#as a guy who considers himself a writer despite not doing a Lot of writing lately LMAO

[crepusculum-rattus]

i LOVE talking about dnd🩵🩵🩵🩵

[katerinaaqu]

Why did Helen choose to torment the Greek Warriors inside the Trojan Horse? (An Odyssey Analysis)

Okay so here is a conundrum that seems to be quite interesting in homeric poems. One of them seems to be Helen's behavior before the sacking of Troy. Menelaus informs us and Telemachus on the events of the night before taking Troy and speaks on the moment where Helen knocks on the Trojan Horse and calls upon the Greek warriors inside imitating the voices of their wives.

Three times you circled the hollow ambush and out of the best of the Danaans you called the names and all the Argives heard the voices of their spouses. Nevertheless I and the son of Tydeus and the godly Odysseus heard you as you called out and while we two were eager to rush out and act to our sudden urge, Odysseus though held us back and restrained us despite our eagerness. Then all the other sons of Achaeans endured apart from Anticlus wanted to respond to your call but Odysseus placed his hand upon his mouth non-stop and strongly and thus saving all the Achaeans until Athena Pallas led you away

(Translation by me)

So basically here we see a very cruel act right? Helen knows the Argives were away from home and their wives way too long, over a decade so why would she play such a cruel game to them and call upon them by using the voices of their wives? It seems unnecessarily cruel at some point especially since she did express the need to go back to her husband already a year prior during the events of Iliad.

So here are a couple of explanations for it.

So for many I would epxect this would be something one might consider inconsistency at writing which leads many people to turn to the "different writer" trope. Quite honestly I can see why and as a hypothesis is really valid or maybe if one takes the hypothesis that Odyssey was witten way after the Iliad that the author himself changed his mind on some stuff or reconsidered his sources etc.

However let's hypothesize for one second that this is a logical continuation of the story and character development (yeah I am not convinced on the different writer theory, fight me! XD) and let's just think for a second the context of the scene based on what we know from the Iliad and the Epic Cycle in general.

We know that Helen lived in Troy a decade (yes for the "20 years theory" I have answered an ask here). She knew these people for a long time. We also know from the Iliad as she stood next to Priam, giving him information about the Greek leaders and kings and we know that she was not judged by him or any other of the Trojans. If anything she was blaming herself quite a lot for it. Even in the funeral of Hector she expresses her love for him (not romantic love guys) and her respect for him. She had no real hate for the Trojans even if she already had a change of heart or Aphrodite's spell on her had weakened. For the reasons why she stayed I also answered another ask right here but apart from that reason we know she wanted to go home so why did she do that to the Greeks? Well in the same scene Menelaus seems to be excusing his wife and he presents this very interesting explanation as to why she did it:

And then you came there: called by some god, no doubt, who wished to extend the glory of the Trojans

(Translation by me)

Menelaus seems to be excusing his wife once more and presents the hypothesis that Helen was inspired by some god or goddess (δαίμων) to go and disturb the Greeks inside the horse. Helen doesn't deny it but doesn;t confirm it either. In fact Telemachus speaks soon after and Helen orders the slaves to prepare stuff. The conversation on this subject seems to end there. So the one explanation could be that indeed Menelaus is correct and that Helen was once more either coersed or blackmailed by a god, potentially Aphrodite again, even if not mentioned, and went to the Greeks and tried to lure them out for the sakes of that god that wished better for Troy. It stands as an explanation as well.

However let's make things more spicy and let's assume that Helen was not influenced by divine intervention by the gods and instead it was her own free will to do what she did. If yes then why? So here's a hypothesis. Before in her narration Helen talks about how she met Odysseus and recognized him in his disguise. She also mentions how Odysseus informs her on the plan to take Troy:

And then he entrusted me everything he had in mind for the Achaeans

(translation by me)

How much he told her is not clear. Did he already have in mind to make the horse so he tells her that? Maybe he warns her on the one day that the Achaeans shall enter the city without speaking on precice details? Either way Helen would know Odysseus was up for some ploy and she knew she had to act fast. Menelaus also mentions how Deiphobos was with her at that time (how Menelaus knew? Well probably Helen told him). So immediately if Helen had a reason to do what she did, we have two reasons;

She wanted to persuade Deiphobos on her loyalty to Troy. Arguably when Odysseus escaped, as Helen said, he killed many Trojans on his way out. Most likely her loyalty must have been questioned at that tensed time thus being accompanied by her new husband all the time. By doing this, ellegedly tormenting the Greeks, was showing to Deiphobos her loyalty to Troy (manipulating him into believing that she was on their side) plus showing him like "See? Nothing here. No danger whatsoever". She probably knew already Odysseus would be inside and he wouldn't fall for her trick and she trusted him and her husband to hold the rest of the Achaeans inside the horse so they wouldn't cry out. So not only did she show to Deiphobos that she was on Trojan side but also manipulated him into believing indeed there was no danger.

Two, this part is the best, in my opinion, she was signaling to the GREEKS inside the horse. She called them all by name by immitating their wives. More or less tells to them that she KNOWS and that she knows EXACTLY who they are and who their families are, and that she could have betrayed them at any moment if she wanted to but she chose not to because she was on their side. Like that she would have more hopes not to be killed by vengeful Greeks during the siege of Troy or her daughter by Paris, Helen, and ensure her and her daughter's safety. Also signaling her change of heart in person to them.

Conclusions:

Like I said before I do not believe Odyssey was written by a different author altogether and Odyssey itself gives us some very good explanations on Helen's behavior. I am actually willing to side with my second hypothesis. Perhaps Menelaus was talking literally when mentioning a god but I tend to believe he was more like metaphorical. In an essence "what's gotten into you?" manner. However I tend to believe that regardless of whether there was or wasn't a godly intervention in Helen's behavior, Helen is extremely intelligent and she knows that after the fuss Odysseus caused (literally a Greek spy in Troy, possibly two if we count Diomedes too) that got in, stole the Palladium of Athena and killed people on their way out might as well throw suspicion on her and she needed to make sure she would continue have the love of Priam, which was literally her shield of protection at that moment. Two she knew that her husband was coming for her and that he was potentially furious and if it wasn't him, some other of the Greeks would be or they would get battle-drunk with their success. She wasn't going to rely only on Odysseus's silver tongue that he persuaded the Greeks on her change of heart but she wanted to make sure that they knew on her talents and power and the way that she could literally give them away at any moment and that she chooses not to because she is Greek like them and because she had a change of heart!

I hope you find this analysis interesting! Let me know in the comments below! I'd love to hear your thoughts! ^_^

[surly-sara]

poly sylus caleb and mc 👀??? my brain is melting out of my ears omg that drabble had me squealing and kicking my feet and your tags……… omg i feel like i’ve just been awoken to something i hadn’t considered…… poly with mc sylus and caleb like yes that’s actually perfect

thank you so much for the kind words about the drabble! silly thoughts and personal hangups under the cut in answer to your question

i've been thinking about this question a lot lately, because a few people have mentioned an interest in poly fic from me recently. i always really love writing good-natured ribbing between the guys, and sylus is such a fun character to write for intentionally driving others up the wall. I honestly would love to be able to write poly mc sylus caleb someday, but i'm not poly myself. I know that i could do it as an intellectual exercise, could probably write something that makes sense for the characters, the right amount of angst and insecurity and also feel-good hurt/comfort with an ultimately happy ending. but my monogamous, insecure ass wouldn't be able to put my heart into it in the same way i do in my current fics. i write fic because it feels good to engage (and wallow) in self-indulgent hurt/comfort, to explore the characters' canon traits while having the freedom to play with an mc who is like an oc to me, who is both like the mc in game and like me (to varying extents). if I wrote poly, my instinct would be to center it around mc's insecurity that sylus and caleb would love each other more than mc. personally, there's something inherently othering to me in poly relationships, because in my life i have always found that if there are three people, someone is always left a little behind despite everyone's best intentions. it just hurts my heart, no matter how irrational that may be. i know that there are poly situations where that's not the case, and people can and do successfully navigate healthy, happy poly relationships, but i think other fic writers would do a much better job, and have more fun writing that relationship for these characters than i could.

