#doctor cossack

[sminny-wew]

Don't look down

1/2

[you-cant-fuck-megaman]

I've not fully read the Megaman IDW comics but i really really liked how much spotlight and personality they gave Cossack, i wish that the mainline games also gave some attention to Cossack properly (other than mentioning him by name for creating Tundra Man and other stuff)

What's your take on Cossack?

cossack owns, he's my favorite of the classic trio of doctors.

out of the three, we know the absolute least about him for the reasons you already mentioned--most of what we know is from the expanded verse in the Archie/Megamix comics. but it's clear he's a decent guy.

a lot of his appeal for me lies in the fact that he's clearly coded as a villainous mad scientist archetype. there's a lot of things to be said as for why the bad guys tend to be more appealing to fans than good guys. there's a frequent psychological pull towards the antagonists or edgy rivals as opposed to the straight-laced heroes.

meanwhile, right in the middle of the 90s, Russia and Russian characters were pretty clearly the designated go-to antagonists of choice for the yanks, and everything about Cossack plays into that archetype. his castle is an onion dome, the C logo is reminiscent of a star-and-sickle, his design is based on the revolutionist Trotsky, his music is stylized after traditional Russian music emphasizing the staccato notes interspersed between mournful melodies, and his fortress is set in the grim deathly russian snow. he clearly is designed after every single stereotypical antagonistic beat possible, the eeeeeeevil Russian bad enemy guy. hell, his original name was apparently going to fucking be Dr. Vice.

and yet, he's a hero. not just that, he's a personable hero. he loves his family. he loves his daughter. he wants to do right by her and take care of her. he's clearly just as into design as Wily is, but without the copy-paste of other people's robots. he's a self-made man, a man's man, who worked to get to his position and now works for his family. he's had tragedy befall him and yet pushes on through and helps Light.

having someone clearly leaning into the villain #aesthetic but still be a stalwart good guy is 2000% my jelly and i am all here for it. i'll take five with a side of pirozhki and vodka.

oh yeah and megaman 4 was a good game

[mergedau]

What if Shadow still falls from the Ark but instead of Eggman finding him it's the Cossacks.

[consultinghuntertimelord]

Clara: Doctor, where've you been? It's been hours!

The Doctor: Uh, helping a few people write a letter.

Clara: What people? And what sort of letter takes hours to write?

The Doctor: If you must know, it was the Zaporozhian Cossacks. And it's the sort of letter you send to a sultan.

Clara: Oh, so it was a diplomatic letter, or something?

The Doctor, sweating: Er, yes.

[bowsnbots]

—"I will not be contained much longer."

[monsterboyblood]

I finally, FINALLY managed to design a dress I like on her.

Roll Light

Construction Purpose: Roll was built to be Doctor Light's nurse while he was recovering from his injuries. Now that he's healthy and adjusted to his new life, she's taken over Rock's jobs as housekeeper and lab assistant. Despite her job change, she still takes the health of everyone around her very seriously.

Biggest Strength: Roll is very good at reading people, and knows exactly when she needs to intervene and help out.

Biggest Flaw: She has trouble knowing when people actually want her help, and tends to accidentally overstep the boundaries of her friends and family often.

Weaknesses: After the first Wily takeover, Roll was injured and left with a fault in her systems that make her prone to dizzy spells and fainting.

Battle Role: Roll stays far away from actual danger, guiding Rock through stages from the lab, leaving Doctor Light free to work on upgrades for him without having to worry about his son being left alone.

Misc Notes:

Her hobbies include karaoke, sewing and surfing.

Roll was built with knowledge about how to care for humans, but dedicates a significant amount of time to learning how to repair and care for robots as well.

Roll attends high school three days a week. She doesn't need to, but enjoys the socialisation aspect. She even has her own friend group.

When she isn't with her friends, she's usually hanging out with Ice Man.

She collects a specific brand of animal figurines.

She has a two hour long hair routine.

She loves her brother more than anything, but she can't help but feel a little bit mad that she now gets called "Mega Man's sister" more than her own name.

She used to wear red, but it seemed to make Doctor Light uneasy.

Her favourite music genre is metal.

----

Beat Notes:

He's a budgie

He can turn into a hover craft that Roll can use to get around the city quicker.

His serial number stands for Cossack Companion Number.

[pale-opal]

Hear Me Out:

I know that image and what I'm about to say has a chance of being incredibly niche, because I have no idea how much overlap there is between the Homestuck and Mega Man fandoms. But if there's anything I've learned from the internet, it's that no matter what fandom you're in, it's almost guaranteed that someone in said fandom has read Homestuck before. So I think someone out there will understand the rant I'm about to go on. But for everyone who hasn't read Homestuck before, here's a quick explanation: Homestuck is a webcomic that was written and published by a man named Andrew Hussie. It ran from 2009-2016. It follows the misadventures of four kids as they play a game called Sburb with the help of twelve other kids known as "trolls." Together, they go on a quest to complete the game, as the initiation of it has caused the world to end (so even if they wanted to quit, they couldn't. Whoops). It is currently available to read on mspaintadventures.com, however I do NOT recommend reading it if you are a minor, or if you have sensitivity to content that contains violence, strong language, etc. - There were also two (technically one?) epilogues produced afterward, as well as a sequel called "Homestuck^2". - The disclaimer above applies to those works as well.

Okay. Now that I've explained what Homestuck is, let's get into why I put these four Doctors in the squares that I did.

Dr. Cossack: Has read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - He just seems like the kind of man who casually knows a lot about a lot of things. - A "nerd," if you will. - I can see him reading this in college and subsequently getting totally invested. - He relates to John Egbert (one of the four kids I mentioned earlier) on a personal level. - He did not like the epilogues. - He likes Homestuck^2, though. Dr. Light: Has Read Homestuck, Doesn't Know What Homestuck Is - I imagine that Light was introduced to Homestuck through Cossack while they were in college. - Like, what if Light got sick at some point, and Cossack came over and showed him this random webcomic he found in an attempt to make him feel better, only for Light to wake up the next day, convinced the whole thing was a fever dream? - Cut to many years later, after the birth of Proto Man. - Light and Cossack are having a conversation on the phone: - Cossack: "Hey, Thomas. Do you remember Homestuck?" - Light: "...Homestuck?" - Cossack: "You know, that webcomic I showed you when you got the flu back in college?" - Light: "I'm not sure I-" - Cossack: "The one with the little gray people?" - Light: "Little gray- wait. Wait, that was real?!" - He has not read the epilogues or Homestuck^2. Dr. LaLinde: Has Not Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - I think that Dr. Cossack would go on many coffee-fueled 2 a.m. rants to her during last-minute attempts to finish projects on time when the two of them were in college. - LaLinde would always listen respectfully, and as a result knows the entire lore behind Homestuck despite never reading it. - One day, she decided to give it a go. Here's how that went: - LaLinde: "Okay, let's see here- what? Eight thousand (8000) pages? Where am I going to find the time to read all of that?" - And so, she has to this day never read the darn thing. Dr. Wily: Has Not Read Homestuck, Does Not Know What Homestuck Is - The reasoning behind this is simple: he just couldn't get into it. - Dr. Cossack tried several times while they were in college to convince him to read it, but it sounded really convoluted to him. - Dr. Light tried to get him to read it before the whole "Dr. Wily becomes evil and takes over the world" thing after he remembered what it was. - That didn't work either. - Plus, the whole thing just seemed too long. - He eventually just forgot it existed once Light stopped trying to get him to read it. But here's something else about the Doctors: they all had kids. Kids who all grew up with different levels of parental involvement. Kids who would've probably heard their parents talk about this strange little webcomic at one time or another. Which brings me to my next point:

