#but if something bad happens to a woman character it completely nullifies any of her own actions

[slasherscream]

Feel free to not respond to this, but I just want to bring up that what Shane did isn't "unique" to Shane. What I mean by that is, other characters on your blog have done the same or something on a similar level. Yet, I haven't seen any complaints.

Key example: David from Fear. Who actually does the same exact thing (and some worse). In 1x06 of TWD, Shane tries to kiss Lori and shove his hand up her shorts. She shoves him off and he leaves the room, hitting on the way out. David corners Nicole in a bathroom and then he shoves his hand up her skirt.

I didn't see anyone protest you writing for him. I didn't see anyone send in asks. It isn't fair to hold certain characters to different standards, especially when the person you're upset with is doing the opposite. If the anon was so concerned, then they probably shouldn't be on a tumblr that writes for characters like that.

This was long, I apologize. It just irks me when people are hypocritical like that and then get mad at others for not being the same.

[f4liveblogarchives]

Fantastic Four Vol 1 #225

Thu Apr 29 2020 [10:09 PM] Wack'd: So the first two and two-thirds pages are something strange. Or I guess they're strange from an in universe perspective. [10:10 PM] Wack'd: It's basically a condensed version of the back half of the previous issue, rather than  a recap. So reading these back to back it feels like everyone's reliving a slightly different, slightly faster version of the same events. [10:10 PM] Bocaj: Yeah that happens [10:11 PM] Bocaj: I complain about comics not establishing context with recap pages enough that I can’t really say boo about this kind of thing [10:11 PM] Aleph Null: it’s just a jump to the left [10:11 PM] Aleph Null: and then a step to the right [10:11 PM] Wack'd: I think I might actually prefer it to the writer clumsily trying to give all of this information again in dialogue? [10:12 PM] Wack'd: It's basically a previously-on. [10:12 PM] Wack'd: Though the fact that it's not really marked as such is weird [10:12 PM] Bocaj: Like Aleph’s Japanese animes [10:12 PM] maxwellelvis: Remember recap pages? [10:13 PM] Bocaj: I’ve heard of them [10:14 PM] Wack'd: I think also what's throwing me is that they try to hit some of the same dramatic beats again? Like, you're not really going to convince me "the blind king weeps in crimson" is vital story information

[10:15 PM] maxwellelvis: Because it sounds cool [10:15 PM] Bocaj: Well that’s nightmare fuel [10:16 PM] Wack'd: Anyway, I've spent a weirdly long time talking about a recap, but I this is probably the normal amount of time I spend on the first three pages so be glad you're still getting content I guess [10:17 PM] Bocaj: I do like content [10:19 PM] Wack'd: Interesting thing about reading these blind and relaying that to you is that it's hard to know in the moment what information will and won't be relevant. For instance, I didn't really make much of this scene last issue:

[10:20 PM] Wack'd: But I wish I had, because it makes this moment look friggin bonkers in context:

[10:20 PM] maxwellelvis: "Consistency? What's that?" [10:21 PM] Wack'd: We've hit a new level of Sue as a blank-slate stock-woman-character: the same writer is making her either a nag or a worrywart one issue apart basically on a whim. [10:22 PM] Wack'd: Also: "just wants a normal life" Sue is the most boring version of Sue [10:23 PM] Bocaj: Just a receptacle for women stereotypes? [10:23 PM] Wack'd: Moreorless, yeah [10:23 PM] Umbramatic: the Ur-Woman-Stereotype [10:23 PM] Bocaj: Boo [10:23 PM] Bocaj: Defined personality women are great [10:24 PM] Wack'd: Agreed [10:24 PM] Wack'd: Moving along, we get a very long-winded explanation of the exact science of how this place works which I'm sure makes complete sense [10:24 PM] Bocaj: Science in comics is always to the highest standards [10:24 PM] Bocaj: Always [10:26 PM] Wack'd: Reed is like "I'm not really fine with being threatened and woulda saved your life anyway" and Korgon's like "y'know what, I trust you, we're cool now" [10:26 PM] Bocaj: See: he shoulda just said please to begin with [10:26 PM] maxwellelvis: "Oh, I shoulda thought'a that" [10:27 PM] Wack'd: Ha! He really does just send Vikings to go shopping for him

[10:27 PM] Bocaj: God. In a modern comic we’d see some Vikings at the supermarket and it would be great [10:29 PM] Wack'd: Have I mentioned yet Doug Moench seems to *really like science*

[10:30 PM] Bocaj: SCIENCE! :D [10:30 PM] maxwellelvis: Nah, like, not superscience. Real science. [10:30 PM] Umbramatic: i am glad that reaction image is making the rounds [10:31 PM] Wack'd: So Reed does a lot of research and asks a lot of questions and thinks really hard (all in narrative captions, you're not missing much) and eventually he's finally ready to operate! [10:31 PM] Bocaj: Woo [10:32 PM] Wack'd: Buuuuuut the Four's powers go haywire again. Korgon has a machine that cures them of the radiation to stabilize them, but Wiglif--suspicious guy from earlier--thinks they just wanna be at full strength so they can kill Korgon and escape. [10:33 PM] Bocaj: Dammit Wiglif! That’s such a Wiglif thing to think! [10:33 PM] Wack'd: To shut him up, Korgon gives Hrolf--trusting guy from earlier--a "Darkfield Rod" that will nullify their powers if they try any funny business. [10:34 PM] Wack'd: And then Korgon immediately falls unconscious. [10:34 PM] Umbramatic: that doesn't sound omnious at all [10:34 PM] maxwellelvis: I give it five minutes before Wiglif tries to steal it. [10:34 PM] maxwellelvis: NO! Five PANELS [10:35 PM] Wack'd: To be generous I will not count these three where we cut to Asgard

[10:35 PM] Bocaj: Oh hi Thor [10:36 PM] Bocaj: I didn’t know you’d be in this book [10:36 PM] Wack'd: "Just considering a crossover, m'boy! I just got the faintest whiff some other book is stealing our shtick!" [10:36 PM] Bocaj: I’m going to be imagining Odin speaking like the king of Hyrule forever now [10:37 PM] Bocaj: I want you to know what you’ve done [10:37 PM] Wack'd: I apologize for nothing [10:37 PM] Bocaj: =__= [10:37 PM] maxwellelvis: Sorry not sorry [10:37 PM] Wack'd: Anyway they do the procedure and we're not sure if it works. And then another cutaway! Sorry max it's been more than five panels [10:38 PM] Umbramatic: vsfb jnjgfdmkb ;zgl,;.' n [10:38 PM] Bocaj: To the punishment dome with you [10:39 PM] maxwellelvis: *the dome.gif* [10:39 PM] Wack'd: Hey what the heck does that third panel mean? Did...did Alicia just get a vision of the North Pole? Or, like...uh...I actually don't have a second guess

[10:41 PM] Bocaj: When did Alicia brunette [10:41 PM] maxwellelvis: She overshaded her hair this morning [10:41 PM] Wack'd: It's been orange for a while now, too [10:42 PM] Bocaj: She’s supposed to be close enough to Sue that she can be a bad imposter [10:42 PM] Umbramatic: technicolor anime hair [10:42 PM] Bocaj: It’s the foundation of a good 60% of the things I mock Johnny for [10:42 PM] Wack'd: I think we're all okay quietly forgetting that except you for some reason [10:42 PM] Bocaj: See also 60% [10:42 PM] Wack'd: Mocking Johnny is admittedly a pretty good reason [10:43 PM] Wack'd: Ben also had a crush on Sue in the very early days if you want to take that ball and run with it [10:43 PM] Bocaj: It definitely has layers [10:43 PM] maxwellelvis: You've both made it weird. [10:43 PM] Wack'd: Anyway the procedure worked! Probably! Korgon decides he's just gonna assume it worked.

[10:44 PM] maxwellelvis: Was he always that tall? [10:44 PM] Umbramatic: always a safe bet [10:44 PM] Wack'd: (Y'ever notice Reed's the only one who ever grows even a little facial hair? Did Johnny just never go through puberty from the neck up?) [10:45 PM] Wack'd: @maxwellelvis : Yeah, we've just seen him laying down on a nebulously high platform so far. Ben remarks on seeing him for the first time he's like 15 feet [10:45 PM] maxwellelvis: I think he just shaves regularly to keep up his heartthrob gimmick. [10:46 PM] Bocaj: Here’s Johnny with a beard [10:46 PM] maxwellelvis: When he gets on in years, he's probably planning to let it grow out so that the Human Torch can have a *flaming beard* [10:46 PM] Bocaj: How much do you hate this? [10:46 PM] maxwellelvis: Like that. [10:46 PM] Wack'd: Sure, but if Reed has stubble from tirelessly working on this procedure...well, I guess Johnny mighta found time to shave [10:46 PM] maxwellelvis: He can just burn stubble off and they're in a literal house of mirrors. [10:46 PM] Wack'd: That's not a bad look on him. He's like the hot version of a grizzled old sailor [10:47 PM] Umbramatic: dilf [10:47 PM] maxwellelvis: I want to imagine someone said to him at some point, "Okay, but consider: A beard of FIRE!" [10:48 PM] Wack'd: I feel like "flaming beard" is a gay joke somehow but like. If Johnny has a partner who's overtly stereotypically homosexual that's the opposite of a beard? [10:48 PM] Wack'd: Unless he doesn't want people to know he's straight, I guess [10:48 PM] Bocaj: Beard of FIRE? [10:48 PM] maxwellelvis: I mean he probably has some sort of LGBT following. [10:49 PM] maxwellelvis: Chamber? What are you doing in Japan? [10:49 PM] Wack'd: One of my earliest exposures to this character outside of the Story films was an essay on why he's definitely gay, so [10:49 PM] Bocaj: Having a flaming beard [10:51 PM] Wack'd: I tried Google to find the essay but it turned out the one piece of corroborating evidence I remember it is one that literally the entire Internet has picked up on at some point [10:52 PM] Wack'd: Do yourself a favor, google "johnny storm fire island". Or don't, and let it be a pleasant surprise in like 90 issues. [10:52 PM] Bocaj: Can doooo [10:52 PM] Bocaj: The latter [10:54 PM] Wack'd: "I think I might be Satan, we should talk about that later" is not a good way to make me eager to talk to you later