and just as a canon note, @sichore has a great post about how out of all the LIs, Sylus would be the most open to a poly relationship, and I think she's absolutely right; I can see him being open to loving caleb like mc loves caleb, because mc is the other half of his soul, and what mc wants, sylus wants. and caleb has shaped mc so much in this life--- @minniestarmj has some lovely thoughts about sylus being able to see caleb's mannerisms, how alike they are, in mc after meeting caleb for the first time. i think sylus would also empathize with caleb's ruthless, cynical attitude about other people, his dehumanization of others while only caring about mc at the expense of the entire world. caleb, on the other hand, is so traumatized, has spent his entire life with his one anchor as mc, is so possessive and protective, i find it very hard to imagine him being anything other than monogamous. he's so fear-motivated, i think that in a poly relationship he'd always be afraid that mc loves sylus more than himself, that he's always on the edge of losing her. also, sylus's dangerous lifestyle, and what it exposes mc to on occasion, would give him an aneurysm. now, all of these would be awesome things to explore in the hands of a good writer who is excited about poly relationships, but i personally just want to wrap caleb up in a blanket and have mc reassure him at every anxious thought that mc loves him, and only him, always and forever... after mc gets over being furious at his big stupid baka self about playing dead for a year.

maybe i'll get over myself someday and be able to write it, but right now, i like thinking about these guys separately, and if they appear in each others' timelines, then their interactions will be good-natured even if slightly contentious/competitive because they all love mc, after all, and i'll probably always write a tinge of longing from the LI who isn't the main focus of the fic. but that's all i can promise right now. for now, i'm content to reblog well-written poly fic and ideas from other writers, and to write my sad little angsty takes on the LIs and MC the way they are portrayed in the game--slightly jealous nutcases, who still do everything in their power to try to center mc's wants and needs despite their own hangups.

[galacsin]

Thanks for being open to a discussion about this, I appreciate hearing your insights into these characterisation changes! (Sorry for how long this got)

I have finished the Flash comic now and yes you're right it was boring, at least Riddler's parts, which actually fits right in with something your original reply made me think of, that is, that a lot of the more mainstream 'serious threat' versions of Riddler are, frankly, simply quite boring. In attempting to make him more of a threat they, like you said, rid him of all his most interesting traits - bafflingly including his gimmick like in this Flash comic (unless I missed something he didn't tell a single riddle) or, worse, in OBD - which makes him not just bland but a cardboard cutout that could easily be replaced by other villains (this Flash one by Lex Luthor, TWoJaR by Hush, S6 '14 by Joker, etc) without really having to change much about either the story or characterisation. These kinds of adaptations make him an empty shell that fulfills only the most basic and stereotypical of villain characteristics - stone cold genius, powerhungry megalomaniac, etc. - which are much better explored in other characters and ironically never have really been a part of his personality before this.

You said that he's classically a sort of "just some guy" villain whose gimmick is hard to write if you don't happen to be into riddles yourself, and I completely agree. It's interesting to me how him being 'just some guy' seems to be part of what these writers dislike about him: a lot of the traits that have been changed or erased are ones that mark him as 'average' or 'not special' - his working class background, his mediocre grades and average or low educational level, the limits to his skills and abilities, winning never coming easy for him or even his outward appearance being changed from 'bland' dark hair and brown or grey eyes to bright red hair, piercing blue or green eyes and uncommon styles of facial hair like the infamous mutton chops - with the rest of them being the ones that make him 'weird' or 'weak', like his emotional instability or riddle compulsion. And it feels ironic to me that despite the writers probably assuming that changing these 'average' or 'weird' things about him would make him more special and cool, doing this has exactly the opposite effect, making him just one more guy in a sea of super genius cold mass murdering power broker villains and evil stem majors, when he used to be way more unique as the one 'weird average joe' among the rogues' lenghty list of murderous top-of-their-field genius doctors and professors.

Being a flamboyant thief that likes threatening people but ultimately considers murder boring and whose crimes include such illustrous examples as filling an office building with two tons of prunes or stealing an old baseball contract while wearing a curly fake mustache simply make him much more of a standout than being yet another sadistic mass murderer trying to take over Gotham via toxic gas or Central City via an array of murder drones, like that isn't the exact thing every other villain has been doing in every single arc for the past who knows how many years already. And genuinely? These old 'silly' versions often seem much more threatening or menacing to me than the modern ones, because him usually being a goofy or whimsical minor threat that presents himself as relatively nonviolent makes instances of him losing control of his emotions and flying off the handle or situations where his complete disregard for human lives are on display much more unsettling than if I already expect to see him brutally murder twenty random people before the end of the first arc. Keeps me on my toes.

Anyways this has already become much longer than expected and hasn't even touched on the other things you said about all his different variations being canon at once etc. so I'll end this here and thank you for reading this far!

(Just one more side note: I love that you brought up Villain of the Year because I always found it funny how hard it goes against New 52/Rebirth canon, trying to tell us Lex wouldn't want Eddie on his villain team because he is too much of a silly loser as if Prime Earth Riddler hasn't taken over Central City for a day and Gotham for a month, turned it into an apocalyptic wasteland and just one year after orchestrated the most brutal gang war the city has ever seen. Love the implication that a Riddler in the same timeline as TWoJaR apparently randomly decided to stop being a megalomaniac mass murderer just to become a C lister and do embarassing silly crimes instead for a while.)

... or stealing an old baseball contract while wearing a curly fake mustache simply make him much more of a standout than being yet another sadistic mass murderer trying to take over Gotham via toxic gas or Central City via an array of murder drones ...

Just so people reading this understand whats happening in the later one.

Eddie in these issues:

Breaks his copycat, Arthur Brown, out of prison with the help of Query and Echo.

Pays someone to break his arm so he can get into the hospital, where he executes an escape plan while high as a kite on drugs.

Straps a bomb vest onto Arthur Brown and sends him on a deadly Easter egg hunt to distract Batman.

Dresses up in a ridiculous costume to steal a baseball contract. Images from Detective Comics #705-707

This is the kind of bullshit, I expect when I read about Eddie. I mean even Arkham Riddler, a decidedly more serious take on him has his silly moments.

I am going to ramble on a bit more under the read more.

And don’t even get me started on One Bad Day. I wouldn’t be that mad about it if it weren’t for the fact that we so rarely get stories focused solely on him, ones that are supposed to offer a deeper dive into his character. One of these days, I’m going to rewatch the interview where Mr. King talks about his approach to writing that comic and rant about it here. Why him? He doesn’t care about the Riddler, doesn’t like him, and clearly knows nothing about him. And yet it won an Eisner Award.

Even if you set aside the fact that it’s a terrible Riddler story, it’s just... meh. It ranges from unintentionally silly to “what the hell just happened?”

The points you touch on are fascinating, especially if you consider which iteration of him has what skills. Personally, I see him as someone incredibly talented, dedicated, and hardworking, but he pours all of that into being the Riddler. That’s why I love the idea of him struggling in academia. He doesn’t fit in; his brain works differently. He’s propelled by this almost supernatural drive to do all the insane things he gets up to.

These old 'silly' versions often seem much more threatening or menacing to me than the modern ones, because him usually being a goofy or whimsical minor threat that presents himself as relatively nonviolent makes instances of him losing control of his emotions and flying off the handle or situations where his complete disregard for human lives are on display much more unsettling than if I already expect to see him brutally murder twenty random people before the end of the first arc. Keeps me on my toes.

Exactly. Also this does not make him less of a threat but for writers . Bunch of murder and uninhibited sadism = serious villain.

I’m happy to answer your questions, but if you could focus on just one topic at a time, I’d appreciate it. It’s hard for me to address every observation you’ve written about all at once.

