#and we didn't know shit about him. unless you read the comics thought

[bookwormlover10]

Me watching JoJo bizarre adventures, batman beyond, the rest of the Dcau and teen titans

Me : ant it nice when a show ACTUALLY RESPECT THEIR MANE ANTAGONIST! * Look at the owl house *

@ursa-the-stranger thanks for the Creation

[kalinara]

I'm not sure if "made me watch" is meant literally, as Scott is in the area and physically watched it go down alongside the rest of his space team. Due to her own omnipitence I think Jean knows but is refusing to indulge Xavier. Even if the FTA Infinity comic reveal is a retcon, the conversation at the end of X-Men #35 still works to convey that she knows his shit and is refusing to step in for him. That said I got the impression that he meant it when he admonishes himself for trying to explain himself and leaving the clues. He spends most of the Forever and RoPX going 'oh they're better off without me :( '. This comes off as pushing them to cut him off rather than putting in the work to improve. It also means he's still controlling why it's happening, rather than facing the consequences of his unplanned fuck ups.

Maybe it's just me, and I admit that I'm always inclined to read Xavier's actions in the worst light possible, but I actually do think it's literal.

If you look at the pages from Fall of the House of X #4:

So we have Xavier pulling Scott into a psychic mindscape that resembles the old mansion.

Scott, admittedly, is pretty angry about the whole "Did you join Orchis" thing.

Then we get this:

Tangentially, notice the commander? I don't think he's a clone. The others, sure. But that guy is talking, responding emotionally, and freaked the fuck out.

They show him again in another flashback somewhere else but I've been unable to find it.

Unless the series addresses it at some point, I'm always going to kind of believe Xavier murdered that guy.

So then we get this:

Scott's not looking at the window when it explodes. He's clutching his head and yelling at Xavier to stay out of it.

I guess it's kind of ambiguous, but the way I'm reading the panels, Scott didn't just see the ship blow up from space in the last panel. I think he saw what we saw in the previous page.

Maybe Xavier didn't mean to do it*, but to ME, it looks like Xavier somehow took him along when he commanded the clones to act.

Scott would have the right to be furious either way, but I did read this as literal. (*And honestly, purposeful. Though I'm not sure what Xavier thought he was gaining there.)

--

As for Jean, I do think you're probably right that she knows. But I think that she's not going to get involved until or unless he asks her directly. Which would involve Xavier having one of those conversations that he really doesn't want to have.

But I will try to be fairer to Xavier, I think he has conflicted impulses. I do think on some level, he thinks he's sitting in Graymalkin to save them. And I think that he does believe not telling them is the best option.

But that's the problem with Xavier. He does a lot of very cruel things for what he thinks are very good reasons.

[icedjuiceboxes]

Do you ever think about if the whalers actually meant to kill Jessamine in front of Emily?

Like, maybe I missed details about them and Daud. But I swear they never torture targets unless deemed necessary (ie for information). And Dishonored isn't the game to hold back on horrible things people done to others. There's lots of notes/books detailing shit what gangs have done, and its clear gangs tortured people, to either make a point or revenge. but the whalers? I can't recall any mention of it. I only remember reading they're a) really fucking good assassins and b) Daud and the outsider.

So to kill a mother in front of her daughter? Traumatizing her like that? I think it was another mishap. Another mistake they didn't plan for just like Corvo showing up two days early. I think Daud was meant to kidnap Emily first.

When he shows up in the gazebo, the first thing he does is grab Emily. Maybe it was so she didn't run off, but with his abilities? It's not like she couldn't have ran far. Jessamine then attacks Daud to release Emily, and that's when his attention is turned to her and he stabs her. Then, the whaler holding Corvo releases him to grab Emily as she tries to run.

But what if. He also didn't expect Emily to be there either. We know Billie was involved with the assassination. But we don't see her at all during the attack. Why would she not be there for the killing? The most important part of the mission? Because she was the one tasked to kidnapping Emily. Daud handles the killing, and Billie was trusted with the kidnapping. So what if Billie was in the Tower, searching every room for the young empress that should have been there. Maybe Emily had a lesson, but as soon as she caught wind Corvo's ship was returning, she rushed out to be there to greet him.

Anyway. Some food for thought. Also I need to explore Daud's regret of killing an empress, but does he regret killing a mother? And Emily deserves to confront his ass about it. If only I had a comic about that- oh wait I do. And 3 parts are out already hahahaha. Wow crazy.

(Read that here)

[darkseed-two]

Oh about the feederisation explosion moment death.

I think. Personaly. Dark Seed could have leaned more into the sexual and Giger (thematic) horror. It's the first thing DS1 shows. But then it is kind of Over apart from the bad ending. Sad.

It would be comically out of place with DS2's general tone but idk. Guy probably has some kind of alien brain impregnation trauma, but we don't get to see that facet explicitly iirc.

I suppose I mean that it ends up just being the catalyst, then Mike is just like "damn……… anyway. the battery still works! also I didn't kill anybody."

I'm thinking too much about this stupid funny game and it wouldn't have been the done thing at the time but…… I continue to think anyway.

Unrelated. Have you noted how the dream sequence that in baby head -> mike head -> scargy head -> sküll dream, his head is on the same mount design as the heads on the generator in the sequel. I thought that was mildly interesting.

gonna say this two things real quick before anything else 1) honestly if i had the chance to go back in time and change anything about the darkseed games i probably wouldn't as theyre so perfect in their own garbage way / doing anything to them would give them a different energy. and 2) i am probably going to get SO dark(seed) with what im about to say so please forgive me. that being said lets get down to business (to Defeat. The huns)

read more divider put here because this shit is gonna be looooong

I agree with you 100% about the missed opportunity of the sexual thematics of gigers art being implemented more into the game; as much as i wouldnt want to actually change anything about the game, if somebody told me to go nuts with a remake or something i would absolutely get a little freakier with it

yes! literally 80% of gigers works are abstracted visuals of sexual penetration so its a mystery to me as well that it didn't get more of a focus. They already borrowed the whole forced male pregnancy thing from the Alien movies, so why not just go apeshit? All of the deaths in ds1 dont really have anything to do with those themes (unless you count the library drekketh guard/weird vagina-looking skull creature impaling him in the chest) so. missed opportunity. i think the main reason why they never leaned into that is because they didnt want an X rating. it wouldve killed any chances of making money as pornographic games got hidden behind the counter back then

This next part is long and probably a bit tedious to read so i apologize, but i just.🤷i gotta get my thought process out about this whole thing- mainly the two main takes, the chad "ancients are real" vs the bitchass "mike is just crazy" theories.

If you go with the whole "its all in his head" bullshit, I feel like the first game would imply that he was orally sexually assaulted the first night he moved into the house. & him being like this plain boring straight cis man who does nothing but ad work all day, that shit clearly fucked up his mental health SO bad. Even with the ancients being real, being forcibly impregnated would be just as traumatizing. I know that in the beginning of the game Mike writes it off as a nightmare, but by the time he sets foot in the dark world he HAS to know that somethings wrong. i feel like it left him dumbfounded and unable to grasp the whole situation at the time with how little he says about his fetus "ailment" (mentioning NOTHING about the weird infant doll), especially going off of his final line where he says hes "only beginning to understand". After the events of Ds1, it would only make sense in Ds2 that he would finally process what just happened to him and have a completely and utterly massive mental breakdown right before the start of the game. the question that plagues me about this is who even did that to him if not the ancients? i feel like if it was a person then they did it to him in his own fucking house. Having someone break into your new home to sexually assault you would probably destroy any and all feelings of security Forever. This would also explain his belongings being missing (the movers ""never showing up"") as they could steal his stuff as well. Also, with how they emphasize his sleepiness in the booklet, it feels like the symptoms of rohypnol to me. Did he get drugged somehow & got set up to be assaulted because of the real estate agents "obligation" to the previous owners?

