#i deleted it from the internet in embarrassment and no longer have the original file either :'(

[marshmallowgoop]

Repostober Day 19 | 19 OCs

Nineteen original characters of mine, drawn from 2007 to 2013. Most are from my NaNoWriMo novels (1, 2, 4, 5, and 7, but especially 1), but a couple are from some one-off comics I made.

[isaacthedruid]

Please allow me to tell you about one of my favourite cartoons through this informal essay I did for school a couple of months back. 

Gravity Falls and How it Did The Unimaginable

**SPOILERS... KINDA**

The 2010s saw the creation of some of the most iconic animated tv shows ever made, the likes of Adventure Time (2010), Steven Universe (2013), Over the Garden Wall (2014) and The Legend of Korra (2012). To explain why this era’s shows are so admirable is honestly rather difficult. Yet, there are many factors that can be taken into consideration when looking for an answer.

The past decade was very successful in perfecting their craft and utilizing the animated format to their favour, creating some of the wackiest and fascinating cartoons ever made. With the advancements made in both 2D and 3D animation for film, this bled into the world of TV as well.

To mention that 2010s cartoons have stunning visuals would be an understatement. Everything about the animation was beautiful; the strong colour palettes, the clean and imaginative character designs, the colourful and immersive backgrounds and especially the mesmerizing worlds that can be found within episodes that are half an hour.

This era’s cartoons also led to a massive shift in storytelling, writing longer-running stories that spread out across seasons while also swapping out episodic adventures for serialization. This heavily aided in the popularization of these shows, due to the rise of internet fandoms and dropping the taboo that cartoons were only for kids. Many shows acknowledged their older viewers by leaving clues and even puzzles to be solved by the theorists who have a large appearance on social media platforms like Reddit, Twitter and Tumblr. As the shows progressed, their fandoms created many theories for what they believed might happen within their favourite series. The top three shows from this era all utilized these changes, being at the forefront of the shift and helping guide the creative vision of 2010s cartoons.

Often regarded as many people’s favourite cartoon, Gravity Falls presented one of the best mysteries of the decade with two seasons and only 40 episodes. Inspired by Twin Peaks and The X-Files, it’s considered as the kids’ version of these two iconic shows as this cartoon acts as many people’s first introduction to horror through bright colours and fun characters.

This series follows the adventures of Dipper and Mabel Pines, twins, who are sent to spend their summer with their great-uncle or Grunkle Stan in Gravity Falls, Oregon. This town is full of oddities like supernatural creatures, insane and eccentric inhabitants, and many puzzles. The Pines twins must adjust to the weirdness while uncovering the mysteries and protecting their new town.

While living in Gravity Falls, the twins are forced to work in the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap created by their Grunkle Stan that overcharges unlucky tourists, teaching about fake monsters despite there being real creatures all over town. On his first day in Oregon, Dipper accidentally came across a mysterious journal written by an unknown author that explains all the oddities to be found in this strange town. This book acts like an encyclopedic of the Weird for Dipper, an inquisitive 12-year-old kid who seeks answers.

Dipper is an extremely intelligent kid, his brain being far more developed than his body. He’s rather awkward and self-conscious as he often stumbles over his words or gets embarrassed trying to talk to girls. Despite this, the boy is an adventurer at heart who just wants to grow up and skip his upcoming teenage years.

While Mabel is quite the opposite in many ways, she is loud and has an in-your-face personality. Mabel is bouncy and fun, she is so excited to start high school. She is easily excitable and for the larger part of the series, she is in her boy-crazy phase. Mabel is a girly-girl as she likes all things; glitter, unicorns, rainbows, partying and crafting. Yet, she doesn’t often compare well with many of the other girls in town, they see her as weird and “too much”.

(In all fairness through, it is not too kind to either of the characters as their personalities are more complex than just awkward nerd and artsy girl-girly.)

Dipper and Mabel’s personalities are very different but somehow, they—along with their Gravity Falls family—manage to solve mysteries and save the town, multiple times.

Gravity Falls is an honestly genius series that completely changed the way cartoons were made. Originally when writing a series, you’d create a base of your story; characters, the universe and a basic plot. Yet, when creator, Alex Hirsch (who was in his early/mid-20)s and his small team first began constructing their show, they planned out everything they could possibly think of for the first season. Additionally, outlining some answers for their biggest mysteries that would be answered at the end of the series.