[capcollector]

I wanna know a little more about Nate. from your mentions, he seems like not necessarily a horrible guy up front, but a shitty husband who doesn't really give much thought to what Bunny wants and pushes her into a life situation she's not happy with. accurate?

thank you for asking, i’m surprised at the interest in him of all people! i did try to make him someone who was believable, someone who i’m sure could be seen as a well-meaning person, even if i personally don’t see him that way. he’s a very misguided man who believes he’s more self-aware than he actually is, and at his core suffers from some type of “main character syndrome” in the sense that he is so sure he’s the main character of the world. i have a longer write-up talking about bunny and nate’s marriage that i’ll post one day, but i’m gonna copy some stuff from that here bc it has a lot of exploration/analysis on nate himself.

there was always an element of “i need to prove i’m doing so much better than everyone around me” to his character, a latent misery that inevitably infects prewar bunny and burns out the fire she used to have. he’s a failure (was a failed writer before being a soldier, later got discharged due to injury) and deep down he knows he is but refuses to really acknowledge or examine why or consider how he could change. he takes it out on others in the sense that he wants to live vicariously through them, he wants to fraternize w these famous ppl so he can feel like he’s made it. bc he is a charming guy on the surface. he’s intelligent, he’s handsome, he is a genuinely good writer even if his projects didn’t catch on. but he’s so blinded by the idea of “making it” that he doesn’t realize that these people don’t even like him much. you’re tolerated. you’re the big question mark when they talk about your infinitely more successful and beloved wife. a footnote when people talk about her life.

this desire for notoriety, for attention, it’s why he’s so adamant about getting into the vaults and living in sanctuary hills—if the world ends he still needs to be the main character. the world needs nate delaney. he wants to live and prove he was something bc he has all the money (bunny’s money) to afford the sports car and the robots and live in the perfect wealthy neighborhood and have the beautiful famous wife and the newborn son. and in the end he gets a fittingly unceremonious death.

another way of looking at him is examining him through the lens of the dual survivors AU i talk about sometimes, where both he and bunny survive together. in the AU where he lives to see the wasteland, he’d join w the brotherhood, no doubt about it. he falls for that bc it makes him look like the hero. the adoration and respect of being a knight, of being praised by someone like maxson is addicting. it’s like he’s gotten a second chance to prove he’s not a failure.

anyway. all that to say. bunny would’ve divorced him within the next year had the world not ended. and as bunny continues on her main journey, she really does come to terms w all this. she reflects on him and their marriage now that he’s gone.

she wondered why she felt such relief when she realized she had the world again, that despite the circumstances, she had the freedom to do what she wanted and be herself again. a good portion of the themes i explore w her have to do w masks, identity, who she would have to be for her career, the press, the world around her, and ultimately, nate. he wasn’t in love with her. he was in love with the idea of her. he loved that she was bunny santos. and she accepts that she’s okay w him being dead. it’s not like he would’ve survived out here anyway.

[zahri-melitor]

Newish Comics (15/01/2025):

Absolute Batman #3: This comic continues to feel like the triumph of aesthetic over storytelling. Sorry, Snyder. Tiny Bruce and Selina are very cute, despite that.

Alfred, stop stalking your daughter who explicitly told you to stay out of her life.

Action Comics #1080: In the Clark story I quite liked the range of heroes that got tapped to help round back up the Phantom Zoners. A lot of heavy hitters. I can also see for Superman fans that Clark and Mon-El are very much having a moment here. Personally, I’m still giggling that Kon hasn’t taken off the Over-Admiral cape yet and is still swanning around in it. (Every other family member other than Clark switched to jackets in the last two years; Kon, the original jacket guy, now has a cape on)

In the Kara story, we are so clearly at the climax, and I am loving the discussion of identities and echoes of each other in this. Particularly that we just got an echo of Kara Zor-L. I really want to see what Tamaki does with that next issue.

Batman and Robin: Year One #3: What is really interesting about this that it’s so early in Alfred, Bruce and Dick’s relationships that all three of them are still messing up and learning the balance for each other. I like that it’s early and rough, and that we’re going to see how they form those strong bonds through this story. And that was particularly evident in this issue, where Alfred is frustrated with both Bruce and Dick but unable to communicate his problems to Dick; Bruce is not yet able to disengage himself from hyperfixation to remember that he has a child to take care of; and Dick’s pushing for boundaries and not finding them, while also not taking enough care in risky situations, and his mess ups are causing harm to Bruce.

Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #34: It was nice to see the version of Babs and Jimmy that Waid consider exist in this timeline. Barbara is so tired, folks.

Catwoman #71: something that fills me with joy is non-American writers getting to write stories for DC that are set outside North America. In this case, Selina is a perfect choice for it because her background specifically involves a lot of time in Europe pulling various cons and uncovering plots. So having a Norwegian writer having Selina running around in Sweden? It’s fun, especially with the cultural touches and jokes that you wouldn’t get from a US based writer doing that.

Challengers of the Unknown #1: I’m trialling this for the Justice League plot. I’ve read a few scattered issues of Challengers stuff before, but never for them yet.

My main thought was that this title was going WAY too hard with the Challengers going ‘oh we’re just mere mortals next these heroes and gods’ as they’re unpowered humans, and that would feel more reasonable if they weren’t working with heroes like… Ted Kord and Michael Holt, both who famously are unpowered heroes. Not to mention the Question, or all the Arrows and Bats running around. I think you’ll fit in okay, folks.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow: World’s Finest Special #1: Hard Travelling Heroes get a WF era book. It does what it says on the tin. Deathstroke for boring reasons attempts to kill Hal, (and incidentally Ollie and Barry), and after Slade fails miserably at that, he walks off the page to go attempt attacking teenagers over in NTT and watch Grant die.

You’re such a loser, Slade.

Dinah gets to appear in this title exactly long enough for Ollie to call her to pull Hal out of danger with a plane and patch him up, despite the fact the boys are on a cross-country roadtrip and have presumably left her behind running Sherwood Florist on her own. Lucky Dinah.

(Yeah this sort of GA/GL stuff is not my favourite era for Dinah sorry)

Jenny Sparks #5: so after having read another of Tom King’s asynchronous plot minis this past week, the big things I noted reading this today was that we finally, as of issue 5, have a handle on what is actually happening in this story.

Look I don’t mind a story told asynchronously (Indeed I think they can be really fun ways to mess with people’s understanding of how things happen and give context), but this one needed more of a hook and more explanation earlier, because reading it monthly has dragged horribly, and while I think it will read better in trade it still feels very very late to finally have a decent grasp or understanding of what the goal of the plot is.

I’m also very very confused as of the final page of this issue, because my understanding from the nonsense going on in terms of the concept of this title, plus how Outsiders 2023 decided to lean really hard into ‘there are lots of Century Babies of various types right now, but we’ve wiped Jenny Quantum from existence’ thing, was that Jenny Quantum at this point only exists in the Wildstorm universe timeline and n52 and got deleted by Rebirth.

The final page of this issue involved Jenny Sparks, in 2016, being in the bedroom of a blonde teenage girl asleep in her bed.

…

I know Jenny Quantum has black hair, not blonde, but given everything I’m not convinced the team on this book is aware that Jenny Quantum has black hair, not blonde. It’s certainly suggestive of this teenager being SOME sort of Century Baby.

The New Gods #1: the art on this title is sumptuous and worth reading for that alone. They went HARD for this launch. And it’s seducing me, because part of why I haven’t read more New Gods is getting past the Kirbyness of all the designs.

It’s a very very Ram V title. He’s clearly having fun, and I suspect is going to recruit some more fans for the cause (godly space opera).

Nightwing #121: Look Watters, you didn’t have to bribe me with Babs-hacks-the-Pentagon, but as a Dixon BOP enjoyer, I am glad to see it being acknowledged that Babs can hack the Pentagon. I’m enjoying how in conversation with the Taylor run this is – I do love when a writer picks up threads from where things were left and puts their own spin on the situation, rather than just hitting a reset button and wandering off in their own direction.

Plastic Man No More! #4: and this continues to be extremely Black Label body horror. Eel blows himself up with a nuclear bomb, Luke doesn’t get blown up by the bomb, and Tim lies to Batman.

Luke O’Brien reminds me a fair bit of Owen Mercer in various ways in this title and uh I’m not sure that’s a great thing? At least his mother is happy.

