#You Dig Giant Robots!

[yodawgiheardyoulikemecha]

Seriously considered naming this blog "I Dig Giant Robots!" before choosing "Yo Dawg, I Heard You Like Mecha".

[thebibliomancer]

[rayo1-productions]

Hmm...

I mean he is right. What good’s a CNU without a giant robot car? 

This closes out Wave 2 of my fanfic wallpapers! Can’t wait for Wave 3. 

Background art collaged and retrieved from FusionFall concept art and in-game footage.

As always, you can find the first story in this series right here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11418172/1/Cartoon-Network-Universe-Earth-One-FusionFall

And if you’re reasonably impatient for giant robots, check this chapter out: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11418172/9/Cartoon-Network-Universe-Earth-One-FusionFall

Previously on Cartoon Network… Coming up on Cartoon Network...

[queereldritchgalaxyprincess]

for the fuck of it this morning I made a new sideblog so I have a place to put mecha-related shit slash post garbage pictures of my gunpla builds

it ain't much for now but if you're into that sort of thing you can find it at @dykesdiggiantrobots

[jojolimons]

lmao finished pepper grinder before downloading the qol update

[teensywars]

Legions Imperialis Strategy: Titans

You ever want to go straight to slaughtering your enemies without anyone of that boring "maneuvering" or "strategy" getting in the way?

Boy, do I have an ally faction for you.

Advantages

Titans pack the most firepower in the game, and it's not even close.

They throw more dice, they have more armor penetration, and they do it from longer range than anyone else. Point the shooty end at something you don't like, and enjoy watching its last moments.

On top of that, Void Shields protect Titans completely from light AT fire, and rapidly regenerate from anything larger. Taking out a Titan will require concentrated heavy firepower.

Disadvantages

This is going to sound weird, given that we're discussing what are technically the toughest units in the game.

Titans are fragile.

Titans can be destroyed quickly by large quantities of heavy anti-tank fire, and every army in Legions Imperialis will be bringing exactly that. A titan may be tough in absolute terms, but it's also 10-30% of your entire army in a single model. It's not as tough as the dozen platoons of infantry you could have gotten instead.

This entire post also assumes that Titans will be given an exception to the rule that units cannot split their fire. If they cannot target multiple units (like in Epic Armageddon), their usefulness drops very quickly. Having the firepower to destroy an entire army is useless if you can only target one formation a turn.

Conclusions

In a very literal way, Titans define the battlefields they fight on. A single combatant that powerful ends up being treated as an objective rather than a unit. If you feel comfortable building a game plan around guarding the giant gunboat, then a Titan can dominate whatever part of the table you place it on. If you're looking for a more flexible gameplan, you're best looking elsewhere.

[lunamugetsu]

Danny is a house husband.

That's it, that's all it is.

As the years went on. Danny retired from being a superhero. There was no need for Phantom when the GIW were dealt with and all the ghosts were under control.

Now what's left for him to do but to just sit back, relax, and finally be able to live his life.

Sam and Tucker on the other hand....

Well, they had plenty of pent up rage, wits, and chaos inside their mind to become villains.

But they had one rule.

Never bring work home and to never involve Danny in any of their supervillain business.

Okay that's technically two rules, but they're kind of synonymous especially since Danny has been taking care of their house while also entertaining himself with trying new hobbies.

Tucker and Sam both make sure that they never bring any of their villainy home to Danny, because all they want is for Danny to enjoy his happy hero retirement.

And Danny in turn, doesn't bat an eye when watching the news and seeing that there were magical plants that were attacking sites that oil companies were digging or that somehow Lex Luthor had lost five hundred million dollars and had somehow leaked records showing he was building weapons of mass destruction.

He also doesn't bat an eye when he sees that Tucker had brought home a telescope that definitely looks like it came from some fancy lab because hey, Tucker was making him an observatory so he can look at the stars and planets. While also how they were able to make a great gaming pc with computer parts that are definitely not sold in stores, because hey at least the newest update of Doomed wasn't lagging.

Or that Sam comes home with various plants and animals that are definitely not from planet earth, but hey the three headed wolf-lizard-eagle- hybrid thing (that Danny has affectionately named Fluffy) is pretty great at keeping the pests away from his vegetable garden and likes to eat any of Danny's new food creations and is a great playmate for Cujo.

So you can imagine how the Justice League thinks when dealing with the pair of new villains: Upload (Tucker) and Sam (I could not think of a villain name that would suit her, so it's up to you what you think her villain name would be)

And how they were currently wreaking havoc in the city either by cyber warfare with robots or by magic plant monster or a Frankenstein of both approaches. The heroes had all evacuated the civilians from the battle zone and are currently fighting a losing battle. When they've been effectively captured and restrained by the two. Right before the villains could go into a monologue, they hear a person clearing their throat.

