#She had possessed the leader of some government scientist lab thing.

[farlynthordens]

SKB Volume 3 Summary

i’m back again! like last time, this is a summary of important points from the novel. contains major spoilers, including new characters Volume 2 | Volume 3 (here) | Volume 4  | Volume 5 | Volume 6 | Volume 7

*Note that names of new charas and places haven’t been officially translated yet, so the way I write them may not end up being canon

Vol 3 Title: “The City Lifeform, Tokyo”

Bisco, milo and tirol are at the mushroom keeper village, and milo is doing the ceremony to become a full-fledged mushroom keeper. This involves defeating a giant octopus, because they are the mortal enemy of crabs (a mushroom keeper’s companion)???

Bisco stole kurokawa’s entire anime/manga/DVD collection and gave it to the villagers. they LOVE that shit.

The village is attacked by a redhead man wearing a white lab coat, followed by a bunch of robots that look like him. He causes white cityscapes to grow out of anything, and creates little blue particles from his hands. He speaks of the world like it’s a glitched computer simulation

The trio runs into him and they realize the man looks just like bisco, except with red eyes and longer hair. His name is Apollo (written as aporo, like the Japanese candy)

Tirol is hit by Apollo’s magic. Her eyes turned red and a glowing red symbol appears on her forehead. She spouts random facts about herself to “prove” she’s still the same person, and we learn some fun things like she’s currently 21 and had her first crush when she was 11.

Tirol appears to maintain control over her body, but is notably different than before. She uses “boku” instead of “atashi”, and has knowledge of old-world technology as well as the ability to hack into things Apollo made

Pawoo hosts a conference for leaders of japan. amli and ruskenny, the CEO of matoba manufacturing, and a female mushroom keeper elder named gafune are there. it’s a hot mess, then made worse by imihama being attacked by Apollo’s minions.

Apollo appeared from within the Tokyo crater. He’s been alive-but-not-really for over 300 years, and is trying to reset japan to how it was before the rust incident. He also seems to have a connection to kelsinha, as his “city maker program” is referred to as a type of mantra. tirol’s forehead mark is noted in kelsinha’s books – it’s the mark of the highest gods

The trio visits hyogo prefecture, finding the run-down matoba factories have been transformed into a white, technological city. they find some scientists holed up in a building, thinking they needed rescuing, but the scientists just wanted help building battle robots with functioning AI. the trio lets the scientists copy data from their own personalities, and it goes... how you’d probably imagine:

tirol’s robot (Tirol 1) won’t do anything unless it receives payment

milo’s (Milo Ein) refuses to fight, but possesses immense medical skills (the scientists end up liking this one)

bisco’s (Bisco I) won’t listen to orders, and ends up running off. they let it go since it seems to not be a threat. no this never comes up again

Milo knows how to put on a bra and do hair thanks to pawoo. apparently pawoo just takes her bra off whenever and he has to make her put it back on, but he also implies knowing this from working with female patients. he learned to do hair from helping pawoo get ready for dates. is it possible that back in vol 1, milo twisted the truth to be funny/make bisco mad and actually meant “i have lots of experience with women (because I have a sister who I always had to do things for)” 🤔

Milo friendzones tirol, but she doesn’t mind. there hasn’t been anything romantic with them since vol 1.

Apollo says you need a “MyNumber card” to activate old-world tech, which is a thing that exists in real life japan - it’s basically a government ID card (but it can’t do anything cool like this)

Only 4 people can activate old-world tech or erase the effects of the city maker program - Apollo himself, 2 “avatars” (basically clones derived from his emotions) named Rage and Joy, and the one controlling tirol, “Hope”

Hope is the spirit of the founder of the izumo religion. this is probably why she’s denoted by that high god symbol.

Apollo was the creator of the tetsujin and the rust incident. he’s trying to reset japan to the year 2028, making the current year sometime around 2328.

Originally, Apollo and his machines couldn’t stand up to mushrooms. He later creates an “antivirus” that prevents most mushrooms from growing in his creations, but of course it doesn’t work against bisco’s rust eaters.

Milo and Hope come up with a plan to defeat Apollo, based on his one weakness: his inability to break certain rules/social manners. and.............. well...

The plan, part 1: trick bisco into getting married to pawoo, by disguising the wedding as an induction ceremony to become the high elder of all mushroom keepers. remember the end of volume 1 when bisco said he’d do “anything” for pawoo if they survived the kurokawa fight? this was that “anything”. pawoo tells bisco that she didn’t want to die (in the upcoming fight) without expressing how she felt, but the wedding was of course putting things over the top.... but it made her happy in the moment. they don’t kiss or anything.

The plan, part 2: the entire battle cavalry heads to tokyo after the “wedding”, with bisco/milo/tirol (on actagawa) and pawoo (on her bike) in  front. milo and tirol are using their mantra powers to create a giant red carpet in front of them. Apollo’s minions see them coming, but don’t attack because manners forbid them from “blocking newlyweds from walking down the aisle”. it works for a little while, until Apollo realizes it’s utter bullshit.

