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xenoblade-chronicles-brackets · 4 months ago

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The entry list is complete

I said that I might have a hard time finding 40 entries with which to pad myself. Well, as it turns out, once I started, I had a hard time stopping, and had to restrain myself to not overshoot the 256.

So on top of the 216 user submitted tracks, I also have 40 of my own submissions. The bracket will be seeded on YouTube views, but I will however default to seeding my 40 submissions lower than your 216 user submissions.

Actual bracket (hopefully) soon to come.

User submitted tracks

46:ri-9

A Faint Hope

A Formidable Enemy

A Friend on My Mind

A Life Become Distant

A Life Overflowing

A Life Sent On

A Life Sent On (Flutes)

A Life Woven Together

A Moment of Eternity

A nopon’s life

A Step Away

A Tragic Decision

aBOreSSs

After Despair and Hope(Final Boss Theme)

Agniratha (Day)

Agniratha (Night) (XC1)

Agnus Battle

Agnus Castle Day

agnus colony (night)

Alcamoth, Imperial Capital (Night)

An Obstacle in Our Path (XC1)

At Our Life's End

Battle In The Skies Above

Battle on the Seas

Battle!! - Torna

Battle!! (xenoblade 2)

Battlefield ~ The Scramble of Life

Beyond the Sky

Beyond the Sky (acoustic arrangement) XC1 FC

Bionis Shoulder

Bionis’ Awakening

Black Tar

Blade~Those Who Know Fear

Brilliant Wings

Bringer of Chaos! Ultimate (XC2)

By My Side

Carrying the Weight of Life

cent-omnia region (day)

Central Factory - Xenoblade Chronicles DE

Chain Attack!

City Day

Colony 6 - Future

Colony 9 (Day)

Colony 9 (Night)

Contrition

Converging Emotions

Counterattack

Crisis

Death Match With Torna

Desolation

Don't Worry

Drifting Soul

Drifting Soul(Instrumental)

Driver VS

Elysium In The Dream

Elysium, In the Blue Sky

Engage the Enemy

Eryth Sea (Day)

Eryth Sea (Night)

Erythia Sea Day

Ever Come to an End

Everyday Life (XC1)

Face

Feelings Risen to the Sky

Feelings Upon This Melody

Field Kaijou

Fogbeasts (Future Connected)

Forest of the Nopon (Day)

Forest of the Nopon (Night)

Four-limbed Titan - Gormott

Friendship

Frontier Village (Day)

frontier village (Night)

Future Awaits

Gaur Plain (Day)

Gaur Plain (Night)

Gramps (Fonsett Village) Night/Day XC2

Great Cotte Falls (Day)

Great Cotte Falls (Night)

Homecoming

Hometown (Day)

Hometown (night)

hope for the future

How the Future Endures

Impending Crisis

In the forest (XZ ver,)

In the Refugee Camp

Incoming! (XC2)

Iris Network

Irregular Bound

Jump Towards the Morning Sun

Kaleidoscopic Core

Keves Battle

Kingdom of Uraya

Land of Morytha

Lasaria Woodland-Day

Life's Fading Flame ~ Holding These Thoughts

Loneliness

Lost Days of Warmth

Majesty

Malevolent Hollow

Manon

Mechanical Rhythm

Mechonis Field

melancholia

Melia ~ Ancient Memories

Memories

Millick Meadows (Day)

MNN + @0 (both halfs)

Mobius Battle M

Moebius Battle

Mor Ardain - Roaming the Wastes

New Battle!!!

Nia ~ Towards the Heavens

NLA Shigai

no3=NO.EX01

no4=D91M

no6=LP

no9=MONOX

Noah and N (Phase 1)

Noah and N (Phase 2)

Oblivia

off seer crys

off seer mio

off seer miyabi

off seer noah

Off-Seer - Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Once We Part Ways

One Last You

Origin Ascending

Origin Battle

Our Eternal Land

Our Paths May Never Cross

Over Despair and Animus

Over the Sinful Entreaty

Parting

Past From Far Distance

Praetor Amalthus- The Acting God

Prologue A

Prologue B

Rage, Darkness of the Heart

raTEoREkiSImeAra

Redeem The Future

Regret

Reminiscence

ribbi flats (day)

Riki the Legendary Heropon

Riki’s Kindness

Roar from Beyond

Satorl Marsh (Night)

Shadow of the Lowlands

Shining Aspiration ~ Inherited Melody

Ship In A Stormy Sea

Shulk and Fiora

So nah, so fern

Soldier's Paean

Something's Beginning to Move

Sorrow

Still, Move Forward

Suffocating Reverberation

Syra Hovering Reefs Day

Tactical Action

Tantal (Day)

Tantal (Night)

Tephra Cave

The Awakening (XC2)

The Battle is Upon Us

The Beginning of Our Memory

The Bereaved and Those Left Behind

the bereaved and those left behind (ver. 2)

The Decision

The End Lies Ahead

The Fallen Land

The False Queens

The God Slaying Sword

The Great Sea Stirs

The key we've lost

The Monado Awakens

The Power of Jin

The Tomorrow With You

the way (xenoblade x)

Theme X

Thoughts Enshrined

Time to Fight (Bionis' Shoulder)

Time to Fight!

Torigoth/Night

Uncontrollable

Unfinsihed Business

Urgency

Valak Mountain (Day)

valak mountain (Night)

Walking With You

Wanted Nia

Where it All Began - Xenoblade Chronicles 2

Where We Belong

Where We Used To Be

White All Around Us

Wir Fleigen

Words That Never Reached You

Xenoblade Chronicles Main Theme

yesterdale (night)

You Will Know Our Names

You Will Know Our Names (Finale)

You Will Recall Our Names

Young Warriors

Your Voice

Z10 Briefing

z15f20i12e09l14d (first half, aka Celica's theme)

z15f20i12e09l14d (Second half, aka Divine Roost)

z15f20i12e09l14d (Vocal Stem)

z29ba2t0t1l301e17 (z29 battle)

Z30 Free Battle

z37b20a13t01t08le

Z39 B Comical

Zanza the Divine

My own additions

Argentum (Day)

Argentum (Night)

Auresco, Royal Capital

Bionis' Interior (Pulse)

Bionis' Shoulder (Night)

Black Mountains

Cent-Omnia Region (Night)

Cliffs of Morytha

Colony 6 - Ether Mine

Crossing Swords

Enemies Closing In

Eye of Shining Justice

Fonsa Myma (Night)

Galahad Fortress

Gormott (Night)

Gormotti Forest

Gran Dell (Night)

Hidden Machina Village

Hope

Immediate Threat

Kingdom of Torna (Night)

Kingdom of Uraya (Night)

Leftheria Archipelago (Day)

Leftheria Archipelago (Night)

Omens of Life

Prison Island

Song of Giga Rosa

Spirit Crucible Elpys

Sword Valley (Night)

Tension

The Abandoned City

The Fallen Land (Night)

The Towering Yggdrasil

Towering Shadow

Ultimate Enemy

Urayan Tunnels

Visions of the Future

Yesterdale (Day)

Yggdrasil

You Will Know Our Names Finale (Climax)

#xenoblade chronicles #xenoblade #poll bracket #tumblr bracket

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worstqueerbaittournament · 2 years ago

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Submission list

organised by @kindalikerackham (THANK YOU)

This is a list of all of the submissions. It will be updated continuously. Italics are still being decided in the polls, crossed out have been decided on “no”, bold have been decided on “yes”

By character name (or ship name if given)

Akira Kurusu and Goro Akechi from Persona 5 Royal

Alix from Miraculous Ladybug

Allison and Patti from Kevin Can F**k himself

Anna and Marnie from When Marnie was There

baron draxum and master splinter rise of the tmnt 2018

Batman and Joker/ Bruce and John Doe from Batman Telltale

Beca and Chloe from Pitch Perfect

Beca from Pitch Perfect

Betty and Veronica from Riverdale

Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiaolong, aka Bumbleby from RWBY

Blitzen and Hearthstone from Magnus Chase

Buck and Eddie from 9-1-1

Chad/Ryan from High School Musical

Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr (aka Professor X and Magneto) from anything X-Men

Cory and Naveed from Ackley Bridge

Dani Ramos and Grace from Terminator Dark Fate

Darling Charming and Apple White from Ever After High

Dean Winchester

Destiel

Drs House & Wilson from House MD

emma woods/emily dyer from identity v

Faberry from glee!(Rachel Berry + Quinn Fabray)