Everybody looks to see a 25 year old man wearing a sweater vest (he made it himself, thank you very much) currently holding onto the leash of a giant glowing green dog and some kind of giant animal hybrid. The man's arms were crossed and was currently not sporting a very happy look on his face.

Tucker and Sam (looking at Danny with hesitant smiles): Hi honey.

Danny (frowning): you missed our anniversary dinner.

Tucker and Sam both pale as they quickly realized what the date and time was.

The league all watch as Sam and Tucker immediately start apologizing to the man that just walked into a battle zone.

Danny (still frowning): Hmph! I guess since you two didn't want dinner you can go back to your little fight. Don't expect me to make you any lunches for the next month, and since you two are having so much fun here, you'll be sleeping by yourselves for the next couple weeks.

The league all watch as they were let go as Sam and Tucker yell as they run after Danny yelling apologies as he was walking away from them.

This is not the last they see of Danny.

When Danny is displeased with either of his partners, he'll invite a hero over to have lunch of afternoon tea.

[carionto]

Life Imitates Art

Aliens: So, we've been studying your pop culture, and we have to ask - Where are your giant robots?

Humans: What!? No, that's silly, there's way too many moving parts, exposed motors, high center of gravity, it ju-

A: Stop it. We know you by now. Excuses like that don't deter you. Where are they?

H: ... fine.

The Humans lead the Aliens to the largest moon in the Sol system - Jupiter's Ganymede. Upon approach, a massive hatch slides open to reveal a deep tunnel going below the surface of the moon. Passing by typical Human amenities - hotels, shopping districts, various salons and service providers - a massive dome comes into view. Or, more specifically, the top fifth of what is a fourteen kilometer massive arena.

H: They're in there.

As the gates open and they step onto a viewing platform, a gruesome sight of rubble and crushed robot parts strewn about the arena comes into view. These form a complex and dangerous fighting environment for numerous robots, all remotely operated, engaged in all manners of fighting - one-v-one, small team skirmishes, literal tugs of war, and even entire armies of small robots waging war against either other similar armies or one giant robot, plus everything in between.

H: Like we said, they're not practical in any way, but like you guessed, yea. We like giant robots. I mean, everyone digs giant robots!

[prokopetz]

The difference between HORUS and SSC is that HORUS starts with cosmic horror and works backwards to construct Dungeons & Dragons, while for SSC the cosmic horror is an emergent property of the fact that SSC frames are Super Fucking Anime. This isn't particularly a secret – it's just that at first you think they're Super Fucking Anime in the sense that if you lose your mech's dorky hand-forged katana, they'll make you write the swordsmith a personalised letter of apology before they'll issue you another one, and it's only once you dig a little under the surface that you realise they're also Super Fucking Anime in the sense that your slick giant robot with the corporate-chic styling and the custom leather gamer chair might possibly be powered by a little piece of a lobotomised alien god.

[howlingday]

Everyone knows chicks dig giant robots, but what about chicks that ARE giant robots?

Like the Gigantic Artificial Blade...RRROSA!

Ruby: I don't dig giant robots.

Weiss: Neither do I.

Blake: I don't.

Yang: Eh, not that cool, to be honest.

Nora: Totally uncool.

Pyrrha: I'm sorry, but I just don't see the appeal of it.

Jaune: ...

Ren: Jaune.

Jaune: Ren?

Ren: ...That is the coolest fucking robot I have ever seen.

Jaune: Thanks, Ren. I'm glad you agree with me.

[hxney-lemcn]

Not A Hero — Farmworld! Finn Mertens x gn! reader

summary: Reader divulges in telling stories of their world to the Merten kids. Later that night, Finn can't help but ask to hear more.

tw: slight angst, is this hurt/comfort?, mentions of death

a/n: This can be read as a one shot but it's technically a continuation of my previous fic. I'm probably gonna make this into a one shot series.

wc: 1k

Chapter Two

Master List | Chapter One

“What’s your world like?” Bonnie asked, eyes seeming to sparkle. 

I hesitated, pausing the weeding I was doing, “I…I shouldn’t talk about it.”

Finn had been kind enough to let me stay, and I didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. One of them clearly being any talk of magic. 

“Pleeeeeeeease,” Bonnie whined. “I promise I won’t tell Daddy.”

I bit my lip, eyes turning to the weeds I pulled out to avoid her puppy dog eyes. 

“Are there dragons?” Fern asked, surprising me as he appeared from seemingly nowhere. 

“Uh…” I trailed off, not sure what to do.

“Are there robots?” Neptr asked, joining as well.

“How about giants?” Stormo asked.

Before I knew it, most of the Mertens family was sitting around me, looking expectantly at me. 

“Break it up guys,” Jay spoke up, walking over to us. “We don’t want to overwhelm them.”

“Awe c’mon Jay,” Bonnie whined once more. “Aren’t you even a teeny bit curious?”

