#he also looked close to og appearance in final life

[space-atrium]

What if Shen jiu was actually a celestial the whole time and when he died in pidw he returned to the heavenly realm. 👀

[hinasho]

I'll tell you what people's problem with The Crow 2024 is — I'm a longtime fan by the way, I own the comics, I watched all the movies, so on.

The Crow 1994 managed to get the soul of the source material (comics). The Crow is a story about overcoming grief and acceptance of death — the author wrote Eric's story during his darkest periods of grief after his girlfriend was killed. So the story of Eric and Shelley have meaning, they are meaningful characters to a lot of people. Brandon's movie, while with some differences from the original story, still carried the same themes beautifully and the tragedy that happened during the filming made people (me included) turn protective over the memory of The Crow and it’s meaning.

There were three other movies after The Crow 1994 but they never dared to touch on Eric's character, instead they created new ones like Ashe Corven, Jimmy Cuervo and Alex Corvis. And those movies suck, don’t get me wrong, but people don’t have a problem with them because they didn't touch on Brandon's Lee legacy and di their best to stay on theme — grief and acceptance. They are their own thing, and that's that.

So did the comics. Eric story is the first main one, but no one took him and tried to continue it, he's pretty much untouchable, he has his beginning and his end. Instead, they created new Crows for their stories: Joshua, Iris Shaw, Mark Leung...There's a long list of existing Crows with their own stories.

The problem with 2024 The Crow is mostly that they called it a remake and took Eric's names to a character that doesn’t even resembles the original Eric — and I'm not saying in physical appearance, I'm saying his essence because the original Eric is a killer of bad guys, but he's also pretty charismatic; he loved life, he was gentle with the little girl Sarah he was friends with, he was kind, he was thoughtful, he even jokes around! Which, to many people, Bill's Eric does not resembles even a little bit of Eric's other than his name and neither does his story matches the themes and soul behind The Crow franchise.

The main gripe The Crow community has with the 2024 version is them taking Eric's and Shelley story, then changing it so much and losing it's soul when the easiest thing to avoid all this controversy and review bombing would've been just be like "Hey, we're making a new Crow movie, but we have created our own original protagonists for it!" just like people have been doing for years, because that's what 2024 Shelley and Eric feel like to people — original characters who just happen to share the names of the OG's.

Anyway, I watched the 2024 version and while Bill did a phenomenal job as always with what he was given and he looks so damn good, the story just...Didn't get me at all. There's not one bit of The Crow essence in there for me.

Hello, thank you for sharing your thoughts! 💞 I finally watched The Crow 1994 and City of Angels today (still need to watch Salvation & Wicked Prayer) so fortunately I now have a bit more context.

The problem with 2024 The Crow is mostly that they called it a remake

So to begin my breakdown: The 2024 isn't a remake of the 1994 movie. This seems to be a widespread misconception. But in all of the clips and trailers Lionsgate has released, they clarify that it's a "modern re-imagining of the original graphic novel". The movie never claims to be a remake of the 1994 film.

Now a fair debate could be how closely tied (or not) the '24 movie is to the graphic novel, which the two are remarkably different, but based on the reviews and comments I've seen, fans seem more inclined to keep comparing it to the 1994 adaptation despite Lionsgate never claiming they were trying to remake that specific film.

So basically, comparisons between '94 Eric and '24 Eric don't really hold up as valid criticisms in my opinion, because the director had no intention of adapting the '24 film from the '94 movie in the first place.

the original Eric is a killer of bad guys, but he's also pretty charismatic; he loved life, he was gentle with the little girl Sarah he was friends with, he was kind, he was thoughtful, he even jokes around! Which, to many people, Bill's Eric does not resembles even a little bit

'24 Eric is still a killer of killers. He only kills those that attack him first or had something to do with his and Shelly's deaths. He never kills needlessly.

In regards to him loving life, 2024 Eric does in droves! He actively hates having to kill so many people and takes no enjoyment out of it. The opera scene, while fantastic, wasn't a fun moment for him. Since her death, you can tangibly feel that all he wants to do is get back to his simple life with Shelly. He loves her and he loves the life they had.

As for him being charismatic, I can see your point there. In the graphic novels (from summaries I've read), GN Eric does have a morbid sense of humor and at times played around with his kills before finishing the job. His relationship with Sherri was brief but sweet and he gets a cute cat!! He continues to form relationships even after Shelly's death because of his charisma and kindness.

From a writing perspective, I believe all of these moments are intended to humanize Eric given the GN begins with him as The Crow pretty much immediately. We are introduced to him already in the throes of his grief and seeking vengeance.

In contrast, the '24 film paces the transition MUCH slower with the first act being about how Shelly and Eric meet, and the growth of their romance. I believe Director Rupert Sanders used those scenes to humanize the characters instead, which he accomplishes as both Eric and Shelly feel like they're just normal people dealt a shitty hand who only want to live their lives together. You can see the love they shared and how pure it was.

Basically, the core of the characters remain the same, just told in different ways throughout the story. In the graphic novel, James O'Barr humanizes Eric & adds levity in the midst of the carnage, while Rupert Sanders adds it before the carnage. Despite the timeline differences, both succeed in showing that Eric isn't a mindless murdering machine, and is just a regular guy who's been driven to the point of madness.

(It still would've been a nice touch for '24 Eric to adopt a cat for Shelly in the movie though.)

Bill's Eric does not resembles even a little bit of Eric's other than his name and neither does his story matches the themes and soul behind The Crow franchise.

From my understanding, the main themes behind the franchise are grief, the difficulty to move past it, and divine justice.

All three Erics suffer from visions of Shelly, who's memory plays on a feedback loop as they go about their spree. Something both the '94 and '24 films don't do, however, is touch on GN Eric's self harm tendencies. Which isn't a criticism! I'm merely discussing the different ways they show Eric's state of mourning.

The inability to move on is also still prevalent in the '24 movie. It's an active choice Eric makes when Kronos gives him the option to get his life back, and instead Eric submerges deeper and signs away his soul. He steps into it with his eyes wide open knowing he's damning himself forever.

Meanwhile in the graphic novel, Eric is already submerged. He is already a walking corpse, the embodiment of a heart so broken the only way to put himself back together is to weaponize the shards of his loss. I believe this is who '24 Eric develops into after the second act when he signs away his soul.

In the first act, he is human. In the second act, he is transitioning, and in the third act, he has truly become The Crow. Too deep in grief to escape it. The main difference between the '24 version and the GN version is that we see '24 Eric's journey to reach that final stage. It's the difference between character-focused narratives vs parable-like storytelling. Neither is inherently better than the other, just different.

And when it comes to divine justice, hmmm.....

In the GN, Eric and Shelly are killed and brutalized due to a completely random act of evil. The gang that killed them and assaulted Shelly had zero connections to the couple and were just some cruel, awful randos off the street. Based on what I've read, Eric nearly kills all of them without difficulty. Most of his hardship comes from his own bouts of depression and misery.

(By the way, by having the villains all be mediocre average goons, and majority of Eric's troubles be psychological, the GN focuses more on the danger of all-consuming grief, highly likely because of the trauma James O'Barr was experiencing when he wrote it. Meanwhile both the '94 and '24 films have Eric struggle a lot more during his fight scenes, elevating the danger of his physical opponents. But this is a tangent, back to what I was talking about!)

By all of them being average goons, the story gets across that: yes normal everyday people can and are capable of atrocious acts of evil, and yes they deserve to face the brunt of their crimes and divine punishment.

However in both the '94 and '24 movies, Eric and Shelly's deaths are not random and are planned crimes to silence Shelly. And both come up with a "big bad" for Eric to face off against. In the '94 movie, it was Top Dollar, a criminal kingpin, and in the '24 movie it's Vincent Roeg, a rich executive who's also a crimelord.

BUT what the '24 film does differently is that Roeg is also a supernatural being himself, who's made a pact with the devil to trade innocent souls for immortality.

This is probably the only area in which I agree with OG fans on that a central theme was changed. Because by making the main antagonist "unnatural", it's no longer about everyday, normal people committing horrible evils. It's about a supernatural entity on par with The Crow.

I think Rupert Sanders wanted to focus more on the supernatural aspect of The Crow universe. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing and definitely made for a fun movie, but I do agree with OG fans that the "grounded" nature of casual human cruelty was lost in that regard.

By implementing this change, the weight of Eric's vengeance is also changed. Because now it's no longer just personal. As the character of Kronos says in the movie, they need Eric to kill Roeg because he and all the deaths he's caused are unnatural and they essentially need Eric to tip the scales back into balance. While Eric's primary motive is still about doing right by Shelly, there's now an element of saving the world from an unnaturally superpowered tyrant, rather than the everyday cruelties of man.

So in this aspect, I do agree that a core theme was changed between the graphic novel and the 2024 movie. This still doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad story, just that Rupert Sanders had different intentions.

Because this still connects to the previous theme, the inability to move on and cope with death. Except now it's portrayed in the antagonist as well. His power is completely about his refusal to accept his own mortality. However, this does, like I said, detract from the normality of evil theme. So it's basically a gain and a loss 😅

(Plus, as I was writing this, I thought about how Eric's motivation is changed as well. In the '24 movie, Eric's goal is still to do right by Shelly, but it's to save her. Because if he succeeds, Shelly will be resurrected. This adds a noble spin to his killing spree, whereas the GN and the '94 film are solely about overwhelming rage at the loss of a loved one. There is no resurrecting Shelly. It's about enacting divine justice against their killers before traveling to the afterlife together. They're already dead and there's nothing GN Eric can do to change that, unlike 2024 Eric.

On the flip side, while this "nobler" take may feel like a negative change, I think it's countered by the fact that Eric succeeds in saving her, but is still dissatisfied because he's unable to actually be with her. GN and '94 Eric were able to find peace and reunite with their loves. '24 Eric only gets about 5 minutes before she's resurrected and he's stuck in purgatory forever.

At the end of the '24 film, both Eric and Shelly are dissatisfied as they can no longer be together. It's a bittersweet ending that feels more bitter than sweet. So while there is a "nobler" cause behind Eric's actions, the tone of the story is still very grim.

This is also why I believe the way the 2024 movie ended was with the intentions of a sequel where Eric does achieve his own peace. But that's a different conversation!)

...the easiest thing to avoid all this controversy and review bombing would've been just be like "Hey, we're making a new Crow movie, but we have created our own original protagonists for it!" just like people have been doing for years, because that's what 2024 Shelley and Eric feel like to people — original characters who just happen to share the names of the OG's.

Sure! I don't disagree. Well, I don't really think anything deserves to be review bombed unless it's content that's actively harmful. But I don't disagree with the original protagonists angle. Changing the names couldn't have hurt.

That said though, and I say this as gently as I can, Eric's character existed before '94 Eric and does not need to end with the '94 movie. I think it'd be one thing if the 1994 movie created the story of The Crow and that was the first iteration of Eric's character. But... it's not.

Multiple re-imaginings and adaptations of books / comics have been around since forever. The show Smallville and Man of Steel both adapt Superman in wildly different ways. Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew has had five different adaptations, and yet no one shits on 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) or Deliver Us From Eva (2003) for being modern re-imaginings. Awhile ago, me and my friend were discussing our favorite adaptations of the Little Women novel. Her favorite is the 1994 film while my favorite is the 2022 modern Kdrama!

I bring up all of these examples to say that there is REALLY nothing wrong with doing modern re-imaginings of older works, and tweaking characters and plotlines to reflect the changed style of the story and time period.

What's most important is that the heart of the story is kept. At the end of the day, The Crow is about an innocent man who enacts divine justice against he and his lover's murderers, while struggling to cope with her loss. Based on the graphic novel and what I've seen of the 1994 movie and the City of Angels sequel, the world of The Crow says that life can be fair and that no matter how high, or low, or cruel, or spineless, someone is, that karma is a bitch and it IS possible for them to reap what they sow.

I truly think the 2024 adaptation captured that feeling, even if it may look different than what people might be used to or expected.

