#Yeah... we are furries not super heroes

[satoshy12]

Furry Bruce Wayne? 

Jasmine Fenton was the babysitter that Bruce had found and liked, and she worked for him. She was pretty good at taking care of the Batchildren, and the payment was good for Jazz university loan.

It was just bad luck that Jazz found the Batcave. 

Jazz saw the Batcave, and the costume did meet with Bruce Wayne.  Who first thought he would try to talk with her about all of this and the secret?  Only for her to scream at him about being furry and how he can let his children that young join his hobby! It's bad for them as they grow up!! Well, on one side, she doesn't believe he is Batman, and his family  otherwise She thinks we are all furries and wants to make sure the kids grow up healthy and do not see things that way at their age!

Bruce did plan C. He grounded all his kids at home as Jazz made a 4-hour lecture ready for their lives and how they should be careful, and no, they aren't birds, so they can't fly.  Damian really wants to leave... at least Tim, Jason, Drake, Steph, Cass and even Dick have to listen to this too.

[slime-sandwhich-nom]

GUESS WHO'S BACK WITH HEADCANONS?

scu edition. You can tell I was struggling because I kept talking about charlie. Help me.

- charlie does not blame himself for banishment, he feels SUPER bad for Grizzly's death and whole corruption thing, but does not think it's his fault.

- bizly is kinda like nimona y'know? Always shapeshifts

- nobody can tell what charlie is. Is he a slime? Hybrid? Human? Something else? Nobody actually knows.

- no because, 100! Days charlie is the OPPOSITE of Godcicle (despite one being based on the other.)

Godcicle is not a perfect hero, he's childish, arrogant, never takes no as an answer, always thinks he's right,

But none of these things match 100!days, it's like if he's the better version of his god counterpart.

- condi was already a reptile hybrid before he became a god, nobody can't tell if he's a dragon, lizard or something else. His god powers probably messed that up.

- aside from charlie, the rest of council were all mortals who were turned into gods. (I LIKE THE "charlie was a god all along and was just playing around" THING OKAY?? IT MATCHES WITH WHY HE NEVER TALES THINGS SERIOUSLY)

- grizzly is actually the one who can cook. charlie can grow ANYTHING but can't cook for the life of him. mainly because he plays with the food rather than actually cook.

- Condi is like the mom of the group.

- they all listen to charlie because they are convinced he has more experience on the god stuff, but they don't quite realize that his "god stuff" is playing around with mortals.

- charlie breaks the fourth wall a lot.

- charlie calls his followers "subscribers".

- bizly was actually the one who gifted charlie the little slimes on Charlie's shoulder and head.

- and so charlie, gifted bizly beewee.

- grizzly gets constantly called a furry by everyone because he's a dog hybrid.

- charlie has no idea on how to be a normal guy. If he has to disguise as a mortal, he's SHIT at it.

Yes, the others know how to, they used to be mortals, but charlie? Has zero idea.

- charlie played it off as a game, but he really just made his mortals friends gods because he was... lonely and because he was scared of the inevitable death that soon would reach those three.

- grizzly IS a fucking furry. He's a DOG. FUCKIN DOGGY. like he's a small fluffy puppy dude. He just takes the form of a human. (The only shapeshifting he can do, really.)

You know his dog persona? Y'know his little mascot? That little DOG WITH HUMAN HANDS?

that's grizzly.

Why? BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING FUNNY KYLE

- charlie is not human. That's for sure.

- bizly glasses work like queen's glasses in deltarune.

- condi fav is probably charlie lmao

- bizly favorite unironically is grizzly

- you know that video of 100 players going against the gang? I imagine it just being charlie gathering a bunch of followers of his and said out of nowhere one morning "we have 100 people tracking us down!!!" To the others in the council.

- no, no one actually knows (aside from willbur) that each single slime in each single server is a different guy. (Simply because Wilbur has a similar situation)

Like, y'know slimes? How they split? Yeah. They were all part of one big slime, who knows where that is, and they one day split and become a slimecicle!

And some are oddly similar. (For pure coincidence, esmp and 100! Days are similar in design, despite not being really related in lore.)

Also, before anyone gets confused, 100!days is the only one who didn't come from the mother slime, he's an experiment.

The rest, yes.

But also remember that the whole splitting part is not literal(maybe who knows.) it was for you to understand,

They surely come from the same mother slime though!

It's like if they were created from the same thing and put in different parts of the world to interact.

Please it's late please understand bro

- bizly looks up to charlie, surprisingly

- after Grizzly's death and the defeat of the ender dragon, charlie was never seen again. It's like he dissapeared.

condi and bizly have NO clue of where he is.

- IF condi and bizly would ever meet a slimecicle, they wouldn't get any answers, aside from "nope, wrong guy! Nope, wrong slimecicle!"

- grizzly can't sleep with the lights off. He needs at least something on.

- charlie just can't sleep, he's an insomniac.

- we don't talk about condi sleep schedule.

- at least every, or well, most slimecicles gives the uncanny feeling. Look human, isn't human. The more you stare, the less human it looks.

- the slimes in slime story exist! They are all the slimes that can be found in the different biomes and places!

It was thanks to Bizly, creating them after charlie little silly doodles and ideas of random slimes he thought would be cool to have around the world.

It was like a little gift, and charlie reaction made it all worth it.

- the equivalent of going afk is the character stopping everything they are doing and just stare into space and be unresponsive until they come back, charlie is the only guy who says he went afk, though.

- charlie has BAGS under his eyes to the point you think he draws them to be dramatic.

- condi is just, idk I think someone dug under his eyes.

- somehow, despite charlie being an insomniac and quite literally developing a coffee addiction just to stay awake, he is the most energetic (after bizly)

- condi takes naps around.

- bizly is literally the youngest but he has a BEARD.

- grizzly bullying bizly in scu is the equivalent of Charlie's influence on him

- everyone was so mean to Bizly and for what. Now look at him he flinches whenever someone shouts.

- fallen and charlie have so much beef with each other that it's ridiculous at this point. They probably make out afterwards but fuck do I know they sound stupid (don't take this part seriously)

- Jschlatt is evil because he feels like it. He doesn't have a reason like fallen, he just wants to be evil because he woke up angry on a Monday.

Also he's a demon. Not a god.

- apparently it's canon (from what my 2am brain understood that night when I watched 100!days) that parallel universes exist in scu so GUESS WHAT MESS I CAN DO WITH IT WITH MY "THE SLIMECICLES" HEADCANON?

- each server is a different place. Dsmp? Qsmp? Esmp? All different places. All different slimecicles. All aware. All from the same place.

- condi probably does drugs man

- I need to stop talking about CHARLOE BUT I CANT

- charlie definitely has favorites. Bizly isn't one of them.

- NUH HUH JSCHLATT IS HIS FUCKING RAM CUTE PERSONA IN HERE. NO SCARY DUDE. NO. HE'S A FUCKING CUTE LITTLE RAM WITH HIS LITTLE SWEATER ON AND HE ALWAYS HAS TEO CATS HE PETS WHENEVER HE TALKS BECAUSE HE HAS T W O HANDS.

- charlie interacts with mortals so much because he's so fascinated by them. He surely think of them as just a little playmate (aside form a specific little mortals.) But he's so curious and interested in them. They come up with random drama over something so stupid, OVER LAND!

It's the best thing and the stupidest thing charlie has ever seen.

He loves it.

The rest of the council hates it, really. They experienced it, unlike charlie, and they know how awful mortals actually are. They are selfish and ruthless, they are SO glad they don't have to deal with them anymore. They can just ignore them.

- charlie actually gets so happy whenever a mortals donates something in the churches and whatever they make, the rest ignore those things.

- I'LL KEEP SPREADING THE WORD! GENDERFLUID SLIMECICLE. HE ISN'T HUMAN. HE HAS NO CONCEPT OF GENDER. HE'S SLIMECICLE.

- I bet condi just stopped caring about gender, he's just condi. (Not genderfluid, but agender.)

- charlie is extrovert shy. He's all confident but when he actually meets someone knew he gets super shy and quiet.

- bizly is extrovert.

- grizzly is ambivert.

- condi is introvert.

- condi and charlie spend their time together just by being in the same room, or literally "talks nonstop x listens"

- charlie likes doodling. He makes funny doodles. They look like kids drawings but it's just him having fun.

- bizly and charlie are "talks nonstop x also talks nonstop"

- grizzly and charlie are "sunshine x sunshine"

- they were very happy bro. Like. Seriously. Banishment ruined everything bro.

- Condi probably invented medications and all that stuff with his potions

- grizzly is super pissed because he can't eat chocolate

- so fallen now eats chocolate ANGRILY and AGGRESSIVELY but gets stuck in the bathroom for an hour or two later.

- I imagine fallen being that one villain who is actually evil and has good reasons behind them, but no one ever takes him seriously.

- fallen can't bring himself to hate the council. He's just really really mad at them.

- charlie is actually very nice to Bizly whenever they are alone. Whenever no one's watching charlie is a real sweetheart to Bizly.

- condi dosen't like talking much, so he always gets Charles to be his little talking box.

- grizzly is that one guy who uses the most fanciest words just to say he took a massive shit earlier.

- grizzly and bizly are morning people, condi and charlie are NOT.

- charlie is my favorite character therefore he's cursed in being a small self insert of mine along with all the trauma in the world.

- grizzly is a very touchy guy, he enjoys hugging and dragging people around. And he likes chasing sticks.

[kinsey3furry300]

I have no ideas what animorph is but I already seen it mentioned on at least 5 different blog which have nothing to do with each other (you being the 5th) what the hell is it???

90s/early 00s young adult sci-fi book series of around 60 short books, published once a month, by K A Applegate.

The books were distributed cheeply by the Scholastic book fair, and could be found in most school libraries thought the Mid 00s.

The plot was 5 normal kids have to stop a secret alien invasion by turning into various animals, and the books were known for starting off with quirky humour and very rapidly decending into utter existential horror with body horror, possession horror, and the ptsd you'd get if you were actually a teen super hero and had to fight an actual war with real stakes aged 13-16, and the fear of never knowing who your real enemy might be. The series ended about a month before 9/11 with a disastrous final battle and a grim warning about how war never really fixes any of the underlying problems between rival nations or peoples, and just destroys good people, so... yeah, ooof.

Due to the content, beloved by horror fans, super hero fans, Sci fi fans, furries (the kids have the power to turn into animals for combat and it gets real weird real fast), and the queer and the trans community, so it turns up on a lot of unrelated blogs.

The audio books are still readily available and are pretty well done, and the cover art of the books was gloriously 90s.

Behold!

There was also a tv show we dont talk about.

The main cast were:

Jake: the leader. There is an evil alien slug living in his brother's head, and this causes issues for him.

Cassie: Jake's crush. The moral center of the books. Also her parents are veterinarians at a zoo, with is very fucking convenient if you need a ready sourse of animals to turn into.

Marco: Jake's best friend, the smart one. Also uses inappropriate humour to cope with trauma (relatable).

Rachel: Jake's cousin. Uses turning into a grizzly bear and committing extreme violence to cope with her trauma (relatable).

Tobias: perminantly turns into a bird to escape his trauma (most relatable) but then has to deal with extreme body and mental dismorphia as a result. Has a star-crossed lovers plot with Rachel. He is my favorite.

Ax: an alien teenager they just adopted and hide in the woods. Is also my favourite. He's a bright blue centar with stalk-eyes and a sythe tail, and he loves Cinabon and warcrimes. Due to his extreme alien mindset, he's been taken as a metaphor for Neurodivergance, but it's unclear if that was the author's original intent.

The books are awesome, and still available as e-books, comics and audio books I'd you want to check them out.

Here is a video essay that does a far better job of explaining:

[therealeagal]

Rating Disney films

I'm waiting on an event that will occur in my approximate future, so while I wait I thought I would kill time with a rating of some Disney movies. What a lark! But before we begin:

Item: The scale will be F, D, C, B, A. Normally I would consider C to be the base starting point, but since Disney is a heartless mega-conglomerate that would sell orphan souls if they thought there was a market for it, I'm sorry to say that every film is automatically docked a point, so we're starting at D.

Item: I'm only going to cover the ones I've seen, and only the ones from pretty recently. The last ten years, let's say. Otherwise we'll be here all day and I probably will have got shit to do.

Ok, let's go.

Frozen. Elsa and Anna and their hangs-on that no one really cares about. Good music. Idina Menzel? Holy shit I got it right on the first try. Go me! Idina is a great singer, so that bumps Frozen up a notch. Great animation, except for that one bit during Let It Go where Elsa's ponytail phases through her arm, but I guess I'll...let it go. Eh? Eh? Come on admit it, that was funny. A dumb subversion of true love, but then an interesting subversion of the subversion so I'll give it a point. But then there's...everything else. Preventable conflict, forgettable everyone that isn't Elsa and Anna, stupid character decisions, a twist villain who has literally no reason to exist and who is not connected to the central conflict in any way whatsoever. It's the works. Also, I'm told there's some debate over whether the side character Oaken is married to a man or woman. The art style makes it hard to tell. Normally I'd give it a point but since this is Disney, I'm going to file that under "Gay reference so that Disney gets bonus points but it was super minor so that Disney can easily edit it out for international releases in countries that hate the LGBT community". Which loses it a point instead.

Final score: F. Oh yeah. Coming out of the gate swinging. I wonder how much hate I'll get for that.

