#donna of the dark dimension

[remixteaching]

You knew what you were in for, oh Warlord of Manhattan.

[thebibliomancer]

[celaenaeiln]

Dick Grayson's talent for manipulation literally brings the world to its knees.

Part 1 post

My absolute favorite trait about Dick aside from his craziness is his ability to control every single person in existence. The best part is, he's so clever in the way that he does it that people almost never notice.

Bart Allen

"Oh! Ahh..you're trying to get my DNA sample. You need my spit! Ha! That's such a Dick Grayson thing to do."

Bart knows!! Dick's brilliantly sly okay. Honey catches more flies that vinegar? He takes it so far that breaks he the ceiling with it because by the time he's done, people don't even know they've been manipulated. And if they do, then what can they do about it? He always wins.

With friends and family he does it to make them feel better without being so overt and discomforting them.

Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis

Jon came to him when he was feeling lost and upset and Dick set up the perfect conditions to encourage him and pick him up. He's just so good at doing what he's doing but he does it for all the right reasons.

But the extent Dick can go trick and manipulate someone is off the charts. A virtuoso.

In a Titans comic, Dick literally spent MONTHS acting depressed and weak after Donna, Wally, and Garth were kidnapped to another dimension by a villain just so he could trick the villain into thinking that his career was over and bring him into the same dimension so Dick could take him down.

He fooled everyone.

Teen Titans: The Silver Age TBP 2 Part #1

"Batman taught me how to be a totally convincing actor! So if the only way you could send me here with your ring was if I filled my brain with evil thoughts, I just faked it! My facial expression was pure evil-but my mind remained pure good." MONTHS.

He planned, pretended, and calculated every single fiber of his own mind and body until the whole world was fooled by his acting. He tricked an interdimensional being who had psychic access. That means he was so extraordinarily manipulative, he can control his own thoughts inside his head to trick someone else. Voldemort's legilimens has nothing on Dick's talent.

Like Bart, sometimes his allies are aware of this like with Selina-

Gotham City Sirens Issue #23

Selina's literally having a mental breakdown trying not to fall for Dick's manipulation and tricks.

But even if they know he's manipulating them, they still are forced to fall for it anyway.

Gotham City Sirens Issue #23

"Damn it."

Like a goldilocks mad scientist - he does it just right.

His acting is just so on point that he outschemes the schemer.

When the Crime Syndicate (Superwoman, Ultraman, Owlman, Power ring, etc) arrive on Earth to take it over when Dick is Batman, Dick needs to do something fast. But to make things worse, there's a being that's so powerful, that both the Crime Syndicate and Justice League combined have a snowball's chance in hell of defeating him.

So what does Dick do? He runs the game.

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

"Of course he had a plan the whole time. He's Batman. He always has a plan."

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

He tricks everyone.

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

And in the end, the Justice League wins and Dick saves the world.

Justice League of America (2006) Issue #52

I love how they characterized Owlman as a snake because that would make Dick a mongoose since mongoose eats snakes. And do you know what Mongoose represent in folklore? Action, adventure, boldness, fearlessness, impulsiveness, independence, optimism, rebellion, resistance, resourcefulness, speed, adaptation, agility, quickness, intelligence and wit. All characteristics that define him.

He plays the world like a chessboard, always five steps ahead.

He always has an ace hidden up his sleeve.

His thoughts are always masked behind a disarming smile.

He has mastered the art of manipulation.

And that's while he's outright fighting. His subtlety is just so seductive.

Take a look at the way he smoothly evades answering in this panel -

Grayson Issue #9

He's so smooth. She's constantly on the watch but she instantly fell head over heels for his charms in a half a heartbeat, that's just how good he is.

Grayson Issue #10

He's a master manipulator who knows exactly what to say and how to act to always end up winning.

It's seriously such a shame that one of his greatest skills and talents isn't talked about more because this man?! Flawless.

He's the spy everyone on TV wishes they could be. He's the type of spy people read about in history books and marvel at the ease, grace, and legendary story he leaves behind. He's the spy that everyone knows and dreams of in their fantasies.

Nightwing (2016)

And oh how they so are.

He can just get people to do whatever he wants.

There's a reason why Batman's only contingency plan against Nightwing is "Let's hope he fucks up." Because with his intelligence, skill, power, charisma, and raw talent - he's goddamn unstoppable.

[lisa-cuddys]

“Turn Left” is such a unique and phenomenal Doctor Who episode! It is so powerful and brilliantly performed! It is carried almost entirely by the companion, and the Doctor is barely in it. But it is still one of the best episodes of the show. At the heart of the story is not the alien standoffs and space adventures (even though it takes place in a parallel universe), but the very real human horrors and tragedies that do happen in real life, and that’s what makes this episode so heart-wrenching and raw. The plot is the story of Donna and her family and how horribly wrong her life and the life of the entire universe goes in a world where Donna and the Doctor never meet and never save each other.

It starts on such an optimistic note, showing how happy both Doctor and Donna are together, having adventures and exploring some new planet and having a blast, but Donna meets a trickster who asks if she wants to find out her future, but Donna is so content and at the height of her character development at that point, so she is already confident and HAPPY, and  doesn’t want to know, because she already has everything she needs to be happy at that very moment  and nothing else matters.