Blues: Has Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - I imagine that he heard the aforementioned phone call between Light and Cossack, and asked Dr. Light about what they were talking about. - Light straight up tells him that he's not allowed to read it. - Blues accepts this. - Cut to Blues' life after he runs away from home. He's at the library. - He's also in the midst of his "I hate my dad" arc, and as a result is more than willing to go and read this comic Dr. Light told him was off-limits. - He spends a whole day reading the webcomic, its epilogues, and its sequel. - He is there from the time the library opens to the time it closes. - And once everything is said and done, he is a changed man. - His favorite character is Dave Strider. - He also used to like Dirk Strider and Jane Crocker, but then he read the epilogues. Bass: Has Read Homestuck, Doesn't Know What Homestuck is - Bass was just minding his business, until he finds Proto Man broke into his house... again. - I like to think Blues breaks into Wily Fortress sometimes, just because he can. As a treat. - And to visit any Wilybots he's friends with. - He goes to confront Blues, only to find him in the midst of his third reread of Homestuck. - He asks what he's doing. - Blues tells him to pull up a chair. - He starts the reread over so that Bass can understand what's going on. - Bass, too, ends up a changed man. Even if he has no idea what he just read. - His favorite character is Karkat Vantas. - He made a trollsona (basically a troll OC), but has never told a living soul about it. - Also, he will never admit it, but "[S] Game Over" messed him up on an emotional level (if you don't know what "[S] Game Over" is, don't worry about it. Don't look it up. It's okay. Just forget I said anything). Tempo: Has Not Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - Quake Woman has not read Homestuck for the same reason her mother hasn't read it: She's simply too busy. - Blues tries to convince her to read it, though. - But here's the thing: Vesper Woman HAS read it... but she just thought it was just alright. This leads to conversation like this happening: - Vesper: "Don't listen to him, Tempo. It's okay at best." - Blues: "..." - Blues: "...would you like to elaborate on that?" - They get into arguments about different aspects of the plot a LOT. - Tempo just listens quietly while she works. - Out of curiosity, she ended up looking it up one day when she had free time, and ended up stumbling across Hiveswap instead. - Hiveswap is a spin-off game that takes place in Homestuck's universe. The first Act was released in 2017, and the second was released in 2020. - I will admit that I haven't played Hiveswap, so I'm not sure if the disclaimer I provided for Homestuck applies here. Kalinka Cossack: Has Never Read Homestuck, Does Not Know What Homestuck Is - My reasoning behind this is even more simple than Dr. Wily's: - Dr. Cossack does not let her know that Homestuck exists in an effort to keep her innocence in tact. - That's it. That's the reasoning. You can all go home n-. - ...wait. Is that ANOTHER image down there?

You see, there's one more set of characters that I want to discuss in this long, long post. Characters that wouldn't be influenced by their parents, meaning that whether or not they've read Homestuck would be more up to happenstance:

...I can explain.

Zero: Has Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - Part of the reason I put him here is because he ended up being the opposite of what Wily wanted him to be. He wanted a ruthless killing machine, and instead he got someone who helps save the world on multiple occasions. So why not have him be the opposite of his creator in Homestuck knowledge as well? - (Although if you think about it, Zero is technically a ruthless killing machine, but that's not what we're here to talk about). - Another other part of the reasoning is that I thought it was funny. - Zero had trouble getting invested until Act 5. - After he reached that point, he was locked in. - He sees a little bit of himself in Rose Lalonde and Dirk Strider. - He has never read the epilogues, or the sequel. Once he saw the Snapchat bonus content, he thought that was it. - Zero successfully got Iris into the comic as well. - Her favorite character was also Rose. - I like to think he and Layer also became friends after realizing they were both Homestuck fans.

Axl: Has Read Homestuck, Doesn't Know What Homestuck Is - He found a dub of the series on YouTube on day while watching random videos. - He was invested almost immediately. - Axl would talk about it with the other Red Alert members a lot - especially to Red and Tornado. - But there was one problem: He didn't know the name of it. It just completely slipped his mind at one point, and he wasn't able to get it back. This led to stuff like this: - Axl: "And THEN John and his friends are losing to the Condescence, but-" - Red: "That's nice and all, but what's this webcomic you read called?" - Axl: "Uh... I dunno. I can't remember." - Red: "Are you sure you didn't just make it up?" - Axl: "Wha- Yes! Yes, I'm sure!" - Red: "...sure thing, little buddy." - After joining the Maverick Hunters, Axl casually brings up the plot of this comic he can't remember the name of. Zero soon says this: - Zero: "...are you talking about Homestuck?" - Axl: "That's what it's called?!" - He made a trollsona like Bass did, but is a lot less shy about sharing it. - His favorite character is Roxy Lalonde. - Axl got Palette into it as well. X: Has Not Read Homestuck, Knows What Homestuck Is - He heard Zero talk about it with Iris a lot, but it sounded a bit too violent for his tastes. - He did play the Pesterquest visual novel, though. - Yes, the disclaimer does apply for this visual novel. - I like to think that at some point in X7, X complains about Zero and Axl's interest in "overly violent media" and asks if Zero has started "corrupting the youth." - He is promptly told to shut up. - X is more open to the idea of reading Homestuck by the time X8 comes around though. But it isn't until Axl is recovering from the game's ending that he actually starts considering it, since he knows it'll make Axl happy. - Speaking of which: will Capcom ever give us X9? - I just want to know if Axl is really okay, or if Lumine messed him up somehow. - It's been almost 20 years since the game released. 20 years is a long time to leave part of a video game franchise on a cliffhanger (but then again, Mega Man Legends fans have been waiting for 24 years...) Sigma: Has Not Read Homestuck, Does Not Know What Homestuck Is - The reason Sigma is in this category is very easy to explain: - He deserves nothing that could give him any semblance of happiness. - Also, I hate him.

Alright, rant over.

