#i want to do a whole arc that's just them robbing this bank

[bardnuts]

big fan of the vibe in here

[deadsetobsessions]

Snart Jr.

Lovely prompt by @stealingyourbones in her long prompts list, in which Danny Phantom meets the Rogues of Central City! This will have multiple parts, I just haven't written them yet.

Disclaimer: I know very little about Captain Cold and Mirror Master despite having watched some of the Flash. The general vibe I get from Flash is that Flash just really cares about his rogues as evidenced by how he talks to them and doesn't immediately one-shot them like I'm pretty sure he could do. And that Captain Cold is a snarky asshole that just wants to steal things and follow his plans as planned? Tbh, the whole mini-arc/episode with him just felt like Snart was trying to coordinate the world's riskiest group project. He was so done by the end lmao

"Huh. That's new."

Danny hovered an inch off of the ground, having just been spat out by swirling green portal. He was going to have to get back to the Zone later to hot potato Skulker through a couple of portals in revenge. He had a math exam he had to study for, dammit.

Danny sighed. Might as well see what's happening. The portals rarely lead somewhere boring, and Danny was bored. He floated further in, form going intangible and invisible as he passed through thick but insulated marble walls. See, Jazz? He could totally plan ahead. He's also learning that he could probably rob a bank easily, but Danny would never.

"Never been spat out in a bank before," he hummed, eyes flickering on the numerous forms of cowering people in the lobby. The goons scattered about don't see him, but it would take another ghost to even detect his presence so it was to be expected. He moved further in with little hindrance and soon touched down onto polished floor behind two incredibly suspicious individuals.

"What-cha do-ing?"

The two figures, currently and obviously robbing a bank, whirled around in surprise. Their respective weapons whirred to a start before they stopped, baffled by the meta teen standing there with his white hair waving about and innocent look pasted all over his face.

Leonard Snart knew instinctively that the kid was so full of shit. He'd bet his entire plan on the fact that the kid knew exactly what kind of shit he was stirring. Still, Snart was guilty of a lot of things but direct child-endangerment wasn't ever one of them.

"How'd you get in here, kid?" Mirror Master raised his laser pistol, ready to distract and divert the kid with threats of violence- which Snart glared at him for- or with his hall of mirrors that he'd run to.

Danny shrugged. "I walked. If you guys didn't want me here, you should have guarded the place better."

"They were supposed to," Snart drawled. He cased the kid. Teen. The kid had a weird halo effect, that seemed to draw the eyes to the stylized letter on his hazmat suit. The kid was young. Meta. Non-hostile. "You trying to stop us?"

Danny shook his head. "Nah. Came from the Ghost Zone so 's really non'a my business. I was just being nosy."

Snart gave a curt nod and nudged Mirror Master back into cracking the security measures.

Mirror Master scoffed. "What the hell is a ghost zone?"

"I mean, it's pretty self explanatory, right? It's a zone where ghosts live. Hence, you know, Ghost Zone." Danny did a little jazz hands (oh, yeah, he was definitely gonna get Jazz to make that joke sooner or later) for emphasis.

Snart paused for the slightest bit before continuing with his task. Did ghosts exist?

"...Did the Flash send you here, kid?"

"I'm not a kid," Danny scowled, walking right up to them. He got enough of that from his own Rogues, thank you. "And what's a Flash?"

"The Flash, kid." Mirror Master corrected, shoving monitors and PC's and expensive looking office chairs into... a mirror dimension? Danny shrugged and rolled with it.

"Who's that? Your boss?"

"Local superhero, not our boss. You're not from here," Snart quickly deduced as a small smile wormed onto his face from successfully cracking the security without setting off an alarm. They'd have ten minutes before the system cycles the access codes again and flags the fraudulent ones. That should be enough time.

"Superhero? Are they fast? Actually, where is here?" Danny glanced around at the now bare security office like the Flash would show up.

The guy in green and yellow took everything not nailed down to the ground. Danny respected that, even if he kind of wanted to stop the robbery. But he's not really supposed to interfere. That would be uber rude, since it looked like the guy in the fur jacket seemed like he had planned everything precisely.

"You're in Central City, kid. Did you take a wrong turn trying to get to Keystone or something?" Green-yellow guy snorted.

"Gonna be real honest with you, I've got no idea where that is. What state are we in?" Danny followed as the pair rushed to the safe doors. He could offer to phase them through but no matter how flexible Danny's morals have become over the years, he was going to draw a line at actively helping a person commit crime.

"Kansas. Do you teleport? Are you a teleporting meta?" Snart asked, eyes intense as he both glared at Danny and pressed an ear to the safe door.

"Nah, I wish I could teleport. Getting to school would be so much faster. Kansas? Huh, I've never been."

"How lost are you, kid?" Mirror Master incredulously paused from robbing the packages that were delivered to the bank.

Danny shrugged. "Oh, I'm Danny. Who are you guys?"

"Captain Cold. That's Mirror Master."

Danny shifted as the safe clicks open. "So, uh, are you guys the villains here?"

Captain Cold shot him a weird look. "We're actively robbing a bank, kid. That should be obvious."

"Also, you're acting real calm for a kid speaking to two of Fawcett's best super-villains." Mirror Master chimed in, laser-ing off locks on deposit boxes and shoving cash and stuff into his mirror dimension.

Danny padded in after them. "Eh, you haven't shot at me- not even on sight- yet, which is more than I can say for law enforcement, so you're pretty chill in my book."

Captain Cold snorted, pointedly taking his freeze gun and breaking off a large manual lock. "I believe it's my job to be the chill one. Plus, we don't kill. The Flash would be up our... business if we did. It's not worth the trouble."

"You can say ass. I've heard worse."

"Not from me, kid."

Danny hadn't had that kind of consideration from anyone in a long time. Even if it's a bit... mother-hennish, the halfa couldn't find it in him to be annoyed. "Ah, okay. Well, you also haven't kidnapped me or tried to stop me from following you, so..."

Mirror Master shoved a giant painting into his dimension. "You haven't tried to stop us; it'd be weird trying to stop you."

"Makes sense."

"Heh. You're alright, kid. Though... who's kidnapping you?"

"My fruit loop of a godfather. It's a thing," Danny avoided the searching gaze like a pro.

"Hold this." Captain Cold said suddenly, giving Danny a massive dufflebag.

"Wait, what?"

Captain Cold began stuffing the bag with cash and once the money in the vicinity (not that much) went in, he said "Go look around. Having another person in here is a risk so you might as well make up for it."

Danny's calling it. Captain Cold was full of shit. The guy's a big softie. Danny smiled sheepishly and agreed. Danny circled the place, pointing out expensive looking stuff- "for fun" and not because they were nice to him- when he felt the tell-tale zaps of an anomaly in Clockwork's domain.

"Move!" He shouted at the two villains, both of whom dove out of the way. Instinctively, Danny threw out his gloved hands and iced the floors, instincts bristling at the incoming danger. His jaw dropped as a blur encountered the ice and went ass over tea kettle onto the floor, unable to stop its own momentum.

"Oh shit!" Danny uttered, eyes wide as the blur slammed into the opposite- reinforced- wall with a pained shout. The stopped person was wearing red, with a lighting bolt motif all over their uniforms. That implied speed. Speed implied "The Flash." Danny knew a hero when he saw one and he just iced him. Shit.

"What-" The Flash groaned. Mirror Master and Captain Cold gaped.

"OhmyancientsI'msosorrygottagobye!" Danny shouted.

"Hey, wait, kid-!" Captain Cold shouted. Danny ignored him, going invisible in a panic and sank into the ground, mortified. After thirty seconds of self-hatred, he zoomed out and away. Danny held his head in his hands as he flew back to where Amity was...

Only to stare down at the empty plots of land where his city was supposed to be. Danny shoved a hand into his chest and pulled out his phone.

[No results for Amity Park. Did you mean "Amity Arkham"?]

"What."

Any research he did after that only turned up a Jasmine Fellona, a budding neurobiologist in her field, and other people that were adjacent to the people Danny knew. But nothing, nothing from Amity Park.

"Oh, yeah, we're definitely not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy."

---

As the Flash stood around to keep an eye on the hand-cuffed villains, he couldn't help but ask.

"So, uh, Snart. Did you... get a kid?"

"What." Snart asked, incredibly done with this shit.

"You know. Snart junior? With the ice and everything?" Flash gestured at the un-melting ice that covered the floor leading into the safe. "I mean, I'm not thrilled you're pulling your kid into a life of crime..."

"No."

"Wait, you had a kid and didn't tell me?" Mirror Master asked, mildly offended. "That was your kid? No wonder no one shot at him!"

"He's not my kid." Snart gave Flash the stink-eye. "And don't you have a couple of baby sidekicks running around?"

"C'mon dude, you're so obviously fond of him. It's okay, you don't have to hide it." Flash avoided the topic... in a flash.

"Can someone arrest me right now so these idiots can be removed from my vicinity?" Snart snarked to the approaching officer, jerking his head to point at the beaming Flash.

"You and me both, buddy," Officer West sighed.

