#and in just the last arc some guy was gonna sell out humans across all of history

[turquoisewave]

It's wild how often in Classic Doctor Who people decide to align themselves with the equivalent of the Leopards Eating People's Faces Party and are shocked when they are not, in fact, saved from having their own faces eaten.

[aion-rsa]

Power Rangers Beast Morphers Season 2 Episode 22 Review: Evox Unleashed

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This POWER RANGERS BEAST MORPHERS review contains spoilers.

In the end this is how it was always going to be. For as excited as I was after last weeks triumphant Power Rangers Beast Morphers episode, there was no way this episode could live up to it. ‘Evox Unleashed’ is good but it’s not great and much of that can be put down to the mandate that has held back Beast Morphers from living up to its true potential.

As I’ve mentioned many times before but bares repeating now, when Senior Vice President of Power Rangers Franchise Development and Production Brian Casentini left the franchise he left us with this revealing quote.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

“I am a big fan of serialized storytelling, but most broadcasters across the globe want more episodic storytelling for scheduling ease.”

Knowing this was a limitation helped me understand the series more and review it under the proper context. It improved many episodes knowing the plot line wouldn’t continue and I could appreciate what they did in such a short time. It hurt others when they didn’t use the standalone story to give us more insight into the characters or even tell a proper one and done lesson. Standalone doesn’t mean it has to be completely disposable.

Casentini went on to say in that same interview that, “I think we found a really great balance (between serialized and episodic) with Power Rangers Beast Morphers.” To give the show credit, many of the serialized episodes did work. The problem was that they more often felt like glimpses into a fully serialized show than proper serialized stories in of themselves. Something felt off about them even when they were good.

That’s not to say only the serialized stories had merit. Some episodic plots were fairly fun and a few were great. Most of them though weren’t used to develop the characters in a meaningful way. Without that the serialized moments the show was able to have couldn’t land. Without character arcs even the biggest of plot moves feel empty.

So it’s no wonder that when we get to the finale we get a lot of great moments that are kneecapped by a lack of development from earlier in the series. The start of the finale is great. It’s tense, we get a tearful moment between Zoey and her mom, and there’s an incredible sequence of the Rangers busting out old weapons. I still wish they had put more time into explaining how the Ranger Vault came to be but it was genuinely clever to have them use old weapons to get around Evox’s ability to absorb their own. Great way to have fan service but still impact the story.

We also get some good callbacks to last episode when Nate says, “I made you, Evox, but today we’re gonna destroy you. As a team!” Perfect way to cement the lesson he learned. Evox later saying, “it’s been a long time since I’ve taken out a civilization” was an excellent RPM callback.

Steel’s sacrifice was also powerful and devastating. More than anyone else we’ve gotten to know and love Steel over these two seasons and he’s always been a delight. Seeing him sacrifice everything was a huge shock but very effective. It gave the rest of the episode more weight. The problem is that while the solution the team comes up with is a good one (combining their human DNA with Morph-X) it’s rooted in the message that the team is strong because they’re human. That’s… true, I guess? But the finale acts like this is something that’s been building up the entire show. It hasn’t. Outside of Steel’s desires to be human this was never built up as a central theme. This wasn’t a constant problem the characters had to deal with in their episodic adventures. I guess you could stretch and say Ravi felt like a bit of a robot when he had to ignore his feelings for Roxy and his love of art but that’s being generous.

Far more effective would have been the very simply message of you don’t have to solve your problems alone. That would have tied into pretty much everyone’s stories in the series. Devon needed to take advice from his dad but refused to listen. Zoey was determined to solve big problems but often tried to do it all on her own. Ravi hid away his feelings and suffered alone. Nate felt isolated from the world and had to build a brother to find friendship. Hell, that would have been a great way to bring in Ben and Betty who while bumbling have always worked together.

And making the ultimate theme of the show, “you’re strong because you’re human” is even more head scratching when you remember the Beast Bots. Are they not strong because they’re robots? Are they only strong because they have human best friends? Is Steel only strong because he’s half human? It’s an odd message with some alarming undertones if you sit there and analyze it. Just looking at on the surface it boils down to ALL MACHINES ARE BAD… when the show did a lot of work to make the Beast Bots sympathetic.

Much of the weight of the start of the episode was able to establish is lost in this confusion and in Steel coming back to life as a human. It’s cute that he finally gets what he always wanted but it robs the show of a more powerful ending. I can understand not wanting to kill a Ranger even if he is a robot but if there were anytime they could get away with killing a Ranger, it’d be here. The human ending is also strange because they add Steel’s voice to his human version. I get why they did it and it was okay in the body swap episode but here it felt too silly. Just give him a regular voice. It would help sell the scene instead of distracting the audience with unintentional comedy.

We then cut to one year later and the montage of scenes is mixed. It’s incredible that Mason Effin’ Truman comes back for a small cameo that also ties off Scrozzle. It subtly does some world building (Corinth and Grid Battleforce are in more contact) and it allows Ben and Betty to finally get some development. Anytime Power Rangers uses James Gaylyn it gets an extra point.

Devon suddenly being a commander doesn’t really work. He moved up in the ranks that quickly? After one year? That’s a little far fetched. Was he even officially enlisted in Grid Battleforce? No one can go from being a recruit to a commander in one year. If he was a commander-in-training I could believe that. This, not so much. Did he even express a desire to be a commander? If this was rooted in an episodic outing earlier in the series it might have been a little easier to buy.

Zoey and Nate working on clean energy was nice though and a good reminder of the franchise’s progressive history. I’m glad they took the time to explain how the city moved away from Morph-X to something that’s attainable in the real world. Power Rangers loves a good message and this was a small but needed one.

General Shaw (love this promotion!) painting with Ravi was cute although it just reminded me how human Roxy was barely in this show. Same with the very bizarre bit with Steel becoming an actor and Blaze being his stunt man. Uh, that came out of nowhere? Steel being an actor, okay, he’s a wacky guy and I can buy that. But Blaze being a stunt man? Yeah he did karate a few times but nothing in the previous episodes set that up. That would have made a nice episodic story that could have reminded us Blaze existed!

The series closes out with the team throwing Steel a birthday and they sing ‘It’s Great to be Human” cementing it as the very odd theme of the show.

Parts of the finale do work, especially the first half, but without any buildup of the shows central themes or the character arcs it all feels flimsy by the end. Its competent but the episodic mandates on the show as a whole crippled its chances. This could have worked with more planning on how the episodic stories could have supported a larger theme but that wasn’t allowed or simply wasn’t done. It makes the finale feel like a slapdash ending that wants to be big and grand but can only manage the trappings of it. The human DNA mixed with Morph-X was a great solution to destroying Evox but rooting it in “it’s great to be human” just made it fall flat. It’s a decent finale but one that will sadly be more known for finally wrapping up the Venjix cliffhanger from RPM than wrapping up Beast Morphers’ story.

This leaves Beast Morphers in a middle ground in the history of Power Rangers. It was a decent series with a lot of potential but ultimately couldn’t deliver on most of it and felt aimless for much of its run. There were genuine moments of quality throughout and you could see a great show in it. Sadly the episodic stories were not up to a high enough quality to sustain the series between the serialized ones, where the show seemed to spend much of its energy. This was Beast Morphers‘ biggest mistake.

Those standalone stories could have been structured in a way to still be episodic while forming a backbone to the show that let those serialized stories thrive. Without that backbone the attempts at serialization just felt like reminders of wasted potential instead of solid stories in their own right.

I’m very interested to see where Power Rangers goes from here. Simon Bennett is one of the more experienced show runners to join the franchise so his influence on the show could be a positive one. Hasbro has also  gotten out of the training wheel phase with Power Rangers and could have a better idea of what they want out of the franchise. I hope they take the lessons learned from Beast Morphers and use them to find the best way to work within their mandates to make Power Rangers the best show it can be. It has the potential, Beast Morphers showed that. Let’s hope they can live up to it.

The post Power Rangers Beast Morphers Season 2 Episode 22 Review: Evox Unleashed appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3gK1hIr

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep 48: Bakura Completely Fails to Murder The One Person He Was Actually Supposed to Murder

Yo guys, this is the last episode of the season.

...

I know. How exactly do you resolve ANYTHING in one episode? The secret is, you don’t. Like...one thing did get resolved but it really seems like this was a 2 season storyline they were really banking on doing so well it would stretch into season 2 but, according to bro, this show got hella cancelled?

I can’t believe it. Finally. I’ve been joking about it for like a year but it actually happened.

Now my bro is full of spicy headcanons about this show and I decided to look up on Wikipedia to see what the hell happened between Season 2 and 3 for him to say this but I saw nothing about cancelling anything, but he’s pretty certain that this happened. So, I’m gonna open it up to all of you guys who know way more about this show than either of us to set it straight--was there cancellation drama between Season 2 and Season 3 or is bro just remembering history incorrectly?