Big Hero 6. Hiro Hamada and the rest. No musical numbers, but it does have Baymax and jokes about puberty, which are...funny I guess. I guess. It does have a twist villain, but that's a gimme. He's a supervillain. Would Norman Osbourn be half the villain without being the father of Peter Parker's best friend? It loses a point because Hiro's older brother was too good to deserve being Uncle Bened. I wish my brother was as cool as Tadashi was. And that he was also Uncle Bened. I'll trade my brother for superpowers. See if I won't.

Final score: B. SO close.

Zootopia. The furry movie. I saw it. It didn't turn me into a furry any more than 90 years of Mickey Mouse did. Maybe I oughta dock it a point for that. Good story, entertaining leads, entertaining side characters. Catchy music. But it had a twist villain. Get some new material, guys.

Final score: B. Almost got it.

Moana. Good movie. Good characters. Good music. Who knew Dwayne Johnson could sing? No twist villain. Actually, there's a twist hero. Double points for that.

Final score: A. Huzzah! We finally got an A!

Coco: Ah, Coco. Good movie. Good music. Good characters. I will dock a point for preventable conflict, but righting former wrongs makes up for it. Very heartwarming. Double points for heartwarming. Also, another M. Rivera journeys to the Land of the Dead in search of his ancestors. And Imelda is voiced by the same actress that did Manny Rivera. I wonder if that was intentional.

Final score: A.

Incredibles 2. The first Incredibles missed the cutoff. Oops. It's a sequel so...ehhhhh. Another twist villain, but it's a supervillain so normally it wouldn't count, but the villain has no personal connection to Helen and only second-hand connection to Bob, so fuck Screenslaver. Overall, doesn't really stand out.

Final score: D. Ehhhhhhhhhh...

Live Action Aladdin. An acquaintance of mine she got super thirsty over Mena Massoud, so I'll give him double points. Will Smith did...ok I guess. I guess. I liked Jasmine's new song tho.

Final score. Ehhhhhhh...I wanna give it a good score, but I really can't give it better than a C. I'm sorry Mena and Naomi! Forgive meeeeeeeeeeee!

Live Action The Lion King. Yeah...no...

Final score: F. Not even Beyonce could save it. I think I may have committed a crime against humanity by saying that...

Frozen II. A sequel...ehhhhh...good story I guess. I guess. Good music, I will concede. New characters are forgettable and Elsa didn't get a girlfriend. I don't think it had a real conflict? Question mark? Just righting past wrongs wasn't it? I forget. Assuming there were no villains, because otherwise I'd have to dock a point for forgettable villains.

Final score: C. +2 -1. Hey at least it's not an F. I wonder how much hate I'll get for rating the sequel higher.

Onward. Troll brothers, one's a nerd, the other's a slacker. It's actually quite good. Don't remember the music, so it doesn't get any points. It had a "token acknowledgement of a gay character that can be easily edited out for international" so that's a minus.

Final score:

Luca. Another good movie. Very heartwarming. There is some debate over whether this movie counts as "Young boys discovering their sexuality but only in the vaguest possible terms so that it can be easily rewritten for international" or just "Young friends that is only homoerotic if you squint and maybe audiences are reading a little too much into it". And I mean, I could see it. I'm not that good at squinting and I can see it. I'll give you that it's possible. I don't necessarily think it's probable, but I'll take the point anyway because Disney's not dumb, just evil. They knew.

Final score: B.

Ron's Gone Wrong. Being honest, I was totally unaware that this was Disney. I saw the dvd at Wal-Mart and thought it looked cute. Which it is. Very heartwarming friendship. And the kids that the kid wants to be friends with turn out to be good kids and not little shits at all.

Final score: B.

Encanto. Another good one. I have to dock it a point for more preventable conflict, but otherwise, great characters, great music, great story, great ending, great family. Great Scott, have we got another A?

Final score: Yep, it's an A.

Lightyear. Really? This is the movie that Andy saw? But this Buzz acts nothing like that Buzz! Twist villain, token acknowledgement of a gay character that can be easily edited out for international. I mean, I liked it. I like Buzz and I like Alisha and I like Izzy and I like Sox, but is that enough?

Final score: B. -3 +4. I preferred the animated series.

Strange World. Didn't finish it. Stopped halfway and got sidetracked by something else and never got around to picking it back up, but it does have a gay secondary character in the main character's son and I seem to recall he gets a recurring subplot about how fit the guy he likes is.

Final score: Ah heck, let's give it an A just because the gay character wasn't of the "easily edited out for international" variety.

Elemental. Loved this movie. Very heartwarming. I say that a lot. It's Disney. What do you expect? Technically it does have a preventable conflict, but the preventableness is central to the story, so that's a gimme.

Final score: A.

Wish: Bending the rules, because I haven't seen it but I hope to some time soon. I'll be optimistic and wish upon a star that this movie gets all the points.

Final final score: A. Huzzah!

In closing if you don't agree with my ratings, or with the reasons I have given for the ratings, you are, of course, entitled to your own opinions, but I don't want to hear it so find someone else to whinge at.

Please and thank you. :)

[agentnico]

Hundreds of Beavers (2024) review

This is cinema.

Plot: A drunken applejack salesman must go from zero to hero and become North America's greatest fur trapper by defeating hundreds of beavers.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the greatness that is this film’s poster! Very reminiscent of the poster for the 1963 epic comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, it truly encompasses the full scale cartoonish madness of the movie, and honestly is a piece of art in itself. As for the movie itself? Yeah, it’s fricking awesome!

This comes to us from director Mike Cheslik and co-writer Ryland Brickson Cole Tews (by the way holy Moses what a cool name that is!), the pair who gave us the Tews-directed Lake Michigan Monster, a bonkers little indie film that’s a mix of Life Aquatic and The Lighthouse and is immensely entertaining and stupid. What I like about these guys is how they fill their micro-budget productions with so much creativity, humour and visual inventiveness, and it really puts a lot of modern day Hollywood pictures to shame. These guys are great and so when Hundreds of Beavers popped up on my Letterboxd recommendations, it was a no brainer - I had to seek out this movie!

Hundreds of Beavers echoes the structure of video games, especially RPGs. The central character starts out as an absolutely numpty loser, and then as the film progresses he by trial and error improves his craft to become a skilful and talented trapper. This is reminiscent of how in a video game when your first start you’re essentially useless and crap at everything, but as you level up you become an utter boss. Take Resident Evil for example. In the beginning you struggle to defeat a single zombie. Chances are on your first few playthroughs you’ll die like a little b**ch. Talking from experience here, I remember that first village fight in Resident Evil 4! Then by the end you’re drilling through hordes with unlimited ammo and rocket launchers with super high HP and literally nothing can stop you. With Hundreds of Beavers it’s the same. The first part of the film the poor chap can’t even kill a single animal, let alone a beaver. By the end though he’s engaging in an impressive battle of fisticuffs with crowds upon crowds of beavers. I mean, not really a spoiler to say that there are loads of beavers in this film. Not just a hundred, we’re talking thousands!

That brings me to one of the biggest surprises of this film - there’s actually a fully fledged story here. Like yes the narrative exists entirely for the purpose of throwing as many ridiculously nuts slapstick gags in our faces at a rapid speed of a joke every second, but they are held together by a cohesive narrative. The main character Jean Kayak (brought to life by a superbly committed performance from Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, again, love the name) goes through a significant growth throughout the movie, and his mission to get the girl is as timely and charming as ever. I must say it took me about 20 minutes to properly get into the movie, but once I got to the level of whackiness it was going for I was engaged throughout.

So the visuals. Filtered throughout with a surreal black-and-white grainy filter, this plays out like a live-action cartoon in the vain of Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry. The stylistic choice that really makes this movie so unique is that the overwhelming majority of animals that Jean comes across are played by actors in full sizes costumes. Yep, it’s a bunch furries alright. Smaller animals such as birds and fish appear as little puppets, but all the larger animals are indeed played by actors in suits. You’d expect a gimmick like this to lose steam after a while, however the funny thing about Hundreds of Beavers is that it manages to consistently stay hilarious throughout, and in fact gets progressively crazier as it goes on. The final 20 minutes are truly fantastic, with the creators throwing every creative idea and visual gag they could possibly whip out of their books in your face. This movie could have easily ended up feeling like a stretched out SNL sketch, but luckily the creators share so much ambition to allow this movie to flourish in its endless creativity. Charlie Chaplin would be proud.

Hundreds of Beavers is one of the most creative, inventive and entertaining comedies of the last decade, and I had a smile on my face from start to finish. From the punchy editing, funny music cues, well-timed cutaway gags, goofy costumes or the endlessly creative deaths, this thing has so much unhinged energy it’s unreal. I can see this not being for everyone, but then again silent slapstick comedy nowadays can be definitely classed as an acquired taste, but I truly believe that everyone would find at least some part of this film amusing. In my eyes, this is a comedic marvel. Yeah, f*** those beavers!

Overall score: 9/10

[popculturebuffet]

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Green With Evil Review (Sponsored By Brotoman.EXE)

Happy St. Patricks day Rangers! On this fair blog i've dipped my toe into the morphing grid before with "Forever Red" but today I dive deep as I cover one of the most important arcs in power ranger history, an arc that would deefine how the series tackled sixth rangers, change the status quo for the first time ever and introduce the greatest ranger of all, Tommy Oliver.

Green of Evil is a 5 parter from the original power rangers, and the ones I watched as a kid, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. MMPR was a massive part of my childhood: I had mmpr cutrtains, bedsheets, the toys, as did my brother, and played all the games, which would also be worth revisiting at some point. It was the big thing and likely, along with Fox Kids superhero lineup, helped steer me towards the superhero nerd I am today. Was the show cheesy? Yes. Overacted. God yes. Was the footage used from Super Sentai obvious in hindsight/ Indubtly. But was it fun?

MMPR is so earnest in it's cheese, toyetic nature and acting I just can't help but still love it. It's all the ham of a 60's era comic or monster movie but with a style all it's own.. well it's and Zyuranger, but still. And this was eaisly season' one's peak.

For those two of you not familiar with MMPR, a refesher: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is the story of "five teenagers with attitude" summoned by Zoron, a giant wizard what lives in a tube, and his robot buddy Alpha 5. They are Stallone style meat head and leader man Jason, valley girl and gymnst kimblery, cheery enironmentalist Trini, turbo nerd Billy, and breakdancer cool dude Zack. Together they became the Red, Pink, Yellow, Blue and Black rangers and using their martial arts skills, varied intrests and combinging giant dinsoaur megazords, they became the power rangers. Together they defend the world from the various goofy monsters sent to earth by Rita Repulsa, an evil space empress of evil who some astronauts found in a dumpster, and now hunts our heroes with the help of her minons: Goldar, a hammy furry in golden armor, Finster, who sculpts the monsters Rita sends out of clay, and Squat and Baboo… who certainly are there.

The show mostly stuck to the formula of "Rita makes a monster based on some intrest of the kids this week as she spies on them constantly", and our heroes have to stop it, eventually summoning their robots when Rita MAKES HER MONSTER GROWWWW.

Green with Evil is where it breaks for a bit: while some of it's still in tact Green with Evil is one long story, taking advantage of the sohw's daily release to tell one long epic as the team faces their worst nightmare: a sixth ranger under rita's control who soon leaves them without Zordon and on the defensive. It's the first time MMPR really had a story arc or higher stakes than go beat up a pumpkin what also wraps: our heroes had a real chance of loosing. Will they triumph? Well yeah, but find out how under the cut!

We begin our epic as Angel Grove is having it's 30th or so Martial Arts compettitoin at the Juice bar and being the team martial artist, Jason is naturally one of the front runners. He has some commpetion first as we first meet Tommy Oliver doing what he does best: giving a lot of badass "KIAHS" and doing some martial arts moves. Jason David Frank was a martial artist and it shows, and he'd go professional after leaving power rangers.

The show also does a nice job hyping Tommy up without it being too "GEE LOOK AT THIS GREAT GUY SURE HOPE HE DOSEN'T TURN EVIL' It's just the right amount "GEE LOOK AT THIS GREAT GUY I SURE HOPE HE DOSEN"T TURN EVIL", as he and jason are evenly matched to the point they tie and thus both win. or no one wins/ I dunno. Instead of sudden death or anything the two just shake hands and become best buds while Kimmberly is super into the new guy, kicking off one of the biggest romances in ranger history>

Tommy further wins Kim over the next day when Bulk and Skull hit on her as they do every episode. That was really all they did at first far as I can tell: hit on kimberly and get into shenanigans while their dope as hell theme song played. Bulk plans to teach her a lesson but before Kimberly rearrrange their face, Tommy steps in and makes it clear he will if they keep this shit up. Being Bulk and Skull, they scoff at the guy clearly more musccular than they are till he does some karate moves and scares them off. Kim asks Tommy to casually hang.

Sadly for their casual hang makeout plans, Rita has other ideas. Rita has a green power coin. Where did she get it?

Yeah Rita just.. has a power coin. It's hinted Zordon knows more but he never tells the audeince. It's easy to accept because this series is hamtastic, but ti's still weird they didn't really flesh that out in this five parter. With all the ways Rita rants you'd THINK sh'ed be all over this.

Still WHY she hasn't used it is shockingly not spelled out but is easy enough to figure and makes way more sense: Yes she could've given it to anyone. Even Bulk. They hassle the rangers. But Rita wanted the right canditate before trying this, the right person whose skilled enough to take on all the rangers solo.