Instead of being upset about how unexpected it is, try going in with an open mind and seeing the story Rupert, Bill, and FKA Twigs wanted to tell. I've read and seen a few interviews by now, and these three were genuinely passionate about the characters & story, and you can feel that in the movie.

And even if you still have no interest, the other parts of the franchise you do enjoy aren't going anywhere. The 2024 adaptation doesn't effect them in any capacity. The stories you love still exist and the new addition can't harm or take them away from you.

[magicxdice]

It's finally weekend and since one of you asked here's my version of elfbaru :D

I redesigned emilia as well while at it because I thought it looked boring and lacked the "isekai'ed" feel xD so I gave her a hoodie~

My version of elf!baru:

-Like og Emilia he always immediately jumping on to help people in need he sees no matter how small or big it is

-He is even far more reckless than og subaru so rem had to babysit him at times lol, he's quick to get excited over new things and love to explore because he's been living in the forest for too long. he's often goes out for walk with Beatrice (yes that butterfly is Beatrice)

-Despite that, he's not as outgoing as og subaru when it comes to meeting new people due to the stigma around his appearance. But he's pretty much acts like og subaru once he felt close to them (teasing them and calling them nicknames, etc... Maybe he's giving out nicknames in hope of him getting one as well XD) but he's still gentle like og emilia when treating people

-Beatrice can take human form but does it only when neccesary and when there's no possible danger in order to conserve mana. The reason she took human form is to keep him accompanied/less lonely because she noticed he tend to watch people from a far. Like og subaru he acts cheeky towards her ever since she took human form xD

-Rem in here still regards him as precious but not in the same way as og Rem does. She regards him as precious as Ram, both becoming her reason to live because she can't live for herself and thought her whole purpose is to serve those she's close with to atone her "sins". The reason is because she resent the witch cult, so she hated his witch/devil-like appearance because it reminds her of it, she only thought of him as a bait to lure the witch cult so that she can pay her revenge towards them, not caring for subaru's life. Until a situation similar to ulgarm incident happened where she's too focused on paying revenge with her demon form and had subaru hurt in the process due to protecting her, it reminds her of the time where she's glad seeing Ram's horn sliced so she felt guilty. She's apologized and he comforted her not knowing the reason why she apologized, this makes her feel even more guilty for thinking of sacrificing someone as gentle and kind to her, then she re announced her duty to serve him similar to the way Ram bowed and kneeled to Emilia in Sanctuary. Ever since Subaru saw Rem in tears that day she's been acting even more kinder towards her, so the two gets so much closer (HOLY SHET THIS IS SO LONG IM SORRY LOL)

Okay that's it for now thank you for reading :D also im new to tumblr and been wondering is there a way to reply a reblog?

[jrwi-transgender-swag]

GET FUCKING READY EVERYONE !!!!!

THE FINAL POLL. THE ONE WHICH WILL DECIDE WHO JRWIBLR DEEMS TO HAVE THE MOST TRANS SWAG !!!!!!!!

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Jay Ferin

"I mean.. just look at her" - Submitted For Transfem Swag "she has a lot of transgirl swag and i love her. jay ferin forever" - Submitted For Transfem Swag "the transest ever. i swear" - Submitted For Transfem Swag "she is a TRANS ALLEGORY YOUR HONOUR. LOOK AT HER. TRANSGENDER SWAG." - Submitted For Secret Fourth Swag "She's so trans coded. I mean, she runs away from her family who expect her to be one thing (navy) and she joins a group where she tests what it's like to be something else (a pirate) but then reverts when her dad shows up. She pretends it meant nothing but then Chip shows her that it's okay to change and to act against her family. So she's living her best trans girl life. Also she has bird imagery which is very trans coded of her. And she was named after her dad so like… Just saying" - Submitted For Transfem Swag "jay jay okg jay. her entire story is so fucking trans coded. i literally can’t oo her wholeee story is so trans coded. like??? she runs away from home and doesn’t tell her family shes joining pirates bc it’s the exact thing they would disapprove of. she first joins them to scope them out and learn their secrets but as time goes longer she realizes these people love her and she loves them and she is a pirate LIKE THEM. and her father appears and literally disowns her for being a pirates like holy shit. and she tries to spare her friends by going back to life where she would be in misery. and and she finds drey, a pirate like her and someone close to her who was also kicked to the curb and she finds comfort in someone like her. and she has to deal with the idea that her dead sister might hate her if Ayva knew jay was a pirate like???? but she’s so dress and happy now and she wouldn’t trade it for the world DO YOU HEAR ME???? becoming a pirate is how jay discovers HERSELF and who she WANTS TO BE!!!! i can’t she is so trans coded i literally can’t. she was so alone but notre she had ppl who UNDERSTAND HER!!!!! also tgirl failgirl swag." - Submitted For Transfem Swag "HER WHOLE STORY COULD BE A ALLEGORY FOR BEING TRANS FR. her father hates pirates, pirating for her has been freedom and helped her seen a new perspective, she gets wings, her journey is og just being a "spy" and then becoming a pirate and sensing the "freedom" in it !! and loving it and being accepeted just as she is her dad even makes a comment abt her being a pirate in 53. shes sooo transcoded ^_^^^^^^^^ to me i love her jay ferin sweep - Submitted For Transfem + Secret Fourth Swag

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Rumi / Elena

"i mean. cmon. he’s so trans swag. theyre like every form of trans" - Submitted For All Swag "first canonically genderqueer pc and also JUST? LOOK AT THEM? THEY MADE THEMSELVES A PRETTYBOY ON PURPOSE. THEY CHANGE GENDERS WITH EVERY FORM THEY TAKE. THEYRE A CHANGELING. that bitch is TRANS" - Submitted For All Swag "canonically non-binary, very trans coded storyline in general, love her" - Submitted For Secret Fourth Swag

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[gonetoforks]

Introducing; my version of Rise’s Venus de Milo! (OUTDATED; adding the canon design for BM’s assistant!)

(she/her/thon/thons) She’s about 9 ft tall since she’s equally based off of Frankenstein, IDW Venus and the OG Venus de Milo. more info about her and her life under the cut! (Like, a lot more info, she’s been living in my head since last April) (She’s a year old and I’m only now revealing her info!) (HBD Venus!!)

Her Family in the Hidden City

Big Mama had her made by a scientist/patron of hers during the first 2 seasons as a synthetic competitor for her Battle Nexus, but after her change of heart in the S2 finale, she took thon in as her heiress and daughter to try and do something right for a change. It’s very hard for her. Her parenting style is a good balance of gentle and stern but she thinks praise is a good replacement for emotional vulnerability and it’s turned Venus into quite a megalomaniac. Venus just calls her “Mama” and BM calls her “Veedee” (If she calls thon “Venus,” thon’s in deep shit)

Time wise, after the movie she’s physically at age 1.5, 2 years old, though mentally thon’s about where Leo and Donnie are, 16. (Still very young, please keep in mind she is a child and has big eyes like the teenagers in the show, she’s just tall. If you sexualize her I will send you to the shadow realm. BEHAVE.)

Venus also sees the doctor that made her, Dr Shelly, as her father, and they’re quite close. She spent the first few weeks of her life in his home, mostly in his library where she filled her head with everything most people know intuitively. She often can recite information she has no memory of learning, these first few weeks were less like learning and more like remembering information but from no memories.

Venus’s closest friend & surrogate older sister is Jennika, who works as Big Mama’s assistant (and a fine artist!) under the codename “Frida.” The 2 spend most of their days on diplomatic missions in the Hidden City mafia underworld and managing/restructuring the Battle Nexus to be more ethical. Venus is a naturally studious academic who loves philosophy, literature, and of course, renaissance art, so adults tend to think she’s mature, but only Jennika really knows how naive she can be. Jennika misses her human family, so they’ve really latched onto each other.

She picked her name out herself. When thon was first revived, Shelly rushed up to her and almost addressed her with a name starting with V but stopped himself before he could say it in full. Changed his mind and said that he supposed that name probably wouldn’t fit right now. So she had a preference for a V name.

Thon’s Physiology

It’s quite the mystery how he did it, but the secret to Venus’s sentience is a machine that manages to convert any matter she digests into energy in the form of empyrean. This is why she was mostly kept a rapunzel-like secret for the first few months of her life before she had Jennika as a bodyguard. Nobody knows about her heart except herself, Jennika, Shelly and Big Mama.

If she bleeds or cries, it glows bright green, so she hates both because thon feels like she’s drawing attention to herself. She’s insecure about most of her organic parts anyway and pushes herself to appear stoney, inorganic and perfect. (The consequences of idolizing and wanting to emulate a literal goddess statue, skill issue) It’s not like her fears are completely unfounded though, she has no idea where Shelly got her dead body parts.

If she’s too stressed, the seams on her upper arms bleed and they fall off like a gecko tail. She kinda looks like the og Venus do Milo statue when that happens, it’s a bit gruesome.

To represent her need to balance the organic/inorganic parts of herself, thon’s biggest dreams vs realistic expectations for herself, her right hand is organic (and based off the 2012 turtles) while her left is robotic. (& made to look like big mama’s claws in her spider form)

Goals & wants

She wants to overthrow the council of heads and rule the Hidden City as president. (Through a democracy of course!) She sees them as ineffective and useless, she went to them during the Kraang invasion to tell them something needed to be done about the alien invaders but they did nothing and said to let the turtles handle it. She’s grateful everything turned out well but she still has a grudge against them and the way they run things. Big Mama thinks she’s silly and Jennika thinks she’s a mentally unwell, workaholic, megalomaniac but pizza supreme as her witness, thon’s gonna do it.

Thon wants to be a good, ethical leader/politician (oxymoronic, I know lmao) and sees the increasing amount of Battle Nexus estate Big Mama entrusts her with as practice for managing yokai society. She would love “the Good Place.”

She also wants to know more about Jennika and for her to reconcile with her father.

Venus’s arc

“Your life is your own, ok?!” She struggles with dehumanizing (de-turtle-izing?) herself because she believes it makes her greater, more fit to achieve her goals. When the fact that she’s a mortal, breathing, living being, that can’t possibly be anywhere near divine like thon thinks she needs to be hits her, she spirals. Thon desperately needs to learn that being imperfect is a necessary gift, that she is “the protagonist of her own life” and that you don’t need to be a great person to do great things, you just need to be a person.

She’s very studious and seen as intelligent and mature for her age, but when she’s put in real life situations after meeting her cousins, the turtles, she has to learn to to manage imperfections and embrace them.

She’s quite based off of MP100 and Barbie haha.

For this internal conflict I was inspired by how the original character’s depiction back in the 80’s was really,, dehumanizing? if that’s the right word? Misogynistic very much too. I find the message that; “no matter what other people think of you or what you think of yourself, you will never be anything more or less than a regular being” both comforting in itself and a neat subversion of the original VdM since one of my favorite aspects of Rise’s writing is how subversive it is.

I can’t wait to show you more of her! Esp how she interacts with the Mad Dogs!

Bonus; Design Details!

All the turtles have shape motifs; square, rectangle, circle, triangle, her’s is a Raindrop shape! Combined with her electric motifs she’s a bit of a storm cloud lol

The Turtles’s shells are s-shaped and follow the curvature of a human spine, I draw Venus’s shell really distorted and disproportionate to this since she’s inorganic.

Similarly, while the other turtles shells and plastrons are like boxes that contain their whole torsos, thon’s kinda just sits on top of her torso, where her plastron ends and her legs begin don’t line up. It started out as an anatomical error but i liked how it made her look distorted and off somehow. (Kinda gruesome, but it kinda helps her look like a bloated corpse, which is what she is aksjks) To be clearer, the difference between how the mad dogs’ shells/plastrons/bridges(sides) are attached to their bodies vs Venus’s is like the difference between a bodysuit and a t-shirt.

[depressedhatakekakashi]

People need to stop downplaying how much Kakashi cared about Gai.