Anyways, this show is obviously around for Season 3 but bro says it gets distracted and everyone has hinted that we get a really great filler arc that is most people’s absolutely favorite arc in the entire world. I’m honestly shocked I made it this far. But, lets first get into the episode.

This episode starts exactly where I wanted it to, with Tea realizing that she’s not only wandered into Bakura’s room, but that, from her perspective, it has made Bakura so freakin uncomfortable that he hella left.

Like imagine with me that your on a High school trip and you’re with all your buddies but then there’s that one kid who is a friend, but you don't know TOO well because he’s kind of awkward and also half a murderous ghost. Imagine he gets hella sick and then for some reason, you sleepwalk to his bedside, all draped across the sheets, and when you wake up he’s just...peaced right out of that entire awkward conversation that would have been.

Like...my reaction would have been completely the opposite of what Tea did.

Which was run straight to her somewhat-boyfriend Yugi Muto and tell him exactly what she just inadvertently did.

Also, forgive me for this aside, but Yugi is like 16, so why is Yugi randomly kind of jacked all of a sudden? Is that little backpack he carries just full of lead?

Oh wait, yeah...necklace is solid gold. But even still like...this small boy shouldn’t appear this jacked. Like, I know a lot of preteen girls were into this show for the large selection of anime boys, but I prefer Yugi looking sort of like the human version of a Pekingese instead. Mostly because I’m an adult, I guess. Not that I never had a preteen anime boy crush phase, but we’re talking Tuxedo Mask, who was sort of developed to be a preteen anime boy crush. Like, Tuxedo Mask has literally no other reason to exist except to be a perfect husband who gets abducted a lot, but Yugi? Like..he sells cards, why’s he gotta grow up?

My bros current spicy headcanon is that he’s slowly becoming jacked because of being in the Shadow Realm so often, and that it beefs you up like when Goku goes to space and turns the gravity on super duper high, but sure bro, you do you. Bro’s got a spicy headcanon for every loophole this show throws at us. (and it is surprising which ones were actually correct and which were probably a fanfic he read in High School.)

(read more under the cut)

Anyways, Yugi thankfully puts on a jacket and they decide not to wake up Joey’s room to see if Bakura also joined the Boy Chamber after Tea kicked him out but like...while that would be the most reasonable place to look, they decided to see if maybe Bakura is sleeping in...the hallways? I dunno why they immediately thought Bakura was kidnapped. Now that the ring isn’t with him then...there’d be no reason for Marik to kill him.

Then again, maybe Bakura kind of wanders off and does ghost stuff so often, that these two are always checking up on where Bakura wandered off to?

I guess these two just didn’t feel like waking anyone up. Or using the enchanted necklace Yugi just got. Or asking Roland the security guard. Or maybe, I dunno, ever asking Kaiba for help, who is still absolutely awake and doing literally nothing else with his time.

Like serious talk, a lot of this season’s problems would have been resolved if they had just gone to the guy in charge of the tourney and asked for him to use his endless resources to help out the tourney that he is hosting. Like, he would have done it. I know this is a bit of a stretch but I don’t think Kaiba wants people dueling to the death at 3AM. Especially if he can’t watch them do it.

I appreciate that the blimp was so important to Kaiba that he rendered it in 3-D and has it just rotating there, weirdly CG while the rest of this screen is drawn. Also, Kaiba’s desktop situation is an absolute nightmare, this boy is somehow managing a company but he cannot manage a desktop?

PS are you ready for this outfit without the horrible spiky shoulder jacket? Are you ready? Because I wasn’t.

he can’t seem to get away from that victorian gothic lady silhouette.

And so Kaiba is faced with a problem, he’s only got a low win chance to get this card the fair way. This would be a great time to just arrest Marik right now, although it would be somewhat difficult since their duel to the death is halfway over, but like, Kaiba also really likes losing at cards. He says he doesn’t, but Kaiba seems to sprint to every opportunity he can get to absolutely lose or only just narrowly win because your Dead Wife Card sent you a weird hallucination that one time.

Like...of the times that Kaiba’s dueled solo we’ve only seen Kaiba win twice, right? And once was to a random guy on the street? Yeah. Kaiba’s only won a single time on screen.

I mean, of course, unless you count the time he threatened to commit suicide if he lost and Yugi was like “What the hell!?” but I don’t know if we should count that as like...a game.

Despite the fact that Yugi has never once offered her even like...a coat in this freakin weather, Tea has decided that they’re official enough, that she will argue with him about how they now both...share a destiny??? This feels like jumping the gun a little bit?

I don’t know what the hell she’s even talking about. But she’s been treating it like they’ve been married for like 8 years. Which...would require a little bit more...supporting evidence for me as a viewer that Tea and Yugi would actually be this much of an item at this point.

Like at least she’s not a reincarnated soul of his dead wife stuffed into a playing card--this show has pulled weirder random romance plots out of it’s ass--but it’s a huge leap to suddenly tell me “And remember these two???? This romance of the ages?????” at this point, this far into the end of the season.

And like...don’t be misled by my description of this conversation, they never once even come closer than a foot of each other.

Everything about this is kinda weird. No kinkshame of course, all ships are good and valid. But, assuming that Marik’s got a foot in both Tea and Bakura’s brain right now, these two are 6 people right now (2 are Bakura, if he’s still swimming around with Tea, it’s unclear), and 2(3) of those people has tried to kill both of them, but now are piggybacking on these guys’ bodies that are currently fumbling about how the hell to date even. Imagine how awkward Marik feels rn. Just imagine.

Or maybe he’s super into it, Marik’s a nut.

Pharaoh just kind of rolled his eyes and walked through this mist door as Tea stood uselessly on the other side and it’s like, yeah, we feel you, Pharaoh, we don’t know why that conversation had to happen either.

Meanwhile, I’ve been skipping the card game portion which actually looked very nice. Again, it was the last episode, they upped their game, but that won’t come through in caps so just know--that was nice. but because Bakura decided to do the taboo of playing a God Card, it absolutely royally screwed him over. and then Marik fused his body to it like Final Fantasy and it’s like...sure why not. It’s the last episode. Fuse your body with a playing card, no one will question how that would have worked outside of a shadow game.

Anyways, Marik kinda saw that happen and was like, well damn. Didn’t know it could do that. Weird, right? Huh. So much for living in obscurity and being tortured underground and keeping the Pharaoh’s secrets for 5000 years, apparently we knew...NONE OF THEM.

And then Bakura died, and even dropped us an iconic one liner as Marik sends him into the darkness while saying “enjoy the darkness!” or something like that. This was extremely 2000′s. It’s fine to be cliche if you’re...Bakura. You kinda have to be. That is the whole point of Bakura.

So he said, something like this

Like the exact line was more like...”Did you forget, I AM darkness??” or something, but man, that sums up the whole of Bakura so well. Like, he doesn’t make sense. But, he doesn’t have to, because the point of Bakura is that he’s just a walking 00′s prototype and that’s what makes him great. Like if you could make the 00′s hot topic aesthetic (minus the meme shirts) into a candle and then burn it down to nearly the end of the wick--that’s Bakura.

Like I watch kids as a dayjob and the other day the 12yo was like “I drew stuff, do you want to see?” so I was like “Absolutely!” and she’s like “I warn you--it’s kind of messed up.” and I’m like “that’s fine” and she’s like “no but really it’s spooky, ok? I just want to warn you.” and I’m like “try me” and she flips open her ipad and in the apple version of MSpaint I kid you not it was

A happy face

crying black tears.

And I’m like “Wow.” and she’s like “I know, it’s pretty dark” and I’m like “well, not exactly, he seems pretty cheerful” and she was like “well this one is really really scary are you ready?” and I’m like “OK, because that one was pretty happy” and she’s like “no Rach this one is like reallllllly messed up. You’re going to think I’m crazy.” and I’m like “oh shoot” and she flipped open to the next page in her ipad and it was

A happy face

It’s eyes are bloodshot. (magenta blood. It was Magenta)

And I’m like “wow! He’s even happier!” and she was like “But this is the scariest thing I’ve ever drawn in my life!” because to a 12yo, that is scary. Like it’s funny to me because honestly, the way kids and even teens think of what is “scary” is so different than what is “scary” to an adult. And Bakura is sort of like the personification of an MSpaint happy face crying blood tears.

Like, he’s different than Marik in that Marik’s backstory was super well established, while Bakura...never needed one. Apparently he will get one, but he honestly doesn’t need it. He’s just a nightmare that a kid would have. I don’t really question the logic of what happens around Bakura vs everyone else because...he’s Bakura.

I do question that he somehow got beaten by Marik. That doesn’t add up for me, but honestly the other Marik kind of messed Bakura up so...you could say he was doomed to fail that. It was more that Marik beat himself and dragged Bakura with him.

