#also lol she's so comically short compared to him

[sunrisemiracles]

Some self-indulgent art of my OC Jan talking to Alastor. ✨

[genericpuff]

This is kinda of random but why is Hecate short? I'm just curious because out of all the bad things in LO I liked how tall Hecate is and how she wore suits. ( she does look stunning in your version too )

I've found when it comes to character heights, it's really hard to discern what the actual intention was in their designs as Rachel's statements often contradict the actual appearance of the characters in the comic and how they compare to one another. For example, some people have stated Rachel revealed in her Patreon chit chat posts (or in FB groups, don't remember which) that Hades was unique for his height, being as tall as 10 feet, but as we see him in the comic, he's often closer to being 10 feet wide than 10 feet tall LOL (I don't think Rachel realized how big ten feet was when she said that tbh)

So in that regard, from a design POV it's hard to gauge if Hecate is actually that tall, or if she just appears tall because she's sometimes drawn at shoulder height with Hades (doesn't help that the character designs are always fluctuating), but also it's hard to say if one can be considered "tall" when standing next to Persephone who we know Rachel always draws disproportionately tiny compared to everyone else, to the point of outright infantilizing her.

TL ; DR: I had to pick a lane with the character designs and Hecate seemed more like she would realistically be closer to Persephone's height than to Hades (if Hades is someone who's supposed to be uniquely tall which I'm definitely trying to make him, he's meant to be a little over 6 feet tall in LR). And even Persephone's height is still around 5"5-5"7, so they're not even that "short", they just often appear shorter in relation to Hades. At least, that's the approach I'm going for lmaoo (my standard marker for it is that Persephone comes up to his chest / collarbone area).

Plus - though this is just my personal opinion - it's also just nice to have more characters around Persephone's height, not only to showcase how much taller Hades is compared to most people around him, but also to make her a little less singled out in the height department, as LO often made her absurdly small to the point of infantilizing her (￢_￢;)

That said, Artemis is taller than Persephone coming in around 5"9, and Aphrodite is meant to be quite tall (p much the same height as Hades!) and we'll be seeing more of her later on in the story, so fear not, there are tall girls to be found :'3 <3

[cyren-myadd]

Feel free to completely ignore this ask if you want, but you're one of the best ppl posting and still talking about Spider, so I REAllY wanted to hear your opinion on this. Anyway, in your opinion, how would Spider have turned out had be been raised "human"? As in, by the McCoskers or some other human scientist as primary caretaker? Like let's just say the McCoskers or some other scientist aren't total failures in terms of taking care of Spider. And instead of letting him just run around and go neglected they actually take him in and raise him like a normal human kid would be raised (or as close as they could get to "normal" on Pandora)? I imagine he'd probably be a loss less connected to the Na'vi and Ewya, since his caretakers obviously wouldn't be too happy with a human kid running around on a planet where pretty much everything could potentially kill him. Would he even be called "Spider" or use his human name? And how would he react to the RDA and Quaritch coming back? On one hand the scientists aren't the biggest fans of them, so he could still be apprehensive to them. On the other hand many of them still defected when they had the chance (if we go by the comics), so you'd think it reasonable that a Spider who was raised by them would hold some sympathy for the RDA? Idk, human!Spider is just a weird thought that won't leave me.

you're one of the best ppl posting and still talking about Spider,

Awww you're making me blush! I'm glad people are interested in what I have to say!

That's a really interesting question! Let me give you my thoughts on what Spider would be like if he were raised by loving parents (warning, this basically devolves into an outline for a fanfic by the end lol):

first off, he's losing the dreads. I'm not gonna say anything about whether or not white people should have dreadlocks, bc I'm not qualified to touch that subject with a 10 foot pole, but regardless of the race thing, it is painfully obvious that Spider's hair is neglected. Just look at it compared to Jake's dreadlocks. Spider's are all different lengths/thicknesses, they're grown out at the roots, and there's little wisps of loose hair sticking out everywhere. They're really poorly maintained, and no decent parent is gonna let their kid walk around looking like they've never seen a hairbrush. Even though Spider isn't as close with the Na'vi in the AU, he will still be heavily inspired by them, so his hair will be something Like Kiri's except curly and blond of course: shoulder length, decorated with little braids and beads, and messy but still healthy and cared for.

He also wouldn't paint himself blue anymore. If he ever got that idea into his head, his foster parents would immediately shut it down and tell him he's perfect just the way he is, it doesn't matter that he's human. Also, he wouldn't wear a loincloth, but he would probably still show a lot of skin, like cut off shorts and tank top or going shirtless a lot. Kind of like how Norm's avatar dresses. He also still has Omaticaya jewelry gifted to him by his friends.

And speaking of his friends, Spider is still good friends with the Sully kids, he's just not as close, and he doesn't have the weird "stray pet" vibe anymore. Spider hangs out with Kiri and Lo'ak, but only in the afternoons after spending most of the day doing chores and upkeep tasks around Hell's Gate and socializing with the other humans. Neytiri is also much more civil to him in this AU since she doesn't feel like Spider is intruding into her family as much.

I also think Spider's personality would be pretty much the same. He's still the same outgoing, mischievous kid, but some of his interests are different. He still speaks fluent Na'vi and knows how to use a bow and survive in the woods, but he's now more tech savvy from helping his parents keep Hell's Gate running and he also has an interest in gunships. His mother was a pilot, so I imagine human!Spider to want to follow in her footsteps. The humans have a few working gunships as seen in THG and ATWOW, and Spider's greatest dream is to fly one. When he's old enough his foster parents agree to let Ming, a resistance pilot, teach him how to fly and Spider is immediately in love with it. This is way better than playing passenger princess on Kiri's banshee! He even sneaks Kiri and Lo'ak out for joyrides, but none of their parents are thrilled when they get caught ha ha.

As for his name, he still goes by Spider. He got the nickname because he liked climbing when he was little, and that won't change because he has parents now. Plus, the scientists and other humans have reasons to avoid Quaritch's name too, so Spider it is.

Now onto the interesting part: what happens when the RDA comes back?

First off this is going to depend on if Spider's parents choose to defect back to the RDA like the McCoskers or if they choose to stay and fight like Norm and Max.

If Spider's family chose to stay, then the story stay more or less stays the same: Spider goes to goof off with his friends in the forest, gets kidnapped and interrogated, Q steps in and uses him as a translator/guide since he is still knowledgeable about the Na'vi way, and Spider is ultimately rescued by Lo'ak and Neteyam. The only difference is that Spider's parents will be extremely upset and maybe make a few unsuccessful attempts to get him back. I even still think Spider would choose to save Quaritch. He wouldn't have bonded with Q as much since he has a healthy parental relationship to compare him to, but he still might feel obligated to save him since Q saved his ass twice. And then Spider would go back to his foster parents at high camp instead of presumably sticking with the Sullies in Awa'atlu.

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, what happens if Spider's foster family chose to defect?

This idea gets a little bit more interesting methinks

Cause even if Spider's parents are much nicer than the McCoskers, I could still see why they might choose to defect, especially if they had or adopted other children. TBH before McCosker betrayed Jake, I understood where he was coming from about defecting to the RDA, it's really hard for humans to survive out there, nevermind when there's a war going on and you have younger kids to worry about. So I could totally see Spider's parents choosing to defect for the sake of their family, even if they cared for the Na'vi.

Spider would still be very upset. He's friends with the Na'vi and Norm and Max and all the other loyalist scientists. He doesn't want to be forced to join the organization that's trying to kill them all! But he can't bear to leave his parents, so he eventually gives a teary goodbye to Kiri and Lo'ak and surrenders to the RDA with the other humans.

He gets... a surprisingly warm welcome. He's the son of the "great war hero" Miles Quaritch. Have you ever watched The Boys? You know how when Homelander brings his son, Ryan, to Vought their reaction is to use him for propaganda? Selfridge and co try to do that with Spider. They try to get him to play the part of a brave little boy who survived years of captivity with na'vi terrorists before escaping back to civilization, and the only reason he survived is because the memory of his dear old dad kept him going 🥺🥺🥺. Spider is having none of it of course and speaks very openly about his care for the Na'vi. Spider's foster parents pull him aside and warn him not to speak like that and Spider grudgingly agrees to keep his opinions to himself. All the former defectors are surveilled closely for any sign of being spies.

Spider is absolutely miserable living in bridgehead away from the forest and not knowing if his friends are okay, but bridgehead presents him with a new opportunity: his dream of becoming a pilot is actually possible now. Spider is basically a nepotism baby and takes advantage of it to get into the RDA's pilot program. Yeah, he's young, but they're lightyears away from earth and its pesky child labor laws so who cares.

Older teens can survive cryosleep and some RDA employees bring their children to Bridgehead to participate in training programs like what Spider's doing, so for the first time in his life Spider makes human friends his own age. He learns about the dire state of earth from them, and starts to feel more sympathetic to the humans stuck there. He wonders if there's a way to build sustainable human colonies in the uninhabited areas of Pandora and make peace between humans and na'vi. Spider dreams of climbing the ranks of the RDA and changing the direction of the company towards a future that benefits everyone...

Then a big fat blue wrench gets thrown in his plans: the clone of Miles Quaritch wakes up.

Nobody told Spider a clone with his dads memories is walking around and Quaritch never thinks to ask about what happened to his son, so the two go a week or two without knowing about the other, until they happen to run into each other on the flight line when the recoms go out on their first test run. Spider instantly picks Quaritch out of the group of recoms and realizes who he is. He's horrified, remembering all the stories Jake told him. Quaritch notices a baby-faced pilot staring at him out of the corner of his eye, but thinks nothing of it, assuming the guy is new to Pandora and shocked to see recombinants. Spider wants nothing to do with this Quaritch, so he tries to slink away without Quaritch noticing. Unfortunately, one of Spider's coworkers calls out to him "hey Socorro!" for something. Quaritch hears the name, recognizes it, and does a double take. He takes a closer look at Spider and notices a resemblance to Paz Socorro. Spider is glaring daggers at him, but Quaritch keeps studying and finally notices the name on Spider's uniform, confirming Quaritch's suspicion.

Quaritch awkwardly tries to approach Spider, but Spider is having none of it and runs off.

There's no time to chase spider down, so Quaritch goes on his mission. They encounter the Sully kids, but the kids successfully escape and no one is left behind. Quaritch returns to bridgehead frustrated but excited at the prospect of Jake having four huge weak spots to target. Unbeknownst to them, this prompts Jake and his family to flee to Awa'atlu.

After the mission, Quaritch later tracks down Spider's foster parents to their apartment (or whatever people in Bridgehead live in?) and speaks with the family. While talking to them, Quaritch realizes Spider's parents really care about him, and he decides it's for the best if he stays out of Spider's life. He never wanted to be a dad, and Spider made it clear he's uninterested in him, so Quaritch thanks the foster parents for raising Spider and they go their separate ways.

Spider is perfectly content to pretend the recom doesn't exist until he gets wind of Quaritch's mission: to hunt down and kill Jake Sully.

Spider can't bear the thought of Jake and his family being hunted down by Quaritch, and he realizes he's in a position to do something about it. So Spider cooks up a plan...

