#Dan is clearly a Meta

[mikami1992]

Finally, after some missions through time, Dan has managed to be approved as "Officially Reformed", and only with some supervision from Clockwork and Danny, will he be free to return to live in the human world.

So with the help of Clockwor, Tecnus and Tuker, an identity was created for him as a Young Adult, who after a few years of traveling around the world, returns to the United States to begin his University studies.

Dante Jackson Nightingale is a Young Adult recently enrolled in Gotham University to study Business and Finance with some elective classes in Engineering, being the place chosen for the high educational level as well as the level of ecto of the city… but the Phantom of the future has other hidden intentions.

During his 10 years of rampant destruction, Dan had a period of "calm", the reason, the strange relationship he developed with Batman, a relationship that was about to bring the angry spirit back to sanity by focusing his obsession on something else…

But it all ended when a surviving and better-funded group of GIW caught Red Hood to experiment on him, so the Batfam immediately went looking for him, and at first the rescue everything went according to plan, but it was until the end where everything went off the rails with the appearance of the Joker… it was never known how it all ended with the explosion of the bat, but it ended up costing the lives of the Bat and the Clown, and some permanent damage to some of the Batkids.

The death of the Knight of Gotham City ended up reviving and fanning the flames of anger and destruction within Dan, which would cause a destruction greater than anything known before.

So, in this new reality, Dan plans to continue with his original intentions with the bat, this time proving that he was a worthy partner for the Dark Knight.

[demonic0angel]

Prompt: Dan Phatom as an inmate of Arkham Asylum?

Part 2, part 3

Harley hummed. She eyed the newest inmate, a gorgeous hunk of meat with dark raven hair and bright blue eyes. He was wearing the usual orange suit, but he wore it like a model, with the buttons opened and sleeves rolled up, highlighting his broad arms and tight muscles. He was as beautiful as a demon, and even though Ivy was way prettier, Harley still couldn’t help but be curious.

Harley nodded to herself, thinking for only a moment. Then she waved a hand, calling out, “Yoo hoo! You there! Hey, handsome! Why don’t you come here and spend some time with me and Ivy?”

Ivy rolled her eyes next to her. “Harley!” She hissed.

The man paused, tilted his head, and then smiled, flashing his sharp fangs before he crossed the prison yard to sit down with the two. People stared at them, but the man didn’t seem bothered.

“Hello,” he said politely, “what’s up?”

“You’re new here, ain’tcha?” Harley said rhetorically. “What’re you in for?”

The man chuckled. “I thought it was rude to ask?”

“Nahhh, in here? It doesn’t matter. Everyone already knows why we’re here, there’s no secrets around here. So? What’re you in here for?”

The man smiled. “I started teasing a little bird I found and then he started getting mad at me. I didn’t like how he made Batman go after me, so I made a building explode and I was tossed into here. I didn’t even kill anyone though!”

Seeing how large and old he was, Harley was a little worried and had to ask, “Which little bird?”

“The beautiful one with the black and blue suit and the pretty smile,” the man said dreamily, curling a lock of raven hair around his clawed fingers as he looked towards the sky in a daydream. “He was pretty funny too.”

Harley immediately cooed. Anyone who thought Nightwing was funny clearly hadn’t been hit over the head by his escrima sticks while he threw out obnoxious puns, but the way he described him was so sweet! He was clearly insane, so that was completely okay in her books!

“Awww, that’s so cute! Are you a meta or what? Those fangs o’ yours don’t look human!” Harley said, while Ivy shook her head exasperatedly.

The man shook his head with a small smile. “Not exactly. But I guess I do have meta powers.”

Ivy asked, “Then doesn’t that just make you a meta?”

The man shrugged and then asked, “What about you ladies?” Harley knew that he was just dodging the question, but she didn’t mind, so she began to prattle on about the recent museum break-in she and the girls did, but Selina got away while she and Ivy were caught. Selina was planning a break out for them soon, so they just had to sit tight and wait!

The man smiled, fangs appearing again. “Can I join you? I want to see that little bird again.”

Harley beamed, “Sure thing! What’s your name?” while Ivy groaned.

The man smiled and reached over to shake her hand. His hands were cold and large, like a chunk of ice. He smiled and his pupils sharpened into slits, but oddly enough, he still looked friendly, like a tiger in a way.

“Please. Call me Wraith.”

[padmerry]

Ford’s love for & view of Stan pre-memory erasing: a lengthy analysis

A big misunderstanding going on in this fandom is the idea that Stan was the one yearning for Ford while Ford was too busy hating Stan (at worst) or at least thinking he hated Stan (at best), too focused on his research and academic accomplishments to pay his repressed/heavily denied love for Stan any mind, up until Stan’s sacrifice in Weirdmaggedon. Ambitious, self-centered Ford, who would be shocked at the preposterous idea that he still loved Stan deep down if, say, his post-Weirdmaggedon future self revealed it to him. “I thought I hated you, but I was wrong,” old Ford says to Stan, remorseful... and painfully out-of-character!

Another very popular idea is that Ford genuinely values the greater good over Stan, to the point he wouldn’t have rescued Stan if their positions were reversed. This idea is so rooted in people’s minds that when Ford’s most dedicated fans attempt to defend him, they argue that he was right to be angry about being rescued from the portal because Stan was acting irresponsibly (as if Ford wouldn’t have done the same thing). This is not about anyone in particular—it’s a tendency I’ve seen repeated again and again and again, in different ages of this fandom.

The gap between Stan needing Ford vs Ford needing Stan is so big in some people’s minds that they seem to think that poor, guilty Ford ending up with Stan all alone on a boat wasn’t the best ending for him. That was just Alex trying to make a point about “family above all” in a show about family, teaching Ford a lesson, and rewarding Stan’s unhealthy codependency...

It’s just incredible how Ford’s own love and yearning towards Stan is shoved under the rug by the fans!

I understand why, of course. Ford is arguably the most complex character in Gravity Falls. His love for Stan is shown more subtly than Stan’s love for him. You have to actually pay close attention, and often enough people aren’t invested enough in the Stan twins’ relationship to do so. Sometimes because they’re more invested in the relationship of Stan and/or Ford with other characters, and this is not throwing shade, either—on my part, I can admit I am so invested in them that I don’t care as much for other characters, and that’s natural.

My most controversial takes here are: 1) Ford has always known he loved Stan. Yes, even at his most bitter. He just didn’t think Stan was worthy of that love. 2) Ford valued his family, including Stan, over any noble ideal of greater good. 3) Ford missed Stan and yearned for his company just as much as Stan missed Ford and yearned for his company. I have dedicated this particular meta to pointing out not all moments (that would make it longer than Tolstoy’s War and Peace, just by the amount of times Ford mentions Stan in his journal) but the most telling ones re: Ford’s repressed but obvious love for Stan and their implications. I’ll break it into a few different subjects that I believe drive my point across.

Ford’s sentimentality over Stan:

A good place to start as any. Stan is in literally everything Ford does, sometimes in ways so subtle that people miss it, and in ways that Ford himself would love to deny, even if it meant lying to himself. Ford is very, very sentimental, and that is reflected in his relationship with Stan through the decades, with all the different paths he takes to cling to his past and the idea of his brother.

Let’s explore some examples, shall we? We don’t need to go far.

First of all, the Mystery Shack cottage, commissioned by Ford and built by Dan Corduroy according to Journal 3, is clearly based off a childhood toy he shared with Stan.

It doesn’t stop there, of course. Ford loves his boat motif decorations. (At least the boat on top of the shelf is very likely Ford’s choice of décor, and not Stan’s, given that it’s placed beside Ford’s shrunken heads referenced in Journal 3; we know that the boat painting belongs to one of the Stan twins and not Dipper, since it was already there in Tourist Trapped as Dipper arrives. I think it’s fair to assume, given the boat on top of the shelf, that it was also Ford’s.)

And would you look at that, his favorite place in his beloved Gravity Falls, a town full of wondrous places full of fantastical anomalies and literally a weirdness magnet, is, for some reason, a lake. A very weird lake? A very cool lake? No, a lake that reminded him of his childhood, aka Stan (as seen by the drawing of a boat and the codified message). “There is no other place in Gravity Falls I would rather be than the lake.”

But that isn’t enough for Ford. He must keep, still, pictures and videos of Stan. I won’t even focus, here, on the picture of the Pines family that Ford stares at in the beginning of his college days, despite Stan and Ford being at the very center of it and it being a visual parallel to Stan’s own picture of him and his brother. That one included Filbrick and Caryn, and the speaker had just mentioned making one’s family proud. But what about the rest?

People usually focus on the overall adorableness of, say, Ford leaning his head on Stan’s shoulders or Ford’s apologies (again, in Journal 3) to notice the implications of what Dipper says: “Ford even found an old film reel of them as kids, which he amazingly saved all these years.” Even Dipper himself is amazed. I’ve seen people assuming that Ford had these and forgot about them, or that Caryn was the one to send him these and he simply agreed to avoid a fight (there is a tendency in this fandom to think of her as a very doting and/or caring mother, but we have no evidence to think so, as explained here). Years later, TBoB was like, “nuh-uh, that was all Ford Pines!” In TBoB, Ford not only does remember some of these itens, but he makes a conscious effort to hide them from Fiddleford, worried that his friend was getting “too close” (to what? to the inner depths of his heart and mind, where Stanley was?) “I’ve quickly re-hidden here, away from prying eyes.”

And a picture of teenage Stan (as seen below), too! You would think he would just attach himself to the idealized version of baby Stan in his head to feed his nostalgia and completely ignore teenage Stan, the traitor, the one who destroyed his science project. But no, Ford wouldn’t be Ford if he acted consistently about Stan. The funniest thing to me about the ripped yearbook page is that it implies Ford made the conscious decision to include Stan as he ripped the page off, when he could have just focused on his own picture. And then we also have his drawing of Stan, a perfectly accurate portrayal of Stan’s face as he got kicked out, implying that not only he paid an enormous amount of attention to his brother and how he looked like back then (after he closed the curtains), but that particular image was living rent free in his brain. Very vividly. With details.

Now, folks, do we have any doubt whatsoever of the power Stan had in Ford’s psyche? Seeing that this is how the bedrock of Ford’s mind looked like? The boat, the swing set? I’ve seen it suggested before that these items represent Ford’s greatest regrets—I don’t know if I fully agree with that take, seeing as the swing set is fully intact, unlike in Stan’s mind, but one thing is true: they represent what Ford deep down thinks is most important, and two of three are directly related to Stan. Even the portal, from a certain angle, is connected to Stan.

