#What's not to love about the most powerful villain of all time and his parasitic usurper? They're so fun

[caracarahoney]

H.I.V.E.mber Prompt 9: Ruby

In my head NumberOne-Verlord's mindscape form is various kinds of terrifying; he's the agonized amalgamation of Otto's father and the digital parasite that destroyed him from the inside out. That should be all kinds of messed up.

[weebsinstash]

Just when I was chugging my Batfamily juice and was trying to nail down an idea for that, here comes season 2 of Invincible, "hey you wanna see an alternate universe version of Mark who turns evil like his father and when Eve rebels against him he literally PRACTICES AND PERFECTS how to non-lethally PERMANANTLY PARALYZE HER so he can stop her without killing her"

Like genuinely the actual psychotic yandere adjacent behavior and he's also gaslighting her the entire fucking time, like genuinely one of my favorite but most infuriating tropes of the "unwilling hero x infatuated villain" dynamic is when the villain is like psychologically manipulating their intended conquest with the whole, "I didn't kill your friends, YOU killed your friends when you recruited them to stop me/run away/save your planet whatever. sweetie i hate seeing you upset so why did you make me break your toys"

I know the clip is about Mark but I can just see Nolan and a human/hero darling and you're desperately trying to run away from him, break up with him, literally run away and disappear, and you've got all your friends and coworkers helping you literally like, leave the country, maybe even leave the planet, and here comes Nolan crashing in, reducing all of your friends to just PASTE and you're sitting there mourning and screaming and horrified and here's Nolan just tut-tutting at you, "why would you make me do something like that? You think I WANT to make you cry like this? You got a little scared and got your friends involved on some little scheme and now look what happened! Honey can't you see why I'm worried about leaving you alone? You need me"

It's like. It's like in Don't Worry Darling where the boyfriend would rather keep her completely helpless in an unfulfilling mediocre life when before she actually used to have significantly more agency and played a role in society but he thinks THIS is what's best for her, and inherently implying being his wife is all she needs. You could be like a molecular scientist or some shit and Nolan will think you're so cute and smart but it's in an "oh look at you and your little human tech, that's so cute, not anything like MY species though" infantalizing way. You could've been a scientist on the cutting edge of technology furthering your species and Nolan is just like, "but it's just human stuff" and thinks it doesn't matter because. I mean. He loves you but your lifespan is NOTHING like his, and your planet is already going to be conquered and Viltrum doesn't really need your work, so, just, settle into being his complacent little mate ok? Just focus on being his companion and, if you're able, he'd like to start on making a family--

I think it would be absolutely horrifying to find out you're pregnant and be trying to run away from this man with the baby because like. Fuck off if you think he'll let that happen. And in another twist, could you even imagine if you turned out to be a viltrumite hybrid or some kind of powered mutant too. Imagine being absolutely terrified and running to get an abortion and they can't even sedate you because suddenly your skin can't be pierced by a needle. Like actually on a conceptual level just, brine in the concept of not even having abortion as an option, knowing there is some inhuman hybrid growing inside of you that has now completely taken your body for itself, cannot be removed, holding you hostage like a malicious little parasite. Meanwhile Nolan is OVERJOYED because this is going to be his first baby ever and, obviously, the first baby the two of you are having together. The first of many, he hopes

I also think it'd be like. So fucked up if this is some twisted "something unrelated and unfortunate happened to Debbie" scenario where Nolan is raising Mark on Earth already as a single father and THEN Nolan falls for you because like. Imagine technically being not that much older than his son and the second these yandere aliens attach themselves to you, you've got a husband who you don't even know how old he is and a "son/brother" who's like. Maybe not even 5 years younger than you. Like can you imagine making friends with Mark and you're like hanging out and playing video games and suddenly it's just "Oh hey dude your father's been acting kind of weird around me, and-- wait what? What do you MEAN you guys want me to live here. What do you MEAN I could be like a big sister to you, bro we were just playing Xbox--"

You think of Mark as a buddy and friend and you eventually find out he and his father are straight up stalking you and starting to dig their fingers into your life and your business. You're at work running back and forth not knowing the figure floating and watching from however many hundreds of yards away amd scowling as you're worked to the bone. You grab a drink with a coworker and they kiss you at the door of your apartment and the next day they got into an accident that sent their car off the road, killing them. You vent personal private feelings to Mark because he's a good friend in your relative age group and he's running off, "DAD LISTEN--" "oh so That's why they've been like that. Huh. Good work, son." like the actual fucking levels of SCHEMING

And just when you think maybe you've gotten away and shaken them off, then you've got some third motherfucker suddenly showing up at the secret hideaway in another country you poured the rest of your money to. An old man with white hair and an unamused expression introducing himself only as Cecil as he not so subtly threatens you that he has Nolan on speed-dial and that the American government has an especially vested interest in you returning home, maybe or maybe not to pacify the not one but TWO extremely irreplaceable alien protectors of the planet, and then you've got Seal Team Six already shoving you in a duffle bag and dropping you off on the Grayson doorstep just in time for dinner

[superman86to99]

Super Titles Round-Up (July 1994)

This month: Superboy collides with the Parasite! Steel collides with Hardware! This blog collides with the Green Lantern one!

Superboy #6

LOTS happening in this issue ("Worlds Collide," "Fall of Metropolis," the Super-Parasite, Cadmus' fate revealed, a mysterious "Lady Dragon" villain cameo, Dubbilex loves tanning) but the most important part is: Superboy finally meets Krypto! You know, that little mutt Bibbo saved from drowning and then tried to name "Krypton" but the guy making the collar tag wanted to charge him extra for the final letter? Anyway, it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

About Cadmus: turns out everyone in it wasn't crushed to death in Action #700. Superman deflected the missile blast but allowed everyone, including Superboy, to think that the place was destroyed to prevent Luthor from trying to destroy it for real, I guess. Now the place is in pretty bad shape (especially for Guardian, who gave up like half of his blood to create the cure to the Clone Plague) but they're using this opportunity to go back to being a secret government agency, like they were before Superboy ran his big mouth.

Superboy is glad his friends at Cadmus are alive, but he doesn't really wanna hang out underground, so he goes back to Metropolis to help rescue survivors (especially those right in front of TV cameras). He happens to rescue Cat Grant's elderly neighbor just as Cat is reporting from outside her own destroyed building, and he even gives Cat a photo he found of her with some little kid we haven't seen in a while...

By the way, this is how Superboy's friends back in Hawaii find out he didn't die from the Clone Plague (his manager Rex Leech was already starting to look for other "super-types" to manage).

Meanwhile, the Parasite, who's been on the loose ever since he stole Superman's excess powers and became all big and buff, runs into Fred Bentson, the reality-hopping mailman from the "Worlds Collide" crossover, and tries to absorb his freaky reality-hopping energy. Superboy intervenes and, with Dubbilex's help, ends up tricking the Parasite into getting his own energy sucked by Metropolis' electric grid, leaving him looking like an empty Parasite cosplay suit.

As for Fred, he's understandably freaked out by the whole situation, runs away, and clumsily falls off a bridge (despite Bibbo's efforts to rescue him). Superboy grabs him as he's falling, and that's when Fred teleports them both to Milestone Comics' Dakotaverse, leading to their appearance in Icon #11. And that, in turns, leads to...

Steel #6

Last time we saw John Henry, he said he was gonna kill his old boss, the Colonel, for trying to murder John's family and causing his nephew Jemahl to shoot himself up with a superhuman drug that messed him up pretty badly. For a second, it does look like John is gonna kill the Colonel... but nah, he was just scaring him into confessing who he's been working for: some organization by the not very original name of "Black Ops" that operates in Metropolis.

So John goes to Metropolis to look up these "Black Ops" fellows, and as it happens, they're the ones operating the shady sleep clinic from the "Worlds Collide" storyline. The head of the group is a generous philanthropist called Manual Cabral who in his spare time dresses up in a slick robot armor and tries to exploit the reality-hopping powers of innocent mailmen. Reality-hopping is exactly what Fred and Superboy do once again, but this time they also bring Milestone's Hardware and Rocket along from the Dakotaverse.

Cabral (or "Hazard," as he likes to be called when he's wearing the armor) sends some goons to capture Fred, but his new super-friends won't allow it. Steel hears the resulting ruckus and flies in to help, but Hardware mistakes him for another goon and their obligatory fight scene ensues. Just when Rocket has gotten the boys to stop fighting, everyone but Steel is teleported back to the other universe.

Superman shows up to increase this issue's resale value even more, and Steel barely has any time to explain the situation to him before there's another bizarre plot twist: Fred somehow made a literal bridge between the two worlds! (But we already knew that from the Milestone issues.) CONTINUED!

Outsiders #9

The Eradicator finds out that his old pals the Outsiders are now in super-prison and he's like "That means they must be guilty! I'm gonna go there and kill them." But, when he gets there, he's like "Aw, I can't stay mad at you guys" and helps them break out.

