#end of the infinity saga

[frankthesnek]

I have seen a lot of content here and on other platforms talking about how much people hate Steve's ending in the Infinity Saga, and I wanted to give my two cents. So buckle up folks!

Fisrt off, just to get it out of the way, I personally do not like Steve's ending. I don't like it because of the canon implications. They make a big deal about not changing things by getting the stones and returning them when they are done.... then Steve stays behind, and I'm sorry, but that opens the potential for SOOOO many plot issues canonically. Anyway, on to all the reasons I DON'T TAKE ISSUE WITH his ending.

The two things I see used most often as reasons to why Steve's ending sucks is 1) it's not in character for him, and 2) he abandoned Bucky waaaahhh! Let's talk about both.

1) not in character? Completely disagree, because pure and simple Steve is not the same person at the end of the Infinity Saga as he was at the start of his story.

An important thing to remember is that Steve was young when he became Captain America. He was only 25, which is like... the start of actual adulthood. He got the serum, and from that moment on, his life was not really his own. Let's look at how his life goes after becoming Cap:

Steve becomes a show pony for the USO (not what he wanted or thought he would be doing).

Steve ends up in the middle of war (yes, he wanted to protect his country. That doesn't mean you enjoy war).

Steve willingly sacrfises himself for the greater good.

Steve comes back to a new world where everything he has ever known and all the people he ever loved are gone.

Steve ends up fighting wars, again.

Steve is young and ends up in pretty much back to back situations where he is the leader in dangerous situations, something that yes he excels at... but here's the thing, just because you can do something doesn't mean you should/are prepared to. I'm not saying Steve is a bad leader (he's not), but Rhody says it best in Civil War, "Steve that.... that is dangerously arogant." Steve IS arogant. It's not intentional, just a result of power and leadership at an early age.

By the end of the Infinity Saga, this arrogance has been checked and is gone. Steve has grown, aged, seen, and experienced so much more. He has experienced not only other people's failures but his own. He has grown into his power and learned with it. We see this process as we move through the movies. At the start, he wants to have a life and settle down someday. Then he becomes Cap and at first he still wants this but, as time goes on he questions if he can ever do that because he doesn't think he can walk away (Steve says this himself in AoU). Then in the end Steve has done his time, served his term of duty and realizes he CAN walk away (I personally feel this comes a lot from Steve seeing Tony make that shift too late in life and lose his family before truly getting to experience them).

Long and short of it, Steve at the start would not have gone back. Steve as the man he is at the end, would have.

2) but he abandoned Bucky! Steve wouldn't do that, right? Yeah, yeah he fucking would. I get that it seems bitterly unsatisfying for him to just leave Bucky after everything Steve went through to save him and get him back.... but here's the thing if anyone understands Steve's struggles and what he's been through, it's Bucky. Bucky lost his life too. He went to war young, got captured and reprogrammed, was forced to do horrible things, and lost the world and people he knew and loved.

If anything Bucky would have been the one to encourage Steve to do what he did. Picture Steve going to Bucky and being like, hey I have this crazy idea, and I need you to talk me out of it. Would Bucky talk him out of it? No, Bucky would encourage it because he KNOWS first hand what Steve has lost.

Bucky clearly knows what Steve is planning when they say good bye in that last scene. Just like how Steve was willing to put everything on the line to save Bucky—Bucky was willing to let Steve go live the life he deserved. Really, that right there is what it all comes down to in the end. What did Steve deserve? After everything he has done, he deserved happiness, and that's what he got. Bucky wasn’t gonna talk him out of that because he loves Steve, and that can mean letting people go, just like it can mean fighting for them.

Anyway, just my thoughts. The end.

[savehalfbad]

Fandom Collaboration

We've joined another fandom collab. This time it's a month-long watch along. An introduction to a variety of cancelled shows meant to showcase the different stories that were wrongly kept from continuing.

We'll be meeting at discord (https://discord.gg/w53ErTt9cs). Each time for approximately 2h starting from the first episode. It's chat only, no mics.