“I can see a man, the most remarkable  man…”, the trickster instantly sees and realizes how important this stranger’s presence is in Donna’s life and makes Donna reveal how she met the Doctor and how it changed her life. So, Donna gets tricked and it ends up creating a parallel world where Donna makes one wrong turn, accepts a different job and never meets the Doctor on Christmas, and he ends up dying because Donna wasn’t there, so there was no one to stop him. And things spiral from there, every single alien invasion and global disaster that happens afterwards, result in the world collapsing without the Doctor (with Donna by his side). And Donna keeps meeting Rose who jumps from another dimension and tries to make Donna believe that there was a different world where things were better because she did meet the Doctor and they were able to stop this nightmare from happening. But Donna doesn’t believe Rose at first.

The story is filled with so many raw and devastating moments that showcase how terrible everything is in this “what if…” world where the Doctor doesn’t exist. Donna and her family end up refugees and lose everything and everyone they knew.

Donna is still shouting at the world but nobody is listening.

Donna and the Doctor not meeting results in not just the Doctor’s death, but also deaths of multiple companions and friends, like Martha, Sarah Jane and the Torchwood team.

Rose tells Donna all of this, but Donna, wonderful and amazing Donna, in this world she thinks of herself even less than she did before meeting the Doctor in her own reality. She literally throws it in Rose’s face how she can’t fathom why Rose is telling her about these big events and how it all could have been saved by the Doctor, she can’t understand why Rose is telling Donna about this, why her, she’s just nobody and can do literally nothing. That’s the pain in that moment when Donna is laughing through tears at even the possibility of her own worth and importance. And she gets angry when Rose tries to get her to come with her to prove that what she’s saying is true, that stars are going out and Donna could help stop this from happening. But Donna just thinks Rose is messing with her.

And things keep getting worse and worse. The metaphorical and literal darkness engulfing the life Donna ends up in until there is not a single glimmer of hope left. The family Donna shares a place with, ends up getting sent into “labor camps” just because they are not English, and it is horrific because the same things happened before and Wilf knows it, and he already grieves this family who have become friends, because he knows what is going to happen to them and where they are really getting sent to… His heartbroken and tearful “It is happening again”, Donna running after the truck taking them away screaming “Where are you taking them???” all drive home the point of how hopeless things are.

When Donna tells Sylvia that she tried looking for a job but was rejected for “not being qualified” and adds a defeated "I guess I have always been a disappointment", she is getting the worst response from her own mother, a quiet “yeah…”

But the breaking point for Donna comes when her own grandad doesn’t fight for her anymore and ready to sell his most prized possession he never lets go of, his telescope, to make them some money for a living. Donna starts to believe in Rose’s words, when she and Wilf see the stars in the sky literally going out. That’s when Donna gives up and is ready to believe the impossible, that what Rose was saying about the Doctor is true.

And when she sees the TARDIS and hears about the Doctor’s brilliance, her first response is so heartbreaking! She honestly can’t understand how someone so extraordinary and smart and special would even want to spend time with her or need her at all. That’s how little Donna thinks of herself, and not just little, she thinks of herself as nothing, completely worthless person no one sees or hears or believes in. But the Doctor thought she was brilliant and that gives her hope.

But here comes another tragedy that in order for this terrible reality to be unwritten, Donna needs to literally kill herself…How truly horrible and awful is that? And how truly cruel it is for Donna to hear what she needs to do after being told that there is a whole life for her with the Doctor, a different better world where Donna Noble is worthy and full of potential for remarkable things. How awful it was to be given a glimpse of hope amongst all misery, being told that the world needs the Doctor and Donna Noble to stop the stars from going out, and then have it taken away because the only way out is dying….

But brave and remarkable Donna Noble does it anyway. And she does go back to her own reality and defeats the trickster and here we get the foreshadowing of the DoctorDonna because the trickster sees the incredible power in Donna “You are so strong. What are you? What will you be?”

Sylvia in the parallel world says to Donna “You think you’ll meet a man…”, and Donna does, just not the kind of man Sylvia implies. The kind of man who will  save her, and she will save him, and together they will stop the stars from going out and save this world and reality itself. That’s how powerful meeting the Doctor was for BOTH himself and Donna. It is a different kind of love that will save both Donna and the Doctor, and the world around them.

When Donna and the Doctor are reunited, it feels different because she already knows what it’s like to lose him and she rushes to hug him and catches him by surprise. He doesn’t know what it’s like to lose her (yet) but he will soon find out…and probably remember this hug as the last happy memory that he will cherish for millions of years and she will have to forget.

And the very next moment is a foreshadowing of not only the metacrisis DoctorDonna but also Donna millions of years later becoming the Doctor’s home. And when Donna once again dismisses her own importance, the Doctor instantly and without hesitation reminds her that SHE IS BRILLIANT, and she smiles at him because that’s exactly what she needed to hear and that is what he always tells her. Donna has seen the world without him and the world where she felt like nothing, and the Doctor wasn’t there to show her how wrong she was. But now all is right in the world again, the puzzle pieces are back in place, at least for a short while.

This story showed how intertwined the Doctor and Donna’s fates are. How them not meeting literally becomes their own undoing and results in a threat of the whole universe blinking out of existence. How their accidental Christmas meeting became their salvation. How without Donna the Doctor would die, and without the Doctor Donna’s life would become a nightmare. How one little detail can change so much.

“Turn Left” is such a masterpiece of drama and had such outstanding acting in it too, specifically by Catherine Tate. She carried this episode on her back (pun intended). 