Meanwhile, Quaritch is going through the motions, doing his best to pretend he doesn't care he and Spider have gone their separate ways before truly getting to know each other. One day, after hours stuck in briefings with Ardmore and the other higher ups, he comes back to the recom barracks to find Spider just casually hanging out with his soldiers like he belongs there.

Quaritch reacts with what outwardly looks like anger (but he's just lashing out because he's surprised and is still hurting deep down over Spider rejecting him) and asks what the hell the kid is doing here. The recoms explain Spider noticed their braids are very poorly maintained while they were doing PT and offered to teach them how to properly care for their Kurus and keep the hair clean and braided. It turns out, the RDA didn't teach the recoms a lot of stuff about being Na'vi, so Spider ended up giving an impromptu lesson on Na'vi biology and how to care for their new bodies. Spider eagerly offers to hang out and teach the recoms more stuff about being Na'vi but Quaritch gets mad and shoos him away, despite the recoms protesting. They thought Spider was funny, and he's one of the only humans who acts normal around them in their blue bodies. But they can't argue with the boss.

To Quaritch's chagrin, Spider keeps randomly showing up with the recoms. One day he's teaching them Na'vi language, another day he's teaching them about edible plants, etc, etc. The recoms love him, and they indulge Spider's lessons even though Quaritch keeps telling him to stay away. Spider's parents also encourage Spider to stay away from the recoms, because they knew their original human selves and know they're capable of horrible violence even though they seem friendly and funny at first. It doesn't work.

Quaritch eventually snaps and asks Spider what he's trying to do here. Spider panics because he can't let them know this is part of his plan to protect Jake and co, so he blurts out the first thing he can think of. He tells Quaritch he changed his mind about wanting to get to know him, but he didn't know how to say that so he's been using his lessons as an excuse to be around Quaritch more. Quaritch is secretly touched but doesn't show it. He tells Spider he still thinks its better if Spider just sticks with his foster family. But Spider baits Quaritch with the promise of showing them how to tame ikran. The recoms overhear the last part of the conversation and beg Quaritch to let Spider show them how to get banshees. Quaritch reluctantly agrees.

A few days later, they set out for their first time in the jungle, and Spider proves himself invaluable. He's much more knowledgeable than the recoms, and more dependable than searching up info on their data pads. Quaritch realizes keeping Spider around might be a good idea, so after they all tame their banshees, Q offers to make Spider their official translator and guide. Spider enthusiastically agrees.

Over the next couple of months, Spider teaches the recoms how to go "full Na'vi," and really bonds with Quaritch. He even spends the night in the recom barracks a couple of times. Quaritch almost starts to feel like a second dad. Spider's parents try to talk him out of it multiple times, suspecting what he's doing, but Spider is adamant. Against his better judgement, he actually starts to like Quaritch and the recoms, and the "act" he puts on becomes more and more real as time goes on. Spider starts to think he might be able to talk Quaritch out of hunting Jake and work towards a peaceful solution.

Baby boy gets his bubble burst real fast tho :')

Quaritch gets the tip about a rogue gunship flying towards the reef tribes and asks Spider to fly with him as a translator (Spider's parents are not thrilled about this since it means Spider will be away from them for an unknown amount of time, but they have no control over Quaritch). Spider agrees, thinking they're just going to ask the eyktan some questions, nothing more. And it starts that way... but the recoms quickly become more and more aggressive when they realize they're not getting any real answers. Before Spider knows it, they're burning maruis and holding the tsahik at gunpoint. Spider only just barely talks Quaritch out of killing anyone.

After that, Spider and Quaritch have a very ugly fight that ends with Spider furiously yelling through tears and Quaritch coldly telling Spider getting to know each other was a mistake. Quaritch tells him his job as a translator is over and tomorrow he'll fly him back to Bridgehead to stay with his parents and they will never work with each other again (Quaritch immediately regrets this, he wants spider to stay with him, but he refuses to take back his words).

Spider is so distraught by everything that he videocalls his parents that night in his room aboard the Sea Dragon. His parents comfort Spider and tell him this is for the best. Now Spider can focus on becoming a pilot and having a bright future with the RDA

But the bubble is burst and Spider can't turn back. He knows now that peace between Na'vi and humans is impossible as long as the RDA is around. He also learns about the tulkun-hunting for amrita around this time, further cementing his belief. He doesn't want a future with the RDA. He wants to join the resistance.

Spider can't speak openly because they suspect the RDA spies on their video calls, but after some time to think on it he calls his parents again and tells them he's changed his mind and wants to stay with Quaritch. His parents know damn well Spider is not onboard with the recom's mission and they suspect he has a plan to interfere with the recoms mission. They immediately try to shut Spider down and tell him to just come back home. They remind him how things have been better, how they're slowly being allowed privileges and better pay, and how Spider can fulfill his dream of being a pilot like Paz.

But Spider knows in his heart he has to do the right thing, even if it risks himself and his parents. He ends up having a fight with them. His dad threatens to tip off ardmore but spider knows he won't actually do it since it would put Spider's life in danger. His mom starts crying and begs him not to do something stupid. It breaks his heart, but spider can't ignore the injustice of the rda. He can't fall in line and pretend he doesn't know about the war crimes and violence. Spider furiously calls them both cowards and hangs up on them. He feels like absolute shit, he's lost his connection with 3 of his parental figures in one day, but he won't change his mind.

The next day he approaches wainfleet, the recom who's the most indulgent with him, and apologizes for freaking out yesterday. He says he talked about what happened with his parents, and now he understands that the recoms have no choice but to be harsh on the natives. Jake is a dangerous terrorist threatening the safety of humanity, and anything is justifiable for the safety of humanity.

Wainfleet and the other recoms are ready to welcome Spider back with open arms. They miss their little mascot and the RDA translators suck compared to him. But Quaritch isn't as easily fooled by Spider's act. Quaritch grills Spider more about his sudden change of heart, and Spider scrambles for something to convince him. He ends up saying that he doesn't want to go back to bridgehead and never see him again. Even though he doesn't agree with his methods, he's still his dad and he wants to be near him. (Spider tells himself he's lying but that's not true) (Quaritch tells himself he doesn't care but it's also not true). Quaritch begrudgingly lets Spider have a second chance, claiming its only because the RDA translators suck.

It kills Spider inside, but he plays along as translator, doing as Quaritch asks. He can't stand to see the villagers suffer, but by cooperating, Quaritch is more likely to listen to him, so he's able to talk Q out of killing/maiming anyone at the bare minimum. Quaritch is secretly thrilled to have Spider back and cooperating, but it's not the same. Spider cooperates, but the real connection they had before is gone. Spider is a physically affectionate kid and a jokester, but that's gone now. He no longer reaches out to grab onto Quaritch when he's close by or tease him like he used to. Quaritch misses it, but he thinks it will come back with time.

By cooperating, Spider builds up trust with Q and the Sea Dragon crew and he starts performing espionage. Since he grew up in Hell's Gate working with the other humans, he is much more knowledgeable about machines and how to damage them without it being obvious he did it. He starts with small things, like sabotaging some of the guns on a whaling submarine, but constantly keeps his eyes open for new ways to undermine the RDA. His master plan is to completely cripple the engine of the Sea Dragon, at which point he'll steal a small boat and slip away in the night. If he pulls it off correctly, no one will even realize he's gone until the next morning, at which point he'll be long gone. He hopes he'll be able to find a Na'vi village and convince them he's on their side so they'll take him to Jake. Spider "borrows" a distracted crew members laptop by learning their password and secretly downloads important RDA intel onto a USB (or whatever they use in the future to store data) and plans to give it to Jake after he makes his daring escape.

Spider doesn't call his parents throughout this time, still angry that they're content to live under the RDA's rule. Then it sinks in on him that he may never see them again whether his plan succeeds (cause he won't have a way to contact them from the resistance) or fails (cause he'll probably be executed on the spot). After a week or so, Spider is almost ready to cripple the engine, steal the data, and escape. The night before he enacts the final stage of his plan, he tries to call his parents one last time but chickens out at the last second. Instead, he records a video telling them he loves them and he's sorry and sends it. Immediately, his parents try to call him, but Spider shuts his tablet off. He exits his cabin and takes a deep breath. It's time to enact his plan.

Immediately, a lanky blue wrench gets thrown in the plan

As Spider makes his way across the upper deck, waiting for an opportunity to sneak down into the engine room, he sees Quaritch and Cupcake flying back with a net dangling from her claws. Inside the net is Lo'ak and a reef na'vi. The plan he spent weeks carefully constructing has gone out the window and Spider is in a full blown panic.

As Lo'ak and the reef girl are thrown on the deck, Spider runs through all the soldiers and goes straight to his friend, asking if he's okay... only to get punched in the gut. Spider folds like a lawn chair from the Na'vi sized punch and collapses on the deck. For a moment he thinks his mask is broken because he can't breathe, but it's just the wind knocked out of him. Even in his pain, he can tell Lo'ak held back his full strength with the punch. Lo'ak screams at him, with tears streaming down his face and Quaritch grabs him before he can do anything to Spider again. Lo'ak cries and accuses Spider of betraying them. Spider realizes rumors of his cooperation as Quaritch's translator must've gone around and now the Sullies think he's on Quaritch's side. Spider tries to soothe Lo'ak, but there's nothing he can say in front of Quaritch. Quaritch drags Lo'ak and the girl downstairs and locks them up in a storage room. He later comes back and comforts a distraught Spider, not realizing Spider is upset because he doesn't know how to rescue Lo'ak, not because Spider was scared by his former friend jumping him.

Spider decides to try and cripple the engine and free Lo'ak and the reef girl on the way out. He sneaks down to the engine room, he starts his sabotage, but he gets caught by some RDA employees. They run over to stop him and Spider thinks he's done for, when all of a sudden BOOM! Something huge hits the ship! Spider gets completely knocked off his feet and he accidentally starts a fire in the engine room, which is extremely dangerous since it could cause a big explosion. There's no more time for being sneaky, now he has to haul ass and pray he can get Lo'ak and himself out in time.

When he runs back topside, he finds chaos. Reef Na'vi on flying fish are attacking left and right, and there is also a tulkun fighting??? Now Spider knows what knocked the ship but he doesn't know why this tulkun isn't a pacifist like the others. He doesn't know where Quaritch is and he doesn't have time to wonder.

Spider runs down and finds Lo'ak and the girl guarded by two soldiers. He surprises them with a fire extinguisher attack and frees them. Thankfully it doesn't take Lo'ak long to be convinced Spider is on his side since he just gave two soldiers potentially deadly brain damage.

They run for their lives. Spider tries to lead them to the boat he planned to sneak out on that night, but they run into Wainfleet and some recoms, who start chasing them and they're forced to double back. They end up jumping into the moon pool to escape.

The water is even more chaotic than the air: there's submarines, ilu, tsurak, and the rogue tulkun fighting in every direction. The reef girl calls for an ilu and the three of them cling for dear life as they're guided through the underwater battle. They barely make it away from the sea dragon before the engine blows and the giant ship starts to sink, only adding to the chaos.

A submarine spots them and comes after them. It shoots a balloon thing into the ilu and the kids get scattered. They're separated from the reef girl, but Lo'ak and Spider manage to hide in the seaweed long enough to make it to a small rocky island near the battle.

