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longitudinalwaveme · 3 years

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The CW Rogues: My Biggest Gripe With the 2014 Flash Show

In many ways, the CW Flash show is what got me into comics. While I had watched (and loved) Justice League and Justice League Unlimited and read loads of DC guidebooks as a kid, it wasn’t until I saw a clip from the 2014 CW Flash show that I really got invested in the DC Universe. While I had already started watching B:TAS (and loving it), Batman wasn’t what got me into comics. No, that was the Flash...or rather, it was Captain Cold. While watching a clip from the Justice League episode Flash and Substance on YouTube, I saw a link to a clip from “Family of Rogues” (from Season 2 of CW’s Flash). Intrigued by the premise, I found the show on Netflix, watched the entire episode, and was hooked. Not only was the Flash just as nice as he had been on Justice League, but two of his Rogues were siblings, and they actually cared about one another. I wanted to know more, so I looked Captain Cold and the Golden Glider up. My research into Cold and Glider led me to the other Rogues, and soon I became a Flash fan. I watched the show, I re-watched “Flash and Substance”, I read articles about the characters from the comics...and eventually, I started reading the comics themselves. I loved the characters and the lore, and I enjoyed the generally lighthearted tone of the books even into the modern era. Unfortunately, as I learned more about the comics, I grew less and less interested in the 2014 TV show. It made too many alterations to character I liked in the comics...and eventually, I basically stopped watching the show out of frustration. Ironically enough, by getting me into comics, the show alienated me from itself....and a big reason for that was the way it handled the Rogues. Here’s a rundown of the CW Rogues, and why I was frustrated with most of them.

1. Captain Cold. I actually enjoy Captain Cold on the CW show; he’s recognizable as Len Snart and his sarcasm game is on point. (It doesn’t hurt that Wentworth Miller is really attractive, either). His relationships with Lisa, Mick, and Barry are fantastic, and it’s a relief to have him be treated as a competent threat. That being said...he’s a bit too suave for Captain Cold, isn’t he? Silver Age Cold thought he was suave, but he wasn’t; and modern Captain Cold is middle-aged, grouchy, and very rough around the edges. His smooth, suave nature reminds me more of classic Sam (the original Mirror Master) than Captain Cold.

2. Heat Wave. Dominic Purcell did a great job with the role he was given, and physically he’s an excellent match for Mick. That being said, CW Mick is very different from the Mick in the classic comics, who was a bit dim-witted and rather gentle and sweet for a supervillain. CW Mick, by contrast, is, as I think @gorogues put it, “Hothead McAngryman”, which wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t seem to have bled back into the comics themselves. Villains with fire powers being hotheads is a bit overdone, so I’m not thrilled to see comic Mick being put into that role.

3. Golden Glider. Hands down, Lisa is my favorite of the CW Rogues. Despite the fact that her costume and power set are completely different than they were in the comics, they managed to get her personality down pretty well; making her just as dangerous and competent as the boys. Flirtatious, crafty, devious, and yet still at least somewhat sympathetic, the CW version of Lisa Snart takes home the gold for the best adaptation of a Rogue. If only they hadn’t completely forgotten that she existed.

4. Pied Piper. Note that I have not seen his Season 6 appearance, so I’m just judging this based on his appearances in Seasons 1 and 2. Piper is disappointing; in his first appearance he wasn’t as fun as Silver/Bronze Age Piper or as sympathetic as modern Piper, and I’m not crazy about the idea of him being motivated primarily by revenge on Wells/Thawne, since that wasn’t his motivation in the comics at all. I also don’t remember him being able to puppet or hypnotize people with his music, which is too bad, since that’s his main schtick in the comics. What’s more, if you want to reform a character, don’t do it offscreen via reality warping and then forget about him for four seasons. It sounds like his Season 6 appearance was better, but I haven’t seen it so I can’t comment on it. Also, “the Pied Piper” is kind of a nonindicative name if he doesn’t play a pipe/flute.

5. Trickster II (Axel Walker). Axel was actually decent in the CW show. I still like comic Axel better, but they got the gist of his character down and even made him a bit sympathetic. In fact, he’s probably in the top three best Rogue adaptations that the CW did.

6. Trickster I (James Jesse). I love watching Mark Hamill play CW’s Trickster...but man, he is not playing Giovanni Giuseppi on the CW show. He’s playing the Joker with a different name. It’s especially weird since we know from JLU and that one short where Mark Hamill plays himself, the Joker, the Trickster, and Swamp Thing that Hamill can do a non-Joker Trickster and do it well, so my suspicion is that it was just because Trickster was also the Joker in the 1990s Flash show (where he was also played by Mark Hamill). Regardless, murdering random people and threatening to blow up small children during Christmas is not something the Trickster should be doing.

Although this does prove Mark Hamill could do a live-action Joker. I’d pay money to see that. Mark Hamill is a great Joker.

7. Weather Wizard. CW Weather Wizard isn’t egregiously bad. He’s not out-of-character like Trickster, and he’s not boring to watch, but at the same time it feels like there’s something missing. Maybe it’s because he doesn’t quote Twain. Maybe it’s because there’s not the sense that he was a loser before he got his powers. Maybe it’s because they changed his origin completely (and also made him older than Clyde for some reason). It could even be because he’s not wearing a green leotard with a huge collar, puffy sleeves, and ridiculous elf boots. Whatever it is, though, he’s just missing that spark that makes me like comic book Wizard so much.

8. Mirror Master I (Sam Scudder). I don’t know how you make Sam Scudder more boring than New 52/Rebirth did, but somehow the CW version of the character pulled it off. Granted, Cold had already stolen some of Sam’s characterization, so that didn’t help, but they could’ve leaned into his skills as an inventor or his love of showmanship or something. Instead, we got a generic thug with what was basically Evan McCulloch’s power set. Boo! Boo I say!

9. Top (Roscoe/Rosa Dillon). The Brave and the Bold Top is more interesting than the CW version, and he doesn’t even have spoken lines! That’s how boring this Top is. Also, the gender swap was pretty pointless. I wouldn’t have minded a female Top if she’d been intelligent and creepy and snobbish in the way that Roscoe is, but why even bother changing the gender if the character is going to have such a minor role? They also substantially depowered the CW Top, since Rosa can’t spin at super speed and isn’t telekinetic. A massive missed opportunity.

10. Mirror Master II (Evan/Eva McCulloch). I can’t comment on how good of a character Eva is, since I haven’t watched any of the episodes with her in them, but I will say I am disappointed that the character does not seem to be Scottish, does not have Evan’s weird sense of humor, and lacks his tooth gap.

11. Captain Boomerang (George “Digger” Harkness). Not only did he not actually appear on the Flash, but he was also boring and didn’t even seem to have an Australian accent. I was very disappointed with his role in the CW.

And now for characters who aren’t Rogues:

-CW Eobard is really good. I have no real complaints about him.

-CW Grodd is also really good, though I do wish he was from Gorilla City as per the comics rather than a lab experiment.

-CW Magenta got most of the important character beats down but felt a bit out of place with Barry as the Flash.

-CW Shade was possibly even more boring than CW Sam, which is saying something.

-CW Zoom didn’t really feel like Zoom at all. Not only was it weird to see him fighting Barry and not Wally, but he was just a generic serial killer and didn’t have Zolomon’s unique outlook on the world. The loss of his time manipulation powers was likewise disappointing.

-CW Jay is really good. I love him.

-CW Jesse Quick has very little in common with her comic book counterpart; I like the comic version better but don’t actually mind the CW version all that much.

-CW Wally is decent enough, though I don’t see why they couldn’t have kept him as Iris’ nephew rather than making him her brother. Also, they didn’t use him nearly as much as they should have.

-CW Barry I generally like a lot; Grant Gustin is a good fit for the character. That being said, I do wish they hadn’t given him the dead mom origin, which was a retcon I am not fond of.

-CW Iris is quite good (in the first three seasons, at least); she’s intelligent, loyal to Barry, dedicated to her job, and quite independent. The fact that she and Barry were foster siblings in the CW universe is kind of weird, though, since it makes their romance kind of awkward.

-Joe West is not Ira West (Iris’s father in the comics), but I actually don’t care. Joe West is made of awesome. (I like Ira too, but I like Joe enough that I don’t mind having him replace Ira.)

-The Fiddler on the CW had very little to do with the comic Fiddler.

-I’ve never been particularly invested in the Thinker (comic or show), but I will say that the CW’s version of the character was very different from his comics counterpart.

-CW Ragdoll was just as creepy and unsettling as comic book Ragdoll, though he had a very different backstory.

-I never expected Baby Josh to make it into the CW, let alone as a gender-swapped teenager named Joss who wanted to kill Weather Wizard. It felt like they never knew where to go with her character, though, so it was a wasted opportunity. At least she didn’t die like poor Baby Josh, though.

-Big Sir in the CW show is a MASSIVE improvement over the comic version. This is probably the only character I will say this about. Though I will say that I kind of wish he’d gotten his stupidly ugly comic book costume even though it would’ve made no sense.

-Peek-a-Boo is a pretty solid adaptation of her comic book counterpart.

-Rainbow Raider (Prism) is much better in the comics than on the CW show, where he only existed to be a boring plot device.

-Linda Park dating Barry was weird, but they actually did a good job with her character before she vanished.

This is not intended as a criticism of anyone who likes the show or its characters; it’s just me musing about my personal problems with it.

#flash rogues #flash comics #flash cw #barry allen #wally west #iris allen

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sokkascroptop · 4 years

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traitor. (sokka x f!reader) pt 10

part 1 | part 9 | part 11

A/N: it only took 10 parts but....we have Sokka and Y/N interacting!! If you’ve read the atla comics this is inspired by “The Bridge”. If not, it doesn’t matter! This is just what happens after Aang is injured by Azula and before Season 3 episode 1

Everything about being on the boat made Y/N uncomfortable. She had fought with Katara and Aang in the crystal cave proudly, but now that she was out in the open and more people knew what she had done, she felt like an imposter. She still held the weight of regret high on her shoulders, especially now that she realized that no one was ever going to fully trust her. Nobody was going to trust someone who was willing to change sides in a war. She would always be a traitor whichever side she landed on.

“I told you Sokka, she helped Aang and I. She’s staying.” Y/N could tell Katara’s patience was waning. Two days aboard the Water Tribe ship and she had told her brother and the earthbender––Toph––what had happened in the catacombs four times, and yet Sokka was still persistent that Y/N needed to leave. The four of them were sitting below deck in the mess hall drinking tea from thick ceramic mugs. It was colder being on the water and Y/N was grateful for the warmth.

“Look, we can even be nice and give her one of the canoes!” Sokka countered. He gave Y/N a pointed look. “You know, as opposed to throwing you out of sea.”

Y/N nodded. “Yup, I caught that. Thank you.” Y/N really didn’t like that they were talking about her like she wasn’t sitting next to them.

“Snoozles, I think you need to give it a rest,” Toph said. She sipped out of her tea cup and pressed her knee into Y/N’s. The girl had either taken a quick liking to Y/N or she really liked to piss Sokka off, and Y/N guessed it was the latter.

Sokka ignored her. “We should leave it up to Dad whether we take her as a prisoner or not.”

“He has more important things to worry about, and so do I!” Katara yelled. She stood, nearly spilling her teacup. She pressed it into Sokka’s hands. “And she’s not a prisoner!” She left the room fuming, likely to go check on Aang who was unconscious in the healer’s room.

Y/N looked around the room awkwardly. “Does this boat even have, like a place to hold prisoners?”

Sokka glared at her.

“Yeah, so this is fun, but I’m going to go find anything else to do.” Toph moved to leave only to have Sokka pull her back down.

“I want to hear it again. From her, not Katara.”

Y/N couldn’t help but groan. “Again?”

“Why do you need me here?” Toph sat down again.

“Tell me if she’s lying.”

“She isn’t interested in lying to the people who are keeping her safe right now. I’m a fugitive,” Y/N said angrily. “I watched someone who I used to call my best friend nearly kill her uncle. I watched her become a person I didn’t recognize anymore because of this mission. Except,” Y/N turned her empty cup over in her hands. “I’m beginning to think she was always that person, and it wasn’t her that changed, it was me.”

“She’s not lying, Sokka.”

He didn’t look convinced. “Look, all I know is that the Fire Nation is full of evil people. You can’t just expect us to forgive you–”

“I don’t,” Y/N interrupted. “I know you’re mad. I can see the looks the crew gives me. I don’t expect forgiveness from anyone. I don’t even think I forgive myself yet,” she painfully admitted. “I just need redemption.”

What she had said didn’t look like it had convinced Sokka any and Toph’s expression was the same as it was before.

“Come on, let’s go for a walk on the deck, Toph.”

They left, and Y/N was alone. Y/N picked uncomfortably at the hem of the tunic Katara gave her to wear. The green pants were three inches too short when she bent her knees and the actual tunic was almost immodestly tight but it was the kindness that Katara showed her by giving them to Y/N, even if they were just some Earth Kingdom clothes she was given while she was in Ba Sing Se.

Y/N wandered below deck after leaving the mess hall. There wasn’t much to see, the ship wasn’t as large as a Fire Nation ship, just one hallway and a smattering of doors that she probably wasn’t allowed in. Ahead of her though, was a door that was cracked open; the healer’s room. Y/N peeked through the crack at Katara kneeling over Aang. She must have just finished a healing session with him, and she was muttering to herself.

“–have to get better.”

The boat rocked as it crested a wave and Y/N bumped into the door startling Katara. She lifted the water from the basin she was using and then immediately dropped it when she saw who it was.

