#anyway idk what my point is but it's an interesting read and i like peter's itchy grandpa sweater outfit

[bomberqueen17]

deep in the obsession

ok so IDK how much I've talked about my Special Interest in the Bronze Age on here. At one point (like nanowrimo of 2003 or so) I was trying to write a novel set in the British Isles Bronze Age and I researched as much as I could and there just wasn't much information and I wrote some stuff anyway but it petered out. And ever since then I've kept checking back on various avenues of research and every time there's a new find I'd read as much as I could find about it. And then they discovered the remains of a pile-dwelling settlement in the Fens in England and they've finally just now published the results of that? Well of course I've been obsessively reading about it. (I had actually emailed the Cambridge Archaeology Unit a couple of months ago to ask where I could find the publications, so the timing was good.)

I mean the long and short of it is, they've got a site exposed by modern quarrying activity, which consists of five remaining buildings, which burned down and collapsed into the river channel with all their contents in the 9th century BC; the inhabitants escaped with very few of their possessions, and the rest of the assembly of the items they used in their daily lives are largely present, very well-preserved; whole sets of pots and woodworking tools, as well as textiles and textile-processing materials, foodstuffs, wooden tools, and enough building materials to almost entirely reconstruct their dwellings; a enormous wealth of information about their diets, their ways of living, even some feel for their aesthetic sensibilities. The circumstances of the buildings' collapse even means we know how they laid out their living spaces.

So I am going to infodump about what I've pulled out of these rather dense and dry reports (I have zero complaints, they're perfectly appropriately-written), so buckle up.

Firstly, if you want to read these yourself, the publications are open access PDFs hosted on the Cambridge Archaeology Unit's website here.

There are also a fantastic series of blog posts both from during the excavation and from during the initial analytical "post-ex" phase on the site's website, which I devoured while waiting for the final reports.

I admit I was first drawn to the whole thing, when I first saw stories about it, because of the mystery. It seems to have been a whole settlement, a village maybe, and it all burned down at once, and no humans seem to have died in it, but everyone left everything behind, even leaving a dog in one of the buildings, and some penned little lambs in a couple of them-- what caused this? Were they attacked? Were they forced out of it? It had a palisade around it as if for defense, did they build it because they were afraid, and rightfully so?? Why did they not come back to try to salvage anything? The water would have been shallow, surely they could at least get their axe-heads and things back.

But the thing that has sustained my interest now is that it appears to have been an unexceptional village after all. There's no evidence that these were elite people living here. There weren't any unambiguous weapons found-- part of a broken sword, in what was obviously a recycle bin (a wooden bucket), waiting along with some broken chisels and a bent axe and part of a broken bronze bucket for a trip back to the nearest metalworker. Some spears, but likely used for hunting, stored outside the houses all together leaned up against the palisade under an overhanging roof eave. Axes, but the sheer quantity of woodworking in the site means they were very obviously woodworking tools, and weapons only by technicality.

Other contemporaneous sites are preserved so incompletely that there are always "was this a place people dwelled or was it a ceremonial gathering place" kinds of questions. Artifacts are found either discarded in middens, broken, or deposited in hoards, "ceremonially?". But all this stuff is in-context, in the house, which burned down and collapsed straight down. This was the kitchen area, obviously; all the houses had most of their pots in the same approximate spot, caches of grain in the same area. This corner is where we find stuff they were working on-- one house has probably a loom, and tons of textile-related stuff scattered around it. (There's only evidence for a loom in one or maybe two of the buildings, but there are spindle whorls and bobbins of thread in three; several spinners providing one weaver, as is common throughout history.)

Some of the pots had been broken before the fire, and some of them had been partially discarded and partially kept, like for example a well-shaped broken bit of rim was being used as a scoop or something, while the little unusable shards had gotten chucked into the river where they threw their trash; the archaeologists could reunite fragments to prove this, and could derive the information that these shards would all be associated with the same house; they weren't shared, they were using the broken pot in the same house where they'd used it before it was broken; they seem to have cooked their meals separately, and kept separate inventory of basic household necessities. But the extra stuff seems to have been stored in the communal storage shed, so they could all get to it.

There's a large but incomplete sheet of bark that in places has a second sheet adhered to it with moss in between, which was likely bedding.

There are textiles, not just woven ones but also weft-twined ones made from lime bast cord-- mats, or hats, or capes. There's a knotted fishing net that was rolled up and in a pile with other things in an area that seems to have been a storage shed of sorts. (Near the "recycle bin" full of broken metal.) There's a collection of prepared fiber, ready to be made into cordage or spun into thread, and it's all prepared the same way in standard-sized bundles-- tantalizingly, regular enough as if for trade, stored in that storage shed next to a nested set of new pots-- like somebody had bought or made them and they weren't put to use yet, OR someone had made extra they intended to trade offsite for stuff they couldn't make themselves.

The whole sets of pots are broadly the same among households-- similar numbers of large vs. small, coarse vs. fine. They all resemble one another, though some are better-made than others-- as if several people made them, but under the guidance of one experienced worker.

Several pots and wooden containers have food residues. Hauntingly, there's a ceramic pot that was still half-full of porridge, with a wooden spatula/spoon still stuck in it. The porridge was made of ground wheat cooked in a liquid containing animal fats from a ruminant-- either sheep/goat or red deer-- possibly an early example of frumenty.

Enough of the structural timbers remain from the buildings, many with markings on them from where other structural elements were touching them and alternately exposed/protected them from fire so it is possible to reconstruct shapes and connections in more detail than if they were unburnt ruins, that the buildings can be nearly completely reconstructed, which is novel because most buildings of this era are known only from footprints/post holes. Almost no material survived from the walls, but because of these ghost "protection marks" it's possible to know that the walls existed, how wide they were, that they were attached in a particular spot, that they were made of a series of small uprights-- and to then surmise that some of the fragments of "wattle", woven panels, must have come from the walls in some cases. And it's possible to reconstruct the innovative, never-elsewhere-seen sprung floor system of bowed joists that kept the floors securely above the water below.

Anyway, I've devoured Vol I and am most of the way through scouring Vol II for interesting tidbits.

Yes of course I want to write a novel with this as the setting but I also am just completely fascinated.

[neoputo]

adam is... DEAD?!?!

finally rewatching good omens s2 and this might've already been discussed but i haven't read anything abt it and ahh okay

so i was (re)watching s2e1 and everything was fun and games until i decided to pause every now and then during the intro to see if i could spot some details or clues or whatever. and DAMN there's a lot. some i understand, some i don't, and some i think are either symbolic to smth that happens OR a vague maybe not so vague anticipation of what's coming up on s3 (manifesting the shit out of it bc i NEED IT SO BAD).

anyway, at the beginning of the intro animation there's this scene where crowley and aziraphale (among other characters) are walking through a graveyard. this ofc is a reference to the minisode they help the girls in the graveyard & the whole "not dying enuff dying" etc scene (i don't remember the name of it nor the year but y'know what i'm talkin bout). anyway, that's not the point. the point is that in that moment of the intro, you can see some tombstones AND some of them have things written on em. for instance, one of them says "everyday" (y'know the name of beelzebub and gabriel's song) and another "jane austen" (aziraphale and the whole "having a ball jane austen style is peak romance" thing) which are interesting clues of what's coming, but having watched the season already wasn't that big of a revelation to me.

however, there's also some tombstones that i don't understand, like one that says "peter paintball" (crowley's voice do we know a peter paintball?).

okay but that's not all! there's also one that talks abt beelzebub's change of appearance ("here lies the former shell of beelzebub") AND next to that one there's one that says "here lies ADAM / "i do not understand, surely your very existence requires the ending of the world. it is written" (quote from s1 or at least it's in the book idk)

BRO WHAT ???? ADAM'S DEAD??????? like ik he and the other kids don't appear in s2, but neither does anathema or newton or shadwell or madam tracey (her actress does, but the character doesn't). and like idk but reading that shocked me bc like... adam served no purpose anymore so he died?? all this time i thought he was like,, the same kid but without his powers or wtv.. but die? never thought of that. and it drives me insane and i needed to get it out of my system. so yeah, tumblr post.

bonus: i cant fucking figure out what's written on it. if anyone knows what it says.. help !!

all i can read is smth along the lines of "... early to ..." but idk. tried to play with contrasts and brightness but it didn't help much.

anyway, pls don't let me go nuts alone and say smth !!!

also this is only a small fraction of s2e1 INTRO. like,, there's a lot to unpack here.

