty and cynical because it was intended to be read that way by the director. It depicts only the elation of marriage, and the pain of getting along with a partner and his or her family with different values is cut off (well, maybe Q was expressing the hardship of married life......). But isn't the emotional weight of a marriage report much higher when you meet your partner's parents?　The fact that he ended the movie by showing his own hometown instead of his wife's hometown leaves me with the impression that he's definitively an egotistical geek through and through. "You may have graduated from a good university and are making good money in the city, but if you're not married and don't have children, aren't you somehow humanly flawed?" After 25 years, Evangelion, which was such a forward-thinking Sci-Fi, is now completely in sync with the earthly ethics of Showa-era's farmers and farm horses. "I got married and it saved my life. I don't know about you, but why don't you try?" You can think what you want, but if you want to convey it as a message of salvation, you have to express it in the content of your work, not in your own talk.

I've been married for 20 years, I have two children, both of whom are about to reach the age of adulthood, I've paid off the mortgage on my home, and I'm finally at the end of raising my children, but all of that is just an outer shell of a social skin that has nothing to do with my true nature or where my soul is! There's no connection between what kind of life an individual lives in the real world and the Sci-Fi sense of wonder, in fact, there shouldn't be any connection! If you're a science fiction fan, take a page from the great Arthur C. Clarke! I was a nerd with a negative value of 100, but when I got married, I gradually poured the "common-sense values" of the Showa era into myself, and now I'm a true man with no negative value? Don't write such pathetic fiction proudly! Listen, what you presented to the audience at the end was the same thing that someone would say to you, "You seedless stallion!" It's the same kind of unethical and vulgar message that you shouldn't be giving! The old Eva became a classic of Japanimation, and no one was able to properly scold you, or you keep away those who tried, and the result of this is directly reflected in the ending of Shin Eva!　You've reached your 60th birthday and you only have such poor social common sense, damn it!

I'm sorry, I was so excited that I lost my control a little bit, just a little bit. I think the director is relying a little too much on his wife, who is ultimately a stranger on, to be his laison d'etre (lol). If they were to break up in the future, it would certainly be the soil for the next Eva, the content and development of which is completely predictable, but that is no longer my concern. I wonder if his wife doesn't like the fact that he's mentally dependent on her like this, and that it's being shown on screens all over the country. If it were me, I'd be furious, but since she's a creator, I guess she understands how he feels. Ignoring the other person's feelings and continuing to force what he believes to be love on her, thinking that it will make her happy, seems to me that there has been no progress at all since the way he treated his girlfriend 25 years ago. The person I want to hear from the most right now is not the self-proclaimed Eva fans who are looking at each other from the side and giving positive feedback in celebration of the final episode, but his wife. If the director had a child, he would not have been able to distinguish between his own ego and that of the child, and would have doted on his child, making a documentary film about his or her growth, but would most likely have turned into a controlling and poisonous parent in his or her adolescence. And he animated his feelings for his child who was rebelling against him, without the child's permission, considering it as a one-sided redemption for the child, and the child who was exposed to the whole country about their home life would have distanced from his father more and more.

In the end, Evangelion did not become a product like Gundam, but rather a robot animation that was the director's weird personal novel. The repeated use of the word "job" in the film has stuck in my mind, but in order for the studio to survive, it had to make Evangelion a product in this new series, and I'm sure that was the initial motivation behind the production of these new films. Your real "job" was to make Evangelion the same as Gundam, to protect the people who came to you because they loved Evangelion. Years from now, I can see a future where Xapa will be like Ghibli, behead the staff and continue as a copyright management company. The director, who didn't want to be embarrassed as a creator by a new challenge adopted the safe way -- I can't believe that I have to use the word "safe" for Evangelion -- to end the new series that relied on EOE only for himself, not for the future of the people who came to admire him. That's what Shin Evangelion is all about.

The good part? The fact that he didn't bring Shin Ultraman trailer at the end of the film makes me think he has grown up a bit. If you're declaring "Farewell, All Evangelions" with the intention of hurting, disappointing, and disinterested old fans like me, then your malice is unfathomable, and that's quite a feat. Brilliantly, your intentions have permanently killed a part of me that used to be an Eva fan.

As horrifying as it is to imagine, it must have crossed the director's mind to reschedule the film and set a new release date for March 11. The only reason he didn't do so is not that he has grown up to be a sensible adult, but rather because the idea of linking Evangelion 3.0 with the Great East Japan Earthquake was a fact that is too painful for him to make it public.

Ten years ago today, many lives were lost and Evangelion was destroyed.

This fact will never disappear, no matter how much the director denies and covers up with the "true" history. If there is any mission left for me as a fan, it is to continue to pass on this fact to future generations as a storyteller. It is a huge loss for Japanese fiction that the end of the great Evangelion has become a self-recovery work of the great failure of the reboot affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and that the potential of the great Evangelion has been consumed by the self-defense of someone who cannot admit his own mistakes, and I sincerely regret it. Shin Evangelion will be forever cursed by the dead, who yearn to see the sequel of Evangelion 2.0, and the living, who yearn to see the sequel of Evangelion 2.0.

This curse will be completed when it spreads, arrives, and is burned by the powers that be as a false history. I pray that my thoughts will reach him!

[vaguely-concerned]

the mandalorian episode 5 rewatch thoughts! I cannot and will not be stopped

- I LOVE that he talks to the baby even during a pitched dogfight lol. “Hold on” 

also this is another great episode for mando’s hilarious petty streak. “That’s my line,” he says, like that’s the thing this dude has done to offend him more than trying to shoot him and the kid out of the sky fsdkhafds sorry din some people just have no manners

- the way he puts the baby down and the fond tilt of his head still has me. so soft. my heart 

- the droids cheat prodigiously during the card game and Pelli probably knows and is cool with it. that’s kind of adorable 

can I just say that ‘middle aged semi-sketchy car mechanic’ is a fictional stereotype that is long overdue some female representation and I really like ‘the mandalorian’

- again the physical acting in this shoooow -- when Pelli asks him if 500 imperial credits is all he has he’s even out of focus and we only see one arm/shoulder and you can tell from that one sliver of his forearm we get to see that he does a little shrug/turns his arm in a ‘what you see is what you get’ sort of way. he’s so annoyed this whole episode god bless him

- the baby cries when he wakes up and can’t find his dad :( I hadn’t watched this ep with my good earphones yet, that’s devastating  

- oooooof when the baby realizes his dad is leaving again when they go outside to the speeder bikes D: he’s like ‘oh there you are pls could you take me from this weird lad -- no wait where are you going!!!’ 

actually he doesn’t start properly crying again before toro speaks and is looking at him, so I’m guessing the baby had an extra Bad Feeling About This once he got toro’s Force vibe or whatever. god I look forward to the day he learns to talk and can give his dad some advice 

- the way mando so immediately and naturally starts mentoring toro has me wondering so much about whether he’s done it before and who raised him within the mandalorians. they’ve left themselves a ton of space on this one -- he was rescued by one specific person in the flashback with a very steady and parental air but he also says that ‘they’ raised him in the fighting corps so it might have been a group effort as well, they could go in any direction they want. from how he acts I’d say he might have had at least one stable and pretty good mentor/parental figure (and uh if that’s how it went down they don’t seem to be relevant to his life at all today... doesn’t bode great for them does it 😬)

- oh shit I never put two and two together on this one before but mando lets himself get shot in the chest to give toro a chance to sneak up on her! he just gambled that the beskar would still hold up and that she hadn’t caught on yet? din I love you so much but you ARE a crazy person 

- ah fennec’s dig about nevarro hits differently after episode 8 huh

also she’s so cool surely they have to bring her back again right? star wars characters can come back from getting literally cut in half she could easily return with a few new robot parts and a vendetta, it’s practically tradition 

- the fml energy around mando when he goes to get the dewback lol he KNOWS he’s getting screwed over but he can’t just shoot this dumb kid in the head unprovoked either. it’s hard to be honorable and secretly kind of nice behind your tough guy exterior Y____Y

- apropos of nothing some of the storage crates in the hangar look exactly like portal companion cubes. no I’ve got nothing more on that let’s move on

- it’s SUCH a good detail that once toro stabs him in the back mando literally does not give him another word; he’s silent the entire time in the last scene until after toro is dead. there’s nothing left to say he’s just going to kill him once the chance presents itself (toro even kicks the dog a bit pointing the gun at the baby with his finger on the trigger so like rest in fucking pieces asshole I’m sure no one’s going to miss you)

- the baby makes a little purring sound when he’s handed over to mando and then finally settles down <3<3<3 too much for my little heart to bear 

- I still super enjoy this ~*mysterious dark stranger*~ showing up at the end, it’s an effective hook and feels so western-y! despite having never given a shit about boba fett before I actually sort of hope it could be him, I think he could be a very effective dark mirror to what mando is and he comes with some father&son Thematique Implications all his own (isn’t there something thematically irresistible about bringing in the character who spawned the entire titular culture of the show and taking a look at how it’s all changed since him, reexamining his place in it? I don’t give a shit that george lucas says he’s not a real mandalorian or whatever, that’s clearly what EVERY faction of mandalorians says about all the others literally all the time it’s the easiest thing in the world to write around lol)

- can’t get over this concept art where toro is clearly drawn from a reference of orlando bloom ca. pirates of the caribbean 2. also this seems like one of the episodes where the concept art and the final product deviates the most?  

[arcticdementor]

There is an old adage in business; talent goes where the money is.

There will shortly be a new adage; talent avoids where the Woke is.

Google and Amazon became the powerhouses they are today because a generation ago (ouch) they were willing to spend big to get talent. And they got it. It says something about the level of people they were getting that one of the questions on Google’s employment application was, how many books have you written?  This was before internet publishing was a thing.

Unlike the Dickensian workhouse conditions for the Microserfs up north at Redmond, the googlers were treated like princes.  One of the big winners when the company finally went public was the company chef, not food service’s director you understand, but chef as in actual chef.  

…

The Woke will always find a reason to hire other Wokelings.  Diversity is usually a good excuse but there is always a way to justify hiring someone who is utterly unqualified for her job.  And those that are actually good at their jobs have to take up the slack for the useless dead weight. It used to be a “blonde with a great rack.” Now it’s a “three-hundred-pound, hippo with a purple mental-illness haircut.”  

The thing is the blonde was always cheerful, nice to everyone, and pleasant to look at.  She at least made the work environment more enjoyable.  On the other hand, the whale with the purple hair is constantly shrieking and demanding submission to the SJW narrative from everyone that she comes in contact with. During working hours instead of doing her job, she is organizing witch hunts to get people fired. She and her comrades make life miserable at that company.

Here’s my big point:  Every top tier worker in that field will know about this and avoid that company like the plague in the future.  

…

Disney Parks now has that same problem with the Imagineers.

There was a reason Disneyland was such a cut above county carnivals and that reason was…Europe?!?!

It’s true.  European amusement parks go back a long time, some of them are older than the United States.  Walt was impressed by the pristine look and feel of European amusement parks.  The reason they were cleaner and more highbrow was because they were parks first and foremost.  Europeans for centuries would travel to a certain locale to “partake of the waters,” or they would go somewhere with beautifully manicured gardens or magnificent concertos.  

The hawkers, vendors, and amusements would follow.   However, the men running the parks would demand high standards from these camp followers.  Since these people became permanent residents, it was easy for them to settle in and take snobbish pride in their professions and workplace.  

The result was a higher quality experience for European parkgoers.

American amusements were unfortunately dominated by carnival culture.  Dusty, grungy, chipped paint, gaudy lights, and fleece the rubes, then get out of town.   American carnivals consisted of ripoff games, creaking rides, and strippers who had young bodies with aging faces.   Kids always wanted to go but parents could see what was beneath the gaudy surface.  It was tolerable as a once-a-year thing, but so far as respectable middle-class families were concerned it was just as well that the carnies left town after two or three weeks.

After a trip to Barcelona’s Tibidabo, Walt Disney decided he was going to change all that.

Disney repeatedly said, “Disneyland could only have been built by a movie company.” And he was right. Nobody else would have approached problems in quite the same way as a film company.  Walt’s people understood perspective in a way that most architects and engineers simply could not. His parkgoers were viewed as an audience, they weren’t just there to go on rides they were there for a holistic experience. The park employees were called cast members for a reason.

Each of Disneyland’s three amusement parks had stories to tell.  And they were very American stories. Main Street USA was a step backward in time to an innocent America that knew nothing of the horrors of the Great War or World War Two, the desperation of the Depression, and fear of atomic weapons. Frontierland told parkgoers tales of myth heroes of the American people. The tall stories of frontier heroes like Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett.  While Frontierland looked back with pride on the achievements of the past, Tomorrowland looked forward to an optimistic American future.  

As for Fantasyland, those stories were about as Americanized as you can get. All of my readers are probably well aware of little details that got filed off, like stepsisters cutting off their own toes or why Hansel and Gretel were really in the Woods all by themselves and what Prince Charming actually did with Sleeping Beauty. But fantasyland didn’t have any of those little details. It was a place of beauty, heroism, and of course magic.

At Disney Parks the backstory has always come first.  And all of the park rides have them

…

When Walt Disney was at the Tibidabo he saw the Automata Museum, he tried repeatedly to buy it over the years.  They were the kind of thing he would become obsessed with. The man who built a ¼ scale ridable railroad in his backyard had to have some of this own.

Taking the initials of his name; Walter Elias Disney founded WED Enterprises and began building his own automatons which he called, animatronics. The men who designed them were christened, Imagineers.

The Imagineers were the men who made the dreams happen, they were the illusionists who created the magic. Make you an audience think they were taking a trip to the moon?  No problem.  Take a cable car ride to the top of the Matterhorn? Easy. Convince people they were in a mansion surrounded by 999 ghosts “with room for one more”? Give me a real challenge.

Okay, that last one was a real challenge as it turned out.  Disneyland has nowhere near the room that Disney World would have in years to come.  The Imagineers needed to figure out how to get the Haunted Mansion’s passengers from the assembly station to the start of the ride when there were railroad tracks between these two points and keep the audience engaged in the story at the same time.  The solution was to build the world’s largest open elevator and make it part of the story.  Which is how the Stretching Room came to be.

The Imagineers have had their fails as well.  The Yeti on Expedition Everest was the largest animatronic Disney ever built.  And it was only briefly in operation because as it turned out the rest of the ride was under-engineered.  The robot-monster was so big it was damaging the roller coaster during its act.

Well, anyone can have a bad day.  My point is that, traditionally, the Imagineers successes are so big their failures really standout.

Note my use of the word “traditionally.”

The old guard of Imagineers as represented by the likes of Joe Rohde, found themselves out of a job this year.   Pushed out from below by the Young Turks of the Stories Matter group.

Far from viewing the audience as their public to be entertained, the Stories Matter Imagineers clearly and obviously view it as a class in need of education.  Although, the Stories Matter crowd is often desperate to show how clever they are.  Remember how the old school guys wanted to keep the crowd in the moment at the Haunted Mansion?  The new generations of Imagineers could care less about that. Witness the Stargate and Death-Taco that are now hideously disfiguring the beauty of the World Showcase Lake at Epcot.

Now they are moving on to the backstories.  The Jungle Cruise ride is being refurbished on the fly without closing it.  They don’t have any choice the movie will be out before they could close and reopen. They are also frantically retconning the backstory of the ride to make it much more Woke.

[testamari-blog]

Why we should be excited about Elon Musk’s Neuralink?

--Elon Musk next to the surgical robot, Neuralink presentation. Source: thesun.co.uk--

The presentation of Elon Musk’s new venture Neuralink has come and gone a couple of weeks ago, but perhaps it didn’t create the fuss it deserved. Of course comparing a project recruiting presentation to an actual rocket launch is not fair, though brain-chip integration is not a topic to overlook.

Before I go too ahead of myself, let’s look at the main points of the presentation to see what’s this all about:

Neuralink is a coin-sized chip that is to be integrated to the brain. The integration requires a brain surgery, where a part of the skull is removed and the electrodes of the chip are sewed into the neural connections of the brain.

--Neuralink chip location on the brain, which replaces a piece of skull. Source: cnet.com--

Appropriately, the project consists of two parts: the chip and the surgical robot. Elon stressed that the aim is to make the complete operation mechanical, removing the element of human error. At its apex, a Neuralink insertion operation will take an hour, won’t require general anesthesia, and the patient (or the customer in this case) can leave the facility in a couple of hours.

A day with the Neuralink chip will look like this: you charge the chip contactless overnight, which provides enough battery for 24 hours. During the day, the chip both reads your thoughts and does what you want, in addition to providing information seamlessly. To learn about the weather, you just think about it, the chip searches it through the web and - with lack of a better term - whispers you the result.

They also demonstrated the effects of the chip on pigs: one that doesn’t have, one does, and one that used to have. All the pigs seemed fine (of course I’m no veterinarian), and the one with the chip sent live signals whenever it smelled stuff. Plus, they showed a video demonstration, where a pig is walking on the treadmill, and they are able to accurately predict the joint locations based on the data that the chip sends.

--Live demonstration on pigs. Source: theverge.com--

The presentation ended with a Q&A. The highlights of this part for me were;

The promise that this chip can solve brain related or neural problems like depression, eyesight loss, parkinsons etc.

After it’s settled, the whole procedure (surgery + the chip) will be available for a couple of thousand dollars.

The things you can do with this will wary: from fetching your car (they said Tesla of course) to playing a video game or driving a car without any physical action.

They also mentioned ‘saving memories’ at some point. I don’t know how I felt about this (frightened probably), but it immediately reminded me of the Braindance concept of Cyberpunk 2077 (this video explains this concept in the lore of the game. But quickly, Braindance enables other people to live captured memories of another: sense, hear, see).

Now let’s examine further what does this all mean. But first of all, we must understand that this project has two main challenges: the procedure and the technology. The hardware challenge consists of the task of inserting a chip, which is a foreign object to the body, into the brain. And this is much harder than it seems. Not only such a delicate electronic device should stay perfectly operational inside the body, but also it should cause no harm to the carrier over the years. The technology on the other hand, seems like a nightmare. The requirements it brings are enormous. First, the elephant in the room, it must solve some of the everlasting mysteries of the human brain and the neural system. Second, it must be able to do it with a piece of hardware that is as big as a coin. Last, as the data in the question is the most sensitive of all - literally one’s thoughts - it must bring the state-of-the-art privacy applications alongside. 

The issues of hardware size and privacy are easier to discuss, and go hand in hand. Due to size limitations, the chip is apparently designed as simple as possible, just capable about collecting neural data and sending it to a cloud. This means you should always be around wireless internet connection for this device to run. One thing that the chip must certainly do though, is the encryption of the neural data before sending it to the cloud, and decryption of the incoming data from the cloud (for an illustration of what encryption/decryption is, see the following figure).

--A basic encryption/decryption procedure, where both sides (it would be the chip and the cloud in the case of Neuralink) share a secret key. This key can be used to scramble the data when sending, and to unscramble when received. That way, anybody listening to the channel in between cannot understand what the data means. Source: cheapsslshop.com--

Now the neural aspect - I should say what I think about this up front: Neuralink at this stage didn’t show anything new. I can understand that the smelling experiment and the joint prediction can appear out of this world to some, though this is general knowledge today. For long, people have been examining brain scans to understand how particular movements or thoughts map to regions of the brain (see this video for such an experiment). You can then use this signal to understand when the smell receptors are at play, or, with the help of machine learning, you can predict the body positions. Going even further - a colleague of mine once told me about their bachelor’s graduation project: neural prediction of when a person is happy or sad. And they did it by using external electrodes to the head, and some kitten pictures. And this was years ago. One credit of amazement however I can give is: the same chip, from a singular position and limited number of neural connections, can be used to process both things - though it wasn’t explained whether the same chip and the same animal was used for both experiments.

This brings the question of “Is Neuralink selling a dream” for me. And my answer is “Definitely yes!”. What they described to be possible, such as the chip ‘writing an answer directly to your brain’ or ‘recording your thoughts/memories’ is by no means a capability of today’s science. These tasks are fundamentally different than searching some correlations between neural activity, as they require the complete deciphering of the neural activity. Today, we have very limited idea how a neuron, or a group of neurons store information. Thus, we cannot convert their activity to what we see, hear, or think externally. That’s also why we cannot write information to somebody’s brain - the best we can do is to hit somebody in back of their head, to make them see a flash in their sight (this is a bit exaggerated, but you get the point).

But then why should we be excited about Neuralink, if it is just selling dreams? Because there are categories of doing that. I mean, if your sailor friend during the high Middle Ages started talking about ‘going beyond the sky’, just because you can sail in the oceans now, there would be no reason to take this seriously. But if your engineer friend started talking about the same thing, after the jet engine was invented in the later stages of the Second World War, there would be indeed reasons to be excited about it. What we saw in this presentation has told to me that we are in the second scenario. Integrating a chip to a brain without any damage, and then successfully extracting neural information is a great first step. And this has always held true: “Sic parvis magna”.

--“Sic parvis magna”. Literally the Latin for ‘small, just as big’. Usually it’s meaning is translated as ‘greatness from small beginnings’. Source: pinterest.com--

So finally, would I get this chip for my brain? No - not as soon as it’s available at least. The following are my considerations - when they are satisfied, only then I can consider having a brain surgery to get an implant:

It does much more than being a version of Siri. It enables me to control the electronic environment around me. Plus it creates some sort of augmented reality - for instance it can highlight the objects that I’m searching for.