Now, another thing that I believe to be related to that, is the claim that Ford didn’t spare Stan a single tought in the many decades they went separated. But here is Ford, casually confessing that he spent the last thirty years thinking of Stan:

But back to pictures. According to Alex in the commentary of Weirdmaggedon 3: Take Back the Falls, that picture of Stan has always been in Ford’s coat pocket, through all the decades, even before Bill’s betrayal. That’s why it’s so damaged. He was dimension hopping with it. I don’t think I even need to make any comment here, hahah.

I almost imagine if McGucket found that photo in his, you know, coat while they’re working on the portal or something... [imitating Fiddleford’s creaky voice] “What’s this? What’s this here?” And Ford says, [imitating Ford’s deep, very serious voice] “OH, yes. That’s a very important moment, that’s when I, um, first decided I wanted to be an adventurer.” [...] There would be NO reference to... the real reason he’s keeping it [...]. “Oh yes, this is about, uh, science, as a horizon, as a frontier to reach towards. You know, like a boat, like a ship, like science. It’s about SCIENCE!”

Ford’s protectiveness:

Stan Pines is very much ones of Ford’s weaknesses. Ford knows this and accepts this with shocking ease. How so? Well, first of all, the nightmare he had. As he tells us about it in Journal 3, even though he attempts to make light of the situation, his hand is clearly trembling as he writes, making drops of ink splatter on the page. The climax of his nightmare, the peak, the scariest moment was when Ford realized he was not the one at risk; rather, Stan was. “I realized my hand wasn’t chasing after me at all—it was chasing after my brother, and it was going to squeeze him to death!”And then, may it be noticed, there was no hesitation whatsoever on Ford’s part about whether to save Stan or not, nor does he try to hide his protective reaction. It was immediate and instinctive. “I tried to run to help him, but my feet were frozen.” It’s very telling that the Dream Hipster, the nightmare inducing ghost, thought that Stanley Pines would be the most effective thing to make Ford shake in his boots. Not even, say, failing and being ridiculed by other scientists, considering how ambitious he was.

And you know who else has noticed this weakness? Bill Cipher, of course. After psychologically, emotionally, and physically abusing Ford in horrific manners (including but not limited to: forcing him to eat spiders, driving a nail into his hand, and making him wake up on the snowy roof of the Mystery Shack as a symbolic threat of forced suicide), Bill involves Stan, as the grand finale. “But then he crossed a line.” Why was Ford’s brother that line, after everything Ford himself went through? “No. He wouldn’t.” Ford couldn’t even believe Bill’s audacity in involving Stan, even though he very much already knew Bill was as evil as evil could get. Because Bill knew, having free access to Ford’s mind, how terribly important Stan was: the person Ford loved the most in the world, more than himself.

You could still argue, then, that Ford wasn’t very protective of homeless Stan. After all, how could he have allowed his brother to be homeless in the first place?

Simple: he didn’t know. There’s a lot of things about mullet!Stan that Ford didn’t know! From canon, namely TBoB and Journal 3, we can deduce that Ford didn’t think of him as homeless, thought he was doing well for himself, living a well traveled charlatan/adventurer’s life, perhaps even a friend/member of the mob:

As Stan was kicked out, he told Ford (and the rest of the family), “Fine! I can make it on my own! I don’t need you! I don’t need anyone! I’ll make millions and you’ll rue the day you turned your back on me!” The way I see it, Ford took that at face value. Stan didn’t seek Ford out in those ten years, either, presumably out of a mix of pride, shame and self-hatred, so Ford could only assume Stan truly didn’t need him. Despite the many, many crossed out mentions of Stan in Journal 3, I think Ford at least tried to not let his mind linger on thoughts about Stan too much, because that hurt.

In his most recent interview, by HanaHyperfixates and ThatGFFan in 2023/2024, Alex talked about Ford’s issues:

He’s aloof, and distant, and he’s too perfect. And it’s like, “oh! I think he’s also aloof and distant from himself.”

I think he is, uh, deeply deeply hiding from his real feelings about things, because at some point early on, he decided that he could run from hurt by achievement and by creation, and has dug that hole so deep that he has no relationships.

If he sees achievement and creation as distractions from his real feelings, no wonder Stan didn’t get a call (or a postcard) from him earlier.

We also have Ford’s condescending, but protective, attitude towards Stan in TBoB as he considers asking for his help. Condescending protectiveness, if you will:

Notice how Ford briefly looks at Stan when Stan rants about his life:

A very ☹️ face. He’s probably surprised and concerned about what he’s hearing.

And then Stan, unfortunately but understandably, starts insulting/accusing him of selfishness:

You can notice the ☹️ face slowly becoming 😠 as Stan started attacking.

Again, when Ford accidentally hurts Stan by branding him:

That’s not even ☹️ anymore, it’s almost 😩! Things would probably have deescalated and perhaps even been fixed if Stan, unfortunately but understandably, hadn’t punched Ford in the face as retaliation.

“Oh, but what about old Ford kicking Stan out after everything, then?”

I think a lot of people who talk about this moment operate under the assumption that Stan was, well, completely and thoroughly screwed if Ford followed with his original man. An old man, no place to go, no money...

But Stan did have money. A lot.

No, really, he had, per his own words, in the extra commentary of Land Before Swine:

I do have a son, Benjamin Abe Hamilton Washington. This pile of money I’ve collected over the years! That’s my true family. Y’know, I can sorta glue it together into the shape of a child, maybe… Eh, I dunno. I do my best, right? And I do have—I do actually—not to brag, but I have an obscene amount of money. Uh, y’know, all the years of collecting and etcetera—and also grifting!

I’m not defending Ford’s actions here. Ford is my favorite character, but I’m not a Ford defender, hahah. You could still argue that what he did was an ungrateful, jerky move, and I would agree. I’m just against painting it as a “Ford doesn’t care at all about Stan’s safety” moment. Especially because, when Ford told Stan he wanted his house back, sufficient time had already passed. Enough for Ford to change his clothes, visibly, and enough for them to have had a talk, in which Stan could have revealed this little fact about himself.

Another thing I’d like to address is that Ford doesn’t hesitate at all to save Stan when he gets into trouble and acts natural about it, which is way more that we can say for Stan (as seen by how Stan reacts when Ford is kidnapped by Probabilitor the Annoying and when Ford is turned into a golden statue by Bill):

Again, not saying that Stan wasn’t justified in not wanting to help/save Ford after Ford’s blatant ungratefulness (I’m also sure he didn’t know Bill was actually torturing Ford). Not the point.

Now, back to Bill.

What I always loved about his little victory moment in Weirdmaggedon 3: Take Back the Falls is that upon surprising his enemies with his appearance, he proceeds to turn everyone into tapestry, including even Fiddleford (whom we know Ford cares a lot about!) but forces himself to spare Stan and the kids and place them inside the cages, even though they didn’t know the equation and would have zero usefulness to him. That could only be because he thought he could use them against Ford, so Stan was obviously included (instead of turned into tapestry or outright killed) for that very purpose. From a Doylist perspective, of course they couldn’t have excluded Stan, since he was one of the main characters; for the sake of character analysis, though, this is the best explanation in-universe.

That is why, when Stan-as-Ford tells Bill, “My only condition is that you let my brother and the kids go!” Bill easily believes him. Because he thought that it would be in-character for Ford. And Bill wouldn’t be wrong, not at all. He wouldn’t, because Ford himself was the one to tell Stan, just a moment earlier: “We need to take his deal. It’s the only way he’ll agree to save you and the kids.” It’s blaffling to me how many fans seem to forget Ford’s own words, and the fact Ford was very, very much willing to damn the whole universe (with seven billion people living on Earth at the time) to save three (3) people, including Stan. That Stan himself was the one to oppose and stop him. I think that happens because people buy Ford’s facade of Cold Responsible Greater Good Guy, which couldn’t be more deceiving. At this point I’m begging you guys to look deeper!

One common misconception about Ford’s character—not only Ford, but many, many fictional characters I have had the pleasure of considering blorbos—is that people take his facade at face value and judge him based off that. You’re falling for his bullshit. You’re looking at Ford and seeing exactly the man he wants you to see, instead of the man he is.

Ford demonstrated being hypocritical many, many times through the show, the comics, his journal, and even TBoB. I would go so far as to say it’s a Known Personality Trait of his. He chews Stan’s ass for being selfish, reckless, a criminal. Then proceeds to be: selfish and completely unaware of it, ten times more reckless, and a much more dangerous kind of criminal. He reproaches Stan for risking the world for only one person, but would have done the same thing.

Now, the last point of this particular subject: Ford and the erasing of Stan’s memories, which is sometimes interpreted as Ford prioritizing the greater good, or the kids’ safety, over Stan.

Dear reader, Ford erased Stan’s memories because he had literally no other choice. This is what Ford said to him: “He’ll be able to take over the galaxy and maybe even worse, but at least he might let the kids free.” Emphasis on the might, here. Might! Perhaps! Maybe! Perchance! Ford, in this line, was referring to Bill’s immediate threat to the kids’ lives—Bill had, after all, ran after Dipper and Mabel with a terrifying threat of disassembling their molecules as their grunkles were forced to watch inside their cage, powerless to stop him. After reflecting about their whole situation, he included Stan’s safety in the deal, too, now more certain than ever about his decision to sacrifice not only himself but, in his own words, “the galaxy” (and later, “the universe,” as he was pretending to be Stan) to, again, perhaps (!!!) save his family. Ford had literally no guarantee Bill would follow through with his words. Given Bill’s track record, it was way, way more likely that he wouldn’t. Bill is a liar and a manipulator through and through, one who takes great enjoyment in people’s suffering. Ford’s suffering, specifically, above all, since TBoB painted Bill as this toxic and possessive ex obsessed with his pet scientist. What were the chances?

Even if Bill, through some miracle, did end up keeping his word, we saw Bill’s plans for Earth in his daydream fantasies: taking a bite off the planet, drawing a smiley face on its surface as millions died... What a guy, that Bill! If the Earth was wrecked beyond repair, where would Stan and the kids live? How would they survive among all the chaos and destruction of the literal apocalypse? With nightmarish creatures lurking in every corner? With what food, what water, what shelter? Answer: they likely wouldn’t. The probability of human survival would be abysmally low.

Ford, tragically, had no other choice but to sacrifice Stan’s memories. It was that or risking the possibility of having to watch his family, including Stan, die horribly painful deaths at Bill’s sadistic hands or to condemn his family, including Stan, to a slower but still certain death after the entire human race perished.