I don't know where he could have been drugged, though, because on that fateful day the last person he interacts with is an old cab driver named Andy, who seems to be plagued with either the ancients energy or the horrors present in town. Mike does not appear to eat or drink anything either in his travel from the airport to the house. Also, Beverly does not show up at the house, and is never mentioned again. If I had to take a guess, I'd say Beverly did show up, and that hes blocking it out of his memory.

He also forgets her name when this happens. I feel like that would further cement that he's blocking out the events of that night + this entire narrative is in the past tense + him forgetting her name at the time could be taken as symbolism of trauma response. I don't think being roofied makes you forget peoples names. but yet again idk maybe. fuck if i know. i feel like what they're actually implying is that beverly was merely a pawn (and the "family" is the ancients), which would blow Ds2's insisting that its all in mikes head completely out of the water. (I noticed that ds1 treats it more like the ancients are actually real - ill elaborate on this later). What this all means for the role of the pills at the end of the game, I don't know. Maybe Mike was secretly FtM all along and sue got him abortion pills or something idfk

I know that 1) john mckeegan is said to be the previous owner, 2) his journals in the game depict that he went through a similar torment to mike (but not impregnated), 3) ultimately ended up dying of a stroke, but this does not explain the weirdness of the real estate agent and the whole transaction if the ancients arent real. Who the fuck inherited the house when mckeegan died? are they actually out of state or is she lying through her teeth? I feel like every little bit of info from this beverly character is complete bullshit lies. the house isnt even in good structual health as players were supposed to fix the staircase in the hallway or mike would eat shit and die from falling (never implemented though). so i wouldn't doubt if she was the one who set him up to get assaulted. was mckeegans family fucking with him too if the ancients dont exist? is mckeegans family actually like this evil fucked up group of nefarious serial killers that hide out somewhere in town pillaging and raping people at night? The ds1 hintbook all make the characters drone on about how its "sooooo SCARY out here from all the MURDERS" but like no one is ever directly mentioned being murdered as far as im aware.

all of them talking up a storm about how its sooooo dangerous in town and how people keep getting murdered makes me feel like they were going for a completely different route with the game initally. I feel they were trying to make it plainly obvious that the ancients are real (more on that in a bit), but with how Ds2 changed everything this could all easily be supporting evidence that there are a lot of nefarious types roaming the streets of this town.

All of this is grounds for very sick and sadistic things you could do to this poor man or the others. texas chainsaw / motel hell / children of the corn type of shit with how vicious these mysterious killers seem to be.

Now, for the opposite "ancients are real" theory; They mention Sue having dreams of Mike asking for help- something thats barely touched upon until right at the very end of the game. Delbert vaguely implies he knows about the ancients when he says "those things" when referring to whatever mckeegan was dealing with. I can't remember where I read this but the cops in ds1 are supposedly under control of the ancients. Also, the whole Beverly situation. As much as I am a major fan of media that has an unreliable narrator angle to it (case in point: one of my favorite films ever is Total Recall 1990), I feel like Ds2 trying to insist that Mike is crazy is a direct spit in not only the players face, but on the original game as well, as Ds1 was very clearly making it out that the ancients were real. In fact, I argue that they opened up the game with that scene and had mike proclaim it as a nightmare to make the players be like Heh. Little Silly Funny Man. That Was Real! and honestly with how much everyone shits all over mike in ds2 (the writers included) it feels meanspirited and frankly ableist to give him a serious mental condition as hes framed as an annoying and pathetic nutjob + gives a completely wrong hollywood-type view of DID & the schizospectrum. Although I cannot deny that it clearly makes Ds1 a lot more interesting. Trying to figure out what would have happened in ""reality"" to him spawns a lot of ground for Nefarious and Evil brainstorming as shown above. I also kind of can't help but project schizoaffective disorder onto him. so. 🤷

For me, I have no lack of imagination for all the possible deaths mike (and co) could experience with these horrific thematics. It would probably not be wise to get into detail on that, though; when i talk about those topics it comes from a fucked up place of lustfully intense hatred and trauma-related suffering & id want to bash anyones head in who would use it as their own masturbation material. Also, just based off of that hilariously random feederism death, you could basically turn any extreme fetish into a death sentence for him. some real tom and jerry slapstick shit. like whatever the fuck was going on when moe howard got inflated and the other two stooges had to shoot him down. use mike as a clay pigeon for a giant harpoon made to look like a schlong or something idk the possibilities are endless 🌈 you can also imagine one of the big biomechanical women getting REALLY mad at mike and stomping him to death with a comically large high heel shoe

for the generator- it is pretty neat to see that reused for it. They also reused it on the far left here on the wall in the DW pool hall -

Im assuming that the Ds2 devs got the idea for the generator from this specific nightmare Mike had in Ds1. What this could mean in symbolic terms, I'm at a loss for right now. My brain juices are sapped up. Its been 3 hours writing this since I sat down and checked my notifications before I was going to watch the tooth fairy staring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and settle in for the night. It is now 1:54 Am and i want french fries from the air fryer. I will post this dangerously without proofreading and leave it for me tomorrow afternoon to fix any mistakes

edit:it fine

[fawns-excessive-comic-collection]

Batman #491: My Thoughts (Part Two)

Part One

This is probably more talked about in comics of the time that I just haven't read yet, but this is the first time I'm seeing Jeremiah Arkham and the fact that Arkham is named after a still living man. Not only a still living man, but one who's not even old and who's still in charge of the place.

I think I vaguely remember BTAS mentioning that Arkham was recently constructed, but that's its own weird continuity with all sorts of unique bits, so I didn't give it much credit. Until now I was always under the impression that Arkham was very very old and just updated with the times. Like, I was thinking 1800s.

I definitely need to read #490 for context here because I have no idea what Tim's talking about

I'm killing him. I mean, I'm sure he's trying to protect Tim from a full scale Arkham breakout, but still rude. Also my guy at LEAST call in Dick what are you DOING you loner weirdo???

I know he's being all broody and angsty, but he's so funny <3

Most of what I've read for Tim has been Young Justice, Red Robin, and a few recent comics so seeing him drawn this way is an adjustment. I'm used to seeing him much more lithe and either as a dorky awkward kid or a pretty boy, so seeing him so visibly muscular and very weirdly drawn to look Cool and Mature TM is throwing me off a little. This is such a weird period for teens in dc comics, why does he look like he's at least 20?

Well, THOSE were terribly packaged! Also why would you draw out the n here and not the u? It's so silly.

ew

Bane, the bdsm getup doesn't do you any favors, I know, but could you at least PRETEND to be a little less horny?

Hi pookie <3

17 pages into this 23 page Batman comic, we finally see Batman doing Batman shit

Ooooo I hate this guy. I hate this guy a lot already. Also hi Gordon <3

So this paired with Bane's assessment of Batman earlier tells me this arc is gonna go big on the All Lives Are Worth Saving, There's never An Excuse To Kill Unless It's The Only Possible Option themes, which is going to get.... interesting, given what I know about jpv

Pookie, I love Batman too but goddamn, you expect so much of the guy. ...I mean, you're right to, but still. He's only one man

Exploding him with my mind

Oh shit, this takes place during Death Of Superman, doesn't it? He already lost his husband, guys, be nice

aw pookie :(

Pookie retracted, what the hell kinda cry is that?????