Full schedule under the cut 1:

1st of October (Sunday) 12-2PM EST/18:00-20:00 CEST Inside Job

2nd of October (Monday) 1-3PM EST/19:00-21:00 CEST Rise of the Pink Ladies

5th of October (Thursday) 5-7PM EST/23:00-1:00 (6th) CEST The Society

7th of October (Saturday) 4-6PM EST/22:00-0:00 CEST First Kill

10th of October (Tuesday) 4-6PM EST/22:00-0:00 CEST A League of Their Own

11th of October (Wednesday) 3-5PM EST/21:00-23:00 CEST Santa Clarita Diet

14th of October (Saturday) 5:30-7:30PM EST/23:30-1:30 (15th) CEST Dead End: Paranormal Park

15th of October (Sunday) 2-4PM EST/20:00-22:00 CEST Lockwood & Co.

18th of October (Wednesday) 6-8PM EST/(19th) 0:00-2:00 CEST The OA

19th of October (Thursday) 4-6PM EST/22:00-0:00 CEST 1899

21st of October (Saturday) 6-8PM EST/(22nd) 0:00-2:00 CEST Fate: The Winx Saga

23rd of October (Monday) 5-7PM EST/23:00-1:00 (24th) CEST Infinity Train

24th of October (Tuesday) 6-8PM EST/(25th) 0:00-2:00 CEST Willow

28th of October (Saturday) 6:30-8:30PM EST/ (29th) 0:30-2:30 CEST Half Bad: The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself

29th of October (Sunday) 4-6PM EST/21:00-23:00 CET Inside Job (Cont'd)

1 I used https://www.worldtimebuddy.com/ to convert times.

[jabbloo]

the xiaomed saga continues.................more doobles

[cleabellanov]

What if...Iron Man crashed into the Grand Master?

Nikos the chinchilla was so freaking cute-

He is Iron Man no matter the universe.

And that plot twist!!

Although I have to admit, the end of this episode was extremely close to sending me flashbacks of another time the ugly grape (thanos, whatever) was attacked with a weapon that wasn't strong enough, just a distraction. We know the outcome to that one.

But since this Gamora is still alive, as we're told by The Watcher, I'm guessing THIS went different. And Tony returned home safe to Pepper and everyone was okay yay😊😊

[labyrinthofcrystals]

💎. ┊    i miss when i was obsessed with/into Marvel/the MCU that shit was fun ngl

[kittyhazelnut]

out of curiosity because i have no life i sorted the 500k fics in the MCU fandom tag on ao3 by word count and my fic is the 357th-longest MCU fic on ao3

[lionheartamelia]

Everytime I miss my marvel era I just have to dip my toe into the fandom and remember why I don’t go there any more. That fandom is filled to the brim with miserable people.

[flametrashiraarchive]

why do i get the feeling muzan would love endowed! reader in a maid costume- GHGHJBVGFGHHIJHU

Haha I can see it! (and also the other way round someone please please ask me about Maid Costume Muzan)

NSFW below the cut

Muzan x F!reader.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 |

Muzan and the Maid

Part 4 of the Muzan's Epic Titty Sucking Saga

"Put it on." The tone of Muzan's voice told you there was no room for negotiation. He held the skimpy maid's uniform out toward you, the crimson of his eyes half-flooded out by his vertical pupils. His eyes only ever looked like that when he was just about to feed, or he was just about to work out his stress on your ample bosom. You trusted it was the latter.

You knew better than to argue with his demand. Protesting the tackiness of the uniform would only earn you an hour-long diatribe about how everyone disappointed Muzan and he should let the infinity castle crumble to ruin.

Taking the garment with a sigh, you stepped behind a modesty screen and started to change.

"With less attitude next time," Muzan grumbled from the other side of the screen as his silhouette crossed the room toward your, luxurious bed.

As you pulled on the dress, you glanced down to find that the bustier barely covered... anything. It didn't even fully conceal your areola. The blushing crescents peered over the top of the dress as your nipples tented the sheer fabric. You were almost certain that Muzan somehow lowered the temperature in your room whenever he felt like it.

"Well?" you asked, stepping out from behind the screen to find Muzan sat on the end of the bed; knees spread wide and hands clasped in the chasm between them.

He glanced up at you. "Yes. Come here." His hand slipped over your hip as you stepped into the gap between his thighs. "You're nothing more than a cheap slut," he whispered, caressing the mound of your breast. "My cheap slut to do whatever I want with. Isn't that right?"