Ford being aware of his love for Stan:

I have faith that most people already knew, to some extent, that Ford never stopped loving Stan, even at his angriest. A much lower percentage of these people, I believe, know that Ford himself was very much aware of that, and not in denial at all. He never even thought he hated Stan.

First, I choose to point out how young adult Ford, still in college, with his bitterness and resentment still very fresh, admits to missing Stan. He wrote, “MISS YOU” in their Bro Code, the code he memorized and never forgot. He not only thought about Stan, which would be understandable, since all of us have intrusive thoughts, but he took the time to write it down, and in code, which would be even more difficult than just writing it in English. That requires at least some level of acceptance. You may not be able to filter your thoughts, but you are able to filter your writing.

Ford does attempt to filter his writing, I know, by crossing out a lot of lines in Journal 3, most of them about Stan. But he does not cross out all of it. He freely admits to having a nightmare about Stan, to wanting to protect Stan from the giant six-fingered hand, to having the lake as his favorite place, to missing Stan. I think that Ford, if asked about his love for Stan back then, would also freely admit to it, as well. Stan is his twin brother, so of course he loves Stan.

One thing that always caught my attention is how Ford still refers to Stan as his “family” in the Journal, even after Stan’s attempt to disown him. Stan makes it pretty clear that, from now on, his “family” is just Mabel and Dipper:

Days after this, Ford didn’t seem to have taken this to heart, as seen by what he wrote in his Journal:

It’s way more likely than not that he IS including Stan, here. He says “the rest of the Pines,” instead of just “the children” or “the kids” or “the twins,” and even singles out Dipper as someone he trusts (contrasted with Stan and Mabel, whom he doesn’t).

I wonder if that’s just Ford being stubborn or if he really thinks his relationship with Stan is in a somewhat better place than it actually is.

I mean, for instance, this is their swingset (symbol of their relationship) in Stan’s mind:

And here it is Ford’s mind:

Still ominous, but very noticeably intact.

It’s ironic—I think that Ford was aware of his own love for Stan, but not aware of how damaged their relationship was from Stan’s POV.

Ford and stubborness:

I’ve also seen people saying that, if Stan hadn’t sacrificed himself, Ford would have continued, quote unquote, “hating” him. Or that his happy ending with Stan was a byproduct of his guilt over the same sacrifice, and not out of a genuine desire to reconnect with Stan. According to Alex’s commentary on this scene in Weirdmaggedon 3: Take Back the Falls, that isn’t true, either:

This whole sort of conclusion here is—what we needed to happen in this scene was—we needed pressure to be at the point where Stan and Ford recognize their lifelong rivalry and Ford does a sincere apology to Stan. And almost more importantly, he acknowledges Stan’s intelligence. Like, he says, “you wouldn’t have fallen for Bill’s nonsense,” like, he recognizes his brother has a kind of intelligence that he doesn’t. [...] And even though it’s Stan who agrees to—“I’ll be the one! Erase my mind! It’s fine. It’s worth it.”—like, it’s a sacrifice for both, like, Ford at this point is willing to get his brother back and has to lose him again. Like, both of them were... just doing what they have to do here.

This means that Ford was already wanting to reconnect with Stan before Stan offered to sacrifice his own memories. His comment about how Stan wouldn’t have fallen for Bill’s flattery wasn’t just self-reproach or some comfort to Stan, but a conscious attempt to soften things between them.

Which also means Stan’s offer to sacrifice himself wasn’t actually necessary for Ford to forgive him (or switch the blame entirely, more like, and start blaming himself instead) but just came at the worst possible moment. It was too late for them, now.

Reconciling Ford’s love for Stan with his treatment of Stan:

Now, we arrive at the last problem, which is something I’ve seen a lot of people struggling with. How to even reconcile Ford’s love for Stan, something we see hints of again and again, with his treatment of Stan?

First, this infamous line in Journal 3, which is arguably the most vicious (towards Stan) Ford ever was in canon:

That’s probably also related to Ford’s control freak tendencies. If Ford admits to himself he is not in control, that he needs help from other people, that he is really that desperate... Well, he can’t admit that, so he rationalizes his way out of that conclusion by convincing himself he would be the one doing Stan a favor (offering him the chance to prove himself to Ford), and not the other way around. He doesn’t need Stan, he doesn’t need anyone; Stan is the one who needs him and his forgiveness. (This is the moment I get the urge to reference a manga protagonist with a very similar control freak mindset, Light Yagami from Death Note. Why am I always attracted to characters with deep cogntive dissonance issues who desperately shape their own narrative to convince themselves of their full control over it? Like a moth to a flame.)

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe Ford looked down on Stan—on people in general. There’s plenty of evidence for that in both Journal 3 and Word of God, if you count Word of God as evidence. Ford himself admits to that after Weirdmaggedon. And let’s not forget what is probably the biggest elephant in the room, the 2016 TVInsider interview (if you’re nerdy enough to read such a long meta, you’re likely nerdy enough to have seen this quote already):

In terms of Stan and his brother’s conflict, we always wanted a moment where Ford saw that he was wrong. Ford’s spent an entire life imagining himself as this lone solitary hero and imagining his brother as this bumbling leech. From a narrative point of view, for Ford to see Stan be the hero finally lets Ford see the true side of his brother that he’s been too blinded by pride to see.

Ah, yes. Ford looking down on Stan enough to think of him as a “bumbling leech.” To most people, this sounds way harsher than “selfish jerk,” the term Ford himself used in Journal 3.

Fittingly enough, that was in the same interview Alex said Ford would have deserved to lose Stan:

If Stan had lost his memory for good, that would [have] provided some interesting narrative places for him and his brother to go, but ultimately the show is about the kids. Stan and his brother are meant to be a parable [that show] what can go wrong in a family relationship, [but also] show that, with hard work and sacrifice, the riff can be repaired. If Stan’s memory had been fully erased, it wouldn’t punish him so much because he’d be gone, but it would punish Ford, Dipper and Mabel most. Even though Ford might deserve that punishment, Dipper and Mabel do not.

The interesting thing here, though, is exactly that: losing Stan would be a punishment to Ford. Why? Because it would hurt. Why? Because Ford loved him. Enough, it seems, that he would suffer more with it than Stan himself would.

I think what confuses people so much is that they conflate love with like with admiration with trust with respect. They think of it as the same thing—a confusing, amorphous mass of positive feelings towards someone.

The way I see it, though, Dipper was someone Ford loved (considering love a deeply rooted, complex emotion), liked (felt general fondness/amiability towards), and trusted (to be capable of handling all the mystery stuff). Mabel was someone he loved (she was family), liked (she was weird and creative and pure-hearted!), but didn’t trust (due to his constant projecting; before anyone attempts do deny this, I’ll remind you that Ford himself admits in Journal 3 that Dipper was the only family member whom he had come to trust). Stan was someone he didn’t like nor trust, not anymore, certainly didn’t admire and—let’s be honest—barely respected (or didn’t respect at all, depending on your point of view), but still loved with the fierce intensity of one thousand suns.

I do believe Alex is at least mindful of the difference between love and respect, as seen by his commentary on Stan’s condescending love for Mabel in Land Before Swine:

But this idea that Waddles is sort of a metaphor for what Mabel loves. And Stan loves Mabel but he doesn’t—he doesn’t really think that anything she thinks is necessarily smart or right. You know, he loves like her, ah, she’s my sweet niece, but [Stan’s voice] “she doesn’t know anything.”

In the same interview by HanaHyperfixates referenced earlier in this post, Alex revealed his view of the Stan twins’ relationship:

Those characters at sea—it was so rich. They’re really really funny, because they both have major major blind spots. I can kinda write stories about them as a duo forever, because you can always excuse them both getting hyped on a bad idea for their own reasons, and then you can always come up with a reason for them to disagree about it, and it’s always sweet to see them come together again, because they’re so full of themselves, but they are also both so damaged they desperately need each other.

As you can see, the codependency is genuinely mutual, not something imposed on poor, guilty Ford after Weirdmaggedon. One thing I find really interesting about Ford is his black & white mindset, the fact that the only way he knows how to be with Stan is a codependent way. They’re either separated and estranged or sailing completely alone on a boat for the rest of their lives. Either rivals or best friends forever. There’s no middle ground for him.

Dipper tells us in Journal 3: “Still, it’s taken about a week of intensive scrapbook therapy to get Stan fully back to himself. [...] Ford’s been working at it the hardest.” Ford was the one putting the most effort in getting Stan back. Despite all, I believe Ford is the person who loves Stan the most. Not the one who loves Stan better—that one would be Mabel, I believe, or Soos, who are non-judgemental and understanding. But Ford is the one who loves him with the most intensity, which is fascinating because for most of the show he doesn’t even know how to love Stan, as exemplified by his treatment of him. Too fierce, too selfish, too much of everything.

[shmisky]

Buckle up, guys. This is FORD HAS ALWAYS LOVED STAN VERY MUCH, the meta.

I think a big misunderstanding going on in this fandom, both in our cesty inner circle and outside it, is the idea that Stan was the one yearning for Ford while Ford was too busy passionately hating him (at worst), or indifferent (at best), too focused in his research and academic accomplishments to pay his repressed love for Stan any mind. Ambitious, self-centered Ford, who would be shocked at the preposterous idea that he still loved Stan deep down if, say, his post-Weirdmaggedon future self revealed it to him. “I thought I hated you, but I was wrong,” old Ford would say to Stan, regretful. Now, this couldn’t be further from canon 😭

My controversial take is: Ford has always known he loved Stan. Yes, even at his most bitter. He just didn’t think Stan was worthy of that love.

So I have dedicated this particular meta to pointing out not all (because that would make it longer than Tolstoy’s War and Peace) but the most telling moments re: Ford’s repressed but obvious love for Stan and their implications. With pictures and one (1) random gif I happened to find.

When thinking about Ford’s love for Stan, I often think of I Bet My Life by Imagine Dragons:

I’ve been around the world and never in my wildest dreams

Would I come running home to you

I’ve told a million lies but now I tell a single truth

There’s you in everything I do

Because Stan is in literally everything he does, sometimes in ways so subtle that people miss it, and in ways that Ford himself would love to deny, even if it meant lying to himself. Like I said in a previous meta, Ford is very, very sentimental, and that is reflected in his relationship with Stan through the decades, with all the different paths he takes to cling to his past and the idea of his brother.

Let’s explore some examples, shall we? We don’t need to go far.