Good lord what am I getting into

[spamtoon]

DCRC Book Club TWO !

for last week. oops. i'm so sorry puffy school and driving have been kicking my metaphorical ahh BUT. i need to read more of the funny uno comic. you have uno it came free with your ducklair tower (has said this joke like five times)

PLEASE know this is just going to be like. liveposting. rather than an analysis im typing this all while i'm reading the comic

pkna spoilers. again long post do not feel like you have to read unless you want to

please know that every time i look at an evronian now i think HOLY SHIT ! its Agron from Evron! me and my friends had a very enjoyable reading of issue 1 but this bad boy is allll me baby

i was going to say wow this penguin guy looks sick i wonder if he's an actual charcter and then i realized the big metal thing is NOT armor that is their WEAPON and i am more dsappointed but yknow what sure. we need more penguin representation in duck.verse aside from those fuck ass penguins (referring to tus.kernini's penguins)

i would also like to note that the italian sound effects are very funny. i am told there is a SPAM later in the comic and i would like to see that come to fruition

ooh? you're already at the making breakfasts stage donald? how fascinating... sorry no matter if i get an attachment to uno i will acknowledge he is forever donald's alright. the fucking way uno looks back i'm so... he's so goobity. he's such a thing. such a goober in fact

well you see uno. this vandal is a club penguin fan and is looking to recreate the box dimensio--nevermind he's not taking any of the boxes joke cancelled HAH NEVERMIND HE IS TAKING THE BOXES see i told you

your AUNT is a mutant. obsessed with the idea of donald duck using your aunt instead of your mom because of his family being full of a whole bunch of uncles and aunts its beautiful i think

angus fangus can you please get your bitch ass out of here and into the other hemisphere for me? thanks. you made donald sad. you made him so fucking sad im so (feat lyla lay swagger)

cog i ough. from what i understand from other comics the publication that tries to frame them is almost never Actually On Their Premises. this could lead to some interesting setups...

donald yyou little fucking shit. i see where the 87 triplets get it from. i mean i approve but you little fucking shit. i love that uno just goes along with it like yeah this guy's a dick let's mess him up

im appreciating how they write lyla okay. she's so Manipulative but not in a bad way you know. yes she just said she was the duck avenger but she's doing it in order to gague donald's reactions, or as donald thinks possibly tip him off? she clearly knows a lot more than anyone gives her credit for and yet here we are.

oh she fucking knows knows actually alright. alright i see where they're going with this (i dont) (i am reading with Intrigue...) wait wait my epic brain thoughts alright.t they're doing the thing where they set something up and then they have a reveal so lyla lay. just might be a mutant like time fucky wucker was talking about eh? eh?

the fucking fight scenes int his comic... the way they show the differences between weapons and just like. play with the panels. it might be standard for th medium and i just havent read hat many comics but i love shit like this

please know that if uno didn't exit camera 9 would be my favorite character. spamcore. to me. and the fucking way they portray time travel here ough. cool as fucking hell. the slow stepping forward and the Wind Effect oho. ohoho.

uno's fucking face sory i just. i too wonder how the fuck they're gonna outliquida.tor themselves out of this one becuase this. guy does in fact seem overpowered but donald probably has to deal with many more overpowered people

2 issues in and we've already introduced time police dear lord i wonder how it's going to snowball from here.

the duck avenger version of the everyone's an idiot d.arkwing falacy. everyone's a fucking snoop and its beautiful. donald is so serious here and yet everybody else is like five steps ahead of him

uno smiling is so fucking precious i don't care what anyone says its so fucking precious okay. please know i'm starting to feel important is making me emo but im writing the rest of this post immedaitely after rewatching a goo.fy movie with people so... and after three episodes that make em fucking nsnngamgsnmgngnsmgab you know

the fucking way i actually went :O over this i'm so predictable omg. that's so cool. robots... are so cool holy shit. so there's just robots everywhere alright thats Fucking Sick Actually. i retract the thing i said in vc today acab does not apply to her i think she's... a silly girl...

hey uno. you see with uno. i dont even know much about him yet. i don't want to say it for certain right now but it feels like. not quite a bright spark in terms of Level yet but like. like bright spark in that i feel like him rejecting me would make me feel good you know. yes please list all the ways that though i am mechanical i am a disgrace to all robotkind, with my primitive technology and even more primitive habits. this could change. i am on the second issue of this long running comic. but at this point that probably isn't the case. uno makes me feel like a rat in that he's beautiful and i will prioritize saving him over the various citizens in the city. not that he needs it

gay ahh wink from this mega.mind lookin ahh... dude i literally went to movie night and then when i came bakc there were like. two three pages left. but y'know what i ough. as i've said before i am invested in this thing and i have homework to do but i also kinda wanna do week three right now y'know. oughghghg i just. i'm so glad that they like gave l.yla lay an acutla purpose like i knew she had to be the only pk.na character in mudae for a reason but from her introduction i was SO worried they were just gonna have her be. The Girl Friend Character but she is shaping up to be so so so much more than that.

thank you dipshit duck for getting me to like. suck it up and be comfortable with reading comics because theres so much duckverse has in store for me and i cant wait to experience it all

[super-hero-confessions]

Billy Butcher is a genuinely worse person than Homelander and this is plain to see when you actually read the comics.

Homelander actually feels disgusted with himself when he does bad things. And he only does them because he's been led to believe he was horrible without actually having done any of the shit he's blackmailed for in the photos and videos. Including what happened to Becky.

If it's not clear. It was Black Noir, a clone of Homelander, who put on his costume, did those terrible things and enjoyed them, and then took pictures and videos to frame Homelander. Noir was the one to rape Becky, but Homelander got the blame.

And the very few things we actually see Homelander do show us how much revulsion he feels from doing them, to the point where he throws up and has a visceral reaction, like he doesn't actually want to and isn't used to it. Asking himself "what have I done?".

That's far from a spoiler at this point, these comics have been out in full, for several years now. I'm not gonna pull punches or be dishonest about it like some people confessing weird out of context bullshit either.

In contrast.

Butcher kills all of his friends, excuse me. All of the people he used and lied to and made believe he was actually their friend, with no remorse or second thought. Or at least tries to.

Kimiko. Frenchie. MM. Even Vas (Love Sausage). All of them die by Billy's hands. For no other reason beyond.

"They're supes."

Despite the fact that this is after he discovered he was wrong about Homelander the whole fucking time.

Down to trying to kill MM's momma. Down to killing Janine's fucking mother in front of her so that she witnesses it. And then makes sure MM knows that for Billy, he "ain't got no mates".

Hughie is the only one to survive because after killing the others, Butcher threatens to kill Starlight and says he won't stop unless Hughie stops him.

There's no question here. Butcher was always the bigger monster. He just didn't have the power to be as bad as Homelander could be. Potentially.

Potentially. And that is a huge fucking key word.

Barring the fact that Homelander never actually met that potential or even wanted it. Noir was the actual monster, using Billy to confuse him into believing he had, so he would try. Just so the clone could swoop in kill him.

Imagine that.

And there are still people deranged enough to think there's any kind of contest on who's worse between Billy and Homelander?

Fuck's sake, this guy immediately kills a fucking premie baby instead of trying to pacify it because it's terrified out of its mind and has powers it can't control. With a lamp.

I love the show, I love the portrayals and the jobs done by the actors. I think it does a great job touching on the important topics and themes in the comics while connecting it to current events. I do hope it has a different ending. But one thing's clear.

While the characters are fundamentally the same at their cores. They made Billy softer and sweeter while they made Homelander harder and more ruthless in order to make the dynamic more mainstream and less controversial. Which is honestly a bit disappointing.

It also makes me a little worried because if they don't find a way to navigate that well, it may mean they've messed up the finish line before we could ever reach it. They could definitely go for something more comic accurate or even include Billy killing Ryan and just not caring anymore as per typical Butcher fashion, but given that they've already chickened out on some of the more intense stuff, I can't say it's high in the hopes factor.

And a happy ending doesn't exactly feel appropriate either.

But who knows, maybe the set up is there specifically to make everything hurt that much more in the end if or when Billy betrays everyone.

And this is coming from someone who is ecstatic to see Homelander go on a chaotic rampage of blood, death, and destruction. Bring it the fuck on you goddamn chaos cockteases.

But yeah, no. It's no contest. Billy is a far worse character than Homelander in the comics, and he has the potential to get a lot worse in the show. He's not there yet, but it's pretty clear he actively wants to be and it's grating him that he isn't yet.

Guess it'll be interesting to see if that comes to fruition or if there's even some crazy twist that shows us Homelander isn't as bad as people think.

[starres-stuff]

Day 17: Sally FFXIV Write 2024

Sally: a sudden charge out of a besieged place against the enemy; a sortie.

“How did you shatter your shoulder anyways, I don't think you ever told me that tale. Did you spin too hard and fall off a stage while practicing?” 