Gai’s the one who talked Kakashi back into fighting when he’s mid panic attack after finding out Obito is alive and is the cause of the fourth great shinobi war. Naruto couldn’t break through to Kakashi in this moment but Gai, his best friend, could. This short moment shows how deep their connection is because only Gai could call to Kakashi and drag him out of his spiraling thoughts

The one person we see Kakashi trust with fighting back to back with him. Not one other character ever fights in the same way with Kakashi. With other’s he fights side by side, but with Gai he trusts him with literally having his back. (The pic is from the anime but we also see this in OG Naruto during the Konoha crush fights)

Gai, Who Kakashi can trust to help him with a plan flawlessly and executes his plans so perfectly with that Obito struggles to beat them as easily as he has other’s.

Gai, the person Kakashi walks through the Uchiha district and talks to as friends in a way we don’t see him do with others. Who he trusts at his side while he’s walking around both as a shinobi and as a person

Gai, who Kakashi clearly looks at when talking about ‘rivalry’ and cheerfully waves at when Gai looks his way.

Gai, who is the only person we see Kakashi genuinely apologize to for his misjudgment and treatment of him because he knows Gai deserves better from him and deserves an apology when Kakashi messes up (and people mess up! We all do!)

Gai, who Kakashi is depicted sitting across from in his last appearance in the Naruto manga. Who Kakashi is talking about Naruto taking over as Hokage with, and who Kakashi speaks with about finally going on a vacation (which he does. WITH GAI (though that’s not ‘canon’ so i’m not including it in the list)

Kakashi is such good friends with Gai that he learns to open the first gate, no doubt because of Gai (since Gai is the only one he see’s knowing how to use the eight gates) and makes use of this knowledge when he’s in a tight spot (he even knows Gai’s primary lotus and makes use of it when a fight calls for taijutsu focused battling)

Gai, the one Kakashi realized would be opening the eighth gate and thus giving up his life, and clearly panicked when he camd to that realization because Gai is precious to him and he was being forced to watch as he gave his life for a war neither of them wanted. The one who Kakashi helped fight against Madara (by Kamuing away a piece of Madara’s guard so Gai could strike him) and then when the fight was over and Gai could be assumed dead, Kakashi went into what is essentially panic mode and stopped doing anything regarding fighting until Madara swooped in and stole Obito’s Kamui from his skull)

Gai is Kakashi’s best friend

his most trusted person

The one Kakashi grew up with and cares deeply about.

Kakashi cares about Gai in deep, profound ways and he shows them in his own way. A way that makes sense for a character so deeoly traumatized and closed off from the world. Just because he’s not screaming to the world about how much Gai means to him doesn’t mean he cares any less.

Stop expecting every character to tell you straight up how deeply they care about others and learn to understand that every person (and thus character) is different and shows their love differently from you

[sparkanonymous]

It's finally time for me to watch Dragons Rising!

Time for some incomprehensible note-taking while I ink the last WIP I posted.

⚠️ Spoilers for episodes 1-3!

Here's what I know:

The OG 4 (+ Nya I think) have been lost to time. It's actually the main reason why I didn't want to watch it back when it first came out; I didn't want to watch the series without the characters I loved. (Not the biggest Lloyd fan, so he wasn't enough for me to want to come and watch it.)

The main 4 are found, but Jay is like... brainwashed or something, and works for a facility or whatever.

Cole basically has a boyfriend and kids now.

Geo is adorable.

Kai is also kind of a father figure to one of the new ninja characters. I think her name is Wyldfyre.

The Cole and Zane reunion was ass. You're telling me that, after they couldn't find each other for however long, they didn't go and squeeze the life out of each other? I saw a clip and it bugged me so bad- it looked like they just... clipped two separate clips of Cole and Zane seeing each other and lost the first clip's amount of emotion. Cole was running to go and greet Zane, and then he just puts his hand on his shoulder? Nah. (Maybe it's because I'm a massive Glacier fan, but ugh... I can't help it.)

They kind of made up for it when Zane called puppy Cole cute. That was adorable, especially with how Cole looked up at Zane after turning back into a human.

Okay, let's get this show on the road.

Divider made by steddiecameraroll-graphics

Episode 1: The Merge (1)

Alright, so we're just immediately getting into the merge. Not even minute in, lol okay.

The intro to the ninja was pretty epic.

Standing that close to an explosion... that would've lead to some terrible injury for Arin... (that's his name right?)

Okay, but to watch everything you ever knew and loved just... vanish? That would fucking suck. That probably led a lot of people to go down their villain path.

That zoom in and that angry look on Arin's face... is he gonna become a villain?

So Arin is definitely a kid when the merge happened, given that he has those little Lego legs. So, now, he's at least a teenager. It's definitely been plenty of years. (We're not even 5 minutes in yet.)

Cute puppies at the junkyard.

For everything bad that Ninjago writers do to the series, the animators always pop off with the visuals. The lighting is immaculate.

Arin's voice... it feels familiar. NO FUCKING WAY HE'S CHEF FROM THE TDI REBOOT????? No, how... HOW

Okay... so Arin knows a little bit of Spinjitzu... how? I thought you had to be taught the ways of Spinjitzu before you could learn it. Sure, his role models are the ninja, but there's no way he would've been able to pick up on the tiny things just by watching them do it.

Little dancing robots lol

No matter how many years it's been, hearing the phrase "BFF" be said out loud still makes me cringe, no matter what show I'm watching.

I like that he's a little baker.

Dumbass villain lol

No matter how good of terms I would be with anyone, even a frog anthro, I still would not be cool with them using their tongue to give me a high five.

Why is Mr. Frohicky so adamant about them dropping out?

So the Never Realm is connected to this universe because of the merge. Can't believe I didn't think about that. Could definitely lead to more Zane-Never Realm angst.

That's Starlight Glimmer. Kreel is Starlight Glimmer. Wow.

Oh, Kreel is so cheating.

Yep. AND attempting murder.

So that little dragon gifted Sora with powers? That's pretty cool.

What do you mean "how'd you-"? You know that your spinjitzu is terrible.

So were Sora's powers given to her or already within her?

LLOYD! I already knew we'd see him eventually, but it's still good to see him.

I feel like Lloyd's intro was kinda... rushed? Like, we had less than 30 seconds before the credits and then he suddenly appears? It kinda makes sense, but... idk

Episode 2: The Merge (2)

I miss you, old theme song. I want you back.

So Lloyd saw Arin do spinjitzu, but didn't see who did the spinjitzu? It was clearly weak, and orange, and while [I think] Kai's spinjitzu is orange, he's definitely not weak. Lloyd would have known it was Kai, or any of the ninja he knows. This was clearly just for the reveal to Lloyd, and probably to measure up his disappointment if he ever admits it later on, but like... come on.

Sora becoming a fan while watching Lloyd fight is kinda cute.

Arin, you nasty; wash the mask you put on your face all the time. I bet he's gotten sick countless times because of that thing lol

The fact that Arin immediately calls Lloyd "Master Lloyd".

So Lloyd can't hear Rapton yelling, but he can hear footsteps behind him from an equal amount of distance? Damn, he must've gotten good at ignoring villains' monologues.

Poor Sora... second hand embarrassment is terrible.

The new theme song... no. I don't like it. I'm sorry.

Okay, so the dragon is giving Sora it's powers?

So messages can go anywhere? I don't know why, but I thought that the places that the other ninja were stuck in were completely unreachable, because they were separate universes apart. ... I did notice that there was an unstable crack in the sky in the last episode, when Raz got a hold of the Sora and Arin, so if they are universes apart, maybe that's how they would send messages to each other?

How many times has the Destiny's Bounty been rebuilt.

MASTER WU!

Lloyd believing Wu is just immortal. I kinda get it, but like... look at him. He's gonna blow to dust in - at most - a couple more decades, trust me.

Goddamn, why is Zane full tits out in the flashback?

Okay, so the dragon they found is a "Source Dragon" right?

Lloyd beating the shit out of Kai without even thinking.

Kai and Lloyd's little spin hug... that's cute. It's nice to see them being close.

Yeah, you already said the merge-quakes were getting worse, Lloyd. I don't think you needed to reiterate that lol

I like how Arin's spinjitzu mess ups still end up helping out in the long run.

So is Raz hunting down the ninja?

Ah, so the power is within the ninja and the dragons just enhance the amount of power they have on it by like... 10x.

I like that Lloyd stayed humble and just became the new ninjas' teacher instead of calling himself a master.

Ryu staying with the ninja over his own family feels kinda fucked up... I think the better excuse would be that Ryu's family need to keep Ryu safe while they look for a new home, and the ninja can protect them from danger. The decision Ryu made shouldn't have been up to them, with them being so young.

So, no, they are still hunting dragons, they're just using the ninja as a tool. Got it.

Episode 3: Crossroads Carnival

Sora's not gonna like being a ninja.

Lloyd's gonna be a little asshole lol

Those mechanisms haven't been cleaned ever, Sora. Don't get your hopes up.

Yep, Lloyd's pushing it and trying to be Wu lol

Lloyd's incapability to grow facial hair is more canon than anything lol

How did Sora not get set on fire?

"Without tea, I literally have no idea if that was fast enough-" So Lloyd's just a massive dumbass who looks too far into Wu's teachings? That's funny lmao

Why the fuck would you bring a dragon with you? That's literally the worst idea with dragon hunters around.

Oh, skeleton characters are back! I haven't seen them since... the episodes that took place before season 1? Has it really been that long since they were last used?

"Oh, come on, we never would have done that to Master Wu! ... That's a lie." Lmfao

How does Arin's grappling hook literally grapple onto everything?

Lobo is great actually.

Oh great, Kreel character redemption. That came out of fucking nowhere and feels forced as hell.

"My... only friend." You're calling this person "Targy" or whatever. There's something going on here.

The ninja tribute... that's so sweet.

Wait, so they know who Wu and Nya are, but they don't recognize Lloyd? The green ninja? The guy that is literally supposed to be the most powerful ninja?

The non existent beard strikes again.

"Do not type cast me!" I like this guy's dramatic flare.

"This is like that nightmare I had-" Funny, but does this say something about Lloyd's character?

Raz just goes and hires random fuckos? Hm... Is he connected to Jay in that aspect then?

I'm having a pretty good time with this so far! I don't like the theme song, though; it reminds me too much of She-ra and the Princesses of Power theme song, which also bothered me.

Current progress on the piece I'm inking:

[homestuckrichard]

The ending of Fionna's plot really resonated with me and fit with the position we started from and what we were going through. A young woman who feels lost in the world so she uses escapism to cope with the boredom of her reality. During her adventures in other worlds she learns that she has a say in what her world looks like and that it's worth fighting for. Super, I like it a lot.

However, the ending of Simon's plot absolutely did not appeal to me. It seems really strange. Simon's conflict is very similar to Fionna's (in general their characters are two sides of the same coin but I won't go into that now) except for the "dead wife" aspect, of course. The old guy feels lost in a world that has changed a lot. He wants things to be the way they used to be because in his current state he feels that his life has no meaning and he is of no use to anyone, making many mistakes possibly tragic in the process. So he embarks on a journey through other worlds that shows him that although he feels he could have been a better person ("The Winter King"), that he has hurt many people close to him and it would have been better if he had died ("The Star") and that the decisions he made were completely wrong ("Cheers"), it shows him that although not everything is perfect and that Betty is not coming back, his life has meaning but also that many people have sacrificed for him and he shouldn't let that go because it was all out of love(romantic and platonic). He returns to his world and begins to appreciate life again, seeing that he can change the world for the better if he wants to.

But that's not the story of Simon in Fionna and Cake. Literally by an ending that focuses on "Hey our relationship wasn't the best, it's too bad you didn't do something about it Simon," many episodes make no plot sense. Yes the tones that I presented in my vision of Simon's storyline do appear in the orginals, that's why I gave various episodes as examples, but by focusing on a completely different idea than before, episodes like "Destiny", "The Winter King", "The Star" and even "Jerry"(which I don't like because of the pacing. Yeah cool to see things from Simon and Betty's past but the rest of the episode is a bit boring and could have used that time for something interesting instead of walking around empty) ultimately have no role in Simon's overall story, Fionna's yes, but not Simon's. Why do we only see Finn and Marceline from the original world in one episode???? They, along with Betty, should be the main reason for Simon's final change. I know, Marcellina and Finn had a huge role in og series and distant lands and theoretically should give some space to characters who did not have as much time. HOWEVER, IF WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SIMON AS THIS CHARACTER THEN THESE TWO PPL ARE CRUCIAL TO HIM.