---

One trip to the zone and a stressful conversation with Clockwork later, Danny was found in his keep, smacking his ghost head into the ghost wall of his ghost keep. Danny would unleash a Wail if it didn't have the nasty habit of bringing everything around him.

Apparently, he got "Amity'd," a process which meant Amity spat him out like an over chewed dog bone and refused to take him back.

"That doesn't even make sense! I left there a bunch of times! And came back!"

"The city has decided that it was your time to leave, Danny." Clockwork spared a wane smile for the curled up boy-king.

"I have people to protect there! My entire life! My haunt!" Danny yelled, breaths that he didn't technically need coming shorter and shorter. The neon green of the Zone whirled in and out of his vision in a dizzying shudder of anxiety and incoming panic.

"It wasn't your haunt, I'm afraid. The city nurtured you as a young spirit- thus shared her haunt- and has decided that it was time for you to... leave the nest, so to speak."

That stopped Danny's panic in its tracks. "Are you telling me she NightVale-d me? Some kind of involuntary coming-of-age bs?"

If he weren't on the edge of hysterical laughter, Danny would take a moment and proudly say to Mr. Lancer that he had paid attention in class.

"...Yes."

"Fuck." Danny dropped his head down in despair. His head made a loud thunk. The bag of cash he'd accidently made away with sat innocently at his feet. Further proof that it wasn't some nightmare he'd wake up from anytime soon.

---

Danny slumped over the desk, exhausted. Technus had lent him a ghostly hand and hacked into government data bases to re-establish his social security number and all the other dumb bits and bobs that he needed to establish his identity because Amity was an actual ghost town. Ghost to reality, ghost to real life. Ancients, Amity even had their own data network, which he couldn't access outside of Amity itself. This meant that Danny couldn't even call anyone. Ugh.

"I gotta find a place to live," he mumbled to himself. Danny, despite knowing that he needed to do things, did not move for another ten minutes.

Then, as his phone alarm went off, buzzing on the table. Like... Clockwork... Danny sat up straight and wiped all traces of wallowing self pity off his face. The people in the library- students- gave him solemn nods of solidarity. Danny nodded back and left the library.

He wandered around Fawcett City, somewhere Clockwork had recommended he stayed. With Clockwork, recommendations tended to be life-important (plot-important?) orders. Danny liked the place, really. It gave off the weird and settled "what-the-fuck,-Box-Ghost-did-you-have-to-destroy-the-mall?" vibes Amity constantly gave off after the ghosts started coming through. He thought he even saw a talking tiger! Awesome.

"Hey, are you new here?"

Danny looked down. His reflection stared back at him.

Did he have another kid? Did someone clone him again? Ancients curse you, Vlad!

"Uh- yeah."

"Oh. Do you need help getting around? I was born and raised here all my life, so I can totally do that!"

Oh thank the Ancients, this wasn't another Dani. Just a weirdly similar looking kid.

"You know I'm a stranger, right?"

"I don't think anyone helping Nanny Mae pick up her oranges would hurt kids," the kid said archly, but with a grin so like Dani, it made Danny miss his younger sister.

"Okay, you got me there. But still."

The kid sighed. "I know how to be safe, thanks. I'm Billy!"

"Danny. Nice to meet you."

"Okay, Danny, where you off to?"

"I'm actually trying to find a place that'll be cheap to rent." He's sixteen, but Danny could totally pass as eighteen. "I'm thinking about moving to Fawcett. It's nice here, with all the ambient magic and stuff."

This got him a wide-eyed look. "Do you use magic?"

"Something like that."

"Cool."

Danny took in the considering glint in Billy's eyes and decided that it was future!Danny's problem. Present!Danny was currently occupied with trying to stay off the streets. That giant bag of cash he'd accidently absconded with would be helpful and Danny felt kind of bad... but his growling stomach had chased that away quickly.

"This way!"

Danny shrugged his wavering morality off and followed the kid, shouldering his new and stolen duffle bag. If anything happened, he could just go ghost. It wouldn't be the weirdest thing that's happened in this city, Danny made sure to check.

"Have you been by the zoo?" Billy began to rattle off his favorite details about the Fawcett city zoo as he wove around the city.

Danny didn't think he'd actually have to go ghost.

"Not yet, actually. Is it true that there's a talking tiger there?"

"Yeah! Tawky Tawny! He's my friend!"

"Awesome."

[baxterstockmanisthecenterfold]

I said I was gonna update my ranking of the multiple Baxter Stockmans throughout the multiverse and I decided I'm finally doing that.

It's been a long time coming in all actuality really both because of new versions popping up & also because overtime my feelings on Baxter as a whole has changed a lot over the past 2 years revisiting him. So much to the point where the previous rank list itself is heavily outdated. And I honestly want to correct that not to mention dive into it a bit more than I did last time. So with that I'm officially gonna be starting my new Baxter Stockman ranking. BUuuuuut there is a twist this time.

I won't be doing every single version in just one post like I did last time. Instead this time I'm gonna break them up into different categories, those being the way Baxter was shown. Comics, games, animation, and live action. To the disappointment of a lot of people, because I KNOW most of y'all don't read them, I'm starting off with the comics since that's where it all began honestly. On a piece of stock paper in the early 1980s & that's where it's been continuing since. So we're starting from there.

Mirage

The Stockman that started it all 40 years ago. With his seemingly innocent gift for humanity only to reveal his true fucked up & evil nature practically making himself a millionaire in weeks robbing banks with the said gifts & when he's confronted about it & asked the justifiable question as to why, all he had to say for himself was "cus it's fun". The man was evil just for the laughs of it. And if we recall him stealing the nano tech from the Utroms years ago, he always was. Granted we never know why or what even led him to be like this & I remember my younger self being a little irked by this. But my current adult self however, I can't help but actually LIKE that we don't know that much about him. Sometimes in media less is better & Baxter in this case is a good example of that. I mean sometimes villains especially the most famous ones don't really need a reason to do what they did or we don't have to know why either. Ironically enough another example of this would be the 2003 Shredder. Sure we get A backstory about him but we never got the reason as to WHY he was such an evil little shit & it worked. And I really don't see why Baxter shouldn't get this same pass. Still maybe even a tiny glimpse of his past would have been interesting but I digress. Especially when his acts outweigh them heavily. I mean in his first issue he made a terrorist ransom & then proceeded to demolish an entire building (& also unintentionally predict a certain day in September 2001..). And granted it took a few years but he managed to outdo himself with his revenge arc. Escaping prison somehow & then breaking into DARPA to willingly turn himself into the cold heartless monster he really is. Leaving 24 bodies in his wake. The first & sadly only version of Baxter with a high body count or a body count at all & I desperately need more of it. Even when it looked like he lost he still had tricks up his sleeve like poisoning April with the aforementioned nanobots those years ago if he wasn't successful in killing her in his new body. The lengths this man was willing to go for his schemes. Not even stopping with just the turtles if we count the Stranger Things crossover as canon, which I do for 2 reasons. First being the time period, 1985 which is just a year after the events for the first few mirage comics even mentioning an event or 2. Plus all the turtles & Baxter look like their mirage selves I can buy it honestly. Another reason is we get to see Baxter in action again & as the big villain. No Shredder or Krang to share the spotlight with it's all him & it's what I want since we were honestly robbed of more stories with him in the original series, this along with other examples in the mirage continuity being perfect reasons why he's a perfect main villain for a story especially when properly written. It's because of these I've grown more appreciative of mirage Baxter & the impact he made even if it's a small one he still made an impact on Baxters everywhere 2003 & IDW being prime examples of this. For that I give this first iteration a good 9/10. A great & intimidating villain & character but if only we saw more of him.

Archie comics

I admit I don't really have that much to say about Baxter in the Archie comics & that mainly is because of the fact that he's literally a bar for bar copy of his 1987 counterpart only difference being he's spared from becoming a mutant fly. Originally that's all the Archie comics were. Just written down copies of the first few 87 episodes. It wasn't until the 8th issue I think that they finally got a reboot & became its own separate thing & making original stories & characters. However Baxter himself didn't survive this reboot. Not that he's dead, apparently the turtles arrested him right after the events of "shrinking turtles" & we never see or hear of him again after that. Why they didn't use Baxter in the reboot stories I genuinely have no idea. But I mean. At least we can assume he got rehabilitated & lived a happy normal life again since neither the Foot or Turtles bothered him anymore. Again, aside from being a copy of 87, he doesn't have anything to work with, so his rating is gonna be the same as last time a solid 8/10

Cereal box comics

This guy however is not as lucky as his Archie counterpart. Already being a mutant fly we don't know anything about him, granted we could assume it's the same background as 87 since that's what every TMNT writer did around this time period before 2003, the cereal comics themselves were relatively short only lasting 3 issues, Baxter only being in the first 2, kidnapping Casey Jones & bringing him Shredder to turn him into an octopus (Because why not) & then he just dipped. Not like there was really much he could do or wanted to do & I feel the same way so he's just ok to me. A decent 5/10