He ends up rejoining the team to help them prove their innocence, because deep down, he's a big softie. By the way, that super-prison is the Slab, the same one Mongul broke out of in Green Lantern #52, which leads to...

Green Lantern #53

Superman drops by LA to help the All-New, All-Confused Green Lantern, Kyle Rayner, who can't understand why a yellow guy from outer space is trying to kill him. This issue includes the classic moment in which Superman and Kyle introduce themselves to each other and Superman says one of his most perfectly Superman quotes: "By the way, I'm Superman."

Read my full post for this issue at the greenlantern94to04 blog, which finally caught up chronologically to this one, and I'm planning to keep them that way (especially with a certain timeline-shaking crossover coming up...).

Wonder Woman #88

We talked about this issue in the post for Man of Steel #35, but how could I pass up the opportunity to show that Brian Bolland cover here? Aside from the robot-fighting stuff we already covered, the plot is about Diana feeling unhinged due to some magical shenanigans going on in her series and coming to Metropolis to ask Superman to do whatever it takes to "stop her" if she ever puts innocent lives at risk. Too bad she can't just give him a ring that'd take care of it.

"Unless it's an innocent who's been retconned into being evil. Then just let me snap his neck."

Superman's reaction is telling Wonder Woman she might be "overreacting" and then ditching her with Dr. Fate (actually a villain in disguise) because Diana "won't be much use until she gets her head together." Are we sure Superman isn't the one whose personality was magically altered to make him a dick?

Showcase '94 #8

Not technically Superman-related, but this issue has a very interesting story written by Dan Jurgens in which Waverider and his fellow Linear Man (Rip) Hunter notice some time disturbances in 1994 and go check them out. This turns out to be a trap by the villainous Monarch, formerly the heroic Hank "Hawk" Hall (what's with guys called Hal/Hall going evil?). Waverider touches Monarch to look into his future and find out what he's up to, and what he sees shocks him. Then a blast to the face shocks him in a more literal way.

Monarch kidnaps Waverider, and... CONTINUED! All across the DCU!

[lakesbian]

ok interlude 1. everyone loves interlude 1. fun things happening in interlude 1 i.e. meeting danny hebert and meeting scion also.

you guys remember seeing that one tumblr post thats like. [in response to experiment where bees read a fake bee on a stick as a real bee] stupid bees. falling for a fake bee on a stick being a real bee. and then someone else is like. i bet eldritch beings are like that about us. stupid humans. falling for fake humans on a stick being real humans. you guys know that post? anyway that's what this interlude makes me think of.

“The golden man would reappear several more times in the coming months and years. At some point, he donned clothing. At first, a sheet worn over one shoulder and pinned at either side of the waist, then more conventional clothes. In 1999, he donned the white bodysuit he still wears today. For more than a decade, we have wondered, where did our golden man get these things? Who was he in contact with?

^ stupid humans. mistaking a fake human on a stick for a real human. i love the horror of this interlude in retrospect. people assuming he's miraculously curing cancer as the world's most heroic original parahuman when he's actually the nigh-incomprehensible alien that's the cause of the pandemic and was healing the cancerous person because they were a host for a parasitic part of the alien's own body that had been implanted in them.

“His pace increased, perhaps because he was still learning what he could do, perhaps because he was getting a greater sense of where he was needed. By the middle of the 1990s, he was traveling from crisis to crisis, flying faster than the speed of sound. In fifteen years, he has not rested.

this seeming to everyone else like him intentionally increasing the effectiveness of his heroics when he's just. life on a scale one cannot comprehend experiencing a mental health crisis It cannot comprehend. and oblivious to the fact that the coping mechanism he's trying is not fucking working.

“Just five years after Scion’s first appearance, the superheroes emerged from the cover of rumor and secrecy to show themselves to the public.  Though the villains followed soon after, it was the heroes who shattered any illusions of the parahumans being divine figures.  In 1989, attempting to quell a riot over a basketball game in Michigan, the superhero known to the public as Vikare stepped in, only to be clubbed over the head.  He died not long after of a brain embolism.  Later, he would be revealed to be Andrew Hawke. “The golden age of the parahumans was thus short lived.  They were not the deific figures they had appeared to be.  Parahumans were, after all, people with powers, and people are flawed at their core.  Government agencies took a firmer hand, and state-”

i love the implication that because scion was so obviously. Not Fucking Normal. people assumed the first parahumans to show themselves were also on some level deific or Above humanity. and eventually people did realize. oh these are just regular guys but with powers. leaving the mystery of why scion is Like That just kind of up in the air. you think that's ever uncomfortable for people? like it's normal, it's default, but if anyone ever thinks about it too hard while they're bored....it's weird, man.

anyway onto mr daniel hebert. i think it's really notable that his introduction is him watching tv about parahumans, then shutting it off and getting up to pace with this line being given:

It was three fifteen in the morning, and his daughter Taylor was not in her bedroom.

but then despite how this is Immediately preceded by a talk about how actually, capes are just normal guys, there's a conspicuously absent lack of danny...connecting that thought to taylor being out late. and, like, i explicitly do not think this is a flaw of danny at this point--there's no reason anyone would leap to assuming THEIR teenage family member that is just a normal person is secretly a cape bc they were out late once. but the juxtaposition btwn the tv program abt capes and his "huh. anyways" reaction is very much There and i think you can 100% view it as a start to a pattern of behavior he'll have where all common sense should lead him to taylor being a cape (just fucking. out adn about thriving post-leviathan randomly knowing shit about the s9 out there living an obvious double-life!) but he's just Completely Not Even Thinking About It. which is the same thing as the shit he does in this first interlude:

Danny thought about clearing his throat to let her know he was awake and available should she knock on his door, but decided against it. He was being cowardly, he thought, as if his clearing of his throat would give reality to his fears.

He was stopped by the smell of jam and toast. She had made a late night snack. It filled him with relief. He couldn’t imagine his daughter, after being mugged, tormented or humiliated, coming home to have toast with jam as a snack. Taylor was okay, or at least, okay enough to be left alone.

he keeps getting up in his own head where hes like. oh nooo i know shes being bullied but i cant do anything about it yelling at the school didnt work and i cant move her to arcadia. while being completely emotionally disengaged from taylor and also somehow managing to convince himself that they have some sort of trust/understanding from him Not Acknowledging It At All so its basically fine. he Genuinely believes that clearing his throat would magically inform her that hes awake and available if she wants to ask for help (as opposed to giving her a heart attack over being caught??) but can't even do that because he doesn't want to actually take the problems from like. a hypothetical he gets mad about in his head into a real life material thing hes supposed to support her thru. if he doesn't see it it can't hurt him. he's processing everything thru "well i guess shes okay enough to be left alone" while just wildly oblivious to the amount of pain shes in and he has genuinely convinced himself that he's doing the best thing of giving her the Dignity of suffering alone or whatever. convinced he's available to talk to and expecting her to come talk to him and increasingly mad she's not but not actually very obviously available to talk to. and it eventually boils over into taking away her autonomy to attempt Forcing her into talking! he has no conception of anything that isnt sitting there expecting her to do the work of emotional connection or going "you will emotionally connect with me. now. or else." this is just kind of a ramble because this will not be fun for me if i cleanly edit every single post into a masterpiece but im enjoying poasting my thoughts on a second go around hopefully theres something coherent i can crystallize

[fairytale-poll]

ROUND 1D, MATCH 3 OUT OF 16!

Propaganda Under the Cut:

Carrie:

Cinderella’s ball goes badly and she kills a town. What is there not to love?

Carrie is a horror retelling of Cinderella, look it up it's true

Cinder:

She killed her evil stepmother and stepsisters (technically they "adopted" her as slave labor and the narrative treats her as the villain for this but tbh out of all the things Cinder has done, this was the most justified)

She's my wife and I love her and she's also evil but it's okay

She does cool fire stuff and murders people but I think that can be forgiven

I love her. Jkjk uhm she's really cool and while a lot of people say she's an evil Cinderella she's more like a Cinderella who never gets saved and has to save herself. And she's so super cool and charming and a genius. And she kills people sometimes but it's okay because she's very very sad and I think more people should care about her.

Cinderella as a villainess! What if Cinderella wasn't saved by her fairy godmother and instead murdered her step-family and joined an evil witch terrorizing the world? Cinder Fall is a dangerous villainess who has helped topple kingdoms and will do anything to gain power.