It does not transfer any data out of my head, except a command or a internet related search. No matter how secure, I’m not ok with my thoughts exiting my head (literally). It should do all the processing locally, and contact the cloud when I ask for a question, or make a command to the external world.

Many people use it for some time and experience no side-effects.

Let me finish with a disclaimer, as this is my first post: I do write about subjects that I’m interested in, in an informed but not in an academic manner. Therefore, consider this and future content as such.

[drev-the-procrastinator]

1, 8, 12 and 52 for the writing thingy!!!

Look at me finally answering these after like a whole month lol

Thanks for the ask!

1. Tell us about your WIP!

Which one lol, I’ve got many of them. Too many. Really. That, coupled with the fact that I am a slow writer because I keep getting distracted and procrastinating (like with answering these asks,,,,) means that pretty much everyone on this site will die of old age before I finish like any of them :’D

Anyway, I guess I’ll give brief summaries of all of the… main ones. This is gonna be a long one, fellas! I guess in the order I came up with them? Or the order I’m pretty sure I came up with them in.

TT: My original story I’ve been low-key working on and reworking since… 2012…? It’s a fantasy story, and it is… way too long probably. Also needs a lot of work. Worldbuilding and character building and plot building… At the moment, I guess I could summarise it as, our world gets wrecked for some reason, and the main characters, these two girls, who got saved into another, fantasy world with like… a bunch of other survivors, leave the Earth-refugee camp and get tangled with like, politics? Of that world? Well, politics and then eventually like, a war type thing… I didn’t say it was good, and I did also say it needs a whole lotta work. I’m pretty happy with some names younger me came up with though! Also it has dragons, so. Yup.

Fantasy fanfic: I am very good with names, as you’ll come to notice. Anyway this is a.. Hetalia fantasy fic..? I came up with in, like, 2014. I’m not actively working on this one at the moment, but I would like to maybe write it one day, and my most beloved OC originated in this story, you may have seen me mention her in my tags? I haven’t managed to come up with a name for her, but I call her the Asshole Goddess, because she’s a goddess, and also an ass. So.

Anyway this one’s pretty cliche, and it’s like, an absurdly large cast of Hetalia characters ending up in a fantasy world, where a bunch of other characters, who’d gone missing earlier, have apparently been taken to? Then it’s a journey to find and get them back, friendships are formed and magical things are encountered, but uh oh! They’re mortal here and can die! And many do. You may note I was 14 when I came up with it, so. Well. It is quite edgy. Had some good concepts though!

Kingdom AU: Great with names, as I said. This one is also a Hetalia fic, because that is the fandom I’ve been stuck in forever, though mostly just because I’ve so many fics for it. This is the odd one out in my fics though! This is like, a royalty AU of an rp AU me and my friend made by accident one time? The RP, not this AU, this is all my invention. It’s really just for me and my friend, since it’s based on that strange RP and the main thing in it is like and OC x canon character ship? That’s also why it’s the weird one, I don’t usually have much romance in my fics because I’m not big on ships and just prefer gen stuff, but this one is like primarily romance? Lots of pining. And it’s very soft. And I love this AU with all my heart. It’s also got a whole lotta angst!

Basic plot is the more or less classic, kinda cliche, peasant girl goes to get a job in the royal palace to help her poor family and meets the crown prince, and they become friends, and slowly fall in love.. Except, well, this is weird also in that the end point isn’t them getting married or confessing their love or anything, that’s like...Maybe the midpoint? There’s also politics, kinda worldbuilding? It’s set in like a 1700s type setting, I think, And while it’s not really a fantasy world since no magic, it’s not like, a real world setting. Anyway, yeah, this is near and dear to my heart.

The Home Front Fic: This! This is the one I’ve been trying to work on lately! It’s about life on the Finnish home front during WWII, and yes this is uh, also a Hetalia fic. Sorry. Though to be fair with this one and the previous one everyone’s probably gonna be so OOC and the setting is so different they might as well just be original works lol. Anyway, it’s a human AU, and also had a lot of OCs for that reason because it’d be tough to make a story of this scope with like. Three characters.

Basically! Tino is a 8, soon to be 9-year-old boy living in the Finnish countryside in 1942. His dad’s gone off to war, as well as the farmhand they had at the farm, and his mom and grandma can’t take care of the whole farm by themselves. So when they hear a nearby factory and some other farms in the area are getting extra work force in the form of Soviet prisoners of war, they decide to ask for one, too. They get a worker, his name’s Ivan. It takes some time, since they’re technically enemies, right, but eventually Tino befriends him and slowly he kind of becomes a part of the family… But you know what happened when the Continuation War between Finland and the Soviet Union ended in September 1944? :) Well, I’ll just say that Stalin did say “There are no Soviet prisoners of war, only traitors.”

This one also has angst. But it also has found family! I like it a whole lot, I wish I’d written it already, but I have been having such a hard time starting it. :(

That BNHA Fic: I can call it that because I’ve only got one so far! So this is a My Hero Academia fic, and hmm. I haven’t talked about it too much, but I do like it, even though my focus has been pulled back to the Home Front Fic again. I do wanna write this one!

So this is like a future fic? It’s canon divergent because some stuff happening in the manga rn is not gonna work with the plot, I guess it’ll diverge at least from like… all the New Year’s chapters? I don’t remember what the number is.

Anyway, the main character is Eri, who’s been going to like this boarding school meant for kids with volatile quirks. She wanted to go there herself when some years ago her quirk had gone bonkers, she thinks? Something like that, she doesn’t remember that well anymore, but anyway, she’s going to apply to UA! Just the Gen-Ed, her quirk isn’t any good against robots. She’d love to be a hero, though, she knows so many heroes and she just wants to help people, but her quirk is no good. :( Anyway she’s back in Musutafu for the summer break in her last year of middle school, and she meets Mirio and Aizawa at the train station, and they go around the town meeting everyone! In the entrance exams she meets Kouta, who for some reason doesn’t want to be a hero though he’s got a really good quirk for it, and he’s proud of his parents who were famous heroes! They both get into UA, and she manages to convince him to try to get into the hero course through the Sports Festival, and he does! She doesn’t get that far in the festival though, because even though she’s practiced using her quirk, she’s scared to use it on people when in battle and stuff. Anyway, she’s very upset about it, and when she tells Mirio about how she wants to help people, but can’t, because her quirk sucks, he gets this look on his face and later tells her that he knows someone who could help. They go to meet this scarecrow lookin’ dude, and oh wait, is that All Might?? Why’s he refusing to help her out from Mirio’s request?? And later, what’s this One For All Mirio’s talking about?? And whose kind arms does she keep dreaming of in her sleep??? 

So yeah. That’s the BNHA fic. One more WIP to go!

Space Fic: Back to Hetalia, and this is technically an older fic but I decided to someday actually write it just recently. So it’s my Historical Human AU No. 3. It’s based on a space facts video fact, where it said that in 1963 Kennedy had proposed the USSR and US go to the Moon together, and Khrushchev had been meaning to agree, but then Kennedy died and the plan was abandoned. This story idea was like, but what if they’d gone through with it? And then, because why not, what if they’d included other countries as well? And this WIP was born. It’d be like, the main characters would be representatives of their home countries, sent to take part in the program and they’d all be candidates for going to the Moon, but there’d be only 3 spots on the rocket so like, they’d kind of have to compete for the spots? And the ones that wouldn’t pass would take part in the mission on Earth. So then there'd compete, there’d be personal drama, their personal relationships would be affected by the relationships between their home countries, but overtime friendships would be forged, and they’d all just become… one big ole found family. A space family. A big ole found space family. And the Overview Effect would also play a part. This is kind of on the back burner, this’ll need lots of research and the Home front fic also needs a lot of it, so I’ll try to.. write that first, I guess? We’ll see.

So that’s all my WIPs. There are other fic ideas that I haven’t put much thought into yet so they’re not on the list, but yeah!

8. Do you have any writing buddies or critique partners?

I don’t have any one person who I’ve talked to about all of my stories, but I have discussed my stories with a few people! Both online and irl. I’m also on a couple discord servers that are for writing or where people talk about writing, even though for the most part I’m too shy to talk much on any of them ;u; But the people who’ve been awesome enough to listen to me ramble about my stories have helped me a lot!

12. Which story of yours do you like best? Why?

Aaaa, don’t make me choose between my children! ;__; I love them all,,,

Well, I am very fond of TT, since it’s my own original story and I’ve worked on it the longest… Then again, the Kingdom AU has a lovely aesthetic and those two pining idiots in it… But also, that BNHA fic has some really nice plot and character moments? But also I’ve spent so long researching for the Home front fic and it’s got my boys in it! And the atmosphere in it is so nice, and it has found family,,, But then also… Space??? And even the fantasy fanfic has the Asshole Goddess in it?? And a nice storyline with Liech?? See I can’t choose ;_;

To be fair, the story my dumb brain takes interest in changes every now and then, for example lately I’ve been mostly thinking about TT, the Kingdom AU and the Home front fic, so I guess those would be my favorites at the moment? But a couple weeks ago I was really into the Space Fic, and at the start of the year it was the BNHA fic. So it depends! But I do love them all.

52. Who do you write for?

Well, primarily probably for myself. I do often find myself in a situation where I’m looking for fics or books to read but none of them really click, and then I realize I’m looking for my own story. Which I haven’t written. So that’s definitely a big one! Then, to some extent, I also write for the people I’ve rambled about my fics to, so they might maybe someday get to experience the whole thing through something other than just my ramblings :’D But mostly for myself, I think.

Thanks for the ask again and sorry for taking so long!

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #198 & #199

Mon Aug 26 2019 [12:46 AM] Wack'd: It probably bares pointing out that this story is being billed as "The Greatest F.F. Epic of All!". I disagree [12:46 AM] maxwellelvis: I thought that kind of hyperbole on the covers died out with the Silver Age [12:46 AM] Bocaj: I wonder what the greatest FF epic of all is [12:47 AM] Wack'd: Thus far I'm not sure anything's topped the Lee/Kirby epic of the Four being trapped in Latveria, if only for its sheer manic energy as it ping-pongs wildly from one twist to the next, only to end on a shaggy dog note when Doom gets bored and lets them leave [12:47 AM] maxwellelvis: Some people would argue it's the original Galactus Trilogy. [12:48 AM] Wack'd: I mean. If you define "epic" as "more than two issues". Otherwise it's probably the Thomas/Conway/Buscema one where a janitor gets a sentient cosmic cube to turn the world into a bonkers 50s mashup [12:48 AM] Wack'd: Isn't Galactus just 49-50? Otherwise I guess you could include that [12:48 AM] maxwellelvis: Man, that story got kinda last-episode-of-The Prisoner-y in the middle when they're both captured. [12:49 AM] maxwellelvis: People count the Silver Surfer stuff in #48 as part of it. [12:49 AM] Wack'd: That's probably fair [12:49 AM] Wack'd: Anyway! Reed has the Pogo Plane and is going to get Doctor Doom [12:50 AM] Wack'd: Weirdly, he figured this out because only Doom could've designed all the neat stuff he saw at his new job, funded the rocket that got him his powers back, and captured his friends so easily [12:50 AM] Wack'd: And not because his boss is the spitting image of his old college roommate [12:51 AM] Wack'd: Seriously there's one bit where it looks like Reed might recognize Son of Doom and instead it's like "that face? where have I seen that face?" [12:51 AM] maxwellelvis: How could he know what Victor Von Doom looks like? WE barely see his face even in flashback. [12:51 AM] maxwellelvis: I just assume he always has a shadow around that he lurks in. [12:51 AM] Wack'd: Pffft [12:52 AM] maxwellelvis: Like, from what I remember from his origin story, we see his face when we see him as a boy, but as he grows to college-age, his back is turned to us or his face is obscured more. [12:52 AM] Wack'd: The Four have left Latveria alive. Numerous times. But okay.

[12:53 AM] maxwellelvis: When did Doom start hiring goons? I thought his only human employee was Boris. [12:53 AM] Wack'd: We've seen him have human goons numerous times! [12:53 AM] maxwellelvis: Oh [12:53 AM] Wack'd: Just last issue a human goon he had in the 60s came back! I made a joke about what a ridiculous continuity pull it was and everything! [12:54 AM] maxwellelvis: Right [12:54 AM] Wack'd: Okay this feels like a little much but I'm sure everyone will forget he could do this soon enough

[12:54 AM] maxwellelvis: It's just weird because I'm used to him having an army of robotic henchmen, aside from the Doombots even. [12:54 AM] Wack'd: He does run a country. It'd be weird if there were no federal jobs [12:55 AM] maxwellelvis: These guys, to be specific. His Servo-Guards. [12:55 AM] Wack'd: I never said he didn't have robots

[12:56 AM] Wack'd: Man, those are some Tony Stark lookin' goons [12:56 AM] maxwellelvis: Wow, they look way less efficient than the Servo-Guards. [12:57 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Reed tries to rewire one of the robots and as a safeguard it explodes, knocking him unconscious and into a nearby lake [12:57 AM] Wack'd: Yeah, Reed's gonna die less than halfway through the issue, I buy this

[12:58 AM] Wack'd: "Face down in the water." Keith Pollard wins yet another art award [12:59 AM] maxwellelvis: Don't they write the scripts after the art is drawn? [12:59 AM] maxwellelvis: This could be on Marv's head. [01:00 AM] Wack'd: To the extent that this wasn't a myth perpetuated to justify Stan's writing credit, it was dying out by the 80s as comics became more of an auteur medium [01:00 AM] maxwellelvis: Ahh [01:00 AM] Wack'd: So possible, but unlikely [01:00 AM] Wack'd: Last time Doom was thwarted when someone pointed out he probably didn't want to destroy all the historical artifacts in the building so he's learned literally nothing. Very in character for him

[01:01 AM] maxwellelvis: This is the same guy who burned an original Renoir because he didn't like looking at it. [01:02 AM] Wack'd: Also apparently the statue Alicia's sculpting is "a gift to the UN when they vote not to condemn Latveria for its...more aggressive policies" [01:02 AM] Wack'd: Presumably also why Doom's "stepping down"--makes him look good in the run-up to the vote [01:03 AM] Wack'd: Little does he know the UN has no power and any condemnation they issue is basically just to make themselves look good! A rare day one manages to get one over on Doom [01:04 AM] Wack'd: Doom's also convinced the spaceship explosion killed Reed. For some reason. Even Sue has to point out that's a really dumb assumption [01:05 AM] Wack'd: Love me a good "Ben doesn't know when to quit" moment

[01:08 AM] Wack'd: Love a resistance. Don't love that they're big into hereditary monarchy

[01:08 AM] maxwellelvis: Especially because the guy Doom overthrew was a genocidal monster. [01:09 AM] maxwellelvis: Or maybe Doom just does that thing were every Latverian nobleman he undermined and disposed of, in his mind, he always saw the face of the man who killed his father. [01:09 AM] maxwellelvis: Y'know, like Batman. [01:10 AM] Wack'd: Possibly. Marvel Wiki says Rudolpho appeared in person occasionally through the 70s but doesn't mention anything about him being the guy who killed Doom Daddy [01:10 AM] maxwellelvis: I didn't mean to imply that. [01:11 AM] maxwellelvis: But Doom IS the kind of guy who would probably hold him just as accountable as that man was. [01:11 AM] Wack'd: Fair [01:12 AM] Wack'd: So we get to see a bit of the statue carving and the back of Doom's head looks like he's melting and Ben says he "has a puss that makes mine look like Robbie Redford's" [01:12 AM] Bocaj: I wonder if Doom will ever do a T'Challa and make Latveria a democracy so he doesn't have to put in the hours anymore [01:12 AM] maxwellelvis: Never [01:12 AM] Wack'd: Is basically every interesting or sympathetic aspect of this guy besides his origin a massive retcon [01:12 AM] Bocaj: Historically, Doom has walked away from ruling the world at least once because he found it tedious [01:12 AM] maxwellelvis: He loves being in charge [01:12 AM] Wack'd: I'm starting to feel like it id [01:13 AM] maxwellelvis: That sounds more like he didn't realize how much work the entire world would be compared to Latveria. [01:13 AM] Wack'd: So Son of Doom shows up and is like "it's time for the transference" [01:13 AM] Wack'd: I feel like we can all see where this is going [01:13 AM] Bocaj: Whats funny is that I think Doom keeps trying to conquer the world after the Emperor Doom story [01:14 AM] Bocaj: I guess wanting is better than having [01:14 AM] maxwellelvis: He's transferring his mind into his son's body, isn't he? [01:14 AM] Bocaj: He also definitely had some airs of ennui during God Emperor Doom in Secret Wars [01:14 AM] Wack'd: I also guessed this but apparently not [01:14 AM] Wack'd:

[01:15 AM] Wack'd: He's gonna give Son of Doom all the Four's powers [01:15 AM] maxwellelvis: Ah [01:15 AM] Wack'd: Minus one [01:16 AM] Wack'd: hahahahaha

[01:16 AM] Wack'd: This is basically a Superdictionary entry [01:16 AM] Bocaj: HAY THAT MACHINE [01:16 AM] Bocaj: THAT’S THE SAME MACHINE HE USED AS A SKRULL DETECTOR IN AVENGERS EARTH'S MIGHTIEST HEROES [01:17 AM] Bocaj: "It does more than one thing. SHUT UP!" [01:17 AM] Wack'd: Huh! [01:17 AM] Wack'd: Deep cut! [01:18 AM] Wack'd: Love me some casual mook dialogue

[01:18 AM] Wack'd: God so much of this issue is just letting Reed show off [01:19 AM] Wack'd: "How will we climb this mountain?" "I'm a rope now!" "How will we hide from this drone?" "I'll make myself look like part of the mountainside!" "How will we cross this moat?" "I'm a bridge now!" [01:20 AM] Bocaj: So him giving Reed his powers back is thus implied to be not about Doom's self-serving definition of a fair fight but to fill that fourth bubble? [01:20 AM] Wack'd: Probably yeah [01:21 AM] Wack'd: Marv Wolfman: Should I pace this slower so that everyone that's been complaining about Reed not stretching has time to nut? [01:22 AM] Bocaj: pfft [01:22 AM] Wack'd: I fucking love these two

[01:24 AM] Wack'd: I would watch a sitcom about these people [01:25 AM] Wack'd: ...weren't you trying to put a king back on the throne?!?

[01:25 AM] Bocaj: Maybe they don't know what democracy means [01:26 AM] Wack'd: Latveria doesn't seem to have a robust education system [01:27 AM] Bocaj: But they do have a robot education system [01:27 AM] Bocaj: Every latverian schoolchild is taught how to make a Doombot [01:27 AM] Wack'd: So all of the rebels but the main one get trapped between sliding doors and gassed, thus massively simplifying the plot [01:28 AM] Wack'd: Zorba is distressed his men might be dead but Reed reassures him they can still win, which I'm sure was his main concern [01:29 AM] Wack'd: So it turns out Hauptmann is the brother of the original Hauptmann, who died in that Latveria epic [01:29 AM] Wack'd: I forgot [01:29 AM] Wack'd: He's totally on board with overthrowing Doom since his brother...was killed by Doom? Died on Doom's watch if nothing else. [01:30 AM] Wack'd: FINAL SHOWDOWN TIME [01:31 AM] Wack'd: I like that Doom assumes this was a clever ruse on Reed's part and that he did not, in fact, almost die

[01:31 AM] Wack'd: Anyway not final showdown time I guess! Cliffhanger time!