Vi closed her eyes and let out a soft huff. She had brought Dimitri to the Archer's Guild practice range to try and accomplish two things at once; the unfortunate part of her rigorous schedule. What she thought would happen was he would sit studiously nearby and watch arrows fly from the various booths that made up the range. When she extended the offer it was the perfect way to spend time with her twin and get a bit of practice in to try and strengthen her arm. 

“There are things that others, including my husbands, do not know about me, brother.” It was the simplest answer she could give without telling him anything more, the concept of keeping her past where it was, was always her preference unless she had a meeting with Father Ashax that day. 

“Were you some kind of Ishgardian Spy in the War?” Dimitri had read too many books. This was a very true thing, in his mind as he thought about it, he found himself marveling over all the things she could have been that she didn't want to talk about. 

“She was a mighty fine Bounty Hunter is what she was.” The voice came out of nowhere, and the scowl on Vi's face appeared instantly, she was about to regret this choice even more, it seemed. 

“Ellie,” she said in a near-cold tone, turning her head to stare at the woman as she approached with that natural shit-eating grin of hers locked on her face. “Meet my twin, Dimitri.” a hand waved to the man who looked like he was about to burst from excitement. 

“A Bounty Hunter? My Sister? Miss freeze it in ice and walk away? Surely you jest? I cannot picture hunting someone or something for that matter.” A fair bit of mirth was detectable in his voice by now and his eyes darted between the two to capture each detail he could. 

“Ellie, I would--” There was no chance to get a word in edgewise, now. Animated fed animated and soon the tale was being spun as if she wasn't even there. 

“Before her accident, your sister was a hells of a fighter. When we first met her she went by Myseri. Said it was her Pa’s nickname for her. Something to do with her name being Seriphinia. If I remember right.” 

“Middle name” The Sharlayan raised an eyebrow at his Sister, this was already a side of her he had not been expecting. “But do go on.” Vi just groaned and turned her attention to the hay bales with the targets pinned to them, accepting there was no way to stop this.” 

“We had gone to Corethas, tracking down this Voidsent that had been attacking the Beast Tribes and some of the denizens of the Deepwoods. It was cold as Halone's smile that day, damn Blizzard had rolled in while we were on rest, slowed us down more than I care to admit to, but eventually we came upon this Manor House that was under siege by this crazed Void Mage and his Voidsent army. We had hidden in the interior of one of the other Manor Houses that had been ripped apart during the Calamity and used it as a shield from the attacks. Fire and Void Magic were flying in each direction when yer Sister caught sight of our mark lumbering towards a cave at the back of the Manor’s property.” Ellie stopped to breathe then and also leaned over to poke her old friend in the side to break her concentration on the shot she had been aiming for a while now. Thankfully Vi had tuned them out so well that she hardly noticed the poke. 

“So she was a Superhero like the comic you see in the one gil books!” It was remarkable how excited Dimitri was over a simple story. This Vi noticed despite her aim and she inwardly groaned at the nonsense that she heard from behind her. 

“Next thing we know this feisty little thing you call Sister, darts out of our hiding spot and right into enemy territory she goes. I still don't know how they didn't see her or any of us for that matter, as we took off running after her, found ourselves in this ice cave a couple of clicks off from where the larger fight and here was your sister with a fire arrow trained right on the bastard's lone eye, right in the middle of his forehead. Right as the attack started, she let the shot go, nicked the ugly bastard's eye, and sent it right after her. Next thing we know he's got her off the ground, some kind of void telepathy and he threw her right into the cave wall like she was nothing more than a doll! We thought she was a goner for sure, especially after we heard the bones cracking and saw her slide down the wall when he let go of her we eventually killed it, was a hells of a fight that's for sure. Then we got her a healer to care for her wounds.” 

Dimitri stood up and clapped, the sound so loud that it echoed through the small area, thankfully no one else was in earshot. “Twelve be damned, my Sister once knew how to fight. Who would have believed that.” The snark in his voice was ever so noticeable, the fact she had never spoken of any of this resting heavy on him at the moment to the point it made him irritable to even think she would hide such a great definition of who she was. 

“Done now?” Vi asked nonchalantly as she pulled another arrow from the quiver and knocked it against the bowstring. She really did hate these stories, something she kept to herself because she wanted them forgotten.

“Well, there was that one time.” Ellie started to say, another story bubbling on her lips but she found herself staring down the shaft of an arrow and she let out a peal of laughter that rolled on in an echo; even after she had fallen silent. 

[katatonicimpression]

Two entirely unrelated lukewarm takes:

I don't personally vibe with kid fics, headcanons about a ship's offspring or any of that barefoot and pregnant twee fantasy stuff. Not my cup of tea. And that's my business, no one else's. But I do kind of resent how every m/f ship gets so much of this stuff. Even when it feels at odds with the characters. Like, shocking I know, but marriage and pregnancy aren't inherently the happy ending for a female character. Idk broaden your minds that's all.

Slightly warmer take: whether or not you think Steve was ooc in endgame for leaving the way he did (personally I'm middling about it), the thing I genuinely could never see him doing is hanging around in the modern day, in his young super powered body, and still passing on the mantle to Sam. For a start, I don't think it would occur to him to give it to Sam in that scenario, even if he quit independently. And secondly, Steve ain't that nice. His motivation for giving the shield to Sam was partly the fact that he didn't want it anymore and he felt that Sam should be pleased and grateful for it. He loves Sam, and thinks that he's more than capable of doing it, but this gesture isn't entirely respectful either. Anyway, I just fully do not see it. Any of these scenarios people write where Steve is around and young and chilling and Sam is still cap just read as unconvincing. Also, guys, say it with me. Its OK if people are old. A character no longer seeming fuckable to you is fine. That's not a thing you need to fix.

In the comics, Steve's motivation to give Sam the shield is that his body rapidly aged and he literally couldn't do it anymore. Again, it wasn't just spontaneously quitting and giving it to Sam because Steve wouldn't do that - it's not what he's like. It's out of character.

When Steve gets young again he's briefly technically a different guy but OK when they get rid of hydra!Steve, he does go back to being Cap eventually at a time where Sam has already quit over the whole "my ex partner is a secret nazi wtf is happening" thing. Now sam is cap again, but they both are. They're officially sharing the mantle. Steve doesn't acknowledge Sam when he's not there. They barely work together. As far as most people in universe and most marvel comics writers are concerned, Steve is cap, and Sam is also there. This is kind of a terrible scenario for a few reasons, but I do think it's in character for Steve.

He's possessive over the title, it's absolutely the main thing in his life, even if that's lame of him. I don't think he would ever hand over the reins and elevate Sam over him as the captain America unless he was quitting super stuff entirely, and he wouldn't quit super stuff unless he was too old to do it.

And maybe it sucks that there's this in built antagonism, or competitiveness with the two caps. That they're not truly on even footing in the audiences eyes, or the characters themselves. That what they're doing with Steve is taking away from Sam. That's a shit scenario. But I will say, this isn't spiderverse. This isn't a "we're all the same superhero with our own unique twist and we coexist". That silly mini series about all the gimmicky cap characters aside, no most of the time it's this dynamic between these two men who aren't as good friends as they used to be.

And that's a downer but yeah that's my thought.

[jvstheworld]

The Buffy Re-watch: S1E8 (part 2)

I, Robot, You, Jane

How did Buffy follow Dave? He was driving a car all the way across town, how did she keep up?

Xander coming in with the useful info. He has lived in Sunnydale all his life (probably) and would know that the 3rd largest employer in the town had shut down. That would be huge news. Also his uncle worked there.

Buffy make a Spider-Man reference to spider senses and Giles does not understand. Probably thought she was turning into a spider demon. I do not want to see that.

Does anyone read out loud what they type? Just curious.

Oh Malcolm, you've showed your hand too soon my guy. Now Willow is mistrustful of you.

And back to the tech, good or bad, debate. Yes, it can help society but it can also hinder and stunt other parts to it too. Both Jenny and Giles have valid arguments, it's just about getting the right balance between the human and the virtual. That being said, say no to AI and support real people and their professions, eg artists, actors, writers etc. Please support the WGA and SAG-AFTRA during their on going strikes. Told you in my last post these tangents and rants would happen again, I knew they would because I wrote it in my notes.

