#Love you all! happy to be returning :)

[kimtaegis]

JIN HUGS JIN HUGS! for @jinstronaut ♡

cr. namuspromised, dwellingsouls, 0613data

[christakisbang]

[ryoalouette]

Machi's Idea #4

The JL can't understand what's wrong. They did their best effort to honor the king of dead and celebrate accordingly with the most strict protocol. Yet the king seems equally dull and annoyed. The JLD knows what's going on but they decided to say nothing in the hopes that this would teach the JL a lesson. Jason tried to explain the situation but none of the "adults" (aka Batman) listened to him so he decided to get his point across by getting into a fist fight with the king. One hour later they are kissing and Jason is explaining to the JL that ghost bond through fighting.

[hecksupremechips]

Mizuki and Date though like. Imagine being 8 and your parents are filthy rich and going through a bad divorce. Your mom treats you like shit, lashing out at you, hitting you, saying she wishes you were never born all because you were behaving like a child. Your dad is more comforting, but he doesn’t do anything to stop the abuse and he spends his time invested in a completely different family, a girl who you love and look up to but he loves her more than you and it fucking shows. Then your dads new friend, some fucking bachelor in his late 20s, is just like "wow you guys are the worst fucking parents ive ever seen" and next thing you know your dad is sending you off to live with him. And it’s just a massive kick in the head cuz you go from a rich lifestyle to living in some really shitty tiny ass apartment with this guy who’s clearly never been around a child in his entire life and he doesn’t know how to behave and does a really bad job of censoring himself like he has a bunch of dirty magazines that he can’t hide very well cuz it’s literally a studio apartment and also he talks to himself sometimes, it’s really weird. He doesn’t even have the slightest clue what he’s doing

And he’s the best parent you’ve ever had

Because fuck, it all really hurts. You have to cope with having never received any love from anyone, and with the fact that your parents clearly don’t want you and can’t even be bothered to send you with anyone even kinda responsible. And this guy has a scary job with crazy hours and you don’t know anything about him and neither does he. But still, he never once hits you or tells you you’re not allowed to cry. He just gives you space and doesn’t push you to feel any sort of way about him. And sometimes, he’s even kind. He makes you some stew, even though it’s a bit chunky. He lets you sleep in the bed and takes the couch for himself, even though he complains about the massive back pain he’d never trade his spot for a second. He pays attention to events at your school and gives you your favorite stuffed animal when you make good grades, even though you called it ugly. He gets worried sick when you come home with bruises and puts on a goofy voice and trains you to defend yourself and you develop some highly deadly skills and even though it’s really abnormal, he buys you a bench press so you can get stronger. There’s this distance there, and you feel really weird caring about someone who you aren’t related to, but you find yourself wishing it was meant to be like this all along, that maybe, he’s secretly your real dad and he loves you like his real daughter

And when you say "I’m back" he says "welcome home"

[kitamars]

birthdays are just arbitrary days until someone wants chocolate

extra:

[seagull-scribbles]

“Ain’t turtles supposed to be endangered?”

“Only the ones who can’t do this!”

[every-yumichika]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YUMICHIKA!!!

these are pieces i commissioned from @drugsandsocks_ on twitter!

it's been just over a year since i posted the first panel of yumichika on this blog and alot has changed since then!! i'm excited for cours three and manifest new chapters from kubo one day soon

[somegrumpynerd]

It was one of the rare nights that Nightmare decided to actually retire to his room for the night. He didn't need sleep, with enough flow of negativity he could easily survive without it, but sometimes it was nice to just lay down and rest.

He had a dream. They were rare too, if only because he slept so infrequently, but this particular one was common for him when he did. It was about killing Dream. The ongoing war between them was constant on his mind, so it made sense it would invade his unwaking hours as well. In it, he finally managed to crush the life from his twin, in the process gaining unwavering control over the entire multiverse as he watched the other's eyelights dim.

He sat up in his bed.

He was panting. His tendrils, slowly reforming from behind him, were trembling as they hung uncertainly in the air. He realised slowly as he returned to reality that he was gripping the sheets tightly with both hands.

