#and is trying to prevent the literal cybernetic apocalypse

[a-couple-of-notes]

why write something for a movie you unequivocally enjoy when you instead can write something for a movie that deeply frustrated you on so many levels that you cannot bear to watch it even for research purposes and which only fits the prompt in the most insane of metaphorical stretches?

[greyias]

This is not fair of me to ask, I'm sure you have plenty to do, but there is this post on reddit titled, "Is there an enjoyable way to read about SWTOR plot? I have fallen ill right after playing Umbara and I would very much like to know why certain someone did what he did, but I am unable to play and wookiepedia is quite a dry read. " He explains he has seizures from playing video games. I was wondering if you had something written that would help him out, or maybe you could write something?

Oh no, that poor guy! That really sucks to be invested in a story and then not be able to see how it turns out!  I’m going to guess videos/playback of them have a similar issue  🙁 

I totally will agree with him that Wookieepedia is definitely dry, but I’m going to boldly put this statement out here: it’s also incorrect.

At least the articles on Fractured Alliances were (and a few other TOR era articles I came across), to the point where I actually got really angry reading them because the assumptions were just so... blatantly wrong. And not well sourced. (This is a strange hill for me choose to die on, but I will go defend it nonetheless.) Granted I haven’t looked at them in several months, so it’s possible they’ve been updated since then? 🤷‍♀️

I haven’t written a full write-up on what happened in Fractured Alliances, but honestly I’ve been meaning to? Because the Wookiepedia articles irked me that much, I feel like someone needs to rant at length and correct them. I’ve just, erm, got a bit lazy and distracted and haven’t done so. Mostly because there’s actually a lot to cover, and a lot of misconceptions to correct, and sourcing is hard yo.

BUT! I can do a cliff’s notes version really quick to get him some answers. Although if it’s possible... maybe just link him this post in private if possible? Mostly because there’s some pretty big edgelords over on Reddit, and they make me tired (which is why I stopped even going over there to look at things).

Also I still haven’t quite lived down Gravedrog yet. I still can’t believe that blew up to the degree it did.

BUT! I can talk about Theron Shan, and his motivations all the live long day. Probably too long if we’re being honest. And I’ve definitely invested far more thought and energy into understanding what happened in this storyline (and why everyone did what they did) than is probably rational. But hey, we all have to have a hobby? And apparently mine is dissecting rushed/truncated video game storylines and their implications on characterization.

The TL;DR: Theron does what he does in Fractured Alliances to protect both the Outlander and the Alliance. And eventually by extension of the plot, everyone in the galaxy

(Whether or not a player or Outlander agrees with his methods for going about it is another debate entirely, but Theron definitely had his reasons, which were noble in intent, as all roads to hell are said to be paved with)

(Sorta) Cliff’s Notes Version of Fractured Alliances:

(okay this isn’t that short, but I promise it’s a lot shorter than it could be)

Once upon a time, we find a junky old spaceship in the swamp. We ignore it whispering creepily to us and a bunch of warning signs and decide to adopt it anyway

Sometime later, the entire cast of KOTET takes a reluctant field trip (see: KIDNAPPING) to Iokath. 

While there, some stupid droid turns to Vaylin and says “Hey, you want to erase all of these Gemini droids free will?”

Because the entire expansion of KOTET got cut down by literally half, a lot of characterization shortcuts are taken and Vaylin’s like “HELL YEH”

All of the Gemini units are mindwiped save for one, a creepy little scarfed explorer who was off exploring Hoth or something. We get one e-mail from Hylo about this droid at the end of KotFE Chapter 16. 

This lone Gemini unit, named Gemini 16, is traumatized by this and she’s like “Fuck having sisters! I want to be an only child!” and decides she wants to murder her entire droid family. Apparently it’s the only way to be sure this never happens again???