[captainshyguy]

6 bc im curious and 9 bc i wanna see ur hit list /hj

aaa ty belle!!

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

hmmm, not to my knowledge! the closest has been somthing ve been neutral bout/thought was kinda silly like melli and ingo lol, like i didnt hate it, but was neutral, and now i think its hilariousKJDSNGSDJ

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

(if these end up in characters tag i apologise but i aint censoring every single damn name! im not tagging and that should be enough)

oooh im gonna expand this bit beyond my regular fandoms bc there are some little fuckers out there i really hatein othe thinhs gkgjd, lets do regular fandoms first though

hollow knght: tpk, lurien, tiso. tpk for obvious reasons (plus i dont really like a lot of high up characters in general like focusing on tpk in fics kinda makes me eyes roll when the vessels are right there. lurien for reasons :). tiso because people went through a stint where he was just silly himbo and kept shippig him with quirrel nd i fucking hated that lol. his design slaps though

tcw: the bad batch lol fucking HATE them. tech is tolerable, and i dont even count echo one of them, free him!!! but the rest are condesceding assholes sorry idc if they get better in their own show like sorry you sold them to me as 'ooo arent they soooo cool theyre so much better than those Regulr Clones Boooo, look at them!!! like fuck off lol. you will never be captain rex

pokemon: not a big fan of 'hehee im a cutesy quirky little girl!! chracters, like sabi or poppy like. theyre fine i guess but eh. not for me. otherwise swordbert and shieldbert were also annoying kjgskgj

off the top of my head i cant really think of many for mario besides like...idk cranky kong specifically in the mario movie? awful voice perfromace. i guess waluigi too sorry, i m not a fan of like..idk, more basic mario chracters who dont really show up in non mulitplyar games, bc they end up beign sooo known and its like. bro they didnt even put him in wonder or 3d world or anything. like if u want him to be a staple mario character to me then put him in other games too, or i'll just roll my eyes that he's taking up space where someone like cpatain toad or peasley could be taking it lol

undertale/deltarune: detanged one but ice-e. ex went through a period where he as weirdly obsessed with him and thought he'd be super important and it annoyed me :)

ok now outside of my regular fdoms, characters i still loathe include

ralph from the flash- he was this stretchy dude who was awful abt women and like sure he kiiiida got over it but it felt weak and i hated him and the actor ended up being shitty anyway.. in the same universe i didnt like either oliver or barry's daughters from the future, both were very annoying lol

mon el from super girl. i hate him. kill him.annoying boring no chemistry love interest. kill him

eric sparrow from tony hawks underground- though i will concede that like the hollow knight characters, he contrbutes in really important ways to the story. like your'e SUPPOSED to hate him thats the point, they do a very good job with it. like he's written fantastically, and i want to kill him. i alway think of this article i read about him that was like 'eric sparrow is my best friend and he wants to hurt me' like yeah thats it thats the character. like i LIKE WHAT THEY DID, which sets him apart from almost everyone else here, its just what they did makes you hate him lol

ross from friends. miserable, insecure little creep. kill him

there are little charcters i loathe more than peter griffin family guy. kill bite explode

[clambuoyance]

ngl I know nothing ab your DC blorbos except they're gay and cool or something Idk I just think they're neat... I'd ask what comics I could read ab them being super blorbo-y but Idk...

OKAY so there’s a lot of characters in dc but the ones I draw/talk about the most are these group of friends!! They feature in Young Justice 1998, Teen Titans 2003, and Young Justice 2019, as well as having their own comics and other appearances :)

each comic run has different vibes but my personal favorite is yj1998 bc I like its wacky and zany vibes. It was not my first comic though, and it’s a little older so it might be hard to understand or read if it’s your first time reading comics like this, and again it is old soooo some stuff does Not age well such as certain jokes or depictions and it is of course not all perfect but overall I love it and think it has a lot of heart

I think i have a lot of fun with it bc it feels so…animated? And it has funny slapstick humor. Honestly I probably like it bc it makes me laugh the same way ninjago makes me laugh…a group of 4+ friends that have cute dynamics with each other and just Being Silly Together. I really don’t know how to explain it but between all three runs, I can see yj1998 in my head the most as a wacky animated show with exaggerated bouncy animation idk so that’s part of the fun for me. I think the moment I realized this was going to be a long term emotional investment was When I read the issue where they randomly end up on a planet and have to play baseball bc I am a SUCKERRR for baseball shenanigans

But yeah the group starts out with Bart, Tim, and Kon in JLA: A world without Grownups, and they just have a good trio dynamic 🙏 the banter between all three is so good 🤩and I liked seeing their friendship develop throughout yj1998 too! Especially for Tim, with his hesitancy at the beginning.They weren’t without conflict ofc but that adds to why I like them bc eventually they became besties for life. They are also quickly joined by others but the main one that stays w the group through all three runs is Cassie Sandsmark , aka Wonder Girl ii.

But yeah I guess some things I like are the way they actually Hang out? like they will do camping trips or go to the mall and games together etc etc, but there will be parts that feel more serious while never losing that humorous tint to it. For some examples, I love how Tim tries to be a leader in the beginning, but then one arc shows just how much Cassie is more fitting for it, and how they bond over Leader things like how hard it is to tell Bart what to do and then will share a really nice hug 🥺, and I love Cassie and Cissie’s relationship a LOT because they sometimes misunderstand each other but clearly care for each other (they aren’t canon but in my heart they are.) I also like Tim and kon’s build towards understanding and friendship for a similar reason, and cissie and Anita also have a nice development with each other, but yeah all the dynamics are just fun to think about tbh 🤷🏻‍♀️ I am pointing at them eagerly and going “wow! Friendship!!”

And as for the guy I never shut up about…well that’s a whole thing I could ramble about but i became obsessed with him the moment he quoted Peter Pan while lamenting about how he was afraid his friends would leave him behind after several issues of him acting like Hot Shit and erm I’m predictable so it got to me 🙄 also he makes dumb jokes every second like he expects someone to laugh at them like he’s so dumb sometimes….anyways I do not want to ramble too much so I will get on with it

I was only familiar with his black tshirt look before, so when I first saw this goofy looking dumbass with a leather jacket and glasses and an earring I WAS LIKE “THATS SUPERBOY? THATS REAL?” and quickly became interested in the notion of a Superman associated hero wearing something like this bc I don’t think my brain ever considered the possibility before….also it is something I cannot explain some panels just activate my cuteness aggression 😔 I just think he’s really cute 🫶🫶🫶

[punkxcalibur]

personal mphfpc recap since i finally finished reading all the books

spoilers for the entire mphfpc series ahead. this will mostly be me talking about the book's imperfections, because when i love a piece of media, i also love criticizing it to its core

so, i first read the books 1-4 in 2020 and i was SO obsessed!!?? i wasn't really into social media and fandom culture back then, so i didn't really have anyone to talk to about mphfpc and i remember being very sad about that. i also remember trying to make fanart of the characters, but i REALLY sucked at art back then and to this day i find old mphfpc drawings and cringe at them. maybe it's time to redraw some of those...

anyways, i read the fifth book when it first came out in germany and i kind of hated it lol. i was really rushing through it, because i couldn't wait for the fugh reunion. so i kind of missed out on the whole plot because i only cared about fiona and hugh.

basically, i recently finished rereading the books, because nostalgia or whatever and i'm kind of obsessed again. so...i'm just dumping some thoughts on the whole series here because on tumblr i can actually find ppl with mutual interests.

first of all there's literally SO MANY inconsistencies and plotholes?? what the actual fuck ransom riggs. idk how much of this is prevalent in the og books, because i mainly read the german translations, but sometimes riggs just forgets who hugh is i guess?? he mixes up his and horace's peculiarities once and at some point he is referred to as howard. who the fuck is howard. these are literally the most easiest mistakes to fix. does he not have an editor?

i'm not even gonna talk about the movie. i have a whole seperate post for it

it sometimes bothers me how only certain characters seem to serve a purpose. in every novel emma, enoch, millard and bronwyn are clearly the focus (besides jacob) despite the fact that the other characters are equally interesting and likeable. hugh, horace, claire, olive and obviously fiona are just NOT THERE for like the entirety of AMOD. are you kidding me

the entire second trilogy...is kind of a cashgrab. of course i'm happy we got more books and i liked them, but it's kind of obvious that the author simply had some pictures left and saw an opportunity to make some more profit out of them. that's not bad, but these books weren't necessary for the overall storyline.

