#destructive teenager has designs on city--more at 11

[falmerbrook]

New TES OC’s???!???!??!

*puts head in hands* Tell me all about them!

EEEEEE I'm glad someone wants to hear about them!!!! Well, they aren't necessarily new, but I haven't talked about most of them here for the most part so they are to most of you :D

Also, little disclaimer, I'm the type to make a whole cast (family, friends, distant cousins, etc.) for like every character I make, so I'll just introduce the major ones.

(also I'll put it under the cut to not clog dashes)

Morrowind

Stellar (Nerevarine)

My Nerevarine. Argonian. 19 years old at the time of the game. Was hatched and grew up in slavery in eastern Vvardenfell before escaping and running away to Cyrodiil when he was about 11 (where he eventually got his name, and tried his best to assimilate and lose his Morrowind-isms). There he settled in a little gang of thieves in the Imperial City, where he eventually went to jail (long term) after he accidently killed a guy. From there he gets sent to Vvardenfell and [PLOT OF MORROWIND]. For obvious reasons he is not happy about that, and only goes along with Caius's schemes so he can get the money to go to Black Marsh. He has the classic teenage boy-ism of acting very hard, aggressive, apathetic, and mean to mask a more genuine curiosity, desire for adventure, and care for others. So while he'd never admit it, he gets very invested in all the mystery around the Nerevarine prophecies. When he eventually does get to Black Marsh, he finds himself equally not welcomed there, and instead accepts his place as the (potential) Nerevarine, returning to Vvardenfell.

I think he's the only character that I've ever gone through a proper deign process with so I'm very proud of his design (even though I'm still struggling to draw it accurately).

Ramshuribani (Stellar's friend/love interest)

22 year old Ashlander of the Urshilaku tribe/Nerevarine Cult. She specializes in textiles, leather working, and making clothing. After Stellar arrives at the tribe and starts hanging around to earn their good graces, she's the first to take an interest in him. She finds his seeming delusions and his earnestness endearing, but eventually becomes the first to take him seriously, becoming his biggest cheerleader and urging him forward in his journey. When Stellar goes around trying to become the Nerevarine and Hortator, she tags along with him and they bond.

Moss/Sleeps-in-Moss (Stellar's friend/love interest)

One of Stellar's childhood friends. 18 year old argonian. As a young teen when he had the chance to flee to Black Marsh, he decided to remain in Vvardenfell and work with the Twin Lamps to help others escape slavery. While at first thrilled to run back into Stellar and learn he was ok, he's put off and frustrated by Stellar essentially being a pawn of the Empire and Ashlanders, and thinks all the Nerevarine bs is just a way to manipulate him.

Skyrim

Elisere Vaelenwyn Faerendal (Last Dragonborn)

21 year old altmer with snow elf ancestry on her mother and grandmother's sides (thus her pale complexion). While most of her family doesn't share her zeal, her and her grandmother are both very passionate about learning and trying to connect with the snow elf history and culture. Her grandmother is a researcher on the topic. She has a very intense personality, but is also sort of a prissy asshole.

So I really like the interpretation of being dragonborn being a sort of allegory for neurodivergence (but more specifically autism/adhd because I have experience with the former) and so I lean into it a lot with her. She struggled a lot growing up and into adulthood with always feeling like she needed to be in complete control/order, black and white thinking, poor socialization skills, and general anger and violence issues. While she tried to pursue an education focusing on destruction magic at a prestigious university, she struggled with control of her magic and felt restricted there. All of this, living in a place with heavy thalmor propaganda, and her passion for the snow elves led to her developing very extreme xenophobic views of humans (particularly nords).

When Elisere's mother and grandmother died in very close proximity to each other, El doesn't really know how to deal with it (losing her family and the two people she felt like she had left of her lost culture) and so she decided to go scorched earth and drops her whole life and head to Skyrim to do... something drastic (she didn't think that far ahead). Once arriving there [SKYRIM INTRO] happens and it slaps a bit of sense into her. Irregardless, she decides to stay in Skyrim. While in Skyrim, over time, she realizes 1) she's dragonborn (worst thing that could happen to her ever), and 2) it might be a better cultural landscape for her. Character development happens (I'm leaving it here for now bc I'm tired and I don't want to seem like I'm rambling, but she's my problematic child whom i love)

Helga Saber-Skin (Eliere's companion? adopted mom? friend??)

Nord woman in her late 60s. Looks at Elisere and goes "I can fix her" [motherly]. A very classic born-and-bred Nord; loud, confident, friendly, and proud. She and her late husband fought in the Great War, moving to Haafingar and raising 4 kids afterwards (I'm still foggy on that timeline though). Generally anti-Imperial and pro-Stormclaok (although willfully ignorant to the Stormcloak's less-noble beliefs), becoming very pro-Stormcloak after her husband was killed by an Imperial soldier and she feels pressured to move out to Eastmarch. As a widowed empty-nester, when she stumbles upon a very injured Elisere, she takes her in and upon hearing El vent, realizes that Elisere probably just needs a surrogate mother figure in her life, and eagerly tries to fill that void and support her while she's in Skyrim and on her journey. This is not something Elisere wants, but if Helga is anything it's stubborn (and it's probably something Elisere needs). They make each other more open minded.

Oblivion

Morvyn (Hero of Kvatch)

Mid to late 20s dunmer (they/she/he btw). Grew up in Ald'ruhn to a single abusive, unstable mother, which led to them running away as a teen and ending up Cyrodiil struggling to get by. They have intense anxiety from their upbringing, and struggle with psychologically-induced selective mutism. They almost never speak, and use sign-language to communicate (when they can. most people don't know it. this just contributes to their asociality and anxiety). They're sensitive, nervous, and a people pleaser, but also very resilient, selfless (to a self destructive degree),a nd empathetic. Their desire to help others is often the only thing to override their other issues. They are a jack-of-all-trades, master of none, and can pick up new skills pretty easily (but struggle to get very good at them). They initially bond with Martin through their shared experiences of being bastards. They're kinda greasy.

I have another major Oblivion character but she's real underdeveloped and needs more time in the oven. Too much brain power goes into morrowind and skyrim, sorry oblivion.

.

Saori

I've already talked about her before (this post) but I will mention her again. My necromancin' ecologist child :D. She kinda exists outside the realm of the games but she meets and becomes acquaintances/friends with Elisere and Stellar.

[drkineildwicks]

In the continuing saga of saturating my dash with BH6 month–have some art from that Lilo and Stitch-flavored AU, Obake Itoko!  (read the first book on FanFiction and AO3).

So anywho, Obake in this AU is a kid adopted by the Hamadas who is theoretically being taught how to be good, but that doesn’t stop him from having designs on the city.  After all, he might be in a good place right now, but that doesn’t slow down the plotting any....

Really enjoy playing with limited palettes, it makes the colors pop so well it’s fun. :D

As always, please be kind and reblog, not repost, thank you! :D

Big Hero 6 © 2014 Disney

Done in Adobe Photoshop.

[aeltri]

Manly Hall was correct in that the key to knowing how the world really works lay in the language of universal symbols. As you know my line has the Second Sight and as everything falls into place I realize what I was meant to warn against all along. I had my first significant vision when I was around 9 years old. In it I saw a menacing hooded figure and then beheld a bottomless pit that lay behind a great door with two bronze pulls shaped like ram's heads. When I was 11 my mother had a vision in which she saw a great black furred demon rise out of the ground to the left of my bed as I lay sleeping. She said that it was a hideous mix of human, goat and bat. Fast forward to HS and during a ouija session that I was witness to but refused to participate in, I specifically remember the planchette pointing at me and then spelling out "well of darkness". My overly curious friend was, rather tellingly, a victim of RA and her paternal grandfather had come over to the States via Project Paperclip. It's important to note that I was a GATE kid that kept being "tested" periodically even in HS. I've always tended to attract rather unusual people with family ties to Intel/Military, both because we are alike but also by design. Not all of it is mundane in origin, there is a far greater inhuman scheme at work here. Since then I've had experiences and visions leading up to the same thing; the great danger posed by opening the veil between worlds which is CERN's hidden purpose. A purpose that some of the more reckless occultists have been working towards for centuries. I myself have studied the occult in order to better understand what I've been shown and what is happening. I had a vision of someone whom I shall not name on the top floor of a tower and he pointed to a spot on the horizon as if telling me to go see for myself. I suddenly saw myself in a Swiss city that I later found out was Sion>Zion. It's impossible to go into every detail but suffice to say I saw underground passages and fighting going on. Recall the three Infernal Principalities (Bune, Belial and Astaroth) that have shown me their destructive intentions towards mankind during the last decade. Bune appeared at the Vatican, if I were to guess what that meant it's that each head "speaks" through a pontiff of which there are also three. The eagle is the spiritual White Pope, the king the aristocratic Grey Pope and the wolf is the bellicose Black Pope. What I now believe I beheld was an unholy trinity heralding the rise of Abaddon/Apollyon, the Destroyer. Apollo is a solar deity the duality of which is Diana, remember that. Also keep in mind that the fourth dimension represented by the hypercube (black cube of Saturn) is the confines of space-time. The false third eye of Abbadon as Shiva is a vesica piscis resulting from the forced merging of two opposing polarities. Now who does that also remind you of? Baphomet. Our own third eye is full of light and is what we use to perceive the spirit world! Prophecy speaks of a great evil emerging from the sea (of men?) and destroying them through their eye, singular. If you look at mass media etc you see these themes being repeated over and over again, it's no coincidence. People still wonder why I was a teenaged doomsayer? I saw it coming, all of it...

[forevercloudnine]

new 52 riddlebat ship meme

(@heroes-etc picked me out a lot of questions and we’re still going. This set is from this ship meme.)

1. Who makes the first move and how?

Ostensibly it would be Edward, if putting together a subtext-laden citywide scavenger hunt that threatens the lives of hundreds counts as “making the first move.” But there’s a limit to how much deliberately obfuscating any expression of your feelings can be considered making any move at all. He also doesn’t seem to really know what he wants from Bruce — in “Alone,” he’s quick to say that he designed the puzzles to lead Batman to him on purpose, but doesn’t have an answer when questioned on what he wanted Batman to do other than catch him.

So even though Edward is technically the instigator here, he places the burden of actually doing something entirely on Batman. Which is difficult, because Riddler’s increased brutality in the New 52 makes him like the last possible version of the character Bruce would choose to pursue. BUT Scott Snyder made Batjokes practically text in this continuity, so obviously New 52 Bruce does not have a problem getting overly emotionally involved with supervillains who have unrealistically large body counts. In fact, the brutality may work to Edward’s advantage here; if he caused enough damage, maybe Bruce would kidnap him and keep him in the Batcave the way it was revealed he was keeping the Joker in Dark Days: The Casting #1. 

What could be more romantic than being imprisoned in the batcave? Well, probably a lot of things, really. But in this case, having a lot of quality time together in which Riddler is not actively murdering anyone is probably the only way that these two could work out what they have going on between them. 

Edward could also earn his way down there by figuring out Batman’s identity, which he’s clearly pretty close to in Batman Annual #4. There’s only so much mental distance between “Bruce Wayne is obsessed with the death of his parents and his drive for justice and revenge has led him to bring Batman into existence, making him responsible for everything Batman has ever done” and “Bruce Wayne IS Batman,” especially when Bruce Wayne does things like climb museum exhibits to leave through the skylight or pull off a trickshot that ruins Riddler’s whole evil plan directly in front of Edward’s face.

And if he DID figure it out, New 52 Riddler would probably be less courteous about its secrecy than Joker is. (Not that Joker is THAT polite about it, given that he keeps trying to use the information to either kill Bruce’s whole family, or... I don’t know... whatever he did with Wayne Enterprises in Joker War. Wait, is THAT why Bruce was keeping Joker in the Batcave in Rebirth?) 

So just to review, I am *checks notes* arguing that Bruce would instigate a romantic relationship by kidnapping Edward and imprisoning him against his will. Yes, that sounds about right for DC’s current continuity.