First of all, the Mystery Shack cottage, commissioned by Ford and built by Dan Corduroy, is clearly based off a childhood toy he shared with Stan.

It doesn’t stop there, of course. Ford loves his boat motif decorations.

And would you look at that, his favorite place in his beloved Gravity Falls, a town full of wondrous places full of fantastical anomalies and literally a weirdness magnet, is, for some reason, a lake. A very weird lake? A very cool lake? No, a lake that reminded him of his childhood aka Stan. “There is no other place in Gravity Falls I would rather be than the lake.”

But that isn’t enough for Ford. He must keep, still, pictures and videos of Stan. People usually focus on the overall adorableness of, say, Ford leaning his head on Stan’s shoulders or Ford’s apologies to notice the implications of what Dipper says: “Ford even found an old film reel of them as kids, which he amazingly saved all these years.” Even Dipper himself is amazed. I’ve seen people assuming that Ford had these and forgot about them, or that Caryn (their mother) was the one to send him these and he simply agreed to avoid a fight (because there is a tendency in this fandom to think of her as a very loving mother). Years later, TBoB was like, “nuh-uh, children, that was all Ford Pines being Ford Pines!” How so? Ford not only does remember these itens, but he makes a conscious effort to hide them from Fiddleford, worried that his friend was getting “too close” (from what? from the inner depths of his heart and mind, where Stanley was?) “I’ve quickly re-hidden here, away from prying eyes.” Oh, Ford.

And a picture of teenage Stan, too! You would think he would just attach himself to the idealized version of baby Stan in his head to feed his nostalgia and completely ignore teenage Stan, the traitor, the one who destroyed his science project. But no, Ford wouldn’t be Ford if he acted normal about Stan. The funniest thing to me about the ripped yearbook page is that it implies Ford made the conscious decision to include Stan as he ripped the page off, when he could have just focused on his own picture. And then we also have his drawing of Stan, a perfectly accurate portrayal of Stan’s face as he got kicked out, implying that not only he paid an enormous amount of attention to his brother and how he looked like back then, but that particular image was living rent free in his brain. Very vividly. With details.

Now, folks, do we have any doubt whatsoever of the power Stan had in Ford’s psyche? Seeing that this is how the bedrock of Ford’s mind looked like? The boat, the swing set? I’ve seen it suggested before that these items represent Ford’s greatest regrets — I don’t know if I fully agree with that take, seeing as the swing set is fully intact, unlike in Stan’s mind, but one thing is true: they represent what Ford deep down thinks is most important, and two of three are directly related to Stan. Even the portal, from a certain angle, is connected to Stan.

But back to pictures. In a previous analysis, I’ve pointed out that, according to Alex, that picture of Stan has always been in Ford’s coat pocket, through all the decades, even before Bill’s betrayal. That’s why it’s so damaged. He was dimension hopping with it. I don’t think I even need to make any comment here, hahah.

But one last thing I would like to point out is: Stan Pines is very much his weakness. Ford knows this and accepts this with shocking ease. How so? Well, first of all, the nightmare he had. As he tells us about it in Journal 3, even though he attempts to make light of the situation, his hand is clearly trembling as he writes, making drops of ink splatter on the page. The climax of his nightmare, the peak, the scariest moment was when Ford realized he was not the one at risk; rather, Stan was. “I realized my hand wasn’t chasing after me at all—it was chasing after my brother, and it was going to squeeze him to death!” And then, may it be noticed, there was no hesitation whatsoever on Ford’s part about whether to save Stan or not, nor does he try to hide his protective reaction. It was immediate and instinctive. “I tried to run to help him, but my feet were frozen.” It’s very telling that the Dream Hipster, the nightmare inducing ghost, thought that Stanley Pines would be the most effective thing to make Ford shake in his boots. Not even, say, failing and being ridiculed by other scientists, considering how ambitious he was.

And you know who else has noticed this weakness? Bill Cipher, of course. After psychologically, emotionally, and physically abusing Ford in horrific manners (including but not limited to: forcing him to eat spiders, driving a nail into his hand, and making him wake up on the snowy roof of the Mystery Shack as a symbolic threat of forced suicide), Bill involves Stan, as the grand finale. “But then he crossed a line.” Oh, did he, Ford? Why was your brother that line? “No. He wouldn’t.” Ford couldn’t even believe Bill’s audacity in involving Stan, even though he very much already knew Bill was as evil as evil could get. Because Bill knew, having free access to Ford’s mind, how terribly important Stan was: the person Ford loved the most in the world, more than himself.

That is why, when Stan-as-Ford tells Bill, “My only condition is that you let my brother and the kids go!” Bill easily believes him. He thinks that it would be in-character for Ford. After all, he’d turned everyone into tapestry (including Fiddleford, whom Ford also cared greatly about), but spared Stan and the kids due to their value to Ford. And Bill wouldn’t be wrong, not at all. He wouldn’t, because Ford himself was the one to tell Stan: “We need to take his deal. It’s the only way he’ll agree to save you and the kids.” It’s blaffling to me how many fans seem to forget Ford’s own words, and the fact Ford was very, very much willing to damn the whole universe (with seven billion people living on Earth at the time) to save three (3) people, including Stan. That Stan himself was the one to oppose and stop him. I think that happens because people buy Ford’s facade of Cold Responsible Greater Good Guy, which couldn’t be more deceiving. At this point I’m begging you guys to look deeper!

[x]

And, as the grand finale, I choose to point out how young adult Ford, still in college, with his bitterness and resentment still very fresh, admits to missing Stan. He wrote, “miss you” in their Bro Code, the code he memorized and never forgot. He not only thought about Stan, which would be understandable, since all of us have intrusive thoughts, but he took the time to write it down, and in code, which would be even more difficult than just writing it in English. That requires at least some level of acceptance. You may not be able to filter your thoughts, but you are able to filter your writing.

Ford does attempt to filter his writing, I know, by crossing out a lot of lines in Journal 3, most of them about Stan. But he does not cross out all of it. He freely admits to having a nightmare about Stan, to wanting to protect Stan from the giant six-fingered hand, to having the lake as his favorite place, to missing Stan, etc. I think that Ford, if asked about his love for Stan back then, would also freely admit to it, as well. Stan is his twin brother. Of course he loves Stan. He just doesn’t like Stan, or trust him, or think Stan is worthy of that love.

The way I see it, Dipper was someone Ford loved (deeply rooted, complex emotion), liked (felt fondness towards), and trusted (to be capable of handling all the mystery stuff). Mabel was someone he loved, liked, but didn’t trust (due to his constant projecting). Stan was someone he didn’t like nor trust, not anymore, but still loved with a fierce intensity of one thousand suns.

[frownyalfred]

hi there big fan of your work and absolutely adored and so is love (ROY!!!! hiii) and i kept thinking about Dan’s comment about instincts in traditional pack structures and Roy’s reflections on Ollie as an alpha (kinda lacking) and I was wondering if you had any meta about different pack structures in the coral universe? are traditional packs structures common? are they the societal ideal or kinda outdated? i love the world you’re creating thank you for sharing 💖

Yes! Thank you so much. I talked about this a little bit in the context of beta mothers in another post but I think the meat of your question is still answered:

Excellent question. You'll probably have noticed that the references to beta mothers in the fic are purposefully toward older beta women, or those who are from a few generations back. They're the last holdover of the pack mentality before the nuclear family shift. And you're absolutely right, they serve as parents and/or communal carers in the pack hierarchy, despite not being childbearers.

But, now that packs are dying out and shifting to a more nuclear family model, beta mothers are feeling that shift the most. They don't have 'children' in the sense of alphas and omegas, in that they are children they sired. But back in the old ways, any child they parented was theirs, just as much as it was the alpha or omega's.

This new mindset definitely pressures betas to fall into relationships with other betas, and yes I'd imagine some would adopt. Others fall into nanny/caregiving roles for alpha/omega pairs but fall short of being allowed to use the 'beta mother' title, since it's essentially defunct. And those alpha/omega pairs rarely induct those folks into their pack, largely because they don't have one anymore outside of their mating bond.

Alfred is a good example of a pack beta / beta mother holdover from the earlier times. Thomas and Martha were old enough and from old family lines that they still thought of their possible children, their house, and their future as a pack. As we see in one of the spin off fics, Martha refuses to proceed with her pregnancy (jokingly) until Thomas names Alfred as pack beta. I truly believe their plan was to have many children, and to start a formal pack that way. Which they would be allowed to more easily by society, as they were old and "eccentric" as opposed to trying to fit into the modern working nuclear family mindset.

A big theme I was kind of putting off to the side in ASOH (but talked a lot about here) is how Bruce + Clark are bringing back some older traditions, thanks in no small part to Lex. They prioritize a pack mindset and rarely even think about the more modern family setup others follow. This puts them in conflict with folks like the huffy alpha junior (I forget what i named him -- Graham?) at the gala who is rude to Lex, only for his father (Senior) to treat Lex with older omega customs and respect.

So yes, in a long winded answer to your question: betas probably suffer the most in this new world, because they are forced to curb their instincts that would normally be flourishing in a pack hierarchy. Alfred did this for a while when Bruce was going through his own issues with being an omega -- but it's clearly not ideal for him, and certainly hurt him long term after operating as a pack beta for his parents.

This is also a bit of a joke for myself, but the beta mother joke Lex makes precedes him going over and introducing himself to them in order to win favor. He immediately asks them if any of their sons are single -- this is a subtle way (ish) to indicate that while he's younger, he respects the beta mother role and sees them as valid parents. Of course this wins them over right away, as we see briefly. Clark also wins them over by politely chatting with them in their beta capacity, though he's not as aware of the high society lines as Lex or Bruce are.

[papaya-inspiration]

Foreach 2024 Reader Survey Results

So, my buddy @lumsel makes a lil webcomic called Foreach. I help 'em out with it sometimes. The comic's website doesn't have a comment section, so I thought it'd be fun to do a little year-end survey to see who was reading and what they think!

We had an incredible response, with 279 respondents to the survey--more than are in the Foreach discord server! So let's get into it.

Character Popularity Poll

Alright, let's start with the thing I know y'all are most excited about. As the comic creators, we love all our characters equally... but clearly you guys don't!

☀�� SUNNY SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!! ☀️

Y'all REALLY like Sunny, eh? Don't worry, us too. In fact, 80.3% of you listed her in your top 3 favorite characters. Hell yeah.