the thing with the prophecy in DODA...the entire book was dedicated to finding the other lighteaters, but they don't really do anything in the end?? i kinda get why noor has to be the *main character*, but why introduce julius and sebbie when everything could have played out the same way without them?

julius and horace...is it really that hard to age julius down? it would've made that a lot less creepy. there is literally no reason for julius to so much older than horace. not sure if this could be considered queerbaiting, since i don't know a lot about that topic. would be grateful if anyone elaborated more on that.

hugh and fiona are still my favorite thing about these books THEY ARE PERFECT IN EVERY WAY AND DESERVED SO MANY MORE SCENES UGH. i don't need another jemma kiss i need FUGH. there is just so much potential and plus, we never really get to learn about their backstories?? like we know that they're from the 1840s, so how did they get into a loop a century later?

how was fiona able to *whisper* to hugh in DODA, she literally had her tongue cut out, hello?

so many characters with lots of potential either die or just disappear. lilly, sam, althea, peter-and-joel...ring any bells??

why is horatio kinda

ok i'm sorry

the photos are so funny sometimes, because at times there will be a photo of, say, emma and in the next book there will be another picture of her and she just looks like a different person. because,obviously, that's a photo of a different person. but apparently, ransom thinks we're too dumb to notice that.

i would just love it if there'd be storylines that focused on each character individually, because again, WASTED POTENTIAL

ricky deserved to have a comeback, i feel like this is general fandom consensus

introducing v, just to kill her off? idk man

despite all of these criticisms i just made, i fucking cherish these books

since pjo gets a new awesome reboot i think we deserve one too

i also wish the fandom was bigger but maybe it's a good thing that it's kind of niche. i don't know.

uhh i guess that was my not-so-little rant and yeah...enjoy this post i guess

[pharawee]

I love Chains of Heart. I really, really do. I just wish they'd had more time or money or idk to have better script editing. This series could be so much better with a tighter script.

This week especially could have been incredible without all the repetition (I get why they did it and I get that flashbacks and circular storytelling are a staple of Asian drama but imo it went way over the top and deprived us of scenes and reactions that could have shown us more of the actual fallout of everything that's been going on.

Slightly off-topic but I love the sfx make-up here. The blues and greens of the fresh bruises and the texture of the scraped skin are so well done (lmao I'm not being creepy, I swear, I used to do cosplay and I love my bruise-wheel). And the bruises actually change between scenes too, showing the passing of time (or maybe Lue has supernatural healing now, who knows).

But yeah, this is what I was talking about. I wish we'd actually seen this conversation happen (rather than just the beginning of it) instead of more flashbacks. And yes, it's not strictly necessary for the narrative. It's just that I want to see more of Hin/Marc Pahun and I was so curious about his reaction once he'd figured it all out.

Same with these two. They wasted a whole scene on Deedee waking up and deciding to go for a hearty breakfast. Instead, he could have called Phayu to make the connection between them clearer. This one short slip-up on Deedee's part is the only hint that he's the one Phayu sent to watch over Ken.

Also, this bit with Nott. I don't know if it's because they're planning a spin-off with Nott and Guy (I'm all for it!) but I don't think anyone who hasn't read the novel(s) will necessarily realise that Nott has genuine psychic powers and that this is a perfectly reasonable thing to happen in the author's book universe.

(It could have been even more confusing, though. There's a bit in the novel where another one of Phayu's friends (it's ok, he has his own novel too) conjures up Peter Lue's ghost because apparently he's hanging around and is understandably worried about why someone stole his whole life.)

This to me was the strongest moment in the whole episode (sorry Ken, I'll get to you in a bit). I was waiting for Hin to figure things out and confront Din about it - even more so since I realised that Hin is actually the oldest sibling (never mind that Marc Pahun is over ten years younger than Boom Raweewit - but I don't even mind since Hin is described as incredibly pretty in the novel lmao. Plus, Din is wearing the face of a presumably older man).

I love the way he chose to confront him via the phone call to make the evidence against Din/Lue even more damning. And I love Hin's (extremely justified) anger, and the way he broke down Din's walls (which must have been something Din was yearning for anyway).

So Lue has an evidence board. Good for him. I half-expected his lair to be filled with photographs and sketches of Ken but apparently he's way more focussed than that (but it would have been super creppy and a nice comparison to Ken's walk-in photoalbums).

Lue/Din also has a whole superhero closet and wtf are you even going to use these weapons for? What, are you going to duel Ingpha with a bat'leth (also do I spot Gun/Fin's garrote)?

But I find this bit even more interesting. Ken is doing something to Lue's phone. Maybe he'll use it to track him down next week? Because it seems like Din/Lue is already planning to leave again. He#s got to see this through, after all.

And then there it is. The big confrontation. Only, I was a bit confused at first until I realised that this is all Ken can do to give in. And at this point there's really no reason to talk about the past anymore. It can't undo the hurt and the pain. It can only destroy what could be a new beginning. There's always going to be an unbridgeable gap between who Din was then and who Lue is now. So Ken finally grants Din/Lue his wish:

And it works, in a way.

Imagine how dizzying and disorienting it must be when your heart feels one person and your mind sees another. But eventually...

I love how this scene is all passion and (re)discovery and as such it mirrored Din and Ken's relationship. But it's also far more gentle and loving and new for them.

And remember when all Din/Lue dreamed about was this:

Well...

It's ok that they forgot the scars. I don't even mind. 😭

Which brings me to Inspector Don aka Poppy my beloved:

And despite the preview for next week I'm still convinced he's a good guy. What other reason is there for him to keep all of this to himself? Plus, he seemed concerned rather than angry (or evil lmao).

So I'm guessing he's actually doing a much, much better (and legal) job of bringing Ingpha down. Negl I'd love for him to save the day, close his case and show that Din's whole quest for vengeance was completely pointless.

Because honestly, was it all really worth it - even if Chief Ingpha is going down in the end?

[dippydippycritiques]

Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (A Reworking of an Abominable Script.)

Does anyone remember this fan poster from, idk, four of five years ago? Yeah, this was the movie I thought we were getting, but didn't get. Someone hunt down this person for false advertising! Haha, haha, ha, ha...

Anyways, I was doing some thinking about how M.O.M could have been rewritten differently and I thought I would share my ideas with you. If anyone is down to give this a read through, I would love your feedback so that I can also better my own writing skills when it comes to building character development. So yeah, don't be afraid to send a message, I would love to hear from you!

Just a fair warning to those who are reading this. I am writing the proposal to what this script could have been at 10PM at night. I have no idea why I decide to work on my projects late. I guess that's the time I am able to get my thoughts out. So if there are typos or if anything feels like it doesn't read correctly or make sense. I will be sure to comb through this post again tomorrow.

With that out of the way, here is what I would have proposed for M.O.M.

In the comics (from the ones I was able to read) Strange has had a side job as a detective/paranormal investigator involving creatures invading his world. This is something I would have introduced immediately in the film as it would give Strange more depth when it comes to how he lives his life daily on a regular basis (which we have seen very little of.)

The next thing I would change is America Chavez. Not the dynamic however. I think Strange having a Tony/Peter dynamic would be a really good thing for him...but since Strange erased everyones memories of Peter. It would be kind of tough to do that. However, I do play with the idea of Peter coming back into the story later. Instead of a young America Chavez...how about a young Rogue from the X Men? If you do this, you can set up the X Men movies, have Strange be a mentor or a father figure to her, AND you can heavily play up the idea that Rogue is mistreated by society and Strange is one of the few people willing to accept her. I don't remember EXACTLY, but I THINK there was a Doctor Strange comic a while back that played with the idea of him training students who weren't able to understand their powers. I almost like the idea of the Sanctum Sanctorum being like a safe haven for mutants or other characters with powers that were mistreated by society. This is a very surface level description (I think) of what I am trying to describe. The point is the character that Strange starts to become close with didn't have to be Chavez, it could have been someone fans haven't seen in years and connect THAT character to future films. Now with that being said...

You don't need Chavez to hop through dimensions because the god damn sling rings exist which ALREADY DO THAT. I however, DO think exploring the idea of hopping between dimensions is a must, but it needs to be done it good taste. I will admit that I have a very basic level understanding of how dimension hopping works in the MCU outside the information that was given to me by their own films, but I believe if you build the relationships right, especially between Strange and Rogue, you can make hopping through dimensions not only suspenseful, but with the right plot, you can heighten that tension as well. Here is how I would do that.

