#american sniper winston

[blueberrypancakesworld]

The soldier comes back

Winston x girlfriend!reader

warning : fluff, comfort, ptsd (nightmares), emotional, kissing, wound

Summary : After the next deployment, she was supposed to go home for a long time - that was the promise she was given, a promise kept when she was able to embrace her beloved Winston again, but no one had told the young couple that the post-war period was worse than waiting for news and together they have to deal with what happened.

info : There is no single gif for Winston (maybe i'll try one) but have fun with this angst/fluff piece have fun and see you next time :)

ps : I have tried to get as much out of the movie as I can from him I hope he is good

masterlist

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

A war destroyed people attacker and defender alike, a war left nothing but death, devastation, destruction and mountains of bodies and the aftermath was like a cloud of silent grief and suffering but no one wanted to admit to having started it so it always was.

While in the past wars lasted a few years at most, resources were not enough and weapons were not so well developed, the world was also very different not ruled by a greed that emerged in the twenty-first century and with this greed came war and more wars.

Young men and women were drawn in and died and prayed over until the mission, until the war was declared over or you won or lost whatever it was in the end it was an ugly affair with nothing to show for it but suffering and destruction.

A war in its beginnings broke families apart and tore them apart or was merciful and brought them back or brought them to a parting in a beginning spring that would bring the land into bloom, ,,I promise I'll be back who will Pringel cuddle with mhh?" he asked with a smile even though his voice was tinged with sadness and uncertainty as he held her hands and wiped away her tears.

The couple was one of the youngest at the airport many men and women had families already or brought grandparents who cared but they both, she a freshly started vet and he her sweet self-sacrificing friend a sniper drafted into a war they didn't know when it would ever end.

But his words even now made her smile as she thought of the bushy-tailed cat in her apartment who always needed a cuddle before sleep, ,,I-I think I can do it," she sniffled, wiping away the last of her tears as she looked into her friend's face, she was so unsure now to see him like this, as much as they had joked that the uniform suited him.

He would carry a gun, hide on roofs and other elevated positions and shoot, ,,Very good…I'll be back I promise darling I'll be back" was the last thing he said to her as the final call rang out and he pulled her into one last hug they both shared one last kiss and they had to break away as they boarded the plane to an uncertain future.

A future that would include the next few months of talking and video chatting as often as they could, mostly in the evenings, though the time difference sometimes caused a few problems, it was pure relief to see each other and hear his voice, ,,You really are my hope here," he admitted from time to time and she gave the screen a kiss before showing him Pringle snuggled on her lap, meowing as Winston kissed the animal and seemed to be happy to see such a personal picture of hope.

While he was just being the best he could be to her by not getting hurt or the worst happening, he told her about the sun and the heat, some new high scores on his console and his friends that it wasn't as bad as he thought.

The conversations she had with him distracted him, which always worked and she saw him smile and the exhaustion left him, at least for a moment, until they said goodbye to each other again and could hardly wait until they could see each other again.

The days and weeks went by and her work as a vet went well, the joy she saw on people's faces and animals that were no longer in pain gave her hope and the evenings were not so lonely with the cat and a few good movies and series but it was not the same when Winston was not there.

But they also talked about how they missed each other and how much they wanted to see each other again, at least holding hands, ,,We'll see each other soon, I promise it can't be that long" he said and even though she didn't want to bring it up she saw that he looked more tired than usual, she didn't know what the different times of deployment were like, how long you had to lie in wait in the dark but he was one of the new ones surely not that long was he?

Soldier wasn't a job you just did, it was a job with obligations and an uncertain end, even in times of war you were a hero if you survived and a hero if you died. A life that went on at any moment if the bullets didn't hit you and a life that could end in the blink of an eye if metal bored into your body.

It was a draining uncertainty. But that uncertainty came when she couldn't reach him one night and her fear made her try for hours to call the city's police station to see if they knew anything, but they turned her away until she finally got a signal in the early hours of the morning.

The flickering screen showed Winston, ,,What happened? Are you all right?" she asked, trying not to start crying with joy when she finally saw him, to be honest she had had a fear that had choked her throat but she couldn't help the sharp intake of air when she saw the plaster on his cheek and the background in which she recognized some medical equipment and her fingers tangled in her pyama pants.

It could have been a fall, a gunshot, a concussion, a blow, but all he said was ,,Graze it-I'm fine" such a short answer that almost made her laugh at his abusdity, she could just see his exhaustion in his dark eyes, the nervous bobbing of his leg, his fingers that were probably trembling otherwise the screen wouldn't be shaking like that - something else must have happened.

But she was careful not to go into it again, instead she believed him for that moment, trying to distract him as always with stories of cute baby animals and Pringle telling him she even managed to make him smile but the pain remained.

She could see that even with the bad connection, ,,I'll wait for you, I love you," she said, closing the screen of the device before leaning back against the couch with a sigh, unable to stop the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

Why was something like this happening to them? They were just normal people, a young couple who still had everything ahead of them and shouldn't be punished so harshly by life, should they?

She didn't know the answer, the only thing she knew and the only thing that counted for her was a week, in a week Winston and other slightly injured people would be sent home for how long they couldn't and wouldn't tell her, but the mark in the collar stood and every day she felt the excitement more and more.

She could feel how tense he was with every phone call he made, wanting to get back faster and faster but trying to pull himself together, ,,I'll hug you from here my love, see you tomorrow" he said goodbye to the last call.

It took hours for her to hear his voice as she stood at the airport almost throwing up she was so excited as she practically hopped from one leg to the other looking over her shoulders hoping to finally see her boy friend in the crowds.

Until the call came the voice announcing the nine landed flight and it was agonizing moments when she saw him walking towards him still wearing his unifrom but it didn't matter with tears they hugged each other and stayed like that for a moment.

,,See, I'm back, I promised," he murmured, kissing the top of her head and hugging her again as her hand came to rest on his cheek before the couple made their way to the car together and drove back to the apartment holding hands.

But just because something seemed okay at first didn't mean it was, she noticed that he kept checking his watch and waking up early when she kept leaving to see "buddies," as he called them, and she accompanied him to the veterans' home, a place she never thought he would be.

He didn't play video games with her either, and even Pringle sometimes left him alone. ,,I'm fine, really, just a little bit of getting used to," he always told her when she tried to talk to him about it, and she always gave him a kiss on the forehead until the night they both realized that everything was wrong.

They had spent the evening together watching a new movie, cuddling with Pringle and she lay in his arms when they both knew it was late enough and they should go to bed.

The couple lay down in the soft bed, a last gentle kiss was exchanged and a ,,Good night, love you" came from her before they both closed their eyes and fell asleep, it should have been that easy, it always seemed to have worked out that way before.

In the hours that followed as she slept peacefully she didn't realize the terror that was going on in his mind the images and sounds the deaths and screams and the pain that made him jerk awake and a scream left his lips that woke her up too.

The sleep was torn from her, her heart skipped a beat, afraid that something had happened, a break-in or something else, but instead all she heard was the flickering of the bedside lamp that had been pulled down, loud breathing and someone sitting against the wall holding his side, ,,Winston? What's wrong?" she asked as she slowly got out of bed, seeing him in half-shadow due to the lack of light, but the trembling was clearly visible.

She didn't get an answer until she slowly sat down on the floor with him and he backed away, almost seeming afraid that he would ever hurt her, ,,I-I didn't mean to…it-I-it was an order," he managed to get out and she slowly put a hand on his arm, only slowly truly understanding what he meant, what it apparently really meant what he had done.

She waited for him to let her though as she slowly pulled him into his arms just holding him for a moment as she saw the silent tears streaming down his cheeks, ,,Blood and death it was horrible after not even two weeks I wanted to go home" he uttered the sentence and he seemed to see something on his hands as he brushed them against his oyjama pants and she imagined what it was.

Blood was on his hands, orders given to kill when he had to if he deemed it necessary and he had done so to protect his fellow soldiers, to protect himself and to protect them in the end.

,,It's over Winston you see you're here with me, my arms are holding you, my voice is with you and-and I'm not leaving you, the orders are over" she said choosing her words carefully to give him the best she could in the situation pulling him closer only to immediately hear a painful hiss and feel something soft at his side, a compress that seemed to be holding something larger.

She didn't ask just used her fingers to slowly pull his shirt up and felt her heart tighten painfully it was Winston holding her now his head leaning against hers, ,,It's not so bad…taking meds…for pain and stuff" he mumbled finally admitting he was hurt more than just a graze it had gotten him.

It must have hurt like hell and he was still in pain a bullet that had hit him had spared his face but when she took off the compresses and bandages she would find the gaping stitched bullet wound, it was the reason why he could go home earlier and also explained why he turned away from her more than once and not just physically.

The fact brought tears to her eyes that she tried to blink away as she tried to think clearly and not give in to grief and do the right thing.

She looked around in the semi-darkness but saw the previously overlooked pillbox of painkillers and she briefly detached herself from him, feeling him tighten up again until she hurriedly returned with a glass of water and a pill, handing it to him and taking a blanket to lay over his and her lap.

Winston put his arm around her and stroked her wrist as she laid her head against his and the two of them stood in silence, ,,Thank you for everything, for staying here, for not leaving me, for looking after Pringle and for just being my support," he said as she felt him slowly relax, his voice no longer so full of huskiness and he gave her a kiss on the temple as she returned his gaze, the moment interrupted only by a meow.

Pringel came in through the door that wasn't closed and lay down on the blanket to offer his owners comfort as the cat stared at them both with his reflective eyes and only began to purr when they both relaxed and stroked the animal's fur.