Apollo talks to a large green cube, and mentions the name “domino.”

Our first ever fight scene with just jabi and actagawa! they fight Rage while the others escape to find Apollo. Rage's ability is to make and control trains?

After defeating Rage, both are gravely injured and have cityscapes growing from their wounds. in his final moments, jabi looks up at a bright red star, Antares, and thinks about how bisco coming into his life saved him from the endless cycle of war he experienced. he prays for bisco to never be lonely.

Bisco/milo/pawoo/tirol run into Joy, and pawoo fights them while the other 3 escape. Joy’s ability involves manipulating walls.

After defeating Joy, pawoo has numerous wounds and cityscapes growing in them that will slowly kill her. too tired to even speak, she thinks of how she has no regrets and died for the 2 people she loves. she wishes for her soul to become a shield to protect milo and bisco.

The trio enters Apollo’s domain, and they fall into the room where the green cube Apollo was talking to earlier is. Hope says that's the server containing backup data of Japan from April 9, 2028. this is likely the date of (or the day before) the rust incident.

Apollo shows up. the server is almost ready to run, and it will “completely erase this fake Japan, and revert to the splendor we had in 2028″. to show off his power, he turns all of tokyo back into blue particles and recreates it again, restoring the buildings that had been destroyed in the earlier battles as if nothing ever happened.

Apollo captures tirol and removes Hope’s essence from her body (in the form of a red cube). tirol is alive but unconscious. bisco and milo recover the cube just before it dissolves into nothingness, and Hope transfers the last of their power to milo.

The rust eater cells in milo activate as Hope’s powers merge with his own, making his hair once again turn green and he now has the same forehead symbol tirol had.

Hope’s powers help milo learn the language (I mean this in the sense of a programming language) needed to use city maker powers. he combines this knowledge with the mantras he already knows, and creates a manta that is able to override Apollo’s “admin privileges” and prevent him from using the city maker program.

When Hope was alive, she created the mantra system as something that was meant to be greater than Apollo’s powers. he hadn’t realized this, because she hid this knowledge inside the religion she founded. some things from vol 2 now make sense, like milo’s comment about how the manta system worked similarly to computer programming - it’s because mantras ARE functionally a programming language.

Unable to use the “mushroom antivirus” or any other powers, Apollo dies as rust eaters destroy his body.

Milo needs to hack the server before it resets time. they blast a hole in it, freeing the souls of people who were alive in 2028 (who I guess were the power source for Apollo and his city-making) and revealing a portal leading inside.

The souls start piling onto Apollo’s corpse to revive him, and cover him in blackness. bisco says he’ll stay behind to deal with Apollo.

Before milo jumps into the spooky ghost computer portal, he hesitates and looks back: “...Bisco!” Milo’s wide-open eyes trembled as he looked at his partner. Memories of their many times of overcoming death and separation suddenly gripped at his heart, making him turn back. Bisco met milo’s unusually unsteady gaze, putting back the bow he had just only drawn and hurriedly returned to his partner’s side. His fingers tangled in milo’s hair and bisco pulled him in close, hugging him tightly. “...You good now?” “4 more seconds...” ... “Okay, I’m ready!”

Bisco promptly picks him up and yeets him across the room into the portal. love wins!

In the server, milo falls endlessly through a white void. Hope appears, telling milo he needs to find a key to unlock the next area. he’s unsure where or how to get a key, until he thinks to stab himself in the heart (they’re inside a computer so he didn’t actually hurt himself)

He pulls out a platinum ring with an emerald stone on it. Hope is dumbfounded by this, then tells milo “I’m sure you will reach her,” before disappearing.

Milo dreams about a research lab. we learn Apollo’s last name is Akaboshi, and was awkward and spoke politely. in typical tired researcher fashion, he drank a lot of red bull. he worked with Nekoyanagi Domino (who had long, light blue hair), and they invented semi-sentient blue particles that could change shape based on the user’s thoughts. domino hugs apollo, saying she’ll always be on his side even when no one else is, and she’ll be with him forever.

The particles are simply dubbed “apollo particles.” apollo commanded them to “self recreate,” and from there they began to grow out of control and consume anything nearby. they turned a sickening color and became more unstable as they grew. these unstable particles were used to generate power for the “apollo engines” in the tetsujin. so what we’ve known as “rust” isn’t actually rust, just something that looks like it.

Milo continues to see memories: apollo proposing to domino, and a coup of matoba manufacturing where the military attacked the tetsujin with missiles. domino tried to stop the attacks, but no one listened.

Everyone is assaulted by powerful rust wind as a tetsujin combusts. milo can feel domino’s suffering; the suffocating air, his organs failing. people die, objects practically melt from the rust eating away at them. only apollo is spared, because his creation knew to save its creator. he cradles the gravely ill domino and kisses her one last time before she dies.