Also, sorry, but my girl, og Betty in the moment when she could talk to Simon one last time would not say "Ey, you should have come with me on the bus many years ago". She would have said that she loved him but that he should understand that her sacrifice was her choice and he shouldn't waste a newly gained chance for something that won't come back. What I like about the concept is that they alluded to the fact that their relationship was not perfect and a story about obsession could come out. But not with what happened in the original series ( and how this series started. The only manifestations of obsessiveness we see in them are only when they have magic objects to themselves. And as we know, every wizard in Adventure Time is closely associated with sadness, anger and madness. AGHHHHHH.

(I finish, I hope you liked my idea of better execution of Simon's plot, if you want I can tell you more about it.)

[sapphire-weapon]

Why is he your favorite VA for Wesker?

Tbh the first time I heard him in game I thought he was Krauser. Like he’s just been stripped of personality in every aspect, voice, appearance, acting, etc.

He sounds like every other wannabe Batman video game character. I’ve heard the whole ‘well he sounded like a bond villain in 5’ and yes he might’ve but it was funny and memorable and now his voice just sounds so forgetful and generic.

but im curious to hear your opinions

i've been asked this question like five different times (almost as many times as i've been asked about lily gao), and i'm just. tired of the question because i'm tired of people looking at wesker in a vacuum. wesker doesn't exist in a vacuum. wesker exists in a series called resident evil.

idk if you've noticed, but RE isn't going for "funny" in the Remakes anymore. bond villain wesker worked in OG because that was the tone that the series was trying to strike to begin with. it's not trying to strike that tone anymore. so anyone who wants him to go back to being a bond villain wants him to stick out among the cast in a really bad way and feel out of place.

i've said this before, but when i first heard craig's voice come in over ada's radio, i got hit really fucking hard with HOLY SHIT THAT'S WESKER. THAT'S THE MOST WESKER THAT WESKER HAS EVER BEEN HOLY FUCK.

you thought he sounded like krauser for the same reason that i immediately knew he was wesker:

menace.

krauser always had a menace factor to him, but wesker didn't. this goes back to the whole "wesker shouldn't be funny anymore" thing. wesker is The Big Villain of the series. he should be menacing. we should feel scared of him -- or, at the very least, he should make us anxious and/or uncomfortable. he's not a morally gray "hero of someone else's story" villain. he is a menacing villain who gets off on psychologically torturing the heroes.

and that's why i always didn't like the bond villain approach to him in the first place. there was always something very sinister about wesker that got lost in translation because he sounded so fucking goofy.

it's not lost anymore.

craig carries a level of tension through his performance that makes it sound like he's always five seconds from snapping, and he does it in a very calm way, so you really have no way of knowing when he's going to pop off and raise his voice. you have no way of knowing when he's going to get violent, because he sounds like he's constantly skirting right along the edge of it.

and it's a good choice for wesker because wesker's particular brand of sinister has always had a sexual component to it, and sex and violence are very closely related psychologically. like i said, wesker gets off on chris's angst and jill's suffering. he now finally sounds like someone who would.

and on top of all of that, craig also has a very... i like to say he has a "radio voice" in his performance of wesker. it's deep and smooth-sounding and very breathy at times; if he were to be given a radio show, people would listen to it just because they'd enjoy listening to him talk. that's also fitting for wesker, because we know that wesker lived a double life for about 20 years.

i can't see dc douglas wesker charming his way into jake's mom's panties, because he's such a ridiculous human being. he always has some snide lilt to his voice. he's just barely this side of snidely whiplash. if he told me i looked beautiful, i'd be like "lol so how much money do you need to borrow?" but if craig burnatowski wesker told me i looked beautiful, i'd probably get the dokis, just because his voice is smoother and he sounds more serious overall.

the same principle applies to him betraying STARS. peter jessop did a fairly good job with wesker, but i couldn't see dc douglas or richard waugh wesker as a leader to look up to, because, again, they're both skirting the line of snidely whiplash. it'd be like "oh, there's a traitor in STARS? couldn't be the guy who sounds like a fucking cartoon villain, could it?"

like. get dc douglas and richard waugh out of your head. stop thinking about them and just look at wesker's lines of dialogue written out on paper. craig captures the character's voice better. he just does. and if you think it makes him sound "generic" then chances are you don't like wesker as a character as much as you think you do.

and now i never want to answer this question again lmao

[psychewritesbs]

When Opposites Attract, part 1... maybe perhaps

The devil finds work for idle hands... and what with only having one client at the moment and finally reaching Gundam Seed’s episode 23, what is it with episode 23 being my fave in JJK and GS? well...

It’s time to brainrot about one of my favorite relational dynamics in animanga...

So.... basically don’t mind me while I ramble about asucaga... one of my og OTPs.

Also, if anybody does read this and is wondering...

Yes, I did watch episode 23 three times... and counting. I had to do research and take screencaps ok?!

Yes, I squealed internally several times... probably still am.

Yes, we’re going to ignore the extensive amounts of plot armor that is just as thick as Gundanium Alloy.

And yes, I loved every. single. fucking. minute of Athrun and Cagalli’s interaction.

This isn’t mental gymnastics... this is nit picking... obsessing about what it means for two characters to come together and how that changes them. 

In the end, shipping is at its core about seeing a relational dynamic (ship) in fiction and being inspired by it. And one of my favorite things about Gundam Seed was seeing how two separate wholes came together in the way that Athrun and Cagalli came together.

Athrun as Yin--the passive principle

Athrun, is both “not just another Quiet and Aloof Deuteragonist-kun”, and at the same time “your typical expression of his trope”. 

Dark hair, green eyes, introverted, kind, superior intelligence... the whole 9 yards.

Athrun is his trope to a T. And yet, there’s also something ethereal and dreamy about him.

In melodrama, characters are typically clichéd stereotypes. But I have to say that the characters in Gundam Seed are fleshed out beyond their character trope.

What makes the characters in Gundam Seed unique are the details in the way their individual personalities are expressed. 

For Athrun, he looks to me like he’s very much written as an expression of water sign traits--he is a Scorpio by birth after all. He is ethereal, dreamy, mysterious, highly emotional and yet simultaneously emotionally closed off to most people or aloof. 

And yet, despite his Introverted and introspective personality as defined by his water sign, Athrun navigates his world with cold logic. To me, his ease and interest in mechanical objects like the Haros and Torii speak to his mastery of logic and mechanics.

Athrun is also a kid whose mother’s death scarred him and who has let his father control his fate. From what I remember, he’s also been a soldier most of his life. So at the core of his character arc there is a need to tap into his (most irrational) emotions, and to learn to think for himself in a way that takes into consideration not just logic, but also what his heart wants.

Another aspect that defines Athrun is how his personality has also been shaped by the war because of what he has seen and the horrors he has probably lived through. Something that is hinted at in episode 23.

Finally, Athrun is an elite soldier and he knows that about himself. Up to episode 23 in Gundam Seed, he had used his genetically engineered superior abilities to fight for Zaft’s sake. 

Zaft no Tameni.

But that’s only because he had not stopped to think like the opposing camp.

Cagalli as Yang--the active principle

And then there’s Cagalli.

Oh God. Where do I even start with Cagalli?

Stereotypically, Cagalli is first and foremost a tomboy. She is rough around the edges, strong-willed and edgy. Unlike the other females in the series, Cagalli is perfectly happy as someone who prefers guns over make up.

She also appears to be more outgoing, boisterous and extroverted than Athrun. 

But I think that one of the things that define Cagalli even more than the “tomboy” trope is the fact that she is, literally, a Princess. However, Cagalli is not your average Disney Princess waiting to be rescued. Instead she uses her power, privilege and influence for the benefit of causes she believes in, hence earning herself the title “Goddess of Victory”.

As a Princess, however, she’s also entitled, bossy, and unaware of her privilege to a certain extent.

Like this little girl basically forced herself onto a military ship even though the captain was totally against it. Total #Gundanium Alloy moment.

One of the things I love about Cagalli is that she has this overconfidence about herself that is also very Princess-like. How to explain... I headcanon Cagalli probably lived a very sheltered life as a Princess, and so she doesn’t truly understand the despair of a war-thorn world and how that shapes people. This only makes her choice to fight for those in less privileged positions than hers all the more impressive. 

But unlike Athrun and real soldiers who have seen the horrors of war, even if Cagalli has seen terrible things, Cagalli has a body guard with her at all times whose job is to risk his life to protect her. She is sheltered.

Also, as a side note, he doesn’t do a very good job of it lol. I would fire him if I was Cagalli’s dad. But I get the sense the bodyguard guy kind of gave up on trying to convince Cagalli not to get into crazy situations because Cagalli is going to do what Cagalli wants to do because she’s a fucking Princess.

Other than that, I think it’s very important to Cagalli’s character that she’s free to be herself and choose her own destiny. In the end, Cagalli chooses to fight for what she thinks is right and chooses what causes she espouses.

And I think this is where Cagalli and Athrun meet in the middle--fighting for what they believe is right.

Fighting for what is right--two opposing perspectives

One of the things that I loved about episode 23 the most is that this is when the idea “that conflict is the result of a lack of communication” gets presented--this is when the two opposing sides finally decide to sit down and talk.

These two kids met each other under #Gundam Alloy type circumstances that plot armor is thick but wtv because I love asucaga and I am glad they met and kept blaming each other until they both came to the realization that this blaming game was taking them nowhere. 

Just back and forth...

Well I did this because you did that.

Well I did that because you did this.

Two opposing perspectives at war with each other.

Theirs is a conversation about opposing versions of the “truth” and how when the two opposites come together a new truth can be unveiled if both parties are able and willing to meet in the middle.

Literally. Athrun and Cagalli introduce into GS the idea that senseless war is simply the result of two opposing sides unwilling to listen to the other and meet in the middle. 

Athrun and Cagalli represent the movement in this new direction for the plot where characters start to question more openly what it is they fight for.

But before Athrun and Cagalli get to this point where they get to explore their opposing perspectives, chemistry had already worked its magic. Without this chemistry, there would be no impetus that would bind two opposites together.

Let’s ship it!

Mwahaha. Ok, time to ship it.

When Athrun and Cagalli first encounter each other its under the threat of attack. Cagalli is pointing a gun at him and all he has is a knife. 

The moment that changes everything is when Athrun turns the tables on her and discovers that Cagalli is a girl.

I think in this scene there is a combination of Athrun’s reluctance to get a civilian involved in a war conflict and his own humanity taking precedence over how she is physically weak compared to him, not just for being a woman, but also because she’s a Natural.

In the end, Athrun is shown to be a very kind and considerate person time and time again and this is an example of it.

Also Cagalli getting annoyed because she gets confused for a boy is so funny.

It is after this moment when the walls start come down for both of them. 

On the one hand, I imagine Athrun realized just how defenseless Cagalli is despite her bravado, hardly a threat; while on the other hand, Cagalli realized this Zaft soldier is just as human as she is.

And I just adore this moment so much because despite the large amounts of Gundanium Alloy present in Gundam Seed, this moment and the way Athrun and Cagalli relate to one another is so... real?

Athrun telling Cagalli to tone it down with her Princess attitude is so... amazing? Up until now no one has really stood up to her and she typically gets what she wants--again, as an example, she boarded the Archangel against the Captain’s wishes.

And then... the crabs happen.

With crab #1 we have a moment of comic relief that invited them to relax, to lay down their defenses once and for all so that they could see the human in front of them more clearly.

It’s really lovely to be able to see how they are both more at ease around each other because of this seemingly insignificant moment.

I have to wonder what is going through Athrun’s mind as he sees Cagalli continue to do as she pleases, completely at ease with herself even though they are “enemies” and she should be weary of him.