Despite being rated TV-Y7, this series really pushed the boundaries of kids’ television. From the teeth being ripped out of a deer’s mouth by a demon, rearranging the functions of every hole on a man’s face to an aggressive pop-rock sock puppet show that ended in a dramatic slow-motion scene of the puppets burning. Gravity Falls wasn’t afraid to get a little weird or creepy. Or create some genuine nightmare fuel. 

From the beginning, Gravity Falls had built a mystery into its series, hiding secrets and clues all throughout the show. Most notably were the backwards-recorded message and cryptograms, using roughly nine different kinds, even creating two of their own.

The inclusion of cyphers and mysteries for fans to solve is possibly the reason why this series was so successful. As one of the first shows to do something like this, Gravity Falls used social media and internet fandoms to its advantage.

As mentioned earlier, cartoon fans have quite a presence on social media platforms like Twitter and Tumblr. They create theories and share fun ideas about their favourite shows. Viewers of Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe were all included in their share of theory fun.

Sometimes, fan theories end up being correct but when you’re Gravity Falls creator, Alex Hirsch, you don’t just watch from the sidelines as your viewers figure out the biggest mystery of your show. No, you create a hoax to get your viewers off your trail and that is what he did. Around 2013, only halfway through the first season of the show, viewers had started to follow the clues, theorizing who was the author is Dipper’s mysterious journal.

Unfortunately for the Gravity Falls production crew, the viewers were right— for the sake of readers who have never seen the show, I will not mention who the author was as it would be the biggest spoiler.

In 2013, a supposed leaked image of a tv showing a younger version of the show’s crazy old man character, Old Man McGucket, writing in the infamous journal was uploaded anonymously (by Alex Hirsch) to 4Chan.

Despite the image only being on up for a few hours, it spread like wildfire. Much to the team’s success, theorists stopped searching for the answer to “who is the author” and just accepted the image of McGucket as the truth.

To further push the fake-out, three words were posted to Alex’s Twitter, “fuming right now.”

The tweet was deleted a few minutes later and fans genuinely believed that someone from the Gravity Falls team had leaked the most important part of the story.

While doing research, I came across a Reddit post from April 10th, 2013, the day after ‘leak,’ Alex’s tweet was uploaded. In this post, user, TheoDW uploaded an image of Alex’s tweet with the caption, “It seems that Hirsch got mad at last night’s leak. He already deleted this tweet.”

Seeing the reactions of these Redditors in 2013 is kind of weird and crazy to look at. “He has every right to be upset. Someone internally released a plot revealing screen shot of series breaking spoiler information,” a deleted Reddit account commented.

“This is Alex Hirsch’s biggest success by far, he spent a huge amount of time carefully planning out the series, and then in a moment someone releases a major spoiler. It would make anyone upset,” the user, Time_Loop commented.

“Seriously, this is a nightmare for a storyteller, and shows a breach of trust. I feel so bad for him–honestly, I hope whoever did the leak gets caught and appropriate action is taken. You don’t f–k with someone’s story like this. It’s unprofessional.” the user, lonelybeloved angrily commented.

In 2014, this ‘leak’ was finally disproven when viewers were given an episode on McGucket’s backstory and an amazing tweet from Alex Hirsch. 

Alex had post an image of himself playfully pointing at a monitor with the supposed leaked picture with the caption, “1) Make hoax  2) Upload to 4Chan  3) Post angry tweet about "leak" 4) Delete tweet 5) Let internet do rest”

It is so interesting to look at these comments know that all of this was orchestrated by Alex.

I wish I had been old enough at the time to follow theories and fandom stuff like I do now with current cartoons but really looking at this from an outside perspective, this was insane!

The real author wasn’t revealed until 2015 and when viewers first got the answer to this biggest show on their screens, they must have freaked out!

Following the finale in 2016, a single frame of a stone version of Bill Cipher, the show’s villain, flashed in after the credits had finished.

Alex Hirsch and his team actually created a real-life statue of their villain for their viewers to find and on July 20th, 2016, the Cipher Hunt began.

