#because we were and still are definitely the backbone of this fandom

[patolemus]

Right??? If not sterek then why sterek-coded?

[nekropsii]

Hello, pardon and I don’t want to be a bother but I would like to ask for your take on something. And if you’re not down to answer this question, that’s completely fine, you seem to make large opinion posts on a noteworthy basis so I understand if you don’t have the energy or motivation to give an opinion right now.

But I wanted to ask for your take on the ethics of enjoying Homestuck in the modern day. Many people such as myself and seemingly you as well enjoy Homestuck but are painfully aware of all the gross stuff in it. And as I see the comic pop up in more and more dni lists, with people claiming that enjoyers of Homestuck are supporting these things inherently, no matter the fact that most of us stand against Hussie and attempt to reclaim Homestuck as something to express joy and our identities in, it makes me wonder more and more the ethics of enjoying Homestuck. Since you seem to have thoughts on the matter, I was wondering if you’d like to share your take.

I once again want to stress though, absolutely no pressure to answer. I am not entitled to your time or hearing your opinion. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. I was just asking in case you wanted to speak about it.

Hi, Anon! This is a very interesting question, and you were right to assume I have thoughts on it. They might not be as long and complicated as some of my other essays, but they still exist, and I would quite like to share them. Thank you for the opportunity.

My opinion on The Ethics of Enjoying Homestuck is that I believe it's perfectly fine to do so. I also think it's perfectly fine to dislike, or hate, or not want to associate with it or any fans of it. This is a personal boundary set by and for the individual, and it's not my business to question, nor my place to cross it. However, I don't really agree with the way some people go about communicating or enforcing this boundary. I've seen some people put Homestuck and Harry Potter on the same level before. I've seen some say that enjoyment of either piece of fiction is, at least in part, comparable. I heavily disagree with this- and the fact that this is a point that comes up shows to me that there's quite a few people who don't actually fully understand why so many people are saying to stop supporting Harry Potter.

The conflation of the two things reads to me as if some believe that Harry Potter has been "cancelled for having a problematic creator"- and that's not wholly true. Yes, J.K. Rowling is, by definition, problematic, and she is the creator of the Harry Potter franchise, but people have drawn such a hard line against supporting the series not just because J.K. Rowling is Transphobic, but because she has honest to god legislative power. She is, as it stands, currently the backbone of the TERF movement, and is spending a lot of time and money to ensure that Transphobes dominate the government. Monetary support of Harry Potter pools into her funds, which adds to her ability to further Trans Genocide. Communal/Fandom support of Harry Potter increases her visibility as a public figure, which adds to her ability to further Trans Genocide. J.K. Rowling has made very clear statements saying that she takes any support of the Harry Potter franchise- any at all, including Queer/LGBT+ Friendly fan content- as support of her beliefs. Support of Harry Potter is a method of legitimizing and validating Transphobia, and is being used as a way to further Trans Genocide.

If J.K. Rowling was just an average Transphobe, the outcry would not be nearly as severe, and the line wouldn't be nearly as clear cut. It would just be disappointing, bring to mind the phrase "same shit as always", and many would make the personal choice to distance themselves from it. But that's not the reality we live in. We live in the reality where J.K. Rowling has sway on the government, and is getting real people hurt and killed.

Andrew Hussie, creator of Homestuck, however, is just some random asshole with no political power outside of his own vote. Yes, Homestuck is filled with plenty of unsavory elements- random out-of-place interjections of Hussie's own past bigotry included- but at the end of the day, Homestuck has no influence over government action. Hussie has no tangible political influence, and does not want to have tangible political influence. We don't even have evidence that Hussie still holds the same beliefs as he did during and prior to the creation of Homestuck. This is just some random indie comic, made by some random guy in 2009. J.K. Rowling is dangerously close to billionaire status, and using that power for evil.

It's fine to like something that's not very morally clean- or something made by a not very morally clean artist, during a not very morally clean point in time in a not very morally clean place in this world. It's okay. The fixation some have on this is OCD-inducing. The best that can be asked is that one recognizes the bigotry, and doesn't perpetuate them. That's all. You can read, watch, play, and enjoy just about anything, as long as you don't make the more unsavory elements out to be a good thing. Don't start acting like Racism is awesome, or Antisemitism is cool, or Transphobia is based, et cetera, and you'll be totally fine.

The ability to find value in something impure or unsavory is a valuable one. Some may not want to associate with that, or find the particular flaw in the work in question to be too uncomfortable to stomach, and that's fine, too. Not everyone can just sit through Era-Appropriate Casual Homophobia or Racism and come out feeling fine enough to keep going. I'd argue- hope, even- that most feel at least a bit bothered by such things. It's all about personal tolerance levels. No one's committing a moral crime by either enjoying it or not wanting to even look at it.

[hollow-lime-green]

The reason I asked how old you are is bc I myself am a fandom granny at 28 and got similar vibes from you 😭💖

I was like huh, 2010 references? Yeah the author most definitely ISN’T under 18, which tbh is refreshing bc I’m looking for weeb friends who are more or less as old as I am and it just feels like there’s nobody there 😭😭😭😭

Anyway speaking of 2010s references two weeks before I read your fic I was listening to Bad Romance and was reminded that it came out in 2009 and wanted to tell someone “ With how popular Bad Romance was at the time (and still is) I bet both Gojo and Geto listened to it at some point and did terrible karaoke renditions of it or sung it in the shower or whatever while thinking of each other lol” BUT I HAD NOBODY TO SAY THIS TO (so I’m telling you 💖)

omg yes! it is nice to find like-aged people in the fandom. I'd definitely put us at fandom middle aged though. we're the dinner party, take the kids to activities SAHMs of fandom. in FE3H, I met quite a few late 30s/maybe early 40s people and man, I can't wait to get there. truly the backbone of our communities - stable, disposable income; event planning sense; phenomenal writing because they have so much practice.

Oh goodness, 100% Gojo knows ALL the words to Bad Romance, Telephone, and Paparazzi, has seen the MVs multiple times, fundamentally changed by Lady Gaga for life (as were we all) 😍

[ddodol]

I am seeing a lot of people around various places stopping the boycott because they miss riize and to just "accept he's gone and move on" so I want to say to them-

sorry, I truly understand

but

this is also about the bullying and harassment

and theres a gdrive so if ur not using that, thats on u kinda

dont make excuses and be patient please, everyday we make some progress and we cannot let that crumble like this pls.

the stores are watching us and it won't take them 2 mins to restock if they see the fandom waver like this.

pls pls don't give up im begging on my hands and knees please don't give up. please.

personally, if they want to move on from him, that's really none of my business to judge 😭 coming back to the group would require a lot of effort from seunghan's side as well and ultimately, that's for him to decide. that's not to say i don't want him back because i definitely still do :(

seeing everything this community has achieved these past few days is amazing to see and experience. the only reason we were able to come this far is because of everyone's collective efforts! it'd honestly be disappointing to see it crashing down, especially since people only seem to blindly follow the majority most of the time without thinking about the hows and whys of things. the people are making an impact and the situation is even bigger than we expected it to be, with more and more idols experiencing the same injustice in their own country that couldn't even protect them.

again, riize isn't even coming out with new music. you can miss them all you want but all they're doing right now are fansigns and a few events here and there 😭 it's supposed to be easy for us because there's really nothing new or nothing to do 😭

if some of you are having a tough time with the boycott, either grow a backbone or just don't say you're participating and then leave halfway through 🤷‍♀️ be responsible. stand your ground.

[besttropeveershowdown]

The Best Trope Ever Showdown: Round 1, Side A

Found Family

Propaganda:

"We all know it, we all love it"

the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb

Forming a bond with friends or strangers so deeply they become your family!!! Choosing the people you want to support you, to be your backbone, to care for you and be cared for by you in return!

literally the experience! characters may not come from the best past but they grow together and give each other the support that they can't get otherwise. the attachments that form are usually amazing and I guess just. yeah! + platonic/doesn't need romance involved which I guess is a plus for myself???

Because its so cute! It's sweet, and kind, and forgiving, and just asdfghjk its just the best. Without FF we wouldnt have shows like The Owl House so think about that okay?

I mean, come on. A pair or group of people that know little about or nothing about each other become fiercely protective and loving towards the others. They consider each other family through shared experiences and traumas, loving and caring for each other as if they were kin.

Soulmates

When two characters are destined to be together and there is a definitive way for them to recognize each other like A's first words to B are tattooed on B (and vice versa) or they have matching birth marks, or they share each other's pain. (no TVTropes link submitted)

Propaganda:

Is this mostly a Fanfiction trope? yeah, but I love it. I read all of them (for my fandoms) and it gets me every time. I will re-read to good ones forever. And the best part is when they are resistant to the predetermination and at some point realize that in a world without soulmates they still would have fallen in love. Or extra points when soulmates are not solely romantic!

