#at least Darkwing's finally THERE

[victorluvsalice]

-->And sent them off to San Myshuno and their grocery store! I had Alice open the place up in the hopes that it would allow her to greet customers (she is bizarrely buggy in that regard), then had everyone change into their hot weather wear since it was pretty warm in the city (well, technically Smiler was ALREADY in hot weather wear, but I decided I wanted them to wear a different set – went with the silly backwards cap and sunglasses XD). There was a brief moment of flirtation on the sidewalk outside their store (Victor and Smiler sharing a kiss, and Victor and Alice holding hands while Smiler looked on with a grin – think I've found another "compersion"-related Valicertine picture there) –

-->And then – RETAIL TIME! Starting with the first customer of the day, (pre-refresh) Bella Goth! I was pleased to see that Alice WAS able to greet customers this time around and had her go say hi to Bella – a process that took some doing as Bella kept wandering around the store before Alice could reach her, but she got there in the end. Meanwhile, a super-confident Smiler went straight up to visiting Sulanian Ukupanipo (I THINK he’s a mermaid, but wouldn’t swear to it), greeted him, and immediately closed the deal, getting the guy to buy a bag of deodorant gummies for $179. XD Smiler and Victor then proceeded to chat with other customers while Alice kept working on Bella – she eventually closed the deal on her too, though it didn’t result in quite as spectacular a sale – Bella, as it turned out, only wanted a mere jar of meat substitute for $24. Aurelio Robles buying a bottle of milk from the fridges unprompted netted them more profit, as that cost him $25. XD Still, a sale’s a sale! While all this was happening, though, I noticed some displays were looking a bit manky, and prepared to have Victor magically clean them –

-->And then went “WAIT. YOU HAVE BEEN MEANING TO DO THIS FOR AGES, INCLUDING RIGHT BEFORE THEY LEFT FOR THE STORE TODAY. BIND HIS DRAGON FAMILIAR TO HIM FIRST.”

So I did. XD And thus Victor ended up with a very cute dark purple dragon buddy named Darkwing (the pre-generated name, I quite liked it and thus stuck with it) flying behind him for the rest of the day as he did his thing. :) I will always be a bit salty that you can’t do more with familiars than just watch them hang around your Sim (and bring said Sim back to life if they overload and die), but they do LOOK absolutely adorable, and I’m glad Victor was able to get the dragon one I so wanted him to get. :) Now if only he could cuddle the little guy...ah well.

[jweekgoji]

hello, you can resquest scenery, TFO Orion Pax, D-16, B-127 and Sentinel wait for their Conjux femme reader to give birth to their Sparkling. (about the others except Sentinel, where they go to the surface and return to Iacon and it would be that they meet their newborn Sparkling)

TFO Chars/Pregnant!Femme!Reader [hcs]

featuring: Orion Pax, D-16, B-127, Sentinel Prime tw: pregnancy, very brief mentions of violence, slighty yandere!Megs by the end, mixture of fluff/angst. word count: ~1940 a/n: I hope I understood your request well. Feel free to correct me if I did something wrong so I can remake it.

Orion Pax.

I feel like Orion (cogless, since it's before they went to the surface) is probably that typical young dad that has no idea how to take care of a child and might as well set on fire the kitchen in attempts to warm the bottle of energon for the sparkling.

But! He is very enthusiastic about it, and he supports you in every way he can; it's just that he lacks any real experience with it. Reading in the archives about sparklings, pregnancy and how to be a good mentor is easy; the hardest thing is to actually deal with it.

There is a big possibility that you are also cogless like him, and I'm not sure Sentinel actually cares about poor pregnant miners to give them at least a one-day off. Your supervisors would constantly remind you to continue working, since there's always a big need for energon.

Orion often picks up fights because of it. Can't those big bullies see that you're sparked? You need rest and good care, not lifting heavy equipment...As usual, he gets scolded by Elita for not doing his job properly, but he makes sure that he helps you with everything. You can rest during your shift, while Orion is happily working for both of you, so you won't be reported to the higher-ups. It's a little hard, but there is nothing he wouldn't do for you.

Following my last statement and the previous headcanons, Orion desperately wants the best future for all Cybertronians. He hates the thought that his sparkling will grow up in the same place as him. No actual home, no equality, only hatred from the others. That's when he sees the opportunity to change the future, he grasps onto it.

It pains Orion to leave you in Iacon. It wasn't really his fault, though. He would have come back to you after the Iacon 5000 race immediately if it wasn't for Darkwing throwing him on sublevel 50, and the next events after that...

Orion gains the maturity he lacked, and with realization of his other past mistakes, he also understands how careless he was before. You're probably scared to death without him; he left you without a word, and now you have to only guess where your conjunx is. How stressed you will be after someone tells you that he's dead.

Just as much as it scares him and makes him angry at himself, it also motivates him for more. No matter what, he will come back to you.

The moment he sees you, he is relieved. The reunion looks awkward, his form towering over your smaller one, but that doesn't bother either of you. When he finally meets the sparkling, his own little spark, all the pain from the last battle is gone.

Orion swears to you that he will never leave you alone after today; with a new spark born in this world, there is a hope. How meaningful it is for his own child to be born the day the Iacon becomes free.

D-16

Just like Orion, D-16 has a little to no idea how to take care of the sparkling. If his best friend will be so happy to be a sire, D-16 has mixed emotions about this.

Don't get me wrong, he is excited about it just like you, but D-16 is the bot who is reluctant when it comes to going against the rules. He is not sure if this is actually the right place and time for the sparkling to be born now. Both of you are cogless, and there is no great future for you. Maybe after countless cycles ago he can get a higher position, a bit better life, but will it be enough to raise someone so young?

Even then, he shows you that he is happy. He doesn't want you to think that he hates the idea just because he's not so sure about your current life.

D-16 is a naturally strong bot, probably one of the strongest when compared to other miners. He gets extra affectionate with his conjunx, holding you close and maybe even carrying you around if you show him the tiniest sign that you're tired. He is really sweet.

As Orion drags him into the race, he begins to slowly lose his cool. His outburst in the cave after finding out about the truth is even stronger. The betrayal, pain, the sick feeling of worry about you and his sparkling. If only Orion didn't drag him into that damn race, he would have been with you, making sure that you're safe, none of that would have happened.

The frustration boils over with each step he makes. He needs to come back to Iacon, to you, but first, he has to get rid of the one who caused the cycles of pain and humiliation.

 The time D-16 gets his servos on Sentinel, ripping him apart in front of anyone, he thinks it is the only way to solve everything. Only he can fix it, and only he can trust himself with protecting you.

You weren't there to see him deal with Sentinel, thankfully. It is for the best to avoid all the stress it could have caused if you saw him. Your dear conjunx is seething with hatred. Sentinel took many things from him; he wasn't even able to be there with you when your sparkling was born. D-16 Megatron will cherish both of you forever, and he will make sure to raise his little one as strong as him, so they won't live through the same events as D-16 was.

B-127

Oh, this one is a little too sad to speculate. Let's say, both of you are cogless but met each other a long time ago before you two ended up on sublevel 50. The moment you two failed to please the higher-ups and also the moment you find out that you're sparked up. What bad timing!

B-127 seems to be more happy than you are when he realizes that he is going to be a sire. A little too happy. Even though he doesn't fully understand it. You might go like, “You're going to be a sire, Bee” and then he hits you with, “I am sparked up??” which is kind of funny. Is that really your man?

Out of other bots, I can see  🐝 being the best sire ever. Of course, he gets a little confused, but who wouldn't be if they dealt with their first child? You try to explain to him everything you know about the topic, and he quickly catches up on it.

B-127 is already thinking about the names. Does Badasstron Junior sound like a good name for sparkling? Or maybe he should practice combining your names together? Anyway, it really helps him not to get insane down here. Having you around is good for Bee's mental health, though you're not so sure how much time passed since you were demoted.

Even then, Bee shows his caring side. He does get serious when the situation really needs it, so he is constantly tied to your hip because he wants you and the sparkling to be safe. The conditions are not great, but he makes the best of it. No matter how bad it gets, he always makes you smile, even though sometimes he has no strength to keep his cheerfulness.

Bee is happy to have more new friends and to partake in the journey of finding the matrix of leadership, but he doesn't want you to get hurt. That's why (with tears in his optics) you two agree that you should stay. But hey, it will probably not take too much time. He will come back with his new friends to Iacon with the matrix; the energon will flow again, so there's no need for you to stay!

Bee doesn't stop yapping about the fact that he is going to be a sire to Elita. This fella just likes to talk and when he sees the opportunity, he doesn't miss it! Poor Elita has to listen to him how hard it is to choose the name for the baby, or how he is going to be the best sire ever once the group comes back. Ohh, did you know that he also really-really loves you? And his sparkling? Elita barely handles him, but even though she never met you, she knows everything about you.

After Bee comes back to Iacon, he almost faints. First he got a cog, then met the high guard, got a job with the government, AND became a sire? When he sees his sparkling, he feels a little sad that he wasn't there with you, but he will compensate it in no time. Every little move your sparkling makes is cheered by,  and Primus have mercy on the poor bots around him. He is probably that dad who will show you the pictures of his kids...

Sentinel Prime

Being a conjunx of Sentinel has its own perks. Lucky you, no work for you! It will be too bad if you get sparked up and cogless, huh?

Sentinel is a busy bot. There is always work waiting for him, especially the oh so important ‘‘searching for matrix of leadership’ thing. Even then, when he is in Iacon, there are lots of paper jobs and meetings  being here and there since everything should be personally controlled by him.

One of the cons while being sparked up and being conjunx of Sentinel is that he doesn't have much time for you. By the end of the day, he always comes back to your quarters, but it's just so lonely without him! You're always surrounded by the guards, the medics, but they can never replace the presence of your loved one.

All the changes in your body don't help at all, the mood swings, the certain energon cravings in the middle of the night, so-so hard to deal with, but he's a Prime, after all, so that shouldn't trouble him that much...

Sentinel might be a little irritated with it. When you wake him up, just to ask for something Primus-knows-what-next, that will probably take hours to search for, but he has no strength to deny you. If his conjunx wants it, he gets it!

I like to think that Sentinel is probably always aware of your and sparkling's health, but in a slightly concerning way. Yes, he can miss one or two meetings at the doctor's with you, but that doesn't mean he is ignorant. Everything is reported straight to him, so if anything, he will drop his work and join you. There is also a looong track of every checkup you had, and he has a timer that counts seconds to when the sparkling is born.

Imagine how annoyed Sentinel is when he gets humiliated by the quintessons and misses the birth of his sparkling? He practically scowls when someone reports him about it and totally has to restrain himself from strangling someone on his way to Iacon, but he manages it somehow.

Sentinel's mood quickly replaced with warmth for you and the sparkling, even though inside his head, he is still annoyed. How could he miss it? When he planned everything to the last second? The one thing that keeps his mind occupied is the little one he has in his servos. He's not going to leave you two again. At least, when he still can.

[quixotical-lymbo]

Goes on my knees to beg for a D-16 or Orion Pax x smaller autobot reader— where they’re more picked on by the guards for their height and uselessness, so he stands up for them and such. Like a big protector for the reader (it can be any gender!)

Pairing: D-16 x gn!small-framed!Reader Rating: SFW Summary: When you're a small bot working in the mines, it's difficult to keep up with your much larger than life miners. However, there's always a bot in your corner. Warnings/Tags: Again, SPOILERS YALL, Headcanons, cybertronian reader, fluff, and slight angst.  Word Count: 1000+ words 

How you two met

🟡 When his team was gaining a new member,  D-16 met you for the first time

🟡 You were…tiny to say the least and he wondered how or why you were working in a dangerous place 

🟡 With your helm barely reaching his midsection plating and bright-eyed look, he didn't even give you a day before you'd buckle under the horrors of the mine 

 Becoming friends…?

🟡 It wasn't intentional and purely accidental, but he ended up eavesdropping on your conversations with the other miners in the group. It was the moment your intake spilled the name of a Prime he's admired so much did he finally join the convo. 

🟡 Yet…this convo turned into a heated debate about how cool or uncool Megatronus is. You took the side of uncool while D-16 took a stubborn defense of his favorite Prime. 

🟡 Since then, whenever the two of you crossed paths it always ended with butting helms or mumbling insults under your breaths. 

Helping each other

🟡 One moment you were carefully extracting energon from a hard-to-reach vein when a rumbling caught your attention

🟡 Screams and shouts of a cave collapsing caused you to panic as you struggled to squeeze out of the shaft you were in

🟡 You were one servo out when you felt a bigger one envelop yours and yanked you free. 

🟡 It was hard to see when your optics were squeezed shut and you were forced against a chassis as whoever saved you kept running until you both were out

🟡 It was D-16? 

🟡 "...thanks."

🟡 "Don't mention it. Like…ever." 

🟡 "But…"

🟡 "Didn't I say-" 

🟡 "You're still holding my servo." 

🟡 He ripped away from you like you burned him as his faceplate was set ablaze 

🟡 You could be heard giggling behind him as he scrambled to get away

Protecting each other 

🟡 Perhaps something happened to cause Darkwing to be up your aft, but whatever the reason was D-16 felt that you didn't deserve being pushed around and yelled at

🟡 The last straw was seeing Darkwing, quite literally, snatch you up and bark insults in your face

🟡 He was hesitant to step in until he noticed your shaky plating and teary optics.

🟡 Placating Darkwing wasn't easy and D-16 earned a scolding and harsh jab to the side of his helm, but it was worth since he managed to get you away from the taller mech

🟡 You smiled at him and mouthed a thank you. 

🟡 He returned the smile with a grin of his own.

Your dynamic with his other friend, Orion Pax 

🟡 Polite and simple

🟡 Nothing really much to say, you usually encounter him if he's hanging off of D-16 

🟡 Sometimes the two of you engage in petty banter about D-16's love for Megatronus, other times it's to vehemently deny Orion's accusation of your feelings toward his best friend

🟡 When this happens, D-16 is confused when comes back to you chasing after a laughing Pax 

Nicknames 

🟡 Oh boy, he called you all sorts of things (especially before you two were cool with each other). From pipsqueak to scraplet, D-16 had a range of short-related nicknames to call you.

🟡 You called him D sometimes, even called him Big D once and it felt…wrong for some reason. So, you stuck with D.

Friends…?

🟡 You silly frenemy relationship with the silver mech grew warmer overtime 

🟡 Still, it was weird to call him a friend…he was more of a…coworker you wouldn't mind sticking to if you had to be partnered up

🟡 For D-16, he somewhat felt the same way, but something in his spark was telling him otherwise. It didn't help that a certain blue and red mech kept teasing him with fake googly optics whenever you and him were standing near each other. 

🟡 It was extremely awkward for a few chords (days) until another incident with Darkwing brought the two of you closer together. 

🟡 That incident involved getting scolded again, but instead of D saving you, it was you saving him by taking the fall

🟡 The two of you were in the med bay talking with each other. Intimate whispers and breathy laughs were exchanged. That night, the coldness between you two melted into a closer bond.

🟡 Then, he and Pax were nowhere to be found after the Iacon race. 

Dynamic after the events of the movie 

🟡 You didn't see D-16 for a while until he returned and…he's changed. 

🟡 It was one thing learning that your entire existence was a lie set up by a figure you once looked up to, but witnessing a mech you secretly admired turn into the very thing you were horrified by was…you couldn't even process the emotions that surged within you.

🟡 After receiving a cog, you can decide to follow D-16, or Megatron as he named himself, or stay. 

🟡 If you decided to follow after Megatron, expect his suspicion and lack of trust in your desire to join his cause. However, it doesn't take long for you to worm your way into his spark when you speak passionately about his cause and his goal to rule over Cybertron without him needing to corrupt you himself. Whether or not the previous feelings from before his change into the mech he is now is uncertain. Megatron is too busy with rallying troops/re-establishing the pecking order and you're left figuring out how to be of service to him. Only time can tell. 

🟡 If you decide to stay, you'll never see D-16 again. Only rare glimpses of Megatron from a distance. 

