#I actually like him a whole lot—just not in any comic I’ve read so far.

[msfcatlover]

I have been thinking so much about Jean-Paul Valley in my Reverse!Robins AU. Specifically, how he’d react to Steph’s return.

Because, listen: here is a man who had his autonomy stripped from him. Had his identity stripped from him. By the cult his father secretly raised him to serve, while letting Jean-Paul think he was having a normal childhood (and he did. That is one of the things I like about JPV as a character; in the original “Azrael: Fallen Angel” & “Knightfall” stories, he had a perfectly normal childhood… aside from the hypnotic brainwashing implanted while he slept.) This guy who was tricked into murdering several people, when he never, ever wanted that.

He gets saved by the Bats. And they help him. They really, genuinely help him, and sure, Duke & Damian are still teenagers (JPV’s like… 20-22 at this point in my mind,) but they’re also his anchors to reality. Damian, who also was raised to be a weapon by someone he should’ve been able to trust. Damian, who has experience with cults & rebuilding your identity after losing everything. Damian, who’s basically JPV’s “Brainwashed Cult Assassins Anonymous” sponsor. Duke, who also had a normal childhood. Duke, who knows Gotham like only a kid who was raised in its heart can. Duke, who agrees that this whole situation is certifiably fucked, but never hesitates to help Jean-Paul potentially recover a lost memory or find a new one, because it’s not just about who Jean-Paul was before the cult of St Dumas got their hands on him, it’s about remembering that he’s a living human being right now.

They take him in. They save him. They help him save himself. Bruce offers to pay for him to go back to college, for fuck’s sake!

They gave him his life back.

Jean-Paul can never, ever repay them. They tell him they don’t need it, but he wants to and he can’t. He feels so selfish to take & take without giving back, but how do you pay someone back for all that?

So his couch is always open to them, whenever they want. He’ll be their ally, their friend, their confessor, their confidant, their homework editor if need be. And when newer batkids join, well, Jean-Paul would’ve done his best anyway, but the fact he’s entrusted with Duke & Damian’s apprentices is just. It’s something else. And it’s hardly a hardship—the kids are a delight. Obnoxious, sure, and messy, and pushy, and constantly interrupting, and sometimes they break his stuff, and always they eat all his food, but Jean-Paul has more civilian friends now, and they tell him that’s just what kids are like.

What matters is that he loves them. He loves them because Duke & Damian love them, and then he loves them for being them.

And then. Stephanie. Dies. (Because Jean-Paul is broken, he’s a sinner, he can never make up for what he’s done, what he is, and he can never have nice things. Because Steph was sunshine & rage & stubbornness, because she joked that “We blondes have to stick together!” Because no one was there for her when it mattered most. This has to be punishment, right? He got too close, and Steph paid the price.) (His therapist says he’s being irrational again, but it doesn’t feel irrational. They say they need to adjust his medications. Jean-Paul knows better than to trust himself, but he can trust in Bruce to make sure the therapist is safe, so Jean-Paul doesn’t fight it. He’s not happy, but he doesn’t fight it. Because if he starts hallucinating again, he knows it won’t just be his father hovering over him, demanding to know why Azrael refused to avenge them. So yeah, sure, adjust the meds if you think it’s needed—he doesn’t miss Steph that badly. Yet.)

And then. Steph. Comes. Back.

She’s not dead. She’s not dead, but she’s different, she’s so very, very different. Damian says she fights like she spent time with the LoA, that same cult that raised Damian which he’s told Jean-Paul so much about over the years. Training like that takes time, but it’s been 6yrs, and she’s back, risen & gifted back to them! And she’s killing, but Jean-Paul’s killed before, and he’s been kidnapped by a cult before, and he thinks he knows how this goes. Death Mask isn’t Azrael, but he thinks it’s close enough.

And. And. And. He can save her. Because he knows what to do now, after nearly a decade in recovery. He can make up for his sins, he can bring her home again, and maybe, finally, he’ll have finally managed to pay them all back! He can give Steph her self back to make up for—(“You didn’t kill Stephanie,” his therapist reminds him, “you never laid a finger on her. Remember? You didn’t hurt her. It’s not your fault.” But it feels like it is, it feels like it, he can’t shake the idea that he did)—and he can give the Bats their sister back to make up for all that they’ve given him over all this time! A life for a life, and yes! This feels right!

He cooks up scenarios, imagines Steph reaching out in a moment of lucidity, or showing up injured on his doorstep guided by muscle memory, or running into her on the street or in a cafe and the look of alarm & recognition in her eyes as she—like he did, still does occasionally—knows that she knows him but can’t remember. He imagines the conversations they could have, all the different variations, and knows that it will take time, but patience is a virtue and Jean-Paul’s gotten rather good at it. He can be her anchor.

He just needs to figure out how to start.

(And meanwhile, Steph’s on the other side of Gotham like, “Why are my ears burning, and why do I feel like I’m staring down a tsunami-level wave of second-hand embarrassment right now?”)

[bonus-links]

I got the notification the comic updated this morning like RIGHT as I had to start working! Needless to say, my excitement got me through the day (and had such good payoff omgg)! Thank you for sharing your work with the world, it brings such joy to so many people!

But directors commentary? 👀 I gotta say I love it equally as much as each update!

🎶two months without uploading they come back with a side conversation that takes up a whole update🎶 jokes aside uh. most of the rest of this chapter is going to be like this. sorry. bonus links is an excuse to have link legend of zelda philosophize at himself for 1000 pages probably at this rate

I rewrote this conversation a BUNCH. there are versions of it that are much longer, where they actually talk a bit abt the master sword— I really liked those versions, but I decided to save some of that for later. my goal was to create a convo where they both are sort of dancing around what they mean, but they come to an understanding anyway. I think Slate and Wake have a lot in common that they could bond abt.

Here’s an important note about Slate’s character: he does not lie. he says what he means. He will, however, prolifically dodge ur questions lolol

some notes from the script I left for myself abt Wake’s expressions, hope I was able to capture them lolol

Wolf playing with the kids! This was an important detail for me to include lolol tho I nearly left it out bc I was having trouble staging this update. I wanted to build more of a connection between him playing w the kids on the island and him playing with the kids in Ordon, but there’s just not time, and the last update already kind of covered that emotion. Wolf is a really quiet guy, so I’ve been doing my best to build up his character in the bg even if he hasn’t gotten center stage yet. A lot of ppl commented on how this is the happiest we’ve seen him so far, and that was the intention!

Just wanted to call attention to these cute lil faces.

Loft continuing his streak of falling asleep at every party he’s ever been to. alas, no partners to carry him home this time :-(

Lore abt the triforce mark has been inconsistent from game to game. Like usual, I’m sort of cobbling together my own interpretation from ideas I like— so, in this instance, the triforce mark isn’t just from having at one point handled the triforce or possessed a piece of it, and not everyone has it.

I am obsessed w the hero of time statue in wind waker. It is such a striking image, and that section of the game is one of my favorites from any Zelda game. I am also obsessed w how Wind Waker approaches itself as the aftermath of oot. I am really excited to put Wake and Mask in the same room lolol. as a side note, statues really are becoming a motif in this comic huh

That’s abt all I’ve got for now! Thanks for reading!! I really hope the chapter has been enjoyable so far. We’ve got a little while left to go, despite my best efforts to keep this chapter short 😩

[jesncin]

Hi! I’ve been reading Hellblazer lately, and I was wondering if you had any thoughts regarding John’s relationships in the comic? Either romantic, platonic, or familial (I know you’ve already talked a lot about Goldie especially, but I’d love to hear your thoughts about Cheryl and Gemma, too!)

My ghost sensitive friends can see ghosts in photos so this works actually. Tony Masters was not invited to the family photo because Johnstantine really doesn't want a photo of or with him haha.

I'm only about a hundred issues into Hellblazer but I love Cheryl and Gemma! I like that John cares for his sister and niece to such a point that if he learns his niece is in trouble he'd drop everything to save her even when he's about to get funky-style with someone. I find his relationship with these two just so endearing. They're a nice break from his other abusive family members. Other opinions on John's romantic partners under the cut!

Emma: excellent. I hope she keeps haunting John forever.

Zed: I think she's fun and a great love interest. Mysterious, cunning and tragic in a way that reinforces Hellblazer themes really well. I don't really like her return with that sort of culty following afterwards, just in terms of vibes. Idk I don't trust that brand of white woman haha.

Marj: Also a great love interest! I like how she contrasts Zed as the more down to earth hippie one. While I think she's sweet, I do agree with John's later assessment that they're not a fit realistically. Somehow I still don't trust this white woman. Just a vibe.

Kit: Icon. Queen. She should get to dump John and break his heart as many times as she wants.

Sarah: You deserved better, narratively. The minute this character showed up I took a long break from reading Hellblazer cuz I knew she was going to be Disposable Black Love Interest and yep, she was. John spent his whole time with her fixated on his ex-gf Helen, instead. The only saving grace is at least Sarah dumped John before meeting a worse fate by sticking around.

Chas (lmao): never did anything wrong and should be allowed to beat up John whenever he wants.

(Honorable mention since I'm also reading Spurrier's Hellblazer run too) Liza Ikumelo: I love her as a tragic mom to Noah Ikumelo and I like that she and John had a fling resulting in the tragedy that is John being an absent dad to Noah's younger years. Did she have to be a cop though. Spurrier is so much more critical of american cops in comparison for some reason >_>

Those are my thoughts so far!