As they're frantically trying to figure out what to do next, a banshee flies over out of nowhere and they realize it's Quaritch. Quaritch heard what Spider did to the ship and realizes Spider's been playing them this whole time. He's furious. Spider has never seen Quaritch look at him like that and he's terrified. The boys try to fight back but Quaritch overpowers them both and cuffs them, handling them very roughly.

Lo'ak tries to talk bravely and warns Quaritch that the Na'vi will overwhelm the humans and kill them all, so he should go ahead and run. Sure enough, when they look at the battle, the Na'vi appear to be winning. But then, In the distance, they see a small gunship rapidly approaching. Quaritch laughs and points at it, telling Lo'ak the reinforcements are arriving and they'll easily overwhelm the Na'vi. Quaritch flags down the gunship and gets ready to the load the boys onto it.

As the gunship lands, Spider thinks his fate is sealed: Lo'ak will be used as a hostage to kill jake and neytiri, and Spider himself will likely be executed. He regrets not picking up the phone when his parents called. Spider doubts Ardmore would let him see them again before he's killed, so the last time he ever saw his parents was when he was fighting them and calling them cowards. He looks at the pilot and recognizes one of his friends from when he was training to be a pilot. It strikes him as odd that his friend was trusted with such an important mission. But he doesn't have much time to think about it because Quaritch harshly grabs Spider by the collar of his shirt and curses at him for betraying him. He says some pretty nasty things to Spider, about how he's a worthless traitor and shouldn't have been born (things he doesn't mean, he's lashing out because he's genuinely hurting that Spider's attempts to bond with him were all an act to get his trust, and this man does not know how to process his emotions other than being hateful). He tells Spider "you're sure as hell no son of mine"

The door to the gunship swings open, and a voice calls out "you're right, he is no son of yours."

Quaritch looks back at the ship in time to see Spider's parents climb out, armed with guns. Spider's mother fires off a warning shot and Quaritch drops Spider and backs away. Spider's father shoots Quaritch in the shoulder and Quaritch dives off the island and disappears into the sea. It's unclear if the wound was fatal or not.

Spider's parents run to their son and tearfully embrace him. They explain that when Spider called them cowards, deep down, they knew he was right. They started subtly making a plan to escape the RDA with other closeted Na'vi sympathizers, but when Spider sent his final video message, they knew they had to act. They gathered everyone and stole a gunship and made it there as fast as they could. Spider breaks down sobbing tears of relief. He thought he would die before he would get to tell his parents he loved them again.

Jake, Neytiri, and the rest of the Sully family find them on the rock as the fighting dies down. The Sullies, Spider, and ragtag group of RDA-defectors retreat to Awa'atlu before the real reinforcements show up. They have a big celebration and the Sullies vouch for Spider and help him explain he only acted as Quaritch's translator to prevent bloodshed and to build up trust to destroy the Sea Dragon. Spider's dad apologizes to Jake for choosing to defect to the RDA, knowing how they hurt the Na'vi. Jake waves off his apology and admits he himself has made some selfish decisions in the interest of protecting his family. Jake says he's done running and is ready to fight the RDA again. The Metkayina are a little skeptical of the new humans at first, but after hearing Tsireya's POV, they decide to allow them to stay. Tonowari and Ronal also agree to join the resistance after witnessing the brutality of the tulkun hunts and having their daughter kidnapped. Spider shares his USBs of stolen intel and it proves extremely helpful in taking down the RDA.

Lo'ak, Kiri, and Spider spend all night talking, overjoyed to be reunited again. In the morning they promise to show Spider all the amazing things in Awa'atlu. They also offer to let Spider sleep in their marui, but Spider declines. His parents brought inflatable atmo-pods for the human defectors to sleep in so they can remove their masks. Spider finds the one his parents are in.

Spider hasn't slept with his parents since he was a little kid, but that night he sleeps curled up with them. A small little family, united by their determination to stand up for whats right 💙

Kudos to you if you made it to the end ha ha. I started writing and I just couldn't stop!

[fractualized]

Alright. Let's break down this "oh" of an ending. NEGATIVE NANCY, COMING THROUGH

Spoilers, ho!

Ending a story is hard, if they're long or short. Whether you wrap up key threads or leave them open, you want some kind of takeaway that puts a period on things. Even in comics, where we know these characters will go on and on, ideally a story will end in a way that just... fits. Even amateur fic writers have loads of WIPs just sitting there because exactly how to end this damn thing eludes them.

I don't know if Rosenberg had an ending in mind when he started The Man Who Stopped Laughing. I don't know if he decided he'd figure it out by the end of it's year-long run. I don't know if DC Editorial lets people do that; it sounds insane, but if you've been paying attention to their current level of editorial "oversight," which I imagine is supposed to make concurrent titles mesh together reasonably well, I wouldn't be shocked if they let people wing it. Or, more likely, perhaps DC Editorial swooped in and made Rosenberg change the ending he had planned and that's why the result falls flat.

In any case, after 11 issues of enjoying myself, I'm left feeling deflated.

But let's start where #12 does, with the Joker who's been told he's John Keyser, a toxin'd henchmen that the real Joker made into a doppelganger for funsies. He approaches a hotdog vendor.

I'm stuck on "Hello. I've been looking for you"?? I didn't catch that on my first read. Joker has a favorite hotdog vendor? lol

Shut up, Waffles!! All we have is your word for it!!

In any case, hey, Keyser Joker has already been Jokering this long, so yeah, why not keep going? And why not with help from poor woobie Jason, fresh from nearly getting himself killed in Gotham War?

Bruce did not fix Jason at the end of Gotham War, so his adrenaline is still triggering fear in his brain. But Keyser Joker has a solution for that!

It's a tiny dose of Joker toxin to take the edge off of Bruce's programming. Joker makes a point of saying that the effects are only temporary, though. (And like, I assume this is just the quick-fix solution Rosenberg came up with to pull off his own ending when told Bruce's plans for Jason over in the other titles.) Jason is skeptical of this "help," naturally, but Keyser Joker brings up their matching interest: getting rid of the other Joker.

Jason, why you gotta ruin Albert's good time? 🙄

Cut to Red Hood dragging a clown henchman through the streets of Gotham.

But "his" face being blacked out and some of the dialogue clue the reader in: things aren't what they seem.

DERAIL TIME: what is up with this batmobile?

Like from some other angles, it looks sportier, but in most of the panels it looks like an old Buick? lol ANYWAY.

With the flaily way this person jumps off the bike and runs, I was sure that this was Keyser Joker and we might see Batman interact with him. Alas.

It's Ravager, who survived last issue's explosion. She's helping Jason 1) distract Batman and 2) get Albert out of harm's way, far from Keyser Joker's plan.

Naturally Keyser Joker is planning something more destructive than he's led Jason to believe. Also like…

The idea that Keyser Joker really is this John guy, not the real deal, is still not sitting fucking right with me. Seeing him here in another costume, with a goofy death train with mismatched eyes just like his, it feels like a signal that he actually is Joker and Waffles is either lying or mistaken somehow. Like compared to the other Joker, who we haven't seen in a costume? Who left Gotham for weird reasons? I really thought there was going to be a reverse reveal.

And since it doesn't come, I guess it's a good time to mention that! There is no reverse reveal of who the real Joker is. Things get a little muddy later, but…. hrm. HRM.

That said, the other Joker does something pretty dang Jokery: he shows up in a dirigible with his face on it.

Killer Moth and a bunch of clown goons (that aren't supposed to be available because of Gotham War but WHATEVER) attach the dirigible to the train and it's pretty chaotic!

I love when villains are like, "Look I may kill people, but an endangered gorilla?! Get outta here!" 😂

Jason also arrives in style.

I guess he was observing Ravager's distraction?? Which feels like it defeats part of the purpose of having her do the distraction. But then he couldn't have this cool entrance in which he bludgeons people with a motorcycle. Trade offs!

Meanwhile, Real Joker makes it to the front of the train to confront Keyser Joker. One of Real's goons offers to shoot Keyser, but Real Joker wants to make this personal and kills the poor hench so he can do it himself.

Jason coming in like YEEEEEAAAAHHHHH 😎

Then he gets the bad news.

Keyser is as casually suicidal as your average Joker! Also "Real" Joker never acknowledges Red Hood's identity, afaik. It's always Keyser Joker. Details like this got me thinking that reverse reveal was coming, AND YET.

That aside, next comes a fun comedy beat.

Real Joker going right for the hair!

Jason isn't going to let this be the end of it, of course, and once again Killer Moth must suffer at his hands.

Jason shoots so many clowns. Just never the one he wants. 😞

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaait wait wait. You're telling me that Bruce knew about the imminent TWO JOKERS situation. But he decided to prioritize a report of Red Hood dragging a clown through the streets. When in the same breath he's saying there are other people coming to the scene with him, so he obviously could've sent someone else? On the same day Batman #139 is like "oooh Bruce is totally onto Joker now"? This is what you're telling me?? Augh.

Well, we can't rely on Batman right now, clearly, so it's up to Jason.

Meanwhile, Keyser Joker has told the other one that he actually does have a secret way off the runaway train safely. After they fight some more, the tune starts to change.

Alright so, this "deal," which would sort of start them back at square one, doesn't bother me because obviously it's on shaky-ass ground and one of them is definitely killing the other before this issue is over. What does bug me is the "franchising" line, for two reasons:

1) Is this supposed to imply that Real Joker is the one who was behind Joker Incorporated in the Batman Incorporated issues, not a third one?

2) I was just SO SURE it was another indication we were getting a reverse reveal. Joker absolutely does not love the franchising idea. That's kind of been the point of this whole series. The genuine Joker in Keyser Joker's hallucination/memory said that having two Jokers around is stupid. HRRRRMMM.

Anyhow, they leave the train together, though the escape plan is literally just jumping off, which has more issues than they bargained for.

So do you think, assuming the Gotham War writers actually communicated at least a little, that Zdarsky asked Rosenberg what he needed Jason for at the end of TMWSL, and Rosenberg was like, "oh I need him to heroically crash a toxic blimp and almost die?" And then Zdarsky was like, "er, I need him to heroically fly a plane into a magic meteor and almost die?" And then they just shrugged and closed the Zoom?

But yeah, the blimp crashes, and I'm sort of confused because I thought that earlier Bruce was saying that even if the toxin gets into the water, it'll still make it's way to the city. So for one thing, it's still exploding in the air and it's still gonna drift. And the parts that dissolve in water are still gonna drift. There's a part to the equation missing here.

But these two are just thrilled at the excitement.

Until the sudden yet inevitable betrayal.

BUT WHO WAS JOKE

Shortly after this, Ravager shows up with Manhunter, who also survived last issue's explosion. (It just doesn't come up at all. Like it doesn't have to, I guess, but it's just weird that there's not a word or wound about it.) Ravager dives into the water looking for Jason, because she instinctually knows he did something grand and dumb. She finds him among the clown bodies and brings him to shore.

Nothing can kill this man! He came back from the dead with nine lives! And also maybe that Lazarus resin from TFZ is still helping, I dunno.

Elsewhere along the shore, what's left of both Jokers' crews find themselves waiting in the same spot for the Joker they expect to be triumphant.

