#i say about literal ecoterrorists

[soni-dragon]

i’ve been playing a lot of animal crossing lately

[ronanlynchdefender]

The political stances of The Raven Cycle characters are so fascinating to me. You got Blue over here who is very much a progressive activist in the making. She recognizes things like misogyny and is not afraid to call those things out even when it concerns her closest friends. Because of that, I definitely see her as the type of activist who would be in the front lines at protests whether that be at the Capitol, college campuses, at the border, or as is the case in the dreamer trilogy, tied to a tree. She is the type of person who demands change in our current system and would demand it loudly and through acts of protest or civil disobedience.

Then you have Adam who displays no strong desire to change the system and whose only desire is to rise up in that system. He wants to climb the social ladder and assimilate to those of higher social status which is partially why he envies Gansey so much in the beginning because Gansey was born into it. Adam still tries to do this in the dreamer trilogy by essentially pretending to be a Gansey-like figure while at Harvard despite hating it. Eventually, Adam gives up on trying to belong within this higher social class and "climbing the ladder" but then strangely enough becomes a fed, which means just integrating into another form of hierarchy and power structure. And I feel like a more interesting arc would've been rejecting being a part of these societal systems altogether.

Which I suppose now leads us to Ronan who is a literal anarchist. He actually rejects all societal systems and rules and it permeates every aspect of his life. But actually, I shouldn't say all because there is one societal institution which he does enjoy partaking in: religion. With the exception of his catholicism, he does not engage in any other societal institution: education, law, politics. He hates it, in fact, It is antithetical to his being which is what makes his characterization so perfect because of course a gay farmer god would hate oppressive rules and structures (except for religion). That's not even mentioning that he is a canonical ecoterrorist that cost the US government a billion dollars. But what is really interesting about his character (and where his and Blue's political stances differ) is that because he rejects these systems he has no interest or stake in changing them. He'd sooner tear down the system than try to reform it.

And then there’s Gansey who doesn't seem to engage in politics and would rather spend his days reading his little Welsh books and going on his fun adventures. Of course, he is able to do this largely because he has the privilege to not worry about politics or social class. It seems that Blue's influence changes this as they are both chaining themselves to trees in protest during the dreamer trilogy. Other than that, I don't really have a lot to say about Gansey and his politics. But I find it very interesting that Maggie has created this close-knit group of characters with such varying relationships to how they view politics and social structures. I tried to draw out a 2-axis grid to show their differences, but I don't know if it really works because I feel like Gansey kinda screws it up but nevertheless I like how they each represent different ends of a spectrum sort of.

[daemonmage]

I keep thinking about this AU where Bruce just stays in college and becomes a doctor but still gets dragged into the superhero world.

Ok so Bruce is a doctor and is known for never turning down a patient because he’s still Bruce and he just doesn’t want anyone to die. He still lives in Gotham which is still a horrible place. He still tries to help Gotham by donating and creating his Wayne foundation but it’s hard because the inherent corruption in Gotham hinders anything he does this way.

The mob is still super active in Gotham and a lot of Batman’s rogues still happen because a lot of his rogues just happen with or without Batman. Poison Ivy still becomes an ecoterrorist. Penguin still becomes a powerful mob boss. Mad Hatter is still just the worst. Tommy probably still tries to kill Bruce. Just so many of Gotham’s rogues still exist, except there is no hero to stop them in Gotham. People try, but Gotham is never kind to any hero. Bruce is immensely frustrated by all this but he can’t really do anything. Hell sometimes Lesly’s clinic (cause I feel like he would work there) gets harassed and extorted to help heal mob members and crime wars. He hates this a lot but he’s trapped. He doesn’t have Batman training or gear, the best he can do is help where he can.

However there are still other heroes in this world and Superman is literally just a quick flight away. The JL forms without a Batman and they see Gotham as a powder keg. So they try to help when they can and sometimes they get injured. It comes to a head when a Metropolis (Lex Luthor specifically) and some Gotham rogues team up to get rid of the main hero pain in their necks. Lex creates kryptonite bullets and disperses them to the Gotham rogues to use. Lex sees this as a win because he can get Superman killed without doing much and the Gotham rogues see this as a win cause they have a big weapon against Superman.

So Superman gets shot at with kryptonite bullets. They aren’t the best so they hurt him but only one really makes it through and hits his skin. He has to call in back up and the JL comes to help. I can image Wonder Woman or Flash getting there first. They have no idea what to do because holy shit Superman was shot. That shouldn’t happen! But they’ve heard of this doctor in Gotham that’s supposed to be really good. Maybe Oliver or Dinah suggest Bruce idk. So they take Superman to Dr. Bruce Wayne.

Dr. Bruce Wayne is at his manor with Alfred and a young Dick Grayson (because I firmly believe Bruce would still adopt the kids) and then there is a knock on the door. Alfred goes to answer and in barges the Justice League with a bleeding Superman. Bruce is immediately on his feet barking orders to the JL to get equipment he can use and telling Dick and Alfred to stay back. He doesn’t know what’s going on or how freaking Superman is bleeding out in front of him but he doesn’t care. Bruce realizes quickly that the bullet is cause Clark more pain so it can’t be a leave the bullet in there scenario. He gets the bullet out and asks the JL how to help Clark heal. They say sunlight helps but this is Gotham! It’s polluted and over cast all the time, he won’t be able to get enough sunlight. Bruce remembers a sunlamp they have from a science experiment for Dick. He tells Dick to go get it and they pray that it works. It does by some miracle, though it’s no substitute for actual sunlight.

The League is grateful for Bruce and Clark is also immensely grateful cause holy shit he got shot. The Justice League has to now figure out how these bullets got out in the first place and well Bruce can’t help but be nosy so he mentions that a few of his patients, the mob ones, let it slip that the higher ups got into contact with someone in metropolis and Bruce knows Lex hates Superman. So he helps them out a bit too.

And after that any time they need help with some medical issue they go to super doctor Bruce. He’s also still Bruce and can’t ignore his detective brain so he helps them with mysteries too from time to time. Idk I feel like this still needs more fleshing out but I think it could be funny. Or sad. Or both.

[autistichalsin]

So here's a hot take.