Panic was an emotion Nightmare had rarely been on the other side of for centuries. It took him a few long moments to even identify it from within his own soul, rotten and imprisoned under the corruption. It took him even longer to identify the part of him that he had long assumed dead, which was crying out for nothing more than to cling to his brother for comfort.

For the first time in hundreds of years, Nightmare wasn't sure what he wanted anymore.

[ibeewashere]

I genuinely cannot describe how deeply DEVASTATED I am about riz being the only one who can take stress tokens for the others. Yes fig is a protector and will fight endlessly for her friends and I love that about her but there is something about the way riz loves his friends. It’s a more subtle kind of love, but just as relentless and passionate and he will take any burden for the people he cares about and bear the weight of it on his shoulders so they don’t have to deal with it without any hesitation. I am ILL.

[feroluce]

For reasons to be expanded upon at a later date (because I love the little bits about Boothill and possible paranoia/betrayal canon gives us so very dearly HNGH) I think Boothill like... He won't let himself fall into disrepair or anything of course, but he reeeeeeeeeeally does not like letting other people poke around at his body. It's a necessary evil to him. He does whatever maintenance and repairs he can himself. He started out with a massive knowledge deficit, simply because he didn't really have any exposure to that kind of technology until he left Aeragan-Epharshal, but he's taught himself a lot since then, he worked really hard at it!

Anyway, the point being, Boothill generally isn't super trusting of people.

But I think he would come to make an exception for Himeko, since he trusts Dan Heng a lot, and Himeko is one of Dan Heng's once-in-a-lifetime dearly beloved companions.

Himeko is so unflappable, I don't think she would even bat an eye about anything he throws at her, either. Like she enters the Parlor Car one morning (she's always the first one up) and Boothill is already there, waiting for her.

"Mornin', Madam Navigator."

"Good morning, Mr. Boothill."

And despite the fact that he blatantly broke into the Express (Pom-Pom is NOT happy about this JDKSAJDSKL), Boothill tips his hat, greets her politely, and is nothing but respectful when he says he has a favor to ask of her. Except it won't stay a favor long, of course- he has every intention of paying it back.

Himeko never agrees to things blindly, but she does bring up that all the knowledge Boothill contributed during the Charmony Festival was essential to preventing the universe from being pulled into Ena's Dream. And they were able to hold onto the Jade Abacus because Boothill used Tiernan's burial relic to summon the Galaxy Rangers instead. The Astral Express owes him a debt of gratitude, and besides, he's a friend of Dan Heng's. Of course she'll try to help him.

Boothill fidgets a bit, quickly brushes off the thanks, and tells Himeko he's having a problem with error codes. He keeps getting the same one, seemingly at random times, but the darn thing has no obvious cause. Dan Heng mentioned Himeko had been the one to rebuild the Astral Express. He knows it ain't the same, but it's not like he's askin' for any major repairs or nothin'. He was wonderin' if she could just take a look, maybe offer him some insight, since she seems to be somethin' of a mechanical wonder.

So Himeko walks him back to a another car, where she goes to tinker with machines without them crowding her bedroom. It's all neatly laid out and organized, and it only takes a second for Himeko to locate some specific device with a long cord. Instead of plugging it in herself, she holds the end of it out to him, like an offer rather than a demand, and Boothill visibly relaxes a bit. He still eyes it just a little warily for a second, but he accepts and plugs it into the port on his side.

Himeko pulls up the list of all recent errors, and they really are all the same. Boothill has had multiple temperature alarms over the past couple of weeks since the Charmony Festival, and they know it's not the environment, because Penacony is mostly dreamscape and kept mild year-round. The long-forgotten natural deserts are too far away.

Boothill is staring from the corner of his one good eye, so Himeko turns the hologram to let him see what she's doing easier. They don't appear to be false alarms. His internal temperature spikes and then slowly lowers again, high enough that if it lasted it would eventually cause damage.

One option is for her to start rooting through personal data, figuring out what he was doing at the time of each code, and tracing cause and correlation.