The next top four characters are the four game protagonists, with Jiro ranking top, then Nix, Cliff and Coral. A lot of readers also mentioned Jiro as particularly relatable/lovable in the write in box at the end of the form. (Don't worry, I won't tell him y'all like him this much. Though with this many Love Warriors, Proteus won't stand a chance invading the island.) I was a bit surprised to see Jasper/Coral ranked as the lowest of the four protagonists! Given that the comic initially presents her as the "anchor" character and a jumping off point for the story as a whole--but that also means she's among the least unusual of the four protagonists, and thus stands out less? It's a hypothesis.

After that, we have Polyta (which makes a lot of sense, she's had some of the most page time of the side characters), then Mercy and Doctor Kree'zik. I wonder if some of this is recency bias, partiularly in Kree'zik's case, seeing as we haven't gotten much past xer character introduction yet. I'll be curious to see how these numbers shift if we run this again next year!

We also got some minor character write ins! Several people said they enjoyed various Aveans, with two votes specifically for the Avean Captains and someone else voting for the avean grunt from page 106 who says "Thanks a bundle!" And I agree: they're pretty adorable. Another person listed "the author" as their favorite character which... you know what, it is a fairly meta comic, so I'll allow it. (Even though, hilariously, Lum is the only member of the creative team to have not had a character cameo in the comic yet.)

Also shout out to the person who wrote in that they almost listed the character cameos for Peri and Kiki (the rat and the rabbit from pgs 24-25) as their favorites. I see you and appreciate you <3

Game Popularity Poll

Not a ton to say about this. People seem to like cozy-ish indie games and furry aesthetics. Makes sense to me.

Comic Info

How are people finding Foreach?

As always, word of mouth is CRUCIAL for indie webcomics getting off the ground. You guys sharing and linking it to friends and communities is really the engine behind getting eyes onto our art--so thank you!

We got another big boost from joining the @spiderforestcomics webcomic collective. So far, it's been a great experience and we've been loving the community over there. So if you're in the market for more comics, definitely go check out some of theirs!

I should note that there is definitely some overlap between these categories. We let people mark multiple answers, so many people marked "Word of Mouth (online)" in addition to other categories like Tumblr and other discord servers. In that broader category, there where several places that people specifically noted finding the comic including:

Our reader Digamma has been tirelessly reposting the comic to the Something Awful forums, and it looks like quite a few people have been keeping up from there! Thanks, Digamma, you're a certified super-spreader!

Dan of @thewebcomicsreview has linked to Foreach several times!

People also mentioned finding it through various discord communities, including the Star Impact server, a server for puzzle games, Foxglove Comics, and others

Rilly had a cameo in @erinptah's webcomic, Leif and Thorne!

Several people discovered it directly through the Neocities discover page!

Cohost, Cloudhiker, and a fairly lukewarm substack review... which nonetheless garnered us a few readers. I'll take it!

Currently, Foreach doesn't pay for traditional banner ads of any kind. So everytime you tell a friend about the comic or share a link to it, you're helping us out a ton! Thank you!

How are people keeping up with comic updates?

Not too much to say on this. Lots of manual checkers, and it looks like we're getting good mileage out of that RSS feed. Excellent!

Readership Info

Discord Membership

We had more survey responses than people currently in the Foreach discord. But even more excitingly, only about one third of survey respondents are also in the discord. Which is exciting, because it means there's more of a readership out there checking the comic updates than we knew previously!

Additionally, I'm personally excited by this result because hearing from those quieter members of our reader base is precisely why I wanted to put out this survey. We have a lovely, active community in the discord, but as a side effect that means we're hearing a lot of opinions from just one, disproportionately vocal part of our reader base. My hope with this survey was that we'd get a chance to hear some voices that we don't usually get to interact with... So for all you silent majority readers out there: Hello! Thanks so much for chiming in!

Patreon Membership

Most of our readers don't back the patreon. Which is to be expected! We actually got a few new patrons signing up after the survey was posted, which is absolutely lovely of y'all. (Hi new patrons! 👋)

If you're wondering what the Patreon money gets used for, it's a mixture of funding extras the comic and supporting Lum's future creative endeavors. This year, we used a big chunk of the funding to commission the Love Bomb portraits for the new Cast Page, which were done by the talented Beajrb (go check out their work!) In the future, some of it may be used for commission work related to the comic, and also for the long term goal for Lum to take some time off their day job to draw comics/make games/etc.

We also asked what else people might like to see us do with the patreon. Right now, we post author commentary on pages with about a 2-chapter lag time, and people seem pretty happy with that over all. There were a few requests for bonus character art, pin ups, or character-asks, and we'll keep that in mind going forward. Since all of us are working full time, there's only limited time we have for making additional content, but who knows what the future holds!

Reader Geography

So where in the world are our readers? Well, I I thought it'd be fun to make this cute little map:

...which turned out to be a huge pain in the ass and a little misleading with the color ranges. So here it is another way:

Our reader base is very American-heavy. Honestly a little moreso than I was expecting? Maybe it's the magnetic charisma of Cliff Mason that keeps drawing them in?

But is it a good comic?

According to our readers, it's a 5.35/5 star comic. Make of that what you will :3

Final Thoughts

At the end of the form, we had an open response box for anything else y'all might want to say to us. And let me just say: y'all blew us away. Thank you so much.

So many of the comments were incredibly kind. People told us about characters they connected to, about how excited they were for to see what happens next. Some of them were sweet, some were horny, some of you compared Foreach to some of OUR favorite webcomics, (which was absolutely unreal to read!) Some of you guys wrote whole freakin' essays! I can't recap everything, but please know that we read every single one of them.

Thank you again for joining us on this journey. Here's to a great 2025--and another year of Freachin' it together!

[lulu2992]

I’ve just found this interesting 10-year-old video I don’t remember ever seeing before in which Dan Hay, former “shepherd” (term they half-jokingly use in the interview) of the Far Cry series discusses the past but also the future of the franchise, a few months before the release of Far Cry 4. Mark Thompson, narrative director of the game, is also interviewed.

When he’s asked if he has “any interest in unifying the larger world and creating a larger meta-story between all the games” and if they’re all “in the same universe”, Dan Hay answers he’s “just gonna smile at that”, and after talking a bit about how invested the team is and how smart he thinks players are, concludes, “But your question is very intriguing, and it makes me smile.”

He then happily explains Far Cry is “near and dear to [his] heart” (he even has it tattooed on him because he lost a bet) and that he “[plans] on working on it for a long time” because he “can’t think of anything else”.

That was in 2014.

In June 2021, it was officially explained that Far Cry games were only loosely connected and each had their own world. In November 2021, Dan Hay left Ubisoft.

I don’t know what happened (or even if anything happened at all) and don’t blame the Far Cry 6 team for their decision to create a new timeline to tell their story (they didn’t really have a choice after the ending of Far Cry 5), but I admit I’m a bit sad we never got to see the full extent of that “meta-story” they clearly had in mind 10 years ago...

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

Hamster and Gretel Propaganda

Watch Hamster and Gretel cowards

Hamster and Gretel does have a VERY week first episode. However, it does get better and really hits its stride around episode 5 or so. So please don't write it off based on the first couple episodes. If you are a fan of PnF and MML, then you will probably enjoy it. It's full of the clever, slightly meta humor PnF and MML are known for. It's a little more modern in its humor, and that doesn't always work. But PnF itself ALSO had its contemporary humor that didn't really age, so that's nothing new. I'd say it falls in the middle of these two shows in terms of serialization, which isn't saying much, but it is in fact lightly serialized.

I understand preferring serialized shows (as usually I do too). However, that doesn't mean more episodic shows are bad. It's first and foremost a comedy. And it works at that. Granted, humor is pretty subjective, but I think its pretty funny. Its clever, and the unique situations the characters find themselves lends itself to originality. Obviously not all the jokes land, but I think each episode has something I laugh at every time. It is clearly a project that is dear to Dan Povenmire's heart, with references to his family practically everywhere. And that shines through in the interactions between the main cast. The characters are all very entertaining and our main cast show simple, but effective character growth. The characters I think are definitely the main appeal of the show. As is to be expected this show excels in wholesome and realistic family dynamics. Many of the characters echo previous archetypes shown in the Flynn-Fletcher and Murphy families. However, those families worked for a reason, and the Grant-Gomez family has enough of its own spin to keep it fresh.

"I gave birth to both of you. This is nothing."

If you haven't seen any episodes, here's a rundown of the characters. Kevin. The Guy with the minivan. He's the normie older brother, and the real main character, who feels overshadowed by his younger sister by the universe. But he's eager to insert himself into Hamster and Gretel's heroics and carves out a role for himself. While he works from the sidelines, he is a crucial member of the team. His actions often come from a place of protectiveness for his sister, in addition to the jealousy. However he never takes it out on her. Kevin is a teenage boy, and everything that entails. Awkward, a bit of a dumbass, and desperately trying to establish his identity. But he's also genuinely well intentioned, resourceful, and is a sweet and protective older brother to Gretel. I really appreciate how seriously the show, and the other characters treat Kevin and his contributions and struggles.

Gretel is an energetic, cheerful, reckless and stubborn girl. She's often oblivious to how Kevin feels about certain things. Despite her love for Kevin doesn't always take him seriously and is often annoyed with him and how he manages her superheroing, and tries to do things her own way, even when Kevin protests. Though she does value his attention and assistance. Kevin is the first one who Gretel will call out to for help in a pinch and he'll always jump in without a second thought, even if he's literally powerless.

The core of the show is the dynamic between Kevin and Gretel. They love each other, but also do get on each others nerves, and aren't afraid to tease each other. When they first received powers, Kevin was genuinely excited to be a superhero with his little sister, and though that didn't pan out the way he thought it was going to, both are genuinely happy to be a team. They trust each other immensely, and while the first episode is rather weak it does establish the amount of trust they have in each other. Despite Kevin's lack of powers.

The other titular character, Hamster is a talking hamster. He will not allow anyone to expect anything more than what he's already giving (he can talk what more do you want). But he's got a surprising amount out of depth. He's generally pretty inexpressive, but that contrasts with his petty hamster problems and his surprising variety of skills. Hamster's unflinching loyalty for Gretel, dry wit, and a penchant for messing with Kevin, really adds to team and family dynamic. Kevin and Hamster's growing friendship, built on friendly rivalry is another highlight of the show. Hamster may be a bit of a sarcastic grump, but we see him having to swallow his pride and ask for help and accept assistance somewhat regularly.

"We're more like neutral coworkers who live together."

