#anyways I like this image so much cos the pose is so fun !! it really shows his personality hehehe

[kyurochurro]

✨🎸🎶 1990 PAUL!! I love this photo so much I just had to draw it!!

[zaptap]

prior to e3 2021 i made a bingo sheet for splatoon 3 stuff. at this point the only things we knew were what they showed in the reveal trailer in february 2021. now that the game's done i think it's time i go back and see how well it did

wowww that's a lot. 2 bingos. i get why people were disappointed with this game and i agree with those points to an extent but generally im pretty satisfied (this is far from acnh where i think like nothing on the bingo i made was there) (maybe that's because half of it was "bat villagers" repeated and they didnt give us that. well they shouldve given us bat villagers. and splatoon items. why the fuck didnt they give us splatoon items when they did in new leaf and pocket camp)

explanations under the cut (im factoring in my intent for this, so some are marked if they get the spirit of it even if they don't match exactly. yes that includes the apartment one)

✔️ ride or fry sounds ENOUGH like a daft punk song that im going to just assume that the surving member got absorbed into octoplush

✔️ returning stages! wasn't sure they'd do it since it doesnt take place in inkopolis but i guess they just have an actual public transportation system in splatoon world. and the first one revealed was museum d'alfonsino, the image i used for this (because it was my favorite s1 stage). unfortunately they ruined all the s1 ones they brought back though… sad that urchin underpass and saltspray rig are gone from official online play now that nintendo network is dead, but at least they were spared that fate (i did also say at one point that i wanted saltspray to get reworked into a salmon run stage, but they didnt do that either. wouldve been cool)

❌ no hide and seek mode :( i did that with my friends in splat1 in 2015 and nintendo still hasnt caught up. they did at least do group recon i think? and that's something i came up with (when flounder heights dropped i suggested we all get into a private lobby and just explore it together instead of fighting, that was SUPER fun ^_^) (unfortunately now that private lobbies have recon i dont play with a group of people anymore lmao)

✔️ yeah there's chaos. they did a lot for salmon run which is a pretty chaotic mode (though they really should do more). and anarchy battle is uh. anarchist? and having 3 teams in splatfest is chaotic. do you think if order had won we wouldve had totalitarian battle and 1-team splatfests? monocolor turf war peace?

❌ NO MC CRAIG RAP…. :'( i wanted him to rap in octo expansion and we didnt get it and then we didnt get it again. could they just not get mahito yokota to do it? he did rap a bit in maritime memory, why cant he do it again. oh well, pearl's probably a much better rapper anyway

✔️ splatnet 3! and it's even better than 2. especially after they added all the boss/king salmonid numbers. not knowing and having to guess or keep track of it myself was agonizing

✔️ NEW NOGAMI POSE!!! do you think for splatoon 4 he's gonna do the type of 4 that makes a triangle (like on this text) or the type thats more squarish (where the lines at the top don't meet)

✔️ NEW ABXY MUSIC!!!!!!!! abxy fans keep winning, it's the only multiplayer music band to come back for every game and now paruko herself is there too. shiho fujii came back to do these again (only other thing she did--for both 2 and 3 incidentally--was the squid sisters credits theme)

✔️ there IS a co-op mode, and it's called… salmon run! when they showed us hanging out with a salmonid i was like ok so i guess salmon run isn't coming back because that wouldnt make sense, like how can we be friends with a smallfry and then go kill all of its friends and family? well i guess we can! ok. 2 years later and i still think thats a little fucked up. good thing splatoon isnt real so i can play salmon run with a clear conscience

✔️ we got amiibo!! we got a LOT of amiibo! 10 of them! that's 2 more than what splat1 and splat2 each got! i expected to get something for side order, i did NOT expect to get new squid sisters AND off the hook amiibo

✔️ yeah i'm counting this one. squid sisters are back, off the hook's back, agent 3 is back, agent 8 is back… sure agent 4 isn't fully there, but between the palette and parallel canon i'm going to say that it's close enough to count (though maybe i wouldn't if they weren't the only one missing)

✔️ NO REGION LOCKED GEAR!!!!!!!! in this case it was because they didn't do any promotional gear whatsoever though. which is a bit of a disappointment in its own way. unlike splat1 and splat2, splat3 actually only has one version (instead of different ones for each region) so if they had given out gear intended for japan, if it worked the same way as the splat2 stuff then anyone who got a code would be able to use it (getting a code may have been difficult, but in splat2 even if you got one you could only use it if you had the jp version of the game). they also probably couldve added the splat2 japan-exclusive gear to splat3, but they didnt do that. well, at least there aren't any more locked to japan than there were before

❌ no destroying france mode. squid sisters must have done that all on their own after the concert

✔️ i use squid beatz as a music player so i'm counting this (even though the fact you have to pay to make the songs play means i dont actually use the music player we got… why did they do that…) sorry for anyone who wanted to do the rhythm game on hard mode for frothy waters or whatever though

❌ squid girl did not come back unfortunately. maybe someday (that reminds me, i should finish watching the anime… i started it in 2015 when they added her outfit to splat1)

❌ no triplies. how can you call it splatoon 3 if there's no triplies. is it because they thought you wouldnt be able to booyah if youve got the third one in your mouth like zoro from one piece? maybe in splatoon 4 theyll do quadries and the other 2 will be on our feet (like bayonetta? idk i havent played it)

❌ 2 things for splatfest tees i have wanted since like the start of splatoon 2: 1. when splatfest ends and the tee gets turned in, prompt us with the option to pay to have it scrubbed so we don't miss out on any cheap chunks if we forgot to do it before it ends (not particularly upset about this in s3 since salmon run has given me 1 billiam chunks). 2. dont put it on a brand that favors a certain ability!! why the fuck do they have a whole mechanic for getting chunks faster and cheaper and then just have it weighted towards ink resistance up. splatfest should be its own brand!!!! (again though… salmon run has made getting them so trivial it doesnt matter)

❌ lmao

✔️ technically speaking we did not get "splatoon 3 global testfire" like we did for the other games but my desire here was to get a prerelease demo and the splatfest world premiere fulfilled that. clearly only splatoon 2 was cool enough to get 2 of those (wait shouldnt splatoon 3 have gotten 3 then? maybe 4 will get 4)

✔️ SAVE DATA CLOUD!!! im so glad they figured out a way to tie your multiplayer save data to the server so they wouldnt end up excluding the whole game in the name of preventing cheating (that, as i recall, wasn't even prevented anyway). the whole cloud save system seemed useless to me for a long time since the games i play the most are splatoon and pokemon and those are the ones that you can't back up

✔️ GRIZZ IS DEAD!!!!!!!! like i said before, i knew something had to happen when i saw we were friends with a salmon. i was wrong about salmon run going away, but i was right about grizz. i even called him being the villain of rotm in the middle of the reveal trailer. unfortunately even killing grizz didnt do anything to stop the evil corporate system he put in place. i guess the theories that it was an ai talking to us on the radio were right (i thought that was a weird conclusion for people to come to but i was wrong about that)

✔️ we CAN change lobby music again!! one of the biggest flaws of splat2 was you could only listen to dubble bath (in splat1, provided you got the squid amiibo and did the challenge to unlock it, you could go into squid beatz in the lobby to play whatever song you wanted). i'm annoyed you have to pay to change it manually, but the lobby does at least rotate between a lot of music--i actually would've counted this before the jukebox was added, because my real concern behind this was "stop making us listen to just one lobby theme all the time" and even in the base game there were like 9 of them and there are a ton of really good ones in there

✔️ ok. yes i'm counting this. there is no actual apartment room, yeah. but considering we had nothing even close to it in the first 2 games, i feel like having a locker we can decorate is enough of a step towards that for it to count. could it be better? yes. but it fills the role of being a decoratable space, which is really what my desire was. if i put this exact thing on a splatoon 4 bingo and they gave us lockers again, i wouldn't count it, but going from nothing to having lockers i feel is enough to count (since there was nothing to indicate they would do something like that)

✔️ they probably couldve done more for octavio, but we did team up with him to fight the final boss (though after being completely absent for most of the story) and then he was there at grand fest with everyone, so he did get some redemption. they shouldve credited him on 3mix and had him perform it with the idols at the concert though. maybe in splatoon 4 he can be the one who recruits the player character

[transthaumaturge]

Squirrel Girl is Super Gay for her Roommate and I Want Everyone to Know

A gay infodump of sensible length by Rachel Tikvah

ALRIGHT, SO The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl was the very first comic that I ever read regularly, back when I was looking for more stories with strong female protagonists but didn't really know why. Back then I just thought I really liked strong female characters and not that I was being gay on main, but now I know the truth. The comic had a 5-year run, and it was the first time that Squirrel Girl, AKA Doreen Green, had had her own series. She had a brief run in the mid-2000's where she was established as someone who could beat up Thanos with her bare hands well, more like squirrel hands but was mostly a joke character that happened to be incredibly buff and had indestructible plot armor. USG decided that Doreen's next major life goal would be to enroll in college to become a computer scientist, because her writer, Ryan North, is really into computer science and they basically gave him free rein over Squirrel Girl canon for five whole years. Like, a solid third of the plots are solved with some kind of computer science smarts. It’s really cool. Anyway this is Doreen in one of the gayest solo pictures I could find of her on short notice, which is also one of the variant covers from the actual series:

And this is her college roommate, Nancy Whitehead:

I'm like, 99% certain that Ryan North intended for them to end up as a couple and Disney!Marvel told him no. So he decided to make them AS GAY FOR EACH OTHER AS POSSIBLE without explicitly saying that they were a couple, and it ended up going under the radar. What follows is evidence for that claim. I’m going to put a "read more” after this so it doesn’t clutter everyone’s dashboards, but please read on if you’re interested. There’s a lot of cute gayness after this point. I’m also going to put all of the image descriptions at the end, since they take up a lot of space and I don’t want to break up the flow of the post. Finally, a quick spoiler alert for one arc in the middle of the series and a couple major plot points from the final few issues.

AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES

So for a while it was just kind of hinted at that they’re in a relationship, mostly because they were basically domestic life partners for like, two whole years in-universe before the comic run ended. But it really came to a head with an arc that was ran about 2/3 of the way through the series. Some pictures of them being, like, so cute together in general and/or talking about how much they care about each other before I get to that arc, though: 

Also Doreen describes her and Nancy's cat as "co-parented" in one of the last issues:

ANYWAY, THE ARC. THE HYPERTIME ARC. So one of the villains created for the Squirrel Girl run (I think they liked making weird shit canon just because they could) was a dude who went by the name "EpicCrimez". He’s a crime streamer. He livestreams his crimes to an online audience. I don't know. *Throws up hands*

He had some kind of laser gun that he built out of scavenged alien tech but didn't really know what it did, so he shot it at Doreen and Nancy for kicks. It shot them into hypertime, so suddenly the rest of the world was moving at a fraction of the pace that they were. They were moving so quickly that they were slated to live out their entire lives over the span of a single weekend if they didn't figure out how to reverse the effects. And...they did. Live out their entire lives together. For the two of them, they were the only two people in the world. There were other people, but they looked like statues unless you spent a very long time observing them. Doreen and Nancy grew old together in a world where they only had each other. This is an incredibly cute domestic scene from a little while after they found themselves in hypertime:

Gosh, I wish I could find more official art from that arc of them just living together, it was so good. But the point is, they were both old by the time that Nancy figured out how to get them out of hypertime. And it wasn't ideal. Their bio signatures were stored in the gun that EpicCrimez shot, and they could essentially "reboot" their bodies from when they were first shot and send themselves back into the regular timestream. But they wouldn't remember anything about the life that they had shared together. Nancy almost didn't want to do it. She raised the possibility of them just living out the rest of their lives together, because she didn't want to forget their life together. This is the conversation they had:

"I don't regret any of it. I don't want to lose it, and I don't want to lose us." "You're not getting rid of me that easily." Every time I look at that last picture, which took up an entire page of the comic, I start to cry. We’re seeing the final moments of two people who love each other more than anything, who were each other's entire lives, savoring their last moments together and wondering what the future holds. Sacrificing the life that they built together so that their younger selves could live a better, fuller one. Dying in each other’s arms, scared but comforted by the fact that they had each other. And then the arc ends, and they can't remember anything, so the status quo is restored. They have some paintings they made of each other while they were living together in hypertime, but they move on pretty quickly without ever knowing the significance of those lived decades. Still, it's clear in the arcs that follow and the adventures they embarked on afterward that they would die for each other. All of that continues until the end of the last arc. Their shared apartment's been blown up at this point by a supervillain who wanted to ruin Doreen’s life before eventually killing her. And in the aftermath of the fight, they're sifting through the wreckage for anything that survived (don't worry, the cat got out in time) when they find the picture that they painted of themselves during the hypertime arc:

They have a really cute conversation about how this chapter of their life is over, but they're going to be okay and they're going to build a new life together. And then Nancy basically tells Doreen that she can't live without her:

And then Doreen says something super queer-coded about how she likes the idea of the world knowing her secret identity now:

On the very last page of the comic, after all of the action is over and the series is about to end, they're talking to each other in what's supposed to be a twitter thread and Doreen asks Nancy a very thinly veiled question about whether she still wants to spend time with her now that her identity's out. She pretends it's about a class project, but it's really not about the class project. Here's how that conversation goes:

With no knowledge of what happened during the weekend when they shared their entire lives together, without ever having heard Doreen say it to her before, Nancy’s heart still knows which words to choose. "...you're not getting rid of me that easily. <3" I believe that the author of the series, Ryan North, did as much as he possibly could to portray them as a couple without saying it outright. And as the last piece of evidence to support that claim, I want to share a response he wrote in one of the series' last-ever letter columns:

"as for more Doreen and Nancy, I hope so too. A Squirrel Girl book without Nancy would feel like--like--like some sort of hypothetical "Super" "Man" book without an equally hypothetical "Lois" "Lane"!" It's easy to write off this analysis as wishful thinking, or as a misreading of the subtext. But when the author of the series says that these two characters are meant to always be together and compares them to one of the most famous couples in any comic series ever, it's clear that there's more to it than that. 

Some Additional Thoughts: 1) Doreen and Nancy are both probably bisexual or pansexual, since they both expressed romantic interest in men throughout the series but they’re both clearly interested in each other too. There might be an element of demiromanticism there as well if part of the reason that they’re into each other romantically is because of how emotionally close they’ve become over the years. I want to make sure that that facet of their romantic orientations doesn’t get erased, because bi and pan folks get erased enough as it is. Neither Doreen nor Nancy are lesbians, just super-cool WLWs.