I see a lot of people saying that it would be fun to have a way to make Halsin worse. And I agree that it would totally be cool to be able to corrupt Halsin!

However, I don't think his canon arc would make the most sense leading to the Shadow Druids. Those are the tiny hints Larian dropped, yeah- the Shadow Druids being sent by Ketheric to corrupt the Grove to make them less of a threat against him, the Shadow Druids noting they are going to Baldur's Gate next, Halsin's brief moment of doubt that they were right. And a lot of other media love playing the ecoterrorist angle. So I can see why it's where a lot of people's minds go.

But from a characterization standpoint, I can't see it. Halsin dealt with the Shadow Curse for over 100 years. It cursed his home, and his childhood best friend who was the physical embodiment of nature. If he survived literally 100 years of darkness without being particularly moved to join the Shadow Druids, I just don't see how the sufferings of Baldur's Gate would push him into it. Those are much less personal stakes.

So, if we were to get a darker Halsin route, I would propose one of two things;

1. Introduce a failure state for act 2 that doesn't result in Halsin staying behind in the Shadowlands.

The easiest thought is that maybe doing part of the quest but not finishing it would result in him staying behind, seeing that there is hope to break it now, while doing nothing makes him think he's no closer to solving it than he was before, so things are unlikely to deteriorate while he goes with the player to solve the Absolute crisis.

Or if we wanted to make it REALLY awful, make it possible for Thaniel and/or Oliver to actually die, breaking Halsin's heart completely in the process. With his friend gone for good, his last hope gone, and with the Dead Three to blame directly, Halsin could become clouded by grief. Maybe it makes his story mirror Ketheric's in a sad way; Ketheric lost Isobel and became a monster, Halsin loses Thaniel and, while not becoming a monster per se, takes a darker, extremist path to avenging him, vowing to let nature reclaim Baldur's Gate in his memory.

Basically, what I'm getting at here is that there's nothing personal enough in Baldur's Gate proper to inspire such a radical shift. Canon, as it is, lets us see his momentary temptation and go "yeah makes sense" but there needed to be far more if I was going to buy his transformation to a Shadow Druid. This would provide that deep pain that cults are so good at preying on.

2. Similar to the above, but pushing it back to act 1. Make it so that the Grove raid, instead of being triggered by the player directly, can also be triggered by inaction; maybe once the player speaks to Minthara/frees Sazza, a timer starts for long rests, and at the conclusion, if the leaders aren't killed, the goblin leaders show up at the Grove. Halsin being freed already lets him fight on your side to stop them, while Halsin still being a captive lets the raid complete.

Similar to the above, Halsin's rage and grief at the defilement of nature then drives him into it. At first he just seeks out revenge, but later, after seeing the Shadow Curse and having those particular wounds opened back up (this one could proceed the same as canon) he gets pushed into something more methodical.

Shadow Druid Halsin could be a lot of fun IMO, but we would need something more than we have to establish a motive. Seeing sadness in a city for the first time wouldn't be enough to cause Halsin to drop every principle he has about nature being a balancing act between good and evil, darkness and light, order and chaos. For him to be pushed so firmly to an anti-society view, he would need to witness something far worse. So those are the two scenarios I can think of that would give just the little push, the sense of personal, direct harm, that would cause Halsin's morals to shift so drastically.

[outletcrash]

My poison ivy! I'm extremely proud of this. backstory under the cut :)

its been in the back of my head that ivy is indian since forever. i literally have no clue why its just There. she's tamil specifically, because i have favoritism regarding the script its written with.. it tickles my brain...

anyways heres my Poison Ivy: Origins comic i made last night in like 3 hours.

(theres a section here on her early life and the backstory of her parents that im still workshopping. basically she was a bastard child that only her mom supported and they left for gotham)

Bhavani got a job as an accountant for a law firm on recommendation from an uncle who had a company that worked in Gotham (he was kinder to the pair). She was always gifted in math. Bhavani raised her daughter the best way she knew how, even without the support of her family. 

Pamela (now nicknamed Ivy due to multiple kids misreading her last name as Ivy. And she was very nature-focused even as a kid, digging in the dirt and identifying different kinds of trees using books she got at the Gotham Library with her mother) excelled in school, surpassing most of her peers. The pursuit of knowledge was the one thing she enjoyed. Her classmates were sticky and loud and irritating, and when she wasn’t ignoring them she was tying their shoelaces together as revenge for talking too loud during quiet time. She managed to make just enough casual friends to not worry her mother too deeply, but this was the start of a downward spiral.

She lost friends, and not many could take on the effort of befriending her. She lost herself in biology, the study of life. Especially plants and conservation. Plants were just so… simple, compared to human society. But their structures and functions and genetics were fascinating. She skipped grades to take higher-level classes on genetics. Her grades were phenomenal but her social skills were extremely underdeveloped. Not like Ivy cared. Humans were a plague on this earth, pumping the atmosphere with CO2 and poisoning rivers and cutting down forests. In her mind, they did nothing but harm the serenity of nature she so cherished. 

After graduating with a PHD and doctorate, she got a job as a genetic engineer. She studied alternative ways to help regrow ecosystems after deforestation. Her Gotham University coworkers were wary around Ivy. She was a woman none of them knew anything about, who would say ecoterrorist-aligned comments offhandedly the few times she ever spoke. 

Ivy was working on a genetically engineered plant on the day of the accident. It was designed to nurture plant species by sending chemical signals, and it took in energy through waste products left by deforestation and manufacturing. At least, in theory. 

Ivy was working all alone in the lab at 2am. She hadn’t slept for hours, she was so close to her breakthrough. She was so close to making those billionaire bastards pay for what they did to the earth. She wasn’t wearing proper safety equipment nor using proper containment procedures during the incident. And as such, she was infected. The plant didn’t just take in waste material, it took in living flesh. Ivy’s cells were transformed in a gruesome fashion, her entire genetic code was re-written as it spread through her body. Her skin was green and her lab coat was bloody. Her newly-red hair flowed behind her as she escaped the lab, running through university grounds. Each footstep brought grass and dandelions cracking through the concrete in full bloom. Trees and grass grew to get closer to her, reaching for her. 