Perhaps the terror was still there inside him, the fear of losing him still in her but together it showed them that they had survived this night arm in arm with a trust and love for each other that told them they could survive and overcome such terrors no matter what and together.

~~~~~~~~~~

@angelsanarchy , @starry-eyed-wild-child

[sniperology]

Never Give Up, Never Surrender, Keep Moving Forward!

[belphegor1982]

Roommate AU+Holiday Fic for (platonic) Rick and Jonathan

(Send me two tropes from this list + characters and I’ll describe how I’d combine them in the same story!)

Oooh, this one’s hard but I love it :o)

It ended up almost as long as the two previous asks put together 😅 Also Evy features quite a lot because, well, Evy 💜

Right, modern AU. Let’s say this is an alternate 2021 with no Covid. Evy and Jonathan are still half English and half Egyptian, and Rick is still American – recently he’s been kicking around Britain for a couple of years after a 5-year stint in the French Foreign Legion. He’s about 27; Jonathan is 31, Evy is 25 going on 26.

I can’t help but think these two had rocky first impressions, to say the least – not necessarily “Jonathan stole one of Rick’s few remaining possessions for a lark” but a pub brawl was definitely involved, and Jonathan bailed on him at a crucial moment (discretion being the better part of valour after all, old boy). Except a couple of minutes after, Rick got arrested for drunk and disorderly behaviour (he wasn’t that drunk and definitely not that disorderly – not much more than the rest of the pub, anyway) and when he gets out of the drunk tank his landlord has kicked him out. So when his old buddy and occasional employer Winston mentions he knows a decent bloke who is looking for a flatmate to share the rent, and introduces Rick to none other than the guy who (he felt) started the whole disaster –

Well, Rick says “Oh, hell no” and punches Jonathan in the face.

Winston is dismayed (“Oh hang on, old chap, there’s no need for that sort of violence”), but Jonathan raises a hand from the floor and says, “Okay, that’s fair, I deserved that. Can I buy you a drink to make up for it?”

And Rick thinks, What the hell. Why not.

Turns out Jonathan is good company when he’s not picking someone’s pocket and diverting the blame to unsuspecting Americans who just want to drink alone. Pretty gregarious, too; he never balks at inviting Rick along to poker nights or pub quizzes. He spends a lot of time on his laptop putting people who have art to sell in touch with people who want to buy it, and vice versa, and sometimes people actually want to track art/artefacts and know where it ended up. Rick, who was deployed with the Legion to Afghanistan then Mali in the mid-2010s and saw hundreds- and thousand-years-old relics being pillaged and passed around illicitly, knows exactly what he’s talking about.

Winston casually mentioned Rick’s stay in the Foreign Legion when he introduced them, but to Rick’s relief Jonathan didn’t pick up on it. (It’s not until a few years later that he learns Jonathan actually spent a couple of years as a sniper with the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan around the early 2010s. Small world.) For all that he talks a lot, Jonathan doesn’t say much about himself, really. But he does talk a lot about his sister, Evy, who is currently working her ass off to get a doctorate in archaeology and Egyptology, despite the sexist bullshit she still gets thrown at her every now and then. (“I mean a hundred years ago it would already have been total bollocks, but now!? For God’s sake.”)

The first time Rick sees Evelyn Carnahan, she doesn’t look like anything he pictured. She’s a small whirlwind. She’s brisk, usually in a hurry; the bun at the back of her head is held up in place with a pencil and a pen and wild brown curls are framing her face. She and her brother throw good-natured barbs at each other, but she’s polite with Rick, if not very interested at first – until he says his unit once went through Mundigak and Deh Morasi, and he’s not good with archaeology and everything but that was… wow.

Evy’s eyes glint.

They spend the evening talking – well, mostly Evy talks and Rick listens and asks questions – about early history in the Hindus Valley and Ancient Egypt while Jonathan pretends to be miffed. And not only Evy is fascinating and knows a scary amount of things while never being snooty about it, it’s also the first time Rick has talked about his time as a soldier in a different way from just “doing his job and trying not to get killed”.

It’s a change. A nice one.

Months pass; Rick loses his job, gets another one, and starts to think Winston was on to something when he suggested Jonathan Carnahan as a potential flatmate. They’re very different (and Jonathan is much more of a slob than Rick is with his stuff) but they’re both fairly easy-going and they get along well. And it doesn’t hurt that sometimes Evelyn visits, or they have a drink in a pub when her workload isn’t too heavy, and she’s passionate and smart and actually hilarious when she wants to be funny.

As Christmas draws near, Rick figures the siblings will spend the holidays with their family. While the thought of getting the flat to himself for a while isn’t unattractive, it’s also weirdly lonely, especially in a city like Greater London where you’re reminded that Christmas is coming soon everywhere you go. To his relief, apart from hanging a few decorations around the flat (some of which look so worn they must be decades old), the most Jonathan does is place a bet on what the Christmas number one single is going to be and ask Rick if he’s got plans for the 24th.

“Not really,” says Rick. “I thought I’d stay here and binge a few shows. Maybe a Christmas movie or two. Don’t you have plans?”

“Oh, nothing grand. You see, on Christmas Eve, Evy and I like to tog ourselves up, put the Muppet Christmas Carol on, and pig out on basbousa. Nothing can beat our mum’s but there’s a great little place in Shadwell that does the next best thing.”

That sounds nice. Familial.

Private.

Rick thinks about the last time he celebrated Christmas with his mom, in that crappy little Chicago apartment a dozen years ago, and tries to quash the pang between his ribs.

“So when are you leaving?”

Jonathan stares at him.

“Leaving? Where…? Oh, that’s right, you haven’t seen that shoebox of a flat Evy’s got in Oxford. Good Lord no, we’re having it here. Evy can take the convertible. Last year we had it at her flat and I had to sleep in the bath.”

Rick’s heart sinks.

“I guess you’ll want the place for yourself, then.”

“Actually I meant to ask you if you liked basbousa. And muppets.”

In hindsight, that might be when Rick cottons on to the fact that 1) the siblings effectively are a family of two and 2) little by little their lives and his crept over each other’s like some kind of weird Venn diagram with a centre that gradually ate up more and more room until the edges were gone.

Rick grins in spite of himself.

“I love muppets. And I’ve never had basbousa but now I’m curious.”

Jonathan’s own grin is small and crooked but genuine.

“Good show, old boy.”

(Sometimes Rick wonders if Jonathan cranks up the Britishness just to wind him up. And maybe he does. But also he doesn’t.)

When Rick comes back from work on the evening of the 24th, he puts on slacks, his best shirt – the one that needs cufflinks instead of buttons – and the jacket and vest he bought on sale after the Legion because he didn’t want the only dress-up suit he owned to be his dress uniform.

To his relief, Jonathan wasn’t putting him on: he’s also wearing a three-piece suit with a tie, although his doesn’t look like he bought it on sale. More like bespoke, or at least tailored. But before the old shit, maybe I don’t belong here class-related bullshit can really sink its claws in Rick’s stomach, Jonathan whistles and says, “Well, I’ll be damned. Looking good here, O’Connell.”

There is no trace of irony in his voice, so Rick relaxes, and that’s when someone knocks on the door.

It’s Evy.

Who puts down her tote bag with the Christmas presents, hands Jonathan her coat, meets Rick’s eyes and smiles.

Rick. Just. Stares.

I mean. He knows Evy is pretty. No amount of messy hair and glasses can hide that. And she’s never dressed badly or even baggy. But her dark hair is tumbling down her shoulders and her little black dress is exactly the right cut for her curves and suddenly it’s like getting hit in the head, hard.

The only thing that doesn’t make him feel like a complete idiot is that Evy’s eyes go as round as his do. Distantly, he realises she’s only ever seen him in battered jeans and soft t-shirts, and he wonders if it’s just being surprised that he actually owns a suit. But, uh… maybe not, after all. Because a small smile is tugging at her lips and turning into something warm and beaming and okay, Rick is so far gone it’s kinda ridiculous.

Jonathan’s eyes jump from one to the other and back. Then he shakes his head and snorts.

“I knew it.”

They have takeout dinner from the Egyptian place Jonathan mentioned. They exchange presents. They watch the Muppets’ Christmas Carol slumped on the couch in their good clothes, then The Holiday when Rick says he’s never seen it.

And on Christmas morning, when Jonathan emerges from his room rumpled and dishevelled, he doesn’t comment on the fact that his sister is wearing one of Rick’s t-shirts and that they’re both smiling like a couple of idiots.

It’s the best Christmas Rick’s had in years.

Fortunately for him, it’s the first great Christmas of many more.

⁂

Did I just write a fic!? Anyway, I hope you like it!

Mundigak and Deh Morasi are archaeological sites in Afghanistan and were important urban centres from the 5th to the 2nd century BC; basbousa is an Egyptian dessert, a sweet semolina cake soaked in syrup.

Thank you so much for the asks 💜

[greatwar-1914]

11 AM, 11 November, 1918 - The Great War Ends

Pictured - Eleventh month, eleventh day, eleventh hour.

German delegates signed the armistice at five in the morning, with fighting to cease at eleven. The war continued up til then. General Bernard Freyburg received orders to attack a bridge at 9:30. He reached it just before eleven and charged across on horseback, getting in return a bullet in his saddle, 100 prisoners, and a bar to his Distinguished Service Order. Nearby a Canadian named George Price was killed by a sniper at 10:58. Harry Truman’s artillerymen fired off their last round at 10:45. In many batteries, all the gunners pulled the lanyard, so that everyone could say they had fired the last shot of the war.

Across from a South African brigade, a German Maxim-gunner rattled off his last belt of ammunition. When he finished, he was “seen to stand up beside his weapon, take off his helmet, bow, and then walk slowly to to the rear.”

Then, at 11 A.M., the guns stopped firing. 

“There came a second of expectant silence,” wrote Scottish soldier John Buchan, “and then a curious rippling sound, which observers far behind the front likened to the noise of a light wind. It was the sound of men cheering from the Vosges to the sea.”

A wave of emotion descended on the Western Front, even if not everyone felt the same. In Eddie Rickenbacker’s aerodrome, fighter pilots partied. “I’ve lived through the war!” shouted one. “We won’t be shot at any more!” In the trenches a British sergeant was heard to tell his company that “It’s all over, an armistice has been signed.” “What’s an armistice mate?” asked one man. “Time to bury the dead,” replied another. Leading a column of soldiers into the town of Mons, Lieutenant J.W. Muirhead saw three dead British soldiers who had been killed that morning, “each wearing the medal ribbon of the 1914 Mons Star.” In town they found many more dead Germans, “also killed that day... Boys were kicking them in the gutter.”

Americans celebrate the armistice.

News spread rapidly throughout the world. Londoners filled Trafalgar Square, Parisians the Champs-Élysées. Factories let out their workers and the pubs stayed open all night, usually with the entire crowd singing “God Save the King,” “La Marseillaise,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” no matter what country they were in. Yet even victory day had sombre touch to it. “These hours were brief,” recollected Winston Churchill, “their memory fleeting; they passed as suddenly as they had began. Too much blood had been split.” Robert Graves spent the day “walking alone along the dykes above the marshes of Rhuddlan... cursing and sobbing and thinking of the dead.” In Rochester, a mother named Lucy Storrs thanked God that each of her four sons had survived the war. Then the phone rang. It was a friend calling to say that her second son Francis had died the previous evening.

Allied soldiers, sailors, and civilians cheer the news in Paris.

Everyone who participated in the war hoped that, in some form, their sacrifices would lead to a better world. The final tragedy of the War to End All Wars was that it completely failed to do so. The cannons ceased on the Western Front on November 11, but they opened up elsewhere. In northern Russia, Allied troops were in action against the Red Army that day. Europe’s new states squabbled as soon as they were born; Romania declared war on Hungary on November 12. The Great War had unleashed hatreds onto the earth which could not be easily reburied. In human terms it had killed maybe as many as ten million people. It damaged millions more in body and soul.

Perhaps it is no surprise then that the Treaty of Versailles could not set the world aright. In May 1919, the Daily Herald published a cartoon by Australian illustrator Will Dyson, depicting the peacemakers leaving the palace of Versailles. France’s Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau, Le Tigre, is looking around and speaking to the others: “Curious! I seem to hear a child weeping!” Unseen by them is a child in tears. Above the sobbing boy’s head is a caption, identifying him as the Class of 1940.

[chiyos-oc-depot]

Basic OC List

Some OCs share a protag role with my best friend's OCs because it's more fun.

Fallout

Dean Waller. Fallout 3, Lone Wanderer. Biracial gay trans man. Baseball bats and pistols. He/him.

Evelyn Vogel. Fallout New Vegas, false Courier. White aroace cis woman. Energy weapons and science. She/her.

"Six" (real name unknown). Fallout New Vegas, true Courier. Indigenous  gay cis man. Non automatic rifles and explosives. He/him.

Aria Bodhi. Fallout 4, canon Sole Survivor, leader of the Minutemen. Desi bisexual cis woman. Baseball bats. She/her.

Charlie Giovanni. Fallout 4, Far Harbor. Afghan-American cis woman, struggling with sexuality and identity. Sniper rifles. She/they.

Lun Yan. Fallout 4, Nuka World, Overboss. Chinese cis lesbian. Swords and knives. She/her.

Vic Abrams. Fallout 4, Star Paladin of the Brotherhood of Steel. White cis bisexual man. Energy weapons and power armor. Terrible person. He/him.

Abigail Hendricks. Fallout 4, Agent Whisper of the Railroad. Black cis biromantic asexual woman. Pistols. She/he/they.

Aarón Moses. Fallout 76, Vault Dweller. Latino asexual cis man. Undocumented immigrant, just wants to farm and raise brahmin. He/him.

Dragon Age

Daphnina Cousland. Dragon Age Origins, Fereldan queen. One of two Wardens. Latina cishet woman. Archer rogue. She/her.

Evris Tabris. Dragon Age Origins, city elf. [Race] cis gay man. Sword and shield warrior. Romanced Nathanial Howe (and second Warden, cis gay Dalish elf). He/him.

Garrett Hawke. Dragon Age 2. Default appearance, trans gay purple Force Mage. Romanced Anders. Supported the mage rebellion. He/him.

Saarebas "Adaar". Dragon Age Inquisition, canon Inquisitor, one of two. Gay cis Qunari rift mage, romanced Dorian and the other Inquisitor (cis bi elf, who romanced Iron Bull). He/they.

Juiri Lavellan. Dragon Age Inquisition, noncanon Inquisitor. Korean straight trans woman. Templar trained shield warrior. Unfortunately romanced Solas. She/her.

Fruli Cadesh. Dragon Age Inquisition, noncanon Inquisitor. Black bi cis woman. Tempest trained duel wield rogue. Technically romanced no one (totally romanced Varric). She/her.

Maxwell Trevelyan. Dragon Age Inquisition, noncanon Inquisitor. Black cis ace man. Artificer archer rogue. Romanced Cassandra. He/him.

Mass Effect

Commander Dana Shepard. Canon Paragon Shep, ME 1-3. Egyptian bi trans woman. Automatic rifles. Romanced Garrus. She/her.

Pathfinder Saul Ryder. Technically noncanon Pathfinder. Black gay trans man. Shotguns and more shotguns. Technically romanced no one (Totally romanced Drack). He/him.

Rocks. Vorcha Shock Trooper. Trans gay male. Asari sword and Omniblade combo. Jokes characters are always the most tragic. He/him/it.

Saints Row

Big Bee. Saints Row 1-4 (technically 2-4 lol) Third Street Saints boss, former president. Black pansexual nonbinary. Dildo bat. Crimes against humanity and cops. They/them.

Elder Scrolls

Xanthos. ES3, one of two Nerevarines (the "Star"). Gay cis Argonian. Glass armor, blades. Carries Sunder (too OP with Keening). He/him.

Gnora gur-Botruk. ES4, Hero of Kvatch. Cis butch lesbian Orc. Steel armor and warhammers. She/her.

Lily Moon-And-Star. ES5, Last Dragonborn. Cis femme lesbian Dunmer. Leather armor and bows. Adopted daughter of the Nerevarines. She/her.

Outlast

Angel. Outlast 1, peaceful Variant. White trans gay male. Follower of Father Martin. He/him.

Soulsborne

Maxson Farroway. Good Hunter. Trans gay male. Saw Cleaver and Threaded Cane. Saving as many survivors as he can. He/him.

Ebri Tavantris. Choir hunter. Albino trans gay male. Kos Parasite and A Call Beyond. Hedonistic little brat. He/they.

Winston Forsythe. Mensis scholar. Cis grey ace male. Reiterpallasch and Hunter's Pistol. Just wants to study in peace. He/him.

Crisanto Torres. Cainhurst Vileblood knight. Filipino cis bi male. Stake Driver. A gentleman. He/him

[Chosen Undead - Dark Souls]

Reinhart Dusk. Bearer of the Curse. Black genderfluid gray-ace. [Details coming soon]. They/them.

Yurie Albelin. Ashen One knight. Gay trans male monsterfucker. Watchdog of Farron. A gentle soul with a less gentle claymore. He/they.

Flynn Wilder. Tarnished Vagabond. Cis gay male monsterfucker. Easy to fall in love. He/him.

Final Fantasy

Maus Bastovan. Miqo'te Conjurer. Gay trans male. Woke up on a cart to Gridania and isn't sure how he got there. Wands and healing spells. He/him.

Kazak'sivanz. Hrothgar Thaumaturge. Bi cis male. A simple explorer looking to see new and exciting things. Staves and ice magic. He/him.

Star Wars

Pahvor Sulan. Zabrak Sith Sorceror. Cis bisexual male. As charismatic as he is sadistic, and very fond of lightning. The lightsaber is more of an accessory at this point. He/him.

Xiaan Vel. Pureblood Sith Jedi Sentinal. Cis woman unsure of her sexuality. Amazonian stature with dual lightsabers. Good at detachment and bad at impartiality. She/her

Rashti Kaan. Togruta Smuggler. Cis bisexual woman. Blaster rifles and big naturals. Has weaponized her tits. She/her.

Tzarin Dran. Twi'lek Bounty Hunter. Trans gay male. Grand Champion of the Hunt. A bit of a slut and everyone knows it. He/him.

"Liska" Lisk'ama'ura. Chiss White Sith Juggernaut. Intersex female-presenting lesbian. Single lightsaber. Soft domme. She/her.

Nil Shandori. Nautolan Dark Jedi Sage. Intersex lesbian. Single lightsaber. Will achieve galactic peace, no matter how many people need to die to get it. She/her.

Kuujoh Taj. Cathar Republic Trooper. Cis bisexual male. Big ol' guns. Situationally appropriate slut. He/him

Vitaara Thresh. Mirialan Imperial Agent. Cis lesbian. Sniper rifles. Repressed PTSD. She/her.

Dungeons & Dragons

Keth gro'Tulgora-Kenthworth. Half-Orc Path Of The Totem Barbarian. Cis gay male. Chaotic good. Greataxe Himbo. Muscles are for hugging your friends. He/him. (Courts Of The Shadow Fey)