[10:56 PM] Wack'd: While everybody else is celebrating, Korgon loads up enough radiation to keep this place running for another hundred years, and then asks Reed to make him mortal again [10:56 PM] Wack'd: Wiglif ovehears and is going to do something sneaky [10:57 PM] Wack'd: The next day Reed tries it, but someone tampered with the machine overnight. Gee I wonder [10:58 PM] Wack'd: Anyway Korgon is now more powerful than ever and fucking pissed [10:58 PM] Bocaj: Dammit Wiglif! [11:00 PM] Wack'd: 'If you press this red button, you get godlike powers and life-giving laser beams, BUT everything looks real spooky forever"

[11:00 PM] maxwellelvis: *Sweating superhero guy* [11:00 PM] Bocaj: I mean you take the bad you take the good you take what’s left and there you have [11:01 PM] Bocaj: Spooky shadow monsters [11:01 PM] Wack'd: The fantasts of life [11:01 PM] Umbramatic: fucking paralasys demons [11:02 PM] Wack'd: Haha WHOOPS

[11:02 PM] Umbramatic: gee willikers, that was a curveball [11:03 PM] Wack'd: Anyway from here things get predictable [11:04 PM] Bocaj: Fucking Wiglif [11:04 PM] Wack'd: There's a fight, it looks like the Four are doomed, Thor shows up, the tide is turned [11:05 PM] Wack'd: For some reason when I first glanced at this panel I thought that second speech bubble was coming from one of the Vikings

[11:05 PM] Bocaj: Yay Thor [11:05 PM] Wack'd: "Uh, boss. Hey. You get that's the literal god of thunder, right? And you want us to, what, shoot him with lasers? Maybe think about this?" [11:06 PM] Bocaj: Lasers are just light and Thor’s Baldrother shines lights out of his armpits [11:07 PM] Wack'd: Korgon is so pissed by his impending defeat he's just like "fuck this, I'm just gonna destroy everything, including this dome" [11:08 PM] Bocaj: Hey sometimes you gotta cut your losses [11:08 PM] Wack'd: Wiglif: 😟 [11:10 PM] Wack'd: The Four and Thor are at a loss so Thor summons Odin [11:11 PM] Wack'd: 

[11:13 PM] Wack'd: This is kind of a solution for a different problem than Korgon has. Like. He doesn't want to be a God? It was kind of thrust on him? I guess it's true that God needs followers and followers need a God, but if he's content to be a follower I don't really see an issue with that [11:13 PM] maxwellelvis: He also has a responsibility to these people. [11:13 PM] Wack'd: And it's not like he abandoned his people, he left them 100 years of free energy, during which time they could've solved things on their own in any number of ways [11:13 PM] Bocaj: Yeah I don’t really understand what Odin is getting at [11:14 PM] Wack'd: Also, outside the religious philosophy stuff [11:15 PM] Wack'd: It's a bit naff to just have an all powerful being show up and solve the heroes problems. Especially if it's not with superpowers but rather with delivering the intended message of the story [11:15 PM] maxwellelvis: Have the Four solved any problems on their own this entire run? [11:15 PM] Wack'd: Like you could've had Reed talk about the responsibilities of leadership or Ben talk about being a freak or Sue talk about how sacrificing a normal life can be worth it for the people you care about [11:16 PM] Wack'd: None of those would've been fresh or original but they at least would've been, you know, the main characters solving the problem of their own book [11:16 PM] maxwellelvis: They needed Gabriel to deal with Scratch, they needed Captain Marvel to deal with the Skrulls, they needed Thor to deal with Korgon [11:16 PM] Umbramatic: geez [11:17 PM] maxwellelvis: They've been reduced to guest stars in their own book! [11:17 PM] Bocaj: Oof [11:17 PM] Bocaj: FIRST FAMILY [11:18 PM] Wack'd: Things have been kind of guest cast heavy yeah! Don't know what's up with that and I suspect if you asked Moench or Sienkiewicz they wouldn't remember, besides Gabriel being Moech's baby [11:18 PM] maxwellelvis: Are there any stories from before the hiatus by them that I missed? [11:19 PM] Wack'd: It's weird thinking about the fact that I'm currently reading a run of comics that were written by guys with social media presences who seem fairly approachable [11:19 PM] Wack'd: I don't know if it would work but I could probably just ask them things if I wasn't a dick about it [11:20 PM] Wack'd: Not sure there's a kind way to be like "why are there so many guest stars in this year's worth of comics you wrote 40 years ago" but [11:21 PM] maxwellelvis: Something like, "Hey, I'm reading through your brief Fantastic Four run you had with Bill Sienkiewicz and there seem to be quite a few stories in a row where the Four's issue is solved by someone from another book? Do you remember what was up with that?" [11:21 PM] Wack'd: (Btw Moench and Sienkiewicz were doing a *Moon Knight* run simultaniously with this which is why Sue was reading an issue to Franklin last time. Go figure) [11:21 PM] maxwellelvis: Heh [11:22 PM] Umbramatic: oh huh [11:22 PM] Wack'd: Yeah there's really no way to phrase this that doesn't sound like "why did you write this so bad" [11:22 PM] Wack'd: Ah well [11:23 PM] maxwellelvis: The best-case scenario other than getting some hot scoop on the Marvel offices at that time is probably Doug Moench suddenly realizing that himself. [11:23 PM] Bocaj: Were they long term writers or doing some fill ins and one offs? [11:23 PM] maxwellelvis: They did like ten issues. [11:23 PM] Bocaj: I’m in a period of that in avengers. There’s not a lot of guest stars but they’re a lot of inconsequential issues [11:25 PM] Bocaj: Shame because there are one off villains and characters that would have been interesting to be picked up for more stuff [11:30 PM] Wack'd: Yeah, ten issues and Moench wrote an annual. [11:31 PM] Wack'd: But also, their first issue announced that we were sticking with them for a while--I suspect it was intended to be a longer run [11:31 PM] Wack'd: And then Bryne sniped them somehow

[sethrine-writes]

Daughter of a Devil - Ch. 4

Main Characters: Father!Dante & Daughter!Reader

Words:  983

Warnings: Sassy Teenage Reader

Summary: Being a parent wasn’t easy, nor was there such thing as being perfect at it. Good news for Dante, seeing as how he doesn’t have the slightest idea in hell what to do with a child. Sometimes, he was certain that fighting off a horde of demons was a far better match than keeping up with his own daughter. Well, at least he wasn’t going down without a fight.

A/N:  My lovely friend, @kyarymell, made an awesome sketch of a sweet little Reader and Dante. She did such an awesome job! Check it out here!

------

Chapter 4 - Hoe in the Closet (13 yrs.)

You eyed the blonde demon standing before you curiously, watching as she pulled the sunglasses from her eyes and hooked them from the lowest point of her form-fitting corset, which happened to be just between her breasts.

Trish was her name. You only knew this because of a picture you had recently asked your Dad about that had him, Lady, and the demon woman eyeing you up within the frame, a memento of sorts from one of their bigger missions. Lady had apparently caught the moment without the other two’s notice, at the time, as she was the only one smiling and posing with a peace sign held up to the camera.

Just from the picture alone, you had liked the way Trish held herself. Finally meeting her face-to-face, you decided that you liked her even more. She had the right kind of attitude that spoke volumes while at the same time kept you guessing what sort of tricks she might have up her nonexistent sleeves. She was bad-ass and graceful, and you couldn’t help but wonder why your father hadn’t let you meet her any time sooner.

“Well, you must be Dante’s daughter,” she spoke, a smile curling at her lips. “It’s about time I met his ‘Little Devil,’ as he likes to call you.”

“That so? Thought you were referring to his dick, there, for a hot second. Knowing him, he’s gotta brag about something.”

Instead of bristling at your comment, the blonde merely laughed as if you had told her quite the joke. You, in turn, cracked a smile, one you had acquired after being around your father for too long.

“My, what a mouth you have! I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Dante’s kid. The name’s Trish.”

“So I’ve heard,” you said. “Now, what brings you to my father’s humble abode?”

“Humble, huh? Well, your dear father has something that I need and has been keeping it from me for a while. Do you suppose you know where it could be?”

You jumped down from your seated position on your father’s desk, long sleeved shirt falling off one of your shoulders with the movement.

“Depends, if it’s money, you’re better off working a corner. Apparently, the one right down the street is good business.”

Trish snickered somewhat this time, reaching forward and flicking your nose with a nicely manicured finger. “You’ve got guts, kid, I’ll give you that. Lesser demons would kill you for even lesser comments.”

You rubbed at your nose with a bit of a narrowed gaze. “Unless you know exactly what it is, I can’t help you.”

Sensing the shift in your mood, Trish took a step back, though her smile remained, perhaps a bit softer than before.

“It’s called the Bellzyne Amulet. It’s blue, a little flashy, and strung with poka-nu beads. He would have brought it back with him roughly a month ago.”

“Oh! That necklace-thingy he keeps on about. Well, last time I saw it, I think it was in his closet or something. Help yourself, but good luck trying to find it.”

“Thanks, kid.”

With that, Trish turned and made her way up the stairs of the shop, her hips naturally sashaying and heeled boots clicking against the wooden floor as she moved.

You watched her as she made her way to Dante’s room, a small smile coming back to your face. She was definitely an interesting character, and so cool to your younger eyes. Maybe you’d be lucky enough to work with her, someday.

Just as you leaned against your father’s desk, you were greeted by the man himself entering the building, smiling as big as the Cheshire cat. It was rather obvious that his job went well.

“Dad, you’re back early!” you exclaimed as you ran forward and wrapped your arms around the leather-clad man, gaining a one-armed hug in return.

You looked up, confused, before spotting the slash in your father’s coat, revealing one nasty looking wound on his upper arm. Usually, his body would heal up completely before coming home, courtesy of the demon side within him, but this time, it looked like some kind of residue was keeping him from healing.

“It’s nothing much,” he assured you with a one-armed shrug, the gunk sticking to his wound seemingly numbing the entire limb from moving. “Think you can give your old man a hand or two?”

Lucky for him, as you had been reading up on some things in your free time outside of school, and you knew just what to do to counteract whatever poison was keeping him from healing properly. You were quick to grab his good arm and gave it a tug.

“So, did you enjoy the house to yourself, Squirt?”

You laughed as you led your father into the bathroom, taking out an antiseptic, gauze, and a small little vile of some sort of purple paste you were able to create with Lady’s help. If the recipe had been correct, it would nullify any toxins left behind.

“Yup, I enjoyed it. Read a few books, watched a few movies. Lady came by and made sure I was doing my homework and eating other things besides leftover pizza. Oh, by the way, you have a hoe in your closet.”

Dante stopped suddenly, taken aback at what you had said, clearly confused by your context. He then began to snicker, followed by a chuckle, and then a full out laugh until you were sure he would fall to the floor any moment in tears.