Jay paused, Little Destiny speaking up from his side, “I’m a bit curious…”

Jay also bit his lip, seeming to know the dilemma I’m in, “I guess…”

Two more expectant eyes were on me and I felt myself caving.

“Well, I guess I can share a little…”

I talked about the candy kingdom, all the princesses, and the adventures that I was sent on. I felt myself loosen up as all their faces shared a look of awe. I couldn’t help myself from talking about the Finn and Jake from my world, explaining how Jake was like Cake but a dog, and how we all went on adventures all the time. 

“Whoah,” Bonnie awed. “I wanna be a princess!”

“So I’m a pie throwing robot in your world?” Neptr asked uncertainly, unsure how to feel about that. 

“What’s a video game?” Fern asked. 

“Dad in your world sounds super cool!” Stormo exclaimed. 

I laughed at all their comments, “Your dad here is super cool too.”

“Eh,” They all chorused, looking at each other with doubt. 

I rolled my eyes at their antics, “He literally has a blow torch prosthetic.” 

“What’s going on?” Finn asked, walking up to our little group circle. 

“Nothing,” The kids replied over each other, quickly rushing off elsewhere. I waved them off as Finn stood to my side, watching them run with squinted eyes. His gaze then lowered to me, glancing at my bandaged wing before meeting my eyes. 

“I…uh…” I rambled nervously, turning to dig out a weed I was going to before being distracted. “Just giving them weeding tips?” I replied in a more questioning tone than statement. 

“I don’t want you giving them ideas,” Finn stated with a slight glare. 

“I-I’m sorry,” I apologized, fiddling with the grass. “Th-they kept asking and they were giving me puppy dog eyes…”

“Don’t let it happen again,” Finn huffed, before walking off towards the house. 

…

I’ve been here for a few nights, and something I noticed was that Finn seemed to have a habit of staying up a bit next to the furnace. Since that location was basically my bed, I had the pleasure of staying up with him. We never really talked, but we didn’t really need to. It was nice to just sit in each other's company…and Jake’s of course.

I scratched Jake's head gently as he laid his head on my lap. I smiled down at him, heart twisting in a bittersweet feeling. He was so old, it reminded me of Jake from my world. Except he had already…

“What’s he like?” Finn asked, and I looked up at him in confusion. “The Finn from your world.” My eyes widened, he must’ve heard more of the kids and I’s conversation then he let on.

“Brave, heroic, cheerful, selfless,” I replied, those were the first things I could think of. I smiled grimly and looked down at Jake, “But after Jake…after he passed, Finn became a bit more…careless. We drifted apart after a while, but we check in on each other from time to time.”

I looked up, meeting Finn’s gaze, “You two are pretty different personality wise, but there’s a lot of similarities. Like you seem to be just as brave as my world's Finn. You’re also protective of the ones you care for, and also heroic.” Only the crackling of the fire was heard for a few minutes. Finn seemed to be contemplating my words.

“I’m not a hero,” He finally replied in a gravelly voice. My eyebrows furrowed, how was him, willing to risk his life for us strangers, not heroic?

“You risked your life for Fionna, Cake and Simon,” I replied in confusion. “You didn’t have to, but you did.”

“You risked your life for mine,” Finn rebutted. 

“And I was a hero in my world alongside Finn,” I glared playfully. 

“I’ve hurt people,” Finn grumbled. “I’m no hero.”

I stared at him in concern, but he continued to face the fire. I wasn’t sure how to respond, gaze landing back down to Jake. How would Jake reply? ‘Everyone makes mistakes, we can only improve ourselves after we make them.’

“Everyone makes mistakes,” I replied. “We can only improve ourselves and become a better person after we make them.” He continued to stare into the fire, and now I knew why he held that heavy stare. At least to some degree. Something real messed up must have happened to him if he actually hurt people. 

“You can’t blame yourself forever,” I finished, placing a hand on his arm. 

He glanced down at my hand before looking towards Jake, “Yes I can.”

I huffed, crossing my arms, “You’re only going to make yourself miserable doing that. Look around you! You have a nice house and farm with a lovely family. Yes you may have done bad things in your past, but guess what, that’s your past. This is the present, you're a father who takes care of his family, you took strangers in even though you didn’t trust them. You’re a good person whether you like it or not.”

A warm silence settled over us after that. He seemed to be considering my words thoughtfully, and I can only hope that I got through to him in some way. He added a last piece of wood to the furnace before turning into bed. 

“Good night,” Finn murmured, taking the lamp that sat next to his stool.

I stared at him with wide eyes. This was the first time he bid me a good night.

“Good night,” I smiled back at him.

← Previous Chapter Next Chapter →

[osakanone]

UPDATE: The Destiel/Supernats aren't taking this well -- explaining my reasoning for the history I gave, and why Destiel is not the big bitch of shipping that it thinks it is

An update to THIS:

"This is just a marketing thing, Gundam is a giant robot show, only men watch it!"