Zurn. Illithid Pact Of The Tome Warlock. Genderless bisexual. Neutral good. Eldritch Blast and a Great Old One Patron. A pile of scarves and anxiety. He/they. (Candlekeep Mysteries)

Captain Vodnik Of The Undertow. Ulitharid Battle Master Fighter. Masculine-presenting AroAce. Lawful evil. Flashy rapiers and Mind Blasts. Fond of himself and his favorite slave, and nothing else. Prefers "Captain", but he/him works. (Journeys Through The Radiant Citadel)

Ch'y. Half-Gnoll Necromancer Wizard. Cis male slut*. Chaotic neutral. Cold and necrotic magic. No one accuses you of evil magic if they think you're a bard. He/him. (Upcoming Curse Of Straud) * Bisexual includes all genders... and yet that's still too limited for Ch’y.

Tilaan. Tiefling Pact Of The Blade warlock. Nonbinary slut*. Chaotic neutral. Unpredictable Charm Person and an Archfey patron. Can't get in trouble if you seduce the guards. Xe/xem but they/them works. (Unused)

Agari. Loxodon Circle Of Spores Druid. Nonbinary biromantic asexual. Neutral good. Spores spores and more spores. Everything is a friend, especially the mushrooms growing on the tusks. Any pronoun will do. (Unused)

[mama-mercyyyy]

Hello, hi, yes I’m alive.

Yes I know this was posted before the game was even out I’m pretty sure, and I hope they have changed their viewpoint on this now, but I’m still going to rant about this.

tl;dr at the end. This is quite the rant I have.

First of all, “doing women better?” Most of their games are targeted at male players, of course they’re going to make their female characters sexy af. I, a female, don’t want to look at “ugly” or “normal” females. I want them to look very nice as well. And, as for the male characters, none of them are fat. They are short, tall, a literal gorilla, etc. but none of them are fat, except Roadhog, but there’s also a chubby female, Mei, so it balances out. All of the males, almost, are pretty sexy and muscular as well, but I don’t hear anyone complaining about that. I want to look at good looking characters. Not just average normal people.

Oh boo-hoo 5 out of 12. That is perfectly fine, and I don’t know for sure, but I think Blizzard has kept the male:female ratio pretty close to half and half so this point gets thrown out the window.

And I also want to make this clear. ALL FEMALES HAVE BOOBS. AND GUYS LIKE THEM. VIDEO GAMES HAVE BEEN TARGETED AT MALES FOR A VERY LONG TIME NOW. I didn’t know if some people realized this.

The fact that this author just assumed that the female characters are uninteresting is pretty sexist in of its self, don’t you think? But seriously, I doubt that they even looked into any of their backstories if they didn’t even bother looking up their names. I don’t have anything to say. Anyone who knows the game know they all have some pretty sick backstories, or hopefully will get just even a backstory at all *cough* Zen *cough cough* Mercy *cough*

I think it’s so dumb to complain how all the women are so slim when they are basically in the military. Mercy is a combat medic, Tracer is in the field all the time, Widow is an agile sniper, and Pharah is a literal soldier. They cannot be overweight. They will not be able to keep up. I know I’m going to get called “fatphobic” for this but it’s the truth. I can understand putting more muscle on some of them, but not making them chubby or fat.

Again complaining about boobs and thighs being shown to a male dominated market. Sorry but that just what guys have always liked. All the way back to the very beginning of the human race.

Let’s skip all the way to where they redesign the characters to be “better.” They have no idea about anything in this game so I’m going to skip over the fact that McCree is as American as anyone can get and that Torb is as Swedish as anyone can get, and that they want to make Winston a female, and get right into the juicy stuff. Is Mercy’s waist impossibly small? Yes. Do I care? No. It’s art. Oh also, “Mercy is an angel character with blonde hair. Which. NO. We’ve been over this. Always having angels be blond is some creepy white supremacy bullshit, okay?” Okay, what? How? Why? Should I read the article they linked about this? I think yes. I will do that now.

It explained nothing to me. How surprising. Anyway, fat Widowmaker. Just no. It makes no sense. She is a sniper. She cannot be overweight. She needs to be agile and quick. Like all of the other women in military like roles. Quick explanation for that one, let’s move on. The author is so upset about Sym not wearing pants. MAYBE SHE DOESN’T WANT TO WEAR PANTS. WHO EVER WANTS TO WEAR PANTS? ONLY PSYCHOPATHS I’M PRETTY SURE. Ahem, moving on.

Lastly, the author liked mostly everything about Tracer EXCEPT the fact that on her statue Blizzard sells you can see her butt. Oh no. Scary I know.

tl;dr This article is pretty pathetic. The author is obviously grabbing at straws to get mad at Blizzard, as it seems they have a vendetta against them. All of her points fall apart with a tiny bit of research, to which the author basically admits to not caring enough to do, and common sense. Blizzard is not sexist and has done nothing wrong in the sense of their female characters in Overwatch. Gameplay is another topic though.

No hate toward the author, though I hope they changed their mindset towards some things by now, 3 years later. I know it might seem like I got heated in this rant, I did a bit, but it’s not toward the author or anyone who feels the same. I disagree with you, but that doesn’t mean we need to yell or get angry at each other. We can have a calm discussion if you’d like, as long as we can both talk like mature human beings. Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong!

Thank you for making it this far and watching me get frustrated about characters in a video game. I hope I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings too bad, but it’s all in good fun, I don’t mean anything that would have hurt your feelings, it’s nothing personal towards anyone but the words on the page. :)

More art hopefully coming soon!

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of July 3rd, 2019

Best of this Week: Captain America and the Invaders  - Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway, Jay David Ramos and Joe Caramagna

What better way to celebrate American Freedom than by having Captain America inspire us to keep the country safe from Facist, Authoritarian rule of the dirty Nazis?

Reuniting two of the co-creators of DCs All-Star Squadron, Captain America and the Invaders tells a one-shot story of an adventure in the Bahamas Triangle a short time before the team actually assembles. With fantastic art by Ordway and perfectly campy writing, this book captures the feel of both the 1940s books and the stellar 80s works that these two are famous for.

Beginning with Captain America, Steve Rogers, bursting through and interrupting a meeting of home grown Nazi-sympathizers, the book manages to set the stage for what the action and dialogue will be like for the entire issue. Captain America is certain of his every action, punching and jumping over obstacles to take down the bastards and when one tries to escape, Steve sets upon him with fervor as the FBI emerges to arrest the Nazis. Once they’re taken down, Cap gets his next assignment, Protection Detail for President Roosevelt as he meets the Duke of Windsor as he governs the Bahamas.

We get the background that the Duke stepped down as King at the request of Winston Churchill for getting too cosy with the Nazis after being guests in Germany. President Roosevelt hopes to sway them to America's side by offering them protection from Nazis. Ordway makes sure that everything looks absolutely of the time. Cars and some structures look exactly like they did in the 40s, however, the US Navy Sailor uniforms he and another sailor by the name of Jim Hammond wear for the undercover assignment, are not. Captain America himself looks very good in his original costume.

After a nasty storm, the President’s ship arrives on the island and not long after, he, The Duke and his wife are met by Baron Heinrich Zemo, the father of Helmut Zemo. Zemo takes everyone hostage as his men kill all of the Sailors protecting the President aside from one draped in the American flag and another who can become living fire. The Human Torch looks absolutely awesome “flaming on” to contrast the cloudy night sky. His flames are seen from the house and he proceeds to fly into the air and burn several Nazis alive. I’ve always loved the old look of a mostly naked Torch with bright oranges and yellows for the flame and his body with hatch lines for details.

As Zemo prepares to kill Roosevelt, the lights in the house turn off and a mysterious agent proceeds to knock out Zemos men while the Baron runs away. The rain picks up and Hammond’s flame goes out as other Nazis escape into a U-Boat. Rogers catches up to Zemo who uses a Death Ray of some sort to fight the American and is goaded into fighting in an enclosed space during the chase. Cap gets one good punch in, sending the Death Ray out of Zemos hands, causing the roof to fall on Caps head as Zemo makes his escape.

Cutting back to the escaping U-Boat, the Nazis think they’ve made the escape from America’s living flamethrower as their ship is torn through by an unknown assailant, Namor showing up to make sure that they didn’t get away. Cap and Hammond get back into their uniforms and make up stories about what happened to them during the night as they rejoin the protection detail with their flimsy excuses before musing to each other about meeting up again in the future.

This book was a fun little romp in a simpler time and definitely had less seriousness than the current Invaders series, but did have the heart given that Thomas co-created the team way back in 1969. It felt like he was slipping back into his old baseball glove and found that it still fit. Ordway’s art was well complimented by Ramos’ colors and looks amazing. I know he’d done some cover work recently, but his panel to panel art was certainly fantastic, like he hadn’t missed a step at all.

Flying the flag high and on Independence Eve ensures that this book is a must-read!

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

Well, this was wild, wacky and amazingly violent.

Runner Up: Savage Avengers #3 - Gerry Duggan, Mike Deodato Jr., Frank Martin and Travis Lanham

Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato Jr. have come up with an absolutely fantastic story that’s full of brutal action, some cheeky comedy and remains true to every character involved up to a point. It pulls no punches and with Deodato’s amazing art, not only does it read well, but it looks damn good at the same time.

Starting off with a bang, we see Frank Castle tearing his way through Kulan Gath’s stronghold in the Savage Land looking for the bodies of his family. Of course Frank knows that it’s a trap, but never in his life has he let that stop him. With rage as his eyes, he tears through the Hand Ninjas, using a sniper rifle at close range and taking their own katanas to use against them. Suddenly, one of the ninjas puts a sai into the barrel of his weapon and he immediately recognizes them. Elektra has joined the fight.

Elektra seems to know of Kulan Gath’s plan to use the blood of warriors to summon something and she’s there to put a stop to it. She looks absolutely fierce back in her old gear, especially as she roundhouses and slices through Hand Ninjas while telling Castle to be careful as they make their way through the castle.

Meanwhile, Wolverine is captured by Gath and is suspended over his blood pit. Unfortunately for Logan, his healing ability only helps the evil Wizard as his blood only makes the plot come closer to fruition and Logan has an ever flowing amount of it. Soon after, Jericho, in the disguise of one of Gath’s students, tries to fool him. The Wizard sees through the ruse and gets stabbed in the chest, but given his sheer power, says that the insult hurts a lot more than the blade does and Jericho insults him by saying that’s not even worth Doctor Strange’s time.

Just as Gath is about to stab Jericho again, remarking that in his time he is the Sorcerer Supreme, he is shot right in the head by Castle. Gath makes Castle an offer to return his family to him alive in exchange for finding the thief who stole his amulet. Logan smirks and muses that the thief is long gone by now… only for him to return and threaten the Wizard. Conan is portrayed is a comedic man out of time and element in contrast to his own books where he is as serious as death and twice as deadly. Elektra frees Logan who collapses as he tries to stand and fight and Gath commands his forces to attack.

Conan picks up Logan and uses his still unsheathed claws as weapons as he swings the diminutive mutant around. Gath uses his magic to toss Logan into Elektra and runs his hand through the heart of Conan for the Amulet of Power and just as things are getting bleak, a certain symbiote attaches itself to the warrior as Gath summons his creature, Jhoatun Lau, The Marrow God.

Savage Avengers is shaping up to be the same kind of sleeper hit that Secret Avengers was back in 2012, especially while building Conan up to be a possible major player in future stories and hopefully in the upcoming Absolute Carnage event now that he’s had the Symbiote become part of him. The rest of this team itself is pretty good, fusing Castle and Logan’s rage with Jericho’s magic, Elektra’s skill and Conan’s cunning, this is definitely a book to keep watch of.

[segadores-y-soldados]

Long Reasons Not to Trust Moira in Retribution

“One of the things we really like doing with Overwatch is playing with perspective.  We utilize perspective when we analyze or when we tell stories about characters, what they’re thinking, what their goals are.  And we have a lot of unreliable narrators.  We want people to pay careful attention to what characters think about in particular situations.  We want them to use their judgment and their knowledge of a character’s thoughts to come up with their own ideas about the universe.

“[...] The world needs heroes, but it also needs villains.  And we have a number of villainous characters in Overwatch.  And what’s important to us is that their internal motivations are not purely rooted in ‘being evil,’ despite how they might seem on the surface.  You know, as we reveal more about these characters, we want people to be able to empathize and understand their beliefs.  Because sometimes what makes a villain a villain is the extent to which they’re willing to go to reach their goals.  And one thing that we find most important when we’re talking about our villain characters is that there is nothing to say that a villain cannot be as charismatic - or more charismatic - or as likeable as a hero character.  Because like the old saying goes, ‘Every villain is the hero of their own story.’”

- Excerpts from Michael Chu’s GDC talk, “Thinking Globally: Building the Optimistic Future of Overwatch,” April 2017 (source)

“We stand on the brink of a breakthrough in human evolution.  I have dedicated my life to unraveling its secrets.  I take risks that others would consider to be ‘unwise,’ for I do not share their caution.  Overwatch held back the pace of scientific discovery for decades.  They believed my methods were too radical... too controversial...

“And they tried...to silence me.”

- Moira, Origin Story (source)

---------

It begins with an experiment.

It is thirty years in the future - approximately 2046-2047.  Facilities of the defunct company Omnica Corporation have suddenly gone back online.  In a moment of surreality, armies of robots are unleashed from these Omniums and begin to attack humanity the world over.

But national militaries struggle.  And fail.

And so, in a gamble for the fate of humankind -

They begin to experiment.

Some countries use cybernetic augmentation.  Some countries develop highly specialized armor.

Some countries take normal soldiers -

And “enhance” them.

And at least one of those soldiers -

Gets a little...too experimental.

(A lot more under the cut. I’m not joking. Turn back now.)

Part 1: Going Ghost

Finally.

After over a full year of back-and-forth and this-and-that, we finally have more significant and concrete context for Michael Chu’s (in)famous twitter discussion on Reaper:

(Source)

What Michael Chu and the fan were referencing was this section of Reaper’s official Hero Profile.

Specifically, the line “[Reaper] has fought in many armed conflicts in the last decades, showing no loyalty to any cause or organization.”

At the time, there was considerable confusion and frustration among fans at the implication that Gabriel Reyes - a major hero of the Omnic Crisis, an important founding member of the original Overwatch Strike Team, and the long-term commander of the Overwatch covert ops division, Blackwatch - had been “Reaper” for “decades” - well before the “fall” of Overwatch had begun.  This caused a lot of discussion about if “Reaper” was Gabriel Reyes’ codename, an alternate identity, a “titled persona” (like “Doomfist”, who we’ll get to later), or something else.  It also spawned questions about just how long Gabriel had possessed “Reaper’s” powers, abilities, and side effects, especially this part:

“It is possible that he is a byproduct of failed genetic alteration which forces his cells to simultaneously decay and regenerate at a hyper-accelerated rate.”

Because fans were also given information that seemed to conflict directly with this.

“Commander Reyes” looked...perfectly healthy.  Sure, he has several scars, and we all knew he had gone through the “Soldier Enhancement Program” with Jack Morrison, but otherwise, nothing about “Commander Reyes” seemed off.  We were told that gameplay and in-game content was not necessarily canon, but instead, “what if” scenarios about how characters would interact if they met each other after Winston’s Recall.

And Michael seemed to consistently confirm that only “certain characters” specifically knew about who Reaper was in the “present day” (post-Recall):

(Source)

And this, again, seemed in-line with the story we had been told up to this point: Jack Morrison, now Soldier: 76, and Ana Amari, now a bounty hunter known as “the Shrike”, recognized “Reaper” from their encounter in Giza, Egypt (in the “Old Soldiers” comic).

And yet something seemed...odd about Michael stating that the “decades” line in Reaper’s profile was intentional.

It seemed borderline implausible - even downright contradictory - that Gabriel could’ve had an “alter ego” persona of “Reaper” for decades, all while working closely with individuals like Jack and Ana.  How could he have kept it a secret?  If Gabriel had always been Reaper, why was Ana so surprised when she unmasked him in “Old Soldiers”?  If Gabriel had become “Reaper” early on in his life, why did he blame Jack Morrison and (likely) Overwatch for his present-day condition?

This only got more confusing with the release of Moira, where Moira is shown doing something to create a smoky, “Reaper-ish” effect on Gabriel:

And Moira’s whole thing is about “unlocking potential” in humanity, right?  So she “unlocked” the Reaper powers in Gabriel, right?

Except -

Interesting statements where made by the individuals on the Moira Blizzcon 2017 panel.

“She was recruited by Gabriel Reyes to be a member of Blackwatch.  And uh, during that time she had relationships with the Blackwatch crew - McCree, Genji - they all have their own sort of likes and dislikes for each other.  Reyes wanted someone could help advise him on, uh, some matters of genetics that he was, uh, interested in, shall we say.” - Michael Chu, 3:47 (https://youtu.be/HsJU3PEk9JY?t=227)

And when Moira was released on the PTR, some changes occured in the Genetics Lab in the Oasis, Iraq map:

This folder appeared.