“That mouth on your child is absolutely horrid! It’s like she’s you made over.”

Dante turned to find Trish at the bathroom door, eyes landing on the Bellzyne Amulet dangling from her fingertips, before going into fits of laughter again.

Well, at least your father got a kick out of your humor. He had a hand with creating it, after all.

[holden-norgorov]

The Kalagang irl meeting.

Let’s talk about this mess of a scene, because it fails on so many levels that I really find it barely watchable, and I’m vividly sure I will never watch it again. Probably the worst scene in all the show, and the only one I can’t forgive at all.

For starters, it’s completely decontextualized from the narrative coherence of the previous events. We were left with Rajan and Wolfgang physically together and Kala with Lito, Hernando and Dani leaving the club. Why is Kala arriving at the shelter in a car with Bug? It’s not necessarily a continuity error, because this moment happens likely the day (or even days) after the exchange. Still, though, this doesn’t explain why this scene is shown to us in this way: are we supposed to buy the idea of Kala never meeting with the two of them for a couple of days or, if she did, never properly talking to them until now? What really happened between these two scenes? It really isn’t clear at all. So, the writing is little too obvious and orchestrated for it to be believable, but really this may be the least problematic aspect.

Then we are shown Wolfgang rightfully thanking Rajan for saving him and showing him some deserved gratitude, since Rajan actually prevented Lila from killing him. So, this is a totally acceptable and understandable behavior for him. The problem steams from the fact that the writers clearly intended for this moment to hint at something bigger and different between the two and expected us to accept it even though it came from nowhere at all. And this is mostly disappointing knowing how carefully and worthily Lana represented and explained the complex realm of human sexualities for the past two seasons. For each character there has always been a detailed attention in the exploration of their identities, especially regarding their approach to sex and their sexual preferences. Knowing this, it’s quite a downer witnessing such a great work lose its power and value in this scene, where some bubbling from Rajan is supposed to suggest us something never mentioned or addressed before. It’s a totally superficial and cheap choice that weakens the depth and the heaviness of the importance that the show itself has always given to sexual orientation and self-awareness. For twenty-three episodes we have never been given the slightest hint of Rajan being anything but a hetero-sexual man, and if he wasn’t from the very start, Lana would surely have found a way to let us understand quite instantly (since thankfully she cares a lot about these themes and would never fail to portray them properly ― at least I believed it, until now). For this very reason I find it inappropriate and very inadequate for the writers to imply superficially (and without providing a needed foundation) the existence of an instant, unmotivated attraction between two characters who have never been shown to struggle with their sexual orientations. Sense8 has always treated its characters way better than this misleading and trivial stare-action between Wolfgang and Rajan suggests. It really looks like a joke.

Kala arrives in the car and shows again second thoughts. Objectively, this is not an incomprehensible thing. I think it’s true to her character showing hesitance right now, knowing that Rajan helped them and saved Wolfgang personally. What many people fail to understand, though, is that these second thoughts don’t correspond to a sudden newborn love indecision. Kala is once again showing uncertainty regarding “which rules to follow”, not “which man to choose” (she has clear ideas about her feelings, she is just afraid and hesitant of turning her back from her duties ― which now are more oppressive than ever, because her husband has proved to be a good and worthy man). Since Kala is conscious that Rajan has proved to be fundamental in Wolfgang’s salvation and providing a shelter, I don’t feel like blaming her for a newfound indecisiveness. She was ready to be with Wolfgang and tell Rajan the truth because during all S2 he acted quite badly towards her, instead now the writers presented him (in a totally cheap way, but still) as redeemable, therefore she develops a new sense of guilt and discomfort to hurt him. So, overall, I can consider this moment acceptable. But this hesitance doesn’t translate in a romantic awakening from her towards her husband. She simply finds herself not ready to hurt him anymore, so she goes back to “talk in circles”.

What I actually really consider outrageous here is Bug’s suggestion that a choice shouldn’t be made and, worst, Kala’s immediate acceptance of this. This moment not only destroys Kala’s character evolution in the past seasons, but it also sends a horrible message. First of all, I don’t clearly see why there shouldn’t be ethical rules if she was able to be in two different places at the same time. I know the visiting element is complex, but, in my opinion, it still doesn’t allow a person to cheat on another, and staying with two people at the same time is cheating (especially if a “sapiens” is involved, because he is unfairly cut out from part of it because of natural limitations). On a strictly conceptual point of view, I could see the appeal of this idea: by being naturally able to “multiply” yourself, you could be able to naturally “multiply” your feelings too. But being able to be in two places at the same time doesn’t mean that you become two different people. And the fact is always that: Kala is not suffering from a love indecision. She isn’t romantically conflicted, she is torn between obligation and herself. By stating “there are no rules” the show basically implies that it’s okay for Kala to keep avoiding her right and duty to choose for herself and keep maintaining her uncertainties unresolved. And if this is really the case, then the question is: what was the point of Kala’s character at all? Why showing us two seasons of internal struggle only for it to end up being completely ignored? It doesn’t make sense. If the purpose of the show had really been for her to not come to a choice at all, I think at least all S2 would have been written very differently than it actually was. By rejecting the very fundament of Kala’s character, her constant worries now seem to have always been pointless, because what Bug suggests is actually a stupid way out that she already knew and that definitely couldn’t be anything but a temporary solution. She was already conscious that she could be in two places at the same time, and she actually used this at her advantage by visiting Wolfgang for the entire second season and being with the only man she loved and was comfortable with. But this “visiting” skill accessible only to Sensoriums shouldn’t erase the moral laws and conventions that are applied equally to both species. Kala shouldn’t be excused by anyone, especially Rajan, for taking advantage of this “privilege” in order to reject her responsibilities. Choosing by herself and for herself was her ultimate responsibility as a character and an Indian woman, and here the writers just decided to nullify all of it. In my opinion, it’s okay for Kala to show a newfound unease towards the difficult and life-defining choice that she has to make, but it’s not okay for her to decide to avoid it at all and expect Wolfgang and Rajan to accept it. The moment where Kala acts all mind-blown in front of Bug’s completely wrong advice, I could feel her character slowly disintegrating. Why would she even consider this as a solution? If this had really been a solution for her, if she really felt like she could “have both”, she wouldn’t have had any problem at all since the beginning of the show. But she had, because truth is that there are rules, and a choice was supposed to be made to give a meaning to her self-worth discovery. We as human beings are defined firstly by our choices: to have Kala degenerate as a character and suddenly avoid any responsibility that she had to deal with for two seasons is just an insulting and unacceptable message (apart from being incoherent with how her character was built and totally nonsensical).

Then we see Kala exiting the car and approaching Rajan, playing the wife role. Regardless of anything, this moment is just out of character. During the end of S2, we have been made promises and raised expectations regarding Wolfgang and Kala’s real meeting both by a conversation between Kala and Riley in S02E10 and a heart-felt monologue by Kala herself in S02E11. In that same episode, Kala was literally unable to keep her breath steady just thinking about the emotions of this moment. We have been fed for two seasons of the unprecedented intensity and depth of their connection. Also, Wolfgang has been captured, tortured multiple times, nearly killed and finally rescued. There is just no way that Kala, once she finally has the opportunity of touching him in real life for the first time, consciously goes first to her husband and kisses him in front of the love of her life. It’s laughable even thinking about it, no matter how badly she may feel about hurting him. But I sincerely hope think that almost every human with a brain agrees that this choice was OOC and very questionable. Also, about the line “Rajan, you are much more than the man I thought I married”, I feel that it’s totally understandable for Kala to have this new opinion of him. I personally just think that the writers made her say it in a completely out-of-place situation. It just feels wrong in this particular moment, when you are ignoring the man you were willing to die for who is standing right there behind you husband.

What’s the point of showing us all the touching and the kissing in the sun and everything between Wolfgang and a visiting Kala? Bad editing, maybe for time constraints, but according to how they realized the scene, it seems to me that physical Kala is the one who hugs Wolfgang at the end, once all of that is already finished, and I can tell this because Rajan is actually observing the hug with a worried, even hurt expression (which he has every right to have, since his wife has just decided to play him and has previously failed to tell him about her connection with Wolfgang). Such an unfair mess we have here, in every aspect.

I have also problems with the direction of the kiss. It’s just realized weirdly and from a not-so-optimal position. It was kind of odd to watch, and it wasn’t even in person.

[majingojira]

Some Fun for 1001 Followers: The Pre-Runaways Runaways

Just for fun, I thought I’d do a bit of an overview of the other Runaway superheroes out there that aren’t THE Runaways.  Their Ancestors. At least from what I have read.  We’re going to cover Marvel, DC, Milestone, and . . .  Malibu.

This might hurt.

Marvel is the one with the oldest “Runaway Teen Hero” stories I know of, if only because they were the first to have a teen hero be something other than a sidekick.  These were Cloak and Dagger and an old adversary of Power Pack.  Both of these had a pretty high level of success, and really deserve unique posts dedicated to them that I simply do not have the knowledge base to provide. While Cloak and Dagger were definitely more on the street and suffering for their abandonment, Power Pack . . . ran into those in other kids.  Mostly a super powered gang called simply Trash. 

Yes, really. 

Trash is one of those groups that you look at and just cringe.  Agents of a criminal known as ‘The Garbage Man’, who eventually rebelled thanks to Power Pack’s interference with the Garbage Man’s drug ring.  They then became . . . supers for hire and battled Luke Cage once before being shoved into obscurity forever.  Because they were terrible stereotypes. 

I mean, LOOK AT THEM!

When I tell you their names are Brute, Blasting Cap, Crazy Legs, Razor Cut, and Airhead, you can instantly tell who is who and then feel dirty about just how terrible their names are!

Sure, it has two black guys. One is a mentally challenged strong man, the other is a basketball player with super long legs. 

The others are just as bad off: the Irish Kid has explosive powers (they first appeared in 1987 (as a reminder, this was during ‘The Troubles’), the Asian kid has “Karate Chop Action,” and the one girl . . . yeah. The One Girl. 

They later had a “Thor Kid” who I have yet to read up on, but he is apparently just a crazy person who looks like Thor.

Yeah.

What a way to start this off, eh? 

After that, Marvel tried with a spin off their popular New Mutants. 

This team had Sunspot, Siryn, Warlock, and a rogue dupe of Madrox as runaway kids on the street also becoming hitched to an adult (Vanisher) who wanted to use them for protection/thieving.  They were later joined by Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy.  Because everyone loved Devil, but no one is quite sure how to use him so he gets re-introduced again and again. 