Fred is an amazing character and rounds out the main quartet. Kevin and Gretel's cousin, a woman of many skills. A computer wiz, anime nerd, and talented gymnast among other things. Someone who on the surface seems far more suited to Kevin's role than he is. There's hardly ever a dull moment with Fred on screen who's constant cynicism contrasts nicely with Gretel and Kevin's more cheerful attitudes. Fred has grown up with the two of them and knows them well. She very clearly cares a lot about the two of them, though isn't afraid to call them out and isn't nearly as proactively concerned as Kevin. She's able to act as a mediator of sorts at times between the two of them. Fred also shows growth as she in individual episodes comes to appreciate people who aren't like her (emotional and cheerful), and comes to realize they have more in common than she initially thought.

"Yeah, they're still evil, 'cause you know, they're like teenage girls, but not supervillain evil."

The rest of the extended family is also delightful and has significant presence. Family is a central theme in this show, and the whole extended family often plays key roles in episode plots. It's very clear how important everyone is to each other and how family has made these people who they are. Carolina and Dave are very involved in their kids lives and have their own subplots and developed personalities. In addition Churro the family dog, Carolina's mother, her sister Meli, and Dave's sister (Fred's mom) Stacy really flesh out the family despite their limited appearances.

The rest of extended cast is also fun, really fleshing out the world. Bailey is Gretel's best friend and a particularly important reoccurring character. She starts as Hamster and Gretel's (superhero) biggest fan. Often oblivious, she's confident, energetic, intelligent and a genuinely supportive friend. She's still a somewhat reckless and obnoxious little kid, not unlike Gretel, but her passion, and strong principles help highlight Gretel's strength's and weaknesses. She's definitely the kind of weird little girl whose always got some weird facts on hand about some niche topic, which sometimes comes in handy. Her and Gretel's relationship is also a highlight as they unconditionally care about each other, but still often experience conflict, usually do to external forces.

Hiromi is the girl Kevin has a crush on, but a fully fledged character in her own right. She's goofy, passionate, hardworking, works at a comic shop, is the editor for the school newspaper, and ends up forming a fun friendship with Fred.

"I must point out again that vikings did not have canons. Or singing."

"mmm. Wouldn't be much of a musical without the singing."

"A girl can dream."

The villains are mostly one offs, but their often quite unique in premise and their motivations are often quite hilariously petty. Though, there is a slight overarching plot as the mystery behind the aliens motivations, which involves certain members of Gretel's rogue gallery. The plots are moving slowly, but developing nevertheless. The reoccurring villains also play a part in emphasizing the themes of family. Even minor villains occasionally have motivations related to their families. Two of the most frequent reoccurring villains, are Fistpuncher and the Destructress. A twins with the same powers as Hamster and Gretel who were given their powers by the same aliens, except to use for evil. They act as foils to Kevin and Gretel. Fistpuncher and Gretel are both impulsive younger siblings. Destructress and Kevin are both responsible older siblings, who want acknowledgement. Both sets of siblings are competitive, but care deeply for each other and have had their lives changed by powers beyond their understanding. Professor Exclamation, from the first episode, is also a reoccurring villain whose relationship with his son is also a major subplot. Nordle is a fun character who highlights Gretel's character strengths, as he develops out of his father's shadow.

I think some of Hamster and Gretel's main themes are family, trust and community, as it is in Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law. I'll probably got more into those eventually. But I think there is another theme here of not underestimating people or making assumptions about them. Without giving too much away, whether its people repeatedly underestimating Kevin's skills, Fred learning that cheerleaders are just people, Hamster having a rich life outside of the Grant-Gomez's, or even just a grumpy clown being nice, characters are constantly subverting expectations. It may not be anything particularly mindbreaking to the audience, but to the characters they are constantly having to break through others expectations, or adapt how they view others.

Music, as always is top tier. I don't have anything else to add except that they're funny. Admittedly the opening is pretty weak. But there are plenty of other fun songs. I particularly like Don't Steal From the Banks, My Best Friend Bailey's Birthday, Ropa Vieja, I Think We'll Break for Lunch and How You Feel About Me.

"I'm a lemur and I love it and I'm standing on my toes"

Overall, the writing is witty, and there is a sense of continuity, between episodes in a lot of subtle ways so even as the episodes are largely self-contained. Conflicts are largely comedic in nature, and often absurd, which leads to creativity in how they are resolved. While they often are pretty predictable, they aren't particularly repetitive. I'm not really one to comment on voice acting, but the delivery of many lines really elevates the writing. Hiromi, Fred, and Fistpuncher in particular have really had some solid deliveries in my opinion that make okay dialogue, hilarious. I wasn't sold on Meli Povenmire as Gretel at first, but as the show has gone on I think she's improved, and really brings Gretel to life.

Overall the show is just a good time, and a sweet show about family and superhero shenanigans. The show is just fun to watch, simple, but effective and its a shame to see it go not only overlooked by people but looked at with disdain. It is definitely in part the shows fault for its weak start, I can't defend that. It's also not a particularly dramatic or emotional show, so if your looking for something like The Owl House or The Ghost and Molly McGee, you're not going to get it here. Though that isn't to say it doesn't have it's heartwarming moments. And it's not exactly Phineas and Ferb or Milo Murphy's Law either. But it's not fair to punish the show for something its not. Hamster and Gretel is delightful. So watch it cowards.

[raeflora]

Hi again! I would really love your opinion on something, (since you said that if I ever want you to write meta on something specific I can ask)

Do you think that most D**ir shippers are Dan fans rather than Blair l fans?

I am going forward with the rewatch and I have been reading stuff here andvon other platforms and I have noticed that most D**ir focus on what Dan feels or what Dan does for Blair, ignoring Blair's emotional and mental state at the time

Furthermore they seem to want to rid Blair from all the things that make her Blair (like her ruthlessness and scheming)

Idk... For me Blair wouldn't be Blair without the good and the bad. So it makes me wonder if these people just.... Don't like Blair very much.....

hi!! this is such a good question tysm and this is gonna be long so I hope u don't mind 🫶🏻 I think generally yes d*ir fans do seem to be more fans of dan than they are of blair, and I think there are a few reasons (that I've seen) for this. some of it comes from penn badgley fans as a lot of ppl who discovered him from you on netflix have then watched gg and like dan purely bc it's him. some of it also comes from this rehash of the idea that chuck's "bad" bc of the pilot and ignoring his development, and dan's "good" bc... he's not chuck lol.

ur right in that a lot of them don't want blair to be, well, herself. as I said in my other meta post there's a lot of focus on how blair's "better" when she's with dan. she doesn't scheme, she doesn't do anything, really, except from talk about movies and artists. they think that this watered down version of blair is her true self, even though if u watch the previous 4 and a half seasons it's obvious that's just not true. they want blair to be this girl who's content to spend her days visiting museums and waiting around for dan who she's clearly not. there's nothing wrong with her that dan needs to fix, and chuck didn't corrupt her. she can be interested in art and movies and still scheme and be mean. there's no mutual exclusivity to any of her personality traits, they can all co-exist and are what make her blair. like chuck said in s2 it's stupid to want her to be anything other than what she is.

also, ur so right again in that they ignore blair's mental state. she's obviously not in a good place in s5 and probably shouldn't jump into any relationship after her divorce. but dan pushes her into it. throughout the show she belittles him, insults him, makes fun of serena dating him, and generally just doesn't like him. while they're dating she still doesn't seem that keen on him. there's talk of how she's happier and smiling all the time with dan, but she's not. she effectively throws a tantrum being seen out with him and she can't celebrate his career, she instead undermines and upstages him. her behaviour doesn't seem like someone who's found her perfect match. it seems like someone who's in a confusing transitional period of her life and clings to the nearest man, like she did with carter in s2. if dan was this great perfect man he'd say he couldn't date her right away, let her sort herself out. but no, he forces her to be more than just friends bc, where she's so isolated from everyone else, if she loses him then she loses her only support system (the fact that she becomes so reliant on dan humphrey in the wake of her miscarriage is something for another post) so she kind of has to get into a relationship with him, even though she's not ready mentally.

in terms of liking blair, I think that most d*ir fans like their own version of blair, instead of the canon version. this might be connected to them often preferring dan, and then they just project traits onto blair that aren't hers. I don't know why they don't do this to serena btw, bc her relationship with dan is significantly more important, and she was far more willing to do "ordinary" things with him than blair. ultimately I think they want d*ir, and blair individually, to be something they're not and were never going to be. d*ir isn't sethmer or paceyjoey or whoever else they compare them to. blair isn't someone they can shape into fitting their ideas like dan does, she's her own distinct character and if they don't like her then they should admit it instead of mischaracterising her

[demonic0angel]

The Phantom gang try to determine what kind of supernatural creature Batman is, since he clearly couldn't possibly be human.

“Okay, so he’s definitely not a ghost, goblin, ogre, banshee, mutant, meta, or…. Actually, how are we sure that he’s not a meta? Or a mutant? It’s not possible to be that old and that springy, right?”

“Maybe he’s an alien,” Dani suggested. “Or genetically engineered? Like maybe he’s not a real human.”

“Ghost, goblin, banshee, mutant, alien…” Jazz muttered to herself. “If he heard this, I think he’d cry from the descriptions you used.”

“Can he even cry at all?” Dan muttered dryly. Jazz gave him a swat on the shoulder as he grinned.

“Ooh, maybe he’s an Immortal! Remember? We met them a few weeks ago at the diplomatic conference?” Danny said.

Dani shook his head. “Yeah, but they were like… all thin and skinny. Batman is like a tank. I still think he’s genetically engineered. What if he’s a clone like me?”

“Then who is the original?” Danny said, sounding horrified. They all wondered who was the original Batman, since the one they knew was grisly, buff, tall, and looked like the unholy offspring between a bat, a bear, a robot, and a ninja.

“I still think he’s human,” Dan said.

Jazz protested immediately. “But how can that be possible? He has to be over 40 years old with how long he’s been operating! And he’s still doing flips and jumping over roofs with who knows how many injuries from being a hero? If he’s human, then I’m the Queen of England!”

“Jazz, didn’t you actually become Queen of England before? In a couple of alternate timelines too?”

“Shhh, I’m trying to make a point,” Jazz said, waving a hand at Dani carelessly.

Dan shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

Danny perked up. “I got it! He’s like Skulker! But instead of being a ghost inside of a cyborg suit, he’s an alien! I’m a genius!”

“No, the fuck you’re not!” His siblings all denied at the same time with varying degrees of vulgarity, before a verbal and physical fight (that had the three Dannies all wrestling) broke out.