Moira’s reveal, Michael Chu’s statements, even Ana’s reaction in “Old Soldiers” suddenly started to make more sense.

Gabriel Reyes has been “Reaper” for decades -

It just depends on how you define what “Reaper” is.

“Reaper” is not just a mask and a persona -

“Reaper” is also an experimental medical condition.

Almost two full years ago, Michael Chu made a tweet that the characters people assumed were not aging correctly do, in fact, age - that is, Tracer, Mei, Mercy, Widowmaker, etc, age like normal people (for Tracer, this occurs as long as she has her chronal accelerator close by).

But someone asked a very simple question:

User: You missed an important one there - What about Reaper? Can he even still be considered alive in his state? Michael Chu: That’s a good question. ;)

(Source)

Initially, I personally interpreted this as Michael Chu answering the second question: “No, Reaper should not be considered ‘alive.’”  However, it is looking likely that Michael actually answered the first question - “Is Reaper aging normally?”

And the answer is...uncertain.

Reinhardt changes significately in the 20-25 years of the Crisis and Overwatch.  His hair is white by Uprising.  He is the oldest member of the original Strike Team, and would’ve been approximately 31 years old in the left skin, and about 54 years old in his Uprising Lieutenant skin.

Torbjörn does age as well, but the changes are less noticeable than Reinhardt’s: his hair is still mostly blonde, but he has lost an eye and his left arm.  In the left skin, Torb would be about 27 years old, and in the right Chief Engineer skin, he is about 50 years old.

Ana does age - her hair is completely grey by Uprising, and she has a number of wrinkles in her “Legacy” comic.  And by the present-day of Recall, her hair is completely white.  In her Horus skin, Ana is about 30 years old.  In Uprising, she is about 53 years old, and by the time of her sniper battle with Widowmaker, she is 53-54 years old.

Hmm.

In the SEP Soldier: 24 skin, Gabriel would be about 27-28 years old.

And since Retribution uses the Commander Reyes skin as his canon appearance at the time of the mission, he would be 50 years old during the mission.

(Source)

This is verified by double-checking McCree’s age.

(Source)

McCree’s age at Recall: 37 Difference between Retribution and Recall: 8 years. McCree’s age at Retribution: 29

So no, Overwatch did not make any mathematical mistakes on Gabriel’s age at Retribution.  He is 50 chronological years old.  He is one year older than Torbjörn, two years younger than Ana, and three years younger than Reinhardt.

He has gained several scars since SEP, yes.  He has changed his hairstyle, yes.  He appears to have a few “crow’s feet” around his eyes, yes.

But here he is when Fareeha is 11-12 years old (Source: “you have an eleven-to-twelve-year-old Pharah, you have McCree who’s just been recruited into Blackwatch, you have university student Mercy who’s visiting the Overwatch base”).

Pharah at Recall: 32 Pharah in photo: 11-12 Difference in years: 20 years Reinhardt in photo: 41 Ana in photo: 40 Torb in photo: 37 Gabriel at Recall: 58 years Gabriel’s age in photo: 38

Age in comic: 50 years old

Aging?  Yes, he does appear to be aging.

Correctly?

Very debatable.

In fact, the only other American “enhanced soldier” that we know of specifically has an interaction where Ana expresses that he’s actually “looking pretty good” for his age:

Ana: For a man of your years, you’re looking pretty good, Jack. Soldier: 76: Well, all that stuff they pumped into me has to be good for something.

Except

(Golden Era of Overwatch: approximately 10-25 years before Recall)

(Retribution: 8 years before Recall)

(Uprising: 7 years before Recall)

(Unmasked present-day)

Jack Morrison - who went through the same Soldier Enhancement Program as Gabriel Reyes - is aging considerably.

Jack is also younger than Gabriel.

Jack Morrison enlisted in the military because of the Crisis.  This means he is of draft age when the Crisis begins, between 18 and 25 years old.  An old article (source) states that he enlisted at 18, but the article appears to be retconned by Jack’s own statement in Uprising.  In the article, it says:

At eighteen, Morrison packed his bags and joined the military. He had planned to serve a brief stint in the armed forces and then return home to the family farm, but his work ethic and courage caught the eye of the military brass. Before long, he earned a coveted position in the government's controversial and still-classified (but widely acknowledged) "soldier enhancement program." Military scientists shaped Morrison and other inductees into the perfect soldiers, blessed with superhuman speed, strength, and agility.

Morrison and his fellow augmented soldiers would soon put their abilities to use with the advent of the Omnic Crisis. Across the globe, the omniums went rogue and churned out legions of militarized robots.

However, this order of events differs from Jack’s own account:

“I remember when the Crisis broke out across America. It’s why I enlisted, and why I signed up for the enhancement program.”

For the time being, I will use Uprising as the more updated source on Jack’s motivation and his age range during the Crisis, but as it stands, he is very likely younger than “SEP Soldier: 24″ at the time of his enlistment.

I love Jack Morrison, both as a character and as a playable hero.  But I will readily admit he’s not aging as gracefully as Gabriel Reyes by the time of Retribution.  Jack’s hair is a very, very faded blonde, during Retribution and Uprising, and he is likely younger than both Gabriel and Torbjörn.  He has heavy age lines on his face in the comics, and for his present-age unmasked skins in-game, he has the scars that now define his face and white hair.

He is likely only 48-53 years old at Recall.

Sure, you the reader are probably thinking of ways to exempt this, or to deny this discrepancy.  After all, Overwatch has characters like Mercy who is aging “normally” but still apparently looks very good for nearly-40 years old (contrast with Hanzo, who is a year older than Mercy and has grey hair).  You have Moira who is almost 50 but her hair is still a brilliant shade of red.

But Overwatch has made a concerted effort to show that the original Strike Team members are aging - some more heavily, some less.

And at least one appears to be aging significantly less.

I bring you back to Michael Chu’s statement on Moira’s recruitment into Blackwatch:

“She was recruited by Gabriel Reyes to be a member of Blackwatch.  And uh, during that time she had relationships with the Blackwatch crew - McCree, Genji - they all have their own sort of likes and dislikes for each other.  Reyes wanted someone could help advise him on, uh, some matters of genetics that he was, uh, interested in, shall we say.” - Michael Chu, 3:47 (https://youtu.be/HsJU3PEk9JY?t=227)

This does not sound like a man who wanted to become Reaper.

This sounds like a man who needed help.

(Source)

This puts the comment made by Nesskain, the artist who made the official art for Uprising, Moira’s Origin video, and now the Retribution outro video, into context.  If Gabriel wanted Moira’s help to become “Reaper”, why would he be “scared” of what’s happening to him?

Unless that isn’t want he wanted.

“Repairing Degnerative Genetic Structures.”

Found in the present-day (after Recall) Oasis map (we’ll get to where and why in a (long) bit), but with a big sticky note that says “Draft” and has the Ministry of Genetics logo on it.

This is Moira’s present-day laboratory in Oasis, Iraq.

This is her research.

“He is a byproduct of a failed genetic alteration which forces his cells to slumltaneously decay and rengerate at a hyper-accelerated rate.”

Gabriel Reyes didn’t want to become “Reaper” because he has been “Reaper” for decades - he got his lifedrain and wraithing powers during the Crisis from the experimental Soldier Enhancement Program, he is probably not aging normally, and by the time of Moira’s recruitment, his health is probably destabilizing.  

His friends - even those younger than him - are aging past him.

Regardless of your feelings on the romantic angle of Gabriel and Jack, it is undeniable that Gabriel Reyes sits in the room of his injured agent, and thinks about:

A coffin with a dead Blackwatch agent in it, draped with an Overwatch flag that he and Jack placed on it

Rescuing Gérard Lacroix from the explosion in Rome

An aging Jack Morrison

And then he makes his decision to go arrest Antonio.

And when Moira appeared out of nowhere nearly 10 years before Recall:

She must have looked like a miracle worker to a man who wanted to be free from his “curse.”

However, Gabriel is likely at a bit of a moral and ethical crossroads here:

His “Reaper” abilities have allowed him to intervene in “armed conflicts,” likely when Overwatch could not do so in an official capacity.  In fact, none of the three agents with him in Retribution seem remotely surprised by his “Reaper powers” - he can Wraith, Shadowstep, and Death Blossom without a single quip or remark.

This puts a lot of things into perspective:

First, that characters like McCree and Reinhardt do not know specifically that Gabriel has “transformed” into the “Talon-backed mercenary called Reaper”, but that they would immediately recognize him if they encountered him in a “what if” scenario:

Reinhardt would recognize Gabriel.

(source)

Question: “Some time back you said that McCree and Reinhardt don’t know that Reaper is Reyes.  Do they not know because they’v enever met face--errm, mask-to-face, since the incident? I get the feeling that if McCree and Reaper met, McCree would know almost immediately who was under the mask, and Reinhardt would figure out if he fought Reaprt in battle (because his only quote, “Traitor!”, is triggered when he kills him).”

Michael: “To clarify about the Reaper/Reyes thing, yes it is because they have not met in the “current day” of Overwatch. The interactions in the game are meant to be what ifs. I do think that McCree would know that Reaper was Reyes if he encountered him.”

McCree would recognize his old Blackwatch commander.

It’s also a very subtle detail, but when Gabriel gets on the Blackwatch dropship to leave for Venice, he is not carrying any weapons.

This is in direct contrast to all three of the other characters, since McCree is shown with just gun only a few panels before, Genji is shown with his sword, and Moira with her two Biotic Grasp gloves.

(The last part of this is super important.)

The second thing is that this detail about “Gabriel has always been Reaper” puts a lot of the Overwatch-Blackwatch relationship into clearer view.

As exemplified by the comic, Jack Morrison is not only aware that Blackwatch does many things “off the book”, he actually personally understands why Gabriel conducts them, even if he can’t “officially sanction” them as the Overwatch Strike-Commander.

In fact, Jack would actually conduct a formal investigation to arrest Antonio.  It isn’t the arrest that either man has moral or ethical qualms with -

It’s the level of urgency that the arrest needs to be conducted with.

Jack cannot officially approve a Blackwatch mission to illegally defy sovereignty laws, but he can understand the urgent need for it - people are getting hurt and dying.  It’s only a matter of time before Talon attacks Blackwatch and Overwatch in a more serious fashion.

Jack trusts Gabriel to make “the final call,” but he does ask him if Gabriel’s “urgency” is...hasty - if the mad dash to bring Antonio in is worth the risk of Blackwatch getting caught.

Or worse.

But there is no question here of loyalty or trust.

Just one of safety.

This aligns with several of the interactions you can find in Retribution:

Moira: You did what needed to be done, Gabriel.  Don’t apologize. Gabriel: I never have, and I don’t intend to start now.  Someone has to be the one to get things done.

McCree: Is this what we’ve become, Gabriel? Gabriel: Blackwatch has always had one purpose: to do the real work of keeping the world safe.  I thought you had the stomach for it.  Looks like I was wrong.

Gabriel sees his role in Blackwatch as the “heavy lifter” of peace-keeping.  Overwatch does a wide variety of tasks: it possesses an engineering division, a medical division, an environmental division, and a science division, along with a number of “Strike Team” agents who can be fielded to intervene on a military, medical, or engineering emergency level as required or requested by a sovereign nation.  Overwatch is the kinder side of keeping peace.

Blackwatch is the shadow of it.

And in those shadows, “the Reaper” does what he needs to do to maintain Overwatch’s peace when its “heroes” cannot.

Even if he must be painted as a villain for it.

If Gabriel has been using his SEP-created “Reaper powers” to help defend Overwatch in “off the book” missions for decades (as Retribution shows) then his powers and abilities are likely an “open secret” within Blackwatch, and probably known to his closest friends and companions in Overwatch (for example, the original Strike Team).

And it helps him - it keeps him alive in the worst missions, he never needs to carry ammo or weapons, and (if he’s really that good) he doesn’t even need a combat medic with him because he can sustain his own healing processes with his lifedrain ability.  Sure, it’s not perfect - he gets scars, he’s aging a bit, and very likely, a fatal shot could kill him even with these powers - but it’s more than enough for him to do the “real work of keeping the world safe.”

And while it is not shown, it is implied that Jack Morrison knows this.

Intriguingly, a closer reading of “Old Soldiers” shows that Ana knows who Reaper is before she ever unmasks him:

Ana, thinking as she looks at Reaper: Damn...don’t have a clear shot. Ana, aloud to Reaper: Idiot, you’re always in the way!

(Ana mains rejoice - it’s canon that her own teammates block all her shots)

So yes, if Ana and Reinhardt know who Recall-era Reaper is without ever seeing his face -

It is pretty much impossible for Soldier: 76 - Jack Morrison, his oldest friend and companion - to not know.

In fact, Recall-era Soldier: 76 knows who Reaper is by voice alone.

So yeah

Gabriel is not exactly stealthy about this “alternate identity with a lot of cool ghost powers side effect” thing.

Now -

How much does Jack know about Moira?

To quote Michael Chu:

That’s a good question. ;)

---------

Part 2: The One Who Changes Fate

Reminder again about Moira’s hero profile.  What’s interesting is that we are...told this paper effectively ruined her career.

But that is not what Moira herself tells us:

“We stand on the brink of a breakthrough in human evolution.  I have dedicated my life to unraveling its secrets.  I take risks that others would consider to be ‘unwise,’ for I do not share their caution.  Overwatch held back the pace of scientific discovery for decades.  They believed my methods were too radical... too controversial...

“And they tried...to silence me.”

- Moira, Origin Story (source)

I see it bounced around that “Moira worked for Overwatch and then was shut down.”  This is not true.  Nowhere is it ever stated that she specifically worked for Overwatch.  When she brings up Overwatch in her Origins video, she is talking about how Overwatch held back generalized scientific advancement for years, not specifically hers.

However, she does imply that Overwatch shut down whatever lab she was running before she joined Blackwatch.

What’s super, super, super critical to remember is that every character in Overwatch is an unreliable narrator.

All of them.

All of them have a story to tell you.  All of them have a perspective to give.  Everything about them - every Hero Profile, every teaser, every Origin story, every comic - has a perspective to it.  They are not necessarily lying to you outright, but they are twisting truths to suit their purposes.

Here is the full quote on perspective, unreliable narrators, and “villains” from Michael Chu (bolded and italicized parts are mine, and do not reflect his actual speaking tone):

“Which brings me...to ‘Perspective.’  One of the things we really like doing with Overwatch is playing with perspective.  We utilize perspective when we analyze or when we tell stories about characters, what they’re thinking, what their goals are.  And we have a lot of unreliable narrators.  We want people to pay careful attention to what characters think about in particular situations.  We want them to use their judgment and their knowledge of a character’s thoughts to come up with their own ideas about the universe.  You know, I’m asked often - with characters like Sombra or Soldier: 76, you know, ‘Are they anti-heroes?  Are they villains?’  And I think, you know, you look at someone like Sombra, and it’s all about looking at, ‘What does she want?  What is she willing to do to get it?’

“And you have to remember that when she’s telling you something, she’s serving her own ends too.  So you know, you have to kinda make the decision for yourself.  And I think you can take a character like Soldier: 76 - like obviously, he has this mission that he is on that he believes is good, he seems to be sometimes willing to do things which are... maybe not super heroic, and so it makes him complicated.  We always have a lot of fun, uh - every once and awhile we’ll try and plot all the characters on like the traditional D’n’D alignment scale, and I think, you know, it’s fun exercise, but at the end of the day, I think what’s interesting about characters is that those alignments change depending on what situation you put them in, what’s important to them, and what decisions they have to make.

“[...] The world needs heroes, but it also needs villains.  And we have a number of villainous characters in Overwatch.  And what’s important to us is that their internal motivations are not purely rooted in ‘being evil,’ despite how they might seem on the surface.  You know, as we reveal more about these characters, we want people to be able to empathize and understand their beliefs.  Because sometimes what makes a villain a villain is the extent to which they’re willing to go to reach their goals.  And one thing that we find most important when we’re talking about our villain characters is that there is nothing to say that a villain cannot be as charismatic - or more charismatic - or as likeable as a hero character.  Because like the old saying goes, ‘Every villain is the hero of their own story.’”

(Source)

And this is what people need to understand about the story in Retribution - the comic, the teasers, and the actual canonically gameplay mode:

You do not have one unreliable narrator

You have four.

And it is your “job” - as outlined by the lead writer of Overwatch - to pay attention to which ones are giving you an “honest” perspective of the situation -

And which ones are masking their intentions and thoughts.

We want people to pay careful attention to what characters think about in particular situations.  We want them to use their judgment and their knowledge of a character’s thoughts to come up with their own ideas about the universe.

“Retribution” is not as cut-and-dry as “Uprising” (and even Uprising has some interesting “perspective” bits to it).

Comic: the Retribution comic is from Gabriel’s perspective.  We see him go through the events of the explosion in Rome, his discussion with Jack, and then his decision to bring three agents in an “off the book” mission to arrest Antonio.  Things to keep in mind: though you get dialogue from McCree, you do not actually see McCree’s thought process the way you see Gabriel’s.

Game: the Retribution game mode has a narrative shift to McCree’s perspective.  Both the Intro and the Outro are narrated by him.  He describes only the things he knew leading up to the mission, how he perceived the shooting of Antonio, and how he saw the fallout that resulted.  Something to remember is that McCree does not know that Jack Morrison was aware that Gabriel was going to attempt to arrest Antonio.

