#had lots of fun shuffling stuff around in the DC

[navybluetriangles]

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[pliablehead]

I guess if I want to write a travelogue/write up post about my 4-stop journey following the first chunk of Everything Everything's 2023 US tour then I have to just... do it!! If this is of interest to anyone other than me then GREAT and if not then it's still special to me to try to write down and remember everything I can uwu

FIRST STOP WASHINGTO-- wait, no, actually, first stop, on my way out of town, the local donut shop in my neighborhood, a place that I absolutely adore and patronize all the time with staff who mostly know me by now/some of whom are my instagram friends/etc. i'd checked with the Pittsburgh venue ahead of time to see if it was okay to send in outside food as a gift to the band even though they have a cafe/bar in their own right, and whoever I corresponded with said it would be totally fine, so I talked to the donut shop manager and set up a delivery of a dozen for the lads for Saturday before their show here. advance paid for that, as well as getting my own breakfast and coffee hehe, and then hit the road. OKAY FOR REAL FIRST STOP WASHINGTON DC!!! This was the second-longest leg of my Car Driving and it was definitely a wee bit exhausting but I had a podcast or two and a ton of E E on shuffle to bolster me through and I made it to my mom's friends' house, where I was staying, with relative ease. The venue was within a not-too-unreasonable walking distance too so after a change of clothes (I had very distinct and deliberate Show Outfits for each night that were fully separate from my travelin' clothes) and a bunch of fussing with the bracelets™ I headed over!! stopped for empanadas and a smoothie on the way and then queued up!!

aaaaahh this was such a nice fun queue. I was maybe about a dozen-ish people back from the front, down about half a block, and once I finished scarfing down my food this was my first real experience with doling out the bracelets. so fun! I'm glad it was basically an instant hit! AND I even got a few trades in this queue--one person gave me a Man Alive / Tin / E E bracelet with teeny tiny beads, super fun, and one person with a SHITTON of kandi stuff gave me one that had the name of a flower genus on it?? i think they said it was?? I love the colors on this one! And one person traded me a Blow Pop. lmao. I should eat that before it sits in my fanny pack for too long. I also really enjoyed chatting with the two guys right in front of me (Nick and Alex?), who were from south-central PA and had a couple other fandom touchstones in common with me (mcelroys/dnd/BDG! I love this Venn diagram!!) as well as a big love for E E. We didn't really see much of each other beyond the point of getting inside but I liked y'all a lot!! Hope you had as great a time as I did!!

Black Cat is where I saw E E the first time I EVER SAW THEM, which was almost exactly six years ago from this gig, which is insaaaane. The space is kind of narrow so there's not a huge amount of stage barrier space right at the front, so Becky and I ended up pretty much at the front but almost aa-all the way stage left/Jeremy-side. coulda been worse hehehe. We kind of loitered and chatted with nearby folks, I think maybe becky checked out merch ahead of the show ? but I kind of just held down the fort, enjoying setup stuff, pete running around etc hehe. getting BLASTED by the AC, which was nice.

the ummmm the opener! our first experience with Pierre! I gotta say his general style is not for me, despite the fact that I do think he's very talented and good at the thing he's doing. this first night especially he was SO sweaty and I felt bad for him lmao, you could like see it dripping off him. i am so curious as to why/how he got paired with the boys for this tour, like, what aligned in such a way that this match was made, because my general vibe on the crowd/his audience/etc was that we the fans of the nerdy white english mathy rocker guys were not exactly his demo LOL. BUT i will say in DC I do think he had one little pocket of strong-contingency fans because I kept hearing big whoops and cheers coming from one specific audience spot and I loved that for him lmao. for some reason i cannot explain I actually almost found his backing/support musician guy (the guy who was basically his version of peter) more compelling. I wanna know THAT dude's story lol.

so when he finished up we had a little interlude aaaannndd the setlist appeared... hehe. I could def have peered up to look at it from where I was, but I was telling myself I wanted to be surprised, and was deliberately looking away........ until suddenly everyone around me was gasping and going HOLY SHIT and I was like, ugghhh okay, I will check JUST enough to figure out what that's all about, and what that was all about was immediately apparent because smack in the middle of the set were a Man Alive track (which we never get in the states bar MY KZ) and something that just said "New Song." AND LIKE, OKAY, THAT'S A JUSTIFIED HOLY SHIT. new song????? so now we had THAT to contend with coming up, and aaaaaaah. ahh. yeah holy shit indeed.

it's also while we're standing there that AG pops into view, (or maybe I first spotted him during Pierre's set? Chronology is irrelevant), back off behind Becky from me in the other direction, and we waved over at him to say hi and he says to us, "All four of them are bleached blond." And my gut instinct was to be like, I DON'T BELIEVE YOU, but also the truth in my heart was that there was absolutely no justification for not believing them, because of course they would, and sure enough these bozos roll out onto the stage and they are all four draco malfoy-ass bleach blond. God it looks a mess on Jeremy LOL and while the color/dye job wasn't bad on Alex, it was clear his finer hair wasn't holding up as well against the chemicals because it was just a fluffy riot mess. BUT GOD IT WAS REALLY SO INCREDIBLY STRIKING OF A VISUAL for them to be all be wearing all pure white/beige clothes and then to have this bleach-white hair and all of it catching and glowing under the stage lights... god... clearly the effect they were going for and it WORKED, IT REALLY DID. I think it looks so damn goofy (mostly on jez) out of context but it's ABSOLUTELY nailing the Everything Everything Gig Costumes energy/uniform thing that I felt like they'd drifted away from a little the past couple tour cycles, I'm so incredibly here for it

The set!!!! The gig!!!!!!! it wasn't a wildly different set from what we'd seen in CA last year, obviously RDF-heavy supplemented with a heaping helping of singles from the other albums too, but I remember thinking Leviathan and Pizza Boy were especially excellent aaaah. And Schoolin'! And the NEW SONG! The two pieces of it I IMMEDIATELY absorbed and retained were 'the image of a little yellow face to tell you that I'm sorry' and 'I love you like an atom bomb,' and I was spouting those two pieces back to anyone who wanted to talk to me about it for the rest of the night. I'm so lyrics-pilled/vocalist-biased. Which was.... Unfortunate, for this DC gig, because I do think the audio mix was pretty rough - at least from where we were standing so close to the front, I wonder if it was at least a tiny bit better further back into the crowd in the area the sound system was probably primarily calibrated for - and we were REALLY losing Jon in the mix, especially underneath how enthusiastically the crowd was singing along a lot of the time. We were on Jeremy's side of the stage and we were really just getting a LOT of Jeremy. (Which, the bass did sound absolutely fantastic, so hard to complain about that, at least, but still.) I was very thankful to be going to a few more gigs beyond this one so that this wasn't my only experience with it, especially New Song!!! Plus there were a bunch of other little tech difficulties too? Near the beginning of the new song, Jon's guitar strap came detached and wouldn't reconnect, and after struggling a bit with that he decided to just drift back and pass it off the stage to their tech guy--but he was still kind of singing/holding the mic, so as he moved on stage, the mic cable yanked the microphone stand straight over, too. Then the rest of the night that stand was pretty precarious and nearly fell two other times, only caught at the last minute by a true homie who was standing directly in front of it in the audience lmao. I think Becky yelled HIRE HIM! at one point. Annnnd also for like a whole verse of NOTLK jez's bass boards just kind of Gave Up. He tried switching to his other instrument but that wasn't working either, and then finally it all sort of came back online, so he played a little stretch with the wrong bass and then was able to switch back to the right bass when there was a lull in his part. SHAMBLES. lmfao. god it was a great gig though. SO FUCKING GOOD TO BE BACK I LOVE BAND UWAAAAAHH I WAS SO SWEATY AND HAPPY

afterrrr da gig, we needed very badly to drink water and so we managed to do that I believe, and we kind of loitered in the Merch Line Situation trying to figure out what was going on. I had kind of resolved not to buy merch until at least NY, part because I really didn't want to be lugging anything around with me for too much of my trip (esp on this night where I walked) and part because I'd read a post that Irving Plaza was among the venues who'd committed to not taking a cut of band merch sales and letting them keep it all, and I was like, well obvi that's where I want to spend my money. Plus it was cash only in DC and since I'd kind of told myself NY I didn't even have cash out, so it was nothing. BUT!!! homie Adrian whomst I had met at the DC Foals show last December had been there, a few people ahead of me in the queue and also rocking out yaayyy, and he was trying to get merch but the ATM inside the venue literally did not have any more cash left inside it to dispense because everyone was taking out so much of it to buy merch AAAH. so he reached out to me like 'you're going to more shows than just this one right?' and asked if I'd pick him up the stuff he wanted later and then mail it to him so he didn't have to contend with international shipping and I was like aaaah absolutely! yay gig comradeship!

so I think becky finally committed to getting in the merch line and I was mostly just waiting With Becky and there weren't a ton of people left because the venue was trying to clear out, but the handful of us who were still there, a wild Alex Robertshaw appeared up near the stage/bar. we vibed out whether he was receptive to Fan Bothering at this time but it seemed legit, so a bunch of us went over and socialized with him and took some pics, got some signatures, etc, woooo. We tried to vibe out from him also if the other guys were gonna be coming out, and when and where, but y'all know Alex is the awkwardest member of this band by a country mile and we didn't really have too coherent of a discourse at this point in time lmao. Not sure who talked to him about what at this point as I was just trying to hold down the fort and be Normal. I was able to give Alex the bracelet I'd made for him at this point (he was so cute studying on it and reading it ahaha - "rave-- kevin-- kevins rave KEVIN'S RAVE" and he smiled and I felt cool), and also meanwhile Pete was still running around stage doing roadietech type stuff and I sort of politely flagged him down like "do what you need to do if you need to do it but also: Hi lol" and I got to give him his bracelet as well! yay ♥. He complimented my shirt--I'd been getting a lot of compliments on it honestly, it's their Yellow Bird Project shirt that Jon designed some time ago, only I replaced the plain white sleeves of the original unisex tee with some sort of vermilion "girly fit" sleeves that are more comfy to me and kind of give the shirt a different look haha--and I sort of joked on that, said as much, oh, I swapped the sleeves out, "It's to cover up how sweaty I get." and Pete gave me a deadpan look and went "You don't even want to go there with me" and I was like "YEP I FEEL MUCH THE SAME" and I think we both enjoyed a moment of feeling very Seen about the sweatiness hehehehehe. I love Pete he is my heckin Friend With no additional merch purchases (merchases) (hm, no) the venue was finally for realsies ejecting us so we drifted back out into the streets and just like... okay... now what........ this was the point at which I think our Band Groupie-ing Crew became me, Becky, Danielle in the fox ears/tail, and a lanky youth named S.P. whom I'd talked to in line earlier while doling out bracelets (he had the good E E baseball cap; he asked for an Arc bracelet and I commended him for being an Arc fan, since I feel like they are a dwindling/rarer breed, and then I offered up my hot take that Violent Sun is just the second coming and second pass at Duet, which he thought was spicy, and then he asked for my most controversial E E take and I told him that I don't really like Tin very much and he told me he doesn't really like Shark Week very much and we agreed to disagree and have a good night LOL) (anyway I digress !). It was a warm enough night and none of us really had places to be so we didn't mind just loitering and trying to suss out some more Guys other than just Alex and Pete, but slowly but surely we became basically the only fans left sticking it out. so we stuck together! We split up to try to find if there was a rear stage door at the back and SP and I went one way (the long way RIP) and Becky and Danielle went the other way and it turns out the way that SP and I went was an alleyway just FULL of rats. Too many rats in DC!! People like to talk about rats in NYC but I saw WAY more in Washington just vibing out on the sidewalks and eating trash. I'm not anti-rat, they live there and deserve to live, but oh man it was just. I did not especially want a rat encounter LOL. The rat alley DID actually lead us to where the bus was though!!, but there was also a venue security guy there who was immediately like "Nope, back up, leave, bye" and we were like. understood have a nice day, and doubled around a different way to meet back up with the other two. wwwwelp.

We loitered a bunch more and eventually saw Alex and his homies like, AT LEAST two more times, but we ultimately never saw anyone else. They p much confirmed for us that because this was the first night of the tour, they had a really intense load-out, and everyone was jetlagged to all fuck, that they probably wouldn't ever make it out, even though at least once Alex had said something ambiguous/optimistic enough to imply that they might yet, but really it just got SO late that we couldn't justify still being there for nothing instead of being like. asleep. lol. SP and Danielle got rideshares, Becky and I walked back as far as her hotel together, and then I hiked the rest of my way back too and went the fuck to SLEEP!!! FIRST GIG IN THE BOOKS!! WHAT A LOVELY NIGHT GOD IT WAS JUST SO BEAUTIFUL TO BE SEEING THEM AGAIN ngl I think the blond is really attractive on Mike with his darker brows/beard and I'm always a sl*t for jonathan so like. beautiful. finally some delicious fucking food

it was super nice of my mom's friend to let me stay with him!!! I was so delighted to see his cats again, I remembered them from the last time I was there like six or so years ago, they're sooooo floofy and beautiful aahh. he also provided me with a white noise fan without me even asking which was SO choice. zzzzz. My plan was to get up in the morning, get coffee someplace nearby at wherever he recommended, and then hit the road forrrr... Philadelphia!!! Night two!!!! I got some breakfast tacos at a hella legit place, messed up my coffee/milk/sugar ratio ever so slightly but not in an undrinkable way, and then frickin. autobot rolled out. This drive was not bad at ALL, I timed it pretty much exactly like I planned it to, which was to: get to my friend's place where I was crashing in philly with, ideally, enough time to take a small nap before I had to do anything else, because, god, despite being pretty exhausted and sleeping okay on the nice guest bed in DC, I had BARELY slept the night before I left just from Travel Antsiness and from both staying up way later and waking up way earlier than I meant to unintentionally, and a second little recharge zzz before I went and did it all over again really hit the spot.

It was soooo nice to see Mads again and to see Mr. Angus and also meet BENNY!! More host cats!! They are suuuch silly good little lads, Mads and I had a ton of Kitty Chat and just vibing out and talking about concerts and fandom and stuff, I was so thankful she let me stay with her and getting to hang out was icing on the cake of this trip! She pointed me toward the trolley I'd need to take to get to the venue, and after my baby snzzz and drinking a ton of water and suiting up in my Arc-inspired look (literally just a sweatshirt dress I bought specifically because it was color-blocked very very much like the jackets/outfits they toured Arc in, I saw it and bought it immediately lmfao) I journeyed into the city, hoping to just find a place to eat in the vicinity of the gig! I was way closer up in the queue this time, the people in front of me were really just like.... the usual suspects, Annika+squad and David+squad (incl. Becky, who'd apparently already been there when I got there but wasn't there when I arrived), and also a super-nice woman immediately in front of me named Robin who I MEGA hit it off with!!! Hanging out with her was such an awesome part of my experience at this gig!!! she's COMPLETELY Offline which is so powerful for her but I hope there's some capacity in which we can continue to be friends because she ruled.

There was a Dominican(? I think) place like one block down from the venue where a couple in front of me had gotten some stuff and so I ran down there to snag food too and holy shit this man gave me so much goddamn food. Just a HUGE pile of rice and beans and some pork ribs, and I got a pineapple fanta, and I just popped a squat on the sidewalk and ate as much of it as I could which was probably not even half of what he gave me but it wasn't even that expensive so god bless. Once I wasn't dealing with my food sitch any more I was freed up to pass out a bunch of bracelets again, and I even got a couple more trades, one that was just a bunch of black beads and a bunch of Xs and one that says 'BUSSY' which I am elated about, thank you so fucking much lmao. Also someone offered to trade me an ibuprofen LOL and I was like no that's fine the bracelet can be free... for now, but I will keep that in mind if I change my mind later LOL aaahhh i was just so excited to give the bracelets out it was such a good vector for socializing and making Friends and Gig Buddies. I did learn p quickly at Philly that I should have made way more Man Alive, GTH, and Raw Data feel bracelets because those were basically the first to go every night and then I got stuck with just sad unloved Re-Animators and AFDs :( I was trying to like! do equal amounts of everything to give everything the love because I love them all! but people got favorites out there damn lmao. I was happy to be able to give Robin the MY KZ one because she said that's the first song she ever heard by them and it's special to her because of that (and then also it's been in the touring set and she got to hear them perform it too yay!!! I don't remember if she said she'd seen them before but it had just been a very very long time, or what, idk, aaaah).

We were R I G H T on the stage at this venue, slightly more to Alex's side this time, and the lip/rise of the stage was not very high at ALL and it felt almost like... intimidating, or like it shouldn't have been ALLOWED, for us to be that close to the stage. :flushed emoji: jeez lmao. I didn't fuck w merch here either but some people around me did I think and I held their spots, and a nice kid from right behind me in the queue brought me a Liquid Death which was so incredibly sweet. Pierre's set passed much as it had in DC, lmao; his other musician guy had a sweet fit on, though, this like two-piece set that was a really really dark/muted camo, a blazer over a black top and then matching like athleisure-fit pants and black boots, it was a fuckin look. They had a song at the very end of Pierre's Philly set that I don't think they'd done in DC (and that I didn't get in PGH either, it turned out), and ironically that was actually probably far and away the song of his I enjoyed the most, so I got kind of into it there at the end! but MAN was I ready to see the boys instead. hnnnn.

LADS SO CLOSE TO ME. JUST RIGHT THERE AND SINGING AND ROCKING. the set was aaaalmost exactly the same as DC, but in Philly they shifted Bad Friday up out of the encore and back into the set proper, and then replaced it in the encore with Violent Sun, which I admit I'd been bummed to not see in DC because I think the Violent Sun/No Reptiles encore double whammy is so incredibly crucial to the vibe. Warmed me to have it back in. Obviously Pittsburgh had so many other contributing factors that put it over the edge, but if it weren't for all of those, I think Philly would've been my favorite/best experience of these four gigs. Jon was spicy (he sang so many of the Original Rejected naughty lyrics, this is where we got 'he's a vegetable now' for the first and only time and also the only gig of the four where he leaned into the 'Arch Jeremy' gag in Arch Enemy, hehehehe, plus also motherfuckin' distant past which is not uncommon), and we got way more of the New Song-- through the whisper network of Becky, AG, David, etc., etc., we'd pieced together enough info to know by now that apparently the title of the song was in the lyrics of the chorus, and so I think it was in Philly that we all pretty much determined/decided that this was Cold Reactor. I love you like an atom bomb and I've become a cold reactor. I wasn't diving as DEEP into SONG DECIPHERING as some other folks were, but I did like kind of working on it at my own pace and absorbing it into my heart and my understanding of the band and what they're about to start doing, and so this was really great, for me, here, beautiful, beautiful. I took almost NO pics and vids at this one because my phone was kind of dying but also mostly just because I was honestly having such an enormously great time and I didn't feel the need to try to do anything other than be present in my body at the gig and experience it live. you KNOW?? LIKE!! MUSIC. man. EDIT TO ADD: I forgot to mention a small tech flub that was actually so charming, where near the very end of Arch Enemy jon seemed to be having trouble with his guitar board in the front, and he spent so long in the outro squinting down at it and trying to resolve the issue that he didn't fully come in on the It's time to show your face! bit at the proper time, and he ended up just saying "It's time to show your face." right into the mic very unaffected and straight-up in his regular speaking voice at the very, very end when the song was basically over. lol. he is cute. everyone is cute.