[01:32 AM] Wack'd: Boy the "soul-shattering secret" thing kinda makes me wish I hadn't looked him up

Mon Aug 26 2019 [01:32 AM] Wack'd: FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 1 NO 199: [01:34 AM] Wack'd: I like that Doom plays the piano. That it's just a thing he does and incorporates into his plans just because he likes it.  It's a nice little thing

[01:34 AM] maxwellelvis: That's an organ setup [01:34 AM] maxwellelvis: Just as cliche and ten times as bombastic [01:34 AM] maxwellelvis: Which suits Victor [01:36 AM] Wack'd: Anyway Zorbo is...back outside, now? And he's leading a mob? [01:37 AM] Wack'd: Doom tries to fire on them with his suit weapons but the entire mob pulls out guns and draw on him [01:37 AM] Bocaj: Normal guns? A trifle for one such as VICTOR VON DOOOOOM [01:38 AM] Wack'd: You'd think [01:38 AM] Wack'd: But he backs down and redoubles on his promise to retire [01:38 AM] Wack'd: The mob has formed, essentially, because they don't believe him [01:39 AM] Bocaj: Do they know his plan to put his son on the throne? [01:39 AM] Wack'd: Yes [01:39 AM] Wack'd: Zorbo is threatening to expose the "dark secret" behind Son of Doom [01:39 AM] Bocaj: So they're fine with that but they just don't believe Doom is really retiring? [01:40 AM] Wack'd: Well, they don't know what it is yet [01:40 AM] Wack'd: Zorbo is keeping us them in suspense [01:41 AM] Wack'd: stupid 👏🏼 baby 👏🏼 word 👏🏼 games

[01:43 AM] Wack'd: So apparently UN is threatening to expel Latveria [01:43 AM] Wack'd: This is a weird set of circumstances to slowly unfold over the course of the story but I'm digging it [01:44 AM] Wack'd: Meanwhile: Reed punches out of his sphere and frees the others while Doom is distracted with statue stuff [01:45 AM] Bocaj: Ego is his downfall as happens [01:46 AM] Wack'd: I hadn't thought about it until now but it's very interesting to me that this arc ends not with Reed learning to value his other virtues in lieu of his powers (before of course getting them back) but with him completely forgetting his midlife crisis and reforming the team

[01:47 AM] Wack'd: Like in modern comics there'd be some kind of character beat before the big return but nah, Reed can stretch again! All problems are solved forever! [01:49 AM] Wack'd: Anyway they fight some mooks, dodge some lasers, the usual, before reaching Doom. And Alicia, who is being threatened with a dislocated finger

[01:50 AM] Wack'd: So naturally the Four surrender [01:50 AM] Wack'd: Doom's speech here has big Mother Gothel energy

[01:51 AM] Wack'd: Zorbo frees the Four and Alicia. Quick turnaround time, but then the arc is ending [01:52 AM] Wack'd: The Four show up, reveal Son of Doom as a clone, fight fight fight [01:53 AM] Wack'd: ...huh. Did not see this coming

[01:54 AM] Wack'd: So anyway Son of Doom declares he has no interest in his dad's petty cruelty and thirst for revenge, and the two duke it out [01:55 AM] Wack'd: It's...pretty cool

[01:56 AM] Wack'd:

[01:56 AM] maxwellelvis: I don't think I've ever seen Doom have a breakdown like this before. [01:56 AM] Bocaj: "Learn some self-care, Doom!" "NEVER" [01:57 AM] Wack'd: As with the thing with Agatha and Nick Scratch I kinda wish the hammer had dropped sooner so we had more room to explore this dynamic [01:58 AM] Wack'd: But we definitely get some good mileage out of it in the final moments

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S4 Ep6: Gozaburo Kaiba Just Casually Started WWIII And Only This One Guy Cares

Welcome to November, where we celebrate writing a 50,000 word book as if I don’t do that every single time I write about an episode of Yugioh. Hello, this is my season. It’s wordy season. I’m so freakin good at doing this. I can’t say most of what I’ve made is any good, but I CAN say at least I’m prolific. Do enough content to fill that bitter pit and walk right over it, that’s been my motto for the past 5 years.

Anyway, I had an awful flu this past week. (Everyone I live with had it so every bathroom was like ground zero) It was SO bad. I still can’t eat spicy food over a week later (Which is so hard for me because usually I can keep up with my Indian friends, that’s my spicy level--max spicy, please--but since this illness, my white taste genes went into overdrive and I tried putting pepperoncini slices in my sandwich and it set my mouth on fire. Pepperoncini. It’s v embarrassing.)

I did attempt to write this post. Unfortunately I never made it past this cap because I got VERY distracted by the emblem on Alister’s face, and how it isn’t proportionally adjusted to match the angle of his face, and it was like three paragraphs of just wanting to talk about it. And then at some point I got very distracted talking about how many empty glasses I was given at my place setting at this baby shower I went to during the flu epidemic, and it mattered a whole lot to me at the time, but I think, overall, was mostly just some sort of nonsense. The things I’ve spared you. 

(bro has just informed me that the 4 gold-lipped crystal goblets I was given at this baby shower was actually very distressing and a very big deal and that I should absolutely talk to at least someone about it, but maybe he’s just saying that to make me feel better, but I have no idea. I am too sick for sarcasm at this time but my god why was I given so many glasses????)

I straight up have no memory of if I’ve made this joke before. Maybe.

(read more under the cut)

Since it feels like 8 years since the last time I could just eat chicken without feeling like I consumed an entire Thanksgiving meal, a little recap:

-Alister pretended he was Pegasus to lure Kaiba and then, off screen, murdered everyone in Pegasus’ castle

-Pegasus got murdered by I’m pretty sure Mai (which is like...OK then...)

-Yugi and Co went on vacation by driving directly through San Francisco and peeking out the window and saying “yeah that’s enough for me”

-No adults, not even Roland, bothered to come with their kids this time, so the only adult of the entire crew--Pegasus--is dead

-Rex and Weevil are luggage

-The Eye of Sauron showed up and it was the end of the world but Yugi threw a dragon at it so I guess everything is OK now

-Monsters are real but they are hard to animate so we’ll just pretend like they’re causing havoc everywhere although most of the planet seems basically unaffected by this.

-The Grim Reaper is a friendly monster that hangs out in a Japanese park and that feels fairly on brand.

And I think that was all that was happening so far.

In a weird twist of fate, Mokuba is the only one in this room that isn’t trapped which sort of...if you’re the only one NOT kidnapped wouldn’t that also be a type of being kidnapped?

And we finally get to figure out why Alister wants to Murder Kaiba so bad and, spoiler, it reaches.

???

I’m gonna get more to the obvious problems with Alister’s devotion to murdering all the Kaibas in a bit but yes, Alister is in fact going to try and Kill Kaiba on this kid’s show because of Kaiba’s Dad, who is such a horrible and abusive person that Kaiba essentially drove the bastard out of Japan and straight to the bottom of the ocean.

Just kinda feels like Alister has been living under a rock...which, I guess he has been. He has been living in some weird Atlantis structure so I guess he never got the memo that Gozaburo Kaiba is hella dead.

So that’s what they’re up to. How’s Sausalito?

Um.

Huh.

So the North Bay is a really classic scenery. It’s rolling hills. It’s NAPA. It’s like...definitely not Arizona. California has a couple of mesas but they’re no where near here and the Monument Valley style Mesas really only exist in Monument Valley.

And I know it’s because the background artist for Yugioh is all horny for horny rock structures but like...this couldn’t be farther from the Bay Area in the way that it is drawn and it is such a shock after all the work they did last episode to research that Bay Area lore. Once they crossed the Golden Gate they were like “well no one will care about this part” which is true not only of Yugioh but also of real life Californian politics.

Anyway, I have been making a map, but unfortunately my original file will not suffice. time to fix it.

There we go. Now they’re in the right place. Just smack dab in Monument Valley, Arizona, smack dab in the middle of the Navajo Nation and so hypothetically, not even in the United States anymore.

While in the car, Yugi has just been anxious as hell the entire time, and just going “y’all I have a bad feeling I’m uncomfortable I have a bad feeling” while Joey and Tea just patiently stared at him flipping out in the corner. So...kinda like a normal trip with someone who has high anxiety/possessed by a ghost. I  kinda feel like this is every girls trip to Disneyland for me. There’s always one Yugi who’s like “no one said anything about CROWDS.” and you kinda just gotta let them do their thing. Just let them get it out of their system and hide in the bathroom when they need to hide in the bathroom and don’t fight it, they’ll be fine. Just hold their spot in line when they desperately look for a secret place to medicinally vape because there’s too many freakin children at Disneyland.

And it is HILARIOUS that Yugi is able to have this type of premonition but cannot figure out that they have somehow missed San Fransisco and have wandered into a DESERT.

Back in Pegasus’ California (an island that legitimately looks more like California than actual Yugioh California) Alister has decided to go completely off the rails and it happens so fast and without any warning.

the line is actually “This doll used to be my brother’s” which is a very different meaning but both are likely from weird ass Alister and this weird ass show, so I’ll leave the cap like this (although yes, this is what I thought Alister was saying for kind of a while until I recorded it for this blog and was like “oh shoot I heard the line wrong when I had the flu huh.”)

Man, RIP Noah, he would have been excellent this episode.

Honestly seems like just yesterday when Seto and Noah were pitted against eachother by a cyberdemon Dad-head floating in the sky, Mokuba was possessed for some reason and being used as a human shield, Tristan was a robot monkey, and Yugi was just shrugging at Kaiba from across the field like “Kaiba if you don’t play good you die--oh my gods, he died. Well that was bound to happen...again.” Man.

Alister should be their best friend, this is nonsense.

So lets do the math to 7 years before 2002.

I searched Wikipedia for wars during 1995 (they do have a list of 90′s wars) and looked for any that involved heavy use of tanks and their artillery fire (on big swatches of cities like this), inner city western architecture, temperate landscapes, and western clothing that match Alister and Mikey (AKA WWII vibes) and found out:

Nothing fits that description

UNLESS Alister and Mikey are time travelers from a WWII bombing in Europe. This is Yugioh. That could happen. Probably not, but youknow...it’s not too late for Yugioh to bring in time travel.

I mean if you don’t want to get super political in your cartoon just invent a world war I guess? We’ve already clarified that Gozaburo was Big Boss, so at this point I can easily see him inventing wars just to sell ships.

(I could probably add thousands of more deaths at this point but I have no idea where they are, if they’re on a tiny island or an entire country so I’ll just...leave the count alone but just now it’s implied that a hell ton of people died during this episode)

People going off about how Sesame Street is so amazing for talking about issues like you’re Dad going to prison while Yugioh was straight up talking about the intricacy of the War Economy. Yugioh being all “don’t forget kids, your good capitalist economy survives off of the undeserved bloodshed of civilians in other countries! Eat the poor!” and it’s like hot damn this heavy commentary came out of freakin no where.

Anyways, this is stuff most kid’s shows will delicately skip over but nah, Yugioh is going to go here, and they are going to steamroll directly through it with massive tanks.

So, lets kill this kid’s entire family and talk about the terrors of the World War of 1995 and all the war orphans who get recruited to become soldiers at the ripe old age of 9. Alister was 9 when he was recruited to be a child card soldier.

This kid’s show.

Alister is...basically Raiden, right? Like as long as we’re talking about Metal Gear, this kid is just one step away from cyborg implants and weird colored blood?

Better wear bright red when you visit the war crime scene, surprised Gozaburo didn’t invite like an entire photo -op crew to incriminate him even further.

Now we did look up “where the hell is Alister from Yugioh from?” (there is no answer) and we did find out a little factoid. In the Japanese version of the show, Gozaburo had bought the land and was just forcibly evicting Alister and his family from their home with tanks.

Which is wild.

He just straight up evicted an entire metropolitan city????

Like the dub did a way better job than the sub at this one, I’ll give them that.

It’s just so weird that Gozoboro just didn’t like...raise the rent like a normal bad landlord. Instead he was like “rather than gentrify my land and save me a ton of money, I’ll just destroy everything I just bought and murder everyone here” which is like...

...Seto did the world so many favors when he kicked out his Dad, right? Like Damn. I don't understand why Alister isn’t freakin worshiping Seto right now when his whole deal is “I must kill Gozaburo” and Seto’s like “yo I already did that. Twice. I didn’t even have to literally kill him either, I just embarrassed him so bad that he killed himself. His stupid tank company sells joke games now. I literally turned the man into a joke.”

Then again, Alister is on the green magic and like I think it alters your brain chemistry somewhat.

(How ripped did Alister get in this episode, by the way? The kid is like 16 years old or something so how did this happen? ...The perpetual horny line running straight through Yugioh, man. Look at it run. That 16 year old is drawn like he’s 28 and really into Crossfit and his crop top gets smaller and smaller like every scene.)

So like this is a very gray issue that I cannot believe they brought up in a kid’s show (like can you imagine if Scrooge McDuck had to face facts that his company murdered tons of people???), but also this is Seto Kaiba. Seto grew up in the system, so like he doesn’t need to be lectured to about dirty money because he was on the losing end of that not too long ago. Seto is himself basically a upscale war orphan since he was adopted by Gozaburo to continue the machine like a freakin maniac (a Solidus Snake, if you will) so of all the people on this show I don’t get why Seto would care about this. This is just how Seto views the entire world as either losing or winning and no reason to feel bad about it because he’s been both.

Also...Seto stopped the machine. Kind of. He was unaware that cards were the same thing as weapons, but at least he stopped the sale of huge child-stealing tanks.

So they play the game for a little while and Seto does kind of poorly as usual, and just when I thought this episode couldn’t get any weirder...

And just like that, Seto peaces out. Like he does almost every single time he has ever played a card game solo except for that one time he was playing Joey Wheeler. (Which was also one of the few times Seto ever won.)

Like I just want to remind you that this segment is in the same episode as WWIII and the tonal whiplash is pretty remarkable.

That’s right, we’re back in the Unnamed Monster World, which is not the Shadow Realm, and which I thought you could only access if you were dreaming and able to search through the puzzle maze.

Apparently this can just happen at any time and all that stuff with the guiding Kuriboh and Yugi and Pharaoh trying to find this place was just...them wasting time.

Again he ditches the legendary sword so freakin fast because who needs a sword when you have a dragon? Only this anime.

And that’s how Seto, who was absolutely going to lose this game, somehow just barely came to a draw.

So just to recap, Seto has yet to win a card game that he didn’t get prophetic help for via a hallucination or Yugi telling him what to do. Unless you count Joey and grandpa.

Then, the one last adult I forgot about, the driver of Yugi’s car, decides that it’s about time that he also died and left this show as adult free as possible.

THE HELL ARE THEY?

Also...maybe it’s the angle but the writing on that gas station looks a lot like kanji.

Yo, what if this is the backgrounds for a different show and they’re just sharing? I mean I doubt it because Yugioh had a good enough budget but...what if? What if that’s why they’re in Arizona?

Anyway, next time we’ll find out if this guy just drops dead or has been a Yugioh monster this whole time, and I think maybe both?

And if you just got here, this is a link to read all my Yugioh recaps in chrono order

[i-am-made-of-memoriies]

Five Days

Summary: After Sasuke returns to the leaf village, he finally comes to terms with his feelings for Sakura. Of course, as an Uchiha, doing anything romantic is quite the challenge. (This was written for Fanofthisfictions ‘Show Me the Love’ challenge on fanfiction.net)

A/N: I wrote this ages ago (like a solid 8 months), but I’m posting it now because I’m working on my master list. It’s a struggle honestly.

The First Day

Sasuke could see the gates of Konoha. After his long mission of redemption, all he wanted was to go home. The village that had always welcomed him looked peaceful and happy with the snow covering the roads. For the first time since his childhood, Sasuke felt genuinely happy when looking at other people thriving. Right at the main gate waiting for him, is his only female teammate, Sakura. Just looking at her flowing pink hair and dazzling green eyes, made him feel renewed and happy again. He made his way through the gates, passing Sakura. He wanted to speak to her, but he didn’t know what to say or how to express the feeling of ‘I missed you, but I’m too aloof to say it and I also slightly want to kiss you right now’.

Sakura grinned with the force of a thousand suns when she saw Sasuke walk through the village gates. Expecting him to look detached or uninterested, she was surprised to see his lips turn up slightly at the edges.

✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣✣

Sasuke had been mulling over his sudden feelings as he walked towards his apartment. Right as the Uchiha Compound was in view, he veered left and made his way to Kakashi’s home.

If there was anyone he trusted with his feelings, it was Kakashi. Though Sasuke understood that Kakashi was busy with Hokage duties and the likes, he figured that he’d be home.

As he expected, Kakashi opened the door with a tired look on his face. Once registered that the man interrupting his well-deserved rest was his former student, he brightened.

“Sasuke, you’re back.” He ushered the Uchiha into his quaint living room and gestured for him to sit down, “I’m glad you decided to return. Though I’m happy that you visited me, I know you well enough to realize that you would not just stop by on a whim. What do you want to talk about?”

Sasuke figured that it was best to be blunt. Still, he didn’t want to bring up any names, so he’d keep the beloved anonymous. “What do you do when you want to get someone’s attention? Romantically, of course.”

Kakashi’s eyebrows rose substantially. “You finally acknowledged your feelings for Sakura?”

Sasuke tried to suppress the slight blush that was sure to appear with the mention of ‘feelings’ and ‘Sakura’ in the same sentence. “Just give me advice.” He tried to sound menacing, but he figured that he sounded rather flustered.

“Hmmm,” Kakashi tapped his chin thoughtfully, “If it was any other girl, I’d recommend showering her with flowers and sweets, but this is Sakura we’re talking about. Try inviting her to train with you. Not only will you spend some quality time together, but you will also be thoroughly impressed with her skill. After that, try taking her to dinner.”

Sasuke nodded and walked away.

Do I even matter anymore? Kakashi sighed, slouching in his chair and pulling out is well loved Icha-Icha book. He smiled to himself as he imagined his favorite couple finally getting together.

The Second Day

Sasuke surreptitiously placed a small note on the middle of Sakura’s window sill, sneaking a quick peek between the cracks of the drapes. Sakura wasn’t awake yet, which was completely sensible, given that it was 5:00 in the morning. Lingering by her apartment for an extra second, Sasuke performed a simple shunshin jutsu and disappeared from the premises.

Three hours passed and Sakura woke up to slivers of sunlight shining onto her face. Rolling messily out of bed, she checked her bedside clock. Since she’d been up until 3:30 the previous night, working on formulating new poisons, she was hoping for a little more rest. Regardless, Sakura doubted she could fall back asleep with the sun as bright as it was. Sighing, she padded into the kitchen and rummaged through her pantry. After grabbing some bread and butter, she poured herself a large mug of coffee and sat by the window. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a small, folded note, lodged into the crack of her windowsill. War had taught her to be wary of any unexpected notes and packages, so she readied a kunai for any type of attack. Luckily, the note was benign.

Let’s train at training ground 9 at 7:00 pm. -Sasuke

Sakura chuckled upon reading the note. It was so typical Sasuke to be capable of conveying no emotion through a note. Even his handwriting looked aloof. Still, Sasuke had never been this assertive. He didn’t care much for her, that much Sakura knew; why would he bother asking her to train? Probably because it was a team training session. But wouldn’t he mention Naruto? Maybe it had something to do with the abnormally affectionate look he gave her at the gates the following day. Sakura sighed and placed the note on her table before chugging the rest of her coffee.

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“Nerves.” Sasuke cursed under his breath, trying to calm his jittery fingers. I’ve really become a pathetic, love-sick child. He thought, mentally chastising himself for being so weak. No matter though. Training was a perfect activity for hiding his feelings. That’s why he enjoyed it so much. Wait. Wasn’t the entire point of a relationship not to hide one’s feelings? Tch. Sasuke shook his head. All this pointless thought was a waste of time. Grabbing his cloak, he set off to Kakashi’s.

“Kakashi” He started, walking through the front door without as much as knocking.

“It wouldn’t kill you to knock. Or call me ‘sensei’.” Kakashi muttered, gesturing for Sasuke to take a seat on one of Kakashi’s armchairs.

“How do I talk to Sakura?” He asked monotonously, careful to leave every drop of emotion out of his voice.

“Not like that.” Kakashi sighed, “Talk, you know - like a human.”

“I am.”

“You sound like a robot. You need emotions and inflection.”

Tch. Sasuke grabbed the cloak he had just set down. “I’ll be fine.”

“Hopeless.” Kakashi sighed, watching Sasuke quickly leave his apartment, leaving the door wide-open, “And disrespectful.”

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Sasuke waited quietly at the training grounds, his breath making puffs of white in the frigid air. He was showing utmost respect by not starting before Sakura arrived. Minutes passed and Sakura finally showed up.

“Sorry I was late!” She apologized quickly, “See, there was an emergency at the hospital and I was the only one who could perform the surgery.”

“It’s fine.” Sasuke quickly dismissed Sakura’s apology, “I hope you still have enough chakra to train.”

Sakura looked suspiciously at Sasuke. He was being rude, as usual. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Sakura replied nonchalantly, “Why schedule this special training session, though. Aren’t we meeting as a team soon?”

“We are.” Sasuke agreed.

Sakura nodded uncomfortably, “Let’s warm up, shall we?” She prompted, breaking into a nice jog.

“Three laps around the village?” Sasuke suggested.

“Don’t you usually do five?” Sakura inquired.

“Yes, but-”

“Five it is.”

Sasuke had to admit, he had underestimated Sakura’s stamina. She finished the five laps with ease. Nodding slowly to himself, he decided that a harder workout wasn’t a bad idea.

“Let’s work on chakra control.” Sasuke suggested.

“Ooh! Good!” Sakura replied happily, “I can give you some tips.”

“Tips?” Sasuke looked taken-aback. He was planning on helping Sakura.

“Yeah…” Sakura deadpanned, “I am the top medical ninja in Konoha. My mastery of chakra is kind of unparalleled. I know that sounds like a crazy boast, but it’s the truth.”

“I’ve heard a bit of that, but I’ve been working on the ninja arts for all of my life-”

Sakura had enough of Sasuke’s patronizing tone. He obviously didn’t understand how to speak to someone respectfully. Sure, she hadn’t showed Sasuke her full skill-set yet, but it was down right rude to treat her like the weak twelve year old girl he left unconscious on a bench. “You know what Sasuke?” Sakura started indignantly, “I know you’ve been training since you came out of the womb, but I’ve really put in effort as well. You leave for years and expect to still know everything about my skill level. I studied under a sannin just like you and Naruto. I am not weak. And I will not be underestimated.”

“Fine.” Sasuke shrugged, “Let’s train then.”

“Could you just apologize like a goddamn human being?!” Sakura snapped, “I’m going home now.” Without as much as a second look, Sakura stormed off in the snow, her chakra enhanced steps making the ground shake around her.

“Fuck.” Sasuke cursed, plopping down next to the training stump, “I failed.” Filled with frustration, Sasuke stormed off in the opposite direction as Sakura, making his way quickly to Kakashi’s house.  

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“I fucked up.” Sasuke hissed, letting himself into Kakashi’s home.

