#he’s underrated and needs more merch

[corpse-nymph]

Chococat stans arise, he is September’s friend of the month

he deserves everything, he is superior (next 2 keroppi and kitty)

[aria0fgold]

Am starting to think that my taste in nearly everything got so badly affected by Inuyasha that I mostly gravitate towards side characters and supporting casts instead of like... the protagonists, yaknow, what the story is ACTUALLY following.

[mkorpse13]

The random urge to have a Rolf cardboard cut out in my room, and full on wall filled with pictures of him, and a plush of him is crazy rn.

trying to fight the urge to do all of that..

[dazais-guardian-angel]

trying to find bram merch and practically none exists, i hate it here

[boundlessentity]

Everyone needs to go see You’re Next asap because it was incredible and I was grinning like a stupid little idiot the whole time. I immediately need to go watch it in Japanese with subtitles.

Anyways, here are some of my thoughts! My memory is terrible though so they’ll probably be a little out of order and I’ll probably miss a bit. That’s fine though, it’s not plot analysis.

Spoilers below the cut!

The intro sequence was pretty cool actually

Heehee screen time for Sero! And Ojiro gets to talk and show off that he can actually do stuff! Underrated character appreciation time🥰

Immediate Star Wars reference, I see…

Drinking tea with a picture of a pretty girl. OH WAIT HE WAS MAKING TEA FOR THE PICTURE BECAUSE THATS WHAT HE USED TO DO FOR HER AND NOT JUST BECAUSE HES FANCY I GET IT NOW

Iida using Bakugou’s entire hero name only for people to immediately shit on it for being so long is hilarious and everyone should do it more

This man is #notmyallmight and tbh pretty ugly? Like I didn’t think I would miss all of the deep creases and heavy shadows on All Might’s face but he looks weird without them.

The goth woman in the spider web dress is kinda pretty actually I vibe with it

Ooooo pretty lights! I don’t feel so good, Mr. Stark…

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, Izuku sleeps tonight…

He’s like “okay phew I’m good I’m stable like this” and immediately plummets to his doom. Like that whole sequence in the tube was so funny, and then you think it’s over but it’s snowball time! Plus Soggy Deku is adorable, he looks like a wet cat (affectionate)

“I’ve never been so insulted so politely?!”

They did my boy Kaminari SO dirty throughout this whole movie but I was especially disappointed at this part. Mineta I understand, even after they toned him down in the 6th season, he’s still a pervert. But Kaminari is so much deeper than that and has had so much character development, and they decided the perfect happy little daydream for him would be women in bikinis? No way. What little we did see of him in the movie was so shallow.

The other daydreams though? Hoo boy😮‍💨

Todoroki’s perfect daydream is him with his family, being happy. Him, scarless, playing with all of his siblings INCLUDING TOUYA while his happy parents sit together and watch them with a smile. I swear if that little scene was on screen any longer I might have teared up.

Shouji’s too, like oh my god. His is a world where he was accepted for who he is and he and the little girl are happy and he doesn’t feel like he has to hide his face behind a mask because he never got the scars in the first place😢

Idia’s being him and Tenya being heroes together. Because that was his dream. And he can’t have it anymore.

Momo you’re adorable, please never change

Deku’s being him with all of the All Might merch and a hero who believed in his dreams from the start🥲 and then OFA User 1 snapping him out of it? Vestiges for the win, again

Speaking of, I love how much they had him using all of the vestiges’ quirks throughout the movie. My boy has grown so much🥰

That whole scene though was really cool, the way it was set up like a doll house? I enjoyed that, I wish we had gotten to look at it a little longer. Looks like Hagakure’s was being visible and having all of the outfits, Uraraka’s was floating on a cloud, Jirou’s was rocking out with her guitar, and Sero’s was doing some kind of Spider-Man tape shit idk. Wish I remembered what Ojiro’s was

Dark Might using a rotary phone to make a video call and then immediately taking credit for the name Dark Might? Cringe

HAWKS OH MY GOD LOOK HES THERE TOO

Fr Hawks got a lot of screen time throughout the movie, most of which was really not necessary or particularly relevant (not that I’m complaining😜)

Are those off-brand Nomus in suits?

“I’m a walking cheat code” is such a killer line damn

Dark Might is so delulu oh my god.

Other stuff happens, I don’t remember having any super intense thoughts so I’ll jump ahead for now and come back to this if I feel like it later

Mirio! I’m glad they included him the guy is underutilized

More of the pros! Especially MIRKO and the combination of Edgeshot and Best Jeanist

I’m glad they’re giving Uraraka so much attention, she was kinda brushed over in the other movies if I recall correctly. Iida too, though not as much

Bakugou the strategist!

Tokoyami getting his moment in the proverbial spotlight. Not the literal one, that wouldn’t be helpful. “Those who can fly, should fly,” indeed

Bakugou and Todoroki out there working together with surprisingly little bickering. I’m impressed.

HAWKS. Descending from above like the stunning angel he is! I’m such a sucker for his dynamic with Tokoyami, the mentorship and genuine care there between them? The fact that he’s encouraging and pushing his bird protege to be better? Love love love

I know Julio just explained it but I still don’t really get Dark Might’s quirk. If someone could explain it to me that would be great thanks

Even Dark Might sees how much potential Midoriya has wow

Literally just naming states at this point. Detroit Smash who?

Big Three coming in hot! Kick some villainous ass! Speaking of, it seems that Bones Studio had indeed decided to return All Might (Dark Might technically)’s ass to him.

Thrown into a statue of himself and he popped like a balloon lol

Forgot that the city was empty and started freaking out when the ship was crashing. I thought people were getting squished🥲

Yes Julio! Go be with the one you love!

Shoutout to Mitsuki and Inko being best friends

A bit of a predictable ending but satisfying nonetheless!

Maybe a little bit unclear when in canon this takes place? Largely when you consider the little moment after the credits

The movie was intense but also had a lot of. Moments of comic relief which I really appreciated! It was super well balanced

I had a million and one thoughts but it’s the middle of the night and I don’t really remember what they were. Anyways, it was a very strong movie imo, 10/10 because I had a good time

[maochira]

hey!! i was wondering if you can do some headcanons for a reader who has a massive plushie collection with barou, rin, aryu, hiori, and niko(underrated king i need more content about him). they wouldn’t even guess that reader would be the type of person to collect that sort of stuff until they see that literally every corner of their room is filled with plushies (literally my dream). they can also tell that it must’ve cost a lotttt of money to gather that much. maybe they even recognize some of their favorite characters in the collection

can be platonic or romantic connections with the characters. i don’t mind either way! feel free to remove any character if it’s too much. thank youuuu <33

Adding two more characters cause <3 I love plushies so much (I also collect them)

Characters: Barou, Rin, Aryu, Hiori, Niko, Raichi, Tokimitsu

Requests open! - masterlist

Tags: gn!reader, can be seen as platonic or romantic

The first time Barou walks into your room, he's shocked at the sight of your plushies. Not because he thinks you're weird for collecting them (okay, maybe a little) but because he hates how unorganized they are. Why are some of them all over the floor? Why do they take up an unnecessarily big amount of space on your bed? Before he even says anything, Barou starts tidying up your plushy collection. He's sorting them by franchises and colours and also putting them in places where they look the best. Barou wants you to keep them this neatly because he thinks if they mean so much to you, you should treat your plushies with care like this.

Rin doesn't understand why you have so many plushies. And even less does he understand why you would spend so much money on them. He tries to not say anything judgy, but the look on his face while he observes your room says everything. And the longer Rin stays in your room, the more uncomfortable he gets. He feels watched by the many eyes of your plushies which creeps him out a little. This guy loves horror movies but gets creeped out by cute plushies? Apparently, yes. But you get to have fun teasing him about that. Although, over time he slowly gets used to your plushies. And after a few more weeks, he actually starts liking them.

Aryu absolutely adores every single one of your plushies ever since the first moment he got to see them. He buys a lot of clothes which are actually meant for baby dolls, but dresses your plushies in them instead. Each time he visits you, he's having the time of his life dressing up all the plushies together with you and taking photos of them. For some plushies, he doesn't find any fitting clothing, so Aryu starts sewing some on his own. They may be plushies, but he knows you love them, so they deserve to be stylish. They absolutely need to be stylish.

Seeing your plushies for the first time caught Hiori completely off guard. He didn't expect your room to look like that at all, but he quickly starts loving them. He's not vocal about it, but it's obvious how much he adores every single one of your plushies. His attention constantly drifts off and instead of looking at you, his gaze wanders to the shelf full of plushies right behind you. He hasn't thought about plushies in a very long time, but now he kind of wants to have one for himself. Luckily, before he leaves your place, you put a cute little blue bunny plush into his hands.

Niko doesn't seem to mind your plushies at first. He doesn't think anything of them and mostly ignores the fact that they are even there. But then he spots some plushies of anime characters on your desk. He knows most of the characters, but not all of them. So he obviously gets curious and starts asking questions about which animes they're from. Niko already owns a bunch of anime merch, but for some reason, he hasn't thought about buying plushies of his favourite characters until now when he got the idea because of you. He's already thinking about which ones he wants to get, but he'll probably need your help to decide. Of course your answer will be to buy all of them.