The Question: All Along the Watchtower #2: I think it’s interesting that DC are running this complicated multi strand plot at the moment in the birth of this new JLA, and it particularly seems to have been a chance to use a diverse range of characters. But there’s some odd outliers, as most of this book are characters able to support a run by themselves (Batwoman, the Blue Beetles, Animal Man, heck even Nightshade) and then there's random appearances like Bulleteer, who I had to look up.

I'm still not sure on the vibe and tone of this book being particularly Reneeish yet, but I'm willing to be convinced, and it's at least trying.

The Warlord #81: this week in Skartaris…Jennifer and Joshua meet each other! Oh boy oh boy we’re back to a main plot here, who knew!

Travis has a dream about the time he fought and killed clone-Joshua, recapping the important elements and complexities of Joshua’s backstory for anyone who hasn’t read all previous 80 comics.

And Jennifer and Joshua team up against some New Atlantis troops trying to kidnap them…after which Jennifer clues into Joshua being mysterious and unusual. She decides to take him along with her on her hunt for Travis.

Siblings United!

[ahundredtimesover]

WOOWEEE i’m still processing the new chapter 🥹 i just wanna stress that there’s multiple realities, guys. jk wanting to respect oc by upholding her wishes to grow, but also feeling abandoned by her choices despite him baring his emotions and desire to have her close by. then you have oc feeling the burden of her family ties/debt with the jeon family and wanting to find out who she is away from her current role, but she’s emotionally attached to jk and it’s blurring with her own goals. not only that, we see jk’s codependency on oc and how that could make her feel more chained down. ultimately she’s always needed by someone, but when has she put her needs first?

as mentioned, this is all so deeply rooted. they need to spend time away from each other to grow. jk is probably going to retreat/relapse to his past behaviors or maybe he’ll also be working on himself so that he can be a better partner for oc … my guts say former because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ i’m an angst enthusiast.

ALSO i see lots of ppl saying UGH JUST STAY AND DATE, and while yes … this is a fic, this is a slice of life too. yall realize it is super inappropriate to have a secret relationship with your boss? granted all of my bosses have been old balding dudes and not jk, still … it’s the principle 😭 oc and jk having this “separation” period is good (i’m sleeping on the highway) and needed for their character development. i’m sure theyre gunna meet again and the tension is gunna be so high and they will do the boom boom pow💥🤯😏 without feeling that guilt/weird power dynamic!! 🫶🏼

mimi, you’re so awesome and i love this fic so much. YOUR BRAIN IS SO BEAUTIFUL, MUAH!!!!!!! 💋 you did not disappoint with the make out scene … cuz man if they can get like that on their first kiss … WE ARE NOT READY (i am🤲🏼)!! pls take care of yourself as always and hope you have a lovely day

Hi, anon. I took a break from doing my readings bc this just... this just made me smile and it appeased me (as did a lot of other readers' asks and comments) 🥹🥹 especially considering the other asks claiming how the characters are so dumb and stupid, or that they can just date while OC's in the company or date after she resigns. I would like to copy-paste your first paragraph to everything now hahaha (bc oh god the immense joy of a writer when someone accurately says what I was trying to show is insane and that's what I'm feeling!) 😭😭

Like, you couldn't have said it any better. All those things you mentioned can co-exist, and part of the characters' respective stories is learning that those realities can indeed co-exist. Which is why they're as burdened by their choices as they are (and we'll see more of this in ch12). I'd like for you to park that second paragraph bc... I wrote this entire series with the plan for season 2 so whatever happens at the end of this season, know that more will happen and you kind of raised some points already. 👀👀

And with the boss/asst. thing - YES. The power dynamic goes beyond their roles bc their pasts are intertwined as well. Mr. Ri pointed it out to JK - did he want OC to feel indebted to him, too? There are just so many complications. It's always been about needing to feel free for OC. What that freedom means is something she has yet to explore. Even the question of happiness is something she's figuring out.

BUT THANK YOU, like, really. 🥹🥹 It's always tricky and draining to write super long stories like this bc I need to make sure that the characters and storylines are consistent, and knowing that what I intended comes across (most of the time) is truly worth all the stress of writing this one hahaha I hope you're well and I hope to hear from you and your wonderful mind again! 💕💕💕

[poisonedfate]

since you rewatched it i’m so curious: what is something about the reveal in canon that you want to give the writers/actors their dues? like the lines being sad, what’s happening or how lines are said. idk if i’m wording this right

such a good question, thank you! i touched on this a little in the previous ask, but there's honestly so much that i did genuinely appreciate in the episode. i had only previously seen clips and bits, but watching it all together was a whole different experience. there's a lot of negativity that i could bring up, however, to me at least, most of it concerns larger canonical tones and less so the moments of the actual episode.

firstly, the acting was, of course, incredible. both bradley and colin are phenomenal and that's nothing new, but such an emotional episode? can't give them enough praise. all the lines were delivered with such force and their expressions - from arthur's entire facial journey during the initial reveal to merlin's detailed reactions to every single thing arthur said from there on out…don't even get me started. i could go on, but the work they put in is (thankfully) often recognised.

i want to talk more about the writing and the actual pacing of the reveal. i've seen certain moments be highlighted as good and certain points get raised as "missing" or "lacking" and whilst i, too, wish some things would've been different, the overall feeling of it wasn't as…lacklustre as i thought it would be.

first, i want to address the idea itself - yes, i would've liked to see more of merlin and arthur post reveal, however, a tragedy is a tragedy. as much i would've loved to see them reference more moments or discuss other instances of merlin using magic it wasn't necessarily possible within the storyline - arthur dying and all. i think they did as much as they could without oversaturating it with memories or placing all of merlin's powers on display. although reminiscing, especially in the last episode, could be considered worthwhile they had an arc to finish. as i've mentioned, i did really like the different moments representing merlin's powers without retelling things that had already happened (apart from the callback to ep1, which i think was a nice touch and the correct memory to bring up) - instead of telling arthur about all the bad guys he's fought and dealt with, arthur could see him do it through dragoon and later through himself. beyond that, instead of a longer monologue justifying his actions, merlin shows his power by creating a harmless dragon out of the flames of a fire - a recall, but not a retelling of similar things he's done throughout the show, things that symbolise the pureness of magic. arthur has limited time and he's also being hit with 10 things at once - he's not stupid, he can make those connections, maybe not all of them due to his state of being, but a good amount, i'm sure.

i also appreciate the entire journey arthur went through. i like that they didn't shy away from the hurt he felt from merlin's reveal. it's clear by this point in the story that arthur doesn't necessarily condemn all magic users, but he is deeply hurt by broken trust, betrayals and lies. i appreciate how, despite it all, he fought merlin's words, up until merlin was forced to show him. it highlighted the severity of his trust in merlin, how solid he was in it. he's hurt and he says "i want him gone" and yet the suggestion he gives gaius is to send him back to camelot. he's aware gaius knows and perhaps he wonders who else does, but i'm certain he knows it can't be a lot of people. and yet. there are conversations later on, arthur saying "i should've (killed you)" (which is a whole different beast to address; a line that can be taken in many different ways), there's the line "i don't know what i would've done" when talking about merlin revealing his secret earlier, but at that moment with giaus, "gone" doesn't mean banished or exiled or whatnot, it means out of sight. so many implications - i will refrain from unpacking it here as it is not exactly relevant.

another thing i really valued was the dynamic change - the way it was discussed and learnt anew. it is the clearest idea you get of merlin's view of devotion and his place in the world. he's talked about it before, but not in the face of arthur knowing. more importantly, however, it is arthur wrapping his head around the detailing of their relationship, the two sides of merlin that have become one - one that's not all that strayed from what he already knew and yet still filled with surprises.

i could talk about these scenes for days on end and it still wouldn't be enough. they packed in so much in such little time. i also want to talk briefly about gwen and gwaine. i am certain gwaine figured it out at the crystal cave, and i think it was a beautiful scene all around. merlin could've made up a lie and he didn't. gwaine could've asked for me and he didn't. it was understanding and it was trust in such a simple yet effective way. and then gwen - she was always one step ahead in my mind. her reactions, as well as her questions, were a joy to watch. it put me at ease and something about it simply felt calm and right. both of these reveals were given in roundabout ways, each with their own impact and meaning, and i really did appreciate it.