2) HERE’S WHAT THE ISSUE 50 VARIANT COVER LOOKED LIKE

That’s NOT a fun, totally straight way to pose with your platonic gal pal. They’re so incredibly cute together! I have no words! In Closing If you got this far, thank you so much for letting me talk to you about a comic that’s very important to me, and a couple in that comic that I care about very much. I spent way too long making this (six hours and counting), mostly in writing the image descriptions, and I’m very proud of my work but very tired now. Hyperfixation is a hell of a drug. If this resonated with you, please consider reblogging it so that more folks can see it. If not, even a like is nice. I’d also love to engage with people who have their own thoughts, so feel free to leave some comments in the notes if you’ve got an idea/a reaction/any additional cute Doreen/Nancy scenes that you’d like to share with me. At any rate, this post has gone on long enough and I don’t want to ask y’all to read any more than you have to. So have a great day, good morning / afternoon / night, and stay safe. Thanks again for reading! ~Rachel Tikvah, AKA @transthaumaturge Image Descriptions: Image 1: [ID: Squirrel Girl, a young woman with light skin, is posing in front of a brick wall that she seems to have crashed through, leaving a perfect outline of her body. She’s facing away but looking backwards over her shoulder at us and smiling. She’s flexing upward with her right arm and has her left fist resting on her left hip. Her sidekick, a squirrel named Tippy-Toe, is standing in the cutout she left in the wall and is making the same exact pose while wearing a light pink bow around her neck. Squirrel Girl is wearing brown lace-up boots, fur-lined hot pants over grey tights, and a brown fur-lined jacket with sleeves that come up to her forearms and a symbol of an acorn embroidered into the back. She’s also wearing a hairband with fake squirrel ears on it over short reddish-brown hair. She has a large squirrel tail coming out of her hot pants that sweeps down in a curve behind her lower legs. The illustration is drawn so that everything is bathed in the light of a sunset, and Doreen is casting shadows on the wall in front of her.] Image 2: [ID: Two frames depicting a scene between Doreen and Nancy in their college dorm room, with many cardboard boxes still not unpacked and sitting on a bare bed mattress. Nancy Whitehead is a young woman with dark brown skin and short, curly black hair. She's wearing black tights, a white dress-top, and a yellow cardigan over that. Her arms are crossed as she holds her white cat, Mew, against her chest. Doreen is wearing grey tights and a black long-sleeve shirt with a wide collar and white stripes across the chest. She's holding Tippy-Toe up to Nancy with both hands so she can see her better. The following dialogue ensues: Nancy: "A squirrel? But weren't you the one who was all about pets not being allowed in--" Doreen: "Yeah, I know. But this really interesting person I met today told me that obeying an unjust law is itself unjust." Nancy: "...You know, I was worried I'd get a weird roommate, but you're all right, Doreen Green."] Image 3: [ID: Doreen and Nancy are both sitting on a lavender-pink couch in nightclothes. Doreen has short, orange hair. She is wearing a loose-fitting grey long-sleeve shirt and steel-blue cutoff shorts; Nancy has cropped black hair. She is wearing a dark purple top with sleeves that come down to her upper arms, and loose-fitting navy-blue shorts that come down to her lower thighs. Doreen is side-hugging Nancy as she says, with an ecstatically happy smile, “Nancy, you’re the greatest. You know that, right?” Nancy gives Doreen a full smile as she responds, “I’d always suspected it, but it is nice to have it confirmed.”] Image 4: [ID: Nancy is shown from the shoulders up. She has short, curly black hair. She’s wearing large, disc-shaped gold dangle earrings, and a red jacket with prominent shoulders and a yellow collar. She’s fixing the observer with an angry, determined stare as she says, “She knows this man wouldn’t dream about betraying her, or he’d have to answer to me.”] Image 5: [ID: Doreen and Nancy are eating breakfast at the brown, circular kitchen table in their apartment. Doreen’s wearing a skin-tight athletic crop top that’s striped in black, red, white, and blue. Her arm muscles are well-defined and clearly visible as she puts a spoon in her mouth, closing her eyes as she does so. She has a bowl of cereal in front of her, and half a banana in front of that. Nancy is sitting to her left in a pink camisole top that’s also exposing her muscles, scrolling through something on her smartphone. Her hair is in a yellow fabric wrap that’s knotted on one side of her head. A cup of coffee sits in front of her. The clear blue sky is visible through the window centered on the wall behind them.] Image 6: [ID: Nancy and Doreen are facing away from the vantage point, walking towards an Empire State University campus building and holding hands with their fingers intertwined. Nancy is wearing a long knee-length grey coat and black knee-high boots, with a baby-blue side bag hanging from her left shoulder. Doreen is wearing a magenta sweatshirt with the periwinkle-lined hood down, light brown form-fitting denim pants, and black ankle-high boots, with a dark brown side bag hanging from her right shoulder. Trees and bushes hem the walkway in on either side. The building in front of them is dark red, with glass doors and a row of floor-to-ceiling windows on the second floor. Doreen is saying “...we’re just going to have to take the long way around.”] Image 7: [ID: Doreen is facing towards the vantage point and is visible from the legs up, standing in front of a pile of rubble in the background. She’s wearing high-waisted light blue shorts over black tights, and a red windbreaker with sleeves ending at her upper arms that’s opened to reveal a white t-shirt underneath. Tippy-Toe is sitting on her shoulder. There are two people facing Doreen, each slightly in frame and silhouetted in black against the light of the setting sun. Doreen is fixing them with an angry, determined expression, resting her right fist at her hip while she gesticulates with her left hand and says, “So! I don’t know about you all, but Melissa kidnapping my friend and blowing up my life and my house and almost blowing up my co-parented cat makes me feel like giving her a piece of my mind. Friends...”] Image 8: [ID: A full comic page. EpicCrimez is looking like a dork in a green and black skin-tight jumpsuit, bright red ski goggles, and a green wig cap with his brown hair sticking out the back in a mullet. He’s standing inside a jewelry store and holding up a fist of expensive gems and pearls-on-strings as holds up his smartphone and speaks into it. He’s facing off against Squirrel Girl, with her allies Koi Boi and Chipmunk Hunk on her right, and Nancy and Brain Drain on the left. The following scene ensues: EpicCrimez: “And for those of you just tuning in, welcome to another successful heist by your boy EpicCrimez, streaming live! Now with 10% more live crime action than any other streamer! Don’t forget to like and subscribe!! I know some of you in EpicCrimez Nation have been forgetting to do that lately. Not acceptable.” Squirrel Girl: “You picked the wrong small business to rob, crime-initiator! Because this mall is protected by super heroes.” Brain Drain: “HELLO” SG: “And also an unrelated civilian friend I brought along too!” Nancy: (Not looking up from her phone) “ ‘Sup.” EC: “Check it out--Squirrel Girl and her miscellaneous friends are here! It’s action you won’t find on any other channel!” SG: “Are you...streaming your robberies?” (Nancy pockets her phone) EC: “Yeah I am! For money reasons! And with you “heroes” in it, I’ll make even more!” SG: (Whispering to Nancy:) “Question: a fight scene just gets him more traffic, which lets him profit from this crime even more--so does this mean we don’t fight him?” N: (Whispering back:) “I feel like letting him go causes more harm, but I look forward to us teasing apart the moral implications of this later.” SG: “Nice.” SG: (No longer whispering:) “I’ll like and subscribe, EpicCrimez! I’ll like fighting crime, and subscribe... to a worldview wherein the strong protect the weak!” EC: “Oh my gosh, are you like wholesome Spider-Man or something??” At the bottom of the page, small text says: “Wholesome Spider-Man, Wholesome Spider-Man/Does whatever a wholesome spider can/Is he tough?/Listen bud/He’s here to hear you talk about your day and tell you it’ll all be fine while taking you out for your favorite meal for dinner because he knows you deserve it.”] Image 9: [ID: Another full comic page. Doreen and Nancy are in their apartment together, and their friends Tomas and Brian (AKA Chipmunk Hunk and Brain Drain respectively) are frozen as they look down at the machine that Nancy is on her knees in front of, working on. Nancy, barefoot, is wearing cerulean-blue athletic pants, a black long-sleeve spandex shirt without shoulders, and narrow-framed glasses. Her hair is partially covered by a yellow cloth head wrap tied on the left side, with black dreadlocks spilling out the side and back. The machine in front of her is made of dull grey metal, about a meter tall and roughly circular. Wires dangle out of a hatch that Nancy is fiddling with. Doreen is wearing a flowing, dark-purple pantsuit with wide, ankle-length legs and a halter top with the sleeves tied off at her shoulders. Her shoes are light-brown ankle boots with a horizontal gap on the bridge of each foot. Her wavy orange hair is parted in the middle and down past her shoulders. She looks incredibly cute. The following scene ensues: Doreen: “What do you think?” Nancy: “I think--come on you stupid screw--I think we’re still years away from this thing working, if it ever does. Who knew time machine construction is really hard, except of course for everyone who has attempted it?” (She wipes her forehead with the back of her hand) D: “Hah! No, I mean my new outfit.” N: (Looking up and checking her gf out:) “Doreen! You look amazing!!” D: “Liberated it from a very expensive department store uptown!” N: (Now standing) “Tony paid for it?” D: Tony will eventually discover he was kind enough to leave some expensive jewelry in trade, yes. I pinned a note to him so he knows.” N: “There really are advantages to being friends with billionaire playboy genius philanthropists.” D: “Right?!” N: (Taking Doreen’s hands in hers:) “It’s a shame we can’t take a picture of you all dolled up.” D: “Not without standing still for a few months, yeah. But I was thinking about that. I picked up something else at another store downtown. Thought maybe it could help us with that.” (Holding up a shopping bag with one hand while still holding onto Nancy’s hand with the other:) “Nancy Whitehead, I thought you and I might take up painting sometime.” At the bottom of the page, small text says: “Tony Stark moves from meeting to meeting, his body accumulating dozens of notes every second. He sighs. Stuff like this didn’t happen before he knew Doreen. But then he smiles, because after all...stuff like this didn’t happen before he knew Doreen.”] Images 10-16: [ID: Several pages worth of comic frames, posted together to depict one scene. Doreen and Nancy are now old women, likely in their seventies or eighties. Doreen has short, grey hair. She’s wearing a tan button-up waistcoat and an orange ascot, brown flats with an olive-green skirt, knee-length and softly pleated. Her tail is sticking out the back of her skirt over the top, bushy and brown but with stiffer, less-dense hair. Nancy has her grey-black hair done up in a ponytail, a mass of tight curls behind her head. She’s wearing thin oval glasses, black dress pants, black flats, and a lavender cardigan with a flower motif along the edges, open to show the yellow-orange top underneath. They’re standing in front of a completed time machine. On either side are tall pieces of machinery, and in the middle is a round, flat metal dais hooked up to everything else with snaking cables. The following scene ensues: Nancy: “So...this is it, babe. The new machine.” Doreen: “Your secret project! Nancy, it looks like you started from scratch!” N: That’s because I did. I finally realized our old machine was never going to work. Maybe if we had a few more decades, but...there’s no time. And given that our backs are to the wall, I took a risk. I disassembled the gun right down to the metal, and examined all the parts. And I did find something: a data chip. Doreen, the gun stored our bio signatures when it us.” D: “What are you saying?” N: “I’m saying my new machine won’t send us back in time, and we’ll still have lost a weekend of real time. But it will restore our bodies to normal time.” D: (Hugging Nancy tight:) “Nancy! You saved us!!” N: (Resting her hands on Doreen’s shoulders:) “Not--quite. There’s a catch, Doreen. Our bodies will make it...but we won’t. Look, Doreen...I’m an old woman. I’ve spent most of my life in hypertime. This wasn’t how I saw my life going, but...I don’t regret any of it. I don’t want to lose it, and I don’t want to lose us.” D: “I don’t understand.” N: “It’s like restoring from backup. Our bodies will be restored to how they were the moment we were first hit. But--that necessarily includes our brains, too. Everything we’ve done since we entered hypertime--our entire lives spent together...we’ll forget.” (She looks at Doreen in distress) D: “I don’t either, Nancy. You’ve been the most important person in my life. But if we do go back--we can do it again. All of it. It might not happen again quite the same way, but--well, like you say...we’ll have all the time in the world.” N: (Their faces inches apart, they both tilt their heads down and smile sadly:) “Twist my arm, why don’t you.” (They both step onto the dais holding hands, and blue energy starts to ripple around them:) “You filled up Spidey’s web-shooters before we go?” D: “Yep. Again.” N: “You and me, saving the world.” D: “Well,” (holding Nancy’s hand in both of her own) "No reason we can’t do it twice.” N: “You know, there’s a chance things could turn out differently, now that we’ll have video games to distract us. In 40 years we might decide we don’t like hanging out after all.” D: (Hugging Nancy even tighter than before as the energy from the time machine starts to envelop them, resting her face in the nape of Nancy’s neck:) “Nah. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”] Image 17: [ID: Doreen and Nancy are sifting through the charred rubble of their apartment as night starts to fall around them. Doreen is wearing faded blue jeans and a navy blue t-shirt with a Captain America star in the middle. Over top of the shirt, she’s wearing a dark reddish-brown leather vest with four metal studs at the four points of the folded-out collar. Nancy is wearing black tights and a light green long-sleeve shirt with olive-green sleeves. The front of the shirt has a picture of Cat-Thor, Cat God of Cat Thunder’s head on it. The following scene ensues: Doreen: “So I know we’re only a few hours into it, Nancy, but I think my identity being public isn’t gonna be as bad as I thought.” Nancy: “Oh?” D: “Yeah, Tony’s given me lots of tips, and it does honestly help to know that my parents are protected by a robot tree with laser eyes and my friends live in a city with the most super heroes per square mile.” N: “Most super villains too, but--Hold on. I think I found it.” (Nancy lifts a picture frame out of the wreckage, charred around the edges but otherwise no worse for wear. It has a painting inside of it of Doreen and Nancy, arm-in-arm, from hypertime. Doreen is wearing the lavender pantsuit from before, and Nancy is wearing a tight-fitting lilac dress.) “...And it looks like you and I made it through just fine.”] Images 18-19: [ID: Two later comic panels from the same scene. They’re wearing the same outfits, but Nancy’s now cradling her white cat, Mew, in the crook of her left arm while she holds onto the picture frame with her right hand. The following scene ensues: Doreen: “Come on, let’s talk about it! If we’re starting a new chapter in our lives, and we can decide what’s in it, what do you want it to contain?” Nancy: “Doreen...” D: “What are the three things you can’t live without, Nancy Whitehead?” N: (Holding up the picture so that Doreen can see it:) “Fine. If you must know, all this girl needs to be happy are cats and squirrels and knitting and computers and friends and secret tattoos and super heroes and lots and lots of love. Also food and shelter. And water. And internet.” D: “That’s more than three things.”] Image 20: [ID: Same scene as before, a single frame with a close-up on Doreen from her chest upwards. Doreen cups her chin with one of her hands and says, “Honestly--I thought about it. I really did. But I realized that where I am now, I’m safe and I’m loved and I kinda like the idea of not having to lie to people anymore, you know? Even if it is just a lie of omission. I want to share my whole self with the world. I don’t want to have to hide who I am anymore.”] Image 21: [ID: Something resembling a twitter thread, with dialogue between Nancy and Doreen stacked chronologically as horizontal boxes. Their respective names and handles are at the top of each of their comments. Nancy is Nancy W. and @sewwiththeflo, Doreen is Squirrel Girl and @unbeatablesg. The following conversation ensues: Nancy: “You think I’d leave you high and dry??” Doreen: “I think I don’t want our lateness harming your grades and therefore harming your post-secondary education or career choices and therefore harming your ENTIRE LIFE?!” “So yeah I think you should switch to someone else, real talk. I honestly don’t mind, I promise.” Nancy: “Please. If there’s one thing I know about you, about me, and about how we spend our future together, it’s this. Doreen Green...” “...you’re not getting rid of me that easily. <3″] Image 22: [ID: A paragraph of text, black text on a yellow background. “As for more Doreen and Nancy, I hope so too. A Squirrel Girl book without Nancy would feel like--like--like some sort of hypothetical “Super” “Man” book without an equally hypothetical “Lois” “Lane”!”] Image 23: [ID: A group picture of Squirrel Girl and friends sitting down on a grassy hill and watching the sunset together. Kraven the Hunter is in the foreground for some reason, looking almost directly at the camera. In the background we see Koi Boi, Mary Mahajan, Chipmunk Hunk, Brain Drain, and Mew the Cat. In the middle of the shot, Doreen and Nancy sit together. Doreen is in her superhero outfit with Tippy-Toe on her right shoulder, and Nancy is in a yellow cardigan and jeans on Doreen’s left. They’re holding hands, fingers intertwined, as Nancy leans against Doreen with her whole body. Their heads are tilted inward towards each other, the side of Doreen’s head touching the side of Nancy’s, as they look off into the distance together.]

[spitalofatalo]

May I ask, if Afterimage ever became canon, and got his own episode, how would that go?

this is such a cool question, thank you!! i'm SO glad there's interest in him

i don't have a full script, but i have several key points in mind for how an episode with him would go! it got very long, so i'm putting it under a read more

i'm imagining it as another halloween special, only more lighthearted in nature because of who the villain is. highlights include a scooby doo-esque chase through krei tech. please enjoy

i imagine his intro ep taking place about a week before halloween. the team would catch a glimpse of a strange figure during night patrol on a foggy, spooky evening - but he seems to disappear before they can get a good look! but there WAS definitely something there, right?

fred is convinced they just saw a ghost; hiro of course is skeptical and looks for answers. based on the footage they have, the most baymax and/or basemax can come up with are a bunch of strange blurry "ghost images" that people have taken all over the city recently. hiro figures it's some sort of viral halloween prank, but the team decides to keep an eye out just in case

hardlight has also recently escaped, so they've got bigger things to worry about, anyway

one night during a battle with hardlight, bh6 manages to knock his glove several feet away from him but then it starts... floating? moving on its own? and somehow tosses ITSELF back to hardlight, in a series of motions that leaves the team very confused. they're even more confused when things start hitting them out of nowhere - gogo is tripped on something invisible and crashes into fred, wasabi's hit with lasers from thin air, honey's suddenly ensared by a net. hardlight gets away, for the time being, and the team is left wondering about all these new tricks he's got up his sleeve...

“could it be GHOSTS?” “we know for a fact hardlight is not a ghost” “but DO WE?”

the next day, bh6 receives a report from alistair krei that there's been a strange figure showing up outside krei tech for the past few nights. nothing's been stolen - yet - but it's worth looking into. plus, a rumor's been spreading that krei tech is HAUNTED, and that's not good for publicity!

using security cam footage, they recognize the figure as the "ghost image" that's been popping up around san fransokyo. they're also able to determine that the subject is wearing some kind of robotic armor, which they recognize as the buddy guard technology - and it's confirmed even more when the figure disappears on tape! everyone wonders what this "ghost’s” goal could be, and why they'd be using the decommissioned tech. bh6 asks for a list of everyone who worked on developing the buddy guards, which krei gives them (mel meyer, notably, is NOT on that list).

in the next days, people begin to report sightings of afterimage more frequently, usually with blurry distorted photo evidence if they catch him mid-vanish. he tends to show up at big gatherings and events and sabotage them, usually by cutting the power and sending everyone into a state of confused panic. strangely, it seems to affect personal devices too, and happens too often to just be a coincidence...

big hero 6 makes note of the fact that afterimage's appearances seem to line up with hardlight's - they tend to strike on the same day, sometimes even the same place. the same is true for the photos people have been reporting; they line up with hardlight sightings. however, hardlight hasn’t been near krei tech, so that seems to be the outlier

so the next time they face hardlight, the team are prepared to confront afterimage as well. luckily for them, hardlight's on the same page. there's a line like "allow me to introduce... my player two!!!" and afterimage makes himself seen, in a dramatic, but silent, flourish. he and hardlight do a cool pose together, and there's probably some fun sparkle effects

wasabi would say something like "...does he not talk?" and hardlight would reply that the two of them agreed it was more mysterious and threatening that way

and so the battle continues. with afterimage switching in and out of visibility so fast, hardlight's menagerie of light weapons, and the two of them protecting each other, it's difficult to get a hit on either of them! and the duo escape again, much to the frustration of the team

the heroes probably do a little pondering on how the two of them can be so in-sync. even if we don't see them react to it, i'm assuming bh6 knows that hardlight = ian, so they start looking for potential connections of his. they'd probably check out retired villain dark volt (who i headcanon as ian's father), olivia (who i hc as his half-sister), and even judy (under the assumption that them being co-workers means they might have co-conspired), but of course those are all dead ends

soon enough, it's halloween eve, and bh6 figures something big is likely to go down the next night, so they try reaching out to krei again for any more information. but they can't get through to him. uh-oh... the power seems to have been cut at krei tech!!

they rush over to check on krei, and find the building encased in one of hardlight's force fields. hardlight tells them that afterimage has been in tutorial mode, and now he's on his first big solo quest - the one he's been gathering XP for all this time!! and hardlight's NOT gonna let them sabotage it, so he'll just have to dominate them in single-player >:]

so of course they have to take hardlight down first. which they do, because all they have to do is get his glove and i can't think of a cool detailed way that they do that right now

with the light shields gone, they get into krei tech and - since baymax is scan-jammed - they have to search for krei and afterimage in the dark facility. on the way, they run into a few employees who have been trapped in the building, many believing the intruder is an actual ghost! hiro is still patiently trying to convince people it's not, but the others, to his frustration, seem to be getting more open to the idea

they finally reach krei's office and find him pleading with this mysterious invisible force to leave his company, and his face, alone. he doesn't deserve to have his company haunted, he says! is this a vengeful spirit come to throw his past mistakes at him, in the form of his own obsolete decommissioned tech?? :’(

a modulated voice finally speaks, to everyone's surprise. "oh, like you decommissioned ME??" afterimage is now visible, in the moonlight coming through the large window

"i thought you weren't speaking," gogo quips, to which afterimage stammers and replies something like "ugh, i totally messed that up. but anyway-"

he proceeds to let his lasers do the talking and battles it out with big hero 6 once again!! until honey lemon jams his blaster with a chem ball. and he realizes that while he may still be able to disappear, he doesn't have the advantage of open space in krei's office. so, amidst the chaos, he manages to slip out the door

the team proceeds to chase him down the halls of krei tech, each taking different paths (this part could be a little haunted house montage where they run in and out of different doors, if you wanted a little comic relief) and fred beats him to the door. as afterimage runs toward the exit, fred finally decides on the most effective way to fight invisible with invisible, and simply sticks out his tail to trip him

AND HE TRIPS!!

the team catches up as afterimage tries to collect himself. fred and wasabi quickly grab him. hiro, excited at the opportunity to prove once and for all this is not a ghost, removes his helmet, exposing him as none other than.....

former krei tech employee mel meyer!!!! cue GASPS from everyone. "sur...prise," he manages, still a little dizzy from all that

krei is, of course, extremely upset (and pretty embarrassed and trying to brush off having ever been afraid), and demands to know what's been going on

mel explains that ever since A Certain Someone convinced him that sometimes villainy is empowering and lets one do the things they can’t as a civilian, he'd been wanting to teach krei a lesson about how he treats people. you can't keep getting away with using others!! and that's why he became the ghostly apparation, because the REAL monster looming over san fransokyo is YOU, alistair krei!!! and he would have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for these meddling kids and their robot!!! >:[

“you really think THIS is what would have stopped him? trust us, he’s seen worse.” krei stubbornly nods

and, frankly, mel's a little hurt that krei never even suspected it was him. to which krei responds that he forgot about mel entirely after getting him arrested, and so did everyone else, probably. big hero 6 nods sheepishly

...well, not everyone. cut to hardlight, who is Still standing outside, long after being subdued by bh6 - he’d had the opportunity to escape when they raced off to save krei, but clearly didn’t. he calls mel's name (and would be waving if he weren't handcuffed and surrounded by the SFPD at that very moment). mel is pleasantly surprised, and a little confused. "wait, you stayed and kept watch for my WHOLE mission? you didn't even try to get away?" he asks

to which ian replies, "of course not! i wasn't gonna let anyone break up our co-op, and i wanted to make sure you got out alright. after all, you're my... player two :)" they smile at each other, seemingly unaffected by the fact that they failed and are both getting arrested again, and it's a nice moment

cut back to krei and the gang. everyone is quite confused

so, the double damage duo is in custody (for now), and it's still the night before halloween. cue some jokey banter amongst the team about what they should do to celebrate - DEFINITELY no haunted houses, and no movies about ghosts. fred accuses hiro of being disappointed that it wasn't a real ghost, and by now the whole team is in on that joke, so he begrudgingly admits that, yes, maybe it WOULD have been cool if ghosts had been real this whole time :/ so there.

The End!

(but hopefully not the end of hardlight and afterimage - ideally there'd be more in store for them, even if they just got cameos!!! 😌)

[ommsims]

story process challenge

i was tagged  by @xldkx​​ to do this challenge, created by @herpixels​​​ , like a month? a month and a half? ago and it’s been sitting half finished in my drafts for nearly as long. *sigh* (regardless, i love stuff like this so even if it takes me forever to get to it, i appreciate the tags! 💕). 

i decided to answer all the qs because it took me damn long enough to get to this, so i might as well put some extra elbow grease into it (plus it was fun!). btw it’s all going under a cut b/c it is long. i apologize in advance.