Fuffy, faith and buffy from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Finn and Poe from Star Wars

Firestar and Greystripe from Warriors

foot clan lieutenant and brute rise of the tmnt 2018

Ginji Amano & Ban Midou from GetBackers

goro majima and kazuma kiryu - Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku

Grif and Simmons from Red vs. Blue

Hannibal and will from Hannibal tv show

H.G. Wells and Myka Bering from Warehouse 13

Hikaru Sulu from Star Trek Beyond

hypnopotamus and warren stone rise of the tmnt 2018

Ineffable Husbands from Good Omens

Jade and Bella from Rainbow High

Jade and Tori (Victorious)

Jake Peralta (Brooklyn 99)

Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles from Rizzoli&Isles TV series

Janis from Mean Girls

Jeremy and Michael from Be More Chill

Jess/Jules from Bend It Like Beckham

Johnathan Harker and Dracula from Dracula (Netflix)

Johnathan Harker and Dracula from Dracula (1897)

Juleka and Rose from Miraculous Ladybug

Julian Bashir and Elim Garak from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Jun and Tatsuya from Persona 2

Kaoru Nishimi and Sentarou Kawabuchi from Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon)

kanji/naoto from persona 4

keith and lance from voltron

Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk from Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

klavier and apollo from ace attorney

L and Light from Death Note

legolas and gimli from lotr

Legoshi and Louis from Beastars

leo and adam from tatort saarbrücken

lightcannon, Jinx and Lux from league of legends

Loki from The Loki show

Luca & Alberto from Luca

Luigi and Bowser from the Mario movie

marc and nathaniel from miraculous

Masumi Itachi from blue flag

Matsuoka rin and haru from Free!

Max from Miraculous Ladybug

Mel and Naomi from Vermonia

merthur (merlin and Arthur from the BBC show merlin

Milo and Bisco from Sabikui Bisco

Mobius and Loki from the Loki show

nana komatsu/nana osaki from nana

narumitsu - Ace Attorney

Naruto and Sasuke

Newt and Hermann from Pacific Rim

Nina and Lily from the movie Black Swan

Peggy Carter & Angie Martinelli from Agent Carter

Quentin and Eliot - The Magicians

Ravenpaw and Barely from warrior cats

Raya & Namaari from Raya and the Last Dragon

rei and nagisa from Free!

Sam and Max

Sam and Bucky from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Sherlock and John Watson from BBC Sherlock

Sherlock and Moriarty from BBC Sherlock

Shiro and Adam from voltron

shiro and keith from voltron

sophie and agatha from The School of Good and Evil

Spirk (Spock and Kirk) from Star Trek The Original Series

Spirk (Spock and Kirk) from Star Trek the reboot movies

Sterek (Stiles and Derek from Teen Wolf)

Steve and Bucky from Captain America

Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams from Hawaii 5-0 (the 2010 version)

stiles stilinski from teen wolf

Supercorp! Lena and Kara from Supergirl!

Superman and Batman from the DCEU

SwanQueen (Regina Mills/Emma Swan from Once Upon a Time)

Sylvie from Loki

Thiel and Boerne from Tatort Münster

Thomas & Newt from the maze runner

troy barnes and abed nadir from community

wednesday and enid from wednesday

Yumihisu (Ymir x Historia Reiss) from Attack on Titan

yu/yosuke from persona 4

Zari and Charlie from Legends of Tomorrow

Zoro and sanji - one piece

By Property:

9-1-1 - Buck and Eddie

ace attorney - klavier and apollo

Ace Attorney - narumitsu

Ackley Bridge - Cory and Naveed

Agent Carter - Peggy Carter & Angie Martinelli

Attack on Titan - Yumihisu (Ymir x Historia Reiss)

Batman Telltale - Batman and Joker/ Bruce and John Doe

Beastars - Legoshi and Louis

Be More Chill - Jeremy and Michael

Bend It Like Beckham - Jess/Jules

Black Swan - Nina and Lily

blue flag - Masumi Itachi

Brooklyn 99 - Jake Peralta

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Fuffy (faith and buffy)

Captain America - Steve and Bucky

community - troy barnes and abed nadir

DCEU - Superman and Batman

Dracula (1897) - Johnathan Harker and Dracula

Dracula (Netflix) - Johnathan Harker and Dracula

Ever After High - Darling Charming and Apple White

Free! - Matsuoka rin and haru

Free!- rei and nagisa

GetBackers - Ginji Amano & Ban Midou

Glee - Faberry (Rachel Berry + Quinn Fabray)

Good Omens - Ineffable Husbands

Hannibal (tv) - Hannibal and will

Hawaii 5-0 (2010) - Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams

High School Musical - Chad/Ryan

House MD - Drs House & Wilson

identity v - emma woods/emily dyer

Kevin Can F**k himself - Allison and Patti

Kids on the Slope (Sakamichi no Apollon) - Kaoru Nishimi and Sentarou Kawabuchi

league of legends - Jinx and Lux

Legends of Tomorrow - Zari and Charlie

Loki show - Mobius and Loki

Loki show - Loki

Loki show - Sylvie

lotr - legolas and gimli

Luca - Luca & Alberto

Magnus Chase - Blitzen and Hearthstone

Mario Movie - Luigi and Bowser

Mean Girls - Janis

Merlin (BBC) - merthur (merlin and Arthur)

Miraculous Ladybug - Alix

Miraculous Ladybug - Juleka and Rose

Miraculous ladybug - marc and nathaniel

Miraculous ladybug - Max

nana - nana komatsu/nana osaki from

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint - Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk

Once Upon a Time - SwanQueen (Regina Mills/Emma Swan )

one piece - Zoro and sanji

Pacific Rim - Newt and Hermann

Persona 2 - Jun and Tatsuya

persona 4 - yu/yosuke

persona 4 - kanji/naoto

Persona 5 Royal - Akira Kurusu and Goro Akechi

Pitch Perfect - Beca

Pitch Perfect - Beca and Chloe

Quentin and Eliot - the Magicians

Rainbow High - Jade and Bella

Raya and the Last Dragon - Raya & Namaari

Red vs Blue - Grif and Simmons

Rise of the TMNT 2018 - baron draxum and master splinter

Rise of the TMNT 2018 - foot clan lieutenant and brute

Rise of the TMNT 2018 - hypnopotamus and warren stone

Riverdale - Betty and Veronica

Rizzoli&Isles TV series - Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles

RWBY - Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiaolong, aka Bumbleby

Sabikui Bisco - Milo and Bisco

Sam and Max - Sam and Max

Sherlock (BBC) - Sherlock and John Watson

Sherlock (BBC) - Sherlock and Moriarty

Star Trek AOS - Spirk (Spock and Kirk)

Star Trek Beyond - Hikaru Sulu

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Julian Bashir and Elim Garak

Star Trek TOS - Spirk (Spock and Kirk)

Star Wars - Finn and Poe

Supergirl - Supercorp! Lena and Kara

Supernatural - Dean Winchester

Supernatural - Destiel

Tatort Münster - Thiel and Boerne

tatort saarbrücken - leo and adam

Teen Wolf - Sterek (Stiles and Derek)

teen wolf - stiles stilinski

Terminator Dark Fate - Dani Ramos and Grace

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Sam and Bucky

The Magicians - Quentin and Eliot

the maze runner - Thomas & Newt

The School of Good and Evil - sophie and agatha

Vermonia - Mel and Naomi

Victorious - Jade and Tori

Voltron - keith and lance

Voltron - Shiro and Adam

Voltron - shiro and keith

Warehouse 13 - H.G. Wells and Myka Bering

warrior cats - Ravenpaw and Barely

Warriors - Firestar and Greystripe

wednesday - wednesday and enid

When Marnie Was There - Anna and Marnie

X-Men (any) - Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr (aka Professor X and Magneto)

Yakuza/Ryu Ga Gotoku - goro majima and kazuma kiryu

#submission #tournament

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loki-is-my-kink-awakening · 2 years ago

Note

G, O, T for your ask game!

Thank you so much for these asks. This really got my brain thinking and, well, the following happened.

G - Do you remember your first OTP, if so who was in it

My first conscious "they are perfect for one another and must be together" was Lokius. I know there have been other ships that have crossed my mind in the past, but I never gave it much thought, my brain hyper focusing on "keeping myself busy" because of trauma.