Thank goodness for Moon Girl. 

Anyway, it wasn’t just old characters brought into this.   First and foremost is Ariel, who became a reoccurring mutant supporting character for years afterwards.  Not so successful was Gomi.  Gomi had cybernetic enhancements granting him very blunt use of Telekinesis. He also had two cybernetically enhanced Lobsters named Bill and Don who could survive on land and had human level intelligence and enhanced strength.  For lobsters.  Don dies over the course of the series. He is not, sadly, eaten. 

Finally, there’s Chance.  Chance, I think, needs a revamp and return.  Chance had the power to enhance or nullify powers.  Mutant or not, she could enhance or negate them, but had little control over them.  Small, Korean, and trained in Boxing and Knife Fighting, chance was tough and wore it.  Mostly because Chance was battling a religious cult (“The Glorification Church”) that Chance’s family had been sucked into and that Chance had escaped from. 

Also, Chance . . . is trans. At least from a modern perspective, which is why I am referring to Chance by name each time.  Chance is referred to as “She” officially, but she dresses as a man, identifies as man, and does not like to be referred to or made to dress as a woman.

So yeah, Chance is a trans-man. 

Period. 

Which is why HE should come back.

So yeah, those were Marvel’s attempts.

DC didn’t really have a book of Runaway hero types.  The Nu52 version of the“Bloodpack” currently fit the bill somewhat, but . . . the 2016 Bloodlines series is just as 90s as the original one.  Survivors of an alien infestation that have super-powers + a timer until the infestation kills them and . . . only a few characters are visually interesting, but not that emotionally engaging in the long term.  It suffers the same sort of needlessly brutal troubles that plagues J.T. Krul’ Titan’s run as well.  I’m not against bad things happening, but this went into needlessly cruelty.

Or it pulls the Nu52 thing and darkly revamps characters that really hurt from that sort of thing (such as what happens with Anima – she can just not catch a break in the new millennium).

There’s also “Superboy and the Ravers” which is a really lame Party book.  It has some interesting characters, but they don’t really do anything.

Okay, one more hurt train before we get to the good stuff. Malibu Comics “Freex”.

Ah, Malibu comics. Trying to have a lived in superhero world by giving the reader almost no time to acclimate to it, and diving in head first. God it was hard to get through.  Not helped by the sheer amount of 90s in that company design wise. 

Anyway, Freex is one of their lesser titles.  How lesser is it?  Well, they had a lead in to the series in one of their anthology series (“Ultraverse Permier #9”) which introduced characters pretty well so they could show up in the main series (#15 was included in the back of that issue), and . . . Freex was ended at #18.  Yeah. Anyway, it’s the story of a group of kids who have super powers and run away from home because of them, since they seem to be ‘naturally developed’ “Ultras” and thus outcast. 

Is it any wonder Marvel bought the company? Anyway. 

The metaplot had them meeting up, bonding over having powers, and banding together against overly EXTREME threats (a group of bounty hunting dog people called “Bloodhounds” anyone?) that ran rampant in comics at the time, while they were pretty tame all things considered. 

In the initial run, we had: Sweet Face, who was a self-conscious girl with tentacles growing out of her arms and torso irregularly; Pressure, a former popular girl with a temper, and energized gas/generic blast-y powers that went along with her anger issues (and yes, the blasts were green); A J, who could turn himself into electricity to travel through “Cyber Space” and control machines (as well as animate them); Boom Boy, a slow-witted stone boy obsessed with Huck Finn; and Anything, who was elastic to the point of being liquid.  Later, Boom Boy left and his role as “Big Guy” taken by a kid calling himself Cayman, a big strong reptile man. 

When the series was canceled, and when Marvel bought them and rebooted the Ultraverse, he was the only character to ever show up again. 

With no explanation or reference otherwise. 

As they ran and fought these threats, it was learned they were tied to the character Contrary, who is best described as “What if Emma Frost was in a world without Professor X?”

Her codename comes from the fact that she does horrible things for the greater good. In this instance, she feels the world needs supers for reasons, so she travels through several infant wards as a nurse and infects them with “Wetware” (biotechnology) which will give them powers on a random spinner.  Giving her the nickname of “Wetware Mary”. 

So that’s the team’s origin.

They never learn this, though they do reject her offer to be a part of her Academy of Tomorrow New Elite before weird time travel stuff happens.  All in all, not the WORST thing from the 90s, but not particularly laudable either.

Now, we get to Milestone.

Milestone is an oddity in that it’s a 90s comic company which have stories and characters that are progressive even by today’s standards.  God Bless Dwayne McDuffie.

Anyway, like early Marvel, their runaway kids on a super team were a true gang, with most things that implies.  This was the Blood Syndicate. 

Survivors of the “Big Bang” gang war that gave many heroes and villains in Dakota their powers, the Blood Syndicate was a team that became a family and had a diverse and engaging set of characters to it.  Initially gathered together by Holocaust (yes, that was his name though he tried to change it to Pyre, everyone still referred to him as Holocaust because he was such a jerk) as a power grab, it eventually came to truly protect its neighborhood more than offer “Protection” and run drugs (whcih they didn’t really toch, with one exception). 

Oh, before I go on, unless I say otherwise, assume the character is black.

Holocaust had intense pyrokinetic powers as well as super strength and durability.  A nasty combination in a gang leader. 

Tech-9 took over pretty early on, but he and Holocaust clashed a lot before Holocaust went off on his own.  Tech-9 had the ability to always generate ammunition in any firearm he held.  Which is such an awesomely 90s power that I can’t get over it.  Unfortunately, his powers destabilized and he died, leading to his dog, Dogg (who was granted human level intelligence and vocal chords in the Big Bang) taking an advisory role to the next leader, Wise Son.

Wise Son is invulnerable with decent Super Strength, but mostly Invulnerable.  Like complete. A Black Muslim, he tries to think things through, but is not as level headed as he’d like to be.  A really solid leader, especially during the “Long Hot Summer” crossover event.

Boggieman/Boggie was the team’s only white guy.  He wanted to be a part of black culture despite being a suburban kid, and his new rat-like monster form let him join the Blood Syndicate.  He also could communicate with Rats, of whom many were intelligent as a person thanks to the Big Bang.

Bickhouse and Third Rail were definitely the strong people of the team, and an adorable couple. Brickhouse, well, was a giant woman made of bricks.  Strongly built too, but with amnesia regarding who she was (it took her almost a year to remember her name as “Marta”).  Third Rail is a Korean-American who could absorb energy and grow in size from it. They eventually quit the gang and opened a restaurant together and I can’t stop gushing over how cute they were together. I mean, how rare is it for there to be a “Beauty and the Beast” story where the woman is the “beast”?  I mean, she’s not that terrible looking, but she had the self-consciousness of that archetype.  They even had an issue dedicated to trying to get her a new haircut.

Flashback is an interesting character because she had the ability to snap time back 3 seconds at a time. This worked in two ways.  One, she used it to have her friends hit someone multiple times for repeated damage.  The other, and more common use, was to save her friends lives.  She saved the whole team several times and watching them die, get injured, or having that happen to herself, took its toll on her and she eventually developed a crack habit. 

Other members include: Fade, a black man who was ghost-like unless he willed himself solid; Masquerade, a transgender male who had shapeshifting powers but was sadly ultimately villainous; Oro, a former cop who had your flying blaster package, and being a former riot cop, clashed a bit with the gang regularly; and Aquamaria, a Latina who was made of Water and could control it. There were two other members who were just plain WEIRD.  

First was DMZ, who at first is thought to be a crashed alien trying to get home, but the truth is far more complex.  It’s not finished in the series, so I don’t’ feel bad about spoiling.  He’s not an alien, but he fell in love with one and when she died, he took up her armor and weapons and tries to do what she did – help people.  And he also tries to signal her people so he can leave the earth. 

Pretty weird, right. 

That’s got NOTHING on Kwai.

A reincarnating Chinese spirit channeling herself through a little Chinese girl who is experiencing time in a non-linear cycle of rebirths, and has various magical powers to combat her evil demon-fox sister.  It’s really complex (and the Monkey King shows up, which is always a plus), but not only does it entertain, it works within the cast of gang members somehow!  I think that’s a testament to how good Blood Syndicate was. 

So, yeah, those were the “Runaway Kid” comic superheroes before Runaways.  As far as I am aware, we haven’t really gotten any other runaway hero teams since them because they left such a big impact.

But I’d love to see a few of them come back (GIVE ME MORE MILESTONE, DAMNIT!), or even in the Marvel cases, meet up with the Runaways.  I’d be up for it! Even the Trash might be fun to use as a “Dark Mirror” sort of situation.

But  that just leaves one question: WHO WOULD WIN IN A FIGHT?

A post for another time, maybe.

[rock-and-compass]

Rock and Compass Watches Once Upon A Time – 6.18: Where Bluebirds Fly

Overview

The Black Fairy pays Zelena a visit with the proposal of an alliance of sorts; she has a use for some “wicked” magic and hopes to come to an arrangement. Zelena is not interested, drawing threats and ire from her visitor. Zelena decides to take care of the Black Fairy herself, leading to a mistake that requires a huge sacrifice to correct. Snow throws herself into planning Emma’s wedding while David worries that the big day will be ruined by an evil interloper like his and Snow’s was. In the past, Zelena faces a choice between power and friendship.

Discussion, Thoughts and things of significance

Where Bluebirds Fly again has a strong theme of sacrifice, this time revolving around Zelena and what she’s prepared to do for her daughter. While it is a good character piece for her, it does feel very much like they have set her on a course towards the conclusion of her story – whatever that may be. Elsewhere, we got some lovely Charming-Jones family feels with the wedding under discussion, and the slow-burn problem of Henry’s out of control authoring continues to simmer, almost unnoticed beneath everything…

One stop redemption shop – Zelena has done a lot of bad shit. Most of it motivated by envy and the desire to prove her self-worth to those who have rejected her. And while it’s always been easy to feel a modicum of sympathy for her, ultimately she still chose to do ‘wicked’ things in the effort to prove herself. It doesn’t matter that she has a reason, what matters is that she chose to do them. She’s always been prone to self-sabotage, something the flashback emphasises when she chooses her power over her old friend, even though the net result is always a Zelena who is still alone.  Since becoming a mother, she’s shown the capacity to think of someone else and put her daughter first. It’s hardly been a stunning redemption arc, more that she just stopped doing bad stuff. But this episode goes full throttle with redemption, making her run a gamut of emotions and possible choices all to get her to the noble sacrifice at the end.