Heat prickled on your cheeks as you nodded. "Yes, my lord."

"Good," he groaned. "That's my good little harlot." At once his mouth was on you, sucking your nipple through the fabric as his brow raised and knitted together. "Mmmhhh"

Your breath shuttered as you fought the urge to put back your head and moan. For all his faults--of which there were... a couple... Muzan definitely knew how to get you off with the simple act of lavishing his demonic attention on your breasts.

The wet heat of his mouth through the fabric was divine, the graze of his teeth over your hardened bud sending pangs of desire to your core.

He chuckled, fondling your breasts through the fabric with one hand while sliding the other up under your skirt. His fingers slipped through the wetness spreading across the top of your thighs as he continued to tease and lick your breasts.

"Mm... you're always so damn wet for me..." he smirked, giving your nipple a reprieve and pushing his face into your cleavage, covering it in hot, wet kisses. "Maybe one day I'll do something about that. But tonight, my little maid..." He leaned back and scooted his way up the bed, his clothing magically turning to tatters and falling away entirely as he gave you a devilish grin. "Your lord has been a very dirty boy..."

Let me know if you want part 5... where Muzan gets a tit-wank.

[fagbearentertainment]

Transgender Swag Competition 2023 Bracket is Complete!!!

The left side consists of…

Hunter (The Owl House) vs Anne Boonchuy (Amphibia)

Marco Diaz (Star vs The Forces of Evil) vs Marcy Wu (Amphibia)

Dr Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb) vs Stan Pines (Gravity Falls)

Shiver (Splatoon 3) vs Link (Legend of Zelda)

Spamton (Deltarune) vs Duck (Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared)

Raine Whispers (The Owl House) vs Lake (Infinity Train)

Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom) vs Dipper Pines (Gravity Falls)

Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic Franchise) vs Barney Guttman (Dead End: Paranormal Park)

Luigi (Super Mario) vs Terry (The Dragon Prince)

Madeline (Celeste) vs Mad Mew Mew (Undertale)

Hermes the Elf (Rudolph) vs The Onceler (The Lorax)

Lightbulb (Inanimate Insanity) vs Vriska (Homestuck)

Liz (Butterfly Soup) vs Zoe (Monster Prom)

Damien (Dream Daddy) vs Oliver Swift (Dialtown)

Team Rocket (Pokemon) vs Perfuma (She-Ra and the Princess of Power)

Sylveon (Pokemon) vs Trans Pikachu (Pokemon)

The right side consists of…

Lily Hoshikawa (Zombieland Saga) vs Utena Tenjou (Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Narciso Ansui (Jojos Bizarre Adventure) vs Tiger (My Hero Academia)

Noelle Holiday (Deltarune) vs Tails the Fox (Sonic Franchise)

Bridget (Guilty Gear) vs Mizuki Akiyama (Project Sekai)

Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad) vs Viktor Hargreeves (Umbrella Academy)

Alex Fierro(Magnus Chase and The Gods of Asgard) vs Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid)

Reigen Arataka (Mob Psycho 100) vs Dave Strider (Homestuck)

You, reading this post vs Me, the poll runner

Lup (The Adventure Zone) vs Martin Blackwood (The Magnus Archive)

Jenny (My Life as a Teenage Robot) vs Meta Knight (Kirby Franchise)

Mettaton (Undertale) vs p03 (Inscryption)

Kris Dreemur (Deltarune) vs Apollo Justice (Ace Attorney)

Aoi Kureha (Paradox Live) vs Vivian (Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door)

Wegg (Be Kind My Neighbor) vs Sunny (Omori)

Scout (Team Fortress 2) vs Micheal Afton (Five Nights at Freddy’s)

Mangle (Five Nights at Freddy’s) vs William Afton (Five Nights at Freddy’s)

[oneknightstand-if]

If the ROs were IF readers what would be their favorite titles?

Man, have I played enough IF for this question? Okay, discarding visual novels and going with only text-based IF... Also, some of these are lies.

Merlin: A Kiss From Death - Avoid the fated apocalypse! Also horny.

Adrian: World's Apart - Yes, he's a hipster. Parser-based text adventure from the 1990s! It would've been Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but he forgot to bring his towel and ragequit.