By following clues, the Hunters found themselves all over the world; Russia, Japan and then travelling throughout the United States for the final 12 clues. When the hunt took them to Los Angeles, actor, Jason Ritter (voice of Dipper Pines, also a massive fan of the series) and Alex Hirsch’s twin sister, Ariel Hirsch (the inspiration for Mabel) joined in the fun helping the search.

Finally, the hunt ended on August 2nd when someone tweeted out an image of the found statue in Oregon, the same state in which the fictional town of Gravity Falls exists. The Cipher Hunt had ended but finding the statue wasn’t Alex’s goal for the scavenger hunt, it was about the journey and bringing together the viewers, more than having them actually find the statue.

Creating its own hoax, an international scavenger hunt and quite a bit of nightmare fuel, Gravity Falls was a show truly unlike any other.

The 2010s saw some of the strongest cartoons ever made, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls and Steven Universe acting as the leaders for multiple different changes in the medium; storytelling, worldbuilding, interaction with viewers, utilizing social media, representation and further pushing music into the cartoon world. From what was created this past decade and what has already been released in 2020, I’m so excited to see what comes next.

I have another one of these which is on Steven Universe’s representation and music if you would like to see that too!! 

[softmakoharus]

makoharu bedtime story - makoto’s phone

imagine haru and makoto in bed about to sleep. h: did you ever figure out what was wrong with your phone? m: mm, there isn't enough space left for the update. h: because you have too much junk. m: i don't! h: all those games. m: it's only a few! i think i have too many pictures. h: at least that will be easy to fix. just delete some of them. m: ... h: makoto. m: i need them! h: every single picture on your phone is important? m: probably! h: give it to me. m: well, ok. but don't delete anything yet! makoto grabs his phone and opens the pictures folder. h: this can't be right. m: hm? h: it says you have 12,000 pictures. m: *laughs nervously* h: and over 100 of those are cats. m: well, that folder is just tokyo cats... h: they're separated by region? m: you should be proud of how organized i am! h: i am. shocked, really. wait, you have a folder called r18 haru.

