#It gets funnier considering they don't even *show* that happening or HOW; they just tell it

[quincyhorst]

If you haven't realized already... At least on this setting, Brockenborg's use of militar hissatsus was because of their original intent of being used aganist Aliea Academy. I still couldn't explain where or who created things like Gunshot, U-Boat or similar; but all I know is that they were passed on to these germans, expected to be used once Japan fell to the aliens. Most of Operation Sicherung was funded by german goverment and its defence section, though the German Soccer Federation had also its part, specially when choosing the children to train. Hell, the director of the project, Wilhelm von Wolfgang, is the coach of germany's current best team and Theodor's representative. His sucessful communications within both the goverment and the bundeswehr were enough to commence these plans.

Of course, fear leads to do stupid choices, and it proved true when Japan managed to fend off Aliea without the use of any outsider help, rendering OS useless and a total waste of money and time for anyone involved. The german goverment was quick to sweep everything under the rug and give monetary compensation to all the children's families, alongside the coaches/staff emplyed to train them. However, as to be more positive, OS had left them with only one useful thing: The perfect lineup of the upcoming Euroleague. So, they decided to join in and start fresh as the alien fear was wearing off. Not wanting Wolfgang near this team at any chance, the GSF opted instead to employ Gretchen Löw instead, given she had done the best directing within the OS matches.

But of course... Now here's where the problems come. You have a bunch of confused german children, believing that the sky was going to fall at any moment, with hissatus that were meant to "fight" other kids like them... Poor Löw was forced to unite some disjointed puzzle pieces from the start. And of course, remember... Germany + any militar motif will always sit bad with the rest of the world (And rightfully so!). Of course, soon the players found a way to 1- Either give their own style to their soccer or 2- Take use of what they had learnt to their benefit.

...I'm very aware that this idea won't ever help to tone down all the creepy implications Brockenborg has within its hissatsu lineup, or similar things. Hell, there are things that I genuinely have no idea how to explain in-universe, such as the Blitz formation (Maybe it was something originally taught in OS?). And there's still some plotholes with some topics (Thorsten's mask...). So, don't be surprised if this changes from time to time, be it small or an entire renewal.

We shouldn't forget too that the FFI was originally a Garshield ploy to cause tension within countries and later on a World War, so who knows... Maybe he had a part to play on Brockenborg's funding too. Those militar hissatsus were chosen in purpose to cause tensions even in the tournament (????)

[noyoucantpinmedown]

The Bowers Gang When Their Partner Has Their Period

Basically headcanons on the boys' attitude towards periods and how they handle their afab partner having one.

Belch Huggings

While Belch was raised by his loving mom, I picture Mrs. Huggings being quite old-fashioned and therefore very sheepish when it comes to talking biology with her son. Poor woman barely made it through giving him the sex talk, and as a result all Reggie knows is that whatever happens during the elusive ''time of the month'', it's not fun. Despite his lack of knowledge, Belch will be very doting of his partner if he's told they're having theirs, or even if he thinks they might be (he will never ask, or say the P word.) His SO can expect even more cuddles, random store bought or home-cooked treats (Mama Huggins is proud of how considerate her boy is), supplies kept on hand in the glove compartment of his car, patience, and compassion. Will assume sex is out of the question for the time being, but if his partner asks, he's more than happy to oblige. Generally will check on his SO constantly to the point of being annoying, and is willing to do anything they want, being nothing but understanding and obliging the whole time, even if his partner is cranky and takes out their frustration on him. Clueless as he is, he's ready to do anything he can think of to help, and is eager to be directed on what his SO needs. Will it kill him inside to be seen out buying pads for his partner? Yes. Will he do it anyway without complaint? Also yes. 10/10 in terms of support.

Victor Criss

I headcanon Victor as having two younger sisters and one of them is around the Losers' age, so aside from actually having been educated by his parents, he has actually witnessed what it can be like. He's the best prepared for this scenario and the most mature about it. As most teenage boys, Vic is a bit grossed out by the whole thing, but he's determined to handle it maturely and discuss it openly with his partner. Once he knows Aunt Flo is in town, he'll steal some pads from his sister and mom's stash to keep in his backpack, along with some Advil for cramps. He will show empathy for his SO's aches and mood swings, but unlike Belch, he will not take his SO directing their frustration at him- they may be bleeding, but that does not get them a free pass to treat him badly. In terms of intimacy, he's squicked out by blood in a sexual context, so his partner is on their own for that one. Other that that, he's happy to provide whatever his SO needs- he'll cuddle and read with his partner when they're bedridden with cramps, supply them with warm drinks, listen to them rant, and provide plenty of affection.

We're done with the sweet boyfriends part- onto the shitty ones.

Patrick Hockstetter

Patrick's knowledge on menstruation amounts to sexist stereotypes, and shameless as he is, he's not afraid to talk about it. The type to bring it up whenever his partner is grumpier than usual (''Oh, I see. Shark week, is it?''), and enjoys coming up with names for it- they're about as gross as you can expect. He's curious about how it really works, though, which might make it even worse, because now his taunts are even more based in reality. The stereotypical ones don't really stop either, though. The only one who will not tell their partner if their clothes are stained in public, because it's funnier if they're walking around with a red spot on the back of their pants. Patrick has an uncanny ability to just know when his partner's having their monthly visitor without them having to mention it (because he's a stalker with great observational skills). Doesn't give a shit about what their partner is going through, no emotional support to be found here. He's just as likely to take mood swings and crankiness in good fun (but there will be some form of punishment if his SO crosses the line of what he considers entertaining sass) as he is to get bored with it and avoid his partner until they're in a more agreeable mood. But hey, he is not completely useless- will give his partner all the physical affection they want, because he enjoys his partner being clingy and it's easy to transition to sex from there. Every now and then he'll swipe treats and supplies from the store even if he is not asked for them. The more attached Patrick feels to his SO, the more likely he is to do it and the more likely he is to not ask for anything in return... the latter still isn't a lot, he'll still expect his partner to fall over themselves thanking him for his sacrifice and generosity (that being the one chocolate bar he stole while going to steal cigarettes for himself). Generally speaking though, for Patrick it's business as usual. Ditto for intimacy. The negative is that he will expect his partner to put out in some form of another; the positive is that his partner will not be without if they habe those kind of cravings, and absolutely nothing is off the table because we know Patrick is nasty as hell and really enjoys blood. If his partner really wants nothing to do with him in that department, no big deal! He'll just find someone who does while he waits out the crimson tide :) He's such a catch, guys!

Henry Bowers

Oh boy. So, here's the thing: unlike Patrick, Henry actually wants to help. Unlike Vic and Belch, Henry is too stoic and hard-headed to even touch the topic. All he knows about menstruation is wrapped up in sexism, so he probably thinks that ''it's not that big of a deal'', or that ''women play it up for attention''. But he's squeamish when it comes to the reality of All Things Afab, so if he pulls the ''are you on you period'' card when his partner is in a bad mood and his partner answers Yes, I am, expect blushing and stammering. Wants to help, but does not want to talk about it, and a lot of the things that would help he considers demeaning (he will not be caught dead in the feminine care aisle). Not much to offer in the way of emotional support, except awkward pats and clumsy attempts at validation. He will show his partner more grace than usual, but if they're the type to complain a lot, get snappy or emotional, he'll get very tired very quickly. As far as sex is concerned, Henry expects his needs to still be met but refuses to touch his partner below the hips- he won't push his SO more than once or twice, though, and will wait it out without bringing it up again. Generally better at the quiet moments: sitting with his SO while they nap or watch a movie, wordlessly giving them food or a hot water bottle and trying to blissfully ignore the whole situation as much as he can.

[rat-rambles]

I'm gona explain to yall why I think Stanley is the one that's ace aro in cannon and not Ford or Bill. (Yes all head cannons are vaild blah blah I love acearo people I am one don't kill me)

So basically it comes down to if stan wanted some he could. Young stan seems to be considered relatively conventional attractive (not like ugly men don't mange to hook up but still) and even as a "ugly" old man he is the hottest old person in town befor Ford shows up and. Once he gets over his social awkwardness he is actually able to date he just isn't about that life. "What about Stanley's ex wife's" I hear you scream at your screens well thanks to Bill I have notes.

Thank you bill now could be lieing yes but frankly I don't think his god Alex would let that happen for something like this. Especially becuse it's way funnier if it's all cannon. Now I think 2 of them can be considered legitimate and there not exactly romantic are they. Stanley is well known to care more about money than any romantic relationship witch dosnt sound like some one who's not aro to me. I'll give that there are a couple jokes pokeing wholes in my theroy however personaly any atemps at straightness by stan just feel very performative to me. Like there's something a whole easy to about how stans masculinity is just a reaction to incurity but all I'll say for now is stan is despite to prove he's not a failure and part of growing up in the 80s and not being a failure is geting bitches. And yet he can't comit to a relationship for more than a few days and it's not for commitment isues bitch comited to a fucking portal for 30 years AFTER NEARLY FAILING HIGHSCHOOL. As I said if he wanted to he would.

Now I'm going to go on a long rant about Bill and Ford so if you don't want that stop now

Ok for the record staring off bill and ford are both unreliable narrators.

Ford (my first victim)

We've seen him get rejected twice in the show when he trying to flirt with girls the more famous one being when he gets punch thrown on him. Ford is a very scentive guy he can't handle rejection obvouly he's gona wax poetic about how it's not that he can't get any he's just you know so very busy. Funny how he's not busy when Bill comes into his life or fiddleford for that matter it's almost like that's not the problem

Now I can see how you can read this qa acearo core but all I hear is the autism talking. There is something intently funny to me about the idea that he stright up was dating a male sided demon and is like but am I gay. It's very conservative up bring of him very relatable. But seriously if he was ace aro he'd just lean into being superior not what ever this is.

Bill ( he wouldn't escape me)

Same thing yeah he wax poetic about chemicals witch yeah is something ace aros do but also like incels.

He literally is just asking dear not to ask him out a real problem when every freak reading this book wants to make out with him sorry Bill your hot shit.

The book is shaking you by the shoulders begging you to tell that he's lieing for clout. Bill is also begging you to take him seriously and he can't be serious if he can't even get any becuse he's a unlikeable losser.

Like I'm sorry guys the text just dosnt suport these 2 being acearo this is not the show for ace aro rep I'm sorry. This show is actually really really really obsessed with romantic relationships it's a well Alex keeps going back to witch is why I'm so sure about stanly becuse he's like the one character who actively rejects dating instead of just saying he's into into it. ITS GRAVITY FALLS EVERYONES A FUCKING LIAR.

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

okay so i keep thinking about this post that i made about a polywagon soulmates au where they have eachother's birthdays on their arms (including hermie's like... three years ago and 1912) and im not gonna write it but i AM gonna think about how differently the teens would handle it

Taylor:

taylor would be SO thrilled, he thinks it makes him extra like an anime protaganist to have not only four soulmates, but also one long dead soul mate (perhaps the SAME soulmate, thats been reincarnated to the youngest soulmate, god thats such an ANIME PLOTLINE--)

he shows them off, and knows at the very least about normal from when they hung out as little kids, but anytime someone asks if he knows who they are he just mysteriously goes 'heh'

hangs out with normal a lot more pre-canon, considers him his main "sidekick"

when he was little his mom tried to explain that the two weird dates were sort of common, and that sometimes soulmates can be platonic, sometimes they don't cross paths time-wise, etc, but he literally could not give less of a shit he thinks it's COOL

Normal:

normal is so excited!! he has FOUR soulmates!! four!! so many people are destined to love him as foretold by the UNIVERSE!!

lark 100% has tried to disillusion him on the whole thing (the other kiddads know about link, especially after their kids were born with a soulmark dating back to the TITANIC and grant had to come clean) but it didn't really work

he knows about taylor from when they were little kids, and he ABSOLUTLEY hunted down a school directory with everyone's birthdays to try and find everyone else, so he knows about scary, he's just waiting for her to bring it up first

very clingy to taylor pre-canon and definitly annoys scary trying to get her to hang out with them

he's a firm believer in being able to have More Soulmates than just your soulmark, so from pretty early on he's really trying to manifest hermie and link into also being his soulmates (and is SO EXCITED to find out he's right)

Link:

sad boy :( he thinks that taylor and normal are HIS soul mates but he isn't either of theirs :(

his dads definitely just chose the day they found him to be his birthday since they don't know exactly when he was born, so not only does the year of the 1912 soulmark not match, but his birthday doesn't even either

grant is REALLY worried about link getting found out as a Titantic Baby/trying to keep him safe that he actually actively decides to go the most upsetting approach by telling link basically that sometimes it happens where soulmates don't match up perfectly

marco isn't really for THAT, and tries to push nontraditional soul-matches and platonic soulmate things but it's not really effective

it's part of why link is So clingy to his dads and doesn't like the idea of siblings/pets, he already is predisposed to the idea of there not being enough love to go around

he's really happy but also SO MAD after the titanic discovery

i'm trying to decide if it's funnier if hermie is his soulmate or if link is the only person who ISN'T soulmates with hermie

hermie's soul-date is replaced by fuckinnnn chris from the simulation's birthday for link hfjdkl

Scary:

when she was little she was so so so so so so so excited about soulmates, especially having FOUR

she was super sad about her presumably dead 1912 soulmate, and really hopes that they had other soulmates too that matched up with them better

kind of hopes the much younger soulmate IS a platonic soulmate so she doesn't have to wait longer to meet them

she 100% threw secret birthday parties for her soulmates when she was little

her parents weren't soulmates, but her mom and terry jr are, which just adds to her hurt and confusion when they get together

once she becomes emo TM she starts one wearing long sleeves to hide her soulmarks and claims that she doesn't HAVE any to sound edgy (even though a lot of people know that she does because like,,, a year ago she wouldn't shut up about them)

tries to deny for a really long time that her and the other teens are soulmates but when she gets doodlerized doodle-scary exposes her and shes UPSET about it

hermie:

kind of refused to acknowlege the teens are his soulmates, no matter how obvious it is

baffled when it becomes clear HIS birthday is the one on everyone elses arms but just from like,,, three years ago becuase that's not??? when he was born???

he's half convinced his soulmarks are part of some scam instead of being real and... honestly so am i

build-a-bear hermie either has no soulmarks or they're in a different place from regular hermie's, like they're not exactly... real?? and it makes it even sadder/more confusing from everyone emotionally after everything (except taylor, whose like 'idk still hermie')

bonus d00d:

idk i just want them to be included :) maybe everyone has like a random string of numbers somewhere exceedingly non traditional like their ankle that mean nothing to them until woah eldritch monstronisty yeah that would do it

they dont have soulmarks but they make themselves look like they do becuase really what is a soulmate if not the friends we made along the way

[fountainpenguin]

Watched Scott's and Scar's Secret Life Ep 2. POVs, cracking up specifically at:

Scott inviting Impulse and Gem to set their spawn in his bed... He does give them their own beds later, though I'm not sure they'll set their spawn there, but it made me think that a triple kill would have sent them all crashing down on that one bed and it's funny to me. I better see snuggle 'fics come out of this /lh

Scott really did make some pretty pink farms. Impulse is being a good sport even though it's not his aesthetic, ha ha

"I just came over here to see what was happening and Ieft with a g'apple! I'm having a great time!"

5-star review for the saloon

Scott and Bdubs catching up like fast friends and getting excited when they found out their secret tasks were "Start conversations and leave them without saying anything" and "Tell a boring story to get someone to leave in the middle."

"You just punched a man who's not even logged in!"

Scar walking out on Tango and Skizz while they flirt with him is way funnier in Scar's POV because he just straight-up jump cuts because he was oblivious and didn't care.

Then later he comes trotting back because "Skizz and Tango want to show me something that apparently they tried to show me while I was over there and I just wandered off aimlessly?"

Skizz: "We don't want to be your alliance... We want to be your family! This just hurts!"