1. My Writing Process - used to be a hot damn mess. literally word docs strewn throughout my pc. However, I recently switched to using Onenote (it’s what i use to organize my d&d campaign notes) and hoo-boy is it so much nicer. this is how it’s set up and it’s honestly night and day. i can have a page with outlines, a page to organize & order screenshots, and a separate page for drafting text, and i can easily toggle though them without having to switch windows? a big thumbs up from me.

When it comes to actual writing- I used to write my drafts in novel format, which i enjoyed but it made “converting” them into tumblr posts time consuming and frustrating. I ended up scrapping most of the text in the process, retaining pretty much only the dialogue. 

Anyway, nowadays I write in more of a screenplay format: dialogue only + key scene information with the occasional note to self. 

I do keep a master “arcs” page with key events and each individual character’s arc from beginning to end and secondary “outline” pages with slightly more detailed outline for each leg of the project. No screencaps b/c spoilers galore! 

My typical work flow process for a scene goes: (1) brainstorm scene ideas, (2) take screenshots, (3) organize screenshots into a rough storyboard, (4) add 1st draft of text, (5) edit photos, (6) edit text, (7) upload to "drafts” here on tumblr, (8) let sit for a bit (9) take a final look at things/proofread and edit as needed. It may sound counterintuitive, but i find it much easier to write dialogue for a set of images rather than attempt to take images based on prewritten text. I feel more comfortable editing and tweaking tone and content in the text this way. Otherwise, I get frustrated when I “can’t” shoot a scene exactly as it appeared in my head.

2. How I build my scenes - A lot of what i do is rooted in gameplay, therefore my sets are usually (a) play-tested and (b) not super pretty. I’ve certainly improved at decorating & building over the years but more often than not I download lots off tumblr and the gallery because I don’t have the patience, aptitude, or time to build all of my own sets. That being said, I frequently gut builds only to build a number of completely unrelated mini sets inside to reduce the number of times i have to replace lots. I also keep a list of “important locations” and where certain characters live / will move to, to help keep this all straight as there aren’t nearly enough lots per neighborhood or even per world in this damn game...

my least favorite part of scene building is actually decorating. lol. Don’t get me wrong, I love clutter. I honestly do. but fuck me if i expect myself to spend hours meticulously decorating a set, spend another 3 hours toggling back and forth b/w BB & live modes adjusting things to get rid of the damn routing errors. (yeah, yeah, i know i could ignore them, they’re not important, especially in those scenarios where i’m using a set for screenshots and nothing else, but idk. it really grinds my gears.) and then have to replace the lot like a week later because there aren’t enough lots in the game. *sigh*

3. CC/Pose Making - i do not consider myself to be a cc creator nor a pose maker but i do dabble occasionally. And to be completely honest i’d much rather spend my time doing other stuff, so it’s not high on my list of priorities atm. plus there are so many talented cc creators in this community; i can usually get by with what’s already out there.

4. Getting in the zone - Honestly, I do a lot of brainstorming for plot & dialogue in the shower. I don’t have any particular playlists to get me “in the writing mood” but I do enjoy listening to music as I work. Either instrumental stuff or simply artists/songs I like. If something just so happens to “fit” a scene I’m working on, one i’ve got planned, or even just gives me vibes for a certain character or group, I add a quick note to the top of said scene’s draft. Most of the time I stick it in the recesses of my brain and add a quick link when I finally get to the point of posting the draft to tumblr. For whatever reason, when I have one of those “oh this song is perfect for X” moments it’s essentially ingrained in my mind for the rest of eternity. 

5. The screenshot folder - this will most likely give some of you out there major anxiety. but i swear it’s an organized chaos. :)

yep. 32.9gb of screenshots & related things... 

So with the raws from a single random scene selected, you can see i take roughly 10 screenshots per image posted. not terrible i guess but i’m working on it. Typically I take screenshots and once I’m done editing a scene I’ll move them from the general folder to a more specific project folder.

6. Captions - I’ll answer this in three parts:

for my townie story. not really. I prefer using the text box. I tend to write (& re-write) the dialogue for each one of these scenes several times over as I add more “scenes” into my drafts. It would be incredibly inefficient, time consuming, and would waste a lot more space on my pc to have to save .psds of each image just so i could edit dialogue when I decide: “oh hey maybe so and so needs to bring up X in this scene” and then change my mind an hour later.

for niko, noor, & co. I’m a text on image type gal here. don’t really know why, but it gives the project a different energy. ironically it makes it feel more laid-back to me. which i guess makes sense, it’s a much more light-hearted “story” than my townie project. which is, imo, very soapy haha.

for legacy stuff. all text goes below the images in the text box. reasoning: it’s gameplay, I don’t brainstorm, outline, or pre-write for this. I play the game, take screenshots, plug ‘em into my drafts and write some commentary / dialogue to go along with it.

7. Editing - i am a creature of habit and have not majorly changed my editing process in probably a year and a half (when I began using reshade and had to adjust my color correcting psd). it’s a super basic system:

drag & drop my “color correction” psd.

run actions in ps. (i made my own “all-in-one” actions to really streamline the process; i have different “actions sets” for my premades’ story and for other things that get posted to tumblr. even if no one else notices it, i like the little details that keep my projects separate and “identifiable”. 

voila. all set to upload.

sometimes i crop images, add “text effects”, or do more in depth editing (i.e. editing a phone screen or adding rain etc.) but overall i try and keep it simple for myself. 

8. Throwback - i posted an image of one of the first (but never posted) scenes I’d written for my townie project up above. but as for how would i redo a scene i’d already posted. well i’m currently re-doing my townie story so i guess i’ll just say you’ll see how it’s redone when i get to part 1! 😉

anyway, no tags because i’m so embarrassingly late to this party but if you hadn’t gotten around to this tag, wanted to do it but didn’t get a tag, or started it and left it to sit and now you’re thinking “oh god that was months ago should i even post this anymore?!?” consider yourself tagged by me and go ahead and post it for all to see!

[pynkhues]

Hiii, so I just wanted to say I’ve been binge reading you’re work and I’m in lovvveeeeee!!!!! Also I feel like not a lot of people are writing about rio and beths past meetings so if you’re still taking in suggestions could you possibly write something we’re a teenage Annie and rio are caught smoking or something and Beth scolds them. Thank you!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Hi, anon! Thank you! You’re so, so sweet! <3 <3 <3

Unfortunately I’m not really taking prompts right now, just because I still have so many in my inbox, but I do have a little scene from my parents group au WIP that I’m working on that I thought I might share, because it kiiind of fits with what you’re requesting, haha, even if Beth doesn’t physically catch them.

A little bit of background, in my parents group au, Rio runs a bar and has a brand new baby Marcus, when Annie and a seven-year-old Ben move in to the apartment next door to him. Rio and Rhea have broken up, but are still co-parenting, but Rio’s really trying to do his days with Marcus on his own. Because he’s so proud and he won’t let Rhea or his mom or his sisters give him advice, he enrols in a parents class on the sly so he can trick his friends and family into thinking he’s a natural parent, haha. 

Meanwhile, Beth’s going through a very hairy separation from Dean with a brand new baby Jane (and her kids are similarly little - Emma’s 2, Danny’s 3 and Kenny’s 5) and is only in the new parents group because it looks good for her custody case. Rio instantly hates Beth because she’s so good at everything, haha, and thus the board is set for a ridiculous fic that I am having way too much fun writing.

Anyway, have the snippet, haha.

-

“Your sister ever chill?” he asks her, dropping his head to the back of Annie’s lumpy couch and rolling the joint a little between his fingers as he starts to relax. He doesn’t even know where the question comes from, just shit - - he still can’t believe they’re sisters. They don’t act nothin’ alike, don’t talk like they grew up in the same house, don’t even look like they came out of the same combination of people.

When the thought hits, he squints a little in Annie’s direction, where she’s still furiously texting who knows who, taking in her ombre bob, her dark eyes and some too-big sweater coverin’ up - - well.

A whole lot less body.

Before he can help it, he remembers Elizabeth again, on her hands and knees beside him as Nancy tried to guide them through those dumbass post-natal yoga poses, the way she’d arched her back, and he was supposed to be doing it too, and he was, but it was only so he could curve his head just so, get a better look at the shape of her as she ground her pale little hands into her yoga mat, her fingers going pink, and so what if he’d wondered if they’d look like that, twisting up in his sheets?

Huh.

Maybe it’d be so what if the thought had been a passin’ one.  

He rolls his neck back, staring up at the ceiling, and rocking his hips a little on the couch, adjusting.

Pot always gets him goin’. That’s all.

He should text Dylan. She’s gotta be finishing work any minute now, and he knows it won’t take much to convince her to skip her apartment for his anyway – it’s not like she’s got all that far to come. Plus he knows she’s got some of the freaky yoga poses in her arsenal, none of that basic bitch, cat-cow pose shit from class.

“Chilling would require Beth to have an off switch,” Annie says suddenly from the other side of the couch, finally tossing her phone onto the packing boxes doubling as a coffee table still in the middle of her living room, and reaching across to pluck the joint from between his fingers. She takes a long drag, inhaling like a pro. “And trust me, I’ve spent over twenty years looking for it, and if she’s got one, it’s not in a place a sister gets to see.”

Rio snorts, but then - - damn. He can’t help the grin, rocking his neck back on the couch to look away from Annie, back out across her apartment as a few images of spots sister’s don’t get to see flick through his head. He can almost see it, her mouth open, those blue eyes wide in surprise like they get whenever he does anything right in the stupid class, that flush that creeps down her neck, her ugly-ass blouse off so he can see that colour flooding those - -  

“Oh my god,” Annie says loudly, and Rio jerks his head up to where Annie stares back at him, her mouth open as she barks on a laugh. “You’ve got a thing for Bossy Bethie.”

And shit, Rio scowls at her, shaking his head and waving a lazy hand out in her direction.

“Nah, it ain’t like that,” he says, because it’s not. It ain’t a thing, it’s all these dumbass new-parent hormones, like seeing her dote on his son with all her fresh mama curves and smells and softness just rubs up against this part of him that’s still getting the hang of having a kid at all, and making him want to - - well - - rub up on her.

“Oh, right,” Annie says, voice loaded with amusement as she passes the joint back to him, wriggling back into her side of the couch. “So you just want to take her on a one-way ticket to pound town.”

And, well, he shrugs at that, grinning as he plants the joint between his lips, taking a long, slow drag to fill up his lungs, feeling something in him loosen pleasantly. He watches Annie from the other end of the couch, wondering if she’s gonna have any feelings about him maybe-sometimes-entertaining-the-thought of fucking her sister, but before he can think anymore of it, she’s bouncing back to her feet, heading towards her kitchen and diving headfirst into her pantry.

“Well, I can tell you right now, my friend, that station is closed,” she calls, her voice muffled through the wooden door. He hears her hands grab something crinkly, her feet hit the floor again (and damn, had she climbed into the thing?) and start to make her way back, before he replies at all with a nonplussed:

“Yeah?”

Because there’d been that moment, hadn’t there? He rocks his jaw a little, running a hand back over his head. That moment when he’d sat with her eldest in the back of the classroom, Marcus still asleep in his arms, and helped the kid with that maze in the back of his activity book. The look on her face when she’d stopped Jane cryin’, when she’d seen them, it had been - -

He rubs his hand a little harder at the back of his head.

It had been something.

That was all.

A bag of Cheetos suddenly drops onto his belly as Annie clambers over the back of the couch, squirming back into her corner as she waves a Pringles can in his general direction. “That is not a frequently used trainline, if you catch my drift.”

[bepp-ers]

A tale of red and blue | S. Todoroki X Reader X K. Bakugo [Pt 3]

Fantasy AU! Part three:

With a loud creak, it swung open and revealed... A winding staircase. “Wow, this looks pretty old. Let’s go--!” You were about to make your first step, but Todoroki grabbed your arm and pulled you back before you could.

“What?” You asked with annoyance. “Hold on. We don’t know what’s down there, or if we should even be going down those stairs. Is this such a good idea?” 

You rolled your eyes, and shook yourself out of your grip. “Well if you don’t want to go, then give me the candelabra. I’m going at least.” He shook his head, and kept a firm grip on the light source.

“I’m coming with you then. It’s not a good idea for someone such as yourself to go alone.” “Hey, what’s that supposed to-”

You were cut off by thunderous footsteps hurrying towards the two of you, and you stepped closer to Todoroki out of nerves.

“What the hell are you two doing down here?! Well?!” You smiled in relief as it turned out just to be Bakugo. “Exploring. Duh. It’s boring doing nothing all day,” You stated.

He scowled at the two of you. “Exploring? Stupid princess, and you two-toned freak, why didn’t you stop her?” Todoroki shrugged. “I was bored too. Besides, she needs someone with her so she doesn’t get hurt, right [Name]?”

You were a little taken aback by how quickly he took your side here, but thought nothing of it. “I mean yeah. Say Bakugo, where do these stairs lead?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Why the hell do you wanna know? You said you were exploring, so figure out for yourself.” “Alright then, wanna join us?”

The words were so simple yet Bakugo looked at you like you’d just asked him to hand over his entire castle. “The fuck? No I- Why would I want to join you exploring my own castle?!”

“So we don’t get lost obviously. Is that a yes, or?” He pinched the bridge of his nose, and shook his head, still scowling. “Maybe if it were just you, but I’m not playing hosts or whatever fucking ideas you have!”

You batted you eyes at him, doing your best impression of an abandoned puppy. “Please? It’ll be more fun with you. And you can tell me more about your dragons!” 

He pondered for a moment- it would be nice to show off to that cold stuck-up prince in front of you... “Ugh, fine. You two idiots would get lost anyway.” Todoroki gave you a strange look.

“You really want him with us? I wouldn’t have agreed if I’d have known he would join us.” He gave the smallest of eye rolls, but it didn’t go unnoticed by the ash-blond.

“Shut up, [Name] asked me to join you two so I did! If anything you should be glad I agreed. Don’t think we’re getting all pally though, I only agreed ‘cos of Pocchari over here.”

You gave him a small shove. “Quit calling me names! Your a prince for god’s sake, maybe act like it. Let’s go already.” 

Bakugo grumbled something under his breath, but guided by the light of the candelabra the three of you descended down the steps.

“Wow, these sure are long stairs.” “Quit complaining!” Todoroki was mostly silent as you climbed down. He seemed to be in thought, you didn’t know what about though.

The two-toned boy was actually thinking about you, and why he actually agreed to your silly idea of exploring. Maybe it was because he wanted to create a bad image of his father, or maybe it was because he found you so interesting.

When you’d told him about the dragons back in the library, he’d thought you were dotty. But then you gave him the scale and he had no choice but to believe you.

Also, you’d somehow kind of befriended Bakugo, the angry prince. That was impressive in itself and now he found himself wanting to get to know you better.

That wasn’t really happening though, as Bakugo was just bickering with you as you walked down the stairs. He wished you hadn’t invited him to join, but knowing him he would have done anyway.

“Oh look, I think I can see the end!” “Yes, that’s the floor.” You stepped closer and jumped down the last few steps, and Bakugo marched towards the identical wrought-iron door.

“There’s nothing too interesting down here, but be glad you didn’t accidentally pick the dungeons.” He stated and swung the door open with ease. He was pretty muscly after all, as evident by the lack of shirt in the royal attire he wore.

“Ooh, this is nice.” You ogled, and Bakugo smirked. “Of course it is, it’s a monument after all.”

In front of you was a patio-style garden, with large dragon sculptures on stone plinths. You raced over to each one in turn, hesitant to run your hands over the detailed stone scales.

“Hey, Bakugo, this one looks like Kiri!” You stood in front of a large grey dragon, posed eternally in what looked like a smile - if dragons could smile, of course.

“That’s ‘cos it is you moron. Each member of the royal family conquers their own beast. Mine just happens to be able to turn into a dude.” He walked over and leant on the bottom of the plinth, Todoroki shortly joining you two.

“That’s fascinating, is this the same dragon that you and [Name] rode on?” “Yep, he’s the strongest yet. You extra countries would be mad if you were to ever wage war on an army of dragons.”

You ignored the semi-rude remark and took a seat on the edge of a nearby stone fountain. “Wow. You really aren’t all talk like I first thought.” “Eh? The hell does that mean?!”

Todoroki sat beside you, and Bakugo instantly sat on the other side. “It means you actually do have some feats to your nonstop bragging. You should probably tone down on that, it’s kinda annoying.”

“Shut it you icy-hot bastard!” You giggled at the nickname, just revelling in the atmosphere. You didn’t have too many friends back at home, and now it seemed you had just gained two more.

Sure, one of them never shut up about how great he was and had the worst anger issues she’d ever seen, and the other didn’t really seem too friendly or sociable, but they were friend-material to you.

“So, had a nice time exploring my castle?” You glanced over at the sarcastic comment and beamed. “Yeah, it’s pretty fun! We should do it again tomorrow, or you’ll have to find something else for us to do.”

“Count me out.” Todoroki said much to your dismay. “Huh?” “I don’t want any part if Bakugo’s coming with us. Sorry, but I don’t think we get along.” You frowned, and shuffled a little closer to him.

“Aw, that’s no fun. Are you really gonna be that boring? This wasn’t so bad, right?” He looked into your eyes full of hope, and he sighed. ‘How the hell do I say no to that...’

“Fine. I guess there’s nothing else to do here anyway.” “Tch, quit dissing my castle. It’s way better than anything you’ll have.” You simply grinned, glad that they were at least being civil. 

“I’m out. You two can stay here I guess. Tomorrow you need to be up early, I’ll get horses for us.” Bakugo scowled, but you could see beneath the narrowed eyes that he was kind of looking forward to it.

You got the impression he didn’t have too many friends, so it’d be good for him. “Can’t wait. See you tomorrow.” With a swish of his crimson cloak, he left, leaving just you and Todoroki.

“Say, [Name].” “Hm?” “Why are you trying so hard to be friends with him? It’s not like we were told to get closer, just to be civil.” You looked over at the cold prince, and simply shrugged.

“Bakugo seems angry, sure, but he’s fun to be around. I may have only met him yesterday, but he’s interesting. Plus there’s Kirishima, if I wasn’t close to Bakugo then I doubt I’d be able to see him again.”

“That’s the dragon?” “Yeah, Kiri’s great. Why don’t you like him so much?” He looked over to the different statues, pondering for a moment. “He’s arrogant. And angry. He reminds me of my father, who I don’t have the best relationship with.”

He paused. “And... I met you yesterday, so I can’t say we’re that close, but I don’t like how rude he is to you. It’s not very civil, and you don’t exactly strike me as deserving of such rude titles.”

“Aw wow, that’s so sweet of you to say.” You teased, watching him go ever so slightly pink with indignance. “That’s not-” “I know, I know. We should head back right? I’ll race you up the stairs.”

You challenged, and stood up. “[Name], you think I’m childish enough for that?” He raised an eyebrow. “Sounds like someone’s afraid of loosing to a princess. Well, I guess I’ll just call myself the winner, and-”

He stood up, a slight smile dancing on his lips. “Fine, but when you loose you’ll get no consoling from me.” “You’re on, peppermint.” 

Bakugo watched from the shadows as the two of you raced up the stairs, Todoroki naturally faster than you. He cursed as you tripped up the last step, fumbling to the stone floor.

“Yikes, I guess you win and I eat the ground.” You laughed, and Bakugo gritted his teeth as Todoroki helped you up carefully. “We’ll call it a draw. Come on, can you walk? That was quite the trip.”

“I’m good, I just hurt my pride a bit.” Bakugo was very close to jumping out and helping you himself for whatever reason, but refrained as the two of you walked away.