Gundam's fandom is silent majoratively feminine:

"But its not gay, its about giant robots!"

Gundam is very gay. The entire climax of the first story is a riff of Yukio Mishima lmao

The climax of the Amuro/Char arc of Universal Century Gundam (expounding from first Gundam circa 1979), Char's Counterattack is somewhat on the history of Japanese disillusion with liberalism which notably climaxed with the life and history of Yukio Mishima.

You know. THAT Yukio Mishima.

The one who wrote FORBIDDEN COLOURS.

It was so gay that the fanfiction inspired by it became its own damn anime:

And that's just Charmuro, let alone Charma or a billion other ships just in OG Gundam alone.

We've got This is before we get to Guin Sard Lineford and Yamagi Glimerton (both verrrrry gay), Tieria Erde (a genderqueer trans-coded character who transcends gender entirely in their arc) and a bunch of others.

Gundam was always gay.

"I don't see the numbers"

"That doesn't seem like much, Supernat is at least 2x this"

Sooooo the amount of content you do see isn't representative of how much even got written, given FFN had a huge content purge.

First, let's start with the relative proportion of users: If we're analysing the concept of fandom, we first have to look at who had access to the internet in the first place to publish works.

Yeah that's a pretty sizable difference.

Wing's fandom actually exploded in 2000, but got capped VERY early, distributing itself to fansites when FFN fragmented and collapsed.

Why?

Content purges!

"Isn't there some sort of online archive of this stuff?"

Sure, if you wanna dig through tons and tons of Angelfire and Geocities pages which have mostly disappeared. Otherwise, no! There is no archive of this stuff?

"Why?"

They've since rolled back on this but it means there's a massive amount of lost media out there, including the discussions on it and thus there's an entire history you didn't get to experience.

Its actually very difficult to reach people who've been involved, since it was so long ago that very few people remember, and a sizable proportion of that population have actually died.

"But what about SF fandoms? We have ancient records of stuff like Spirk!"

See unlike physical media like zines, when a server goes offline or there's a data-loss, or something like that there is no surviving copy of the thing in question.

The net result is we have this weird hole where content just vanished, and its now considered lost media. The work of many artists, designers, writers, even videos of events are just lost media because we didn't have the archival mentality adults develop.

You're not gonna hear about all the X-Files stuff or Frasier fanfictions or GW stuff because of these purges and the lack of physical media. FFN users were teens, not adults with resources like US/EU/JP SF fans, who had archival tendencies due to their long history.

So there is this supermassive black-hole in the history of fanfiction running between 1998, and 2008 and some of the only evidence of it are worksafe works and fansites which the owners have long since forgotten about because folks moved on. Moving on is a normal part of fandom.

So to those of you just saying "supernatural is losing to a pair of dumb anime girls" or "urgh this is just a trend tumblr will get over it and go back to supernatural"...

Uhhhhh no they won't, actually?

Supernat's fans mostly seem to be waspy Americans. Gundam is kind of a global phenomenon, one which has traditionally had a silent majority female audience, a vocal minority male audience -- and every time that majority has spoken up, its coincided with a content purge, or a TOS change that mysteriously biases American derived fiction over Japanese derived fiction.

Funny that.

tl;dr:

NATURE IS HEALING

[glitteringcrab]

Morty Prime's personality regression

Some fans (and I'm among those fans) feel like it seems Morty Prime's character development has regressed after Unmortiricken (S7E5).

Like he's more docile... less challenging of Rick... more accepting of Rick's shit...

There are a few possible explanations for this:

1. Morty sub-consciously trying his hardest not to act like Evil Morty

2. Evil Morty planting in Morty Prime's head the poisonous idea that Rick C-137 might commit suicide if Morty Prime is not there to emotionally support him

3. Rick C-137 is not so much a jerk these days. He hasn't messed with Morty with any Vats of Acid, hasn't created a robot version of himself. The worse thing he did was the Valhalla thing.

4. Morty Prime being more understanding of Rick C-137's mental state and finding more patience to deal with him.

But... at the same time, some of Morty's behaviors seemed so out of character that we fans (and I was among those faaaaans) built a whole theory that Morty Prime had been replaced by Evil Morty post Unmortricken....! ("Freaky Mortys Theory", for anyone interested. There are tags with it)

I think if we look a bit deeper in this season's Morty Prime (and the previous seasons) we'll notice some... interesting things.

Let's compare Morty Prime's and Evil Morty's capabilities and personality characteristics across the seasons, shall we?

Charisma

Evil Morty got himself elected:

Morty Prime convincing (little pieces of himself) as Marta:

Morty Prime rallying the trapped Mortys:

Gosh, they even do the same gestures

A "healthy" Morty Prime, no longer burdened by his awkwardness can climb the social ladder really fast:

And of course, the attribute slider:

Intelligence (probably one of Evil Morty's defining characteristics - "you're like an evil Morty, a clever one" as Rick Prime put it)

I'd have to put screenshots of every single scene Evil Morty is in, so let's dig in straight to Morty Prime instead lol

See above attribute slider.