Scar: "I'm just reluctant to make full-on commitments!"

I enjoy the mental image of Grian and Scar both trying to give each other golden apples in exchange for hearts and then being confused. Basically "Wait, you want ME to be the vulnerable and open one here? Absolutely not." Love that for them.

Grian: "I'm not gifting you the heart. I'm saving it for someone special."

Grian, still complaining about hearts: "It doesn't cost you anything!"

Grian after receiving a heart from Scar: "I already gave away the cactus." / Scar, about .5 seconds from losing his entire mind: "..."

I appreciate how Scar's idea of torture is that he's specifically going to become a courthouse judge and sentence people to be thrown on a cactus considering how. yknow. His 3rd Life permadeath.

Martyn, charging towards Scar only to skid to a halt and back away muttering to himself, "Is my math good or bad?" in reference to Cleo yelling at him that he was "bad at math" when he killed them both in Double Life by punching her off a cliff <3

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

"I'm afraid of squeaking and shaking" - Sara Murphy …y'know considering her childhood where anything squeaking and shaking would inevitably lead to catastrophe, reasonable fear.

In all seriousness though her being really jumpy is almost out of character considering her typical nonchalant responses. But she was really high strung about Murphy's law in her debut episode, its really seems she just gets really high strung about stuff, and when Murphy's Law can conflict with that, she gets high strung about that.

I think more specifically she tends to get anxious about the potential of Murphy's Law (see debut episode), like the squeaking and the shaking is a warning sign, than she is about Murphy's Law actually occurring. Because she can't address Murphy's Law until it actually happens. But once its happening, she can actually do something about it. She tries to plan for it, but she's not really as good at it as Milo is, though she's more purposeful with it. Murphy's Law doesn't like to adhere to predictions.

Speaking of Milo, Milo's establishing character moment is saying he doesn't tend to scream. But he also screams a lot during the show. Even during relatively casual situations, like hanging off a cliff. Like with the finger trap.

I think its that the Murphy kids still get scared like any other person, they just deal with being afraid better because they live most of their life afraid. So they also sometimes just don't get afraid in certain situations because they are familiar with them. But do in other situations where their not. And Murphy's Law loves throwing new situations at them. And their not ashamed of their fear, they just deal with it. Which of course being constantly scared and stressed can't be good for their health but I guess it's better than being dead. Long term screaming hurts the larynx but a good shout in surprise alerts anyone nearby of possible danger. And sometimes its just fun. (Like when Zack and Milo look at the cliff, look at each other, and then scream. It's like a weird social ritual more than anything). Though Zack keeps yelling, Milo quickly goes back to his normal tone. It's just height. He knows how to deal with that. But he does get upset about aliens potentially eating him (though admittedly that's only once they tell him they're going to eat him), and about Melissa potentially being a robot.

But they're still susceptible to jump scares because things that jump out are actually threats to them, and supernatural threats aren't something the Murphy siblings usually deal with so that's also an unknown. I also think generally they tend to get less scared in group settings but I'd have to actually think about that. But in situations where they are with their family they rarely get too upset, probably because on some level they feel safe with the Murphy adults around. (Murphy Family Vacation, Murphy Family Christmas, Game Night). Even when things are getting a little weird (see Game Night). And also maybe a more meta reason of it is that they scream when its funny, and its funnier when the whole Murphy clan isn't screaming but it still gives us a potential character detail.

On the other hand, Zack doesn't get scared easily by halloween scares, even though he usually gets scared by Murphy's Law more than anyone else. Zack has been getting jump scared since a kid, but things jumping out at him isn't really scary, especially stereotypical halloween things. Because its all a performance that he's gotten acclimated to. Not dangerous. But things like getting chased by actual rocks or dangling in high places is an actual threat. So he acts appropriately. But the Murphy siblings are more used to those things so have some idea on how to handle them.

Which maybe on some level, it makes sense that Zack having grown out of being scared easily would now be getting his kicks from Murphy's Law after he got over the whole "real actual peril" part.

[drifting-pieces-blog-blog]

Breaking down the comics: BEMIS. Part 1

READING THINGS SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO! 

Alright, I covered "Age of Khonshu" and honestly was so incensed that I had to make a post talking about it. 

So let's get this other bread (and burn it). 

A lot of new Moon Knight fans have heard the cry when asked what to read and where to get started. And true fans everywhere agree: DON'T READ BEMIS. 

And there are long posts and screams and sobbing about why not to read it that come out to "It's so bad!" 

But there are the curious out there. They want to know why it's bad. They want to know what happened. And...well... 

It spans a few issues. I…I was foolish and thought “I can do this in one go! How long can this take? I don’t want to spend that much time on BEMIS.” ….I forgot that doing one of these usually takes me the better part of a day to cover ONE issue. 

I’m going to break this up into Four (fuck you Tumblr) parts and cover both volumes instead of a post per issue. I don’t want Bemis to take up that much space so prepare for a few VERY LONG posts. 

Let's ruin my month! (AKA: Watch me slowly descend into blind rage). 

Marvel Legacy: Moon Knight. 2017. Issues 188-200. 

Part 1: Crazy Runs in the Family.  (Issues 188-193) Published: November 08, 2017

Written by: Max Bemis

Art by: Jacen Burrows

Editor: Jeff Youngquist 

Let's start with: 

WHO IS MAX BEMIS? 

Oh my god he's in a band. He's the lead singer for the rock band "Say Anything". 

My level of disappointment just doubled. 

According to his bio: He was raised in a 'strong Jewish environment'. His grandparents survived the Holocaust. All this has inspired his music. 

(I can't even begin to tell you how much actually looking up who he is has made me ten times angrier). 

In 2013 he started to write comics. More importantly, he wrote for characters that suffered different mental health issues. ('Polarity' at Boom! Studios about a hero with bipolar disorder). 

He then ended up at Marvel. 

For his personal life: He has bipolar disorder and self medicates with drugs (Marijuana). 

He also self identifies as "A Jew who is also a Christian", which he considers a "New age, metaphysical view" on religion. 

Good. Great. Fantastic. Now I know who this man is and I hate him even more. 

What's even funnier? Apparently his music fans ALSO hate him because he's "a sanctimonious hypocrite". 

Seriously, there's a whole Reddit page on why he's a terrible person. I'm not going to site any sources because I can't fact check a lot of those claims and maybe they are false or maybe they are true. I'm not here to slander a life. I'm here to talk about Moon Knight. 

I’ve procrastinated enough. Let’s go…. 

We open on "Ravencroft Asylum". Good start. 

We see a Doctor Emmett talking to a patient in a locked cell that's stylized like a prison interrogation cell. 

"You say remembering your youth is like looking through a layer of Jell-O. Were do things become lucid? When did you become yourself?" 

(I already hate it). 

"I learned who I was in the army, that much is clear." The patient responds. 

"I get it. The army. The incident. Aside from the physical, what did you walk away with on the day you hurt them?" The doctor looks at the files. 

And the patient is hesitant to speak on it, but he tells her that "In the army, I learned that there is a God." 

He talks about how he saw God 'in his fire' and that non-believers, atheists, skeptics, and all that are wrong. How they can't understand how big God is. 

(And now I remember when I first read this how uncomfortable this first issue made me.) 

"They weren't very nice to me in the Army, but why would they be? I had to show them I was more devoted, more significant than they were." 

I'm going to put a pause on this right here after just two pages. There are some Trigger Warnings that need to be discussed real quick. 

I grew up in the deep south and I’ve legit heard talk like this in real life. It’s terrifying. 

I knew a lot of 'born again' Christians who tried to 'save my soul'. 

This comic is going to get VERY uncomfortable for anyone that has had to deal with religious trauma. Just putting it out there. Skip if you can't handle any sort of religious trauma like excessive God Talk, Cultish behavior, Come to Jesus moments, or severe Antisemitism. 

On top of the religions issues, this comic is also going to have significant mental health mishandling. We’re talking about abuse from Doctor figures, use of improper terminology, abuse of the mentally ill, and severe discrimination. 

OH and misogyny. Let’s not forget the misogyny. 

This comic run also gets very…disgusting. I had many moments when reading this that legitimately turned my stomach. There is going to be depictions of self mutilation, gore, suicidal acts, and violence. 

I AM GOING TO CENSOR THINGS. I will not blur images, but I will NOT be posting any of the comic pages that depict any of these violent, shock value, images. I’ll give a brief rundown of what’s going on and tell you that there is an image that I am going to skip. I’m telling you guys, these two runs were disgusting and curdled my stomach many times. Especially issue two. 

So…Those are your only trigger warnings. 

Let’s continue. 

So now we see a narration by Dr. Emmett. 

It is not going to paint a good light on Dr. Emmett. 

She's in her office at night going over files. 

"Sometimes, this job is guiltily fun... To be frank, patient 86 is @#%$ FASCINATING. He attributes his pyromania to a leap of faith. Conversely, I might argue that it was the fifth canteen full of force-fed urine that inspired him. 

Sometimes I get him so fully that it's like I want to have a beer with the guy. 

He wears self-delusion with so much dignity. I wish I had that level of resolve, that I could stop fixating on the...SPECTOR conundrum.

I'm just a failure of a doctor, left without a shell-shocked dissociative bipolar to shove away in a box. 

In any other instance, I'd dial this one in. It's just that one nagging thing. 

Lunatic joins the army. Said lunatic freaks out and ends up spiritually reborn in a near-death experience. 

Sound like anyone you know?" 

OH GOOD. GREAT. I just... Deep breath. Deep breath. 

We’re going to play that angle. Woman psychiatrist/psychologist falls for her feminine desire to get with her patient. She can’t be expected to uphold her standards as a doctor or her doctor patient relationship. She has to dream for that exciting patient. She plays it off as wanting the award winning famous patient that makes her career into something amazing but because she’s a woman she has to play the dreamy sighing “Oh look how amazing he is!” role. And of course she’s after Marc. She can’t have Marc, so she finds this other patient that has a similar start of PTSD military based trauma and she’s going to fail to help him because she wants him to be like the other guy. 

Not to mention she's using outdated terms like "Shell Shocked". 

A term coined in WWI when for the first time, the world witnessed large groups of men coming back from war after encountering new aged weapons never dealt with or seen before. 

Then she calls him Bipolar and links it to his Dissociative disorder. 

I don't have a degree in psychology, but I do have a special interest. From what I've seen in the OG early comics by Moench, Marc Spector is not Bipolar. He does not exhibit episodes of mania followed by deep periods of depression. I'd go further into it, but trust me... He has a LOT of issues, but Bipolar was not one of them to start with. 

In fact, after Schizophrenia, Bipolar was one of the most commonly misdiagnosed mental illnesses. A lot of people with DID were misdiagnosed with Bipolar disorder because of the way the symptoms presented in many cases. You didn't have another person in your brain, you were just exhibiting mania and now you're depressed. 

ANOTHER THING to take issue with! 

This comic is coming DIRECTLY on the heels of Lemire's run. In that run, it was the first time we dealt with Marc's official time in the army and his dissociative states. 

We saw Marc wandering through the desert, dissociating and dealing with Khonshu issues. 

The off handed tick about "Lunatic joins the army. Said lunatic freaks out and ends up spiritually reborn in a near-death experience." 

1. The army did not lead to a Near-Death experience for Marc Spector. He joined the Mercenaries and was killed when his conscious got the better of him and his leader shot him for trying to save someone. 

2. A doctor of psychology should NOT be using terms like 'Lunatic'. 

3. Marc didn't 'FREAK OUT'. He had several dissociative episodes that ended up with him being discharged. 

4. Marc was NOT 'spiritually reborn'. Depending on who is writing and how Khonshu himself is being depicted... An ancient god revived him as his avatar. This is not converting him in any sense of the word. Marc Spector may have issues with his Jewish beliefs and upbringing, but he is still very Jewish. He was NOT 'spiritually reborn'. He was brought back to life to act as Avatar and Marc took this to being Moon Knight, vengeance, paying for the pain he caused, and trying to be a better person. To be a different person. To be anyone except Marc Spector. Jake and Steven took this to just mean that they wanted to help people. 

So... Yeah... Now we move on to the title page. 

This is going well. We can already tell that Bemis either just didn’t read the Lemire run and got the cliff notes, or he just didn’t care and only took away bits without understanding the actual story it had to tell. 

ON THE TITLE PAGE. Ohhhhh man you guys. ON THE TITLE PAGE. 

Every title page has a little blurb explaining who the character is and what's been going on in previously connected issues. This way, people can pick it up and just go without having to dig through old comics. It's also a good reminder for people like me, who have shit memories and have forgotten what's going on after having to wait a whole month for the new issue. 

I honestly have no idea who writes these blurbs. Sometimes you'll get the same blurb that lass for YEARS. (see Bendis run and how that carried over for runs and runs). 

"Marc Spector. Steven Grant. Jake Lockley. Each a distinct personality of one man vying for control. Spector, the original personality, has asserted his dominance and fights to retain that control. But years ago, as a mercenary, Spector died in Egypt under a statue of the Moon God Khonshu. In the shadow of the ancient deity, Marc returned to life. From then on, Marc took on a new aspect in honor of Khonshu, dedicating his second life to fighting crime as....

MOON KNIGHT". 

I want to fight someone. I don’t know who. But I want to fight someone. Whoever wrote this… This is what Marvel took away from the Lemire run. His beautiful run that for the first time, really dealt with Moon Knight’s mental health struggles. That said “They have dissociative Identity Disorder. They are a system. They have learned how to work together. They have found peace in who they are.” And whoever wrote this blurb went “Nawh, but Marc is the dominant and original personality and he’s in charge now!” 

Editor in Chief: Axel Alonso

Chief Creative Officer: Joe Quesada. 

Ah... These guys. These guys are to blame. We meet again Quesada... 

 Alright. We now see Dr. Emmett at some party (birthday party? They're all wearing party hats but they're clearly eating dinner and one guy is wearing a kippah and someone else is wearing a top hat and one guy is wearing no hat. I... I don't even know. This is all a disaster at this point.) 

The group is laughing about things and Dr. Emmett is day dreaming about Marc Spector. 

"Marc, my former patient. And this new one, patient 86. Traumatic experiences in the middle east. The similarity is brazen. Was there something in Marc's experience that patient 86 could..." 

Her thoughts are interrupted as one of her colleagues takes a jab at her. "Still stuck on the hooded leotard guy?" 

She snaps to defense and they tell her to let it go. That she can do better than 'that loser'. 

Back at home, she's angry. Moon Knight is not a loser in a leotard. 

And we see her shrine. Yeah... This is healthy. 

Oh good. Back at work she's dealing with patient 86. She's attempting to explain how his brain works to him. 

Get ready for some grade A psychology here people. 

She explains that on one side of his brain is chemistry and the other is "Personality. Socially ingrained behavior. I want you to see the distinction." 

He asks her that the fact that he's murdered people should label him as insane. 

She disagrees. "I'm not sure the fact that you're a murderer proves anything about your nature." 

Hmm. 

She goes on to explain that "So many have been clinically impared by their unique brain chemistry. They needed help. We failed them. Imagine hearing audible voices that told you to eat a person. These people needed treatment." 

And she points to cases like Sam, Gein, and Fish. 

Yeah... Because Gein needed treatment. I'm just gonna... Just gonna.... ARGH. 

"You developed bipolar disorder during your early adulthood. Moods fluctuating from mania to depression to utterly convincing delusion. Compounded by the traumatic childhood on the street, in state homes, and juvie that you barely recall. None of these things were your fault. Nor what happened in the desert." 

Okay, they're just throwing out things at this point. They're just going to start listing off the sterotypical bad childhood leads to a bad kid and trauma things. 

She then goes on to tell him that she understands what he did. That it was not his fault, that he was looking for something to control and fire was his answer. Not to mention God. "None of these symbols are inherently harmful. I've seen the power of symbolism redeem one of my patients who was literally split apart by trauma." 

oh no. no no no no...That's not how... ARGH. 