And this episode is one more proof that Doctor Who is not just silly space adventures and camp and fun escapism, it is also impactful and meaningful stories about ordinary people capable of so many profound and extraordinary and truly great things, and all they need is for someone to believe in them and remind them they can do anything and be brilliant and fantastic.

[sadcoms]

AU where Rose stayed with the Time Lord Doctor after Journey’s End and they start to argue more like they did in S1 because the Doctor is doing his “I never would” thing and Rose is now saying “but sometimes you HAVE to” which causes him to start down another Davros-inspired spiral about how he’s “turned her into a weapon” and she’s like...actually travelling across dimensions trying to fight eternal darkness brought about by a ton of genocidal aliens will do that to you regardless!

Because Rose was never for pacifism-above-all-else. The episode before Dalek Harriet Jones straight up says she’s a very violent young woman because Rose (not unreasonably) wants the Slitheen to be blown up after they murdered countless people. Same with the Nestene Consciousness - but the Doctor says he has to give it a chance, and that is what she mirrors back at him in Dalek. This is usually why the pair works, because if one doesn’t have mercy on or compassion for someone the other one usually will (eg Cassandra). That’s why Ten is even willing to give Davros a chance, though it’s exacerbated by a lot of guilt around the Time War, especially when it kicked off in-part because of what he did, and failed to do, in Genesis of the Daleks.

And that is what Davros never got - that Rose had already seen the Doctor’s soul and loved him anyway; that part of their souls are the same because they helped each other grow. And it’s the same for all of the companions this era, whether it’s Jack saying he never doubted the Doctor would kill him, or Donna seeing him murder the Racnoss and still regretting not travelling with him, or Martha (somehow) forgiving the Doctor for the year that never was and for everything he burdened her with.

Because I think what Davros and the Doctor came to see as him turning people into weapons was actually just people willingly taking on the burden he carried. Again, a lot of people sort of write Tentoo and Rose off as the dalek genocide couple, but what exactly was the alternative? Let them destroy the universe? The Doctor is a coward, any day, and that makes complete sense as a reaction to already bearing two genocides on his shoulders, but it’s also that cowardice that makes other people step up and be brave, which usually means sacrificing themselves, and the Doctor carries that too. That is why Martha gets the direct parallel to the Doctor with the Osterhagen key - both are willing to burn their planets to save the rest of the universe, and Martha already spent S3 being more like the Doctor than he was because he was so broken by grief. By Season 4, the Doctor is already so self-destructive and so self-loathing that only he, the "true" Time Lord, can be the arbiter of genocides and who can’t be. Even when it comes to Martha, or to another exact replica of himself.

(Never mind that he makes essentially the same decision the Metacrisis Doctor and Martha did again in End of Time when he sends Gallifrey back into hell, but hey, he got there in the end.)

And it’s one of the reasons why the Doctor’s so reliant on the Master. I’m not sure he would have gone to get his ‘reward’ had some of that weight of destroying Gallifrey again not been shared with another Time Lord. Ten does, ultimately, put humans on a pedestal and does his best to protect them even when they are willing to share his burden (note that Tentoo destroying the Daleks means Donna doesn't have to take on any of the burdens Rose or Martha did, so she stays the least militarised companion). He simultaneously wants that other Time Lord judgement while needing humans as another perspective.

All of this to say that, I think most people understand that Ten being with someone but especially with Rose would have stopped him going Time Lord Victorious, but they don't necessarily understand why. TLV comes from his desire to save everyone, because all the loss he's seen and has caused is too much. Not only does having Rose help soothe that, but she also specifically could have helped ground the Doctor back to where he was morally in the first two series, which is quite different from where he is by S4.

(Also The Next Doctor would have been an absolutely wild story for Rose and the Doctor to have gone on next. They arrive thinking they might have a fun Christmas and then they have to confront the fact that the Battle of Canary Wharf is still following them and how when they lost each other they lost everything. And how the villain in that is defeated by the Doctor showing her herself, which is what Davros tried to do the Doctor.)

[thebisexualdogdad]

Could you plz do headcanons with Hellblazer!Reader x Donna Troy?

Donna troy x Male!reader

● you have known Donna for a decade first meeting back when you were 18

● the justice league dark which you had recently joined were asked to aid the justice league in fighting doomsday

● Dick had written you off but Donna fully believed in your magic

● Dick "really Donna? You're falling for this mumbo jumbo?" He says as they watch you create a potion made of outlandish ingredients Dick had never heard of

● Donna "the Amazon's history is rooted in God's and goddesses, occultism is not too far out of the box"

● sure you two met up every so often to hook up but with the amount of traveling around you both did you decided it was best not to commit to a relationship and ruin the good thing you had

● but then years later she's settled down in San Francisco with the titans so you found a way to make your own pocket dimension headquarters to allow you to move to San Francisco to be with her while still having 24/7 access to the other JLD members when needed

● Donna is the only one on the titans who is allowed to have a key to this pocket dimension

● and Gar and Connor have been banned from even stepping inside after setting off a magical windstorm in your library while messing around with some of your ancient artifacts

● well Kori has been trusted with another key in case of an emergency but no one except you and Donna know that

● Donna walking in on you doing a spell fully naked

● "see something you like love?" You say with a grin

● "Y/N please put some clothes on, the titans need your help"

● you become a mentor of sorts to Rachel teaching her about the supernatural and how to control her powers

● she's also not allowed to take any of your spell/ritual books out of the library because once again Gar and Connor were messing around and accidentally summoned a demon in the titans tower

● Donna and Zatanna are super close

● Zatanna tells Donna so many embarrassing stories about you

● and all the magical mishaps she's witnessed you make

● being the only girl in the JLD Zatanna also likes having other women around

● Zatanna "you think Gar smells bad when he shapeshifts? You don't even want to know the smells that come off of Alec when he returns from the swamp"

● giving Donna your trench coat when it's cold out

● "you know there is something that will warm you up" you say suggestively

● Donna leans in like she's going to kiss you but instead whispers "tequila?"