This is one of those moments where the writers showed both Athrun’s and Cagalli’s personalities beautifully. 

On the one hand you have Athrun as he looks on from a distance in typical Scorpio fashion. His introspective nature speaking a thousand words without saying a single one of them. What we do know is that he is so moved by what he sees to the point that he removes the ties around her hands and feet--a completely irrational choice.

Symbolically, Athrun gives Cagalli back her freedom because even if she’s tied down, Cagalli’s will is untamable, something Athrun notices about her.

As for Cagalli, she is just enjoying herself. She too is at ease with Athrun around and is able to be her usual carefree self. Another thing about Cagalli I didn’t mention earlier is that she’s a Taurus. So there’s a sense of her sensuality being expressed in this moment as she enjoys the feeling of rain washing over her.

Then, with crab #2 we have a glimpse at a couple more details. 

For one, I think its easy to think of Athrun as Quiet and Aloof Deuteragonist-kun, but his mischievous and playful side shines through in this brief interaction when he teases Cagalli (thanks to this article for pointing out this fun detail).

As for Cagalli, it shows how care free and oblivious she is about the feminine beauty and sensuality that lies beneath the surface--which Athrun clearly very much liked.

Even though I feel like it’s more realistic for a teenager to continue to stare, I like what this scene says about Athrun being a respectful young man.

Then, when they move into the cave the issue of “ease” comes up. Cagalli taunts Athrun, telling him that she could take his gun from him and that he should be warier of her and take her more seriously.

Athrun, however, is highly aware that he’s an elite soldier with superior physical abilities and is completely unphased by her threat.

I think, if anything, Athrun is also aware that he’d be saddened if the situation escalated in such a way to where he would have to hurt her.

Athrun then falls asleep, showing once again how at ease he feels around her.

But this is Cagalli we’re talking about and if she had another middle name it would be “impulsive”. So she goes for the gun and then after an emotional exchange throws it on the ground in a bit of a temper tantrum.

And of course, because of the Gundanium Alloy, the gun fires when it hits the ground and the bullet barely hurts Athrun. The writers just really wanted a shirtless Athrun.

I love Athrun’s reaction in all of this because he’s not afraid to tell Cagalli to drop the Princess attitude. Seriously, who throws a loaded gun like that?

But... the best part in all of this is that Cagalli wants to meets him in the middle. 

And despite his reluctance, for the first time the audience gets to see Athrun take his armor completely off and open up. Both in the figurative way and in the fanservicey way.

This isn’t just physical proximity, but rather Athrun allowing someone else to not only meet him in the middle in his pain, but also to tend to that pain. 

And as they say their respective goodbyes and exchange names, so do they acknowledge each other’s humanity despite being in opposite camps.

I love them your honor...

[goldenagenonsense]

Action Comics No. 1 [June 1938]

The OG. The first true-blood superhero. The big man himself, Superman. From what I’ve heard, any physical copy of this issue in good enough condition can be worth a couple million dollars. Can you imagine, something that once cost a dime worth more than most people’s annual income?? Bonkers.

Anywho, let’s get into it.

Have to admit, the thing that catches my eye here is that logo on his costume. The rest of it is the same timeless classic design everyone knows, but that logo... not gonna lie, it looks weird. Kind of a little flick-and-swish instead of the blocky print of more modern superman logos.

I suppose the other big question is, who the fuck are these dudes. Why is Superman smashing their car. Why are they in the middle of the desert in Arizona. All mysteries that will probably never be solved.

Moving on, we’re given Superman’s origin story: A distant planet was destroyed by old age, so a scientist placed his infant son within a hastily-designed spaceship and shot him off to Earth! When it landed, a passing motorist discovered the sleeping child and turned him over to... an orphanage? Huh. Huh.

Like, I do get that this is well before any comic books cared about things like ‘backstory’ and ‘civilian lives’ and whatnot, but I admit I’m so used to the whole ‘taken in by Martha and Jonathon Kent’ thing that him initially being an orphanage kid is downright bizarre. Like, could you even IMAGINE trying to pull that in a modern day comic? Impossible. But at the same time, so compelling... hmm...

The backstory continues with baby Clark’s impressive feats of strength - as a baby, he could lift a reclining chair with one arm. By maturity, he could easily: 

leap an eighth of a mile

hurdle over a twenty-story building

raise tremendous weights (pictured holding an I-bar over his head with one arm)

run faster than an express train

and “nothing less than an exploding shell could penetrate his skin”

I checked the stats for the train thing, and in 1938, the best in the line steam trains (in the US) had an average operating speed of 100 mph [160 km/h] and a top speed of 125 mph [200 km/h]. So I imagine that those are OG Clark’s ‘run’ and ‘sprint’ speeds as well.

We conclude the backstory page with a note that early on, Clark decided to turn his titanic strength into channels that would benefit mankind. Thus: Superman! Champion of the oppressed, the physical marvel who has sworn to devote his existence to helping those in need!

Also, oh my god, it has a blurb about the ‘scientific explanation’ for Clark Kent’s amazing strength.

Like, is this still nonsense? Yes, but I mean. Technically, it’s nonsense with some science to it. I kind of like it - it’s impressive, but not fantastical.

We finally move on to the action: Superman, racing through the night, a blond woman bound and gagged under his arm. When he reaches the governor’s house, he leaves her sitting under a tree, telling her to make herself comfortable, since he doesn’t have the time to.

Superman knocks on a door, and someone (an aide? a butler? IDK man) answers. The doorman demands to know why Superman is knocking at such a late hour. Superman states that he has to see the governor - it’s a matter of life and death! The doorman closes the door and says to come back in the morning. Superman refuses, smashing his way in and saying he’ll see him now.

The doorman is shaken, stating (fairly) that this is illegal entry, and he’ll have Supes arrested. Supes again demands to be taken to the governor. When the doorman refuses, Superman just picks the guy up and holds him overhead while marching up the stairs, ignoring the man’s cries for help.

A new obstacle appears - for some reason, the governor’s sleeping room is locked AND made of steel. The doorman is smug as he tells Superman that he won’t get away with this outrage, and that there’s absolutely no way this door can be knocked down-

Ah, cinematic poetry. Gotta love it.

The governor, woken by the chaos, turns on his bedside lamp while demanding to know what’s happening. Superman, holding a rolled up paper, tells the governor that Evelyn Curry is to be electrocuted in fifteen minutes for murder. However, he has a written confession that’s proof of her innocence!

The butler (aha! Finally, confirmation!) pulls out a gun, convinced Superman is a madman threatening the governor. He tells Supes to reach for the ceiling; Supes tells him to put ‘that toy’ away. The butler warns Superman he’ll shoot, and then proceeds to do so - to no effect, as the bullet ricochets off of Superman. Superman steps forward to take away the gun, stating it’s no time for horseplay, then returns his focus to the governor.

As the timer counts down to nine minutes left, Superman tells the governor that only he is capable of saving the innocent woman. The governor asks for the papers, and then makes a call to the penitentiary. The next panel briefly hops over to the execution room, where Miss Curry takes massive relief in the news that the governor has pardoned her. She had told them she was innocent!

(I wonder - if the governor had refused, would Clark have rushed to break the woman out himself? I would think he would, but it would probably be breaking the law a bit more than he already has with the whole ‘breaking and entering’ thing happening here.)

When we return to the governor’s house, Superman has already disappeared. However, he did leave behind a note stating that the real murderess would be found bound and gagged on the lawn of his estate.

We have a brief time skip to the next morning, when Clark Kent is leaving for his job as a reporter for the local newspaper. His neighbor is reading the morning paper, telling Clark all about how the Curry girl was found innocent. When Clark asks to read it himself, he’s inwardly relieved to find he’s not mentioned anywhere.

However, things aren’t that simple. At the same time, over in the governor’s private chamber, he’s meeting with several other important people, telling them all about how the man who had broken in was definitely not human! The only relief to be found was that said man seemed to be on the side of law and order.

When Clark enters the Daily Star - wait, what? Alright, I know it’s literally inconsequential, but that’s still an interesting difference between then and now. I wonder when that was changed and why?

Anyway! Clark is called into his boss’ office; the boss asks him to sit, then wants to know if Clark has ever heard of ‘Superman.’ When Clark expresses his shock/confusion, the boss clarifies - reports have been streaming in about a fellow with gigantic strength called Superman, and he’s making it Clark’s ongoing assignment to cover these reports.

Clark, with a totally not shit-eating grin, states confidently that if he can’t find out anything about Superman, then no one can!

Like look. Listen. That is the face of a man who has just been gifted the perfect alibi/cover for all his nonsense, and is barely keeping himself from cackling in delight. You know he’s internally rubbing his hands together in glee.

As Clark leaves the boss’ office, one of his co-workers lets him know that a tip was phoned in - a wife-beating on 211 Court Ave! Leaving aside the fact that said tipster should have probably been calling the police, Clark accepts the tip and hurries off.

[Insert from friends:

[Tyler] I mean historically domestic violence was treated differently to today, maybe it made sense to call the newspaper back then?

Wikipedia seems to be suggesting that while the cops would stop a wife beater by that time, there was a low chance of arrest, so maybe a newspaper article makes sense as a longer term punishment if the cops won’t help?

[Solem] I'd assume that the police were called first, and that it's someone from the police calling the paper -- dunno if they still do this, but it used to be that newspapers got bulletins like that so they could add the crimes to the public record and write up the police blotter. Hence why it was the perfect incognito place for Clark to work and keep his ear to the ground for trouble.]

When he arrives at the scene, he’s already changed into his costume and demands the man to stop. The man is holding a belt and standing over his wife, who is lying on the ground, covering her face, but stops to turn and demand to know what Superman wants, and to not get tough. Superman grabs him by the throat and lifts him up, saying that tough is a mild way to put the treatment the man is about to get. He then throws the man at the nearby wall, stating that he’s not fighting a woman now!

It seems that Supes is holding back, because the wall is undamaged, and the man is still conscious, choosing to attack Supes with a knife. However, the man has even less luck than the butler on that front - the knife breaks on Superman’s skin, leaving the man no recourse but to recoil in fear, and then faint.

Superman hears police sirens and quickly changes back into his civilian clothes, thinking of how bad it’d be if they searched him. By the time the officer steps in through the busted door, Clark Kent is kneeling over the unconscious man. The officer demands to know what Clark is doing there; Clark replies that he arrived to find the place like this, and that it seems that Superman had dropped in for a visit. [Also, gotta love that ‘tho’ is used in this panel.]

Another time skip, and we’re back in the office. This time, however, we see Clark awkwardly asking Lois out on a date, and her deigning to give him a break for once. Good to know that Lois hasn’t changed one bit in the past 80-something years.

That night, Lois and Clark are dancing together at some kind of... I guess restaurant? A party or event? There are tables for dining, but there’s also couples dancing, so like. It’s probably some kind of event, but I couldn’t tell you more than that. Clark asks why Lois always avoids him at the office. Lois tells him she’s been writing sob stories all day, and doesn’t want to dish out another.

[Insert from friends:

[Delci] You watch a lot of old black and white movies and this is shown all the time, dancing was a very big thing back then, like the only time to really socialize lol. Basically a club, eat, dance and listen to live entertainment.]

Over at one of the tables, three guys are chatting about her. Green suit thinks she’s nice looking and decides to cut in. Blue suit is cautious, worried that her escort [Clark] won’t like it. Green suit says it doesn’t matter, he’ll just punch Clark’s face in. Yellow suit is just excited to be here.

Green suit marches over and demands Clark leave. Clark notes that this isn’t a robber’s dance, and green suit gets annoyed, asking if he’s trying to be ‘flip’ (which i guess is shorthand for ‘flippant’) and again tells him to get moving, quick. Lois demands to know if Clark is going to stand for this. Clark reluctantly plays into his weakling persona, asking her to give the guy one dance so they can leave quickly. 

She is having none of it, hands on her hips as she tells Clark that HE can dance with green suit, but she’s leaving now. Green suit is annoyed at her flippancy, and tells her he’ll dance with him and she’ll like it. Lois, done with this man’s shit, slaps him in the face. Clark gives a quiet cheer for her, then more loudly frets for her to stop.