For the third act, I would have Rogue be taken by Mephisto and write their dynamic in a "well if you don't belong there, perhaps you belong here" kind of way (again, I'm writing this at very surface level cause it's late.) This would prompt Strange to start hopping through dimensions in order to search for her. I also think the conversation between him and Mephisto and how there are people on Earth that accept Rogue already would be a really interesting conversation to have. Obviously, I think Mephisto would be full of shit and try to use her powers for his own personal gain...or maybe he would sympathize with her (I haven't read enough Doctor Strange comics with Mephisto in it to know if this would bastardize the character, but giving him some semblance of sympathy would be an interesting idea I think.)

Now instead of adding...sigh...the illuminati. I personally would rather have pushed Peter Parker back into the story so that Strange and Peter can rebuild their relationship that was erased from No Way Home. There are a lot of ways you can go about this that I feel could really engage audiences. I personally like the idea of Peter biting off more then he can chew when it came to stopping criminals. So when he is seriously injured and (funnily enough because the No Way Home writers shot themselves in the foot because of this) he can't go to the hospital because no one can identify him (since no one remembers him). Peter instead goes to Strange for help and has to try to jog his memory about why he forgot him.

Ok, I'm starting to get really tired now. So, I'm going to try to wrap some of these last points up.

I haven't figured out what to do with Wong quite yet. I almost kind of want him to lean more heavily into his comedic side, though admittedly, I think he wasn't like that in the comics. I would probably write him to be the guy Strange would go to for a second opinion (as I think should of been the case already in M.O.M, which it's not) and try to get Strange and Wong to banter a lot more since Benedict and...Benedict (hysterical) have really good chemistry. This is something I would try to expand on a lot more.

As for Wanda, my instinct would be NOT to make her a villain, and instead have her train under Doctor Strange like she did in the comics. If she ever became a villain, I would have wanted that to be waaaay later down the line of movies as I felt she still had a lot of growing to do with her powers in particular. You can also potentially set up a mother daughter relationship with Rouge since they BOTH are associated with the X Men in the comics and you can tie this to those films later down the line. That's what I would do with Wanda anyway.

I would have dropped Christine entirely with M.O.M as I felt she served her purpose in the first movie and there was really no where else for her to go character wise. Especially since it seems she will not be present for any other film later down the line.

Introducing Clea half way into the film when they have to start searching for Rouge can also be a good idea. She could be almost like a tour guide for Strange and the others, and to top that off. We can get Clea's backstory about the strained relationship between her and her father (I actually think Mephisto is her father, though I don't remember off hand. I will look into that another day, but if he is. That literally adds a whole other layer to this movie that you can explore.)

Alright, I am done.

There is probably a lot more I could go over with this re-write...but I am SUPER tired. So please forgive me as I go rest for the night so that I can look back on this tomorrow.

If you made it all the way through. I salut you, I'll try to write shorter pieces....eventually...

[margokesses]

Okay so I don't have much knowledge on 616 gwen Stacy and I've only read a few issues of the spider gwen run... but I can speak on the itsv/astv gwen Stacy.

And even though I'm kinda neutral on her character (it takes a lot to get me interested into a yt woman character nowadays)

I do like how the atsv writers are avoiding making the whole "death of gwen stacy" thing a huge plot point.

Like I'm aware that there are like references to that infamous moment in the films. There's her falling dramatically in the first film at the collider fight and in the 2nd film when they're in mumbahattan. There's the line she tells miles about how "spiderman and gwen stacy don't end well in other universes". In the 2nd film there's a small scene where a bunch of au peter parkers say "hi" to her and she says "hi" back.

But other than that it's not really mentioned and brought up as much and gwen is allowed to feel like her own character outside of that moment. And I like that bc if they did make it a major plot point it would feel awkward and remind the audience of the fridging and take away what makes her so interesting.

Bc I remember seeing a comic panel and it was spider-gwen and 616 peter parker and she was like "I wasn't able to save peter" and peter was like "I wasn't able to save my gwen" and then they agreed to like protect each other from now own.

And I know that it's supposed to sound sweet and whatever but it just reads as awkward to me bc if I remember correctly spider gwen in the comics is like 19 and peter is like late 20s/early 30s. And on one hand I do get that grief is a powerful thing and he did love his gwen stacy but like... he should have moved on at this point. And it doesn't help that like spider gwen is the same age as 616 gwen when she died (I think?).

Like idk its so weird. And I remember when itsv came out and the scene of peter b seeing rip Peter's mj at the party and him just blabbing on and gwen is like "I've been there buddy you gotta move on" about her seeing another peter after hers died.

And ppl online were saying "oh well why doesn't peter mention the fact that he's seeing an au version of his gwen that died?"

And it annoyed me and reminded me of that comic panel again except this time it's worse bc itsv peter is like 40 and itsv gwen is like 15.... like y'all don't think it would be weird for a grown ass man to tell a teenage girl that she reminds him of his dead gf??

Anyways this just turned into me rambling and sorry if it doesn't make any sense but yeah tldr: atsv bringing up the death of gwen stacy is a good thing and would be weird and I wish the fanboys would stop wanting it to be talked about every 10 seconds.

[aithusarosekiller]

Unpopular opinions:

I think people who say that Sirius would pick or save Reg over James are crazy, I’m sorry 😭

Idk how unpopular this is but Remus would drive everyone else crazy by picking the longest, most pretentious prog rock ever for parties. Peter is the only one with good taste. James is tone deaf. Sirius is a complete poser who will pretend to be into bands he’s never heard.

I don’t think Reg has a big circle of close friends. I love the Skittles in AUs but they really don’t make sense to me in canon compliant stuff, especially if the writer is trying to push that none of them were into blood supremacy.

I really like Lily and Sirius in Jegulus fics: I feel like they’re given much more depth and complexity than they are in Jily/Wolfstar stuff.

People have a really hard time making Dorlene and Moonseeker interesting as actual dynamics I would like to read about and not aesthetic Twitter threads.

If James/Remus/Regulus ended up being a thing and I was Sirius, our friendship would be over. Especially if they kept it from me. Oh, wait… I’d get with Evan and Barty and then our friendship would be over. I am toxic and petty and a Sirius kin can you tell. Any fic where Sirius is cool with it is an unrealistic fic in my eyes. Jegulus and/or Moonseeker is already stretching it but both his best friends? Nah.

Actually leaping off from that, a lot of fics these days do a bad job establishing why James and/or Remus would care about Regulus and instantly be in love with him. Especially in universes where Sirius hates Reg and Reg/Reg’s friends hate Sirius. I feel like earlier Jegulus fics did a much better job before it became an assumed dynamic.

I don’t think you should be writing Regulus & Sirius dynamics in fics if you don’t have empathy for both and aren’t willing to show both of their POVs. A lot of times it comes across as victim blaming or really weird ideas about victims.

I will be back with more!

I disagree with that first one, mainly bc out of habit he'd jump to save him before thinking about the consequences and then realise after what he'd done

The second one is so true, I love Sirius so much but please the poser vibes are STRONG

I love lonely Reg 💀 I love the skittles as a big friend group but I sometimes miss the days where he was a lonely Emo boy or only friends with Pandora, those were the times.

Tbf I don't real jily or wolfstar so l just give a suppletive thumbs up 👍 I do love everything about Lily tho and Sirius is always good in Jegulus bc they can justify every single action he does and it feels more natural

Is this a bad time to mention the Dorlene longfic I'm writing...TO ANYBODY INTERESTED IT IS A ROYALTY AU WITH ENEMIES TO LOVERS AND ARRANGED MARRIAGE AS WELL AS KNIGHT!MARLENE AND PRINCESS!DORCAS, EVERYONE IS GAY AND THEY ARE BOTH DOWN BAD BUT IN DENIAL, it doesn't have a name yet 😞

Idk I think it depends if it's an au or not, in canon ABSOLUTELY NOT WE ARE NEVER SPEAKING AGAIN, but in some aus it makes more sense

I sort of get what you mean, I think it's become very accepted that James cares about Reg because of his large heart and he understands his abuse and manipulation but like...it's so accepted that it gets really rushed bc people just want to get to the fun bit (which like me too)

YES people who blame one of them, be it intentional or not, really annoy me bc it comes through in your writing, and I prefer Reg just as a character I write but THAT DOESN'T MEAN I BLAME SIRIUS FOR ALL THE SHIT THAT HAPPENED TO HIM it doesn't make for a cool plot point, it's just creepy. Honestly my whole page is on the treatment of the black family and dumbledore's ignorance towards it so I feel very strongly about this one, same goes for people who use Andy as a catalyst for Cissa to cry into Alice/Lucius/whoever's arms because they never treat her like an actual person

Anyway

[latinorry]

thoughts on the new hunger games movie // spoilers ahead because I don’t have a letterboxd account and I can’t be bothered to make one rn but I have opinions

-pacing was really weird and the title cards announcing each act took me out of the story each time

-I don’t hate Rachel Zegler so this isn’t a personal insult to her but her acting is soooo theatre kid and I didn’t care for the southern (?) accent especially cause literally no one else had one sjskdnsls

-that being said girl can sing!