And like, I’m not upset that I don’t have to look up Britishisms anymore and take notes during British Bake Off and then completely lose those notes when it comes time to write these. But wow, I will miss Bakura.

Didn’t know I’d miss you until you were gone, little gross disgusting buddy.

Didn’t realize how I’d miss you killing off random people all the time and pretending to be a good boy while leaving little cookie crumbs of a storyline that will apparently not even get picked up until like forever from now.

Ah, so lets pour a glass of fries that we call potato chips, pour some vinegar all over them and remember our favorite Bakura moments.

Like that time he straight up murdered everyone on this show and then inspired me to pick up bro’s idea to create this entire blog series.

Or that time he tried to possess Mokuba but then got stomach punched by Tristan while everyone else canonically thought Tristan was taking 4 hours to poop.

Or that time he decided “Screw this, I’m just going to use lasers!” and then never used lasers ever again.

Or that time they all walked in on Pegasus doing human sacrifices of living people and Bakura went “Oi, that’s a little much!” and then wiped everyone’s memories and dragged them back to their rooms, including Pegasus.

Or that time he decided to swing from the rafters of a warehouse and knock over Bandit Keith, and then say “Oi, all better” and then just walked away while the entire warehouse combusted into flames.

Or that time he just held up a recently used disembodied eyeball and then in the Japanese version, licked it clean.

I will miss you, you freakin weirdo, and will I ever get to write about him again? I actually have no idea. Season 5 is a really long time from now. I’ll keep the Bakura color palate saved in the corner of my Photoshop, but ah, it will be a forever from now before I get to click it again. If I ever do.

But congrats to his voice actor who now gets to take a very long drink of tea and fix whatever the hell talking like Bakura does to your vocal chords.

Marik picks up the ring although I’m not sure that it matters and now I’m very confused as to where the hell the absolutely never-washed eyeball went. Maybe he saw it rolling around down there and was like “I’ll have to come back with a ziplock baggy for that.”

We started this season with Yugi being late and arguing with Tea about being late and now we end the same way. It all came together.

Yami could have done something, but there wasn’t enough time in this season, so he just let Marik walk free.

I swear, Yami.

In her defense, maybe this is what jammies actually are when you live underground?

And then, to make things even more complicated, Marik has decided to show up to Ishizu as...Tea.

Also, miracles of miracles, this plot thread actually paid off:

And then for I guess 2 Seasons Bakura just plays with Yugi’s Tomogachi’s and does calf raises on all these stairs. I would say he’d have to avoid running into Pharaoh, but I feel like Pharaoh only really hangs out in the one room at the entrance. He doesn’t seem to really care about these doors anymore.

At least someone was there for the Tomogachis, in the end. Mine has been dead for 20 years, but Yugi’s will live on apparently eternally. The immortal Tomogachi (which was apparently featured in Season Zero?).

Stepping away from the Yugioh Tomogachi headcanon, lets see what Marik’s up to. Oh that’s right, that thing he keeps trying to do.

Nice.

And just when I thought this episode was finally over, get ready for it, get ready for this massive plot dump that just comes right out of no where so quickly I didn’t even get to fit it all in one cap.

That’s right, this season ended with a cliffhanger of Seto saying along the lines of he stole his father’s company (OK?) and then his Stepfather got super pissed and fled here and then Kaiba built a huge ass phallic tower on it and like...it was a lot for the last 1 minute of the show.

Anyways, it ends with Kaiba being like “NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND, WHY WE’RE COMING HERE, TO THIS ISLAND, TO PLAY CARDS!?” and it’s like no, no one understands, Kaiba. Your brain doesn’t work right. This is weird.

This is so freakin weird.

Kaiba was giving the Ishtars a hard time about their family issues being resolved with his tourney, and it was because apparently he was ALSO using this tourney to resolve his own family issues the entire time.

Anyway, I never expected for Kaiba to become such a dominant character on this show but we are going to Kaiba island. Another freakin island.

So Season 3 is apparently way different and my bro was like “we can just skip all that filler? We can skip like 20 episodes.” and I was like “That is not the point of this blog. We are watching the filler.”

Now, just FYI I’m gonna take a break for a bit between seasons, probably for about 2 weeks or so. I’m probably going to make a little buffer because life stuff will inevitably pop up and I’d hate to go too off schedule now that I know Pharaoh wears PJs in season 5. Like, I enjoy doing this blog, it’s incredibly nice to do something that isn’t art related and has zero expectations assigned to it, but it is a side project, so I gotta prep accordingly.

That being said, thanks so much y’all for reading these, and all the nice comments (which I am very bad at responding to, especially since it really feels like tumblr doesn’t...have a response ability built in). I was really only making these with bro to cheer him up when he hated his job and was quitting--and then he quit and we continued to make them because last year was pretty stressful (like I don’t talk about it here because this is a happy blog but damn I’m glad 2018 is in the trash) That other people seem to enjoy these rants was fun and unexpected. So thanks for reading and putting up with the fact we know very little about this series. Well, now I know an awful lot actually. Scary how much I know about Yugioh now. Eh.

I got a graveyard post I’ll probs put out there around next weekend, in the meantime, but, other than that...I’ll see y’all in Season 3.

And if you just got here, this is a link to read the recaps in chrono order from s1 ep 1

[dictionarywrites]

mmm i’m not gonna be doing anything with this

egh, frostiron, man. i just never feel like it really WORKS. 

the point of this one was meant to be frostiron with dashingcollector as a sidepiece but like, i’m alreayd super done with it, so have 2k of a beginning that i’m not gonna do anything more with, ‘cause i’m just gonna delete the doc lol

it’s a shame to have wasted 2k worth of effort on it but like ! ah well. not everything works out. 

i might lift some dialogue from this to reuse - i’m really pleased with the loki & tan dynamic and i might reuse that knife moment in the Wedding Collection, but... egh. this just doesn’t work with tony in it, so i might come back to it and pick it apart for scraps. 

Once upon a time, Tony Stark was the heir to Stark Industries – a huge, sprawling company that supplied a lot of high-end electronics across the Earth, and then to the surrounding solar system, and a little bit farther. High-end electronics, of course, included weapons: weapons used on Earth, and then… And then weapons used in other places. In Star Trek, in The Original Series, war had always seemed like such a last resort. Earth government never seems to see it that way.

Once upon a time, all that happened – that was a long time ago.

Reaching forward, Tony shifts his hand over the control panel, letting his fingers drag through the holographic display it projects, his light sensor gloves telling the ship exactly where he wants it to go. It’s only a little cruiser, a three-man rig that runs with just one, and the saleable model has basic amenities – a two-bunk cabin, a one-bunk cabin, a kitchen/living room, and a whole lot of storage space. Of course, Tony’s tricked his out a little, but it’s still snug.

He likes snug, these days. Can’t stand spaces that are too open.

Not after—

“We are approaching Knowhere, sir,” JARVIS says, and Tony relaxes slightly, leaning back into his seat and setting his hands on his knees. The ship continues to take her established route forward, gliding with ease on the course he’s plotted and avoiding all the little chips of asteroid and space rock.

Knowhere sprawls before him, the sick sprawl of old flesh and exposed bone: the head of some long-dead Celestial, mined at every angle by scientific groups of all kinds. It’s gross, in all honesty – it’s damn gross.

Tony doesn’t need the money that comes with what he does. He doesn’t need to be a travelling engineer, do the big-ticket jobs from one space station to the next one, flying in, doing the big repair or co-ordinating the big project nobody else has the expertise to do, and flying off again. In all honesty, Tony has enough credits saved – he could buy himself a little planet or a modest space station, and he could be a homebody, work on his own projects…

But he needs the distraction, and he likes to travel. Like this, he has the best of both worlds: he works on his own projects on the long-haul through space, and he works on big repair jobs or rehauls when he arrives at his destinations.

“Docking at Port 432,” JARVIS says, and Tony nods, stepping up and out of the flight deck. He pulls on a dress shirt over his oil-stained vest, buttoning it up to the ARC reactor that glows under his sternum, and he changes his battered jeans for a pair of black slacks. A suit jacket is a little much, and he’d rather be able to let his iron suit bloom out from his wrists at the first opportunity – it’s best not to try that with a loose jacket, else… Well, suffice it to say, the last time was a little bit messy. As he puts on his shoes, JARVIS says, “Are you sure about this engagement, sir?

“Nah,” Tony says, pulling on his sunglasses. “I’m not sure at all.” JARVIS lets out a low huff of sound, and Tony smiles slightly as he hears the docking procedure finish, the airflow clicking into ignition between Tony’s ship and the station. Moving swiftly out of the airlock, he allows the ship to lock behind him, and an attendant dressed in yellow and decked out with cybernetic enhancements meets him in the corridor.

“Good morning,” the attendant says, pinning up their brightly blue hair. “Name?”

“Tony Stark, he/him,” Tony says, and he draws a chip from his pocket, holding it on his palm and letting the attendant scan it. “Here to meet the Collector.” The attendant’s polite expression stiffens, and their expression becomes pinched and tight, their eyes distant.