Green suit probably caught the mutter, because he shoves a hand in Clark’s face and demands he fight (calling him a ‘weak livered pole-cat’ in the process, a fantastic insult); Clark demures and deflects.

Lois, already in her evening coat, is already heading out the door. Clark follows after her, asking her to wait. She doesn’t stop even after she gets into a taxi, telling him the reason she avoids him: because he’s a spineless, unbearable coward! (Yeowch.)

Back inside, green suit is pissed, rallying his friends to go after her and show her that she can’t make a fool of Butch Matson. Dude, I hate to tell you this, but she already did. Sucks to suck, man. :/

A few minutes later, Superman is on the scene, watching a familiar green car leave the roadhouse with three hoodlums inside. The car quickly catches up to the taxi, ramming into it and forcing it into a ditch. The suits pull her out of the taxi and force her into their car, while she demands they let her go. As they drive away, Butch complains that he let her boyfriend off easy. Blue suit states that they might meet again, and Butch replies that he hopes it’ll be soon.

As the car speeds forward, Superman stops in the road in front of it, hands on his hips. Blue suit(?) warns him of the guy ahead, while Butch just laughs and says that he’ll scare the guy a bit. Blue suit is worried about hitting him, though, especially as they approach and Superman doesn’t move. 

At the last moment, Superman leaps over the top of the car without touching it, then starts dashing in pursuit, freaking out blue suit. Blue suit tells Butch to step on the gas; Butch compares Supes to the Devil himself. Despite their speed, Superman catches up easily, and holds the car over his head. He dumps all the occupants out - Lois included, double whoops! - and then smashes the car into bits against a rock. Which is the cover scene! Just with different clothes for the ‘civilians’.

After the car is dealt with, Superman chases down Butch and leaps up with him to the top of a power pole, hanging the man by his suit jacket to one of the parallel planks. When Butch demands to be let down, Superman offers to cut him loose, which has Butch backtrack immediately.

Superman then approaches a shocked Lois, gently telling her that she doesn’t need to be afraid, that he won’t harm her. (Definitely thinking this is a whole angel/Bible reference with the whole ‘be not afraid’ bit.) He then picks her up in a bridal carry and rushes her back to the city outskirts, advising her not to print anything about what happened.

The next morning, Lois is raving about it to the editor, trying to convince him that she saw Superman. The editor is skeptical, asking a bit mockingly whether it wasn’t pink elephants she saw. This honestly just had me realize that when said editor put Clark on the whole ‘Superman’ thing, he probably was skeptical, and considering that it’s only been a day since said assignment, said editor probably is still skeptical of Superman’s existance.

Anyway, that little segment ends with Clark trying to apologize for the previous night, but Lois is having none of it, outright icing him out.

Clark soon enough recieves a new assignment - the front page is getting dull, to the point of headlining card games. Apparently, there’s a war going on in a small South American republic, ‘San Monte,’ and he’s sending Clark there as correspondant. He tells Clark to take along a camera and to try to send some good shots with his articles.

Instead of going to San Monte, Clark goes over to Washington DC. Which I can’t blame him for, since that’s definitely a scandal in the making far closer to home. Clark attends a session of Congress, watching from the gallery. After recieving confirmation on the identity of Senator Barrows, Clark discretely follows up post-session by snapping a picture of Barrows speaking to a shady character about meeting up that night at at his home. He then goes to the local paper to learn more about the shady man, and finds out his name is Alex Greer, the slickest lobbiest in Washington... and no one knows who backs him.

By the time 8:30 PM rolls around, Superman is clinging to the side of a skyscraper, multiple stories up, eavesdropping on their conversation. Which is hilarious for many, many reasons. Mostly because it’s now no fucking wonder he and Bruce are friends when they pull the exact same snooping nonsense.

Barrows reminds Greer that he’s supposed to be avoiding him in public. What would people think if they knew they knew each other? Greer tells him to stop sputtering, he had to see him. He has to know if the senator will succeed in pushing the bill through. Barrows confirms it will, well before its full implications are realized. Before anyone knows it, the country will be embroiled with Europe!

...wait. Wait wait, this is a bill about joining the war in Europe? No, this was before World War Two started! So what, is this trying to kick off a war? Or just getting economically bogged down with Europe in general? I admit I’m not sure, but in that context, yeah, this is definitely something to be concerned about.

Greer is pleased, stating that Barrows will be financially compensated for this. Barrows rhetorically asks whether Greer is getting taken care of as well. Supermna, listening in, thinks that he definitely will - though probably not in the way either of the two are thinking.

On leaving the building, Greer is confronted by Superman, who wants to know who’s backing him. Greer tries to deny the accusations, but Supes is having none of it, grabbing him by the hand and saying they’ll see whether he’ll talk. When Greer demands he let go of his hand, Supes just grabs him by the foot instead and takes off in a huge leap.

Master of malicious complaince, Clark is.

Greer panics about electrocution as they come in for a landing on some telephone wires. Superman assures him they won’t - birds sit on wires all the time, and they aren’t fried - at least, not unless they touch a pole and are grounded! Superman then leaps over a pole with an ‘oops!’ that’s all about fucking with this man.

Again, I am very quickly realizing how this man and Bruce ‘I dangle criminals over the edge of buildings’ Wayne are besties. It’s all about the subtle death threats with those two.

Superman points out the capitol, suggesting they pay it a visit. Greer is still demanding to be put down, but Clark just wants to admire the view from the top of the White House. He then wonders out loud whether they can make the jump all the way across to the building, ignoring Greer’s increasing panic in order to do so - and apparently misses.

...and this concludes issue 1, or at least the part about Superman. The end of that last panel gives a little ‘to be continued’ note, followed up by a panel reminding readers to not miss an issue so as to keep on reading about Superman. Man, what an adventure.

Have to admit, I was genuinely surprised by some of this. Like, I knew Superman didn’t start out with the thousand and five powers he has in modern comics, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so... grounded? Kind of wild. I could easily see a lot more ways this version of him could be challenged meaningfully beyond just ‘the enemy has Kryptonite and/or magic to weaking him’ and/or ‘it’s a situation where he can’t bruce force it without things going horribly wrong.’

Likewise, orphan Supes has some kind of compelling art to it. While I definitely favor Ma and Pa Kent as a reason he grew up kind, and I also get how there’s no way the whole ‘random motorist runs into a baby in a spaceship and just takes them to an orphanage’ thing would work nowadays, it’s still interesting to consider how such a backstory would have to be adjusted to at least be plausible.

Also, I know I made a joke earlier about ‘get me photos of Superman’ but like. Oh my god, Peter Parker isn’t the neighborhood menace, fucking Superman is. Breaking and entering, eavesdropping, destruction of property; this man just cannot be stopped. Truly, an auspicious start to one of the most iconic superheroes of all time.

Can’t wait for the next issue!

[acids-and-basses]

I’ve decide to do some reference pictures for some of our dnd characters (novi is not mine but I needed ideas for armor for a v-tuber model for his player).

This is for both my reference when animating this next video (I’ve got a bit of it sketched out but not too much yet) and if anyone wants to know a little bit about them. I’ll eventually do Selene and nox along with a few others that are going to be in the next few videos.

Sakura

Design based on Technoblade animatics, with a Japanese flar like philza’s skin is Urahara from bleach, but leaning a little more into samurai rules

Story wise- one of the first Changelings to be in a program to try to get rid the world of Tieflings. Yet he ended up getting badly injured and they left him behind before he was helped and raised by a wealthy tiefling family. (He was only about 5 when he was basically adopted into this family) The tieflings cared for him and in exchange he deticated his life to fight for him family under a sort of samurai code.

Eventually in his twenties he goes out on a mission and comes back to the house one fire and everyone and everything gone. He vows to avenge his family, but after his blood lust subsides he goes the way of the Druid

Him and Restless both grew up together and are born the same year but Sakura is older due to restless’ spell leaving Restless himself dead for 40 years.

Sakura’s now just the bodyguard / uncle iron of the family

I do currently intend to do a video of younger Sakura in sort of the story of the short campaign he was for/in.

The ear ring that he wears pairs with that of the ship owner who’s seen within both ‘bird in a bird cage’ and ‘burn butcher burn’ of which he and his entire crew are based off of Philza and kristin along with a few of their other friends.

Sakura will not, and this is due to that samurai training and ideals, he will not unsheath his sword until he knows he’s going to kill

Dryke is his deity and is sort of like ares, as he’s associated with war, wolves, death, bloodshed, and fire. Dryke takes over Sakura’s body when he’s consumed by blood lust (this goes with the not pulling out the sword) resulting in Sakura’s pupils going red and Sakura looking more closely to the OG Technoblade designs.

Dryke himself is a large oni like diety

Will drink you dry with sake if allowed, tho he’s not a drunk

He also has a familiar that takes the form of a lunar moth that’s the size of a large house cat, named blossom

He also has multiple cats, his favorite being a Russian blue.

The cats tried once, never again

Refuses to say when his birthday is but it’s some time in April

Restless (Zagareus ‘Darakh’ Sole)

He’s a twin, with his brother Victor who prefers a more human name over their birth mother’s; Mary Darakh; choices, who after they were born left them on their father’s; Timothy; door step.

He himself is a daddies boy, while victor is a mommies boy to their step mother; Ithal Nodel.

Restless’s brother eventually died from a terminal illness. Ithal made the first warforged (tho that wasn’t her intention) by trying to bring her son back, which she does do but a lot later and eventually is able to make his appearance a lot more human than his original tiefling appearance.

The vertiligo is from his father and his brother never seemed to get it before he died.

His father was an alchemist; Restless himself was originally based on Edward/Alphonse from Fullmetal Alchemist thus the resurrection stuff

Due to the war both of his parents were forced to go to war, and he was left alone on the streets. Once he found out about his fathers death (which he may or may not have actually died we aren’t entirely sure) Restless spent 5 years creating a True resurrection spell (a wizard spell version) to bring his dad back. But due to the fact that he spent all that time on that and not himself when he finally used it, the spell it’s self killed him as his father basically watched as his only remaining son died in his arms

Restless is eventually resurrected by Broma; the woman in the restless child video. Due to her thinking he remembers it or that he was more than 18 years old (he didn’t turn 18 until just before the campaign ended which is were restless child ends). She drags him around and he some what gets bored and runs into novi, having a little show of who they are they join the party, eventually there’s a big blight going on, broma, who happens to have a Pandora’s box of shit is the cause.

Broma herself didn’t have the key to said box, her sister did and died protecting the key from broma thus making Broma’s sister a deity, Melenor of the stars and mysteries. All while broma gets some weird ability to resurrect when she’s killed and remember where she put said box of destruction

Restless ends up being the one to confront her, he makes a joke about a golden elf who stole his copy of his spell he finished, 2x might I add due to two different golden sun elves. Broma takes that as her no longer needing him and power word kills him (/kill) before Elden, the one sun elf restless was referring to and willingly gave his spell to, shows her his true form with it resulting in burning her eyes out and turning her to stone

Restless eventually due to Sakura is reunited with his family who wasn’t dead and he now has a step brother, Regulus (half drow half tiefling)

Restless is a winged tiefling and due to Kethren forcing restless to use the spell on his back to bring back Elden, they finally grew out of his back

Novi and restless are in fact married

Melenor is restless’ choosen deity not due to the mystery and magic, no just due to space and the fact that her robes are all purple.

He can be a bit narcissistic

Prehensile tail

Birthday: Halloween

Has plushies that are each based on someone important in his life

His crow is used as a messager mainly for sakura to write letters back and forth

Novi Sole

A changeling like Sakura who was made to kill tieflings and other races (at the story point tieflings are pretty much extinct)

Will steal anything and everything under the sun and shade

The kid at the party running around with the knife nobody wants him having

Teaches all his kids all the rouge attributes

Mars is the only one who doesn’t do any rouge stuff at all

Looks up to a minor deity of stealing

Sells your sole for a corn chip

Didn’t want restless to have his last name but restless wanted it

It’s not his actual name anyways

They named their kids Selene ( Greek god of the moon), Nox (Latin for night), and Mars (both a planet and the Roman version of ares)

Selene is the only one who’s not a changeling by default of the three but everyone thinks she is as her skins changling white and she hides her horns with her barrette.

