#Asgard on screen examples

[blindtaleteller]

thank you for previous explain. It was so long and detailed. I had now another question. About lady's life in Asgard. Sigyn x Loki for me. And Sigyn is not warrior, but typical lady. Can you write something about it?

Honestly if you're looking for an example of that in canon MCU, much of Frigga's character and especially her surroundings as expressed on screen does have quite a few examples.

In fact, we aren't even given the idea she can still fight until she absolutely has to in The Dark World.

And, it's in Dark World (and a little of both Ragnarok [geh] and Endgame if you take both the premise of the Valkyries and the time travel scenes in it seriously) that we are given those examples.

Remember, whether they are fighters themselves or not: if they're Asgardian, they're still raised as a part of that previously mentioned warmongering imperialist society: and that would be (as also told to us in their dialogue about Jane and Sif, and their King Odin's expectations) even more strictly observed by someone like a lady in that kind of royalist/imperialist hierarchy, rather than a warrior.

That is why I say 'much' of Frigga's character and surroundings.. but not all. It's not the fighting you need to look at, though that can help. It's her mannerisms, her rooms (look at TDW including the fight with Malekith), her maids, and more. Frigga is, as Queen and even without the fight or ability itself: the top and more importantly leading example of what to expect of a lady of the royal court: as she should be in that kin of society.

And that's also VERY probably why she doesn't fight in any of THor 2011 on screen: even when Laufey shows up, regardless of her being nearer to the main palace then, than she was in TDW: where she was shown being in a separate side palace at least a few miles away when Algrim/Kurse broke out of the dungeon: all the way up until her life, and Jane's, are in immediate danger after having left that portion of the palace during the attack that Kurse opened the shields to manage.

(Which side note was REEEEALLY questionable at the time with a human housing an infinity stone in tow at the time, but is neither here nor there with other things taken into account... just a very dangerous for Jane choice, given what enemies they did have even without the elves being taken into account.. but eh, it is canon and it does fit the flavors of Asgard's, Odin's, and Frigga's own arrogance and ignorance in regards to Asgard's 'impervious' mindset state, as far as the upper echelons of their society seems to be concerned as portrayed on screen.)

In a way, it's made pretty clear that while Frigga still retains much of her skills as a fighter and mage/witch (Or the daughter of three witches at least as we also now know through canon dialogue:) the things she does and doesn't do, while also comparing that to someone like Brunhilde (aka Valkyrie) and how they were clearly recieved during and well after their term as an active female-only fighting force, the canon makes it pretty clear that unless they do retain that fighter status, women (perhaps including the queen) either do not tend to hold as much sway or dignity in other pursuits outside the household.

In other words and as an canon example.. even as the other ruler on the throne and his adoptive mother; Frigga is easily able to set aside the throne and any responsibility for doing so even in that situation. Regardless of, the fact that; at that point the situation is that Jotunheim had declared war in response to Thor's treasonous invasion, and regardless of being closest to Loki (we know this through the words of every character in the family: Thor says it repeatedly, Odin goads and attempts to guilt trip him with that close relationship too, and Frigga does the same with her own wierdness during her conversation with him in TDW's dungeon cell scene) knowing full well not only what she was asking of Loki, but also what Loki was going through in having just recently discovered that he wasn't only not of the same species: but on top of that was Laufey's biological son AND Jotunheim's only known of prince. Whom, Odin admitted he had taken to 'forge a permanent peace.'

A peace that, probably wouldn't have happened anyway if he and it had been handled just as poorly as well, it was.

Think about that for a little bit; really think about it: and the fact that she did so, while playing the part and claiming she was closest to him and cared about him the most.

That canonically casts some seriously gross and awkward truths into the realm of how their their relationship actually is versus how Frigga and the rest of them tried to paint it. As well as touching her own guilt evasion there too: and is something that both in the first Thor and the second film both: Frigga absolutely side steps taking any responsibility for, as the mother, the mentor, and the lady who raised him with that lie: regardless of their supposed closeness.

And, why that's important? Is because, under that king, husband and society as it goes: she is not just allowed to do that without complaint from any of the above, their society OR the foster-brother that she raised and lied to right next to him: she's allowed to thrive and remain in her position STILL without that question or any apparent explanation of ANY of those nuances or her part in putting him in charge in taht mental and emotional state; well after the fact and into 2013 two years later.

When she refers to that massive erasure of not just who but WHAT he is? Frigga almost always shifts that blame fully onto Odin in her dialogue; and steers as hard as she can away from words reminding the viewer that, she was Odin's wife and partner: through all of that. Instead, it's always 'your father' or 'he' rather than 'we' or 'he and I.'

Which is very blatantly another portion of Loki's response in this same scene when asked 'And am I not your mother..?' because, he's right in every form of the answer.

It's -possible- that she was being honest about her relationship with Loki, at least later on? But it's -not- very -probable-, or believable at that stage.. and her lack of self awareness and ownership of her part even when alone with him in Thor 2011 (not to mention carrying that on a year later in Dark World) makes that very hard to miss as a thing in truth: especially with the given facts being that this went on for over a thousand years.. and still over all that time she didn't have enough regard, respect, or love for her supposed favorite son, to even hint at any of his origins even after she taught him to shapeshift or cast illusions herself, to change the outcome.

And again.. no one raised a question as to why. Or held her accountable. No one questioned the one person in the royal family who was capable of taking Loki's place on the throne back in 2011 either.

Given how little we see women in honored fighting positions in Asgardian culture, and are given the very blatant information between the films that it's been literal centuries since even since a female fighting force has been a thing, PLUS the literal views we've been given with Sif as the only woman in the training yard in modern eras...?

It's pretty likely that raised-in bit of social ugly is pretty well dug into their society as well.

Again and that said: figuring out how a lady rather than a fighter might run her life, or fit in at those upper tiers without picking up a weapon: has been put on some display.

Asgard has a very wonky, heavy half ren/medieval approach to their upper heirarchy on display, complete with ladies in waiting (which Tony takes a little off jab at in GROUNDED too lol,) and healers especially seeming to be a majorly female profession.

There wasn't a single dude in that scene with Jane that wasn't either royalty or a guard, if you look at it again. Every single one of the healers is a woman.)

That mentioned, another place to look for examples, are again: Frigga's personal surroundings. And Dark World gives us a good look at those.

One thing to note, is that besides the healers: pretty much every Asgardian lady has armor in some portion of their wardrobe. Whether that's a breastplate, vanbraces (wrist/forearm,) gorgets (neck guard, like Loki's) or something else to accompany their dresses.

Vanbraces (Thor 2011)

Vanbraces and Archer's breastplate (Dark World Dungeon Scene)

Vanbraces, Pauldron, and partial Chestplate (Dark World, final scene)

There are moments when we see her and them without armor pieces (or in some scenes with even fewer of them at least, like teh carefully disguised set in the top gif) but for the most part those outfits are reserved for really important parties that are the equivalent of formal-dress parties: in which case we can see that even Sif doesn't escape from the expectation of wearing a literal dress: though even then.. hers is the odd one out of the others shown/on display in the room as far as style:

Which tells us a couple of things, but first and foremost and something that makes sense in their culture: is that even if they're not mainline fighters, and having been invaded enough to need and upkeep those shields in the first place?

Other than fancy events/celebrations and or coronations? The armor pieces are definitely as much local every day cultural fashion thing, as they are functional in some cases.

It's pretty likely that even the ladies of the court at least know and are expected to upkeep at least minor skills in self defense, if not the defense of their own homes: and are probably taught to do so from a very young age. They're not going to be as good at it outside of their own personal territory, or a territory they know well like say the Valkyrie were supposed to be, as the equivalent of a special forces military task unit: but they probably are expected.

Another side note..? This above, is ultimately; also among the forgiving reasons I don't question why Frigga went to the main palace outside of her taking Jane with her when she went. As Queen and lady of the house under that form of society, it absolutely passes without Jane in tow. However.. without Jane in tow, there's also the bit she couldn't have known at the time; that the writers did of course .. the fact that any of the elves were even alive and kicking. [And gee; thanks for that again Bor, lol! like father like son, I guess? Bor, his son, and said son's wife DO seem to have a habit of -not- telling their kids about world and universe ending enemies being alive after the fact, don't they? coughcoughHELAcoughcough.. XD]

There is one other bit, besides that: that we do get about the society from all that too though. At least about the surviving upper echelons of the ruling class: and that is?

That Odin had a really tight reign on the upper royals and his fighting forces surviving the Great Wars as King.. lips and all: unless amongst the entirety of their armies, council, other generals (besides Hela, which HOO is that a whole conversation unto itself Loki and Laufey related when you look at that timeline with Hela in it omg..) and pretty much every lady in waiting, servants .. or just other lords and ladies? Just didn't notice a surprise baby that the Queen -didn't- give birth to, was randomly being presented as a new baby prince to the Asgardian Empire. Which.. is next to impossible; especially when you take into account that this wasn't another country he took this kid from, or a society unfamiliar with magic: he took Loki from an entirely differing species and PLANET elsewhere in the universe in the middle of the last battle of one of the largest and bloodiest wars in their generation: and forced passing him off as his own.

