#LOKI is the real banger!

[riririnnnn]

Aftermath of NEL/BM Vs PxG:

Isagi is the protagonist, so I'll be focusing on him.

From the start, the main main rival in NEL for Isagi has been Kaiser, and there have been instances where the latter had accepted that Isagi got him good. In fact, in the chapter 239, he was genuinely tweaking:

You see my boy in the top left? Yeah, even Ness was taken aback.

Also, while we are at it, can we give a glance to this panel:

Ness, indeed, calls everything disgusting, but the last line, "The Magic of Yoichi's football...!?"

Hello???????????????

How did we ignore that, huh?

I understand that it doesn't seem like much but if we were to take in account of his backstory, then we can say that, that IS a big statement coming out of Ness' mouth.

So, is this like a slow/indirect build-up to a moment in the BM Vs PxG where Ness assists Isagi instead of Kaiser?

BUT

That's where things becomes low-key difficult for me to digest.

You see, if Isagi were to INDEED surpass/defeat Kaiser, then what?

No, I'm not trying to pick up a fight, I'm genuinely asking what will happen after that? Will Kaiser become a disposable rival or something like Kira Ryosuke?

But you know, the above thing seems a bit farfetched. I understand that Kira disappearing like that seemed farfetched too, but Kaiser as a character has too much depth to just be thrown away.

That's why, I think that Isagi MIGHT surpass Kaiser but only superficially.

That's that, and now we have this grumpy fella:

Rin has been Isagi's rival ever since the beginning of second selection and the thing low-key became officially mutual when Sae praised Isagi after the U-20 match.

However, Isagi's Blue Lock rank is canonically 2 now and Rin's rank is 1. So if Isagi were to truly defeat Rin, then he will became number 1 and that's like the endgame for Blue Lock you know— protagonist reached the highest point. I understand that the main goal is to win the World Cup, but still.. you getting me, right?

BUT

Amidst everything, why are we forgetting this miracle boy:

What if he pulls up some Prodigy shit during the Barcha match and gets into Top 3?

Further, with Kunigami Vs Shidou, what makes you think that these two wouldn't get into Top 5 too?

I think that Isagi wouldn't be number 1 yet. He'll probably share the rank or maybe that his auction value will increase for sure but he'll get his rank lowered/shared. It makes sense because there have been many moments where Isagi was humbled and didn't get the victory he wanted at once.

But.

(screeches)

BUT

We can't forget the above panel.

Something fiery is being cooked up.

Every type of theory that has been made about World Cup arc/Post-NEL arc takes in the facts from whatever we know about REAL life U-20 World Cup.

So if something entirely else is going to happen in the BLLK universe, then I don't know what more can happen.

To sum it up, I think this MIGHT happen:

Rin gets an offer from Royale Madrid/Re Al and will maintain his ranking of 1.

Isagi gets an offer with higher salary than his current but it'll not affect his ranking.

Nagi pulls up his shit and becomes L(egend).

Top 5/Top 10 will have more than one shared ranking.

Shidou and Kunigami gets banger offers too.

And about the match:

Kaiser will score a goal.

Kunigami too and Shidou will give him some kind of acknowledgement.

IGA-DA-GOAT-GURI will clutch and gives BM a free kick by making someone from PxG do a foul.

Kiyora will either assist or will score himself.

Isagi might score a goal too.

Yukimiya might assist.

Raichi defends against Loki.

Goatmaru slays.

Charles Vs Hiori.

Feel free to add yours!

.

.

.

Charles might throw a tantrum if PxG loses. Idk why he gives off a BIG bratty prankster vibes.

[poetzproblem]

I am so with you on the Agatha All Along brainrot. What are some of your favorite headcanons about the show and/or Agatha and Rio's relationship?

This got very long, so apologies. I'm hiding it all under that cut and also recommending that you go read creator, you destroy me by velvetprayer if you haven't already. It more or less matches my own personal headcanon about the Agatha/Rio past, though her version of Lady Death might be a little gentler overall than I imagine her to be - although fully as angst ridden.

My winded rambling as follows:

So, I’ll preface this all by saying that I’m not really deep into Marvel lore. I only know any of it through the cinematic universe, but I can’t say I’ve ever watched the entire filmography, I did watch Loki and Wandavision, and I obviously fell in love with Agatha from that. I did a rewatch after the first episode of Agatha All Along dropped to refresh my memory, and it helped me form a headcanon for her, though there are some pretty big missing pieces that I haven’t quite worked out, mostly due to the incomplete backstory in AAA and Marvel’s general monkeying up of timelines between their television projects. (The Darkhold was an entire plotline on Agents of Shield, but WV and AAA both imply Agatha has had that book for a significantly long time.) 

So before I go too deep into character headcanon, I will say that I mostly loved AAA. I think it was well written overall with so much foreshadowing and so many easter eggs that really make rewatching the episodes a joy. I appreciated the practical effects, and the song was a banger in every version. I will admit to being a little disappointed that the Road wasn’t real all along but a pocket dimension created by Billy, though I did just enough research about him to know it was one of his powers and saw the speculation about that twist being talked about, so I was expecting it by the last two episodes. 

I also was disappointed with the Salem Seven being a big non event. Rio describes them in the first episode as "the worst of them," and they’ve supposedly been hunting Agatha for something like 320 years, so I expected them to be a real threat. But from what little we saw of them, beyond being creepy, they had no real bite. It felt very much like a fully powered up Agatha, especially one in possession of the Darkhold, could have easily squashed them all a century or two ago? (Again, when did she actually acquire that damned book?)

So Agatha. She’s unapologetically wicked, but I think of her as more selfishly power-hungry than outright evil. Knowledge of the craft is important to her, that was clear in her whole initial confrontation with Wanda, so she’s clearly well studied in addition to powerful. I imagine she really does think she’s more deserving of every other witch's power than they are, so why not take it? 

Her one tiny line in the sand (or salt circle) seems to be not hurting children, although she really didn’t seem all that concerned with Billy or Tommy disappearing with Wanda’s powers during WV. I can only assume that was because Wanda magicked them up in the tiny span of a day or two out of nothing but her chaos magic with fake sitcom labor, so Agatha didn’t see them as real. And now that I know she had a son who she carried for (presumably) the full nine months and put in the real work for, I can kind of understand that. 

WV showed her coven trying to kill her in 1693, and AAA put Nicky’s birth in 1750. That’s 57 years of wrecking havoc with her lover, Lady Death, and my own take on that is that they didn’t actually meet until after Agatha offed her coven. I’m sure Death was there for that event, and I even play with the idea that Death had been hovering around her long before that, but I don’t think she showed herself to Agatha at that point and Agatha wouldn’t have noticed her physical presence yet.  

I don’t actually believe Agatha could control her siphoning powers before she killed her coven - in fact, she seemed genuinely surprised that she wasn’t dying when they blasted her and that her own power was pulling theirs into her. And her coven and Evanora sure as hell couldn’t have known she could do that, or they would have chosen another way to kill her. 

And now that we know Agatha could absorb magic with her touch (kiss?), since that’s what she did with Rio in the end, I think that’s probably how her power worked before the attempted execution. In fact, I headcanon that she started siphoning Evanora’s powers during childbirth, and that’s why her mother thought she was evil and wanted to kill her at birth. I think the trauma of being born triggered baby Agatha’s magic and Evanora started growing weaker and weaker as it dragged on, and she felt her magic being leeched by the child she was birthing, but because Agatha was only a baby and not really all the powerful yet, she couldn’t draw enough to kill her mother outright, only severely weaken her. 

And yes, I also imagine Lady Death was hovering in that room, waiting to see if she’d be taking Evanora Harkness or the baby, and maybe Agatha and her potential intrigued her from those first moments, so maybe she kept an interested eye on her - since Death is technically everywhere all at once. 