(I WILL ALSO SAY I got the giggles SO BAD at david and amanda's gudetama they slipped onto the stage, oh my god--I was going to take a joke video just dramatically zooming in on it, as one does, except right when I went to do that it got caught up in jon's mic cable and just TUMBLED AND JOSTLED ALL OVER THE PLACE and that fucking GOT me and I was DYING and it was right at like. the serious, heartstring-tugging, fuck-yeah parts of No Reptiles where I'm supposed to be at CHURCH and instead I'm losing my shit into hysterics over this poor gudetama just rolling everywhere alksdhjglaksd, I had to bury my face in Becky's shoulder for a measure or more and try to recover, oh my godddd. EGGS!) -- (OH ALSO I LMAO I HAVE SEVERAL AUDIENCE MEMBER ~BITS THAT I AM DOING just like, clapping here or there, participating actively in certain parts of things, and one that I kept doing for some asshole clown reason was singing along with/lampshading Alex's quick backing vox on the second verse of Spring Sun Winter Dread-- Philly was probably the place where I was the most prominent/obvious/easy to see doing it, and it made both him and Jeremy REALLY snicker, ahahaha I'm sorryyyyyyy for being obnoxioussssss)

The merch/loitering sitch was sli-iiightly more locked down, in here; there was only so long Marty and I could pretend to be thinking about merch/hanging out with people who were actually in line but not actually being in line before they really truly wanted us to leave, and they were pretty pissed that I even left the venue with an empty/ice-only water cup, never mind any dreams of re-entry. The militant energy of the security at this venue compared to how relatively chill and normal DC had been (for two venues I would say of comparable size/seriousness) was def my least favorite part of the Philly experience. I was outside, finishing my water and chitchatting with some artsy youths who were also unimpressed with security, and Becky's messaging me like "they're in here!" and I'm like "well I'm not and I can't come back so you gotta tell them to come out here!" lmao. But they did!!! All the guys came out before too long and I very delightfully got to talk to everyone. I gave Mike and Jeremy the bracelets I'd made for them - THEY both apologized to ME outright for not coming out to chat the night before?? like hello you’re the band we’re the fans you don’t owe us anything - they kind of came toward my side of the door first, and talked and chatted some, vs Jon sort of peeling the other way to the other half of the loiterers - I honestly have lost track of the sequence of events here and what happened when, but it was largely unimportant hehe. (Gosh, but then I keep randomly remembering other unrelated details. Like, for example, Black Cat gave me their big ol' signature black cat hand stamp, and I'd been thinking, oh this will be fun to watch my four hand stamps stack from these four gigs, the way I got two together from The Altogether/Matt Duncan double feature back in July, and then Underground Arts put theirs on the INSIDE OF MY WRIST and not the back of my hand, and both Irving and T-Bird just did wristbands. BUMMER.) But mostly just Seeing Band, Talking To Band. This was when I overheard Alex definitely confirm to someone that the new song is called Cold Reactor, and he sort of half-seriously half-not said they just didn't call it that on the setlist in case there was another "New Song" they might want to decide to start playing there instead at the last minute, even though the longer this goes on the more confident we are that they're not going to do that and that Cold Reactor is gonna be a new single that probably drops once this tour is over <___< eyes emoji. Also, between Wednesday and Thursday we also knew that the bleach-blond hair is for Lore Reasons, which we assume are to do with Cold Reactor and the album it will be on, because of course it is. stupid. jonathan higgs I want to crawl inside your deranged pisces mind and meld with it vulcan style.

anyway, as far as my short term memory can be relied upon/will tell me is the truth, I think Jon was actually the last person I ended up in contact with on this night; I was drifting over toward him but someone else was still engaged in an active conversation with him, so I was like, well obviously I will wait my turn and let other people have jonathan time even though I'm the biggest jonathan girlie, I can just hang and go in when he frees up, and so I was turned slightly away from him listening in on other convos and talking to Becky and maybe Annika or a couple other people, and then suddenly there's a delicate hand on the back of my shoulder and Jon's right in my fucking ear ominously going "hello." askdjhgka. He was soooo cute and nice, I gave him the bracelet I made him as well (which was "I wanna be there" from Violent Sun and shades of re-animator orange) and he was immediately like Oh, of course you, are the bracelet distributor, and I was like hehehe yes, and he asked if I also had to do with the gudetama and I was like absolutely not I have no idea what is going on there lmfao. and I think amanda and david did take credit for it at that time of course so yes hehe. Ended up in a fun casual chitchat with Jon and Becky for most of the rest of the time here, with her trying to squeeze him for info about the new song and album and lore hehehe and him being his typical cryptic trolly cagey Jon, and it was all in incredibly good fun; he noticed her bracelet too, and she pointed it out like Yes I got the one that says This Is The Prophecy from big climb because it hearkens back to that bit they were doing on twitter from way before that song even came out so I gave her that one on purpose duh lol, and Jon says "Oooh yep I forgot about that. .. Album..." and mimed swiping his hair back like whoopsie lmao and it was such a silly little half-self-neg on Re-Animator lol, and so I said "WELP too bad! because the one I made from you is one of those too haha!" and he took another look at it as if to remind himself about it and then went "Well yeah that one's good" with a wryer wickeder laugh and I was like lmao tell us how you really feel. But like he's right violent sun is perfect and I actually labored so long over what I was going to have jon's say because he was the only person I didn't have a really solid concrete idea of what to make for and ALSO he was the only one I REALLY wanted to get PERFECT because it's important to me and yeah. so it was. reassuring for him to like the violent sun one. idk anyway.

The woman we'd seen running around doing a lot for them, including merch, who recognized us from DC the night before and was fun and glib about it, and who turns out to be: Tour Manager Sam, finally had enough of our fucking about and started very efficiently organizing us all into "everyone who wants a pic with themself + all four guys come get in Now and I'm gonna play photographer and then we all gotta go the fuck home" and I respected it SO much lmao, so we had sort of a rotating queue of group picture taking and then the guys all went back inside the venue (I kind of fingerguns'd Jon like "New York :D?" and he looked at me just SO Put Out and just deadpanned "Of course you're going to be there." of course!! lmfao) and we started talking amongst ourselves just out of reluctance to let the night end/social energy we still wanted to wallow in and that was cute and nice. I said goodbye to some folks who weren't going any further on the tour. I had such a wonderful night. Then, lo and behold, we turn around and Jeremy's up on the stoop of the venue, and he's like, I think I've locked myself out. I am locked out and I also don't have my phone on me. lmfao jez. he goes "I am going to blame jonathan" and we allowed him that. I was like, do you want me to TWEET AT SOMEONE LOL and he was like good god no they'll come back for me eventually, and then yes they did, and THEN we all left hahahaha. becky insisted on sticking with me part of the way to the trolley but I was like, it is coming in 14 minutes and it says it's gonna take me 12 minutes to get there I gotta GO!, and I freaking missed it anyway!!! and then I had to wait like OVER HALF AN HOUR MORE for the next one and i didn't even get ON the trolley till like 12:50 and it was soooo late before I was back at mads's place aiyaa. But, all in all, TRULY SUCH A GOOD NIGHT I JUST LOVE BEING IN AN ACTIVE BUZZY FANDOM SPACE AND MEETING FANS AND PARASOCIALING AND DANCING AND SINGING AND DOING ARTS N CRAFTS. you KNOW?? you know. you're on tumblr you get it.

The Philly to Jersey (pre-NYC) leg of my road tripping was set to be Thee shortest drive I had to make the whole time, so I let myself have time in the morning to keep snoozing and fucking about, even though I once again woke up way earlier than I'd hoped to and didn't ever make it back to sleep after that. But the tradeoff was still super nice and relaxing vibing with Madeline--I offered to buy her breakfast in exchange for the couch-crashin' and we got hella bagel sandwiches and cold brew from a place real close by her apartment, and scarfed 'em down while watching the most recent ep of Make Some Noise and just shooting the shit (again, largely about either fandom or kitty cats. We are simple folk). My sandwich contained salmon, a fried egg, and the most incredible sloppy caramelized onions, what a banger. The last truly good food I truly enjoyed before my mega super Travel Tummy set in and wrecked my whole shop metabolically speaking, rip. I took a little rinsy-rinse shower at her place too, and then finally made myself get up and Go to do the runaround silly business of driving to and parking in NJ, taking the ferry in to Manhattan, and then taking the subway to Allegra's place for NIGHT THREE IN NEW YORK CITY WOOOOO. I LOVE going to E E with Allegra!!!!! Once again I used her place primarily as a spot to change out of my car clothes and into my gig clothes (it's RDF night; I wore an oversized pale beige button-up shirt, actually left over from my Foals Antidotes costume from last halloween hahaha, gussied up with E E pins and jewelry) and to fuck about with bracelets. I made Allegra a special In Birdsong bracelet, the only one I did from that song :) because allegra is my special E E friend!! and she needs one of her special song!!! Fandom... is good. Allegra also had a kickass outfit. We stopped in at a tex-mex place she really wanted to try that was nearby the venue, and i got pretty nervous that it was gonna be a little late before doors for us to be hitting a sit-down dinner spot, but we rushed it along pretty well on the food and got our slice of dessert cake to go in a box and everything was A-OK. And I had time to hit a bodega for merch cash from the ATM and a pineapple soda for fortitude! let's GOOO irving plaza.

God, Irving was kind of a shitshow when it came to queuing and security though. There were a fair few people in line ahead of us, maybe just as many or slightly more than what I'd had in DC (definitely further back than Philly, although in line near us were the same also-eating-Dominican-food couple from the Philly gig, and I recognized them and was glad to see them again-- I FULLY DO NOT REMEMBER/DID NOT CATCH Y'ALL'S NAMES, AND I FEEL TERRIBLE BECAUSE WE HUNG OUT AND WORKED TOGETHER SO MUCH, i am so sorryyyyy), but then because it's not a sweet local friendly indie venue but is in fact Livenation As Hell, there's some person affiliated with the venue wandering up front offering some sort of VIP/fast pass line experience where you can just cough up some extra cash and get in your own special line and get to go in first regardless of how long other people have been queuing--you know the deal. Wack as hell. I think David and Amanda opted for this in some capacity, so I was happy for them about it, but a lot of the other people who ended up doing it had kind of rancid vibes of just like "concert-going" and not the very lovely communal sardine megafan energy everyone else had had thusfar. Also it put us where we were at in the queue standing in a place that just had a really terrible smell of sewage, which persisted almost the entire time we were there only to suddenly be replaced by a very powerful smell of bleach, as if whatever it was was suddenly being cleaned/sanitized. ICKY!! Annika was enough further ahead of us in line that I thought it might have only been over where we were but she said no she was definitely getting it too. new york city babey

Bracelet distribution got a little silly here, too, since the queue was wrapping SO far back and was being policed a little more stringently, but I had kind of figured I may need some kind of additional plan, especially since I'd decided not to wear my fanny pack (bum bag--fanny pack, says Jonathan Higgs in a derisive American accent, even as he's telling me he likes mine a lot, skdjshgalkj smh) since my shorts under my shirt had really capacious pockets and that just made for one less thing to worry about--I snagged a sheet of paper at Allegra's place, along with a gallon-size ziploc bag, and I put all the bracelets in there with a note that said to just take one if you wanted one and pass it back through the queue while we waited. It was kind of a crapshoot how effective I thought this was going to be, especially since I had to kind of wait to deploy it once there was a substantial queue BUT by the time there was a big queue it meant that I couldn't see exactly HOW big from where I was near-ish enough to the front, so I didn't know how far the bag was going to make it, if someone was going to end up stuck with my whole big bag at the back of the line (esp since I had a fair number of extra Philly bracelets left over that I lumped in with the NYC ones just because I still Had them).... whew...! BUT by the time Marty was there, he was further enough back from me that I asked him to kind of check up on it when it made it to him and keep passing it; and, by the time we were going inside, I could see zero sign of the bag itself but I DID catch a lot of people milling around me wearing bracelets, and one or two of them did stop me to thank me (since I'd indicated on my note in the bag that I was the person with green hair hahaha), and then I never saw 'em again, so I guess it was a relative success!! Yayyyyy!! WAY less conducive to making New Line Friends than the DC/Philly setup had been, but incredibly effective at making sure that all my bracelets found new homes rather than me having to take a huge handful home with me again and them just sitting in my house forever LOL. success! :)

tl;dr about the bracelets. not important compared to concert and band. WE GO INSIDE!! They have such dumb security/bag check. a gender-split process where the men get patted down by a dude guard and the women get patted down by a lady guard? In TYOOL 2023? you hate to see it. She felt the Sharpie in my back pocket and made me take it out and surrender it???? MY METALLIC BRONZE SHARPIE ? ? no sharpies in the venue I guess. Talked to at least one other person who got sharpie-confiscated too, but also at least two people who fully didn't and still had markers just fine. Absolute shenanigans. Allegra and I didn't quite get barrier due in part to fastpass line nonsense but we did end up right exactly behind Annika &co. with perfect sightlines, once again stage-left/Jeremy-ward-of-center. we don't hate it! my Philly pals to my left with David, Becky et al in front of them. Me fully surrounded by redheads. LOL.

this was the laaaatest show of my whole run, a whole lot of standing around just waiting for Band, and also definitely the energy of "trying to politely vibe to pierre kwenders's set because he can clearly see me and look straight at me even though I would much rather just skip to the bit I actually came for and don't necessarily need to see his set" just slowly increasing every night RIP lol. BUT WE MADE IT! ohhhh new york. EXACT same set as Philly but I couldn't even be mad about it because I was still so grateful to get a Man Alive song that wasn't just MY KZ (not that I don't love my kz obviously, but it HAS been in the set literally all eight times that I have seen E E live as of this Irving Plaza gig, and something else from that album is fun fresh delicious) (OH, SWEET THREEP OF FRIDAY EVENING, YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW) and to be getting COLD REACTOR again, especially becaussseee by this point I knew just enough of the lyrics that I felt confident singing/mouthing along conspicuously with the parts that I Did know, aka I See You Sir I'm Doing The Thing Just Watch Me, god I wish I knew how to be not so fucking extra but then again no I don't. we did get saddled with some Rather Annoying audience members in our near vicinity--a couple I'd spotted in the fastpass line earlier wedged themselves hard between me and my tall redhead/mask-wearing homie from Philly, all like "ummm we're short :)" because they. were, but that didn't give them a right to be pushy and rude, and their vibes were kind of shit because the sense I got was they were mostly there because the girl really loved the band and the dude didn't know much about them at all, and also they were already drunk so early on in the set, and they were talking loudly with some other fans they'd just met and getting Lore™ explained to them and it was just a lot of. loud talking and shoving. in my vicinity. when I would have preferred for there to. not be. BUT Also materializing behind me was someone who said "I saw your bracelets on twitter do you still have any!!" and I had to be like UHHHH FUCK, NO, I turned them loose into the queue, did they not make it as far as you..?? and she sadly said no, and I was like, well the only one I have left is this one I just left on for tradesies/advertising purposes, and it says "akon in the butterfly house" so that's kind of a deep cut, if you're familiar-- and she went WAIT REALLY and seemed SUPER jazzed to get a Dave Sardine-ass bracelet and I was like OKAY YOU KNOW WHAT, GOOD, ACTUALLY, because I'd made four of these and I knew they were going to be the deepest cut/hardest sell and I was really really hoping that whoever ended up with them would actually get and appreciate them. so thank you, andrea, for being that person, and for appearing exactly when the bracelet needed it most. so glad to have hung with you this night. sorry that you too found yourself among the ranks of the sharpie-confiscatees.

ANYWAY, OTHER THAN THAT, THIS AUDIENCE WAS FIRE AND THIS GIG SLAPPED. We were finally in a space and an environment that REALLY lent itself to the crowd actually full on bouncing/dancing instead of just kind of wobbling and vibing and everyone in my immediate zone was really going hard. I LOVE this fucking BAND. I love every song by this band. I love when Jon just points the mic at the crowd and the entire crowd sings the whole song word for word and note for note. I love that Jon was still desperately trying to cram the name of the host city into the start of My Kz, despite the fact that "Washington" subs for "Lucifer" perfectly (he has done this both times I've seen them in DC lol) but "Philadelphia" is WAY too stupid long and "New York City," while a syllable shorter, scans metrically in an extremely busted way and you could have just said EN WHY CEE or. y'know. lucifer. but okay man you do you. Jon was just as rowdy as the rest of us lmfao. he was like, climbing up and down off Mike's riser, he was finding people who were taking photos/videos and staring directly into their cameras (me fucking included--I'm sorry, Jon, you can't make eye contact with me while singing the "When I saw you, I fell in love" part of Leviathan, I am pretty sure that is illegal and a crime against my humanity), and basically all the tracks from Get To Heaven (plus like, Cough Cough and NOTLK) blew the fucking roof off the place. I think he donked some My Kz lyrics hehehe he just skipped to the alt lyrics of the chorus too early without completing the standard chorus first at the end, and a little flubbo in NOTLK and a tiny stutter in No Reptiles too, everyone was just TOO ROWDY and he's THROWN LOOPY and man did we not care. I said multiple times to people on this tour that pretty much the closest things I've ever experienced to true Religion are a) being in an E E audience for No Reptiles and b) being in a Hedwig audience for Midnight Radio. they're the same spiritually in my heart and also like do people who love Jesus feel this way and is this why. insane. the cult leader imagery was Not Wrong!!!!!