He didn’t fail to notice how much happier Todoroki seemed now that he was gone, and smirked to himself. ‘I’ll show him what a prince is tomorrow, he’ll see.’

[To be continued... ☆]

[anika-ann]

Lessons in Rule-breaking - Pt.2

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader    Word count: 2830

Warnings: …nothing major? Swearing, fluff, gooffiness.

Summary: Arrangement made, arrangement cancelled, Finding Nemo screening and... ;)

Story Masterlist

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You hated yourself, you really did.

It wasn’t the fact that you couldn’t have held on a little longer and you had texted Steve the very next day in the morning – unable to follow some basic rules of socializing – just to let him know when you could possibly arrange the movie theatre thing. It wasn’t even that you had done puppy eyes at everyone you had been trying to convince to tolerate the project. That was all okay.

You hated yourself for the burning sting of disappointment that had come when Steve hadn’t texted back. You had been sitting by your phone like a super-excited nag for three days and you had been getting sadder with each hour with no response.

Now you were just annoyed.

It was ridiculous and you had been unbearably stupid. Of course he wouldn’t text back. What had you been thinking? Chances were he had even given you a fake number, no matter how genuine he had seemed when talking to you – he was probably used to that kind of interaction and he hadn’t wanted to be rude in person, trying to maintain some sort of an image; even when being so casual you would have believed he was just a kid from Brooklyn, just your average Jack on the street. He had been nice and you had trusted him.

Stupid, stupid-

“Oh god, I’m such an ass,” you murmured and went to continue on your pizza from the place on the corner of your street – you had it delivered despite the fact you could have just walked for five minutes and get it yourself. You were pathetic.

You stared at the rest of your food, losing the last remains of your appetite when remembering that stupid wannabe genuine eyes of his.

Your phone rang, interrupting your sulking.

You eyed it suspiciously, wondering who was calling you – perhaps you didn’t check in with mum for too long? Possible. Someone wanted to switch shifts? More than likely.

To your shock, the ID was announcing a completely different caller. Steve. And just like that, you realized you weren’t pissed at yourself only, but also at him. But you were too curious about what he would have to say for you to let the call unanswered.

Also, there was a possibility of some poor bastard, whose number Steve had given you when trying to dodge you, was calling now, confused about your text.

“Hello?” you said to the speaker unsurely, anxious about what was to come.

There was a relieved sigh on the other end. “Hi! I’m sorry, it’s Steve, I-…“

Well. Now what?

“Uhm… hi, Steve.”

“Hi,” he repeated hastily and if you weren’t angry with him and also utterly disappointed, you would have found his hastiness endearing – but you were. “I… I wanted to apologize for not texting back-“

You sighed and decided to save him from his misery. “It’s okay, Steve. You don’t have to explain anything. I understand.”

You did understand pretty well. Maybe you could have said it less harshly, but you were pretty proud of yourself for just speaking with him.

“I… don’t?”

You cleared your throat and swallowed the stupid tears of humiliation that had no logical explanation.

“No, Steve. You were just trying to be nice and didn’t know how to get rid of me, I get it. I won’t bother you-“

“What?” he breathed, sounding honestly astonished. “No! I— is that what you think? I didn’t even know you texted me until five minutes ago, we left for a mission in the middle of a night and we have ‘no-phones’ policy during those, so… I’m really sorry.”

You sat on your couch, frozen, letting the information sink in.

Hold on a sec. Was Steve still having missions? Was he-- it kinda made sense; he had been there for the battle of New York. And what else he would be doing? Posing for art students? Barely – he was a soldier waking up after seventy years. Of course he was still fighting. Probably under some super-secret organization.

Oh god.

“Oh god, I’m such an ass,” you whispered for the second time this evening, letting your head fall into your palm.

You thought he was being a dick. And had been saving the world.

Who’s the dick now?

“Oh my god, Steve, I’m so sorry.”

“What for?” he asked, seeming confused.

”I… may have thought… you… lost the text?”

“That can happen?!”

You pressed your lips together. Sweet summer child, still learning about technology…. You cleared your throat. “It can. If you help it… disappear.”

“…oh.”

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I honestly don’t know what I was thinking. Well, I know what I was thinking, obviously, but… yeah. It’s… it would be a perfectly natural response, you know, to ignore it-“

“Yeah, no,” he interrupted you, determined. “I’m sorry if I made you upset. I… if the offer still stands, I would really like watch a movie with you.”

And just like that, your heart melted completely.

“Awww, Steve,” a new voice joined in the background. “You are so sw-“

“Go to hell, Romanoff-“ Steve cut off the woman and you could hear some rustling then – did Steve try to cover the speaker?

��Ouch. I’m wounded, Rogers,” the woman continued teasing him and you bit the inside of your cheek to stop yourself from laughing since you could still hear Romanoff clearly.

“Just— shut up. Go away.”

You could hear a laugh and then a bang, more rustle and Steve was back with you.

“Sorry for that.”

You chuckled. “It’s okay, Steve. She seems like a piece of work,” you noted and heard him inhale sharply.

“…how much did you hear?”

“Not much, just about… everything?”

“I’m going to kill her. Yeah, Natasha can be a bit too much,” he mumbled and you would swear he sounded embarrassed.

“Sounds like it would be a shame to kill her. Bet she’s a keeper.”

“Wait until you meet her, you might change your mind.”

Your lips parted, your heart sent into a cardiac arrest. Holy— did he just imply he would like you and the Natasha woman meet? That he wouldn’t be against you meeting his friends/co-workers? That was--… nice.

“Anyway, can I still take you upon the offer? Please?”

Oh god, the soft timid ‘please’ was enough to erase the past few days. You were such a goner.

“Yeah. Yeah, you can. When do you have time? Did you pick any of the days I suggested?”

“Tomorrow?” he offered, taking you aback greatly, your stomach clenching immediately. That soon?! “Or not-“

“Yes! Tomorrow’s fine. Why wait, right?”

“Exactly,” he breathed, relieved. “I much rather meet with you soon so they can’t call me away again before I do. So…”

Your heart just swelled. You needed to stop reading more into all this.

“…tomorrow. After eight. Looking forward to it, Steve-” Too much, ALERT, too much!

“Me too,” he replied and you would swear you could hear a smile in his voice.

“You got it bad, Rogers,” the woman from earlier said then and you covered your mouth with your palm to muffle the giggle on your lips.

“For god’s sake, Natasha!”

“Goodnight, Steve,” you whispered.

“Night. See you tomorrow,” he whispered back softly. “You’re dead, Romanoff!”

“Steve, you need to press the red button to actually end the call,” she teased him and then you heard a growl and you were cut off.

You burst out into a maniacal laughter and squeezed you phone tighter.

Alright, time to stop sulking. You had a movie to download.

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Mia knew someone was coming over and since you had a deal with the guards, she didn’t question it – she let you check out the exhibit after closing time, grateful she didn’t have to do it, and left with a suggestive wink. You rolled your eyes and pretended you didn’t blush.

Steve arrived ten minutes after eight, wearing his perfect disguise in a form of a baseball cap, finding you at the desk. Seeing him again – a tiny smile settled on his lips and bright eyes smiling at you as well –, you scolded yourself for thinking he had been ghosting you.

“Hey. Welcome to Smithsonian cinema. How can I help you?” you greeted him, not sure where it came from. Steve smiled wider.

“Heard you were playing a great movie tonight. Couldn’t resist. Plus, I‘ve been promised popcorn and… some pleasant company. I can see I came to the right place,” he started rather confidently, turning bashful in the end.

How the hell could you resist and not read anything into it when he talked like that?

“Oh— oh yes. Come in. I’ll get the popcorn.”

“Thanks. How much for it?

“About two hours of your time, Captain,” you told him the price, rising from your seat. “That okay?”

One corner of his lips rose higher. “More than okay. And for the company? That would actually call me my first name?”

You lowered your gaze, wondering if you were crossing a line. “Smile is enough, Steve.”

You were glad you had some time for yourself during preparing the popcorn – you needed to calm down. Your palms were awkwardly sweaty, your throat was dry and your heart was beating like crazy.

Calm down. Just two not-even-friends hanging out. Nothing more. Sure, you’re doing a service to your country by educating national hero in pop culture, but you have literally no reason to be nervous, because it’s not like you have to make him LIKE like you. That’s not gonna happen anyway. Loosen up.

By the time you started the movie and handed Steve the popcorn he had insisted he had to share with you, you convinced yourself it was the truth. And within ten minutes through the movie, you got comfortable enough to make a note to the plot, your body getting on with the program of two not romantically involved people sitting in an empty movie theatre. And you had fun. Steve seemed to appreciate the notes, a laugh escaping him from time to time and it was amazing.

When the end titles started rolling down, you turned to Steve, finding him already watching you instead of the screen. He smiled and you smiled back as if it was the easiest thing in the world.

"That's it. You've been educated," you announced, rising from your seat and making your way to the projector. He followed your lead.

"Thank you. It's was… very enlightening."

You stopped dead in your tracks. “Oh. Was I rambling too much? I was, wasn’t I?”

Steve shook his head, still smiling, and his eyes shined even in the dim light of the computer you were turning off.

“No. I appreciated it. Like I said – very enlightening,” he whispered softly, his gaze locked with yours, effectively sending your heart racing again.  

"Oh. That's great! If you find a movie you think definitely deserves to be watched in somewhat cinema quality, I think we can manage to arrange this again.”

“I’d really like that.”

“ ‘kay.”

You were so glad when you got out from the theatre, though it wasn’t like the lightning was less intimate in the common space of the museum at night. Steve walked by your side to the counter desk where you had your stuff.

“Uhm… next Thursday works?” he asked, sounding quite hopeful and you couldn’t help but grin. He really liked it!

“Yeah, sure. It’s a date,” you blurted out, realizing only a second later how it sounded. “I mean like— did you use to say that back in the day? I meant like ‘it’s a deal’, I didn’t-- didn’t mean like date date!”

Did he really just lower his gaze, stuffing one of his hands into the back pocket of his jeans as if he was nervous? Hey, you were the nervous one around here! You rather picked your backpack before you could interpret something in a wrong way. Again.

“Oh. That’s… that’s a shame,” he mumbled, peeking at you through his eyelashes. Your lips parted in shock as you stared at his shy smile.

“...what? You— you would-- you would like it to be… a date?”

“Or not. Wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

Did Steve just ask you out?!

Did… Captain freaking America asked you on a date? What the hell was wrong with him? Why on Earth would the original hero want to go on a date with you? Of course you would say yes, you wanted to shout it from a rooftop – or maybe just here really, the sound would echo greatly here – but… really?

“…not the word I would use,” you choked out finally, after what felt like forever. Though you were entitled – Captain America was asking you out. Come again?!

Hesitant smile appeared on his lips, his eyes twinkling. “So… next Thursday? And it’s a date? Maybe with a dinner before of afterwards? Steve here is asking.”

Was he a mind-reader too?

“Yes, Steve. It’s— it’s a date.”

He examined your face closely, looking as if he was trying to crack a very difficult puzzle. Then he leaned in quickly and placed a light kiss on your left cheek.

“Wonderful. Goodnight.”

You blinked in surprise, unable to let out a word or to move. Steve disappeared behind a corner abruptly and suddenly the weight of what just happened hit you with full force.

You had a date. With this amazing specimen, who was not just incredibly attractive, but also very sweet.

You couldn’t hold it anymore. You giggled. You giggled like a schoolgirl. You couldn’t believe it.

A date.

With Steve.

You giggled into your palm again and then threw your hands it the air, spinning around, consumed by the euphoria sparkling in every cell of your body.

“Maybe I should take you dancing instead,” you heard someone call out and you yelped, stopping abruptly and turning to the source.

Steve was leaning against the wall of the very same corner he had disappeared behind, his arms crossed on his chest and slightly amused expression on his face.

“What are you doing here?!” you whisper-yelled after him, your face red as a lobster.

It was probably pointless to hope he hadn’t seen your embarrassing schoolgirl moment, wasn’t it? Oh god.

He bounced off of the wall, confident in his steps as he walked to you – you were too frozen to run away and hide somewhere you could die of embarrassment in private.

“I realized I haven’t offered you a ride home. I wouldn’t want you to wander the streets at night alone.”

“I always do that,” you shrieked, escaping his intense gaze. His brows furrowed.

“Well, I’d like to change that. At least for tonight. I kept you longer than you are usually staying, right?”

“…yes. But it was a pleasure, really.”

His hand tentatively rose to your face, cupping your cheek. You couldn’t breathe as his head – which meant his lips, his lips were right here, unfairly kissable – bowed to yours, his gaze focused on your face as if nothing else existed.

“It was. Would you let me take you home so I can be sure you got there safe?” he pleaded lowly and you couldn’t help it – your gaze flickered to his lips again, because goddammit, so close and so soft; you would know now, the ghost of their touch was still burning on your cheek.

You weren’t sure how it had happened, but you were nodding.

You couldn’t form one coherent thought beside ‘Steve is touching me and his mouth is dangerously close to mine’. And the said mouth just spread in a wide smile.

“Thank you.”

You had no idea what he was thanking you for, only being able to perceive that his hand slid much lower, taking your own and leading you out.

Steve was no wuss; he didn’t bother sneaking out in secret even when he was in the museum long after the closing time. He led you right through the main reception, where you met with Stan-the-guard’s wide-eyed gaze; he gave you a thumbs-up. Your face got even redder if possible, but you smiled at him shakily.

When outside, you found out that Steve’s definition of safe was a little bit different from yours, but if the man was offering you a ride on his bike, you were not about to say no. When he smoothed your hair before helping you to get the helmet on, you were about to melt, climbing beside him without him even asking you to do so.

“Hold on to me tight,” he whispered over his shoulder, readjusting your hold on his firm body. Honestly, if something would happen, you would die happy, because touching the firm muscles on his torso when dying seemed like a good way to go. But if you survived, you might touch it some more, so that was a motivation right there.

“Oh, I will.”

Trust me, Steve, I will.

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Tags: @mermaidxatxheart​  @lovesmesomehiddles​

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That’s it! Thank you for reading :))

[nekoabi]

Excuse me as I go through the sprites used in the episode and ramble about which characters they are based on.

Firstly, I wanna put it out there that all the sprite art is fucking gorgeous and I am in awe of it all. My intention with this post is just to highlight what certain ones were based on for fun, not to pull away from the talent that it took to do the sprites.

Secondly, I know that these are not completely accurate (except in cases where the artist clearly wanted them to be)

Thirdly, hullo I’m an ace attorney, pokemon and general nintendo stan so... this might get long bc all the games were so good.

Anyway, I’m gonna focus on the courtroom specific poses for the ace attorney ones, bc the whole song has a lot of really good ones and they might be based on already existing character sprites - its just a lot rn, its 3am.

So, Janus’ sprites are obviously Edgeworth (considering he is on the prosecution and everything)

His second one, I couldn’t specifically find a reference for, but I love it anyway and just wanted to share as it still has Edgeworth/Male Ace Attorney character proportions.

Patton’s are Phoenix Wright, of course.

Thomas’ sprite as co-counsel is Mia Fey - just... without the obvious. No other co-counsel (as far as I remember) stands as straight up as she does.

Roman’s is difficult. The proportions are so different and the fact his gavel is visible and in his hand is a wild difference from the judge’s sprites that I feel as though his inspiration may have been some of the front facing sprites of either Phoenix or Edgeworth (mostly due to proportions) or other male characters who take to the witness stand. I have no evidence tho.

And then we have the full courtroom shot which seems to be a mix of counsel sprites. Patton is Phoenix for sure, while Janus is now Franszika. Thomas is hard to narrow down, but it seems to be based more off of Trucy or Apollo’s stance from Apollo Justice. Virgil is one of the audience members, obvs. Logan... I have no idea. The closest I can think of would be Olga Orly from Turnabout Trump, but that is a stretch at best.

(Sorry for the small images, its the best we got)

----

Now. Pokemon.

Oh my god. I almost cried.

It’s a wonderful recreation of my favourite generation of Pokemon and where I started (Generation 3), specifically Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. In fact, the spot where the store is is actually a replacement of the Pokemon Centre in Mauville City - using the tile set of Ruby/Sapphire.

But my favourite part, was the text and Thomas’ trainer backsprite. The text immediately took me back to playing this generation, in all the best ways! And Thomas’ backsprite was based on Brendan - the male protagonist from this generation as well.

----

The Mario section - clearly based off of Super Mario Brothers All Stars upgrade of the original Super Mario Bros. Specifically, the final Bowser boss fight - from the background down to the individual moving sprites to the UI.

---

And then... the part I spoiled myself on by accidentally hovering over the time bar... the part that I almost fucking bawled my eyes out at... Mother 3. Everything... is perfect. The background. The UI elements. The text. The characters. Good god, I almost cried.

---

The Final Fight segment killed me. Like Thomas as Haggar is hilarious to me! I don’t have much else to say, it’s just like before where every detail is so close to the original game that is awe-inspiring.

---

Now, I am far from knowledgeable about Mega Man. I could tell you the basics, but nothing more than that, so I had to go hunting for the specific game that the final boss part was based on. I originally thought X, but it was actually Mega Man 7 - which again was precise down to the health bars, which are very distinctive of MM7.

---

Now. That Kefkaroth fight. Damn... Final Fantasy 6 was the obvious inspiration - those battle sprites make me think of suplexing a train (honestly, if you haven’t seen that, look it up. It’s fantastic.) But the UI specifically seems to come from FF6 Advance - from what I found whilst looking around.

A couple of the character sprites seem specific enough for me to point out. Biggs (top) seems to be based on Locke, whilst Bubu seems to be based on Terra. The other two are fairly generic, but I want to say they are likely based on sprites of early party members, such as Edgar and Sabin. I’m also sure that the enemy sprite is based off of something... but I cannot find it, either in my brain or online. It may just be my imagination tho.

---

Thus ends my crazed video game ramblings. This video was fantastic, the artists did such an amazing job! Everything was wonderful. My heart is full.

