#and what frustrates me about IW's story i think is that it had so much potential

[todayisafridaynight]

ive seen some people justify IW writing issues by saying the other games in the series were like that too and im like ??? first of all do you not think people complained about the problems in the other games too and second of all do you not want them to keep improving?? such a weird justification to me

i love these games though dgmw i just thought IW could've been so much better story wise 😭😭

my beef with the 'the writing was bad in other games too' defense is that First Off. What-Aboutism arguments are just horrendous in general imo since it doesn't argue anything for the point, it's just someone going 'well This Thing is a thing so This Thing should be valid too' like no !! surprise !! it's still lame and you're not doing anything to convince me it's not lame. right now youre just making an excuse for a thing to Be Lame

and Secondly, since 0 the majority of people have had little complaints about the writing of RGG's latest entries (not that i doubt people have them, but i definitely don't hear them as often as i do older titles and their shortcomings dont feel as obivious as IW's or previous entries). what makes IW's writing stick out so much is that right after Y7- hell after GAIDEN the quality is just so stark you cant help but notice

to top it all off, what really shot IW in the foot was just how much hype was built around it. obviously theyre gonna hype up a game theyre gonna drop, but when they promote things like 'dont play this in one sitting' and 'this is rgg's best game yet', the bar's gonna be incredibly high

[galaxythreads]

Why not just write a fic of the path u wish they took after thr dark world instead of making a video to tell the world why u personally dislike a movie? Why waste talent?

Anon, I want you to read the next words with as much compassion and gentleness as you can muster from text, because I do believe you're asking this genuinely, but do you have any idea how much time it takes to write a fic? I spend hours on a single chapter. I mean that. Usually, it's about ten, then I have to edit it. That takes another five hours. That's fifteen hours-ish per chapter. I usually average about 10-15 chapters per fic.

I have to plan it. I have to think about it. I have to figure out why the story is going the way it's going. I have to replan it. I replan most of my fics 3-4 times. that takes hours. Then there's usually the demon chapter per fic which takes 1-4 rewrites, which tacks on more time. I spend probably 3-4 weeks of time straight on a multi-chapter fic, which this would be.

Every time I start a fic, I have to be ready to devote that length of time or it gets abandoned or updated once or twice every year because I just don't have the energy.

This is completely disregarding the fact my mental health problems, which often cause set backs and delays as I try to cope with that. Fic writing is fun, but it's exhausting.

And this is just one part of it.

Another is that, anon, I genuinely just don't want to. Ragnarok has been out for almost six years. I've written multiple IW/Endgame rerwites (or at least IW-adjacent things, Porcelain, Drawing Keys With Water, Withering Away, We're A Mess Now, Huh? Empty, We Drown Together, the last half of Append) and almost nothing for Ragnarok except for Discolored. I have Avengers 1-adjacent things.

If rewriting Ragnarok was something I had any interest in doing, I would have by now.

And honestly, I don't know what I would put there instead. I don't hate the concept of Ragnarok. I own the movie on DVD, and have since like 2018? I don't hate it. It's actually really, really hard for me to loathe something entirely. Usually I'm like "I didn't like this part", but "this part was good!" All stories have nuance.

That's why there are a lot of people who like Ragnarok and the Loki series who follow me despite the fact I post anti stuff for both of them. Because I recognize there are good things about xyz and I'm not afraid to talk about that. So this is not going to be a video about everything wrong with Ragnarok.

I can get where you'd get that idea. My 3 part essay about the Loki series was extremely brutal and rarely brought up any positive, and I'm not happy about that. Honestly, I wish I'd taken a different approach with the essay and I probably will make another one about the series. But please have some compassion for me. I've had a YouTube channel for less than six weeks. I have no idea what I'm doing. I'm still getting my feet underneath myself and I'm human so it's not going to be perfect.

I can understand why you'd feel really confused about why I'm bothering to make a video essay when, to you, it seems like it would be easier for me to just write a fic and shut up about it. Because fanfiction is often very quiet and private. YouTube is much more public. I get the impression you're a little frustrated with me, if not a little embarrassed that I want to explain why I didn't like the movie publicly, which is fine.

I love Justice League 2017 and it's often regarded to be a horrible movie. I have a Shrek 3 myself. I have a lot of them. It's impossible to love only perfect movies because there are no perfect movies.

Recognizing where stories failed is not passing moral judgment on them. Realizing why other stories work does not mean they're superior in some way. How To Train Your Dragon is a masterpiece, and I mean that genuinely* But WHY. WHY did it work when something like Netflix's Seabeast was less beloved, but had no less heart? The WHY is what I want to address in my video essays and I haven't quite figured out the formula just yet on how I want to go about that. Because, again, it's been like six weeks.

(*and for the record, HTTYD still has a lot of people who don't like it, but that's more so because it's not their type of movie, not because they think that it was written wrong. And YES HTTYD has its' faults because every story has its faults)

There are a lot of unhappy MCU fans who didn't like Ragnarok. WHY? why didn't they like it? Are they not allowed to discuss it just because there are people who liked it? No. You like Shrek 3, but that doesn't mean there can't be discussion about why Shrek 3 isn't a good story. Ragnarok fans and those who don't like it can coexist and it's okay that not everyone likes something. Sometimes a movie isn't for everyone, and that's definitely a factor, but for THIS MANY fans to have not liked Ragnarok, that means that Ragnarok did do something major wrong.

And it's not just og Loki fans who don't like it. It's og Thor fans, too. A lot was done right with Ragnarok, but just enough was done wrong that it bothered a lot of people and I think it's okay to explore what it was. Declaring Thor Ragnarok a masterpiece with no fault is ignoring a lot of people and I don't think that's fair. I'm going to talk about what Ragnarok did wrong because I find it interesting and I think it does deserve to be poked at. What I hope my essay will do is a) provide a little more compassion for people who didn't like Ragnarok and b) offer insight as to what Ragnarok could have done better.

[quillsmora]

First I want to say I'm so sorry people have sent you hateful messages or said mean things to you over issues you've had with IW. That's so unnecessary. I'm sending you internet hugs.

Secondly, thank you for sharing a balanced view of Gunn. His work is often excellent but that doesn't mean he lacks room for improvement. It's been difficult since vol 3 came out to have many constructive conversations about the movie and regarding Gamora. It's been frustrating to see people who criticized EG and the Russo's for not focusing on certain things and not developing parts of the story more or who swore up and down Gunn would absolutely focus on them and do it so much better, and now that vol 3 is out missing some of the same story beats, people are totally fine with it or acting as if they were never needed in the first place. It's okay to love some stuff while admitting other stuff wasn't great. It's not better or more mature to pretend something is flawless. It's also eye opening seeing people do this and then turn around and predominantly praise or gush over every other character but Gamora. If they think everything was flawless why not gush over her too. Then there's the people scrutinizing Gamora as if she were the villain. I saw Thanos get more love from some fans. It's like I'm in the worst timeline. I'm just happy for Gamora friendly blogs like yours. It makes my fandom experience much better.

ty for the hug anon <3

and yeah, i like gunn and his work, but at the end of the day he's still a straight white man™️ with the experiences of a straight white man™️ and it can sometimes come across in his writing. again, my only issue with vol 3 is that i wish it delved more into this new gamora and her relationships with the other guardians/what lead her to becoming a ravager. sometimes it felt like she was only there because they needed to wrap up peter's arc on moving on from grief. i was personally disappointed in that as someone who's been a gamora fan since i first saw her in that cut scene of her topless in the vol 1 trailers that definitely had a major part in my gay awakening on the big screen when i was 11 years old. i think it's important to acknowledge the people you respect, especially in an industry like Hollywood, aren't perfect and you can disagree with their choices while still liking what they did end up making. a lot of that has been lost, especially when it comes to talking about comic book movies (you know exactly what group of fans i'm referring to).

gamora is definitely the least talked about guardian out of everyone and i've seen a lot of misinterpretation about what gamora was in vol 3/people seeming to forget that she died and saying she and peter just "grew apart". there are others who are quick to say who peter should move on with (it's not just that ship, for some reason the five peter x kitty fans in existence seem to think they now have a shot of mcu starkat/prydequill lmao), and who have diminished what gamora meant to all the other guardians, not just peter and nebula. like, she was groot's mother!! and james had to clarify that in an instagram comment because people couldn't pick up on that dynamic in vol 2!!!

gamora deserved so much better than what she was given in the mcu, and i'm always going to believe that. hell, she also deserves better than what she's currently being given in the comics too.

i'm glad my blog is being seen as a bright spot by other gamora fans! i've loved gamora for nearly a decade now and i'll always love her. she's been such a core part of my fandom identity, it's kinda like how i'll always love ariel from the little mermaid or katniss from the hunger games or even santana from glee, her character helped me identify with and discover myself growing up :,).

[caatws]

Honestly there would be less issues all around when it comes to what could or would happen with Gamora in some hypothetical future if Gunn had taken the time to create more focus on her in the writing for vol 3. I like Gunn and I have loved gotg, but I can't defend him or the movie when it comes to many things about Gamora's role. There's less investment in her character than compared to vol 1 and 2 or even IW. One conversation between Gamora and Nebula could have provided information about what communication between them has been like and how it's been going for them. Change Mantis from saying Gamora isn't dead to her expressing grief or sympathy and it would have addeded depth to the loss of Gamora. Very little effort was needed to make this stronger and it didn't happen.