😼 - I do not give permission for anyone to translate, copy, republish, or plagiarize any of my written works. I provide no permission for any of my literary works to be used in artificial intelligence. banner(s) by @kodaswrld !!

[lavenlady]

Hai hello!

I really like your work and the way you present the characters ^^

Would you be interested in writing megatron or Optimus prime (whichever you prefer :3) x Organic/cybertronian reader? Maybe she was previously Sentinel's partner who he got as a gift for killing the rest of the primes? Maybe they knew her earlier as Orion pax or D-16?

I really like your work

I am happy that you liked it! I have decided to do both but more on D-16 side.

The reader will be a minicon - small but powerful!

Enjoy :3

✿Special Gift✿

D16/Megatron and Orion Pax/Optimus Prime

➤ You were 'taken in' by Sentinel Prime

➤ Forged a little after the betrayal so you do not know the truth, but found the perfect Prime suspicious - he was just too perfect

➤ You were a minicon and minicons posses the ability to power up cybertronians, so Sentinel saw usefulness in you and decided to let you keep your cog, even then you only reached the hip of a miner bot

➤ It was a win-win for Sentinel, he just kept getting more and more powerful after his successful 'promotion' - a special gift that made him more of an Icon in Iacon

➤ Oh how many times he showed off with your help and called you his partner

➤ You were usually by Sentinels side in Iacon but were always left behind when the Prime went searching for the Matrix of Leadership

➤ You couldn't really go anywhere, but after the Iacon 5000 race you were intrigued by those two miners - Orion Pax and D-16

➤ You probably saw how Darkwing threw them into Sub-level 50 and decided to follow them

" So you are the miners that took part in the race. I never knew I would see this in my entire onlining! "

➤ You accompanied them to the surface and finally got to know everyone better, mainly D-16 and Orion Pax

" You sneaked into the archives, nearly got beaten and was close to fall into the void?! On a daily basis?! And I thought I had an exciting life! "

" You are on top of the sector and use a steel bag to train?! You are so strong! I bet you could snap someone in half! "

➤ Then finally finding out the truth...

" Ha! I knew it! There was something fishy about him! "

➤ And others finally got their cogs and you got an upgrade, but couldn't really check as you had to run away

➤ Others had quite a difficulty in transforming and thus you decided in the end to cling to D-16

➤ Then High Guard takes you hostage and D-16 takes on Starscream, but you couldn't just sit there and watch

➤ So you jumped to help D-16, transforming into his fusion cannon, but quite more upgraded

➤ Now you can imagine how easier it was to find them when D-16 fired into the sky

➤ Then Sentinel's pawns capture you and you finally met Sentinel again

➤ All is the same, but as D-16 is about to be branded, you finally transform and jump at Sentinels face trying to buy others time

➤ In the end Sentinel breaks your knee joints to keep you in place and that fuels even more D-16's rage - or rather said fury

➤ His new friend used and forced to do as the false Prime says? Not gonna happen again

➤ Then the branding, the fight that you decided to take part in only wishing for the treachery of Sentinel to end, not expecting Orion's actions

➤ And finally Orion gets shot

➤ You and D-16 didn't want that to happen and especially didn't plan on killing their friend

➤ It was D-16 decision to drop down Orion into the void, but you couldn't really find the reason to leave him - you have to get rid of the false prime still, it was his fault after all

➤ You and now Megatron, after getting the Megatronus Prime's cog and a power up, plan to fix Iacon all together

➤ Then Optimus Prime comes and the battle followed by banishment

➤ You didn't know who to choose, you really liked both of your friends

➤ But at the same time....

➤ Not everything can be solved without violence, it was needed to be done and you will - for now - stand by it

➤ Feeling sad that you have lost some of your friends, but at least you still have D- Megatron left

➤ He promised a new, better future and you are going to help in achieving it, even if it ment to offline in process

□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□■□

(anyway here is the height I imagine the reader having

The cybertronians in Tf One are huge so minicons have to be quite bigger to fit with proportions - at least i think)

(Master list)

[bibliophilesince2003]

Transformers One

Ok guys, I just realized something about Orion and Elita and their relationship. I've only watched the movie once and can't wait to re-watch it, but I do remember key scenes and have seen clips others have shared over the past few weeks that cover more and more scenes not included in the trailers.

Oh... I guess I better hide the rest of this post for those who don't want to be spoiled.

Most of us can agree that Elita's means of affection towards Orion are more dominant later in the movie. She crouches to get down on his level, she's encouraging when Orion is feeling down, she leaned towards the pit when Orion fell, she taps or puts a hand on his shoulder or arm to get his attention. She sticks close to him.

Orion is a bit flirtatious towards her in the beginning; it usually doesn't work or backfires. Most of the time, his actions mean more than his words, but here are three key moments I picked up on that really highlight his feelings about Elita, if it weren't already obvious...

He shoved Elita clear of danger at least two times, maybe more.

The first time was when the cave was collapsing and Elita was throwing the poles that activated and kept the cave from collapsing as fast. On the last one, she holds it above her head and is perfectly willing to stay there. Orion dives forward and quite literally grabs her middle and they both collapse to the ground. Well, we don't see them collapse to the ground, but we can assume gravity is a factor. In the next scene, Orion and Elita are separated but relatively close to each other, especially as their banter resumes.

The second was in the midst of the battle right before D-16 and Bee were captured. At one point Elita wasn't paying attention, and Orion yelled her name and dove for her, sparing her from any damage. The pile of rocks fell on him instead.

Sure, sure. He's a leader and would likely do that for anyone. Still, it proves he cares about Elita so much he would be willing to die for her, and if that's not potential couple material I don't know what is.

When Darkwing fired Elita, Orion was extremely apologetic and tried to tell Elita he was sorry. After she walked away, those who have seen the movie are well aware of the "my finger can transform" scene. I just realized... he was getting back at Darkwing for firing Elita. He may be reckless, but he said "I'll give you a limited option" as an attack on Darkwing who said that since they were miners, they didn't have a whole lot of freedom in terms of where to go, which is why Elita ended up in Waste Management. Orion wasn't too pleased with Darkwing's treatment towards Elita, and I love that. I'm sure Orion wasn't too pleased with Darkwing's treatment of all miners, but this is one of the only times if not the only time we see him stand up against Darkwing, and I would like to think that caring for Elita had something to do with it.

Finally, another iconic scene is the train one, where Bee turns and bolts. Orion is the last one to turn and run. In fact, he looks to make sure the others are already running - D-16 and Elita - glances at the rising horizon again, and then breaks into a faster run. I guess this is more inclusive than just Orion and Elita, but I think you get my point.

Besides the physical and verbal proof, my favorite scene is when Elita surveys the surface for the first time and says "it's beautiful" and Orion immediately looks at her and smiles. He's either smiling at her awe or thinking the same of her, and either way it's just too sweet. That scene has already been pointed out by others, which is why I didn't really include it in my observations.

Optimus Prime is considered a "loner" by many, but it seems he's more vulnerable than I thought.

[redraven393]

Transformers one time? Yes, it IS

help it is so weird to see him without a face mask, it felt naked.

what are you up to OP?? uh? ah the archives! - Opp to loud- OhhHH~ Lore.

oh no time to bounce OP- wait, Orian Pax?? oh well I can still can call him OP- OMG YOU'RE A REGULAR AT THIS?

buddy you do not negotiate about this with feds- OP- PFFFT okay

HE'S A DORK!

uh? - Uhhhh???- OP???- omg-sure take the snacks- OMG WHY IS EVERYONE KNOW YOU OP???

Opp get caught- omg??? MEGSS???? I recognize that bucket head everywhere.

D-16??- aww they're BFF! - omg he is a dork- Sentinel Prime, eh? will he be a jerk this time around? - the surface?

--------------------

OP: just imagine if we have a Cog- D-16: I will transform into a shovel to hit you OP: ... I don't like how fast you answer that

YOUR HONOR THEY ARE DORKS!!

------------------

Megatronus prime is quite loved in this one huh? to still be called strong and not a tyrant? - and aww D-16 is a fan

did my eyes deceive me or is that fukin WHEELJACK & JAZZ??? YAUBSJ

to the MINES! - JETPACKS!

OHHH ELITA MY DARLING! -omg she's a manager- pfft OP please

ohh? this is a unique mining system- uh oh Wheely- oh no

JAZZ BABY NOOOO-

----------

Jazz: Just leave me! OP: ok Jazz: no wait :(

I love him

----------

THEY'RE SAFE!

aww Elita I am so sorry for you Darling- oh no OP don't- yeah kind expect that

oh, Sentinel home ~ is that Sunstriker? or am I crazy anytime I see the red and gold duo I just Twins???

wait its I-acon not La-con??? omg- huh he already sounds sketchy to me D-16

PROWL! - shut up Sentinel I knew you were a hack anyway- PROWL!!

ohh~ a competition at the 5000th birthday of Iacon?

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE He SAYS IT HE SAYS THE THING!

this version OP is so much fun btw I love him but just like D-16 I too want to shake him like a Maraca- OP dear pls don't take your only best friends to a death trap

glitch as swear words for the bots is everything-, FINALLY we are back to our roots of unique swear words

aww that is so sweet.

ARCEEE!!- IRONHIDE!

huh so Quenteson is in this mess huh? 50 years, so not a recent development but not that old either

the previous Primes are so cool!

oh? - OH- PAX PLEASE!!!- and.... they're off, okay who's planning the funeral for these idiots?

aww at least Arcee is rooting for them :) - BLURR!!!!- SKYFIRE!!!!

----------

D-16: if we live, I'll KILL you OP: okay bestie :D

dorks

-----------

Opp almost- SWINDLE- TAILGATE!! :D- JETSTORM!

NOO- oh no guys please don't be that dumb- they are that dumb omg- Fuk you darkwing

HOTROD! >:D - Mirage!!- oh wat? Magnets? - omg they might actually win this- fuking shoot for the skies next time I guess

CHROMIA! (you fukin bitch)

--------------

well, you guys did wonderful for Minerbots actually

Arachnid - oh? I didn't know we were chill like that Sentinel? are we cool? - are we cool or is he still like a douche? like not Villainy but just ya know an Ick?

is he a frat dude???/

well at least you guys are not going to the slums- Hi~ DarkWing you good buddy~?

fuk you darkwing- sorry boys guess I jinx it- uhm an empurata?

OMG BUMBLEBEE MY BABY BB!! :D :D

oh, darling what have they done to you- sheeshh Bee Honey you are not meant to be here, who is evil enough to make you stuck in here!

Orion dear, Dee darling please save this boy- STEVE! - oh honey D:

OH lore? YO?! - yeah you better watch yourself D-16- didn't the just tell you that they are going to the surface? AGAIN?

Yay you brough the boy- what is the surface anyway? are they like in an eternal lockdown inside the planet’s surface or???- Elita please! -

----------------------

omg? is the planet growing mountains? - you're in Elita? - yeah Bee you got the right idea- oh nooo-

off- ELITA Darling please- hey you were the reason we were out of the train in the first place- ohh robot animals?

Bee honey please-why is it not metal? - a city?? in the surface? rust?

omg-uhhhh tense- wtf was that -Plants? in a metal world?

HOLLY SHIT is that a dead body- is the dead Quinteson rotting body makes the plantation?

oh- omg the all there??- are they eaten or were they murdered>

oh? Alpha Trion? He LIVE!? - might want to rest up a bit old guy-

oh? - huh so AT is unfamiliar with Cog less bot? - Oh? so Sentinel is a bitch then?

oh, wait so there are multiple primes at the same time? huh

SENTINEL YOU ARE A BITCH

so, it just corroded away? - I knew them living under the planet was just fukin weird- wait, are they?? using the TFP dronecon?

OMG those bitch - yeah D-16 we need a revolution

hey now, no need to victim blames here, you all are screwed- no need to fight with each other

oh, shit ok chill my guy, I’m in for the murder but like chill

omg I say it again Sentinel is a bitch-

oh? AT what are you doing- omg is it okay to like took from the dead like this??-

Omg upgrade!!- let's go! - glad Bee is here with us btw my boy deserves this.

say it say the line AT- Nonoo he didn't say the line all I want is for some to say the line WE WERE SO CLOSE TO THE LINE!!!

Opp uh oh someone is here- well if you won't say it I will

Till All are One Alpha Trion

it’s the TFP Dronecon!!! :D where is the REAL Steve- OMG he's a MAXIMAL! a RHINO! - Airchanid, you bitch

pfft L- yeah for someone who never have cogs before having them will be quite difficult - Bee so far have the most natural ability in this

HE'S A TANK! - OH NO BB D: - oh he's okay- aww look at all these dorks

oh no D-16 have a taste in blood- hmm tension is in the air

SENTINEL YU BITCH (I’ll say when ever I see him) -god he's frat boy personality sound so fukin annoying now.

Till all are one Alpha Trion, rest in peace

SHUT UP SENTINEL- okay wait so are all of them a triple changer? is that like a more normal thing here?

the nonmetal nature in Cybertron is still messing me up tbh.

------------------

oh no is this D-16 emo era? are we getting closer to Megatron?

I mean yeah, he's right OP there is a reason it took 50 cycles for even any of you to realize this and you guys got some Hard proof

UH OH- WHOOO???- they are surface bots?? -

STARSCREAM!!! - SHOCKWAVE!!!!!- SOUNDWAVE!!!! AHUVS AGVTW

omg Bee honey- oOhhH the high guards, eh? - OP please.

where are the other members of your usual trios Star???- uhhh yeah you guys are intense

oh? go off D-16 my king??? - OoOHhh

FIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHT

uhh? Star are you a masochist? - oh shit that is some big ass gun-

oh, shit here comes the revolutions - oh no mommy is here.

Piggy bag ride let’s go!

FIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHT- part 2

well at least Star still have his cowardly persona- Yeah Go ELITA! oh no- ah shit

---------------

not my boy nooooo- where all of the positive thinking go OP??

PFFT okay ELITA- Elita my queen please I love you but please!

yeah, there's no way you guys can do this alone YOU NEED to have more bots at your cause

YEAH, QUEEN GO OFF! - I love Elita did I say that already I’ll say it again. ILOVE YOU ELITA OUR QUEEN!!

also looks like there is no empurata in this verse HURRAY

I also love Shockwave and Soundwaves btw they are my blorboos

HE SAYS THE LINE!!!!!

--------

BEE YOU OKAY :D- SHUT THE FUCK UP SENTINEL YOU BITCH

omg so that's why he has that annoying high pitch voice-

-------

D-16: you are a traitor Sentinel: NU UH! >:(

I fukin het him

---------

don’t touch him you bitch- THAT BITCH!!- that fucker- YOU"RE DRAWINGS ARE SHIT!

OP SAVE YOUR BESTIE- fucker you can fly???-

oh, hey Ironhide??- YEAH EAT SHIT DARKWING- oh hey Springer????

Smokescreen?? oh hey Prowl -

SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH SPEACH

say the line damn it- why is no one saying the LINE

------

fukin sentinel you bitch- D-16 honey please take a rest

yeah, ELITA LET'S GOO-THE MINERS LET'S GOOOOO

FIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHTFIGHT - part 3

EWWWW WTF AIRACHNID- KILL IT KILL HER

Perfect landing if I do say so myself- hey you guys~

bestie we're here for you :D - okay still in that murder drive I see- what is your power exactly Soundwave

FACE MASK FOR MY BOY >:D- lmao get wrecked fuker- KNIFE HAND!

Sentinel you bitch- someone record that bitch's monolog so we can stream it to everyone later- oh yeah, we have the one who always see everything

omg the baby has a taste in blood now-

YEAH, GO OFF KING GET THAT BITCH!

someone make sure Bee is okay, he has too much fun in this

WELCOME TWICH STREAM CHATS TODAY WE ARE EXPOXING THE GOVERMENT!

okay guys maybe let's still be gentle in the mines those stuff is explosive right??

D-16 Please be chill omg- let's not destroy the whole city and like have more collateral damage

shut up sentinel you bitch - OP WHY??!!!- okay you guys let's focus on Sentinel first then-

OP! - omg fukin why!!! why can’t any of you be chill- that's why you need to be chill for once!