Even if, he did manage that; maybe sequestering his wife and passing Loki off as a twin or some shizz? Someone if not a whole lot of someones probably knew.. but especially the healer or healers who would have treated any wounds throughout Loki's lifetime.

We could, almost say that they could have presented him as an adopted Asgardian kid.. and maybe he and Frigga did, to some of them on the sly to help keep it under wraps.. but that doesn't fit how their relationship is depicted, shown or talked about prior to or even after the reveal of his species and bloodline at all, either.

And that still wouldn't pass the first time this kid hurt himself, or was injured in battle under the scrutiny of an uninformed healer's ability in that society, with magic and high tech and more very much at their fingertips and in their alliances and enemies too, to be recognized.

Meaning, at least a portion of the populace closest to the crown, and especially those types old enough to have taken part in the last of the Great Wars or tending Loki as he grew and fought and more as a captive prince: were either just as complacent or, shut up by either if not both portions of the crown house really damned fast and really efficiently likely through threat, exile or worse. Keep in mind, the Great Wars and especially that one was still freshly finished, and they made a great show of making sure we knew there would be problems having the future ruler of the enemy they had been killing for an un-foretold length of time next to the crown in how even mention of Jotnar was allowed to form in Asgardian society: through Loki's words, through Thor's reactions and words, through Odin and through Frigga too.

The hate was strong enough even a thousand years plus of Odin's rule with Loki as prince later, that Thor thought it was A-Okay to go ahead and invade the planet and restart that war, against the literal warnings not just from every single person around him before he did it: and not just warned but told outright by his father and the King 'don't you fuckin' dare' well before even that.

That.. is the kind of society and expectations, an Asgardian Lady would have been raised into and led by along with the rest.

All that said, this is getting long; and there are metas rather than canon they come from that I could mention regarding Vanaheim as the most prevalent colony of Asgardians/partial Asgardians too, but.. we don't get a whole lot of them or their off world society other than to know that Odin doesn't care about them NEARLY as much: or at least not enough to even provide them defensive cannons or other defenses that Asgard otherwise VERY clearly has and has had for literal ages as put on display in the Dark World.

Being a woman in that society would probably be a very, well...

Probably, brainwashed to accept a lowered expectation of self worth over all, without the ability to fight on a greater tier than just home and self defense. And those who don't fall into those already asserted social standards would definitely be outliers if not outcasts. We have Loki himself and how Frigga's skills are viewed and worded even by her own family, as example of that.

So.. that's a lot to keep in mind but.. yeah. It is there, and more that; I probably haven't touched or missed while in the process of going on and explaining that.

For Sigyn though, for me: I do have some planned for her but as she doesn't exist in the MCU and adapting her would for me have to take all of that in mind: that is being approached very back burner for late Vestibule 2 (after Mixology) and Vestibule 3 as what ultimately boils down to an OC version of her. In part because I like that character in real life lore, and Skadi's character: and when I do write for them both.. I want to try and convert them to fit into the MCU base in a way that feels right to me.

Which is going to be rough when getting into more detailed versions of stuff like the very brief mentions of Skadi's tale and others I've already done in fics like Simon Says/Bail: given the MCU is twice removed from actual Norse Mythos; being Asgard in the MCU is more loose in being based off of Marvel, which in turn is then just as loose in the comics' basing their characters from that Norse Mythos.

Also, am tired .. is eleven PM lol sorry for not continuing, and getting extra rambly. But will add more pretty pictures to make up for it a lil bit? lol

If you have more questions or want some elaboration on anything, by all means feel free to send me asks just like this one.

I generally try to answer pretty quickly when I see them lol.

[blindtaleteller]

stuff in tags, and also some more road trip ideas forming..

On a Road Trip with Loki - Headcanons

Loki would be super excited

and total happy as he got asked

He buys Snacks and drinks

Loki would probably cause some mischief with your clothes in your suitcase 😜

On the Day of the Road Trip

I think he will be grumpy if you wake him up in the middle of the night

You are the driver - Loki couldn't sleep

He is curious about the Navigation system - gps

tell him it's like a Map 🗺️

He would tell you Story's about his favorite Places

I think there would also be lots of fun and laughter

After awhile he would start to ask ...How long till we are there ? I am bored ?Are we there yet? In how many hours are we there?

Loki comments on everything all the time... You can drive faster!!... Watch out!! ...did you blink? Why don't you overtake? I don't like the Music 🎶

he is kinda annoying and it's distracting

If you tell him that - Loki would get pouty and sulk the whole time

Please,say you don't mean it ... He just needs the Attention

Masterlist

[chaos-bites]

📯 Subtle Heimdallr Worship 🐏

Learn about/practice a method of self-defense (weapons included)

Own a ram horn - faux or real; own/craft real wool items (blankets, sweaters, scarves, etc.)

Light a bonfire; gather around it with loved ones or enjoy its warmth on your own

Decorate your space with fairy lights, a pretty lamp, or some kind of light fixture that you like

Keep a picture of him in your wallet

Get a candle that reminds you of him (no altar needed)

Wear jewelry that reminds you of him

Place a protective rune (or bindrune) at the entrance of your home or space

Invest in household security options (security camera, Ring doorbell, alarm system, etc.)

Have a plan in place in the case of home invasion or medical emergencies (legally storing a weapon in your home, learning CPR, or keeping a tourniquet in your car, for example)

Stay informed about the happenings in your area; keep up to date with world news (take a step back from it if it gets to be overwhelming for you, please)

Make sure to eat a good breakfast to start off your day; try to include meat, bread, nuts, and veggies/fruits if able

Drink something energizing at the start of your day, be it coffee, tea, or something else; dedicate the first sip to Heimdall by raising a glass in his honor

Start a collection of keys and locks - new and old (antique shops are a great place to find these)

Practice mindfulness and self-awareness; try to look at situations with a more nuanced and objective perspective

Have a stuffed animal ram, seal, horse, or rooster/chicken

Have imagery of gates, watchful eyes, ram horns, rivers, the World Tree, Asgard, rainbows, the Milky Way (some scholars believe it to be the OG representation of the Bifröst bridge), the sky, golden teeth, golden maned horses, swords, and shields around

Teach someone how to do something new; educate someone about a topic you're educated about; generally openly share knowledge with others

Be willing to learn about new things; be open to corrections from others; practice not taking constructive criticism personally

Learn about different logical fallacies; learn how to properly argue/debate respectfully with someone

Assert your boundaries with others; take time to learn what your boundaries are and where you draw the line

Ground yourself regularly; make sure you take time throughout your day to reconnect with the present moment

Stand up for what you believe in; attend protests or activism events (be safe, please)

Try to attend social events or hang out with loved ones; put yourself out there if you can

Step outside of your comfort zone; if you're scared, do it scared (reasonably, of course)

Drink/make mead; if unable, drink something with honey in it, such as a tea or warm milk with cinnamon and honey

Exercise/care for your senses; don't blast music in your ears, take breaks from looking at screens, sit in silence once in a while, etc.

Take your promises more seriously; try to always follow through on promises (and especially vows) that you make

Acknowledge your inner strength and resilience; be sure to appreciate and celebrate how far you've come; you've overcome before, and you overcome again

Take time to simply sit and observe your surroundings; listen to the sounds of birds, watch leaves fall from trees, notice the feeling of your feet on the ground, etc.

Practice different forms of divination (you don't only need tarot cards or runes for this, I've literally used Uno cards before; practice with a variety of forms until you find one that suits you)

Learn more about Norse runes; once comfortable, practice using them

Do things that benefit your future/make things easier on your future self (getting chores done ahead of time, setting money aside to save, looking into future careers/education, exercising your body and mind, etc.)

Engage in activities that stimulate your mind (reading, writing, solving puzzles, learning about something new, playing card games, etc.)

Learn to trust your own judgement and intuition; this takes time and comes with lots of practice which is ok

Practice learning when to speak and when to hold your tongue; sometimes it's better to simply listen

Practice finding your voice and speaking up for yourself; advocate for your needs

Explore things you find mysterious and intriguing; replace fear of the unknown with curiosity

Allow yourself to bear an air of mystery; try not to give away all the cards in your hand, so to speak

Go stargazing

-

This is my list of discreet ways to worship Heimdallr! I may add more in the future, but this is what I currently have. I hope it's able to give people some good ideas! Take care, and stay safe, everyone. 💜

Link to Subtle Worship Master list

[foreststarflaime]

I did my part today in The Bad Class, it was me in the trenches with one other guy defending stories told in mediums other than books against the world (the entire rest of the class) 🫡 (things I used below the cut)

It saddens me that the academic community is so biased towards anything other than published books. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a writer myself and I adore books, but they’re missing out on so many good stories that hit so much harder in mediums other than words on a page!!! ✨Stories of all kinds are equally precious✨ pass it on

Defending movies: Inception!!! If you’ve not seen it, it deals a lot with dreams and layers of dreaming, and thinking about reality. In it, there’s a gimmick where you have a certain ‘totem’ (item) that you can use to determine if you’re in a dream or awake, and the main character’s is a top—if he’s in a dream, it will never stop spinning, but if it’s reality, the top will eventually be stopped by gravity. (Spoiler alert) At the end of the movie, the mc finally gets home to his kids like he’s been trying to the whole movie, and as he embraces them in the background a little out of focus, you see his top on the table, spinning—and right before you could expect it to start to wobble, the soundtrack peaks (thank you Hans Zimmer you master) and cuts off and the screen goes black, leaving you to your own conclusions. It’s such an effective moment and it really would not be the same in a book!