[reimahowaido]

Spyro: Reignited review 2.5

The Dragons of Artisans World! Let's have some words on all of the dragons while I'm at it~ Why not :2 Nestor - God I love his design. It's so good. It really does fit him and the idea of him that I had as a kid. Truly the image of 'he leads these dragons' with the very first glance. And I love the voice too, is the good stuff~ Kind and very welcoming sound coming from this dude. His colors are great too. Is it biased or boring to just, like the first fella you see a lot? Because I do like him a lot. I imagine many people like Nestor though. Shoot, I like his name too. This dude, perfect. Super good. Great job everyone Delbin - Artist boi~ As a kid I saw him as an angry aggressive kind of dude. Somehow he just, came off as being very angry when I was a kid. Maybe his voice actor had that kind of vocals or something? Anyway, he seems like a kind fella to me now. Yes he might have a deeper raspier voice, but those thick eyebrows and the effect they have, making him look like he's going ÓuÒ I kinda like him a lot more now. He's great, I'd love to just sit down and paint with this dude. I dunno what if anything we'd talk about, but just doing some painting with a chill buddy would be nice Tomas - I've shared my thoughts on him already earlier like a year or 2 ago. He was my fave as a kid, but now he's not at the top anymore. I still loooove his energy and attitude, the jokester feel I get from him & the emoting he does with his hands and body. Tomas is still great, don't get me wrong! My expectations were just suuuuper high and I didn't expect the beard etc. Nothing bad with beards, sometimes they're really cool and nice~ It just wasn't part of my own vision and nostalgia, so that's why it takes points away from my own personal ranking. He's still great with his smile and grin! But ye, I like the little musical note sound as he jumps up Argus - I love his watermelon. I love he. Also the first moment where I immediately went 'oh god he sounds so nice, I could listen to him speak for hoooours' the voice is that good. Soothing and soft, tell me a story I'll listen. Also he just looks really friendly with his glasses and all. Not to say that glasses make you automatically friendly or anything, but just, story teller, let me grab a pillow and a snack and let's craft up some silly stories

Lindar - A favourite design boi here we go~ Not my absolute fave, but certainly up there~ I feel like many people like him, and for a reason xD I love his colors, the blue and yellow here are really great~ And clocks are cool, lots of work goes into them. Also love his goggles and goggle horns. That stuff is cool and nice and yeeees. "Not that you ever run into trouble, Spyro" yeah maybe not Spyro, but yes, yes I do, me, the fella who died in Artisans homeworld. Me. Lindar, I am baby, I fail, a lot. Don't have high expectations on me Astor - Magical portal fancy vortex thingamajiggyr, love the enthusiasm in his voice. He's pretty great too overall, a nice fella. I do like him Gavin - This boi got tattoooooooos and he a barista, he's Really cool~ Also I think he had all those elements from one of the artists who worked on the designs, yes? I also love the work of said artist, I'm bad with names, I feel the name started with Co- or Col- but it's not quite at my grasp. Either way, we love Gavin in this household, he's great and his design is great and now I want hot chocolate but it's 3am and others are sleeping so I can't (QuQ) Gildas - Gildas my man! Honestly at this point, if it weren't for him I'd not have gotten all that far at all in the game. That hint on gliding, as simple and small as it might be, has saved lives - or at least attempted to. I'm as enthusiastic as Spyro when listening to this fella. He certainly sounds and seems like the kind of fun art teacher who is super kind and understanding and just great to be around. Such supportive energy from this man. And I love his design too~ Paint splatters everywhere, he's definitely an artist because we messy. The big paintbrush is also very great~ And the little pose and smile at the end of his speech, also great~ Alban - I forget if I wrote about him before, I think I did (I think I wrote about a bunch of dragons years ago, but I'm not going back to that post until I'm done with the game just to see if I feel differently now). There was that whole 'this is Spyro's dad' thing when I was a kid, with him being purple and all that jazz (and the whole 'oh it's you'). But that aside, I like this dude~ Can't imagine how strong that tail of his has to be to support him and his whole weight, but that does make him kinda unique when compared to most other dragons~ Is a cool pose :2 And I like the blue... Frills or scales he has, gives off some slightly aquatic feel in a way Oswin - My first feeling on him is some sort of memory about a recolor or model. Like there's a green Oswin or such somewhere. Anyway though, I think I liked him as a kid too, just something about telling secrets and getting to feel special or something. He aight, I do like secrets, and the room he's in is cool Darius - Many comments made on some Shakespeare references I bet. I'm not one of those kids who were forced to read those books as a kid. Not English native, no such experiences. The skull and reference is cool though, even if mostly lost on me. Also the note on the big Gnork using 'Her' pronouns, big ladies, that's cool honestly and refreshing Nils - Nils Nils Nils Nils, snakey long boi, he gets me hyped. that one camera angle of him as he's bowing, polite tall man, it's kinda hilarious in a way but I love it so much! The way he poses after stepping away to look at the statue he's working on. His long thin moustache. The green and cream colors. The red scarf. God I love everything about him, voice and all. Even the fact he knocks over his sculpture at the end. Oh no baby oh nooooo it makes me laugh a little on the inside I can't help it xD It's tragic and sad, but it just adds so much personality and life to the character Devlin - Same hint as Gildas, so it doesn't hit quite as hard here and my brain didn't really grasp it, but honestly, good on them for doing it twice, it's what my brain needs because understanding that gliding thing took me a moment. But ay, that aside, he sounds so friendlyyyyyy I love that~ The Rs in his words~ Also cake, yes, I want to bake, let's bake something sweet,

like cake or pancakes. I've never actually baked a cake on my own, maybe one day. Alvar - Ok I like

him a surprising amount. The food stuck on his tail, the way in which he just throw-jabs stuff on the ground all angrily, yeet the scewer, yeet the knife, the way he runs out of breath when rambling. This dude's got an attitude and I respect him for it. The drama, the energy. Also I. I want barbecue, I want grilled food. It makes me hungry. I could say he's one of my favourites too, very memorable for sure! Thor - Older sorta fella, the name always makes me think of the God of Thunder, so it's quite the different feeling when seeing this dude. He does have some braids which does give off a small bit of Norse energy. And right, the words, on the guidebook. I've not yet mentioned it in these reviews but I'll certainly get to it. I had figured it out before talking to Thor, but it's a fine addition. I don't have a lot to say on him, but as many others, he looks friendly too Nevin - I like his voice~ Another painter fella. Smug expressions. And I'm now noticing that he has some big wings, there's size to those, like daym, I almost got used to the smaller sized wings but when he jumps and flaps his to be off, kinda nice and impressive. Spyro kinda steals the show here though, him saying 'barbecue' is just, niiiice

[supposed2bfunny]

Unbound-a 2doc drabble

“Alright then?” 2D asks, sitting back on his haunches and looking down at Murdoc thoughtfully.

Murdoc smirks up at him, fingers flexing a little to gauge how tight the silk bonds are around his wrists. He still has a decent amount of mobility. Nothing hurts, circulation is not being interrupted. And it certainly isn’t the first time he’s been bound to the headboard of his bed by a lover. Absolutely no alarms are ringing in his head. “Perfectly comfy,” he assures. “Might even kip if you keep up the pace. Can you at least get your trousers off?”

“Oh, they’re not coming off,” 2D replies with a smile, settling down on Murdoc’s lap, looking content as can be. “But I knew you’d never agree to letting me do this unless I spiced it up, mentioned some bondage. You’re more predictable than you’d like to think, you old goth.”

For the first time, Murdoc feels himself start to tense under that stare. “Agree to let you do what, exactly?”

Relationships are not work. At least, they don’t really have to be. They are routine. You figure someone out, and then you follow the rules of that person’s mechanism, input the correct sort of dialogue at the correct moments, agitate when the situation calls for, and ultimately maintain or destroy the relationship according to how much money it can make you, or what drugs it can score you. Simple really.

His routine with 2D has been a complex one, evolving gradually but persistently over the years, requiring a lot of tweaking. First they were mates who occasionally snogged whenever they got high together (they smoked a lot of weed). Then they were fuck buddies. More recently, they’ve been treading into water that was warmer and much deeper than anything Murdoc is familiar with. And Murdoc has always been like a ship’s captain: at his most comfortable when he is in the water, but able to see land in the distance if he squints. 2D has gone from legal obligation to frontman to tempest so slowly that Murdoc didn’t see it coming until he’d been pulled in too deep, and now, wherever he strains to look, he can no longer spot land, only the phantom shadows of solid ground that turn out to be tricks of the eye.

“Hey, you with me?” 2D draws him out of his contemplation with soft, cool fingertips on his temple.

“Yeah, ‘course. Now what exactly do you want? How do you want me?”

“Well...” 2D blushes, tips his head at such an angle that, though the dark light of the bedroom obstructs any ability to see the rustbrown bloodstains in his eyes, Murdoc can intuit that he must be looking down, gaze snagging to the left, unable to look into the bassist’s face as he speaks. “Remember last week-”

“No.”

“Quiet! You bloody alcoholic. Remember last week, when we were listening to that bloke on that radio station who interviewed us a month ago?”

“That was Howard-fucking-Stern, you tit.”

“So you do remember,” he teases, smiling triumphantly, and again Murdoc is able to recognize that 2D’s eyes are focused on his face again, though he can’t quite make out how he knows it. “Anyway, he was saying how fun it was to interview you and Russel in August.”

“Yeah, so?”

“And then, he said how Russel was real easy to get along with, the kind of bloke you’d want to go out for a drink with after an interview.”

“Pretty sure he wouldn’t use the term ‘bloke,’ sunshine. American.”

“And he said that you were really fun to talk to too! He said that everyone has this image in their head of you as a jerk or a bad guy, but you’re really quite smart and funny. And he’d love to interview you, or have you co-host one of his shows sometime.”

“Right. This has been riveting. Now, about that kip-”

“When you and I heard him say that last week, say how he liked you, you got this weird look on your face. You said no one’d ever said such nice things about you so earnestly. And well, Muds. Well...i thought that that was rather, um, sad. So I kind of wanted to...uh, I just figured.”

Murdoc tips his head back and closes his eyes, pretending to doze off. 2D pinches his cheeks playfully, and though he keeps his eyes closed, he can hear the singer’s smile when he finally forces his words out:

“I was thinking I should say nice stuff to you. Only I figured you’d tell me to bugger off. So I made up a whole story about wanting to try something different, and using silk to tie you down and well...” his fingers go from pinching to stroking, and Murdoc opens his eyes, staring at the ceiling rather than at 2D. Think of swimming in the ocean. The shallow shelf is so often bigger than you’d expect it to be; you can walk out into the water for what seems like a quarter of a mile and still touch the bottom. And then, eventually you reach that point where you set your foot down to kick off, and you no longer find the bottom.

“Dents.”

“Murdoc,” it’s somewhere between begging and whining, his tone. “Let me do this, okay? Just give it a shot.”

“Happy ending included?”

He chuckles. “If that’s what you want.”

“I’m sure you can multi-task,” he assures, rolling his hips up just a bit to feel the singer’s weight on top of him. Neither of them is hard: they hadn’t gotten to the foreplay yet. At least, he’d assumed there would be foreplay. And sex. And not this pathetic, mushy, how-the-fuck-did-Howard-Stern-precipitate-this?

“Fine. Let’s start with the obvious: you’re really smart, and I love to listen to you talk about smart stuff.”

He snorts. Oh, this isn’t going to be sexy. But at least it will be funny.

“I mean it! Not when you’re faking. I know that you don’t really know anything about Korean fashion like you told Noodle you do yesterday, and I know that you don’t have a master’s in archeology.”

“You know that, and you still licked that rock we found behind Kong when I asked you to. Remarkable.”

“You’re smart about useful stuff. Like how you were saying that ‘Girl’ was such a revelation to listen to when you were young because Lennon was using his voice as an instrument, not just as a means of saying lyrics prettily.”

“He was also referencing weed, mate.” Murdoc makes a similar inhaling noise to the one John Lennon makes in the song, trying to get 2D to understand that it’s a joke about hitting a blunt, nothing clever about it, just silly. “This is the same song that uses the word ‘tit’ in the background. Just randy northerners being randy, having some fun.”

“You’re trying to play it off now, but they way you first described it to me, Muds. the way you described vocalizations as instrumentation, it was incredible. You’re so smart about music, about ways to get the best feedback when we’re recording, about why you prefer to play without a pick because you like the way the strings vibrate against the pads of your fingers even though it hurts just a bit since you play so much.”

He leans forward then, still cupping Murdoc’s face, but now he also kisses his forehead. “You’re also very talented. Y’know, I could see you having a million different jobs if rock star hadn’t worked out. Not that I’m not happy Gorillaz have made it big, but. Well, you’re so handy around Kong that sometimes I think you could start a business. Just figuring shit out for people, fixing their leaky pipes and getting their teles to play all the channels.”

“That’s what plumbers are for,” he mumbles as another kiss is pressed to his brow, then another to his temple. “And I only sorted out the problem with the TV because Noodle was badgering me about it and I couldn’t take it.”

“I’ve imagined you as the guy who plays piano during intermissions at plays and musicals, because I think you’d make the waiting time between performances fun for people. And I could also picture you as a model for art students: the sort who poses in all sorts of outfits, or nude, so they can learn anatomy.”

“You’ve fantasized about that? Maybe you’re kinkier’n I gave you credit for, Stu-pot.”

“And speaking of you modeling, you’re beautiful to me, Murdoc. I love how sharp your collarbone is, and how elegant your fingers are, even when you’re just relaxing, your hands always look so delicate. I like the way you tend to look at things out of the corner of your eye when you’re trying to act disinterested; you don’t move your head, but your eyes flicker. And I love the little canine tooth on the left corner of your mouth, cuz it’s turned out a bit and it looks sharp, like a fang.”

“Right.”

“I’m serious-”

“No, I mean it’s my right canine tooth. Your left, my right.”

“Oh, yeah. Oops,” he loses his concentration for just a moment, glances at Murodc’s mouth, and the bassist obliges, opening his mouth to reveal his sharp tooth. “There it is! Also, I wasn’t done.”

“Stu, you don’t have to do this.” By which he means he’s not sure if he can take more of this. This is way off of their routine banter. This is meaningful. And Murdoc has always considered himself too nihilistic to handle meaningful things.

“You agreed to this,” he replies. “You’re bound and you’re not getting away from me, Murdoc.” 

He looms over him, and for a brief instant, Murdoc thinks, I’m drowning. But then, 2D’s mouth is on his, and he’s not thinking anything other than don’t stop kissing me, you feel so good.

“So where was I?,” he asks, and he begins to talk and he kisses Murdoc’s neck, his chest, strokes his hair soothingly. “Oh yeah, I like the way you look when you smoke, when you’re really lost in a story and your cigarette is burning down to ash and you don’t even notice because you’re so caught up talking, the way it dangles from your fingers. You’re good to me in ways no one else is. Like, you don’t ever make fun of me when you tie my shoes for me, but you also don’t make me feel like a baby for needing your help. Whenever we’re out shopping, you always pick up the candy I like, and you don’t yell at me when I eat the whole bag in one sitting, even though I get an upset stomach after. And I love how, when you pull me onto your lap, you tap your fingers against my waist like you’re keeping time to a tune. Like holding me close is a kind of song for you.”

2D’s hands have begun to travel down Murdoc’s face, along the column of his throat, over his ribs. The touch isn’t particularly sensual; it’s more grounding than anything else. He’s tempted to tell 2D that holding him is a song. He’s not stupid enough to actually say that out loud.

“You already know that I love you. And even though you can be a real hemorrhoid, you’re also the most interesting person I’ve ever dated.”

“Aw, Stu, we’re dating? I had no idea, congratulations.” Deflect. Deflect the warmth flooding into his chest with humor while there’s still room for coherent thought. He’s taking on way too much emotion. When you’re out this deep, so far from shore, it’s often too late by the time you realize that there’s a problem.

“I wanted to tie you down so you wouldn’t be able to run away or touch me to distract me. I wanted to have you here, at my mercy, Murdoc. To tell you that I love you more than I think I’ve ever loved anything, and that’s really scary. It’s also kind of beautiful. Just like you. You can be scary, but also so lovely to anyone who knows how to look at you,” he leans in again, presses their foreheads together, closes his eyes for a few beats. He opens them, and Murdoc can see only endless black. He should be terrified. Instead, he tilts his head up, tentatively asks for a kiss. 2D obliges, hands sliding down his body further, to settle on his hips, to anchor him here in this jet-black depth.

“You’re saying you know how to look at me.”

“Yeah.”

“You, and Howard Stern both.”

It takes hims him a moment, and then he’s laughing. “You can’t be serious for five minutes, can you?”

“Dents, this is a lot to take in. Do you think we can do other stuff while you tell me all this so I don’t have to process it all right this second?”

“I don’t want this to be about sex, Murdoc,” he argues, looking hurt. “I want it to be about you understanding what you mean to me, all the things I love about you.”

“Yeah, I bloody well got that,” he replies. “But this is a little much for me. Maybe if you give me some distraction, I can take this all in now, and process it a little later?” He squirms a bit, feeling vulnerable for the first time. Strange, since he had no problem lying down on his back when he was certain he was going to be stripped of his clothes.

2D mulls this idea over, then ultimately nods. “You promise you’re listening though? If I touch you, you’ll still hear what I’m saying?”

He meets his lover’s gaze without hesitating. “No one has ever complimented my collarbone before, you know.”

2D smiles and leans close for another kiss. “You have been paying attention.” Another kiss. “Okay, as long as you keep that up. Should I untie the bonds?”

“Nah, leave ‘em. I like to be tied up. I’ve got just one request before we continue.”

2D’s hands pause over Murdoc’s belt buckle. “Anything, Murdoc.”

“Maybe some day, when I’m there mentally, you’ll let me do this for you in return?”

The singer’s smile is daybreak after a storm. “I’d really like that, yeah.”

“Good,” he replies, closing his eyes, letting his head fall back, and enjoying the familiar slide of his belt being pulled from his trousers. “I think I would too. Now tell me how much you love my singing voice; say that I’m a better vocalist than you.”

“Now you’re really pushing your luck, Niccals.”

Relationships are not work, they are routine. There is ebb and flow to them. 2D has never been predictable, practicable. The thrill of being pulled out into deeper waters, once nerve-wracking, has become a hobby for Murdoc. He cannot feel the shore beneath his feet. There are black eyes above him, watching him take on this mysterious romance till he begins to sink. He’s learned to trust that once he slips under, he will not forget how to breathe. Instead, he will find a world below the surface that looks similar to the one he left behind on land. Similar, but safer somehow, protected by roiling waves above and currents that know where to go. A turquoise-hued utopia. All he has to do is let go. And some day, he certainly will.

[the--blackdahlia]

Rusty Cage (Tommy x Nikki)

Title: Rusty Cage

Prompt: Jail

Summary:  Nikki never had a good feeling about the arrangement the management team made him and Tommy live in. And his feelings were confirmed when Tommy is arrested.

Warnings:  This will paint Pamela in a very, very bad light. So if you a Pamela stan, this might not be the fic for you. Also, several aspects are being written out, so this could be considered an AU. Language, fake marriage, forced contracts.

@classicrockbingo​

Elektra decided it was for the best, to make Tommy and Nikki look wholesome. Nikki married Brandi Brandt, and when Tommy’s relationship with Heather fizzled away, they set him up with someone else. Pamela Anderson had been friends with Brandi, and when they set in on the meeting with the management team, everyone, minus Nikki, decided that she would be the perfect fit for Tommy’s image. No amount of begging and pleading to his boyfriend could change Tommy’s mind. He just wanted to spend more time with Nikki, and if posing as Mr. Pamela Anderson was the way it had to be, then so be it.

“I just have a bad feeling about this babe,” Nikki told him the night before Tommy was supposed to “marry” Pamela. “I just don’t trust her.”

“I know how you feel,” Tommy sighed. “But she was the best option. She’s friends with Brandi anyway. And her contract doesn’t look two bad.”

“I know, I know,” Nikki sighed. He hated that they had to put up this front. He did love Brandi, but not in the way he loved Tommy. He had agreed to have three kids with her, and she could have a boyfriend if she wanted. Pamela wanted two with Tommy, and her contract didn’t seem bad, but something about how she presented herself just rubbed Nikki the wrong way.

"You know I love you, right?" Tommy asked as he piled his long body on Nikki's. Nikki smiled and took the drummer into his arms. Even when he had nothing else, he always had his Tommy. 

"Not as much as I love you," Nikki teased before placing a kiss on Tommy.

He was going to enjoy tonight, because tomorrow was going to be a long fucking day.

****

She changed the contract one the day of the “wedding”. She wanted more days with her husband than was originally on the contract, and Tommy knew when Nikki found out, he was going to throw a fit.

But honestly, Tommy also did too when the lawyers she had hired told him about the changes that were taking place. He felt like a kid in a custody battle. Pamela wanted certain days with him, and his lawyers would argue, her lawyers would shove it right back. It went on and on like this for a minute until Tommy finally excused himself for some air. He was about to call Nikki, to tell him the deal was off, that he didn’t care if he stayed with Brandi but he wasn’t going through with this.

That’s when the doors opened and she came walking out after him.

“Tommy,” She said softly. Tommy put down his phone and looked at her. “I know that this whole thing is crazy, and things aren’t going the way either of us planned, but I think we can make it work.” She sat on the bench by where he was sitting and rested her hand on top of his. “You know, I always did have a crush on you when I was hanging out with Bret Michaels. I was with Poison, but I really wanted to be with Motley Crue.”

“That’s...cool?” Tommy looked at her. “What is in this for you Pamela?”

“Two kids, for starters,” She told him. “And I think we can help each other out more than you think Mr. Lee. I mean, I’m a Baywatch Babe, but I could be so much more. And your Mr. Bad Boy of Rock, we could bend Hollywood to our will.”