See above Morty managing to become a Stock Broker, totally something a moron could do

Morty Prime casually disarming neutrino bombs, totally something a moron could do

Morty Prime beating Rick at a board game (and Rick freaking mind blowing him over it, the giant 8-year-old)

Suddenly being able to do math, which meant that he always could do math, he just wasn't really motivated to try:

And mind you, this was in Season 7 post Unmorticken, during the time we felt that Morty Prime's personality had regressed, and it was one of the "clues" we fans used as "proof" that this was really Evil Morty.

Of course, Morty Prime has A LOT (like, A LOT) of dumb moments as well. But the capability of intelligence is definitely there.

Manipulation

All of Evil Morty, where to even start lol

Let's head for Morty Prime instead.

Morty Prime presenting himself as super ecologically sensitive to Planetina. I mean, he definitely was on board with ecological activism etc, but he also wouldn't visit random forest fires to help. The liar. Planetina somehow fell for that.

"I'm your little brother, you have to take care of me!" was Morty Prime trying his hand at manipulation with Summer. And this was in Season 7 post Unmortricken, during Morty Prime's "regressed" phase.

The "trickle down effect" with Tricia seeing him ripped by the attribute slider was pretty clever, and manipulative (not maliciously, but still). This was ALSO in Season 7 post Unmortricken, during Morty Prime's "regressed" phase.

"Why would I be friends with a witch" was very fast thinking on Morty's part:

Again, this was in Season 7 post Unmortricken, in Morty Prime's "regressed" phase.

Physical abilities

Lookit Evil Morty flying:

And now look at Mort Prime performing Evil Morty's flying kick, which he definitely couldn't do before Unmortricken:

This was one of the "clues" we fans interpreted as "proof" that this was really Evil Morty, but since that theory has been jossed, the next obvious conclusion is that Morty Prime has been training.

And this was in Season 7 post Unmortricken as well, where we fans have been complaining about Morty Prime's personality regressing.

Extreme self harm as a step to freedom

I'm a hundred percent sure Evil Morty orchestrated his own assassination attempt and willingly walked towards the person who'd shoot him:

And, as another fan pointed (check out the tags!), Morty Prime did this:

Even the other guy, who was trying to kill Morty in that scene, is disturbed lol

Murder

Evil Morty probably has the biggest body count out of anyone, along with Rick C-137... But Morty Prime can get... trigger happy as well.

Shooting Rick C-137 in a fit of rage:

Getting really happy in the "trigger-happy" part during the Purging episode:

(thankfully, it was not played as a joke)

The Death Crystals deserve a special mention. So many people dead, just so he could grow old with his crush ("and people call me Evil Morty") and somehow it's played as a joke:

All those poor dudes in the Narnia dimension:

Desensitization to murder

It seems that any amount of murder is small potatoes to Evil Morty:

In "Mort: Ragnarick" Morty Prime complains about being desensitized to murder, and then Rick makes him kill people repeatedly (which Morty does obediently), during an episode where he has one of the highest body counts:

Most of the people he keeps killing are immortal Viking ghosts who literally live to die (lol) but Morty still is the one committing the murder, and he even tells Rick not to kill the Vatican guards (who die for real) every time, which I think Rick actually agreed with, thankfully...

Needless cruelty

There was no need for this, Evil Morty!!!! It served zero rational purpose!

Oh, you're gonna think. Morty Prime is not like that. Sure, he kills people, but he never draws it out.

Think again:

"Careful, Ethan. Your s'more is burning."

Ethan simply dumped Morty's sister!! That's not good enough reason to turn him into a deformed monster, Ethan was just being an immature teenager!

...Not to mention Morty Prime literally tried to roofie Jessica (not exactly cruel, but... quite evil).

Morty (!!!) suggesting they use brainwashed clones to solve the spaghetti shortage, and holding his hands behind his back while he did it, freaking Evil Morty style (also EVIL).

Okay, I'm gonna stop here and say that I don't mean to stretch things. We've known Morty Prime for 7 seasons and the amount of times he has been manipulative, trigger-happy or evil can each be counted on one hand, while those same characteristics are pretty much defining of Evil Morty. The potential exists in Morty Prime, but it becomes reality in its most extreme form in Evil Morty.

In addition, there are some differences between the two:

Evil Morty has patience, single-minded focus and the ability to come up with incredibly convoluted schemes (it's... almost like he spent unimaginable amounts of time trapped as a prisoner in his own body, unable to act, unable to do anything but wait and plan), while it also seems he is devoid of empathy (cough), forgiveness, or the desire for connection (I will probably make separate posts for the those two).