In fact, McCree actually brings this up in the game:

McCree: How are you gonna explain this to the Strike-Commander? Gabriel: You let me worry about what Jack needs to know. McCree: You know you can’t shoot him. Gabriel: No, but I could shoot you.

It is not that McCree is an untrustworthy narrator of the event -

He is just a limited, biased one.

And he does not know what Gabriel is thinking during the mission

Or what Moira is thinking.

And it is up to the player to attempt to interpret both.

As I wrote in Part 1, if you look at the “clues,” Gabriel has been struggling with his “Reaper” condition for some time.  Perhaps it is shifting into a new phase.  Perhaps it is growing unstable.  Perhaps he is afraid of his friends growing old without him.  

Perhaps he is afraid of being effectively immortal.

When Moira appears in the scientific community, we are told her hypothesis was initially well-received but could not be replicated, which caused doubt as to her testing methodology.

And what you are shown

is that Moira tested things on herself.

Human clinical trials for medicine and therapies are...strict.  Highly regulated in most countries (yes, obviously you can debate how effective those policies are “in reality”).  It is not as simple as jumping from testing on rabbits to testing on humans - qualifications and checks must be done.

I’ve had a lot of people ask, “Why would Moira want to side with Talon if Blackwatch supports her?”

And the very simple answer is

Moira does not want “relaxed” restrictions on her research.

Moira wants zero restrictions on her research.

Do I believe that Gabriel Reyes would let her conduct research on himself?

Yeah, of course he does.  You are literally shown that.

Does he let her do research on other people?

Or herself?

Again, very debatable.

We go back to this panel:

Moira has her Biotic Grasp, both healing and lifedrain.  This means she has already started research on Gabriel, and has manipulated his powers for herself.

And yes, the lifedrain ability, along with her Fade ability, are implied to be “improvements” on Reaper’s versions, because Moira has researched his biodata, repurposed them, and then reused them for herself:

Geoff Goodman: “It [Her Fade ability] has some similarities to Reaper’s wraith form…uh which is…it’s funny how that works out.” Michael Chu: “You know, we obviously - there’s a…there’s a close relationship between Moira and Reyes-slash-Reaper, and I think one of the fun things we were able to do is to sort of hint at some of those things in her, uh, abilities.” Geoff Goodman: “She’s helping Reaper out and is like, ‘You know, I think I could make this better, I have an idea.’” Michael Chu: “Professional relationship.” Geoff Goodman: “Ahaha, yes…good call.” Michael Chu: “You know what I’m talking about.” [Whole panel laughs] (source)

And she has managed to make an artificial, cloned, or recreated “lifedrain” work with Angela Ziegler’s healing technology:

Participant 3: Hey, guys. First off, thank you for this support hero. We really need that, and so my question is more of a lore question. So seeing Moira and her healing, and her siphoning powers, I am wondering if there is a connection between her powers and Zenyatta’s approach of how he heals and discords; or if it is going to be communicated in the future.

Michael: So there is a connection, but it is actually not a Zenyatta. It is actually more of a connection to Mercy. You know, they both work together obviously. Moira was part of Blackwatch. Mercy was a part of Overwatch, but she has definitely taken and modified some of the tech. In fact, there is some evidence on the Oasis map that sort of hints at some of that.

(source)

So we learn that Moira has no moral or ethical qualms about taking, using, and repurposing Gabriel’s “enhanced Reaper powers” from his biological data, and that she also has no moral or ethicla qualms about taking, using, and repurposing Angela’s nanobiology tech.

And Moira is not doing either of these things for financial gain, or political power, or even some sort of immortality.

She just wants to experiment in its purest form, unrestricted and unrestrained and untethered.

She does not want to stop with any moral or ethical boundaries.

And despite what people think -

I personally get the strong impression that even though Gabriel Reyes has few or limited personal morals about defending the world in the name of peace, he would not let Moira test Blackwatch or Overwatch agents in an unrestriction, unrestrained, uncontrolled manner.  

Himself?  Fine.  That’s a risk he has to take.

But if Moira were to harm his agents

Or cause Blackwatch and Overwatch to suffer

Or conduct “experiments” with those who matter most to him

He would wage war to prevent that.

So even though Moira works for Blackwatch, conducts trials on Gabriel, makes new inventions for herself and the organization -

She does not actually get what she really wants:

True, unliminted freedom to experiment.

Michael: Moira is a scientist. She is not so much interested in conquering the world, even though she has allied herself with people who might have proclivities in that direction. She is really just into the actual science. She wants to understand the fundamentals of human life, and how they can be manipulated. She is a geneticist, and that is her primary goal, and that is all she wants.  But the thing that makes her villainous is that she doesn’t quite have like some of the morals that the rest of us have. Yes, she is very flexible. She doesn’t want anything to get in the way of her science. So when someone tries to stop her from doing something, or tells her that she needs to take more time, she has no patience for that.

(source) (emphasis is mine, and does not reflect his actual tone)

A lot of people asked about this.  Many were confused by the statement I made that her Hero Profile implies she was working for Talon when she was in Blackwatch, but some math here can help us out:

2070: The Fall of Overwatch occurs, and Overwatch is officially disbanded.  This is 6 years before Recall.  

2068-ish: Retribution occurs.  This is 8 years before Recall.

When Moira is “invited to join the scientific collective” at Oasis after the disbandment of Overwatch, people in-universe were already wondering if she had ties to Talon:

“Yet some have whispered that the shadowy Talon organization had already been supporting her for years, aiding her experiments in exchange for utilzing the results for their own purposes.”

Again, the Hero Profile has a perspective.  It is not lying to you, but it isn’t entirely telling the truth either.  It is worded in a deliberate, vague way to make you think that Moira joins Talon after Overwatch is disbanded, but “for years” means that she could have been supported by Talon before the disbandment.

And remember -

Moira’s very own words are not trustworthy:

“We stand on the brink of a breakthrough in human evolution.  I have dedicated my life to unraveling its secrets.  I take risks that others would consider to be ‘unwise,’ for I do not share their caution.  Overwatch held back the pace of scientific discovery for decades.  They believed my methods were too radical... too controversial...

“And they tried...to silence me.

“...But there were others in the shadows, searching for ways to circumvent their rules.  Freed from my shackles, the pace of our research hastened -  together, we delved deeper into those areas forbidden by law, by morality...and by fear. “New patrons emerged who possessed an appetite for my discoveries.  And with this knowledge...what new world could we build?”

- Moira Origin story (source)

At no point -

Does Moira ever say that Blackwatch - that specific word for that specific division - recruited her to “circumvent” Overwatch.

And this is where perspective and unreliability come into play.

You are shown these images:

With that narrative -

To specifically make you think that Gabriel Reyes wanted Moira to help him overthrow Overwatch.

But this is in direct contrast with Gabriel’s own view of his role in Overwatch:

Moira: You did what needed to be done, Gabriel.  Don’t apologize. Gabriel: I never have, and I don’t intend to start now.  Someone has to be the one to get things done.

McCree: Is this what we’ve become, Gabriel? Gabriel: Blackwatch has always had one purpose: to do the real work of keeping the world safe.  I thought you had the stomach for it.  Looks like I was wrong.

Gabriel does circumvent rules -

In order to save and defend Overwatch.

He is the embodiment of “retribution” - a form of equalizing justice, a feeling of righteous revenge, a bringer of truth and revelations (just as his namesake “Gabriel” implies).

Yes, Gabriel Reyes is rogue, renegade, and reckless at times.  Yes, he has no problems with shooting a man in the face at point-blank range.  Yes, he would fight an entire army and city to get himself and three agents home alive.

But he does not do it for Talon.

Recall-era “Reaper” consistently leaves Talon agents to die.

(Retribution Gabriel refuses to leave anyone behind.)

Recall-era “Reaper” lets Sombra basically run amok and “throw” their missions.

(Retribution Gabriel reprimands and reminds McCree to stay focused.)

Recall-era “Reaper” fails to kill Winston not once, but twice.

(Retribution Gabriel kills several Talon Heavy Assault Tanks and other specialists without remorse.)

Recall-era “Reaper” works with Widowmaker, knowing full well that she is all that remains of Amélie Lacroix.

(And Retribution Gabriel stays by Gérard Lacroix’s hospital bed even when the doctors have said he’ll be okay.)

Recall-era “Reaper” fails to kill or even properly fight Soldier: 76 and Ana Amari.

(Retribution Gabriel literally starts this “retribution” mission to “do the real work of keeping” his friends and the world safe.)

What aligns both Gabriel Reyes and Moira O’Deorain with the “villains” of the Overwatch universe is not their actual, individual, distinct and separate motivations -

But their methods to get there.

And if intention matters to you, then they should be analyzed and judged for their actual, individual, distinct and separate motivations.

And here’s the kicker -

Maybe Moira actually does want to help Gabriel find a “cure” in her own way.

After all, in the Recall era, this paper exists:

But she also has her own perspective, her own motivations, and her own goals to achieve.

And what will she do to get to them?

Michael: So like we said before, she was recruited by Gabriel Reyes to be a member of Blackwatch, and during that time she had relationships with the Blackwatch crew: McCree, Genji… they all have their own sort of likes and dislikes for each other. Reyes wanted someone who could help advise him on some matters of genetics that he was interested in — shall we say.

Aaron: Very mysterious.

Michael: Very mysterious, yes. Almost maybe a connection there – yes, there is a connection there, obviously — and the other thing is that in the present day Moira has allied herself with Talon now that Overwatch is gone. When you think about Moira’s goals figuring out these building blocks of human evolution, and her need to like push forward science at any cost, that really it really meshes well with the goal of Talon; and so she has found new patrons like Doomfist.

(Source)

---------

Part 3: When You Come At The King

Previous essays: 

“Talon: Clawing to the Top” - an essay analyzing Akande’s ideology, and how Reaper and Sombra might be trying to infiltrate Talon to bring it out. Written before Moira was released.

“Overwatch: Companies and Corporations” - a write-up describing several of the major fictional companies in the Overwatch universe, and how many of them are interconnected, have ties to Talon, or are shady as all hell.  Written before Moira was released.

I’m not going to rewrite everything that took me two whole other posts to cover.  Not a chance.  This thing is already absurdly long and no one needs that.

A “brief” review instead:

After the Omnic Crisis, the world changed.  Different industries and companies fell by the wayside, and Overwatch rose in power as a peacekeeping force to ensure prosperity and safety as the transition from global reconstruction into a new era when humans and robots had to live together.

New technologies emerged at the forefront of all of this - cybernetics were a big one, and humans began integrating and using Omnic tech for themselves.  Medicine and energy sciences advanced in huge leaps and bounds, with many of them being lead by Overwatch’s different scientific divisions.

However, as we know from Moira’s perspective and Akande’s perspective, Overwatch also restricted the ways and areas in which these changes could progress.  In the present-day, Recall era, Soldier: 76 is one of two characters to be interested in LumériCo’s shady dealings, and Lúcio fights (and succeeds) in a major social and economic revolution against the Vishkar Corportation.  Lucheng reestablishes connections with the Horizon Lunar Colony, and what the public discovers is that a massive disaster occurred there, involving animal rights abuses, and the loss of an entire scientific team (maybe).  Mei awakens from her cyrofreeze slumber to discover that her entire Ecopoint team is dead, her survival is in jeopardy, and the data they developed about a changing ecosystem is at risk of being lost forever.  Helix Securities - the company that employs Pharah - clearly profited from the fall of Overwatch, as they run many of the old Watchpoints and bases, manage for-profit prisons, and even appear to be conducting some unethical studies against an imprisoned AI.

Almost every company and corporation in the Overwatch universe has ties to a very unethical, very shady concept or idea, or even has first-degree or second-degree connections to Talon.

And that is the point.

Akande’s hero profile (again, remember to question levels of reliability) tells us that there was an ideological conflict within Talon when he was recruited:

“While Adeyemi was content to profit from raids on Numbani, Ogundimu had a grander vision.”

This is big, because this “vision” is implied to be what draws him to Moira, and her to him.  Moira does not care about profits, she does not care about power in the literal sense of having an army or running a company.

Moira wants to see humanity reach its greatest and highest “potential.”

Which is exactly what Akande Ogundimu wants, except that he believes it can only be achieved through “conflict.”

But why would Moira - who has zero concerns about safety, rules, and regulations - be worried about that?

Would “conflict” ever stop her from her research?

Neither of them are interested in living under “Overwatch’s rule” - they both believe that Overwatch is stagnating social, technological, and scientific advances for humans and Omnics alike.

They both have a vested interest in seeing Overwatch’s “restrictions” fail and fall.

But there’s a small problem -

Akande is not in charge of Talon at the time of Retribution.

He’s not even the bearer of the “Doomfist” title.

His predecessor Akinjide is.

(Source)

And Akinjide is the one who has a direct association with Antonio.

This is reaffirmed in Retribution:

Genji: Who was Antonio? Gabriel: He’s an arms dealer, with some...other interests - more and less legitimate. McCree: ...Not anymore. McCree: Did Antonio have any associates? Gabriel: There’s the one who will probably take over for him - Vialli.  Don’t know too much about him.  Then Doomfist in Numbani, and an Omnic, who runs a casino in Monaco - uh, Maximilien or something.

(source)

Interestingly, of Antonio’s “known” associates, only one of them is still alive by the end of the “Masquerade” comic: Maximilien, who allies himself with Akande during the course of the comic.

Akande, as we know, was still just “a mercenary” at the time of Retribution.

But this is where limited perspectives and unreliable narrators come back into play:

McCree: Our target was dead, so I guess he got what was coming to him.  But still...it didn’t seem right.  But that wasn’t the end of our problems: for the first time, people knew we were out there.  New faces stepped up to fill the void in Talon.  And I can’t help but wonder...if that’s where it all started to go wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Nv31B47o4

The ending narration - again, from McCree’s limited perspective - tells us that something “didn’t seem right” about the mission and how it played out.  Yes, Gabriel shot a man in the face, and McCree is obviously upset about that throughout the game because of it.

But McCree is also the one who wanted to shoot Antonio in the first place:

And this is where we start needing to use context clues, and put ourselves in two different perspectives - Gabriel’s and Moira’s - to try and understand what exactly happened in Retribution, and maybe start understanding why it happened.

Antonio is a major leader of Talon at the time of Retribution, just before the fall of Overwatch truly begins.

The official Blackwatch dossiers given out by Blizzard state that:

“The extent of his connection to European government officials, law enforcement agents, and businessmen is unknown.”

So while we know of three major associates - Vialli, the man who succeeds Antonio after this, Akinjide the second Doomfist, and Maximilien - we don’t know his other associates.  Blackwatch’s intel is incomplete.

However, part of the point of arresting Antonio was to try and get more information on Talon from him.

Gabriel: We’ll use what he knows to hit Talon harder next time. Trust me.

So we have our mission objective from the very start: go in, secret Antonio out, get him to a secure location, and get intel and info on the rest of Talon from him.

For Blackwatch, this is apparently fairly routine, to the point where neither Jack Morrison nor Jesse McCree questions the nature of it, just the necessity of the mission itself.  We see this return in Uprising, when Gabriel sends McCree on a mission to gather intel on Null Sector even when Blackwatch is suspended.  Ana Amari raises the question of why McCree is even out there, but Gabriel quickly jokes to defuse her.  When Jack pushes for more information, Gabriel tells him not to pry.

This is retroactively foreshadowed (past...shadowed??) by the voicelines in the Retribution trailer:

Jack: Alright, Gabriel.  Start from the beginning Gabriel: We arrived in the Venice safehouse and set up surveillance on the manor.  We executed our plan, under cover of darkness. ...You sure you want to hear about this, Jack? Jack: You haven’t left me much choice. Gabriel: What ever happened to ‘plausible deniability?’ Jack: Little late for that.  Tell me what actually happened. Gabriel: Haha, well, Jack - that’s one hell of a story.

(source)

In the Retribution trailer, Gabriel attempts to give Jack the opportunity to back down from this debriefing, implying that Jack should try to secure his own “plausible deniability” from his awareness of the situation (which Jack knew about, but did not know the details of).  Later, in Uprising, Gabriel does not even give that Jack that option, instead denying him more information from the outset (whether that is to truly protect Jack’s “plausible deniability” from another potential Blackwatch debacle, or for other reasons, it is not stated).

Why is this important?

Because it is strongly implied that Blackwatch walked into a trap.

This was meant to be a fairly routine “get in, grab, and get out” mission, but some interactions in Retribution imply that the Blackwatch team was misinformed.

