#I actually tried to make v2 look more armored

[b1dl0]

[kitkatopinions]

Do you ever look at a rwby character that's training to be or already is a badge carrying law enforcement officer in canon and think to yourself "damn, I wouldn't trust this person to be a waterpark attendant, I wouldn't trust this person to hold my place in a line so I could use the bathroom, if this person offered me a car ride home so I didn't have to walk I would turn them down because I don't trust them to do that."

Because I do. And somehow the fact that they might not make the best hunters is something that's not ever even really talked about in the show, at all.

Yang? Joined the Hunter academies for the thrills, had a wildly out of control temper and tbh still does, showed some anti-faunus discrimination leading Blake around with a laser pointer, and these days responds to conflicts by launching into fight mode and wanting to solve things through violence, plus doesn't seem interested in working if it's boring if her reaction to Jaune's to-do list and her exasperation through V9 is anything to go by. And she's completely rejecting any and all opportunity to recognize flaws and grow as a person atm, and seems to think admitting flaws or rethinking your past choices is villainous behavior based on her 'that's what Ironwood thought' shut down when Ruby started questioning herself and her treatment of Ren.

Weiss? Starts out as a raging anti-faunus bigot suggesting they call the police on Blake and comparing Faunus to trash cans, idolizes her 'hero' grandfather despite the fact that he was a capitalistic billionare who (iirc) tried to strip Vacuo of its resources and built the SDC into the fabric of society. Recently, she pointed what was essentially a loaded gun in the face of an underage auraless civilian because he didn't immediately spring out of the way and let her enter his house - and no, him being her brother doesn't mean that was okay. She also doesn't actually seem concerned with doing actual work if it isn't super big and important and flashy.

Jaune? He wasn't even sort of ready to enter Beacon when he did. He cheated his way in when he didn't even know what aura was, and the only reason he didn't die was because of Pyrrha saving his ass and trying to train him, and even then, he was leagues behind the others and the only reason Cinder didn't murder him at Haven was author-plot armor. But now that he's got twenty some years of work under his belt (which I still really resent) he's also doing things like calling clearly sentient people stupid and treating them like five year olds, and yelling in the face of a seventeen year old that she's responsible for plans he had just as much of a hand in as she did and victim blaming her for being attacked by an evil villain who was trying to murder her.

(To be clear, for the above three characters, I'm not saying 'they point blank should not ever have been hunters because of their traits and/or flaws and/or flawed motivations, I'm just saying that I would've wanted there to be more of themselves and others questioning it and them working on their flaws specifically and squaring away some of their more selfish motivations before becoming law enforcement officers with badges.)

COCO? She likes being feared, her friends lovingly describe her as sadistic, she thinks letting teammates have a say is a sign of a weak leader, she's judgmental towards people from Vacuo, she gives strong anti-Faunus vibes and it's treated like it's okay because she's friends with Velvet, she tells Velvet NOT to fight when Grimm are bursting into Vale in V2 and then leisurely takes her time fighting one Grimm because she apparently can't be bothered to care when civilian's lives are on the line, she makes snap judgements about people for no reason, and also she's a big old hypocrite, and defies authority carelessly.

CARDIN?!?! You would think they would've at least addressed CARDIN properly, as a real actual significant problem, since he was a future badge carrying law enforcement officer who also targeted minorities, and tried to blackmail people, and gave off strong misogynist vibes, and liked knocking around his own teammates when they got in his way. Like???? The only thing we know changed in Cardin's behavior was that he was leaving Jaune and Jaune's friends alone because Jaune had 'stood up to him.' The writers didn't think that it was important that we as an audience got to see him either get hardcore checked and start being not that way, or get expelled and restricted from continuing on as a Hunter due to his behavior? We're just supposed to be like 'oh well, there's Cardin the anti-faunus power play loving blackmailer training to be a hunter, but that doesn't matter because the writers only cared about him to bully Jaune so who cares about him now?'

I'd like to actually engage with this story! I'd like to actually have the story of rwby discuss what being a hunter means and how some of these characters aren't well suited currently to be hunters. The writers have no interest in actually making their characters good Hunters or figuring out what being a 'good hunter' even means (case in point, V9,) and instead just expect everyone to be on board with absolutely no reflection. Why should I think Weiss deserves her hunter badge again? Why should I think Jaune deserves his hunter badge? I don't currently think they should be hunters because I feel like they haven't even thought about if they really want it or would be good at it. Because ever since V2, it's just been a foregone conclusion to the writers that the mains (all dropouts in their first year) are Hunters and deserve it and will be great at it, but they've never actually bothered to convince me of it with some of these characters. They expected their audience to just think it too, and shrug and accept it, and they now refuse to engage with the flaws their characters have either or whether or not their traits are well suited to the task of being a badge carrying law enforcement officer, so... Yeah. I wish that the show challenged the 'of course they're all destined to be hunters' thing.

[vaimetanyx]

Part three - refusal of the call

Because, and I can't stress this enough, there is no way these greaves can be worn without stabbing your own feet when you move, let alone dash. So here's my non-foot destroying version!

(Full process under the cut)

[Skull pauldron] [Belt] [Greaves] [Toga + sash] [Wig + Laurels] [Armbands] [Flaming feet] [Satyr Sack] [Stygius v1] [Stygius v2] [Nectar]

To start off with, more pattern making!

(And remember, if you don't want to suffer needlessly, make your back closure straight. Don't be like me)

Once you have you have your pattern (WITH A STRAIGHT BACK SEAM) then it's time to cut it out of foam, contact cement it together, and heat shape. This was my first time making any sort of fitted armour so I tried them on and held them closed with masking tape. Terrible Hozier socks are courtesy of @afternoon-softea

Next up, skulls! As per my previous posts, I cut out the pattern, contact cemented the pieces together, dremelled the edges and added depth + tidied things up with foam clay.

Now I made a hero's journey joke about refusal of the call at the start of this post but genuinely I had so much trouble with these bevels/ridges/whatever, and even the finished product still looks super rough if you focus. I was so mad and focused while doing them I don't even have progress pictures, but here's the end look with an unflattering closeup on the bevels.

But they ended up getting done, which meant time to heat seal and plastidip! The original paint I was going to use for them turned out to look absolutely terrible, so I had to do a late night Bunnings trip to get an actual nice metallic grey. I then did some shadows around the skull and painted the eyes black, and proceeded to forget to take photos of any of that.

Painting! late night bunnings trip to get a decent one bc the spray paint you originally picked was terrible! Black in the eyes, a little bit of dry brushed highlights and shading and that part's done! Forget to take photos again!

For the closure, I knew I didn't want to have an obvious zip so I could match the art more accurately, so I thought 'hey, I'll just super strong velcro!'

...

If your closure. Isn't even. You will have so much trouble keeping it closed properly. No matter what you use. Version 1, which I wore to my first convention in this cosplay, had an internal velcro closure and some on the edges to try and get it to sit evenly at the seam. it sort of worked. I also did this before painting and then had to redo the edge velcro since the velcro got clogged up with plastidip and paint.

I later went to modify this and still use velcro! It didn't work! so I decided fuck this all, and made it lace up using spare hook and eye closures I had lying around, held together and shaped with a LOT of hot glue.