The inspiration for this post, as well as the original template, can be found here.

...now you can all go home.

[thingsthatbleedfic]

Mind sharing another snippet from the next chapter? 👀

Sure anon! Here's another snippet <3 also you'll be happy to know that we officially finished a beta draft of chapter 10 and have now moved to finishing chapter 11!

The building is in a nondescript part of town, much of it under construction. The imposition of scaffolding and cement masons has left it bereft of citizens, especially at this hour, when not even the crews linger.

The building that the Doctor has chosen for this meeting is one of the more finished structures on the block. It stands primarily in concrete, dressed in poly sheeting.

It towers above them now, an obelisk. Only the ground floor entrance emits light. It’s a sour white light—a clear signal, intended for Yassen alone. This is where he’s expected. The automatic doors sigh open.

The lobby is bare. A skeleton of a room, without even flooring laid over the foundational pour. It’s composed in shades of gray. Stairwells sit either side, symmetrical, on the far side of the lobby. A bank of elevators sits center, and the only furniture is a sprawling, multi-sided desk, moored in the midst of the space.

Dr. Three would not come alone—it was an easy assumption to make, but only confirmed by no effort made to conceal the fact. Four armed guards cover each exit.

Several paces ahead, Dr. Three mars the scene. Dark suit and placid face like a thumbprint on an otherwise spotless pane of glass. His hands are folded behind his back, and a smile plays over his face. The picture of pleasantry, framed by the guards flanking his sides.

Two of the door guards silently step into Yassen’s shadow. Yassen feels anything but pleasant.

“Doctor.”

Dr. Three inclines his head. “Cossack. Lovely to see you—you look well.”

[lunarlicorice]

weekly mourning of archie mega man time. if they only could have done 4 & 5 i would have lost my mind

introducing cossack and his robots early was such a good idea compared to "btw here's this other doctor guy he's evil" bc you actually have a little bit of doubt as to why cossack would suddenly be so hostile (light already having his doubts by the intro). he is a little bit of a shithead in archie which also preserves the "well maybe he did just decide to be evil" side too.

meeting kalinka before she becomes a plot device makes her kidnapping actually distressing. i think most of what i got from 4 was "oh no, this kid's been kidnapped, that's bad" but seeing her actually scared out of her mind was heartbreaking (i feel like this version of kalinka would probably try to break herself out if given enough time alone... this is her second hostage situation)

blues deciding to do good going into 4 was definitely a "oh my god finally" moment and it kinda just gets cut off. i think him getting to do one good thing by saving kalinka to make up for some stuff and then immediately getting framed by wily would be so interesting because. well he's kinda done some shitty stuff the whole time, similar to cossack it's more believable he might do that in the eyes of other characters beyond "well idk anything about this guy to disprove it". trying to clear his name and no one believes him etc.

with rock's constant dilemma of not wanting to hurt anyone, also getting to know and fight alongside pharaoh man was sure to have hurt much more going into 4 than it usually would had they not met.

and tempo... she was just getting her memories back. it would have been so cool to see her become her own person again. her story was basically only getting started alongside blues' and it just got canned.

[missjukebox8bit]

GET EQUIPPED WITH: New Chapter of The Roboticist's Daughters

I finally did it! I finally made a second chapter of my Rollinka fanfic The Roboticists' Daughters before Pride Month ends! Four hours before AO3 goes down! Great timing!

Because AO3 is going down I will also be posting it under the cut!

The year was 20XX A.D.

Wasn’t it always?

It was two years before Dr. Albert Wily first waged war between man and machine. The world did not yet know the man made horrors and wonders that lifelike robots would bring, but it was not a time without hardship. They still had to worry about the natural horrors. Katyusha Cossack had been fighting a battle against one such powerful enemy for a long time, one that had taken many lives and split apart many families, and though she had many rematches that ended in victory… her game would eventually come to a premature end.

Leaving her family to find a way to continue.

Mikhail Cossack slowly walked into the doorway of his apartment. It wasn’t particularly big or fancy, but it was home. A home he shared with his daughter and… no, just her now. It was going to take a while for him to get used to that. He steadied himself on a counter. Without Katyusha, this place felt empty, hollow even. Everything he saw reminded him of her. The turquoise fur coat she loved so much was still hanging up by the door, and he knew the matching ear-rings were on the nightstand by the bed they used to share. Resting on the couch is the stuffed frog she had won for their daughter in a claw machine… Part of him wished he could just leave this all behind and start over-

Wait… where is his daughter anyway? He didn’t see her come in… His heart started racing and he looked around the room frantically, until he heard a voice. “Papa?” The scientist jumped and his head turned to the source of the sound. A little blonde girl in the middle of the apartment, wearing her papakha and clutching something to her chest.

He breathed a sigh of relief and chuckled. He walked up to his daughter and affectionately patted her hat. “You have a talent for slipping away when I’m not looking, little Linka. What do you have there?” But when she showed him what it was, his heart sank. It was an old DVD of Don Bluth’s Anastasia . It wasn’t a favorite of his. He hated the historical inaccuracy, the glorification of the Romanov family, and the blatant demonization of communists. But that was far from the main thing on his mind right now. Because to Kalinka, this film was significant because-

“Mama said she would watch this with me when she got all better.”

It was already hard for Mikhail to tell her no when she looked up at him with those adorable puppy-dog eyes of hers, but in his current emotional state there was no way he wasn’t immediately dropping everything to sit down on the couch and watch a princess movie with his daughter as she cuddled her little frog doll. 

The mood in the room was tense at first, but as the film went on, Kalinka was engrossed in its story. Mikhail was familiar with the history of the real Grand Duchess Anastasia, and it was not quite as wholesome and fantastical as this film portrayed, but… he saw how his daughter’s face lit up as she watched the screen, how wide she smiled seeing the beautiful palaces, the music, the dancing… and it was then he realized, he would do anything to see that smile on her face forever. And it made him smile too.

By the time the film was over, Kalinka was getting drowsier and drowsier. Mikhail gently scooped up his daughter and led her to her bed.

As he tucked her daughter into bed, wild fantasies filled her head.

“I want to be a princess, papa. Like Anastasia!”

The doctor felt weary. “Things didn’t end happily ever after for the real Anastasia, sweetheart.”

“But it would be really fun! We could live in a big pretty palace, and we could have a big ballroom, and we could have a lot of robots be our servants and I could be friends with them!”

“You want a robot to be your friend?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I’ll make friends with all the robots!”

The doctor admired his daughter’s optimism. Robot AI at this point was only smart enough to just barely simulate human speech, let alone have real emotions. So a robot that could actually be your friend? Technology like that was surely at least a decade away. But given the circumstances, he thought he might as well indulge her science fiction fantasies. “What kind of robots would live in your palace?”

