#also spot the Thor 3 reference

[mischief-lies-and-stories]

I Rewatched Loki for Reasons

I rewatched the entirety of the Loki show, because I have a week of an unpaid break for Thanksgiving. I did this for a reason, and not just because I have no life (though that’s part of it). You will discover this (rather unhinged) reason tomorrow. Today, we’re gonna talk about things I missed, because I don’t know how to write a retrospective and Google didn’t help me, so this is the best I can do. So enjoy! (Spoilers for all of Loki)

Season 1, Episode 1

The very first time we see Mobius he stops a hunter from pruning a child. And then he’s kind to the child. We see his personality and we also see something that becomes a recurring theme in the series: he has a soft spot for children.

The “scared little boy shivering in the cold” line (which is actually the option of Mobius’s motivation Loki takes as the truth, and also the one I accept).

His sons (I have a problem with how he acts at work about them, but every other time he talks about them or interacts with them he does show he cares about them)

The boy at the Black Sea he couldn’t prune 

The fact that a Loki specialist is noticeably absent from an arrest of a Loki when his partner leads the charge, so he should have been there (Sylvie’s arrest)

Still annoyed Loki didn’t correct Mobius in the finale when Mobius credited Renslayer for getting Loki off. He tells Mobius in 2x05 that Mobius saved his life. I think even though it’s the end, even though Mobius isn’t gonna remember this interaction, it would’ve been important to Loki that he knows that he did that, not Renslayer. Loki remembers everything, Loki remembers how that went down, he knows it was Mobius and has already told Mobius so once. He would do it again. 

I think this changes in episode 2, but Mobius never uses pronouns for Sylvie. Other hunters and Loki assume he/him, but Mobius only refers to Sylvie as a Loki variant.

Season 1, Episode 2

Damn, okay, keep showing off that eidetic memory, Loki.

C’mon Mobius, why did you have to immediately start assuming male pronouns for Sylvie like everyone else? I liked that you didn’t do that in the last episode.

Loki talks about getting his magic back this episode, and then uses it twice: to dry himself and to summon something to use as a weapon: Weak.

Season 1, Episode 3

Loki and Sylvie have got such great sibling rivalry energy. I love every time they interact when I’m not scared they’re gonna kiss.

I maintain that the expression Loki makes and his noncommittal grunt in answer to Sylvie’s “real” implies that there was something, however brief, that felt real to him or that he wanted to be real. Given we never see any relationships in the movies, and that Where Mischief Lies is supposed to be a prequel to the MCU, I still think he thinks of Theo here (and maybe even Amora).

Why did Loki get drunk on the train? Sylvie makes him talk about his mom, whom he hasn’t seen in over a year. He remembers Mobius telling him that he causes her death, and that he can never see her again anyway. He was reminded of Theo, so he’s also got that centuries-old guilt rattling around in his brain again, and he’s starting to think he might be falling for himself which is insane for so many reasons. And he’s just got done being tortured for a year, so he’s not exactly in the best headspace to work through any emotions in a healthy manner.

Season 1, Episode 4

The hair flips are way more extensive than I remember them.

Season 1, Episode 5

Wait, so Renslayer doesn’t remember He Who Remains, she didn’t know the Timekeepers were fake, she doesn’t know she’s a variant, but she knows about the void? Did Mobius know about the void? So even though pruning hurt, he knew he wasn’t being killed?

Thunder rumbles in the void, and Loki looks up again. He’s still looking for Thor.

Kid Loki: “Whenever one of us dares try to fix themselves they’re sent here to die.” You didn’t kill Thor. Not a fucking chance. I was right!!

They literally said Loki knows enchantment magic when they enchant Alioth. “Because we’re the same,” Sylvie says. So why the fuck does Loki never have a chance to do it himself in season 2?

Season 1, Episode 6

Mobius was pruned before they found out the Timekeepers were fake (and I’m watching this episode about 18 hours after the last and I don’t have an eidetic memory like Loki, so forgive me if I’ve forgotten something), and we don’t see Mobius and Sylvie talk about that in the car, nor do Sylvie and Loki fill him in on that after so Mobius and Sylvie must have talked off screen. What else did they talk about???

The interaction between Renslayer and Mobius in this episode carries such a different weight knowing the mission that eventually took both of them off the beat cop path and more or less out of the field.

So no one told me to stop talking about biblical imagery, but for some reason I’m trying to resist. But sorry I can’t help myself, even though this was probably pointed out by countless analyzers when it came out two years ago. He Who Remains keeps tongue in cheek referring to himself as the devil, and then he first shows up eating a fucking apple, which has been primarily accepted as the Forbidden Fruit (it isn’t really. In the Bible it isn’t specified which fruit it is).

So Sylvie was right, in a way. He Who Remains is lying here. He knows this isn’t the end when she kills him, though he never actually plans for Timely to replace him like we speculated. Timely was just meant to be the tool to get Loki back to this moment, to (by He Who Remains’s hope) kill Sylvie and save him, so he can survive to control the timeline another day. He also manages to predict how the series ends, by proposing that Loki (and Sylvie) take over for him. He certainly doesn’t intend for Loki to go about it the way that he does, I don’t think, but he’s essentially not wrong. Loki does take over custodianship of the timeline(s) after He Who Remains.

At this point, I’m with Sylvie, I think the “threshold” is bullshit. I think what people figured out about it coinciding with WandaVision (and I don’t know if Marvel commented on that since) is legit, but I think he uses it as an excuse. He knows Sylvie is gonna try to kill him and Loki is gonna try to stop her and Sylvie is gonna use the TemPad to send him away. He places the TemPad in the perfect location for her to use, under the guise of doing it to symbolize offering them the mantle. But it’s a ruse. It’s where Sylvie can reach it to send Loki away. I think when she says he’s lying she’s also referring to him doing this to hold off his variants and another multiversal war, and in that respect I think she’s wrong. I mean, we’ve essentially gotten proof that she’s wrong. But he does know what’s happening.

And that’s the image and Mobius’s parting words they left us with for 2 fucking years.

Season 2, Episode 1

I still don’t understand why it never gets explained how OB remembers meeting Loki in the past but Mobius, Casey, and Verity (I will never let this Easter egg about B-15’s backstory go) don’t.

I’m coming off of season 1 (obviously) and before that, two watches of episode 6. I forgot how fucking painful the slipping is for him in this episode. Loki screams in agony every fucking time. Jesus.

Like, I know I’m a fool. But Mobius already thinks he’s into Sylvie, so he wouldn’t be that shocked to hear they kissed. So why does Loki just skip over that detail? Could it be that even in his frantic sense of panic, Loki knows that if he mentions a kiss it’ll completely derail Mobius and he’ll never let it go?

The end of this episode, with Loki almost being separated and Mobius being able to do nothing about it is such painful foreshadowing UGH.

Season 2, Episode 2

Why does Loki always insist on popping his collar? Mobius didn’t teach him that. Why does he think that’s cool/obnoxious? Did Mobius make an annoyed comment offscreen in season 1 and now he just does it to annoy him on purpose?

Season 2, Episode 3

I love this version of the show theme, slower and deeper.

Season 2, Episode 4

I want more clever teamwork with magic from Sylvie and Loki like when they jump Brad. Every time I watch it it makes me giddy. 

In episode 6, when Loki tells Timely what to do, he does all of OB’s gestures exactly the same. Can someone please just state outright that my boi has an eidetic memory already? 

Season 2, Episode 5

Loki steps into the door of Piranha Powersports (and he’s already seen Mobius/Don through the window, so he knows he’s here), takes one look at Mobius/Don, hears two words in his voice, and even though the camera is across the room, you can see the actual sigh of relief he lets out. Mobius is here, he’s finally back with Mobius, Mobius is okay, everything is all right now. 

OB wants to quit teaching and write full time. The! Dream! (I mean, I haven’t had an idea for original characters since I was in college and I don’t have the patience to write anything longer than 3k words most of the time, but still. Fucking ideal)

Me: I love how Loki is always so calm and patient with OB.

Meanwhile, Loki: *strongly considers zapping OB back after they do it to him to try to jumpstart the time slipping*

Also OB, Loki is used to getting electrocuted. I bet that barely hurt, like how getting shanked is just a Tuesday afternoon for Thor at this point.

Did I start crying when he said “I can rewrite the story,” even though I’ve seen this episode 3 times now? Maybe.

Season 2, Episode 6

No! Why the fuck is the next episode screen the shot of Mobius and Sylvie looking through the door in horror as Loki steps out towards the Loom?! That’s not fucking fair! It’s fucking upsetting is what it is.

Has anyone stopped to wonder why this launcher even exists at the end of the gangway? Or why there’s a gangway out to the loom to begin with? I’m not even talking about the fact that the loom was always meant to explode if it got overloaded and reset the TVA. I mean even before they learned that, there was never supposed to be more than one timeline passing through the loom anyway. The branches were always meant to be pruned well before it got to this point. 

Why yes, “Ascension” did make me cry again. I blame Hiddleston for introducing me to redemptive arcs in classical pieces. Because this track has it and that’s the moment I start sobbing. 

If you’re still here, thank you. I can’t believe I still have thoughts about this series. I will leave you with this.

Favorite Episodes

Season 1: Episode 5: Journey Into Mystery 

Season 2: Episode 3: 1893

And I will see you tomorrow for some unhinged shit which was the real reason I watched the whole show again. Maybe strap in now? 

[tickldpnk8]

Season of Mists Reread Ch. 6

So I'm currently rereading Season of Mists and blogging about the clues I'm seeing. You can see the previous posts here:

Prologue/Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5 Bonus: At Death's Door

But on with this latest analysis! At this point, the story is starting to wrap up, and we get the showdown between Morpheus and Azazel. I saw an excellent post on the showdown itself, so I won't go into all that here. But as I read through things looking for clues to the nature of Dream and also foreshadowing, I did spot a few.

On Dream

For one, it's confirmed that Morpheus/Dream doesn't sleep:

He's a bit of a hoarder who likes to store things in his personal pirate chest. The contents of this were also discussed on that Azazel-battle thread, so I won't go into it just yet.

And we see a bit more of how different folks' perceptions of his aspect works as he rescues Nada. In the panels right before this mouth opens, we see the Morpheus we're all familiar with. As soon as Nada can see him, he changes into Kai'kul. And then he's back to his "usual" appearance once she's safe and he's out of her line of sight. I think this is mostly for our benefit as we can only see one drawing of him at a time. But I would now hazard a guess that to all the dignitaries gathered in his throne room, they would each see him as they might have seen him when they are alone. (But who would Bast see?) I think we default to the Reader's perspective of his aspect unless only one other character is viewing him who might have a different perspective. (since we are a character in the story)

On Dream's relationship to his realm

We learn that aside from controlling the weather of the Dreaming, he has complete control over whether it's day or night. If you were wondering how he possibly met with everyone in such a short time, it's because he didn't let the sun rise.

This fancy ceiling room that has been discussed at length is apparently also his throne room?? Or did he move it here from where it was the night before for convenience? In any case, things shifted. The throne now seems simpler than the last we saw it with the Egyptian motifs, but the green drapes remain. His dais is still close to the ground as it was the night before, but much lower than in previous story arcs/issues.

And his castle sits at the Heart of the Dreaming. It is not only his home, but his place of power. He has complete control over reality: "It is what I wish it to be – no more, no less."

On the Plot

Now let's look at the clues to the over-arching plot of the whole Sandman run. I found a few of interest that I didn't notice before.

Aside from Loki seemingly distraught to be leaving at the end and trying to get away from Thor, we get this one small detail within the title page spread that I totally missed the first time:

Meanwhile, Nuala overhears Merlin commenting on the Greek gods not coming. I think this works as a story point on 2 levels: I suspect it ties into larger DC continuity knowing that Wonder Woman's comics regularly show them. But it also works in isolation since it seems they don't tend to get on well with Morpheus from what we've seen of the Calliope story. Or it might just be setting the stage for that relationship if I'm misremembering when we learn things from my first read-through.

And then finally we have that pirate trunk panel mentioned above. I'll add it here again for reference:

In it, we've got the Corinthian's skull, Ornament-Azazel, a ring, another ornament-like bulb (or is it a grenade?? hard to tell), a leather book that is buckled shut, a city in a glass bottle, a penny, and 2 canisters in the background. It'll be interesting to see which of these comes up again. Corinthian we know about. I already know now what the bottle represents, but am wondering if/when I've seen the others.

And that's that! I'd like to do another wrap-up post on the ceiling and once I get to the end of Season of Mists, I'm tempted to do a master post on all the changes Morpheus' castle goes through in just these issues alone. Lots to dissect here. :D

[sour--strawberries]

Prey and Predator

fandom: Stony (Steve x Tony), Avengers,

other characters: Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, Wanda Maximoff, Vision, Pietro Maximoff

summary: It is an annual Avenger’s Halloween party and everyone gets to see each other costumes. 

length: 1 265 words

a/n: Happy Halloween! the first fic in the Stony Halloween Spooktacular event and it was made from various Halloween prompts you sent to me!  I hope you will like it!

——————–

Prey and Predator

"Steve?! Woah, you look great!"

"Are you serious?!"

Steve only smiled, yellow colored lips stretching in a glossy grin. There was a deep brown eye blush around his eyes, eyelashes embellished with some small feathers. His whole body was wrapped in black leather clothes, and there was a heavy cape with a hood on his back with sewn brown feathers, fanning out and varying in length, reminding of wings. To complete the look, he was wearing brown leather gloves with dark and long claws attached to each finger, and shiny leather boots going up to his knees.

Natasha kept smiling, dressed in a red shirt with a 'this is my costume' in bold, white print, paired with simple jeans, and the only truly Halloween accent in her outfit was a black headband with fuzzy fake spiders with googly eyes on them attached.

"Is it too much? I feel it is too much, but Wanda insisted," Steve answered, sounding a little unsure and pointing a claw to his face, meaning the makeup.

"No, it looks great!" Natasha assured admiring the blending technique.  

"I feel like you are mocking me," Clint narrowed his eyes, recognizing the feathers. They were clearly made to resemble hawk ones.

Steve laughed and moved a claw to pierce through a donut with a cobweb painted on with white icing. "And who exactly are you mocking?" he asked, eyeing Clint's costume, which was a Black Sabbath shirt and a black drawn on goatee and plastic sunglasses, vaguely resembling one of Pacco Rabbane's models. Steve recognized it as a basic 'Tony Stark' kit, one of those you could find in supermarkets before Halloween.

"Yeah, not everyone can just phase a costume on," Clint answered with a forced smile, one that was very Tony like and showed Clint practiced in front of the mirror, looking at Wanda and Vision, twirling together in a dance. Wanda was wearing a beautiful, puffy dress, in gold and silver, and was dancing with equally glimmering and shining Vision in hard metal angled armor. While Wanda's outfit was carefully picked among many dresses, Vision simply took a design from a history book and adapted to his needs. Princess and her knight. A perfect pair. Somewhere in the crowd of their friends and colleges, Pietro was prancing around in a jester's costume, just to agitate his older sister.

"Bruce!" Natasha raised her hand and waved, spotting a familiar face in the crowd.

Bruce, as always looking a bit out of his place in a non-science related environment, waved back and made his way to the small group. He almost looked ordinary, if it wasn't for the fact that he was clearly not wearing his own clothes.

"And who you are supposed to be?!" Clint called, mouth framed in fake goatee turning into a real scowl.

"I am Tony Stark," Bruce answered, and it was obvious that his costume was last minute made. He just snatched some of Tony's clothes and put on his back.