Y/N, caught now, closed the door softly behind her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.” She pretended not to see Katara blink tears out of her eyes.

“I was finished anyways.”

“How is he?” Y/N asked, unable to come up with anything else to say.

Katara looked back at him and Y/N followed her gaze. He looked like a little kid, not the all powerful Avatar she had seen a day ago.

“The same as before. Hey,” she pointed at Y/N’s head. “Do you want me to heal that cut some more?”

Y/N lightly traced the gash on her forehead that she’d received when her and Katara were thrown into the rocks by Zuko and Azula. It reached into her hairline and the only reason she let Katara use her healing powers at all was because it was still bleeding when they’d boarded the ship. She’d only had the energy after healing Aang to close it enough for it to stop bleeding.

“No, don’t worry about me.” Y/N smiled and left without another word, feeling like an intruder. She didn’t need any more hospitality from them.

---

There weren’t any spare hammocks on the ship for them so the four of them slept on the floor in the crew cabin. They laid out fur pelts underneath their sleeping bags to make it softer; and much like the night before, Y/N was in the middle between Katara and Toph, Sokka at their feet.

Y/N knew this arrangement was purposeful. They were still suspicious of her, and if she was surrounded by them she would have a harder time getting up and leaving. She wasn’t a prisoner, but she wasn’t free to roam either.

For the first time in a long time, she dreamt of home; of playing on the beaches and swimming in the warm ocean. She was happy and Y/N realized she hadn’t felt like that in a long time. She didn’t even mind when she was woken up by Toph kicking her in the shin the next morning.

“Come on, we need to go above deck.”

“Why?”

“They spotted a Fire Nation ship.”

Y/N had never pulled her boots on faster. She braided her hair on the way as they ran up the steps. It seemed like the whole crew was milling around the deck, muttering in small groups, all eyes turned to the east where a trail of black smoke announced the arrival of enemies.

Hakoda nodded at her as Y/N and Toph approached. He’d been just as cautious with Y/N as the rest of the crew, but nicer to her than his son. “Do you know what kind of ship that is?”

Y/N tied off her braid and threw it over her shoulder she squinted and leaned on the rail. “Looks kind of small, maybe a scouting ship?”

Hakoda hummed. “That means we’re going to be outnumbered fast.”

“We won’t be able to fight them, ‘Koda,” Bato warned. “And we can’t run, our sails are torn to shreds from our last fight with them.”

The two shared a look. Surely, they weren’t thinking of surrendering, were they?

Katara evidently thought the same. “We have to think about Aang, Dad. We can’t let the Fire Nation have him! We have to protect him.”

“We will! All we have to do is think of a plan.” Sokka seemed unusually happy for their situation.

Beside him, Toph punched his arm. “Alright, idea guy! Lay it on us.”

“If we can’t beat them, join them!” Sokka beamed.

Y/N let out a humorless laugh. “You can’t possibly be suggesting that we switch sides.”

“What, are you excited about seeing some of your Fire Nation buddies?” he asked, his voice was light, almost joking, but she could hear the accusation.

“Sokka!” Katara clenched her jaw.

He held up his hands. “Okay, okay, sorry!” He did not sound sorry. “What I meant is that we just switch boats.”

Katara, Bato and Hakoda stared at Sokka like he was insane. Toph gave him another punch on the arm. “That’s your plan?!”

Y/N on the other hand, nodded her head. “Huh.”

Hakoda looked at her like he was looking at Sokka moments ago. “You think that this could work?”

“Yeah, I do actually,” Everyone seemed surprised that she agreed with Sokka. Especially Sokka. “I mean, scouting ships have soldiers on them but they aren’t the best fighters and they don’t station firebenders on them. Their job low risk; just to scout out enemies and relay messages back to bigger ships. If we could find a way to sneak up on them it is very possible that you have enough warriors to take them out and steal the ship.”

Nobody had anything to say to that. Hakoda grabbed Sokka’s shoulder. “Alright, what’s the plan, son?”

---

Sink the fleet.

Y/N still couldn’t believe that this was Sokka’s “brilliant” idea. And she really couldn’t believe that Hakoda had let them go through with it.

Y/N looked back from her place at the front of the canoe to the smashed wooden ships behind them. The point was to make it look like the Water Tribe had already been beaten, so Katara and Toph had used their bending to flood and crush the ships. It was sad for her to watch it all happen, she couldn’t imagine what it was like for the warriors who had called the ships ‘home’ for years.

A sharp kick to the bench under her jerked her out of her thoughts. “Keep paddling! You’re making us turn the wrong way.”

Y/N put her oar back into the water and wondered how good it would feel if she just slipped a little and let her elbow fly back into Sokka’s nose. Just how cute would the Water Tribe boy be with two black eyes and a broken nose?

Y/N swallowed down her anger. “Oh shut up, I haven’t done this since I was nine.”

---

The Water Tribe had found a treeline to camp in for the night. At dusk the next day, they would attack the Fire Nation ship.

Y/N lay in the grass a few feet away from the Chief, Katara and Sokka and Toph, staring at the stars. She traced the constellations she knew with her eyes, she was just looking for ‘the dragon’ when the stars were blotted out with a figure standing over her.

“Come sit with us by the fire. It’s cold out.” Sokka crossed his arms.

Y/N shook her head and sat up. “Thanks, but I’m good.”

He dug the toe of his boot into the grass. “They won’t let me come back until I bring you.”

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Y/N smiled and flopped back onto her back. “Guess you won’t be eating dinner!”

Sokka raised an eyebrow. “Is this punishment for being mean to you?”

Y/N rolled her eyes. She could tell him that, yeah it probably was, but it wouldn’t be fair of her. Y/N was pretty sure he had a right to be mad with her for joining out of the blue.

“If you can be nice over dinner, I’ll go over there with you.” Y/N nodded towards the fire. Katara turned away quickly when she locked eyes with Y/N.

“Deal! I’m starving.” Sokka held a hand out to help her up. Whether it was because he was trying to be nice or force of habit, she accepted it and let him pull her to her feet.

They let go of each other quickly and didn’t look at each other on the walk over.

Turns out it was easy for Sokka to keep his promise because he ignored her the whole time and spent the entire meal chattering about the plan for tomorrow with his dad. It was fine with her, Y/N was more interested in Katara’s silence than anything. Anytime either of the men tried to talk to her she shut them down or snapped at her father.

She nudged Katara’s elbow. “Are you okay?”

She looked up from where she was scowling into her bowl of food. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”

Y/N nodded. Katara was lying but Y/N didn’t want to press. She could have been stressed about Aang who was still unconscious in the tent behind them. And if there was anything going on between her and her dad, it wasn’t Y/N’s place to meddle in, especially when her relationship with the Water Tribe was as precarious as it was. But something gnawed at the thought of leaving it completely alone. “Let me know. If you want to talk, or something.” Y/N shrugged noncommittally.

Katara didn’t say anything the rest of the night to her, not until they had snuggled into their sleeping bags around the dying fire and Sokka had already started snoring. Somehow, Katara knew Y/N was still awake.

“Thanks, Y/N.” She whispered the words so quietly that they could have been Y/N’s imagination. She figured out it was real when she opened her eyes to find Katara closing hers. Y/N smiled and tucked her head closer to her chest and fell asleep to the buzzing of cicada-bats in the trees.

---

The next day, Hakoda did something that surprised her. “Here.” He thrust Y/N’s sheathed sword under her nose. She was seated on a rock next to their smoldering fire, just hours before the Tribe planned on leaving to raid the Fire Nation ship. All around her, warriors were sharpening their swords and spears.

“Um, thank you?” Y/N hesitantly reached out for it, wondering if this was a trick. She had turned it over to him the moment she slid off of the Appa’s back. And to be completely honest, she wasn’t expecting to get it back at all.

“I want you to come with us.”

Y/N widened her eyes. No one had explicitly told her, she wasn't going, she just expected to be left behind. “Why?”

“I heard you can fight.”

Y/N wondered which sibling gave him that information because that could be a good or a bad thing. She lifted one shoulder in a small shrug. “A little.”

He chuckled. “I also heard of a few of my warriors making a bet on when you would turn on us.” He started to walk away. “Don’t make me lose silver to Bato because I think you’ll stick around.”

---

The only sound around was the soft lapping of water against the metal sides of the ship. Y/N’s heart began race and her muscles tensed in anticipation. She drummed her fingers on the side of the canoe, not able to keep still.

Behind her, Katara was less enthused about being brought along. “I should be with Aang, not here.” She muttered to Toph.

“Aang is going to be fine. And once we take this ship he’s going to have somewhere safe to recover.” Katara went silent.

As quiet as possible, the Water Tribe warriors scaled the side of the ship with grappling hooks and rope. Y/N could hear shouts of surprise come from the soldiers on the deck as they jumped over the railing.

When it was Y/N’s turn, she landed on the metal deck next to Toph and Katara. Some warriors had split off to taken down any soldiers on the bridge as well as look for soldiers sleeping below deck. Katara bent water over the railing to knock down three soldiers that rushed them. Two more came from the right; one of them wielding a spear, the other a dao. Y/N deflected the tip of the spear and sliced down, snapping the wood in half. She kicked him in the chest, and he skidded backwards on the deck. She parried a strike from the other soldier, and sent her elbow flying into his face, bringing him to his knees.

Y/N watched in awe as Toph ripped a piece of the railing off the boat and bent it around the two of them on the ground, restraining them back to back. Y/N looked around the deck and noticed Sokka kneeling, tying another soldier’s hands behind his back. What he didn’t see what the Fire Nation soldier who was sneaking up behind him.

Y/N’s breath caught in her throat and she ran.

She got there just in time to intercept his sword with her own. But catching him so late in the blow cost Y/N her upward momentum and the tip of her sword scraped the deck. She grabbed his wrist and pushed it away. She brought her left knee up into his side, using their closeness as an advantage. He groaned and bent forward. She swung the flat of her blade against his wrist, forcing him to drop his sword on the deck. For good measure, she grabbed the back of his head and sent her knee into his face. The soldier sprawled back on the deck; dazed, with a bloody nose.

Snickering behind her drew Y/N’s attention. She watched as Hakoda elbowed Bato in the chest, and Bato, irritated, pushed him away.

“I told you so!” Hakoda called after him.

---

Y/N was surprised when Katara said that she could have her own room.

“Everyone else, has their own. We figured you would want one too.” she shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal and left. Except it was a huge deal. Y/N grinned. They weren’t worried anymore that she was going to wake up in the middle of the night and go on a murder spree. They were giving her an inch of trust and that meant everything to Y/N. She knew that she had a long way to go, but this was something.

She pulled her hair out of it’s tangled braid and dropped her sword–which Hakoda had allowed her to keep–next to her bed roll before collapsing onto it. She sat back up immediately as someone knocked on her door.

“Yeah?” she called, crossing her legs. She began to comb the knots out of her hair with her fingers.

She dropped her hands in surprise when Sokka opened the door. He closed the door behind him and leaned on the wall just inside.

Suddenly the room felt stiflingly hot. He had traded his blue Water Tribe clothes for a soldier’s uniform and replaced his wolfs-tail with a Fire Nation top knot.

“What’s up?”

Sokka shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “I want you to teach me how to sword-fight.”

“Oh?” Y/N was surprised to hear that come out of his mouth. “Why?”

“I would have died if you hadn’t been there,” Sokka admitted. “I feel like I rely on the others too much in a fight. I’ve never had a Master to teach me anything.”

“Well, I’m not a Master,” Y/N said apologetically. She could understand where he was coming from. She was born into a family of firebenders as the only nonbender and it made her special in all the wrong ways. She had to be good at something to survive.

“Maybe not in title, but you’re good. Really good. I–actually never mind.” Sokka turned the handle to the door.

“No, wait! I’ll do it!” She shot up and grabbed his arm. It didn’t matter how much he had hated her twenty-four hours ago. This was something they had in common and if she ever wanted to be in their good graces, she needed to do this.

“Yeah?” He looked hopeful, and little surprised like he figured she would have said no.

“How about we start tomorrow?” Y/N asked. She realized her hand was still wrapped around his wrist. She pulled back and crossed her arms.

Sokka nodded. “Tomorrow.”

---

A/N: now I’m just trying to decide how much of a slow-burn this is going to be.... ALSO two things! One: you’ll notice that I keep mentioning her being a non-bender. You’re all like, “yeah, yeah we know.” but it’s important!! If you haven’t read the Imbalance comics, I highly recommend you do. I have taken some of the issues from that and decided to use them in here because they moved me so much. Being a non-bender is part of Y/N just as much as being a waterbender is to Katara. It defines her, even if she doesn’t like it. Two: No Master Piandao here because, why would we when we can get Sokka and Y/N bonding over sparring and sword-fighting lessons? :)

Taglist: @myexgirlfriendisthemoon @reclusive-chicken-nugget @astroninaaa @aangsupremacy @beifongsss @crownofcryptids @welovediaaxx @littlefluu @lozzybowe @thebluelcdy @ohjustlookalive @sugarmoongey @fanficdepot @teenbiology @13-09-01 @riespage @davnwillcome @naanlianid @creation-magician @lunariasilver @vintagerose1014516 @bcifcng

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kittyreading · 4 years

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Manga Master List: Recommendations and My Personal Wish List

!!//PLEASE READ//!!

Below is every manga from my amazon wishlist I would recommend(as of February 11 2021) with a picture and a 3-5 sentence explanation of what the manga is about. Underneath will also be the number of volumes I have read, the number I own, and it’s status of ongoing or complete and how many volumes it has. This way you can decide for yourself if you think I have read enough of it to give an accurate recommendation.