m: *blushes* y-yeah... h: why would you name it that? what if you lose your phone? m: you need a code to unlock it, though, remember? h: what is it, 1-2-3-4? m: eh, maybe i should change it. h: wha-- makoto! m: i'm kidding, i'm kidding. h: oh, you told me before. the code is my birthday. m: right. h: let's see what you have in here. m: they're all worth keeping. h: you really need my ass from every angle? m: *laughs* obviously. h: you have too many of my face. m: it's beautiful! h: this is so embarrassing... m: it's not like i took them secretly! look, you sent me those. h: i know... wait, what's that one? and that one? m: *laughs* you were a little tipsy the night you sent them. it was before we lived together. h: i... don't remember. what body part is that? m: hmm... elbow? h: can i delete these? just these four. they're too much. m: of course! want to see one of my favorites? h: probably not. pervert. m: *laughs* i'm not! give it here. makoto scrolls to a picture of them lying in bed smiling at each other, with haru's hand cupping makoto's cheek. h: *smiles* our first time. m: you can tell? h: you got a haircut that morning and were afraid it was too short. m: that's right! i can see it now in this picture. did it look bad? h: kind of. m: haru! you said it was fine! h: i didn't want you to overthink it. m: this picture's ruined now! h: *laughs* stop being so dramatic. m: look at my bangs! i look like sousuke. h: please... please don't say that... m: i should delete it. h: do you really think i was focused on what your hair looked like? m: *smiles* well, no... probably not. h: idiot... all i cared about was how much we loved each other. m: *smiles* me too. h: and your naked body. m: *laughs* so even if i were bald...? h: i don't love you that much. m: *laughs* haru! h: i'm kidding. m: *kisses haru's forehead* i know. can we look at your phone now? h: oh, well... m: have something to hide? *smiles* h: *scoffs* no, here. m: ah, see! you have dirty pictures of me, too. h: right, but i didn't name the folder "naked pictures of my husband that i masturbate to." m: i didn't make it that obvious! h: so you admit you use the pictures for that? m: *laughs* come on, haru. h: well? m: shut up. you know i do. i mean, of course. sometimes. h: pervert. m: we're married!! h: *laughs* turn it off, let's go to sleep. m: i'm not done looking! h: you're just going to get embarrassed. m: *giggles* the pictures are embarrassing but... it makes me happy you save them. h: *blushes* of course i do. it would be a waste not to. m: you think i look good, hm? h: i'm just a good photographer. m: *laughs* sure, sure. can i look at your other pictures? h: i don't mind. m: oh! ran and ren's swimming competition! h: look at this one, how proud you are of them. m: i still can't believe they got so tall. h: your poor mom. m: at least in this one, you're there to balance it out a little. h: i'm not that short! m: just... comparatively. h: whatever. m:  *smiles* haru... you take screenshots of our messages? h: *blushes* sometimes you say cute things. m: there are so many of me sleeping. h: you sleep a lot. m: our wedding, vacations... even some cats. h: to send to you... m: you have more pictures than i was expecting. h: sorry, i guess i was being too hard on you. m: it's nice having them to easily look back at. h: mm. m: like when i miss my family, or you. h: me? we're not apart that much. m: well, sometimes you get up in the morning without me. h: *laughs* so you look at pictures of us? m: it heals my lonely heart to remember the good times we've had together. h: *laughs* shut up. m: *laughs* i miss you so much, haru-chan! h: fine then, i'll wake you tomorrow. how's 5:00? m: in the morning?! that's too early! h: *smiles* ok... 9:00? m: i can manage that. h: let's go to sleep. m: mm. h: oh, but your phone is still a problem. m: hmm... well... i really should delete some files. i think the largest one i have is our wedding video. h: get rid of it. m: i can't delete our marriage!! h: you're being overly dramatic again. m: but haru~ h: it's uploaded to our private account. you can click the link to watch it. m: but what if i can't connect to the internet? h: like because of bad reception? m: or the apocalypse. h: *laughs* i promise that won't happen. m: fine... there, it's deleted. h: how do you feel? m: like we're still very much married. h: *smiles* good. we very much are. m: ok, now we can sleep. h: wait, should i have taken a photo of you deleting the video? is that a memory you'd like to keep forever? m: *laughs* shut up. h: and if i don't? m: i know how to make you. makoto smiles and leans forward. he and haru always share a quick kiss before bed, but this time makoto keeps his lips there a little longer. haru starts to laugh at the unexpected kiss, making makoto laugh, too. h: oi, do it properly or i'll delete all your pictures while you sleep. laughing, makoto gives haru a few quick kisses. h: are you finally done? m: i'll save the rest for the morning. h: ah, even more to look forward to tomorrow. m: what else is there? h: *blushes* just... you. m: *smiles* haru... h: goodnight! m: *laughs* goodnight, haru-chan. original tweet here

[crowsent]

clearing out a laptop that is more than a decade old: the highlights, ft. salt making insightful commentary on self-growth and past internet culture in between aggressively making fun of old memes

listen. this laptop is fucking OLD. this laptop is from the fucking dark ages. obama wasnt even the president when i got this laptop. i have to plug in a fucking keyboard to even type my password in this laptop bc the keys no longer work. this thing has to be kept plugged in at all times just to be useable, aight? there are fucking facebook memes on this shit

im missing my childhood

=

where to apply perfume:

behind ears

base of throat

near armpits

inner wrists

inner elbows

behind knees

so this is solid advise but. i mean.

i do not wear perfume or cologne, past or present

why the fuck did i have this saved?

=

“molson beer fridge”

=

alexandrias genesis origin story

=

to play “happy birthday” on your phone, press [ 112163 112196 11#9632 969363 ]

and you bet your fucking ass i played this on my phone

i played this over and over chuckling to myself bc it stil works after a whole ass decade

yes i still have a flip phone shut up

=

past!salt utterly eviscerating the grey elephant from denmark game bc i was shoved so far deep in the closet i found aslan

=

the italian chef who died

=

think of a number. double it. add six. halve it. take away the number you started with. your answer is three