Moira: I wouldn’t describe this as ‘light resistance’...quality intelligence we received. Genji: It makes no difference to me. Moira: ...How droll. McCree: Aww, even though we snuck that surveillance system into Antonio’s office, our intel’s a little spotty. Genji: Next time, you should leave it to me.  I can spy upon our enemies - unseen...and undetected.

The second one is very important because the question that needs to be asked is:

Did Blackwatch somehow miss intel from Antonio’s office?

...Or did Antonio know his office was bugged?

The first one is important because the Blackwatch team only anticipated “light resistance” in Venice from Antonio’s henchmen, and yet every other line is about how “an entire army” has showed up to stop the four-person team.

And Talon doesn’t just bring out a bunch of “low-level grunts”

But instead include a myriad of “specialist” killers.

...Seems like an awful lot for just four people.

...Unless they already knew that one of them -

Is exceptionally hard to kill.

Someone who knows exactly what he is capable of.

Someone who has no qualms about “reusing” research and repurposing it into new and innovative ways.

Someone who has no fears about testing on themselves.

Or testing on other people.

And someone who so dearly wants the freedom that would come with the removal of Blackwatch, which does all the “real work” of keeping the world safe, and the eventual fall of Overwatch, which is its guiding light.

---------

Part 4: Profit vs. Progress

We know that in the present day (Recall era), Talon has fallen into being little more than a glorified, profit-making and profit-securing army for various individuals.  Vialli, the man who replaced Antonio, is one of them, and he’s currently a sort of “de facto” leader in Akande’s absence.

It is outright stated in “Masquerade” that Vialli has a vested interest in “keeping the status quo” of the no-Overwatch world.  He doesn’t want to rock the boat or disrupt profits, so he uses Talon for...smaller ideals.  Money.  Control.  Power.

Talon is the antithesis of Overwatch.

If Overwatch’s concern was balancing peace and stability vs sovereignty and freedom, then Talon’s concern is the opposite: balancing war and violence vs profitability and comfort.  If Overwatch had a relatively cohesive and well-working leadership that cooperated on a massive scale for 20-25 years, Talon has a petty, politicking, conniving group of leaders that all want more power and more control.  People in Talon barely last five or six years in the top positions, let alone several decades.  People form alliances, break them the moment the tide shifts, switch to work with other people, send people to jail, blackmail each other, and literally throw each other off cliffs.

(don’t worry, we’re coming back to this scene later)

Why would this be any different with Antonio in charge?

Antonio: ...Good evening, Commander Reyes.  Ha, how will this look on the news?  Overwatch unlawfully abducting a respected businessman?  Even if you take me now, my friends would have me released within the week.  All these...theatrics have been a waste of our time.

Antonio identifies himself as a “businessman” - not as something noble like a Commander -

(“...saw far greater potential in Ogundimu, with his intelligence and his ability to inspire as a commander.”)

- Or a brilliant Scientist in pursuit of ultimate truths:

We know that Antonio kept “alliances” with Akinjide, who was “content to profit from raids on Numbani.”  Both men are effectively posited as individuals with interests in keep Talon much smaller in scope.  They didn’t want Blackwatch or Overwatch around, of course, but engaging in something like a global war?

No, they were content just to reap the rewards of dismantling Overwatch: more profits, more money, fewer investigations by Overwatch and Blackwatch, none of that “sillly peacekeeping organization” nonsense nipping at their heels.

But obviously

Akande wasn’t interested in “maintaining the status quo.”

Not in the present day, when he breaks out of prison -

And not when Antonio was in charge either.

Akande was going to help humanity progress with an army of new “enhanced” soldiers.

And what better way to gather results on their efficacy

Than by pitting them against an “old” enhanced soldier?

---------

Part 5: She Who Cuts Fate

Since this has been a long ride, let’s go over the basics again:

Retribution was meant to be an “off the books” “snatch and grab” mission to secure Antonio, bring him to a safe location, and get information from him.  A select number of people know it is even happening:

Gabriel Reyes, Blackwatch Commander

Jesse McCree, seasoned Blackwatch agent

Genji Shimada, a “new-ish” cyborg agent

Moira O’Deorain, another “new-ish” agent specializing in combat medicine

the Pilot, who only drops them off and then picks them up

Jack Morrison, Overwatch Strike-Commander, who knows the mission is happening but not the details

Jack Morrison and the Pilot are effectively in semi-darkness on the mission: they both know that Gabriel has chosen to conduct it, but they do not know any more than that.  The Pilot drops them off, and then picks up them up when she gets the emergency signal.

As the player plays the mode, and attempts harder difficulty levels, more information is revealed.  Blackwatch was required to go “under cover” at times (with McCree posing as a waiter...and then getting fired from that cover job), and even managed to sneak a surveillance device into Antonio’s office.

McCree: Aww, even though we snuck that surveillance system into Antonio’s office, our intel’s a little spotty. Genji: Next time, you should leave it to me.  I can spy upon our enemies - unseen...and undetected.

When Gabriel thinks they have enough intel, they make their move on Antonio’s manor, slip in, and enter his office.

And what they discover -

Not only is Antonio not surprised to see them -

He’s been anticipating them.

(seriously, can this scene get any more “I’ve been expecting you, Mr. Bonds”??)

Antonio: ...Good evening, Commander Reyes.  Ha, how will this look on the news?  Overwatch unlawfully abducting a respected businessman?  Even if you take me now, my friends would have me released within the week.  All these...theatrics have been a waste of our time.

I know some people took the “theatrics” line to imply that Gabriel is already a Talon mercenary, but that’s not what Antonio is saying.  He’s telling Gabriel that the “show” of Overwatch (Blackwatch) arresting him, “parading” him through Venice, and then eventually releasing him will do nothing -

It won’t stop him personally.

It won’t stop Talon.

And it won’t help Overwatch “keep the world safe.”

Gabriel gives a small little laugh as the “real truth” of Antonio’s words sink in.

And the framing of these moments is so important.

Before anyone goes “you’re overthinking it”, someone animated this.

Someone framed this.

These are not actors, they’re not real people.  They cannot alter or rework a scene the way a real person can.  These are animated models.  Someone deliberately chose to frame these moments with Moira clear but out of focus in the background, patiently watching for Gabriel’s “reaction” (yet another result, perhaps?).  Someone animated Gabriel sighing/laughing, animated him thinking it over, animated him looking down as he processes “the real meaning” of Antonio’s words -

And a split second before Gabriel makes his full decision -

Even Antonio “figures it out.”

They’ve both been had.

Someone has pushed both of them together, to this moment, where one or both of them will die.  Antonio was used as simple bait to rile Gabriel up and draw out crucial Blackwatch members from the security of an Overwatch base (where the combined strength of Overwatch and Blackwatch would protect them).

And the person who did it doesn’t care which one lives and which one dies -

Because any result of her “experiment” is fascinating to her.

So Gabriel decides, right then and there:

One - he’s not going to be the one to die here.

Two - he’s not going to be the one to get his entire team killed.

Three - he’d rather take his chances fighting his way out of the city than surrender (if you pay attention to the Talon troopers, many of them say “No prisoners”).

Four - consequences be damned, they have to get the hell out just to even experience the “consequences.”

And Moira O’Deorain could not be more intrigued by the turn of events.

A Talon leader, who was a likely major obstacle for her ideological goals, is now dead.

But way more intriguing than that -

Is the fact that McCree freaks out.

An unforeseen “side effect” is the schism of doubt and feeling of betrayal that McCree has with his Commander.

Perhaps she did not anticipate this...bonus.

If you’re still here and still interested, the next question many people asked is “How does Gabriel even know it’s her?”

Remember, only four people knew this was happening this night, this method, in this moment - the four people still alive in the room.  

What happens throughout the rest of the mission is the slow but steady piecing together of missing information:

Evidence 1: The Talon Sniper has Wraith/Shadowstep

As shown in the first cutscene, the first Talon Sniper materializes “seemingly from nowhere”, along with a cloud of black and red smoke.  This is almost identical to Gabriel’s Shadowstep, a canon ability that has appeared in multiple shorts and at least two comics.

However, it is an ability that not even Gabriel Reyes himself has the technological knowledge or skill to reproduce.

But let me hit this nail again:

Someone else clearly does have that knowledge and skill.

Geoff Goodman: “It [Her Fade ability] has some similarities to Reaper’s wraith form…uh which is…it’s funny how that works out.” Michael Chu: “You know, we obviously - there’s a…there’s a close relationship between Moira and Reyes-slash-Reaper, and I think one of the fun things we were able to do is to sort of hint at some of those things in her, uh, abilities.” Geoff Goodman: “She’s helping Reaper out and is like, ‘You know, I think I could make this better, I have an idea.’” Michael Chu: “Professional relationship.” Geoff Goodman: “Ahaha, yes…good call.” Michael Chu: “You know what I’m talking about.” [Whole panel laughs]

And she has used it on herself.

Evidence 2: Genji has no goddamn idea what’s happening

Genji: Who was Antonio? Gabriel: He’s an arms dealer, with some...other interests - more and less legitimate. McCree: ...Not anymore.

Genji doesn’t even know who their target is.

They brought him along, in near-total intel darkness, just to kill people.

Genji also reveals a deep hatred for Talon and all criminals, and also expresses that Talon once approached his father, Sojiro Shimada, to recruit him.

Genji: Talon once tried to recruit my father. Gabriel: He didn’t take them up on their offer? Genji: He did not find them to his liking.  Their aims did not...coincide with his own.

(Source)

Despite everything that has happened to Genji, the ninja appears to have immense respect for his father.  And his father had an implied fondness for his second son, giving him the nickname of “Sparrow.”

Evidence 3: Moira is a smug little punk the entire mission

Almost all of Moira’s interactions throughout the mission have her either belittling the other characters, dishing out pithy remarks, or egging people (mostly Gabriel) on.

Moira: You did what needed to be done, Gabriel.  Don’t apologize. Gabriel: I never have, and I don’t intend to start now.  Someone has to be the one to get things done.

McCree: Better to kill them now than wait for another surprise attack! Moira, to herself: ...ha, ironic.

Moira: I wouldn’t describe this as ‘light resistance’...quality intelligence we received. Genji: It makes no difference to me. Moira: ...How droll.

Gabriel: Enough art! Let’s get out of here. McCree: Never had the eye for it anyways. Moira, muttering: ...philistines.

However, the most important interactions are the ones about the masquerade:

Moira: Pity we’ll miss the masquerade - I have the perfect costume. Reyes: Didn’t think that would be your scene. Moira: There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me…

(source)

And another one where McCree almost suspects something:

McCree: ...You seem awfully calm. Moira: I take it all in my stride.

Evidence 4: Retrospective...prospective...introspection??

I don’t even know what you want to call this but basically:

Retribution occurs before Uprising.

Blackwatch gets suspended because of this mission that went awry.

But what’s interesting is that three of the four playable Blackwatch characters are still active in Overwatch, even with the suspension.

McCree is still there.

Genji is still there.

And most of all:

Gabriel Reyes is still there.

So even though Retribution goes sideways real fast -

The man in charge of it is still present in Overwatch a year later.

Which means that this moment

Isn’t what McCree’s narration implies it to be.

Gabriel is getting chewed out, absolutely.  But a mission with bad press happens to intelligence agencies the world over all the time.

And why would Gérard Lacroix be present for a “You got us bad PR, now I’ve got to do damage control” meeting?

This meeting is not about “How did you mess this mission up?”

This meeting is about:

“How did a Talon agent infiltrate and sell out Blackwatch?”

“How did she get our technology?”

“Why didn’t Gabriel do a better background check on her?”

The really depressing speculation?

Gabriel Reyes has been living with his “Reaper” condition for nearly 25 years by the time of Retribution.

He thinks about his friends, companions, and agents dying as he lives on, alone, without them.

A man who is normally so careful, so cautious saw someone who could change his fate for the first time in nearly twenty years -

And he was willing to let her do whatever she needed to do

To “cure him.”

But Moira saw an opportunity to strike a blow against the organization that “tried to silence her”

And she took it.

Anything in the name of science, anything in the pursuit of truth.

“Because sometimes what makes a villain a villain is the extent to which they’re willing to go to reach their goals.  And one thing that we find most important when we’re talking about our villain characters is that there is nothing to say that a villain cannot be as charismatic - or more charismatic - or as likeable as a hero character.  Because like the old saying goes, ‘Every villain is the hero of their own story.’”

---------

Part 6: The Masquerade

It is not a coincidence that both Moira and Gabriel have interactions discussing the masquerade of Carnevale.

Moira: first interaction

Moira: Pity we’ll miss the masquerade - I have the perfect costume. Reyes: Didn’t think that would be your scene. Moira: There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me…

(source)

Moira: second version

Moira: Pity we’ll miss the masquerade - I have the perfect costume. Reyes: Didn’t think that would be your scene. Moira: You’re not the only one who likes to dress up.

Gabriel version:

Gabriel: It’s not exactly Carnevale McCree: You serious? Gabriel: I was looking forward to the masquerade! McCree: Fair enough.

McCree, who also mentions Carnevale at one point, does not actually specifically mention “masquerade.”

This is important for two reasons:

The first: “Reaper” is a major character in the present-day Doomfist comic, “Masquerade,” where Akande kills Vialli (who Gabriel still does not recognize by sight) and then returns to the Talon council.

And as the vast majority of my followers know me for:

http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/172826364335/segadores-y-soldados-yall-keep-saying-that

“Masquerade” is the comic where I went from “Reaper could be trying to infiltrate Talon” to “The literary parallels to ‘The Masque of Red Death’ are too substantial to ignore.”

http://segadores-y-soldados.tumblr.com/post/163200042035/death-becomes-you

The second:

“Masquerade” was Moira’s first canon appearance in the entire story of Overwatch - all the shorts, all the comics, all the side materials.

So yeah, both references are not just cute little cheeky remarks, but foreshadoing for the later events of the comic.

And why does this matter in Retribution?

Because Gabriel immediately switches from “Blackwatch Commander Reyes” to “sarcastic, nonchalant, rogue Reaper” in an instant.

And it is not due to a shift in motivations -

But because he now has to keep himself and two agents alive without alerting Moira that he’s onto her.

I personally believe that yes, Gabriel’s standard personality is sarcastic and humorous in general, but there are moments when he pushes things to an...unusual extreme.  He almost seems to amp up McCree’s anger, making casual jokes and remarks about the “army” they’re facing (“yeah, they’ve really rolled out the red carpet,” “It’s not exactly Carnevale,” “I still think we should’ve gone as the band.”), joking about the art gallery, the restaurant at the end, the whole thing.  McCree often responds with what sounds like raw, real anger -

But it also gives Moira a...target for her attention.

Gabriel: What’s keeping our ride - we can’t wait forever! McCree: Something tells me that the army of bad guys convergin’ on our position isn’t helping. Moira: McCree’s instincts are - as ever - unimpeachable.

Gabriel Reyes has to play a delicate game here: he cannot alert Moira that he knows what’s happening, and he has to convince her to think that she’s “getting to him”.  He cannot make McCree mad enough that McCree lashes out “too hard,” and he cannot be obvious enough to McCree to give away that Moira has compromised them.

Though he also makes attempts to soothe McCree’s anger at different turns:

McCree: We didn’t have to go to all this trouble if we were just gonna kill Antonio. Reyes: It wasn’t how I drew it up. McCree: …Coulda fooled me.

(source)

If you pay close attention, there’s actually a few instances where Gabriel almost slips or falters.

Gabriel, to Genji: You know your brother would’ve made a good agent. Genji: (no response) Gabriel: touchy subject

(source)

Gabriel: Am I the only one who feels hungry? Moira: That could be an unforeseen side effect... Gabriel: ...I was making a joke.

(source)

In the first interaction, Gabriel attempts to crack a (rather inappropriate) joke to Genji, but unlike McCree, Genji’s anger is silent and cold.  Gabriel attempts to diffuse the situation by quickly dropping it.

In the second, he attempts to make a joke about the restuarant, perhaps hoping to rile McCree up for another wisecracking one-liner or even some more frustrated remarks, but instead he grabs Moira’s attention, as she is suddenly intrigued by his “condition.”  Gabriel passes it off with a casual “it was just a joke” remark.

“But why would he even do that?  Why not shoot Moira?”

Because Moira is the only person in the entire city who will attempt to keep McCree and Genji alive.

Gabriel can heal himself in small doses, and he could probably flee with some sort of wraith form, but if he kills Moira or tips her off, McCree and Genji will die.  They have no other healer, no one knows where they are located, and no help is coming unless the Pilot picks up their distress signal.

And then they have to make it to the extraction point after fighting effectively everyone in the city.

“Could they have stealthed their way back out?”

Possibly.  It’s hard to say: if he had asked Genji or Moira to kill Antonio, Moira might had figured out what Gabriel was thinking.  Or Antonio could’ve triggered the alert.  But an element of surprise - as risky as it was - was all Gabriel had in his sleeve in the moment with Antonio.

“Okay, but why not shoot her at the end?”

Really?

A better question is:

“Why is Gabriel Reyes still working with her?”

And the likely answer is pretty plain.