[edgy-ella]

IDW SONIC READERS, PLEASE READ THIS!!!!

I am begging you. On my hands and knees. Begging. More so than anything else I’ve asked of this fandom.

Please please buy the Fang miniseries when it comes out

Don’t just read it. Buy it. I will admit that I’m very guilty of reading through a lot of IDW Sonic through…less than legal means, and I know I’m not alone in that regard. But I think it’s really important that for this miniseries in particular, you actually go out and buy the damn thing. Show your support with your dollar.

Really think about it for a second—they gave Fang his own miniseries. Fang! An underutilized, underrated fan favorite for sure, but hardly a mainstay of the series. I’m sure that this was at least somewhat prompted by Superstars, where Fang is a major antagonist…but Bean and Bark weren’t in that game, and it already received its own online promo comic prior to the game’s release (notably, with Fang as the star).

Classic Sonic stories have also exclusively been relegated to one-shots in IDW, not a full on miniseries like what Fang is getting. Basically all of the IDW Sonic miniseries we’ve gotten so far have been plot relevant side stories to the main IDW comic that focus on side characters with little to no involvement from Sonic himself. Tangle and Whisper, Bad Guys, Impostor Syndrome…the only odd man out besides this Fang miniseries is Scrapnik Island.

Really think about it for a second. FANG is getting his own focus comic BEFORE KNUCKLES.

And that’s why it’s so important that we buy it.

I think Sega is using this comic to test the waters to see if people like Fang and want to see him in more future projects—be it comics, games, or even cartoons. But there’s more to it than just that.

See, Superstars hasn’t been doing that great. I know I said in an earlier post that people seemed to like it, but I retract that statement. It was damned by faint praise at launch, and now most of the discussion I’ve seen surrounding the game revolves around its flaws (chief among them being the middling OST and that the Steam version stealth installs an Epic Games service along with the game). No sales numbers have been projected as of writing, but it’s definitely been beaten out by Mario Wonder and Spider-Man 2.

So, Classic Sonic games aren’t doing too hot right now (I’m sure that many modern fans are jumping for joy at the prospect). But the classic characters are.

People really like the extended classic Sonic cast, just as much as they love the extended modern cast. From my experience, the two fan favorites are Mighty and Fang. Fang stands out to me in particular for a couple reasons: people were really upset that Sega specifically said no to Fang, Bark and Bean coming back after Ian snuck in a reference to them in IDW Sonic #3 (using their old team name from Archie, the Hooligans), and the fanmade 16-bit remake of Triple Trouble, Fang’s debut game, received private praise from many members of Sega and Sonic Team. People like Fang and the media he’s in, and Sega is starting to take notice. That’s why we’re getting this miniseries.

That’s why it’s so important that the miniseries sells well. If the big boys at Sega and Sonic Team see Superstars’ iffy reception but see Fang’s comic sell above expectations, then Sega will want to continue to use Fang (and potentially other “classic” Sonic characters as well) in more narrative driven projects. That means modern Sonic.

“But Sega won’t let any classic Sonic character into a modern Sonic project!” I hear you thinking. And to that I say, so? Sega changes its mind all the time. Remember that whole two worlds nonsense? That was thrown out with in Tailstube. Characters debuting in Boom and the comics were previously barred from the mainline games, but they’ve broken that “rule” in both Speed Battle and Frontiers. Hell, they’ve even been talked out of some of their sillier comic mandates, like characters not being able to wear different clothing.

For all their flaws, Sega does listen, and money speaks louder than anything. If this miniseries fails, Sega will just assume that people aren’t hot on Fang or the extended classic cast anymore and throw them back in the bar. But if the comic sells well, then Sega might take it as a sign that, hey, people like this character (and his two lackeys), we should put him in projects that fans are more interested in. Mighty and Ray probably wouldn’t be too far behind, especially given Mania’s success. Whether that means comics or games, modern or classic, who knows. What’s important is that it sends the right message to Sega, and they will listen to their consumers. That means us. If we don’t support this miniseries now, we might have to wait another thirty years for another chance.

[bloggingboutburgers]

I admire you so much for being able to share your experiences as an aro ace. It’s so funny, because most of my community knows I’m aro ace, but like, I’m so scared of sharing my personal experience and I think it’s because of how much it hurts to think of that part of my life.

The number of years I spent thinking I was broken because I didn’t feel any kind of attraction to others, forcing myself to date in the hopes that it would “just click” like people kept telling me, getting stressed and mentally distraught when I tried to force myself to show any sort of affection… It’s a hard thing for me to relive a lot of that. I very distinctly remember trying to kiss a guy I was dating that I didn’t want to kiss, but felt I needed to. I spiraled into such a bad panic attack that I drove two hours in a terrible blizzard just so I could get back home to what I felt was a safe place.

I think the hardest part for me was people not understanding my aro ace-ness. The difficulties of simply having a male friend around and having to listen to people constantly ask me if I have a crush on them, then acting as if I’m being coy when I say no (even though there’s no indication of that in my voice). I started dreading inviting my friend to events for that specific reason.

When I did try to date, all it did was add more stress to my life. I was constantly expected to be spending every free moment I had with these guys, and I didn’t want to do that. I don’t think it clicked with my family until I broke down in a hysterical sob one day because of how much guilt-tripping was being done to me when I told them I didn’t want to hang out with him.

And the icing on the cake… the number of times I’ve been told to find a partner because “they don’t want me to reach 50 and be alone and miserable.” To be told that romance is the only way you’ll find true happiness… it’s painful. To be told that the things that bring you joy are not true happiness, that your platonic relationships mean nothing in the grand scheme of things… it hurts far more than anyone realizes.

I should probably stop here, ‘cause I’m getting all choked up, but I guess the bottom line is, thank you so much for sharing your experience and making me feel validated. It means so much to me. Keep being awesome, my friend 💕

I'm so sorry for all the hardships... I recognize myself so much in a lot of what you're sharing. I hate in particular that people act like "ending up alone and miserable" is 100% on you, like THEY don't have a say in that and a role to play in that and they're not basically actively contributing to that alienation RIGHT NOW. If people cared about anything beyond a sexual or romantic partner and kids, if people remembered that friendship is a thing and it's a thing that oughta matter, that would solve the problem much better than forcing everyone to conform against their will.

The only reason I feel comfortable enough to say I'm aroace at this point is because one day when I was 21, a girl I told it to just replied "Oh, okay", which was the first time in my life I ever got a reply like this and not a slew of questions or dismissal. That made my brain explode. In a good way. I'll always be grateful for her, she probably will never know how much. She opened up the door for me to be vocal about myself more confidently and build the invaluable support system of friends, and my partner, and my family, that I have today, and that in turn works as a virtuous circle.

And the only reason I feel comfortable sharing it in the form of comics now is because I did once in 2022 during asexual awareness week just to try some vent art for fun, and people didn't ignore it, or didn't dismiss it, but actually reacted positively to it. That encouraged me to make more. The reason I'm this comfortable and vocal about it online today is thanks to you guys here reading this. Having a positive reaction to what IS pretty much vent art disguised as comedy also shows me I'm not alone. This whole thing is mutual. So thank YOU, and thanks to anyone reading my stuff, for also making me feel validated.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 13/05

@garnetduodecim asked: I always assumed jack spent the first 4 hours in the troll session, before destroying prospit, destroying Aradiabots, there were A LOT of them.

Maybe one of the Aradiabots got in a lucky shot, and was able to tag him with a weaker, non-God Tier variant of her freeze ability. That'd certainly at least delay him.

@morganwick asked: So, you were talking about Aradia "injuring" Vriska (post/704357246751113217) and comparing Vriska to a fairy godmother character (post/722100305374986240)?

@manorinthewoods asked: Serendipity Gospels is by Tamsyn Muir??? Really? Um, that's… hoo. That was one of the fanfics that I didn't end up liking. Might need to revisit that. Side note: 'Doc Scratch's School for Supernaturally Gifted Adolescents' feels more like something Locked Tomb-esque to me. So that's really… ah. ~LOSS (3/5/24)

I do wonder how similar the Gospels are to TLT's writing style.

Actually, can anyone confirm at what point the fic will be safe to read? I could just wait until I'm reading panels from after its publication date, but if I can check it out before, I will.

@abysswarlock asked: Ooh I’ve had this hypothesis for a while now but you just said something that made me lock in my guess that your classpect is Prince of Doom

The classpect wheel continues to turn!

I'm married to Doom for at least one of my 'sonas, but my Class is still up in the air, since we know even less about them than aspects.

@manorinthewoods asked: As a sort of Part 2 to that sylladex comment - how do you think the Sylladex works? Do you think that Homestuck will go into more detail about Sylladices, or do you think they'll fade into the background as different aspects of the magic system come to the fore? ~LOSS (24/4/24)

I think the latter is a lot more likely. Most aspects (lol) of Homestuck's magic system are there to serve the story first and foremost. As much as I'd love the comic to turn into a treatise on Sburb deeplore, it really doesn't feel like something Hussie would be interested in doing.

The story won't really suffer without, say, a detailed explanation of every facet of alchemy - I just really like speculating, because I'm all about shit like that.

@heliotropopause asked: What are your thoughts on Homestuck's translation convention(s)? As an example, take page 2251, line "Arrivederci, Megido.": Is she writing in something close enough to Earth English to scan as such to the reader, no translation necessary? Is Vriska saying a word in Troll Italian, which gets translated to Earth Italian? Is she expressing a sentiment in her usual language that's best translated as the word "arrivederci" as it's used in English? Has Doc Scratch secretly been translating all cross-species communication we've seen so far?