Exasperatedly, Kakashi shuffled out of his bedroom, wearing his shuriken pajamas. “For the love of god, could you knock?!”

Tch. Sasuke’s glare grew more intense.

“Fine, fine, I’ll help you.” Kakashi capitulated, sinking onto his soft couch. “Let me guess: you said something debilitating to Sakura and now she’s mad at you. Look, she’s changed a lot since you left. She’s not the little girl you can say virtually anything to and receive nothing but a sad kicked-puppy look. She’s trained just as hard as you and Naruto and her training has shown serious results.

“Let me get you caught up. After you left, Sakura began to take her training very seriously. She sought out Tsunade and learned medical ninjutsu. She was a natural. Her chakra control was impeccable and she quickly rose ranks in the hospital. Not only did she learn how to become an incredible healer, but she also integrated her chakra control into her fighting. During the war, you only saw a brief demonstration of her power. Since then, she’s worked on countless other jutsus and medical techniques. Sakura is a force to be reckoned with, Sasuke. She is anything but in need of your protection. She’s protecting all of us.”

Nodding slowly, the edges of Sasuke’s lips turned up slightly.

The Third Day

Sakura was pissed. Pissed at herself for forgetting that Sasuke hadn’t been interacted with people in a friendly way in a long time and also pissed at Sasuke for not fucking changing! He was the same emotionless bastard she had fallen head-over-heels in love with years ago. Damn, she still loved him. Though she wanted to hate him, beneath his cold, prickly exterior, he was a kind person who didn’t like killing. One conversation she had as a genin remained indelible in her memory.

“Why didn’t you finish him off?!” Naruto exclaimed, pointing off in the distance at the shrinking figure of a bandit who had tried to kill team seven’s client, “You had an open shot, ya know. Use those flashy moves!”

“Didn’t want to waste chakra.” Sasuke grunted, “Just forget it.”

“Come one man. We all know you had plenty of chakra left. You’re always bragging about your fancy moves. Why didn’t you just stab him or something?”

“Yeah Sasuke-kun!” Sakura added in, “That would’ve looked so cool!”

“I don’t like killing.” Sasuke mumbled.

“Eh?” Naruto cupped his hand around his ear, “I didn’t catch that.”

“I don’t like killing!” Sasuke spat, glaring daggers at his teammates. “Leave me alone.”

Sakura had never felt closer to Sasuke than in that moment. It made her feel good to know that she wasn’t the only one who didn’t want to kill people. Sure, she wanted to protect her teammates and peers, but killing was something she never wanted on her conscious. And to know that Sasuke Uchiha, the prodigy, felt the same way, validated her in so many ways. For that reason, Sakura felt bad for lashing out at Sasuke. Though she couldn’t deny, he needed someone to call him out on his rude bullshit, she was sure she could have been less harsh. Overwhelmingly frustrated, she accidentally crushed her coffee mug, spilling boiling coffee all over her hands and her clothing.

What a wonderful start to my day. She thought groaning and walking into her room so that she could get a clean change of clothes.

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Sasuke thought over the recent events. He did feel remorse for what he said to Sakura. It surprised him how easily it was to pinpoint the emotion he was feeling. Typically, his emotions would be labeled with ‘general anger and/or hatred’, but this time, he knew what he felt and he knew he had to do something. Sasuke thought back to how his mother and father interacted. Though it had been years since he had seen his parents, he remembered how kind they were to each other. In the rare occasions that they would fight (which usually had something to do Fugaku underestimating Mikoto’s strength), Fugaku would cook something instead of having Mikoto do it. Sasuke doubted that cooking for Sakura would be as symbolic since she could barely cook for herself, much less an entire family. Regardless, he was willing to try anything.

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Sakura sat on her couch, fidgeting uncomfortably. She knew that apologizing to Sasuke would teach him nothing about  human interactions. It was about time people stopped turning a blind eye to his social idiosyncrasies. Taking deep breaths, she desperately tried to calm herself before she broke more furniture.

Sakura jumped abruptly when she heard a sharp rap at her front door. Before reaching for a knife, she sensed the telltale chakra of Sasuke Uchiha. She wasn’t sure if she was worried or relieved, but she opened the door nonetheless.

Sasuke stood uncomfortably at the front door, holding a tupperware full of homemade food. Before he could say anything, Sakura ushered him in.

“Did you make this?” She asked, quickly setting the table.

Sasuke nodded, setting the container onto Sakura’s table. Looking at the table cloth, he murmured quietly, “I just wanted to apologize for yesterday.”

“You did?!” Sakura’s eyes lit up, “Thank you-I mean, apology accepted! I wanted to apologize too. I was too harsh.”

“It’s okay.” Sasuke sat down, “The food’s still warm. Let’s eat.”

“Sounds great!”

The two dug into the home-cooked meal. After the first bite, Sakura sighed. “How is this so damn good?! You really have to be good at everything, huh. Cooking included.”

Sasuke shrugged, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

The Fourth Day

Sakura woke up, still buzzing with the excitement of the previous night. Could she call it a date? She wasn’t entirely sure, but god, she wanted to think it was. At this point, she was afraid that Sasuke was under the impression that she’d moved on from him. She no longer acted obsessive towards him, nor did she obsess over every little thing he did. It was about time that she informed him about her love. Though she didn’t present it in the same way, she still adored Sasuke and she knew she always would.

Dressing fervently, she sent a hawk with a letter to Sasuke (Sakura was well aware that texting or calling was much easier, but she also knew that Sasuke wasn’t up to date with any technology). Sakura stared in the mirror, actually looking at her appearance for the first time in a while. Unlike her attitude as a preteen, Sakura wasn’t discontented with her body. She enjoyed her appearance and she knew that however she looked, this was the body that allowed her to save people’s lives as well as end them. She was powerful and she knew it.

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Sasuke was excited. He hated to admit that he was feeling joy from something petty like a date, but he couldn’t help it. He knew there was a spark between him and Sakura, a mutual understanding of each other’s situation that made them work well together. Not only did he like Sakura romantically, but he wanted to have her as a partner in battle. She could heal him, but she could also back him up or even protect him. Sasuke was certain that being with Sakura was the best decision he could make.

With an uncharacteristic bounce to his step, Sasuke made his way to the park, seeking out the bench at which Sakura had instructed Sasuke meet her. He was about fifteen minutes early, but it was typical of Sasuke to arrive at a meeting place before anyone else got there.

“Hey Sasuke!” Sakura called, jogging towards the bench, “Nice to see you!”

“You invited me here.” He deadpanned.

“I did.” Sakura nodded awkwardly before taking a seat next to Sasuke, “Well anyway, i-it’s pretty out.”

Sasuke nodded. “Winter’s is nice.” He muttered.

“Yup. It’s snow nice.” Sakura chuckled at her own joke, eliciting no response from Sasuke.

“So…” Sasuke started, not meeting Sakura’s eyes, “Was there anything you wanted to talk about?”

“I uh-I just wanted to thank you for last night.” Well, Sakura wasn’t entirely lying, “I really appreciated the meal.”

“I’m glad you did.” Sasuke nodded, “It was my mother’s recipe.”

Sakura’s eyes widened. Sasuke never mentioned his family around her before. It was obviously a touchy subject for him. “Well, it was simply delicious. I’m uh, sure you did her proud.”

Sasuke nodded, his cheeks reddening slightly. “It’s starting to snow.”

“Yeah,” Sakura nodded, “It’s really pretty. Still, we can probably stay. I doubt it will get much worse.”

Sasuke nodded in agreement. As if on cue, the winds picked up, sending the snow in hoary, frigid spirals.

“Looks like it just got worse.” Sakura sighed as the snow continued to get heavier, “I’m going to use earth style to make us a small shelter. Once I’ve done that, you light a fire. Going out in the snow is going to increase our chances of hypothermia, especially since we aren’t dressed for the frigid climate. It’s safer if we just wait it out.”

“Okay,” Sasuke started, “Are you sure we couldn’t just hurry home.”

“Listen to me.” Sakura insisted, “I know what I’m doing.”

“I trust you.”

Sakura felt warm inside. She’d been waiting her entire life to hear that from Sasuke! Grinning warmly, she made the hand-signs for earth style. “Now that we have a shelter, you can make a fire. I’ll add some small holes for the air to escape so that the fire isn’t starved of oxygen.”

Sasuke nodded and cleared a small circle before lighting it on fire with a quick katon.

“Well, now that we’re stuck here, we have to pass the time.” Sakura suggested, “Would you mind telling me about how you learned how to make the dish you served last night?”

“My mother taught it to me when I was young.” Sasuke started, looking straight at the fire, “It was my favorite thing to eat for dinner, so I insisted I learn how to make it in case-” Sasuke stopped for a moment, his breath catching, “in case I wanted to make it when she wasn’t around.”

Sakura sucked in a breath. “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it.” She assured, “You know me, I could fill up hours babbling!”

“It’s fine.” Sasuke shrugged, “Plus, I don’t think I’d be able to survive your rambling.”

“That’s valid.” Sakura chuckled.

“Anyway, when my mother first showed it to me, I was so confident I’d get it right on the first try. I didn’t and I was really frustrated. Then, my brother came in after a long mission. He seemed really worn out, as usual, but he walked me through the steps again and I figured it out.”

Sakura smiled softly, inching closer to the fire and to Sasuke.

Without as much as a prompt, Sasuke began to tell more enthralling stories of his childhood.

Sakura sat next to him, taking them all in gratefully. Soon, the roaring of the wind ceased outside. “I think the storm’s over.” Sakura sighed with relief, “I have to run to work now, or else I’ll be late. I totally forgot about my shift at the hospital. I had a great time though.”

Sasuke nodded.

“Let’s meet again tomorrow?” Sakura suggested.

“That’ll work.”

The Fifth Day

For once, everything seemed so simple. Sasuke knew exactly what he wanted to do and he was not going to doubt himself for a second! Hurrying out of his apartment, he ran to the weapons shop.

Tenten greeted him with a happy smile. “What can I get for you?” She asked, fiddling with a couple explosive tags.

“I need a set of kunai. Your nicest ones.” Sasuke said confidently, reaching for his wallet.

“I know you already have good weapons, so who are you buying these for?” Tenten raised her eyebrows suggestively, digging under the counter for the requested kunai set.

Sasuke figured that hiding the identity of the person would be pointless. “Sakura.” He stated, placing a hefty wad of money on the counter.

Tenten looked at Sasuke incredulously. Slowly, her lips turned up until she was grinning like a lunatic. “FINALLY!” She squealed, “I’m so happy for you two!

“Hn.” Sasuke took the pretty box and made his way to Sakura’s house.

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Sakura’s apartment was finally in view. For some reason, Sasuke wanted nothing more than to sprint up the 52 steps (he knew that because of his sharingan, not because he’d been there so many times) and kiss her on her gorgeous pink lips, but that was not the way to go (according to Kakashi). He would stick to the plan and execute it perfectly as if it was a battle. Sasuke’s entire body filled with warmth when he saw the familiar light-beige door. Taking a deep breath, he knocked politely, instead of simply walking in as he usually did. In a few seconds, Sakura scurried towards the door and opened it, her eyes brightening at the sight of Sasuke.

“I brought you these-” Sasuke started before being interrupted by Sakura’s lips planted firmly on his. Sasuke quickly got over the initial surprise and leaned into the kiss. Sakura’s soft hair brushed against his cheek and her rough, calloused hands embraced his. She smelled sweet and floral, just like her namesake; Sasuke couldn’t think of anything but her. He was trapped in her beguiling beauty and her soft touch. When the two pulled away, Sasuke felt as if he had gone to heaven and back, just short of gasping for air.

“Sasuke.” Sakura smiled her radiant smile, “Thank you.”

For once, Sasuke really, genuinely smiled back.

[best-of-b-photography]

Liza Waters Reports: Whitespring

What is the most absurd thing that existed pre-war?  I’ll give you a minute to think about that. 

Was it the bee-hive hairstyles? Was is the amount of Nuka-Cola merchandise you could buy? The fact that you could let a robot with a saw attached to one of its arms into your home? 

The most absurd thing to exist during the pre-war, among the uncountable amount of absurd things to exist, was golf.  Acres of land dedicated to knocking a ball around with a stick. People spending literal thousands of dollars on equipment to knock a ball around with a stick. People spending hundred of thousands of dollars to be considered ‘elite’ enough to be able to sit in a lounge room with other hoity-toity assholes, drinking their aged bourbon, and smoking cigars that were probably made by someone living below the poverty line in another country. 

If you’ve lived in West Virginia for any amount of time pre-war, you know exactly where this is going. If you didn’t, let me introduce you to The Whitespring.  The golf resort that existed pre-war. 

Now, of course I had never been there pre-war. My miner based family would have put stains on their carpeting if we ever step foot there, and probably subsequently gunned down by the hundreds of robots that lived on property.  But, as Casa and I discussed places people would converge, Whitespring popped up. As a major landmark, and a curiosity to most common people, we figured that people would probably find themselves there at one point or another.  So, off we went. 

For those who would enjoy a quick history lesson it was built in 1858 to serve rich snobs who had nothing better to do with their time. It slowly built up popularity, and even had some of our former presidents visit, and stay. But, as people begin to struggle to afford food, much less the luxury of staying at a golf resort, the Whitespring began hemorrhaging money. There was hardly a week where you wouldn’t hear about the updates they were trying to establish in order to bring new patrons in. 

Now, you may be thinking, “a resort that could house thousands of guests would be a prime location to live out the nuclear warfare days”.  Wrong.  Wrong-o.  Ring a ding wrong.  This place is swarming with robots. Friendly robots, but robots that are designed to follow through with their orders.  Casa and I did some snooping, and learned about a group of survivors that were here when the bombs originally dropped. To make a long story short, the resort was set to close in 2079 for six years in order to make renovations. Something they called the ‘2080 Whitespring Initiative’. Since all the robots were programmed for these renovations, they, essentially, kicked out all the survivors living here.  A couple people decided to fight the robots, but...

You can see how that turned out. 

The world is so cruel in the most ironic ways nowadays, don’t you think? A literal oasis in the middle of a Wasteland that everyone is unable to do anything with. Casa and I spent four hours wandering around this place.  Everyone in Appalachia could live here. They would be safe. They would have beds. And maybe, just maybe, they wouldn’t feel like they’re living in apocalypse county every minute of the day. 

Plus, there’s a Nuka Cola bar in this place. Did you guys ever have Nuka Cola Dark? It’s literally Nuka Cola with alcohol in it. It’s fucking delicious, and if anybody out there is listening, come join me and Casa for one. Don’t worry. No ID required.  

[goddamnmuses-a]

Dan Watches: Star Wars: Episode I -The Phantom Menace

So.. I got the idea of writing my thoughts up as I go basically as they get to the Gungan city so.. i’ll try and remember my thoughts before that and then I’ll do it kinda live. Under the cut cus long. 

Alright.. So the opening crawl was very.. politics which to be honest as i’ve got older I actually kind of enjoy that side of Star Wars but it doesn’t really add anyhting to the actual film because I think everything thats in it could be picked up by just watching the film. 

I kinda like the battle droids.. weird soft spot for them. I like the big ship ones too and Droidekas i thought were the coolest shit ever when i was a kid and i stand by that. 

I’m not all that bothered by the racial stereotypes because like.. i’m not the races they’re sterotyping but i can see why it’d be problematic.

Jar Jar isn’t as annoying as everyone makes him out to be.. don’t get me wrong.. he’s annoying.. but he’s not cancer. 

Aesthetically the Gungan City is pretty cool, giant underwater bubble city.. i bet there’s cool fan art of it somewhere. 

Alright now we’re live.. The duck things the Gungans ride are weird. 

Do Gungans like JarJar eventually become the giant Green guy? .. I googled apparently they’re just two different races of Gungan despite looking like totally different Aliens.

It’s nice that all races are like “Life debt? Oh yeah thats a legit thing.”

Gungans speak like English or Common or.. i forget the Star Wars term.. Basic? is their second language.. but it isnt. 

Yooo Qui Gon just made JarJar go to sleep using the force.. Why is Force Sleep not a thing in more stuff... gotta keep an eye out for that now. 

Naboo is pretty.

Padme is so extra, she’s in her iconic red dress that’s already extra as fuck and then sees that she’s been captured and is like “Alright.. but first.. wardrobe change!” and then shows up in some black number. I’m not sure if at this point she’s actually Padme or if Padme is pretending to be one of her servants now but either way she had a costume change and nobody questions it so she must be having costume changes all the time. 

When Qui Gon force pushes two battle droids theres a really weird sound effect that sounds like it belongs in a mario game. 

Pretty sure Padme is the handmaid now and this new Queen should take the opportunity to be like “Yoo peace out bitches.” Then we get Keira Knightley’s adventures in Star Wars.

Also who was she before this swaparoo? Was she a handmaid and just suddenly got promoted to queen? Like she could be saying all sorts of shit. I know she gets revealed later on but think of how much she could do whilst Padme is away. 

The first words ever spoken to R2 in Star Wars, chronologically, (although inderectly) are “Hello Boyos”. Just sit with that. 

The first words spoken to him directly are “How rude.” which seems about right tbf with how sassy he is. 

Darth Maul is awesome. 

Keira Knightly or Sabe (I looked it up) is like “Yo actual queen, clean that droid!” i think she just wanted to feel more powerful than the actual queen there, little power trip. 

Nice Poncho Qui Gon. Cal approves. 

I wonder how long Padme took to convince the others to let her go off alone with Qui Gon and Jar Jar and R2 (Dunno why R2 joins them?) on a planet thats ruled by the Hutts

I kinda like Watto.. not as a person.. he just amuses me.

Kinda cool that Anakin can speak Huttese, wish he spoke it more often.. just cursing in Huttese as Obi Wan tries to teach him stuff. 

“Are you an Angel.” Smooooth kid. Smoooth, you’re gonna get with her. Despite her being way older than you. They couldn’t have just made him the same age as her? 

Toydarians should be used for more things, especially involving force users. 

Anakin. The slave. Is like “Here Qui Gon, you’ll like this food.” and he’s just like “Cheers” and pockets it for later. Dude. Try it. 

I really hope they do go into more High Republic stuff next, give me a Destiny-type game where you play as a Jedi with your mates. 

Quigons like “You must have Jedi reflexes to race pods” Then he catches Jar Jars tongue in a blink of an eye and Anakins like “You’re a Jedi Knight aren’t you?” And Qui-Gon is like “What makes you think that?” ...? .. You just fucking.. God damn it Qui-Gon. 

Anakin: “No one can kill a Jedi”. Palpatine: “Hold my Blue milk.”

I feel like im becoming fluent in Gungan broken basic which is worrying. 

Anakins mom whos name i’ve literally just forgot is like “He was meant to help you.” ... bitch.. what? Why does nobody question that? 

WHY DOES JAR JARS MOUTH MOVE WITH OTHER PEOPLES LINES!? ... Darth Jar Jar.  #PlagueisTheWiseWasAGungan. I mean not rly but seriously.. that would have been a really cool plot twist. 

Jar Jar got numbed and got his hand stuck.. so like.. perhaps not.. otherwise you’re playing a little too dumb mate. 

The look of worry from Shmi, good stuff. 

The two Headed announcer speaking basic and Huttese is pretty smart like, the one doing one and the other doing the other. 

What the fuck is Clegg Holdfast?

What the fuck are any of these races? Like.. where are these races throughout the rest of the franchise? 

Crazy that lightly bending that one part of the podracer can fuck it up so bad. 

Who the fuck is that other Hutt? Oh yeah I’m watching the like updated version with Geroge Lucas’ “Fixes” in it. Probably should have said that earlier. 

I cant remember if this is true but I’m pretty sure Qui-Gon knows Padme is the Queen and is just fucking with her at this point. 

Man Pod Racing is cool, fuck whoever says it isnt. 

Gimmie an updated Pod Racing ps4 game.

What the fuck is that long thin alien thats selling food to the crowd? Gimmie a Jedi version of him. 

Havent commented in a while because i just kept watching it tbh.

Coruscant looks cool. Still want more High Republic stuff. 

What the fuck is that driver alien, he looks in pain to exist. 

“There is no civility, there is only politics” The Chancellor code. 

Is it too late to call a vote of no confidence on Palpatine? 

I see you there in the background Yaddle. Get it girl. 

Fuck me the added extra of this long neck ass Jedi Master is so distracting. 

Where Jaro Tapal at tho?

You’d think after Padme’s like “Surprise bitch it’s me” moment coming up the Jedi would be like “Well shit.. maybe we’re less aware of things than we think... Yoda.. are you just a short human painted green?” 

Amedala... So extra with these outfits. I get that she’s a Queen but Jesus. 

Eyyyyyyyyyyyy it’s ET. 

Qui-Gon is such a bad boy. 

I kinda get why Jedi take kids when they’re really young, so they can’t remember their parents so they aren’t constantly worried about their parents and then fall to the dark side... doesn’t make it any nicer though. 

My vote went to Bail Antilles. 

To be fair not training Anakin could have been very bad. He could have like gone even more Darkside and Palpatine could swooped in and trained him himself completely. 

Maul is barely in this but fuck is he still cool. 

You know what I don’t hate Midichlorians. They’re just like atoms that stick to certain people and thats what gives them access to the force, it doens’t really change anything it’s just a scientific explination. 

You know what.. During the middle of the film, Jar Jar keeps his mouth shut and just lets people get on with it, that’s alright. 