“You do know this arrangement is just for show, right?” Tommy told her.

“Of course sweetie,” She smiled at him. “Doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun along the way, right?” Her hand trailed up his arm, making him shiver a bit. She leaned over, letting her lips ghost across his cheek. Her lips were right by his ear. “There’s paps everywhere. Wanna put on a good show, don’t we?” She whispered before licking his ear. She pulled back and smirked at him. “Let’s go back in, shall we?” She stood up and offered her hand to him, which he took and walked back into the conference room with her.

****

The management team spread the wedding of Tommy Lee and Pamela Anderson like wildfire. They sent her and Tommy to Mexico for it, and soon, they were coming back to LA and Tommy had never been happier to see LAX. As the plane landed, they made their way to the private area where they could be without cameras and screaming paparazzi. Tommy headed towards his car.

“Where are you going?” Pamela asked, watching him make his way to his car.

“Home?” He turned to look at her.

“I thought you’d want to spend some more time together,” She told him.

“I just spent almost two weeks with you in Mexico. I miss Nikki,” Tommy explained. “We’ll meet up and have lunch or something tomorrow. But tonight, I need to spend it with my boyfriend.” Pamela frowned as she watched Tommy get in his car and drive off.

****

“God, I missed you,” Tommy sighed as he laid in Nikki’s arms. “She is a little much.”

“I tried to tell you,” Nikki held him close. “Someday, we’re going to be out from fucking Elektra, and we won’t have to jump through all these fucking hoops.” He traced his fingers over tattoos and smiled as he remembered going with Tommy to get most of these.

“Just ten years of her, or getting rid of Elektra,” Tommy sighed. “I can’t fucking wait.”

****

She started getting demanding. On the days when he would be spending with Nikki, she would keep calling him, asking when he was coming home. On the days he was with her, Nikki could never reach him. Tommy would come back to him looking tired and sad. Nikki would’ve done anything to help him, but their hands were tied as long as Elektra was breathing down their necks.

Tommy fulfilled part of his contract in June, when he went through the process laid out by his lawyers to inseminate Pamela. Nikki remembered that fight. She had been under the impression that they would have actually consummated their “marriage”, but Tommy had gone another route to get her pregnant with the first of the two children that she wanted.

Nikki remembered Tommy’s face when he held Brandon for the first time. His eyes were wide and he couldn’t stop smiling. Yeah, Tommy had held babies in the past. Hell, he had absolutely fawned over the ones Nikki and Brandi had had.

“Nik, he’s perfect,” Tommy whispered, looking up at the bassist. “I love him.”

“He looks like you babe,” Nikki smiled and kissed Tommy’s forehead.

“Uh hum,” Pamela’s voice cut through. “I’d like to spend time with my husband and son. Alone.” Tommy and Nikki looked at each other before Tommy sighed and nodded.

“I’ll see you at home later,” Nikki told him, giving him a kiss before heading out the door. Him and PAmela glared at each other. Nikki was itching to say something to her. He wanted to tell her that Tommy wouldn’t be her husband for much longer, or something like that, but instead, he just gave Tommy and Brandon a smile before he left the hospital.

****

“Nikki!” Tommy called out a few months later. Nikki was in the study, working on some lyrics, and Tommy had brought Brandon with him to their home while Pamela was out for the day. Nikki made his way into the living room where Tommy was playing with his son and he watched as Brandon made it a few steps before falling.

“Oh my god! Pam’s not gonna be happy that I saw him walk before she did,” Nikki teased as he bent down and scooped the toddler up into his arms, who instantly stopped crying and snuggled into Nikki’s chest. “God, he’s a cute kid.”

“That’s because he has me for a dad,” Tommy laughed, watching Nikki and Brandon. “And you look good holding him.”

“You saying I don’t always look good?” Nikki smirked at him.

“Oh, shut your mouth,” Tommy laughed. He looked at Brandon and saw him fast asleep in Nikki’s arms, holding onto the threadbare t-shirt that he was wearing. “Well, look at that.”

“I got a gift,” Nikki smiled, placing a gentle kiss on Tommy’s lips. “Why don’t we put him to bed and watch a movie before you have to get him back to her.”

“I wish that I didn’t have to split my time,” Tommy admitted as they took Brandon to the nursery that had previously been used for Nikki’s kids. Brandi was a lot more liberal about letting the kids around Tommy, to the point that Gunner had even said once that he had two daddies and one mommy.

“It won’t be like this forever,” Nikki told him. “I wish you could’ve just stuck with Heather though. Things were easier with her. She was pretty laid back like Brandi.” His and Brandi’s contract had just come up, and with talks about Elektra dropping Motley Crue, Nikki decided to not renew or find another girl. Him and Brandi were still on pretty good terms though, and were working on co-parenting, which wasn’t too bad.

“I know, I just…” Tommy sighed and Nikki wrapped his arms around his waist as they watched Brandon sleep.

“It’ll be okay babe,” Nikki told him. “I got you.”

****

A prison is what Tommy felt like he was trapped in when she kept badgering him for their second child. Brandon had grown really attached to Nikki, wanting to spend more time over there than he did at home. His “NiNi” loved him just as much as he loved his own children.

So Tommy made good on his contract in 1997, Dylan was born. Another perfect little boy and Tommy loved him just as much as he loved Brandon. He had even made plans to get their names tattooed on his wrists, so they were always with him.

But also, in ‘97, things were starting to change.

First off, Elektra dropped Motley Crue from their management team. Vince came back after his time off, and while Nikki and Tommy really liked John, it was so great to have Vince back with them and Mick.

But then, the big change came over dinner, when Tommy and Nikki had a peaceful moment to themselves.

“I think I’m going to break my contract with Pamela,” Tommy told Nikki as they ate the meal that Tommy had prepared. “I’m ready to pay whatever fine it is that her lawyers lined out or whatever, but I wanted to run it by you before I told my lawyers.”

“Are you sure about this?” Nikki asked. “I don’t want her to try to cut off your balls or something the next time you’re over there to see the boys.”

“I don’t think she’s that crazy,” Tommy laughed. “I’ll let the lawyers handle it. I still want to be able to see my boys.” Tommy gave Nikki the biggest smile, which the bassist returned.

They both thought things were finally looking up.

****

It was about two weeks after Tommy’s lawyers were able to work him out of the contract that Pamela called. Tommy had been ignoring her calls, but this was the third time within an hour she had called him and he had had about enough.

“Hello?”

“About time!” Pamela called out. “Dylan’s really sick and I need you to get here now.”

“Wait, what? What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know just get over here,” She told him before hanging up. Tommy all but ran out to his car and headed towards the house, calling Nikki on the way.

“Babe, Dylan’s sick,” Tommy told him. “I’m going over there to see what’s wrong. If you don’t hear from me in fifteen minutes, send help.” Tommy chuckled a little. “Love you.” He hung up the phone, knowing Nikki would get a kick out of his voicemail. He pulled into the driveway of the house and headed inside. The media hadn’t been told about the “divorce” yet, but it was only a matter of time before they figured it out.

“Daddy!” Brandon smiled and ran to Tommy when he came through the door. “Where’s Nikki?”

“He’s at work little man,” He smiled. “Where’s your mom and Dyl?”

“In the kitchen,” Brandon told him. “Daddy, I colored a picture today. Wanna see it?”

“I’ll check it out in a minute my man,” Tommy smiled and headed to the kitchen, where Pamela was standing with her back to him, holding Dylan. “Okay, what’s up?” Pamela turned to look at Tommy with bruises on her face and arms. “What the hell happened to you?”

“Stay away!” She screamed loudly. “The police are on their way?”

“What are you talking about?” He asked, taking a step towards her. “What’s going on?”

The front door burst open then and Brandon screamed as police came in. Pamela held onto a crying Dylan as the police came at Tommy, guns drawn.

“Hands up!” An officer barked. “Now!” Tommy immediately held his hands in the air.

“What’s going on?” Tommy asked. “Pamela?” She backed up, keeping Dylan in her arms, who was trying to reach for his dad. 

“Mr. Thomas Lee Bass, you are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent…” The officers voice trailed off as Tommy stared at Pamela, who glanced up at him and smiled before returning to her tears.

****

Nikki decided to drive by Pamela’s after hearing Tommy’s voicemail. They had been having some issues with her, constantly calling, being beyond angry, threatening. So something in the back of his mind just told him to go by and make sure that everything was okay.

That’s when he came upon the scene. Police cars in front of the house, Pamela and the boys standing in the front entrance, and Tommy being led to a cop car in handcuffs. Nikki quickly pulled his car into park and raced up to the scene.

“Nikki!” Tommy called out as he was being put in the cop car.

“Tommy! What’s going on?” The cop shut the door before Tommy could speak, but it was obvious that he was crying. Nikki stared through the window at his boyfriend, trying to find out what was going on.

“You can speak with him later,” A cop told Nikki before getting in the car. Nikki turned to look at Pamela. Brandon ran over.

“Nikki!” He grabbed onto his legs and cried. “Where’s daddy going?”

“I don’t know buddy,” Nikki picked Brandon up. Dylan was wiggling in Pamela’s arms, trying to follow his brother over to the bassit. “Pamela, what’s going on?”

“He’s an abusive piece of shit,” She spat. “Hit me while I was holding Dylan. He came over for no reason and hit me!”

“That’s...his voicemail said you called and told him Dylan was sick!” Nikki yelled. Pamela’s tears stopped as quickly as they started and she smiled at Nikki.

“Watch your tone of voice Mr. Sixx. Or you’ll never see Tommy again,” She laughed a little. “Brandon, sweetie, come inside.”

“But mommy…” Pamela gave her son a look. Brandon looked up at Nikki. “Love you Nikki.” He gave him a hug before wiggling out of his arms and heading over to his mom. Nikki sighed and looked back the way the police cars had left before getting in his car and leaving.

****

“I didn’t do this,” Tommy told everyone. His lawyer, the cops, and now Nikki. His lawyers had brought him in to help Tommy calm down, and it was working to an extent. “I never touched her! She told me Dyl was sick and I was worried.”

“I know babe,” Nikki wrapped his arm around the drummer. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, okay?”

“If they say it's a misdemeanor, I’m looking at a year in jail Nik,” Tommy told him. “If they decide it’s a felony based on whatever fucking story she tells them, god, I’ll be here forever.” Tommy held his head in his hands. “Fuck, why didn’t I stay with Heather?”

“Because you both wanted different things in life,” Nikki rubbed his back. “We’re going to fix this. I know you didn’t do it. You know, Pamela knows. I just wish I could get the confession out of her before your trial…”

“Fuck,” Tommy banged his head on the table. “I’m so fucked.”

“I’m going to fix this babe,” Nikki told him. “There has to be a way.”

“She’s going to win, and she’s never going to let me see my boys ever again,” Tommy wiped his eyes. “I don’t know what to do.”

“You’ve got the best legal team we can afford. We’re going to fight this,” Nikki held him tightly. “I love you Tommy.”

“I love you too Nik,” Tommy closed his eyes. They stayed like that for as long as they could, until Nikki had to leave. 

But he went home to plan.

****

“Come on, one of you has to have like a Talkboy or something,” Nikki sighed. “What good are you two?”

“Hey, we’re not Macaulay Culkin. Sorry,” Vince sighed.

“We’re just as upset as you are, but we’re not spies,” Mick added.

“I mean, is there even a small chance that he could’ve actually hit her?” Vince asked. “I saw what he did to Honey back in the day.” Nikki turned to glare at him.

“She fucking stabbed him,” He hissed. Vince raised his hands, showing Nikki he meant no harm. “He’s facing some serious time and I know that she is lying. But they’ll just say I’m trying to cover for him. I need actual proof.”

“And dragging her by her blonde hair to the police station isn’t an option?” Mick shrugged. Nikki held his head in his hands. Tommy was being held until the trial, and Nikki wanted to save Tommy before that.

“Sorry man, but life isn’t like the movies. You don’t get the information you need at the exact moment that you need it,” Vince patted his shoulder. “Things don’t work that...wait a minute.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a Talkboy, but I think that one of my kids has a tape recorder that they used for school,” Vince jumped up. “Give me a few minutes.” He disappeared into the other room to call Beth, not that he really wanted to.

“Wow, he must really care for the kid if he’s willing to call her,” Mick laughed. “We’re going to get through this Nikki. I promise.”

“I hope so,” Nikki sighed. “I can’t go another night without Tommy.” Vince came back then with a smirk on his face.

“Got you the tape recorder,” Vince laughed. “Now, let’s go save Tommy from being someone’s prison bitch!”

****

Nikki made his way to the jail to see Tommy. It felt like it had been so long since he had last seen him, and he really missed him. He headed to the visiting area. Tommy had a jumpsuit and everything, even though he was not officially in jail yet, they would not release him, fearing his was a “danger to society”.

Nikki sat there, waiting, until he heard the door open and Tommy was escorted in. He looked up from the discolored paint piece he was looking at and almost gasped.

Tommy had a black eye, busted lip, and it looked like his nose had bled some. Nikki quickly scrambled for the phone and waited for Tommy to pick up his.

“What happened?” Nikki asked. Tommy gave a snorted laugh.

“Guess it doesn’t matter how popular Motley Crue is with prisoners, a supposed wife beater is still shit,” Tommy explained. Tommy looked up at Nikki. “I still look sexy, right?”

“Of course,” Nikki offered him the best smile he could manage. “They put you in general population then?”

“Yeah, for a bit. But they’re telling me that I’ll probably serve the rest of my sentence in solitary or some shit,” Tommy sighed. “I need whoever Vince had to represent me so I can get his life of luxury…”

“Tommy, I’m trying to fix this…” Nikki told him. Tommy nodded, but Nikki could tell that the couple weeks he had been there had already taken a toll on him. MEntally, physically, and emotionally.

“I want to go home Nik,” Tommy whispered. Nikki nodded.

“And I want you home too,” Nikki told him. “I’m going to get you home. She can’t get away with this.”

“I think she already has Nik,” Tommy sounded so sad, and seeing the injuries on his face just made Nikki’s blood boil even more.

“You haven’t been sentenced yet,” Nikki told him. “She isn’t going to win. I’m not going to let her.” Tommy just gave him a small smile and nodded. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Before they knew it, visiting was over and Nikki was walking out of the jail with fire in his veins and determination in his eyes.

****

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Vince asked as the three of them set outside Pamela’s house.

“Nope, but I have to do it,” Nikki held the stuffed toy in his hand from the last time the boys had been over. “You guys didn’t see Tommy’s face the last time I got to see him. He was beat to hell.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to do this,” Mick patted his arm. “But we’ll be right out here, ready and waiting.” Nikki nodded and got out of the car. He made his way up to the front door, took a deep breath, and rang the bell. Pamela came to the door, ready to shut it as soon as she saw Nikki standing there.

“Wait, wait,” Nikki held the door. “I just came to give this back to Dylan and…” He sighed. “I’ve came to beg.”

“Wait...what?” Pamela opened the door. “The great Nikki Sixx is here to beg? What for?”

“Just let me in,” Nikki pleaded with her. Pamela nodded and let him in. “Where are the boys?” Nikki noticed that it was strangely quiet in the house, just some music playing.

“They’re with my mother,” She told him. She crossed her arms over her chest, watching him. “I believe I heard something about begging?”

“What is it going to take to get you to drop the charges?” Nikki asked. “Do you want him to sign another contract or something? Want another kid? Elektra dropped us, but I’m sure he’d agree to it. I...do you want to actually be married to him or something?”

“I have a boyfriend,” She told him, sitting on a barstool. “I just want to get a point across that you don’t fuck me over.” She took a sip of her wine. “Where do you think I really got these bruises from Nikki? It sure as hell wasn’t from Tommy. It was from a very, very athletic afternoon.”

“Boyfriend?” Nikki asked.

“What? You think Tommy was the only one to have a guy on the side?” She smirked. “It’s someone Tommy hates. And boy, when I brought up screwing him over, he was all game for it.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Nikki asked, taking a step back.

“Because no one will ever believe you,” She smirked. “Look at him and his history, then look at me. They’ll lock him away faster than Vince driving on the 110.”

“Oh my god,” Nikki gasped.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll still be your little toy when he gets out. If he gets out,” She laughed. “But I’m sure as hell not going to make it easy on him.”

“Bitch,” Nikki whispered.

“I’d watch your words Mr. Sixx,” She tapped her fingers on the counter. “It wouldn’t be too hard to stick you in the cell right across from him.” With that, Nikki left, heading out the front door. Pamela smiled as she heard the front door close and she headed upstairs to where her boyfriend was waiting for her.

****

“So?” Vince asked as Nikki got in the car. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the tape recorder, rewinding it and playing the conversation from the beginning.

“Bitch didn’t expect a thing,” Nikki smiled. “We gotta get this to Tommy’s lawyers, ASAP.”

“On it,” Mick nodded and the three of them drove off, heading towards Tommy’s lawyers.

****

“What’s going on?” Tommy asked, confused, when the guards came in to let him out of his cell.

“You’ve been sprung,” One of the guards admitted. Tommy frowned, but let himself be led to the area where he changed out of his jumpsuit and back into the clothes he had been arrested in. They gave him his wallet, since Nikki had gotten the keys and was able to pick up Tommy’s car from impound. But Nikki was right there, waiting for him, as he left the jail. Nikki quickly had his arms around Tommy, holding him close.

“What did you do?” Tommy asked when Nikki finally let go of him for a minute. “What happened?”

“Pamela confessed,” Nikki told him. “Charges are being dropped and we are filing charges against her now.”

“What?” Tommy asked, extremely confused.

“I’ll explain when we get home,” Nikki laughed, leading Tommy to the car to take him home, where he belonged.

****

Tommy’s lawyers started the process, and not only was Pamela in trouble, but so was her boyfriend. She tried to blame most of it on him, but no one was buying it. And it didn’t help her case any when she smacked Tommy across the face when she saw him the next time.

Two weeks after that, the lawyers explained to Tommy what was going on, and asked if he wanted primary custody of Brandon and Dylan, who had been living with Pamela’s mom since everything went down.

“Yes,” Tommy told them, looking over at Nikki, hoping he agreed.

“I agree with him,” Nikki smiled. “We’d love to have them in our home.”

Brandon and Dylan were both so happy with be with their dad again, and they both adored Nikki so much. The first night they lived with them permanently, Tommy stood in the doorway of Brandon’s room and watched him for a moment. Nikki came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“Watchya thinking about babe?” Nikki asked, placing a kiss on his neck.

“I’m so fucking happy,” Tommy told him, leaning back against him. “We have the boys, we’re free from the contracts, I’m free from jail and Pamela. We’re finally free.”

“I know,” Nikki smiled against his skin. “I never thought we’d get here, but I’m so glad that we did.” Tommy nodded and walked with him back to their bedroom, for the first time in months, they were finally able to relax.

The End

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[comicsnsuch]

Tales from the Dark Multiverse

Hi! Thanks for finding this tumblr. The plan is to share and write about comic books, comic book art, other things that interest me and such, thus the name of the tumblr. Maybe you share some of the same interests, or maybe you’ll discover something new.

I’m going to try to post as frequently as possible, but that frequency will vary depending on what real life is like week to week. On slow weeks, there will be more stuff, on busy weeks less.  You get it.  Hopefully if you check in now and then you’ll find some new content.

I work (worked?) in a comic book shop, but as I have been recently reminded, due to the COVID-19/Coronavirus epidemic, I am non-essential.  Thanks State Government! Always good to have a self esteem boost! 

Anyway… I love comic books, reading them, talking about them, (thinking about) making them and so on. Always have, always will. I wanted to have an outlet for sharing that while I can’t be in the shop doing it face to face with customers and random strangers. 

I’ll be writing short reviews for what I’ve been reading, new stuff, old stuff, posting pics, etc.  

 Feel free to comment, but please keep it friendly. Assholery will not be tolerated.

To start with I just finished reading all of DC Comics Tales of the Dark Multiverse one shots. 