[hxhhasmysoul]

For ships: ItaFushi, Higuruma/Kusakabe, Sukuna/Kashimo

ItaFushi

it's complicated

What made you lose interest in shipping it actively?

I think there is a lot material in canon to get this ship going, especially from Megumi's side. The problem is I don't like canon Megumi much, I actively dislike fanon Megumi. And this ship tag is overwhelmingly fanon melancholic emo boy Megumi POV with Yuuji as his manic pixie dream himbo. And it actually drives me up the fucking wall. Or even worse, some of them write Yuuji as a selfish asshole jock?! Stumbling on a few of those really made me disinterested in even trying to look for the good stuff in that tag.

What would make you reconcile with this ship?

If at least like 30% of the writers actually put any effort into Yuuji's characterisation and at the same time wrote Megumi like he is in canon. He is very unpleasant in canon but that could make for an interesting dynamic. Also less Gojou as Megumi's loving caretaker would be great because that is not canon at all, I kinda can stomach Touji trying not to be a deadbeat dad in an AU but the Gojou thing is a slap in Megumi's face, and especially Tsumiki's if she's a part of the story. Oh, and what @yuujispinkhair actually mentioned today in a reply to an ask. This ship is much more tolerable when it's top!Megumi. Top!Yuuji is usually basically where the manic pixie dream himbo shit goes.

Do you have anything positive to say about it?

It's not all bad, there are a few really good fics there, it's just that sifting through the aggravating stuff takes a lot of time and I usually just feel like it. The art can be cute too.

Higuruma/Kusakabe

hmm? not really

Why don’t you ship it?

I don't really respect Kusakabe, he's kinda spineless. He did everything to do nothing during Shibuya. And then blamed Yuuji for Sukuna's crimes... And Higuruma is a very principled guy, one who was broken and disillusioned by the world but meeting Yuuji made him find himself again.

What would have made you like it?

Idk, actual growth on Kusakabe's part? Higuruma showing any interest in Kusakabe? Them having some interesting interaction?

Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Some people draw nice art of it.

Sukuna/Kashimo

seriously no, as crack it could work

What could make you ship it?

I find the Sukuna groupies funny.

What could you like about the ship?

And all of them could work as one-sided crushes, though when it comes to Yorozu, I'd actually be more interested in her getting over her crush and falling for Uro or Angel, or even some other guy. Like they all very strongly project their issues onto Sukuna, it's a very selfish kind of love they offer, one that really doesn't care for his opinion and he's very valid in having no interest in that.

In an AU setting where there's no fighting, Sukuna could sleep with his groupies instead of the fights. Or have like fan meetings? Or something else where they could try to catch his interest. And maybe succeed for a brief moment.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I'm honestly surprised this ship isn't more popular here considering how popular Kashimo is. Or their ship with Hakari. I guess their fight with Sukuna wasn't interesting enough, and Sukuna dismissing them didn't get the fan imagination going. Maybe it's more popular on other social media.

[calamitaswrath]

Lucia plays Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn: Part 3 Endgame

Oh damn, some belated Ashnard backstory! And him outright using a blood pact to secure the throne for himself. . . oh, that's dark. I love it!

I have to say though, it is somewhat easy to tell that the writers had to write around the possibility of Pelleas being either dead or alive. You would think that his death would majorly affect Daien's forces and heavily impact their will to fight, or that alternatively, it could be used to show just how the people of Daien put so much more faith in Micaiah than they do Pelleas. But since that would be a major story beat, they can't really go there. I definitely appreciate the ambition of these story beats, but other parts had to noticably suffer for them.

A battle at dawn? It's not really reflected in how the map looks, but this is still a nice touch. Considering the title of the game, this feels like it's supposed to be the central thing.

Base conversations! Uh, there's one for Mist and Boyd, but I don't have their A support, so I didn't get it. Oh well. Still, reading over it now, it's a nice one. Mist still having hang-ups over how her father died, and wanting to stay with everyone else despite not feeling too well.

Rolf and Shinon - after his showing in the conversation with Lyre and Kysha, it's nice to see another side of Shinon again. Not necessarily a nicer one since this is Shinon we're talking about here, but at least a more sympathetic one. But, uh. . . I already got one of those bows I got from this convo.

Now the actual battle - oh my god the sheer number of units here! And that ominous number ticking up at the top right corner. . . yeah, that one definitely doesn't mean a thing. Not at all.

Also a shit ton of conversations going on, of course. I obviously didn't even come close to seeing all of them, but at least I can read over them now.

The conversations with Micaiah - oooh, the one with Zihark hurts good. Just the sheer desperation of seeing his country having falling like this, and Micaiah just completely unable to say or do anything about it. The one with Jill is also nice, though not as good as the one with Zihark. And she gets one with Reyson, too! Shame that one isn't as in-depth, but it's cool to see them interact. And Ike. . . it really does show his character development from last game that he keeps seeking out conversations with her, if given the chance.

The conversations with Sothe - damn, he actually has a really nice one with Astrid! I'm actually quite surprised there. Illyana too, since she's allowed to be serious for once. . . but not without entirely escaping her gimmick.

Conversations with Tauroneo - not much to note on those, but it's appreciated to see him interact with Zihark and Jill. I couldn't actually have seen them for myself at all since I let those two stay with the Dawn Brigade, though - they need every help they can get. Either way, I'm actually shocked that he also got convos with Rolf, Calill and Ilyana! All pretty good ones, especially the one with Calill. I wonder if they had supports in PoR? I'd need to check.

Conversations with Nailah - are we sure that she and Tibarn want to fight, and not do something else? Cause it really sounds like they want to do that instead. Other than that, the one with Ranulf stands out to me, cause he really has been getting tossed around a lot in this part.

Not gonna comment on the ones with Pelleas. Since he died in my playthrough, I'll follow it through for this as well.

I'm also gonna skip over some of the other ones - the ones with Zihark and Jill are pretty similar to the ones from a previous chapter, and this journal's already getting long enough as is.

Oh, the conversation between Tibarn and Rafiel is amazing. Who knew that the way to get Tibarn to drop his tough guy persona is to act like a wet towel in front of him?

Now, as for the actual battle! The friend I was streaming was already gushing about this one beforehand, and I 100% see where she's coming from. The way the number slowly ticks up, getting more intense the higher it goes, and all the little cut-aways at specific points. . . that's really just making the most out of this entire thing.

Speaking of the cut-aways - the first one with Sanaki and Naesala was fun. Maybe a bit inappropriately so for the point in the story we're at, but I still enjoyed it.

And Leanne just ominously unconscious on the floor. . .

So, the battle is over in terms of gameplay, but still raging on in terms of the story, and all the important players are leaving the battlefield. It's medallion time.

Since I voice acted every single character for my stream, I actually got to really play it up for the scene where Tibarn meets Naesala again - in a way, that really just kinda bonded me to their story, I think? Idk if that makes sense, but I'm here for the bird tragedy though I suppose my friend's own bird brain worms and her influence definitely helped there

Awakening. Ashera's, too, and an Ominous™ conversation to go with it. And Micaiah gets to be possessed. . . ergh, I was already spoiled on her becoming a vessel for Yune, but even before I played further I already had a hunch on how this'd proceed. This is seriously going to come at the expense of Micaiah's screentime and development.

And all that's left is statues. I don't know what Ike's English voice acting is like for this scene, but his German one. . . it's absolutely laughable. Also funny how he is the main protagonist (regrettably, in some regards), and yet it took this long for him to have a speaking role in one of these animated cutscenes.

[mikki-does-simp]

Words aren't worth shit. (Kuroiro Shihai x GN!reader)

surprise you guys, i came back from my grave for the kajillionth time! frankly, i'm slightly sick of interacting with almost of the MHA fandom, but my love for 1B seems to never ever waver, so i'll try my very best to stick to more longform fanfiction and post more-often so that the people who deserve it have actual content.