This list only includes manga you can purchase (including digital purchases) from the wishlist. I decided that I would in fact include my personal amazon manga wishlist here and at the bottom for people to buy THEMSELVES a copy of any of these manga they would like. Keep in mind many of these won’t have volume 1 in the list but you should be able to get to the series page from the list. If a manga shows up on the amazon list that I did not include in this one that is because I have not read enough of them(or any of them) to recommend. Ok? Cool, enjoy the list!!

1. The Girl from the Other side is about a little girl living with a gentleman monster. It is a supernatural mystery with beautiful art.

Own: 0

Series: Ongoing at 9 volumes

2. Pumpkin Scissors is a military fantasy about a War Veteran named Randal Oland who joins the pumpkin scissors core to help with war relief and uncover the deep corruption of the government. It is similar in themes to FMA in the sense it appears to be based on a World War, and corruption of government but it more focused on the power of the noble houses in government. There is also a fun science element but it is not as in focus as in FMA. The two but are very very different overall tho. Only 5 volumes were distributed in physical English copies as the publishing company went bankrupt, all others are only available digitally. (I couldn’t get the manga vol. 1 cover to work so the picture above is a poster for the anime)

Own: 0

Read: around 10

Series: Ongoing at 23 volumes

3. Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun is a slice of life about a bunch of highschoolers. Nozaki is the mangaka of a popular Shoujo manga who uses his personal experiences with friends to create his monthly comic series. It is a fun gender stereotype reversal manga with a large cast of both male and female characters (one could be HC as genderfluid but she’s still canonically female at this time) The manga is one of the easiest to read as the panels are mostly in straight down rectangles so the pages are extremely easy to follow and is very funny.

Own: 1

Status: Ongoing at 12 volumes

4. Yu-Gi-Oh! is well known to be about the card game yu-gi-oh, using magic and myths to further the story, HOWEVER, Yu-gi-oh! is the “Season 0″ of the series it is much darker than to be expected and there is no card game. The Yu-gi-oh most are familiar with is Yu-gi-oh Duelist (just found this out myself) and is the Yu-gi-oh you probably already know. There is no overarching plot to this mini series it is just Yugi fucking shit up playing games and destroying some bullies. I have yet to read any of Duelist as of the creation of this post therefore I cannot recommend it :/

Own: 5 (1-3 & 6-7)

Status: Completed at 7 volumes

5. The Way of the House Husband is about a former yakuza who gets married and flips his script. He becomes a house husband for his working wife and carries on doing chores and errands while still looking and acting scary unintentionally and getting himself in trouble. It is a slice of life comedy with some adult jokes but is over all extremely funny and pleasant to read.

Own: 0

Status: Ongoing at 7 volumes

6. Hikaru no Go is about a highschool boy who finds a haunted Go board. He meets the ghost who once was a prolific Go player. Together they work to become a world class Go champion meeting new people along the way. This series was cut short due to legal issues with a real Go player and therefore will remain unfinished but the story that is there is golden. It is still one of the most popular manga in Japan.

Own: 0

Status: Complete at 23 Volumes

7. Zatch Bell! This manga is about a teenager named Kiyo who gets sent a young boy with amnesia named Zatch Bell who turns out to be an alien called a momodo. Now the two must battle other momodo in order to understand what happened to Zatch and to make Zatch the new king. Along the way they make many friends and save both the momodo and human worlds. This one is difficult because it is a classic that did not do well in America so the volumes are expensive and the series is unfinished in English. You can only buy 27 of the volumes in English and a few of them are almost impossible to find, however it is well worth the money if you can afford it and it is available online.

Own: 6 (1-5 & 13)

Status: Complete at 33 Volumes only 27 printed in English (you can finish series online)

8. Fullmetal Alchemist is a cult classic most have read it, watched the series, or heard of it at the very least. This is one of the most popular Manga of all time and for good reason. The manga is about 2 brothers Alphonse and Edward on a journey to return their bodies to normal after committing the taboo of human transmutation. The manga has themes of racism, government corruption and manipulation of the military. The versions on my wishlist are the special Fullmetal Editions so they will have a different price point and volume number than the regular volumes or the omnibuses’

Own: 12

Status: Complete at 27 Volumes

9. Princess Jellyfish is about a young woman who is sort of an outcast otaku living with 5 other otaku women. She has a deep love for jellyfish as they remind her of her late mother. She meets a beautiful woman who turns out to be a male college student and slowly comes out of her shell making new friends and growing with old ones as well. This manga is very sweet and I really don’t know what else to say haha.

Own: 0

Status: Complete at 17 volumes

10. !!!HUGE TW FOR EATING DISORDERS!!! In Clothes Called Fat is a, oneshot, non romanticizing story of an office woman trying to lose weight and developing several eating disorders in the process. She goes through hardships in relationships and bullying as well. It has a bittersweet ending and should be read with caution but it is beautifully done. Please do not read this if you are under the age 16 at the very youngest there are NSFW moments as well as just generally not being a topic for younger audiences.

Own: No

Read: Yes

Status: Completed one shot

11. My LOVE Story!! Is an adorable Slice of Life shojo about a highschooler named Takeo Gouda, his girlfriend Yamato, and his best friend and hear throb Suna. This series is rather refreshing as the relationship starts pretty much immediately, the best friend is very supportive, and it is focused on Takeo’s personality over looks as he is often compared in manga to a gorilla or bear. It is a generally heart warming story with some emotional side plots. The ending is sort of sudden but it’s really enjoyable.

Own: 6 (1-3,8,10-12)

Status: Completed at 13 Volumes

12. Soul Eater is pretty popular but if you don’t know what it is about it is about a Weapon named Soul and his Meister Maka. They attend a school that teaches them how to defeat people before they turn into Demons, saving the world in the process. Once a weapon eats 100 evil souls and a witches soul they can become the new death Scythe! That is the plot presented, and it of course goes off into a much more complicated storyline. It is super fun and engaging with a fascinating plot near the end.

Own: 5

Status: Completed at 25 Volumes

13. D. Gray-Man is a little complicated. Similarly to Soul Eater D. Gray-Man is a story based around defeating people turned demon and the saving of the world through an organization, however the plot gets very complicated very quickly. The art is some of the most interesting and beautifully fun art I’ve come across and the characters are (so far as I’ve read) all amazing. The story has a lot of christian influence and is one you have to really keep up with to understand but I recommend it regardless!

Own: 10

Status: Ongoing at 27 Volumes

14. One-Punch Man is also very popular and is about a man who becomes so strong he only needs to punch you once to completely annihilate you, and it greatly annoys him. This manga greatly touches on the themes of self worth as Saitama becomes a hero that no one seems to want. The fights are fun and engaging, tho at times can be difficult to read. The art is gorgeous, with some of the most heavily detailed work I have ever seen.

Own: 3

Status: Ongoing at 21 Volumes

15. The Boy and The Beast is the manga adaptation of the movie by the same name. This is a bittersweet story about a boy who finds a family in the land of the beasts and the repercussions of this intermixing. It is sweet and sad and there’s not much else to say, but that it is a beautifully crafted story.

Own: 1

Read: 1 (but I’ve seen the movie and read the light novel)

Status: Complete at 4 Volumes

16. MAR is not a manga I should be recommending as I genuinely don’t think I have read enough of the story to do so but I love it so much I’m going to anyway. MAR is a classic Isekai Shonen, a kid goes through a door into another world and has to fight a war to save it, there is a super fun magic system and some wonderful story building with genuinely enjoyable characters and battles. I am recommending this more based off the anime than the manga itself because it was one of my absolute favorites when I was younger, so take from that what you will! This manga has the same issue Zatch Bell does however, the series did not do amazingly so the volumes can be expensive!

Own: 3

Status: Complete at 15 Volumes

Thank you for your time haha! I hope you liked the list, here is my wishlist again and if you have any questions please let me know!! I will try to keep this master list updated as it and the wishlist will only continue to grow, but I make no promises for doing it often. Making this took me a very long time so I hope you like it!

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amandajoyce118 · 4 years

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Agents Of SHIELD Series Finale Easter Eggs And References

This is it. The last two hours. What is it they say? It’s all been leading to this? Yeah.

As always, and for the last time, if you haven’t yet watched the episodes, you should stop reading now. This list of Easter eggs assumes you’ve already seen the episodes.

Spoilers.

Also, I’m going to say, since I’m writing about two episodes at once here, and I’m assuming everybody reading this has actually watched the earlier episodes of the show, I’m probably not going to explain every single callback to earlier storylines. When series end, they tend to do even more than usual, and I think most people will pick up on the majority of them. So, they might not all be here.

Now, let’s go.

S7E12 “The End Is At Hand”

Malick wants to set Kora free

I’ve pretty much said this since Kora met Malick, but yeah, their dynamic is so, so, so much Ward and Kara. It’s creepy. But I think Kora recognizes it more so than Kara did.

The Fitz stance

I love that Deke recognizes that Fitz has a certain stance when he tries to jog Jemma’s memory. Does he know that they stand the same way sometimes? Probably.

The blue and purple of it all

Okay, so maybe this is just my tv, but the stuff in space is very much in Daisy’s color palette. Purple has always been her color, and a lot of the stuff in space the last two years has had either a lot of red or blue. When Daisy heads into the chronocom ship, there’s a lot toward the blue end of the colors, showing that this is still Daisy’s story.

Garrett being left to die

I know they call this out in the show, but I do like Garrett being left to die by the bad guys too and realizing he can switch sides, just like in the original timeline.

The shock stick

Admittedly, I don’t remember what this is called, but this a very Whedony throwback. It was first used in the second episode of the series by Grant Ward in Peru. It’s based on a weapon used in the series Firefly. I don’t think it’s been used on the show in quite a while.

Jemma wants a suit

Is Jemma the only member of the team who hasn’t had a formal tactical suit/super hero costume. I think so. She’s had the standard SHIELD ones like everyone else, but not the suits like Daisy, Bobbi, and May have worn. Even Elena doesn’t wear the standard one. Of course she wants one.

Jemma’s rambling

While DIANA is melted away in her brain (which, uh, seems like it would not be good for your brain, just saying), Simmons starts to ramble a whole lot. She references a lot of past events in the show, but also, she kind of sounds like dialogue in Alice In Wonderland, which just seems fitting for a woman who keeps ending up in strange places she doesn’t want to be in by strange travel devices.

The 084 Meet Up

I love that we get slightly familiar faces without them being named. I mean, Victoria Hand is obvious, but not sure who the rest are. I also love that we get pay off for what Enoch and Koenig bonded over when he was left behind way back when. The two of them (and the rest of the Koenigs) distributing 084s throughout time to loyal agents for this moment is genius.

And yes, both episode titles are said out loud in both episodes.

S7E13 “What We’re Fighting For”

Quantum Realm

Yes, that’s the same realm they use in Avengers: Endgame to gather the infinity stones and move between timelines. Fitz is using some Ant-Man tech.

1983 NY

I just want you all to know that there was a major blackout in New York in 1983 in Manhattan…. On August 11, as reported in the New York Times on August 12. The same day this episode aired. I did not know this random bit of information. I googled it.

Back to the season 6 finale

When we get the first tidbit of FitzSimmons backstory for Jemma’s refrain of “we had time,” we get to see Fitz, Simmons, and Enoch go back to the events of the season six finale as they intercept Piper and Flint. Not only that, but the people Jemma brings with her to the temple to save everyone are the actual team. That is some paradox level science fiction right there. Very comic booky. (Edited to say: I can’t believe none of y’all corrected me because I had season five here when this just happened in season six! I literally woke up in the middle of the night remembering that I wrote it wrong. Hahahaha)

The stars in their skies

I love that this episode really laid it on that Jemma’s first love was astronomy. We get the scoliosis story again, but we get to see how Jemma has worked her love of the stars into her life. Her favorite star system as a child is where she starts her family, what she names her daughter after, and she even repeatedly utters the phrase “stars in your skies” as a nod to love. Nice.

A situation in Moscow

Look, all I’m saying is that last time SHIELD was in Russia, Bobbi and Hunter were disavowed by the agency. And Mack is now there with a helicarrier? Hmm.

The anniversary meeting

This is very reminiscent of how Natasha leads her meetings from afar in Avengers: Endgame, though probably enhanced by whatever alien tech Fitz and Simmons have put together here. It’s perfect that Daisy, Sousa, and Kora are in space while Mack and Elena are still part of SHIELD and May is teaching at the Coulson Academy. I really thought Mack would retire, but he just can’t let go, huh? Fitz and Simmons are really the only ones to truly retire. Though Coulson has more time.

Piper’s wish

She gets an LMD/Chronocom version of Davis. I just - that’s adorable. She wants her best friend back. And yes, he’s tech. They didn’t go back and save him. Fitz and Simmons built him because he mentions being programmed to be stupid.

Code 136

The code Coulson puts into his briefcase to get the keys to his new Lola? Yeah, that’s how many episodes there are of the show.

Edited to add: And one I missed, courtesy of VFX guru Mark Kolpack:

And that’s it. The end of the SHIELD we all know. I hope some of these actors will come back to play these characters once in a while for Marvel all over again because I think, despite it ending at a solid point, we’re all going to miss this show a lot.