Vriska's arrivederci seems diegetic to me. If we inherited English from Alternia, it makes sense that some of our other languages might come from there too.

tl;dr: Troll Italy is real 🇮🇹

Anonymous asked: im not one to dip my toes into The Vriscourse but this one piece of analysis i really liked is that vriska is jealous of tavros, that hes had a much easier life compared to her and that hes allowed to be more of a wimp while she has to be the toughest fuck alive or else shell die

It's only one piece of the Vriska-Tavros puzzle, but it's an important one. She'll refuse to acknowledge it to the end, though, because the idea of being jealous of Tavros is disgusting to her.

@obscureaeguran asked: Are there any current theories of yours that you want to be wrong about?

Confident as I am in my Vriska death theory, I don't actually want to be right.

I really like Vriska's character, and I want to see her grow past the worldview that's preventing her from finding peace. I just don't think that's likely, given her current trajectory.

Anonymous asked: 'In what universe are 13-year-olds the people most qualified to make universes?' well per the beta version of homestuck (when hussie wanted to make the whole thing in flash before deciding against it) they were all going to be 10 instead, i think this is the much better option!

How young can we go, anyway?

AU where the Homestuck Babies aren't sent to Earth at all, and just start playing immediately.

@manorinthewoods asked: Have you played Deltarune? ~LOSS (9/4/24)

I have! I was actually replaying it on day one of the liveblog - hence the several references I made to it at the time. That feels forever ago, now.

@bladekindeyewear asked: Jade changed pretty drastically as a person after her dreamself died, if you think about it— demanding Feferi stop using her quirk in chat, standing up to the trolls for the first time, getting angry, to such an extent that Karkat was so surprised that it turned his opinion of her around completely in a single conversation. Even forcing a password system to keep talks linear instead of using cloud visions to do everything out of order. This doesn’t just feel to me like dream Jade being a “different individual”, it also feels like a metaphorical confrontation between her NEW self and her OLD self…

I think it's both.

Jade's been through a lot in the last couple of hours, and she really isn't the same girl who died on Prospit.

Being an oracle of Skaia's visions led to disaster. They showed her that John's Dream Self would awaken, leading her to believe she was finally going to meet him, but neglected to mention that she'd die the moment he opened his eyes - or that Prospit would die alongside her.

As a result, the new Jade seems to have made a decision to completely reject all prophetic information. She'll supply the minimum possible intel to her past self, and no more.

It's clear her Dream Self's death was a catalyst for a pretty dramatic shift in her worldview. She's angry - at the trolls, at herself, and at the world that betrayed her trust. She's tired of being jerked around, and her tumultuous emotions are making her rather testy. Basically, she's sick of all the bullshit, and she won't take it from anyone anymore.

Jadesprite has experienced the same catalyst, and has also come to mistrust the clouds, but for different reasons.

Jade rejects prophecies, in part, because she doesn't want to be deceived - but Jadesprite rejects them out of sheer hopelessness. She just doesn't care anymore.

They both have the same trauma, but they're dealing with it in very different ways - and at this point, I really do consider them to be different people.

And then on a metaphorical level, Jadesprite represents the 'silly', absent-minded childhood self that got Jade into this mess.

I think this taunt from Karkat hit very, very close to home for her, and I'm sure she associates the traits he described with her idyllic days on Prospit. It's part of why Dream Jade is such a perfect target for her fury.

@spyril4132 asked: i beg to differ on the entry item similarities only applying to prospit. iirc, rose shatters a bottle, and dave hatches an egg; both involve breaking open some sort of "shell", and neither are associated with a larger object, which could be seen as similar types of items. (while jade does break a piñata, she does so by shooting it, not by splitting it apart)

It's true that Rose and Dave's object's have some physical similarities, but John and Jade are both summoning the same tree, which feels like a much stronger connection.

Rose and Dave's entry cards also summoned auxiliary items, but they were different - a cabinet and bird, respectively. From where I'm sitting, the link between the two Prospit items does seem unique.

@skelekingfeddy asked: what herptiles would sally and sahlee have as their consorts? i feel like a monitor lizard would fit for one of them…maybe losas has like, turtle or tortoise consorts, what with their long-livedness and the wise sagely vibe and all.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing for Sahlee. Let's say they're Galápagos tortoises, because the Sage gives me Oogway vibes.

For Sally's Consorts, I'm going to get really funky and say they're a type of pterosaur.

@sparten4ever92 asked: The HS version of Megalovania is slept on way too much, the Vriska guitar adds so much to it that the UT version just doesn't have. @sanctferum asked: Finally, MeGaLoVania by Toby Fox (feat. Joren "Tensei" deBruin on guitar)! Would you say that Tavros had an…unpleasant chronological progression? (btw I do love the bit of Spider's Claw that plays during the Vriska segment, which is (obviously) unique to this Megalovania) also, the audiovisual style of homestuck flashes is just really cool imo @mimescantscream asked: You have no idea how long we've waited for the Megalovania

This version of Megalovania was a great choice for Aradia's finest hour - or at least, her finest hour so far.

It's moments like this which are why I decided to stop listening to the albums in advance. If I hadn't first heard Aradia's Megalovania in this flash, it wouldn't have hit the way it did.

@elkian asked: MEGALOVANIA TIME BAYBEEEE! Also, let's go back to that theory you had about Aradia getting more alive, because you NAILED it. @iris-in-the-dark-world asked: i am so excited to see aradia again and finally as herself :33<

She's fucking BACK, baby!

Seeing Aradia smiling for real after all this time is genuinely heartwarming - and with her time-stop attack, she's almost unkillable. It'd take some absolute nonsense to take Aradia out of the picture again, and I think she'll be sticking around for a long time. Hopefully forever.

@grippingtraverse asked: notice any similarities during megalovania between aradia vs. jack & sans vs. player? 0u0

The best I can come up with is that Aradia and Frisk are both time travelers whose signature color is red.

Or maybe Jack is the Frisk analogue, since he's the one wiping out all life in the session, and Aradia is the last foe he faces.

@captorations asked: please consider, with this new information about aradia, what it could mean for her literary descendant dulcie septimus. please also keep considering this as you continue and see more of aradia. i am very normal about both of these characters

Ooh, they do have similar vibes, don't they? They're both doomed, they're strongly associated with death, and they both have a cheerful side that comes out when you don't expect it to.

@duorogue asked: "You have to give Nepeta some credit. The literal first thing she did after this traumatic murder was log into Trollian and report on Jack’s activities." To be fair to her, when I have a bad nightmare the first thing I do is log onto discord

nepeta hopping on mic at 2am to complain about the hat man (the hat man is doc scratch)

@absinthe-and-alabaster asked: when the writ keeper was introduced as fifth exile you mentioned that it was a little fucked up how the king was the only prospitian that was preserved - i just wanted to remind you that no, he wasn't ! on page 1974 we see all the other prospitians that were exiled with the white queen on her ship (including ms paint!) WQ just left them to go wander the desert

I'd actually forgotten about that. So much happened during the Act 4 ending that it completely slipped my mind. I even missed Ms. Paint!

Anonymous asked: Hey, as you noticed, the Dave Coin Split is a plot hole. We've never seen the timeline split because of someone's choice before. Compare to John flying to the seventh gate, there weren't two timelines based on his choice, the timeline only changed because Dave came back from the original timeline and changed it. And of course, like you said in the tags, Terezi shouldn't have been able to communicate with Doomed Dave, including to tell him the result of the FL1P. Have you noticed any other plot holes or things that don't seem to make sense?

While I see what you're saying, it might not necessarily be a plot hole! Certainly the Dave Coin Timeline was created in a different manner to Davesprite's - but that might just mean there are multiple ways to split a timeline, or that there are certain requirements that must be fulfilled for a decision to spawn one.

Because of things like that, it's hard to tell whether something's actually a plot hole, or if it'll eventually make sense in light of later reveals.

This is particularly true for aspects of the plot involving time travel, like the one you just described. Like, remember before I learned about Doomed Timelines, when I thought Davesprite broke Homestuck's predestination rules?

Anonymous asked: You said "God Tiering is just another way to inhabit your Dream Self," so do you think the things that Dream Selves can do (such as Jade growing extra arms) can be done by God Tiers?

I never really thought about that!

I think it's definitely possible. God Tier bodies can fly the same way that Dream Selves can, so other powers might transfer, too. Maybe the only reason Vriska, Aradia and John aren't shapeshifters is because Jade hasn't taught them to how to dream up extra limbs.

She might be one of the only Dream Selves who've learned how to shapeshift this fluidly. Logging thousands of hours on Prospit has its perks!

[kindlingkeen]

I see a lot of references in fics that say dick sent Jason to Arkham, but I haven’t been able to find a canon comic that shows that no matter how hard I search. Is this actually a canon thing? If you know

Hi anon, the answer is yes, but with a whole bunch of qualifiers.

So this all takes place for the most part while Morrison was writing Jason (*shudders and retches*). Jason is not the anti-hero we meet in the Under the Hood. He’s a completely unhinged villain. Like off his rocker, so out of character there’s no way it’s actually Jason Todd. I mean he’s drawn with orange-red hair and wearing what looks like an inflated red condom on his head—can you get any more OOC???