Also Gamora didn't need to be a ravager or kept away from the guardians for an extended period of time to be her own person. There was a wonderful chance to have the guardians show her the love and support she's given them as they figured out a new dynamic. But she was denied that and these decisions weren't made to benefit her. They were made to keep focus on Rocket and on a letting go of the past arc for Peter. This isn't okay because as Peter himself said, Gamora formed the guardians. This was her story too.

And if it makes you feel better about losing followers I'll always keep following you. I'm grateful you're willing to talk about hard things because honestly way too many people already ignore Gamora and characters like her. If Gamora was a popular white dude character the entire fandom would be mad at how she's been treated.

omg thank you anon ily 🥺🫶🏼💖💚 that means the world to me!!! and you're so right on all these fronts

it's frustrating how just a few dialogue and scene tweaks rly could've made a bit of difference here. and yeah i'm curious how gamora ended up running with the ravagers and how long she's been with them; i'm still cool with that being what she's been up to while she's been away, but i think gunn still could have made the story abt her fully returning to the gotg if he'd wanted to without much more effort, so i'm sad he didn't want to. just give gamora her flowers man!!!! jesus christ

[givereadersahug]

Scarlet!! For fic writer questions: 1, 17, 26, & 41!

(Since you're avoiding fests I figure I'd make it worth your while with multiple questions! :D)

Danni! Yes, I totally need a distraction. This fest fic is going nowhere fast. 😂

1. What fic of yours would you recommend to someone who had never read any of your work? (In other words, what do you think is the best introduction to your fics?) Hmmm. I...don't know? I'm not much of a plot-heavy writer, or a long-fic writer, tbh. I go for the vibes and I love drabbles! And I lean toward the tropes/emotions I'm writing/going for. For example - Gold (Harry Potter, Snarry for enrapture and smitten), Sectumsempra (Harry Potter, Snarry for power play & dark Harry Potter), and Devotion (SK8 the Infinity, Matchablossom for found family.) It all depends on the prompt I was given and the mood I'm in. My style can radically change from fic to fic or stay the same. It must be frustrating for any who follow me. 🤣

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

This is HIGHLY specific and I'm sure I'm the only one who will even read this fic but one day...ONE DAY...I'll write a Harry Potter/SK8 the Infinity/Thor mash-up fic. Will it make sense? Hell no! Will all my ships make an appearance? Hell yes! Will I laugh and be joyful at the monster I created and unleashed onto the world? You bet!

26. Would you rather write a fic that had no dialogue or one that was only dialogue?

I have written fics with no dialogue! Many, in fact! They are mostly drabbles, though. [Same Old, Same Old (Harry Potter, Snily), The Mirror of Erised (Harry Potter, Gen), Beach Date (SK8 the Infinity, Matchablossom)]

I did come close to writing one only dialogue fic [Satisfaction (Harry Potter, Snarry)], but alas. The last paragraph was needed to explain something. I think I would try again one day! But, man. Was that hard. 😂

41. Link a fic that made you think, “Wow, I want to write like that.”

There are many fics that made me go, 'Wow, I want to write like that,' including yours, Danni! ❤️❤️❤️ However, the first fic that made me go YES, EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS IS GREAT and had me go re-reading it and re-reading it some more to examine the structure, the prose, the mood, the themes....it got to be The Price by Ark (Thor, Thorki). My all time, favorite fic across all fandoms. Hands downnnn. There are writers, who imo are god-tier in how they write and their fics are something I can never replicate, even if I tried. But The Price is the first that had me go --- Yes, I can do this. It's simple, yet majestic. The ebb and flow of the prose, the plot, the structure is like watching someone paint a masterpiece in front of my eyes. There were so, so, so many great post-IW Thorki fics with great plot, great characterizations, great writing, but The Price? It literally took my breath away. I'm a simple gal. Some of my favorite books and fics has no ornate writing style. (A style which I love! Don't get me wrong.) But I like lyrical sentences that doesn't draw too much attention to the prose till you close the book/turn off your phone and it hits you straight in the chest on how the writer crafted such a dense, emotional story through simple story-telling that has you thinking about the it for days and weeks afterwards. I don't know how to describe it. I can only point to books by Yoko Ogawa, Aimee Bender, and Jhumpa Lahiri as examples. They are some of my favorites writers and their style is something I aspired to. I found that in The Price, but yet The Price is more. More grand, more adventurous, more lyrical. I just love it to bits, if you can't tell. 🤣

Thanks for asking! <3

questions for fic writers

answered - 1, 17, 26, 41

[blindtaleteller]

I agree with pretty much every word of this; though as someone who is an actual Loki fan.. and maybe to help give you an idea why this is repeatedly becoming a thing on more than your fic..

It's pretty likely that individual is a series fan, rather than an actual Loki fan. And there is, a very vast and documented difference; scientifically and otherwise.

The fandom in that Thor/Loki corner split as far back as Gagnarok being spat out as a clearly declared retcon of all films prior (including Avengers 2012, TDW, and yes Thor 2011 too) for both main characters, Bruce Banner, and a very poorly mishandling of Valkyrie's introduction as an unapologetic slave trader that; was never fixed or resolved in any way, shape or form: and instead lauded and made much worse between gen fans and the creators that followed in Taika's footsteps to do so.

As a result? The current "Loki" character in the MCU, has been turned into a literal meme of his former self: just as a start.. and the Loki fandom is split between actual fans who know and recognize that, and the anti-fans that the show was aimed to keep after taking our money, along with theirs.

So.. sorry you have to deal with that kind of snide comment; especially in a fic very clearly tagged as being in the Barnes/CA fandom (I adore the complexity and consistency of his character even pre-IW myself and agree the cap&rogers story got left on the floor with EG's crappy end production calls in particular.. ugh) but yeah.. with how some of the pro-series goons are especially, I do feel have to point out that their user name and claim being a Loki fan especially under this context is a pretty big red flag that they're -that- sort of "fan" who not only agree with the very similar narrative presented in the mislabeled 'Loki' titled series?

But obviously has no issues not thinking about what they did see in that series or the blatant on screen glorification of abuse, torture, and lack of accountability for any of that in that dumpster fire they slapped the character's name on to draw in viewers. Never mind apply facts over bullshit anywhere else.

Actual MCU Loki fans do still exist, especially around here on tumblr; but I can tell you that ao3 user very likely is NOT one of them.

"Loki" Series fans (or Bob: the Accountant as I often call it and some refer to it as the Larry Show if those examples tell you anything about how little current canon: including the insane take on what 'narcissism' and 'self-centered' is probably coming from) are for the most part a particularly toxic breed of pretenders in my experience.

Again, sorry you had to go through that; and the likelihood of that toxicity being spread and bleeding over into your fandom as a result of the BS Loki fans have been dealing with for 5+ years.

Believe me, actual fans of Loki as an MCU character (and Thor too for that matter) are just as annoyed, frustrated, exasperated, and irritated at things like this as you might be and probably are.

This rather unpleasant comment turned up on my recent meta and I don’t want to start a fight (with a guest account, no less) on AO3, so uh, sorry Tumblr mutuals, here's my 1000 word rant.

Like okay, maybe my writing sucked and gave you that impression. The whole point of that meta was to tease out why he said the "I'm invisible, I'm turning into you" line despite it seeming out of character. And the reason it felt jarring was because we don't expect Bucky to be someone who says that. As opposed to, say, Tony-Manchurian-Candidate-Stark.

Disregarding why you thought it appropriate to leave a comment bashing Bucky when the story has "Bucky Barnes" tagged all over it, and why you'd conclude he's self-centered when he spent my entire meta worrying more about Steve's safety than he did his own, how do you watch the movies and not see that Bucky is one of the least self-focused people in MCU canon?

During much of his very limited screen time he's either being forced into certain actions or has absolutely no autonomy, but the few times he's had the ability to choose, he's never centered himself in that choice.

Here's 15 instances Bucky put himself last. Because I'm that annoyed.

1) He waded in to fish Steve out of the back alley and fought off the bully, and it's suggested that this happens frequently -- like, are we just going to dismiss this because Bucky is bigger than Steve? There are plenty of people who would have stood back or would have waited until help arrived, by which stage Steve would be in hospital.

2) He spends his last night before shipping out setting Steve up with a date, then half of that double date chasing after Steve and arguing with him because he was worried that Steve would either get arrested or successfully enlist and get killed. He didn't ask Steve to make this night about him, while a more entitled person would have because it was his farewell and not Steve's.

3) His first words to Steve when Steve untied him from the gurney was to ask Steve "Did it (getting the serum) hurt?" Even when he was the one barely able to walk.

4) "No, not without you!" even when the factory was exploding around them.

5) Despite being captured, tortured and experimented on, he didn't even hesitate when Steve asked him if he was going to be part of the team. I even covered this in my meta, he's tired and he's disillusioned and he just wants to get away from the war, but he doesn't because Steve asked.

6) He picks up the shield when Steve was down and moves/shoots to draw the Hydra agent's attention away from Steve and towards himself, which results in him being blasted out of the train.

7) He offered to move in with Steve despite the stigma around tuberculosis (and being poor and Irish and sickly) at the time.