Ivys powers were completely out of control. She was crying and hyperventilating as her mind was warped. It had given her a need for flesh. When she made it to Robinson park, she couldn’t overcome the primal instinct. Plants still crawling at her ankles, and she killed a squirrel with her bare hands and ate it raw. This only fueled her fractured mind to want more. Ivy's first ever murder was a pedestrian, who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He tried to flee when he saw a bloody green woman with a squirrel carcass in her mouth, but it was to no avail. He was strangled to death with poison ivy vines, and eaten. 

Finally, the primal instinct was satiated. Ivy escaped to a warehouse in the industrial district of Old Gotham. She tended to her injuries as best she could, soon discovering she had healing abilities. The injuries from her being torn apart had already mostly healed. She slept on an old couch, dreaming about what she could use these powers for. 

When the news broke on the mysterious and grisly death of a random pedestrian, the media was all over it. Since he was killed by poison ivy, and from security footage the culprit was seemingly a woman, the media dubbed her Poison Ivy. Many believed it wasn’t possible, and that the footage was faked, but the GCPD was stumped. 

Batman looked through the footage and, by process of elimination (matching the appearances of the scientists who had access to the laboratory, keycard scanners throughout that day and evening, as well as their known affiliations and potential criminal history. Two of them did deal weed but it was nonviolent and they didn’t match the woman in the tapes.) 

Dr. Pamela Iyer was the clear suspect. She matched the woman's appearance (besides the green skin and hair, she was a tall woman with long straight hair and a flat nose.) Batman interviewed her coworkers and found she had a history of being antisocial with eco terrorist beliefs. None of them knew where she lived, however. And when the bat interviewed her mother (the only person her coworkers had ever heard her speak to in a positive light) she was very concerned. Suspicious of Batman, clearly, but worried for her precious daughter's well being. She said that Pamela had always loved being near nature, and that she didn’t care for the quality of structure she had to stay in. But other than that, her mother couldn't help. She does bring out the intimidating motherly stare at Batman, making him promise to bring her daughter home safely. 

From here, Batman goes on a search. He prowls rooftops and streets and uses the grappling hook for fast travel. All while monitoring city-wide security cameras (thanks Alfred!) and paying attention to police radio. He stops muggings and thefts and helps get a cat out of a tree as he scans Old Gotham. 

He came to the conclusion Poison Ivy must be in Old Gotham due to damage on the Robinson Park Bridge, connecting Somerset with the southern island. The damage matched with what had been seen on the sidewalks and streets near the University and the scene of the crime. Dandelions and crabgrass taking the shape of human footprints, cracking through concrete. Batman notices some trees down a certain alleyway in the east streets are warped inwards. Very similar to the trees in the park and university. He follows the unusual growth pattern of the trees, like they were hands outstretching to reach a light source. 

There, he finds an old warehouse. He scales the building with a grappling hook, not wanting to be ambushed on the lower levels if he enters on the boarded up front door.  Entering through an old broken skylight, he finds what must've been a long abandoned drug dealer hideout covered in fresh blood. Very, very carefully, he examines the scene. But there's nobody there. She just got away, her blood on the rotting old sofa is still warm. He also notes three strands of long red hair, which he places in crime scene baggies for DNA analysis. 

His current theory is that the doctor was mutated by her own research. He read her notes and the plant she was experimenting with was extremely dangerous. And the security footage (before it cut out during what he believes was the time of the accident) showed her using improper safety equipment. 

He’s on patrol for hours, but can’t find any sign of her. 

That night, Bruce synthesizes a pesticide-like chemical that could prevent Ivy's powers. However, he talks to Alfred about how the plant would adapt to it almost like a bacteria, and that it might not be effective more than once. 

The next morning Bruce Wayne is scheduled for a charity event. Many rich people are there tied to a business venture Wayne was not aware of. The event was for funding for healthcare systems in Gotham. Little does he know, this is the exact place Ivy plans to attack. She’s hated the rich for years and many politicians and businessmen that support an amazon rainforest deforestation project are there. 

She interrupts their little charity event at a historical building in the financial district of old gotham with a surprise. Ivy broke into one of her old greenhouses at the university, taking small samples of extremely poisonous amazon rainforest plants with her. This happened quickly and silently while Bruce was still at the function. 

Ivy crashed through the large art-nouveau stained glass windows, supported by giant vines. She is lifted down the staircase like she was floating, more vines and deadly plants crawling in from the giant hole in the glass, moonlight from the full moon peeking through the clouds and illuminating her entrance. London Planetrees from around the building grow in front of doors, sealing all the possible exits. 

All of the rich and fancy people in dresses and suits meandering around the building are screaming and trying to run, which is when a mad-with-power Ivy releases her plants. 

They grow to gargantuan sizes in moments, releasing toxic spores and fumes and burning people's skin. Ivy finds the most heinous offenders of the rainforest bill and feeds them deadly plants by hand, graphic symptoms ensue. 

In the pandemonium, Bruce pulls out some tree facts about the flammability of a certain species, managing to throw a fire source directly at it as a diversion before escaping through a vent in the opposite wing of the hall. Alfred is already outside with the Batsuit, he brought it as soon as he learned of the attack. 

Bruce suits up and re-enters. It's a grueling and difficult battle, the most difficult he has fought so far. He manages to spray Ivy with the chemical, and she goes down, all the plants in the hall going still. The excessive toxic fumes suddenly go back to normal levels. Bruce uses an extremely strong tranquilizer on her, she’s still fighting to get up. Finally, Ivy is defeated.

Almost the whole charity gathering was injured in the attack with seven people dead and immense damage done to the structure of the historical hall. 

Ivy’s powers are sedated and she’s taken into police custody, where she is deemed insane. Half of the insanity conviction was her actual insanity and the other half was that Arkham is the only facility capable of holding her, especially since it’s located on an island. Batman agrees with Jim Gordon on this comment. 

Ivy didn’t say anything during her trial, silently glaring with little remorse. The physician diagnosed her with ASPD (which wasn’t right but it's on her legal documents.)