There are so many circumstances when a young Agatha could have had her siphoning ability triggered. Like, imagine her trying to steal a treat or something and Evanora grabbing her hand away only for Agatha to start sucking up her magic through the touch. It would have made Evanora slap her away and refuse to even touch her again, and she certainly wouldn’t have ever wanted to allow Agatha to have the knowledge of how to use her power with intent. So of course young Agatha has to go looking for knowledge on her own. I don’t believe she had the Darkhold at this time, but there are certainly other tomes of dark magic she could have gotten her hands on and started reading, trying to understand what she is and why her magic works differently than the others in her coven.

Side note - siphoning through touch would only work in small doses, since once the other witch noticed it, she’d be able to push Agatha away. I mean, Agatha didn't exactly seem skilled at hand to hand combat there, so I imagine her childhood was a series of accidents or ‘accidents’ until Agatha figured out a much better way to employ her magic stealing touch. Let’s just say, I don’t think using her lips to steal Death’s power was the first time she used that trick, and I imagine the other witch might be too pleasantly distracted to realize what was happening for quite some time. 

Maybe this is even the way she betrayed her coven and got put on trial. Both defiling the natural order by cavorting with other women and killing a fellow witch with her touch.  

Anyway, she doesn’t figure out the much easier and, more importantly, faster way to steal power until her coven tries to kill her, but once she does, she gets very good at getting witches to blast her. (I also think this is why she told Lilia the supposed trick to her siphoning - because if she couldn't immediately provoke her, she could have tried going old school with it by latching onto her until she used her magic on her to shake her off, and then she’d get what she wanted the fast way. I mean, Lilia seemed old and frail. Agatha probably though she could take her no problem.)

So, back to past Agatha, now sans coven. She undoubtedly ends up killing more witches sooner rather than later, supposedly in self defense, after she pisses them all off enough to provoke an attack, and that finally brings Lady Death fully into her orbit. There are a number of fic writers who have already imagined the ‘meet deadly’ moment, so I won’t spend much time on that because this answer is already too long with no end in sight.  Suffice to say, they spent 57 years being gay and doing crime. Agatha got more powerful and Lady Death - Rio now in her corporeal, Agatha-loving form - got her bodies and a taste of life that she'd never had before. 

I headcanon that they did (still do) love one another in their own very disturbed, ultimately unhealthy way. And I definitely think Agatha was learning so many things from Rio in relation to magic during their years together. Rio is, after all, The Green Witch, so presumably no one knows more about green craft than her. And as Lady Death, she probably knows about every magic, and Agatha would just soak in all that knowledge over their time together. She probably learned to control her siphoning abilities from Rio so there wouldn’t be any accidental draws on the ancient power that would kill her. 

I also imagine Rio’s presence might have kept the Salem Seven at bay for those earlier years.  (Were they a factor during the Nicky years? Did Rio keep them at bay then too to protect her family from a distance? Why didn't they make a move in the any of the 200 years after?)

Anyway, jump skip to Agatha’s pregnancy which was doomed from conception. If we go with the thought that Nicholas was somehow created by both of them, then he carried the essence of Death inside of him and couldn’t have existed in a mortal body, doomed by his very nature. If we go with Agatha making him herself from scratch, it might have been her own inherent magic that doomed him. Maybe it was even a combination of both. 

In either case, I imagine Rio warned Agatha what Fate would demand from the beginning if she carried the pregnancy to term - what she’d force Rio to do. (If Nicky is hers too, then his very existence is an abomination against the sacred balance.) But Agatha, with her severe mommy issues, was determined to go ahead with it and prove her mother wrong, because the rules of magic have always bent to her power. Death herself has bowed before Agatha - certainly she’d do the same again. Certainly, Agatha is powerful enough to bring her child into the world unharmed. 

Spoiler: she is not. 

But Rio does, in fact, bend the rules for her again, and grants the only thing she can - time. This is why it cuts Rio so deeply when Agatha throws all of that special treatment back in her face on the Road (that isn’t real) - why that argument de-escalates at the mention of Nicky and what really happened. Because what is more awful than the truth that Agatha had loved and been loved by Death herself and even that - even all her own power and the power she stole from other witches - couldn’t save her (their) child?

Would it ultimately have been kinder for Rio to have just taken Nicholas before he’d drawn his first breath?  Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t think there was an answer that could have saved their love at this point, but Rio did (does) love Agatha, and she went against her very nature and defied the laws she was bound by to grant her love time with her (their) son. 

And we know how that part of the story plays out, though I do share the popular headcanon that Rio was lurking around for those six years that Nicholas lived, perhaps visiting him in his sleep, because he went to her without fear or hesitation in the end. She obviously has the ability to infiltrate the mind-space - she did it with the spell Agatha was trapped in. 

That it happened when he was asleep - more importantly, when Agatha was asleep - is the thing that I think has fueled her anger and resentment of Rio all this time. Yeah, she was always going to hate Rio for taking him and be angry for a very long time, but Rio never gave her the chance to say that final goodbye, and that's what made it truly unforgivable. Rio probably thought it was better that way - a more peaceful death for Nicky - but Agatha could never be capable of understanding that. 

So Agatha immediately embarks on centuries long rage and grief spree to gain even more power using the ballad she’d written with her son, and you’d better believe she’s gleefully using those bodies to taunt her ex along the way. That’s what we see, anyway, and there were no black fingers, so she wasn’t actively using the Darkhold for that Witch's Road con she was running. (Again, when did she find that book?)

Rio clearly implies in the first episode that it’s been a long time since they’ve seen each other and that Agatha has been using the Darkhold to hide behind - essentially hiding from Death. Did she have it for fifty years? One hundred? Two hundred?  You’d think she would have gone looking for it soon after Nicky’s death, maybe hoping it would have some spell or ritual to resurrect him. But she didn’t. Or maybe she couldn’t? Maybe Nicky, being the son of Lady Death, didn’t end up in the same place as other, purely mortal souls, so whatever spell the Darkhold contained couldn’t work to draw his soul back?   

(And if anyone is interested after this long ass post, I also have a separate headcanon about Nicholas and the Afterlife that I won;t get into here.)  

I haven’t fully settled on how I think the timeline of those missing years lines up. I’m leaning toward Agatha having had the Darkhold for at least a century - long enough to make it really hurt for Rio to not be able to see or sense her, left with only bodies she knows Agatha left in her wake. 

Now, Rio. Lady Death. 

When we first meet her, she’s inserted herself into Agatha’s crime drama spell. I don’t think she was physically there at the time but projected herself into Agatha’s consciousness, and at this point it’s been either decades or centuries since she’s been able to sense her ex. First the Darkhold hid her and then Wanda’s spell - “You live here now. No one will bother you” - and as soon as both of those are gone from the multiverse, the spell begins to break. No, I do not think Billy broke it. It was already breaking before he tried his analog magic spell. At best, he sped up Agatha’s awakening. 

So Rio has been unable to confront Agatha for a very, very long time, but I believe there were confrontations before Agatha got the Darkhold and after Nicky died. I think it’s fair to assume those were violent and angry on Agatha’s side and probably sad and regretful on Rio’s. They probably hate fucked a time or two. But any mention of Nicky would have set Agatha off and sent her running, safe in her anger and hatred of Rio, so other than the blame game, I don't think they actually have a real conversation about him.

I think Rio probably tries at least once to see her and apologize and assure her that Nicky is at peace and being watched over, but that really wouldn't have be met with anything but venom.  

Agatha is the only mortal Death has ever loved and who has ever loved Death, and she doesn’t know how to let go of that. And then Agatha ghosts her metaphorically before ghosting her literally. 

But still, Rio is surprisingly patient with Agatha as Agnes, even though she very definitely made a beeline to Westview the moment Agatha’s aura came back on the map. When Agatha is finally free of the spell and confronts Herb, he says she’s been acting extra weird on her true crime kick for a few days. That implies she was just rolling along in the Nosy Neghbor Agnes persona prior to that, while Wanda was alive and the spell was still in full effect. 

I think her change in behavior should have coincided exactly with Wanda’s death, even though it doesn’t exactly jive with ‘Ralph’ knowing Wanda was dead when Billy seeks him out. That’s one of the rare plot holes in the writing of this show. Unless he just assumed Wanda was dead since she disappeared after Westview and went into hiding. 