"No, you are not, I am Tony Stark!" Clint pointed out, literally, by putting a finger to his mouth and tapping on the drawn on goatee, something Bruce's costume was missing.

"Tony would never wear polyester," Bruce argued back, recognizing the kind of material the shirt was made off. It would be a base for further discussion if he didn't fidget awkwardly and pull on the front material of the trousers.

"Woa! What are you doing?!" Natasha asked, eyes following Bruce's hand.

"Can't help it, Tony wears his pants really tight!"

"That's true, Tony loves his pants tight," Steve smiled and nodded in understanding and that was the sentence that drew Bruce's attention to the feather-covered soldier. Bruce very openly stared, because Steve definitely didn't look like Steve, and the soldier just grinned, pleased with his costume.

"HA! I told you I am his best friend!"

The small group turned around, seeing Bucky and Sam, approaching them in their costumes. Bucky was another person who chose the easy way with his outfit, and decided to wear torn jeans and a plaid shirt, hair sticking out in every direction with some hay in it and a hay hat - clearly a scarecrow, while Sam wore his Falcon suit, but it was painted to resemble Captain America's costume. If he and Steve ever had a baby, it would be what they would be wearing.

"See? He even dressed like me!" Sam smiled cheerfully, elbowing a groaning Bucky, and pointing at Steve. "He is clearly a falcon!"

"No, that's a hawk," Clint pointed out, also participating in the run for Steve's best friend.

"Eeeeh, no, you under-budgeted Tony Stark," Sam pointed out, eyeing Clint's outfit up and down, "that's a falcon."

"By the way," Natasha turned to Steve, ignoring the argument going on behind her back, "I thought you and Tony will wear matching costumes," she said, twirling the bloody mary in her glass.

"Oh, we are," Steve smiled. Tony didn't have the time to pick his own costume, so Steve, as the amazing boyfriend he was, took the matter into his own hands. He couldn't wait for Tony to show up.

"Seriously?!"

Seemed that his wish came true sooner than he expected.

There was a lot of hushed whispering and giggles, and fingers pointing and in the middle of it all was… a bunny. Or more precisely, Tony in a white bunny onesie, with flopping ears and fluffy tail. Definitely standing out among the dark costumes and fake fangs and blood.

There was a collective burst of laughter from the team, but Steve wasn't the one who was laughing. He waved and beckoned Tony over. "Looking good, babe!"

Tony narrowed his eyes and came closer, already disliking how awesome Steve looked, and how nonthreatening his own costume was. Unfair.

"What's up, fluffy bum?" Natasha asked, playfully squeezing the white faux fur tail on the costume.

"You know," Tony turned to Steve, making a face at him, "when you said that you have a bunny costume for me, this wasn't what I expected. Calm down, back there!" he called, feeling that one by one, the whole team gathered closer to squeeze his tail.

Cautiously, Steve reached his hand for Tony's, and avoiding the claws catching the white material, he pulled his bunny closer, walking away, ceasing everyone's play.

"What are you even supposed to be?" Tony asked, eyeing the bizarre mix of materials.

"A hawk," Steve answered, eyes half closing as he peered down on his boyfriend. "And you know what hawks prey on, right?" he asked, sounding dark and promising.

"A-ha," Tony nodded, on the opposite, sounding unfazed by his boyfriend 'cunning' ways. Instead of being frightened, he plucked out a long feather from the cape and twirled it along Steve's cheek. "Too bad that there is a flaw in your plan."

"H-hey!" Steve giggled, and took a step back, rubbing his cheek to get rid of the tingly feeling. He saw Tony, smiling bright and mocking at him. "Come here!" he called, leaping back to the bunny, trying to grasp him in his claws.

"Can't catch me!" Tony yelled, and escaped, in a true bunny manner, hop hop hopping away.

When Natasha spotted a hopping white blur in the crowd, chased by a loudly squawking overgrown bird, she couldn't help the fond smile. At least the idea behind a couple costume became clear.

[uncommon-etc]

To follow up with a more positive post from my ‘top 5 dumbest criticisms debunked’ here’s a list of adorable and well-thought-out details from Thor: Love and Thunder, which, while not that difficult to spot, I appreciated even more the second time round.

- The costume department made Tessa Thompson at least four different perfectly tailored suits for approximately eight seconds of footage. Was it a waste of fabric? Absolutely not.

- Jane isn’t just a sci-fi nerd for reeling off films that explain wormholes well, her Halloween costume in the montage is Ash from Alien, post chest-burster scene.

- Thor has Nick Fury’s contact saved to his phone as ‘Nick Furry’ which will never not be funny to me.

- Was giving Dwayne a mustache when Kronans have absolutely no capacity to grow facial-hair an absolutely ridiculous decision that some poor vfx artist should have been sacked over? Absolutely. But it was also a really nice callback to Taika’s childhood Freddie Mercury obsession, so jot that down.

- That poor guy who got hit in the face when a certain cape was flung for dramatic emphasis has my sympathies.

- The little broken heart next to Thor’s ‘RIP Loki’ tattoo was hilarious and tragic at the same time.

- It was definitely ‘bring your daughter to work day’ on set, I’ve already seen plenty of people remarking on the adorableness of Chris Hemsworth’s kidlet, but both of Taika’s daughters were among the stolen Asgardian kids and were apparently really mean to Christian Bale.

- Despite having all the trappings of a family-friendly film you get multiple ‘oh shit’ lines, though it feels entirely appropriate to the tone of the scenes, there are also at least two references to a mass orgy held on a regular basis in Omnipotent City.

- All of the snacks in the vending machine Thor breaks are region-appropriate, which pleased me as someone who grew up only getting to eat that stuff in Finland or on family trips to IKEA and ngl, if I was having to pay like 2-3 euros for a pack of Marabou or some salmiakki, and I had super-strength, I’d probably just smash the thing too.   

- Glad to see independent theatre is still thriving in New Asgard, but the irony of Valkyrie being very done with the two actors while wearing a Phantom of the Opera t-shirt was not lost on me. Her being a closet theatre-kid seems pretty on-brand. 

- Sif still being a badass sword-fighter with only one arm (why is that such a common injury in the MCU?)

- Idk why, but the scene on the boat where the straight half of the crew are outside doing straight things while Korg and Valkyrie are propping up the bar, drinking and discussing being gay felt... weirdly relatable. If that isn’t how you and your friends end up at the tail-end of a house-party don’t @ me.

- It seemed a really odd choice at first to have a film with three semi-sentient weapons that have their own personalities and a fourth that’s just kind of there, but in hindsight it’s also hilarious. Stormbreaker’s got beef with Thor and Mjolnir and the Necrosword parallel each other beautifully (both are slowly killing the person that wields them, but the motives are polar opposites) so I kept waiting for the thunderbolt to have some whole hidden agenda of its own, but no, it was the only cool-looking god-level weapon that was... just a weapon.

I’ll probably think of more to add, because I love this film so damn much, but feel free to chip in if there’s any obvious ones I’ve forgotten.

[toondisneypunx]

Movies and TV shows I have been watching recently (March 2022 - July 2022)

1. Dog (2022)

Rating: 8.5/10

I absolutely loved the storyline and especially, the journey. I loved how they showed how emotionally attached the dog was to the owner. I cried at the end of the movie. 

2. Turning Red (2022)

Rating: 9/10

I thought I was going to hate this movie because of how cheesy the synopsis seemed. However, Pixar and Domee She have proven me wrong with this movie. I loved how while the film tackled topics such as puberty and menstruation, it also showed great elements of Chinese culture. All the pop culture references from the time period were also spot-on. 

3. The Batman (2022)

Rating: 9/10

I am personally not the biggest fan of DC Comics, but I quite enjoyed this movie. The directing was absolutely consistent to the tone of the film. The only complaint I had is sometimes the movie felt too prolonged. 

4. Amphibia (Season 3b)

Rating: 10/10

The last of Amphibia was absolutely amazing. The finale made me cry and I’m am glad I got to understand King Andreas’s backstory. 

5. The Owl House (Season 2b)

Rating: 10/10

There's a lot of suspense within the latest episodes of The Owl House. Each episode would leave me wondering what would happen next in the show. I also loved how much development the character Hunter had. 

6. Little Witch Academia (2017-?)

Rating: 9.5/10

While I don’t usually watch anime, I quite enjoyed this series. I loved the story and characters and noticed how The Owl House was heavily influenced by this show. 

7. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Rating: 8/10

I really enjoyed the horror elements of this movie. However, most of the plot was unclear and all over the place.

8. The Bad Guys (2022)

Rating: 7.5/10

I loved the art style of this movie, as well as the concept. My biggest issue with this movie was the predictable villain plot twist, as well as reliance on toilet humour and trends. 

9. The Powerpuff Girls (1998) (Season 1 only)

Rating: 10/10

Definitely one of Craig McCracken’s best works. I loved how even though the show stuck to a certain vibe, it was not repetitive at all. I was unable to watch the other seasons because my Hulu subscription got cancelled.

10. Lightyear (2022)

Rating: 6.5/10

I was excited for this movie because we would understand the origins of Buzz Lightyear, however, it was underwhelming. Even though Pixar usually does a great job with their movies, Lightyear felt bland and did not follow the plot well. The Zurg reveal was also underwhelming. A few positives are the animation style and the voice acting, though. 

11. Stranger Things 4 (2022)

Rating: 10/10

I have kept up with Stranger Things since the release of the second season in 2017. The fourth season, while it was a long wait, did not disappoint at all. I enjoyed all the horror elements as well as the new characters such as Eddie Munson and Argyle. 

12. Minions: Rise of Gru (2022)

Rating: 7/10

I had low expectations for this film because the original Minions movie felt like a cash grab. However, I enjoyed all the 70′s references and actually laughed at a few scenes. I was glad to learn Gru’s origins as well. The biggest downside to this film was the predictable and stale plot. 

13. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Rating: 10/10

I have put this movie off for so long and I finally watched it. I am a huge fan of Beetlejuice and this film captures the same vibe, as well as casting Winona Ryder in it. The film is entertaining and brings mystic to the story. 

14. Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Rating: 9/10

Thor: Ragnarok is one of my all-time favourite MCU movies. I’ve anticipated for this movie since it’s announcement and it did not disappoint. I loved the introduction of new characters, such as Zeus and the humour was well fleshed out. 

[kayxleeee]

Loki Laufeyson: Fatuous Love (Loki x Reader)

Warning: SMUT 18+ finger, oral.

A/N: I have PT2 and bait of pt 3, but idk if I’ll end up posting them.

Summary: Loki just wants to make you forget the fate that you can not escape. 

Word Count: 2k+

*NOT MY IMAGE* Do not copy my work

“Do not speak of this again! I do not want to hear another word about this foolishness, (Y/n)!” Your father yelled at you sternly dismissing the complicated conversation at hand. “You will not behave this way when we are guest in this palace. How dare you act like such a child under the same awing as your future king!?” 

You were the soon to be Queen of Asgard, set to marry the prince, Thor son of Odin, god of thunder and future king of Asgard. Any woman would be overly joyed to be in your shoes, but you personally could not stand the thought. It was an unchangeable fate that you could not bare, so for about the one-hundredth time you plead and  beg your father to let you out of the arrangement.

“But father, I do not love him!” You cry out in frustration.

“THEN YOU WILL LEARN! This is berserk and if you ask me you are ungrateful and are no better than his fatuous brother! I will not tolerate this one more second!”He narrows  his eyes and stares you down as if testing you to speak again. When you don’t, he storms out of your room slamming the door so hard you were sure the kingdom could hear its echo.

Unfortunately for you, you were in love with the wrong Allfather child. Loki was the one thing that you could not resist, your forbidden fruit if you will. He was not supposed to be yours, and you were not supposed to be his because it has been written in prophesy. Even when the three of you were children playing in the garden under the sun, you only had eyes for the mischievous one. It seemed that everyone in your family knew your fascination of the dark hair boy and it only grew fonder as you aged. Although the fascination was known, the extents of your relationship was oblivious to them all, even Thor. As adults, your relationship soon blossomed into more than just lust or want, but it became more of love and an urgent need to be around him. This feeling is why you fought so hard to get out of this arrangement with Odin Allfather, which ended with you marrying his first born son.

Loki was the most incredible being you had ever come to know. Arrogant? Yes. Mischievous? Absolutely. Selfish? Sometimes… But also in the same breath he was  loving, with the most beautiful soul. For some reason he has always had a soft spot for you, even when he hated everyone else. He has always put you first, even before the two of you were romantically involved and he would do anything in his power to try and please you.

You angrily finish getting ready for bed, slipping your hair into a silk wrap and letting your night gown loosely flow against your skin. You get into your nicely made bed turning off the lamp that sat on your bedside table. You lay in the darkness of the room, over your soft sheets, wishing there was a way to get out of this marriage. You then see your door push ajar slowly as the light from the hallway illuminates the bedroom. The shine of the light quickly goes away as the door closes, just as it was opened.

“Fatuous?” You hear his familiar voice fill the silence of the room as he walks in. Your heart swells at the sound of his voice and butterflies filled the pit of your stomach. This is how he made you feel on a daily basis, just by being in his ever lasting presence. “He believes I am Fatuous.” He scoffs. “I may be many things, but I am without a doubt, unquestionably not Fatuous.” He chuckles slightly as he makes his way onto your bed.

“Loki, my love!” You smile ear to ear reaching your hands out to him as he climbed beside you, engulfing you into a warm embrace, his soft sleeping garments brushing against your skin. “I have not seen you all day.”  You pout.

“That is because you have been busy all day, with my idiotic brother.” He reminds you. “Although I am fond of your father, I thought he would never leave.” He says referring to the argument he overheard. “And I am not fatuous.” 

“I know my love.” Is all you say as the two of you lay there quietly in each other’s embrace enjoying every moment of it. The warmth of each other and the rhythms of your breath was all you needed to feel close to him. “I love you…” You mumble breaking the silence. “And I’m sorry this is set in the prophecy” 

“You say this every time we meet.”

“Because I am— it makes this venture so much more miserable.”

He sighs loudly shaking his head, “Please, we can speak of it another time. Tonight we shall just enjoy each other.” He smiled as he places a kiss to your temple. 

You wished it could only be that easy. He did not understand that the time was winding down quickly and in a few short months you would be marrying Thor, and all of this would have to end, regardless of how either of you felt.

“But of course,” He speaks again as he switches his position slightly, “that won’t stop you from worrying will it?” He lets out a small chuckle to himself, already knowing your mind is going around in unusual circles.

“Of course you know me.” You let out a slight giggle as he runs his hands over your sides, the pads of his finger tips tickling you as he caressed. 

“Well, what if I said I have a remedy.” He coos smoothly, mischief in his voice.

His hands begin to travel down the side of your curves, outlining every inch that he could over your night gown. He slides it up slowly as he begins to caress your hips with one hand  and make his way down the shape of your thigh with the other. His fingers sneakily pads to the inner of your thigh,  sliding in between pressing them apart slightly and you shift your position so that you are  laying on your back instead of your side.

“Loki…” You say in a low voice.

“Yes?” He says inching away from you and positioning himself in between your legs. “Remember when we first met each others acquaintance? Meek children I suppose, enjoyed sweet treats and childs play. Now look at us, adults with weakness in each other. You are my weakness, my dear.”