Teenage mutant Hero Turtles

I've only recently learned of this guy and the newspaper comics from the early 90s in general, & like other Baxters around this time period his appearances were relatively short only popping up twice & the second time was him nearly getting his ass beat by April like the bad bitch that she is. So like others at this point I don't really have much to say about this one since we don't see or know much about him except that apparently according to Michaelangelo he eventually becomes a fly too & the two times we saw him was before that happened. This'll just be another 5/10 then

IDW publishing

Bro... Where do I even begin with this man? I guess for starters. I absolutely love him. When I was still first getting into TMNT especially looking up the different Baxters I think the 3rd or 4th thing I was introduced to was the IDW comics and from the images I saw on Google at the time I was intrigued. This Baxter was different from the other 3 I've seen so far (the 3 cartoons). "Not wearing glasses?" Well. Ok yeah that too but there was something else about him that just stood out from those 3. Every picture I had seen of him so far he looked MENACING. Like he was always up to some shit or worse. And then I saw the flyborgs which was also insane yet cool making me curious/worried as to how his fate is going to work out in terms of mutating or losing his body, especially with some fans that read the comics claiming he was "Krang's bitch" but that never happened. Nor was it ever the case. When I finally started to read the IDW continuity in either my sophomore or junior year of highschool I was instantly hooked. I was loving the story, the characters, the changes, & a whole bunch more I wish I read em sooner, but that's not why we're here, we're here to discuss Baxter & let me know say: he continued to blow me away. When I finally got to see him in action for myself I fell in love with him. My intuition from when I was 12 was right all along he IS different from the other Baxters I saw previously. For starters for that one person who said he was Krang's bitch uhh that was

B U L L S H I T

I mean yeah sure, he did work for him in the beginning couple of issues & he did need to play it safe around Krang considering he needed more information about Krang & his army & he y'know. Had to stay alive? But he was anything but sniveling or abused by him. It was NOT a "slave relationship" like he usually is with Shredder, & any time it looked like it was, Baxter was faking it because he's just a level 10 manipulator like that. At the end of the day Baxter got the last laugh as it was his betrayal & attempt to take over the technodrome that led to Krang losing everything & Baxter's freedom. He is anything but anyone's bitch. Not Krang's, Not Shredder's (I've already posted that panel of him putting him in his place multiple times), not Angel, Not old Hob's. This man doesn't take shit from ANYBODY & his human ass will let you know that in more than 2 ways. Keyword on human as the IDW continuity thankfully never fed into the 87 bullshit & mutated him nor did he become a cyborg, tho he did get a mech suit to defend his building in the "TMNT UNIVERSE" arc. The writers themselves confirming they had zero intention or interest doing so & saying he's staying human. Which was such a relief to me, as I mentioned here I genuinely believe Baxter doesn't have to be a mutant or a robot to be considered a threat or a good character especially this version of him. Hell in this universe he's basically Lex Luthor & I feel like that should be the default writing direction for him. Hell Lex is a human & he's still considered one of the greatest threats in DC, & there's plenty of more examples like him. I also remember I was skeptical about Baxter becoming mayor mostly out of fear of him biting more than he can chew as I still have PTSD of his luck inevitably running out in the TMNT mythos but once again I was happily proven wrong. He's still in office, he still has some tricks up his sleeve, he has his own Mercy Graves now, & the public still views him as a hero & such. In hindsight it really was a smart move for him. IDW Baxter is an amazingly fresh breath of fresh air in terms of the Stockmanverse as he's broken the cycle of the numerous mischaracterizations of the character along with breaking the misery cycle too cus it's so nice to finally have a Baxter Stockman that's thriving & not having you wish someone would put him out of his misery. He's the second version to do his mirage counterpart true justice, even SURPASSED him in my opinion & I just find a new reason to love him every single day, making him my second favorite version of the character. It's a shame he's underrated but at the same time it also makes him more special & personal to me. 10/10 without a damn doubt.

Batman vs TMNT II

So this guy exists. That's alI can really say about him tbh. Nothing about him seriously stood out except that he was apparently "a disgraced scientist". Does this mean he was famous in this continuity like Mirage & his true nature was exposed to the public too? Idk, it's never touched upon nor is anything else regarding him. He's just there to help Bane & yeah that's it. I've said this in the past & I don't mind repeating myself here. They literally could have just made up a random scientist & put them in his place instead. That's how little he mattered here. Actually when you do consider that fact, you could have just erased him from the story entirely & literally nothing would change, I would have actually preferred he'd have not been there at all & that says a lot coming from me. oh & he gets mutated for literally zero fucking reason so there's that too. 2/10

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/TMNT

Another crossover, another Stockman. I thought this version was also pretty ok. When I talked about him during my 40 years of Baxter I did mention that his role is pretty small there too, yet oddly enough I'm ok with this one. Unlike DC, they make it clear they need Baxter's talents specifically & he does deliver. Not to mention this version has some snark and bark to him. I mean hell, the first time we meet bro he's attempting to mutilate the Green ranger & the rest of time is him occasionally snapping at some other characters. We don't see him again after issue 3 of the second one & I think it's for the best tbh. Would I have liked to have seen more? Sure, but it's probably for the best anyway. Writers knew what they wanted & when they were done with him & I can prefer dismissing him over having him be a nostalgia prop. 6/10

The Last Ronin

Aura at its best. So as we all know & learned, everybody in the Roninverse is on demon timing & Baxter is thankfully no exception to this. In this continuity he's just as cold & heartless as his Mirage counterpart & as a really huge obsession with the fugitoid for some reason (I mean they I eventually explained why in the sequel but still a little random) & he makes it pretty crystal fucking clear he'll stop at nothing to get what he wants & this has been going on for decades as we see above. However he realized he wasn't gonna get what he wanted so his decision was a rather simple & reasonably understandable one. And that was to simply blow the entire fucking place up taking as much bodies as he could with him. Leonardo & Casey Jones' included.

So uhh yuh. This nigga's crazy. But hey. A Baxter that's a menace is always welcomed with opened arms in my book. And it's nice to FINALLY have another Baxter with a bodycount after 28 years. Yeah all the way to mirage, despite what you might think IDW never killed anyone. He's attempted but never succeeded. But Roninverse Baxter did. And it being the leader in blue himself too. It's honestly really cool. What's also cool is his designs. From his young self resembling mirage which, is VERY Fitting in my opinion, to his off putting old man self & finally his Freddy Krueger meets the Terminator look. Another plus actually. We finally got another Cyborg Baxter after 13 years! A fate I'm seriously confused as to why it's not explored more but I'm still gonna take the wins I get & be happy when it shows up, just wish we got to see more of it & him. Which reminds me that all good things come to an end & Honeycutt did get his lickback in his second appearance ending the tyranny... unless?👁️ No seriously with the upcoming game & movie who knows what might change. Until then this man gets a 8/10

TMNT x Street fighter

This is both yet: Another random fucking crossover & 2. A good example of what you can do with Baxter on his own.... To an extent. While yes he's mostly partnered with M. Bison (who he's constantly going back & forth with like an old married couple), Baxter was basically one of if not the main villain in this story, having an active role in ALL 5 ISSUES. Not being a prop & disappearing like DC, & not one bit sniveling either. Once again we have yet another Baxter who will bark back at you even if it bites him in the ass. He's egotistic, manipulative, quick tongued & overall funny in this whole comic & he's just about what I've been craving for in modern Stockmans. With this, The stranger things crossover & even Mutant Mayhem, 2023 & 4 really were Baxter's years to shine without being Shredder's shadow. I've never noticed until now & I'm honestly grateful we got it. Because it really shows what he's capable of doing outside the foot clan. What he's basically been doing for decades in Mirage & IDW. Hell I think it might even be the case here since it looks like he's not working with the foot clan or at least not anymore since he recognized Shredder's voice & knew what he was capable of. Maybe this takes place after his traditional betraying the foot arc which we've seen him do 3 cartoons in a row & considering how this version of him is I can honestly see him pulling that shit too. Without saying more, he was honestly a delight in this crossover & if there's ever a sequel I really hope we see him again especially if he's gonna be written the same way. He is worthy of a 8/10

And with that that concludes part one of my Baxter Stockman re-ranking. I'm aware we have a new counterpart in our mists but I want to wait until we see him again/the story concludes first before I give him a proper rating & review but I will say I do like what I see so far.

Until next time tho! 🤖🪰

[rorirevolutions]

World Building Pt. 3: Archetypes

So one of the big problems I have with some of these shows is how Black and White everything is. You're either a Hero or Villain, but the world isn’t like that its full of different archetypes, from Anti-Heroes to Mercenaries. Here is my little analysis of some characters that don't fit the standard:

Max Thunderman is one of the easiest to make sense of, for a majority of the time he is shown as a wannabe Supervillain but in the last season he suddenly switches to full on Superhero which I believe is unrealistic. Overall Max fits the Sympathetic Anti-Villain archetype (The sympathetic anti-villain is a character that the readers feel sorry for, and if some of their actions weren’t so villainous, the readers might even root for them. The character’s backstory is key here, as it must garner sympathy from the reader and tug on the heartstrings. It must reveal that the anti-villain is acting the way they do due to past circumstances outside of their control and because they don’t see any other options open to them.) An Anti-villain does good things for not great reasons and thats truly what Max does for a majority of the show. Him going full hero makes no sense, neither does him becoming a anti-hero(someone who does bad things for good reasons). He never truly has a reason for a change of heart, only a reason to tone down the bad a little.