The real talking point of her story is her relationship with Regina – and it’s not great. There is a lot of smouldering resentment between the two of them; Regina still unfairly blames Zelena for Robin’s death, something that Zelena finally calls her on. Zelena feels unwanted and marginalised. Regina is nasty and bossy and overbearing, she persists in treating Zelena like she is stupid rather than give her a chance – the Black Fairy visited Zelena and asked for assistance - the very act of doing this signals that she is not as all-powerful as she has been pretending. With Zelena feeling threatened and worrying about the safety of her daughter surely it would have been kinder, more mature, to listen to Zelena, and work with her rather than resort to bickering and one-upmanship? A recognisance mission would have been the perfect alternative to alienating Zelena, making her feel unwanted and triggering all her instincts to go off half-cocked in an effort to prove herself.  Plus, the bickering is annoying and boring; even the entire Charming family think so if their eye-rolls and grimaces are anything to go by.  

Zelena of course doesn’t listen and goes off to track the Black Fairy for herself. Regina is affronted at her audacity and defiance of orders and goes to find her. While there is certainly some concern for Zelena’s safety, there is also the assumption that Zelena will mess things up for the rest of them that over-rides everything. They argue again, Zelena’s temper gets the better of her, they both get so distracted with each other that all sense of caution evaporates leaving them prey for Black and Gideon. Zelena’s magic ends up getting used against her will but they do learn that an all-out magical assault will have no effect on the Black Fairy.

Afterwards, Regina continues to castigate and belittle Zelena, completely ignoring her inclination to fix the mistake. Yes, it was a situation gone horribly wrong, but by zeroing in on her sister’s ineptitude as a result of trying to prove herself, Regina sets out to prove her own superiority. She’s just as bad as Zelena in her determination to be “better”.  It suits her for Zelena to be lesser, to be excluded from the inner circle – she even goes so far as to send Zelena back to Oz, a bothersome liability removed from notice. Well, it worked with the Evil Queen side of herself, so of course she’s try it again with her sister.

But Zelena gets to show her mettle. All by herself. Her own choice. With no influence from anyone else. Zelena chooses to use the crystal heart to remove her magic powers to fix the problem. She takes the hard road for the greater good and her only worry in doing so is her daughter’s well-being– she ensures that Robyn will be protected should anything happen to her as a result of giving up something that was inborn in her. It’s a big sacrifice. She deserves a lot of credit for it. It’s a hero’s move.  I found it very interesting that Regina could only find it in herself to be kind to her sister once she gives up her power. Now she’s full of admiration and hugs and willing to accept her sister into the fold. I find it incredibly curious that Regina has now managed to, purely by chance, nullify another powerful presence in her life, her rival if you will and that of all the parental characters this season, she is one of the only ones yet to face a sacrificial choice between her child and herself. Surely that choice is coming?  

Best Scene ever – I can’t not say anything about the pancakes scene! It was the highlight of the episode and finally delivered a nice slice of ‘domestic Captain Swan’ that the fandom has been wanting for so long. It showed for the first time that Emma and Hook have a physical relationship – not that it needed saying; they’ve been together for a long time and they live together. But it is interesting (or should that be frustrating) that the principle couple of the show has never had their intimacy displayed on screen before and they never expressly showed us their ‘first time’. I can’t help but think if they’d shown us a little bit of this physicality from the beginning of the relationship, it might have lessened the impact of the naysayers. I noticed that the salty copmments were much less than usual after they showed Emma and Hook all snuggly-wuggly-morning–after and looking to keep the fires burning, if ya know what I mean. Darn Snow and her inappropriate use of her key privileges! 

So is it only because Emma and Hook are officially engaged that they feel the time is right to show that they’ve done-the-do or is there an ulterior purpose? There is some speculation that the scene was a late addition to the episode. This was mainly due to a picture that Jennifer Morrison posted on Instagram of herself, Colin and Ginny having dinner with the caption that it was the last family dinner for season 6 while they were wearing the same clothes as in the scene (day 87). This was posted on the final days of shooting for the season, suggesting either re-soot or last minute addition during editing. (Of course it could have also been a picture taken earlier). I asked the writer of the episode, Brigitte Hales about it on Twitter but she seemed to dodge the question and even showed a reluctance to share the script when it was requested of Adam on Twitter too. Circumstantial evidence certainly but let’s Assume for a moment that it was a late edition the next question is why was it added? Yes, the episode was slow and not overly exciting and this scene was actually needed to give the episode some life, but even so, they didn’t need to put “Sex” in a flashing neon sign to achieve that – any domestic Captain Swan would have achieved the same goal.  . . And we do have a flashing neon sign what with the reason for the musical episode being a wish that Snow made while pregnant that somehow resurfaces in Storybrooke in the present … it just makes one wonder if there is another, biological reason for giving us #pancakes?  

(Speculation alert: just going on the limited spoilers we have about the final, now I’m imagining Emma finding out she’s pregnant in the asylum, completely mirroring  her finding out she’s pregnant with Henry while she was in prison and it being the catalyst for her to fight against whatever curse Black has concocted)

**Not that I necessarily subscribe to this theory**

A communal effort – so the big question from the Black Fairy’s request for help from Zelena is why she can’t turn her own crystals dark? Oh sure, I know she gave some cock-and-bull story about Zelena’s magic being unstable or some such but it smacks of an excuse. A powerful fairy, with the level of evil that the Black Fairy apparently is should be able to make her own dark crystals. Is her magic not as dark as she’d like everyone to believe? Can I just add that it is a little bit illogical that this woman, who has been mining dark crystals for however long would not have been prepared for “the last battle” before she made her entry into the realm. It is just ridiculous to suggest that this final fight, which has been prophesised, wouldn’t have been prepared for down to the last detail. I just don’t think you’d go ahead with your plans, and make a big song and dance about them, without having the vital ingredient covered beforehand. It really smacks of an excuse to give Zelena a feature episode and rid her of her magic.

No more Magic – So why do they need Zelena to have no magic? Is it tied in to the exit narrative of our departing characters? Or her own death? I’ve said it before, but I wouldn’t be Regina Mills best friend for all the tea in china; it’s a dangerous position to be in.

That crystal heart – The heart that sucked out all Zelena’s magic just sort of vanished when the green force emanated from it after the process was complete. Did the heart evaporate with the magic or did it transport somewhere else, chock full of magic that someone else might be able to usurp?

What’s coming up – whatever it is, she wouldn’t want to be alone for it. The Black Fairy gives this warning to Zelena regarding whatever she has planned for Storybrooke that is apparently so worrying, so terrifying that the Wicked Witch of the freaking West should be shitting her pants. But the Black Fairy can’t get the thing started without the black crystals – so since, Zelena sacrificed her powers to stop her magic from being used for the BF’s nefarious purpose, who is going to do the dirty work for her? The Black Fairy also tells Zelena and Regina that they, “won’t be around to regret your mistake much longer. No one will.” It sounds like a death threat but then she doesn’t kill them, so that would suggest that her plans for Storybrooke involve something that requires dark crystals and will result in the population of Storybrooke going elsewhere… sounds like a new version of the dark curse to me.

Let’s get this party started – The Black Fairy is very big with the talk that the last battle is coming but hasn’t stated yet. But didn’t Rumple say that Emma would start it by breaking the curse way back in the pilot? So that would suggest that the breaking of the curse was the catalyst for what the Black Fairy wants to achieve with it.

The Neverland wand – Hook tells them that the wand Tiger Lily sent back is only part of the wand and that they need to find the other part. This would seem to be a good directive to be taking. It gets side-tracked by Zelena and Regina’s bickering. Personally, it made me very uncomfortable to see the wand fragment handed over to Regina – the wand was sent back for Emma. A locator spell is hardly rocket-science (hell we’ve seen Bell and David and Hook all use variations of the spell!). It just felt odd that Madam Mills needed to take possession of it at all.

Do it together – Regina tells Zelena to cool her heels and wait till they have the wand and can face The Black Fairy together, as a group activity. Is it me, or was Emma not quite as convinced by this reasoning. She seemed dubious but happy to use it as an excuse to stop Zelena acting rashly. Emma knows the prophecy is for her, it doesn’t seem to be a “together” type of situation.

On the subject of Fairy crystals - fairy crystals are the source of fairy magic. The crystals are mined by the dwarves and crushed to make magic powder that fuels magic. The fact that large quantities of crystals are growing below Storybrooke could be important?

One curse to another – “So you’re the big, bad, evil queen who cast my curse… no wonder it was such a pathetic failure.” The Black Fairy says this on meeting Regina. And it’s interesting on two levels – One, because it functions to diminish the pure act of evil that Regina’s curse was. Black calls it pathetic and a failure and it’s supposed to make us wonder at the level to which her possible version of the curse will take, should she cast it. And two, because we know that Regina’s curse was anything but a failure; it functioned exactly the way it was supposed to for 28 years – for 28 years it exiled an entire population of people, separated people from their loved ones and violated their minds and memories. It was very successful thank you very much and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this episode is peppered with reminders of the curse and it’s huge impacts; Snow and David’s conversation about Dr Whale and the infamous one night stand might be played for laughs, but it has the very real purpose of illustrating exactly how successful Regina’s curse was.  The only reason why Regina’s curse is not still going is because Rumpelstiltskin tweaked the recipe and allowed for the addition of a Saviour into the mix. So no, Regina’s curse was neither pathetic or a failure. And that is precisely why the Black Fairy feels like a fraud; her curse, should she be planning on casting a new one, is never going to stack up against the evil maliciousness of Regina’s. And isn’t it funny that Regina gets offended at the suggestion that hers was not a success….

Holding the baby - Zelena asks Regina to look after Robin if something happens to her. She agrees of course, and then Emma says “me too, she’s one of us. We’ll protect her with our lives”. It all sound very ominous and may be a hint that Zelena’s outlook is not great. Regina’s promise is natural, she is Robyn’s aunt after all, but Emma’s assurance feels… a little out of place considering the minimal relationship she has with Zelena… But maybe Robyn, being a baby, is of some interest to the Black Fairy and the point needed to be made that protection of her would be a priority? And should babies be in demand, what about Emma’s brother (even though he has seemingly been forgotten).