Instead, Himeko reads out the timestamps, and asks Boothill if he minds sharing what was happening around him when it occured.

Two weeks ago: He and Dan Heng went to explore Dreamflux Reef and found a bar- nice place, good atmosphere. Woman runnin’ it was a doll. Boothill left fer not even two minutes to get them drinks (Dan Heng knows like nothin’ about liquor, Madam Navigator, can you believe this guy) and when he came back, someone had already stolen his seat and was hittin’ on Dan Heng! Dan Heng didn't even care, just shooed ‘em off. Boothill laughed and said not to let him get in his way if he wanted to meet someone. Dan Heng looked at him like he'd grown a second head. Why would he want to leave with someone else, when he came here to be with Boothill?

Twelve days ago: While laying low- er, just rustlin’ up some grub- in the Moment of Blue, Boothill passed Dan Heng with March and Caelus playin’ on the beach, buildin’ sandcastles and the like. When he passed by again almost two hours later, they were still out there, with Dan Heng pullin’ March through the water on her inner tube and Caelus hangin’ off the back of it. He swam so fast! You'd think he was part water snake or somethin’. He looked happier ‘n a cat in a sunbeam… He has a nice smile, doesn't he?

Eleven days ago: Boothill was killin’ time in Dreamflux Reef when he turned the corner down a shady alley and saw Dan Heng, surrounded by three men demandin’ “protection money.” None of ‘em stood a chance, they were all on the ground before Boothill even blinked! So cool! Boothill wants to see that spear of his closeup- Anyway, Dan Heng stepped on one of ‘em on his way out, hahaha! Boothill stepped on the same guy a second time as he hurried to catch up.

Eight days ago: Here on the Express, actually. Boothill had mentioned bein’ curious about the archives, and Dan Heng personally invited him.

(“I remember that day, I saw you in the hall.” “Was there any problem with the heating that day?” “No, none. I don't think the temperature has anything to do with these error codes. I have a different theory, keep going.” “If ya say so.”)

Boothill was fascinated by an entry on aeons, and from a single question he asked about Lan, the two of ‘em ended up talkin’ fer hours. About aeons and Paths and Emanators, Acheron and Self-Annihilators, the Sea of Nihility, Tiernan, the Nameless and the Galaxy Rangers, their burial relics and their customs. Dan Heng finally just started writin’ and editin’ the entries in real time, with Boothill pointin’ things out and tellin’ him what to add in. They were at it so late that Boothill ended up sleepin' on a couch in one of the cars.

He'd figured there had to be something to make Dan Heng chatty- he'd caught just a glimpse of it that first night they met, sittin’ at the bar in the Reverie together. He'll have to ask about the archives more often, if it gets him all revved up like that.

One week ago: After that night of energetic discussion, Dan Heng was apparently hyped up, because after he'd downed some of Himeko's coffee (“You had some too, right? What did you think of it?” “It was great, even better'n chewin’ bullets!” "Thank you! That was my newest brew, I can't wait for everyone else to try it.") he actually asked Boothill to go hunting with him. Boothill asked who their target was, and was surprised when Dan Heng pulled out photos that looked like they were from March's camera, of all things, instead of a bounty or wanted poster.

And as he sat there, studying these pictures, Dan Heng explained that he wanted to hunt down these specific memory zone memes to record them into the archives. Planets with so much memoria are a rarity, especially with the Stellaron's activity thrown into the mix, which has surely affected the local “wildlife.” He might not get another opportunity like this for a long time. And Boothill had talked last night about his extensive expertise in tracking and hunting, so he should have plenty to offer here, Dan Heng would like to learn from his experience and see how he does things!

And oh, Madam Navigator, by the time Dan Heng was done speakin', his eyes were practically sparklin'! Just lit up like the sun! Boothill could scarcely believe it! The two of them couldn't even wait another day, they set out that very morning. It had been a long, long while since Boothill had tracked someone- er, somethin’- without the intent to capture or kill. It was…actually really nice. Nostalgic, but in a good way. It might even have been his favorite day on Penacony…so…far…

Boothill trails off as a couple of realizations crash into him. All the temperature alarms he's spoken about thus far- they've all happened in the company of Dan Heng. And now that he's thinking about it, he's pretty sure even the ones he hasn't yet talked about were with him, too. Dan Heng has been responsible for all of his error codes, every. single. one.