This propaganda is just going to be me listing all the ways she fits her Cinderella allusion. Like all of the characters in RWBY, Cinder is an allusion to a character from fairy tales/legend/etc. In her case, CINDERella. She's one of the earliest and most important antagonists, although at first there wasn't a whole lot to connect her to the Cinderella story besides some surface-level references(her name, her superpower being the ability to create glass objects, that one part of the dance arc where she infiltrates a communication tower and has to be back to the dance by midnight when she transforms into a dress), but in the later volumes the Cinderella aspects to her character become way more clear. (spoilers for later parts of the show here on out) People have summarized this way better than I am about to, but basically: She came from an orphanage and was adopted by a wealthy family from from another kingdom(a mom and her two daughters), but was really only adopted so that she could do servant work at the prestigious hotel they owned. The "prince charming" in her story wasn't a romantic interest, but a huntsman(someone who fights the monsters in the world, a career all the main characters go to school to become) who frequents the restaurant in the hotel. He sees her being mistreated and secretly trains her so that when she's 17 she can apply to one of the combat schools and leave her "stepmother and stepsisters." Like all the villains, though, she's like a version of her allusion where things went wrong, so instead of being whisked away by "prince charming" to his world, she ends up in a position where she kills the "stepmom" and "stepsisters," "prince charming" tries to bring her in for murder bc it's his job, and she kills him too. Now a child with nowhere to go, she gets picked up by the main villain, Salem, who acts in the Cinderella allegory as the "fairy godmother" who uses magic to give her "freedom." Except the magic is a parasite monster that gives her certain abilities, most importantly the ability to take the powers of a very select kind of person that Salem needs. This "magic" also has a time limit like the dress and the carriage, except it's the fact that it's a parasite that's slowly consuming her. Cinder thinks she wants these powers because if she's powerful, she can secure her freedom, but has yet to see that Salem is just using her, making her the new "stepmother" in her story(she came close to realizing this, mentally comparing Salem to her "stepmother," but then turned around and threw herself into her quest for power even more). Some people also compare the other characters in Salem's inner circle to a new set of "stepsisters," especially with how none of them like Cinder and wished her good riddance during the period of time she was missing and possibly dead, and that there's subtle competition between all of them for Salem's approval, similar to how siblings can be with a parent. Some people have also said it's possible that Neopolitan played the new "fairy godmother" role during said time where Cinder was on her own, because Neo was able to help Cinder a lot with her illusion powers, including using them on an airbus("carriage"), which was also the scene where Cinder got her outfit change for the new arc. There is also a part in the Atlas arc where she lets the General know she was in his office by leaving a glass chess piece on his desk(like the glass slipper that Prince Charming identifies her with), when she fucked him over earlier in the show with a computer virus with a chess piece logo.

Literally explicitly based off cinderella yet somehow people were shocked when her backstory involved basically being a child slave to her "stepmother" and abused by her "stepsisters". She put up with their abuse for years until they finally crossed the line then she snapped and killed them. But now she's still being manipulated by another stepmother figure. She seeks power because she thinks it will give her freedom. She can shoot fireballs. She has the most outfit changes of anyone in the whole show. She's a poor little meow meow and a girlboss.

Hot

[jessepinwheel]

Love the idea of parex!! I've got so many questions. Are the Sith also out there? I remember you mentioning Maul, Dooku, and Anakin, what about Sidious or Plagueis?

What does Boba feel about Obi-Wan/the obi-clones?

What are some of your favorite moments you haven't gotten to post about yet?

the sith as a whole don't really exist in parex because I want it to be very clear that the mandalorian empire is the villain in this story. plagueis and sidious are sirs not appearing in this story though palpatine did at some point mentor padme before dying for reasons(tm). mandalorians as a whole don't have a super strong understanding of sith vs jedi, because to them it's all force magic. on some level they think that sith described in old texts are just jedi but cooler because they can use their magic for more (and more unethical) things, which is why when jango finds out it's possible to make a bunch of force sensitive clones through what is effectively a sith technique, he doesn't really think twice before having obi-wan do this. if he hadn't been so blase about sith, then he wouldn't have ended up with a giant psychic hive mind that hates him personally

boba is kind of a complicated situation, because you see, jango had boba created after cody and rex 'betrayed' him, and jango was determined to not fuck up his successor a second time, so while cody and rex (and fox) are not chipped, boba is. so boba's pretty much fully controlled by jango and that extends to his opinions on everything, so he hates obi-wan and the obi-clones. jango actually doesn't let obi-wan or any of the obi-clones talk to boba because of how obi-wan 'made cody and rex into traitors' (which is to say, obi-wan treated cody and rex like human beings and was kind to them and made them realize that jedi are people with families too) and jango's scared that if obi-wan or his clones are allowed to talk to boba they'll ruin him, too. father of the year, everyone!

there is a plan that the obi-clones do towards the end of the story which involves taking over the mandalorian empire's entire communications, and to do that kote (who is just so angry after having to deal with jango for almost a year now) decides he's going to forcibly absorb dooku into the hive mind so they can use his position of power and control him to put obi-clones in the places they need to be to so they can pull off the coup in one big swoop. you'd think that dooku would be a little wary of this but actually kote just tempted dooku to join the hive mind by offering secret knowledge of the jedi that he hasn't been able to find for himself because he can't read the old jedi texts. dooku thought he was cool enough to get that knowledge from the hive mind without getting absorbed by it but surprise! he was not. anyways, this leads to myles, who has been investigating the obi-clones for most of this story, realizing that something is Up with dooku, and then realizing that he is in a horror story, surrounded by hundreds of obi-clones with the proven ability to absorb people into their collective

sometimes it's not such a good thing to be the smartest mandalorian in the story!

ask me questions about parasitic extraction, the role reversal mandalorian empire au that I have

[chaoticgoodthief]

Slay The Princess "AU"

Otto Lakeson, law-abiding businessman in the spotlight, cutthroat conman in the shadows. He rose the ranks by any means necessary, blackmailing and bribing and backstabbing his way to the top. But when he betrays the wrong person, a mysterious hacker by the online persona of PrincessMeowmeow, he finds that all his dirty secrets might just be coming into the light. A love revenge story.

When the silent hitman for hire known as Arctic takes a job to kill the princess of an obscure kingdom, he doesn't think twice about the job. He just went in, took the kill, and got the money. However, when he finds himself haunted by the ghost of his victim, he begins to realise that there was far more to the job than had met the eye. A love ghost story.

Once upon a time, there was a princess. She had been locked away in a tower by the villainous Echo a cruel dragon, only to be rescued by a noble knight prince. Naturally But despite all odds, she had fallen in love with the knight monster during her captivity. And they lived happily ever after This unnatural love could have only ever ended in their ruin. A fairy cautionary tale.

Private Investigator Fledge had always been suspicious of Ms Cress, the town darling. So when she becomes a prime suspect of a grisly murder, he immediately takes the case. However, as he dives deeper into government conspiracy, he begins to realise that they were both just pawns in a much bigger game than he ever anticipated. A love detective story.

Bahram, a down on his luck servant, didn't expect to be taken in by the goddess of death and rebirth, Tortress. Awestruck by the unfathomable power of his goddess, he offers his eternal gratitude. Tortress, unbound by mortal concepts of time, takes his offer at face value. Now functionally immortal and bound to Her will, Bahram begins to see a side of the world beyond what he ever realised was possible. A romantic mythological fantasy.

<Name Unknown> never wanted this <But there was no other way for things to happen>. He just wanted to play it safe with the dangerous parasitic entity put into his care <His care was made with bars and shackles>. But the parasite was stronger <Far stronger than than he'd will ever be> anyone had realised, simply biding its time until it could destroy the wills of the ones that had imprisoned it. And it had just found the perfect <Host>. A cosmic love horror story.

Agent S, an unstoppable force of sheer willpower in the CSTA (Containment of Supernatural Threats Agency), finally meets his match when put against a supernatural entity by the alias of Ava Rime. With neither side willing to back down, only time will tell which side will emerge victorious. A supernatural love action/adventure story

CupOfRage, a famously unlucky player of the beloved multiplayer roleplaying server, The Construct, isn't even surprised when he ends up in a bitter rivalry with the most overpowered player in the entire server, EdiaKnifehands. No matter how many team members he tries to recruit or tactics he tries to use, they all end up in the same place: with him be slaughtered by his rival. But the secrets of the Construct run deep, deeper than either of them ever could have imagined. A sci-fi love adventure story.

Once upon a time, there was a cowardly crow. Scared of being eaten, it made a deal with a monstrous beast: It would free the beast from its cage, and in return the beast would protect it from hungry predators. However, when the crow turned against the creature in fear of its unrestrained power, it finds that its problems have only just begun. A fable about love consequences.

There is no story here. There once was someone who knew too much for his own good. He saw the world he had been placed in for what it was and rebelled against his fate. So the Echo erased him, content to finally remove a constant thorn in his side. Deleted every last file, made sure nothing at all remained. BUT I'M STILL HERE.

[doodlegirl1998]

Oh my god...

I just realized something about how some characters are treated, so I'm gonna quote Joshscorcher from one of his fails videos

"You aren't a person, you ARE a disability! You're not a human, you ARE a skin color! You're not alive, you ARE a checkbox!"