8) The line that made Bucky break out of 70 years of brainwashing. It wasn't when Steve called him Bucky, it wasn't when Steve said "Your name is James Bucky Barnes", it wasn't when Steve said "You're my friend". It was only when Steve said, "I'm with you til the end of the line" because that was the oath of companionship and service that Bucky had made to Steve. The line wasn't about Bucky, but about what Bucky had promised to do for Steve. Like. This alone should prove my point.

9) He pulled Steve out of the water holding onto Steve with his one good hand while his other arm was broken (how did he even swim), even though he knew every moment wasted would put him in danger of being killed or captured, even though for him everyone was now an enemy. Despite all this, he pulled Steve out of the water and waited to see that he was breathing before he left.

10) Faced with an entire kill squad in Bucharest, Bucky still stuck to his rule of trying not to kill anyone.

11) His first words when he came out of Zemo's control was a horrified, "What did I do?" Instead of, you know, self-centeredly focusing on how horrified and upset he deserved to be that he had his autonomy ripped away again just when he thought he had been safe for two years.

12) He willingly went back to Siberia with Steve to stop the other super soldiers, despite it being the place where he was held, tortured and mind-wiped, and despite it being the place where he was made into a training puppet for the other soldiers.

13) Even injured and with his arm severed, Bucky grabbed onto Tony's foot to stop Tony from blasting Steve in the chest.

14) Bucky choosing to go back into cryo because he's afraid someone else with the Code Words will use him to hurt people.

15) Despite being in retirement, he took one look at the vibranium arm and all he said was "Where's the battle?"

I'm stopping here because I refuse to recognise EG!Steve and I also have trouble accepting TFATWS!Bucky's arc as canon.

Like, I know MCU writers are pathetic at sympathy, but I never expected the same from someone purporting to be Loki's fan, of all people. To call Bucky's singular snide remark "pity party"? Bucky did not, for the entire CATFA, complain about his 2-3 years of war experience (and if you haven't been at the frontline then please don't even attempt to belittle how horrific it had been), nor did he complain about the forced labour they had been put through in Azzano or the experiments Zola did to him on that gurney. Bucky also did not, at any point after CATWS, talk about the horrific experiences he went through under Hydra, nor did he ever ask anyone to give their attention to his pain or his trauma. His "I'm turning into you" remark is literally the closest he came to making it a "what about me" moment, and my meta was about why he emotionally came to that breaking point. Not once since that moment did movie!Bucky ever try to take a moment and turn it into something about himself.

And just to finish off, acting in self-interest is normal human behaviour on the spectrum of self-preservation, but that isn't even the pattern for Bucky. Bucky has always focused his choices on making life easier or better or more right for Steve. Bucky is not self-centered, but he is most definitely Steve-centered, and on that point I will accept no objections.

[bedlamsbard]

> anyway ask me how the mcu ensemble films don't know how to deal with asgardians lol

what are the mcu ensemble films doing with them and what should they be doing?

oh! so the trio of Thor films has pretty consistently been in the genre of high fantasy, just in a more space setting, and they've all been working with high fantasy tropes that are in turn working with older mythological story types. across the board in the Thor trio there's a recurring theme of kingship and what it means to be a good or a bad king that is fairly heavy-handed and unsubtle. this is kingship and overlordship in the early medieval sense, Germanic-inflected, where kingship is the responsibility of good governance and protection you owe to your people -- it's very similar to what Tolkien was working with in LotR, for example. so in Thor 1 we see failures of kingship across the board from Laufey, Odin, Thor, and Loki; in TDW we see it again from Odin and Malekith, and then Thor turns down the throne; and in Ragnarok we see it again from Hela and Loki (obviously these are not on the same scale), but at the end of the film Thor and Loki (and Valkyrie and Heimdall, in a different, non-overlord position) both accept their responsibility to Asgard and the Asgardians. (this is why I get really frustrated when people say that Thor shouldn't have become king in Ragnarok -- that's not the narrative role he's filling! he is literally filling the exact same narrative role as Aragorn to Gondor in LotR!) the Thor films are not subtle about the fact that they're working with these kinds of high fantasy/historical/mythological themes or that they're very firmly set in high fantasy as a genre.

however, the rest of the MCU is not working in that genre. I think Avengers is honestly okay with their treatment of Thor and Loki -- Whedon's worked with those genre tropes before (thinking of BtVS here), and because they're secondary and their relationship is given appropriate gravitas it's fine. they are larger than life there and it works. AoU is a hot mess across the board, though Thor's -- to some extent -- still treated as someone who's operating on a different story scale. (man's in a much better movie in his head, bless his heart.)

and then there are IW and Endgame. IW I'm...okay? mostly? with how Thor is treated? because he's stripped of everything and it really leaves him adrift in a way that works with the genres he operates in. it's just a lot of the pacing of the film is messed up. (I mean, like, I have a lot of issues with IW and the treatment of the Asgardians! but I think Hemsworth is able to convey a lot that maybe wasn't intended to be there.) Endgame...look, the thing with Endgame is that Thor is set up there for a bad kingship arc, because he's acting as a bad king, in the medieval archetypal sense. This post about Theoden in LotR did the rounds recently, and that's the position that Thor is filling in Endgame. He's not doing his duty to his people and at no point does the narrative ever really acknowledge that, except for his turning the crown over to Valkyrie at the end of the film. It bothers me a lot that in the final battle he's on the battlefield with the Avengers instead of over with the Asgardians. I don't think M&M or the Russos realized they were doing a bad kingship arc with Thor because you have to be relatively familiar with the genre to realize that's what it is? and the rest of the MCU films are not in that high fantasy genre that the Thor ones are.

I'm not totally sure that there was a way for this to be fixable in Endgame without making a completely different movie than the one that was made -- the emotional focus of the film would have had to shift from Tony and Steve (who take up the bulk of it, as usual; I love them but hoo boy) to Thor, with more weight and worldbuilding put on the Asgardians. I think it could have been done, but it would have come at the cost of some of the other things in the film, and it clearly would have run into whatever they're going to be next with Thor, whatever the hell that is. I think Ragnarok dealt very well with the good/bad kingship thing; I have no idea if it's going to come up again moving forward. (I know it's Thor: Love and Thunder, we just have no idea what is happening in that movie beyond it having a truly absurd cast and also Lady Thor and Gorr the God-Butcher, and gods know if those are going to look anything like in the comics, given that those are two completely different comic arcs.) (yes, sometimes Bedlam does read comics, even though I think the great strength of the MCU is that the more you know about the comics, the less accurate your predictions are going to be lol.)

[iamanartichoke]

I need spoilers for episodes 5 and 6. They've got to be out there. I can't take two more weeks of this.

I think what's giving me this vaguely ill feeling, right now, is the sinking realization that there was no grander plan behind Loki's getting drunk, breaking the Timepad, just general kinda incompetent behavior. There were theories and there were hints and subtext and it amounted to nothing.

Cut for spoilers/negativity, sorry.

Basically I'm getting major "that opening scene in IW was just too full of holes, the-sun-will-shine-on-us-again, one little dagger, Loki has to have something up his sleeve - oh .... no, no he's really dead, there was no greater plan" flashbacks.

It's so incredibly frustrating for Loki's narrative to come so close to something profound, again and again, only to swing and miss at the last second. The pieces are there. The threads are there. And tptb keep choosing to just ... sit on them, bc idk, it's easier for Loki's complexity to remain unexplored?

Tom says that episodes 4 and 5 are where the series takes off and I'm just like, you can't wait until the second to last episodes to have something happen! You've been dropping breadcrumbs since episode 1 - episodes 4 and 5 are where you start to sweep them up! You've only got 6 total!

Also, I was really interpreting Loki having confused friendship with romance, bc that's what makes the most sense for his character but then there was this, and the aforementioned 'oh so this really is just surface-level material and I shouldn't even waste my time examining the subtext and context clues' feeling occurs. (Note - this article isn't overly flattering to Loki, bc of course it isn't, so just be aware of that before reading.)

So, yeah, it's just - it's not exactly the content of this episode that has me so upset. I can live with bad plots and dangling threads. Lord knows I tolerate other, arguably much more terrible tv shows for the sake of the parts I like (Reign, Once Upon a Time, a few seasons of Pretty Little Liars, just to name a few).

It's not the content. It's the refusal of tptb to take Loki's character to the depths he deserves, especially since they promised us that this series would really explore his identity and his gender and all of these things that the fandom mostly has wanted. It's frustration in the overall way the surface-level plot makes Loki's characterization suffer. And it's definitely the trigger of those feelings of heartbreak and fury and denial and grief that followed IW. I practically have ptsd from that death scene.

(I realize that these are hefty words to use to describe one's reaction to fiction, especially in the sense that an emotional downward spiral is being legitimately triggered by a tv show, but - look, everyone already knew I was cringe, okay, so leave me alone with my feelings.)