I was originally going to use some black string I had, but it couldn't handle the tension needed to keep it closed flush, so I changed to fishing line. I also added some more highlighting and shadows on the skull part

The tension did rip off a few of my tiny hook and eye closures during the con, and I had to cut myself out of them at the end of the day, but they did end up sitting much better (and no annoying velcro sounds if I moved too much and put pressure on the closure). I kinda want to remake them now knowing what I do about making cosplay armor, but who knows when I'll have time to do that. They're good enough for now, especially considering the amount I walk into things on a daily basis.

[fan-fiction-kitty]

Danganronpa V2 Minecraft Server

Warnings: Minecraft

Words: 1015

Genre: Stupid

Requested: No

Lmao I’m sorry y’all I’ve been playing too much Minecraft

Hajime Hinata: 

Please help him. He just wants to play the dang game. He’s constantly getting pranked. Once he came home from mining to find at least 50 cats in his base. People like to follow him around because he actually tries to make progress and not just mess around. Got an Elytra before anyone else did and now everyone tries to kill him so they can have it.

Nagito Komaeda:

Has the most diamonds but has also died the most times. Beat the Ender Dragon but then was immediately killed by an Enderman. People team up with him when they want a challenge because he just attracts mobs for some reason. He was the one who put the cats in Hajime’s base.

Gundham Tanaka:

Has ALL the animals! A sheep for every color of the rainbow, tons of horses that he bred, cats, dogs, birds, you name it. Has an army for when he goes out at night. He pretty much never has to use a sword because his animals just kill all the mobs. He’s literally OP- if you try to kill him, you’ll immediately be swarmed. Avoid at all costs.

Kazuichi Soda:

He built all the redstone farms that everyone uses. His entire base is automated. Also has a double bed for when Sonia visits for farming, but she always brings her own bed. He has elaborate traps all around his base that he leads mobs and unsuspecting victims into. People will give him all their extra redstone.

Twogami:

Doesn’t really play that much, but when he does he pretty much just plays like Hajime. He has a hidden base that he keeps all his valuables in but will totally help you out if you ask. He defends people getting attacked but is really bad at combat. Mostly just keeps to himself, though.

Teruteru Hanamura:

“What if I put my minecraft bed next to yours? Haha just kidding.... Unless?” 

Anyway, this boy has fields of wheat, chickens, and cows for ingredients. He’ll give you food if you trade him diamonds. He spends days out in his wheat fields and then dies because it’s not lit up enough at night. Absolutely screams every time he gets blown up by a Creeper.

Nekomaru Nidai:

He spends hours at Kazuichi’s experience farm just to go home and enchant every weapon and piece of armor he has. He’s always fully decked out in enchanted armor and will give stuff out for free if you’re lacking. He built an arena specifically for fighting other players. The only people that use it are him and Akane.

Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu:

He just wants to vibe but Peko won’t stop following him!! He will hide in people’s bases until they come back and then kill them and take their stuff. He’ll give it back if you ask nicely, though. He has a pretty cool base that he mostly built on his own and he spends a lot of time standing at the highest point of it and just looking over everything. Doesn’t even have a sword because Peko just kills everything for him.

Peko Pekoyama:

Literally just follows Fuyuhiko everywhere. Has a really overpowered enchanted netherite sword but no armor. Not like she needs armor, though. She doesn’t have a base of her own and just shares one with Fuyuhiko. She’ll come to kill anyone who approaches the base even if Fuyuhiko invited them over.

Akane Owari:

Spends most of her time either fighting Nekomaru in the arena or being AFK because she’s eating. She’s really good at PVP so everyone avoids stealing her stuff. Her house is made of dirt and is only big enough for a chest, bed, furnace, and crafting table. It keeps getting blown up by creepers.

Chiaki Nanami:

I mean, obviously she’s gonna be the best at the game. Spends hours strip mining and would’ve been the first one to beat the Ender Dragon if Nagito hadn’t accidentally fallen into the stronghold. Like, she showed up maybe five minutes after him. She was the first to beat the wither, though. Her base is absolutely amazing and she has at least three people around her asking for help at all times.

Sonia Nevermind:

She’s having such a good time. She likes to visit Gundham’s base and look at the animals. Once she hit Gundham on accident during a trade and got DESTROYED by like 12 dogs. Tried to build a castle but it’s more like a cobblestone box. Got all of her diamonds from people just giving them to her.

Hiyoko Saionji:

Will scream any time a mob comes anywhere near her. Will kill you like 5 times for fun and then cries when you hit her once. Taunts people in the chat. She kills all the peaceful mobs she sees. Her base is really cute though, with flowers everywhere. She asks Mahiru for help a lot but Mahiru has no idea what she’s doing most of the time.

Mahiru Koizumi:

She loves to just walk around and look at the landscapes. Definitely has RTX installed to make the game look better. She takes so many screenshots that she’s lost track of them. She sometimes gets so far away from her base that she doesn’t know how to get back and ends up dying. 

Mikan Tsumiki:

She relies heavily on potions. She spends most of her time collecting ingredients and making farms for them. She’ll hit you with a splash potion of healing if your health is low. If she spots someone from a distance, she hides. Runs away from mobs despite having like 5 potion effects on her at all times. It’s common to see someone type “Mikan, heals?” in the chat.

Ibuki Mioda:

She spends hours making songs with note blocks. Like, there’s a whole area of the map that people just call the Music Area because Ibuki filled it with note blocks. Is totally chill around Creepers but will scream if she sees an Enderman. She was the first one to kill Hajime and get his elytra so now everyone is after her too.

Thanks for reading my garbage, y’all :)

[ghostwise]

Dragon Age Questions

@dirthara-mama tagged me for this! Thank you!! <3 I’ll tag @mabarihounds @antivan-surana and @vlwv 

01) Favourite game of the series?

Origins! It’s the first one I played, and each time I pick it up I find something entirely new in the experience. The characters feel like old friends, and the dialogue is really charming. It also has a ridiculous high-fantasy vibe that I love, which seems to be lacking in later games. I know it’s silly, I know it’s absurd and dated... but you just can’t beat that possessed rhyming oak tree npc…

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?

When Inquisition was announced, I started seeing a lot of it on my dash, so a friend and I started playing the series! I was hooked pretty much right away.

03) How many times you’ve played the games?

I’ve finished Origins three times, DA2 twice, and I’m currently playing Inquisition for the first time!!  Exciting!

I also have a handful of unfinished playthroughs on Origins, which were attempts to create new Warden characters, but none of them got past the first quest. I just love my Mahariel too much… 

04) Favourite race to play as?

Elves! I love the worldbuilding behind them, the city elves, the Dalish, and the ancient elves. I hate pretty much everything about how these issues are handled in game, though.

05) Favourite class?

Mage!

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

Pretty much. I have tried to play as different characters so as to explore different outcomes and decisions, but again… I love my OCs too damn much.

07) Go-to adventuring group?

Origins: Hamal, Zevran, Morrigan, Sten. DA2: Renata, Varric, Anders, Isabela. Inquisition: Neluayo, Varric, Blackwall, Sera—so far!

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

Listen, I love creating OCs and putting ridiculous amounts of thought into them. It went from being a coping mechanism as a newly immigrated depressed and anxious child, to something I still love as an adult. I have a hard time picking one OC I put the most thought into…

But because I’ve played Origins the most, and played it first, Hamal has a lot more content in his tag than my other Dragon Age OCs. He’s my baby and I adore him.

09) Favourite romance?

Zevran’s, no question. I think he may be one of my favorite characters in the series, romance or no! I love his background and his personality and his character arc. My boy...

10) Have you read any of the comics/books?

Nope!

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book?