The comic ends with Ivy in Arkham, talking about the rich swine tearing apart the world, and how she finally has the power to stop them. How she can feel the mutation inside of her slowly winning against the sedative drugs, adapting and consuming the chemical to turn it into energy as it was designed to do. How she will return the world to ecologic harmony, with her own hands. It ends with her in the Arkham cafeteria, staring at a mysterious blonde prisoner a few tables across…

the writing isn't like, a fanfiction. its a guideline for a comic in a series of origins comics im planning. do not get your hopes up these'll be done in like, 10-20 years at my current speed. i have a scarecrow and riddler outline in the works, and plans for a batman, joker, harley quinn and probably a penguin comic eventually. and more villians. once i'm done with all the origins comics i'll be doing like, a regular batman series. just for fun yknow.

[stem-sister-scuffle]

STEM SISTER SCUFFLE: ROUND 1 MASHUP 8

Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy (DC/Batman) vs Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum (Adventure Time)

Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy is a Botanist!

Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum is a Bioenginner, Chemist and Roboticist!

Why you should vote for each contestant:

Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy:

"She wants to destroy humanity to save the planet and she looks good doing it."

"SHENSHDMD8SJS She's so strong and pretty and cool. Whadda woman..."

"stem icon. uses her knowledge to be fucked up and evil with a possible interest in plants. more #MadScience rep"

"Sometimes ya gotta go a little ecoterrorist to get your point across and that scares people. However she did it and continues to do it despite persecution from the DC heroes. as a legal disclaimer the statement about ecoterrorism above is a Joke"

"Takes no shit canonically sapphic ecoterrorist emotionally repressed queen what more could you want."

"Gay"

Princess Bonnibel Bubblegum:

"She’s a freak about it! she is committing horrors in there but just lowkey, and she’s having fun doing it which is what matters"

"She cares about her people to an absolute fault and all her evil science is for them (when it’s not simply for sciences sake) and that’s why she’s a girlboss <3"

"She’s unethical. She’s a mother. She’s a monster. She lives in a world of magic but only believes in science. She was even a lesbian. PB for the win!"

"she is a pink lesbian!! she has committed war crimes!! she is much more complex than the audience's (and the main character's) initial impression of her!! she created an entire kingdom that she rules and when she gets voted out she loses her sense of identity!! and loves her subjects and also spies on them!! she is trying not to be so mean!! she is passionate about her science work and she loves her girlfriend!!! SHE IS SO GREAT. her gf Marcy is actually my favorite but bonnibel's relationship with family and home is super compelling, everything from her abusive/controlling uncle who tried to force her into a het relationship to her (metaphorically) intellectually disabled younger brother who she loves so much because people get built different! we don't need to know why we just need to respect them! thank you. I love her"

"Organizes conferences for people to present their scientific findings, created life forms when she was lonely, has committed so many war crimes (including intergalatically) using tech she invented, lost an election because she assumed people would care more about facts than charisma (they did not), is gay. Spent a thousand years pining for her rockstar vampire ex-girlfriend. 💕💞💕"

"She has a RAT named SCIENCE. One time in the comics she also did a flip and kicked a door down while saying ""physics I swear to gob if you don't work now I swear physics I SWEAR"" she was literally threatening physics. Anyways physics worked good for her! She has built an entire kingdom from the ground up INCLUDING its life forms. She HATES wizards with a passion. Magic to her is just science with silly presentation. It's implied she's been to wizard prison a lot of times before. HOWEVER she also has a vampire half-demon girlfriend so yeah. Oh yeah she's gay too. "I have a disease that makes me like vampires and titties its called being a fucking genius""

"She is the best woman in STEM because she LITERALLY created and genetically engineered the people of her kingdom, built incredible robot guardians to fight off intruders, and continues to experiment (including an experiment gone wrong where she was trying to resurrect dead citizens) in spite of being a busy princess (and lowkey dictator) ruling her kingdom solo. She created/built her own family (aside from her brother), and eliminated them when they tried to rule over her and stop her from being an independent scientist. She is multitalented, hardworking, and just unethical enough to keep things fun and entertaining! She has no ethics board, so the experiments get wild! She is so Blorbo, you know? Also people don't acknowledge her science stuff enough, I want her to get more recognition as the insane, wonderful mad scientist she is."

"She’s an unethical mad scientist who experiments on her subjects. What’s not to love"

"Invents gadgets/devices and even created her own citizens"

"For the realness of working in the lab endlessly without sleep (Ignore that she set up a police state I guess)"

"Literally built an entire kingdom citizen by citizen"

"She bioengineered an entire country . Kinda fucked up, but that's okay"

[blorbocedes]

13 and 24 please. Bring the drama blorbie!!!!!

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

'max verstappen's A+ plus parenting' I hate this tag so much. death to this tag. fandom does not know how to talk about abuse, parental relationships and any of that with the nuance it deserves. people who hate him use it as a punchline, people who love him (who use this tag in fics) try to define him by his trauma it's just blergh. i think Abu Dhabi 21 as well, is a can of rancidity

13. worst blorboficiation

i was gonna say seb just cause newer fandom's memory of him is shaped by aston martin years and his friendship with lewis and doesn't reflect his redbull and ferrari legacy of cuntism (see back: defanged) and that fandom propping him up as a leftist cycling ecoterrorist like he's always been that person not cause he stopped winning and remembered he had kids...... like my guy drove for shell and aramco for Yearssss 😭 (like this growth is welcome and people can change for the better, but it is also recent. my guy had a private redbull helicopter 😭)

BUT I think there's a worse offender... and that's what chirlies do to charles... the way he's described as tiny and petite and feminine in fics cause that's the dominant 2020 narrative when charles is literally Big And Broad 😭 the emo sad boyfication of charles (which charles does play into, he's savvy of his public image too), but some chirlies take it a step further and have swallowed their own predestined propaganda monaco I love you and somebody you'll love me back, ferrari catholicism the god piety worship Pope Francis WDC... and there comes this idea of a charles who is MISERABLE and SHACKLED to Ferrari in a Stockholm Syndrome and he can NEVER leave........ when charles is very much a ferrariboo and happy to be there. not to mention the fucking tragedy pornification of charles, the countless tiktok edits and saying he's filling out jules/his dad's dream etc like let him be his own person..... I think charles is so interesting but fandom will either make him both the greatest ferrari driver since schumie and also someone who apparently has No agency and is getting fucked over by his team, his teammate, his teammate's dad, etc etc...