Anyway, Rio shows up and assesses the situation her ex is in, deciding she needs to help Agatha wake up before she tears into her over the decades / centuries of ghosting her. Because what satisfaction can she get if Agatha doesn’t even remember why she hates Rio? 

Billy stumbles into the situation after Rio, so his presence can only speed up what was already started. 

And then Agatha is awake, and what we see in that first confrontation is an angry and hurt Lady Death wanting to strike back at the love of her (un)life for almost certainly stealing the Darkhold and using it to hide from her (and the Salem Seven and probably the Sorcerer Supreme and every other witch/witchhunter out for revenge) while likely also trying to the resurrect their dead son against the laws of the universe and upset the sacred balance. 

She’s saying she wants Agatha dead - which for her would also mean Agatha would be hers forever, no way to run again - but she also clearly still just wants her back in a more willing way. This first fight is very likely flirting for them, and she does want Agatha to get her purple back. She wants them back to the way they were before Nicky. It’s impossible, of course, but after 270-ish years, she’s hoping maybe Agatha has finally processed her grief enough to forgive her. 

I don’t think Billy is on Rio’s radar at this point. Maybe this is because of the sigil. Maybe it’s that William Kaplan wasn’t dead long enough to pull her to his body when Billy jumped in. Maybe it’s a combination of both. 

I do think he’s on her radar the moment the Road becomes real - or at least, the chaos magic that created it is. And since Wanda is gone, that really only leaves one possibility. 

Rio is definitely already in the neighborhood for poor Sharon. She clearly doesn't need the door they opened for her with the summoning spell to come and go from the Road, as she demonstrates when she tears through reality to leave it in episode 8. She does tell Agatha that it wasn't her choice since magic took the path of least resistance, but I interpret that to mean that their spell gave her an excuse to show herself to all of them and investigate what was going on.

When she’s acting as Death, she’s stoic and calm. With Agatha, she’s sad and angry and creepily playful - the humanity Agatha brings out of her on full display. With the others when she arrives on the Road - well, she’s exactly what Agatha accuses her of being - a tourist. She knows the Road wasn’t real before exactly as Agatha does, so her reaction to being there is exactly what you’d expect. She’s admiring the scenery, the vibe, and the magic that created it. She even says, “this is cool,” when she first starts walking it. 

I believe she knows Teen is Billy Maximoff before the sigil breaks. She asks about him as soon as she and Agatha are alone in Alice’s trial, and Agatha immediately tries to distract her with the promise of bodies. And when he ends up hurt, Rio once again makes an exception for Agatha when she begs, “Don’t.” She could have taken him then and maybe had a chance of grabbing his soul before he reincarnated because he hadn’t fully come into his powers yet in this life. But she waits because her guilt over taking Nicky is still a tangible thing, and Billy is saved, and Rio is going to lose her chance to re-balance the scales. 

She’s still hoping for Agatha’s forgiveness, and she makes her confession of Agatha being her scar, and then they share that moment in the woods. But Rio isn’t truly forgiven for Nicky, and she knows it, and she stops Agatha because she doesn’t want her misplaced gratitude for sparing Billy Maximoff.  After multiple viewings, I’m now reading - “That boy isn’t yours” - as less Rio reminding Agatha that Billy isn’t Nicholas and more warning her that Billy isn’t hers to save. He isn’t her second chance at motherhood with a powerful, magicked up son. He’s Wanda’s boy. He’s an abomination. He ultimately shouldn't exist, and his soul (and possibly William Kaplan's suppressed one) belong to Rio. 

If she was going to ignore the sacred balance for anyone, it would have been Nicholas. 

I’ve already posted about Rio’s reaction in Agatha’s trial. How the camera cuts to her after Evanora says she ought to have killed Agatha at birth. First we see Agatha, obviously, because it''s the confirmation that her mother has always thought her evil from birth, and the pain of that statement is twofold for her because she literally begged Death to spare her own child and then spent six years, presumably, trying to amass enough power to somehow save him. I think she believed that if she killed enough witches, if she collected enough of the kind of magic that she didn’t have - healing, protection, divination - she might one day figure out how either outrun Death or conjure more time for her son. 

But right after Agatha, we see Rio with that look of pain, closing her eyes and looking away, because she nearly did with Agatha’s son - with her own son - what Evanora wanted to do. She nearly took him at birth because he wasn’t meant to exist in the living world, and then she was still forced to take him eventually. Just as Agatha hasn’t forgiven her for it, Rio has never forgiven herself for what she had to do.  

And when we next see her after this episode, we see stoic Lady Death again, collecting Alice with bored indifference. Because that’s her job. Her vacation is over. The trials on this fake Road aren’t any fun anymore, and she’s done humoring Agatha with whatever con she’s trying to run this time. Because she knows Agatha could have ended all of this before it started if she’d admitted the Road was never real and Billy created it. 

Billy has come into his powers at this point, and Rio’s likely pissed at herself for letting her chance to collect him slip away thanks to her eternal soft spot for Agatha. Once again, she’s given special treatment and risked upsetting the balance for this woman.  And on top of that, Lilia easily took out the Salem Seven - bad ass of Lilla but so anticlimactic for whatever threat the Salem Seven were intended to be - so Rio's chance of finally getting Agatha over to the other side just took a nosedive. She’s not allowed to do it herself, and I’m not sure she’s yet at the point where she really wants to torture Agatha into begging her for release. If Agatha manages to finish the Road and actually gets her purple back, Rio will be chasing after her again for another century or two. 

She’s close to the end of her patience with her ex at this point. Poor Nicky is never going to see her (other) mother again. 

And then Agatha offers to deliver Billy to her, which I think Rio realizes is bullshit. I don’t think she really believes that Agatha intends to follow through without a trick, and even if she did, she doesn't believe Agatha will actually be able to convince Billy to give himself over to Death. But Rio plays along, wondering what Agatha wants from her this time. Maybe she even thinks Agatha will want to trade him for Nicky - one abomination for another. Maybe Rio actually hopes it would be this because it would give her a loophole to finally say yes. Maybe the prophesied demiurge would be more than an equal trade for the son of Death alive in the world again.

And incidentally, I do find it hilarious that Agatha’s condition is for Rio to stop following her - like, you’ve spent 300 years killing witches. It’s impossible for Death to do anything else but follow you.  But it’s the part about not wanting to see her face when Agatha eventually does die that finally breaks Rio. I mean, that was basically the whole point of wanting Agatha dead now - a way for them to be together with their son. 

It guts Rio, and you can see it in her expression. 

And I believe Agatha fully expected her to refuse - to tell her that it wasn’t possible. All roads lead to (Lady) Death, after all. She’s the inevtiable end of all things, and she hates ghosts. There’s no way for Agatha to avoid her. The best she could do is greet her in her true form and let Rio Vidal die. 

But for Rio, this isn’t just a rejection of her. It’s also a rejection of everything about their shared past. A rejection of Nicholas. If Rio can’t take her soul to the Afterlife, then she can’t take her to Nicholas either. Is Agatha really that much of a coward? (The answer, of course, is yes.) So she reluctantly agrees, heartbroken, but she also expects that Agatha won’t be able to keep her end of that deal, so she won’t need to keep hers. 

It’s kind of a stalemate where they both think - shit, what the fuck did I just agree to?

It’s ironic really. To some degree, I think Agatha finally comes to some acceptance of Nicky’s death in that final trial. "Sometimes, boys die." "From death, life."  

At the same time, this is when Rio fully snaps. She’s stewing over this whole Witches Road deal and Agatha's final rejection, and frankly, fully aware that Agatha just helped Billy create another abomination, messing even more with the rightful balance of things. 

Yeah, Rio has been angry with Agatha, but also guilty and hurt and lovesick, so it’s tempered her somewhat. She’s been the antagonistic kind of angry where Agatha could easily assuage her, but now, with Agatha’s last rejection of everything about their shared past and helping that kid disrupt her domain even more, she embraces her rage in a way she hasn’t allowed herself up to this point. The human emotions that Agatha sparked in Rio take over all her reason and balance and duty, and she lashes out.  The rejected lover, finally allowed to indulge the anger and grief that Agatha spent two centuries indulging with her own rampage. 