The screen in front of Himeko suddenly refreshes to the top of the list, displaying a new notification for the current time. Alert! Core temperature above normal range.

Himeko's knowing smile is sly as a snake.

Wwwwwelp, would ya look at the time, Boothill has some errands to meet, people to run, y’know how it is, he should really get goin'-

“Oh, Mr. Boothill? About that favor.” And Boothill jolts to a stop in the doorway because fudge, he can't just leave without hearing her out. He'd given his word. He has no problem running out on someone he thinks deserves it, but Himeko really had been kind to him to try and help him out. Her voice is just as knowing as her smile, Boothill can't turn around to look at her, or else he knows he won't be able to disguise the sound of his cooling fans kicking on.

“Don't make Dan Heng wait too long, ok~?”

“Y-Yes, ma'am.”

[omaano]

I wish I had pushed the angle on this one a little more to match what I'd imagined for this scene from the end of chapter 14 of Mand'alor Cabur by @nautilicious but at this point stubborness has kicked in and I've dug in my heals so this is what I'm working with! In other news I've picked my birthday project for this year, and in my post-vacation optimism I see a chance to get this at least to a lines-and-flats (and maybe even some lighting???) stage by the end of next week, which would be very great for me! That is if the green background doesn't completely sabotage me in the process...

[luck-of-the-drawings]

smth smth about 'the thing that the character did that you thought was rly rly funny in the moment is actually linked to a terrible trauma that lies within said character.' or wahtever.

[amethystpath-writes]

P2 Spare Him

Part 1 here

HIII HOW R U? SORRY, IT'S JUST YOUR NEWEST WRITING THE "Spare him" ONE WAS JUST SO LOVELY (Actually, all of your writings are ✨amazing✨) AND MY CURIOSITY IS PEAKED- PLEASE MAKE A PT 2?? (If you don't want to that's okay!)

Hope you're doing well, Thank you and have a great day <333

---

omg hi! so i just read your snippet “spare him” and it’s sooo good! i was wondering if you could continue it?

---

(A/N): Thank you both!! You guys are too sweet <3 Buckle in, this is a long one :)

******

Hero was silent as Villain led her down various corridors of his palace. He had left his audience of council members without a word, and cued his guard to follow along with his free hand. Now, Hero just wondered where they were going. She expected Villain would keep her locked up with the petty thieves and criminals, but they were going up stairs, not down.

She focused on Villain's fingers as they walked, and it wasn't until now that she noticed his knuckles were pink instead of white. He loosened his grip. When? Hero wasn't sure, but this sight was more familiar than the calloused king in the throne room. This touch, this lead, was welcoming, but she couldn't become accustomed to it again. It would be too foolish.

"You may leave us," Villain stated as the three of them approached a door on the right side of a long hall. There were four more doors past the one they stood at, and two behind, while the left side of the hall held the same seven doors.

"Your Majesty-"

"You may leave." Not a request, a demand. This tone would never be usual to Hero. It would never be the tone she expected to hear. His tone hurt, a quill against the drum of her ear, sharp and stinging and sudden. It made her stomach turn.

The guard didn't attempt to argue further. Hero wanted to ask, Would you have hurt him if he didn't leave? Would you have killed him for disobeying? Alas, she remained silent.

Anger would have better suit her situation. Screaming and demanding, beating Villain's chest with her fists. She wished to have her childlike rage back, when her brothers would mix mud into her perfumes or ripping her teabag when she wasn't looking so she would get a mouthful of herbs upon her next drink. Oh, they made her furious.

More than nothing else, she wanted this fury. Instead, she had become tame over the years, questioning her emotions before responding to them. Sometimes, she pondered so long that she couldn't even react in the face of her brother's murder. Sometimes, that was today.

She strode through the now-open door, not even noticing that Villain had entirely released her, walking in alone and leaving her alone in the hall. He didn't demand she follow, just waited with his back against a bedframe that stretched to the ceiling.

