#I like the way the second panel came out so much I might post it on it’s own tbh… hmmmmmmm

[browniesnivy]

The above statement is… A) True B) Valid C) Both true and valid

[idontknowanyonesblog]

Mirage rise of the beasts x gn reader

Mirage is kinda obsessed with reader and a bit of a perv. Slightly nsfw (mirage watched reader get undressed and watches them shower through their window and jerks off) BYE THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING LMAO

This was like my second fanfic I’ve ever written and I was to shy to post it but because I don’t have much experience writing this might not be very good and I didn’t feel like reading this over

Ever since your friend Noah had introduced you to his friend Mirage (who happened to be a 15 foot tall alien robot from space) he developed quite a liking to you. Anytime you went to the shop Mirage was always trying to talk and flirt with you. But if you were being honest, you didn’t mind it. Little did you know, Mirage had a special little “talent” which included being able to clone himself and turning invisible. One day he heard you huffing and cursing as you made your way to the door to enter the shop and Mirage wanted to test something out. He turned invisible and sat in the corner, waiting for you to enter and when you did you were absolutely soaked due to the heavy rain outside. You noticed nobody was in the shop which was a bit strange but you were too uncomfortable in your soaking wet clothes to care so you began to take your clothes off before grabbing some fresh clothes from your bag. For the few moments you were bare and stripped of your clothes, Mirage was secretly watching you with wide eyes clearly enjoying every second of it. You huffed as you put your wet clothes in your bag and went off somewhere else in the shop to get some work done and wait for the rain to pass by. After around a hour later the rain was only a small drizzle so you decided to pack up and go to back home. You walked around 10 minutes until you made it to the parking garage where you had parked before the rain came in. If you had known before hand about the rain you would’ve parked a bit closer to the shop but it didn’t matter now. It was late so Mirage knew you were heading home but he needed to see more of you. He had to or else he thought he might go feral. You’d asked him for a ride home a few times when your car was getting serviced so he knew where you lived thankfully for him.

He knew it was wrong to follow you home but he just had to. He followed you home, poor you, not knowing Mirage could become invisible and had used that to watch you undress and now he’s using it again to follow you home. Mirage felt bad about it, it was wrong but he couldn’t help himself. You were just too perfect for him to keep his sanity. Once you got to your house you went upstairs to take a nice hot shower, after such a long tiring day you deserved it. And Mirage deserved the view you gave him from the bathroom window. Your soft beautiful skin under the hot water mixed with the steam in the bathroom was such a mesmerizing site for the mech. And you wouldn’t expect a thing. Mirage was a nice mech, so funny and caring. He would never do something bad like this right? As you scrubbed your body and washed yourself, Mirage watched the whole thing happen. His spike beginning to throb with need. The panel slid and his spike was freed. His servo tightly wrapping around it and moving rapidly as he watched you. Small groans and whimpers left his mouth the closer he got to overloading. You turned towards the window for a moment and that’s when he overloaded transfluid all over his servo. The site of your body on full display from the angle you stood at. You were like a God/Goddess to him. Breathy whines left his mouth as he watched you step out of the shower and cover yourself with a towel. He wished he could’ve seen more but he had to go back to the shop before Noah got suspicious. He transformed back into his alt mode and drove away, hoping you’d come by the shop again tomorrow and hopefully give him another show.

THIS IS SO EMBARRASSING IM SO SORRY😭

[gondorosi]

Different boys, different Alfreds.

There's an aspect of Batman lore which flows under the radar of popular analysis - and that's Bruce's early years under Alfred's care, post tragedy.

Alfred is almost canonized by both the in-universe narrative, as well as the larger fandom collective - but the crux of the matter is that the Alfred who Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian experienced, is simply NOT the same man a young Bruce experienced.

And the kind of 'parenting', for a lack of a better word, that the rest of the boys experienced, is Alfred's second chance. The one he missed with Bruce.

Damian, maybe stop to think. Your father has never once downplayed Alfred's importance in his life. So why would he say that he had nobody to talk to about these complicated feelings that you are going through?

Yes, this panel is an example of Damian projecting. He makes the entirely understandable assumption that Alfred played the same role in his father's life as he did in Damian's own.

But.

"I grew up just fine without oversight."

There's a veritable ocean's depth of subtext behind that statement.

A seemingly common misconception within the audience is that Alfred was employed by the Waynes primarily for Bruce. This is categorically false - Alfred's primary function was always in relation to Thomas and Martha. Of course, he was one of young Bruce's constants - but certainly not in the manner of say, a nanny, or a governess.

Thomas had already named Alfred Bruce's guardian in case of emergency, and despite having no intention of staying the Waynes' employ for long, Alfred accepted the responsibility. Because he never considered, not even once, that he might actually have to fulfil it.

Thus it is no wonder that Alfred spent most of the next several years looking upon Bruce as ''the last living memory of Thomas and Martha Wayne". He wasn't taking care of Bruce as much as he was taking care of Thomas and Martha's boy.

And the crux of the matter lies in those two words - 'taking care'. Historically, considering that the Waynes are essentially modern nobility, the concept of a caretaker is an established reality in their world. If a parallel must be drawn, Alfred was like the castellan of medieval royal/noble households. In charge of day-to-day operations, one of the teachers of the royal children, and essentially the manager of the estate.

To Bruce, Alfred was his protector, a trusted adult who could, and did call him out when he erred. He provided comfort, and he ensured that all the needs of a young child were taken care of. And he never let Bruce forget that he owed it to Thomas and Martha's memory to be the best he could be.

But, and in this I push back, he didn't RAISE Bruce. He didn't have the guiding, formative impact on Bruce the way Bruce himself had on Dick, Jason and Tim. The way Bruce is still shaping Damian. The transition from a grieving child to an angry teenager to a determined young adult with an obsession was essentially shaped in isolation. If Alfred had been in any way aware of what had been plaguing Bruce for the ten years between Crime Alley and his leaving - well, he wouldn't have been so blindsided.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the "You were born 25 years old" line.

The comics (and there have been MANY over the years) have made it apparent that the line between family and employee was firmly maintained, even though blurred. Alfred defined himself primarily by loyalty to the Waynes - first to the memory of Thomas and Martha, and then to Bruce himself - but the latter only AFTER he came back from his travels.

(It's different in the DCAU - Alfred is much more of a steering figure in Bruce's life, and he has to be since it's mentioned that DCAU Alfred has been around since Bruce's birth. Ironically, this universe also has the least impact of Robin, though most of that can be attributed to Bruce Timm really not liking the concept of Robin, and being forced by execs to add him to the writing of the show. )

Bruce's decision to leave, the unspeakable torture he put himself through, and the decision to start waging a one-man war on crime in his city, would have forced Alfred to confront that perhaps the emotional distance and the 'lack of supervision" had a role to play in transforming Bruce into what he became. Thus, the relationship between an adult Bruce/Batman and Alfred is drastically different.

The paternal aspect of their relationship is something which grew only during the Batman years, where Alfred was finally privy to what has been driving Bruce ever since that night. And to a certain extent, in exactly the same manner that Bruce has been trying to make amends to the universe for living while his parents didn't, Alfred has been trying to make amends for not being as steering and involved as he perhaps should have been.

This drive to make amends is probably what leads to some extremely controversial decisions in order to save Bruce - an element which shows up the most in Scott Snyder's writing. His Alfred (both in mainline and the new Absolute series) is one of my favourites - he's got so much more depth and complexity than "batfam grandpa."

But while Alfred's influence on a grown up Bruce is unmistakable, he cannot turn back time. He cannot help the grief-stricken and traumatized little boy whose devastation and torment was largely isolated and internal.

However, he CAN help those who come after. He can be the balance against Bruce's intensity, and yes, his maladaptive coping methods. He can supplement Bruce's unceasing efforts to ensure each of the boys grows up to be better, happier, lighter.

(Maybe later I'll talk about how the first active guidance/moulding hand Bruce experienced since his parents' death was through his trainers, and how that formed his own parenting philosophy.

And how the fact that Dick and Damian came to Bruce already comfortable with the parent/trainer duality led to Bruce having the strongest, most nuanced, and most complex relationships with those two. )

[novantinuum]

Pink Onyx AU- An Analysis and Theory Post, Part 3

[Part 1] | [Part 2] | [Part 3- You are here!] | [Part 4] | [Part 5]

~

Welcome once again! This is part 3 of my analysis series on the excellent @pink-onyx-au comic made by @ceephorsshitshow. If you haven’t already, please check out the first and second parts- linked above- for more information on what these posts are all about. A lot of this analysis will build on what came previously.

So without further adieu- 

__

Question Four: What is it that makes Onyx finally front as themself? What’s unifying Steven and Jasper, here?

For the whole first six episodes of this comic, Onyx does not have any clear personality of their own- merely existing as a vessel for Steven and Jasper to continuously wrestle for control over. (Like, literally- Steven controls one half of their limbs, and Jasper the other.) 

In episode seven, however, this paradigm changes in a very dramatic way.

(Episode 7: Page 12)

Jasper is in the midst of trying to split Onyx by dropping a rock on them when the two realize that they’re crying… but that neither of them are consciously doing so.

(Episode 7: Page 13)

And then it finally happens.

(Episode 7: Page 14)

Take a good, nice look at that speech bubble. For the first time in this whole comic, it’s solid. It’s Onyx’s pink.

After multiple nights of these two taking this fusion for a spin as a mere vessel for their whims, the fusion’s unique sense of self has finally surfaced.

(Episode 7: Page 15)

And in one of the most stunning pages of the comic thus far, what they surface to is this haunting realization- the hollow understanding that they don’t truly want to be themself.