I know we didn’t get to see the magical battle due to budget restraints, and honestly, I’m only a little disappointed by that. The Wanda/Agatha one wasn’t exactly spectacular with the boring energy blasts. But we get enough of it to see that Rio never hits Agatha with her full power. She isn’t trying to kill her here; she only wants to hurt her - vent her own rage and heartbreak. They’re even back to their weird kind of flirting halfway through it, but then Billy gets involved again, and oh yeah, the kid is still here. Something has to be done about him, because Rio can’t ignore her duty forever, and Agatha knows she can’t defeat Death. 

So finally, we get that moment, when Agatha looks like she’s getting what she wanted and Billy is willingly surrendering himself, and she could walk away with a nice charge from his power and the promise to never have to see Rio again. 

It’s my understanding that Billy’s mental plea wasn’t originally in the script, and I actually wish they’d left it out. I don’t actually think that his mention of Nicky in that moment would have changed her mind anyway. I think it would have probably had the opposite effect since she’s always reacted badly to the mention of him except when Rio brought him up in that last conversation on the Road.

But, in the context we got, that isn’t how Nicky died. He’d been stolen away in the night after Rio had granted him six more years than he should have ever had. Agatha would have never traded his life for hers. She would have traded hers for him in a heartbeat.  So yeah, I get why that was added, but I don’t fully think it was necessary. Agatha was always going to realize that leaving Billy with Rio was the wrong thing, and she was crossing the one meager moral line she had - hurting children. And this one, specifically, reminds her too much of her lost son. 

She puts a hand to her chest before she turns, right where we know her broach always sat. I’ve watched that scene a few times, and I noticed that we can’t see her broach on her costume for maybe the only time since she broke out of Wanda’s spell. But it’s obviously there somewhere because it’s the one thing left behind when Rio speed runs her decomposition - yet another bit of special treatment in allowing it to remain as a means of tying her spirit to the mortal realm. 

And yeah, like Agatha said, it was a calculated risk. I don’t think Rio has ever outright lied to her or broken a deal, and Agatha technically upheld her end of their bargain but also very much didn’t, but Rio does slightly change the terms of the bargain before that last battle, such as it is. She gives them both the choice - “One of you is coming with me.”  

And yet, she hesitates to take Billy as soon as he offers himself. Because taking him means losing Agatha forever, and despite her anger, she isn’t fully ready to do that. In the end, her hesitation gives Agatha the time to change the terms. She gives Rio what she’s claimed to want from the beginning - Agatha’s death. 

Agatha gives herself to Rio in a way that speaks of both acceptance and forgiveness. And maybe, it’s also forcing the bargain that Rio never gave her the chance to make for Nicky. Her life for his. 

And Rio keeps their bargain about seeing her face again anyway, because I think she knows that she’s finally been forgiven, but Agatha still isn’t ready to face Nicky. She doesn’t collect Agatha’s soul and even allows that broach to stay behind for Billy to take. I think Rio knows full well she just allowed Agatha to remain as a ghost, but she lets her go. She finally lets Agatha go and lets herself grieve their lost love. 

She lets Rio Vidal die with Agatha and reclaims her eternal role as Lady Death. 

And now her sacred balance is shot to hell, because she’s got not one, but two, abominations roaming around in bodies that don’t belong to them, and one stubborn, ornery ghost who she knows damn well is going to meddle in all of that chaos magic.  

And, I think, she also hopes that maybe one day, Agatha will be ready to cross over and see Nicholas again - maybe even see her again - but, it’s all in Agatha’s power now. 

Like Rio said in the very first episode - “If you want to be in control, you can be.”  And it speaks volumes that Rio has honored that at every turn.

Now she just has to explain to Nicholas how she let his mama slip through her fingers again and stick around to mentor that Maximoff boy.

[dearreaders-things]

How about 1, 8 and 19 for the ask game :)

we sent each other simultaneous asks lmao <3

1: Compliment your writing!

ooh my writing is evocative! like emotions, tension, i love getting across that kind of thing. also i think i have the occasional absolutely banger one-liners.

8: Share the last line that you wrote

i jump around a bunch between docs when writing but here, have some birblian fic in the cooking!

“Oh, Julian. That can’t be good for you. Can’t feel good, either, can it?” Carefully, you bury your fingertips in his feathers, tracing across the divots where his wings join his shoulders. “All these muscles… You’re a doctor, Julian, you should know this.”

19: What headcanon do you always include in your stories?

this maybe says more about me than anything else but. i seem to love to give male characters a real thing for having their hair played with (and pulled). likeee. julian devorak? loki? angus mac macgyver? no misses. it's not my fault they all have very nice hair as well.

[worm-filled-carcass]

Hi, hello, Welcome to my blog 🩵❤️ (Intro post!)

Im Worms (probably), and this is my main blog it's mostly shitposts and pissing off transphobes but it's fun (i promise)!

I use it/it, he/him and ze/zem pronouns feel free to mix n match or just use 1 set. I really don't mind! :D

Im genderfluid, abrosexual and demisexual this is a very queer positive blog! (so if you're planning on being hateful please just leave and/or block me)

Im not a furry/therian/otherkin and while I don't fully understand these things you are very welcome here!

Im also autistic so please be direct and straightforward with me (I don't understand subtext)

My interests are :

-Marvel (mcu)

-Minecraft

-James Marriott

-Jack Manifold

-AverageHarry

-Minecraft Minecraft Minecraft

-Percy Jackson (books and tv series)

-SUPERNATURAL (the show)

-THE supernatural (ghost's, monsters, cryptids)

-my oc's (idc if it's cringe I love them)

-did i mention minecraft?

-spree (absolute banger of a film)

-the magnus archives

-FNAF (specifically 2 and 6)

-Minecraft again

-The spiderverse franchise

-School bus graveyard

My FAVOURITE characters are:

-Doctor Stephen Strange

-GABRIEL (supernatural)

-Arataki Itto (he's my guilty pleasure ok 😔)

-Elias Bouchard

-Loki Laufeyson

-Tony Stark

-Dr Strange again because I love him

-Denki Kaminari

-Leo Valdez

-Diego Hargreeves

-The Spot

My dog because I love him so much (his name is Lemo)

My tagging system :

#worms has thoughts -mostly shitposting

#worms has big feelings -more personal stuff

#worms makes things -things I've made (drawings, userboxes, etc)

#worm lyrics -song lyrics

#worm stories -real things I've done/have happened to me

#worms asks -answering asks

Take this quiz to find out which of my oc's you are!! (if u wanna) :

!None of the blinkies in this post were made by me!

(I also have some side blogs where I post mood/stimboards btw if you're interested: @moodboards-probably and @stimboards-probably )

[afreakingdork]

Miss Dork Miss Dork oh my GOD I've just read Chapter 57 today I think I've officially fallen in love with Reader-san AND Donnie at the same time.

Like, how do you do it?? How do you write a character like that?? How does Reader-san keep rolling nat-20s and say the most quotable thought-provoking character developing things ever?? Chapter by chapter they have proven and continue to prove themselves to be an extremely thoughtful individual with a will that shouldn't be reckoned with and OH. THEM AND DONNIE FIT SO WELL TOGETHER. NO WONDER HE'S SO WHIPPED.

I can see why Donnie is hopelessly in love with them now Reader-san is LITERALLY marriage material. I want to marry someone like them. I can't believe they weren't taken already before Donnie came and swooped them off their feet. Ghkkk.

The line “We’re us. I don’t want that any other way. No changing for one another. We’re us first and foremost" and "Do it. It was never yours anyway because you didn’t name it" in particular. Hh. Okay. I'm normal about these lines in particular. Very normal. In fact, I'd say I'm the most normal ab- WRONG IM GOING INSANE. FIRST LINE?? BANGER. SECOND LINE? ALSO A BANGER. THAT IS THE MOST PERFECT RESPONSE YOU COULD THINK OF TO SOMEONE DOUBTING THEIR IDENTITY AND THEIR RELATION TO THEIR PERSONAS. GOODNESS. BANGER AFTER BANGER LINE FR!!