6. Who would they ask if they ever had a threesome?

If Riddler DOESN’T know Batman’s secret identity, then he would want to have a threesome with Bruce Wayne. Batman Annual #4 suggests that he might have already been a bit obsessed with Bruce even before suspecting his involvement with Batman, given that he talks about how watching Bruce in the tabloids growing up was everyone’s “favorite tv show” and reminisces about learning a lot of information about Bruce’s life that way, including stuff that wouldn’t have made it to the news, like Bruce anonymously setting his teacher’s yard on fire as a teenager.

It’s actually almost a Batman Forever vibe, or it would be if New 52 Edward wasn’t so much less endearing. Is his childhood fascination with Bruce part of why he got a job working for Bruce’s uncle at Wayne Enterprises as an adult, or was that just a happy accident in his preparations for Zero Year? Either way, he’s clearly obsessed with Bruce now, and he’s definitely under the impression that Batman knows him well. So as long as he didn’t know they were the same person, he would probably try to arrange a ménage à trois (wouldn’t that be awkward).

If he DID know they were the same person, then unfortunately Edward would definitely try and instigate a threesome with Joker. I’m not saying it would work, I’m just saying that all of the War of Jokes and Riddles reads like Edward trying to insert himself in the middle of Batjokes and getting rejected by both of them repeatedly.

Joker wasn’t interested the first time Riddler came on to him (or the second time, literally in the same office, Edward please learn how to read a room), so he probably wouldn’t go for it if Edward tried again. But if The War and Jokes and Riddles demonstrated anything, it’s that Edward doesn’t know how to take a hint, so he’d probably try again regardless. And then blame Bruce when it doesn’t work, probably. I always thought it was dumb when Riddler hyped up the oh-so-horrible thing that Batman did to him in the War of Jokes and Riddles in Batman #19, only for it to turn out that Bruce just, like... almost stabbed him.... but didn’t. After Riddler had ALREADY betrayed him.

But it makes more sense that Edward is being such a dramatic bitch if you’re instead interpreting “I still remember what he did” as just a summary of the conga line of rejection that Riddler received over the course of that arc from both sides of Batjokes.

(TWOJAR as helpfully summarized by @heroes-etc​)

11. What do they hide from one another?

I don’t think they can really hide anything from each other, actually. I mean there’s the obvious “Batman is hiding his secret identity” and “Riddler is hiding evil scheme of the week #39.” But Bruce is the “World’s Greatest Detective” as per usual, and Edward is actually not that far behind him in this continuity (even if his delusions can cause him to project and misinterpret his findings, i.e. assuming that Bruce purposefully went bankrupt so that Riddler and the other Arkhamites would have to live in Wayne Manor and be reminded of him every second of every day). Batman Annual #4 has a great example of this where Edward reveals that he knows about how Bruce tried to treat his paranoid vigilante compulsions with shock therapy when he was a teenager. No one but Alfred and the doctors know about that — and I’m just assuming that Alfred knew, it’s not something that was stated in Zero Year.

Bruce obviously solves pretty much every riddle that Edward puts in front of him, but he picks up on the stuff that Riddler is purposefully trying to obscure too. Whether he was researching Edward ahead of time (likely) or just so good at snap psychoanalysis he should have a job at Arkham (possible, Zero Year was written by Scott Snyder), his summary of Edward’s life during their first interaction as Batman and Riddler in Batman #31 is clearly too accurate for Edward’s comfort, as it ruins what had previously been excitement on Riddler’s part that Batman was still alive. 

So good luck to both of them at hiding absolutely anything from each other. The best they can hope for is if WHEN the other person finds what they’ve been hiding, they misinterpret either the information or the reason why it was hidden from them in the first place. Both of them are always willing to jump to the worst case scenario (which, given who they’re dealing with, fair enough), so I’m sure the resulting miscommunication would be both extremely entertaining and highly likely to lead to city-wide destruction.

27. Why do their friends get annoyed with them?

Does New 52 Riddler even have friends? He and Scarecrow claim to have respect for each other in Detective Comics ft. Scarecrow #23.3, but it’s in the context of Scarecrow lying and manipulating all the rogues in the lead up to Forever Evil, and it comes about three panels after Riddler passive aggressively mocks Jonathan’s childhood trauma at the hands of his “daddy.” (Rude, Edward. Rude and gross.)

If they are friends, then the reasons why Riddler dating Scarecrow’s arch nemesis would annoy Jonathan are pretty self-explanatory. Also Edward is clearly the kind of person who would taunt the rest of the Arkhamites with any privileges earned/information gleaned from getting closer to the Bat. When I was younger my mother would always warn me not to waste emotional energy on girls who ditch their friends to prioritize their relationship as soon as they get a new boyfriend. Well, Riddler is that girl.

Bruce’s friends and family obviously also have nearly infinite reasons to be annoyed with Bruce for dating a supervillain (shoutout to Duke Thomas, who was unfortunate enough to have Riddler’s Zero Year during the most formative time of his childhood), but Barbara Gordon would doubtlessly be more pissed than most. Riddler deciding that he’s in love with Batgirl out of the blue (despite them never having met before?) when he finds out that Batman’s marrying Catwoman was already irritating, but I can only imagine how much MORE annoying it would be in the context of Riddler later hooking up with Batman.

If Barbara ever found out about them hooking up, she would immediately have war flashbacks to Batman: Prelude to the Wedding pt. 3. She has a great memory so unfortunately she probably has perfect recall of having to spend an entire evening listening to a pre-recorded monologue of Riddler philosophizing about why he’s not bitter that Batman and Catwoman are getting married and how he’s still straight even though he’s never felt lasting attraction to a woman. And then she would rightfully go apeshit.

29. Why do they fall a little bit more in love?

Thinking of how this question could possibly be answered from Bruce’s perspective made me laugh out loud, which is probably not a good sign given that I’m 4/5 of the way through writing a ship meme for him and Edward. But Riddler is just. So much in the New 52. Okay, I’m taking it seriously now. WHY DOES HE FALL MORE IN LOVE. Well, the fastest way to Bruce’s heart (other than being an attractive woman with dark hair, green eyes, and ambiguous morals) is to assist him in his crusade against crime. While that doesn’t initially seem like something Edward would do (as we see in Batgirl vs. Riddler, he seems to think the key to romance is “mixtapes”), he does go out of his way to give Bruce information about a Gotham-wide criminal conspiracy in Batman Eternal #39. He doesn’t appreciate that Batman’s current opponent is actively trying to wear him down — he wants to fight the Bat at his best, when he can think clearly. So he gives Bruce information he needs to solve the mystery.

Edward seems to also be under the impression that this would endear him to Batman, because he gives Batman a series of riddles that lead Bruce right to him so that they can talk in person. And then gets very surprised when Bruce subsequently arrests him. You’re still a criminal, Edward. This is like the first favor you’ve ever done him. Do it a dozen more times and then MAYBE you’ll start getting the free passes he’s been handing out to Harley and Ivy. But Bruce DOES save him from an avalanche after this, even though in the past Bruce has left him to die out of apathy (The War of Jokes and Riddles) or actively tried to kill him (also The War of Jokes and Riddles). So Edward IS winning him over, just very, very slowly.

Riddler pretty obviously just enjoys having someone to talk to that he feels is “on his level.” Even though he’s already arranged for Bruce Wayne’s assassination by the first time they meet in Batman #39, he obviously enjoys conversing with someone who can and will unravel his riddles and double meanings, to the point that afterwards he musingly wishes that they’d have an opportunity to talk again. Obviously they do, but it’s no thanks to Riddler. You can just NOT assassinate someone if you think they’re hot, Edward.

It’s what seemingly endears him to Batman too (at least, until Bruce ruins the mood by calling him an attention whore in front of all of Gotham). Though it’s basically always bad news for him, Edward clearly enjoys any time that Bruce or Batman exhibits his intelligence. 

[visionofnoxus]

♛ - for your muse to beat mine until they can’t fight back (@defiant-blade) //if you're still accepting

// Warning: This turned out rather… Brutal. Not anything really bad. But definitely a rough ride. Regardless, I hope you like it and please do give feedback. Defiant-blade

General Swain has returned to Ionia. Such was the rumor. The man who had taken The Placidium and nearly crushed Ionia under his heel had returned. The rumors were spreading like wildfire about his return and the possible reasons. Flocks of ravens had taken fancy with southwestern archipelago. Noxian troops and warships had taken port in the port city of Faelor, the westernmost island of Ionia. One of the few regions still under noxian occupation.

The atmosphere of fear and dread spread over the Ionia, especially so to the province of Navori where Jericho Swain had many times proven his nickname, the Master Tactician, with catastrophic results to the local militia and civilian population alike. 11 years ago, this man had been defeated in combat by a group of resistance fighters, led by a teenage girl Xan Irelia, who’d led a charge against the general’s elites, cutting them apart and winning against the villain in single combat. Ionia had celebrated her victory and the death of Swain. Less than a year after Placidium, the war ended with the battle of Dalu Bay. Irelia personally once again slayed the commander in battle, admiral Duqal, the man responsible for commanding the Noxian navy. It could well be argued she’d put down both men responsible for the near destruction of Ionian lands and people.

The supposed survival of the general Swain and his resurfacing in Noxus as the new Grand General had been largely dismissed as propaganda and lies of the foreigners, but now seeing the warships once more gathering, the noxian legionnaires with three indents of Trifarix in their platemail being sighted, the stories of man’s return were becoming painfully realistic.

Eventually these rumors had landed in the ears of the Blade Dancer herself and after meditating on the matter, weighing her options and duties, Irelia had once more taken up her blades. Now looking over the fortified port city of Faelor, Irelia felt the dark and murky thoughts drifting in her mind. Once again she found herself weighing her options, wondering if what she was doing was for Ionia, or for herself. The Blade Dancer did not consider herself prideful or vain. What she’d done, she’d done for Ionia. And there had been great pain involved along the way. She felt little for the Noxians her blades had cut down, but the war had extracted a heavy toll on Ionians and to her ever lasting shame and sorrow, she’d been forced to cut down some of her countrymen whose fevor had been… Miss guided. 

Navigating her way through the city streets, she sneaked through the city. It was somewhat surprising, seeing such a blend of cultures. The buildings were sturdier and often lacked the attention to small artistic details that so ruled in Ionia, but they were definitely still ionian and not those blocks of stone and iron that the invaders built their fortresses like. The people walking on the streets wore combinations of foreign and ionian clothes, and the civilian population did not avoid the patrolling soldiers despite their intimidating and brutish look. It was all very confusing to Irelia, but she did not stop to consider this, keeping her focus on the task she’d set out to accomplish. A task that might very well be her final pledge of love to her beloved country. Steeling her resolve, she aimed her steps towards the governor’s palace, located in the heart of the city. It would had served her well to maybe observe the city more closely, for above the rooftops and sitting on the ropes from which the street lights hung, blood colored eyes took note of the roguish intruder sticking to the shadows. The fluttering of the ravens’ wings was lost to the soundscape of the night time city.

Governor’s palace was a fortress. High built walls of the foreigners design formed the perimeter for the palace grounds, a more traditional ionian palace sitting at the heart of the fortifications, but even this old palace had undergone changes, it’s lower levels reinforced with steel and stone, the pools of the gardens dug deeper to serve the dual purpose of aesthetics and as a moat. As Irelia scaled the walls silently, she took note of the guards. The palace guards of governor Kalan were accompanied by the heavily armored men dressed in iron and crimson cloth, the three marks on their chest marking their elite status. Slipping past the guards with little effort, the ionian allowed herself a small, joyless smile. She was on the right track. These were surely Swain’s guards.