As I hinted towards in the last post, I think it’s vitally important to note the reappearance of the Gem battlefield in this page. It’s the same one we saw in the dream Onyx experienced. Not only that, but I’m fascinated by the cracking pink at the bottom of the wedge with Onyx… it appears very much like the bottom of a cracking diamond, and has that familiar oozing pink dripping from it. These two elements featured together alongside the splitting of Onyx as they realize they “don’t want to be me” paint a very clear picture of what binds everyone together in this fusion.

Everyone here- Jasper, Steven as a whole, and even his component parts- are highly dissatisfied with who they’ve become and the choices they’ve made in the past. Jasper doesn’t wish to be “herself-” at least, not as she is now. Neither does Steven. Neither did Rose, for that instance… with whatever out-of-context whispers of his mother’s memory still exists within his gemstone. Hell, Rose didn’t want to be herself so much that she outright “shattered” the old image of herself to become someone entirely new. That’s what I believe the cracking pink design in this panel represents.

Now, slight tangent… one of the biggest questions I had when I started this comic is what Jasper might stand to gain from a fusion with Steven- and I think the finer details of this particular page give us very clear hints as to what truths she might ultimately face.

(Episode 1: Page 9)

Early on into this storyline, Jasper admits that she does not understand anything Pink Diamond or Steven has done up unto this point. She does not have any context for why Rose made the decisions she has, and thus all her actions as a Diamond seem erratic and unreasonable.

(Episode 2: Page 10)

Specifically, she does not understand why Pink Diamond couldn’t manage to commit to any of the responsibilities she was given. To Jasper, every single choice Pink/Rose made was filled with immense hypocrisy. Wholly unfulfilled. 

(Episode 8: Page 9)

Thus, by the end of this, I think one of the big revelations Jasper is going to face will be what makes her and Pink Diamond irrefutably similar. Namely, the self loathing they both intensely felt.

The imagery of that shattering pink wedge at the bottom of Onyx’s frame, flanked by scenes of desolate battlefields right after the corruption blast are just oozing with the fleeting memory of Rose’s self loathing, to me. It is something she held intensely in common with all of them.

Except now… unlike her, who kept her self loathing tightly bottled up… Steven and Jasper are in a position where they just might be able to work out some of their difficult emotions together, as a pair. Because through fusion, mayhaps they’ll grow to understand that they aren’t so different than they originally thought. 

Perhaps through fusion… they’ll realize- and Onyx, too- that they aren’t alone in the way they feel at all.

__

Question Five: Is it possible that both Steven AND Jasper have a point?

The night after Onyx finally surfaces, Steven and Jasper reconvene in the woods.

In the conversation that follows, the two of them showcase very polarizing stances about the nature of fusion as a whole.

(Episode 8: Page 2)

Essentially, Steven believes that their fusion has free will and that it’s Onyx who is either splitting them apart or causing them to not be able to split whatsoever. He paints a comparison between their situation and what he’s witnessed with Sugilite- a fusion Gem who wanted to exist so badly that she essentially forced Garnet and Amethyst to remain fused even when they were entirely worn out from it.

He does briefly touch on the idea of both him and Jasper subconsciously causing it, but when he later clarifies his ideas, his focus swerves more towards Onyx’s role in the matter as a wholly unique third party.

(Episode 8: Page 3)

The thought he heard, I imagine, is Onyx’s “I don’t want to be me?” realization.

(A thought that- while they all share in the sentiment- I doubt either Steven or Jasper have acknowledged on their own, yet.)

(Episode 8: Page 3)

Meanwhile, Jasper’s opinion is that this is complete bunk, and that a fusion is nothing more than the combined whims of the individuals who form it. She sees fusion as something to conquer, an ability to wield. A body to drive.

(Episode 8: Page 5)

Jasper’s stance may seem a bit harsh and narrow-minded- given what we the audience know about fusion’s full nature beyond Homeworld’s rhetoric- but I do think her insistence that fusion is just “the combined power and wills of the Gem making them” brings up an interesting point about how fusion actually works, one that Steven is trying to brush over a little here. 

Not only- once stability is reached- is Onyx their own person with their own wants and feelings, but the very person they ARE is strongly influenced by the people who combine to form them and who THEY are. There’s a damn lot about a fusion’s actions and personality that can be traced back to their components, basically. Jasper is half right. 

Like, look at Garnet- before her existence as a fusion was revealed to Steven, she acted rather aloof and distant with him… a far cry from the spirited, openly affectionate, confident person she becomes by the end of the show. 

In my mind a large part of this can be traced back to what we learn in the s4 episode “Three Gems and a Baby,” where we see Garnet momentarily split in front of baby Steven. Steven is distraught about this, bursting into tears- and while one can’t blame the poor little guy (object permanence issues ahah), I think it brings up old traumas for Ruby and Sapphire. Traumas of rejection… of Homeworld Gems not understanding the point of fusion for them at all, of Gems being scared of them. Thus, Garnet becoming a bit more guarded around Steven before this very important facet of her identity is revealed would make sense to me- it all echoes back to what insecurities and fears Ruby and Sapphire are bringing into this fusion.

So, moving back to this episode of the comic, Steven wants to believe that it’s specifically Onyx who is causing their fusion issues because it relieves him of his duty to look into himself and analyze his own problems. (He doesn’t want to think about himself, because he often doesn’t want to BE himself.)

And Jasper isn’t willing to see Onyx as their own person because she’s too afraid of getting attached to yet another fusion who in her mind- once Steven gets the answers he came to her for- won’t ever exist again.

“Nobody I fuse with ever wants to stay.”

(Episode 8: Page 8)

Jasper is terrified of being abandoned by people, so much that she’s isolated herself in these woods so she never has to become close to anyone and risk that possibility again. Steven shares in this fear, although his way of coping with it is a bit different- by trying to make himself indispensable to others so they’ll have a reason to want him as a continual part of their lives. 

And thus these buried emotions have boiled in the pot while fused as Onyx to create a fusion who violently ping-pongs between falling apart and being outright stuck together because paradoxically, the two of them are afraid of being alone while ALSO afraid of the vulnerability that comes from not being alone. Staying as Onyx for too long is scary, because deep down they know damn well they have a lot in common to talk about. And yet, their loneliness and deep need for understanding and connection (Jasper is a quartz, and quartzes are ever so social) compels them to try.

Only time will tell if they manage to push past these deep-seated fears and find a true sense of camaraderie and companionship with each other.

_

Look out for the next post in this series at 7am PST tomorrow. Farewell!

[stillness-in-green]

Hello, I like your posts and I want to ask you something. I don't think there is any way AFO knew from the start that other people besides him couldn't handle as many quirks as he could, so when he decided to offer someone many quirks, he ended up harming them instead. Do you think the original plan was for this to have been included in AFO's backstory as one of the factors for his villainy, rather than having him evil in the womb (though even him being inherently evil is debatable).

Hiya, and thanks for the kind words! 

To answer your question, the tl;dr is that I don't know what Horikoshi was originally thinking for AFO's backstory (but we could compare him over to a certain movie villain if we want to hypothesize about it!) but I don't think you or I or anyone else is obligated to care. Your proposal seems to me like it fits fairly neatly even into canon as we have it, give or take it being "a factor in his villainy," so you should feel free to include it in your headcanons as-is.

Also included below: several paragraphs about why I personally fall on the side of AFO being inherently evil as he's depicted in the canon even though I heartily believe it's a stupid-ass depiction and people should freely elect to ignore it.

Hit the jump.

People sometimes being harmed by multiple quirks came up in the same conversation as the idea that One For All could not be stolen but could be forced on someone, back just after Stain.  I don’t know how much we can gather about Horikoshi’s original plans from that, but it must be said that these days I’m pretty cynical about any information in the series being able to withstand close analysis.

For example, I always assumed that All Might knew OFA could be forcibly passed because at some point it had been, because how else could he possibly know? But while that hasn't been strictly disproven, it's certainly the case that none of the vestiges ever act in a way that suggests they never wanted this to begin with and had it forced on them against their will. So could we not as easily say that both the “forcing OFA on the unwilling” and the “too many quirks can harm people” factoids were literally just there as set-up for Shigaraki and Spinner’s respective endings?

On the other hand, that conversation happened all the way back in 2015, with Spinner’s existence only just having been hinted at in a single panel, and we know Horikoshi had a different ending in mind at one point.  Maybe back then, he was still thinking in terms of that different ending when he wrote that conversation?  We know the original ending eventually got recycled into the second movie, Heroes Rising, which came out four years after the conversation in question.  We don’t know exactly how it would have looked if integrated into the story proper, but if you’re wondering about All For One potentially being slated for a more sympathetic origin, it’s worth comparing him to that movie’s ending—or, more specifically, to that movie’s villain, Nine.

For the longest time, I took Nine for a sort of proto-Shigaraki, but that’s because I was working under the assumption that Shigaraki would be the Final Boss, and thus that Nine was “Shigaraki as Final Boss from a time when the Villains were just meant to be scary and alien.”  I had not prior to this very post given any serious thought to the idea of Nine as a proto-version of Final Boss All For One.

It does make a certain amount of sense, though!  He’s got the multiple quirks, he’s hunting for a specific quirk, he was given surgery by Ujiko, he has an unstable body, he has white hair, he has megalomania…and, most pertinently to your ask, he was even born in the most grinding poverty imaginable with no indication of any parents being in the picture for him.  So then, how did Nine react to the circumstances of his birth, and could we extrapolate any of those reactions back onto Canon AFO to see him in a more sympathetic light?