You lay there with your legs spread apart, giving him access as he continues to trail his finger down your thighs and then back up. He grips each thigh in either hand as a smirk played against his lip. He takes his hand  raising up your night gown completely exposing the dark black color of your satin underwear. He rubs his hand over your covered core, causing your breath to hitch into your throat.

“Loki.” His name falls from your mouth again, this time in a desperate whisper as the feeling of need is building up in your core. “What are you doing?”

“Whatever you would like me to be doing your highness?” This came out in a low growl, sending chills over you. He continues his hand movements on your covered pussy.

“We shouldn’t.” You bite down on your bottom lip to stop yourself from letting out any type of moan.

“What would you like me to be doing (Y/n)?” He repeats himself now tugging at your underwear. “Live a little my pet, nothing will change our fait, we might as well enjoy our time together. Even if this is the last night I every intention to pretend that you are all mine. Oh my beauty, there’s no need for you to feel sorry for yourself, when I can help you forget.”  He smirks. 

“I want you to help me forget.” You follow his words.

“Then that shall be what I do.” He says confidently as he places kisses down your inner thigh, leading them to your core. His confidence and skill was what aroused you quickly as you felt his hot breath. His tongue delicately rolls over your clit, his skillful rolls making you wet almost immedietly.  He massages the inside of your thigh as he continues to lap his tongue over your pussy.

“You are so beautiful.” He marvels lifting your thighs over his shoulders for better access. “And all mine.”

 He skillfully connects his entire mouth to the fabric open mouth kissing and rolling his tongue all over your parts. You moan at the new sensation of him hiking up your undergarments causing friction against your clit as he soaks them with his mouth. 

Loki pulls away only to pull off your now soaking wet underwear “Look at you, so beautiful.” He admires you again helping you out of them and then going back down to get back to work, this time sloppier.

In no time you are a moaning mess. He laps his tongue around your clit down to your entrance, over and over again. Your moans get progressively louder as he continues the movements of his tongue causing a sloshing noise from the wetness.

“Ohhh.” Is all you could  manage out as you grip his dark hair and barrie his face deeper into your pussy. “Don’t stop.” You moan breathlessly, the noises from your wetness enough to make you cum.

He lets out a growl into your core, the vibrations sending you into over drive. As you run your fingers through his hair you arch your back bucking your hips, needing him to keep going. He removes his mouth pushing your hips down, grounding you down to the bed as he slipped a finger into your wet folds. You throw your head back has he adds another, moaning all types of profanity.

“Listen to me (Y/n), while you marry my brother, I want you to remember how I’m making you feel in this moment. All wet for me not him.” He says maliciously. “Who’s making you feel so good?” He asked this while gliding his thumb over your clit fast as he thrust his fingers into you hitting that sweet spot that makes your toes curl.

“I’m so close Loki! My love I’m so close…” You moan louder as you roll your hips, grinding on to his fingers as they fuck you.

Loki thrusts is fingers into you faster, meeting your grinds while hitting your g spot. You felt the familiar warm feeling spreads from the bundle of nerves that is your clit to the pit of your belly as you began to cum over his hands. 

-

After you come down from your high, he finds his way back up to you lying next to you as you shift  positions to lay on his chest.

“You're too good to me and I can’t live without you.” You say feeling the warmth of his body as he wrapped his arms around you tightly. “But we can’t keep doing this.”

“I think we can.” He chuckles to himself. “They all are incompetent, so I think we can manage our time.” He says rubbing small circles onto your back. “ They hardly even notice you’re involved with someone who isn’t their beloved prince. “ Loki sighs. 

“There is no way for me to get out of it.” You relax in his embrace and trace the lines of the sleeping garment he has on. “It will be a sad lonely life of being Thor Odisons wife.”

“Listen to me,” His voice is now more serious. “... you need not to worry about that because it most certainly won’t be a sad lonely life. You will have me (Y/n), and I will not be going anywhere.” He kisses your head. “I most certainly do not say this quite enough, but I love you .”

You sighed. You knew his words were kind, but there was no point in pretending this wasn’t pointless. The only thing that was fatuous, was loving someone and not having them completely. Love is the fatuous one.

“I love you too” You finally mumble before closing your eyes ready to drift off to sleep as he continues rubbing soothing circles around your back.

Comments, Questions, Opinions :)

See more of what I have written so far: Masterlist

[guacam011y]

***SPOILERS FOR WANDAVISION EPISODE 6***

So I’m still processing everything but holy shite that ep was wild...

FIRST THINGS FIRST - WANDA, VISION, BILLY AND PIETRO ALL IN COMIC ACCURATE-ISH COSTUMES AND TOMMY IN A MINI QUICKSILVER COSTUME

PIETRO CALLING BILLY AND TOMMY DEMON SPAWN - GOD DAMMIT, IT’S MEPHISTO ISN’T IT? HOUSE OF M HERE WE COME

HERB ASKING WANDA IF SHE WANTED SOMETHING CHANGED

AGNES ASKING VISION ABOUT THE AVENGERS AND STUFF AND AT FIRST SHE SEEMED GENUINELY FREAKED OUT BUT THEN STARTED LAUGHING MANIACALLY AND I STILL DON’T TRUST HER AND AGNES BEING DRESSED AS A WITCH? AGATHA HARKNESS WAS A WITCH - COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT!

DARCY LOOKING OVER MONICA’S MED SCANS AND TELLING HER HOW THE HEX AFFECTS HER EACH TIME SHE GOES IN - IS SHE DEVELOPING HER POWERS?

PIETRO’S CORPSE - SCARED ME JUST AS MUCH AS VISION’S

MOVIES SHOWING IN THE THEATRE IN THE BACKGROUND - THE INCREDIBLES: A MOVIE BASED AROUND A SUPERHERO FAMILY AND THE PARENT TRAP: A MOVIE ABOUT TWINS WHO MEET AT CAMP AND TRY AND SET THEIR PARENTS UP

DON’T GO PAST ELLIS AVENUE - NOW I DON’T KNOW IF THIS IS A CONNECTION OR JUST A COINCIDENCE BUT ELLIS IS THE LAST NAME OF THE PRESIDENT DURING IRON MAN 3

TOMMY HAVING HIS SPEED POWERS AND BILLY HAVING HIS REALITY WARPING/TELEKINETIC POWERS - WELCOME SPEED AND WICCAN

A CALL BACK TO INFINITY WAR WHEN VISION EXITED THE HEX? SLIGHTLY DUSTING AND HE PROBABLY WON’T SURVIVE BEING OUTSIDE OF THE HEX - HE’LL JUST DIE AGAIN 🥲

I STILL DON’T TRUST HAYWARD - HE’S VERY SUS

DARCY BEING TAKEN INTO THE HEX WITH THE OTHER S.W.O.R.D AGENTS - HOPEFULLY WE CAN SEE THE OUTFITS THAT KAT DENNING’S WAS EXCITED ABOUT

I SWEAR THEY BETTER NOT STRAIGHTWASH BILLY AND TOMMY OR I WILL RIOT 😤

***FURTHER UPDATES***

So sit-com wise, it seems they were referencing Malcolm in the Middle as the twins broke the fourth wall and talked to the audience, like Malcolm did

However, the theme song has told the viewer to stop questioning the reality of Westview - which could be a little reference to Mystery Science Theatre 3000? - When Pietro first shows up in the title sequence, along with his name title card, the lyrics say “Though there may be no way of knowing who’s come to play” - Istg, I do not trust Pietro

Vision says to Wanda that he had to wear his Halloween costume because there were no other clothes in his closet, Wanda is trying to move the plot along and forcing Vision to play along

Evan Peters’ ‘Mom’ tattoo is shown, which is a tattoo he actually has in real life ! But could this stand for ‘Multiverse of Madness’ or some other red herring?

Pietro mentions to Wanda that if he had found ‘Shangri-La’ he wouldn’t want to leave either - Shangri-La is a real place on Earth-616 that was founded by a version of Vision

Tommy refers to Pietro’s speed as ‘kickass’ and then Wanda repeats that, saying ‘kickass’ again - Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Evan Peters (both versions of QuickSilver) were in Kick-Ass together

The ad for this episode was freaky af - the character on the beach who starved and decomposed could be a little nod to Indiana Jones, where a Nazi’s face melts in - and it could also be reference to Wanda being all alone and struggling to process her grief. The shark in the ad could also be Nightmare or Mephisto or just someone more powerful than Wanda offering her a new beginning with Vision or trapped her in some way - and is feeding off her magic? The flavour of the yoghurt is strawberry flavoured and strawberry’s are red on the outside and pink-ish on the inside - much like Wanda’s og costume and her magic being red 👀

Pietro and Wanda talk about their Sokovian accents at a point in the episode and how neither have them anymore. Wanda’s, as we know, has disappeared over the course of the MCU movies and Pietro’s just doesn’t exist - another nice little nod to Peter Maximoff from the fox X-Men films? Also, Pietro states that “I’m just trying to do my part, okay? Come to town unexpectedly, create tension with the brother-in-law, stir up trouble with the Rugrats (a 90’s cartoon 👀) and ultimately give you grief.” - in reference to the grief part, could Pietro be killed off again? Stir up trouble with the rugrats, being possible shards of the demon Mephisto’s soul, could this be Mephisto trying to influence them on a deeper level? It’s also many many common sitcom clichès

Pietro talks about how “I got shot like a chump on the street for no reason at all” - nice little nod to how Pietro was killed off unnecessarily and how we as a fandom still talk about how regular bullets shouldn’t have killed him

Herb is dressed as Frankenstein’s monster - Dr. Frankenstein created his monster and soon lost control over him, and he was created using electricity or lightning - much like Vision was created and brought to life by Thor using Mjolnïr to bring lightning down to his incubator thingy majig. Could this also be a reference to either Wanda slowly losing control over Westview or someone else controlling Wanda/controlling the citizens of Westview - we saw in episode 3 that Agnes told Herb to be quiet as it seemed he was about to spill the beans 👀

Vision goes towards Ellis avenue and is at a ‘crossroads’ of sorts - in folklore, crossroads are often used to speak to or summon the devil and are also used when an important character is making a decision that could change everything. He spots some citizens repeating certain actions and/or just standing completely still, could these be npc’s (non playable characters)? And now that the barrier of the Hex has spread, will those citizens now start to move? 👀 Also I know that all stop signs look like it, but the stop sign is also a red hexagon 🛑

Darcy scrolls through Hayward’s computer files and goes past a file called “Project C4-113” - it could reference Avengers Issue #113 in which Wanda and Vision both appear on the cover and she says she’s going to make the world pay for Vision’s death. There’s also another file called “Project M5-247” which could be a nod to Avengers Issue #247, which shows the origin of the Eternals and in the same vein, Scarlet Witch and Vision trying to help Captain Marvel. And when Darcy emails Hayward’s cataract plans, you can see the names of “James Alexander and James Gadd” - James Alexander is a visual effects producer on Wandavision and James Gadd works on post production at Marvel

Also: Agnes pulls as Mrs Hart and repeats the same phrase over and over again

After Wanda blasts Pietro, you can see on a fake grave stone the name of “Janell Sammelman”, Janell is a first assistant director on Wandavision

When Wanda moves Westview to save Vision, she turns S.W.O.R.D and it’s agents into clowns + a circus - I just love that the agents turned into clowns 😂 but there is a nice little plot line in the comics where Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Hawkeye join the circus - and this COULD be stretch, but earlier in the episode there is the number #22 which could be Avengers Issue #22, which is the Issue that they join the circus

As soon as Vision was brought back into Westview, he was healed - which means if he was to exit again, he probably wouldn’t survive 😭

The episode title is ‘All-New Halloween Spooktackular!” - which “All-New” is a designation that is often used on covers for comic books. And the first issue of the second The Vision and the Scarlet Witch series takes place on Halloween night - but the events in this comics didn’t influence this episode’s plot

Pietro points out that he has the “XY chromosome” - X for X-Men? Plus there’s the X gene 😂

He mentions “Uncle Peter to the rescue” - Peter is the name of Quicksilver from the Fox X-Men Franchise

Pietro and Tommy quote the movie Top Gun (1986) by saying “I fell the need, the need for speed”

Wanda almost seems hesitant to trust this version of Pietro (rightfully so, in my opinion) and is wary of him being around Tommy and Billy

Pietro says some very Mephisto/Nightmare-like things this episode - “Unleash hell, demon spawn!”, “The kids need a father figure”, “Damnit, if Westview isn’t charming as Hell...” - And if Pietro isn’t Mephisto/Nightmare, it HAS to be Agnes or her other half Ralph and Pietro is probably Ralph tbh...or could Pietro just be a scapegoat and Hayward is Ralph? 👀

The theatre in town, which is playing the Incredibles and The Parent Trap, is called the Coronet. There’s a classic poem called “The Coronet” written by Andrew MARVELL (Marvell, is also the true name of the first incarnation of Captain Marvel in the comics) and is about a guy who knows that the sins of mankind led to the death of Christ. He attempts to create a new crown for Christ’s head in an attempt to atone, but finds that there is sin in the crown as well, as the devil is within the crown and therefore he may achieve glory and success with his new creation 👀

Hayward’s confidential project “Cataract” included experimenting on Vision’s body, as was revealed by Darcy (my wife 💙 and Monica is also my wife 💚 and so is Wanda 💛, I just love women, you know? 😂). A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision - is Hayward trying to weaponise Vision? Or maybe even trying to bring Ultron back? Or do what Tony wanted to do in the first place, and make a suit of armour that’s around the world? Either way, it’s for nefarious purposes

Who is Monica’s guy? Jimmy and Monica are off to meet him - could it be Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic)? Or could it be Victor Von Doom (Dr Doom)? Could it be Hank McCoy (Beast)? Or even Adam Brashear (Blue Marvel)? Or if it is a woman, could it be the Skrull daughter of Talos that Monica befriended at the end of Captain Marvel? Could it be Abigail Brand (A major character in recent S.W.O.R.D comics and an Alpha Flight Member)? Or even Toni Ho (Iron Patriot, and could she be introduced to help lay the ground work for my other queen, Riri Williams/Iron Heart?)? Or could it even be Sue Storm (Invisible Woman)?

In the background of the episode we see a number of children and adults dressed up as many different characters, which includes: Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat, Jason Voorhees, with a sweater striped like Freddy Krueger’s and even a kid that looks dressed in an off-brand Charizard costume 😂 Pokèmon has always been popular, but saw an increase during the 90’s

Pietro and the kids are drinking “Kane Cola” which could be a reference to the 90’s drinks “Jolt Cola” or even “Surge” - it could also, with all the X-Men Easter eggs, be a reference to Garrison Kane, who was a member of Cable’s mercenary team “Six Pack” and is sometimes also known as ‘Weapon X’

The kid that Wanda mentions having a “skin thing” in the orphanage - could that be a reference to her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants co-worker Toad? Or maybe even Mystique? Maybe Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler)?

One of the houses has a sign up that says ‘Macabre Mansion’ - another possible reference to House of M?

During a flashback, it’s shown that the twins are playing Dance Dance Revolution, which came out in 1999. Also this might be a stretch, but the boys have a dog plushie in their room the right - which is coloured red and black - could this be a reference to Dogpool? 😂

I love this show 🤣💙

[marvelloussynergy]

COMIC BOOK REFERENCES & EASTER EGGS - Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

The following is a comprehensive guide to all the comic book references and Easter eggs I’ve spotted in Thor: Love and Thunder along with any deviations from the source material. Note that owing to the convoluted and complex nature of comic books, I’ve tried to include only the most essential information regarding a character’s history and backstories.

