#he probably wont be making an official announcement on bubble

[stayxsomnia]

Bang Chan will not be going live anymore. S. Korea is in a national state of mourning until January 4th in respect to those lost in the Jeju Air plane crash. Everything (entertainment-wise) is in the process of being canceled or postponed.

[jinmukangwrites]

Crutches

Batfam week 2020 / Injury / @official-batfam-week

Summary: immobilized and incredibly bored, Dick wonders how he’s going to survive the night alone in his Blüdhaven apartment. Thankfully, he doesn’t have to be alone.

AO3

-o-o-o-o-

Dick sighs and leans further back into his couch, lazily flipping the channel as he does so. He tries to keep his elevated foot out of his line of vision and the pain pulsing from it. The pain killers aren’t helping much, and it’s not like he can ask for more at the moment because people will wonder why he has such a high tolerance to pain meds. 

Of course he broke his ankle, and of course it was in the line of duty where other officers saw his foot fall in a random dip in some grass and twist unnaturally in some sort of freak accident. They’re never going to let him live this down, and Amy is never going to let him back onto the force until she’s sure he’s at one hundred percent. If he had just broken his foot during patrol he could have just taken a couple weeks off and then smiled through the pain and no one would have noticed a thing.

He sighs again, louder this time as the TV quickly becomes boring. There’s nothing on besides reruns of Big Bang Theory and some random college football game and his mouth is dry and his stomach is growling but he really doesn’t want to get up because getting up means crutches and crutches means grinding his teeth and mentally screaming about how he could have easily just launched himself over the couch and into the kitchen within seconds just a couple days ago.

He glares at his offending foot and closes his eyes, ignoring the thirst, ignoring the hunger, ignoring the pulsing in his limb, and tries to just fade away into the noise of the TV.

But, in true Dick Grayson fashion, he quickly gets bored.

“Ugh.” He tosses the remote across the couch and opens his eyes slightly so he can glare at his crutches. He needs to do something. Never in his life has he ever felt the need to just do something. Cook. Shop. Hell, he wants to clean his entire apartment and that’s saying something.

Instead, he grabs his stupid crutches and gently rises himself with a simple destination in mind because doing much more will have his leg hurting more than it already is, and call him as irresponsible with his injuries as you want he does know how to take care of himself.

Most of the time...

He begins to hobble over to the kitchen with his eyes on the cupboard where he knows he has a small stash of coco-puffs. He thinks he has a little bit of milk left in the fridge but honestly water works just fine if he’s in a pinch. Yes, he knows that’s sacrilegious, but he needs to get his hands doing something, even if that’s tainting the holy ways of cereal just to get his hands moving.

‘Cause if his hands are moving, then his eyes aren’t trailing to the window where the sun is starting to set and crime is starting to rise. Nightwing can’t go out tonight. Blüdhaven can last a night or two before Dick whiddles down his pride enough to ask for help, right?

Man. He hates injuries. 

He’s halfway to the kitchen when something catches his attention: a knock at the door. Normally, he’s all for company, but right now his foot is pulsing and he wants a tainted bowl of cereal but now he has to turn and try not to trip over the random assortment of crap he has on the floor to get to his door. It’s probably nothing important. A solicitor who’s risking working a little later in the day. Do solicitors work evenings? He grew up in a mansion and before that a circus trailer, how should he know?

He should probably get one of those “No Solicitors” signs, he thinks when the knocking on the door repeats.

He sighs and slowly maneuvers his crutches around a discarded pair of boxers—how did that even get there?!—and makes his way over to the door. He leans on his good foot and painfully positions himself on the other side of the door so when he opens it it wont hit his crutch and trip him.

He opens the door a crack.

“Yeah?” He asks before he actually looks at his visitors. But when he does get a look at them, his eyes widen in shock.

“Good evening, Master Dick, I hope we are not a bother?” Alfred smiles and behind him, Cass waves and Tim shoves his phone in his pocket to smile while Bruce folds his arms across his chest and Damian matches his father and glares down at Dick’s foot.

Dick blinks stupidly. “I uh. What?” 

“Are you going to invite us in, dickhead?” Jason voice calls from the back and Dick finds himself releasing a shocked bubble of laughter. He didn’t notice Jason back there. 

What a strange sight this is to see, his entire family standing in the hallway of his cramped apartment complex. He swings the door open wider and Damian instantly ducks under his arm to claim his normal spot on the sofa. 

“What are all of you doing here?” Dick asks as Cass walks up to him and carefully wraps her hands around his shoulders to give him a quick hug.

Bruce pats his shoulder as he walks inside and Cass follows him and Alfred into his kitchen. Jason shrugs before he walks in.

“I’m only here for the free food- ouch!” Jason glares down at Tim who has just punched his arm. 

“We’re all just visiting,” Tim says nonchalantly before he and Jason—who’s angrily rubbing his arm—walk into the apartment.

Dick laughs and closes the door, hobbling to turn around and see his apartment full of some of the most important people in the world to him. This little apartment can hardly hold all of them. Tim is fighting with Damian about taking up the whole sofa while Jason perches on the windowsill and pulls out his phone. Cassandra is helping Alfred scavenge the kitchen for any kind of usable ingredients for Dick suspects dinner and Bruce opening a bag he had brought with him onto the table and carefully taking out various cans and produce that they must have already known Dick had no chance of having himself.

“Honestly, Master Dick, you need to go shopping,” Alfred tuts. 

“And you need to elevate that foot,” Bruce says, not looking up from his task. “Tim, get Dick to sit down.”

Tim stops his mini-wrestling contest with Damian and they both jump to their feet and rush over to him even though Damian wasn’t even asked to.

Dick soon finds himself being reluctantly lead to the center of the couch and sat down. Damian grabs his crutches and places them near the arms of the sofa and then effectively pins Dick down by curling up under his arm. Tim kicks some mess out of the way and then shoves the coffee table forward and places a throw pillow down onto the edge closes Tto Dick and points at it, lifting an eyebrow.

Dick rolls his eyes, but complies. Next thing he knows, Tim is inserting himself under Dick’s other arm and Dick ruffles his hair, extremely content despite still being extremely confused.

“How’d you guys find out I was hurt? Did Amy call you?”

“Your captain rang, yes,” Alfred affirmed as he gave the ingredients he had managed to scavenge a critical eye. “She worried you wouldn’t take care of yourself.”