In a corner, outside of the window on the fifth floor of the building, Nightwing and Red Hood were muffling their laughter as they listened into this poor, crazy family’s spat over the species of Batman while they struggled to remain close to the wall. Everyone else was going to have a riot over this!

[gluffering]

12 16 and 19 for any media of your choice?

12: the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

As must as I want to point at an F/O that I don't see the fandom talk about as much.. let's be real most people on my F/O list aren't unpopular.

I know the question is essentially "character that is unpopular because people don't like them but you do" instead of "character who's unpopular because people don't KNOW THEM" but fuck it.

CYBERSIX THE WOMAN THAT YOU ARE. From the 1999 animated show that lasted like.. a single season before being canned. Idk shit about the comics and I intend to keep it that way, I read like 5 pages of it and decided that was enough for me LOL. Anyway she is so cool I love her.

I don't even remember the episodes super well other than concepts and stuff (the Youtube videos I used to watch this ages ago have DEFINITELY been removed by now) but I adore her.

During the day she has a male disguise who's called Adrian Seidelman and like

She's my bigender awakening. Side note but the theme song for this show is gorgeous, I had that shit on LOOP for a while.

16: you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Pretty much any trope, headcanon or characterization that prioritises the fantasy over the character themselves. I could probably be ok with almost any trope if it suits the characters and it's written well (with obvious exceptions).

Ships are included in this. ESPECIALLY when the existence of the ship makes it clear that the shipper fundamentally misunderstands one/both/all characters that are a part of it. Blade X Dan Heng, I'm looking at you. If people could just stop bullshitting all over the place just because characters have tension with each other, that would be so awesome (mostly not related to the Dan Heng x Blade slight, just something else about ships that bugs me).

19: you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

I was a little ashamed about my Meta Knight fixation when I first had it, but I am hashtag over that shit.

Technically not a part of the question, but there's a bit of guilt whenever I get into a Hoyoverse game or just games in general that clearly have colourism (at the minimum) issues. It's kind of hard not to be when gacha games are like "WE'RE RELEASING A NEW 5 STAR!!" and it's another fucker who's so white you'd think they were ILL.

Genshin is particularly egregious for this, because what do you mean you're using their cultures yet there isn't a single black playable character? Not even ONE?? Give me a fucking break. This is one of the reasons why I take long breaks when I play these games because it's honest to god distracting. Beyond the fact that it's racist as fuck, how do they not understand that having almost every character who's the same colour as my WALL breaks the immersion? What the balls.

..

.. also blonde men.

[myblackcamera]

Pilot Blog: Hot Manhwa Semes That Will Make You Ignore Red Flags!

Category: Yaoi Title: Hot Manhwa Semes That Will Make You Ignore Red Flags! Meta-Description: Is your fictional man a red flag? I've listed all the hot manhwa semes that will make you go colorblind for them! _______

Toxic Yaoi often gets a lot of hate. But if we’re being real, they’re pretty solid reads.

Some people read it for the plot. But the cultured fujoshi? They read it for the plot.

The plot in question:



[Alt Text: Ahn Jiwon from BJ Alex Volume 1 Manhwa Cover]

That’s right - we’re talking about a manhwa semes with a lethal face card and a weapon that can kill - if you know what I mean. 

Manhwa semes who say “I’ll be gentle” or “Just one more round” even though we all know it’s a lie!

But with a lot of manhwas out there, it can be difficult to find a well-written and well-drawn seme. And by that, we mean someone toxic but HOT!

Here are the most toxic but hot semes of the season! (Spoilers ahead!)

1. Joo Jaekyung from Jinx manhwa



[Alt Text: Joo Jaekyung Jinx Birthday Art]

Coming from the left corner wearing the biggest red flag, the most toxic seme Mother Mingwa has created so far - Joo Jaekyung! 

Some people dislike Jaekyung for very valid reasons, and many of them concern our adorable uke, Kim Dan. 

The most memorable scene has to be when he throws away the Hermes keychain Dan bought for his birthday.

Now, Hermes is by no means cheap. But Dan thought he’d show some appreciation to his employee by buying him something nice and useful for his birthday. He even worked part-time jobs and skipped sleep because of it!

But for all his faults, Jaekyung is one hell of a man. He’s hot, he’s rich, and he’s well endowed. Who wouldn’t fall for a guy like him? (Well, if we ignore his personality)

When Jaekyung does the bare minimum, the entire fandom cheers. Yes - that’s how down bad his simps are for him.

And the smut scenes? Absolute art. Whenever he and Kim Dan smash, every panel is filled with their love juice. And when we see Jaekyung naked? That's the moment the spirit of feminism leaves a fujoshi’s body. 

Jaekyung isn’t nearly as bad as the other semes out there, but he certainly can do better. Season one just ended, and almost everyone is looking forward to his redemption arc when the next season comes. 

You can read Jinx on Lezhin.

 2. Kang Woojin from Love Jinx

 [Kang Woojin Love Jinx Lezhin]

If this is your man right here… Let me just tell you, you are BRAVE.

Now, there’s no shame in admitting that you love this man. Because Woojin is the type to sacrifice the world to save you - and that’s no exaggeration. 

He’s obsessive and possessive, but he will never lay hands on you. He will stalk you and invade your privacy, but he will also cut off everyone in his life to be with you.

Will he go that far? Yes. Yes, he will. He burned down the mountain his grandfather was buried in as an act of love and revenge. After all, he was the reason Haekyung (the uke) avoided him like the plague!

There’s just something about Woojin that makes us love him despite being such a huge red flag. You can call everyone who loves him crazy - there’s no changing the fact that this man will do anything for your love.

Read Love Jinx on Lezhin.

3. Cain from Yours to Claim



[Cain Yours to Claim Official Art Royal]

You might be surprised to see Cain here instead of Yahwi. 

Cain treated Jooin with so much love and respect from start to end. He accepted whatever he was given and stepped in for him whenever Yawhi would do him wrong. 

He did all that only for Yawhi to be the endgame. Imagine what Team Cain fans felt.  

Given it was a bit predictable, almost everyone felt it was a bit unfair, and Cain deserved better.

Cain also felt the same because he turned into a red flag from being a green one just so he could have Jooin. But even though he was controlling and possessive over Jooin, he always had his best interest in mind. If we compare him to Yawhi, you can clearly tell he was the better option. 

As frustrating as this manhwa was, at the very least, Cain had his happy ending. But Team Cain will forever stand for the fact that Jooin lost a good man.

Read Yours to Claim on Lezhin. 

4. Jaehyuk from Can’t Think Straight

 

[Yoon Jaehyuk Can't Think Straight Lezhin]

Jaehyuk is an a-hole. But he is a funny a-hole. And this ironically made him an icon in the BL community. 

Women don’t lie when we say we love someone who is funny. Why else are we turning a blind eye towards Jaehyuk, a homophobic playboy?

If we’re being honest, his only red flag is being homophobic. What's really ironic is the fact that he eventually turns gay. He turns so gay that he can no longer get it up with a woman. At least, not after tasting sweet Garam’s (the uke) butt. 

If you’re reading the current updates, you (and all the other fujoshi) must love how he’s become an absolute puppy for Garam. Cleaning the dorm for him, bringing him food, and, most especially, selling his stuff to buy a home for him. 

He’s not even boasting to Garam about it like he usually does!

The latest chapters made him even more lovable in our eyes. His redemption arc is ongoing, but we cannot wait to see how his character grows even more!

Read Can’t Think Straight on Lezhin.

5. Seungho from Painter of the Night



[Yoon Seungho in a bath from Painter of the Night - Byeonduck]

We all have a good reason to fear Seungho. Nakyum (the uke) does too. But if evil, why hot?

Seungho is a well-known sodomizer, and he kills whomever he feels like killing. Talk back to him? You die. Refuse his commands? You die. Well, you get the point. 

This is why Nakyum, despite being a painter, allowed Seungho to make advances towards him. And thank god he did. If not, we wouldn’t have found out how big Seungho's you know what was.

Now Seungho had a very valid reason for being who he was: daddy issues. That’s right, folks - he’s just like the rest of us.

Most people think Seungho’s backstory is a cop-out for the way he’s treated his bed partners (including Nakyum) in the past. After all, this is a common trope BL writers pull out whenever they have an irredeemable seme. 

But in Seungho’s case, this was well executed. It did not feel forced. Rather, it gave us a different perspective of his character. He was homicidal but also loving towards Nakyum. 

It’s no wonder why the “I can fix him!” girlies love this man. Not only was he willing to change for love, but he was also willing to sacrifice his life for Nakyum. 

Read Painter of the Night on Lezhin.

6. Ilay Riegrow from Passion



[Ilay Riegrow wearing a uniform]

If you like semes that will literally chase you to the ends of the earth, look no further. Ilay will find you no matter where you go. 

It’s as scary as it is arousing. It’s 'scarousing'. 

Taeui (uke) and the other Passion characters have called him a psychopath multiple times. With his track record of “accidentally” killing his subordinates? The claim isn’t too far-fetched.

By no means is Ilay excused for all his crimes. In fact, everyone acknowledges it. But a fujoshi is a lot simpler than you think. You see hot yandere, you simp. Crimes and all forgiven. 

With that attitude of his, it’s no wonder Taeui took revenge on him and ran away. He even changed his name and went as far as living in his future brother-in-law’s house.

But Ilay had a very logical plan in mind. He burns down an entire mountain. That’s right, people - we have another mountain-burning psychopath in our hands. Isn’t that hot? No pun intended. 

Read Passion on TappyToon.

7. Zhenya from Codename Anastasia



[Zhenya eating an orange — from Codename Anastasia Official Art]

If there’s any word that best describes Zhenya, it’s that he’s an absolute menace. 

This blondie looks like an angel but is actually the devil in disguise. (And if you haven’t read the novel and the manhwa, I suggest you skip reading this section.)

Still here? Well, here it goes:

He has assaulted him, kidnapped him, left him to die, and attempted to add his name to St. Peter's book. The worst part? He was behind Taekjoo's mom's death. 

So why are people still rooting for him despite all this? It’s because he has what we call pretty privilege. 

Look at the Tiktok edits. This man has over 359.3 million views! Almost all of these are thirst traps, and I'm not gonna lie; they’re mesmerizing. 

Does this man deserve the worst coming to him for what he did to Taekjoo? Yes. But is he also pretty? Definitely. 