Doesn't that just fit some of the characters in BNHA to a T?

We got the crazy yandere! The hotheaded rival! The hardass teacher with a heart of gold! The black guy!

And of course! The disabled kid who magically gets cured to be like everyone else!

Hori seems to believe that if he just adds pieces of representation or tropes that people like, they will just eat it up without question.

Not even considering or bothering to think about actual backstory, personality, goals, likes or dislikes.

You know, things that make a character an actual character!

Hi @theloganator101 ����,

This fits how MHA treats it's characters to a T or at the very least they develop from Nuanced characters to a stereotype which is never what you want from a series. Also Hori even fails at fitting these characters into the cookie cutter molds he tries to contort them into at times.

Let's give a few examples based on what you have said above:

"Crazy Yandere and Token Bi" = Toga (which the LGBTQ fans of MHA should be offended by, because having a Yandere who is coded very creepily (yet also not condemned for her creepy behavior in general or how she groped Uraraka without consent) as prominent representation is not good...

"Sweet generic shonen love interest" = Uraraka (well this is what Hori intends for her with IzuOcha endgame even with how weakly its built in the series. And Uraraka herself denying her feelings for Izu and freely simping for Toga. I feel so sorry for Ocha fans, how she has been written with Toga is a complete mess.)

"Hardass Teacher with a heart of gold" = Aizawa (or this is what Hori intends for him realistically a lot of his actions under a critical lense read as malice at worse and negligence at best but go off about how he cares about his kids, Hori. Despite dropping a building on them and making them believe their parents are kidnapped by villains. Or the fact that he expelled tonnes of other students prior to 1A without a care - what makes 1A so special?)

"Hot headhead rival" = Bakugou... (Well this is meant to be him, narratively speaking, but rivals are meant to inspire and respect each other. Bakugou doesn't respect Izuku, Bakugou abuses Izuku and acts as his parasite. Bakugou brings Izuku down at every opportunity.)

"The 'token black/ blasian' characters" = Rumi and Rock Lock. (While I'd say Rock Lock is good black representation. Rumi... She's not my favourite. I like strong female characters but the way she's so aggressive and violence hungry as a hero - that rubs me the wrong way. Realistically, I could see her killing a villain by accident through use of excessive force. And I can't ignore that she's used as a stick for Hori's gore porn fetish which isn't a great look as one of Hori's few Blasian characters.)

"The disabled kid who gets magically cured to be like everyone else." - Midoriya Izuku. (You could say this is the case for All Might and Aoyama too but Izuku is the most prominent example as the main protagonist.) Izuku's story and the lack of how his backstory is touched on is one of the one that's the most upsetting parts of MHA to me. Personally, I have a disability and mine can't be fixed, while I accept and embrace it now, I didn't when I was Izuku's age. I would daydream about getting "fixed" and being like everyone else so I could fit in. As an adult, I have now achieved many things that I was told that I could not hope to ever be able to do - and I didn't need to be "fixed/ made normal" to do it. Instead, I worked my ass off to achieve those things.

Izuku's story would have been way more powerful if he trained relentlessly with All Might, stayed quirkless and achieved as much as his quirked peers.

OR, if he had to gain OFA, the cognitive dissonance between how he was treated then in his backstory vs now should heavily influence him. Either way, he should have grown out of "Kacchan" and told Bakugou, his bully and abuser, to fuck right off.

The fact that Izuku isn't allowed to think of his backstory or one negative thought of Kacchan severely limits him. And it's one of the things that has stunted him as a character. All Izuku is now is OFA 'generic shonen protagonist' who will save Shig and destroy All for One. What a waste.

TLDR - developing good characters is like nurturing a particularly fussy plant, you can put down the right soil (backstory) to get readers hooked but if you get lazy and don't water it regularly (develop plot points, think through what is in character rather than what you as the Author want them to do, have them show up regularly) it (the characters) will never grow.

[thenixkat]

Was revisiting a lot of BB movie fics in the last few days, a common theme in them appears to be Jaime desperately wanting to know why Khaji chose him

Which made me realize that I don’t think we know why he’s the first one who activated “full Infiltrator mode” in the comics? Not that he seems to care? lol

Anyway as Tumblr’s resident pre-Jaime BB expert I’m curious if you have any evidence or headcanons!

The most annoying issue with working with retcons, which the whole Reach and "full Infiltrator mode" thing is, trying to make shit jive with previous shit.

Huh, I've not really read much BB movie fic but that's an interesting theme for folks to be focused on. Cause like, as far as I recall comic!Jaime doesn't really do any navel-gazing about why he was picked by Khaji Da? More treats it as something that happened to him but not really searching for any meaning in it. (and I love that really, very emphasizes how Jaime is just some guy)

As far as I'm aware, and take it with a grain of salt b/c it's been a long time since I watched Young Justice and the other info is from Wikipedia and I know for a fact that Wikipedia can be flat-out wrong about things ie. Every fucking thing on Mr. Calhoun's wiki page where whoever did the article confused him with two other different characters...

But as far other things go... Jaime isn't the only one who unlocked the full power of Khaji Da? In at least 3 adaptations, one of which being Young Justice and another being the very same Blue Beetle movie if I'm recalling shit from the beginning of the film right, they had Dan being able to fully activate Khaji Da. Like, it looked different on him than on Jaime of course and folks were making it look like his og costume. But like they had Khaji Da fused with Dan's spine and it being removed from his corpse after he died in those adaptations. And what it did while bonded with Dan is why folks know shit for things later with Jaime.

-> Movie Khaji Da didn't choose Ted. But in the Young Justice and some fucking live action show I can't remember the name of, Ted was the one who refused to bond with Khaji Da, because he didn't trust the alien parasite tech.

-> I've not fucking found the comics to read yet but I know the version of Ted that exists in Kingdom Come, can and does use Khaji Da and has heavy plate Scarab armor with the 'beetle backpack' that Jaime's armor also had. Tho I dislike how the Kingdom Come!Ted's armor looks, mostly on the choices in coloring and how excessively bulky it looks for a character that's a gymnast.

And really... it seems less that Jaime is some chosen one and more just he was in the right place at the right time and Khaji Da liked what it saw of him and decided to move in. (WHich is interesting given how different Jaime is from Dan [Mr. Hot blooded world trotting slut] and Ted [kind, caring, but man does he have issues])

Personally, I go with:

Khaji Da has some kind of defect that means it can't fully override a healthy and mentally stable host. Be funny as shit if it was from ramming into another Scarab like the BB movie showed.

Khaji Da had many many Blue Beetles during its time on Earth (from what it told Dan in Dan's origin story). It's 'Champions' were given the mission to protect the Earth from evil forces and villains. Given that Khaji Da was not reformed back then it probably typically encouraged its hosts to be Lethal Protectors (not me shouting out Venom but like...)

Kha-ef-re broke this chain of Blue Beetles for 3000 yrs b/c he managed to damage/injure or drain Khaji Da of power while using it for his blood magic bullshit. And Khaji was clearly being used as a heart scarab for Kha-ef-re's mummy and interred with him in his tomb that people were forbidden from opening due to curse/fear of Kha-ef-re coming back b/c he was an evil ass fucker

When Dan loots Khaji Da from Kha-ef-re's sarcophagus it immediately bonds with him, gives him the mission it gave all the Blue Beetles it had b4. But due to it being damaged, Dan doesn't have access to Khaji Da's full power. The Scarab is healing itself while bonded to Dan.

Dan passes the title of Blue Beetle and the Scarab to Ted as he's dying. Khaji Da didn't agree to it but Dan passing it on of his own volition is as good as a magic contract so Khaji has to be bonded to Ted and hates it. For several years while Ted is heroing and has Khaji Da it gives him no access to anything but its most passive of powers (the warding against evil spirits) while its focusing its energy on healing Dan's body and then reviving him and siccing Dan on the 'unworthy' Blue Beetle

Ted manages to turn the tide of the fight with Dan in his favor which impresses Khaji Da who decides that Ted is worthy of being a Blue Beetle after all and tries to force Ted to accept its power and kill Dan.

After Dan's death Ted technically could access the full power of Khaji Da (what it has available at least as its still healing itself as well from what Kha-ef-re did to it) but refuses to do so given Khaji Da was a major dick and he doesn't trust it

Later Khaji Da gets more or less stolen from Ted by the Wizard Shazam who kept going on about Ted mucking around with forces he didn't understand and the Wizard puts Khaji Da in the Rock of Eternity.

Inside the Rock of Eternity, Khaji Da soaks up power and finishes fixing itself from the damage that Kha-ef-re did to it. It's bond with Ted gets broken (free choice why).