POINT 1: I suspect that their differences can be accounted for if the theory that they grew up differently is true; one in the safety of his home and family, the other in the uncertain and hostile environment of the Citadel.

Morty Prime never had to be manipulative, because he could always just ask to get what he needed. His more violent tendencies get suppressed by the humane examples his (non-Rick) family members set. He tries to do the right, moral thing 99% of the time because he grew up learning the virtues of kindness and compassion, and did not get brainwashed by a hundred different versions of his nihilistic grandpa into discarding universes and people like single-use coffee cups.

I suspect that Morty Prime and Evil Morty might be WAY too similar, and it's just that Evil Morty's brain is in constant overdrive survival mode, while Morty Prime is in normal kid mode.

I suspect that the parallel between Morty Prime and Evil Morty is meant to be a story of "nature vs nurture" and the effects of long-term abuse and neglect can have on a child.

POINT 2: I suspect that the series' climax might revolve around a revelation that Rick was wrong all along:

That Morty Prime (and any Morty) is just as clever as any Rick, and he doesn't get to show his brilliance because he's just a young child who can do stuff like waste time playing videogames and date girls and hung around with his family instead of honing every skill he has into a deadly weapon just so he can survive.

I feel like this is a revelation that has been building up for a while:

(and poor Morty doesn't react in this scene during Rick's admittance, because of course it doesn't concern him: he is just an idiot, he is not "intelligent in a different way" like Bigfoot is)

POINT 3: While it may be true that Morty Prime has been more... docile and patient and forgiving of Rick post Unmortricken, the way I see it, he's also physically training, is becoming more manipulative and we have more proof that he's actually really smart.

...So, I wouldn't call his personality change a "regression"...

...more like... a shift... towards higher forgiveness and tolerance and towards cultivating his capabilities.

Which, if Rick C-137 screws up and does something to betray Morty Prime's unconditional love, would bode really badly.

[noras-dc-shenanigans]

Mute Billy Batson

Billy (age 6) is with his parents when they die in a plane crash on the way back from a dig, and while he survives, he gets several large cuts from parts of the plane slicing into him. One of them hits his throat, permanently damaging his larynx (vocal cords).

Obviously, Awful Uncle Ebenezer doesn’t want to deal with a weepy mute kid who also has trouble swallowing and breathing properly, so as soon as he gets the inheritance he kicks him out. Billy gets picked up a few days later, is too scared to tell them his name, so he gives them a fake. They investigate, find nothing, see the scars and assume he’s one of those kids that was born outside a hospital and raised on the street.

Put him in the system under the new name, he goes through a lot of homes that also don’t want to deal with a mute kid who has eating/drinking/breathing problems. The last few before he runs away take advantage of him not being able to speak and only knowing a tiny bit of sign language. He runs away, gets caught, next home is the same, runs away and makes sure to stay un-caught this time.

He meets a deaf homeless person, they teach him sign language, he manages to get by with doing odd jobs and getting help from people in the area (other homeless people, prostitutes with soft spots, older people with no grandkids of their own).

Age 10 gets chosen by the Wizard because Black Adam will be arriving sooner than he anticipated, and I figure there are two ways for this to go:

A- Because he can’t speak the word, Billy is now permanently stuck as Captain Marvel, much like Black Adam is. This is the more angsty version cause the Wisdom of Solomon would warn him against being seen close to the people he used to know—it’ll likely get them targeted. So poor Billy is stuck all by his lonesome until hero/es come along.

B- Billy discovers he can use sign language to change by creating a special sign just for SHAZAM and thinking it while doing the sign with both hands. It mostly only works because as Champion of Magic it’ll do a lot of stuff for him that just flat out wouldn’t work for literally any other magic user.

(Later, Zatanna just gets so frustrated watching him do magic and Constantine just stares, drinks, and walks away with a very firm “F*ck that.”)

But either way, eventually, maybe a year later (Billy now 11), the Justice League has noticed this new, mysterious hero that never says anything and pretty much vanishes once the heroing is done.

(I think the League should only be 2/3 years old, and Batman & Superman had been heroing for maybe 5 years before that. Any other Leaguers you decide to include are newer and started up 1-2 years before whatever caused the League to be formed. Diana only just left Themyscira for the Event too. So they’re new enough not everyone immediately goes “Hey it’s you!” but organized enough to be able to find/recruit other heroes now.)

So of course, Batman and Superman decide to come introduce themselves. They find the new hero taking down a massive robot and lifting the man inside of it out by the collar like a misbehaving cat and manage to get close to him while he’s handing the villain off to the police.

They introduce themselves, ask if they can have a bit of the hero’s time, he blinks but nods and then points up at the tallest building in the city. They agree, Supes gives Batman a lift, and a few minutes later the other hero joins them after having moved the giant robot to an empty lot so that the city can deal with it out of the way.