I wanna MERCH! I got in the line not too long after the show wrapped, but true to reports I'd heard about the pre-show merch line, it was moving verrryy slowly, with just one guy manning it who was not exactly quick and a card reader that seemed pretty chuggy too (but hey, at least NY was taking card). I'd known I wanted the poster--it's got my favorite neon orange on it, it really really slaps, and I wanted something to get signed--but I let myself talk myself into a t-shirt too, mostly because I was REALLY excited to buy E E merch apparel that wasn't black or white. Yellow!! a really freaking good yellow!! I wish the yellow ones had actually had the tour dates on them like the black and white ones did but the yellow branding has been pretty exclusive to this leg of tour (i.e. vs the red branding of the west coast one last year) and it looks soooo good with my hair that I don't especially mind. I also knew that Adrian wanted a copy of Caps Lock On, but that he also wanted a shirt, but I hadn't heard back from him about which shirt or what size so I just got the book and my stuff and then bounced. Communique from outside was that Alex had surfaced but no one else, but that Alex had promised appearances by the rest of them, but that also Alex was already gone and unlikely to return by the time I made it outside. I posted up with all my friends from inside, god this was SUCH a good sardine squad this night, and it took some waiting but eventually the promises came true! All the other boys surfaced and we had some REALLY great fan chats and mingling this tiimmmmee. oh my gosh. A guy came with a Modern Bison CD that Jon and Jeremy were really truly overjoyed to see and to sign and take pictures with; I talked to Jeremy about the bracelets some more because he'd been wearing the one I gave him the WHOLE GIG IN NEW YORK SO LIKE THAT'S GONNA BE IN ANY PHOTOS THAT WERE TAKEN PROFESSIONALLY SPEAKING, oh my gosshhh, he was so nice about it and enjoyed that his Arch Jeremy matched my Arch Emily, the vibes were impeccable; and then I got everyone to sign my poster, but of course Alex was gone already, so Jon offers to forge Alex's signature and goes "look it's like this" and draws some loopy scribble on there and I'm like, lmao, sure.

thing was... I had absolutely heard Jeremy signing something for someone else the night before talking about how he was getting really good at forging Alex's signature for him, since I guess it's normal for him to be the one that disappears the sneakiest (god he really is just the Justin Craig of this band, it's 1:1, huh), and so when I told Jeremy this, he was like "I'll do it" and I was like "no Jon did already do it" and he was going to just leave it then, like, oh, well, okay, but then he saw the mess Jon had made and he was like "--that's quite dreadful actually-- the trick is to not overthink it--" and so now my poster has two forged Alex Robertshaw signatures and zero authentic ones. l m f a o. (To be fair, I do have other things they've all four signed, and Jeremy's fake Alex is at least passable, and Jon's fake Alex is Absolute Dogshit Nothing. I am obsessed.) I even got Peter to sign! He was talking with another fan about a gift she'd given them in the past that had sadly been part of what they lost in their studio fire, it was really heartbreaking to hear. He also thanked me again for his bracelet and told me he planned to give it to his daughter and that she would love it. We took a pic together! Pete the GOAT.

While I was making the rounds with the other boys and other fans, Allegra mostly in tow, swapping sharpies among those of us who still had them, Becky was back with Jon, taking a couple videos for people who weren't there in NY to talk about stuff that they were curious about--I think in the context of Maria, Becky said something like, she thinks the hair is crazy, and Jon said into the camera something like, "If you think it's crazy Now, give it like two or three more weeks, and you're really gonna think it's crazy." SIR WHAT. If the blond is a precursor to something else happening I'm gonna be so the opposite of normal about it, and if the bleach is a stepping stone toward the boys dyeing their hair Other colors I am going to be PROFOUNDLY NOT NORMAL ABOUT IT, AND IF ANY MEMBER OF THE MANCUNIAN ROCK BAND EVERYTHING EVERYTHING HAS THEIR HAIR DYED GREEN ANY TIME IN THE NEAR FUTURE I AM GOING TO BE ABSOLUTELY COMPLETELY INSUFFERABLE. tyler the creator unfollow me right now etc. etc. etc. The more I've thought about it I don't THINK this is what's up--my sense is that any Cold Reactor music video is probably already filmed and ready to drop alongside the single pretty quick after the tour ends, rather than being something they're going to film/put together entirely post-tour, so they probably needed the bleachblond for some energy similar to how I felt about them when they first walked on stage in DC, but Oh man...... OH MAN............ I digress. anyway.

following up from that, Allegra (I think? Or maybe still Becky and allegra was just Present) addressed the notion of the hair being related to the Lore, and like, did that mean lore for the single/the upcoming album ? ? which was what we were assuming, and Jon said some demented and ominous and extremely exciting phrase like, "The lore for this one is.... b o t t o m l e s s" in his always-startling real deep Jon voice, and that was the fucking sound bite of the evening, folks. FOLKS. ALLEGRA AND I WENT ALL THE WAY BACK TO HER APARTMENT JUST CONTINUALLY SAYING "THE LORE IS BOTTOMLESS!" my body is so god damn ready.

We bid farewells to all our friends for whom NYC was their final stop on this tour!! SAD!!!!!! Going to miss all the homies T___T it's not fair that we're not just all going to every single stop on this tour I don't think? it should actually be illegal for us not to be present when the band is performing?? the hugest RIP. Hugs exchanged all around. Me trying to say bye to Jon but he's engaged with someone else so I think I just awkwardly said "See you tomorrow" twice and then we left. becky maaaybe trying to last minute scramble to also come to pgh now despite not really having accounted for it in her plans originally ? ? I was not certain what she intended here but I supported her. yes. me, annika and AG for sure being there at least. we ride. Back to allegra's where I did, unfortunately, sleep ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLY/BASICALLY NOT AT ALL due to being so hot and stuffy in my little nest on the floor that it was making me nauseated, I think I got maybe 2.5 hours tops, but I didn't really have a choice because if I wanted to be back home in time to do ANYTHING other than just rock straight over to the queue for Thunderbird then I knew I was going to have to leave so GOD DAMN early in the morning to haul ass back to where my car was and then drive the seven hours to pgh. But I did exactly that!!!! bitch!!!!! Other than some issues like, managing to make a timely pit stop for gas/potty/coffee, I endured the miserable long roadtrip despite myself, raging my way through the poconos, downing the largest cold brew Wawa would sell me, having a truly tragic car vs quesadilla incident, etc. My BFF Francis even got on the phone with me for the last hour or so and we chatted and I got to give them the whole update on the tour thus far, so fun! They MIGHT try to go to the Chicago stop next week!!! if they feel like they can swing it, and I was like ok no pressure but also it's been an extraordinary experience for me thusfar and I highly recommend. So if you see Francis at E E Chicago please holler at them kindly from me!!! :) But at the very least they said they did want a T-shirt and venmo'd me money to buy them one, since I was already still gonna have to get one for Adrian. woooooo

I got home with, yeah, basically exactly enough time to shower, get my outfit together, and regroup before heading to the venue !!! I JUST BARELY missed the bus that would've gotten me there the most promptly, largely due to not being able to find another fucking Sharpie since irving plaza took my first one lmfao, and it ended up being quicker to walk there than to wait the 36 minutes it would've been for another bus or whatever. I still had MEGA travel tummy so I just snagged an apple and scarfed it down on the walk over. Annika was already there queuing! so we hung out in line together and waited and drank the waters we had definitely brought in from outside the bar and just vibed lol. and she was like, I heard them checking two new songs that haven't been in the setlist yet, and I was like ha ha lol like what, and she said, kevin's car and leave the engine room.

and listen, I was optimistic. that my social media obnoxiousness and well-known, easily observable public desires might yet sway them, because come on it's my hometown and it's the last show i'm gonna see on this tour and I sent them donuts, and those were MEANT as a KINDNESS and an ENTHUSIASM FOR DONUTS and not as a bribe, but if anyone wanted to interpret them as a bribe anyway whomst was I to say no, but like. just because I want the band i like to do a thing absolutely does not mean that they have to fucking do it. I want to be crystal clear that i have never at any point EXPECTED them to do this. i just. hoped. yearned in my heart of hearts. and also had very sound rationale for how possible/likely it was. Here's How Engie Room Can Still Win. yfm. but the soundcheck all but confirmed it in my soul for me. and I was like... glad, that she'd been there and caught it and could tell me about it, because it gave me time to like, come to terms with the reality of it, emotionally. AAH. AAAAAHHH, OKAY. BITCH, PLIABLE HEAD, IT'S ALL HAPPENING.

we lingered and watched the queue form behind us-- I spotted a kid I'd seen at the Philly show, god bless. Everywhere we turn, repeat customers. I was telling my work friend today, I feel like the US fanbase for E E is significantly smaller than the UK audience, but we make up for it in that we go fucking hard. Every US fan is a superfan. there are no half-assed american sardines. and that has been so BEAUTIFUL and means the WORLD to me to be sharing it with the other ones of you. Bracelet sharing rocked at this gig!! I had exactly as many as I'd set aside for Pittsburgh and no more, since all my spares had evaporated up at Irving, A new person ALSO HAD BRACELETS!!! LIKE, for realsies Made For Trading At This Show Specifically bracelets, it was suuuuch a delight, so in addition to my eclectic collection from the previous gigs I now also have one that says RAW DATA FEEL with some truly choice glow in the dark bric-a-brac on there as well, and my heart was so warm aaaaaah. fwiendship :) Also spotted in the pre-doors queue were the Pizza Boy costumed guy and a woman I met at Foals in 2019?? who I guess automatically recognizes me because of the green hair, but just. omg. the community!!!! I'm dying!!!!!!

There was a slight will-call kerfuffle that nevertheless did not stop me from being dead center dead at the front right in front of where jonathan's mic was destined to be, and I was like. god. here we go. the home stretch. This was ABSOLUTELY the WORST place to be to be pretending to be interested in pierre's set, because he kept looking straight at me and dog I gotta admit four shows in I was feeling pretty tired. like, the energy of E E Itself was going to fully reinvigorate me, but nearly everything else on the planet was like totally disinteresting and I wasn't really up for it, especially when it's my semi-sex-repulsed ace-spectrum ass being just really put off by the suggestive gyrations of a performer that is not to my tastes. UM SORRY BYE HAHA. they didn't even play the one song I kind of liked. I managed to miss like two and a half songs of his set being still locked in the merch line at least lmao. literally WHILE I WAS STANDING IN THE MERCH LINE they sold out of the yellow shirt and I couldn't get me and francis matchies so I had to get them the black instead :( but thankfully they still had the one Adrian wanted because idk what I would have done if I had to scramble for a plan B with him on short notice haha. and I had EXACTLY enough cash for the two shirts left from the day before and I was paying Tour Manager Sam with it like oh my gosh I'm so sorry this is like my sweaty pocket cash from last night this is kinda gross and she was just like, No actually that's honestly exactly how I've been rolling as well and it is kind of gross so like agreed hahaha. She's the best. Idk how long she'll be tenured to them but I'd love to see her continue to exist in like their coterie moving forward. impeccable vibes.

also used merch waiting as a way to distribute more bracelets and get a drink of water! WOOHOO NOW I AM READY TO RECEIVE MY COMMUNION THANK YOU. they put the setlists down and there was a very small fraction of me that wanted to avert my eyes but like I. I had to know. and annika said yes there are new songs in the list. and I peered into the list and my song was there.

hey guys. hey guys? look, this was for me. I have to be honest with you. i manifested this. by being annoying on twitter. by being god's specialest costume-making donut-gifting bracelet-slinging weirdo. I'm owning it and it's mine. I was exactly EXACTLY right with "well, if they put Engine Room in they'll probably take Leviathan out, because they'd kind of fill the same role of slow moody song in the set, and then they'll probably swap in a different non-Man Alive song to compensate for Engine Room being there instead," and this is exactly what happened, and so then not only did I get Engine Room but I also got REGRET, WHICH IS ALSO AN EMILY THREEPWILLOW PLIABLE HEAD SONG, BECAUSE HERE THESE NERDLORD KINGSHIT BANDBOYS ARE IN MY GODDAMN BACK YARD, they're in my house and god it took me the whole fucking set up to then to just prepare, like I had to try not to think about it so I could enjoy what was right in front of me. God it was so fucking, fucking good. our position along the stage had Alex's stuff REALLY forward in the mix which was kind of new for me, but jon was just right there and every time I lifted my hands to dance and to yearn it was like, the only thing stopping me from touching you is my own sense of propriety and not any kind of physical barrier or distance, and the person immediately behind me was seeing the band for the first time and felt similarly about NOTLK as I did to Engine Room and those two songs were literally back to back in the set so we kind of screamed and cried and died together, I gave her a huge hug, and LOL SORRY NOT SORRY THAT I GOT MY KZ AND LEVIATHAN TAKEN OUT OF THE SETLIST FOR Y'ALL, PITTSBURGH, I DO FEEL KIND OF BAD BUT THIS WAS UMMM IMPORTANT TO ME, THANK YOU, goodbye. goodbye I left the planet. I thought I was going to cry and I nearly did but I didn't, but I did actually maybe start hyperventilating. like I'm glad I knew it was coming ahead of time because if it had been a full surprise I think whatever was happening to my lungs would have been exponentially worse and I may have even fainted.

(which, btw: jonathan. jon. when he came out on stage, he almost immediately got his mic cable caught on the edge of where his setlist was taped down, and in jerking it around, he whipped the setlist up off the floor and way upstage toward where Pete was; when he finally put it to rights and taped it back down, he just left it where it was at, far enough away from me that I definitely could not read it anymore; and like DID YOU DO THAT ON PURPOSE? TO MOVE IT OUT OF MY LINE OF SIGHT, TO MAYBE KEEP ME FROM READING IT? SURELY YOU HAVE TO KNOW THAT I'D ALREADY SEEN IT LIKE 15 MINUTES AGO. NICE TRY BUT IT'S TOO LATE I SAW EVERYTHING. i love him. i'm in physical pain.)

knowing this was my final one, I went so, so, incredibly hard, I let myself dance and mosh and scream and take way more pics and videos than I had before, I leaned on the lip of the stage, I had an absolute fucking blast. When the set was over a few other people who were more strategically positioned (i.e. people who had not had their most easily accessible setlists unceremoniously yoinked several feet away) snatched up the closest ones way quick; there was a general tension in the crowd at being able to see jon's, but it being further away out of reach, and one ballsy-ass kid (the "Kevin" person who'd accompanied the pizza boy person) actually clambored up onto the stage and ninja'd over and took it for himself, which inspired two copycats to do the same for some discarded guitar picks (and all of which definitely provoked a very loud, unimpressed, authoritative barking of "HEY!!!" from some security somewhere, like, they definitely shouldn't have done that!! yikes!!!!). I, instead, very patiently waited for an opportune moment to get the attention of their short king guitar tech as he was running around doing teardown, and someone else flagged him first and got pete's setlist, and in my final moments I got him to get me mike's. Gang, I'm gonna be real with you, I was not leaving my Pittsburgh hometown show in which they played Leave The fucking Engine Room without a setlist. there would've been blood or at the very least tears. so like. thank god lmao. Satisfied, we got some water and then headed out!!!

It was a long, chilly wait for the boys outside--god, the chilliness was REFRESHING, though, it's October for crying out loud, and DC and Philly and NY had all been muggy sweaty hot with no need for even long pants, much less a jacket, but I was glad I'd had the forethought to wear my flannel around my waist to cover up the YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT printed around the ass of my shorts on my walk over to deter questions, lmfao. We easily identified the spot on the side of the venue where we assumed the guys were coming out, it was all just a matter of time. (AG and I getting some confusing-to-parse messages from Becky? Idk my phone was SUPER dying so I was trying to leave it on airplane as much as possible, I didn't even make it to the end of the night, RIP needing to use my map all day in the car and even with it plugged in spending more than I was juicing of the battery. Listen i needed PICS and VIDEOS!!) I saw Jon first, and he almost looked past me before spotting me there because I was pretty close to the corner of the block, and I just stared at him, and said, May I hug you. and he said, of course! and I hugged him so long and so hard just like, thank you, I was extremely emotional then and I'm also getting extremely emotional now just typing about it, and he was like omg haha what for? Coming to your town? and I was like coming to my town and playing my SONG!!! And then he said something with the tone of a snarky teasy joke but that was like flusteringly truthful underneath about them legitimately rearranging the set quite a lot for me, and I have not stopped screaming internally since then, and Jeremy joked that I'd just seen the exact same set three times and they felt they ought to give me at least something new ha ha ha but like it wasn't entirely a joke, and I just don't even know how to process this. i am perishèd in the soil. anyhow.

I wanted both my setlist and my Supernormal EP vinyl signed by all the boys, and I managed this with relatively little doing ("A deep cut!" jeremy remarks of the supernormal, haha), but I didn't want to be crowding them and getting in the way of other people getting lad time, so I kind of took a backseat and just talked when the time was right, but Jon did kind of keep wanting to talk to me. We talked about the new song, and we talked about the donuts I sent over--oh my GOD, because I was like, they're from that place over there, you can see the big neon donut sign from here! haha, and he was like dyou know what, I knew that's where they were from, because I went over there earlier in the day and got one for myself, I got a huckleberry one and I came back with it and everyone was like, what's that, they were very jealous, and then not too long after that this box of loads of them just shows up-- And like I am a donut fairy psychic wizard. Also everyone who is ever in Pittsburgh should go to Oliver's donuts and eat their fabulously good products. I will shill for them literally any day of the week. This is the second band I have given Oliver's to this year. I cannot be stopped. ANYWAY. i honestly almost could have written that prediction on an envelope and sealed it, that they'd end up wandering in there on their own only for me to send them some too. i was so tickled that jon got the huckleberry one because it's their signature flavor and it's SO PINK and allegra and I had just decided the night before that jon higgs is hot pink coded. like, in the universe where they are dyeing their hair multicolors for the lore. anyhow. it's good shit.

i had SO much fun after this show, even though it was so chilly and dark and we were scrungling around on a literal street corner outside a wine and spirits store, I was like holding people's things so they could get pics and signatures, I was showing off my supernormal booty shorts, I was talking to Jon about lore----- ohhh, my god, I had exactly two bracelets left when the night was over, literally the end of my stash, and it was one Final Form FIRST BODY LAST BODY that I said, y'know, I'm going to save this for my bestie francis when I send them the shirt, because that's the lyric I wanna get a tattoo of, and it'll match with my PLIABLE HEAD bracelet, and it'll be another sort of besties matching thing; and my one lone AKON IN THE BUTTERFLY HOUSE bracelet that remained, where I'd kind of said, well, if this one doesn't find the right home tonight, then at the end of the night I'm going to give it to Jon too. So I dug in my bag and passed it off, and he was like "what does this one say.... kon... Akon... Akon in the house--what is--OH AND THERE'S A LITTLE BUTTERFLY ON THERE, God--" and he was GRINNING and he was SO TICKLED BY IT and Jez chimed in with just like "The attention to detail--" and Jon was like "this is my favorite one actually," he LOVED IT AND I WAS SO CHARMED AND EMOTIONAL ABOUT IT, and then he offered me up something like "you kno-ow, this, the song, of this, there's actually a reference to it in something, something you've never heard-- and--that you never will," doing his cryptic Jon troll grin, "the one thing that didn't make it," with the implied end of that sentence being "onto the album," and 'album' in this case being implied to be Raw Data Feel, which they have very publicly said that for once was an album where they just put everything on and didn't cull any songs or reserve any bonus tracks to release later or whatever. So I said, "Oh, from the one that we've been told had no cuts...?" also not explicitly saying RDF, and his answer to that was vague/nondescript enough but was probably an affirmative, but then he did follow that up with "that's lore that's SO far down the line, WAY WAY out there," and god, just, how deep does this man's brain and nonsense even fucking go. how far into the future is there LORE. BOTTOMLESS!!! I am obsessed with him. i cannot stress enough how blorbo he is to me.