Something - like, I dunno, an explosion - made Gabriel’s “Reaper” condition worse.  His skin has turned ash grey.  His unmasked appearance - whatever it is - horrifies someone who has known him for 30 years.

If he is not faking his anger with Jack Morrison, he is furious that Jack and Overwatch let this happen to him, though we don’t know specifically what would cause such a radical shift in his motivations (Jack would have to do something that really upsets Gabriel to lose Gabriel’s loyalty).

But Gabriel also probably has very little choice in cooperating with Moira in the present day.

On Oasis, Reaper and Sombra have a very specific interaction:

Sombra: So what are we doing here, boss? Reaper: I need to pay a visit to a friend.

And again - I don’t know if Reaper means this genuinely or sarcastically.  I don’t know what the specific details of his present-day working relationship with Moira are.  I don’t know if she is coercing him into working for Talon, if she is holding up his “cure” as his “reward” for cooperating with her, if he genuinely supports Talon, or if he’s actively using his effective immortality to bring Talon down.

But it makes this moment

All the more heartbreaking.

Gabriel Reyes had a brief moment of hope that someone could finally cure him -

And that was shattered.

This does not look like the debriefing of a defiant, angry, bitter man.

This looks like someone who has realized that he jeopardized everything and everyone he has ever loved to be free from a “deal with Death” he made 25 years ago to help save the world.

Call me an apologist if you must, but let me remind you:

“You know, as we reveal more about these characters, we want people to be able to empathize and understand their beliefs.  Because sometimes what makes a villain a villain is the extent to which they’re willing to go to reach their goals.  And one thing that we find most important when we’re talking about our villain characters is that there is nothing to say that a villain cannot be as charismatic - or more charismatic - or as likeable as a hero character.  Because like the old saying goes, ‘Every villain is the hero of their own story.’”

But if Gabriel Reyes is going to suffer

Then the people who made it worse are going to suffer that exponentially.

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.

And if he has to wear a mask to do it

And he has to infiltrate them

And he has to pick factions

And play the “bad guy”

Then he will.

It isn’t that consquences don’t matter - 

But when you are Death Incarnate

They seem so much less important than correcting Fate -

And significantly less important than delivering retribution. ---------

If you want them:

Additional readings: “Talon: Clawing to the Top”: an early analysis of Reaper and Sombra working together to bring down Talon.  Parts of it are amended in the second essay, “Death Becomes You”.

“Death Becomes You”: an analysis of “Masquerade” as through a reading of “The Masque of the Red Death.”  Written a full nine months before the events of Retribution, and about four months before Moira was revealed. “Step Into My Parlor”: an analysis on Widowmaker’s relationship with Reaper and Sombra, and if she knows they are “up to something”

“Moira: A Fate Fulfilled”: a discussion on how fan theories reshaped Reaper’s story, and possibly helped create the character of Moira “Everything you want to know about Reaper and Soldier: 76″: a write-up on the different eras and contexts for the relationship between Reaper and Soldier: 76, and how Overwatch and Blackwatch worked together before the fall. Has a discussion on shipping. “A History of Healing (and Harming)”: an analysis of how the different “healing” mechanisms in the Overwatch universe are interconnected and why. “Overwatch: Companies and Corporations”: a write-up on the different fictional organizations in Overwatch, and how many of them are suspicious as all hell.

[douxreviews]

American Gods - ‘House on the Rock’ Review

"To be continued, in what some call the real world."

American Gods is back, and opens season two with the centerpiece location from the first half of the novel. Was it worth the wait? Yes. It was worth the wait.

I don't think that there's anyone who's watching this show who is unaware of just how long the wait was between seasons one and two. It's been just shy of two years since the corpse of Laura Moon walked out onto Easter's balcony and politely interrupted the opening ceremonies of God War I with a relatively polite request to speak to her husband. It wasn't precisely a cliffhanger, but it definitely was a tense situation which was waiting for some resolution.

Unfortunately, due to circumstances behind the scenes, they weren't able to pick up the scene where they left it, and had no choice but to paper over the join as best they could and continue with the larger story.

To quickly sum up the scene as we left it, Wednesday had convinced Easter to join the side of the old gods in his coming war. Media, Technical Boy, and Mr. World were present to witness her choice, and it forced Mr. World to finally accept the declaration of war; something he had previously been disinclined to do. As a result of these advancements in the god/war plot, Shadow found and declared his belief in all the gods around him. Or, alternately, as a result of Shadow finding and declaring his belief in the gods around him, those advancements in the god/war plot occurred. It depends on how you read the situation. And as those events simultaneously climaxed and/or caused one another, Laura and Mad Sweeney joined them on the lanai to deal with her marital problems.

Fade to black. End series one.

Series two picks up in the aftermath of those events, but only indirectly. As discussed at length in my previous review, one quarter of the actors present in the finale are no longer with the show, which means that we don't get to see how the immediate moments following the end of season one play out. To be fair, it's possible that they never would have picked up exactly where they left off. There's a school of thought that leans toward resolving cliffhangers by picking up somewhere unrelated and then winding your way back to explain what happened. Steven Moffat, as an example, is a big proponent of that technique. Maybe the plan was always to begin with Technical Boy frantically driving his limo away from the scene with the remnants of Mr. World in the back. Perhaps the only real difference is that Media would have been with them, if Gillian Anderson was still on the show.

In any case, they have two missing characters to account for, and I think they made a really good decision in the case of Media. Making her absence part of the plot turns a problem into a storytelling opportunity, and was a good call.  We find out pretty quickly that Media has gone missing after the finale, and Technical Boy's plotline is going to be looking for her on Mr. World's orders. That opens up a lot of storytelling possibilities, and it was a good solution to the problem. It is a little odd that we last saw all three of them together and perfectly fine, only to be told now that she somehow vanished, but it holds together, and they have plenty of time to give us more explanation as the search for her goes on.

Easter, on the other hand, merely gets a line of dialog later on from Mr. Nancy, stating that she's not going to participate anymore because she's mad about Wednesday running over her bunnies. That's kind of a cop out, but Easter's story was essentially told last episode, so it's not too great a loss to move on from her to other characters. If you're familiar with the novel, you know that Easter has one fairly significant plot function down the road, but at the pace the show is going that probably won't happen until season five or six, so there's plenty of time to either mend fences with Kristin Chenoweth or figure out another option before we get there. If we even get there, for that matter – serialized television has broken all of our hearts before, remember.

The somewhat utilitarian way that the show moved on from the season one climax is kind of indicative of a change of tone overall. It's not that there's less meat on the storytelling bone, but there is notably less fat on it. When we left them, Laura had just found out that Wednesday had her killed, Sweeney had revealed to her that it was him who actually did the task, and Laura was about to tell Shadow both of these facts. But we pick up with the four of them on a road trip together, so whatever happened they apparently worked that all out. What we do get is the map segue showing the trip to Wisconsin and while there's some admirably efficient dialog between them that reminds us of a couple of plot points that we might have forgotten over the hiatus and establishes a few character touches that are going to be relevant later, it seems pretty clear that the show is mostly interested in getting them to the big showpiece and isn't going to be delayed by a little thing like character conflict. Witness, for example, the way that Salim just walks into a scene with the Jinn with no lead in about his journey to Wisconsin, or how he found the Jinn inside the house. Neither of those things matter, the show just wants to get to their long awaited reunion.

Honestly, it mostly feels like after spending all of season one not getting to the House on the Rock, arguably the big showpiece of the setup phase of the novel, they were determined to make it happen in the season two opener as quickly and efficiently as possible. So while we finally get to meet Mr. World's network, and Mr. Town finally gets brought into things, the Black Briar Secret Government Safehouse and Country Club is clearly being sketched in quickly so that they exist by the end of the episode, when we need them to be responsible for a sniper attack.

All of this makes me suspect that my take on things behind the scenes was correct, and it came down to Fuller and Green wanting more of an anthology show and Gaiman wanting to focus more on the plot of the novel. Both of which viewpoints are totally valid, if that needs to be stated.

So, now that we've gotten to the big showpiece setting, how did they do with it? Well, the House on the Rock looks fantastic, as it would. They filmed at the house itself, which is a real location and exists pretty much exactly as described, if anyone hadn't already heard that. The carousel looked fantastic, and the realization of the council of gods inside Wednesday's head is beautiful and stuffed to the brim with nice little details like the way Zorya Vechernayaya has three faces when you focus on her and Anansi's spider eyes. They really needed to make that scene look amazing, and you can see the work on screen. Although there is just a little too much usage of smoke and sparks, which is usually a tell that there's a lot of compositing that they're trying to blend together. The diner scene afterwards is equally well presented, and actually more deserving of a shout out, as 20-30 people having a party at a restaurant is a nightmare brief as far as staging and filming goes.

That's really the episode in a nutshell. The things that needed to happen they did very, very well. It's just that there's very few instances of extraneous details outside of the big important things that needed to happen, and I think the show is just a little less rich for it. Of course this is only the first episode of the season, and premieres are notorious for that exact criticism, so we'll see how things develop.

Quotes:

Laura: "I still don’t understand how such a sweet old man can have so many enemies." Wednesday: "Oh, it’s perfectly simple, my dear. Jealousy. Unmitigated jealousy."

Laura: "Do you believe in mermaids now?" Shadow: "I don’t know what I believe in yet. I guess. I don’t know."

Jinn: "You’re here for the meeting?" Bilquis: "I wasn’t formally invited."

Mr. Nancy: "Mad Sweeney, is that you? Or is it Wednesday’s bullshit I smell."

Sweeney: "You sound like a man who’d fight to get back into those maggoty panties." Maggoty Panties is the name of my new punk band.

Bilquis: "I was old in the desert before they sacrificed the first horse to you. I will be heard. Unless you’re afraid?"

Mr. Nancy: "Apparently the houses in this area were built by some skinny white motherf**ker named Frank Lloyd Wright. Some say his evil twin brother built this one. Frank Lloyd Wrong."

Bits and Pieces:

-- I'm not 100% clear what Bilquis' goals at the meeting were. She's nominally working for the new gods, or at least seems to be, and she clearly knew about the sniper because she left the restaurant immediately before the shooting started. Is she a spy? Was she supposed to disrupt the meeting? That would explain her speech about the new gods being nice and giving her a new platform, but it didn't seem like her heart was in it.

-- It's very sad that Zorya Vechernayaya was shot and killed, but didn't we just see like three other gods killed in the same crossfire? Did we just not like the god of getting his face blown off as much?

-- It's intriguing that we were shown twice that gods can't identify one another as gods on sight. Wednesday might have been lying for reasons of his own when he claimed to think Salim was a god, but then Bilquis made the same mistake with Laura, so it looks like they genuinely can't tell. That surprised me. Neither Salim nor Laura took Winston Zedmore's advice on this issue.

-- I can't have been alone in momentarily believing that Anansi was about to launch into the story about the tiger's balls. Which I suspect was deliberate.

-- This week in Orlando Jones' Fabulous Outfit Watch: He was sporting a blue plaid number that was quite nice, but not quite as shiny and wonderful as the shiny cream number he was wearing while he did the tailoring a few episodes back. Again, I really, really hope that Orlando Jones is enjoying every second of his wardrobe.

-- As they got on the carousel, Mr. Nancy rides a lion, Wednesday appears to be atop a wolf, Shadow climbs on an eagle, and Bilquis mounts a pirate.

-- Mad Sweeney, after complaining repeatedly about Laura having his luck, got lucky when he slipped in a patch of blood and avoided getting shot. Emily Browning's eye roll when the bullet hit her not-previously-damaged shoulder was priceless.

-- According to the fortune teller booth, Shadow's lucky number is none and his lucky color is dead. Man, just when you thought fortune teller booths couldn't be creepier.

-- For all his irritation that Salim had followed him, the Jinn immediately moved to protect him when the bullets started flying. That was sweet.

A solid season opener that manfully took the occasionally wandering larger plotline from season one and firmly put it on a more defined course. I just hope that less exploration of the corners of the novel's universe doesn't end up being no exploration of the corners of the novel's universe. Oh, and I already miss Fuller's trademark screeching strings and horns approach to incidental music. Hope that makes a return as well.

Three out of four creepy fortune telling mannequins.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, volunteer firefighter, and roughly 78% water.

[justeditor]

Sniper elite 5 erscheinungsdatum

#Sniper elite 5 erscheinungsdatum series#

^ Nunneley, Stephany (17 September 2020).On March 29, 2021, Variety reports that a film adaptation of Sniper Elite is in development with Marla Studios' Jean-Julien Baronnet producing along with the game's producer and CEO of Rebellion Jason Kingsley, Gary Graham writing and Brad Peyton directing with the film follows Karl Fairburne engage in a cat-and-mouse chase through the streets of London at the height of the Blitz during World War II, as he tries to save British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from a Nazi assassin. The story follows Karl Fairburne as he parachutes into occupied France on a mission to destroy a secret weapon, but instead of a silent mission of sabotage he finds the local resistance compromised and the SS waiting to play a deadly game of cat and mouse in the terrified streets of an ancient town. Ī 2018 comic based on the series, Sniper Elite: Resistance written by Keith Richardson and Patrick Goddard. Andrews titled Sniper Elite V2 - Target Hitler was released as an E-Book. In this book, Karl Fairburne's mission is to stop Nazi SS general Helmstadt from selling a working atomic bomb to the Soviets.Ī short story written by Scott K. Rebellion Developments' book imprint Abaddon Books released a novel inspired by the game, Sniper Elite: The Spear of Destiny written by Jasper Bark.

#Sniper elite 5 erscheinungsdatum series#

Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Oculus Quest Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One MacOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox Players are then forced to relocate periodically to prevent detection with a white ghost image to mark their last known position and the enemy will search a wider area. Enemy soldiers will also have a circle meter over their heads to indicate alert status. An eye icon squints or opens to denote the player's level of detection by the enemy. In Sniper Elite III, stealth mechanics were reworked. Introduced in Sniper Elite V2 is the "X-Ray Kill Cam", a feature where upon a successful and skilled shot will, in slow motion, follow the bullet from the rifle to the target's point of impact, showing an anatomically correct x-ray of the body part being hit and the damage the bullet causes to the organs and/or bones. Realistic ballistics are optional, taking into consideration factors such as wind direction and strength and bullet drop, potentially altering the outcome of a shot even with the use of the scope. Different postures such as crouching or lying prone can steady a shot, and the player can take a deep breath to "focus" for increased accuracy. Binoculars are used to tag enemies in view, displaying their position and movements to the player. The player can also shoot the enemies' own grenades to trigger an explosion. In addition to hand grenades, the player can also deploy tripwire booby traps, land mines and dynamite. The sniper rifle is the primary weapon throughout the game, though additional side arms (submachine guns and pistols) can be used depending on the situation. Set in World War II, the player character, a German-American OSS operative named Karl Fairburne, utilises appropriate weapons for the era. Many of the single player levels allow multiple routes for the players to take in order to avoid direct firefights. Sniper Elite is a third-person shooter that involves stealth and first-person shooter game elements.

[lavellane]

21, 34, 41?

sorry for the late response my internet dropped out like 5 minutes after i reblogged the prompt lmao

21. what do they look like? how tall are they? are they attractive? any piercings, tattoos, scars?

winston is VERY tall and gangly, which is unfortunate because it means he sticks out in a crowd which is the complete opposite of what he wants. he’s african american and latino, on his fathers side ! and because he’s only 19 most people just see him as cute rather than attractive, but that is honestly equally to do with how awkward his personality is as well. as for extra facial features he doesnt really have anything super defined, except for a roughly healed scar on his temple (thanks benny)

34. do they goof around a lot? do other people find it funny or do they just entertain themselves?

he’s a bit of a lone wolf and prefers his own company - he relies on stealth to survive the wasteland more than anything, so it’s also a safety precaution for him. but he has a really strange sense of humour, most people don’t really understand his jokes because they seem to be mostly for his own amusement - if people do laugh, its usually in response to how confusing he can be sometimes, poor baby. he’s fine with that, though - he’s just happy when he does have somebody to talk to, especially if they actually want to listen to him.