She still has to test him: after all a fair tournament sanctioned match and two wonderous idiots who talk a mean game but couldn't defeat a paper bag are one thing. She has to make sure he actually can figh tand sends puttys after him. He easily beats him and thus she kidnaps him, brainwashes him and gives him the power coin, and thus the Green Ranger Is Born!

Now the fact there's a ranger on the bad guys side would be enough.. but shockingly MMPR dosen't skimp on the implications of this: Tommy's first act under his brainwashing after the requite evil speechifying, is to teleport into the command center, gives Alpha a virus, sends Zordon to Parts Unknown and trashes the command center just to be a real dick. What helps this is Jason David Frank's delivery: not only is he credible both as nice goo dboy face tommy, but as heel tommy while over the top as anything else on this show, he truly exudes malice, being perfectly intimdating as he cuts his way through the rangers and in one move has done more damage than any other foe they've faced. And this is just PART ONE.

Oh and he's not done, after fighting Giant Sized Goldar #1, the rangers are ambushed by Greenie, who HOPS DIRECTLY INTO THE ZORD.

I mean.. it's not good for the rangers whoa re all comically thrown out, but it shows just how much danger there in: in the span of one episode Tommy has trashed their HQ, gotten rid of all the support they have, and now can simply just pop in during a zord. Sadly he won't do this again, likely due to sentai footage restraints, but the fact he COULD and the fact our heroes , as far as I can tell hadn' tbeen brought THIS low in the 20 episodes before this by any of the various weird monster men they'd blowed up real good, it strikes a nice town of danger and despiar: our heroes are up against the wall and Tommy isn't about to stop pushing.

Part 2 eases up on the tension slightly and instead leans back into the series comfort zone: total bollocks. We get Jason venting, thrown off and wanting the green ranger's as far as he knows green blood. I mean… given the evil magic is also green it could be right now. Maybe evil!tommy donated blood and ther'es some weird green blood out there. We don't know. At any rate he does this in a striped tank top and thus I can't.. not laugh.

Even more rediclous is after getting his orders from rita, Evil!Tommy sees Bulk and Skull, who naturally want revenge for last episode as they have the self preservation of two pugs hopped up on cocaine and red bull. Tommy repels them by SHOOTING GREEN LIGHTNING OUT OF HIS EYES

I just have no words. And it just.. levitates them kinda into a trashcan. Which TBF probably isn't new to either of them. If anyone has "Slept in a trash can" energy it's bulk and skull. At any rate he also brushes off Kim

We then get a bit more plot advancement for a second, as Rita decides to cement the brainwashing with the sword of darkness, a sword that was presented ot her as a gift after one of her troops won it from Zordon long ago. Goldar however suggetss a proper test and rather than something Tommy hasn't easily done.. they just sick more putties on him except he's in a rediculous mesh shirt this time.

The shenanigans intestify as now he has the power of darkness Tommy's plan is to politely say he understands Jason has to back out of their plans to work out, seriously at this point it comes off like a love triangle between him and kimberly.. or a possible polecule. Oh 90's, so many of your problems could be solved iwth polyculres. But instead of a romantic workout TOmmy just… zaps jason in the back with the coin to some dimesion with a bunch of neat decorations and a fog machine. This is some pocket Dimension what Goldar lives in and he takes Jason's morpher

And mostly.. bullies him for a while. That said it does bring back the tension: Jason is up alone against one of the rangers most powerful enemies without his morpher, and at best can just hide under the fog.

We do get a cool bit as the rest of the rangers have to make do without Jason.. and hav eto fight Tommy solo. Well as a grou pbut he easily hands them their asses on a green decorative plate 10 for a dollar at k-mart, which force sour heroes to do something they rarely do: call the megazord on a tiny opponent. This is something i've never quite understood till this five parter as during the last part Zordon lays out rules for a ranger for newcomer tommy: two are pretty standard: dont' tell anyone his identity and don't use his powers for personal gain. Standard superhero stuff and fair thigns for zordon to ask: Rita knows who they are and could weaponize the fact someone knows for her own gain, especially if said relationship turns sour. It dosen't justify them later going to obscene lenghts to not tell bulk and skull judging from history of power rangers, but I get it. But the third while making sense also neatly explains WHY they always wait to use the mega zord mode: "Do not esclate unless rita does first". It's a fair play rule: they COULD likely just summon the mega zord and kill them, but that would be both exessive, and sometimes not necessary. While most foes do embiggen, not every one gets the chance. Plus if they did start using the megazord for every fight, Rita could just counter by doing "MAKE MY MONSTER GROW" at the start, likely causing WAY more collateral than if they were just person sized.

This case though makes sense; The Ranger outclasses them, being Jason's equal and having a shiny new sword with "whatever the plot needs him to do" Powers, so they hav eno cohice and it's their first real victory. But it's still a hollow one as Jason is still missing and inches from Goldar's sword'

Part 3 opens with Jason cleverly hiding in the smoke machine mists… then not so cleverly just jumpnig out, yahhing at goldar then getting his ass beat again

(plan was)

Meanwhile a LOT of this part is the rangers runnin runnin around because Tommy's go tthem searching, fighting some puttys, though we do get Billy and bestie Trini working hard on the commuincators off screen, which pays off as just as Tommy goes to go finish jason after Goldar spent several hours toying with him fo rhis own amusement, they teleport him out. It's not badly done stuff as there's genuine tension with both of jason's opponenets and he gets out JUST in time with his morpher, it's just not a lot to recap. Jason is forced to stay in the dark dimension.. which I just realized is claled that. Did… did Rita rent a room just for this scheme from Dormmamu? I mean I could see them being buds. Talking about conquering, cursing minons and such. We also get Alpha breifly reaching Zordon and failing, and a fight wtih Scorpina. Scorpina is one of Rita's lesser known minons who showed up ocasoinally before they ran out of stock footage. She sure is here. They fight, our heroes win by withdrawl as Rita calls Scorpina back with a bigger idea; since the Zord is solar powered and Zordon dosen't belivie in you know, having a backup battery in case this exact thing happens or you know, Rita decides to attack at night which likely would be easier but not as much evil fun as causing an eclipse, this would drain the zord and leave it vunerable. She then sends Goldar out as bait and the part ends with the Rangers looking on horrified, knowing this is a trap but planning to attack anyway.

Part 4.. is easily the weakest of the five. It feels like the story only got a part 4 because they needed 5 episodes and you probably coudl've condensed the events of episodes 3 and 4 into one. It's mostly just things we've seen before, the biggest being Tommy attacking the command center AGAIN… instead of you know just letting them have zordon back already given it's been three episodes and they've been working to do so the whole time. It does give Alpha a nice big moment as he imbolizes tommy in a forecfield and while Tommy doe shis best to taunt the android, Alpha just tries to unmask him and only fails because Rita pulls him out.. and even then STILL succeeds because he succesfully bioscanned him. It is troubling Zordon has bio scans of every single person in angle grove and I have a LOT of followup questions as to why, but for now this troubling development means our hereos can find out the obvious.

It's not without good moments though. While Part 4 is weak, being mostly some wheel spinning it has a few standout moments that keep it from dragging everything down: Just because nothing happens for MOST Of it, to the point that again ther'es not much to say dosen't mean what there is to talk about isn't good: We get a LOT of quality bulk and skull as they break from just "hit on kimberly get shot down" for the 80th time to instead get into the wacky shenanigans I love them for.

For starters Bulk, despite the juice bar COMMING DOWN AROUND HIM , refuses to let Skull leave until he's finished with his ice cream.. then when a massive beam comes inches from killing him and his hetro lifemate, gulps it down. He also has the smart idea of taking the bus outside the youth center that Ernie leaves the keys in just for situations like this. He may of lost 80 busses this way but dammit you have to admire his warm spirit wanting teens to flee.

Being Bulk and Skull this naturally gets them caputred and suspended over a cliff as bait because Goldar thinks their the rangers friends

But their still civlians so they still work to save them, while Bulk and skull get a LOT of good jokes in the process, from the two planning to flee the buss only to see it surrounded by putties, to Bulk calling for his mommmy and Skull also calling for his mommy because he's into milf, cumilating in Bulk wondering if their dreaming when their finally safe only for Skull to pinch him, Bulk to naturally get pissed.. then the two to bro hug as you'd expect when he realizes it does mean their alive. I can't help but love these two and wish they got more to do in this 5 parter, but what we get here is fantasic.

The other scene to note is after a good chunk of just.. dicking around, we get the fight, where the rangers have to fight both Scorpina , in game face, and Goldar. It's an awesome fight, helped by the spell meaning our heroes are slowly loosing powers, and is both creative and tense. What follows is also brutal as it is rediculously awesome: tommy grande sizes himself, beats up the zord and PLUNGES IT INTO A VOLCANO. Which angel grove has because stock footage makes it so! So we get horrific shots of the various zords plunged into lava as our heroes look on in horror. its impressivly creepy for a cheesy 90's live action kids show and ends the part on a real downer: our heroes are ready to give up, their out of options.. and then theyf ind out Tommy is the Green ranger.

We begin the end on what I realized as I wrote this was the heart of the arc: Jason. While he's your standard good guy hero type… we see thorugh the arc something beyond that; his determination. He never gives up neve rbacks down, wether it's being sent to dormmamu's summer guest house, or seeing it wrecked> He's bummed, of course, but he dosen't stop. YOu can call jason kinda flat, and very stupid, but you can't knock the kid for the fact he keeps going no matter how dark it is. It provides a nice counter to brainwashed tommy: With him we see all the determination jason has funneled in the wrong direction, waht someone that noble and detemrined would do if turned to the dark side.

It's why Jason has such a strong drive to free tommy and why the climax works so well: Jason clearly sees what coul'dve easily happened to him had the places been switched and he been the cool new kid, and while he couldn't convience his friends not to back down before, he begs them not to give up on Tommy and to save him. That an innocent, kind, rigtheous dude dosen't deserve this. It's ultimately that drive, that hope that wins against the forces of evil: Jason dosen't give up.. and in doing so Alpha dosen't, which frees zordon and gets them the zords back, leading to an epic fight between two childhood faviorites: the mega zord and the dragon zord, newly dreged from the ocean. It's a triumphant battle: after all our heroes have been through, one of them never getting up finally gets them a win.

And in the end… the finale is what it should be: Jason Vs Tommy. It's a match that had been expertly set up all 5 parter: we started with the two fighting evenly with no claer winner, and have seen all arc that NO ONE ELSE can match him. But it's here we finally get the rematch that the entire story is built on: the strongest rangers head to head, winner take all. Granted how Jason ends up destroying the sword of darkness is hilarous .. he just… laser guns it

But the fight can't be overstated… and the cathariss at seeing tommy free at last is oh so satisfying… and what comes next is predictable: JAson warmly welcoms Tommy into the rangers despite his doubts, citing not only all he's done wasn't his fault.. but this is what meant to be. It's why the early moments with tommy were important: we saw he had the makings of a ranter.. and now he really gets to be one. Everyone welcomes him and welcomes a new era while Rita naturally isn't happy. We also show off the dragon megazord because why not and we end on Zordon welcoming tommy in. It's a wonderful warm ending and a satsifying wrap up.

Green With Evil… is good fun and a well crafted story. It has some goofy bits and the ocasoinal bit of padding, but the core of it is strong and it's easy to see why most six ranger stories after this take some inspriation: it's a triumphant tale of good vs evil, of the triumph of the human spirit and of mesh shirts, bus shsenanigans, dark dimensions and heroes. It's well worth a look and really shows off just how from day one jason david frank was invulsable to the franchise and really bhrought it to the next level. It's all free on youtube, so go watch it if you haven't, or even if you have like I did, thanks for reading.. and may the power protect you.

[rocksandrobots]

Phantoms of the Past Ch. 44 - Mission Possible: Part 3

"Eep! I can't believe I'm inside Big Hero Six's Headquarters!" Mole squeed. "Oh, oh, what does this do?"

He ran to pick up a probe-looking tool off a work desk. He pressed a button and electricity fizzled between the four electrodes at the end.

"Aah, it's a stun weapon prototype," Hiro warned as he snatched the staff out of Mole's hands. Then to the rest of the newcomers, he added, "Be careful of some of the equipment laid out, a lot of it is still in the experimental stage."

"It's a pretty impressive setup you got here." Ron complimented as he viewed the super suits lined along the wall.

"I'll say," Kim agreed, "You made all of this yourself?"

"Most of it," Hiro replied. "Including our main computer system." He walked over to the controls and turned the screen on. "You said you can track this Drakken guy using a computer?"

Kim shook her head. "I can't, but I know someone who can."

She pulled out a green handheld device and pressed a button; out popped a USB connector.

"May I?"

"Be my guest." Hiro agreed and stepped aside.

Kim plugged in the device and pressed a button. The view screen lit up and on the other side was another young man, close to their age. He was husky, dressed in jeans and tee-shirt with a the model of an atom printed on it, and he was sporting a recently grown mustache. He appeared to be sitting in some sort of lab and behind him was a hadron collider.

He gave a wide smile upon seeing who had called him. "Hey, Kim. What's the sitch?"

"Hey Wade-"

"Wade!? Wade Load!?" Wasabi interrupted. "You know the Wade Load? The inventor of Thermal Imaging Spectrometer Goggles!"