The shorts came back up in conversation too ("Sorry, let me just look quite closely at your ass for a moment--" "It's okay, the shorts are designed that way--") and him saying, yeah, we do talk about some of the costumes still, and then segueing into asking if I had plans for this year and what I was doing, and I said, maybe, I'm not sure if I want to tell you, and he said, Is it to do with us, and I said, Neither confirm nor deny, and he said, Well if it's not, then, I want to know, with kind of a 'duh' tone ahahaha because like true there would be no reason to be coy if it was nothing to do with E E at all, and I explained that like I kind of have to have two costumes ("of course you do."), WELL because y'know the E E ones don't really play to or land with the general populace (a very cheeky "No!") so I have, just, one that's for going to parties, and one that's for fucking around on the internet. He seemed to find that acceptable hahaha.

Anyway what I REALLY wanted with wearing the Supernormal shorts was a group pic of all five of us normal frontways, and then a group pic of all five of us facing backward/ass to the camera a la the picture of them outside the White House, where you could see the goof of my shorts but also all of their butts, but this was an ABSOLUTE DISASTER TO DO when it was so dark that phone cameras were taking everything long-exposure, and also they'd all had just enough beer to not really be following on what the bit was. Absolute shit results on the backwards pic because I couldn't, y'know, see to coordinate it, because I had my back turned. (Me yelling, "Not just MY butt, EVERYONE'S butts, come on!!" into the streets of Lawrenceville.) Utter failure. Didn't care. I love these fucking guys. The vibe was finally kind of winding down, closing-time energy, the guys still had to get on the bus to Boston right away even with tomorrow being their day off, it was a Boston day off and not a Pittsburgh day off where I could offer them free ice cream sadly, so they all sort of bowed sweetly out. Jon gave me his like, I Am Part Of The Band clearance ID badge from the venue, kind of out of nowhere, he was like "sorry this is all I have to give you, it's the least I could do," and I was like WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'VE ALREADY GIVEN ME SO M-- YOU COULD DO WAY LESS ??? but I guess now I have that, too. I tried to give him the King Of Oil sign from my fatberg costume, which I'd initially brought because I thought it would be a fun photo taking prop but the photo situation was the aforementioned disaster so that never really came to any fruition at all, so I was just going to gift it to them, and he said "My suitcase is already so full of so much random shit-- that you've given us--" and then right as he was leaving he just said "Thank you for being such a weirdo" with a voice full of all the kindness and affection in the world and I just yelled "ANY TIME!!" and then oh so tragically the night had to be over.

it's been nice, though, because I'm so used to driving the long drive home at the end of an adventure and having that signify the end, of getting to the end of the car ride and having nothing beyond that but the rest of my regular life; and this time, I drove all the way home, but when I got there, the adventure was still happening, right in my neighborhood, right down the street, and all I had to do was walk back home alone in the dark and climb into my own bed at the end of a long and beautiful night. i can already tell that this is going to be one of my most special memories basically forever, and now every time I drive or ride the bus to and from work each day I will be passing by the place where Everything Everything performed Leave The Engine Room for me, and that's so profoundly special that I don't even have words to describe it. I love this band, I love the people in it and I love the people its gravity pulls in to orbit around it, I'm just so goddamn happy. I don't even know what to say or how to end this.

[asummersday]

22, 26 and 30

22. Share an excerpt from your favorite scene

This scene from chapter 6 of ataimw is so very near and dear to my heart <3

The kitchen is dark and the lair is quiet. Leo doesn't really want to let Donnie return to his lab just yet.

"Sit down," he says, snapping the first aid kit shut. "I'll make us hot cocoa."

Donnie doesn't protest. He cradles his burned hand to his chest and shuffles over to the kitchen table. Leo messes around the kitchen, picking out a pot and two mugs, cocoa from the tea cupboard and milk from the fridge.

It's the peaceful sort of quiet that only exists this early in the morning, when everything is pale blue and the sun hasn't risen yet. Donnie says nothing, and neither does Leo.

He barely bothers to make anything fancy, he just tries to be quick. When he's done, he makes his way to the kitchen table, mugs in tow.

“I don’t know how to make it as good as Mikey’s or Raph’s, but—” he slides the warm mug over to Donnie.

It’s a very nice mug— ceramic and plain white with dozens of flowers of varying sorts and sizes printed all over it. Leo’s mug is a dusty blue with ‘world’s best grandma’ written across it in neat print letters. Not nearly as nice as Donnie’s, but it’s taller and wider, so Leo’s not complaining.

“It’s fine,” Donnie replies, picking up the mug and taking a hesitant sip. “Thanks,” he adds as an afterthought.

Leo hums in reply, sliding into a vacant chair at the table. Neither of them bothered to turn on any other light in the kitchen, so they’re mostly sitting in the dark, drinking hot chocolate in silence.

Leo feels tired. It’s five in the morning, and he feels it weighing on him. His eyes sting a little and he misses how comfortably asleep he was back in Donnie’s lab.

Across from him, Donnie leans back in his chair, head tilted up toward the ceiling, eyes closed. He’s not sleeping, but Leo wishes he was. Donnie is never this careless with his tools, he’s never careless enough to use the more dangerous ones when he’s sleep deprived. He wonders, briefly, if Donnie would’ve gone knocking on his door after the fact had Leo not shown up in his lab, demanding his twin’s attention.

26. If you had to choose one, what was THE most satisfying writing moment of your year?

Ohhh. I think I'd have to say when I decided to add Big Mama into the plot of ataimw. I know I've complained about it a bit but I just love to complain, I think its actually a pretty good direction I've taken the plot in.

YEAH cuz I was stumped for WEEKS trying to figure out the plot of this fic, because I suck at plots and I wasn't expecting this fic to require one. I have the angsty stuff going on alongside the plot (finding the cursed amulet) and I was like "well. Its kind of boring making Leo just like chase the foot clan around for 10 straight chapters especially considering that in canon theyre really not that good at what they do, plus its more fun to add something new to spice things up" and along came Big Mama. She's SUCH a fun character (but so difficult to write 😩) and having her in my story definitely makes my plot work better (bc bow Leo ACTUALLY has to work to get the amulet back instead of just chasing the foot clan around NYC. I got sick of that pretty quickly)

(Tbh a lot of people in my comments want leos brothers to find out what's going on but I HAVE A PLAN. and that plan involves no one finding out for at least a couple more chapters sorry.)

30. What’s something that you want to write in 2024?

Ive got a handful of projects for 2024, but at the top, id say finishing all the ashes in my wake. I have two Rise oneshots i really want to write also, both angst and hurt/comfort of course, and that's all I'll say about it :3

Theres also a DC fic that's been sitting in my drafts since September last year that I really hope to get to, though since my hyperfixation's fully shifted into rise idk when ill get to it

Thank you for the ask!!!!

[illwynd]

2, 10, 26, 27 for MCU Loki questions. Thanks!😊

thank YOU! :DDD

2. When did you realize that you have become an official Loki fan?

About a month after I saw Thor 1 for the first time in 2011. It was a weirdly delayed reaction? I had been more or less out of my last serious fandom for a couple years, sort of bobbing around in a few other fandoms that I was kinda into but nothing really had that spark? And I’d seen Iron Man and I thought it was fun but (and here I’m outing myself) I had never been super into Marvel at that point. I don’t think I’d even read any Marvel comics, though I spent my teen years really into Sandman and later got into some DC and other Vertigo stuff. 

So. Like. I was so new to Marvel movies when I first saw Thor 1 that I didn’t even know to stay for the post-credits scene, and I spent like the first week legit believing Loki was dead (and being a lil upset about it) until someone told me. The fact that I was still thinking about it at that point a week later, tho? I went looking for fic, then soon after started writing fic, and next thing you know I was learning Futhark and studying Norse mythology again and working on cosplays and writing more fic and meta and... yeah suddenly all the way in the deep end XD

10. Do you see Loki as a hero, villain or antihero? And why?

I reject all of those options. None of them are a suitable description of his overall role.  

I mean, clearly he is a villain in various specific stories---and that’s not a moral judgment but a strictly narrative one: he’s the antagonist working to thwart the goals of the heroes. But what has made him such an impactful and enduring villain, and a character that people really love (not “love to hate”), is the ways in which that label... doesn’t fit. Not just because his “evil” is quite often comprehensible and sympathetic. Not just because he’s also tragic and relatable. Not just because there are too many counterexamples, times he wasn’t in that role at all, when he actively aided the protagonists or behaved heroically or wasn’t an antagonist of his own volition. Not just any of those reasons but all of them, taken together. Structurally, narratively, he’s often a villain. But the totality of that picture? It’s not the right label.

And here’s the thing: neither are the rest of them. He’s not an antihero (a protagonist who doesn’t behave in ways that align with our understanding of heroism). He’s not really a hero either, because while he does do a lot more benevolent and heroic things than many people give him credit for, that’s not... really what he’s about (and he’s not generally the protagonist either lol).

So what is he? He’s a liminal figure in the story. He’s there to defy those categories and make clear their limitations---and I’m not saying that idly. The reason this has become such a huge argument in some quarters is that the labels themselves are inadequate and flawed, and the answer is not to shuffle all the characters around into different boxes. It’s to question whether this box system is really the right way to think about it and whether those labels are telling us anything we need to know at this point.

So yeah. He’s none of the above, and a little bit of all of them, whatever suits his fancy in the particular situation.

26. What's your dream team for Loki?

To me, part of the point of Loki is that he doesn’t have one. Him not really having a team is the point, and I don’t think he’d know what to do with one if he had one. Probably end up feeling like an outsider anyway, believing he’s not really welcome or wanted, and wandering off to do his own thing again.

I think he’s good at having a bunch of associates-acquaintances-allies sorts of friends but what is harder and also what he more deeply needs is like. one person to really connect to and trust. And that, well, there are a lot of reasons I go with Thor for that job (but only Real Thor, not whoever that is who’s taken his place in the last few movies). And it’s not just because of their shared history: it’s more because their shared history has given them both a deep compatibility, with their strengths and weaknesses complementing each other... and also because Thor---having grown up in Thor’s shadow, envying and resenting but also adoring and admiring him and craving his attention and validation---is at the core of a lot of Loki’s damage. In the real world, we might argue that it’s wiser to walk away from such a relationship when it’s a shambles, but in fiction, with quasi-immortal characters, they have the opportunity to really work through their shit and get to a place where the relationship is mutually fulfilling. And how fuckin satisfying would that be? That’s what I want for Loki.

27. Have you ever met the actor (Tom Hiddleston) of Loki?

Yep! I have been that fortunate. I saw him in person (though across the huge hall) in Hall H (which is still, to this day, one of the best experiences of my life), then I was lucky enough that a friend invited me to the TR red carpet premiere and I got to high-five him and he apologized for not having time to stop for a selfie but told me I looked good (I was in not-quite-cosplay of a black-on-black suit but with a purple tie), then I went to see Betrayal on Broadway in 2019 and I high-fived him again and exchanged a few words. Key takeaways: that bastard is way tall, he’s super thoughtful and nice to fans, and I am 100% convinced Loki chose him to be a conduit for him sometimes, because damn he is good at his job. 

So whew that was a ramble, huh? Thanks again for asking me things and giving me the excuse! XD

[thesoobfiles]

an unexpected reunion - b. allen

Words: 1.6k

Summary: You walk into your apartment and immediately learn two things: 1) your boyfriend who was ‘never coming back’, Barry Allen, is standing in your living room and 2) you now have telepathic abilities.

A/N: when i first opened requests, they were all for star wars; i don’t blame them, my name is ‘jedimaiden’. don’t get me wrong, i’m not complaining... more like forewarning: as stated in my bio, i do DC and Star Wars. just a heads up :)

-

It's been six months since I've last seen my boyfriend, Barry Allen. He told me he had somewhere he needed to be.

I've got to go...

That he might not come back.

I don't think I'm coming back...

Where are you going?!

For me to keep living my life.

I can't say where; but, I want you to keep living your life. Keep growing. Keep loving. Keep running. For me.

I didn't know what he meant; but, he made me promise...

Promise me you'll run, (Y/N).

...I promise.

I'm on Bus 405, my usual mode of transportation to Central City Picture News; where I work and where my friend, Iris West, used to work. Suddenly, the bus swerves to a halt. I move my attention, from blankly staring at the window to paying attention to what's happening through the windshield.

What appears to be lightning is moving frantically inside of a giant hole in the middle of the road. Something, something fast, runs out of the hole and it closes.

I wonder what came out...

The rest of the passengers on the bus chatter about what had occurred previously...

How will it affect Central City?

The bus keeps moving and drags me from my thoughts.

Off to work...

-

I get off my bus and walk towards my apartment. I put the keys in the door when I hear something move on the other side of the door. I pause, pull out my baton and proceed to open the door quickly. I loosen my grip on the cool, metal handle of the retractable stick when I peer into my apartment to see Barry Allen and my vase in the process of falling.

"No!" I shout as I extend my hand and the vase stops falling. I stand there, confused.

Is my vase floating or did I just stop my vase from shattering?

I move my hand from it's current position to motion for the vase to return to it's previous position and it does! I place the vase on the stand in the corner of my living room. I look over to Barry and he's looking at me likes he's seen a ghost.

"How did you do that?" He asks.

"I don't think you get to ask the questions, mister." I say defiantly.

"Where have you been the last six months?" I question, hands on my hips like I didn't just stop a vase from breaking into a million pieces, mid-fall. He looks at me and takes a deep breath.

"You might want to sit down..." He starts, motioning for me to take a seat on my couch.

"I just brushed off the fact that I can move stuff with my mind. I think I can handle whatever you're trying to throw at me..." I retort. He exhaes a deep sigh and begins to talkreally fast.

"IwasinthespeedforcewhichisanextradimensionalenergysourcethatallowsspeedsterstorunatimpossiblespeedsandIknowthisbecauseIamaspeedsterI'mactuallytheFlash." He stops abruptly. I look at him and quirk my eyebrow at him.

"You're the Flash? Heh, sorry if I sound skeptical but..." I scoff. I'm looking at Barry when he just disappears!

"Barry?" I ask.

"Yes?" He answers. I look all around my living space and Barry is no where in sight.

"Where are you?" I investigate as I tip-toe through my apartment.

"Right in front of you." He says. I look in front of me and Barry appears out of thin air.

"What? How did you jus-"

"I was vibrating my molecules so fast that you couldn't see me." He fills in. I look at him, dumbfounded.

"Or I could just do this." He states.

"Do what?" I inquire when he picks me up bridal style and he takes off.

He's... running!

Through the streets, up the buildings, through the cars! I close my eyes and start laughing; laughs of joy.

Who knew it was so fun going so fast!

Suddenly, I no longer feel the wind against my face. I open my eyes to see we are in S.T.A.R Labs, the cortex to be more specific.

"Wow! That was so much fun!" I shout.

"Your shirt!" He exclaims. I look down to see my shirt is on fire!

"Ahh!" I yell and quickly take my shirt off and throw it on the floor. I stomp on it until the fire's out.

"Aw, I liked that shirt..." I mourn as I stand in the cortex of S.T.A.R Labs in my bra.

"So Barry, how does it feel to finally be out of the speeoHHH. Hey, (Y/N)!" Cisco stops short when he sees me.

"I haven't seen you since..." He looks over to Barry.

"Where is your shirt?" Caitlin interjects.

"Oh, it caught on fire when... wait a second..." I glance in Barry's direction and jerk my head in their direction. He laughs and nods.

"Oh, alright. Well, WAIT! You told them before you told me?!" I gasp dramatically. Barry's smile diminishes.

"No! It's-it’s not that at all! It’s just that, I-I didn't really have to tell them..." He tries to justify his actions.

"What are you guys talking about?" Cisco exasperates.

"Me being the Flash." Barry states, clearly up any confusion.

"Ohhhhh. Yeah, we were actually here when he took his first run." Cisco nods in agreement, almost reminiscing.

"We were his doctors when he was in a coma..." Caitlin explains.

"Oh, well my shirt caught on fire when he sped me over here and is currently on the floor." I say, saddened as I look down at one of my favorite shirts.

Caitlin walks into a room in the cortex. She shuffled around for a bit before she emerges with a S.T.A.R. Labs shirt in hand.

"Here you go." She smiles and extends her arm.

"Thanks Cait." I gratefully accept her offering. I pull the shirt over my head and smooth it out.

I look to my left to see Barry and Cisco chatting it up. Suddenly, Cisco turns away, grabs an apple and chair, and puts it in the center of the room. He looks at me, from his position and starts walking towards me.

"(Y/N). Can you get that apple?" He asks.

"Sure." I respond as I start walking to the chair. He puts his hand on my shoulder.

"I meant using this." He says, pointing towards his head.

"Ohhh." I drag. I look at the apple and think about how I want the apple to come to me. It starts shaking.

C'mon! Come! I think and it rushes towards me really quickly.

"AHH!" I scream and put my hands out to protect myself; but, the impact never occurs. I open my eyes to see the apple floating near my hands.

I lower my arms a little, still using them to control the movements of the apple. I take my left hand, point my index finger and swirl it around in the air. The apple starts spinning like my finger!

"Cool..." I comment.

"Woah, when did you get powers?" Caitlin questions.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I've never done something like that before today..." I reply, stopping my finger and catching the apple.

"Alright, run me through your day." Cisco commands as he takes a seat behind the large computer table.

"Well, I woke up, got dressed, got on my bus, bus stopped though because of a giant hole filled with lighting, went to work, came back ho-"

"Wait, did you say 'giant hole filled with lightning'?" Cisco asks, astonished.

"Yeah. It was pretty weird. Something came running out of it, then it closed up." I say casually.

"Maybe that's where Barry came out..." Cisco suggests as he taps away at the keyboard.

"I fired the speed force bazooka at approximately 10:47 am. Nothing happened and then Joe got a call about Barry being picked up by a police officer..." Cisco states.

"Wait, you were what came out of the hole? And you were arrested?" I whisper and turn to look at Barry, confusion evident in my tone.

"I'll explain later." He whispers back.

"According to my geographic chart, the hole appeared on Infantino St...." Cisco trails off and looks at Barry. He shakes his head and Cisco continues.

Weird...

"...at about 10:48 am. What bus do you take (Y/N)?" Cisco looks up again and asks me, probably while it's loading.

"405." I fill in.

"Which is exactly the bus that was on Infantino St. When the portal opened up, the bus must have been shrouded with dark matter and that's how you have powers." Cisco finishes, crossing his arms with confidence.