D-16? - D-16 buddy pull him up please don't - BITCH WHY????- THERE IS NO REASON FOR THAT!!! NO FUKIN REASON?!-

well, you make your choices, better kill that motherfucker like you said you would.

Primus if you're in there somewhere please god you better save this stupid ass mech- Primus you here?

oh, shit yeah public execution- oh yeah D-16? is this where we going to start a fukin tyranny?

oh, hey guys chilling in the afterlife? - THE MATRIX! >:D

welp boys introducing the new leaders of the two factions Megatron and Optimus prime

MEGATRON BUDDY PLEASE FUKIN CHILL - my guy please be chill

hey Optimus, will still be calling you OP- oh dear the newly Exes meet each other

guys please we do not need to see you two having a fight between the Exes here at the public- ohh fire power Ey?

everyone is just running away and you know what same I too would not want to be anywhere near this shit

THE BATTLE AXE! - you guys need to not be her this is between them only

guys please- this is just some bad break up please someone learn to communicate?

good God Primus all mighty

WHY ARE YOU GUYS SHOWING US THIS AT THIS MOMENT FUK

welp there he goes up in the surface- is the Energon still not flowing?

are you flirting with Elita Op? after just breaking up with Megs not too long ago? (/jk)

--------

Bee: I GET TO WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT :O?! Bee: this the greatest day of my life >:D

I love him

-------

the Energon is flowing again let’s go!!!!!- the COGS!! LET'S GOOO

IRONHIDE!!! - SIDESWIPE!! - ARCEE - JAZZ - AUTOBOTS no wait so we are not warring with the Decepticon then?

ROOOL Credits

Oh, shit I guess we are fighting the Decepticon- cool tattoo btw Megs

[zelda-cooper]

Character Ideias - Darkwing Duck (aka Drake Mallard)

This blog is for Darkwing Duck writers who plan to write a fanfic, comic or anything that directly or indirectly involves the character Bushroot. The ideas may not be for everyone and everyone has their own different vision of the character, but this blog is for those who are experiencing writer's block or any other creative issues. I hope you understand and, if you use any of these ideas, please give me credit. Thank you for understanding.

Yeah, I know... It took a while but it's here... Sorry for the delay, it's just that my hyperfocus on Loonatics is back and it really messes with my reasoning...

"Excuse me, let me introduce myself..." •pushes me away• "HELLO, MY DEAR FANS!!! I, the great Darkwing Duck, managed to convince you to finally write a blog about me! You lucky ones, hearing only things about me! HAHAHAHAH!"

Sure, sure... Is the speech over? I have to get back to the blog, I'm completely out of patience today...

"Yeah yeah yeah... You know, guys? She lost the first version of the blog because of Tumblr's problem... And probably incompetence..."

I HEAR THAT YOU S-

"Anyway, keep the blog!"

Character's Past

This part is one of the ones that I think won't be that much of a problem regarding the origin of "how Drake became a superhero", because there are a lot of origins that he told in the original series... Even though I think that the ones he told in the episode "The Secret Origins of Darkwing Duck" are all lies and one of the only reliable ones is from "Clash Reunion".

"Wait a minute, are you calling me a liar?!"

I'm not calling... I'm sure...

"HEY HEY HEY!!! REPEAT IF YOU HAVE THE COURAGE!!!"

The fact is... Darkwing Duck's origin does have a basis and foundation, you can choose whether he incorporated the persona as a child or at the end of college in his fight against Megavolt. Now, when we talk about the Reboot... We have a small problem... We do know how he became Darkwing Duck in Ducktales 2017, the hero was his idol since childhood and he became an actor for that, then after the event with Jim Starling, he decided to incorporate the heroic persona into his life. So far, so good... But Drake's family was never exactly shown. And, I know, his ancestors were shown, but I mean HIS PARENTS. In this one, it really is a very free path for interpretation, however, I have some suggestions.

- Orphan

There's no way to escape that much, especially because Darkwing is inspired by Batman, and we already know what happened to Bruce... I'm not saying it should be the same, but at least have something similar.

- Toxic or problematic family

This is another factor that could be interesting and, if you want to consider the original version of the series that Negaduck is an alternate version of Darkwing Duck, it's a good starting point. I've seen some people use this and, honestly, it's valid. It could be one of the factors for Drake to actually be overprotective of Gosalyn and, at times, be a jerk to her (example: "Slime Okay, You're Okay").

- Normal family, but...

Now a more interesting one... We can consider that Drake did have a normal childhood, his parents were present and stuff. However... Why doesn't he talk about his parents? And why did he never introduce them to Gosalyn? Maybe he had a fight with them? Did he cause an accident that made him distance himself from his family? You can interpret this part however you want, whether it was Drake's fault or not, but considering his difficult personality... Maybe it was his fault... Speaking of guilt...

The Problems of a Problematic Personality

Now the fun begins... We all know that Drake is not exactly the nicest person in the world... In fact, he has a lot of problems... Whether it's his ego, his character, his relationships, his self-esteem, probably traumas he suffered... But let's start slowly... What are the consequences of Drake's personality? Let's start with his relationships...

- Complicated Relationships

I want to start with this factor because Drake definitely has problems here... First, we have Megavolt/Elmo, who, I know, was never mentioned in the original series, but in many headcanons people say that they were childhood friends. And, yes, it's cute and even cool to think that... But have you seen what Drake's CURRENT friendship with Launchpad is like? They are indeed good friends, but there were many times when Drake treated Launchpad badly, like in "Jailbird" and "Quack of Ages". If he treats LP badly, imagine Elmo, who at that time was also a person with no self-esteem and who was constantly bullied. We already know that Drake sometimes tends to be a coward (not like Bushroot, but he values his life a lot), so he probably didn't protect Elmo. Speaking of friendships... Now, if we take it to a romantic level, it doesn't improve the situation one bit... I've already written a blog about how Drake and Morgana's relationship is too problematic, so I won't repeat it... Now, regarding the Gosalyn issue... Even though he's a good father in certain aspects, he's also not... Whether it's because he's a jerk to her or because he's too overprotective... So, yeah... Their relationships aren't good... Worse than that, is the issue of his hero life.

- Failed Heroic Life

Okay... Where to start? Maybe the fact that he's mostly lazy and not very competent? Sorry, guys... But you have to agree that Drake is really very incompetent! He may have good intentions sometimes and even do the job right sometimes, but most of the time he only cares about fame and is driven by it, sometimes also driven by anger when someone underestimates him. So you can get an idea... Even as a VILLAIN, even if as a disguise, he is incompetent in and of himself, because instead of committing crimes, he ends up solving them unintentionally. Again, there are times when he does manage to do the hero's job right, but in the original series that's not the case. And I know it's a comedy series, but still, his deeds aren't exactly good...

- Psychological Effects

In addition to work relationships and personal relationships in general, there is another factor here... Drake has extremely low self-esteem and this causes the chain reaction that is the egocentric and temperamental personality that makes him problematic. But have you ever stopped to think about how this also affects him mentally? Let's be honest, the life of a hero probably causes Drake a lot of trauma, whether it be stress, burnout, relationship problems and, mainly, a feeling of failure. Drake Mallard, as a civilian, is a mediocre person (in the sense of being a totally average person with nothing special), but when he is Darkwing Duck, he manages to have the self-esteem he always wanted. And therein lies the problem... Staying comfortable in a fantasy, in a persona, is not good... Keeping the mask of confidence when your inner self does not have it and embracing arrogance has a big impact. You end up hurting yourself and the others around you and end up pushing them away, making you feel alone. And, as we can see, Drake does not exactly do well alone...

Eh, I... I think Drake is not well mentally... So let's try to talk about a lighter topic...:'3

Character Development

The character development in the original series is a bit messy, but it's easy to draw a line under it. An arrogant and lonely person who, with the help of people in his life, ends up changing and, even with adversity and internal problems, ends up becoming a better person and a better hero. It's a very basic line of reasoning and a "cliché" character development, but it's effective when done correctly. So, I'll just give you a few tips to help you with your writing.

- Work on the character's psychology

This may require some psychology study, but it's not that complex... Basically, you'll end up acting like a therapist/psychologist for the character. What are his fears? Why does he act the way he does? Why is it difficult for him to change? Use some base episodes if you can; the more you study more about the character's psyche, the more capable you'll feel about writing about him.

- Parallels of the hero and his villains

Again, this may require some in-depth analysis, but like Batman's villains, Darkwing's villains (depending on whether you're going to rewrite them or not) end up having small parallels to Drake. To give you some basic examples... Quackerjack could be a representation of Drake's "mask", how he performs his actions as a hero just as Quackerjack performs his actions as a villain. Bushroot could represent Drake's insecurities and his fear of being alone. Liquidator could represent how his ego and hunger for fame can lead him to be a despicable person. And Megavolt represents Drake's demons from the past, how his personality affects others and turns them into enemies or just hurts them. It's up to your interpretation.

- How Relationships Affect Drake

I've already said how much he affects people, but what about the other side of the coin? We know how much being Gosalyn's father affected him in a positive way, he started to care and have a more noble cause for himself. Lauchpad was a friend for him to vent and talk about his problems. Morgana, in my view, would end up becoming a safe place for Drake to be himself. Now, as for the Justice Ducks... You can interpret that however you want... But, in general, it would make Drake start to have a greater sense of leadership and more responsibility. However, there is one last topic that... This one, although optional, is one of the most interesting to explore...

The Trinity of Alternate Darkwing Duck Versions

This topic, as I said, is completely optional, but if you want to play with multiverse or alternate versions, I have some comments about that... Again, I'm going to play with Undertale's routes.

- Dictator's Route

Let's start with Darkwarrior Duck's route, who is a character that I find, honestly, very interesting... He's still Drake, but at the same time, he's not him anymore... And all because he lost Gosalyn... He lost the person who made him see beyond his greed for fame. But now... She's no longer by his side... You can say that she died (because alternative futures are something that's complicated to work with and, honestly, I don't have the patience to work with time travel) or something else, but the loss of Gosalyn will result in him becoming a dictator who probably killed ALL of his villains and has a completely distorted view of "justice".

- Negative Route

This is his route based on the Negaverse. You can consider Negaduck to be like the original and he's an alternate version of Drake. But if you take into account the 2017 version, you can play with the concept... You can make Jim a good person in the Negaverse and Drake a bad person here. I'm not saying to turn Jim into "Darkwing Duck", no... But making Drake a villain is an interesting idea in the Negaverse, regardless of whether this universe will have a "Darkwing Duck" or it will be just the Friendly Four who stop him. There are thousands of reasons you can give to make Drake become "Negaduck" here, it's just up to you to choose.

- Archer's Route

To finish the trinity, I wanted to talk about an alternative version that only appeared in the comics: Quiverwing Duck. This version of Drake also lost Gosalyn, but also... We didn't see the "Launchpad" version here at any point, so... It could be that he didn't just ask for Gosalyn, he could also have lost Launchpad. We can consider that this Drake lost his support network for some reason, but unlike Darkwarrior, he remained at least sane. He kept his true sense of justice... However, he is still lonely... In this version, you can explore Quiverwing Duck's loneliness and how much this trauma of losing his loved ones affected him.

Reference Suggestions

As a side topic, I will recommend some characters that might be interesting to use in writing your version of Drake Mallard/Darkwing Duck.

- Batman from DC Comics

It's the most obvious choice, since it's inspired by Batman (in part), and it could also be interesting to explore the psychological side of the character.

- Caitlyn from Arcane (Spoilers Alert)

One of the most recent, let's say... Although her arc was "weak" in the end, she's still a good choice. Whether it's to show Drake's inexperienced side at the beginning or his downfall when he becomes a dictator.

- Blitzø from Helluva Boss

A character who struggles with his relationships and has a toxic personality, who is struggling with this side of himself and has to face the demons of his past. Could it be more perfect for Drake? -w-

- Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz from Steven Universe

One of the most complex characters in fiction, one that you can either love or hate, but it is the perfect representation of a problematic person who also has to fight against these problems and who hurts people without even realizing it. It is really essential to work on this side of Drake and his constant struggle, also the side of him being "truly neutral".

- Azula from Avatar The Last Airbending

A recommendation that is unusual, but can be a good basis, whether for the version of Drake as Darkwarrior Duck or him as "Negaduck", his decline into insanity.

Conclusion

So, are you happy now?

"Of course! Worthy of me!"

Do you want to finish it for me? I really need it...

"Yeah, yeah, yeah... Just this once..."

Well, my dear fans! Thank you for your patience in waiting for my wonderful blog to arrive! It had to be rebuilt from scratch due to some technical issues, but now everything is fine. Again, thank you for coming this far and leave in the comments any suggestions, opinions, compliments for me and other things. Now I have to go, the villains of Saint Canarian don't rest day or night! Goodbye and, don't forget... Stay Dangerous!

[nhoeer]

Alright continuing my last drabble of SGTFOne [here]

So I decided that the team would be the same as the original. That mean we will have SG Elita and SG Bumblebee ( The white IDW version not the Goldbug colour).

Okay after the accident, instead of being punched in the face for standing up for Elita, they got punished by cleaning the whole dorm.

Then the announcement from Alpha Trion came where he resechedule the final exam to be held earlier wich caused Orion to panic due he has not submit any of his assigment making he can not enter the exam. Orion thus tell Dee about his assignment the day before the exam making Dee deadpanned and questioning why did he just has telling him now. He make it clear that he need to study to pass the exam, but Orion kept begging and making that puppy eye with very long please on it wich is very effective on getting what he wanted to do.

Okay so The Iacon race scene in the original, I'll give you surprise what happen in the SG.

So in the -1 day before exam, Orion guiding Dee into ancient site where he can get old relic to submit for his assignment. When they arrive to the site, Dee was fascinated by the beauty of the ancient building yet wondering why it doesnot look to be abandoned like commonly a ruin should be. That is until Orion give him a mace and himself an axe. Oh no no noo… that is not an ancient site alright, That is a still active gladiator arena where the winner can take home an expensive old relic from the past. Dee horrified by it, but Orion already register both of them.

The fighting system would be like Battle Royal, where the last standing bot is the winner. Oh they also meet with Darkwing here and teamed up with him. Unfortunately they accidently eliminated him. Much like the original race, here they also did not win the match and pretty much frag up because tomorrow is the exam and not only they got beaten up but also nobody were preparing for it.

But luckly, Alpha Trion came looking for them. He was fascinated by Dee's anti matter proposal, he also gave credit to Orion for stopping the spreading fire into research building. He then invite them to his place and suggest them to skip the exam (because he will make them pass no matter what).

Dee was so excited about it, but suddenly after Alpha Trion visit, Darkwing came with the unusual super friendly attitude talking about the match yesterday before he finally conclude that he has to get rid both of them before any of them open their mouth about the match. (A teacher joining illegal pit fight while dragging his student? Ohhhh.. getting fired is his least concern).

Aaaaannnd that is how they got into sub level 50.

[nothing-leave-me-alone]

Cog in the machine au

Character hc

Orion

Didn't have many friend among the miners as he kept getting into trouble and demoted or moved to toegr departments.

Isn't the best at making friends as he is used to being moved from one place to the other

His last job in the upper levels was with Elita group but darkwing threw him to level 50 quickly after.... No one but Elita noticed that he was missing.

It's down there that he meets his best(only) friend, B-127, or bee as he likes to call him.

Orion is slightly smaller and weaker due to having alredy little energon down in lv50 and also having to share it with me

He still sneaks out and onto the archives pretty often. But now he does it with company as bee refuses to let him go him alone

Others don't reconize them as Orion and bee but those two crazy bots that run around some times.

He always tries to give what energon he saves up to bee out of worry for the trouble he brings him on

B-127

Was so so happy when he met Orion. New coworker (best friend forever and ever) let's go! Calls him pax because he couldn't think of a better nickname

Elita

Super excited to go out with pax to the archive and help out everyone find the matrix. That way they'll never go hungry again and they can go out like all the other cogless!