God everyday I wish I could print your fanfic and kiss each page one by one with utmost tenderness reserved for your beloved. Each chapter is so good aughhhh they're so fucking cool god. Sniff. They're so. Sniffles. They're so cool and well written. They're literally perfect I love them so much. Please oh god I'm so ready to read about them having babies or growing old together I'm gonna DIE WAHHHHH HAH!!!!

OH WAIT HUH OH I MADE ANOTHER LONG RANT AND THIS TIME ITS MORE FERAL UH OH.

Sorry for raving and rambling (again) in your dms Miss Dork I am just,, Experiencing Emotions™. They're all good of course and I am experiencing them in an appropriate amount (lie). Yes.

Okay okay let me compose myself before I make this even longer so I can start my closing statements now: Its so hard to put into words without sounding redundant but I just really really like how you write the Reader!! Lifting your hand and kissing it, like, CHU. I am looking up at you like a doe eyed- well, doe, and also you really are just one hell of a writer Ma'am!! I will never get tired of saying that btw!!

Peace!!

-K.M

KM you are the most delightful mystery in my life at the moment! /aff /pos 💞💞💞

that is to say...

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!

You are seriously the sweetest!!! I had such a blast writing those lines so hearing that you liked them means the world!!

ALSO NO RANT IS TOO LONG!!! WRITE AS MUCH AS YOUR HEART DESIRES AND I WILL READ EVERY BIT!!! YOU ARE A TRUE JOY!

It's so reassuring to hear reader is received well. Obviously they are meant to be a self insert, but at the same time there's no real way to represent everyone and I fret about it quite a bit. I hate alienated people and I want to make it rounded experience, but I also have this story I want to tell.

Just thank you truly, you have no idea how much you mean to me!

ALSO A HAND KISS!!! I'VE ONLY EVER BEEN HAND SMOOCHED ONCE IN MY WHOLE LIFE AND I BARELY RECOVERED!!! It was a Loki cosplayer and they stole my damn heart in one swift move when I complimented their costume! Swoon!!!

[mezzy303]

Some thoughts on ch 1130

Well more like one thought that I want to write down after the banger end to this One Piece chapter

With the long-waited introduction of Loki, the way he introduced himself stuck out to me for a number of reasons. First, that he claims to be the sun god, and second, that he says he'll bring the end of the world:

The latter is likely referencing the Loki from Norse mythology, who was one of the reasons Ragnarok was triggered after killing a god (for which he was imprisoned, much like how Prince Loki is imprisoned for killing his father). I'm gonna take a guess that the legendary devil fruit that's passed down the Elbaf royal family is related to the sun, maybe a mythical zoan fruit like the Nika model. The giants are known to be worshipers of the sun, so it would be fitting for the king to be the sun incarnate or something along those lines and have related powers.

But neither of those things are my actual thought lol. The whole "sun god" and "bringing a world to an end" made me think about an event that keeps getting mentioned about the "Dawn of the World." A lot of characters have talked about it, like Pedro and Yamato, and is even referenced in Toki's prophecy and Nefertari Lili's letter. It's likely about the end of the World Govt and Imu's reign, and therefore the official end of the Great War.

So my thought is that Loki being freed (let's be real.... we all know Luffy will free him lmaoo) will trigger the "end of the world" which will bring about this new dawn, like how the mythological Loki brought about Ragnarok. We're in the final saga after all, with not much is left between the Strawhats and Laugh Tale besides finding the man marked by flames who has the last red poneglyph. And with Elbaf likely being one of the arcs of the original One Piece blueprint, it seems like the perfect time to begin the One Piece equivalent of Ragnarok (now that I think about it, Ragnarok is said to be a series of battles and catastrophic natural disasters and as I'm looking it up it also culminates in the world being submersed underwater,,,,, and then the world will reemerge cleansed and fertile,,,,, maybe the final arc will be the One Piece equivalent of Ragnarok 😂). Anyway it's really a toss up whether Prince Loki will be a friend or foe, so we'll just have to wait and see how this arc turns out 👀

[animebw]

So I've been stewing a bit with the whole concept of "MCU Fatigue" after my disappointment with The Marvels, and I think I've come to a realization.

See, most people when they shit on the modern MCU act like they're been putting out tons of terrible stuff. But looking at their track record, that's not actually true. In fact, I'd argue that the majority of their Phase 4 and 5 output has still been above average. The only real misses I'd count are FATWS, Dr. Strange 2, The Marvels, and maybe What If if I was feeling particularly uncharitable (and I guess Secret Invasion, but the bad response kept me away from that one so I've never watched it myself). Other than that, Marvel's still putting out a lot of good stuff.

The problem is they're not putting out a lot of great stuff.

Like, we need to take a step back and realize just how fucking insane the MCU's track record used to be. They didn't just put out good movies on a regular basis that put every other franchise to shame, they regularly released some of the most iconic superhero blockbusters of all time. They cranked out all-time classics on such a consistent basis that at this point, at least half of the top 20 greatest superhero movies of all time list would be taken up by MCU projects, maybe more. That's how they built trust with the general audience; not just consistency, but the promise of greatness. People flocked to the MCU not just because there was a near guarantee of a well-made fun time at the cinema, but because that was a strong probability you were going to see something truly spectacular.

Seriously, just look at the studio's track record through Phase 2 and 3. Iron Man 3, Captain America 2 and 3, the first two Guardians movies, Thor Ragnorak, Black Panther, Infinity War and Endgame... you could argue that over half of their movie output from this period was unqualified home runs. And sure, maybe Thor 2 was a dud and Avengers 2 was disappointing, but it didn't matter because there was always the promise of another masterpiece waiting in the wings. People weathered the occasional misstep because they could trust the MCU to always find its way back to greatness.

But now consider: how many all-time bangers can you name from Phases 4 and 5?

Like, I can name a few. Wandavision, Black Panther 2, Guardians 3, Spider-Man 3, maybe Ms. Marvel if I pretend episode 5 doesn't exist (and I've heard Loki season 2 was also great, but that's another one I haven't seen yet). But the ratio of Big Deal Events to Just Another Marvel Thing has gotten much steeper. Between the movies and the Disney+ series, Marvel's cranking out more stuff than ever, but it hasn't been cranking out landmarks any faster than it used to. It's just shoving a lot more padding between the properties that really set the world on fire. And it's training the audience, unintentionally, to no longer associate the MCU with guaranteed smash successes every other weekend.

And I still like most of the MCU's current output! But I don't love it as much as some of its older stuff. Black Widow and Shang-Chi are good, but not quite great. Eternals I will defend to my dying breath, but it was destined for cult classic status. Love and Thunder I would argue is actually pretty fantastic, fuck you fight me, and Quantummania is fine, you guys, but I wouldn't die defending them the way I would, say, Iron Man 3. And as much as I enjoyed Hawkeye, Moon Knight and She-Hulk, you can only watch so much Pretty Good TV before it starts to feel like a chore.

This deluge of content hasn't resulted in tons of more Great Marvel Stuff. It's just resulted in tons of more Good, Okay, and Not That Great Actually Marvel Stuff. It's resulted in audiences feeling like you can't trust Marvel to regularly crank out classics that change the way you view superhero media. And it turns out, it gets a lot harder to justify spending so much time on such an overstuffed time-sink of a franchise when it can't guarantee you a steady stream of masterpieces on a regular basis.

Especially with so much more of it coming out now in such a painfully short timespan. Even in Marvel's busiest years, they used to max out at three movies per year and a couple spinoffs like the Netflix shows that you didn't need to watch to feel up to date. You went out to the movies a couple times a year and were basically guaranteed a good movie every time, and that was it. Now, though, with the Disney+ content, it feels like a constant battle to not fall behind, to keep up with tons of stuff you're just kind of enjoying to justify getting to the increasingly few nuggets of true gold. This stuff would need a track record just as good as the Phase 2/3 days to justify sitting through so much of it, and it just... doesn't. And the second you drop off from exhaustion, it's already roaring ahead and leaving you with too much to ever reasonably catch up on if you're not prepared for a couple days of heavy bingeing.