“Yes, sir,” the attendant says crisply, and they deliver instructions without the slightest bit of small talk amidst the clean words, and Tony’s lip twitches in amusement as he steps into the lift that leads up toward the Collector’s Museum.

Taneleer Tivan is known throughout the galaxy as a renowned curator, carefully working upon his collection and expanding it as best he can. He’s a dangerous man – this, Tony knows. His facility houses living “specimens” as well as the average collector’s fucking trading cards, and it revolts Tony, disgusts him, but… There are other people, here on Knowhere. People who get hurt, if the life support goes down. And Tony knows that a lot of the specimens sell themselves to Tivan, that they give themselves over to being in a cage in a facility for the rest of their lives – does that make it better? That should make it better.

Sighing, Tony moves down the corridor, hearing the quiet clank of his boots on the metal grating. He moves in parallel to the great marketplace, which always stinks to high Hell of ammonia (he’d come here a few times, as a kid, with Dad…), and he moves quickly down a gangplank and in toward the Museum.

No ammonia here, but the scents are strong, and they’re different every time.

This time?

Place smells like ice.

Tony stops in the doorway, inhaling and taking it in, taking in that scent that smells of nothing, but is still so distinctive, cold… Standing at a metal desk, there is a human in a black tunic embroidered with silver accents that much the piercings through the shell of his ear and the side of his nose, and he is carefully shaving away layers of ice from an artefact with a tool that Tony can’t quite see. His black hair, which is glossy and long, is tied up in a loose bun, a shining silver hairpin keeping it away from the nape of his neck, and he wears a pair of black-rimmed glasses.

“You guys haven’t got contacts out this way, huh?” The man looks up, looking Tony up and down, and he frowns slightly. He has very thin lips, Tony thinks – they’re thin and pink, and pretty. His eyes are a bright blue, mirroring the ice he works on, and he watches Tony for a long few moments before he answers.

“You assume much,” he says darkly, and his voice is low and resonant, ringing in the air and surprisingly deep, coming from such a pretty face. “Anthony Stark, I take it?”

“Tony,” he corrects.

The attendant taps a button on the edge of his table, and Tony leans forward to catch a glimpse of the face in the display. It isn’t, as he had expected, the face of Taneleer Tivan, but another human-looking face, this one blond and with a golden moustache over his lip, his skin a rosy colour.

“Please advise the Collector that Anthony Stark has arrived,” the attendant says mildly. There’s an underlying sternness to his tone, as if he expects the other man not to obey – and it seems like he’s right to expect that.

“So formal,” Fandral chides, and the display looks directly at Tony, his pretty face shifting as he grins. “And with such a handsome man, Loki. You know not what you do to yourself.”

“I have no especial care for handsome men,” Loki says, his voice very snide indeed.

“How I have learned that bitter knowledge!” Fandral says, clutching at his heart, and Tony laughs as Loki’s thin lips twist into a scowl.

“The Collector, Fandral, now.” Fandral chuckles, but he gives a salute with a green-gloved hand, and the hologram goes dim. Loki holds up one bare hand, gesturing with two fingers for Tony to move closer, and Tony does, slowly walking into the room and slowly sliding to take the stool that Loki gestures to. It’s weird, to see a guy working on an artefact like this with his bare hands. Loki’s hands are ivory-white and marked with pink scars: a chunk of flesh is missing from the heel of his right hand, an unnatural dip showing between the meat of his palm and his wrist, and as well as the little cuts and drags and callouses, he can see a savage bite mark dragged over the fabric of his left hand. They don’t look soft, either, those hands: they look hard.

Tony’s mouth is a little bit dry as he watches them work, watches Loki drag his palm slowly over the ice and shave away another layer, allowing fragments of ice dust to fill the air in sudden clouds.

“What, uh, what instrument you using for that? Ice-cutter in the palm?”

“You are here to speak to the Collector,” Loki says primly. “Not to me.”

“What, I can’t speak with the locals?”

“I am not local.”

“No, you’re a little too pretty for that.” The compliment garners no response at all, not even a neatly raised eyebrow or a sardonic stare. It passes through the air between them, and Loki acts as if he hasn’t even heard it. “You, uh, you heard of me? Tony Stark.”

“Yes, of course,” Loki says. “You are the Collector’s 0800 appointment.” Tony frowns, leaning back slightly, but Loki’s thin lips twitch at their edges slightly, betraying the barest hint of a smile.

“Oh,” Tony says, sarcastically. “You’re a joker, I get it, real funny.”

“I have heard of you,” Loki allows, and a few layers of the ice come away at once, coming away from the left hand side and bearing the dark brown wood of whatever is frozen inside. Loki frowns, picking it up by the base and peering at it, and then he delicately shakes his head, a tiny shift of his head. “You hail from Midgard, do you not? You recently parcelled apart Stark Industries, your father’s company?”

“Midgard?” Tony repeats. “I’m from Earth.” Loki glances at him, and then he blinks.

“Oh, no… Midgard is what we once called your planet, upon the world upon which I grew up. Asgard.”

“Oh,” Tony says, his voice very quiet. Asgard is… old news. It was about thirty years ago, now, that the whole world was smashed to kingdom-come – they called it the Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods, and the whole disc (because it wasn’t really a planet) just… Collapsed. Hundreds of thousands of people died: Tony remembers being just a kid, and hearing it blow up all the subspace frequencies, seeing Æsir and Vanir crying in the streets of New York, back on Earth. “I didn’t realise you called us that.”

“The old ways,” Loki says distractedly, still peering at the wood. “Such as they were.” He returns, then, to his work, shaving away parts of the ice.

“It wasn’t so recent,” Tony says. “It was like, three years ago. That I did that.”

“Very recent,” Loki replies. “You Midgardians… Terrans, is it? Time passes so quickly for you. Three years is the blink of an eye, child.”

“And how old are you, huh? Three thousand?” It’s a joke, but Loki shows no sign of humour, and instead he keeps Tony’s gaze, his eyes widening by a fraction, his lips quirking into a tiny smile.

“Closer to five,” Loki says. “You see not the signs of middle age about me, the scant silver in my air, the wrinkles at my eyes?”

“Um,” Tony says, staring at Loki’s hair with an analytical eye and seeing no trace of grey. “No?” Loki laughs, and the sound rings like a distant bell. He’s pretty when he laughs: Tony notes the fact with a little bit of guilt. It’s been a long time.

“Your guess was correct the first time. I draw close to three-thousand and a score.” Tony shivers, feeling the immensity of that, of three thousand years. God. That’s— That’s freaky. That’s damn weird.

“And a score, huh?” Tony repeats, a little airily. He can’t quite keep the mockery out of his tone, and it makes Loki pause for a moment, glancing at him with slight surprise—

“Mr Stark,” says a voice from across the room, and Tony glances to the guy that enters. He wears a tunic like Loki’s, form-fitting and showing off the build of his chest under the silken fabric. Instead of black, he wears green, and the thread and the accents are a shining gold instead, matching the colour of his hair. He has a charming smile on his face, his blue eyes glittering with delicate amusement, and he moves like a dancer, all but skipping across the floor. “If I might present to you, sir, Taneleer Tivan: the Collector.”

He steps gracefully aside, and Tony looks at Tivan for the first time in— God. Thirty years at least. Tony’s no longer the little boy standing awkwardly at his father’s side, more distant that he’d like to be, unsure where to put his hands or where to stand. Tivan had looked down at him, imperiously looking down at Tony from the length of his nose, and Tony had been hyperaware of how dark the stripe on his chin was in comparison to his skin, how soft his hair had looked. Tivan had seemed like a creature of hyperbolic proportions: the black too black, the white too white, the eyes too deep, the nose too strong…

But he’d seemed tall, once upon a time. Ridiculously tall.

They’re the same height now, six foot two, an it feels strange to meet eyes with him, to look him in the face.

“Mr Stark,” Tivan says delicately, and he beams, showing white teeth and letting Tony shake his hand. They’re a little cold, Tivan’s hands, and Tony shakes the hand he’s offered firmly, watching as Fandral moves to stand behind Loki and speak quietly to him.

“You want me to detail your life support systems, right?”

“That is correct,” Tivan says, giving a small inclination of his head. There is a secretive smile on his face as he continues, and he glances over Tony’s shoulder before he does: “It will take some time, to perform all the… repairs on your own, even with the assistance of your drones, but I would rather… have somebody that I can… trust.” Something flies through the air, whistling past Tony’s ear, and he flinches: Tivan catches it out of the air before it can drive itself into his head, and he looks at it impassively. He doesn’t flinch. It’s a short blade, a throwing knife made of some kind of titanium alloy, and Tony moves to stare at Fandral and Loki. Fandral’s eyes are wide, and he is glancing between Loki and Tivan both, but Loki is scowling, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. “And, ha. And also, of course… Somebody I cannot afford to… miss. Here in the museum.”