"Imagine what it could do for someone who was ready to receive help. Bipolar disorder, when tempered, can produce intense inspiration and creativity. I want to help you." 

And she adds "Kurt Cobain" to the list. 

I'm just going to... To sit here... quietly raging. 

Alright, so now we see Dr. Emmett walking through the Egyptian exhibit at the museum. 

"If Egyptian Mythology worked for Spector...It could work for my mysteriously nameness patient." 

HOW IS HE NAMELESS?! HE WAS IN THE ARMY. They KNOW where he was stationed, they know what unit he was in, they know the trauma he faced and bullying, and they know the group of people he killed! OF COURSE THEY ARE GOING TO KNOW WHO HE IS. 

"As I stand in front of the statue of Khonshu, Marc's main squeeze, I have a very important realization--Marc Spector may be legally insane... But he was never crazy at all. 

Is every priest who hears the voice of their lord crazy? Every shaman? The damn writers of the constitution, invoking god on every page?

Marc manifested the meaning of this icon. His dissociative identity disorder simply brought it more vividly to life. 

He needed an emblem of his inner bedlam and his innate need to protect victims. And the god of these qualities--Khonshu--came to him literally." 

THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS. He didn't get DID out in the desert. He's had it since he was a very young boy! He didn't go to Khonshu to try to make sense of it! His DID didn't 'bring it to light'. It didn't make him hear the voice of god! 

So she decides to pick out a god for her patient. 

Cause that's healthy. 

She considers Osiris, Horus, ....Imhotep... 

But of course she stops at Ra. 

You know what's really getting to me right now? This so called Ivy league doctor that clearly has no idea what she's doing, has zero ability to draw the line at doctor patient relationship, her obsessive tendencies, and pushing her obsession onto another patient. 

Furthermore, when you look at Patient 86, you do see a man that recognizes that he did something wrong. That he needs help and is in a place to try to understand how his own brain is working. We see him clinging to her words and trying to understand where she's going with her treatment. 

She explains that Khonshu is Ra's son. 

"I explain my understanding of the two gods' dynamic to 86. Some of it comes from established myth, some from Freudian interpretation." 

FREUDIAN. THEY ARE GOING FREUDIAN. This is a no Freud zone. 

"Amon Ra represented the burning, blazing emblem of masculine virility that is the sun. In many cultures, the sun stands for the sovereignty of masculinity --logic and raw power. But in the New Kingdom of Egyptian lore it was his Adopted son Khonshu who was described as "Greatest God of the Great Gods." 

(Nope. There was a brief Khonshu cult where they briefly played at worshiping the Moon instead of the sun. This was later put down and Ra resurged as the leading deity again. And it certainly wasn't the 'New Kingdom' path to look at him as the greatest of the great). 

"Khonsu of the moon, a universal symbol for the redemptive power of insubordination--femininity and sensitivity. The Ras of this world resent becoming passe. It makes them angry. And they burn harder to spite their own impotence. Established society can't accept change. Can't accept that the old ways don't work anymore." 

Oh good. Misogynistic teachings. Just what he needs. 

"Something happened to you when you were young, dropped you into a sea of lost children. I believe what you're hiding from yourself was most likely some form of abuse." 

She asks him to try to remember and he does remember abuse from the people in the army but also as a child being abused. 

Now we have the utmost breach of doctor patient confidentiality. 

"Finally, I reveal the tale of Marc Spector to 86. How a confused mentally unstable boy drew on the figurative power of the Moon to justify his nature. 

Marc's transformation into the hero called Moon Knight...A role model for the bewildered. 

I pass along all my endless research and documentation of his life since he was under my care, as well as several well-regarded books considering Egyptian mythology." 

AHHHHHHHHHH.

"And madly enough, patient 86 gets it. It clicks in him. He sees how Spector, like him, was not just insane, but was truly immersed in a living myth. It was never the moon's fault that it shone so brightly." 

Now we see Dr. Emmett having a nightmare. 

She sits in a large empty and white office when she's suddenly attacked by mummies. 

Moon Knight shows up to save her and rips apart the mummies. 

But wait, it's not Moon Knight! 

JESUS. I don't know why that reminded me. But this patient is purposefully drawn to resemble the white Christian version of Jesus. So that’s another contention I have with this comic. 

I’m also 90% certain that that cat wasn’t white a few pages ago… 

Alright, back at the asylum, we see a changed patient. He's more confident. More thoughtful. 

She tells him he needs to be present and not dissociating into the void. She wants to continue his 'traditional therapy' as well as his "...studies." 

He tells her that he knows who he is now. 

She tells him that even if "the allegory of Khonshu brings you resolve, you still need medicine. You still need therapy." 

"So, it's just a story now? I suppose Ra never let his wrath rain down on his errant son? That everything you taught me was an illusion?" 

Suddenly she's back peddling. Saying she didn't teach him that. It's not what she was trying to get him to understand. 

He asks her to leave. He has things to think about. 

I mean, honestly what did she think was going to happen? 

She has a patient that believes that he has been touched by the divine and has become godly. So she has given him a god that is involved in FIRE, the thing he is associating with god. She's basically given him a path to his own displacement!! 

She FINALLY realizes that she can just go to the military hospital to try to figure out who he really is. 

At the military medical facility, she talks to another doctor. 

"I don't say this a lot about multiple murderers, but... If you're asking what I thought of the man, I'd have to admit he brought nothing but warmth to this place." 

And that's the thing. He's a quiet and pleasant man. Introspective and not really possessing his own unique personality. He accepts what is put on him. A sort of trauma processing and self defense. 

The doctor then explains that patient 86 signed up for the army under a forged alias. Okay. So that explains why they don't know who he is... But they could call him by that name instead of just 86. 

While she's there, another patient runs up, having overhead who they were talking about. 

He screams about how he was there and he saw what happened. 

"We all know the truth. It was impossible. They had him tied up. Naked. How could he have possibly started that fire? No matches, no lighter. I know what he--" 

The orderlies show up and of course pull him away. 

At the same time she gets an emergency message from her own asylum telling her to get back there right away. 

She gets back to find 's room covered in blood. 

Her response? 

"How could this be? Was it all for nothing? As a doctor, I believed I could make a difference. But again, I am just at the whim of the raw, elemental power of insanity." 

NO. You most certainly are not at the whim of the power of insanity! THIS IS YOUR JOB. Your job is to help people who have mental health issues! Being a doctor in a mental health institution is HARD. You have the lives of people at their most vulnerable in your hands! 

So what happened? 

Another nurse tells Dr. Emmett: "We found him like this and immediately restrained him. So nobody else besides Nurse Hayworth could be hurt. ALso... There was no other way to retrieve her nose." 

Cool. We're going Hannibal Lecter now? For dramatics? For shock value? 

I'm not going to show you the comic picture here. I hate it. It hurts to look at. It's disgusting. It's clearly done for shock value. 

But we see  wrapped up in a restraint jacket with blood all over his face. Behind him he's drawn RANDOM vaguely Egyptian hieroglyphs in blood. 

She asks him why he did it. 

"When I revealed myself to her... She didn't believe me." 

Dr. Emmett is confused. She thought he was a kind and compassionate man who had a terrible upbringing and didn't know who he was. 

He tells her that she should know who he is since she taught it to him. 

"Khonshu." She answers. Because she's an idiot. 

"Khonshu is nothing next to me." 

He bursts into flames, igniting the whole room. 

"I wanted to speak to you before I go, but...I'll have to take leave of you now, Dr. E. Whatever made me the way I am is irrelevant. You brought me purpose. You showed me that I am--and always have been--A God." 

"Dear Lord. Amon Ra." 

He tells her that Khonshu is going to bow to him even if he has to crack his spine and so on and so on.... 

He leaves the hospital, leaving the doctor to die in the flames. 

We see flashes of his past where he set fire to his abusers as a kid and again in the army. Fire caused by his own mind. 

"He was always meant to become this. And now I know what trauma robbed him of his memories. Sometimes the sun gives birth to a bright brilliant Moon, changing us for the better. But sometimes it consumes us... And we burn, it becomes all we can see." 

We cut to a shot of the hospital being on fire and emergency services there. 

Look! They found a survivor in the flames! The commentary between the paramedics is disgusting. And the casual way they move to treat the survivor is also just disgusting. 

We get to see the survivor and it's Dr. Emmett. Completely burned up but still alive. Again... shock value and I'm not going to show you the image here. But it's bad. 

She is laughing and yelling about how she believes. 

We see 86 walking away from the hospital down the road, happy, and also naked. I honestly don’t know why this became a thing in comics with naked guys all over the place. It’s obviously used as a way to elicit some sort of reaction from the reader. One of disgust, something to laugh at, or just “Oh no! The man is naked now!” I hate it. 

Then we get a few pages from Khonshu. A recap on Marc's story. 

It's not told right. But I will forgive it because it's told from Khonshu's point of view, and that asshole probably sees it this way. So... I suppose I'll turn a blind eye to how wrong the story is here. 

You would see it as Marc begging, wouldn't you, you stupid pigeon. 

"He became...A hero. He used my powers to fight crime. To find redemption. It only cost him his mind. You see, the criminals aren't the only thing Marc Spector fights. He also fights... 

"The voices in his head. Marc Suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder." 

I've said it before. It stopped being called Multiple Personality Disorder YEARS ago. This is lazy writing with no research. And coming off of Lemire's run, this is just insulting. 

Also calling it 'voices in his head' is just outright pitiful. 

"But given time, he has managed to make peace with those voices. Including mine. No, together, we are... MOON KNIGHT." 

And that's the end of the issue. 

We get an afterward from the author. 

It angers me beyond words. 

"Writing Moon Knight (not "a book like Moon Knight" or "Writing such a huge project for Marvel"...Writing Moon Knight) is a dream come true. I couldn't pick a better place in the Marvel U to inject my passion into, and it is the pinnacle of everything I've worked towards as a writer. 

Anyone who treats a superhero comic as an easy paycheck needs to check themselves and realize why they're our most prevalent modern myths. Thank YOU (and my fam at Marvel) for letting me write this, supporting my previous work, and allowing me to make comics with someone as esteemed and talented as Jacen. 

I only ask that if you enjoyed this somewhat bizarre issue, keep reading this book. I want to enjoy it with you. Maybe we can claw away at something horrible together. 

It will not, however, be pretty.  

-Thanks, 

Max Bemis." 

We also get an afterword by the artist, Jacen Burrows that notes that they are following in the wake of legends like Smallwood and Lemire as well as Ellis and Shalvey who worked hard to re-awaken Moon Knight after it's cancellation (see Bendis). They note that they are working to tell a new and defining chapter in his character and a thought-provoking, intense, and scary note in Marc Spector's life. 

I'm going to go punch a wall now. 

NEXT ISSUE! #189! 

Here we go… issue two… Let’s get this…moldy… bread. 

We open on... NYC Subway. We see a happy dude driving the subway car. As the car rolls into the station, a large man steps into the cab with him. 

"Happy to have made it to Friday? The stench of your jubilance is offensive. But you're right to rejoice. Today you learn the truth." 

He touches the driver's shoulder and slowly a blue beam over takes him and his eyes turn blood red and start to bleed. ...I'm not posting a picture. 

"Tell me what you've learned by knowing me. I'm living in you now." 

The driver starts to stammer and talk. "H...H..Humanity is perverse. Genocide is the comeuppance we deserve. There is no creator. Undebatable. Love is a contrivance. Undebatable. The white house is the death star. Twitter is a virus. And when the nukes raze everything we know...Only a fool would claim it wasn't our destiny." 

Yeah... The large man calls himself "THE TRUTH" and has the ability to send these visions into the people he touches. It makes the driver hate everything and he starts up the car again, out to spread the truth. 

We are back to Khonshu narrating. 

"My name is Khonshu. Moon God of Egypt. I'm here to tell you a story about a mad vigilante named Marc Spector. Our tale finds us here, on a standard night for Marc, who, when dressed in all white and donning a cape, refers to himself as Moon Knight. 

Marc has spent ten minutes decorating this bar with the blood of these drug dealers and slavers. The cacophony of snapping collarbones and pit-pattering plasma is like whale songs to him. 

As the thud of a man being literally punted across the room sounds, Marc Spector is grateful for his life. 

For the privilege of serving me. Khonshu, protector of travelers in the night. 

You see, Marc Spector is crazy. But in the context of my blessing, he is, well...A 'Super Hero'." 

I overlooked it before, considering it comes from Khonshu's narrative and Khonshu WOULD see things differently.... But I can't. I can't even attribute this to Khonshu. This is just tripe bullshit. 

We're going to start fast forwarding here because... It just keeps going on like this. The old bird just doesn't shut up. He carries on for three pages and there is a LOT of text there. 

We see Moon Knight beating up a bunch of guys to a bloody mess. Then we move down to see a bandaged up Marc heading up to his VERY run down, grungy, apartment building. He waves hello to some old lady behind the glass that runs the place. 

He tells her he'll have the rent for her in the morning. 

Khonshu again calls Marc having just recovered from a 'personal crisis' and taking his problems more seriously, like his struggle with 'multiple personality disorder'. 

Khonshu boasts about how hard it is to live with a demigod in your head and that Marc has learned to 'live with his lunacy and wield it like a weapon'. 

We see Marc ironing his Moon Knight outfit while watching TV. 

Khonshu AGAIN talks about how Marc has learned to use his three distinct identities and that therapy has let him come a long way. About how Marc came to him begging to have his life saved and now Marc is his 'earthly champion'. 

"Or perhaps he was a space cadet whose psychosis was triggered by being shot up and dried out in the baking middle east sun. Your call." 

THIS IS WHAT YOU GOT FROM LEMIRE?! THIS?! How...How... HOW. 

We now see Marc passed out in bed. 

"Marc is ready to become someone else." 

Yeah so… We got him ‘becoming’ Steven. Who talks to Khonshu. Sure. Fine. Whatever. Khonshu calls him Narcissistic and decadent. 

FIRST OF ALL. Oh. You did NOT just come for Steven Grant. Oh we are going to have words now. 

Steven Grant is a beautiful wonderful man who has dreams of charity, peace, and living the perfect life that he was EXPECTED to live as a child under his father’s role. He’s the ideal son he was supposed to be, but he keeps his eyes on what’s right and what’s wrong and has STRONG moral opinions. He takes care of the body because he HAS TO. Marc isn’t going to do it. If it wasn’t for Steven, they’d turn into a walking festering infection with broken bones and starve to death! Steven keeps them alive and HEALTHY. He is the epitome of the one that gives because he believes in living a good life as a good person. 

Oh. Now you're gonna come for my boy Jake?! YEAH. YOU BETTER AVOID DISCUSSING HIM FOR NOW. I’LL BITE ANYONE THAT COMES FOR JAKE. (spoilers: I know exactly what he does with Jake later and I am furious). 

Alright. Back to Patient 86, or RA as he's going to be called later for a bit. 

We see him in a homeless shelter getting soup. He talks to various homeless people, prostitutes and druggies in an effort to locate someone. There are heavy implications in some of these images that he 'did things' to get the information he wanted. I’m not going to post them because of the nature of the way these people are being depicted. 

Back with Khonshu and Steven. He's at some business meeting. He's made them a lot of money. Everyone is happy and celebrating. Apparently Steven goes to struggling companies and makes them VERY wealthy. 

He's decided to donate his portion of the new wealth towards his "Lunar Lives" charity fund that feeds the displaced youth of New York. 

Steven shrugs saying that money is boring and he finds it fun to toss it to places where it doesn't belong. 

Sure, we'll go with that version of Steven Grant being a kind and charitable man. 

The party is interrupted by news reports that a subway conductor committed suicide by crashing the car. The survivors of the crash are now apparently acting strange, "self mutilating" and acting violent towards the aid workers trying to help the scene. 