"Wait, does that mean all of the other people on the bus have powers too?" Caitlin offers. Cisco has a look on his face and types away at the keyboard once more.

"If they do, we'll be ready." Barry states, quite heroically might I add.

"I just pulled up a document with all the passengers on Bus 405." Cisco says.

"I could help." I chip in. Everyone stops and looks at me.

"What?" I ask.

"You'll have to learn to control your powers more." Caitlin voices matter-of-factly.

"And practice. A lot.” Barry smiles.

"And you need a name and suit!" Cisco shouts happily.

"How about... Psy-X?" He suggests, looking to me for approval.

"Psy-X... I like it." I smile and he smiles back as he excitedly pulls out a notepad and starts drawing up what I assume are designs.

"About that training..." Barry brings up.

"I know, you guys got a training deck or something?" I ask.

"Something like that..." Barry responds, taking me to what I guess is the supposed "training deck".

I guess my life as a superhero starts here!

[sinceileftyoublog]

Doug Clifford Interview: Shuffle & Flow

Photo by Brent Clifford

BY JORDAN MAINZER

For All the Money in the World is a time capsule. The album, written by Creedence Clearwater Revival drummer Doug Clifford and Greg Kihn Band bassist Steve Wright, was recorded in 1986 but won’t see the light of day until the end of the month. Since then, it’s been waiting in Cosmo’s Vault--the self-proclaimed storage area for Clifford’s unreleased music--until the right time. “There’s some good music on this album,” Clifford told me over the phone earlier this month. “Right now, more than ever, we need some good music that’s uplifting and makes you feel good.” Plus, for Clifford himself, the tunes have barely scratched the surface: “To me, it’s still new.” 

After Creedence Clearwater Revival broke up in 1972, Clifford released a solo album and later joined the Don Harrison Band, which also featured former CCR bassist Stu Cook. In 1995, he and Cook formed Creedence Clearwater Revisited to play CCR songs live without singer John Fogerty, who retained artistic control over CCR. Revisited’s last show was in February 2020 in Mexico, and based on what Clifford told me, that’s likely their last, at least in this version, as Clifford is suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. All in all, though, he’s ready to move on from those songs, instead choosing to look into different parts of the past. Last year, he unearthed his lost second solo album Magic Window. And now, with For All the Money in the World, released under the name Clifford/Wright, he’s beginning to revisit a series of recorded writing collaborations whose release never came to fruition.

Though Clifford/Wright was formed around the rhythm section, the rest of the band that plays on the album is nothing to sniff at: guitarists Greg Douglass (Steve Miller Band), Jimmy Lyon (Eddie Money) and Joe Satriani and keyboard players Tim Gorman (The Who) and Pat Mosca (Greg Kihn Band). The lead vocalist picked for the project was Keith England, whose emotive howl ties it all together on the title shuffle and stadium anthem “I Need Your Love”. While the first two songs sound like something you might expect to be recorded in 1986, other tracks operate under different styles and recording aesthetics. The rockabilly echo of “She Told Me So” lies in stark contrast to the ripping guitar jaunts of “Lost Pride Fever” and “Weekends” and the funk snap of “You Keep Runnin’ Away” and “Just In The Nick Of Time”. Indeed, some songs on here sound like they could be Steve Miller or Eddie Money jams, but for the most part, they sound like lost relics of rock radio, comfort food for troubling times.

Clifford hopes For All the Money in the World is more than nostalgia, though. For one, he’s “calling the shots,” releasing the album on his own label, Cliffsong Records, with a distribution deal through Bob Frank Entertainment. “It’s like a publisher’s outlet for the songwriters involved,” he said. “It’s really kind of exciting.” His hopes are that the songs do land on today’s rock radio or do well streaming so they can release it on vinyl. “I still get a kick out of it,” Clifford said about hearing his songs on the radio. Not bad for somebody who started playing in bands at age 13. And while it’s very much not a CCR album, he’s excited for CCR fans to hear it, okay with the long-disbanded legendary outfit as the connecting bridge for listeners. They might just come away with a new favorite song.

Pre-save/pre-order For All the Money in the World, out August 27th, here, and read my conversation below with Clifford, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: I was struck by the variety of styles on this album. You think to yourself, “What would music written around the 80′s sound like?” There’s some of that, but there are other sounds, too. Do you remember consciously trying to write in a number of styles?

Doug Clifford: Yes, because we were trying to get a record deal. We were the only writers in the group, and we wanted them to know we could write more than just “Bad Moon Rising”. There’s really not much in there that sounds like Creedence. With Steve Wright on bass, that changes a lot of things. It puts a different spin on it from the standpoint of the house the songs are built on, the rhythm section. It’s exciting. I listen to it as if it’s another band. [laughs] Normally, I don’t do that. Steve passed away in [2017], so we won’t do any more writing or playing, but this album is a chance to hear a great bass player and songwriter. I’ve got three terrific guitar players in there, too, Joe Satriani, Greg Douglass from Steve Miller Band, and Jimmy Lyon from Greg Kihn and Eddie Money. A guitar extravaganza. A lot of good stuff coming from this record.

SILY: Not only does the record sound different from CCR, but I heard a lot of the other projects the players were involved in, like Eddie Money and Steve Miller.

DC: Yeah, but when we were doing the writing, those guys weren’t in the band. Steve Miller is one of my best friends. He loves “She Told Me So” on this record. He sent me an email all excited that said, “I was dancin’ around my studio! You still got it!” [laughs] I love that guy.

SILY: I like songs like that, that have a little more of a shuffle.

DC: That would be [the title track], too. I love shuffles.

SILY: You’ve said people need songs like this at a time like now. When you wrote and recorded them, did you know you’d put them away for a while?

DC: Not really. If you’re a songwriter, you want to have versions of your songs that sound radio-ready instead of just [recorded on] an acoustic guitar. I produced everything that we wrote, so we had good versions of our work and presented it that way. The idea was not to put these things out as albums, but for record companies. Then you’d go out and play, and they’d send their A&R guy. Steve didn’t want to play in any of the clubs we’d have played in, and you need a band that plays, so that started the tailspin of this project. [After that,] I did a solo singer-songwriter album [Magic Window], and I did projects for areas that had overgrown forests and droughts. I had kids that were going to school. So I sort of slowed down on the music and slapped [these songs] in Cosmo’s Vault. That’s where they stayed till a year or so ago. I [finally released Magic Window], but nothing happened because...COVID hit, and it really changed everything. There’s been enough time that we’re all living through the virus that it’s time to hear [For All the Money] on the radio to make me feel good. It’s a labor of love that all songwriters have. Allowing people to hear the excellent musicianship of Steve Wright playing bass. There’s a little difference in my playing as well. It’s fun, really enjoyable.

SILY: When you were originally writing the lyrics and instrumentation, were you going for a feel-good, uplifting type thing?

DC: When you’re looking for someone to invest in you and put you on their label, you want them to like your music, too. I’ve never been a guy to write songs that make you feel bad. [laughs].

SILY: What were you looking for in a vocalist, and why did you end up going with Keith?

DC: We were so fortunate to have Keith in many ways. He was the youngest guy we were working with. I would be the guy to teach him the songs, as the writer of the words. He had to sing those words and get the idea of the song across, which is a big job for any singer. He took special care to get the essence of the song. It makes a big difference to learn the words and melody. I took extra time to write the melody, because I’m putting the words out there, and a lot of time, the melody would depend on what the words were. You have to give the singer places to breathe. I gave Keith liberty to let me know if something wasn’t working for him vocally, to sing it the way he was comfortable. He always came through. The idea of a song is like a chapter in a book. It has to have meaning and a certain ambiance and feel to it. That’s at least my approach to writing and performing, really. He nailed every song in a very professional approach. That’s not an easy thing to do, especially over 11 songs. 

There are other songs in the vault from the sessions that he did. He was the only singer we had. I’d like to see success, not just for myself and Steve, but for Keith. He was the only guy on the session that wasn’t in a band that had a Gold or Platinum album, and he’s very deserving of it. I’d love to see this thing be successful on that level because I’d love to walk up to his front door and knock on it and hand him a Platinum album. He’s still trying to do it. He has been for 30-some odd years. He can still hit most if not all of those notes. He doesn’t complain about it, he just stays at it, trying to get to that spot. I’d like to see that happen for him.

SILY: This album was recorded in a number of different studios, and some tracks do sound a bit lower-fi or raw. Did the difference in sounds among the tracks correspond to the different studios you recorded in?

DC: Not really for that reason. What’s really important is trying to get an attitude out of a certain song. It is rock and roll after all. The sound of the studio wasn’t something that dictated the direction.

SILY: At what point did you decide to name the album after the title track?

DC: That song, the first time I heard it, it was one of those that Steve said, “Listen to this!” He had the chorus and the lyrics. [sings] “For all the money in the world, girl / For all the kisses in the sea, baby...” I went, “That’s a hit.” Whenever I play that song for people, they all say, “That’s a natural hit.” Being a shuffle adds a lot to do with it. Shuffles have a magic to them. You just can’t help but tap your foot. Your body moves with it. The approach to have it be a shuffle is right up my alley. Creedence didn’t ever do one, and I always wanted to have a shuffle to record. There it was! It was a natural as the first song on the record. The second one that’s out now is a different type of song, to show the album’s versatility, but I had an inkling that it might be a good idea to name it after the first song on the album.

SILY: At what point did you come up with the order of the tracks?

DC: Listening. [laughs] That’s very important. Again, they’re like chapters in a book or story. I did a lot of shuffling around--there’s that shuffle again--seeing which order played best. It took a while, but that’s something worth spending time on. You want to get it right.

SILY: You’ve said any of these songs could be a single. Do you have a favorite?

DC: [The title track] is probably my favorite for that reason. It’s simplistic in its style, and usually, those are the best ones, the easiest ones to understand, though everybody has their own understanding of music. It is art; you can look at a painting, and 10 different people can have different opinions on it. It’s the same with music. Each song has a different meaning to a different person. That’s great; that way you can touch millions of people instead of 10.

SILY: What’s the story behind the album art?

DC: The story behind the album art is my son [Grady Clifford] did it and I needed a cover. That’s it! I didn’t tell him anything. When I saw it for the first time, I just went, “Wow!” He’s very talented. He did the Revisited cover. Whenever I need art, I don’t tell him what to do. He just does it. My wife [Laurie Clifford] is an artist, too. She did the artwork for [CCR]’s first album. Very recently, she got it in the de Young Museum. They had a show of album covers from the 60′s. The Clifford family has a drummer and artists. One of the things about going from vinyl to CDs is the art is a pretty good size. I miss a lot of aspects of the packaging. I have a couple of good album cover folks within the confines of the house here.

SILY: What’s next from the vault?

DC: A project I did with the same songwriting concept. Two of us did all the writing. The other guy was Bobby Whitlock. I’ve got a Bobby Whitlock album with a group we had for a short while. Bobby’s wife didn’t like living in the East Bay. She wanted to live in the Northeast. Happy wife, happy life, so we had to split when we were close to getting a deal. Another addition to Cosmo’s Vault!

[davidmann95]

Your ranking of RWBY seasons?

Coming at this having binged 1-6 in a few months (and I pretty much never binge) last summer:

7. Volume 1

Oof. As I’ve said before, I started watching this because I was interested in the DC tie-in comic, and this fell exactly within the realm of ‘fun enough to distract me on the treadmill, but not good enough that I felt the need to watch it properly on my laptop when not on the treadmill’. Some of the building blocks are there from day one - the music slaps, the fight choreography is top-notch, the characters are generally likable enough, and the aesthetic is in place - but it feels like light, airy empty calories, and Jaune is genuinely insufferable before his arc begins in earnest (and even occasionally after for awhile there!). And then it sort of...stops, more than properly ends, was my experience of it? With the big character development being “the rich asshole racist girl has tacitly agreed to be less racist”? It’s...I understood from what I’d heard going in that its rougher edges were sanded off over time, but I was in retrospect investing a ridiculous amount of trust in it at the time. I’d probably like it a lot more now knowing where it’s all going, but even so.

6. Volume 2

Apparently it’s considered a Hot Take to think the first two seasons were the rough patch the show had to get through rather than the gold standard it never again reached. Which I kind of get given that’s where original series creator Monty Oum was involved before his tragic passing, but also I don’t get even a little bit and I just have to throw up my hands and admit there’s no accounting for taste. While this carries over most issues from the first - and also painfully hinges the conclusion of one of its biggest subplots on a guy-in-a-dress gag, even if feels less cruelly intended than it probably *could* have in 2014 and is paired with a dope dance number - it does feel more fleshed-out and cohesive, with the beginnings of serious character development for most of the major players, and also it’s the one where a corgi is fastballed at robots.

5. Volume 5

This is sort of difficult, because the culmination to this leg of Yang’s arc is about as good as the series has ever gotten, and that makes up a LOT of this season, nevermind the catharsis of the band getting back together bit-by-bit. But also this is where the Faunus allegory climaxes in a respectability politics message that plays incredibly rough, especially now (doesn’t help that it was as I was catching up that Jonathan Hickman’s “what if fuck respectability politics actually” X-Men relaunch was coming in like a nuclear piledriver), and *also* makes up a lot of the season. The rest of the cast’s the decider, and while there are several really good moments, it is also literally them waiting around for a season for the bad guys to show up, and then when they do it’s less the titanic showdown between the two opposing camps you’ve been waiting for so much as “we need Cinder to run into Jaune to move his arc forward, and to deal with Raven for the sake of the plot and her stuff with Yang, so I guess the other bad guys have to be there too until we can shuffle them offstage”. It’s all still very solidly executed, there’s more good than bad, but it’s definitely the most uneven of the series.

4. Volume 3

Ah, the tournament arc, except that’s not really what it ends up at all. For all the trappings, and all that it does move everybody forward, this volume is really Pyrrha’s story with the rest dipping in and out. It *has* to be, because her death has to bear the weight of being the emotional and symbolic foundation that the entire rest of the series will stand on, and god if they don’t put over her shattered heroes’ journey to the point that by the end I went “dammit, in 3 hours this took me from my treadmill distraction to the piece of media I’m currently most engaged with emotionally”. She’s the season in a nutshell: the big threat came about 2 or 3 seasons earlier than they would have been ready for it, and they don’t manage to come through and save the day anyway, and now everyone has to live with the consequences. An incredible achievement coming from this crew on the heels of a real-life loss that easily and justly could have brought the show grinding to a halt as it instead fully grew into its potential. Also I feel like this season has the best ratio of absolutely banger fights in the franchise.

3. Volume 7

I strongly considered putting this at #2, and while I didn’t quite get there, I’d still say without hesitation that this is the most cleverly structured and thoughtfully put-together season of the show. As Volume 3 was Pyrrha’s story, this is Penny’s (with major beats for Ren/Nora/Weiss on top, and if not character development significant character definition for the rest), as the robot girl learns the value of humanity in parallel to the tin man rationalizing an unthinkable monstrosity to himself. A volume about how no, it’s never going to go back to being like Volumes 1-3 again, the characters have been through too much and this is a different show now. One that in this instance forces the leads to apply their hard-earned moral lessons in a relatively realistic context: basically, shōnen will to win and stand by those who need you vs. the seemingly pragmatic lure of military realpolitik that threatens to slide all the way into fascism at essentially any moment depending on where the top guys’ head is at. While it’s not as emotionally intense as some other seasons (which is sort of necessary, as there’s an illusion of ‘everything’s gonna work out okay now!’ that needs to be built up before it can be shattered), I’m really, really enthused about the direction for the series going forward this seems to set up.

2. Volume 6

The worst I can say here is that it’s segmented severely in a way that none of the other seasons are, but each of those segments is AAA+, so I can’t really complain too much. Everyone but everyone’s put through the wringer with this one while coming out the other end stronger, the superstructure of the plot is finally fully revealed, it flips genres on a dime from RPG quest to fantasy epic to supernatural horror to weighty domestic dramatics to a climactic samurai showdown to fucking Pacific Rim, and it has the single best fight in the series. Unless you’re one of the weird “Adam was shortchanged!” folks I know are out there, I can’t imagine not loving this one.

1. Volume 4

Okay if volumes 1-2 being considered the best are “there’s no accounting for taste”, knowing that 4 is apparently one of the more consistently derided is utterly beyond my ability to summon up a rationale for. If everything beforehand was functionally an extended prologue, this is where the story starts, where every single character grows beyond an archetype and a sympathetic background into the struggles and strengths that will define them for the rest of the show. This is where you get where Weiss is coming from and trying to move past, this is where Blake articulates her pain, this is where Yang is understood as the brawler who’s about to be faced with nothing but problems she can’t just punch past, where Jaune’s efforts at holding himself up as a macho hero stop being cringe comedy and become the disastrous means of coping that’ll define him for several seasons, where Ren and Nora become fully-formed, engrossing figures instead of gag machines, and where Ruby becomes who can hold it all together. It accomplishes more in defining these people and why we should care about them than any other season has come close to matching, and handily takes the win as far as I’m concerned.

[bigskydreaming]

The Regents’ Deck

Bit of a worldbuilding extra for my fic By Lost Ways....nothing you need to know to understand the fic and its all information that unfolds over the first ten chapters anyway, so no real plot spoilers here. But I do love me some worldbuilding and I know other people do too, so figured some people might like to have it laid out here.

So this is the official Regents’ Deck talked about in that fic, with the exception of the Joker card of course. I’ve filled in the official Regent titles that have been revealed thus far in the prologue, but the other bit is the part that doesn’t really come up in active discussion until certain characters like Bruce and Roy enter the picture with a more scientific approach to things.

Because while the Regents embody and represent symbolic and metaphysical forces through their magic.....they also all each represent and embody a physical force as well. And this is where the magic system of this world really comes in: the use of feathers (the link to the divine energy of Mother Sky in this world, other than the Regents themselves) to channel and manipulate various physical forces.

Of course, there’s a bit more to it than just waving a bunch of feathers around, but the feathers are always a necessary ingredient, and the core key to unlocking various powers or spells. Swan feathers create anti-gravity effects while ostrich feathers ground things, tanager feathers amplify heat while tern feathers drain it away, etc. 

Which is why a particularly ingenious archer, like say, Roy Harper, can be a total bad-ass in this world, even moreso than usual. After all, Roy was known for being the one who created most of his own weapons and trick arrows in the main DC Earth, and when you apply that ingenuity to a feather-based magic system via say, the fletchings on arrows......you get a whole lot of fun stuff, like lightning arrows and frost arrows that act like liquid nitrogen, silencer arrows and arrows that break apart the bonds holding things together.

BUT.

The real trick, for those who have devoted significant parts of their lives to unlocking the secrets of their world’s magic, like Roy.....comes from when you figure out how to COMBINE certain types of feathers....and the physical forces they represent....to get combo effects. 