He tosses the knife back, and Loki immediately hides it somewhere in his tunic, but where, Tony couldn’t hope to guess. As soon as he has the blade back, he turns back to his work, continuing to shave the ice away from the wooden thing in his hands. His tight shoulders relax, and Tony doesn’t think he imagines the slight quirk of a smile on his face.

“Uh,” Tony says. “What the Hell was that?”

“Loki… sees slights where there are none to be seen,” Tivan says slowly, not without some amusement, “Please, Mr Stark. Come… with me.” Tony follows Tivan down a walkway and then up the stairs, moving into a clinical room not unlike a doctor’s office. Insects in glass cases line the upper parts of the walls, neatly sectioned out, and there is a mix of curation equipment and computer hard drives, and Tivan gestures neatly to a chair before his metal desk. Tony sits down, leaning back into it, but Tivan remains standing, leaning back against one of the counters at the wall.

“Who are they? Loki and Fandral? What kinda names are they?”

“They are Asgardian,” Tivan says, shrugging his shoulders. “They are… Hm. Hard workers. Well. Loki is.”

“Why keep the other one then?” Tony asks, and Tivan laughs, the sound resonant and rumbling.

“They come as a pair,” he says simply, shrugging his shoulders. “But you are not here to ask… about my hiring practices. No? You are here… to work.”

“Last time I was here, Collector, I was with my dad, and we owned the biggest tech company in the sector. Now, I’m a two-bit engineer rocking around the universe in a souped-up motor car, and you don’t want to ask why that is?”

“I know why that is,” Tivan says immediately. Tony sees the understanding in his eyes, sees the comprehension: he knows exactly what happened back on Earth, back in that solar system. He keeps on top of the news, as much as he pretends to be isolated. “Family tragedies… So hard, I am sure. They do not affect me, or my museum, or my planet.” He says it uncaringly, without even the remotest piece of sympathy.

Tony feels relief.

“Okay, Collector,” he says, clapping his hands together. “Tell me what you need doing.” Tivan smiles, and Tony wonders, not for the first time, exactly how old he is. Thirty years and he hasn’t changed a bit, has stayed exactly the same even as Tony’s become a teenager and a young adult and now a middle-aged engineer, and Tivan…

It’s not a good thing to think about. It’s scary, creepy.

He doesn’t want to think about it.

He decides not to.

Ϟ ❄ ϟ ❄ ϟ ❄ ϟ ❄ ϟ ❄ Ϟ

It’s on the sixth day of working on Knowhere that Tony sees Loki again. Loki is in the marketplace, sitting alone at a Jostori restaurant and eating with one hand, his right hand clasping a book. Tony always thought books would be rare, once he left planet Earth behind him, but they’re not – most space stations and planets have tons of them, and it’s only meeting people on small ships with limited space that you only see e-readers or electronic publications.

“You, uh, you eat Jostori food, huh?” Tony asks. He leans on the half-wall that closes the outside of the tables the restaurant has outside, and Loki glances up from his book, apparently surprised at being addressed. He looks Tony up and down, taking in the overalls he’s wearing, the streak of system coolant he can’t quite get out of his hair, and won’t be able to get out of his hair until he can get into the sonic shower on his ship. The job is big – damn big. Tivan had been right about that. It’s gonna take Tony maybe two years planet-side to revamp the whole system, and he and Tivan had worked out a system of order. He hadn’t been clear on why exactly Tivan wanted his entire life support system rewired and detailed, but… He’d given Tony a folder of potential pests he could expect to find, and at least six of them had been the size of dogs, so maybe that’s why. “That stuff,” Tony says. “It’s pretty, like, acidic, right? That stuff would kill a human.”

“It isn’t difficult to kill a human,” Loki replies smoothly, but he leans back in his seat, setting the book down, and he meets Tony’s eyes. Everything about his body language is open, relaxed: even his thighs are spread a little, and his left foot points in Tony’s direction. His lips quirk into the smallest smile, and Tony finds he likes the look of him, likes the way he looks with his tunic unbuttoned to the middle of his chest, bearing the silver vest he wears underneath. “You’re so… fragile.” Tony thinks of New York, thinks of the whole thing in flames, dashed to Hell with nearly everybody in the city dead, and all because of his company…

He swallows the thought, and does his best to put it behind him.

“Loki, right?”

“Loki,” he agrees, and when Tony puts out his hand to shake over the wall, Loki takes it. If he’d thought Tivan’s fingers were cold, they’re nothing compared to this guy: Loki’s hands are as cold as frozen marble, but his smile is— Well. Not soft, exactly. He looks like he’d eat Tony alive.

“I didn’t know Asgardians could eat acidic food either. That stuff’s like, what, a pH of three or four? That stuff’ll burn right through most people.”

“I’m not Æsir – Asgardian,” Loki says smoothly. “I hail from a planet named P’jar: the Asgardians and the people of Earth alike know it as Jötunheimr. My people have always eaten tough foods, fermented meats… Acid comes naturally to us.”

“So, if, uh, if I kissed you… What, you’d melt my tongue off?” Loki laughs, the sound full to the brim with dark amusement, and he sets his chin upon his hand, looking at Tony like Tony’s some fun new toy.

“I am a shapeshifter, Anthony,” Loki says softly. “There is no facet of my form that does not change, does not alter, with but a whim on my part.”

[breakingmllc]

Women Veterans Back The Blue I've Got Your Six Colorful T Shirt

Hand In Hand with Strength of Our Economy May Now Action Begets Action over the past Few Months We Learn What Essential Rising to the Challenge Not to Leave Learned Who Is Essential to Just the Wealthiest among Us President Who Fights His Fellow Americans Rather Than Fight the Virus Killing in Our Economy It’s the People Who Put Their Own Health Risk to Care for the Rest of Us Day at MVPs and Nurses and Doctors Utility Workers Truck Drivers and Grocery Clerks Childcare Workers the Parent Teachers and Mail Carriers Autoworkers so Many of These Essential Workers Lost Their Lives to Come Nearly Always and Healthcare Workers by the 170 000 People across America Including Five year old Girl Named Skyler from Detroit Guzman Is a Women Veterans Back The Blue I've Got Your Six Colorful T Shirt Police Officer Is a Firefighter Generation after Generation Nation Has Been Defined by What We Can Learn What We Fail to Do so for Skyler for Her Parents in the Memory of All Those We’ve Lost but His Heel As One Nation Let Us Find Strength to Do the Work Nodding Then Israel Will Remember Every. Me know and I will blame it will on the you know about anyone and invite friends data had a bad evil conflict items asked mashed and maybe a will kind of felt like that will be the can and 80 minus the ditzy to not to headings keep needs using expensive. And that’s important because life testing being done is not as they being done number one of the covert 19 virus number two in saliva or respiratory fluids and thirdly the virus dies the quickest in the presence of direct sunlight under these conditions and when you look better look at the aerosol as you breathe it put it in a room 7075 20 many low humidity last half life is about an hour yet outside cussed down woman and half very significant difference when he gets it with UV rays to present while are many unknown links in the covert 19 transmission chain we believe these trends can support practical decision making to lower the risks associated with the virus if I have my while I

Source: Women Veterans Back The Blue I've Got Your Six Colorful T Shirt

Women Veterans Back The Blue I've Got Your Six Colorful T Shirt, Hoodie, Sweater, Longsleeve T-Shirt For Men and Women

Women Veterans Back The Blue I've Got Your Six Colorful T Shirt

See more: Being A Biker Is An Honor Being A Grandpa Is Priceless T-Shirt

Premium This Summer Season will Presents Who Love:

All things kinematic think he’s gonna make you the vice president by will be doing the lid to a Women Veterans Back The Blue I've Got Your Six Colorful T Shirt media is until Thursday he’s taken for this campaign needs to let you know I you can run indisputable whatever the hell is you could run that the Democrats he got the fake is being used upon and yet they correct their own pot and then you have the rhinos in the rhinos have the van and a cigar rhinos that I’ve eaten so badly over the age of the rhinos of people to do the every one of those guys just about IP because they all represented a client in the primaries and is saying he did a good job is a smart guy like you but every one of those guys take God not smart people but he wants to terminate religious liberty destroy the suburbs of the strike and saving the suburbs I’m getting right of the right I’m getting rid of the regulation project see a beautiful house congratulations you like having a nice project next year has set up a cell and with it comes plenty of crime that’s why they keep saying we only think he’s. Ross also goes to stark industriesand purchases some sonic add ins to help against the hulk regattas some less heavy news that she’ll agent whose colson’s friend melinda may starts datingand when she marries this dude called andrew garner’s now heroesand weird more crazy stuff has been happening for a while so she’ll start up the idea of the avengers initiative this program is designed to bring together a group of remarkable people so when humanity has to face a threat that’s too intense for regular old shield in the military they can help defend the planet experiencing this up as the director of shieldand so is getting eyesand people of potential interest for starting with bruce banner he goes in undercoverand finds banner in a bar somewhere which to me doesn’t seem the patient should be if you’re trying to stay calm but whateverand since into shield agents with the most generic names possible petersonand johnson to get the context banner but it goes a little sidewaysand better hoax outand runs away meanwhile back at youand century afterlife human young child called catcher can control her powersand is causing a lot of damage she runs awayand ends up in the middle east were filled colsonand the women they are simply shield to take her down is forced to kill small child to save the day which is obviously a little upsetting so she retires from fieldworkand takes a desk joband also causes her marriage to kinda fall apart now there’s this fun michael keaton type guy called adrian toombs living a good life for the wifeand little daughter called lives family is everything to tombs to support his family he starts the tomb salvage company which cleans up messes left behind by big incidents which seems like a pretty good idea as the world is getting moreand more superhero eand where their superheroes there are classic cities okay this time I start to get a little muddled here I know there’s a bit of a debate over which year the original aromatics basin but for a number of reasons that don’t really want to get into company in 2009 some people say it’s only like movies released some people since 2010 I personally think it makes no sense if it’s in 2009 especially in relation to iron man twoand other future films I meant to his sickness afterwardsand it features the stark expo 2010 so anyway you should matter that much but it is worth mentioning is still being a billionaire playboy at one point he gets into a bar fight get some assistance from his best friend james rhodes rhody a little later he was in order for something but what I status get it for him because he’s too busy sleeping with reportersand you know doing tony start things despite his playboy in us he also has something of a relationship some kind of flirtatious thing going on with his assistant pepper potts also he’s got a bodyguard called happy to see you know to start industries is still in this morally great business of selling weaponsand tony doesn’t really care because billionaire life but no but I saying the strategies the company for less than legal means he starts equally sign weapons to a terrorist organization called the 10 rings inand also pays the 10 rings to kill tony when he goes to afghanistan because I know but I can when the company tony free however they only kidnap tony once they realize who he isand manny build them weapons to use in the whole process tony is mortally wounded but his life is saved by fellow captive hellionsand mental health ins inputs electromagnet in his chest which keeps the shrapnel in there from killing in which tony benson turns into his dental pet project the arc reactor 10 rings also demand more my for staying because of who they had to kidnap vocalsand sent by shield to go talk to stijnand lindsay is back to shield offers to god himselfand save stark button cure for whatever reason tells them not to start building the weapons that the terrace demanded over three months stark with the help against them as a weapon I suit of armor that he can use to escape which is powered by that arc reactorand is just over this time start also earns a bit more humanity while this is happening natasha romanoff now a great agent of shield is sent out on a mission to escort a scientist in a run hydra sends out the winter soldier to kill the scientist he does so by shooting through them enough after those few months stark uses the armored suit to bust out of prisonand kill some terrorists escapes but yes it is killed along the way start crashand the desertand picked up by the militaryand taken home tony’s a changed man now so people stuck industries on the weapons business which obadiah is pretty pissed about thatand also you know tony is not dead then he is running the company yet tony also get closer to pepper spray a new art directorand start continue to refine his armor make you much slicker matter more weaponsand doing a little hot rod written there eventually he turns into what becomes known as the iron man suit this does take a few months so while all this is happening a woman called colleen wing who is pretty proficient in martial arts comes to america from japan she needs the crew to one of those ancient hat membersand gets recruited as a member of the hand but she’s under the impression that the hand is a good organizationand doesn’t know about all the mass murder of kellyand now the sweet mullet is putting a takeover of the world the first he’s got to get this extreme misting perfectand he needs firebreathing henchmen so he finds a bunch of army veterans who suffered serious injuries to be his test subjects injects them with extremistsand some are successful they grow back last lensand their super grateful some are not successful thoughand explode in a very painful way also at some point here in asgard double click a guy called in near tries to overthrow dennis king but he stopped by thor just a typical day for those guys now back on earth the 10 rings find stocks first armor suit that he escaped with lying around in the desertand they start piecing it back together stijn shows upand sees itand thinks back use thisand so start building his own giant iron man suit all of this is happening continues to make a suit way better now can flyand she repulsed blasts in STUFF he also gets a fancy ad about the systemand into jarvis after his dental butler theory is still quite intrigued by the sole tony stark character solutions vocalsand into talk to stark about this whole situation but stuck ambos moss tony also finds out that some of his companies weapons are still terrorists in afghanistan certifiesand kills a bunch of them because he can is a little brush up in the militaryand canada has revealed his buddy rhody that yeah he’s ironman pepperand finds out that stijn’s been working with terrorists sustains like well that everyone knows a bag I now let us look at tony myself yells exceeds by tony so live closeand goes with pepper to discover stains own iron man suit turning it back to full strength puts in a suitand instead have a consistency punch up stark winsand stained eyes the next day at a big press conference stuck supposed to tell the world that iron man is some kind of robot bodyguard they built but he goes a little off script I am guessing is more in touch with shield while stark is getting this press conference at the manco that guy how stark screwed over all those years ago who is now out of prison dies while watching it is on I think of us take revenge on the stark familyand in a surprisingly short time uses his dad’s old art director blueprints to make his own arc reactorand uses that to make an even cooler iron man suit just kidding he makes some electric lips after the press conference nick fury approach to stark himself this time about the avengers initiative is a guy with a super high tech suit could be useful the time is like air now thanks as he’s leaving starks house cure and tells them don’t need natasha romanoff or this one goesand also helps train this random guy called hendrix to be an agent of shield unimportant detail but it happened all this time jesse don’t forget bruce banner still running the military ultimately ends up in rioand start working at a soda bottle factory all the while stirring to contact a scientist called samuel stearns was trying to find a cure for this whole whole thing is to keep a low profileand figure out how to return to a normal life so she was getting mighty busy these days not only to have the soul avengers thing planned but they also start a project tahiti shield still has that creek corpse just lying aroundand after testing it they discover some of its bodily fluids have a healing effect they can bring someone back from the dead fury orders this project we started with phil colson in charge to extract some these fluids in the event that an avenger is killed in action needs to be brought back to some of the sun dying shield employees but it doesn’t go super well because they start going insaneand drawing maps about underground cree city cyclesand like well this program sucks let’s shut it downand so they do stark stone during the life of being a billionaireand also superheroand starts helping establish world peace as iron man going aroundand being a terrorists he also tries to have a relationship with a woman called lena as you know playboy however the 10 rings find out about thisand kidnap lena’s son afterwards blackmailing her in his dealings ireland blueprints for them however to find out about this because of the situation thenand saves her sonand then stop seeing each other is like how you come back from that stark is like seeing his assistant pepper potts does well peace mission continues as he stops group of 10 rings dudesand hackers from selling as weapons in italy also recovered some stolen paintings because why not messages continues to fight the 10 rings especially in afghanistan as he doing this serializes the corpus arc reactor is slowly poisoning him so he start searching for a cure over in brazil bruce banner is working at soda bottle factoryand one day he asked because his hand so some of his super blood goes in one of the soda bottlesand kill stanley which gets the governmentand military write on the sent now back over to hydra they’re working on yet another super soldier program because that seems to be all they can do after rascal serumand making roma peopleand after their attention to making a superpowered army by combining the super soldier serum with gamma radiationand some of that sweet extremist tech that they somehow got their hands on basically taking every superpower giving thing the mcu entering it in a big melting pot it’s called the centipede program that’s led by john garrett from before you must use it for his own purposes since even with the parts his health is failing also with the program you can plan your either let’s hide or see everything you doand also can kill you if you start doing something wrong another very kinsman like almonds lena starts running the stark expo 2010 to shove a budget attackand relationsand whatnot shows up in the flash to really be the tony that the world knowsand loves my cousin all great for tonio as he also has to govern the senate some of whom are members of hydra is there like the government you have your suit because it’s really dangerousand tony’s like hello claims that no one is close to kings techand he’s created well peace so the government should shut up testifying against him is the somehow smug or induce your tony stark justin hammer is rival in the tech world get out of thereand make up about the ceo stark industries okay nothing start to get a bit more complicated because the three different plot lines all happening at once so hang on lake erie sends natasha romanoff to go undercoverand keep an eye on tony understand the 10 rings are pretty sick of our menacing at their livesand so they get anton blanco was completed his arc reactor based whips away into the monaco grand prix which tony will be attending back in brazil the army’s tract number spends locationand attacksand where he lives the command of a mobile on ski first comes the hulkand runs away waking up in guatemala the next morningand deciding he should go back to his old university to look for more data on finding a whole cure because he just can’t take this anymore roadie who is now also that she needs a strike in the study to work with the governmentand starting to get mildly heated between them romanoff arrives at tony’s place is of the pill in a woman’s coffee unstuck steam so she starts throwing up so natasha can deliver some files to stark yourself to natureand acts exactly how you inspect them to tell youand goes to the monaco grand prix as promisedand stripper places a guy in the race is a guess you do that when your superhero is having a fun time driving when ivan manco shows upand these car in half luckily tony’s gotten on the go armor with himand he defends himself later tongue the bank on prisonand getting really nothing out of it this public display of other art directors being out there though but the government even moreand tony’s ass justin hammer sees thisand breaks I got of prison when him to make iron man like machines for hammer tech so he can upstage tony stark thank you goes along with this but really dispels bunch drones so he can later on post some sweet sweet revenge tony starting poison buys arc reactor in the publics against in the government on his backand himand his best friend are on great terms tony’s life sucks right now is this it was a big drunken birthday party for himself which ultimately ends with himand roadie getting the students who fight roadie not being told the drunk guys off of the suitand gives it to justin hammer unaware of what hammers actually doing behind the scenes meanwhile agent jasper said well she’ll agentand another undercover hydrogen is ordered to keep track of bruce banner one exterior goes to help start with his are correct poisoning also there are big disturbances in the atmosphere on this time in the southwest us caused by some commotion away in asgard which will get you that this concerns some people including astrophysicist jane foster she get in touch with another astrophysicist called xl bigand go to new mexico to check it out she’ll discovers this is happeningand keeps an eye on them now way back across the universe in asgard authorities finally of the age where he gets to be the new king even though he’s areaand a spoiled bratand locus jealous but hay is getting corrugated it’s his big day but it gets interrupted by the frost giant sneakingand owns vaultand trying to take away that casket of ancient winters point is that was really upset that his days ruinedand also that the frost I spokeand we know so that is bossy consisting of f than the warriors interchangeable coffee oppenheim to fight the frost giants for what they did this is specifically against oden’s instructions but again thor is dumband arrogant a fight starts but only comes aroundand breaks it up is pretty mad at the door so takes away all his godly powersand his powerful hammer mule near creekside note the owner was made from the core of a dying starand helps to control his lighting powersand also only be lifted by whoever’s worthy of it store down to earth new mexico specifically is harold’s land somewhere nearby as well as activity theory since vocalsand down to new mexico to check out all the business on his way their closest oxen armed robbery at a convenience store because he’s just not good back to start tony’s hang on a big doughnutand has a talk with a fury who wants to help them also natasha romanoff reveals himself as black widow to them justin hammer starts upgrading the armor really gave themand changes it from this to this while that’s happening tony discovers a map of the old stark expo at secret formula for making a new element that his dad left him all of those years ago which is also the perfect replacement for his arc reactor somewhat conveniently so yeah that’s fixed tony’s no longer dying now you just worry about the crazy russianand the smarmy businessmen at this point bruce banner is also gone back to the old university hang out with an old friend of his now justin hammer showing off his ivan banker design drones at the stark expo but vanco goes for zone motives of killing starkand hijacks the dronesand sends them after tony also hijacks the war machine armor with roadieand it is chase during which tony says a little kid is a fan of his called peter parker come in to play more later eventually ready to control the soup back in himand tony team up to destroy all the drones while black widowand tony’s bodyguard happy fightsand I got henchmen eventually tonyand 35 vancoand a giant iron man type suitand blowing them upand killing him by combining the repulsive powers hammer gets arrested gets a kissand really gets the armor kind of soup from not okay when the question meanwhile back in new mexico jane foster xl bigand jane’s friend darcy find thor all powerless like in the desert daysand then set into the hospital she also started asking thor’s hammer mule near owner realizes how big business in the situation could be so also sends clint barton to help closeand with it the escape from the hospital using his asgard trainingand meets up with janeand they start having a little bit of a romance back in asgard loki discovers that he is not shielding sonand I frost giant which makes them pretty upsetand falls into a deep sleep that has to take once in a while called oden sleepand locus is playing a treacherous plan to get owns approval back which involves the frost giants to attack inand then saving his dad’s life is adopted that not his real dad back with banner bruce meets up with bettyand they get back together however in the process the military figure out he’s thereand have for the locationand the loss gets injected with a version of the super soldier serum things to ross tobin take on the whole which means he can survive this sort of thing seeing gen. Help ourselves otherwise all the chocolates would just end up sitting in his cupboards for a year and he wasn’t about to get kids year old suites come next Halloween we basically had the jackpot thinking we could just rinse the old fellow of the suites and make up for the paltry amount we collected over what had been an unusually fruitless trick or treating session only he said there was one small problem since he was getting on in years and then get out much his oldest grown up son had come by to drop off all the suites along with his usual weekly shopping then without having thought it through his son and put all the suites in the top cupboard of his back pantry one that was way too high for him to reach without doing is back in if a couple of us were willing to help them reach the cupboards and take a few tens of supreme in the process suites were ours all of them 90 you’re thinking God’s name is daft enough to just wander into a complete stranger’s house in the middle the night apparently we were and See Other related products: I Don't Understand Your Specific Kind Of Stupid But I Do Admire Your Total Commitment To It T-Shirt