We defeat Vaylin, Valkorion, and take ownership of a shiny new fleet! Neat! Also, we install the Fleet’s control console with a known security flaw that we ourselves tried to exploit in KotFE (see: The Gemini Frequency) into the heart of our operations on Odessen. I’m sure no traumatized, misanthropic lone Gemini droids or crazy Zakuulans will use this to their advantage.

Oh wait.

Some guy we never met hates us because two kids were arguing over a piece of bread in the street. 

This genius is named Vinn Atrius. He’s our villain.

He says “THANKS OUTLANDER-BAMA” and “We always had plenty of bread before YOU showed up!” and “Zakuul can’t just conquer and force everyone to bend to our will anymore :( :( :( :(” and “Won’t someone think of the children????” and decides he’s going to murderize him an Outlander. And the Alliance. 

He decides to become a terrorist and frame us for his terrorist acts. 

When he’s not starting whisper campaigns about how the Outlander is this horrible tyrant that must be stopped

Theron gets wind of Vinn’s plans, and decides to pretend he wants to be a cultist too! -- Vinn wisely slams the door in his face. This is the only wise thing Vinn ever does.

Vinn’s not a very good mastermind, so scary droid lady (GEMINI 16) says “Here honey, let me help you find a giant apocalypse machine”, although she doesn’t say honey because she hates everyone who’s not her

I actually skipped Iokath but I swear to god that’s an entire post unto itself, but someone tries to murderize the Outlander. Theron’s strangely calm about this. We’re supposed to think that’s because the TR8R WAS HIM ALL ALONG

This is stupid and goes against every characterization of Theron Shan up to this point in canon. I literally need an entire post to go into this, and am trying to keep things short.

TL;DR: This lady tried to murder the Outlander because ?????

I’m pretty sure the person behind the mask is the Scion, Oramis, and this part of the story/explanation got cut when they condensed everything.

Oramis and the Scions are also another post/explanation entirely

Gemini 16 lured everyone to Iokath

the full explanation is a post unto itself

but it’s the only thing that makes sense (with her motivation, Vinn’s motivation, their entire dialogue on their first meeting -- again, I’m trying to keep this “short”)

Sixteen literally has recordings of Team Outlander talking about who could have lured everyone there -- implying she was in the Iokath mainframe the entire time they were there on Iokath Fieldtrip #2

also, Vinn Atrius is as dumb as toast

🍞

Theron is actually pretty pissed about someone trying to murder his boss/best friend/girlfriend/boyfriend. And he’s pretty sure he knows who it is. So he goes into ultra THERON LOGIC mode -- which is to say, he becomes an overly paranoid loner -- and decides to infiltrate a death cult.  (again). As you do.

Because via intelligence reports that are for some stupid reason hidden behind group content, he already knows that some conspiracy against the Alliance is afoot. And that they’re being watched. Apparently Lana forgot to read all of her Intelligence dossiers???? 

Since he knows we’re being watched, but can’t figure out how, logically the only thing to do is without any backup whatsoever, try and infiltrate the Death Cult that slammed the door in his face once already. 

Luckily for Theron, Vinn Atrius is a dumbass and says “IDK... you’re pretty close to the Commander”

Theron says “Would a face like this lie to you?” while making this face in the cutscene: 😡  

Vinn’s like “When you’re right, you’re right! Blow up a train for me?” 

Theron: AHAHAHA SURE. I LOVE BLOWING UP TRAINS

Theron, Mentally: ...well, crap. I guess I could tell the Commander about this. BUT THE WALLS HAVE EARS--WAIT I HAVE A BRILLIANT PLAN

Theron proceeds to concoct the most elaborate stage play known to man, which includes:

Leading everyone to the front of the train

Where he can lure both the Outlander and Lana into the front compartment

And shoots Lana with a stun blast, something he has never done before to someone he’s trying to supposedly kill

Then he shoots at the Commander--but not really, because he was shooting out the window on the front of the train

Then he shoots again at the Commander--but not really, because he was shooting at the controls to bring up a shield that prevents the Outlander from following him

And oh no! Now there’s a shield between them, what a tragedy, I guess he can’t pretend to shoot at the Commander and miss for a third time. Guess it’s time to monologue like a Bond villain. What can ya do? It’s not like he has cybernetic implants that help him be an expert marksman. God, that’d be embarrassing.