                                     I made this in MS Paint!

These started coming out in 2019 and the last one was released in early 2020. The idea behind each is Tempus Fuginaut, a sort of Watcher type character for the DCU (who I think debuted, or at least I fist remember seeing in the Sideways ongoing, a Dark Nights Metal spin off) observing the multiverse and introducing a story that takes an important moment in DC history and asks “what would have happened if things had gone differently?” DC’s version of What If?  in a nutshell.

       That’s Tempus Fuginauts big ol’ head in case you were wondering

 As the “Dark” in Tales of the Dark Multiverse might imply, these are not happy stories.

The first one shot that was released was Tales of the Dark Multiverse Batman Knightfall by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgens with art by Javi Fernandez.  

This was probably my least favorite of the five issues. Since the “No Justice” mini series event I’m over Scott Snyder. I feel he has so many ideas rattling around in his head that he begins one story, gets too excited about the next one and leaves you underwhelmed with the current arc but dying to read the next. (That being said I of course checked out Batman Last Knight on Earth, having read his and Capullo’s entire New 52 Batman run I didn’t want to miss their “final” word on Batman, but have not read his just wrapped run on Justice League which I hear was quite good). 

I read this one right when it was released a few months ago, so my memory of it might not be the best.  

This one centers around the Knightfall event where Bane breaks Batman’s back and Jean Paul Valley/Azrael takes on the role of Batman. In this reality Bruce never recovers and Jean Paul remains Batman becoming Saint Batman, a Bats Azrael mash up. Javi Fernandez does a great job on the art and Snyder loves chopping people up. 

                                                      Gross.

Definitely worth the read if you’re interested in it or are a fan of Batman or just the Knightfall era. If you grab this series in collected format it’s not so bad that I recommend skipping it, just not my favorite from this batch of books. 

Next up is Tales of the Dark Multiverse Death of Superman by Jeff Loveness with art by Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessey. I really enjoyed this one, it was a good quick read and had a nice arc to it. One of the better issues from this series if you’re asking me.

Right after Superman dies defeating Doomsday in the Death of Superman story arc, the rest of the Justice League shows up, literally as the blood is drying.Ten seconds too late. Lois Lane blames Supes’ death on the heroes for not being there to aid him. 

She makes her way to the Fortress of Solitude and thanks to the Eradicator gets herself all the powers of Superman. She then goes about dishing out justice, with extreme prejudice, to the villains the heroes normally let the revolving doors of the DC justice system handle. This involves a couple of great scenes with Batman and Lex Luthor. Loveness nails the dialogue and the character arc he puts Lois on is great to read. 

                                  Walker and Hennesey do it again!

There’s more to this story than I’ve put here, but I don’t want to say too much and ruin your enjoyment of it if/when you read it.

Special shout out to the art team of Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessey. I feel like they don’t get enough love. They killed it on the Demon Hell is Earth mini, and from what I can tell are crushing it on Detective Comics. Dudes can draw. Spread the word!

Then we move onto Tales of the Dark Multiverse Blackest Night by Tim Seeley and Kyle Hotz. 

This one was a bit wordy, but a lot of fun! I would put this one in the middle of the pack. 

Seeley brings together an interesting bunch of characters including Sinestro, Dove, Lobo and the New Gods! The plot is a little complex, but basically after the Color Corps lose the battle against Nekron in Blackest Night, Sinestro is looking for a way to undo the damage done and becomes a pawn in Scott Free’s plot to do the same. 

Give Seeley a Lobo book or a Hawk and Dove book, or a Mister Miracle book!. He gives each character a unique voice which makes their joint travels through the plot that much more fun to read.

Kyle Hotz’s  art in this issue reminds of a 90’s Image Comic in the best possible way. Lots of detail and cool poses. I also see a lot of Bernie Wrightson in there with Hotz’s heavy use of black and the sinewy musculature of the characters. The book is worth the price of admission to see his renditions of Dove and Mister Miracle. 

                                                          kewl!

 I’m glad to see Hotz working more or just seeing more of Hotz’s work. I don’t know if he fell out of the industry after drawing the original The Hood mini for Marvel with Brian K. Vaughan, working with Eric “The Goon” Powell on Billy the Kid’s Old Timey Odditys, doing art on Carnage Mind Bomb and more I’m sure ( I just can’t remember it all), or I just wasn’t paying attention to what he was working on. If it’s the later, shame on me, if it’s the former, welcome back Mr. Hotz, you’re crushing it and I look forward to seeing more from you. Check out more Kyle Hotz work by following him on Instagram @kylehotzcomics.

Let’s not neglect the oft overlooked inkers! I’m not sure who inked what, but on a guess, Dexter Vines and Walden Wong brought a smooth, cleanness to the proceedings with lots of nicely tapered lines. Again just guessing here, because I don’t know for sure, but Danny Miki used a finer line bringing a scratchy-ness the others didn’t but also amazing detail and clarity on some of the portraiture in the later half of the book. 

Who’s next? Why it’s Tales of the Dark Multiverse Infinite Crisis!

This one may have been my favorite. When the original Infinite Crisis series came out it was a period  where, due to personal lack of enjoyment, I wasn’t reading much of DC’s output, but I did read the Countdown to Infinite Crisis one shot this issue takes as it’s jumping off point. After having read this issue, it makes me want to go back and read Infinite Crisis. I would say that’s the sign of a good issue.

In this alternate reality Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, kills Maxwell Lord instead of vice versa, making himself the head of Checkmate. He then goes about trying to prevent the coming crisis. It’s kind of a tale about absolute power corrupting absolutely, it’s also an underdog tale about getting in over your head.

                Sorry if these images aren’t the best, I’m new at this!

James Tynion IV does a great job catching you up on any old DC continuity plot points you may have forgotten or never knew about in the first place.If you’re reading Tynion’s current run on Batman, or his work on Detective Comics and Justice League Dark, you know he can handle a complex plot like this and does a great job condensing it all down to a single issue.  Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan handle the art and they do a great job. Always happy to see Lopresti’s name on a book I want to read.

Bonus points: You can never have too many Ted Kord, Blue Beetle comics, especially when Booster Gold pops up, even if only momentarily. 

If this series leaves you wanting more Blue and Gold action may I direct you to Booster Gold (2nd series) #32 thru about 38ish for some quality comics.

Final one, Tales from the Dark Multiverse the Judas Contract!

I’m not as old as my writing may imply so I had to read the Judas Contract in collected format about 20 years after it was originally released and after having seen it on many a fanzine’s (Wizard) best of list.  When I finally got to read it I wasn’t super familiar with the Titans of the era and already knew the big twist in the story, so it just washed over me without any great effect. None of the shock that someone who was reading it fresh in the 80’s might have experienced. 

I ended up liking this twisted take on the Judas Contract much more than when I read the original. “Sacrilege!” I know, I know, but like I said there was no surprise when I first read it, while this one zigged instead of zagging multiple times and kept upping the ante in scale. 

Kyle Higgins and Matt Groom do a great job reinventing a classic that I’m sure many people had high expectations for. This was a fun faced paced tale.  I enjoyed the hero moments Dick Grayson and Wally West were given. Like the Knightfall one shot Higgins co-wrote with Snyder there’s no shortage of dismemberment and disfiguration, which is neither a plus or minus in this situation, just thought it was worth noting.

Tom Raney handles the art chores here and he does a fine job.  Some of the figures seem a little squat, and their heads are too big in certain panels. Could I do better? No, so who am I to say anything? I just noticed it, here and there, it took me out of the flow of the story every now and then. That’s all. Big fan of his work on Stormwatch and Outsiders with Judd Winick. I also hear he’s super nice, so if you’re ever at a convention where Tom Raney is, seek him out! 

                                      They seem squat, right?

It’s worth mentioning these books are all done in DC’s prestige format and are extra long at about 48 pages each. All covers are by the fantastic Lee Weeks. A nice way to spend the afternoon.

There’s the first post. A little longer than I thought it would be. If you made it this far, I hope it was clear and you understood what I was saying and I hope you liked it and want to return for more. 

Until next time!

[richincolor]

Interview with Kat Cho

Wicked Fox, Kat Cho’s debut, was released yesterday and of course I had to pre-order it. How was a person expected to wait after reading this summary?

“Eighteen-year-old Gu Miyoung has a secret–she’s a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox who must devour the energy of men in order to survive. Because so few believe in the old tales anymore, and with so many evil men no one will miss, the modern city of Seoul is the perfect place to hide and hunt.

But after feeding one full moon, Miyoung crosses paths with Jihoon, a human boy, being attacked by a goblin deep in the forest. Against her better judgment, she violates the rules of survival to rescue the boy, losing her fox bead–her gumiho soul–in the process.

Jihoon knows Miyoung is more than just a beautiful girl–he saw her nine tails the night she saved his life. His grandmother used to tell him stories of the gumiho, of their power and the danger they pose to men. He’s drawn to her anyway.

With murderous forces lurking in the background, Miyoung and Jihoon develop a tenuous friendship that blossoms into something more. But when a young shaman tries to reunite Miyoung with her bead, the consequences are disastrous and reignite a generations-old feud . . . forcing Miyoung to choose between her immortal life and Jihoon’s.”

Kat Cho was kind enough to answer a few questions about her book. After learning more, you’ll likely want to grab a copy too.

Nine-tailed foxes seem incredibly fascinating. How and when did you first hear stories about the gumiho?

I first heard about the gumiho in Korean folktales as a child. But I was reintroduced to them as an adult. At this point I was writing again and I knew immediately I wanted to write a book based on the myth. She is so often cast as an evil being that I wanted to know why. As I delved more into research on the fox spirit I found a few very old stories that represented the fox spirit as an ambivalent, even helpful, being. I wondered why she became cast as so evil. And I love the exploration of moral ambiguity that must exist for someone who must kill to survive (a la vampires and werewolves). I loved the idea of doing that exploration with Korean source materials!

What do you love most about the Jihoon and Miyoung?

I love that they see a kinship in each other even though they’re two people who react very differently to hardship. I also love that they took a while to realize that they love each other (or I hope that’s how it comes across). For me, it takes me a bit to warm up to someone enough to trust them with my heart, so I wanted that for my characters too, especially because they’ve been hurt before by people they loved. I also wanted to show that often times the healthiest love is the kind that grows out of genuine friendship and affection. In some ways the story is about how Miyoung learns how to create meaningful friendships and one of those friendships just happens to grow into love.

The setting of Wicked Fox is modern day Seoul. What are your favorite things about the city and did any of them make it into the book?

The Food! And yes, it definitely did. I guess I also really enjoy the fact that a lot of the history exists within the streets of Seoul, in the way the buildings are built to what has been kept preserved over the centuries. The modernization of Seoul is newer than we might expect seeing how sleek and high tech so much of the city is. But when my mother was a little girl they still used ondol (coal/wood heating) in the floors. Some people still use it today. And I love that this dichotomy exists within the city.

I’m always excited when books begun during NaNo go on to publication. How has NaNoWriMo been helpful to you and what keeps bringing you back over the years?

It helps to motivate me! I love that writers from all over the world participate. It’s really inspiring to see others hitting their goals. So even if I don’t always hit my word count goal, I still feel like I’m not in this alone and it helps me feel motivation to keep going even when I hit some road blocks along the way.

After completing your first draft, how long did it take before you felt ready to look for an agent and what was that process like?

It took over a year for me to feel the manuscript was ready. It was a slow drafting and revision process because this book had so much importance to me. It held so much of the things I loved: my Korean heritage, influences from K-dramas, Korean mythology. I wanted to do justice to it all. So I took my time on making sure it came out the way I wanted. But even then I definitely needed guidance and counsel from someone in the industry. So when I signed with my agent, I was really happy that she was so enthusiastic to revise it with me. The book became so much better with her help and I was very confident with it when we went on submission to editors. Don’t get me wrong, the submission process was still super stressful, but it would have been ten times worse if I didn’t feel so good about the book I’d worked on with my agent.

Can you tell us about something that has surprised you during the publishing process?

How many different people get involved! There are so many departments in a publishing house and they all have a part in getting the final book out there. Of course, we all know about the editor and even the publicist. But there are copy editors, designers, artists, digital publicity, and assistants at all level who make sure the communication is always there and that all the moving parts are working in tandem. Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done sometimes if I didn’t have my editor’s assistant checking in with me and giving me information about different parts of the process. Also things as simple as knowing where to show up and when is really important in keeping an author’s anxiety in check and that stuff often comes from an assistant. There are a lot of unsung heroes in publishing, but they’re all very important to the process.

In reviews and blurbs, Wicked Fox is being described as a book for fans of Korean dramas. It’s almost impossible to choose a favorite, but can you share a few of the K-dramas that have made you cry and swoon?

Hahaha, get ready for THE LIST: W: Two Worlds, Gaksital, School 2013, Moonlight Drawn by Clouds, Goblin, Oh My Ghostess, Pinocchio, Healer, Coffee Prince, My Love From Another Star, Goong, Descendants of the Sun

I have recently discovered the podcast Write or Die and am enjoying the episodes. What inspired you to start your vlog and have a podcast along with everything else you are doing?

I started the vlog because I knew I was going to travel a bit both for the book and for personal reasons and I really wanted to record those times. But as I got more into vlogging I also realized I loved the idea of sharing my writing and publishing journey as well. So it became a hybrid vlog and authortube channel. For the podcast, that was first started by my best friend Claribel Ortega (author of Ghost Squad). She and I were having a conversation once when I was on sub and I was saying it felt like I’d never sell my book (fun fact: time has different meaning when you’re on submission to editors/publishing houses, it moves super slow and 1 day feels like 100). Claribel said that the submission journey always took much longer than we think from the outside and if she interviewed a bunch of authors she was sure their submission stories would be as harrowing (if not more) than my own. She was right and when I was a guest in one of the earlier episodes we found out that we loved talking about industry stuff and writing so she invited me to be co-host and the rest is history!

Kat Cho is a YA author who loves to incorporate her Korean heritage in her writing, especially if it involves describing food. She loves anything that encourages nerding out, including reading, K-dramas, K-pop and anime. She’s the author of Wicked Fox (Putnam/Penguin, 2019).

You can find Kat online at:

Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Write or Die Podcast, KatChoWrites.com

[deathlyharlows]

TASK #6 HARLOW VALENTINE - CHARACTER ANALYSIS + TASK #4 BONDS

UPBRINGING 

One of Harlow’s main KEY MOMENTS was the moment she was “born” or as she would say “woke up” or “crawled out of Hell.” She’s not certain on what happened or who she was before that-- She also didn’t take the time to actually worry about that, and while she has some kind of lingering feeling that there was more than just the Hell she was trapped in-- She poses the question: Would it change anything? And since the answer is no... WELL. 

That’s the truth, anyway, if Harlow ever remembered her human life, it wouldn’t change a thing. The biggest reactions that would be pulled from her would be something like “good to know I’ve always been this way?” followed by a possible whiplash that comes with knowing she’s old as fuck-- then go on her merry way. 

While I don’t have a set amount of times in which she’s gotten out/escaped from Hell, or the years she actually spent outside in her “other lives”, I can say-- aside from her actual human life-- current Harlow is possibly the tamest version. 

INSTINCTS/ RIGHT vs WRONG  

It didn’t matter if she was “a clean slate,” she was still a demon-- Which if you come to think of it, are basically mass destruction weapons freshly out of Hell. And while Harlow didn’t have any lingering recollection of anything, she was “pre-set” from day 1.  Having these natural impulses of wanting to self-serve herself, to take everything and anything she wants without paying for it, of destroying and creating chaos and pain, just because she felt like doing it or because she felt it’s fun.  A PREDATOR in the whole definition of the word.   

In the end, it also wasn’t just because she was a demon. She was already part of something, a soldier ready to be thrown to war-- or in this case missions to do whatever her boss asked of her. It’s only ironic, that I feel, had she not been kept under Jack’s domain-- she probably would’ve been wilder-- past and present.  

As time passed, and Harlow actually started being more self-aware-- She could realize pretty much everything she liked to do, and everything she did was morally and legally  WRONG. But that’s when the next part came, she didn’t care enough to go against it. So she continued and continues... 

Stealing? Good to get something for free! Harming people? Fun! Torturing people? Double fun! 

MURDER

Some people relief stress by drinking, smoking, doing drugs, having sex, or involving themselves in different activities-- Either it's harmful to them, or it's healthy. Harlow’s stress relief? Is harmful to others: Murder. 

It’s come to a point where killing someone is nothing to her. There could be a bunch of reasons why she does it. Fun? She was bored? She wanted something from someone, so she took it? Revenge? The answer is almost always the same-- Murder. It probably shouldn’t be, but killing someone is one of Harlow’s knee jerk reactions or solutions for almost everything. Pretty much so, that if she hasn’t murdered (or harmed) someone that has either annoyed or pissed her off in any way-- It means something. 

It brings the question, though-- Is it Harlow, or is this normal demon behavior?

Psychologically, speaking-- Harlow could be easily lumped in with a personality disorder, more specifically: ANTISOCIAL:  a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, lack of empathy, bloated self-image, manipulative and impulsive behavior. Subtype: COVETOUS. 

Sidenote: Let’s keep in mind this is not a human character, so maybe psychology doesn’t even apply to demons asderftgyh

However, as much as she hits some (if not most) of the criteria. There is one strong characteristic that brings down the conclusion of Harlow having APD. 

EMOTIONS  

These have always been something quite difficult for Harlow to understand. She knows she has emotions and feelings, and she doesn’t exactly push them away. At times, she’s wondered if this is how it’s supposed to be. Do all demons have difficulty telling them apart? Is she even supposed to have them? Or do all of them actually have them, don’t have trouble telling them apart but they just choose to ignore them? It’s not like she can go (or trust) another demon for her to ask and have a heart to heart (ew), or for her to be “Hey, let’s compare!” so she manages as best as she can. 

There is a name for this: ALEXITHYMIA.

In her case-- Most of the times, if the emotion isn’t as “explored” she tries to make sense of it, to understand it. It’s only with time that she eases into it, and becomes familiar with it. Considering 22 years have passed since she started with this process of literally categorizing emotions, she would say she has some pretty recognized, but, boy does she have some way to go...

Recognized: Anger, amusement, happiness, annoyance, boredom, curiosity, confusion, disgust, envy, jealousy, lust, pride, guilt, regret, surprise, worry. (Mainly)  

Halfway/currently: Love, fear, anxiety. 

Unexplored: Sadness, grief, loneliness. 

This is obviously a rough list, and the ones I think are important when it comes to her character. 

The previous is only when it comes to herself. When it comes to other people and their emotions or display of these-- Is a completely different thing. 

In the first years, just like with her own emotions, it was rather hard for her to notice what other’s were feeling. An expression was just that-- An expression. It didn’t hold any true meaning, and she wasn’t able to attach it to an actual emotion. Just like with herself, with time, she started connecting expressions with emotions. 

Ironically, I think the ability to recognize them on others was easier than on herself. Surely, she learned faster with emotions she was shown more often. Fear and anger, the main ones. There are probably still a couple out there which she isn’t shown that much that probably could slip her by. 

EMPATHY

Going hand in hand with overall emotions comes empathy. Is it possible for someone who cares little for others to feel such a thing as empathy? The answer here is yes. However, most of the times is more something superficial than rooted in. Taken in from a logical perspective, instead of an emotional way. Harlow isn’t one to “walk in someone else’s shoes” but she can begin to understand where someone else is coming from, or to “read them”. Varying on the situation, of course. In the end, it’s only up to her if she wants to be sympathetic towards the person/people in question. 

For example, going back to the murder situation-- When/If someone who she’s about to murder, is crying and begging for their life, Harlow would know why, and understand it. Despite the fact, she’s never felt sadness or doesn’t have full recognition of fear when it comes to her. 