Now I've had therapy, I can spend all the time devoting my brain to thinking about Lokius (and other ships) because it makes me happy.

But I do remember being frustrated by Mulder and Scully dancing around each other and thought Xena and Gabrielle should be together.

O - Choose a song at random, which ship or character does it remind you of

Lmao, I clicked on my "On Repeat" Spotify playlist and selected random play. It picked this.

You and I both know I've been listening to this A LOT recently.

And in truth, I see connections with the following ships because, clearly, I have a type.

🎵 Half in the shadows, half burned in flames

Priley—because, duh, they kinda have to stay out of the sun, but also the push and pull of their relationship.

🎵 If I could take your hand, oh, if you could understand

That I can barely breathe, the air is thin, I fear the fall and where we'll land

Lokius—because of that scene in episode 6 where Loki has lost everything. 😭😭😭

🎵 We can't look back for nothin', take what you need, say your goodbyes

I gave you everything, and it's a beautiful crime

Geraskier—and my poor Jaskier's broken heart after the mountain breakup 😭😭😭

🎵 Leaving the things we lost, oh, leaving the ones we've crossed

I have to make an end so we begin, to save my soul at any cost

Steddie—with Steve grieving Eddie and what they could have been

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

Jaskier

Is genderqueer, bisexual, biromantic, has a family he no longer sees, is a service switch (he'd top or bottom, whatever, he's flexible). Open to polyamory/non-monogamy. The king of poetry.

Mobius M. Mobius

Is male—cis or trans. He's gay, homoromantic, has a sister, a niece and nephew (on the timeline). He'd happily fulfil most (but not all) of Loki's sexual wants, so a service switch. He needs monogamy. Clueless about poetry but will happily listen to Loki wax lyrical.

Loki

Is canonical genderfluid but I sometimes see him/them as nonbinary. Canonically bisexual. See him as biromantic. We know his family already. Definitely a switch and decides what sex he wants now that he doesn't need to woo someone he intends to betray. Never really thought he'd be in a relationship so hadn't thought about monogamy, but wants it with Mobius. Another king of poetry.

Eddie Munson

Is nonbinary or male—cis or trans. He's gay, homoromantic, canonically has an uncle, but I believe his dad is in jail and his mom is an alcoholic. He's a Dom/top. He'd liked to have a small harem of submissives but as soon as Steve wants to be with him, he'll happily put that dream aside and be monogamous. King of poetry in music form, would join a spoken word club.

Riley Flynn

Is male—cis or trans. He's closeted gay, biromantic, top or bottom depending on my mood, sometimes switch. Monogamous but would let their partner be non-monogamous. Thinks poetry is nice but doesn't read much of it.

#fandom asks #steddie #geraskier #lokius #priley #eddie munson #jaskier #loki #mobius #riley flynn #the witcher #stranger things #loki series #midnight mass #my headcanon

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phantom-le6 · 10 months ago

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Film Review - Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

Having started our reviews of 2023 films in the realm of home-release animation, it’s now time to begin checking out cinema releases from that year, as well as to return to the MCU, which began its fifth phase with the somewhat ill-received Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania…

Plot (as adapted from Wikipedia):

Following the Avengers' battle against Thanos, Scott Lang has become a successful memoirist and has been living happily with his girlfriend, Hope van Dyne. Scott's now-teenage daughter Cassie has become an activist, helping people displaced by the Blip, resulting in her having a strained relationship with her father. While visiting Hope's parents, Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne, Cassie reveals that she has been working on a device that can establish contact with the Quantum Realm. Upon learning of this, Janet panics and forcefully shuts off the device, but the message is received, resulting in a portal that opens and sucks the five of them into the Quantum Realm. Scott and Cassie are found by natives who are rebelling against their ruler, while Hope, Janet, and Hank explore a sprawling city to get answers.

Hope, Janet, and Hank meet with Lord Krylar, a former ally of Janet's, who reveals that things have changed since she left, and that he is now working for Kang, the Quantum Realm's new ruler. The three are forced to flee and steal Krylar's ship. The Langs, meanwhile, are told by rebel leader Jentorra that Janet's involvement with Kang is indirectly responsible for his rise to power. The rebels soon come under attack by Kang's forces led by M.O.D.O.K., who is revealed to be Darren Cross, having survived his apparent death at the hands of Scott, and who previously received Cassie's message. Aboard Krylar's ship, Janet confesses to Hope and Hank that she met Kang when she was previously in the Quantum Realm. He claimed that he and Janet could both escape from the Quantum Realm if she helped him rebuild his multiversal power core. After they managed to repair it, Janet touched the machine and saw a vision of Kang conquering and destroying entire timelines. Kang revealed he was exiled by his variants out of fear, which drove Janet to turn against him. Outmatched, Janet used her Pym Particles to enlarge the power core beyond use. Kang, having regained his powers, eventually conquered the Quantum Realm afterward.

The Langs are taken to Kang, who demands that Scott help get his power core back or else he will kill Cassie. Scott is then taken to the core's location and shrinks down. In the core, he encounters a probability storm, which causes him to split into multiple copies of himself nearly overwhelming him, but Hope arrives and helps him acquire the power core. However, Kang reneges on the deal, capturing Janet with M.O.D.O.K. destroying her ship with Hank on it. After being rescued by his ants, who rapidly evolved and became hyper-intelligent after being pulled into the Quantum Realm, Hank helps Scott and Hope as they make their way to Kang. Cassie escapes and rescues Jentorra, and they commence an uprising against Kang and his army. During the fight, Cassie convinces Cross to switch sides and fight Kang, with him eventually sacrificing his life.

Janet fixes the power core, enabling her, Hank, Hope, and Cassie to jump through a portal home. However, Kang attacks Scott at the last minute. Before Kang can beat Scott into submission, Hope returns, and she and Scott throw Kang and the Pym Particles into the power core, destroying both. Cassie reopens the portal for Scott and Hope to return home. As Scott happily resumes his life, he begins to rethink what he was told about Kang's death being the start of something terrible happening, but brushes it off. In a mid-credits scene, numerous variants of Kang, led by Immortus, commiserate Kang's death and plan their multiversal uprising. In a post-credits scene, Loki and Mobius M. Mobius encounter another Kang variant, Victor Timely, at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

Review:

The Ant-Man trilogy is one that started out well on its first instalment, but over time it seems to have deteriorated to some extent with each sequel, making it an example of that age-old concept known as the law of diminishing returns. Why is this? Well, to be honest, there are a few reasons. First is an issue that also affects the likes of Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, and even non-superhero films of the comedy genre like Police Academy, namely a failure to keep the humour fresh on each instalment. There are only so many times you can play something for comedy before the jokes gets worn out, and I think a lot of the humour from the original Ant-Man film has been returned to a bit too often. This might seem strange to say because some of the humour tied into Scott’s fellow ex-cons, but the reality is there was a fair bit of humour around Scott himself and the characters he came to know by becoming Ant-Man, and now it’s over-used.

Humour in this film also seems to be misplaced given the gravity of the adversary being introduced, and I think that Ant-Man and the Wasp alone going up against Kang feels like a major mis-match. Kang, or rather the Council of Kangs, is meant to be the overall villain of the multiverse saga in the same way Thanos was the ultimate foe in the infinity saga. This character is a major, Avengers-level threat, and to start him out, you have him directly face Ant-Man? Really? In effect, we have a serious villain that so far out-strips the title heroes for power and threat, and that character is then wiped out by people who should have been lucky to get out alive. Combined with a bit of a mis-lead towards the end that sees the film buck the MCU trend of third film resulting in loss, I honestly think this film was a victim of Marvel’s quantity over quality methods that have resulted in a reduced quality of post-Endgame MCU productions.

The film also has ties back into the Loki series, but doesn’t rely on audiences knowing that series to understand the film, which is a step in the right direction. Having non-film and therefore non-cinematic elements in the MCU is, as I’ve noted before, something that either shouldn’t happen or that should be an optional bit of extra viewing instead of required core material. For me, though, it feels like we should have done something else on this film. The Quantum Realm should either not have been done, or should have been reduced in scope. In addition, as I’ve noted before, this film didn’t include some key characters from the past two Ant-Man films; no Luis and crew, no sign of Maggie (Cassie’s mother) and no Paxton, which given the scenes with the police early in the film made little sense. If Cassie is getting in trouble with the law, why are we not seeing the cop that was dating Cassie’s mum pre-blip?