=

in hindsight, maybe going through my first laptop was a bad idea. there are so many “best friend” memes and every time i see one of these i am fucking hit with anger and resentment and guilt and so many negative emotions

but then i remember that i was absolutely not in the wrong and i there are no words that can describe the sheer GLEE i feel when i delete those memes

good fucking riddance i say

once this laptop is cleared of any files ill sort through my usb shit

=

so im learning that past!me was even more of an escapist than present me. that, or fandom culture was even MORE toxic back then than it is now

there were fucking CONTRACTS and shit

fucking PLEDGES and VOWS and PROMISES to put fandom before all else

like what the fuck is this

this is some cult bullshit

“i turn my back on the company of people and pledge my soul to join the fandoms”

like the internet legit just tossed this shit around to impressionable young people who took to the internet as a means of escaping rl trauma and they get hit with THIS bullshit

goddamn

=

blood type personality charts

=

“sabi nila, kung kaya ng iba, kaya mo rin. sabi ko naman, kung kaya ng iba, ipagawa mo sa kanila”

HA

BRUHHHHHHHH

past!me is so much more feral and rabid than present!me but holy SHIT past!me was funnier

bruhhhhhh

=

blood print cherry tree

=

the amount of old art i found on this laptop is just embarrassing

bruh

the amount of GROWTH ive had

no lie my art right now still leaves much to be desired but

holy SHIT past!me was something else

i POSTED this shit

this shit is off somewhere in the universe

wow

i improved so much

=

i dont remember this bc i have the memory of a newly born fruitfly but

apparently

in the past

parents were really out here cancelling dora the explorer for having dora “expose her midriff”?????

i say parents but its probably just karens with nothing better to do

of course this discourse is on tumblr bc where else would it be

=

“i fanqueen peasant”

=

OLD MEMES

OLD ASS MEMES

the format really do be “top text bottom text”

what is this

=

i saved the moon moon origin meme

bruh

i have a fucking piece of history saved

=

purquoise

“i ship purquoise i even drew smut for it”

[image of a purple and turqoise gradient]

“why is there pr0n on my dash”

does

does anyone remember this?

i barely remember this but there was a ship war between purqoise and another colour combo

we really just post whatever we want on this website huh

=

so past me did commissions of dragons

i forgot about that

imagine a little fucking elementary-grade kid dealing dragon drawings in between classes for a few pesos

=

there are pictures of me in this laptop

this is unacceptable

the people must not know that i have a corporeal form

i must remain formless

people must envision an empty void when they think of me

unacceptable

=

the fucking DELIC PSYCHE drrr au

i fucking FORGOT THIS

does

does anyone in the modern drrr fandom remember the fucking delic/psyche debacle?

=

so apparently

past!me just went ahead and fucking

involved myself in ship wars huh

you know what? i forgive you past salt. you didnt know any better. we are better than getting into ship wars now

we have grown

=

handcuff chair crowd

=

ship ranking websites

past!salt making multiple accounts on every ship ranking website to upvote otps

truly

we have grown as a human being

=

past!me simped for bellatrix

not surprising

=

there are so many anime!harrypotter art on this

i did not want to see voldemort chibi-fied

what the fuck

=

old fandoms blah blah

weird shit blah blah

art ref blah blah

an unsent letter to my mother apologising for not being the child she wanted and asking desperately for her to still love me even after i admit that im not straight

cake recipes

so much cake recipes

BUTTERBEER RECIPE

i have the the recipe for BUTTERBEER

[thehtgroup-blog]