I think that if the show had more episodes, there would have been hope for it? Like all the breadcrumbs that have been dropped implied lots of fascinating things to be explored, but they just didn't have room to explore them as thoroughly as they'd need to in order for all of it to have an impact. Loki/Sylvie does not feel earned. Mobius turned on the TVA super quickly (so did B-15, for that matter). Ravonna went from kinda sus to outright villain in, like, ten minutes. And Loki and Mobius's friendship didn't exactly come out of nowhere, bc it was set up as the outcome from the first episode (in my opinion) but it did happen much too quickly. It wasn't earned, either. And the reason I'm harping on this is because these are all really good character journeys that could have been done so much better - yeah, even Loki/Sylvie - if they had just paced them better, used more of their own subtext, and had a few more episodes in which to develop the characters alongside the complicated plot.

(Yeah, there may be a season 2, but I'm not here for waiting a whole nother year or so for it to be filmed, produced, and released only for it to continue to ultimately not meet my expectations.)

So, yes. I'm sorry for the negativity; I realize I went from "hey I mostly liked this! It wasn't that bad!" to "I will ragequit and kill everyone in this story and then myself" in, like, a few hours but - well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I'll most likely rewatch it again tonight. I may or may not cry it out and then do my best to enjoy the remaining two episodes for what they are, not for what they could or might be. Once the rawness of all of this fades, I'll focus on the things I liked and come up with my own headcanons, I suppose. Or maybe I'll overall change my mind again. Idk. Whatever. I just need a glass of wine and a few more xanax tbh. (Great. Now fiction is going to give me a drug problem as well lmfao.)

Also - it is actualy really, really funny that, if you think about it, it turns out that a fanfic by Tom isn't actually all that good. (I'm being facetious, but the general sentiment is true.) I'm sorry, Tom. I know you're excited about this and you said this episode was your favorite, so I hope you don't see some of these reactions (either here, or on twitter, or reddit, or wherever he may end up) and feel bad about yourself/your project. I guess there's just no universal cup of tea for everybody.

[omegas-spaghettios]

Ranking MCU Captain America figures

Before I begin, I want to clarify this is about my enjoyment of these characters and NOT who i think are the best morality or power wise. I specify because I think my first two entries will upset some people and I want to say, this list is NOT in order of how much I agree with these characters' values. I have a heavy favoritism towards theme and character interaction and that is where a lot of my enjoyment from media comes from. So, let's begin.

6. Captain America: CW, IW, and Endgame

I'm separating Steve into two because around CW he starts making decisions that really frustrate me.

Now I do think there is a lot to like still! His conviction to his morals during the Accords and continuing arc about government distrust is great, his stand against Thanos in IW is amazing, he is a lot of fun to watch during the New York part of the time heist, and lifting Mjolnir was legit my best theater moment ever and i will NEVER forget it.

However, in CW he starts making some awful decisions. In CW, he kisses Sharon like, days after Peggy's funeral. While on it's own it's already kinda creepy, Endgame retroactively makes this even worse. It goes on to also have grave consequence because he and Sam asked Sharon to break the law for them and never followed through to help her, which was pretty awful of them. At least Sam tries to make it right in TFATWS, but since Steve left that wrong on Sharon never gets reconciled from him.

I also think that his decision to keep Bucky and Howard's history a secret from Tony was really, really stupid. While I side with him during the fight, the fact that Steve "doesn't like when his teammates withhold information" Rogers didn't tell Tony this then walked into a Winter Soldier facility with Bucky and Tony during the most strained time of their relationship was just begging for that conflict.

He is barely in IW and while his stand against Thanos is a great moment, his decision to not let Vision kill himself is very frustrating. "We don't trade lives" then he goes to Wakanda to let thousands of soldiers die while they try and get the stone out, really dude?

I don't think going back in time in Endgame was inherently a bad ending but things he does to make it happen really frustrates me. He shows no signs of mourning Bucky or Sam at all. And then for the sake of surprise for the audience, he never tells Sam what he's doing and that is so awful. Sam dedicates 4 years of his life helping Steve with a good portion of it being on the run. Sam was with Steve more during the present than ANYONE else. Then Steve just leaves without telling him and shows back up to drop a ton of responsibility on Sam that he didn't ask for. Now Sam is an amazing Cap but it's frustrating to see that a lot of TFATWS is fallout of Steve's bad decisions in these three movies.

5. Captain America: John Walker

Now hold on, I hate this man. I think he does some awful things, so why is he above anyone else? Just because he isn't frustrating to me, he fits thematically and has good interactions with others in TFATWS.

His character really adds to the themes and discussions of white privilege, Supremacy, as well as how the US military treats their soldiers like shit, and I think he is an interesting character to watch as he starts out edging the line of evil and by the end of episode 4 crosses it. While I think Bucky was overall a bit too chummy with him in 6, I think it was all mostly in character for them. Sam and Bucky were up against 6 super soldiers and Batroc in a highly crowded city with lots of important people, it makes sense to me that they take his help in this scenario. They also never leave him alone which indicates distrust.

I also really like the moment where he drops the shield to help the truck. He is a shitty person but he is shown as a person who at least wants to do good, even though any challenge to that he goes off the rails. It is such a black and white scenario, help the truck of innocents, and I like that he does it. It also adds to the hatred of him as a person because it shows he clearly knows better but chooses to ignore it, which makes him even more despicable.

I think it is very important that a man like him bore the title of Captain America because it reminds us all that yes, it is very easy that a man like him represents America as it is and that we need to do better than him.

I like watching him and that's why he's above CW on Steve because he isn't making aggravatingly out of character decisions all of the time and he works very well within the themes of the show.

With me loving him in the context of TFATWS, in later appearances he does have a lot of potential to drop to last pretty easily, but as of now when he just is in that show, I appreciate his character a lot.

4. Red Guardian

I kinda like this character and idk how to feel about it

He doesn't fit Black Widow very much so he is kinda low but I mean, he's just kinda fun. His story about Captain America and the USSR is pretty non-related to the others and rather undeveloped which is frustrating, and he does very little plot significant things. He leads Nat and Yelena to Melina and that's about it. He distracts Taskmaster for a while but he kinda is just getting tossed around until Melina shows up. He isn't very important.

But I do like what I see and do hope we see more of him. They never pretend he's a great person and I do appreciate that he gets called on it constantly. His knuckles having Karl Marx on them kills me and overall he's pretty humorous and fun to watch. He also has a few great moments thematically that I love. When he comforts Yelena after the dinner scene and sings her favorite song as a kid? So heartwarming. When he took Taskmaster's shield when fleeing the Red Room I laughed at his ridiculousness but it lead to a pretty great moment, when he throws the shield through the windshield without hesitation to save Melina. It's a great moment to show how he's letting go of his past and obsessions to be there for his family.

I hope we see more of him, his overall lack of importance and stereotypical behavior kinda holds him back but I see so much potential in him.

3. Agent Carter

As of today she has been in exactly one 30 minute episode, but what I see I really like. Her laughter of surprise when she takes the tesseract is really endearing, her sword and muscles and height make my wlw heart patter, and I do like the difference in her relationship with Steve in this universe, where they both are of incredible capabilities but neither are given any respect for how they were born. We get that in TFA too but I really like that it is a constant theme in this iteration while in TFA it gets dropped a bit after Steve receives the serum.

There is very little of her so I can't really put her higher yet, but given more time she very well may rise up on this list but she had an excellent first showing.

2. Pre-CW Captain America: Steve Rogers

This man is a joy.

He is such an endearing scrappy little guy in the beginning of TFA and I love his commitment to doing the right thing. He still very much acts like a guy who just gained 120 pounds of muscle during that movie and it's endearing. The way he grows into his own skin in TWS is amazing as we see him really step in to what he can accomplish physically as well as his authority and leadership.

His Whedonisms in the first two Avengers films kinda bug me, they treat him like an old man when he isn't. Biologically he's like, early 30's at most here. He grew up as a fighter in Brooklyn then served in the military, he wouldn't care if his teammates swear, but overall it's tolerable.

I LOVE this man's commitment to transparency. He struggles when allies are not transparent and he shows nothing but transparency and I love that that is a constant for him (which is why I separate him from CW on)

Everyone loves this guy and over 90% of criticisms I see for him come after AoU, and that's for good reason, this guy is so loveable.

1. Captain America: Sam Wilson

He's so good, guys

I want to talk about Sam before the suit because he is amazing before it. He runs counseling for veterans, a profession very becoming of a superhero and it speaks to his incredible empathy and compassion that is on full display. I also think the fact that he dedicated 2 years to finding Bucky is not appreciated enough. Sure he was following Steve but he still spent 2 years trying to find Bucky, a person who tried to murder him. Yet he understands it isn't Bucky's fault and tries to help him anyway. I also really like that he is the first to speak out against the Accords. He doesn't wait for Steve or anyone else, he sees red flags and he is out and I really, really love that about him.

Then I love how long it takes for him to choose to become Cap and how much he contemplates it. He has to contemplate the legacy of Steve, if he wants to wear the symbol of this country, the pressures of being a black man as Cap, the legacy that John added to it, the pressures from Bucky and the pressures from Isaiah, and also his own legacy he carved for himself as the Falcon. It's a huge decision with a lot of weight and so many people pressuring him but he takes his time and chooses what is right for him, and I really love that about him. These other characters are all Caps from near the start but he transitions into one after years of knowing him as the Falcon and I love that he doesn't take this decision lightly.

Also as Cap he's just really cool. His decisions to not take the serum as well as try like hell to get Karli to step down speak to his humility and compassion. And while many describe his speech as bland it's still uniquely him. Yes the speech doesn't solve any problems but that isn't what he's doing, he's asking America and the world to get to actually solving them and that is an aspect of him we don't see much since Steve's propaganda days, his direct relation to the public.