How old is Obiwan supposed to be in this film? 

A little more variation in these creepy ass gungans would be nice. 

Damn the Viceroy and the other guy are huge or Maul is smol. 

Love that Gungan dindgeridoo horn thing. 

I also love the giant bubble shields. 

Are they watching a Star Wars battle tactics pc game on that screen?

Fuck The Darth Maul fight is badass. 

I don’t buy Anakin at all, he wants to fly out there and get involved, the little shit. 

Quigon doesnt even flip when he jumps, he’s just like “I’m too old for this shit.”

Yeah R2 is like “Go back” and Anakins like “Naaa fuck that”... Tut tut. Boys gonna be trouble.

The way Maul stalks back and forth the other side of that barrier like a Sith Tiger.. Good shit. 

Aaaaand Quigon is dead. RIP. 

“Now This is Pod Racing.”.. It’s not though is it? 

Nice to have something blow up and actually have debris instead of just all being gone completely. 

Anddd there goes Maul to go get robot spider legs and then be found by his bro Savage. 

Why do you wanna bring balance to the force anyway if it’s currently so one sided favouring the light side? Surely bringing balance is a bad thing at that point. 

Yoda’s already soooo old. 

Alright so they know there’s a Sith out there and the guy is still just like right next to them and they don’t know. Tut. 

That Jedi behind Mace Windu at the end looks intimidating as shit. 

Padme, he’s a kid, calm yourself down woman. You predator. 

Alright.. Film done. 10/10 Best movie ever. Naa tbh I enjoy the prequels more than most, obviously if you’ve stuck with me this long you know that but it clearly has its flaws.. still.. I enjoyed it! Feel free to ask me my opinions on specific things if you want.  Also shamelessly gonna plug my two star wars muses Cal and Savage here, rp with me you cowards. Also I’m down to star wars verse any of my other characters, literally any of them, i have ideas for all. 

[mischiefandspirits]

Iron Legion (18/?)

Never let it be said that Tony Stark ever does things by half. He might have grown up with little family, but he wasn’t about to keep it that way.

Tony Stark was seventeen when his first child was born, and that was just the beginning.

For Masterpost, Timeline, AO3, and Fanfiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arachne Mark II, Part 1

Tony Stark was forty when Spider-Man was born.

“Hey Petey, how was your first week of school?” Tony asked as Peter came into the living room.

“Great!” he chirped, dropping his backpack before flopping onto the couch next to Tony.

“That’s wonderful,” Pepper said, leaning over to press a kiss to his forehead before heading towards the elevator. “I’ll be back for dinner and then we can hear all about it.”

“Okay, Mom.”

Tony waited until he heard the elevator doors close before giving his son a look. “So, how’d it actually go?”

Peter gave him a confused look.

“Don’t give me that. You know you can’t lie to me.”

Peter groaned and set his head in Tony’s lap. “It was fine.”

“But?”

“It’s nothing, just… Everyone seems to already know each other, either from middle school or because their parents all know each other. And I’m just some weird random homeschool kid who's there on a scholarship and changes in the bathroom stalls instead of the locker room.”

If only they knew, Tony thought as he ruffled his kid’s hair. “Just give it time for that winning personality of yours to kick in. You’ll have tons of friends soon enough.”

“You think so?” Peter asked, looking unconvinced.

“Sure, maybe try joining a club or… I don’t know. I’m not the making friends type. Still not sure why Rhodey’s stuck around this long. He and Pepper would be better at this. Just make sure to be yourself. If they don’t like the real you, then they’re not worth your time. Starks don’t change themselves for anyone.” He could hear Rhodey, Happy, and Pepper calling him a hypocrite in his head, but ignored it. Being a dad was all about do as I say, not as I do.

“Alright, Dad.” Peter sat up and hugged him. “Thanks.”

“Anytime, Kiddo. Now, how about you go put your stuff away and then we test out that new drone I’m making for Wilson?”

Peter perked up. “The bird bot?”

“The bird bot.”

“Yes!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Peter was doodling ideas for improvements on the bird bot when someone tapped his shoulder.

He flipped his notebook closed quickly and looked up to see a pretty older girl standing over him.

“You’re Peter Parker, right?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah, that’s me.”

She smiled and held out her hand. “My name’s Elizabeth Toomes, but everyone calls me Liz. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Peter said, bemused, as he took her hand.

“Can I talk to you for a second? If you’re busy with your project, then we can do it later.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine,” he said, pushing his notebook aside. “I’m just messing around. I finished the project we’re supposed to be working on last week. My last school was a little ahead.” A lie, technically. The Tomorrow Academy hadn’t gone over what the project covered, but Dr. Banner had during one of their science sessions.

His teacher had seemed a little annoyed when he’d told her he’d finished ahead of schedule, as had some of his classmates, but Liz just seemed excited and dropped into the empty seat next to him. “I’m a member of the school’s academic decathlon team. Our captain asked me to invite a few promising freshmen to try out while he’s getting our practices ready and a couple of your teachers recommended you.”

Blushing, he ducked his head. “Th-thank you, but I don’t know anything about academic decathlons.”

She shrugged. “That’s okay, we can teach you how it works as long as you’re smart enough to compete.”

Peter wasn’t sure about the competition part, but his dad and Uncle Rhodey had both suggested he join a school club or team to try to make friends so he nodded. “Uh, sure then. How do I try out?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Yeah, Ned, I’ll ask Nebs as soon as she gets home,” Peter was saying as he came into the workshop. “Yeah, that sounds great… Uh-huh… Okay, bye!” Peter dropped into a chair and rolled up next to Tony. “Hey, Dad! Guess what happened at school today!”

Tony adjusted the power levels and reran the simulation for the engine he was working on.

“Dad?”

“Jay, save these results.”

“Right away.”

“Dad, what’s wrong?”

“Did you hear something, Jay?”

“I believe it was Master Peter.”

“Who?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Peter pout. “Nebs told you.”

Tony continued to ignore him.

“She promised she wouldn’t say anything!”

“Say anything about what? You betraying the entire family?”

Peter rolled his eyes and nudged Tony’s arm. “It’s just a field trip.”

“To Oscorp,” Tony spat, putting as much disgust into the word as he could.

“The entire robotics lab is going. I’d look weird if I don’t go.”

“No, you’d look smart. Oscorp is garbage.”

“Compared to us, sure,” Peter agreed easily, leaning against Tony to see his work. “But they’re still one of the best companies in the world and it’s a big deal to the others that we’re able to tour some of their labs.”

“Osborn’s probably just trying to scrounge up some good PR to combat whatever scandal he’s apart of this time.”

“Yeah,” Peter hummed, reaching out to turn the diagram.

Tony shoved the hand away. “Uh-uh, traitors don’t get to help out in the lab.”

“Dad!”

“There you are,” Nebula said, walking in. “Why were you asking Uncle Happy when I was off?”

Peter spun his chair around to point at her. “You promised you wouldn’t tell him!”

Nebula gave him an unimpressed look. “What does it matter? It’s just some stupid field trip.”

“The triplets would never spew such blasphemy,” Tony muttered.

Nebula shook her head. “Is that all you wanted or can I -”

“Wait!” Peter called as she started to leave. “Ned wants to know if I can come over to his house tomorrow!”

“Ned?” Tony and Nebula asked together.

“He’s in AcaDec and robotics lab with me. He’s a freshman too and last practice we were talking about those old Star Wars movies. He invited me over to watch them.”

Old Star Wars movies, Tony mouthed as Nebula asked, “And why does this concern me?”

“His mom wants to talk to you to make sure it’s okay.”

Tony laughed as his daughter scowled. “You wanted to be responsible for him.”

“Please, Nebs!”

She groaned and turned to leave. “Just give her my number.”

“Thanks, Nebs! You’re the best older sister ever!” F.R.I.D.A.Y. made a sound and Peter said, “Older! You’re still the best sister altogether.”

“Thanks, Baby-Bro!”

“So you’re making friends, then?” Tony asked.

“Well, friend. It’s just Ned. At least, I think he’s my friend.”

Tony shrugged and ruffled his hair. “Barely two months and you’ve already got a maybe friend? Way better than me at your age. Knew you could do it. I’m proud of you.”

Peter beamed. “Even though I’m going on the field trip?”

Tony dropped his hand and turned away. “Jay, did you hear that? It almost sounded like someone was talking.”

Peter pressed his face into Tony’s shoulder with a whine.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours into the tour and Peter was honestly just bored.

Nothing Oscorp was working on, or at least nothing they were willing to show his class, was cutting edge. His class was mostly just interested in the equipment the labs were using, but Peter had worked with better while helping his dad or Dr. Banner.

“Dad was right, I should have just bailed,” he sighed, hanging back while his classmates all crowded around the tanks of spiders Oscorp was using for a breeding experiment.

He shivered at just the idea of being that close to the arachnids, behind glass or not.

He glanced around the lab in search of something to focus on before his brain just started tuning everything out and his eyes landed on a display hidden off to the side next to a tank.

Giving the tank a wide berth, he walked over and read off the formula. It seemed to be part of the breeding experiment, but something was familiar about it.

“Please stay with your class.”

Peter jerked to the side, tripping and barely managing to catch himself on the workbench holding the tank. Blushing, he pulled himself upright and turned to see Dr. Connors, Oscorp’s lead genetic biologist. The man had been the one to give them their lecture when they’d reached the bio labs and was now staring down at Peter with a forced smile.

“S-sorry, I was just looking at this formula.”

“It’s beyond you, very advanced. Come back over with the others.”

Peter shook his head. He hated when adults looked down on him. His teachers did it, some of his classmates did it, the Avengers had done it whenever they visited Dr. Banner’s lab while he was there, even Dr. Banner had done it at first. His dad had never done it, though, and he didn’t stand for anyone doing it to Peter or his siblings.

Well, except the twins, sometimes. But only Dad was allowed to tease them, and they knew he was just joking.

“My… uncle taught me about formulas like these years ago.” He pointed at a portion of the formula as he realized what was familiar about it. “Why is Extremis incorporated here?”

Dr. Connors dropped the smile for an annoyed expression. “It isn’t.”

“But I recognize it. My uncle taught me about it.”

“Your uncle must have been mistaken.”

Peter scowled. Dr. Banner was above and beyond Dr. Connors’ level.

“Please return to your class. Now.”

Peter marched over to Ned’s side as the class began to leave for the next part of the tour.

Just as the doors closed behind him, he felt a pinch at the back of his neck. His hand slapped at it reflexively.

“You okay?” Ned asked.

“Yeah, just an itch.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Peter!” Nebula called as she strapped her gun to her hip. “You’re going to be late if you don’t get out here.” She grabbed her badge and jacket, then turned to Peter’s door. “Peter?”

A bit of worry dug at her when she didn’t get a response. She hadn’t seen Peter the night before, but his backpack was on the coat rack so she had assumed he’d gone to bed early for some reason. What if…

Nebula threw open his door and sighed when she saw the fluffy brown hair poking out from under his Iron Man comforter (a gag gift from Uncle Rhodey, Peter had made her swear not to tell Father he actually used it). “Peter?”

He groaned and peaked out of the covers. “Nebs?”

She frowned at his raspy voice, bleary eyes, and flushed face. “You okay?” she asked, coming to his side.

“Tired.” He leaned into her cold skin when she set her hand on his forehead. “Everything’s bright and loud.”

She nodded as her sensors listed a temperature. “You’re running a low fever.”

He flinched and pulled his comforter back over his head.

Considering what he’d said, she quietly moved over to the window and shut the blinds and curtains. Then she went to the bathroom and grabbed some Tylenol and earplugs out of the first aid kit. She brought them into his room with a glass of water and offered them with a small, “Here.”

He peaked out again then took the Tylenol and water.

“I’ll call your school and let them know you’re staying home. Just rest. If I can’t make it back for lunch, I’ll send someone to check on you. Call me or Father if you start feeling nauseous or if anything else starts feeling off.”

He nodded and put the earplugs in before slipping back into his chrysalis.

She gave his side a pat and left for work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A car honked, a baby cried, someone knocked on a door, someone dropped a glass, another car honked.

So much. Too much.

Peter reached up to make sure the earplugs hadn’t fallen out while he was asleep, but they were still in. They really weren’t helping much, but he figured something was better than nothing.

He pulled his blanket down and squinted as the light hit his eyes. He wanted to tug it back up, but his stomach was killing him. Maybe Nebs would be back soon?

Sitting up a little, he reached out for his glasses so he could check the time. He paused when he spotted his glasses next to the alarm clock.

The alarm clock that he could easily read.

He looked around his room and was shocked to find he could see everything perfectly, once he pushed past how bright everything was. For so long he’d never been able to see more than a foot in front of his face, yet now everything was crystal clear. Better than, really. Even his glasses had never let him see everything with such detail.

He rubbed his eyes, but the only thing that did was help his eyes adjust to the light a little.

His stomach gave a loud gurgle and cramped, reminding him of his hunger.

Shoving aside his weird eye thing for now, he checked the time and pouted when it showed it was only half-past ten.

Hissing, he slipped out of bed. The ache throbbing through his body briefly grew in his legs as they took his weight and rippled through the rest of him. Once it dulled, he shuffled over to his desk and grabbed his sunglasses. They made everything blurry as his miraculously healed eyes tried to focus through them, but he knew the living area was going to be even brighter than his room.

Sure enough, it was blinding and he barely opened his eyes as he searched the kitchen. He ended up pulling out an orange and some leftover pasta from the fridge. He tossed the pasta into the microwave and moved to the sink to peel the orange.

However, as soon as he broke the skin, he was hit with a strong citrus smell that sent a shiver down his spine and he dropped the orange out of instinct. He stared at the fruit until the microwave timer went off. With another shiver, he carefully grabbed it by the unbroken portion and tossed it in the trash. He then washed his hands thoroughly until all he could smell on them was mixed berry hand soap.

It was only when he was back in his room, halfway through his leftovers and a party-sized bag of chips, that he realized something was up with his behavior. He stared down at his hand, lost. Why had he reacted like that? He’d never had a problem with oranges before, especially not to such an extreme. Maybe the fever was messing with his head.

Resigned to more bed rest, he finished off his food then cocooned himself back on the bed, leaving the container and bag on his desk since he didn’t want to face the bright light again. He dozed until he was woken up by Uncle Happy coming into the apartment.

“Kid, you still in bed?” he yelled, shutting the door and locking it.

“Yeah,” Peter groaned, clenching his fists around his comforter. “Not so loud, please. Why is everyone yelling today?”

“Kid?” Uncle Happy stomped down the hall and opened Peter’s door. “Peter?”

Peter shushed him.

Uncle Happy stomped up to his bed and sat down on the edge, reaching over to rub up and down his side. “How are you feeling, kid?” he asked. He wasn’t yelling anymore, but he was still a little loud.

Why couldn’t anyone whisper?

“A little better,” Peter sighed. “Still hurts and tired.”

“I see you got up to eat.”

“Mm-hm. Really hungry.”

“Clearly. You ate enough to satisfy Cap. Feeling nauseous at all?”

“No.”

“That’s good. When was the last time you took any medicine?”

“Nebs gave me some Tylenol before she left.” He considered mentioning that it hadn’t seemed to help, but kept quiet, figuring he must have just fallen asleep before it kicked in and woken up after it wore off.

“Alright. I’m going to go grab the thermometer and some more Tylenol, okay?”

“Mm-hm.”

He quickly did as he said and Peter swallowed the pills while Uncle Happy held the thermometer in his ear.

“Well, your fever’s gone down some. That’s good. Must just be a bug or something,” Uncle Happy said, rubbing his shoulder. “You need anything else?”

“‘M okay.”

“Alright. I’ll get you some more water before I leave. Give one of us a call if anything happens before Nebula gets home, alright?”

“Okay,” Peter agreed, burrowing back into his cocoon. “Can you also grab me some jerky?”

“Still hungry?”

“A little.”

“An appetite’s good, right? Yeah, probably. That it?”

“Yes, please.”

Uncle Happy ruffled his hair. “Get some rest. I’ll leave your snacks on your bedside table.”

Peter groaned and ducked further into the chrysalis.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the next morning, his fever was gone, but everything still seemed too loud and bright. The body pains were still there too, though they’d faded to a muted ache. And then there was his vision…

“Hey Peter, how are you feeling?” Nebs asked as he came into the -- thankfully darkened -- living area. “Why aren’t you wearing your glasses?”

“I’m okay, just a bit of a headache. I -” His nose twisted up and he took a step back. “What are you drinking?”

“Peppermint tea. Vision recommended it. Want some? It’s supposed to be good for headaches.”

He took a few more steps back when she held her mug out to him. “Pass.”

She raised an eyebrow before shrugging it off. She came up to him and he forced himself to stay in place, shivering at the smell. She placed her hand on his forehead and said, “Are you feeling up for school today? You don’t have a fever anymore.”

He shook his head, thinking about crowded halls and loud bells.

“Alright. You might as well come with me to the tower then.”

He nodded. He didn’t want to have to go outside, but it would be worth it to see Dad and hide away in his soundproof room with the windows blacked out.

“Go get dressed then. Don’t forget your glasses.”

Peter quickly dressed, but paused when he picked up his glasses. He put them on and everything went blurry.

What is going on?

“You almost done?” Nebs called.

“Yeah.” He put his glasses away and dug out the sunglasses he kept for the rare occasions he decided to wear his contacts.

He picked up his jacket and nearly jumped out of his skin when a spider fell out of the hood. Not taking his eyes off the bug, he reached back to grab a petri dish and its lid off his desk. It was only after it was safely trapped inside -- and held as far from him as possible -- that he realized the spider was dead. Relieved, he looked closer at it, curious about the bright red, blue, and black coloring. He’d never seen a spider like it before.

“Peter?”

“Coming.” He set the dish down and shook his jacket out. Once he was sure there were no more hidden spiders, he tried to put it on, only to find his hand stuck to the fabric. He shook his hand and tried to pull it off with his other hand, both to no avail.

“Peter hurry up.”

He spun around as his door opened.

His jacket fluttered to the ground.

“What are you doing?”

“Just putting on my jacket,” he chuckled nervously.

“Right,” she said, looking unconvinced. “Well, let’s go. I need to get to work.

“Yep, sorry,” he sighed as Nebs left. He glanced at his jacket on the ground, then grabbed another out of his closet. He pocketed his phone and put on his sunglasses before pausing. He glanced at the spider, then his door, before slipping some rubber bands around the dish and pocketing it as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the record, since I've gotten a comment about this, Harley is not Reed Richards. That's on the right track though.

Just finished writing down the Infinity War part of this and I've got to say, I cried while writing it. Why does Infinity War have to exist?

Also, place your bets now on who bites the bullet!

An update on something I mentioned in the past: Riri, Miles, Gwen, and Kamala won't be appearing in this story, unfortunately. I just don't have enough information on Riri and the Inhumans to include her or Kamala and Peter's just too early in his superhero gig for Alchemax to be trying to recreate him so two spider-powered-people will have to do for now. There are two kid heroes that don't show up in canon that will be appearing though. One who was already planned and I might have mentioned already, can't remember, while the other will be taking Riri's spot... and all that implies

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 032: Round 1 Brackets

Previously on BnHA: Shouto told Deku about his tragic past of being abused by his shitty parents. Unbeknownst to them, Kacchan was secretly listening in. Shouto basically figured out that All Might is Deku’s dad, but let it slide. Deku declared war on Shouto, but this being a shounen manga, it actually just means they’re friends for life now. Endeavor was cancelled. Mineta was cancelled, again. The final event of the festival was announced, and it’s a good old-fashioned tournament bracket, so I am loving life right now.

Today on BnHA: Ojiro and another dude drop out of the tournament due to having been mind-controlled by Shinsou in the previous round. The round one matchups are announced. Deku finds himself facing off with Shinsou right off the bat. Ojiro warns Deku not to do anything stupid and get himself mind-controlled. The match begins. Deku immediately does something stupid and gets himself mind-controlled.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 68 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

I should be in bed but here I am!! come to see who’s paired up against whom for round one of the tournament!

Ojiro, I think I’ve been misspelling your name as “Ojuro” on several occasions. good thing I don’t think I’ve posted any of those recaps yet lol

(ETA: I had indeed misspelled it, and I went back and changed them all, so basically I almost got away with it, and now here I am calling my own self out. smh)

look at Ojiro and his solid beefy tail

there’s not really much to this guy so far

I can’t believe he made it to the third event honestly

he has problems with sitting. sucks, my friend

on to the chapter!

...am I to understand that we were this close to having everyone fight each other with foam swords, then?

I can’t fucking believe all we got was a stupid tournament

THE MATCHES WILL BE DECIDED BY ~RANDOM LOTS~ ONCE AGAIN

all I know is that Shouto will make it to the finals and fight either Kacchan or Deku, probably Deku

disclaimer: I don’t actually know, I’m just running my mouth

do we really have to sit through some other random activity before the main event

OH!!! TWIST!!!