#agents of shield #aos season 7 #aos finale #aos spoilers #aos easter eggs

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hamsternamedmarinette · 3 years

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okay so after seeing your x-files comics I was motivated to watch it, and I just watched the first episode. and let me say, your crossover is HILARITY AT ITS FINEST

AAAAHAHAHA THANK YOU SO MUCH LOL

Let me give you some fair warnings about The X-Files before you continue, though:

1. It did not age well from a social standpoint. I think the entire writing staff for all nine years it ran was all white men, which is made pretty obvious from the way women and minorities are treated in some episodes. It's not like the writers had any actual malicious intent with what they wrote or anything, but there's a lot to be dissected about the way they approached some topics.

2. It also did not age well from a plot standpoint. It was primarily pre-9/11, so I hear that back when it aired, all the gOvErNmEnT cOnsPiRaCy stuff was fun and mysterious, whereas now it's still pretty fun and mysterious but also just... kind of sad.

3. The ongoing storyline makes no damn sense whatsoever lolol. Everything after season 3 is convoluted as hell. Hell, even before then, I only had a vague idea of what the plot actually was. It's like a car wreck though. You can't look away from it

THAT BEING SAID let me list some good things about it!!!

1. There truly are some absolute gems of standalone episodes (and even some plot arc episodes). The X-Files is hit or miss a lot of the time, but when it hits, it really hits.

2. If you like the love square, you'll love Mulder and Scully. There's a reason the term "shipping" originated with them 😌

3. It truly set the stage for so many modern 'crime-fighting partners who are secretly in love with each other' shows. Yes, Miraculous included. It's crazy watching it and being able to point out the direct influences it's had on probably ever other show you've ever watched.

4. Gosh man I just love the aesthetic of the early seasons. Back in the early 90s, and back when they shot in Vancouver. I know this is such a dumb thing to point out but URGH I LOVE IT.

5. The memes and the fandom community about it here on Tumblr are utterly hilarious lolol

ALSO, ONE MORE THING (and I have to embolden the words because this is the most important part) PLEASE go look at the webcomic Monster of the Week by Shaenon Garrity. Each strip is just a recap of each episode and my gosh it's utterly fucking hilarious. It's somewhat of an influence on my own little comic style, actually (or, at least, I hope it is). Honestly reading these comics is the biggest reason one should ever watch The X-Files lol

Haha I definitely went way too hard answering this ask, but I got excited lol! I'm so glad my little crack crossover convinced someone to watch this show!!!

#ask #anon #the x-files #miraculous ladybug

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oveliagirlhaditright · 3 years

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Alighting One's Soul

https://archiveofourown.org/works/37131076

Summary: In Angel season 11, Illyria mentions when Angel was Twilight to him, and it gets Angel thinking of Buffy and the prophecy they shared then. And he thinks he should probably finally take Buffy up on his promise of trying to stay in touch with her and be friends... he just happens to call her when things are falling apart for her, and all supernatural creatures, at the moment in America. Oneshot. Fluff. Hurt/comfort. Canon/AU. Bangel. (Though platonic Bangel to keep this canon.)

Author’s Note: So, basically, all you really need to know to understand this if you haven't read the comics, is...

Angel sort of became a super villain called "Twilight" at one point. Well, he wasn't entirely a super villain. He was really on Buffy's side and was TRYING to help her in his own way. He had good intentions (he was sort of a well-intentioned extremist here)? But he also wasn't in his right mind, because he and the AI Team--as well as all of L.A.--were just sucked into Hell after "Not Fade Away", before they eventually figured out how to free themselves from there. And Angel's then then told if he doesn't make this Angel prophecy come into fruition--that definitely has some bloodshed to get there--the entire WORLD will get sucked into Hell this time.

Angel, who was just in Hell and has lost so many of his loved ones, reluctantly agrees to this. Also because he thinks he can finally get his happy ending with Buffy this way, apparently (he and Buffy even ascend to godhood for a short time and create a new universe together). They leave said universe, but universe that is sort of sentient isn't happy about that and possesses Angel, and he kills Giles (yeah, this whole thing is really sort of weird. There's no denying that).

Buffy can't even stand to look at Angel for a long while after that (after she has to make all magic leave the world in order to save the day). Angel's catatonic after he comes to again and realizes what he was forced to do, goes with Faith to England, as she tries to rehabilitate him.

Eventually, Buffy and Angel are okay with each other again--but she's already dating Spike by then--this fic is them after the "already okay with each other again" stage. I wanted to write them being friends and contacting each other, like Buffy had wanted them to, since we never really see them do that, after Buffy mentions the idea.

Alighting One’s Soul

"Don’t do that without warning me first!” Angel all but snarled at Illyria, while she teleported them once more—without having given Angel a warning in the slightest; no, to do so would have been to kind for her—and he felt like he was going to be sick.

And it was when Angel almost fell flat on his face with her actions, but caught himself in just the nick of time, that the god chastised him with, "Do you not remember how it was when you were enveloped by the essence of Twilight, how it felt to move at will through a world? And you wish me to curtail that for your comfort? …Although I admit I did allow expediency to trump what Fred would call social graces."

Her words washed over Angel then, and he supposed he could have reacted to them in two major ways, as he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

One: he could have gotten angry with Illyria for assuming he was a hypocrite here, and reminding him of his biggest failing—since now because of his actions as Twilight, his soul had even more blood on its hands than even Angelus did.

Or two... perhaps Angel could have thought that he and Illyria had one more thing in common with each other, and he could have reacted to some of the chemistry that had been sizzling between them lately.

But Angel did neither thing. Instead, he decided on a third option. And, really, it had probably always been the only one for him, hadn't it? He opted to think on his true love Buffy, and how intricately linked to her he'd been as Twilight, and with the prophecy pertaining to it, and just how much he still missed her.

Illyria must have seen something come over him after she’d spoken. Because while it seemed like a frown was permanently etched on her face—so different from the lively and fun-loving Fred that Angel would always adore—her face fell even moreso now, as she raised an eyebrow at him and said, "You seem intent on a new mission, Vampire. I take it you will not be time traveling with me any further?"

And Angel hadn’t even realized that his plans had changed until Illyria had asked the question, but suddenly it seemed so obvious to him, that Angel wondered how he could have ever doubted it. How long had he been wondering when the right time would be to contact Buffy after he’d come out of his catatonic state, after all? He was hoping he’d finally found the time.

"N-no, Illyria. I-I'm sorry. Right now, I'm going to do something I should have done a long time ago, and take Buffy up on her offer of trying to stay in touch with her. But if you or Fred ever need anything, I'll always be here for you."

And Angel began walking away from the only home he'd known for the last few years.

...

Angel had decided to get a new apartment as far away from Faith' (that she also happened to share with Giles' aunts) while still staying in Magic Town, that he could.

Angel wasn't exactly planning on moving out of Magic Town yet (though he wanted to soon, if it was in the cards for him), because he wanted to be here if something major went down that Faith and his friends would need him for... but there was just no denying that he needed a break from all the dreariness.

He'd needed a break many lifetimes ago. And maybe now it was his turn to try and find himself like Faith had just a bit ago.

More than anything, Angel longed to go to San Francisco where Buffy was now... but as far as he knew, she was still in a relationship with Spike. And if she was happy with him, Angel didn't just want to barge in and seem like he was trying to end them.

…Scratch that. He very much wanted to do that. But for Buffy’s sake, he wasn’t going to do that to her.

So, for now, he'd just stay here in this crappy apartment—but hopefully soon he'd at least find himself in a city closer to L.A., not unlike when he and Buffy met in a place in between L.A. and Sunnydale when she had come back to life—and try to be her friend.

And that was what he had to attempt to do now. Angel looked at his cell phone in his hand like it was a hellhound that might bite it off, if he gave it a good enough chance to do so.

It wasn't so much calling Buffy that had him a nervous wreck right now, even if he'd never been the most verbose person in the world and there were so many walls between them at the moment. No, Angel was certain that if it came down to it, he could find a way to have a nice conversation with Buffy on the phone or die trying.

It was the fact that he thought she might rather prefer him text her, that had Angel feeling like he might be up a creek without a paddle here . Buffy had, after all, wanted him to get invested into cell phone stuff—cell phone, not regular phone (and even worse: social media). And to most people, that usually meant texting.

And if Buffy really expected him to ever have an all emojis conversation with her, he might as well kiss their relationship goodbye now—platonic or otherwise. But surely she would have mercy on the old soul of someone she had once called her "cradle robbing creature of the night boyfriend", right?

Deciding that he was undoubtedly overthinking this—and that he should just give up the ghost and try calling her, already—Angel sank down onto his futon, and tried hard not to think about how it resembled the one the apartment where he and Buffy had first fallen in love in.

Buffy didn't pick up on the first few rings, which was enough to make Angel forget the habit of breathing he'd long ago mastered. And he was just about to hang-up, thinking that this whole thing had been a mistake, and that Buffy must still hate him, when finally he heard the voice of the Muses. "Angel," they sang, with clear shock written into every crevice of the notes there.

"Buffy," Angel whispered back reverently, finishing his part from a script they’d written together long ago.

Then, before she could decide to leave him hanging, in thinking he was trying to come onto her, he continued with, "I just- I just thought I'd check in and see how you're doing. You said you wanted me to stay in touch… and I realized I hadn't done that yet."

"That's good, Angel!" Buffy all but sang. And Angel tried not to let his heart break, in knowing that Buffy preferred him qualifying that he was trying to be friends here. She was no longer the girl who would have been heartbroken if he'd tried to be anything other than her lover, but he knew he'd done this to himself.

Really, after the death of Giles and her sisters, that he was responsible for, it was a miracle that she wanted him in her life at all. Angel knew that he didn't deserve her forgiveness in the slightest, and he tried not to think of the past anymore, nor to be jealous of Spike. He knew he ought to be grateful for what he had. It was more than what he had had with Buffy, before he'd been able to bring Giles back, after all.

But Angel didn't want to think of sad things now. Hadn’t he decided he was going to try and separate himself from the misery some?

"I'm so glad to hear from you, Angel. Really, I am. I just wish it was on better terms from my end. I swear it’s always the same song with us. If you’re not bringing in the heavy, then I’m the one with the keys to the kingdom with how our lives will be ruined next over here."

"Is there an apocalypse brewing where you are, Buffy?" Angel asked, a panicked edge slipping into his voice now, as he stood up—like he might be able to run across the ocean to Buffy if something was threatening her life this very moment.

Angel could hear tears in her voice, now that he was listening for distress on her end, and he cursed himself for not having heard it before. He had to ponder for a moment if perhaps it was because of him, but the vampire didn't think so. She'd seemed cheerier when talking to him, before she'd been forced to change topics to what was going on in her neck of the woods. And Angel found some comfort in that fact, at least.

"Buffy, what's going on?" Angel tried again, when she'd yet to answer him. "Do you need me over there to help you agai-"

"No, Angel! Listen to me, you've got to stay away! I can't deal with the idea of you being in danger now, too! Even if this will probably eventually find its way to the U.K., it hasn't yet! So at least I can rest easy knowing your safe for a little while."

Well, that was baffling. Angel didn't think he'd ever heard Buffy this scared before—which didn’t bode well for whatever was threatening his beloved—and he heard himself growling just at the thought of something having her this frazzled.

She was acting like an alien invasion was going down or something, though Angel seriously doubted that (he did know, however, that Buffy and her friends had come across one alien. It was one story she had been able to tell him over the years). But he was almost tempted to turn on the TV to see if whatever she was talking about was being reported on.

And she must have read his mind, that he was about to try and put the pieces together himself, because taking a deep breath, Buffy explained much more calmly that, "The good U.S. of A has basically outlawed magic, but it gets even better than that. They're putting magic users and supernatural beings into internment camps, Angel! Spike already has to go one. And Willow! And I'm worried that Giles and Dawnie will be found out. And I- I've already decided that I'm not letting Spike and Willow go alone, even though Slayers are exempt from this for some bullshit reason, and that I'm going with them when the time comes."

There were times, even on his best days, when Angel remembered what Holland Manners had showed him: that everything he did, in the end, meant nothing, because of humanity's own proclivity towards evil, and how he'd never win against that.

Angel also remembered how when he'd found that out, he'd had some very Angelus thoughts then; and had maybe once more wanted to destroy the world, and perhaps even do some unspeakable things to a number of these people—at least the worst of them—before they were given the sweet release of death.

And Angel would have been lying if he said some of those thoughts weren’t coming back to him now, when he was once again faced with the knowledge of just how evil humans could be to one another.

But Buffy didn't need to be faced with his darkness once more, when she already had so much going on here. So the former Scourge of Europe took one, two, three breaths to calm himself and then then tried to return to the conversation. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he spit out: "Buffy, that is the... sickest thing I've ever heard. And there's no reason that you—any of you, even Spike; and I can’t believe those words are even coming out of my mouth—should have to go through that. Come here."

Buffy didn’t respond to that right away. And that, somehow, bothered Angel more than if Buffy had exploded back at him with anger and logic.

So she must have been going for the martyr, then. And if he were with her in person, Angel could have just imagined how she would have tipped her head up to look at him—her cute little button nose looking particularly kissable when she did so—as she gave him a wistful smile, before she said her piece. And she said her piece now: "Angel, I really don't think we can. Though I do appreciate the thought. More than you could ever know. Like I said, I think this will eventually be everywhere, so we'd just be escaping a jail cell now for one later. But... most of us want to believe that if we listen to the government, and just go into the camps for the time being, they'll let us out once they’ve found some sort of solution to this. Because otherwise, it’ll be all out war between us supernatural creatures and the governments of the world, and us fighting those we're sworn to protect."

'It might come to that,' Angel begged himself to tell Buffy then, thinking her reasoning was beyond flawed, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew Buffy couldn't bear to hear it just now. Not when she was worrying about Dawn and a young Giles.