So Moloch being the evil dick that he is, is erasing people medical histories as a nurse didn't know about a student's allergy and they most likely died as a result. Allergies are no joke.

Dave is being a sketchy guy and tries to kill Buffy by electrocution.

Dave was really just a good guy who got mixed up with the wrong ones, he didn't deserve his fate. But when did Fritz get behind him?

Next question: how did Buffy not notice the dead body in the room? She walked in pretty far and looked around but did not see the body until she bumped into it.

News reports on the radio in Giles' office about more shit that Moloch is doing.

Jenny knows about demons! Gasp. Though if you live in Sunnydale you probably should. It's no like they keep themselves hidden all the time.

You never see phonebooths anymore, the convenience of mobile phones rendered them obsolete. Though if you lose signal on you phone, run of of charge or just straight up lose/break your phone, phonebooths would be useful.

I kind of like the look of Moloch's tech body. It does give me Captain EO vibes though.

Okay, how realistic is it that neck breaks that cause instant death in the way the Moloch does? Paralysis I can understand, but sometimes you kind of doubt it if it really kills someone. I know he's a demon in tech body so will be very strong, but sometimes they just don't look like they would actually kill someone. Or I have seen Dr Mike react to them too much so now I'm doubting it too. But you bet your ass that I will be complaining about some of the chest compressions we'll see on this show.

A man planning an assassination attempt on his mother is not a good thing, Moloch. Unless she was a truly horrible person then could understand, but still extreme.

Our big bad is trapped in his tech body thanks to the work of Jenny and Giles and Buffy ends him with a well timed duck. I say that's good teamwork guys.

Giles is right, tactile experiences matter. It's linked so well with human memory that the absence of it can leave a memory harder recall.

Where does Jenny dangle the corkscrew from?

Buffy, Willow and Xander's dating histories will be littered with weirdness. Vampires, demons, witches, slayers and apparently a previously mystical ball of energy used to break down the barriers between worlds. Yeah, I know about Xander and Dawn getting together and having a baby in the comics. I do not know how I feel about that.

Tomorrow we talk about the horrors of puppets and talent shows.

[flaming-o-has-no-dough]

The Chainsaw Man Chooseboth Video Post

For a while now I've been trying to get started making YouTube videos so that I can externalize some of my least absurd thoughts and neuroses in a way which could profitably be added to my "Cool Creative Person Résumé"... but, uh, I've been having a hell of a month and a half. So, add to that the facts that a key component of my microphone setup has been cleft in twain and I'm uncomfortable with my voice as it is now, and I think YouTube is officially going on the backburner.

But I have all sorts of thoughts and feelings about the narrative pieces Chainsaw Man Part 2 has been moving around, and I'm so out of touch with the CSM community that for all I know, my thoughts and feelings might even be uncommon. So I didn't want to just completely abandon my plans to externalize them, so... here, you're getting This. Or you can just ignore the button which says

Chainsaw Man is one of my favorite stories of all time. In fact, even if it were just Part 1 alone, I'd put it in my S-Tier of media, alongside Deltarune (presuming future chapters don't disappoint), Everything Everywhere All At Once, Little Miss Sunshine, Picture of Dorian Grey (unless I ever reread it and it's not as good as I remember it being), and, presuming the third movie doesn't disappoint, Spider-Verse.

you can tell i'm a filthy zillennial because only two of the things on that list are from before the 2010s and only one of those is from before the 2000s

Speaking of Spider-Man, I don't read comics because I'm not a nerd.

But I have seen the original three movies, which is a large part of why the first part of CSM Part 2 which really hooked me was Denji's introduction (and I'm saying that as a massive fan of Asa who DOES like her more than I like Denji). And I do consider CSM Part 2 to have a Denji introduction, even though we already know who Denji is, because it immediately sets itself up as separate enough from Part 1 that I think it's worth analyzing as a separate work within the same franchise. And taking the first sequence in Part 2 which contains Denji as a character introduction makes it very interesting if I do say so myself.

For you see, I have watched that one Spider-Man movie which was just called Spider-Man because there weren't a million other ones yet so it didn't need any differentiators. And in that movie, Enemy Of Spider-Man called Green Person, says “Okie dokie now Spider-Man, choose which one to save, hot lady or whatever this is”.

Spider-Man, rather famously, doesn’t do it. Spider-Man chooses both.

Which brings us to Denji's Part 2 Introduction. In Chapter 102 Save the Cat, his enemy whose name I think is also Green Person says “You are a superhero now. That’s what you are now. Okie dokie now choose which one to save, hot dude or whatever this is”.

Denji doesn’t do it, but he doesn’t do it in the wrong way and chooses neither. He titularly saves a cat, hot dude and whatever this is both die.

Then we get a cut directly from a blood-and-gore-covered Denji saying "That choice was stupid, I did the correct thing rather than accepting either option" to a monolithic wall of televisions talking about how great and heroic Denji is. That’s not Spider-Man, that’s like, Homelander or some shit. Like, I wouldn’t be surprised at this point if Denji were a blonde horny manchild.

Basically, that's not how stories introduce their heroes. It's how stories introduce their villains.

So, extrapolating "Denji is the villain of CSM Part 2" to its logical conclusion, I came up with what I'll call the Unbreakable Cycles Theory. I don't want to spend too long explaining that theory because I no longer even think it's correct, so let's just hope you can understand what I mean when I say this:

Part 1: Denji is introduced, and a bizarre and unfortunate inciting incident gives him Devil Powers. -> He saves a girl from the Bat Devil -> He really likes the Control Devil [Makima], but even he can't ignore the fact that she has obvious flaws, too. -> Due to the Eternity Devil being enlisted by one of the major Big Bads, he must break an unbreakable cycle -> A lot of terrible things happen, and in the end, he has no choice but to kill his problematic fave the Control Devil

Part 2: Asa is introduced, and a bizarre and unfortunate inciting incident gives her Devil Powers. -> She saves a girl from the Bat Devil -> She really likes Denji, but even she can't ignore the fact that he has obvious flaws, too. -> Due to the Eternity Devil being enlisted by one of the major Big Bads, she must break an unbreakable cycle -> A lot of terrible things happen, and in the end, she has no choice but to kill her problematic fave Denji

Part 3: The Control Devil [Nayuta? Or a third incarnation?] is introduced, and a bizarre and unfortunate inciting incident occurs, although they already have Devil Powers. -> They save a girl from the Bat Devil -> They really like Asa [possibly non-romantic this time?], but even they can't ignore the fact that she has obvious flaws, too. -> Due to the Eternity Devil being enlisted by one of the major Big Bads, they must break an unbreakable cycle -> A lot of terrible things happen, and in the end, they have no choice to kill their problematic fave Asa (unless they can break the cycle FOR REAL this time, and put an end to the game of Rock-Paper-Scissors/Fire Emblem)

(bolded section is things which have already happened, non-bolded section is a potential extrapolation)

I do think the Unbreakable Cycles Theory is probably wrong, because CSM Part 2 has been playing with so many big moving narrative pieces and thematic ideas, while telling the story from Denji's POV a lot more often than I would have anticipated when making the theory.

Recently, in Chapters 133 and 135 (which, uh, WERE a lot more recent when I was initially making the YouTube version of this post, which was my fifth attempt at making my first YouTube video, if you want an idea of how much fruitless work I've been doing behind the scenes) the thematic relevance of a Spider-Man style Chooseboth moment has resurfaced.

(A direct link is even drawn between choosing both and the peace sign that Denji throws up all the time!)

In a lot of ways, it's become clear that choosing both is a major idea CSM Part 2 is interested in, as well as kind of an intersection between two other major ideas it's interested in, those being Western-comics-style superheroics and duality. Most notable as of right now are the duality between Asa and Yoru, the duality between Chainsaw Man and Chainsaw Man, and the duality between the Asa-Yoru-continuum and Denji.