Ojiro is dropping out?? why

GASP

he says he doesn’t remember anything about the cavalry battle at all. fucking knew it. MIND CONTROL

so he feels like he didn’t earn his place

in reality his quirk is just too boring to make for an interesting one-on-one fight. he’s better suited to background action. no offense Ojiro, I’m just being 100% real here, son

the girls are trying to convince him to stick around, but he says it’s a matter of pride. eh, if it were me I’d stay in the game and try to get back at the mind control guy during the tournament, but eh. he seems kind of shaken up, honestly, so maybe this is better for him in the end.

aww. Ojiro. looks like you need a hug, buddy. why does everyone in this fucking arc need a hug

just to keep things even, this little roly poly from class B is withdrawing too

godspeed, little man

Midnight’s like, eh whatever

doesn’t this fuck up the brackets, though? now they have 7 and 7. does someone get a bye in round one then? I guess they can determine that with the random lots too. hopefully whoever gets the byes won’t suddenly get all noble like these two idiots

oh, we’re not going to do byes but we’re going to replace the two that didn’t make it

YEAH GIVE IT TO STEEL RYOHEI AND POISON IVY

WOOHOO. SORRY OJIRO BUT THIS IS MUCH BETTER

TIME TO SCAN THE BRACKETS TO FIND MY SONS

BAKUGOU’S FIGHTING OCHAKO??? NOOOOOOOOOO

fuck this means one of my favorites will be eliminated right off the bat

lmao Kiri and Tetsu got matched up right from the get go

damn, Momo has to go up against Tokoyami. that one’s gonna be good

no idea who Aoyama is fighting

(ETA: lmao it was Mina. for some reason I hadn’t processed her last name)

Iida’s going up against Mei. good luck Iida

Kami vs Shiozaki... I think that must be the Poison Ivy chick? interesting

Todoroki vs Sero... nice knowing you Sero

and lastly... DEKU VS MIND CONTROL MAN

oh my god. can we, uh. just skip ahead to that one. !!!!!

also, Deku and Todoroki out here fucking up my predictions right from the start. the two of you had to be in the same bracket half. just had to be

wonder who’ll end up winning it all and facing off against my girl Ochako :’D

lol I can dream

this guy has “future villain” written all over him tbh

(ETA: I should just stop assuming that new characters are going to be villains. I don’t think I’ve been right about a single one yet.)

I assume the only reason he didn’t make it into the hero course is because he couldn’t use his mind control against the robots. sure, he could have possessed his fellow examinees instead, but they probably would have retained any points that they “earned” under his control

I wonder if the bags under his eyes are just a character design thing or if they actually reflect something about his character/personality/quirk. like is he an insomniac or something

he must have to do something in order to control people, right? maybe don’t let him touch you at any point, Deku

Ojiro’s warning him not to talk to him. I wonder if it’s less mind control and more hypnosis, in which case maybe if Deku blocks his ears or something... idk

lmao Bakugou literally has no idea who he’s fighting

Ochako knows though, oh damn

I believe in you!!  but be careful though orz

“are you Iida?” “indeed I am Iida.” take it easy on this middle aged bloke, okay Mei

oh good, we’re skipping all of this

hopefully even the anime will skip it, since BnHA doesn’t seem to believe in fillers and time-wasting!

LOOK AT IIDA CHUG THAT OJ

GET THAT VITAMIN C BOI

also Ojiro appears to be talking to Deku, and Deku looks like he’s mildly freaking out. is he freaking out because OH NO TOURNAMENT, or because Ojiro is telling him what Shinsou can do? given how well he’s managed with the first two events, I’m guessing it’s the latter, or else he wouldn’t be looking so disturbed

okay I actually do like this picture of the girls cheerleading though

just because Hagakure, Mina, and Ochako look really into it, and Momo and Jirou are just like, blargh. and Tsuyu is an enigma to me

TOURNAMENT TIME

Cementoss is building the ring for them all!

wow it looks really good

I wouldn’t quite say they’ve been through “hell”... actually it was a lot less hellish than I thought it would be

is Deku in the first round? I guess they go from left to right

ALL MIGHT CAME TO GIVE HIM A PEP TALK YAAAAAY

he’s giving Deku a thumbs up and says he’s finally getting the hang of One for All

Deku says he still has trouble controlling it and it makes him nervous, like one false step could still fuck him up

well good. narratively, I like this level of control. it keeps each move risky, but also doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll end up incapacitated at the drop of a hat

wow. All Might says that right now Deku can only handle 5 percent of One for All’s true power

you know we’re getting into some real shounen shit when we start talking about power percentages

Deku says he’s just gotten lucky with everything so far, and All Might’s response may just be his most dadlike behavior yet

I love it. the awkward pat on the back (head? shoulder?). the affectionate nickname. and the genuine compliment, because you know All Might admires the shit out of Deku’s hard work ethic

and he’s telling him to smile, especially when he’s feeling nervous or scared. because you’re a big damn hero, Deku! you got this my man!

here we goooooo

not even Present Mic the mighty chatterbox can think of anything to say about Shinsou. bang-up observation about Izuku’s weird face, though

so now the question is, does Deku know about Shinsou’s quirk or not?

typical tournament rules: knock your opponent out of the ring, immobilize them, or make them cry uncle

yikes, they’ve got Recovery Girl on standby for this one. well at least they’re taking things seriously. but that means shit’s about to get lit the fuck up

“fight dirty if you must” how fucking heroic. I guess that’s the part where they test everyone’s willingness to get into the nitty-gritty huh

although they do say that going for the kill is frowned upon, and Cementoss will supposedly stop you (uh huh. just like All Might was going to “stop” Bakugou in chapters 9 and 10, I assume)

oh shit. this means Shinsou can win just by making Deku say that he quits... I think that’s what this is hinting at:

(ETA: I actually don’t know why he didn’t just have Deku say “I give up” rather than making him walk out of the ring. maybe he can’t control speech? but at any rate, on my reread I realized just how sneaky Shinsou is being here by trying to get Deku to answer him before the match has even started.)

Deku he called poor Ojiro a monkey. punch him in the face please

Deku’s making a face at that

and he’s charging in!!

-- uh oh

WHAT’S FUCKING HAPPENING DAMMIT

and Ojiro’s saying that he warned him

shit. Deku looks like he’s completely under his control already

aaaaaand the chapter ends

well shit

BONUS:

this girl looks exactly like Matsuoka Gou from Free!. it’s fucking uncanny

like I seriously want to get a picture and compare them side by side

you know what, never mind though, because while I was combing through google image search for a good pic, I kept getting distracted by pictures of Rin. why is he so pretty

what the hell was I doing again

oh yeah

anyways so Kendou here is apparently the class representative from class B. good for you girl. I wonder what her quirk is

there’s not much else to her aside from her being a motorcycle-loving coffee-drinking class rep who looks like Gou lol

but I hope we’ll get to see more of her

[bushybeardedbear]

Season 8 of Saltron: Laughable Disappointment

What follows is a stream of consciousness as I watched the series.

The TLDR? I am glad it's finally over and will always miss what it should have been.

It's another long one. But, I think it's the last one on this topic...

Maybe I can finally get back to writing fics. Who knows...?

I use the word mess a lot.

So, episode one. Months have passed as usual. And somehow the population of Earth, all crammed into a single base on the planet have somehow been able to produce an animated series. Earth is devastated, but there's still the ability to make cartoons. Somehow. It's as though the writers needed to tick off a “reference to the old series” and have only just been able to cram it in. Global devastation, billions dead. But hey. Cartoons. Yet another example of Voltron not knowing what the hell it's own tone is. Are we a happy silly space adventure, or are we supposed to be a bleak look at the horrors of war? Are we selling kids books and toys or are we forcing our characters to deal with global devastation and the loss of their lovers? Let's be both and excel as neither.

And for a show that isn't about shipping? Gosh they've already dedicated a lot of time to it, haven't they? Allura, Lance and Lotor, all major focuses of the plot. Oh and it's nice to see Romelle doing what Romelle does. Info dumping about the colony. “Before the Galra can reorganize.” Well, sorry Keith but it's been Five Years. Remember that time skip? If at least one group of Galra hasn't reorganized in five years, that would be absurd. If only there was some hint that the Galra HAD reorganized. Like a giant robot. Using the same magitech as the druids and Honerva. I know that as the viewer we're privy to more information, but sometimes they make the characters painfully stupid as to what's going on in their own reality.

Oh boy. An entire episode devoted to finding Allura a date outfit. For Lance. The boy with a lifespan of 80-100 years max. Whilst she could live to be 800+. We going to cover that? I mean, we had time to emphasize Pidge's age. We going to touch Allura's age? No? Ok, fine. We'll ignore it shall we? Do the writers assume people are too stupid to remember the show's own lore...? And look. More references to the old show. Remember the old show? Nostalgia points. Hey Pidge, having some fun being yourself? Well, make sure you give up something you love to make the popular girl happy. Arguably again but, doesn't seem like anything previously established or hinted matters. Nice. And I guess we know the names of Lance's family. Along with a nice bit of tell don't show. Lance is all talk and bravado. It's good of you to tell us that. Can't expect people to figure it out organically through storytelling.

And the only way they could figure out Honerva was behind a robeast...was via a cheesy death scene. Well, at least they didn't make the cast even more bloated and unwieldy. As for all the issues I've mentioned with Allurance before? Doubled down on here. Allura's not the strong capable leader we were shown, she was weak and in need of man to complete her. What a great 180 from powerful character to prize for toxic masculinity. And if you don't like the idea that pursuing a woman aggressively and jealously, even swooping in after a break up is toxic...? I don't know what to tell you. If you think this relationship happened organically and wasn't rushed? I don't know what to tell you. I don't think we were watching the same show.

However. I know me foreshadowing. Allura gives life. Allura and Lance photo. The flowers at her bedside last season that symbolize death. Let's see if they pull another “oh look, their relationship failed.” Because on screen romance is the kiss of death in this series. Also, the fact that so far nothing has even been hinted at Pidge's obvious crush on Lance... Yeah, can't say I'm surprised. I think maybe the writers forgot their own lore...

Oh, and off they go to space. What a great first episode. I'm so pumped to see the train wreck continue...

Is it just me... Or have they now made Honerva nothing more than defined by the men in her life...? So far her entire episode has been about how she serves no purpose without Lotor. Months she spent without purpose. This despite having knowledge of both Oriande and The Altean Colony via her mind link with Kuron... But suddenly, this fiercely intelligent multi-millenia old right hand of the empire...falls into a depression because her son is missing...? The most driven character in the whole series is just wandering aimlessly without the son that, let us not forget... She forgot even was her child for the majority of the show... I appreciate that they're attempting yet again to give the bad guys a little more humanity, but...There's a difference between a nuanced and rounded character and simply writing them to act differently at the drop of a hat. So, I get that they're pushing for her regretting that she had no connection with Lotor, that the act of coming back from the dead robbed her of motherhood...but in so doing, they're yet again doubling down on the fact that Lotor was always a victim of his upbringing. Or lack thereof. It feels almost like these sequences were written at a point before they realised they were going to make Lotor into Space Hitler. This screams redemption arc for a lost little boy being set up. Not the genesis of a heartless monster. Even their own backstory doesn't seem to gel with the show...

Well, I guess they answer the question of how the hell did a single nanny exist across multiple millennia. Dayak is a title, it seems. Not a name. That was a useful retcon I suppose. Maybe they should have thought more about their own continuity  And yes, it seems everything Honerva is now doing she's doing for the sake of Lotor. Not out of her own capacity or desire. And Lotor, somehow bathing in pure life energy, is dead. And now, we have further proof that Lotor's story about being an essentially good person who had to watch a planet of his friends and allies burn. Again, this whole thing screams redemption arc. Where and how, after this entire process of being exiled due to his pragmatism, in being in reverence of Altea...did he suddenly turn Space Vampire feeding upon the very people he revered...? This episode gave the opportunity to make the Altean colony and Lotor using them as a vampire make sense. Instead it just raises more questions. It makes it seem even more likely that at one point Honerva was the one harvesting to make druids. That at one point Lotor was supposed to be redeemed. Then changes were forced. Or maybe a half baked redemption is still coming? Willing suspension of disbelief is utterly gone. The story is plainly a patchwork of mistakes piled upon mistakes.

A beautifully animated, beautifully scored and beautifully voice acted incoherent mess.

Still got time for that transformation sequence in the middle of an inconsequential battle that doesn't further the main plot and further doubles down on the problems caused by the five year gap. Do we really have time to rebuild the Voltron coalition and bring stability in seven episodes...? And what part of this actually benefits from the five year gap? “The Galra Empire is at war with itself” this scenario could have played out perfectly well during a civil war cause by Lotor's 'death' and Sendak creating a splinter faction. The five year gap was in no way necessary, as I mentioned in previous posts. And...do we really have time for an episode that's one long reference to Alien...? Even now at the half way point of the episode, it seems clear they're either going to find something that mildly advances the plot or else is utterly pointless. Do we have the time to waste on this when there are so many other plot threads that need tying up? Pidge and Lance's lion moments for one. Lance needs to use his sword. Ever again. Probably to save Allura, just to really hammer home that she's weak and incapable without him now. Whatever's going on with Keith is another. Maybe Axca will just info-dump an explanation. Or not. Are we just going to get a bunch of things unsolved? A bunch of things forgotten? Are they going to make this a to be continued in a new season...?

Well, there we go. The secret weapon made with distilled Altean quintessence. Now we know where it went. So it devours quintessence, slaughters Galra but just...pushes aside Paladins of Voltron...? Ok, so it's probably engineered to hunt Galra. Which makes sense, right? A Galra super weapon. That only hunts Galra. Ok, so now comes the info-dump retcon. Whereas previously it was created by the Galra base they were infiltrating using the Distilled quintessence... It was now found in the Quantum Abyss... And trained and engineered by Lotor to hunt Galra...? Sure. Whatever. It makes no sense and feels shoehorned into the plot. But sure. Rather than being pragmatically working toward an empire that didn't rely on using other races for Quintessence, Lotor was actually secretly making monsters to kill only Galra for the sake of genocide...? Nonsense.

“How do you know so much about it?” Good question Lance. And guess what? It's not actually answered in the show. Go back and watch the episode where Keith and Krolia found this thing. Any hint of it being a weapon Lotor created...? Any hint of it being anything except built or engineered on that base? I think you'll find not because they just forced this into the plot now. Who knows what purpose the creature was supposed to originally serve, if any, but this is obviously nonsense. And Lance is quite rightly asking, “How does Keith know so much about it...?” And it's because the writers needed to info-dump another retcon.

And just a small aside... Lance not knowing the difference between an Altean Hour and an Altean Minute literally contradicts what was established about his grasp of the time system seasons ago. He wasn't born yester-quintant. But now he's too dumb to remember time units. Because who gives a damn about continuity or character progression when you can just have characters regress...?

And why are they acting surprised that Honerva can build more than one robeast...? I'm so tired of seeing them all written as complete idiots. If Honerva has access to Altean Alchemy, and they know she does and access to the infrastructure and resources to build one robeast then it stands to reason she can build more than one... That doesn't even need a genius like Pidge to figure out. That's just common sense. That they've all now written to be bereft of.

And split up? Ok, so with so few episodes to go that likely means splitting focus from the Paladins and the Atlas on an episode by episode basis, most likely. Plus the obligatory “comedy” episode to waste yet more time that could be spent telling the actual story. Then everything needs at least an episode to wrap up...? Guess we're not getting the endings and tied up threads we were expecting. Or if we do it will be brushed aside. Like Keith's explanation of how he knew so much about the Not-A-Xenomorph.

Still, on the bright side? Only a few more episodes to go...

Oh wow. If the ongoing saga of the girl that used to be Allura who will live for millennia and the boy who will live for decades that used to be a character developing wasn't cringeworthy enough, now we have the characters just arbitrarily deciding to go to the one place in the entire Voltron coalition that the Robeast arrived at. Such a lazy plot contrivance. Lance is right. Why couldn't there have been some means of tracking a quintessence signature or some kind of magical anomaly intrinsic to the Robeasts that Honerva is creating? A magical element would have given Allura something to do other than pout. What they needed was something to give them a CLUE as to where they next need to go. Seconds, literally seconds after Pidge has pointed out the vastness of the universe and how unlikely it would be to find the robeast with not a single clue... They just arbitrarily decide to go to the planet it landed on!? What the actual hell, writers? Can I have a crate or two of whatever you were high on when you wrote this, please?

Transformation sequence. Because we need that eating up the run time don't we...? Yeah, it's a nitpick, so what?

Oh boy. Another planet massacred. Another group of allies lost. Cheap emotional tugging at the last hurdle when it's largely irrelevant. Not that I suppose it really matters. After a few months they'll be back on their feet and making cartoons again, just like Earth. After all, they probably all escapedor mostly did. It seems absurd that they couldn't have. They're one of the most technologically advanced species in the universe. Escape pods wouldn't be beyond them. Makes a damn sight more sense than last season where we're supposed to believe the entire multi billion population of Earth fit into those prisons. Billions are dead on Earth, remember? So, 'dead' Olkarion yet another example of the Paladins being given almost no hope of a happy ending short of a deus ex machina that will somehow undo all the damage. Or it just gets ignored. Because who cares about Billions dead on Earth? Or across the rest of the coalition...? Which raises another point... Why did nothing happen to Olkarion during the five year gap...? Did they even try to contact Olkarion when they emerged from the quintessence field...? Because it sure didn't look like it was devastated in their absence. It looked, until the robeast, pristine.

Continuity? What's that? At this point it wouldn't even shock me if they had Pidge wake up and say “wow, what a wild dream...” As the last second of the series.

How can Hunk still not be good under pressure, after he's shown multiple times...to be good under pressure...? To have developed as a character...? You know what, never mind... So wait, this whole episode was just to establish... That Honerva has access to a Teludav...? Is that really information that couldn't have already been inferred? An energy detected on the Robeast for example? Or just, I dunno, putting two and two together? What thematically was gained by Pidge's vision quest that couldn't have been delivered by some survivors? I know they're going for a noble sacrifice on a planetary scale, but... When the noble sacrifice is to deliver information that realistically could have been gathered in countless other ways... It just feels, like a lot of the plot now, forced.

Well, escape pods. Who could have guessed that? And the episode ends with them gaining a tracker. Something that was probably necessary at least on some level to make the episode make sense. Would it have been so hard to say that between Pidge and Allura they made a magi-tech tracker that just about detects the Robeasts and then the Olkari data makes it work perfectly? Nah. Let's just have them find the aftermath of a robeast attack randomly a split second after saying how absurd that would be...

Unique Energy Signatures Interesting. An energy signature that's unique.

And the robeasts have them. Huh.

You know what's really easy to spot in a set of data...?

S O M E T H I N G    U N I Q U E

See, if you take the text so far as an example of background cosmic radiation and all the other stuff one might detect around Earth, the above two words would be a unique energy signature. Something not usually found in nature. Something outside the norm. Make's one wonder why there was no way to track these unique energy signatures before now. Say, with the Atlas or the established satellite networks around Earth. Makes one wonder why over months this data wasn't analysed. Of course, I'm assuming that anyone even turned on a scanner. Or remembered they had hands. Why would anyone think to scan space when a new an unknown enemy showed up. From Space. Don't be silly. That would require the application of logic.

And, I really don't care for the continued loss of time fixating on the MFEs and their wacky lunchtime with Axca... Or indeed all Axca's angst. Considering how much we still have to happen for The Paladins I'm not really feeling the need to develop a last second former general to be a half formed love interest for Keith. Basically following the same plot of learning to be more human and less angst ridden that Keith did. Well, this episode sure feels like filler. Random trap, with a bunch of old enemies. I mean, at least they remembered Alteans can change skin tone, I guess...? Just about the only thing that impressed me about this episode so far.

Well, that fight scene happened. Wait...left you...? The last we saw the two of them had blown up. And half of Zethrid's face is burned. Indicating surviving the explosion. Her entire crusade of gathering mercenaries, hunting Keith, the name of the episode being The Grudge... It all adds up to dead partner. But now Axca's saying... Ezor left Zethrid...? What the hell kind of absurdity is that...? She'll never take me back...? That has to be the biggest dumbest cop out... What could have been a really emotionally compelling look at a “bad guy” having more nuanced motivations... Made Zethrid look like she was having a tantrum.

And still, nothing of the wider plot advances. More filler.

Gosh, this mostly static series of shots of Allura telling us what's happening at Oriande sure is engaging. Thank goodness this isn't in a visual medium or we might have been shown this rather than told... And another big rousing speech about end the war. That will result in the war not ending, if any of the previous times were anything to go by. Except this is the last season, so... This time doing the same thing has to work.

Well, I'm surprised we didn't get two transformation sequences in a row. I would have thought that would be the best use of their time. Also, whilst I see the thematic necessity of Allura in charge, I'm not sure how the plot really justified it. And is it just me, or did Ezor always seem a bit...pasted in place and static...? Not even sure the voice was the same, maybe it's just me... Still no Lance and Pidge Lion connection. Just an aside really. Not sure if we'll ever see it at this stage.

And again, maybe this is just me... But surely we can only feel like every reality is under threat is a big deal once in the same show, right? One also has to wonder that given access to the same alchemical ability and greater knowledge, that Honerva could have retrieved the Sincline with... Another similar mech...? Seems like an unnecessarily massive ritual just to bring probably not Lotor back. Or was bringing him back just part of it and the majority was to collapse the white hole...? She's just controlling him...? Because why not. All this guilt and need to save her son, this massive magical ritual was just... To get a puppet Lotor and to kill the White Lion...? And damage reality in the process? Or is this just the classic trope of screw you all I'm destroying everything?