[pucksandpower]

hi natalia! i hope life has been treating you well and that you're doing amazing. i wanted to say, i love your account so very much! everytime i go through the f1 tags on here i'm alway searching for your username among the fics and safe to say is you have never ever disappointed me. when i first got into the fandom you were definitely one of the blogs that really hooked me in. oh girl you don't know how ecstatic i was going through your masterlist, i literally felt like i was camping in that one post going through everything in one night. still, even now i love going back and reading it again because that little spark of joy i feel clicking the links to every au is the reason i love to be on tumblr!

you never fail to deliver an insanely good level of world building like this is kind of surreal to me, because you give us such a fresh and wonderfully blissful take on social media au's. it's super cool to see you explore all types of medias like articles, blogs, twitter, instagram, youtube videos—i feel like you've used EVERYTHING girl. all your posts are sooo long and idt people realize how much work you have to put in to make a cohesive story like that?? + using all sorts of outlets ur an actual beast at this wow. and it's not just the way you deliver it, it's also all the ideas that you have. i'm a huge sucker for the deep lore ones that are like the ones involving racing teams and stuff. it's so great to see your takes on real time events and how it could've been if this or that happens. the readers are also of so much variety, i hope you keep doing that bc it adds a lot of potential and spice into the story. royal au is also sooo good! your account to me is basically girlhood personified. i'm always so immersed in it that i forget i'm reading an au... that really shows your effort in the work you put out. i can tell the time you spent crafting these pieces i mean WHO goes this far and wide if not pucksandpower?? ur the backbone of my mental health i would've gone in the trenches if it weren't for you... that's my mother ya'll. there is not one fic of yours that does not have me at the toes of my feet, all giddy to click the "keep reading" button. i wish for you to know that i, and i'm sure many others who follow you, really appreciate all the work you put in! i'm lowkey like suspicious with how real and professional some of the articles you make are bc how is that not something that would come out of an actual blog? 😭

AND OHHHMYGOOOD you are doing god's work for feeding my delusions on giving charles leclerc the team that he deserves. seeing the newey reader fic, that was when i knew you were ON to something like this girl is special she's doing all the research.. babe you could be the new damn chief tech officer if you wanted to i mean. you are operating in levels that we can't even comprehend?? one step ahead in everything. when i read your cl stuff in my heart i'm rooting for this man so bad and like if this isn't happening irl at least pucksandpower got my back like... you know what they say about delusions=manifestations so if we keep this up yall i believe it can be real trust me i've seen it in my head....

i'm sure there's a lot more that i want to say but anyways, i'm really glad that i ever found your blog and i look forward to future works you're gonna put out! cheering for you always and please take care of yourself, xx ❤️

Hi, my love! Thank you so much. I totally teared up reading this and I am not the slightest bit ashamed to admit it. Every single thing I post is crafted with love — I do it because I love working on them and because I love being able to make my fellow fans happy through my work. There truly is no more rewarding feeling. I have posted a whopping 119 fics/imagines/AUs on here and typing that number out really made me realize how crazy that is and how far I have come since I started this blog back in November

I can’t lie, sometimes the research and time I put into each of my works can feel overwhelming at first but I am always proud of the end product and especially happy to share it with you all. Some are lighthearted fun and I can have them completed in a few hours while others run deeper and can take me days upon days to finish. I truly want to build a mini immersive world through each of my AUs and I am so happy that you have been able to get that experience through them

Also I like to say that delusions make the world go round (and help keep us sports fans semi-sane) so I am more than happy to contribute on that end

Thank you again because your words mean so much to me! I can’t wait to share more work with you. Have an amazing day 🫶

[lepoppeta]

*Sits down at a desk like I've just arrived at a meeting* Tell me about your ships and their theme songs and your thoughts, for any fandom/ships you currently feel like rambling about, even if I personally don't know them. Don't hold back c:

hhh oh boy this… "dont hold back" i could simultaneously go on forever and also… not. what im going to try and do for this is concentrate on songs that could be applied to both sides at once, rather than one individual person referring to the other. im also not going to be too narritively focused. these rules help me to keep the ask response to a minimum; i dont really like writing obscenely long posts, and would rather categorise them more concretely.

(by coincidence, this basically narrows down my ship themes to just my bioshock pairings).

if you want to inquire about particular character themes in reference to their respective pairings, then dont hesitate to send another ask! that goes for anyone else reading this post.

that being said… shakes hand thanks for coming today and expressing you interest. we really love to see that kind of go-getter attitude on this blog!

since i asked you about DELTACLAIR themes a little while ago, i figured id repay you and start with them first. deltaclair i find to be very interesting because has the intense aesthetic of a soulmate au but without any sort of weird macguffin to go along with it; theyre simply two people who had an instantaneous connection and an initial sense of deep, unwavering trust. in a lot of media ive consumed concerning these two, they dont really care about their past actions (either for themselves or for the other), but rather focus on the present and how that can affect the future. its a very interesting dynamic and honestly not one ive explored before in any other fandom.

the night we met (lord huron)

i am not the only traveler who has not repaid his debt ive been searching for a trail to follow again take me back to the night we met

the melancholy nature of this song really drives home the directionless nature of themselves and their relationship. they just seem to exist suspended in time and space and outside of finding eleanor and getting out of rapture neither of them have any especially lofty goals to strive towards. sinclair never comes off as particularly ambitious, more placidly curious and perhaps mildly vengeful. delta is… well, delta.

and then i can tell myself what the hell im supposed to do and then i can tell myself not to ride along with you

despite me noting that they never seen to distrust each other, im sure there was a part in the beginning where both of them were waiting for the inevitable screwing-over. as they slowly get more comfortable with the situation theres still this lingering feeling of "i shouldnt be entertaining this at all" and yet they do anyway and its so brilliant and angsty.

like real people do (hozier)

i will not ask you where you came from i will not ask and neither should you

theres this silent understanding that ive always garnered between these two that some things are better left unsaid. sinclair has no idea who delta was before the alpha series, and delta knows that sinclair (chatty as he may be) is pretty tight-lipped at the best of times. its not that important information is being swept under the rug in lieu of a shallow fantasy, its more a silent agreement that bringing past grievances up isnt particulalry helpful. neither of them come across to me as particularly petty (although one could argue that sinclair is the Pettiest Bitch in Existence).

so i will not ask you why you were creeping in some sad way i already know

(see above for explanation)

devils backbone (the civil wars)

dont care if hes guilty dont care if hes not hes good and hes bad and hes all that ive got

delta and sinclair definitely come across as relitively apathetic about each others seedier choices, and quite readily move them aside for the sake of a survivable present and more important a fruitful future. theres simply a distinct lack of shits given, but in an accutely unyeilding way.

in comparison, JATLAS is extremely passionate and volatile compared to deltaclairs mutual, silent acceptance. their songs also tend to be a lot more narratively involved and arent suspended in space like deltaclairs are. they stand out more as individuals who happen to be part of a pair, rather than two characters viewed as a whole. dismissing the themes that contribute to the story rather to them just as inidviduals, jatlas for now only has one song.

exile vilify (the national)

youve got suckers luck have you given up? does it feel like a trial? does it trouble your mind the way you trouble mine?

atlas and jack never expected to be so important to one another. it all happened so quickly and so intensely that neither of them really stopped to consider how they felt about the whole ordeal until much later. they plague each others thoughts for entirely different reasons; jack has experienced a loveless existence (especially after his mother died) and atlas has never met someone who strikes him as fiercely as jack does. theyre the victims of poor luck and overwhelmingly shitty circumstances and all they have at the end of the day is each other.

[hypersonicjd]

Sonic Fandom Rant

Okay so, although I have been pretty ecstatic to see people be as excited as I have been for Sonic Frontiers’ new story direction, going to more serious things like what we had in the Adventure era, I feel people have been taking way too many jabs at the previous writers for stories.

Pontaff was hit and miss sometimes. I feel they hit it good with Colors. I feel the dialogue was mostly harmless and sometimes even fun (people from the fandom really dragged the baldy mcnosehair bit to the ground when it was only used ONCE OR TWICE in the entire game.) it could’ve been better yes, but I don’t think it deserves as much rejection as what people have been voicing as of late. Generations didn’t really have much of a story which was a missed opportunity and it could’ve been so much grander and better while still being a fun ride. Lost World is where most of the ups and downs REALLY tend to fluctuate. They got Eggman pretty well, Sonic doing something reckless (which I believe he would end up doing and is in character imo) and Tails being more proactive. I feel the conflict could’ve been something better instead of Tails feeling jealous or brushed aside, BUT I love him as a character evolving to the point of straight up standing up against Sonic for something that he doesn’t feel is right.

That means that Tails sees himself as... HIMSELF, that he wants to be seen as his own person and not just Sonic’s sidekick or something alike and that is something that I genuinely liked. But then we have Orbot and Cubot shenanigans, with Cubot almost killing Sonic and Eggman having to save him because Tails was messing around too much. That was pretty stupid and me no likey. Eggman WANTING TO TEAR THE DEADLY SIX APART AND HAVING THAT RAGE MOMENT IN THE OTHER HAND IS A CHEF’S KISS. He was menacing and genuinely scary at that moment. Mike’s performance in the scene was awesome and I feel the writing actually hit a good point there. But people took Lost World as a lost cause in general and deemed it as another failure. I kinda agree on the sentiment that the story was NOT good and could’ve used revisions or an entire rewrite, but there were moments that definitely shined.

Forces is... Complicated. There’s a lot of things that could’ve been handled a lot better, like how nobody thought of using the Chaos Emeralds to fight Infinite when they would’ve been a perfect match against the Phantom Ruby and instead of the Avatar having to use Wisps, they could’ve been using Chaos Powers like in Sonic 06 or something like that. Eggman was also on point in the game too. Him taking over the world was cool to see and his super big death egg mechs were awesome.

So, ups and downs, but nothing that I would deem as dreadful, terrible and that it was a bad time to be a Sonic fan like how many people have said it was.

Y’know what is a bad time for me now? People praising a writer that’s only seen the Sonic comics for most of his life, MAYBE playing a few of the games and thus giving us completely out of character versions of Sonic, Shadow, Eggman, Amy and Silver. People praising the living shit out of this guy and saying that Frontiers is as good as it is right now when Ian’s most likely only done character dialogue and nothing relating to the story, or Roger’s new voice direction, or anything that would be the backbone of the game’s premise.

Or how about taking jabs at Sonic Team for not being able to include or do every single thing the fandom wants like playable Knuckles and Amy in Sonic Origins. You already got 4 games fully remastered for every single platform under the sun and you got Knuckles to be playable in Sonic 1, 2 and 3, but just because fans have the time and dedication to “fix” it up, they are just better than Sonic Team and Sega. Yes, they are improving the experience and it is awesome that we are this strong of a community to have achieved these kind of modifications and fixes that could rival a company’s way of patching the game later down the line, but it is different in terms of a company making a video game vs someone changing it that isn’t from a company.