Unfortunately, Nine’s takeaway from his backstory seems to revolve around the idea that he has a great, powerful quirk, so he really ought to be on top of the world, but because of the circumstances of his birth, he isn't—instead he and the rest of his friends are living on the streets or in shitty trashed apartments or being chased by mobs or what-have-you.[1]  That sense of specific grievance is much more akin to All For One’s evil than it is the more sympathetic tack taken in the portrayal of the League.  The League never wanted to be powerful/famous/rich; they didn’t think that they deserved to be on top of the world but that the circumstances of their lives/the unfairness of the world deprived them of that golden life.  Their grudge is a result of their own suffering and how that suffering was ignored by the world around them, not (give or take some elements of Dabi’s story) the sense that they were denied something that was “rightfully” theirs.  All For One, though, does have that sense of grievance and denied ego.

1: It is, of course, very easy to also track elements of other Villains to Nine’s crew.  Chimera was a victim of heteromorphobia (Spinner), while Slice was either living the hikkikomori life (Spinner, La Brava) or had trouble controlling her quirk (Toga).  Mummy is the vaguest of the three, but given the flashiness of his clothes in the single flashback panel we get of him, I might guess he got drawn towards organized crime, like various of the disenfranchised Shie Hassaikai characters and, one might argue, Twice.  So even here, those elements of societal failure are present; they’re just rationalized differently by Nine's crew on their journey from victim to Villain.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily reflect on what Horikoshi would have done with those scenarios in the long term—the movies are historically extremely disinterested in having Villains with a lick of moral nuance that might make Deku & co. hesitant to do anything other than punch them out of commission ASAP.  So Nine boiling down to, “I want to take over the world because my godlike quirk means I deserve to, and I only wasn’t already ruling it because the world figured out how to cage allegorical lions,” doesn’t necessarily mean All For One’s story would have been—or was always intended to be—the same!

In the end, though, as I said, I’m pretty cynical about Horikoshi and his “original intentions,” so I think if you want to dream up a more sympathetic backstory for All For One, you should just go for it!  I don’t even think it’s entirely out of bounds, canonically speaking.  After all, we know that AFO is capable of feelings resembling affection for people he thinks of as “his”—who’s to say he didn’t discover that giving people too many quirks would hurt them when he gave some favored subject one quirk too many and it broke them?  Sure, I think that in canon his reaction would be that of a spoiled child who accidentally broke a toy, with any actual sense of guilt willfully buried beneath anger and pique that he can’t have another one just like it.  But it’s still plausible!

Heck, you could even add in that his and Ujiko’s Noumu project wasn’t about strengthening the body solely for AFO’s sake, to outrun the quirk singularity, but also so that the people he liked and wanted to keep around could get multiple and/or powerful quirks without going catatonic.  It makes sense, even—if the quirk All For One is all that’s necessary for AFO to get all the quirks he wants with no downsides, why would he care about the quirk singularity?  It could only have been because he wants to preserve humanity for his rule (because he’s desperately lonely but also desperately controlling).

Really, I’m all for takes on All For One that try to give him any nuance and humanity at all—which brings me to your aside about the debatableness of AFO being intrinsically evil.

(I don't know where you stand on this, anon, so don't take this as aimed at you personally so much as the people I've seen on Twitter who say things like, "Anyone who thinks AFO was born evil missed the whole point Horikoshi was making about Villains being created by society.")

I have all the respect in the world for people who try to argue that Horikoshi didn’t intend AFO to be read as evil in utero, I truly do, and I very much see where they’re coming from. However, in this specific matter, I think they are giving Horikoshi more benefit of the doubt than he deserves. We know good and well that Horikoshi can set up a good juxtaposition between the reality of a character’s situation and the “narrative” the world is enforcing on them, and that juxtaposition is just not there in the depiction of Baby!AFO.

Look at the contrast between the “Who Was Shigaraki Tomura?” program and Spinner’s breakdown about Shigaraki being his friend and hero, or the art of young Himiko just existing and being Himiko as her parents call her a demon, a monster, and a deviant.  Conversely, think of the ironic juxtaposition of Edgy!Deku, covered in grime and muck, a terrifying presence but still being extolled by the narrative as a Hero trying to help and save people.

None of that duality is there with Baby!AFO, who is drawn with bulging, creepy, blank eyes and twisted expressions from the exact moment of his birth and constantly throughout his childhood, compared to his younger brother, who’s just drawn like Horikoshi normally draws babies, who gets to be a normal adorable child compared to his obviously-drawn-to-be-unsettling older brother.  This accompanies a narrator telling the reader about how AFO was “imbued with hubris and a disrespect for others” from the moment he was born; it constantly describes AFO in ways that ascribe him agency that he as an infant could not possibly have: he “stole” his mother’s quirk just like he “stole” nutrients from his brother.

From the moment of conception, he’s talked about like some kind of alien monster, a horror movie parasite fresh off a meteorite. The text says of the twins’ mother that she couldn’t feel “what had taken up residence in her uterus,” which is just about the most garishly dehumanizing way I can think of to describe a pregnancy!  AFO is a “what” instead of a “who,” and he “took up residence” instead of “was conceived.” Seriously, it’s like I’m reading the worst dregs of posts from the old childfree livejournal communities that had their own nasty slang to use for mothers and babies that anyone outside of their community would look at and ask, “Hey, what’s with the fucking gross language you’re using to describes other human beings here?”

There are so many things that Horikoshi could have—and, I expect, would have!—done differently if what he wanted was to demonstrate that even AFO is a victim of the world he was born into.  He could have kept the narration as-is but visually depicted Baby!AFO as just a normal infant who became twisted due to the events of his youth.  He could have kept the alienating visuals but had the narration be more sympathetic, telling the reader how AFO was born a little different but still might have grown up okay if he hadn’t had the deck stacked so badly against him from the beginning.  He could have just let readers draw their own conclusions and dropped the narrator entirely because there is no one in all of the setting’s history (least of all the usual narrator, Future!Deku) who could actually be a reliable narrator about AFO’s infant years.

Instead of any of that, what we have is Horikoshi indulging the part of him that likes horror with an omniscient narrator lecturing us about how AFO was a greedy parasite of unknown providence in the womb, and art to match. It's only made more clear by how sterling and saintlike Yoichi is despite his only consistent model for human behavior being All Of That.

Listen, I am all about trying to wring the story for any and every excuse I can find to write apologetics for the Villains!  I will take an inch from Horikoshi and run a ten-mile marathon with it!  I totally support being critical of the story of AFO as we were told it! But I just can’t get behind the read that Horikoshi was challenging us to look beyond the surface with Baby!AFO, and that only readers who misunderstood what he was saying with his Villain plot could possibly think that AFO was written as an Evil Baby.  I’m sorry, people who want a non-evil baby!  I’m sorry, people who want a Horikoshi who wouldn’t write an evil baby!  But canonically speaking, AFO was an Evil Baby. Every element of his story was chosen to hammer that in—the scenario, the writing, the art, the narration, and the fact that the only real juxtaposition present in any of it is in Good Baby Yoichi.

Aaaaand that’s all the more reason why Villain-appreciators in this fandom should feel absolutely free to disregard any and all pieces of canon they think are stupid lazy bullshit that Horikoshi ran with because grappling with e.g. “relatable motivations” or “the difficulties of treating antisocial personality disorder when the only medicine you were taught is punching” would make the story too complicated.

Honestly, “AFO didn’t realize his toys could break before he broke one,” is easy to fit into the canon compared to some of the back-breaking twists I’m prepared to undertake with a straight face.  Go nuts!

Thanks for the ask!

[nijicx]

I remember in one of your post on how you made quirks, to never disregard an idea for someone ability, but with how unique the abilities are. Instead of simply making manipulation or project of elements powers. Is there any other tips or ways that help you make your character powers? Love your work and powers!

First of all thank-you so much ;__; I'm glad you get a kick out of my unhinged ramblings! Hmmm I guess my only tip besides what I outlined is just be curious about things even if you think they wont serve you now. I have an unfathomably short attention span so perhaps this is easier said than done for some folk, but I think an example I'll run with is very silly way I came up with a character last night~ I had a part in my story that I needed some sort of underground doctor for, Garrote nearly dies in a fight against Ren and gets a big ol hole in his chest, and its pretty hard to fix a giant hole in the chest, especially for such a big patchwork guy. Every time I have sat down to formally try and figure out what kind of character should be there I have failed. But last night I was running the scene through my head since I thought about making a few panel comic about it and I just saw a girl character eating a burger sitting at the edge of the tub while healing Garrote, and I was like "Well that's weird, but kinda funny, I like that, how can I make that work?"

and so then I was like "well it'd be great if she could create flesh...so her power should be some sort of regeneration power, but how can she just MAKE flesh and vasculature systems? and then my brain went back to the burger and was like "well...burger is technically flesh...wait" and then googled up how the body goes about filling holes when it's healing, i.e reconnecting its vasculature system and creating a matrix of cells for the flesh to basically seal back together, and so I decided that her power would be that when she eats flesh, she's able to create extracellular matrix in others and heal/regenerate their wounds.