A/N: i wrote this in literally two adjacent blocks starting at 1AM and ending around 5 AM with a sleep from 4-4:30, so forgive any flow inconsistences or grammar/spelling mistakes because i say fuck the beta

edit: actually never mind next time i will appreciate a beta run more i left so many spaces that were just- *unfilled*

socially awkward kuroiro AND tactical manipulator kuroiro CAN co-exist, it just has to be written in a very specific way, though. despite that, with you, he feels like a cat covered in wet spaghetti, but like, in a good way.

Who the hell came up with the saying "a picture is worth a thousand words"? Or hell, who altered it to have it to relate an action? Kuroiro didn't really seem to convince himself of it, no matter how hard he tried. It wasn't like he was indifferent to works of art- after all, he considered himself a sort of artistic guy... but when it came to a flash, a picture in his mind, a memory- usually it only took up about thirteen words in his mind. He considered himself a writer. Dare he say a poet. He kept piles upon piles of journals of his writing, and where people could not suffice, pen and paper were his greatest confidants. As much as he liked pencils, pens were just- ironically more artistic; even if he had to scribble at the paper if he misspelled a word or accidentally placed the lettering way too close.

He clenched a few papers between his hands, skimming over the writing as he stood in wait for what might be a pinnacle moment of his life. There were too many mistakes in his mind- so many scribbles it seemed like a quarter of each page was just a section or a word, blacked out in ink. He sighed, inwardly admitting that staying up until two am in the morning writing this was a terrible idea it's not like the author is doing the EXACT same thing down to the hour, but he could just not wait. Thoughts seemed to be always running through his head at light speed, from dawn to dusk and in between his dreams like a sickness of his. This is when he started to pace around with the pages in his hand, having to really mentally prepare himself for what he set up on what seemed to be the first impromptu thought of his entire life so far.

Kuroiro had somehow deluded himself so hard that he decided that he was going to profess his feelings for you within the next moment. Or at the very least, his fond admiration for your pieces, large or small that create the entire puzzle. He had slipped a piece of plain notebook paper under your door, even; that's how casual he tried to seem about it, as it could mean a lot of different things under different connotations if you ask someone to meet you. It wasn't a fancy sort of greeting or letter like he would have spent countless hours imagining he would, but it would make due. His pen and paper were becoming restless in it's own right, sick of hearing the same thought in a different variant over and over and over again. He had decided to meet you about fifteen minutes before the dormitory curfew, as to both make it less inconvenient for you and to make sure he had an escape route if anything went wrong. Yet again, his mind seems to be in a race with everything around it, dreaming up every possibility. Every triumph, every pitfall. The churns in his stomach grew more intense as he began to doubt himself,

It didn't take too long for you to meet him, with the casually dressed notebook paper folded in one of your hands. You pocketed it, then closed the gap of distance between you and Kuroiro, standing in front of him with a curious look to the papers in his hand- and how he looked like how he was going to vomit up a hairball. It raised some eyebrows, sure; but you seemed to understand his nature- his mannerisms, his idiosyncrasies: you seemed to accept them as they were, with no complaints otherwise about who he was. Human. A breath of fresh air for a guy like him, really. He didn't even greet you properly for a moment, already seeming to clam up, enamored by your beauty. It took a couple seconds for him to actually remember why he brought the two of you here- but when he did, he slowly looked to the writing in front of him, starting to read it out. Unfortunately for you, it was incredibly difficult to decipher what he was actually saying- he used so many elusive synonyms that the average person wouldn't be familiar with in terms of linguistics, and he would often go back to read a part if he messed it up, or pause for a moment to try and figure out what he was trying to say himself. The more and more he talked, the more Kuroiro realized this the sole brainless idea he had in a very long time- at least in his book, so out of some sort of shame, he started getting quieter as he read. His posture crumpled up more than it was before, and he was mumbling so badly, that it was even hard for him to hear the words that were spewing out of his mouth as he tried to read back He dropped the small stack of papers, much to your confusion; then, much to his incredible embarrassment, he felt his legs start to buckle despite himself as he kneeled to the floor, covering his face with his hands and starting to mumble a little louder about how incredibly awkward this situation was and that you should just forget it ever happened. He couldn't anymore, everything seemed to catch up to him in his incredulity...

You kneeled down to the floor with him, starting to pick up the papers for him. His hand reflexively moved to instantly snatch the papers from you- to hide away and confide yet again in the caverns of pen and paper- but he stops himself, opting to ball his hand into a fist to do so as he starts on an attempt to quell his mild panicked breathing. He felt so... soppy. Dare he say even- pathetic in a way. It took a moment, but he eventually found the strength to look you in the eye, and they lock, the watercolor to his monochrome. You pick up the rest of the pages, and even if it is incredibly messy and out of order, you remember how he reached to grab them from you, and although it confused you on why he would do that, you respected him too much to pry; in a state where he was cracking on all sides of a sphere, where he looked so oddly vulnerable. If you weren't too preoccupied with being concerned about the way he was acting, it would have felt good, about how he seemed to trust you being within this state

"Hey..." you interjected, slowly starting to offer both your held papers; and your free outstretched hand over to Kuroiro, "Take the time you need. You'll find a way to say what you need to say... and I'll flag you down with signals so it won't- get lost within the waters."

You had sort of an idea what was happening- but you could ask for more context later, as Kuroiro seemed a little too nervewracked to answer your questions. He took the both of you off guard, as he shuffled a little closer, his own arms beginning to outstretch as he simply took your simple outstretched gesture to wrap his arms around you in a shakey but gentle embrace. In that very moment, he couldn't believe it but... no words could describe what he felt. He almost lost himself in trying to figure it out, but at the same time, you quelled the tide all the same as you held each-other there.

[cherrytree-irl]

ooc post: considering a reboot

so. a while back i realized that this blog would probably be more interesting if it took place a few years earlier, when sylvan was still... well... a wanderer. going where he wants and doing what he wants and trying to find his place in the world. also he was immensely, terribly lonely. that's probably why he would start the rotomblr blog! but hey, what's the deal with that guy he just met?! he's super weird, but also kinda cute?! sorry, that's corny.

this change would render the blog anistar-amarena non canon and obsolete, but that blog has 2 followers so who cares. the blog rover-on-rotomblr would probably stay mostly the same, any lore changes probably would only be known by me. which is good, because people like rover.

a lot of "probably"s and "likely"s and "maybe"s because like. idfk.

below the cut are some possible pros and cons of me rebooting this blog. probably would not be deleting any posts but considering them no longer canon. if i do this, it probably will not be soon unless my poor impulse control acts up. it'll probably be in september, for reasons.

pros and cons list:

pros:

sylvan will no longer be in a state where "most of the interesting things have already happened to him." there will be drama! romance! bloodshed?! maybe not that last one. maybe a little?

he'll match his url better. he's not exactly doing any wandering right now.

sylvan and i will be around the same age. that's mostly just a pro for me as the writer. but maybe it would make syl seem more... authentic? i do sometimes worry that he doesn't act his age. but also i don't think i act my age?? anyway.

i won't have to stick to the schedules i made up for my characters in my head that no one but me is forcing me to stick to.

it's a great time for me to do retcons and rewrites and rethink all sortsa lore. technically i can do retcons whenever i want but i kinda don't like just. randomly changing shit.

possible unique designs for sylvan's pokemon? cuz like i've kinda wanted to do that but it would make all the art i've done for the blog outdated. but if everything i've done so far is non-canon anyway, then...

possibly more opportunities for audience participation

possibly more angst which people seem to consider enjoyable generally.

neutral:

linnet and her brother would be retconned out of existence. i have no strong feelings on this, but maybe you do? i doubt it!

cons:

less N probably. at least for a while. and there's already not very much N. well- less of N himself directly talking. sylvan would talk about N plenty.

i'd kinda feel sucky about throwing away all the stuff i've written so far without finishing this sylvan's story :(

despite some aspects making writing easier, writing the rebooted blog in general will probably be harder. i'll have to think of interesting things to make happen!

idele would be retconned out of existence :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(

it would be setting the timeline further back, from just after X/Y to just after Black/White which could probably be mildly annoying sometimes.

man, i just realized that by the time september rolls around, i'll hopefully have a damn job! so it might be harder for me to keep up with the silly rp blogs and it might, like, slow down the action of this reboot. but that's a hypothetical.