They have deadlines, they might not be able to get things working as they intended, or there might be corporate heads messing shit up. I’ll always support fan creations whenever it be mods, romhacks and anything else people can come up with, but there should be respect towards the original developers as they are what provide the content we strive from. They are still people.

Almost everybody knows what happened with Sonic Omens and that game goes to show that NOT everything the fans do is going to be good, or better than what Sega pulls out and I feel people need to understand that. It also puts a lot of pressure on other creators, that they need to do better than Sonic Team or they’ll be shitted on, that they aren’t “up to standard” and that can spiral really quick.

In general, I feel people have been harsh with Sega and Sonic Team in general and although praise is going to them with Sonic Frontiers, a lot of aspects that could also be praised are instead going to Ian Flynn, since a lot of the fandom see him as a godsend, that nothing he does is wrong and that he is going to save this franchise, when it was already healing before he even intervened with the development of this game. It’s just that we didn’t really see it.

I dunno, this is a wall of text but I wanted to let out so many things that I’ve been feeling with the fandom as of late. Feel free to add anything if you want with a reblog or a comment.

[astroninaaa]

girlie what the hell are you talking about he literally told everyone to choose people not sides how is that bullshit? /gen

/rp

because sides are people!!! sides are people!!! you can’t choose people without choosing a side!!!

look. when ranboo’s “voice” (do we have a name for it? i can’t remember) told him that by not choosing any sides he chose the side of a traitor, the voice was right. that’s exactly what he did.

let’s take doomsday as an example, and i won’t even say anything about sides. by choosing techno and phil and not partaking on the battle against them, he betrays tubbo. he lets tubbo down because tubbo has to watch his home be taken away from him for the, like, third time. by choosing tubbo and fighting against techno and phil, he betrays techno and phil — which is what tommy did, by the way: he chose tubbo, which was considered a betrayal by a good part of the fandom and by the majority of the characters too.

what ranboo doesn’t get is that there were never any sides, just people. there were always just people. the ones that chose l’manberg? they weren’t choosing l’manberg, they weren’t choosing a piece of land, they were choosing the people who built it. they were choosing wilbur’s memory. they were choosing each other and all their story together on the server. that’s choosing people, as well!!! because sides are people!!! a side is only a group of people with a name!!! tommy didn’t choose l’manberg, tommy chose his friends!!!! tubbo didn’t choose l’manberg, tubbo chose his people!!! as did quackity, and jack manifold, and hbomb, and sapnap, and everyone else!!!

but ranboo doesn’t get that, because he wasn’t there when l’manberg was founded. he doesn’t understand that this “side” isn’t a country or a government, it’s a home. l’manberg is a home for niki, fundy, tubbo, tommy, and many others, even the ones who started their own countries later on. l’manberg was just a place that symbolized a group of people, and they wanted to protect it because they wanted to protect the people.

even techno didn’t simply choose a side, techno chose philza’s safety and his own beliefs (himself). philza chose techno and wilbur’s memory (in his own way). niki and fundy chose themselves, because they were tired of feeling like they were never chosen by anyone, because they were tired of choosing everyone else and losing everything they worked for time and time again. that’s choosing people too.

by doing that whole speech right after the people of l’manberg were made aware their home would be destroyed again, ranboo puts himself on a moral high ground that doesn’t exist. he presents himself as a moral standard when he definitely isn’t one. it’s egotistical, in a way, specially considering the hurt and anguish the others characters are going through in that moment.

“i didn’t choose sides, i chose people” except that’s not true. you can’t choose people without choosing a side. when you do, you choose the side of a traitor — you let all the people you think you’re choosing burn because you don’t have enough of a backbone to actually choose them.

ranboo is an amazingly constructed character and the speech makes a lot of sense when you understand his point of view of the situation, but it’s still bullshit. he’s still wrong.

ranboo is as immoral as any other character on the smp.

[cherryblossomshadow]

Jayce Apologism

Wow, I did not expect to be doing Jayce apologism.

I mean, he was a good enough character on first watch. It’s honestly hard to pay attention to Jayce when he spends half of his scenes around charismatic people like Mel and Viktor.

But I loved seeing this well-meaning character stumble into power and then corruption. And it wasn’t his intentions that were corrupted, so much as his actions. He always intended to do Good, even if it required Evil.

I think if this show had been made a decade ago, Jayce would have been the main character … and way lighter-skinned. And Vi would have been a guy. But I digress.

I believe that Jayce deserves a better rap than the fandom gives him. Yes, we watched him fall into corruption, but he never dove in umprompted. He tried the noblest way he could think of first, and only tried something different when that had blown up in his face. I literally cackled at the scene of Jayce reprimanding Marcus about the Hex Gate manifests on second watch. Honey, you are about to learn corruption so hard.

I love fantasy politics, and it was so much fun for me personally to see this moral yet naive Jayce try so hard to do a Good, yet get talked around into a Corruption.

He shut down the Hex gates to protect the city! He shut down corruption! He ordered a blockade! He was trying so hard to do things that will help his city!

And it's not like these things even further any of his personal goals. Like, the series could have played Jayce’s closing of the Hex Gates as a flex on the Council, reminding them that he has the power.

But no! Poor boy did that out of the goodness of his heart and got punished for it! So he realized, through experience, that to not get thrown out of the city on your ass, you have to play nice.

The violin scene was amazing to watch and I definitely ruined that whole scene on second watch by squealing in saccharine tones, "Aw, Baby's First Corruption!"

I know that I'm coming from a media background rife with wars and child soldiers, so the death of the child in the shimmer factory was not surprising in the least to me. Children would be in larger supply than adults in the poisonous undercity, I'm sure. Even Vi, who was so outraged about the injustices of Piltover in Act 1, barely bats an eye at the kid.

Jayce came down to Zaun with violent intentions and an army of backup. He went in to destroy shimmer, but he came to a complete stop when he watched a child die by his hand. Just stopped. Immediately.

Even after all the corruption we just saw him go through, Jayce still had a moral backbone. A point where he said, “No more violence. Not even against you, who encouraged me into this.”

He had his hand on the hammer. It even started to power up. But then he stopped and let Vi walk free and clear with his extremely valuable Hex Gloves. Because the violence had to stop somewhere, and Jayce decided it had to be him.

That one child completely stopped him. That would not stop everybody, let's be clear.

And he spent the entire last episode pursuing peace, wielding the power he had accumulated to stop the violence between Piltover and what he supported as the nascent nation Zaun.

[cha-melodius]

Where Doesn’t It Hurt?

Tropetember Day 3: Hurt/Comfort, Whump

Rating: Teen & up Pairing: Illya Kuryakin/Napoleon Solo Fandom: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015) Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Illya Whump, Caretaking, First Kiss, Getting Together, Tenderness, Fluff, Banter Summary: Napoleon encounters resistance when he tries to clean up Illya's wounds at the end of a long day, and their bickering takes a turn that neither of them expect.

Author’s Notes: I'm not gonna lie, I straight up stole the backbone of this scene from the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark. I rewatched the movie not long ago and this scene spoke to me as so intensely Napollya that I had to write it for them. Then I didn't really have anything to do with the scene, so I wrote a bit of framing and decided to put it out as a little one-shot for Tropetember. It's very silly, and I hope you enjoy.

AO3 Link (the whole thing is also below the cut)

*****

None of them had been in the greatest shape when they’d stumbled onto the ship that Waverly had booked them passage on, but Illya had certainly taken the brunt of it. The steward had looked at them with exceeding skepticism, even though it wasn’t like they were actively bleeding on the floor, but he’d shown them to their cabins. Napoleon had even managed to convince him, with a sizable tip, to bring a basin, some washcloths, and a large bottle of Scotch to their cabin before they got underway.

Gaby had, of course, managed to finagle her own cabin, but Napoleon and Illya are stuck sharing. Napoleon supposes it could be worse; there are two bunks set on either side of the room with a small table that folds down from the wall between them. By the time he gets back from filling the basin with warm water, he finds Illya slowly peeling off his shirt, wincing as he goes. He’s got bruises and abrasions everywhere, which is what happens when you try to stop a car that’s too powerful even for the Russian giant and get dragged behind it because you’re too stubborn to let go.

Napoleon wordlessly passes him a tumbler of Scotch, which he downs in one shot then grimaces against the burn. It’s clear he’s hurting quite a bit, even though he had been of course hiding it on the way here. Now, though, he’s moving at a snail’s pace and hissing in pain as he lowers himself onto the berth. Napoleon watches him for a minute until he can’t stand it anymore, because Illya will of course never ask for help.

“You’re unbelievable sometimes, you know that?” Napoleon scolds as he bends down to lift Illya’s trailing ankle into the bunk, since it seems possible he might not manage it on his own. “You have to take better care of yourself.”

That nets him some grumbled Russian swears in reply. Illya reclines back against the pillows and closes his eyes, probably hoping Napoleon will take it as the dismissal he intends it to be. Fat chance of that. Napoleon pulls the basin closer to the edge of the table, wets a cloth, and perches himself on the edge of Illya’s bunk. He reaches up to dab gently at one of the worse abrasions on Illya’s shoulder, which predictably results in Illya jerking away from him.

“What are you doing?” he demands, trying to bat Napoleon’s hand away.

“You’re hurt,” Napoleon answers simply.

“I don’t need a nurse, I just need sleep.”

Napoleon, however, is not deterred. “Oh come on, don’t be such a baby.”

“Cowboy, leave me alone,” Illya grunts, trying to pull away from him, but in the small bunk there’s nowhere else for him to go.

“Look, just let me clean the worst of these,” Napoleon tries.

Yeah, Illya’s banged up, but they’ve both had worse. Which, come to think of it, might be why he’s being so petulant about being helped at the moment. Still, he’ll be grumpier if he lets these lacerations scab up with all this dirt and grime in them. Napoleon leans forward to renew his efforts, but he doesn’t get very far. “That hurts!”