Wade seemed surprised by such enthusiasm but quickly shrugged it off and gave another affable smile. "Hey you're Gari, right? I read your paper on laser optics. It was really interesting. I think you might be onto something regarding newer surgery equipment."

Wasabi stood there dumbstruck for half a second before whispering. "Wade Load knows who I am? Wade Load knows who I am."

Baymax was quickly on hand with a paper bag for Wasabi to blow into.

"You'll have to forgive Wasabi." Hiro apologized. "It's not everyday you get to meet one of the leading scientists in optical engineering."

"You should talk." Wade laughed heartily. "You're Hiro Hamada aren't you? I saw your presentation on microbots. It's a shame that that supervillain got ahold of them."

"Uh.. yeah." Hiro awkwardly agreed.

Wade didn't seem to notice that he had hit upon a sore topic. Instead he leant forward and eagerly asked. "Hey, is it true that you and your brother are working on time travel?"

Varian shook his head from the back. "Nah, we're done with the time travel stuff. I'm back to building an interdimensional portal instead."

"Even cooler!" Wade exclaimed enthusiastically. "I can't wait till you're ready to present it."

Hiro softly chuckled. "Yeah, we'll be sure to save you a ticket."

"As... interesting as all this nerd stuff is." Kim interceded. "Can we get back to the ... you know... the whole tracking Drakken down."

"He crashed the convention, didn't he?" Wade stated calmly. "What's he up to this time?"

"No idea." Ron said as he pulled out a bag of chips to share with his pet. "But he mentioned something about 'collecting the older superheroes'..."

He went to take a bite of the chip when suddenly something furry and covered in stripes dropped down from the ceiling and swiped the food right out of his and Rufus's hands.

"Hey!"

"Ruddiger!" Varian got onto his own pet and gave chase after the raccoon around the meeting room.

Everyone groaned.

"What's the raccoon doing here, Varian?" Gogo bemoaned.

"Aunt Cass has a catering job coming up. I had to keep him away from the Lucky Cat till it's over with, and I knew Wasabi wouldn't want him in the back dorm."

"You got that right!"

As Varian finished giving this explanation Ruffus caught up with Ruddiger and the two pets started to engage in a tug-a-war for the bag of chips.

As Varian and Ron rushed to separate their waring pets, Wade pulled up a computer readout on his end.

"Hmmm… according to the spy satellite I just hacked, it looks like there are large energy spikes coming from the docks of San Francisco, and some low level radiation. I'd bet you anything that's Drakken's work alright."

"You… you just casually broke into a high security military satellite?" Hiro squeaked.

Wade shrugged. "Oh sure, I do it all the time. The government pays me to test their defense systems and it comes in handy when superheroing."

"We're not superheroes." Kim insisted.

"If you say so, Kim." Wade smiled.

"Can you get a fix on where the energy reading is coming from?" Hiro asked.

Wade shook his head. "Not from this far out. The energy spikes seem to be random surges from various locations in the area. It'd take some time to triangulate them."

"Then can you send us a copy of those readings? Baymax and I can fly over there and get closer reading-"

"Or you could just head over to 1375 Fairview Ave, and save yourself a trip."

Everyone turned to look at Mole.

The pre-teen didn't pay attention to thier surprised expressions as he scrolled through his phone.

"It went off the market on Lairs4Rent last week, last comments were an enquiry by a Dr. D, and it's down by the docks where all those energy spikes are." Mole continued as he spun around in circles on the swivel chair.

"See!?" Fred yelled. "I told you we weren't utilizing all of our sources!"

"Lairs4Rent…huh?" Kim echoed.

"You know, we're going to have to remember that site for later." Ron added, as he finished rescuing both Rufus and the chips from the ravenous raccoon.  

"Uh, Mole, how did you even know about this Lairs4Rent?" Hiro asked.

"Oh, I have a few spare warehouses I rent out from time to time." Mole explained.

"You do business with supervillains!?" Fred screeched.

"Hey, money is money. Besides it's not my business what my clientele choose to use the space for. So long as they pay the deposit then it's against my ethics to discriminate."

"Yeah, that's exactly what a Mole would say." Fred seethed.

"Oh and like taking the moral high ground has gotten you anywhere. You'd all be wasting hours trying to calculate the bad guys' whereabouts without me." Mole huffed.

"Fine." Hiro sighed, stepping in between them. "Thank you, Mole. Your assistance was invaluable."

Mole beamed at the complement before blowing a raspberry at Fred. Both Hiro and Varian had to hold him back from tackling the younger teen.

"Alright, so we know where he is." Gogo said. "But what's the game plan for when we get there? The guy has freaky plant powers."

"He does, but he has limited control over them." Kim explained.

"Though he is getting better." Ron interjected. "You know what they say, practice makes perfect."

"Still, we need a way to neutralize it…" Varian thought out loud and then he snapped his fingers. "Got it! Carotenoids!"

"We break down the chlorophyll and cause his plant monsters to wilt." Honey Lemon jumped in, knowing precisely what he was talking about.

"Exactly!"

"That's brilliant!" Wade said. "You can speed up the process using natural weed killer agents."

"Yeah, and we have my portals." Varian turned to Honey Lemon. "Remember how I made the vinegar? We can do the same thing to the plants."

"Is it safe?" Honey Lemon questioned. "I mean it's still in the experimental stage and-"

"And it'll be fine. It's not like you have to be precise with it."

"You wanna explain to the rest of class what you're planning?" Wasabi asked.

"I can turn the portable portals into localized time vortexes."

"That sounds incredibly dangerous and I don't like it." Wasabi huffed.

"Leeeet's go with the weed killer idea for now and save the time vortex as a backup." Hiro cautiously suggested.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Ron said as he started heading for the door. "Let's go kick some man-eating plant butt!"

"Alright, everyone, suit up." Hiro said.

As everyone gathered the last of their needed equipment, Hiro and Kim said goodbye to Wade.

"I'll stay online if you need me," Wade said, "and relay anything else the satellites pick up."

"What about me?" Mole whined. "Don't I get a super suit?"

"Umm, no." Hiro replied.

"B-but.. but.."

"You can't be trusted with one. You're staying here." Gogo ordered.

"But I'm the one who found him!" Mole huffed.

"And that's great, but you're not ready to go on field missions." Hiro explained.

Mole gasped. "You mean I might be ready some day?"

"Uhhhh…"

"You mean if I train really, really hard I might get to be a part of the team?"

"Uhhh…."

"And I'll get my very own super suit!?"

"Uhhhh…"

"No!" Shouted Fred from across the room.

"No one asked you, Fred!"

"And what happens if the rest of us say no?" Wasabi asked.

"Then I shall proceed to use every trick in the book until I get what I want. Starting with the puppy-eyed stare."

And with that, Mole gave Wasabi a pitiful, wide-eyed pout.

"Gah, no, not the pouty face!" Wasabi yelled as he threw his hands up in front of his own face. "How can I say no to those big hazel eyes!?"

"Oh, I know how to solve this." Honey Lemon. "We'll just do the same thing as last time. One Amnesia-tino coming up!"

She scurried back towards the lab with a wide smile. Varian chased after her, Ruddiger still in his arms.  

"Uh.. umm….Honey? Honey!? No!"

Kim watched them leave, not entirely sure what an 'amnesia-tino' was, before bending down to talk to the kid herself.

"Listen, every team needs a man on the outside. You know, someone who provides intel and backup from homebase. Like Wade, here. He hardly ever goes on missions, but we'd be lost without him. Why don't you start your training with him? If you stay here, he can give you a few pointers."

"Yeah sure." Wade nodded. "Stick with me, little buddy, and I'll show you the ropes. The heroes can't do anything without support."

"Well… okay…" Mole reluctantly agreed. "But. This is just temporary! I still expect to get my own super suit… eventually."

Hiro silently mouthed her a 'thank you' over the boy's head.

                                                  -------------------

"Spotted anything yet?" The Fearless Ferret said over a walkie-talkie as he hunched over a gargoyle.

"Nothing my old friend," came Captain Fancy's irritating voice. ",but evil can not hide from the light of truth forever."

Miracle Maiden snorted behind him at that.

"Really, Hank, can't we for once drop the hokie speeches?"

"Now where's the fun in that?" Hank replied.

The Ferret rolled his eyes. "Now don't start, you two. We got a job to do, and those kids are counting on us, remember?"

"Oh come on Tim, don't pretend like you're not enjoying this too." Hank yelled as he flew by. The super did a somersault in the air in front of them before flying on.

"Show-off." Tim huffed under his breath.

Miracle Maiden smiled and gave him a gentle nudge.

"Oh, don't be such a resmungão. This really is just like old times, you know. How often do we get to come out of retirement?"

Tim tried to hold back a chuckle and failed. "Since when did you ever retire to begin with Lima?"

Lima shrugged. "Never, but supervillains these days just aren't as common anymore. Looks like we did our jobs too good." She winked.

Just as she finished saying this, Hardlight flew by on his hover disk.

"What were you saying about supervillains not being common anymore?"

"So there's some young startups now trying to make a name for themselves," Lima said as she pulled her spear out of its sheath, "he hasn't fought any real superheroes yet. Once we're through with him, he'll be the one retiring."

She let out a battle cry and jumped across to the next rooftop.

Tim sighed and pulled out his grappling gun. "Hey, Hank. That new hotshot, Hardlight, just started heading towards the docks."

"On it!" Hank responded before Tim put the walkie-talkie away and swung him himself over to the next building using the grappling gun.

                                                 -------------------

The supers caught up with Hardlight at a warehouse down by the docks.

"Hahaha! Let's see if you old timers can keep up." He laughed before flying through the window of the uppermost story.

Captain Fancy followed after him, only to suddenly hit an invisible wall. It glowed neon pink from where he had smacked into it.

"Nuh-uh-nuh." Hardlight wagged his finger at them."You don't get to speedrun this. You got to start on the first level."

He then pressed a button on his glove and the entire building was bathed in purple light. All save for the front door.

"My game, my rules. If you wanna make it to the boss, you have to beat my maze fair and square. No shortcuts, no cheats, and no complaining."

"And if we refuse to play along?" The Ferret asked from below.

"Then I guess you won't win your prize, now will you? See ya at the finish line." He gave them a salute and then disappeared from view.

Fancy rejoined his friends upon the ground, rubbing his sore forehead. "Sooo... this is a trap right?"

"Oh, totally a trap." Lima agreed, never taking her eyes off the light fortress.

The Ferret straightened up to his full height and marched forward. "Then let's spring it."

"Ummm... Tim?" Fancy flew after him. "You know, I've been thinking. Maybe we should ask for backup?"

"Backup!?" Tim whirled around to face his friend.

"Well, yeah. I mean we've never faced this guy before, and he seems to have some pretty unique powers."

Lima rolled her eyes. "So he has some fancy tech. It's nothing we haven't faced before."

"All I'm saying is, maybe we should ask those new kids what they know about him. They might have some useful knowledge about how his tech works and what weakness it might have."

Tim raised an eyebrow at him. "And you're not just saying that, because you won't be able to fly around in there?"

Hank stiffened. "Well, at least I have superpowers."

"I have a superpower, my stunning intellect."

Fancy doubled over with laughter. "You mean you're good at guessing multiple choice during trivia night."

The Ferret stepped forward and stood up on tiptoe till he was nose to nose with the pompous Captain. "I swear, one of these days Hank..."

"Why not today?" Fancy smugly smiled back. "You and me, one on one."

"Brain vs Brawn. The first man to capture the villain wins."

"You're on."

"Ugh! Just kiss already and move out of the way," Lima said as she pushed past the two men. She marched up to the door and ripped it off its hinges with her super strength.

Her colleagues followed after into the dark hall, eyeing each other challengingly.

                                                 -------------------

Kim looked out the window of the moving car to see the other superheroes flying, jumping, and skating around them. Meanwhile, She, Ron, and Rufus rode with Wasabi and Varian.

"So how do you know Wade?" Wasabi asked, making small talk. "Do you both go to MIT too?"

Ron shook his head. "Oh no. I actually graduated four years ago, and Kim here attends Yale."

"I'm getting a doctorate in political science." Kim explained, almost sheepishly.

"Impressive. "Wasabi nodded.

"Oh, it's no big."

"And you said you already graduated. What do you do now? Full-time superheroing?"

"More like full-time job hunting." Ron groaned. "I do marketing and sales. It pays well, but it's all gig-based. So you're constantly networking trying to land the next job."

"Oh, but you have gotten a lot of work from those restaurants, recently." Kim pointed out.

"That's true. It pays the bills anyways." Ron laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I guess we're not doing too bad."

Kim smiled back at him before continuing the conversation. "So what about you two? Are you still in school as well?"

"We both go to SFIT," Varian explained. "We're both physics majors, technically."

"Technically?"

"I prefer alchemy, but the dean said that wasn't a viable degree."

Kim tilted her head at that but decided not to press the matter further. "Oh, well, are you going for your Bachelor's degree?"

Varian shrugged. "I don't know if I'll even graduate, yet."

"Don't say that." Wasabi snapped. "You're graduating even if I have to drag you to class myself."

"Now you just sound like Honey Lemon."

"Then we'll both drag you to class. What makes you think we're just going to let you flunk out?"

"I'm not talking about failing. I'm only going to SFIT for my dad. It's not a priority or anything."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

Varian shrugged. "I don't know. As in I literally don't know what I'll do; maybe I'll graduate, maybe I'll switch majors, or maybe I'll quit and get a job. I could sell an award-winning novel. There are lots of things I can do. I'm not locked into anything."