A half an hour of sneaking and elaborate gymnastics later, she finally climbed up the castle wall, slipping in through a window that the defenders no doubt considered too small for an intruder. Maybe a brutish warrior, but not a silk dancer. Landing gracefully with a roll on the inside, the woman straightened herself up, finally drawing her blades. Not a drop of blood had been spilled so far, but it was from this point on that it would change. Looking at the gleaming, pure blades, the woman felt a shudder travel through her. This was a man she’d thought to defeated and left to die before. This time she wowed to make sure. Sneaking into the castle, she went searching for her foe. 

It was surprisingly easy. Predictable, looking back at it. All the woman had needed to do was observe where the foreign warriors were most well armed and alert. Then it was just a simple matter of dispatching them. Irelia felt a pang of guilt as she withdrew her blades from the last two warriors, the men having collapsed against doorframe of the entryway they’d been set to guard. She cast her saphire colored eyes down to meet the lifeless gaze of the dead trifarian, his earthy brown irises staring back at him without the flicker of life behind them. “I am sorry” She apologized faintly, reaching for the door. For the first time, the Blade Dancer felt sorry for the invaders and it puzzled her. These were the enemy who’d brought destruction and misery to everywhere they went. They’d no doubt committed numerous atrocities just to earn the “right” to stand guard outside Grand General’s room. And yet still… To have their lives ended in such an emotionless and cold manner, the men never seeing their death arrive… She shook her head, the tiniest click of her headdress breaking silence. This was why she’d been a warrior, not an assassin. But it was an assassin her country needed right now. Steeling herself, she pushed open the doors, stepping into the living quarters of her foe. This one at the very least, would see his doom arrive. Just like he’d seen it those years ago. With that thought pristine in her mind, she pushed open the doors.

The room was a large lounge. There were pillows and small tables, pieces of art lined the walls and where there was no picture, the very wallpapers were gorgeous enough for one to lose themselves in the patterns. On the center of room stood a dark figure, the few sources of light from candles illuminating his silvery hair, the man’s shadows reflecting near demonic images on the walls. Irelia felt her mouth dry up, swallowing unconsciously as she stared at the man who looked calmly at his would be killer, the bronze colored eyes assessing her coolly. “Xan Irelia” Came the smooth voice, almost peaceful, yet Irelia’s mind brought up an image of a sharpened blade, beautiful and calm, yet readied to strike. “When you left me for dead, you were but a girl. Now, as we meet again, you are a full grown woman” The foreign general spoke to her, those unnerving eyes never letting go of her own. She tried to say something, but her body felt like it was frozen. Something was off, her intuition screaming out loud at the danger in front of her. Something was different. So very different from the last they’d met. 

Once again the man spoke: “Curious. Last we met you came at me with zeal worth the whole Ionia. You poured all of the pain, suffering and rage into those blades and tore apart my troops, cut me down with frightening ease”. As the man stepped closer, she finally regained control of her body, lifting her arms into the initial stance of her dance. “I’ve come to finish you. That horror will never happen again” She asserted, drawing breath and starting to sink into her dance. “You lack the resolve to challenge me. And while you’ve cherished your victory, I have reforged myself from the defeat”.  

Lifting his left arm up, the very one Irelia had cut, the noxian called forth unnatural sorcery. Streaks of crimson lightning struck out like a tidal wave, Irelia’s eyes widening in shock, the woman instinctively bringing her hands up to protect herself, her blades guarding against the attack. It was for naught however, the sorcery skirting the blades easily, striking her body and eliciting a scream. “I’ve had time to prepare for this” her foe explained in calm manner, as if holding a dinner conversation. Swinging her arm wildly up, Irelia ignored the words, three of her blades launching forward but the man dodged them with a small but precise step, his eyes glowing with crimson. “You are uncertain. You doubt yourself” He accused her, shooting another bolt at her which the Blade Dancer dodged, dashing to the side, recalling her blades and summoning them back, preparing for another offensive.

“I know what I must do!” she shouted back at him, hurling her blades forward in a deadly storm of blades similar to one she’d once broken through his ranks with. But it was mere imitation of that force. A crimson colored claw the size of a man rose to meet her attack and struck against them, the blades scattering as the spell struck forward, catching the ionian woman square in the chest. She flew against the wall, vases and paintings destroyed with her body and the crimson claw bashing them. Biting back a scream, she felt the cutting edges and the vile sorcery pin her against the wall, the noxian walking closer. His hand was still extended, the transparent red hand mirroring the enormous claw currently pinning her. “You are but a shadow of yourself miss Xan” the man spoke out, his voice sounding almost disappointed. She lacked the power to answer, feeling the searing pain like hot iron against her skin as the claw pressed her against wall, shocks of pain rocking her body for what little room she had. 

The claw dissipated, Irelia’s legs giving out, the woman starting to fall forward. But her enemy was not intending to give such mercy. Stepping forward with intent, the noxian landed a punch in her gut, the strength of the blow lifting the Blade Dancer on the tips of her toes, air escaping her lungs. “Satisfaction… I admit” the man growled, pulling his hand back, letting the battered form of his enemy fall on the ground. As she hit the wooden floor, the man leveled his hand at her again, another spark of crimson shooting out, this time eliciting an actual scream from the weakened woman. Another spell followed, and then another. Finally, the noxian knelt down, grasping her head, lifting the woman’s head up, the searing pain gripping her scalp at his hold. The blood colored eyes stared into hers and Irelia felt the man.. No. The demon reaching into her very soul, glimpsing at something she could not understand. “Yes… You have not become weak. You are just filled with doubt and hesitation. Lacking a cause”. He let go of her head, the woman falling on the floor without even tiniest attempt at softening her own fall. “And you were correct to doubt yourself. My death would had brought forward exactly that. While my life may yet spare your people” The man stood up, looking down at her bloodied form. “Consider us even, girl”.

[ad-cn]

"Vypra drives a kart" is this episode's plot. It's kind of small and not that well ornamented, so it really doesn't look that threatening. It's only purpose is to harass the Rangers specifically it seems.

I'm constantly impressed with the set design of the Aquabase, compared to the Disney era bases (that I've seen) there is an impressive amount of rooms (sets) and extras milling about to give a feeling of organization.

Joel and Ms. Fairweather are really cute in this. She keeps Joel in place with his flirting but it's also clear she has interest back, she just does it in her own terms. I like that.

this looks so cozy what the fuck

First thing Carter does when he sees Vypra in her kart to chase her on his own without consulting his teammates. He's rash, but the show doesn't quite frame it as cocky or immature... which when you think of it, makes sense since he's a firefighter, they must react quickly to handle dangerous situations.

Wow, straight-up building destruction here. Feels very weird to see before the wake of 9/11.

Now at first I thought it was silly that Vypra's kart (can't remember it's actual name) was meant to be threatening, but the plot does address this from the villains' side and inserts two MOTW defeats to emphasise the Vyprakart's worth (as well as giving her some scenes that give her motivation to prove it). i think the plot's weakness simply comes from the lack of demonstration of the kart's supposed destructive capabilities, like more compelling footage of what it could do besides people injured in the city.

And I feel like the episode and overall tone of the show could use more comedy, like i feel like the plot would've been more enjoyable if the Rangers took a piss out of the look of the kart and framing comparing Vypra's actions to a teenager trying out their new ride. Leaning into the silliness of the tropes of the show would go a long way.

[drpaulmacdonaldrnma]

Have Success in Life Now: Learn The Wisdom of Solomon

Dr Paul MacDonald RN MA Dipl

Before you engage in an activity, do you consider the consequences? Or do you just plunge in right ahead—“leaping before you look”?

All actions carry consequences, good or bad. You may have heard this spoken of as “cause and effect.”

Do you know that this is a law, just as sure as gravity? “The curse causeless shall not come” (Prov.erbs 26:2). In other words, there is a cause for every effect.

For example, if you don’t study, you will fail your exams, or score poorly. If you don’t get enough sleep, you will be tired the next day. If you don’t eat properly, you will eventually become sick. If you don’t practice, you won’t make the sports team. For every effect, there is an underlying cause.

There are many situations in which this ever-present law comes into play. Based on the decisions you make, it can either work for your benefit or to your detriment. This unseen law can build you up—or bring you down.

Obviously, we all want to lead happy, successful lives. We all want to avoid making mistakes that could lead to ruin. Here’s how you can use the law of “cause and effect” to your benefit.

The Hard Way or the Better Way

There are two ways from which we can learn to avoid trouble. The first is by actual experience. Frequently, this involves unknowingly doing the wrong thing, and then through painful experiences learning it is not the right thing to do. You may have heard your parents call it “learning the hard way,” or “learning through the school of hard knocks.”

Perhaps as a child you burned your hand after being warned not to touch the stove. Or you were scratched by a cat, or bitten by a dog, for pulling their tail. At some point, you probably had to “learn the hard way.”

There is a better way to learn: from the experiences of others, especially adults. You should regularly seek advice and learn from your parents, aunts, uncles, teachers and other respected and responsible adults. Many mistakes can be avoided if you listen to those with wisdom and experience.

Of course, you can also learn by reading about the lives of others. Valuable lessons are contained in books written about famous people.

There is another place where you can get advice. The Bible contains many stories written for our learning (Romans 15:4). There is also an abundance of sound advice given by individuals. One such person is a king who lived over 2,500 years ago.

A Wise King

King Solomon was famous for his wisdom. In fact, he was the wisest human being who has ever lived (I Kings 3:12). He was so wise that many kings and other prominent people from around the world came to hear his wisdom. One such person was the Queen of Sheba. Skeptical about his famous reputation for wisdom, she came to test him with difficult questions. But after hearing his answers and seeing his wise administration, and the beauty and orderliness of his palace, she believed!

But even though he was wise, Solomon made mistakes. For instance, he disobeyed God and married women of other religions, even though he knew it was wrong. These women turned his heart away from God, and from God’s blessings (I Kings 11:1-4).

Learn From Lessons in Life

Solomon learned many lessons in his life, and as a result became very wise. He was also granted wisdom by God (I Kings 4:29). This wisdom—which can greatly benefit you—is primarily recorded in the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. While his advice is valuable for people of all ages, much of it is specifically directed to young people. Let’s take a look.

Obey Your Parents

Today it isn’t “cool” to listen to parents. Parents are considered “old fashioned,” and out of touch with reality. Some teens even disrespectfully refer to their father as “the old man,” and to their mother as “a nag.” Many today believe their parents don’t understand them or the issues teens face. As a result, disobeying parents is common throughout society.

Are you tempted to disobey your parents? To disrespect them? Heed Solomon’s advice: “My son, hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother” (Prov.erbs 1:8).

Your parents have much more wisdom and experience than you. They can guide you in the right direction and help you avoid harmful mistakes.

Spend time with your parents. Seek their advice. You might be surprised by how much they know. Notice what Solomon said: “The thing that has been is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:8-9).

There's Nothing New Under the Sun

There is nothing new. Your parents have experienced or been confronted with many of the same things as you. They have also seen similar problems in society: drugs, gangs, alcohol abuse, bullies, violence, depression, trendy styles, stress, consequences of premarital sex, problem relationships, broken friendships, etc.

Keep Good Company

Are you tempted to hang out with the “in-crowd”? The crowd that has a reputation for getting into trouble, violence, bullying, constantly swearing, not studying, listening to offensive music, constantly tinkering with their cellphones, dressing in provocative designer clothes, constantly partying, or getting drunk.

Avoid Bad Company

If you want to lead a successful life, then avoid bad company like the plague—or else it will corrupt you. It will influence you into bad habits, into doing things that are contrary to God’s Way (I Cor.inthians 15:33). Associating with bad company will eventually lead to destructive habits, and possibly a bad reputation. Just as dead flies can spoil expensive ointment, one mistake can ruin your reputation (Ecc.lesiastes 10:1).

Avoid Quarrels

Do you become angry easily? Are you quick to get involved in quarrels? Do you take pride in your temper? Are you tempted to “lose it” when provoked by others, when you don’t get what you want, or when someone tells you something you don’t want to hear?