Didn’t read any of them but I do own World of Thedas v1 and v2, and it seems each time I open it I find something new and surprising about the world. I love it!

12) Favourite DLCs?

I really enjoyed Return to Ostagar for Origins, and Legacy for Dragon Age 2. I know Inquisition has some amazing DLC content so I’m looking forward to that!

13) Things that annoy you.

The constant retconning, and rewriting of issues to suit a certain agenda in game. Especially regarding treatment of the mages or the elves. Like, I know this is a fictional narrative, okay? But it’s annoying to watch the story go from ‘Templars are unequivocally abusing their power and oppressing this group of people’ to ‘well they have good reason for it, sometimes you have to massacre an entire population because of one incident, it’s Gray Morality™ sweetie!’

Nah, it’s just bad writing! And it’s okay to admit that lol

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

I have no strong feelings on the matter. Would love to hear more about Antiva or Seheron!

15) Templars or mages?

Mages!

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

Same universe. I don’t have an interest in having multiple Wardens or Hawkes tbh, I... I get too attached lol

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

Hamal calls his mabari D’alen. He is the most spoiled mabari in all of Thedas, typically guarding the camp, never fighting or being placed in danger. Renata calls her mabari Nicolo, and she loves putting warpaint on him. The dog accompanied Carver at Ostagar and takes care of the family over their years in Kirkwall. I still need to name Neluayo’s hart!

18) Have you installed any mods?

A few for Origins (different robes for Morrigan and the realistic appearance mods for companions), and several for DA2 (dialogue tweaks and new hair/appearance options). But Inquisition seems kinda complicated to mod, and I don’t want to break the game hhhh

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

No, he wanted to find Tamlen and go back to his clan. He actually did take off after Ostagar, driven by anger and fear and homesickness. Alistair was devastated. Morrigan had to go and fetch him, convincing him to return.

20) Hawke’s personality?

A good mix of purple and blue, but let’s be real, Renata is pink. Whimsy, whimsy, whimsy.

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition?

I haven’t played around with armor creation yet… sounds fun though!

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

Hamal would have gone after Tamlen. It’s his greatest regret. Even before encountering him as a ghoul, Hamal was never able to shake the feeling that Tamlen had survived. But Duncan shot down every hope, and there was so much going on after Ostagar… there came a point where Hamal accepted that Tamlen was gone. 

When he shows up again, too far beyond any help but a blade between his ribs? It’s not something he ever gets over.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

Oh I love breaking canon.

Hamal never becomes Warden Commander. His political influence by the time of the Landsmeet is as perilous as you might expect of an angry and traumatized Dalish elf whose interest was more on surviving and defeating the Blight, than, say, being on any noble’s good side. The only reason he isn’t immediately executed is because he and his allies called in many favors and made many concessions. One being that he would leave the Wardens and not remain politically involved. Frankly, the crown and nobility hoped he would perish against the Archdemon. But here we are! 

Alistair becomes Warden Commander instead. Receiving the boon comes with challenges of its own. The Dalish receive all the land that was most tainted by the Blight. Reconstruction takes years and is still an issue during Inquisition era.

To that end, the political influence of the Dalish during Inquisition leads to a lot of changes for Neluayo’s canon too. Because the elves have a hold over much of the south, the Inquisition needs to ally with them to even gain access to those regions. Neluayo being Dalish herself smooths things over some, but she is really in a complex position, with the Dalish, with the Chantry, with the monarchy… being stationed in the Free Marches, Clan Lavellan is one of the clans that has yet to join the southern Dalish. It’s a huge stressor for her.

As for Hawke, I keep both her siblings alive. Renata needs her little sister ;; <3 They do all go their separate ways after events in Kirkwall though. Orsino is also alive. Varric was clearly covering for him!

And I know Hawke already has a VA buuuut I headcanon Renata’s voice to sound more like Brittany Howard’s! Because it’s adorable.

24) Are any of your character(s) based on someone?

Not really. I never create them with any one source of inspiration or influence in mind.

25) Who did you leave in the Fade?

I’m gonna leave Stroud in the Fade! Makes my life a lot easier lol

26) Favourite mount?

I’ll agree that the harts are amazing! And they’re just so TALL. Love those majestic Thedosian megafauna. The bog unicorns are cute too, they’ve grown on me, surprisingly. Ha!

[traincat]

While talking about mcu spider-man I said that I didn’t like how they infantilized him and named a few other changes I disliked (I wasn’t bashing him just saying I was dissatisfied), she said, “but that’s how he was in the comics.” I didn’t want to come off like a jerk by correcting her and it wasn’t that important so I just moved on lol. Do you talk about comics irl and, if so, how do you generally respond to people who have firm opinions about comics they haven’t read without being shitty.

I’ve had the Homecoming discussion a little irl. It’s a very different dynamic talking about it one on one, in a lot of ways more uncomfortable than talking about it online, even if the conversation is civil on both sides. Usually when I’m talking about comics with people irl they’re people who also know me online, too, so we’re generally aware of each other’s opinions in that regard.

Here’s the thing: it’s very hard to convince someone who has firm opinions about something they haven’t read if they’re not receptive to the idea that they might be wrong, which can, you know, be generally hard for us as humans. Short of tying your friend to a chair and showing her a slideshow of all your favorite Peter Parker moments (not recommended, legally), it can be very difficult. It sounds like you want to get your point across as politely and non-confrontationally as possible; is it possible for you to recommend or loan her some comics you particularly like, or that you think are a good example of 616 Peter’s personality? I personally recommend Kraven’s Last Hunt: it’s atmospheric and intense, the Peter voice is great, and it’s a very self-contained story. The Death of Jean DeWolff is also good – it’s a murder mystery, and if your friend likes Daredevil, he plays an important part in it, so that could be an extra hook. If your friend is open to reading some comics, then afterwards you can sit down and be like “I like x and y about Peter in the comics, and I felt it was lacking from the MCU,” etc, and then your friend might have a better idea of what you’re talking about. Alternatively, if your friend doesn’t want to read comics, if you can politely but firmly say, “But I have read the comics, and I disagree with that statement,” that’s an option too. 

I’ve said this before, but is very, very easy to feel like you know all about Spider-Man comics before you read them. This is true of a lot of comics, but especially Spider-Man. I mean, we’re inundated with his image. A lot of people generally feel like they know him without reading the comics, because he’s Spider-Man! He’s a cultural icon! Yadda yadda Uncle Ben, yadda yadda he’s young, yadda yadda jokes. Your friend has repeatedly been told this is what Peter’s like, and, besides the fact that you’re her friend and she should value your input and opinion, she has little reason to believe otherwise, because like I mentioned in a different post, there are a lot of people out there – popular people, whose opinions are widely circulated – who speak about Spider-Man with a lot of authority while simultaneously making it clear to anybody who has read Spider-Man that they either don’t know what they’re talking about or are being willfully ignorant of the facts for whatever reason. It’s why it’s very important to me personally that I cite comics by issue number and that I provide as much context as I can, usually in the form of panels. I don’t know your friend, but I know the trend of infantilizing Spider-Man in fandom, and in her defense it is very widespread, very concrete, and very easy to fall into. Ten years ago it wasn’t nearly as bad and I still fell into it before I started reading Spider-Man. (I’m not saying you have to read everything, or even anything, to talk about a character in a fannish space, but if you’re going to label yourself an expert on the comics specifically and present yourself as an authority, you should like, probably know that he was married for decades, or that there is a cloth version of the black suit, or when Venom debuted, just to name some examples I’ve seen.)