You know what. I'm soured on Waffles now. Leave him.

And then, from the water…

And that's it. That's how it ends. With a sort of snide cop-out?

Like, it's Joker's POV, so yeah, you could say the dickish tone is just him. But following this story for a year, and then seeing it end with simply the old "you'll never know which Joker prevailed," it doesn't feel clever or whatever this is going for. It just feels obnoxious.

Honestly, it feels like the same takeaway as freaking Three Jokers. 😐 That it doesn't matter who Joker is. All the lead-up to this, where maybe we get a tiny bit of depth and development, even if just in this story, eh. Doesn't matter! We're ending this with blah payoff.

On the other hand, the part of about about there being more questions, about this ending not being tidy, makes me think that this is leaving open the possibility that Keyser Joker actually was the real one. After all, we don't get a flashback to the actual events. The events we see are part of a hallucination, and Keyser never said he had clear memories of being the real or the fake one. He just went from assuming he was the real one to taking Waffles' word for it that he was the henchman.

Also, Keyser Joker was always the Joker giving narration. And the narration boxes for the Final Joker at the end remain in his style. So it seems like we actually have a huge indication of which Joker prevailed-- unless we're meant to assume that if the other Joker prevailed, he merely took over the narration.

I mean, this is what we have. So if I can just choose what I want to believe, I'm going to believe both that Keyser was actually the real guy and that he won. But it puts a real sour taste in my mouth to be super engaged with a story and wanting an ending that says something about Joker's character… and the ending is just that one murders the other and you don't know who, neener neener. It's anticlimactic. It's a predictable direction that I thought SURELY Rosenberg wouldn't go in. It feels like a dick move.

And... what else is there to say? So ends my year of consistently buying a comic, I guess. Nothing else has really grabbed me like TMWSL did, though City of Madness looks promising. After the multiverse and Gotham War stuff, I'm not about to start picking up Zdarsky's Batman. #139 had plenty I should enjoy, but it's soured by Zdarsky deciding to bring a canonical take to the three Jokers concept for some ungodly reason.

A new three Jokers take feels extra stupid after a year of a story about two Jokers. And the second Joker in TMWSL isn't even taken into account in Zdarsky's story. Based off that #135 scene, it really looks like he's going to say that Darwin Halliday accidentally copied TKJ Joker somehow. lmao Why. Why do we have to do this. Why can't this just be one of the things that gets retconned away. I just want my murderclown to be fun.

I need to get back to my list of unread older comics. Or read One Operation Joker! I didn't think I was interested, but I think a random goofy premise is actually just what I need.

[candle-lamp]

Rereading SBG and writing what I notice: Episode 21-30:

- Logan tearing up while the phantom grabs Ashlyn

- phantom taking a knee to the face dang

- how heavy are the phantoms bc Aiden was able to fully lift one over himself, either they’re really light or he’s stronger than I thought

- if that phantom had better aim Logan would be very dead

- Tyler checking on Logan

- Ashlyn actually managed to calm Logan down

- Taylor catching Logan before he fell

- Taylor suggesting they experiment with the body

- the phantoms’ bodies being goop raises some interesting questions about what they actually are

- Taylor asking if Logan is okay

- when exposed to light, the phantom gained several eyes that look much more human than their normal ones

- who’s jacket is Logan wearing?

- everyone wanted to go to Savannah and never thought about transportation (average teenager thought process lol)

- Ashlyn is really short compared to the others, which makes sense for dance

- goofy phantom climbing barbed wire

- Taylor telling Ben it was a good idea

- wonder how much Aiden’s allowance is?

- Ashlyn used Aiden’s knife to cut her hair

- Aiden’s parents were gone for months????

- Tyler said he was wondering where Logan was

- Aiden calling Ben “bud”

- Taylor keeping a hand on Logan’s shoulder (she seems to do that a lot when comforting people)

- Tyler calling Aiden “psycho” and Ben “big guy”

- Mr. Thomas noticing Ashlyn’s shadow

- Ashlyn telling Aiden to let go of her hair or she’ll break his arm (I believe her)

- when Aiden tells them not to share Ben’s past, it’s the first time we see him get serious

- we learn the name of the kid who hurt Ben (Shane), I wonder if he’s gonna show up later in the comic?

- I totally forgot Ben’s house got attacked holy crap

- based on h the e timeline Aiden gives I think Ben’s been living with them for 2-3 years? might be wrong

- Aiden calls Ben “bud” again

- Ashlyn completely set aside her food

- Ben blushing when Taylor thanks him

- they live in Alto, Georgia

- those first nights in the shadow dimension must have been terrifying holy crap

- Aiden being so bored by the theories that he slams his head into the table

- Tyler was fully ready to smack him lol

- Aiden was the one to suggest showing Ashlyn's shadow, he was also the one to originally point out the shadow in Logan’s photo

- Logan and his scooter, the twins only have one bike with them, did one walk or did they squeeze on to it?

- Tyler "could you walk any slower?" Aiden "yeah"

- Ashlyn's parents try so hard I love them

- the twins, Logan, and Ben sitting on one couch and Ashlyn and Aiden on the other

- everyone (rightly) disgusted by Aiden’s chewing

- Ashlyn's parents get tense when they say Logan is being bullied, they were also worried that Aiden was bullying Ashlyn, was Ashlyn bullied before or do they just take bullying really seriously?

- Logan got screwed over when they were originally going to the graveyard, at least everyone else was in a group (the twins, and Ashlyn could easily join Aiden and Ben) maybe he lives close to the twins? bro is lucky to be alive

- Logan’s rifle is Ashlyn’s dad's

- most of the gang's weapons make sense but where did the flail come from? hello? screw character backstories I wanna learn about the flail

- first phantom in the human world is freaky as crap

- younger Ashlyn is so real

- Logan’s grandmother being much more suspicious of Ashlyn’s parents, I wonder how his grandparents reacted to learning he was being bullied (assuming they didn't know)

- month time skip for the training arc

- Ashlyn's mom fully bodying Ben is amazing, also Aiden clapping in the background

- Logan is often depicted with tears when panicked or relieved

- Logan silently dying when Ashlyn’s dad chokes him

- Ashlyn hears the dude spying on them

- Aiden buying everyone the matching suits for fun

[scribz-ag24]

i know this is super late but if you're still open to asks for the fandom ask meme, 13 and 23?

Hmmm it's hard to say since I'm always focusing on grovyle/dusknoir/celebi stuff and I've already drawn Guildshipping as well. Actually, it's probably Darkrai/Cresselia. I always like the couple as a kid bc of their dynamic in the games and anime, about them not being evil/good, but counterparts that protect and need each other.

Inside the pmd universe, Darkrai is barely a character at all, I think he's the weakest narrative point in the entire game, and a good contender for most boring antagonist of the franchise (if only for how much of a downgrade he is compared to the rest of the Explorers games' plot), but there is a scene in Explorers of Spirit that shows a deeper bond between Darkrai and Cresselia, and a sort of betrayal between them, that catches my attention. Since there's nothing on the main game that contradicts that headcanon, I just run with it and adopt it for myself, we do love some friends to enemies dynamic here.

Basically, they could be so toxic yuri to me and i really hope i get to clean some sketches i did about them some time lol.

Also maybe revisit those Grovyle/Dusknoir/Darkrai toxic yaoi ideas bc they were really fun to work with lmao. Maybe even simply inserting darkrai into the future polycule and having them all want to kill him rfqegvqerq

And in case youre curious about the Fionna and Cake fandom, i have an entire comic about Astrid and Scarab I wish i had the energy to clean lmao. So it'd be Astrid, she's a cute little annoying fangirl

My favourite character changes every day because I can never decide on whether I prefer Grovyle or Dusknoir lmao. They're both too good. But on the shipping side of things...

Funnily enough, I guess I went from being strictly a Dusknoir/Grovyle fan after se5 to becoming a fan of the polycule after some reflection. I didn't want to get frustrated by how much attention Grovyle/Celebi had despite Celebi's short time on-screen (and at first frustrating "tee hee im a girl,, im pink and have a crush on boy pokemon uwu" characterization) and become one of good ol' toxic 13 yo fujoshis who hated female characters for "being an obstacle" to the yaoi ship. So I tried to focus more on Celebi and I ended up liking her quite a lot once I tried to read more between lines and drew her more times! Especially since you can basically make her have any dynamic you want with Dusknoir. She can be very fun to write and draw! I just wish the writing in the game had given her more... well, writing.

And in the Adventure Time fandom ig i stopped liking Prismo/Scarab a lot after a while and just preferred Kheirosiphon/Scarab but i basically shipped Scarab wwith anyone so there''s not much difference xd

[wisteria-project-archives]

Wisteria Birck 🩵

a.k.a. Portia/Evershine!Wis or P/E!Wis

[you can also just call her P!Wis or E!Wis by themselves lol. most likely once i get her plot for MTAE developed I'll shift to just calling her E!Wis]

Technically the very first clone I made, but she wasn't anywhere near as developed when I played MTAP dkrjdkjrjjf Since Portia's story is comparatively a lot milder in terms of stakes, I think she'd make the best clone to take part in MTAE's story, whatever that ends up being! I'm planning to make another portrait of her for what she looks like going into MTAE, though that'll have to come later.....idk what exactly she'll look like down the line 😂

🌅 Occupation: Builder -> Governor

🌅 Birthday: Fall 4

🌅 Age (at the start of MTAP/MTAS): 23

🌅 Height: 5'5"/165 cm

Story:

The short version:

Wis’s absent father bequeathed his old Portian workshop to her, while she was being raised by her Aunt Kendra in Barnarock. All throughout her teenage years, her resentment for her father festered. She was hesitant to take up an inheritance from her father of all people, but her desire to be somewhere other than Barnarock outweighed her grudge against him. Just for a moment.

While outwardly polite and helpful, her lingering bitterness leads her to be quite isolated from the rest of the townsfolk for a while, even though they were truly grateful for her help in developing the town, and were curious to know her better.

Surprisingly, it was the antics of Higgins that first drew her out of her shell a little bit. He was just so comically disdainful of her that it was funny to talk to him just to prod him a little bit. They would eventually become the most steadfast of friends.

The other person that helped her open up was the mild and somewhat meek Dr. Xu. He saw Wis and right away saw someone in need of help. With her inexperience in building, Wis found herself at the clinic a lot, getting patched up for injuries. They formed a tenuous friendship that way, helped along by Phyllis and the Civil Corps crew, and that gradually blossomed into a soft, cautious, but very fulfilling romance.

Now, she sets her sights on Settlement 2, the events of lategame MTAP spurring a sudden thirst for adventure (perhaps supplemented by a hidden hint of jealousy...?). She and Xu move out to seek yet another horizon, keeping in touch with all the friends they made in Portia, proving that you don't need to abandon your loved ones just for the sake of adventure.

The (very) long version (contains spoilers for MTAP and MTAS)

[crusherthedoctor]

Your hottest Sonic takes?

Most of these are ones you'll already know, but here goes. I'll number them in no real order because bullet points always get lumped together when I use them no matter how I space them, which bothers me lol. And as always, these are just the ones that come immediately to mind, as I'm sure to have plenty more (I'm not a contrarian for contrarian's sake, I swear D:).