[beevean]

I never understood why people praise Satam as the end-all be-all of Sonic media and gush about how dark it is. First off, the games (especially Sonic CD) handled the "Robotnik takes over and turns world into polluted hellhole with his machines" concept much better. Second it wasn't even all that dark. The games had darker moments like having an unarmed terminally ill child get gunned down like a damn dog on-screen, baby Chao being stomped to death and having Sonic's friends experience a "I have no mouth and I must scream" sensation of floating in a black limbo without a body, after being turned into fully conscious immobile statues. The robians were just mindless zombies. They got it easy.

Even Satams Robotnik was pretty lackluster. All he did was sit on his rotund rear end at hq and bark orders like a Screaming Dumbass. He even begged for his worthless life before a Canon foreigner villain . He literally kissed the ground while beggingm

Also he was a freaking dumbass for not using the robians as meat shields against sonic or using them as attack dogs since the freedom fighters wouldn't want to harm a former mobian that could very well be a loved one.

Also Satam Sonic was weak AF! Satam tails was weaker than a kitten!

Sorry, no point in coming to me to complain about SatAM because I never watched a single episode of it lmao.

To be fair, all the dark stuff you mentioned came after SatAM, and to this day Shadow's backstory and Gerald's diary are considered the darkest point of the games. (no such respect for my girl Tikal or the Time Eater's effects, sadly :( ). I can see how, superficially, people back then would be appealed by SatAM's grimdark nature contrasted with how bright the Classic games were. It's true however that CD was much more creative in its depiction of a world conquered by Eggman: we actually see how much he damaged the zones, from turning the lake in Palmtree Panic into a grey sludge, to mining down all the crystals in Quartz Quadrant, to defacing ancient ruins in Tidal Tempest. It's not just an endless sea of super scary buildings: the zones are corrupted, ruined, and it's all your fault for not stopping it. And, of course, the Good Futures show technology aiding nature instead, making Sonic CD possibly the earliest example of Solar Punk <3

I also personally really love Scrap Brain Act 1's aesthetic. Sonic 1 has a nature-urban progression, so you go from unspoiled Green Hill, to ruins overcome by nature (Marble Zone and Labyrinth), to a city with greenery (Spring Yard), to a city without any greenery but still pretty to look at (Star Light)... to an utter industral monstrosity, the ground completely made of metal and a sky turned orange from the sheer amount of pollution being emitted.

I also find brilliance in how Act 3 is a palette swap of Labyrinth Zone! Eggman has built his base over ancient ruins! He's dumping pollution in the water!

And a personal appreciated detail of mine is how the "good" ending of Sonic 1 8-bit is the power of the Chaos Emeralds cleansing the smoke surrounding South Island. Even in that little game, they made sure to include how much of an ecoterrorist Eggman is <3

Yeah sorry, I have nothing to say about SatAM. Maybe (maybe) one day I'll try to watch some episodes, but I'm not interested. I prefer to talk about the games :>

[thestalkerbunny]

So, my coworker at my Library Job only reads superhero comics and doesn't really TALK about much else and I don't understand ANYTHING he says-so now I'm making more supervillains.

Specifically, an actual therapist who works at the prison Super Villains are sent to and doesn't go full Harley Quinn, fucks and inmate and becomes a villain. And it went from me doodling the weird fucked up therapy sessions she has to give these guys to STRICTLY doodles of a problematic prison couple of an ocean based ecoterrorist and a literal cloud of pollution with an opinion.

Are their names more placeholders rather than creative puns? Yes. Are they unfortunately going to STICK? Yes.

[lacklusterhero747]

Building a Fabula World, Part 4

Enigmas and Mysteries In our next step the book asks, "What are the great enigmas and mysteries of the world? The questions left unanswered, and the truths that are now indistinguishable from legend?" Each person at the table is then asked to provide at least one mystery that they would like to explore during the campaign, or think would make the world more vibrant and interesting.

Marring the face of the desert of The Zlota Sovereignty is a thick swath of burning ground, a quarter of a mile across and burning a sickly greenish-gold. It's been burning for time immemorial. The sand near the burning has been turned to a greenish glass, but has melted so far down and is so tough it can't be mined. The black, oily goop that burns doesn't seem to have burned down at all, as though it's being replenished from the depths. No one knows when or how the burning began, or what the burning substance is, it's just always been and always will be.

Where do the divines come from? The Golden Path say they coalesced from the faith of the members at the time of the first prophet, but others theorize that they're something else. Perhaps even abominations forged by remnants from the war against the heavens. Who knows the truth? Only the highest members of the order…

About 75 years ago, a new form of tree seemingly sprung spontaneously into existence: the Meatloaf tree. It is a tree that, no matter how much you protest, grows fruits that are in fact literal meatloaves. They're pretty delicious, not gonna lie, but no one knows why the fuck this is happening.

Somewhere on the outskirts of The Alumen Dominion, there is an old, deserted mansion that is said to appear and disappear at random times and in random places within a rough geographical region. The house seems ancient and decadent, despite its disrepair, and anyone who enters the house never returns. No one has managed to investigate the phenomena directly, because the house seems to be resistant to being observed with any scholarly intent to discern its true purpose.

Somewhere, in a relatively unpopulated part of the wilderness, there is a cliff face that will periodically shift and change to look like the visage of some random person or creature. Sometimes it depicts a famous person, other times a relative nobody. Sometimes it even depicts species of animal that either no longer exist or never existed, and no one is sure why.

It is said that at the elemental center of the world, where the pulse of the world tree converges, there is a mystical valley, in which the font from which all magic as mortals know it flows. It is said to be guarded by the fey, but it is unknown if the fey are truly the font's guardians, or if the font simply produces as result of the outpouring of magical energy.

The world's second, smaller moon, depicts what appears to be the face of some creature on its dusty red surface. Some scholars who have studied the Precursors ruins claim that the world did not always have two moons, making its origins a mystery just as much as why it seems like the face on the moon is always watching.

How is the leader of The First Names--an extremist, ecoterrorist styled faction within The Folk--capable of seeming to constantly escape death, returning over and over again each time he is captured or vanquished.

More than anywhere else, I feel like this is where some of the particular brand of weirdness that has been cultivated within in our group really shone through.