Raichi's first reaction to your plushies should have been predictable. But you're still startled for a moment when he walks over to one of the big plushies and punches it without hesitation. After asking why he did that, Raichi only laughs and says he thinks it's funny. Then he continues doing the same to other plushies, thinking you find it funny as well. Only when he looks back at you he realizes you don't think it's funny at all and you're getting upset instead. Raichi feels embarrassed and quickly apologizes, but he doesn't feel like that's enough, so he goes on and apologizes to every plushie he punched as well.

Tokimitsu treats your plushies extremely gently with a lot of care, almost as if they were real living beings. Every time he touches them he does it very carefully and whenever he pushes one to the side only by a little bit, he apologizes to the plushie. Tokimitsu knows how much every single plushie means to you. That's why he wants to treat them with as much care as he can, because that's how he knows you treat him. And of course, he treats you like that as well. It's always cute to watch whenever he interacts with your plushies and how he talks to them with genuine care.

Taglist (sign-up link): @kaineedstherapy12 @zyuuuu @luvcalico @remy-roll @truegoist @vanitasbrainrot @weichspuelertrinker @acacIa @kermitslefteyeball11 @futuristicxie @bluelock4life @https-archangel @userwithlotsoftime @nikokii @slowlyholypeanut @astruosie @gojosorrygeto @rienniey @kalinkavx @blueberrryui @keiidaydreams @sagejin @ririgards @depressed-bitchy-demon @kaiserkisser @chaosinanutshell @mang05 @wheresmysoulidk @rzu @orah-s @thedaisy78

[313i]

i did the blorbo bingo with edling :3

ramble / explanations for my writing under cut!

for ling:

most fandom takes are incorrect: maybe it’s just me but ive seen a decent amount of people make ling out to be a pervert or just reduce him to a stupid silly character. ling yao is NOT A PERVERT! WHERE DID YOU GET THAT FROM! he would never even do HALF OF THE THINGS YOU GUYS ARE TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!!! and he is so far from just being a funny guy that makes the audience laugh. his motives and character as a whole are so incredibly strong and i’ve never been so fascinated with a character like ling yao. please give him more attention.

that also goes hand in hand w/ stop putting them in situations!!: he would not be looking up girls skirts or something 🙁 be kind to him i think he deserves the world also. the cast of fma consists of a bunch of 14-16 year olds who traveled across the world to fulfill what they feel is their destiny but they end up on a journey of pain and suffering instead. they are children they should be playing roblox and minecraft and brain rotting like me ……….. i need a 500 chapter fic of ling being happy and joyous and eating all the wonderful meat in amestris.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE NOT ENOUGH CANON / UNDERRATED: as much as i love greedling and understand the combo … i wish ling got more screentime alone separate from greed. he is really such an interesting and unique character with a banging design and sometimes i feel greed robbed him of his iconic features (his yellow jacket & sword) and people just forget that greedling exists because ling was strong enough to withstand the homunculus in his system + LING IS THE BODY!!! he is serving that facecard and body 24/7 because that’s all ling yao!!! i still do really like greedling because they have a lot of room for interaction but i feel like ling yao is one of the characters who is often forgotten when it comes to merch n whatnot. he’s not as much of a main character as ed of course but he is just forgotten!! he is really such a cool character i wish there was more of him everywhere

there’s probably a deep seated reason why i love him: yes. because he is me and i am him (not really). i just project onto him and he is just me at this point! i will forever be such a huge ling yao fan the first time i watched fmab i instantly got attached to him i am so happy he is alive. i hope being the king of the yao clan is treating him well though he didn’t look to happy in that one photo of him as emperor….. it’s a tough job so i get it man! i hope he explodes

for edling:

pretty privilege: they are both pretty. brotherhood art style is a bit inconsistent at times i feel but their designs are both so gorgeous (their colors complement one another!). and also the bloodhell episode. ling yao fighting envy with his cool sword and handsome face…. ed somehow still looking pretty despite all the traveling and fighting. they are pretty!!!

projection had entered the chat: well, yes! who doesn’t project onto their faves??? :p

don’t typically discuss irl because of fandom: more and more people nowadays seem to forget fma franchise as a whole 🙁 it makes me so sad because this series is so fire and i wish it would keep its popularity but it obviously makes sense that more relevant shows and animes will overtake its light. i’m also afraid most people don’t like edling (edling nation consists of like 10 people) so i just don’t really talk about fma irl at all! no one here has a Fullmetal heart..

everything else is just me wanting to bite them (lovingly) and stuff them in my pocket and hold them in the palm of my hands to show them off to the world. i do not actually want to plot their demise and i am not actively doing so. i would put them in a wood chipper in a loving manner

for ed:

has done nothing wrong: he’s innocent, your honor… everything he’s ever done has been for his family. he’s committed a huge taboo in the alchemy world by trying human transmutation but him and al just wanted their moms back. they were TOO YOUNG TO BE ORPHANS AND HAVE TO GROW UP WITHOUT THEIR MOTHERS LOVE! he ended up becoming a dog for the military but he had to do what he had to do to get closer to that philosopher stone… in 03 he did end up taking some lives too i think. he’s only 15 and never intended to Actually murder someone. seeing him after the greed scene is so incredibly heartbreaking. 03 and cos are such horrific renditions of fma (in a good way) and it makes me so sad to think that’s how he ended up??? he had so much hope as a little kid and was so full of life but by 18 he’s stranded from the last bit of family he knew and is left a depressed alcoholic who keeps losing people. edward elric has done nothing wrong..

there’s probably a deep seated reason why i love him: even from the outside HE IS SUCH A COOL CHARACTER. a character who canonical has prosthetic limbs is already so cool. knowing the story behind those limbs and his brother is so 🙁☹️☹️… his iconic red jacket!!! his LEATHER PANTS WITH HIS PLATFORM BOOTS? his striking gold eyes and bright blonde hair? how he wears his stupid pocket watch…. his dumbass belt… i love edward elric’s flamboyant style so much i’ve never seen a more bi-coded character ever. i love everything about his design and his personality is unlike most shonen anime protags and that adds to his charm. he is hot-headed and will bite your head off if you comment on his height or call him pipsqueak but he is still such a sharp and intelligent young man .. He is literally an Alchemy God…. he is so capable even at such a young age and carries himself so well because if i were him i would be breaking down crying every step of the way! he is dedicated and loyal to his cause of finding the philosophers stone to return their bodies back to normal and doesn’t even hinder once throughout the journey. he loves his brother dearly and it makes me so joyous to see a strong sibling relationship in this genre that isn’t Weird. Edward Elric is a fire character thank you for listening to my TedTalk

[blossoms-phan]

i got the dan and phil mental illness so I probably rewatch any and all uploads more than the average person but there are certain types of videos I definitely forget about or feel like I’ve only watched once (sorry covid era ap videos) but I just rewatched this one and it’s so underrated and silly I just feel like I need to draw attention to it

-first of all phil’s natural hair colour quiff. wow. one of the hair eras I feel like slips my mind but it genuinely suits him SO well. saw a man so beautiful I started crying etc etc

-implying that he’s wearing dan’s sweater instead of having his own copy of his merch… yeah

also i would think this was a edgy sweater from some boutique shop I always forget it was actual dan merch wouldn’t buy it but still pretty cool

-reminder of the 2019 japan trip yup yup iconic

-6:41 HIS LAUGH AT THE USELESS BOX🫶🫶 I feel like that’s such a rare phil laugh he was genuinely overtaken with silly joy i luv him

-7:47 this was suchhhh a good little clip I feel like we have not talked about it enough. first of all i dont remember a lot about this apartment but I feel like this is a rare view. the cozy vibes with the Christmas tree, the physical media shelf/desk corner (this was one of my favourite liveshow zones), dan just lounging behind the camera while phil comes to show him his silly purchase (would it be too demon to mention the cut off run towards him at the end… yeah)

this was so random no one needed this but if you read I hope you enjoyed my rewatch commentary of an ap video from 4 and a half years ago while I avoid responsibilities 👍

[realcube]

RANDOM MATCHUPS

✦ for @s0dium

✦ tw: ramblings of a crazy person. also in no particular order.

fat gum — bnha

✦ his regular height is unknown but in his "fat" form he is 8'2" lol

✦ and when he is in his regular form, he has hella muscle (ex)

✦ also ofc his quirk involves eating so his love language is probably food too

✦ he is also kinda a comic relief character so ofc he is funny af and a sweetheart

✦ also his heart would literally melt if you supported his pro-heroing the same way you would for like a vb player s/o if you know what i mean??

✦ like buying his pro-hero merch and wearing his faces on shirts and stuff- he's be legit so flattered and flustered actually

✦ especially bc he's not like.. particularly famous (he's got a ranking of #58 in osaka 😬) so you being his number one supporter would mean the world to him

✦ omg and you guys could have a meet-cute where he saves you from villains !!

✦ or thieves trying to steal some anime merch you just bought 😤

bokuto kotaro — haikyuu!!

✦ i already mentioned this at the bottom of your hq matchup but you'd also suit bokuto sm

✦ he's tall + muscular

✦ and he's so silly so he could obviously make you laugh

✦ also the part about you having a golden doodle definitely would fly a lot better with bokuto than oikawa bc bokuto would be thriving playing with your doggy or watching you play with her , meanwhile oikawa would be silently jealous if you pay her more attention than him LOL

✦ however, perhaps bokuto is worse bc he will entertain and play with your dog so much and distract her from actually.. y'know.. doing her job

✦ you're like 'bo can i have my therapy dog pls i kinda need her' and he's like 'awww.. but i'm teaching her how to high five rn...'