● Donna pulling you in by your tie to actually kiss you

● and flirting with her at the most inappropriate times during missions

● Jason "does he ever shut up?"

● Jason still hasn't forgiven you for the time you turned him into a rabbit

● in your defense it was Kent's idea after the two of them were arguing because Jason was trying to sneakily put his Dr Fate helmet on despite being warned not to several times

● Jason "it's just a stupid helmet what's the big deal"

● "kid that helmet is one of the most powerful artifacts in the world not even I could handle wearing it, you certainly wouldn't be able to"

● Bobo argues a lot with Dick on who is a greater detective, him or Bruce

● Bobo "Richard, I am a member of mensa"

● Dick "yeah but you're a monkey!"

● Bobo "a chimpanzee actually and batman is the one who comes to me for help not the other way around"

● "he's got a point Dick"

● Dick "not now Y/N!"

● when Donna died you and Rachel stopped at nothing to get her back

● Kent told you it would be impossible to resurrect her but she was the love of your life, you would either get her back or die trying

● when you do finally get her back the two of you decide to put superheroing behind for a bit and travel the world together

● a year later Kori gets a call that you proposed in Paris and that Donna would need her help planning the wedding

[silveragelovechild]

“Eye of the Beholder” (season 1, episode 6) from Twilight Zone (1962)

Donna Douglas plays a woman undergoing plastic surgery to correct defects on her face… but it’s a failure!

“Suspended in time and space for a moment, your introduction to Miss Janet Tyler, who lives in a very private world of darkness. A universe whose dimensions are the size, thickness, length of the swath of bandages that cover her face. In a moment we will go back into this room, and also in a moment we will look under those bandages. Keeping in mind of course that we are not to be surprised by what we see, because this isn't just a hospital, and this patient 307 is not just a woman. This happens to be the Twilight Zone, and Miss Janet Tyler, with you, is about to enter it.”

[mymiraclebox]

The Kwamis

Alpha Kwamis: Vitaa the Panda of Life Shii the Crow of Death Tikki the Ladybug of Creation Plagg the Black Cat of Destruction Graay the Wolf of Order Prrysm the Platypus of Chaos Stellar the Firefly of Space Koree the Raccoon of Void

Elemental Kwamis: Swaar the Dinosaur of Gravity Longg the Dragon of Storm Tonna the Feathered Serpent of Earth Zeffyr the Griffin of Air Duskk the Grim of Darkness Nokk the Kelpie of Water Emburr the Phoenix of Fire Matto the Pterosaur of Aether Kirrin the Qilin of Light Kiikaa the Thunderbird of Electricity Uunice the Unicorn of Magic Ziima the Yeti of Glaciation

Timekeeper Kwamis: Antiqq the Aurochs of Reversion Shaash the Bear of Preservation Sass the Cobra of Opportunity Zipp the Dragonfly of Progression Allta the Frog of Change Keena the Lynx of Intuition Frostt the Penguin of Stagnation Fluff the Rabbit of Evolution Apple the Red Panda of Lineage Passtel the Snail of Patience Faae the Spider of Destiny Mataara the Tuatara of History

Delta Kwamis: Harmonee the Ant of Cooperation Sannar the Axolotl of Restoration Fangg the Bat of Fatigue Chaapa the Beaver of Innovation Pollen the Bee of Subjection Maggi the Binturong of Magnetism Yanna the Bison of Victory Blancca the Blackbuck of Inversion Nooroo the Butterfly of Generosity Duune the Camel of Perspective Milli the Chameleon of Emotion Purr the Cheetah of Agility Reef the Coral of Sensitivity Dess the Cougar of Apathy Remmi the Coyote of Despair Snapp the Crab of Adaptation Llucie the Crocodile of Clarity Fawnna the Deer of Wilderness Barkk the Dog of Detection Clikk the Dolphin of Sound Olivv the Dove of Peace Liiri the Eagle of Freedom Tuskk the Elephant of Memories Florra the Elk of Growth Sorren the Falcon of Observation Trixx the Fox of Deception Elle the Gecko of Equality Parra the Giraffe of Confusion Ziggy the Goat of Imagination Karrma the Goose of Justice Verr the Gorilla of Sacrifice  Spikke the Hedgehog of Precision Taamus the Hippopotamus of Density Kaalki the Horse of Migration Ravenna the Hyena of Scarcity Gloss the Ibex of Friction Izzy the Isopod of Instinct Niisha the Jackal of Connections Belaa the Jaguar of Imperception Jellos the Jellyfish of Hatred Kicc the Kangaroo of Avarice Vexx the Komodo Dragon of Corrosion Valoree the Lion of Courage Donna the Llama of Attention Vollee the Locust of Invasion Xuppu the Monkey of Derision Allces the Moose of Evocation Duux the Moth of Hope Baash the Mouflon of Strength Mullo the Mouse of Abundance Currio the Narwhal of Wonder Attlantis the Octopus of Choice Jiicho the Okapi of Dimension Fleet the Ostrich of Guidance Ziibi the Otter of Transformation Tyyto the Owl of Secrets Stompp the Ox of Determination Lynn the Pangolin of Boundary Ecco the Parrot of Communication Duusu the Peacock of Psyche Daizzi the Pig of Love Glaace the Polar Bear of Endurance Anjjel the Quail of Mercy Habuu the Rattlesnake of Beauty Ommen the Raven of Probability Mannta the Ray of Immersion Kaanda the Rhinoceros of Augmentation Orikko the Rooster of Vitality Finn the Salmon of Navigation Aynna the Scarab of Reflection Verriti the Scorpion of Truth Daante the Seahorse of Fear Selkee the Seal of Elusion Flairr the Secretarybird of Passion Poppy the Shark of Joy Yuume the Sheep of Dreams Frijj the Snow Leopard of Silence Tinni the Squirrel of Diminution Noodle the Stoat of Elasticity Prrince the Swan of Loyalty Acce the Thylacine of Isolation Roaar the Tiger of Force Scuut the Tortoise of Knowledge Wayzz the Turtle of Protection Teer the Vulture of Sorrow Sotaa the Wolverine of Conflict Drill the Woodpecker of Expansion Divvi the Zebra of Duality