Bruce steps back from the kitchen as Cass begins to shoo him out, smartly deciding that Bruce shouldn’t be anywhere in the kitchen while cooking is going on. “But we’re here because we want to be, chum.”

“What about Gotham?” Dick asks and behind him Jason snorts.

“There’s more heroes in Gotham besides us, stupid.”

Bruce hums and settles down on a chair he dragged with him from the kitchen. “Stephanie and Kate are taking up patrol tonight. Your friends Roy and Wally have agreed to make a round through the Haven. They’ll call us if anything happens. Don’t worry about it right now.”

Suddenly, Jason’s had is entering his field of vision and the pressure of a chest leaning against the back of his head appears as Jason reaches over three heads to snatch the remote before anyone else could. Tim squawks in protest and Damian jostles Dick’s side to try and make a mad grab for the device, but Jason effectively retreats a safe distance away and begins to open options on his tv he didn’t even know he had.

Dick’s TV has Netflix?

He hates technology.

“We’re not watching your stupid show, Todd!” Damian hisses, reluctantly sliding back onto Dick’s side. The action of Dami choosing to remain cuddled up to his eldest brother instead of hurtleling over the couch to duel for the remote to avoid some mystery show is apparently more important and it makes Dick’s heart swell. He leans over and gives Damian a sneaky kiss at the top of his head and Damian reacts predictably by crying out and swatting at Dick’s face.

“Shut up, short-stack. It’s a classic.”

“We should just watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine, we all like that,” Tim argues back and Jason snaps back that Dick’s TV does not, in fact, have Hulu. Which Dick supposes is a cause for sadness? He’s never heard of Hulu or Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Though, he’s sure whatever his brothers’ want to watch he’ll like it regardless.

Turns out, Jason’s “stupid” show is The Office. As the cold-open begins to play, Dick sighs in content, breathing in as the smell of sizzling bell peppers and meat reaches the living room. Another weight joins the couch as Cass lays herself down across Damian, Tim, and Dick, carefully avoiding jostling his leg in the process. Alfred announces that dinner will be ready in a little more than half an hour and Bruce begins to annoyingly critique the plot line of the show.

Dick sighs in content and closes his eyes.

“Do you want to watch something different, Dick?” Tim’s voice pipes up, mistaking his closed eyes as meaning he’s not enjoying the show. 

“Nah, I’m just enjoying Netflix-and-chill-ing with my family.”

“First of all,” Damian snarls from besides him, “cease using the phrase if you’re not going to learn what it means. Second of all, no one says that anymore.”

“Yeah, cuz it’s Disney+ and Chill now,” Jason adds helpfully as Tim cries out in distress. 

Cass begins to draw patterns on Dick’s knee with her finger and Bruce begins to demand what that phrase means while Alfred tut-tuts that Damian is too young to know what that means because of course Alfred knew it. The show falls to the background and Dick doesn’t close his eyes, just smiles and watches as his family begins to bicker and banter.

His cure for his boredom found. Everything will be fine, because he has his family to watch his back without him even having to ask.

[minblush]

k-armys are spreading a tweet namjoon made in 2013 about korean independence where he says 'There is no future for people who have forgotten history' which shows he probably won't agree with working with a japanese imperialist, hopefully he still has this attitude in 2018 twitter(.)com/BTS_twt/status/367906282012831744

yeah i have seen them doing that ;; and fancafe and all the official tweets since then have been flooded with people talking about these things too, but bighit is playing dead fish so far :(

microwavehater said:Am i the only one who never believed that bts has ~creative freedom~ (anymore) ? If they (still) had, they’d use their influence to spread msgs like baepsae, not just love urself uwu (considering yoongi made political pre-debut releases &interview stuff) Also, their newer releases (LY her onwards) are v much lacking in the hiphop department which (i assume) was a marketing choice. Hiphop just doesn’t sell as well to a female audience (along w the fact that vocalists are the face of BTS).

i think they still have creative input but creative freedom definitely not, but it’s debatable if they ever had it anyway? idk.. and them moving on from hip-hop was definitely both trying to change things up as well as appeal to a broader audience, love yourself era overall was an attempt to basically touch as many people as possible, i don’t mind them changing their musical direction but what has bothered me was the loss of their involvement (because it is less)

Anonymous said:I totally agree with you about BTS losing their originality. I’m almost starting to get annoyed of them. Now bc they know people love their music for its topics such as mental health, etc I almost feel like they’re thinking that they’re obliged to constantly write music that only has a “social” message. I did not like Idol at all. It was pretty tacky and the idea of loving yourself seemed so forced in the lyrics. I want them to make songs about whatever they want at that moment. (1/?)

Anonymous said:Also every fan keeps saying the same thing about them being unfiltered when actually they’ve become SO filtered now. They’ve almost created this illusion of being super open with us when actually we barely know anything about them. I don’t mind that but I hate how they’re touting that as something that applies to them. Honestly most fans now are the bandwagon type and the fandom is starting to feel more like a cult versus a community like it used to. (2/2)

i don’t know if i ever talked about them losing their originality? because originality is debatable in this case too, if you mean their original intention then yes i agree with that, and i agree they definitely created the illusion, once i got out of the bts bubble a bit and also thought back to the old days, i realized how closed off and filtered everything is comparison to the past and even to other kpop groups nowadays that are way more direct, i feel like even exo is more outspoken these days and direct with their fans which i thought could never happen??? i used to stan them and it was hell hah.. and these days.. wowza..