Since he knows that he’s being recorded by some unseen person, he really hams it up for the camera. He makes this face again, because he’s decided it’s part of his tr8rsona: 😡

The Outlander can react in a variety of ways, but if one of those ways is “UM WTF???? WHY DIDN’T YOU TALK TO ME???” he suddenly breaks tr8r character and goes “I thought about it... but then you might have talked me out of it--AND WE CAN’T HAVE THAT!” 

if you romanced him and say you still love him he makes this face: 😭

And then literally tells the Outlander how to escape from the train before like going “I’m really gonna blow up this train -- in thirty seconds -- gosh it would be a shame if you were still on this train in thirty seconds. When it blows up. When I pull the trigger. That I’m about to do.”

The Outlander leaps off the train, out of the convenient exit point Theron made, with Lana. They’re respectively like “?????” and “🤬🤬🤬🤬”

Vinn thinks this all very convincing. Sixteen is facepalming in the background. Vinn doesn’t listen to her. We don’t see any of this, but it’s kind of implied in future dialogue.

If you’re dating Theron and didn’t try to Force choke him, he sends you a letter going “I STILL LOVE YOU -- CAN’T EXPLAIN WHY I DID THIS BUT ILU PLZ DON’T FORGET ILU oh yeah and the alliance sucks and stuff i guess -- ps. ♥︎♥︎♥︎”

This is apparently something a tr8r would do, because Theron is Vinn’s go-to guy now. And decides to give Theron the task of retrieving a map to this place called Nathema so they can find a giant death machine to kill the Alliance.

Oh wait. That place called Nathema. That Theron has been to before. And knows the exact coordinates too because he was the pilot that flew them there. The place that Valkorion sucked the entire life out of and made a giant wound in the Force. THAT NATHEMA.

This is the part where normal people might think “Maybe I should reconsider my plans”, but they are not Theron Shan. Who shaves his head, throws away a jacket he’s been wearing since he was like fifteen, and heads over to Chiss space, to steal/blow up a map to the Ancient Death Machine.

Actually it’s revealed/hinted at on Iokath, on Copero, and then clarified once again in Nathema Conspiracy, that this machine is literally the Apocalypse

It wipes out entire worlds’ populations in an instant

Background lore indicates that its hunger is endless and has been waiting to rise again and there’s like prophecies about this

If activated and not stopped, this machine will literally annihilate all life in the galaxy

Theron blows up some more things at a resort, runs bravely away away, and then OOPS OH SO ACCIDENTALLY broadcasts his call with the Death Cult, who say their name on camera.

Shockingly, the Alliance intercepts the accidental-on-purpose broadcast and now know the name of Theron’s new cult: The Order of Zildrog

Then like forever and a day passes in real life, but who knows how long in game time, but I guess it’s like, six months or less according to a line of dialogue -- and finally Lana and the Outlander mysteriously get coordinates to a myyyyysterious abandoned outpost. 

And by mysterious, I mean that Lana is the only one who can decode said coordinates because she and Theron came up with the encryption together on Rishi

It’s almost like he’s working from the inside or something

But if you tell Lana that she’s like “NO HE’S A TR8R GRRR THIS A TRAP”

It is not a trap

Lana and the Outlander wander around, and find a bunch of recordings someone conveniently forgot to erase detailing a bunch of infodumps that’s way too long for the Cliff’s Notes version, but boil down to showing and implying an entire novel’s worth of backstory:

Vinn’s manifesto

Theron unconvincingly pretending he really likes death cults

Vinn staring at numbers from data he got from Iokath and zomg Zildrog is reallllll -- the legends of his mighty hunger and DEATH DEALING are true! Squee! Just what he needs to get rid of that pesky Outlander!