[recentanimenews]

An Introduction to the "SAIYUKI" Anime

An Introduction to the SAIYUKI Anime... As Told By a Fan Who Read the Manga Almost a Decade Ago

By Dee Hogan

After being off the air for nearly 13 years, Saiyuki has at last returned to grace our televisions with attractive men beating the crap out of each other while waxing poetic about their dark-and-stormy pasts. But with Saiyuki's previous anime seasons scarce and its manga volumes even scarcer, you might be hesitant to check out the new series.

  Well, fear not! I, an ardent Saiyuki fan who read the manga as it was coming out almost 10 years ago, am here to provide you with the story exactly as I remember it. Which is to say: Very vaguely! Now you, too, can enjoy Saiyuki Reload Blast as if you were right there with the rest of the fandom, reading the manga in the mid '00s, selling the volumes to help pay for grad school, and now racking your brain to piece together the semi-existent plot of that gloriously feelsy action series you still love so very, very much.

  Come along with me on this journey, won't you? This journey...TO THE MAX!

Caution: Loving irreverence, questionable accuracy, and spoilers for the Saiyuki and Saiyuki Reload manga below. Content warning for mentions of child abuse.

  But First, a History Lesson!

Saiyuki began as a manga created by Kazuya Minekura. Well, I guess technically it began as the Chinese novel Journey to the West. Saiyuki is based on that classic epic, in the same way that Taco Bell is based on Mexican food.

Journey to the West is a Buddhist-inspired comic adventure story that follows a monk, a monkey king, a half-pig man, and an exiled immortal as they travel to India to retrieve sacred sutras. It's a complete story that has been translated in its entirety into English, unlike the Saiyuki manga, which is neither complete nor fully translated. Tokyopop imploded (along with half the U.S. anime industry) in the late '00s, leaving us one volume short from finishing Saiyuki Reload, and we've seen neither hide nor hair of the manga since. I am still salty about this.

  Pictured: Saiyuki sexily locked out of the U.S.

  The anime adaptations have fared somewhat better, at least: the three TV series (Gensomaden Saiyuki, Saiyuki ReLoad, and Saiyuki ReLoad Gunlock) were all released in the U.S., as was the film (Saiyuki Requiem) and the most recent OVA series (Saiyuki Gaiden). I only caught about 15 episodes of the anime, but my memory is that it's a reasonably faithful adaptation, albeit one that tones down the R-rated elements and adds a bunch of filler stories. Depending on where you live, you can stream both the original TV series and the Gaiden OVAs, but the two ReLoad sequels are confined to dusty DVD shelves for the time being.

  And if all these title variants are confusing you, then congratulations! You're well on your way to being a Saiyuki fan, because they're confusing to me, too. Saiyuki is to manga as Kingdom Hearts is to video games. The series has been running off and on for twenty whopping years, and it's splintered in a  bunch of directions along the way. For now, all you really need to know is that the central story goes Saiyuki, then Reload, then Reload Blast. Everything else is prequels and side stories.

  As for what that central story is all about, well...

    The Story!

Saiyuki takes place in Shangri-La, a fantasy world created by plucking Chinese fiction and history fruits from across the centuries, tossing them in a blender, and adding a splash of good old-fashioned manga tropes for spice. Humans and youkai share the land, six-shooters are as common as swords, and the main characters ride around in a jeep that's actually a dragon. (Or is it a dragon that's actually a jeep?)

  Things are going great until a youkai sorceress hooks up with a mad scientist and they start brainwashing youkai into murdering the faces off every human they can get their hands on. Then the local humans start panicking and murdering the faces off every youkai they can get their hands on, whether they've been brainwashed or not, and pretty soon everyone in Shangri-La is starting to feel pretty Shangri-Low.