The shared universe model is fucking hard. Every studio's failed attempt to copy Marvel's playbook is a testament to that. The fact it even maintained its cultural domination as long as it did is nothing short of a miracle. Because it turns out, even being consistently good isn't enough to maintain the level of trust and engagement necessary for such a long haul. You need to be consistently excellent. You need audiences to come away from every other event singing your praises as the new gold standard of blockbuster cinema. And the second you can't maintain that standard anymore, all that goodwill slowly bleeds out as more and more people decide that the effort it takes to keep up with everything is no longer worth the reward.

Does the MCU recover from this? I don't know. At this point, what it needs to do more than anything is slow the fuck down instead of overloading audiences with too many shows and movies to keep up with. Maybe it's not the dominant cultural force anymore, but with a little patience and willingness to sacrifice quantity for quality, it can at least re-establish itself as a franchise worth sticking around for. Marvel used to be special; with a little luck, maybe it can be again.

[askatrigenderlgbt]

Marvel Prompt, here we go!!!!

Prompt: Loki has become an avenger some time after the first Avengers movie, has gotten to open up a little, even reconciled with Clint, but is avoiding Thor outright or when unavoidable just doesn't talk to him.

Thor is understandably upset and decided that waiting was no longer an option as nothing has change, if anything it got worse. So what's he do? Grabs Loki, throws him over his shoulder, and heads to a quiet place where Thor can hold Loki in his lap and finally have a talk.

Loki, hissing and scratching at Thor like an angry kitten, refuses at first to explain what the problem is. Mostly trying to escape, then keep his eyes on the floor, and at the end of his rope just keep denying that anything is wrong.

Only when Thor demands that his 'little brother' answers him, Loki snaps that Thor isn't his real brother. He reveals that they aren't blood at all. Odin had lied for their entire lives. Loki tells Thor, in tears of frustration, that he is a frost giant and that he was avoiding Thor because of it.

(remember Thor tried to kill all the frost giants before, even expressing a deep hatred for them. Loki can't wrap his mind around any thought of Thor still loving him because of the truth, thinking Thor- the last and only real person to Loki- wouldn't care about him anymore. Wouldn't love him anymore. Loki sees Thor as the only person to truly love him, even more that his own mother- though he still loves her dearly-, and to lose that love would be everything.

Thor doesn't speak while Loki admits the truth, doesn't say anything for a while after. He looks at Loki for a solid few seconds. Then declares that Loki is lying when he says they aren't brothers, because family isn't just blood but also a bond between the people. Thor explains that he has many good memories with Loki, has the desire to protect him against everything, and wouldn't let him leave his side if he had his way. Thor admits that even though Loki isn't a blood relative he'd picked Loki as his family, he chose Loki as his family.

Loki cries truly for the first time in years, each word Thor speaks making it hard for him to move away or run. Loki ends up cuddling his brother, sobbing and letting out everything he'd been repressing inside. Thor just holds him, keeping watch for anything, protecting his little brother and keeping him close.

God these two are my favorite characters ever!!!

Please can a fanfiction writer take this and roll this into a great banger!!!!

[professional-termite]

Have you ever read the Loki: Agent of Asgard comic series? Banger. I haven't seen the newest Loki season bcuz I'm lazy, but from your posts... There are parallels. Many parallels and yet things are inversed. Like the comics end in a similar way with Loki becoming the God of Stories, but he does have his aromantic bestie with him (Verity is an icon and I love her). No real point to this, I'm just going "hmmmmmmmmm" rn

shdkfk im not big on comics but i have seen people on my dash drawing parallels. i might have to read tbh

[realityhelixcreates]

♥️✨👻🎁👓🎯

❤️ What is your favorite line that you’ve written in a fic?

Straight up impossible to decide. Toss up between all the riddles I've written, because they are a challenge, but i feel like there are some real bangers scattered through Lasa. It's just that there is so much of Lasa that I can't remember them!

✨️ Out of the comments you’ve received on your fics, what are two or three of your favorites?

Again, there's a lot to go through, but whenever anyone points out things I put a lot of thought and effort into (naming things, character voices) or notices a little detail I specifically put in, I love it forever.

👻 What is your wildest headcanon?

I don't know how wild it actually is but Nash being POC is against blog canon (his writer had him looking like Spiderman-era Andrew Garfield) but this just feels right to me. Also, basically everything about Prince I've had to pull out of thin air. It's all headcanon with him.

🎁 Have a piece of a WIP you want to share?

Eyes followed them everywhere. They had an escort of einherjar, and Loki had ordered the path cleared, but there were always going to be people going about their business, always going to be people who had to see so badly, they'd risk anything.

And so eyes followed them, as he guided the two Frost Giants through the halls, continuing to wear his own blue skin along the way.

Perhaps he should have made a parade of it, and got the gawking over with. It seemed a poor idea for the little one though. Angrboda huddled in her caretaker's arms, no more than a confused toddler.

His wife. The Princess-In-Waiting. A tiny child. Older than him, technically, but still a tiny, tiny child. What was he going to do about this? What was he going to tell you?

(I promise I am still working on it, it's just slow)

👓 What helps you focus when you write?

Music typically. I have a playlist of songs I associate with each character.

🎯 Do you have a writing milestone you’re working towards?

Not really. I always just write as I have time for, or as the mood takes me. To me, there isn't any solid goal beyond writing down what I want to.

[sheryl-lee]

maybe this is too broad, but your opinion on mcu phase 4?

oooh okay i was WAITING for someone to ask me about this (and dw, it's not too broad at all!) i have a LOT of thoughts now that the phase is over, so i'll try my best to be as concise as possible.

so overall, i didn't ~hate~ it. if i had to rank the phases from best to worst, it would probably be 3 > 4 > 2 > 1. like let's be real, phases 1 and 2 were not that good. there's this weird revisionist history thing going on where people act like the og infinity saga was all bangers all the time, but i was there when all that shit was releasing and it was not. the lows of phases 1 and 2 are still worse than the lows of phase 4 FOR ME. maybe that's a hot take, but i just did a rewatch of the first 2 phases and the bad films released then are still... not great.

i know phase 4 was super polarizing for people, and it had a lot of things going against it (covid, chadwick boseman's passing, bob chapek as ceo @ disney, etc.), but i still really enjoyed a lot of it. i really enjoyed wandavision, loki, moon knight and ms. marvel on the tv side, the 2 specials we got were fun, and most of the films were pretty good, too. again, maybe that's a hot take, but i'm nowhere near as hard on eternals, black widow, ds2 or thor4 the way i've seen people hate on them online. though they're flawed films, they're not at all as awful as people make them out to be in my opinion. (staying offline and watching those films without looking at reactions ahead of time made me enjoy them more. maybe it's a matter of perspective but idk??? fandom is so toxic nowadays that it's better to just watch stuff and form your own opinion before hopping online.)

i also just really liked the diversity. people will say shit obviously, and the mcu still has a ways to go, but i really loved the actors we're getting rn and some of the characters in phase 4 have been beyond amazing.

i feel like in a few years when it's more in the rearview, people may do with phase 4 what they’re doing with phases 1 and 2 right now. after time has passed, it may be looked back on with less judgment. the 2021 releases were stronger than the 2022 releases overall, and there's wayyyy too much stuff being released (although i did hear that phases 5 and 6 will be fine-tuned and quality will be prioritized over quanity, so we'll see if that happens!) but yeah overall i didn't hate it but i didn't love it either. i have really complex feelings on it that i could go on longer about, but that's the gist of it! idk if i'll feel differently down the line, but that is how i feel at the moment.

send me an ask for my opinion on anything!!!

[sztefa001]

Oh damn ok let's go

Got tagged by @loki-n-thedoctor

Last song: "Tell Me What I Am" - a fansong for The Amazing Digital Circus (real banger, big recommend)

Currently watching: uhhh waiting for new eps of TFE if that counts

Three ships: how dare you make me choose from my whole mightly fleet. But ok, rn my tf ocs TerrorRain and Morphine live rent free in my head (at least they're not fighting for once). Second ship would be them but humanformers and third also them but merformers (Terry as a shark and Morph as octopus).