Steven slips away from the party. 

Moon Knight time. 

But first, we go back to RA. 

He's found the person he's looking for. He's guarded by thugs. After a little encounter, Ra sets fire to one of the thugs and heads up to meet the man. 

Back at the subway crash, we see chaos as rescue workers try to put out the fire, help the injured, and deal with the ones that are suddenly acting violently. 

And Khonshu is still going. It's an interesting choice. I'll give them that. Having Khonshu narrate instead of hearing at ALL from the Moon Knight system. I suppose it gives them bigger leeway when it comes to the unreliable narrator because Khonshu WOULD see things differently. An excuse to not depict Marc and the others correctly? 

....But it still does swing widely and miss far too often. 

"Quite familiar with all the things that make men weep and soil themselves, Marc Spector felt at home in these derelict tunnels." 

We see Moon Knight walk past the crash and into the train tunnels. 

"After too much time confined in a white room, the odor of dead rat fart and fungal growth actually calmed his busy brain. He was in his element-The inspector holmes of king fu madmen." 

See, this is where it falls flat. If Steven is dealing with the business aspect, Marc isn't going to care about that room. 

And again we get ANOTHER jab at Marc being 'insane' and liking the disgusting things and being more at home in dank and terrible places. 

Perhaps Marc is more at home in sewers (there was a sewer man) than Steven or Jake... But it has nothing to do with his mental state. It's because, as Moon Knight, he isn't above things like that. He's not the perfect clean hero that Captain America or Iron man is. He's the man of the people that puts himself down there in the lowest parts because it's where he's needed. 

Moon Knight rightly is able to look at the scene of chaos at the crash site and deduct that it's a psionic attack. 

"Historically, he had found telepaths to generally be meek characters using their sway over the mind as compensation for physical frailty. Like sexually feeble men with muscle cars." 

Unnecessary jab. 

Now, as much as I dislike this art style, it's a choice and there is SOME merit to it. Look, here's a nice page. 

Here’s a badly cropped version. I like the way they drew Moon Knight in the first two panels with the play of the light and shadows. That big angry dude down there is the Truth guy. And I cropped it there because under him is a bunch of guys he’s shown the truth to who are writhing on the ground, bleeding from the eyes and shouting terrible things. 

Moon Knight goes in swinging and lands a few blows, trying to know him out to release the affected people from his psychic attacks. 

The guy is pretty big and he takes the hits easily. 

He manages to grab Moon Knight by the neck and starts to use his abilities on him. 

So what truth does Marc see? 

"I'm a mad circus clown... This is all for myself. There is no Moon God. Just another...Sick... Delusion..." 

I...honestly can see Marc having that issue. It's an issue he's had before where he thinks this is all his own way to keep being violent and that Khonshu is just a product of his need to justify what he does. 

Marc snaps himself out of the psychic attack by punching himself in the face. 

And I forgot that Bemis has decided that Marc Spector is a masochist and he loves it. 

Literally, it has Moon Knight yelling "Ghhh. I #@$% Love it!" 

He attacks the Truth again, slicing him up with his crescent darts and landing blows. 

The Truth remains standing. 

Moon Knight decides to look inward for help. 

"Not having a lot of luck here, Fellas. Khonshu's more of a talker and this guy's power set is the real deal. Grant's useless...Doubt the Truth is looking for stock tips." 

(I forgot that Bemis considers Khonshu to be his own version of an Alter without being an alter? That he just lives in their head.) 

UGH. Yep. Here we go. This is what he's done to Jake. 

"I'm gonna need..." And Moon Knight lets out a scream of rage as Marc steps out and tells Jake to "Do your worst." 

Apparently... Bemis has decided that Jake is the wild card, violent, unpredictable, and brutal. Worse than Marc for some reason. That Jake is the powerhouse of hits... 

I honestly has no idea why he went this route when MARC of all people has always been the one to be the guy that doesn't go down and always hits back. It just makes no sense.

What even. 

Jake comes right at the Truth, spits a tooth in his face, then challenges him. 

"You want to step into Jake Lockley's mind, you gigantic freak? I @#$% Dare you.

You met Marc. Marc's disturbed as hell. Now imagine that he took all the worst parts of himself and let them fuse into a living person. Now go ahead and taste MY truth, you leech." 

I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO SAY ABOUT THIS. 

DISSOCIATIVE IDENTITY DISORDER DOESN’T WORK THAT WAY. It’s not making people out of things! You don’t go “Well I hate that I burn all the cakes so I’m going to make this person my cake burning person!” ALSO Marc isn’t that bad either! Marc did terrible things, but Marc is also the hardest on himself! Marc could burn a cake and then use it as proof that he’s the worst person in the world! And Jake ISN’T a bad person! Jake is a good kind loving man with friends and a good heart and I’M SO ANGRY RIGHT NOW. 

And the whole time, you see ghostly Marc off to the side looking less than pleased at the situation and reminding Jake that "You're not allowed to kill him, Jake." 

And the Truth pulls away in pain. 

"Dear God. The things...The things you've done."

WHAT?! WHAT DID JAKE DO?! DRINK HOT COFFEE AND BURN HIS TONGUE?! DID HE PLAY BALL WITH ONE OF THE LOCAL KIDS AND MISS THE HOOP!? DID HE DOUBLE PARK HIS CAB!? 

Truth is still reeling. "He has no idea...Does he? You blind him to your foul actions! I'll tell him, you fool! I'll tell him about..." 

and Jake cuts Truth off by shoving two crescent darts into his eyes. Yeah...they got an eye thing in this run. I'm not a fan. 

Jake gives the body back to Marc, who instantly wants to know what Truth was talking about. 

He chastises Jake for his actions and tells him that he's going to get a talking to about this later. 

And Marc makes a bad pun about "The Truth Hurts" over the unconscious Truth. 

Khonshu and Steven shake their heads at him and Marc claims to be the funny man. 

whoopy doo. 

With the Truth gone, the afflicted people seem to be recovering now. 

Back at RA's part of the story, he finally makes it upstairs to to see the guy he's been looking for. 

Oh. Oh no. I forgot about this. I totally wiped it from my mind. 

We see someone sitting at a chair. Ra tells him that he's been put here to destroy Khonshu.......

"As a manifestation of his father, Ra, I am offended that he continues to breathe and spread his gospel of dissent through a foul Avatar. A HEBREW, no less. I want your help to end Marc Spector." 

I'm... I'm going to take a minute here. 

I want to make a few things Very...VERY clear. 

I don't care who the fuck is writing this, how they were raised, or where they stand with things now. 

This is not okay. Not in a comic book, not in real life, and not in any sense of the word. 

We have a figure who is CLEARLY styled to look like a Jesus figure that believes he is the Egyptian god Ra. We have him out to destroy Moon Knight because 1. He works with Khonshu and 2. He is a 'Hebrew'. 

This is just disgusting. 

And to put it in a comic. Where people of all ages read it and think that it's okay. 

Maybe you had some teen or young adult that was identifying with the bad guy. It happens. They see a bad guy that came from a bad situation and they root for them or fantasize what it would be like to burn things like they do. And they start spitting hate like this. Violence towards Jewish people. You are giving them permission to hate a people too. To blame them. To look at them as inferior. 

Or maybe you have a young naive kid that has never heard talk like this before and suddenly "Hebrew" becomes a slanderous hateful word. Congrats. You've just turned that kid into always associating that word with bad and disgusting things. It's only a step away from becoming antisemitic in their life. 

I just... I can't. I can't even begin to tell you how much this is painful to see. To see Marvel allow this as a company. A company founded on Jewish people. To see Moon Knight as a comic, based around a Jewish system that was originally designed to be about dealing with trauma and hate and pain and finding a way to get better and continue to find the light in the dark. 

Anyways... Back to the comic...

The man behind the chair is eager to take down Marc Spector, but he knows it takes more than a man. So Ra sets the place on fire to show off his skills. 

The man stands up, impressed. 

Oh look... It's Bushman.

A very poorly drawn Bushman that BARELY makes it past the caricature of an old racist cartoon black man. And it only gets worse from there. And as much as Bushman is the bad guy and used to (USED TO) be Marc's biggest enemy... This version of him only goes downhill from here. And we've moved on from antisemitism to racism. 

fun times for all.... 

Oh good. This issue is done. 

Can you tell I’m regretting this decision yet? 

You know what? I’ve got a question for you to think about! We can all get mad at Bemis. We can point at his horrible story and all the terrible things he wrote about (and boy howdy are there more and they get worse as we go on)... But what about the art? 

As MacKay said “Art can make or break a comic”. You can have the most beautiful story in the world and then have it drawn like shit. So who decided to make everything gory and bloody and shocking? Who decided to make Bushman into…THAT? Did Bemis say “I want you to make him look like this” and then pull up a 1940s comic? Or did Burrows make this call all on his own? Are there really two people to blame for these comics? Can we be angry at the artist too? 

I’m already pretty pissed at the editors that let this happen… But who drew this? 

Jacen Burrows started working with Warren Ellis in 2000. Ah... That explains some of the gore. 

Also illustrated adaptations of Alan Moore. Yup. That explains the gore. Those two have very specific styles that usually translate into a lot of gore. 

Oh yup. He's also worked a lot with Garth Ennis. 

So we've got three of the four most graphic big name comic writers there. This explains a lot. 

I don't have much on his personal life, or things that would show WHY he drew things this way... Perhaps it was direction or perhaps it was choice. Looking at some of his other works, they don't all look like this. So who knows? 

NEXT ISSUE! #190! 

I don’t want this bread. Send it back. I want different bread.

You know what? Why even bring Bushman into this? 

This is a move designed to pull the old fans back in and to elicite "OH MAN" emotions from people. And it is not done well. 

Bushman started as the big bad. He was the one that worked with Marc as a mercinary and the one that killed him. He's shown up a few times over the years, putting fear into Marc as Bushman threatened his friends. Then Marc killed him (and cut off his face). 

So why bring him back? He's done. Marc has burried this particular thing of the past. He's a memory of a ruthless and brutal time. 

And what they do with him here is just... They mock him. They make that memory into something grose and shameful. 

You'll see in a bit. 

So the next issue opens on some look backs at Moon Knight through the ages. We've seen this before. Other one shots and annuals have touched on the other Knights of Khonshu. 

This time we see it through Ra's eyes. 

"And so it has been since the days the gods themselves walked the earth. Ra and Khonshu, vengeful father and errant son. Warring for the very soul of the world, reborn again and again through earthly avatars. And in every instance....Ra is humbled. Shamed." 

....Did Bemis even do mythological research? Is he just going based on "Ah yes, the sun and the moon!" 

I'm no Egypt mythology expert, but I can tell you this... Khonshu (or Khonsu as it's really supposed to be spelled) is the son of Amun and Mut. Amun and Ra used to be two different gods but eventually merged into Amun-Ra when two big cities rose to power. He was then attributed with being the king of all. 

Khonsu is often depicted as a child! He's drawn with a side-ponytail, which is the "sidelock of youth" and depicts youth in ancient art. 

At first Khonsu was incredibly violent. He absorbed other gods' powers by eating their organs. Eventually, he was changed to a mellow god of Time, Measurement, and prosperity. 

As I mentioned before, there was a brief period when a popular city worshiped Khonsu as the superior god, but it didn't last and Ra was put back in power when that city fell. 

So Bemis clearly didn’t do any research into how the story originally goes. I’m not surprised. 

He babbles almost incoherently about Karma and balance and how Khonshu always wins because the Sun God failed to find a proper Avatar. 

He says Ra is here to break the cycle and bring order back to mankind. Because mankind needs discipline and order. 

"I'm not like those who came before me. I'm not like you, victims of Khonshu's pride. I was born with the flame within me." 

So apparently this is a big speech to some henchmen. Or just a bunch of guys looking to get revenge on Moon Knight? Unclear. 

Ra's speech done, who is now known as the Sun King, Bushman gives his own speech. 

He admits that he now lives his life dealing crack and isn't at his best. 

"Marc Spector...Scares the crap out of me, simply put, I don't want to die again. I wouldn't come near Moon Knight with a ten-foot pole at this point, but with Sun King's determination and power?" 

He tells them that with Sun King's fire, they can take down Moon Knight. 

Sure. 

Back to Mr. Spector himself... We see him meditating and holding a little talk with Jake. 

Still we get Khonshu's narration: 

"The inside of Marc Spector's head is a picturesque, violent landscape touched by Egyptian mythology, Judaic folklore and Fragments of his past." 

I have so much I want to argue about with this that I don't even know where to start. 

So we see an abstract headscape here. Marc has Jake in a boxing ring and is beating the crap out of him. 

He's angry at Jake for keeping things from him and he wants answers. 

And here we get a childish depiction of their argument that holds no research and insulting implications.

It's supposed to be funny. It has a certain charm to it that a much much younger me might have found agreeable, but older me has learned a lot and it just makes me tired. And upset at the character assassination that has been happening to my good buddy Jake. 

I'm also upset at the implication that Jake is just 'a piece of Marc'. The parts Marc didn't want. 

So they continue to fight while Khonshu and Steven watch. Steven is upset at their fighting and tries to get them to stop. 

Jake takes a bad blow. "Look, Steven is the wealthy benefactor. Khonshu is our connection to the bigger picture. You're the voice of reason. And I deal in the grimy leftovers. You BUILT us this way." 

I hate it. Marc didn't BUILD them. He didn't sit down one day and decide to make other people to hold things! It also depicts Khonshu as being an altar. 

While I've often toyed with that idea, it's always been clear from day one that Khonshu is NOT another aspect in their head. There IS a good chance that they have someone that has been formed as a fictive or even a persecutor in the form of Khonshu... But that's an argument for another day. For the sake of this review, Khonshu himself has always been an outside force! 

ALSO. Marc. Marc Spector. The voice of reason?! How do you get a character SO WRONG that you are writing a whole comic book for? When has Marc Spector EVER been the voice of reason? 

Jake puts Marc in a sleeper hold and threatens to "put you to sleep" if Marc doesn't chill out. 

"It's not your fault that your mind ended up like this. All we can do is embrace the crazy and let you move on with your life. Which means you need to trust me, Marc. Capiche?" 

I have always been a huge fan of the implication that because of their unique mental health issues, DID, and dealings with Khonshu, along with repeated trauma and death, that the Moon Knight system has the ability to surpass expectation and use these things as secret weapons. The number of times people have attacked them mentally and just been destroyed is amazing. I love it. 

THIS. This I hate. "Embrace the crazy". This is clearly the message Bemis got from Lemire's run. That they went through all that so that they could be crazier and use it as a wild card. NO. Just no. 

Anyways, Marc and Jake make up and relax while Steven hugs Khonshu in the background in celebration. 

We now to go the Sun King, who is knocking on a door to a fancy looking house. 

And who answers the door? Marlene Alraune. 

For those that don't know, Some time after Moench left Moon Knight, Marlene also left them. When Moon Knight picked up again for the Houston run, Marlene came back, but it was a rocky relationship. She left them again, saying she couldn't be with them for her own health. 

Sun King poses as a charity drive door to door person and while Marlene is getting her check book, he notices a picture on the wall. He freaks out and calls in Bushman. 

Marlene is famliar with Raoul Bushman. He's the man that killed her father, after all. The one that killed Marc and started it all. 

Bushman notices the picture and taunts Marlene. 

He calls her a damsel-in-distress. This has never been the case. Marlene has NEVER been a damsel-in-distress. As much as I harp on her from the old days, that girl could take care of herself! Half the time she was the one rescuing Moon Knight! 

So to see her passive and not knowing how to fight or take care of herself? No. 

We head back to Moon Knight, who is fighting a bunch of "disabled gentlemen", most of which are missing arms and legs and the such. It's implied they work for Bushman and Moon Knight is to blame for their missing pieces. hmm. 