He and Orion are 100% the younger brother older brother duo. He idolizes Orion

While Steve and company were great, Orion is now his BFF, so sadly the guys need to be moved out since Orion need a place to sleep and plan their search to for the matrix

Still very chatty and Orion encourages this. They are eachothers only constant after having such an unstable life so they cling a bit (a lot)

He has told Orion all of his high guard facts. Orion now looks for stickers and info on the high guard as b-127 is a huge fan

I headcanon him as a starscream fan

With the space they have at their table to sleep Orion made mini versions of starscream and his trines alt modes and hung them on the ceiling for them to see

Tries to give what energon he saves to orion in turn

She was the last boss Orion had before darkwing demoted him to lv50

She was so worried when she couldn't find that new guy and no one knew where he was

She finally asked megatron what had happened and after much pressing she was told they where in lv50.... She was horrified and worried but there was nothing she could do

Since she isn't Orion's boss for long she isn't as harsh on his behavior, but she is very worried for them. (giving Elita my eldest daughter syndrome)

She often sends down energon and medical supplies for them.

They aren't her responsability or problem.... But someone has to look after them. Primus knows they don't do that themselves

Without Orion or d-16 a cavein killed jazz.... Elita blames herself and can't even manage to defend herself when darkwing fires her.

She failed jazz, she failed her team, and she feels she's constantly failing Orion and bee. At least in waste management there's no one she can let down and she has more chances to see her two clowns

She saw them on the race and nearly threw herself in the track to drag them out.

"what sort of idiot cogless would run on the race? ..... SCRAP THSOE ARE MY IDIOTS!!"

Ran to the infirmary thinking the worst had happened as she didn't stick around to see the race and stumbled onto megatron and darkwing who had been hurt by Orion and B-127 in the race

Megatron

Another mine supervisor with darkwing

While not as cruel he is much more strict

Couldn't tolerate Orion and his disregard for megatrons perfect plan to a mediocre yet simple and stable life

He has few friends. As in.... None

He is too dedicated to his job and has no time for a social life. So anything that upsets the balance of this causes him bouts of anger.

Still a big megatronus prime fan and sentinel idolizer with darkwing.

His relationship with darkwing is somewhat of a asshole idler brother, loser little brother. Megatron desperetly craves aprobal and beloved he can earn that by working his aft off.

Megatron tries to impress him, as he is his superior and a many times racer of the iacon 5000. But darkwing at best mocks him and plays it off as a 'joke' this leading to megatron being a bystander to his abuse of the cogless

After the iacon 5000 he had stopped just before he could hit B-127 graveously, and it caused both him and darkwing to not cross the finish line

Darkwing was pissed and fired him. Put him as supervisor of waste management.

He subconsciously begins to crack. All that he worked for just went down the drain because he didn't hit one meager cogless bot....

[popculturebuffet]

X-Month Finale: My Top 10 X-Runs

Welcome one and all to the grand finale of X-Month. A thing or two got changed and moved around but i'm overall proud of how it went this time. We've looked at darkwing duck, the greatest x-men cartoon ever, and Nightcrawler's two moms. Now we end this month with A look at something diffrnet but personal to me. These are my top 10 x-runs, the runs of x-men and it's various spinoffs that I truly love, that define the book for me and define this part of the franchise. There the books that either made me love mutants so much in the first place or helped reaffirm why. They run the gammut from the just ended at the time of this article Krakoa era's majesty all the way back to chris claremont helping retool a struggling half baked idea into one of the greatest comics ever. These comics are why I love x-men and i'm happy to share them with you and hopefully get you to read them and hopefully i'll be able to cover them all some day. But for now this is a nice smorgoseboard of what makes the strangest mutants of all marvel's best part, a small pocket full of creativity, commentary , change and artistic glory.

So a few guidelines: For longtime readers, I usually do top 12 lists, to the point i'm shirnking my best animated episodes list down to it, but with all the x themeing in the krakoan age it felt right to slim it down to a nice sharp x. The second is that i'm crediting every artist who worked on at least three issues. I'd credit all of them but the runs from the 2010's and 2000's are caked with one off fill ins and 80's comics tended to have a ton of one off fill ins or other people doing the annuals. I'm not against it, if you have someone who can do great art or guest on a run do it and it's thanks to this kind of thing we got walt simonson for one glorious issue of x-men, I just don't want the art credits to be 80 pages long, but DID take the effort to comb thorugh every run and find every artist that at least did an arc on the books honored here, as i'm trying to break out of only propping up the writers when it comes to comics. Their a VISUAL medium and the artists are often what makes a run. So to under the cut my x-men for the uncanny, the astonshing and my faviorites.

10. The New Mutants Written By Chris Claremont Drawn by Bob McLeod, Sal Buscema, Bill Sienkiewicz, Steve Leialoha, Mary Wilshire, Rick Leonardi and Jackson Guice Marvel GN #4, New Mutants Vol 1 , #1-54 + 3 Annuals, NM Special #1 59 Issues

It was the 80's and the Uncanny X-Men was marvel's best selling comic. Chris Claremont and a slew of talented game changing artists had turned a once niche property into one of the most layered, engaging and compelling books out there. So naturally Marvel wanted MORE money and to spin off this mother. Chris was reluctant because he wanted the main book to be special and it's own thing.. but was then threatned that if he didn't do it someone else will, so he found a concept he liked: Focusing on teenage emerging mutants something lightly glanced at with Kitty Pryde in Uncanny but this book brough to the forefront.

In the process Clarmeont and Bob Mcleod created a bunch of my faviorite mutants: The outspoken but Compasionate and tactical Dani, her bestfriend/sorta girlfriend and heavily abused prior to her coming to the team Rahne, naive country boy Sam, smooth talking only in his head and hot headed in everywhere including his body and my adopted son Roberto. Theree was also Karma, a later revealed to be queer immigrant (While not done by Chris Claremont here he certainly is responsible for it later int he 2000s', so respect) trying to care for two siblings the book quickly writes out.

The book would add four more to the mix: Amilla who thanks to a messy backstory and not a lot of use is eh, and three of my faviorites: Illyana, Kitty Pryde's best friend and a sorceress who was kidnapped and tortured by a demon man, Doug Ramsey, kitty's other friend and a computer genius who can read any language and in this era was a non combatant and Warlock, doug's best self friend, a goofy gloriously weird looking alien on the run from his abusive dad.

If your thinking this team has a lot of angst you'd be correct: Rahne is introduced running from an angry mob, Dani having to go with a white man she resents after her grandfather is shot, Roberto's girlfriend being killed by bigots and Sam barely able to keep his family fed having to mine in his pa's place after his dad died. The X-Men as a rule carry baggage but these poor kids had a whole planeload, not helped by being hated and feared.

And yet they perservere: they find love, find strength in each other. They sometimes clash, poor Illyana gets accused of being evil due to her demonic powers far too often, Sam has a one sided crush on Amara, and Doug grapples with being the only one on the team whose powers don't make him fight good.

The book also has a fantastic horror tone at times , something uesd early on as the Professor Xavier who brought these kids together to train them, and to not fight which being mutants is still something they run into constantly. While the issues after tried to go for a more conventional superhero book, Bill Skinewietz arrival, gloriously scratchy pencils and endlessly awesome covers helped cement it: these were kids dealing with terrible horrors: aliens who'd kill their own children, the DID ridden head of Charles Xaviers son, demons internal and without, and a demonic bear following Dani Moonstar I still don't fully understand, but still slaps.

New Mutants is one of the best x-books of the 80s, with X-Factor close behind it (It didn't make the cut but I still love Louise Simonson's Run), and one other just ahead. It's a book full of creative swings, ideas that would last the franchise a while and some of the best mutants ever made.

9. Iceman Written by Sina Grace DB Alesandro Vitti, Edgar Salazar, Robert Gil, and Nathan Stockman Iceman V3 1-11, Iceman V4 1-5, X-Men Winters End 17 Issues

This is the shortest out of these runs and that's for a very simple reason: Marvel's Editorial was very shitty to writer Sina Grace. They lambastated him for going on podcasts in a way that was subtly hompohobic, brought him back for another run.. and then cancled it 5 issues in. Grace has since done work for DC and marvel needs to both apologize and either bring him back or at least collect his run.

Iceman comes from RessuXion, Marvel's kinda sorta push to bring the x-men back after trying to kill them with the previous era. That's not hyperbole, there was a giant murder cloud, most of ya'll likely know, and Ike Pearlmutter was thankfully gone so the X-Men got something resembling a push and the fantastic four were reunited. That last part isn't relevant.

Ressurxion was only a half measure: the x-men really didn't interact with the rest of the lines still, one of the two flagship titles X-Men Gold, was a mediocre rehash of a bunch of previous stories wasting the great idea of having Kitty Pryde lead, and X-Men Blue, while awesome and only barely not making this list at various points, felt very weel spinny as Cullen Bunn wasn't alowed to change much as Hickman's run was on the horizon but not set ins tone. Which is stupid and something I doubt HIkcman actually approved or asked for.

Still Ressuction had a hidden gem alongside Blue: Iceman. So long story short that's going to sound weird even to fans who were there: The Original Five X Men were brough to the future by Beast in a stupid move that left them stranded and traumtized. Jean being about as tactful as a hurricane during Bendis run , OUted bobby claimed "he's not bi he's full on gay" and kinda shoved him out of the closet. While this was well meaning as Bobby still was in the closet in present day, it was done hamm handledly with a slice of accidental bi erasure.

Our Bobby coming out though was thankfully handled better with him admitting he didn't admit he was gay and while Bendis handeld the first part of the coming out with a sledge hammer, several previous x writers had left the seeds that the og class clown was indeed gay and it' sa move I support: the grounding was there and even with him dating women he never seemed that invested for the most part.

So the next era was too busy with the murder cloud to do anything of note with him being out, but thankfully they gave bobby to Sina Grace. Iceman is a fantastic solo and a fantastic queer superhero book, with Bobby figuring out what Coming Out means in his late 20's, and being both out and proud.. but still having struggles. He dosen't know how to put his profile together, has an akward mission with his last het romance kitty, a romance that in hindsight perfectly comes off like someone trying badly to pass as straight, and flirts with wolverine's disaster bisexual son who serves as the main antagonist. It's a book that explores just how fun bobby can be and sold me on a character I didn't care about before.

It also goes into his awful parents. His dad was a massive asshole in the 90's, tried to change but snapped back and while the snap back is a bit o fa continuity gafe, it's one that works as Bobby has to come out to two parents who already barely accept he's a mutant, and now have to accept he's gay. And then try to groom his past self to be the perfect son they always wanted.

It's a great run that not only lets Bobby show off his powers but his heart, humor and what makes him a great character. Check it out of you haven't and hopefully we'll get a one volume edition one of these days. Also just so I dont' have to say that a thousand time that goes for EVERY run present.

8. Wolverine and the X-Men Written by Jason Aaron Art by Chris Bachalo, Nick Bradshaw, Jorge Molina, Ramon Perez, Pepe Larazz and Ed McGuiness 42 Issues + Annual + AU Issue + Amazing X-Men 1-5 49 Issues

Wolverine and the X-Men is the big breakout of one Jason Aaron, a writer I have mixed feelings about. He has written comics I like, this one, doctor strange and so far his TMNT run, but has a weakness for putting over the top spectacle over character or cohesive plot, his Thor run degrading with time and his Avengers run having great ideas for plots but no real meat to said plots.

Wolverine and the X-Men does run into that a little, mostly with the x-men themselves as only WOlverine really gets an arc: most of the team gets a spotlight issue, but still spend the bulk of their time in fight scenes. Kitty Pryde is the only one besides logan to net decent focus and that gets thrown out as Brian Micheal Bendis called dibs as soon as he joined post avx. This was the first book I read with rachel summers but outside of her spotlight she's mostly there to be the token telepath. We never really get a sense of what she WANTS out of the school, how she feels about what Scott's up to anything personal. Cannonball, Sam from New Mutants, gets it worse as he's really just there for his sisters subplot and nothing else. I won't evfen get into the horny bird lady sexually harassing iceman. Ther'es also a bad tendency to treat Cyclops as some form of despot and not that guy what over at the other place.

That said the series manages to dodge this being a complete issue with the kids: Wolverine and the X-Men is at it's core a teen x-men book and the reason these teens are back in school at all also provides nice motivation for Logan to be running a school, something the book frequently lampshades is kinda nuts. With mutantkind dwindling at the time, Cyclops kept militarizing the children and Logan, tired of it and wanting them to live rather than surivvie, took half the x-men and any willing students.

The result is a diverse and intresting student body focusing mainly on Idie, a young religoius african teen who sees her powers as a curse and herself as a monster, Broo, my faviorite x-child period and an adorable nerd who happens to be a brood, a group of aliens that try to eat the x-men regularly with the mutation to not be a bloodthirsty monster, Gensis, a cloned apocalypse who was given superman's upbringing in stasis. And of course theirs Quinten Quire whose been overused sense this but hadn't really got to do anything. He's a punk who after a breakdown at finding out he was adopted decided to throw a riot at the school. He'd rather be on Cyclops Island but gets dragged to Jean Grey's School for Hire Leanring, renamed from "I did your wife school of hire learning". It' shis evolution tha'ts intresting: going from a mouthy twerp with way too much power and ego to.. well still a mouthy twerp but one with an actual heart and friends. We also have Kid Gladiator, son of the shiar empreoro gladiator and boisterious hilaroius jock. We also get great additions like eyeboy, sprite and shark girl, albeit none getting a ton of focus here.

While the main cast is great, what throws this series over the top its it's gonzo creativity. More than any writer since morrrison and until hickman, Aaron embraced the batshit insanity of the x-men and grasps at it with a gonzo whimsy few can match. Jason Aaron has had his issues with reining it in but with x-men it's just the right ballance.

The first arc alone, one of my faviorites despite not being a fan of chris bachelos art, Wolverine opens school, and find sit under siege from a revamped hellfire club, now a bunch of tweens lead by Kade Kilgore. Given hellfire was reduced to "sebastian shaw on occasion maybe" by this point, it was a needed revamp and I get it's not everyones taste but for me it works. Especially when one of Kade's minons is a frankenstien (the doctor not the monster man), who grenade launches frankenstiens at our heros and mutates two members of the school board into a wendigo and a sauron. Oh and the schools grounds have become a baby krakoa, the hisland that wallks like a schoolyard, which wins the day and soon becomes my faviorite part of the book. I loved krakoa since I was a teen so seeing him get revamped as this adorable adiditon was great and I still wonder what happened to them and why the krakoa era never adressed them.

Our heroes fight weaponized brood pregancies, go to space casinos to raise funds, deal with angel having come back as an actual angel and possed by.. something, too many tie ins, a murder circus lead by frankenstien, a field trip to the savage land and a final showdown with the hellfire club. It was a wonderfully creative, batshit insane story with tons of great ideas that have been barely touched, like School-Krakoa, Toad as a good guy or Logan's brother dog coming back as a time traveling badass. There are better books than Wolverine and the X-MEn but few have this much fun.

PS: Almost buried the leap, this book brought doop from x-statix back and i'm eternally greatful and his spotlight issue, drawn by co-creator mike allred, is easily the best of the run. I mean it has this alone

So speaking of doop

7. X-Statix Written by Peter Milligan Drawn by Mike Allred X-Force 116-129, X-Statix 1-26, Dead Girl 1-5, Wolverine/Doop 1 and 2 46 issues

X-Statix came about as part of marvel's big relaunch of the X-Men with New X-Men, canceling several titles, relaunching a few and changing up the few left. In this case X-Force, previously about the new mutants as they grew up and got guns then got their personalities back once Rob Liefield left, they instead completely upended it. The old cast was gone, the old premise was gone, and a whole new idea and cast of mutants were introduced.

The series had a genius premise: A shady reality show producer, Spike Freeman, starts up a mutant reality show at the height of the reality show boom starring a bunch of mutants who are desperate to be loved and adored by becoming rich and famous, often being conceded assholes like any reality tv star.