41. do they like long journeys through the mojave, or do they prefer to travel more quickly? do they prefer using roads or travelling through the deep desert?

winston never, EVER takes open roads or flat terrain if he can help it. he has almost no combat skills save for his talents with his rifle, so he cant afford to put himself in a situation where he could be ambushed in close quarters. he tends to take the longer but safe route, preferring high ground where he has an obviously huge advantage as a sniper.

~ fnv courier asks ~

[blueberrypancakesworld]

Surprise for my beloved

Winston x girlfriend!reader

warning: fluff, kiss, no idea if army training is really like that, no use of Y/n

summary : Winston and his girlfriend are both in the military, and even though he was trained as a sniper because of his outstanding abilities, his girlfriend ended up in the regular units, where they were apparently treated even worse than the regular recruits. A day full of training, mud, bullet wounds and exhaustion lay ahead of her, but when she returns home, a surprise awaits her…

info: Oh yes Winston our favourite sniper, even if I don't feel the cover really, it is what it is. Have fun reading for the cute boy :)

masterlist

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

What had she thought of when she signed the document together with Winston, just a few months after they had finished school for good?

That's right, they hadn't thought about it, and the devil had it in for them because they somehow needed a job that would bring in some money and maybe let them travel around a bit.

Since they were both terrible at driving trucks and long-distance haulage was therefore out of the question and everything else was too boring for them, they went to the first army recruitment centre they came across and signed up.

They had considered this together over a beer and a horror film while the menu music from Mario was playing in the background.

,,Let's become soldiers," it simply blurted out of her as she looked at the DOOM packaging lying scattered on the floor and heard the muttering agreement of Winston, who was stuffing his face with crisps. Their shared naivety and sense of humour would become their profession, or at least the beginning of it, as they lived their lives as soldiers of America.

Even though this beginning was actually quite funny, they were aware that they were on the same training ground, and they both completed the basic training together.

They made friends, received punishments together, and ended up with painful muscle cramps, but they all found sneaking out and eating pizza together worthwhile.

The day came when they were all assigned to different units. ,,You know we're in this together," he assured her, leaning slightly towards her and briefly squeezing her hand before she felt a brief kiss on her cheek before the shouting of their superior continued to echo through the ranks.

Until, however, it came to nothing, as the two looked at each other in amazement and he was assigned to the snipers and she, with horror and annoyance, was given the ID of a normal soldier.

,,This can't be true," she said, keeping her voice down, she didn't want to make things worse and felt two arms wrap around her immediately and he pressed against him, ,,I'll try to fix it, sweetheart," he said, stroking her back, but they both knew that in the coming war situation, such transfers were hardly possible.

They would need her in the ground units and above all, Winston would be her shield in the air in secret, he would watch over her and help her to eliminate the opponents in such a way that it would be her and not otherwise.

And yet it seemed as if they would be separated from each other forever.

This had happened a few months ago, and while Winston had found favour in a unit of his own and was even paired with a legend, whom he always talked about enthusiastically, she found herself lying on the dirty floor more and more often, shocked and shot with hard rubber bullets, almost every day.

,,Do you know what I look like? Like a bouncy ball that you've thrown against a wall too often," she grumbled, and saw Winston suppress his laughter because his day looked completely different from hers.

His was much more relaxed, besides the usual close combat training, in the first instance he actually shot at targets from a distance all the time and was not thrown around.

,,But you're my pretty bouncy ball, whether you have colourful spots or not, I promise," he replied and got up from the bed to go over to her, where she was standing in her pyjamas and he stroked over the colourful injuries and left kisses on them.

Even though the gesture was cute, her body still ached and she had another day ahead of her before they all had a few days off for a couple of superior orders.

It was at least the hope that remained as she turned to Winston and ran her hand through his hair, soft and fluffy it had always been and even now he still had the same gentle look in his eyes.

Moving her hand from his hair to his cheek she saw his smirk, he smiled curtly before kissing her palm and pulling her close, ,,Tomorrow will be a better evening I promise sweetie" she heard him say as she was just glad that she had him, that he was supporting her and that at least now they were still together.

But the said it will be better tomorrow seemed to be something completely different as first she was the punching bag for new holds and punches and soon she was on the floor more than ten times.

Then through the muddy mess where she slipped and landed with her whole body in a puddle and as if all that wasn't enough extra leg supports because her team had lost in the simulation in case of emergency.

Groaning, grumbling and wiping away her frustration, she had left the other ebriets to go back to her room Tomorrow will be better yes of course what a joke she thought grumbling and took off her helmet which was still making her head ache as she turned into her floor.

Walking into her room looking up from her helmet she was slightly startled when she noticed not only a sweet smell, relaxing music playing in the background.

She saw a pyjama-clad Winston holding a plate of pancakes, popcorn, strawberries and syrup, ,,Welcome back my love I told you it would get better” he greeted her and put the plate down in front of her before pulling her into a hug.

Instead of smelling like dirt and sweat, the brown-haired man smelled sweet vanilla as if he had prepared a lot more, ,,That's so sweet of you, thank you,” she thanked him and pressed a kiss to his nose before she looked down at herself and sighed.

,,I'm going to eat the pancakes with you in ten minutes, can you wait that long?” she asked, knowing that if she sat on the bed with the dirt she could buy a new one.

But even now he seemed to have something prepared when he grinned and opened the door in the small bathroom to reveal a 'tub' made of a large metal tub filled with warm water and foam, she couldn't help but laugh and look at the further surprise, ,,It was actually meant to be a target for me when I was shooting and I got it that way.

Hop in and enjoy the massage to come,” he instructed, pointing to the bubbles when she didn't need to be told twice and got rid of her clothes before she climbed into the pleasantly warm water just moments later, which did wonders for her muscles alone and only got better when she felt his hands on her shoulders and he slowly massaged her.

,,Thank you,” she whispered, relaxing and grateful that maybe he had come to the snipers after all if it meant she would be greeted like this every night with a warm bath, a sweet pancake and a sweet boyfriend who was the best you could have.

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

@angelsanarchy , @starry-eyed-wild-child , @cyb3rrdani

[ao3feed-mchanzo]

A Week In Summer

by ScutManycoats

Much of the Overwatch team simply can’t get a break, so Morrison arranged a big beach house so a job on the American east-coast doesn’t get in the way of a Forth of July barbecue. It should be a great time for everyone, but . . . Hanzo’s finding it hard to enjoy himself.

It’s supposed to be he and his lovely Cowboy’s dating anniversary – and where better a place to celebrate than on a beautiful beach – but it’s been a year and he still hasn’t gotten the courage to let that secret out. Not even to Genji. While Hanzo would rather keep this all to himself, Jesse McCree would happily shout it from the rooftops that he’s dating the most beautiful sniper he’s ever seen! But as a loving boyfriend, Jesse knows better than to push his luck. After all, is there ever a good time to tell your brother you’re dating his ex?

Will they let their secret out – hang the consequences! – or just spend a quiet vacation with the team and let their secret romance slip unnoticed another year?

Words: 3611, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Overwatch (Video Game)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Hanzo Shimada, Jesse McCree, Genji Shimada, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Ana Amari, Hana "D.Va" Song, Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix, Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Winston (Overwatch), Lúcio Correia dos Santos, Lena "Tracer" Oxton, Tekhartha Zenyatta, Reinhardt Wilhelm, Brigitte Lindholm

Relationships: Jesse McCree/Hanzo Shimada

Additional Tags: Summer Vacation, Beach House, Summer Skins!, Secret Relationship, brothers being brothers, Genji Shimada is a Little Shit, But he does mean well, There's a little sex, Established Relationship, Hanzo doesn't think he deserves nice things, Jesse dissagrees, Domestic Fluff, Maybe it wasn't a great idea to date your ex's brother?, Maybe it wasn't a great idea to date your brother's ex?, Lets see shall we?, OK there's only one chapter with sex, But it's there, Overwatch Family, Fluff and Angst, Maybe 90 percent fluff to 10 percent angst, My First AO3 Post

from AO3 works tagged 'Jesse McCree/Hanzo Shimada' https://ift.tt/2uvBjAC via IFTTT

[scutmanycoats-blog]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Overwatch (Video Game) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jesse McCree/Hanzo Shimada Characters: Hanzo Shimada, Jesse McCree, Genji Shimada, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes, Soldier: 76 | Jack Morrison, Ana Amari, Hana "D.Va" Song, Widowmaker | Amélie Lacroix, Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Winston (Overwatch), Lúcio Correia dos Santos, Lena "Tracer" Oxton, Tekhartha Zenyatta, Reinhardt Wilhelm, Brigitte Lindholm Additional Tags: Summer Vacation, Beach House, Summer Skins!, Secret Relationship, brothers being brothers, Genji Shimada is a Little Shit, But he does mean well, There's a little sex, Established Relationship, Hanzo doesn't think he deserves nice things, Jesse dissagrees, Domestic Fluff, Maybe it wasn't a great idea to date your ex's brother?, Maybe it wasn't a great idea to date your brother's ex?, Lets see shall we?, OK there's only one chapter with sex, But it's there, Overwatch Family, Fluff and Angst, Maybe 90 percent fluff to 10 percent angst, My First AO3 Post Summary:

Much of the Overwatch team simply can’t get a break, so Morrison arranged a big beach house so a job on the American east-coast doesn’t get in the way of a Forth of July barbecue. It should be a great time for everyone, but . . . Hanzo’s finding it hard to enjoy himself.

It’s supposed to be he and his lovely Cowboy’s dating anniversary – and where better a place to celebrate than on a beautiful beach – but it’s been a year and he still hasn’t gotten the courage to let that secret out. Not even to Genji. While Hanzo would rather keep this all to himself, Jesse McCree would happily shout it from the rooftops that he’s dating the most beautiful sniper he’s ever seen! But as a loving boyfriend, Jesse knows better than to push his luck. After all, is there ever a good time to tell your brother you’re dating his ex?

Will they let their secret out – hang the consequences! – or just spend a quiet vacation with the team and let their secret romance slip unnoticed another year?

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 9.15

994 – Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes. 1440 – Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes. 1530 – Appearance of the miraculous portrait of Saint Dominic in Soriano in Soriano Calabro, Calabria, Italy; commemorated as a feast day by the Roman Catholic Church 1644–1912. 1556 – Departing from Vlissingen, ex-Holy Roman Emperor Charles V returns to Spain. 1762 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Signal Hill. 1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces land at Kip's Bay during the New York Campaign. 1789 – The United States "Department of Foreign Affairs", established by law in July, is renamed the Department of State and given a variety of domestic duties. 1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) sees his first combat at the Battle of Boxtel during the Flanders Campaign. 1795 – Britain seizes the Dutch Cape Colony in southern Africa to prevent its use by the Batavian Republic. 1812 – The Grande Armée under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow. 1812 – War of 1812: A second supply train sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows. 1816 – HMS Whiting runs aground on the Doom Bar. 1820 – Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal. 1821 – The Captaincy General of Guatemala declares independence from Spain. 1830 – The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opens; British MP William Huskisson becomes the first widely reported railway passenger fatality when he is struck and killed by the locomotive Rocket. 1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands. The ship lands at Chatham or San Cristobal, the easternmost of the archipelago. 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia (present-day Harpers Ferry, West Virginia). 1873 – Franco-Prussian War: The last Imperial German Army troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity. 1894 – First Sino-Japanese War: Japan defeats Qing dynasty China in the Battle of Pyongyang. 1915 – The Empire Picture Theatre (now The New Empire Cinema), the oldest running cinema in mainland Australia, opens in Bowral, New South Wales. 1915 – New Culture Movement: Chen Duxiu establishes the New Youth magazine in Shanghai. 1916 – World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme. 1918 – World War I: Allied troops break through the Bulgarian defenses on the Macedonian front. 1935 – The Nuremberg Laws deprive German Jews of citizenship. 1935 – Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag bearing the swastika. 1940 – World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Luftwaffe launches its largest and most concentrated attack of the entire campaign. 1942 – World War II: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp is sunk by Japanese torpedoes at Guadalcanal. 1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy. 1944 – Battle of Peleliu begins as the United States Marine Corps' 1st Marine Division and the United States Army's 81st Infantry Division hit White and Orange beaches under heavy fire from Japanese infantry and artillery. 1945 – A hurricane strikes southern Florida and the Bahamas, destroying 366 airplanes and 25 blimps at Naval Air Station Richmond. 1947 – Typhoon Kathleen hit the Kantō region in Japan killing 1,077. 1948 – The Indian Army captures the towns of Jalna, Latur, Mominabad, Surriapet and Narkatpalli as part of Operation Polo. 1948 – The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 miles per hour (1,080 km/h). 1950 – Korean War: The U.S. X Corps lands at Inchon. 1952 – The United Nations cedes Eritrea to Ethiopia. 1954 – Marilyn Monroe's iconic skirt scene during filming for The Seven Year Itch is shot. 1958 – A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 48. 1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States. 1962 – The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis. 1963 – Baptist Church bombing: Four children killed in the bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. 1967 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation. 1968 – The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere. 1971 – The first Greenpeace ship departs from Vancouver to protest against the upcoming Cannikin nuclear weapon test in Alaska. 1972 – A Scandinavian Airlines System domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm is hijacked and flown to Malmö Bulltofta Airport. 1974 – Air Vietnam Flight 706 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board. 1975 – The French department of "Corse" (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica). 1978 – Muhammad Ali outpointed Leon Spinks in a rematch to become the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title three times at the Superdome in New Orleans. 1981 – The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 1981 – The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, D.C. 1983 – Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns. 1995 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 2133 crashes at Tawau Airport in Malaysia, killing 34. 2000 – The Summer Olympics, officially known as the games of the XXVII Olympiad, are opened in Sydney, Australia. 2001 – During a CART race at the Lausitzring in Germany, former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi suffers a heavy accident resulting in him losing both his legs. 2004 – National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman announces lockout of the players' union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office. 2008 – Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history. 2017 – The Parsons Green bombing takes place in London. 2020 – Signing of the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement occurs in Washington, D.C., normalizing relations between Israel and two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

[ramon-balaguer]

PFC. Ramon S. Subejano was an American soldier who earned the nickname One Man Army for slaying bodies all over the European Theater during WW2.

He served with Co. A, 358th Inf. Reg., 90th Inf Div and saw combat on Utah Beach on the D-DAY, the Ardennes, Northern France, the Netherlands, and deep into Germany.

He served as a sniper, was wounded a total of 4 times during the war, earned 17 medals, and has been credited for killing hundreds of Germans, reports suggest up to 400.

During one battle, he was the sole survivor of his unit after his patrol was ambushed.

On December 7, 1944 in the vicinity of Dillengen, Germany, Subejano single handedly attacked a fortified building, making his way under devastating 20 mm and machine gun fire.

He entered the enemy filled structure, going from room to room, killing five enemy, wounding six and capturing 37; an action which would earn him the Silver Star.

At the end of the war he was flown to London for the victory parade, where he was presented to King George and Sir Winston Churchill. Back in the States, he was hailed as a hero and in later life met Marilyn Monroe, JFK and other famous people.

He died in 1988 and is buried in Arlington Cemetery.

You probably didn’t notice but I didn’t use his ethnicity, you know, like Asian-American or Native-American or African-American or just Black or Latino like so many on the Liberal Left like to do to accentuate whatever it is they feel is more important or isn’t mentioned enough or are proud of like first female or first Black or Hispanic…which you might assume him to be Hispanic by his name, but was actually the Philippines 🇵🇭🙏🏼🇺🇸 #REBTD 👨🏼‍✈️

#WW2 🥰