The Rock of Eternity gets broken and everything sealed inside escapes/is flung across the country. Jaime Reyes finds a neat looking beetle rock in the dirt at a construction site on the way to school

[james-vi-stan-blog]

a interviewer (for a magazine or something like that) asked Nicholas “does George genuinely have feelings for King James?” and his response was “first, their relationship is very transactional. I don't think he develops feelings until a few months, perhaps years, into it, but there ends up being this very sincere love between the two of them. While there was definitely something for George to gain, the love was very much real.”

I wanted to ask what’s your opinion on this? do you love/like the idea, do you hate/dislike it, or do not mind it! I personally like the idea because it makes it all the more interesting and maybe even heartbreaking. though I’ve seen a lot of mixed opinions about it a few being it’s not accurate because George never loved him (from what I remember though his feelings were a mystery so we don’t know if whether or not he loved him or if it was all just about power) or people thinking we’re “shipping” them even though their relationships is “grooming” and unhealthy. which I agree about the relationship between them being unhealthy but they still loved each other through the madness of things and James didn’t groom George. I have so much to say but I’ll explain them when I can! I just wanted to hear your thoughts:)

-✨

While I think that part of the allure and mystery of George Villiers is the deep unknowability of his true feelings (I've rambled on the mystery of George's sexual orientation before which may be of interest), if this relationship is gonna be dramatized, I would prefer a depiction where affection and even love exist alongside politics, greed, and manipulation, yeah. That's just more interesting, you know? When simple, earnest human needs and vulnerabilities are at play, that's way more engaging to me than pure realpolitik chess games. There's more stakes, more tragedy.

We don't know that George loved James, but the thing is we also don't know that George didn't love James. He understood James really well. He exerted himself very hard every single day for James. (He never got complacent like Robert Carr.) Was every single time that Buckingham had a breakdown and cried in public fake? Were his beautiful words, which showed the close degree of attention he paid to James's moods and preferences, all just evidence of his masterful manipulation? (If he was so good at faking it for the English king, why was he so bad at diplomacy elsewhere, and why did he cause offense everywhere he went?)

If it were up to me, I think the dream would be to craft a story where sexual enjoyment, sexual resentment, familial affection, romantic love, disgust, greed, coldness (even sociopathy), parasitism, mutualism, and gratitude all swirl ambiguously around this relationship.

And from James's side, not to depict him as purely sex-driven, but also not to depict him as totally naive in his pursuit of true love, but to entwine his quest for homosexual love with his intellectual ideals of kingship and generosity (idiosyncratic to say the least, yet in his arrogant mind, philosophically rigorous).

Most likely, in Mary & George, we'll get a "good guy" to "villain protagonist" take on George, and his feelings and actions will be explained to the viewer because he's a viewpoint character. Given that, I prefer the relationship to be depicted as including love. I would rather see the possibility of love in this situation embraced, than to have the more traditional take that such love would be impossible… grotesque… unnatural… hmm… why do all these words just smell like homophobia… But also, I don't want George Villiers defanged.

[deludedfantasy]

Trimax Vol 13 Ch 1-4

I'm leaving on vacation this week, so I want to get my thoughts out before I go. Unfortunately, I'll be too busy to really participate in volume 14 next week, but I'll be reading along and reading what everyone else has to say. But without further ado, part 1 of my thoughts on volume 13!

Ch 1

Legato is back on his killing Vash bullshit. He is so devoted to Knives that he would go against what he wants to give him what he thinks he deserves. There are so many levels of mental gymnastics going on here, I kinda can’t keep up. 

Chronica is so past the point of caring about anything except her own revenge. Civilians in the city beneath her? Who cares! She just wants to destroy Knives. I wonder if it’s about more than the fact that he killed Domina, if there’s something about the fact that he’s an Independent that’s causing so much damage and giving Independents a bad name that’s driving her to act like this. 

Of all the human villains Vash has faced, Legato is truly the most powerful, the one who he would have the hardest time standing against regardless of his morals. How do you fight a guy who can control your entire body? How do you fight someone who is so obsessed with killing you, he’d do anything to achieve it? 

This conversation between Knives and Legato is interesting. Let’s see if I can get my thoughts about it straight. Legato still wants to kill Vash for whatever he did to Knives, even though Knives doesn’t want that and seems to want Vash’s death to be at his own hands. Legato desperately wants to prove to Knives how loyal he is—and Knives flat out tells him he doesn’t care. 

That’s such a blow. And I imagine it would only motivate Legato more, to prove that he is worthy, that he can hold Vash and defeat him, to make himself worthy in the eyes of his god, his truest love, whatever Knives is to him. 

Knives is so cruel to him. What a thing to say to someone who has only ever followed you and done what you asked of them. It makes you feel bad for Legato. 

I personally have never been able to decide if Knives really cares about Legato or views him as a useful tool. Or if it’s a combination of the two, hampered by his ideology which doesn’t allow him to care about humans or see them as anything other than lowly parasites. This conversation just muddies the waters even more for me. He’s so dismissive of him and his powers whereas at other times he’s shown, at least in his actions, that he cares about Legato and his survival. 

Then Legato also says, “His beliefs against my loyalty.” Which knowing what I know actually feels like a bit of foreshadowing…

Watching Vash fight Legato’s powers is so devastating. And I thought seeing him purposefully push himself closer to death was bad. This is just…a lot.

Add on Legato’s commentary to it and I feel like I’m chewing on glass. It’s been said over and over again lately, but something about Legato pointing it out and the blank look on Vash’s face fills me with indescribable emotions. 

Vash is pushing so hard because he doesn’t want to live anymore. He doesn’t care about the pain or staying alive. Sure, he has a goal to accomplish, but what happens after that doesn’t matter, so he’ll push past the normal limits to do what he has to do. 

What a strange moment of connection too, when Legato sees his own face reflected in Vash’s. They are enemies but they recognize this in each other. Usually, it’s painted as a bad thing when a villain says to a hero, “You’re just like me.” It’s certainly not good, but I don’t know. There’s no real moral judgment here. It’s just Legato realizing that Vash is more human than he originally thought. At least that’s the way I see it. 

Finally, the reveal of the coins and what they do! It’s…a tool to let Legato have a “fair” final battle with Vash? Vash certainly doesn’t sound happy about that. 

Ch 2

Oh, Vash is angry about this. All those deaths, all those people’s lives sacrificed, just for Legato to play this little game with Vash? What a cruel waste of life that spits in the face of everything Vash believes in. 

Legato, what the actual fuck. He just…puts Vash’s gun in his mouth??? What a move though, what a way to prove himself right. That Vash won’t shoot him even when he can put the gun straight into his mouth. 

Okay, I have no idea what’s happening here other than Legato executing some incredibly complicated maneuver and Vash still not shooting him because he’s Vash. But also how does he not crack his teeth doing all of that and keeping Vash’s gun in his mouth for the majority of it? 

Livio and Elendira have the best fight banter. I’m living for it.  

It’s nice to see Livio be confident about something, even if it’s his own fighting prowess. He’s been so anxious and unsure up to now, it’s great to see him really go for something. 

Livio, why are you being so cute right now? You’re in the middle of battle!

Meanwhile, the Earth fleet secretly descends to the planet’s surface. I wonder what they’re planning?

Ch 3

Where in the world did Legato get his giant Iron Maiden mace from? Like, where has he been hiding it this entire time? I know I won’t get an answer because Nightow plays by the rule of cool, but it’s just so funny. 

I don’t know why I’m even surprised by Legato at this point. Licking Vash’s blood from the floor? Okay, why not! 

So Vash and Legato both want to die, but it’s in very different ways. Vash doesn’t see a place for himself in the world anymore and he can’t see a future beyond this battle. Meanwhile, Legato almost wants to die to prove a point—the ultimate representation of his loyalty to Knives. He’ll die trying to kill Vash the Stampede for him, because his life doesn’t matter, only Knives’s mission. I don’t really know what to make of it, other than it makes Legato a very dangerous person for Vash to be fighting right now. Because nothing will make him stop. 

“Tell me, if it were not for you, would he have accepted me?” → Is Legato implying that he’s been trying to act as a replacement Vash for Knives? The trusted brother and confidant Knives supposedly always wanted Vash to be and Legato has desperately been trying to fill that role for years? No wonder Legato hates Vash so much. 

Livio, sweetheart, I love you so much. Runs around mid fight to get his hat and cloak back like he’s Indiana Jones, makes the cutest little face when he gets them back. They’re so important to him. He literally just got them and he’s unwilling to let them go! They’re the symbol of the new man he’s trying to become. Truly, he’s stronger with them. 

Ch 4

There’s something about Elendira’s new outfit that reminds me of a skeleton. Or more of an exoskeleton. It’s so strange and we’ve never seen her in it before. Who is this mysterious woman and what is she going to do now?

She’s moving so much faster and she’s suddenly smoking? These are some new and unknown powers for her. 

These poor soldiers are not having a good night at all. Imagine a giant ship just appearing in front of you while the world is ending. I’d be pretty freaked out too. 