While fighting, he gets a phone call. In typical "My ex" fashion, the caller ID says "Do NOT pick up, Psychopath! Let it go!" 

Hm. 

He answers. Khonshu is not pleased by this but Marc can't help but answer. It says that Marc is still obsessed with her. 

He's super happy to hear from her. 

Marlene tells him that she's missed him and wants him back in her life. 

She attempts to warn him, telling him that maybe it's best if he didn't come over, but Sun King is there and puts the squeeze on her. 

Marc is far too eager to go meet up. 

I'M GOING TO PUT A PAUSE ON THIS FOR A SECOND. 

This is something that has bothered me for AGES and this is the run that started it. (Bemis. Always blame Bemis. But there is also another writer that messed it up too. I'll get to that MUCH later.) 

Moench originally wrote that Marlene was in love with Steven. 

Jake was incredibly indifferent to Marlene. ANy time they interacted, he treated her as a friend, but was more interested in headint to Gena's. Jake was not into the fancy rich life and how she wanted to live. 

Marlene hated Marc Spector. Marc was violent, had a dark past, and was involved in her father's death, her brother's death, and various other tragedies. 

If Marlene was going to do anything, it would NOT be Marc. OR JAKE. It would be Steven. In the whole Moench run, she always insisted in calling them Steven. She wanted them to just be Steven and give up the other lives. 

BACK TO THE COMIC. 

We see a flashback of Marc and Marlene on a raft. 

"From the first time you saw me? Huh. Even though I was some mercenary who hadn't showered for a week?" 

BULL. SHIT. The first time Marlene saw him, he was working with Bushman and had imprisoned them all, then her father had been killed. The first time she spoke to Marc I'm pretty sure she either told him off or he was dying and she was happy because she thought he'd killed her father. 

He's telling her the story of when he had to kill his own brother. (he's not telling the story right). Then he talks about his dead girlfriend and other trauma from his past. 

What makes me mad is that this is conceivable. We have Marc Spector (Marc, not the other two) talking to Marlene about his past, his trauma. It’s possible that over time she could have decided to get to know Marc. That she realized that Marc is not just a murdering scary man and made peace with the fact that she needs to know him if she wants to be with Steven. It’s possible that she got him to open up and tell her his trauma and what made him what he is now. It’s even possible she started to date him too. I can get behind that! It’s growth for BOTH Marc and Marlene.

And I wish this was how it was done. How it was left. I wish that they had this growth. That Marc and Marlene could become closer. That he and Steven learned to trust one another so much that they learned to be with Marlene and share. But this isn’t how Bemis does it. 

We are back in the now and Marc shows up at Marlene's with flowers and a suit. 

He tells her she looks great. He really thinks they are getting back together. Denial is a land that Marc Spector is king of. 

And Sun King is standing in the dining room waiting for him. 

Sun King pretends to be Marlene's boyfriend who has been living with her. 

He tells Marc that Marlene told him all about how he was Moon Knight. It's not like this is a big secret. Marc was only mildly into secret identities. He wasn't very good at it. 

And Marc isn't taking this well. While Sun King pretends to be a guy that's with Marlene, he then starts to talk about how someone else has been 'getting with Marlene.'

He tells Marc to ask Jake Lockley. 

And in the inner world, Marc is a giant monster pissed off and turning on Jake. 

Not how that works. But sure. Why not. Also, let’s propagate the notion that DID promotes distrust in the system and that there’s an evil alter that goes around doing things behind their back like this. 

AND THIS. This is disgusting. 

She claims to have never stopped loving him and was so desperate for him that she got with Jake?! Not the same person! You don't get a hankering for Marc and go for Jake instead!

And then the notion that Jake came to her telling her to keep it a secret?! 

And then telling them that Jake was never "warm". That Jake has evil in him and he just didn't stand up to Marc?! 

WHY IS JAKE The EVIL ALTER!? He isn't. Jake Lockley is a loving kind and caring man. He goes to Gena's every day and asks her how her kids are doing. He feeds the homeless. He makes friends with the people on the street. 

And she tells Marc that she tried to break it off with Jake but it was too late and she couldn't do it alone. 

And that's when Bushman shows up. 

Yep. There’s the daughter. And the fact that she calls him “Uncle Jake” and not “Dad” despite the obvious implication that Jake has been in her life for a long time… 

Maybe they were trying to protect her from the Moon Knight curse but not letting people know she was his daughter… But still… 

Her name is Diatrice. She has pink hair. 

This is the ONE thing that came out of Bemis that is kinda okay. 

It isn't till MacKay gets his hands on her that I actually started to like her. She's a force. 

I admit, change scares me. And I've been jaded by the "We have to introduce a child to keep it interesting!" concept that show-runners and authors seem to have. I was also so incensed by Bemis' terrible writing that I took the stance of HATING Diatrice when I first saw her. 

But it was bad writing. And give her to a good writer and she can do such wonderful things. 

When Jed MacKay got to put her in a story, she was smart, she was fiesty, and she embraced her dad. More so, he embraced her. 

Amazing what happens when someone does something not for the shock value. 

And now we move to the next issue. Good. Great. I hate the art. I hate how weepy Marlene is here. Old Marlene would have been pissed. She would not have put up with this shit. She was smart. She would have found a way to warm him. To do something. I honestly can’t tell if this is misogynistic or just BAD writing? Maybe both? 

Issue #191.

So the cover is the famous picture of the farmers. It's supposed to depict family homesteading life. 

In the real picture, it's not well known, but it is the farmer and the daughter, NOT his wife. Just a little art knowledge there for you. 

So we are back to Khonshu narrating. 

I don't even know what he's narrating. Something about gods and the power structure of gods and his moon battle against the sun. Something about the moon representing mythical and birth and creation and then sun representing the psychopath and the ground and humans. 

Not even mythologically correct in...ANY culture as far as I'm aware. At least none of the one's I've read about. Maybe in some. I don't know. But I doubt very much if there is, Bemis knows about it. 

He also starts talking about evil and angels and devils. Dude has got his theology mixed up. 

Also, Marc should be a bit more upset about seeing Bushman here. They have...HISTORY.

(There she is. There’s the Marlene I know and care about.) 

So everything is on fire. Marc grabs Diatrice and gets her out. 

He tells Marlene to get out. She just stands there DESPITE THERE BEING A SLIDING GLASS DOOR BEHIND HER. 

He tells Diatrice to go find a place to hide, he has to go help Marlene. 

She asks him if he's crazy because you're supposed to run away from fire. 

He just looks at her before going back inside. 

Marlene is still standing there with a sliding glass door directly behind her and fire in front of her. I don't even.... 

Marc calls out Raoul Bushman while he fights the henchmen. 

"You're such a %$#@!!!" 

Roul shoots him in the shoulder. Marc doesn't care. He knocks the gun out of his hand and slams his face into the wall. 

Sun King sets Marc on fire. Marc strips down to his skivvies and throws his burning pants into Sun King's face. 

Yeah. I can see Moon Knight (especially Marc) doing this. It's a good fighting tactic. It's a good depiction of Marc's talent for hard combat with quick thinking. (See? I can see the good too. Still angry, but there is soooooome good.)

See… It isn’t beneath Marc. This guy pretends to know Marc because of the terrible psychologist and being connected to ‘Ra’. But this isn’t beneath Marc. This is classic Marc fighting. 

So they now face one another. 

"What are YOU supposed to be?" 

"I am Ra's chosen sword. Here to strike you down. I'm the Sun King." 

"....Of course you are." 

"My purpose is to make your death a mockery. In fact, I wouldn't be doing my job if I just struck you down. It's gotta be so tragic that it means something." 

He goes on like this for a hot (LOL) minute. Honestly, Marc's heard it all before. This isn't the first time he's fought a guy with delusions of whatever he's got going on. 

At this point Diatrice shows up again and is pissed off that her swing set is on fire. 

Marc grabs her and makes a run for it. 

He asks her what her name is. She tells him Diatrice and that he already knows that. 

Marc is just caught up in the weird name. 

"Mommy let me change my name to whatever I wanted!" 

Which is super just... Considering she could never even bother to get Marc, Jake, or Steven's name right... Way to go Marlene I guess? 

Marc feels the same way. 

It's at this point that he runs BACK into the burning house holding his child for some reason? There's a note on the wall "We have your queen." 

Well, Marlene's been kidnapped. Not the first time. 

Probably for the best, honestly, considering she couldn't figure out how to use ANY of the exits that were surrounding her. 

Back at Marc Spector's apartment, we find Marc failing real hard at talking to his daughter.

So this means that Marlene told her that JAKE was not her dad and that her dad was a super hero. Meaning she pretty much told her that Marc was her father. 

Look. I know a couple of systems that have children. How they choose to discuss their DID with their children is up to them. Some chose not to discuss it at all until the kid is old enough to understand difficult concepts like this. But they also don’t hide it. None of the systems I know hide it from their children. The kids just learn to recognize the different members of the system, and to them, they are all “Mommy” or “Daddy” because that is the role that they inhabit while present. 

It falls back to the whole “Hold your system accountable” aspect of being a functioning system. It means that they hold each other responsible and they all understand that they have a child and must function as a parental figure to protect and care for their child. 

So the fact the Marlene is telling her that one of them is the dad and not the other… Hiding it from one and that Jake hid it from them. There is a disconnect here that is damaging and insulting. 

So we see her argue with Marc about him not being a super hero. He doesn't look or act like Captain America, he can't fly, and he looks tired and smells funny. 

He declares it was an 'off day'. 

But, it's what I love about Moon Knight in general. He's just a guy. He has zero powers. He's even a bit of an idiot sometimes. He's just a guy out there that takes a lot of beatings and has a lot of trauma that he works out while wearing a mask. 

As they talk, we see Jake, Steven, and Khonshu in the background watching. 

Honestly, fair. I have seen systems be put in situations where perhaps a member they don't really trust yet is present in a situation that could be dangerous to them in general. Perhaps a little is present when they shouldn't be. Perhaps a high trauma holder is present in a potentially triggering situation. Or perhaps a persecutor that has a history is out around a member of the family that they don't trust them to be around. 

You'll have the protectors and gate keepers VERY close by monitoring and ready to step in if need be. 

At least this is true in the systems I've spoken to. Feel free to sound off if you have other experiences. I love to hear from systems about their own experiences and how they handle the family situation. 

So now that they've argued on if Marc is or is not actually a super hero, she asks about her mom. 

He assures her that she isn't going to die because he's going to save her and "seriously hurt those bad guys". 

She asks if he likes Katy Perry. He says no. He asks if she likes Dazzler. 

So they put on a record of Dazzler and have some bonding time while Jake keeps watch. 

We head out to a high security prison to find some guards chatting. 

One of the guards is missing an eye and wearing an eye patch. 

He heads to a cell and asks the person inside to head to the city and get revenge for him. He wants him to kill Bushman. 

Hey look, The Truth guy is back. 

Considering the Truth guy ALSO got his eyes stabbed out... I'm not sure how he's walking around like that without any training or aid or anything... 

Also, this guy was seriously not that impressive as a bad guy. He's just big and has a 'scary' design to him. I'm not impressed by this attempt to make a recurring bad guy. It's just not an impressive reveal of a returning bad guy. 

So the Truth heads out of the jail easy peasy. 

Back in Marc's apartment, Diatrice is asleep and Marc is holding a meeting in the head space. 

You've got Marc, Jake, Steven, and Khonshu on a platform with Cthulhu in the background. I don't know. Do they think that the head space can just conjure anything based on need or emotion? Maybe it does? Maybe it doesn't? I Don't know. 

Apparently this is a recurring thing Khonshu does because Jake tells him "Khonshu... Don't you be giving me that "Cthulhu" Bullshit. Not you." And Steven agrees. "He's kind of right. We can't just use squids to explain all weird things in this world." 

You ready for this? I bet you aren’t. 

Yeah I… I’m gonna… I am not touching this. I don't have the time or energy to sit down and type up a whole manifesto on what's wrong with this page. 

And this is where the now famous line comes from:

Also let’s add some eating disorders to the mix. Why not? Do you have a disorder and feel left out? Don’t worry! I’m sure Bemis will get to that too! Not to mention there is a very underhanded homosexuality jab mixed in with that too! Blink and you’ll miss it, but this is a common way for older shows and media to take a jab at how wrong the GBLTQ world was. Make the villain have some latent homosexual tendencies, usually towards the main hero of the show. 

So now we see Busman, Truth, and Sun King hanging out. 

Truth is following them now, though apprently he sometimes accidentally uses his powers. 

They review a map and discuss where they want to go. 

Bushman tells them about a "Backwards tribe that I 'liberated' before we took over." 

Yeah cause that's... Hmmm. 

They decide to go t that island to start a "new eden". 

Sun King tells Marlene the plan in a gloating fashion. 

"You've gone so far as to tie up a super hero's girlfriend and you're bragging to her about your evil plan. 

You're not profound. You're a linkless wikipedia reference waiting to happen." 

Well, at least she gets that jab in. 

"Perhaps that's so. But I'm still going to kill your child while her dad looks on. Just to prove the uselessness of his cause." 

He tells Marlene he's going to use her to lure Marc to his doom. He also asks Truth to create an army. 

Back with Marc, he is telling her about Frenchie. 

Look, I've always been a big Jean-Paul Duchamp fan. I love him. It breaks my heart that things went the way they did and he eventually left Marc and they had a huge falling out. But I am happy Frenchie found love and has his own chance to be happy. 

Do not bring my poor Frenchie into this world of Bemis.

…I’m sorry, did Marc just describe Frenchie as “A father figure”?! In what universe? Who are these people that think he’s a father figure to him?! 

So Marc has called in Frenchie to baby sit Diatrice while he goes off to save Marlene. 

I'm just sighing right now. Because it's been established that Frenchie is not talking to Marc anymore. He isn't adventuring anymore. 

Frenchie lost both his legs in a mission gone wrong. He fell in love with his PT person and now they run a restaurant together. While Frenchie still misses the adventures, he also is tired of the PTSD and the pain that follows Moon Knight. 

This is just shoddy editing by team Marvel. 

Also this...

And this is how they ended this issue. Cliffhanger dead zombie Frenchie. Why is he in scrubs?

(It's at this point that I realized that Tumblr would only let me upload 30 images and I was going to have to break this up into more than two long ass posts. I'm so very very sorry.)

Part two will be linked very soon. Until then, I'm going to thank you for sticking around this long and hope you finish this rage filled adventure with me.

I'm going to admit that I am biased in not just hating Bemis, but also hating this art.

There are places for art like this. I've seen it utilized well in comics where the nature of the comics stands very well with this sort of art. Punisher Max for instance. For those that don't know, Punisher Max is a stand alone version of Frank Castle that was created in order to depict the ultra violence that Frank Castle is capable of in his search for justice and his never ending war.

The problem is that Moon Knight has gotten a reputation for being incredibly violent and unpredictable. You can probably thank Houston for that, but I'm sure the problem dates back to the 90s (always blame the 90s).

On the one hand, Marc is a former soldier, mercenary, and has anger issues. On the other hand, people have been using the excuse that "He's insane, of course he's going to be violent and unpredictable."

This has, most unfortunately, attracted writers like Bemis to the comic and then recruited artists that are more adept at drawing shocking gore or acts.

And even worse, this has attracted in a VERY specific fan base that reads comics looking for the gore, action, and hyper violence. They pick up an issue of Moon Knight, that has traditionally been based around dealing with mental health, classism, depression, and political issues.

These sorts of readers are easy to spot. They will list issues like Bemis, Aaron, and Bendis as their favorite issues. They will complain that newer stuff is boring or that they can't read the old stuff because it's too chatty. They want the action. they want to see Marc ripping a man's face off and biting out their throats.

Things like this are what goad on the perpetuation of Mentally I'll people being dangerous and scary and untrustworthy.