I’m going to give two examples of how people ignore context and how that leads to the infantilization of Peter due to a genuine lack of familiarity, using two different sets of panels I’ve seen used in actual posts promoting the idea that this is what Peter is really like in the comics. They might be useful if you try and talk to your friend about it again; I’ve tried to break down the way information gets twisted around, and how we can avoid it. More under the cut, because it got long.

1) Ignoring context:

Amazing Spider-Man v3 (2014) #2. So in this scene, which takes place shortly after Peter has gotten his body back from Doc Ock’s bodysnatching extravaganza in Superior Spider-Man, he shows up at the Avengers tower with cookies, saying he brought some for everyone. The implication then, if you look at these panels on their lonesome, which is how I recently saw them presented in a tweet I may or may not have quotetweeted with the truth, is that he baked cookies for the Avengers. The tweet attached to these panels was about how the MCU’s version of Peter is clearly just like the comics, because he does stuff like this. What a nice boy. (I don’t remember anyone baking anything in Homecoming, sidenote.)

Let’s tackle the first half of that problem, if you actually read the issue, which is that he did not bake the cookies.

Anna Maria Marconi, who was deceived by Doc Ock into thinking she was in a relationship with the real Peter Parker, baked the cookies. She thinks better when she’s cooking. (As for the fact that Peter ended up bringing the cookies – aside from the fact that I don’t think Slott in the best Spider-Man writer in the world, to say the least, this is a man who was a high school teacher, and a well-liked one. He knows enough about bringing some for the whole class.)

Now, let’s tackle the second part, which is that almost immediately after Peter shows up with the cookies Anna Maria made, he finds out that Captain America kept (government secret) information pertaining to one of his closest friends from him. So he hits him in the face.

Which is pretty standard operating procedure for Mr. Machismo Issues. The tweet I saw, which had a not insignificant amount of retweets and likes, did not give context. It did not say that Anna Maria baked the cookies, and not Peter. It did not mention that in the same scene, Peter punches Captain America in the face over information that, honestly, Steve was not at liberty to discuss with him, being that it involved classified government information, and that Peter felt entitled to because it involved someone Peter loves dearly. It didn’t even give an issue number so that people who were intrigued by the content, however irresponsibly I would suggest it was presented, could go and look up the issue for their own enjoyment. It posted a series of panels out of context and said, “and that’s why the MCU’s version of Peter is just like the one in the comics.” And that’s a problem.

“You know you’re not wearing the armor right now, right?” vs “I’m nothing without this suit.” (Amazing Spider-Man #522) If you prefer one character over the other, that’s your prerogative, and I mean that sincerely. But MCU Spider-Man and 616 Spider-Man are very different characters. It’s understandable that people who want content for one might not enjoy content built around the other, and that goes in both directions.

By denying context, it is very easy to build the narrative that you want. It’s something I’m very aware of when I post panels and meta. And maybe the person who posted that tweet only had those panels – maybe someone gave that to them, without context, or they simply saw it posted elsewhere on its own, and they were drawing conclusions based on the evidence they were given. But that in itself is a problem, too: when people are denied context, they form it however they can.

2) Jumping to conclusions:

Amazing Spider-Man v2 #52. Oh boy, this scene. This scene is easy to misinterpret, because unlike the example I gave above, it needs a lot more context than just two other pages. I saw a general Spider-Man blog post this once, which would not have been my call, but hey, everyone gets to post what they want, and that’s why this website looks like it does. (badumpsh) Understandably, because Peter is portrayed as uncomfortable by this sexy stewardess’ advances, and because the common perception of Spider-Man is as a young teenager, someone replied, “Smart boy! He’s only 16.” That person was commenting with the best of intentions, based around the knowledge they possessed at the time, and complicated by the fact that this period of Amazing Spider-Man uses lower case letters, a lettering trait commonly used in the Ultimate universe, where Peter in fact is 15. So if you’re not familiar with the comic, the scene becomes that this woman is acting predatory towards an underaged boy. This is why I personally would not have posted it by itself, because it is very easy to misread the situation.

What’s actually going on here is that Peter, who is in his mid-to-late 20s, who has been married to Mary Jane for years, who had a child with her (that child died), is uncomfortable with this woman’s advances for two reasons: one, she is being paid to make those advances. Peter is at this time in canon working for a mob boss and being paid quite handsomely to defend him from a radioactive zombie hulk monster, and doing so under the logic that he would defend the man anyway so he might as well get paid for it. (He would later use the money for charitable causes.) The mob boss is flying Peter out on his private plane, and he is essentially pimping this woman out to him as a bonus perk. It’s understandable why Peter would turn her down firmly. The second reason is that, after a long separation, he has only just gotten back together with Mary Jane, and he’s trying to behave as best as he can because he wants to stay together with Mary Jane. The joke is predicated on the reader’s knowledge of that, along with their understanding that in comics Peter Parker is, how shall we say, an avid appreciator of the female form.

(Spectacular Spider-Man #162)

(Amazing Spider-Man #606)

(Amazing Spider-Man #357)

(Spider-Man Unlimited #21)

(Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #5)

(Amazing Spider-Man #519)

(Peter Parker v2 #19)

Yes, that’s a tasteful full length nude poster of his wife he’s got there in his room. But the point is, if you don’t read comics, you have no way of knowing this. You only know what people who are widely recirculated say about Spider-Man, and many of the widely circulated opinions are from people who don’t read comics. And that’s frustrating to me, and I don’t know what to do about it other than talk about it, and talk about the comics, and make the issue numbers and information as accessible to people as I can, because I love this character, and I love how weird and complicated and individual and angry and loving he is, and I want to see him represented more. Because the infantilization of Spider-Man didn’t start with the MCU. Fandom is more visible than it’s ever been, and fandom created this characterization first. I saw it years before Marvel Studios acquired the rights back. The MCU only capitalized on what they saw people claiming Spider-Man should be all along. But it’s not who Peter is in the comics when he is written his best, which is responsible, mature, incredibly complicated, frequently serious, and extremely individual. 

I hope you can have a good conversation with your friend about it, anon.

[sol1056]

fixing the clone

Ambiguity has its place, but that lies in giving only certain pieces of information, not in the full picture being muddy. In other words, every clue -- taken as a whole, by story's end -- should add up to a complete picture. The narrative should have a clear position of where it stands, and the mid-story ambiguity should lie in the readers simply not having all the information yet.

three clues in the text and one red herring 

First clue is Shiro’s explanation when he returns. 

SHIRO: The last thing I remember was Zarkon trying to overtake the Black Lion. It told me to use my bayard. Then, just nothing. I woke up, and I was back on a Galra ship.

Most fans concluded that Shiro's memories were taken via his arm. This begs the question of when and how. Were there transmissions, or was Shiro's arm designed for later retrieval? That assumption is based on this exchange back in S2:

PIDGE: The Galra could have implanted fake memories of the escape in your head. HUNK: Oh, come on, that would be so evil, which, of course, they are. But they'd have to come up with some molecular level storage unit, which his hand does have. But, to be linked up to memory, it would need a direct pathway to his brain, which yeah.

Taken at face value, we could interpret this to mean a single set of fake memories were implanted, to override a specific stretch of time. It leaves open whether Shiro's core memories were otherwise intact. The metaphor starts to get muddy, here. Once it’s patently clear Shiro is compromised, we get this:

PIDGE: I recognized [the countermeasure] from the code I scanned from Shiro's arm when we were looking for Galra installations. When I was scanning Shiro's arm, I made a copy of its programming. 