✦ but omg you being his biggest supporter at matches would literally make him so happy, and he'd point to you in the crowd whenever he landed a spike

✦ so whenever you go to his games you need to be camera ready bc he keeps motioning to you and waving at you so their gonna keep zooming in on you in the crowd

kentaro kyoutani (mad dog) — haikyuu!!

✦ okay hear me out 👀 he's pretty tall and muscular

✦ and he can defo make you laugh with how wild and fierce he is

✦ plus he'd be chill with your dog bc he has one of his own and they could be best friends

✦ and if you ever want to do taekwondo sparring, he's the perfect guy to practise with ( no he doesn't know any martial arts but he's good at fighting so it comes naturally to him lol )

✦ the only thing is that .. he isn't kind, like, at all

✦ but you can fix him!! i believe in you!!

✦ he would be blushin n shi when he sees you in the stands at his sendai frogs games

✦ would not be as obvious about it as bokuto but with all the kyoutani merch you got on, all his teammates can tell you've come for him and they tease him about it

✦ (he's internally loving it tho)

✦ but also he's so gonna hold it against you .. if he ever sees you trying to leave the house, looking a bit too good, he's like 'what happened to that shirt with my face on it? why don't you wear that out? 🤔' bc he knows that despite how good you may look, no guy is gonna hit on you if they see his big scary mug on your chest LOL

makoto tachibana — free! iwatobi swim club

✦ pls excuse me it's been so long since i watched this show but

✦ makoto was criminally underrated and he defo deserves a sweet gal to cheer for him when he swims bc, being fr, i don't remember anyone doing so

✦ they were all about haru and rin iirc

✦ also he is the tall and muscular BLUEPRINT

✦ plus he's super kind

kineshi hairo — the disastrous life of saiki k

✦ he'd also be the biggest support of your taekwondo dream.. perhaps to a concerning extent

✦ like he's always offering to trains with you and go on morning runs together and getting you into the competitive spirit for the competitions (that he is going to persuade you into joining somehow with his inspirational speeches lol)

✦ he would also be down to go skating / snowball fight

✦ but if he manages to hit you with a snowball.. ouch

✦ lights knocked out unfortunately 😔

joe — sk8 the infinity

✦not sure what to say actually

✦ he's just a tall, muscular, funny and kind guy

✦ he probably doesn't like winter bc he skateboards and ice/snow makes the ground all slippy and dangerous

✦ so going on dates with you would give him something to look forward to

✦ he's kinda a player though so please keep an eye on that celluar device of his 🧐

gojo satoru — jjk

✦ purely based on appearance bc i've never seen jjk lol

✦ but i think aesthetically y'all compliment each other very well

✦ i think it's the contrast of the hair but also the similarities in the eyes

✦ also y'all are both model height so 🙌

✦ you + gojo are the fabled "two pretty bestfriends"

for @s0dium: haha this was super fun and such a nice idea !!!

[edenstwiilight]

Mitski in the tma/tmagp universe. Thoughts?

i’m not sure if you mean like.. if people listen to mitski in the TMA-verse but that’s how i’m taking it. do with this what you will. i haven’t listed to TMAGP yet so it’s just TMA archival crew!

jon: he has a few songs on his playlist, mostly the popular ones. s4-ish he starts listening to more because he can lay on the floor and miss his friends

martin: a fan. he has some good ones on his playlists and dances around to them sometimes. he puts on the really sad ones when he needs a cry. (he once laid on the floor in the hall of his apartment for a whole two hours with i bet on losing dogs blaring)

tim: that man is obsessed with her. merch, has been to at least once concert. he adores her vibes and music more than anything. the most underrated songs are in his playlist

sasha: wasn’t a huge fan for a long time until tim took her to the concert. then she was absolutely obsessed with her music, she has a playlist of just her favourite mitski songs.

melanie: look me in the eyes and tell me she’s not got a mitski tattoo on her shoulder, i dare you. she’s the most obsessed out of them all. she bet tim she could name more songs than him. (she can)

basira: a casual listener. she knows the popular ones but she’s not going out of her way.

daisy: is either obsessed or has absolutely no idea who she is. i can’t tell which one, and that’s hilarious to me.

BONUS:

gerry: hears the first note of one of her songs and immediately knows what song. he doesn’t know the name of the artist. he doesn’t even know all these songs are by the same person. he’s a fucking weirdo like that.

[starryriize]

xikers reacting to you liking f1

╰┈ ⋆｡˚ 🪼author’s note: this is a repost from my other acc!! i think i might do an smau for racer xikers…idk we’ll see

🫧laur's taglist: @chiiyuuvv @cherrycolaberry @leehanascent @hyvelxve

minjae - would 100% be down to watch f1 with you!! strikes me as the type to love the underdogs of the grid (williams, alfa, etc) and definitely watches the funniest moments of f1 with you later :) also watches grill the grid with you just to see if either of you know the answers

junmin- he definitely has f1tv and has seen drive to survive so best believe that he's incredibly happy that you like f1...even if it's because charles leclerc is devastatingly handsome. is 1000% down to watch it with you after you get home from work or when you need a break from studies! he definitely gets you matching f1 merch

sumin - he’s lowkey unimpressed by f1 since it’s watching cars go round and round BUT he’s willing to watch a few races with you bc he knows how much you enjoy it!! doesn’t admit it but later watches drive to survive and orders matching merch for the two of you!!

jinsik - doesn’t strike me as the type to follow f1 all that much but he’s definitely down to watch highlights and binge drive to survive! he’s definitely a big fan of oscar and yuki :) wants to watch past races because he thinks that the history behind f1 is so cool which leads to cuddling while watching the story of fangio on netflix and how f1 started!!

hyunwoo - once again, doesn’t strike me as the type to really want to watch it but is definitely a fan of the ps5 game!! has a whole day set aside for when you each catch up on what kinds of f1 news you’ve been reading and then a cuddle sesh while watching f1 recaps and netflix!! he finds it cute that you support the underdog teams :)

hunter - he’s cultured and tbh gets so hype when you tell him you got paddock passes!! definitely wants to meet yuki and see the mclaren cars <3 the type to take insta worthy pics of you at the GP too!! oh he’s also most definitely aware of every single trend and gossip going around the f1 world

junghoon - he’s seen it and is vaguely familiar with it but decides to start with drive to survive. wants you to not be ashamed to like motorsport! asks why you like f1 and when you begin explaining that you simply like the whole team management concept, he suggests you major in management instead of what your parents expect you to do

seeun - strikes me as the one to be happy for you but he thinks it’s a waste to pay for the f1tv subscription so he finds other ways to enjoy f1 with you!! he’s definitely bought you some ferrari jewelry or apm monaco stuff because he knows you like ferrari!! he’s always ready with two cups of coffee and blankets when you want to play f1 with him!! he usually would play and let you win because he likes seeing your smile

yujun - i don’t think he would follow f1 all that much but is 100% down to watch the race highlights with you :)) definitely listens intently when you explain the rules and how each team has been doing! thinks your commentary is much better than crofty because your voice is 1000x more calming to him, plus he remembered it all!! went and got you daniel’s merch after you kept going on about his story and how you sympathized with him!! whatever team you like, he likes <3

yechan - the type to make bets about who wins in which he always says some underrated driver who definitely has no chance and you say verstappen. definitely sends you reels and edits of f1 drivers immediately followed by a selfie of him where he asks who is cuter!! thinks you only watch f1 for the drivers and you keep repeating that it’s because you’ve liked mclaren since you were little! watches highlights and grill the grid with you, but tells you to spend money on his photo cards not on f1 drivers :(

🫧join laur’s taglist!

[popculturebuffet]

Mutant Month: The 2021 Hellfire Gala: The X-Men Conquer Mars: Comissioned by WeirdKev27

Hello all you happy mutants and welcome to our big finale to Mutant Month! Over this month we've taken a look at the X-Men's first apperance in animation, one of their greatest stories ever and the debut of one of the greatest x-men period, so it's only fit to end this monumental mutanty month with some fireworks: We're taking a look at the first annual Hellfire Gala, aka one of the x-men stories I brought up the most for some time: that time the x-men colonized mars, now known as planet Arakko.

For those of you who like Kev, who comissioned this, stopped for a second from scrolling and went

Allow me to present you with the grand tale of how Mutantkind terraformed an entire planet as a one two punch of solving a massive looming diplomatic crisis... and using it as the big main event of their version of the met gala. Your invitation is on the table, so take it with me, get your flowers pinned on so you can go through the gate, and join the party under the cut. Afterparty on Arakko bitches.

Well, How Did We Get Here?

So to get to the Hellfire Gala I have to get into the krakoan era of x-men, an era tha'ts reaching it's twilight but is still ongoing and has been one of my favorites in comics.

This era of X-History comes after a fairly bleak time in x-men comics: See in the mid 2010's, Marvel tried outright dismantling the x-men. Since the MCU didn't have the rights to them, Marvel was trying hard to not give Fox any more ammo, forgetting they still got mech money out of the x-men existing. They also just outright canceled fantastic four. Because who needs the founding family of the marvel universe if we can't merch the hell out of them amirite?