Defending video games: Crisis Core lmao. I love how it uses game mechanics to characterize Zack in such a unique and creative way!!! The DMW is the main thing that comes to mind here, in particular in the final battle, but over the whole game and how it gets you used to it as well. You get a new thing every time Zack gets a new friend, and that’s the source of your strongest attacks throughout the game, a thing you’re constantly thinking about and relying on—which is such a cool way to characterize Zack, because then you realize your thought process has basically been turned into his! He loves his friends, they’re everything to him, and they’re the source of his strength! Which makes the final battle so so devastating when they’re fading away and you get to see, nay experience, his last thoughts as they’re happening. It’s so devastating in a way I’ve rarely been devastated before, and it would not be the same in words. Also there’s the funny haha that this adhd puppy’s brain runs on gambling because he has to get extremely lucky to be able to focus on anything lmaooo

Defending comic books: Loki Agent of Asgard!!!! My beloved! So this is the comic book run where Loki becomes the god of stories, and everything about how it was done here is just. SO so genius. When I say these comic books were a formative experience for me I mean it. But I’ll focus on the things that were great specifically because of the medium here, otherwise I’d be gushing for hours. Yknow how comic books generally have little narrator text bubbles telling you what you need words to describe? And then maybe have a different one for the thoughts of the character? Well this had that, and the narrator bubbles were styled like little scrolls. When you get towards the end of the run, after Loki has realized his power as the god of stories, you get to a part where he’s facing the gods of the gods, telling them a story—and then the little narrator scrolls have the speech bubble thing drawn off from them, to Loki. It’s been him as the god of stories narrating his own story the entire time, writing his own destiny. Such a powerful moment, blew my mind—you could do something similar in a normal book I guess, but it was just so impactful here that I think it wouldn’t be exactly the same. And also, earlier (I think in the second volume), a different future version of Loki is time travelling using his story god powers to write the past to his own ends (you don’t know his connection to story yet, so this is an example of such good foreshadowing), and to do this he reaches out of the panel and jumps into the margins to travel around the story!!! Mind-blowing stunning 1000/10

The strength of books: I just realized why I like my specific imagery-laden style of writing so much in the middle of class while I was explaining this. So in On Fairy Stories (the book the discussion was about for the day), Tolkien talks about how the invention of the adjective was the most important thing for the invention of fantasy, because it helps you change things—for example you can say things like the red sky or the green sun, and people can imagine that. There’s a linguistic concept called mental models which explores how we think in metaphors to understand more abstract concepts—for example, a lot of people tend to view how electricity works in terms of the flow of water. In fantasy, we can take our words and especially our adjectives and metaphors, and we can craft new mental models that wouldn’t work in the real world, and create our own worlds doing that to great effect. I find myself doing this SO much now that I think about it! And that’s something you can do really really well with words that doesn’t lend itself as well to adaptations in other mediums.

And that’s the thing, really—you can do things to amazing effect if you write them using the strengths of the medium you choose! That’s why adaptations rarely work I think, people just don’t play to the strengths.

[wolfgiselle]

Character Reaction Fanfictions (watching the show/movie or reading the books) -Recs -

One of my favorite tropes in fanfiction is characters being forced to watch/read/react to their own stories. Unfortunately, a good majority of these are crap. Readers looking for these stories often have to dig through a lot of coal to find just one diamond in the rough. Here's a list of the ones I’ve managed to find. Ones that aren’t just a written recreation of their source material.

Is This The Way It Ends Now? by Seastar98 (Death Note) (Finished) This is one of my favorite Death Note fanfictions for a reason. It doesn’t make us watch or read the dialogue or action of the show along with the characters; It assumes we’ve already seen it and focuses on the character’s reactions (what we’re actually here for) and gives more character development to some of its minor characters (Mello, Near, and Matt being clear examples. I was happy about this in particular since my favorite characters in Death Note are Matt and Matsuda). L and Light end up together, but romance is not the focus.

Hunter x Hunter / Assassination Classroom by EternalQuestForGoodFics (Finished) Basically, Killua ends up in the Assassination Classroom world. To go home, he must eventually allow his classmates to watch the HunterxHunter series to learn more about him and where he came from. These two fandoms are a great matchup, and Killua is one of the best characters to end up in the AssClass world. Seeing Killua bond and make a new friend out of Nagisa made it worth reading alone. Their reactions are part 2 of the series. 

MHA X Hunter by makifinity (My Hero Academia / Hunter x Hunter) (In progress) This is a good fanfiction where the My Hero Academia characters watch the HunterXHunter anime together instead of their own show. What makes ‘this’ great is how different the two worlds are and the morals that hold them together. I love that the villains are also involved in this viewing room since, in most My Hero reaction fics, the villains are left out of the experience and don’t get to have their own voices and opinions about what is happening on screen.

The Journey of the Unholy Trinity by Arremi (Code Geass) (In progress) If you’ve been in the Code Geass fandom long enough, you’ve probably seen a few of these stories. This one is the longest, most well-written, and most complete I’ve found.

Code Geass: The Blame Game: by AllHailThe99th (Code Geass) (In progress) One thing I like about this Code Geass reaction fic is the author’s obvious and stated hate of the character Suzaku. Suzaku is on my list of most hated characters; I like reading people judging and calling him out constantly on his shit. It’s a very therapeutic read. I recommend it to anyone who felt a similar rage when watching the show.

Appearances by McKinney_Wylis (Marvel / Avengers) (Finished) This story has the Avengers going to Asgard to check on Loki when they find a weird video clip online that scares them into believing Loki may have broken free. It turns out the video clip was from a different universe (our universe), and they suddenly had access to the Marvel movies that were available at that time. They watch the Thor movie and learn things about Loki, unknown before. The watching of Thor actually doesn’t take up the whole fic, but this story still counts. It takes place during the Thor: The Dark World storyline.

In terms of pairings…well, I’ll read any pairing if it’s written well enough. Even a story with Loki and Steve shacking up. I don’t like Steve, but I like how he was written in this fic. The way he and Loki interact is cute enough that I can look past it.

Part of the Journey is the end by hunkahulkaaburningfudge (Marvel / Avengers) This series starts with the characters watching Infinity War and has been going through the continuing movies and TV shows; with great writing and lots of material, this is definitely one of the best. I loved the Wanda and Loki reactions. And the ‘What if?” storylines were hilarious.

Avengers Watch Snippets by Ifihadatardis (Marvel / Avengers) As advertised, the characters watch little snippets of scenes of each other’s lives. Sometimes, these fics are preferable because the characters can learn about each other without going through their entire movies.

All the Days of Our Lives Series by ElrondScribe (Marvel / Avengers) This series has the characters react to Captain America, Iron Man 1, and Iron Man 2. It takes place after Civil War and has them watching the movies in Wakanda. I like the Tony Stark and Pepper focus in these fics, and I thought the writer did well with the other character voices, even for the ones I didn’t like.

School Watches Assassination Classroom by TheSteinsGateFormula (Assassination Classroom) (Finished) This is not just one of the best reaction fanfictions of all time but one of the best, period. The author not only had the original class and teachers watching the show but the entire school (baring the Principal, thank god) yet still managed to keep everyone in character and give everyone a distinctive voice when trying to keep up with so many people.

Attention is given to situations that were mostly glossed over without consequence in the actual show, like the students who came from abusive households. My favorite characters, Nagisa and the younger Asano, get a good amount of attention.

The only negative of this fic is how long it is. Over 700,000 words. It takes some serious reading time, but it’s worth it. Trust me. But once you start, you might not want to stop. Make sure you have the time to dedicate to it.

Lucifer Reacts to Supernatural by SilverWolf7 (Lucifer/Supernatural) As much as I love Supernatural and wish I had more good recs for it, this is one of the best options I can offer in this category. I haven’t seen the show Lucifer yet (I’ve been meaning to), but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of this fic. Seeing Lucifer’s love of Sam’s character and hearing him rage about many of the things in the show that frustrated me or he thought were inaccurate were giant highlights of this story. Warning: If you’re a Dean fan, you might get defensive about how much Lucifer bashes him (I live for it, but that’s me). One of the other characters that he’s watching it with even rage-quits on him for how much he was dissing her favorite character. If that doesn’t bother you, this might be the fic for you.