The film’s premise of Thor having to stop Gorr from killing all the gods is adapted from “The God Butcher” and “Godbomb” arcs (Thor: God of Thunder #1-5, 2012-13, and Thor: God of Thunder #7-11, 2013, respectively). “The God Butcher” tells three related stories: a young Thor’s early encounters with Gorr, the present-day Thor’s investigation of Gorr’s re-emergence, and a future King Thor’s battles against Gorr’s Black Berserkers. The story then continues in “Godbomb,” with the three Thors teaming up—thanks to time travel—to stop Gorr and his Godbomb (a weapon designed to kill all divine beings throughout time).

Notable moments taken from the two arcs include Gorr’s line “All gods will die” (which is something the character says to Thor in Thor: God of Thunder #5, 2013), an image of the dead Indigarrian gods hung from hooks (a recreation of a panel from Thor: God of Thunder #1, 2012), and Thor and Korg coming across the dead body of Falligar the Behemoth (a recreation of a panel from Thor: God of Thunder #3, 2012, although in the comic book Korg isn’t present).

In the comics, Gorr the God Butcher is an alien who sought revenge on all deities, slaughtering many of them over centuries. His hatred of all gods stemmed from the death of his pregnant wife, Arra, who died in an earthquake, and later his son, Agar, who died from starvation, despite his worship of his planet’s gods. Gorr is known for wielding the All-Black (also called the Necrosword), a symbiote that bonds to its host and grants them several abilities including increased strength and can be formed into bladed weapons and armour. He obtained the All-Black having found Knull (the then current wielder of the All-Black) and an unnamed god in gold armour who both fell from the sky onto his planet while battling each other. The gold armoured god asked for Gorr’s help, but Gorr’s anger at the gods for their lack of aid saw the All-Black leave Knull for Gorr who subsequently used it to kill Knull and the god clad in gold armour. Gorr has also used the All-Black to create semi-sentient minions which he’s dubbed Black Berserkers. While Gorr has two tentacles on his head in the source material, these are absent from his screen counterpart.

When we see teenage Thor wear running through the woods, he’s wearing a winged helmet, red cape, sleeveless top with discs, blue pants, and yellow wraps around the shins. This is Thor’s classic costume, first seen in Journey Into Mystery #83 (1962), the character’s debut issue.

In both media, Indigarr is a planet, home to a race of blue-skinned aliens, whose gods (referred to as the Sky Lords of Indigarr in the source material) were killed by Gorr. Indigarr made its first appearance in Thor: God of Thunder #1 (2012).

While on Indigarr, Thor wears a vest over a white tank top. Though not an exact match, the outfit brings to mind the costume worn by Eric Masterson/Thunderstrike. In the comics, Eric was for a time merged with Thor, but later separated and became the hero Thunderstrike, with a vest being a signature part of his outfit.

The comic book incarnations of Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder are Asgardian goats that pull Thor’s chariot. They’re capable of flight and can travel through space. In the MCU, the goats hail from Indigarr and are used to pull a New Asgardian tour boat. Of note, the boat is named Aegir, who in the comics is the God of the Seas.

Jane Foster becoming Thor is a plot taken from the comics. In the source material, Jane became Thor after picking up Mjolnir, the hammer having called out to her (Thor had become unworthy to wield Mjolnir in Original Sin #7, 2014). She made her first appearance as Thor in Thor: God of Thunder #25 published in September 2014, but the moment in which she picks up Mjolnir and transforms into Thor is first depicted in Thor #1 published in October 2014). As the Goddess of Thunder, Jane possesses superhuman strength and can use Mjolnir to fly and control the weather. Unfortunately, as Jane was being treated for breast cancer (she reveals her diagnosis to Thor in Thor: God of Thunder #12, 2013), every time she transforms into the Mighty Thor the process clears the chemotherapy from her body, meaning the cancer worsens each time she reverts back. Jane dies from cancer in The Mighty Thor #705 (2018) and in The Mighty Thor #706 (2018) we see her at the gates of Valhalla, however, she is soon revived by Thor and Odin (in the film Jane is welcomed into Valhalla by Heimdall).

The MCU version of Jane wields a Mjolnir with cracks in it. This is reminiscent of the time her comic book counterpart reformed the broken hammer used by the Thor of Earth-1610, resulting in it having a cracked appearance (Jane reforms the hammer in The War of the Realms #5, 2019, while we see its cracked look in The War of the Realms #6, 2019). The Mjolnir of Earth-616 acquired a cracked appearance in Thor #23 (2022), which was released a few months before Love and Thunder. It must be noted that the writer of the issue, Donny Cates, has revealed that the Earth-616 Mjolnir gaining a cracked appearance so close to the release of Love and Thunder was merely a coincidence.

Thor’s predominantly blue-coloured armour and gold helmet which covers most of his face in the film recalls the outfit Thor first dons in Thor #378 (1987). The armour, which was forged in a Pittsburgh steel mill, is made from Asgardian steel and has the runes of Odin engraved on it.

Many gods are named or seen in Love and Thunder. Those that have counterparts in the comics include Ra (Heliopolitan sun god), Quetzalcoatl (Teōtl God of the Sky), Tūmatauenga (Akua/Atua war god; also known as Kū), Dionysus (Olympian God of Wine), Artemis (Olympian Goddess of the hunt), Minerva (Olympian Goddess of Wisdom and Tactical Warfare; also known as Athena), and Bast (Heliopolitan God of Pleasure, Dancing, and Music).

In the source material, Omnipotence City is a place where gods and immortals can gather. Areas include the Genesis Bazaar, a vast library known as the Halls of All-Knowing, the Parliament of Pantheons (where laws are enacted), and the High Holy Court.

In both the film and the comics, Zeus is the ruler of the Olympians, a group worshipped by the ancient Greeks and Romans. In addition to his super strength, endurance, and regenerative healing factor, Zeus can generate lightning bolts from his hands.

Two Celestials can be spotted in Omnipotence City. The one with the prongs on the side of its head appears to be based on the combined form of four Mad Celestials from Earth-4280 (as seen in Fantastic Four #603, 2012). The one with the cylindrical head appears to be a Celestial Gardener. In the comics, Celestial Gardeners propagate life on new worlds using Life Seeds and give Death Seeds to those they task to ensure a species’ evolution occurs as intended.

The process by which Kronans reproduce is similar in both the comics and the MCU: two male Kronans hold hands, place them into lava, and after several days their hands crack apart and a rockling is revealed. Korg detailed the process in World War Hulk: Aftersmash! - Warbound #4 (2008).

The MCU version of the Shadow Realm is a planetary body devoid of colour. This is different to the Shadow Realm of the comics, which is a dimension home to a two-dimensional race that have discovered a way to alter their form and appear as dark solid shapes (“living shadows”). The concept of living shadows may have been combined with Gorr’s Black Berserkers to become the Shadow Monsters in the film.

In the comics, Eternity is an abstract entity that serves as the embodiment of time. Eternity is nigh-omnipotent and, while it does not have a physical form, it can appear as a humanoid with the cosmos within it when communicating with life forms.

At the Gates of Eternity are several statues of cosmic entities. These include Death (the personification of mortality), Eon (the comic book incarnation is a cosmic being who’s an alleged offspring of Eternity and known for appointing the Protector of the Universe), Infinity (the personification of space in the source material), the Living Tribunal, the One Above All (leader of the fourth Celestial Host), and a Watcher (possibly Uatu).

Both the comic book and film incarnations of Hercules are the son of Zeus. In the source material, he’s known as the God of Strength on account of his superhuman strength, and like other Olympian gods does not age and is nigh-invincible. Hercules made his debut in Journey Into Mystery Annual #1 (1965).

We also get a few references and callbacks to past MCU entries: Korg recaps the deaths of several characters (Frigga, Odin, Hogun, Thor), during his workout Thor wears a cap that claims he’s the strongest Avenger, Thor riding Stormbreaker like a broom recalls the time Korg mistakenly believed Thor flies by riding Mjolnir, Thor has Nick Fury listed in his phone as “Nick Furry,” Darryl (from the non-canon One-Shots Team Thor, Team Thor: Part 2, and Team Darryl) appears as a tour guide, in New Asgard there’s an ice cream parlour called Infinity Conez (a nod to the Infinity Gauntlet), and Thor has tattoos commemorating family and friends who have passed away.

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[terry-perry]

Here We Go Again pt. 3

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Odinsdottir!Reader

Warnings: Parental angst (if that’s a thing)

OC: A.J. Rogers, Daisy Rogers, Natalie Rogers

A/N: Previous parts HERE and HERE.

Tags: @prettysatan​

Enjoy!

He didn’t know what was going on with her. At first, he thought it was about work. He knew how stressed she could get when the council couldn’t reach agreements on certain issues. But then, he began to do some more thinking. Was this about the girls leaving for that mission?

She was still having a bit of a struggle with accepting the fact that they were now part of the next generation of Avengers. They were still her babies, in her eyes. Only 17 and 19, and they were off fighting crime and putting their lives on the line to save the world. How could she not worry?

Whatever it was that was bothering her, she shouldn’t keep it all bottled up. He wanted to be there for her as best as he could.

“Thor?” Steve approached his brother-in-law at the cliffs overlooking the waters. It was always a favorite spot of the God’s who now looked over his shoulder to offer a welcoming smile.

“Something I can do for you, brother?”

Even after all these years, it felt rather strange for Steve to be referred to as such. When imagining the possibility of future in-laws, he didn’t exactly prepare himself to have any that were of royalty. And in this case, space royalty. Still, it didn’t deter him from seeing Thor as family. It was why he was coming to him, after all. 

“I don’t know,” Steve said, not knowing how else to start. “I just-- I’ve been worried about Y/N. I’m sure it’s nothing; maybe she’s just stressing out over work. But it still feels like she’s closing herself off from everyone. It’s not my business, but did she mention anything to you by any chance?”

After hearing this, Thor was now the one unsure of what to say. Guess Y/N hadn’t told him the news just yet, leading him to this suspicion. This alone made Thor want to spill everything to him, but it wasn’t his secret to tell. No matter how much it concerned Steve. 

“Well, what do you think she might be concerning herself with?” He decided to take a different route by trying to see if Steve could figure it out himself.

It seemed to have done the trick as he pushed his brows together to think about it. “The most recent thing I can think of is the last time we talked to the girls. They have to stay where they are, longer than anticipated. It’s been getting Y/N more anxious than she already was.”

“That must be it then!” Thor attempted to make it look like he came to this conclusion as well. Laying on the enthusiasm a little too thick. 

Steve didn‘t notice, thankfully. Now busy feeling guilty for what Y/N has been going through by herself. And it wasn’t that he hasn’t been missing Daisy and Nat either. He missed them like crazy. But they had jobs to do, just like the ones he and Y/N had.

He figured it was hitting her the hardest since when the kids were growing up, she had been the parent that mostly worked and stayed active even after retiring from the Avengers. He himself took on a more Fury-like role by helping to recruit new members and resolve any disputes there may be between the government and superheroes, but he still spent most of the time at home. 

Now he wanted to do what he could to help her through this emotional time.

But what?

She continued to pace around the living room, seeming to get more antsy by the minute. This was getting to be too much. Pushing on the verge of ridiculous. She just needed to be upfront about it now. 

“Mom?”

And as if she needed to add more to her inner stress...

“Darling,” she greeted A.J. as he walked in looking concerned. Deja vu. 

“What’s going on? What happened at dinner?”

“I was wondering that myself. What happened with you? You looked quite sick.”

“You’re one to talk,” he retorted, his worried stare having yet faded. “You were covering your nose and face. Was there something actually wrong with the food?”

“No,” she stated, sighing. If she was wanting to be more upfront about this, might as well start now. “The thing is...I’m pregnant.”

She could hear the way his breath caught in his throat. And if that didn’t give away his shock at the news, his suddenly big eyes certainly did. Though it only seemed to last for a second or two, his expression than changing to one of curiosity and intrigue as he glanced down at her stomach.

“Huh, that explains some things then,” he mumbled more to himself.  

She tilted her head, wondering now herself what he could mean by that. “Like what?”

His eyes went back to hers to explain. “Well, at dinner, I think I felt something like a presence? Like someone else was there besides you, me, and dad. And maybe that explains why I felt sick. Because you were feeling sick. Is that possible?”

Her confusion and worry then changed into feelings relating to elation and pride. 

“A.J.!” She squealed, approaching him with these emotions in hand. “You’ve inherited your grandmother’s gift.”

“Her gift?”

It could go without saying that Frigga was a powerful witch with many talents. Which is why it can also be said that her powerful empath abilities could easily be overlooked. It was what helped her in being a wonderful wife and mother as well as a selfless and understanding queen, beloved by all. Being able to channel others’ emotions and auras. Could A.J. have gained this skill too?

“Your grandmother was a powerful Empath that could read the feelings of others,” Y/N went on to explain. “And if powerful enough, they can take on the energy of others. Even feel things before they happen due to having a strong intuition.”

“So, like a mind reader?” A.J. asked.

“In a way. Except instead of thoughts, you’re able to read emotions. The energy level of others. Perhaps what you were sensing at dinner was the presence of your future sibling as well as my troubling emotions. Not to mention, my nausea.”

A scoffing chuckle was what she was met with along with “Well, I’m happy for about the baby and the cool stuff I gained, but I don’t know if I’m looking forward to feeling everything you’re gonna feel these next nine months.”

She was happy to learn about this new development about his son, but he certainly had a point. How would this effect him on a personal level? How did Frigga do it exactly? This wasn’t something either her or any of her siblings inherited fully. Perhaps Mantis would be able to lend hand on this, given she was an Empath herself.

“We’ll find a way to help you control your powers,” she assured him. In the meantime, she was glad that he didn’t seem put off by the other news. “So, you’re okay with the baby? Truly?”

“Yeah,” he said, smiling before giving her a small, reassuring hug. “It’s a surprise, but it’s awesome. But, I take it Dad doesn’t know.”

She looked embarrassed as she shook her head. “Haven’t had the spine to tell him. Scared of how he’d react. But now I’m feeling guilty for putting it off. Doesn’t help that your Uncle Thor and Aunt Brunnhilde already know.”

She released a heavy sigh after spewing all this out. On some level, she wanted him to judge her for acting like a frightened child. But all he could give her was a sweet, comforting look that had him look so much like Steve.

“He’s gonna think this is great news,” A.J. assured her. “He’ll be shocked, sure, but he’ll be happy.”

“You think so?”

“Absolutely,”

The third voice that came into the room immediately caught her off guard, realizing who it was in an instant. She spun around to find Steve had entered their home. That same reassuring and loving face.

“A.J., you mind giving us a minute alone?” Steve requested, directing his head towards the front door.

A.J. understood right away and gave one more smile before making his exit. Leaving his parents alone. One that was biting her bottom lip an fiddling with her fingers while the other wanted it to be known that everything was okay. It would be, anyway.

“How much of that did you hear?” She began with, still afraid to look him in the eye fully. 

“Only all of it,” he teased lightly with a shrug. He walked over so he pull her into his arms and let her see how genuine his happiness was, now that it was up close. “This is great, really.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner,” she still felt the need to apologize and open to him the way a wife was meant to do with her partner. “I was scared. For many reasons, if we’re being honest. I mean, it’s been so long since we’ve been in this situation. Will we still be good at this?”