-maybe I should just read the book but I kinda wanna know more about the whole war between the districts and the capitol and how that resulted in the Hunger Games… like it’s eluded to throughout the movie that the games are a punishment for the district uprising, but when Casca Highbottom dropped that line about drunkenly coming up with the idea with president snow’s dad during the VERY LAST FIVE MINUTES LIKE??? How is that not more relevant to the plot and what am I supposed to do with this information now

-I would also have liked to see more scenes between Snow and Highbottom in general like they’re interesting because in a way they’re the same person… Highbottom is the original mind behind the Hunger Games and Snow elevated the Games to what they later became in the trilogy and yet they have such different responses to that legacy… Highbottom becomes a drug addict to cope with the guilt while Snow embraces the power and as we know ascends to the rank of President… and yet they’re both willingly complicit in the system which is an interesting comment on the corruptive nature of power +1 points for Suzanne Collins’ brain

-Was Peter Dinklage even in the same room as the other actors though ? because why was he alone in all of his scenes it just felt so glaringly obvious that he did all of his takes in remote sound studio in one day lmao

-the performance by that tribute who like tore down the flag of Panem and put them over the bodies of the deceased tributes… SO powerful it literally gave me goosebumps I think that was probably my favorite scene

-Lucky Flickerman wasn’t camp enough which is crazy considering he was played by Jason Schwartzman but maybe we can just blame the directing or lack thereof … but i can also see them not wanting to just recreate Caesar flickerman’s character cause how do you even follow a performance by Stanley Tucci anyway idk

-the acting overall was soooo ??? Meh even the top billed actors like Peter Dinklage and Viola Davis were not giving what they usually give so I’ve got to wonder what was going on with Francis Lawrence this time around like is he just not capable of directing anyone other than Jennifer Lawrence?

-Tom Blyth ate though that’s one thing about the British actors you can count on them to deliver like their work visa is about to expire at any given moment

-the actor who played Sejanus Plinth also gave a really good performance I’ll give him his flowers he earned them 💐

-not enough Hunter Schafer idc if she’s only snow’s cousin make it work

-this is kinda out of order but they never really revealed why Snow’s dad was killed other than being in the resistance but I feel like that’s such an integral part of what motivates Snow’s devotion to the Capitol and it seems so glossed over cause why was the rest of his family allowed to live idk again maybe I should just stfu and read the book

-overall I think the movie was alright but it didn’t necessarily live up to the hype for me so 4 snakes out of 10

[spider-xan]

I liked Spider-Gwen at first, but then actually read the comics and they weren't. That Good. She is a good character in ITSV/ATSV, but idk I still feel indifferent about her. And she's been, once again, relegated to just The Love Interest by the majority of fans. Regular Gwen is Peter's love interest and Spider-Gwen is Miles' love interest. Nothing else. It wouldn't bug me if people weren't so obsessive about her, most fans are like "Gwen HAS to be there she HAS to we NEED Gwen!!!!" and it's very annoying. It especially annoyed me that people were drooling about the fact that Insomniac might (or might not) include her and make her Miles' age, so they can be together. Completely disregarding the fact that Hailey exists.

I like her design and all, but she's very meh to me, speaking as a woman myself. Beside the things I've mentioned, my biggest gripe with her that she feels like a completely different character and not a variation of Gwen Stacy. With alternate versions of Peter, while they feel slightly different, they still have the character's essence. The only thing she shares with the OG Gwen is the blonde hair and name, she might as well could've been an OC.

Yeah, this actually is p much how I feel about Spider-Gwen as well tbh! I actually do remember when she debuted and it was coming off hot from the massive spike in mainstream popularity she got after the first TASM film came out in 2012, and I think a major selling point was that her comics would explore what if Gwen lived and got spider superpowers - so I was surprised when I read the comic and aside from having blonde hair, a strong personality, and a cop father, she was basically a new character, rather than if 616!Gwen had a different life; I know a big Spider-Man fan on here wrote a really good meta post examining why Spider-Gwen fell flat for her that I don't have the link for on hand right now, but I remember it discussed the odd choice of taking away Gwen's science skills from 616 when that was a trait that set her apart back in the 1960s and would have been interesting to explore if she had spider powers.

But yeah, like, I would consider myself on the flexible side with adaptations instead of being a strict textual purist, but I agree that you do have to keep a core spirit to a character or else they may as well be a new character with a superficial resemblance, and that's what Spider-Gwen felt like to me - if she had been branded as Spider-Liz Allen or just a new Spider-Woman, I wouldn't have thought of her as actually being a Gwen with someone else's name.

And yeah, you're right that Gwen in general often gets reduced to a love interest who doesn't exist independently of Peter or Miles. (My controversial TASM opinion is that she's not really written as an independent character so much as the perfect girlfriend for nerds.) In Miles' case, it also happens in reverse where the non-Black fandom struggles to think of him as a character separate from Gwen, in stark contrast to how Peter is not treated that way by fandom unless they're hardcore shippers who only ship - and then yeah, you get misogynoir like people screaming, 'Where is Miles' girlfriend??', re: Insomniac Spider-Man 2 while posting a picture of Spider-Gwen and erasing Hailey.

Anyway, yeah, I agree she does not and should not be in everything, and it honestly bugs me when people try to point at Miles by comparison and act like she's on par with his importance when she's not - Miles was groundbreaking and still important to this day on a meta level bc he was an Afro-Latino Spider-Man who became THE Spider-Man in his universe and took Peter's place originally amidst a lot of racist backlash to that change in the (Ultimate comics) status quo, whereas Gwen is far from the first white woman Spider-Woman, nevermind the only one, like, no, she is not the Miles Morales of (white) women.

[sunattacksthemoon]

I’m going to write what I think while I reread crimson rivers

So first of I’m not starting at the beginning if I’m being completely honest I haven’t cr in quite literally months because I….. I forgot to include a warning for like major spoilers. One sec.

Spoilers!!!!!!

Don’t fucking read this if you haven’t read crimson rivers!! Please for the love of the gods listen to me bc I will not be held responsible for spoiling. Like if you tell me I spoiled something for you I will feel immeasurable guilt.

Anyways so I haven’t read past the part where regulus meets the fucking death eaters in the beginning parts of the second games. Like they are about to go in but haven’t yet?? I hope that makes sense but I haven’t read it in awhile because frankly I’m a little bitch. I’m waiting til they are all happy and the wars over. I’m going to be starting the new chapters today because they are finally happy. But I reread my fav parts, essentially every wolfstar part in the early chapters because I’m an absolute whore for them. They just fill my brain with happiness. So I decided to reread the chapters and then eventually just started rereading the first games instead of just skipping till it’s Remus or Sirius’s pov. And I was bombarded with the absolute heartbreak of it all. Like I cant remember when Zar said this but he mentioned in a post that mulciber and Avery were actually boyfriends and don’t get me wrong I Do Not like them but that shit hurts. I think people genuinely forget that none of them should have been in the arena in the first place. Like with original books they have their version of the death eaters ( I can’t remember what the called them) like Cato, but I remember watching the movies with my family and everyone absolutely hating on him. But like he was a kid raised to be a little assassin. I’m a self-proclaimed Cato apologist till I die. But I don’t like people just hating them, especially Peter. Like I love how Zar wrote his character because he is so fucking interesting. Like I could write about him for hours.

Moving on. I don’t know when to do transitions so I hope that was seamless.

This part destroyed me in the best possible way. I don’t have children so I can’t even begin to imagine what this felt like, but learning that all their fighting was to get back home to their partner and have a family is heartbreaking. And when reg and James are doing the tour and they learn about it is just ughhh. I cannot put it into words.

Now this scene hurts for an entirely different reason. I am a sucker for happy endings. I really am, that’s genuinely all I want. Like to the point I don’t usually read angst, hence why I have taken a break from reading until they are somewhat happy again. The fact that James is so hopeful one second and then he is utterly heartbroken the next makes me weep. I felt this, like with my whole being. Which is so fucking cool that Zar has that ability with their writing to cause such pain. So round of applause for them👏👏

That’s pretty much it, I will be making another post about Sirius’s talk with Remus about desire because it’s a must. I might make more for jegulus’s relationship idk.