Milo is at the bottom of the void when he wakes up from the barrage of memories, and meets domino’s spirit. she doesn’t want to reset time - she’s dead and apollo can’t change that. she asks milo to stop apollo, and to tell him she loves him. domino teaches milo “lifemaker” - the counter to city maker, which can restore life to things that have been turned into cityscapes. the lifemaker ability glows in rainbow colors.

Milo pops out of the server and saves bisco by shooting him with a lifemaker arrow. this causes bisco’s hair to grow longer for some reason, and rainbow-colored mushrooms sprout from his body and eat away at the cityscapes growing on him. he calls these new mushrooms “nanairo” (rainbow)

The nanairo destroy apollo, and domino’s spirit guides him to the afterlife. the tokyo cityscape and domain they’re in begin to crumble.

The spirits inhabiting apollo’s body flee back into the server and fly into the sky to hijack a broadcasting satellite and spread the city maker program across japan that way. bisco and milo (carrying the unconscious tirol) do some weird shit and fly after it into the atmosphere. nanairo spores rain on tokyo and the surrounding desert as they shoot down the server, which heal those who were turned into cityscapes.

Milo and bisco plummet back toward earth. bisco complains about how weird his life has become and that it’s not worth dying to save the world. m: “...but thanks to this, we met all sorts of people. besides, you have a treasure no one else does.” b: “what’s that?” m: “me!” ... milo hugged bisco while still holding onto tirol, but frowned at the goggles on his partner’s forehead getting in the way. he pulled them off and tossed them aside. “hey!” bisco protested but milo didn’t listen, instead pulling him closer and pressing their foreheads together as they fell head-first toward earth. m: “....bisco.” b: “....hm?” m: “...you’re very sweaty.” Their red and blue hair appeared to tangle together as it blew around. The two laughed, foreheads still against each other. One would think they were two halves of the same life, despite being connected only by their bond. They felt each other’s warmth in the silence of the burning atmosphere. [the word i translated as “burning atmosphere” was shakunetsu, which can mean intense emotions........]

They use their remaining power to create a barrier around tirol in hopes of saving only her from dying. tirol wakes up after they black out, and calls for help. jabi and pawoo come running to catch them. pawoo grabbed bisco so roughly that he immediately woke up from surprise then blacked out again from the force of impact. she does CPR on him poorly and bisco nearly suffocates

Thanks to the nanairo mushrooms covering tokyo, the presence of the rust wind greatly diminishes and those who were still suffering from rust disease are recovering. some of the places that had been transformed into cities stay that way, and become meccas of business and tech

In the epilogue, bisco tries to get milo to pay for a new pair of goggles because his last ones burned up in the atmosphere. they get attacked by a monster while bisco is haggling with the salesman, and milo reveals that they aren’t are half-immortals anymore and their rust eater powers are gone? it’s not explained how this happened, but I assume it’s because of the effects of the nanairo

According to the author’s notes, volumes 1 thru 3 are meant to be a complete set (he calls them ”part 1″).

Other notes:

Bisco’s village is located in Ehime prefecture, Ishizuchisan

I think this was in the author’s comments in another volume, but bisco’s speech pattern is like that of a bratty young kid. We see more of his childishness in the robot scene, where he proudly presents a scientist a shoddy picture he drew of a robot that has laser beam eyes and weapons for hands, and also a scarf “for fashion, obviously.”

It’s become a running gag for milo to say “don’t worry, I went to school” in response to someone doubting how he knows or understands something

One of the high priests from izumo is tirol’s grandfather. idk if this was mentioned in vol 2

Female mushroom keepers tend to be small in stature

It seems like bisco’s been learning to read and he really enjoys reading. at the beginning during milo’s ceremony, he’s reading manga. and when the squad enters tokyo, he gets distracted by a book store

Can we PLEASE talk about how they continue to emphasize that the rust incident affected only Japan? what has the rest of the world done for 300 years????

When milo meets domino, it’s emphasized how they’re so similar in appearance and mannerisms that they’re practically identical. idk how milo is domino’s descendant (same with apollo and bisco) since there was no mention of them having children. I guess some relatives had to have survived and maintained the nekoyanagi/akaboshi bloodlines? 🤔 anyway, in the end this is basically apollo/domino -> bismilo being reincarnated lovers and that’s just the facts!

Domino is a german cookie, which is probably where her name comes from. I think milo’s robot being named “ein”, the german word for “one”, is a hint about this

A lot of bizarre city-monster-animals appear in fight scenes throughout the novel. it has everything... giant spiders with LED eyes and electric cables for webbing, bullet trains that can form into mechas.....

[the-energon-hole]

I love your writing, darling! May I request TFP Megatron, Soundwave, Knockout and Predaking comforting their crying human s/o? Their beloved doesn’t express emotions much and seems to be perfect: eloquent, intelligent, regal and wise. However, she has a mental breakdown and her flawless demeanor is shattered. She feels worthless for making mistakes and disappointing others, and because she never speaks about such fears and bottles up the negative emotions, her feelings bursts like a damn.