Vinn recruiting people who really don’t like you into his death cult

Gemini telling Vinn he really sucks at this masterminding thing, but she needs someone who’s good with people so hey let’s team up!

Oh and she knows where Zildrog is

The Outlander and Lana escape before the space station blows up

Over on the Shuttle of Zildrog, Theron’s like “It’s all up to you now, Commander” and apparently Vinn hears that and is like “Hey Theron, did you remember to erase all of our super sekrit recordings and blow up the space station?"

Theron: 👌

Vinn: 👍

Sixteen: 😒

Back on Odessen Lana’s like “I KILL DA TR8R” regardless of your feelings on the matter as an Outlander. If Arcann’s still alive he’s like “Hey Commander, maybe go easy on Theron? I know the value of forgiveness. Maybe he had his reasons?”

You get corroborating information of literally everything we just learned on the Space Station OF DOOM and Lana’s still like “Nope, still gonna shank me a tr8r! No one tazes Lana Beniko and lives!”

I assume it’s a fun ride to Nathema

Okay I joke. She’s just being protective and "logical”, but honestly if you select literally every single dialogue option supporting Theron throughout this story, illogically Angry Lana can really start to grate after a while

On Nathema, we follow a myyyysterious signal -- to Theron. To the surprise of no one except Lana who’s like “JERKFACE STAY AWAY FROM THE COMMANDER”

Theron proceeds to tell an extremely abbreviated, and slightly more straightforward version of everything above. 

If you’ve romanced him, he reminds you that he promised to do anything to protect you. 

This includes shaving his head, updating his wardrobe, blowing up a train, and putting up with Vinn Atrius’s shit for months on end

The things he does for love

Lana still doesn’t believe him. At this point if you want to, you can be like “Lana plz” and she’s like “OKAY FINE--BUT I’M WATCHING YOU TR8R”

Gemini 16 was watching the entire exchange. Looks like SOMEONE’S cover is blown. Oh well, Theron was done with it anyway.

Vinn is SHOCKED. SHOCKED I TELL YOU.

HOW DARE

THERON????

HOW COULD YOU?????

YOU FRIENDED ME ON SPACEBOOK

WAS IT ALL A LIE

I KEEL HIM

Sixteen is just like “whatever let’s go activate Zildrog”

Vinn: Is this why he kept insulting our Lord and Savior Valkorion?????

Team Outlander fights their way to the site of the Ancient Apocalypse Machine. They meet Shroedinger’s Cultist along the way via holo. 

He/she/they says “hi/plz die”.

There’s sixteen candidates for this spot (two for each class) -- but all sixteen are not death cultists at the same time

This is another thing that requires an entire post to delve into, so another time on that

Team Outlander arrives at the site where Zildrog was installed on Nathema -- coincidentally right at the same spot Tenebrae/Vitiate/Valkorion initiated his first death ritual to grant him semi-immortality. Fancy that.

Vinn has convinced everyone he’s recruited into his death cult to climb into these really dangerous looking pods; not surprising but they’re all basically dead -- because Zildrog required a human sacrifice to be reactivated

A human sacrifice???

In my ancient death machine?

It’s more likely than you think!

Theron shoots Vinn because he’s tired of his shit

Gemini 16 reveals that the Zildrog machine is one half of a larger death device built on Iokath. Where’s the other half?

OH BACK ON ODESSEN. Because it’s the Gravestone. Yes, I know everyone forgot about it at this point, which is kind of easy since we haven’t seen it since KOTET.

The Gravestone blows up the Eternal Fleet. Like, all of it. At once. Also the control console for the Fleet blows up too. This kind of detonates several things on base.