Also, we get a line from Cassie early in the film that opens up another can of worms. She makes a retort to her dad about having grown used to looking after herself, doubtless referring to Scott being missing for five years of her life. However, given that Cassie has a mother and said mother had a boyfriend, looking after herself would seem to imply that when Scott was trapped in the Quantum Realm, Maggie and Paxton both blipped. It would then be logical to suggest that Cassie not only grew into a teenager during the blip years, but that she was growing up without any parents to look out for her. Much like Luis and his associates, this question of Cassie’s experience during those years seems to be brushed aside in favour of bringing in Kang and spending a lot of time down in the Quantum Realm.

Now this all being said, the actors of the film all bring their A-game, and the visual effects are spectacular, and the various parts of the film that are Kang-centric are very good indeed. Unfortunately, as a whole the film is inconsistent in its tone and perhaps misuses its screentime to over-explore the Quantum Realm while under-exploring the worlds of Scott, Cassie and so on. Personally, I’d have preferred something that spent more time up in our world dealing with Scott, Cassie, etc. and that perhaps brought back Ghost, now acting as an agent for Kang in our world somehow. The Langs and Hope could have beaten Ghost, learned about Kang and then gone to face up to him, only to suffer a major set-back, such as Scott being trapped in the Quantum Realm as Kang’s prisoner, and this setting up for the upcoming Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Secret War that are coming up. As it is, we can only hope that as Marvel begins to replan its upcoming films and direction that they at least stick with Kang being a major villain and recast the role following actor Jonathan Majors’ criminal conviction. After all, they’ve recast the likes of Hulk and War Machine, among others, for less.

This brings me to my final point, which is my disappointment in the recasting of the teenage Cassie following Avengers: Endgame. If what Wikipedia indicates is true, there was no scheduling issue requiring Cassie to be recast, and Emma Fuhrmann, who played the role in Endgame, was looking forward to coming back to reprise the role. Apparently, the reasoning seems to be about having a more established actress in the role to help ensure a box office draw, as well as considerations of athletic ability and ability to act well alongside Paul Rudd, who of course plays Scott Lang. While I can respect the last two decisions, assuming that major actors will always equal a good box office return is a flawed strategy.

First, not every big-name can act well, or can do every role justice, with the likes of Dwayne Johnson, Jason Statham and Will Smith all being examples of actors that just act like themselves under different names when appearing in any film. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it requires that the role be created entirely by and for that actor, which only works on original stories going straight into film. If the film is adaptational, then the actors have to play the role as the source material defines it, so if you can’t shift gears to play someone who isn’t you, you’re not right for that role.

Second, actors who want to become established are more likely to make a serious effort while those who are already established might not make as much effort. I honestly believe that some of the best films I’ve seen were so good because they were made by great actors that were committed to the film at hand, and who then got major careers from those roles. Picking the right actors is more important than whether or not people already know them, because the right actors will bring a performance that makes them known for good reason. In this film, Corey Stoll’s iteration of MODOK was someone making themselves known for no good reason, and I wish they’d left that part out of the film. Overall, I give this film 6 out of 10, largely due to the performances from the people in the size-changing suits and Majors as Kang. Bill Murray was also cool to see, but again, big-name star and yet this film failed to technically break even, so in the words of Stan Lee, ‘nuff said.

#film review #mcu #ant man and the wasp: quantumania

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yummi-gummi-zines · 5 years ago

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Mobius Crossing zine submission

(My apologies if this has sent twice, as my browser flipped out on my first attempt.)

Hello, I hope I’m doing this correctly for you! In order to keep my Mobius Crossing idea within the 1,000 word limit (and it comes in at exactly 1,000!), I decided to frame it as a letter from Elias Acorn to his wife Megan after he’s gone to start a new life for them in an AC town, since letter writing is such a strong theme in Animal Crossing anyway.

Thank you very much for your time, and if there’s anything else you need from me or that I can help with, please drop me a message!

~Leedzie

———————————————————————–

My dear Meg,

When we decided to start our lives over again, I was honestly concerned that we wouldn’t be able to find a home big enough for our family in time; there’s only so much you can do when starting from nothing, and even though Sally keeps offering to help, I really don’t want to use our royal connections to get a head start. We agreed that our lives were happier before we were involved with the monarchy, so how can we hope to truly get back to our old lifestyle if we use the Acorn name as our first stepping stone?

Well Meg, I’m proud to say that we don’t have to worry about that dilemma any longer. I’ve met an incredible man named Tom Nook, who has not only helped me secure a house, but also streamlined the process of making it into a home. Right now it’s barely big enough for just me, but the way Tom’s (somewhat quirky) loan system works, we can expand it over time. I expect it’ll only be a few more weeks before I can add two bedrooms, which means you and Alexis will be able to move out here sooner than we expected! After the two of you settle in we can start saving money to pay the rooms off, and that’ll give us just enough time to add a nursery before your due date. The best part is, we can still add an upstairs AND a downstairs as the twins grow, so we’ll definitely have plenty of space when our family needs it!

What’s funny is, I didn’t exactly appreciate Tom’s loan system at first; in fact, I resented it pretty badly! He didn’t offer me the loan so much as he just assumed I would want him to build and expand our house, so I was very surprised (and more than a little peeved) when I was suddenly presented with my first debt! To be honest, though, I’m glad he did it. If you can believe it, Tom actually doesn’t put a due date on any of his loans, and he never charges interest! There’s no way we could’ve gotten such a generous deal from anyone else. He’s very understanding of how difficult it can be to get started in a new area, and he recognizes that I have a lot of other tasks on my hands. I pay what I can when I’m able, and he just says, “Thanks, see you next time!”

So far I’ve been doing a lot of odd jobs for income, but my ultimate plan is for us to run our own orchard. The village’s native pears sell fine, but the fruits I brought with me from home fetch a much better price! I’ve planted plenty of apples, peaches, and oranges around our house, and the soil is so amazing that I swear they’re already growing. We can harvest and sell the fruit for steady income, plus I can go back to woodcutting as a side-gig for even more. If we’re lucky, we may even get some perfect fruit to grow, which I hear definitely brings in enough to feed five mouths! I’ve also planted one oak tree nearby, so its acorns will always remind us of where we came from.

I know it probably doesn’t make a difference, but I water the saplings every day while I tend to the flower garden I planted for you. Meg, you’re going to love these flowers; they’re almost as beautiful as your smile! I decided to experiment a little and tried some cross-breeding, and now we’ve got the most amazing blue roses! They’re currently along the sides of the house; I originally had a great garden designed for you in FRONT of the house like we had in Feral Forest, but a new neighbor moved in MUCH closer to us than I’d like. She pulled up a bunch of our flowers when she picked her plot, without so much as a knock on the door for a head’s up! I was so angry!! All that hard work, gone in a snap!! Hopefully she’ll move soon. People seem to come and go frequently here, so if we’re patient, I bet she’ll move on. At least she’s the only annoying neighbor so far; everyone else seems great. I’ve been getting along nicely with this other guy named Raymond lately, but I guess that’s not a huge surprise. He seems to be very popular!

But even with one annoying neighbor, I’m SO glad we decided to leave castle life and get back to our roots here in the countryside. This feels so much more like home than New Mobotropolis ever did. I love listening to the insects in the trees, seeing paths form in the places where I regularly walk, watching meteor showers at night… When Alexis and the twins get older, we’ll teach them how to swim in the ocean, take them on island tours, and watch them compete in some of the local contests! For such a small town, there are a LOT of events that go on here, so there’s always something to look forward to. I think you’ll particularly enjoy the Harvest Festival! You always said you were annoyed that people wouldn’t let you cook for them as a queen; now you’ll have everyone in the village eager to try your family’s country recipes! Joss will be so proud!!

Well, I’ve just about run out of paper (and isn’t it fancy? I got it from Tom, he says it’s called “forest paper”), so time to wrap things up. I miss you both SO MUCH, and I can’t wait to hold you guys in my arms again! Give Alexis a BIIIIIIG daddy hug for me!! I’ve enclosed a gift for her so she doesn’t forget her dear ol’ pop; it’s called a “wobbelina.”

I love you so much, Meg, and I can’t wait for us to start our new life together.