Anonymous said:Fuck yesss we need new yoongi mixtape and i agree abt what you said i wish bts could read that and be like okay guys i think they are right we have done some questionable things and shit has to be addressed whether we like it or not and just fucking do so. Some fans will drop but some would drop anyway bc it is getting out of hand i would never want to call bts problematic bc shit i cannot imagine that being true but them supporting problematic people is kind of making them ones

i just feel like nothing will change because bang pd is too greedy.. he really is eyeing like building a global empire with all the business deals he has been making.. also bts have done plenty “problematic” things themselves, though not to that extent, but some of their actions have hurt a lot of people too, but it depends on what bothers you, i find colorism and things like that a problem, but ofc definitely different thing than pedophilia and such, i just meant to say that nobody is perfect

Anonymous said:Do you ever just wanna randomly bump into bts and be like “hey lets talk!” And then tell them about all these issues and fandom drama and just tell them to wake the hell up? Cos I do haha

well even if we bumped into them, most of them wouldn’t talk to you so dkajsdka

Anonymous said:i agree with everything you have said but what bothers me is he is a co produce of produce 48 and nobody really complained about it even though he is know for sexualizing minors... or did i miss something?? also i feel sorry for you getting hate you were just saying your opinion and people should start to accept some facts! it's not the first time bighit did something questionable ://

oh but actually when that was announced there was backlash? i remember seeing complaints about the producer as well as some of the trainees due to their supposed right wing associations, there were also complaints about women’s rights cause of the oversexualization of some of the girls back in japan and the producer’s lyrics, i think this backlash seems bigger or more visible to you because it’s happening in your fandom ;; that season of produce even ended up having the lowest rankings and voting participation so :/

Anonymous said:I have three words to describe the part of the fandom that blindly accepts all the things, even the problematic ones, BTS do. 'Situationally woke cult'.

that fits perfectly

Anonymous said:i rly appreciate sou voicing your thoughts even if they r not in essay form or refined for days. I agree with you on many things but at the same time it's not as disappointing to me bc I guess I never held them to high standards. like in the beginning I could kinda imagine that they were somewhat sincere (but still remained sceptical) but the more they got famous the more I accepted that that sincerity and authenticity would stop bc that's just the kind of business that kpop is... (♤)

Anonymous said:like it's an inherently dishonest industry. they sell an image just like everyone else, and at best(!!) they were as real as possible with us in the beginning. no doubt they wanted to be different from everyone else and it was easier as long as not that many people gave a fuck about them. but as soon as they started to this chance was over. so i guess what I'm saying is that my view didn't change and I'm not surprised, because I never really bought what they were trying to sell...(♤)

Anonymous said:I still love them, theyre likeable & adorable boys. but theyre not changing the world. they're not in the right kind of industry for that. they love their luxury expensive stuff & the glamour of it all & that's okay. I just take every concept the whip out w/ a grain of salt & a knowing smile & enjoy the entertainment. that's just my own two cents that nobody in the fandom wants to hear so I'm bothering u. & its not an analysis or anything just what is on top of my mind while watching TV lol (♤)

Anonymous said:(♤) oh ps. except for that whole controversial stuff with that misogynist jpn songwriter and supreme boy and what not. I take that seriously , I wont act as if that's just a cute quirk. but they're men so I didn't expect much lmaoo. I knew that those kind of disappointments are just part of the deal ever since I learned that jimin (a whole cutie pie and my ultimate bias) stans chris brown. definitely would kick jm in the shin for that if I ever got to meet him. at least keep it to yourself lol.

haha i wish you didn’t start this with a backhanded compliment but dkajsd yeah overall i see your point and agree... i understand like if you didn’t buy into that whole spiel, then of course you can just keep on going and stanning them as idols and all that comes with that, but many people and me included sincerely thought that they were different, i have stopped stanning kpop groups for a while and got drawn back in with bts because i felt they were so fresh and unique, genuine and open with fans in comparison to other groups i have stanned.. but ofc that image crumbled as time went on.. things have changed as well... and i agree, it’s fine to enjoy it for just the entertainment and like the boys as people, accepting they are just as any other idol.. and maybe i will continue with that perspective myself!! but i honestly find it difficult having believed in it and also bighit continually selling this image to their fans despite evidence of the contrary, i can deal with idol business but like continually being blatantly lied to and then being in a fandom where most of the rhetoric is build around blindly believing it and eating anything the boys and bighit sells? it’s honestly emotionally exhausting sometimes.. but yeah.. you’re honestly right.. even with the last point lol... they are men, and korean men at that sigh.. that’s why i’m burying myself in girl groups nowadays adkjsd to heal my soul

Anonymous said:Hope you have a wonderful day filled with only good things ❤ - the cutest person in the world

thank you so so so so much! you have a wonderful day too ♥ cutie

Anonymous said:simple question, not loaded at all, no wrong answer, the honest answer is the right answer- yaddah yaddah you get it -what do you think bangtan is lying about and what exactly are you saying overall? i just need the language simplified for my 3 braincells :) if i do get what you're saying - whether the actual members of bts are real or not, their message is. "dont let anyone tell you what to do" "live your own life and not a borrowed dream" "life is a marathon, not a race - go your own pace"etc

you can read this post as well as the tags to it to see some of the examples, i mean i have been saying lots of things so i don’t know what exactly you want me to clarify? i think their message is compromised when their actions contradict it, whether it’s their actions or bighit’s is up to debate, like i was talking about in the post though, you can’t have things both ways, can’t hail the boys as woke independent kings while propagating the idea that they are just the company’s pawns at the same time, if you accept their authenticity isn’t there then ofc it’s a different argument, and the things you have listed there may be true, but isn’t is soured knowing they are just things that are said in order to sell bangtan as a product to you? to me they are

Anonymous said:I'm not gonna disagree but I like to see all the sides of a story. Bang pd is their boss, bts made a contract with him, he will ALWAYS have the last word on, well, everything they put out. We like to think that bc bts has creative freedom they can do whatever they want, well obviously they can't. Even if bts wanted to talk more about issues and not work w bad ppl, bang pd wants them to succeed, he wants to make money bc it's his business and bts is the only thing bringing money to it.

i get this argument a lot and to that i will answer again this and this, i don’t understand what your point is exactly though, so you are saying bts are pawns that have to do as they ceo says, yes and? i am criticizing the decision he has made? i’m criticizing that what he cares about the most is money? that he will stop at nothing to widen his wealth and influence? i will not support bts cooperating with vile people just because it wasn’t -completely their decision-, i’m sorry i’m really struggling to see what your point is about the other side of the story, it’s a shitty situation and if they all go through with it, it be greatly disappointing

[nickyschneiderus]

Just say no to viral ‘copaganda’ videos

If you are Facebook friends with conservative family members or co-workers, you’ve probably seen it in your feeds: Videos, photos, and news clips of police officers dancing, praying, or handing out free food. Just last week, a video of cops lip-syncing to “Uptown Funk,” while grooving through their station, went viral. While this all might seem like harmless fun, the internet has a word for this kind of media: copaganda.

Not that it doesn’t make sense for police to film and promote videos like this. In the era of Black Lives Matter and body cameras, law enforcement is understandably looking for a PR bump. What is less understandable is why every one of these videos is picked up by news outlets large and small, then spread across social media like wildfire.