So despite the X-Men having JUST WARDED OFF EXTINCTION a few years ago, post secret wars they decided to push the Inhumans , anothe rgroup of superpowered beings they'd already set up clevery and uniquely as their own thing last era without stepping on the x-men's toes, as the new x-men and to shoe out the old.

What followed.. is one of the dumbest things i've seen in all of comics. So to push the Inhumans.. they decided the best way was to make the cloud of terrigen mist that created new inhumans... TOXIC TO MUTANTS. So that the Inhumans were casually allowing a toxic murder cloud to kill tons of people.. just to keep more of them existing.

I.. cannot find the words for how tonedeaf, short sighted and just plain moronic this was. You can't just.. kill one group to make another group popular. Queen didn't consume the beating hearts of all four beetles to become awesome. They just were. And the inhumans books.. were GOOD. Charles Soule was doing an utterly fantastic job on them and continued to for the entire run. You didn't need this shit. Instead it sunk the inhumans so that the followup, Royal, by one of my favorite writers in all of comics Al Ewing, got cut short and the inhumans were then mostly killed and those left put into exile. Except Lockjaw. Everyone loves a giant teleporting dog monster. He could stay.

Afterwords while Disney didn't have the rights back YET, Marvel realized they couldn't just magically flimflam fans and tried a half hearted attempt at boosting the x-men: They returned to sorta prominence.. but the new runs weren't given a huge push in the marvel universe as whole. We got the underrated classics X-Men Blue and Iceman, the former finishing up Cullen Bunn's awesome magneto trilogy and the latter redefining Bobby now he was an out and proud gay man, but the other flagship book at the time, yes there were two, x-men gold had a great status quo (Kitty Pryde as Xavier's School headmistress and x-men leader, and the institute now being located in central park), but was given to Mark Guggenhiem instead of a more compitent hand, resulting in a series long rehash of better stories... and one actually GOOD story mixed in.

It was clear while Marvel was willing to use the x-men again, they needed to actually use their whole ass. Enter Jonathan Hickman. For those not familiar with him

Jonathan Hickman is one of the best writer's in comics, and has had storied runs on all three of Marvel's biggest teams, all having a major impact and all really dang good, with a knack for longterm plotting, high sci fi concepts and quotable as hell lines and arc phrases. Hickman left marvel after Secret Wars 2015, his grand finale to his avengers run and intended as an end to his time at marvel so he could move on to new horizons, planning to give the compettition a ring. And while sadly that meant we didn't get what would've been likely THE definitive teen titans run, though i'm sure we'll get it some day as DC would be nuts not to let him do it, Marvel simply had an offer too tempting for him to pass up: Run the X-Men.

Something I never knew before his interviews for this era.. is that while Jonathan Hickman liked marvel... he never really read most of their comics before his runs. When he did Fantastic Four and Avengers, he studied heavily. Granted it shows how good a writer he is that it dosen't show and he clearly gained an apprceation for both. It's also a NEEDED reminder for comic book writers: YOU CAN JUST RESEARCH SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW. I know it sounds obvious but plenty of writers , Brian Micheal Bendis in paticular, don't seem to understand that.

For X-Men though, they were his intro into comics, the books he picked up as a kid. The playset he always wanted but during his first run at marvel the timing just never synched up. So Hickman gathered a crack team of writers and took an approach I feel most lines in comics should follow: he set up a writer's room, allowing the writers of all the books to bounce ideas off each other, which made the books better, and approach that's stuck even after he left and will hopefully.

The results of all this hard work? House of X and Powers of X, a set of two interconnected mini series that serve as essentially one big mini series setting up a brave new world for mutantkind. Hickman used the various attempted genocides on the x-men as a backdrop, including the m-pox, and another one that took place in the crappy uncanny x-men run between series that i'll no doubt have inflicted on me one day. And more importantly the fact that Mankind and most other heroes had done the bare minimum to help if that.

So the X-Men decided to once again start their own country. Except unlike previous attempts, they made an effort to become a global power, to play the game of nations. In this case they created plants that helped stave off diseases like althimerz, and leveraged them in exchange for acceptance a nation. Xavier had given up on his dream and instead had a new one: suing for peace.

If that sounds divisive.. that was the intent. That you get why the x-men are doing this, but also see that this has a real danger of them loosing their way and making shadier decisions... not helped by them offering amnesty to ALL mutants including past foes. Exploring the complexities of this is what makes this era so fantastic: the x-men are hoarding world changing advancments.. but after the world spat on them for so long while good men did nothing half the time, you can't blame them. As Cyclops expertly puts it in the first issue.

And yet many have issues with how dogmatic the ruling body of Krakoa, the quiet council is being, the shady decisions, the backdoor deals. It's a mixed blessing: Mutankind has home, saftey, wants for nothing.. but is the price tag worth it?

They also have one other thing, a secret to the world at this point: Resurrection. For years, in part thanks to seeming non mutant ally revealed to be secret mutant Moria Mactaggert, long story, and her longgame planning, Xavier had worked out a plan to cure death. It was both a way to raise the stakes.. and to just as importantly undo a LOT of crappy shock deaths for mutantkind, to bring back characters who'd been dead for DECADES and no one simply had gotten around to them. Death was over, mutantkind was truly immortal.

The process is also unique, using the five, five mutants working in concert, turning the non viable eggs made by goldballs, now dubbing himself egg, into viable clone bodies using a combination of reality warping from former foe proteus, life giving powers from elixer to make them viable, time from tempus to speed them up, and the boosting powers of Hope, the mutant messiah, to make this all possible.

So as a result, any mutant come back, mutants now had freedom and fancy organic warp gates, and a homeland on Krakoa, a mutant who as once an island that walked like a man but was now the benevloent home of all mutantkind.

So your probably wondering how all this somehow esclated FURTHER. Well that's a lot as the Hellfire Gala is the result of a few ongoing story beats all rolled together in a delicous tortilla.

The first is the gala itself. The Hellfire Club was normally the x-men's foes, a group of rich assholes who used their secret society to try and conquer the world through BUISNESSS! and other persuits. And also often wore bondage gear because Chris Claremont is not shy about his fetishes.

For Krakoa though, they became the Hellfire Trading Company. Emma Frost, teacher, x-man and 100% that bitch, had built up a huge fortune again during the meantime and was convinced by Magneto and Xavier to invest it in the children. It's a consitent thing: While Emma can be cold, has a sarcastic tounge bar none, she's always cared about the future of their species and always been protective of young mutants.

So Emma , in addition to a seat of the table, runs the BUISNESS side of things, and thus the inner circle of the hellfire trading company became the large shipping end for mutantkind. They buy the drugs, they light the fire, they are Humankind's main suplier. While other parts of krakoa focus on the growing of the life saving drugs, Emma's the one who markets and ships it, with two others to help: Kitty Pryde, her former enemy turned close friend who as head of the Marauders, lead a pirate crew of x-men to save mutants trapped in countries who didn't go for Krakoa's deal and do drug shipments, while Sebastian Shaw, king of the assholes and enemy of emmas, was given the job of smuggling. He also tried to Kill kitty suprising no one. And Emma and Kitty responded by beating the piss out of him and leaving him in a wheelchair for a while, suprising even less.

Emma being her usual extra self, decided the best way to show off their power as a nation, their wealth and what they could offer.. was a giant ass party with friend and foe alike invited. So threaded throughout the first year and a half of the marauders was Emma's plans for the Gala, with her having Magneto buy an island to host it on. It's such a character rich thing: buying a whole ass island to throw a giant party that's one part diplomatic work and one part "go fuck yourself racist assholes". It's Emma Frost.

The second part leading to all of this was a myth arc that spread through the first year of the comic. One of Mutantkind's most dreaded foes, Apocalypse.. willingly joined them and was given a sympathetic backstory: turns out his "survivial of the fittiest schtick" was because his wife had to send Krakoa's other half, Arrako, into the gates of hell to save the world, taking their children, his original four horseman, because of course Apocalypse has four horseman have you seen the man? He's not subtle.

So he inacted a plan to bring Arrako back, leading to the event X of Swords, where Arrako, taken by the demons they were fighting the amenth, planned to invade earth. Thankfully they pissed off Saturynyne, omniversal magistreix and registered asshole who turned it into a tournament arc: ten swordsman from each side, winner takes all.

Naturally this contest ran by a manevloent schemer from beyond dimensions and against demons had consequences: one of the mutants on our side, Gorgon, died, Doug Ramsey got married, and yes that was indeed a match, and storm killed the embodiment of death. Normal x-men stuff. I really don't have time to go over it all as it's 22 issues long. Not hyperbole. It's a decent if entirely bloated event.

The climax is what's important: the rules got broke, and while Xavier and Magneto's plan was to do nothing and hope it works out, sacrifcing the mutants they had trapped there, Cyclops and Jean grey said

Especially since their son Cable, a cool teen at the time, was in danger. So Cyclops gathered every mutant he could... aka PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE ON KRAKOA NOT ON THE QUIET COUNCIL to storm the gates, leading to an epic battle, and the freeing of Apocalpyse's wife genisis and his remaning kids. Apocalypse decided to have a family road trip across amenth as part of the deal, but in trade the x-men got Arakko back.