See you soon,

Elias

#Mobius Crossing #Mobius Crossing Submission #Submission 1 #Submission #submission

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meaningofmischief · 4 years ago

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Evil, Lying Scourge

Set immediately after the battle in the Timekeepers’ chamber. Loki and Renslayer go toe-to-toe as Loki creates the ultimately confronting conditions to force the truth of Sylvie’s Nexus Event from Renslayer.

The truth is devastating - can Loki and Sylvie survive it?

Loki and Sylvie were traumatized - that was near the only way to put it.

Hours ago they had resigned themselves to die together on an exploding moon.

They had been forcibly yanked into the clutches of the TVA at the last possible minute, restrained, separated, each subject to individual psychological tortures as all their remaining tatters of stability and freedom and friendship were ripped away from them one by one. Both prepared to meet their ends together again, and now even their impossible escape was ice cold comfort as they both examined in horror the head of the mindless android they had taken to be one of the three all-powerful Timekeepers.

Not to mention the barely suppressed passion each felt for the other that roiled away like a wildfire between them - burning both the longer it went unacknowledged.

‘Then who,’ Loki’s voice broke for stress, ‘created the TVA?’. Sylvie felt choked by a sudden rage. Hurling the head of the android viciously across the floor of the chamber, she spat: ‘I thought this was it.’ They both had, of course.

A low moan startled them and they whipped around, mirrors of defense for the next attack, but the despised Ravonna Renslayer still lay passed out cold from the hefty blow Sylvie had dealt her not a minute before.

B-15, the undisputed saviour of the pair of them, had finally regained consciousness after the massive strike to the head she had received at the hands of one of the Timekeepers’ specialist defense team. They had not treated her mercifully while she was down either, delivering unnecessarily cruel, wounding kicks to the woman they saw as the traitor in their midst.

Sylvie reacted as if by instinct and rushed straight to B-15’s side, running practiced hands down the Hunter’s limbs to assess for fractures or broken bones. Loki could only marvel - for all her uncompromising toughness, Sylvie’s unconscious impulse was to compassion, a quality that he found at times miserably difficult to access, which frustrated him to no end, especially when he considered how yet more painful Sylvie’s past had been to his own.

‘Nothing broken.’ Sylvie’s soft reassurance to B-15 snapped Loki out of his reverie. ‘But those arseholes didn’t go easy on you by any means. Do you think you can walk?’ There was a flash of fire in the resilient Hunter’s eyes and she opened her mouth to deliver a stinging retort before Sylvie broke out into a warm smile and there was a brief moment of kinship between these two fearsome warriors.

‘Still,’ continued Sylvie bluntly, ‘I’m not having you risk your life to save us only to pass out in one of these obscure corridors where no-one’ll find you for the next week. I’m gonna see you to the infirmary and you can’t stop me.’ She was busy helping B-15 struggle painfully to her feet when Loki murmured, gravelly, ‘Sylvie. Is that wise?’

Sylvie glowered. Whatever difficult feelings she had for this man, he was not about to tell her what to do. Luckily B-15 interceded, voice tight with pain, but determined nonetheless: ‘I know how we can do this. Variant -’, she checked herself, ‘L-Loki. Take out Ravonna’s Tempad from her jacket.’

Loki’s skin crawled but he nevertheless did as she commanded, crouching down to where Ravonna still lay knocked out, reaching inside her jacket to retrieve the rectangular Tempad, surprisingly heavy in his palm. He handed it uncertainly to B-15 who snapped it open and began pressing buttons with a confident ease that seemed to indicate she knew exactly what she was doing. ‘There,’ she said smugly after 30 seconds or so, ‘the warrant for my capture has been deleted. And don’t worry,’ her gaze flitted over to Loki and in that brief glance Loki knew that B-15 had perceptively ascertained the depth of his attachment to Sylvie, ‘nothing is going to happen to that Variant on my watch. The store cupboard for this unit is right next to the infirmary, so we’ll get her a uniform to act as a disguise on the way back.’ B-15’s eyes narrowed, and Loki knew she was fighting hard what must be a tremendous amount of pain. She handed the Tempad back to Loki and he felt incredibly humbled by the action. Sylvie helped her very gently to the elevator door. ‘Promise me,’ B-15 whispered through gritted teeth as she turned to face Loki one last time, ‘that you’ll bring this place to the ground.’ Loki nodded once, slow and solemn - forcing himself to believe that such a thing was possible when so much lay still unknown. He and Sylvie locked gazes, and Loki longed to cross to the elevator doors in a handful of strides, hold her so close to him, take her face in his hands�� Stop. He forced himself to focus right now, for all of their sakes. He only held her gaze as the elevator doors closed, and then they were gone.

Loki exhaled, and it came out mostly as a sob. He closed his eyes to withhold the tears which he felt welling in their sea-green depths. He had held himself together all this while for Sylvie, but now, standing alone in the cold, misty chamber - he felt assaulted by uncertainty and fear. And sorrow. He so wished for Mobius, for his friend, who was always so grounded and strong - a master of strategy. Loki’s gift for style and verbal artistry were rendered useless in a situation such as this and he felt utterly incompetent and broken.

‘You can be whatever - whoever - you wanna be. Even someone good. I mean just in case anyone ever told you different.’

Loki’s eyes snapped open, shining with salt water and yet never so determined as now.

No.

He had the ability to stand up and make his own choices, and that started now. Not his first act of defiance against whatever cruel authority had created this suffocating institution of control, and certainly not his last.

He knew what he needed to do, and he needed to do it for Sylvie - while he had this rapidly diminishing window and before they set about trying to achieve the impossible in burning this place to the ground.

And before he told her that he loved her.

Loki stooped and grimly retrieved his Time Collar where it lay on the floor after B-15 had freed him of it. He was going to need it, unfortunately. He opened the Tempad and after a short while as he got to grips with its functions, a Time Door with a subtle magenta sheen opened up next to him.

Panicked breathing behind him.

Good, she was awake.

Loki wasted no time, seizing Renslayer none too gently by the lapel of her jacket. She foggily tried to resist him, but before her blurry vision had even cleared, she felt the Time Collar wrap constrictingly around her neck, felt Loki haul her to her feet and unceremoniously push her through the Time Door ahead of him.

The Asgardian bedchamber was light and airy and warm - a stark contrast to the cool, damp darkness of the place they had emerged from. Loki looked around briefly, instantly wistful, recognising the arch of the ceiling, the pristine white marble floor, even smelling the heady summer scents of his old home. It made his heart ache even more - if that was possible at this stage. He was quickly distracted, however, by Ravonna’s wild sprint away from his side. She had regained her full mental capacity now, but was seized by terror at the situation - at the mercy of the Variant and whatever tortures he could concuct for her.

Loki fiercely loathed to play the jailor - even to someone as worthy of harsh treatment as Renslayer - but he needed her attention. He turned the dial of the Time Twister and in an instant Renslayer was back at his side. Though the logical part of Ravonna’s brain knew it was fruitless, she tried to break away from him several more times, just as Loki had tried upon his capture. Eventually Loki seized her by the arm and made her turn to look at the scene before them.

Throughout the chaos the little girl seated on the floor had payed them no heed. Not that she could. This was what the TVA quaintly referred to as an ‘Observant Loop Cell’ - of course obnoxiously abbreviated to OLC. An OLC was designed not to punish prisoners into submission but rather to force them to reflect on situations they had experienced - made to watch those situations over and over and unable to help, hinder or manipulate any of the figures within it.

Loki himself had had no idea what to expect when he had found Variant L1129’s file on Renslayer’s Tempad, and created an OLC of the Variant’s apprehension. He had briefly had a vision of the young, out-of-control Goddess of Mischief, terrorizing Asgard - effecting pain and suffering, destruction and death so devastating that there was no choice but to send up a smoke flare, a Nexus Event. It did not fit in the slightest with what he perceived of Sylvie’s true character, but he could think of no other reasonable explanation. He did certainly not expect this angelic child, playing as any child would, with her toys. Loki felt a pang of unhappiness as he remembered his own childhood days, he never could play nicely. It was all borne of resentment and jealousy: Father would always ensure Thor had the most luxurious selection of toys, and he was anyway keen that both of his sons stopped messing around with playthings as early as possible and go out for battle training with the young sons of Asgardian nobility instead. Where Thor thrived in the competitive, loud environment of the training ground, Loki shrank into himself. Self-conscious, anxious, lacking the warrior’s bulk that all the other boys seemed to possess, the young prince found himself more often than not in a corner with a few books and some of the toys his father scorned - to make up his own stories in his own time. The other boys mocked him endlessly, tore pages out of the books, stole the miniature figurines of Valkyrie and other great warriors. Loki had eventually learned to be as harsh and cruel as they - only his power to hurt came from his intelligence rather than brawn.