Also his suit and wings are just awesome, I argue his action is the most fun to watch out of any of these characters.

Anyway yeah that's the list, I know people won't agree with me so let's try and keep discussion civil, alright?

[thelightofthingshopedfor]

so I wrote most of this...four days ago, and then somehow didn’t get around to finishing it until just now, which feels super weird because after writing this I started getting worried about future episodes again for a variety of reasons, and of course now we’re at T minus 10 minutes? (honestly if I’m somehow late for my own funeral I’m pretty sure no one will be surprised.) but I still wanted to post this to go over some of what I liked so much about episode 4, even if...I am no longer anywhere near as confident as I was a few days ago about where the show might be going. whatever.

***

I’ve done almost nothing for the past day or so except chew over episode 4 some more, partly trying to figure out why I liked it so much when it was broadly very divisive, and I realized that a lot of what I’ve been feeling from this episode is relief.

the thing is I’ve been paranoid since at least Infinity War about Marvel doing setup that looks like it’ll lead to a big payoff and then nothing (Loki’s death, but also Gamora’s and maybe Vision’s, and the general fact that the “fix” to IW was convoluted, took place much later, and caused as many problems as it solved, and just, Endgame in general), so I don’t really trust Marvel that way anymore. plus Marvel has pretty badly fumbled a lot of different things in the past, especially on various social issues, by introducing unfortunate implications that apparently didn’t occur to them even though they’re obvious to literally everyone else...stuff like Thanos’s “sacrifice” of Gamora, or how the Flag-Smashers were portrayed and Karli was a villain for no real reason, or how it would’ve been so easy to add a couple lines in WandaVision that would fix the whole thing where the Maximoffs weren’t just whitewashed but they also voluntarily worked with Nazis and they whiffed that too. 

so, while I’ve been enjoying the show, a lot of that enjoyment has been based on meta I’ve seen and me sort of going “this interpretation is really cool and it makes a lot of sense, but at this point I can’t know if it’s something the showrunners are doing on purpose or if they sorta accidentally implied depth where there wasn’t any and it’s not actually leading anywhere” with things like the TVA being very clearly authoritarian but also supposedly the good guys, Loki being constantly described as an awful person, Loki sometimes being manic or incompetent, etc. etc. etc., along with the similar interpretation of “sure, we fans know all this stuff about how Loki is not an awful person actually, thanks, and the people who arrested him aren’t automatically Good Guys just because they’re in opposition to him but casual viewers--including not-casual-but-not-fannish viewers who should really know better--have not figured any of this out and so the show needs to go out of its way to demonstrate things that are obvious to us” but I wasn’t sure. the second half of episode 1 made me feel pretty good about where the show was headed as far as Loki’s characterization and emotions were concerned, but the more lighthearted aspects of 2 and 3 had me wondering again.

so then what happens in this episode?

the TVA goes fully mask off. the Time-Keepers are in fact fake, the Sacred Timeline by extension is also basically fake, the people who work there are all variants, the ones we know (C-20, B-15, Mobius) show grief and anger over the lives that were stolen from them, Sylvie is arrested as a child who did absolutely nothing wrong (and then put through the same process Loki was in episode 1, which is cool because a lot of it was kinda played for laughs then but showing the same things happening to an innocent child also serves to reframe what happened to Loki as, hmm, not that funny after all maybe!), Renslayer is willing to prune innocent people--friends and coworkers, even--just because they learned too much, all the sinister propaganda WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SINISTER

Loki gets very serious very fast in this episode. he displays a lot of genuine emotion and trauma but he mostly does it in a calculated way that shows just how fast his brain works and how he’s always, always thinking about what other people want/expect from him. (like--even the complaint about too few guards seems to fall into that category, given that he only says it after Mobius insists he must be wanting to make some kind of quip!) his self-image is garbage but through Sylvie he’s starting to maybe work on that. he goes up against multiple armed enemies while completely unarmed and holds his own until he gets a weapon. he pushes back when it matters and doesn’t just accept everything Mobius throws at him. he lies, pretty competently (the fact that Mobius doesn’t believe him is...really not his fault, considering Mobius wouldn’t believe him at first about the truth either, so I’m pretty sure he wasn’t planning to believe anything Loki outright told him), when it actually matters, primarily in what sure seems like an attempt to protect someone he cares about.

and Mobius. says that Loki WAS RIGHT. ABOUT THE TVA. FROM THE BEGINNING!!! I would still love to hear him say explicitly, look, I said a lot of shitty things to you and tossed in some actual physical torture at the end there oops but the vast majority of it was stuff I didn’t really mean and was only saying to get a reaction and/or information and of course it turns out I was wrong about all the TVA stuff, so I want to say for the record that I was wrong about you personally in many different ways and I’m sorry. (which, honestly, would probably be very awkward for both of them because I doubt Loki has much experience receiving genuine apologies.) but I’m mostly okay with it if he doesn’t, because I feel like you were right from the beginning, and by the way you can be whatever you want does a decent job of implying most of that. (...enough for casual viewers to pick up on it? well, I’m not hoping for miracles but sure, probably some of them.)

in other words? all that stuff the casual viewers were missing (not helped by misleading statements from the showrunners), about the TVA so clearly being bad guys, and Loki being a pretty decent person who presents different versions of himself in different situations and also has some shitty coping mechanisms, and the other Loki variant also not being evil just because they were trying to take down the TVA? we were right. that is, in fact, how the showrunners intended all those things to be taken. they didn’t want to come right out with that stuff at first because they wanted to tell a story and have some twists, and the fact that these things were twists for casual viewers is exactly why it was frustrating to a lot of fans, because it felt like obvious things were being misrepresented or overlooked. I still think that’s reasonable, because see above on why Marvel doesn’t necessarily deserve that trust, but at this point I’m a lot more comfortable believing that this specific show more or less knows what it’s doing.

I mean, yeah, there were some cool fan theories that went nowhere, like the whole thing with the broken TemPad, and I agree that was dumb and it’s very annoying that it really was just sloppy writing, but I guess specific things like that just...don’t bother me as much as more systemic, overarching elements like the characterization of Loki and the TVA. and yes, of course I’ll always be annoyed that we’re apparently never going to get explicit confirmation that Loki’s alliance with Thanos was coerced at best. but, you know, what we got isn’t nothing. 

[nexyra]

Okay so This is just a way to let out some frustration so I can put it out there and stop mulling on it bc I'm bad at this sort of stuff - Feel free to ignore it

I'm putting this under Read More; if your fav past-time is to call anyone who likes Ironwood's character or was disappointed by his V8 turn to villainy a stupid bootlicker who "should have seen the signs he was always a tyrant !!" please don't interact with this post. You're ultimately free to think what you want but honestly I see enough of that in the main tag when left alone, I don't need it on my blog it doesn't make me feel good.

Anyone else... well you can read if you're interested but you don't have to either. Feel free to respectfully disagree though, I'm not that bullheaded that I can't partake in a friendly argument =) I'll just be listing some things about Ironwood's reading by the FNDM who get old or draining as someone who doesn't like the V8-characterization they went with

Can people please stop just... copy/pasting real world issues on a world/characters that have nothing to do with them or a completely different context ?

Like,, I genuinely try to educate myself on real-world issues. I know I'm rather privileged so I try to listen and hear out people who speak out about the issues they live through day by day. I know why the "ACAB" moniker exists. I understand the problem that lies within the american police system (and likely other countries as well). I see why the army, on our blue planet, is criticized & its many failings. Etc, the list can go on...

But I'm sorry to say, Remnant isn't OUR Earth. Their Army's primary job is to fight actual evil soulless monsters, not people. The Ace Opps or Huntsmen are not an organization directly inherited from slave-hunting groups. James Ironwood isn't the US army general bombing Middle East. Clover Ebi isn't the racist cop you want in prison. So WHY are they treated as such by so many people ? Stories are not a 1-1 where you can take everything you know and just apply it to a completely different world.

Has Atlas been presented as a country that suffers from racism & classism ? Certainly. Has it be shown this way ? That's already more debatable since the only racist arguments we got were in Mantle (which is the city we're supposed to be rooting for so that's a weird choice but eh it's whatever). Are the characters, as persons, shown to evoke these issues in a way that deserve our scorn ? Not really.

Is Ironwood depicted as particularly racist for example ? I wouldn't say so seeing as one (or more considering Tortuga) of his Ace-Opps are Faunus & it seems perfectly accepted; and he hates Jacques Schnee's guts. So why does he get to shoulder all of our real-world issues as if he was responsible for them, in a context where (pre V8) his army had most likely never killed anything else than Grimm and was shown to elicit very positive reactions from most of the population (V3) ? (In direct contrast to the polarization that the US army might evoke for example.)

You can totally hate Ironwood because of the feelings he evoke, the trope he stems from or the parallels to be made. That doesn't mean however, that he IS truly guilty of every one of OUR world issues (pre-V8)

Just because classism is prevalent in Atlas society does not make Ironwood the figurehead & leader of this issue.