“Of course! Y/N...” he pressed her closer as he ran his hands along her sides. The way his fingers traced his back and lightly massaged her got her shivering a bit. “If we’re being honest, I’m scared too. But, it’s a good scared. Like when I realized I was in love with you. Or, even when you were pregnant the first time.” He paused to give a kiss to the top of her head. “This is gonna be great for us. We’re great parents. You, especially. It’s why I thought you were so upset in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well,” he took a deep breath, now feeling like the embarrassed one. “I thought you were feeling depressed about the girls being gone.”

“Oh, darling. I mean, of course I wish they were here, but I know they have a job to do. I’m proud of them.”

Steve could only smile brighter as he pressed a kiss to her hand. “That right there. That’s how I know we’re going to be okay. Y/N, you care so much about the people you love and do your best to understand them. It’s why you’re such a great mom. Why I love you so much.”

Her eyes couldn’t help but fill up. He knew. It was true that most of her worry derived from her own anxiety. It’d been a mix of things like her past worry from her family’s history and how she wasn’t the most present parental figure that she wanted to be. But he was right. They got this.

“I’m so lucky,” she summed up these thoughts by simply stating that before burying her face in his chest. 

He chuckled softly and continued to hold her tight. They stayed that way a little while longer until he brought up a surprise of his own:

“We should probably head outside. I called the girls, and they managed to conjure themselves up for a visit. Let’s tell them the good news.”

[theymakehistorywrites]

Young Gods: Loki x Fem!Reader Part Four: Butterflies

Scenario: Not only did Loki survive to help with the creation of New Asgard, he is also the primary advisor to the king and oversees the rebuilding of their culture. When he meets Y/N, a healer demigoddess from another culture who left everything behind to help the Asgardians, he isn’t sure what to make of her. What he does feel is a magnetic pull towards her and a desire to show her what a trickster truly is like.

Notes/Context: So this is set in late 2023, after the Snap is undone. All the events still occurred, just Loki was alive due to his seidr saving him. Thor still told Brunnhilde that she should be King of Asgard, which Loki supported as he no longer wanted a throne and finally feels he’s Thor’s equal as they’re both Brunnhilde’s advisors. He’s worked to make amends for what happened in NYC in 2012 due to his being brainwashed and under the influence of the scepter, but is still not a fan of Midgardians as forgiveness takes time. Beta’ing by and brainstorming done with singeart. Shout out to her for being an amazing writer and super helpful ❤️ Go read her stuff! High quality stuff! I haven’t written fanfiction since 2016 (six years ago), so please take it easy on me please.

TW/CW: MCU typical violence; references to Loki’s neck being snapped by Thanos; the Snap, spoilers for Avengers Infinity War, Avengers Endgame, the Loki TV show and What If on Disney+; teasing, sensuality (chapter 2).

Note: I researched Ostara traditions, but it's a bit hard to separate what was originally Norse and what got absorbed by Christianity/Easter.

Ostara Sources, Citations, and Notes: 1) https://www.learnreligions.com/all-about-ostara-the-spring-equinox-2562471 2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%92ostre 3) https://ethicalbutcher.co.uk/blogs/journal/ostara-the-spring-equinox-a-time-of-rebirth 4) https://www.learnreligions.com/hold-an-ostara-ritual-for-solitaries-2562480 5) https://www.learnreligions.com/setting-up-your-ostara-altar-2562484 6) https://www.goddessandgreenman.co.uk/ostara/ 7) https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2019/03/things-to-do-for-ostara-solitary-pagan.html 8) https://medium.com/female-trouble/5-ways-to-celebrate-ostara-the-spring-equinox-like-a-modern-witch-99d51f23d421

Relevant Song Lyrics: "Now you're liftin' me up, 'stead of holdin' me down Stealin' my heart, 'stead of stealin' my crown Untangled all the strings 'round my wings that were tied I didn't know him and I didn't know me Cloud nine was always out of reach Now I remember what it feels like to fly You give me butterflies"

~Ostara/Spring Equinox~

You stretched as you woke up beside your lover, smiling at Loki as you watched him wake up. It was just before the sunrise, as was traditional for the time to wake up on Ostara.

“I’m excited to watch the sunrise with you today,” you told Loki, allowing him to wrap his arms around your waist and nuzzle against your neck. You’d learned he was touch starved, and thus very affectionate when the two of you were alone.

“Happy Ostara, my darling,” Loki told you, pressing his lips right on the soft skin behind your ear. You shivered, the spot being a sensitive one for you.

He stood up from the bed, using seidr to put pants and a tank top on as he walked to the doorway. You watched him from the bed, realizing he was burying an egg in the ground next to the steps..

“It is to assure abundance in the coming year,” Loki explained once he returned. “And, admittedly, my way of saying I’m glad you’ll be here next year…and the years after that.” He had this kind smile on his face, one reserved just for you.

You looked down then back up at him with a sheepish smile on your face.

“Let’s see your altar. I know you worked on it for a few months,” Loki insisted, not having looked during any of his numerous visits since the day you two admitted your feelings for each other.

You took Loki over to your altar, rather beautiful and fitting the traditions of Ostara. You had small pieces of citrine, yellow jasper, tiger’s eye, aquamarine, and golden topaz in a grid pattern, with various flowers interwoven between. The flowers included daffodils, crocuses, and tulips.

However, the focal point of the altar was a papier-mâché decorated plastic egg and pastel green candle. You’d decorated the egg during a slow day, blessing it with the saying: “little charm made of shell as I hang you here may all be well. May all things grow. May all things flow. Blessings for the turning of the wheel.”

“My mother, Frigg, used to get frustrated that she was confused with Freyja during Ostara. Both are fertility goddesses, but the mortals who met Thor and documented his drunken account of Asgardian history merged the names of Frigg and Freyja mistakenly. Frigg, would have loved to see your altar,” Loki told you, standing behind you as he wrapped his arms around your waist. “She always appreciated a good Ostara altar, even if she wasn’t the main goddess being honored during this holiday.”

Letting go of your waist, Loki took your hand and led you outside so the two of you could watch the sunrise together.

“We should plant the seeds you got together after the sun finishes rising,” he suggested, walking with you to the communal garden in New Asgard. Setting up a chair with a blanket for the cool spring air, Loki sat and pulled you down into his lap.

Brunnhilde and Loki’s brother had yet to arrive, so the public display of affection was safe to do. Watching the sky turn from a dark purple to a fiery orange while in Loki’s lap was blissful.

“I’d like that,” you responded, threading your fingers with Loki’s. “I’ve always loved gardening. Something about being in touch with nature and nurturing a living being,” you said and shrugged. You had always had a green thumb, and attributed it to your healing gifts but truthfully you weren’t fully sure where it came from. You knew you had a divine parent, but didn’t know who it was.

“You know, our relationship fits the Ostara theme,” Loki commented, on alert for any footsteps heading in your direction. “We balance each other out,” he explained, running his fingers through your hair tenderly.

You smiled over your shoulder at him, enjoying the simple act of affection. Loki then waved his hand so his seidr would change your attire. He put you in a flowy, light green dress with golden accents. The pastel green was for both Ostara and Loki, and the gold was of course a nod to your lover.

“Ravishing,” he complimented, satisfied with the dress he’d come up with. “Though impractical for gardening.” It mattered not to either of you, as you could always use magic to clean the dress if you did end up gardening while wearing it.

You stood up, much to Loki’s dismay, as you heard footsteps nearing and didn’t want to be caught in such an intimate position. You hadn’t formally announced your courtship yet so you didn’t want anyone figuring it out before Loki told the royal court his intentions.

“I must say, you always look good in my colors,” Loki commented, looking you over again. It was the only sign that you and Loki had any sort of relationship - the touches of him that you wore: a snake pinky ring, shades of green, simple golden jewelry, and his name in runes that you hid under your top. He too had adopted some attire that related to you, such as a ring that included your birthstone, along with your initials on a necklace that he hid under his armor and suits.

“Thor and Brunnhilde are coming, we should get to the garden so they don’t suspect anything,” you told Loki, not addressing his compliment as you didn’t know how enhanced Asgardian senses were and didn’t want Thor or King Brunnhilde to hear you basking in Loki’s compliments. The trickster deity rolled his eyes but stood up, waving his hand to change both of your attire. It surprised you, seeing him in gardening appropriate attire.

“Worry not, I’ll change us back to our Ostara outfits before the announcement,” Loki whispered in your ear, simply getting a nod as a response. You really didn’t wish to draw attention to yourselves and ruin the surprise, so you made sure to put distance between Loki and yourself.

Heading down to your section of the communal garden, you felt Loki watching you walk ahead of him and smiled a bit. You fully knew he was admiring you as your hips swayed slightly as you walked. Loki had a thing for your hips, as he enjoyed placing his hands on them as often as possible. He seemed to especially enjoy holding them while the two of you danced, which you had no complaints about.

The four of you spent the day gardening and later baking Ostara bread, a special recipe saved for the Spring Equinox. What neither of you overheard was the discussion between Brunnhilde and Thor about the two of you.

Brunnhilde took you aside while you were baking bread, smiling knowingly at you. “So you and Loki…” she trailed off, wanting to let you admit it. This was not what you wanted, and you thought you’d been so careful to hide your relationship with him so it could be a grand announcement as Loki wished.

“Yes, but please don’t tell anyone. Especially Thor. Loki wants to announce it during the final festivities,” you told the King of Asgard, a pleading look on your face. Brunnhide gave you a smirk, patting you on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it, just know that I’ll be celebrating winning a bet after Loki does announce your courtship,” ’ the King said with a wink.

“Thank you Brunnhilde, that means a lot to me,” you responded as Thor and Loki were coming closer. She nodded and went back to kneading the dough for the Ostara bread.

That evening, the festivities were wrapping up with mead and dancing. Loki enjoyed himself, the people of New Asgard having accepted him after he saved them from Ragnarok back in 2017. He flitted between social groups, performing minor magic tricks to make people laugh.

You loved to watch him do his thing, and he really did finally fit in with the Asgardians. He may have been Jotun by birth but the people, Thor and Brunnhilde all saw him as a member of the Asgardian royal court. He was one of King Brunnhilde’s advisors after all.

The god of mischief ended up at your side, making fireworks appear in his hand to make you smile. “Eh? Pretty, isn’t it?” he ribbed you, earning a smile and eye roll. You resisted the urge to lean into him and kiss his cheek, instead just patting his shoulder encouragingly.

“It’s nice to see how much the Asgardians have come to accept and even adore you,” you observed, Loki nodding in agreement. “I hope it means what you’re about to do will be well received,” you added, feeling a bit nervous.

Loki noticed you wringing your hands and took the left one in his and slid a gorgeous ring onto your ring finger. “It is this finger that signifies courtship, yes?” he asked you in a whisper, a smile tugging at his lips as he knew he was right. You nodded, covering your mouth in shock. You hadn’t expected him to go with a Midgardian tradition like that, not recalling that there were rings exchanged at Norse weddings back in the day.

“Yes, and you know my answer is yes,” you said, beaming up at him as you watched him stand back up. He cleared his throat and got up onto the table, avoiding jugs of mead as he found his balance. Causing fireworks to pop all over the ballroom, Loki brought everyone’s attention to him.

“Asgardians. Friends. I have an announcement to make,” Loki began, clasping his hands together and glancing down at you lovingly. “I am formally courting Lady Y/N,” he told the crowd, earning a massive amount of applause.

You glanced away from Loki for a moment to see Thor hand Brunnhilde a five dollar bill and chuckled. Returning your gaze to Loki, you saw that he was extending his hand to help you onto the table to be with him. He’d kicked away the empty mead jars and made room for the two of you to dance.

“May Ostara, Frigg, and Freyja bless our union,” he said, cupping your cheek when you were up on the table with him.

You threw your arms around Loki’s neck and kissed him, standing on your toes to reach the tall Asgardian. He placed his hands on your waist and lifted you so you didn’t have to struggle. It felt incredible, being able to finally be public with your love.

“My beloved,” Loki said softly when your lips parted, a fond expression on his face. It made your cheeks flush a deep red, as he often did.

~ Later that evening~

During that night, Loki found himself back in Asgard - specifically in his mother’s study. Frigg was standing there, smiling at her son lovingly.

“Oh Loki, I’m so happy for you,” the late goddess told Loki. “You two are a good match.”  

She reached out and cupped her son’s face, “I am so proud of who you have become. My Loki. You’ll be so happy with her.”  

Loki closed his eyes, tears of joy slipping down his face. His mother’s approval and visit from the afterlife meant the world to him.

Loki woke up after his mother’s message was over, and looked at your sleeping form. He placed a kiss on your cheek and stroked your arm,  but so gently that you wouldn’t wake up.

“I love you,” he whispered before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

[authorofemotion]

How come you didn’t like no way home? Tell us your opinions

okay!!! warning: I did type out a very long rant. I don’t think it has any specific spoilers from No Way Home, but it does imply/allude to a couple things. I am very open to counterpoints or discussion in general, this is just my take!

Issue 1) It feels like it’s grabbing after the success of Into the Spiderverse a bit too much. In fact, since Into the Spiderverse, ALL marvel products seem like they’re trying to lean into the multiverse far past the point of originality. Wandavision, Loki, Spider-man, the upcoming Dr Strange??? They ALL deal with the multiverse. This leads into the problem of continuously raising stakes but I’ll get to THAT later.

Issue 2) The reboot of itself. Things that at first seemed like a cute nod towards the comics like the inclusion of The Daily Bugle suddenly are intrinsic to the plot. Marvel created a Spider-man franchise that fit into their expanded universe and even though some people had legitimate qualms with the way they handled it, it was doing something different with the character and owning it. That doesn’t work if, three movies in, they suddenly backpedal on everything they’ve done so far to make all the movies before and way too elevated stakes his ORIGIN STORY??? Marvel started out Homecoming (which is a good movie) AFTER his origin with references to Uncle Ben. Homecoming was for the most part his origin. They rebooted THEIR OWN CHARACTER in the SAME STORY ARC. You can’t just do that! They quite literally erased everything different about this spider-man so they could restart his character arc to be something else AS IF HE DOESNT ALREADY HAVE AN ESTABLISHED SPOT IN THE UNIVERSE AND EMOTIONAL TRAUMA

Issue 3) It was a fanfic. It was literally like watching a fanfic. Throughout it, there were regularly beats where all action would come to a standstill, even in highly charged scenes, for the characters to have SEVERAL minutes of witty banter. It was usually pretty funny (marvel is good at being funny), but it didn’t fit in with the rest of the emotional movie. It had the same problem as Far From Home with overly idiotic characters providing comic relief, and cashed in on the tropes without providing the feel-good ending fans would expect from a fanfic. So much of it was fan-service. just so much. They kept having Dr Strange show up and do father figure moments with Peter because they can’t seem to reconcile their decision to move past Iron Man. They did it with Mysterio and Happy in Far From Home, and they did it with Dr Strange in this movie, which leads to the next problem.

Issue 4) They think they’re making a tv show. The thing about all aforementioned father figures is that none of them stuck! They all were tossed aside. THIS is because of a bigger problem that is a result of the Marvel Phases. Phase 1 worked because, while all the movies were leading up towards the big battle with Thanos, each of them also stood on its own. You get the urge to go back and rewatch movies like Iron Man 2 or Thor: Ragnarok because they stand well individually! But more recent movies have fallen into the trap of each movie being just the next installment, rather than a story in its own right with nods to a more overarching plot. These installments have a sense of being episodic, while also having the pressure of expectation on them to be a big blockbuster. So, instead of doing what the older movies did, each movie now essentially becomes a filler episode for the new “main” plot where none of the stakes seem to matter because this story by itself doesn’t stand. But I have to stop myself again because the stakes will come later!!