Nox just looks like a gothic witch human

Mars at some point meant a firbolg and he shifted into one but they never figured out why he chose it (yes the 5e cow version cause it’s cute)

Hides weapons in his weapons

Was the first one to confess

[krispyweiss]

Dead & Company at Riverbend Music Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 13, 2023

Not only do Company men outnumber Dead men on Dead & Company’s Final Tour, they also dominate the music.

This was the case June 13 during a more-than-three-hour, rain-soaked gig at a sold-out Riverbend Music Center on Cincinnati’s Ohio River banks.

There’s bassist Oteil Burbridge, laying down thick, thumping grooves & willing a quickened tempo into the back half of the show-opening “The Music Never Stopped.”

Now, here comes guitarist and singer John Mayer, breathing 21st-century life into such Pigpen-era chestnuts as “Next Time You See Me” & “Viola Lee Blues,” which occupied the No. 2 slots in sets one & two, respectively, & were among the gig’s many highlights. Virtuosic keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, meanwhile, joins Mayer as half of Dead & Company’s corps of soloists & the pair engaged in an electrifying conversation in “Viola” as Chimenti, on electric piano, answered Mayer’s calling guitar in a jam that seemed to briefly lift Riverbend off the ground.

There’s Burbridge again, handling the “Hey Jude Coda” out of “Dear Mr. Fantasy” essentially solo & making it sing. Joining longtime Dead man Mickey Hart behind the array of drums is the Company’s newest hire, Jay Lane, who replaced wayward Rhythm Devil Bill Kreutzmann & added some youthful punch to the drums while he & Hart celebrated the late sound man & LSD maker Owsley “Bear” Stanley with T-shirts in his honor.

Kreutzmann’s unexpected departure left Bob Weir as Dead & Company’s lone OG - original Grateful - & he stepped up, singing songs associated with Jerry Garcia (an almost-too-powerful-to-signal-set-break “Aiko Aiko”) & himself on the weather-appropriate “Looks Like Rain.” High in the mix, Weir’s unique style of rhythm guitar continually evoked the father band even as Mayer & Chimenti were gleefully taking over numbers like the 1970s arrangement of “Here Comes Sunshine” - ironic in the rain - & an “I Know You Rider” that seemed destined to never end as it capped a more-than-hourlong run toward “Drumz.”

Out of “Space” came a new arrangement of “The Wheel” that showcased a calypso jam in place of the reggae workout of the past several years, proving Dead & Company plan to evolve to the last.

& lest anyone still doubt Mayer’s ability to burrow into this music, he took over the show-proper-closing “Casey Jones,” singing with confidence & writing his own guitar solo on the spot to add some serious sparkle to one of the Grateful Dead songbook’s most-static arrangements.

For all the fireworks, there were a couple of fizzling duds. Sung by Mayer, “Row Jimmy” was plodding; “Cassidy”’s lengthy jam went nowhere; & the Weir-sung “Wharf Rat,” was a vocal train wreck of epic proportions. But over its eight-year run, Dead & Company, much like the Grateful Dead of 1994-’95, has only occasionally put together shows without a few dips in energy along the way & the group’s final Riverbend appearance was, in the big picture, a joyful fare thee well for those hopping off the bus at this stop.

Grade card: Dead & Company at Riverbend Music Center - 6/13/23 - B+

6/14/23

[driftingvoid-155]

@theman-and-themachine

Sure!

So William just sort of lets Henry do his own thing for a bit. He has a lot of other priorities like running a business and keeping an eye on his kids so ‘random man who added life size animatronic decoration to my restaurant’ really isn’t on the top of his list. Plus, Henry never bothers him or causes a ruckus, if anything the inventions draw people in, so he counts it all good in his book.

Then one day he’s closing and he’s standing by the counter doing the days cash when he notices Henry still there with him working on the two characters. It’s here he finally asks Henry his name (he’d just been referring to him as ‘good looking guy’ in his head for the last week or so) and they get to talking more. Henry tells him about the animatronics and William in exchange tells him about the restaurant. They come to find out they both have kids, something they continue to bond over and one thing becomes the next and they slowly start to become friends, mainly over these little late night chats (Henry totally doesn’t start planning his maintenance check ups later just so he can have will all to himself no sir)

Anyways, Henry is great with Wills kids. Michael in particular takes an interest in the mechanics and Henry is only all too happy to show him. Meanwhile, Liz and Charlie get on like a house on fire and Sammy and Evan, while not the best of friends, can often be found playing with each other. Tho playing mostly includes both of them sitting in the same room heads buried in their respective books or projects. They also build a lot of legos together.

So they slowly start to become this sort of little family and one day Henry brings up about maybe expanding the band and William agrees saying it’s a good idea as he’d been thinking of expanding the restaurant business as well (by this point they’d made quite a name for themselves and people actually traveled quite far to see the animatronics)

Henry was also gone & fallen for Will the Moment Will asked him more about the og characters (and if Henry tweaked Fredbear and Springbonnie to remind them more of him and Will well, no one has to know that either)

People will often asked them how they met/ become business partners and William with a straight face will always just tell the truth of ‘oh yeah. Him and his robots just appeared one day and everyone, including me, thought they were neat so we let him stay’ and he always gets a few odd looks bc Will does have a sense of humor so they can never tell if he’s joking or not

As for why Henry just appeared with them? Well, he’d been working on them for basically forever, practically his life’s project and he’d tried contacting other places about setting them up but no one ever got back to him. So he finally decided fuck it, packed them up and drove to the nearest diner which happened to be Williams. Henry was prepared to pay the owner/ make an argument about just leaving them there for a week at least (he just needed someone to see them and appreciate them like he did) and was pleasantly surprise when William answered with a ‘ah yeah sure’. He just sort of stood there as William walked away, not quite sure he heard right but then shrugged and started lugging them in. Granted, he did get a bit nervous when Will practically ignored him/ gave him odd looks the rest of the week but either way, he was ready to stand his ground on having them there. And even if Will told him to leave, at least they got a few days in the spotlight. But then they became friends/ partners and Henry can’t find himself to ever regret the maybe spur of the moment decision.

AU where William opened a restaurant, a normal diner with breakfast & no singing bears, until one day the local mechanic who’s known for being a bit eccentric shows up like hey ‘can my animatronic band play here?’ and William, completely sleep deprived and running on half a donut, absentmindedly says ‘sure’ and the next day lo and behold there they sit up on a little makeshift stage, and William is trying to remember how they got there but is still too tired to give a single solitary fuck and hey the customers seem to like them, so there they stay

[oivsyo]

Hyūga men chilling on the hot springs [censored|sfw ver.]

For uncensored version go to my Twitter =)

ok, let me introduce them>>>

this is an adult Neji who survived the war, hope it is obvious bc of his scars. Along with Hinata Neji is the main POV in my HC.

Kō Hyūga with my redesign. I got so used to this appearance on him, so I have to remind myself that he doesn't look this way in the canon and other people may not recognise him.

He is 2,5 years older than Neji. In my HC his B-day is on 31 December because this day is Bertolt’s (AoT) b-day and my HC Kō has many things in common with Bertolt. His temper is soft  and is much like Hinata's, only that he is rather strong and is confident in his skills. His problem is the unhealthy desire to meet other people's expectations, the fear of accepting himself as he is.

He was the younger son in one of the main house’s families, but his elder brother was killed during Orochimaru invasion, his eyes torn out and stolen. It happened 2 weeks before Kō’s 17th birthday, so he didn’t get the seal. But it makess him miserable, he would happily bear a hundred seals if only it could turn his brother back to life. He has always been on good terms with Hinata, he looked after her and was supposed to be her guard. After the events of OG Kō gradually makes friends with Neji and eventually becomes one of the closest ppl for both Neji and Hinata. Kō is one of 4 POVs in my HC.

Kō is a sweet cinnamon bun and just perfect, I want to marry him but he is 2D and gay :(

Hiashi Hyūga. My fav part of this art.

Hiashi is DILF.Don't judge me.

I hc him being rather young, so that he is around 31-32 yo during Chunin Exam Arc I gave him background story and better developed personality in my hc so he turned out to be a very interesting and contradicting character.

Hiashi is one of POVs in my HC, through his character the clan’s story, traditions, political relations with the village, with Uchiha clan and inside the clan are told.

Tokuma Hyūga a.k.a Neji's main rival for the title of the most handsome Hyūga man. In my HC Tokuma looked after Neji when his father died and his mother was away on missions so he is kinda brother for Neji even tho they are not that close related. Tokuma has a rather difficult and heavy character, Neji picked some of his traits up. He is not too tall, around 175cm, and looks really young being one of the eldest among Neji, Kō and the next character. 

This one is my OC. His name is Yojiru.

At first I wanted him to be more like RtN Neji, but gradually he switched to Dandelion from the Witcher saga. He is Neji's first cousin, their mothers were sisters, so they look alike. He is almost 10 years older than Neji. He is a poor fighter and  medic-nin, but is rather well-read and knows a lot of things. He is also a talented musician, he plays some musical instruments, sings and even writes songs. He likes to tell jokes and fool around, he has a playful and carefree nature.

In the time skip period between OG and Shippuden he gets acquainted with Ko, they quickly become friends. Yojiru teaches Kō to live for himself and not to look back on other ppl opinion. Later they become lovers.

Hoheto Hyūga. He was a background character in the canon and for now he is only a background character in my HC. He is the oldest man on this art, he is around 5-7 years older than Hiashi I think he is a real clan's patriot judging from the scene with him on the war. Probably he is Hiashi’s guard and assistant.

This one is a rather new OC that is based on one of background Hyūgas from the anime. I HC that he is Natsu's older twin brother. They are from the main house so he doesn't have a seal, and Natsu being the younger twin has it. At the moment I don’t have any ideas about his personality, I'm choosing a name for him from Aki and Haru.

****

This is my first drawing for Naruto Horny ASK, that I've joined recently, and it is kinda redraw of this mangacap. I liked the composition I decided to finally draw all my handsome white-eyed men together

[the--sad--hatter]

Steam - Chapter 1 (Loki x Reader)

Warnings - Loki, Smut, Violence & Gore, Swearing, Death, Angst, Dark Humour, Crack Humour, Shenanigan’s, Mutual Pining

Pairing - Loki X Reader (Slow Burn Romance), Enemies to Frenemies to Idiots in Love

Reader Description - Female, No physical descriptions, Only referred to by nicknames & Petnames (No use of Y/N)

Description/Blurb -

“So how’d you get the firepower? What’s your origin story?” Stark asked, peering at you curiously.

“Uh, this is my origin story…” You winced, sighing when he motioned for you to elaborate, “I got these powers about three days ago.”

It’s a tale as old as time, boy meets girl, boy tries to invade girls mind, girl sets boy on fire, boy turns into angry blue boy, they become sworn enemies.

When you suddenly become imbued with a power you have no idea how to control, Nick Fury picks you up and dumps you on The Avengers doorstep, deciding that they are best people to turn you from a wacky novice into a force to be reckoned with.

The power burning inside you has the potential to make you a hero, or destroy you completely, but your new fire based abilities are more than they appear, and in a stroke of spectacularly bad luck, The God of Mischief is the most qualified teacher to mentor you. With Loki guiding you, will you ever learn to control your power? Will you ever make it as an Avenger? Or will you crash and burn?

Only one thing is absolutely certain, when fire and ice collide, things are bound to get… steamy!

Chapter One - Ice Breaker

It was every bit as imposing as you’d imagined it would be, not that you’d ever imagined seeing it under these circumstances.

 “Are you coming?” Fury barked at you, breaking you out of your slack-jawed awe.

 You snapped your mouth closed and tore your eyes away from the legendary tower, looking at the doors where Fury was impatiently waiting for you.