Uninvited entry – We have another example of someone coming into another person’s house uninvited this week when Snow lets herself into Emma’s house without knocking first. It’s not quite in the same vein as Regina’s barge and enter, but it still shows a certain level of discourtesy and freedom. And when you think about it, Henry letting himself into the Loft is another example. David was clearly not expecting him to be there to the extent that he pulled a gun out on entry…but I think in this case, Henry went there to ensure that he would be alone while he experiments with his writing. In short -  the people of Storybrooke need to learn to knock!

Other people’s lives - Regina is incredulous that the Charming family “really want to pick out centrepieces on the eve of the final battle?” She is pissed off and note how she trivialises the wedding/marriage as an unimportant detail. She still does find other people’s happiness hard to deal with. Actually, I found Regina quite odd throughout the whole episode, like she was trying to take control of something that is not hers to control - her sister and “the final battle”. While she’s trying to direct strategy and mesh herself into the fabric of the problem, she is really just a periphery player (or she’s playing a bigger game…) But you’ve got to love Snow here, she won’t be dissuaded by the threat of evil – “I do. David and I went through with our wedding after you threatened us it gave people hope. Why should Emma and Hook’s wedding be any different.” The trend of people being honest with and not intimidated by the “reformed” Regina continues. They just don’t seem to be walking on eggshells around her anymore. Plus the reminder of their interrupted wedding is interesting in itself – a timely reminder of the success of Regina’s curse as culmination of Regina’s vow to destroy their happiness. I’m still wondering about that injection of darkness that Regina recently took into her heart… It must be having an effect. And do our heroes know how she subdued the Evil Queen? Do they know about that darkness?

Writer’s block – Henry has experimented with changing the story or ‘fixing’ the outcome and it doesn’t work. He’s trying to translate his doodles (trust me kid, it’s no good, Google has no answers – I’ve tried) “Isaac said, the author’s powers are trying to tell me something” but he’s having no luck working out what that is and wonders what is the point of the author powers if you can’t help anyone…but isn’t that the point - the author powers were never about helping, they were about recording and completing. I almost wonder if, at the end of the book, the story needs to correct its course for completion – the ultimate villain is not introduced in the final chapter, Snow White and the Evil Queen do not become friends. Maybe this is the problem – with no author for so long (what with Isaac being trapped in a page with no way to write for all that time) the book went off course and the story didn’t unfold as it was ‘supposed to’. What would a “correction” mean to the story? I watched Tangled last night and Mother Gothel (who was villain masquerading as a caring mother) says to Rapunzel after her story has fallen apart – “You want me to be the bad guy? Fine, now I'm the bad guy,” and she lets her true colours show. You can’t have Mother Gothel being sympathetic at the end of the story and you can’t have Rapunzel deluded or torn by her duplicity. Now I really want to see Regina say that line. …And I’m still wondering about that pop-up book in the library.  

A speculative look -  Henry leaves the notebook on the table, open to a different page than the one they were originally discussing, David glances at the notebook then doubles back and looks more closely (and the music changes). It might be just concern for Henry’s problem but, I don’t know – to me it seems like something on the page rings a bell for him.  He doesn’t say anything more about it and goes on with the wedding planning,  but is it coincidence that David has a shift of attitude towards the wedding now – no venue is good enough, he doesn’t want Emma’s day ruined, how many beans would be needed to get us all back to the EF? – Does something in those scribbles connect to his interrupted wedding day, the dark curse or Regina?

Going Meta – I love it when the writer’s go Meta - “If this is about Hook, then that ship has sailed and there’s a pirate on it. Deal with it.”  If this wasn’t a message for a particular section of the fandom then I know nothing about anything.

Emma/Gideon parallels – Again we get a strong parallel between Emma and her parents and Gideon and his. Belle wants their son back. They’ve missed a huge chunk of his life but she doesn’t want to miss more. We also get Snow saying that she has missed all the landmarks of Emma’s life so wants to make the most of the wedding. This also invites comparison of The Black Fairy and Regina, the two people who have caused the situation and also of Rumple who is sort of on the outskirts but at the same time key to the entire story. So this Black Fairy storyline is really curse one rehashed and condensed? But to what point??

Blue and Black - she’s older than him, knew the BF long ago and might have the knowledge about how to defeat her… and he’s feeling bad that he was played into taking Blue’s magic and putting her into a coma that she can’t be woken from. Unable to share her knowledge. It’s the fact that she knows the BF’s darkest secret – one she never wants Rumple to know . . .  the real reason she gave him up. Whatever that is, something noble most likely.  But I can’t help but think that if they make her in any way sympathetic aren’t they undercutting their own ‘most evil of the evil’ discourse? We shall see.

[batmenplayingpoker]

Let’s talk about: Arrow 5.19

In which I’m forced to defend Felicity.

After a month’s hiatus, Arrow has returned. Adrian Chase has been exposed as Prometheus, but he’s escaped, and the entire episode revolves around Felicity’s acts of desperation conflicting with the higher moral ground that Oliver has decided to occupy this week.

First off, shout out to Dinah Drake, who didn’t have a whole lot to do but worked what she got.

So anyway, as I mentioned, the dramatic tension of this episode revolves around Oliver v. Felicity (or Oliver and Diggle v. Felicity) with a little bit of Diggle v. Lyla thrown in there at the end. I should say that my feelings about Felicity throughout the course of the series has been conflicted at best. When she was basically a vehicle for “witty” one-liners and double entendres, I mostly rolled my eyes and ignored her. When she was elevated to romantic lead and Supreme Goddess, I hated her. And yet for most of season 5 I’ve ping-ponged back and forth between ambivalence to maybe, sorta, almost liking her in spite of myself?

And yet throughout the series, regardless of my feelings for the character, I have loathed the paternalism levied on her, levied on every prominent female character, in fact, with perhaps the exception of Sara (I would have to go rewatch S2 to be sure). The entire conversation between Oliver and Diggle had me practically seeing red, as they bemoan Felicity’s descent into that moral gray zone that only they are supposed to enter.

The face I was making, it was kind of like this:

Consider this line of dialogue:

“We knew she was involved, and we let her get in deeper.”

The entire conversation is framed in this way, as their failure to exercise control over Felicity’s actions. To be clear: it’s perfectly fine to express concern when you think someone is making poor choices, but they did that. Both Diggle and Oliver on separate occasions expressed their concerns to Felicity, and she took note of those concerns and decided to continue on the path she was going down, because she’s a grown ass woman who can make her own mistakes. It doesn’t mean she’s justified in what she does, she can be wrong! But at the end of the day she is the one responsible for her actions.

To make matters worse, it’s clear this conversation between Oliver and Diggle is not about Diggle taking Oliver to task for failing to exercise control over a team member as the leader of Team Arrow, but for failing to exercise control over her as her ex-fiance! 

Felicity did look pretty amazing in her heist gear, I must say. It was completely inappropriate for the occasion, and I’m not sure why you need 3″ wedge heel boots and smoky eyeshadow for a caper, but whatever, she was wearing something other than those glasses and those ugly designer dresses and she looked amazing! That works for you, Felicity. You should go on capers more often. 

But back to my rant: Sometimes Felicity’s bad choices are just Felicity’s bad choices, and she should be allowed to make them and live with the consequences of making them without being immediately absolved. But the show writers have consistently shown a wariness or inability to give Felicity any kind of moral complexity. She is routinely deified as “the best of us,” “the strongest of us,” “our moral voice,” and her questionable choices are always narratively justified or nullified. Her complicity in Susan’s firing earlier in S5 was waved away with a weak “I didn’t know what Thea was going to do!” (she asked you to plant leading evidence on Susan’s computer and you didn’t know what she was going to do with it? I thought Felicity was supposed to be some sort of genius!) It makes for a character who, when you get down to brass tacks, is pretty boring, who isn’t allowed anything by way of character growth. The scrapes and bumps she must heal from are always inflicted from the outside; her problems are never hers, she’s a victim of the mistakes of others.

For whatever reason, the writers can’t stop themselves from tripping over themselves to elevate her, even with awkward throwaway lines like the one from Diggle in this episode:

“Felicity Smoak is one of the best people I’ve ever known.”

It’s weird, the way other characters talk about her. I have some very close friends who I love with all my heart, but I don’t think I have or would ever appraise them in quite that way, surely not in a pseudo-argument with my spouse (especially since Diggle was basically saying “If even Supreme Goddess Felicity could go darksided, then oh god you, my wife, it could definitely happen to you.”) And this is far from the first time that other characters have talked about Felicity in a way that is entirely unique, that is not found in the way characters talk about any other character. It’s like an edict from on high; every now and then the Powers That Be must possess someone and use them as a mouthpiece to remind the audience that this is a good character and we love her, OK? 

This was also true about Oliver and Felicity’s relationship when it was getting off the ground and/or in full force, by the way. Diggle’s descent into the king of Olicity shippers was just weird, but even that pales in comparison to Laurel shipping Olicity on her deathbed. Why do we need everyone to love and endorse this relationship, this character? It suggests a lingering, uncomfortable insecurity in the writer’s room, a fear that they can’t adequately convey how good and right this relationship or that character is without having it explicitly reinforced by anyone and everyone. 

And let’s talk about Lyla for a second. Unpopular opinion: I hate Lyla.

I know, Digg. But hear me out. In a meta sense I have never warmed to Lyla. She was introduced as a replacement for Diggle’s S1 love interest, who we never saw or heard from again, and she eventually became Amanda Waller’s ARGUS replacement. That’s two black women that Lyla’s stepped in the shoes of, taking their place in the narrative. I’m not trying to draw anything from two data points, I’m just saying it’s enough to give me pause.

Amanda Waller was not a good person. Her decisions as the head of ARGUS weren’t even morally questionable, they were often morally wrong, yet in spite of that, Team Arrow worked with ARGUS on a number of occasions for their own ends (and, again, going back to Felicity, I can’t blame her being frustrated for being told she can’t follow the team’s general “ends justify the means” ethos because she’s been placed on a pedestal as the team’s moral beacon). In this episode Diggle expresses dismay about Lyla becoming “like” Amanda Waller, but what? Excuse me? Wasn’t she always complicit, if not outright involved in some of Waller’s questionable leadership decisions? Lyla wasn’t some powerless lackey, she was fairly high up in ARGUS even before Waller’s death. She chose to be there, she chose to act in concert with Waller, and Team Arrow often benefited from those choices. They’re all hypocrites.