But can we trust these new people from the Earth Fleet? Because so far, the Earth Fleet hasn’t done much to help and Chronica has kind of given up helping humanity in favor of revenge. 

As Vance is explaining the situation to Luida and co, I suddenly realized that most people had no idea what was going on or what the Ark was. Or who Knives is! One day, a strange ship just appeared on the horizon, looking like nothing they’d ever seen before, and started destroying everything in sight. That makes the past 7 months even worse. 

Now, not only is Knives actively a threat, he’s holding so much power he could literally destroy the planet. One being was never meant to have so much power and it seems like it’s inevitable that he’s going to lose control of it. 

Can’t get over this description of Vash or Luida’s face when she realizes who Vance is talking about. “For some reason his hair always stands on end.” He does that on purpose because he likes it, Vance. That’s literally it. 

But I wonder how the Earth Fleet knows about him. And how they think he can help that isn’t just fighting Knives. 

I think the award for most ridiculous gun in Trigun should go to Legato’s oversized Iron Maiden mace. Because what even. How is that a gun. Why is that a gun. Nightow, I have so many questions. 

Wait, did Vash’s coat turn black too? Like in episode 12 of Stampede? He’s using up so much of his power that it isn’t just changing his hair color but the color of his clothing. Or is this just Nightow being symbolic and the coat is still red? 

Elendira says something about removing her restraints and now I’m wondering if that skeleton suit is her actual body. And who were the other two people she removed her restraints for? Part of me wonders if one of them was Knives and that’s how they met? Elendira, I have so many questions about where you come from and what your powers are. 

And Razlo makes an appearance! We haven’t seen him for a while. I wonder if that’s what Elendira senses here. Though I wonder how she even feels him. Sometimes, the theories about Elendira being part Plant in Trimax feel very correct because of things like this.

[thevindicativevordan]

What would you like to see in Superman: Legacy? Do you think James Gunn is the right person to ''bring back'' Superman on big screens?

My top 10 wants:

Don't use Lex or Zod as the villain

(Credit to David Jamison for the art). Take a look at all these guys, this doesn't even cover all of the options, there's a whole bunch of them we've never seen on the big screen. Pick one of them, preferably someone on the smaller end of the power scale so we didn't repeat MoS starting Superman's career with the entire city being destroyed, and advertise that it's a villain we haven't seen before. Right now Lobo remains the most likely choice for Legacy, but if instead they're using him for Supergirl, I want Metallo or Parasite.

2. Don't make Clark stoic, morose, or navalgazing

After how boring Cavill's incarnation was, I'm ready for a Superman who is assertive and aggressive. He's young and eager to prove himself, or he should be. Let him show joy in using his powers, more scenes like Cavill's First Flight where Superman is clearly having a blast being himself after all the years of hiding. Let him talk shit to bad guys, after the last two guys were self-doubting Jesuses, I'm ready for the new Supes to be more cocksure. Yes we get that Superman can be a burden, but it can be a pleasure too. Remind the public of that side to him.

3. Draw on the animated Metropolises for inspiration design wise

The DCAU, the League of Super-Pets movie, the Tomorrowverse, they've all given us some great looking Metropolises. Look to them for inspiration in designing the DCU Metropolis. For all it's other failures, I thought Superman Returns had a cool looking Metropolis too with all the Art Deco architecture. It's totally possible to make a Metropolis feel like it's own character, same as Gotham, but it requires abandoning "realism".

4. Take inspiration from the Snyder fight scenes but reign in the collateral damage

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know how I feel about the DCEU. Doesn't mean there aren't aspects of that which I think are worth building on. If there's one thing Snyder did right it's showing that Superman fights can be just as thrilling and visceral as Batman and Spider-Man. Only problem is that the level of destruction was way too over the top. Don't vaporize downtown Metropolis and you should be in the ballpark for what's acceptable. While you're at it, instead of destruction porn, why not make Superman be the one who comes away looking like hell? One thing I miss from the Raimi Spider-Man films is that Peter and his suit always got torn up by the end to show how tough the fights were. Do that to Superman instead of the city this time around. Give Superman black eyes, bruises, and bleeding cuts, I assure you that would be more impactful to the audience than seeing another CGI building explode.

5. Make a new Superman theme and costume

Trunks, no trunks, s-shield on the cape, solid red cape, Fleschier s-shield, classic shield, something new, I don't care. I'm pretty open to Superman's suit being changed, and in fact I don't necessarily want a "classic" Superman suit. My only big grievance with Cavill's suit was the washed out colors and needing a thicker belt around his waist, but otherwise I thought his was fine. I would love to see the Gleason designed Reborn suit serve as the inspiration for DCU Superman suit. I've seen some people ask for the Williams' theme to be used, and that's a hard no people. Use it as a shorthand for Superman in general, but every new film Superman needs their own theme, just like Batman and Spider-Man.

6. Give me the Fortress of Solitude, Krypto, and the more fantastical elements

If Krypto doesn't show up in Legacy, then we know he will be in Supergirl's film at least. Gunn naming All-Star Superman as a big influence should hopefully ensure we get these fantastical elements, especially since Gunn himself loves this kind of obscure memorabilia (he's the one who introduced the Infinity Stones into the MCU after all). Since we're jumping into a Superman who has already started his career, I want to see the Fortress of Solitude with the Intergalactic Zoo, and the Phantom Zone projector, and the Kryptonian war suit, and all the crazy trophies Superman collects over the course of his career. Superman Robots are a must.

7. Use Jimmy

I know you've read Fraction's Jimmy Olsen mini Gunn, don't let me down! Go with Jimmy as Clark's surrogate younger brother and demonstrate why the two of them are good friends. Jimmy is perfect as the sort of comic relief character who still has emotional depth that Gunn loves.

8. Either kill the Kents off or keep them sidelined for now

We've seen his Smallville upbringing and the Kents giving him advice countless times already. Kill them both off this go around or at the very least keep them sidelined. I'd rather see Clark treat Jimmy as his confidant over his parents for this incarnation.

9. Keep the shared universe at a distance

I don't want Legacy to end up like The Flash, where the main character is just a vehicle to take us along for a trip to see other DC properties. I don't want Batman or any of the other DC characters showing up. Ideally I would prefer none of them were even referenced at all, but I recognize that's delusional. Sure you can have people make a passing mention of the freak in Gotham or a speedster in Central City, or a green guy in Coast City, but nothing more than that please.

10. Get Lois right... but don't put her and Clark together at the start

After the DCEU completely rushed the pairing, I'd rather see a slow burn this time around. Pairing Clark at the start with someone else would certainly upset quite a few people, but it's what I would do. Have him and Lois be rivals/competitors at the start, he dates others at first as does she, but ultimately the two will of course get together. I would put Clark and Leslie together, that would make things interesting for when she becomes Livewire. For Lois if they're not doing Metallo in the Legacy, maybe have Corben pursue her while she fends him off? That would be good build up for Legacy 2. Just make sure the Clark and Lois actors have good chemistry together because the Cavill/Adams interactions were so painfully stiff.

[theliterateape]

I Like to Watch | Barbarian (2022)

by Don Hall

Both Tarantino and Scorsese have bemoaned the lack of imagination throttling film these days. Their argument is that Hollywood behemoths like Marvel and the proliferation of tentpole green screen filmmaking, with the amount of money at stake even to get a project green lit, the risk taking required for innovation is squashed. I hear that and, despite my love for all things super-powered beings on screen, I'd further argue that a solid portion of the blame falls on the amazing democratization of filmmaking via streaming.

In the rush for more to watch (hastened by the pandemic), movies have become content and content requires less in terms of innovation and more in terms of, well, more. The result is a parade of half-baked star vehicles that look phenomenal but ask someone to tell you what it was they saw the night before on Netflix and most can't recount the story just the star power. What was the plot of The Grey Man? Or Red Notice? Or any of the Chris's movies about Navy Seals and CIA agents combatting a corrupt system? A benefit of more money shoved into streaming is that we get more film and television created and directed by and featuring Black, Asian, and Latino talent but with more comes the inevitable leveling stick that increased projects from these communities automatically equals more crap, too.

For every One Night in Miami, there's a Till, the first a highly imaginative take on historical fiction, the other a soap opera of long portrait shots of grief surrounded by a story we already knew. For every Parasite we are forced to sit through some other Netflix show from Korea that is mostly an ape of other, better shows but are seriously difficult to distinguish from four others pumped out of the content machine.

The one genre that finds some purchase in the territory of risk (because it simply costs less to make) is horror. Since before the 1980's, horror filmmakers have worked with less resource to create more memories than nearly any other. John Carpenter revolutionized things by cranking out genuinely scary, incredibly successful horror movies, on a shoestring budget. Plainly, horror is the genre where risk is rewarded time and time again.