Wasabi rolled his eyes. "You can't just drift aimlessly like that. You need a plan."

"Oh, and what's your plan?" Varian folded his arms.

"Step one. Get my Undergrad. Step two. Apply for my Masters. Step three. Graduate with my Masters."

"Then what?"

"Then what?" Wasabi echoed hoarsely.

"Yeah, so far all you've listed is school. You can't stay in school forever. What do you wanna do afterward?"

"Ummmm..."

"You've no idea."

"Uhhhh..."

Kim reached out from the backseat and patted Wasabi on the shoulder.

"It's okay. Finally graduating can be stressful. I don't know what I'm going to do after the next semester either."

"Are you freaking out over finals too?" Wasabi asked.

"Totally."

"And job applications?"

"And interviews."

"And thesis papers."

"Not to mention... presentations of those papers."

Both she and Wasabi shuddered simultaneously at the thought.

"Oh, you worry too much KP." Ron chided. "You can literally do anything. I'm with Varian on this one. It'll all work out."

He pulled out his last bag of taco-flavored chips from his pocket as he said this, but no sooner did he open the bag then did a certain troublesome raccoon sneak out of the trunk of the car, snatch the bag out of his hands, and ran dashed towards the front seat.

"Hey!"

"What's he doing here?"

"Ruddigger!"

"Get back here you chip thief!"

 hiss

"Varian!"

                                                 -------------------

From above Hiro wondered what could possibly be happening inside Wasabi's car as it began to swerve all over the road. He was about to ask over the intercom if everything was alright when Baymax pointed ahead.

"I have pen-pointed the energy fluctuations."

Hiro followed the robot's finger and that's when he saw it; a giant purple-glowing tower looming over the docks. Hiro pressed his finger to his helmet's intercom.

"Uh, guys... I think we've found Drakken.... and I think he's working with Hardlight."

                                                 -------------------

Lima finished punching the last of the light bats.

"Ha! This is most amusing! Wouldn't you agree, amigos?"

Tim grumbled something in response as he pulled the end of his cape out of the jaws of a giant pink bear trap. He was ignored, as his friends ran on ahead as the barrier to the next room disappeared.

"Come on slowpoke, or I'm going to win the bet," Hank called back to him.

"How many more of these rooms are there?" Tim complained as he entered what looked like a large arena. That was when the door behind them closed and Hardlight's voice sounded out over a speaker system.

"Congratulations. You're almost there, but first, it's mini-boss time!"

Grating electronic music blasted out of the speakers and fog filled the room.

The three supers tightened around each other to create a defensive circle.

Then they heard a buzzing noise overhead. They looked up to see a gigantic fly made of blue light swooping down at them!

All three heroes dodged out of the way quickly as it landed. Tim however was not fast enough.

The fly lowered its bulbous head and snatched the Ferret up between its saw-like jaws, catching his cape once more.

"Put me down you overgrown pest," Tim yelled as he swung in midair.

Lima came to his rescue. She ran up and punched the legs right out from under the insect. It opened its mouth and released the Ferret who landed on the ground with a hard "oof!".

The creature then tried to fly away from the aggressive woman, only for Captain Fancy to pursue it. He mounted the overly large housefly like you would a steer-bull and grabbed it by its wings, pulling back on them hard. The fly crashed to the floor with a heavy thud and a now recovered Ferret used his grappling hook to entrap the monster.

It let out a feeble buzz before exploding into a harmless puff of smoke.

"Well done!" Hardlight clapped over the intercom. "Now for your final challenge. Get ready to meet the Boss."

An open door appeared on the other end of the hall. The trio exchanged meaningful looks before entering the darkened room together.

Try as they might, the trio attempted to pierce the darkness but nothing could be seen. Suddenly a spotlight flared up at one end of the opposite end of the room. They took up defensive positions, ready for anything.

Almost ready for anything that is. They were expecting more light monsters, or Hardlight himself, they did not expect a familiar blue figure to slowly and calmly walk into the spotlight.

"Hello, I'm the Boss." Drakken smiled.

Before the supers could react, vines had snaked around their ankles and they were suddenly lifted off the ground. All the lights turned on and they were each thrown into glass tubes that stood beside complicated machinery.

Lima got one good punch in and managed to crack the glass case before electronic neuro-rings were placed upon each of their heads.

The rings lit up and the supers' eyes glazed over. They stood inside the tubes stiff and erect, unconscious to the world.

"Thanks for playing." Hardlight cheerfully mocked as he hovered above the scene.

                                                 -------------------

                     Notes:        

We're hosting a Secret Santa on the Discord. Sign ups will still be open though the weekend and gift will be presented on Jan. 6th. The 12th day of Christmas.

https://discord.gg/6GNMTTe49r

[eziojensenthe3rd]

Midnight Gaming: Have an NSO sub for that cancer mam...

So I played Super Mario Land, Mario Land 2 6 golden coins and some Tetris past midnight, checked socials later to find....devs of a mental health action shooter look forward to a health-insurance funded "golden age" of gaming?

Ummmm... yeah..  i'm not from the United States of America but I am aware that healthcare there is abysmal, I don't think letting doctors prescribe a subscription to xbox game pass would improve things.

I mean sure, video games can improve mental health, one of the games I played last night Tetris is a good example of that. But given how people are struggling to afford treatment, I dont think having your insurance front the cost for video games is a good idea. Still the FDA has already cleared it, we can only wait to see how it goes. Why not share your thoughts on it? Full article from PcGamer:

So now onto the games. I did not buy a NSO sub for this since I'm sure a lot of people would tell me to just emulate, though I dont feel like tinkering with my steam deck to do that. I played these on a 7-day trial for this post and I wont bother with a full sub, unless folks really want to see thoughts on the games available there.

Mario Land 2 was the first I played and I've enjoyed the game a lot in the past. Its just a neat lil mario romp for your handheld Game Boy and was the first appearance of that garlic rouge Wario. Honestly Mario Land 2? Easy as hell, most of the bosses take 3 bounces quickly and take no time at all. I can genuinly say the hardest boss was the three pigs in the toy zone since they take 9 hits in total for all three. The bunny ears that mario gets here? Probably the most op item in the game since you can jump high and glide a far distance, going back to the difficulty, the first level you go through to get to space zone? Once you get in a bubble just keep pressing A and stayat the top of the level as you go forwards, nothing will touch you and you'll get to the end quick.

Since I beat that quick, it wasnt quite midnight so I decided to play through Mario Land 1 since I played the sequel and its certanly a strange beast compared to the other mario games. I mean you have Egyptian sphinxes, ufos, easter island heads and exploding koopas. Come to think of it, Land 2 also had some out there locales and enemies with a tree of ants and bees, outer space with bad stars, a massive house with a zone name furries would appreciate, a halloween zone with voorhees goombas and japanese yokai, a toy mario with ball shooting pigs and a couple of levels in turtle zone where you go in a sunken sub and roleplay jonah in a whale.

If you played mario platformers nowadays, you understand they have a pretty traditional structure with their worlds: grass, desert, ice, water, fire etc. I guess since these games were released around bros 3 and world, nintendo didnt really have a formula locked in so for their handheld titles, they decided to experiment a bit and create some unique enviroments and enemies. Thats probably what led to Land 3 starring Wario himself instead of Mario, leading to a whole bunch of games with that guy.

More games need have a spooky world, only other games I know that have it are Sonic Adventure 2 with pumpkin hill and Sonic Heroes with that Castle. Donkey Kong 64 has Creepy Castle as a world and Banjo Kazooie has Mad Monster Mansion. What other games have a spooky level in them?

Anyway, Land 1 ends rather abrupt, you get to the end of world 4, shoot a cloud and then you're suddenly fighting Tatanga and then, credits. I know the game was made to go with the launch of the Game Boy but, I couldnt help but wonder if it was rushed, it was certanly a surprise even though I've beaten the game before. Anyway since I STILL wasnt past midnight, I decided to run out the clock with Tetris to round out this Game Boy feature.

I can play Tetris alright but I am by no means a tetris pro, barely even average I think, I get to a point where I get a few lines cleared, get dealt with some tetriminos I can't place properly thanks to rng and then it cascades into a game over. You ever hear of those Grandmaster Tetris arcade games from Japan that are uber-hard? Yeah i'm nowhere close to the folks who can play those games reliably. But I managed to run the clock past midnight so I was able to accomplish my goal regardless. Tetris is fine, its an iconic game that people know of and it'll outlast all of us, no doubt about that.

Hey you know that meme about "I want games with worse graphics from people paid more" meme? That was kind of the philosophy of Gunpei Yokoi who was the creator of the Game & Watch and the Game Boy, and that philosophy still kinda drives Nintendo to this day. That and DMCA the fans.

Thank you for reading this post on Midnight Gaming. Feel free to leave feedback and game suggestions. Anons are currently on. See you all tomorrow.

[ssamou]

LOCATION: GOLDEN CLOSET STUDIO

Golden Closet. Where else could this riddle lead to? The words speak of intimacy and love made from music. This is, after all, the place where a lot of firsts took place; first kiss, first time doing anything sexual, first loves, first girlfriends/boyfriends. It all happened here, in Jeongguk's treasured work place.

This room holds a lot of memories to it, and gazing around you spot an empty room aside from a letter and a familiar rose-gold chain with a little "J" dangling from it sitting on top resting untouched on the chair of his studio. Walking over, you pick up the chain and run your finger over the face of the letter before grabbing the next note and opening it.

It reads:

"Ah.. we're here, finally. Surely you knew this would come up at some point, right? I had to include it, and no it's not because it's the place we became one for the first time—it's so much deeper than that. There's a lot of firsts here for us both; first kiss, first love, first time.. first partner. I look back here with warmth and love. Not because we made love, but because it's the place where I realize that, yeah, you know I can really fall in love with this girl. And I did. Not even a month later I was irrevocably in love with you, Chaewon. I wish I could include the place I first told you I loved you, but you'd be right back where we started.. and it would make this adventure a tad too long. Forgive me for pushing that detail aside, okay?" ─── ⋆⋅ ♡ ⋅⋆ ─── In a world of capes, both furry and bright, Our story started after the movie's delight. Where we laughed, cuddled, and shared in the thrill, In the dim light, our love started to instill. In the realm of action, where heroes unite, Our adventure unfolded, just us in the night. To find the next clue, to the destination you'll embark, Where we watched "Super Pets," in the back row, hearts sparked.

I know you know this one~ What's the answer?

♡ 메시지 𓂃 ⋆ #koobie's scavenger hunt??

answer: the theater where you bought us private seats for a kids movie we didn't even pay attention to.

it took her a bit to reach this destination since it was in a different district—but she knew all the shortcuts and in/out's of the place, that it didn't take her more than a few moments to reach the door of something her body naturally walks to.. of course with her two cute ducks following after her with their quiet whispers.

this room held a lot of memories for her. probably only second to his apartment when it came to him. their short-lived friendship started and ended in this room. their love for one another began here, too. everything she could think to name happened here. just how much stake this small room had in her mind is something she could never fully grasp. it's a lot. an idea she wouldn't ever be able to explain to someone.

chaewon entered the room by herself, the natural smell he radiates filling her up and making her warm, though it feels slightly bitter since she seems to already miss being wrapped up in his arms. it doesn't take much to find the chain and letter wrapped cutely in the center of his desk.

of course, this letter was no different from the rest. it made her heart swell up in bundles of heat as he talked about the origin of their relationship.. something that's insane for her to think about now. even for the last comment, she's nodding her head with the thought "it's okay," skipping over her mind.

after a bit of glancing around the room and running her fingers over the various different objects (including the plentiful amount of squirtle plushies), she finally leaves the room and closes the door behind her. at this point in time her excitement is making her nerves run wild; but she knew where to go to next, that was just as obvious as the previous clues have been.

[castle-dominion]

4x2 heroes & villains (https://scriptline.livejournal.com/40160.html)

I like how the transcript calls him "creepy guy" even tho we get his name Watched this ep with my older bro. He has a lot to say about jewish comic artists & police interference.

*Deep male voice* wouldn't the creep be weirded out seeing someone dressed like that? *casually cuts the guy's hand off* *somehow able to cut him in half even tho that's not exactly possible* (actually I just wasted time researching & watching videos, idk if it is possible to cut someone in half if they are standing up, but u can cut em crosswise for sure.)

Why that knife rick? RC: I seem to remember asking you to make me an E.T. Halloween costume and you told me you didn't know how to sew. MR: Details. Besides, you were 32 at the time. The point is, proper wardrobe helps an actor connect to the words. (won't clip)

Poor rick, he just wants his daughter Lol I skipped my grad, ran & hid by climbing up a giant storage crate. So valid bestie (password sharing) MR: Lady Beckett, my lord. Richard, are you crying? RC: No, it's the onions. RC, next scene: Okay, I'll admit, it wasn't just the onions, not completely. I mean, she's gonna be gone in a few months. My little girl. (could clip but I'm low on time)

[They approach the body halves, covered in yellow plastic on either side of a pool of blood, feet sticking out.] Lanie <3

Ok so what kind of steel is it? A lot of japanese steel will actually break or chip if it hits bones, so it might not be best for chopping someone in half but it definitely broke off

Swords are so good so cool. JE: Tyler Ferris. He just got out of Sing Sing a year ago for sexual assault. KB: Okay, we got any witnesses? JE: Yeah. The girl he was in the middle of assaulting oof (I shouldn't find that funny, I know it is tragic & it really sucks, but I'm allowed to find humour in my pain & past.)