The problem was.. Arakko had just spent the last centuries fighting demons and living to eat, murder and conquest. So while Krakoa doubling size was a good thing on paper, as was the new mutants added, in practice it set off a massive political powder keg, with the Arakko mutants gleefully ransacking nearbye areas and refusing to not conquer. While the x-men were fine to inheret the earth once humanity burned itself out, the Arakko didn't want to wait. They needed somewhere to go.

So that dear friends and readers brings us to the gala itself a massive crossover event.. but a unique one. Every issue of every x-book intersected wtih the party of the summer, but only the four we're covering today were the big takeaway points. It was a fun crossover too, a way for all the books to intersect, while leaving the core trim enough to let someone just wanting the big takeaways to only have to pick up 4 books that month. I MIGHT do the rest another day but honestly besides saving kev a lot of money.. it just made more sense to just do the core storyline, to do the part you all came here for, and maybe do the other issues some other day. Thankfully future gala's are much smaller for next year and beyond.

So let's mosey on over shall we as the festivties begin.

Mauraders #24: The party kicks off naturally with Mauraders, the Hellfirecentric book. We open with Kitty, Sebastian and Emma all awaiting the guests. Emma is wearing one of three outfits she has for the night and all of mutantkind is wearing their finest.

Okay Kitty's wearing her finest, emma just has a giant cur cape with an x cut out, because her brand and what not, and a giant head piece that says NOTICE HOW RICH I AM, and Sebstian Shaw is dressed as some sort of war grandpa, wearing a suit LESS fancy than what he usually wears, but weirldy bedecked in tassles, with a fur cape and supervillian eyepatch. I mean the last part's on brand for him but all together it's just fucking weird even by the standards of this gala, held off the coast of two giant monsters.

So as Emma waits security, done by X-Force Krakoa's black ops division, lets in our first guests , fitting them with flowers so they can pass through the krakoan gates for the gala and any afterparties. The Krakoan Gates are giant flowery gates world wide that allow mutantkind to pass through them.. except kitty pryde due to how her powers work: since she goes THROUGH barriers, the thing kinda futzes out with her.

Our inaugral guests are naturally earth's mighteiest heroes, the avengers, consiting at the time of the Captain America (Steve Rogers), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Thor (Odinson), She Hulk, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes) and Blade. yes THAT blade. It's honestly a good roster I liked a lot, bringing things back to the classics while adding a few weird touches like Blade and Robbie. The run itself.. was hit and miss, paticuarlly having She Hulk as a regular hulk instead of her usual self, despite the previous run of her solo having finally gotten her out of that state.. for no clear reason really. It was just bad. Thankfully those dark times are over and the tv show's only made sure that won't be happening again. Tony flies in on his own, not trusting the tech and you know.. being kind of an asshole he has to make a bit "NOTICE ME EVERYONE" entrance. Also boarding are the world's greatest heroes, the Fantastic Four, along with their children Franklin and Valerea and The Thing's wife Alicia Masters. Things are a bit rockier between these groups so gather up people as it's time for EVEN MORE EXPOSITION

So since his introduction Franklin had been a mutant.. and since he and the team as a whole had come back in Dan Slott's run, his power had been shorting out. Krakoa, wanting to both help him and naturally add another powerful mutant to the pile, reached out, and unsuprisingly fighting insured between both sides, Reed Richards pulled a Richards and disabled his son's ablility to use the gates, Franklin ran away, ended up with Doctor Doom, and both sides settled things long enough to stop it. IT's a story I will likely cover some day and ended on a positve note: Franklin would alternate between both the baxter buildling and krakoa, while Xavier, not pleased reed had the kind of tech he did, erased the gate supression tech from his brain and told him to his face he'd done it, to tell reed "never again"

So naturally FF writer Dan Slott's reaction to this promising, engaging new status quo was to say "fuck it" and retcon that franklin just MADE HIMSELF into a mutant with his powers, once they were gone he wasn't one, and Xavier basically told him go the fuck away. It is one of the dumbest, most waasteful, egotistical, selfish moves i've seen in comics, doing this simply because you had to share idaes and plans with someone else. At the time of this writing it hasn't been undone, but I woudln't be suprised if current writer Ryan North or future writers undid this or at the very least found a good angle for it.

For now we do at least get this page.

I assume it was a smart, well thought out intellectual GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU OLD MAN. Also while i'll defend the cerebro helmet, I love the look and while the usual version wht the black jumpsuit is plain, it works for the story that's being told... this version is just.. what Iam I even looking at. The extra uncessary packs on his helmet, the gold and green, and then he has the fucking gall to say that to Franklin. I do like him bonding with Kitty, who the mini established was tight with the kind after the 80's era crossover where a younger frankllin talked a younger kitty out of unaliving herself. Another series to add to the pile.

So the party kicks off with a concert from Rhapsody, a forgotten mutant who sadly died during he one apperance in the first peter David Run of x-factor who can make people see things via music. By linking her up to some telepaths, the conert allows everyone present to participate.. except Doom whose naturally being a mopey pants about things. DOOM IS ALWAYS A MOPEY PANTS FOR HE IS DOOM!

The party then goes into full swing and we get some nice moments. ben, upon seeing a bunch of the marauders and an aim guy playing dice on a boat chastizes them.. for not telling him

While Cap and Doom have a stare down watched by celebrity guests Run the Jewels, two of my faviorite rappers in existance as a duo, Killer Mike and E-LP

Before Cap can close his eyes and count to fuck, Emma steps in to stop them, with Doom incensed at mutantkind for considering themselves superior, pot meet kettle, but we get a rare doom laugh , an da great joke when Emma, insiting the mutants haven't claimed earth..

So the party moves on. We get some specific plot beats for Mauraders itself i'll gloss over, some reunions of old friends as Northstar and Vindicator catch up, and Cap talking to his old aqunatince Henry Peter Gyrinch. For those who haven't heard of this douche... good. But since I brought him up Henry was Marvel Comics token asshole beurcrat: he was first introduced making the avengers job harder, tried to bring them to court over Scarlet Witch wanting to you know, leave, as is her right, was the head of the anti mutant witch hunts of the 80s, has joined several sense, and tried to deport all aliens on earth during Dark Reign. In short no one likes him, he's working with Orchis, the big bads of this era, surprising no one, and everyone everywhere celebrated when he died a few months after this. He's there to compare Krakoa to latveria and call steve an optimist for.. not assuming the Mutants are evil.

We also get one of the greatest scenes in comics as Emma oggles caps and plans to see america's ass up close.. only to read that she reminds him of his mother telepathically, horrifying her. Note that Cap's next solo run.. fully confirms that despite this, she STILL went for it and he was fine with it, his current girlfriend Sharon Carter being fine if he steps out as their apart for months at a time. It's cool. And yes folks, Cap has a mommy kink. And that is awesome.

We then get a nice scene of Emma gathering her staff including Jumbo Carnation, a mutant designer introduced to die during New X-Men and brought back here to do most of the fashions for this event, and Somilier, an expert mutant chef to thank them all.

Cue the fireworks.. which we'll get to shortly, but we see the reactions of everyone: All the bigots in attendence are rattled, as is Doctor Strange, who understandably needs to duck out to figure out what the hell this means, and Tony, who congradulates Cyclops on solving one problem.. but warns him he might of made an even bigger mess. But this being steve rogers he also ends his stern warning on "I just hope you know what you people are doing". He's worreid sure, they just conquered mars and knows what the backlash will be.. but he also is aware they likely know what their doing and as always has faith in the best in people.

Onto X-Men

X-Men #21

While the Hellfire Gala kicked off and continued a lot of exciting bits of the Krakoan Era it also marked a major ending: The final issue of Jonathan Hickman's ongoing X-Men title, with the previous one having set up his proper exit with Inferno later that year.

Hickman's X-Men was the flagship title for the books, a series of one to two issue stories that set up the world of Krakoa and showed off how this nation worked.

And naturally for the viewpoint character, Hickman picked the very first x-man and one of mutantkind's finest, Cyclops. Scotty needed the rub. Since AvX a chunk of X-Books had demonized him as some form of boogie man. While his killing of Charles xavier was shocking.. it was also while he was posssed by the phoenix force, and thus not in full control of his actions. Most characters.. blamed him for it anyway despite there being no logic and treated him as Magneto JR for the crimes of... saving mutants from racists trying to attack them and doing what he was doing. This was compounded by the aformentioned M-Pox era, which killed him off after he FINALLY got everyone's accpetance back.. and once again treated him like a villian for... destroying a cloud of terrgin mist that was killing his people.

He then got brought back from the dead after his teenage counterpart brought from the future, long story that.. but was plopped into that awful uncanny run.

Scotty needed a break, so thankfully Hickman took a special intrest in scott. It helped that with Xavier back and back allegedly doing the right thing, Scott could take a night off of being the leader of all of mutantkind and just enjoy having his dead wife back, a son that's not older with him and presumably regular threesomes with wolverine, who not only is ALSO dating Jean during this era, but lived in Scotts house on the moon. Also , Scott had a house on the moon.