In recent days, police officers, like the ones in Norfolk jamming to Bruno Mars, have been making videos and releasing them online as part of a nationwide “lip-sync challenge.” As challenges are wont to do, this one made the Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube rounds. Some garnered so many views that the New York Times felt the need to run an article about the contest. The “Uptown Funk” video, with hundreds of thousands of views, is so popular, it has been shared by numerous major media companies.

While the challenge was going viral, another headline was being made: Chicago officers had shot a Black man, Harith Augustus, in the back, sparking a wave of protests in the city. While the timing of the two stories was a coincidence, the making of these videos was not unintentional. They are carefully planned propaganda made to get at least as much media coverage as the bad stuff does.

Police officers have admitted as much. To quote the Times: “‘It is allowing the country to see us in another way,’ said Corporal William Pickering, a public information officer with the Norfolk Police Department, which created the ‘Uptown Funk’ video. ‘We aren’t all robots.’”

And it worked. Again, from the Times:

“The video from the Norfolk Police took off online after it was released on July 9. More than 191,000 people commented on the department’s Facebook page, most of the remarks supportive. The actress Sharon Stone gave the department a shoutout on Twitter. Fans sent the officers cheesecake. And the stars of the video held a meet-and-greet, giving the first 100 people to arrive a signed photograph.”

Lip-sync challenges aside, national news outlets run copaganda all the time. BuzzFeed has pushed out “This abandoned dog was adopted by an entire police association.” At CBS, you can find “Police officers and K9s join boy with tumor to pray before his brain surgery.” And over at Fox News, there’s the hard-hitting journalism “Police officers help out 9-year-old’s lemonade stand after he was robbed.”

It’s hard to understand why national outlets find content like this to be newsworthy. People, even businesses, adopt rescue dogs every day; lemonade stands unfortunately get robbed. These acts, while kind, are not remarkable. Meanwhile, local papers are folding incessantly and big city papers announce new billionaire owners who then announce massive layoffs with enough regularity to make any professional writer suspicious of an Illuminati conspiracy. And yet it seems that outlets of every size have the bandwidth to do PR for the police.

Why do media companies do it?

Working in digital media, we understand that feel-good stories get clicks. The Daily Dot covers our fair share of “actor in Marvel movie visits hospital” stories. And to a certain aging (white, conservative) segment of the Facebook population, police and the military are a version of movie stars and superheroes. The clicks are there. While an outlet like Fox News has an ideological motivation, BuzzFeed is likely just covering these videos because they know they drive traffic.

However, while an article about Robert Downey Jr. visiting a child dying of leukemia doesn’t have an impact on the public perception of criminal justice, copaganda does. If a disproportionate number of articles about the police engaging in “random” acts of kindness pop up in your feed, while stories about police corruption or abuse are suppressed or go uncovered completely, the public perception of the police eventually looks far different than the reality.

If the only image you ever see of cops is them lip-syncing to Bruno Mars, that’s going to affect the way you view the next story you see about police shooting an unarmed Black person.

The police are winning this PR battle and they are using it to fight against the gains of activist groups. Blue Lives Matter bumper stickers and flags are adorning cars and hanging from houses across the country. The energy behind this ill-named movement has led to the introduction of “Blue Lives Matter bills” on a local and national level. These bills criminalize protest and exacerbate the very racial inequalities that the Movement for Black Lives is trying to fight in the first place.

The Protect and Serve Act, which made it to the floor of the House of Representatives in May, is a perfect example of just how pernicious these bills can be. The legislation would functionally make police officers a protected class, rendering charges like “assaulting an officer” hate crimes. As we’ve seen across the country, protesters are often saddled with trumped-up charges; many fear a bill like this would functionally criminalize protest.

In a piece about these laws—which have already been passed by several states—the Intercept’s Natasha Lennard explains its larger implications:

“By explicitly modeling their bill on existing hate crimes statutes, the Senate has denigrated the very notion of persecution. Treating cops as a persecuted minority equates a uniform—which you can take off—with skin color, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. And as the Blue Lives Matter bills�� sobriquet suggests, this legislation is a direct a response to anger over the actual—if not quite legally defined—hate crimes against black people, perpetrated by those in blue.”

At first glance, it might feel like a stretch to argue that videos of police officers breakdancing lead to legislation like this, but proposed bills are made and broken in the court of public opinion. If law enforcement officials are presented to the public as the smiling faces behind viral memes and lip-sync battles while their victims are described as “thugs,” “demons,” and monsters, then the media is doing the work of right-wing reactionaries for them.

The police officer said it to the New York Times: These videos are meant to encourage the public to see law enforcement in “another way.” This means that they are meant to shift the conversation away from police brutality and deny the grievances of its victims.

Copaganda is by no means a new phenomenon. In 2016, media critic Adam Johnson outlined the eight most popular types of copaganda in media. While he discussed issues like “pinkwashing” (playing up the LGBTQ friendliness of the police force) and the smearing of victims of police violence, two of the items he mentioned, “saving kittens” stories and “Christmas gift surprise” stunts, are age-old versions of what we’re seeing today.

Copaganda is so old, you can find it in Nick at Night reruns. The media has been regurgitating police PR since the days of Andy Griffith, and now in the era of Brooklyn 99, it is just being used more often and more effectively.

What are we going to do about copaganda? It’s not necessarily practical to burst the bubble of your Blue Lives-loving grandmother the next time she shares a video of “Cop Pool Karaoke” (we regret to inform you we didn’t make that up), but one step we can take is actively recognizing that these videos don’t exist in a vacuum.

These videos are part of a carefully orchestrated PR campaign, and like any branded content, you can choose not to click on it or hide it from your feed.

from Ricky Schneiderus Curation https://www.dailydot.com/irl/cop-viral-videos/

[comicteaparty]

August 3rd, 2017 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party chat that occurred on August 3rd, 2017, from 5PM - 7PM PDT.  The chat focused on The Cat, the Vine and the Victory by wnqs.