Watching You, Watching Me, Watching You by trippedandfellintopurgatory (Supernatural) This is one of the only good Supernatural watching-the-show fics I’ve found. So, of course, it only has 19 chapters, sits at 30,000 words, and has a slow updating schedule.

Blank Disc by TheFallenArchangel (Supernatural) Another of the few good Supernatural watch-the-show fics. This one hasn’t been updated since 2014 and has only seven chapters. Dean and Sam are teenagers, and their father and Bobby watch with them.

The Void by iAnneart (Yugioh: Duel Monster/ Yugioh Abridged) This fanfiction was one that I used to love, and I hate that it still hasn’t been updated and doesn’t look like it ever will be. The characters of Yugioh react to their own abridged series to hilarious effect. This fic was the entire reason I watched the Abridged Series by LittleKuribo - still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, and admittedly much better than the actual show. Another fanfiction is more popular and has them watch more episodes. But this fic was much better written with only ten chapters.

Under a Watchful Eye by my secret thoughts (Harry Potter) A story where the Harry Potter characters read the books. It focuses on Harry and Sirius. There is no actual recitation of the books (thank god), but it’s written well enough to tell what they’re reacting to. So far, this is the only reaction fic like this in the Harry Potter fandom I’ve liked. It takes place during their 5th-year, and the other characters are mostly Order of the Phoenix members.

Truth Revealed by Lucifer swift (Full Metal Alchemist) One of the first reaction fanfictions I ever read. It's been reuploaded on fanfiction.net. In this reaction series, the characters are forced to relive the pain they witness themselves having on screen. Any of you who have seen Full Metal Alchemist know that is leading to an agonizing time.

No such thing as a painless lesson by RoseJennison (My Hero Academia) The best My Hero Academia fanfiction that’s actually still going and might eventually catch up with the episodes…maybe. The characters in this are also forced to suffer the pain they see themselves experiencing onscreen. Think about all the times Midoriya breaks himself and imagine him having to feel all that again continuously.

In the Grasp of Schadenfreude by ThoughtSpinner (My Hero Academia) The parents and teachers/heroes watch the show and find out what's been going on with their children and at school. Needless to say, these parents have a lot of thoughts. 

Reaction Ritual by PreshByPyre (Naruto) This is only six chapters, but I hope the author returns to it. It’s a good idea, and well-written Naruto reaction fics are rare.

A number of fragments by eliscool (Naruto) Exactly what the title suggests. Instead of watching Naruto episode by episode, the characters are watching random fragments of the show and have to try and put together what’s happening. This occurs when Naruto and the kids are still in the Academy - but before Itachi commits the massacre.

Old stories, new discoveries by Daniablazin (Discontinued) (Miraculous Ladybug) This is my favorite Miraculous Ladybug reaction fiction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go past the first season. It’s been discontinued because the author said they didn’t like where the show was going. A real shame. The writing on this was amazing, and it had serious potential.

What are our children up to? by o0Lithium0o (Teen Wolf) The parents of Teen Wolf from earlier in the timeline get to see what their children are up to and their future. The kids aren't actually in the room with them. Probably for the best. They are so grounded for the foreseeable future once they all get back.

As Above is Below by kswriter (Shadowhunter Series)The characters of the Shadowhunter series (pretty much all of them) sit down to read the books. This goes by the book canon, not the show canon. I mainly love this series for the Mangus and Alec content. This is the only reaction fic I've seen with these characters. 

Reaction: Six of Crows by error_404_gender_not_found (Six of Crows) Characters from Six of Crows and Shadow and Bone reading the Six of Crows books. This ignores the TV show canon.

Honorable Mentions: 1.Watching Hunter x Hunter by catnip_riceball 2.HxH watches Hunter x Hunter by bb_bubblepopb33 3.I Have Regrets, but this Just Might be the Worst of Them Series by by IzuochaRay (My Hero Academia) 4.Cheat code central by orphan_account (My Hero Academia)(Villains react to the show) 5. Mansion Of Time: Watching Season 1 by Perez_K (My Hero Academia) 6. Watching as Hope is Lost by GeorgeFredSlytherin (Code Geass) 7. The Trials and Tribulations of Spider-Man, the People's Hero by ironfidus (Marvel/Spiderman) 8. Glee meets Glee By: babeitscoldoutside (Glee) 9. when the teacup shatters by SolusMormont (Hannibal)

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

This got longer than I expected I'm so sorry

The reason why mcu is not the same as comics is not usually because they are trying to be creative

One of the reasons is money (shocking I know) for example civil war In movies was just a fight between 12 people while in the comics there were more characters involved which made the fights much more crazy. In movies they took both hulk and thor out of the way. They didn't even wanted to cast rdj because he was an "expensive actor"

marvel comics were a thing since 40s Mcu has only been around since 2008. I'm gonna go with civil war as example again. The surprising part of that story in comics involved Peter. He always been so careful with his secret identity but when he takes Tony's side he reveals it in front of cameras and the consequences was that aunt may almost dies. In mcu civil war we've JUST met Peter so instead they held that storyline and used it when it was more convenient for them (in nwh). another example is Tony's origin story changing from Vietnam war

Third one is the lack of some characters in mcu. wandavision for example was based of house of M comics But the mutants are a big part of that story so they had to change a lot of things in that show to make it work in mcu

Another thing is that mcu doesn't have or had the right to some of the characters so like when they couldn't make a planet hulk movie they took that storyline and put it in thor ragnorak. two birds one stone

I'm gonna give mcu some credits tho because some of these changes were so smart and some times made the movie much more better than it comics version like what they did with thanos motives in infinity war

but still anthony mackie is really not wrong. In fact when he says "marvel is such a space of controlled entertainment" he is so fucking correct

The first ever mcu movie didn't had a full script but in no universe I can imagine marvel doing that ever again

They don't give actors and directors that much freedom. they seem to just make this movie for this next big movie.

Marvel being all connected was one of the reasons I liked it so much but know it seems to become a problem

I feel ya. It's only normal that they need to alter certain stories and characters, but this insane scrutiny is so over the top. Hell, I still remember The Marvels' director saying her movie turned out to be more Feige's than hers.

I'd argue in the past, that "connected universe" only enriched the stories. But that's because they left that "connection" to the post-credits or maybe a scene or two, it was never part of the story. They don't do that anymore. Now that connection IS the movie and they want us to get attached to characters we don't know just because we are told (not shown) that they're better than the old ones (why does it have to be a competition?).

I miss stories like when Stephen defeats Dormammu by losing and losing and losing until he annoys the hell out of him. I miss scenes like the ones we have in TDW (the Asgard ones) that are so heavy on the characterization that they give up on shiny battles, choosing to have characters just talk to each other instead. I miss honest talks like Steve's or Clint's to Wanda in AoU or the vulnerability of Quill...

They can't translate comic books to the screen, I get that. It's like movies based on regular books, you know you're not gonna get a page-by-page recreation, but it doesn't matter as long as the story is interesting, as long as it says something. Mackie says it pretty well, they're overly controlled by the execs and those are mostly business men who only see numbers and money but have no clue about art.

[an-aussie-button-masher]

The Multiverse's Mightiest Heroes - A Quick Review of the Marvel Rivals Closed Beta Test

   Doom strikes! Across an entangled timestream converging around a duo of battling Doctor Dooms, various iconic (and some obscure) heroes and villains from across the Marvel multiverse are thrown into battle in NetEase’s Marvel Rivals! An upcoming hero shooter in the same vein as Overwatch or Apex Legends, Rivals hosted a closed beta test earlier this year that I was lucky enough to participate in. For two weeks, testers got to play as 23 different Marvel characters battling in the halls of Asgard or the neon streets of Tokyo 2099 in a surprisingly polished beta with only a small handful of standout issues. Testers could play as tanky Vanguards like Thor or Magneto, powerful Duelists like Iron Man and Spider-Man, or helpful Strategists like Rocket Raccoon and Luna Snow. I’ll share my thoughts on the closed beta here before the full game releases on December 6th 2024 - enjoy!