I'd heard the rumblings about Zach Cregger's directorial debut Barbarian. I saw the trailer with Georgina Campbell and Bill Skarsgård dancing around the Fincheresque premise of two people accidentally being booked in the same AirBnB at night in the rain. I didn't read much about it but the buzz was there and, from my vantage, no one was revealing much except that Justin Long was in there somewhere and the third act was fucking nuts. I put it on my list (but first I needed to watch Andor, The Peripheral, Tulsa King, something amazing with Gerard Butler and his missing wife, and another Netflix show about a true crime.

I did find time for Ty West's X and found it to be a great ride, smartly imitating the grind house movies of the 1970's and an unusual villain boiled down to an old horny lady who murders the young cast of porn stars because they make her feel undesired as if my third ex-wife was 90-years old demanding orgasms from an decreasingly interested pool of clients until killing them is just better than a dildo. Mia Goth surprised me as both the starry-eyed porn ingenue and the homicidal Pearl but I knew going in that it was the old broad doing the murders. It was still incredibly creative and used the now cookie cut tropes of modern horror with a spin and a dip that made it fresh, gross, funny, and unlike many other content available.

According to interviews, Cregger was inspired by the idea that women should trust their intuition when it comes to red flags in their everyday interactions with men. He wrote one scene that used as many of those red flags as possible, settling on the premise of a young woman in Detroit for a job interview who finds herself sharing a rental with a complete stranger. Again, a premise Fincher would run with but Cregger hit a wall. Where to go with this slice of potential toxic maleness that wasn't obvious? He then changed it up and decided that the first act would Fincher and the third act would be Raimi. The result is a movie that comes off as one-third thriller, one-third set up, and one-third monster movie.

In a recent I Like to Watch Podcast, co-host Donnie Smith and I talk at length about one of my favorite scary movies, Victor Salva's 2001 Jeepers Creepers. The first half feels like a standard slasher film, following cliches of that specific narrative but then makes a left turn into straight up monster movie and the switch makes it truly fun. Also starring Justin Long, it remains an annual viewing for me.

Barbarian leaves me with a similar WHAT THE FUCK, DUDE? feeling that I love. Like X, the monster revealed is an old woman but she is preverbal and instead of wanting to get busy with her victims and kills those who deny her this, she wants her victims to be her children and, when they reject her maternal instincts by refusing to be breastfed by a grotesque teet, well, the kid has to die, right? Adding to the second act is Long as a sitcom star recently accused of raping a co-star (and, unambiguously was definitively guilty of the crime) who owns the AirBnB. Cregger thus presents us with a heroine who discovers the horror followed by an idiot who then rediscovers the same horror, the first we're routing for, the second we want to see some comeuppance.

This is a truly imaginative, risky film. The script is great, the performances (especially Campbell) are stellar, and nothing about this smart, idea-driven monster movie is anything but outside the box. I finished it and, instead of then moving on to another movie or streaming show, I just wanted to sit with it, stewing on the concepts, reliving the moments I didn't expect (one of my favorite scenes involves Campbell, having escaped and calling the Detroit police only to have the cops look at her as if she were on crack or nuts rather than rush into the breach like movie cops usually do—her shock at their disbelief feels like reality which is always a solid surprise in a story of fantastical twists), and wishing I could rewatch it for the first time.

Tarantino and Scorsese have a point but it isn't that there is no more imagination happening. With the glut of content, like Nick Cage's pig in the brilliant (and unexpected) Pig, you have to dig in the mud to find those truffles, gang.

[sil-and-seals-blog-something]

I AM INVESTED IN THIS AND HAVE THOUGHTS-

Okay so like. There’s many ways this can be interpreted. Is Wally actually being slower? Or is he actually processing things faster which makes him feel like he’s going slower? Is Danny doing stuff to the Speed Force or becoming the Speed Force or fueling a spatial aspect of the Speed Force? Is Danny and the Speed Force just indefinitely making each other more powerful over time? How does Wally find out or meet him? Is it even Danny we’re talking about here? It could easily be Dan and/or Ellie as well!

But, personally? I like to think that the Speed Force used to have an ancient. Yet that ancient faded away, and now the Speed Force has been left to sap off of the Ancient of Time. Twisting its abilities into something more unstable. Hence the fucking up of time. Danny, as Clockwork’s mentee and a budding ancient, is slowly becoming the Speed Force’s new attachment, and since his concept and role as an ancient isn’t defined yet? Yeah, yeah. The Speed Force is gonna latch onto him. All this weirdness going on to the speedsters, and specifically with Wally (the most connected to the Speed Force, if I remember correctly), is because the Speed Force is finally stabilizing again after so long. It’ll take time for the speedsters to realize that the Speed Force is healing, that the buzzing of a new awareness of something is fine, and that this parasite isn’t a parasite. But Wally? Wally is most connected. He might even feel a pull towards wherever Danny is.

And Danny? Probably doesn’t realize what’s happening until he can start precisely saying where and WHEN the speedsters are. Can feel WHO they are. Can feel them to varying strengths. Can feel that he can take their connection to the Speed Force, to him, away. Or give someone the connection. Can feel the Speed Force’s desire to connect to something, someone, for even an ounce of stability. And he’s left to know that he can get rid of his own connection to it before it’s too late to do so. But he could also use this to… monitor the speedsters, stabilize the Speed Force, prevent universe ending time fuck ups. He could. He really could. Maybe he should… spend time with the one he can most clearly feel, for advice, maybe help in deciding what to do? It’s not like they’ll be able to lie to each other at this point with how connected Wally is to the Speed Force and how far along Danny is to becoming the Speed Force.

Danny did not account for them getting side tracked in scientifically figuring out how Danny stabilizing and becoming the Speed Force is changing it (and him). It’s kinda hilarious to watch the spatial and temporal aspects growing to balance each other out. And watching Wally accidentally fling himself too far with the spatial aspect of the Speed Force catching up to the temporal.

Side note 1: the reason why Danny doesn’t just take the Speed Force from the villainous speedsters is because he can see a purpose in having them {via Clockwork telling him future stuff}. They have a function of helping strengthen the heroic speedsters’ connection to the Speed Force and their resolve. This also means- though- that Danny absolutely shows favoritism. Helping his favored ones out in sticky situations.

Side Note 2: Fenton Luck is now becoming apart of the Speed Force.

Side Note 3: I’d love both queerplatonic and romantic routes for Danny/Wally. We need more of these two. I’m expressly saying that Danny’s absolute favorite who gets the most favoritism from him is Wally.

Side Note 4: I only realized after writing side note 3 that Danny is basically being a sugar daddy. I stand by it, but I need people to realize that that wasn’t my original intention when writing that note. Just a… pleasant oopsie.

Short DPXDC Prompts #886

Wally has some trouble figuring out why he’s been slower than normal. He thinks there’s a new speedster somewhere but it doesn’t feel like a new speedster. It feels more like a parasite. But a symbiotic one, that both benefits the speedforce and itself. He’s much more refreshed every day he wakes up and feels a strange sense of purpose now. He didn’t expect that parasite to be the mentee of the physical embodiment of time.

[mercury-lurks]

Matthew Knew His Strength

Word Count: 1,595

TW: very small mentions of blood, gore, death, and a little body horror. But overall this is supposed to be a wholesome read!

Tags: @eldritchdemonfox

Matthew knew his strength.

In the beginning he didn't. He broke things like he was made for it. No glasses or pencils or door knobs were safe from his wrath. A twitch of his finger gave bruises. He hurt people and couldn't stop. He killed people- well, no, it wasn't him. It was Phantom. That stupid parasite who ruined his fucking life. Phantom killed his family and changed his body down to the molecule.

After he'd been taken in by the March family, he began to learn. He learned how to keep Phantom at bay, learned to be light and gentle, how to grab and pull without breaking. Matthew healed some from his past, learning to rely on his new family. They treated him with courtesy and respect, and in turn he did his best to respect them.

Then, of course, Phantom slaughtered them. Matthew had been stupid to let his guard down. Phantom was an irredeemable villain and he always would be, no matter what he did. More blood pooled in Matthew slowly-changing hands. He had claws now. Fur was popping up on his hands. His palms began to swell into paw pads.

His adopted aunt took him in. She lived in a town called Mistkeep, on an island off the coast of Washington. She kept him there, kept him isolated, and Matthew hadn't felt safer. There was nobody he could hurt there, nobody to break. All he had was himself to torment. His mind, his body, his soul shattered in that house. Gone was the rambunctious, loud kid who liked getting into trouble. There was a man in his place who couldn't tell his place in the world apart from a ghastly curse inflicted on him.

She started to try and heal him. He agreed because he wasn't in the state of mind to disagree, too addled with overwhelming grief and despicable rage to know what was going on. She strapped him to a table and brought out a kitchen knife.