Featured Comment:

Chat:

RebelVampire

Good day everyone~! This week’s Comic Tea Party is now officially beginning. Today we are discussing The Cat, the Vine and the Victory by wnqs~! (https://tapas.io/series/The-Cat-The-Vine-and-The-Victory) For those new to CTP, discussions about the comic are freeform, so please feel free to bring up whatever you wish. However, every 30 minutes I will be dropping in a discussion question to help those who would like a prompt. These questions are totally OPTIONAL to answer so pay them no mind if you wish~! Remember, constructive criticism is allowed, but the primary focus here is to have fun and appreciate the amazing comics that the community makes~! Each chat a top comment will be picked and featured on an ad for this chat, so let’s have a great discussion~! With that said, let us begin with this first question~!

QUESTION 1. What is your favorite scene in the comic so far and why?

wnqs

Woot!

RebelVampire

lets see lets see thinks cause im never prepared for this question

wnqs

Do I answer it, too? :P

RebelVampire

youre welcome to if you want ;3; i wont stop you. and i know there are people here who enjoy getting the creators perspective too

wnqs

heh...I gotta think about this one, too :-=

RebelVampire

well of more recent scenes i really enjoyed the cat and sugar comforting vine and telling him nah bro, you are a guardian its okay bud. i thought that was really sweet and it was really nice to see vine legitimately upset by something like that.

mathtans

I'm here! Shipping Mysa and Tarow so haaaaaaaaaard.

RebelVampire

yes ;3; i loved Tarow dramatically switching to being like "omg she is my princess" the expressions are priceless ;3;

mathtans

Got through five chapters. I think my fave scene is still when Enne first hears who Victory is from the announcement, and he gets that LOOK, and then you're all OMG what's he gonna do and it's not what I thought.

wnqs

The Mysa/Tarow dynamic is a lot of fun to draw and explore ^_^

RebelVampire

yeah i liked enne's expressions when he first finds out the truth. they were kind of unsettling considering he was so nice

nice boy enne

wnqs

RebelVamp: Vine's probably one of the least developed characters from a reader's viewpoint up until these pages (which is on purpose).

mathtans

I'm so freaking impressed by the output by the way, like, so much comic and relatievely little time.

wnqs

mathtans: Enne had a lot of conflicting thoughts back then.

mathtans

I like how Vine's the Guardian, who in most cases is the old wise mentor type, but he's the comic relief. He's still "Vine The Loon" to me.

True, true. Enne's been through a lot. I wonder, with the chalkboard, was that always planned or just a decision that he needed more of a voice?

wnqs

mathtans: I draw so much because they keep doing stuff in my head and I have to put it on paper...Mysa is especially difficult to rein in....She just does her own thing...

Yeah, Vine's still comedy central for the most part :P

mathtans

That's awesome, that they're so alive in head. I can see that for Mysa. Gotta be careful she doesn't draw her own comic or something.

RebelVampire

if mysa drew her own comic itd probably just be about her and tarow having some princess knight fantasy

and vine will be toad telling tarow her princess is in another castle

wnqs

The chalkboard was planned to give him a voice, but he will never have 'thought' bubbles in the series. So if he can't write something down, he gestures.

ahahaha! Mysa would totally do that...

mathtans

Ooh, that's an interesting choice. I remember thinking about thought bubbles when I saw some for Victory in a scene with them. Yeah, the gesturing and actions with the stars works for me. He still feels dynamic. And tall.

wnqs

Enne is tall, but Tarow is taller than Enne by an inch or two.

mathtans

I liked when Enne was called the "walking undead" or whatever. Hee.

RebelVampire

yeah i really like the gestures cause i think it captures some of his personal struggles with communication even tho he has the chalkboard

mathtans

Actually, I liked all the nickanmes. I'm so bad with names.

wnqs

Ah, yes...Maltor being rude about him and everyone:-=

mathtans

Maltor, yes, that's the guy! ^^ (So bad with names!) Poor guy, he's been through a lot too. Though Mysa fired back.

Rebel: Good point about the communication struggles.

wnqs

Maltor is kind of an ass, don't feel too sorry for him :P

RebelVampire

i actually really like maltor tbh. like i appreciate his gritty realism compared to everyone else cause it brings a lot of balance to the group. since the others didnt even think about setting up a watch. so despite it all maltor is a good guy keeping everyone breathing.

wnqs

RebelVamp: I like him too, since he's based off my brother (shh)....

mathtans

I can't help it, like the bit where he's all 'these idiots have undone years of training', it's just, how the mighty have fallen. He's cool that he keeps going along with it.

Yeah, balance.

Every group needs a sort of jerk character. ^^

wnqs

Maltor knows quite a bit about what's going on because of his relationship with Mysa's dad.

So, he's just rolling with it right now.

mathtans

Cool, cool. (I think I'm not quite there yet, they just met the dad.) Looking forward to it.

RebelVampire

ah youre missing out on a lot still math. although i dont think youll be disappointed

mathtans

I'm a slooow reader. I can't binge, I need processing time between chapters. Are the other elements all revealed already, or is that speculation? (Like, infinity power? I wonder about that one.)

RebelVampire

noelle reveals what her element is and the earth guardian makes an appearance

wnqs

Not everything's revealed, so no worries!

mathtans

Coolness. (What about kitty? Kitty is suspicious. Is kitty fire?)

Pardon me if I speculate on stuff that's already well known.

wnqs

mathtans: Kitty is fire

RebelVampire

how dare you accuse kitty of being suspicious. kitty is precious, kitty is life.

wnqs

Kitty is uber suspicious

mathtans

Pffft. One can be precious and life and still suspicious.

Hee.

RebelVampire

well if the cat is like "lets go take over the world" im joining the cat. just so its out in the open.

mathtans

I'm only doing it if there's Mysa/Tarow ship involved. I know, I know, I'm so one note, but they're cute together, more than my usual yuri amusements.

wnqs

Cats just need thumbs. If they had thumbs, they'd be our overlords

mathtans

Speaking of evolution, basing a society on evolution from dragons, damn, that's so unique.

Is Mysa a Japanese Ryuu?

RebelVampire

i really like the individual details to their horns and tails. like if you look at the tails they have have unique sort of shapes at the end and idk, it just gives them all this unique characteristic.

wnqs

I love dragons and I was always disappointed as a kid when something had "dragon" in the title, but had nothing to do with dragons

RebelVampire

ah man i know those feels. or the other feels when something has the dragons it promised but they appear for 5 seconds and then its like "whoops they are late for the dentist"

QUESTION 2. For some reason, Victory is able to use the power of the guardians to cause both miracles and great destruction. Why do you think she’s able to do this? Is she some chosen one or was it happenstance? Relatedly, what do you think happened in Narrot all those years ago that caused Victory to destroy it?

wnqs

Mysa does have similar characteristics to a Ryuu, but for the most part, the evolution part of their species is similar to ours with apes.

mathtans

So interesting.