Walking into the room further, she noticed an abundance of decorations: tapestries on the walls, rugs beneath the bed and desk, and wooden knickknacks...knickknacks. Those were from Hero; she gave them to him during his last visit, before...

"You kept them."

Looking to Villain, he only nodded. In the throne room, amusement lit Villain's eyes. Now, Hero couldn't see his eyes at all. He wouldn't look at her, much less meet her curious gaze. "He asked me to," he finally said, ignoring her remark about his knickknacks altogether.

"What?"

"Close the door."

Hero obliged, shutting it with a soft thunk. She stood by the door, still, feeling safer by it than being any closer to Villain than need be. He was going to have me executed.

"Your brother. It was the only way to stall your father."

"Villain, what are you talking about?" Whatever it was, could she even trust what he said? Her palms were sweating with anticipation of what he would say next.

"I didn't believe him at first- i didn't want to, but he had these letters, and they had your faither's stamp." Villain's back left the bedpost as he began pacing about the room. His demeanor was panicked, and Hero felt her emotions arising without the time to process them. Tears welled in her eyes, and in her confusion, she wasn't sure why.

"Villain, stop. Stop, I don't know what you're saying." Hero reached behind her to touch the door, to feel anything solid.

"Do you remember my father falling ill." Hero shook her head, despite her recollections. Villain's father had fallen ill upon their last visit to Hero's kingdom. The king came down with fevers and hallucinations. He spoke of his heart beating as quickly as horses' hooves running into battle. He fell into a sleep one day, and though Hero expected a sweat to break across his forehead, one never did. Her own father grimaced and cold it a case of bad weather. It had been dreary and cold, after all.

"My father was poisoned. It wasn't the rain, Hero."

"Did you see it happen?"

"No, but your brother-"

Horror clutched Hero's heart. "Is that why you killed him. You thought he killed your father?" Hero didn't doubt that his father may have been killed, but by her older brother? "You are despicable and you..." She was already pushing the door open, ready to leave, to dart down any hall she had to in order to leave. Learning her brother was killed for nothing almost felt as though he was being killed again.

"Hero, listen to me." His body was in front of her in a flash and his arm held the door. "It was your father, and your brother knew it."

"Nothing you are saying is making any sense. My father would never kill the king of another country without good reason. We were betrothed, Villain." Betrothed since Hero was born; they're kingdoms were always meant to become allies. It wouldn't make since for her father to kill Villain's. There was already an alliance.

"I know, I know. The pieces are scattered. Your brother's words were lost on me, too, but come here. I have the letters from your father."

Hero was reluctant to leave the door she stood by. She didn't trust Villain well enough to leave her one and only escape behind. But then...where would she escape to? Villain had always been faster than her when growing up, and that was as children playing games, not kings chasing runaway prisoners.

Villain seemed to pick up on her hesitancy because he volunteered, "I can bring them to you?" He was already at his desk, clutching papers between trembling hands. His gaze was soft, and Hero found her own gaze meeting the knickknacks on his desk again. Was it possible he was the same boy now that Hero gave those to then?

She nodded.

Villain's jaw clenched as he turned his head to the side with closed eyes. His expression spoke of pain. Hero watched the lump in his throat bob before he gently shook his head, opened his eyes, and began to walk over.

Her palms were hot as she clenched her fists and her shoulders ached with the tenseness strung between them. A knot formed in her throat, as large as Villain's adam's apple. She thought she was going to choke on it as Villain's arm brushed her own. He was leaning in, holding the papers out in front of either of them.

"I'm going to share these with you, but you can't speak about it outside of this room." He paused before gently asking, "Do you understand?"

Again, Hero nodded voicelessly. She felt as though she was in a dream, a sick dream which haunted her, gripped her throat, and wouldn't let her go. Was this real? Was any of this real?

"Your brother found these, trying to play a harmless prank on your father- stuff feathers in his boots; you know how he was."