And as much as Angel knew he needed to think on a solution to all of this—to find some way to protect his Slayer, his team, and yes: as much of this sorry world as he could—he found he didn't want to do that at the moment, either. Because he was thinking if it came to a fight between Buffy or the government, the government... the government... just might win, because they'd have been working on so many different technologies to eradicate them all.

Angel had seen some of their ideas, when he'd been a double-agent as Twilight, and it was why he'd tried to minimize some of that damage.

At the moment, Buffy's morale had taken a serious hit, and she wasn't going to win anything if he didn't help her recover it, Angel knew. So he needed to remember the reason he'd called her in the first place.

"So, Buffy, did you know a demon who thought he was almost a part of your 'Scoobies' ended up a part of Angel Investigations with me?" Angel asked awkwardly, staring at the green walls all around him that might as well have been mocking him and telling him he was green when it came to relationships again.

Truthfully, Angel didn't know if there really was an AI anymore, but Fred seemed to think so. And if this little stretching of the truth cheered Buffy up, then who really cared? Angel still at least had some kind of team, he knew. He just didn't know if they were P.I.s anymore.

"You mean Koh? No way! I take it he got over his quest for vengeance, then? Or did his one-track mind find the one who- who…?"

Angel smiled at Buffy’s words. He could tell that, at first, she’d been annoyed with Koh, for whatever reason—had he maybe let her down somehow?—and so had been quipping like the best of them. But as she’d continued speaking, she’d remembered that he’d lost his entire family and had begun empathizing with him again. Buffy really did have a good heart. And how Angel loved her for it. "Both, Buffy. It turns out that Illyria was the one who slaughtered his loved ones... which really isn't all that surprising, now that I think about it. But he's decided to turn over a new leaf and try to be human, essentially."

Buffy laughed at that—the sound of chimes in the wind—and dammit, if Angel still didn't want to protect her, err, them from falling to the ground and getting crushed beneath someone's feet, as she made his heart race as if it were her job to. "Sounds like someone else I know, Angel. And Speaking of ‘sounds’... you sound good in general. I feel like you've done enough to really atone for your actions as Twilight, like you wanted to, and like you’ve really found yourself again. And I- I'm so proud of you."

At that, Angel sighed before he could hold the sound back from Buffy. He even held his phone to his forehead for a second, just trying to think and to breathe. Angel didn't want Buffy to think he thought he was above needing to be held accountable for what he'd done or anything like that. No, he'd never wash that blood off his hands. And that was exactly why he was now upset.

Angel was really starting to think that he and Buffy were never going to get past this—even though he got the sense that Buffy hadn’t been trying to judge him here—and maybe he should just let it go.

He'd wanted a break from all his qualms, and to just try and find some fun times with Buffy again. But of course the "T" word had had to rear its ugly head once more. (Only later would he realize how ironic it was that he was having this train of thought, when it was thoughts of “Twilight”, that had somewhat inspired him to call her in the first place.)

Maybe this had been doomed from the start…

Angel was about to hang-up, and maybe try to let go of Buffy for good, just when he heard her voice on the other end of the line ask in such a concerned tone, "Angel?"

So maybe he could reason this out, after all...

"…I don’t think I've really done enough to atone for my actions, Buffy. I doubt I ever will. But I think I have found myself again... maybe more than I ever have since becoming a vampire. I'm trying to not completely drown in the guilt anymore—but still bear it, don't get me wrong—and maybe be Liam some again. And... thank you for the vote of confidence. It means a lot, coming from you."

There was so much more that Angel could have said than that last line: that he loved Buffy and always would... that she continued to be his salvation... and he would still wait for her to be cookies, even if that wasn't exactly on the table anymore. But he didn't: partly because Angel could hear people coming into Buffy’s apartment just then.

Willow was saying that she thought she'd disguised Giles well enough to look like a regular kid to sneak under the radar, so long as he didn't really talk to people and didn't do any magic, of course. And apparently the monks had done a good enough job on Dawn, that no one could tell there was magic within her.

There was clearly a lot going on for Buffy right now, and she didn't need his feelings to cloud things even more for her.

But even with all of that going on, she didn't end their call right away. And once the chaos dissipated a bit, she returned to him. "Sorry about that, Angel. I'm sure you heard everything that was going on? If I survive all this craziness, what do you say we meet up in England as friends? Finding oneself sounds very much needed and lovely right now. You could teach me to draw or something. I always did surprisingly well in art class!"

Angel couldn't help but to chuckle at that. He remembered some of her aforementioned art projects. Buffy had always been too afraid to show them to him, since he excelled at art, and so he'd been a horrible boyfriend and spied on them when she wasn't looking (he also remembered her signing up for a few art classes at UC Sunnydale and thinking that it had been a good idea on her part).

Buffy wasn't wrong. She definitely had an artist's eye. She just needed more practice—and to be leas distracted at times—and a steadier hand. And he was more than happy to teach her, if she wanted him to.

In fact, with what Angel wanted for himself lately, it sounded like heaven on Earth, really. The closest he'd get to heaven, anyway.

"That sounds great to me, Buffy. It sounds great."

Author’s Note: So, even though I actually meant for this to be, like, 100% canon with the comics before it went AU, I now realize I did mess up the timeline a little bit. Like, I thought that Angel and Illyria had already been time traveling a bit when their conversation at the start of this had happened, but they had not been. So me saying that they had been makes this a tiny bit even more AU. Whatever.

I hope you all enjoyed. Happy Valentine’s Day!

#bangel #buffy and angel #buffy & angel #buffy the vampire slayer #fanfiction #oneshot #mine #my work #shanna writes #buffy season 11 #angel season 11 #canon #canon compliant #au #canon au #valentine's day

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adultswim2021 · 3 years

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Space Ghost Coast to Coast #82: “Baffler Meal” | January 1, 2003 - 12:00 AM | S08E01

An all-time classic, wonderful episode. Ending 2002 on a high note (technically this is the first episode of 2003 being that it aired at midnight, but I’m delaying my EPHEMERA CORNER post for as long as I can).

The origins of Aqua Teen Hunger Force are laid bare for all to see with Baffler Meal. Aqua Teen Hunger Force was famously based on a rejected Space Ghost script. Well, this is that script, re-imagining the Aqua Teens based on old designs and concepts from that unproduced episode. The desired effect is to approximate what that episode would have been like had it been produced in 1999 before the Aqua Teen Hunger Force series proper was developed. It’s supposed to be confusing; to the point where in the DVD commentary track they even question weather or not they should make it clear within the commentary that that’s what’s going on here (they do).

I will now take this opportunity to quote one of my favorite synopses of a TV show ever, originally taken from tvtome (remember tvtome? god, what a great site):

Space Ghost is forced into a raw deal with the deadly Colonial Man, forever altering the future of classic rock - again. Willie Nelson and a MOCKERY of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force star in this episode. This episode mocks a great comedy show. It doesn't feel funny in the least.

Here you can see the lack of understanding for what the episode really is. Despite the fact that the ostensible Space Ghost fan (tvtome was run by volunteer submissions for it’s episode data) should one-thousand percent understand the Space Ghost connection, clearly recognize Dave Willis’ voice (he still voices Meatwad in a very similar manner), etc. The degree of confusion this episode caused can not be understated.

Nuggets from the DVD commentary:

Frylock is a guy in a costume in this. Okay, that wasn’t specifically from the DVD commentary, but it’s the first time I caught that detail, ever, and I don’t want to start a separate bullet-point list for stray observations.

Shake’s read of “blahd” instead of “blade” was inspired by a real typo in the script, just like “Branford the Branford” before it.

Todd Hanson of The Onion helped write this episode and kept pitching a character named Napkin Lad. I believe Napkin Lad actually comes to be later in the Aqua Teen series.

And another thing I love: The cool song at the end. The part where Dave is like “OH BABY, YEAH BABY” etc. towards the very end of the episode? That part gets stuck in my head like, VERY FREQUENTLY, and for years I thought it was Bob Odenkirk singing in either a Mr. Show or Ben Stiller Show sketch and have been trying to place it forever. Turns out it wasn’t Bob, but David, and I ain’t talkin’ Cross, do I sound cross to you? Do you even appreciate wordplay??

NEXT is my end-of-the-year roundup of second-run premieres, shorts, commercials, bumpers, etc. That’s right, EPHEMERA CORNER is back! But it’s gonna be a long one so I might break it up over the course of a few days, maybe a week, even.

MAIL BAG

I think these were all anonymous, please forgive me if I have, as the French say, “fucked up” by failing to name the conspirator.

2002 is almost over! What do you think brak's position on the iraq war was? Carl's? Hesh's? Junior addleburg's?

Brak: against, but respects the office of the presidency and urges using civil methods to protest. Carl: pro, he is a white supremacist and is supportive of any and all mass destruction committed on non-white nations. Hesh: HESH WANTS SOME SEX! lol. Junior Addleburg: has not been told about the war.

Do you think you are being overtly charitable to Brak this time around? Surely the best Brak show episode isnt even half as good as the worst Home Movies episode. Right?

I do tend to react to “better” Brak episodes the same way you encourage a problem student when they squeak out a B minus. There absolutely was a time when I loved The Brak Show and was all-in on it. That time was SEPTEMBER 2nd-8th, 2001. Hippo was certainly a factor. 9/11 may have also contributed.

I don��t think I’ve said this yet, but I’ve been keeping a running episode ranking of Adult Swim shows as I’ve been doing this. It’ll probably get revised at some point, so I’m not exactly ready to share it. In my ranking I tended to group Home Movies episodes very close to each other, and I would sometimes talk myself into ranking things a little higher or lower than I normally would just to break up a long streak of Home Movies. So I can actually say with impunity, yes, there are strong episodes of Brak Show that I've ranked over weaker episodes of Home Movies. But I might have to have a little chat with the man in the mirror about that.

Are you only doing animated shows or are you going to do live animated shows to. I feel like most people agree Tim and Eric bringing live-action to the block ruined it permanently even if you think those guys are funny in a vacuum. I'm just wondering because I know you did animation only for your Simpsons Night B-sodes so I feel you are a "tooned-in" guy.

Live-action is getting reviewed too! I can’t WAIT to revisit Saul of the Molemen. Are you fucking kidding me? I’m not sure where to draw the line on the internet stuff, though. If it aired on Adult Swim I’m very likely to cover it, but I don’t see myself covering the FishCenter repeats that aired at 4AM. Anime is generally getting the shaft. Sorry. I think it’d be cool if somebody started a blog that covered Adult Swim Action. But yes, you are right, I’m a pretty tooned-in guy. Lots of people have said this about me.

If you had to dress like any of the Adult Swim First Era characters for Halloween who would you dress as and who would you LIKE to dress as if difficulty of pulling it off wasn't an issue.

There was a Space Ghost muscle suit at one of those Halloween Stores one year and I very nearly bought it even though I had no intention of wearing it for Halloween. I did a very low-effort season 4 Hank Venture because by happenstance my hair looked like his at the time, and I found what looked like Brock’s jacket at a thrift store.

Putting on a blue Sealab uniform and only traveling in a chair with wheels would be real fun. I could probably pull of an effective Carl. As far a difficult costume I’d be the poolside announcer during the O.G. bumpers, because I imagine that he’s very muscular and his dick is real long and it’s constantly flopping out of the pantleg of his swim trunks and that it’s getting sucked off all the time by them old ladies and most of the time he’s like “no no, we mustn’t do that, for I am a professional” but every now and again he’s like “well alright” and this would reflect my experiences at whatever Halloween party I’m at except it would be a 20 year old woman dressed like an old lady because it’s Halloween. Thanks for the question.

Do you have a girlfriend? What does she think of Adult Swim or does she hate cartoons like mine.

I’m not done with the last thing. I would also have a bullhorn and I’d be using it while getting sucked off, even though that’s a discreet affair. Like, we’d find a bedroom that was empty and lock the door and I’d be like “Oh yeah baby suck my peenie, yes you are doing so good at sucking that.” in hushed tones, but into the bullhorn. I’d also use it to yell at children for wearing racist or appropriative costumes, which, as we all know, leads to more getting-your-dick-sucked. Anyway, I got a wife and we literally met at an Adult Swim event during Comic-Con! It was Tim & Eric Awesome-con 2007! I’M NOT LYING

Would you rather take one big bite out of meatwad or drink the entirety of Master Shake.

I wonder if Master Shake is warm. Anyway, I’d go with that, biting Meatwad seems like CERTAIN DEATH.

#adult swim #aqua teen hunger force #adultswim2021

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girlfriendsofthegalaxy · 4 years

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tuesday again 1/5/2020

a list of firsts

listening house of the rising sun, the animals: no particular reason this was my first song of the year, i am simply fond of it. do you want to watch a man go ham on a travel-size electronic organ? of course you do.

@dying-suffering-french-stalkers has a killer playlist tracing the evolution of the Spanish Rakes folk song family. were i musical-history inclined, house of the rising sun is the song i would be most likely to do that for i think

youtube

watching it happened one night, (1934, dir. Capra). so every year, at around 11:20ish new year’s eve, i start a black-and-white “classic” movie i’ve never seen before. fuck i love a pre-code movie. it is easier for me to set aside my modern feminist sensibilities when i’m watching a screwball, because they’re supposed to be satire! i am allowed to watch and laugh without getting my hackles up as much!