[kitkatt0430]

i know that you write more about the flash/ legends than arrow but what do you think about diggle and lyla? or even the suicide squad eps with them and deadshot, cupid, etc?

Overall, I really like Dig and Lyla.

Dig is an absolute favorite of mine and he has put up with sooo much of Oliver's bullshit over the seasons, but he still sees Ollie as his found family and I was glad that he got to see Oliver one last time on the final season of the Flash. I do think he got robbed by having the Green Lantern option taken away when what was going to be his spin off show got taken away. There are times when the writing for him is inconsistent, but one of the most consistent parts of the arrow verse was the inconsistent writing so... *shrug* it is what it is.

I'm less fond of Lyla than of John, but I still enjoy her character. And I do see ARGUS as being an overall better and more ethical organization under her leadership. I get why Barry and Team Flash trust ARGUS under her leadership, it's not just because Oliver vouches for her but because she does clean up a lot of Waller's worst practices like forcibly conscripting missing persons like Oliver or the suicide squads. (I know the Ghost Initiative gets reactivated later, but I haven't seen those episodes, so I don't know how Lyla handles the team there. And the Arrow wiki doesn't clarify if they're still sticking bombs in people's necks.) I do think she got screwed over somewhat in the Red Skies Crisis, but I'm of mixed opinions on how that x-over event was handled.

As for the suicide squad episodes... it's complicated. On principal, I really hate the idea of suicide squads - criminals or not, supervillains or not, it is wildly unethical and immoral to be sticking bombs in people's necks to coerce them into doing dangerous jobs and I have no doubt this practice in canon is what inspired Lewis Snart to put a bomb in Lisa's neck to coerce Leonard into working with him. It's very much something that the 'good guys' should not be party to. It's the sort of thing they should be fighting against.

Lyla continuing to work with ARGUS despite it utilizing suicide squads - her loyalty to Waller despite these and other ethical nightmares Waller treats as totally normal things for ARGUS to participate in - is probably a big part of why I'm less fond of her than Dig. She does reform things later on, but her complicity is very uncomfortable before her promotion. For Dig (and Oliver) working with ARGUS isn't really something there's much choice in. As a vigilante himself, Dig knows ARGUS could easily justify arresting him and so his work with ARGUS isn't entirely voluntary though he is also doing it out of love and respect for Lyla as well. It's a messy situation and while I don't necessarily agree with Dig's choices I do think he tries to make the best of a bad situation.

That said, I do enjoy the episodes themselves. They provide a wealth of character development for Dig and Deadshot - the almost friendship that is reluctantly forged between John and the man who thinks he killed John's brother (and John thinks killed his brother) is fantastically done. Even Floyd's death is fairly well handled by the show writers considering the circumstances under which the real world decision to remove him from the Arrow-verse came from. (Deadshot being a character tapped for the movies made him suddenly off limits for the tv verse so he got written out permanently.)

I think the Suicide Squad episodes originally worked specifically because of Diggle and Lawton. So I can't really speak to what happened with the reactivated 'Ghost Initiative' in S7 since I still haven't watched that season. I don't know if they still had the explosive implants or not - I'd hope not, that Lyla would be better than that. Especially since this is the organization Cisco leaves Team Flash to work for; after removing the explosive from Lisa, I can't imagine Cisco being okay with knowingly working for an organization that creates Suicide Squads when it's convenient for them. But I can't say I'd be surprised - disappointed, but not surprised - to learn Lyla did treat the reactivated Ghost Initiative as a Suicide Squad similar to how Waller did. And if that is the case? I just kind of have to assume Cisco had no idea.

I can't say I have strong opinions about Cupid or the other Suicide Squad members on the show. Floyd's the one that really stands out to me. Cupid was a character I mostly found annoying; her obsession with romantic love just does not click as an interesting motive to me. Likely in part because I'm aromantic, which makes Carrie feel to me like a caricature of the perils of amatonormativity. And I couldn't really name any of the other Suicide Squad members off the top of my head - I had to look them up on the Arrow wiki - so that goes to show how little impact they really had on me when I last watched those episodes.

[qwuilty]

OK SO I LOVE UR TAKES ON P1 SO MUCH SO I GOTTA ASK… what kinda romantic partner do u think he’d be like :) ? like how he shows his love, what he loves his partner doing for him, is he over protective or not, the jealous type.. I wanna hear any of ur thoughts about how a relationship with him would go really :D

OOOOO time to Divulge into mushy headcanons cause if its not already apparent i. Do ship with p1 personally and have a lot of very gay warm feelings about him :3

So as i said in another post, i think getting into those initial phases of dating is pretty hard for him. The sudden expectations of being someone's partner and trying to be a GOOD one while also supressing anything "weird" about him tends to lead to more trouble than it's worth but the fear of them leaving him is pretty strong too. I feel like he would be one of those guys who worries at the start of a relationship if it was a fluke, if he got lucky for someone to like him, so he almost overextends himself trying to be Worthy Of Love for others.

It's probably best to get to know him a lot first before asking him out, that way he feels more comfortable around you and those expectations are less stressful, just asking him out of the blue isnt really going to work. You just gotta give him a little patience and emphasize you like him for him, not what he can do FOR you. Again i think he just has a very strong "i need to take this on and do good for others at the risk of my own health" type mentality, kinda martyr-y?

If you get him to a point where he's comfortable with you he mellows out a lot, establishing you as kind of a safe space to be around. Parallel play is a big thing for him, he doesnt want to bother others or be bothered when he's focused on something, but just being in the same room as someone and having their physical presence there is more than enough.

I still think a little of that "how the fuck did you want to date me" permiates, especially cause to be frank, i think of him as one of those people who are neurodivergent but in a way that makes him come off rude or disturbing on first impression, so he REALLY does not want to lose you and all. He's very eager to share things like shows or music he enjoys with his partner, downright shoving what he likes towards them because talking about that kinda thing with them makes him happy! And of course he'll also listen to their interests, he's not completely rude. He may have some questions and interrupt to ask them though.

He's pretty protective of his partner, not exactly posessive unless he's not doing well mentally, but he worries a lot. Expect him to offer to walk you home or keep an eye out. Maybe gets a little jealous and insecure, he doesnt want to be cause it's bad to get jealous (as far as his. Emotionally fucked parents have taught him), but he might get a little huffy or grumpy about it.

He actually keeps it pretty light on the pet names, mainly stuff like Dear, Honey, Darling, the classics. Calling him pet names will get him all flustered though and i headcanon he gets red faced pretty easily so despite his semi resting bitch face its very easy to tell when hes flustered :3c He'll probably just kind of turn away, refuse to look at them and mumble to stop. He doesnt want you to stop.

His slight flare for melodrama and writers nature does make him a pretty good writer, poetry is a little much and he tends to crumple them up out of embarassment or discouragement, but he may end up idly writing about his partner in his diary and wax a little poetics, the man has a lot of feelings. Maybe even a letter if youre out of town or if hes trying the Secret Admirer approach.

I also feel like he's the kind of guy you mention something to offhandedly and forget you even did but he remembers it and brings it back up, like if you said you like a certain kind of flower or a color he brings you something like that as a little present. It's not a super stretch to say his financial state probably isnt great considering he was getting evicted ingame, but he tries even still. There's like one post about how men love to the point of creation and i feel that very much with P1 dude, he loves to the point of making things just to make things for them or to make their life a little easier.

He's just generally a little quiet and on the more lowkey with his partner, maybe a little aloof to others who dont know him but he feels a great deal of comfort with them and has a lot of emotions internally he just. Does not want to express sometimes because he doesnt want to get made fun of for them. It doesnt mean he doesnt love them, good god he does, it just takes a little time to get him to bloom!!