   The majority of the cast has highly satisfying gameplay; bringing the thunder as Thor or zipping around as Spider-Man feels just as cool to play as it seems in the comics and films. Many characters should also feel very familiar to players of other hero shooters - for example, Storm’s controllable weather aura will remind Overwatch players of Lúcio’s switchable music - and I had no trouble quickly picking up how to play as, alongside, or against each hero despite the sheer number of them. Quick kill times means it’s easier to feel like you’re providing more impact per match even if it means more personal deaths - if all your scoreboard numbers are high, you can’t be doing too poorly right? The regenerating destructible environments also really set Rivals apart from the rest of the genre and keep things interesting. Someone hiding from you in a building? Just get rid of the building!   Of course, it was a beta test, so some issues are inevitable. I’m expecting most of these to be resolved by launch - but one can only hope. The lack of map variety was one particular problem; with only three game modes across four maps in total, it started to feel rather repetitive once I’d escorted Spider-Zero through Tokyo 2099 nine matches in a row. I’m also begging the developers to add proper Australia/Oceania servers - I, and plenty others, had to endure skyrocketing latency all beta long, getting repeatedly trapped in the loading screen for half the duration of many matches! I tended to be quite late to those first decisive team fights after staring at that 99% loading bar for several minutes.    Gameplay aside, this game’s artstyle is amazing. The characters all look incredibly striking and distinct, instantly recognisable yet with a unique twist on each one. Definitely my favourite look for Scarlet Witch in any of her adaptations. The voice acting is also top-notch, with an absolutely stacked cast; Troy Baker, Nolan North, Nika Futterman, Liam O’Brien, James Arnold Taylor, Yuri Lowenthal, and so so many more familiar talents. Finally, my personal highlight - lore! A hero shooter with actual in-game storytelling! Imagine that. Each hero includes a snippet of excellent writing found in their gallery that is just as compelling as the gameplay itself, showcasing various different story threads all slowly weaving together around the core conflict between two alternate versions of Doctor Doom. I’m just as excited to see how all their stories unfold as I am to play the game again when it releases on December 6th 2024.   I hope you enjoyed this quick review of the Marvel Rivals Closed Beta Test! Feedback, reblogs and likes are all much appreciated!

   Thanks for reading!

An Aussie Button-Masher

[spider-spirit-god-whatever-bitch]

ok fine let's talk about how the Loki tv show made him straight & how that's basically why hes so different in the show. an essay which will probably go on longer than i want it to.

ok, swooping claim right off the bat: Loki is a queer coded villain in the first two Thor movies and in The Avengers (2012). idk how widely accepted this is, but it's absolutely true. and they didn't only pick up the good tropes. Loki is very effeminate in looks (long hair (well actually they all do in the thor movies), that outfit is just a dress lets be honest, very skinny. absolute skin and bones, no muscle). shown as much more cowardly than the manlyTM Thor, instead of using brute force relying on tricks. the flamboyant speeches. being self-centered. no confirmed girlfriends nor romantic/sexual relationships of any kind. also the obsession with his mother, which was just a thing from the hays code era when ppl just assumed all gay men were obsessed with their mothers. there's a reason queer coded villains are a tad problematic. But Loki falls under so many of these accepted tropes. this article I have opened in parallel about what makes a villain queer coded lists him TWICE in the examples. in the movies, he's gay. he's a gay disney villain.

however, the Loki tv show needed to make him a protagonist. especially if they're airlifting 2012 Loki out of the narrative, they're going to need to speedrun some character development FAST. of course, that means you need to ditch his villain traits immediately (remember we only have 6 episodes and we have to cram in a recap, two intros and an outro into each of them). however, in the original movies, a large part of his villain-ness is so heavily entangled with his queerness. at this point there were two choices: disentangle the queerness from the villain-ness, keeping him queer but making his flamboyancy, tricks and effeminacy a part of his new protagonist characterization. which i would have fucking loved. lets be honest everyone wants the queer coded villain to be the main character. but that would require innovation and you're not allowed that at marvel. careful!! you almost took a risk there!! so instead of subverting the queer coded villain trope with a relatively innovative idea, they just chucked everything in the trash. seriously, rewatch the first episode, and see how quickly they try to subvert every single last thing on the list. in the first MINUTES they take away his magic so he can no longer rely on tricks, they strip him of his effeminate clothes (showing off that he now has chiselled masculine manly male abs) and replace them with a collared shirt and tie. they have him realise that he's self obsessed, and have him be like "ohhh im going to get better its bad that im narcisisstic im self conscious now". also, they introduce Sylvie, and absolutely use her to point out how 100% straight he is. when sylvie is on screen they make a big deal about how SHES THE FEMALE LOKI!! SHES A GIRL AND HES A BOY AND THEYRE DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF THAT!! taking away any gender ambiguity. idk why they do this with such a passion but they LOOOOVE pointing out that Loki is a guy in this show. and then they speedrun putting him in a romantic relationship with her.

and there's no argument to be made about making him canonically queer, because what they did is so painfully token its not even funny. they casually drop that he is bi, and it is never acknowledged again. ever. just a casual "a bit of both". four words. thats it. they could have very easily elaborated on this, because there's so many gaps to be filled here: what is it like being queer on asgard?? is it the future the woke left TM wants, or is there stigma around it? if there is stigma, how did that contribute to his whole thing of feeling like an outsider? what about jotunheim? does his family know? you're building an universe here. elaborate on it. maybe you don't need graphic gay sex on screen, but there is a middle ground here. and boy are they far from it. because not only do they not elaborate on it, but by this point they have drained all the queerness out of him. they made him the most cishet-acceptableTM gay they could. this is to an extent personal taste but i really dont like it when movies do that. please, let them actually embody queer culture. let him have some fashion sense, some mannerisms, SOMETHING, which shows that he's outwardly queer. queer coded villains do somewhat come from a time of homophobia, but that does not mean you can't try to reclaim it. Loki could have stayed androgynous and ambiguously bi/gay/aro?. or you could have just made that canon, and kept him how he was. I'm not saying avoid character development, but this was too fast and incredibly unnatural.

anyways in conclusion they fucked up and this was the fakest gay representation i have seen in a while. and that's not even TOUCHING on the frankly disgusting amounts of queerbaiting going on between him and Mobius like dude come on is it 2014 or 2024

[taraljc]

so being me, I've been working on a Sylvie story for over a year. And I need to figure out a couple of bits, namely where she got her machete, who taught her to fight, and how much of her magic has changed in the 8 months since she met Loki. For example, she transformed her clothing outside the McDonald's, which was something she could not do in the void. while her file notes that she had used telekinesis before we didn't actually see it on screen very much until the very end of series 1 and in the s2 finale. But we still haven't seen anything along the lines of illusion casting or duplication casting. I've been fixated on glamours more than transmutation of matter based on Loki sharing the childhood memory of how Frigga would change flowers into frogs (and we did see Frigga do duplication casting by projecting Jane to fool Kurse). But my assumption has been that Sylvie had very little training when she was taken by the TBA and whatever skills she had with illusions and glamours atrophied as she began exploring enchantments.

anyway I have decided because I am a weirdo that somehow Loki missed the part where Sylvie's bracelet is actually He Who Remains' souped up tempad, which is how she was able to monitor the timeline for Kang variants. But also it allowed her to survive the temporal drop spindle overloading in episode 4, and for her to find Mobius after he read his own file and went to Don's house. I mean it's not as if he could just text her and say hey meet up outside this address in Cleveland, ya know?

but also I kind of love the idea that at one point she ended up on Sakaar because it is where lost things go and met Scrapper 142, and that's who trained her to fight and Sylvie is like the only Asgardian alive who knows her name is actually Rūna and possibly they dated on and off for a couple hundred years. And it's very confusing for all three of them when Sylvie and post-finale timeslipping God of Stories Loki go to Tønsberg to check out New Asgard because Valkyrie recognizes Loki but Loki doesn't recognize Valkyrie, because he never met her and he also is not aware of the giant statue or the part where he impersonated Odin for like 5 years. And at some point the New Asguardian Community Theatre group is going to start asking a zillion questions and travelling through time and space may actually be their only means of escape...

That machete has to have a story, tho. And I need to figure out what it is.

[dwollsadventures]

Magnus Chase Project Idea

The next thing for my list of projects is something a little closer to home and achievable, but also perhaps less anticipated. 

Percy Jackson was the first series of novels that I ever read of my own volition. It instilled a love of reading and appreciation of mythology that continues to this very day. When I heard that Riordan was going to be writing a series based on Norse mythology in 2014, I was ecstatic. Unlike before, I had a basis of knowledge to draw from to prepare for the books. When the books were released and I read them though, I felt a little disappointed. I actually have a large document that I wrote back in 2017 detailing all of my criticisms, but I’ll summarize them here: 

Magnus Chase as the protagonist goes through a very well defined and meaningful character arc in the first book. It’s probably one of the only things that make him stand out from Percy Jackson, who he can sometimes read as a carbon copy of. In the subsequent two books, however, he loses everything that made him special. His identity as a peacemaker and healer, and his choice to not use Jack the sword as a weapon are all forgotten about. 

Rick Riordan’s passion for Greek and Roman history oozes out of everything he wrote for his previous books. And while he did make an attempt, the mythology presented in Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard is one of its greatest flaws. The gods of the stories are shallow, one-joke cut-outs compared to the complex parents and power players in PJO. Heimdall is the worst example. Rather than echoing themes and remixing myths, oftentimes the characters play out recreations of Norse myths word for word during the course of the story. Norse mythology has a lot of large gaps in its content, meaning that an author will almost certainly have to bridge them with their own creations at some point. Riordan chooses to do this by mixing in modern culture and folklore from the 1800’s of Scandinavia. 

This book was not the first to feature cross-overs from other Riordan books, but it is the one that leaned the most heavily on them. Annabeth’s inclusion in the first book was appropriate, but it seemed like pandering to include Percy in the last one. When reading reviews to refresh myself for writing this, a good percentage of them cried out about their insufficient screen time. 