However, with Henry Hart we see a genuine slide in his behavior over the course of Seasons 4-5. We watch him become uncomfortable in his role as not only a sidekick but also as a hero and getting in more fights with Captain Man. After he moves to Dystopia its very clear his role is not that of a hero and is now more so an Anti-hero or Mercenary. In fact he shows the same traits as a Classical Anti-Hero Archetype(A traditional hero is confident and intelligent, with few flaws and weaknesses. Therefore, the classical anti-hero is the opposite and is plagued by self-doubt and a lack of confidence. Readers enjoy the complexity that comes with a layered character who is flawed and conflicted. Traditionally, the story arc will follow the classical anti-hero conquering their fears and coming to terms with themselves and their faults to fight and conquer whatever is threatening them.) Its shown especially when he, Charlotte, & Jasper first come to Dystopia they do some good for a little bit until they face actual villains who are serious & terrifying, unlike the cartoonish villains they faced in Swellview. When they messed with the wrong people, Henry had a bounty put on him and he ditched town without saying anything. He ghosted Charlotte & Jasper who were worried out of their minds that he got killed. After that Henry, probably not wanting to move back to Swellview, chooses to stay in Dystopia. He doesn't have a superhero costume or codename thats shown and he doesn’t try to hide his face. He is also more willing to do non-heroic things such as the last time he came to Swellview he had Ray help him on a paid job to kidnap a literal child! He robbed a bank just to pay for a gift for his gf who told him she didn't want it. Anytime we see him in Danger Force he's doing something kinda sketchy.

The Bionic’s are an entirely different story from the others because unlike the others they don’t really have any choice in what they do. They were created to be Super Soldiers and even though they try to escape that, they still end up as soldiers. They are sent on missions by higher ranking forces to do tasks. When they have tried to break off and live as normal civilians they are penalized physically and emotionally, and have been forced to return. The missions they go on are morally ambiguous and they don’t seem to care too much as long as the mission is completed. Even the whole thing with the bionic uprising in S4, Sebastian believed that the Davenports destroyed his creator and stages a coup to avenge him. While it is the most motivation to do something other than take orders, that has been shown so far. The soldiers that follow Sebastian still take his orders, showing it to be more of a shifting of ranks instead of actual freedom. It's often stated that a true hero appears when they step up in a time of crisis to help. Soldiers can absolutely be considered heroes but the bionics aren’t Superheroes. Good comes as a byproduct of their missions it is not usually the initial goal. It only kinda changes for Bree and Chase when they are paired up with the MM crew in EF.

Overall while they tried to show this message in the shows I personally don't think it was done well and am hoping to change that. As always I welcome critiques and ideas <3

The little summaries of the different archetypes are from: https://jerichowriters.com/anti-hero-vs-villain-a-complete-guide/

[widowshill]

Roger w 11 and 12

UNHINGED CHARACTER ASKS.

11. Forget the sex or die trope. This character must attempt to rob a bank or they will die. Do they succeed/how much do they get? (If you have extra time, what’s their plan? Who is their crew?)

for all that Roger generally flounders trying to cover up his involvement in a crime in the pen arc, he is very well motivated by desperation, and this is the guy who masterminded a decent scheme to keep himself out of jail, and that went undisputed for a decade. so! I'm going to say succeed, but this isn't going to be Lupin iii levels of heist

importantly, he's going to act mostly alone, rather than with a whole crew — he can't let Liz know he's a common bankrobber, that's mortifying. Burke would be the best choice of partner (and pre-accident, he'd almost certainly pick burke) but that's inviting a lifetime of holding that over his head or extorting him for it. he could twist Carolyn or Vicki's arms into helping him, but they'd probably talk, and David, while a great kid to have with you on a heist, would probably extort him worse than Burke.

I really have two different answers, depending on what part of the show we're in. in the beginning, I think he'd pick on Joe: he's muscle, generally obedient, and Roger can use his working for the family to hold over him, and importantly, he won't talk because to do so would sacrifice his own pristine reputation. he also might be convinced for a share of the money (to marry/take care of Maggie) and Joe, while usually morally sound, has been persuaded before to take up nefarious grave robbing when he thought it was necessary to help the family.

The basic plan would be to use the leverage of his name to get them to open up the bank after hours — i.e. that Liz wants something from the family vault, and he's fetching it (because she's still in Liz Jail) and they have to have it now because of whatever excuse — mostly, because Collinsport runs on the Collins Whim. That ensures the least amount of witnesses possible, and probably only one employee, and a pretty safe getaway. He'd make sure plenty of people in the Blue Whale heard him say he was heading to the bank, which could supply any number of possible suspects.

Roger would then use his charm on the poor teller, and get him to open up whatever (I'm assuming this is just the local bank, so not a huge institution with complicated security, there's probably only one vault). then, enter Joe, in some kind of mask, knock out Roger to make things look good (which he has always wanted to do), and either knock out the teller or just intimidate him (since this is Joe, probably the latter) until he gets away with however much he can fit in a seabag.

It's not gonna take long for the Collinsport police to get there because they're like. two minutes away. so it's important that he hurts Roger pretty significantly, such that the teller is motivated to get him to the hospital before he calls the police. (again. Joe has dreamed of times like these). stash the money in Roger's trunk, and he can make it to the Evanses within a few minutes, who will supply a solid alibi that he was there with Maggie the whole night. Roger, when he comes to, will of course refuse medical care, and insist on driving himself back to Collinwood, where Patterson can question him at his convenience. By which time, one hopes, he'd have already put the money in some little secret compartment, and the worst thing he has to worry about is David finding it.

but that's all if this is pre-Barnabas. post? of course he's robbing a bank with his bestie Julia, who a) loves to do a little crime, b) has the most braincells of anyone, and c) has the powers of hypnosis and milf audacity on her side. the basic premise is the same, because they still don't want any extra witnesses if they can help it, but let Jules hypnotize the guy at the bank and they can both get away with significant chunks of money, with very little suspicion cast on either of them. It's still possible that Roger's car could be noticed, which is probably the most vulnerable spot in their getting suspected — it'd be pretty essential that Julia didn't erase his memory of their being there entirely, even let Roger make whatever withdrawal he was going to before the hypnosis, so that when he's questioned he remembers both of them making a normal visit and leaving.

12. This character suddenly finds themself on the titanic. Do they survive?

probably! first and foremost, Roger is basically indestructible. people have tried to kill him many times and he's emerged each time with a few scratches from things he definitely should have died from, or at least been severely injured by. and a Collins can't die from a sinking ship in the middle of the frozen ocean. please. it's in his genes. he's cursed to be a miserable maritime survivor.

but, more seriously: it's likely Roger would be a first class passenger, which means his odds of survival are much better, even if, on the whole, not many men survived. he's also, well. selfish. and entirely willing to make sure he gets on the lifeboat instead of a woman or child he doesn't know. he may not have any joie de vivre to speak of, but when the chips are down, he's preserving his own skin.

for the sake of hypothetical, I'm going to say that he didn't sail on his own, but went with the rest of his family. having David also increases his chances of survival, even if David would much rather just push him overboard, since parents with children held priority over childless adults. today, he is a loving father that cannot bear to be separated from his beloved son. tomorrow, who knows.

there's also the fact that Liz wouldn't let him drown. she'd pull him bodily out of the water if she had to. there's being willing to sell your brother for one corn chip; and then there's Liz facing the prospect of her baby brother, a Collins, dying a slow, miserable, awful death. so she'd do, or say, whatever she had to to get him in that boat with her and Carolyn and David, she wouldn't leave Roger behind.

[mbrainspaz]

Marvel comics have always had corny highs and low lows of storytelling but I've been bugged by the spate of leftist-coded villains lately. Every time there's this big fight going down and the villain starts proclaiming the evils of the System while the 'hero' beats them up it rubs me the wrong way. I try to put my gut feeling aside and allow myself to experience a different perspective, but even then these leftist villains come out soupy. Fascist perspectives make for soupy stories because they have to defend the indefensible. They don't have anything to say except 'rebel bad, status quo good.'

First one I noticed was the tech-themed girl from the Miles Morales Spider-Man line. Her whole villain schtick is that she lost the school raffle that Miles won, so even though she was a technopath or whatever, she ended up struggling because 'Society'. Girl same. But for some reason she decides that's his fault and tries to kill him while whining about the unfairness of the System. So like, she's right, but what's killing spider-man gonna solve? Every time she shows up I'm just like, ugh, this twit. Give me Electro just robbing a bank again for gods sakes. Make the goblin turn evil again for the 2000th time.

There was another one I can't remember right now but I'll come back and add them if I do.