How to Deal with Negative or Embarrassing History When Job Searching

Life is complicated, and people are complicated. It's hard to imagine that anyone would dispute those statements. However, even through the understandable complexities of life, it can feel like your imperfections define you during a job search more than your past successes and future potential. There is a hiring bias that applies even to a progressive city like Austin with a reputation for embracing diversity. Employers simply want to hire the best candidates possible. So, what are the best strategies for dealing with past blunders and mistakes, and what role can the sort of staffing agency Austin relies on play in helping to secure employment? You Have Been Fired While being fired isn’t necessarily an automatic disqualifier for future employment (as it happens more times than you might think) getting caught fibbing about it is. Flat-out lying about the incident or shirking responsibility for it, even when your employer was clearly in the wrong, can also be a red flag for employers. The best recourse when the subject comes up, and it will, is to be as honest as possible about the circumstances, without oversharing or trash-talking, while emphasizing the lesson learned. “I didn’t communicate the features of the job that I didn’t understand to my manager, and getting fired was a real eye-opener,” is one example of a professional, responsible way to explain the situation in an interview when they ask about it. Be prepared for the question and ready with your answer. A Big Gap in Employment History Gaps in employment history are one of the most  variable features of a job history. In some cases employment gaps are  easy to overcome. For example, if you’re engaging with the IT staffing Austin offers and you were successfully freelancing as an IT specialist while getting your IT degree, or other job related training, it would be easy for an employer to accept, if not embrace. Employment gaps can, however, be a warning sign to employers. As is the case with a firing, be upfront without lengthy explanations if you are asked about your gap. Even if it was from you simply not immediately looking for a job out of school or after losing a job, it’s OK to say you took some time off to decompress, travel, or for some respite before jumping back in. Find what you learned from that experience, even if it’s that you’re really looking forward to being employed again, and share it. An Embarrassing Incident in Your Past In this age of social media and the internet, there’s a lot a potential employer can find out with a background check or even just a Google search or scan of your social media profiles. The first, best, and easiest step to mitigate those issues is to clean up your social media presence. Delete posts you think are questionable, or, if necessary, consider deleting profiles altogether; particularly on platforms you're no longer using. You should also consider adjusting your privacy settings on your accounts. As for arrests or comparable incidents, take heart, you’re one of the millions of Americans in the same boat. Focus on additional volunteering, education, training, and anything else to help you stand out. And at the risk of repetition, be honest, spare the details, and definitely focus on how incredibly educational, informative, and formative this mistake from your past has been. You can exclude how caught up you are on your reading from your brief stint in the pen. What You Can Do Along with the strategies mentioned above, one of the most effective ways to get practical, real-world advice on how to deal with an employment issue, and to generally increase your chance of landing a job, is to sign on with a reputable staffing agency. An experienced, reliable staffing agency and its recruiters will often serve as a career coach, mentor, advocate, liaison, and partner for job seekers. Connect with one and your employment prospects are already looking up. About The HT Group Since 2001, job seekers and employers in North Austin, South Austin, and Beaumont seeking the best positions and the top talent have taken advantage of the experience, talent, commitment, resources, and the personal touch of The HT Group. The HT Group has established its reputation for employment excellence by serving a diversity of fields and industries. That personal commitment to every employer and every job seeker has also resulted in them emerging as one of the leading Austin executive recruiters. In addition to executive recruiting, they also specialize in technical recruitment as well as filing temp and temp-to-hire positions. To learn more about The HT Group, visit Thehtgroup.com Original Source: https://bit.ly/2K1vnc7

[tessatechaitea]

Justice League vs. Suicide Squad #6

I didn't know Killer Frost could shoot ice sludge out of her vagina.

Eclipso remembers his shitty crossover event!

And then Batman's Suicide Squad rescues the Justice League and they save the world from Eclipso! Probably. It's not like I need to know every detail of this story since it's the last issue. These blog entries are just a way for me to remember each comic from month to month so I'm not thoroughly confused by every new issue. I suppose the other important thing that will happen by the end of it is that Batman will quit the Justice League (again!) to form the Justice League of America and he'll offer Lobo and Killer Frost jobs on his team. Then everybody will think, "Wait a second! How can Batman afford Lobo, the most expensive hitman in the entire universe?! He would need Bruce Wayne money for...OHO!"

Deadshot really dug deep for this insult!

Apparently one of Deadshot's deepest, darkest evil thoughts is that he'd like to kill his daughter so he'll never feel guilty about killing again. I could go two ways on this one with my comments. I could choose to be a childish asshole and discuss how Joshua Williamson is an idiot if he thinks this is good characterization and that Deadshot would ever harbor that evil thought. Or I could be magnanimous and believe what is probably the truth anyway because it's less entertaining to write about: Eclipso is just a lying douchebag trying to convince himself that he isn't forcing people to be evil when he actually is. It allows him to see himself as a heroic god giving people the freedom to engage in their deepest desires rather than a manipulative bastard who just wants to see the world go dark. Deadshot becomes eclipsed and declares he's going to kill everyone. Oh no! Even the other eclipsed people?! And Eclipso?! He might just save the world! Batman eventually comes to the same conclusion I did last issue.