She thought about it. “One of them could be a vacuuming guy, who vacuums, and he’s called uh… Dust Man!�� She said, very proud of herself. “And there could be another guy who like… makes it rain when you want it to rain, and his name is uh…” she held her frog plushie up. “Toad Man!”

“Do all their names end in ‘Man’?” he asked teasingly.

“Yeah!” She thought about this for a second. “But, it would be fun if there was a girl one… We’d be bestest friends.”

Mikhail was amused by Kalinka’s ideas… but he had to admit they didn’t all sound so bad. Maybe a new project would help him get his mind off things.

“Can you sing me that song, papa? The pretty one from the movie.”

Mikhail smiled. “Of course, my princess.” And started singing her what would become her favorite lullaby.

“ On the wind, 'cross the sea, sing this song and remember

Soon you'll be home with me, once upon a December… ”

Kalinka yawned and curled up nice and cozy in her bed.

“I’m gonna turn out the light now, princess. Maybe I can build a robot that can do that for us too.” Mikhail joked.

“You could call him Bright Man, and he’ll have a biiiiiiig lightbulb on his head…” 

Mikhail chuckled at his daughter’s wild imagination.

As the lights and her eyelids fell, Kalinka drifted off to sleep, and the last thing she heard was her father’s voice.

“You are the most precious thing in my life. I promise that I will do anything in my power to make you happy and keep you safe, my princess.”

--------

Kalinka opened her eyes. She was still curled up, but not on the couch, or in her father’s arms, or on her bed. She was on a bed, but somebody else’s. And as she stared across the room at the owner of said bed rummaging through her closet, the reality of her situation came flooding back to her.

The year was 20XX A.D. It had been roughly five years since Mikhail Cossack made his promise, one week since he proved just how far he would go to keep his promise, and half an hour since the situation had been mostly resolved. But there was still the fallout to deal with.

“I know we have a first aid kit in here somewhere…” Kalinka was watching closely as she sat up on the edge of Roll’s bed, helping herself to some leftover soup and rice balls they set out on a tray. She thought it tasted a lot better than what she was given at Wily’s Castle. There was also an E-Tank on the tray. She picked it up hesitantly, she thought these were just for robots, but she took a tentative sip. She instantly perked up. It tasted like sparkling blue raspberry juice…

After the Cossacks were let into Light Labs, Dr. Light had taken Dr. Cossack to the living room to rest (and Proto Man went with them, Dr. Light seemed to have something he wanted to talk to him about), while Kalinka was set up in Roll’s room. She seemed to have dozed off.

“There it is!” The robot girl turned around with a first aid kit in hand and her eyes widened. “Oh, you’re awake! I hope I wasn’t too loud…”

“N- no, not at all! Don’t worry about it.” She felt a sharp pain in her arm.

Roll knelt down to Kalinka’s bedside. “Sorry, I’ve done a lot of repairs on broken robots, but it’s been a while since I’ve had a human patient…” She inspected the Russian girl’s arm. “Your wounds don’t seem that serious, just a couple bruises. Dr. Cossack seemed to absorb most of the damage.” She took an ice pack out of the kit and applied pressure to her arm. “You’re not feeling feverish at all, are you? I could get you some Coldkiller X…”

“N- no, I’m fine! This is really nice of you.”

“It’s no trouble at all! It’s the least I can do after… everything today.”

“Do you really need to do all this for me? Shouldn’t this be enough?” She swished the E-Tank around in her hand.

“Those only heal robots, unfortunately. For humans it’s basically just a tastier version of Monster Hunter Energy. No, we have to do things the old fashioned way.” She bandaged up the girl’s arm.

Kalinka shyly stared at her. “Umm… hi.” Kalinka waved at Roll with her other hand weakly. “I never really got to introduce myself. I’m Kalinka.”

“Oh. Oh! Right, sorry. Where are my manners?” the robot girl shook her head, then held out her hand to Kalinka. “My name is-”

“Roll, right?” The girl smiled as she held Roll’s hand. Roll looked at her, kind of stunned. “DLN. 002,” she continued. “The housekeeping robot. One of the first two of Dr. Light’s Robot Masters to be unveiled to the public.”

“You know about me?” She was… a little surprised. Sure when the Robot Masters were first introduced and she was one of a set of twins, she caught a lot of attention from the media. But after Mega Man put a stop to three different major attacks from Wily, she was increasingly sidelined in favor of her brother. Rock and Roll got stopped in the street a lot by Mega fans, but they rarely paid her any mind.

“Oh yeah, I’ve read a lot about you in Father’s scientific journals!” She blushed. “Sorry if that’s weird, I just… really like studying robots, and I thought you always seemed really cool… it’s nice to meet you.”

Roll smiled. “Nice to meet you too!”

Kalinka’s smile turned gloomier. “I just wish our first meeting could’ve been for some other reason than this… There was supposed to be a Robotics Convention this week, but we had to miss it because of…”

Roll looked at her sympathetically. “Look I’m… I’m really sorry about… all of this. If we had known what Wily was up to, we would’ve made sure you were safe way sooner.”

“No, it’s ok! It’s not your fault! It’s that jerk Wily’s fault.” Kalinka pouted and crossed her arms. “Making Proto Man take me away from school, using me to get Father to pretend to be evil, and make those two new robots to fight Mega Man…”

Roll’s eyes widened. “Woah woah, back up. Proto Man kidnapped you?!”

Kalinka nodded. “Yeah, but he told me he only did it because Wily said he'd explode if he didn’t.”

Roll scowled skeptically. “Yeah, he would say that, wouldn’t he?”

Kalinka waved her arm defensively. “You don’t get it. I wouldn’t even be here if he hadn’t fought off the robot guarding me.”

“Oh yeah, who was that? Quick Man? Snake Man? Don’t tell me it was freaking Bubble Man-“

Kalinka shook her head. “None of them. It was… someone else.” Kalinka thought back to the robot she had seen. She started to pout and curl up into the fetal position on the bed. “I thought I knew every robot that’s been released to the public, but that one… with her dark spiky helmet, the weird coily fingers, a stringy spark plug tail… I’ve never seen or heard of anything like her. She was scary.”

Roll searched all her memory databases for a robot that matched that description, but curiously found nothing. “Did she give you her name? A serial number?”

Kalinka shifted awkwardly in her seat. “She didn’t say. I tried to talk with her, but she didn’t seem to want to say anything about herself at all. I only know she was a she because that’s what Proto Man called her when he was rescuing me.” She brought a finger to her lips in thought. “But he could’ve been wrong, it’s 20XX, it’s not great to assume things like that just from looks...”

Roll was worried. Kalinka was clearly affected by this experience. “What did they do to you?”