I'll touch on it more next time, but when we see things like this, it's so important that we don't put up with it. That we tell the big companies that Marvel, DC, and so on that we won't stand for this. That they are the problem. Don't put up with things like this. Don't put up with Bemis.

...Also I just really hate this art style. Every page feels SO static. Everyone is always just standing around grinning at things. Maybe I was spoiled by Bill Sienkiewicz, Declan Shalvey, Smallwood, and Alessandro Cappuccio. These people made even standing still look beautiful and full of life. They knew that sometimes just having Moon Knight standing in the rain could say more than words ever could.

PART TWO HERE.

Let's finish this bread.

[shiroganeryo]

Hi there. So don't mind me, I was going through your dazatsu art a while ago (both you and your husband I think?) and also saw some of the captions. You said you two met when you were cosplaying dazatsu? I don't mean to sound stalkerish so please feel free to ignore me, but that is about the sweetest thing I have ever heard😭❤️ I would like to draw one of your cosplays as our favorite couple. You could send me a picture you like- paint over your faces if you don't feel comfortable or-

And again and I emphasize, feel free to straight up reject this or ignore it, because I know it's odd. Just wanted you to know how you warm my heart, and I love your artwork as well<3

Have a nice day or night

Hello there! First of all, don't worry about "sounding stalkerish", it's very sweet of you to drop by just to let me (and by extension, us) know about your thoughts! 😊 The thing is, it's not that we met when we were cosplaying; perhaps me saying we weren't a couple yet gave that impression, but since you asked, I might as well tell you the full story?

You may want to sit, it's a little long (though I'll do my best to be brief) 😅

We already knew each other, we had been acquaintances for a long while, actually! We met when we were 14/13 or so (we're 31/29 now, I'm the older one). We weren't really that close, but we were on friendly terms and all that.

I'll skip the very personal bits which includes (but is not limited to) us getting closer to each other and stupidly pining mutually, but the sequence of events that led to it is one (!) of the reasons why I tend to say we're a "dazatsucore" couple. Because:

He was into me > I noticed on the spot, and did nothing > I was into him > he didn't know because I hid the fact > leads to him blurting out a confession thinking he'd be turned down > I do not turn him down but ask for some time to think things through because I want to be sure of my feelings first > not too long after I have an answer.

By the way, everything I'm saying gets even better (and funnier) when you consider I'm the "Dazai" one, while he's the "Atsushi" in this.

Anyways, about the cosplay shenanigans you inquired about; back when we were getting closer to each other (2016ish), I had become interested in BSD but knew nothing about it; I knew he had watched it, asked what were his thoughts on it, he said it was nice, recommended it, etc. He then commented that he planned to cosplay Atsushi, showed me the character and shared his cosplay plans.

I had only watched the opening so far (the thing that led me to ask him if the anime was good), and Dazai was the one who had caught my eye the most, so I said, very offhandedly, that 'hey, I'd be down to go with you to the con, I do entertain the idea of cosplaying Dazai'.

He was like 'woah, really?! That would be so fun!' but also got extremely nervous on the spot. I obviously noticed. You see, my spouse isn't really the type of person who can hide his feelings very well + I'm good at reading through people. We've always been a funny match in that regard, ngl.

From a quick Google search I did to gather references for the outfit, I could tell the two characters were a somewhat popular pairing, so I made 2+2, I also already knew he had a crush on me and just did nothing about it, like I explained above. So he had gotten nervous that people could mistake us for a couple because the two characters are (were? sadly) a popular pairing.

Which I did know... And again, did nothing about because while my suggestion to cosplay together was sincere, having no intentions of manipulating him or anything, that did work in my favor as well so two birds, one stone.

In the meantime, what I told you above happened and we started dating. And, for obvious reasons, we decided to go ahead with the cosplay plans 😌 I've never posted a clear picture showing our faces because we're not the best photographers out there, but here's one of the least terrible ones:

The icing on the cake, that doesn't have much to do with us, but is still something we remember about fondly: we're Brazilian, and Brazil is a very big country. The anime con we were going to attend was the biggest in our country but also some good hours away (a 9 hour travel away to the capital, to be more precise), so we took a bus ride with some people headed there as well. It's common for people to make these "con attendees" group rides and they're always really fun experiences + very cost efficient.

One of the people we befriended on the ride was this girl who, coincidentally, was cosplaying as Chuuya. Since we're a queer couple (nb sapphics who go by he/him pronouns) we didn't know what amount of gay was okay in public, but this one girl knew we were a couple, 100% sure of it and it was genuinely beyond funny seeing her and her friends waiting on us to just do something, anything, that gave the answer away.

We kissed like... once, when they were nearby, and the reactions were priceless, ngl. The euphoric I KNEW IT faces.

Back then we weren't married yet, so no telling rings or anything, but this Chuuya had gotten the vibes somehow. When I asked her how she knew before we even did anything, she said, just like this: 'it's the way you look at each other 🥺'.

I need you to imagine Chuuya Nakahara saying this, with this expression. Makes it all 20x funnier. Also the reason why I usually write him as a wingman/enabler in my fics.

Oh, and about the "he had no idea I knew all along", I did tell him... last year 😂 We were reminiscing about things and he went on a tangent saying something along the lines of 'I feel kinda bad because it was selfish of me but I liked the idea of us being seen as a couple back then so I didn't tell you the characters were a popular ship'.

To which I replied: 'Oh, I knew, don't worry.'

Cue shocked Pikachu meme for my spouse's reaction. I then explained that I was fully aware of everything all along, and he was like 'thank GOD you decided to play along then because I had no idea how to charm anyone' 😂

It feels good to put our silly story out there, I had told this story only to one person in the fandom so far (I won't tag her, but Katsu can confirm we're two dumbasses in love) because I don't usually talk about personal stuff publicly like this unless on a whim but also because, like I said, it's a very long story even with skipped parts.

I hope this was fun to read, at least? 😅

As for what you asked about drawing us, I'll apologize, but neither of us understood exactly what you want to do. If you could elaborate more on it, we'd be grateful and could give a proper response! All in all, thank you for sending the ask, it was really lovely of you to stop by just to say that! 😊

[wannaeatramyeon]

Love your blog! 🥹 Can you write some general Gun and Goo headcannons? They’re such a fun duo I can’t- 🤠

Thank you for being so sweet anon and again sorry for the looong delay. Take this complete and utter word vom. I.. I don't really know what this is apart from a ramble presented in bullet points.

Gun Park + Goo Kim: Duo headcanons

Fuck, I love these two.

Let's start from the top.

Gun and Goo might not always get on, often behaving more like a bickering old married couple one step away from throttling each other, but they absolutely respect one another.

Begrudgingly so. Meeting someone that can go toe to toe with them does not happen every day.

Being secret friends or successor though, is completely out of the question. They never even considered it in the first place despite Gun ticking most of Goo's criteria and vice versa.

Both completely unhinged and chaotic in very different, often clashing, ways. Finding each other grating, fighting skills complementing each other due to circumstance rather than naturally.

Gun thinks of Goo as a disloyal, flighty and greedy maniac. Whereas Goo sees Gun as a dull stick-in-the-mud who only cares about fighting.

They're both right.

Gun doesn't care much for material goods. He will still buy the best of the best, because why the hell not. However, he does not form any sentimental attachment to it.

Goo is surprisingly similar. Often preferring shopping sprees as a form of a power trip and to show off how rich he is. There is a fleeting thrill of buying something he wants, but ultimately it gets discarded.

Stealing Gun's things, on the other hand, much more rewarding for Goo.

The first time he laid eyes on Gun wearing the striped yellow shirt and scarf combo, Goo knew he had to have it. Besides, it would look much nicer on him, dont you think? What the hell is Gun Park doing wearing such bright colours anyway.

In all honesty, Gun doesn't waste enough energy on clothing to say anything when he saw Goo in his outfit. Although he did roll his eyes and take an extra long drag of his cigarette.

(A/N: I love the idea of Goo stealing Gun's clothes. But I tend to flip flop between how private Gun is, keeping his work and personal life completely separate. )

If the outfit isn't stolen, then it would mean Goo went out and bought the exact same thing... Which is funnier if you think about it.

Because the sheer amount of effort that that takes, finding the same top, same scarf - because why the fuck would Gun tell him where he got it even if Goo did ask.

The fact that Goo takes a significant time out of his day just to fuck with Gun. Truly, what an idiot. Does he have nothing better to do?

Spending so much time together, they pick up naturally on each other's likes and dislikes. Well, Gun does anyway. Goo does most of the talking, and the few times Gun does talk - Goo doesn't even bother to listen.

Unfortunately, that means if someone asked Gun what happened on the latest episode of an anime series, he would be able to recite exactly what Goo has told him, and then afterwards beat them up for asking in the first place.

There's a closeness there that disgusts them both equally with how well they know each other. Music preferences, how they take their coffee. Knowing each other's mood like their own. Ugh.

Life carries on though and there's still shit to do. WIth most of their waking moments spent together, they weave in their own errands between jobs and missions.

At least Goo does. Gun's life is much more orderly instead of a whirlwind of chaos. He is proactive and reactive whereas it appears to him that Goo will just fulfil his own whims as they come up.

Either way, Goo is the one driving and it's his car so Gun has no choice but to go with.

Well. Gun can stay in the car like some sort of pitiful dog awaiting their master's return or join in with Goo.

He usually opts for the latter, and also regrets it too. For example, getting cookies together for fuck's sake. Grabbing ice cream. Ring shopping!

Really, don't let anyone tell you that Gun is impatient. He puts up with far too much from his blonde partner. He can be extremely level headed, often choosing to walk away from things not worth his time rather than waste his energy. There's a lot of hill where he would prefer not to die on where Goo Kim is concerned.

If you asked Goo what was the one thing he hated most about Gun, the ensuing silence would be the longest he has ever been quiet for. Because there really is so much he hates about that fucking guy.

Just one? Then Goo would likely say the smoking. Not only does it stink, but the smell seeps into the car interior and lingers on everything. Goo often likes to pretend he's choking when Gun lights up. Putting on a coughing fit and spraying spittle everywhere until Gun walks away in disgust.

If you asked Gun what he hated most about Goo Kim? Completely deadpan and straight faced, he would say 'everything'.

[nowoyas]

Koi no Yokan 11: write it again (Nishinoya Yuu/Reader)

First - Prev - Next - M.list - Ao3

A/N: SURPRISE DOUBLE UPDATE I felt bad leaving off the last chapter like that for a week. enjoy!

Summary: Pieces are picked up as you find yourself in a downswing. Your Senpai lifts you up with ease.

Warnings and tags: blanket series warnings, uhhh depiction of depression

Words: ~4200

Tanaka to [name] at 12:45

Tanaka: hey are you free? I talked to the third years about what happened last night and they wanted to talk to you

[name]: uh technically yes?

[name]: but I'm not at school today

Tanaka: oh

Tanaka: everything okay?

You sigh. Re-cross your legs on the couch, head tilted back over the arm. A moment's contemplation leads you to the conclusion that what you're willing to tell him is nothing.

[name]: yeah? I just didn't wanna go

[name]: don't YOU start riding me just because I got punched :P I get that enough from noya-senpai tyvm

Tanaka: the worry or the punching?

[name]: I think it's funnier if I say punching so let's go with the latter

Tanaka: unfortunately for you he just caught up to us. He's grumpy

[name]: ???

Tanaka: apparently the girl he likes isnt at school today or something so he has to settle for lunch with us single lameasses

Your phone buzzes with a text from another conversation. Predictably, it's Noya. You… don't really want to talk to him right now. The main reason you skipped school today was because you didn't want to face him after yesterday, after all.

[name]: uh-huh

[name]: I can say with a reasonable degree of confidence that he is ALSO single. Just for your reference

Tanaka: for how long? You spent, what, six hours cuddling each other yesterday and then walked home together?

[name]: I can

[name]: LITERALLY

[name]: see his house from where I'm sitting in my living room right now

Tanaka: ok and??? Kiyoko-san won't even walk two steps of the way home with literally any of the guys

[name]: do you have any idea how much work it would take for me to NOT walk home with noya-senpai

[name]: the stupid games I would have to go through to not be seen walking near his house

[name]: it'd be cruel at best for literally no reason and I don't have the energy for that shit

[name]: shimizu-senpai probably just doesn't wanna lead any of you guys on

Tanaka: …not to accuse you of anything but are you implying YOU'RE leading noya-san on???

[name]: first of all nothing before the word "but" actually matters, like, ever

[name]: second of all no

[name]: I've made myself very clear from the beginning and have not said or done anything I didn't mean

Tanaka: so the cuddling

[name]: I'm going to block you

Tanaka: no don't

Tanaka: but seriously, don't hurt him, alright?

Tanaka: he's a good guy

You pause. Sigh again.

He really, really is.

[name]: I know.

Before you can type a follow up, you receive three more texts from Noya in succession. Based on the notification previews, they're all Soba photos. You huff softly.

[name]: probably too good for me.

Tanaka: ?

[name]: you can tell the upperclassmen that if they wanna talk in person, I'll be at school tomorrow, but that kageyama hitting me was an accident, I'm not mad, and it's literally fine

Tanaka: wait let's circle back to that last text for a second

You consider blowing him off with an excuse, but…

Yeah, no. You swap over to the texts from Noya. Three new pictures of Soba.

Noya: [NAME]-SAN WHERE ARE YOUUUUU

Noya: [image attached. Image description: a very blurry closeup of Soba's ear.]

Noya: [image attached. Image description: Soba curled up on top of someone's hair, which is splayed on the floor around her head. If you remember correctly, the girl pictured is Satsuki, the youngest of Noya's older sisters. She appears to be near tears, ostensibly at the kitten sleeping in her hair.]

Noya: [image attached. Image description: Noya from behind and a distance away, hunched over a table. His face is not visible, but he is wearing a loose tank top which shows off his arms. Soba can be seen curled up in a ball on the back of his neck.]

You stifle fond laughter at the last photo, zooming in on Noya Soba. After a moment of staring, you move to type out a reply.

[name]: I skipped

[name]: I'm a rebel now

[name]: real bad influence

[name]: you should run before you get my bad reputation wrapped up in your perfect record

Noya: I CAN'T GO ALL DAY WITHOUT SEEING YOU I'M GONNA GET THE SHAKESSSS

Noya: I'VE BEEN SUSPENDED BEFORE YOU CAN ONLY IMPROVE MY RECORD

[name]: drugs are bad for you, senpai

[name]: if you're experiencing withdrawal symptoms I can only assume that you need time away from me to break the addiction

Noya: >:(

[name]: how do you always manage to send a different photo of soba? I'm checking my album of saved soba photos and you haven't sent a single repeat

Noya: I move them into a different folder once I send them to you

Noya: like I could EVER give you any less than the best

Noya: it's like you don't even know me

[name]: does this mean you're not gonna send me the ones you showed me on the bus??? :(

Noya: let me get on wi-fi and I will send you ALL of them

[name]: oh thank god. You scared me there

Noya: so if you've saved ALL the soba photos does that include the thirst trap?

Noya: because I can send you higher quality ones if you want

You roll your eyes and swap back to your texts with Tanaka.

Tanaka: you know he's crazy for you right?

[name]: do me a favor and punch him

Tanaka: you're dodging the question

[name]: *PLEASE* do me a favor and punch him?

Tanaka: we're with daichi-san he'll yell at me

[name]: I'll vouch for you

Tanaka: deal

~

In the middle of the third-year's floor, as Noya is switching between texting, presumably, you, and demanding the story of how Shouyo and Kageyama managed to send the VP's toupee flying while Noya was still suspended, Tanaka punches him in the shoulder hard enough that he nearly drops his phone.

"Dude!"

He holds up both hands, as if innocent. "[name]-san asked me to."

Noya glares, but he does not hit back, and even Daichi accepts the explanation with a raised eyebrow at Noya.

"Should I even ask what you did?"