((A/N Thank You My Dear, just an f.y.i. I have been there so many times it’s crazy how well I know this feeling. I keep shit so bottled up I end up weeping over a fork I dropped on the floor.))

Megatron

-He had heard about the harsh punishment and verbal reprimandation you received from your boss at the lab you were employed at, something about you making a “rookie mistake” because you made a simple oversight of not labeling your chemicals for others to know what was around your workstation when the other shifts came in to continue your research. You talk about the kinds of shady things that go on at your workplace constantly to him, besides you stealing top secret plans and chemicals for the Decepticons of course, and he finds himself enticed for some reason to actually listen and care to your small anecdotes and stories about your idiotic top secret “intelligent” and “important” co workers.. There just seems to be so much drama going on with the other scientists, and you unfortunately, were seen as an easy target for them to use as a proverbial punching bag because they have shitty personalities and don’t know how to deal with their own business; and if he were to be honest, it bothered him that this was happening to you specifically, but you were so emotionless and monotone about the whole thing when you described what they said to you and even about you that he never thought to much of at the time. In fact, if you never said anything about your working environment at all, he would have never been the wiser to all your barriers and problems you were facing from the humans you were employed by- and he prided himself on being able to read most people and bots like an open book as he was a very observant mech. You were a strong person emotionally, as he has known you to never let someone dictate how you felt about a situation (even him), and mostly, you knew how to outsmart most other humans that he always just thought you got small petty revenge on them by doing something amusing like poisoning their lunches so they get sick during the day or sabatoshing their individual projects so that they have the potential to get fired and screamed at and you would never have to see them again in your lab. Yes, that was why he liked you so much in a small way, you were able to laugh at others misfortune while still retaining a little bit of your humanity while staying humble and eager to work with him being able to trust you to always get the job done no matter what- that was why you had a secret alliance with the Decepticons after all, he would spare the Earth and seize power so that you can dictate how the world should be properly run so long as you did what you were told and continued to reveal secret government plans to them. He found himself becoming even reliant on you and your intelligence gathering as you were becoming an integral part of his team- and best of all he didn’t have to worry about you double crossing inm like all these other degenerate on this ship.

-He must be going soft in his spark or something, because if a few cycles ago you told him he would be concerned for this little human sobbing uncontrollably in the control room of his ship, he probably would have thrown you out of the airlock in space to watch you become exposed to the vacuum of space. Here he was though, holding you in the palms of his claws while you were having a crying fit that made his spark clench a little in it’s chambers. You told him all the stress and all the small things were finally starting to get to you- you didn’t want to cry and you felt so weak and helpless succumbing to trivial and silly things like your human emotions. You just wished that you didn’t feel anything at all sometimes- maybe then you could finally become the perfect human that you try so hard to be everyday. That face you put on, that stoic attitude you display to others, and all of the slightly harsh and logical words you managed to mutter out of your quivering lips- it was all a lie. No matter what you do, you are cursed to feel strongly about everything that has been happening to you. It was just surprising to hear Megatron give a small chuckle as he took one of his claws to gently tilt his face upwards to look into his piercing red optics. He told you it is the burden of those whom are destined for greatness, you feel things so deeply and so fully, that you have to do something in order to change the world around you. It was how he managed to single handedly plunge Cybertron into chaos after all, he felt all the injustice and pain of those who were unfortunate enough to be in a caste below him being forced to fight him and die for the enjoyment of others- he has had his own weak moments. He will stand here with you all night if he has to, you and he were one in the same, and soon there will be nothing more to cry about- he will make sure of it.

Soundwave

-Ever since you have come to serve with him under the regime of Megatron he has rarely ever known you tro make mistakes. You always knew what to say to make the other bots back off ands leave you alone when they came to torture you about being a weak and small human, you always knew how to take care of any electrical or mechanical problem they were experiencing on the ship as you were a very fast learner and picked up on Cybertronian Mechanics os quickly, and mostly you were stoic enough that when you did make a mistake or miscalculation you managed to stay calm and collected while facing their ruthless and twisted leader. It was a gift not many have possessed over the cycles as he has seen so many falter and fail so terribly that Megatron took no mercy on them, whether they were useful to his future plans or not, but nothing stopped you from doing the job you were brought aboard this ship to do. Recently he noticed you making more and more small mistakes, simple ones at first that he can easily correct and fix without anyone noticing, but it was starting to get worse and worse as he noticed your hands trembling when you worked and your breathing would become quick and panicked- he also noticed a rise in blood pressure when ever he took a scan of you when you started to question your normally correct and informed decisions. You were like him, and he knew it was going to be your downfall, as he too did not speak about his fears or his insecurities with anyone- he didn’t trust them to not use his weaknesses against him so he thought it better to just bottle everything up and try not to let it explode while he was busy performing his duties. He has been doing it for eons, so really, eh knew what signs to look for in himself when he became to frustrated with current events to continue working to which he would have someone cover for him while he took a quick and quiet flight alone through the cool night sky. You didn’t have that opportunity since being here, and you have been forced time and again to prove your worth to the cause, he can tell it was draining on you- and he can’t say he blames you for making mistakes.