This episode maybe (for me, hopefully) has sewn the seeds of the dissolution of Diggle and Lyla’s marriage. At the very least, it’s a problem that will doubtless linger. Early in the episode when Lyla takes a piece of evidence for ARGUS, the camera lingers on Dinah’s disapproving expression. This suggests to me that there is some merit that perhaps they’re going to explore Diggle and Dinah’s relationship to some extent. How do I feel about this? I don’t know. I’m happy to have Diggle do something other than act as Oliver and Felicity’s cheerleader, I’m happy for him to finally take a stance against his wife’s dubious actions, so I’m certainly interested to see where this is going. But I fear for Dinah if she devolves into Diggle’s arm candy.

The B-plot is Quentin “Hoss” Lance ignoring Rene’s boundary-setting by taking it upon himself to summon Rene’s daughter for an impromptu, surprise meeting, which ends with Rene’s renewed commitment to getting his daughter back. 

I get that this plot is supposed to be heartwarming, but Quentin bowls through Rene’s concerns due to his fresh grief over losing his daughter. To Quentin’s credit, he’s doing remarkably well for someone who’s managed to lose his two daughters THREE times, but sometimes the best thing you can do for someone is recognize that you’re not good for them, and if Rene truly feels that he isn’t good for his daughter, then it’s a good thing that she’s in a more stable environment. Let’s not forget this is a guy who runs around in a hockey mask and carries a gun; he may not be passing out drunk, but I still have some serious concerns about his ability to provide a stable environment. And for Quentin, it’s not even about Rene--not really. It’s about Quentin vicariously living through Rene, because he misses Laurel.

And finally, there were at least three references to Curtis’s “lawyer friend.” This is a strange turn of phrase to be repeated multiple times throughout the episode. Not “Curtis’s friend, who’s a lawyer,” not “a lawyer I’ve been put in touch with, thanks to Curtis,” but Curtis’s Lawyer Friend. Curtis’s Lawyer Friend. Curtis’s Lawyer Friend. Is this alluding to something (someone)? Or is is just strange dialogue? The writing on Arrow is so uneven that it’s difficult to distinguish when they’re attempting to signal something and when they’re just writing sloppy dialogue. Is “Curtis’s Lawyer Friend” supposed to ping something? I honestly can’t recall if we’ve got any relevant lawyer characters waiting in the wings; personally, I’d love for “Curtis’s Lawyer Friend” to be Damon Matthews, but again, maybe they weren’t attempting to signal a new, incoming character. Maybe Rene’s lawyer will, forevermore, simply be known as “Curtis’s Lawyer Friend.” Maybe that’s his actual name. I don’t know. ‘Til next week, which looks like a bottle episode.

[ancientnapdragon]

Restless: another superhero au

i’m angry at the world right now and i have the flu and it’s shark week so i’m TAKIING OUT MY PAIN with a random superhero au at 6 am.  normally i would write this down in a file to store but i’m too lazy to get up so sorry everyone.  it’s klance cause i’m a pos.  sue me.  under the cut if you are actually interested or whatever lmao let’s GO.

this is probably really stupid and rambly cause i’m jotting ideas down before i go to sleep so sorry i’ll do my best

its a superhero au so it takes place in some type of large city or area a-la new york or like metropolis or gotham or something.    large area means lots of villains but also lots of heroes i guess too?

being born with superpowers/inheriting them/whatever is common enough, but it’s not SUPER common.  like, i'd say that maybe one in about every thousand people is 'blessed' with power naturally, but it’s very rare you actually get something cool.  like you'll be born with superpowers and get the ability to sneeze super loud or something lmao.

zarkon is our big bad ofc he is.  he's been moving from city to city around the world in superpower dense areas.  why?  to STEAL THEIR POWERS.  zarkon is called The Void on the street, and his power is literally to take other people's powers and add them to his whole repertoire of fuckery.  he's crazy powerful and in the last year he's decimated places bad enough that heroes AND villains are scared of him.  apparently he's after something crazy powerful, but doesn't know where it's at, so he's just kind of wandering and looking for it.

haggar ofc is like his number 2, and its no secret that they hate each other, but for some reason he can't absorb her power and he's too strong for her to take out.  so why fight when they could work together or whatever.

anyway, she has like this crazy dark magic type stuff.  telekinesis, spirit channeling, crazy lightning bolts and even low-level necromancy if the body is fresh enough.  she's crazy powerful and can boost or nullify other people's powers, too.  for a price.

no surprises here but they're making their way to Lion Kickass Voltron RockNRoll City (the tentative name for where our beloved character live).  also no surprises that recently orphaned billionaire Allura and her plucky butler Coran have just what zarkon is looking for.

Allura's family is one with the ability to 'pass down' their powers to a younger generation, so when king Alfor died he passed on a type of very special crystallomancy.  it helps them use the natural energies of the world to see the future and also shape it to their will.  it's not a godsend power, making little ripples here and there in the timestream still takes a while, but it's hella powerful when used correctly.

Coran actually has a power, too.  he can sense and nullify poison, and his family has worked hand in hand with allura's for generations to keep her family safe.  the agreement is that for this protection they have to shape the world for the better.  also, he could kick your ass in don't think he's just a pretty mustache.

Both of them are active in the underground network of vigilante heroes, but they play a more passive role of assisting them into money when they need it or tips on where crimes will happen.  which really ticks Allura off cause she's not a 'passive' type of gal, you know?

shiro is a cop who was forced to retire early cause of an accident where he lost his arm.  he suspects foul play and a major cover up, cause his partner on the case ended up dying, too.  then not long after his partner's scientist father 'vanished'.  shiro doesn't know what happened to them, but he doesn't like it.  he's been trying to look more into it but every time he's looked, he's been led astray or met resistance.

he eventually runs across zarkon and haggar by accident, and haggar 'curses' him with power for his meddling.  he loses a year where he gets the name of Champion by the underground and a reputation as a brutal killer who doesn't have a soul.  he's got a magical gauntlet replacing his arm that he can't take off, which gives him super strength.  he's also got higher endurance and stamina, plus he's numb to some pains.  the only drawback is that if he uses his powers too much, he goes into a rage state where he has to 'fill the gauntlet with hate'.

its not a power he's proud of or uses very often.

he woke up three months prior to the story, dumped and bleeding in an alleyway.  he's confused cause he lost a year and has more questions that he has answers.  it's through good luck, for him, that allura finds him not long after and takes his him.  he's been slowly regaining his reputation as a hero and not a villain under allura's guidance while also looking for his own answers.

keith is a magical girl.

no, really, he kind of is.  The codename and powers of 'Valkyrie' has been around since the 1920s.  The powers are connected to a magical artifact, the worn and battered grip of a silver spear.  the spear 'chooses' who inherits its power.  every previous incarnation has been a woman, cause it's who the spear wanted.  the name and power has a whole brand behind it, cause it's powerful and been around a long time.  six years before the story started, the previous chosen wielder of the spear died and it's been dormant ever since.

the relic is protected by a hidden society of women who had been secretly training a replacement ever since even before the last Valkyrie died.  then along comes Keith and fucks it up.  he's 13 when his foster parents Romella and Thace take him in.  turns out Romella and his foster sisters, along with a lot of the stuffy wives and daughters of the stuffy suburban home he's living in, are part of the secret society.

he finds the relic and it chooses him, so he's Valkyrie now.  Romella and Thace adopt him cause I WANT HIM TO HAVE PEOPLE WHO LOVE HIM.  he starts training to be able to use these powers, and he has his own underground spy network of women.  plus like four older foster sisters??? who says lance always has to be the one with a bunch of siblings???  let keith be happy 2k17.

he doesn't actually go 'onto the street' to fight crime, which he hates cause he is a rash child, until he's seventeen and Romella dubs his training 'complete'.  he's nineteen at the start of the story and has earned himself a reputation as being a harsh punisher who isn't afraid to curb stomp your ass.

ANYWAY WHAT HIS POWERS ACTUALLY DO.  when he activates the spear relic, it transforms into a magical silver spear.  he also gains full battle armor, also made of this mythical silver.  everything is enchanted.  of course he can kick your ass with the spear itself, but he's also good at hand to hand combat.  he can't fly, but he can do 'sustained hovers' and jump super high.  he can also shriek out a war cry and boost the powers of those around him.  his most impressive, and the most rarely used, part of his power is the ability to summon lightning strikes (they're kind of hot like fire, right???).  its very draining on him, though.  his biggest weakness is the relic, cause if he loses it for too long, he can't sustain his magical form and will just be a regular person until he can grab it again.

i kind of imagine that his outfit looks kind of like the Valkyrie class from Bravely Default, the girl choice and not the boy, cause it's kick ass.  just with red highlights and like a strip over his eyes to hide his secret identity or whatever.

hunk is my precious bean so we'll do him next.

hunk was born with his powers.  he's got the name Alchemist cause of them, but he's more utility than combat.  if you give hunk the raw materials for things, granted he can fit it between his hands and he knows well enough how it works, he can 'squeeze it together' and make that object.  so, if he knows the intricacy of a computer chip and he is given the metals or plastics needed in a raw form, he can make it with his bare hands.  since he's studied to be an engineer, and when working with someone like Pidge, he could create some truly heinous things... but he doesn't.  cause hunk is pure

under times of stress or when attacked, he has been known to make mini bombs.  however, that isn't really his style.  he works with Pidge and Lance as a part of a group just called Palette.

more on him in a second let me do an intro to Palette first.

Palette, as mentioned, is made up of Lance, Pidge and Hunk.  They're good guys, but more of the fast and loose 'we do what we want' kind... or at least Lance and Pidge are.  poor hunk just gets caught up in their mess but he loves them and knows they do the right thing in the end.

they do things like steal artifacts from museums and help return them to where they belong, or will sneak into a corrupt ceo's office to leak some nasty business deal.  that kind of stuff.  they have been known to pinch a little money, too, but only from said shady people who don't need it and only enough to find themselves as a way to scrape by a living.

this doesn't make them exactly seen as 'friends of heroes' in all cases.

hunk does technical work like making the raw parts needed for certain extractions.  he then works with pidge to build whatever machines or things are needed and plan the heists.

pidge is the mastermind, a genius hacker who gets stuff like blueprints or downs security systems.

then lance is the one who slips in and plants the bug, or steals the thing, or gets the info and then gets out.

they're overall a positive force.  while gaining noterioty, they aren't really known that much outside of the city where they live and a few other places nearby.  they've been active about two years before the story begins.

anyway.  hunk is twenty at the start of the story.  his powers came in 'late', so he grew up pretty normal with his mom and younger sisters.  he's known lance since he was ten, and they've been kicking ass together since they were fourteen.  hunk didn't get any powers until he was sixteen, though, so he was always the one to patch lance up after something rough happened.  he met pidge three years prior to the story.  they've been friends ever since.

pidge next!  pidge is a seventeen year old tech wizard who can hack your underwear if you cross them.

this isn't their power, though.  they're just really fucking smart and worked hard for the ability to be so kick ass.

pidge actually has plantmancy, and can grow things to their desire or have plants obey them.  it’s more helpful than most people know, and it can be scary to walk in and see pidge surrounded by ten vines all handing them parts or working like seven keyboards at once by using their plants.  it’s also good for combat, but pidge is rarely in the center of the action so they don't have to use it as much.

when matt and sam died, pidge has suspicions like shiro did that something just wasn't right.  their dad was a well known and respected researcher on helping isolate the gene that made people have powers in the first place.  their brother was also a top notch detective and a known ally to the Heroes of the city.  plus, everything around the case that he died was just mysterious and nothing added up. too much like a cover up.

this is what pushed pidge to hone her powers, which had shown early and as a child was just used to help in her mom's garden.  she also focused on computers to be able to get the information she wanted even if it wasn't given access.  a real force to be reckoned with and honestly probably the most powerful of her group, but she rarely shows her hand.

she joined up with hunk and lance at first as a way to use their powers for her own gain, but then later she found they worked well together and she genuinely cares about them now.  doesn't mean those dumb boys won't get a vine wedgie if they fuck with her too much tho lmao.