Quarrelling is not a sign of strength, but weakness. Being temperamental is a sign of a lack of character. “He that has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls” (Proverbs. 25:28). When you fly into a temper, you become defenseless. You start reacting without thinking. This allows others to manipulate you, and therefore control you. They know what “sets you off.” As the saying goes, they can now “push your buttons.” Lashing out can result in a heap of problems with others—and even with men’s laws.

Keep Cool in All Situations

By contrast, maintaining a calm head helps you to think through whatever situation you are facing. It helps you to consider potential solutions and choose the best one. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city” (Proverbs 16:32). Staying calm keeps you from doing things you will later regret.

Don't Instigate Strife

Another way to avoid quarrels is to not stir up strife with your tongue. Whenever you are provoked by others, remember the following rule: “A soft answer turns away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). Raising your voice, shouting or uttering biting, sarcastic comments only serves to provoke or intensify arguments or disagreements.

Stay Away From Violence

Today, violence is promoted in television shows, music videos, magazines, video games and on the Internet.

Violence is often thought of as something good. It is seen as a sign of strength. It is popular for teenagers to see themselves as “bad.” By this, they mean they will respond violently with overwhelming force if anyone “messes with them” or “disrespects” them.

Don't Be Incited to Join With Wicked Individuals

What if your peers ask you to perform violent deeds with them? How should you react? “My son, if sinners entice you, consent you not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily [secretly] for the innocent without cause…My son, walk not you in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path” (Proverbs 1:10-11, 15).

Involvement in violent acts will eventually get you into trouble. It may even cost your life.

You should also be careful of becoming friends with angry people. Their attitudes will eventually infect you, and you will become just like them (Prov.erbs 22:24-25).

Work Ethics

In school, are you working diligently at your studies? Do you do your homework in a timely manner? Or do your parents have to continually push you?

What about when your parents ask you to perform chores around the house? Do you work hard to do the best job possible? Or do you just do things as quickly as you can in a slip-shod fashion so you can get back to what you really want to do? Do your parents consider you to be a hard worker?

The Value of Hard Work

If you want to succeed in life, you must learn the value of hard work. “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute” (Prov.erbs 12:24). And whatever you do, give it your all (Ecclesiastes. 9:10). Don’t perform a task half-heartedly.

Lazy people eventually have little, or even nothing. This is their “reward” for their lack of effort (Prov.erbs 13:4). Don’t let this happen to you; don’t allow yourself to be a “slacker.”

Solomon was a great observer of nature; he learned many lessons there. Next time you see a colony of ants, notice how hard they work and learn from their example (Proverbs 6:6-11).

Don’t wait for your parents or others to ask you to perform certain tasks. Take the initiative, be proactive—and work hard to accomplish the job. Others will notice your attitude, and you will eventually be recognized. “See you a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean [unknown] men” (Prov.erbs 22:29).

There is much wisdom from King Solomon in the Bible, wisdom that will greatly benefit you. Do you want to become successful? Then take time to study the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and apply the principles therein. If you do, you will be well on your way to success and keep yourself from much heartache and suffering.

Fear God and Keep His Commandments

The greatest piece of advice given by Solomon is found in the final chapter of Ecclesiastes: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. "Fear God, and keep His commandments", for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes. 12:13).

This is the key to success. Do what God says, and see the benefits in your life.

Dr Paul MacDonald RN MA Dipl ©

Israel Institute of Biblical Studies

[multiverseforger]

Franklin Benjamin Richards was born in New York City to Reed and Susan Richards.[6] Franklin began manifesting his powers while still a toddler due to his parents' radiation-altered genes, which drew the attention of Annihilus, who sought to use Franklin as a source for his own resurgence, transferring some measure of the child's latent power to himself with a gene-based machine, and releasing Franklin's full potential in the process. Fearing the immediate threat of his son's powers to the entire populace of Earth and unable to find another solution in time, Reed Richards shut down Franklin's mind.[7]

During a battle between Ultron-7 and the Fantastic Four, Ultron's energy output awoke Franklin and again released his powers, resulting in the sentient robot's defeat. Free of the energies expended in the confrontation with Ultron, Franklin was seemingly returned to his normal power level.[8]

Needing someone to watch over Franklin in their absence, Reed and Susan Richards came to rely on the services of an elderly woman known as Agatha Harkness,[volume & issue needed] who is also a benevolent witch. Franklin and Agatha soon developed a familial-like bond, even residing together for a time at Whisper Hill (Agatha's old residence, which was regularly destroyed and rebuilt). Eventually, Agatha returned to live in the secret witch community of New Salem, Colorado, and Franklin moved back in permanently with his parents and the rest of the Fantastic Four.[volume & issue needed] His powers, no longer dormant, continued to manifest themselves.[9]

Under the care of yet another guardian, a robot nicknamed H.E.R.B.I.E., Franklin unintentionally used his reality warping abilities to age himself into adulthood.[10] In this form, Franklin was an adept at molecular manipulation and psionics. Upon realizing his mistake, he soon restored himself to childhood.[11]

Despite his youth and inexperience, Franklin, a victim of many threats and abductions, has exhibited great courage in the face of overwhelming peril. Time and again, he has unknowingly saved innocent lives, including that of his famous family, from the likes of villainous perpetrators, such as Blastaar,[12] Norman Osborn,[13] Onslaught,[14] Nicholas Scratch,[15] and even the all-powerful Mephisto, whom he temporarily destroyed and later defeated on two separate occasions.[16][17]

Attempt at a normal lifeEdit



The first appearance of Franklin Richards as the superhero/Power Pack member Tattletale (Power Pack #17, December 1985), alongside the similarly-aged Katie Power, who suggests his codename. Art by June Brigman.

To try to give his son a "normal" life, Reed Richards devised psychic inhibitors to prevent his powers from being used, but Franklin, whether by fault or by intent, could still at times bypass the inhibitors and use his powers, such as projecting an image of himself at a long distance. At this point he secretly joined a team of pre-teen superheroes called Power Pack, in which he was code-named "Tattletale".[volume & issue needed][18]



A promotional advertisement for the "Fall of the Mutants" storyline which ran in various Marvel Comics cover dated November 1987. Franklin Richards is pictured at the far right in his "Tattletale" costume. Art by Jon Bogdanove.

Franklin's adventures with Power Pack gained him an enemy in the alien Zn'rx, and allies and friends in the Kymellian Whitemanes. Franklin was particularly close to the young Kofi Whitemane, who declared Franklin an honorary cousin in much the same way as the children of Power Pack had been adopted as honorary Whitemanes. Franklin also regarded the Power children and their parents as a sort of surrogate family — his association with them beginning at a time when he was feeling particularly distant from his parents at a time when they were living at Avengers Mansion. During this period Franklin also bonded emotionally with Avengers associate and manservant Edwin Jarvis, as Jarvis was his primary caretaker while Franklin stayed at the mansion. His friendship with the Power children also gave Franklin a taste of life among siblings, which the lonely Franklin would not experience until much later when his sister Valeria was born.[volume & issue needed]

The Richards and Power families became fast friends, though neither family's parents realized that any of the children other than Franklin were superpowered (though Susan and Reed discovered this later). Franklin even kept his membership of Power Pack a secret from his own parents: when he appeared before them in image form (see above) he would stick to ordinary clothes, only appearing in his Power Pack outfit before other heroes such as Kitty Pryde.[19]

Franklin even lived with the Power family for a time, when his parents decided that a superhero headquarters was a dangerous place for a child to live, and wanted Franklin to spend time in a "normal" family environment. He returned to his family when Power Pack temporarily left Earth for the Kymellian homeworld.[20][21]

Psi-LordEdit

Franklin was later kidnapped by his time-traveling grandfather Nathaniel Richards, and replaced with his teenage counterpart, Psi-Lord, who had been raised by Nathaniel in a dimension outside of time.[volume & issue needed] Franklin, as Psi-Lord, helped create the short-lived team known as Fantastic Force.[volume & issue needed] By tapping a stud hidden within the glove of his costume, Franklin was able to summon battle armor from a pocket dimension; it was designed specifically to siphon off the full measure of his powers.[22] As such, Franklin's abilities at this time were limited to telepathy, precognition, and psionic energy blasts.

Around this time, Sue's dark persona, Malice, began warring within her mind for supremacy of her body, causing Sue to become more prone to angry outbursts and a more violent use of her powers, as well as starting to wear a more revealing costume. Eventually, Psi-Lord expunged the Malice personality from Sue's body into his own. There, Malice plagued Psi-Lord for a short time.[23] Later during a battle against the Dark Raider (an evil alternate reality version of Reed Richards) Psi-Lord and the Invisible Woman forced the Malice persona into the Raider's mind leading to his defeat and the apparent destruction of the Malice persona.[24][25]

Nathaniel eventually revealed that in another possible future timeline, Franklin Richards would, with Rachel Summers, father a terrible time-and dimension-traveling supervillain named Hyperstorm.[26] In an effort to divert the attention of the Fantastic Four, Hyperstorm traveled back to the precise point in time when Franklin was abducted by Nathaniel Richards and returned the child to his parents mere seconds after he was first kidnapped, thus rendering the Psi-Lord version of Franklin Richards obsolete in the Earth-616 timeline.[27]

OnslaughtEdit

Shortly after these events, Onslaught kidnaps Franklin in order to use his abilities to reshape reality. To defeat Onslaught, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, and several other heroes destroy first his physical form, and then his psychic form. In the process, Franklin's parents seemingly die. Franklin displays his true power, singlehandedly creating the "Heroes Reborn" pocket universe to contain the heroes who had "died" in that adventure. Some of them are recreated based on Franklin's memories of them, such as the temporally-displaced teenage Tony Stark becoming an adult once more while the mutated Wasp is restored to human form. While his parents are away in the Heroes Reborn universe, Generation X and Alicia Masters look after Franklin. This universe comes to be represented by a small, bluish ball which Franklin carries with him.[volume & issue needed]

Franklin travels with several X-Men to the farm owned by Hank McCoy's parents. He plays with Artie Maddicks and Leech, both mutant children. The Celestials recognize that Franklin represents the culmination of their genetic experiments, that he has power to rival even theirs. Ashema, one of the Celestials, representing herself as a human, visits Franklin. Ultimately, Franklin, Ashema and other forces allow the rightful heroes to return and both universes to remain functioning.[volume & issue needed]

In the wake of Mr. Fantastic's activation of the Ultimate Nullifier to destroy Abraxas, Franklin loses all his powers in the process of reforming Galactus and thus becomes a normal child.[28] Shortly afterwards, Doctor Doom makes a pact with the Haazareth Three to gain vast magical power. During Doom's attacks upon the Fantastic Four, Franklin is sucked into Hell by the Haazareth.[29] After the defeat of Doom, his parents rescue him, but Franklin has a hard time coping with the traumatic experience of being tormented in Hell. The Thing helps Franklin make a complete mental recovery by assuring him that, even if they couldn't always keep him safe, they would never give up on him.[30]

When the Scarlet Witch uses her powers to depower countless mutants, including Magneto and Professor X, the power lost by Magneto and Xavier combines and restores Onslaught, whose consciousness still lingered after his death. Onslaught takes control of both the Human Torch and Mister Fantastic in an attempt to get Franklin but is interrupted by the Thing and Invisible Woman.[volume & issue needed]

When Franklin flees to Counter-Earth, Onslaught follows him. The Avengers assess their new threat which did not exist until Franklin appeared.[volume & issue needed] After a brief skirmish, the heroes and villains decide to work together to defeat Onslaught. Rikki Barnes defeats him using a Fantasticar to send them both through the Negative Zone barrier in the Fantastic Four's lab, trapping them. Franklin returns home, Barnes finds herself on Earth-616, and Onslaught is seen floating outside the Area 42 Prison in the Negative Zone.[volume & issue needed]