That instance was way back in S1. If this was an adult-grown clone, with a brand-new arm, why would there be no upgrades or new commands? Whether the arm had been a recording device or a supplemental memory storage, the new phase (of active control) would imply the need for new (or at least additional) programming. If the programming required to flip Shiro's switch was present all along, why wasn't it used previously? (I have no answer for that, since that requires a deeper revision than I’m suggesting here.)

The third clue is in S3, when we learn it’s an open secret that Zarkon is severely injured. In other words: Zarkon was retrieved from the battle before that final blazing sword blow became truly fatal. This sets up the possibility that Shiro was somehow captured in the same move.

Last is Black finding the clone. Knowing now that Black had Shiro within and yet still roared for the clone, it feels like the story’s lying here, too. It wanted to present enough to doubt Shiro and see him as 'real' at the same time, but in hindsight, it doesn't work. We needed more groundwork to fit Black's behavior into the metaphor.

Behind the cut: what it could add up to, and how we could clarify the metaphor to fill the biggest plot holes and avoid the ethical issues of the clone’s treatment.

now to add this up

When the dust settles, every clue should add up to a complete and comprehensible picture. Unless Shiro has been a clone all along, there's no need to call it 'operation kuron' except to mislead the audience into assuming this isn't Shiro in any way except appearance (and, apparently, shared memories).

VLD does this several times, which is why I'm suspicious here. In Lotor's storyline, Axca's and Lotor's choices can only be explained by saying they pretended despite the lack of audience. In other words, the scientist calling the project 'clone' was intentionally misleading the viewers, and had nothing to gain, in-story, from mislabelling the project. Taken in hindsight -- and placed against the actual (and unscarred) clones seen in Black Paladins -- if the project title is accurate, the rest of the metaphor falls apart. If the project title is inaccurate, there's no explanation other than willfully lying to the viewers.

Done right, the revelation of Shiro’s presence in Black should make every piece fall into place, perfectly comprehensible in hindsight. Take the metaphor of a divided system -- OS as interface, memory as database. At some point in that final battle, the hardware is ripped away, and Black catches the OS -- the personality, the interface -- and ghosts a copy. If we stretch the metaphor so ghosting simultaneously removes the OS from the original hardware, then we have Shiro's personality in Black, and his body in Haggar's clutches -- and both share the same core memories.

After the final battle, with the replacement OS shutting down, returning Shiro’s mind resolves the split and returns Shiro to himself. There is no clone to be used and discarded; there is only Shiro, taking back his own body.

(This does not evade the issue of the clone’s personality or self-awareness, but it does at least get us around the ethical question of keeping the clone for the sole purpose of having a place to ‘put’ Shiro.)  

fixing the metaphor

S1: make it explicit that the arm has code, and Pidge has removed it. All is safe. Reintroduce the question when Shiro returns, and have Hunk raises the worries, then. 

S2: simplify or truncate the finale to leave five minutes' breather at the end. Add comms visuals so the team witnesses what appears to be Shiro being pulled from this reality, going staticky, something. (It'd be a nice parallel to S6E1 if Keith ditches Red and heads for Black; Allura’s repetition later would prompt fear of the same happening to Lance.) Add an easter egg for the fans, a quick shot of Zarkon's mecha ripped open but the central cabin is empty.

Use those final minutes to show the impact. Show the team's escape, the passage of time, and each person’s reaction. Show Pidge on her laptop, wiping tears as she works. Hunk cooking, only to stop and cover his face. Lance retrieving his armor and seeing the empty spot where Shiro's was. Keith sitting in Black's cabin, watching the empty chair. Coran talking to someone on the overhead screens, then looking over his shoulder at Shiro's empty seat.

Add just enough dialogue to show the team's concluded that Haggar used her magic to tear Shiro apart. They're grieving, but they're also coming to terms with Shiro's death. End with Allura coming to Keith and saying, it's time to find a new Black Paladin. And I'd probably end on Keith's determined, No, and let the screen go to black.

S3: the team has accepted that Shiro couldn't have survived. They tell each other he's dead, but Keith won't stop looking. He wants closure (and the rest of the team goes along, as a way to help Keith heal). Show small reactions from Black, implying the lion has intentions or wishes of its own. Skip the flippant humor and instead have each pilot note something odd. The seat wouldn't quite adjust for Pidge; the sticks wouldn't move for Hunk, the doors hesitated before opening for Lance.

Skip Shiro's return journey -- or don't start it until he's in the sentry fighter; after all, he repeats the crux of it when he's talking to Keith. In hindsight, it should become clear that Black was looking for Shiro's body: the hardware that fits the ghost software. Mid-story, though, it would appear Black had retrieved the real Shiro.

The changes in Shiro can be written off as trauma from being taken, again, but the narrative should be quite point-blank that something is very, very wrong. With S3E5 gone, there's room to add a more significant break between Shiro and Keith, and to show Keith diverting his attention to the Blades. Let characters rationalize this -- frex, Lance telling himself, "no one knows Shiro better than Keith, and Keith doesn't seem worried." Show the imposter's influence by the way the team slowly stops confiding in each other.

At this point, the working theory would be one of two possibilities: either Shiro was ripped away, brainwashed, and returned to the team... or this is a clone who carries Shiro's memories per the arm's programming. In either case, there should be no doubt for viewers that Shiro is not to be trusted.

Remember the metaphor, too. Keep a very light touch on humanizing this new version. Make it like Windows stumbling over Mac: those echoes don't make sense, they're junk. Let someone call Shiro out on his uncharacteristic mood, and have Shiro v2 dismiss his past actions. He's a new OS. He has no need for those artifacts that don't add up, anyway.

When Shiro's switch gets flipped, the team will understand and support Keith's need for closure, but they know there’s no hope. Pidge can lampshade, mentioning previous mindwipes (ie when Hunk was controlled, or how Narti spoke through the Puigian leader). Let the characters put forth a theory that unlike simple brainwashing (where the person remains), Shiro's case is so extreme there's nothing to recover.

I'd wrap up the entire storyline by the end of the full season, since that puts the Black Paladins battle as the midpoint of the entire story, structurally. But if limited to small tweaks, by the thread’s conclusion, the most obvious conclusion should be a) Shiro died and was grieved, and b) Shiro returned broken, with the original personality gone forever.

S6: only a few lines need to change. Shiro's appearance on the astral plane should be the first sign of hope in 20-something episodes. Changed lines are in bold:

SHIRO: Just let me explain. That thing that attacked you wasn't me. Since my fight with Zarkon, I've been here. KEITH: How? SHIRO: My physical form was gone. I existed on this other realm. I didn't know where I was or how much time had passed. KEITH: We thought you died, Shiro.  SHIRO: The Black Lion retained my essence. I tried to warn the others about the imposter in my body, while on Olkarion, but our connection wasn't strong enough...

In the broadcast version, this exchange is too final. It needs to open, not close. Keith needs to begin certain of Shiro’s death -- and then Shiro's reveal can turn harrowing loss into the first glimpse of hope. 

With that, the clues would fall into place to show the full, true picture: Shiro's body was taken, a new OS installed that relied on the original memories, while the ghost in the machine lived on in Black. It would make sense that Keith would still recognize Shiro v2 as 'his' Shiro, and it would also make sense that Keith would continue to protect Shiro's body -- even after knowing Shiro’s spirit is elsewhere. Keith's already thinking he’ll get Shiro back where he belongs, somehow. 