I ended up thinking it was really funny and weird, and so then was like "well how do I nerf the fact that she could just buy like 12 McDondalds dollar menu hamburgers and heal a small army, which is when I thought "well, burgers are beef/pork/chicken, that kind of flesh while similar, is probably not good for intensely life threatening injuries like Ivan has, and it feels like it would more or less just be a patch job for things like stabs/bullet wounds. So then I had the horrible idea that she'd have to take in human flesh to resuscitate someone who was that far gone already, to be able to reform all of the complex structure of the actual human body, kind of like how some people can get flesh/organ transplants from animals, but they aren't quite a one-to-one match and can cause issues. (pretty sure I learned that fact from some weird facebook post and googled it after to see if that actually happened)

So I ended up making her villain name Cannibal Matrix (Or Hanibelle Matrix, haven't decided which yet, second one is funnier but time will tell) All of this process happened within about 15 minutes or so I guess the TLDR is, everyone's brains work in a specific way, if I fight the way my brain enjoys expressing itself, it usually just leads to me coming up with nothing and to myself getting frustrated. I think there is merit to sitting down formally and telling yourself that you're gunna come up with something in one sitting, but I think 90% of my ideas come when I am doing other things and my brain is just wandering around thinking about whatever.

I think though if I think about it further, imagining the scene itself helped form the character that needed to be there for me, the rest I sort of just happened to fall into place, so spend some time actually imagining interactions between your characters, your brain might fill in the spaces all on its own~ Expose yourself to lots of art and music, and weird facts about the world, fill the well your brain has to pull from when it comes to drawing inspiration to make something new~

[justenjoythegossip]

PR ANTICS PART 3: an apparent change in the PR tactics, the deletion of the Vogue pic, where do they go from here

The more organic pic at the afterparty

After the pic of them with Mads Mikkelsen came out, I immediately thought that this was the best and most organic moment they gave us. 

Still, those pics could have been much more organic, had Chris and Abba actually gone to the Golden Globes Ceremony. Why didn’t Chris present an award? Especially since RDJ and so many of his pals like Margot Robbie were there and were expected to bag trophies. Didn’t he want to? Did he just want to do the bare minimum because he is ashamed?  Or was it impossible for him to get an invite to present? 

An apparent change in the PR tactics?

I posted my initial reaction about the pic with Mikkelsen. Here is a link if you want to check it out. 

Chris was smiling, they were more natural touching and there was no clenched fist visible. It was quite the turnaround from their latest disastrous papwalk in NY only a few days earlier. 

First observation, Chris is definitely capable of smiling even when she is close by. Second observation, Chris might have done a very poor job of selling their RS on purpose and it was probably part of the PR strategy from the very beginning.

I am not even talking about the behind the scene video of their first papwalk when Chris dropped Abba’s hand very quickly and her trying to get him to hold her hand again. Here is a link https://www.tumblr.com/rosyrosie-e/704361463430660096?source=share

Was it a random stranger by the way or a plant that posted that video? We don’t know. But what we do know is that main publications fed us those very bad pics of the 2 of them on the stairs. So they definitely wanted us to see that and to draw conclusions from it. 

We know why they have purposefully done a terrible job of manufacturing this RS that they initially sold via likes and emojis on Instagram. We know it enabled them to weaponize Chris’ fandom. They even named those 2 opposing rival clans: Team PR and Team Real. Tumblr (which sponsored his panel at the NY con by the way) was the perfect place to have people fight over who is right. 

Now that we got those 3 Golden Globes afterparties pics, there seems to be a slight shift in the PR tactics. Of course, it’s still a little early to predict but it’s very possible that we’ll get more natural and organic sightings from now on. We’ll see. 

Why the apparent change…

More and more mods have started to see right through the tactics played by some of the noisiest troll accounts and/or plants and have pointed them out. The manufactured discourse is getting old, repetitive and tedious. 

As for the general public, they just don’t care about Chris and Abba. The comments regarding their latest papwalk were almost overwhelmingly and excruciatingly bad.

Just Jared (which is one of the publication that pushed them the most and also had inadvertently published an article about the valentine’s drop before it even happened) didn’t even use their names for clickbait when they published the article about Scarlett Christmas party, which is quite telling. 

They just don’t register with the general public. So a change seemed quite necessary.

The questions surrounding the deletion of the Vogue pic

The Vogue pic of the 2 of them was deleted by the publication shortly after it was posted. It is still a mystery as to why this happened. Some mods have speculated that the pic was old or fake or unflattering…

What’s interesting is that this is extremely similar to old patterns when we saw influencers posting a pic of Chris before going private. Or when Chris’ friends made their profiles public long enough to leak a picture before going back to private. This is how we got the July 29th pic of Chris playing a golf tournament while Alba was in the Bermuda. 

Those pics just like the Vogue pic were not destined to the General public and they weren’t meant to be posted by official publications. 

The Vogue pic was destined to the fandom that doesn’t buy that Chris and Abba are a real and legitimate couple. It’s not a coincidence that so many blogs were asked the very same question by anons: after this picture do you still believe they are PR? 

And since I don’t think this latest stunt did anything to change anybody’s mind, I guess we can expect more shenanigans with more natural and organic pics of the 2 of them.  

Where do they go from here? 

Now that the writer strike is over, they can hire someone that can come up with some sort of high concept romantic comedy to write what comes next. Something like… 

They had nothing in common. He was Captain America. She was a Nazi sympathizing yacht girl. They even started to resent one another as they had to play one humiliating, ridiculous, cringy scene after the other. His mother thought she was a racist, her best friend and soulmate thought he was a cheap version of Leo but without the talent. But against all odds, they fell in love with one another. They don’t know when it happened. Was it when he drew on her chin and exposed her tonsils? Was it when she posted a shower porn when he started to see underneath her shell?  But it happened nonetheless. Deep down they had so much in common. Weed, booze, their love for yoga pants. Go Portugal! Love conquers all.

Of course that movie looks pretty shitty and also it does bear similarities with the romantic comedy that was just released: Anyone but you.  But who cares? Hollywood is not known for good content or originality anyway.

Or… they could put an end to everybody’s misery and wrap it up. But who knows for how long they are going to keep milking this disaster movie in the making?

[stonegearstudios]

Flash Gordon & the Sci-Fi of Almost a Century Ago!

I've got a interest in old scifi. That's not strange, plenty of people do, though what interests me most might be slightly more unusual.

I'm interested in the good ideas and the bad, at the same time. Now, it's no surprise that old scifi has it's issues, literally everything does, but the common treatment of women, race, politics... well we'll see soon.

Despite all that I like looking back at old stuff to try and pic the good out of the bad, to see what were genuinely the revolutionary ideas while not ignoring the real issues.

I also happen to run a weekly watch party in the RPPR discord and this week were starting the 1980 Flash Gordon movie, so I thought, why not go back and read the original comic strip, starting at the beginning way back in the 30's?

And on a Sunday no less

So, Flash Gordon. Without doing a whole biography, here are some basic details

The first strip came out on January 7, 1934, though given it was in the big Sunday papers, strip is less appropriate, more of a comic block really, full colour to

It was explicitly made as a... should I say knock off? of Buck Rogers, made more than 5 years earlier (Will probably read Buck Rogers sometime to)

According to Wikipedia, they tried to get the license to make their comic a John Carter adaptation, but when negotiations fell through, Flash was born (hey, just like Star Wars 50 years later)

Apparently early Flash was also inspired by the 1933 novel When Worlds Collide, which I have some experience with, will be interesting to see how

Ok, let's get started. I have no idea if these comics are in the public domain yet so I won't be posting the whole things, just individual panels here and there

Polo, really? Polo?! Can you get more poncy?

Starting off, we hit the ground running. In only 7 panels we learn a rogue planet is flying toward Earth (and this World will Collide with it), apparently there is a lone scientist is driving himself mad working on a solution, and our two main characters are introduced and swiftly put in peril as a meteor from the approaching planet just so happens to destroy their planet.

There's not much SciFi yet, besides the approaching planet. I feel like rogue planets are a trope that used to be more common, though I can't be sure. Apparently the first exoplanet evidence was found in 1917 but one wasn't confirmed until 1992, so it makes sense that writers would be theorizing about them.

On the less good side, the second and third panels are used to show how "primitive" peoples are helpless before the approach of the planet, and can do nothing besides turn to superstition. It will be interesting to see how non-white characters are portrayed as the comic goes on, though I'll be surprised if it can, well surprise me before we get to a more modern take.

I mean, Flash isn't wrong, but good lord what's wrong with your legs man?!

In the second half, we get a look at Flash's abilities. A meteor knocks a wing of the plane he was in clean off and somehow he manages to both put on a parachute, grab Dale (was Dale a common woman's name back then? I don't know) and jump clear of the tailspin. Effortless for a Capable Man™, the pilot and any other crew are just out of luck I guess though.

Quite economical storytelling that a meteor from the approaching planet (Which somehow got way, way out in front of it) would knock them down right in time to land in front of the lab of the only scientist would could stop the planet... who then holds them at gunpoint and forces them into his rocket in what he thinks is a suicide mission. I guess that stress really is getting to him.

A couple of things here, yeah, the story is going a bit to fast, but this is a Sunday comic after all, you get one a week then have to wait a week for the next one so I imagine there was quite a bit of pressure to make each instalment feel worth it.

It's also such a classic scifi thing to have a lone scientist working on a vast machine. Like, did he do the metallurgy himself? How did he move the parts? Is he an Omnidisciplinary genius? Old scifi has no time for these rational questions, we need to get into space by comic 2!

Speaking of

Strip 2 (presumably published on Jan 14th)

Oh yeah, this is the good stuff

Dr Hans Zarkov (Zarkov doesn't seem to be a real name but Hans implies something Germanic, given this is the early 30's I wonder if that implies anything?) continues his manic break, suddenly becoming a coward who doesn't want to die while Flash is now committed to ramming himself into this planet.