Arthur: Save the Date - Look, his mind is blown by any of these games, but perhaps try and let him splash around in the shallow end with a relatively easy one that doesn't depend too much on stats. Also, you did your best. Move on.

Percy: One Knight Stand

Merlin: (ভ_ ভ) ރ ／/ ┊ \＼ I swear no more desserts for you if you don't stop breaking the fourth wall, Percy! Percy: 👎

4̶0̸4̸ ̶E̴r̸r̶o̷r̷ ̷N̴o̴t̵ ̸F̵o̴u̷n̸d̵: Damn I said no visual novels, so no Doki Doki Literature Club I guess the new Restore, Reflect, Retry

Cassandra: Evertree Saga

Gwen: Wayhaven Chronicles

Vivian: Someone's phone/tablet/computer is getting short-circuited if she tries to play an IF. If you tried to play a paper Choose Your Own Adventure or other gamebook with her... you're gonna get a very creepy experience there! Otherwise, she'd obviously favor one of the all completely unfinished stories about the rusalka or something such floating around like Abysm's Veil.

Lorelei: Infinity Saga

Broderick: What the hell is an 'IF'?

[sassywastelanddestiny]

HO,Y SHIT THE PERSON WHO STORY BOARDED THE MELT SCENE

IS ON MY TUMBLR .DOT COM??

@dihuh ???!!??!?!?!??!?!

This is and probably will always be one of my favorite things I’ve ever boarded haha, from Infinity Train Book 3.

[problematic-faves-appreciation]

Anyone else tired of people lauding Zuko's redemption arc as "the gold standard of redemption arcs"? While its popularity is far from unearned, I wouldn't call his arc the "be-all and end-all" of examples; doing so entails overlooking other redemption arcs for taking different approaches to redeeming characters than the Zuko arc.

His misdeeds were a bit more serious than that, bud. Yet at the same time, the retweeter is correct about one thing: Zuko's crimes are indeed easier to stomach — the other villains outdid him in the heinous department — making him palatable to people who don't want redemption arcs for characters that do really bad stuff.

So, without further ado, here are some redeemed characters with worse misdeeds under their belts than Zuko!

Cartoons

Grace Monroe (Infinity Train)

Animated Films

Emperor Kuzco (The Emperor's New Groove)

Manga/Anime

Thorfinn Thorsson (Vinland Saga)

Live Action Films

Wikus van de Merwe (District 9)

Video Games

Red Hood/Jason Todd (Batman: Arkham Knight)

This one is... complicated, but yes.

Books

Severus Snape (Harry Potter)

Live-Action TV

Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

──────────────────────

Who would you add to this list?

[book--brackets]

The Mistborn Saga by Brandon Sanderson (2006-2022)

For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark. Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Only then does he reveal his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot. But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets, and gotten it. She will have to learn to trust, if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

This saga dares to ask a simple question: What if the hero of prophecy fails?

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman (2013)

A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse where she once lived, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (1995-2011)

When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked?

Gregory Maguire has created a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again.

Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated like first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class stability, and the Tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West—a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (1976-2018)

This is the story of Louis, as told in his own words, of his journey through mortal and immortal life. Louis recounts how he became a vampire at the hands of the radiant and sinister Lestat and how he became indoctrinated, unwillingly, into the vampire way of life. His story ebbs and flows through the streets of New Orleans, defining crucial moments such as his discovery of the exquisite lost young child Claudia, wanting not to hurt but to comfort her with the last breaths of humanity he has inside. Yet, he makes Claudia a vampire, trapping her womanly passion, will, and intelligence inside the body of a small child. Louis and Claudia form a seemingly unbreakable alliance and even "settle down" for a while in the opulent French Quarter. Louis remembers Claudia's struggle to understand herself and the hatred they both have for Lestat that sends them halfway across the world to seek others of their kind. Louis and Claudia are desperate to find somewhere they belong, to find others who understand, and someone who knows what and why they are.

Louis and Claudia travel Europe, eventually coming to Paris and the ragingly successful Theatre des Vampires--a theatre of vampires pretending to be mortals pretending to be vampires. Here they meet the magnetic and ethereal Armand, who brings them into a whole society of vampires. But Louis and Claudia find that finding others like themselves provides no easy answers and in fact presents dangers they scarcely imagined.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865-1876)

After a tumble down the rabbit hole, Alice finds herself far away from home in the absurd world of Wonderland. As mind-bending as it is delightful, Lewis Carroll’s 1865 novel is pure magic for young and old alike.