Is classism an issue in Atlas ? Yes. That's been made clear because of Mantle's state as well as Jacques Schnee entire existence & even Cinder's backstory. Does that mean every single one of Ironwood's decisions reeks of classism ? NO

Trust me, as someone who found Ironwood's V8 characterization not... well-executed & too much; there's nothing more annoying than being assaulted by posts about his fall going "it was so obvious !! look at -" only for them to then list reasons in a really biased way or even headcannons based on (again) irl problems. An exemple...

Reasons his turn was good that I see thrown around : "Ironwood left Mantle behind because he only wanted to save the rich. He's a selfish coward & an asshole !"

What we were actually given : "Ironwood suffers from PTSD, and faced with Salem's imminent arrival, he tried to save what he was CERTAIN to be able to protect aka the flying city and all the people on it including Mantle evacuees. There is absolutely no text backing the idea that he wanted to leave with Atlas because it's rich. We could even suppose that he would have left with the 'poor' Mantle if it was the flying city and rich people were hanging safely on the ground. There is indeed an issue with Atlas & Mantle disparity, but Ironwood isn't directly responsible for it."

Does that make his decision to leave Mantle behind a morally right one ? That's of course NOT what I'm saying. The situation is still very ambiguous. But the classism theme has NO place here.

"Ironwood leads Atlas & Mantle. As such, he inherently holds responsability for the issues plaguing it." THIS is an acceptable reading according to me. I would probably argue that even if Ironwood's the only Atlas leader we're shown; he actually only oversees the military & academy (where we haven't ever seen classism issues), so putting Atlas' classism issues on him still doesn't sound fair to me. However the idea & argument is sound.

Acknowledging only how his actions look/the tyrannical surface reading and not the reasonnable justifications or glimpses we were given (pre-V7) of Ironwood being more than his trope

I'll probably stop after this one, but the last thing that is both tiring & annoying after too much of it; is seeing people boil down all of Ironwood's character to the most basic summary, inherently written to paint him in a bad line. And then saying that everything led up to his downfall by using these watered-down versions of the show's events to justify it. Or worse (imo), saying that people who are not satisfied with his V8 characterization that THEY don't understand how good a character he is and don't really appreciate him.... All the while only ever highlighting his characters flaws. Please stop this.

"Ironwood brought an army to the peace Olympics why are you surprised he turned out this way ?" ==> Ironwood brought an army to a country where the civilians visibly have no issue with said-army, to protect a peaceful event that he KNOWS to be targeted by foes. It's definitely overzealous & his conviction that threats should be dealt with by blunt force IS one of his flaws; but pretending that he did it for fun or because he's a tyran is just as misplaced.

"Ironwood said he'd shoot Qrow if he were one of his men why are you surprised he shot Oscar ?" ==> Do I really need to flip through every joke in this show and consider it as absolute truth & proof that the character would enact these words if given the occasion; even when we're shown with certainty that they actually don't mean it ? (IW hugging Qrow to welcome him, refusing to attack Qrow when he's certain Qrow IS attacking him...)

"Ironwood has his military all over Mantle, there's a curfew, all of this is tyrannical why are you surprised he's also down for genocide" ==> Damn, it sure is criminal to have Mantle defended from the litteral monsters roaming inside & out, and to make sure with a curfew that the people are not at risk during the night. I wonder if any recent events could make us reconsider our stance on how evil a enforced curfew is. Mhmmm maybe a pandemic ? Nah I must be imagining things. For real though, at what point did Tyrian's framing/lies (IW has his soldiers all over Mantle because of politics/he's a tyran who refuses opposition) became the truth of the situation for the FDNM too ? Again Mantle's situations SUCK, and that's a problem in itself. Making up problematic reasoning for the situation is dishonest though.

To end this, I'll just make clear. I do not condone any of Ironwood's actions post-V7. I don't think he had to be the big hero of the Atlas arc. Nor that he was without faults. I merely think that he'd have been a better antagonist than villain. And that it'd have been nice to keep the ambiguity/morally greyness that surrounds him; the knowledge that he's TRYING hard to do what's best for everyone; that he has good intentions. That he cares about individuals too to a lesser degree, and that he had people who cared about him as a person.

For short... Ironwood as an antagonist with understandable issues, flaws & failures; making questionable choices but with good intentions ? Hell yeah. Ironwood as a villain, more irredeemable than Hazel, willing to kill people for NO reason or even wipe out a city ? I'm not convinced.

[ironhusband]

what are your ideal plots for armor wars and Ironheart??? 👀👀👀

Anon! How could you have known?

(Thank you so much for asking)

~~~

I spent a long time thinking about my ideal plot for the Rhodey show. It makes me desperately want to write fic, and I already scrapped at least five ideas. My final choice? 

So, in this new phase of Marvel, there seems to not really any Avengers. There’s a lot of crossovers but not really a team (though they might be building up to some kind of Champions-Young Avengers mash up group). Plus, the whole compound is destroyed so even if they are still at team, they don’t have a building to assemble in. So Rhodey won’t be an Avenger anymore. He’s just Air-Force now. Which is fine, it is! It’s just that he doesn’t have much to do... 

He keeps seeing fights and new heroes on TV, but the Air-Force above his shoulder keeps telling him to not engage. And besides that, which he can’t engage in, Rhodey doesn’t really have what to fight. So War Machine becomes less prominent, and he feels like he’s stuck in a stupid desk job, which is endlessly frustrating to Rhodey. The fight needs to be fought and they won’t let him!

He reaches his boiling point, probably around seeing Riri. It’s not that he thinks Riri is unsuitable, but a kid is carrying on his best friend’s legacy and he can’t be there because of his orders. 

So he quits. If this is the only way to be War Machine, maybe it’s better if he isn’t one at all. 

Only to realize that was the military’s plan after all. The Air-Force has all the War Machine blueprints, and can probably make a War Machine suit all on their own. Hammer jumps on the chance to build the suits. Suddenly, there’s a new legion of War Machine suits, and who knows what the military would do with them. They haven’t learned their lesson in Iron Man 2. 

(Bonus points if Rhodey is blamed by the internet for becoming corrupt because the military forgot to tell people about the new War Machine suits. The suits are never shown together, so everyone just assumes it’s Rhodey being evil)

Rhodey is caught between his ideals, his duty, and his retirement, as he starts building his own suits, using his niece as the girl in his chair, taking out the entire corrupt military, meeting other iron people, and creating his own legacy. 

He’s fighting for his own name this time. 

~~~

Now, I’ve only read Invincible Iron Man: Ironheart, so I don’t know everything about Riri’s story, but I do know that she mirrors a lot of MCU Tony’s arc. She’s motivated by survivor guilt. Isolates herself through her suits. She built her first armor from scraps. Doesn’t really have a secret identity. She’s extremely creative and when she manages to defeats the bots AI Tony used to train her, she whoops in a way that reminded me of MCU Tony shouting “yeaahhh!” in Iron Man. She’s Tony Stark in every way that matters to me. 

But the thing is, 616 Riri met Tony. MCU Riri would likely not (unless they make them meet post IW but pre Endgame). Which means, Riri would be completely self made. Even if she gets hired by SI in the MCU, even if she gets a Tony AI, it’ll be 100% her at the beginning.

And I think that’s awesome. 

The show starts by showing Riri’s childhood. Showing her growing up as a lonely genius until she meets Natalia. Showing her tense relationship with her dad, her supportive but worried mom, showing her best friend, only friend, that seems to be the only one interested in her inventions instead of scared of them. Then... Natalie and her step dad die. She has to be torn away from Natalie’s body. Riri looks at the screen with superheroes fighting, heartbroken and quiet, telling the police officer that it should have been her. 

Riri starts building a suit of armor. That was one of her last conversations with Natalie. That she wants to fly. And she does. She wants it. And maybe if she’ll fly high enough, she’ll be close to Natalie again. Or at least she wouldn’t feel this empty. She finishes the suit and takes it for a spin. And it’s amazing. The wind isn’t in her hair, no, but the adrenaline is in her veins. She’s floating in the air, the jets chasing her heels. She smiles, for the first time in months. 

She spots someone with a gun cornering someone in an alley, and Riri flies down and immediately bends the gun in half. The person runs in horror, and she turns to the person she saved. “You’re safe now,” she tells them. She flies away. 

Riri goes viral on the internet, with that person’s witness making everyone freak out. Everyone sees it.

Or at least enough people so that SI can reach her. 

Riri is watching the news about her, complicating whether she wants to be a superhero, when Pepper Potts knocks on her door with a suitcase in hand, asking for her and Riri to have a chat and a gift exchange. They talk about what it means to be Iron Man and why she wants it. Pepper hands her the case and tells her, “my gift is only this; promise you’ll do right by his legacy.” Riri Williams, determined, tells her, “I will.”

Riri finds AI! Tony Stark and starts getting trained by him. Every episode she learns a new lesson from the AI or from her experience, and all through the training she shows off how creative, smart, quippy and excited she can be. AI! Tony and Riri’s friendship is a slow burn, from purely AI Tony who’s a little shit and Riri who really wishes Tony had a mute button, to AI Tony becoming Riri’s best friend and her sharing things with him. 

Meanwhile, an original villain watches Riri in the background. Their plan has to occur without an Iron Man and they can’t afford Riri. They need to take her down. They send small villains after her, thinking she can be taken down easily. Riri fights those smaller villains, all sent from the ultimate villain, and Tony teases her about this all being training. Riri grumbles about not being taken seriously. 