Favorite color: OURBL

Currently consuming: I had spaghetti bolognese for dinner

First ship: uhhh The Blue Knight and the ant he saved, from "Przygody Błękitnego Rycerzyka" (Adventures of the Blue Knight) which was kinda messed up 'cuz she was a child but a few episodes later she was all grown up 'cuz ants grow different??? I was like 5 at the time so I just shrugged it off (tho the end implies they became besties at least and tbh together with the beetle they could ttly be a found family / ace poluclue)

Relationship status: so single I can't even selfship ;w;

Last movie: Fuckin uhhhhhhhh... *[windows error sfx]*

Currently working on: several job tasks at once x.x

Tagging: @president-alpine @doublemod and @perytonpred :3c

[felt-squirrels]

thank you for the tag *thumbs up*

Currently Reading: Who even knows, I just finished reading Chains for school and I’m in the middle of Fangirl but also re-reading Simon Snow

Last Song: Altitude (This Party Sucks) by Mal Blum

Currently Watching: Loki. The old hyperfixtation is real.

Fic you’re currently reading: Not reading any presently

Next on your watch list: Thirteenth Doctor. I need to finish her series before the Fourteenth Doctor

Current Obsession (other than the usual): In the Hall of the Mountain King (absolute banger of a song), Simon Snow Trilogy, and Madilyn Mei

tagging @coircus-aceman @that-effed-up-lament @hm-ok-1plus1 and anyone else who would like to

People I Want To Get To Know Better Tag Game:

thanks for the tag @steph-luvs-klaine!

Book you’re currently reading:

The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan

Dear Selma: A World War II Romance

One Last Stop by Casey McQuistion

Last song you listened to:

Strawberry Wine by Noah Kahan <3

Currently watching:

Kim's Convenience! It's currently my go-to for meals because I am iPad baby

Fic you’re currently reading:

I actually just finished reading Kurt Hummel Sucks (But Only If You Ask Nicely) by @rockitmans and it was an absolute delight!

Next on your to watch list:

i'm TERRIBLE at watching shows I have actually been meaning to watch buuuut eventually I think I need to watch Star Trek because it's always all over my dash

Current obsession:

Newsies (of course)

World War II (in a non-straight-white-man way)

Now That We Don't Talk (Taylor's Version)

No-Pressure tags for: @somanywords @piedoesnotequalpi @felt-squirrels @kurtsascot and @greensleeves-redhead and of course anyone else who wants to!

[worstloki]

if loki doesn't get to use magic and get some of his iconic wardrobe back in the tv series i will scream. where did they find that outfit? the trash??

I’m guessing it was the trash, yes,

[waterhorseyblues-ao3]

WHB’s Guide To “Non-Canon” & One-Shot Comic Loki Content

This won’t be in any real order because it doesn’t matter and also there’s DEFINITELY more I haven’t read that I’ll come back to at a later date maybe

Loki (2004) - This is very beautifully painted and explores the idea of (classic) Loki winning and how he copes on the throne of Asgard, but I found it pretty slow and dry. There’s some good emotional complexity in it though.

Loki (2010) - This is just a retelling of existing Norse myth with a Marvel skin over it. I genuinely think if you wanna read Norse mythology then there’s much better versions of it and this doesn’t add much more to make it fit comic Loki’s character. Check it out if you think this suits you best.

Thor & Loki: Double Trouble - This is a banger. It’s one of my favourite artists over 100% pure goofs and gaffs and japes and jonks. This is all Loki and Thor sibling spats and presents us with possibly the MOST amazing take on Loki’s character design by having him be just a little guy. Goblin mode fully activated. Very fun.

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl - Okay, some will argue this is canon, others will argue it’s not. For the most part, USG does not follow Marvel 616 canon but imho this makes it way more accessible to new readers. This comic is a fucking DELIGHT. I cannot recommend USG enough. USG’s take on Loki is such a campy, dramatic, mischevous scamp full of sillies and I LOVE them. I could write essays about USG. I’m shaking this comic series in your face. I’m kissing it.

Now, some of this DOES overlap with canon events running at the time. A brief period of the USG comics covers the War of the Realms arc when Loki is Sorcerer Supreme, though I... coulda sworn those weren’t happening at the same time... This is basically the only part that has canon timeline in it and it treats Loki a million times better than the other comics at the time did. Also one of the characters introduced in this series appears in Thor (2020) so it does have multiple ties to the main canon.

If Im not selling it enough, THIS comic series is where the “This is why you get a genderfluid demigod to be your fashion designer” panel came from.

Also this series introduces some AMAZING new characters, all of which appear in the podcast The Unbeatable Radio Show which takes place just after the comics. If you want more help knowing the reading order for this comic series specifically, DM me and I will help you out.

Alligator Loki - This is as it says on the tin. It’s one of the new Marvel webtoons about gator Loki having some adventures. It’s silly and entirely visual and it’s very fun.

Marvel Voices: Pride (2022) - There were TWO Loki comics in this year’s issue. One is tied to the Young Avengers comics (a personal favourite of mine) and the other set in Loki’s current situation. Both of them are very funny and silly and full of Loki being his best self.

Thor (2020) - But didn’t I list this as canon? Yes! However there’s a handful of one-shot comics in this series. Issue #25 has another Marvel skin on a Norse myth, “Thor’s Wedding”,  which in my opinion is much better than Loki (2010) ever did and it’s extremely funny and silly, an absolute hoot.

 Marvel Voices: Iceman - Another of the webtoons. Loki pops up in #3 and is an absolute treat. I recommend reading all of this tbh because it’s fun and very gay.

There’s also TWO Loki novels!

Loki: Mistress of Mischief

Loki: Where Mischief Lies

I’m yet to read either of these but I will update and report back when I have

[vikingqueer]

music recommendations because i have some thoughts™

i don't wanna be that person who's like "my music taste is so weird lol" but i find that very often most of my friends don't really care for the music i like so i thought i'd just make a long ass post about it on tumblr instead. Fair warning, I'm very passionate about MIKA and The Mechanisms and so this very quickly got VERY long because it is part of my ongoing campaign to convince people to listen to mika and the mechs.

1) MIKA in general, but especially My Name Is Michael Holbrook (2019) and No Place In Heaven (2015) (especially the Deluxe version!!)

MIKA is a kind of British singer (half Lebanese, grew up in France blabla), and you probably know him for Grace Kelly and Relax, Take It Easy from his first album Life In Cartoon Motion from 2007. He writes a lot of FUN music, interspersed with the occasional slightly sadder song, especially when looking at an album like No Place In Heaven, which contains a lot of songs with gay themes, resulting in some songs that are just a little bit ouch. He's originally classically trained and has a frankly RIDICULOUS range and idk he just writes very good pop music. Also I have so much respect for that time he talked about how a lot of pop is very fake, with like expensive cars and stilettos and mini skirts in the snow and said "Because I walk down the street, and I don't see any of that. I see fat women and gay men. I don't know... That's real". He's written 5 albums; My Name Is Michael Holbrook (2019), No Place In Heaven (2015), The Origin Of Love (2012), The Boy Who Knew Too Much (2009), and Life In Cartoon Motion (2007).

For starters, I recommend listening to Last Party, Origin Of Love, Grace Kelly, Blame It On The Girls, Blue, Happy Ending, Pick Up Off The Floor, Last Party, Underwater, Tomorrow and Tiny Love (yes this is a long list but i REALLY love MIKA). If you want a slightly broader palette that's not just my favourites, I recommend the Mika starter pack on spotify.

2) The Mechanisms. I warn you. I am making this a thing. I have been obsessed with the mechs since last march.