It's nice that Dale's first instinct is to grab a wrench to wallop the doctor, that will serve her well. And then we see the panel above. This is the kind of simple yet evocative scifi art I would have rotated in my mind for hours if I had read this as a kid. A submarine like rocket, a glittering city set against a pitch black sky (implying no atmosphere?) I love it.

And then we are reminded that planets have gravity and you really should have someone at the controls of your rocket. BANG, CRASH, and the rocket crumples into a mountain. Despite what must have been a impact at thousands of km/h, Flash is just fine (even if his polo gear is a bit torn up) while Dale is just unconscious. Leaving the rocket (without Hans) Flash walks to the city in the distance.

Gotta have a cliffhanger each week, wonder if one will have a literal cliff?

Other than the rogue planet, the first strip didn't have much to draw me in if I was reading Flash on release, but this? This would catch my attention. Alien worlds, alien monsters, mysterious cities! This would get me coming back next week, good thing I don't have to wait that long.

One thing to note I suppose is the interior of the rocket, with all it's pipes, pressure gauges and such, reminds me more of a Jules Verne creation than a rocket, but we aren't that far from Verne's age in the 30's, now were we?

Strip 3

Slowly, slowly eating him. How considerate

Well, Mongo (I'm assuming that's where we are) certainly doesn't waste any time. You crash and giant lizard-cat monsters are trying to eat you inside five minutes. Better get more than a pen knife Flash old buddy.

We also see the classic trope of "Oh no, a giant monster is about to eat me! Oh no a second one! Oh, they're fighting each other, better get away". But then, rockets!

That's one heck of a worrying trajectory for someone with only rear mounted rockets

Aliens! Who look just like rubber foreheaded people, guess Star Trek had to get it somewhere.

Now, there's no getting around this, the very human-like aliens are literally coloured yellow, their leader (called the Emperor of the Universe here) is named Ming (though not named yet, wonder when that will happen). It's been a while since I did a deep dive into Yellow Peril, but lets just say, despite how stereotyped he was, I was surprised the African man in the first comic wasn't drawn with big pink lips. Racism is an intrinsic part of almost all media from this era, one of the reasons I still haven't gotten into John Carter yet is the opening blurb where his backstory is discussed. There were exceptions to this, even at the time though, and I think it's important to remember this wasn't a hard rule, it was laziness and pandering to a lowest common denominator audience.

Anyway, in terms of scifi tropes... well, we quickly have a Emperor on his thrown, he grabs up all the pretty ladies, sends our hero to the arena to die, archetypal bad guy.

Strip 4

Flash is a great dancer

Straight into the arena and the appearance of another pulp staple, Man-Apes. I wonder what the first property to use them was, The Island of Dr. Moreau?

Anyway, as a certified Capable Man™ Flash has no trouble dispatching them, despite the fact that other primapes have muscles that work a bit differently than us humans, so a single blow could have de-gloved him (don't google that).

While the fight panels are more than a bit disjointed, the actual poses aren't bad. You see how powerfully Flash is built (and several of them would make George Takei go "Oh My") and using your opponents as a weapon is always fun.

By the standards of the day, the ladies haven't been that bad so far

Ming, being an evil Emperor of course, can't have this, so Flash must be shot down. Good thing that like all imperial goons, his men are terrible shots. And lucky for Flash he leapt into the viewing box of the Emperor's daughter, who calls for his mercy.

The evil emperor has got to have a inexplicably pure and good daughter to, it's just the law. What's really funny is how in the very next panel, Flash falls down a trap door. Really lets you know what kinda guy Ming is. Has a trap door to the Hole of Horrors™ installed in his own daughters booth. I shudder to think what he put in her bedroom, swinging blades?

Now, I can recognize that this is the old love at first sight for a man you don't know trope, but I prefer to believe our Princess is just so fed up with her dad she would have jumped after anyone. Anything to get out of another state dinner :V

And that's 4 comics. Let's see if I can make this a regular thing. 4 comics a week, on Sundays since Flash was a Sunday comic.

If this was interesting at all, why not drop me a comic on your own thoughts, especially if you decide to join me in a readthrough.

Until next week, set your Rockets to Maximum!

[the-epic-hiram-lows]

Archie time! I will do this even though the board itself was mysteriously removed from the post (should I re-upload it, or keep it as an esoteric limited edition item?) Haters are fuming. For extra context, you might want to see the boneless version, which shows the original photos without color edits but still cropped.

As always, commentary is L-R, top to bottom.

This idea came so easily and so vividly to me that I almost feel like I can't take credit for it. It took surprisingly little time to find a good font as well. As for the meaning of it, I think it's pretty much what it says on the literal tin. Archie is often bruised, literally and figuratively, throughout the series. More often than not, the situations that bruise him were never his situations in the first place. He has a huge martyr complex- both a cause and effect of his need for psychic bandages.

As I noted earlier in this series, I told myself that using photos of the actual source material was cheating. After breaking that rule with Jughead, I wanted to double down on this (which I successfully did on Veronica's, whose board I started before Archie's,) but had to fold here. Aside from the fact it is nearly impossible to find a photo that looks like these four, how do you Archie Andrews from Riverdale? You cannot do so meaningfully. I chose this specific photo for three reasons. Firstly, of course, that it fit the color palette. Secondly, it looks like a memory. Thirdly, the way Archie is breaking the fourth wall of the photo. He is present in the moment but acknowledging the people off-screen looking back. While this is textually more of a Jughead thing, Archie is Riverdale. This is a subtle representation of the thin veil between Riverdale the universe and Riverdale the product. Its increasingly meta nature. In terms of composition, I didn't crop faces out, which would normally be my instinct. It didn't feel right. Archie wouldn't obscure the faces of his friends. They are everything to him- one of the reasons the picture is in the center row.

I originally found this quote doing research for Veronica's board. I thought it was very interesting from an 'abusive father intentionally makes himself vital to child to feed his narcissism' type of way, but at second glance I read it as mournful. This was almost certainly what the creator intended, but the context in which I found it confused my perspective. This is, of course, a tribute to Fred. A summary of Archie's psyche would be incomplete without one.

When I saw this pin, I thought 'Archie!' The original photo was lackluster, so I spent 2-3 hours photoshopping this pin onto a Riverdale varsity jacket. I eventually reached photorealism, where someone would easily accept there is a pin on that jacket, but at that point it didn't catch the eye. I had to sacrifice some realism for the sake of the mood board. After another hour or so, it is exactly Fine. In the end, nobody mentioned the jacket either way. Maybe that means I did a good enough job that no one consciously noticed it. Maybe it means I did all that for nothing. Who's to say? Either way, this pin is a bit off when you consider my intentions of representing Archie's psyche. This is something Archie hears, but doesn't say. I kind of justified it to myself by saying he would wear this as a way to laugh at those who think he is a fawn who should stay out of danger, but... I don't know. Maybe the fourth wall gets one panel as a treat? The more I think about it, the more I think I wasted that photoshop time on something that betrays my thesis statement.

Not my best work!

Firstly, let's call it like it is- this is, for the most part, a filler image. However, within that, I did have reasoning! Though it isn't ever alluded to through dialogue or camera work, Archie does have quite the thing for Converses. He often wears them throughout the series, and seems to have a good amount of variety in his collection. But, beyond that, Converses have been a staple of the American teen for generations. Archie, as we often state, is a representation of Americana. Though Converses are often seen in modernish counter culture, they also have a sincere athletic-but-not-an-athlete charm.

The first image I had for Archie, saved days (even weeks) before I committed to making a mood board for him. This is, again, less about his brain and more about him as an abstract. I will kick myself about that later. Actually, pretend I never stated this was supposed to be a psychological study. Pretend I said it was mostly focused on his psyche, but not entirely. Thanks. Anyway, this is embodies season one Archie. Pre-pilot Archie, even. Considering the fact Archie turned 16 during his affair with Grundy, the text stings even more.

Nothing I say about this picture will be as well-worded as @hauntingattheblackberrypatch's brilliantly apt observations on it, but nevertheless I persist. I immediately fell in love with the symbolism. In so many ways, and for some many reasons, Archie fights with his heart. When we examine physical fights Archie gets in, they are often matters of the heart. He is never violent without deeply emotional violation. He often uses his physicality on someone else's behalf- his way of showing he cares. Instead of a sleeve, Archie wears his heart on his boxing glove. There are probably dozens of layers to this sentiment that range from the fully literal interpretation I gave to an entirely psychological one, several steps removed from Archie's conscious thoughts. I think the visual provides enough for the viewer to pick and choose their metaphors, and they would probably be correct in their interpretation. If you saw the boneless board, you might have noticed I swapped the background of this photo. The plain background made me focus too much on the first and not enough on the heart, so to speak. It felt too cold. I wanted warmth, texture, and sentiment. I went with a photo of yellow flowers. Though they don't really read as flowers, the effect is there.

A view from inside the diner. Another fond memory. Or, if you choose, a stock photo chosen for its generic Americana charm. (It's both.)

Broad notes now! Like I said in the original post, I did this board instead of sleeping. I finished it about five minutes before my alarm went off and I had to get out of bed.

I wasn't 100% positive about the color scheme I'd end up with going in, but I knew I wanted Americana and primary colors, and I knew Archie's board would be less muted. I wanted it to feel like nostalgia in its least cynical form.

[swearyshera]

Weird thing to focus on but thank you for not putting a 4th wall break in this scene. I saw someone a while ago say Sweary Entrapta might play off how quickly the apology came in canon with something like "Yeah I forgive you. We've gotta stay on message." Basically some kind of nudge or jab at how easily Canon Entrapta lets Catra off the hook because plot. I was worried cuz it'd be very easy for it to come off as the sort of spiteful "take that" *I'd* write in towards a part of the series I didn't like if I were abridging it like this, and generally me knowing i would write something a particular way is how I know that way would be awful. This feels much more mature and satisfying while deviating from the intention of canon hardly at all. Wonderful work.