Issue 5) It couldn’t decide what the main conflict of the movie was. Was it adjusting to life where everyone knew his identity? Was it trying to reverse a spell? Was it the moral dilemma of whether to help the villains or send them back to die? I don’t know and neither does this movie. My sister pointed out that the beginning and end are very thematically a big superhero movie, while the middle filler is clearly “monster of the week” so it feels jarring and in-genuine. Overall very thematically inconsistent.

Issue 6) the stakes. YOU SHOULDNT HAVE TO KEEP RAISING THE STAKES FOR A STORY TO KEEP THE AUDIENCE’S INTEREST. the first movie was about him wanting to move beyond smaller crime to criminal organizations but eventually deciding that neighborhood crime was better for him. then he got roped into saving the universe. uh oh! now those are pretty high stakes! we’d best raise them to sAVING THE MULTIVERSE. but people said that that wasn’t true to the vision of spider-man which hurt our feelings so we’ll put him back in his small neighborhood again at the end.

Issue 7) an emotional reaction does not equal a good movie. I laughed in the movie, and I teared up in the movie. This is because these characters were in good movies earlier and the actors are very good at selling their characters, so I am emotionally invested in the characters. This doesn’t mean that what this movie did with them was good writing, and I KNOW it’s not because I can think critically and also as soon as I left the theater I no longer felt emotional about it.

I’m just tired, because these problems keep showing up in recent Marvel movies. Therefore, to conclude, I reject modernity and all Marvel/Disney movies post-Infinity War (or mayyyybe Endgame).

[alirhi]

I don't read comic books. I've tried, but I have yet to find one with an art style I don't hate. I was the shoujo manga kid. I like ethereal beauty in the art I consume. Yuki Kaori is a goddess to me.

Because I don't read comics, most of the MCU's deviations from their source material has been lost on me, and I didn't care. I'd like to think, for the most part at least, that I still wouldn't care, as long as the movies/shows were entertaining to me. That's really my only criteria when it comes to movies - that I'm entertained.

I've tried to sit back and let the way they've depicted Loki just roll off my back. I've tried. Because I don't read comic books so I have no idea what they're working with from that angle... But Loki isn't a comic book character. He wasn't made up on the spot by some random artist. He's an actual deity. He's real. And what they've done to him is fucking insulting.

I have loved Loki all of my life. I've felt his energy, his presence in the world, and I love him. Before I understood the concept of religion, of worship, I loved him. I craved even the tiniest acknowledgement of his existence from any corner of the world. When they dropped his name in The Mask, I cheered. When they named a fallen angel after him in Dogma, I laughed and clapped. Every reference, every tiny indication that he hasn't been forgotten and abandoned, brought me such immense joy.

Naturally, I was over the moon when Thor came out in 2011. I was so happy to see Loki depicted on screen, truly depicted, not just mentioned or used as a vague reference, that I cried. I didn't even care that they didn't use his powers except the occasional illusion, because he was there! He was on screen, played by one of the most beautiful men I had ever seen, and finally, there was a chance for the rest of the world to see Loki as I always had: beautiful, chaotic, and misunderstood.

Every movie, I forgave his lack of magic use because I was happy to see him, to watch him evolve... and, yes, to watch Tom Hiddleston kick some ass. XD The capoeira (a fighting style I've been in love with since Only the Strong came out in the 90s) and the knife flipping, I just... UNF. There is no denying Tom's sex appeal, alright? XD I'm only human. Ahem. Anyway...

I also let it slide because I figured maybe Loki just wasn't that powerful, or inherently magical, in the Marvel universe. Maybe in a world of superheroes from all walks of life, the Norse gods aren't so special. Like I said, I've never read the comics.

They showed that their Loki was at least still cunning, still crafty and slippery, and I loved that. He escaped at the end of The Dark World, and I knew Ragnarok was coming, because that's how it goes. Loki and his son Fenrir escape from their prisons, and kick off Ragnarok.

Then Ragnarok in the MCU was turned into a campy buddy comedy that Loki was barely involved in, and my favorite two of his children were turned into... his older adoptive sister and her pet? What? But the movie was funny and entertaining in its own right, so I let it slide.

And then they killed Loki. And I ran out of forgiveness for this franchise. I ran out of excuses to make for their transgressions. And every episode of this series only makes me more angry. They show a tiny glimpse of Loki's potential, just a taste, just enough to let us know he can do so much more... and then they drop it and go back to playing his pain for laughs.

Marvel is treating their version of Loki the way the Norse gods treated the real Loki, and I am so done. The only reason I'm still watching is because I have friends here on tumblr who watch every week and then post about it immediately. It's the same reason I bothered to start watching at all. I hate this show. Episode 3 gave me a glimmer of hope, but 4 immediately killed it. No pun intended. I can't escape the chatter, so I might as well watch and form my own opinions before I read everyone else's.

The MCU used to be a little moment of joy that kept me going because my life pretty much fucking sucks. Ever since IW, it's just been more pain I don't really feel like dealing with. It's not entertaining anymore. It's just... there.

[robin-obsessed]

» marvel/dc ask game »

i have no idea where i saw this 4 years ago but i saved it in my notes and now i’m sharing it :)

at the end, tally up how much you have for each and tag some people if you want :)

1. x-men evolution or young justice (cartoon)?

gonna go with young justice. i’ve seen some epsodes of x-men evolution but young justice has my heart <3

2. ‪x-men‬ the animated series or batman the animated series?

tbh, i haven’t seen either but batman the animated series is on my watchlist so i’m gonna go with that...

3. jessica jones or supergirl?

supergirl, don’t have too much interest in jessica...

4. steve rogers/peggy carter or steve trevor/diana prince?

i think steve and peggy is a sweeter relationship, don’t come at me 🙈

5. ‪avengers age of ultron‬ or batman vs superman?

i despised batman vs superman so i’m going with avengers age of ultron on this one.

6. mutants or metas?

umm, i like both but metas has flash and mutants has gambit, cyclops and jubilee so mutants win :)

7. avengers or justice league?

i love the avengers, but the justice league has SO many people that i like because they’re more... extended. if it’s just the og 7 in the justice league, we’re gonna have to go with avengers because they’re better in my opinion.

8. tony stark or bruce wayne?

bruce wayne. period. i love a man who adopts countless orphans and throws them into a life of crime-fighting 😂

9. kamala khan or cassandra cain?

MY GIRL CASSANDRA. cassie hands down. i love her with every fiber of my being. let it be known.

10. america chavez or renee montoya?

america is awesome. i read the first issue of her solo series and she’s amazing. she also used a star wars reference so that gave her extra brownie points.

11. wanda maximoff or zatanna zatara?

zatannaaaaaa. i love z. she’s got a great costume AND dated dick grayson. i know she’s more than that, i’m just saying i totally wanted to be her in 8th grade... and the way she talks backwards is super cool.

12. bucky barnes or jason todd?

oof, didn’t have to put me on the spot like that but bucky. this poor man has all of my love even if i don’t express it enough... he’s so soft and i just love him 🥺

13. erik lehnsherr or harvey dent?

my man magneto. period. the fact that micheal fassbender plays him makes a little difference BUT not that much i swear 👐

14. thor or big barda?

thor. not only is he great in the MCU but in the comics as well... did y’all know about the time he went undercover in a wedding dress to steal his hammer back?? amazing.

15. namor or arthur curry?

ngl, i’ve heard of namor but don’t really know him that well so it’s arthur by default...

16. carol danvers or kara danvers?

KARA IS A PRECIOUS BEAN AND I LOVE HER. THANK YOU.

17. matt murdock or dick grayson?

even though i like matt murdock, i love dick grayson... he was the love of my life for a majority of my teen years before tim drake kicked him off his high horse, but if i can’t give him this, what am i doing?

18. clint barton or oliver queen?

both great archers. if we’re talking comics-wise, clint. he’s a masterpiece and not even oliver queen could top him... cinema-wise, oliver. no offense, jeremy...

19. pietro maximoff or wally west?

WALLACE RUDOLPH WEST FOR THE WIN. pietro is a close second (especially that scene in x-men apocalypse when he saves the school 👌) but wally takes the cake.

20. wade wilson or slade wilson?

is this even a question? wade, obviously.

21. natasha romanoff or selina kyle?

you didn’t NOT have to come for me like this. i love them both so much 🥺 i can’t choose... natasha and selina are my girls...

22. riri williams or duke thomas?

riri. i don’t think many people know about her but she’s great, i assure you.

23. civil war or infinite crisis?

ummm, i think infinite crisis was more interesting 👀

24. miles morales or terry mcginnis?

my boy miles. he’s a good bean...

25. steve rogers or clark kent?

we’re gonna go with my man steve on this one. what’s that alternate universe where superman is evil? injustice? red son? where’s the one where steve is evil? my point.

TOTAL (excluding 18 and 21 because i’m indecsisive):

12/23: Marvel

11/23: DC

i love them both honestly...

no-pressure tags:

@write-i-do @symeona

[aion-rsa]

Marvel’s Black Widow: MCU Easter Eggs and References Guide

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains Black Widow spoilers. We have a spoiler-free review here.

The MCU is finally back on the big screen! Marvel’s Black Widow was supposed to be the official kickoff of Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but then the pandemic happened, it got bounced around the release calendar, and Disney managed to release three MCU TV shows before Natasha got to take her curtain call on the big screen.

But that’s thankfully behind us, and Black Widow delivers terrific blockbuster action in the mighty Marvel manner. And you know what that means! Let’s try and spot all the cool MCU references and Marvel Comics Easter eggs in Black Widow.

The Prologue

Setting this prologue in 1995 gives us the approximate age of Natasha. If she’s supposed to be about 11 or 12 here, that conveniently makes the character the same age as Scarlett Johannsson, who was born in 1984.

The general premise of Natasha’s childhood, in which she was the daughter of two Russian spies is highly similar to that of the FX series The Americans. 

This seems to be the late summer of 1995, which puts it roughly around when Captain Marvel was taking place (the official word on that is 1995, but little details in it, like Stan Lee reading a Mallrats screenplay could place it in 1994). 

Young Natasha is played by Ever Anderson – the daughter of actress Milla Jovovich and Event Horizon director Paul W. S. Anderson. You will not be able to unsee her resemblance to Milla. 

The first song choice in the movie is young Yelena’s fixation on Don McLean’s fixation on “American Pie,” a song about (among other things) the death of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and “The Big Bopper” J.P. Richardson. That being said, “American Pie” is about a larger loss of innocence, a theme that weighs heavily throughout this film.

Before Alexei turns the radio off to play “American Pie”, the station is set to 105.1 FM. This is WQXK, a country station based in Salem, Ohio that serves the Youngstown market. Natasha and Yelena’s American home is likely based in Eastern Ohio.

There’s an episode of DuckTales playing on TV in the background while they have dinner. We can’t tell what episode it is, but DuckTales ruled, and the new series was even better. And hey, we get some payoff later in the movie when they play an aircraft crash for laughs while having everyone just casually walk it off.

Alexei was working undercover in the US at the North Institute, which he burned to the ground before making his escape. In Black Widow Vol 3 #1, Natasha decided to retire to Arizona but she and other Red Room victims were hounded by the North Institute. Spurred to investigate the situation, Natasha returned to Russia where she discovered much of the terrible truth behind her past Red Room manipulation. This was a story that also featured Yelena (and Daredevil, believe it or not).

There’s definitely an early SHIELD logo on the trucks chasing the family to the very end there.

The plane number is 258. In Incredible Hulk #258, we get the first appearance of the Soviet Super-Soldiers (later named the Winter Guard), a communist superhero team created for the sake of rivaling the Avengers. The original lineup was Ursa Major (more on him in a minute), Darkstar, Vanguard, and the fifth Crimson Dynamo (more on this, too). Over time, Red Guardian joined their ranks, though it was Josef Petkus and not Alexei Shostakov.

This is a perfect cold open, the kind that James Bond movies excelled at, and it’s far from the only Bond parallel we’ll get in the film. 

The Opening Credits

There’s all kinds of stuff happening in the opening credits, including the film’s villain Dreykov being inserted into photos with various world leaders, including President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush’s Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and others. The Red Room’s influence knows no national boundaries, it seems.

The overall effect is to imply that Dreykov and the Widows have been putting their fingers on the scale for quite some time.

It’s also a nice touch that many of the “news broadcasts” we see here are from MCU staple WHIH.

There’s a shot of some vials with blue liquid, which allude to the Red Room’s attempt to create Captain America-esque super soldiers, which they succeeded with to some degree with the Red Guardian, but also makes us wonder if they tried enhancing any earlier Widows.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

The opening credits are set to a version of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Malia J. You may have heard her covers of Seal’s “Crazy” and Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” in trailers for shows like Bloodlines and The Handmaid’s Tale.

We wrote more about the Black Widow version of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” here.

When Does Black Widow Take Place?

This movie takes place in 2016, shortly after the events of Captain America: Civil War. General “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt) is here to remind us all that Natasha is still in trouble with the government.

What’s kind of neat about this is that it’s the first Marvel “prequel” that feels like it is designed to be watched in its chronological sequence (minus that post-credits scene, of course). Captain America: The First Avenger makes more sense as a flashback interlude between Thor and The Avengers, while Captain Marvel makes more sense as a breather between Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. But Black Widow feels like it should be watched right after Civil War.

Thunderbolt Ross

Natasha brings up Ross having his second triple bypass. In Captain America: Civil War, Ross talks about how he had his first heart attack while playing golf and it gave him perspective and convinced him to retire from the US Army. It seems chasing down Cap’s allies hasn’t been so good for his health.

Red Guardian

We know that Alexei has been active as Red Guardian since at least 1983 or 1984 based on the tales of fighting Captain America he tells while in jail. He was apparently sent to the USA for undercover work in 1992, and then imprisoned a few years after their 1995 escape back to Russia.

Red Guardian’s knuckle tattoos say “Karl Marx” which is kind of adorable but…shouldn’t they be in Cyrillic/Russian characters and not Latin/English? Is this to troll his capitalist opponents so they can read them as he beats their asses?

Red says he fought Captain America in 1983 or 1984. The simplest explanation is that he’s lying but…what if he isn’t?

Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and say that he’s telling the truth and there really was yet another secret Captain America active in the ‘80s. Now that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is done, we know that there was at least one “replacement Cap” and the comics indicate there were others. Or maybe it’s just Steve in the timestream…maybe we’ll find out one day, but we wrote much more about some possibilities for this here.

Ursa

Red Guardian breaks the arm of a man named Ursa… Ursa Major (Mikhail Ursus) is the name of another Russian superhero in Marvel Comics, whose mutant power caused him to turn into a literal talking bear. He became a staple member of the Soviet Super Soldiers/Winter Guard along with a Red Guardian. While the movie doesn’t depict him like the comics, Red Guardian does joke about him being a bear.

Taskmaster

This is a very different version of Taskmaster than the one we got in the comics. Marvel Comics Taskmaster has “photographic reflexes” and is a man named Anthony Masters. Here, in addition to the new gender (Dreykov’s daughter is named “Antonia” as a nod to the comics character), Taskmaster is cybernetically enhanced to make those “photographic reflexes a little easier.

There is precedent for a female Taskmaster. The series Deadpool MAX reimagined Deadpool in a cynical, dark, and very adult (albeit absurd and humorous) way. This lent itself to Deadpool-adjacent characters. Taskmaster was depicted as a woman roughly in her ‘50s who trained Deadpool and warped his mind.