Secret InvasionEdit

In the beginning of the Skrull strike on Earth, the Skrull Lyja, impersonating Sue Richards, sends the entire Baxter Building into the Negative Zone with Franklin, Valeria, and Johnny Storm inside. Franklin and Valeria team up with Johnny and the Thing to fight the Skrulls. Benjamin Grimm asks the help of the Tinkerer, who is a prisoner in the prison for the unregistered villains in the Negative Zone. The Tinkerer refuses, seeing no reason to help the people who arrested him as he was taking his grandchildren out for ice cream, and sent him to prison without due process. Franklin and Valeria plead with the Tinkerer. They strongly remind the old man of his own grandchildren. He is moved to tears, repents and agrees to help, in exchange for his freedom and reunion with his grandkids.[volume & issue needed]

Dark ReignEdit

During the Dark Reign: Fantastic Four miniseries; Franklin finds himself along with his sister under siege by Norman Osborn, Venom and a high number of H.A.M.M.E.R. agents. The siblings were on their own due to their father's experiment which left him unreachable and the other members of the Fantastic Four stranded in alternate realities.[31]

Valeria manages to separate Osborn from the rest of the H.A.M.M.E.R. agents by using a bureaucratic technicality and by having them underestimate her. Osborn is led into a room where he faces Franklin who is wearing a Spider-Man mask and calls him a villain. In the next scene, the two are chased down a hall by Osborn who is getting ready to shoot them.[32] The Fantastic Four return just in time to protect the children.[13] Mister Fantastic tells Osborn to leave the Baxter Building and not to come back. Osborn attempts to shoot Reed, only to be shot in the shoulder by Franklin. The gun Franklin used is by all accounts, a simple toy.[13]

On his birthday, Franklin is seemingly attacked by a strange intruder which is later revealed to be a future version of Franklin himself sent back through time to deliver a warning to Valeria about an approaching conflict. In the final pages, it is revealed that the attack by the adult Franklin was to plant a telepathic suggestion in the mind of his present-day counterpart, thereby apparently reawakening young Franklin's dormant mutant powers; in actuality, Franklin is not a mutant, but has subconsciously convinced the wider world at large that he is.[33]

Search for the Invisible WomanEdit

Franklin and his sister contact X-Factor Investigations, led by Madrox the Multiple Man. They find that their mother has strangely disappeared and think that their father had something to do with it.[34] According to the children, Reed Richards had been acting very strange the last couple of days. The team investigates and find that not only Sue was trapped, but also Reed, who has been replaced with an alternate version being mind-controlled by an alternate version of Doctor Doom. X-Factor find the real Reed in Latveria.[35] X-Factor and the Fantastic Four battle Doctor Doom and Layla Miller. Doom lets them "rescue" Sue and tells them all to leave. During the battle in New York, the alternate Doom/Reed is accidentally killed.[36]

Fear ItselfEdit

During the Fear Itself storyline, Franklin, against his father's prior wishes, uses his reality-warping powers to free Ben Grimm from the possession of an Asgardian warrior general named Angrir: Breaker of Souls by transforming him back into the Thing.[37][38]

Future FoundationEdit

Franklin is approached by a mysterious stranger, who has been secretly tutoring him in the use of his powers.[39] The stranger is later revealed to be a future adult incarnation of Franklin himself, who reiterates to his young counterpart that his powers must be properly harnessed for a singular intent: the act of life preservation.[40] In a confrontation between the Future Foundation and the Mad Celestials of Earth-4280, Franklin is described by one of the Celestials as 'beyond [the] Omega classification' applied to mutants, and is subsequently attacked with concussion beams. Franklin repels their attacks.[41]

Upon successfully creating a new future and simultaneously acting as an anchor for the changes he made in the process following the collapse of all reality into a single timestream, culminating with the heat death of everything, the adult Franklin, alongside his sister, a future incarnation of Valeria Richards, enters the fray in the final struggle against the Mad Celestials of Earth-4280.[42][43] He warps the three Celestials away to the inner sphere of a local gas giant. He then acquires an orb containing his younger counterpart's powers, which he stores within his chest. When the Celestials return, the adult Franklin uses the orb to revive an incapacitated Galactus. Franklin and Galactus confront the Celestials and destroy them in a prolonged battle.[42] In the aftermath, the adult Franklin shares a brief moment with Galactus. The two discuss the heat death of everything and the revelation of Franklin's immortality, specifically that he will, billions of years from now, stand beside Galactus to witness the birth of a new universe.[44]

Secret WarsEdit

Following the inevitable end of Marvel Multiverse, caused by the incursions, Doctor Doom gained the omnipotent power of the Beyonders and used it to gather the remnants of the destroyed realities to create a patchwork planet called Battleworld. Eventually those powers were stripped from Doctor Doom by the Molecule Man and transferred to Reed Richards. With his new powers, Reed along with his family, the Future Foundation and Molecule Man, began restoring the Multiverse, while also creating entirely new realities.[45]

Multiversal adventuresEdit

As they rebuild the Multiverse, a being self-described as the embodiment of entropy, the Griever at the End of All Thing, patiently waited to strike until Franklin Richards was depleted of his ability to create new universes as she repudiated their mission, claiming they overstepped their purpose. During this time, Franklin has taken up the codename of Powerhouse.[46] With the help from the heroes who were part of the Fantastic Four’s expanding members, including X-Men’s Iceman, they were able to defeat the Griever’s army. Franklin and Valeria, and their parents bids their fellow Foundation members, entrusted by Dragonman a farewell, as Earth wanted the Fantastic Four to return.[47]

Return to EarthEdit

Because time worked very differently when they were rebuilding the Multiverse, Franklin and his sister returned to Earth as young teenagers many days after the Hydra Captain America’s Secret Empire. After returning to Earth, his family entrusted their old Baxter Building to the superhero team Fantastix, and moved to Thing’s hometown Yancy Street as a new base operation and home. When a wedding between his god-uncle Thing and his new god-aunt Alicia is about to begin many days later, Franklin begin to dye his hair black.[48]

Another problem arose with Franklin's powers, they became depleted every time Franklin used them, for unknown reasons and even his father cannot understand why.[volume & issue needed]

Dawn of XEdit

Since Krakoa became a safe haven for all mutants, accessible only to those who carry the X-gene, an invitation was made to Franklin to live on the island of Krakoa, however, his parents decided it was better for him to remain with them. But when Xavier noted that Franklin's powers were depleting, he decided it was the right moment to take Franklin to Krakoa. So, Xavier and Magneto concocted a plan to usher Franklin to Krakoa by means of using his relationship with Kitty Pryde, employing the premise that they would be either helping Franklin get the full extent of his powers back or discerning if what's happening to young Franklin could also emerge in other mutants. .[49]

[stillevann]

Gluttony: Sin of Lust and Greed (Part One)

Martin G. Collins

A Realty Times magazine article, "Gluttony . . . Sheer Gluttony: Tyson's Connecticut City—uh, home—goes on the market," tells of how prizefighter Mike Tyson bought a Farmington, Connecticut, estate for $3 million and made some "modest" upgrades: a 3,500 square-foot nightclub designed for 1,000 people, and a 1,500 square-foot exercise facility. The house has 18 bedrooms, 24 full bathrooms, 14 half-baths, an indoor racquetball court, 7 kitchens, a theater, an elevator, a 3-story foyer, and 50 skylights. Tyson has admitted to Prime Time Live that he has probably visited it only five times, yet after a year, he grew tired of his 56,000 square-foot pastime, putting it up for sale for $25 million!

Although Tyson has invested millions upgrading the estate, Connecticut realtors believe he will not get much beyond the initial $3 million for it since $250,000-500,000 homes surround it. What a waste—millions of dollars squandered in gluttonous spending.

With human reasoning being what it is, it is not surprising to see our present society deeply against self-responsibility. Most people today have convinced themselves that they are not personally responsible for their actions, and this applies to gluttony. They reason, "It must be genetic," or "I have a disease." Gluttony is considered merely socially unpleasant rather than a sin. Few in this society know what it is or why it is wrong.

What is gluttony? Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary: Tenth Edition defines a glutton as "one given habitually to greedy and voracious eating and drinking." Voracious is "having a huge appetite: ravenous; excessively eager: insatiable." Synonyms for "gluttony" are greed, avarice, gorge, epicure, cram, stuff and guzzle. Children who eat voraciously are said to "eat us out of house and home," and an adult who eats often "plays a good knife and fork."

We associate gluttony most often with overeating, but it can occur in many other forms such as drinking, smoking, gambling, sex, accumulating material things, or even too much studying and researching of a narrowly defined subject in theology, health, genealogy—the list is endless. The key term, however, is "too much." Signs of gluttony are too soon, too eagerly, too quickly.

Gluttony Is Destructive

The Bible ascribes a great deal of destructive power to gluttony, as in Proverbs 30:21-22: "For three things the earth is perturbed, yes, for four it cannot bear up: . . . A fool when he is filled with food. . . ." Physically, what is so harmful about it?

An old English proverb says, "Gluttony kills more than the sword." Another maintains, "There are more gluttons than alcoholics in the grave." This certainly seems true today. In the last five years, sales of oversized coffins at the nation's largest casket company are up 20 percent. Why? The November 8, 1999, issue of U.S. News and World Report answers this in an informative article entitled, Why We're Fat:

Both men and women are getting fat in epidemic proportions. Well over half of all American adults—about 63 percent of men and 55 percent of women age 25 and older—are overweight. Last week in a special issue devoted entirely to obesity, the Journal of the American Medical Association reported new statistics that are nothing short of astonishing for a nation seemingly so obsessed with health and fitness: The rate of obesity—18 percent—has soared from 12 percent just seven years ago, making the United States now secure in its position as the fattest nation in the developed world.

"The rate is shocking," says Jeffery Koplan, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "and it means that we have a huge public health problem." Indeed, depending on weight and age, obesity significantly increases the risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, diabetes, and gallbladder disease.

Gluttony is sheer defiance of reasonable and balanced behavior. Benjamin Franklin says of man's proclivity to overeat, "In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires." Each person must determine what is necessary to sustain him, measuring his indulgence in eating and drinking to ensure it is healthy for him.

Obese men risk serious health problems, as Why We're Fat relates:

The potbelly that men often grow in their middle years is not just unattractive, it's dangerous. . . . The midlife paunch, which doctors call "visceral fat," poses a risk because it surrounds the internal organs. It releases fatty acids that make their way into the liver, diminishing the organ's ability to process the hormone insulin, eventually causing diabetes. The fat also affects how the kidneys process insulin, a factor that scientists say may lead to high blood pressure. For every 10 percent increase over normal weight, men and women have about a 20 percent jump in risk for heart disease. [See the inset, "Body Mass Index," to see how health officials determine obesity.]

Obesity is a terrible problem, and unlike other epidemics like a flu epidemic, it will not go away on its own. Some would have us believe that there is nothing wrong with being fat—that people just find it distasteful and assume it is unhealthy. Actually, doctors say fat is unhealthy because a multitude of studies for decades has shown it to be so. Former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop says, "We know that excessive weight fosters everything from diabetes and heart disease to breast cancer, colorectal cancer and osteoarthritis." Prostate, gallbladder, cervical and ovarian cancers have also been linked to obesity.

Gluttony Is Sin

When we use food or drink in a way that injures our health or impairs our mind, we are guilty of the sin of gluttony. King Solomon, a man familiar with feasting and abundance, advises, "Blessed are you, O land, when your king is the son of nobles, and your princes feast at the proper time—for strength and not for drunkenness!" (Ecclesiastes 10:17). We should eat food primarily at meal times and for strength, not satiation.

Although we all enjoy snacks occasionally, they are most often of poor quality, well known as "fat foods" or "junk foods" for their ability to fatten us up with little or no nutritional value. While adults consume plenty of junk food, teenagers eat it voraciously, one factor in why so many of our youth are overweight (adolescent obesity has jumped 40 percent in a little over a decade). The cycle of gluttony does not end once they reach adulthood.