Okay uh bye 🤘

[iamhereinthebg]

I really love your after life au!!! I especially am super interested in your version of hanako and tsukasa with tsukasa being his shadow! It feels very peter pan-esque? And i was wondering what made you go in that direction!

Heyaaa thank you so much for this! I'm so happy you like it :DDD

I will create some parts to have every info of the au yay

Part 1/Part2/Part 3

Indeed it looks like Peter Pan I've always liked the fact he had a living shadow :D And also thought the idea could be really really fun especially having Tsukasa only able to speak but with doing silhouettes :DD

TW for murder Ig ? We’re talking about Hanako yay

It is really simple actually why I chose this for Hanako and Tsukasa, it's mostly because Tsukasa is a lot of time portrayed as a 'bad version' of Hanako in canon. Even if We didn't know at that time (I created the au around chapter 67/68 I think?), I didn't think it was all there was to Tsukasa's character and it was also to make a little bit of fun of 'oh look the protagonist had an evil twin all along' trope that I find terrible (I am sorry AidaIro, but this is what we litteraly had when chapter 68 was out)

ANYWAYS! It actually also is really important to the plot of the After Life City :D

You must have seen but the City is lacking of any lights or sun :0

Idk if you know anything about Cosmogony? It is the myths of the creation of the world, in different mythologies! I always liked to read about different cosmogonies around the world :D

So in this au, I don't really know how anything started but I just know that they used to be gods on Earth. And at one point, one of the god of lighting (I let you guess which one *coughs*) decided to banned other gods into the underwold because they were violent with humans their new creations. (and because they are god, powers and all is important) 

What's important is, there were gods who were ripped of their previous powers (so no godlike anymore) and trapped into the underworlds unable to see/feel anything and lacking of any lights. 

The youngest there were the first god of the sun and the god of the moon, who were now lacking of their previous natural lights when they were the ones who gave it to humans in the first place. Unable to see anything, the sun lost every bit of his sanity and desesperate to see something again killed his brother to rip him open to see his inner light :)))

The ancient god of the sun created the first artificial light of the underworld coming from his brother's soul. His brother, sad but happy to see the other finally getting back to his sense, became the first shadow to ever exist in the Underworld.

You probably got it. We have here Amane and Tsukasa :DD

The inspiration for this too is coming from the fact that Amane sounds close to Amaterasu the godess of the sun and Tsukasa's name is pretty close to Tsukuyomi the god of the moon in japanese mythology :DDDD (I think this is a pretty common theory? I know I am not the first one to make this link ^^ Especially since Tsukuyomi is Amaterasu’s  brother ahah ) So you have the explanation on why Tsukasa is Amane's shadow and why Amane decided to created a new name and forgot everything about what he did out of guilt.

All of this happened looooong ago and now gods don’t exist anymore, they left the Earth to mortals and supernaturals :D 

(and I gave you some important plots as to why ligths are a pretty big problem into the After Life city :)))

Thanks a lot for the ask! I am really happy to see you like the au, I will try my best to make it interesting :D

(I hope you are ready to see me going absolutely crazy about different mythologies because this is what this au is about tbh *coughs*)

[trensu]

I had a thought about a vaguely Cupid-and-Psyche inspired crack!fic where Elias is a god of Love

(Jon: don't you mean Emotional Manipulation?

Elias: you say to-may-to, i say to-mah-to

Jon: ... I say to-mah-to, I'm not American, what does this have to do with anything?)

Jon is obviously Cupid. Elias took a shine to him and made him immortal against his will and keeps him as his servant or smth. Idk Elias is a douchebag, okay? ANYWAY, Elias is also a petty bitch and so he gave Jon Love arrows

(Jon: it's mind control.

Elias: they inspire passion, Jon. Just bc you don't experience it, doesn't mean--

Jon: No. Me being ace has nothing to do with it. They're mind control arrows. These people wouldn't have done all that if they weren't being influenced.

Elias: you have no romance in your soul

Jon: ...i find your interpretation of love and romance extremely suspect.)

Whenever Elias feels jealous or neglected or just plain bored tbh, he sends Jon out with to shoot whoever's caught his ire with one of those love arrows and has them make fools of themselves. Jon does it (he's bound to Elias for handwavey reasons so he can't really disobey) and it usually gets him in trouble. It's how he's gotten all those scars. (Jane Prentiss falling in love with worms and attacking Jon with them when he accidentally stepped on one while trying to make an exit was pretty tame in comparison to Jude Perry's reaction when she realized Jon struck Agnes with an arrow so she'd fall for some no-name mortal boy).

Such is Jon's life. Being immortal is not all it's cracked up to be when you can get injured and scarred. So when Elias started muttering about Peter's wandering eye, Jon knew it was only a matter of time before he'd send him out with those arrows again.

Peter, apparently, had been showing too much interest in a mortal boy named Martin, whose Loneliness tasted as bittersweet as dark chocolate (or so Peter claimed as he boasted during his dinner with Elias while Jon slowly sunk further into his chair the more irritated Elias's scowl grew).

"make him fall in love with something hideous and embarrassing," Elias had seethed at him, practically throwing the quiver at his head. At least two of the arrows pricked him so he was quite grateful that he was immune to their mind control (Elias: don't be ridiculous, Jon. Having you susceptible to the magic you're tasked to handle would be a stupid move on my part. You could get compromised and be completely useless to me!)

Grumbling, Jon set out to track down the mortal boy. He was not prepared for the the way the sunlight glinted off of Martin's light hair or his warm smile. He was not prepared for the twinge he felt in his heart when Martin's pale eyes glimmered with tears after receiving his mother's harsh words (the pain, worryingly, felt all too similar to the slice of the arrows he aimed at people).

He didn't want to shoot Martin with one of the mind control arrows. He wanted Martin to be happy. So he persuades his good friend Daisy to get her gf Basira to fake a prophecy. To her credit, she did a fantastic job delivering a fake prophecy. But there was some sort of miscommunication (or Martin's mother deliberately misunderstood; it could go either way). Instead of telling Martin's mother to marry off her son to a kind and handsome man with a gentle heart in order to avoid the wrath of the gods, the prophecy was somehow interpreted as sacrificing Martin's hand in marriage to some sort of hideous beast that lived at the peak of a nearby and treacherous mountain.

(Jon: how did she get that idea from your prophecy? what exactly did you tell her???

Basira: i can't fake a prophecy, Jon. and i'm not telling you what the prophecy was

Jon: What?? Why not???

Basira: it would violate the oracle-client confidentiality clause on the consent form we have them sign prior to a reading)

Jon was irritated by how quickly and eagerly Martin's mother was to dress up her son and dump him on the mountain. He was tempted to use the arrows on her, instead, but he figured Martin would be upset if something happened to his mother so he refrained. Jon fretted as Martin started his slow procession up the mountain. Martin wasn't made to endure such a harsh environment, and even if he had, he shouldn't have to!! Martin deserves to be loved and treated well and get given all the good things life could offer!!

So Jon constructs a luxurious enchanted castle using godly magic and more favors than he probably should've called in. He puts big obvious signage to Martin knew it would be his castle provided by his non-existent monster spouse.

(Daisy: he's gonna get suspicious when his monster spouse doesn't show up. he'll probably leave and try to find it. he seems like the self-sacrificing type and you know how those get.

Jon: i have a plan

Daisy: .... is this like all your other plans?

Jon: shut up, daisy)

So Jon pretends to be the hideous monster spouse Martin was expecting. Sort of. He only visits after dark, and informs Martin that he can not bring light into the room for if he sees his visage he'd be cursed (or something; Jon came up with something on the fly and was definitely not suave about it but Martin complied and that's all that mattered). He spends his nights with Martin, telling him stories and meekly asking permission to pet his hair and hold his hand while doing his best to ignore the pounding of his heart and the heat on his cheeks whenever Martin softly says yes. He didn't say yes the first time Jon asked, and Jon skittered away from where he had been creeping closer. He respected Martin's boundaries (he isn't Elias, after all) but as he and Martin spent more time together, Martin became less guarded and began to allow Jon close.

It got to the point where they would cuddle in bed and Jon was so content in Martin's arms that he occasionally dozed with him. Everything was great and Martin seemed genuinely happy to spend his days in the castle learning new hobbies and such while spending his nights with someone he couldn't see. Until one day Martin asked if he could have his mother visit. Jon wanted to say no, but the hesitant way Martin asked tasted too much of fear of rejection for Jon to deny him.