There’s also Finesse, a member of Avengers Academy, whose powers are so similar to Taskmaster that she believes him to be her biological father. Unfortunately, due to memory problems, Taskmaster doesn’t know for sure and refuses to offer any DNA to find out the answer.

In the course of Taskmaster’s action scenes, we see her mimic a number of Marvel heroes, with a particular focus on those who played a part in the recent (by this movie’s timeline) Captain America: Civil War including Hawkeye, Captain America, Black Panther, and even Natasha.

We have more on Taskmaster here.

Who is Mason?

Rick Mason first appeared in his own 1989 graphic novel called Rick Mason: The Agent. Mason was a SHIELD agent mostly remembered for being the son of Phineas Mason, the Tinkerer. Granted, the Tinkerer we saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming isn’t nearly old enough to be Rick’s father in the movies and he looks nothing like him, so I wouldn’t expect any secret connection.

In the comics, Rick was practically forgotten about and killed off-panel. His son was one of the victims of Nitro’s explosion in Stamford, Connecticut from the beginning of the Marvel Comics version of Civil War.

Melina Vostokoff

The Melina Vostokoff of the MCU is pretty different from the one in Marvel Comics (who created by Ralph Macchio and George Perez in 1983). There, she was known as (we shit you not) Iron Maiden, and she was at least a former Widow-esque agent as she is here in the film.

Yelena Belova

Yelena and Natasha’s first meeting being over a bio-weapon/agent is very faintly similar to Yelena’s proper introduction in the comics, a 1999 Black Widow comics story where they were explicitly fighting over a bioweapon, not a “mind control antidote” as we see in this film.

The “face swap” trick that Natasha and Melina pull in the film’s final act also has the faintest of echoes of another early Yelena story, where Natasha “swapped faces” with Yelena to try and break her mind and get her on the side of the angels.

What Happened in Budapest?

“You and I remember Budapest very differently,” Clint Barton famously told Natasha in The Avengers during the Battle of New York. But now we know what went down…

Basically, Taskmaster’s origin story is tied to Natasha’s superhero origin. To fully defect from the Red Room and go to work for SHIELD, Natasha had to assassinate Dreykov…which meant the collateral damage of Antonia.

Of course, that led to Clint and Nat getting hounded by Red Room agents, which led to them hiding out for days together. 

And before that, they were in that safe house apartment that was currently occupied by Yelena, hence the arrow damage to the walls.

Crimson Dynamo

Yelena (probably on purpose) refers to Alexei’s superheroic days as when he was “the Crimson Dynamo.” Sure, this is cute, but there really was a Crimson Dynamo in Marvel Comics! Crimson Dynamo is primarily an Iron Man villain, lots of different Russian agents have worn the Crimson Dynamo armor. It…didn’t end well for any of them. 

The original Crimson Dynamo was Anton Vanko, otherwise known as the old man dying in the beginning of Iron Man 2. Although his son was known as Whiplash, Ivan Vanko was more of a cross between Whiplash and Crimson Dynamo. In the comics, “Ivan” was an alias Anton used.

We’re gonna choose to believe that Yelena isn’t just making this name up and that the Russians really did have an armored hero called the Crimson Dynamo, and if we’re lucky we’ll get to see him in a flashback of some future MCU project. After all, there’s that Armor Wars series on the way…

Also, there’s one thing that Crimson Dynamo has over the Red Guardian: he was immortalized in the lyrics of a song by a member of The Beatles. Paul McCartney and Wings have a tune called “Magneto and Titanium Man” which involves “a robbery” where “the Crimson Dynamo came along for the ride.” It’s great, and it’s on Wings Venus & Mars album.

Thor

Yelena’s line about how a “god from space” doesn’t “need to take an ibuprofen” after a fight is kinda priceless.

Mutants in the MCU

Dreykov tells Natasha that they were searching for the “genetic potential in infants.” Sure, this could mean anything like how athletic someone might grow up to be, but is there a chance they could also have been searching for a mysterious x-factor in a baby’s DNA?

James Bond

Natasha is watching one of the lesser-regarded Bond flicks, Moonraker. Of course, she still knows every word.

Dreykov gets a classic “Bond villain monologue” wherein a baddie spells out his plans for world domination before a hero who he surely thinks is either neutralized or could be swayed to their cause.

Antonia/Taskmaster is a Bond Girl! Olga Kurylenko played Camille Montes, a Bolivian agent with a vendetta in Quantum of Solace.

Remnants of the Red Room

Black Widow was written by Eric Pearson, who also wrote Thor: Ragnarok.

So… Natasha probably couldn’t taste that peanut butter and jelly sandwich from Endgame, right? That’s too bad.

It doesn’t seem that “Fanny Longbottom” is a thing from Marvel Comics, but as Mason points out it is most certainly a real name. Also, Yelena’s dog in the post-credits scene is named “Fanny.”

We get an explanation for Natasha’s blonde look in Infinity War here, as Mason gave her the hair dye. But the way it’s presented here feels slightly like a sisterly tribute to Yelena, which is really sweet.

Natasha makes a crack about “the cavalry” as Ross’ troops close in, but folks hoping that’s an Agents of SHIELD reference are probably going to be sorely disappointed.

Dreykov’s pheromone trick that he has implanted in the Widows (and Natasha in particular) leads to this scene playing out like when RoboCop tries to arrest Dick Jones in the classic 1987 film.

“Thank you for your cooperation,” Natasha tells Dreykov with a smirk after getting him to monologue his evil plans. This is as close as we get to a Black Widow catchphrase – she also ended a veiled interrogation with Loki using the exact same words in The Avengers.

The Post-Credits Scene

Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) is back after her appearances in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. If we had to hazard a guess, she’s putting together a team of “Dark Avengers” or “Thunderbolts” for the MCU.

Florence Pugh is indeed confirmed to appear in the upcoming Disney+ Hawkeye series, as well.

We went into much more detail about what the post-credits scene means for the future of the MCU right here.

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Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel’s Black Widow: MCU Easter Eggs and References Guide appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2VrjyDY

[css1992]

Highschool au: Teen tony and peter having a meet in the janito's closet

Hi there! I really hope you’re still out there, anon, and I hope you enjoy this! I’m sorry it took so long.

I still have a few prompts in my inbox, I promise I’m gonna work on all of them, please have patience with me.

High School Au. Bad Boy!Tony x Nerd!Peter.

Word count: 4k

Warnings: explicit, nff, 18+. If you spot anything that might be triggering to anyone, please let me know!

-*-

Tony was the coolest guy in school, there was no doubt about it. He always showed up in expensive, black leather jackets, ripped jeans and stylish, worn-out chucks. He was the only student who got away with smoking on school grounds every single time he got caught, and he even got away with wearing some black eyeliner from time to time – no one messed with him, no one dared to call him names or push him into lockers.

Everyone who wanted to be someone orbited around him like his gravitational pull was irresistible. Girls wanted to date him, they threw themselves at him like he was some famous movie star, they liked hanging on his arm like accessories, because just to be seen beside him made them a hundred times more popular. Everyone wanted to be a part of his very select and weirdly diverse friend group, but no matter how hard they tried, no one ever made it.

Besides being sinfully handsome and incredibly stylish, Tony was filthy rich. His father owned a multinational weapons and technology company, which made them one of the richest families in the country, so when he showed up in Midtown High one everyone was shocked and confused. Rumor had it Tony had been expelled from three private schools before, so, as a punishment, his father enrolled him in a public school – but Tony didn’t seem to mind at all, he actually blended in like he belonged there.

Peter fell in love with him on day one. He saw what everyone else saw – the beauty, the danger, the rebellious attitude – but he saw so much more, too. Even though Tony was one of the “cool kids”, he was never mean to anyone. He never made fun of other kids, he even stood up for some of them, like when Flash was bullying a kid in drama club, calling him a fag, and he just punched him in the face – he was suspended for three days after that. He was also really smart, he took the same AP classes as Peter and a few more and he always got perfect scores, even though he never seemed to be paying attention.

At first, he thought his crush wouldn’t lead anywhere, Tony was straight after all. When they were in freshman year, he started dating Pepper Potts, the prettiest and smartest girl in school. A year later, though, he broke up with her and got caught making out with Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers’ ex, behind the bleachers – that’s how everyone found out he was bisexual. Peter was at the same time delighted to hear about it – because that meant he stood a chance – and also devastated – because if Bucky Barnes was Tony’s type, there was just no fucking way he actually stood a chance.

He was just a skinny nerd with ugly glasses held together with a little bit of duct tape, he wasn’t devastatingly handsome with bright blue eyes and broad shoulders. He wasn’t good at sports like Bucky, he was in the Decathlon team and in the school band, which a guy like Tony would find totally lame, of course. He wasn’t stylish and cool, he wore baggy jeans and nerdy t-shirts and sweaters and he’d probably look ridiculous in a leather jacket.

So, yeah, he thought he didn’t stand a chance. That is, until one day he stayed late after class, working on a project for the science club, and he lost track of time. There was no one else in the halls when he finished, so he hurried outside and, as soon as he was out the door, he was faced with Tony Stark, leaning against his car in the school parking lot, smoking a cigarette and looking as dangerous and handsome as ever. He looked at Peter with a raised eyebrow and the younger teen blushed, dropping his gaze and walking down the stairs as quickly as he could without looking like he was running. He didn’t get too far, though, as he heard Tony’s raspy, sexy voice – Peter himself still sounded like a squeaky teen – calling him.

“Hey, you!” Peter didn’t think he could possibly be talking to him, so he looked around like a moron, but there was no one else on the sidewalk. He turned to Tony again.

“Uh – me?” He pointed dumbly at his own chest, eliciting an amused smile from the older teen. He blushed, feeling stupid, but Tony just nodded.

“Yeah, you, come here.” He gestured with one hand for Peter to come closer and the younger teen felt his palms starting to sweat, but he walked the few feet from the sidewalk to the spot his car was parked and stopped in front of him. Tony looked him up and down with a smirk. “You’re in my AP Chemistry class, right?”

“Uh-- yeah, yes. I am. Yes.” Peter grabbed his backpack straps tightly, trying to hold Tony’s gaze, but it was so hard, he had this look in his eyes that made Peter feel naked, exposed.

“Hm. So, what’s your name?” He asked, throwing his half-smoked cigarette on the ground and stepping on it.

“I’m Peter. Parker.” He could barely believe Tony Stark was talking to him, let alone wanted to know his name. To be fair, he looked pretty bored and there was no one else around, so maybe he was just looking for a distraction. Peter wasn’t complaining, he’d take what he could get.

“I’m Tony.” He offered his hand and the other teen hesitated for a few seconds before taking it, fingers trembling. His hand was big and rough, like he imagined it would be, it had tiny cuts and burns across the knuckles and Peter wasn’t sure if it was because of the fights he got into or because of his electronics class. Maybe both.

“I know,” he whispered, feeling dumb again when a smile spread across Tony’s face. “I’m not a stalker or anything, you’re just… Hard to miss,” he mumbled, letting go of his hand to scratch his arm, looking away from him.

“Yeah? Well, so are you.” He gave him this crooked smile that made Peter’s heart speed up and he sucked in a breath, feeling a little dizzy.

“Wh – me?” He blinked rapidly as he looked around again, trying to find anyone else who Tony could be referring to, because he certainly couldn’t be talking about him, there was just no way.

“Yeah, I’ve been watching you. Not in a creepy way, promise. I like your spider web thing, it’s really smart.” He grinned and Peter blushed again, ducking his head.

“Thanks. I-I like your robots. Uhm, Dum-E and U, right?” He asked shyly and Tony grinned.

“Ah, so you’ve been stalking me after all,” He raised a brow and Peter’s eyes widened in embarrassment. “I’m just messing with you, Parker.” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Can I drive you home?”

And that was when it all started. When he said a breathless yes without even thinking, when he got into the older teen’s fancy sports car and listened to his rambling and stared at his strong hands gripping the wheel. When Tony parked his car in front of his apartment building and Peter didn’t know how to say goodbye. When Tony leaned in towards him and the younger teen’s breath hitched, but he closed his eyes anyway, heart beating fast and loud. It started when their lips met in a soft, chaste kiss and Peter all but melted in his seat.

“You know, I was just gonna grab the door for you, I wasn’t sure we were there yet,” When he opened his eyes, Tony was grinning mischievously and Peter almost combusted with shame.

“Oh, God! Oh, my God!” He covered his face with his hands and heard Tony laughing before he felt him grabbing his wrists.

“Hey, stop, I hoped we were there, I was just worried maybe this would be too fast for you, but if it’s okay with you, it’s more than fine with me.” He was still chuckling, though, and Peter refused to take his hands off his face, a little humiliated. “Hey, come here, c’mon. Let me kiss you properly this time.”

He allowed Tony to take his hands off his face, even though his cheeks must be flaming red. He avoided the other teen’s eyes, but felt the rough pads of his fingers holding his jaw with so much care and gentleness that it made him look up at his face. Tony smiled at him, whispering a breathless “there you are”, and closed the distance between them, lips meeting once again.

It wasn’t Peter’s first kiss, but it might as well be. He was so nervous, his hands were shaking when they reached for Tony’s leather jacket, he ran out of breath when his tongue licked his lower lip and he opened his mouth, tasting cigarette smoke, mint and Tony. He remembered all the times he dreamed about that in his bed, not even in his wildest dreams did it ever feel so good and right.

That was two months ago. Ever since then, they had been sneaking around school to make out in secluded places, sometimes they’d wait for everyone to leave so Peter could get in his car without being seen and Tony would drive him home. Ned and MJ knew about them, but he thought they were the only people in school who did, it didn’t seem like Tony had told any of his friends, which bothered Peter a little, but he let it slide. Tony was always nice and caring when they were together, it wasn’t that big of a deal that he was a little embarrassed to be seen with him.

He watched as Tony passed him by in the cafeteria, heart beating loudly in his ears as he waited for him to at least look his way, maybe acknowledge him somehow – a simple nod would suffice –, he looked gorgeous, as always, with his wind-swept, dark, soft-looking hair, his signature black leather jacket and ripped jeans. He strode through the cafeteria like he owned the place and Peter could swear the room grew quieter until Tony took his seat – or he just tuned everyone out in his concentration, there was no way to tell. No matter how hard he stared, though, Tony didn’t even spare him a single glance, he went straight to his friends’ table – the cool table -, where Natasha, Clint, Thor, Bruce and Rhoddes sat waiting for him. Peter sighed in defeat, turning back to his friends.

“You know he’s a jerk, right?” MJ said from across the table, never lifting her eyes from her copy of Mom & Me & Mom. “He doesn’t deserve you, he treats you like you’re a just piece of meat, you deserve better than that,” she said with boredom in her tone, like she knew he wouldn’t listen to her – he never did, after all.

“It’s not like that –“ He tried to argue in Tony’s favor, but it never went well.

“It is.” She shrugged, turning a page of her book.

“Dude, he’s making out with the coolest guy in school, leave him alone,” Ned was actually more excited about Peter’s affair then he himself was, apparently.

“Whatever, nerds.” MJ rolled her eyes and proceeded to ignore them, as Ned started babbling about some party at Liz’s house on the weekend and how they weren’t invited yet, but maybe they still had a chance.