But just as a friendly reminder to all the colorblind ladies: always keep these red flag acceptance in fiction only. After all, our preferences in fictional men do not necessarily reflect our taste in real life.

It's kind of like how we read Game of Thrones. Sure, we may root for the villains sometimes, but does that mean we condone their behavior in real life? Absolutely not. 

Read Codename Anastasia on TappyToon.

Did we miss out on your favorite manhwa seme? You can share more about who deserves to be on this list at the Otaku Community! Get to meet your fellow fujoshis and share your manhwa recommendations!

[bwabbitv3s]

Yes, he just “accidentally” made a super weapon very much like the one the hero’s evil nemesis that wants to kill them is making. Only his is done first and giving them a low stakes practice run of exactly the skills they need to stop the nemesis version. Which will be easy and not a surprise anymore.

~How it starts is an accident. Really the first time was a fluke that later spawned an idea.~

Danny trying to be retired from hero stuff in this new dimension, but getting the itch to still do something. You can only go so long without a good fight or spar. He just does not really want to go through the trouble of joining a meta gym with all the background checks needed to keep the dangerous people out.

Danny also does not want to admit to his family or friends that they were right and he does need to visit more often. Lastly he really can't lose the bet with Dan about how he could not last a year without becoming a hero again. He really does want to get a good aerospace career here and he is already part way through his first semester.

He ends up channeling his parents and makes his own sparing partner. Just one itty bitty robot to spar with. Nothing too serious just strong enough to get a good workout in his ghost form. He even made sure to put a emergency stop switch on it! The robot is great and getting really good at fighting with each improvement to the coding he has been tweaking after fights. It is just what he needs to burn off energy. Only the Fenton luck eventually strikes.

After one session Danny finishes sparing and turns back human before turning it off and into rest mode like normal. Robot does not compute that the opponent is still there and the spar has stopped. As the ghost signature of a super powered individual has dissipated. It had not been programed to fight humans as a precaution. The robot used to Danny turning intangible and means that the Opponent must be hiding to do a sneak attack. They must search out for them to keep the spar going! It quickly rushes off to search for where the opponent has gone.

Danny turns round to the robot gone. Along with a very obviously off its hinges door that he swore had been locked.

Danny: Oh no. Music station in background stops and a reporter starts speaking: This just in. A killer robot has started to tear apart the city! Danny: No. It can't be my robot they are a sparing robot not a killer robot! Must be another robot one of the villains set to hunt down the local hero. Reporter: The robot appears to be impervious to officers weapons who have tried stopping it.

Danny is able to catch up to the fight after the local hero has already been fighting for a while. Really he would have been there faster but he kept having to go around police cordons and avoid broken streets. Thank the Ancients that he did all those modification on his motorcycle. He arrives just in time to see the robot tanking hits from the hero and start shouting out directions of where the shut off is.

The reporters keeping track of the fight right away split off a camera to start filming the guy on the supped up bike that looks a lot like the robot. Who in a pleasant surprise instead of joining in the attack starts they instead start shouting out how to stop the robot.

Danny: I am so sorry! I don't know what went wrong. It has never gone looking for others to fight!

The robot throws the hero over their shoulder as they try to wrestle them into submission.

Danny: The emergency shut off it on the back shoulder! It is under the plating there.

The fight ends fairly quickly after that. Unfortunately the hero and accidental evil robot creator is just out of range to clearly hear on the mics. Only a few bits come through and the robot creator is still wearing their helmet making it a bit hard to read them.

Danny feels a bit down for the next week after the accidental evil robot event. He almost gives in and start the mountain of paperwork for the meta gym. Then a real killer robot start attacking the city and unlike his it does not pull any punches.

Out of town hero's get called in to rescue people it is that bad right off the bat. Well for the ten minutes until the hero is freed up by this and can fight the robot instead of save people. Then it is over within moments as they go straight into ripping off armour plates before seeming to find what they were looking for and smash something. Turns out yeah, most dangerous robots have some kind of emergency stop. Even the ones by crazy villains need something to stop it rampaging if it goes off too soon. They just put a plate over it so it can't be seen.

Maybe it does not need to stop making sparing robots. Just make sure that if they do get out when stopping them they can be useful test runs for hero's. Not that he plans on them breaking out again at all! Plus it would mean he can really experiment with some of the more crazy ideas he wanted to try fighting but was worried about.

Danny a Rogue in one of DC city, but not the "I'm gonna kill everyone cause' I HATE LIFE !!!" no, he's "Oops, call the hero I accidentaly made a superweapon that I cannot stop (for the third time this week) !"

The Super Hero doesn't know what to do with him and you cann see Danny cheereing from a stand while the hero is battling the thing in a désolation landscape

[penuntutilmudotnet]

🤔Bolehkah Menarik Makmum Sebelah Utk Rapatkan Saf? - Dr. Maza🤔#2019 #S_DR._MAZA "It looks like you're working on a blog post for your WordPress site about whether it is permissible to pull a person next to you in the prayer line (saf) to align the rows, based on a discussion by Dr. Maza. Here are a few suggestions to enhance the post: ### Title and Meta Description - **Title**: Make sure your title is clear and engaging. For instance, "Bolehkah Menarik Makmum Sebelah Utk Rapatkan Saf? Penjelasan Dr. Maza". - **Meta Description**: Include a brief summary of the content that answers the question or highlights key points. For example: "Ketahui pandangan Dr. Maza mengenai hukum menarik makmum sebelah untuk merapatkan saf dalam solat. Baca penjelasan dan hadis yang berkaitan." ### SEO Improvements 1. **Focus Keyphrase**: Your current keyphrase is "Bolehkah Menarik Makmum Sebelah Utk Rapatkan Saf? - Dr. Maza". Consider using a shorter keyphrase like "Menarik Makmum Sebelah" to improve readability and SEO. 2. **Internal Linking**: Link to other related articles on your site to enhance the user experience and SEO. 3. **Content Enhancements**: - **Introduction**: Start with a brief introduction to the topic and why it's relevant. - **Hadith and Evidence**: Clearly present the hadith or evidence from Dr. Maza that supports the discussion. - **Conclusion**: Summarize the key points and offer a clear answer to the question. ### Readability - **Clarity**: Ensure the language is straightforward and accessible. Use subheadings to break down the content. - **Engagement**: Add relevant images or infographics if possible. This can help in engaging the readers more effectively. ### Additional Tips - **Featured Image**: Choose an appropriate image that relates to the topic. If you haven’t added one yet, you might want to do so. - **Social Sharing**: Customize the message for social media if you plan to share this post on platforms like Facebook. A good message might be: "Adakah dibenarkan menarik makmum di sebelah untuk merapatkan saf dalam solat? Baca pandangan Dr. Maza dalam artikel terbaru kami." Let me know if you need any more help with the content or any other aspects of your WordPress post!..." https://penuntutilmu.net/soal-jawab-pt/bolehkah-menarik-makmum-sebelah-utk-rapatkan-saf-dr-maza/?feed_id=1279&_unique_id=66e9e14a329eb Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/penuntutilmu.net/ Telegram Channel: https://t.me/PenuntutIlmuDotNet Thread: https://www.threads.net/@penuntutilmudotnet

[easygoodads]

Facebook deliberately drains the batteries of your smartphones

A persistent rumor claims that the Facebook and Facebook Messenger applications drain the battery of cell phones where they are installed. George Hayward, a former Facebook data scientist , revealed that Facebook could actually secretly drain the batteries of its users' phones for specific purposes.

The New York Post reports that this method, called "", allows companies to drain batteries to test certain features of an application or to observe the loading of an image. Hayward was fired by Meta, Facebook's parent company, after refusing to participate in these tests . He told the Post: “I told my manager it could hurt someone, and she said by hurting a few we could help the many. Any self-respecting data scientist knows not to harm people. »

Risks and consequences

Hayward, who was fired in November, first filed suit against the company in Manhattan federal court. The 33-year-old worked on Meta's Facebook Messenger app, allowing users to send each other text messages, make phone calls and video calls. Dan Kaiser, Hayward's lawyer, pointed out that draining smartphone batteries can put users in danger, especially "in situations where they need to communicate with other people, including the police or other emergency services . »

Meta's questionable practices

The complaint was withdrawn because Meta's terms of employment required Hayward to litigate his case in arbitration. Kaiser argues that most people are unaware that Facebook and other social media companies can intentionally drain their battery. Commenting on this practice, the lawyer added: “It is clearly illegal. It's disgusting that my phone battery can be tampered with by anyone. »

An ethical choice

Hired in 2019 with a six-figure annual salary, Hayward refused to comply with this request from Meta . “I refused to take this test. It turns out that telling your boss, 'No, it's illegal,' doesn't go down very well,” he said. At one point during his employment with Meta, the company gave him an internal training document titled “How to Perform Thoughtful Negative Tests.” This document included examples of these tests, and after reading it, Hayward concluded that Facebook had already used them. “I have never seen such a horrible document in my entire career,” he added.

This testimony reveals worrying practices in the technology industry , where the needs of businesses sometimes seem to take precedence over the security and well-being of users. In the meantime, Facebook and Messenger users should monitor the impact of these apps on their batteries.

[missmarthanightingale]

okay so my read on dan's whole interaction with this relationship between his friends is like. from his perspective he's just spent actual years watching yaz be in love with the absent doctor, & like, he's seen the ugly parts of it too, the way that yaz absolutely clings to this idea, this wild hope that she'll see the doctor again & that's sometimes the only thing that makes all of this worth it, so i feel like he knows that these feelings run deep, & to a degree that could most certainly be considered, uh, less than healthy. like this is not some harmless crush this is obviously a deeply important relationship for her

& then he spends like, a week with the both of them together & it rapidly becomes extremely clear that a) yaz hasn't ever said out loud that she has these feelings b) she is under the impression that no one else knows c) it is extremely unlikely that the doctor does not know but she's acting like she doesn't d) this situation is not healthy for yaz in the long run

so dan, as a reasonably emotionally mature older person & yaz's friend, has now set himself this mission of trying to help her out of this mess. starts by getting her to confront & acknowledge her own feelings & being supportive about it, as any good friend would, & then talking to the other party & going "hey. this girl is in love with you & we both know you know. you can't just pretend that it isn't happening, bc that is going to hurt her in the long run. stop ignoring this"

so despite the phrasing used, i don't think this is at all a middle school situation of "omg my friend likes you so you two should totally get together!!" i think this is a very deliberate effort on his part to get these two to accept the situation they're in & have a conversation about it, whatever the outcome of that conversation may be. he just wants them to communicate. like adults