With Hickman leaving though, Scott needed a new direction and Hickman set it up for him on his way out in the aftermath of x of swords. Scott, who was the leader of Krakoa's great captains (their security and people authorized to form a team for whatever threats face this sacred land), and Jean , who was on the quiet council rulling Krakoa, were both utterly fed up with the council's bullshits, from refusing to resurrect Scott's ex wives or any clones period, to sketchy rulings like the one in X of Swords. The two decided there had to be something outside them and that Krakoa still needed heroes.

See while the book was called x-men, Hickman cleverly got away with not actually having a formal team for his tenure. Scott and Jean stepped down to change that, founding a new team. The premise was genius: the team would last for one year in and out of universe, a tour of duty, and be picked entirely by Krakoa itself at the gala.

As a sweet bonus to this already great concept, Marvel left some of the voting up to real life: while most of the team was picked by incoming writer Gerry Duggan, the last member was left up to the fans, a tradition that carried onto the next to galas. In this case Polaris, longtime x-man, twice time x-factor leader, and daughter of magneto won.

We open issue 24 with a followup to something from House and Powers of X: During the mini when building Krakoa Xavier and Magneto approached Namor, prince of the deep, to join the nation. He refused as he had a powerful empire thanks.. and once again refuses when they approach him at the party. They control an island. he controls 75 of the oceans. Call him when you have something more to offer. This plot thread.. never really went anywhere, as Namor turned himself in at the end of Jason Aaron's run on avengers and Atlantis was a non factor by the time the latest gala ended in a bloodbath. We do get this outfit for my boy magneto

Unlike Charles who.. I sitll don't get what he's going for, Erik pulls it off. It also begs the question WHY charles wore his big ass helmet to the party. Max had a WAY cooler helemet that matched his outfit and went with a bitching top hat chuck, what's your excuse.

We then get right to the point: the X-Men vote. And how it's done.. is endlessly cool. Jean telepahtically reaches out to every mutant everywhere.. and the vote happens. The Human Torch is a bit confused... partly because he's not sure how his rap went down

But mostly because he dosen't know what the heck their doing. Dr. Strange fills him in.

It's a truly awesome way to do it too: it not only left a nice hook for the series, as each person's pitch is shown over the course of Duggan's first year on the title, it's just a neat concept and way to do it. As for who made the cut...

This is such a cool page. I love it dearly. It helps the x-men picked for duty all got great gala outfits, from Rogues which resembles her first uniform, to Shrio's dope as hell suit and wearing his sunfire mask because why wouldn't you if your mask was that sweet, to synch's techincolor suit it's awesome.

So a breakdown of this roster for those less familiar with the x-men. Besides Cyclops, Jean and Rogue, who shoudlnt' need an intro, we have Wolverine, Laura Kinney, also known as X-23, wolverin'es female clone and certified badass, Sunfire, an arrogant frenemy of the x-men's with fire powers and a proud japanese heritage, the aformentioned polaris and Synch, a member of generation x, the 90's class of teenage x-men, recently ressurected after spending a thousand years in a vault. Long story. It's a stellar roster and while Duggan's first year on the book was rocky, it can't be denied this was a great choice for his first for the most part. My only gripe is a lack of diversity, with only two members of the team who aren't white. Otherwise it's a good selection.

So after this we get two pages of Sinsiter being a gossipy bitch before we get to the ending of this issue, a truly amazing scene with a bit of meta flare. A tad cheesy.. but the kind of cheese I like.

So after another cameo by Patton Oswalt, as seen by RTJ the gala had a lot of real life celbreity cameos thrown in, all approved by the people themselves, Kevin Fiege, head of marvel asks Scott a simple question

Is it a tad cheesy to have the head of marvel literally ask a character whose key to their next big franchise his story? Yes.. but I can't help but love it. It's just a fun way to have Cyclops give his story and given marvel comics actually exists in universe, it's not a stretch to say some form of the mcu does either, simply running on the same "offical authorized story" deal they have with most heroes, changing it up for ones whose id's aren't public.

Due to image limits and not wanting to overdue it, the speech stretches over two full pages, i'll have to due with quoting it. But it's one of my faviorite moments of this era so far, and it gets to the heart of who scott summers is NOW.. and just who he is.

"I was blind. Blind to how the world worked...and then I met a man who taught me to see—see how things really were. I loved him for it. And because I loved him—because I believed in him...and, in a way, worshipped him—I claimed things that he had faith in as my own. He called it his dream. It was a good one. But the world, you see—the waking world—were we all live...it is a killer of dreams. A destroyer of things you believe in. So when I grew older, I realized it was foolish to...deify him. Honestly, it's unfair to expect that kind of perfection from anyone. After all, we're all flawed and imperfect... There is no real difference between any of us. No matter how much we believe the lie that there is. You see, he wasn't a savior. He was just a man—a mutant—like me. And his dreams—which still make me smile to this day—are no more valid than anyone else's. Including mine. So what's my story? I'm a dreamer. I'm an X-Man."

Scott is the guy who belviies in Xavier's dream more than the man himself, and while he sidestepped it for a while, as the world wore him down.. he never truly gave up on it.. and he'll never stop fighting for it. So as Scott walks off Emma cues the fireworks.

Planet Size X-Men

So before I get into this one , some context: When this issue happened.. what the fireworks were.. was a suprise. It was kept deathly secret and the reactions seen in marauders were a tease the x-men had done something MASSIVE. While for our purposes here you know the twist I just wanted the context for readers that the x-men colonizing a whole damn planet.. was a massive well done suprise. IT's something this era does well: it hides spoilers VERY well and even when some info has to come out via solicits, it does a great job not telling us everything.

So we open the issue with the reveal of what their doing: The narration is a flashback to someone talking to Forge, the x-men's resident inventor, about IF what their about to do before our eyes is possible. And to start they need a ton of iron, and to plunge it into the planet, then get it nice and hot.

The first part.. is easy given the master of magnet is around and we get a lovely shot of Magneto hauling a giant meteor. This issue's done by Duggan with art by Pepe Laraz, who also did art for House of X and is a phenominal artist, so he not suprisingly knocks it out of the park here. Using the metal they open the planet and as forge puts it "perform open heart surgery" using a team of Hope and Vulcan, Scott Summer's youngest brother who has energy powers> They get it bubbly, Max stirs the sauce with his powers.. and next up is Iceman, who proudly announces himself to the party, whose all viewing this telepathically thanks to Emma Frost

We then flash back to a few days ago. Magneto TRIES to talk some sense into Iscaa the unbeaten, annoyed at the Arakkil shenanigans I mentioned before, but she's unmoved. As long as their of this planet, they'll act as they have and conquer. This likely gave Max the idea.

And his timing for it isn't bad as the Hellfire Trading Company have another problem: their suplies for the lifesaving drugs are running out. The X-Men were doing most of their production in the savage land, a land where dinosaurs never died out, but the super science golden girls stole most of it, so they REALLY need a new place for production. Mags asks to borrow Emma's spaceship.. and prepares his pitch.

The next day Cap and Cyclops talk at westchester, with Cyclops assuring Cap there's a solution to the arakko problem, which gets him to come to the gala. Max pitches his plan to the quiet council and it's a rare unanmous "YES".

Cut to the morning of the gala and while Mags has a lot of the pieces he needs.. he needs more. So he first goes to Jamie Braddock, brother of Bestsy (Formerly Psylocke now Captain Britan) and Brian (also Captain Britan), and half mad reality warper, who Mags convinces to help out. He also goes to Arakko and their own council happens to have three Omega Level Mutants (Mutants with no upper limit to their powers, something firmly defined in this era after being vauge for years on end), who fit the bill: Lacuta the Knower, Sobunar of the Depths, and Xilo the first defender of this broken land.

Back in present day Sobunar goes first: Sobunar contains an ENTIRE ocean within them, so they simply donate a little water and have jamie expand it into an ocean. Storm captalizes on this, using her powers to the strongest they've ever been to give the planet weather, giving the dead red planet wind for the first time.

Next up is Xilo, who.. tears off his head and combines with the land.. he's also a caterpillar. Because why not. With Elixer's help he restores life leaving the next step for the final member of our trio, Lacuta. Her power.. is knowing the precise location of everything. So using her , Jean Grey and exodus, a centuries old telepath bar NONE, shove the ENTIRETY of arakko through the external gate, a magical super krakoan gate, to mars.

WIth that Arakko is on here.. and Arakko itself, which like krakoa is alive, sighs happily at it's first bloodless victory in a long while. A diplomatic area is set up as is a memorial to honor those who could not make it

The downside of the review format is I really can't show you just how awe inspiring all this is. I do have images an dcan show you some of it but the compression here and how much this issue makes use of the full page makes it impossible to translate. It's why while my reviews are good on their own merit, they'll never be a subsitute for the media in question.

So after this Arakko needs it's own SWORD station. SWORD was once the space verison of SHIELD, but with SHIELD ending and Earth's own space branch, alpha flight, being laughably ineffective, former SWORD head Abigail brand went to mutantkind fo ra space program, resulting in their revivail. And since they need a base here, Jean and Quinten Quire, professional loveable scamp, implant the idea of one in his mind. Jean says she's making him pregnant with it.. and soon regrets her word choice

I... didn't doctor any of this. All of this actually happened. Jean Grey made a man pregnant with a space station. That's canon. That's part of this landmark in x-history. God bless you X-Slack, one and all.