And that’s how you end up with an archer like Roy who has arrows that have a strange combination of feathers that don’t make sense to most other people at first glance.....but let him do things like fire arrows around corners, and arrows that pass through walls intangibly until they reach their target, or seemingly wipe something entirely out of existence.

So yeah. I had a lot of fun writing Roy in this, lol, due to this particular magic system.

And of course, the Regents are the exceptions to this, as they don’t use feathers to channel their abilities.....as they are in essence walking nuclear reactors tapped directly into the forces they represent, for as long as they’re Regent. Thus using the various magics associated with their Regency is as simple as thinking for them - BUT the flip side is that they can’t use or tap into the power of any other Regencies, even via feathers.

(There are a couple other exceptions to this magic system too, in the sense of characters who use magic that’s completely outside the system....but that’s because the planet Sky is not the only world created in this cosmos, and certain visitors from other worlds still show up, with powers/magic stemming from the worlds of their birth. For instance, Kory’s powers here are fueled by what she calls soulfire, and are tied to the goddess figure of her homeworld, and Atlanteans live beneath the sea in a giant caldera in one of the uppermost mountain ranges in the world....but originally came from another world, a water world, and thus Garth uses a totally different magic system as well.)

But anyway, this is the Regents’ Deck and the physical forces each card corresponds to, just if anyone wants to refer back to it when reading the fic.......although, just FYI, a key part of the story involves the fact that the modern day characters in the fic have some incorrect ideas about the Deck and the Regents. For instance, below is the order the Deck is usually ordered in when not shuffled for a reading.....people think this is the order the Regents are supposed to go in, to make sense with the scientific discoveries they’ve made over the centuries, and how they correspond to the various Regents.

There’s just a couple problems with this order.....as in things that break the mold/don’t make sense according to the in-universe understanding of it.

The big one is the Mockingbird.....the Mockingbird Regent pretty clearly breaks the pattern and always has, as far as anyone knows. It doesn’t seem to fit anywhere...its placed where it is, just because that’s kinda what people have decided is their best guess for it, based on the powers it bestows and unlocks via mockingbird feathers.....but the thing is, as is stated outright in her title and description itself.....the Mockingbird Regent is never as she seems....and never has been. People have had a totally incorrect understanding of her and the forces she embodies pretty much since day one....but whether or not that’s by design, and if so, by whose.....*no spoilers* 

(I will say though that the Mockingbird Regent is Stephanie Brown, and that’s not really a spoiler, so much as a reassurance that I haven’t forgotten about her - or Duke - just because I don’t have them listed as Robins in the summary).

There’s also some minor confusion/incorrect assumptions about the Raven and Ibis Regents and their roles and what they represent/embody, but that’s not hugely crucial to the story.

The other big thing though, is that a couple of characters like Roy and Bruce, have figured out through their various experiments with magic and their scientific studies of it.....there’s something else about the Deck that doesn’t make sense. Two of the cards, in their expert opinions....are missing their true opposite numbers. Something that can only be explained in their minds by the notion that there might be two cards - and thus two whole Regents - that are missing from the Deck. 

How that could possibly happen and what it means IS going to be important to the story however...and it suggests that there’s a couple more types of feathers out there with their own unique magical properties just waiting to be discovered. Or rediscovered as the case may be.

(They’re actually not quite right. There are actually THREE Regents and their corresponding cards that are missing from the Deck. I mention this only because I’m actually reeeeeally interested in seeing if anyone can figure out from this what they are - as in, what forces they’re meant to represent/which cards are missing their true opposites. I know the world so well in my own head that I just honestly have no idea how obvious or not it is, so I’m genuinely curious. I think one should be fairly obvious, but the other two, maybe not).

Anyway, so here’s the Regents’ Deck, as its currently understood in-universe, with the above-mentioned ‘mistakes’.

Sparrow - Space (reduction) Seagull - Space (propagation)   Hummingbird - Time (reduction) Crane - Time (propagation)

Magpie - Quantity (reduction) Kingfisher - Quantity (propagation) Robin - Regent of Change and New Beginnings - Entropy (reduction) Vulture - Entropy (propagation)

Eagle - Weak Nuclear Force (reduction) Shrike - Regent of Bindings & Battle - Strong Nuclear Force (propagation) Swan - Gravity (reduction) Ostrich - Gravity (propagation)

Hawk - Electromagnetism (reduction) Dove - Electromagnetism (propagation) Tern - Regent of Winter and Woes - Thermodynamics (reduction) Tanager - Thermodynamics (propagation)

Cardinal - Light (propagation) Mockingbird - Regent of Lies and Tall Tales Owl - Regent of Secrets and Silence - Sound (reduction) Canary - Regent of Speech and Song - Sound (propagation)

Crow - Regent of Death and Deception - Consciousness (reduction) Rook - Consciousness (propagation) Raven - Regent of Midnight and Mysteries - Knowledge (reduction) Ibis - Knowledge (propagation)

[knifeonmars]

Capsule Reviews - June/July 2020

I didn't read as many comics that I felt the need to write about these past couple of months, but the ones that I did I generally had a lot of thoughts on.

Hawkworld 

Back in 1989, DC attempted to revamp Hawkman, notoriously the most confusing character in a stable comprised of confusing characters, with Timothy Truman's Hawkworld, a dark, modern take on the sci-fi version of the character. The result is flawed in the most frustrating ways, just good enough that parts of it feel like they could be coming from a hidden classic of DC's back catalog, but never living up to its potential. The story entirely is set on Thanagar, casting Katar Hol (Hawkman) as a privileged heir who has thrown his lot in with the police force and pines for Thanagar's lost golden age, when men were men and heroes walked the Earth. The first couple of issues do some genuinely excellent work depicting Thanagar as a corrupt and crumbling empire which bears more than a little resemblance to the USA and casting Hol as a well-meaning but ultimately deluded dupe whose role as a cop makes him at best complicit in his culture's worst excesses. 

Unfortunately, the second half of the series never manages to live up to the first half, skipping forward in time by about ten years and ditching the systemic critique of its first half. Instead, the corrupt police commander who had previously appeared as a symptom of Thanagar's ills is turned into a literal monster, a strawman for the newly christened Hawkman to soundly thump over the head in place of addressing larger issues. The systemic concerns of the series' first half are never meaningfully addressed in the later issues and Hawkworld ends up falling back into being a simple tale of good cops versus bad cops, despite the first half of the series having been largely unambiguous about cops' nature as agents of state violence and imperialism. It's a shocking and deeply confusing disconnected that I can't tell if it's because I'm bringing modern politics and assumptions to the book or that someone at DC completely lost their nerve halfway through. This is what makes Hawkworld so frustrating to read, on the one hand its insightful and anti-colonial and surprisingly relevant to 2020, but on the other it never commits to those ideas because doing so would be too radical, the end result is a book which is very good right up until the point that it completely wimps out and shuffles back into mediocrity.

She-Hulk

After a long interval of living, unread, in my Comixology files, I finally read She-Hulk by Charles Soule and Javier Pulido. The quality of the series almost goes unsaid; it's one of the best of its era and niche, a part of the a whole constellation of early to mid 2010's "street level" Marvel superhero books which started, more or less with Daredevil and Hawkeye, ran through She-Hulk and Spider-Woman, extended into Hellcat and debatably Squirrel Girl, and then fizzled out several years ago. I try to fight nostalgia back most of the time, but it can't be overstated how good that whole wave of titles was, almost universally fun and approachable, grounded and empathetic, and with top-notch art across the board. Anyway, She-Hulk by Soule and Pulido is fantastic. It keeps to a relatively straightforward procedural style, makes the courtroom antics feel real thanks to Soule's actual background as a lawyer, and connects with the Marvel Universe in ways which set it among the others without ever feeling too overwhelming. The whole deal with The Blue File, the series' overarching mystery is well handled and does something really interesting with Nightwatch, an absolutely nothing character, who I'm a little disappointed we haven't seen turn up again since this reinvention. Reading She-Hulk made me nostalgic for this whole era, of which this series was one of the best.

The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal

Petals to the Metal is the arc where the McElroy family's The Adventure Zone podcast found its footing and really began to blossom into the series that it would become, so there were a lot of expectations riding on this entry in the graphic novel adaptations of the series. Generally speaking, it continues to nail most of what made the series work and polish the story into something a little more refined and coherent. The narrative trimming and changes done are smooth, the jokes still work, and its able to foreshadow events in a way that the podcast, given its nature as an emergent narrative, could never really do. Carey Pietsch's cartooning remains fabulous, and what makes this story work as a graphic novel must certainly be credited to her. This series remains the defining work of her young career and while I greatly enjoy what she's doing, I do wonder if she's really going to stick around do all seven potential books, especially if they keep ballooning in size. The only criticisms of Petals to the Metal as a comic are much the same as could be made about Petals to the Metal as a podcast and the big one is the main characters are kind of incidental to the story and don't feel like they have an important role in the emotional climax. Such is the nature of trying to tell a story in a DnD campaign, and its something that TAZ would get better at subsequently, but in graphic novel form hard not to think about. Without as clear of a distinction between "player characters" and "non-player characters" it's not quite as strange to see the main trio take a back seat, but without the charisma and speed of the podcast form it's much easier to sit back and say "wait, the main character's aren't even doing anything here". This volume is also noticeably thicker than the first two volumes of The Adventure Zone, and I hope that this series isn't going to swell, Harry Potter-like, with each entry, if only for the sake of Pietsch not keeling over from the effort.

Batman: Last Knight on Earth

Supposedly the capper to the Batman stories Snyder and Capullo's started telling all the way back in 2011 with the New 52 reboot of the character, though that's a little hard to swallow when they are still very much doing a bunch of Batman stuff in their current Death Metal event series. It's Batman playing in a post-apocalyptic DC universe, bombastic and unhinged, upending the toy box and smashing things like there's no tomorrow. It's fun, beautifully drawn, and incredibly over the top, but it's not going to be for everyone. For one thing, it's a tour of a ruined DC universe, so it's not exactly kind of most characters; there's a lot of death and mutilation and grotesqueness abounds. It's also deeply, deeply, misanthropic. I've got an essay talking about the politics of this book at greater length ready to go up at some point, but the short version is that this is a comic which starts off with an incredibly unsubtle allegory for the 2016 election and then ends with a big, cheesy hope shot that means absolutely nothing.

Even beyond my political reading of it, not everything about the story works. Snyder and Capullo's Batman work has had a ton of Joker in it and his role here is obnoxious and contains a bafflingly unearned redemption arc. More importantly, the book is built on misanthropy and the evil that ordinary people do but is completely unable to actually confront this thematically or narratively. It's a major thematic shortcoming.

I'm reminded of the ending of Grant Morrison's Batman Inc, a similar endpoint to an era of Batman which was fundamentally informed by the rejection of Morrison's vision by the rest of DC Comics. It's a bitter, angry book, but still beautiful and engaging, and fun to talk about.

Batman Universe

The complete other end of the spectrum from Last Knight on Earth, Batman Universe is a glorious romp through the DC universe, exploring the setting and characters and having fun in this day-glo fantasia. Nick Derrington knocks the art out of the park, and the constraints of shorter chapters mean that Brian Bendis' writing is more succinct and energetic than I've ever seen it before. I've idly wondered for years now why there's no current Batman animated series, and Batman Universe seems very much designed as the equivalent of one: the ties to current continuity are nearly nonexistent, the art is distinct and skews away from pseudo-realism in favor of pop aesthetics, and the approach in general is lighthearted.

It's not the deepest book, at least on an initial read, it's pointedly light fare, but it's still incredibly good. It is an unabashed, all-caps SUPERHERO STORY that doesn't feel retro or dated.

[imagines-dreams]

Blind Date at Seventeen - Tom Holland Imagine

Rating: PG

Warnings: mentions of anxiety, but only a little

Summary: You are a rising star, known for your novels over the past few years. Seventeen has been doing a series of videos of blind dates with celebrities, and you were honored to do one with them. Little did you know, it wasn’t going to be an ordinary blind date video.

Word Count: 3060

“Robert?” You laughed.

“Finally, our guest of honor.” He pulled you into a hug and patted your shoulders. “So, you ready for your blind date.”

You giggled. “Uh, I mean, I guess.” You shrugged. “I’m just glad I get to talk to a fan one on one.” You raised your eyebrow. “Wait, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I had to shoot something for Seventeen a few minutes ago, and I heard you were next with this blind date thing.” He sighed. “You know, in my day, you just meet people then date.”

“And in my day, you swipe right.”

He shook his head. “Hey, I’d swipe right on Susan.”

“Yeah, but would she swipe right on you?”

Robert narrowed his eyes at you. “Don’t test me, (Y/n). You’re on thin ice.”

“Love you, too.”

“(Y/n)!” Your manager called. “Come on, they’re ready for you.”

“Oh, thank you.” You smiled at Robert. “I’ll see you after?”

“Not if you’re so taken by the man you go on a date with.”

You laughed. “It’s nice to dream!”

The set was put up, simple and pretty. A wooden stool on a pink background. Seventeen wanted this video to be very spontaneous, so there were only written questions for the two of you to ask each other when the time came. No other script necessary.

The director instructed you, “So, your date is gonna come in about thirty minutes, so we just need to shoot your intro scene.”

“Anything I need to say specifically?”

“Basics. Name, what you’re famous for, and what we’re gonna do. And make sure to say you’re with Seventeen.”

“Cool.” You sat on the stool, and when the director called for action, you put on a dazzling smile. “Hi, guys. I’m (Y/n) (Y/l/n), and I’m here in this very pretty studio with Seventeen, and I’m going on a blind date with a superfan of my book series.” You leaned forward. “Let’s go meet him.”

“Great!” The director turned around. “Let’s do that again. Uh, hair?!”

Two people swarmed you and fixed little things about your appearance.

“Ok, (Y/n), just do that again. It was good, just uh, look at the camera all the time, and don’t clap your hands like that in the very beginning, yeah?”

You didn’t even notice you did that, but you smiled and nodded. After a few more takes and a few adjustments here and there, you had the take, and your date had arrived.

You got off the set and watched as they transformed it. Two stools with a curtain between the two of them. Someone handed you a stack of cards, the questions, and instructed you to stand somewhere so you couldn’t see your date.

“Alright, talents, sit down, and we can get started,” the director instructed.

You sat down and heard the director call for the cameras to start rolling.

“You nervous?” the guy asked. His voice was American, and you couldn’t help but feel like you’ve heard it before. Somewhere.

You smiled. “Uh, kinda,” you admitted. “Not every day you sit one on one with another superfan.”

“Really? I meet a lot at Comic-Con.”

“I actually haven’t been in a while,” you admitted.

“Really?”

“Uh huh.” You pushed your hair back and fiddled with the cards.

“Well, uh,” his voice quivered, “maybe we can go together one day?”

You nodded. “Maybe.” You cleared your throat. “Shall we get started?”

“Yes! Of course, the questions.” He shuffled his cards. “Uh, who’s your favorite superhero?”

“Oh, you gotta specify,” you chided. “DC or Marvel?”

“Nope, that’s it, it can’t happen.”

“What?” You laughed. “Come on, DC’s not bad.”

“The DCEU’s not that bad?”

You groaned. “Ok, ok, fine. Uh, for Marvel and of all time, it would be Iron Man. Spider-Man’s a close second.”

“Why’s Spider-Man second?” He sounded almost offended, but you just giggled and reasoned, “Well, I grew up with Iron Man, you know? Since 2008 and all, and for the most part, I think he has a great character arc throughout the movies. Plus, gotta love some mental health representation.”

He was silent for a few seconds. “You know, I haven’t heard many people bring up Tony’s anxiety.”

“Oh, that’s one of the reasons I love him,” you admitted. “I struggle with anxiety sometimes, so to see a great big superhero deal with it was really inspiring.”

“Good point. I might just change my answer.”

“From Spider-Man?”

“I said, ‘Almost.’ Spider-Man’s still the best.” He laughed. “Ok, your question.”

“Right.” You picked up your card. “Favorite book of all time?”

“Book? You know, I do like reading, but I can’t do a lot of it due to work and my dyslexia. Still, I really like one author, really, in particular. I like her books.”

“And she is?” you pondered.

“You heard of (Y/n) (Y/l/n)?”

You bit your lip. “Uh, yeah, she’s the up and coming author, right?”

“Yeah!” He seemed so excited. “Yeah, just anything by her.”

“Anything?” You nodded at the camera. “Really? What about her first solo book?” Your first book wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. The plot was very simple, and the main character didn’t have as complex of a character arc as you could’ve given them.

“Ok, it wasn’t her best,” your mystery date said. “But, if you read all of her books, chronologically, then you see how much she’s grown as a writer. I mean, in a few short years, she has several books out, and she’s become an idol for everyone by just sharing her stories and growing as a writer. It takes strength to be that vulnerable at that age, you know?”

You blinked a few times, the blush crawling up your neck and settling in your cheeks. No one has ever said that to you. He was right. It was always a struggle to have to produce content you were fine with showing the public, but you just never thought anyone would acknowledge that. Then again, you didn’t think you’d get this much attention from a few books.

You bit your lip and nodded. “Yeah, I guess it does.”

“Yeah, uh, what’s your favorite book?”

“Percy Jackson,” you said. “Obviously. Rick Riordan is a genius.”

“Ok, ok, we got a true bookworm over here.” He laughed.

“Your turn, mystery man.”

“Yes, uh, if you were to have a superpower, what would it be?”

You inhaled through your teeth. “That’s so hard, um, maybe super speed? Or super strength? Flying?” You pursed your lips. “Wait, no, healing. I want healing abilities. Final answer.” You slapped the cards on your thigh to emphasize your point.

“So, you’re kind, then.”

You shrugged. “I am a hufflepuff, after all.”

“A hufflepuff?” he said, shocked.

You gasped. “And, is there something wrong with that, hm?”

“No, I just never met someone who wants to be a hufflepuff.”

You huffed. “Such a gryffindor.”

“Hey, I take that as a compliment,” he argued.

You scoffed. “Only a gryffindor would do that.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Next question!” You whipped out another card. The blind date sputtered, but still, you read over his voice, “No, nuh uh, next question is if you were in a book, what role would you think the other one would play? Example, protagonist, damsel in distress, best friend.” You put the card down and said with no hesitation, “He’s a protagonist, the dumb, oblivious protagonist.”

“Hey!”

“You’re a gryffindor, aren’t you? That’s the definition of a gryffindor. Dumb and brave protagonist.”

“Brave?” You could practically hear him puff out his chest.

You scoffed, thanking whatever higher being that he couldn’t see your blush. “So? Brave and stupid. Gryffindor qualities.”

“Ok, well, I think you’d be the best friend.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because, you’re kind and supportive, like some hufflepuff, and you know how to deal with things, like anxiety and stuff. Or a princess character?”

“Princess, huh?” you teased.