[rubyred1187]

Hot Girls don’t Gatekeep (dark academia edition)

How do you improve your vocabulary?

Read! Every time you encounter a word you don’t know, look it up and write it down. Than try to use it in a sentence in the next few days. I found it useful to study Latin and French because a surprising amount of your vocabulary can consist of those languages and still apply to the English language. It adds another dimension to your vocabulary. And don’t be afraid to ask if someone uses a word in conversation you don’t know.

How are you dyslexic but read so much? How can I read faster?

Audiobooks. There are many free audiobooks on YouTube especially if you are looking for classics. With physical books I suggest using a pencil or your to finger to follow the lines and that will help you read faster. You can also draw a line down the page just before the latest word and it will make you read faster because your mind will instinctually fill in the ending word. I wouldn’t recommend this for deliberate reading but you can find an audiobook and put it in 2x speed and follow along with the physical book and you will finish it very quickly. Finally, I would recommend just reading books that interest you and time will fly by.

Best Dark Academia fashion tips?

Red tights. Black turtle neck/black skirt/tights combo. Golden locket (bonus if you can find a vintage one or the Lana Del Rey necklace). Sweaters (Thrifted/Croft & Borrow/Urban Outfitters but ones resold on Depop or Poshmart). Invest in Loafers and a tote bag that you really like. Try to develop your own style using Pinterest and looking at runway shows.

Books that altered my brain chemistry

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Atonement by Ian McEwan

King Lear by William Shakespeare

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Tenth of December by George Saunders

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

[battyaboutbooksreviews]

July 2024 Young Adult Book Releases

✨ July 2 ✨ 💜 Fun Fact: I Love You - Gina Lynn Larsen 💜 Not About a Boy - Myah Hollis 💜 Break to You - Debra Young, Michelle Knowlden, and Neal Shusterman 💜 On the Bright Side - Anna Sortino 💜 Meet Me in the Middle - Alex Light 💜 Rise - Freya Finch 💜 We Don't Have Time for This - Brianna Craft 💜 Joined at the Joints - Marissa Eller 💜 Reckless - Lauren Roberts 💜 The Heart of the World - Amie Kaufman 💜 A Darker Mischief - Derek Milman 💜 Ready or Not - Andi Porretta 💜 The Ones Who Came Back Hungry - Amelinda Berube

✨ July 9 ✨ ❤ Beneath These Cursed Stars - Lexi Ryan ❤ The Mirror World - Femi Fadugba ❤ Hearts Overboard - Becky Bean ❤ Heir, Apparently - Kara McDowell ❤ The Darkness Within Us - Tricia Levenseller ❤ A Magic Fierce and Bright - Hemant Nayak ❤ It's Only a Game - Kelsea Yu

✨ July 16 ✨ 💙 The White Guy Dies First - (ed) Terry J. Benton-Walker 💙 The Second Song - Adrienne Tooley 💙 Trespass Against Us - Leon Kemp 💙 Grief in the Fourth Dimension - Jennifer Yu 💙 The Ping-Pong Queen of Chinatown - Andrew Yang 💙 Dashed - Amanda Quain 💙 Riot Act - Sarah Lariviere 💙 Portrait of a Shadow - Meriam Metoui

✨ July 23 ✨ ❤ Time and Time Again - Chatham Greenfield ❤ The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky - Josh Galarza ❤ Near Misses & Cowboy Kisses - Katrina Emmel ❤ The Lost Souls of Benzaiten - Kelly Murashige ❤ Asking for a Friend - Kara H.L. Chen ❤ Exes and Foes - Amanda Woody ❤ Stefi and the Spanish Prince - Donna Freitas ❤ I Will Never Leave You - Kara A. Kennedy ❤ So Witches We Became - Jill Baguchinsky

✨ July 30 ✨ 💜 The Loudest Silence - Sydney Langford 💜 The Blonde Dies First - Joelle Wellington 💜 Castle of the Cursed - Romina Garber 💜 The Grandest Game - Jennifer Lynn Barnes 💜 The Mirror of Beasts - Alexandra Bracken 💜 Such Charming Liars - Karen M. McManus 💜 Our Wicked Histories - Amy Goldsmith 💜 Eighteen Roses - Shannon C.F. Rogers 💜 Finding Famous - Candice Jalili

[couldntbedamned]

Hello! Since you appear to be a Strange fan, both comics and the movie version, do you think the movie does his arc justice? Not being very famiaair with the comics my issue with the first movie is that pre-character development Stephen is potrayed, instead of charismatic amoral bastard like pre-character development Tony Stark, as merely a run of the mill charmless asshole, so what happens to him feels more cruel than karmic, but you also don't get that invested in seeing him get better.