Poor gal still has blood all over her She's right lol Lol the "touche"

Love mrs ferris Don't get me wrong. I never expected my boy to end up in two hunks, but I always knew one day he'd end up there laying on a slab. KB: Do you know if he was involved in anything that might've gotten him killed? Ferris: Well, I certainly expect so. Is "ship coming in" a figure of speech?

KB: Ma'am, um, I'll need the names of all the enemies your son may have had. Ferris: You're gonna need a bigger pad.

As cops, Ryan is right. As people, Esposito is right. JE: Well, maybe a sword is a justice system. So true bestie.

KR: This other guy have a name? JE: Yeah. Tony Valtini. *KR perks up* This guy's got a record, too. KR: Damn right, he does!!! (won't clip) I remember Valtini from back in Narcotics. The guy is totally Mobbed up. You know what else, his family owns this meat packing plant out in Jersey. Tony's nickname: Tony the Butcher. JE: I bet he split a few sides of beef in his day. except you usually split the sides carefully, not with one big swing. ugh this is going to be a long episode if I keep bringing up culinary school.

TV: I am a legitimate businessman. Castle it's not funny. KB: You never reported an attack. TV: I don't like to be a burden on law enforcement.  *casually shucks his pants*

(just one buttock) JE: The sword of justice, bro. It's going to end up being esposito. (NEW FANFIC IDEA BABES) (ryan & his signature mug. it's the little things in the show) Mum & lil bro watch superhero shows so this episode was great with the two of them the hero (probs not super) looks definitely very male

KB: She didn't think that we'd believe her. And, quite frankly, she's right. probs delusional, probs right. Def has something going on castle. reminds me of the time the school got a mascot & then the two furries in the school accidentally outed themselves to each other bc they recognized the work. Castle writer moments, & he's not too far wrong red marune is so adorable I love him. isn't that redundant? LARRYBOY ryan *watching the caskett argument from the distance* cyclist *gives rick a delivery in the middle of the bullpen*

Ryan really is becoming castle jr, the nicknames on the wiki were right Just marvel? No dc no dark horse no anything else? I just listed the mainstream ones. Castle was quick putting together that vigilante board (need to pic this) JE: *sus* KR: *interested* JE: they're make believe KB: All driven by the death of a father or loved one Gates is kind of right But then Castle actually had a point Castle chill XD

RC: hardcore skjdflsdkfsljdk KB: Elektra RC: Ah. A ruthless assassin who hides from her emotions. KB: No, maybe it's because she's got badass ninja skills.

RC: Ah. Try billionaire industrialist Bruce Wayne, A.K.A. The Dark Knight. He's brooding, he's handsome, and he has all the coolest toys. You are the billionare non-cop crime solver, castle. (won't clip) (lol I had my french keyboard on so my apostrophe didn't show up at first)

I love mike hoover. Well castle wasn't the one who actually wrote the graphic novels, heh. kind of a chronically online nerd but I love him so so much. Love his hat too. Which one?

There is a T in vigilanTe (I used to say vigilanté but now I say vigilantie like everyone else) Nice, webcomics. Unless the hero is the writer babes

JE: Yeah, well, whoever he is, I can't connect him to any swords either. I pray we nail this dude before I have to call every store on that list. KR: I thought you were kind of rooting for this guy? JE: That's when he was Joe Citizen taking it to the bad guys. Now he's just some nimrod in a suit. (making espt call a bunch of stores) KR: Ah. You gotta give him props for spirit, though, right? I mean, haven't you ever wanted to be a superhero? Going out there, prowling the city, knocking some heads? JE: I do that now.  ew cops & their hero complexes. castle acab moments. (but still clipping)

did CSU not find it? Why is it perfectly timed that lone ranger aka LR is here rn? (looks like he could be a woman in theory) hella cool parkour tho Fun timing esposito calling right then. Has he been called espo yet? I don't much like the name. I feel like "sito" are the stressed syllables. (dw dm, he gets called Zito/'Sito later.) Also in her phone he's just esposito, no first name? Also why didn't she just decline the call? Espt talkin p slow today huh.

lmao I love this kid so much. He's so silly & adorable. superheroes have a billion different villains bc they had to start putting them in jail with cops & there was never allowed to be any tragedy or escapes where the villain got away. or so big bro says Chad: My father's in miami

Neither would lone vengence! Comic book characters aren't real, okay? I love chad he's so adorable & sweet I was about ready to hang up my tights for good "lone" Poor chad. There are def going to be A Ton of these characters. Remember Jumping Jack? & Mere do well?

GATES I told the Mayor we had our man. BECKETT Yeah well, you shouldn't have done that. GIRL YOU SAID THAT TO HER FACE IN THAT TONE

Not looking at the writer?

castle printed them out? Alexis is so pretty Did she ever get that motorcycle/scooter Mum got classes that would count to dad's drama minor or philosophy major that also counted to her education major or whatever mum's minor was, & she got classes that would count credits for her major+minor but would also count for her friend's major. But anyway ew math castle isn't wrong but like... AC: Why does everything I do have to make sense? Why can't I just do what I want once in awhile? That's all you ever do.

That's some intense yoga. Yk, yoga is not just workouts, not just funny positions & stretching, not just low impact training, yoga has a spiritual component to it & it makes me just a bit upset that ppl don't even know that let alone respect it.

FInally anagram I was right! trace the IP or smth?

wait the captions said faris this time. is it ferris or faris? the transcript has both lol THE WHAT NOW COMICS I was not expecting slutty schoolgirl comics to make an appearance here. Mild mannered is "out of the ordinary" for him lol. Mom: He was different. Wore a suit. Castle: As in, mask and cape? Mom: Jacket and tie

oh yeah a crime reporter? Definitely ryan sounds like castle rn i love it KB: *sips coffee* JE: *watching from the phone* RC: *raises eyebrow* RC: The student has become the master. Or at least, he tried. Actually, for a truly Castle-esque theory, it has to be fully thought through. (yk I might clip this) KB: Since when? KR: I did think it through! (mr detective man) *ryan & castle bouncing off each other now* (I said a bit ago that castito & ryckett were decent but now I'm looking at especkett & rystle & have been often this season during my normal watch through. idk anyone's ship names I'm making them up every time I say one & they often sound bad or end up different esp with esposito bc his name is twice as long as anyone else's)

man's a FULL ass hero tyvm! (tho only a half assed superhero bc superpowers don't exist) RC: Hmm. That is one block away from Comicadia. JE: Mm KR: Mm

I love the comic bro kid

VG: Really. Our killer's a writer? RC: Well, writers can be men of action. VG: I've yet to see that, Mr. Castle. VG: So, he's a journalist like Peter Parker? KB: Actually, Peter Parker was a news photographer. RC: Yeah, our guy's a little more like, uh, Clark Kent. And he's mild mannered, just like I…predicted. VG: *the look* I like how gates at least communicates with becks this time.

PW: That's just a--a character I create. It's not someone real.

I'm sure he can still write comics from prison... Left-handed Castle writer moments

Hand was before...

protecting someone obv RC: Because Paul is protecting the real killer. Paul is the writer, Lone Vengeance is the subject. That's their relationship. (to Beckett) It's you and me, all over again. But I'm Paul and you're Lone Vengeance. KB: Really, Castle? Is that how you see me? Like a sword wielding killer? (No, a crime fighting machine!) RC: Depends. Will you be scantily clad? KB: In your dreams. (probably will be tbh) JE: Not to rain on your comic book fantasy, (clipping) Esposito's shirt is so boring. Personally I would wear it but not to work. Collarless long sleeve, neutral colour

wall's obv a fake bro. remember the magician's lair? Oh wait it isn't even a secret room it's a thing of swords & that's it LV def looks like they don't need to be male rn & dun dun dun a woman & dun dun dun it's a cop

Ryan's shirt is ugly & he doesn't have a tie. Why?

KR: Can you believe it? Lone Vengeance, sword wielding killer, ends up being one of our own. JE: I don't know. Maybe she had her reasons. KR: Whoa. "Maybe she had her reasons"? What happened to" nimrod in a suit"? (after "woah nimrod? what happened to sword of justice?") JE: Well that's before I knew she was a cop. wow acab much

her being a cop is cool, she WOULD know how to clean the blood up, probably, AH: Someone killed my dad. Nothing'll ever be enough. But doing what I do makes me feel better. I respect it actually, I can see it, & the mirror with beckett is great

BECKETT You crossed the line, Ann. HASTINGS Don't pretend like we're so different. BECKETT Let's talk about Tyler Faris. HASTINGS Didn't you lose your mom? BECKETT We're not here to discuss that. HASTINGS Didn't you shoot the guy who killed her right here in this precinct? The bullet that you took, isn't that connected to her murder, too? Because that's the rumor. BECKETT I am not like you! I didn't chop a man in half! HASTINGS Neither did I.

AH: It wasn't from my suit. And the only reason I wanted it was to figure out who's behind this. she's a cop so it's cool she canvasses & learns & is friends with a crime beat fellow, I would watch a spinoff of those two. Or a mini series. I've said, castle could have used a few mini series episodes.

good ep bro but I was working or writing when castle went to turn the board over & beckett just Stopped Him like "no hun, we're not doing that rn" (or it was the ghost hunting the ring episode)

When did they grab the cousin's prints?

KB: Ann, you're a good cop. And you've got somebody who cares about you. Don't be so driven by the past that you throw away your future. Take care.

RC: Well, a murder solved and a notorious hoodlum off the streets for good. I call that a solid win. VG: I agree. All because of the hard work and dedication of this team. RC: Thank you, Captain. That means a lot. VG: Of police officers. (XD) Team of police officers, Mr. Castle. Detective, about Officer Hastings. She, uh, fled the alley when you ordered her to stop. Some reason you're not pressing any charges? KB: VG: I think that, given the number of folks wearing that costume, we can't prove that it was her in that alley. Or anywhere else, for that matter. (I thought she was very by-the-book) KB: Exactly, sir. VG: She's a promising officer. That said, it'd be bad for all of us if Lone Vengeance were to show up ever again. KB: I don't think that that will be a problem, sir.

RC: Either she just grew a heart… KB: Or she's worried about how it would look if the press found out that Lone Vengeance was one of our own.

RC: A writer and his muse, fighting crime. Just like us. *paul & ann kiss* Caskett: *awkward* (clipping)

RC: You know, even when you were a little girl, you were a serious person. I think I've just gotten used to you being sensible and mature. Even more than me sometimes. AC: Sometimes? RC: Point taken.

Emotional family moments, dad moments, advice, & so much cute stuff! love love love!

AC: I know. Especially if we move in together. RC:

I don't think I have time for another one today. Sad.

[grycensharp07]

Saying that something isn’t ’real reading’ just because it has pictures in it also does a huge disservice to the multiple artists working on those comics and mangas. They’re working around the clock to get an issue of a series their working on (or multiple depending on if they’re working on various titles) gets put out on a deadline, which is typically one every month, that a huge amount of dedication and passion and I respect the hell out of those guys for being able to pull that off. That’s not even mentioning creators who are writers and artists working on possibly multiple stories at the same time

Let’s not forget how interesting of a medium comic/magma storytelling is. There’s so much teamwork that goes into it, you have the writers having to collaborate with multiple different artist (penciller, inker and colorist) who all have to work together to make sure the pages and panels flow properly based on how many pages they’re working with per issue. And there’s also the letterer who’s responsible for both aiding to put the words to paper while also not covering up the art. Then there’s the editor, who’s likely juggling multiple things, who helps make sure everything reads properly and that the characters are all acting themselves. It’s an incredible amount of work put into getting these stories out there, sure a lot of them fumble the bag or miss the landing, but it doesn’t take away from the effort.

And comics and manga are such an interesting genre of storytelling too, because they’re a medium that can basically be a clusterfuck of multiple genres that fit so well together. Marvel and DC’s universes have a little bit of every genre co-existing in the same universe with heroes and villains with completely different vibes and aesthetics that share a lunch room together, and the universes never feels like there’s too much going or that one thing doesn’t fit. Like, yeah of course the noir detective furry is best friends with the one of the last members of an alien race and the Amazon made out of clay or of course the super genius in a mech suit is friends with a man out of time and a Norse god. It’s also a genre that can tell stories that on paper sound completely ridiculous but are still handled in a really straight forward way, or an idea that should be serious but the characters react to it in a ‘yeah we did that last Tuesday’ type of way and depending on how the writer handles it, and both can work completely fine.

Comics and Manga can certainly be deep and tell meaningful stories but at the end of the day, like any book you read, you should read them for enjoyment and fun. And more than any other type of literature, those genres are just having a good time telling their stories

lol I fucking HATE how often I heard teachers say "comics/graphic novels aren't REAL reading" when I was a kid. They want kids to choose to read, but they don't want to make reading fun. "Don't read this, it's just pictures, don't read that, it's too easy for you." And yet, you go back to class and read the assigned stories and... you have to analyze more than just the words. Your assignments revolve around understanding the characters, and analyzing the imagery/metaphors, and making predictions, and identifying themes.

So how, then, are comics not real books? If reading is just about the text printed on the page, then why do we do homework about the meat of the story?