He laughed. “Well, kinda like a Belle character, maybe? ‘Cause you like to read. I bet you’re the type of person to run into someone cause you’ve got your nose in a book.”

“Well, you’re not completely wrong,” you admitted.

“Ok, next question.” He cleared his throat. “Biggest pet peeve?”

You groaned. “Oh god, when you have high anxiety and you tell someone and they tell you to calm down. I hate that. I can’t.” You shrugged. “Not the way to handle anxiety.” You pointed at the camera. “This has been a PSA.”

He laughed. “I hate it when people do that. Obviously, if it were that easy, you would’ve calmed down.”

“Exactly!” You shook your head. This guy wasn’t half bad. You knew how these Seventeen things worked. You paid for a date with a fan, take a few photos, follow them on Instagram, and keep in touch for a few months. But, you didn’t expect your blind date to be this great. “Don’t worry,” you said, “if your anxiety’s high, I always think distraction. Movies, Netflix, blankets, ice cream, a dog.”

“Dogs are always the perfect solution.”

You picked the next card. “Oh. This is actually the perfect segway, so gotta say, dogs or cats?”

“Dogs, obviously. They’re the best.”

“Both are cute.”

“Coward,” he teased.

You laughed. “Fine, dogs. You’re right. They’re the perfect solution.”

“Ok, what about your ideal date?”

You hummed in thought. “Ok, I like relaxed dates, not too active, but not too lazy. Like a stroll or a carnival maybe? That would be really fun.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” he said, his voice a little dreamy. “For me, it depends on the day. I travel a lot for work, so if it’s a day off, then I’d actually like to stay in, but if life hasn’t been busy, a carnival doesn’t sound too bad.”

“Gotta ask, carnival games or rides?”

“No, you can’t do that to me?”

“Why not?” You leaned towards the curtain. “This is kinda like an interview, after all.”

He scoffed. “You can’t make me choose between a romantic ferris wheel and winning you stuffed animals.”

Huh, he did have a point. “Ok, you’re right.” You whipped out another card. “Next question!” You cleared your throat. “How do you mark your page when reading?”

“Dog ear.”

You gasped, and you swear your heart broke a little. “You’re kidding.”

“Yes, I’m kidding.” Mystery man sighed. “Come on, my dad taught me better than that.” He paused for a second. “I don’t use a bookmark, though. I usually use something else that’s around, post-it, receipt, something like that. Ok, I really like this question, who is your celebrity crush?”

You inhaled through your teeth. “Just one?”

“Just one?!”

You laughed.

“Wow, I have no chance here.”

You shrugged. “If you’re anything like Tom Holland, trust me, you’ll have a chance.”

“Oh?” He was completely silent for a second or two, not even moving. “Uh, Tom Holland’s your celebrity crush?”

“One of them,” you said. “But, yeah, love Tom Holland and his Spider-Man.”

“Is he your favorite Spider-Man?”

You wanted to tease the super Spider-Man fan, so you settled on saying, “He’s in my top three.”

“What? Wait a-”

“Next question!”

As you took out the next card, you could hear him mutter, “This isn’t fair. Not fair at all.”

You giggled. “Ok, ok, if you were to write a dedication for your autobiography, what would you say?” You bit your lip. “I actually really like this question.”

“Me, too, but it really makes you think. I can’t…” He sighed, and you could almost see him leaning forward or running his hand through his hair. “Oh god, I don’t know. That’s hard. I’m on the spot.”

“We can move on to another question,” you suggested.

“Nah.” He blew his hair out of his face. “I want to answer to this one. It’s a good one. Uh, there’s just so many people I’d wanna thank, you know. Uh, I’d actually just list all of my teachers and the people who thought I was special enough to get the job I have.”

This guy definitely was creative. From his vague job to his unique answers. You had to admit, this guy was surprising you in a great way. “Admirable,” you told him.

“Thanks.” He gulped. “Uh, this one’s kinda scary.”

“Bring it. I’m ready.” You sat up straighter and prepared yourself.

“Ok, what would you hate to be remembered as?”

“Oh, this is scary. You’re right again.” You laughed as you pondered the many things you’d hate to be known for. Selfish was bad, but also vain, shallow? You hummed. “Ok, I think the worst thing would be if people thought I was close-minded?” Still unsure of your answer, you tilted your head back and forth. “Yeah, I think that would be the worst, cause that goes hand in hand with other things.”

“I like that answer! I would never think of that.”

“Well, what were you thinking of?”

“Ugh, I would hate to be known for being big-headed, you know? I’m working really hard to stay humble.”

You smiled. “Wow, that’s also admirable.” So, your blind date was a gryffindor who loved Spider-Man, dogs, your writing. He was funny and humble, and he knew that he didn’t get to whatever success he currently has on his own. He seems to treasure his days off and worked really hard in his creative field. Mystery Man wasn’t half bad. In fact, he was actually really great.

“Thank you,” he said softly.

You giggled and pursed your lips. Yeah, he was really great.

“Uh, do you have more questions?”

“Oh!” You shuffled through your cards. “Uh, no, I think that’s it.”

The director asked you, “So, would you go on a date with him?”

You beamed. “Yeah, I’d go on a date with him.”

He turned to the guy behind the curtain. “And you?”

“Yeah, she seems awesome.”

“You guys ready?”

The two of you stood up and faced the curtain. You crossed your fingers and hoped that he would react well. It would suck if he wasn’t impressed by this blind date. He did like your books, but it’s possible to like the work and not the author. You gulped and shook out your hands. “Ready.”

“Ready.”

“Alright, pull back the curtain, you two.”

You pulled back your curtain. His was still closed when you pulled your curtain back. For a second, you were terrified. Did he not want to see you? It wouldn’t make a good video. You took a deep breath, and just as you exhaled, he pulled back his curtain.

“H-” You paused. Your jaw dropped. You stared at the man in front of you. Same hair, same eyes, same simple style, same smile, same everything, and oh god. “Tom Holland?”

His eyes went wide at the sight of you. He stepped back with a bright smile on his face. “Wait, you’re- how did you” -he laughed- “This is insane. What? You’re” -he shook his head- “You’re (Y/n) (Y/l/n)!”

You laughed, your cheeks already hurting from seeing your celebrity crush and realizing that the mystery man behind the curtain that you were laughing with and smiling because of was your celebrity crush, was Tom Holland, the Spider-Man.

You pointed at yourself. “I was supposed to meet a fan of my books.”

“I was supposed to meet a Marvel fan!” He laughed and opened his arms. “Come ‘ere!”

You laughed and let yourself fall into his arms before pulling away and smiling up at him. “I am beyond confused. I mean… You had an accent!”

“Yeah, I needed to disguise my voice!”

You giggled. “You did a great job.”

“Thank you.”

You glanced at the director, and you realized something. Robert was there to greet you, and he said he was filming something. You blinked a few times before shouting, “Robert! Where is he?”

Tom withdrew from you and pointed at you. “Did Robert set this up?”

You shouted at the ceiling. “I know you’re there, Robert!”

“Everyone keeps yelling. Giving me a headache.”

A hand came down on your shoulder, and you slapped it away and jabbed a finger at Robert’s chest. “You are sneaky, Robert!”

Robert pulled you into his side along with Tom. “For good reason.” He let go of both of you and pointed at the two of you. “You kids have been gushing about each other’s work for nearly a year. This was just inevitable.”

Tom and you cringed.

“Too soon,” you said.

Tom nodded. “Yeah.”

Robert crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. He looked at the camera. “Can you see what I deal with? When I’m not taking care of him, I’m taking care of her.”

You laughed. “Ok, wait a minute, he’s harder to take care of.”

“And why’s that?” Tom asked.

“I didn’t spoil infinity war for an entire theater.”

“Hey! I did that once.”

Robert cleared his throat. “Ok, we’ve been focusing on these two for too long.”

You slapped Robert’s chest and shook your head. “Unbelievable.”

“I know right,” Tom agreed. “He’s so full of himself.”

“Actually,” you tilted your head, “I saw him before I went in, and he changed clothes.”

Tom looked him up and down. “He did change clothes!”

“See, this is better,” Robert said, all smug and happy. “Attention on me, like it should be.”

The three of you laughed, and the director decided it was time to wrap it up. “Guys, let’s film the end card.”

“Right.” You cleared your throat and smoothed out your clothes just for Robert to pull the two of you into his sides. “Hey, guys, I’m Robert Downey Jr.”

He looked to you. “And I’m (Y/n) (Y/l/n).”

“And I’m Tom Holland. And we want to thank you for watching me and (Y/n) go on a blind date-”

“Set up by me!” Robert pointed at the camera. “You’re welcome, internet.”

You laughed. “If you wanna see more videos like this, make sure to subscribe to Seventeen’s youtube channel.” You waved at the camera. “Bye!”

Robert looked to Tom. “Isn’t she so cute?”

He blushed and pushed Robert away. “Stop that!”

Robert feigned being offended and followed Tom off set. “Hey, you can’t walk away from me. I know you think she’s cute! Tom!”

Notes: So… how was it? Do you guys hate it? Love it? I’m really nervous for this one since I don’t do celebrity oneshots, but please tell me what you think!

[sonicfanj]

I’m a big fan of AUs and the freedom that fans have to explore Sonic or any fandom in ways that diverge from the source material, but with AUs and more recent Sonic stuff being what a lot of new fans brought in from the movie will see, the possibility of providing false information is far to high if we are not careful. That SEGA also spreads misinformation only makes matter worse and it is the heart of this particular post.

One of the biggest misconceptions of Sonic that SEGA perpetrates both through retcons and from Sonic Generations onward is that Sonic before the Sonic Adventure (Adventure henceforth )rebranding back in 1998/1999 is that “Classic Sonic “ as he is dubbed these days is possessed of an age of around eleven and is even shorter than Sonic’s 1 meter/3′3″ height. The height can actually be sourced to a profile of Metal Sonic’s that lists him at around seventy something centimeters as well as Generations making him shorter to account for the difference in proportions. But the truth is, Sonic was always listed at 1 meter tall, both before and after the Adventure redesign.

[Character height chart for reference - http://info.sonicretro.org/images/9/99/Classic_character_heights.svg]

Age on the other hand is where things get really strange. Again, a retcon for Generations makes sense to an extent, especially when you consider that the characters had their ages shuffled around as it was with the Adventure redesign. Amy aged up from 8 to 12 and Knuckles aged up from 15 to 16. Tails remained the same but Sonic actually received a subtle change. Bios that listed Sonic’s age before Adventure typically listed him at 15 to 16 years old. That would actually make him the same age or older than his Adventure onward counterpart. But it gets even weirder. According to the Sonic Technical Files (currently hosted by Sonnic Fansite Sonic Retro here - http://info.sonicretro.org/Original_Story) Sonic was actually originally thought about to be even older, around 18 years old. Suddenly, Sonic from his typically dubbed Classic Era is actually definitively older than his modern counterpart, yet is portrayed as a younger bubbly child from Sonic Generations onward. And I assure you, this is a retcon.

If you grew up in the 90s like I did and were introduced to Sonic when he debuted back in 1991, then you will remember the western advertising over embracing his teenager with an attitude description. And it wasn’t just in game ads, it was in all Sonic media available in the west. The US cartoons, the Archie and Fleetway comics, and so on, portrayed Sonic as an uppity teenager with an attitude problem (some cases being far worse than others). That teenager of a high school age mentality was the backbone for why the Archie Sonic comics were littered with teenager romance drama, which would look rather distasteful if you think about it post retcons now. But they were not at fault for portraying Sonic based on being high school age. The material and information they were provided told them as such and so they based their interpretations off of that available information.

But it wasn’t just a western mistake either. If not for input from key members of SEGA of America (henceforth SoA) Sonic would be rather different and would even have had a human girlfriend by the name of Madona who was anything but a child.

[Pic here - https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/d/dc/Madonna.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090313035151]

Madonna was not the only time it happened either as one of the last pieces of pre-Adventure release Classic Sonic material is the Sonic OVA or Movie produced by Japanese animation studio Studio Peirrot where a catgirl (read human girl with cat ears and a tail) was the main love interest and whom even Eggman/Robotnik wanted to marry (it’s weird, I don’t argue that). But more importantly, two of Sonic’s primary creators, Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima, were listed as Production Directors for the two episode Original Video Animation (OVA) and were rumored to be involved quite a bit with the film. You can typically find it on youtube though I recomend the subbed version, bad video quality and all, to get a better representation of the Japanese perspective. It’s really eye opening and was very nostalgic in when I first watched it post Sonic Generations release.

The thing is though, the OVA released in 1996, years before the Adventure rebranding, and is strongly believed to be how Naka and Oshima see the character. This is actually reflected in the Sonic Adventure redesign as Yuji Naka on record (a shame I can’t find the link) has stated that Sonic was redesigned to bring him closer to the original character idea and to erase the growing cute identity that he was developing due to marketing. He even goes on to say that Sonic was never intended to be cute and that being a cute mascot character would inevitably pit him against Hello Kitty which would not have ended well. Yet, SEGA retconned the Naka/Oshima Sonic into being a bubbly hyperactive kid who was much shorter and generally hyper cute compared to his more modern interpretation of the character. This retcon is only made even more complicated when SEGA decided they didn’t like their “New” Classic Sonic being treated as the same character as their Legacy Sonic and even retconned that come Sonic Forces to say that he was actually from a different dimension. Years after Sonic Forces release that decision still riles up many more dedicated fans as it breaks the series continuity. Arguably, it has too. After all, if Naka/Oshima Sonic is older than Legacy/Modern Sonic and has the same height yet New Classic Sonic is shorter and strangely mute then something had to be changed or it just starts to fall apart for a cohesive narrative. Of course Amy’s four year gain already threw things into question but on it’s own was fairly harmless considering her role in the franchise as the main female lead and primary love interest. But New Classic Sonic’s muteness is what this post will be carrying on from.

One of the biggest misconceptions of Sonic before the Adventure redesign is that he did not speak. The primary reason for this misconception I usually attributed to him not speaking in the classics. this is actually a false statement as Sonic speaks in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, SegaSonic the Hedgehog, and is quite the chatterbox in a Japanese only popcorn machine. Admittedly, these are all difficult to experience items, especially pre-Adventure, but by the time of Soinc Generations’ release a good deal of these could be researched and Sonic CD was readily available to the public again thanks in no small part to Christian Whitehead of Evening Star Studios. but even outside of the games SOnic was shown to talk quite a bit before the Adventure redesign. Again both the western comics and cartoons and even numerous Japanese comics all showed him speaking quite a bit before the Adventure redesign. Of a more canonical nature however, the Japanese instruction manuals for most of the games from the original onward will show Sonic talking.

So, where did this misconception gain enough steam to become a retcon? It’s hard to say, but there are a lot factors that could lead to it. Major fan backlash was threatened when Generations was first revealed if they got Sonic’s voice wrong and hat it’d be better if he didn’t talk at all. SEGA is known for overreacting to negative feedback at odd and seemingly random times and this appears to me to be yet another case of it. But his muteness only got weirder when people started latching on to him being mute as a matter of shyness. I don’t know where that one originated from, but Sonic’s shyness is actually a trait of his, but it is specifically tied to how he feels about his self-proclaimed Amy Rose. When asked about, Yuji Naka once said that Sonic does likely like Amy deep down, but is too shy to act on those feelings. Naoto Oshima expands further on that stating that Sonic has a boyish immaturity in regards to his feelings and thus won’t act on them but should he mature in that regard he would end up with Amy. In other words, boyish immaturity and shyness are part of Sonic’s character, but they only reflect on certain facets of his character. His shyness and immaturity of his feelings for Amy though were instead stretched out to cover most of his character resulting in New Classic Sonic being a mute, when Naka/Oshima, Legacy/Modern, BOOM! (just to throw in another iteration where he is shy about his feelings for Amy), and even Movie Sonic are all rather talkative.

So that there is three misconceptions about pre-Adventure Sonic that are perpetuated officially by New Classic Sonic effectively being placed over Naka/Oshima Sonic. Again, I don’t aim to bash fanfics and AUs as I love them and the way they explore the characters in new ways, but for the sake of new fans not being overly confused, it should be noted if your Classic Sonic is New or Generations based, or the Naka/Oshima, pre-Adventure version. There are hugely massive differences between them with things like height, age, and talkativeness being hugely noticeable. Otherwise, keep writing, drawing and having fun, and may all of the movie’s fans who find their way into the fanbase enjoy themselves

[mathglitter]

uhuhuh

i was taggedby my good friend @karamatsu-boy so i figured id do this for fun!!

Rules: We’re snooping on your playlist. Put your entire music library on shuffle and list the first 10 songs, then choose 10 victims. 

im not gonna actually tag people for this but!! here

im gonna do what they did and write for each song!

BTSTU - JAI PAUL

this is kinda a hard one to explain?? i had a really good close friendship (that turned out to be toxic in the end due to my own flaws in understanding other people-its long resolved now but it still hurts) and this song reminds me STRONGLY about that entire time period before things got really really nasty. i listened to it a few weeks ago when i was visiting another friend and around like 2 am i headed to their pier (they live on a lake) and listened to the song on repeat for a long long time. it was very difficult to sleep that night but i managed

MAJOR TOM - PETER SHILLING

this one has a lot of emotional impact for me since it deals with my dad whos been the only constant in my life. we used to sing this together when i was very young in the car before things started getting really bad with my mom. i havent listened to it in a while, but its still one of the most important songs to me and ill always remember how it goes, its ingrained

POLLY - NIRVANA

this song reminds me a LOT of seventh grade, not for any specific reason, just that i used to cling to my old iPod and listen to it for a long time since it was downloaded and mine to own. its very haunting and probably my favorite nirvana song, which is crazy since theres so many

WHAT YOU KNOW - TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB

this one hurts to talk about cause it really really REALLY reminds me of late eighth grade and how i lost a lot of myself since that year. theres a lot of bridges i burned and some that just were incidental and i miss being someone people could talk to back then. i felt like myself and although i do regard that time period as a bad time because of the way i was, i will say that it was different and better in some ways and i wish i treasured those friendships and that love when it was happening. i have learned since then, though and i love all the little things in life now since ive lost so much before

MISS YOU - BO EN

i remember this song vividly as sixth grade for me. this was a really rough time, as i had just did myself in with my first online friend group and was really self deprecating then. i didnt have a lot of friends that year and i was really bitter and alone but i bit back at some point. this song reminds me a lot of a person who i wished i could be friends with, as close as we were before, but always so out of reach by their choices that i cant ever face them properly again. its very difficult and i wish i could fix what happened, but i can only do so much, you know?