Perhaps not so surprising to those who are observant, teens ingest an average of 9 percent of their calories from soft drinks. Food and drink proportions have inflated to the point that marketers need a new vocabulary to describe them. Selections no longer stop at "large"—they are now "jumbo" or "supreme." The original Coca-Cola came in a statuesque 6.5-ounce bottle, and in Europe it is still about 8 ounces. In America, however, machines now dispense 20-ounce soda bottles, while convenience stores sell 64-ounce buckets of drink—10 times the original serving size!

Eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa and anorexia are commonly associated with gluttony. As an affluent nation, we binge and starve and binge again, swinging from food-related anxiety to depression and guilt to pursuing sensory pleasure in food "addiction." For instance, bulimia is characterized by self-perpetuating and self-defeating cycles of gluttonous binge-eating and purging. During a "binge," the person consumes large amounts of food in a rapid, automatic and helpless fashion. Though this may repress hunger, anger and other feelings, it eventually creates physical discomfort and anxiety about weight gain. So the person "purges" the food eaten, usually by inducing vomiting and resorting to some combination of restrictive dieting, excessive exercising, laxatives and diuretics.

According to the World Health Organization, 300,000 Americans die prematurely each year because of obesity. Among lifestyle-related illnesses, only cigarette smoking (at approximately 400,000 deaths) has a higher toll. But smoking deaths are declining, while obesity deaths will continue to climb as long as obesity does.

Of course, eating is not a sin, but if one eats in a manner that is unhealthy, it is sin. Poor eating habits, such as binge eating, constant eating for satiation and junk food inhalation, slowly destroy the human body.

Lust and Greed

How do lust and greed relate to gluttony? Basically, lust is an intense longing or excessive craving for something—anything—and greed is excessive or insatiable desire to accumulate things. Lust and greed are never satisfied, as James 4:1-2 says: "Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain." Too much of even a good thing can be bad. Among other afflictions, too much eating can cause obesity and gout, and too much drinking, cirrhosis of the liver and depression.

In Numbers 11, the Israelites in the wilderness, inclined to be excessive, let lust and greed rule them. Their gluttony exposes other sins hidden below the surface: ingratitude, wastefulness, lust, greed, covetousness and licentiousness. The chapter begins with some of them complaining of being tired of eating only God-given manna. Displeased with them, God burns up some of the complainers in the outskirts of the camp as a warning (verse 1). Still, many give into their desire for other types of food, especially meat. "Now the mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Who will give us meat to eat?'" (verse 4).

Moses, tired of the Israelites complaining about not having meat, complains to God about the complaining Israelites (verses 10-15)! God, although not pleased with the Israelites, tells him that He would provide the entire nation with meat (verses 16-20). Moses immediately assumes it would come from the flocks and herds (verses 21-22), but God performs a miracle to further show His providence: Quail flutter just above the ground near the camp for about a day's journey in all directions!

And the people stayed up all that day, all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten homers [about ten donkey loads]); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was aroused against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. So he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah [Graves of Craving], because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving. (verses 32-34)

God is furious when we yield to intense craving—lust—because it controls our will. Self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and without it a person cannot produce other fruits of the Spirit. The Israelites, devoid of self-control, could not conform to God's will.

In Psalm 78, the psalmist describes God's care of Israel in the wilderness and how the people reacted to His will. He includes a description of the event in Numbers 11:

But they sinned even more against Him by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness. And they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God: They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?"

Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation. Yet He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven, had rained down manna on them to eat, and given them the bread of heaven. Men ate angels' food; He sent them food to the full [satiation, margin].

He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens; and by His power He brought in the south wind. He also rained meat on them like the dust, feathered fowl like the sand of the seas; and He let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations. So they ate and were filled, for He gave them their own desire. They were not deprived of their craving; but while their food was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came against them, and slew the stoutest of them, and struck down the choice men of Israel.

In spite of this they still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works. Therefore their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear. (verses 17-33)

The Israelites lost control of themselves by yielding to their cravings. Despite all God had provided for them, they quickly forgot and gave their will to the god of appetite. The result was futility, destruction and death.

Wisdom's Children

Matthew 11:18-19 provides a principle to determine if our actions are gluttonous. Responding to accusations of extremes in eating and drinking against John the Baptist and Himself, Jesus remarks:

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, "He has a demon." The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look, a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!" But wisdom is justified by her children.

What are the children of wisdom? Good works and good fruit. Whether what we do is wise or foolish is seen in the fruit we bear and in what we accomplish. An alcoholic produces sorrow for himself and his family, battered wives and children, poor health and a shorter life. A glutton produces a bad example for his family and his brethren, poverty, poor health and eventually death. We must control our desires because excess desire is the driving force behind gluttony. When we lose control of it, we sin, feeding the god that is in our belly, the god of excess, the god of too much, too fast, too eagerly.

Another interpretation of "wisdom is justified by her children" is that those who follow the wisdom from above recognize and live their lives based on truth. By their example in living wisely and righteously, they justify, prove, that it is the right and reasonable way to live. The way the wise live destroys the credibility of false accusations. Avoiding gluttony is one way to show that we are living in wisdom. The foolish—the opposite of the wise—tend toward gluttony.

The Institute of Medicine thinks the problem "must lie in the powerful social and cultural forces that promote an energy-rich diet and a sedentary lifestyle." But the problem is deeper than that! It is rooted in human nature, which we must overcome and can only be overcome with the help of God's Holy Spirit. When we nurture lust and greed, gluttony is a byproduct, a sign that something of a spiritual nature is eating us.

[newstfionline]

Dark, Desperate Life Without Power in Puerto Rico

AP, Dec. 25, 2017

MOROVIS, Puerto Rico--Three days before Christmas, Doris Martinez and daughter Miriam Narvaez joined their neighbors in a line outside city hall in Morovis, a town of 30,000 people still living without electricity in the mountains of central Puerto Rico more than three months after Hurricane Maria battered the U.S. island.

They waited two hours under the searing sun for their twice-a-week handout--24 bottles of water and a cardboard box filled with basic foods such as tortillas, canned vegetables and cereal.

Martinez, a 73-year-old cancer survivor, balanced the water atop the food and picked her way up a steep hill to the home where she lives alone, washing and wringing out her clothes by hand and locking herself in at night, afraid of robbers. Her 53-year-old daughter loaded her food and water into her car and drove off to the public housing complex where she would then have to wait with dozens of other neighbors in another line to cook on one of six gas burners in the administrator’s office.

“Things are not good,” Narvaez said as she headed toward home.

This is life in Puerto Rico more than three months after Maria destroyed the island’s electrical grid. Gov. Ricardo Rossello promised in mid-October to restore 95 percent of electricity delivery by Dec. 15, but normality remains far off. Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority says its system is generating at 70 percent of normal but it has no way of knowing how widely electricity is being distributed because the system that measures that isn’t working.

A study conducted Dec. 11 by a group of local engineers estimated roughly 50 percent of the island’s 3.3 million people remained without power. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has said it likely won’t be until May that all of Puerto Rico is electrified.

Local and federal officials blame the rough terrain and extensive damage for delaying restoration of a power infrastructure that was in dire need of maintenance due to Puerto Rico’s 11-year-old recession. A growing number of Puerto Ricans say officials didn’t prepare for the hurricane and didn’t activate a mutual aid agreement with power companies on the U.S. mainland quickly enough.

Government crews reconnected a handful of areas in Morovis over the weekend for the first time since the storm, but in the hundreds of neighborhoods and towns without power this holiday season, people are alternately despairing, furious, resigned, and sometimes in disbelief that the United States remains unable to help restore power to its citizens more than 90 days after a natural disaster.

A little after noon, Arelis Navarro steps out of her nail salon to restart her car. The hood is open, and Navarro, 38 weeks pregnant, has connected an inverter to the battery and plugged in a cluster of extension cords, lights and a fan for her salon.

“You have to make the effort because as you can imagine, I have debts to pay, a daughter to maintain and another one on the way,” she says.

Down the hill, past the town’s plaza and up another hill, 50-year-old Maria Rivera watches her husband and two friends remove broken furniture and soggy sheets from their home, which was destroyed by the storm. It is 2 p.m., and the three men toss the debris into a truck one of them owns. City officials never showed up to clear the debris, and crews with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency did not come until this month to assess the damage.

Tears moisten Rivera’s eyes as she gazes at what remains of the home where she lived for 19 years with her husband and three children.

“I haven’t been able to assimilate everything that has happened,” she says, adding that she spends most of the day bracing for darkness. “When night falls, you start growing anxious, depressed. Everything has changed ... Sometimes I go to places that have power and I tell my husband, ‘I don’t want to go back.’”

By 4 p.m., some generators in Rivera’s neighborhood start rumbling as darkness approaches on the shortest day of the year. A teenager bounces a basketball and takes a couple of shots on a court before heading home, while several men wrap up reconstruction efforts at a roofless home that federal crews fitted with a blue tarp just two weeks ago.

Nearly 1,000 homes across Morovis lost their roofs and 90 percent of residents have not received federal assistance, Mayor Carmen Maldonado says. She expects it will be several more months before power returns to the entire town. Overall, more than 200,000 homes were damaged in Puerto Rico by the storm, whose destruction will cost an estimated $95 billion to repair.

Darkness creeps across Morovis, and 56-year-old Jose Luis Gonzalez wipes sweat from his brow as he finishes helping rebuild a home in the Barrio Patron neighborhood, where people spent two months without water after Hurricane Maria hit with winds of up to 154 mph. They relied on a nearby creek for bathing and washing clothes. Men visited the creek at 5:30 p.m. every day and women took their place a half hour later. One person was designated to guard the entrance as people disrobed. Water service finally returned in November.

“Don’t think I haven’t felt like crying,” Gonzalez says, adding that he has flashbacks to the day of the storm. “Every time I close my eyes I see chaos ... I still hear the screams in my head.”

Every night he takes six pills for depression and back pain. He says a relative who lived across from him took his own life three weeks after the hurricane. No note was left, but government officials say they are counting some suicides as part of the official death toll because people across the island have become so desperate amid the destruction left by the storm. The governor also recently ordered a review of all deaths reported since Maria amid accusations that the official death toll of 64 undercounts the true toll.

At 6 p.m. it is nearly dark in Barrio Patron. The mother of the man who killed himself appears on a darkened balcony surrounded by tiny, solar-powered Christmas lights and a Puerto Rico flag fluttering lightly in the breeze. Neighbors around her strike matches and start lighting candles that they place in bedrooms and bathrooms, a warm if flickering glow filling their homes. Those with generators walk over to extension cords where multiple cellphones are plugged and check on the batteries’ status. Not that they use them often; cellphone service in Morovis remains spotty.

Nearby, 29-year-old Wilmary Gonzalez ushers her three young children into their darkened home. The light blue glow cast by a tarp donated by a church to cover half their roof has already dissipated. The other half of the roof is slabs of recycled zinc that Jose Luis Gonzalez pieced together for the family, along with broken pieces of wood to create makeshift rafters with jagged edges that jut out at random angles. FEMA has not given them any assistance.

“You always have to have a smile on your face because if not, the kids get sad,” Wilmary Gonzalez says, tears welling in her eyes.

She waits with her kids and a tiny lantern for her husband, Carlos Oliveras, to close his barber shop and return to a home with only a table, four chairs and a couple of mattresses. The rest was lost in the storm.

Around 8 p.m., a pair of headlights cuts through the darkness and her husband steps out of the car. He connects an inverter to his car battery and hoists his youngest daughter, 2-year-old Yeinelis, so she can push the button that activates an LED strip donated to the family that Oliveras has secured to the front door. It casts a harsh fluorescent light over the family’s nearly empty kitchen and living room.

Oliveras heats himself some rice and beans that his wife takes out from a small and heavily scuffed red-and-white cooler where water and eggs are tucked next to a bag of ice. “My new fridge,” she says.

Neighbors in Barrio Patron and other parts of Morovis start blowing out candles and turning off generators as they go to bed around 9 p.m., having nothing else to do in the dark.

On the horizon, the glow of lights in other municipalities creates silhouettes of the towering mountains that surround the darkened town.