 “Coming!” You squeaked, scurrying over to him, “It’s just when you said you were taking me somewhere where I could safely learn to control my powers, I was sort of picturing an underground bunker in the desert, not the freaking Avengers Tower!”

 “I utilise the assets I have, why would I send you away when I have a team of perfectly capable super-powered individuals?” He asked wryly, leading you across the lobby and straight past the security teams who did nothing to stop you both as you made your way into an elevator.

 “I’m just saying, a heads up would have been nice.” You muttered petulantly, crossing your arms over your chest and tucking your hands out of sight.

 You felt him look at you and studiously refused to meet his eye, staring instead at the numbers above the door as you were carried all the way to the top of the Tower.

 “Heads up, you’re meeting The Avengers.” He shot back.

You could say what you liked about the former director of Shield, he was true to his word, because the elevator doors wooshed open to reveal a waiting crowd of Avengers, all of them staring at the man next to you with varying levels of annoyance and/or distrust. You diligently pattered after Fury as he stepped forward to greet them, looking around the room reverently.

 The first person you laid eyes on was Tony Stark, Iron Man; the billionaire who had kicked off the modern age of hero’s, and next to him, Captain America, the first of the first, the OG Superhero. Stood behind the Captain was Sam Wilson, the Falcon and a personal favourite of yours, side by side with Bucky Barnes, the former Winter Soldier and poster-child for taking back control of your own fate. Clint Barton aka Hawkeye and the deadliest marksman in the world stood to the side with the Black Widow, deadliest person in the world full stop. In the back of the room two other figures were hanging back, emitting two very different aura’s. Doctor Bruce Banner eyed Fury with trepadition, and well-placed mistrust.

 It was the last person in the room that the majority of your attention was reserved for, the tall, imposing god who skulked in the shadows. Contempt and boredom radiated from him, and you couldn’t safely say it was directed purely at Fury. He was also the only one who spared you more than a cursory glance, and you slowed to a stop as you found yourself trapped in his curious gaze. You stared back, trying to reconcile the villain who once tried to subjugate the planet with the one you were locking eyes with. It had been months since he had joined the Avengers, but it never stopped being strange to see him standing with them whenever you watched footage of them taking on whatever bad guy of the week they were battling. However, he had been fully cleared of any wrongdoing in the battle of New York, apparently he had been mind-controlled. As to why he was helping the Avengers, nobody really knew.  

 Someone cleared their throat loudly and you forced yourself to look away from the stupendously tall god, glancing around the room to see that you now had all eyes watching you expectantly. Apparently you’d zoned out for the introductions.

 “’Sup?” You offered, waving in Tony Starks general direction.

 “So you’re Fury’s fiery friend, what has that got to do with us?” Stark sighed.

 “What, you think he bothered to explain his reasoning to me before dragging my ass up here?” You scoffed.

 “She’s here because she has abilities, abilities that she is more likely to learn to handle among similarly gifted people.” Fury explained in a tone that brokered no argument.

 Naturally, The Avengers argued.

 “We don’t have anybody with fire abilities.” You heard Natasha Romanoff point out, just before you took the opportunity to zone out again.

 You were absolutely certain that nobody cared very much what your opinion on the matter was, thankfully. You weren’t sure you had an opinion on the matter. It wasn’t like you had a lot of experience with these kinds of issues, and as far as you were away there wasn’t some superhero academy that you could enrol yourself in. Besides, you were much more interested in re-instating your staring competition with the god of Mischief.

 In the brief time you’d been distracted, he’d stepped away from the shadows and moved closer to you, staring at you with his arms crossed.

 You resisted the urge to inhale deeply, who knew ex-murderous gods would smell so nice? You looked up, and then up again.

 “How tall are you?” You asked incredulously.

 His gaze flickered down at you impassively, while you stared back and tried to mentally calculate his height.

 “I’m a Frost Giant.” He stated coldly.

 “Oh in that case, you’re kinda short.” You scoffed.

 You were flooded with immediate remorse but it was drowned out by amusement.

 “I beg your pardon?” He demanded, uncrossing his arms and stepping into your personal space.

 “Down boy.” Iron Man sniggered, stepping between you. “So how’d you get the firepower? What’s your origin story?” Stark asked, peering at you curiously.

 “Uh, this is my origin story…” You winced, sighing when he motioned for you to elaborate, “I got these powers about three days ago.”

 “So you’re a baby.” He stated matter-of-factly.

 “If I say yes does that mean I can just sit on the floor and cry until someone picks me up and holds me?” You asked, fully willing to give it a go.

 It had been three days since your life had literally gone up in flames, three days of pinning your arms at your sides, afraid to close your eyes, afraid to let your guard down for even a split second, afraid to allow yourself to feel even an iota of emotion.

 “So how did it happen?” The Captain asked firmly, getting the conversation back on track before you could find out if anyone would volunteer a hug.

 “I, well, I kind of…” You trailed off and looked at Fury for help, but he just stared back at you, the bastard.

 All eyes were on you as they waited for you to explain, nobody offering any kind of help. You exhaled forcefully and slumped your shoulders, tucking your chin so you didn’t have to look at them anymore.

 “I ate a bomb.” You whispered.

 There was a very long beat of silence before it was broken by several voices all at once.

 “I’m sorry, what?” Stark demanded.

 “What did it taste like?” The archer wondered, looking at you almost giddily.

 “She didn’t eat a bomb.” Fury finally stepped in to clarify, “She absorbed the blast, after failing to defuse it.”

 “Why was a civilian defusing a bomb in the first place?” Captain Rogers asked sharply, glancing at you in concern before turning back to Fury with a hard expression.

 “I’m not a civilian, I’m actually an Agent.” You reasoned.

 “She’s an Agent-In-Training.” Fury rebutted. “It was her first mission in the field.”

 “Baby.” Stark reiterated, faking a cough and smirking at you when you scowled at him.

 That was true, and you still didn’t think it was entirely your fault that the bomb had gone off. Yes you’d failed to diffuse it, but you were supposed to be watching the perimeter when you’d stumbled across the explosive device. It had less than thirty seconds on the clock, and you’d stupidly chosen to spend those seconds trying to stop it detonating instead of running away.

 “And you put her on bomb duty? Were you trying to get her blown up?” The Black Widow demanded, and you almost laughed until you saw the serious expression on her face.

 “There wasn’t supposed to be a bomb there, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Fury shrugged, like it was inconsequential.

 To him it probably was.

 “She is still in the room, and I was exactly where you told me to be, when you told me to be there. If your intel was bad, that’s on you Mr Superspy.” You snapped.

 “Oh I see it now!” Stark briskly announced, “You’re trying to pawn her off on us because she’s too sassy for you.”

 “Precisely.” Fury admitted, surprisingly.

 “In the words of shortstack over there,” You hissed, gesturing at Loki “I beg your pardon?”

 “You don’t have the temperance to be an Agent.” Fury told you blankly, not bothering to soften the blow by at least telling you this in private instead of in front of the world greatest heroes.

 “I’d take that as a compliment.” Stark assured you.

 “You’re telling me I’m fired? Literally. Because I got blown up, through no fault of my own?” You huffed, clenching your firsts in an effort to keep your emotions from manifesting in a fiery inferno of rage.

 “Because you choose to try and handle a bomb you had no training to handle, instead of pursuing the target.” Fury amended, unphased by your distress.

 You bit back your retort because you knew it wouldn’t matter to him in the slightest. You couldn’t reason with him, couldn’t explain that you had made the choice not to pursue the target who’d planted the bomb, because you had to try and stop it exploding in a building filled with innocent people. Maybe Fury was right after all. Maybe you weren’t suited to being an Agent, because an Agent would have known that they couldn’t stop the bomb but they could stop the bomber. They would have let a hundred innocent people die and stopped the killer from killing a thousand more the next time. You weren’t an Agent because you’d chosen to die trying to save the hundred, and trusted in Fury and Hill to take down the Bomber.

 Of course, that wasn’t what had happened, and in the end nobody had died.

 “None of this explains how you ‘ate’ the bomb.” Clint Barton pointed out, and it was a good observation.

 “That’s because we don’t have an explanation. She went through the standard medical tests in her training, and all her bloodwork and scans indicated she was fully human. She walked into that building as a human being, and walked back out after absorbing a bomb, as who the hell knows what.”

 “So you’ve never done anything like this before?” Dr Banner asked you, speaking directly to you for the first time.

 “Not even remotely. I mean my eyes water when I eat chilli.” You shrugged.

 “Fascinating.” Banner muttered. “Inhuman?” He asked, turning to Stark.

 “Unlikely, she would have probably noticed going through Terragenesis.” Stark responded. “Mutant?” He shot back.

 “No, the mutant gene would have shown up in testing.” Dr Banner sighed, looking you over with a scientifically calculating eye. “Can you explain what happened in more detail?”

 “Sure, bomb went boom, I went AHHHHHH, and then it was all bright and hot and then the boom went away.” You told them.

 “So how do we know that it was you? What if something else contained the blast?” Someone asked, and you looked around before you finally realised it was Sam Wilson who had spoken.

 “No, it was… it definitely me.” You sighed.

 “How do you know?” Bucky Barnes interjected, backing up the Falcons line of questioning.

 That was the million dollar question. How could you be sure that you had anything to do with the bomb, that you had been imbued with fire power?

 “During the post-mission de-brief, there was an incident.” You alluded, side-eying Fury and taking a not-so-subtle step away from him.

 “Please tell me you tried to set him on fire?” Barton asked giddily, looking between you and your former boss.

 When Fury levelled you with a glare and you developed a sudden vested in the ceiling, the Archer sniggered joyfully. You chanced a look around the room and saw that Barton wasn’t the only one exhibiting mirth at the idea of Fury being set ablaze by your.. well, your fury.

 “He was yelling at me!” You defended, taking yet another step back when his glare intensified.

 “You’re lucky you had no aim and only managed to set fire to the table.” He snapped.

 “I think you were the lucky one.” Stark sniggered at Fury.

 “Do you want her or not?” Fury sighed.

 “Do I get a say in this?” You objected.

 “No.” Fury, Stark, Romanoff, and Loki said in unison.

 “I can run some tests to figure out what happened to you, if it’s reversible.” Banner offered comfortingly. “With your permission of course.”

 “I’m gonna go stand over there with him.” You huffed, making a beeline for the doctor and awkwardly hiding behind him.

 “Yeah, we’ll take her, should be an interesting riddle to solve.” Stark shrugged.

 Captain Rogers and his buddies glanced at you before appearing to have a silent conversation.

 “She can stay here while Stark and Banner figure out what happened, and we can go from there.” The Captain finally decided.

 “We’ll take good care of her.” Loki added with a charming smile.

 His eyes said something completely different, and you had a sick feeling that you were going to be made to pay for your short jokes.

 “Glad I meet your approval; I was worried I was going to fall short.” You sarked, immediately resisting the urge to punch yourself in the face.

 “Approval has nothing to do with it. Of all The Avengers, who do you think will be responsible for testing your abilities? You would do well to remember that I am more than mischief and lies, I am the god of chaos and fire.” He warned you cockily, visibly delighting in the way your grin faltered.

 You shot a pleading look around the room, but nobody was refuting Loki’s claim. In fact, they were nodding thoughtfully, or in Stark’s case; shrugging apologetically at you. You turned back to Loki, ignoring the deep sense of foreboding in your stomach.

 “Well Fe-Fi-Fo-Fuck.”

I have been trying to get back into writing for so long, and this is my last attempt. If this doesn’t work then I am out of ideas. 

I know this is a boring start but I have been re-working and rewriting it for days and I can’t improve it. If you enjoyed any part of this, please do tell me! If you didn’t, then tell me that as well. Just give me any feedback at all, I’d appreciate it so so so so so much. 

For those of you unaware (especially on AO3), I haven’t been writing for a while because my estranged mother passed away and it brought up issues that needed to be dealt with, but all that is over with now. Thank you to everyone who sent supportive messages and was patient with me ❤

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