“Goddammit, Peril, where doesn’t it hurt?” Napoleon snaps, sitting back in frustration, the wet cloth still clutched in his hand.

“Here!” Illya huffs, lifting his elbow up and pointing at it.

Napoleon blames what happens next on his own exhaustion. Maybe Illya is the one who’s more hurt, but he’s the one who spent the whole time worrying about his partner’s absurd theatrics. He’s already half bent over Illya so when the elbow comes up just about into his face he closes the small gap between them and kisses it.

Illya is quite clearly shocked, and frankly so is Napoleon. They stare at each other for a long couple of minutes, neither of them daring to speak, until, astoundingly, Illya slowly raises his hand and points to a point at the top right of his forehead, just under the brim of his cap.

“Here.”

A tiny smile tugs at the corner of Napoleon’s mouth as he reaches up to grab the cap and pulls it off, tossing it across the cabin. He holds Illya’s gaze as he leans in, daring him to draw away or stop his progress, but it never comes. Napoleon kisses Illya’s forehead, then sits back again, waiting.

“Here is not so bad,” Illya mutters almost offhandedly, pressing a finger to his eyelid as he closes his eyes.

It’s no more than a silly game until Napoleon bends down and lightly presses his lips to soft, delicate skin. At that moment, everything changes. There is an electric tension in the room when he withdraws, not far this time, just enough to meet Illya’s eyes when his lashes flutter open again. Napoleon feels like he can scarcely breathe, which is diametrically opposed to how Illya’s bare chest is heaving under him. For a moment they are frozen, faces inches apart, until Illya’s hand shoots up and curls into the front of his shirt. He gives a short yank and then their lips finally meet, a fierce press that resolves into an intoxicating give and take as Napoleon tilts his head to fit their mouths perfectly together. Illya tastes like the smoky sweetness of the Scotch mixed with the faint metallic tinge of blood, and Napoleon can’t seem to get enough.

Napoleon can’t deny that he’s dreamed of this, very nearly since they’d met in Berlin. Well, who could blame him, when the Russian agent looked like that, with those stunning blue eyes and lips that just begged to be kissed? He’d always assumed it was only an idle fancy, that Illya would never allow such a thing, but apparently he’d been rather sorely mistaken on that fact. That wasn’t to say that there hadn’t been times when he’d wondered, but each time the something or someone had intervened, and the moment had been lost.

The washcloth slips from his fingers and he brings his hands up to gently cradle Illya’s head, still cognizant of the fact that Illya is covered with injuries that he’d rather not brush against. Eventually Illya’s movements slow, his grip on Napoleon’s shirt slackening, and Napoleon pulls away a little to find… he’s apparently fallen asleep.

“Peril?” he whispers.

He gets no reply. Illya’s definitely out like a light. Napoleon huffs in (admittedly mild) frustration as he sits back again, shaking his head fondly at his partner. He never did get to do much cleaning of Illya’s wounds, but he doesn’t have the heart to wake him now. Well, they’ll make do in the morning.

“We never do get a break, do we?” Napoleon mutters, then leans down to press one last gentle kiss to Illya’s forehead before he heads to his own bunk.

[kishimoto-did-us-dirty]

Naruto Characters and Quarantine (Part 1)

Naruto characters x reader during quarantine

warnings: none

rating: K+

includes: konoha 12, sand siblings

Authors Notes: These are centered on the idea that the two of you are adults who don’t live or work together.

part 2, mayhaps?? anyone want that?? 👀

Anywho, enjoyyyy~

also, remember, these guys are shinobi. they gotta stay healthy, which is what I kept in mind when writing a lot of these.

Naruto

- totally ignores social distancing rules to come and see you

- he just has to, he doesn’t know what he would do if he didn’t :( probably die of y/n-deprivation

- this boy will not care at all about social distancing if none of you or any of your loved ones are at greater risk

- will sneak into your apartment and spends nights cuddling with you to get through his restlessness of not being able to go outside as much

- will bring you food and do your grocery shopping for you 100% if you or those around you are at a higher risk and can’t do it yourself

- just don’t expect your groceries to be 100% what you asked for

- “How was I supposed to know that Nesquik doesn’t count as a seasoning!?”

Sasuke

- non-massacre au

- another rule breaker

- just to a lesser degree

- he’s definitely gonna come see you whenever he wants, he just won’t do as much touching

- like, if you two are watching a movie together, you’re sitting on opposite sides of the sofa

- which honestly he was fine with at first, but then he realized he’s a little something called.... ✨touch starved✨

- and is now having a hard time not touching you as much as he wants

- he gradually gets more touchy overtime but still always insists on sanitizing afterwards

- he still won’t do more than a peck tho. he would absolutely hate it if you got sick bc of him.

- he also brought you a shit ton of toilet paper at the beginning of quarantine because he was worried you wouldn’t have any and it was the last batch he saw

- it’s his form of romance

Sakura

- at first she was totally all for the rules

- you two kept six feet apart with masks on at all times

- but very gradually and unconsciously... that changed lol

- she started to completely forget about the rules as it went on and would just randomly grab your arm or hug you out of excitement without even realizing it

- eventually she resorts to touching but with very strong precautions

- you both will sanitize, brush your teeth, wipe down areas, etc. as soon as you’re done hanging out

Shikamaru

- 50/50 with him

- he doesn’t care so much so as to stop seeing you and won’t wear a mask around you

- but if you try to kiss him he goes “you know we can’t do that right now.”

- will grab your hands and play with them and everything

- and may occasionally cuddle

- but he’s not going to do it as much as usual

- you two mainly just nap together

- but now you guys are napping with a couple feet between you

- again, these guys are shinobi. they gotta stay healthy and he knows that. he can’t prioritize kissing you over being the village’s strategic backbone and he needs you to understand that, too.

Choji

- my baby boy :(

- he tries so hard

- he really does

- but he just has to be around you

- he won't risk any health precautions and will still keep distance

- but he will always find ways to spend time with you while staying six feet apart

- expect a lot of social distancing picnics and food dates

- will 1000% bring you food if you need any

- he will also gladly buy you masks, sanitizer, wipes, etc. if you need it

Ino

 - Ino isn’t as frivolous as many people in the fandom depict her

- She has a good head on her shoulders

- She may be a hopeless romantic, but she isn’t stupid and knows she has a job at the hospital

- She basically just like Sakura except a little more feisty

- will yell at you if you don’t socially distance well enough

- but will also snuggle you if she knows she has some sanitizer on hand to use afterwards

- ultimately, she knows she has to prioritize your guys’ health

Kiba

- not a total rule breaker

- he’s just like a kicked puppy tbh

- will always use his nose to sniff out sickness on you when you’re not looking (you know how like some dogs can?)

- will gives you hugs and look after you

- but he, too, will keep social distancing

- I could see him just grabbing your shoulders after a distanced hang out and just gently rubbing your shoulders from an arm’s length bc he knows he can’t get any closer

- but he does break the rules sometimes 

- he’s snuck in a few kisses here and there

- Akamaru always barks at him for this though

Shino

- I love him so much

- but he ain’t breaking the rules

- he’s definitely going to social distance from you, bc him getting sick means his whole colony gets sick

- and he needs to keep himself healthy

- not to mention, if you got sick?

- he can’t even stand the thought

- he’ll just watch you do your thing from a good 6-7 feet apart and hope for everything to end soom

- he also puts a bug on you without telling you that’ll track your health

- that way he knows when you’re sick or not

Hinata

- I headcanon Hinata as being a bit of a security freak tbh

- not in the sense that anything’s wrong with her

- but she has to check that the doors leading into the house are all locked before going to bed, always stocked up with medical supplies in case of emergency, having extra face masks on her just in case, etc.

- small and quiet but still very safe

- she just likes to keep her distance and maintain safety

- she lives in a compound so any spread within it will likely extend to a few other people within her clan

- so she likes to stay distant

- but she really loves social distancing dates :)

- things like picnics, outdoor movies and training sessions!

- definitely makes you a lot of food and small gifts to make up for the lack of touch

Neji

- another rule-follower

- I mean what did you expect

- he just really doesn’t want you or anyone else getting sick because of reckless actions

- will 100% sanitize everything for you before and after you use it if you guys are out in public

- he claims it’s because you just won’t do it right

- but really it’s just because he cares

- kissed you a total of 3 times and felt a little guilty after the third since it was right after he came back from a mission and he hadn’t cleaned himself off yet

Lee

- follows the rules almost too well

- makes sure that you both are six feet apart at literally all times and might as well measure as much considering how dedicated he is to it

- HE’S HELLA DRAMATIC ABOUT IT ALL THOUGH

- EACH TIME HE REALIZES HE CAN’T HUG YOU BRINGS ON A NEW WAVE OF PASSIONATE TEARS

- he just cries a lot about it and really wishes things weren’t like this

- will often go grocery shopping with you bc he buys groceries for his elderly neighbors who are at a greater risk so they don’t have to go out (awwww)

- he will get very upset when he sees people outside without masks on when it’s things like that that make the virus keep spreading and thus keeping him from you for even longer :(

Tenten

- honestly I think she’s really casual about the whole thing

- always wears and mask and sanitizes everything, yeah

- but she gives you hugs and kisses just fine

- but only in private

- and she won’t be cuddling

- she just keeps her distance but still gives affection

- the type to get angry if you aren’t being safe enough

- like if you go to a party with multiple people there?

- she’ll scold you 100%

Gaara

- Gaara would have to social distance as kazekage

- he’s not allowed to run the risk since it’s public knowledge you aren’t living together

- this makes having private moments very difficult

- and he has to set a proper example for his citizens

- it’ll also be a large political scandal only worsened by his political opposers if he were to be caught not social distancing

- also if he got sick then that would leave the village susceptible to enemies who would take advantage of his vulnerability and attack

- but you two still do things together

- water cacti, discuss political events, watch over the village, etc.