This is in the aftermath of Bruce’s “death” and after the Battle for the Cowl events where Jason was running around Gotham as a murder-happy Batman killing criminals and beating down the Bats on the regular. He’s basically just being used as a prop for Dick to have a villain to fight, with no real consideration given to Jason’s actual character.

Dick eventually beats him and takes up the mantle as Batman, which Jason does not take very well. Cue more crazy pants behavior and violent murdering. Eventually Batman!Dick bests him again and tries to offer help…

Which Jason predictably refuses …

And Dick ends up turning Jason over to Gordon.

Off to Arkham Jason goes, although technically it’s the legal system that sends him there. This all takes place in Batman and Robin (2009) #6.

If you skip ahead to Batman and Robin (2009) #23, Jason’s been in Arkham for a couple of months and he wants out. Bruce is back from the dead and insists Jason’s in Arkham for his own safety.

Dick also feels that Jason should be kept in Arkham, but again for his safety (this panel is confusing because Dick and Bruce, the big dorks, are both dressed as Batman while having a conversation with each other).

But Jason gets his way and gets transferred to Gotham City Corrections.

Once there he kills a bunch of guys, gets himself transferred back to Arkham, and en route escapes/gets broken out.

So there you have it.

I’ll just end by saying that many of the fics I’ve read that reference Dick sending Jason to Arkham also reference the Joker being there and Jason being traumatized by exposure to the Joker.

As far as I know, there’s nothing in the comics that shows this to be true. I also haven’t seen anything in the comics that explicitly states the Joker was elsewhere. So until someone points me in the direction of that comic (pls do if you’re in the know!), I think the idea of Jason and the Joker in Arkham together can still be considered fair game (I mean he wasn’t an active Gotham villain during that arc, so where was he, on holiday in Aruba?).

Thanks for the ask, anon! Hopefully this clears things up for you! 💙

[flowervolcano]

DEADPOOL #7 SPOILERS AHEAD!!

I’ve warned you. Now I’m gonna talk and share some images, this is about Taskmaster and Ellie, because there’s much I’ve been thinking about—

I loved the comic, I was a little sad there wasn’t an actual reaction to coming home and finding Wade dead, but it’s better to move forward instead of spending too much time in one spot. Watching how Ellie is deals with this definitely had my heartstrings tugged, even though she thinks she’s not in the denial stage, she actually is.

It’s shown very well, her unwillingness to accept he’s really gone. That she doesn’t want to believe that’s true because she just got him back. Excellent way to establish her grief. I feel so much for her, I’ve always loved Ellie, so getting to read more about her and seeing her inner thoughts, love that so much!

As for Taskmaster; We get nothing from his end, which makes a lot of sense, this isn’t really about him and he is way too professional to let this trip him up. Tasky made a promise after all, making sure Ellie gets through this is more of his priority now. And I really LOVED the undertones written into how he handles it with Ellie. It’s not in a traditional sense that most people try with comforting.

But it’s his special way of how he does. And honestly, I love that about his character. He’s not big on heartfelt stuff, emotions or anything of that sort. Not to say he doesn’t understand them, he’s certainly not stupid. Not at all, however, he consciously chose to spend his whole life detached, removing himself from personal things like romance, family, etc. making sure he never got close to anybody so there wouldn’t be any leverage on him.

So I do think that makes him more of an outlier when it comes to dealing with situations like these, he won’t know the exact way to comfort someone, not that it means that he doesn’t care, he’s just never gotten close enough to experience it.

And yet that’s what makes him work well with Ellie, she needs somebody who is gonna keep her grounded, keep an eye on her, let her deal with this in her own time without being coddled too much. This is not to say there isn’t some compassion needed during this moment, she has her sister, Princess to fill that role.

Ellie is going through so much in such little time, but that she doesn’t need someone to baby her and tell her how to grieve, she just needs someone to help her through it. And it’s better than having someone else being emotionally unstable too. So Tasky balances her out well!

Delving into this topic more, I’ve brought along the panels for my talking points and examples, as to why I think he is doing good, and how much I’m loving the way their relationship works. Is he a good father figure? Surprisingly, yes. (Don’t argue. I have my reasons as to why)

You see, after he chewed her out for blowing up a guy with intel they needed, he doesn’t punish her, which he could’ve done just for her messing up the mission, he has no problem calling her out, but he never takes it too far; I will further address this in a moment. But I’m getting off track, in this panel he tells her that watching those videos will just bring her more heartbreak, he is very aware of her goals/emotions, he doesn’t downplay it or tell her how to process things.

He just suggests that it may not be healthy for her in this moment, because he knows she wants to bring her father back, but he doesn’t want her devoting herself to something that will only disappoint her in the end (Tasky really has a heart)

The next part. Tony addresses what to do about Ellie. She says she’s fine, but he knows she’s not. It would be wrong to even say otherwise. He knows it is hard for her. So he gets right to the bottom of it.

After establishing his concern, he explains further as to why he is, Tony made notice of her outburst on the mission and while he could’ve dismissed this and told her to get it together that she can’t grieve forever, he doesn’t. In fact he endorses how she has every right to be pissed off, that he won’t stop her from dealing with those emotions, but he then warns that there’s a place for that to be used. Those feelings can’t interfere with the job, otherwise that can put her in danger more than anything else, if she is not emotionally stable enough she may get distracted and bested in combat.

While those aren’t his words, you know exactly what his words intend. “I can’t have you out there givin’ me a bad rep” is definitely his way of expressing his concern for her without flat out saying “Ellie, you could get yourself hurt if your feelings cloud your mind.” This is sort of where the “punishment” comes in, it’s not addressed exactly, but it is implied that because she is under his name now, she needs to listen to his rules, and he’s not just being her boss or mentor here, he is absolutely playing a father figure role; ignoring the fact that he doesn’t admit this!!!

This moment crushed me— I could go on a very VERY long and intricate discussion on this moment, because that’s when I just KNEW the writers aren’t playing. Ellie is so desperate to bring her Dad back, and Tasky acknowledges it, but is trying his best to not let her get those hopes up, to help bring her into reality without completely crushing her. He knows she wants him back, but there’s nothing that they can do yet. But then makes it very clear he is going to help get revenge on Death Grip, but that they need time and a strategy before they can even consider going toe-to-toe with him.

Quickly mentioning the part where Tasky tells Ellie he made a promise and she replies with”to look after me?” And he’s like NO! I freaking love that, he is NEVER gonna admit that at all, and that’s what we love about him, bro has one of the biggest hearts ever and that’s why he’s so protective over it. (I said what I said)

Might be looking too deep into it, but he is still making sure that she is ACTUALLY able to do this without any problems. Not just for his rep, but for her own good.

And then we have the moment he lets her go out on her own. He knows he’ll have to let her make her own decisions, it’ll help her grow. But yeah. He cares.

Finally, this moment. Genuinely made me laugh. He is going to have so much grey hair working with her!!!

I’m gonna explode over this comic series!!!! I love it soooo much 😭💚

[laughterbynight]

Possibly unpopular opinions incoming which means post it before bed, natch.

I actually think Tim in a trio would be cute. I don’t trust DC not to make it weird of course but as far as headcanons go I could see him trying that out for a bit. One partner is of course Kon. DC can fight it all they want but I do think someday (maybe when I’m 70) Tim and Kon will end up canon.

Anyway, temporary trio wise I think Tim, Kon, and maybe a new character. I have no issue with Bernard but I always feel like DC shoved him in there to cut off timkon talk so I have a hard time seeing him as anything permanent y’know? But then again that would work as a transition into timkon when the trio ends. Amicably!! I’m so not here for drama.

I’d like to see a woman in there maybe, for some balance. No not Steph. I know some fans are still really married to the idea of them but the whole manic pixie dreamgirl thing has never been my jam personally. That’s why I’m generally attracted to the batfam. I like stoics. Yes, Dick isn’t my fave either (drawing all kinds of targets on myself tonight).

I feel like figuring out sexuality is so…basic and static in comics. Like yeah they talk about it being a journey of discovery but we don’t really *see* that, they just say it.

I think I’ve seen Bart as a popular third. Idk if that’s in line with him as a character at all since I’m less familiar with him but I’m open to it. I do kinda like the idea of an Amazon about their age. I know the supe/bat/amazon thing is common ground but hey it works really good. I can’t argue with it. I like reading superwonderbat too. Sue me.

If we wanna shake things up it would be interesting if it was a male Amazon. I mean we know men aren’t allowed to stay there so they must go somewhere. I think it would be interesting to see a male character from a culture where women are in control and that’s considered normal. No hate about it just, yeah that’s how it is here. I get bored of the sausage club that is the batfamily but I’ll take it if that means an interesting third.

sidebar: I really wish Cass was in more stories and we could have more girldad Bruce moments. I feel like DC tries to do the “girlpower” thing by putting all the girls on teams together and honest to god I do not care. I wanna see Batman and his kick ass daughter and her brothers, together.

It’s almost a shame Cass was adopted bc she would fit as a good third but of course we can’t do that for obvious reasons. Maybe in an AU, but I’d be more sad if she didn’t have batdad instead.

Anyone have any ideas about a third? I’m curious. Keeping in mind they'd need to get along with Tim and Kon on some level obvs or why would any of them bother.