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (2001-2012)

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius—and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories—they're dangerous! Full of unexpected twists and turns, Artemis Fowl is a riveting, magical adventure.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2008)

Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place--he's the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians' time as well as their ghostly teachings--such as the ability to Fade so mere mortals cannot see him.

Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead?

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (1990-2013)

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs—a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts— five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (1996)

Under the streets of London there's a place most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. This is the city of the people who have fallen between the cracks.

Richard Mayhew, a young businessman, is going to find out more than enough about this other London. A single act of kindness catapults him out of his workday existence and into a world that is at once eerily familiar and utterly bizarre. And a strange destiny awaits him down here, beneath his native city: Neverwhere.

The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (2010-present)

Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter. 

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and Shardplate remain: mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them, and won by them. 

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable. 

Brightlord Dalinar Kholin commands one of those other armies. Like his brother, the late king, he is fascinated by an ancient text called The Way of Kings. Troubled by over-powering visions of ancient times and the Knights Radiant, he has begun to doubt his own sanity. 

Across the ocean, an untried young woman named Shallan seeks to train under an eminent scholar and notorious heretic, Dalinar's niece, Jasnah. Though she genuinely loves learning, Shallan's motives are less than pure. As she plans a daring theft, her research for Jasnah hints at secrets of the Knights Radiant and the true cause of the war.

[clonerightsagenda]

Final thoughts on The Vorkosigan Saga, since I've reached the end of the road - for now, as the author appears to still be at large.

One of the pleasures of a longrunning series is having so much space for character development and callbacks. The Vorkosigan Saga does this very well. We see the characters and their world change a lot, and plot points have a habit of coming back around. A few of my favorites were Miles' recurring interest in drains and how, several books after he fails to catch a falling woman's hand in "The Borders of Infinity", he does catch Ekaterin, gets pulled after her, and realizes what would've happened to him. It's the kind of emotional payoff you can't get without buildup.

The series was in some ways a study of conflicting impulses. I got the sense that Bujold knew she probably shouldn't be as enamored with her militaristic space empire as she was but couldn't help it. Similarly, there was tension between the feminist themes and her clear conviction that the happy ending for - in fairness, all genders - is to pair up and have an alarming number of children. Honestly surprised she only has two in real life. However I was overall impressed by the handling of disability. I can't think of another genre series that deals with the topic so extensively while not being either a cure narrative or a 'bravely overcoming disabilities' story but instead is cleareyed about the interactions between class, gender, and ability with a character who just has to get on with it but also thinks the whole thing sucks. That was fascinating, even when sometimes Miles was not particularly likeable.

My favorite book was probably Mirror Dance despite how dark it was because I love identity drama and clone angst. The clone rights community (me) has forgiven Mark for being a capitalist.

I don't know if Bujold is planning more books in the series. It ended on a relatively positive note, but there was a moment in Gentleman Jole where both Cordelia and Ekaterin silently acknowledge they are likely to outlive Miles, possibly by decades. The cast seems to have middle managed their way into a quasi-benevolent imperial peacetime, so maybe it's best to leave them there before everyone's clocks tick down.

[scribz-ag24]

Hey, same user that was inspired to play EOS thanks to your art here! I finished the...basic?? story line and SE 5 and I'm enjoying myself a LOT!! THANKS ONCE MORE FOR MAKING ME WANT TO PICK UP THIS GAME AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--- Here's a lil something for you, after playing the game I love this three a lot more waaah. Anyway have a good day! :D

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed EoS!! id reccomend to play it till the end, and even check out some other entries in the saga. Gates to Infinity has an amazing story and cast of characters, although if the gameplay is too much, I think watching a playthrough might be more than enough to enjoy it. Super Mystery Dungeon is also very VERY good, even though it's more enjoyable if you've played previous entries so you can understand the cameos and references.