She side eyed the robot girl. She was scared, but something made her feel like she could open up to Roll about all this. “She didn’t hurt me, if that’s what you mean. Not yet anyway. But Wily told Father and me that if I tried to escape, or if he let anyone know about his plan, if we didn’t do exactly what he said then… it would be game over for me.” The Russian girl started shaking. “You don’t think she’d follow us here, would she?”

Roll frantically waved her hands back and forth. “N- no, of course not! Mega Man will take care of it, just like he always does! He’ll save the day, and then we’ll get you home. I bet your mother will be excited to see you get home safe-”

“My mother passed away when I was four.” She looked like she was about to tear up.

Roll felt as if some obscure glass part inside her just shattered. Oh great going, Roll, your bedside manner is phenomenal today. “I am so… so sorry for your loss.”

“It’s okay. I was really little... It’s just been me and Father and my brothers as long as I can remember…”

Roll rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “Yeah… same here. I mean it’s not really the same because I never had a mom to begin with but… It’s just always been me, Dr. Light, Mega Man, Cut Man and the others. It’s kind of lonely being the only girl in the family, you know?”

She smiled a little at this. “Yeah, I don’t really know any girls my age at all.”

“Me neither.” It felt nice to talk about this with Kalinka. Roll had never really been able to talk to anyone like this. “... Do you wanna-”

“Do you wanna be friends?!” Kalinka shouted a little too loud before she caught herself and started awkwardly twirling her hair. “I- I mean, if you want to…”

“Yes!” Roll agreed with no hesitation. “I would love to!”

Kalinka smiled widely at her. The two girls had only known each other for a short time, but something about them just seemed to click.

And it was at this moment that they were interrupted by a knock on Roll’s door. “Come in?” Roll said hesitantly. And when the door opened she frowned at the person she saw. Kalinka on the other hand seemed happy to see him. “Proto Man!” Even if Kalinka seemed to be on good terms with him, Roll still couldn’t get a read on this guy. What was his deal? Why did he act like an enemy sometimes and help them other times, but never stay long enough to explain what his problem is? To his credit, Proto Man seemed to sense the hostility. “Your uh… father wants to speak to you.”

“Mine or hers?” Roll asked, venom in her voice.

“Yes.”

--------

The roboticists’ and their daughters gathered in the living room. Proto Man walked in with them, but had since beamed away while nobody was looking. He felt awkward about the whole situation, and probably wanted to avoid confronting Roll about it. Kalinka wished he had at least waited long enough for her to say goodbye. Her injuries were minimal, but Mikhail was a lot worse for wear. His whole back was bandaged up and his arm was in a cast. Nonetheless, he looked a little happier seeing his daughter again. “Kalinka! Are you okay, my dear?”

Kalinka looked worried at her father’s appearance, but forced a smile. “I’m fine, Father. In fact, I should be good to go back to school really soon.”

Mikhail winced. “About that… I’m not letting you go back to that school. The faculty should be ashamed at what they let happen on their watch, I need to enroll you somewhere that I can be sure won’t let that happen ever again.

Kalinka looked surprised, but not necessarily disappointed. “Oh… okay, that’s fine. I didn’t really fit in at that school anyways…”

Mikhail gently rubbed his thumb on his daughter’s face. “Don’t worry, my princess. They didn’t appreciate you there, but I’m sure you’ll do great at Pajitnov Academy.”

Kalinka’s face lit up at this. Today has really been a rollercoaster of emotions for her. “Pajitnov Academy? The school with the best robotics program in all of Russia?!”

“And the lowest kidnapping rate! It’s difficult to get in, but I’m sure I could pull some strings after I explain our… situation.”

“Oh Father, you’re the best!” She went straight to hug her father, causing him to wince more. “Ow, ow, not so tight!” She released him and chuckled nervously. “Hehe, sorry…”

As she thought about this, Kalinka’s face fell for a second. “But if I go to that school, I’m gonna have to spend a lot less time at the Citadel…”

Mikhail sighed. “That’s fine, sweetie. I’ve had time to think about it, and I think it’s time we stopped shutting ourselves away from the world in that fortress. If I hadn’t been so reclusive, perhaps people would’ve figured out something was wrong much sooner… And besides, the Citadel is in a bit of… disarray lately. With Dust Man out of commission, it’s going to take months to clean out everything Wily did to it…”

And with that sentence it was like a switch had flipped in Roll’s head. Mostly because a switch did flip in Roll’s head: the switch that told her it’s time to fulfill her purpose. She raised her hand proudly and shouted out “I could help with that!”

Everyone turned to look at Roll, who had been silent this whole time. Dr. Light was the first to respond. “R- Roll? Are you sure…?”

“Dad, cleaning is literally my thing, I was built for this job! If I can’t keep a house tidy, then you might as well recycle me for scrap metal.”

That thought didn’t exactly make Thomas feel very good. “I- It’s a very big house, dear…”

But Roll was more determined than ever. “So we’ll get some of the mechaniloids to help, it’ll be fine! And…” She turned to the Cossacks, and made eye contact with Kalinka. She was making those puppy dog eyes. “... I want to help make up for all the trouble we caused. This is what friends do, right? Help each other.” Kalinka smiled at the word “friend”.

Dr. Light was still hesitant, but took a deep breath and smiled warmly. He laid a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “You’re right. You have a good heart, Roll. You and your brother are cut from the same cloth, after all. Would that be alright with you, Mikhail?”

Mikhail shared a look with his daughter, who nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, Thomas. Thank you for your kindness, Miss Light.”

Dr. Light laughed heartily. “Perfect! I’ll have some arrangements to make, but I’ll make sure you’re perfectly prepared for your first big mission.”

Roll was giddy with excitement that she was able to help out. “Thank you so much! I won’t let you all down!”

--------

Technically speaking, the official name for Dr. Light’s breed of hyper intelligent robots was “Numbers”, but market research found that “Robot Master” ended up being much more appealing and cooler to the average consumer. The only issue with the title is most people weren’t quite sure what it meant.

Some say it’s because they were masters at their main skill. This certainly applied to Roll, if there was anyone on Earth who could clean a room better than her, she hadn’t met them yet. Some of the Wily bots would tell you that they’re called such because they will be the masters of the new world once humanity dies out. Roll didn’t like that one as much, she didn’t mind humanity and running the new world sounded exhausting. And some would say the name just sounds really freaking cool, which Roll could not deny.

But one other distinct possibility is it refers to their ability to take command of armies of lesser robots. This was not a feature Roll had used much before, it was mostly something Wily’s rogue robots did, but today was different. Today, a few weeks after the fourth Wily incident, there was a job that needed to be done. A job she couldn’t do alone.

Roll stood in front of a crowd of worker robots, putting on a stoic face and stomping around like a drill sergeant, holding her broom as seriously as a 9-year-old girl could.