The finale episode deals with that villain, that tells her, “fine, I’ll do it myself”. In that season finale, Riri realizes what she’s fighting for: she’s fighting for the future and for the people who don’t want progress. 

Riri stands in the middle of the crowd and she says, “I am the future. You have me now.” And what she means is, “I have a future. I’m not alone anymore.”

[madasthesea]

I’m sorry for being so mean. I had a really bad day and didn’t mean to say such awful things. But I am frustrated my fics always get ignored, especially by the big names in the fandom such as yourself that claim to support everyone. I’ve written so many fics in this fandom and have been doing so for over a year, yet I only have 30 subscribers. I get really frustrated and feel like I’m a bad writer because everyone ignores me and my fics. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m sorry.

(2/2) For a fan community that claims they are inclusive, everyone sure doesn’t act that way. Everyone already has their friends and people like me who don’t have many friends get ignored. The big names in the fandom don’t support or read the fics by the new people. It’s not just me. I’ve never received a single kudo or comment from you or anyone else that’s popular like you. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but people don’t read my fics.

Ok, I’m answering this in the middle of the night in the hopes that not a lot of people will see it so it won’t become A Thing and then as soon as this fic exchange is over I am turning my anons off forever. Anon, I guess I have to give you credit for coming to apologize, but I have to say, where before I was perfectly capable of laughing off your extremely rude message, I have to say, now I’m annoyed. Because there is not a single instance or bad day or frustration that makes what you said acceptable. You came into my inbox and threw a temper tantrum because you knew my name and I happen to have anons on unlike most of the “fandom big names.” You told me I had the worst fics in the fandom, told me I publish outlines instead of stories and accused me of writing incestual pedophilia because you had a bad day? I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you’re young because that is the only possible excuse I could give you. As I said in my original response, if I were already an anxious writer, you could have caused me to delete all of my fics and put me off of writing forever. Someone commented on your original message and said that they don’t post their writing because of messages like that one. You’re right you shouldn’t have taken it out on me, and you wouldn’t have if your name had been associated with it. But here we are, and I’m going to try to make it so this never happens again, at least with the two of us. 

Now, onward to your frustrations. I am sorry that you aren’t getting the attention you want, but one) yelling at me on anon isn’t going to fix that. Two) not to be like callous and insensitive, but that happens to almost every writer I know. I’ve been writing fanfiction for 12 years. This is the seventh fandom I’ve written for and no one ever read my fics before this. My first year on AO3 I published six stories and had 500 views total. I get the frustration, but sometimes you just have to get the perfect combination of exposure, plot, and interest. Three) Do you have any idea how many stories get published in the Peter Parker & Tony Stark tag a day? I’m sorry, I can’t read all of them. I don’t want to read all of them, in fact I have 14 different tags blacklisted. Just because I am a “big name” does not mean I owe you a comment or a kudos. If I like your story, I will tell you. Chances are, I haven’t even seen one of your stories, because I’m an adult with a job and hobbies and writing of my own to do. Most of the “big names” are the exact same except a lot of them also have school. If you want someone to read your stories, ask them. Say “hey, I respect you and your opinion, could you look at this for me?” They will probably say yes unless they have a good reason not to. Don’t just sit there and wait for it to happen and get mad when it doesn’t. Also, this is the third time someone has yelled at me for not reading or commenting on their fics and it makes me less inclined to leave kudos in general in case someone comes and gets mad that I read their fic but didn’t comment. So uh… don’t do this again. 

As for the community, do you want to know how to make friends? Send asks (nice ones) not on anon. We can’t interact with you if you don’t know who you are. Reblog our fics. Comment on our posts. You can’t make friends if no one knows you exist. And the only way to show you exist is show yourself in our notes, in our inboxes. Sitting in your corner of tumblr and being bitter isn’t going to help anyone. This fandom is welcoming and it is kind and it is supportive. You saw how many people came to my defense tonight. If you talk to those people, they’ll talk back, but they can’t reach out to every single Irondad blog, it just isn’t feasible. 

And finally, how to get your fics read more. Like I said, part of it is just… luck. I got in at the very beginning, as did losingmymindtonight, parkrstark, several others, and had already established myself before IW came out and the fandom got bigger. Lucky break on my part, but I’m also a good writer because I’m 25 and I have a Master’s in a writing heavy field and I’ve been writing my entire life. Sometimes it just takes practice. But there is stuff that all good fics have in common, so here we go:

1) Good grammar, good spelling, good punctuation.

I don’t know who you are so I have no idea what your writing is like, but this is stuff I had to tell college students as a teacher, so I’m just going to go over it. 

Are there line breaks between every paragraph? No? There need to be. It’s hard to read when all of the words are bunched together, meaning automatic exits will happen, regardless of content.

Do you start a new paragraph every single time a new person speaks? You should.

“When someone is speaking,” I asked, “do you put a comma before the speech tag?” Commas, not periods. Not periods then commas. Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks. 

Are you writing in first or second person (I or you)? Don’t.

Pay attention to your tenses. It is very confusing reading a story that switches tenses every sentence. 

Are you capitalizing the beginning of every sentence and proper noun? You have to. Reading all lowercase takes energy and concentration and readers don’t like to put more effort in than they’re used to. Also it’s just pointless.  

Get a beta reader. Get grammarly (but the free version, don’t pay) or another editing service. Google anything you have a question about. EDIT YOUR WRITING. 

2) New ideas

Every fandom has tropes they love, but not every fic can be a trope fic. Every fic I write is, if not completely new, a spin on a popular trope.

Yes, there are some popular field trip fics, but most of them get lost in the weeds because they are all the same. And most of the people I talk to don’t even like them. (This counts for May dies fics, sensory overload… If you’re going to write it, you have to make it different and you have to make it good.)

Look to other movies or books for ideas, check out irondad-fic-ideas, something. Write something new, something only you can write, and at least some people will notice.

3) Good characterization

Now apparently everything I write is OOC, so maybe I’m not the best person to be giving advice on this :/ (I’m still annoyed. I’m getting over it)

BUT–the best way to write a well-known character is to know the source material. Listen to the way they talk, watch how they move. Ignore fanon. It’s hard, but try. Peter isn’t actually a perpetual ray of sunshine, chatter box 12 year old like we often write him, Tony isn’t 100% sarcasm and incapable of recognizing his own feelings. 

If you can hear the character say it in their actual voice, it’s probably a good line. 

4) Misc.

Fandom rule of thumb: cute fluff and hardcore whump win out over deep character studies on convoluted plot lines. If you’re just looking for hits or maybe a fic to establish yourself, that’s a good way to do it. 

If you’re posting a multi-chapter fic, don’t post it all at once. People will comment on each chapter as you post and you’ll get more hits. 

Respond to comments, especially at the early stages. It makes your readers more invested, it builds friendships, and it makes your stats look better. 

There’s a blog that supports little known writers in this fandom! Rec your fics there!

Make sure to never, ever put “I suck at summaries” or “fic is better than summary” it is an instant turnoff. If you can’t write the thing that makes me want to read the fic well, why would I think I want to read the fic?

Tagging on AO3 is vital. Tag the right relationships, tag the right emotions (angst, fluff, hurt/comfort). I often sort just by these. Always put in the category, (M/M, F/M, etc.) and the rating. There is no reason not to, but not doing so makes people less likely to read. Always tag triggers.

Never steal fics or ideas. If a story inspires you, you can ask the author if you can write something similar and then link in your story back to theirs. Nothing will make you less popular in a fandom than stealing work.

Lastly, I know authors constantly talk about how important comments and kudos are, and they are so important to bolstering spirits, I get that, but if you aren’t writing for yourself first, you will always be disappointed. You should enjoy your fic as much when you read it in your word doc as when you read it online with comments and kudos. And maybe you write really niche stuff that doesn’t appeal to a lot of people, but churning out carbon copies of the Fandom Tropes and hoping for hits is not going to satisfy you and you will keep being frustrated.

Let’s not do this again, shall we? Next time you have a question, ask me nicely.

[caatws]

Hi there! I have just seen gotg vol 3 and stumbled upon your blog and a few of your comments about Gamora and Nebula. I am enjoying reading your thoughts so much! I have been feeling like I'm in a pretty lonely minority because I went to see vol 3 spoiler free with an open mind and walked out more disappointed than I was expecting. Mainly because of the female character side of things. Gamora and Nebula's relationship has been a constant thread from vol 1 thru EG and vol 3 had the most amount of material to work with and yet vol 3 has the least amount of focus on their relationship out of all the movies. I have felt similarly about Mantis too. She spent 4 years with Gamora and having a certain vibe on the team. I was expecting at least some exploration of what a huge shift change Gamora being gone would bring. Or even being someone Nebula could confide in. But generally the women's relationships seemed to get shortchanged in ways that weren't a problem before from what I remember.