Interestingly, the last two panels changed several times. Originally, Entrapta had said "You can't change what you did, but you can change this moment and the next one. And if you ever need help with that, there's a ship full of people out there". Which I liked as a general line, but it just didn't feel quite right as an Entrapta line - it seemed a little too 'motivational poster' and not quite right.

The second version, which almost made it up, did have a fourth wall break of sorts. Entrapta said something like "One of the key messages on this blog is that you can always try to be better, and if you want to try, we're all here to help." Which isn't quite the same as the type of jab-at-the-original you mentioned, but it did still have that feel of 'this is undercutting the scene' that bugged me for about a day after I wrote that.

The final version you saw was a very late edit, I think it was about three or four hours before the post went up. And I think it's a nice mirror to how Glimmer reacted to an apology - whereas Glimmer wouldn't accept it but still wanted to move forward, Entrapta did accept it and she did so as part of moving forward. I guess there's one more person to apologise to, but we won't see how Scorpia takes it until the very end.

[spyxfamilysmol]

Identity reveal! Blog mod is anime only! Kind of.

Why the bullet-in-butt date then, I hear you ask. That's because it's the only manga chapter I've read that hasn't been adapted yet, courtesy of it being as early as in the third volume. I read the manga and watched the anime pretty much side-by-side, I came by this chapter, and from the first page I was like, wait this hasn't happened in the anime yet. From the second page I was like, no come on I gotta read this.

But since then I've been staying away from spoilers, kicking and screaming all throughout. Making this blog has been a relief from the months of no content for my stubborn ass.

Because of that, there won't be any panels from chapters past chapter 38, the last one that was animated. There's about 200 posts in the queue, scheduled to post four times a day up until the end of August, but I thought I could say this now to prepare y'all for the sudden way the posts will stop coming.

After that, the blog will go on hiatus until a few episodes from the second season have aired. I like shuffling the posts and the order they come out in, so I want more than one chapter to work with. It's also likely that the first episode of season two will be the bullet-in-butt date, screenshots from which have already appeared here, so that will probably move my re-emergence one week further.

If you're wondering if I'm that other very stubborn anime-only but very passionate fan you might have heard about... yes. I'm @piracytheorist. Hi.

I'm sorry :D There's enough content in the blog to last almost two months, and I'll be back after that, I promise, I ain't quitting y'all. Thank you for engaging and giving worth to this little blog <3

[thelunarfairy]

Hii again1!!1 xd Goodnight, since I'm typing this at night.. And we have the same timezones so- Uhh Good morning? You'll probably read it tomorrow... It's midnight rn so-- alrr i'll get to the point now...

I said this before in one of my posts, but I wanted to hear ur thoughts about it so- (if u want to talk about it ofc xd)

About the hand that appears misteriously in chapter 101... I've been thinking about chapter 106 and while reading your last post about it...

"A voice beckons from the darkness" (What chapter is this, by the way? I completely forgot about it- I just stole that image from your last post lol)

"But whatever you do, you mustn't respond."

Those 2 phrases parallels those 2 panels so much- I don't know if it's just a coincidence or really something to take in, but it's just something that I noticed while reading your post xd

The hand that appears to Kou reminds me of the Twins' hand to be completely honest (fingers that seems a lil' bit more larger than the others), while the hand that appears to Nene reminds me of hers (delicate fingers) xD But then again, just like u said; it might just be Aida's style of drawing the girls' and boys' hands.

Ohwell-

Have a good night, afternoon, or day! <3

Hello again :DDD how are you? hahaha you got it right I only read it this morning

"A voice beckons from the darkness, but whatever you do, you mustn't respond."

Wow you made an amazing association here, I really liked this because it makes total sense! The hand appeared out of complete nothingness and disappeared in the same way. Yashiro answered her and this voice came bringing a bad omen (even the title of chapter 101 is called an omen, this is the chapter in which the hand appears), an accident that happened and which apparently could happen again.

If this was the consequence of her responding (the accident) then it could happen again. I've been thinking about what kind of accident it would be. In the other post I talked about the big clock that broke, but I stopped to think about something today.

I thought about the possibility of this accident being directly related to the twins' deaths, but it didn't seem to make much sense.

Apparently, the twins were 12 years old at the time of the flashback festival, as they are in the first year of middle school (in Japan the first year class is made up of 12 year old students) but Yugi doesn't live long enough to the next festival as they die at the age of 13, shortly after July 22nd before the summer holidays. Amane does not kill Tsukasa anywhere near the school festival. So this could rule out the hypothesis

But what if this accident was responsible for making Amane decide to kill Tsukasa? The festival is directly linked to the twins and Tsukasa told Nene that he would show her more about Amane when he reappeared to her. So he will show it to her during the festival because it is related to Amane's past.

Have you ever thought how crazy it would be if Tsukasa was ordering Amane to fix the clock just to show Nene about Hanako's past? XD (just a joke)

Now I have this in my head, is the accident related to the motivation or the death of the twins? (there are thousands of other hypotheses, omg) hahahaha

Yes the mysterious hand resembles Amane's when she pokes Yashiro, but it later resembles a girl's in the second panel, so it remains mysterious.

Note. The chapter where Hanako's hand appears before Amane tries to make Kou faint is 50

I hope you liked it, thanks for the ask! ;)

[detailtilted]

Next Enhanced Video In Process - CHICON 2008

WARNING: Heavy camera flashes below.

I thought I'd post an update in case anyone's curious. After finishing Comic-Con 2008, I moved on to CHICON 2008. The videos for the main panels are decent and they're upscaling nicely, but you'll all hate the quality of the Breakfast video. I'm doing that one first.

I made some improvements to the originals which are explained and shown below, but I couldn't upscale them. Jared came out ok, probably because he was closer to the camera, but even the most light-handed approach distorted Jensen's features too much.

However, one thing I improved were the flashes. The original videos are nuts. Flashes have been bad on other videos too, but I think the lighting in the room made them stand out worse here. I was afraid they'd give someone a seizure or something so I found a way to reduce them. I probably won't do this again on other videos because I used a free trial that expired and I've already put way too much money into software for this pet project. I don't think it'd work as reliably on the less dramatically flashy videos anyway, but I may reconsider the purchase if I encounter more videos like this down the road.

I also tried to do some color corrections, but it's erratic. Suppressing the flashes doesn't change the real life effect they had on the lighting in the room. Maybe that's why the color correction settings I applied didn't have consistent results throughout the video. I separated out some longer segments of drastically different colors and fixed them independently, but there was just too much fluctuation. Individually analyzing and correcting all 37,440 frames is way beyond the scope of this project (and my patience) and would probably require more lifetimes than I have.

Anyway, I wanted to post a short comparison video so people can see the difference. I think when people just see the enhanced video by itself they'll be like, "this sucks!" I was hoping people might not hate it as much if they've seen how it originally looked. I think the "enhanced" version, once I publish it, will be the best version that's been posted to date, even if it's still crappy.

This video has three 30-second samples:

Original version of Breakfast video.

My modified version.

Sample of upscaled main J2 panel to prove it will get better again after the Breakfast video. (No flashes removed. You can see them, but I think they're less painful.)

I've also made other adjustments that aren't seen in that sample:

The best-quality video has interruptions because the video taker also took pictures. This caused the frame to freeze and the sound to cut out. When possible, I edited in an alternate lower-quality video at those moments. I also edited in the alternate video to cover brief segments missing in the main videos.

The only other video that has the 1st two minutes is one where the video taker was scared to be too obvious about what they were doing and so recorded their legs and random non-J2 objects instead. 😂 But it was still helpful, because I substituted that video's audio in for the sections that cut out on the primary video due to the picture taking. We'll still have a few freeze frames in the first two minutes, but at least we can hear what was going on.

Speaking of hearing, there were some truly ear-shattering screams when Jared and Jensen first came out. I lowered the volume a little in those moments to save your ears some trauma.

This breakfast video will be the next one I release, but my video releases will be increasingly slow. I have something going on in real life that's eating up most of my spare time and will probably continue to do so off and on for most of this year. Nothing bad, just very time-consuming. This is a shorter video though, and I'm already well into the work on it, so hopefully it won't take too long.

[natsubeatsrock]

Takeaways from Mashima Panel at NYCC '24

Much has been said about Mashima's third trip to NYCC. The stars have aligned for me to make it to the panel with him. I've been going to Comic-Con for years at the Big Apple. I wasn't able to make it to his second trip right after FT ended. Of course, it wasn't as if I missed anything special or potentially controversial.

However, I was already going to Comic-Con this year when Crunchyroll announced they would be hosting a creator panel with Mashima on the Main Stage. I made sure to register my spot for the panel the moment it was available to me.

So, how was it?

Overall, it was an interesting panel. The focus was heavily on Fairy Tail’s sequel. I get that Fairy Tail is easily Mashima's most popular work. He even admitted that it's his favorite for connecting him with people around the world. Still, it's weird to focus on only Fairy Tail. EZ just ended this year, he's been publishing Dead Rock, and he's designing the art for yet another game. Then again, Crunchyroll is streaming the sequel to the anime, so they've got reasons for this.

My biggest complaint would be the moderator. He is a fan of Rave, but his knowledge of Fairy Tail felt lacking. He had to be corrected by fans on the pronunciation of character names. This wouldn't be as big a deal if his company wasn't streaming the show. I don't know if it's a lack of professionalism, but I expected better from Crunchyroll.