I mean, I know that these episodes want to keep you guessing, but... Maybe just a touch of explaining what all the bright beams of light and particle effects are would be good...? And preferably not sat at a conference table telling us but through the story showing us. At least the plot has advanced. I guess it's now time for the comedy episode to destroy the flow...? 

Well, seems like another filler episode. I really wanted an entire episode dedicated to a secondary character when there's already plenty of Paladin's stories left to tell. And the interview format is still more excuses for tell don't show as people talk at the screen to deliver information without it seeming artificial. The absurd necessities to make the found footage format work always bugs me. There's no difference here. I'm just not feeling Cloverfield but Voltron. I can't deny that it's been animated well, but, I'm tired of filler. And this season so far has been the vast majority filler.

If you want to do dramatic framing and filming, keeping one character in shot and then another, then swapping back... Then clearly your camera has a dramatically appropriate setting that works in micro gravity. If you're going to do found footage, don't also drop the ball and include impossible camera movements.

Honestly, Coran retelling the whole series would have been more entertaining than what it has been so far. But for what it's worth, the world building, finding out Colleen Holt is a biologist / geneticist of some considerable skill? Yeah. Interesting. But...how late in the game are we to be finding all this out...? Doesn't world building usually happen throughout, dotted about organically? This all just feels like... Here's some stuff we never got to mention before now. All delivered in a really artificial seeming way...

Adjusting for long range parameters...?

You're in orbit. Your ship can communicate over light years with no signal delay. Orbit is not long range for The Atlas. Just say you're adjusting for interference...

Also, they are finding new and creative ways to have meetings around a big table. The most riveting part of this show. Watch in wonder as three static characters hover over an action scene interspersed with static. Wonder if next time we'll get to see someone make coffee for the meeting. Puzzle over the filler to plot ratio. Thank characters talking directly to the screen telling us the status of questioning prisoners of war that could have been delivered in countless other ways. Wouldn't that conversation with the Altean have been more interesting if delivered in the interrogation room rather than through two cameras...?

Still not going to touch the lifespan gap? Ok.

And holy crap use Hunk more. That desert part? Brilliant. An actual stand out moment that shows his compassion and his intellect. Not just being a big worrying goof who eats. Finally, something I can genuinely praise in this whole mess. They haven't ignored Hunk. That was a wonderful moment, breaking barriers with cookies. And so far, in terms of writing, 100% the best part of the whole series. One diamond in all the rough... Or maybe something of more value than a diamond. Like a good writer on the Voltron team...

“Winning prizes is my speciality.” Uhuh. Once someone has been rendered a prize I guess.

And now it's time for yet another filler episode interspersed with a little plot. Sorry, by plot I mean an info dump. This time from “Lotor” or a vision of him at least. Lecturing us about the void creatures. It's about time they got brought up again. But thanks writers for yet again delivering that information and story in the least engaging possible way.

It's nice seeing the characters have a little fun. I won't deny it. I personally don't buy how eager Pidge is to help Lance out on his shiny thing for Allura quest... But, at this stage I think I should just cast aside anything that might have previously been established about the characters and just assume stuff will happen at the writer's whims. If I'm lucky, it will be entertaining. Maybe the inconsistency comes from writing? Or animators not being given clear direction by writers? Or executive meddling. Maybe I also think it's cheating to use a robot arm that has no resistance in an arm wrestling contest. Shiro's body provides no leverage. It's all down to the hand unit, but nobody brings that up in the show. Even though they should.

Also not digging the using both the men in her life to tempt Allura. It kinda draws even more attention to how flighty they made her. How sudden and how jarring her reciprocating Lance's feelings was when they first seeded it at the Omega Shield. One big gesture to win his prize. It's all so skin crawling. So diminishing for both her and for Lance. Honerva, through the void creature, can presumably see this in her mind. Why else would she shift between the two men? It's almost as though the show itself is acknowledging they made Allura indecisive, flighty, weak to temptation and easily manipulated. And then she puts her hand to the glass. Then takes what is effectively a demon into her, that she knows allows Honerva to kill a host at will. I mean, at least they included her Mother, rather than Alfor. That's something I suppose, to indicate that her entire character isn't solely defined by the men in her life now. Though, it's small comfort. I mean, I get that she's being manipulated. I get that she's being tempted. But she's not Allura any longer. Allura was the incredibly strong willed last daughter of a dead world. A genocide survivor who came out fighting. The princess who gave up her last vestiges of her royal office for her friend to have an arm. The woman who killed the last remnants of her own Father's uploaded mind. Allura is strong willed. Stronger willed than any of us could dream of being. Or at least she was. Much as they now try to devalue her in the show... She united two thirds of the Universe under the Voltron coalition. Now what is she...? A damsel in distress who's going to need to be saved from her own weakness and a prize to the nice boy. And I'd put money on Lance using his Altean Broadsword to save her, just to hammer that home.

Of all the awful choices the writers have made, destroying Allura is probably the worst. You'd think I'd say Plance, but you'd be wrong. As I've always said, I'd rather not have it be canon at all than have it be badly written crap. So even if somehow Plance is super late end game, it will be just a shoddily written piece of crap on top of a giant shitty cake. So I wanted to take my victories where I could. I wanted to hope that maybe Allura could be Allura again at the last hurdle. Nope. Destroyed.

And credit where it's due? That overly bombastic anime-as-fuck arm wrestle, complete with foe with a heart of gold trope played for laughs? Yeah. That was fun. It's not like they can't do moments. I will admit that. They have some among the writing staff who make wonderful moments. It's just a shame those moments are mired in so much dross...

That touch of self awareness about the robot arm from Iverson I appreciated. Again. Moments. The entire concept of using a void creature combined with Voltron's joining of minds seems like the worst idea ever. It puts them all in jeopardy. Lance is being the only sensible one there. Which is rare to say. It also doesn't feel like he's doing it purely out of his feelings for her. Just common sense. Also, I feel like the Astral Lions moment would have carried a little more oomph if... Lance and Pidge had had their Lion Bond moment. I'm going to keep coming back to that. Because it feels very present in it's absence. It feels as if it has been either removed or else forgotten.

The battle with their alternate selves was fascinating. One of the few fight scenes that acutally wasn't boring this season. Though, Allura inevitably giving in to and using the darkness... What did I say before...? They've made her so weak. It took her lion intervening to stay her hand. And was it just me or was Lance using his broadsword...? With no fanfare...? No dramatically appropriate moment for it to materialise in a meaningful way...? It's just... There...? They establish he can summon it only under intense need, then never use it and now suddenly it's just... There...? Wow. I was giving them far too much credit when I assumed it was foreshadowing some dramatically appropriate moment. Sorry to anyone out there I said as much to. They just forgot about it.

This may be bad of me, but there's something distinctly Freudian about Lance wielding Allura's Father's Broad Sword... That just me?

So... They're continuing together on life's journey now...? And we're still not going to even touch on relative human to Altean life spans...? Really...? Ok...

And this is just another aside...

Their minds are all connected. So, Pidge doesn't need to explain anything except for the sake of the audience. That's fine and dandy. I'm used to Voltron relying on prodigious amounts of exposition. But why is Alfor surprised at the knowledge of Allura being possessed...? Angry? Sure. Concerned? Sure. Trying to convince her it's a bad idea? Sure. But...surprised...? How...? The plot would have you believe they're all profoundly connected on a far deeper level than ever before... And yet, somehow he's surprised at this knowledge...? Whatever. Plot right? Who cares. It's not like a team of writers have been paid a large sum for this to be a coherent story...

Should I just rename myself Bitter Bitching Bear?

Probably... I guess palaces in the mind would make a Voltron and Persona 5 crossover possible. Not that I would want to lessen Persona 5 in that way. Just an idle observation. And again, despite the mind connection, Allura is revealing things to Alfor that surprise him. I know it'd make conversations pointless and thus the whole show would be a hard watch... But still, why even pretend there is a mind connection if they don't even pay it lip service?

If I was taking a shot every time there was an unnecessary transformation sequence... In fairness I'd probably just be a little merry. But still, for a show that's being so rushed, they seem to have all the time in the world for transformation sequences and filler episodes. And really lousy looking CGI corridors. That was jarring. Also, Lance and Alfor being one and the same in the cockpit. Freudian symbolism intensifies.

Now, I'm just going to spitball for a moment. Allura is filled with an evil tennis ball from the void. She needs the evil ball to find Honerva. Yet we've seen she can remove the entities from Alteans. Admittedly, a dead one but, what's to say it's not possible on a living Altean? It's not like anyone tried.

Take the entity. Sever their connection. Ask the Alteans where Honerva is. Literally no need to put her sanity at risk. No need to have her willingly being possessed by a spooky space demon. Would it be as visually impressive? No. But it was an alternative that wasn't even discussed. Or considered.  And it makes a great deal more sense. It also allows Allura to remain at least partially her incredibly strong willed self and not give in to the easy dark path. Yes, at this stage she's resisting. But let's be real. She's going to fall to the darkness. At least for a time. You don't foreshadow this hard about how bad the spooky space demon is unless you're going somewhere with it. Mind you, I've been wrong before about the writers doing something they're obviously building toward...

And now Lotor has gone from compelling conflicted character, to vampire space Hitler to a pile of gloop in a chair. Just one screw you after the next... Guess there's no redemption arc for him that doesn't involve a spatula...

Also, it suddenly strikes me that there's a whole lot of lazy asset reuse thanks to this episode's memory stuff going on. I'm also pretty sure I saw Lance's crazy gunning face against Alfor used elsewhere. Have the animators also given up? Well, with what they've been given to write, I wouldn't blame them. And...why is Zarkon's colour palette off...? His skin is literally the wrong colour... Come on guys, this isn't even funny... Why would Honerva remember her own Husband as the wrong colour...? Why would, what I assume is Zarkon's soul, be the wrong colour...?

Honerva's plan... So... Let me get this straight...

Honerva has Zarkon's soul in her mind. Possibly Lotor's somewhere as well, but that's just a guess.

She's made cloned bodies before. You see where I'm going with this?

Why destroy every single other reality, just to find the right one when she could just... Replace their souls in cloned bodies...? Or at the very least bring Zarkon back to aid her...? If Allura could do it it would be child's play to Honerva. Her motivation makes sense, but her method is utterly stupid. It makes her look stupid when she can't even use the tools at her own disposal.

What even is this daft speech and argument from Keith...?

Voltron is gone? Voltron is within us...?

Bollocks to your pseudo-deep emotional prattle. Just be sensible for once. The lions were never there to begin with. They were astral constructs. The lions aren't literally there so they aren't literally gone. You don't need a rousing speech about reaching for the lion inside you, because it's all in your heads as much as it's in hers... So stupid.

Also, pretty sure the entire blazing sword sequence was reused...

And something bad happened to Allura because she used the bad thing that was bad. Did we mention it was bad enough?

Well, here it is. The Big Robot they have to beat this season. Complete with seraphic imagery and form. That sure as hell hasn't been done to death, has it? And it's the board room of exposition again. Woohoo. And yet more Lance angst. And another Lance and Keith bonding moment. We get it, they're friends now. Ok, apparently removing the entity didn't kill the Altean...? So she could literally have just used their help...? Or even traced Honerva using one of the other's entity. And again, nothing was even suggested to do that.

I'm honestly not sure what would have been worse right now. The fact that Allura has been rendered bed bound and unable to do anything or if she'd been made a damsel in distress to be literally saved. Then again, I suppose there's still time for that. And in a sense, she is still in distress. Waiting to be saved by the plot. Oh, here it is. Lance going to awaken her with his love. Hooray. The damsel in distress is saved by the Nice Guy.

And the whole first part of the episode was literally just padding and wasting time. Are we any closer to finding out why Keith can do what he does...? Will we ever find out? Nah, I'll scratch that off along with Lance and Pidge ever getting their lion moments that everyone else got last season. But thank goodness we had time for all the pointless filler.

Ok... So, to be clear... At no point before going into the Astral Plane, did Allura think to remove the entities from the Alteans they have onboard...? I mean, yeah, sure, Allura getting controlled is one thing, she's just a plot device to be used these days and lacks any agency of her own any longer. But to have the irrelevant side characters not have their spooky space ghost taken out... When they know it directly connects them to Honerva... Even if they couldn't predict Honerva could control them, leaving them bonded with the entities was a stupid risk... Everyone is written like an idiot.

And, I'm not even sure how you can classify these void creatures as entities. They don't seem to have any will or agency of their own. They just seem to serve as brain bluetooth for Honerva and nothing else. Feels like they were supposed to be more than they ended up being. You can pretty much sum up the whole series as such. It was supposed to be so much more than it ended up being.

Now, I'm sure someone will point out that the Balmera we know is near Earth, so it shouldn't be here. Which is why they found a random new Balmera and new Balmerans. But, wouldn't it be more satisfying to have Shay and her formerly enslaved people being part of this final battle...? Wouldn't it be more compelling than watching New Balmera and the New Balmerans to see Shay and her long downtrodden people fighting back...? To just introduce a new Balmera with no previous stakes in the conflict is...mind boggling...

Mother and Son combined huh...? Freudian Symbology 3 – The Freudianing

Two episodes and then it's all over. Thankfully over.

And still time for another transformation sequence. We get it. Lions go click. I never thought I'd get bored watching a giant robot form... And at this stage, repetition seems to be a good topic. They're battling to save all realities. Again. There's a big space wobbly hole. Again. Only Coran with the power of breaking stuff can stop it. Again. I mean, I get this is based on a formulaic Japanese super robot show from the 80's, but it's current year argument... Can we maybe have something new in the season arc formula that isn't beat the big bad robot...? Right up until season 6 this show had so much potential and we've watched it all get squandered.

So...suddenly Balmera... That can travel at speeds at least as quick as Teludav...? Ok, sure. Whatever. And calling the other Balmera here...? Wow, wouldn't that have been more compelling if Shay, on her own Balmera previously wounded by Honerva, called out to the others? Wouldn't that have made this suddenly Balmera moment make more sense...? Nah. Screw sense. New Balmera and the New Balmerans happened. Then a whole bunch happened... It's like, they're missing all these obvious ways to tie things together using all they have in place... How can one writer never mind a whole damn team of writers miss something so elementary so repeatedly...?

At this stage, I genuinely think they stopped caring.

Deus Ex Balmera made Voltron and The Atlas fuse into a derpy generic looking Gundam.

You've got the rights to Voltron one of the most iconic combiner robots in history. Why the hell would you, for the final battle, turn it into yet another generic looking super robot in high heels!? Why!? Even that daft looking toy covered in blue bits was better than this...

Again, I can't understand how seeing two robots form a bigger robot is somehow boring... But they managed it... Makes me worry that the Voltron writers are apparently going on to do Spider Verse films... Somehow they might make multiple reality spider people boring...

And a big silly looking sword as well. Why not just cover it in belt buckles while you're at it?

And given this Alt-Reality Lotor and Alt-Reality Allura, they had the perfect chance to have them both be adorable little munchkins together. Couldn't even do that... And can we just stop with this? We get it, even if she wins she loses cause it's not really her world and not really her Zarkon and her plan was always doomed to fail... Yes, we get it. Hubris. Can we please just hurry up and end the series before I start listing all of the many plot threads you've overlooked...?

Ok, now the over-designed purple mess can fight the over-designed mess with a vaguely Voltron head. Then some shoddy deus ex machina will happen, probably.

Yup. Voltron just turns into a giant set of wings before ending up in the nexus of all realities. And Allura makes it all better with her magic. And predictably Allura makes the ultimate sacrifice because of course she does. Who didn't see this coming? And did she just magically make Lance Altean...? Man, I preferred Allura when she wasn't just a walking plot device. Though, now I think back, was she ever anything else...? How bad it's gotten makes me re-evaluate what it was... And finally we get everything tied up with a few sentences under some still images with the exception of Shiro's kiss, which was fine, but hardly the soul surging uplifting thing it wanted to be.

And that's that.

Previously, I was angry, I will admit that. And it was shameful. Now though...? I'm obviously bitter and sarcastic about it, but mostly a combination of relief and disappointment. Glad it's over. Disappointed at what it ultimately devolved into. Ironic as this may be, coming from a writer of shitty Voltron fanfiction... From season six onwards, this show has felt like shitty Voltron fanfiction. In essence, that's what it was. There are so many of you here on tumblr. who could have done a better job. A much better job. Maybe some of you will in future.

At least now, I can move on from the mess that the canon became. I won't waste my time hoping they'll make it better or wondering if they'll resolve every plot thread. Because I know they don't. I know they forget whole swathes of things they set up. And I'm sure people will point out more. I won't be writing fics trying to make them fit into the canon. If anything, I'll want to rewrite everything that went wrong from season six onwards. I will probably at least finish off some Plance pieces that I think The Garden needs now more than ever. Set in some of the alternate realities that didn't turn into this...utter mess... See you later, Space Cowboys. Sorry about the space dysentery.

Also, as one comment points out? That's not a gundam in my gif. But just a robot that looks silly dancing. pretty sure it's from a gundam series...but I only really know wing and beargguys. ...Here's a jolly thought. Altean Lance? He will live for centuries. Allura's last "gift" condemns him to spend nearly 1000 years watching his friends, his family over several generations, probably his entire lineage die and rot. All the while mourning her and never moving on. Fuck. This. Season.

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (104/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[8 February, 233 Before Age.   Planet Quadzityz.]

Under different circumstances, the mission would have been simple.   Lesseri and her team had traveled to the middle of the war-ravaged Planet Quadzityz.   There, Lesseri and her partner Endive, would recover a pair of ancient artifacts which their alien comrade Treekul would use to locate the source of a mysterious power known only as "Jindan".   Once the artifacts were safely on board the ship, they would take off and get as far from Quadzityz as possible, and then use the spoils of their mission to find the next piece of the puzzle.  It was child's play for a Saiyan.

This simple mission was complicated by Luffa, the Legendary Super Saiyan.    The invincible warrior had taken an interest in the Quadzityz War, and she had arrived on the planet before Lesseri's team could get there.    Even their combined power was nothing compared to a Super Saiyan, and Luffa had been hunting for Saiyans for the past several months.   If she discovered Lesseri or the others on the planet, she would chase after them, and there would be very little hope of escape.   The only chance of avoiding Luffa's notice was for the team to suppress their power levels while they were in range of Luffa's ki senses.   That meant that they couldn't fly to the building where the artefacts were stored, nor could they use energy blasts to destroy the security robots that defended the building, nor could they use their awesome strength to break free of the robots when they were captured.    

It would take only a small exertion of ki energy for Lesseri and Endive to save themselves from their captors, but Luffa would surely sense that Saiyan power, even from half a world away, and then they would have an even bigger problem on their hands.  

Instead, the two Saiyans allowed themselves to be captured.   They now stood like condemned prisoners, trussed up by the robots' multitude of spindly arms, unable to move or speak.    One of those robotic arms had produced a syringe, and without explaining its purpose, slowly directed the needle at Endive's throat.    

The tension of the moment had taken its toll on Lesseri, who seriously began to wonder if it would be better to break free and risk attracting Luffa's attention.    As strong and fast as the Super Saiyan was, it would still take at least a few minutes for her to get to them, and that might be enough of a window for them to return to their ship and escape.   And yet, if that plan made any sense, she would have expected Endive to have already broken her bonds to escape the needle.    Instead, Endive simply stared forward, as though she were silently daring the robots to do their worst.    

And then Lesseri sensed something.   As far as she knew, there were only four Saiyans on the planet: herself, Endive, their partner Guwar, and Luffa.  The first three had been suppressing their ki all along, while Luffa's enormous Super Saiyan power had been shining like a beacon in Lesseri's ki senses the entire time.   Lesseri could sense other strong energy signatures, which likely belonged to powerful warriors or alien mercenaries but none of them were Saiyan in nature.   This new power, however, was definitely Saiyan, and it wasn't any of the four Lesseri had accounted for.   It was as good an opening as Lesseri could have hoped for.   Whoever this fifth Saiyan was, he was much stronger than Lesseri's group, so if Luffa was going to go after anybody, she would start with him.   The newcomer didn't seem strong enough to keep Luffa busy for long, but it might just give them enough time to make a break for the ship.

Surely Endive had sensed the same thing.   Was that her plan?   Was she waiting for Luffa to engage the other Saiyan before making her move?   That was probably the best bet, except the robot with the needle wasn't going to wait that long.   Was it possible that they had already done something to Endive to cut off her ability to use her own ki?    Lesseri didn't think they had done anything to her own powers, though she supposed she wouldn't know for sure until she tried to use them.   Was Endive waiting for Lesseri to help her?    And if that was so, was it in Lesseri's best interest to help her?   Endive hadn't outlived her usefulness just yet, but this would still be a good chance to eliminate her, giving Lesseri a greater share of the rewards when their quest was finished.   Whatever Jindan turned out to be, Lesseri didn't see any reason to share it if she didn't need to.    

As she considered all of this, the point of the needle moved closer to Endive's neck.    It made contact, pressing just hard enough to push the skin, and then--

"Hold!  That's quite enough of that!"

There were already some lights on in the foyer of the penthouse, but now someone had turned on several more lights as he stepped into the room.   He was a Quazity man, his orange skin dusted with patches of white.   His shirt and pants were rather plain-looking, but the frames of his sunglasses were plated with gold, and the jewelry on his fingers and neck indicated that he was very wealthy.   The fact that the robot withdrew the needle from Endive's throat indicated that he was the owner of the penthouse, if not the entire building.    