Elixer has one last idea.. and this time it's just transmitted to prevent more of .. that... so Jamie gladly obliges, creating port promethus, a massive hub for all the space ships a comin. With that all of Krakoa is welcomed to..

With that we get some data pages, a bold announcment proclaming this the captial of our solar system, a person in the goverment reporting, and nasa being disapointed by mutantkind just anexing the planet but hoping they can visit.

And before we move on to the direct ramifications in story.. let's talk about those fireworks shall we? The Terraforming of Mars into Planet Arakko.. is one of the biggest, genius and insane swings i've seen in a comic. It's all perfectly built up too: from the beginning of this era i'ts been built up how much power omega mutants have, how much stronger krakoa can be it's ties to space via the shiar and brood. And over in SWORD, which had recently launched and will close out today's look at the gala, they subtly laid the seeds: SWORD had been further pushing the idea of a "mutant circuit", i.e. using a group of mutants in concert to do a task, the first being of course the five and SWORD having a circuit in it's first issue bring a super metal from beyond time and space. The idea of seeing just what mutants could do with their powers and a whole nation had been seeded... it's here it sprouts. In what's implied to be an hour at most, with the world watching, mutantkind terraformed a dead planet. While both terriotires had different goverments the fact remained mutantkind now had a PLANET.

It's also nice in that even if Krakoa as a nation tumbles into history... this is something that really CAN'T be easily undone: Mutantkind created a new planet stuffed with mutants, where alien dignitaries have visited, and that humankind will NEVER forget happened. Even if it all collapsed the sheer scope of it is something that can't help but have impact. It's the kind of status quo shift you could ONLY pull off in this era, with these characters, at this time, a perfect allinging of the planets... to let another be reborn.

It also has a lot of nice fallout that's still being felt: A whole book would end up dedicated to this new concept, X-Men Red, which is one of the best of this era and one of the best x-books period, and it's not even over yet. We'll likely look at that next year, or at least part of it, but the idea of this warbased society grappling with peace is fascinating as is humanity grappling with loosing one of it's biggest pieces of the sky. There's so much that's been done with this concept, so much more to do and it's one of my faviorite in the x-men's long history of awesome ideas and was brought about stunningly, with the issue being one long showstopper. They hyped the hell out of this one moment.. and man oh man did they deliver. All that's left.. is the afterparty.

S.W.O.R.D. #7

SWORD opens with Captain america, standing alone reflecting his thoughts. This opening is one of th emain reasons I wanted sword as part of this: this scene helpfully frames what happened from a human perspective, by showing how the best of us grapples with what just happened. And also DOOM, who'd tell you he was but you know DOOM. Cap decides to humor him this once and share his thoughts.. mostly because Victor points out they are both faces of their nations and the weird irony of that tickles our hero a bit. The speech that follows.. is gorgeous, showing that SWORD, and future x-men red, writer Al Ewing, one of my personal faviorite writers, REALLY gets cap. I mean he really gets pretty much any character he rights but still.

Cap relates the story of his waking up from the ice. How soon after.. he felt hopless, a shocking thing to hear from Captain I Can Do This All Day, but understandable: Everything he knew and loved was gone and he'd missed decades. Tony gave him hope by showing the moon landing, showing how much humanity achieved.. but got quiet when Steve asked where the colonies were... what had come NEXT. It's a sad statment on the fact we just kinda.. gave up on space after realizing it was too expensive to exploit.

I belivie in a better tommorow is a cap line up there with classics like "I'm loyal to nothing except the dream" and "No you move", and this scene is expertly done: it shows the two sided coin: Steve is well aware humanity kind of gave up on mars and other planets aside from mapping them, but still wishes they'd worked together.. instead of their next iteration swooping in and taking it all. It's the lovely double edged sword of this all: The Mutants had every right to do this: they had the power, the technology and the need. But it still means they took it for themselves and only themselves.

So while Cap muses about this and Doom heads off to do Doom stuff, we cut to SWORD"s station the Peak where director Abigail Brand, who nick fury wishes he could be, is explaning the situation to a council of galactic ambassadors from very marvel races and factions. Notable faces include Orbis Stellaris, who'd become VERY important soon enough, a guy named Riitho representing the interglactic empire of wakanda, a real thing that exists, long story I don't quite know to be honest, Smasher, former avenger, wife of x-man and former avenger Cannonball, and representive for longtime x-men space buddies the shiar, paibok the power skrull representing the kree skrull alliance and three of the guardians of the galaxy: Star Lord represnting his in comics half home of spartax, Noh Varr aka marvel boy represtning the Utopian Kree and Richard Rider , the man called nova representing earth. Ewing adopted Richie who'd come back from the dead but hadn't got a lot to do, making him a focal point of his run on Guardians and then bringing him over to X-Men Red after that.

Richie in paticular is nettled they didn't tell anyone, and while Frenzy, part of SWORD's security, points out he was kinda busy with guardains stuff.. he still has a point: While Krakoa coudln't afford to tell EVERYONE or someone would've tried to stop them, and they DID need this space... they didn't tell ANYONE they were doing this.

The rest of the delegates are ambivalent: For humanity , mutantkind terraforming a whole planet is a big whoop. And while the SPEED is impressive, terraforming a planet is pretty standard procedure for the empires present.

Thankfully Mutankind brought Abigail brand to the negotating table: she's lived in space her whole life, knows it better than earth, and her whole reason for restarting sword is that she's sick of earth being so ambiviliant and reactionary: they've been invaded COUNTLESS times.. yet the heroes wait. In the previously reviewed epilogue to empire/gay wedding of the century, she quit Alpha Flight entirley because head at the time Carol Danvers.. didn't think to consult her or anyone abotu the crisis and instead cried avengers assemble.

So she decides to take a page from the krakoan book with some space flair: like Krakoa, Arakko won't be recognized without something to give and since the healing plants aren't really a huge get, she has something more: Mysterium,. the metal they plucked from the white hot center of the omniverse.

It's a COOL as hell call back: why did they plunder time and space.. not because they could. .but to get the sol system a foot in the galactic door. See at the time of this run, something running out of Ewing's guardians run as Al ewing tends to use every book he writes to follow up on others, Ewing had the clever idea of the galactic community being in a pretty crappy place: after so many wars, sieges, and attempted conquests, they were battered and the economy suffered. Mysterium... is the answer. Expensive, as seen here super useful for space travel and recovery after all the nonsense the unvierse has been put through.. and a perfect Bribe. Abigail is upfront about it too: as I said this is the same as Krakoa using the drugs and Abby says that outright: a new currency to help the unvierse recover.. in exchange for recognition. Abby's logic is also flawless here: Earth.. has a ton of nations, their all squabbling and generally can't agree on how to treat their own people much less aliens. Arakko is one goverment and thus allows them to simply negotiate with them instead.

Naturally though for a confrence like this.. someone has to ask...

I said he had doom stuff to do.... I didn't say said stuff wasn't in this issue did I? Doom demands to know: who speaks for sol. Given how Victor is, tyranicall and very personality based, he demands an audience with it's rule: who is it's king. Who is it's monarch. And naturally for this story... the answer is badass as hell. It's also the answer every X-Men fan predicted, but it's no less awesome

It's a perfect choice: Storm really hadn't done much in this era up to this point... but in interviews HIckman and others constantly said they had more plans for her and "great stuff coming up". This is the payoff: Storm is once again a queen... and a perfect fit. She's peaceful enough to lead the arakkil in a new direction.. but she's still storm. It's part of what makes Orroro such a great character: she can be gentle, kind and fair.. but god help you if you think you can win a fight with her. And given Roro now has to deal with both a planet of warmongers AND various galactic empires ready to try to exploit this, not to mention eventually Abigail herself trying to exploit this for her own ends, a LOT of people are going to need god's help.

This conversation continues into the next issue, but for our story, the end is not on the grand new red planet.. but back on Krakoa. Magneto is quitely having a drink to himself.. and has a guest.

So one last bit of backstory for this run, for the non comic guys in the audience, hi kevin and such: In the comics Wanda, during a mental breakdown after being manpulated by her own brother, depowered all but 200 of mutantkind. Give or take obviously because comics, but still most were left powerless thanks to her. Wanda DID do her best to atone once she returned much later, helping restore mutantkind.. but instead of undrestanding she wasn't in her right headspace, no one thought "hey let's get her a threapist instead of try to kill her".. no really that was the storyline. Bendis I swear.

Anyway, instead Mutantkind turned her into the boogeyman

Yes a bogeyman, "The PRetender" as it was later revealed she wasn't a mutant because marvel didn't have rights to them at the time. And while I do wish this era had turned her back into one.. the directoin they went was clever.. and this scene is part of it. Wanda comes to her once thought to be bio dad: she skipped the party because well.. she knows what they say and the pretender can't sit at the throne.