1. Just because I take faithfulness to the game canon seriously - hence my disapproval for adaptations that change shit for the sake of changing shit out of a misplaced sense of superiority - doesn't mean I think the game canon is perfect. Putting aside the obvious questionable quality of certain installments, there are also certain traditions in the games that I don't exactly appreciate, and refuse to tolerate them just because I'm apparently expected to (ie: the friends standing around being cheerleaders while Super Sonic does his thing, Eggman being usurped and/or forced to team up with Sonic so damn often, characters having a limited range of interactions with other characters, certain characters being rather obnoxiously OP, etc).

2. IDW Sonic is still a holier than thou asswipe whose actions and overall behaviour don't line up with how great and virtuous he supposedly is. Prime Sonic is still an unbearable dumbass, and the show and characters are grilling him for the completely wrong reasons.

3. If your only idea for redeeming Tails is making him a yes-man for Sonic, then I don't think you actually care about Tails aside from how good he makes Sonic look.

4. Shadow coming back after his not-death doesn't undermine SA2's ending. But him coming back so soon afterwards kind of does. They should have waited a lot longer before bringing him back.

5. Rouge is not a villain. Rouge is not a villain. Rouge is not a villain. And outside of her jewel obsession, she's not even that majorly anti-heroic after SA2.

6. Eggman is a villain. Eggman is a villain. Eggman is a villain. And you can flesh him out without softening him up. Pre-Frontiers games already did it FFS.

7. Just because Cream is a little girl, and acts appropriately for the most part compared to Tails, doesn't mean she should be infantilized by the other characters and by the writing. She's more capable than she's given credit for.

8. Merlina isn't that amazing. Better than the Mephiles-tier villains of course, but she still fell short of her unique concept.

9. Erazor Djinn AKA Qui-Gon Djinn AKA Tonic Djinn AKA Other Djinn Pun is the best villain who isn't Eggman, an Eggman robot, affiliated with Eggman, or Chaos.

10. I've made my apathy for Silver well known during the last few days cause of all the IDW Silver discourse, but I'll take it one spicier step further: when people defend him by saying he earned his place, I think "...Did he?"

Make no mistake, he absolutely does not deserve to be treated like garbage by the IDW crew either way, but compared to other recurring game characters, including similarly divisive ones like Shadow, I've always felt as though he was shoehorned into later games because he was already set to as the hot new character of the initially anticipated '06, rather than earning his place more organically if you get me. And when people say how awesome it was that he almost killed Sonic effortlessly twice in '06, I ask myself when Sonic getting textbook Worf'd in a game with his name on it was considered a good thing. I mean, is that the level of '06 stanning we're at now?

Or maybe I'm just letting my bitterness at (IMO) better characters remaining one-offs do the talking. I'm willing to admit that I am indeed bitter about that. :P (Also, I'd like to apologise to Silver fans for harping on about him like this a lot as of late. I really have nothing against his level-headed fans, and I still sympathise with them on his poor treatment in the comics despite my apathy towards him.)

11. Forces is one of Eggman's best showings despite the underutilized premise. That fans' only idea for "fixing" the game is usurping him with Infinite and/or the Phantom Ruby says a lot about how much they want him to be out of the way.

12. I don't understand why the in-game racing banter in TSR is taken so seriously. Speaking as someone who otherwise takes characterization very seriously, this is like if people started shitting on Mario Kart because of Luigi's death stare.

13. Other games are objectively worse (like '06 and Chronicles), but Frontiers is my personal least favourite Sonic game for... well, nearly everything about it. And neither Sage or The End are as deep or as fans make them out to be.

14. At this point, I separate the IDW characters into two categories. The first category consists of the characters who I just hate or find lame full stop (Surge and Kit, Rough and Tumble, Mimic). The second category consists of the characters that I think could have had potential if it weren't for the awful writing, that I begrudgingly feel somewhat bad for as a result, and as such would be willing to attempt to redeem if I could (Tangle, Whisper, Lanolin, Starline before he got turned into Toothpaste Snively).

15. I respect Daniel Barnes, his work and understanding of Sonic's character in particular is certainly of a higher quality than that of Flynn and Stanley, and he also has more integrity to be sure. But I can't currently buy into the full hype since I wasn't that interested in Scrapnik Island, and since I'm very cautious of the golden pedestal mentality, since that's how people like Flynn got as far as they have in the first place, I really wish the fans who are as tired of Flynn and Co's antics as I am would keep that in mind.

16. I prefer What I'm Made Of over Live & Learn.

17. I'm not a literal "Classic Good, Modern Bad" type of fan, but the things that I appreciate most about Sonic games tend to be associated more in the public consciousness - at least in terms of gameplay, use of playable characters, and aesthetics - with classic and classic-in-spirit games.

18. AoStH is better than SatAM because it had Long John Baldry. *dab* And SatAM was the first serious split in the franchise, and the influence of said split continues to this day with the Freedom Fighter stans and their desire to make everything like SatAM/Archie, meaning I wholeheartedly wish this show never existed. *double dab*

19. I don't have a guilty pleasure, because that would imply I feel any guilt for enjoying them. I enjoy 3D Blast as a fun little time waster without any shame, and I have ironic enjoyment for ShtH, also without any shame.

20. If you use mandates as an excuse for bad writing, I officially cannot trust anything you have to say on the writing, the characters, and probably the entire franchise.

[ladyantiheroine]

Hey bestie, I hope you're doing good. I'm back with another question about twau if you don't mind answering. I know that we basically went over this already, but which version of the Bigby and Snow's relationship do you find to be better between twau and fables? How would you improve on the other? Also, how you foresee Bigby and Snow getting together in twau compared to fables? Thank you.

Hello bestie! I’m doing good and I hope you are too!

And yes, I’m happy to answer because I’m happy to talk about this franchise!

So like I’ve said before, I still haven’t read all the comics (I’ve been meaning to, I’ve just been busy and I’m easily distracted lol). So this is based on imperfect info as I’ve only read up to issue #50-ish.

Short Answer: Bigby and Snow have a better romance in the Telltale game than in the comics. The chemistry is better, their characters are better fleshed out, and there's more emotional vulnerability between the two.

Long Answer:

Comics Spoilers Below

It’s pretty obvious based on my other posts, but I prefer TWAU over Fables overall. For a lot of reasons, one being that Telltale does the Snowby romance far more justice than in the comics.

A part of all this has to do with the fact that Fables and TWAU tell very different kinds of stories with the same characters and premise. Fables is an epic war story, with a bigger scope and a wider cast of characters. TWAU is a detective noir story, with a scope limited to Fabletown. This means TWAU has more time and space to explore the characters' interpersonal relationships as opposed to the wider Fables politics. It partially explains why Snowby feels more developed in the game, because the game has the scale and focus to do so.

There’s also the fact that…Bill Willingham just isn’t very good at writing romance. Like I mentioned in my post about Snow White, he's not very interested in the characters' internal lives. He also seems to have a conservative man's idea of women and male/female relationships (ex. strong women are bossy bitches, wives are nagging shrews, etc.). He writes scenes that are romantic in a vacuum but with little evidence beforehand that these characters even care for each other. Because he only seems to care about the character relationships on a surface level.

Telltale, on the other hand, cares about the characters on an emotional and psychological level. We see the personal toll on Bigby as he struggles to protect a community that doesn't trust him. We see Snow's strict, business-like front slip and how rightfully scared she is. We see them work together. We see them banter and laugh and make each other smile. We see them be open and vulnerable with each other. We see them bicker and fight and then make up. That's how you write a relationship people can get invested in.

Meanwhile, in the comics, I don't know if Bigby and Snow even like each other. He's outright mean and threatening to her at times, and she's spent centuries turning him down over and over. Sure, they work together and he saved her from the Adversary that one time, but so what? They hardly seem to get along, and not even in an "enemies to lovers" kind of way. When they do act romantic towards it each other, it feels forced because there was no groundwork laid out before then. Willingham wants these two together, so he smashes them together despite them having little reason to even like each other.

~

As for how I'd improve it (based on what I've seen from the first 50 issues), it's funny you ask that because I had an idea for a rewrite a long while ago. It has to do with the airport scene in volume three after Bigby and Snow escape the woods after killing Goldilocks. (I'm assuming you've read at least the first three volumes. If not, this might not make sense, sorry)

Basically, as they're leaving, Snow tells Bigby she might be interested in going on a date with him. Now, Bigby has not told Snow that they had sex in the tent yet. He knows they did because he could smell it with his super scent. His reason was that it would have upset her and they had bigger fish to fry at that moment (being hunted by Goldilocks). But at this moment, in the airport, they are safe. Bigby could have told her what happened and he didn't. It's not until later when Snow discovers that she's pregnant that she connects the dots and gets rightfully pissed at him for not telling her.

I think about this moment a lot because it had so much potential both to further their romance and Bigby's character.

See, Bigby's whole thing is that he's a "reformed Big Bad Wolf." He's struggling between the violent, selfish person he used to be and the more peaceful person he's trying to be (you see this more clearly in the game with all the choices you're given where you can be an asshole or more cooperative).

This scene, where Snow is warming up to him but still doesn't know they had sex, is a chance for Bigby to choose to be a better man. If he told Snow that they did have sex, and that he lied about it, it could push her away (remember, he’s been failing to get with her for years at this point). However, being honest with her would be the right thing to do.

(I’m not sure why Bigby doesn’t tell her the truth at this point. I don’t know why it takes Snow busting the doctor to find out. I mean, they likely didn’t have protection, so what did he expect to happen?).

If I were writing this scene, I would have Bigby tell her the truth right at that moment, right when she’s warming up to him. From his perspective, he could keep his mouth shut and finally get a chance to date Snow. But instead, as part of his mission to “reform” himself, he chooses the selfless option. He tells Snow the truth about what happened in the woods even if it means pushing her away right when she’s giving him a chance. He sacrifices his own desires in favor of being honest with her.

Not only would this be an interesting character beat for Bigby, but it could help develop their romance better. Obviously, Snow will still be upset that he lied and they that did have sex under the spell. But she’d probably appreciate his uncharacteristic honesty. And it means she won’t feel as betrayed by him when she finds out she’s pregnant. It opens up a chance for them to face this problem together.

And one other thing. I mentioned this in a response to someone’s else comment, but there’s a scene where Bigby tells Snow they “need to talk” about their upcoming kids, but Snow is busy so she tells him they’ll talk about it later. We never see this “talk about it later” scene. The Battle of Fabletown happens, we see them on a park bench, and Snow says her water is breaking. That’s it

This is my biggest gripe with the comics’ romance in general. It feels like there are scenes missing. Scenes of Bigby and Snow actually talking to each other and working out things. Why didn’t Bigby just tell Snow the truth about what happened in the woods? Why didn’t we get a scene of them deciding what to do once Snow gets pregnant? Willingham doesn’t seem to care, which is weird given how much attention Bigby and Snow’s relationship is given in the overall story.

I understand that Fables has a bigger story to tell and the Snowby romance isn’t the main point. And I also know that Fables is set in a world where traditional, fairytale happily-ever-afters are not the norm. But if you’re going to write a love story, one that we as the readers are invested in, you need to give us more than that. We need more than just him saving her life a few times.