Edit: How do we feel about Connor? I realized the rep for Ace characters is abysmal and I think Tim and Kon would be really sweet and understanding compared to like, idk a lot of other characters in general. Tbh I think of Tim as demi but idk if DC can handle that Bi was hard enough for them. But then I think I’d want them to stay a trio too. Idk y’all is Connor around their ages I seriously can’t keep up with how DC rearranges timelines. I DO know it would probably cause Bruce and Ollie to get catty with each other around the holidays and that’s always a bonus in my book.

So many ideassssss

edit edit: wait that’s two Connors. I shouldn’t do this at 1am. That would also be funny tho.

[the-depths-au]

FAQ

*this post continues heavy totk spoilers

How did it start?

A lot of people started posting some really cool art of a TotK ending where Zelda returns as a hybrid dragon creature thing. I saw a few that called it a “bad” ending and I noticed she was often portrayed with dominantly human-features just like, with horns or a tail, or the purple eyes, etc. I love to play video games(clearly) and I enjoy the challenge of seeing various endings, not just “secret endings” (think Heavy Rain, Until Dawn, The Witcher 3, Drakengard- anyone else play this?) I got to thinking about how her coming back didn’t really like a true “bad ending”. To me, a bad ending, really, would be one in which she didn’t get to magically, miraculously come back in any form. A bad ending to me would be Mineru’s warning held true. And in doing so, it would become The Legend of Zelda because she becomes the stuff of myths. Of true Legend. Fulfilling destiny (botw-era and the series as a whole). My brain sort of took off from there regarding the implications this would have on Hyrule and specially, our boy Link.

How could you! A Bad ending? Is this story at least hurt and eventual comfort??? Does it have a happy ending??

I could tag this hurt and comfort, but usually people who read these types of stories have certain expectations of what “comfort” is (and that’s okay!). Same with a “happy” ending. I don’t need stories to be wrap up in a bow with warmth to enjoy them. Honestly, some of the stories that have touched me the most over the years have had “sad” endings/negative character arcs/tragedy. That being said, I don’t particularly enjoy pure whump, either. What I feel is most important and what I am to do with this story, is to make any suffering meaningful. With purpose. And hopefully- maybe- you’ll see the “comfort” that is possible even in these types of stories.

Wait! So Zelda remains a dragon?

Yes. They defeat the demon dragon. Rauru and Sonia appear in a silent thanks, then they disappear and Link falls from the sky alone into the water. The Light Dragon continues along in her flight above him.

Link is also the only one who can see/has ever seen the Light Dragon.

Are there any other major changes from TotK?

It follows the game pretty closely. It’s just hard to say exactly what is in this story from TotK because there is just so much. In BotW, I headcanon Link took his time. He doesn’t remember anything. He is alone, lost, and the world is a vast, broken place. Therefore, it is plausible/ realistic in my head for all the side questions to be done prior to the ending being reached. In TotK, especially with the headcanon he and Zelda were together in the time between BotW and TotK, I had a hard time imagining Link would waste much time on anything unnecessary to save Zelda. So, with this in mind, I’ve had to justify the side questions to include in the story. Link’s journey is a bit different than my own. Whereas I actually spent 80% of my playthrough exploring the depths, this Link only went down when necessary. Meaning many of the lightroots have not been unlocked and he only has part of the armor of the depths. In the Linktober and the early concept, he has the entire set but this has been changed for the main comic.

How far after the events of TotK does this take place?

Five years.

Is it completely planned out?

Yes. I have a complete rough story outline done. It’s 17 chapters. I am anticipating some editing as I go, but regardless, it’s a big project. A huge shout out to @zeldaelmo and @fioreofthemarch for helping me get the story set. They are both phenomenal writers for the LoZ fandom so be sure to check them out!

What happened to the comic?

I made the decision to tell this story (initially) in writing. I have a very specific style in mind for this story as a full comic and honestly, I just don't feel like my artistic ability and overall proficiency is where I want it to be at this time. I'm still learning! I will be continuing to post art, concept art, and some comic panels here as I go and eventually, I would love to adapt the story into a full comic, but for now, I'll be telling the main story in writing.

How long have you been drawing?

I’ve been drawing all my life. Just for fun, although I took a few classes in school. Digitally, self-taught, since fall 2022. Still very new to this with lots to learn! I have a minor in creative writing and feel much more confident and comfortable with that.

Feel free to send me a DM with questions anytime! I plan to update this periodically.

Last updated 2/26/24

[trenchcoathunnybee08]

I’m a make my hot take. I freaking love when characters die but specifically Marvel characters. I’ve recently been re-reading Death of the Wolverine and when I tell you it’s genuinely one of my favorite comics. I haven’t read a tun but not only is the art style beautiful but the ending of him looking out at the sunset before he goes is just so satisfying. I’d read Old man Logan a while before so getting to see where the statue from issues #1 had come from was so cool. I felt like some conspiracy theorist when i realized I’d seen it before.

Equally the Loki series and Logan (2017) have got to be two of my favorite marvel projects.

There’s something so beautiful in seeing a character reach the end of their ark. In seeing those final moments where everything they’ve ever been and everything they’ve ever done comes to a head. Where you truly get a chance to see how far they’ve come. It’s beautiful and heartbreaking and I love it.

Outside of Marvel for as horrible as it was seeing Castiel die for Dean in s15 after giving his confession was beautiful. Like some Greek tragedy his dying wish was just to tell Dean how he felt. That alone was enough.

(Had they actually gotten a chance to be together would have made it better but the stand alone moment is so tragic to me and I think about it constantly.)

We see it in Hannibal even if they’re not actually “dead”. You again see that culmination of who they were to who they have become. Again you see those final moments where they accept what they mean to each other and what has to be done.

John and Martin in the Magnus Archives. Their death isn’t just making peace with what they have become but with what they mean to each other. That they would rather died than continue in a world without the other. Daisy and the Hunt too. Her death was so powerful. Don’t even get me started on Tim and Sasha as a whole.

Character death can be done badly such as Dean and 15x20 or it can be done so perfectly it couldn’t have happened any other way. (Loki)

Yes a lot of these they don’t actually die but they are all making the deaths of people they used to be. To see that culmination of a character if so fucking amazing. I feel like I’m on drugs. There’s something so beautiful about a well planned character death and I could do a whole essay on it.

[writing-for-life]

Thessaly, Johanna and a weird meta about musical motifs (amongst other things)

Send me asks about everything Sandman-related!

As a little intro: A lot of people in the fandom want to see Thessaly cut from the TV adaptation, or at least see her changed substantially. I am not necessarily one of them because I don’t think it’s always necessary to blur the lines between fiction and reality that way, and I would be alright with portraying her in a similar way as in the Audible adaptation (where a lot of things have already been changed to make her character more palatable to 21st century audiences). It would also make Morpheus look a bit less morally grey (I mean, he falls in love with someone who is essentially a terrible person, knows it and doesn’t seem to give a shit. Then again, he often is morally grey, and people like to forget that ;)).

Having gotten that out of the road: I *do* think that “A Game of You” is hard to translate to the screen. I absolutely love it in the comics, but I think it’s one of those arcs that is tricky to do well for TV. I’d even go as far as saying it might be a dealbreaker for some people who haven’t read the comic/are show audience only, and it might jeopardise a potential S3. Not because of Thessaly or the plot as such, but because it operates on a similar plane as The Doll’s House, which was jarring to a lot of people in S1. And The Doll’s House has a far more straightforward arc and more Morpheus in it—AGoY has none of these things. I’d personally love to see it, but I would also love to see Morpheus’ full arc being brought to the screen, so I am a bit conflicted. I still think, and of course that’s just a personal opinion, that it would be best to just have little bits and bobs inserted into Season of Mists and do the whole Cuckoo arc as an animation, but that’s just me.

@tickldpnk8 and I already speculated wildly about S2, and sole speculation it is, but maybe you want to check out that post. I’m getting carried away here...

After that longwinded intro: Are we going to get Johanna instead of Thessaly?

What I actually wanted to write about is why the longer I think about it (and I’ve been thinking about it since S1, I'm really that sad), the more I can’t shake the feeling that they *will* replace Thessaly with Johanna. And the fandom is totally divided about it—some love the idea because they had undeniable chemistry in S1, others hate it for various reasons (doing Johanna dirty, keeping Thessaly "intact"--you name it).

I personally think it might actually elevate the story because it would make Morpheus look better (*if* that's what we want--I'm not really sure I do), and that’s what show-only-fans seemingly gravitate towards. As already hinted at, Thessaly/Murphy always seemed a rather unfathomable relationship, and it didn’t just make Murph look stupid, but also, as already mentioned, morally grey and not very discerning in his choice of women (hmm, maybe he just isn’t ;)).

Falling for Johanna wouldn’t be any of this. And it would be so easy to show why it went horribly wrong without making either of them look bad, and you could still feel for both of them. If we think about Johanna’s worst nightmare (literally), it’s what happened to Astra. So she would absolutely and unequivocally support someone like Lyta, who worries about her child. And she would do it for all the right reasons, and not because she’s a selfish bitch who just wants a longer life or is generally spiteful.

And it wouldn’t be hard for Morpheus and Johanna to hook up either. They could even leave the original idea intact: Thessaly just dreamed of him, and they started talking in dreams, bla bla bla. We already have the set-up for that in S1. Morpheus took away Johanna’s nightmare. She could just be grateful, relieved, whatever, and dream of him. Done. And we don’t even need to explain that at great length, because in the comics, we never really see them hook up anyway and just find things out after the deed. Although I personally *want* to see them get hot and heavy on screen, but that’s just me having my mind in the gutter because why would you not to show two sexy people with so much chemistry doing exactly that. However, I’ll survive the disappointment if they don’t—just 😂

But it’s not just the plot. It’s also everything we’ve seen in S1. I have already talked about this in other threads, most recently with @orionsangel86, but literally every shot with them in S1 was framed as a romance shot: the proximity, the play on height difference, the camera angles, the lighting. These are deliberate choices, either to hint at what’s to come, or to set up a distraction, MacGuffin, whatever.