This little girl was anything but harsh and cruel, hurt and isolated. Yes, she was alone, but she seemed to relish that independence - making her own stories up in her own time. ‘Dragon swoops towards the palace, but Valkyrie flies over, defeats the dragon and saves Asgard!’ she crowed, face alit at the conclusion of what had evidently been an epic story. Loki couldn’t suppress a small smile, though he knew that any moment there must be some great catastrophe which would set off the Nexus Event. Ravonna seemed to have frozen at his side - both were caught up in their individual perception of the events unfolding before their eyes.

When the golden Time Door opened mere seconds later, Loki gasped in disbelief, gaze flitting around the room and then back to Sylvie as he tried to ascertain what could have caused the Nexus and finding no evidence at all. Ravonna stiffened next to him as they both saw none other than Ravonna Renslayer - or more precisely Hunter A-20 - in clear command of the two Minutemen flanking her, hold out her Tempad before her and certify in a cold, triumphant voice: ‘There’s our variant.’ Sylvie’s eyes were huge and frightened as Renslayer continued without pause: ‘On the authority of the Timekeepers, I hereby arrest you for crimes against the sacred timeline’, as though she were addressing some notorious criminal and not a terrified little girl.

‘Where’s the Nexus?!’ Loki thought, increasingly desperate and distressed as the OLC Renslayer seized Sylvie by her skinny arm and wrenched her towards the Time Door. It all happened very quickly then. The Minutemen set their Reset Charge which immediately began its task of disintegrating Sylvie’s possessions - anything and everything that indicated that she had ever been in this room. Sylvie screamed, high-pitched, shaking in Renslayer’s grasp: ‘Wait!!!’. Loki resisted the urge to run to her aid, knowing it would be completely useless. Then Sylvie and Renslayer gone, followed by the Minutemen, the Time Door snapped shut and Loki and his Renslayer stood facing one another in a deafening silence in the handful of seconds of respite prisoners would receive before the loop started again.

Tears were clouding Loki’s vision, but he blinked them away angrily. ‘Why?’ was the only thing he said - in a voice several octaves below his usual speaking voice. Renslayer shook her head and pressed her lips together, though her chest heaved at the fraught situation. Loki growled softly and resisted the urge to hurt her - to make her talk.

No.

That was what he would have done in the past, he would not descend to such base measures now.

He didn’t need to, the loop was already starting again. Loki felt as though his heart would fairly break in two as he watched the young Sylvie skip into her bedroom, arms full of her toys, setting them out, beginning to play. ‘You’re going,’ he spat at Renslayer ‘to stand here with me and watch this as many times as it takes for you to tell me what the Nexus event was that made you rip an innocent young girl’s life away from her and force her on the run for her entire life. I don’t care how long it takes. You’re going to tell me.’

In reality that wasn’t exactly true - Sylvie and B-15 had almost certainly reached the infirmary by now and if Sylvie made it back to the Timekeepers’ chamber to find it empty, to think that she had been abandoned by her one companion (and perhaps more than that) in the universe… It nearly had Loki sending them both back to the TVA instantly. But Renslayer was breaking already, he could see it, as he forced her to watch the abject cruelty, cruelty at her hands, again and again. By the third viewing, Renslayer’s eyes brimmed with tears and Loki would gladly have wept openly. By the fifth, she started to hyperventilate, made to move away. Loki turned the Time Twister’s dial and she was jarred back into place. On the sixth viewing, just as the OLC Renslayer was about to seize Sylvie, she abruptly screamed: ‘Enough! I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you.’

Both breathed out in relief, when Loki pressed the button on the Tempad that cut the loop and everyone in the scene disintegrated immediately. He turned to face her and forced out between his teeth: ‘Do not try to lie to the God of Mischief. You have no idea how acutely I am attuned to falsehoods. You will tell me in every horrifying detail about this Nexus Event, or I will leave you in this Time Cell and bury this Tempad in the deepest crevice of the TVA where no one will ever, ever find it. Now TELL ME.’

Renslayer took a deep breath to steady herself, closed her eyes and spoke with a surprisingly steady voice: ‘The Variant was deviating from her role on the Sacred Timeline.’ Loki snarled: ‘Obviously! What was the deviation?’. Renslayer opened her eyes and locked her chocolate brown eyes with his green ones. ‘A Loki,’ she said, slowly, as though choosing her words carefully, ‘does not get to travel the kind of path that that Variant was on.’ Loki rushed to intercede, but Renslayer narrowed her eyes, warning him not to interrupt her.

‘It was a mistake that she ever got as far as she did. Our technology advances every day - it’s now so accurate that we can nip burgeoning Nexus events like this one in the bud.’ Loki was amazed that she could speak in such clinical terms about the organisation that had only very recently been revealed to have three mindless robots as its figureheads. But Renslayer’s voice ran with conviction which only strengthened as she continued: ‘Lokis are so very tricky. It’s an incredible rarity that any being is allowed so much leeway as they have been, and we have all had to suffer the consequences of that. You see, due to your natures as shapeshifters, this Variant being born the Goddess rather than the God of Mischief was no cause for a Nexus flare. But of course in the archaic society that you are raised in, the ridiculous difference in gender is of massive significance. Recall that only male heirs are permitted to succeed the throne of Asgard. In your case, informing you of your adoption would have caused colossal problems for King Odin - that would have had ramifications across Asgard, not to mention potential rebellion from you yourself. Odin was under no illusions of how much more intelligent you were than his legitimate son, and how that would have fused with the arrogance of princehood to create the ultimate cuckoo within the sparrow’s nest - an utterly unacceptable scenario. Far better to keep that knowledge from you, even if it did mean that you grew up confused and resentful - emotions Odin could easily ignore. Far better to have you treated as the bastard son, who he would insidiously try to manipulate to his own ideals, who might possibly one, highly unlikely day, be fit for the throne should Thor be killed in battle before his heir was old enough to succeed the throne.’

‘Of course, for a girl, Odin had no such concerns. He took the child from Jotunheim out of some scrap of pity, and because she could prove useful in negotiating with the Jotuns at a later date. A princess had no chance of succeeding the throne, not to mention an illegitimate one, who would likely be married off to some lowborn noble as soon as she had come of age. So Odin told the Variant of her adoption. And somehow, ludicrously, that knowledge failed to break the Variant, it only made her stronger. She took pride in her differences from her family and the rest of Asgard, her inclination to independence rather than company, her delight of mischief. Where she should have been enraged, embittered and vengeful, she was courageous, compassionate and creative.’

‘Excuse me,’ Loki hissed, interrupting Renslayer’s monologue, ‘where she SHOULD have been?’. Despite the fact that she had found herself at his mercy, Renslayer sneered at him. ‘Of course-’ she continued, seeming to try to gain the upper hand over him with the knowledge she was revealing, ‘a Loki is an evil, lying scourge, like you. Where would be the heroes of the Timeline without the villains? That Variant had a role to play, same as you, same as all of us, and she went off the path. Whoever heard of a heroic Goddess of Mischief?’. Ravonna’s voice cracked slightly on the last sentence as she bore witness to Loki’s murderous expression. ‘So what you’re saying,’ he replied with devastating calm ‘is that Sylvie lost her home, her family, her life, because she would one day grow up to be kind and just, to be her own person? Oh, no one is truly good or truly bad, but the TVA decrees that not to be so.’ His voice grew more intense and Renslayer shrank before him. ‘Because whatever devil puppetmaster is controlling the TVA, they like to have their play made interesting - with villains to cause destruction and heroes to save the day?’. Renslayer was at a loss for words, but Loki had heard enough. He pressed a button on the Time Twister he held and Ravonna sank ungraciously to the floor, unconscious once more. One of the functions the delightful Twister could enact was to reverse the prisoner’s physiological state - mainly meant for various exotic creatures the TVA brought in, that could effect all sorts of trouble as a result of their innate biology, but in this case merely necessary to give Loki a moment to take in what he had just experienced. He couldn’t quite do it.