For some reason edgelords on Reddit think this is all Theron’s fault

As if the writers were really going to let us keep that Deus Ex Machina that would literally prevent them from going back to these same whiner’s precious Pub vs Imp conflict

And ignoring the fact that this would have been the end result even if Theron hadn’t gone undercover

I digress

Team Outlander fights Sixteen and defeats her. 

Theron goes to try and finish shutting Zildrog down and Vinn Atrius is like

And stabs Theron in the back with a lightsaber pike

The Outlander can be like 

“FUCK YOU ASSHOLE THAT’S MY BEST FRIEND/BOYFRIEND”

 or “OH NOES” 

or “ASSMUNCH I WAS GONNA DO THAT”

Vinn’s like “DRAGGONNNNNNNNN” as if he was recreating a scene from Dragonball Z, and the holo-Zildrog is like “Here, let me make you go Super Saiyan!” -- and gives Vinn a boss buff

Outlander and Lana fight Vinn and kick his ass. Then kick Zildrog’s ass. Yes, Zildrog is literally just a computer console in the center of the room, and if the Outlander more or less pulls a Kylo Ren on it

The Gravestone blows up -- everyone on Odessen is really confused

Lana tells the Outlander that “WAIT! Theron’s still alive!” -- she’s backed off her murderous rampage at this point and says we have to bring him back to Odessen to save his life

The Outlander can act like any sane person to their boyfriend/best friend/person-who-risked-their-entire-life/reputation-to-save-us/etc and go “Let’s take him home and save his life”

Or can be a dick and literally make Theron live out his worst fear of being abandoned by the people he cares about -- because despite the mountain of evidence that illustrates he literally did all of this to save your life, you can just walk away going “tr8rs never prosper”

This option shows what looks like him dying offscreen

I’m pretty sure he actually survives

Satele sends you a nastygram if you do this, where she directly contradicts a previous letter she sent (to Theron) if you tried to kill her in KotFE Chapter 12

Lana also is not happy with you if you do this, but not like, enough to actually leave or anything

Back on Odessen it’s revealed half of the members of the Alliance are fair weather friends and have abandoned you since you don’t own any super cool space ships anymore

If you brought Theron back with you, he limps up while you and Lana are shooting the breeze and asks if he can stay

You can say yes or no

If you’re romancing Lana you can propose to her around this point

If you’ve romanced Theron (and didn’t tell him to hit the road), you take an ill-advised walk as he’s still limping like crazy, where he reveals that he’s been having nightmares ever since Umbara about you walking away from him and he can never catch up

GEE WHAT DOES THAT SOUND LIKE

He says he knows he doesn’t deserve your trust or forgiveness, but still asks if you can give “your idiot spy boyfriend” a second chance 

You can say no, of course, but if you say yes, there’s a dialogue path that leads to an adorably awkward proposal

And he promises that he and Lana will stay by your side no matter what

THE END

(of that story arc)

Sorry, I know that’s rather disjointed and rushed (despite being as long as it was)! But for such a rushed ending/conclusion, there’s actually a lot of moving parts to the storyline as whole. 

At some point in the future I’ll try to actually expand upon some of those tangent points of “I need more time to explain this properly” -- because there’s a lot of them, and a lot to them. Also cross-referencing the pieces of canon takes time -- but I promise there’s actual canonical evidence and logic trains that make sense for all of that.

[ljones41]

"DEADPOOL 2" (2018) Review

"DEADPOOL 2" (2018) Back in early 2016, Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Films released "DEADPOOL", the eighth installment in the X-MENfilm franchise. The movie told the story a former special forces operative named Wade Wilson, who hunted down the man who had disfigured him, while giving him special abilities. The movie proved to be a surprising hit, which spawned a sequel called . . . what else? "DEADPOOL 2".