Pidge doesn't have an underground name cause not enough people outside of hunk and lance know she has an actual power.  which is just what she wants.  but, she goes by the codename Em, for Emerald, on the coms.

my trash son lance is last.  and this is for good reason!!!  as you will see if you even made it this far.  why do you want to read this mess???

so Lance is a sneaky snake.  except not really.  lance is our resident contortionist.  he was born with his power and has known about it since he was super small, but he never knew the full potential of what he could do until he was in his late teens.  when he was a kid he thought he could just purify water, which was pretty cool and useful.  which, he can still do that, but he can do more now.

like scry in a smooth water's surface if he knows your name and face, he can breathe underwater, and can swim like a fish.  honestly?  all very mild powers, not really anything noteworthy.  however, he's also extremely limber because of it and knot himself into a damned pretzel twice over.  he's also got a pretty good read on the area around him; that's stronger in more humid areas and weaker in dryer, cause he senses vibrations in the water particles.  useful, yeah, but it doesn't blow the doors down like keith's or shiro's power might.

that didn't stop young lance from trying to be a superhero.  he's got a slightly enhanced healing speed, but nothing impressive.  that never stopped him from getting into trouble and dragging poor hunk into it cause he wanted to be a superhero.

it wasn't until he met pidge and managed to train his body a little more than he really started to get anywhere.  sure, he wants to do good in the world, but he also chases that fame bug.  even if it's his alter ego and not himself, he wants to be well known and adored.

his name on the streets is Galaxy, which, honestly the dumb boy came up with himself.  it’s also useful cause he claims his powers are fueled by the stars.  he knows he has an affinity for water, he does, he just likes to showboat and the boy isn't stupid.  if people don't know what to expect, they're kept on their toes.  they think he's got some weird star powers then they're less likely to strike back cause they don't know what he can really do.

it took a lot of begging and convincing in high school to join the gymnastics team for 'totally innocent' reasons for him to really capitalize on parts of his powers.  it’s also what makes him so good, which pidge and hunk's help, to break into buildings and get back out without getting caught.

he really doesn't like Keith, whom he knows as just Valkyrie (and he calls Val for short and to annoy Keith).  about seven months prior to the main plotline, they crossed paths during a heist and it was hate at first sight.  lance was going to steal something, keith was contracted to protect it.  lance was pissed he didn't get whatever he was after, and keith was pissed he didn't actually catch lance.  but this is what cemented Palette's claim to fame, cause NO ONE gets away from Valkyrie... but then this little know Galaxy kid did.  it didn't piss off lance any less tho.

they've sporadically met from time to time on opposite sides since then.  lance always managing to infuriate keith but keith always managing to ruin any of lance's plans.  there is a time or two where they kind of work together, in true 'not really evil' fashion.

i'm a slut for pining keith, so ofc he gets a crush on the boy who keeps alluding him.

after the start of the main plotline, lance’s powers mutate and he becomes way more powerful.  more on how and what happens later tho.

i'm too tired to write anymore on this right now so i'm not gunna.  i'll outline the actual plot in another post but for now i'm gunna bounce.  just be teased that lance's power changes like i mentioned up there.  also... that while i'm a slut for pining keith, i'm also a slut for the emotional repercussions of lance dying.  just... without the consequences, so spoiler but no spoiler, lance fucking dies lmao.  but then is brought back to life in true superhero fashion.

if you like this au and wanna use it to write or draw or sing or... i mean, whatever you wanna do with it, go nuts.  all i ask is you tag me or something so i can see whatever beautiful thing you've come up with.

my plans for it?  i’m gunna try and push out a series of oneshots maybe of various events in time from different characters perspectives.  they’ll range in length and seriousness and stuff.  i just like the idea of this universe and how it would be fun to play with.

anyway, i’m tired, this took me too long, and i’m still not as angry as before so good night/morning.

[morshtalon]

Wild Arms 5

Back when I was 12 or so, I was in love with the Wild Arms series. Not because I actually played the games and enjoyed them or anything; just on a conceptual level, that way kids usually grab bits and pieces of media and project their own whims to fill in the gaps and consider something awesome. My favorite among them was Wild Arms 5, because I enjoyed silliness at the time and WA5 sure delivers on that aspect.

It’s odd though, to think of the complimentary jigsaw puzzle relationship between the game and this 12-year-old mentality that led me to hold it in such high regard. As a person of reasonable thinking skill, coming back to it and observing all the little holes I filled as a kid because I was in a haze with all the anime happening in front of me is quite an embarrassment-inducing experience. What do I actually think of It today, though? Well, it’s difficult to put it into words but...

Wild arms 5 superficially grazes the crust of imaginativeness in a perfectly serviceable, competent manner, but falls short in delivering true majesty, awe-inspiring setpieces or even the slighest bit of ambition in its design where it actually matters to leave a lasting impression on the audience at large; all the while struggling to pass off its dangerously daring, albeit somewhat perfected from the series’ previous installment, reinventions of traditional gameplay concepts. They exist for what I can only hazard a guess is either desperation in trying to cement its franchise an identity or the false pretense that gamers who are bored with the archaic traditions of jRPG gameplay mechanics will suddenly summon interest for thin coatings of new paint on retreads of the very same mechanics.

Gimmicks don’t make an identity, Wild Arms 5. The franchise has never been a marvel of storytelling anyways, but ever since Wild Arms 3 (which can be somewhat excused for its limited design because of its presentation and setting), it seems like the games have been streamlining several elements to focus on “what’s important”, with the added catch that there’s really nothing important at all and the whole experience just feels annoyingly reductive. At least it’s nowhere near as bad as 4, so hey, maybe they’re improving and if I had written this review in 2008 I could make predictions about Wild Arms 6 being better still.

On the topic of reductiveness, though, it’s rather embarrassing to witness copy/pasted dungeon layout in a game from the new millennium, and it’s doubly embarrassing considering the dungeons are already made in the most lazy, hackneyed, grid-like blocky stone brick room way possible with no personality or inspiration behind them whatsoever, to the point where it seems like the developers utilized a slightly improved version of RPG maker 3’s dungeon editor to construct the entirety of their indoor locales.

For the actual content within them, you can expect nothing less formulaic; a few puzzles here and there, 2 or 3 bosses that have an actual reason to exist about 5% of the time, and a few checkpoints that trigger some banter between the characters; which I guess wins by W.O. the honor of being the highlight of dungeon crawling in the game as, despite not going anywhere most of the time and being for the most part excruciating recaps of the characters’ immediate missions and goals, at LEAST are an attempt at character development, and despite Greg’s paper-thin motivations for being an anti-hero (because lord knows the game needed a badass cool desperado Clint Eastwood type character as interpreted by an anime jRPG series that has long abandoned all pretense of being western), they manage to stick to their personalities in a not optimally stimulating but at the very least serviceably numbing manner that doesn’t... completely shatter immersion, I guess? If you like very traditional jRPG character archetypes throwing their jRPG dialog at each other and being met with the usual jRPG responses from the other archetypes, you could do worse than Wild Arms 5, and it’s a cool idea that they are not dead silent as they explore the dungeons. It slightly obfuscates that damned separatism and categorization of gameplay that plagues so many jRPGs. jRPG.

While we’re at it, I have to say there are even some okay beats in the story and overall narrative structure. I thought the secondary villains, such as they are, received a respectable amount of screentime and I did enjoy that you actually clash with them numerous times through the plot; at these moments the game almost passed off that vibe that you get with something like tv series and whatnot where the ideas, events and characters mix, match and intertwine in all sorts of ways as the overarching narrative obliquely marches on to a conclusion. It’s... it’s not like that, of course, I mean, it’s pretty linearly handled, there’s not nearly enough of an actual clash for it to work out like that and the conclusion is very underwhelming (as is the conclusion to the primary villain’s arc, and by extension the game itself), but it had me wondering what would happen and even had me imagining ways in which the characters could interact more!

Yeah, take that as you will, I suppose.

For all the tens of people who loved Wild Arms 4, the Hexagon-based movement battle system is back, but it was tweaked enough that you could almost forget it exists, aside from elemental tiles and whatnot. It’s important to note that most boss fights are actually very reasonably challenging for a game that otherwise treats the player like a 12-year-old, and in any other scenario this would be the perfect time to praise the game for requiring the use of cleverness in positioning, skill customization and management in order to prevail, but it also kept WA4’s option to restart battles at no cost with full power, nullifying any real need for strategy and instead just offering the option to abuse the system until you get a lucky run of enemy AI (which is far easier than it would at first seem). That, compared to the challenge of the encounters themselves, just turns into a reflection of the uneasiness in the dev’s eyes for this game that really needed an injection of cojones somewhere. Playing through the game, seeing HP restore itself after battles and knowing it only does that because otherwise the restart battle option would turn into even more of a dominant strategy just kind of makes you sigh at the fact that it doesn’t have such injection.

Overall, I’d give Wild Arms 5 a 6 out of 10. Most of my complaints have to do with the fact that the game is lazily designed - and it definitely is - but it’s not objectively bad, per se (that’d be WA4 of course). It pisses me off more than usual because I really wanted to like this franchise and specially this title in particular, but eh, you can’t always get what you want. Like that damn fried chicken mission. If you play the game, tell that woman to stick it up her nose for me, will ya?