"I'll have you know, I am innocent—"

"Sure you are."

~

You spend the rest of what would have been lunch period this way: texting Noya and Tanaka, ignoring the things they want you to focus on. Feeling the seeds of guilt sprout and wrap around your throat. They germinate properly over the rest of the day, until, by the time school lets out, you're choking, unable to make yourself focus even on pointless shit like the game you've been playing most of the day.

You need advice. You have no one. Who the fuck would you ask? You've got this weird complex about Yachi existing, not to mention she's clearly got zero experience dating. Any of the guys on the team are going to not only be clueless but likely jump right to whatever Noya's side is, not to mention likely tell him about it. Mom's dead. Dad doesn't care. You burned every single bridge possible from middle school, so the only people you could even consider to be friends are in the volleyball club.

…Shimizu probably knows at least one thing about guys, and she's not likely to talk about it to anyone who would mention it to Noya…

She'd given you her number early on, in case you need anything or have any questions. You haven't really used it, not wanting to bother her, but…

You have absolutely nowhere else to turn.

At the very least, it's right around the time classes would let out. You type out a message reaching out. Delete it. Type it again. Rinse and repeat the process a couple of times, getting no closer to a message you're satisfied with.²⁰

Before you can settle on and send something, there's a knock at your door, followed by a wailing "[name]-saaaaaan!" that drops your heart into your stomach. You could pretend not to be home. He wouldn't buy it, but he might at least get the message. Instead, your phone buzzes with a new text.

Noya: I KNOW YOU'RE HOME

Noya: OPEN THE DOOR I'M GOING TO DIE OUT HERE

You sigh and toss your phone aside. Answer the door with a looming sense of dread.

"Nishinoya-senpai."

The pitiful look on his face snaps away as he sees you—exasperated, visibly tired you, likely with bags under your eyes and a puffy face from crying you got done earlier in the day—and you raise an unimpressed eyebrow as he blushes. "Marry me," he blurts.

"Dare I ask why?"

"Please?"

"Nine fifty-nine."

He nods, swallows, eyes locked onto your legs, and—oh. That's why.

Part of skipping school meant no uniform, no long pants, no covering up, so here you are—oversized hoodie, short shorts that only just peek out from beneath its edges. You're showing as much leg as you can get away with while still technically wearing something other than underwear.

Face burning, you try to shut the door. Noya's fast, though, which you knew, and he catches it. "[name]-saaaan! Are you mad at me?" he whines.

You roll your eyes. "I'm not mad at you."

You should kick him out. Lock the door. Quit the club and never look at him again and lock yourself in your room and—

"Why'd you skip school, then?"

"Didn't feel like being alive today."

He studies you—the same quiet sort of look he got during the training camp, playing against tough teams. The focus of him trying to figure something out, you realize.

You sigh for the fiftieth time. "It was just a rough day."

"Wanna come see Soba, then?"

"I'm in my pajamas," you state bluntly.

"I mean, you can get changed if you want, but personally, I think they're cute. Also personally, I would enjoy getting to see you in this outfit for the next several hours and also the rest of my life. Marry me?"

You tug the ends of your hoodie down to cover your legs. "Either come inside or get off my porch so I'm not standing here in my PJs, and ask another nine hundred and fifty-eight times. But you should probably consider just giving up on me instead."

He strides inside, humming victoriously. You don't miss the way his eyes continue to linger on your legs.

Pervert.

"This again? I keep telling you, I'm not going anywhere. How's your lip doing?"

"It's not swollen anymore," you answer. He seriously breezed right past it. "I can't stop messing with it, though."

"Well, stop messing with it," he jokes. He flops down onto your couch, eyes dancing over you as you watch him. "Sure you don't wanna come pet my cat? She misses you."

"I dunno," you admit finally, shoulders dropping. "I was really planning on isolating myself from all of society and never going outside again."

"Why?"

A shrug. "Seems like the right course of action."

"Well, I think your plan sucks. Come pet my cat and play video games with me instead."

"You're starting to make me think that 'pet my cat' is a euphemism or something."

"Maybe. What's a euphemism again?"

"…if you don't know then I am not going to tell you."

"Then I'm gonna demand equivalent payment to knowledge."

"Demand all you want, but I still have to get changed if I'm coming over."

"Do you have to get changed if I stay here?" he asks, grinning. "Or do I have to take a picture?"

Your cheeks flare, and you find a throw pillow to—what else?—throw at him. "Shut up. I'm gonna go get dressed."

"You're the one who answered the door," he calls after you as you disappear down the hall.

On your way to get changed, you very briefly consider either wearing something particularly unflattering out of spite, or just going straight for murder. You end up doing neither and letting Noya lead you back to his house, to a warm place with a soft cat and people who come home.

~

This is how you spend the afternoon: the same oversized hoodie, shorts that are a more acceptable length. Soba comes out of hiding while you're wrecking house in a shooter that Noya had on deck and curls up in between the two of you, her head against your thigh and her back paws against Noya's. Between matches, you pause to take a picture of her and end up with two—one of her between you, one of a distracted Noya, his head turned to look at someone past you who's just stopped in the hallway to stare at you.

A girl stands there, staring at you incredulously. You recognize her, you realize: not just from a couple of Soba pictures you've seen or been sent, but the Karasuno uniform really helps you contextualize her. A third year you've seen around, with long black hair, a bleach-blonde streak in her bangs that you've envied in passing when you've caught sight of her.

And, now that you have both the context of her standing in Noya's living room and can compare them directly, so undeniably a Nishinoya that you're not sure how you didn't make the connection sooner.

She stares at you for a second. Looks at Noya. "…holy shit. I dunno what's freaking me out more right now: the fact that Jii-chan was not joking about the cute girl you brought home, or the fact that Soba is even willing to exist in the same room as her."

You stifle a laugh. He grabs at his chest in dramatic offense, moreso at your laughter than at his apparent sister's implication that he wouldn't be able to bring a girl over.  "Uh, sorry for the intrusion," you say, hand pressed against your mouth.

She shakes her head. "Don't mind me. I'm just here to bully Yuu. Speaking of, Yuu, I seriously thought Jii-chan was lying when he said you'd had a girl over the other day."

"Why does everyone act like it's so impossible a girl might give me the time of day?"

You rest your chin in your hand, smile smugly at him over the Soba gap. "I wonder."

The girl laughs. "I like her already. I'm Satsuki, by the way. Thanks for putting up with my little brother. And somehow getting him to study. I heard he actually didn't fail his exams this time around."

Score. You're one for one on correctly remembering which sister is which. You steal a chip from Noya with a grin. "Nice to meet you. No need to thank me, though."

"You don't get to tease me for not studying when you never study," Nishinoya fires back at her. "Come back when you sit down with flashcards."

"Ooh, flashcards. I don't study because I don't need to. Unlike you, I pay attention in class and actually remember things that are told to me."

"I remember things!" he protests. "I remember all kinds of things!"

"Right, sure, yeah. Remind me, what'd you get on your last quiz?"

"…a 48," he admits lamely.

"Wait, really?" you perk up. "That's amazing! Wasn't your quiz before that like, a 32?"

"Uh, yeah. But that's still not exactly great—"

You throw a chip at him without thinking. It misses entirely. "Shush. That's a massive improvement. You're doing great."

"…damn. I really like her. Hey, are you single?" Satsuki grins at you.

You roll your eyes. "We're now two-for-three on family members trying to set me up with a certain someone, but yes, I am, in fact, single."

Her eyes flick to Nishinoya. Her grin widens. "You like girls?"

"Satsuki!"

…oh. You freeze to the spot. She's just… asking that? Outright? "I, um…"

"First of all, I obviously have dibs," Noya snaps. You eye him nervously, looking for anything like disgust or discomfort, but all you're getting is indignation. "Second of all, off-limits. Whoever your next messy breakup is, it's not involving my friends, thanks."

"Fine, fine," Satsuki says, waving a hand as she cuts through the room. "Best of luck with that one, but if you break up, I'm going for it."

When she's left, you sigh, eyeing Nishinoya nervously. Your reaction was maybe a bit too obvious—there's no way he doesn't figure you out now.

"Sorry," he sighs. "She didn't make you uncomfortable, did she?"

"N-no, um—it's fine."

He studies you a moment, sets his controller aside. "Wait, is that why you keep mentioning that I should give up? Are you…?"

There it is. The second of many things you really didn't want brought up. "If you're gonna tell everyone, just let me know now so I can quit the club."

"I'm not—look, it isn't—" He sighs. "If you're gay, I should actually give up. I'm not a complete asshole, you know."

"I don't—it's not—I don't really know?" you admit, voice small. "I mean, I knew I liked girls. I had a girlfriend back in middle school. Well, we weren't dating dating, but she was, you know, we did stuff together. And it was fun and I liked her a lot, and then my mom died and she like—we just—we broke up. And now I'm in high school and I do whatever I want because Otoo-san doesn't give a shit what I do and what I want is to just not think about it. So I haven't."

"Can you think about it? If I have to become a girl for you to marry me, I need to start planning."

You let out a surprised laugh. "Don't, oh my god."

"But [name]-san," he pouts.

Your expression shifts into something mischievous as the tension bleeds away. "Give me one good reason why, assuming I'm gay, I wouldn't just go for your hot sister instead."

Noya launches himself at you, sending Soba yowling her displeasure as she bolts from the space between you. "Take it back!"

"Never!" You wrestle him right back, unable to contain your laughter, until the two of you tumble off the couch with a thump, Noya landing on top of you. For half a moment, it's suggestive, and then he's right back to making you laugh and squirm to get out of his hold. "Lemme goooo!"

"Not until you take it back!"

"I'm right—"

"Wow," Satsuki snorts as she cuts back through the room, now equipped with a can of soda. "Hey, [name]-chan, right? I think that's what Yuu was calling you. Are you completely sure you're single?" She cracks open the soda with a pshh, takes a slow sip as the pair of you freeze.

You'd already forgotten she was home.

You splutter, try to shove your way out of Noya's arms. "Just because I'm under attack does not make me in a relationship, thank you very much!"

"Right." She raises an eyebrow at you. "Well, far be it from me to define your relationship or proclaimed lack thereof. Just, you know, maybe don't go getting pinned down by guys unless you don't mind people thinking you're together. That's all."

"Oh, believe me, if I'd had any warning he would be the one on the floor right now," you grumble.

She snorts. "You're confident. I'd kinda like to see you kick someone's ass. Might be kinda—"

"Satsuki if you finish that sentence I swear to god—" Noya interrupts.

She exits swiftly, laughter echoing behind her. For a moment, the pair of you sit there in silence, staring at each other. Noya's expression is one of transcendent blankness. You're reminded of the calm before the storm, the look in a baby animal's eyes before it does something it's just learned it shouldn't, and then he's tackling you again.

When the dust settles, you feel bubbly and light, the impossible weight of the morning nearly forgotten. Noya helps you back onto the couch, and you settle back into games to fill the space, both with stupid smiles on your lips that won't seem to fade. As the time stretches closer to when you should go home—not to intrude on dinner with his family, your mind lingers on the question, and when you've decided it's time to leave, he derails your train of thought completely.

"I'm bi, you know," he says suddenly, eyes focused on the screen.

You pause, looking at him with a deer-in-headlights expression. "Huh?"

"I'm bi. Dudes are hot. Girls are really hot. Also, I got you."

Your attention snaps back to the screen as Noya executes your character with a well-aimed headshot. Your jaw drops. "Did you just fucking—come out to me so you could finally get a kill in!?"

"A little," he shrugs. He fails to hide his smug expression. "I mean, I also just wanted you to know, but just look at that replay! That was a beautiful shot, if I do say so myself."

You have half a mind to bash his head in with the controller. Everyone should applaud your restraint. "I cannot believe you."

"Please believe me. I actually am bisexual."

Both controllers are set aside now, the lobby music filling the space as you take it in. "…who knows?"

"Mei does. Satsuki and Kaede, too. Soba was the first one I told. I haven't really brought it up to Jii-chan or Okaa-san, but I'm pretty sure they'd be cool with it. I mean, Satsuki came out basically the second she figured out she was gay, and they don't treat her any different. Okaa-san's even super nice and welcoming to Satsuki's girlfriends, even though we haven't really liked any of them so far."

Notably absent from the list: anyone from school.

"The guys don't know?"

He shrugs. "I don't really want to risk them not thinking they can trust me."

Oh. Oh.

"Oh, Noya," you breathe. "You don't think any of 'em are…"

"I dunno. My two modes are really 'don't worry about it' or 'go all-in', but Mei got me thinking about what would happen if they aren't all chill, and… I dunno. It pisses me off to not tell 'em, but it'd piss me off more if volleyball stopped being fun."

You grip the fabric of your shorts, toying with the hem in hopes of tying your thoughts together. "How'd you know? That you were bi, I mean."

He leans back casually, smiling when Soba returns to leap onto his lap. Apparently, she's finally forgiven you both for your earlier transgressions. Your eyes linger on his easy posture, the way he pets Soba as he slings an arm over the back of the couch and thinks. "Asahi-san and Ryu, mostly."

"…but you just said no one on the team—ohh."

He nods, flashes an almost sheepish grin. His cheeks are faintly pink, and you're reminded of the way your eyes used to linger on Kasumi, not quite wanting to stray away.

You stifle a laugh. "I'm not making fun of you, I just—your type is either 'big shy sweet teddy bear' or 'kind-hearted delinquent'? What's the connection there?"

He flushes harder. "Look—"

"Wait, I got it. Wing spikers."

He shoves your shoulder as you laugh harder. "Oh, you shush. What's your type, then?"

"Cool and pretty," you reply automatically. "And good hair. Ideally soft."

"Oh, good. I know a guy."

You roll your eyes. You know exactly where he's going with that. "Uh-huh. I'm sure. Go on? I'm kind of in the middle of a bisexual crisis right now."

"Fine, fine. So I basically knew I liked girls from, like, pretty early on. See girl, girl pretty, like girl. You know?"

You nod sagely. "Easy enough."

"And so I'm playing volleyball, having a good time, going to high school and having fun, and just… really enjoying the moments where I just get to look at Asahi-san as he's going for a spike, or when Ryu is hyping me up, and it's different. You know?"

"I… don't really get it," you sigh. "Like, I feel like I do, I just… I dunno."

But then you think of the Soba photos you've favorited, the ones where you zoom in not on Soba but on her owner, and something clicks a little bit. The inability to tear your eyes away when the entire team decides to just openly strip their shirts off. The way your eyes catch on nice shoulders, arms, backs, and linger too long there, and the pulling feeling in your stomach when you look too long or your mind wanders.

Whatever face journey you're going on, Noya grins as he watches it, posture languid as you arrive at a deeply unfortunate conclusion.

"Okay, so maybe I like men."

"So maybe you're bisexual."

"So maybe I am."

"So you'll marry me, right?"

"Maybe if you hit your quota."

"I can arrange that."

Footnotes

20. Perhaps not by coincidence, this is also how I wrote this fucking chapter.

Tags: @deeplightgarden @idonthaveanameideayet @dusstory @kazunish

[all-pacas]

i have a theory that they actually were trying to push chase and adams together, but then they realised the show was ending with s8 and decided park was waaayyyy funnier.

i think you're not wrong? although boy do i have my issues with chase/adams. not because adams is a terrible person (although she's kind of a non entity), but just because it's terribly written, we just keep getting told by house they flirt and like one another and never see any of it. they don't flirt. they don't hang out. they don't have much of a relationship. but no, the show insists. they have a connection!

where??? how??? there's also the awkward park aspect of it, because the show kind of did the same thing with her: haha how cringe, the ugly weird girl likes chase!!! -- telling, not showing, made awkward because the show also likes to play up adams and park's rivalry/dislike: it's a love triangle! how funny! ughhh

park and chase did end up developing a really lovely friendship, i think because it was the last season and they sort of stopped focusing on adams as a character. but i don't think that was ever intended as a romance either (it was always played strictly as a joke). but where i can imagine park and chase's relationship continuing post series, i can't picture how adams fits in at all.