Basically, overall, I would improve the comics romance by just having Bigby and Snow talk to each other more. I would write more scenes of them communicating instead of skipping ahead like Willingham does. I would also show more scenes of compromise between the two. Bigby choosing to be less of an asshole, Snow softening her demeanor a bit, etc. More scenes of them being vulnerable with each other. And like the game, more scenes of them working together as a team because that's what made their game relationship so good to me.

~

As for how they get together later in TWAU? That's a very good question. The answer is, I'm not sure. It depends on what happens in season two and what direction they take the characters.

Bigby and Snow don't get together in season one because it's meant to be a canon prequel to the comics, and they aren't together at the start of the comics. If they're committing to the games being canon to the comics, then they probably won't end up together.

However, if they decide to divert from the comics (my preferred option), then that opens the doors for more. We still don’t know much about the game’s plot at this point beyond Bigby being suspended from the force, a new case coming up, Bigby in anger management therapy, and the Wizard of Oz characters showing up.

It’s going to be very interesting with Snow suspending Bigby from the force and making him go to therapy. Snow has always had a problem with Bigby’s more violent side, and his inability (or unwillingness) to control it at times. It’s a core part of their dynamic: she’s law and order while he’s violence and chaos. Snow using her new authority as mayor to force him to get his shit together could lead to some interesting internal tension.

However. We also get this voice-over in the teaser trailer from Snow:

“There was a time when you were heartless. Brutal. A monster. And I’m proud of you for changing all that. But I’m here to ask you to be those things once more. For them. For me. Can I count on you? Bigby, can I count on you?”

This is very interesting to me. Snow, who has always been weary of Bigby’s monstrous side, is now asking him to come back after suspension and embrace that side of himself again. This tells me that Snow might be slightly more lenient on his Big Bad Wolf approach than in season one. And this tolerance could open the door for their relationship to develop, as her repulsion won’t be such a dealbreaker anymore. I like to imagine after Bigby's suspension, the two would grow to miss each other and be glad to be working together again "just like old times." But that's just me.

Also, after she asks Bigby if she can count on him, he answers, “Always.” This could just mean he’ll always be there to protect Fabletown. But given the emphasis in the voice over that this is for her as much as the town, I think there’s a romantic undertone to that to. He’ll always be there for her. Maybe that’s a sign that their romantic potential isn’t over?

I don’t know. I’m just speculating and there’s a lot we still don’t know about the game. And of course, with any Telltale game, the player’s choices will affect things as well. Even if we do get an option to romance Snow, not every player will take it.

If I were the writer for Telltale, I would throw out continuity with the comics entirely and let the games be their own thing. Lots of fans have expressed disappointment on how the comics compare to the game so I don’t think there would be too much pushback. I know Telltale is capable of writing a great, convincing romance (Hello, Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle) and I would love to see Bigby and Snow get the same treatment. It excites me to think what a Telltale Snowby romance would look like.

~

So yeah, in conclusion: I’ll always be impressed by how Telltale managed to write a more organic romance than Willingham despite the games having fewer explicitly romantic scenes. It speaks to just how awesome Telltale is at character writing. I didn’t feel much when Snowby kissed in the comics. I didn’t get butterflies in my stomach reading about their wedding.

But in the games, when Snow told Bigby that it scared the hell out of her when she thought she lost him? When Bigby told Snow that he’d never leave her? This one, small, intimate moment and the only explicitly romantic one between them in the whole game?

I was jumping up and down, screaming at them to kiss already.

And that’s just not a reaction Willingham has ever gotten out of me. Fables!Bigby can make as many poetic declarations of love he wants, but it will never hold a candle to “Snow, I would never leave you.”

Anyway, there’s another overly-long ramble for you. I could say a bunch more but this is long enough. I don't know if this all makes sense but I hope it answers your questions. :)

[undertheknightwing]

I'm sure this is absolutely predictable of me but - your boy Gar and my girl Rach for "Send me a character" 💚🖤

The siblings of all time ✨️

Garf first 🐯

First impression

Oh baby boy. Such a sweetie pie 🥺 *watches Asylum* Whoa! This show is actually letting Gar have a character besides goofy sidekick?? This just got so much more interesting.

Impression now

So that was a fucking lie. Buttt.. if I wrote out my true impression of him now we'd be here all day so imagine I'm unfolding a comically long list of my Gar thoughts because there’s a lot. The less the show did with him, the more I got to over analyze and create from there.

Favorite moment

When he's left in the tower and just messes around for a few days. I re-watch it all the time. It's very relatable too, I get sad and unmotivated after a day without having people to talk to as well. Also that scene from s3 ep1 when he's talking to himself in his room, I love his silly facial expressions, and "nothing tops a Super" has been burned into my brain.

Idea for a story

Fic wise? You'll just have to wait and see 👀

Unpopular opinion

I don't think it's really unpopular but his hair is so bad. I wasn't a fan of it in s3 but s4 made it so much worse. I'm also not a huge fan of his suit but that's for "it looks cheap and plain compared to the other ones" reasons.. like the abs on it look like the kind you'd see on a Halloween costume. It's weird.

Favorite relationship

In canon.. I don't really know. Gar's character felt it went from "DickKory's son" level of importance to just "oh yeah that guy" throughout the seasons. Gar's relationships with the characters (besides Rachel) is pretty surface level imo, especially in seasons 3 - 4. But whatever Gar's relationship with the Red is seems cute. It changed it's realm color for him and looks to care about him a lot through what I saw in the episode. He's clearly the favorite child and I love that for him.

Favorite headcanon

I got one too many of those, but him being able to purr is always a great one, and acting cat-like at times. Empty box? That's his now. Left a cup on the island? It's pushed onto the floor. Nothing is safe. He might have left a dead bird somewhere as a gift too, who knows.

And just for fun have some songs that gives me his vibes: Shapeshifter by Brye, The Garden by The Crane Wives, and Wild Things by Alessia Cara

It's Rach time 🖤

this is more your territory so I'm sorry if it's a little lackluster 😅

First impression

Precious girl. So precious. Must be protected at all costs. I really like this take on her powers and character.

Impression now

Much like Gar, she got the short end of the stick in the show tbh. She went from being the most important to a side plot thing which sucks. She should have had much more to do in season 4 since they were dealing with her family.

Favorite moment

I like a lot of her scenes in season 1 the most. Her interacting with the Doom Patrol was cute.

Idea for a story

That's your thing lol but I never liked how they always kept her stories tied to Trigon somehow in any media so I would give her a more unique story about something else.

Favorite relationship

She and Kory were my favorite for a long time but I've warmed up to her and Dick's father-daughter relationship because of you. So I choose them 💙🖤

Favorite headcanon

She's an artist who prefers painting over the other arm forms and painted something special for all the Titans members.

And some songs for your duo: Protector by City Wolf or Calm Me Down by American Authors, they have season 1 vibes

Thank you Mundi! 🖤💚

[magicalgirlmascot]

May or may not have been inspired to create the KNPS Toa in Hero Forge. Probably also gonna do the Turaga. I’m def curious as to your thoughts on everyone’s appearances, wanna see how what I have so far compares.

I am in TEARS please please please show me when you're done!!!

I've been kind of deliberately vague about their appearances in the fic itself because last time I wrote a big long human!Bionicle fic where I was more specific about their appearances I. wound up hating it later lol. I will say though that my Bionicle Sports Anime designs aren't necessarily what I have in mind when writing! (Those are mostly just for drawing Bionicle fanart without having to draw robots and possible eventual comic reasons.)

I do have some stuff in mind, though! I'm putting it under a readmore because it wound up getting fairly long lol

Tahu: redhead, toned and fairly beefy on account of the MMA but not like dehydrated about it, jeans, t-shirts, and button-downs with the sleeves rolled up kinda guy

Kopaka: my brother thinks he should be albino but I'm on the fence there, either way he does have blue eyes and light hair cut pretty short, glasses, tall and thin

Gali: petite, curly hair usually pulled back from her face, wears a lot of long, flowy clothes (cardigans, skirts, etc.)

Onua: short af, fat, muscular, hairy, I've made Gimli jokes before but I honestly do picture him looking like Senshi DungeonMeshi with less beard, almost exclusively wears black jeans, glasses are not prescription but to help with his light sensitivity

Pohatu: tall, runner's build (muscular legs, kind of average weight distribution tbh), thick brown hair that he's been growing out, tends towards muted colours and earth tones

Lewa: fucking beanpole, tall, thin, and gangly, hair is a bird's nest 99% of the time and he has given up trying, wears green almost to the complete exclusion of other colours, loves himself some good cargo pants

Vakama: glasses and tidy beard, greying hair, middling height, wears a lot of old man sweaters/cardigans

Nokama: taller than Matau but shorter than Vakama, hair is going grey but she dyes it, carries herself with grace and poise, it's. I do picture Lucretia Adventurezone a little bit while writing her ngl

Matau: short!!! absolute manlet and either mad about it or chill with it depending on which is funnier in context, wears loud shirts

Onewa: was not a cane user at the start of the story but is one now on account of his bad back, growing his beard out, worst case of resting bitch face you've ever seen, decently tall

Whenua: tallest Turaga, thick glasses, has worn a dress shirt and tie to work every day for the last 20+ years and isn't going to stop now even if his husband makes fun of him for it >:(

Nuju: average height, long fingers, went white by age 35 (claims it's from stress but it just runs in the family, Kualus was also fully white by 35 and Matoro probably will be too), dresses nicely but not a full shirt and tie like some people

Also you didn't mention them but bonus characters bc I've been thinking about them:

Takua: built like Lewa (tall and gangling), dyes his hair blue, fashion choices are "the colours gave me a headache so I bought it immediately"

Jaller: short king, blonde, probably the most athletic kid in the class

Hahli: shorter than Takua but still pretty tall, wears jeans and sturdy clothes, solidly built

Krahka: I mean sometimes she's a fox and sometimes she's got six arms and tits the size of her head, she can look however she wants

Again please please show me when you're done!!!! I would like to see it

[fagdolly]

not a doll but my shitty fnf designs. darnell and gf to come

hcs below the cut bc my handwriting is barely visible lol

BF

- filipino in my heart. i know a jejemon when i see one

- his 13 year old design is his appearance in picos school. you cant see it in the scan but i hc his hair to be a sort of dark brown at 13 and a shitty dye job at 19

- for his 19 year old design i kept most things the same just gave him fingerless gloves and made it so his pants are falling off

- inside joke but i like to think his full government name is boyfriend jones (BJ for short). dot xml is cute too though :3

PICO

- ngl i havent figured out his adult design yet so this is just him at 13

- alot of people draw him with a chip tooth but i always interpreted it as a bucktooth (🤓) . you can see it in abunch of mindchamber's art!