- he gave you a cute succulent to look after while he’s not there as much

Kankuro

- similar to Gaara, as his brother, it wouldn’t look very good if he was caught disobeying the rules

- he’s pretty mature about it but will have private moments with you when you’re alone

- he doesn’t care so much about keeping 6 ft apart when you two are alone

- he just won’t go overboard

- just some handholding, hand kisses, and just petting in general

- when quarantine ends though, he’s all over you omg

- you’re the first person he comes to see and will hold you so tight

Temari

- angry love

- will personally bark orders at you about proper safety precautions

- your mask never has to worry about being on improperly when temari is around

- you can see her blush underneath her mask though

- despite her tough exterior, it’s visible just how sad she is

- Temari is tough but she thrives off of being around the people she loves

- not being able to be truly with you really makes her depressed for a while

- even offered to have you moved into the kazekage family house with them so you didn’t have to socially distance at home anymore

- takes every precaution she can with herself and those around her so this can end faster and she can be with you again

THAT’S ALL! SORRY THEY LOWKEY SUCKED! MAYBE A PART 2 IF REQUESTED ENOUGH???

[jiangwanyinscatmom]

From @ednamrenee 's comments that are way too wonderful and insightful to keep to the notes only and I'll try to go point by point with this since there is so much I agree to with this (excuse the messy thoughts as I go)

Lol, and I enjoy hearing the perspectives of those who have a harsher take on JC than me. 😂 I agree with you re: CQL, it definitely didn't seem to know where to put JC's character, which is a shame because he's a very interesting one. I don't mind if CQL-onlies want to that to that version, media consumption being a very personal experience and all that, but if I have to read one more interpretation like JC thought the life-debt between WQ and him was paid..

I do think that it's a detriment to the adaptions closer to the novel and the AU that CQL is to be so heavily tied together into the western fandom. Since they are so different from each other they really can't be compared to each other. The characters are not alike which lends to the very out of place interpretations that become so heavily popular.

...when he got her out of prison, I'm gonna go insane. Never mind that it's not what happened in novel canon (or even donghua canon, I don't remember about the manhua), never mind that it was an added scene to go forth with the one-sided JC/WQ thing, never mind that even if it had been canon, it in no way balances the life-debt JC owed the Wen siblings (and I'm not even considering the golden core transfer, we can't hold over him what he doesn't know).

In terms of the debt he owed even with the awkward romance they tried to make, if it was "payed back" it does not excuse him from essentially hiding that away and letting it be buried under the calls to exterminate all Wens. It does not erase the fact that they had helped, and he chose to just not expand upon this when their safety was at stake out of, I suppose, petty jealousy of Wei Wuxian (I really don't know what CQL was going for with his resentment towards Wei Wuxian since he'd had that since he was young. But, it also makes whatever love he did have for Wen Qing and Wei Wuxian so much more shallow then it was in the novel and starkly more cruel for a character they tried to humanize while keeping the novel points skewing the themes of Jiang Cheng as a character.

It just feels like a sorry understanding of life-debts and that's why culturally huge thing, so...no? Don't do that? It's fine having JC not pay much attention to the debts. It makes him interesting, it makes him coldly pragmatic over valuing even things that his own culture holds dear. It's a great trait, and even a good one for a leader maybe. I am up for JC deviating for the norm when it's about such virtues while WWX sticks to them, and JC wasn't exactly sneering...

Yes! This is Jiang Cheng as a character at his simplest and why I personally find him fascinating! He is pragmatic and cold to a fault that works well in the cultivation world MDZS set up, however, it doesn't work the same in CQL when you have the boogyman story of the Yin Iron as the root of all bad instead. The character actions no longer line up with the theme of the original work since so much emphasis is placed on a piece of metal ruining everything instead of the cruelty of humans alone.

...at the mo dao until it put him in a politically delicate situation. That's fine! Interesting character traits! But like. Fanon perception more often than not strips all of these from him and that's just unacceptable to me. I'm not even going to speak of the entire genocide thing, despite knowing about the innocence of the Wens and how they're just feeble old people and women and children.

The bleed over of CQL trying to make Jiang Cheng softer in his youth made headcanons with no true base for it in his behavior as an adult a lot more muddied. As an adult in any adaption, he's not really shown to have any positive sort of sentimentality towards Wei Wuxian. Certainly with Jin Ling in CQL it implied heavily that he did hit him just like Madam Yu to Wei Wuxian, where at least in the novel he was just... a very aggressively, unkind, cruel uncle that spoiled his nephew and gave in with that cycle of negative action over progressive action (The massive narrative mirror between how Jiang Cheng and Lan Wangji raised a child left to them suddenly). He was not sorry for the hand he took in killing the Wens, he blamed them for taking his right hand man away and putting his sect, in what he thought, was unneeded trouble, morals be damned like his mother. Like she had said about Lan Wangji and Jin Zixuan, they stuck their head too high and they brought death upon themselves for talking back to a higher power for acting on their kindness over politics.

(Lol, this got long, sorry!) I absolutely agree that in terms of interpersonal relationships, Jin Ling is the only one with whom Jiang Cheng can begin to grow. The thing about the Yunmeng brothers is that whatever was between them is now tainted by bad blood (quite literally) on both sides, both of them have hurt each, knowingly or unknowingly. Both of them are a source for mental stress for each other, that's canon for any adaptation.

I understand the urge to want a rosier, I guess, take on this. I'm more used to the novel interpretations and neither ever really use the wording of being like family, or brothers, this was left to Jiang Yanli specifically calling Wei Wuxian her brother as the only Jiang to do that. The barrier of their social class is still a backbone of Jiang Cheng's possessiveness in thinking Wei Wuxian was his to order about as a sect leader twisting the innocent promise Wei Wuxian gave. But both don't associate anything positive with the other anymore. Wei Wuxian certainly isn't sentimental for Yunmeng Jiang as a home when he is resurrected or Jiang Cheng. He was planning to run off in the opposite direction of it to start as someone new! That does not read to me as pining or love anymore for the past (and I've written a piece before how CQL sanitized his longing of Lan Wangji solely by replacing it with Lotus Pier want and Jiang Yanli as a parental figure).

Can we not act like "ohh it's just miscommunication, they're both just dumb and horrible at feelings". It's not that simple. MXTX establishes this painstakingly, and just loving someone has never been the point. YZY loved JC too, she still managed to mess up his head. Love isn't the point, which sounds very hurtful I know, but it's also true. Reconciliation after all this bad blood takes a huge amount of emotional labour on both parts.

I can not reiterate enough that love was not the only thing needed between the Yunmeng siblings. None of them really ever understood each other and had different wants. Jiang Cheng never understood Wei Wuxian and his fascination of Lan Wangji out of discomfort. He did not accept whatever was going on there and later used it as shaming fodder. Both have done an unforgivable disservice to the other and really, nothing can mend old hurts as bad as they were. The kindest option is to leave each other alone and move on with a happier life for the self. The codependency of this is more than disturbing when used in reconciliation material especially for Wei Wuxian who was never that and is the one who actively asked for Jiang Cheng to move on, because he does not have the will to extend the effort of rebuilding a relationship anymore. It's a very human response to a broken relationship and not cruel, it just is a realistic view of a bad relationship that always ended for the worst when they tried to talk. Their own ideals are nothing alike and clash, they are not what the other needs and Wei Wuxian by the end of the novel is ready to leave it and move on with others without Jiang Cheng.

And, never apologize for long thoughts! I love it! This is why I very much enjoy interactions on here that are productive. Seriously I am a Jiang Cheng fan, I am just not into the gum drop sweetness for reconciliation. They are a disservice to him and his end that can better him without the crutch of Wei Wuxian there, which is exactly how his resentment spawned in the first place. He has a chance to do better by himself on his own terms, that doesn't need to be ruined with a codependent bond that had been forced and very one-sided in the end and remained as that for 13 years.

[innovativestruggles]

Extra thoughts on Daisuke x Suzue (Anime and Novel)

I was prompted to write this when a friend asked me several prodding questions on Daizue’s relationship and feminism several days ago. Obviously my friend knew where to hit the right nerve LOL

So I thought about it and I’d like to share my thoughts. I don’t know whether my DaiSuzu followers are still hanging around, but if you see this, then this is for you. This post is very opinionated of course so you may not agree with what I have to say. 

I took the initiative to go back and watch some of the FKBU episodes, and then top it off with the novel. As I mentioned in numerous older posts, the novel is the original and was written sometime in the 1970s. If you can read Japanese, I strongly recommend you grab a copy and read it for yourself. It goes into a lot more depth with regards to Daizue’s relationship and there is a lot more development between the two.

Novel and anime are different yet there are similarities. What I am going to write here is purely about DaiSuzu and because there are only minute differences in their interactions in both novel and anime, I will combine the two elements together. But before I do that, I want to talk a little about Suzue.

Suzue

I absolutely love Suzue’s character - in almost every single aspect. She is strong, clever, independent and defies all odds. Her personality and interests are definitely more pronounced in the anime in terms of strength and defying the odds. She does the hard yard - a mechanic, an engineer, a creator, a pilot, a spy, an intelligence operator - she is a one stop shop and she is not just a pretty face. Then we have her novel counterpart, who shares similar traits that concerns intelligence and independence. She does intelligence and spy work for Daisuke as well, and the only thing that was absent would be her ‘mechanics and gadget development role.’ Given that the book was written in the 70s by a misogynistic piece of shit, I am surprised the author gave Suzue that level of prominence. 

When I saw the promotional materials and then the second episode of FKBU, I was so excited! Finally, a strong female character who has all the ‘male dominated’ traits! I was looking forward to what the anime had to offer her, considering the creators were talking about giving Suzue an ‘important’ role in the anime.  And throughout the series, her character in that sense did not disappointment. She did a lot of work for Daisuke and she was the backbone of everything. She even had to rescue him at times. What an incredible woman.