Then the mention of “None of us can be trusted.”

Or the RAIN. I mean, I am so surprised no one has commented on that waterfall of RAIN when they say goodbye (or I’ve just not seen it). You cannot read the comics and ever believe again that Morpheus and rain, no matter where, doesn’t hint at terrible relationship outcomes.

Musical themes, oy!

But the thing that really got me was the use of musical motifs, and I am unfortunately showing my background from a former life here because I can never listen to a movie soundtrack without getting analytical about it. Johanna’s theme is called “Johanna & Rachel”, and it would be easy to just think of it as that. And yes, it is a love theme, but it doesn’t just play for Johanna and Rachel. It plays in Morpheus’ and Johanna’s last scene as well.

And here’s the kicker: Dream’s and her theme complete each other, as in: They both have what the other one is missing. They are musically extremely close, but not identical. Let me explain:

If you think of the opening lines of both of their motifs in scale degrees (like 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-(1)), they look/sound as follows:

Johanna (her motif begins right at the start, so I didn't timestamp it)

1-(minor3)-7-(2)-(1) | 1-(major3)-m7-1

If I put all of “her” scale degrees in a row, they are: 1-2-3-7

Dream (you actually hear his leitmotifs, and their subtle differences, best in his scenes with John Dee):

1-(7)-(6)-(5)-(4) | 1-(7)-(6)-2 (video is timestamped)

1-(7)-(6)-(5)-(aug4) | 1-(7)-(6)-2 (video is timestamped)

If I put all of “his” scale degrees in a row, they are: 1-2-4-5-6-7

Morpheus is missing the third (3). Missing the third, which s considered one of the most consonant intervals and DYNAMIC, also hints at his character, but that just as an aside.

Johanna has the third (both in its minor and major form). 

Johanna is missing the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Morpheus has them, in various forms (major and augmented—especially augmented intervals are highly unstable and create a lot of friction).

What they share/have in common are 1, 2 and 7:

The tonic (1) is what everything else hinges on. The supertonic (2) is musically fraught with tension and seeks to resolve into the tonic--back to base or a conclusion/resolution, if you will. The seventh (7), both as a leading note or subtonic, is also that: Tension that needs resolved.

So all they have in common is tension that needs to resolve into some sort of resolution.

(And before we are pointing out the obvious: of course both tunes have more notes in it respectively, but we are talking about the main motifs.)

What’s also super interesting is where their overall themes are going. Johanna’s is initially darker, but it actually has a lot of ascending lines and “light” before plunging back into darkness.

Morpheus’ seems a lot more regal (for lack of better term), but the lines are mostly descending. This becomes even more apparent when we are not just listening to the opening theme, but to the several variations of his theme (his presence can be felt literally everywhere, even in Desire's theme).

It just freaked me out majorly the moment I heard it for the first time in contrast. But I like to over-interpret musical stuff because I just hear it so clearly. I *do* believe that composers do these things on purpose, even if just subconsciously, because we can't separate what we know about a character from how we perceive them musically (I do it as well). Of course that doesn’t always mean that it’s exactly the purpose I am thinking of, or that it hints at whatever is to come. My brain tends to run away with these things.

But yes, musically, they are totally "on track", so let's run with it. I'll admit my embarrassment later when this all goes into a completely different direction ;)

(Also tagging @honeyteacakes in this since I encroached on your comments recently)

[theelectronicstranger]

Ultimate Spider-Man #5 Discussion

            If you have not read Ultimate Spider-Man #5 then please do not read this. I’ll be spoiling a lot in this discussion. I think this title is so worth your time and money so go read it for yourself if you can.

            So, this issue is all about Harry Osborn and how he became the Green Goblin of this Ultimate Universe. I really like character focused stories like this where we see another person’s point of view besides Peter’s because it shows a lot of the stuff our main character doesn’t know and opens/expands the story of this universe a bit more. The first person we see in this issue, however, is Norman Osborn:

You know I keep forgetting that Norman has always been kind of an asshole even though he’s not the Green Goblin. Like the things he says to Harry in this issue is just so shitty and I’m glad that this Harry does not let it bother him because Norman was really laying it on thick with the strict/asshole father routine. What I like about the beginning of this issue though is we finally see a first person view of the accident that Tony caused in the Ultimate Universe One Shot last year. We even see the laser on top of Norman’s head a couple of panels before we actually see the explosion:

I’ve always wanted to see someone’s first person point of view of this explosion because in the Ultimate Universe One Shot from last year, we just saw the aftermath of it. By showing us Harry’s point of view during this explosion, we see firsthand how his world got changed by this event and also his motivations in wanting to become the Green Goblin. This explosion is the event that starts to show Harry that this world is not right. After this we see him inherit his father’s company, we see a lot of the problems and connections that company entails. For example, Kingpin is now more interested in Harry because he’s the sole beneficiary and owner of Oscorp after his father’s death:

Kingpin wants to sell Obidiah Stane and Howard Stark’s company, Stane/Stark Industries, to Harry because he wants to find out what Howard knew of this world exactly. Kingpin doesn’t feel confident enough that he can find that out himself so he’s selling the company to Harry because he would be interested in the company that supposedly had something to do with the death of his parents and he would have the know-how to dig into Howard’s company and personal files. What I like about this is that Kingpin ultimately makes himself another enemy because what Harry finds out is the world is run by bad people like the Kingpin and that Stane nor any of the Starks are responsible for his parents’ deaths. However, the people he now associates with the death of his parents are the people that Kingpin associates himself with, so he’s going to stop at nothing to make sure that these people are stopped. We’ve been seeing that for the past few issues as well; we’ve been seeing the Green Goblin attack the Kingpin’s businesses and hideouts throughout this whole run so far.

            This comic also shows that Harry did not get his Green Goblin costume from Tony but something he made himself. I wonder if the reason why Harry didn’t have a “stolen destiny” or a trinket taken away by the Maker is because Peter never became Spider-Man in this universe. That’s why he wasn’t on Tony’s list of people to give the gift of powers/destiny to. Like anybody that is closely tied to Spider-Man never had the tragedy or the event that would turn them into the villains/heroes they were meant to be. The Maker, by taking the abilities/powers of certain would-be-heroes, effectively also took away the rise of certain heroes AND villains. Tony only knows that certain people were important to the Maker because he found the containers where the Maker kept his trophies. He doesn’t really know the full extent of who the Maker stole those destinies from. That’s why you saw Tony giving the Shocker Gauntlets to someone this issue:

Tony doesn’t really know if this person will be a villain or hero. He just knows that the Maker did not want them to have these abilities. Also, I’m guessing the person we see that dies when Tony gives them the Gauntlet is Herman Schultz. Did he die of a heart attack by the way? Like did Herman die of shock when he saw Tony just appearing in front of him?? If so, then that’s another massive oversight by Tony Stark. I haven’t read The Ultimates #1 yet while I’m finishing this discussion up, but I’m really interested in how they’re going to try to set this world right because right now it feels like the odds are so stacked against them and that they’re this group of misfits and outcasts that don’t really know what they’re doing so far.

            Speaking of stolen destinies, we see Otto Octavius this issue. He’s just a scientist that works for Oscorp in this universe; he doesn’t seem to be working with metallic arms like his main universe counterpart, so I’m not really sure if he’s still going to be Doc Ock in this universe as well. Are we going to see Tony give him the metal tentacles or, like Harry, would this research into Stane/Stark Industries further push him into the superhero/supervillain world? Also, I noticed that in his design in this book, he looks less like the normal Otto Octavius that we normally see, but looks more like an older version of 60’s Peter Parker and even looks more like Otto in Peter’s body as the Superior Spider-Man. Is Hickman hinting that Otto in this universe would also be an anti-hero like Harry is? Would Doctor Octopus even exist in this world? I’m super excited to see what happens in this story but we probably won’t know about any of that for another year or two.

Otto in this Issue:

60’s Peter Parker (From Amazing Spider-Man #1):

Otto as Superior Spider-Man [From Superior Spider-Man (2018) #1]:

Regular Otto/Doctor Octopus [From Superior Spider-Man (2018) #12]:

            We also see in this issue that Harry has taken Bullseye captive after their fight in issue 3:

I’m actually not sure if Harry tortured this man or if he’s just locked him up here so that harry can ask him what he knows but either way it feels like Harry, throughout the series, is shown as somebody that is not afraid to break the rules and maybe even do some awful things just to get to the real villains of this universe. I feel like this can turn him into a villain at some point as well. Although, I have been saying that I feel like the Spider-Man and Green Goblin of this universe are going to have a Daredevil and Punisher like relationship where Peter is going to try so much to do everything by the book and Harry will do everything to get to his goal, even if it means hurting and killing people. Also, there’s a line Bullseye says in this page that gets me worried for both Peter and Harry in the future:

I feel like Peter and Harry don’t really know the full extent of what they’re up against. They’re trying to fight an organization that has been involved in running the whole WORLD and I feel like they don’t take that enough into consideration. Both Peter and Harry have families that this world cabal can destroy and kill. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but this is a Spider-Man story, and Spider-Man stories can be very tragic.