Unlike the 2016 movie, "DEADPOOL 2" featured a different director named David Leitch. The same screenwriters from the first film - Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick - also wrote this film. However, they were joined by the film's star, Ryan Reynolds. Considering my dislike of "DEADPOOL", I did not want to see this sequel. Unfortunately, a relative of mine did. And she wanted to see it on her birthday. And so . . . I find myself writing this review. Wade Wilson had become very successful as the costumed vigilante known as Deadpool for the past two years. However, on the very night he and his girlfriend are celebrating their anniversary together, Wade fails to kill one of his targets, a vicious and vengeful gangster. The gangster interrupts the couple's celebration and tries to kill Wade . . . and ends up killing Vanessa, instead. Wade spends the next six months wallowing in grief over Vanessa's death before he attempts . . . and fails to commit suicide. In response, his old friend, Colossus, talks Wade into joining the X-Men as a mean to recover from his grief. Deadpool, Colossus, and Negasonic Teenage Warhead respond to a standoff between the police and an unstable young mutant Russell Collins (aka Firefist) at an orphanage labeled a "Mutant Reeducation Center". When Wade realizes that Russell has been abused by the orphanage staff, he kills one of the staff members. Both Deadpool and Russell are arrested, restrained with collars that suppress their powers, and taken to the Ice Box - an isolated prison for mutant criminals. Meanwhile, a cybernetic soldier named Cable arrives from the future. The latter's family was murdered by an older Russell. And Cable has time traveled to the past to kill a younger Russell and prevent the deaths of his family. There were aspects of "DEADPOOL 2" that I did not like or found difficult to swallow. I must admit that I found it difficult that Vanessa was killed off so early in the film and literally "fridged" for the sake of Wade's character. I must admit that some of the gratuitous violence shown in the film for the sake of comedy is still a bit hard to swallow. However, chances are I will get used to it. Also, a part of me wishes that the movie had featured a bit more of the X-Force team that Wade and his friend Weasel had recruited before most of them were wiped out. But I have two major complaints about this movie. One, the major story arc for "DEADPOOL 2" - Deadpool's attempt to prevent Russell Collins' death at the hands of time traveler Cable - seemed like a re-hash (read: ripoff) of Rian Johnson's 2012 movie, "LOOPER". My second major complaint about the movie focused on Cable's fate at the end of the film. Deadpool managed to prevent Russell from becoming a murderer . . . and killing Cable's family in the future. This meant that Cable's trip to the past should have been averted. So, why was he still around in the early 21st century? Hel-lo?? No one else noticed this major faux pas? Another faux pas featured appearances by James McAvoy as Charles Xavier and members of the X-Men who were featured in "X-MEN: APOCALYPSE". All I can say is . . . WHAT?? "DEADPOOL 2" is set in the early 21st century, not the early 1980s? What were Reynolds and the other filmmakers thinking? Looking back, perhaps it is a good thing that "DEADPOOL 2" seemed like a rip-off of "LOOPER". At least this allowed the film to actually possess a solid narrative . . . unlike the first film. Unlike Rian Johnson's 2012 movie, Wade was no younger version of the murderous Cable. In fact, Wade's initial concern for Russell's fate seemed to be a case of paying lip-service for the sake of using their situation to keep his mind off his grief. I must say that although I was initially put off by Vanessa's death; I liked how Reynolds, Reese and Wernick used Vanessa's "ghost" to finally Wade to be serious about preventing Cable from killing Russell. And due to this new determination of Wade's, led to his formation of the X-Force team. It was at this point that the film rose to a higher level and when I truly began to enjoy it. Watching Wade and Weasel recruit members for the new X-Force team was so much fun to watch. I could say that the pièce de résistance of this sequence was the team's efforts to free Russell from a prison-transfer convoy and defend him from Cable. It was violent, somewhat gory and yet . . . rather funny. Dark humor at its best. My other favorite action sequence proved to be the last one in which Deadpool and a few others that include Cable, try to prevent Russell from committing his first murder - against the orphanage's headmaster. I must admit that I found the cast phenomenal. Ryan Reynolds' portrayal of Wade Wilson struck me as even more impressive than it was in the first film. Reynolds managed to walk a fine line between humor and pathos, as he combined his usual Deadpool schtick with the character's continuing grief over Vanessa's death. Another first-rate performance came from Josh Brolin, who did a great job in combining Cable's murderous intent to kill Russell in order to prevent his family's deaths and his constant annoyance at Deadpool's needling humor. Zazie Beetz was sensational as the good-luck prone mutant, Domino, whose sharp wit and constant good luck managed to get under Deadpool's skin. Another excellent performance came from the young New Zealand actor Julian Dennison, who did a great job in conveying Russell Collins aka Firefist's rage at his abusive headmaster and desperation to escape. The movie also featured very good performances from Jack Kesy and Shioli Kutsuna. Stefan Kapičić (voice of Colossus), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al), T.J. Miller (in a reduced role as Weasel), Karan Soni (Dopinder) and Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead) all reprised their roles from the 2016 film and were entertaining as usual. Morena Baccarin gave a humorous, yet poignant performance in her few brief appearances as Wade's fiancée Vanessa. And Eddie Marsan was suitable creepy as Russell's abusive headmaster at the orphanage. Those actors who briefly appeared as other members of Wade's "Team X-Force" were very entertaining - namely Terry Crews, Lewis Tan, Bill Skarsgård, Brad Pitt (surprisingly) and a very funny Rob Delaney. What else can I say about "DEADPOOL 2"? Well . . . my father did not like it for reasons that elude me. I, on the other hand, enjoyed it very much. And I never thought I would, considering my low opinion of "DEADPOOL". One of the film's mid-credit scenes featured Deadpool using Cable's time traveling device to kill the "X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE"version of his character and Ryan Reynolds before he could write the 2011 movie, "GREEN LANTERN". Frankly, I think he should have killed the writers of "DEADPOOL" instead. But if that had happened, I do not know if "DEADPOOL 2"would have been made. Thanks to a talented cast led by Ryan Reynolds, the movie's screenwriters and director David Leitch, I enjoyed the film that much.