Only concern for Sylvie forced Loki to action, and he opened up the door back to the Timekeepers’ chamber using the Tempad, dragging the unconscious Ravonna back through with him. Despite what he had said, he would never consign anyone to spend their life trapped in one of the hideous Time Cells. He removed her Time Collar too, and flung it to a far corner of the chamber, repulsed that it had had to come to him using one of the TVA’s disgusting methods of control to get the information he needed.

His thoughts left Renslayer entirely behind as the elevator doors opened and Sylvie emerged not a moment too soon, yanking off the breastplate and trousers of the TVA Minutemen she had worn as a disguise over her usual black top and trousers. Now that Sylvie’s purpose had been achieved, she too seemed utterly spent as she staggered over to where Loki stood staring at her. Both failed to speak for several moments and then Loki rasped, with a voice that sounded unused for days, ‘Sylvie. Sylvie, I need to tell you something.’

Sylvie’s deep blue eyes widened, her heart began to pound like a wild drum in her chest. ‘What?’ she could only say as Loki struggled to find the words for what he had just learned.

When it was over, they both started to cry.

Loki and Sylvie had never been ones for excessive, histrionic displays of emotion. They had had to armour themselves in toughness and charm and mischief and wit all their lives despite the turbulence that roared inside of them.

And now here the both of them stood, silent but for the ragged intake of breath as they struggled to bring themselves under some semblance of control.

Eventually they stopped. Each observed the other’s tear-streaked face.

‘Sylvie...’ Loki said again. The word seemed to ground him and her at the same time.

‘Not another pep talk please.’ Sylvie uttered with a weak attempt at humour, that fell flat instantly with the sheer desperation in her tone.

‘No. I have to tell you something else.’

Sylvie wasn’t sure that she could handle anything else.

Loki stepped closer to her, and avoided her gaze, his breathing picking up again.

Sylvie felt herself instinctively mirroring him, and forced herself to focus.

Loki looked her in the eyes.

‘We will figure this out.’

It really was too much.

‘How do you know that?’ How was there any certainty about anything anymore?

‘Because, uh -’ Loki’s near-gasping for air cut him off and he twisted his sweaty hands together.

‘Well, back on Lamentis…’ It was all too impossible to explain. Loki gestured helplessly, trying to find the beginnings of some clever story that had never failed to come to him with infinite ease before and now completely failed him.

He gave up. His arms dropped to his sides.

‘This is new for me. Um -’ Loki’s heart raced in his chest and the sound seemed amplified, obliterating his thoughts. They were a tangle of grief and passion and...and love - a tangle that was impossible to reconcile.

Loki turned his hands towards his heart, as though it could speak for him.

‘What?’ Sylvie breathed, hardly daring to speak, her own heart pulsing just as intensely.

They would figure this out. They would. Some very deep and very soulful part in both of them, inextricably linking one to the other, knew it. Loki clasped her upper arms, barely believing himself.

I love you Sylvie. Sylvie I love you. Sylvie I will always love you - you beautiful spirit of mischief. Sylvie, we are free and we will figure this out. I love you Sylvie, I love you.

‘If it were now to die, ‘twere now to be most happy.’ thought Loki, even as he felt the icy touch of Ravonna Renslayer’s weapon seize his heart and rip its chill through his body, as Sylvie watched him disintegrate right before her eyes which never left his - as he was transported to some realm of chaos where the God of Mischief would navigate the labyrinth back to his Goddess so that he could speak those words unsung softly in her ear before bending down to her lips and watching the TVA burn.

- Inspired by a fantastic suggestion from asgardian1112! More suggestions for future stories gladly welcome!

#loki #lokiseries #sylki #sylvie x loki #sylvie laufeydottir

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yes-these-obsessions-are-healthy · 3 years ago

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Epiphany!!

Sylvie and Loki’s personal journeys emulate a Scorpio’s scorpion | phoenix (eagle) transformation.

HEAR ME OUT.

Impulsive/vindictive retaliation to perceived slights, followed by callous dismissal (or obliviousness) to the destruction and pain it may cause others. Do terribly unto others tenfold for daring to cross you.

(Trying to scare Black Widow and taking joy in doing so.)

THAT SCENE.

Resentful and vindictive. Sound familiar?

Sylvie is currently in the same arc of proving herself and avenging herself. She is single-mindedly fixated on her goal to take down the TVA for what it did to her. It took what was rightfully hers -- a childhood, an actual life that was caused by a mere incident she wasn’t aware of. What kicked off Loki’s turn to villain was the revelation that his existence was a fluke. He was a tool by Odin to assure the stability of the nine realms, he was never meant to be king despite promises made that he was just as apt to rule as his brother Thor. A dream was stolen from him. Loki and Sylvie’s futures were stolen from them.

Lokis SURVIVE. They continue on with their schtick and repeat the same little games over and over, unwilling to pay the price of giving up their immediate agenda for the sake of peace of mind--it would feel like a betrayal to themselves, a cop-out, a white flag of surrender. Pride and ego drive this. A deep-seated want for vindication and acknowledgment of their feelings and wants (rational or irrational, valid or invalid) drives this stubbornness and refusal to change.

How does one overcome this? Through self-improvement. How this desire for self-improvement isn’t set in stone. It could be innocuous or monumental, coerced or on a whim. All that matters is that the cogs in a Loki/Scorpion Scorpio’s head start to creakily turn.

Change is not death but evolution. Lokis do not like to be beholden themselves to anyone that will tell them “this is how it is”, because on principle they will object and rebel. Standards and rules are too limiting, too restrictive, too threatening to their self-image as a cavalier trickster unfettered by attachments or considerations.

A Scorpion Scorpio is the same.

Self improvement is “To better one’s self for the present and future Me.” But if there is no future, then what is the point of self-improvement?

“To be loved and feared” was Loki’s mantra. Love to him was worshipful submission. He pointedly ignored or chose to dismiss Frigga’s unconditional love toward her misbehaving son in the original timeline. In both the original timeline and the Loki timeline, Loki had dismissed Thor’s love for him as misguided and naive, perhaps almost condescending. Love is simply bias that can be exploited. Loki will never fall for the trap of “loving” someone. That is the Scorpion Scorpio’s ultimate defense against pain and harm.

And so it goes, until they ascend into a new life. Those that were once viewed with contempt (Loki’s derision of mortals, anyone?) are viewed in a more compassionate light. Love is no longer an abstract pesky emotion that is easily dismissed as weak or maudlin, or a source of loyalty and devotion.

But the Phoenix comes to truly understand the power of love, its meaning, its value, what it really is, and not only accepts it, but wishes to give it in turn.

!!!!!

What Mobius has been trying to teach Loki this entire time. This whole “Loki accepting his fate for now and trying to work the system but quickly coming to care for those the Him of maybe 6 months ago would’ve thrown into the trash without a second thought” are the sparks of that change we are seeing for his evolution into a Phoenix.

The reason why some people are complaining about Loki acting “un-Loki” is because we’ve been stuck with a trickster god with no character growth for 10 years. People don’t realize that they’ve grown comfortable with him being a saturday morning cartoon villain. Worse still, they want him to remain the same.

Quite honestly I found him silly and fun in Ragnarok, but his last-second attempt at tricking Thor right before they got onto the space ship to escape Sakaar actually made me roll my eyes, and not in an affectionate way. Yes, he eventually came to help save the day, but it was the fact that he tried to betray Thor for no other reason than what seemed like an impulse he couldn’t control (and immediate desire for power) doesn’t help the character, but rather render him more one-dimensional. It cheapens his character, it flanderizes it.

This Loki we’re following in the show would have to be absolutely deluded to not be affected or moved by Mobius’s harsh truth-telling and the fact that he was confronted by the fact that his schemes led to Frigga’s death. There’s probably only one universe where Frigga is not the enduring emotional rock for a Loki, that’s how important she is to a Loki’s development.

The path to self-improvement and self-growth is a rocky one. There are many false starts and stops. There are bumpy roads and curve balls and failures. Sylvie is still a Scorpion. She made the choice to not trust Loki and instead fulfilled her goal at slaying Kang. She stung Loki and stung herself. Time will tell if the series allows Sylvie another chance to grow, and if Loki will be there to help guide her through the same painful self-reckoning that he did in Episode 1 and 2.