So, Stephen's backstory in DS1 definitely left something to be desired for me. I know that BC did his absolute best, but not touching on WHY Stephen is so hell-bent on Not Failing Ever and so determined to Be The Very Best Like No One Ever Was™️ was a huge miss on SD & MCU Exec's part.

Stephen's childhood and losing his sister Donna is such a huge part of what informs who he is as a character. He couldn't save his sister from drowning and he's never forgiven himself for that. He has a perfect record in the OR because 1) he IS a talented and gifted surgeon and 2) he's able to purposefully choose cases he KNOWS he can pull off. Every time he saves a patient he's succeeding rather than repeating the worst failure of his life and the thought of not saving a patient terrifies him because he already failed once and he can't bear to to it again.

[Also in 616 Stephen's father was such a massive asshole and Stephen's childhood was Not Great, which also factors in to why he's so driven to succeed. (Also he developed a drinking problem to cope with the pressure.)]

One of the parts that struck me in DS1 is just how uncomfortable he is being thanked by the patient's family after he removes the bullet. Dude saved a guy's life, but he doesn't exactly like the praise from the family; he doesn't think of himself as a hero. He just did his job and he resents the hell out of the other doctor (Dr. West) for not doing his properly (in Stephen's view). Then he's back to being cocky which always struck me as a front.

I will never ever EVER say that Stephen's not arrogant. He IS. I LOVE that about him and I feel like one of the few people in fandom who doesn't have a desire to see him humbled or knocked down a peg or two (usually in the name of making him worthy of whatever love interest is being put forward in fic 🙄). He's arrogant and he has every reason to be: he IS smart, he IS a talented doctor, and he IS a master of the mystic arts. He's earned the right to be.

But that's FAR from the only part of his character. He's also empathetic, incredibly lonely, and desperate for connection even when he's terrible at it. In lots of ways he's a self-fulfilling prophecy because he WANTS to connect with people, he WANTS love but he's also so scared of failing or hurting anyone else that he defaults to Asshole!Stephen because if they leave, then he can't hurt them. He's also, more than once in 616, made decisions for someone's own good without actually consulting that person.

Stephen is, first and foremost, a healer. He WANTS to help people. He ABHORS the taking of a life. And a lot of that clashes once he learns about the mystic art because as we've seen, sometimes there's no other way and it weighs HEAVILY on him, to the point where he feels so guilty about what's happened to Peter in regards to Endgame that he did a spell to MODIFY THE WORLD'S MEMORY. There some desire to play around, sure, but I 100% believe most of it was due to guilt.

I wish his trauma from the Dark Dimension and Infinity War was touched on more, because man has been through the wringer.

The thing about adapting Doctor Strange into a movie is there is a LOT of lore that has to be cut or repurposed to fit within the box MCU has built. SD is a fan and did his best, I know, but things like Stephen's backstory getting cut and removing the scene in Nepal where Stephen tends a dog's paw because "he's not nice enough yet" kind of irk me. I do think, hands down, he has a much better grasp of Stephen as a character than do MW and SR. And BC himself is a huge fan and understands Stephen's character very well and what little backstory/gravitas we got for Stephen in ITMOM (that wasn't built around pining for a woman he parted amicably with and hasn't dated in fucking years 🙄) was because of BC. I wish we'd gotten more.

I'd definitely check out @doctorofmagic and their AMAZING posts. They have such a fabulous understanding of Stephen as a character.

[movedto-lastavenged]

So if anyone is interested in shipping with Clea; let me know, cause yah but point i was making...

In her general default of my portrayal; whether I write her, assuming she's wwith Stephen (my own invnted version of him; not specific to anyone) or that she is simply a resident of the Sanctum, along with having her own little apartment in New York; as Clea remotely is the Dark Dimension's Sorcerer Supreme (although she's there often enough as well) she has does take seriously the title and duty of being Warlord of Manhattan.

Now the point that I was making; Stephen Strange will always be important to Clea; and I will reference him and treat him as an NPC on writing here; along with Wong and other frequent characters tied to the Sanctum. So that's simply how I write, and it's not pushing anything and I'll bounce between either present canon; The Stranges are together, or they aren't, but they always platonically very close.

Additionally, I am working on how I wanna go about; but generally, I will have Clea taking on raising her baby sister whom she will name Donna. Since this does go well with the kind of adapted/reimagined origin story that I've written/worked on for Clea.

[trickstress333]

Trapped in a Device of Our Own Making

Link

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: F/M

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Strange (Movies)

Relationship: Clea Strange/Stephen Strange

Characters: Stephen Strange, Dormammu, Clea Strange, Wong, Bruce Banner

Additional Tags: Strangehalloween2023, Prompt Fic, What if it took a lot longer to defeat Dormammu, BAMF Stephen Strange, POV Stephen Strange, Temporary Amnesia

Language: English

Summary:

“Over one hundred million loops.