Slavery. The mythology point above makes me the most peeved, but this one baffled me as I read the books. One of the first einherjar characters introduced is Hunding, from the Volsung Saga. In the Saga, another of the characters, Helgi, kills Hunding, and his reward for the victory is that Hunding becomes his slave in Valhalla, commanded to “of every hero / Wash the feet, | and kindle the fire, / Tie up dogs, | and tend the horses, / And feed the swine | ere to sleep thou goest”. This is present in the books, but couched in PG13 language, so that Hunding is Helgi’s “servant”. One of the main cast of characters is Thomas Jefferson (TJ) Jr., a runaway slave that died fighting in the Civil war. In the third book, one of the other main characters replays a scene from mythology where she gets a bunch of jotunn slaves to accidentally kill each other. This character then apologizes to TJ for killing the slaves and they make up off-screen. Hunding is never rescued from eternal slavery, the existence of slavery in Valhalla is never acknowledged, the end. 

So what? Why did I list all of my gripes with the series and put it under the future projects title? Well, after I wrote my laundry list in 2017, I capped it off with a “what I would do” section. I’ve never been able to get into the realm of fan fiction. But what about fan rewrites? Rewriting the book chapter by chapter with my own changes? 

The reason I haven’t done this is because, again, I don’t have a foot in the fan fiction world, and for most of my time I’ve thought that spending so much time and effort working on something like that would be a waste of my time when I could be working on my own stuff. But recently I’ve been rethinking that. Finding the motivation to work on my own Acronym Pending series is conflicting with my anxiety about perfecting it so that I don’t tear it down a month afterwards. What if working on fan fiction doesn’t trigger this response? After all, the hard work’s already been done. If I end up doing this, it will be because I can’t bring myself to work on the TDG, which is bad, but it would mean something is still getting done, even if it’s something I cannot claim as 100% my own. 

What would I do differently? Here’s a few examples:

Magnus is not a demigod. Demigods are not a big thing in Norse sagas or myths, and it links the series too much to the previous ones. 

Samirah would not be a valkyrie, but another of the einherjar. 

Valhalla and the Norse elements would not be modernized, at all. 

Hearthstone’s father would be Volundr. 

Overall, the story would be closer to a runaway tale rather than a hero’s journey. The overarching mythological theme would be focused on breaking the cycle. 

[brooklynislandgirl]

Bill shifts in his pilot's seat and turns his head to regard Beth, sitting at the nearby data console and sifting her way through all manner of notes he's collected on Earth cultures. Ostensibly her original intent had been to fill in gaps in knowledge for him... but now the young SHIELD agent seems more interested in installing gentle corrections on conduct that might lead to faux pas. Serving particular foods, for instance. Evidently 'communion wafers' are improper and inadequate sustenance for large gatherings of culturally disparate sentients.

"I wish to ask you something," he remarks. "You speak very little of your family... your blood relatives. But you offer glowing reference to others you have met in life. I find kinship in this, as I heartily claim Thor as my brother, though we share no common ancestry. Loki and I are considered adoptive sons of Asgard, a title that can be as assuring as it sometimes is burdensome. Your heart has bidden you to speak with great fondness for your friends and allies -- as examples, your Agent Coulson... Doctor Strange... the amazing Spider-Man. Do you find a similar sense of adoption among them? Having adopted them as your own, or been adopted by... or even a life oath?"

Three of a Kind || Accepting

She had to laugh about the wafers, all hushed tones and smile obscured by her hands, and a mental note that she has one more thing to confess the next time she can make it by Sacred Heart. Then she goes through the whole explanation recalled from memory of her catechism classes, about transubstantiation, grace through the Eucharist, and Catholicism in general. Extremely hard when several points of reference also have to be explained and when the person receiving the information might not understand the belief, the implication and well… the cannibalism of it all. This will probably need a lot more explanation in the future, if it doesn't bother him right out of that armour of his. She wouldn't blame him for being squicked, it's almost ridiculous trying to type it out. Thankfully though, Bill ushers her away from the screen just after all those thoughts flit into her mind and saves her from any real close-contact with blaspheme. His plangent tone wraps around her as warm and silky as the depth of midnight, and makes her swim to the surface. He isn't wrong. She really doesn't talk about her family; the mother who abandoned her and seemed to forget her in favour of someone else's children, the Admiral who seemed to despise every breath she took for no reason she could ever fathom, the brother who had died on foreign soil fighting in a war that wasn't his in the first place. Her grandfather who after all this time only visits rarely and only then to ensure her safety from the rest of his kin. What is there to say about it, these stories that he's perhaps already heard before from any number of people that he's met? Or maybe she's being so insular to keep her own unhappiness at bay. Beth struggles with feeling valid, worthy to be in a world that seemingly doesn't want her. There is something a little brittle in her expression when he mentions the Asgardians. She's never in their brief interactions fallen afoul of the Thunderer, if anything he'd best be said to have been kind or deceptively cruel, in trying to smooth over her initial interactions with his sibling. But Beth is ever so careful to remain neutral on the matter of Loki. On one hand, xe killed Coulson. On the other, xer destiny goes beyond any gift of sight or sense of fate that she can claim, and who is she to say these were not all things set into motion by the universe itself? It could also be that she is afraid someone will use her softness for Loki for something truly evil. He can probably see the moment each name steals her breath but lights up her brain, the connections and emotions she associates with them. And the complex narrative she needs to weave now, which she wishes she had Loki's way with stories. "I suppose I should start with Ku'uku'u…ah…Spider-man, as you call him. He is wonderful. Such a good and deeply compassionate heart that will not allow him to do anything but the greatest good that he can. He is noble and he is a hero, never doubt that truth. I think in some world, maybe more, he and I could have made as you say…a life-oath. But anyone who does has to know they will always be second or third behind his need to save the one life he couldn't. That his drive and his connection to Spider takes up so much of his soul that he fears love. Fears sharing his life and believe me he has reason. I don't fault him for that."

It's all she can say without mentioning anything that might compromise the identity behind the mask, something she won't do for anyone, no matter how much she cares for them. She is loyal to Peter, and she loves Peter maybe more than he ever knew. But Beth is also a little selfish and she can only come in last so many times before even her heart breaks. She knows that maybe she isn't a good fit for him, not that way.

"So I suppose…maybe our relationship is like hanai-brother and sister. Like you and Thor. Fun fact, he's actually a couple years younger than me, too. So there's that." She offers a modest lift of one corner of her mouth. The seed of a smile perhaps that fades when she begins to speak again. A bright brush-stroke of sorrow paints her gaze with a crystalline clarity, and she cannot bring herself to look him straight on. Her chin dips. "I…I don't know if…or what…Korbinites consider their Hōkūpa'a, which in my native language means steadfast star, and is what we call Polaris, the constant north star which has been used for navigation and sea-faring since I don't even know how long. But it's very important. So I suppose you could say my personal Hōkūpa'a is the Doctor. He was the reason I chose my medical school, he guided and guarded me every step of the way through the learning process, and if I hadn't…made some choices, I'd still be with him now. There is little of me that you can't see his hand on. Even when we disagreed or arrived at a solution from different sides, there's not a man I don't respect more, and whose wisdom and friendship mean more to me. I am sure if he thinks of me at all, he still sees me as his favourite student." The trails they could have blazed, the practice they could have shared, the life that they could have built together still haunts Beth when the nights are darkest and loneliest. There isn't an ache or a joy of his that she doesn't feel in a distant sort of way. "I can't presume to say what he falls under, assuming there is even a word for it. Hanai brother? Oath-mate? Hanai-Father?" A lilt of her delicate shoulder, something of a sigh and she waves a hand over the console beside her as if her hand is a tide washing away what was written in sand. "As for Agent Coulson. Well, you've met him. Like Ku'uku'u, he's steadfast, honourable, compassionate. Like Stephen, he's talented, sophisticated, dashing. Wears a suit well. He's smart, yes, but his strength is in his experience, his wisdom, his willingness to be exactly what the job calls itself; a shield to protect whomever might need him most. There's great rage in his heart but that's reserved not for an enemy but situations where he is needed, if that makes sense. It's his own sort of passion under the affable exterior. One part of me wishes that the Admiral could have been an eighth the man Phil is. That he could have ever made me feel as safe, as valued." And there, there's that selfishness rising, for which she looks immediately guilty for once the words leave her mouth. "Agent Coulson is everything a person could want in a father. In a boss. In a friend. In a husband. I would consider myself lucky were I ever to have someone like that interested in me. I know by now you must have heard me call him uncle, and maybe in a way I do see him in that sort of light. I call him Uncle because it's a term of respect on my island." That same shrug of her shoulder, that same small exhalation. "I suppose I could make an argument for each of them living in my heart as one has family. I could also make the argument that if I ever made a life-oath, I would consider myself a fortunate woman if any of them wanted that." She looks up at long last. "What about you? Have you met any other hanai-family amongst your travels? What about someone you who makes your heart sing?"

[blindtaleteller]

Question about medical care in Asgard… I'm talking about a case of Odinsleep/coma. How different do you think caring for a person in a coma would be on Asgard than on Midgard?