[REDACTED TOO-PERSONAL ANGRY FEMINIST SCREED BC THOSE EIGHT HUNDRED WORDS ARE BETTER SUITED TO A THERAPY SESSION]

i sort-of haphazardly liveblogged my new year’s viewing here, the main point is that this early autogyro worsened my anxiety. modern helicopters are death traps!!! they just casually land this thing on a lawn in the middle of a crowd of people!!! PLEASE DO NOT

youtube

reading the trouble with doing these weekly roundup things is that i try to go beyond “did i like the thing” and go into “was this successful at what it’s trying to do? how did it go about what it’s trying to do and were these techniques that fit?” while trying to keep this within a reasonable wordcount bc i am not being paid to put out thousands of words of media critique a week. but sometimes i just straight up don’t like a piece of media for no particular reason. and that’s fine too, it just doesn’t make for very interesting reading.

anyway i read Cursed Pirate Girl (2009) and Cursed Pirate Girl Annual (2015). this is peak- i’m not sure how to succinctly describe this- late-aughts whimsical but sort of dark Alice-in-Wonderland? like steampunk that allows itself to use cool colors? published and re-published in a collection just as steampunk was starting to fall off the mainstream but the tim burton movies were still sort of on a high and weird little non-superhero comics and graphic novels were starting to make it into respected book reviews and bestseller lists?

the draftsmanship in these is beautiful, and they do look like “what if early 1800s comics were held to a modern standard of design”. but i simply do not vibe with the aforementioned trend bc i had a miserable time in high school at the peak of the steampunk/edgy British Empire trend and thinking about high school me makes my soul wither a little bit. anyway this cover slaps

playing the haunted island: a frog detective game, and frog detective 2: the case of the invisible wizard. this is really the epitome of “i want short games made with worse graphics made by people who are paid more” i would like one of these little bonbons a year please.

i am startled to find that my opinions on video game length jive with my opinions on tv show and movie length. i don’t want a “forever game” with infinite proc-gen quests (no man’s sky, for example, is not a game for me) and i think tv shows should be like three seasons max. no one iteration of a show should be on the air for a decade plus. this is partly bc i very rarely have the brainspace to get into tv shows, and i certainly do not have time to get into whole new longrunning tv shows at this braintime. i have the time for short self-contained media experiences like movies or video games under six hours.

these two games are really simple and really short- i blew through them both in less two hours- but i was charmed and delighted at almost every moment. it has the kind of straightfaced deadpan humor that some children’s shows have- i’m drawing a blank on specific examples other than vintage sesame street (pre-elmo) perhaps? (”kay why do you have an extensive knowledge of children’s entertainment and animation? you’re 26, sus” well you see i have two siblings that are significantly younger than me, which means sesame street was on constantly in our house well into my teens, and i’ve had at least one babysitting client at any given time since i was eleven)

i wouldn’t say they’re trying to make a particular point about cops/copaganda, esp since they’re from 2018 & 2019 by an australian team, but you could probably get an interesting paper about the portrayal of “crime” and “solving crime” in these games.

making cinnamon raisin bread with sourdough discard, it’s on the last rise before it goes in the oven and should be photogenic enough for tumblr by like noon thirty

#tuesday again #tuesday again no problem

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starsgivemehp · 4 years

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The Argument Against and Defense of Hetalia

Let me preface this by saying that I have not watched the show or read the manga in a few years now, and thus I am working mostly off of memory and what fan content I see these days, which is not a lot. Also, I am a gentile, and I don’t claim to know a lot about the Jewish community or traditions. I am, however, a writer and I have plenty of practice analyzing and criticizing works of fiction from multiple angles. With that in mind, this essay is an attempt to explain everything that is wrong and not wrong with the show, the comic strips, and the fandom.

I’m putting this under a read more for sheer length, this was 11 pages on Google docs.

Let us start with the list of grievances assembled largely from one post, the majority of which I had to go digging for as the original person in this post who mentioned Hetalia said, and I quote, “i dont feel the need to link a source for [hetalia] because…” and then listed two things, one of which is incorrect entirely. But I digress, I will address each one at a time. The list of grievances is as follows:

It is called ‘Axis Powers’ Hetalia

One of the main characters is a personification of Nazi Germany

The entire point of the series is:

Advocating for eugenics

Racial fetishization

Advocating for fascism

Nazi sympathizing/propaganda

The entire franchise is terrible due to rape jokes, racism, and Holocaust jokes

Hetalia fans are all terrible due to rape jokes and other issues

Death of the author cannot apply to this fandom

There may be more that are in other reblogs of the post in question, and I may add addendums further in this essay, but for the time being, I will address each of these grievances and explain the validity or non-validity of each, from a position understanding of both fans and of non-fans. Thus, in order:

‘Axis Powers’ Hetalia

When people talk about Hetalia, they usually are referring to the anime due to its widespread popularity. However, Hetalia began as a series of strip comics posted on a forum by Hidekaz Himaruya (and I spent a while trying to actually find the original comics, but I can’t, there are links to his blogs there in what I’ve provided). It later was formatted into a manga, and then later became an anime. While it was originally titled Axis Powers: Hetalia and the first two seasons of the show are named as such, it usually is only referred to as Hetalia. The anime seasons after said first two seasons have all been ‘world’ focused: Seasons three and four were titled World Series, season five was titled Beautiful World, season six was titled World Twinkle, and the upcoming season seven is titled World Stars.

For the purposes of tagging everything, I tend to see the tags ‘hetalia’ and ‘hws,’ which is short for Hetalia: World Series. This name of the third and fourth anime seasons is the most widely accepted and used name for the series as a whole. While it is true that, years ago, people referred to it as ‘aph’ for Axis Powers Hetalia, the fans and the series have put that behind them, for good reason. It is understandable, even righteous, to not accept the title ‘Axis Powers.’ It does draw focus to the WW2 era, and place the fascists and nazis as the ‘main characters,’ or even, ‘the good guys,’ which is not the case. Obviously, the Nazis were terrible and the entirety of the Axis Powers did horrible, unspeakable things during the war.

It must be noted, to anybody who has not seen the show or read the manga, that the first one to two seasons do have a ‘focus’ on the WW2 era, per se, but it largely talks about interactions between countries, as they are the personified party, and makes extremely few allusions to the war itself, and none to the Holocaust. I will address that in a later section. For now, the point to make is that after these original two seasons, Hetalia branches out into a much wider worldview, adds several more characters, and focuses more on said characters in individual arcs and offerings of historical facts - as generalized as they may be. Nobody claimed that Hetalia was correct in everything it said, but it aims to play out some historical information in a simplified and humorous way. This is due to the fact that the characters are all singular people meant to personify entire countries, which leads us to point two.

The Personification of Nazi Germany

This is the second complaint of the strand of the post in question that I was presented with, quoted as “one of the main characters is a personification of nazi germany.” This is an entirely incorrect statement. ‘Nazi Germany,’ as people call it, is the state of Germany during the era leading up to and of World War 2. The country is still Germany, the people were still German, the Nazi part comes from the political regime in power, a real world nightmare. In the Hetalia series, the characters are called by their country names, because that is who they personify. This may change at times. For example, the character now known as Turkey was previously called Ottoman Empire. They come to be when civilization starts or a colony is introduced to a place. This can be seen in the strip or episode where China ‘finds’ Japan as a small boy and begins to teach him reading and writing - and Japan thereafter invents hiragana. It can also be seen in the comic where a young child, Iceland, questions who he is and why he knows his people are “different beings” than him. The country that speaks to him (I only have the comic here in my likes in that list, the name isn’t mentioned and it’s been a while, but it might be another of the Scandinavian countries) explains that he is Mr. Iceland, they don’t know why he is Mr. Iceland, but they know he is.

What I am attempting to explain with all of these other examples is that there is no ‘Nazi Germany’ character. There is a character called Germany (or Mr. Germany), and all of his adult life, he has been called Germany. He is never addressed by anything else. He does, however, look remarkably similar to a childhood friend of Italy’s, Holy Roman Empire (or just Holy Rome), but as far as it has been explained in canon, Holy Rome went off somewhere and, later on Germany and Italy met as strangers. The general consensus is, due to the area where the Holy Roman Empire used to be is around-ish Germany, the characters are the same. But never, in any of the comics, anime, or movie, is Germany referred to as Nazi Germany. I don’t believe the word ‘Nazi’ appears at any point in time, even, though I cannot claim I have seen every shred of content, so I may be wrong. But I doubt that very much, as it is not in the nature of the series to do such a thing. Moving on.

Advocating for Eugenics

I will start and end this section by saying that Hetalia was, in the original post, roped in with Attack on Titan, of which (as far as I know) the author advocates for eugenics - or the idea that certain people should not be allowed to produce offspring due to their race or other factors. There is no example of Hetalia content wherein this disgusting opinion is ever mentioned or supported in any way. This is at worst a flat-out lie, and at best lumping Hetalia in with a much worse show that does do this (but I won’t get into that, I have never seen more than a few episodes of Attack on Titan and I don’t care to see any more of it. Throw your opinions or defenses elsewhere, I care 0% about it entirely). I have no more need to prepare a more detailed response to this accusation. It simply is not true.

Racial Fetishization

This particular accusation is a difficult one. Fetishization may be a strong word, as the series is largely a comedy. Everyone gets their turn in the spotlight, so to speak, so I find it hard to plainly state that any one character is fetishized or displayed as the most powerful. There is, of course, Rome, who only appears in small segments as Italy’s grandfather and is, in the series, touted as an amazing empire who had it all. I do not believe this is what the accusation is referring to. This accusation seems to be some sort of insistence that the show and creator believe that white people (or possibly just Germans/Nazis/the Aryan race?) are touted as the most powerful and nobody else can compare. I can confidently say that while that is never said anywhere, there are a few issues. Hetalia, particularly the animated series, had (and may still have) a longstanding issue of whitewashing countries that should not be white. This includes Egypt and Seychelles (who both later got a darker skin tone, probably still not dark enough though) as the worst offenders, and even Spain, Turkey, Greece, and Romano (southern Italy), and so on. Yes, this is a big problem. There is no defense against that. It should not be the case. These characters obviously should have darker skin. I will note, however, that many fans are already completely aware of this, have been complaining about it since the beginning, and tend to draw these characters with more correct skin tones in their fanart. This is a case where yes, the original content is not good, but the fans make their own fixes. If you are angry at Hetalia for whitewashing, good. You should be. But I do not believe this should reflect on the entirety of the content and the fandom (And note that I am not linking any particular fanart here, because I want nobody to go attack any fans).

It is also important to note that yes, a large majority of the series builds upon stereotypes. No, stereotypes are not good. No, you should not assume that the personifications of the countries encompass all citizens of said countries. The entire premise of the show is one person = the embodiment of a country, and that person changes and adapts with the times in terms of uniform and personality. It is extremely hard to do this without stereotyping. Most serious fans are aware of this, and do not in any way believe that these characters represent everyone from these countries. It may be true that much younger fans used to, and it may be true that people do not want to watch the show because stereotypes are, arguably, bad. But do remember that this is a comedy, and every character is picked on. Every one. And it is understandable if this branch of humor is not for you. I, personally, don’t like Family Guy or South Park or any shows like that for their humor. I also don’t attack the people who do. I ignore it.

Advocating for Fascism

This is another area wherein I believe the accuser is simply lumping Hetalia in with the original poster’s subject, Attack on Titan. Again, I will not defend or attack that show, as I do not care about it at all. However, regarding Hetalia, I can confidently say that it does not advocate for fascism. While the first two seasons are (sort of) set in WW2 era, as previously mentioned, the fighting is not really a big part, and nobody is touted as correct - only struggling in the conflict. For example, there is a scene where Germany, post WW1, is shown making cuckoo clocks by hand and lamenting the fact that he has to make so many thousands in order to pay back France. This is by no means painting fascism as a good thing, or explaining anything about how poverty and other struggles lead to the formation and rise of the Nazi party. It is simply a scene where we see a man frustratedly making cuckoo clocks and complaining while France’s big head jeers at him in his imagination. The surrounding scenes and the end of this one are making note of how Italy keeps coming over to his house to try and be friends and Germany keeps kicking him out because Italy is annoying and whiny. The episode further goes on to mention that Germany is attacking France again, and Italy has suddenly become his ally, and he is not happy about it for the aforementioned reasons. Again, this does not in any way paint Germany as being ‘right.’ The purpose of the segment(s) is/are to show him disliking the annoying Italy (whom the show is named for) and trying to get him out of his house before eventually giving up and accepting that they can be friends. Is it all 100% historically accurate? No, not by a long shot. Does it paint him as sympathetic? Sort of, you feel bad for the guy making a thousand cuckoo clocks, but only in the sense that he is one person doing a lot of work, a completely fictional situation. But Italy - and the audience - obviously know that attacking France again is not a good thing, so does it advocate the Nazis or fascism? Also no.

Nazi Sympathizing/Propaganda

I pretty well covered this in the previous section, but I will expand. I have alluded to the first two seasons as “focusing” on WW2, in a way, and also mentioned that this is a generalization of sorts, so here I will attempt to clarify. The first few episodes do, indeed, touch on ‘the way they all met’ in a sense; Germany is starting a war and he reluctantly becomes allies with Italy, and less reluctantly becomes allies with Japan, who examines both of them and decides he is content with this situation. However, none of it is very serious, and these ‘formalities’ give way easily to more humorous personable interactions, such as Italy hugging Japan without warning and the touch-anxious Japan pushing him off and getting flustered, Italy petting a cat and then freaking out when he is licked because a cat’s tongue is rough, the two of them ‘training’ by doing your regular old exercising and jogging and Italy being late, etc etc. Stupid, personable jokes.