I'm having to think about that question. Every time I come up with a theory, I'm like, wait, there's a contradiction.

wnqs

I always thought of Mysa's horns being kinda like a reindeer's since her dad has stag horns

mathtans

Like, if she was related to the dragon, why would it kill her? Hmmmm.

wnqs

mathtans: ....

mathtans

Mysa's a Rein-Dear!

wnqs

ahahaha!

mathtans

I mean the big dragon, not just any dragon, waaaagh, I'm so bad with names.

wnqs

I know you meant the main dragon ^_~

I cannot comment on your theory because spoilers :-=

RebelVampire

of course. you get to listen to me and math speculate and you can mislead if youd like

wnqs

I could, but that seems mean :P

mathtans

Okay, uhm, uhm... Victory is, ahhh, she's the daughter of two Guardians, how 'bout that.

Eh, I'm fine with "no comment" as an answer.

RebelVampire

for me where i get torn on theories is whether its a chosen one thing or happenstance. albeit with the latter i like picturing the cat showing up, dropping the talisman and then victory absorbing it. and then the cat is like "well crap this is my life now."

wnqs

mathtans: no, she isn't the daughter of two Guardians, although that's a cool idea!

mathtans

As to what happened in Narrot, I think she somehow absorbed the fire talisman. Like, saw it on the ground or something. That's why she can belch fire, and why the kitty's stayed with her all this time.

Rebel, so yeah, pretty much on the same wavelength as me.

wnqs

RebelVamp and mathtans: both theories about the first talisman are pretty close

mathtans

You've gotta be careful denying ideas or when we get to one you don't deny I'll think I'm right.

OOH! What if Victory herself is a talisman? Like, that somehow gained sentience, and can absorb the others?

RebelVampire

yeah i think at the end she wouldve had to absorb the fire talisman or something related to it. its just a question if thats what caused the explosion or w/e happened. or if the explosion was a later cause someone freaked victory out. since her fire is triggered by her fear usually.

wnqs

No, Victory isn't a talisman, but it's another fun theory! :D

mathtans

I feel like Victory wasn't solely responsible. Either she was surprised, or attacked or something.

wnqs

Narrot's going to be explained in the next chapter (9), but they need to do some shopping, first, and learn more about the Guardians

mathtans

Actually, the people who end up working for Dragon, from Enne to the others, they all had tradgedy befall them... I think someone maniuplated them to end up working for Dragon. Someone set Victory up the bomb.

Mysa shopping, oh dear.

wnqs

Sir, we get signal

mathtans

That reminds me, the pillowcase aside thing was funny. ^^ There's a reason I never have my characters change clothes.

wnqs

Now I have that song stuck in my head...

RebelVampire

math did it. evil plans completed.

mathtans

Also, seems like a few pages have been randomly coloured? Was there a pattern for it, or just a had the time thing?

wnqs

I've gotten a bit better at drawing clothes :-=

mathtans

Oops, sorry.

Like anything I imagine it comes with time.

RebelVampire

i like you say better but ive always liked their outfit designs. like theyre that right mix of details but not overly complicated

wnqs

Going back to the talismans, there's always been a reaction when Victory touches them, but the water and earth ones aren't destructive powers, so nothing happened

That's because I have trouble drawing clothes with too much detail ^_^'

mathtans

Yeah, no, it works though, I don't tend to notice tons of detail.

Ahh, play with fire, you get burned. Or get everyone else burned.

wnqs

mathtans: randomly coloured pages are due to time restraints. It takes me a long time to colour pages and I've been going back and colourizing some B/W ones

RebelVampire

ooooh. i like color. albeit B/W is goo too and i really like your B/W

mathtans

I hear that. I'm still impressed at how fast you get content out.

wnqs

I pictured the disaster in Narrot similar to Pompeii

mathtans

Yeah, the being inside a forge thing made sense as the only way to make it. (Which makes kitty more suspicious!)

wnqs

I like colouring because I know what they look like in my mind, but that's hard for readers when everything's in black and white

mathtans

I'm usually fine with artists who just do some colour on cover pages, but I've seen it elsewhere too. It's nice, but not necessary by any means.

wnqs

I had a fun discussion with my farrier about if a child could fit into a forge and how well it would protect them

RebelVampire

ooh thats some detailed research then

mathtans

It didn't feel... forged.

wnqs

:P

RebelVampire

hmm well considering the guardians seem to be hiding their talismans maybe the cat was like "ill hide it in this child (ie victory) fool proof plan who would look in a child."

mathtans

"I shall put it in her sandwich."

wnqs

LOL :P

I don't think the cat ever thought about hiding it. He's not afraid of anything.

mathtans

Okay! So, Victory was born under a full moon during the harvest month when the talismen were in alignment in a star pattern around her. Something like that.

wnqs

I love these theories! :D

The cat is rather complacent, though...

mathtans

I'm glad, since I enjoy theorizing. ^^

RebelVampire

XD i should not have rewatched girlchan in paradise the other day cause now i can hear anime like voices explaining that XD

wnqs

:P I love it when animes do that, like how Gunbuster had the chibi forms of the main characters explaining the science behind each episode

mathtans

Speaking of chibis, Tarow seems to have this cute form she morphs into sometimes. Too adorbs.

OH, the Sakura gag in the Q&A was hilarious.

New theory! Victory is actually the essence of the Dragon God. The actual Dragon totes forgot he expunged all his goodness, and left it in a vial somewhere, and it became Victory. So named because she can defeat her evil half, once she levels up.

RebelVampire

i liked the Q&A question about the transformers because of the picture of vine riding on grimlock

wnqs

The questions for the Q&A were a blast to answer :D The Transformers one hit a soft spot in my heart since I grew up watching it ^_^

mathtans: another well thought out idea! Now I'm thinking a Scott Pilgrim kinda Nega-Victory situtation :P

RebelVampire

QUESTION 3. Something happened in the past that caused the guardians to abandon the Seven-faced god. What do you think happened between everyone back then? Speaking of which, what exactly is Noelle’s goal? Does this have anything to do with the reason everyone abandoned the Seven-faced god?

mathtans

Oooh, I wanna see Tarow defeat Mysa's evil ex-es.