The catch was revealed in the first issue as the bulk of the team is gunned down: Only angry black man with internalized issues about his race Anarchist and the egotistical , pill popping shocking compitent u go girl are left as the team is rebuilt, now lead by the orphan, a man with super sensitivty and a ton of lampshaded angst, Vivisector, an erudite wolfman who later turns out to be gay, Phat, one of the many white kids approraiting black culture at the time, and Dead Girl. THere's many more but this is the core of the cast for most of the book, which was later relaunched as X-Statix. Many a member dies, no one is safe, and it's cyncial as fuck, making fun of celebrity, events, and mutant cliches. Some of the shine has rubbed off this one as a lot of these jokes have been made a lot, but it's still fun thanks to it's compelling cast who get fleshed out amazingly, meditations on fame, and Doop, the little ball of tumors that follows them around. It's it's own neat little pocket of the marvel unvierse: it's revivial is pretty detached from Krakoa and something I need to check out and it's cast, due to mbeing dead a alot, havne't really crossed over. But the book itself stands as a nice unique pocket

And saving the best for last no discussion would be complete without Mike Allred, an artist with a unique style remincent of jack kirbys btu still his own that's this nice art deco chunky goodness and works perfectly here, both giving the mutants all really fantastic designs and nicely giving everything a splash of color to contrast the dark tone. This is one I picked up in high school in backissues and hasn't left me since.

6. Uncanny X-Men Writer: Kireon Gillen Artists: Carlos Pachcheo, Terry Dodson, Greg Land and Daniel Acuna Uncanny X-Men V1 #534.1-544, X-Men Regenisis, Uncanny X-Men Volume 2 #1-20, AVX Consequences 1-5, 36 Issues

So when I first got back into comics reguarly I figured from both is more dangerous new design where he can't see too good

And the way both bendis own much worse companion book and various others like Uncanny Avnegers or Wolverine and the X-Men talked about him and AVX that Scott Summers had become the new magneto and a dangerous edgelord man.

Instead the truth was more nuanced as i'd learn: Some writers made Scott a bit of an ass during his time leading utopia, the slap of concrete what contained all the muants left. But despite some questionable actions down more to bad writing, he wasn't evil. He asn't purely good either as the schism I mentiond proved, driven to do whatever it took to survive. He was shady but never quite took the heel turn, instead being an intrestingly pragmatic character. Also while he did kill charles xavier it was while hopped up on the phoenix force, something he points out reguarly making everyone else come off as assholes for giving Jean a pass but not scott.

And the man who wrote this best was Kireon Gilleon, scottish writer and maestro who came along after a decent but forgetable run from Matt Fraction and gave the franchise the injection it needed.

His run started with the x-men on utopia nad not only reballanced Scott after said bad writing, but showed off the good and bad of Scott: he's repessed and obessive, but also a stategic mastermind determined to save his people. The early part of his run does what the run before it by Matt Fraction did: uses the whole of mutantkind for huge spectacle as well as return Kitty Pryde to normal, she was a ghost for a while, so she can go off with the other book. The highlight is it's climax: juggernaught, jacked up on the power of a god and a hammer like thor, is more unstoppable than normal and Scott throws EVERY plan he has at the guy and every mutant he has at the guy which is ALL OF THEM who aren't children. And even a few children because the situations that bad.

The real meat is the sadly short livedb ut awesome second volume of uncannY: After the schism, Scott splits up, getting Emma because she loves the guy, Namor because he wants to do Emma and i'm not exagerating he's blatant about it, Storm because Scott dosen't trust himself, Hope the mutants own personal jesus, Danger, the former danger room having gained snetience and tried to kill charles for enslaving her

Dr Nemisis, an immortal nazi hunter, Colossus, current host of the juggernaught powers, his sister Magik, Psylocke, and of course Magneto, who'd recently joined up and is master of magnet.

This team of scary motherfuckers is the exctinction team and that name is unsettling on purpose but also dosen't mean kill everyone.. it just means they could and Scott is both helping mutantkinds rep AND scarring the shit out of it's eneies my taking on extinction events: if something can wipe out huamnity it's their job and it's a fucking briliant setup. Take the strongest x-men left on scott's side, which is really most of THE strongest in general and put them against the worst.

This also sets up the big bad of the series and Kireon's best achivment: Sinister. Gilleon revamped him from a fairly sterotypical and deranced mad science man to a campy as hell horrible as hell man who sets out to remake the world literally in his image, thinks turn of the century britan was just fine, hates women and isn't lacking for quips or meance with our heroes stuck in a city of him that can develop safe guards every time they kill one. And he does so by stealing a celestial's head, which means the first mission alone is stop a space god AND a madman.

There's other good romps but sinister is the core and the series weathers the avx tie ins decently, weaving them into what's writtne. IT's ending, consequences, isn't nearly as good, with scott feeling out of character and was meant to set up further adventures that instead got handed off to bendis, but Gielleon's runs a great mediation on absolute power , scare tactics and the meaning of fear regardless and is still a joy to read every time.

5. X-Men Red/S.W.O.R.D. By Al Ewing Art by: Valerio Schiti, Jacopo Camagni, Stefano Caselli , Jacopo Camagni , Yildray Cinar and Luciano Vecchio S.W.O.R.D. V2 #1-11 , Cable Reloaded, X-Men Red V2 1-18 and The Resurrection of Magneto 1-4 34 Issues

Al Ewing is one of my faviorite writers in comics. easily. Starting with Mighty Avengers, i've adored his runs on Immortal Hulk, his ant-man/wasp trilogy, his character defining run for Roberto decosta on new avengers and usa avengers and what i've read of immortal thor among others. Al Ewing is Marvel's best writer these days and in a pool that includes Jonathan Hickman and now once again Gail Simone, tha'ts the highest praise.

So naturally given Ewing had a clear love of x-men from new avengers alone and a deep love of continuity I was chomping at the bit for him to join the krakoan age, a bit disapointed he wasn't in the first round of books but knowing he had ot show up he just had to.

Thankfully my prayers were answered as not only did Ewing arrive he arrived in style, bringing back SWORD, once shield's extraterestial arm now krakoas. Ewing at the time was reworking marvel's space with his Guardians run and wrote SWORD in concert with it, as big evfents happened and SWORD stood ready, while bringing earth, or sol as it's called onto the galactic stage, starting the run with stealing a mystery metal from the heart of creation and then using it to fund the galactic economy. SWORD was a solid captivating book, amping up the idea of mutant circutis (a bunch of mutants working in concert), galactic marvel and earth's place in it.

What's brilliant in hindsight though as while a great book on it's own, making characters I thought were highly underused like Wiz Kid or Frenzy rise to full potetial and making previously also ran mutant Peeper into a star overnight. I mean look at him

I also love Magneto is so .. happy to see him.

While SWORD is great what followed is truly incredibly, some of ewings best work and all the groundwork was laid in sword, from Magneto regretting his past in the hellfire gala tie in to said gala leading to one of the best events in x-history: Arakko. A bunch of mutatns who'd become a warrior civilization needed a home so thier island was put on mars giving them a planet and possible peace... and storm was put there as regent.

This leads to an even better sequel as ewing keeps SWORD head abigail brand on as big bad, wanting to destroy mutant civilzation and make earth a real power in the universe, and thus Arakko is a great chess piece as Storm plays against Abby for it's future for the first two arcs. Storm is a fantastic character and ewing gets her down pat, her grace, her badassery but also her humanity, kindness and mohawk. Helping her are my two faviorite mutants, no really 1 and 2 respectively, Magneto and Sunspot. Magneto was already eating well in the krakoan age, but ewing gives the old man humanity, with Magneto realizing his lost daughter Anya wasn't a mutant.. and thus can't be brought back and wondering what all this was for, being cojolled into things as he realizes as much as he wanted to retire he can't. Roberto meanwhile had a rough start in Krakoa as Jonathan Hickman took out all his brains for some reason despite being the one who started to emphasize that he's more than just a pretty face.

Ewing in his avengers runs made roberto into a master stratageist and chessmaster bar none who still loved parties, champaign robots and the mission impossible theme, so I was utterlyt hrilled to see berto on the cover. Now a consort to Shiar regent Deathbird and having a stake in the game, Roberto comes to arakko to play and quickly gets involved in things, using his skills to help his new team. Ewing is the man who truly made the best roberto decosta and it's so gratifying to see he got a second lap.

Ewing also builds up arakko well: it's culture, i'ts changes, and the challenges storm and magneto face in changing it, concluding in a massive war that ends the series as arakko's past rule comes knocking. Add in a great epilogue exploring magento and storm and you have one of the finest comic runs in recent memory.

4. New X-Men Written by Grant Morrison Art by Frank Quitely, Evan Van Sciver, Igor Kordey, Phil Jiminez, Chris Bachalo, and Marc Silvestri 114-154 Plus Annual 41 Issues

It was the early 2000's and the x-men had hit a fucking a wall. The 90s while fondly remembered for the jim lee outfits, awesome cartoon and other delights, were a nightmare time for the x-men. Just trying to read that era of uncanny and adjectivless to fill the gaps in my knowledge was a waking nightmare with only a few bright spots. I got as far as just after operation zero tolerance and bailed and despite bringnig back heavyweights like Alan Davis or Chris Claremont, restrictive ediotrial mandates, overdone crossovers and other nonsense had left the x-men barley standing.

Desperate Marvel had a bunch of creators pitch various ideas for a bold new take on the x-men.. and the winner was the one, the only Grant Morrison. Grant had already made big splashes at DC with their runs on Doom Patrol, Animal Man and more, had a penchant for writing gloriously weird, sometimes incomprehnsible stories with a beating human heart. So being both a hot writer from the other company and having a bigger bolder vision, and needing badly for the comcis to recover to cash in on the recent film and upcoming X-Men Evolution, they agreed.

The result is the run that made me the x-holic I am today: while I read x-men stories i loved before this, with Chris Claremont and Paul Smith's run being the first this is the one that got me as hooked as I am: a stylish run with what morrison called a kinetic strut, aided by Frank Quitely's weird and awesomely unique art and a variety of other artists of varying quality brought out a vision of a bold new era.

The run came out hot: it stripped it's cast down to a core of iconic x-men, added in Emma Frost finally fully reforming but still 100% that bitch, and threw in curveballs with kind monk with a hell of a look xorn and xavier himself getting his legs back. There were set backs as Colossus was killed before Morrison could use him and Claremont called dibs on rogue and storm for X-Treme X-Men, but they pivoted well.

However a flashy new look wasn't what made the book, it was it's frantic pace and bold new vision: Morrison recontexulizted the x-men as an actaul minority, giving them a culture, a voice and making many weirder and wilder than ever before, showing that not every mutant got to pass. He also threw the x-men out of the shadows: formerly, a group of outlaw mutants hated and feared, they weere still that but thanks to Professor Xavier's twin who tried to choke him in the womb, he's outed to the public and rolls with her , using his body as a suit at the time, doing so to change the x-mens mission, now doing more search and rescue with slick leather jackets. They aren't traditional superheroes anymore, but just a trained team of the best trying to help their own. The X-Men now hav ea worldwide reach with x-corp with missions going from paris to shang hai.

Morrison took plenty of other hammers to the status quo: Xavier and Lilandra broke up, he could walk, Genosha got destroyed in a devistating act, scott and jean had marriage crissi as Emma gaslit him into an affair and Beast got his awesome lion look. The run also isn't afraid to get weird with xavier's twin he seemingly killed in th womb Cassandra Nova, a corrupt general whose skin becomes golems, and a special class made of mutants all with weird borderline useless powers, most of whom would become fan faviorites.

Years ago this would've been my easy number one but age for both me and the comic have revealed cracks; Some bits haven't aged well like Dust, whow hil ea good character now was done with no real research or depth, the u men dangling way too close to a parody of trans people, being just fringe enough to avoid it but still far closer than they should be.

The biggest knock though is the final two arcs: everything up to that is minty fresh and full of cool ideas warts and all. The last two arcs have Morrison try to rerail magneto back into a hateful monster instead of the complicated monster he'd become, something already tried in the 90's but even worse here, with Magneto reduced to the boring silver age villian that got old fast. I'm not against holding his feet to the fire for his worse actions, but this one was too far and swiftly retconned.. in a very dumbass way but still, you uusally only get a patch on a bad story that fast. Here Comes TOmmorow likewise is a trippy and mediocre finale to the run. Not as bad as what just came before, but it's grant morrison at their most self indulgent... that i've read.

Still despite the runs issues.. it's a good ride and worth it for classics like E is For Extinction and Riot at Xaviers alone.

3. X-Men By Jonathan Hickman Art by Pepe Laraz, R.B. Silva, Lenil Francis Yu, Mahmud Asrar and Valerio Schiti House of X 1-6, Powers of X 1-6, X-Men 2019 1-21, 5 Giant Size X-Men One Shots, and Inferno 1-4 42 Issues

Anyone whose read this blog a long time knew this was coming. I mention X-Men as much as possible and the krakoan era, being so weird and wonderful, was something I brought up a lot. Especially the x-men colonizing mars. And I probably will again. The Krakoan age is one of the best eras of x-men and while it ended in fire and a whimper, it started with a bang.

The x-men were in a bad place in 2019. Ressurxion as I mentioned wasn't horrible but wasn't really a reinvention, partly because they woudln't let anyone make any real changes which... again this run could've easily dealt with fine. Before that Marvel , and once again entirely serious tried to kill the x-men, showving them to the side and trying intitally to make the inhumans symapthetic when they needed to get rid of their murder cloud. And the inhumans books WERE great, but no one could get the taste of ike pearlmutter trying to make them the new x-men out of their mouths.

And like the last time the x-men were in a bad spot, marvel sought a hot creator, gave them creative control and let them do a hard stylish reset. Last time it was grant morrison, , this time it was Jonathan Hickman.

Hickman is one of my faviorite marvel writers. While he started slow yet awesome with a small run on secret warriors, a book that remade shield and did black ops glory, he rose to his biggest success with Fantastic Four, taking one of marvel's greatest teams and plunging them out of their rut with a big sweeping sci fi plot, clever ideas like 4 great cities about to go to war, a council of far less moral reed richardses, and smaller scale but no less game changing ideas like havnig the fantastic four open up a think tank for children, the future foundation, finally once and for all resolving ben grimm's on and off state of being cured, and giving the richards kids fleshed out personalities.

I could gush about this run all day but i'll save that for next year.

The point is HIckman had a talent for big wordy sweeping epics and was quickly tapped to follow up Brian Micheal Bendis on avengers, which had also gotten old for some, expanding the team's scope, having a meta plot about the multiverse dying and combining a core of familiar faces (including hulk's first longterm run as an avenger), with people who had yet to wield the circle a like Cannonball, Sunspot and SHang Chi, giving all three a needed boost.

So him doing X-Men was a natural next step that seemingly just.. didn't happen. Ike Pearlmutter's attempt to dempahsises it probably is why and Hickman having completed his sweeping epic across several titles, was ready to go to dc. THen Marvel, desperate to revitalize the circle x.. offered it to hickman. And a thing I didn' tknow is while he got what made the ff and avengers work perfectly.. hickman wasn't a fan of either going in. He did his through homework and you honestly can't tell he dosen't, but X-Men on the otherhand was his teenage obession. Like me, it consumed him and he jumped at the chance to do it his way.