Gonna assume you're asking about the MCU as I answer this! 💚

With a Coma/Odinsleep .. Probably not too terribly different in act for the most part IF it's being treated like a regular coma; but incredibly different in aesthetic, and well.. it does get a little more iffy when you're talking about 'Odinsleep' in particular, even with what little we do know from what's shown and said about it on screen which I say by means of examples given, both canon and deleted from it.

Some things definitely do change if you take deleted scenes from Thor 2011 into account in particular though: as one of the things they removed entirely from existence in the cutting room in that movie, was something called 'healing stones.' They actually had two portions of scenes that they shot (one in the hospital after Jane ran him over, and one just prior to the final portion of the fight with the 'Destroyer' in New Mexico.) I'll slap them in here if I can find them out of my giant clips playlist of doom.

Sticking with just the canon though; and specifically with the regular coma treatment first? The first thing you have to take into account is that there are lots of different kinds of comas, and that even Earth-tech wise, some of them are going to be treated a little differently (short, long term, caused by external injury, caused by internal injury, trauma induced are a thing too.)

That said, the first thing we have on display as far as Asgard's medical goes, is something that unsurprisingly is a repeated major portion of their basic lore in the MCU: that they aren't gods; they're an elder race who have been themselves reaching into the cosmos for eons of generations even stretching back to at least near enough to the beginning of their universe well established enough then, to take note of the fact that the Infinity Stones made at the birth of that universe, were not made by either them, or by the other elder races like the Dark Elves, or the even older Tivan brothers: with single generations lasting as long as five thousand years.

Related to that is also the fact that they by the time in their universal timeline we do catch up with them: they are very clearly a warmongering/imperial colonialist society. Even before and likely during them, Odin made a generation of wars horrible enough to be called 'The Great Wars' among the lot that he and apparently Hela (who was clearly full grown --meaning she was anywhere between 20ish and 1000 years herself-- even in her mural depictions,) to spread his version of 'peace' through the removal of what other species he percieved as threats and competition (see Muspelheim, Jotunheim) going so far as to make certain they couldn't rebuild even their capitals.

Why is that important in this conversation? Because that also means including Bor and Asgard's previous generation five thousand years prior to 2013's invasion of the elves; they had been dealing with injury, illness and more among their own resulting from those battles: and yes during those thousands of years of conflict between Bor's crusade, and Odin's: they had lots and lots of extra time to improve both their tech, and any magic along those lines.

Which yes are actually two very different things, though from the looks of it are often interconnected in Asgardian society in particular, unlike on Earth; where medical technology is foremost, and sorcery/magic has been forced basically into hiding by centuries of the many different flavors (both in religion base and name) of Inquisitions on Earth over the course of over a millennia by the time the twenty tens roll around. We also know that they do posses some limited means through technology, of suppressing some magic; but whether or not Asgard in particular has evolved their understanding of sorcery in particular to do so on a magical level is questionable at best given what we've seen between the first two films alone.

Given the blatantly similar societal distaste for most non-combative magic, and even a good portion of combative magic for that matter that's pretty likely not the case: even Thor refers to his mother's skills and knowledge as "tricks." However, that doesn't seem to apply where the "Healer's Hall" inhabitants and actual healers are involved.

Most obvious example of technological vs magic, and those limitations I mentioned above that we have is a pair of scenes in TDW: the Soul Forge in the Healer's Hall vs. Loki's full-room illusions.

Soul Forge (aka Quantum Field Generator:)

This is also, one of the scenes that continues to show rather than tell, the MCU established facts of their advancement.. and their arrogance around it when dealing with what Asgardians otherwise clearly still consider 'lesser' races under their protection. Quite a contrast to Loki's interactions with Selvig and Barton delivering those two a great deal more dignity and trust in A1 too, while they're building the portal device ...but that's a whole other set of attached social observations and comparisons I'm not gonna get into here. The point of this one is: if there's magic there; they're making it very clear there isn't much of it, and doubling down on that whole 'not gods, only mistaken for them' far more interesting take, on which MCU Asgard was built since the very first movie. (again though, it also displays their arrogance in that direction, as Eir not only treats Jane's inquiry very dismissively; but gets flustered and gap-mouthed [literally] when she positively identifies the diagnostic technology being used. It also is one of the many displays of how differing etymology between cultures in the MCU [yes there are a few, including the Dr. Strange film as another major example of that in particular] is a purposely crafted thing.)

ANYWAY!

Compare that technological, with the feats of sorcery Loki manages in that same film. Not only does he not use tech to manage his magic/sorcery (or 'tricks' as Thor calls it lol).. but he does so behind the locked door of, that same level of technology, in his own prison cell.. and beyond it. While some of the deleted scenes show this too? The final cut certainly wasn't lacking either.

So, all that said..? And without dipping into the whole discarded-from-canon 'Healing Stone' facet: it's very likely with a normal (or normal-ish lol) coma, that it wouldn't really be that different: just easier to some extent and probably a lot faster to correct any issues with those caused by injury in particular.

However! And most important:

Odinsleep, is something else entirely.

From the first film, we know through dialogue that not only is 'Odinsleep' not a normal coma by any means: it's one that can, has, and with the way they talk about it: SHOULD be induced every so often in order to maintain his health.

Where do we get that and why do I say 'his' in particular?

Because..

1. It is called Odinsleep, which says outright that in the MCU either Odin is a common enough name among Asgardian elder generations to be named as such OR, that it's a practice that belongs solely to Odin in particular.

2. The conversation between Loki and Frigga tell us as much, in their conversation over Odin's bed. (PS I couldn't find the full clip immediately, so I am posting the full uncut scene [with deleted parts] instead. The part that I've marked it to (timestamp 1:06 in the video below if that doesn't work for you) is what you need to listen to most, and was part of the final cut in Thor 2011.

Though the way they cut and rearranged this scene has some of that conversation out of sequence, the information given about Odinsleep remains the same in the much shorter canon conversation.

Their conversation tells the viewer outright, that not only is that a thing he does regularly, but that it can be planned out and planned for: as they make a point of stating that it's only this time, the Odinsleep was unprepared for.. and, they have seen it enough for Loki's first words to be stating the fact he 'never gets used to seeing him like this' .. meaning? He has seen it enough times that he thinks he probably should be: but also that it's upsetting enough an experience to him, that he isn't.

You'll note that they also briefly discuss the fact that Odin had been putting the Odinsleep off. It was coming anyway and regardless .. and should have happened far sooner.

While it's not technically counted as canon on screen, there's a little more information given directly about Odinsleep in the parts cut out too, if you choose to observe and use them: as well as a more direct showing of what we already know even without that scene of how Frigga chooses to pass the throne to the only heir not currently being guilty of and banished for several counts of treason including restarting the war and disobeying the king in that bed, with Thor's invasion of Jotunheim landing him firmly on Earth with the very obviously earned traitor title.

I'll leave it up to you if you want to watch and or use any of that, and you definitely could; since it's -again- just dialogue telling the viewer what's already known simply by watching the other scenes around it in the canon cut, including and especially the throne room scene where Sif & the Warriors Three request Thor's return, regardless of not only knowing he was banished for treason.. but also having been the others to try to remind and convince him alongside Loki; to NOT commit that treason, prior to him doing it and dragging them along anyway.

All in all, through those scenes; we are given a very clear set of rules and information about Odinsleep either way. Which includes the fact that it can be a form of coma that probably should not be randomly interrupted or the subject brought out of it, where it's apparently necessary for the individual's overall health: but can also be a state in which they might spend the last of their lives.

In that, this also tells us that; there isn't a whole lot that even Asgard's greater technology, or even magic can or should do, to bring someone out of it at all.

And, from the way they do deal with their King going through it even by surprise: we know that there isn't much they can do at all beyond keeping him comfortable and as healthy as possible until the Odinsleep finishes it's course naturally... whether that results in the subject waking up, or possibly, dying.

There's no mention of anyone else going through Odinsleep.. but there's also no mention of whether or not anyone else HASN'T, either.

Either way, that scene alone does show and tell a lot more about Asgard's medical capabilities and some of their limitations too, even as a society that's been at war since before Moses (lol but true, especially counting Odin's dad before him fought the elves for what Odin himself identified as 'Eternities of bloodshed' that didn't end until almost 5k years prior,) even, when cut down to the re-arranged version put down in the film's final cut.

Ultimately, and that said?

I don't think caring for a person in Odinsleep would be different from what we see on screen.

A whole lot of trying to keep them comfortable, undisturbed, and healthy; while wondering and worrying when and especially -if- they'll even wake up.

--Post Script, and a more direct personal example: Incidentally, and if you're curious: I have written Loki as having gone through his own "Odinsleep" in twenty thirteen, in Book Two (Vestibule 1, Universe 8) of my Lokiverse project: GROUNDED. Yes, that underlined bit is both the title and a link directly to where that long fic is posted on AO3, if you're curious how I handled it there. I suggest reading the chapters leading into that segment to understand how that portion of their multiverse got there, but if you want to skip a bit, the Odinsleep sequence itself starts in Chapter Four and ends in chapter Five, and is ultimately among the last of events before a time skip all the way into Civil War's era. It's not the only time the muses use it, but it is currently the only instance I have published.