- curly hair + freckles haver #to me . i hc that his freckles sort of dissapear when he gets older though

- taller than bf + nene, shorter than darnell

- i sfill think he keeps that sort of boyishness from when he was a kid but now its kind of in a loserlike way. hes reckless and destructive but also a doofus goober (ermm..hes right behind me isnt he 🤨). he can lock in when he needs to but he's unfortunately kind of a bum (probably what brought him and bf together in the first place, albeit to a much lesser degree than bf) . what elsee. i like to think that he likes to show off. he thinks hes soo cool and unfortunately he kind of is sometimes. also while theyre all homicidal maniacs hes still comparatively normal compared to how freakish the other 2 can be

NENE

- has a chiptooth, which kind of turns into her fucked up shark teeth when shes 19. her fucked up teeth in pico vs uberkids was like. comically racist but im asian and i thought itd be cute :3 i think that shes a biter

- lots of stray hairs which is pushed back by headband as a kid. hair a lot messier + spikier as adult

- turtleneck as a kid hides her noose scars while sleeves cover sh scars, this is replaced by a long-sleeved blouse and a heart-shaped choker as an adult

- shortest out of the group, just barely below bf's height (gf >/= darnell > pico > bf > nene)

- she likes to fuck around with pico like a stress toy and finds him fascinating (king magnum/danny smokes situation) but she doesnt take any of his shit and is the most intolerant of his incompetence . both his friends are freaks but pico has to be twice as careful around her 😭 she likes darnell though bc he lets her get away with anything and is more cunning :3

[sashkapi]

This is my first time sending you an ask because I was shy, but I was just binge-scrolling your profile (again), and I just wanna say never apologize for making more beautiful content about kbsd, especially the kindall ones :'3

Like, mygosh, you have no idea how many times your updates have made my day because I am also STARVING for kbsd and kindall content kebdjshwjdbsjsjc You're honestly such a blessing for that special place in my heart reserved for just kindall HAHAHAHAHA Like damn, where you've been after all these years T-T

But anyway, I super love your headcanons about kindall, and also just kbsd in general. I wanna ask you so many stuff like how tall do you think Kick would be compared to Kendall when they grow older? Do you think Hansel would like Kick when Kindall finally gets a little closer to the friendship side of things or will Hansel be super overprotective over Kendall and basically hate Kick' guts lol ALSO, what do you think of Kendall and Gunther as friends? Or their dynamic as fellow class officers? It's been a while, but I remember there being an episode where Gunther won as president to the student council I think? And like, I'm lowkey sad that this wasn't ever mentioned or referenced again in another episode. Because on one hand, I do think Gunther is smart in certain aspects and this is a good way for him to show it, BUT ALSO, IMAGINE IF KENDALL SHOWED GUNTHER THE ROPES FOR ALL THESE STUDENT COUNCIL STUFF AND THAT'S HOW THEY GOT A LITTLE CLOSER AS FRIENDS? Sorry for the all-caps, I just think it'd be super cute if there was more content about the other friendships and connections between the side characters (especially for Kendall, cause I remember her celebrating her birthday alone on that one episode where Kick babysits Oscar I think, AND THAT'S JUST SO SAD AND SHE DESERVES BETTER)

But anyway, sorry for the super long and messy brain dump hahaha, but endpoint to all of this, just wanna say that I love the content you make and I'm super excited to see your other headcanons and comics. That's all, thank you so much for all that you do and I wanna send you virtual hugs (with consent) <33 Byeee!

Me, after I red this ask /pos

KSJDJFKDFJGK PLEASE I"M SO HAPPY I MADE SOMEONE HAPPY WITH MY SILL KBSD ART I SWEAR IT SO AAAAAAAA

Ok i'm gonna put the rest under the cut because OH I HAVE A LOT TO SAY

I actually drew their designs for like mid/late twenties for a quick joke and didn't put as much thought into that BUT KJGKDJFGJK

Ok so adult Kindall

I feel a bit embarrassed by just how strong of a grip those two have on me but chvyf I'm still gonna make content with them of course >:D

Also

We stan short king ayooooooooo

About Hansel and Kick

I like the idea that she's not overprotective over Kendall or likes Kick right away but a secret third thing: sees him as a rival for the rank of awesome's first place. Like whenever he visits Kendall Hasel goes "aight boy, square up!" And just starts acting cute and adorable because that what somewhat gave her first place in the past.

Her cuteness doesn't work on Kick of course but Kendall? She already loves Hansel very much so whenever Hansel "competes" with Kick by rolling on the floor or rubbing against Kendall's legs you know that Kendall will be borderline crying from how adorable her kitty is.

The fact that cat can easily take all of Kendall's attention like that doesn't makes Kick mad tho. But he sure is irritated by that. Frustrated even.

GUNTHER AND KENDALL'S FRIENDSHIP IS SOMETHING THAT I THOUGHT ABOUT ADGCJVJV

Hansel counts that as a win btw jfnfnnfkfk

Before this ask I just thought that they're neutral. Not friends, Gunther is also kinda wary of her but generally sees her as just a classmate. BUT YEAH THAT EPISODE ABOUT ELECTION. IT WOULD BE FUNNY IF THAT WAS AT LEAST MENTIONED BUT AAAAAAA

Now I kinda like the idea that Kendall was scheming to take Gunther's place after the episode. However, Gunther kinda realized that student council position? Not very hype. Barely any time to hang out. So Gunther genuinely asked Kendall for help. Like, Jacky is wack (affectionate) but Kendall is pretty much known for her love for the rules and academics so it's only logical. And at first Kendall wanted to use that to completely "overthrow" him but Gunther, being an absolute lovable funny guy he is, made her go "Ok, you can stay actually"

I like the idea that Kendall keeps Gunther from turning the school into a Nordic funny land and Gunther keeps her from turning the school into a literal prison. It's a win win situation

ALSO I TOO WISH THERE WAS MORE ESTABLISHED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CHARACTERS SVJVJBL

It's kinda implied that Mouth and Ronaldo are friends. Ronaldo had goons too (where did they go :( ) Also I really warming up to the idea that Kyle and Jackie became chaotic besties or even romantic partners (sorry Gunther x Jackie people, but Kyle x Jackie has more comedic potential to me)

I also wanted to see Kendall interact with more with her peers like jjdjgnjdndjfjck even if not friendly, just lemme see my girl being a menace

JFJJCJC PLEASE YOUR ASK LIGHTEN MY DAYS SO MUCH LIKE I CANT PLEASE KNOW THAT I THOUGHT ABOUT THIS ASK EVERY DAY SINCE I GOT IT

IM SO SORRY FOR LATE REPLY I WAS BUSY BUT SHGUFYCHV NOW ONCE IM GETTING MORE FREE TIME IM MAKING MORE CONTENT ABOUT THIS SILLY LIL DARDEVIL BOY

(Please know I am returning that virtual hug :) )

[go-go-devil]

for the send you a character ask!! talk about a character of your choice!! would be fun to learn about a new character lol

Since I still have a special interest in The Sandman series, I'll use this as an excuse to talk about Delirium of the Endless!

First impression: I was paging through a copy of Brief Lives that we got at the book store I work at and was instantly captivated by her incredibly unique comic text bubbles, along with her unusual way of speaking. She was legit the main catalyst in getting me interested in reading the Sandman comics just so I could learn more about her (and her siblings)

Impression now: Supreme Goddess of Neurodivergency and Transgender and Fluttering Swimmy Things 🦋🐠 Easily my favorite character in the series and sooooooo happy that she helped get me into these awesome graphic novels!

Favorite moment: Geez I dunno, every single thing she does in Brief Lives? I really can't stress how much I enjoy this character, and honestly she appears so far into the comics that any singular moment I describe would be spoilers

I guess to keep it as vague as possible I particularly love the scene where she stabilizes herself for the sake of telling off her eldest brother Destiny and comforting her brother Dream. It's a short scene, but to me it's when her entire character really clicked into place for me, that's all I'll say for now ;)

Idea for a story: I was always fascinated with how Rose Walker's hair colors perfectly reflect Delirium's. Hell I actually thought Del was going to make her first appearance in The Doll's House due to that, but sadly that wasn't the case. Personally I'd love to read (or even write) a story about Rose coming into contact with Del in some way, perhaps serving as the exact moment when her Vortex powers start developing. I just really want these two to interact, they're both such interesting characters 🥺

Unpopular opinions: ARE there any unpopular opinions of Delirium? I don't engage with the wider Sandman fandom so I'm out of the loop there. Fandom-wise I will say he one thing I would definitely hate the most is if anyone ever tries to infantilize Del. Yes she may be the youngest of the Endless and have a notably child-like way of articulating much of her thoughts, but that doesn't mean she's stupid!

Favorite relationship(s): Getting the obvious out of the way, I adore how her relationship with Dream was handled. It would have been so predictable to have him be constantly annoyed at and condescending to his littlest sister because of how much younger and less formal she is compared to him, but instead Neil Gaiman took the high road by actually having Dream try his best to understand her and treat her as an equal throughout their journey. Honestly even all these decades later it's still refreshing for me as someone who's used to seeing neurodivergent-coded characters being treated as nothing more than comic relief and/or demonized for the way they act

Of course I also love the strong sibling bond she had/continues to have with Destruction. Can't describe that one in too much detail because once again that would be major spoilers, but it out of all of her siblings he seemed like the only one who really tried to understand her and actually accepted her change

I also do like what little we see of Del and Barnabus together. I see him as her emotional support dog since good lord she was in dire need of one. He's often sarcastic with her and doesn't really understand much about Del's thought-processes yet, but I do love how he chooses to remain loyal to her and help her out the best he can. The way he does so in her portion of the Endless Nights comic in particular made me super emotional T_T

Favorite headcanon: As I mentioned earlier I do hc that she had a direct encounter with Rose Walker at some point. There was also this one piece of fanart I saw that depicted Delirium and Dream creating "fever dreams" together and I totally love that idea! The Endless's powers inevitably cross with each other in certain instances, so I'm always down for seeing depictions of them working together in such a way

[metacrisisdoctor]

What's the turning of the tides?

i've never heard of it.

It sounds godawful though.

it's a short story that jenny colgan wrote in 2019 for an anthology book which featured stories about each doctor and their companions. she wrote a story about tentoo and rose where rose is pregnant and some weird shit is happening so someone asked for the doctor and she says he isn't there. then it does weird flashback type things where she tells him to choose a name bc she can't call him doctor and compares it to picking a name for a dog. she shoots all his choices until he chooses "corin" and then he goes by that.

in their time in pw (two years iirc) they moved to a small town and live on a quiet street. corin is a family practioner (a doctor hahahahha right?) and rose is going to school to get a diploma in child care???

in the end idk whatever smth is happening and rose is yelling at him because he can't remember much??? about being the doctor and these aliens??? but thennnn she gives birth to their baby and she has an epiphany that even tho corin is a different man she has fallen in love with him. after she gives birth. she realizes... After..

and keep in mind this stripes rose of being defender of the earth entirely.

it's a complete insult not just to tentoo, who is very adamant about being the doctor, just lets rose walk all over him- but also to rose and to her development AND HER CHARACTER AS A KIND PERSON.

it's just so bad.

the story isn't canon to me because canon on doctor who is really tricky. nothing is really FULLY SET canon except things confirmed by the show (essentially, the eighth doctor made big finish canon when he mentioned charley before the 50th) but comics and books are sort of... wavy canon because the bbc does not confirm or deny anything.

now, to me canon lies with rtd when it comes to tentoorose. they're his characters. his say is the truth. all rtd has ever said is that they're happy and that in his head they have the new tardis. ("the doctor in the tardis. as it should be."