He also saw a franchise that post avx had stagnated, not really inovating and growing and gave it a shot in the arm. Just like New X-men before it, Hickman decided to ditch where the franchise had been stuck, in schools with never aging classes and wars with each other and try something entirley new, something that could not be walked back easily and that even going back to basics, the current run is still feeling the repurcussions of. With 6 golden words:

Hickman in his epic pair of mini series that are really one big 12 issue series, House of X and Powers of X flipped up the wohle gameboard and erased problems that had been plauging the x-men: The constant climate of fear? The X-Men decided to fuck off to their own island nation, Krakoa, the island that walks like a man and is now cool with them. Humanity hating and fearting them? still a problem but they can sue for peace with some mmmm drugs and deal with those who don't take the mmmmm drugs. And they could just give these mmmm drugs that cure brain diseases free but after the rampant genocides, not hyperbole they have a statistic

Their saying enough. And the various mutants killed off for shock value? Well... death no longer matters. In a game changing final reveal, mutants can now be revivied from teh dead thanks to 5 working in concert. Add in a meta riff with Moria Mactaggerts 10 lives and you have a brilliant start

And HIckman did'nt stop there, as his next book , X-Men and i'ts companion piece Giant Sized X-Men was less one long narrative and more a series of ideas for the universe he was creating, a series of brilliant one shots following Scott Summers in a good place in his life: His wife is back from the dead, their embracing polyamory so he can still see emma and Jean can see wolverine who lives with them, both their kids are alive and well. It's a dream. And with every issue hickman provided a great adventure from magneto standing against a tie in, to discovering Krakoa's lost sibling setting up the massive x of sowrds crossover, to a family roadtrip into space to dela with the brood, to the savage land ot fight the golden girls, to a hidden vault to face the future, there was never an end to his creatviity or clever ideas.

Sadly there was an end to his run with Inferno which left on a high tying up some threads and leaving the rest open for those to take up the sword after he left. Hickman's run is gorgeously drawn by a bevy of the best in the buisness, well throught out and stylish and I will likely read it forever. While Krakoa sadly didn't last this run stands forever as what it is : MUTANT.

2. X-Factor By Peter David Art by Peter David and Pablo Raimondi, Ryan Sook, Dennis Calero, Renato Arlem, Roy Allen Martinez, Khoi Pham, Scott Eaten, Valentine De Landro, Larry Stroman, Marco Santucci, Bing Cansino, Emanuela Lupacchino, Leonard Kirk, Neil Edwards, and Paul Davidson Madrox 1-5, V3 1-50, 200-262 , X-Factor The Quick and the Dead, X-Factor: Layla Miller and Nation X: X-Factor 119 Issues

Peter David might be my faviorite x-writer and is the other major reason I fell as hard for x-men as I did. Starting off at marvel with his character defining run on Incredible Hulk, he did a short stint on the x-side of things with X-Factor, following up the original run by focusing on a bunch of lesser focused mutants who weren't afraid to pepper things with jokes, weren't immune to tragedy, and threading a nice line between real danger and humor. It sadly didn't last long, but what we got was great.

So come the 2000's, he returned to marvel after a long stint at dc and another sensational run with young justice, Peter David asked "Are you ready for the sequel?" So came X-Factor, also known as X-Factor Noir to defretate it from the previous two runs, a decade long run rivaling Chris Claremonts in character, franchise impact and sheer girth. David's come the closest to Claremont's flair for shakeups, cast rotation and soap opera.

X-Factor primarily stars Jamie Madrox, an also ran mutant who could multiply who was the comic relief in David's previous run then kinda thrown aside like garbage and used in backgrounds. Clearly liking Jamie and seeing potential in him, David brought his boy back as a private eye working cases in mutant town. What was once the mutant burogh of new york is now filled with those who lost their powers on m-day, something our heroes also investigate as Wanda's mental breakdown wasn't exactly common knowledge.

Helping Jamie in his noir detective fantasy are Strong Guy, his best friend and the best character of the previous run, Wolfsbane, who was also on that team but is now older and angister, even more so after she leaves the team breifly to join x-force, Siryn, jamie's dupes ex and daughter of the banshee and M, monet st croix whose better than you and knows it. Monet is STILl a major fan faviorite and player to this day thanks to this run and everyone got a bump. This included later additons longshot and shatterstar, the latter of whom became a pansexual icon.

The run is massive and something I hope to cover someday in SOME form but loops our heroes as they do buisness in mutanttown, move to the east for goverment work, come back to nyc, and deal with everything from a manical man from the future to the invisible woman going missing. It's a fun run full of deep character development, well executed twists and while I used to feel it had a huge downturn, it seems far more coherent now.. though i'd still have to reread to see for sure. But what's ther eis one of the best runs in x-men , one of my faviorites.. and only one tops it you can transparently see coming

Uncanny X-Men By Chris Claremont Art by Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, Paul Smith, Frank Miller, John Romita Jr, Barry Windsor-Smith, Marc Silvestri, Rick Leonardi, John Bogdanove, Al Milgrom, and Jim Lee Uncanny X-Men 94-279, X-Men Annual #3-12, 14, Marvel Graphic Novel #1, Wolverine #1-4, Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #1-6,X-Men/ Alpha Flight #1 and 2, X-Men Vs Fantastic Four #1-4, X-Men #1-3 214 Issues

Hail to the King Baby. Having recently finally read EVERY issue of this run, I can say Chris Claremont defines the x-men. Even as things change, the basis was set by him. While Lee and Kirby created the x-men, Chris Clarmont made them truly exceptional.

Most of you don't need an intro but just in case: Chris Claremont was an up and coming writer at marvel who exploded when he took over x-men from Len Wein. Wein had relaunched the x-men with giant sized, creating a brand team with artist Dave Cockrum: Xaviers Original students were quickly written on in Wein's planneed next issue leaving only Cyclops, now moodier, as the vetral to command a group that was not 5 teenagers with attitude, later 7, but adults from radically diffrent backgrounds: A near feral and terse secret agent who once fought the hulk, a russian farm boy who can turn to steel, a woman from cairo who lived as a goddess in kenya, a former foe turned experinced ally, and a circus performer with the face of demon but the kindest soul of all.

Claremont would take this great setup and run with it once given full control. He reinforced the mutant metaphor which was present on and off in Lee's run, but now came blaring out, with the series first overarching villian being a mad scientest who speaks of mutants like a feral monster and has an army of shiny new sentinels, as opposed to the misguided previous users of them. The X-Men's rep takes a hit as the series goes and their forced to wipe goverment records as it plots against them. As the run goes on the racisim grows, as the goverment turns against them and the x-men are left as outcasts even among other heroes, going to war with both the ff and the avengers for diffrent reasons. In his most powerful use of this the x-men have to face Revered Striker, a fire and brimstone preacher with a secret paramilitary death squad.

But more than that he gave the franchise humanity: The X-Men here are fully fleshed out people: Scott strains under the role he's been given and trained since childhood and his rough past, Logan grows from a feral asshole who nearly kills nightcrawler for laughing at him, to Kurt's best friend and a wise if still gruff man who loves his found family. Ororo has the biggest evolution: from a shy woman discovering the world, to a goddess, to someone grappling with the darkness in her and the things she must do to keep her found family safe. Colossus grapples with the violence and confusion of his new world and of finding love even if it hurts someone he cares about. Things only get richer as new characters are rotated in: Jean is thought dead after joinnig breifly and leaves an impact and banshee goes to join his true love on a scottish island. This leaves the board open for Kitty Pryde, a 13 year old written shockingly well who grows up year by year and has to deal wtih the reality of being an x-man and of having a crush on a 19 year old and Rogue, who goes from a foe of the x-men they slam the door on badly haunted by her fractured psyche to.. well the last part dosen't go away but she's one of the most trusted x-men with time .

Claremont wasn't afraid to shake this up either: over the course of his run the x-men are thought dead by xavier and left to their own devices, loose jean, cyclops leaves, the mansion is breifly destroyed and their forced to live on magneto's spooky island, the new mutants arrive, and you never get a full sense of peace. When one status quo has set in a while, it flips. Just when the x-men were getting used to rachel summers, jean's troubled daughter from the days of future past, rachel flees and half the team is horribly mauled and they have to almost start over. The x-men sacrifie themselves and use their newfound supposed death to strike from the shaodow. and the final stretch of the run has the x-men scattered to the winds and coming back together.

Change is the constant as is a parade of intresting foes: Magneto is reconfigured from cackling super villian early on, to the troubled complicated man he becomes later, trying hard to be better while the world says no. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is reformed into a more modern for the time terroist group with the cunning mystique.. who tehn has the team work with the goverment when she finds that safer. Mastermind is taken from Magneto's lackey to a truly frightining figure whose only beaten because the person he was manipulating with. Then Claremont adds his own: The Hellfire Club, rich mutant assholes hiding in plain sight woh easily outflank our heroes, Nimrod, a robot from the future sent to kill mutants but who sees himself as a hero, the Brood, terrifying xenomorph knockoffs, and the Shadow King: Xavier's oldest and deadlist foe.

Ther'es a lot here: Our heroes go to space, grapple with demons literal nad metaphorical, spend time in the outback with a wiseman who can teleport, go to another dimension or two, there is FAR too much in this decade to recap but it is special

The run isn't without flaws and the age spots may be an issue: there's the entirely stupid and gross kitty pryde and colossus romance which is thankfully kept to mostly a crush but wolverine treats like Colossus wronged her by.. not wanting ot date a 13 year old and finding someone else. The bunche sof brainwashing. Kitty Pryde using the n-word twice. Coloring native american characters bright red. Ther'es a lot of stuff left over from the 80s in here that we'd rather throw back. Now Claremont's bdsm fetish on the other hand.. eh fair enough.

But if you can get past it, you'll find an epic like no other, one continuious story that nicely weaves with it's sister book new mutants. A story you can hop in at any point and enjoy (except maybe those last two years. Yeesh) yet as this glorious whole i've discovered now owning most of it and reading it often, it's a wonderful saga with tons of planning, and it'll likely never be topped in scope, though many of these fine runs equal it in quality. It's the basis for some of the best comic si've ever read, and I'm pleased to have read it all. Thanks for reading and please.. read some of these.

[c0smiccom3t]

WIP

I did not decide on a final design yet, but heres my shred force oc (take this as a concept design)

And some info!

Maddeodent

(They/them)

A robotic mouse-like creature based off Plasma orbs and Boomboxes/Stereos, which of course, has in their system (example: Plasma orbs for ears that turn into stereo speakers.

Nordic Bunny's second-in-command and part-time sergeant of his army.

This little fellow is not such an easy enemy to defeat despite being the villain's lower-grade assistant. They have the power of electricity on their side, which helps them to eletrocute enemies and not only turn out the power in the city but to also steal it, gaining energy. They also use their voice volume and ears as weapons, summoning eardrum shattering soundwaves and use their voice to scream extremely loud as a call for back-up, a sign to attack and as a way to stun their enemies.

Speaking of enemies, The Shred Force doesn't really understand them much. Hank picks on them for being too small and a sore loser but Ronny just doesn't mind them, he just knows the little dude will lose just like their boss does, especially when he's not present considering they go solo to face those kids. Heck, Hank has the tendency to call them "Pip-Screech" (Even Ronny agrees, not always but sometimes), a nickname Maddeodent ABSOLUTELY hates (like how Megavolt from Darkwing Duck hates being called Sparky). They won't stop at nothing until they succeed in getting the Shred Force captured and brought to Nordic Bunny himself.

Now, as for N.B... They LOVE the guy! Not in a romantic way obviously (at least not yet. or never.), but they think he's awesome and will help him no matter what. Whether its about carrying him, making him lunch, polishing his boots and what else, Mads is incredibly loyal to him and would do anything even if it could risk their life (not by extremely dangerous situations, even though they'd do it for granted anyway)! They love to be his little shoulder companion. But out of the two, Maddeodent has got more brains, making them a Ditzy Genius and often his voice of reason. The two have a pretty complex relationship, making them seem like they're actually friends, maybe they're his... Only friend? Who knows. Think of Commander Peepers from Wander Over Yonder and Zim from Invader Zim, mash them together, keep the assistant title, and you got this electric little robotic rodent ready to rumble!

Though Loud, Energetic, loyal, persistant, mischievous, troublesome and much of a sore loser, this little mouse will make sure that the Shred Force will be done for so Nordic Bunny can take over the Earth!

But yeah, once again, design not final. i need color palette ideas...

EDIT - VOICE CLAIM BECAUSE I FORGOT: Tom Kenny (Commander Peepers from Wander Over Yonder) & Jessica DiCicco (Evil Pea from Supertato, MINUS the british accent)

[astrodances]

** Light warning for very small hints of and mentions of panic attacks. **

___

nightmares

Spirited.

That’s what her grandpa would call it, right? Did always call it, and Gosalyn would always cherish being called that by him. Would always try to live up to that descriptor.

But why, oh why did it have to permeate into her sub-conscience? She was asleep; it’s off-hours!

Maybe it was the recent, reluctant acceptance of her new reality without her grandpa, or the breaking-in of a new more-permanent bed in the Tower, or the still more-rattling notion of searching for a possible new place to live with her-

“Darkwing! Help him!”

But Darkwing Duck is nowhere to be found, at least not in her field of vision. All Gosalyn can see is her grandpa defying the laws of physics by floating up and off the ground, trying to swim against an invisible force that won’t take no for an answer. Hands reach out for her, and his mouth moves desperately, but the only thing she can hear is a perceived syncopated buzzing of crackling red light, getting louder and brighter as he gets further and further.

A strong conviction overtakes her, and she realizes what she has to do to save him.

“Hang on, Grandpa!”

Can he hear her? She sure hopes so. The buzzing is starting to hurt her ears.

One arrow is all she needs, she knows this by now.

Crossbow up, take aim, fire!!

The buzz gives way to bright chaos, giving way to displaced calm.

The Ramrod lays in ruins, her arrow sticking up from the rubble, a sign of her victory.

“Grandpa?”

He’s gone.

“Grandpa? Are you under there?”

Last shred of hope; they can help him out if he’s hurt from the explosion-

“Say anything if you can hear me.”

She did this to him.

“GRANDPA!”

Gosalyn jolts up and immediately feels how her heart rate has skyrocketed. The pseudo-room she’s in, her bed underneath her, are all a dark fuzz.

Curse her imagination. Between knowing - and holding onto - the image of her grandpa’s face, and having a front-row, pivotal role in the actual fate of the Ramrod, her brain had no trouble stitching together that collage of a nightmare, didn’t it?

Breathe in. Breathe out. I’ll breathe with you.

She can still hear Huey’s guided breathing practice in her mind, from when he actually helped her calm down at St. Canard Tower, when her sense of loss turned into a full-blown panic attack.

But that feels a little too close to home right now, so she turns on her bedside lamp and takes stock of her surroundings. The warm light illuminates her bed, her backpack on the chair next to the door, her shoes, the-

“WHAT IS IT? What’s happening?”

Gosalyn nearly hits her head against the wall behind her from jumping back against the very sudden entrance of Drake into her room. (There goes her heart rate again.) But it’s the sight of him still half-asleep, holding a purple slipper in one hand like a flashlight and an empty glass of water like a gas gun in the other, turning this way and that against a supposed threat, that gets a soft giggle out of her despite herself.

It’s enough to rouse Drake to the land of the living, and he finally realizes where he is, focusing in on her. “I heard a scream, and I-” He looks at the objects in his hands before continuing, “I came to...help?”

Did she scream? She remembers crying out with enough force to shatter glass at the end of her nightmare - she can still feel it echoing through her senses - but did she really scream out loud?

She pauses and wonders if she stays still enough, the moment will pass and Drake will just disappear back into the darkness like nothing’s happened. No shame or reality to face.

But when Drake blinks at her and doesn’t move, she folds. “I...had a nightmare. Nothing major.”

“Like heck it isn’t.” Gosalyn’s impressed, if annoyed, at how he’s been checking his swearing around her. He takes a careful step forward to see her better. “You’re shaking.”

Gosalyn looks down at her arms, still braced against her sides, but even she can’t deny the visible tremor rattling through them, and she can’t stop them. Defeated (and suddenly weak from the spikes of adrenaline), she curls in around her knees. “It was about my grandpa,” she mumbles.

That’s all Drake needs to come around the side of her bed and sit on the edge, somewhere in the middle, putting his “weapons” behind him. He’s been even more aware of his boundaries around her (especially when it comes to her grandpa) than his swearing, and for that, she’s grateful. This isn’t the first nightmare he’s helped her through, but it’s definitely been the most intense so far.

Once Drake zeroes in his gaze on her, Gosalyn starts. “I was at the Ramrod, trying to save him before he got pulled in. And I-I shot one of my arrows, like I did that night? And I thought I saved him, but I...I...”