Then today I was catching up on Ghost Spider and the villain, young incel Tarantula, is evil because he's a creep who... believes in vigilante justice? What? Gwen is like 'noooo ahah, I defend justice and law and order!' and tackles a random man with a gun who was, I guess, gonna shoot a cop in broad daylight on the steps of a govt building because *checks notes* Tarantula abducted a corrupt judge and is holding him hostage because the System wasn't doing anything to stop him. This is causing SOcial UnrEST. Cops and a New York mayor were doing nothing to stop a corrupt judge??? GASP, say it ain't so! Gwen stops in to chat with mayor Luke Cage and assure him that she's totally not gonna flip and... be a vigilante. On the next page we're reminded that she's literally a wanted criminal. I'm sure I'm not supposed to be on Tarantula's side here because he's a creep who's "sacrificing his morals in pursuit of justice"(????) but damn. Sure, killing people bad is a comic book hero staple, but it's usually totally fine for marvel vigilantes to kidnap and rough up a bad guy here and there. Really it's Gwen's fault for not doing anything about the corruption in the system on her own. Pretty sure I remember a comic where Cloak and Dagger hung a CEO off the side of his building, though maybe that was Spidey. He's definitely done that too.

It comes back to the same issue tech-girl had: His 'leftist values' don't align rationally with him also being a stalker incel type who came to New York and started working for his evil criminal dad (OG Tarantula), who he doesn't even seem to like. He also created an app to start social unrest? This is SOUP! Nonsense soup!

The whole incel bit where he's constantly teasing her about how much she actually likes him is major ick too, especially since she just keeps blushing and going 'I don't like youuu' like this is some kinda hetero supernatural pulp novel. I'm fine with him being a creep for the narrative but for gods sakes don't make Gwen fall for him. Even if they are planning a redemption arc for him I'm sure it'll be more soup. The writers must've felt it on some level because they tossed on another D list villain who shows up to interrupt Tarantula's shenanigans and make everyone go crazy with fear drugs. Tasteless thin soup.

[princess-of-the-corner]

ML Plot Points: Bengala

I said I might elaborate in another submission and immediately after that I thought of an entire plot, character arc, theme and conflict. Fuck it. 

The Tiger villain is a Spanish woman going by Bengala. Referencing both her animal (bengal tiger = tigre de bengala) and the flashy, bright nature of her powers (sparklers and flares are called “bengalas” in Spanish). She showed up two weeks after the S3 finale by robbing a bank. She knows how to power down her Clouts at will so she uses only the absolutely necessary amount of force and how to use the clout from any part of her body to propel herself. Judging by how she fights, she’s also an adult martial artist, both being able to use her powers more than once and knowing how to use them for maximum effect.

Personality-wise, Bengala is not just a lightning bruiser, she’s also smart. Whenever Ladybug uses Lucky Charm, Bengala figures out the plan she’s going to try and takes steps to ensure she cannot be taken down with it. The second she sees Viperion she makes sure to target him in unpredictable ways because with him she’s in trouble (she thinks the snake’s power is to see the future, but the point remains). She’s good at using psychological warfare to trip up the heroes to make them distracted and get in each other’s way to win a fight. 

Légalsatian and Pierre Pietrain both try to capture her and fail. The heroes try to capture her and fail. Shadowmoth throws akumas and sentimonsters at her and they fail. She seems unstoppable.

During her next episode, we learn more about her. She’s a second generation Spanish immigrant called Irene whose parents went to France for work. She has a job at the gym where Nora goes to as a personal trainer, but it doesn’t pay a whole lot. After their house burned down in an electrical fire last year, they’ve been having financial trouble because their insurance company screws them over. Then, because it wasn’t enough, her father got fired and scammed by some random prick who promised him to help sue his former workplace. Bengala and her parents are living in a crappy, tiny apartment with very few possessions. Her criminal activities are supposed to help with that.

Initially, her robberies are very quick and without spectacle. Go in, threaten the bank tellers, get a small but significant amount money, escape. The superpowers mean she doesn’t need to think very hard about it, only needing to make sure people cannot trace the money back to the banks, but she’s still careful and does as little damage as she can get away with. At least at first.

As time passes, as she defeats heroes and villains alike, she starts to get cocky and she starts to show off a lot more. It’s no longer about getting the money, but about proving she can do whatever she wants, whenever she wants. She starts attacking the heroes so she can get their miraculi, attacking the akumas to prove that she can, absolutely wipes the floor with the fighters the Order throw at her (I cannot bring myself to see the Order as competent or smart). It’s no longer about having enough, it’s about having more and beating the people who stand against her, both because of arrogance and because of the stress of having everyone. against her. In her civilian life, her parents notice the change and try to help her. At some point, she is handed an easy way out. A way to fix her financial problems and help her parents at very little cost, but she refuses because the solution isn’t one that she figured out. It isn’t enough. Her parents find out and are rightfully pissed.

In the mid-to-late season two parter, after she beats an akuma-sentimonster duo, the heroes decide to just throw every temporary holder at her, not at once, but spaced out. Every time she gets close to winning, another set of two to three heroes come in to fight her.  Beating them doesn’t work, distracting them doesn’t work, causing collateral damage on purpose to get them off her back doesn’t work. Eventually, she gets tired from fighting for so long and the transformation finally gives out. She is promptly arrested and even her parents think it’s the best outcome.

I originally picked the tiger miraculous for this because I wanted a miraculous that would be difficult to take from someone (a bracelet and four rings attached to each otters by chains are not easy to take from someone in the middle of a fight), but the more I thought about it the better it got.

Irene works as a foil to both Marinette and Gabriel.

To Marinette: 

Aesthetically, she contrasts in colour (red and black versus purple, gold and black), motifs (spots versus stripes) and size (small and lean vs big and bulky). Thematically, Marinette’s arc this season is about being a leader; knowing how and when to rely on people and knowing how to use their talents. Irene always works alone, breaks down her opponents to know how to beat them and is gradually pushing the few people who care about her aside.

To Gabriel:

Aesthetically, they are both large, imposing people who wear purple. Power-wise, Shadowmoth works from a distance relying on other people to do the dirty work whereas Bengala is a close range fighter who refuses to take help form other people. Backstory-wise, they are both trying to help their loved ones form a terrible situation and are willing to do whatever they have to. Bengala, however is more like canon S5 Gabriel in that her motives are not even remotely close to justyfing her actions. She’s a spiteful control freak who threw away a way to get what she wanted because she wanted to solve the problem herself. In the end, even the people she claimed to be doing this for think it’s better that she got taken down. Gabriel realises their similarities after the Sentibubbler incident (halfway through the season) and, seing where that path leads, refuses to sink that low again.

-

I LOVE HER.

[symphonic-scream]

So uh here's some Okujima slash Makoharu from my Chaos Arcana swap

They're were classmates back in middle school, not really friends but two quiet kids who'd spend time together. Little Makoto had the biggest baby gay crush on Haru, so she was hella awkward around her as well

In their first year both became very isolated due to Kamoshida's meddling. Haru wasn't getting close to people out of fear that he'd stay true to his word and use his info to destroy her dad's company, and everyone was avoiding Makoto to avoid similar rumours spreading about them

Makoto sees Haru as they pass in the halls over the years and. Just like with the other girls she knows Kamoshida is tricking, she wishes she could do something to put an end to it, to get rid of that hollow look in their eyes

And she does get her chance, when an odd, tall, thin boy comes to their school. People say he killed someone, that he robbed a bank, they say lots of things. But he wants to help, and is the first person to stand by her side

Now one thing about Makoto is she's smart. Very, very smart. However, all that goes down the drain when she gets all bullheaded towards what's right and makes the dumbest fucking decisions ever, throwing herself in the way of danger

Like when she hears a soft voice begging someone else to "stay away, no- no, please -" instinct takes over and she's sprinting down the halls, bursting into the PE faculty office and shoving Kamoshida into his own desk

For the first time, someone has come to Haru's aid, realized the hell she's been living in and come to smash a hole in the ceiling so she can crawl her way free. And sure, all three are going to be expelled over it, but- for the first time in years she doesn't feel like just a doll

Though. Neither Makoto or Yusuke want her to help them take him down. They're secretive about their methods, and is that a bird in Yusuke's bag?? Oh well. If they won't let her repay them then she'll follow them and force them to let her help

And so a Phantom Thief team is born. Haru- or Eros- is always super diligent about using healing spells on Makoto -Knight- just, walking up to her after a fight and laying a gentle hand on her arm or shoulder, giving her a soft little smile

And gay disaster Knight turns bright red, every time

They make a good team, even deciding to keep going after Kamoshida. There's more people they can save, more good they can bring into the world

(okay time to backtrack a little bit for a small intermission of Makoharu moments I have thought up that happen during the Kamoshida arc)

On rainy days, Makoto is often seen without her leather jacket, instead wearing a damp flannel shirt over her uniform shirt. At the same time, Haru can be found with said jacket draped over her shoulders or head, protecting her from the rain

Likewise, some days up on the roof, the two will be seen sharing a Bento. Some days Makoto would have neglected to bring lunch while avoiding her sister in the apartment, or Haru simply forgot while doing other tasks while her father was away

(anyways. Back on track. More under the break I worry about this one maybe getting too long)

Okay let's get Madarame up in this house! So this is when Futaba joins the group, and instead of being an artist, Madarame is like. A software developer or he claims to be one

Madarame Tech is unveiling a new ai help thing for their devices that they call "Wakaba". She is set to be unveiled at a local department store, and in the mean time they're showing off their new game console and PC line and shit. So like. Their mini E3 kinda

Futaba sees the gang on the subway and is caught taking photos of Haru- in reality she liked her aesthetic and was adding it to her folder of inspirations for like. Aesthetic lines for the tech shit I guess?? Idk. However she's a little shit and says she's interested in a. Different way.