[swoodthis]

50 Headcanons: the Happy Mask Salesman

1. The Happy Mask Salesman is benevolent. This one comes first, for obvious reasons. 2. He is the last living Ancient One. 3. The Ancient Ones were not always an empire of magically-genetically-engineered people, but they were demonized for the actions of their last few kings. 4. Majora was their greatest and most terrible emperor. 5. The Ancients had a rigid caste system of 3 groups of 13 subcastes. Ironically, the Salesman is of the 23rd caste, son of a household servant and a scribal clerk. 6. The Salesman took the soul mask of Terminus, Termina's equivalent to Hylia, from the temple as the Imperial City was being destroyed by the Forces of Light to try to save his dying sister and his playground friends. So he's Termina's Zelda as well as Termina's Link. 7. The Clock Tower is sacred to Terminus. It was also built by pre-imperial Ancient Ones, but that tends to be glossed over in favor of jingoism. 8. The Salesman was ten when he became the avatar of Terminus, and never aged. His true form... is a child. This is why he can traverse the Lost Woods so easily. 9. ...Except when he got nearly killed by Light spirits due to the warping timelines in OoT. And Majora's Mask's warded box's wards started to fail. He was trying to renew the wards when a Skull Kid showed up... and due to Majora's influence the rest is history. 10. The Salesman took Majora's Mask in the first place because the post-imperial and defected Ancients sealed it inside a warded tomb. When the Ancients were wiped out, the wards could not be maintained properly, and our tiny wizard took it upon himself to take the Mask to try to find a way to destroy it. Imagine if Frodo had no idea what Mount Doom looked like, where it would be, or if there even WAS a Mount Doom in the first place... 11. The Salesman rescues Link when he runs out of time. 12. The Salesman met Mynos when Mynos was nine. He had escaped from Fierce Deity cultists and was half-starved, injured, and had stumbled into Kakariko Village, where little Mynos convinced his family to take care of him. They've been friends ever since. 13. The Salesman as you see him is about 40% clothes. 14. Like all Ancient Ones, the HMS has vaguely feline behavioral qualities, but while Majora is reminiscent of a snarling, psychotic tiger, the Salesman is more of a playful, cuddly little kitty. 15. The Salesman went to the astral realm of Koholint to get his current form. 16. And he also had his name erased. Like a cross between the reasons of L and the Doctor. 17. Speaking of whom, the Salesman is a friend of multiple Doctors. Occasionally the Happy Mask Shop is covered with TARDISes. 18. The HMS lives in Smashville, thanks to Master Hand and Crazy Hand. 19. Much like in ancient Rome, it was a capital offense for anyone not of the upper castes to wear purple. Having your culture overthrown has its upsides if you have an illegal favorite color. 20. The HMS collects anything old/historic/magic/cool/shiny... Though, granted, destruction of art and history has been a very real problem for him, so... 21. The HMS has a mechanical horse. His name is Brass. 22. The Salesman loves eating anything sweet... or weird. I mean, what else do you do with all that leftover demon flesh when you're out hunting? Mmm, sinfully delicious. 23. He does this so much that he wrote a wizard cookbook called Chicken Soul for the Soup. 24. In case you haven't noticed, the Salesman is a bit crazy. 25. His glitchy movements are an illusion put in place around himself so he can have a head start against anything trying to kill him. 26. The Salesman is asexual and aromantic. 27. He named his giant piano Elouise. 28. He is the trolling champion of the multiverse. 29. He taught Defense Against the Dark Arts at Victorian-era Hogwarts under the name Hieronymous Nemo. 30. His infamous, often-creepypasta-ized temper is only present with too much stress or not enough sleep/cake. But the Salesman will often go for long periods of time without sleep... 31. As a result, there is a "Designated Defenestration Area" next to his shop. It's so nobody gets hit when he throws a jammed blender out the window. He also has some very Mythbusters-worthy methods for appliance vengeance. 32. The Salesman is actually good friends with the Skull Kid, much to the Skull Kid's surprise. 33. The Salesman's ears move a lot. 34. He makes 'dad jokes' that are actually funny. 35. People will often go to the Happy Mask Shop with grave misconceptions about magic and paranormal hunting, and end up telling the Salesman that what he does is blasphemous. After a bit of awesome you-got-rekt comebacks after his science-magic explanations, they leave, and are sent on their way with "Have a nice day, hail, Satan!" See headcanon 28. 36. The Salesman loves memes, Youtube Poop videos, and other things such as Gifs With Sound. 37. His taste in music is very eclectic, and he surprisingly likes crazy rave music, a few rap artists and he LOVES heavy metal. He will often jump around blaring Judas Priest like a caricature of an 80's teenager. 38. Watching a horror movie with the Salesman quickly turns into an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000. He will point out stupid things and mosconceptions, and once you've heard his witty commentary, you can never take the movie seriously again. The same goes for badly-done action, drama, and romance. 39. The Salesman is quite talkative usually, often going off on weird, magic/history/trivia-related tangents. 40. The Salesman can sometimes be seen having tea with the Lutece twins (Bioshock Infinite) and the G-man (Half-Life 2) 41. The Salesman will act as a protective mentor or father figure to anyone younger than him... which is to say, everyone. 42. There is a scale of Salesman laughter, from 'vaguely amused' to 'maniacally cackling like the Wicked Witch of the West on speed'. 43. He would be voiced by Richard Horvitz. 44. The Salesman's collar thing is actually an adamantine gorget. 45. The Salesman will often discuss morbid or esoteric topics hilariously casually. 46. He has been writing to Akira Himekawa, writer of the Majora's Mask manga, and Jadusable, writer of the BEN Drowned creepypasta for years asking for a formal apology. 47. 'Fetish' originally meant a magical object or totem of some kind. This means that Link and others had to give the Salesman the "gay means homosexual now, grandma" talk. 48. The Salesman's basement looks like Merlin, a witch doctor, Sherlock Holmes, a steampunk inventor, Leonardo da Vinci, and Willy Wonka decided to pool together all of their worldly possessions. 49. Magical beings like genies, familiars, and fairies will use the Happy Mask Shop as an employment agency. 50. The Salesman will often push himself too far. When he's hurt or tired, he tries to protest at friends helping him to try to reassure them... but inside he LOVES being hugged, cuddled, and generally cared for. Awwww!

[banjooxygen68-blog]

Paramount Ranch, destroyed in Woolsey Fire, will be rebuilt

Paramount Ranch, largely destroyed by the destructive Woolsey Fire, is no longer standing. But state and local officials promised Friday that it will be back.

“Let’s today begin to make that commitment to restore this place,” said state Assemblymember Richard Bloom, speaking at a press conference to announce a new fundraising initiative to restore the Western film set in the Santa Monica Mountains.

“It is so important to the history, not just right here of this spot and the Paramount Ranch, but really, to the industry that it’s so much a part of,” he said.

Behind Bloom, the town’s Main Street and three neighboring park homes lay in ruins, charred heaps of ash and rubble lying beneath twisted, burnt metal.

Miraculously, the town’s small white chapel, which has been featured prominently in the HBO series Westworld, and train station were unscathed, likely thanks to their distance from the other buildings.

The Santa Monica Mountains Fund, a non-profit that supports the park, aims to have the set completely rebuilt within two years with backing from Hollywood studios, according to David Szymanski, superintendent of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

But some adjustments will have to be made.

“I think it’ll be a variation on what was here,” said Sara Horner, president of the nonprofit’s board, who noted that several people in the entertainment community have already reached out to help.

“There are new building guidelines that we’ll have to abide by,” she said. “And then we’d like to make whatever renovations or changes would be possible to make it more useful to the local film community.”

State Assemblymember Richard Bloom.

Chris Eggertsen

The ranch isn’t merely a filming location. It’s also a popular venue for weddings and other events. Szymanski said park officials want to rebuild it with that in mind.

“One of the things is, the sound barn and the pavilion are great event spaces,” Szymanski told Curbed. “We’ll probably do some things both inside and out…[to] make them better event spaces, that will help us to still work for filming.”

In the meantime, Szymanski and Horner noted that a temporary set will be built on the other side of bordering Medea Creek so studios can continue to take advantage of the area.

Perhaps no one who spoke at yesterday’s event was more personally affected than Agoura Hills City Councilmember Linda Northrup, who grew up in the town of nearly 21,000 and recalled how the ranch was a popular destination for her and her friends as teenagers.

“When we got in fights with our parents, we’d go take a hike, and we had this place to come take a hike to,” said Northrup. “All my sisters’ wedding photos are at the Western Town. And I gotta tell you, when we got the news [from] Emergency Ops that this town was gone, a piece of my heart really hurt.”

True to its name, Paramount Ranch was established in 1927 by Paramount Pictures, which built a number of standing sets there, including a replica of early San Francisco.

After it was sold off in the early 1950s, the property changed hands numerous times, but a permanent Old West set remained a popular destination for Hollywood location shooting. Movies and TV shows filmed at the ranch include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, American Sniper, The Lake House, The Great Outdoors, The Mentalist, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

Standing in front of the remains of the town, Horner told Curbed that prior to the Woolsey Fire, plans to protect the ranch from fires had already been in the works.

“Ironically, the Park Service already had a design plan in place that was a utility upgrade for the site, which would have had water here,” she said, with a sad smile. “Which we don’t have.”

Source: https://la.curbed.com/2018/11/19/18100473/paramount-ranch-woolsey-fire-rebuild-photos

[superman86to99]

Superman: The Man of Steel #22 (June 1993)

REIGN OF THE SUPERMEN CONTINUES! Presenting John Henry Irons, a.k.a. Henry Johnson, a.k.a. Shaq-- uhh, STEEL. John is the big dude we saw emerging from the rubble of the Superman/Doomsday fight in Adventures #500. Now we find out more about his backstory: he was a military weapons designer who quit his job/whole life for some reason, and has been living in Metropolis’ Suicide Slum under an unfindable fake identity (he just switched his first and middle names around). A few weeks ago, John was saved by Superman after falling off a construction site -- so when the Doomsday battle broke out, John decided he should return the favor and save Superman. This didn’t go so well (for anyone), hence the whole “buried in rubble” thing.

(Note the “energy” being passed from Superman to John as he saves him. Artistic license, or something else...?!)

Anyway, once John is out of the hospital from that little incident, he sits down and tells the tale of his namesake John Henry to some Suicide Slum kids (including Superman’s pal, Keith the Unlucky Orphan, because this is a really small neighborhood). As the kids are leaving, they get caught in the middle of a gang fight and one of them is literally fried by some sort of hi-tech gun.

“You BASTARDS!” (Sorry.)

John chases after the gang members, and as they try to kill him for butting into their business, he recognizes their hi-tech weapons as his own design. When he gets out of the hospital (again), John decides to do something about it. With Superman dead, someone has to step up and protect the city, so John forges himself an iron-- uhh, STEEL armor designed for crime-smashing. John debuts his new heroic identity against the same gang from before after they come back to finish the job and firebomb his building.

John kindly asks the gang members where they got such sci-fi-esque weapons. Just as one of them is about to talk, he’s sniped by a mysterious lady with a big-ass gun, “The White Rabbit”. She seems to know John from before, and decides not to kill him because he might be "profitable” in the future. (I’ve got bad news for you, lady.)

Meanwhile, Metropolis is abuzz with news reports of John’s exploits. A psychic lady he saved when that building blew up explains that he’s not “a” man of steel but THE Man of Steel -- according to her, Superman’s spirit has returned from beyond and possessed the body of a man whose own spirit left him (John, after whatever happened that made him leave his old life). The still bed-bound Pa Kent seems convinced, while Lex Luthor Jr. is at least intrigued by the idea, and who knew Superman better than those two? No one. Welcome back, Superman!

Character-Watch:

The White Rabbit actually appeared briefly during John’s segment in Adventures #500, but I forgot to mention it. Here’s a gratuitous shot of her shorts to make up for it.