The words catch in her throat. Her stare stretches endlessly before her, but she still catches the feeling of Drake leaning in closer.

“I’m the one who trapped him.”

Her final whisper feels more like a final judgement, and the fear, the guilt, the hopelessness all start to crawl in around her again. And some strange sense of pathetic-ness, because some detached part of her, the cool, laidback teen, also heard her recounting, and it sounds so, well, pathetic to her, especially with someone else there witnessing all this.

It was just a nightmare.

But it wasn’t just a nightmare, was it? Because she really did shoot that arrow and destroy the Ramrod. She really did close off the gateway for her grandpa’s rescue and return.

It really is her fault.

Beaten by her own conscience, Gosalyn closes in further on herself, turning away from her audience. She doesn’t deserve the tears pooling in the corners of her eyes (those are for her grandpa, and she’s cried enough of them this week already), only the terror still coursing through her veins.

She just wants to disappear, to never have to face this reality again.

The bed shifts again, and Gosalyn can feel Drake’s hand resting on her foot.

“Gosalyn, I...it wasn’t you,” Drake begins, shaking his head. “You tried, and you had to make a hard decision in the end, but that doesn’t mean he’s trapped.”

“Yes it does,” she mumbles into her arm.

“No, it doesn’t. You know we’re going to keep looking for him, right? Whatever it takes.”

Drake’s determination and his little shake of her ankle is enough to get her to look at him properly. She can see the flicker of hope in his eyes, one the spirited part of her desperately wants to latch onto like a life preserver. On the flip side, he can see all the emotions she’s holding in, and he wills his heart to stay strong, for her.

“You didn’t trap him, Gosalyn. You were brave, so brave, at such a difficult moment, and you saved us all. That’s what makes you a hero. And that’s what’s gonna make you your grandpa’s hero. Okay?”

The spirited part of Gosalyn, the one who wanted the hope, takes over, and instead of verbally responding, or rolling her eyes at the pep talk, she launches herself at Drake’s side, wrapping her arms around him in an all-too-tight hug that he returns nevertheless.

Because that’s what she wants. Not to be called a hero, but to reach the moment where she (and everyone involved) can be called as such because her grandpa has been rescued. To have enough bravery to keep fighting, and to keep searching. To keep going, even through the nightmares.

To make it all okay.

[fanfic-inator795]

WoY: A Decade Later (A personal retrospection)

Wander Over Yonder… for a time, it was - in my opinion - the best cartoon ever. It was my number one, and I wasn't sure that anything else could top it. While I don't necessarily feel the same way these days, it's still a cartoon that very much lives in my heart and I don't think I'll ever truly leave it behind.

From a personal perspective, it was probably the biggest and most active Fandom I had been in at that time. It wasn't my first fandom/hyperfixation - prior to WoY, there had been Cartoon Network's Chowder and Regular Show, as well as Disney's Phineas and Ferb. But Chowder was short-lived and RS and PnF were both shows I had lost interest in due to them beginning to dip in quality.

WoY, however, was new, fresh, exciting and growing rapidly. It inspired me to write probably at least a hundred fanfics. It was a blast live-reacting to new episodes with everyone and seeing all the art that would come afterwards. It brought me into the RP scene and, if not for that, I might have never met my best friend of 10 years (and counting! Love you, Tessa).

Looking back on it 10 years after the fact, I can't fully say that WoY is still my favorite cartoon (shows like Kid Cosmic, The Ghost and Molly McGee, Big City Greens and Craig of the Creek have all outshined it in one way or another), nor can I claim that it is/was a perfect show. But man… It sure was a hell of a ride.

(Keep reading for all my admittedly VERY LONG personal thoughts or opinions regarding this one of a kind show)

Humble Beginnings

Pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I actually didn't care for WoY at first. It was the summer right before college, and I remember watching the sneak peek - The Picnic - early one morning after not being able to go back to sleep. I remember not really laughing much or even seeing the appeal… and yet the episode stuck in my mind, to the point that I ended up watching it again during a free moment I had from Freshman Orientation Week. I had a similar reaction to the show's proper pilot, The Greatest - not loving it, but not hating it either.

The fact that people/friends from my RS and PnF days were also posting about it helped keep the show in my mind (shoutout to Taylor, Erin and Darkwing). But it wasn't until two specific episodes - The Fugitives and The Good Deed - that I managed to finally start to connect with the characters myself. 

I started to see the appeal in this little furry orange spoon who just wanted to do good and make others happy, even when it was a struggle. I really liked the show's core theme of not just optimism and positivity, but also just being kind. I also started to really enjoy the show's sci-fi and space aesthetic and grew to adore its animation and gorgeous backgrounds, as well as laugh at its wacky sense of humor (I still laugh at The Fugitives/Good Deed quite a bit, even though I probably have their entire scripts memorized at this point).

So, it was official. I was hooked. Whenever there were new eps, I'd either try to watch them on the basement TV in my college dorm or wait for a livestream or FreeCartoonsOnline upload. If we're being honest, the first half of season 1, while being much more low-key than the wackiness that the show would end up eventually shifting to, was probably when it was at its most consistent. Other eps later on would reach higher highs, but getting stuff like The Bad Guy, the Prisoner, the Troll, the Pet, the Box and The Little Guy back-to-back just made my love for the show grow more and more.

The Little Guy specifically is one that is just incredibly well-crafted in its dialogue, story-telling and pacing, being both enjoyable and heartfelt. (Also the last time I watched it the ending made me bawl so, there's that, lol). Shortly afterwards, The Hero was another ep that I distinctly remember sticking in my head for whatever reason (Dracor and Demurra are still adorable, ngl). Then we had another favorite of mine, The Nice Guy.

I know I may be in the minority on this one - I remember my parents being annoyed and frustrated when they watched it with me, haha - but I absolutely love this episode. I find the jokes funny enough - the cashier is one of my favorite minor characters tbh - and the space gas station appeals to my aesthetic. But what really sells this episode for me is how it handles and portrays its moral of "being nice isn't always easy, but it's still right and still worth doing". Its ending never fails to get an "awwww" out of me, and honestly I could probably go on for an hour about all the little details and things I like/appreciate. I've also grown to really like its sister episode, the Time Bomb.

But no show is perfect, and right around here is where the show, in my opinion, started having some misses. It was mostly just "meh" affairs like The Night, The Toddler and The Big Job (weird, since I usually like heist eps… though I haven't rewatched this one in a while so *shrugs*). Other eps like The Tourist and ESPECIALLY The Helper (which I consider to be the show's worst outing, the vibes are just SO WEIRD on this one) I just didn't care for at all. 

Nothing terrible (save for the Helper), just cases of the jokes not landing or the stories being boring. This was also when the show really started leaning into the wackiness - which wasn't BAD persay, since it led to some really funny jokes and memorable moments when it was used well - it's just that looking back, I sorta miss the simplicity of early s1.

Thankfully, the season put out some real bangers by its end, with my personal faves being The Epic Quest (that ending will never not make me cackle. Again, it's a case of the wackiness actually working incredibly well), the Halloween/Christmas special, and the Rider, which is a great adventure to cap off the season and also the Horse from Horsin’ Around guest stars in it! (and does a pretty good job too. Will Arnett is def one of my favorite celeb VAs at this point, ngl)

So yeah, between the two seasons, s1 is easily my favorite. Call it nostalgia or personal taste, but for me it's all about that consistency. Adding in the fact that s2 has some pretty notable flaws and is thus a lot harder to look back on without noticing those flaws, and it's really no contest for me. 

New season, New problems

I certainly remember the excitement - as well as the fandom's stir craziness - in the lead-up to s2. There were crackships that were invented, silly RP blogs were rampant, Craig McCracken and crew (back when they were still on Tumblr) kept us fed with cool behind the scenes info as well as sneak peeks of the new season, and while I can't recall when it specifically happened, I also vividly remember the 'Bad End to Episodes' phase that the fandom was in at one point. Ah, the joys of still being in your angst phase.

Come that year's Comic Con, and a new round of hype came from the reveal that our new villain of the season was going to be a girl! …yeahhh, it sorta sucks recalling how hyped we all were about Dominator now that we know that she didn't quite work out the way we were all hoping for…

But regardless, s2 had a very strong start. Outside of the premiere, my favorites of this first batch would easily be The Boy Wander and The It for both just being incredibly funny. Although, if you had asked me at the time though, I probably would have said the Skeleton Dance fueled eps that were The Big Day and the Fremergency Fronfract - and like, yeah those eps can still be funny and enjoyable, but I've definitely cooled on the Skeleton Dance ship since these eps first premiered. (Still love a lot of the cute fanon stuff though)

Skipping past the next tent-pole episode for right now, this season had two of my favorite episodes of the ENTIRE SERIES - these being The Cartoon and The Black Cube. The former is just hilarious while the latter has a unique visual presentation and feels like an early s1 ep, and I mean that in the best possible way. I also really enjoy the Eye on the Skullship as well as the Hole… 'Lotta Nuthin' (this one especially, as it's another instance where, for as good as the ep is as a whole, it's the heartwarming lesson and hilarious ending that makes it such a winner in my book).

But for as much as the show was still putting out hits, I'll admit that there were also quite a few meh or just okay eps, especially as the season goes on. Some eps I found funny when I first watched them, but that humor doesn't hit as well when I watch them now. I also feel like there were points where it tried to be TOO silly to the point where it inhibited the actual humor and made the characters flatter and a bit flanderized compared to how they were in s1 (Hater especially got hit bad with this, where it’s less about him ‘softening up’ to show that he has the potential to be a good guy, and more just him constantly leaning into him being a bratty teenager instead of having that mix of dumb/bratty teen boy and legit evil conqueror).

Other times, it was just another case of a story not being as good as it could have been - and by this point in the season, while there are still enjoyable eps with fun concepts/jokes in the latter half of the series, the only one to get near the peak of the show's typical high quality is the musical ep, and if we're being real, it's Andy Bean's impeccable songwriting that saves this ep and makes it so good to rewatch despite its connection to the season's flawed overall story.

And I think it's about time we talk about that…

Not Quite Ready for Serialization

Being a show that was made right after Gravity Falls but before stuff like Star VS, Amphibia, and Owl House, s2 of WoY felt like a show with one foot stuck in episodic stuff and one foot trying to step into serialization. Because of this, the season’s overarching plot feels incredibly underbaked.

Now… Am I saying that I’d want the show to be like ATLA where every episode had to relate back to either the overarching story or one of the side-arcs? No, absolutely not. We’d be missing out on some of my favorite one-shot episodes if they did that, and if I had to choose between the season we have now and the season we could have gotten had the WoY crew gotten more freedom and were allowed more serialization, I’m going with the former each and every time.

HOWEVER, I still have to acknowledge just how poorly done the structure of this season was when it came to the overarching story. Basically we got four tentpole episodes acting as the season’s beginning, arc shifts and ending. During the season’s second and third arcs, there would be certain episodes afterwards reacting to the change in the show’s status quo.

Now, I get what they were TRYING to do but in my opinion it just really didn’t work as well as it could have. I’ll talk more about this in a bit but the season’s second arc (the “romance” arc) definitely got tiring after a while, meanwhile the third “Stop Dominator” arc felt like it was sort of killing time given that it was mostly just the main 4 trying to find some sort of weapon/figure out some sort of plan that ultimately resulted in some ‘funny’ failures and some quick lessons, with the occasional character piece thrown in here or there.

Now, I didn’t hate these episodes. By this point, it should be evident that one of my favorite elements of WoY are its morals and lessons, so even if the episodes themselves didn’t amount to much in the grand scheme of things and were essentially filler, I can at least appreciate a message like “being sad doesn’t mean you’ve given up hope” or “allowing yourself to laugh even in the dark times can help a ton”. So yeah, not completely pointless.

Unfortunately, even with a few bright spots here and there, the overarching plot of s2 still feels underbaked somewhat - and that’s ultimately because of the new character its focused around.

Dominator’s Dilemma

Okay, fess up. Whose idea was it to completely exclude Dominator from the first six episodes of the season (after the s2 premiere)? Because WOW does this decision backfire a lot. I don’t even like Dom that much and I can still acknowledge that she needed much more screen time and focus than she got.

I don’t know if this was to build up the ‘mystery’ surrounding her or because they wanted to get back in the groove of writing the main 4, but this was the crew’s first crucial mistake. Hell, in the first two episodes she plays an active role in, she’s nearly silent in both of them, only having her little fangirl rant in The Greater Hater and a small handful of lines in The Battle Royals. (Which, if I’m being honest, is still a really fun episode for 90% of it, having both great action and absolutely hilarious jokes that still make me laugh, but I get the ending of it making people sour on the episode as a whole.)

Again, it felt like trying to build up this artificial mystery surrounding her when it really wasn’t necessary. Dominator was meant to be a MAIN MEMBER of the cast! Yet I’m pretty sure Emperor Awesome got more significant screen time than her in the end!

Things got a teeny bit better as the show went on, with Dom at the very least getting more lines and more moments to be both badass and totally villainous, but she still felt more like a goal/obstacle than an actual character. I’m not sure if the writers MEANT to do this persay, or if it was just an accident.

Ultimately, it wasn’t until The Night Out when Dom finally got a spotlight episode… which was a little over 3/4ths of the way through the season. You could argue that she also got a bit of characterization in the musical episode, but it was really more emphasizing what we already knew or could infer about her. 

The Night Out, meanwhile, gives us something new - that she’s lonely - and we get a teeny hint of this again in The Robomechabotatron before being told outright in the series finale. Ultimately, it truly does feel like too little too late - especially when her secretly desiring friends just sorta feels like it’s aping off Hater’s secret motivations of wanting to be liked/admired and to have friends/people who love him for who he is.

So yeah, the crew completely dropped the ball on Dom’s characterization, using her as just a goal/threat/obstacle/etc. for nearly all of her appearances. Not only does it make Dom feel like a shallow character, but it also just feels unfair in general. Practically everything we know about Dom is for the sake of other characters.

She’s a test for Wander, an enemy/temporary love interest for Hater, an obstacle for our main four to overcome, and a threat to the characters we already love. Again, there’s nothing wrong with having a character that’s only meant to serve a purpose in the narrative, nor is there anything wrong with a character being shallowly evil… it’s just that the WoY crew hyped her up so much and claimed that she was a fifth main character (implying that she would get about as much development as the main four), so it just felt all the more disappointing when we didn’t get that. Add in her character design - a mix of goth/punk girl energy with Hartman Hips - and it does feel just a tad misogynistic.

There were things I liked about Dom - her cool lava powers and gadgets, her excitable personality, her villain spotlight moments, and her fun vocal performance provided by Noel Wells were all excellent. But unfortunately, these were all surface-level elements, and the crew just didn’t put in enough time to give her much else, essentially saving all her deeper character stuff for the never-made season 3…

A love-hate relationship (leaning towards hate)

Of course you can’t talk about Dom without discussing the season’s second arc, which many see as both a tumor on the plot and the absolute low point of the season. Admittedly when I was watching the season for the first time, I didn’t mind the romance arc all that much. I didn’t care if Dom was getting short-changed, I was too busy laughing at Hater falling all over himself like a dork and thought all the ‘critics’ of the arc were just focusing on the wrong thing and didn’t know how to have fun with a silly cartoon.

Obviously, this was the wrong perspective to have about this sort of thing (I was in the mindset of “I don’t want to accidentally make myself hate this thing I love so I’m going to ignore all criticism of it”. Definitely not the right approach), one that I still apologize for because the critics were totally in the right. From both an objective and a storytelling standpoint, this arc was just the worst - and for several reasons.

Leaning into the overall problem with Dom herself as mentioned previously, this arc was focused solely on Hater and Wander (and to an extent Syl and Peeps as they tried to talk some sense into their respective friends). Whenever Dom was brought in, she either used Hater’s crush to mess with him or just ignored it entirely, being obviously annoyed - and that was the extent of focus that her feelings got.