So, with that third duality in mind, let's revisit Denji's introduction and see what it could be saying which is more complex than just "Denji is a villain this time".

Because Chapter 102 Save the Cat ISN'T just about Denji, it IS about that third duality. It doesn't just establish a worrying lack of empathy on Denji's part, but it in fact does the same for Asa.

And Denji isn’t the only one who condemns a nonzero amount of humans to death by titularly saving a cat in that chapter, either. Nor is he even the only one who immediately gets praised for it. The only reason it didn’t strike me nearly as villainously with Asa is, well… just look at her face. She might as well be saying “That was horrible”.

So, thinking about Chapter 102 Save the Cat as establishing a dynamic between the Asa-Yoru continuum and Denji made me wonder where that dynamic occurs in Chapter 127 Save the Asa. Because in that chapter, it really is only Denji who titularly saves an Asa, as far as I can tell. Even keeping the double meaning in mind where "asa" is also the word for "day" doesn't seem to change this.

There is, to be sure, a parallel to be found in this chapter, however.

As you can see in these unedited images, the dynamic has been established.

Asa saves a cat, people die, and she gets praised for it. Denji saves a cat, people die, and he gets praised for it. Denji: :D Asa: that was horrible

Asa doesn't have anything she considers worth living for other than sex. Denji doesn't have anything he considers worth living for other than sex. Denji: :D Asa: that was horrible

Yoru injures Asa to combat despair. Denji injures himself to combat despair (also take a note how blatant it is that he gleefully targets his own brain and remember that for something I'm going to talk about later). Denji: :D Asa: that was horrible

Asa and Denji are really, really similar. But something which has been made clear about Denji as early as In Content Already Adapted By The Anime is that... while he's not as stupid as he seems, he hates thinking. Introspection makes him deeply uncomfortable, so he avoids it by always acting on impulse. This is rarely successful, and he kind of ends up being quite introspective in spite of himself, but it's really not something he wants or enjoys.

Asa, meanwhile, is established as "a goody-two-shoes" in her very first chapter. But it's not long afterwards that she's just as lacking in empathy as Denji is when it comes to complete strangers (so not actually including her mom or what's-her-name). So it's clear that her being "a goody-two-shoes" isn't actually particularly tied to her moral fiber. So then, what is it tied to? Well, the way I see it is, she's striving for societal acceptance. Denji and Asa are both striving for happiness and human connection, but Denji grew up outside of society, and disregards societal norms entirely, but Asa grew up within society, and sees societal norms as the threshold she needs to cross through in order to gain that happiness. She sees widespread acceptance as a fundamental requirement for forming meaningful relationships, and "staying in line", morally speaking, as the way to achieve that acceptance.

Another way of putting it is through this diagram:

okay analysis over. you can stop reading now

[twentyyearstoolate]

"So... you're just going to, what, Ship of Theseus yourself?"

She played it off as a joke, but her eyes said differently. She was afraid. Anxious. That made two of you.

"Look, this is something I have to do. My body is falling apart - It's not like I wouldn't be replacing most of myself one way or the other. The researchers just... wanted an opportunity to document the process. To better understand the bridge between human and machine. It's all been done before, limb prosthetics, cardiovascular, behavioral implants, they've even done total nervous system replacements. This clinic is very good at what they do. They've just never done, you know... everything."

"What happens when... Are you still going to be you when it's all over?"

"I don't know."

"You don't have to do this. I could take care of you. Even if you were completely bedbound, blind, deaf, and dumb, I-"

"I'm not doing that to you. I love you too much."

"I love you too. You. Are you... are we still going to love each other? Are robots capable of love?"

"...I don't know. But if I am, I'll still love you. Forever and always."

---

"So, do you feel like you're adjusting positively?"

You sit up. How do you answer that question? You don't feel changed, not all that much. Sure, now there's an arm and a leg made of metal, and you feel like maybe you're thinking faster thanks to the neural link, and it's a little weird to get real time data about the doctor when you look at him, but... you still feel like you. Maybe you spent too much time mulling over those dystopian sci-fi transhumanist comics.

"I feel fine, doc. I guess the most unusual part of it is that I don't feel all that different. When I touch things with the hand, I still feel them. When I think, my thoughts still feel like my own. Maybe I should be more concerned that I don't really know where I end and the augments begin, but... I don't feel like I'm gonna lose my soul or go on a rampage or whatever. It doesn't feel like I lost anything, or added something that shouldn't be there, it's just... me."

The doctor writes something down on his clipboard. "That's good. The replacements thus far have been about on-par with our most augmented patients. Some report feeling a loss of identity at this juncture, or a crisis of a spiritual nature. If you have these concerns at any point, please reach out to the clinic. Otherwise, we're on track to install a synthetic heart in two weeks, with other organs to follow. Once most of your internals have been augmented, we can facilitate the switch to synthetic blood more easily, unless you'd prefer another method of temperature regulation down the line?"

"Ah... let's just stick to the script for now, doc. Don't want to jeopardize the study."

"Of course. Make sure to fast the night before surgery. We'll see you again soon."

---

Your friend walks backwards out of the theater, throwing questions at you with renewed vigor after that 90-minute intermission. He almost trips over the steps after what you tell him.

"...You're shitting me - You've been on the internet? Like some fucking matrix mumbo-jumbo?"

"Yeah. I mean, okay, it's not as exciting as they make it look in the movies, like flying around and clean and slick and white, it's mostly just looking at pages of HTML since that's what the old net was built on. And like you could have the GUI on, but since I can already read what I'm looking at it's faster to just not. Almost like being back in college."

"Damn man, you've gotta be the only person in the world who can make a trip through the internet sound boring."

"Ha, shut up." You give him a nudge on the shoulder.

"So do they have you in some sort of legal limbo right now? You mentioned you might have some trouble if the system didn't consider you fully human any more?"

"That's what they told me going into this, but so far they can't differentiate between the person I used to be and the one I am now. There were concerns about personality drift when they digitized my brain and pushed it to a server, and then back to local storage..." You point at your head. "...But so far so good. If they can tell something's changed, I sure as hell can't. For all intents and purposes, I'm still human."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but... when I heard what you were doing, I was a little worried you'd turn into the Terminator or something like that, you know? Once they started poking around your brain."

"Yeah, you and me both. I mean I guess it's not over yet, there's still 14.3% of me to go, but... aside from the biomon, who's counting, right?"

"Well, if you ever turn into Skynet I know I can at least keep your ass busy for a few hours with the Ip Man anthology."

---

"...Key lime. From that place up on 34th that we like, with the alien cow on the sign out front?" Your neural link reminds you that you could look it up, but perish the thought of cheating on this taste-test.

"Right again! I guess those robot taste buds are the real deal."

"Well, the 'robot taste buds' aren't what's reminding me of that cute little number you wore to our first date there."

"Oh? Do they remind you of what happened to that cute little number when you went to pick up our order?"

"Er... Error, servers offline, can't compute, please ask again later." You don't need the facial analytics to tell she's not buying it.

"Uh-huh. I don't think so, robot boy."

"Robot man, thank you very much."

She sits back down on the couch next to you, and lays her head down in your lap. She's quiet, for a long time.

"It's incredible. I can feel your heartbeat. It's like nothing's changed."

"I opted for the parts the doctor said would feel the most human. The rest was just biometric data, and they had loads of that from all the clinic work." You tussle her hair. "And to think I passed up jets and rocket boots for a heartbeat. Ten-year-old me would be disappointed."

"And how does adult you feel?"

"Still head-over-heels with the woman I married."

Another long pause. She turns up to face you. "I love you."

"Forever and always."

“How muach of a human’ body can you replace with cybernetics before they are legally declared a robot?”

[lavenrain]

New Teen Titans

Started reading some of the older comic issues for characterization purposes. The art style got to me for a second, but after a couple days I usually get over it, and here we are.

Issue #1

my fourth read of starfire's epilogue: i'm just gonna have to trust it'll be explained later in the issue.

RAVEN? AHEM? Ma'am get out of Dick's dreams. Is invasion of privacy just par for course in DC? (Don't answer that.)