A burning chasm of unknown origin, with an equal unknown fuel source (a reference to a game that particular player and I played in YEARS ago); a companion moon that seems to observe the world counterposed by an ever shifting cliff face that depicts unusual images; even a seemingly immortal leader of an extremist faction and some sort of haunted house that flickers in and out of reality.

And then, of course, there's a meatloaf tree. Honestly it just felt like we ought to let it ride, given how dark the rest of the campaign document had really become. A stupid inside joke just felt like a soothing balm.

Again though, plot hooks certainly abound. Stand out ideas like this world's particular vision of the Fey, and what they mean in the greater context of the setting, or the true nature of the Sovereignty's divines have really pushed my thoughts on what the plot might be in particular directions, but all of this has uses to be sure. Points of interest becoming nodes on a line that I intend to weave through the world.

All that's left now are the Threats.

[louiegitsham10]

The Stuff I'll Steal -- Blog 1 for Engaged Citizenship

I’m not one hundred percent sure what this is meant to be, but that has never stopped me before. I aim for this to be a blog to log progress and ideas throughout my Engaged Citizenship Through Interdisciplinary Practice module (mouthful!) and maybe also serve as a slight creative outlet.

We will see.

So, where are we at as a group? We’re a fragmented bunch, from all different corners of the university, and some of us are yet to be found. Architect, Media, Fashion, unknown, and me, the Creative Writer. After some brainstorming – or more accurately, me and Aaliyah convincing the other members of the group – we’ve homed in on creating a model, and a companion book. Both of which explore deforestation, or exploitation of habitats (the latter has a better ring, I think). This way, each one of us can steal our little bit of the show, I get to write, and contribute what I can there, Aaliyah gets to practice modelling, Charmaine her textiles (as we are going to have the model overflowing with fabric wildlife; a little textile rebellion).

If I may, I’m going to talk a little bit about what I specifically am bringing to the table of room W1.09. The bones of the book will be a short story I completed last year. It’s set in the Amazon, from the perspective of a manager of a lumber company, and it chronicles him as he works hard, and indulges in his evil obsession – his exploitation made a little more literal – of having sex with Amazonian animals. Sloths, monkeys, anything he can get his hands on, really. His mortal enemies are the Treespikers, a group of climate activists (he prefers the term “ecoterrorist”). The story climaxes with his and his twelve-gauge’s clash with them and their knives (and hammers and nails and bolt cutters). This is the foundation. From here, I’ll rewrite it to set it in the UK, as close to Portsmouth as possible. I’ll also expand on the backstory of the Treespikers, and perhaps even tell the story from a dual perspective. We’ll see, but I’m glad I now have something to aim for and I can soon start burning some keys and pen-tips.

Well, soon.

The first step is prep and research. There are a couple of need-to-knows. Where is deforestation at its worst in the UK? Who runs it? Can I use a real company, or at least hint at one? What animals live in these habitats? What tools are used to destroy them? Can I remember the details of the Treespiking life? What tools, what are their methods, why, who? What is the backstory of the Treespiker we follow? Where do they come from? Why do they do this? Maybe “soon” was an understatement…

I do have some little details that have emerged recently as additions to my story; little details that get me all giddy and remind me why I like to write. The first is from a book. I was reading Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy the other day and the absolutely terrifying Judge Holden has an engraving on the side of his gun: Et in Arcadia ego. Or, even in Arcadia (utopia/paradise), there I am. Basically saying you can’t escape death, but it also felt like this was the Judge saying He is Death, with a capital D. And I want to steal that. Engrave it on the side of the Overseer’s shotgun. I feel like his ego would be that big, however unearned. Don’t call it stealing; call it homage, call it pastiche. And anyway: good artists borrow, and great artists steal. Isn’t that what Picasso or Dostoyevsky or Rembrandt or Einstein or someone clever and important said? Anyways, I’m doing it.

The second little detail is something that Matt mentioned in the lecture yesterday and I scribbled it down because I thought it was a sentence that was so stark, so simple, but something quite soul-crushing. He said that during an exercise where he asked people to talk about how biodiversity affected that a poor student had said, “My mother is dying, and she is not sick. She is dying because where she is living is too hot.”  Wow, that is horrible, and I’m thinking – to be a selfish, gluttonous artist – that that would be an incredible opening line for our Treespiker character.

Maybe.

During the same lecture, I also rambled out a line that I think I want to use for the final fight sequence of the story. I scrawled it out in a rush, I’m not sure if there are any spelling errors, or if it actually makes sense; I promise I’ll leave it in if there is: “I palm his face and grip it tight. Chubby red cheeks and an eyeball and a blackheaded nose bulge out through the gaps in my fingers, blobby- and liquid-looking.”  I don’t know, it’s a maybe.

Another tidbit of humanity I’ve decided I want to appropriate is the phrase that I’ve seen online recently to mark the decline of the climate. Again, it’s simple, and it takes something traditionally beautiful, and destroys it. Flowers are blooming in Antarctica. Again. Flowers are blooming in Antarctica. Flowers are blooming in Antarctica.

Maybe they’re blooming through the cracks in the concrete as well?

[forevercloudnine]

Hello! You mentioned in a tag that you think Pamela is Bruce's favorite, and it made me wonder. I'd definitely be interested to hear more on that, if you feel like talking about it! Love hearing your thoughts.

����💗 So a few years ago I was reading the "Gothtopia" arc and was incredibly amused by Bruce casually letting Ivy escape from Arkham to return a favor she'd done him.

Notably, Ivy was the only inmate imprisoned in Arkham at the time, because Scarecrow locked her up for interfering. So Bruce literally helped her escape and then lied to Jim's face about it. I know you recently read Run, Riddler, Run, so here's an amusing comparison: in this story, Ivy is pointedly not reformed, she punches Bruce in the face before helping him, and Bruce still sets her free. Meanwhile, Bruce rewards the assistance of a reformed Edward by punching him in the face and making sure Edward is re-imprisoned.

And then ever since reading Gothtopia, I’ve just been noting how much more tolerant Bruce seems of Ivy than his other villains. Obviously a large element of that is the metatextual factor of Ivy being a female character-- it would clearly Look Really Bad for artists to depict Batman brutalizing a woman with the same sadistic detail with which they depict him assaulting his male villains. (Though ironically the metahuman plant goddess could probably brush off a punch much easier than his variety of entirely human gimmick villains).