(Daisy: why do I have to guide her here?

Jon: bc you're my friend and if you don't Martin will be sad which means I'll be sad and you'll have to listen to me cry about it and you hate that

Daisy: damn it jon)

And because martin's mother is awful and bitter and spiteful, she tells Martin he should find out what his "captor" looked like. his spouse was a monster, after all, he should know what he's dealing with so he could defend himself and her if it should decide to attack them. so one night, shortly after his mother left, he waits until Jon has dozed off before quietly lighting a candle.

Jon wakes when he feels hot wax drip onto him and sees Martin staring a him with a shocked expression. Jon realizes what happened and flees in a panic. He knows what he looks like; short and skinny an riddled with scars of all kinds. Ofc Martin would be disgusted by him. He ends up licking his wounds at Elias's.

(Elias: my poor delicate darling precious boy

Jon: really, Elias?

Elias: can't a father worry about his child??

Jon: you're not my father!! you kidnapped me and immortalized me against my will!

Elias: details, details. anyway, you can stay here until you recover from your grievous injuries. byyyyee!

Jon: where are you going? elias? why's the door locked? elias?? LET ME OUT, YOU POMPOUS ASS)

When Jon recovers and finally manages to escape, he finds out that Martin had been trying to find him but Elias had given him impossible tasks to prove he's worthy of him. Thankfully, Daisy, Georgie and Basira all helped him out, much to elias's displeasure. Since Martin completed the tasks, Jon was able to reunite with him and they lived happily ever after~!

[hiveswap]

Cool!!! Don't be intimidated by the lenght, i get verbose but it's not a lot of info. I love him a lot because he's absolutely devastating to read about, I'm pretty sure I got gray hairs in the process. He's dense, self sacrificial, doesn't think he belongs anywhere, and unable to sit still for 10 seconds.

Do you like the Guardians of the Galaxy? Because Richard does... He's constantly on and off with Gamora and has been obviously in love with Starlord's gay ass too for the same amount of time. (In better runs they're not at all like the mcu versions if you're worried about that.)

His backstory is that he was randomly given the powers of a dying Nova (space UN solider) via lightning when he was 17 and it's been downhill for him ever since. The Nova Corps have been oneshotted like 4 times by now, they're not that big of a deal honestly. He's also got a little brother and their dad sucks and is half the reason he won't accept help from anyone.

Guide(s) below

The first Nova comic run was in 1973. In that Rich was a teenage superhero, He was also a member of the New Warriors for a couple decades which were basically marvel's first teen team. (Can't help a lot here, haven't read a lot of these)

I personally started reading at the Annihilation crossover event from 2006 because I wanted to get into the modern (ough long story) Guardians of The Galaxy team, whose plotline was first set up there. Rich is basically the protagonist of Annihilation, nearly dies a lot. (He should be 22 years old here i think? They mention how long he's had his powers)

He got his own series again in Nova 2007, which carried on alongside the cosmic side of marvel. you have to read other comics too to fully get wtf is going on sometimes, like gotg 2008, (my beloved!!) a tiny bit of xmen, ect. This carries on for three more arcs (annihilation:conquest, war of kings, realm of kingd) and then ends in 2010 with the Thanos Imperative event.

I fully trust the Comic book herald cosmic guide to tell that era of the story. It's cohesive.

The reading order gets weird here lmao

Things fall apart fully after that, the guide website gets more confusing and splits off into different articles...

-You don't have to read Guardians of the Galaxy 2013, it's irrelevant to Nova and smells like the MCU, but like two or three issues of it explain basically what happened following the fade to black in Thanos Imperative. That's pretty important, idk their number right now but they should be titled Original Sin.

-You could read Guardians 3000! An alternate future fem!Nova appears but she's not as important to the plot as I had hoped. :/ She's got sexual tension with alternate future Starlord who is actually a different guy than he claims imo. (It also requires a bit of knowledge of pre-2000 gotg but you should be fine if you've read the 2008 one too)

-Nova 2017 brings Richard back! You could read 2016 first for a bit of context but it's not neccassary, it's fully about Sam Alexander. (legacy hero to Rich, like Miles Morales to Peter Parker.)

-Then there's the Black Order miniseries where he gets mind controlled, not an important one but it does interesting things to his character and at this point i'm just happy to see him

-He reunites with Peter Quill in Guardians 2018, it's kinda cute. You could read Infinity Wars after but it's. Eh. Guardians 2019 is a bit better, he's there in that one too. His brother is there in both as well.

-Annihilation: Scourge. Not lot I can say about it. Kinda gross

-Guardians 2020 is sometimes called the first true sequel to the one from 2008. Rich actually join the team in that one and deals with his issues!! Actually sees a professional too!! Pround of him!! It's followed by the Bane of Blastaar oneshot. Those 3 nerds are so married.

-The Guardians got a bad series in 2023 again, so the author of Guardians 2020 carried him over to X-Men Red. You get some context for that in Guardians 2020 but I do recommend reading up on Krakoa and Arakko anyway. You could try following the X-men guide (not from the very beginning, start at 2019 the earliest if you want to do this) on the comic book herald website but it's very quantity over quality so i've read some truly awful runs doing that.

Red is important for Rich and it's the last one he's been in to date. It's good but i haven't finished it because the full xmen guide overwhelmed me.

On a final note, take it slow and drop things fhat are irrelevant, bad, or boring. Don't burn yourself out like i did on xmen

I used this website to read comics also

If you wanna know anything about how to read comics abt the guy im happy to tell you

yes please!! he will be my next hyperfixation after i'm done with my current hyperfixation (if all goes to plan regarding my personal time) so that would be great!

[river-bottom-nightmare]

Nightwing #81 Review

i swear i actually thought no one was interested so i didn’t write one but a grand total of two (2) people said they wanted to read it, so here it is. honestly, my opinion’s been going a bit downhill, but the art is really cool and there are some decent parts so. holding out i guess? i really hope taylor has an end goal or at least a cohesive plan, otherwise i don’t see this series going anywhere i’ll particularly enjoy

the cover is very straightforward in its imagery, this villain has nightwing in the palm of his hand, easily manipulated, easily controlled no matter the action dick thinks he’ll take. 

what i find interesting is the colour: both previously and heavily in this issue, the colourist has chosen to make pink this villain’s main colour, with different shades of pink as accents. so why the red in the cover? possibly to just make it more eye-grabbing, though one could argue that pink is even more eye-catching than red. maybe to convey a sense of dread or fear that pink won’t fully get across. either way, it’s definitely a decision i’m curious about.

so melinda zucco is in a high enough political position within bludhaven that she is next in line to become the mayor after the previous mayor died and dick just,,,,didn’t have any idea she existed? dick didn’t know anything about her? forget dick’s own brilliant detective skills, forget his doggedness at anything zucco related, you’re telling me bruce never found her and told dick about her? maybe he wouldn’t have now, but back when dick was a young kid, he definitely would have at least made dick aware of her existence, to let dick know and ask if he wanted to interfere with her life or anything.

i have a thought about zucco’s facial expressions. she is very much stone-cold poker face throughout the entire issue. the only time i see her pull a different expression is near the end when dick corners her against a wall with an arm around her throat. 

this is most certainly intentional, what with the varied and intense expressions we see on other characters, dick most prominently. i’m wondering what exactly is the creative team’s reasoning behind this. in these panels, zucco is meeting with the most dangerous, powerful, near-bloodthirsty man in all of bludhaven and becoming the mayor of the city respectfully. in both of these panels, there is barely a hint of emotion in her face: no fear, no determination, no satisfaction. it’s just odd, considering the circumstances she’s in, regardless of any training recieved.

just spitballing here but. like. from what i’ve read so far, dick doesn’t really seem like bludhaven’s guardian angel. more like when peter parker first put on spandex and blindly stepped out into new york.

dick, how exactly can you underestimate someone from one move. so he caught your escrima. anyone with enhanced reflexes can do that. you still don’t know how he can actually fight, and this is shown in the next set of panels. 

i just don’t like the wording here. dick’s “underestimated” him, but beats him up easy in the next page. in addition, i don’t know much about combat, but i would assume it would take more than one move to determine exactly what an opponent’s skill level is, made even more complex when you add physical enhancements and metahumans and aliens into the mixture.

idk my first thought when i saw that he caught the stick was “ah ok he’s enhanced” because obviously he couldn’t have reacted fast enough if he wasn’t (as there are few people trained enough to catch it on human reflexes alone.) then the wording in the next panel, i’ve underestimated him, made me think “oh no ok so he’s not enhanced, he’s just a really good fighter and can give dick a run for his money in a fight.” then, it turns out my first assumption was proven correct in the next panel. it just comes across as misleading to me.