On the flip side, the show covers the Allied Powers quite a bit too. A lot of this is the five big ones - America, Britain (/England/UK), France, Russia, and China - all meeting around one table and squabbling about various things. I fondly recall one scene where China arrives late and has a bunch of workers suddenly building a Chinatown in the meeting room because he was hungry and wanted his own food, and the others protesting. They are then offered food and become okay with it, because food. Other such nonsense plays out in other, similar meetings. There is also a segment where the Axis powers are all stranded on an island for… some unknown reason… and they set about attempting to survive via campfire and fishing and such. Twice (three times?) the Allied powers ‘attack’ them on this island via China whacking them each with a wok and, as the three of them are in a sad heap, something interrupts the scene to make the Allies retreat. One time, it is Rome’s sudden and also unexplained entrance across the sky singing a song, and another time, it is England’s preoccupation with a cursed chair. Also, at one point, Austria is playing a piano. Does any of this magic logical, real life sense? No. It’s stupid and funny and has nothing to do with war. These are just personable characters thrown into weird situations so they can be funny, with some extremely mild historical context along the way.

I will note again that WW2 is pretty much completely dropped after these two seasons, with the war hardly addressed at all, and future seasons focus more on other characters. The Scandinavians get to all have fun together, the Baltic trio is mentioned, there is a lot about Switzerland taking care of Liechtenstein (wow I spelled it right after all these years, go me) and being stiff and formal with Austria. There is also plenty about people mistaking Canada for America, and England and France squabbling throughout the years, and Spain finding Romano cute but also very grumpy, etc etc… This series is largely Eurasia-focused, yes, and it can be criticized for not being as diverse as it should be. But boiling it down to ‘Nazi propaganda’ is outright, obliviously false.

I don’t know if this is the best place to put this particular note, but I couldn’t think of anywhere else to place it, so here it will go. I would like to mention that in the series, some characters, like Germany and Russia, express outright fear of their ‘bosses’ in certain points in history. It is important to realize that Germany, Japan, America, etc… these characters are not the actual, real-life humans in charge of these countries, but people of a fictional, separate species than humans who grow up as the nation grows and have lives that are affected by these world leaders (we even watch in the show America shooting up from child to young adult as the colonies expand, and England comments on how quickly he grew up - but not as quickly as his people, of course. We’ll get to Davie later). The president of the United States is America’s ‘boss,’ and naturally, that boss changes every time the president changes. The emperor of China is China’s ‘boss.’ It follows, thusly, that at one point, Hitler was Germany’s ‘boss.’ The terrible person himself was alluded to, as far as I know, exactly one time, not by name, and no face was shown. In a very brief scene, Germany laments that his new boss is scary and he was just ordered to go force Austria to come live with him. Said boss is shown as, I believe, an evilly laughing shadowy figure. That’s it. That’s the scene. There is no other mention of Hitler, nor is there any mention of the Holocaust anywhere. One could argue that the show is then trying to say that the Holocaust didn’t happen, but I think such an accusation is frankly absurd. It’s a comedy, it was always a comedy, and what in the fuck would be comedic about a mass genocide in any way? Nothing. None of it is funny. Of course it is not brought up in a comedy.

Rape Jokes, Racism, and Holocaust Jokes

While I did somewhat address racism already in the section about whitewashing and racial fetishization, I have another clarification to make, especially regarding the jokes. A lot of people complain that there are rape jokes throughout the series, and that there are two Holocaust jokes. I will begin by saying yes, this is all true, those things did happen during the course of the show. However, it is important to note that all of those things happened in the English dub of the animated show, and none of these terrible jokes exist in the Japanese/subbed version, or the original comic strips.

The English dub is, on all accounts, pretty terrible. Everyone has an over exaggerated accent, there are the aforementioned jokes, there are name changes (England referred to as Britain, among them, very confusing), and the voice actors themselves make mention in commentaries that their goal in this job was, to paraphrase because I haven’t listened in a while, ‘to be as offensive as possible to absolutely everyone’ (and one of the English dub voice actors is even a convicted sex offender, but that’s it’s own mess). Not the most glamorous or noble of goals. One could say ‘at least if it’s everyone, it’s not really racism, is it? Just humor?’ There is a case for that. Many comedians will say that they poke fun at everyone to avoid singling anybody out as inherently superior. It cannot be said to be the best way to make humor, but it cannot be said to be the worst way, also. Overall, I don’t like the English dub, I don’t watch it, I prefer the subs. And yes, the subbed version has a few issues of its own, but I can say that at least, no, it does not make any Holocaust or rape jokes. Are those kinds of jokes excusable? Fuck no. They’re completely inappropriate. Should you judge the whole series and fandom based on the grossness of the English dubs? Also no, the people who did the English dubs have zero to do with the original creator, the animators, and the fans. Screw them.

The Fandom Being Terrible

I must again preface by saying I was never super active in the fandom at large. I had my own little niche of friends and I stuck to them and I didn’t often branch out. I did, however, go to cons back in those days, and saw plenty of cosplayers. The main complaint I see regarding the fandom is that most of the fans are completely rabid, make a bunch of rape jokes, and even dress up as ‘Nazi Germany’ (iron cross and red armband and all) and pretend to shoot up synagogues. Now, I have not seen cosplayers do the nazi solute or do such photoshoots, but I can believe that people have done it. I have seen plenty of rabid fans, and some of the OCs created for Hetalia, especially many interpretations of individual states (or Antarctica), were extremely cringey, racist, and overall just not good. And yes, these things are undeniably bad. They are very bad things! Those people should be ashamed. They should know better, regardless of their ages or anything, for fuck’s sake. The nazi salute is not a thing you do jokingly, pretending to shoot people is not a joke. Everyone is aware of this. The people who did, or maybe even still do, those things need a serious sit-down and to be woken the fuck up, because they are acting terrible.

However, it is extremely unfair to paint all Hetalia fans in the same light. That is a very stereotypical thing to do, no? As I mentioned earlier, I stuck to my little niche friend group of fans, and while we all had our own flaws and were younger and kinda dumber, we never did things like that. I never did things like that. Rape jokes were never funny, I never liked them, I never accepted them. I have people I still know who still like Hetalia and they never made those kinds of jokes either. I think, as the years have gone by, a lot of the more rabid fans have died out of the fandom. They’ve either grown the fuck up or they’ve went off to pollute some other fandom. Recognize that, especially in the beginning, the anime was low-budget and had a lot of that old and gross queerbaiting and stuff like that, so it was undeniably a magnet for crazy yaoi fans. But the majority of fanart, fanfics, and just overall fan stuff that I see these days are nothing like that. Overall, the fandom has seriously calmed down. A lot of the focus is much more on taking these characters and applying them to other historical events with more accuracy than the show might give. The history in these fanfics and fanarts may also be of questionable accuracy at times. I personally once wrote a fic where I made allusions to the death of Joan d’Arc and, later, the death of Elizabeth I, but did I add much historic fact? No, do I look like a history major spilling all this? The point of the fic was England - the character - maturing through starting to love one of his rulers and recognizing a terrible thing that he did before. It’s not the best piece of work out there, and maybe someone could point out a few things I did wrong with it, but for what it’s meant to be, it’s harmless. Takes on characters not actually in the series, like Ireland, Scotland, etc etc are generally pretty mature from what I see, fanart tends to just be the characters in various poses and styles. The overall love the fandom has, I think, is in the better character designs and in the very concept of the countries as people who laugh and cry and live through war and peace for thousands of years. And here is where I address the final grievance that I personally saw in the notes of the post which started this whole thought process and essay.

The Death of the Author

A lot of people might not fully understand what ‘The Death of the Author’ means. The death of the author is a belief rooted in the 20th century that the personal intentions, beliefs, and prejudices of the authors of certain works can have no bearing on their produced content, because once it is out in the public, every reader may then have their own interpretation and belief system. By publicizing the content, the author ‘dies’ and the reader is born.

There are some scenarios where this cannot apply. One example is JK Rowling, a very special case of a very problematic woman who happens to be so powerful, and so rich, that consuming any type of official (or even unofficial) Harry Potter anything can and will give her that much more power to spread her TERF bullshit. Let me be frank: Any time that consuming a product is allowing a bigoted or problematic person to gain extra money or extra power that they then use for evil, the death of the author cannot apply. You cannot use it as a moral justification. You might perhaps use it as the reason why you struggle to let go of a fandom near and dear to you, as Harry Potter is to so many people, but you absolutely must recognize that purchasing the books, the movies, or any other official content is outright supporting a TERF.

That in mind, there are dozens of other cases where the death of the author absolutely can apply. The easiest, of course, is with authors who are actually dead, such as Lovecraft. Lovecraft was a complete bigot and racist, an overall terrible person, and his works are saturated in that racism. But he is dead, and his work is very popular, and there are ways to take and use his work that do not contribute further to racism and bigotry. All you have to do is slap a non-racist cthulhu on a page. Make that cthulhu eat everyone equally. That’s a good cthulhu right there, a nice, safe cthulhu.

So where does Hetalia fall in this spectrum of can or cannot have death of the author? I believe it leans more to the side of yes, you can apply it. For one thing, you can definitely find the show for free in some places, and watch it without giving Himaruya a single cent. The comics are also available online for free, and while you might be giving your ‘support’ by being a viewer, I think overall, that’s not only negligible, but does not contribute anything bad? The author of Attack on Titan has many charges levied against him in the post which prompted this, and arguably, giving him any money is bad. But as far as I have seen, while Himaruya might have started out with a flawed premise and may have some whitewashing issues, I have seen nowhere that he funds any kind of racist, nationalistic, fascist, etc anything of any kind. This is not like Chick-Fil-A, where offering any kind of patronage is (or maybe used to be) sinking funds into terrible organizations. This is not supporting literal Nazis, as the complaints claim. This is a largely mediocre series with good parts and bad parts and zero ties to horrific organizations or ideals. Consuming good fan content does not make someone a racist or a bigot or a nazi sympathizer. Even rewatching some old favorite scenes or checking out the new season doesn’t make someone that. By all accounts, the show is flawed but not a means to fund nazis.

The Bad Anything Else

I will now take some time to talk about some other problems Hetalia has, because no, it is by no means flawless. I already discussed the whitewashing and stereotypes and the mess of the English dub, but there is more. I made mention of the fact that battles and seriously bad events such as the Holocaust are not mentioned, and this holds true throughout pretty much all of the series. There are certain points where ‘battles’ of a sort are seen, but only flash moments. One scene in particular that I really enjoyed as a tween and can now see the problems with is the whole revolutionary war scene. This was a scene split into two episodes (for some weird reason, even an unrelated episode in between, like, what? Why??) about a particular (unnamed) battle in the American Revolution where England faced down America, they each had a gun with a bayonet, and England charged America and his bayonet deeply scratched America’s gun, and America declared he was no longer England’s little brother, and the whole thing was played out as an extremely emotional scene. England is lost in the past of seeing America as a cute little kid he took care of, who has now grown up and is being reckless and stupid, and America is all righteous and independent and proving he’s a grown up, it’s all very emotional, I cried, other fans cried, there was much fanart.

This scene is problematic in a way. Boiling down an extremely nasty conflict following lots of really bad laws and protests to this one scene doesn’t do history any justice. It says nothing about the struggles of the American colonists, the struggles of the British empire, the awful things the colonists did to the natives, etc etc. It is one small scene and it focuses on these characters as humanoid, with feelings, and completely ignores the complexities of history. And yes, in a way, that is bad. But it is bad in the sense that nobody can - or at least should - take this show to be the end-all be-all of history. It is not. It is not often entirely correct, and it picks and chooses what points in the past several thousand years to play with, and trying to use it as a map for history is a bad idea. However, this focus on the countries as human-like and struggling can also be a good thing.

It is also important to note that there have been other problems. The portrayal of South Korea, for example, is extremely controversial, and while I do not know all of the specifics, I believe that it was banned in Korea due to this, and the character was entirely removed from the anime, among other things. Obviously, a bad take, a bad character. There are also just straight up not great characterizations in certain cases. I don’t, for example, like anything about how Belarus is portrayed as a crazy psycho constantly begging Russia (her big brother) to marry her? I think that that is ridiculous, and I know nothing about Belarus as a country but I am pretty darn sure that that is not how one ought to go about portraying the country. There are a few other examples, but my purpose here was not to pull up a list of every country and explain what is correct or incorrect about each characterization. It is enough to say that some characters were not portrayed perfectly. But with that in mind...

The Good Anything Else

It is the most important to remember that this, all of this, is fiction. This is a silly, silly fantasy series. The countries are not humans, they are some weird semi-immortal species that share a universal language and know they are not human and are referenced by humans as ‘those people.’ They are fictional constructs. But the good out of all of this is that they explore human emotions. The American Revolution scene should not be taken as how the revolution was, and who might have been right or wrong. But it is a very emotional story of a big brother unable to accept that his little brother has grown up and wants to make his own choices. That, right there, is a heartfelt scene that I’m sure plenty of real people can feel something about. And there are plenty of other scenes that really grab you by the heartstrings, especially given how crazy, stupid, and humor-oriented the rest of the show is. And I will take a moment and enthuse about some of the more popular scenes that I think are, in fact, pretty good.