            There’s a scene in this issue that kind of bugs me and I’ve talked about it before and it’s the scene where Harry and Peter are in the bar; Harry asks Peter why he thinks Stark picked him and he replies that:

“He said I was supposed to be someone else. Have a different life. Which was stolen from me by the people you’re talking about. I’m guessing… He said I was supposed to be a hero. And as soon as he said it… I knew it. In my bones.”

I really like this line and it shows that Peter has always felt that something was missing in his life and that he was supposed to be somebody else: a hero. However, this line bugs me because I don’t think it’s a good enough motivation to continue wanting to be Spider-Man. Yes, I think it’s a good enough reason to START being Spider-Man, but this hero life has so much danger and tragedy that I don’t think it’s a good enough motivation to CONTINUE this life. Tell me if I’m being overly critical here but I don’t think this version of Peter Parker has enough motivation to want to be a true hero. Yes, you could say that the death of Aunt May gives him a better motive, but we haven’t really talked about that much since the first issue. You could even say that he wants to be Spider-Man because of his family, in fact, I’ve said that in the issue 3 discussion for this title that Mayday gave him more motivation to want to continue being Spider-Man. However, I want those motivations to be presented more in the book. I feel like this book for me has to juggle a lot of ideas to show me that this Peter is ready to do what it takes to be a hero and be Spider-Man. If he has more motive like Aunt May’s passing, I would like to see that more on the page and explored more. I also understand that his motivation could be him seeing the wrongs and the evils of this world and him wanting to change that now that he has the powers to do so, but I really want more focus on that in the page rather than through dialogue. If I’m being too harsh then definitely let me know because it’s just something that bugs me.

Also, I’ve read issue 6 in the middle of writing this discussion, so I’ll be talking more about the motivations of this Spider-Man in that next discussion. The only reason why I didn’t put issue 5 and issue 6’s discussion together is because I already started writing this one when I read issue 6 and this would be a way longer discussion if I did. Also, I kind of want to do an End of Arc summary for that next discussion.

Anyways, thank you for reading my discussion on this issue. I’m sorry if I’m kind of all over the place in this one. I’ve been writing this discussion in an 85-degree room and the heat is certainly affecting my ability to write coherently. I’m hoping to get three more discussions by the end of next week, so look out for those if you read these. Let me know if I’m being too harsh on this Spider-Man’s motivations or not. I feel like I am but at the same time it genuinely kind of bugs me and I wish Hickman would show more of Peter’s wants and goals as Spider-Man because right now it still feels like he’s still just trying it on. Like he hasn’t decided whether he truly wants to be this or not. Also, I’d love to know your thoughts on Harry and if you think he’ll be a villain or not in this universe. I’d really love to know what you guys think. Thank you again for reading this I hope you all have a good day.

[pikapeppa]

Hi!

Just finished re-reading Desert Blooms and Western Wind, and gearing up for Becoming Whole and wanted to remind you how awesome you are!

But my actual point, I stumbled across you during my AloyxDrakka phase and then you managed to suck me right in to Kotaloy…

And then I got in to BG3, which you were right behind with Kiss me on the Mouth & Someone Great. And I have to confess I wasn’t all too keen on exploring a Halsin ship, let alone a HalsinxAstarionxTav ship but you’ve sucked me right in to that too…

And while my brain festered away on Rolan, I stumbled across Catskarky’s Mass Effect comics which preemptively started my GarrusxShepard phase (and forced me out to buy the trilogy which I’m now just concluding). And so anyway, that got me thinking and I vaguely recalled that I’d seen you had previously dabbled in the ME fanfic space and I was right, and I’ve come to this conclusion:

You are the ultimate source of good games and great ships (ignoring your unfortunate Shakarian oversight lol). So please, please share your wisdom! Recommend anything and everything. I literally value no one’s opinion more in this!

HAHAHA OKAY BUT this made me laugh, both with delight that you've enjoyed so many of my beloved ships -- but also because Shakarian is my OG ship. Garrus Vakarian is my first-ever OG videogame boyfriend LMAOOO. The reason I haven't written any significant fic for him is that my Shepard picks the control ending, meaning that she sacrifices herself to save the geth and EDI and thus she essentially "dies" and leaves beloved Garrus alone... and I could never write that. I can write angsty-ending ships, but I just don't have the heart to write a ship where one member of the pairing literally dies. (And no, I've never considered doing a non-canon workaround because I really like the control ending as it is, which may be an unpopular opinion, but I'm sticking to it!)

I have written one (1) Shakarian oneshot, though!! It was shortly after MELE came out and one of my BFFs got into Shakarian, so I wanted to see if I could bring myself to write them, but this oneshot is as far as I got, sadly 😭❤

(more below the cut!)

As for other game recommendations: off the top of my head, Dragon Age and the Witcher come to mind -- specifically Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3, which are both the third installments of their respective series. DA:I has historically been the greatest source of fic inspiration for me, and my Geralt/Reader series might actually be my favourite body of work. You can play both of these games without having played the previous two games -- this is what I did, and both games are among my top 5 favourites!

To prepare for playing these games, beloved friends had recommended some primer articles for me, which basically just introduce you to the lore and the worldstate so you can jump in. Those articles are here, if you decide to check out these games:

The Witcher worldstate for dummies

The Dragon age worldstate for dummies

As for the rest of the Witcher and Dragon Age games: I can't speak for The Witcher 1 and 2, since I haven't played them, sadly! I played the first Dragon Age game (Origins) once, and I... struggled a lot because the gameplay shows its age now. I'M SORRY TO EVERYONE WHO SWEARS BY IT, but I just didn't enjoy playing all of it. The storytelling is good and the companions are a treat, but I wouldn't be able to play it a second time.

I loved Dragon Age 2, and I adore the companion dynamics in DA2 even moreso than in Inquisition, but I actually have only played DA2 one and a half times, mainly because the gameplay is also dated now. It's definitely playable though, certainly moreso than DA:O in my humble opinion, so I would recommend it! And I will say this for DA2: Fenris is the canon romance that I fell the hardest for and have written the most for, of all my videogame LIs. Take that to mean what you will. 🤣

If you like anime, my top two favourite animes are ones that I've also written for: Samurai Champloo (which would be considered retro now 😭💀) and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Both of these anime made me cry for very different reasons, and I highly recommend them! You also don't need to have played Cyberpunk 2077 in order to follow and enjoy Edgerunners (I haven't played it), so don't worry about that!

In terms of other recommendations, you can check out my writing masterpost, which lists all the fandoms I've written for and the ships within them. This could help you decide on what you want to play (or watch) next! ❤

If you want any more recommendations (movies, shows, books etc), feel free to hit me up with another ask or a DM! NOT THAT I CONSIDER MYSELF ANY KIND OF AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING LMAOOOO, I'M JUST A POTATO SMUT WRITER, I swear I'd only offer this if someone asked first 🤣🤣🤣

Enjoy!!! And THANK YOU GENUINELY for the praise!! You don't know how much it thrill me when people tell me that they got started with one of my ships and trusted me enough to try ones that they'd not considered before. It means the world! 😭❤❤❤

-- much love from your friendly neighbourhood Pika! xoxo

[beartitled]

Hello there!! I was looking through some of the discord shenanigans posts and I was just wondering if you’re accepting new members?

Hi! Well first of all, glad you enjoyed the comics! It means a lot to know that you enjoyed those silly shenanigans ❤️

Sadly I’ve already left the server recently, so can’t really help much 🤷

For ppl curious my rambling, as always, will be under read more👇

As for you question:

the server’s called “TSP creators club”

yes, I believe they still accept new members, you can contact @/kelpiekidd or @/heckinrissa I think (not tagging them, to not disturb them)

They’re mods there, should help with it 🤷

This might sound weird to some ppl bc I was heavily associated with TSPcc

To be frank I wouldn’t be where I am right now, if not TSPcc: I would’ve never stuck with The Stanley Parable for as long as I did, never could’ve met so many wonderful creative people (many of whom are my friends right now)

+the server kick-started my recognition as a creator

For that I’m thankful and still look back at this part of my life with a warm smile

But nothing can last forever

(god I’m saying it like something horrible happened, which is not the case)

Basically

The reasons are mostly the same as why I left the TNP fic*: I’m not active on the server + most of my friends left from there

(*TNP - The Narrative Parable fanfic – a collaborative project involving many other creators and narrators)

So um yea, this might not be enough of a reason

But I will not do a whole comic on “The history of TSP fandom” right 📓🖋️

(oh wait I might actually 😭💥 you will maybe get this joke far in the future)

___________________

I also want to address

Discord Shenanigans aged, quite a lot

I do not regret making those comics, I still like them to this day

But

That content is not something I want to be known for, to me, it’s part of the past

I look back at them as archived memories

They are like an old photo album of sorts 📒

____________________

This does not mean I’m leaving TSP fandom

Want to be clear on that one

I still enjoy the game and the community it built around itself

Yes I still enjoy the fandom, despite meaningless drama in the community that ruins the fun for everyone

(It’s my first fandom I was a part of, I’m biased ok 😈)

‼️ I do not justify any messed up people who are or were in the fandom ‼️

What I’m trying to say that drama/creepy people are just part of any fandom experience honestly

I totally understand people who just don’t want to be a part of the fandom, it’s reasonable and valid. I’ve heard some really messed up stuff, I don’t know the full extent of every situation and don’t want to discuss it. I don’t believe I have the right, nor the information to even mention it. Creeps are not a fandom’s problem, creeps are just a problem.