Outside of those moments, however, Dom’s feelings are relegated to the background, deemed as ‘unimportant’. Sure, in the climax of the arc, she gets this big whole musical number about how she’s “not the damsel” and isn’t interested in Hater’s affections - but again, it’s at the VERY END of the arc and the moment is less about Dom standing up for herself and more about emphasizing just how cruel she can be, as instead of simply rejecting Hater’s advances, she laughs in his face, continuing to mess with him to try and make the rejection as painful as possible before ultimately trying to kill Hater.

But while the arc ends in a showy (and admittedly still kinda fun, thank you Andy Bean and your musical talents) way, the way it starts sorta proves why this idea was so rotten to the core. The ONLY reason why Wander tries to get Hater and Dom together is ONLY because he knows Hater wants a GF and believes that a ‘positive’ thing like love could only ever result in the two villains finding happiness and no longer being evil. Nevermind the fact that Wander is shown only really caring about Hater’s perspective, not once considering Dom’s feelings or even asking if she wants a BF or romantic partner in general.

We get Syl calling him out on this a couple of times, but it’s in that ‘oh that Wander, always with the crazy ideas’ way. You’d think Sylvia, the icon that she is, would be just a bit more blunt and maybe even a bit harsh about how Wander’s treating Dominator - it’s not just a matter of it being a dumb and dangerous plan, but it’s essentially objectifying Dom, treating her like Hater’s missing piece. But hey, it’s fiiiiine, because Wander learns his lesson in the end, right? Except, no not really.

Because even when Wander FINALLY realizes this and feels guilty about causing so much trouble, Syl is more concerned with comforting Wander about it, because he TRIED to do what he thought was right and that “acknowledging you messed up is the first step towards making things right”. Like… yeah I guess but you could have let Wander actually acknowledge what he did was wrong and super messed up, focusing more on the personal aspect of how his whole romance scheme affected Dom AS WELL AS Hater (not JUST Hater) instead of how his scheme broke Hater’s heart and inadvertently made Dom more powerful.

(Also we see Wander shipping and actively pairing up the little Pikmin things in “The Sky Guy” soooooo no I don’t think he fully learned his lesson)

I also have to bring up how there are fans who view Dominator and her whole anti-love thing as aphobic. As someone who only recently figured out she was almost definitely aromantic, I’m certainly not the authority on this, but I can certainly understand the critiques.

What I THINK the WoY Crew was trying to go for was a ‘strong female villain who don’t need no man’, but between Dom constantly being described as ‘heartless’ and Peeps saying that he “doesn’t think she likes anybody” and her cruelty being turned up to 11 whenever someone expressed romantic feelings towards her, it does sorta imply “She can’t love and THAT’S why she’s a villainous monster” rather than simply “she’s a villainous monster”. And because we don’t get any real development or strong characterization with Dom, it’s hard to say where exactly her cruelty comes from, so it’s hard to really argue against these implications without simply inserting headcanons like “Dom is a lesbian”.

Now to be fair, I have seen some aromantics see Dom as good representation - I recall a month or so back when I saw people praising her after she was included in one of those Tumblr polls, with this one being focused on aromantic characters, saying that they liked how she didn’t sugarcoat her rejections and seeing her as this strong, cool, badass villainous who didn’t need romance. So yeah, obviously not every person who shares an identity is going to agree on representation and whether or not it's good, but considering all of Dom’s baggage and the inability to determine whether or not her heartlessness is the cause of her evil or simply a by-product of it, I personally feel like she’s just too messy of an example of a potential aro character.

(Honestly, Syl feels like a better example of an aromantic character to me, given that she and Ryder seemed just as platonic as she and Wander are, as well as her multiple rejections of Awesome and general disinterest/discomfort with romance. Buuut given that those latter examples are specifically with villains and thus it makes sense why she’d reject them regardless of her orientation, it’s still just a vibe/headcanon).

Before I close off this section, I do wanna acknowledge that beyond the potentially aphobic nature of Dominator, WoY’s LGBTQ+ rep isn’t nearly as great as I thought it was once upon a time as a young shipper. Some parts are still pretty okay, like Wander being coded as genderfluid/agender, but overall it still feels more like an old Looney Tunes cartoon than an episode of “The Owl House”, if you get what I’m saying.

In Craig’s defense, the man has never been all too interested in romance in his shows nor has he claimed otherwise - he either uses it as a joke while portraying it as a negative (see Ms.KeenexProf.Utonium, BlooxBerry or, obviously, DomxHater) or it’s a wholesome relationship that ultimately still stays in the background because it’s not all that important (see DracorxDemurra or Ramona and Carlos Flores from “Kid Cosmic”). 

BUT given that there were LGBTQ+ crew members working on the show in s2, such as N.D. Stevenson, as well as LGBTQ+ allies, it is a shame that no proper representation came of that. We got a whole episode where the joke was “oh, Wander and Hater are planning Wander’s execution like it’s a wedding”, an episode where Peeps and Hater essentially break up when Hater fires him, and an “I just can’t quit you” sort of moment from Peeps in the s2 finale when he goes all heart-eyed over Hater deciding to continue being a villain. That’s it, all jokes but nothing substantial. Even the show’s number one lesbian/wlw pairing of SylxDom got a quick Girls Night montage and one sweet moment between them, nothing else.

Again, it’s fine if you’re just looking for jokes, and yeah the WoY Crew never outright promised any romances… buuuut given how much they chose to lean into the Skeleton Dance and DeathGlare stuff while at the same time never outright confirming any of these characters as LGBTQ+ (they didn’t even have to make any ships canon, they just had to say whether or not Wander/Hater/Peeps were gay/bi/pan/etc), I’m not gonna invalidate people who feel just a bit queerbaited about the whole thing.

Bittersweet Goodbyes

As I said before, I was starting college when WoY first premiered. It’s the show that led me to my best friend and it’s the show that helped me through those first two years of college (easily the roughest part of college). It was a show that made me laugh and got me excited, even during the times where I was stressed out or worried. For all its flaws, it was one of the brightest lights in my life at that time.

So, needless to say, when I heard the show was canceled, I was devastated. I remember crying about it that night and even the day after, and I remember joining in as many online strategies as possible to try and get the show back, from letter writing to petition signing. Of course none of that worked, but as a bright side, going through this helped emotionally prepare me for the next time one of my favorite shows was suddenly canceled (looking at you Nickelodeon. Though considering how the RotTMNT movie turned out maaaaybe it was for the best…)

Honestly, for as much as I can look at the show through a critical lens nowadays and point out all the ways it could have been better, I think there will always be a small part of me that wishes we could have gotten some sort of continuation, whether it be through a special, a TV movie or a comic - or hell, I’d even take the plans for s3 leaking at this point. Now, given that the end of WoY brought about the creation of “Kid Cosmic”, I feel like this part has faded a bit, but I’m always gonna want closure on things like Hater’s arc as well as his origins given how much they were teased.

But that in itself is another critique I could give the show. Whether it be Wander facing a different type of threat that wasn’t just another villain, Hater’s transition into becoming a good guy, Peepers getting fed up with his boss and striking out on his own, or Dom’s true characterization that the crew kept insisting was there - the show simply saved a lot of it’s most interesting ideas for a potential Season 3. It was a gamble, and it was one they ultimately lost. It sucks, but it is what it is.

There’s a few more things I could critique about the show, such as its take on the idea of character redemption and Wander becoming a bit of a karma houdini that the show pretty much stopped calling out, and while these critiques are valid I feel like there are other fans who could do a better job talking about those points. But in the end, while season 2 was both a let down in some parts and a bit of a mess in others, I still feel like there were ultimately more good things to be found within the show than bad things.

It’s not a perfect show, far from it. Frankly, I don’t look down on anyone who fell out of love with this show or enjoyed s1 but hated s2. But for what it’s worth, the memories I got from the show are still ones I treasure, and episodes like “The Good Deed”, “The Little Guy”, “The Nice Guy”, “The Epic Quest”, “The Rider”, “The Boy Wander”, “The Black Cube”, “The Hole… Lotta’ Nuthin’” and “The Cartoon” are ones I still love to bits and will probably always love as I watch them over and over.

Disney Channel itself may not care all that much about this show these days save for an occasional rerun or a quick cameo in their Chibi-Verse shorts, but I’m always gonna remember it - for better and for worse. So here’s to 10 years, WoY. I may not always like you, but I still love you.

[multifandom-nerds-blog]

Ducktales 2017 timeline: ranting

One tiny thing that is icking me about Ducktales is that there is rarely any clear dates, or seasons for how much time passesor when the episodes happen. Like, obviously most episodes do not happen directly after the previous one unless they are double episodes like the season finales the first two episodes or the darkwing duck episodes in S3.

In addition to that exact topic, I'm gonna have to say that by logic, the spear of Selene incident , at the point of S2 when Della came back, should have been 11 instead of 10 years.

While (again) not entirely clear in what season the show even starts, it's summer for most people, which also makes sense with the trees being green and everything, so either summer or late spring

The first episode obviously also didn't play on the exact day of Della dissapearing for 10 years, cause by simple logic that would've been made clear. So yeah, still closer to 10 years but as in someone saying they are 10 years old and not "10 years and so many months"

We have the whole christmas time travel episode (that I just rewatched which made me write this post) in S2 with Dewey meeting young Donald and Della. This now tells us, Donald and the triplets have been living with Scrooge for at least half a year.

After that we're back to the generic cartoon spring/summer season

Ergo: The showmakers were to lazy to properly think of the fact that time INDEED DOES PASSES, also in a cartoon. Not to forget that this could've given us:

A triplet birthday episode in S1 or S2

An episode on the date of the spear of Selene incident with everyone like "ah phooey, now it's been 11 years already" with possible bonding between Donald and Scrooge

A GOOD TIMELINE I COULD REFERENCE IN MY HEAD FOR ANYBODYS SAKE

Yes. I know this is a kids show. Not to forget a kids show from Disney, but I'm always happier when I know how much time passes between events in shows or movies. It gives my brain satisfaction. This is also often (not always) a reason for me disliking episodically structured shows.

[wuxiaphoenix]

Worldbuilding: To the Ratcatcher!

Or the dogcatcher. Or both. Who are the dogcatchers in your world?

They don’t have to be literal dogcatchers. But in every world, in every time and place, there are jobs that are laughed at, sneered at, and avoided by anyone with any pretensions to higher status... and they are absolutely necessary to keep society running with minimal hiccups.

Traffic cops. Pothole repair. Yes, dogcatcher. Critically important in times and places where rabies vaccination was more of a suggestion than the law, and the main vector of rabies was not bats but feral dogs. A dogcatcher took his life into his hands, because even with preventive rabies vaccines you’re never 100% sure... and any dog bite can fester from plain old ordinary bacteria, as well. It was a job that was important, life-saving, and despised. You know, like criminal defense lawyers.

...Who are also utterly necessary, if your society has ideals of truth, liberty, and justice for all. Because it’s way too easy for people to mentally amend “justice for all” with, “except for the people we don’t like.”

Humans are human. Reasons for not hearing a suspect out fairly range from the reasonable to the unbearably petty. From “my kid is sick, I don’t have time for this” to “you bastard, you tried to kill me before,” to “someone snatched my lunch from the office fridge and you look kind of like the guy I think did it.”

You can’t change human nature. You can only recognize it exists, and enshrine in law and custom that everyone gets a lawyer. So that when you yourself inevitably fall afoul of the group’s ill will, there will be someone legally required to try and get your side of the story told.

In the U.S., our founding fathers knew children could be hung for stealing and people died in debtors’ prisons. They were all for punishing the truly guilty - but only if they really were guilty. Not just poor commoners in the wrong place at the wrong time. If that meant letting some actually guilty people walk so innocents wouldn’t get sent to the gallows... so be it.

Is that fair to the innocent said actual criminals might harm later? Maybe not. But there are no perfect systems. Even if rabies were expunged from the planet like smallpox-

(Oh, what a wonderful dream that would be, to have that horror finally die!)

-Even without rabies, you’d still need to catch roaming dogs. And defend criminals. And so many other jobs no one appreciates until they’re not being done.

This gives you at least two interesting story routes. Either the villain knows where this humble weak point is, and seeks to exploit it....

Or the Evil Overlord taking over the world flat-out missed the pest control team in the bottom floors of the library, and they are about to give him the full treatment.

A/N: “To the Ratcatcher!” Darkwing Duck, cleaning up St. Canard....

[dasturdlydangerousduck]

A Proposed Darkwing Duck Celebrity Voice Cast

Part 2: The Muddlefoots

As we continue on our voice cast, we now head over to Darkwing Duck's more than annoying neighbors (at least in Drake's eyes) the Muddlefoots!! They might not play a terribly huge role in the story, and might be used as comic reliefs, but with some stellar performances, I think they can more than faithfully capture the original family that we love to see Drake hate!

Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Honker Muddlefoot

Starting with the most recognizable and important member of the Muddlefoot family, Honker! Honker is a young, shy, and bright young duck with a knack for helping out others when they are needed. Now a kid actor like Jacob Trembley could have been an ideal casting especially if we're gonna age up Gosalyn, but I don't really think he has the sort of nasally voice that we can achieve for Honker. So that's why I believe Coleen O'Shaughnessy (Sonic 2, Naruto, Danny Phantom) would be a pretty good choice. Even though she's more of a voice actor and not a huge A-List celebrity like other actors in Hollywood, she has the voice that can definitely capture the innocence and like-ability of Honker that you can't really replicate with a huge child star at least to my knowledge.

Just her Tails voice alone screams Honker energy.

Seth Rogan as Herb Muddlefoot

The next member of the Muddlefoots who we will tackle next is the patriarch of the household, Herb! He's a jolly yet slow-witted dad with a good heart, but ultimately a more than irritating trigger for Drake Mallard. Now this casting was quite inevitable, as if Darkwing Duck is going to be remade by Seth Rogan's team, then chances are, he's going to play a character in the film. I do think however that Herb would be the best choice for Rogan (Monsters Vs. Aliens, Sausage Party, Neighbors). He may be a little deeper than Cummings take on the character, but he honestly checks out in a lot of the areas that define Herb as a character. Now we can only imagine Herb laughing in Rogan's iconic laugh. That alone would definitely drive Drake mad.

This would be the closest Seth can get to Herb but he's got the goofy and annoying side to him.

Leslie Mann as Binkie Muddlefoot

Continuing on with the matriarch of the family, Binkie!! Just like Herb, she's a jolly, and infectiously sweet mother, that fulfills the stereotypical mother we usually see in sitcoms. Her voice is also a lot more higher pitched as a result and it would be very difficult to replicate what Susan Tolsky provided for her in the past. We need an actress that can try her best to sound as close to the original as possible, and I think that Leslie Mann (Funny People, Rio, This is 40) would be the best pick. I was almost going to cast Jennifer Tilly, but her voice was a little too sulky for the sweet sounding Binkie, and Leslie has that natural speaking voice that his pure and sweet. It's not a perfect match to Binkie's voice, but it's more than fine for what we need for the character in my opinion.

Just her natural speaking voice should be enough to portray Binkie.

Brady Noon as Tank Muddlefoot

And finally rounding out the Muddlefoot family, we have the stand out member of the family who acts as the unlikeable bully, Tank. He acts as the tough and brash kid and makes everyone's life around him miserable, whether it be with Gosalyn, Honker, or even the clearly adult Drake Mallard. We need an actor that can channel the most coldest bully voice ever, preferably an actor that is close to a teen. Thankfully we have an actor who I think can do just that, and we don't have to look that far considering he's been in a production with Rogan before. Brady Noon (Good Boys, The Mighty Ducks Show, TMNT Mutant Mayhem) has got the right voice we need for a bully like Tank, and with his deeper voice as Raphael in the new TMNT movie, we can definetely age him up in the best way!

Even if he's not a bully in this scene, the way he speaks just feels right for Tank. 

It's not even out yet, but Brady's deeper voice can definetely fit Tank.

That concludes part 2!! The next part will tackle the members of Darkwing Duck's freelance agency S.H.U.S.H!! We'll look at J. Gander Hoover, Vladimir Gryzlikoff, Sara Bellum, and even Femme Appeal from the comics!!

Part 1 here!