There is one episode in season 5, Beautiful World, where an American woman visits France (the place). This woman, Lisa, is blond and bears a striking resemblance to Joan d’Arc. While visiting some historical place somewhere or another in Paris, France (the person) spots her and rushes up with an odd look. When she questions him, he apologizes and offers to give her a tour of the area, which she accepts. He then proceeds to lead her around and explain some history and show off some beautiful sights, and he mentions some stuff about Joan d’Arc. She butts in and lists off some stuff she knows, he beams and looks proud and says yes, she’s right. The end of the scene has the two of them standing alone somewhere and him commenting how young Joan was when she was killed, and that he always wished she could have had a better, nicer life. He then states that he is very happy that she got it, while giving this American tourist a gentle smile. She looks away for a moment, distracted by something perhaps, and when she looks back to ask just who the heck he really is, talking about a historical figure like he knew her, he is gone. It’s a very emotional scene in a quiet sort of way, because the watcher/reader understands that he took one look at this woman and instantly believed that she was, in fact, Joan d’Arc reincarnated into a totally different and totally average life, and he is so genuinely happy that a woman he saw as a hero gets this chance to live normally. Whether or not you may personally believe in reincarnation, and regardless of how often other times in the show France is shown as an obnoxious sexaholic, this is an extremely tender scene that lots of fans seriously love. It is very ‘human.’ And I feel like this is what the series as a whole strives to offer. These human moments. They may be peppered in a sort of lackadaisical style in the anime, but they are far more prominent in the comic strips, so it is important to realize that that kind of scene is more of what the creator likes to focus on.

Another very popular and touted scene is the Davie scene. I don’t remember if it was put in the anime or not, I read it as a comic. It was a scene set in colonial America, where the man himself was just a very small child. Little baby America was hanging out in a field with a rabbit and sees this boy, who introduces himself as Davie. Davie brings America to his house and opens up a botany book and points out a blue flower (possibly a forget-me-not) that he wants to see but that isn’t in the New World. America assures Davie that he will find him one of those flowers, and goes off to do so. He fails his search and goes back to Davie, who is older now, but Davie looks embarrassed and turns and walks away. Distressed, America runs to England and explains about the flower, and England says the flower is not there, but they do grow at home, and he will bring some the next time he leaves and comes back. America happily waits, and when England returns with a bouquet of the blue flowers, America takes them and runs off to Davie’s house. He is let in by a boy who looks just like Davie and presents the flowers, and the boy then puts them on (or maybe in) a coffin of an elderly man. America, smiling, does not seem to understand what is going on, and hopefully calls the boy Davie.

This entire scene, in the comic, has very few words. Davie’s name is repeated a few times, but most of the rest of the ‘dialogue’ is in images. The flower, England saying it is not there, etc. This makes the scene extremely poignant, and when we reach the end, we, the audience, realize suddenly that while baby America was fixated on finding a special flower for his new friend, years and years went by, and that friend grew up and got married and had children and eventually died, all while America remained looking the exact same age and understanding the exact same things. Look, folks, I don’t know about you, but that is some angsty stuff right there. I cried. We all cried. We all miss Davie. Mention the name to fans and you will get sobs. We love you, Davie.

Which brings me to my penultimate point, that this series is heartfelt and, while it avoids a lot of the bad of history, can be very poignant about what human nature is like. Human lives are long, very long, but also so very short, they fly by. Some lives end in tragedy, others are mostly peaceful, and maybe we get second chances if you believe in reincarnation, maybe not. Maybe it’s good that our lives are so short, maybe the fate of living forever and watching people you connect with die is tragic. Or maybe it would actually be really fun, having friends for thousands of years that you may squabble with at times but ultimately care for. Maybe nothing is simple and life is about finding joy where you can, and everyone needs to sometimes take a step back and realize that everyone is flawed, and there might be good and evil but the vast majority of people are in a grey area, trying to live their own lives and do what good they can for whatever reason they might give. I want to end with one last topic, one I have not yet addressed this whole time. The big white alien in the room, if you will.

Paint it: White!

There is a Hetalia movie, folks, if you didn’t know it, and it’s called Paint It White. This movie has just as many silly parts as any other Hetalia thing, but it also has a plot! In this movie, strange, all-white aliens are starting to invade the Earth. They arrive and anything they touch, they turn into completely identical white humanoid blobs, even the country personifications. With this scary and seemingly-unstoppable threat, the main eight - America, England, Russia, China, France, Japan, Germany, and Italy - all try to infiltrate the alien spaceship in frankly hideous uniforms to find out more and figure out a way to defeat them. Hijinks and disaster ensues, and at the end, each of them is fighting a mob and gradually being defeated. Italy is the last one standing, and as Germany is slowly being transformed into a blob along with the others, he tells Italy to smile. Italy then finds (or has? the plot isn’t great, it’s just there) a black marker and he suddenly starts going around drawing ridiculous faces on everyone. He draws fitting faces on each of his friend blobs, like a stern face on Germany-blob, a deadpan face on Japan-blob, etc etc. The invaders suddenly stop. They look at each other, marker-faced, and start to laugh. Then their leader of sorts comes out and is basically like “wow, we thought you were all stupid and you have wars and stuff, but this? This is beautiful. Wow. We all look exactly identical on our world, and these faces are cool and new and unique. We’ll turn everyone on your planet back if we can have this magical thingie you’re holding.” And of course Italy hands the marker right over, and everyone is put back to normal, and crybaby, scaredy-cat, useless Italy saves the world.

The plot is, obviously, not super great. It’s not going to win anybody any awards. But it has a very poetic premise. The strength of humans is that they are all unique. Every human has a different face, a different body, a different life. Our differences may cause conflict, but they are also something to celebrate. At the end of the day, Hetalia is an okay show that can get you hooked on history and tries its best to teach you that we’re all only human and there might be war and conflict and bad things, but you have to reach for the good things and find yourself good friends and have stupid laughs and enjoy life, however long or short it may be. I think that that’s a pretty decent message to send out to people.

The Bottom Line

In the end, this is a fandom like many others. Hetalia has its flaws and its cringe moments, and it certainly had its fair share of awful fans. But I truly believe that painting it overall as nazi propoganda and one of the most problematic and harmful shows out there is a blatant lie and disregards… just about everything of the actual content. I think it is difficult for someone to concretely say anything is super good or super bad without seeing at least some of it, or doing some research, and this business of blithely going along with what everyone else says just because they use big danger words does not do anybody any favors. Spreading misinformation is, I’m sure, the exact opposite of what most people want to do. And make no mistake, I am definitely not saying that everyone needs to like, or even watch, the show. If you never ever want to watch this show in your life, that is absolutely fine. Go forth and never watch it. But mindlessly following the herd and yelling overgeneralized, unsupported opinions about it is not a good thing. I beg of you, do research on the things you want to form or share an opinion on, think critically, and for the love of God, do not swipe a giant paintbrush to forsake every single individual fan of a show as a terrible, awful person. By all means, hate nazis, they are pieces of shit. Boycott things that support genocide and fascism, yes, fight for equality, yes. But do not go accusing without thinking, and do not overgeneralize. I leave you with the words of my old laptop bag that I bought years ago at a convention:

Make pasta, not war.

Thank you for reading.

#I wrote an essay #I could probably source this way more #but I've been working on it for hours #Just take it

14 notes · View notes

davidmann95 · 4 years

Note

Comics this week (11/25/2020)?

Anonymous said: This week's floppies?

Anonymous said: This week’s comics?

Anonymous said: Have you read Red Hood #51 yet? It’s one of the best stories Jason has been in since Under the Red Hood and I don’t think I can go back to his normal stories after this

Anonymous said: God damn the Other History of the DC Universe has a pretty brutal call out of Superman, yet as a Superman fan I wasn’t offended or put off by it at all. Ridley specifically narrowed in on one of the key flaws of Superman, his need for public love and approval. What did you think of the portrayal of Supes?

Anonymous said: Thoughts on "The Other History of the DC Universe" and why it's already one of the greatest comics of all time?

Anonymous said: Thoughts on "Other History"?

X-Men #15: Heck yeah, Quiet Council discussing protocol, this is what I come to Jonathan Hickman’s X-Men for, and Cyclops getting his Captain America in Hickvengers moment.

X of Swords: Destruction: Look this rules and I guess I understood the Arakko story by the end but not the Otherworld/Captain Britain stuff, and it’s the former that’s gonna matter to Hick-Men going forward. But I don’t care if it put a ‘_ of 22′ counter across the top, if a crossover is for real going to demand you buy 22 comics in 3 months for you to see the entire core story you need to be screaming that from the rooftops with every single interview that it’s genuinely the whole thing that’s essential, because editorial claiming that you should totally get everything aside that’s not how crossovers have actually worked since the 90s no matter how many checklists and reading orders may be provided. This whole thing really sorta felt like the Infinity of this run, good stuff but ultimately Hickman serving a master beyond telling his own story - in this case trying to provide a forcible on-ramp from Marvel’s hottest book to all the ancillary related stuff.

Shang-Chi #3: This continues to be a really solid little mini with some poignant bits.

Power Pack #1: Haven’t read much if anything with them in it before, but as good as I could have hoped of Ryan North’s first post-Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Marvel gig.

Fantastic Four: Antithesis #4: Fine, but it would have been so much funnier if Waid’s last Marvel work before finally returning to DC had been that cancelled Squadron Supreme two-shot.

Daredevil #24: God so goooooood. And next issue’s next week?!

The Department of Truth #3: Imagine going literally any duration back in time, handing this to someone who’d read and even enjoyed his work, and explaining “THAT’S the level James Tynion is going to end up operating on”.

BANG!: My shop got the TPB this week of the recent mini by Kindt and Torres, and this is a top-notch reimagining of assorted 80s action/pseudo-pulp archetypes into something modern and strange and delightful, that while technically concluding somewhat tidily if the sales aren’t there is set up to go on for as long as the creative team has ideas for it. It taps into that America’s Best Comics/Planetary/Adventureman energy for a slightly different branch of genre storytelling, and even if like me it’s not an iteration you grew up with it’s definitely worth your money and attention.

Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Multiverse Who Laughs: It’s fine, whatever, just a buncha little Dark Multiverse stories...except for the last story, where the Twilight Zone-esque shocker final twist is that being black in America and thereby constantly experiencing the constant low-grade terror of the background radiation of systemic racism essentially acts as a vaccine against Scarecrow’s fear toxin, which...okay??? It’s written by a black man so it’s not as if I think it’s offensive, but particularly given that given the rules of the Dark Multiverse one of the three characters in there had to have imagined this possibility, and that then The Batman Who Laughs must’ve seen it and gone “Hell yes, all about this, definitely one of the 52 scariest of all possible universe”, it’s a serious candidate for weirdest comic of the year.

Legion of Superheroes #11: This is an excellent kickoff to a 3 or 4-issue arc so I have absolutely no idea how it’s going to reach some kind of season finale next month.

Action Comics #1027: Romita Jr.’s deteriorating by the day but I did like his take on the Phantom Zone, and I feel like this while taking it a bit farther than I’d prefer still convincingly sells the idea of Superman just being absolutely fed up after a truly awful day.

Justice League Dark #28: So is this the end of the run, Future State notwithstanding? Shocking how coherently it held together through the transition in writers, and I really hope it says and so does Ram V to take it in a direction wholly his own.

Wonder Woman #767: Substantially improved now that it’s not working off the completely bizarre and increasingly uncomfortable ‘buddy-cop’ premise.

Red Hood #51: GOOD NOW?! I checked it out because of the rec above and because I was curious how someone would try and salvage the concept post-Lobdell, and while it obviously isn’t literally by him, Shawn Martinbrough and Tony Akins are for all the world doing a Christopher Priest Relaunch with this tonally and aesthetically; I think it’s even a direct sequel to Priest’s Batman: The Hill oneshot from decades ago. I sure hope this isn’t a two-issue filler run with the book either cancelled or reshuffled after Future State, because this has all the makings of an excellent crime comic.

Suicide Squad #11: I’ll probably check out Taylor’s Revolutionaries book once that happens, so I guess mission accomplished. Fine little run.

The Other History of the DC Universe #1: I heard someone on Twitter say this is the best thing that’s come out of superhero comics since HoXPoX, and I don’t know if I’m on that level with it but that is absolutely a fair conclusion. I’ll be honest, I had measured expectations here from having seen some of Ridley’s past comics work - I figured it’d be a perfectly solid book with a few standout moments, but instead it throws out all the haymakers in the world and emerges as one of my favorite comics of 2020, even given we’re only seeing the one issue this year. I can only judge so much because it feels like a lot of what we see in this debut is going to be completely reframed through the perspectives of other characters in subsequent entries, but standalone this is a brutal, intimate, brilliant character study set against the backdrop of a hazy dreamscape vision of the history of DC reformatted as needed to fit the concerns in play here (though the dates presented are so specific I wonder if aspects of this are leftovers of the original version of 5G), and probably as close as we’re going to see to a ‘trilogy capper’ to The Golden Age and New Frontier. That’s why the take on Superman here works, as much a product of the worst of his mass-consciousness image as the Superman of DKR but meshed with a profound understanding of what makes him tick as a character that makes the inherently compromised version on display here palatable, and a believable extrapolation of the Silver/Bronze Age’s version of him when that’s the era this series is thus far working as a contrast to. And god, the art. I always liked him fine enough, but even with finishes by Andrea Cucchi and colors by Jose Villarrubia I never could have imagined Giuseppe Camuncoli putting out the likes of this, and Steve Wands’s lettering is doing at least equal legwork in defining the look of the book. There have been several impressive titles out of Black Label at this point - Last Knight on Earth, Rorschach, Strange Adventures, and especially Harleen - but nothing else has come close to demonstrating the potential power of the imprint as a vehicle for creators taking this iconography and doing something radical and unrestrained and phenomenal with it.

#Week's Comics #Opinion

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