Add a single line from Pidge, checking Shiro's arm, noticing some behavior or code that tells us Haggar has sent shut-down orders, wiped the second OS, something that indicates the personality is gone. Then have Keith ask to put Shiro's soul back into his body.

In terms of continuity and development, it means Shiro would now have access to the memories of everything from the previous year or so (though I'm ignoring for now how traumatic that would be to see yourself doing things against your grain). While it's still torture of a character who's already suffered so much, it at least removes the amorality of treating a created creatures only to hurt and be hurt, as @ptw30 put it. 

Instead, it would be Shiro's body, overlaid with a fake, recovered, and restored. 

[eponymous-rose]

This week’s TM highlights:

Opens with a Very Dramatic nerf fight

“We can show someone googling themselves on the internet, right?” “Well, safe search.”

“First question is for Matt.” “Oh, god. Hi.”

Matt had Raishan’s next few rounds planned before Keyleth cast the spell.

If VM hadn’t gotten to Raishan when they did, Matt considered having her leave and just be out in the world, maybe reappearing in the next campaign.

Matt on Grog’s version of beat poetry: “You just... literally beat a poet.”

Raishan was Matt’s favorite Conclave member to portray because of all the non-combat interactions

Travis grills Liam on the Superbowl after learning he spent it at a vegan Mexican restaurant drinking a spicy margarita. Liam eventually manages to pull out the word “Patriots”.

“I fucked it up, god damn you, Andrew from Crit Role Stats!”

Vax has found his family, and it’s not Syldor. He’s not looking to get closer to his dad; to him, it’s a done deal and he’s moved on.

Travis: “Hahaha, I find myself hilarious.”

Sam shows up half an hour late. “Sorry I’m late... but it’s kind of my thing.”

Liam calls out Sam for making jokes about wanting one of their characters to die... and then constantly moping in the text thread in the week after Scanlan died

Sam’s made it through the first hour of 84 so far. “I mean, I watched the part where they were saving my life and crying about me.” He did actually get choked up over Grog’s song while he was watching it at work.

Liam points out that Sam is “the worst kind of foodie” and once critiqued a picture of the pancakes Liam made for his kids.

Sam: “I think it would be fun for one of us to die. I just don’t want it to be me!”

They show an extended scene from the episode (Grog’s offering) and when they cut back Travis is chin-handsing and batting his eyelashes while everyone else pretends to be asleep

Travis gave a lot of thought to how Scanlan’s permadeath would’ve affected Grog. “Pike and Scanlan would be the two things that would just crumble him.” He spent the whole week thinking about Grog’s contribution to the ritual and practiced what he’d say whenever he had quiet moments.

If it had failed, Grog might’ve tried the deck.

Someone asks if Vax would’ve jumped in on the ritual if Kaylie hadn’t: Liam thinks Vex is closer to Scanlan than Vax is, so if Kaylie hadn’t stepped in, much as he cares about him, Vax still likely wouldn’t have stepped in because he didn’t think Scanlan would’ve answered his call.

Sam had no complicated list of demands to get Scanlan back, just how he thought it could or should go

Travis was prepared for the possibility of losing the knuckles and the belt. “He was my friend before that.”

“If the beard is unattuned--” “That is an amazing sentence.”

Scanlan will probably rethink his approach to combat, but Sam isn’t quite sure how that’s going to shake out yet

Talks Machina: It’s About Scientology

Matt re: the ashes: “Some things are just journeys in learning to trust occasionally...”

Matt suggests a post-mortem Talks Machina episode on the entire Conclave arc

Critical Role is going to WonderCon this year

Grog considers himself a talented magician and the cleverest tactician (Liam: “Sometimes that’s true.”)

If the group had gone through Scanlan’s stuff: “It would’ve mostly been weird smut.”

Everyone points out that they don’t know enough in-character to feel they should do more than just keep an eye on Scanlan for now

Travis on Groon v2: “I’M FUCKING STOKED! ...I’m really excited.”

Sam doesn’t know how Scanlan was left at the end of the episode, and everyone tells him to not watch the rest of the episode so he can just find out live (”...something about pudding? I saw some strange fanart that I don’t know how to...” “Don’t worry about it.”)

After Dark: the site was down again (verrrrrry glad I’m on a free trial here, because that’s two weeks in a row), but @loquaciousquark recorded all but the first few minutes of it live and sent me the video file right after it was done, because she is magical that way.

The armor Matt wears in the opening is the armor he wore in Mythica

Sam wants to recreate Hot Pepper Gaming with Liam on their podcast. Travis wants to be the live studio audience.

Everyone discusses their various and sundry bizarre live-action turns. Expect to see people digging up clips on all social media in the next few weeks.

Sam jokes about a political arc following the Chroma Conclave. "Grog could be Speaker of the House.” Brian: “Grog has a higher intelligence than the real Speaker of the House.”

Liam’s son ran a little D&D game for him that ended with the reveal that he was making it all up as he went, which Liam figures is pretty much how D&D is supposed to go.

Grog was definitely taken aback by Vax’s sincerity---when playing Grog, Travis is constantly trying to find the joke in things, and Vax’s words were so genuine that Travis got emotional and kind of shut down and had nothing to reply with, which he figures is exactly how Grog would respond.

Kima and Allura probably would’ve survived, just because Allura had eight hours of water-breathing at her disposal, but it would’ve taken a long time before they managed to get back home (a Gilligan’s Island-type setup).

Brian goes around shaking everyone’s hands, but Travis grabs him and yanks him down with him, and then the crew starts firing nerf darts at them to end the episode.

[agent-7-at-your-service]

Future Plot: Project Titanomachy - Chapter 23

(( Camille belongs to @inklingleesquidly

Nebula (Mentioned) belongs to @myzzy and @agenttwo

Agent 0 and Suzy belongs to @son-of-joy

Cell, Mercury, Rasbel, and Vix belong to @teamuntyblue

Neo Nexus Corp (mentioned) belong to @alphadeathsquad

Galaxa Gems belongs to @splat-tendency and @eiden-squid​

Frosted Stars belong to @askvincent / @asktheseastars and @evora-flux​

Emerald and Sapphire (not mentioned) belong to @twelvetailedkitsune and @son-of-joy​

Celeste and Willow (not mentioned) belong to @alpinesquid​

Nebulous and Arsenic (not mentioned) belong to @a-demo-of-a-hero​

Agent 7, Telemachus, Sea Angel Splatoon and others belong to me ))

While Nebula and Sea Angel Splatoon are rescuing the Galaxa Gems and the Frosted Stars, and Telemachus and Agent 7 are helping Neo Nexus Corp in exterminating the Typhonian Horde of Giants in the Kelp Dome, Camille arrives in Arowana Mall.

The Typhonized Giants each have a massive snake infesting their body along with sea slugs and hagfishes; their human features were morphed into claws, burnt, decaying flesh, deformed jaws, extra appendages, and other projections. Most of their iron and bronze armor that they were now bound to their body like graft.

Camille can see Cell wielding her Ink-Sword V2 along with Mercury wielding her Royal Splatter Pistols. Rasbel was with Cell and Mercury, staying close her mother and aunt; Vix was nowhere to be seen, and it seems Mercury is real worried. However, the Giants were blocking Mercury's path, preventing her from searching for Vix. They held out on one of the spawn points at one end of the mall.