And so Hero did. She almost felt a smile tug at her lips. She could imagine the scene:

Everyone would be in their chambers, bathing, and dressing for the night. Hero would be on her balcony, looking at the moon, stars, and clouds. Her sweet and mischievous brother would poke his head out of his own door and warn her to stay inside.

‘What did you do now?’ she would ask him.

He would smile and say, ‘Stop worrying, won’t you?’

‘Father is going to have enough of you one of these days.’ Did he? Was Villain telling the truth? It wouldn't explain why villain was the one that killed her brother, but maybe there trily was more to the story than a senseless betrayal.

"-council is fitting for my style of ruling. You are blunt, unlike my own family and council.”

"Wait, wait I wasn't listening." Without thinking, she took the papers from Villain's hands, brushing her fingers against his own. She read and read until, “One of my lords has a garden for the Assassin’s Keep. My wife has always found the flowers unknowingly pretty; it would not be difficult to harvest some…But the lord’s garden is poison.” This last sentence was Hero’s own. “He has been keeping poison in his chambers so acclimate her to their beauty. She would have never thought differently of them.”

“Keep reading,” Villain encouraged.

“I don’t-” Hero couldn’t read any more. Where would it lead? If she kept reading and learned her father really did want to kill Hero family off- “I left my brother, Villain. I have to go back for him.”

Hero turned on a heel, papers clutched tightly in her fist. As her hand reached the door, Villain’s hand stopped her.

“I can’t let you go back.”

“Villain-”

“I will send someone to search for your brother, but it’s not safe for you to return.”

“But he has no one to-”

“For all we know, your father has already started a search party, and what do you think they will do when they find you?”

Well, Hero hadn’t considered that. If her father did want her dead, whatever soldier was in charge of finding her wouldn’t bring her home; they would kill her on the spot, say they found her dead in the woods- much like her own father possibly blaming the king’s death on the weather. It reminded her…She circled back to Villain’s desk with the papers still in hand. Hero thought now, if Villain truly was the nefarious one in all this, well, she was alive now, wasn’t she? Maybe there was some truth behind his words.

“What does your father have to do with this?” she mumbled as she skimmed. “Here.” Hero wasn’t sure why she was pointing it out as if Villain didn’t already know. In any case, she began to read aloud again. “The king is soft- focused too heavily on friendliness than actually protecting his people…Who is this even addressed to?” In her frenzy, Hero didn’t even think to look until now.

Gods, where was her mind? She was once a child full of reactions, then a young lady with a reserved mind, then a daughter- now sister- in mourning, then a prisoner kneeling beneath a sword, and now a woman so desperate for the truth that she couldn’t think straight to retrieve it.

She skimmed the words as she flipped back to the beginning. Surely, the papers were out of order by now. Hero certainly wasn’t keeping track.

“Villain, you killed him.” She slammed the papers down. Hero couldn’t let herself forget this no matter who was involved. Villain still killed her brother. None of these letters could explain that.

Villain drew a breath at this time. “How about I leave you here tonight? You can look at your father’s letters without me breathing down your neck.”

Hero looked up. “Will you be back?”

“Before morning.” Villain nodded to the vastness of the room. “It’s not appropriate to emerge from a room that is not his.”

This was Villain’s room. It made sense; he had a nice desk, rugs, wall decor, a large bed, the knick-knacks Hero gifted him, amongst many other things. It looked much like Hero’s room back at home. But, “Why have the king’s chambers in the middle of the hall?”

“My council said it’s an unpredictable location. Among their own hall, I’ll never be expected.” His lips drew tight and his nose wrinkled as his brows pinched. “Personally, I think it puts me more at risk. After all, a council is not made up of soldiers.”

“Why would your own council put you in that position?”

He shrugged. “Keep reading. I will see you before sunrise. Best you lock the door when you leave.”

“Where will you sleep?”

“Recently, it’s easier for me to sleep with my eyes open. Rummage as you will. My room was always meant to be yours anyway.”

Betrothed. Villain and Hero were always meant to marry. It was meant to unite their kingdoms. If it was already agreed upon, and Hero and Villain were even in agreement, why would her father throw it all away?