Make no mistake, this was the highlight of my con experience. It felt like the whole event was building to this and it didn't disappoint. We got to sit closer to the front than other panels. The only rule was no video of the event. Hopefully, the Crunchyroll ninjas don't come after this post.

I wasn't expecting Mashima to be a big Ichiya fan. I get that you feel for different characters at different times. Given plenty of things, it wasn't the most shocking thing to hear he's Mashima's current favorite. Still, I wouldn't have thought he'd like Ichiya as much as he seemed to. He even said he'd try to get him on the cover of the next game.

I saw several people at the venue writing down the responses for every question asked for him. When I started making this post, I didn't intend to do that. It's not a matter of not caring about Mashima's input. I didn't need to write about every question. There were two questions about the ships. (Will the ships get more development and who should Cana end up with?) 

However, I would be remiss to not mention my favorite questions from the panel. Keep in mind, the answers and questions aren't exactly what was said. However, I've tried to keep everything as accurate as possible.

First, the question that has been getting the most buzz.

What inspired friendship as a major theme in Fairy Tail?

It came from my loneliness. I have no friends.

Yeah. I don't blame anyone for getting this out before other questions.

Some people have noted that Mashima has talked about his friends in creating Fairy Tail. I happen to believe one of two things are at work. For one, it's possible this is more exaggeration than not. He has colleagues and some of his former assistants have become successful mangaka. To that point, he's mentioned how motion sickness was inspired by a friend of his. While he might not be extremely close with people, he might have more people around him than he's led on.

The second opinion is slightly more tragic. It's possible that, in creating so many series, he's been further isolated from the friends he's had. He's been a mangaka for close to 25 years. For perspective, SpongeBob also turns 25 this year. (I went to their panel before the Mashima Panel.) I don't think it's impossible to be lost in his work. Even with his famed work schedule and light-hearted mood with assistants, it wouldn't shock me to find out his social life has suffered.

Either way, this puts the emphasis on friendship in a new light. Since Fairy Tail ended, I've noted that the series is about the relationships inside the guild and how valuable they are. No wonder Mashima writes this as both an incredible motivating force and near-infinite power source. If you don't have that in your life as much as you want, you might feel better writing in your work. Writers have written their wishes and desires in their works forever. Mashima's far from the first, and he definitely won't be the last.

Now, let's get to my question. 

That's right. I got to ask a question. If you went to the panel, I was the second question in the Silk cosplay. I made sure to emphasize my love for Natsu and Lucy's friendship. (Ironically, this was right before the questions about ships.) Of course , I also thanked him for his work. I can't say that my life would be better without his works, despite my complaints.

Are there any characters you wish you could have done more with across your works?

Master Zero (Brain from Oracion Seis) in Fairy Tail 

I tried to lead Mashima towards taking about Lisanna or the Black Airs from Monster Soul, but this isn't a bad alternative. Funny how the anime gave him the connection to Ultear, which I noted years back. However, we didn't see much of him after losing to Jellal in Tartarus. There's no real telling what he might be up to now. 

Does that mean he might show up during the sequel? I doubt it. I'm not quite caught up, but the Strongest Team is in a spot where I doubt he can be a factor. I say that and God Serena came back into the picture. Who knows?

Do you have advice for artists?

Grow in empathy for the world around you.

Creator panels at conventions are always good sources for encouragement for budding creatives. This is no exception. 

This reminds me of Mashima's position not to truly resurrect characters. Questionable applications aside, that's an easy way to show value of life. Once a life is truly lost, they don't just come back. {Insert FMA spoilers here}

There's plenty of things to be inspired by. Mashima has mentioned inspiration for Fairy Tail coming from anywhere. He could be going about his day and an idea would come for Fairy Tail. Personally, my favorite creative ideas come from the hearing or seeing something and adding my own spin to it.

It's helpful to go outside and engage the world around you. 

Gray has resorted to using Iced Shell multiple times throughout the series. When will the poor boy stop?

Eventually.

To Gray's credit, he's been better about wanting to die since the main series ended. It pains me to admit that Gruvia is an important source for this. Still, if he's not going to try some new kind of Iced Shell, Gruvia might not be the worst outcome possible.

Now, if Mashima writes the ship differently…

Will Romeo get more development?

If he's popular with fans.

This is similar to what I've said about minor characters over the years. That said, I believe you know what to do if you're a Romeo fan.

Is there anything you find hard to draw consistently?

One of Erza's armor, which he forgets every time.

This is another question Mashima has answered in the past. It's not like I blame him for this one. It's worth mentioning that he's never had issues with the Fairy Tail anime. Speaking of which…

Will we ever see the Rave Master anime return?

Mashima is more interested in animating his newer works, but maybe in the future.

It's sad to hear, but it makes sense. Right now, EZ’s third season is in development, along with the sequel. Dead Rock will probably get animated eventually. I get not pushing for another shot at Rave.

Then again, you never know. There are always surprising announcements for old and new anime. Maybe some producer and director are hellbent on revisiting Rave as an anime and we’ll find out about it. Perhaps Crunchyroll or Netflix will be willing to bankroll the production of an updated Rave Master. Time will tell.

Why Western influence for Lucy's magic instead of more Eastern spirits?

Mashima is a fan of Saint Seiya. In that show, there are powers based on the Zodiac signs. He was disappointed to see how his sign Taurus was treated in the show. He wanted to make weaker signs from there strong in my series.

Mashima really emphasized his love for Dragon Ball, but this was a cooler revelation. Saint Seiya has a legendary status among older anime. Seeing that it influenced one of the coolest forms of magic is interesting to hear. Maybe I'll have to get into Saint Seiya to compare the spirits.

By the way, the last question came from a Lucy cosplayer who wanted to know if the spirits were based on personal interpretations of the signs. She was disappointed by Cancer, and Mashima joked that it specifically was intentional. At least I hope it was a joke.

As a Capricorn, I love the spirit and wish it was used more. I still wish the Star Dress was a pantsuit.

One more question.

When did you get the idea to make the sequel?

It wasn't my original plan, but I was convinced to do it.

To the surprise of no one paying attention, Mashima didn't originally plan to write the sequel. It seemed obvious to me that Mashima wasn't planning to continue Fairy Tail after it ended. All indications were that he wanted to end the series and work on what would be EZ. The Century Quest didn't seem like something we needed clarification on. If you read the posts I made between the series ending and the sequel being announced, I figured we were done with more Fairy Tail. Dragon Cry would come out and we'd get the last season of the anime. Then, we'd be done with the series.

However, I couldn't have imagined what the sequel has become. It's outlasted EZ and might even outlast Dead Rock. The scope of even the first couple arcs blew the series more open than expected going into the sequel.

For all the hate it gets, Fairy Tail is objectively a successful franchise. It's one of the most well-recognized anime in the world and has sold millions of copies worldwide. Considering Fairy Tail's success as a franchise, it makes sense that the Kodansha suits would want more of the series.

That said, having more of Fairy Tail isn't the worst thing ever. It cleared up much of the loose ends left by the main series. Much of what we've seen is satisfying fan service. (The good kind of fan service.) Jellal’s close to joining Fairy Tail. The Gajevy twins are on the way. The return to Edolas was worth the wait. Even Irene’s happy ending was nicer than I expected. There are plenty of other things I don't like, but other fans have enjoyed. People like seeing the Edolas kids and Gruvia development. 

At the very least, Nalu still isn't canon.

In Conclusion:

When is Mashima coming back to the Big Apple?

[sapphicsobstory]

I rewrote the MHA ending in my head

Okay so, I posted this first on Reddit. Idk why, I'm mostly a lurker and I'm not aware of how anything works, but I wanted to put this on Tumblr cuz this is MY HELLSCAPE AND I DECIDE WHAT GOES HERE.

I don't think I have many MHA fans as my mutuals, but hopefully this reaches people who might want to see this.

________________________

Now, I should start by saying, I could be completely tweaking here, I have no clue how to end stories usually. And this entire idea came to me when I woke up at 05:30 AM. But what I'm going for in this scenario is to change as little about the final chapter to try to reconcile what is and what could be.

So, if you hate the ending, tell me if this is better. If you like the ending, tell me if this is even slightly more preferable.

The first thing I would change overall is the inconsistency about Deku losing his powers that early on in the story. The embers would have only gone out maybe a month or two prior to when this picks up.

Also, Dai's personal scenes don't need changing as this is an unfamiliar character, so we don't really know anything about them.

Keep everything up to the discussion with Aizawa the same as it is, except one small change. On page 6 (only including storyboarded pages), instead of using "Uravity" in his narration, Deku uses "Uraraka-san", but uses everyone else's hero names.

In his discussion with Aizawa, after they talk about Bakugo and Todoroki:

AIZAWA: Do you feel lonely?

DEKU (instead of having a muted expression, Deku looks conflicted): Well, yes. But years ago when you were talking to Fuwa-senpai, I thought to myself... "Even if I go back to being Quirkless, all I have done would not be in vain (mirroring Mirio's words from the Overhaul fight). My experience could still be handy to encourage other people." I think that's pretty cool in a way. Do you think I'm cool Sensei? (Maybe in this panel make him do the All Might Face)

AIZAWA: (one panel of silence or (...) as he evaluates the words of his student) I wish you were stricter with your students. That's important you know?