-It surprised him a little to find you curled up in a tight corner in between some consoles in the engineering room of the ship crying unattractively and uncontrollably as you cupped your face in your hands to the point the heat must be making your face flush a darker color than normal- and when you looked up at him once you heard his approach he noticed your eyes were darker due to the tears and your face glistened a little due to the ones that have long fallen past. He wasn’t expecting this, honestly, as he was sure you would just go somewhere else to decompress and relax as he does whenever he becomes overwhelmed. He couldn’t help himself, as he felt drawn to you instinctively, as he took a slim digit to softly push your hands away from your face so you can get some deeper and more calming breaths into your lungs. He can read the distress your body was in on his screen, and it bothered him that you were keeping things so bottled up that this is the result of the situation. He needs to pay attention to your signs much closer now because if someone other than him were to walk in on you like this, well, it would have been a one way ticket into the atmosphere that was so thin you would be dead before you hit the ground from the long fall. You spilled your guts out to him as you latched onto his instinctively arm for support as you nearly fell over from your fetal position when he forced your arms to your side- this was so hard for you. It was a mental challenge on top of being a life or death situation, it was almost impossible to think with all of these hecklers and bystanders screaming profanities at you from afar, and it was hard not being able to see any of your friends or family anymore. Truth, you agreed to this situation- but it must have been harder on your emotions that you first might have thought. He felt like that when he first joined forces with Megatron, everything changed so quickly and harshly that he had no choice but to adapt or he would be killed just like all the others… Just like you could be killed potentially. He said nothing as he lifted you to hold you in one hand, which must have surprised you enough to make you gasp in fear as you started to tremble while apologizing profusely to him in an almost begging tone, which ceased once you finally looked into his screen with wide eyes while sniffing at those tears and emotions long since now passed. He had a small heart on his screen, a human sign of affection he noticed- he liked you a lot, and if you needed to cry to decompress he would allow it, so long as it was in his presence and not in someone else’s who would be so willing to stomp on you without giving it a second thought.

Knockout

-Your beauty and regality is what drew him to you in the first place as he has never seen an human work it as hard as you do- it was a little intoxicating watching you manipulate and trick people into doing whatever you wanted when you played up that “stupid little airhead” trope he has seen in so many movies. Truth was that you were a deliciously dirty little minx who can charm anything from anyone- it wasn’t a  gift that was taught but one earned through hard work on appearance and hard work on witty and fun little quips- you and him were the same way. He has so easily gotten out of life or death situations by batting his eyes at any mech that was eyeing him up and down on the battlefield, it was nice to see there were humans who were just like him. It was why he picked you up to work for the Decepticons, you could do things on the down low that hey never could. Need an artifact that the humans have displayed in some second hand shoppe? You can do that. Need to distract a group of humans so he can sneak by and obtain whatever it was that he needed from a warehouse or construction site? Done, you were really good at that. You never let him down when the situation called for it, so when you failed to charm someone, it came as a huge shock to the both of you. It was a verbal malstrom of malcontent and anger from Megatron form your first ever failed mission- he considered that a good thing as you both got off the hook so easily, yet you seemed to take it differently, you became so cut off and so quiet since then. You rarely conversed with him in his lab and you barely made comments on teh funny anecdotes he had to tell you, if he was going to be honest, it was a little concerning for him as this was a side of you that he would have never thought he would see. He would have assumed you could just bounce back as fast as he could- but once he learned of your fears of failure and your fears of letting everyone down who relied on you, well, it all made sense in that clear moment to him.