Why would a child ever challenge themselves to read harder books if you make all reading a chore? Why would they ever choose to read outside of class if you haven't done the basic first step of helping them want to read?

[silkscream]

peter overhearing his crush fangirling over spiderman saving her and decides to go visit her with the suit on often just so see her happy the next day

"y/n, are you crushing on spider-man?"

"what?" you laugh.

peter's ears perk up at the sound of his hero name. you briefly make eye contact with peter at the next lunch table as if your bodies are synced, and for some reason, his big brown eyes give you butterflies. you’ve never looked at peter parker this way, at least not since the fifth grade, so you quickly flutter your lids back towards your best friend.

“i saw spider-man fanfiction on one of your open tabs!”

“i wasn’t reading that for real, mj and i were reciting it to each other last night!” you blush.

“yeah, okay,” your friend teases, nudging you on the side as the bell rings. you flash peter a quick smile on your way out and peter’s heart skips a beat.

“dude, did you hear that? y/n has a crush on spider-man,” peter nudges ned.

“probably every teenage girl does, peter,” ned replies, giving him a lopsided grin. 

“should- should i make a move?”

“how are you gonna do that?”

“you’ll see.”

later the next day, peter sees you alone at one of the vendors near central park, a local florist. you have some tulips in hand with the other petting a stray cat nuzzling your feet. peter feels like an absolute creep watching you from the building across the street, but he’s trying to plan his movements right so he “coincidentally” bumps into you. any reason to talk to you as spider-man. the more he psychs himself up for the interaction, the more nervous he gets. he didn’t really flesh out a plan at all.

“hey! spidey! do a flip!” peter’s eyes dilate when he realizes that people down on the street have sought him out. the yells from teenage boys on the sidewalk catch your attention until you’re looking up to the building as well. 

“uh--” peter backflips off the building, bracing his landing by attaching a web to a nearby street lamp but missing slightly, shooting his webs farther than intended. he’s able to gain his footing back on the pavement even though the cars rushing by at the green light honk at him. nearly stumbling into an oncoming taxi, he ends up by the florist rather quickly while a dog that gets off its leash jumps up to greet him.

“oh, jesus-- hi, buddy! OOF--” he gets a hold of the dog’s leash but doesn’t anticipate the furry friend to take off at the speed of light, leaving peter to trip and fall flat on his face.

“oh my god, are you okay?” you wince in concern, crouching down to give spider-man a hand.

“yeah, yep. that was actually... my, um, grand entrance. i’ll be here all week, new york!” peter replies in a chipper tone. he’s grateful you can’t see the roseate blush on his cheeks right now.

“yeah, you sure stuck that landing. ever thought of being a stunt actor?” you joke, heat rising to your cheeks just like his when his hand is in yours.

“ha ha, very funny. um, i’m usually much more graceful than that, by the way.”

“we all have off days,” you smile, shrugging. 

“pretty flowers for a pretty girl,” peter compliments. “um, i mean, like they kind of match your outfit which is also really pretty. not that it wouldn’t be if you got different flowers--”

“thanks,” you beam. “they’re for my mom, it’s her birthday today.”

“wow. that’s super nice. i’m sure she’ll love it.”

“hey, spider-man, what else do you think is a good gift for a fifty-two year-old woman?”

“well, my aunt m-- mallory, she’s into, um,” peter swallows what feels like an entire rock in his throat. “art... and books...?”

“yeah, i think i’ll stop at one of those kitschy gift shops on the way home. she actually, um, really likes spider-man. would you mind recording a little video for me? you don’t have to, of course--”

“yes! i mean, yeah, it’s no trouble!” peter is trying very hard to not seem eager, but he knows he’s failing. his embarrassment dissipates when he sees the smile on your face, however. “what’s her name?”

“sarah!” you take your phone out and quickly tap on the camera app to record.

“happy fifty-second sarah! i hope it’s a great one. i’m sure it will be thanks to your lovely daughter. you’re very lucky to have her! best wishes to you!” peter rambles confidently. god, he really didn’t have to do the bit about you. you must think he’s hitting on you.

“thanks so much,” you say, a coy smile shyly tugging up the corners of your mouth. “well, i guess i better get going.”

“wait, y/n! c-can i walk you to wherever you’re going?”

“how’d you know my name?”

“uhhhhh...” your name suddenly stands out to him in cursive on the tag attached to the tulips. he points.

“oh, right,” you laugh, shaking your head. “i’d love if you walked me.”

you can’t see peter behind his mask, but his face is lit up like the fourth of july. he could probably explode from happiness when he sees that your face is lit up just the same.

[paintball169]

Day 3 - Identities

Day1 - Day2 - Day3 - Day4

Marinette had been living with the waynes for over a month now. The reason? Tom and Sabine sent her away to her biological father. Apparently To Dupain was not her biological, but Bruce Wayne was.

Marinette had a sliver of hope, A really, really thin one. Which had faltered by the month.

Marinette had defeated Hawk Moth with Chat Noir. Apparently Plagg found the brooches along with two sleeping kwamis accidentally. At night when Gabriel and Natalie were asleep, He had stolen the miraculous. On the patrol that night, Chat had told her that the miraculous were right under their noses. He gave her the two brooches and told her that Plagg had found the brooches in his father’s study. He told her that Gabriel was Hawk moth and Natalie was Mayura. Then he de-transformed and handed her the ring saying that he wanted to continue his life as a civilian.

Later that week it was announced that Chat noir found out who Hawk Moth was and he had stolen the miraculous at night. He then said that Gabriel and Natalie were the Villians. He then revealed himself saying that he was innocent, and he had no idea that his father was Hawk moth. Marinette had thought that with Hawkmoth gone she could beat Lila, But no, it Backfired. That was the reason she was Shipped off. Like an object. She was replaced just like an object.

Her only wish was to die. But she had tried to do that multiple times. Someone always managed to save her. So no, that option was unavailable. She had thought that she would finally be able to die in Gotham by sucide, But no, Selina, Cassandra or Jason always managed to save her.

By now she had started to see the woman as a mother figure. The Waynes hated her. They didn’t even listen to her side of the story. Only Cass and Jason had seen that there was more to the story. Selina and Alfred too, of course. The waynes saw her with disgust. They laid out certain rules.

And of course she figured out they were Bat family. She may not be from Gotham, but she wasn’t certainly stupid. She had to admit, The Waynes were really good at hiding the Batfam thingy. But what gave them away? Misplaced Batarangs by Tim. Then Tikki had also found the cave. She wasn’t stupid, Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne were good friends and certainly Batman and Superman. The people of Justice league stopped by often at the Manor too.

Speaking of the Justice League, They had given her an offer to join the League, but she declined. They had given her a satellite phone for emergencies to contact the league. They had praised her high and low. Batman was even Concerned for her when he found out her age range. Concerned! If they knew that Ladybug was their new sibling who was claimed to be a bully, she’d be declared a threat and her take Miraculous away.

Her routine was the same. Wake up. Eat breakfast in silence as she was being glared at. Study something. Do commissions while talking to her boyfriend, Luka and the others. Eat Lunch while being glared at. Study the Grimoire with Alfred. Sketch some designs while talking to Selina and Cass. Draw illustrations while Jason talks. Eat dinner in Silence. Stay up till 3 am doing commissions. Sleep.

Last week she had introduced Luka to Cass, Selina, Jason and Alfred. It went really well. Especially when Jason found out he was Jagged Stone’s son.

She was thinking how she could step up her game with the Waynes. In her thoughts she didn’t see Selina coming in.

“What are you thinking about Kitten ?” Selina asks, seeing the half sketched dress.

“Gah! Selina don’t scare me like that! Anyway I was thinking, ``What do I do to annoy the waynes?” Marinette asks the Master of scheming Cat-woman.

“Hmm, what about going to your true self? Being in headphones, ignoring them, Snide answers, and stuff like that?” Selina says thoughtfully.

“Selina, that's brilliant! You’re the best Mom!” Marinette says. She covers her mouth with her hand realizing what she said.

“Aww, Com’ere Kit. I love you.” Selina says softly.

“You’re not mad?” Marinette hesitantly asks.

“Of course not!” She says.

“You’ll be more of a mother than Sabine will ever be to me.” Marinette says with a small voice and hugs the older woman.

Then the Chaos was unleashed. Whenever the Waynes wanted to ask her something she’d ignore them and she always had her headphones on.

- - - - - - - -

“Marinette, tell me why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks in a stern voice. Of course Mari didn’t hear him because of the blaring music.

“Marinette, Why did you hurt the poor girl?” Bruce asks again, obviously annoyed.

“MARINETTE-” He was cut off from Alfred of course.

“If I may Master Bruce,” he says, earning a nod. He gently taps the girl’s shoulder. Marinette moves her hair away and removes her Airpod. The music is loud enough for everybody to hear.Meanwhile Bruce flushes in embarrassment. “Miss, Your father wants to ask you something.” Marinette nods. She turns to her Father.

“What?” She asks.

“I asked, Why did you hurt the poor girl marinette, around two months ago?” He asks, patience bearing thin.

“Oh? I didn’t know that I could make a clone of myself and Send one to the fencing class and the other to beat her up at the Seine?” She says in a bored tone. Jason and Cass, not being able to hold their laughter any longer, burst out laughing.

Later that night they checked her attendance, sure enough she was in the fencing class.

- - - - - -

One day Marinette got a call from the Justice league, Stating an emergency. She quickly transformed to Ladybug and Portalled to the Watchtower.

“Ladybug, welcome to the Watchtower,” Wonder Woman welcomed, standing at the head of a group of heroes. Interestingly enough, Batman and all of his brood were among them. Nightwing, Red Robin, Black Bat, and Robin and the others.

“Wonder Woman,” she greeted back. “What’s the problem?”

“Your former partner has been kidnapped.”

Ladybug’s face turned pale, but she took a deep breath instead of panicking. “What do we know?”

“Ra’s al Ghul has taken the former Chat Noir in an attempt to convince the Guardian of the Miraculous to turn over the jewels to him,” Batman reported.

Her face turned up into a snarl. “The League of Assassins,” she spat.

They were surprised that she knew Ra’s. But they hid it well.

“I take it you understand why we cannot allow the Miraculous to be surrendered to his control,” Batman continued.

Wonder Woman stepped in before Ladybug could reply. “Ladybug, we need you to tell us who the Guardian is so that we may protect them.”

Ladybug let out a cold laugh. Shivers ran down everyone’s spine. “Wonder Woman, you misunderstand. The Order of the Miraculous is all but dead. I’m all that’s left. You want the Grand Guardian of the Miraculous?” She spread her arms wide. “You’re looking at her. And Ra’s al Ghul can have them over my dead body. ”

The gathered heroes looked stunned. “Now where is Adrien?”

Red robin started, recovering first. “You’re not going alone.”

“You’re right,” Ladybug cut in. “I’m not. I’m gathering my team.”

“What Red Robin meant to say is that Batman and his assembled partners are going with you,” Wonder Woman soothed. “They have experience dealing with Ra’s and would be a great asset.”

“I’ll be back in ten minutes, at the most.” She said. Everyone nodded. She portalled away to gather her team.

Five minutes later a portal opened and stepped out Honey bee, Dragoness and Cobra in the Glory. The portal snapped shut when Ladybug entered.

“This is not enough! We’re dealing with Ra’s al Ghul and the league here!” Ladybug said. “We need her. She’s the last resort if we lose!” Dragoness exclaimed. The Justice league was confused. Who were they talking about?

“You’re right. Bee, you’re the only one who knows where she is. You’re her best friend. I can't find her in all of paris!” Ladybug asks, turning to Honey bee.

“You’re right, I do. It’ll be easy to find her. She’ll be in her room. She’s always Isolated, so don’t worry about getting caught.” Honey Bee answers.

“Isolation! I thought I told her to Socialize!” Ladybug exclaims.

“Yeah, but her family treats her like a pariah except some people. But Ladybug I don’t know if she’ll be able to fight.” Honey bee says.

“Rossi?”

“Rossi.”

“Now location please.” Ladybug says.

“Right. Wayne Manor, Gotham, New Jersey.” Honeybee whispers. Earning surprised looks from Ladybug and the Supers.

“Alright.” Ladybug portals away. This was all staged of course. She had recently found a spell to make a clone of herself.

“Why won't the hero be able to fight? She’s a hero!” Batman exclaims.

“Depression, you overgrown furry, Depression. She’s tried committing sucide several times. We saved her.” This earns many shocked looks.

Cue opening a portal. All of the Paris heroes Gasps. All in glory Multimouse is standing there.

When Honey Bee saw Multimouse, she gasped and enveloped her in a hug, muttering French endearments and saying how much she’d missed her. Dragoness stole Multimouse for a hug next before passing her on to Viperion who also received an extra peck on the lips in return, while Ladybug watched with a soft smile.

With Kaalki involved, it was child’s play to get into the assassin stronghold. Team Miraculous filled the gaps and worked seamlessly in their own right, simply a step away from Gotham’s Bats. They beat assassins on their own. The Bats just watched in awe.

It didn’t take them long to make their way to Ra’s.

The man wore a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he greeted him from his throne. A bruised and bloodied but otherwise intact Adrien was being restrained on the dias a few feet away.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Team Miraculous,” Ra’s mused, looking down the line. His eyes paused on Multimouse and his expression shifted to intense amusement. “And if it isn’t the latest in the Detective’s brood. I suppose heroics truly do run in the family after all.”