It was probably a family reunion back then. Those never go well.

wnqs

I believe she'd obliterate them :-=

RebelVampire

Tarow could probably defeat the evil ex-es in a day. Unless one of them was Tagh which would be really funny.

mathtans

Hee!

wnqs

How many loonies and twonies would Tagh be worth, I wonder..

mathtans

Noelle's goal just seems to be as mean as possible towards Malt-man. Not sure what the goal was before him... doesn't seem to have abandoned like the others though.

thinks Maybe he wouldn't let them play with their talismans any more.

So they took their toys and went home.

RebelVampire

"Malt-man" OMG

mathtans

Or maybe there was a prophecy... there's often a prophecy...

I am so bad with names.

RebelVampire

no i like it

i accept this name

noelle's goals at the very least i dont think line up with tagh's. since noelle is trying to just get out from tagh's oversight

mathtans

He did have nicknames for the others.

I don't think they line up, but they're not at cross purposes, or at least not yet.

RebelVampire

im going to go with the occam's razor theory that tagh was good, then went power hungry and was like "rawr i am powerful cool dragon." and then most everyone was like "welp see you"

wnqs

Noelle and Malt-man HATE each other :P

More on their relationship is also to come

mathtans

Oh no, I got you doing it.

wnqs

I like Malt-man, it works better than Malt-chan :-=

RebelVampire

but part of me wonders if noelle had something to do with everything. maybe noelle was like "man you know whatd be great? more power. lets corrupt the seven-faced god. thats fun."

well

i now have imagery in my head of maltor in a girl's school uni cause of malt-chan(edited)

cannot unsee that

mathtans

thinks Maybe it was just having all the talismans together in one place for too long was a corrupting influence. Which may bode badly for Victory.

wnqs

RebelVamp: ooooh....some of that's pretty darn close...not power hungry, though,

mathtans

Tarow lends Malt-man her clothes. ^.^

"Disguise!"

wnqs

Noelle is playing a long-term game. She did something to cause all of this, yes.

mathtans

Noelle is Victory's mom!

wnqs

NO! :P

mathtans

....dad?

wnqs

no ^_^'

mathtans

Second cousin once removed?

RebelVampire

long lost cousin twice removed?

wnqs

:P Pet dog in a past life?

mathtans

I'm glad you went with a cat over a dog, I prefer the kittehs.

Actually, is the name Noelle significant? Or Vine?

wnqs

I think only a cat can really embody the kind of aloofness needed for this story

mathtans

Truth.

wnqs

Noelle because she's white....are you disappointed? :--

Vine Garoon means "whip scorpion"

mathtans

Nope! Tough to disappoint me.

Oh wow, that's such a cool name, in what language?

(I still can't unsee 'Vine The Loon' from Mysa though.)

wnqs

http://www.torontozoo.com/ExploretheZoo/AnimalDetails.asp?pg=452

mathtans

That's legitimately terrifying.

RebelVampire

im glad that vine is more adorable, less scorpion shivers and looks around paranoidly for scorpions on the wall

mathtans

Nodnodnodnodnodnodnodnod.

Also, wow, are you from Toronto?

wnqs

Ahem...at the age of 15 I literally flipped through the dictionary and I stopped on the page that said "Vinegaroon"...and I saw the comedic possibilities for that name

No, Alberta :P, but in BC right now

mathtans

You were writing from a young age, nice.

Okay. Just curious since I grew up in that area. (Elsewhere in Ontario now.)

wnqs

I was born in Ottawa and we moved out west

mathtans

Pfffft, and guess where I am now. Anyhue.

wnqs

Are you in....Florida? :-=

oh, wait, you said Ontario

mathtans

I like to think I'm not a scary person.

Not that eveyrone in Florida is scary, but I hear stories.

wnqs

Florida is scary

RebelVampire

everyone knows the tales of florida man

wnqs

and hot. I would melt.

mathtans

Oh, setting! Setting of the comic. It's sort of medieval.

With the knights and swords and all. Do they have legends like us, of Robin Hood and the like?

wnqs

Yes, pre-industrialized.

RebelVampire

well the seven-faced god stuff in itself is kind of a legend. since i mean theres even text mistranslations. its just a true legend sort of

mathtans

Or the Romans? I dunno, I'm wondering about history now.

Rebel: Truth.

wnqs

The knight/princess stuff is more Tarow's fetish , but there is a hiearchy ^_^'

mathtans

Sudden distraction...

wnqs

The plot's been so complicated that I've only briefly touched on society

mathtans

Actually, Mysa was pretty cavalier about the whole thing. I guess yuri's not a weird element for them.

RebelVampire

hey to be fair, i think the knight/princess stuff is also kind of Mysa's fetish XD

wnqs

They'll have to go into town now, so more of how society actually functions will be explored

mathtans

And I don't think society necessarily needs to be touched on, I haven't noticed the absence or anything, just started musing here.

Oh, neat.

Shipping Mysa/Tarow soooooo haaaaaaaaard.

wnqs

Rebelvamp: heh, this is true! :D

mathtans

I mean, Victory/Enne is nice too.

RebelVampire

yeah i think the story is presented in a way im not dying for world knowledge which is a good thing. i mean id definitely like to know more about the world. im just not distracted by the fact theres lots of mysteries

wnqs

Relationships in this world are more open to being varied, and Mysa knows what she wants...

RebelVampire

i liked that one pose victory did that made enne flustered but idk if you got to that part math O_O

mathtans

whispers ...so hard...

wnqs

ahahahaha!

sexy dragon

mathtans

I don't know either? There was the bit where she thought Mysa was coming up and it was actually Enne, and he's coughing, that was nice.

RebelVampire

QUESTION 4. Enne, though fairly nice and pleasant, is plagued by the events of Narrot. Despite growing attached to Victory, Enne remains a bit torn on what occurred in the past. What do you think will ultimately happen in regards to Enne’s feelings? What will Enne’s role be later on in the story considering he’s been trained as a swordsmith?

wnqs

Super embarassing for them both at that moment...at least he can make some noises..

RebelVampire

ok no the moment of im thinking of is chapter 6

wnqs

Question 4 has some things answered when they get to town in Chap 9! :D

mathtans

ok, I'll see it after then.