In comparison, novel Suzue, although a prominent, intelligent character, still had some level of submissiveness to her that screamed ‘I need a man to save me and do things for me’ kind of way. Unsurprising of course being written by an old fashioned man in the 70s. So the anime in a sense was a breath of fresh air.

Then we see the lack of screen time. Although Suzue was just a supporting character, she was quite prominent in the novel. The anime went through all this trouble to create such an incredibly strong female character, but gave her such little screen time. Disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe it. I’m just frustrated that it is always the bloody male characters that gets a lot of screen time. I don’t give two fucks about your need for a fanservice or to appease fujos, we need more female characters who are strong, clever, independent, does not need a man to save her, is not overly sexualised and gets plenty of screen time. If it’s not one, it’s another. Can’t they just bloody do it all together? Also, have three main characters, Daisuke, Suzue and Haru ffs.

Feminism & Anime

If you trawl through my blog, there are a lot of posts about women, feminism, misogyny, toxic fandoms and a lot of het ships. Although I do absolutely love my M/M and F/F ships, there is a reason for my interest in anime het ships. I am a social worker who specialises in working with victim/survivors of family/domestic violence and sexual assault (DVSA), and complex trauma. Considering the majority of perpetrators are men, and the majority of victim/survivors are women, it is important to emphasise the need for a healthy and respectful relationship. I enjoy bringing my feminist perspective to film and fiction because they are an extension of society. Film and fiction (including anime and manga) are based on societal perceptions, and characters are still, unfortunately, heavily gendered. 

The anime fandom consists of real people and if you look all over social media, people talk about the characters all the time and their thoughts on them. It comes from somewhere. So when I watch anime, and when I see a male and female character get together in a manner that is healthy and respectful, they get a standing ovation from me. In particular, is when a male character treats his female partner in a way that empowers her or if he abstains from using his male entitlement to demean her. Because in society, there is still a large proportion of men who continues to abuse women in every way possible. If fans are constantly viewing content (yes, even ‘cartoons’) where women are objectified and disrespected comparatively to men, that rigid stereotype is reinforced and ingrained. 

I just want to add a note here that the LGBTQIA+ community do experience DVSA as well and this post does not disregard or invalidate them in any way. The focus of this discussion however, pertains to men, who make up the majority of perpetrators and, women, who are the majority of victim/survivors.

Daisuke and Suzue

I answered an ask sometime ago about why I ship DaiSuzu and although that has not changed, I have given a lot more thought to the reasoning behind it. The one thing I dislike about Suzue is her obsession with Daisuke, both in the novel and anime. It does take away her cool, independent like character, and submit her to the idea that she is nothing without first appeasing a man (Daisuke in this case). I don’t want to put too much dislike into her character in the anime, because we never got to see what her history was like with Daisuke. In the novel, I do see elements as to why she can be a bit obsessive, and that was most likely to do with her being ‘adopted’ and given a second chance. It was her way of showing appreciation. Yet she does have romantic feelings for Daisuke, so in essence, her character was emphasised as a typical lovestruck woman 😒

Again, she was incredibly loyal and forgiving towards Daisuke in the anime, despite his shitty attitude towards her at times. You’re probably wondering, after all that I wrote about feminism, why I would still ship DaiSuzu? In the anime, that comes down to Daisuke’s trauma. It added an extra layer of complexity. Daisuke’s standoffish, cold behaviour towards Suzue was not out of a sense of male entitlement and disrespect towards Suzue being a woman, rather, it was a manifestation of his trauma. Of course, it does not excuse his behaviour, but this is the reason why I really enjoyed watching their relationship. There was a lot of mutual trust going on (which I wrote about), covert appreciation of Suzue’s skills and abilities and Daisuke’s own way of making amends with her. 

In the novel, however, Daisuke does not have a history of any traumatic experiences. His personality was a lot more animated and though he does exhibit some weird behaviour towards Suzue, he does not do it out of male privilege or misogyny. He was just dense (and an idiot).  

Regardless, DaiSuzu’s relationship isn’t just as simple as black and white. There are elements of feminism that intertwines the anime and what I love a lot about Daisuke was that he never put Suzue down, felt intimidated, or tried to make her feel inadequate for being more clever and more intelligent than him. He relied on her knowledge, her skills and her expertise to guide him through his missions, because not only did he trust her with his life, he believed in her skills. He quietly allowed her to do her job without questioning her abilities or intervening.

I won’t discuss how shit the anime was and how much they shat on Suzue’s character by making her Daisuke’s relative, but like I said, I was pretty impressed with the way they turned Suzue into a strong character, and Daisuke’s perception of Suzue as a woman.

And yes, Daisuke doesn’t deserve Queen Suzue. And if you were again to ask me about Daisuke’s true feelings for Suzue? I am pretty damn certain that he loves her to death - in both novel AND anime.

[sometimesrosy]

hi rosy! i'm sure you moved on just like the rest of us (hopefully) but during a cameo recently, Eliza herself confirmed Bellarke was written as romantic and both her and Bob were told to act like that, but then they changed direction at the very end. We knew THAT already and all, but still.... *inserts gif of Captain Holt's VINDICATION*

lol

I just saw that on twitter.

We did know that already. It was written as romantic and then they swerved in season 7 for whatever reasons, it doesn’t matter. The story being told WAS romantic. That’s the story we were watching and we WERE NEVER DELUSIONAL. 

The only reason we need her to tell us that is that half the fandom (and the writers sometimes and definitely in s7) were trying to gaslight us and say it wasn’t.

Liars and fools.

Them changing the story at the last minute doesn’t mean it wasn’t the story for the first 6 seasons.

BUT it was bad storytelling. If they wanted Clarke and Bellamy to NOT end up together, they should have ADDRESSED the bellarke romance and had it fail, or had them get together in AT LEAST confession, and then have the tragic death and left her alone. That was how they could have swerved while still telling the story. Instead they pretended like it was never there at all. Which, is dumb, because like I’ve been telling you all this time, you HAVE to stick to the text. The canon cannot be changed, although your perception of it can be. You can adjust what it means by what comes later or how you look at it, but YOU CANNOT ERASE IT.

Season 7 erased canon. It was a serious narrative failure. It caused their whole show to fall apart as a story. You can’t build a show around the backbone of Clarke and her relationship with Bellamy and then pull the backbone out of it.

If they wanted to not go romantic, they had to keep the backbone and adjust it to the queer platonic relationship some people saw it as. Or give them the HINT of consummation of this burning love and turn it terribly tragic with his death. It would make us Bellarker’s feel rotten, but it wouldn’t have ruined the story. Instead they just ripped out the backbone, shot the heart in the heart, and left the brain wandering around brain dead. SO STUPID. Imagine a brain dead body without the spine or heart? It collapses and can’t go anywhere.

Am I making up this metaphor to be dramatic? I am not. Those are JASON ROTHENBERG’S words. She’s the head. He’s the heart. Their relationship is the backbone of The 100.

Bellarke was the central relationship of The 100 and it was romantic, super slow burn, but romantic. That stopped, for WHATEVER reason, and the writers failed the story because they didn’t address how or why it stopped they just pretended it wasn’t there. 

You CAN’T actually put any meaning into a story because it’s random inkblots. A story is not a rorsharch test for the audience. There IS a purpose to your story. It does have a meaning that you gave it. It’s a path towards meaning. And you can see how that’s true when showrunners just flip the script for no narrative reason and decide they’re god, they can do what they want.

Hollywood sometimes is incompatible with meaning and story.

They are looking for money or flash and dazzle, or political clout, or even message.

No matter what you watch, hollywood is ALWAYS at risk of selling the story out for hollywood motives. ALWAYS. I’m beginning to think hollywood has an ending problem. They don’t know how to make good endings. They don’t know how to carry long form stories through to a resolution. Perhaps they can do movie or even a season. But wrapping things up satisfactorily? Maybe it’s hard because hollywood is about glamour... the appearance of things, and not the essence. So they get to the end of a story where the essence is revealed and idk, they just have no respect for it? Too many people have too many opposing motives? They want more money or they want to appease conservatives or they have a hidden agenda of perpetuating some sort of religious message that happiness can only be found when you submit to the lord and are reborn in heaven (ask me if i don’t think the CW has that philosophy? oh i’ll tell you. yes i do. too many ‘heaven’ endings are suspicious. it’s not like anyone thinks they’re GOOD endings.)

Anyway, we were right. It was always about Bellarke. Until it was not. Which ruined it. SO DUMB.

Dear writers... learn from their mistakes. We should not do that to our stories. 