(also sidenote but his curls are cute.)

have i praised the art enough in this series? no, i have not.

i adore the way this is laid out and illustrated. without even having to read the text, the action sequence is visually engaging and intense, and easily followable from one panel to the next. dick’s physical expertise comes through quite efficiently, and i love the special attention shown to draw our attention to dick’s escrima in the bottom right corner.

also that move in the middle row leftmost panel that’s the mcu black widow move to get up off the ground it was the first thing i noticed and it made me laugh; thought it was worth noting

i’m really loving dick’s escrima sticks in this run. they’re just so multipurpose, it’s hilarious and exhilarating. kinda reminds me of bruce’s belt, the way the button in the middle does eevveeerrryyytthhiinngg. 

got a problem? don’t worry! dick’s installed a feature into his escrima that can fix that! (i like thinking dick helped make them it makes me happy and makes my engineer!dick side satisfied)

yawn. your big heart is your one true weakness yadda yadda the fact that you care will be used against you blah blah we get it. jesus can the villains please find a different weakness to exploit, this is getting old.

i need dick’s capacity to empathize and care and love to stop being a weakness that villains sneer about. bonus points if dick saves everyone anyway, either because of or despite his great big heart and the villain is surprised by the goodness of mankind or some shit like that.

i need it to be a strength, right from the get-go. the fact that he cares so incredibly much should be an asset that dick has and will use. he’s a very complex character with years of background, it can’t possibly be that hard to find another weakness of his. 

ooooh this is cool, gosh i absolutely love this.

because what exactly is the reader doing? we are seeing the fear in dick’s face, just as this villain intended. even better, we’re seeing the reflection of it from the villain’s glossy mask, telling us exactly what we’re seeing and exactly what he likes so much about it.

dick’s standing up straight, shoulders drawn back, looking up at this villain’s face with determination and resolve, but his suit is tattered. one eye looks to be swollen. his hair is falling limply around his eyes, as opposed to the curls from earlier. his escrima aren’t even part of the main focus, instead blending into the side of the mask in the outer corners of the mask’s eyes, which tells you exactly how big of a threat they are to this villain.

poor bitewing’s quite alarmed.

also on second thought why would you bring your puppy out like this, when you know you’re gonna end up fighting someone in the suit. a) how many grey three-legged adorable little puppies live in the bludhaven area dick? and how easy will it be to connect the doggo running around with nightwing with the doggo that dick grayson owns? and 2) is this puppers trained? does she have fighting experience? how exactly can you ensure she will survive this highly stressful situation?

dick take better care of your dog 

you know what? i was with tim on this one. why exactly is dick so optimistic and trusting about the people of bludhaven? bludhaven, which has been described as gotham’s smaller, smellier, more corrupt sister city once or twice. it’s not just the corrupt people in power, the entire system needs to change and people need to have faith and hope in order for them to come together, espcially if they’ve been living in conditions like how bludhaven has been described. from how clueless dick is about his own goddamn city, i can tell he hasn’t been here long.

it was a nice moment of hope, i’ll admit. but it was a tad unrealistic for me.

also it was in a weird place in the comic. this sort of confrontation and big get-together of the people to rejuvenate hope in each other feels like it should come near the end of a run, if not the end of an issue. certainly not in the first third of an issue. the pacing’s a bit off to me.

loyal little puppy patiently waiting for her human to wake up. i love her so much.

no it’s not. it’s bitewing.

living for this t-shirt honestly. do comics of dc characters exist in the dc universe? they must if the mug and the shirt are any indication

(now i’m imagining the first batman movie that came out in the dc universe and bruce just. being so offended at who they chose to play him.)

well, yes. but when a group of people are put through hellish conditions over and over again, they soon become desensitized to the pain and terror of their everyday lives in order to both stay sane and keep their life relatively stable, and part of that becomes ignoring or blocking out anything that isn’t directly important to you or your loved ones. having a bleeding heart will most likely get you killed in a city like bludhaven if you don’t have the same skills that vigilantes have.

and of course, people are more than capable of coming together and rallying under their city’s vigilante after seeing the good they’ve done and how they’ve helped the people, but that sort of trust takes time and effort to build. dick also had the whole ric arc and was gone for a while, which has been referenced several times in this particular issue in fact. that’s not going to make bludhaven’s citizens any more likely to trust him.

maybe i’m being a bit harsh but this comic is comic off as a bit too idealistic for the amount of change nightwing can do in a city given the present and past circumstances as well as nightwing’s own abilities. even dick grayson can’t pull off everything.

ok seriously this needs to stop this needs to stop.

right now, dick reminds me of oliver queen in the few episodes of the cw’s arrow i watched. he does the punchy-kicky-fighty and occasionally has smart insights due to the skills he gained from his past that he certainly definitely totally has but only ever exhibits once, while his team does all of the background research and information gathering and actual work.

this is dick’s city. if he has the same intelligence, worth ethic, and stubbornness in this run that he’s been shown to possess all his life, then he knows this city inside out. he’ll have meticulous notes organized in a ridiculously efficient system, he’ll have scouted out zucco long before this started, he’ll have known when anything big happened in the bludhaven political landscape in an instant.

i’m really not liking exactly how much dick’s relying on babs and tim in this series. sure, he loves them and cares for them and likes working cases with them. but he always pulls his own weight, has always been a mentor figure to tim instead of what’s weirdly becoming the other way around, and takes point on the cases in his own damn city.

what kind of weak-ass oracle is this?? redacted fbi files are child’s play. babs used to hack into the fbi for fun. this one particular picture is so out of character i want to laugh.

reading this series has unfortunately made me confront that, despite the tiny fluid acrobat dick that lives in my head 24/7, canon dick is impossibly 5′10 and muscular at that.

mmm. titties.

tim said hydrate or die-drate bitch

love how dick’s doing all this intense brooding and stuff meanwhile bitewing is curled up in a soft comfy post having the time of her life.

you don’t understand i would legitimately kill myself for her.

also the lighting in this one scene is cool. the blue tones come off so well.

they’re just. so multipurpose!! they can become a bo staff. they can cut glass. they can become a grapple hook/line. they can electrify someone. they’re a funky colour. i’m becoming really attached to these things. absolute solid choice in weaponry.

if you’re gonna write up every rookie mistake dick has made during this series to head trauma, then dick shouldn’t be out and about at all, much less in costume.

see this? this is just straight up wrong. dick most definitely should have spotted her, and would have immediately moved to take her down.

scratch that, dick would have done a full check of the building, because he knows not to break into places uninformed, especially if the owner of the apartment was raised by the maroni family. someone as highly trained, experienced, and competent as dick wouldn’t have done this.

and if you chalk it up to head injury, (which is probably true), than his ~love interest~ and his little brother should have done a much better job making sure he stays in his house.

zucco looks so awkward it’s fucking hilarious

are those shadows that mimic a domino mask, to both reflect and hide the fact that his mask is missing? are those bruises around his eyes, to show how, despite what good he’s doing, being nightwing is hurting dick right now? 

(isn’t his domino mask supposed to have an electrifying feature that keeps people from removing them?)

it’s a little odd how the three known villains of this series are all coloured in warm shades, more specifically pink. meanwhile, in earlier issues, dick’s fondest memories were in pink, memories of him and alfred in particular. why has the colour pink changed from signifying something benevolent to something malicious? idk i hope this gets explained later.

this i did like. either it’s just a display of brute force in anger, or dick slipped the ties and pulled them off once untied. both ways, it’s an unintentional display of power, and i think that’s kinda cool.

again. dick is,,,tall? sort of? weirdddd

i’m so glad most readers are unified in the notion that this was the absolute dumbest fucking thing.

i’m hoping this gets disproved or something soon. and i hope dick doesn’t fall for it, because he definitely knows better than to take something as important as this at face value.

what exactly is taylor trying to accomplish here? why is he trying to go back on what we all knew was a happy, loving childhood and throw strife and disharmony and (what i’m assuming will be) infidelity? this will not end well at all.

---

,,,,,this review got way longer than expected lol. and i realize most of it just became me ranting. i guess i didn’t realize how ticked off i was originally. fingers crossed it gets better.

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