[clay-cuttlefish]

Forging ahead with 52. #19 to #38. It's so much.

#19

The Evil Skeets plot is great. According to the omnibus it was a very late change away from a generic broken-time story, and I can kinda see that with how some of the earlier evil Skeets behavior doesn't seem super purposeful, but it all works for me.

#20

Mostly spaceguy plot that I don't care much about. The fight's cool at least.

I have no idea what fan speculation was like at the time but the idea of Supernova Jason Todd conspiracy theories is extremely funny so I support the intentional red herrings here.

#21

I keep changing my mind on which storylines I like more as I go. How could I not love Natasha?

#22

Dr. Magnus is back! I wish him being bipolar was handled more sensitively, the whole "oh the medicine keeps me from going ~crazy~" thing is :/, but I'm willing to read it charitably as his own perspective because I like him. He's a psychotic DC character who's heroic and not spooky or magical, just a guy who really doesn't want to have another depersonalization episode and has some internalized sanism about it, it could be so much worse.

#23

I like that Vic's more jaded to the horrors he can't stop than Renee is. He's had a lot of time to get used to the idea he can't save everyone - back in his own book he would've thrown himself in harm's way just like she wants to, but he's gotten better at not starting fights he can't win.

Hate to give Geoff Johns credit for anything but "What the hell are you doing?" "Seeing if it's contagious." is really good.

#24

"We were both guilty of ignoring Ted" Pretty sure Booster nearly died because he dropped everything to help but okay.

Osiris is just a kid...

Introducing a First Nations hero just to kill him off and give his stuff to a white dude sucks.

#25

Alan's out of the spaceguy zone and doing his own thing.

Almost halfway and the threads are still only starting to link up.

#26

I cannot get enough of Vic and Renee being friends with the Black Marvels. It's very sweet!

Tot my friend Tot :)

This is just a nice moment for them.

#27

I'm very into how Evil Skeets is drawn. He manages to be expressive despite having no moving features, it's a good trick.

Ohhh no it's now. I thought I had another issue, but no, this is the turning point.

#28

THE QUESTIONS!!! Love how they're heckling Kate together.

Kate is so cool.

Oh right, the spaceguys are still here.

#29

The way the mad science island handles mental illness generally sucks, but it's almost hitting at something interesting with Will being forced off his medication for the sake of "creativity".

#30

Get out of here Bruce.

I am going to cry!

#31

I don't even dislike the spaceguys really, but cmon, more of Ralph or Nat would've been better.

Ralph's still a detective even at his lowest! Strong foreshadowing.

#32

Uh oh, Ralph.

#33

Ohhh Charlie.

Him hallucinating Myra? Only able to admit he loved her at the very end?? It takes me out!

Almost all of his dialogue is straight from the O'Neil run. Rucka describes rereading the entire run just to write this issue because he had to get this right, and it shows.

There's a reason I consider O'Neil and Rucka the essential Question writers, and all the other takes to be interesting sidenotes.

#34

The kids aren't doing so well.

aaaaaaaa

#35

Hands you a picture of Nat. Hands you a picture of Nat. Hands you a picture of Nat.

Lex is the best villain in 52 and it isn't even close to a competition.

#36

AAAAAAA

Fuck dude! Nothing coherent to say here! Look at them!

#37

Wild emotional roller coaster for me as I go from Renee agony to cheering about Booster. My first read of this was a Time.

It's such a fun mystery. I can confirm it works if you know nothing about comics and are just along for the ride, and it comes together so well on the reread.

Mayor Ollie!

#38

AAAAAAA

"I'm afraid of who I'll become without you..." How am I meant to be normal about this!

I had to read this in two pieces because it made me need to get up and pace. It has done this every time I have read it. I am physically incapable of being normal about this.

Head in my hands. Comics are good and worth reading actually.

[brw]

I did question the wonder man casting decision initially bc literally the only think I know about Eric is that he’s racist in the comics (I’m pro making historically white characters POC in almost all instances unless it’s like, a shitty racist or tokenization trying to hide some other racist element).

And that alone like. Kind of proves the point that I (like many people) don’t really know enough about the characters to pass judgement. Unfortunately a lot of comic book characters are and/or have been racist, good guys or bad guys, including nonwhite ones. It’s possible they could fumble the ball but I don’t think there’s any real reason to assume the worst at this stage

Eric is an interesting case. When he's introduced in Avengers #52, the main person he fights is Black Panther, and he goes out of his way to compliment his fighting style during their battle. So it's not something that was really conceptualised early on, at all really. His villainy was never portrayed as a bigoted one, but rather a more vengeful one, a lesson in consequences for the Avengers who at this point have forgotten all about Simon. That's his main drive, his main focus, what motivates him. When he later goes on to meet with Vision in his next appearances, he's also not robot racist or anything in that way, as he is later depicted as being in contemporary comics.

In Avengers #160 though, Eric reacts violently when he hears Vision (who at this point he considers Simon more than actual Simon) has married Wanda, because he is bigoted against mutants. This is why he stops considering Vision to be Simon–he is so hateful against mutants, he doesn't think any brother of his would ever be into one. This also goes in to Simon's comment about Eric "beating the stuffing" out of him as a child, which sets up the kind of Good Brother/Bad Brother stuff they explore later on.

It's not until Englehart writes him in the early issues of West Coast Avengers and it's crossover with The Vision and the Scarlet Witch where Eric is depicted as properly racist, being bigoted to Man-Ape and considering Nekra to be white because of her albinism. I think this was done because we've learned more about Eric and Simon's past, and Eric has become a much more malevolent figure now that we've seen how he manipulated Simon and how he was abusive, and I think it's to more clearly show that Eric is, as I have said, the Bad Brother, and Simon is the Good Brother; to set the moral standard between these two characters, and to obviously give villainous traits to the villain. I think it's also done in a way to show how different the two brothers are–Eric, despite having actually grown up around the societal change, has not changed or developed as a person. Simon, despite coming out in a massively changed world, has done his best to move on with the times and to better himself. And as this aspect of Simon has faded, of being a man out of time as much as Steve Rogers is, and he instead has been made to be from a much more modern era, this aspect of Eric hasn't really been brought up too much. His hatred against mutants certainly is, and I definitely think it's heavily subtextual to how abusive he is to Nekra, but it's not really been an explicit part of his character outside of this series, but it is something I think writers think about and keep in mind.

Personally, I can see why it would be a pause for concern–but Eric isn't a character who you need to worry about having a consistent characterisation for, imo. Like when he was first introduced, there was something scarily calm about Eric, when he was with Vision. He seemed very assured of himself and what he was doing, and there was a real righteous aspect of his character, where if he hadn't been taking things out on the Avengers, he would have just been an older brother who misses and loves his younger brother. More modern comics have made him borderline psychotic, incredibly unstable, kind of just doing whatever because he's evil and he has a scythe hand. By nature of being a very D list villain, his character is mostly whatever writers really want from him at the time; sometimes he's just a sad, old man, who has rejected building any kind of personal life in exchange for dedicating himself to vengeance, and other times he's a malevolent evil spirit who literally sucks the souls out of people to continue living. I think there's a lot of ways to adapt Eric without worrying too much about the Englehart characteristion, because it's one take of many. Do I think it makes sense Eric would be that way? Yes, but it's also not an aspect of his character that is important enough that you have someone else when you remove it, if that makes sense.

The most important things for the show to get right imo is that Eric feels a real strong sense of protection towards Simon, and has an incredibly idealised version of who he thinks Simon is or at least should be, and that Eric is incredibly abusive towards Simon physically and emotionally. These are what I feel are the most core aspects of Eric Williams. He will protect Simon's memory at all costs, but he will also continue to terrorise and hurt the man Simon is when he doesn't act like the idea he's built up for Simon. That's who Eric is, and those are the most important parts of him. Everything else is situational, and up to the whims of specific writers. Englehart was one of many, but he's no different from say, King making him a raving lunatic type, while Thomas employed a more analytical characterisation.