Of course, there also instances in which, even if she wanted to understand-- it’s not even possible.  A good example of this, was when Will begged her not to kill the hunters. Putting aside the fact she’s not all that fond of him, Harlow couldn’t even get why he was so against it, if he wasn’t the one killing them. If they had tortured her and would’ve possibly killed him. 

Like with everything, this empathy comes easier when is people she’s closer to. Which aren’t many because-- 

RELATIONSHIPS 

Establishing relationships with people isn’t exactly a MUST for Harlow, while she can actually make them easily with little effort, she maintains them at a certain arm length. Why? Because in the end, others are rather disposable. A “friend”? She could easily leave one behind and get another one, right? She knows that’s not right, that she’s not supposed to do that. Use people to get what she wants, or to save herself/make herself seem innocent of something she’s actually guilty of. But that’s the thing-- For Harlow, only Harlow comes first. 

JACK ALVAH: Her boss.  

Jack is another one of Harlow’s key moments. It’s funny to say, that if it hadn’t been for Jack, Harlow most likely wouldn’t have tried to be a functioning member of this society (lmao). Think of a loaded aimless gun, just shooting off everywhere and anywhere. Surely, she’s still a loaded gun-- But at least there’s some aim and/or direction.   

So how was Jack the reason, Harlow isn’t a complete savage? In the most abstract of terms-- Harlow could be considered a soldier. She follows orders, directions, instructions, so on. Those require certain discipline. It is only odd to consider that a demon as rebellious or unapologetic as her would do such a thing or follow someone else’s command. There is an explanation for that-- In some messed up way, Harlow was somewhat GRATEFUL for Jack.  What the fuck, right? But I guess when you spent fuck knows how long being tortured in Hell, and suddenly you’re not-- This was the jack(haha)pot.  

Not to mention that for the longest of time, Jack was basically all Harlow knew. Surely, there were her other “co-workers” but in a place like this, friends aren’t really a thing either. You kill or you get killed. You use or you get used. Simple math. Whoever doesn’t get that, then well, it’s their own damn fault. 

So why didn’t she try to go away? Call it convenience, rather than loyalty. The “training” and missions started, and Harlow was like “hey this isn’t bad at all” -- she was out of Hell? She got to do the things, the usual people would frown upon, without anyone in there bat a single lash? And on top of that, she could easily get things she wanted? Sign her the fuck up. Yet, Harlow knew Jack wasn’t a friend. No. He was using her-- She was nothing more but another tool. Whatever. To her, he was also a mean to her own ends. 

CLAUDIA DAVENPORT: Her everything. 

Remember when I said, “for Harlow, only Harlow comes first?” Well, hahahaha... 

Chronologically speaking, Claudia is key moment 3, 4, and possibly more, depending on what happens down the line.  Truthfully, I’d say these are the most important. 

By the time, Harlow had already been around for 17-ish years, she already had climbed up and made a name for herself among Jack’s crew. What can I say? She was good at completing her missions-- whether it was murdering someone, getting information, or pretending to be a specific type of person... 

It was odd at first to learn that her boss had a daughter (and a son)-- Him? Having children? Even Harlow knew that wasn’t something she’d hear, but hey, what did she know about family and things like those, except for what she read and watched in movies. There wasn’t much of a second thought about that, until one day, she got called over and was told to look after Claudia. That was the complete opposite of what she did. Was there an option to make someone else take on that? Maybe, maybe not. It wasn’t like Harlow complained, perhaps she was curious on what it was to be a normal person.

Technically, she hadn’t been told she had to befriend her, still, that’s what she did.  It was so easy. They joked, teased each other, talked about anything and everything, watched movies, and spent most of the day/their days together. Those apart, Harlow couldn’t only look forward to the day they did. Was this what having a real friend was like? Not looking for the knife behind her back, not expecting an eventual fall? Being around Claudia was nice. It was good. Even if they weren’t. Harlow felt this kind of happiness that simply wouldn’t come with other people, or doing the bad things she liked to do. It was different, and she definitely didn’t hate while she didn’t understand. All of this made it so easy for Harlow to also forget, this had all started out as a LIE. Harlow didn’t really see it as one, when she was being herself. She wasn’t pretending to be someone else, it was herself. So maybe if she ignored it, it wouldn’t go wrong--

HUH OH. 

Just like she didn’t understand, why she was feeling the way she was around Claudia, or what those emotions meant. She also didn’t know there was a possibility that Claudia could be feeling the same. Until she was close to her-- about to kiss her, and Harlow’s dumbass went off like ‘hey, this is not something friends do... right?’ still, I don’t think she would’ve stopped it hadn’t it been for Jack suddenly doing it himself. Saved by the bell? Not so much when he also pointed a finger in Harlow’s direction to say she worked for him. Now-- she didn’t see that one coming. So the gig was up, job over-- Now off, to more missions. Except, Harlow truly hadn’t seen Claudia as a job. She was a friend. Her first and only friend for that matter. And now... she wasn’t, because of what she did. And a couple of new feelings surged after that, like something weighing her down. They weren’t fuzzy or made her feel good-- Complete opposite. Something was missing-- Eventually, realizing she missed Claudia. But there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. 

To say Claudia has thrown her off her game in several ways is definitely an understatement. The years passed, and Harlow still missed Claudia-- not always consciously, but always there. She most likely thought, she’d never see her again, until another day came-- And she was back to being the bodyguard. Which she would go on facefirst. 

Fairly, Harlow didn’t know what to do. Things weren’t how they were (obviously) and she did what she did best-- PRETEND.  Maybe if she pretended like they were still those two teenagers, it would be the same. WELP. She also didn’t understand how or why Claudia didn’t hate her, or why she hadn’t looked to pay her back. (Because Harlow often forgets not everyone is out for revenge) Current time, I don’t think she fully grasps Claudia's reasons not to, and that's also the thing… By now, Harlow has come to terms that they wouldn't or couldn't be the same, and they will probably never be able to be friends. It’s with that, Harlow is aware of the feelings she has for Claudia, easily embracing them. Going "fuck it" and kissing her is a major step when talking about this realization. It's only funny, (and a bit frustrating) that it hasn't downed on her these feelings mean she's in love. I mean, how could she, when she's never been in love? How could she tell when there has never been anywhere to look to and say "oh, so that's love." It’s not like she’s been shown any type of love either. She's slowly but surely getting there, okay. Baby (?) steps.

I can say, though, Harlow has always been in love with Claudia, and she most likely always will. I don't think she would ever be able to love someone else the way she loves her. Here's why: It would mean, she'd have to allow herself to be friends with someone else (you know, the kind of friend where she wouldn't sell the other for a cornship) and even if she did, she would be looking for Claudia in them, consciously and unconsciously.

Claudia is special to her, and so, she would do anything and everything for her.

Let's keep in mind, Harlow is inherently greedy so, yes, she wants Claudia to feel (just feel not do, I'll get to that in a moment lmao) the same way she does for her, aka love her back. (Because, Harlow isn’t a mindreader-- she can see Claudia’s eyes light up, she can see her smile, and giggle. Yet, she doesn’t correlate that this could mean Claudia loves her too, hah) 

But even if Claudia didn't, (or if she stopped) it wouldn't change a thing for Harlow. She still would look after her and put everything aside to keep her safe. What do I mean when I say not do? Considering Harlow would literally set herself on fire if it meant Claudia remained-- she doesn't want her to do the same thing for her. "I set myself on fire, not you."

There’s this quote, I found some time ago:  “Love is madness, doesn’t everyone agree that you’d do anything, endure anything, to be with the ones you love? So either you’re willing to let them use you with any sort of cruelty, so long as they keep you—which makes you a fool—or you’re willing to commit any cruelty, so long as you get to keep them—which makes you a monster. Either way, it’s madness.”

Personally, I think Harlow is part fool, part monster-- She would do and endure anything, even if it wasn’t to be with her.  She would die for her. The part fool, right? Especially, because Harlow would think the same thing about other’s who’d do the same as her. Willing to die for others? Pft. But Claudia... She would do so, she would easily accept (to herself) that she’s a fool. On the other hand, she would also commit any kind of cruelty for the same reason-- For Claudia. Not to keep her though. Harlow might be possessive, yet she’s capable to comprehend Claudia is her own person. Being willing to commit any kind of cruelty, can become dangerous when Harlow can’t tell apart an enemy or a threat, from a possible ally or friend. (Also, see: Lizzie Saltzman) 

In a few words: Harlow would attempt to smite everything and everyone around her, for Claudia’s safety-- and if all that fails, she would die as one final try. 

To try and wrap this section (WHEW) while it might not be played out because it would mean Harlow is not generally bamboozled by her own emotions-- I think to a degree, Harlow would generally WORRY about the implications of being in love with her. Not because she thinks love is a burden, funny enough, but because she’s aware, she’s not a good person at all. (And that they aren’t surrounded by the easiest or safest of situations) She knows that even if she never intended to-- She’s hurt Claudia in the past, and she doesn’t want that to happen again. She wants nothing more than her happiness, because for her Claudia deserves to be happy-- and she would also attempt anything for that, as best as she can. 

WILLIAM FLYNN VS MAXWELL HARVEY VS LIZZIE SALTZMAN: Her dumb bitch moments.

The first of these three she knew of was Will, of course. Simply by association. She knew he was Jack’s son, and therefore Claudia’s brother. That was as much importance as Will would have to her. There are two reasons why Harlow (despite not being fond of him) hasn’t thrown Will in harm’s way. a) There is a “do I get something out of selling Will out?” Ehhhh.... but this was heavily countered by b) despite not being told by Claudia herself that she knew of her brothers-- Harlow cares and respects her so much, she won’t do that just because. Now, if Claudia went “idgaf about them” then it be “well, tough titties, willie.” It’s funny to me, how there are similarities between Will and Harlow-- they’d do anything to protect those they care about, they wouldn’t back down from a confrontation, they attack first and ask questions later, they have complexities when it comes to emotions-- yet they don’t get along at all. As a matter of fact, Harlow would say she doesn’t like Will. It sort of brings me the question if Harlow truly likes herself lmao (she does, but she’s a hypocrite sigh) Maybe in different circumstances, maybe in the future-- she will actually see eye to eye with him. Be friends? That’s it-- Only if Harlow hasn’t done more to fuck things over in the general scheme of things.  :/ 

Comes in, Maxwell Harvey-- Harlow didn’t know about this sibling, and frankly the only reason why he didn’t get served that one night at the alley, was because she looked like Will lmao Same “this is Claudia’s brother” rule followed, whether Claudia knew about this one or not. Even if at first, Harlow couldn’t see over “fucking great ANOTHER William??” it is also funny how it seems to be that she genuinely likes Max better.  Here’s why-- Taking away the fact, Harlow found amusement in his fear and toying around with that... Meeting Will, he fought back and didn’t make her night easy-- Will fights back and goes head to head with her, and generally, this would earn someone a stab from her. (Which she knows she can’t do) She thinks Max will be the same-- Color her fucking surprised when Maxwell suddenly goes “i’ll do anything for you” and throws his own fucking twin under the bus. Harlow is like “yo.... RESPECT” and actually thought he was smarter than Will, who could’ve died. (aka not smart) Now-- Had Maxwell thrown Claudia under the bus, instead of William-- He would’ve become #1 enemy in 0.1 seconds.  

Finally, her ultimate simultaneous dumb ass bitch yet actually smart if put in a certain perspective moment-- Lizzie Saltzman aka “that blonde bitch at the beach.” The only reason why Harlow could even know about her existence, was because she saw her around Claudia, and her brain cells didn’t get enough oxygen for her to stop for a second and think “hey, this could be a friend.” No, the dumb bitch goes “whothefuck?” and JUMPS. Finding her was mere accident-- And she wanted answers. Who was she.  (Not jealous at all, psth... *Michael Scott’s cringe face*) That turns into actual annoyance, when Lizzie-- like Will-- goes head to head with her. Except, this girl didn’t mean anything to Claudia, did she? (oh boy) So she could get rid of her. Lizzie fights back, and man way to poke the demon. Now, Harlow has a petty vendetta-- Only she could be the biggest blonde at the beach. Her pettiness, becomes into an actual plan, though. By this point, Harlow believes Claudia to have broken Will out from where Jack got him-- And bitch, is she fucking tearing her hair out at what could happen if Jack knows this. Her mind goes directly to-- “would he kill her? worse?” and you know.-- no-no. So she looks at Lizzie “knows William and Claudia, but would probably die before saying anything” Saltzman, and goes: PERFECT. (Nevermind the fact, Lizzie was actually involved and is Will’s girlfriend, ohp) She thinks if Jack focuses enough on Lizzie, then Claudia will be safe. And you know, her mind would’ve probably done something, had it not been because Lizzie is a friend, and i-- :))))) Just like with William, I think Harlow could get along with Lizzie just fine-- in banter level friendship. You know, once again, if by the time a future comes... Things haven’t gotten even more fucked. 

In conclusion, of all this clusterfuck that is Harlow: 

[honeylikewords]

Hey, K, I know it’s been days but you still feel like infodumping about Spiderverse? :o

pettyprocrastination said to jonedwardbernthal:Hello yes I loved into the spiderverse with my heart and soul please info dump I require sustenance

YES I DO WANT TO INFODUMP ABOUT SPIDERVERSE THANK YOU FOR ASKING

okay okay so i’m gonna put this all under a cut for those who haven’t seen the movie and wish to remain spoiler free, and i’ll also put a couple images so that mobile users (who sometimes automatically see the post, apparently?) to warn them to scroll past!

(pls enjoy my crappy ms paint warning banner ghskhgdk)

SO FIRST OF ALL I WANT TO SAY that genuinely, this movie changed my life. I have never been as excited or happy about a movie as I was with this one, and can find few (if any) flaws with it. I would have to be hyper-nitpicky if I wanted to point out anything wrong with it, but overall, I gotta say, this movie inspired me, made me cry, made me laugh out loud, made me shake and jitter with excitement.

I should point out that, yes, the visuals can be kinda jarring, especially for sensitive people like me who react to flashing stimulus and abrupt movement very poorly, but I honestly LOVED the visual aspect of the film. The character design is incredible, the animation is so unique and stunning, and every single person has this wonderful individuality in the way they look and move that it just blows me away. This movie is already a frontrunner for an Oscar in the animation category, apparently, and it’s easy to see why.

The writing is also impeccable, with a quick pace and genuine humanity to it, and it feels so bright and alive! The way people talk is so full of character and personality, and Miles’ codeswitching is adorable and fun to listen to, and everyone has such a special and unique personality that comes through how they speak. The voice acting is INCREDIBLE and the array of the cast is SO awesome and I LOVE everyone who was in it!

I literally am so excited about everything that I’m having a hard time keeping this post linear and sensical, but I just! Love it so much!

Some people criticize the film by saying that it’s not really the “first black Spiderman movie” because Miles “shares the spotlight”, but, honestly? That didn’t come across to me at all. This movie felt entirely centered on Miles. Yes, Peter B. Parker played a big role, but, like, every movie has supporting characters and co-mains. I understand the frustration, but that’d kinda be like saying that Captain America: The First Avenger isn’t Steve’s story because Peggy gets screentime and so does Bucky. But I also do get where people are coming from and I find the frustration very valid.

But I LOVE all the spider-people, and they didn’t actually overwhelm the movie. Peni, SpiderNoir, and SpiderHam all took backseats. They were fun additions, but didn’t ever detract from the experience of this being Miles’ story. Even Gwen didn’t derail the film, or even Peter B.! They all stayed in their lanes and moved Miles’ story along, more like the wheels propelling him than roadblocks obfuscating his progression. 

I loved every one of the characters, and I got so attached to all of them; Miles’ family really stands out to me, because they are such strong and loving characters, and it is so, so sadly rare to see loving black families portrayed like this. Jefferson, Miles’ dad, is allowed to be flawed without ever crossing the line into “bad dad” territory. He’s allowed to be wrong but still love his son and be doing the absolute best for him. Even Miles’ “bad” uncle, Aaron, made me cry and love him. When Aaron died, I was horrified (mostly because, I mean, god, we really did not need to see another black man getting shot by a white guy...), but they also never demonized Aaron, or downplayed the tragedy of his loss. He was heroic, even in his mistakes, and I think that was really noble on the part of the storytellers. 

The movie just feels so lived in and loved and human, and you can tell that it’s just a work of art and love and passion. It’s a game-changer. I legitimately consider it the best Marvel movie ever made, on par with Black Panther in terms of artistic value and importance. It’s the fun of Thor: Ragnarok and the art and significance of Black Panther rolled into one, unique, amazing bundle that has forever set the bar for how I want movies, especially movies intended for families and children to be.

“Anyone can wear the mask” means something. It may sound like a cheesy cop-out, but it means that we don’t have to look up to Perfect Pillars Of White Heroism as our standards. It means black children from Brooklyn are heroes. Jewish people are heroes. Women are heroes. Asian people are heroes. Even Miles’ parents are heroes, and it shows the wide gamut of good people and what we owe to each other. While neither Rio nor Jefferson Morales-Davis are “superheroes”, they are legitimate heroes, doing their part to make the world a better place.

Also, check THIS:

Just saying!

Anyway, moving on; the jokes in the movie are awesome, and my family has been throwing them back and forth ever since we saw the movie. SpiderHam’s t-pose ascension into the black hole and “keep this, it’ll fit in your pocket” had us in tears. SpiderNoir and the Rubik’s cube? Incredible. Peter B. crying in the shower? Artistry.

AND NOW FOR ME TO TALK ABOUT THE AFTER CREDITS SCENE BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN HOLDING IT IN FOR S O   L O N G

When I read that Oscar had a cameo in the movie, I needed to know. It was the only spoiler I allowed myself to know about, and when I heard he was going to be Spider-Man 2099/Miguel O’Hara, I flipped. I read nothing else about the scene, and wanted to go in blind, but I researched Miguel and, well, you know, I fell in love!

His scene was SO good and SO funny and I LOVE Miguel SO much, you have no idea. I am SO excited for him to be in the next movie (fingers crossed!) and can’t wait to see more of him. I do hope they give him more screen time, because he’s a great character, and because it’d be amazing to have a Latino Spider-Man AND a Afrolatino Spider-Man! And because, you know, more Oscar is always ideal.

I love, love, love Miguel, and Oscar was so funny (he has amazing comedic timing and such great range, omg), and I am desperate to see more of him. I haven’t stopped bombarding my poor friend Cydney with love and affection for Miggy in, like, two weeks. I’m sure she’s sick of it by now. Also, I kinda wanna write stuff about Miggy, lowkey, as self-indulgence, but for now I’ll just keep that foolishness to myself lol.

Miguel O’Hara Is My Boyfriend Now ghdkhgkldhg

Anyway, the movie is chock-full of amazing things, both from an artistic/cultural standpoint and from a Marvel-fan standpoint: so many easter eggs and little surprises, so much amazing writing, so much amazing character design, just!! So! Good! Please go see it immediately, because I’m itching to see it again and don’t know how I can resist going in for a second watch.

Also, Peter B. Parker is Jewish and it’s canon and if you want to step up and fight me about it, feel free to, but I will kick your ass. I will. Know this. Jewish Spider-Man FOREVER, FOOLS. No one is allowed to thirst after him if they also ignore his being Jewish or disrespect it, so if you wanna love him, you gotta love his Judaism too, or I’ll fist-fight you behind the Denny’s at 3 am and knock you the hell out.

also john mulaney’s cussing outtakes for spiderham are the funniest thing on earth and i’m crying 

OH and I have the art book for the movie and everything is so *kisses fingers like an Italian cook* B E A U T I F U L! And the soundtrack? BOY I TELL YA I was listening to it for WEEKS in advance even when there were only three songs released and some of those tracks are, like, incredibly powerful, whooh. 

Anyway GO SEE SPIDERVERSE. I LOVE IT. ALL OTHER SPIDER-MAN MOVIES ARE DOOKIE BY COMPARISON.

I have more I could say but I’m so excited I’m bouncing around and going hog wild dgkgdhgkg i love spider verse