Cue the JLers trying to ask the guy questions, and he automatically starts to answer in sign language but grimaces and stops because Billy has rarely met anyone who knows enough to understand him. But, of course, this is Batman we’re talking about, who even if he doesn’t have Cassandra yet still knows basic ASL. He asks what his name is aloud and in sign, and the other hero just lights up, huge grin, and starts signing away at rapid speed.

They learn his name is Captain Marvel, and he was chosen to be the new Champion of Magic to replace the old one who went evil right before the guy who gave him the powers died of extreme old age. (They really wish they could say they consider this strange, but they’ve met/worked with Constantine. They’ll believe pretty much anything if you put ‘magic’ in front of it.)

They chat for a while, then decide to invite him up to the Watchtower, so that, if he’s interested, he can meet the other Leaguers (they’d only be the originals and a few more they’d recruited so far) and they can have an official interview to join the Justice League. Cap agrees, gives a little wave, then zooms off to finish helping with the clean-up.

A few days later, Superman escorts Marvel to a zeta tube in Metropolis and up they go. They introduce Marvel to the other Leaguers, Batman translating, before Martian Manhunter offers to mind link them all so that they can understand Marvel himself. Cap agrees. Then they get this:

“Uh, hi, can you hear me? Oh, wow, is that how I’d sound out loud? Cool! I haven’t talked to anyone in years! Not many people know sign and most people aren’t willing to stand there waiting for me to write stuff out so I don’t get a whole lotta conversation. Anyway what did you guys wanna know?”

And all the Leaguers just, like, have theirs hearts squeeze in their chest because here’s a young man, can’t be older than 25 at most, just so happy to be able to talk to people. Who doesn’t know the sound of his own voice. Who despite that, still remains so chipper and friendly.

They don’t need a telepathic link to unanimously decide that Marvel is joining them.

Besides, having a magic user that isn’t either a young women who’s busy performing or a middle-aged alcoholic is very much welcome.

[revelboo]

Bad Idea

TFP Soundwave x reader- encounter in the woods

• There are times when you just need to get away. Reset your frame of mind. Those are hiking days. Nothing helps get your mind off work better than getting as far from other humans as possible and the woods are quiet.

• Mostly. You hear the noise first- a staticky, humming whine that sets your teeth on edge and sends a flush of goosebumps up your arms. It’s almost like the hum of a speaker left on without any music and you can feel it in your bones as an uncomfortable thrum. Caution never was your strong suit. Curiosity, though?

• Everything had gone sideways. Another recon ruined by that wrecker, leaving Soundwave to limp away and nurse his wounds. Blank visor tipping up, he watches Lazerbeak circling. Can feel the thread of worry from the drone as it keeps a lookout in case Wheeljack was following. He doubts the Autobot would bother. As raw as he feels, the wrecker had been worse. Much worse.

• He can feel energon bleeding down his side to get into joints and he catalogs the injuries one by one. It’s only willpower keeping him moving. That and the very real threat of being captured by the enemy. Stopping to let his subroutines deal with the damage isn’t an option. Too bad he doesn’t have any say in it as his legs buckle.

• You left the trail behind, picking your way through the trees toward where the noise had come from. Probably. As often as you go hiking, you’re definitely directionally challenged. You still manage to stumble on the source of the sound. Literally. You trip over a huge metal… thing. As you stagger forward and catch yourself on the rest of it, the sharp edge under your palm bites into it and you yank it back with a hiss.

• It’s big, but you have no idea what it is you’re looking at, all sharp edges and mystery. Kind of person shaped, though. Someone’s metal yard art/sculpture they’d chucked? Pulling your backpack around, you dig you a bandana and tie up your bleeding palm, eye catching on the blank, black screen on what seemed to be the thing’s head. A robot sculpture. A pointy, weird robot sculpture.

• You crouch down to study that empty screen, giving in to the urge to touch. Really, you were expecting cold plastic or glass, not for it to be warm and faintly humming under your light touch.

• Just like you don’t expect the big, metal nightmare bird thing that dive bombs you. Falling over again as you backpedal, you scream as the thing tries it’s best to gouge your eyes out. Then the robot sculpture is moving, one long arm tucking you close as your screams peter out into terrified silence, because no part of this is normal or okay. Horrible death bird-drone lights on the pointy monster’s thigh and just stares at you.

• Trying to wiggle free just tightens the arm draped over you until breathing becomes iffy and you collapse in the dry leaves and pine needles. Your escape attempts only exhaust you and aggravate the demon bird, its pointy head tilting to glare at you with a look that even with its featureless face promises a slow, agonizing death. So you give up and just lay there, playing teddy bear for the giant pointy monster and questioning your life choices.

[tripleglitchwriting]

Combustion (Part 2)

Soundwave-centric, gn human reader

CW: Swear words, fearplay, person treated as a pet I guess?