[popculturebuffet]

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck: The Last of the Clan McDuck!  Review “It Was Worth THE Dime”

This is one of my faviorite comic book stories of all time. Given i’m a massive comics nerd, for both books and strips, that is the highest praise I can give this wonderful, epic, beautifully drawn and deeply emotoinal story. I first discovered it in the local library that had the second volume, and found the rest online at a now long dead fan site. And while it took me longer than I care to admit to really dig into Duck Comics, and even now i’ve only scratched the surface, I can say without a doubt this story is the reason I’m so deeply attached to Scrooge as a character, and that I was excited as  I was for Ducktales 2017. This comic showed me just what Scrooge McDuck should be at his core as a character, and showed me what a wonderful character that is. So with all that glowing praise as you can guess i’ve been wanting to cover this for years, and even considered though back when I was more primarily a comic book reviewer last year. Any time i’ve reviewed stuff before now, i’ve considered it, and with Scrooge’s Sisters Hortense and Matilda presumably and definitely debuting on Ducktales soon, and it’s about damn time, the timing could not be better or clearer to dig into this utter triumph.  But before we can take a look at the story itself we naturally have to take a look at the man behind it: Writer and Artist Don Rosa. Don Rosa is easily one of the best Duck Comics writer out there, seen by many as only second to his own faviorite duck comics writer and God of Ducks, Carl Barks. For those 1 of you who do not know, Barks was the man who created pretty much everything in the duck universe comics wise and a bit in animation too: He created Daisy, Scrooge, Gladstone, Magica, The Beagle Boys, The Junior Woodchucks, Gyro, Little Bulb, Glomgold, Rockerduck, and the list goes on. While he didn’t make EVERY duck, he made so many that it’d be impossible to imagine either version of Ducktales being possible without him.  So of course Rosa was a fan and while he took up the family buisness, he was also an artist and duck comics fanboy on the side. So when, even if it meant a paycut, the opportunity to actually write and draw them came up, he lept at it and thus became one of their publishers go to guys, even if said publisher published the stories overseas where the Duck Comics are far more popular and still going to this day, and ironically where most duck comics printed nowadays get their stories from. Rosa was known for his meticous historical research and gorgeous art that he took his time drawing to get just perfect and showed on the page. The man has easily some of hte best and most detailed duck art around and I still haven’t found a duck artist that can match him.. and if you have or found one close i’d genuinely love to see that. He is a genuinely talented, spirited guy who was sadly mistreated by disney and that, coupled with tragically failing eyesight, eventually ended his career. He’s still around and I genuinely hope to meet him some day as he still does conventions.  The man is not without fault: I don’t get his hatred of superhero comics, as while I get them overshadowing funnybooks and that around the time of his career they were in decline, but it’s just as unfair to write off Superhero comics as mindless.  garbage as it is for people to write off the Duck Comics as “only for kids” and I genuinely wish he’d see that and see how the medium has evolved so much since then. I also grumble a bit as his refusal to allow anything besides barks into his bubble, and having to be forced to include fethry on the family tree, but that’s more personal preference. I like using as much material as you got. IT’s why i’ve wanted to, and hopefully will eventually get around to, write a sonic fanfic using bits of all the various universes that for legal, ken penders being an absolute waste of a human being, and sega being stupid reasons can’t be used anymore. I like taking everything in a franchise and putting it in a blender and it’s why I love the reboot. But there’s nothing wrong with taking things as is, not stepping on toes canon wise, but still being awesome. We’re just diffrent people and that’s okay.  And a lot of his fanboy showing actually lead to REALLY good things: Goldie O’Gilt was a one off character, and while used ocasoinally overseas, didn’t really pick up as a character again until a combination of Ducktales 87 and Rosa’s work with her, as he always loved the character, and fleshing her out lead to her being used more, and gaining a sizeable fandom. He also gained the Cablleros an even bigger fandom by giving them two stories of their own, and fleshing them out a bit more.  And this very comic is the peak of that, taking EVERY mention of scrooge’s past from various backstories to set up adventures, every tiny scrap, and to his credit going to both Barks Himself and various other Barks Experts Rosa was friends with to check his work, especially difficult given he likey had to find these stories in issue or pullt hem from disney archives, and complied it into one long epic that not only uses all this info effortlessly, but spins a compelling story that gives us a clear vision of what Scrooge should be, how he became the man he is, and how he lost himself only to find himself again with the help of three precocious boys and a cynical 30 something duck. So taint all bad is what i’m saying.  As for how this got started, thankfully rosa himself provided the origin story for this project in the back of the volume of his works that contained the first 7 chapters of life and times, as well as detailed notes for every chapter. At the time Rosa was working for Egmont, the big european publisher who handles Disney’s much larger european comics market, hence why most of his stories appeared years earlier in Europe before debuting here. The american publisher at the time , and an old friend of his, called Rosa with an idea: A 12 issue Maxi-Series focusing on Scrooge’s history, since at the time they were all the rage.. and really even today mini series are still a viable market and many indie titles just have several minis instead of an ongoing. So it wasn’t a bad idea, Rosa just simply offered a tweak: He’d tell his publisher at Egmont about the idea, and let her get a crack team of writers and artists to do this proper, and thus Disney could publish it for free once it was done and for no extra cost. Rosa gave his publisher a fax detaling both the idea and the fact that it needed to be done right, given to the best person possible, and done with the greatest care. She agreed.. and naturally handed it to him, as he admits he hoped. She made the right call, a legend was born and here we are.  One last bit before the read more and before I get to the first story itself at last: Since barks wrote a lot of side stories that fit into the canon, I COULD slot them in between chapters, but have instead chosen to review the original 12 part story as was, and do the various side stories and two epilogues, the utterly fantastic “Dream of a Life Time”, easiliy one of my faviorite comics ever, and the also really great “Letter From Home”, which will likely on some level be the basis for the upcoming at the time of this review “Battle for Castle McDuck!”, after completing the story. In other words i’m probably going to be at this for years. so join me under the read more won’t you as I begin the journey of a thousand miles with a single step as we look at the humble start of a legend. 

We begin, after a fun short teaser with present Day scrooge saying his past is no one’s buisness only to get hit with an oh yeah?,  with a scrap book title for the issue, something I want to bring up since while I got that’s what it was what I never got, and  must’ve glanced over when I first read rosa’s notes when I got this copy, was that it isn’t SCROOGE’S scrap book, but his sister Matilda’s who dutifully and happily catologued her brother’s adventures. It’s a really sweet moment.. and something that will hit VERY hard when we reach Chapter 11. If you haven’t read this story or heard of it.. .that’s this story’s equilvent of “Last Crash of the Sunchaser” and clearly Frank and Matt drew from that story a bit for it, but we can get more into the parallels when we get there. A smaller but fun note is that Rosa had specific coin drawing templates, for different indentions and what not he used, and used them for the coins in these intro bits. Yes he admitted he has a problem and yes that’s damn impressive anyway. 

It’s Scrooge’s 10th birthday, and his father Fergus has taken him up to see the family land, Dismal Downs to tell him of the mighty Clan McDuck and show him the ancestral lands, graveyards and Castle. He admits to having taken this long because the Clan McDuck currently lives in Glasgow so it’s kind of a long trip just to show your son “Hey look at the decay and rot that’s our ancestral homeland”. The Clan is on hard times, as a bad shipping deal, the backbone of a rather good barks story and I wont’ be interjecting for every barks reference as it’d get rather tiring though for what it’s worth Rosa provided tons of detailed footnotes in the back of each Fantagraphics collection, so good on him. Speaking of which though they do include 10 pages of Mc Duck family history that was supposed to open this story.. until Rosa’s editor wisely pointed out the story isn’t about them but scrooge and having read his roug draft, yeah.. there’s a good gag here and there, as well as “Dirty” Dingus McDuck, scrooge’s Grandpa and the reason Dewey is cursed with that middle name. Why anyone thought Dingus was a good name is beyond me, nor why Donald thought that was a good middle name back in 2009 is again, beyond me. Good on Don though for getting that past the censors.  But yeah with no money they can’t buy the land back and they were scared off it years ago by a mystical ghost dog, the hound of the whiskervilles. There is treasure in the castle, Sir Quackly’s gold, but he accidently sealed himself into a wall while sealing his treasure in there. Their interrupted by the town assholes, the Whiskervilles who have been grazing sheep on the land and are naturally behind the hound, using the sound of it to scare off Fergus once they realize he’s a McDuck. Because apparently you can keep a Scooby Doo style hoax up for Centuries if you don’t have meddling kids around. Who knew.  Back in Glasgow, we meet the rest of Scrooge’s family: His Uncle Jake, his sisters Matilda and Hortense, and his mother Downy. Jake hasn’t really been mentioned at all in Ducktales and I know next to nothing about him, which given I share a name with the guy you’d THINK I would. I mean I know a decent amount about this Jake. 

But nothing about who the hell Jake McDuck is or why he lives with his brother and his family. Here, you guys watch the dancing Jake, i’m going to probably do that for hours after this review is done, i’m going to go sort this out.  Okay one google and finding the Scrooge Mcduck wiki page on him, Jake shows up here likely because he was referenced in the story “A Christmas For Shacktown” and apparently borrowed from Scrooge and never paid it back. Otherwise.. there’s not a lot about him and unlike the rest of Scrooge’s family he really dosen’t do much that I can remember. Except like 2017 Scrooge, he apparently has become extremely long lived, as Scrooge and Donald STILL think he’s alive in the 1950′s.. and likely is STILL alive in some form in the Don Rosa stories, given his take place after Barks and thus in the 40′s and 50′s where Barks stories were set. Hence why unlike the Reboot, Scrooge isn’t inexpecilbly over 210. But Jake McDuck sure as heck is. Maybe this highlander is a highlander.. you know the movie and tv show type. Maybe someone cut off his head. That’s what i’m going with.

This does bring me to another point about this story: While Barks gave all of scrooge’s family their names, it’s where Rosa got them after all, it’s Rosa who really made them into characters. Fergus as a loving father ashamed his family legacy has fallen and wanting his son to do better than him, Downy as an equally loving wife and mother, Matilda as his sweet and caring sister and later her brother’s moral center, and Hortense.. well here she’s just a babbling baby but her character will become clear and glorious as we go. She is adorable here though and we do get some great bits with her.  Getting back to the plot now i’ve made my points, Jake is riled up wanting to understandably kick the Whiskerville’s asses with Scrooge, who even as a sweet innocent ten year old still has the family temper already, agreeing.. but Downy gently shoots them out pointing that two middle aged-ish men and a 10-year old just aren’t enough to fight an army of them and while she doesn’t mention it the fight would just tire them out for work and accomplish nothing as while it is the McDuck’s land the combination of the hound and the lack of money to move back means it’s pointless. She also mentions their younger brother Pothole, who went to America. This will be important later. 

Scrooge storms off and Fergus laments, in a scene that’s more painful the more I think about it, how his clan has fallen, with he and his brother lamenting their chances at glory are long gone.. but Fergus has hope his son can do better, and for his son’s birthday makes him a shoeshine kit in the hopes of inspiring him to greatness. This scene still resonates since many of us are poor, struggling and not doing so good money wise. I’m sure many parents have doubts and regrets about not being able to do more for their kid.