Officer arrest this man, he made me choke on my water. (I don't know why this is so funny.) It's also interesting Dick dropped out of college, since I was always under the impression is straight up just didn't even try higher education and immediately went for the full time superhero gig.

Since most of my knowledge of the Teen Titan come from the 2003 show, I didn't know who Donna Tory was until her name came up in fic. Her backstory looks so interesting though! I'd be interested in seeing an animated portrayal of her. (Okay wait, she's in Young Justice. WAIT THAT'S WHO SHE WAS????? I'm sorry Donna.)

I could see why everyone else with their superpowers are freaks, but Robin's pretty standard here? I mean, in the context of a crime fighting teenager, which I don't think I'm supposed to be reading too much into, he's arguably the most normal. (Kind of. Those green scaly panties say otherwise.)

I love you Donna. Considering my knowledge of Starfire's backstory, I'm actually surprised she was included as a titan over Donna in the 2003 cartoon. But that robstar had to happen one way or another.

So this is Grant! Grant, you piece of shit. I mean, you get it from your father, but still. Carol, there is an orange-skinned women with giant red hair and green eyes having some sort of fever dream—how on Earth do you make this about you—oh. I was going to say something about women in superhero comics—media in general, unfortunately—and how they always seem.... wildly unreasonable for the given situation, but he's just a scumbag. Carol leave this fool.

... Interesting sentiment. I wonder what Raven told Kid Flash for him to have this change of heart, unless it's just... priorities? Not familiar with the OG OG Teen Titans before this comic run, but she did invade Robin's dreams and basically appear like "Alright guys, it's that time again" so her corporation is a little lacking. Everyone's at the mercy of Raven's visions right now. That being said: missing girl, big alien ship and green lizards with space guns, so, priorities.

This to be a nod at some interaction they had in the past that strengthened their friendship, right? Or something that Wally has seen Raven perform/overcome that morphed into a crush on her, right? Not just, I think she's pretty. Right? Tat's what I thought at least before Donna agreed, so this might just be a thing that Raven does.

Yes, Dick! Get away from Batman and start your own thing. (I'd personally start with a costume change, but you'll get to that eventually.) I think my favorite type of fic in the DC comic space are ones that focus on Dick's identity shifts! From Flying Grayson to Robin to Nightwing (to other him's in different continuities).

For the Titans specifically, It's clear in every adaptation that Robin is the leader, but it seems like the titans here are just naturally flowing together. Which is great, not all teams need a definitive leader if each individual members plays to and off the strengths of their teammates.

I love Beast Boy. I do, but most of his jokes remind me of my grandfather. So I'm laughing, but also Beast B- Changeling, please.

Okay, so I'll assume the Big Bad is Brother Blood even though the lizard men said they'd be coming back with a fleet. It's good seeing Grant here again, I'm always familiar with Joseph/Jericho but never the first son and that says a lot being a Deathstroke fan (I'm so fake).

While I understand there was a Teen Titans, or some team equivalent before this (New isn't just for show is it?), Raven's ragtag team of soon to be the Greatest Fighting Team Alive (cough?) have their work cut out for them.

[ninjapotatohead]

So, there's some IDW discourse going on right now (what else is new?) regarding the character Surge the Tenrec and her scuffle with Metal Sonic. The outcome of that ordeal... is actually NOT what I'm hear to talk about, because I've already given my thoughts on that whole can of worms. This latest issue of Imposter Syndrome left a bad taste for a lot of folks, but not because of Surge herself (or the eye-rollingly forced and out-of-place SA2 reference, even though that is another in a long list of annoying writing habits Flynn just gets a free pass on for some reason), believe it or not.

No instead, my heavy gripes lie with this Eggman panel riiiight here.

(Yep, I'm bringing this image up again)

I can't even begin to describe just how terrible this line is; it's as though it exemplifies pretty much every single thing I (and many others) loathe about comics like these; both official AND fan-made.

This line doesn't read like a mad genius being faced with a new adversary, but it instead reads like almost every poorly-written Sonic fanfiction by some younger fan who can't go more than a paragraph without hyping up their self-insert character at the expense of characters they don't like. Surely, you know the ones I'm talking about.

But okay, one of the bigger reasons this line is so genuinely awful can be summed up in just two words:

"Since when?"

No, seriously; since when has Sonic ever "shown respect" for Eggman's machines? As @darklightheart once said, Sonic destroys the doctor's machines on a daily basis because the dude simply doesn't take the doctor's schemes sitting down.

Even if I went on to stretch my reasoning super-thin, the only Eggman robots that Sonic has ever shown any modicum of respect for are Gamma, Omega, and G-Merl... and that's some serious reaching.

Gamma was sent to the Egg Carrier's Bridge to essentially turn the hedgehog into Swiss cheese, but we're clearly shown that Sonic is more than capable of handling Gamma. He surely would've destroyed Gamma... if Amy didn't intervene due to Gamma having helped Amy escape from captivity. The only reason Sonic didn't turn Gamma to scrap was because of Amy's interjection and because Sonic, in his mind, knew that Amy's not bullshitting him. Definitely not because he feels any which way towards Gamma.

Even if you play through Gamma's campaign where he's just about to end Sonic then and there, again, Amy prevents that from happening.

Sonic and Gamma (apart from beating the shit out of each other) simply don't interact, so how could Sonic feel anything special about Gamma, let alone respect for him?

And what can really be said about G-Merl? Even in the loosest sense of the word, saying that Sonic "respects" G-Merl is still a bit of a stretch. All throughout Advance 3, G-Merl was basically "The Dragon" to Eggman. Even at the end, Super Sonic defeats G-Merl (who's final form is blown to bits), and nowhere is it ever stated that Sonic simply let G-Merl live through their entire final battle (unless Ian wants to make some BS claim that that's exactly what happened based on nothing). G-Merl just washes up on the beach, much like Emerl before him. And even after this, Sonic and G-Merl never interact with each other, even in Flynn's own work. Even when they do interact with each other in the comics, there's... not a whole lot of "respect" to be had.

And then, there was Omega. And you already know by this point that Sonic and Omega don't really interact either. Only time in the games where they've really had a conversation with each other is in Colours DS, and even then, Sonic just sorta treats him like he would anybody else from what I can tell. (If @aquillis-main can enlighten me any further as to if Sonic and Omega have any meaningful interactions amongst themselves in Colours DS, I'm all ears).

Even if we take this into account, and even if we stretch our definitions of the word "respect" so that these examples all support this (genuinely awful) Eggman line, that's only 3... out of probably millions. All this to say that Sonic's never once been any less callous and taunting when wrecking Eggman's stuff than Surge is here, so Ian's attempts at hyping her up falls flat in every which way.

And, because I know someone is going to say "It's probably a joke on Eggman's part."

1) Shut the hell up

2) Even if it was meant to be a sarcastic quip that's meant to be funny... the joke simply fails miserably; not only has Flynn been writing Sonic as what I call "Diet Spider-Man", but Eggman acknowledging it in-universe just makes things worse. Like I said before, it reads like a bad Sonic fanfiction that uses the characters like glorified mouthpieces to take jabs at characters they don't like. And that's how this terrible line is not a sign of good things to come from the IDWverse.

Okay, rant over

[wilwheaton]

I'm not bothering to reblog them, but the boys are BIG BIG MAD that I, and a lot of us elder nerds, applied the Paradox of Tolerance to what is broadly described as "the nerd community" so it would be a more welcoming and inclusive place. They're rolling out the same boring and lazy insults and memes they always use, in what appears to be an epic circlejerk of cringey victimization.

I don't care what these guys think, so I'm not responding to them. But this issue comes up from time to time, and thought this presentedan opportunity to clarify what I view as the big difference between a gatekeeper and a caretaker.

For too long, weird, antisocial gatekeepers did their best to make women (and anyone who wasn't a cishet white dude) feel unwelcome in gatherings of sci-fi, fantasy, gaming, and other "nerd" spaces, while they complained that they never got the attention from women they felt they deserved. Those dudes were always outnumbered by the rest of us, but they were the loudest and always got the most attention.