“Alright, mechaniloids. We’ve got a job to do. Wily’s forces outfitted this citadel with lots of tricks and traps. But we’re not going to rest until this palace is safe and spotless , do you hear me?” She punctuated her last line by getting right in a Metool’s face. It nervously nodded.

“Good. Now you all have your tasks. The Foojeens are going to help me scrub all the floors. Pointans, plug up all the pitfalls. Bunby Catchers are in charge of spike disposal. And the Met Corps will do… whatever it is you do, construction or something?” A Pickelman shrugged at this.

“Now I don’t wanna see any funny business or loafing around, okay? The Cossacks are counting on us to fix up their home, and we are going to do it right! Let’s show them what Light robots can do!” Roll dramatically swung her broom and accidentally exploded a different Met, to which she backed away in shock. “Oh crap, I didn’t mean to… you guys don’t feel pain, right?” The crowd of robots shook their heads, or whatever they had that resembled heads. “Okay, that’s probably fine then. Now… Light bots, ROLL OUT!”

The robots got to work right away renovating this makeshift death trap into the home that it was meant to be. Roll was more focused than ever on making sure every inch of the floors were squeaky clean. To most people, this would be a daunting and boring task. But Roll was not most people. She was made for this, and she took it as seriously as Mega Man took fighting Wily’s forces, and enjoyed it a heck of a lot more. Her broom was her weapon, and the dust and grime in every crevice was her enemy. She was in her element, in the zone even, and nothing felt more exhilarating. And besides… she’s doing this for her friend. And that made her feel even happier.

--------

“Alright, we’re almost here…” Roll led the Cossacks into their home with their eyes closed. Their injuries were healed by now, but Roll insisted they wait to see the results of her efforts. “Aaaaand open!”

They opened their eyes, and they almost couldn’t believe them. The old castle looked cleaner than it had in years. Kalinka looked on in awe, every hallway and corridor was shining like a diamond, the ballroom in particular looked gorgeous. “Wow! It’s beautiful!” Kalinka flapped her hands in excitement. “You did such a great job, Roll! Thank you so much!!!”

Roll wiped some coolant off of her forehead. “Eh, it was nothing.”

Mikhail’s reaction was more subdued, but he was similarly impressed. “Certainly not nothing. The old place looks good as new, you even took care of some of the mold we’ve been trying to scrub out for a long time.” He smirked. “I would expect nothing less from Thomas’s pride and joy.”

“Aw, shucks…” She didn’t feel like she fully deserved such praise. If anyone was her dad’s pride and joy, she knew who it was, and it wasn’t quite her… but she appreciated the compliment. “I’m just happy to help after everything.” She watched happily as Kalinka sprinted around the wide open space, gawking at every sparkling corner of the room. She had such a big smile on her face. Roll was glad she was able to make her smile. In that moment, she felt like she would do anything to see that smile on her face forever.

As she was lost in thought, Roll was taken by surprise when Kalinka ran up to her and grabbed her hand. “Come on, let’s go see the roof!” Before her systems were able to process what was going on, Kalinka was pulling her along through the system of lifts and ladders that led to the upper level of their castle.

--------

Eventually, the two girls had finally gotten to the upper level of the castle, and rested just on the edge of a floating platform, overlooking the snowy countryside below. Roll hadn’t paid close attention to it when she was working, but now it was her turn to be in awe. “Wow. It’s a really beautiful view up here. You’re lucky to live in a place like this.”

Kalinka grinned proudly. “I know, right? When I was really little, I told Father I wanted to live in a castle. So he made his robots build this for us. Just to make me feel like a princess.”

“He must really love you a lot.”

“He does! He’s always doing things to make me happy. Even… all of that from before.” She rubbed her arm nervously. “He did that to protect me… He wouldn’t have done all that if he didn’t love me a lot.”

Kalinka made a face, but Roll couldn’t tell what it meant exactly. “So, now that you have your home back, what are you going to do?”

Kalinka pushed some hair out of her eyes. “Well, I’m starting off at a new school really soon. You know how that is.”

“Psh, of course I do!” She did not. Roll had been homeschooled by Dr. Light her entire life, she had no experience whatsoever with real schools. But she had watched Rival School Musical and she was pretty sure that was about the same thing. “Are you nervous?”

“A little bit. But I have a good feeling about this. There will be a lot more kids that are into the same things I am. Robotics is just scratching the surface, I’m also gonna be taking some piano and dance classes, that’s going to be really cool!”

“Well that’s awesome! I hope you have a wonderful time.” Roll was happy for Kalinka, but it felt bittersweet. Kalinka was the first real friend she had ever made, and now it’s going to be a long time until they could see each other again.

Almost as if she read her mind, Kalinka continued on. “But don’t worry, we’ll still be able to talk and stuff! I’ve got a really good cell phone, I can give you my number, and my e-mail, and my dorm address when I figure that out! I’ll make sure you won’t forget about me!” She playfully elbowed the robot girl, which made her smile. “And I have summers off, I can come visit then!”

Roll liked the sound of that. “That sounds great-” Kalinka cut her off by pulling her new friend into a tight hug. “I’ll be back next year, okay?”

Roll was surprised, but hugged back. “Thanks, Kalinka. Don’t keep me waiting.”

Roll stayed for dinner that night, and they had a nice conversation, but before long, it was time for Roll to say goodbye to her new best friend. She felt a weird pain in her chest area, almost the same as whenever Mega Man leaves for a mission, but slightly different in a way she couldn’t place. But she knew it wouldn’t be long before she saw Kalinka again.

20XX will pass. But 20XX will be here before you know it.

[sminny-wew]

Redid my Bass and Kalinka species swap designs, they still need some touching up but I like them much more now c:

Haven't tried to design a MMBN version of Piano til now b/c as far as I'm concerned that's just what Kalinka would look like as a netnavi lol

[you-cant-fuck-megaman]

You perfectly explained Dr wily! That being said...

What do you think about skullman in this equation?

I always liked headcannoning that Dr Cossack made *Skull* man to partially get back at Wily. Like: I took your aesthetic, now you can't use *Skull* for a robotmaster theme without being redundant!

But it's kinda funny to think that Wily could have been a really horrible commissioner. Since he forced Cossack to build Skullman.

Thank you for reading this.

i'd believe it! it makes a lot of sense! wily's kind of an asshole like that.

for context for those who may not be in the know:

cossack was very much into making RMs for working with humanity. love and peace, funny mascot robots, and perhaps a bit of h*ndh*lding in between. thing is, he only made 6. maybe he was a bit behind on corporate mandates, he was still stuck on megaman 1 while everyone else had moved on to megaman X12 or something idk.

in communist russia, however, Wily beats you. both Ring Man and Skull Man only came about after Kalinka was kidnapped and Wily forced him to make more robots to razdavit that little blue dweeb. making robots specifically to fight and destroy went against everything that Cossack stood for, and so he went with the image of a skull to signify the death of an ideal and also a ring to signify i don't know wth the hell. maybe a hole because he got fucked. the ariga megamix manga expanded on this and made it so that Ring Man was designed to be a law enforcer robot, who used his rings as cuffs to lock people down, which is pretty cool, and made Skull Man the sole harbinger of ouch because there's not much else you can do with a skull motif except perhaps piracy and high-stakes dentistry.

but i like the idea that Wily's specifically meddling in Cossack's shit because he's that much of a goddamn egotist and Cossack lashing back by specifically targeting Wily's theme.