A number of shocked and confused gazes snapped to Multimouse, who simply stared at him down with cold eyes growling quietly.

“And yet she isn’t why we’re here,” Ladybug cut in coldly, shoving that problem in a box for later.

Ra’s shifted his oily attention to her. “Yes, I believe I requested the Guardian, young Bug.”

“And here I am,” Ladybug said simply. “But I will never cede the Miraculous to you.”

“Well, then I suppose the Blonde Cat dies.” The assassin near Adrien tried to kill him only to turn to orange smoke. Ra’s growls when he realizes he was tricked.

“Your reign is over. Your crimes won’t continue much longer. Tell me, just how long have you been using the Pits to keep yourself alive?”

“Goodbye, Ra’s al Ghul,” Ladybug intoned. “We’ll leave you to what remains of your empire.” She turned and motioned for the Fox to open the portal to the Watchtower. The Bats followed behind.

Adrien was at the fringes, attempting to escape a hero that was trying to get him to the Medbay for medical attention. He only had eyes for Multimouse.

“Marinette!” he called.

The Bats were shocked at both the name and the blatant outing of a secret identity.

Adrien broke free from his wounds. “Marinette, I’m so sorry,” he said brokenly.

It was quiet for a moment. “I take it they told you why I left, then,” Multimouse said, carefully devoid of emotion.

“I never thought-”

“Don’t, Adrien,” Queen Bee snapped.

Adrien gaped at his friend, shocked at the venom her words carried against him.

“But her Lies, they weren't hurting anyone!”

“How?” Multimouse snapped, her voice cracking. She took a deep breath. “How was it different? Because you told me I had to ‘take the high road?’ Because her lies would unravel themselves? Because she wasn’t hurting anyone? Bullshit, Adrien! They were hurting me!”

“She followed your advice at first,” Queen Bee said sharply. “She shouldn’t have, but you were her friend and she trusted you. By the time she realized that it had been a mistake, it was too late. Everyone else was in too deep and you did nothing . When Mari tried to tell everyone that they were being lied to, she was made to look like a liar. A bully.”

“Do you realize that the rest of us had people on watchlists?” Ryuko said bluntly. “People at risk of Akumatization that could bring the city to its knees. Aurore, because of Stormy Weather II. Ondine, because of Syren. But do you know who was on top?” She let the silence sit. “Marinette. Marinette was on top of that list. The only reason she was above Ladybug was because Marinette was drowning. But any time she tried to get through to the others, Lila hit back harder and you would ask Mari to back down. Because we don’t want to upset Lila, right? We don’t want her to become an akuma. Again.”

“My parents believed her, Adrien,” Multimouse said quietly. “They sent me away because I was ‘out of control’. I’m treated like a criminal where I am now! So I’m sorry, Adrien, but I can’t forgive you. You said you didn’t want to live with more lies, but then you stopped telling the truth when it threatened your ‘peace’. Even when that ‘peace’ might have ruined my life.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “But you know what they say, right? Never meet your heroes.” She turned and looked straight at Batman. “They’ll always just disappoint you.”

- - - - - - - -

The next week was tense at the Wayne manor. But eventually they apologised to marinette. She became close with them. She and her family then sent lawsuits to the Akuma class.

The saying is true then. “All’s well that ends well.”

@maribat-bdbwm

[goggles-mcgee]

Your fic idea Wish Me Away has so much angst potential but also, do you know how funny is It to imagine the shenanigans the Batfam will get into because of this cute baby who came with a box full of little ancient gods that live in magic jewels!!

I'm hoping it will be an equal balance of angst and humor, or course with a happy ending for Marinette and her family and friends.

Oh man yeah the Batfam will figure that out quick. Especially since Mari will bring out every Miraculous to "train" with, she's just playing with them, and she transforms with them a lot. The family really worries when she uses Kaalki. But they worry anyways because she always somehow manages to get out of the manor to help them with their patrols, they are thankful to the Miraculous Cure that the Ladybug Miraculous gives Marietta, but they don't know how many times they can take being mid fight only for her to show up and try to help.

Joker literally laughed till he passed out when this tiny little mouse-themed hero came out of nowhere and put her hand up and yelled "Stop cwown!" He tried to keep his gun in his hand but to no avail, he was shaking to much and it fell and Mari looked very pleased with herself.

Poison Ivy literally stopped what she was doing when this little bumble-bee hero flew in front of her face and gave her a smile and said, "Pretty flowers! Belles fleurs!" She just stared before grabbed the child and hugging her to her chest and glaring at Batman before yelling, "Don't you have enough you furry?"

The Batfam lost it when little Bumble-bee pointed at Batman and tilted her head and asked, "Furry?"

Ivy got the biggest smirk on her face when she smiled down at Bumble-bee and nodded. She even used baby voice and said, "Yes my flower, he's a furry."

Ivy swore she could see a blush under the cowl when the child pointed at Batman and in a very happy voice shouted, "Furry, furry, furry!"

Harley Quinn had been in the middle of a robbery when a small person dressed like a fox popped in and looked at Harley and then at Bud and Lou and back at Harley with super big blue eyes. "Pet?" She asked.

And what was Harley supposed to say? No? Yeah hell no was she going to tell the little on no so she nodded and the child giggled in glee. She watched to make sure Bud and Lou didn't hurt the little one and was pleasantly surprised when they just licked the child and laughed. So they liked her, huh.

So Harley decided to stop her robbing to introduce herself, "I'm Harley Quinn, nice to meet you kid!"

"Quinn?"

"Harley Quinn."

"Haw-wee?"

"Close enough!"

Then she told the little one Bud and Lou's names and she watched as the child would point at them and say their name and look back at her to confirm and when she got it right she would clap her hands and giggle. It was at that point that Harley said fuck it and stopped robbing the store and decided to take the little one out for ice cream. That's how B-man found them and she had to say, he looked pretty frazzled.

Catwoman, Selina found her own little hero when she was on the prowl one night, just to stretch out and get some air. Maybe have some fun if Bruce didn't hear about it. Then she heard a small someone say "Meow!"

She had never turned so fast, nearly fell off the roof. Which apparently was funny because the small child that was on the roof laughed and crawled over to her. Selina just stared at the little one and all she could think of was that she was going to kill Bruce. Another one!? Really!? Why was it so small???

So she picked up the child and went to find Batman so she could kick him off a roof. But she couldn't help but smile down at the little kitten. "I'm calling you Kitten." She mumbled as she jumped on the rooftops as carefully as she could.

"Kitten?" The child asked as she pointed to herself.

"You're smart. I'm Catwoman."

"Chat! Meow!"

Selina couldn't help but laugh at that and nod. When she finally found Bruce she did kick him. Not off the roof though but it was still a little satisfying. The little bundle of black and blue in her arms squirmed until she set her down and she watched in fascination as she ran to Batman and hugged his leg. "Dad-dee!"

"Kitten we've been looking for you everywhere!"

So her name was Kitten. 10 points for Selina.

"You know I thought I was the one supposed to give you a kid B."

"Can we please talk about this later?"

"Daddy! Wanna go with Cat!"

Apparently Bruce was not good at saying no to the little Kitten because he looked at her after trying to convince the little one five times that she should go home, and asking if she would mind just taking her out for a while. Selina didn't mind in the least, plus she figured she could get some more dirt on him later at the manor.

Riddler had been mid riddle with Red Robin when a small little snake themed girl came out of nowhere. He had just stared at her when Red Robin grabbed her and was scolding her and asking what she thought she was doing.

"That's a child."

"Yes Nygma."

"That's an actual human child."

"She's one and a half so more so an infant."

"Okay. What is that infant doing here?"

"She's my sister."

"Jesus Chr-Batman has a problem. Yeah no, I'm not doing this with that here. We'll carry on later."

"I have to arrest you Nygma."

"Why? I didn't even get to say my riddle!"

"...The bombs."

"Right."

Anyways XD here's some shenanigans for you!

[eb-the-gamer]

So I have thoughts on this.

It's kinda why I don't like animal based media with political leanings. Unless it's lighthearted enough or handled well, it comes off as an overthought excuse, something that's unnecessarily brutal and dystopian when you think about it as they get into world building.

Kevin and Kell is a much better comic, but it concerningly shares a lot with Carry On (which considering C.O. was made in 2004, makes me think it was influential). It has an obviously evil corporate boss mount a guy's head on a wall for yelling at him (he's nasty so its fine for the joke), but also has had Kell kill random guys as a "Herd Thinner" and she met her best friend by chasing her up a tree as a kid, on top of what she does during the comic. When it's revealed that even the insects are sentient and terrified of being eaten by bats, and the heroes use that to interrogate one, you kinda wish it would've just stopped earlier than that?

Hell, even in non-furry centric media, it's nonsense. "So I'm a Spider, So What" is a perfect example to me. The main character is a super smart spider that at first helps people because she feels she is "more". Then she turns into a humanoid and uses the fact she's not human to justify some of her more monstrous logic and behaviour (like reaching into a portal to snack on some unknown horror). "So she's a spider, so what", but in a way that feels the author likely did not intend, considering what happens makes everything the protagonist has done feel so ugly, even if she acknowledges it and comes out on top.

Something like Ducktales and Zootopia feels like it it handles the idea better, just by being lighthearted and knowing when to draw the line and make clear at what is a sentient person and what isn't.

In Zootopia's case, it actually posits that this kind of thinking ("in the end we are all just animals") does more harm than good in this kind of world. Yeah they're animals, and that can inform habits and aspects of personality, but the point is that they're MORE than that and should be better at the same time. it's why Nick Wilde embraces being scummy at first, how the villain of the movie manipulates everyone and gets so far, and informs us likely why they're the villain in the first place.

To be fair, trying to write a story set in an idealistic future while still having cultural/current-day background of the time you were born and currently living in comes with that problem. Heck. Most series like Futurama couldn’t even write half of their plots without a current day trend or news going on to take inspiration from. 

That being said, the setting in Carry On being in the future is mostly an afterthought and a remnant of this comic being set in the same universe as 21st Century Fox. Kathryn doesn’t exactly use it to its full intentions, outside of small inside jokes as a sister series, until Rackenroon, where its sort of used more. I say “sort of” because it’s either a writer’s crutch or useful for quick story excuses too difficult to ignore and in need of being explained away.

[novantinuum]

7, 10, 44, 92

Thanks for sending some in! :DD

(Ask game for fanfic writers)

__

7) tell us about the plot of the first fanfic you ever wrote

Oh god.... uh... well, I knew I was writing self insert furry fic about the game Blinx: The Time Sweeper at seven. But I don't quite remember what the actual plot was.

So the runner up here has to be when I started writing a whole series of fan scripts for fake Doctor Who episodes with my friends when I was twelve (question mark??? i think that’s how old i was???), starring our very own Doctor who I cast my brother as. It was basically just "blah, blah, monsters... chaos... insanely powerful companion character does huge chaos... giant war, everyone almost dies, but then they don't and are super messed up about it..." Oh, and also the Doctor just randomly has a daughter now, yeah, we don't know how either, but the daughter is played by Me because I created her and I say so"

10) at what point in the process do you come up with titles, and how easy or hard is that for you?

Hah... title musing either happen at the very end of the process, or the very beginning. I feel like I always come up with a title last if I'm writing one-shots or shorts. But in the case of long-fics, I find it important to come up with titles that I feel fit the overall theme of what I'm trying to get at.

Often, I'll write out huge lists of ideas and then pick from those.

For instance, "The Ballad of Aryll: Song of Time" for my most recent project took a good few weeks to settle on. And then my fucking dumb ass realized way too late that there is a canon "song of time" within broader Zelda lore. Oh well. Don't really care, at this point. I have my own "Song of Time" within the plot of my fic that is called that because it's basically an ancient hymn singing the praises of the heroes and goddess-borns of time long past, continuously reincarnating in Hylia's never-ending war against evil. The song itself comes up as a plot point a few times, and then on a broader scale... the title exists as it is because this story is about Aryll's travels with her brother amidst this time of destiny. It's overtly about her involvement in this verse of the Song of Time. It's a forgotten ballad, in many ways... a ballad that never got to be told in "canon" Breath of the Wild because any family Link might've had surely died in the fires.

44) any writing advice you want to share?

This comes from recent experience...

After a week of nonstop writing, (I jammed out about 6K words in that time), I hit a severe period of block in which I couldn't get any words out for days.

What I eventually realized... was that there was a scene coming up shortly that I simply didn't want to write from the POV I was in. I didn't feel as if it would be interesting from the current perspective, since I was telling a part of the story that readers would already be familiar with.

My solution was to just switch the POV entirely. Boom! New perspective. Fresh eyes. I immediately had new ideas roaming in my brain for how to frame this scene.

So like... if you're finding yourself stuck at some point of your story, why not inject a bit of change and see if it helps any? Add some weather. Change the time of day. Change a perspective. Give your character a different reaction to an event, even. Just a few ideas.

92) first, second, or third person?

I'm a slut for a good ol' typical third person, but that's mostly just because it's what I have the most practice with. I've never written anything in first person that I can remember, but I have played around with some second person POV.

Speaking for myself, I think second person is best saved for situations where there's an overt purpose to be in an atypical POV. The first time I attempted this view point, it was because I was overtly writing vent fic and wanted to really slip myself into the POV character's shoes. The second time, it was because I thought second person might do well at presenting a sense of detachment from reality, given the subject matter of the story.

In the end, don't be scared of playing around, though!