But one day, the majority of us sort of collectively realized that nobody ever agreed that these boys were in charge of us and our relationship with the things we loved. We told them that they didn't get to gatekeep anymore. It took years, but we slowly changed the culture to be more inclusive, more diverse, and less toxic. And holy shit did I not realize the extent and depth of the toxicity until it wasn't there, protected as I was by my demographic privilege. Jesus Christ was it toxic.

For years, these boys (most of them are still boys, well into their adult lives) have been big big mad that the majority of us, who never agreed with them, finally stood up and established a boundary. We said that all are welcome, unless you're a dick. These boys and JD Vance aren't able to cross that boundary, because it's at odds with who they fundamentally are in their core. They are bullies who like the same things a lot of nerds like. We are not the same. Our weird is amazing and fun, while their weird is ... weird. Offputting. Strange.

We aren't going back to a time when women felt unsafe and unwelcome at cons, because self-proclaimed "nerds" like JD Vance, who are just toxic bros who missed the entire point of The Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, and Star Wars, now have to respect clear and posted anti-harassment policies that carry real consequences.

We aren't going back to a time when someone had to pass an arbitrary trivia test, delivered by a self-appointed gatekeeper like JD Vance, to participate in any aspect of fan culture, because that demand is now met with the dismissive eyerolls it always deserved. Our cons, our game stores, our comic shops, and all of our spaces are safe and welcome to all because we work together to protect them from entitled weirdos like JD Vance.

All are welcome, just don't be a dick.

That's how it is now. That is massive progress. It is a fantastic thing, and we are going to protect our county from JD Vance and people like him, the same way we protect nerd culture from JD Vance and people like him. That was the point of the article I linked to with my original quote that inspired this ask:

For Vance and others, it’s not their interests in comic books or sci-fi that sets them apart now. What’s weird is their refusal to share that win with anyone who doesn’t fit the outdated stereotype of who and what a nerd is.

I'm not a gatekeeping hypocrite, as some boy declared, because I work to keep toxic boys -- who derive a sense of power and importance from bullying -- away from a community I care about. I'm, uh, ... you know ... being a caretaker.

There are a lot of us caretakers, now that I think about it. The vast majority of us, I imagine. So I am but one of the caretakers in this garden, keeping the weeds out, and protecting the plants from pests, so the garden can thrive. I'm proud as hell, and so grateful, to be part of that.

If you're reading this, odds are you are, too. Thank you for that. I love our garden.

Vance is a "nerd"? Literally could not tell.

He's one of those angry, weird, gatekeeping nerds who gets angry when a gross girl wants to touch his Magic cards, then complains that no girls will talk to him.

He's all the weird things we've worked so hard to push out of the larger community of nerds that we all love.

He isn't a nerd, really. He's more of a chud.

[ectonurites]

I know Jason "came back to life" in the eyes of the public etc but like legit interested in your opinion on this because I'm just confused and interested in how he went about that, y'know? Like wouldn't it take him years? And who does he get to confirm its him and not some rando? IIRC Bruce didn't know he did that until the iceberg lounge thing which is weird if his son came back to life you would think he would testify or something sooner? I just don't know how it would work lol 😳🤔

SO you sent me down a reading rabbit hole. 

The thing about Jason’s situation compared to most situations irl is the fact that since he genuinely did die, there was a body and everything. That definitely makes it tricky. However, even though in our minds he was dead a super long time since he was killed in the 80s, he was only really gone for what’s probably 5 or so years by the time in RHATO he’s trying to ‘come back’. It being not even a decade is in his favor (I haven’t found a ruling for New Jersey specifically yet but in Ohio for instance a death ruling can’t be overturned if it’s been more than 3 years, so less time dead is better. But Ohio’s the only state i’ve seen the 3 year thing for so working with 5 should be okay here) 

Most cases about people needing to re-declare themselves alive that have happened irl I’ve found are either missing persons who were presumed dead after many years being away (the base line is 7, some states have it as less though), OR the more common situation of literally just clerical error on this thing called the ‘Death Master File’ (apparently like, nearly 40 people get declared dead by accident every day in the US! which is WHACK!) 

The grounds Jason would likely try to use is that it was a mistaken body (so somebody else) and he had actually just been missing all this time, which would kinda be a mix between a ‘fraudulent death’ claim and then the missing person type thing. Fraudulent death seems to be one of the harder ones to prove (because most of the time this category is more for people who purposely faked their deaths). In general, the fact that this happened with him as a child rather than as an adult, means there’s less cases I’ve been able to find that are even remotely similar but it also might help him out since there’s less precedent and also it’s more clear it probably wasn’t a like ‘get insurance money/run away from money owed’ scam. 

However, identity theft with dead people is like, a pretty common thing, so yeah proving oneself alive is not the easiest process in the world.

But most of the like, ‘things that make being declared legally dead even if you aren’t a really really bad and a lengthy process to fix’ are like, money related (social security, life insurance, bank accounts, property stuff, etc) and for someone like Jason who was 15 at time of death (so not married or owning property) and money apparently does not seem to be a problem for due to his various criminal activities, these wouldn’t be anywhere near as big of a deal. Like, sure a little inconvenient perhaps but definitely not entirely devastating like it can be for the real normal people that this kind of thing happens to. Also, when he bought the Iceberg Lounge, he bought it out from under the fuckin’ Penguin, so like, there’s already some shady shit going on there, so even if he was still in the process of ‘coming back to life’ he’d probably have been able to get that all started.

Also the ‘confirming it’s him’ thing as far as I’ve gathered from what I’ve read doesn’t... anywhere say it actually requires he bring someone from his life (Bruce) to verify it’s him? It’s way more about the combination of your presence & the documentation. So as long as he has photo ID and like as many of his official documents as possible (which. sneaking into the manor to steal his real passport from childhood and other documents like that i think is absolutely something he could/would do especially since like, earlier in RHATO 2016 it’s shown Bizarro’s door thing can literally get into the Batcave. I think it’s not unlikely to assume at some point he thought it could all come in handy and swiped ‘em) he could get the process going. This might differ since he was a minor at time of death but again every real case I’ve found so far was dealing with adults so I’m not sure.

Getting the US government to declare you alive though, like, from what I read can honestly be done as quickly as within a few weeks OR it can take years (but usually the ‘years’ there is more figuring out all that money and insurance related stuff, which again, not as big a deal for Jason specifically)

Another consideration I’d like to bring up is the fact that being presumed/found dead and later turning back up definitely happens a lot more in the DC universe than real life. Like, there’s supervillain attacks and world disasters and shit all the time. I think that realistically in the DCU there is probably a better system set up than IRL for handling cases like this, which would work in his favor.

I also think that due to the fact he was a relatively known person in Gotham, and we know Gotham’s systems are NOT the most uhhhh ‘by the books’ especially if theres public pressure and money being thrown at them, I pretty firmly believe he could have gotten it settled relatively quickly.

In real life it would be a lot harder due to the factor of the body, since he’d have to try to prove that wasn’t him even though it literally was, but liiiike unless Bruce had cashed in big on life insurance and didn’t have the means to pay it back (which this happened years before he lost the fortune LMAO) he should probably be fine, this is a comics world where most problems can be solved if you throw money at them (real life’s kinda like that too of course but comics take it to an EXTREME).

I do agree that Bruce would probably need to have been at least a little aware this was all happening, but for dramatic effect since this is in fact a comic book I understand why they had it be a surprise to him. A panel of Bruce getting a phone call from his lawyer wouldn’t have been nearly as effective as Jason just suddenly being on TV. Also like, I don’t think it’s impossible to rule out Bruce could have known he was in the process of legally coming back to life but not have known he was doing so in Gotham, because Jason being back in in the city was Bruce’s actual problem there.

Also funnily enough one of the cases of a person I found who was declared dead but is still alive was someone with the last name ‘Todd’, weird coincidence world. 

Some further reading about real cases of people coming back / things I might have referenced but wasn’t sure exactly where to link along the way: (one) (two) (three) (four)