(i mean, i can, bullshitting is what i do. but you know what i mean.)

all in all, i'm glad chase didn't end up with either of them. he and house even have a conversation late in s8 where house calls out his lesbianism calls out chase's habit of getting overly attached for bad reasons, specifically at a moment he is half considering asking adams out:

CHASE: I have meaningless sex with random strangers. Thanks for the insight, but I stopped that months ago. I actually had a relationship. HOUSE: With a patient. You just date whoever happens to cross your path. CHASE: My dating is getting in the way of my dating? HOUSE: You don't go looking for the right person. You just shack up with whoever's in the room, and then you get surprised and/or divorced when it doesn't work out.

and implicitly, chase agrees. adams asks him out at the end of the episode and he declines. that's actual character growth from our boy and it's great to see, but it does again undermine any idea of them having a connection.

[one-winged-babygirl]

There's one thing that has been bothering me with Rebirth as I've been playing through it, and it's the constant tonal shifts.

I mean after nearly every serious scene something else happens right after it, that lightens the mood. I'm not saying that the whole game has to be serious all the time, but there are a lot of scenes where it just feels so forced and unnatural.

In comparison to everyrhing else in the compilation of FF7 (exluding Dirge of Cerberus and Before Crisis from this, because I still haven't played or watched them yet so I don't know enough to make a comparison) pretty much nothing else in the franchise has any big issues with this. All them either have managed to include tonal shifts naturally or keep it pretty consistent.

The OG keeps it pretty consistend throughout and only has one tonal shift that I can quickly think of that is rather unfitting, but since it's the only one that is like that it makes it a little funnier. And that part is the snowboarding, it's simply just absurd enough in that part that it's kinda funny. Overall the OG's funny moments are mostly simple jokes that subtly lighten the mood without complete tonal shifts or they're unintentionally funny, like Sephiroth yeeting a materia at Cloud, doing a frontflip and floating away.

Advent Children also stays very consistent in it's tone. It is very serious throughout other than a couple jokes. It's almost too consistent, which only really shows through one scene where it's kind of unintentionally broken by a very well known comment by Tifa. Then again that line of dialogue is just a strange choice, no matter how serious or unserious the movie was overall. (Someone on tiktok described the scene as Cloud pouring his heart out and Tifa just basically telling him "womp womp" 😭💀)

In Crisis Core there are a lot of tonal shifts, but they work. Zack is just such an energetic and happy character that it makes sense that even in tougher situations, he still sometimes acts that way. However when there are very serious moments they let us sit with those moments long enough to process them until throwing us something funny or something else distract from the seriousness. So the tone is inconsistent but still feels natural enough.

The First Soldier seems so far to also go for the consistent route in it's tone, and does it well. It's just really sad and you can't help but feel bad for Sephiroth, even if it seems a bit hopeful like once.

Despite being the same trilogy Remake does it's tone a lot better. Then again there are far less serious moments in Remake than in Rebirth. There absolutely are serious moments but those are really all at the end while the early game has a less serious approach. It works it's way up to get more and more serious gradually making the tonal shift from less to more serious feel like a natural progression.

NOW SPOILERS FOR REBIRTH BELOW!

For an example after Cloud nearly kills Tifa, just right after she wakes up and her and Cloud are having a serious conversation, Yuffie and Cait are outside the door chanting "kiss kiss kiss" which I mean it is funny and shifts the tone for a less serious one, but it does feel like a strange timing for it. Like Cloud is losing his mind and nearly killed Tifa, are none of them are worried? Like at all!?

Now finally Rebirth. It's tone feels very cheery kind of overall. It's sunny and nice and beautiful everywhere and I don't mind that really. Like I already said, what I do mind is that after anything actually serious happens there has to be some unserious stuff happening almost immediately after.

Overall since that whole thing was in Gongaga, I also just want to mention that the way the whole area was handled, just feels tonally wrong considering the tragedy that took place there only 3 years prior. But I'm not gonna get any more into that rn.

After the whole thing with Dyne too, the game barely gives us any time to sit with the scene, until Dio and Rude start their goofy ahh fight scene. Like this game really just breaks your heart and goes "anyway look the silliest characters ever fight each other now."

And where it really started to bug me was after finding our about Red's father. Like it's a really emotional scene and we even see Barret literally cry over it, despite him and Red not really getting along before. It had all the potential to be a beautiful, gut wrenching scene that would showcase these two characters bond, if it was just a bit longer. But no fucking Gi Nattak is apparently too busy being undead, that he just has to show up immediately and ask the party to follow him! Like he could have waited for when the party was just about to like turn around and leave and the scene would have been so much better, butt nope.

This is just something that I've noticed and it doesn't mean that I don't like Rebirth, just a thing I wish was handled better in it.

Also I might remember some things incorrectly, my memory is not the most reliable.

Thanks for reading my rant!

[darklinaforever]

The problem with Alysm*nd is that the show might make it as some tragic love story as opposed to the book (and even there their stans argue it was all based on true love and shit) and make Alys a victim of her family and Aemond her savior. The thing is, even if she was indeed mistreated by her family like they claim, realistically she would still have absolutely no reason to get in bed with their murderer unless she had no choice but to do so. But who knows what the writers may decide to do. If they still decide to whitewash the greens I believe they will also make this ship more palatable. It's also very troubling that there are some out there who think Aemond was the victim all along. How? Yeah, she may have manipulated him but this happened only after he had taken her as his prize of war (and we know what this actually means for a woman in this context, never in the books was this term used to describe a consensual relationship) and she only did so in order to survive and eventually free herself from him. I imagine he must have deluded himself into thinking she fell in love with him and he with her considering he went into his fight with Daemon with full confidence that he was going to win, something that Alys surely encouraged by telling him he foresaw his victory. And to think how much greens romanticize this relationship and say things like "she was proud to have his baby" or "they're the healthiest relationship in F&B" (I also saw green fans saying this a while ago on twitter or reddit)...what's funnier is that if Daemon or any other man from team black had been the one to take a woman as his war prize the very same greens who are currently shipping Alysm*nd would've undoubtedly called it out for what it actually means for the woman but since it's Aemond doing it...it's a love story between a lowborn woman abused by her evil family and the handsome one-eyed prince who's rescuing her

Frankly, given how the series is about Aemond being a victim, I think there is more of a twist that makes him a victim of Alys' manipulation, rather than a romance. Especially if they decide to fully dive into the seeds they've ridiculously planted for a possible relationship with Helaena and Aemond... I swear thinking Aemond was in love with Helaena or Alys in the books is ridiculous. He got seduced by Alys because she was smart to ensure his survival after he took her as a prize of war and probably raped her. And there is no indication of Aemond's romantic affection for Helaena in the book, and the series, if it goes in this direction, will only offer a pale copy of Naerys & Aemon's romantic relationship. Coming back to Alysmond, I don't understand the romanticization of this relationship. This is simply inconceivable to me. And yes, as you say, if a member of the Black team had priced a woman as a war prize, they would have cried foul. Which is...well just the truth. Alysmond is interesting only in the sense that Alys leads Aemond to his death at the end. Any story trying to make it into a grand romance is ridiculous. Also, this tendency of these people to try to make Aemond morally gray or outright calling him anti-hero makes me laugh. Basically, they want him to be Daemon. Because in case these people have forgotten Daemon is the gray character, the ultimate anti-hero of the story. Aemond is meant to be the opposite (negative) of Daemon. Not the opposite. Literally Daemon is a protagonist / anti hero and Aemond is an antagonist / villain.

[kalinara]

I'm so baffled by the way this whole thing has blown way out of proportion. People sending hateful messages to each other AND to the actors?? Totally unnecessary! It makes no damn sense.

Not to be an anti on main, but I genuinely believe that shipping changed somewhere along the way, into something that's a little disturbing.

I'm of course not going to say the old days were perfect. Racism, sexism and homophobia have always been issues and fandom has always been notoriously resistant to dealing with such things. And it's not like Shipwars are new. I remember the Ray Wars in Due South and fans older than me can tell fascinating stories of fanzine wars between Han/Leia and Luke/Leia fans before the Internet was even a thing for most of us.

But I still feel like a change happened somewhere along the way. There's this bizarre sense of entitlement now. There's this idea that a ship HAS to happen or it doesn't count somehow, and that we as fans can harangue the creators and MAKE it happen. (Voltron being the most extreme reaction I can think of).

And I mean, I get wanting representation, but it seems to go beyond that. Look at any 911 discussion thread about Buddie. Despite the fact that the show has multiple important queer pairings, they don't count because it's not the pairing the fans want.

I think this also plays into why we have so many puritan shippers. I don't agree that someone's ships reflect their real world morality. But I do get where a lot of younger fans are coming from, when so much of fandom seems to involve going "no, see, it will happen on screen and it will be AWESOME!". Not every show is Game of Thrones, after all. And nowadays, I do think a shipper probably does need to specify "no, I don't really want Thor and Loki to fuck in the movies directly aimed for kids", because of the rabid behavior of OTHER shippers. It's not fair, but we seem to have created this mess.

We used to joke about a "fannish hivemind" but nowadays, that seems less and less funny. I love shippy meta as much as the next person, but there's a difference between making an essay detailing all the moments that could be used to support a ship and making an essay detailing all the reasons why these moments ABSOLUTELY MUST MEAN MY SHIP WILL HAPPEN AND HOW COULD ANYONE POSSIBLY THINK OTHERWISE. And that attitude seems more and more prevalent nowadays.

We need to get a grip. We need to keep in mind that the creators of the show may not see it the way we do. We need to keep in mind that someone else makes the decisions about the story, and we might like or dislike it. We might want to consider, for example, that an actor who was once on Saturday Night Live, who repeatedly referred to a female co-star at that time as a "platonic soulmate" might actually not be setting up a romance between these two very tightly paralleled characters. That doesn't mean the characters WON'T get together, of course. I'm no mind-reader or oracle. But I point that out because nothing is a guarantee.

But seriously, there's nothing funnier than someone going on and on about their literary credentials when they write their long passionate analysis, because no one stops to wonder, do the creators share those literary credentials? What if all of these patterns really are accidents? Or they mean something else entirely?

And leave the actors alone, for heavens sake. They're just the face of the character. They've got nothing to do with any of this! If THEY want to engage, they're more than able to do that. Hell, the internet is anonymous, maybe they're here right now. But let that be their call. You wouldn't want someone coming up to you saying "I love imagining you and your co-worker having sex!" would you?

[x0401x]

thank you for the answer 🥹🥹🥹 I really didn't have many hopes considering how many things happens in 3rd volume and now i'm exited a bit

so yeah, if you can elaborate about eisuke and koushirou interactions, i'll be really glad!! take all the time you need tho

Okay, I hope you're ready for what I'm about to say, but... we have the fate thing going on between these two.

So to make it short, there's a shrine where babies get blessings shortly after they're born and, you guessed it, Eisuke and Koushirou have been blessed there. They were born in the same year, so there's a big chance that they were blessed on the same day. The text strongly implies that they were (because of course), but just the thought of it makes them sick, lol.

How they found this shit out is even funnier. One day, Eisuke was humming a song to himself, and the song is a reference to the female deity of that shrine. But it doesn't stop there. Koushirou also knows the melody and just starts having a duet with him, and it escalates to them sort of competing with each other.

It gets to a point where they decide to use the school's music room for these sessions (which they just can't stop having because neither wants to lose to the other so when one begins the other's like "let's fucking gooo"). Also, Koushirou can play piano, so he uses the music room's piano while Eisuke sits beside him and taps his tights like drums to the rhythm of the song. Except they aren't allowed to use the music room for that bullshit, so they sneak in every time and have to keep the windows and doors shut. And, well, volume 3 is set in summer, so these dumbasses go on until they're drenched in sweat.

To make things worse, y'all know how Ayano is. She just loves to describe things in... unique ways. Koushirou is described as "going at it mercilessly until the other person begs for mercy", and he likes to tease Eisuke by telling him to try to keep up, which Eisuke responds with, "Who the hell's trying to keep up with you?"

No innuendo at all. None whatsoever.

By the way, they don't show up at the tournament this time around because this was, like volume 1, just the prefecturals. It's implied that they'll be facing Kazemai again in the next tournament.

[lakemichigans]

hey i'm back to clear things up, i was just so quick to get my thoughts out i didn't think to properly explain them

i wanted joel to seem more dramatic was what i meant. yell leave and then turn his head to the side bc he can't look at her go, or smtn like that. idk maybe i'm too hung op on this i'll rewatch the ep tmrw to see if i still feel the same

i liked the funnier in her head line too, but the fake bite was soo cute

ok fedra time this is gonna be a long one lol. i totally got what why ellie was saying those things, it's more so about the "rules" of the show. yk how every piece of media has it's own rules about the world and how the ppl in it are allowed to function. ex if someone other than the main cast shows altruistic intentions they're hiding something (spn), everyone lies for their own benefit to some degree (house md), the people can't rule themselves (got) etc. the rules of tlou (so far at least) are that there can't be an uprising without one firm hand who has clear and realistic end goals which happen to coincide with the morals of the writers. no one firm hand and no realistic goals means the fireflies are idealistic and ineffective. the morals don't coincide with the writers and no clear end goal means kc is brutal and senseless. it's not so much about these specific groups, but what they stand for. further examples for the fact that the people can't rule themselves. (ps jackson has council representatives which is called council communism and again proves the point that in the world of tlou there need to be people who make decisions for the majority)

i totally got the type of crush you were explaining for riley, i was just lacking the feeling like the actress was actually about to blush and then try to hide it and then lovingly look back etc. idk this one is really personal i think

sorry this was so long and i also hope this doesn't come off as me arguing i'm really happy just to be sharing my thought with you <3 excited for next week!

i think it's just up to personal interpretation! maybe i'm just not looking into it hard enough, but i felt that since this is a TV show, they can only focus on a few characters at a time. even if they wanted to show us a positive society without any sort of leader, it would be difficult to follow the story if we were bouncing around through a whole bunch of people, each with their own lives and ideas about the world they live in. it's a cool idea that i would happily watch, but it wouldn't fit with the (mostly) linear story they're trying to tell here. like, it was much easier for them to give maria this sorta-leader role because then she can be used for plot purposes and exposition about jackson. and there's always going to be some element of politics involved in apocalypse stories, but tbh covid has jaded me because i saw so much selfishness and greed arise from that, to the point where i'm burnt out and uninterested in the government systems and i'm much more concerned with the individual stories within. i probably should care more considering this show is so popular and definitely has an impact, but.... idk. maybe someday i'll rewatch and skip all the emotional scenes so i can focus on the rest of the show's message!

i think where we differ is that i like a more subtle type of acting. overacting is much more egregious to me than underacting. if joel had been sobbing or screaming his head off i would've been like.... 🤨 also it's worth pointing out that riley is a bit older than ellie and she's getting ready to do this very adult thing (essentially being deployed for war), so she's not in the same headspace as ellie is for most of the night. ellie is excited that her best friend just came back into her life, she's doing all these incredible fun things, and she's got butterflies in her tummy ;-; but riley knows what this night is really about. she's just trying to give ellie a good time, she's not focused on her own feelings yet. if everything had gone as planned, riley would've walked ellie back to the dorm, left boston, and then probably would break down and feel all her feelings when she's alone. i don't think she ever expected ellie to kiss her or for their relationship to go past friendship, so she didn't even bother getting hopeful about it. it's possible that i'm projecting a lot onto riley because this is exactly how i act when i'm interested in someone lol. sometimes i over-correct so hard that it seems like i don't like you at all, let alone feel romantic feelings towards you 😭

but either way i love talking about tlou in any capacity so please always feel free to share your thoughts!!!