She looked to the papers on the desk, sprawled out where she had thrown them. “The key?”

“Look around what you’re familiar with.”

Thoughtlessly, she lifted two of the three knick-knacks. Under one was a small key.

“I’ll slide a clover under the door when I’m ready to come in. Don’t open the door for anyone else.” He turned his back to her, and left with a final, “Sleep well, Hero,” in his wake.

[vaguely-concerned]

one thing I have to keep reremembering every time I'm playing a soulslike/similar kind of difficult game -- and that I wish I could internalize elsewhere in my life as well -- is that you always, always have to suffer through the long dark of an inexplicable failcringe era before you can emerge into a fresh new dawn of competence. faceplanting into humiliating failure in ways you hadn't even conceived of before on a loop can sometimes be the herald of great and wondrous things to come soon. don't be so quick to abandon yourself in the early murk of daybreak because you think you just suck!!!

[winteriron-trash]

rdj the (whitewashed) electric boogaloo

This is a reminder to everyone who's excited about RDJ's casting as Doctor Doom that this casting is whitewashing. Victor Von Doom is a Romani character and has been a Romani character since his introduction in the 1960s. (Fantastic Four Annual #2 [1964]) Not only that, but his Roma identity and the persecution he and his family faced due to it is integral to his character, it is what forms his identity. (Books of Doom by Ed Brubaker) Even if on the off chance this casting is meant to not be Victor but instead be some variant of Tony or whomever else becoming Doctor Doom, it is damaging to the character to rob him of that important cultural background. Doctor Doom does not exist without that history. Fans have been pushing hard to cast Doom as a Romani actor for years, especially since the MCU has whitewashed other Romani characters. (Wanda, Pietro, etc) This casting is not a celebration moment, it's fucking heartbreaking that the MCU repeatedly ignores the important and nuanced cultural backstories of characters.

I know I can't change anybody's mind on whether or not you want to be excited about RDJ's return to the MCU. But I do think at the very least you should be mad that the MCU is baiting us all and destroying nuanced and interesting characters for the sake of self-referential easter eggs and nostalgia bait. Because that's what it is. Feel how you'd like to feel about RDJ's return, but personally, this is soul-sucking. I had such a deep love for the MCU as a teenager, it was obviously something incredibly formative to me, especially Tony Stark. This isn't recreating what I fell in love with the MCU for. This is turning a well-planned and artistic storyline of adaptations into cheap cash grabs and fan service. Because, I think we're past the point of being able to call the MCU an adaptation of anything. They can use existing characters' names and powers, but to say they're being properly adapted is laughable.

This is not an adaptation of Doctor Doom. This is RDJ the Electric Boogaloo because Marvel's fear of losing the interest of dedicated MCU fans overrides their willingness to tell stories that are genuine to the characters. I don't know what there is to be excited about that. The MCU has lost its authenticity and aside from a few projects, feels heartless. Every movie is a copy of a copy. This announcement isn't something celebratory, it feels like a death knell of a cinematic universe that's so desperate to cling to relevancy it's resorting to nostalgia for a character/actor who hasn't even been dead for a decade. We're not getting anything new, we're just rinsing and repeating the same song and dance.

I get it. I love Tony Stark, his death destroyed me and I to this day, rue the ending he got in Endgame. It misunderstood his arc and it robbed him of a satisfying conclusion. But the solution to that isn't dragging the corpse out of the grave five years later to whitewash an existing character with rich and interesting nuance, just to forcibly tie his existence in the MCU to Tony. Whether he is a variant or not. Why would you want someone else's fave's legacy to be destroyed simply so your fave's legacy can go on? Hell, if we were really all so hellbent on the return of RDJ and/or Tony to the MCU, we have the multiverse for a reason. There were other ways to do it that didn't whitewash and ruin someone else. This just. Isn't something to be happy about.

[hailsatanacab]

chapter three!!

did you guys survive chapter 2? Danny did!! if only barely 😬

there's markedly less gore in this chapter, thank goodness, and now Alfred gets to explain what on earth he was thinking about signing a contract like that??? Alfred??? Explain???