I’m going to stop putting swear words in the CW after this because I don’t really think it’s that important of a warning.

Your heart was pounding. All you could do was hope the thing went away in time for you to escape. Nothing else mattered to you; if this thing caught you it would be all over. You assumed as much anyway, you didn’t actually know what was going on. There were two things you knew for sure: There is a giant fucking robot behind you and your only cover is a big tree.

All that considered, your future was looking grim. You could feel rumbling coming from it now. Calculated and precise movements that shook you to your core. There were plenty of places for the thing to go, plenty of places leagues more interesting than where you were, yet the rumbling only got closer. You held your knees tight to your chest and tried to hold back tears. At least with the rain it wouldn’t be able to tell you were crying. If it knew what crying even was. Or if it could even think at all.

Even in your panic, the vibrations still ripped through your thoughts. They got closer and closer until suddenly… they stopped. A small part of you hoped it had magically disappeared, or got bored and left. Of course, that small part of you was immediately snuffed out when a shadow fell over your quaint little hiding space. You sucked in a sharp breath and screwed your eyes shut. A miniature internal voice silently pleaded to anyone that would listen for some kind of reprieve.

No such reprieve came, unfortunately.

Turns out, the thing didn’t even need to reach down with its freakishly long arms. A long, snake like appendage emerged from its chest, not that you could see it through your eyelids. Unbeknownst to you, your entire body was shaking with fear, but the adrenaline coursing through your veins prevented you from feeling much of anything. Until one of those tentacle things placed its claws carefully between your head and knees… and began to wrench apart your balled up body.

You didn’t stand a chance. No matter how tense you made yourself your limbs were easily manipulated. Finding the will to fight back was tough when trying to dig through the infinite abyss of panicked thoughts in your head. You found it eventually, but at that point it was too late. Those claws wrapped around your entire form and only stopped when you felt like you almost couldn’t breathe. Whether that was from fear or pressure you couldn’t tell.

There were some words coming out of your mouth but you didn’t know what they said. Some desperate pleas for mercy, probably. The thing didn’t seem to care anyway. It tilted the black screen that made up its head in a motion that almost reminded you of a cat. It was kind of cute until you remembered what cats do with the mice they catch.

The world felt so much colder as it carried you back to the horrible black pod it came in.

——————

Much to Soundwave’s displeasure, the escape pod communications array was fried. Most of the important circuit was fried. That didn’t bode well for his future, he may have to stay on this planet for longer than anticipated. A pity.

The most important thing to him now was finding a way to fix Lazerbeak. That would be hard to do without any energon. Lucky for him the planet he was on seemed to have some deposits… but without a drill it would be difficult to excavate. Nothing that couldn’t be solved with a little brute force.

The little organic he picked up seemed to have mellowed out quite a bit. It sat silently watching him try to fix his pod, though there was a distinct expression it wore he couldn’t quite put a digit on. He wasn’t too worried though. At least it was good company without Lazerbeak to help out. Still, it wasn’t going to magically fix all his problems; that was up to him. As it always was.

His personal energon scanners were still operational, so he set off into the unknown world ahead. He took the organic just in case, for safety. Definitely for safety. It squirmed a little in his grasp but settled down when it realized it wasn’t going anywhere. The deposit wasn’t too far away, close enough for him to walk rather than transforming and wasting energon. The terrain was soft and his pedes melted into muddy soil every step he took. At least its malleability would make it easier to dig.

When Soundwave came across the site he went to hold the organic in another appendage… but realized he’d need all of his limbs to efficiently excavate the material. Well, there was room in his chasis, he supposed. He opened up the compartment Lazerbeak was stored in and tossed his new pet in. The energon was decently easy to recover, though it wasn’t enough to power his entire pod. At least he’d be able to stay online.

By the time he got back to his broken shell of a home he nearly forgot about the new addition to his “family”. He felt a slight tink in his chest compartment as the thing bounced around rather violently. It was getting rowdy which didn’t bode well for its heath, but just as he went to retrieve it he felt something else. A buzz of life from a familiar source.

Faster than ever he took out both the organic and Lazerbeak, and to his utter relief the mini drone transformed into his avian form. He was slow and uncoordinated, but he was okay. He as alive. Strange though, Soundwave figured he would need more energon to come back online. If he didn’t know better he would think the organic had done something to trigger it. But that would be silly.

For now, he could ready easier knowing his closest companion was safe. Safe and happily toying with his other new companion. A golden ember of hope ignited in his spark. Now he could use more of the energon he collected to send a distress call. Nothing could stop him now; the Deception cause wouldn’t falter as long as he was around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I got my ass handed to me by creative block this past week. I’m sorry this chapter is so short, it took more than I’d like to admit to fish a story from my sea of (frankly deranged) thoughts. Either way, I hope it’s good and I hope you enjoy it! Still don’t have a name for the AU though lmao.