How they were fighting the giants was quite simple: Mercury distracts while Rasbel stays close, and Cell attempts the get close to the Giant and make it fight blind against other giants.

Anteros arrived by Camille's side, and Hermes arrived late as he was busy with some errands he had to finish for people in Greece. Anteros had his brother's artifacts: A bow made out of a candlestick holder and arrows made of hearts and a pink metal. Hermes still had his winged helmet, winged sandals, and caduceus which are all his artifacts.

Agent 0 and Suzy arrived as well. Since Agent 0 is a Champion of Ares, he takes out Ares, Bronze Sword, twirls it, and set it on fire. Soon Agent 0 is in a bronze armor, blood-stained cape, black tunic, leather, and a gold helmet. He doesn't use Ares's Bronze Shield and instead uses his usual electric blade with the electricity now being red. Suzy carried a Krak-on Splat Roller on her back, and in her hands, she has a simple spear modified for combat and fishing.

Camille's group is on the other side of the mall.

"So how are we going to save them?" Suzy asked.

"Camille, think this through," Hermes advised, "It is very necessary that we--"

Camille already has her owl wings sprout from her back again and she sped through the mall without her team. Hermes sighed and looked to Agent 0 for a plan.

"You and Antero will lure the Giants away," Agent 0 ordered, "Suzy, I'll try to open a path for you so that you can help Camille."

"Understood." Suzy gave a nod.

Hermes's winged sandals turn into gold winged boots. "We'll do our best."

"Hold on, what about you?" Anteros questioned Agent 0.

"Doing the same thing: Luring the giants away." Agent 0 soon runs into the horde, distracting them from below and avoiding getting stepped on.

Camille arrived by Cell and Mercury's side. "Auntie Cell! Auntie Mercury! Where's Vix?"

Cell and Mercury didn't expect Camille to arrive at their aid in Olympian Form. Rasbel was amazed by Camille's new appearance with the bronze armor, white cape, a spear and shield, and owl wings.

"I'm trying to find him, but those giants are blocking the way," Mercury explained.

"And no matter how much were take one down at a time, we can't risk Rasbel's safety," Cell added.

"Camille, is that you?" Rasbel was looking at Camille's Olympian outfit.

"Call me the Champion of Zeus and Athena, and I'm here to save ya guys!" Camille twirls her spear and points it at a giant, zapping it with lightning. That horrid giant collapses.

"Woah..." Mercury is surprised.

"Athena and Zeus?" Cell knows a lot about the Greek Pantheon and the Mythology. "How did you...?

"I'll explain later," Camille answered.

Another horrid giant was charging at them, about to slam them with his fist. Suzy used the giant's bent back as a slope, and when she's on top of his head, she jumps up and stabs her spear into the giant. The giant's attack stops and it collapses with his arms focused on Suzy. Camille sends lightning bolts at the arms and helps finish off the giant. There were still more giants roaming in the mall.

Suzy and Camille regroup with Cell, Mercury, and Rasbel. Camille then thought about what she just said; she can get the three out of here because Vix is somewhere around the mall.

"Suzy, do you think you can get Rasbel and Auntie Cell out of here?" Camille asked. "I want to help Mercury find Vix."

"I'll get them to safety," Suzy responded, "You go on and help Mercury find the child."

The sharkling agent began escorting Rasbel and Cell to the nearest exit, taking a quick passage to the center of the mall. The giants were distracted with Agent 0 slicing their ankles and Hermes running across the walls at full speed. Anteros was raining pink fire arrows at the titans, shooting directly at the hearts so that they can burn from the inside.

Camille soon picked up Mercury and carried her to the rooftops of the mall to make it easier to locate Vix.

"To think Vix would just wander off into situations like this," Camille muttered.

"Well, you've watched over him before," Mercury remembers the time she left Camille to babysit Vix.

"Heh... now that you mention it..." There was a smile on Camille's face, but she shakes her head. "We should be searching."

"He could be anywhere." Mercury began jumping from roof to roof.

Camille follows her, catching up. "I assume you don't need an explanation of what's really going on?"

"All I know is that my son wandered over to this mall, some unusual meteor crashed nearby, and these Giants appeared afterward." Mercury was too focused on searching for Vix.

"You gotta control Vix-y, Auntie Mercury," Camille replied.

Mercury stopped at the end of the rooftops. "I wish I could..." She turns towards Camille. "I don't want to see him hurt in times like this." At least she's aware that there's some kind of war.

"We'll find him, I'm sure of it," Camille assured.

Soon something appeared rising from hiding and stands in front of Camille and Mercury. At first, the creature was taller than the giants; however, to make up the height, it stands with its back bent. It had a face of Cthulhu and a thin body of a skeleton. It was clad in in iron steel, and rags with a helmet of a Spartan. From its metal ribcage, the chest and torso beneath it is flesh-twisted with rags and unusual hagfish tails dangling from unnoticeable openings. The arms and legs were covered in cryptic tattoos; its eyes are a terrifying yellow with red around the lids. In its right hand, it wielded a rusty battle-scarred sword.

((Author's note For better visuals of this massive creature, see this: http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/patapon/images/6/6b/OGj5hXx69fkphf4eSl7P6oq8qE4RJYM6.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110408083428 ))

The unusual giant stared at the two carefully. Camille prepared Athena's Spear; Mercury stepped back with her Splatter Pistols. The giant stood straight and raised his sword up high.

"He's going crush us!" Camille quickly tackled Mercury, and they end up on another roof.

The building the giant attack end up breaking in two and collapsing. The giant was still targeting Camille and Mercury. It turned slightly to face them and he raises his foot and stomping on the next building the crush. Again, Camille and Mercury managed to evade.

"We can't just let it do that," Mercury warned, "It'll destroy the entire mall."

"Wait..." Camille narrows her eyes at the giant and noticed something. "Mercury on the plumes of the giant's helmet!" She pointed her spear at the plume.

At appear Vix's random wandering lead him to end up on top of a giant's head.

"Vix!" Mercury called out.

Camille offered to retrieve the boy, but as she took off to flies towards the Giant's head, the giant swats her away like a fly. Camille ends up crashing into a window, receiving minor cuts. Mercury runs over to pick up Camille and get her to safety.

With the presence of this taller giant, the other giants were already retreating to the meteor they came out of which was actually a fortress with geometric structures. Hermes, Anteros, and Agent 0 turned their attention to the taller giant. Suzy managed to get Cell and Rasbel out of the Mall; they were waiting for Camille to be back with both Mercury and Vix.

"That seems taller than those we fought here," Agent 0 commented.

"Porphyrion the Gigantus," Hermes replied to Agent 0, "A well-known giant veteran of the Gigantomachy..... strange he hasn't succumbed to Typhon's influence....yet."

The Gigantus stands straight again and body slams in the building that Camille and Mercury are in, destroying the structure. Once it got back up, it enters the mall with nothing in its way.

Mercury managed to get Camille away and regroup with Agent 0, Anteros, and Hermes. She also grabbed a first aid kit just in case. When she puts Camille down, several items spilled from Camille's inventory: Artemis's Antler Crown, Apollo's Bow and Lyre, an empty scabbard made of Nemean Lion skin, The Gorgon Shield, Mnemosyne's Amulet, and Phoebe's Scripture. Athena's Spear (With Zeus's Thunderbolt inside) was still in Camille's hands.

Agent 0 walks over and knelt down. "What happened?"

"We were trying to look for my son, Camille saw him on that giant's head," Mercury explained, "She tried to rescue him, but the giant just swatted her, thinking she was attacking head-on."