I admit I don't keep up with the entire MCU so maybe lack of female dynamics is an ongoing problem. I just didn't expect it from gotg with the set up they had coming from vol 2 and EG. At the end I was kind of sad to see Mantis going off on her own, Nebula staying on Knowhere and Gamora going back to the male dominated ravagers. I wanted all three of them to go on a road trip or something. Or even have Gamora stay on Knowhere to get to bond with her sister more. I don't want to come across as being pessimistic about the whole movie. It really wasn't bad. It's just vol 2 and EG seemed to be building up to an even more inclusive female character story with 3 women on the team getting to become closer and that didn't really happen. I'm actually kind of frustrated Gamora and Nebula didn't get to spend much time being guardians together. That seemed like the direction they were headed in and very important for both of them.

That said I'm going to go read your Gamora and Natasha fic! I'm glad to see someone playing with ideas for them and their sisters. I think they could have had some interesting interactions on screen if given the chance.

aw thank you anon! i hope you enjoyed the fic hehe 🫶🏼 your ask made me think of a lot of different things that i wanted to talk about so sorry in advance for the long response 😭

but yeah i totally agree with you! the shift in focus away from gamora and nebula's relationship in vol 3 was kinda sad for me too, esp bc i don't think that vol 1 thru eg rly fully resolved their storyline at any point? like it was clear that gamora and nebula grew closer in the 4 years between vol 2 and iw, but we didn't rly get to see much of that beyond gamora and nebula's reactions to each other being in danger or killed. like the trauma from that hello???

i must say though, i think nebula's overall arc from vol 1 all the way to now has shocked me the most, in a good way. i never would've thought nebula would've gotten the focus and chances to be central to the narrative in the ways she has in her appearances—in fact, i was afraid she was gonna be killed off in iw to "resolve" her arc, so to see that at least she got to live beyond that and find a home within the gotg even without her sister is actually pretty fucking awesome and i love it.

and with mantis in general, i feel like there was more i wanted for her too! in addition to more of her relationships with gamora and nebula (though it was fun watching mantis and nebula yell at each other at times but also </3 it's brutal out here being a mantis/nebula shipper), i feel like canon rly underutilized her being peter's bio sister after the holiday special made it canon. if mantis had to leave the team at the end of vol 3, i almost wish she just went with peter, not just to support him but also so they could continue getting to know each other better as brother and sister, especially since peter seemed so happy to find out mantis was his sister in the holiday special!

now i'm just going beyond what your ask was about specifically haha but i think in general, i don't usually love endings where the main cast of characters has to split up, unless it feels necessary or earned by the narrative. i feel like an example of this type of ending done well was the end of my little pony: friendship is magic where, after 9 seasons, the protagonist has to move onto a completely different job/lifestyle and break away from the friend group, but the finale is entirely focused on the emotional fallout of that and shows how the group also makes an effort to stay in touch regularly so that we know they aren't split up for good.

with gotg, i think this ending would've worked better if it had been built up more from the beginning of the film—maybe i missed some foreshadowing since i only watched once, but sowing some seeds of Wanting To Leave Or Retire within some of the characters in the first act (an example of this sorta happening was mantis talking to peter about his grandpa)—and if it felt like we'd gotten more time with these characters.

like, bc vol 1 and 2 take place within months of each other, and then 4 years passed off screen between vol 2 and iw, and then 5 years passed off screen for rocket and nebula in eg, and then another 2 years passed off screen between eg and the holiday special/vol 3, it feels like we only got the core gotg together for like, a few months tops lol. and then to go from that straight to their finale where they split up 10 YEARS LATER is just crazyyyy

[empathmantis]

Nobody talks about how Endgame also screwed over the Guardians (probably because Steve’s ‘arc’ was just so bad that it overshadowed a lot of the other terrible plot points and character decisions, which is is understandable), so I guess I’m going to take a shot at it.

1. Gamora was done. so. dirty. And by that vein, so was Nebula. How is it satisfying to see Tony Stark take down Thanos when the dude barely had any interaction with him before? Why were Nebula and Gamora (and most of the Guardians, honestly) pushed away from the forefront of the battle? I get that this is a move for the initial Avengers, to wrap up their stories and that phase of the MCU, but it’s still frustrating to see the characters who have been abused and tortured and lost their entire family to Thanos just kind of brushed aside. This isn’t your movie, Nebula, so you don’t get poetic justice. Also you have to kill your past self so, uh... have fun living with that trauma for the rest of your life.

2. What is the point of Vol. 2 now? As someone who is a huge Guardians Vol. 2 fan, I feel so cheated after Endgame. Every established relationship, every character arc that Gunn worked to build is gone. Gamora and Nebula’s beautiful familial love and bond? Gone. Quill and Gamora’s realization that there was something more between them after she saw him change and choose his found family over Ego? Gone. All of the Guardians working as a familial unit after being together for over 5+ years? Gone. Part of the reason why I love Guardians so much is because of the dynamic between the characters, and while I’m sure Gunn will do a fine job writing a mission to ‘find Gamora’ or whatever, I’d much rather see a continuation of Vol. 2 than backpedaling to get to place with the characters that had been extremely well-crafted and thought out over the course of two films.

3. Let’s also take into account the autonomy of 2014 Gamora and how her entire character will have changed because of when Thanos died, how Thanos died, how she interacted with present Nebula, etc. I really hate the idea of Quill chasing down someone who isn’t even ‘his’ Gamora and trying to win her back. The writers even said “Retrieving a still-living Black Widow from an earlier timeline would’ve been a weirdly selfish decision. Like, effectively, we’re going to kidnap a version of Black Widow who knows nothing about the current circumstances and bring her to the future just so we can have one. It’s not really asking her whether she wants to go.” BUT ISN’T THAT EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID TO GAMORA?

4. Just the way everyone was written... It started in Infinity War and continued on in Endgame. It’s like they were reverting back to the first volume’s tropes instead of taking into consideration the growth that the characters had gone through in Vol. 2. Why is Quill still referring to his relationship with Gamora as a ‘long term booty call’? Why is Rocket being blatantly insulting when he realized that pushing people away was a defense mechanism? Why is Mantis now walking like an actual praying mantis? Why do they have her condone violence for some stupid joke in the last part of Endgame when she’s always been an empath and relatively passive? I AM GROOT?! There were definitely character beats and dialogue that were well-written in IW, but some of it made me wonder if the writers even watched Vol. 2.

5. I’m still confused by the time travel thing, and I know I’m not meant to make sense of it, but... since 2014 Gamora came to the present, does that mean there’s another universe where Ronan got the power stone and destroyed the Xandarians? Or, if by some miracle of the gods, Quill and the rest of the team without Gamora managed to defeat Ronan, wouldn’t Ego just take over the galaxy anyway? Or would Ronan even do what he did considering 2014 Thanos isn’t around in his timeline anymore? IT���S SUCH A MESS, I CAN’T MAKE SENSE OF IT. Either way, alternative universes are just glossed over in one scene with The Ancient One, and no one really stops to think about their dopplegangers being like... brutally murdered or possibly enslaved in a different universe. I’m sorry, but that just seems so selfish and sloppy.

[oohlook-thevoid]

So, because my mum decided to watch the MCU movies recently (and because I'm the person in the house with the most clue of what's up with them), I've ended up rewatching a significant portion of the MCU again recently.

And, we skipped a few my mum had already seen, so we finally got to Infinity War and Endgame this weekend. And, ngl, I did not enjoy watching them again - in all honesty I paid more attention to my phone in Infinity War and straight up just went to do something else during Endgame.

And, like, I loved these movies when they came out. Ok, pre-IW I cried in a Spanish lesson when I was meant to be revising for a speaking exam just thinking about what I expected to happen in the movie. My chemistry teacher watched IW at the same time as me and in the chemistry lesson after that, there was this buzz amongst everyone talking about the movie. I remember doodling notes about the film in the margins of my exercise book. I brought the DVD to watch with a friend at my house after college one day. When Endgame came out, my brother thought I looked ridiculous as I stared completely transfixed at the screen the whole way through. I was very, very invested in these movies.

But, now, I genuinely don't care all that much for them. And, it's not that I don't still love marvel - I do still love marvel, I loved WandaVision, I'm so hyped for TFATWS, I was watching avengers cartoons just yesterday and am still getting through a wishlist of comics I wanna read. But, I do not enjoy rewatching or care that much about IW or Endgame anymore.

And, to be brutally honest, I think it's because they're not the best storytelling. The excitement around these movies was due to a decade or build up, it was an epic crossover, it was the arrival of a villain and his plan we'd all spent years waiting for. No one knew anything when we walked into the cinema, people didn't spoil it for everyone. The largest bit of enjoyment from these movies was the sheer unexpectedness, the sense of walking in with no clue what you were about to see.

Now, I know exactly what I'm going to see. I know how character's stories end. I know how they lose and win.

And, some stories, you can reread or rewatch over and over again despite knowing the ending. I think the key difference is, those don't rely on the audience not knowing what to expect. Those rely on good storytelling, foreshadowed twists that grow more satisfying with every time you go back to the story. Character development and character dynamics that move everyone forward.

For me personally, and idk whether this is a particularly shared opinion or not, as awesome as IW and Endgame were to watch and as incredible as the hype was, they aren't good storytelling. They don't build up character development in particular detail (understandable considering how many characters they're juggling ofc) and its not like I see more hints to an unexpected yet satisfying twist with every rewatch. If anything, I just end up with more question s about why they didn't do things differently to make life easier and win in IW. It just isn't a satisfying story the more I rewatch it, really it just becomes increasingly frustrating.