Boy, where to start? The Mechanisms were a British 9 member space pirate story-telling cabaret that "died" in January 2020. They rewrite songs to fit retellings of various stories. I don't even know what genre I'd describe them as, but probably folk but steam-punk?? Their 4 "main" albums are concept albums, and I honestly just recommend listening to the from beginning to end in chronological order. A good way to get into the mechs is also to listen to UDAD and then watching the live show on youtube or alternately try giving Death To The Mechanisms a listen, to get good quality live show audio of TBI and various other stuff. Also, it was streamed on YouTube and someone combined the footage with the album audio and it rocks. Really, I think the mechs' best selling points are honestly just their concept albums:

Once Upon a Time (In Space) Their first album from 2012. I'd say this is the most "easily digestible" for the general public, since it's a retelling of various fairytales. So, what if Old King Cole was in fact not merry, but rather a cold-blooded dictator, intent on colonising as much of the galaxy as possible. What if Snow White was a general, looking to avenge what King Cole did to her sister, Rose. What if Cinderella was to be wedded to Rose the day that King Cole attacked in order to kidnap Rose? But y'know, In Space and also like every other mechs album it's a beautiful tragedy. Fave songs are Old King Cole, Pump Shanty, and No Happy Ending.

Ulysses Dies at Dawn You guessed it, it's a story about Odysseus, or Ulysses because I guess Ulysses is easier to rhyme or fit in the meter or something, idk. Ulysses is a war hero of unknown gender who is said to keep something that could take down the corrupt Olympians, meanest families in the City, in a vault to which only they know the passcode. Oedipus, Heracles, Orpheus, and Ariadne have been hired by Hades, who happens to be The Mechs' quartermaster Ashes O'Reilly, to get into Ulysses' vault. I didn't care much for udad at first, but honestly it's got some real bangers and the story is really good. UDAD weirdly stands out as the only of the concept albums to not feature any gay relationships, per se. Fave songs are Riddle of the Sphinx, Favoured Son, and Underworld Blues.

High Noon over Camelot This is my favourite mehcs album. So basically, this is Arthurian legend, but it's a space western and Jonny D'Ville does a bad southern accent. This is the story of the cowboy lovers Arther, Lancelot, and Guinevere searching for the Galfridian Restricted Acces Interface Login, or GRAIL, in order to stop their world from falling into the sun. Meanwhile, Mordred and Gawaine are ruling Camelot, and Mordred has convinced Gawaine to try to establish peace with the Saxons by whom Mordred was raised, but Gawaine hates viciously. If you love getting your heart broken and songs by a fucking off the rails batshit preacher I HIGHLY recommend hnoc. Fave songs are Gunfight at the Dolorous Guard, Blood and Whiskey, and Once and Future King. Honorary mention for Hellfire because it awakens something animalistic in me.

The Bifrost Incident TBI is the frankly only good adaptation of norse mythology I've ever known of, and I say that as Dane who was literally forced to learn things about norse mythology in school because it's my heritage or whatever. I've been listening to TBI a lot lately because it's VERY good. It's definitely the most refined of the mechs' albums (because it's the newest) but also I just love a little bit of cosmic horror. 80 years ago, Odin, the All-Mother, ruler of Asgaard, launched a train through the wormhole Bifrost that would reduce the travel between Asgaard and Midgaard from 3 months to 3 days, but things didn't go quite as planned. Lyfrassir Edda of the New Midgaard Transport Police is trying to solve the case of why suddenly the train has arrived 80 years late; to figure out whether it was accident or maybe it was sabotaged by Loki, who was allegedly sentence to death her murder of Baldur, by the Midgaardian resistance led by Loki's wife Sigyn, or maybe by Thor, who was to take over after Odin, and who holds quite the grudge because he used to be a friend of Loki's. You might've heard the song Thor from this album, it's apparently quite popular. Fave songs are Loki, Ragnarok III: Strange Meeting, and Ragnarok V: End of The Line. Yet again an honorary mention: Red Signal because while Lovecraft was a bitch, his invocations are fucking RAW.

Basically, the Mechanisms do all of their performances in character as captain first mate Jonny D'Ville, quartermaster Ashes O'Reilly, pilot DrumBot Brian, master-at-arms Gunpowder Tim, science officer Raphaella la Cognizi, doctor Baron Marius Von Raum (neither a baron, nor a doctor), archivist Ivy Alexandria, engineer Nastya Rasputina, and The Toy Soldier, who is, as usual, present. You can find very obscure lore about the crew of the Aurora here, tidbits on Tales To Be Told and TTBT Vol. 2, such as One Eyed Jacks, The Ignominious Demise of Dr. Pilchard, Gunpowder Tim vs. The Moon Kaiser, Lucky Sevens, and Lost in the Cosmos.

If you feel like listening to a full 40-50 minute album to find out if you like a band is a bit much, I recommend listening to one of the mini stories Alice, Swan Song, or Frankenstein, which are about 12, 5 and 9:30 minutes respectively.

3) The Amazing Devil You know that guy who played Jaskier in the Witcher? I got into The Amazing Devil from spotify recommending them because I listened to the mechs, and apparently Joey Batey from The Amazing Devil is the same Joey Batey who was in the Witcher. Both him and Madeleine Hyland are VERY talented singers and songwriters and their second album The Horror and the Wild makes me go out into the forest and SCREAM. I listened to it on repeat for like a month straight. I guess they'd also be considered folk, but like. New Folk. Also yes, this is another British artist, I don't know why I'm like this. I've never really gotten that into their first album, Love Run, but King slaps. As I understand there's this whole lore about the Blue Furious Boy and Scarlet Scarlet, Joey and Madeleine respectively, but unlike the Mechanisms it's actually possible to find out things about the actual real people and harder to find the obscure lore? I'm open for people to please help me. Fave songs are The Horror and the Wild, Farewell Wanderlust, and That Unwanted Animal, which is literally a third of their second album, but again. I haven't really listened to Love Run that much, and I just LOVE the harmonies on THATW. (also im gay and dramatic leave me alone)

4) dodie I have so much love for this woman. Like many others, I first knew dodie as doddleoddle on youtube. I think I first stumbled across her in probably 2015, because I distinctly already knew her before she released her first EP Sick of Losing Soulmates in 2016. I think I watched probably every video she's ever made in the span of a few weeks. I just loved her quiet sound and was absolutely HOOKED. Also she's actually the reason I got into MIKA originally, so thanks for that. Dodie just realeased her first album Build A Problem (in addition to her three EP's; the one mentioned above, You, and Human) and it slaps. Yes dodie is also British Fave songs are probably Monster, Rainbow, and In The Middle.

5) Cladia Boleyn Unfortunately, Claudia Boleyn only has three singles and that's it. She's been making content on youtube for quite a while, and that's how I first discovered her. I don't know what genre her music is, but I like it. The songs are Celesta, George, and Mother Maiden Crone, of which the latter is my favourite. I'm not saying Claudia Boleyn invented women in 2017 when she released Mother Maiden Crone, but she did. Also you guessed it, Claudia Boleyn is British.

6) Hozier I'm not about to tell you about Hozier. You know who he is. Listen to Nina Cried Power, Angel Of Small Death & The Codeine Scene, and Shrike. Also Hozier isn't stricly British in that he is definitely from A British Isle, but Ireland is not part of the UK. Give me a break.

7) Oh Land Oh Land IS DANISH. I like her early music best, because I'm not that into the electronic sound. I guess Oh Land is just you regular old pop, but with the occasional weird vibe? Oddly enough, I like her first album Fauna best. Unfortunately I haven't really listened to her newest album Family Tree much, but it seems good? Fave songs are Frostbite, Love You Better and Family Tree. I cried on the bus, first time I listened to the Danish version of Love You Better, Elsker Dig Mer because my mother tongue always just hits harder. Also Frostbite is Oh Land doing a duet with herself which is pretty cool.

8) Oysterband This is a live recommendation. I mean they're a decent folk band and all, but they're a fucking experience live. If you like folk and you ever get the opportunity to see Oysterband live, do it. Unfortunately, yes. They are British. Either way, they are incredible on a scene and I think they deserve a mention for that.

9) Ben Platt Honestly don't know much about this guy, but he's not British and he was in Dear Evan Hansen. He released an album in 2019, Sing To Me Instead, and I just think it's a good album, there isn't really not much more to it. Fave songs are Grow As We Go, Bad Habit, and In Case You Don't Live Forever.

and thats all for now. this has been a ramble. shout out to you if you actually read all of this, especially the mechs part.