[the-heroic-changeling]

So in my original fiction I mostly play around with three universes

And I’m thinking of collecting three longer stories together, one about an event in each universe.

The universe I have written the most on is A-2. A universe similar to our own, in their world the November 2016 election lead to the rise of vigilantes and superheroes in order to combat white nationalism. This started in the USA with the Drone, and then in Britain and Mexico came new superheroes. Most of my canon stories in A-2 take place in Britain, in the city of Birmingham. They follow the Silken Seer, an autistic superhero who fought with cloth bolas and a transformable dress. Over the course of her adventures she gained a sixth sense, and other heroes emerged to help her. Two were powerless street medics who tended to the homeless, while the third was a freed victim of an attempt to replicate the Drone. This is Psyborg, whose chemical treatments and implants allow her to create explosions of force. Literally a “psychic cyborg.” In these adventures the Silken Seer had to fight Scamper, a version of her from another universe. In the end of my first year of writing for her Birmingham was irradiated by tears in space and abandoned by the British government’s aid, and the locals named their city ““Burningham,” because of the radiation burns and the heat the event caused. Since then the superheroes of Burningham have worked to try to support everyone in the city, even as martial law continues to be held over the city. Ironically despite martial law the new stories as more optimistic, the apocalypse already came to Birmingham, now it is time to rebuild and care for one another. ALos the Silken Seer has a girlfriend now. I have a whole collection of stories about A-2, along with one A-2 story to go in the second collection with tales from my other universes. 