There’s also the factor of writers continuously flip-flopping back and forth on whether or not they’re attracted to each other. I kind of thought Pamela’s current commitment to Harley meant this was over, but then Tynion’s run depicted Ivy as holding the same spot in Bruce’s subconscious as Selina and Talia, so I guess it isn’t (though maybe that just means the attraction is one-sided on Bruce’s part now, which would be an amusing twist on Ivy having an unreciprocated crush on him in the 90′s).

But over time I think Bruce’s faith in Ivy has become less about her being a woman (who he may or may not be attracted to), and more sympathy for her motivations. Especially now that she’s transformed from a femme fatale who wants to be the queen of crime to a zealous ecoterrorist who wants to save the planet.

For as much as their interests are entirely alien to each other (Ivy wants to protect nature, often at the cost of human life; Bruce wants to protect human life, often at the cost of... well, human life, actually), their obsessive dedication to doing what they think of as “good” is very similar. Which means Ivy is easier to negotiate with than other villains, since she has goals beyond greed or sadism that Bruce is able to compromise on. Which means it’s easier for Bruce to believe in her capacity for good, in a way that he normally doesn’t bother to believe in his villains, because it’s inevitable that they’ll disappoint him. Which also means that he GIVES Ivy opportunities to disappoint him...

Detective Comics #823 is a huge point of frustration to me because the concept is so fascinating and the execution is just ENDLESS objectification to the point that it almost erases the plot (story of my life trying to read Paul Dini’s writing). But I love the bones of it as a comic where Bruce sympathizes with Pamela, to the point of letting her stay in the Batcave to protect her from an attacker (I can’t even think of another example of Bruce doing this for a villain, outside of Joker in the BTAS comics, and doesn’t that say a lot on its own). But then he discovers evidence of Ivy having recently gruesomely murdered several people, and he is so illogically hurt and betrayed by this-- a woman he knows is a murderer having murdered people-- that he threatens to kill her.

It’s not uncommon for Bruce to threaten his villains with death (I have a whole subfolder on my computer dedicated just to times where he does so with Mr. Freeze), but it’s fascinating to me that Bruce frames the threat here as a question. He wants her to give him a reason to believe in her, even though he has just been faced with undeniable evidence that her view of human life is fundamentally incompatible with his. But Ivy doesn’t give him a reason-- she just calls him on his bluff, which I love.

In the current continuity, Ivy is honestly less Bruce’s supporting character so much as she is Harley’s, but Bruce IS still the main character of DC Detective Comics, so they still interact on occasion. Although ironically, I think the most recent example of my point is actually Ivy’s ex-girlfriend Bella comparing the two of them in Batman Secret Files: The Gardener.

Bella believes that Bruce will ignore her and simply try to imprison Ivy more effectively, which is probably what he would have done normally: Bruce is extremely set in his ways, and his way is to drag any villains he defeats back to Arkham even though he knows Arkham helps no one. The 2021 Detective Comics Annual was all about how Bruce still has to be dragged kicking and screaming into investing in the idea of any criminal being reformed, and resolutely does not consider it his responsibility to help them do so.

Ironically, however, we know that Bruce DID listen to Bella. The issue with their conversation is set in the timeline right before Everybody Loves Ivy, which ends with Bruce deciding to bring Pamela to “Sanctuary,” the therapy center he helped build for superheroes, rather than bringing her back to Arkham. His dialogue with Ivy even uses a lot of Bella’s points here, which is very fun retrospective writing from Tynion. But then Heroes in Crisis happened and... well, Bruce’s attempt to help her instead of hurt her ultimately made everything worse, and has now domino effect led to her current solo series where she is trying to kill off a significant portion of the planet’s human population. (In his defense, Bella’s attempts to fix Ivy also failed and backfired just as spectacularly.) But the fact that Bruce was willing to try is notable and so fascinating to me, since as a character he’s so resistant to setting himself up for disappointment.

[mugasofer]

The recent discourse over the latest right-wing mass shooting has got me wondering: where have all the left-wing terrorists gone?

Time was, you could barely move for bomb-throwing anarchists, ecoterrorists, Marxist-Leninist groups like the Weather Underground, etc. Even the IRA were kind of left-wing.

But now it seems like the left has almost entirely ceded the field of terrorism to white nationalists and Islamic supremacists.

The left hasn't particularly conceded riots, of course, which are sort of vaguely terrorism-adjacent by many definitions. But guns and bombs? There was one measly attempt at a firebomb in reaction to the announcement that Roe v Wade was going to be overturned, and it was so pathetic that a lot of people on both sides assumed it was probably a hoax. There have been maybe one or two attempts at BLM-adjacent attacks on cops. And that's ... about it in the 21st century. Why do none of these people who talk about "direct action", "revolution", "smashing capitalism", who view the established order as "literal genocide", actually act on it anymore by going out and killing anyone for free publicity?

(To be clear, terrorism is generally bad and I'm curious as to how we might replicate this decline with other ideologies.)

I can maybe think of a few explanations, but I'm not sure they make sense. For example, one might say that it's because the left has become more established and "violence is the language of the unheard", but in reality, terrorist tactics seem to shade pretty smoothly into guerilla warfare and then conventional warfare as they get more popular - the US Military blows up buildings to make a point all the time and they're the definition of powerful establishment. (Besides, there are plenty of areas where the left is very much the minority.) One might say the media's left-wing bias denies left-wing terrorists the coverage needed to spread their ideology, whereas they love to focus on right-wing terrorists - but the media don't show any of this willingness to stop covering juicy Islamic terror attacks even though they help the right-wing narrative. One could say that liberalism is just too inherently moral, with historical left-wing "terrorists" tending to prefer property damage when possible, and that's no longer attention-grabbing - but there have definitely been some pretty lethal left-wing terror attacks too. One could say that left-wing violence is sublimated into often-violent protests, but why doesn't this happen with right-wing protests, and is it actually the same sorts of people - maladjusted loners - involved?