And if people don’t want to address those situations: do not harass them with questions. If people want to address their experience or thoughts, they will. If they don’t want to start drama/don’t feel comfortable/just simply don’t want to - you should respect their decision. No person is obligated to report anything to the crowd.

On the side note (since I can’t shut up) - Barry

I kinda 👀

I kinda wanna explore him as a character and tell the story I made for him 👀✨

I will make a separate post about him later down the road

But as for now: yes the potential story revolves around tsp + Narratorverse aspects, yes I may abandon that idea bc of how complicated it is, yes I’m talking and overthinking too much - we will get there when we get there 🤚

So I’m still here, I still care about tsp creators: they do amazing stuff and they are wonderful people

As always sorry for that scroll of text 👉👉 thanks for your time, see you in the next random huge text post 👋

[oraclebabsday]

um hello!! im very new to comics, but of the characters I’ve seen so far, I really like Barbara and I was just wondering if you had any comic recommendations on where to start..? its very confusing trying to get into it all, but I’d like to be able to hold a conversation about someone I find interesting with my boyfriend so I can hear him info dump on me more cus he’s deep into dc so :)

Hi!!! That is so sweet omg 😭 Welcome to the weird wonderful world of comics!!! and also i’m so sorry for what I’m abt to throw at you lmao

Since you’ve sent this ask into an Oracle-centric blog, I’m gonna keep this rec list Oracle!Babs-centric (& also encourage my fellow mods to add on if they also have some recs!) I actually don’t have a whole lot of recs for Batgirl!Babs anyways, but I’ll be tagging my gen dc blog at the end in case you’d like to talk abt those or any other characters!

Also before I get Into the recs, I wanna give you some words of encouragement: there’s no right or wrong way to read! You’re also likely gonna have some well a lot of confusion at the beginning, esp bc there will be Events™️ that have ramifications™️ and you’re not always given full context of what’s come before or what’s happening concurrently with what you’re reading. I’ve been doing this for awhile and if I’ve learned anything, it’s that the more that you read & explore, the more fun you’ll have & the more things will usually start to make sense! But it’s all gotta start somewhere first! :D and you’ve def chosen a great character to be your launching point!

Im gonna be hopping around a bit in my recs here but I’ll try to keep it mostly in chronological order. That said, first up:

Suicide Squad (1987) - she appeared semi-regularly starting in #23! This was also her debut as Oracle! I really enjoyed the overall run & would normally highly recommend it, but also want to warn that it’s a pretty heavy read in terms of content itself (canon-typical violence ofc esp for a SuiSq comic, discussions of suicide ideation, period typical stereotyping/‘subversion’ of said stereotypes, but that’s a deeper discussion for a different blog) For that reason, I don’t necessarily recommend it for a first-time reader, esp if you’re wanting to solely focus on Babs. Team books usually aren’t super great when you’re reading for an individual character, in my experience, esp in a case like this where the character isn’t always necessarily part of the team or appears sporadically enough to disrupt the flow of following a storyline.

Birds of Prey (1999) - This team book breaks that prev rule tho, bc Babs is the leader & is in Damn near every issue of this run 😂 There’s several smaller team-ups before the main ‘99 run (BoP:Manhunt, BoP:Wolves, etc), which are also good as a prelude before the main run itself. This will be the longest thing that will give you a LOT to parse through & ymmv with a lot of it. (Dixon & Simone are the most prominent writers for it & without getting Into It they each have their Issues™️ & Crimes™️) It also crosses over with a few events/references others. Imo it’s a good window into what comics are like overall, esp when you get into a longer run with multiple writers at the helm. But it has an added bonus of keeping a pretty small cast at its forefront (for about half the run, it’s solely Babs n Dinah!) It also has a follow-up run in 2010 which is broken up by-

Oracle: The Cure - (technically a 3-issue mini-series but!!!) this one’s a culmination of Oracle & Calculator’s (it’s not rivalry? That can’t be the right word… Uhhh, nemesis-sitch?) from BoP & leads right into bringing Babs back to Gotham in Steph’s Batgirl run as well as the next BoP run I mentioned just a sec ago. It’s what I like to call connective (t)issues lol. Ymmv I think depending on if you’ve read BoP ‘99/TT ‘03 beforehand, but I hadn’t read a lot of TT before reading it at the time, and I enjoyed it a lot!

A couple individual issues I wanna suggest:

Batman Chronicles #5 - Oracle: Year One!!!!! Cannot rec this one enough!!! In lieu of reading Killing Joke (which really only serves Bruce, Joker, Jim Gordon’s characters) read this!!! LICHERALLY her origin in coming into her own as Oracle!!! This one is THE place to start, actually, before you read anything start here 😂

Batman: Gotham Knights #6 - okay, this one is admittedly a self-indulgent rec. Without spoiling the plot, it’s CLASSIC soap-opera level shit. The TENSION at play & the layers of Bruce & Babs dynamic, the messiness of the batfam!!! 👌 *chefs kiss* GK as a run in general too was a LOT of fun for me & Babs is a pretty prominent player in much of it, but this issue rlly takes the cake for me ngl

And to tie it all together for an extra couple of Important Event recs that you’ll run into esp if you pick up BoP first:

Batman: No Man’s Land - okay, this event was a Behemoth. It’s a LOT to read, but it is REALLY good imo as a launching point for where Bat-comics were at the start of the millennium. Babs takes the narrative role SO many times throughout & she rlly comes into her own by becoming a linchpin for the info system she builds for the batfam. Again, I don’t wanna discourage you when I say it’s a Long read, bc it’s well worth it imo, but also 100% okay to skip when you’re just starting out! It’s a big time sink!

Batman: Officer Down - okay put away the meme forJUST A SEC, our old friend Jim Gordon’s been shot & it’s up to Batma- oh wait bruce sulks by Jim’s bedside while Babs rallies the troops and GETS SHIT DONE to find who shot her dad? INTERESTING 🧐 In all seriousness tho, & compared to NML, this is a much easier bite-sized event that can give you a taste of what Event/crossoverComics™️ are generally like 👍

Bruce Wayne: Murderer?/Fugitive - okay so, take that same energy of the batfam having to Put In The Work to help Bruce out & flip it around bc now Bruce is the Main Suspect. The drama, the Intrigue™️. Pretty much everyone in the fam gets a moment to shine & this is def peak of how Babs fits into the fam during this era. This one runs a bit on the longer side & babs is again, more of a support role here, but god damn I loved it a lot!

I feel like I’m obligated to at least Mention Batman: War Games, mostly to note that it finally shakes the foundation of Oracle being the batfam’s main support (her CLOCKTOWER gets nerfed in this event 😭) If you read all of BoP and skip over this event & then are confused abt why Babs is suddenly being ejected from Gotham, just remember that her clocktower gets blown up, Steph dies, Bruce n Babs have a falling out & that’s basically why Babs starts flying around the country & settles in Metropolis for a bit instead of going back to Gotham. I reread this event at least once a year bc it gave me brainworms, I can not in good conscience recommend it to anyone bc no one understands her (War Games) like i do 💕 Godspeed if you decide to read it o7

Other recs/mentions:

Batgirl (2000) - okay if you end up reading NML, you’ll be introduced to Cass in it, & this run picks up with her. Babs is in it a LOT at the beginning as supporting cast to Cass (up to War Games ofc, but I won’t say much more abt that lol) I’m ngl, when I was trying to get more into comics, this run was what HOOKED me

Batgirl (2009) - so in a similar vein, Babs also features as a support for Steph too in her batgirl run. It’s… different from Cass’ run, but I also rlly love this one too. And also am forever bitter that the Batgirls run didn’t realize their potential BUT WE’RE NOT GETTING INTO THAT HERE.

Gonna mention Batman: Gotham Knights one more time bc again, while Babs isn’t a main focus, I think it’s rlly good at tying the batfam together during that era & giving a reader glimpses into other characters/dynamics. I think I got more out of it after I had read a few other runs from this time period (namely Robin, Azrael & some prominent stuff with Huntress), but can also see it as a potential launching point for new readers too 👍 if you wanna get more into the batfam/Batman but are intimidated by the Big Runs, this can potentially be a good bridge!

Gonna rapid fire mention that Babs as Oracle has a lot of appearances in Robin (93), Nightwing (96), JLA (96), Azrael (95) and obvsly Batman/Detective Comics from the 90s into 00s. I’ve read a few of these runs, and ymmv depending on how attached you may get to certain characters. But that’s what comics is all about! Getting attached and exploring other characters n teams n stuff!

A Gen note that I wanna end on: I wasn’t exaggerating when I said earlier abt how the more you read the more you’ll have fun. I can’t even begin to count the number of times that I’ve read something from a 90s/00s comic & was essentially jumpscared by a sudden Oracle cameo that I wasn’t expecting! She pops up in so many things throughout the universe at the time!!! She was THE info broker for all the supers!!! It makes me so insane that DC threw that all away to magi-cure her and demote her back to batgirl when she had grown so much 😭

anyways I hope you have fun!!! And again if you’re ever looking for other recs my more Gen dc blog is @dyketectivecomics! If my fellow mods or anyone else have some recs to add or to dispute haha, I’ll be tagging this so others can see/rb/reply to add their recs too 👍

Okay! \o/ that’s all I got for now! Happy reading anon!!!!