A-4 is a universe nearly identical to A-2, but the one story I wrote about it focused on the Mexico heroes. In both universes they use retractable chainmail power armor powered by kinetic batteries. The armor was invented by an autistic sister and she and her brother alternated using the armor as Cadena to fight human trafficking. Eventually their autistic surrogate younger sister joined them, becoming the high leaping Grasshopper, whose kicks could rupture steel doors. She was the one who invented the kinetic batteries. In A-2 the brother was injured and lead to a schism in the group where the sister become the only Cadena and more brutal, while the brother and Grasshopper leapt to travel Mexico, reinforcing small towns with her batteries to defuse the violence of earthquakes as well as using the stored energy as back up power. The Grasshopper of A-2 was the one who rescued Psyborg from being turned into a living weapon. On A-4 the injury never happened, so the trio are still close and still in Mexico City. The Grasshopper has equipped cars and buildings with her batteries, letting the cars have backup power when oil is scarce and protecting the buildings from earthquakes. Also the Grasshopper never rescued Psyborg, so in this reality she was turned into a cybernetic psychic weapon. In the story I wrote about A-4, she and her fellow “Gjallerthralls” went rogue from their mercenary company creators, and formed a radio based hivemind This ““Rat King” is hostile to anyone outside the hive mind, as the heroes of Mexico let them down. In Britain of A-4 Birmingham was never irradiated, and the Silken Seer does not have a girlfriend. The Grasshopper does though.

A-1 split off from A-2 and A-4 in the eighties, when the Chernobyl disaster was a lot more devastating, irradiating and killing most of Eastern Europe and Asia, along with some of Africa. Far right fundamentals used fear of radiation to come to power, Reagan for one turned the USA into a bigoted theocracy. Propaganda portrayed queer people and the disabled as products of the radiation, subhuman freaks to be pitied at most, purged at the least. The aids crisis was even more severe and the disabled and queer folks became second class citizens, often lobomotized to be fixed. Work camps were viewed as a mercy for both, as it was a way for them to contribute to society instead of just being euthanized. At the same time Reagan pocketed more money and abandoned infrastructure, causing whole towns to collapse from neglect and roads to wear away to nothingness. Education plummeted and so did healthcare, and slowly technology is regressing. Most of the USA satellites have fallen apart, and few are replaced. In Asia the surviving parts of the People’s Republic of China have swallowed up most of South East Asia, with Hong Kong as a new capital. The Vietnamese and other south East Asian ethnicities are second class citizens, often having to salvage resources from the radioactive north. Being close to the wastelands there is a lot of fear about cancer and mutation, and is just as extreme as America towards the disabled and queer. This is the universe I wrote about the least, in part because it is so depressing, and in part because it requires so much world building. Scamper is from this universe, as an autistic she  was experimented on, and the process gave her the ability to open portals through space. She proceeded to start to slaughter much of the leaders and eugenists of her world by dropping them from hundreds of feet in the air, along with teleporting queer folks and the disabled (especially autistics) away from the reach of their dystopian government. She build them an island on a sand bar, first teleporting sand there then old WWII and Korean War submarines, for the refugees to use as homes. She then buried these submarines in mounds of sand, the entrances on the sides like a Hobbit hole. The refugees have combed together heating and lightning, fishing for their diet. At this point A-1 has been able to jam her teleporting, so she can’t easily continue her purge of vengance. She instead went to A-2 and later A-4, trying to get weapons from the more advanced realities so her followers known as the Rats could help her fight. At the same time she purged those realities of eugenists, trying to prevent A-2 and A-4 from becoming like her world. She is a villain, but she is not the worst monster. At this point I only wrote one scene taking place in A-1, and no stories taking place on it. I’m not even sure what I would want to write about, or how I could. Scamper wants to destroy the dystopian governments of her world, one of her goals is to rearm the abandoned nukes of Russia and destroy anywhere her teleporting is jammed, including cities. The stories I would write for her would all be violent revolutions, but since she is still the better option in A-1 I am not sure how I would execute that. 

@jogress @thefingerfuckingfemalefurry @akirakan @majingojira just a little rambling about my original universes, because gosh I have worked on this multiverse since November 10th of 2016. Hence why A-2 starts when it does.