And i am glad to hear you also enjoyed se5, it really enriches dusknoir and grovyle as characters, ESPECIALLY dusknoir, it really makes Explorers of Sky stand out among the franchise. Btw I'd also recommend playing special episode 2 if you haven't, along with se5, it's the most emotional special episode, esp compared to the others that are more light hearted and more episodic adventures (but still a lot of fun! ^^)

Oh. and that drawing. I'm being very normal about it

(^ Me being normal about that drawing)

SERIOUSLY THO IT'S SO GOOD THANK YOU SO MUCH.....LOOK AT THOSE LITTLE GUYSSSS THEY LOVE EACH OTHER SO MUCH. THE PROPORTIONS ARE ON POINT, IT LOOKS SUPER CLEAN AND I LOVE DUSKNOIR'S WOBBLY EYE SO MUCHHH AAAAAAA

also i love the effect in the lineart that makes it look like there's two colors at once?? It looks very good and I wonder how you've done it,, bc it looks precious. Again, thank you so much for that pic i am saving it and i have already stared at it for so longggg aaaaaa

[positivelybeastly]

From the Ashes Infinity Comics #15: Pygmalion, Part 1

So, for those who are not aware - Infinity Comics are online-only comics distributed through Marvel Unlimited, their subscription based app and browser collection of comics. Regarded as 'inessential,' but still very much canon, the raft of Infinity Comics coming out of From the Ashes have been quite good, but I haven't seen fit to comment on them for a bit, until now, because . . .

Let's go.

For those not aware, Pygmalion is a famous novel by George Bernard Shaw, detailing the attempt by a phonetics professor called Henry Higgins to 'elevate' a Cockney flower-girl named Eliza Doolittle.

Intrigued by a bet that he could pass her off as a duchess through careful schooling, he decides to take her on, and though he succeeds, she ends up feeling marginalised and overlooked, treated as an object of gambling and curiosity rather than an individual in her own right, and though the play is best known for the 'culturing' of Eliza Doolittle, it is as much about the arrogance of Higgins, who is a thoroughly unpleasant and rude individual, in thinking that he has any ownership over Eliza for his education of her. He may have 'created' her, but he does not control her.

The Factory that the X-Men are living in at present must have really good central heating for Cyclops to be wearing basketball shorts and a crop top that short.

Beast is currently investigating some kind of issue with Magneto's chromosomes - to put it succinctly, he appears to be ageing rapidly, and does not have access to his X-gene at present. This is a continuation of the storyline in the previous Infinity arc, which focused on Magneto.

Something worth noting - this is the first acknowledgement of the fact that though Hank's body may be of roughly the same physical age as his original, his mind is considerably younger, situated at some point in his mid 20s. For someone who was always the oldest of the original X-Men, this is fairly significant.

Also worth noting - Hank joins the ranks of superheroes who are actively seeking therapy for their problems! Good on you, Hank! And good on you, too, Scott, for suggesting it. Though, perhaps, given recent developments in the mainline X-Men comics, you should take your own advice . . .

The fact that Hank refers to himself as the only one left seemingly confirms that X-Force took care of the Beast clones who Beast Prime planted around various landmarks as part of the Ghost Calendars arc. Though they were defeated in their respective future timelines, I wasn't quite sure if they had been taken care of in the present as well. This seemingly confirms that they were.

Hank's therapist is Dr. Andrea Sterman, a supporting character from Jed MacKay's Moon Knight run, and a member of the Midnight Mission. Given that the writer, Alex Paknadel, confirmed on Twitter that he talked with Jed MacKay about making sure all the details for Hank's storyline would line up with the mainline X-Men book, I can only imagine this was done as a rather fun continuity nod.

Hank also refers to a Shi'ar warship, an avian alien race that the X-Men deal with on a regular basis. This makes sense, given that Hank was beamed aboard the Shi'ar imperial flagship during the events of Dark Phoenix Saga in 1981 - ancient history for us, but relatively fresh in Hank's mind, given his memories come from 1985.

Hank, naturally, does himself a disservice here. Dark Beast was, assumedly, abducted at a relatively young age from his human parents, and indoctrinated by Mister Sinister as something of a protege - a protege living in perpetual fear of his mentor. He probably didn't have a chance to develop any kind of moral code divorced from the social Darwinist hellhole that is the Age of Apocalypse.