-He can relate to the whole afraid of failure thing, even if he was cool under pressure, so when you sat in the lab on a table giving of f ugly wails as you cried and it absolutely broke his spark into two- you can’t feel like this so long as he is around. Seeing you cry like that mean she was essentially crying like that, and well, we can’t have that. He picked you up unceremoniously as you yelped and grabbed onto a few of his digits to prevent yourself from being flung across the room by accident. He sat down on an exam table and looked at you expectantly as you rubbed at your slightly sticky face while giving a small hiccup- the tears stopped due to the shock of almost being dropped a few stories onto the ground by a bot who sometimes forget how fragile and squishy you really were. He asked you to explain why the leaking ands why the animalistic wailing, to which you slightly laughed at the way he worded it but were instantly brought back to that dark place by the anxiety that was shrouding your mind in a foggy haze- you swore if it weren’t for the sobering moment of almost dying that all of this would have felt like some dream and that you were still stuck in a place you didn’t want to be. You had to explain to the slightly comically expressed Knockout that failure has never been a good thing in your life as time and again your failure to do even “simple” tasks has caused such traumatic backlash that anytime you so much as drop a fork on the ground you can spiral uncontrollably to the dark places in your brain that you don’t want to be in. That reflected so hard to his processor as he felt his spark clench as the smile fell from his face as he looked deeply at you for the first time since you two have been working together- this was the reality call he needed to remember that humans were in fact fully conscious and functioning begins with deep and complex thoughts and emotions. It just proved to him you were more similar than even eh would like to admit- he has been to that dark place to, but here on this ship, you need to get a thick outer frame fast or else you will be the subject to cruel and unusual punishment- jeez, the things a mech does to stay on the winning side. He let you weep a little more after that, he figured it was bets to let those bottled up emotions come out rather than you put a  lid on it just to explode a little later on- he will try to help you gain a thicker outer shell, but until then, you go ahead and cry- he will make sure only he will see it.

Predaking

-You were the only human he has gotten to know rather extensively, and if you were a prime example of what your species has to offer, well then your planet was worth saving if that were the case. You were a kind and gentle keeper to him, even when he has made so many mistakes and lashed out in anger, but no matter what he did you always protected him from bots like Starscream who liked to flex his power by taunting him. It was amazing watching you, this tiny and feeble little human, stand up against bigger and stronger alien life forms on his behalf- you took absolutely nothing from nobody and it was very enticing to see. You were so stoic and put together while somehow still being kind hearted and loving, though he was forbidden to help you should you be overwhelmed by the bigger bots, he got the feeling that you wouldn’t need his help anyway. You knew how to handle a gun and you knew when the appropriate time was to use lethal force against a perceived enemy. He was learning a lot from you just by watching you interact with all of these miscreants, and he will be forever grateful to your services to him, he will pay you back one day- this was his promise to you even though he did not speak it aloud for others to hear him say it. It wasn’t long after he made this commitment though that you suddenly had such a shift in your personality display, you started to become a little shaky and uncertain as if you were caught doing something wrong in the act. You paced back and forth in his cage a lot, muttering and mumbling to yourself about things he did not quite understand- things like you being a failure to all your family and how you have fallen short of expectations and regret taking on so much work with such small compensation. It was off putting he will admit, but he fully believes nothing can crack through your armor and that you just needed a quiet place to think, to which he will gladly let his sanctum be your space.

-It didn’t really hit home for him that you were an actual person, you know, a person with actual thoughts and feelings that go deeper than what was on the surface of the personality he has witnessed. These emotions were new to him, and he can’t say he understands what was truly upsetting you, but when you lay at the back of his cage curled up and making small pathetic noises that were out of character for you- well he was concerned, or at least, that’s what he thought this feeling must be. It kind of made him clench and cringe when you sniffed and huffed in a bawlign fit that he was sue must be a human thing because he has never seen Cybertronians act this way, but then again, he hasn’t seen them acting any other way than malicious and angry so there was that. You let out another ugly whine as his instincts began to kick in and before he knew it he had you curled up in his side as he lay where you once did, he felt you shaking a little as this was new for him as well- was this what it was like to comfort someone as you comforted him when he was injured in battle? You spoke to him of your fears and of your failures, how it felt like no matter how hard you worked you always fell short of expectations and it just made you feel as if you were just an etheral being just sliding by without contributing anything to the situation and it drove you crazy that you can’t do anything more because you were “weak” and “helpless”. He just grunted in protest and used a clawed hand to tap at your chest where your spark was supposed to be, he knew you had something else there, but the same principle certainly should apply. He swished his tail as you continued to sniff but look at him with a curious glint in your eyes- he has never interacted with you like this, the cuddling and the touching, it was foreign but it was not unwelcome as he was pleasantly warm and comforting. You might not know what he meant when he thumped on your chest but you knew that was where his spark was, so maybe it was his way of telling you to “believe in yourself”, and that was actually kind of beautiful. All the cons are trying to tell you this beast has no thoughts or feelings and is just a tool for war- you knew they were all wrong, and this is the proof. It was vindication to see it, and honestly, it made you feel a little better to know you haven’t let him down as you have the others around you.

(05/06/18)

[hellyeahheroes]

Characters That Need To Be In Young Justice S3, Part 1: Here Comes a New Challenger!

As The new Season of Young Justice is getting closer and closer to actually seeing the light of day, I thought of characters that would be good to see in it and, if we’ll be graced with such thing, following season. Of course what initially was supposed to be a short list simply exploded into a colossal one that will require at least few posts to cover. In this part I’ve decided to take a look not as the core cast themselves but rather characters that could in some way provide a challenge to them - be it as rival hero groups they come into conflict with for various reasons, antiheroes that supposedly have the same goals but take things too far or straight-out villains to beat. So without further delay, let us get right into it

Number Ten: Lord Havok & the Extremists

When it comes to obscure villains few things strike out like an entire supervillain team based on characters from your biggest competition. Marvel has both parodied and homaged DC multiple times with various incarnations of Squadron Supreme, while DC has the Extremists - an entire team “inspired” by iconic Marvel supervillains. They come from another world and their goal is less world domination but the extermination of heroes and domination for the protection - as their world has been destroyed, they have decided it was the heroes who were responsible. So now they aim to save another world from the same fate. By conquering it and eliminating heroes one by one.