Nothing else changes about the scene, because giving a non-compliment would be very much Aizawa's style, and I think Deku's reaction to that could be made funnier with a more defeated but funny expression without making the scene seem heavy. Basically, I'm trying to lighten the mood of the scene as it doesn't fit well in context, and I feel like Deku needs to be either better at hiding his loneliness and sadness, and/or effectively a little more goofy as a teacher to get it across the page that he's not in a 9 to 5, day-in day-out kinda job, but actually finds his own way to enjoy it.

I don't want to change much about Deku's interaction with Dai, except maybe put in a couple of more humourous panels. Like, Deku saves the kid and Dai just freaking drags his face across the pavement trying to get there, and just doesn't move for a couple of seconds. Maybe we could redo the Gran Torino bit of "HE'S DEAD" followed by Dai immediately sitting up and saying "I'm fine", and Deku shrieking "HE'S ALIVE".

Also the smile Deku gives Dai at the end of their interaction, I would have made it a little brighter. Instead of the normal smile, maybe have his eyes crease like when he does a smile when he fights All Might in the final exam. This to show that Deku still does understand that a hero's job doesn't end on the battlefield (Not very attached to this change, ngl). And then he narrates what he narrates about encouraging others, and blah blah. But the scene doesn't cut to UA building immediately.

Then the chapter doesn't end there. Here's where I want to extend the chapter to give us a little more of what we thoroughly deserved: Uraraka.

Deku returns to his place of residence (house/apartment) and finds Urakaka standing there with a trolley/sitting on her trolley, depending on which one looks better in drawn form. She's not in her hero uniform, but we could depict her wearing Deku merch, depends on the level of tootache that shounen writers would be okay with. He's little surprised to see her, but not that much.

DEKU: Urakaka-san, I didn't expect you back so soon! (He could call her by name, but it fits Deku and Ochako's character more that they still use their childhood monikers for each other)

OCHAKO: Tadaima! Thought I'd surprise you! Although I forgot to pack my keys when I left.

DEKU: Okaeri! Good thing I'm home early then.

(Scene cuts to later they're both in their home, preferably having coffee/hot chocolate on the couch)

OCHAKO: Deku-kun... I'm sorry I couldn't be here when the embers--

DEKU: You don't need to apologise about it Uraraka-san! There was no way we could have known when it was going to happen. I knew I was running on low for a while, but it's not exactly science, you know!

OCHAKO: Still! I know you told me to not cut my tour short, but you needed me here.

DEKU: (While looking thoughtful) Uraraka-san, did I ever tell you what part of One For All made it the strongest quirk?

[My brain really REALLY wanted to enter a dirty joke here about Uraraka saying she liked Black Whip the most for obvious reasons, but that's obviously never going to happen in a shounen manga.]

OCHAKO: No. What made it strong?

DEKU: Every user that I talked to inside of One For All told me their quirk was weak, or that its power had been bolstered by it, or that the stockpiling power inside One For All was what made it so strong over the years.

[Scene cuts to the different OFA owners inside of Deku's soulspace]

DEKU: I've come to realise that that's exactly what humans do. We stockpile all the experiences and skills that we develop, to have it passed down to the next generation. The collection of everything we've sweat for, bled for... All the emotions that we've felt... Those are passed on to next person in line. That's how our strength as a society grows. That's how our lineage as a species grows. And that's how our hopes and dreams turn into reality.

(Turns towards Ochako)

DEKU: I believe in what I'm doing. Even if with the reduced hero capacity makes it so that I can't do hero work again, that's fine with me. I want to pass on every experience I had to my students. Every day I spent living my dream as the greatest hero, with all of you... All of those memories... I wish to pass on all of it. From One [Panel of Deku's face] to All [Panel of Deku's UA Class].

OCHAKO: And that's exactly why, you're my greatest hero. [HAND-HOLDING INITIATED. YES I KNOW THIS IS CORNY AND CRINGE, NO I DO NOT APOLOGISE.]

OCHAKO: But... I didn't tell you yet why I am home early.

And then we can have All Might burst into their home from the front door instead of the setting being at the airport with his whole "I am here" shtick. OCHAKO smiles as she seems to be aware what this interruption is for. We do lose the funny but awesome bit about All Might crushing "END" to pieces, but it's worth it. And the scene continues as is, for most part.

I just want more panels drawn with characters that are mentioned in the conversation.

TOSHINORI: It was created by a friend from the US [panel of Dave and Melissa] along with young Hatsume [panel of Hatsume] and funded by the Class A, and young Bakugo at the heart of it!

TOSHINORI: The secret's out! Your body still moves on its own, right?

And we cut out the next line about how this is an "earned" power. Instead of that;

TOSHINORI: It's time kid! Clench your buttocks, and remember the old school motto! (No need to say it here, fans would fill in the blanks themselves, making them relate more to this part of the chapter).

HAWKS: (change the panel to make it seem like he's giving an interview) Do we have more "time to kill" than before? Heh. In a way. It's more so that we have more time to do the things we want to do to make lives better. Both ours, and for those who we protect. (Ik it comes off feeling like a little bit bootlicky when compared to what real life people say about Cops and such, I want to rewrite these few lines later). A landslide at Starwar highway is messing with the traffic. Requesting help from heroes!

[Huge panel of all our Class A heroes run out together, Toru with them, visible but turning invisible along with her clothes. We can explain later in an omake about how her clothes are made with her hair like Mirio.]

This is the story of how all of us will keep reaching our hands out forever.

THE END

So, yeah. I know it's long af and they would have to put in a few more pages to fit it. But idk I feel like this would not only justify Deku's current job, it would give us the IzuOcha we deserved (that I'm sure was cut out coz editors don't like to take away from other shippers so that they can keep selling merch), and it would correct some, if not all, character writing inconsistencies. And we COULD cut out the specialized suit thing coz many people want to see Batman Deku, but realistically I wanted to change as little as possible while adding some stuff. Plus the world does canonically say that only the best of the best are becoming heroes. So I think a retired pro-hero (who is also a war hero) trying to use ingenuity and skill to get by vs a retired pro-hero that wears a suit the cost of which is equal to a small country's GDP and few of the top heroes even contributed to that cost... It would be harder for the government to ask Deku to not do hero work in the second scenario.

Tell me what you think!

[ingravinoveritas]

So I have question and I thought maybe you would have insights. I'm not British or American, so maybe things work differently than I understand. Michael's new drama on BBC Best Interests had started this week. I was surprised there was no interview with Michael about it from what I've seen. Usually when a TV show go on air there are at least some articles or talk shows with the main actors, so why he is so silent? He also didn't post anything about it or good omens s2, which also made me a bit worried. I know he's directing a series now but I expected he would at least post something about them. I don't want to be pessimistic but I'm preparing myself for a letdown with GO s2 promoting. Neil already said something about the fact that second seasons don't get the same level of events if I remember correctly, and he wouldn't be able to promote it due to the strike, and I was really excited about all the new Michael and David content we will get but what if there will be nothing almost? Is it a possibility? If best interests isn't being promoted by him maybe GO will not be promoted too? That will break my heart a little.

(Also I saw one episode of BI and I thought it was interesting, moving and Michael and the actor who played his wife were incredible. It is such a different character for him, his range is truelly incredible).

Hello, Anon! Again, apologies for being a bit delayed in answering this, but I appreciate you writing in to me.

So yes, Michael's show Best Interests did air a few weeks ago (I've seen almost all of the episodes and am hoping to write a review of it as I make my way through all my Anons). I can tell you that he actually did do some interviews for it--this one here in the Guardian, and this one in the Telegraph, and there might have been others that I've missed, though @invisibleicewands would probably know for sure.

I think there are a couple of things that happened with these interviews, which is that any promotion to BI unfortunately got overshadowed by the clickbait headline on the Telegraph article that ultimately led to a few clashes on Twitter between Michael and Laurence Fox (Billie Piper's ex, of all people?) about Michael's comments related to non-Welsh actors playing Welsh roles. So that, along with Michael continuously working on The Way (the series he was directing) nonstop is what I think kept him off of social media up until now.

(I will say, though, that it is curiously worth noting that Michael didn't do any kind of promotion for Staged 3, and all of that seemed to fall to Georgia and AL to repeatedly post about on their socials instead...)

As for GO 2, yes, it is true that the Writers' strike and possible impending SAG strike have thrown multiple wrenches into the proceedings (for instance, the GO 2 panel that was to have taken place at SDCC has been cancelled, as has the signing that was scheduled there). But there have already been snippets from an interview with Michael and David in SFX magazine floating around (along with another article in Radio Times that has invoked the ire of much of the fandom). Also, with any luck, you've been on Twitter today, because our Michael seems to have returned to form with a vengeance. His header photo is now one of the GO 2 photos of Aziraphale and Crowley:

And he's been tweeting up a gloriously chaotic storm this evening, after months and months of silence (and probably being locked up in Neil's basement):

My guess is that whatever kept Michael from talking before now--probably an NDA, per the contract he signed for the second season--has expired, and now he's coming out swinging. I've previously talked about the kinds of things Michael tweeted when the first season came out, but if you weren't here for that, it was basically a level of feral that he seemed to strive to surpass with every successive tweet. Given how much has happened since then, I think we are in for fandom-breaking tweets the likes of which probably go far beyond what any of us have imagined.

And--perhaps best of all--we do have one confirmed talk show appearance with Michael and David, on the One Show on BBC 2 tomorrow! (I've gotten an intriguing Anon about that as well, which I will be answering shortly.) So take heart, Anon, for all is undoubtedly not lost. It's likely that these interviews were planned well in advance, which means there could also be more interviews still to come. This press tour may not have the breadth and scope of the first season, but if Michael and David together, it's more than guaranteed to be something special.

I hope this has lifted your spirits some, Anon. Thank you for writing in! xx