Plotline-Watch:

Futher evidence that John is the one true Superman: he says that when he was buried in the rubble, he saw "Fog. Angels and demons. I think my grandfather. He didn’t want me to die.” That sounds like a spot-on summary of what Superman’s soul went through in Adventures #500.

Poor Lois Lane’s life is bound to take a turn for the better now that the love of her life has returned: I mean Jeb Friedman, her douchey ex. To be fair, Jeb did wait like a week (comic book time) after Lois’ fiancee was presumed dead before putting the moves on her, so he’s not that bad.

I should also mention that Myra the Orphanage Lady has the hots for John -- she gets a new Halle Berry hairdo when she and Keith visit him in the hospital. You may now begin shipping them.

Lex Luthor Jr. orders his crony Dr. Happersen to find out who’s furnishing street gangs with futuristic weaponry. That’s his job, dammit!

And my job here is done, so click below to read the great Don Sparrow’s section:

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

Probably the most abrupt change from the Funeral for a Friend storyline comes in the pages of SMOS, where we’re thrown into  an almost entirely new cast of characters (aside from the much loved Myra and Keith), a great departure from the Superman comics we know.  We begin with the cover, which features probably the s-shield closest to the official one, with some slick, great looking Walk-Simonson-esque shading on the chrome of the insignia—this pattern will be a theme throughout the run of this character.

Inside the first page we get our first full look at John Henry Irons in full regalia, and it looks great.  The colours help a lot in selling the metallic look, and I love the elements of his costume that are a cheat—There’s no way a metal mask could so closely follow the contours of John’s face, particularly as he speaks and emotes.  But it looks awesome so we accept it.

As I mentioned, we can feel a bit lost being thrown into this story with a wholly unfamiliar character, so they subtly let us know which character we’re supposed to be following by helpfully putting him in the familiar red and blue as we first see him. 

To my eye, in this storyline, Bogdanove abandons his usual slick, fluid, Fleischer cartoon look for a much hatchier, urban feel.  The faces are more caricaturized (sometimes, perhaps, to a fault) and the action a lot grittier.  Indeed, I don’t remember so much violence in the first couple pages of story since before the Doomsday storyline.  The effect is intentional I think—we’re supposed to be horrified by the destruction these toastmaster weapons leave behind, but man, that smouldering skeleton of a teenager on page 4 is tough to take, as is the brock wall smeared with Irons’ blood at the bottom of page 5. 

Still, even in his first appearance, Bogdanove has this character’s physicality and wardrobe very well established and down pat.  The parachute pants go a long way in suggesting his athleticism, and also hint at a possible inspiration in the sports world, as Shaquille O’Neal was just entering the NBA (and rap and video game worlds as well) at the time. It might be a chicken or egg argument, but I suspect some of Irons’ look is based on Shaq’s, for better or worse.            

The flashback sequence of Irons’ inspirational meeting with Superman is well-told, and there’s some interesting imagery as there appears to be some sort of beam transferring between them on page 8, lending credence to the “spirit walk-in” spin this book put forward.  The full page splash on page 11 is a good one, as you really feel the heft of his hammer in his body gesture—though maybe a little more time could have been put into the face.

The low point follows soon after—no, not dead teenagers (though there will be more of them), something worse—Jeb Friedman makes his obnoxious return to Metropolis. Worse still, Lois dives into his arms knocking off his cowboy hat.  Oh, yeah, apropos of nothing, he was wearing a cowboy hat, by the way. [Max: He seems more like a fedora kind of guy.]

Page 15 has a great look at Irons’ mask, as he perches, Batman-style, on a rooftop before jumping in to bust the gun-runners.  More dead torsos follow as one of the gang gets disemboweled (and then some) in order for the Toastmasters to blast Irons.  The cracked image of Martin Luther King is an effective way of relating some of Irons’ guilt—his actions in the past certainly haven’t advanced Dr. King’s noble causes.  Rather, they’ve just made the streets a deadlier place.

We get a good look at Irons’ array of weaponry in the story as well, as page 19 features his gauntlet, which, appropriately for his namesake, drives steel railway bolts (I’ll just accept that Irons is a great shot, and ignore how utterly deadly that would be as a weapon).  We’re then introduced to the White Rabbit, our apparent villain, in booty shorts as revealing as a code book would allow at the time. [Max: See above.]

There’s a LOT of exposition to get through, and the issue does a good job of all of it—Irons’ guilt at having dedicated his life to weaponry, and donning a costume to atone (shades of the first Iron Man film), some interesting issues with power, race and inner-city crime (with both gangsters like the White Rabbit and big businessmen like Luthor trying to take full advantage) some history on Irons’ own tragic childhood, and also some upsetting scenes with Lois and Jonathan Kent dealing with the emergence of all these new characters.    

STRAY OBSERVATIONS:

Does John Henry have eyebrows?  They seem to be missing in his closeup shot on page 4, and elsewhere.

GODWATCH:  John Henry prays he’s wrong when he sees the what looks like an old weapon of his on page 4.

The story makes a couple mentions of Irons’ voice as being like Darth Vader, and later the voice of God.  Emphasiszing someone’s voice is an interesting way to establish character in a silent medium like comics, but definitely does help us flesh out who he is.

I’ll admit, I’ve heard better pickup lines than “Superman is dead and Clark is dead.” Bizarrely, it seems to almost work.

I remember reading an article (I think it was in Wizard magazine) about the spirit walk-in idea, and either Simonson or Bogdanove saying that the psychic would decidedly NOT sound like Mike Myers’ Linda Richman character from SNL.  In spite of their assertions (or maybe because of them), that’s how she sounds in my head, so they might have been better off not even bringing her up. [Max: Dang, now you’ve passed on the curse to me! Hey, maybe she was possessed by Mike Myers’ ghost?]

[newsfundastuff]

Lionel Bonaventure/GettyThis story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 220 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. ROME–When Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg was 11 years old, her body had started to shut down due to severe self-starvation tied to debilitating depression. She spoke to almost no one but her immediate family. She was afraid of crowds. She was lost in her own world, and the world very nearly lost her.But thanks to the formal diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome coupled with high-functioning autism and obsessive compulsive disorder, the now-16-year-old Swede has become quite literally the poster child for the generation that will have to deal with the destruction of our planet. Once she started receiving multifaceted treatment, Thunberg was able to channel her anxiety into something we should all be concerned about: the health of the planet and the science behind apocalyptic warnings of its demise. In October 2018, Thunberg started having anxiety-ridden 3 a.m. nightmares, but unlike before, they were not about her. The recurring nightmares were about the impact of global warming on the planet, according to the book, Scenes From the Heart, she wrote with her parents and sister Beata, who also suffers from many of the same emotional conditions. This time, instead of holing up in her bedroom as she did before treatment, she decided that her anxiety about the climate needed to become everyone else's, too. One of the aspects of her complicated diagnosis is obsession. Her family says she just wouldn't let the idea go that the planet was burning up and there was ample science to prove it. She did not understand why no one was doing anything. She could not comprehend why adults and policy makers were ignoring the issue. She started skipping school on Fridays to protest, all alone, on the steps of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm where she grew up. Slowly–and in some ways inexplicably—the protests, which were dubbed Fridays for Future, caught on and soon she was joined by tens, then scores, then hundreds of Swedish children demanding that adults start paying attention to science when it comes to climate change. Soon, the girl who once would not leave her bedroom was traveling across Europe to draw her peers out of the classrooms and onto the streets for the sake of the environment. Since she began not even a year ago, the protests have been held in 100 cities by teen activists. Her intensity has become her secret weapon and her now-famous speeches at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, in front of the British Parliament and at the United Nations’ COP24 Climate Talks, landed her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. “You have ignored us in the past, and you will ignore us again,” she told the World Economic Forum in Davos. “You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”“Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences,” she scolded the British Parliament. “But their voices are not heard. Is my microphone on? Can you hear me?”When she was invited to speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York to be held later this month, she was faced with a dilemma. Would she look like a hypocrite hopping on a jet, leaving the very carbon footprint she had won such acclaim railing against? Instead, she took a state-of-the art carbon-zero yacht called the Malizia II, and made the journey by sea. The Malizia II is owned by German property developer Gerhard Senft. It was built as a high-tech racing craft that was designed to collect data for scientists studying rates of ocean acidification from carbon emissions. Senft offered use of the boat and crew when he heard Thunberg wanted to sail across the Atlantic to address the climate summit. In the 14 days at sea, some of them in inclement weather, the crew didn't turn on the motor once. The Malizia II crew was led by Pierre Casiraghi, who happens to be the grandson of Monaco’s Prince Rainier III and actress Grace Kelly. The yacht is kitted out with solar panels and hydro generators, meaning it is completely emission-free. But its spare design doesn't have a functioning toilet, shower or other amenities.Not everyone wants to hear Thunberg’s message and there is a growing chorus of people who say she and her obsessive condition are being exploited for political purposes. Thunberg has been the object of cruel attacks from climate change deniers who have used her medical conditions against her. Arron Banks, a prominent British businessman who bankrolled the drive for Brexit, tweeted, “Freak yachting accidents do happen in August.” He later said the tweet was a joke, but he has not removed it from his feed. Far-right groups across Europe have chided her and her message, referring to the "apocalyptic dread in her eyes” and saying many other things far too cruel to repeat. There is an argument to be made that climate deniers tend to be men and climate activists, with the exception of Al Gore, tend to be women, sparking debate whether there is a misogynistic element to the debate. A 2016 study in the Journal of Consumer Research,“Is Eco-Friendly Unmanly? The Green-Feminine Stereotype and Its Effect on Sustainable Consumption,” backs up the theory. “Men may shun eco-friendly behavior because of what it conveys about their masculinity,” the authors write. “It’s not that men don’t care about the environment. But they also tend to want to feel macho, and they worry that eco-friendly behaviors might brand them as feminine.”Thunberg’s most vocal critics, it has to be said, are all men, but many of them actually go beyond misogyny and come very close to shaming her for her Asperger’s.Steve Milloy, a former Trump staffer and full-time Thunberg obsessive, regularly tweets about the “climate puppet.” He claims that the “the world laughs at this Greta charade,” often posting pictures of the teenager in awkward poses. Her response has always been swift to her 1.4 million Twitter followers and 3.1 million followers on Instagram. “I am indeed ‘deeply disturbed’ about the fact that these hate and conspiracy campaigns are allowed to go on and on and on just because we children communicate and act on the science,” she tweeted in August. “Where are the adults?”Thunberg chronicled her journey to America by sea on her social media, but after each post is a usual barrage of hate, insults and cruelty of the kind you might expect on a playground. She reads them all, often commenting, but most often questioning why people just don't want to see the truth. When she neared Manhattan in late August after two weeks on the high seas, she was escorted into the harbor by a fleet of 17 boats representing the U.N.’s sustainability development goals and hordes of teens who stood in the rain at 3 a.m. to cheer her to shore. Many will attend the Fridays for Future protest in New York City on September 20. Others just wanted to get a glimpse of their unlikely heroine. But one person she won’t see when she is in the U.S. is President Donald Trump. She has not been invited to meet him, but if she is, she told her supporters that she would decline because she has “nothing to say” to those who don’t believe the science. “I usually ignore them,” she said when asked recently what she would tell a climate change denier like Trump. “I have nothing to say to them and they have nothing to say to me.”She added that, indeed, if she did meet the president or someone “like him” she would keep going back to the science. “Many people think climate change is an opinion,” she said. “But it's not an opinion, it's a fact.”On September 23, Thunberg will address the U.N. Climate Change Summit, quoting from her recent book No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference. She has held weekly Fridays for Future protests since her arrival in late August, inspiring hundreds of American teens to protest for policy changes. She has also inspired many of her peers to ignore the naysayers.  “When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go,” she tweeted a few hours after she docked in New York. “And then you know you’re winning! I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And - given the right circumstances- being different is a superpower.” Indeed, in the case of this young Swedish climate-busting hero, it most certainly is. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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