A team of varied antagonists, at least some of which are extremely powerful, who do not play by the rules of heroes and villains game and are lead by megalomaniacal mastermind based on Doctor Doom would certainly upset the balance of power between the heroes and the Light, forcing both side to adapt or even team up to take them down before they can resume their own spy game.

Speaking of Extreme measures....

Number Nine: Manchester Black

I have mentioned it in the past that I’m not actually a fan of Superman story “What’s So Funny About Truth, Justice And American Way?” or animated movie “Superman vs the Elite” it is based on. However, I can respect the villainous potential of Manchester Black. A British thug with incredible telepathic and telekinetic powers he what would happen if you gave Jean Grey power set to Frank Castle. Only, you know, British. While he usually sticks to antagonizing Superman and obsessively trying to turn him to break his vows and start killing the villains, lately he seems to have turned towards corrupting younger generation in his image. And that’s a role that would be extremely resonant in series like Young Justice. Heroes of this world already have strayed a bit too close to certain lines, especially during the second season. Seeing how the next season will likely continue diving into spy stories in superhero world, these lines might get blurry again. Even without somebody like Manchester with his twisted black and white sense of morality whispering in your ear.

While the obvious choice would have him go after Superboy, I think he would actually play a good antagonist to Miss Martian as well. Not only is she in need for a decent telepath to challenge her since I think everyone is just done with Psimon, but she had a history of going too far with her powers or using them too recklessly, something that caused her a great deal of grief. Not only that would make her a perfect target to somebody like Black but it would make him a warning sign of what lies at the end of this road and what kind of person it could turn her into.

Fun fact: Manchester was loosely based on Jenny Sparx, leader of team the Authority from Wildstorm comics, whose characters are now not only owned by DC but a part of their Universe. One of Wildstorm’s most popular stories was the Sleeper, which featured our next spot on the list

Number Eight: T.A.O

Because when the Tactically Augmented Organism looked at life, he saw only chaos and order. And humanity's denial of chaos appalled him. So he would tear it all down and fill the whole world with chaos, if only to watch mankind cling to their illusions as they burned around them...would he destroy the world at the same time? It's certainly a possibility.

T.A.O. or Tactically Augmented Organism is an interesting villain being a human basically grew in a lab and possessing both incredibly high intelligence and a compelling voice he uses to plant ideas he wants into people’s heads. He started supposedly on the good guy’s side, but have turned out to secretly been manipulating good guys and bad guys alike into starting a war among superhumans and countless destruction, just because he could. He turns out to have an extremely misanthropic worldview and likes the idea of overthrowing existing status quo in favor of chaos. He built his own villain empire just for that purpose. This all makes him perfect an antagonist in the type of story Young Justice is operating on. He could easily have started as an ally, only to turn out to try and “spice things up” between the Team and the light. Or he could be working with the latter, as he fits their “mastermind” style like a glove. He would also provide an interesting contrast for Superboy, seeing how they both were artificially created by scientists, yet turned out as total opposites.

And if we touch upon providing a contrast, let’s stay in WIldstorm corner for a moment.

Number Seven: Apollo & Midnighter

One of the advantages of jumping to a new online service is supposed to be that Young Justice can now show more LGTBQ characters. So I say, let them put their money where their mouths are and bring in one of the more popular gay couples in DC - a pair of antiheroes, Apollo and Midnighter. Due to their background, they could fit easily into the black ops feel the show is trying to have and they would also provide a contrast to the Team in a way similar, but less extreme than Black. These guys don’t play around if they have to kill a villain, they will. But they don’t actively go trying to enforce their way on others, but that would only present a dilemma to the team - can they afford to leave these two to their own devices? Or maybe they are worth having around, in case there were lines to be crossed?

We’ll stay in Wildstorm part of DC for one more group to visit.

Number Six: The DV8

Some might be surprised I’m bringing up them over Gen 13, heroic group of teenagers on the run from evil government conspiracy. But honestly, Young Justice already had a group that fits a similar niche in their Runaways. And while it would be fun to have Gen 13 around, they are, how Warren Ellis put it, kids you look at and you know they wash their teeth three times a day. Their antagonists on the other hand....