At this point, even his memory was failing on the specifics. He had spent so long in this dimension of darkness that he vaguely remembered what his life was like on the outside. Certain things of course were locked in: Donna, Christine, Neurosurgery, the crash, Wong. The day to day life as a normal being? Not so much.”

What if Stephen Strange killed Dormammu rather than reaching a stalemate?

Day 2 of the Strange Tales of Halloween 2023

Prompt: Trapped

[otometrashqueen]

I stumbled upon the Doctor Strange animated movie from 2007! I had no idea it existed! I ate it up like I was starving 🤤

I enjoyed it because it was a Dr. Strange movie and I love seeing my boi get portrayed in different media.

But I have thoughts about this movie 👀

I know it’s pretty much made for kids, but let me have this

It is a very 2007 production, I feel that I’m so spoiled with animation in general now, the animation felt slow and there wasn’t much in the way magic, 😔

I also didn’t like that there were no interesting women characters, they had a few women sorcerers, but they were killed off pretty quickly

Seriously this dude that didn’t wear a shirt lasted longer than the hot goth sorcerer lady, I was super pissed.

But I felt better because shirtless chad got dead by the end of the movie so I felt better about it 😌

Anyway, the female doctor that was once Steange’s love interest is also uninteresting, it’s not her fault tho and even strange’s interactions at her at the end felt forced because we spent no time with her and really didn’t know anything about their relationship other than it was over because Stephen was a prick.

Also I rolled my eyes that she paid for his trip Tibet! Of course she did and she gets no thanks for it really! Wtf Stephen 🤨

I know the Ancient One is supposed to be a man, but I just love that change for the MCU, let me have my strong female characters and she’s more relatable because she wasn’t this perfect master, she’ll always be my Ancient One 🥺

Now onto the stuff I loved!!!

Naked!Stephen enjoying a hot bath 💦

He looks lonely in that tub 😉

His Fit!

LOOK AT HIM SERVING LOOKS 🥺😩

And the best part is this outfit comes so suddenly, like I didn’t realize he was “done” with his training 😆 and the next scene he looks like a snack, it was so sudden I laughed out loud but I also loved it. I love his hair 😍 the swept back gray bang really does it for me 😩

That his sister died after he performed her surgery! 😭

Now I didn’t like it obviously, but I think a really interesting plot point and is very much in line with young Stephen thinking he can fix everything, poor dumb dumb.

I actually like it more than the story we got about Donna in MOM, this seems more in line with his character.

Stephen protecting and saving the kids in their minds since he said he didn’t treat children and wouldn’t help in the beginning 🥺😩

Wong scouting new sorcerers to train, including mentioning a woman named Clea as the top candidate!!!! I watched the scene a second time to make sure he said Clea 😩😩😩 ✨

It would be an interesting change if Clea was human and got recruited to be Stephen’s disciple and eventual lover 😉

Also Cloakie! The best boi. The moment. The OG real one

Again I know Stephen’s supposed to be Sorcerer Supreme blah blah, but I do prefer that Wong is Sorcerer Supreme in the MCU. MCU Wong would never put up with comic Stephen 😆

I love their dynamic this way! Plus I think Stephen not officially being Sorcerer Supreme frees him up to do other things story wise like travel to the dark dimension with Clea 😘

[friendship-showdown]

Friendship Showdown: Confirmed for the bracket

While we wait for the rest of the results from the preliminary round, here is a masterlist of all the besties who will be in the bracket SO FAR and the amount of submissions received (which will play a part in their seeding!):

*rounds 11-50 of the prelims are still going, make sure you vote!*

Maya Fey and Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney): 13 submissions

Holga Kilgore and Edgin Davis (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves): 8 submissions

Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington (Stranger Things): 6 submissions

Jessie and James (Pokemon): 5 submissions

Denji and Power (Chainsaw Man): 4 submissions

Sherlock Holmes and Joan Watson (Elementary): 4 submissions

Willow Park and Gus Porter (The Owl House): 4 submissions

Pat and Ink (Bad Buddy): 3 submissions

Simon Snow and Penelope Bunce (Carry On series): 3 submissions

Donna Noble and the Doctor (Doctor Who): 3 submissions

Lady Mary Crawley and Tom Branson (Downton Abbey): 3 submissions

Luke Sunborn and Serene-Heart-In-The-Chaos-Of-Battle (In Other Lands): 3 submissions

Jang Jaeyoung and Choi Yuna (Semantic Error): 3 submissions

Inej Ghafa and Jesper Fahey (Six of Crows): 3 submissions

Sana Bakkoush and Isak Valterson (Skam): 3 submissions

Curt Mega and Tatiana Slozhno (Spies Are Forever): 3 submissions

Ted Lasso and Rebecca Welton (Ted Lasso): 3 submissions

Kronk and Yzma (The Emperor’s New Groove): 3 submissions

Camilla Hect and Palamedes Sextus (The Locked Tomb): 3 submissions

Wei Wuxian and Wen Qing (The Untamed): 3 submissions

Sara Chidouin and Joe Tazuna (Your Turn to Die): 3 submissions

Hina Azumi and Eiji Hino (Kamen Rider OOO): 2 submissions (won prelim round 1)

Julie Molina and Reggie Peters (Julie and the Phantoms): 1 submission (won prelim round 2)

Abed Nadir and Annie Edison (Community): 1 submission (won prelim round 3)