"Well, well, well," he said as he approached the captive women and looked them over.   They had tucked their tails into their body armor, so if he recognized them as Saiyans, he didn't show it.   "I expected looters to show up, but only after the battle, not during."  

He leaned in to take a closer look at Lesseri, and then impulsively ran his fingers through her long hair.    "Sorry for taking so long to call off the security robots," he said.   "When the bombing started, I went down the bunker in the sub-basement.    I've been down there for over two weeks, you know.    Maybe that's why I decided to come up and see what my pets had caught.    The fighting seems to have died down a little, but honestly I was so bored that I probably would have come up here no matter what."

As he went to pick up the stolen artifacts from the floor, Lesseri looked at Endive, who now looked back at her.    It was starting to add up now.   While Lesseri was fretting over whether to rescue Endive, Endive was focusing her senses to detect this man.   His ki was extremely faint, typical of a civilian with no combat skill, but he still had enough life force that Endive could detect him coming up the elevator shaft, so long as she knew what to look for.  Lesseri was impressed that Endive had managed to concentrate so well under duress.  

"You picked some interesting pieces to steal, ladies," he said as he stepped back into their field of view.   "Most burgalers would have taken the golden idol on the next display case.   Small, valuable, easy to fence.   The scuplture of the javelin thrower is actually worth more, though.    It's made of ruthentium, though most people don't recognize the metal."    He held up the retort and the scroll.  "But a copper retort? With a hole in the side?    And an old scroll that looks like it was written in gibberish?   Well, you're no ordinary thieves, are you?"

He paused, as though waiting for them to reply, despite the fact that they couldn't.   "I had to kill a lot of people to get my hands on these," he said.   "At first, I only dabbled in alchemy to counterfeit money.   This whole building?"    He waved his hand, gesturing at the room around them.   "I swindled a lot of people to pay for all this.    But you can't take it with you, and that happy thought is what got me interested in the Elixir of Life.   I've been studying the runes on this old teapot for decades, and I think the scroll would help me, if only I could read the whole thing."  

He began to pace around the room, looking at them from time to time as he tapped one of the handles of the scroll to his lips.   "Maybe this is a blessing in disguise," he finally said.    "For a long time, I've wondered if these two objects could really contain the secrets I need.    But if the two of you want them so badly, then that means someone thinks I'm on the right track.    Just like that Saiyan fellow who tried to begged me to help him with his powers.    Yes, I must be getting close, or why would so many people try to stop me?"

He looked at them, and pointed the end of the scroll at Endive.   "Yes, maybe it's a good thing I came up here to call off my robots," he said.   "If I had let them kill you, then I wouldn't be able to find out what you  know about these objects.  You wouldn't want them unless you had some way of exploiting their secrets.   Maybe you have an expert working with you, someone who can fill in the gaps for me.    Of course, you wouldn't give up your secrets easily, but I have some samskara formulations that will dull your minds, loosen your tongues, and that just might be enough to--"

Suddenly, Lesseri broke free of her bonds, ripping apart the robots that held her and reducing them to so much scrap metal.    The Quadzity man was shocked by the sudden reversal, so much so that he hesitated instead of calling the remaining robots to come to his rescue.   Lesseri quickly grabbed one of her pistols from the broken robot that held it, and aimed it at the man's head.    

"You so much as blink, and I blow your damn head off, got it?" she said.    Once she was satisfied that he understood, she pointed to Endive, who had not yet broken free.    "Turn her loose.   No tricks, or you're a dead man."

"Emergency override!  R-release her!" the man said.     The robots opened their arms in unison, and Endive nearly lost her balance as she stepped clear of them.   She picked up her own weapon and fired at the robots, destroying them before they could do anything else.

"Now, hand them over," Lesseri said, pointing to the retort and scroll in his hands.  Endive stepped forward to collect the items from him.  

"You sense it too, don't you?" Endive asked.    "That enormous ki that just appeared out of nowhere.    That couldn't be Guwar..."

"No, but whoever it is, his power is incredible," Lesseri said.  "Let's just hope he kept Luffa distracted enough that she didn't notice what I just did."

"Luffa?"  the man asked.  "You mean the Super Saiyan is on Quadzityz?"

Endive ignored him.   "Time to leave, I think," she said.  

"Not yet," Lesseri said.    She stepped closer to the man put the end of her pistol to his chest.   "First, I want to know about that Saiyan you were talking about.    The one who came to you for help."

"I... I... he said he was losing his powers!" the man said.  "There was nothing I could do for him.    He was convinced that the scroll could help him, but I only know how to read certain parts of it!"

"What was his name?" Lesseri growled.  

"S-salziff!" the man gasped.   "His name was Salziff!   He said he was from the Vannis Sector, but I don't know where he went!  I swear--"

Lesseri shot him before he could finish.   She would have preferred to interrogate him more thoroughly, but there wasn't time.    

"Now can we go?" Endive asked.    

"In a minute," Lesseri said as she stepped over the man's still-smoking corpse to head back to his private gallery.    "We might as well help ourselves to that ruthenium sculpture he was talking about."  

*******

On the opposite side of the planet, Luffa was battling foes on multiple fronts.     The warring factions in the Quadzityz sector had begun to concentrate their forces on the planet itself, hoping to secure their interests there now that the Super Saiyan and her Federation had entered the conflict.   Most of them recognized that defeating Luffa was strategically impossible, though some commanders clung to the idea that reports of her power were exaggerated.   In any case, their main goal in converging on Quadzityz was not so much to secure a victory there as it was to keep her from undoing smaller victories throughout the sector.  

Luffa had established a demilitarized zone on a large island, and used that as a base of operations.    Federation convoys would eventually land there and begin relief operations, but only after Luffa had pacified the planet.    In the meantime, she zipped from one continent to another, defending her own territory while launching raids to disrupt her enemies.   Whenever a unit of troops did surrender, Luffa ordered them to give up their weapons, and then she escorted them to her island DMZ.   Those who refused her terms were dealt with.    

"It's!  The best!  Offer!  You're!  Going!  To get!" she shouted as she took a general from the Red army across her knee.    She didn't enjoy humiliating a fellow warrior in full view of his troops, but Luffa could see no other way to get her point across without killing him.   She hadn't ruled that out, of course, but he was more useful to her alive than dead.   She would need leaders to keep her growing collection of prisoners under control.  

She shoved him to the ground and turned her back to him as an air raid siren sounded.     There were Green starships entering the atmosphere, and she needed to be ready for them.  

"I'll be back in five minutes," she said to the Red general.    "If you don't accept my terms then I'll take your weapons by force and leave you out here to die.   Think carefully."

With that, she leaped into the air and rocketed off in the direction of her next skirmish.   "What's the status of Blue Headquarters?" Luffa asked aloud.

"Total disarray," replied Zatte's voice from the communicator Luffa wore in her left ear.  "They'll be too busy restoring power to their base to give you any grief."

"That's good, because the Greens are gonna have me tied up for a little while," Luffa said.   "Are you okay getting back on your own?    I might run late picking you up."

"You're fine," Zatte said.   "If I don't hear from you in an hour, I'll head for the woods a mile from the base."

"Don't get cocky," Luffa said.   "You can't outrun a weapon of mass destruction, and I don't like your chances against a slorg.    If things get bad, raise your power level to signal me, okay?"

"And you'll drop everything to come to my rescue," Zatte asked.  "I had no idea you could be so romantic in the middle of a battle."

"Not now, woman," Luffa said with a smirk.  "You'll embarrass me in front of the enemy."

She stopped in midair and waited patiently for the three ships to come into view.   The left one opened fire, and Luffa swung her left arm towards it, releasing a blob of green ki energy which dispersed the plasma bolt before it could reach her.    The ship on the right fired a missile, which Luffa intercepted and caught in both hands.   Uncertain of its payload, she spun around in midair and threw it like a shot put, sending it straight up into the sky.    She then fired a ki blast after it, which would destroy the missile once it had reached outer space.   Next, she turned her attention to the center ship, flying on a collision course with it's aft hull and ripping open a hole ten feet across.   She exited the ship the same way, bursting out of the forward hull and taking out the ship's weapons systems in the process.   Now unable to defend itself or retreat back into space, the center ship turned and ran, though it had nowhere to go.   Luffa would catch up to it and escort it to her DMZ island later.  

The remaining ships tried to regroup.   Luffa noticed they weren't quite as aggressive this time, and she guessed that they were trying to decide how to keep her occupied without sustaining damage.    Then she sensed a group of mercenaries powering up several hundred miles away, and she decided that they were a little too close to her island for her comfort.  She flew off in that direction, leaving the ships to decide if they wanted to chase her or withdraw.    

"Looks like I won't be back in five minutes like I thought, general," Luffa said to herself.    "I'll see you when I see you, unless one of those ships decides to gun you down before then."

It was then that she sensed it.   A Saiyan power, unlike any she had encountered before.   She had hoped to have a little fun with the mercenaries, but she couldn't ignore the Saiyan.   Whoever it was, if they knew anything at all about King Rehval's whereabouts... she couldn't afford to let them escape.    

Right on cue, Zatte contacted her on the earpiece.  

"Did you feel that?" Zatte asked.

"Feel what, Zattie?" Luffa replied sarcastically.  

"What's a Saiyan doing on Quadzityz?" she asked.    "Besides you, I mean."

"I don't know," Luffa said.   She dove down over the mercenaries' position and clenched her fist once she was positioned in the center of their group.   A wave of golden energy expanded all around them, and before they could do anything, they were completely vaporized.   Under different circumstances, she might have offered them a chance to surrender, but there wasn't time.   She had shown more than enough mercy on Quadzityz already.    She had been the Legendary Super Saiyan for four years now.    By now, every soldier-of-fortune in the galaxy should have known that no contract was worth a battle with her.  

"I'm on my way to check it out," she said as she resumed her flight to the unidentified Saiyan.  

"He's strong," Zatte said.    "I think he might be as strong as King Rehval.   You don't think it could be--?"

"No, I don't," Luffa said.   "The ki signature is all wrong.    It can't be Rehval, unless he found some way to alter his energy.   But it is a pleasant thought, isn't it?   Maybe dropped by to beg for my forgiveness."

"Luffa, be careful," Zatte pleaded.   "This might be a trap--"

"That's exactly why I'm trying to get to him," Luffa said.  "Whoever this guy is, he knew I was here and he knows he's not strong enough to beat me.   He must be up to something.  He might be planning to blow up the whole planet!"

At last, she was close enough to her target to see him.   The Saiyan was tall and bald, with a shock of dark hair jutting out from the tip of his chin.   The small town he was standing in looked like it had been hit by a hurricane, and judging from the Blue troops scattered around, Luffa suspected that the Saiyan had been amusing himself with them while he waited for Luffa to reach him.  

She landed twenty feet away from him, and the impact of her boots into the ground made a small crater.   "I'm only going to ask this once," Luffa called out to him.    "Where is Rehval?   Tell me where that bastard is hiding, and you won't have to suffer."

Before she could get an answer, she suddenly noticed a second Saiyan power.    This one was much weaker in intensity, and it had only flashed into being for a second or two.     It came from the city of Inoy, several thousand miles away.   For a brief moment, Luffa worried that this was an accomplice of the Saiyan who now stood before her.  She couldn't shake the possibility that this was some kind of suicide run, and as she wondered what the second Saiyan was up to, she turned her head and lowered her guard for the briefest of moments...

And then the first Saiyan, the bald one standing before her, sucker punched her in the jaw.    

The blow actually hurt, and as Luffa recovered, the Saiyan followed up with several dozen body blows, and then a kick to Luffa's ribs.    As she went flying, he screamed at the top of his lungs, gathering as much power as he could before releasing it all in an enormous ki blast, which he fired from his open mouth.  

When the attack subsided,  the dust settled to reveal Luffa was still standing, her arms crossed over her face.  

"No, you're definitely not Rehval," Luffa said.    "You're actually stronger than he is.    Still no match for me, but..."

She lowered her arms and her hair shifted back to its original black color, and her eyes and the fur on her tail returned to brown.    "Yeah," she said.   "If I fought you like this, we'd be just about even.    No, you'd be a little stronger.    Who the hell are you?"    

The man snorted indignantly.   "You don't even remember me, do you?    Asher II.    The raid on the Crystal Tower.   You broke both my arms."

Luffa raised one eyebrow in surprise.   She remembered the raid on Asher II, and how she was hired to defend the Crystal Tower, and that there were Saiyan mercenaries in the raiding party.    "Wait, yeah, the one with the mouth.  That was you, wasn't it?   I didn't recognize you without all that henchman gear your bosses made you wear.   Yeah, I worked you over pretty good back then, but it looks like you bounced back well enough."

"Bounced back?!" he snarled.    "You ruined my life!   I needed that payday to pay off my debts!   By the time I recovered enough to return home, my starship had been repossessed, and my mistresses had all left me for other clients!   I was so weak from the convalescence that one of my associates managed to beat me up and he stole my emergency cash fund!   I even had to-- what?  Why are you laughing?!”

"Now I remember," Luffa said.   "You were the idiot who said you kept calling me names the whole time I was beating the crap out of your team.   I was gonna save you for last, but then I just got fed up with your annoying voice.   I forget what it was you said that pushed me over the limit.   Was it worth getting both of your arms broken?   I'm just curious."

"You don't scare me anymore!" he screamed.    "I spent years looking for a way to make you pay, to put you in your place, you little--!"

Suddenly Luffa was behind him, in her Super Saiyan form, with her arm raised to deliver a knifehand strike.    The man barely managed to step out of the way of her blow, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid her other hand as it grabbed him by the face.

"Don't misunderstand this," Luffa said.    "I don't have time to discuss your revenge fantasies, or to reduce my power to your level so we can have a decent match.    The only reason I haven't killed you already is because I want to know everything you know about King Rehval.   And since I won't ask twice, and you don't want to answer me, then I'll just have to pull what I need from your puny little mi--"

Not long before transforming into a Super Saiyan for the first time, Luffa discovered that she could read minds.   She preferred to use this power sparingly, as she was never completely confident that she had full control over the ability.    It was difficult for her to sift through another mind to pick out a single piece of information.    More often, she found herself overwhelmed by memories and emotions that were not her own.   In spite of her discomfort with this, Luffa still found tactile telepathy to be an ideal means of extracting information from her enemies.    

But this time something went wrong.    Instead of the normal flow of information--the interface of one mind to another that Luffa lacked the words to describe--there was a strange warmth, which intensified into a sensation not unlike pain, but mental instead of physical.   Later, Luffa would compare the experience to eating an extremely spicy pepper with her brain.    For now, all she could do was release her captive and scream as she clawed at her forehead.   Breaking the connection with him had kept the pain from getting worse, but it still remained.   As she backed away from the Saiyan, she could hear him laughing.

"Jolok," he said.   "That's my name, not that you ever cared."  

He kicked her legs out from under her, and then grabbed her by the collar of her sleeveless shirt.    Luffa was too dazed to defend herself.  

"You said I was stronger than King Rehval, right?"  he said.   "Let's put that to the test."

He grabbed her left arm and put her in a hammerlock, summoning as much power as he could to intensify the pressure.  

"See, I could explain to you how I got so much stronger, except that's against the rules.   There's a lot of rules, actually.    To make sure no one reads my mind to learn our secrets, well, that's where the Mindworm comes in.    Anyone tries to use psi powers on me, they get infected with a sort of computer program that's in my head.  It's safe in my mind, but once it gets into yours, it starts replicating itself, clogging up your thought processes.   Hurts, doesn't it?"

Luffa screamed, though whether she was aware of Jolok's taunts was uncertain.  

"Yeah, I tried it out on a fortuneteller I met in the Reeloor Clurster.    Had to see what it would do before I used it on you.   She screamed for days.   Finally went into a coma, but when I left her, she was still alive, if you want to call it that.   You, on the other hand, well, I'm going to kill you whether the Mindworm is fatal or not.    First, I'm going to break your arms, just like you did to me.    Then I'm going to--"

Luffa suddenly grabbed his head with her free hand, and pulled it towards her until his neck was pressed up against her right shoulder.   With a desperate howl, she pulled down harder, choking the life out of Jolok.   The unspoken message was clear: "You might break my arm, but I will definitely crush your trachea."    He released her, and she swung him over her shoulder like a sack of laundry.  

They each stumbled away from the other as they recovered from the exchange.   Luffa had stopped screaming, but there wear tears running down her eyes, and drool spilling from her mouth.   Her movements were sluggish, and when she spoke, it sounded like she was half asleep.

"Cute... cute... cute trrrrrick," she said.    "Shoudna... unner... unnerestimated you."

Jolok tried to respond with some defiant words, but all he could do was cough and gasp for air.   Once he was finally able to talk, he said: "I get it now.    They didn't want me going into business for myself.   Their power, their rules.    I thought... the Mindworm would be enough to stop you.    Knew you'd try to read my thoughts first thing... but... you're resisting it somehow.   Second attack might help... but you're not dumb enough to fall for it a second time."

Luffa opened her mouth to speak, then suddenly she dropped to one knee and put her hands on her temples as she wailed in pain.   For a split second, Jolok thought this was an opening he could exploit, and then, without warning, Luffa pointed one of her fingers at him and fired a ki blast at his right kneecap.    

"That's better..." she said as she slowly rose to her feet.   "I feel a little crummy playing possum like that, Jolok."   She began to walk towards him as he writhed on the ground, clutching at the stump where his lower leg used to be.   Her voice was more lucid and her expression more alert, but the sweat on her face and the wince in her expression showed that she was still in great pain.    

"Yeah, we could have had some fun and dragged this out," she said.   "But this Mindworm thing hurts like hell, and like I said, I never should have underestimated you."

Before Jolok could react, she pointed at his other leg and severed that one at the knee as well.    Then she grabbed his left arm in both hands and drove her knee into his bicep until she heard a popping noise that made her smile.    

She rolled over his body, and then pinned his remaining hand to the ground with her boot.    "Okay," she said.   "Okay... it's starting to get easier to think."  She ran her hand through her hair and bared her teeth.    "Definitely won't be reading anyone's mind for a while.   Now then..."

She pointed her finger at Jolok's chest, and a tiny sphere of light glowed just beyond the tip of her fingernail.    "This is how it's going to go, Jolok," she said.   "I want answers.   If you won't talk, and I can't read your mind, then I'll just have to beat it out of you."

He was still whimpering and grunting from his injuries.    Luffa ground his left hand under her heel, and he cried out, but he didn't open his eyes.  

"No," he cried out.  "Not now!   Not like this!"

"Exactly like this," Luffa sneered.   "It was you dumb idea to come here, and now it's time to face the consequences.  I-- what the hell is wrong with you?"

Luffa took a step back-- releasing his hand in the process-- as she noticed a rapid increase in Jolok's ki.   He wasn't charging up for an attack, but his power was rising all the same, as if he had lost control of himself.  Then, she seemed to sense two separate energies from within his body.    One was smaller, more in line with what she would have expected from a typical Saiyan.   The one that continued to grow, it now felt more alien to her.   No, not alien, but unnatural.

She raised her arms to defend herself from an attack, but it never came.   Instead, the bizarre energy flowed out of Jolok's body and down into the ground below him.   A moment later, Luffa could see it with her eyes, as a purple glow that soaked into the soil like rainwater.  

"What are you doing?" Luffa demanded, but Jolok could no longer answer.    He was delirious, both from the pain Luffa had inflicted upon him, and the sudden change in his power.   The ki that had remained within his body was growing weaker by the second, and all he seemed to be able to do was moan incoherently while shaking his head from side to side.     And then, the ground rumbled beneath her feet.

At last, she decided that whatever was happening, it couldn't be good for that much raw ki to be absorbed into the planet's crust.    Figuring that Jokol was as good as dead already, she fired a blast off her own through his heart, killing him instantly.   When that didn't stop the flow of the strange energy, she threw out her hands and tried to use her own power to contain it.    

The resistance was intense to say the least.    As a Super Saiyan, Luffa's strength was still far superior to whatever had emerged from Jolok's body, but somehow it had infused itself into the earth, and the sheer volume made it difficult for Luffa to control.   The lingering effects of the Mindworm weren't making things any easier.   She struggled to corral the affected soil into a bubble of solid energy, but each time she tried, she found that a little managed to slip out.     It was like trying to scoop up water with a fork.   She tried again, but with each attempt she had to expand her own ki field to cover a larger area of ground, which only made the task more difficult.    

Finally, she reached for her earpiece to signal Zatte.    If she couldn't contain this, then there was a very good chance that it would absorb into a big enough section of the planet's crust to destroy it.    It wouldn't explode all at once, but Luffa doubted that she would have time to evacuate Quadzytiz, even if half the population wasn't currently trying to kill the other half.    At least she could warn her wife, and give Zatte a chance to get to their ship.

She tried again to contain the energy seepage, and failed.    She could sense the unnatural ki growing unstable.   Luffa had no way of knowing what would happen or what signs to watch for, but it all looked very grim.    Zatte didn't reply to her signal, and when she took the communicator out of her ear to check it, she realized what was wrong.  

The casing of the earpiece had been cracked, probably during the battle with Jolok.    Try as she might, Luffa couldn't get the device to reactivate.    It was impossible to warn Zatte, and unless Luffa thought of something soon, everyone else on the planet would be doomed as well...

NEXT: The Forbidden Power.