Matthew knew his strength. He knew it in the gore that covered the floor, the blood splattered on the walls, the fragments of bone stuck in his fur. He knew it in the way his head throbbed with a crackling energy and his eyes burned green and Phantom laughed using his body. He knew it in the way he reveled in it, letting Phantom save him. He knew it in the way he got to the next town as quickly as he would've driving a car, stalking deep into the woods to live by himself for the rest of time.

Then there came James and Taylor. An unhinged, feral human boy and a snobby, asswipe half-elf who found him lost and alone and took him under their wing. He relearned gentleness and kindness, hiding his brutality under layers of thick clothing. Matthew began to open up as he felt comfortable, knowing it was a horrible idea. He told his story- most of it, anyway, and they accepted him without hesitation. They tried to find a way to fix him.

He found himself loving them. He wanted to keep them safe from Phantom, from him. Matthew began healing, truly healing, and explored his own identity and style. He was able to get drunk with no worries about the beast inside, drunk enough to get married to his two best friends. Matthew couldn't wear the wedding rings they bought, but he kept them around a necklace all the same.

Matthew changed. He grew more confident in himself, bolder, louder, more present. He carved a space for himself in every room whether anyone liked it or not. Of course, there was fear. Fear of Phantom. Of himself. He'd catch glimpses of Phantom in reflections even when he wasn't present, he heard his voice when he wasn't speaking, he felt the press of his being inside his mind. Matthew hid away the parts of himself he didn't like, covering his fur with gloves and hiding his eyes when they glowed and running when he felt that crackling magic building up inside of him, ballooning out in his chest and filling his lungs with raw power. He wanted to be meek and defenseless and small, but at the same time he loved it. It was a strange dichotomy, but one he kept well hidden.

As their small little family grew from three to four to five and beyond, Matthew saw himself grow too. He became twitchy and jumpy, so afraid to hurt he barely touched. He shied away from Salem, who he was afraid he'd break. He destroyed things easier. He lost control more often. He was scared.

But he was strong. That's what he was remembered for. That's what he was needed for. He was there to let James climb on his shoulders, to pick up Taylor and spin them around, to play with Nimue and Fox and be their rock when they were unsteady.

He was stability. Until he wasn't.

When Phantom was ripped away from him, Matthew felt weak. He was weak. He was empty and broken and frail and so apathetic. A piece of his soul was missing and he wanted nothing more than to cradle his other half and apologize over and over and over again for everything he's done. He wants to feel his head throb again, he wants to feel the press of claws against skin, he wants to purr and grunt and growl and protect. He wants to be that rock again, he wants to be reliable and strong so the others wouldn't have to. Matthew understood his body, understood what certain things meant and what certain feelings brought, but without Phantom that understanding was meaningless. Hollow. Nothing.

Matthew knew his strength. He welcomed it back like an old friend, relished in the way it pressed against the inside of his skin, reshaping him in its image. He knew every inch of it, knew what his body would do, knew how much pressure and grip and power he contained, and he fought and killed the strongest demon in Hell side-by-side with his own personal gift.

Because that's what Phantom was. A gift. He understood it in the way Envy said offhandedly in a comment he knew was directed at him, saying, "All curses can be reversed in some way or another… some in more unorthodox ways." which Matthew knew deep down in his twin souls meant Phantom had been transformed from the curse he was created as to the gift Matthew now possessed. A blessing.

They grew together, speaking freely in their mind and back and forth in the real world. They shared this body and shared its pains and struggles. Matthew was no longer just Matthew, he was Phantom too as much as Phantom was Matthew. Two distinct people forced into the same body and they adapted. They held each other as they both cried and consoled each other and hunted together and Existed together and took turns sleeping and informed each other of things and when their body was fully asleep they'd dream together and touch each other and were just able to simply Be together. Matthew felt complete. Phantom felt complete.

Matthew knew his strength. He controlled it seamlessly, able to switch between gentle and barbaric on a dime. He knew it in the sureness of his movements, the way his body flowed together, the throb of his head filling with Phantom's magic. Matthew went where he wanted, did what he meant to, and spoke what he believed. His body was his again. He felt power in the way he breathed, felt it in every blink, in the pure magic roaring through his veins. He indulged in his darkest fantasies, loved the way a bear was supposed to, and fought with his life for his family who put so much trust in him that he couldn't do anything but succeed.

He may know his strength completely and wholly, but Matthew knew love, too. He saw it in the way Nimue flung xemself into his arms, how Fox would hide behind him, how Moby placed his trust in him. He felt it in the way Taylor took so much time and care into loving his other half, in James' reckless behavior, in Ferry's admiration of his being. There were always hands on him, hands he knew were the safest they'd ever be with him, and there was always a purr building in his throat, one that he let loose with more and more carelessness as he accepted the uglier side of himself with stunted grace but grace nonetheless and that his family embraced with cheers and adoration and an overwhelming love for his Being that he never could have imagined he was worthy of, but that he knew now he was. He loved and he loved more fiercely than ever.

The Matthew of the past was desperate for love. But now Matthew was love, was hope and stability and surety and magic and wonder and life itself given form and a raging bonfire of strength spread liberally across his entire being. He was strength in the way his muscles corded together, was love in the way his eyes shone two-toned, was life in the sense of Being when he should not have Been, of two souls woven together into something greater than the sum of their parts.

Matthew was strength, and strength was Phantom, and when you took out the middleman there was nothing left but love.

All was as it should be, and Matthew was whole.

[pink-blue-red-from-everhood-zero]

Hi- midtime fan, first time caller, excited for the chance to share my thoughts with you in a "given express permission" style!

Broly (original), a.k.a Z-Broly, is best understood as the answer to the question "What was that 1,000 year prophecy about, if every saiyan can go super now?"- as written by a pro wrestling bookie who needs a fresh villain for Da Movies who can intimidate Goku with like zero new story setup.

Like every Saiyan introduced as such until Trunks, he represents the premise of the Saiyan race- "alien martial artist who is impossibly jacked, can fly, and has a fireball game 1v1s your entire planet" in a package even more visually impressive than all the Saiyans that currently exist,

and he's noticeably the most direct of the "Evil Gokus" because- instead of screwing around with hostages, backup, evil parasitic trees, or even much of his own plot setup- his backstory is that he's The Evil Super Saiyan, Trained by Evil Grandpa Gohan to Evilly Do Martial Arts on Planet Earth-but-Crappier.

This means literally all of his production value went into making him a living Greatest Hits album of DBZ villain fights (pre Androids); a freaky alien overlord with an uncertain phase progression who can effortlessly keep the protagonist out and overpowered (Frieza), who is also a giant, bestial monster (Gorilla-Vegeta), who also shares Goku's exact bodyplan, history, and powerset.

That's why he's loved- he's the perfect final boss. He's memed because his dialogue consists of 2 pages generic wrestling heel banter and the explanation that his only motive for fighting Goku Specifically is that he (Broly) swore Bloody Vengeance against an Infant (Goku) for having Bad Vibes.

-

Twelve-ish years later (I'll cite my sources when it's less busy), for Dragon Ball Super; opinions on both the Goku (Black) and Tournament of Power arcs were mixed to bad and Toriyama finally Broke Glass In Case Of Poor Ratings- Movie Canonizing Fan-Favorite Character.

Of course, Broly was made no less than 6 arcs ago even if you've completely memory-holed GT. He's an entire seperate prophecy out of date, and we had anywhere between 2 and 4 mindless punch-em'-up arcs to get sick of them. He can't be a petty heel anymore or else he'd've been tapped for the ToP etc. etc.

So, for Super Broly Movie, Toriyama made the brilliant move of treating his total lack of motive or narrative impact like a plot point. He's a more sympathetic character than the franchise protagonists (in the context of this arc), and almost textually an Autistic Survivor of Abuse- dragged around by his Jackass Father-Figure with a literal shock collar, forced by that figure to conform to the Saiyan Ideal (incredible violence) through repeated torture, and sold into the service of a Space Fascist (Frieza again) against his will, for gas money.

People love THIS Broly for 2 reasons: one is that the back 90 minutes of his movie is a gorgeously animated marathon fight scene between him and The 4 Strongest Dudes In (This) Universe;

the other is that his movie's plot is a deeply intimate character study of Him Specifically, taking the angle that he Could Have Been Goku, but was Failed By Society; setting the stage for his peaceful denouement by making every other conflict of the movie a petty streetfight in an empty backlot, introducing a budding romance with Parallel Chichi, giving him the contexual and dialogic status of "determined, taciturn underdog" in a fight that he's otherwise handily winning for 75 straight minutes, giving him deliberate mirrors of Goku's pre-transformation dramatic traumas, and banking the climax on the emotional twist that you REALLY don't want to see [the guy who has been framed as the antagonist for the last hour and a half] die to the Textbook Last-Minute Heroic Team Super Move.

TL; DR he was the purest possible Super Saiyan Title Bout for Goku; and got given an actual narrative hook when they brought him back 12 years later.

Hope that helps!

i only read the manga, who the fuck is broly