"zdravstvuyte, bastard. check it out. i'm working on that fighting robot you wanted. you know what would make it better? skulls." "you wouldn't." "what are you going to do, comrade? there's not many other skeleton themes to use. there's a few, though. i've got a few words that come to mind. chto eto za slovo, how do you say it in english..." "don't say it." "would a boner help? do you want to be the boner man? are you going to be the guy who makes a boner man? or are you going to grab someone else's boner man?" "god DAMN YOU." "are you going to cry? piss your pants, maybe? maybe srat and konchit?" "shut the fuck up. i hate you so goddamn much."

[major-knighton]

HALLOW-LEE-N movie review Oct. 6th : Horror Express (1972)

Possession! Mystery! Trains! Zombie Cossacks! Mad Russian monks! Spies! Beautiful polish Countesses! This movie just has it all. And it's a Granada production, just like my beloved Sherlock Holmes series.

Just like yesterday's movie, Lee and Cushing portray two rival scientists, Professor Saxton and Doctor Wells. They are both travelling in the trans-siberian express, Saxton having with him a mysterious box containing a fossil he says will revolutionize science.

On the journey, while two beautiful women are going around doing spy stuff against each other and trying charm these stoic Englishmen into spilling their secrets, people start dying in a horrible fashion. There was something inside the fossil, which is now both possessing one person and killing other persons. We the viewer quickly find out who is possessed, but the characters are in the dark for quite a while.

The entity kills a whole bunch of people while Saxton, Wells, a police officer and later, a bunch of Russian soldiers try to stop it. Eventually, they resolve this via epic train action.

The film starts out pretty slow, but as soon as that presence gets possessing it really starts picking up intensity and becomes very enjoyable. The extreme Russian stereotypes are kind of eyeroll worthy, but the sheer performance of Telly Savalas as the Cossack Captain is really entertaining despite that.

Saxton and Wells are once again wonderful characters brought to life by Lee and Cushing's twin talent, being utter dicks to each other and most people around them. In thir opening sequence, Wells lands a place on the train via bribery. Saxton is absolutely outraged by this, and then proceeds to obtain a seat via threats of violence.

Lee gets to exert his commanding, dignified persona there. Saxton gives off the vibe of a masterful man not to be messed with, I love the scene where he looks like he's about to hand over the key to the box to the authorities and just tosses it out the window, cool as a cucumber.

As for the supporting cast, the spy and the countess are kind of forgettable and interchangeable, but the mad monk is great and Doctor Wells' assistant, the middle-aged Miss Jones, is PERFECT. She sasses Wells, takes no shit, gives no fucks. I love her, she has some of the best one-liners in this movie.

I thought the makeup effects were hella cool as well, really held up to the test of time.

One major drawback is how bizzarely calm everyone is. The mad monk seems to be the only one who is appropriate levels of creeped out by what is happening.

I enjoyed myself greatly and this movie was visually beautiful, 9/10.

[absolutely-normal-about-x]

Volnutt explaining the Family tree to his friends is so fucking funny. Like I just know the look of their faces would be from extremely morbid confusion and horror. While volnutt does this Pepe Silvia thing by linking of the relationship possibly connected the wish’s and Cossack families. The reveal that Volnutt has a MASSIVE Family, filled with Uncles and Aunts in the form of the Robot masters and The light Sibling trio.

Some Dialog to accommodate it cause trash

Barret: Fuckin sparks Vol how far the tree even goes!? I mean how did you even know your relatives there!?

Volnutt: Well okay so…there’s this weird thing

thing that robots have in that era to be their identifiers like these numbers thing they have going on

Roll: So like IDs then? Kinda sounds like what Tron does with her Servbots, she gives them numbers to identify them.

Volnutt: Yeah! Something like that Dad said that ours is “DLN” standing…ummmm…Doctor Light Number.

Aero: “Doctor Light Number” that's a weird thing but makes sense since back in their Era. Back then Robots…didn’t have much freedom…especially the ones with sentience till Reploids where a thing

Barrett: Pretty messed up to begin with but hey it was wayyy before everything happened so can’t blame the humans tho.

Roll: Actually, I wonder if your dad has a number ID like the rest of the Robot Masters before becoming a carbon. Since he was the last creation of your grandfather.

Volnutt: Well…I did ask him but he went quiet…he just says that it doesn’t matter cause at the end of the day we’re still family so we don’t think about that much…plus we share the last name so I guess it makes sense. Plus it’s been thousands of years so it doesn’t make sense for him and us to have our Numbers.

Barret: Like Volnutt don’t wanna sound over dramatic, but your family is low key wild. Especially your old man cause by the sounds of it he’s REALLY OLD LIKE EVEN OLDER THAN OUR POPS! I mean learning history is great and all but doesn’t that mess you up considering how far back that lineage dates back? How do you think your Dad feels about this? Sheesh talk about the worlds oldest fossil-

Aero whacks Barrett upside the head: Hey! It’s rude to say that to Volty you Тупица! Our Папа is also just as old as him! And Uncle Zero too!

Barrett: Hey! Hey! Ow!! I know I know but Uncle X and Z is older than him ya know!!

Roll: It’s still rude!!

Volnutt: It’s fine guys, I mean it’s pretty overwhelming genuinely it’s okay! I get to learn so much and the Guardians always learn this stuff too. The stories and history lessons are pretty fun plus Dad doesn’t seem to mind it…kinda wonder if he misses them now that no one remembers them. But it’s our job to honor them at least! Plus Roll we do share the same name as Uncle Rock and Auntie Roll! So that means something!!

Roll: Yeah it’s probably a coincidence but still it means something!! We’ll make them proud for sure!

Volnutt: Yeah!!

(They high five each other)

Barrett chuckles: Dorks ya gotta love them

Aero: Yeah…Значит, мы не рассказываем им о том, как твой отец убил свою приемную семью, верно?

Barrett: Абсолютно

Volnutt and Roll: What are you guys saying?

Barrett and Aero: Nothing!