This kick-starts that whole plot and starts making Makoto simmer. She doesn't want to see Haru get used again like before, so alarm bells are going off. Especially since she's accepted her feelings have resurfaced and has been trying (awkwardly) to make her move

Okay and then the "nude painting" scene. In exchange for not turning them in to the police right away for accusing Madarame, Futaba claims she wants to just. "touch some tits". Claims she wants to become a hero in her Discord server. I like to write Futaba as asexual so she's bluffing hard, thinking they won't say yes

She's mainly focused on Haru, who seems like she's going to agree in order to save the mission. And that's when Protective, Stupid Makoto steps in

Long story short Makoto and Futaba are playing "boob chicken" until Goro (bird boy) picks the lock and Madarame comes home and reveals yeah he's been using Futaba to finish her mom's programs that he killed her for haha whoops

Anyways they fall into the metaverse and they're about to see Futaba awaken as Python with her persona but first, gay

When Knight lands on the ground, Eros runs over to her. Shes been worrying the whole time, talking Yusuke's ear off about how she hopes Makoto is safe and doesn't have to actually do anything and shit- anyways she checks her over to make sure she's fine, calls her stupid for volunteering, Knight tries to defend her stupidity but oop-

Eros kisses her

...and kisses her again

Goro: are they seriously like, practically making out right now?

Yusuke: this is beautiful

Futaba: what the hell is happening

And bam they're gay from there. Makoto climbs through Haru's window some nights after sneaking out of her and Sae's apartment, ditches classes early to meet Haru at her class to go get lunch

Makoto is a little awkward always, but she's affectionate and making heart eyes always. Maybe a little handsy but she just. Shes feeling loved and loving so it can be excused. Haru also is not complaining so the only complaints are from Goro. And Futaba. And Hifumi. And Kasumi eventually.

When everyone goes to Hawaii, Makoto and Haru both volunteer to go on the trip as third years and are excited about sharing a room in Hawaii and spending time together

...yeah that doesn't happen. There's a room error and some teachers have to join student rooms and. Since Sae and Makoto are sisters. Sae joins her and Haru in their room.

So instead of a romantic getaway, Makoto has to share a hotel bed with her sister who steals the sheets and snores and keeps her up all night

But she and Haru do cuddle on the beach a bit. Throw a towel over an umbrella for a spell, allowing Makoto to catch up on her rest while holding her gf

And then of course the Sacrifice fake death bit. Emotions, angst, more kissing, classic stuff

Oh and for second semester Makoto has a whole crisis about realizing she wouldn't be able to get into college with Haru like she wanted to if she didn't clean up her act a little and starts wearing proper uniform. Her grades were still good so she has a chance

The day she gets her acceptance letter, the same day Haru gets hers, they open them together and they're so fucking excited cause they both got in, holy shit. They sign up to room together and man they're excited to share a dorm

Anyways yeah. Uhm. Them. Please ask me more about this I wanna talk more about this

[zorya-reads]

Chapter 12.

The Lost Princess

Context: Binah’s living her best life on holiday in her London penthouse, enjoying the peace and quiet, when suddenly Lottie FaceTimes her at the ungodly hour of the morning (Ellie would riot.), tasking her to just casually break into their school, so that Lottie doesn't need to wait a few weeks to watch Season 3 of 'Ancient-Drama: The Legacy'.

Homegirl living in Covent Garden in London couldn’t be more perfect.

HIII BINAHH, MY BELOVED.

Before the chapter: Why didn’t Binah go to Japan? With her Korean background, we really missed out on a cool figuring-out-family-secrets arc. It would’ve been interesting to see her in a setting where she doesn’t have all the info from excessive stalking. Plus, the potential for a Sayuri and Binah friendship and bonding over Japanese history books?? We were robbed.

NO WAY THEY HAVE A ROOF GARDEN?! SHE’S SO PERFECT.

I appreciate homegirl staying true and consistent to her colour scheme.

Ok but her getting up early and starting the day slow is such a vibe. That's how I wanna live. (And I want the Penthouse.)

PLANT MOM BINAH. This girl’s got more plants than a Kew Gardens display and chlorophyll running through her veins.

Binah seeing a call from Lottie and instantly saying, "Yeaaa, screw my plans today, whatever that girl wants will 100% wreck it." Mood.

AWWW THEM FACETIMING

BINAH BREAKING INTO ROSEWOOD HDHDHSHDJS — Same energie as first-year Hermione breaking 352782 rules, setting a teacher on fire, continuing to drug her peers to do identity theft, trapping a journalist in a jar and blackmailing them for a year, breaking into a bank … Yea, you get the idea. So, any guesses who Binah's idol might be?

And Binah being excited for it???

But let’s talk about how wild this quest is—like??? Realistically??? Rosewood is for princesses and elite kids: The security systems there are probably tighter than those one of The Tower of London. Even during summer. And Binah’s just like, "Nah, I'm cool, let’s go." Babe, you’re not Kaz Brekker, and this ain’t the Ice Tribunal. (Or Gringotts, for that sake.)

Lottie’s a rose, and Ellie’s a Rhiganthella Gardeneri, a rare orchid. As the god spoke.

... According to the German translation. This is so weird, omg: I wanted to look up that flower name, and when I checked the English PDF, it literally just says: “Ellie was more difficult, a western underground orchid that required digging through the ground to reveal its sweet fragrant flowers,” without mentioning the specific type of orchid at all. I appreciate the information in my copy, except that it wasn’t even spelled correctly, lol. This also makes me second-guess whether Binah was only an insufferable little shit in Undercover Princess in the German copy, where she used unnecessarily long words for no reason. (Which, in case you’re unaware like Binah, doesn’t make you persuasive, since no one can follow your argument.) I rest my case.

Anyway, here’s the flower that Binah thinks represents Ellie the most, in case you’re curious:

✧ Source: Wikipedia, Picture by Fred Hort with Colour Correction in Lightroom

✧ I recreated the Chapter / Binah in the Sims 4 lol

✧ Read All Chapter Reactions

Premise: I’m rereading the Rosewood Chronicles Series for the first time after years, so take my chaotic commentary with a grain of salt (or a whole salt shaker). Open to spoilers.

[kurt-wagner-official]

Post #112: UXM 228-229

The framing story for this issue is a letter Ali wrote to her friend O.Z. (maybe he was in her solo series? idk maybe I'll read that someday) back when the X-Men were in San Francisco. She talks about how Logan pushes her and is never satisfied, which pisses her off because a) she never wanted to be a superhero and b) she already was a solo hero. She doesn't see that those are the two reasons Logan does push her so much; he needs to know that her heart's in it and she can work with the team. When she sees a newspaper article that O.Z. is apparently now a werewolf murderer who was arrested in Florida she hops on a plane, refusing any help from her team. Logan follows her anyway, and as soon as the flight lands he finds someone mysterious tailing them. They search for clues and find O.Z.'s dog Cerberus hiding in his impounded truck. They then go break O.Z. out of jail when some assassins show up to kill him. He explains that he was chasing some drug dealer (he's a bounty hunter) with his dog, but the guy had some mutant bodyguard who took him down. The police arrested him and all the bite marks on the drug people from the dog made everyone think O.Z. was a werewolf, which seems like a stretch. Anyway, Logan says he recognizes the description of this mutant bodyguard and he's a Soviet spy, just before Henry Peter Gyrich shows up. He offers to drop charges against all three of them if Logan finds the Russian, who was an undercover agent working for Gyrich until he went rogue. The trio tracks him down, but in the battle Cerberus kills him. Gyrich gets mad but doesn't do anything, and everyone just leaves. We flash to the present to learn that this whole story was actually O.Z.'s flashback as he read Ali's letter in a bar and watched the news report the X-Men's death. This was a weird issue. The timeline and framing were unnecessarily confusing; I think Claremont wanted to do this story earlier but was prevented by the event schedule for Fall of the Mutants. Ali's arc in the book has been about accepting the team as her family, so this story flashes back to the middle of her personal journey, which is a little jarring and makes it fall a little flat. Also, the emotional core of the story only works if you read her solo series, but to be fair I can't blame Claremont for me not having read it. And if he was gonna do this flashback, it shouldn't have been the first issue post Fall, especially with how rushed the ending of the last issue was. That was a lot of complaints; I did like parts of this issue, especially the dynamic between Logan and Ali. The push and pull between them highlights both Logan's strengths and weaknesses as a leader. He understands what Ali needs and what the team needs from her, but he can't get that point across to her without pissing her off. It's why he makes a much better lieutenant than leader.