Magneto's response? one of the best moment's in the characters history and clear proof of why Ewing was given the character for X-Men Red not long after

It's a heartbreaking well done speech.. and honestly an angle for helping undo the hasty unparenting of Magneto I never considered: Keeping Wanda not a mutant.. but having Magnus still consider her his child. Have him realize after buildling paradise.. that he'd been a pretty crappy father to her, even if he turned out not to be his dad, how he wasn't much better to his biological daughter Lorna. and That even if she's seen as the pretender.. that Wanda is his kid and deserves better. It's also a nice aseop: that you don't NEED to be biologically related ot be family. She's his daughter. End of dicussion. And he will fix this

The how ended up being convoluted, but did result in Wanda going from the pretender, to the redeemer by setting up the waiting room, a way to bring back mutants who didn't have an imprint in cerebro. It's a touching end to this story.. I mean granted the story ACTUALLY ends with magneto suspected of her murder, but it'ts not where we're ending

The Hellfire Gala is one of my faviorite comics events. IT's a unique take on one: instead of a big fight or a big crisis.. it's just a party. It still has all the gravitas and after effects: Wanda's very temporary death leading to her excellent new era under Steve Orlando, the start of Magneto's character arc for X-Men red, a whole new setting with vast ramifications, a new team, and lots of other smaller setups. It's no suprise they did it again the next two years. It's a story packed with both the fun breezy character moment's you'd expect like Emma discovering steve's mommy kink or RTJ getting ready to watch doom fight steve all day, or gambling time, and the big stuff needed to justify it being an event, all organically threaded from here.

We'll no doubt return to krakoa and I already have plans to return to the x-men next year. For now though... we've reached the end of x-men month. As we enter spooky season.. thank you for reading, my x-men.

[chucktaylors]

Learn a bit about me with my top 10s, bc i'm sure we have at least something in common!

MY TOP 10...

• FACTIONS

Bullet Club: Mostly all eras, but especially the BTE era and the War Dogs era

The Elite: AEW version, specifically 2021 era is what im referring to, im not including this with bullet club, but i hold them close to heart

Best Friends: literal comfort group, everything thats going on rn with them is killing me. I talk abt Chuck and Trent more than i do my mother

House of Black: I've loved Malakai since he's started in NXT, and him, along with the whole group, are easily one of the most creative ppl in wrestling rn

Bullet Club Gold: I'm not including them with bullet club either bc this ones a lil diff. Im in love with all of them ...

United Empire: Will, Kyle, Mark, and TJP have my hearts. nothing less, nothing more

The Dark Order: Underrated, funny af, amazing merch, where could u go wrong?

G.o.D: specifically the Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Hikuleo, ELP era. theyre stupid.

The Bloodline: aka i just like tama tonga and tanga loa

The Judgement Day: Finn and Damien are pretty funny, and everyone likes rhea

• TAG TEAMS

The Young Bucks: number one young bucks defender for life, matt jackson is my legal husband, what else is there to know

Best Friends: yes they are here again but im talking about Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta. Brain rot.

Aussie Open: Yo mark, tf u at dude?! KYLE AND WILL ARE IN THE CALIS FAMILY FOR GOD SAKES

Golden Lovers: no need to explain.

Lucha Bros: there is nothing not to like about them, im not explaining myself

Private Party: OH MY GOD IS THAT PRIVATE PARTY?!

G.o.D: idiots.

Darby and Sting: Darby was my first AEW love so we gotta rep

Chelsea Green and Piper Niven: they go together so well omg i love them so much. give them those belts back

The OC: i am the only person i know that finds karl anderson hot, so if ur out there and u get it, i understand you.

• MALE WRESTLERS

Will Ospreay: 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

Matt Jackson: he is a sassy drama queen that somehow got access to a mic.

Chuck Taylor: HES ADORABLE!! i hope he gets surgery and returns, i rlly love that man

Trent Beretta: His storyline and character right now is easily my fav current storyline, he is amazing omg

TJP: underrated underrated underrated underrated

Jay White: the way he talks puts me in a trance

David Finlay: i miss his white strip of hair, but he still serves cunt every look

Malakai Black: UNDER.RATED. OH MY GOD HES AMAZING.

ELP: idiot.

Tama Tonga: Idiot.

• WOMAN WRESTLERS

Willow Nightingale: i dont get how u cant love her

Kris Statlander: she is absolutely breathtaking omg and an absolute novice in the ring

Lola Vice: same damn thing i said abt Kris

Lash Legend: shes so funny omg 😭

Becky Lynch: Classic fav

Tiffany Stratton: Her character is amazing i love it

Chelsea Green: Same as Tiffany

Nia Jax: shes grown so much and is absolutely amazing and beautiful and hilarious

Rhea Ripley: Classic fav

Zelina Vega: ive honestly loved her since nxt, absolutely breathtaking

[mikuyuuss]

I just got home from the Kny premiere❤️ I got these free merch, and sadly we had to choose between Mui and Mitsuri shirts, so me and my friend both chose Mitsuri for each of us.

The only size that was available is extra large, and is way too big for me. I hope I can still pull it off with a baggy look with my matching green socks or something. Anyways, I need to gather my thoughts because, man I didn't expect to be as speechless as I am now after finishing it lol.

First of all WOW, I somehow didn't expect the infinity fortress to be so big I don't know why I somehow visualize it as just some really big maze of hallways, but the movie showed a whole ass city, and apparently with houses too as Douma said.

And speaking of Douma, Mamoru Miyano did such an amazing job with him! I don't remember him being this cute in the manga, but in the anime HE WAS JUST SO ADORABLE. I almost felt bad with how Akaza and Kokushibo were treating him lol. I just cannot get over how amazing all the vas are, especially Koku with Byakuyas voice!!

And speaking of Swordsmith Village. Ngl, Swordsmith wasn't exactly my favorite arc in the manga, (as much as I adore Mui, Mitsuri and Genya there.) but seeing it in anime and just seeing the environment in general, with the swordsmiths, the blade forging and the world building, made me appreciate it so much more. My friend however, said how he wished the village looked bigger. Our guess is it might be a lot bigger than it looks with more houses that are simply hidden.

Tanjiro's introduction to Genya is just h i l a r i o u s, sometimes I just forget how weird their first interaction is lol. Just from the the way it was animated and how it went manga panel style just as soon as Tanjiro is gonna jump. It's all just perfect.👌

And of course there's the infamous Mitsuri bath scene. I remember saying before about how I was worried that they might exaggerate the fan service scenes, but thankfully, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I know there were some people who wished to omit the bath scene altogether, and I'M SO GLAD THEY DIDN'T, let her enjoy her bath smh 😤 Prior to this, I heard stories about how someone moaned in the theaters during that scene. There wasn't anything like that in my own experience. 🤣 But the audience did gasp, mostly heard comments like "She's so pretty!" something like that.

Also gotta give it to Mitsuri's va Kana Hanazawa! I mentioned before how she also voiced some of my favorite female characters like Akane Tsunemori. I felt that she's a bit underrated within the va community, probably bc they think that she's limited to shy and cutesy roles (she isn't) but the thing is, Kanahana REALLY SHINES when she plays characters like Mitsuri, and it shows. I LOVE the Mitsuri and Nezuko scenes. It was just WAY TOO CUTE AND WHOLESOME (I can't believe I haven't drawn these two together yet ;_;) and I even heard the collective "Awwwwwwws" of the audience during that scene. It was just that cute.

(But that said, I'm a little disappointed they didn't include the part where Mitsuri was singing to Nezuko, it was such a missed opportunity, I wonder if it's too late to add them to the episode once the season is fully released... 🤔)

But overall, It was all really really good, and I was getting so excited to also see Muichiro and then suddenly it ended abruptly, and then I remembered that this was just a teaser of sorts and not the full movie. So I don't know how to end this post except to say that me and my friend are both shoocked.

[littlepikmins]

hiya pikmins! favorite antagonist and underrated character for 500 please

🗝️ favorite antagonist?

I love so many antagonists but Master of Masters from Kingdom Hearts holds a very special place in my heart because he's just so charismatic! I also really like Magolor, Volo, etc for similar reasons, I like unhinged crazy villains

🕷️a character you feel is underrated?

Mika Genshin Impact because he is my son and I love him very much 🥺🥺

I'd also say Tails from Sonic is underrated. A lot of the silly little guys I kin seem underrated to me but maybe that's another reason I like them so much, they have a lot of potential that hasn't been met so I can like imagine them on new adventures and such!

Magna is also underrated and needs more love because it makes me so sad he doesn't get merch alongside Luck very much! They're a package deal! (Tabata please give us Magna lore so more people start to notice what an amazing character he is!)

[disney-is-mylife]

Favorite Disney couples of all time and why? Also do you think that the Disney princes deserve their own franchise?(like the big 3: Shang, Naveen and Eugene)

I have too many faves lol, but my top 3 in no particular order are:

Belle/Adam

Tarzan/Jane

Kristoff/Anna

Beauty and the Beast is *chef's kiss* high-key Disney's magnum opus. Need I say more? Perfect story, perfect romance, perfection. How can I NOT count them??? ❤

Tarzan and Jane are SUCH an underrated couple. That scene where they swing slowly around each other is EVERYTHING.

I mostly blame fanfiction for why I'm obsessed with Kristanna lmao, BUT the canon stuff is top-tier as well. The scenes when he's racing to save Anna!!!! (both towards the castle while she's nestled in his arms, and afterwards, trying to give her True Love's Kiss 😭)

~

As for the idea of a Disney Prince franchise.... honestly, the whole "franchise" concept is beyond my understanding and is better off explained by someone who studies/works in marketing. That said, I would NOT complain seeing more merch of my boys, let alone my ships... 👀👀