[nicklloydnow]

The Death of the Empire by Y. P. Karpenko

“Nicholas the Last

Charles I and Louis XVI were publicly executed after open trials. Nicholas II was secretly shot in a provincial basement along with his immediate family (and four members of his staff). It was a small room and it contained eleven victims and eleven killers. They were supposed to concentrate on one victim each, but the killers were soon firing at random. Those still alive when the gunsmoke cleared were disposed of by bayonet or further shots to the head. The bodies were transported by truck to a disused goldmine; sulfuric acid was poured on their faces before burial elsewhere—to make the Romanovs harder to identify.

In his "Introduction, 1971," as we have seen, Edmund Wilson was forced to give ground on the question of Lenin's amiability and benevolence (his words). It may seem sadistic to go on quoting him, but Wilson was distinguished and representative and by no means the worst offender (he is by now allowing that he "had no premonition that the Soviet Union was to become one of the most hideous tyrannies that the world had ever known, and Stalin the most cruel and unscrupulous of the merciless Russian tsars"). Toward the end of the piece, however, Wilson is still trying to account for Lenin's bad manners. Were they attributable, perhaps, to the poor breeding of Lenin's father? "Lenin himself, although his mother came from a somewhat superior stratum, and though Lenin distinguished himself as a scholar, had always rude and rather vulgar traits." Wilson regretfully adds:

. . . I have found that it was not true, as I had been led to suppose—this matter was hushed up in the Soviet Union—that Lenin knew nothing about and had not approved the execution of the royal family. Trotsky—and, one imagines, also Lenin—were both extremely cold-blooded about this. . . .

He then quotes, without comment, Trotsky's page-long rationalization of the murders. Indeed, Wilson writes as if regicide—and bad manners—were Lenin's only blemishes; and maybe he was "led to believe" that there were no others. It is a bizarre emphasis. The clouds of ignorance part, revealing the solar fire of archaic snobbery.

Trotsky had half a point when he said (elsewhere) that the Romanov children paid the price for the monarchical principle of succession. This would certainly apply to the Tsarevich, Alexis; but the four girls could expect no such inheritance—and neither could the doctor, the valet, the maid, the cook, or the dog. Wilson quotes Trotsky's Diary in Exile (1935):

The execution of the Tsar's family was needed not only to frighten, horrify and dishearten the enemy, but also in order to shake up our own ranks, to show them that there was no turning back, that ahead lay either complete victory or complete ruin. In the intellectual circles of the Party there probably were misgivings and shakings of heads. But the masses of workers and soldiers had not a minute's doubt. They would not have understood and would not have accepted any other decision. This Lenin sensed well.

But Trotsky is lying. The masses of workers and soldiers were not told of the "decision" to execute the entire family; for almost a decade they were told, instead, that the Tsarina and her children were in "a place of security." Nor was it proclaimed, as an additional morale-stiffener, that the Cheka had simultaneously murdered Grand Duchess Yelizaveta Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, Prince Ivan Konstantinovich, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, Prince Igor Konstantinovich and Count Vladimir Paley. This group was recreationally tortured, ante mortem. Grand Duke Sergei was dead on arrival, but the rest were thrown alive into the mine shaft where their bodies were eventually found.

The murder of the Romanovs seems to me fractionally less odious than, say, the murder of a Cossack family of equivalent size. The Tsar, at least, was guilty of real crimes (the encouragement of pogroms, for example). His end provoked, among the masses, little comment and no protest. The murder of the Tsarina and the five children was clearly seen by the Bolsheviks as a political deficit. It was therefore an irrational act, an expression of anger and hatred, though you can imagine how it was parlayed into an assertion of Bolshevik mercilessness, of "stopping at nothing." The ancillary killings sent no message to the Red Army or to the Party rump (except as a rumor). It sent a message to the Politburo, and the message said: we will have to win now, because we at last deserve anything they care to do to us if we fail. The Romanovs were murdered in mid-July 1918. By this time the regime had lost much of its pre-October support, and was responding with hysterical insecurity—that is, with violence. On September 3 and 5 came the decrees legitimizing the Red Terror.

There are several accounts, written or deposed, by the guards, executioners and inhumers of the Romanovs. One of the inhumers said that he could "die in peace because he had squeezed the Empress's ——." Imagining this, we arrive at a representative image of the gnarled hand of October. One executioner wrote (and he is quoted here for the dullness of his moral tone):

I know all about it. The shooting was all over the place. I know that . . . Medvedev took aim at Nicholas. He just shot at Nicholas . . . Anyway, it was just another sentence that had to be carried out, we looked on it as just another chore. . . . Of course, you start to think about its historical importance. . . . In fact, the whole thing was badly organized. Take Alexei, it took a lot of bullets before he died. He was a tough kid.

Yes, an imposing enemy: a thirteen-year-old hemophiliac. The Tsarevich outlived Nicholas II (resonantly and deservedly known also as Nicholas the Last). In those final seconds, then, the child was Alexander IV. Or Alexander the Last—but undeservedly.” - Martin Amis, ‘Koba the Dread: Laughter and the Twenty Million’ (2002) [p. 53 - 57]

[megabonkers909]

🤖WELCOME TO MY MEGAFAM AU!🤖

Basically, this is the story of Mega Man, but think edutainment, slice-of-life show. It starts off like the regular story of Mega Man with Dr. Light and Dr. Wily being arch-enemies with Wily causing havoc on the daily and Rock aka Mega Man kicking his old ass every morning after school, except the plot varies slightly.

The biggest change is the plot. It's where the doctors treat their creations as their family and live on the same street. Dr. Light is Bandit Heeler from Bluey; a well-meaning but exhausted dad who enjoys his crazy kids' shenanigans from time to time. He spoils his kids to no end yet molds them into disciplined bots with sternness. Light in this AU is also practically impossible to tick off, basically acting like the Atticus Finch of this world (which pisses off Wily to the point of no return).

Wily is a very hands-off parent who insists the Wily bots call him 'Doc' yet would ABSOLUTELY throw hands for his boys. He is also very persistent in turning his boys against the Lights. Unfortunately, those kids have no malice in them whatsoever and constantly visit their neighbors to hang out. Wily hates when he sees how affectionate his kids are towards him and constantly shoots them death glares, but it's only because his old heart can't take their unconditional love for him.

Dr. Cossack is there too! And so is Kalinka! The Cossack bots are basically her 'little brothers' who she babies to the point where they can't function without her (I hc she and Roll are the 'Big Sister Bestie Duo'). Kossack looks like a very stern and cold person on the outside, but he just wants his kids to be safe and handles them with loving authority. So yeah...that's the whole AU! Yes, asks are allowed so you can pester me all you want with questions (Note - If I don't reply, I might be busy with other things cause I'm still a minor). I'll also be posting art and doodles related to the AU (as soon as i get my drawing tablet). ❌DNI❌ P3D0S GR00M3RS NSFW Requests (I'm a minor) Trolls Cyberbullies WITH ALL THAT SAID, HAVE FUN MY LITTLE REPLOIDS!