Our next issue opens in Singapore with an introduction for the book's newest villains, the Reavers. They're a gang of cyborgs who rob a bank and murder a whole buncha people. Claremont has shifted focus a few times in the last few years from one enemy group to another, and it's been an interesting progression. For a while, our biggest villains were Freedom Force, then the Marauders, and now the Reavers. We went from a government run team to a gang of psychos that were still following specific orders with loftier goals in mind and now to the Reavers, who have no greater purpose and just run around hedonistically stealing and murdering. The X-Men's world has been getting darker and more chaotic and their enemies reflect that. The Reavers are based in the Australian outback, where they've enslaved an aboriginal mutant named Gateway who creates portals and never talks. He sends them wherever they want on the planet, and in return they don't destroy his homeland and attack his people. They have a big violent party to celebrate all their new money, and begin to convert a woman they kidnapped into a Reaver by wiping her memory and giving her cyborg parts. But just then, the X-Men show up out of nowhere and attack. Seeing another person having their memory wiped and body tampered with sends Longshot into a rage we've never seen from him, throwing knives into people's eyes. The team, with Ororo back in full power and Peter in a new costume, which is just a speedo, make quick work of the Reavers, although a few escape. Logan and Anna want to execute the rest, but Roma shows up again to give the X-Men another gift- the Siege Perilous, an object that can rewrite someone's life to make them a whole new person. They offer the Reavers a choice between a rebirth or death, and they all choose to enter the Siege Perilous. Roma also fulfills their next request, to send the Reavers' prisoner (I still haven't learned her name) home. Roma tells them that if they ever want a happy ending, the Siege will give them one, and for as long as they choose this life, they'll be undetectable by cameras or magic, to help them keep being ghosts. And then she's gone, leaving the X-Men to their new home. This issue was... okay. I love the outback era, although unlike a lot of people I don't think it's near the best part of the Claremont run, but I don't love the way it starts. After a flashback issue, I was hoping this one would dive into the characters' thoughts on their death and rebirth as phantoms, and on Ororo and Peter's recent reclamations of their powers, but there was a short time jump and almost no inner monologuing. I do like the Reavers, but not as much as the Marauders, so I wish we could have held them off till after Inferno. But it was a solid establishing of the new status quo from an enemy's perspective; the X-Men show up out of nowhere and vanish as quickly as they came, leaving only the whispers of the victims they saved as proof of anything happening. It's very cool and myth-like without losing the ragtag feel of the post-Massacre stories.

[marvalouslynerdish]

this can be answered in different kinds of ways, firstly you're kinda right in how black hat and the trio would fall in the hero category but not in the sense that they are 'the heroes' but more they are the main characters and 'heroes' of the story. they are bad guys but in comparison to the heroes of that world they aren't as bad it seems. however we totally see how their antics in the show and in supplements of the shorts/orientation videos show us how bad they are in contrast to how we see them and even though the are evil they are an evil you want to root for because many of the other characters seem worse then the black hat org and the trio plus in some ways the trio don't seem as bad when you see how they act to them it's kinda like a job yes it's the job of villainy but they're having a good time and sure it's not always easy but it's just how it goes for any job. plus the villainous universe is big and while we've only seen heroes that are mostly selfish and villains that have goals they want to accomplish.

we've only seen so much and we do see how some villains are as 'bad' and heroes that aren't as 'evil' sure some characters backgrounds have some sketchy past like how metauro seems alright for a big bull guy since he's story is; 'former teacher that is an activist against animal abuse for bulls and was gored by a hundred bulls trying to stop a running of the bulls, and was hospitalized then discharged with his DNA altered by the incident and then he quit his job and his wife filed for divorce" he sounds like not a bad guy. . . until you find that's he's gravely injured over 400 people, with 33 casualties, robbed banks, maimed a matador and now he's in debt with BH org. for hiring them and because they have his family in their custody. i mean this could be like a backstory for a wrestler or something.

but that's just how the character was written for this universe by the crew and creator, that you can totally miss this stuff because not everything is revealed in villainous, it's like an incomplete story.

now on the heroes side we've seen two heroes in the series have different things about them. first there's El Valiente he only has a few moments with us in one episode but from the episode we see him not as bad as the other heroes, he seems like a genuinely ok guy that helps people by fighting bad guys and other hero stuff. plus he was nice to the trio despite them fighting him and he even prayed for them when they fought the actual 'bad guy' in the evil parasite mask that possessed him. it's not much to fully jugde who he is but we ssee that he has good qualities. speaking of; sunblast the hero has a whole character arc of development that changes him from arrogant showboating hero in it for fame and glory to a more okay person with some new perspective on things. we SEE how he his in the show but in the penumbra instagram posts and in the comic we see how he develops more, he goes from bully captive (since he's tiny now) to begrudgingly working with penumbra in hopes of growing full size again and go back to being a hero to empathizing with her being nice to her, comforting her and then to full on rescuing her from heed's control and having an epiphany on how much of a mean person he was to her and didn't want to fight her even if she was under mind hypnosis. it shows how the characters in villainous aren't as one side-ed and might have some hopes for them.

i know i'm rambling a lot and maybe i might miss a bit of the point i'm trying to make but whatever. again you just have to look at this like how people create characters, settings, story and etc. in any form of media and how those characters are presented to we the audience, after all you can't sell something on character alone you got to have a foundation for that character to stand on for they're environment.

and for villainous; it's an animated show where we follow and root for villains because that's the premise that alan made for people to be entertained by, that's the show's foundation we root for bad guys because the bad guys are our 'heroes' in the show. whew i'm gonna stop here cause i'm feeling tired and stuff i don't want to ramble till i'm sleep drunk on the subject. if there's anything to discuss further then i'm open for discussion bye now sorry for the ted talk.

Question. If heroes who are only doing hero work for the sake of getting something and not actuallycaring for human life are bad people. Then wouldn’t that make black hat and his organization the good guys?

Like yeah, I get they still do bad things but they technically would fall on to the hero category right?

I mean from what we’ve been shown a lot of heroes are not iof people and don’t care to really help their fellow man. They just want money or to look good publicly and imagine if that were Superman and Batman. Idk, my mind is just rambling while watching the show again.

[whats-9plus10]

Here’s a top 10 list of my favorite Gary moments based on absolutely nothing but my personal opinions.

10. Gary’s haircut

Move over Zuko. Gary’s character development hasn’t finished yet. I feel like this signified a whole new chapter for him that we were supposed to see in season 8, but now will hopefully get to see in the movie. Also he looks so good with his little slut strands.

9. Grippy socks Gary

Gary helping Hank and Dermott was cute. That’s it. It was so damn cute. It was the trio I didn’t know I needed until it happened. Gary was creeping around the compound looking for an adventure, and unlike Al who got roped into Hank’s nonsense, Gary encouraged it. He provided the intel, made the plan, and probably drove them to the bank. Gary crafting was adorable and he looks so good in scrubs. This is an underrated Gary episode.

I also found it interesting that he continued to call himself Viceroy after cutting ties with the Monarch. I guess following a man dressed as a butterfly since in middle school does things to the developing adolescent brain. Gary was still seeing butterflies, literally (although to be fair, those ink blots do look like butterflies).

8. Hero with a number

The original Captain Sunshine has Gary pegged. I don’t know if I would go so far to call him a “hero”, but he is one of the most genuine characters on the show and the people around him respond to that. He made an impression on Shore Leave that later made way for him to join S.P.H.I.N.X. After his iconic fight with Brock, Brock didn’t walk away. He sat down next to him and waited at least long enough to light up a smoke until Gary woke up. Then they worked together to defeat a common enemy. Gary must’ve made a good enough impression on Hank so that he could later appeal to Enrico Matassa to save the Monarch from being shot in season 7. And after robbing Hatred blind for years, Hatred ended up bonding with Gary. Even if it was just for a moment. He’s the nice guy Dean wishes he was. Side note - Gary in only a loincloth and mask keeps me up at night. Why doesn’t this man have more bitches? How has RUSTY seen more action than Gary. I’ll volunteer guys don’t worry I’m on it.

7. Suiting up

Please see my meow meow edit.

But seriously how does Gary just know everything? He knew about Enzo’s, he knew about Teddy at Dunwitch, he made it his job to know what’s good and he’s good at it. What’s more impressive than his physical glow up is how loyal and competent he’s become. He’s a guy that will it handle it. How? He’ll just handle it don’t worry about it.

6. Kano

Amazing. Phenomenal. A masterpiece. Gary as Kano was setting boundaries. He was addressing his trauma. He was competent and cool and he looked so damn good. And most importantly, IT WAS HIS IDEA! The Monarch didn’t want to dress up as his dead dad. Monarch wanted to do the same old “I’ll get you Dr. Venture” schtick. Gary came up with the idea to be bad guys dressed as good guys so they can kill bad guys so they can arch a good guy. Are you following along? Because Gary sure is.