LIFE ITSELF - GLASS ANIMALS

now this one is just 2016 in general and finding myself through that year. ive loved glass animals for YEARS now and i instantly caved through this whole album. im so glad that it came out when it did cause it really impacted me and i love its sound so so so so much. its just very nostalgiac and warm to me and reminds me of several characters i love and i just.... i miss that year a lot even if it was pretty terrible all around just cause i felt empowered as a person

PORCELAIN - MOBY

i remember playing this song the last day i lived in my old house. it was very hard for me to go from there to where i am now since it was the place i was raised in for several years. i had listened to the song a few weeks before i had left to go visit my cousins in Colorado and hearing it now reminds me a lot about that whole house and everything i expirenced there. i miss my sister as well even if she only lives across the street from me, and my old room. things were simple then

NEWJACK - JUSTICE

this song is just hardcore fun and reminds me a lot of early last year, especially may!! i listened to justice a lot early last year during testing and it really empowered me. its powerful and its warm and fun and im very happy that i felt better after everything happened the year before. 2018 as a whole was really good for my self development, especially at the end, but the beginning was pretty strong too

MIRACLE - CARAVAN PALACE

this song screams the present to me. i love love LOVE caravan palace - have for years - and this song made me love them more. i consider this their best single and im addicted to it. it feels strong and good and reminds me that not everything is doomed and things can work out if you work hard enough!!! its very good

GIVE UP THE GHOST - C2C

haha... this song is very difficult to listen to... this one reminds me of my trip to dc, the summer of 2016 and the emptiness of the end of seventh grade. i was very alone that year and clung to c2c like a lifeline because most of their songs were so fun and welcoming but this one hurts me... i miss that summer. i miss a lot of things, but that time in particular is just wonderful and terrible at the same time. c2c is fantastic, go listen to their one album "tetra" i hope they release more stuff soon

anyway thats all my songs!!!!

[avengers-fics]

Second Chances: Ch 6

bucky barnes x reader

fic summary: Your life in DC quickly went to shit, so you took all of your money from your old husband and ran to live far far away from it all. One night, you hear a knock at the door and a certain soldier from your past needs a second chance at life.

Three months had gone by since Bucky Barnes showed up on your doorstep, and it was no surprise that you guys were beginning to resemble two peas in a pod. The summer had ended and the chilly fall days finally began, which was your ideal weather since you missed wearing all of your sweatshirts. You and Bucky made a point to go out every once in awhile to start getting clothes for winter, and once a week for food for the house. Going through the grocery store with that goofball meant buying a lot of unnecessary stuff, and as many Twisted Teas that your liver could handle that week.

It was an adventure every day with him, you taught him tricks on how to grow a garden and raise a dog, and in exchange he taught you a new move to bring down a 200 pound man. You also had your own fun, which was buying a kiddy pool for your dog Ruckus before the colder days set in. Then spraying Bucky with the hose to the point he got mad enough to tackle the hose away from you. Every once in awhile the two of you would have to go down to the hardware store to get parts for his arm, which was hilarious seeing Bucky and Gregory talking about whatever Bucky needed the part for this time. Road Trips to random hiking trails, and taking pictures of Bucky all frustrated and sweaty when he had to lift trees off the path ahead. Getting pictures of Bucky was a struggle considering most of the time he would try and hide his face away with a dark brimmed hat. The man loved taking pictures of you though, whether it was at the top of the mountain or while you were dancing away in the kitchen while he made dinner.

But with those beautiful memories, also came the nightmares. You knew that taking him in, only meant handling a damaged man. Bucky never snapped on you, if he felt a flashback coming he would go outside and take a walk down one of the few trails he had cleared in the dense forest surrounding your house. Sometimes you were afraid that he wouldn’t come back because of how bad he was shaking when he left, but he came back every time. In the nights, you’d wake up to screams that made his voice hoarse the next day. Sometimes he wouldn’t find a wink of sleep, which led you to find him sitting on the porch downstairs, staring at the stars.

“I knew you would be the only one to understand what really happened to me,” He had tears in his eyes that night, “From the little pieces I could remember, I tracked you down.” For the most part, he was right. Your husband luckily never tortured you the way he did to Bucky, but you knew damn well what that evil man was capable of. He would occasionally come home and mention that there were new assets to be “worked on” and you knew the following weeks he would be coming home with bruised knuckles and sweat stained suits. There was never an opportunity for you to leave, or even offer a divorce. Something about him made you feel that if you had ever brought even the idea up, he would go ballistic.

It was no surprise when you woke up in the middle of the night and Bucky was standing in your doorway, looking like he was lost in his own skin. Without a word, you lifted up the comforter next to you and patted the spot, awaiting his reaction. He shuffled forward with a huge amount of uncertainty in his steps, but still he sat on the edge of the bed. Next, he swung his bare feet up and found his spot under the covers and staring up at the ceiling. Neither of you spoke, the loud silence was enough for the two of you to find peaceful sleep.

Every night following that, he hasn’t found much sleep in his old room, which only meant it became the spare room again. After about a month of him sharing your room, his arms would be wrapped around you as you woke each morning. Even some mornings you were wrapped around his large torso. It felt like home, having his warm body behind your own. Sure, the metal arm was a little cold at first but you loved how confident he was becoming in his own skin. You’d never felt more safe than when you were in his arms, and somehow this made him capable of moving on in his steps to full recovery.

Now that it was winter, and the snow was heavy everywhere you went, it was seldom that the two of you ventured out into town together. Bucky had grabbed a shit load of money from hydra before he had ran, so he bought a little used car from gregory after he had been living with you for 5 months. He put a lot of money into a safe in the basement, for emergency purposes. Both of you had made bank accounts with the small bank in town, just to be able to have some kind of attachment to the town.

While he was in town one afternoon, you were trying to figure out what the two of you were going to marathon watch when he got back. He really enjoyed Parks and Rec considering he reminded himself of Ron Swanson; quiet, sarcastic, and loved whiskey. Bucky’s car pulled into the driveway, a tiny bit faster than his usual slow moving speeds. You got up from your spot on the couch and met him at the doorway. Snow was blowing all around as the door swung open, and Bucky came in and tapped his shoes off on the mat. You gave him a questioning look, but he just gave one right back.

“Why’d you pull in so fast?” You asked, with a ribbon of concern in your voice.

He laughed, and placed a small, reassuring kiss on your cheek, “No big deal, just saw a weird lady that looked out of place in town.” It was bizarre how he was acting. Even if there was a small change like you putting new sheets on the bed, he had to sit and think about it for a half hour. Now he saw some woman in town that could be a threat, and he was just wondering what was for dinner? It took everything in you just to settle and get back on the couch for the evening.

With the thought of the strange woman in the back of your mind, you continued your evening with Bucky.

[jhcrmcns-blog]

TASK TWO: PLAYLIST & QUESTIONS

( pt 1 - ) playlist

Create a ten song playlist that serves as a summary of your character or what would be their top ten songs (overall or currently) This can be done via Youtube Links, a link to a spotify playlist, etc. Whatever feels comfortable for you! You don’t have to have a graphic to accompany the playlist but feel free to get creative.

click anywhere in this sentence for the playlist. || love your friends, die laughing - man overboard // protection - movements // wanderlust - every time i die // endless gray - sworn in // can’t be saved - senses fail // self esteem - the offspring // brothers - brand new // the hardest part is forgetting those you swore you would never forget - being as an ocean // it’s complicated - a day to remember // do you hear the people sing? - (from the motion picture soundtrack of) les miserables

( pt 2 - ) questions: 

In addition to the playlist, below are a few questions to help you tell us a little more about your character’s music taste:

What song are your listening to most right now? - Probably Endless Gray by Sworn In -- I’m not sure why, though, it’s just really addictive and fun to me.

What song do you wish you could stop hearing everywhere you go? - I mostly only listen to my own music and don’t go out to stores much or listen to the radio.. 

What’s your go to song when you’re sad? - Anything by Brand New, even though I don’t want to listen to them anymore.. They’ve gotten me through a lot though.

Have you ever been to a concert? If so, what was the first concert you went to and how old were you?  - I haven’t ever been to a real concert, but I’ve been to a few smaller shows. You know, in tiny venues where every one is sweating and it’s really, really loud.

What song makes you most nostalgic? - Anything by, like, The Offspring, the Spill Canvas, The Used, Jimmy Eat World.. You’re So Last Summer by Taking Back Sunday wips out the skater boy haircut flashbacks.

If you had to choose a theme song, what would it be? - I don’t know what song describes me like this.. There’s a few songs that I don’t listen to too often because I feel they do and it’s weird, but I don’t even remember what they are until they shuffle back on because I avoid them so often, haha.

If you could choose any artist or band to see live right at this moment, who would you want to see the most? - Oh, I don’t... I don’t think I have anyone.. Maybe, like, AC/DC... Metallica, Slayer.. The old gods like them, you know? All the music I like now, besides that old stuff, are bands I can still catch in tiny venues around town.

[davidmann95]

thoughts on the unity saga?

I had occasion to reread it fairly recently, and while distance definitely takes the bloom off the rose I still like it a lot; it overreaches in a big way but what it does accomplish is considerable.

I’m not gonna pretend its failings are negligible: its focus on Jon in the second half while yielding lots of interesting material means Clark himself ends up sidelined for a lot of this, Rogol Zaar is indeed either a total waste of potential or a big fat nothin’ depending on your perspective, all the space stuff was apparently set up in Supergirl,* and the Legion popping in at the end while not thematically out of place is ridiculously jarring. This is Bendis at his clumsiest plotting-wise, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to advocate for Unity Saga being any longer, it probably should have at least had a breather arc breaking it up in the middle. I’ll still stand up all day every day for The Man of Steel (2018) as flat-out excellent but this isn’t something that should end up on the shelf of anyone other than Superman devotees; it’s the mixed bag that pretty much all of Bendis’s good stuff that still isn’t on the Ultimate Spider-Man (with Bagley) tier is.

That being said? I’d say a solid 70-80% of this was a blast, and the first story in Superman proper that I’d call good since 2007 that wasn’t either a one or two-shot or Chris Roberson playing clean-up. Bendis gets Superman himself *exactly* right and believably pushes him to the limit of his mental and emotional endurance without breaking anything, Reis and Prado are off the goddamn charts and Brandon Peterson’s a perfect fit for the intimate sci-fi feel of the Jon and Krypton sections, there’s tons of inventive superpower-driven setpieces, #4 is the closest Superman has ever come to feeling like a shonen manga in the best way, Jor-El is used as best he can be if you’re dealing with him having been brought back in the run before yours and then he’s shuffled back offstage where he belongs, Zod is for the first time an actual character,** and even Adam damn Strange is fun to have around. And nuclear take, everything with Jon in here rules. Could I have stood for him to have a few more years before a big coming-of-age story? Totally, there was so much potential to be mined with kid Jon, but he was around for all of two years in comics that numbers wise overwhelmingly tilted towards ‘lifeless crap if not actively wretched’, so it’s not as though that was a status quo with much weight behind it. As-is it’s the experience of learning how the world really works as you grow up blown up into big mythological Superman terms, seeing the world and learning about the worst in it across spacetime and dimensions, and Jon still stays the good kid he is and in the process pulls off the only Action Comics #1 cover homage I can recall that’s actually thematically weighty instead of an empty Easter Egg. Given the time travel shit it’d be easy to bring back kid Jon, but I sure hope that doesn’t mean taking this new vision off the table, just let ‘em be weird brothers or something. 

It’s that thread specifically that lets Unity Saga pull off putting Clark into a position of political power that actually feels sensible and in keeping with his priorities: it’s not a lack of faith in the people of Earth that leads to him deciding he needs to stand for them, as was rebuked in that killer speech in #2. It’s seeing that there’s no kindly galactic community waiting for them but instead just further and bloodier extensions of the exact same problems, problems Krypton and his father were both actively complicit in and possibly victims of. He’s not stepping up because he doesn’t believe in us, but because he’s coming to understand just how heavily the deck is stacked against us - both in the odds of a world figuring thing out for itself ideally and the threats said worlds can come to represent on the cosmic stage - and that not having someone standing up on our behalf isn’t going to be an option. That strong unifying concept isn’t enough to overlook the problems I mentioned, but on the whole even if it comes together awkwardly nearly every individual scene in this is still at worst pretty good, and while there’s no reason to expect Bendis is going to suddenly resolve all his problems going forward #16-18 have already extrapolated on the ideas presented here in exciting and promising ways. Sorry folks, but for now I remain the Bendis Superman liker; for what it’s worth I’ve been ambivalent at best on almost everything else he’s done for DC so far.

* The last time I fell for “this comic focusing on a side character will be about a mystery set up in the main book and will give the big answers” was Red Robin when I first started collecting comics. How could I have possibly expected that this time they’d mean it?

** Historically some of you may cite New Krypton as a counterpoint, to which I’ll say that I don’t care because I haven’t read it and almost certainly never will, but my understanding is that if New Krypton is the closest thing you have to an argument you’re on shaky ground.

[bigskydreaming]

I just really hate how much of Kyle’s story had to be erased or buried in order to make way for Hal’s return to the spotlight. Like the Hal being Kyle’s Space Dad thing is fun and all, sure, except for how its also this kinda obnoxious way of looping Hal into being part of Kyle’s successes and triumphs as a hero, like....after the fact though? Kyle’s entire thing is in a universe filled with legacies and mentors and sidekicks, he was the one guy who was just COMPLETELY unprepared for any of this, and just had the weight of an entire intergalactic peace-keeping corps’ tragic past and legacy just thrust on him with no warning, and the thing is....HE DIDN’T HAVE TO ACCEPT IT! Even once he understood what it was he was really inheriting, the sheer scope of it and what was expected of him now, to carry on the work that was intended to be shared by THOUSANDS, just...all by himself, with no one to teach him, guide him, share with him, understand what all this was like....

Kyle Rayner’s high concept is that in a franchise that revolves around the idea that “being a GL means you’re never truly alone, you’ll always have thousands of comrades in arms to learn from, lean on, etc”.....he was the one and only character who had to do all that ALONE. Even now, with the Corps restored and back to its full capacity, its obvious in pretty much every story that Kyle has never learned how to fit in with the rest of them, be ONE of them, like here’s this guy who busted his ass for years and years trying to make all of this possible, bring all of this back, make it so he isn’t the last one anymore, the only one....and then it HAPPENS, and he’s still kinda...lost. Because he doesn’t really fit. Because even among this chaotic community of varied experiences in the Corps, he is the ONE guy that NONE of them can ever truly relate to, not even John or Guy, because while they were still around, neither of them were expected to....BE the last Green Lantern, the way he was. Neither of them ever felt the same responsibility to fix what had been broken, that it was down to them, like Ganthet basically put on Kyle.

And like, the thing was....Hal wasn’t there for any of that really. And when he was, most of it was as the BAD GUY that Kyle was fighting, the one who had destroyed everything Kyle was stuck trying to fix. Yeah, ultimately the Parallax retcon made all of that not really his fault and so its not like Kyle blames him for any of that, or should, but its also like....what are you doing, acting like the guy who was literally the face of his enemy for years and years is like....this Space Dad who thank god he’s finally around to give Kyle the mentoring he desperately needed, when like....no dude, Kyle did everything he’s famous for and celebrated for in canon....on his own. Without you, or anyone else. He is who he is because he had one bad-ass mom, Maura Rayner, who raised him right and gave him the tools he needed to succeed...

ESPECIALLY the one that served him best....the ability to recognize when he didn’t have it handled, and ASK FOR HELP.

Which is not a skill Hal could ever teach anyone lol, sorry.

But like, that was one of the greatest things about Kyle at the start of his story....he was wearing one of the most powerful weapons in the universe, the last of its kind at the time, and there was no one who could teach him how to use it the way he was meant to be taught, none of the teachers he was SUPPOSED to have...but rather than just keep trying to bulldoze his way through things and stubbornly insist well he’d figure things out himself then....he was like, okay, I need all the help I can get...and he literally went on a tour around the country, stopping in every major hero’s city to ask them if they could help teach him stuff they felt he should know. Like that was the main reason that for a long time he was called the only Lantern Bruce had ever truly respected....because Kyle had the humility to recognize he was NOT qualified, and he needed to GET qualified, by any means necessary.

And that’s just...so....Kyle, and so fundamental to his character and what makes him so great, but all of that has kinda been handwaved away, not even like retconned in a lot of places because they couldn’t figure out a way to do that that actually made sense....but instead like this sleight of hand thing where they’re like if we dont mention it for long enough and just hype up the Hal as Kyle’s Space Dad mentor person stuff, it’ll eventually be as if Hal really was there guiding and shepherding Kyle all along, even though...lmao, no, that is quite literally incompatible with the majority of Kyle’s overall story and character arc....which is why for as much as the comics talk up Kyle’s role and specialness as the Torchbearer and White Lantern and other titles....they’re extremely vague about delving into details at this point about what any of that even means and what it refers to and he’s mostly shunted off stage so nobody asks too many questions like, hey if this guy is so important and honored by the Corps, why isn’t he involved more in their biggest storylines and like, front and center? 

Its the same problem I was talking about with DC not wanting Dick or the other Batkids to surpass Bruce. DC screwed up massively with their second generation of heroes....Dick and Kyle and Wally and more....because they DID advance the universe’s overall story and timeline, they DID allow the younger heroes to age, and then they DID kill off and do away with a number of the old guard which allowed the original legacies to step up and fill their shoes, AND DO A KICKASS JOB OF IT ACROSS THE BOARD.....

Until, fifteen, twenty years after they started doing that (with Wally), by which point DC’s writers were primarily fanboys who’d grown up idolizing the original heroes like Hal and Barry.....and so they rolled the clock back to allow for their preferred heroes to take center stage again....

Which leaves the younger generation stuck, and with no real place for themselves, which I think is also a big part of the reason their Titans’ reboots haven’t worked. Because they know that these younger heroes are TOO experienced, TOO good to just go back to being actual sidekicks, but they went to all this trouble to bring back all the originals and don’t intend to let them go again any time soon, and so they’re like...well, we can’t have this middle generation fucking things up and making the older heroes look bad, so they kinda just get shuffled around the DC universe and various titles in the hopes that they’ll find somewhere they click, but no idea what to even aim for. 

And so you’ve got Kory with Roy and Jason here and then now she’s in space with Vic and a handful of others that honestly feel like they just pulled names out of a hat, and meanwhile she’s got SOME kind of romantic history with Dick, but good luck trying to pin down where or when that even happened, because that would mean committing to them having been ages that just do not work with the ages they try and claim Dick is now and the amount of time the Titans were supposed to have been retroactively active and lol what even. 

And meanwhile, Titans and their age group remain the first to get picked off and killed in any major event, Titans keeps being the first book to be axed, they tried to speed through an original Titans’ lineup all the way to a team made up of Tim’s age group in a span of thirty issues, and on and on. And its just a mess, and it all traces back to the sheer wtf of DC having spent twenty years writing about their universe growing up and moving to the next stage of things....and then trying to take it back, and its like no, you cant stuff all that back in the bottle, it GREW. It doesn’t FIT in there anymore!