(and their scrapped spin off called "earth defense" which eventually became torchwood so we can assume they work for unit/torchwood in rtd's mind)

this story goes against these things.

what i know is jenny colgan joked that rtd is not allowed to read tot because it would upset him. aka she knew it was bad and he was not at all invovled in the process of it's creation so: it's simply not canon.

before the short story big finish did two tentoo audios set a year after journey's end. in these tentoo works for unit as a scientific whatever thing, you know. and he and rose are in an established relationship. the baby tardis is growing in his lab. they're told in the pov that jackie is calling a friend and it's so nice to hear about it from jackie herself. ok long story short, tentoo blows up big ben and then gets someoen arrested. jackie gets pissed off and feels like the real doctor wouldn't do that (lmfao!) and jackie also expresses being afraid that when the tardis grows he'll leave rose behind or they'll disappear again. the first one ends with them in a really bad place and not speaking.

the second audio starts with jackie talking about how she and the doctor tried to act normal but they kept arguing (jackie yelling at him lol) and so rose and pete decided to put them on a zeppelin together to work it out, essentially parent trap them into talking.

a lot of stuff happens and basically the zeppelin starts to crash and he calls unit and tells them to get everyone off the bridge etc and so this makes jackie realize that she always knew deep down he was still the doctor and that he was still helping people. they're about to die together and he breaks down and cries telling her he knows he messed up (blew up big ben and other things) and that he thinks he hates him and she says that she could never hate him and that he made their lives better etc. and he tells her he loves rose and that he loves her and how he realizes he's about to die and looks so scared and then he tells jackie they should jump before they crash into the bridge and jackie realizes that he is LITERALLY the doctor and that's essentially how it ends!

so these stories obviously do not align! big finish is canon, better, and came out FIRST. to boot RTD HAD APPROVED THESE STORIES, and they're written by someone who wrote on the sarah jane adventures which rtd also ran, which makes them canon because rtd approved them and they go with his ideas!

but for SOME reason. some fans decide to accept corin as canon instead of big finish. and it drives me INSANE. like why did you just read this painfully ooc and disrespectful story and just say "yeah, i believe this." what little understanding of who ROSE is do you even have to think this would be how it goes and how little respect you have for the doctor if you think he would let rose decide who he is or isn't for him? nahhhhhhhhh

anyway in 2021 there was a tentoo comic that came out that is also that sort of canon (but approved by chibnall who was showrunner then) and in this comic tentoo goes by john smith and the comics solidifies multiple times that he is the doctor. he and rose are happily married and have a daughter named mia. this story has similar bones to tot but it much more tender and respectful and overall very pleasing. so even though it's probably not meant to tie into the big finish audios, most of us think it's good enough that we accept it as a continuation.

anywy thanks for asking i needed to rant about something 😩

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

To mod: Rank the designs of the Persona 5 party personas including Arsene and the ultimate personas! (Please?)

//Sure! I honestly really wanted to do this but I didn't know how I could. But since we've been talking about Persona a lot here, I guess this is good.

//I promise I will prioritize Danganronpa content though for those who are concerned, it's just nice to take a break from the norm every once in a while.

//So here it is, from worst to best:

#33: Prometheus It's just a ball with weird patterns on it. I'm not even sure what it's supposed to represent. Is it like, a moon or a planet or something? It's just a weird "upgrade" from Futaba's initial Persona.

#32: Pithos Similarly, Pithos is just a bunch of boxes. Interesting and unique on it's own, but still weird.

#31: Pandora Sorry, but Pandora just looks really stupid to me. I do think it's somewhat cool in how it evolves from Pithos, but the curvy body looks really weird with the blocky head and wings. The awakening scene was great though.

#30: Zorro He looks goofy, though I think that's the point, since he's Morgana's initial Persona. The other two that he gets look SO much better though.

#29: Seiten Taisei A bit of a strange change from Captain Kidd and honestly a bit of a downgrade. And Ryuji wonders why everyone calls him a vulgar ape, lol.

#28: Al Azif Definitely an upgrade from Prometheus, since it actually has a cool design, and I do like it, but I still can't say that it's better than Futaba's initial Persona.

#27: Necronomicon Speaking of...Futaba's best Persona is easily her initial one, but she still falls short of every other design. Don't get me wrong, I like it a lot, but I feel like she just gets the most out-of-pocket designs and it doesn't get much better as she progresses. It's still cool though.

#26: Agnes Agnes is definitely pretty awesome, but I also feel like it's design is a little TOO extra. Plus, given how much I loved Anat's transformer gimmick, I was sad to see Makoto lose that.

#25: Satanael It pains me to rank this beast so low, but I'm not taking Satanael's pure scale into account, because he retains it for the fight against the God of Control and nowhere else. If I was, he'd be higher. He's still raw af, but compared to Joker's other two Persona's, I think he's the weakest.

#24: Ella Ella is basically just Cendrillon but super pale and luminescent, and wearing a wedding dress; and I honestly don't like it as much as the other two forms her power takes. This was a tough one to rank though because I definitely like it, despite all that.

#23: Goemon Goemon's design honestly is pretty silly looking, especially with the weird curvy jaw and pompadour, but for some reason, I really like it. I think Yusuke's initial awakening may play a part though, and I did get attached to Goemon throughout my playthrough's.

#22: Loki Honestly, with how much I like Akechi, I was expecting to put Loki higher, but then I realized that of his three known Persona's, it's probably his most simple in terms of design. Definitely fitting for his character, and definitely super cool in it's own right, but as Ann points out in the Thieves Den, it kind of looks like Loki from the Marvel Comics got fused with a Zebra.

#21: Diego Yeah, maybe it looks a bit more extra, but I think in this case, it works. It adds a lot that Zorro's initial design was missing, and I really like the change of colour. That said, it's still only Morgana's second best Persona.

#20: Carmen I never quite realized just how much I love Ann's Persona's. All three of them have super unique designs that share similar themes, but also don't copy too much from one another. Carmen is the worst of the three in my opinion, but she's still a total stand-out.

#19: Captain Kidd Again, expected this one to be higher, because Captain Kidd is definitely among my top picks for initial Persona's, and he was easily my favourite of the initial party members.

#18: William Though I hate it's name, because it just sounds super weird for Ryuji to have a Persona with such a proper name, William is the rawest design that he has under his belt. I don't know what it is, but taking the skeletal aspects of Captain Kidd and turning them into a real modern punk is interesting and cool to me.

#17: Milady Milady gets points for not only being just a really cool designed Persona compared to a lot of the initial roster, but also the machine guns hidden in the dress thing will never get old for me.

#16: Astarte Initially, I had Astarte underneath Milady because it loses the gun dress when evolving; but then I realized that Astarte's design is just hella cool on it's own, and I really REALLY like the imagery and proportions of it, as strange as they are.

#15: Lucy Hey! All three of Haru's Persona's next to each other! With Lucy though, I really just think that's is a better Milady. Yeah, it's not as colourful, but it definitely has a more "Phantom-esque" look to her now. Plus, she gets the gun dress back, so that's a bonus.

#14: Mercurius My biggest issue with Mercurius is that we only get to see him in action for what is basically the final dungeon of the base game. And even in Royal, he gets replaced by Diego almost immediately after, so unless you have Mona in your party for the fight against Cendrillon, Yaldabaoth is basically the only time you get to see him in action. Which is a shame because he's EASILY Morgana's best Persona design, and one of the best in the game.

#13: Arsene To this day, Arsene is still the best starting Persona that any of the Persona protags have gotten, and I really REALLY wish he was stronger by default, and that there was a benefit to having him around for more than a few levels.

#12: Valjean The one Persona that Zenkichi has is able to stand out amongst the best; and his super raw awakening really helps with this. The origin story is fascinating, especially in the way it matches Zenkichi's own situation, and it's a damn near perfect specimen to represent the old man's sense of justice.

#11: Cendrillon First time I saw this design, I freaked out because I thought it was gorgeous. And I like that in a few ways, it mirrors the colours of Arsene while also having Sumire's own little aspects to it. Plus, the whole concept of it representing the side of Kasumi that Sumire aspires to be is a very unique way to create a Persona.

#10: Johanna I HAD to put the bike in the top 10, especially since it's one of the things that made me fall for Makoto so hard originally. It is EASILY the most unique concept that a Persona has done EVER, and the fact that it went to the super prim and proper student council president of all people was so funny to me.

#9: Gorokichi Again, it's design is ridiculous, but the flashy colours and more standing-straight figure really does a good job at showing what the Stage 3 Persona's are supposed to be - the true power of the user. And Gorokichi is about as "Yusuke" as you can get.

#8: Vanadis Vanadis is Sumire's best Persona because it's such a far cry from what you expect, and it represents a lot more to her than you see on the surface. The colours mimic Arsene a lot, at least from my perspective, and the fact that it's predominantly black and red symbolizes what could be a hidden rage and a burning passion, which we have seen Sumire show on only rare occasions.

#7: Celestine Celestine rocks the exact kind of punk-girl drip that I live for, and the fact that it drops all of the mythical and mysterious crap that Carmen and Hecate had, to show off Ann's true self, is fantastic. Of all the third tier Persona's, it's probably the best one to show off the user's true, unhidden strength, besides Gorokichi at least.

#6: Kamu Susano-o Though Gorokichi means a lot more to me, Kamu Susano-o exudes an aura of power, destruction and anarchy that few of the party Persona's are able to match. With the third tier Persona's all being gods of some shape or form, this one is by far the most godly-looking.

#5: Robin Hood I don't know why it is I'm so attached to Robin Hood, but I think it may be it goes against every preconception of how Robin Hood in mythology should look; as well as how well it fits with Akechi's princely facade and, in his own words, how it serves as his conception of a man who sticks to his justice.

#4: Raoul Yes, we're counting Raoul, because he's got way too much swagger to overlook. Being what is technically Joker's Tier 3 Persona, he, like the others, really works with just showing off, from appearance alone, just how cool Joker really is. You take one look at that fedora-wearing, metallic-winged demon, and you know you're in good hands.

#3: Hecate Hecate's design is fire as fuck (pun not intended) and there's not much else I can say about it, other than the pure savagery it exudes. It makes me glad that this is the design that I spent most of the game with, with Ann being one of the earliest unlockable party confidants and one of the easiest completed, because as much as I love Celestine and Carmen, this one just oozes style.

#2: Hereward Hereward is the perfect fusion of Robin Hood and Loki, and is the best Tier 3 Persona in the game. Again, it suffers from the same issue as Mercurius, because not only do you have to pick a very specific set of dialogue options for Akechi to even UNLOCK it, but you can only do so at the FINAL BATTLE and nowhere else. But it's absolutely worth it because this dark hero is the perfect representation of my favourite character in the game.

#1: Anat. Again, like I said before, the transformer aspect is EVERYTHING to me. The animations are clean, the design is sleek, the origin is awesome, and to top it all off, my already favourite girl gets this. I was wondering initially how the game was going to top the motorcycle, and I was not disappointed when I saw how. Hands down my top pick, even though Hereward is a very close second.

-Mod