Actually, is it accurate to say that historical left-wing "terrorism" is even the same phenomenon as modern "terrorism" - which seems to have heavy overlap with non-ideological killing sprees, in terms of being committed by disaffected vaguely-suicidal loners? My instinct is that they tended to be more methodical, with more intention of actually getting away with them and committing more rather than martyring yourself for the cause. (Under this rubric, anti-abortion terrorism would be more similar to classic left-wing terrorism than modern terrorism, and it does also seem to have declined.) But that still doesn't explain the conundrum: why are modern "spree killer" terrorists so disproportionately right-wing, when on paper it would seem that they could just as easily latch onto leftist ideas about who needs to die in order to cleanse society as rightist ones?

[unnecessarilygrandiose]

If you asked after I finished reading The Raven Cycle who my favourite character was, I'd tell you that I loved them all equally. But the truth is, I love Adam Parrish a little more than the others. Well, a lot more. That's what my heart said right from book 1, that's what my head realised when he said, "The Moderators have a point," that's what my most used tag of this blog says. That bitch has the heart of a hero, mind of a villain, and a mouth that would seduce less touch-starved, attention-needing people than Ronan Lynch. (Um, that sounds a bit weird, by mouth I mean how he's so straightforward and mean, cutting where it hurts with his words, that's it. Seriously. No seriously. Okay maybe not. Haha who am I kidding I would go straight for that guy.)

The thing is. He's so good at wearing a mask. So, so good. He really truly wants to do good in this world, but even his doing good is a kind of mask for who he really is, which is an asshole. It's so easy to forget the 'mind of a villain' part of his when you're faced with his heart of gold. While rereading Call Down the Hawk, I was totally up in my feels about Adam. "Oh, he's so sweet, his friends consist of people with terrible childhoods and he's helping them because he's been there, and because he escaped, and even though they're all in the same position he's being so lovely and beautiful and kind uwu," &c. I mean, all that is a hundred percent true, he is that sweet, I'm just saying I forgot he's also the kind of guy who murders latin teachers with the help of a magical forest and then frames their successors for non-existent murders. Mister Impossible served to remind me of that.

As Declan so eloquently put it, while his friends google celebrities, this guy secures secret documents, speaks to the ex-employee of the guy he framed for murder and does risky magic to find information on his ecoterrorist boyfriend. All while running a side business of card reading, and he doesn't even use magic for that--

Those tarot readings you saw were just for show. I was just reading people. Parlor tricks. Fake magic.

--because he can bloody read people. He's that smart.

Anyway, I think I started this post because I wanted to say something about all the 'Adam Parrish literally said the Mods have a point in trying to murder his boyfriend' joke posts going around, but of course this turned into an Adam Parrish appreciation post. Anyway. I see the joke in his 'Mods have a point' comment, but. The thing is. They do.

And I know people are perfectly well aware of that, I just wanted to say this because I felt so vindicated when Adam said that, seeing as I was thinking the same thing at the end of my CDTH reread. Also, maybe this is just me, but I think the stakes really and truly changed in that chapter. Adam Parrish had the lowest screen time of all characters, but the plot, which had been going at a moderate rate until then, really picked up the pace after that.

In conclusion, Adam Parrish is the greatest and the best and I would die kill for him. That's it. That's all I have to say. Thanks for joining me on this ride.

[ihassheepquake]

DC's Batwoman 3.08 "Trust Destiny" has aired on the CW and I'm here to talk about it

We're back baby! Batwoman has officially returned and I am so excited. This has easily been my favourite season so far and I'm really excited to see how it keeps going, so let's get into it.

Oooh a flashback with Renee! Seeing her evil love Pam. And we finally get to see Pamela Isley, this has been a long time coming. And she looks pretty good too. I'm liking this villain outfit. And she just straight-up murdered a dude, nice.

"Cause someone has to care." Interesting. Care about what? The environment? Or something else??

I really like Poison Mary. She's fun. Mary and Alice's dynamic is fun as always. And they're in Metropolis. Alice's answer to every question being murder is such fun. She might be legitimately my favourite villain in the entire arrowverse.

Oh I guess Pam didn't kill that guy. And she and Renee are just casually going on with their relationship despite Pam being a literal ecoterrorist? Now that is an accurate depiction of queer relationships.

I know the thing I should be talking about in this scene is how the Bat's + Renee are fighting and shit, but all I'm thinking about is Ryan and Sophie being married in Armaggedon and I'm just waiting for that to happen here.

I'm with Ryan in this argument though actually. Like, can they at least try and find something else to help Mary? Why is their first instinct the worst kind of Batman move?

Why does this show feel the need to give Ryan a Joker though? There are better Batman villains to recreate. For example, literally the Poison Mary plot.

Watching Ryan, Sophie, and Renee kick ass together is so satisfying.

OMFG Renee is the one who did the desiccation!!! Holy shit!!!!!

The bloody stump in the middle of the cave is where Bats kept Ivy??? That's kinda fucking genius actually. I'm pretty positive it wasn't but could you imagine if that was the plan the whole time? Haven't people in the show literally asked why there's a fucking tree stump in there?

This thing Ryan did with her bat-ear coms or whatever the fuck finally explains the fucking detective vision. That was pretty rad.

Ivy's basically dead body in the walls? Gross.

Ope, guess who really got desiccated? That fucking bitch Marquis. Fucking hate that guy, his bitch ass deserves it.

I really wonder if Alice is pulling a long-con on Poison Mary.

Oh no, Ivy made the forgiveness flower. That should be sweet but that's real bad actually. Renee no! Fuck, Ivy's a fucking princess or something because she's about to be brought back to life with true love's kiss.

Saying this before we find out what Sophie found in Renee's office that scared even Alice. What if this isn't actually Renee but actually Harley trying to start a new life or something.

Renee has the Joker buzzer!! Maybe my crazy Renee is actually Harley isn't as crazy. But no matter what, Renee having had that the whole time to get Ryan to find Ivy is a great twist. I'm all about it.

Y'all, this has been a great return to the show. I'm so happy! I can't wait for next week with DC's Batwoman 3.09 "Meet Your Maker". Ivy and Mary interacting face-to-face is certainly going to be something.

[tangooftears]

You know. Can I really call myself an ecoterrorist if I haven’t done anything really ecoterrorist-y in about a year.

That and I think at this point it’s no longer really terrorism and more just. I don’t wanna say generally agreed upon course of action but like. The idea is to replace the mako reactors with literally anything else.