DV8 or Deviants consist of a team of 8 superpowered teenagers - Threshold, Bliss, Frostbite, Sublime, Copycat, Powerhaus, Freestyle and Evo. What makes them different from other teen supervillain teams is that these guys are mercenaries. Working for ruthless and ambitious Ivana Baiul they take on black ops mission for whoever is paying and whatever is advancing her ambitions. And that’s what makes them so appealing - because there might be situations where they will be hired to oppose the Team but in other instances, they might have to join forces towards the same goal, at least for a while. Plus some of DV8 members had shown shades of moral ambiguity so they could have a potential to turn good.

And in case somebody would say I’m crapping on Gen 13 for being heroic, let us leave Wildstorm to go take a look at another team.

Number Five: The Movement

Created by Gail Simone and Freddie Williams II, the Movement is a team of teenage superheroes who try to take on more “grounded” problems than supervillains. The movement is a team of young activists and disfranchised - Virtue, Mouse, Vengeance Moth, Tremor, Burden, Katharsis and Rainmaker -  who, to use Gail Simone’s own words  "all have reason to be mad at the system, which hasn't protected them or even tolerated them".

And this is precisely why I want them in Young Justice. Moving to a different network and being able to tackle more mature themes is a perfect opportunity to bring in the Movement. This is a team who is mad at the system, yes, but clearly idealistic and good-natured and they help people were official services cannot. This is something that I feel is often good if not outright necessary to have in stories taking so much from the spy genre’s handbook. The Team has risked and lost a lot and even did few things they might not be proud of in defense of the status quo. It’s about time somebody showed up to make them question if the status quo is actually worth all of this as it is or if they as superheroes cannot do something to also improve it. And the Movement is a perfect team to challenge them on that level instead of some unnecessary battles.

No, that we can leave to the next position on the list

Number Four: The Blood Syndicate

Young Justice was not shy of using characters from late Dwayne McDuffie’s Milestone Media imprint - that’s where they got Icon, Rocket and Static from after all. Well, how about one of their more controversial creations, even at the time. Blood Syndicate is not a team. They’re a gang. A gang of individuals who all gained superpowers in the same incident and now band together. Consisting of several characters like Wise Son, Brickhouse, DMZ, Tech-9, Dogg, Boogieman, Aquamaria, Fade, Masquerade, Flashback, Third Rail, Oro Kwai or (I kid you not) Holocaust. While a gang and very angry at everyone for what happened to them, they could easily be used to be opponents for the Team. But they also have at least some moral ambiguity and conflicting goals and dreams and at least few could potentially turn on the side of angels, while the others...well, I see no reason why Holocaust couldn’t be a big threat on his own as he was upon leaving the Syndicate in the comics, only now working with the Light.

So far there was at best some moral ambiguity connected to most if not all of the mentioned examples. How about some very heroic group next? 

Number Three: The Justice League of China

China’s attempt at beat Americans at their own game and create their own, improved version of its most well-known superheroes resulted in a team of teenagers bearing the names of Super-Man, Bat-Man, Wonder-Woman and Flash of China. They are at heart idealistic and deeply heroic, even if still rather inexperienced. That means they not only provide contrast to the Team (double than China’s other superhero team, the Great Ten, due to being teenagers themselves) but it might be very easy to set them as rivals trying to prove themselves or have them go into conflict with the Team, would one of their missions involve messing around on Chinese territory. And they also add a bit of world building as a whole, show that it’s not only the Justice League and the Light who are in the race for domination on the superhuman scene.

Let us not leave China too soon as there is a certain another character from there I wanted to bring up.

Number Two: Lady Shiva and League of Shadows

With the death of Ras Al Ghul (assuming he’s going to stay dead as, well, this is Ras we’re talking here about) it is a perfect opportunity to bring more focus on his League of Assassins and how it adapted and developed without their immortal leader. And Lady Shiva with her more extremist offshoot of the organization, the Lague of Shadow, designed to for most exists only as an urban legend might be a very good for just that. Leading more dangerous part of the League, maybe breaking out of the Light and even turning against them, trapping the Team between the two organizations. Not to mention that Shiva herself is a deadly oponnent that deserves to be able to showcase her skill in animation.

And if we’re touching on the League of Assassins

Number One: the Demon’s Fist

Lead by Ras’ granddaughter, Mara Al Ghul, Demon’s Fist is a fairly new addition to DC Universe, yet still an interesting one. A team of superpowered children - Nightstorm, Stone, Plague and Blank - kidnapped at birth, raised and trained to be assassins and servants of Ras. They never knew they were deceived nd once they found out, turned against their former master. But how could that story play in young Justice? Maybe with Ras dead, they will aid Mara in her efforts to seize grandfather’s position for herself? Or maybe they discover the League has been using them and ask the Team to help them get out? There are multiple possibilities to consider, which is what makes this team so interesting.

If there is a character who didn’t make it to the list, fear not - this is merely part one out of at least 3 DC Unvierse is rich and ripe with characters that would make a great addition to Young Justice, a single top 10 would not do them all justice. And when you look at the final two entries of this list, you can probably guess which corner of DCU we will visit next

- Admin