To keep the peace, the local Bodhisattvas decide to send their Top Man, Double-Oh Sanzo, out West to find the culprits and tell them to knock it off. Our priest is joined on his quest by three companions: Goku, Gojyo, and Hakkai, each with their own uniquely upsetting backstory and particular set of skills. They're also all youkai (or at least youkai-adjacent), but they've been equipped with handy-dandy power limiters to keep them from going berserk like the others.

  Together our quartet travel across the lands, getting into scrapes, fighting off the minions their mysterious antagonists send after them, and frequently threatening to kill each other as they journey ever Westward, hoping to one day reach their foes and stop their nefarious scheme.

    And I'd tell you all about that nefarious scheme, but I have straight-up forgotten it. The Big Bads' oh-so-sympathetic underlings are prominent in the original Saiyuki series, but then they have to take an extended spa vacation, so most of Reload is one long semi-self-contained arc about cowboys and necromancers. It's GREAT, mind you, but all the tension and shootouts and good good angst have shoved what's-her-name and scientist-face and their plan to do something-or-other straight out of my head.

  Honestly? It doesn't matter. Saiyuki is about the journey, not the destination. More to the point, it's about the people you get to hang out with along the way.

  And speaking of...

    The Characters!

  There are a lot of compelling supporting characters (mostly antagonists) who drift in and out of the Saiyuniverse, particularly Kougaiji and his merry band of Youkai In Need of Hugs. But the story is carried by its four protagonists—most of whom you're also going to want to hug, and two of whom may try to kill you if you do—so you're gonna want to get to know them.

    A chain-smoking, booze-slinging, trigger-happy, permanently irritated Buddhist priest, he's the current holder of the Sanzo title and the wielder of some very powerful sutras, though he's usually content to keep those stored away and just shoot people in their dumb faces instead (all faces are dumb to Sanzo, I'm pretty sure). He met his trio of party members through various traumatic adventures and brought them together, offering them a chance to start over. Despite his grouchy exterior, deep down he's a good guy.

  ...Deeper than that. No, further. Little further. There it is! See? Good guy.

  Sanzo's history is told in fits and starts, which is to say I can't keep it straight anymore. I feel pretty confident saying he had a rough childhood, because this is Saiyuki we're talking about. And I know he witnessed his master's murder and it messed him up right proper. I have a working theory that Mr. Mad Scientist (Jianyi! That's his name!) is involved, because he used to be a Sanzo priest himself and sure seems to know a lot about our Sanzo, but take that with a grain of salt. Sure would make for some good drama though, yeah?

    Goku's the youngest-looking of the gang and often acts like it. Don't let that fool you, though: He's actually a powerful monkey king who was imprisoned on a mountain for hundreds of years. His memory's as patchy as mine, so all he really remembers is being lonely and then Sanzo freeing him and then him not being lonely anymore. See, happy things do happen in this story!

  Like another Son Goku you may know (who's also based on the monkey king in Journey to the West, by the by), this one fights with a staff and loves to eat. He's generally cheerful and friendly, but if you take off his diadem, he gets real angry, and not just because that diadem brings his whole outfit together, you uncultured boor. Mostly it's because the diadem is his power limiter, and removing it makes him hulk out somethin' fierce.

  I know this is the part where I'm supposed to say “you won't like him when he's angry,” but berserker Goku leads to some of the best fights and dramatic beats of the series. I like him when he's angry a lot more than I should.

    Half-youkai, half-human, Gojyo is the child of a “forbidden” affair between the two species. A literal redheaded stepchild, he was abused by his youkai stepmom and shunned by society at large. He had an older brother he loved (not like that, you pervs) who stepped in to defend him, to the point where he was eventually forced to kill his own mother to protect his brother. The two eventually meet again and it's... it's real sad, y'all. Gojyo's backstory is real sad.

  Nowadays he's a foul-mouthed gambler who likes to pick fights with Sanzo and quarrel with Goku, but he's maybe the most loyal member of the team and (despite being the least powerful) doesn't hesitate to step up to defend others. An asshole with a heart of gold, more or less. He fights with a sickle-flail that doesn't make sense but looks real cool, and he's technically a womanizer, but don't let that stop you from 'shipping him with one of his teammates. Gojyo is Extremely Shippable, you see.

    There are two kinds of people in this world: Those who think Hakkai is the best character in Saiyuki, and those who are wrong. Since the rest of the team has zero chill, Hakkai has an excess of chill to balance them out. Perpetually smiling and perpetually The Saddest, he's the team peacemaker and magic user, the owner-driver of the Dragon-Jeep, and a secret badass. Hakkai has removed his power limiters exactly twice, and exactly twice he has ruined his opponents. Other fun facts include: Can and will drink you under a table. Technically died once to save his friends. (Don't worry, he got better.)

  His backstory is basically one big D: emoji. Born a human, he had an older sister he loved (yes, exactly like that, you pervs) who was kidnapped by the resident evil youkai noble. Hakkai slaughtered ONE THOUSAND MUTHAFUGGIN YOUKAI on his way to rescue her, but she died anyway because Kazuya Minekura is a cruel, cruel manga-ka. Also, it turns out that when you slaughter ONE THOUSAND MUTHAFUGGIN YOUKAI, you, uh...turn into a muthafuggin youkai yourself. Womp womp.

  Hakkai wasn't doing so hot after all that. In a fit of guilt and despair, he even ripped out his own eye to appease a vengeful youkai (he eventually replaced it with a fake one, and got a rad monocle to match). He was ready to rip out the other eye, too, but Team Sanzo showed up in time to slap his hand away and offer him a new life and a second chance. They're his FAMILY now and he loves them VERY MUCH and they all need to PROTECT each other and—

  Er. Ah-hem.

  So. Uh. Yeah. I used to scour eBay looking for a UFO doll of this guy because that's how badly I needed to give him a hug. Hakkai is Best Boy. It is known.

    Okay, But What's it About?

  Kicking ass and having feelings and looking damn fine while doing it.

  And if that's not enough for you, then here's a bit more: The title of the manga (最遊記) is a play on the Japanese title for Journey to the West (西遊記). They're both read as Saiyuki, but the manga replaces the kanji for “west” with the kanji for “most” or “extreme.”  With one simple character, our journey to the West has turned into a journey... TO THE MAX!

  And, honestly, that's what Saiyuki is about. Big expansive world, big bombastic fights, big heart-on-sleeve emotions, big tragic histories, big meandering narrative. Everything is cranked up to 11. The series first ran in a shounen magazine (targeted at boys) before later finding a home in a josei one (targeted at adult women), which I think speaks to the way it dances between all those extremes: From rip-roaring action-adventure to character (melo)drama and on over to broad or black comedy before bouncing right back to one of its other modes again.

    Is it over-the-top, unfocused, and unapologetically packed with shipteases and emotional fanservice? Oh, yeah. One hundred percent. But, all teasing aside, I love it. I used to devour new volumes in one sitting, cheer out loud during the fights, bite my nails when my boys were in danger, giggle at their down-time bickering, and lap up all those theatrical, quasi-philosophical monologues.

  I love it in a way that's hard to put into words because it's so intricately tied to being a stressed-out high school/college kid in the mid-to-late '00s, but I think it comes down the series' overall tone and message. Because, despite its many moments of levity (particularly in the early going), as bullets fly and youkai rampage, the story always comes back to a bunch of sad-yet-defiant survivors trying to make it in a world that seems fundamentally, maybe even permanently broken.

  It's devastatingly grim at times, but even at its most dismal, it always manages to offer a kind of skeptical hope instead of just pessimistic tragedy porn. “Everything is terrible, but I'm not gonna give up,” in essence. Or maybe more to the point: “Everything is terrible, but I have people who support me, so I can get through it.” And there are times even now when that message has been a comfort to me, melodramatics or no.

  Saiyuki is too gleefully ridiculous, both in terms of world-building and staging, for me to take it too seriously or champion it as A Great Classic That Everyone Should Try. Frankly, if you read “a jeep that's actually a dragon” and didn't at least crack a smile, you probably should have walked away right there.

  Even so, with its raging battles, skewed sense of humor, smokin' hot anti-heroes, and willingness to dive head-first into sensationalized but nevertheless sincere explorations of trauma, depression, community, and identity, it scratches a particular itch and does so very effectively. Saiyukiis intense and bombastic, as overloaded with bullets as it is with feelings. It's stylish, heartfelt, top-tier trash, and I can't wait to roll around in it all over again. Lock and reload, gang. It's gonna be a blast.

  About the author, Dee Hogan

Dee is a nerd of all trades and a master of one. She has bachelor’s degrees in English and East Asian studies and an MFA in Creative Writing. To pay the bills, she works as a technical writer. To not pay the bills, she devours novels and comics, watches far too much anime, and cheers very loudly for the Kansas Jayhawks. You can hang out with her at The Josei Next Door, a friendly neighborhood anime blog for long-time fans and newbies alike, as well as on Tumblr and Twitter.

  SAIYUKI RELOAD BLAST is available for viewing now on Crunchyroll!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com