[source]

#loki #sylvie #loki series #character analysis #scorpio #astrology #i am insane and obsessed #there are so many layers to these characters you guys #no i don't care if i 'm reading too much into it #i didn't get all my thoughts down cuz i'm tired but #here's a rough consensus

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jasmine-jules · 4 years ago

Text

Escaping to Chaos

Sylvie & Loki & Mobius

1500+ words

Warnings: Fairly general. Little depiction of violence, mild language

A/N: Hey all! I can’t believe I wrote this piece only two days after getting the prompt. I mean I can, but it all has to do with the fact that I saw this theory on TikTok the other day about Sylvie’s relationship with the TVA and why Mobius is so invested in Loki variants. And then because the episode airs tomorrow, I didn’t want my cute and sweet theory destroyed by whatever painful thing we get. So yeah :)

Here’s my submission for the ever so lovely, @startrekkingaroundasgard 6k writing challenge: A picture is worth a thousand words. My picture prompt was the darkened, rainy street view in the writing challenge post, I couldn’t get it to paste in well Here

Hope you enjoy! Leave me a comment or a heart if you do, and feel free to check out my Masterlist if you want to see others like it!

~~~~~~~~~

Sylvie feels the time winds bluster past her as she steps through the door, and the air around her falls silent. The chaos of Lamentis 1 fades as the door slams shut, leaving her in quiet and safety. For now.

How? She’s actually not hundred percent sure yet, all she knows is that she saw a door; she saw a chance to live. And she couldn’t not take it.

She’s spent this long surviving, this long fighting for the freedom of herself and everyone else around her—if anything, wishing for life to be the exact sort of chaos she just ran from. The TVA stole her from her home, they destroyed her family and everything she knew before she even got a chance to know it. She will not give up that easily.

“So, where do you think we ended up this time?” Loki’s lilting voice breaks through the peaceful din of the rainy, empty street they stand on.

“Damn,” she mutters under her breath as she hears the one voice she hasn’t been able to shake yet.

“You think I would know? I don’t even know who was responsible for the stupid time door.” She whirls around, exasperated. Why is he still here, the only reason they stuck together was to get away from that doomed moon, and it wasn’t long before she couldn’t hold back from voicing those same thoughts,

“Why are you still following me around like a homesick puppy? I was only resisting my urge to kill you to get off that planet, and guess what? My reason is-” she snaps her fingers, “gone. So now you should be too.” After all, he’s just another person for the TVA to steal away from her, so it’s better that he leaves before he turns into anything more than a nuisance.

“You need me.” Loki jabs towards her chest, “You wouldn’t be alive right now if it weren’t for me, and I you. So,” he crosses his arms indignantly, “fortunately for you, you’re stuck with me now.”

She resists the urge to smack him across that knowing grin he flashes her, he’s won and he knows it, “Fine. But we need to move, we still don’t know who opened that door and I’m not eager to meet them.”

“Lead the way, my Lady.” He gestures his arms towards the open sidewalk in front of him.

Sylvie rolls her eyes and walks in the opposite direction of his arm, crashing her shoulder intentionally into his as she passes by.

As they walk, she fights to push away the ease the comes with being in Loki’s presence. The sense of family. Of belonging. Of having someone by your side that knows you, understands what makes you tick and why you fight. She has no idea when it did turn from a very real urge to kill him, to this.

She knows that Loki feels it too, but his fondness based more on a memory of a brother that she herself never had a chance to know. His pull to be near any Asgardian kinship stronger than the instinctual distrust of a stranger. She feels it every time he drops a hushed truth about himself, and every time he pushes her out of the way of a meteor. He can’t help but think of family either.

Sylvie hasn’t felt this in years. Decades even... she stops in her tracks.

“Sylvie?”

But she barely hears Loki’s question through the hurricane of thoughts stampeding through her mind, whizzing past her faster than time. She hardly registers his presence even as he hesitantly steps towards her like trying not to spook an animal.

“I know who opened the time door for us,” She manages to get the words past her choked throat, “And I think you do too.”

She can see the dots piecing together behind Loki’s eyes—his face falling as the realization dawns on him.

“Do we run?” He asks, but she knows it’s a fruitless, rhetorical question. They both know the answer.

“Ahhh, you two finally figured it out?”

Sylvie would recognize that soft, drawled out voice anywhere, even considering the centuries that’s passed since she last heard it in any meaningful conversation. She doesn’t turn to look at him just yet, but instead pleads silently to Loki’s eyes, begging him to take the lead. She can’t bear to talk to Mobius, not this time at least.

It takes hardly any time at all for Loki to catch on, and she almost doesn’t comprehend the tiny, imperceptible nod he aims her way, the flood of white noise drowning out any constructive thought. All she can manage to do is to move in harmony with Loki as he makes his way towards Mobius.

Instead of following any charming word or thrown slight that falls from Loki’s mouth, she’s overtaken with memories of when she first stepped into the dingy, perpetual grayness of the TVA.

Fingers wrapped too tightly around her little arm. Her long black hair stinging her scalp as the Agent pulls her along too roughly down the endless wall of windows, showing her the expansive city of lights, and space too large for her small mind to even grasp at.

She hears the high pitched drone of Miss Minutes explaining to the younger version of herself, barely just figuring out her identity and the path she wants to take in her life, the crime that she had committed. That she broke the sacred timeline and varied away from her pre-destined road, and must pay the price.

She doesn't hear a word spoken in that vast courtroom. The gavel rings loudly on the dark wood of the judges bench as her sentence is decided, and she’s herded out of the court room. But this time, the arm that leads her doesn’t pinch too tight, doesn’t pull at her hair. This time the hand rests gently on her shoulder, and it’s not a cold voice, one hardened like steel in war-like conditions, but it’s almost goofy. His vowels twang and his words always have a soft uptick to them, like he’s always questioning what he’s saying.

They get to a different chamber, this time with a round table and a couple of chairs, so they can talk face to face instead of one looming over the other.

He introduces himself at Agent Mobius, and he’s in charge of the variants that aren’t meant to be reset yet, but rather help them carry out tasks that the other agents haven’t succeeded at yet. Although, that’s not what she is here for either,

“No, my sweet Loki, you’re here because you broke the timeline, but it’s still not your time. You deserve a chance to live.”

So she grows up beside Mobius. He raises her like Odin never did, he’s kind and he teaches her to fight, he tells her stories of the worlds that he’s seen, promising her more than she can even dream of. At night, Loki steals away precious moments under her covers or in the quiet of her closet to practice magic. The kind that the fading memory of her mother always talked about, and slowly she becomes not a Loki variant, but Sylvie, the Enchantress.

Soon her need to learn expands wider than the scope of the TVA, she gets too curious, starts asking the wrong questions.

The TVA is too ordered, everything works the ways it’s supposed to and never strays from what the Timekeepers declare. It’s too perfect to be good, the universe tends towards disorder. And they’re doing everything in their power to prevent that.

She begs Mobius to tell her the truth. He never does, his stoic face never breaking no matter how many times she asks in every different way she can think of.

He never breaks, and eventually, decades after coming to the timeless place, she’s dragged away to yet another room, this time to be quieted down for good. So Sylvie fights, she kills anyone that gets in her path, she does anything necessary in order to escape.

She slits the last throat of the agent in her way and pockets her dagger. Her still bloody fingers manipulate the time clock, trying to program it the way she’s practiced a thousand times before. As she steps through the door, she feels eyes burning into her now blonde, short hair. She can’t help but look back and hold Mobius’ eyes.

“I have to do this.” Sylvie whispers, her own eyes burning as the time winds rush her into the first of the never ending line of apocalypses.

She has to bring chaos back to the world, with or without Mobius.

But now he’s here, and somehow he’s caught her off guard, practically making every evasive maneuver she’s done up to now completely useless. Loki still dances through his words, him and Mobius bantering like they’re an old married couple. And honestly, she now understands the drunken ramblings of Loki on the train.

Love is a dagger. It cuts and it slips through your fingers before you can even realize. And as the rain starts to fall lightly on her face, she captures both men’s attention,

“Just shut up, please.” Loki starts to protest, but she cuts him off, “You can squabble with your prince later. For now, Mobius? If you truly are here to help, then help. Because we need to keep moving.”

#i still can't believe i wrote this the way I did #it was so fun #nicolasfam #picture1000wordswc #loki series #lokius #sylvie #marvel #loki #but obviously I had to squeeze in a line about loki's prince #it's just too amazing of a piece of canon to ignore

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