 Not only that but the story carefully avoids the trap of Fergus accidently being abusive by you know, pinning his family’s future on one 10 year old. While yes he is asking a lot of Scrooge, to restore their family name.. it’s very clear he mostly just wants his son to do better than him. Even if Scrooge was just slightly more successful, Fergus would likely be happy with that. He’s not using the legacy as a “This what you must be” like say the Gems in steven universe did for Steven with Rose’s Legacy, the kind where it sort of suffocates you till youc an make it your own. He’s just saying “this is what you can be” He believes his child can be great and simply once him to reach his full potetial and is simply giving him a means to hopefully do so, a simple home made shoe shine kit. While Jake scoffs, the narration notes the idea isn’t worth a dime.. it’s worth THE dime. The dime that would set Scrooge’s destiny in motion. 

The next morning, Fergus goes to check up on his son and his new buisness but Scroogey’s having no luck and about ready to just quit, the poor child. Also Matilda is dragging her baby sister around like a doll and it’s entirely precious as it is funny. 

But as for those Dorty Boots, Matilda wonders why her dad dosen’t just tell Scrooge that Burt the Ditch Digger is coming. Fergus tells her to quite and then explains his plan: he’s sending Burt to scrooge, with an American dime Fergus and Matilda found, to teach his son a lesson: By giving him a hard days work, he’ll teach him what hard work truly means.. and by having Burt “cheat” him with the American dime, it’ll give him the motivation to keep going and to nto be as wide eyed and trusting. It’s a well meaning if harsh lesson, and the kind you’d expect from 1900′s parenting and fits the origin well: Scrooge still earned his first money square, as he still did work.. but his getting cheated being a lesson dosen’t diminish what it taught scrooge, and helps flesh out what I talked about above, Fergus knowing his son has great potential he just needs inspiration to reach it. And instead of just telling him that he does a con job but it’s the 1900′s. This orign, and Fergus’ part in it would be entirely untouched in Ducktales 2017, the first scrooge based adaptation since this comic came out, and I bless them for it. Frank even said this comic was used as a bible by the writers and while theirs clear deviations, and we’ll get to that, they were mainly done for good reason, and it’s very clear that while scrooge’s history is very VERY diffrent in the reboot, the core of his past is still there. 

So the plan is on and young scrooge spends half an hour killing himself to get Burt’s shoes clean before getting his dime.. and realizing he’s been had, makes this proud decleration that will be the bedrock of his entire life and character. 

Scrooge being naturally stubborn as you can see takes his cheats a leson: There will always be hard honest work, and he will be there to do it and he’ll be tougher and sharper than anyone trying to cheat him out of his pay. Fergus’ plan has the intended effect, and Scrooge having learned a hard lesson now has the drive and determination we know him for. As for why it gives it to him.. I had to think on it a bit but it makes sense: For some a setback like this would make them quit.. for Scrooge it’s just proof he CAN find customers, he CAN do this job, or any at his hardest and instead takes this as a lesson to be prepared ot out think and outfight anyone who dares cheat him again, and to not earn his money by being the kind of guy who cheats a kid out of an honest days pay, but as a good honest duck like his father and his father before him. =He will make his money square so he can be the kind of person this seeming stranger SHOULD have been. Granted we’ll see Scrooge doesn’t end up as the best person at times but .. we’ll get there.  So with the fire inside turned from a spark into the flame Scrooge soon got to work, and by the next panel we see he’s eventually worked his stand up from a small box given to him by his dad, to a three seater shoeshining bench, who he wipes all at once by stretching one of his mother’s girldes over a light pole, a detail I didn’t get the first time around but now love. Naturally being a good kind boy much like his Nephews, Scrooge always gave his proud father a portion of his earnings, if with a full receipt for tax purposes. Because he’s still scrooge after all. His dad wonders he did too good a job while Hortense glxbit’s in agreement. 

As the years go on, a now tween Scrooge is eventually able to save up for a horse cart, and starts selling Fire Wood up in the city. He eventually realizes Peat, an earthy subtance found in bogs I only know about because I had to look it up for this review, is more profitable and with some snappy marketing moves into selling Peat for the rich instead, also showing the young lad already has a grasp of how to sell to obnoxious rich people. 

But while his business is booming, our young hero can’t resist visiting his family’s ancestral home and longing for it, hoping one day to have it for himself and in a nice show of how despite his temper and tenacity forged over the last few years he’s still at hear the kind, sweet optimistic lad he was just a few pages ago, he decides to tidy up the Clan’s Cemetary while he’s here. 

Unfortunately as proof that Donald and Della’s terrible luck comes from both sides of the family the Whiskervilles are sub-glomgold levels of human beings.. or Dogfaces in this case, and are digging up the McDuck Clan’s graves to hunt for treasure. Scrooge tries to simply do the smart thing and flee, but the asshole brigade catch sight of him and mistkaing him for a peat burgalar chase after him.. and spend WAY too much time and energy chasing a teenage boy over some fucking bog grass you clearly aren’t selling yourselves. I mean spare a thought for how dumb this is: They could easily sell of of that peat to put up a fence or chop down some trees to get the material if their really that concerned about someone getting in the bog. Then again this isn the 1800 and 1900′s where the child death toll was simply “Yes”, so they likely thought whose gonna notice one more dead child on our property?

Scrooge heads toward the castle and is gestured in by a friendly mystery duck who gladly shows him around and can tell he’s a McDuck just by look, showing the castle is still in glorious condition as the whiskervilles are too spooked to go in, hence why they didn’t chase Scrooge inside. I’d say being afraid of ghosts but not murdering a child is weird but these are the same guys who thought murdering a child was plan A. We’re not dealing with a brain trust is what i’m saying.  So the mystery duck shows Scroogey around, showing off some colorful stories about his ancestors recycled from that scrapped prologue I mentioned. THe mystery man, who brushes off Scrooge thinking he’s a McDuck asks Scrooge what he’s doing to restore the family glory and while Scrooge points out he’s already working on it, Mystery Duck points out he’s still missing something: He has the drive and the dream, but peat and shoeshining, while getting him good money for his family, aren’t the thing you can build a fortune or a future off of. He then points out where Scrooge’s dime comes from: America.. and that gives the boy the idea to head to the states. As for what he could possibly DO there to start, the mystery guy mentions his uncle pothole. So Scrooge has the dream, the drive.. and now a plan: Go to america, work for his uncle on the riverboats, and work his way up from there till he finds his fortune and restores his family name.  But while his future is settled, the present is still an issue and Scrooge wants to teach the child murder club a lesson and thus borrows, though MM wisely points out it’s all his property a horse and some armor, and stuffs the armor with peat. As for what his plan is.. welllll

That.. is fucking awesome. And far from the last fucking awesome moment in this thing. It also shows off even as not quite a teen yet, Scrooge is still a badass already, and while he doesn’t have his trademark strength or fighting skills quite yet, his ingenuity is already there.. and that will always trump both. The Whiskervilles run away and into some quicksand and Scrooge vows to return one day as laird and reclaim his family land. But that’s a story for a few chapters down the line. As for who the mystery duck is, he’s naturally Sir Quackely himself, or rather his ghost, who was simply guiding Scrooge and didn’t give him the treasure as simply handing him the money wouldnn’t restore their family’s good name or continue their bloodline now would it? 

For now Scrooge returns to work for a bit before finding his way to America: A cattleboat to New Orleans looking for a Cabin Boy. And so Scrooge bids farewell to his family. His Dad, feeling bad he can’t even give his boy shilling, gives him the family pocketwatch with jake pitching in with the family gold dentures. While Scrooge naturally refuses to sell the watch, he does plan to sell the teeth as soon as possible for good reason. We then get some sweet goodbyes with him, his sisters (With hortense uttering her first words to everyone’s astonishment) and loving mother as he wonders just what awaits him in America. 

And there he stands on the bow of a ship, heading for a new land, in New Orleans he can be a new man. And we’ll see just what kind of man he becomes as this series continues. For now this is the end of a chapter but the beginning of a lifetime. 

Final Thoughts on Last of the Clan McDuck:

This story is excellent. While there are even better chapters to come, this one is still one of the most memorable and most joyous, showing just how Scrooge became what he is, where some of his values come from, others will be instilled along the way , and beginning to flesh out his family. We see Scrooge’s love of wealth comes from starting from the bottom, growing up with a family that barely had anything and badly needed everything, but was loving and instilled fine morals in him. We also see a Scrooge far removed from the bitter old man he is in present day, an optimistic naïve young lad who only wants best for his family. It’s a nice stark contrast to who he’ll become, good and bad, and a nice way to both compare him to Huey Dewey and Louie and break your heart as his own hardens before briefly turning black later on.  The art, as is standard for this series and Rosa, is breathtaking, and the story isn’t lacking in good jokes, their just downplayed so the story itself can take center stage. There’s nothing really more to say: it’s an excellent start to an even more excellent tale and stands proud among an already stellar story as one of it’s finest outings. 

NEXT RAINBOW: Scrooge goes down to the mighty Missipi to work on the riverboats and meets one of his signature Rogue’s for the first time in their first form, as well as Gyro’s dad.. or grandpa.. or possibly both I don’t know his family tree. Point is, tune in next time for some riverboat hyjinks.  Until then if you’d like to comission an episode of any animated show, especially ducktales and the various other duck related disney shows, or another Duck Comics story you really like from Rosa, Barks or whoever you want really, I take commissions for 5 dollars a review, with 5 dollars off your full order when you put in for more than one episode or issue. You can also follow me on patreon.com/popculturebuffet and for just two bucks a month get access to polls (which i’ll start once we have at least three patreons), and my exclusive discord server. And if you liked this review be sure to reblog it to show off. My self promotion done until next time: There’s always another rainbow.