RebelVampire

found it way faster than i thought i would

so many answers coming up

wnqs

Chapter 6 got way out of control for page numbers....^_^;

mathtans

(I only just started 6 earlier today)

RebelVampire

https://tapas.io/episode/494287

thats the page in specific its not really spoilery so its safe

wnqs

That's what I call her sexy-velociraptor pose

There's so much stuff coming up @_@

RebelVampire

thats exciting tho >v>

mathtans

Hahhahah, nice.

RebelVampire

my dream is enne forgets all about revenge and they all go live happily ever after. and enne makes the most badass sword in history

mathtans

Yeah, I see Enne having to make a decision about Victory versus maybe killing someone else and having to do the latter. It'll be tragic.

Also, there's that sword they got out of burned town, that's gotta factor in too, if it hasn't already.

wnqs

mathtans: yeah..the god-slayer sword...

mathtans

I wonder how Enne got hooked up with the Dragon crew anyway?

Right, that one. Which can only be wielded by gods and slayers.

wnqs

mathtans: boys gotta eat and earn a living, and his skills were very useful

mathtans

I was still thinking about Victory so my mind went to the wrong places on "his skills". >.<

wnqs

RebelVamp: or he just needs to fix a badass sword...

RebelVampire

yeah i wondered how he wound up with the dragon crew but at the end i assume its just he had nowhere else to go really. needed that roof over his head.

wnqs

mathtans: ahahahaha...he's good with his hands, I'm sure

mathtans

Yeah, does make sense.

RebelVampire

i hope we get to see the badass sword they already have again. cause they really went out of their way to get that thing.

mathtans

Was Enne's scar explained? Like, he didn't get that from the town burning, did he?

wnqs

Enne's scar is from when the town was destroyed. He was injured and couldn't speak afterwards

mathtans

Oh, okay, I was trying to remember if it might have been later. If he had a nemesis or something. rejects theory

RebelVampire

maybe enne does have a nemesis anyway

hunger is his nemesis

mathtans

As to using swords, we've seen a chimera, presumably there's other monsters out there for target practice.

wnqs

Enne's base story is fairly straight forward: Town was destroyed when he was 10, he was injured and can no longer talk, but has his mother's skills as a swordsmith and worked at the mountain after Yababa healed him to make a living. He was repairing swords and metal digging tools

mathtans

Bet Victory can't wait to see his... sword skills.

wnqs

PFFFT!!! RIGHT WHEN I TOOK A SWIG OF WATER!!!

wiping off laptop....again

RebelVampire

rip laptop

i wonder how much hes been able to interact with other ppl. or if ppl were like "hey boy i need this repaired and this" and then enne nodded and nobody spoke ever again

mathtans

Btw, was nice that Maltor didn't try to involve Yababa in things. Helped to show cleverness too.

wnqs

I think his conversations were limited to head nods/shakes.

mathtans

Possible raising of the middle finger?

wnqs

Maltor's got a lot of pride in his line of work, even if he's a merc, and won't involve innocents if possible.

RebelVampire

see good guy maltor

mathtans

There's a whole family pride and history thing there.

wnqs

I'm sure life on the road is so much better than life was at the mountain.

mathtans

What with not getting paid and all.

wnqs

Yet another thing that will be talked about, Maltor and Tarow's family. Guess which town they're from originally? I believe Tarow started to say it in chapter two before being hushed by Maltor

mathtans

The town of Florida?

wnqs

Maltor's not out of money. I won't say where he's been getting funds from if you haven't read past chapter 6

mathtans

Oooh, more to look forward to then, okay.

wnqs

:P yes. The hurricanes took their home away...and the gators ate their family

RebelVampire

thats explains everything

maltor is florida man

mathtans

Heh. Seriously though, it makes some sense that it would be the fire town, only question is why Tarow and Maltor weren't there at the time.

Malt-man.

wnqs

Tarow was there, Maltor was not. Maltor kinda didn't like Tarow back then...

mathtans

Younger siblings can be problematic. (I say as the oldest...)

RebelVampire

speaking of tarow and maltor, i laughed a lot at the fact that after tarow broke her tail, maltor was like "nah itll be fine ill just tie it to your ponytail."

mathtans

Yesssss! Very clever, yet also kinda silly and funny.

There's lots of little "oh, hey, so funny" moments.

wnqs

Solved the problem of it dragging on the ground, so yeah, totally fine!

I'm glad what I think is funny is actually funny ^_^'

RebelVampire

it actually made me want to research bones not healing right cause im really curious if the tail could heal properly if they rebroke it after so many years

not that i think thatd be a pleasant experience for tarow

mathtans

Funny to me anyway. ^^ I'm not too normal.

Hmmm, could they break the tail again, then have Victory heal it? Or would it just heal back to what it looked like last week?

wnqs

Oh...we can't answer that

mathtans

Oooooh.

wnqs

Since the tail is just an extension of the spine, rebreaking it might be dangerous.

mathtans

Mysa wouldn't mean it, it's just, hanging from the chandelier was a thing to experiment with.

wnqs

falling princesses?

RebelVampire

yeah thats a good point about it being an extension

maybe when victory lvls up with powers shell become a super master healer tho

mathtans

Ok, final theory. Victory was genetically engineered using magic, to take down the Dragon, but then her mother died in childbirth and no one knew what had been done.

RebelVampire

haha ppl may not even know tagh is still around being trapped in that mountain and all that

mathtans

Princesses just wanna have fun.

mathtans

Oh, that's a good point too.

wnqs

Ah....you are correct. No one actually knows the dragon's in the mountain.....yet...

RebelVampire

Unfortunately, the scheduled Comic Tea Party is now complete~! Thank you everyone so much for joining this week’s chat~! That being said, if you would like to continue discussing the comic, we encourage you to do so~! We want to give a big thank you to wnqs, as well, for volunteering The Cat, the Vine, and the Victory for our reading queue. If you liked the comic, please be sure to support wnqs’ efforts. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions about CTP, please feel free to PM me, or e-mail me at RebelVampire@startfaire.com.

With that said, next week’s Comic Tea Party will focus on ABDUCTED by Mike Battle. Please use this week to read as much of the comic as you would like. Hope to see you next Thursday (August 10th) from 5PM to 7PM PDT~! Until then~! Comic: https://tapas.io/series/abducted