So the delivery systems are different. He wants Superman to look at Eclipso while I wanted Superman to pee on him.

Eventually it's down to just Batman, Amanda Waller, Killer Frost, and Lobo. Eclipso is terrible at triage. He concentrated on eclipsing all the wrong people! You definitely have to get Batman first. Or at least get one of the others to kill him. If Eclipso really makes people's deepest, darkest thoughts rise to the surface, I imagine every member of the Justice League would have killed Batman immediately, the pretentious twat. Batman and Killer Frost get their prism plan underway while Lobo beats the shit out of everybody else. Luckily everybody else complies and only goes after Lobo. Just Superman goes after Batman and Killer Frost. What a stroke of luck!

Batman is faster than Superman's heat vision. Although, I suppose, I've dodge Roadhog's hook on Overwatch enough to realize you begin the dodge before Roadhog even knows he's about to throw the hook. Same principle!

The plan works to free the heroes and villains from Eclipso's control. Judging by the FWASH sound effect, Supergirl could have done this without Killer Frost's help. That's an old joke that only one person reading this blog will understand. Eclipso counters with a FWSSH sound effect which is probably something totally disgusting. I think it amounts to Eclipso spraying his darkness juice via a goat.se pose. But it's too late! Killer Frost has gotten a taste for justice and she turns the tables on Eclipso. He's bathed in sunlight and reverts to Max Lord as the black diamond explodes. I think. I'm sure it exploded so that little black diamonds can litter the Earth causing small Eclipso attackes every few months. The world has been saved and all that is left is for the Suicide Squad and the Justice League to participate in a denouement.

Oh man. Enchantress and Jessica Cruz are so going to fuck.

Batman admits to Waller that Task Force X can work as long as she stops stealing his files out of the Batcave. Also, she needs to let Killer Frost retire so Batman can use her for his new Outsiders team he's going to call Justice League of America. But we all know it's really The Outsiders. Just look at the lineup! Lobo decides to give Batman one free job (not that kind of job! (or that kind!)) for freeing him from Max Lord's control. I'm not sure what kind of jobs Lobo thinks Batman has for him. Hide in Damian's closet to scare him straight? But of course Batman already has a job for him. I bet it's to be Killer Frost's life-force battery as a member of the new Outsiders. Although I can't imagine that job qualifies as a freebie since it's ongoing. Lobo's going to need some of that sweet Bruce Wayne cash to keep that job. Apparently Lobo has to join The Outsiders because he gave his word he'd do a free job for Batman and specified that it didn't matter what the job was. Lobo should be more careful with what he says. Doesn't he know that writers take his "always keeps his word" thing way too seriously?! In the epilogue, Max Lord points out that this whole thing was engineered by Amanda Waller to get Batman to lay off the Suicide Squad. That totally makes sense since it's basically the plot of the Suicide Squad movie. The other characters all get to tie up their loose ends too. Emerald Empress decides to start the Fatal Five so she can hunt down Saturn Girl. Johnny Sorrow's mask is still on Earth waiting for a non-white, non-heterosexual, non-male character to put it on. Doctor Polaris is making out with his helmet. Rustam is going after Havana Waller. And, of course, the Black Diamonds are now everywhere. Then on the final page, Amanda Waller does that reveal thing where the "X" in Task Force X is a number and not a letter. Even though it was a letter just one or two incarnations ago because there were Task Force Ys and Zs or something. It's such a shocking revelation that isn't boring and overused at all! Previously, there was Task Force A-Y. Now there are just Task Force I-XI plus zero which was the first one but I don't think the Romans have a letter for zero. They should have used an O like we do! Dumb-dumbs! What Did I Learn? Amanda Waller is as much a genius as Harvest was. She really knows how to build an overly complicated Rube Goldbergian plot device to take care of fairly simple problems. I'm sure she could have come up with another way to keep Batman off of her back instead of this method that relied on so many unknowable factors that it should never have worked out exactly as she planned. It would have been easier to hire Psimon or J'onn J'onnz to erase Batman's memory of the Suicide Squad. And while they were at it, maybe erase the memory of everybody in the world since they all seem to know about Task Force X and how it's part of the United States government. People knowing about how it works ruins the entire reason for why it works! The Ranking! No change!