[motioneffects]

HOW DOES COMPOSTING PLAY AN ESSENTIAL ROLE IN VFX?

Visual effects, commonly known as VFX, have evolved beyond being a mere trend. It has become an integral part of post-production across various forms of video content. From simple YouTube videos to films, documentaries, or commercials, all video forms use VFX in some capacity. And compositing lies at the core of this transformative process, making it the center of contemporary filmmaking and content creation.

Among the many techniques in VFX, compositing can be considered the last and final element of the process. Simply put, compositing is the process where a VFX artist brings together the different parts of a VFX shot (roto, green screen, CG elements, etc)   and composites it together to create a seamless single shot. It takes different elements like a CGI image, animation, special effects, live footage, clean plate, etc., and blends them to form a single scene that looks realistic and complete. Hence, compositing is a pivotal part of VFX services. Let us discuss the significance and role of compositing services in visual effects.

WHY IS COMPOSITING IMPORTANT IN VFX?

In visual effects, compositing emerges as the focal point, orchestrating the complex task of crafting a seamless narrative. Take a popular example of an educational video. When recording the footage, you will mostly use a green screen behind the instructor teaching in the video. Later in the post-production, the green screen is keyed out and replaced with a different background. Animated charts, images, and other visual aids are added behind the speaker (replacing the green screen) to support the teaching content. Compositing is the final step in this process. In compositing, all these different elements are grouped in a single shot. They are integrated seamlessly to make it look like a single realistic video.

Without compositing, all the different elements of the VFX would look incoherent and chaotic, lacking a touch of realism. Thus, compositing is the culmination of all the efforts put into the VFX process.

ROLE OF COMPOSITING IN VFX

Compositing services play a pivotal role in the VFX and post-production process. Let us look at its role in VFX services in brief:

BLENDING VARIOUS ELEMENTS SEAMLESSLY

Nowadays, CGI is used in almost all types of videos. From creating mystical worlds to crafting dynamic charts for interactive educational videos, CGI and VFX help make the impossible more possible every day. And compositing is a significant part of this process. It is only through compositing that compositors merge CGI with live-action footage and blend imagination with reality. One of the popular examples could be the mystic world of Asgard in the movie ‘Avengers’ which blurs the boundaries of realism very subtly and perfectly. However, achieving such a realistic integration of elements in video compositing is not an easy task. Talented video compositors like our team at Motion Effects have the professional experience and expertise to give you the most realistic integration of elements that blur the line between imagination and reality creatively.

BALANCING VARIOUS ELEMENTS

A harmonious merging of various elements is essentially the core of compositing. A video compositor uses compositing software to blend live-action footage, CGI, animation, graphics, etc., into a single frame. If any of these elements look out of place, it can affect not just the frame but the entire video. So, compositing is the process of balancing all the elements to make them look like a single, cohesive scene. Skilled compositors have the creativity and professional expertise to achieve this balance.

MAINTAINING VISUAL CONSISTENCY

Another important role of compositing is to maintain visual consistency throughout the video so that it all looks like a single shot. In visual effects, each video frame must look as realistic and natural as possible. The compositor has to make sure that all elements of the clean plate look real, whether it is animated graphics, CG images, effects like smoke, fire, etc., or other footage. Color correction helps a lot in achieving this realism in the video. It fixes any issues with the hues and tones of the video so that it matches the real world. As a result, your video has a realistic yet professional look.

ADDING SPECIAL EFFECTS AND ENHANCEMENTS

Compositing is also used to add special effects like fire, smoke, dust, etc. to the video. VFX artists create these effects and animations for the videos separately. They are later integrated with the live-action footage in the compositing stage. In this process, the compositor needs to ensure the added effects enhance the content and make it cohesive. VFX compositors use special effects to boost the visual appeal and storytelling of the video.

SOFTWARE AND TOOLS

Compositing is an intricate and complex task. It requires various state-of-the-art tools and techniques to craft stunning visuals that captivate the audience. Reputed VFX studios like Motion Effects use the best VFX software like Nuke, Blender, and After Effects and use various other add-on plugins to get the job done. Such VFX software also requires expert VFX artists with mastery over these tools to use them to their potential.

CONCLUSION

Compositing services are undoubtedly a pivotal part of VFX, playing a major role in elevating the visual appeal of a video. At Motion Edits, our team of talented compositors work in synergy with other VFX artists to create stunningly realistic videos. If you’re looking for the right compositors for your videos, your search ends here. As a reputed visual effects company, Motion Effects offers a wide range of services including compositing. Contact us to learn more about our services and how we can transform your videos into visual masterpieces.

SourceLink[https://motioneffects.com/how-does-composting-play-an-essential-role-in-vfx/]

[taraljc]

The only things that are Canon are what appear in the films and television series. The comics are set in a completely different universe with a completely different history. That said, characters and stories from the comics are the inspirations for almost all of the films and television series. If you read Agent of Asgard, you will recognise part of Loki's journey. If you read Young Avengers you will recognise versions of Sylvie and Kid Loki. But the films take elements from the entire history of comics and introduce new ones. For example Clint Barton's family came not from 616 Hawkeye but from Ultimate's Hawkeye. In the comics, Loki has very different powers than MCU Loki has displayed thus far. there are lots of details that don't match up. But that's because they are each their own separate universes, and the stories evolved differently.

so even if something appeared in a deleted scene, or the original screenplay, you can decide how you feel about that and whether or not you accept it as part of your personal headcanon ie fan-canon (fanon) about a character. But if it is contradicted by what we see on screen in the final edits of the films, then the ultimate reality that each of those characters has lived is the films and the TV series themselves.

The best way to look at it is that there are elements of every different version of Loki in the comics that have been remixed and reinterpreted in MCU Loki. But what happens to Loki in the comics doesn't necessarily mean the exact same thing will happen to Loki in the films and television series.

I was wondering if the Loki Comics are like, canon in the MCU or something like that or they're just another little silly universe, because I want to read them but first I have to know.

(Also I need to know WHERE start)

[bigbazoxngas]

There are so many things I LOVE about Loki's costume design in his first three movies.

In Thor (2011) his armour looks shiny and looks new, it's smooth and sleek.

Compared to Avengers (2012) it's visibly scuffed, worn and dented.

A good example of this is a comparison of Loki's helmet, in Avengers it's noticably grittier.

Loki after falling into the void, something described as "Marvels version of the seventh circle of hell" and (at the very least is being threatened and is hurt once on screen) encountering Thanos his armour is now visibly frayed and dented. It's such a small detail but I absolutely love it.

It's visually showing us Loki's state of mind, he still looks regal and big, intimidating, powerful, yet there's damage, he's in Tom Hiddlestons own words "scarred for life."

Especially how the gold, in particular, something that represents Asgard, is what is most textured, especially in Thor TDW, where Loki endures more anger and grief, and breaks out of the abusive and toxic dynamics of Asgard and his family.

The gold is at it's most damaged, yet it's still powerful, it gives Loki this feral quality, it has a different effect, because this time Loki is working with his grief. He's not just feeling angry, he's using his anger.

It's just *chefs kiss* something so nice, I just really like it. Visual storytelling through clothes is something I fucking love about movies and shows.

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

I agree that the treatment of Loki in his own series is awful but I would not say that the mcu who killed their two only female members of two superhero teams for the sake of the plot praises women just becase of the shallow girlboss character

Anyone who claims the MCU praises women is being ridiculous 😂😂

There are some female characters that are great but most of the time they're not written all that well and don't have much to do.

The best example of well-written women is Black Panther. We have Ramonda, Nakia, Okoye and Shuri, not to mention all the Doras. They're shown to be strong, capable, kind, loyal to each other and fierce in their love for Wakanda. T'Challa relies on them and we get to see their friendship - how many female friendships do we have in the MCU? Yeah, it's that bad.

But the women in other movies they don't have all that agency. We have some exceptions like Natasha in WS but she's so inconsistently written throughout the films (I still loved her in her movie though). Then I'd say Wanda has a good chunk of screen-time but I don't think she was given much to work with until the D+ show. I'll mention Carol as well (and I love Captain Marvel and how they have women of all ages in it, there are no scenes where she shows skin, not a single word about how attractive she is and there's no romance at all).

But Valkyrie? We don't even know her name. Gamora and Nebula? I love them but we don't have enough of them (and don't get me started on how they mistreated Gamora in IW). Hope is wonderful and I have a soft spot for the Ant-Man movies but again she doesn't have much to work with. Jane is sidelined and Hela is basically blamed for Asgard's imperialism.

Sylvie is a bit like that all-female scene in EG: they don't want to take the time to write a proper role for a woman so they go overboard and come up with something excessive and disproportionate to satiate the need for women in superhero movies but it falls flat because it's entirely bland.