Peter was only half listening to him, his eyes were focused on Tony the whole time. The older teen was smiling – and God, what a beautiful smile – at something Bruce said. Bruce was the only friend of Tony’s that he actually talked to, they had a lot in common, and it made him hopeful because he was maybe as big of a nerd as Peter and he dated Thor, one of the hottest guys in school. So if they could be a couple, maybe someday Tony would consider dating-dating him, not just fooling around. But then again, that didn’t seem to be Tony’s style. He only ever dated Pepper Potts, and that was an on-again off-again relationship that lasted all of one year, ever since then he just fooled around with various people at parties and stuff.

meet me u know where

Peter was startled awake from his daydreams when his phone beeped and a text from Tony showed up on the screen of his phone. Ned quickly leaned over his shoulder to read it as well, whooping excitedly when he did. Peter felt butterflies in his stomach, it had been a couple of days since he and Tony met and he missed him like crazy. He quickly grabbed his stuff and stumbled to the cafeteria’s door, ignoring Ned’s pep talk.

He all but ran through the halls towards an empty corridor where the janitor’s closet was - and they knew he wouldn’t be back there at that time, it was his lunch break, so they had at least thirty minutes. He picked the lock like Tony taught him and stepped inside the cramped space. It was tiny, there was barely any room for two people standing, and there were brooms and buckets and cleaning products everywhere, but it was more than enough for Peter. He dropped his backpack to the ground and waited.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and Tony stepped in, but the younger teen didn’t even have time to greet him as he was grabbed by the waist and pushed against the closed door. Peter all but melted against Tony’s body, wrapping his arms around his neck and sighing happily as he finally felt his soft, plump lips crashing against his.

Tony was an amazing kisser, not that Peter had a lot to compare – he’d only ever kissed one girl and one boy before, and both kisses had lasted seconds – but he could tell by the way it made his knees go weak, his fingers tremble, his skin shiver. Tony bit his lower lip carefully, then licked it as an apology, only to kiss him again even deeper and more passionately, and if Peter hadn’t been holding on to him tightly, his knees would have definitely given out.

“Did you wear those jeans today just to drive me crazy, Parker?” Tony whispered in his ear as his fingers lifted the hem of Peter’s t-shirt to touch the skin above the waistband of his jeans. Peter blushed a bright pink, because, yeah, actually, he had bought those pants with Tony in mind, thinking of his reaction. They were a little more form-fitting then what he usually wore.

“Do you like them?” He asked bashfully, feeling Tony’s lips traveling across his jaw back to his mouth, his thumbs were gently stroking the sensitive skin on his hipbones and it was sending shivers down his spine, along with Tony’s breath against his lips.

“I really, really do, babe,” Peter gasped softly as he felt the other’s tongue slip into his mouth again, taking his breath away in the process. Tony pushed his hips forwards, pressing his erection against Peter’s, making them both grunt, as the older teen started rolling his hips lazily, creating the most delicious and painful friction between them. “Couldn’t stop staring at that gorgeous ass all day, fuck.” Peter didn’t see him looking, but to think that Tony had been sneaking glances at him all day left him a little dizzy.

“Oh, God,” he whimpered as Tony licked a stripe up his neck, his expert fingers working on unbuttoning Peter’s pants. He bit his lips nervously, he and Tony hadn’t really done much – after a very heated make out session in his car one day, Peter had to admit that he was a virgin and wasn’t ready for much more than what they were already doing. He thought that would be a deal breaker for the older teen, but to his surprise, Tony was very understanding. They had been taking it slow, at Peter’s pace, and everything they did felt amazing, Tony never pressured him for more.

The older teen lowered his pants, along with his boxers, down to his knees, and his hands quickly made their away around Peter’s body to grab his ass tightly, lifting him a few inches from the ground as he pulled him closer, Peter’s now exposed cock brushing against Tony’s jeans. He hissed in pain and pleasure, sinking his fingertips into his shoulders, mouth hanging open and eyes squeezed shut.

“Take yours off, too,” Peter pleaded, trying to reach down between them to unbutton the other teen’s pants, but Tony didn’t let him, pressing him harder against the door as he squeezed his ass cheeks and spread them apart, making Peter blush furiously yet again. “Tony!”

“Shh, relax, babe.” He smiled against his lips, before letting go of his ass to undo his own pants, lowering them with his boxers just like Peter’s. He wasted no time in bringing their hips back together, eliciting synchronized groans from them when their erections touched. Tony was bigger than him, his cock was tan with a light pink tip, and Peter couldn’t help but imagine what it would feel like to be breached by it. He squeezed his eyes shut, moaning, when Tony grabbed both of their cocks in one hand, pumping them together, as the other one slid back around him to grab his ass.

“Oh, fuck,” he whimpered, bucking his hips forwards, trying to thrust into Tony’s fist, as they rutted messily against each other, cocks rubbing together, Tony’s thumb teasing their heads provocatively. “Tony, please, I’m close,” He admitted, embarrassed, and the older teen quickened his pumps, as his other hand slid towards Peter’s crack, until one finger reached his hole and started rubbing it vigorously without slipping in.

Peter lost it, vision going white as he came all over Tony’s hand and cock, his moans swallowed by Tony’s open mouth, as he, too, came undone, hips bucking against Peter’s a few times before he collapsed against him, panting. Peter allowed himself to enjoy that moment and held the other teen close, feeling his heartbeats against his own chest and his ragged breath on his neck.

It lasted for only a couple of minutes before Tony pulled away, kissing him once more. Peter reached for his backpack, searching for a pack of wet wipes that he started carrying around after he and Tony started to, well – see each other. Tony chuckled when he was offered the pack, but accepted it anyway. Peter took one for himself and, as he cleaned the mess that almost ruined his t-shirt, he tried to gather the courage to ask what he’d been meaning to ask for weeks.

“Do, uh – do you have a date to prom?” He asked quietly as Tony cleaned himself up. He didn’t even raise his gaze, just shook his head no.

“I’m not going to prom, it’s lame,” he answered as if it was obvious and Peter felt stupid, all of a sudden, because of course Tony would find prom lame, he should have seen it coming.

“Oh, yeah. Right,” he smiled awkwardly and the older teen finally looked up at him as he raised his pants and finished getting dressed. Peter hurried to put on his clothes as well, then put all the used wipes in his pockets to throw them away later.

“You’re going?”Tony raised a brow, amused, and Peter gulped and shrugged, crossing his arms as he stared at the floor.

“Uh – I, I’m still thinking, I guess. Uhm. Harry invited me to go with him, and MJ and Ned are going, so, I don’t know, maybe.“ Harry was in the Decathlon team with Peter and he had asked him to prom, but Peter panicked and told him he already had a date, so now he was fucked.

“Who the fuck is Harry?” Tony frowned, sounding a little angry, and Peter was taken aback by the sudden change of attitude.

“Uhm. Harry Osborn? He’s on the Decathlon team?” Tony’s face grew red with anger and Peter frowned, a little confused.

“That preppy asshole? Why would you go with him? He’s an idiot and he’ll try to get in your pants before the night is over.”

“Well, I think he’s nice.” Peter shrugged, facing Tony head on, and the older teen laughed incredulously, before stepping closer to Peter.

“He pretends to be nice, that’s what he does, then he’ll fuck you and tell the whole school about it, he’s a slut-shaming asshole.” Tony was practically in his face now and Peter dropped his gaze, a little nervous.

“I’m not gonna sleep with him, Tony, you know I – I’m, you know. I haven’t,” he answered quietly, blushing bright red, and the older teen sighed, calming down a bit. They were really close, chests almost touching, there really wasn’t much room in the closet.

“Look. I don’t want you to go with him, ok? Just – don’t. Please.” Peter raised his eyes at that, surprised by the plea, and he was met with Tony’s red cheeks, and that was the first time ever that he saw the boy blushing like that. He had no idea what was going on.

“But why?” He insisted and the older teen avoided his eyes, shaking head and shrugging.

“I’ll go with you.” He blurted out, and Peter almost fell backwards in surprise, blinking rapidly.

“Wh – what?”

“I know you don’t wanna be seen with me, I’m bad news and stuff,” Tony started and Peter’s eyes widened in shock.

“Wait – what?!” Tony didn’t even pay him any mind, he just kept going.

“I mean, you’re every teachers’ favorite, you have your smart friends, and everybody expects great things from you, so of course you wouldn’t wanna be seen with me, the problematic asshole who got expelled from three schools and who smokes pot in the parking lot, but just – consider coming with me, okay? I promise I’ll be on my best behavior.” He said all that with his eyes fixed on the ground, hands firmly buried inside his pockets, and Peter couldn’t even talk for a few seconds, long enough for Tony to raise his worried eyes. “Pete?”

“Wh – I thought – I thought you didn’t want to be seen with me,” He stammered, head spinning, trying to understand what was happening there, what Tony was saying.

“Why the hell wouldn’t I?” He frowned, confused, and Peter shrugged, cheeks growing pink again.

“Uhm, because you’re cool and I – I’m me?” He fumbled with the hem of his t-shirt and Tony gaped at him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He threw his arms out, indignantly, and Peter bit his lower lip.

“It means I’m not handsome, or good at sports, or stylish, or rich, or – anything like your other – other dates.”

“That’s because you’re not like anyone else, you’re – Peter Fucking Parker. You’re a genius, you’re fucking gorgeous and you have a brilliant future ahead of you, why the fuck would I ever be embarrassed to be seen with you?” Tony seemed really confused by the notion as he approached Peter and held him by his warm cheeks. The younger teen was out of breath, looking up at Tony in a daze, still not sure that he didn’t fall asleep in the cafeteria and was dreaming the whole thing up. “So you’re not embarrassed of me either?” He asked doubtfully and Peter quickly shook his head, unable to say anything. “Then why the hell have we been meeting in closets and empty classrooms?”

“Well, to be fair, I don’t think we can do what we just did in the halls, you know,” Peter giggled nervously and Tony burst out laughing, wrapping his arms around his shoulders, pulling Peter to his chest. The younger teen went willingly, burying his face in the curve of his neck – it smelled of cigarettes and expensive aftershave.

“Yeah, I guess we could still hide here sometimes,” He conceded, pulling away from Peter once again to look into his eyes. “So, what do you say? Wanna go to prom with me?”

“I thought you said it was lame?” Peter placed his hands on Tony’s chest and he was sure he could feel his wild heartbeats under his fingers. It made his heart flutter, to think he was nervous too.

“We’ll make it cool.” He gave him a crooked, confident smile, and Peter beamed, standing on his tiptoes to place a soft peck on his lips.

“I’d love to go with you.” Tony grinned at him.

“Here, put this on,” He took off his jacket and helped Peter into it. The younger teen felt dizzy when he was completely surrounded by his smell and his warmth; the jacket was way too big, the sleeves covered his hands, but it made him feel safe and protected, as if Tony was holding him, it made him smile like a moron. The older teen took Peter’s backpack and slung it over his shoulder, wrapping an arm around his waist as he reached for the doorknob. “Ready?”

“Yes.” He grinned, nodding, taking a deep breath when Tony opened the door. 

[alwida10]

What kind of humor would we prefer in the Loki series?

So, some days ago I found myself on Reddit in the old argument about humor in the Thor films + Avengers. I had to see that there are actually people who despise whedons humor, which made me think about which kinds of humor have been used in those films.

We already discussed TWs Humour in former posts, so I don’t want to get to deep into that rabbit hole (that soon in the post). At first I would like to analyze which kinds of humor we have seen before T:R. And since it is hard to categorize without categories I searched what kinds there are. This article by Emily Blatchford claims that there are 9 types of humor.

“1. Physical

Also referred to as slapstick, this style of humour involves physicality. It can be everything from clowns to mimes to funny facial expressions to someone falling over. Or, in other words, the entire audience of ‘Australia’s Funniest Home Videos’.

2. Self-deprecating

This kind of humour is a favourite among stand-up comedians, in which they basically make themselves the butt of a joke and are rewarded with laughs.

It’s also a style that has been further popularised by the internet, particularly with memes.

3. Surreal

As suggested by the name, this style of humour can be pretty weird, featuring illogical events, absurd situations or nonsensical themes. Or in other words, just plain silly. The best example of this would have to be ‘Monty Python’... enjoy.

4. Improvisational

Comedy without a plan. Ever seen ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’ or ‘Thank God You’re Here?’ That’s what we’re talking about.

The fact you know the person is making up the jokes on the spot makes this style of comedy even funnier (and impressive, if they do it well).

5. Wit-Wordplay

Usually a play on words, this humour involves twisting language around with humorous results. (And yes, puns do fall into this category. Dads everywhere, rejoice.)

6. Topical

Humour based on current events or trends. ‘Saturday Night Live’ would be a prime example of this, as would most sketch comedy shows or late-night talk shows. This sort of humour requires having a thorough knowledge of what’s going on in the world (news, elections, pop culture etc.) and the ability to put a humorous spin on it.

7. Observational

The ability to poke fun at everyday life.

8. Bodily

Ah, yes, the home of the old toilet joke. This is everything to do with farts or other bodily functions. This is a divisive type of humour that tends to be popular with men and teenagers.

9. Dark

This style of humor usually involves some dark, depressing underlying themes, but throws some comical or unusual situations in this setting.

So, given the current political climate, you can refer back to joke #7. Or, you know. This.

It might come as a surprise that in a trial of 200 people, eHarmony found dark humour to be the least popular while physical humour came out on top.

In saying that, educated people tended to find physical humour less funny than wit and wordplay, while older people found everything less funny across the board.”

(End of excerpt.)

Before going into analysis, I’d like to mention that I don’t think this list is complete and I have my difficulties to put some of the jokes into categories. Also, i wouldn’t limit the category 2 to ‘self’ depreciation. Unlike stand up comedy the MCU films always include many characters which can be depreciated.

So, the people on Reddit claimed whedon would have used mostly sassy comebacks. I guess that would be nr 5, which I chose to interprete as “wit OR wordplay”, since in the films most humor isn’t wordplay, but ... well ... witty comebacks. But avengers had also some physical humor (Loki catching the arrow or being hulk-smashed). Not sure where the lightning powering Tony’s armor or the ‘I’m not overly fond of what follows’ falls. It DID in fact have observational humor (tonys ‘that guy is playing a game’ comment).

So, TDW had also a lot of witty/sassy lines but also included some physical humor (Thor putting the shackles on Loki or throwing him out of the ship).

The humor in Thor 1 focused more on thor and was mainly physical (Thor being manhandled in the hospital, being hit by janes van the second time). I’m not entirely sure I would see Thor throwing the cup and demanding ‘another’ as physical or topical or a whole new category. This new category would be ‘cultural differences/stereotypes’.

So, in T:R there is first of all much more humor. Hardly anything os taken serious. We have physical humor (Loki being thrown at the guards, Loki falling out of the portal, Thor tumbling over the stacked Artefakts at the Sanktum), bodily humor (devil’s anus, Thor seeing Hulk nacked) and witty remarks (Thor’s ‘we could have just walked’). There are some instances I find hard to fit into any category. These include

- I’ve been falling for 3 minutes (T:R)

- Tony’s full tilt diva rant ending on ‘son of a bitch’ (avengers)

- the whole play at the beginning of Thor Ragnarok

- ‘communication was never our family’s forte’ (T:R)

- Thor sulking in his cell (T:R)

-Thor’s monologue at the beginning of T:R

I can’t decide if those are rather (self-)depreciation or improvisation.

So, back to the original question: I find my personal favorite of humor is probably wit, but I don’t mind physical humor. I DO mind to much of depreciating humor, regardless which character is the target. I LOVE observational humor. Sadly it doesn’t get used very much. What do you think?