Percy de Rolo & Keyleth of the Air Ashari (Critical Role): 1 submission (won prelim round 4)

Aang and Toph (Avatar: The Last Airbender): 1 submission (won prelim round 5)

Billy and Mandy (Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy): 1 submission (won prelim round 6)

Ahsoka and Rex (Star Wars: The Clone Wars): 1 submission (won prelim round 7)

Roger and Lyra (His Dark Materials): 1 submission (won prelim round 8

Fig Faeth & Gorgug Thistlespring (Dimension 20: Fantasy High): 1 submission (won prelim round 9)

Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki (Bleach): 1 submission (won prelim round 10)

[penguins-united]

Books read in 2022!!

rereads are italicized, favorites are bolded

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling

2. Boxers by Gene Luen Yang

3. Saints by Gene Luen Yang

4. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

5. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

6. Immortal Poems of the English Language by Oscar Williams

7. Soldier’s Home by Ernest Hemingway

8. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

9. Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix by JK Rowling

10. The Dead by James Joyce

11. Soldiers Three by Richard Kipling

12. The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

13. Richard iii by William Shakespeare

14. Balcony of Fog by Rich Shapiro

15. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

16. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

17. I have no mouth and I must scream by Harlan Ellison

18. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

19. The moment before the gun went off by Nadine Gordimer

20. The importance of being earnest by Oscar Wilde

21. A farewell to arms by Ernest Hemingway

22. Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

23. Rules for a knight by Ethan Hawke

24. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling

25. The Secret History by Donna Tartt

26. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

27. Gerard Manley Hopkins: The Major Poems by Gerard Manley Hopkins

28. Highly Irregular by Arika Okrent

29. The Green Mile by Stephen King

30. The Swan Riders by Erin Bow

31. The King’s English by Henry Watson Fowler

32. The Truelove by Patrick O’Brian

33. The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett

34. The Wine-Dark Sea by Patrick O’Brian

35. The Commodore by Patrick O’Brian

36. An Old-Fashioned Girl by Louisa May Alcott

37. Long Day’s Journey Into Night by Eugene O’Neill

38. The Disaster Area by JG Ballard

39. The Tacit Dimension by Michael Polanyi

40. Wicked Saints by Emily A Duncan

41. The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

42. The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

43. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

44. The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

45. Exit Strategy by Martha Wells

46. The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner

47. A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner

48. Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner

49. Return of the Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

50. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

51. Confessions of St. Augustine by St. Augustine of Hippo

52. Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett

53. The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O’Brian

54. Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre

55. The Russian Assassin by Jack Arbor

56. The ones who walk away from Omelas by Ursula K LeGuin

57. Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling

58. The Iliad by Homer

59. The Treadstone Transgression by Joshua Hood

60. The Hundred Days by Patrick O’Brian

61. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead by Tom Stoppard

62. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus

63. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

64. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the Pearl, and Sir Orfeo (unknown)

65. Persuasion by Jane Austen

66. The Outsiders by SE Hinton

67. Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville

68. The Odyssey by Homer

69. Dead Cert by Dick Francis

70. The Oresteia by Aeschylus

71. The Network Effect by Martha Wells

72. All Art is Propaganda: Critical Essays by George Orwell

73. This is how you lose the time war by Amal El-Mohtar

74. The Epic of Gilgamesh (unknown author)

75. The Republic by Plato

76. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles

77. On the Genealogy of Morals by Friedrich Nietzsche

78. Ere the Cock Crows by Jens Bjornboe

79. Mid-Bloom by Katie Budris

80. Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O’Brian

81. 21 by Patrick O’Brian

82. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

83. Battle Cry by Leon Uris

84. Devils by Fyodor Dostoevsky

85. The Uncanny by Sigmund Freud

86. The Door in the Wall by HG Wells

87. Oh Whistle and I’ll Come to You My Lad by MR James

88. The Birds and Don’t Look Now by Daphne Du Maurier

89. The Weird and the Eerie by Mark Fisher

90. Blackout by Simon Scarrow

91. In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

92. No Exit and Three Other Plays by Jean-Paul Sartre

93. The Open Society and its Enemies volume one by Karl Popper

94. Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

95. The Ethics of Ambiguity by Simone de Beauvoir

96. The Cue for Treason by Geoffrey Trease

97. The things they carried by Tim O’Brien

98. A very very very dark matter by Martin McDonagh

99. The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich A Hayek

100. The Lonesome West by Martin McDonagh

101. A Skull in Connemara by Martin McDonagh

102. The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh

103. Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche

104. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene

105. The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth

106. Things have gotten worse since we last spoke and other misfortunes by Eric LaRocca

107. Each thing I show you is a piece of my death by Gemma Files

108. Different Seasons by Stephen King

109. Dracula by Bram Stoker

110. Inker and Crown by Megan O’Russell

111. Out of the Silent Planet by CS Lewis

112. Killers by Patrick Hodges

113. The Game of Kings by Dorothy Dunnett

114. The Rise and Reign of Mammals by Stephen Brusatte

115. Any Means Necessary by Jack Mars

116. The Birth of Tragedy by Friedrich Nietzsche

117. In A Glass Darkly by J Sheridan le Fanu

118. Collected Poems by Edward Thomas

119. The Longer Poems by TS Eliot

120. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

121. The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

122. The Antichrist by Friedrich Nietzsche

123. Choice of George Herbert’s verse by George Herbert