Hermes made sure the Gigantus didn't come in close; otherwise, he would need to distract it.

Even though Mercury managed to patch up the cuts caused by broken shards of glass, Anteros attempted to "revive" Camille.

"I don't think that's enough, we need to provide more medical treatment!" Anteros suggested. "Wait, I got it! CPR!"

"Anteros, I don't think--" Agent 0 warned, but Antero just went on ahead.

Anteros gets close to Camille's face, about to perform it. However, Camille regains consciousness and sees Anteros attempt to perform CPR, mistaking that he was going to kiss her. She quickly hit him with the blunt blue shield, Aegis, again.

"What is wrong with you!?!" Camille screamed, squirming back in disgust.

"Owww... I thought you needed CPR," Anteros groaned.

"From a squid like you! Gross!" Camille wanted to kill him even if he is a deity. "The next time you try to do that, you're dead!"

Mercury shakes her head at Anteros. Agent 0 just sighs.

Camille took a deep breath, getting on one knee as she recovers. She then noticed the items that spilled out. She picks them back up and puts them back in her inventory. She then got back on her feet, using Athena's spear as support.

"Tch. It'll take that giant more than just one swat to knock me out like that." Camille takes a deep breath.  "I can see messenger-boy is already distracting him..." Electricity emitted from Athena's spear. "Can't wait to jam this into its brain."

"I think you can take Porphyrion down, Camille," Anteros complemented, "Athena fought the giant, Enceladus, and she buried his so deep into the earth, Sicily was created."

"She did what now??" Camille raised an eyebrow.

"She buried him under the Earth and ended up creating the island of Sicily," Anteros repeated.

"Athena sounded like a badass," Agent 0 commented, "Did you know about this, Camille?"

Camille didn't know that side of Athena. Then again, she knew Athena turned a weaver into a spider, blinded a love interest into an oracle, and fought with her mother and aunt over a gold apple. In response to Agent 0's question, she shook her head.

Hermes returns and stretches. His gold boots revert back to winged sandals. "Man, what a marathon."

Porphyrion the Gigantus steps closer with its back still bent; he was still targeting Camille. Anteros prepared Eros's Bow and aimed his heart-burning arrows at the Giant. But as Anteros fires at the skeletal chest, it only hit the steel rib cage that clads the chest and torso. Any arrows at actually hit the flesh didn't sink in and try to literally set the heart on fire. The Gigantus just didn't feel the arrows hit him.

"What???" Anteros didn't know what went wrong.

"I already tried that, but Porphyrion just couldn't stagger," Hermes informed.

"Then we take him down physically!" Camille looked to Mercury. "You think you can get to the top of his head?"

Mercury has parkour a lot in her lifetime, but performing it to climb a giant is some else.  She was sort of hesitant, but she prepped herself for do what seems to be the impossible.

"I can parkour my way up there... never tried this before.... maybe with an octoweapon once, but I'll try with this scenario." Mercury actually had to do whatever it took to save Vix.

Camille looks to Hermes and Anteros. "Distract the giants." Camille looked at Agent 0. "You're with me." Camille looked to Mercury. "I'll get you to a roof."

Camille began flapping her owl wings, grabbed Mercury's arms, and started carrying her to a roof that's closest to Porphyrion. Agent 0 follow the two to that roof. Meanwhile, Anteros and Hermes were keeping Porphyrion’s eyes focused on them so that Camille, Mercury and Agent 0 can get close, rescue Vix, and defeat the Gigantus.

"Alright! Let's do this!" Camille raised Athena's spear up high before taking off in flight.

(( Background music Porphyrion the Gigantus: https://youtu.be/6LIcyvIJlAM )

Mercury backed up carefully before increasing speed to jump towards the Gigantus. She manages to land on the lower back of the creature and runs up the spine to reach the head. Agent 0 did the same and followed Mercury.

Once they were on his back, hedron walls grew from his back and obstructing their way to its head. Mercury actually gets around them with ease thanks to her parkour skills, running, jumping, climbing, and swinging. Agent 0 does the same using his blades to cut down obstacles that might slow him down.

In addition, large parasitic worms are spawning out to eliminate Mercury and Agent 0. And whenever Porphyrion crouches, raises it's foot or stands straight to deliver an attack, Mercury and Agent 0 needed to anchor themselves to the back to avoid falling off.

Camille just had to fly away from the Gigantus' sight, and she made sure Mercury and Agent 0 get to the top of Porphyrion's head. She had to swoop down and strike at the parasitic worms in order to protect Mercury and Agent. If she used lightning attacks frequently on Porphyrion, it would be aware of the distraction.

When Agent 0 and Mercury reached the shoulder blades, they made one huge leap to get on the plume. They're finally on the head, and Mercury made her away towards Vox and picks him up.

"Who there?" The hair on Vix's head forms a question mark.

"Don't worry, Vix," Mercury whispered, "Mommy's here to save you."

"But I don't feel like I'm in danger," Vix replied.

"Mercury, we gotta go!" Agent 0 warned.

The parasitic worms spawning from Porphyrion's back were drawing close. Camille flies in to help carry Vix to a roof that Mercury would parkour her way to. After Mercury makes one more giant leap to reach the roof, Camille carried Vix over to Mercury so that they can escape Arowana Mall. Camille nods to Agent 0, and he is obliged to set fire to the plume, and after that, he gets off the Porphyrion's back and breaks his fall by anchoring his swords to a wall.

Porphyrion the Gigantus was now trying to put out the fire on his helmet plume. Camille raises her spear up again and clouds gather to cover the nightly sky. Then pillars of thunder descended, hitting the back of Porphyrion and stripping him of his steel armor, revealing a flesh of latticed blood red and a rib cage full of hagfishes and sea slugs.

Anteros can now fire Eros's heart-burning and heart-breaking arrows at the Gigantus, breaking the rib cage and its vital organs. When Porphyrion swings his rusty sword down, Hermes uses it to run up the Gigantus's arm and disarms it. Agent 0 left huge gashes on the ankles and made Porphyrion get on one knee.

Camille delivered the final blow, flying upwards with the moon behind her.

Cell, Rasbel, and Mercury can see Camille in the sky. Vix is not aware that Camille is flying since he's blind. Suzy was amazed by the sight of the fight.

Camille puts away Athena's spears and takes out Apollo's Bow. She never fires a bow before and she had only one glass arrow to use. She pulls the arrows back and aimed for Porphyrion's helmet. She releases it and the arrows forms into a green comet, striking the helmet and shattering it.

Camille puts the bow away and takes out the antler crown. She sighed and holds it close with Athena's spear. She carefully folds the owl wings on her back and flies downwards towards Porphyrion. As Camille swoops down, she left a glowing trail of green and blue ink. She points Athena's spear straight at the head, timing it with Porphyrion moving his head up to stare at the charging Camille.

Then there was a flash, and a blue lightning and a green lightning strike Porphyrion's head. When the brightness dims, the Gigantes staggered and then laid on his back, giving an exhausted breath. Blue and Green ink covered the Arowana Mall's turf.

((End of music background))

Camille lands gently at the center of the mall and reverts back to her normal form, wearing her casual clothes. Everyone that was there gathered to congratulate Camille, but she collapses in exhaustion.

Soon Agent 7, Telemachus and Neo-Nexus Corp arrived after containing the Typhonian Horde in the Kelp Dome.

Two days left until the final battle.