That being said, Hank probably lacks that context, and Dark Beast is unique among Age of Apocalypse denizens, not just for his unerringly cruel nature, having never shown any altruistic tendencies (unlike, say, AoA Cyclops or Nightcrawler), but also for his resilience. He persists, even now - though last seen in Immortal X-Men #9 as a head in a jar, he has come back from the dead at least twice before, and it is unlikely he is gone for good.

Fun fact - his appearance here is based on the costume he wore during his scrap with Emma Frost's X-Men team in a confrontation with Spider-Man and the Lizard. Though the X-Men naturally encountered him after this point, it's fun that this appearance by Dark Beast is considered iconic enough to be the 'definitive' look for him by this comic.

Hank's final remark, about 'Henry McCoy plus time equals atrocity,' is a sentiment often repeated on social media boards, and it's interesting to see it being internalised by Hank himself, given his unique perspective on the events that created his future self and the other potential timelines the X-Men files likely refer to.

Mm. A lot to unpack here.

Hank's relationship with his X-gene has always been complicated, and the way he views it here, as essentially morphing him into a shape that he finds abhorrent, predatory, and beyond his control, is consistent with how Hank seemed to see himself during his feline mutation, which lasted from 2000 to 2013.

Though his feline phase is not referenced in this comic, beyond the 'over time, and with a little help, these became more pronounced,' (probably a reference to Sage's jumpstarting his secondary mutation) it assumedly would be in the files Hank has been using to catch up, and one has to wonder if he's been repeating some of the thought processes that made feline Hank such a uniquely neurotic version of the character.

It's also nice to see a canonisation of my long held fanon that Hank's X-gene is actively attempting to craft a form for him that is best suited for survival, a belief that Hank only hinted at back in Morrison's New X-Men, but which made sense, given the circumstances of his mutation in X-Treme X-Men.

That being said, Hank's own mind seemingly strays back to the night his furry mutation first manifested at the Brand Corporation in Amazing Adventures, where he flew into a berserker rage and nearly killed Carl Maddicks, which always seemed a little incongruous with how Hank was written in subsequent appearances in Avengers and Defenders, but which now seems to be retroactively made an expression of the brutality he was capable of during his feline phase.

The 'violent upheavals' Hank refers to here are likely his initial secondary mutation, and then his near-death experience when said mutation randomly destabilised in All-New X-Men. It could also be a reference to his numerous genetic troubles during X-Factor volume 1.

His opining that he found refuge in the life of the mind is very reminiscent of Hank's desire to find meaning in poetry, literature, art, humanity, in the wake of the changes in his body in both X-Factor and New X-Men. X-Factor #33 and New X-Men #117 both specifically reference his delight in the freedom to think, in opposition to the clouding of the mind that came with his Pestilence inflicted dumbing down, or his newly awakened predatory impulses.

Ironically enough, Magneto is, aside from Simon Williams, the character with whom this version of Hank has shared the most panel time and dialogue, between his conversations in X-Men and previous From the Ashes Infinity Comics. It would appear that Max's need for a cure for his condition are fostering a necessarily stronger bond than Hank and Max have ever shared before in canon.

Precisely where the rest of the team is during the course of these events is unknown. If I had to guess, it's possible this might be set during the events of X-Men #2, where the rest of the team was attending to a mutant rescue in San Francisco, accounting for the lack of availability of the Marauder and a reliance on an old Quinjet.

Quite how Hank got his hands on said Quinjet is unknown, though it's possible it might be a holdover from Hank's Defender days, where he would regularly borrow a Quinjet from the Avengers, for purposes ranging from actual superhero missions to attending Patsy Walker's wedding.

Though this Hank's memories originate in closest proximity to the Defenders, and though that team did enjoy some degree of notoriety under Hank and Candy Southern's stewardship, the Avengers have always been where Hank was most popular in-universe, and he has had a habit of using that association to smooth things over in mutant related books, such as in X-Factor volume 1 and the 90s X-Men run.

Unfortunately, mutant rights are in a more dire state than ever before, with things having seemingly gotten only worse for them since the 1980s, and it's likely Hank didn't expect this level of hatred from normal civilians.

I have, unfortunately, run out of images, so I'll be posting the last of this issue and my final thoughts and predictions in another post.