5. S.P.H.I.N.X

God I wanted this to work out for him. This phase highlighted Gary’s main motivation. It’s not to be a hero or a villain, he just wants to be a part of something. His conversation with Hatred at the end of season 5 touches on that. When he was 1/2 of a nameless duo that was good enough for him. Being a leader after 24 died didn’t seem to satisfy him. He pursued a relationship with Dr. Mrs. but was rejected. He tried to follow Brock to the OSI but wasn’t accepted. He tried rebuilding a new team but was betrayed. I don’t know if he knew going back to the Monarch was the right choice, but it ended up being what he needed. The Monarch needed a new number 2 and Gary needed a new best friend. This all led up to his speech in his last scene during the last episode of season 7, which makes me appreciate this arc even more. 

4. Gary breaks the 4th wall

21 and 24 aren’t “invulnerable” despite what the Monarch thought. There are many instances in the show that shows exactly how these two idiots survived. They know the game. Gary reads the comics and watches the movies and plays the video games. And unlike Henchman 1, he can see a cliché coming. He’s a henchman and he knows exactly what that means, and it’s not worth dying for. He’s not the main character, he knows the good guys always win, so he hauls his ass out of whatever situation he’s in and hides so he can live another day. He can practically see the plot unfolding before him. He was competent long before his transformation whether he wanted to admit it or not. That’s why he didn’t buckle his seatbelt.

3. Gary climbs the Rocky Steps

I think we all agree that Gary’s transformation was one of the best developments in the show. He loved and he lost. Then he took a hard look in the mirror and decided to change. Season 4 Gary was motivated by grief. But what I love about him is that it didn’t turn him into a mean, cruel, jaded guy. He got dieseled and went back to the cocoon to make it a better place for himself and for all the other henchman. This was the ultimate taking of responsibility. Something we hadn’t seen in most of the other characters at the time.

2. Gary drives Dr. Girlfriend back to the cocoon.

I know what you’re thinking. Why did op put this random ass scene in the top 3? Because this is when Gary became my favorite character. I don’t care that he fought Brock (I still think it was awesome). I don’t care that he became General 21. When he was babbling about spin art to someone who could not care less, but he was just exited and thought it was cool, and I know he thought going from talking about their failed attempt to paint the car to spin art made sense in his head. It made sense to me. I remember being a kid and seeing this scene and realizing that whoever made this cartoon really understood me. That’s why he was so distraught when 24 sided with Killinger and devastated when he died. When you’re like that, it feels like nobody understands you and everybody thinks you’re weird. It took me forever to realize that a lot of people react similarly to Dr. Girlfriend, annoyed. So you learn to turn that side of you off. Gary didn’t have to do that because he had 24. And even though he had his glow up, that side of him remained intact. It’s one of the best aspects of his character. 

Also because I would play with my Cra-Z-Art spin art toy for hours it’s such a strange specific memory that this scene unlocked for me.

And finally….

1. You already know

Gary in sweatpants sent me through a second puberty. That’s it.

There are so many other moments that deserve to be in my top 10. Gary’s fight with Brock, Gary suiting up after the Monarch’s jail break, that moment at 15 where he just decided to stay with a guy that kidnapped him and work for him for the rest of his life. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I think Gary has one of the best written character arcs ever. I hope we get to see more of him one day. Everyone please support the movie when it comes out.

[sirjuggles]

Worm Reading - Part 3, Arc 3 Agitation

This naming convention seems a little repetitive but I assume at some point I'm going to post an update that doesn't coincide with the same Arc number and then I'll be glad I did it this way to keep track.

Notes I took along the way while reading Arc 3 (this one got long sorry):

I forgot to mention last time, but Rachel's dogs are all Good Puppers who listen to their momma and I hope nothing bad happens to them! (something bad will almost assuredly happen to them and I'm gonna be unhappy about it when it does)

I keep forgetting the Undersiders are just high school kids. Gah reading YA fiction is weird beyond a certain point, because I remember when I felt like "yeah it makes sense for kids this age to be having adventures" but now I'm at the point of like "When I was five years older than you I still lived with my parents and borrowed the car when I needed to go somewhere, you are a child what are you doing robbing banks??" (that's more an issue of lived experience on my part but still)

Taylor keeps talking about "oh this is just an undercover operation I'm not really a member of this team of villains" girl you are PLANNING A HEIST ROBBERY. You spoke to one of the big superheroes once and he was a little skeptical on how you looked like a bad guy. The Good Guys do not think you are a Good Guy, and nothing you have done would convince them convince them otherwise!

Ooh ok we get some info on the Protectorate Youth League. Aegis seems basic, though tough to deal with in a hand-to-hand fight. Clockblocker is MUCH more interesting, because I firmly believe any time shenanigans can be broken with the right application. Vista is a reality warper, and even worse a YOUNG reality warper, so the potential for horrifying power is there. Kid Win is a nerd on a flying skateboard, I hope he has dumb 90's catchphrases. I'm actually really curious about Gallant, he's got a relationship with Glory Girl who we already saw is not to be trifled with, plus emotion-manipulating blasts are a great story mechanic for adding chaos. Shadow Stalker VS. Grue nemesis showdown I am totally here for it! I already kinda don't like Brian so I hope she's super catty and causes him a ton of trouble.

Worldbuilding tidbit! Manton Effect! So most powers aren't able to affect living beings, unless it's a power that specifically affects living beings? That seems... arbitrary. That does remind me of a question I had earlier about Alec's power, and how delicate his control over it is. So far he doesn't seem interested in things like practice, but I wonder if given practice he could, say, control people's fingers with enough precision to make them type out a message? Or, more to the point, if he could send a nerve signal to send someone's heart into a lethal rhythm or trigger a seizure?

Have I mentioned I don't like Brian? It was implied that he's abusive towards Rachel, and beyond that he's just got an all-too-familiar energy of "I know you want me to like you" and he is smart enough to use it to manipulate the people around him. When Alec was training with him, Alec pointed out that the example Brian was referencing didn't happen the way he said it did, and he just brushed it off. He seems to be in the habit of reinterpreting events the way he wants them to be, in a way that is often referred to as gaslighting (though isn't technically in line with the original usage of that term).

Oh Taylor talking to her dad before going out for the night was heartbreaking. God this is so hard for both of them, but that conversation was actually kind of a step in the right direction? Shame it had to be brought about because it's actually a cover story for this whole new bunch of dangerous trust-violating stuff that's probably about to blow up in her face.

OH SNAP SHE'S MEETING ARMSMASTER I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING

#ArmsmasterWasRight

Hm who are the two murderers on the team? I seem to remember Rachel basically blew up her foster home when she bailed, so that wouldn't surprise me. It could honestly be any of the other three... I think Lisa has the bloodthirsty streak but I don't think she's physical enough. I don't like Brian and I could see him killing someone in the dark. Honestly though I suspect it's Alec! He's been noted to have a sadistic streak about using his power, and we haven't actually seen him in action.

God Taylor's gotta come up with a better cape name than Bug. It's so bad.

Holy jeez I cannot overstate how horrific what she just did to Clockblocker is. Bugs under eyelids and in nose arghhhhh no no no no no.

Whole fight scene is great, I will refrain from commenting on every bit.

Yeah I definitely still love Tattletale. Her work on the GG sisters was beautiful.

Interlude 3 - Wards: Hahaha after all that chaos nice to see that the corporate heroes don't just get to brush off all the property damage they caused.

Huh. Aegis actually seems cooler than I thought. His power basically makes him an invincible punching bag, but he seems to do a pretty reasonable job of making leadership calls for the team and also brushing off holes in his lungs and detached retinas.

Hm. There's some of the stuff around the weight of obligation on Panacea that I was expecting. Yeah. That sucks and there's not a good answer.

I keep going back and forth on Gallant. I see him as sort of a Bruce Wayne rich handsome playboy who's also a superhero. Except he's ALSO got awesome emotion-reading powers. He was a little awkward with Panacea, but I can't decide if he's trying to flirt with her or just trying to be kind. Feels like he's got a bigger role to play here, but I'm not yet sure in what capacity.

Side note, I do sorta love the implication that there's this big fancy high school where all these superpowered kids go on the other side of town from what we've seen so far. I bet there's fanfic out there of the social scene drama that goes on at that school that we just don't see in Worm. What would life have been like if Taylor had been able to transfer over there to get away from her bullies? Might she have fallen in with the Wards? This all could have gone so different....

[dalekofchaos]

It wasn’t all Micah’s fault, Dutch is as much to blame.

A lot of people seem to think that Micah being the rat is what led to the fall of the Van der Linde gang. While it’s true that Micah is partly to blame. But Micah would not have an opportunity if it were not for Dutch’s vanity and pride.

Dutch is the classic delusional leader seen in many stories, novels. His fantasies become more real with each day, battle and somehow they think fortune is right around the corner. Like a gambler chasing the eternal big pot. No amount of money would ever be enough. It wasn't about money. It's was about the chase, the illusion of victory that never comes.

In Chapter 6 is when this all becomes more apparent. A switch went off in Dutch's mind, in Ch6. This wasn't the way HIS story was supposed to happen. Not to HIM. He's freaking Don Quixote, madman fighting knights in his mind and being a hero. It's fucking beautiful character writing and story arc for him.

Dutch has a discarded speech draft in horseshoe overlook that shows he’s always been a self-obsessed politician in context of the gang. He crosses out every line of humility and replaces it with narcissistic martyrdom, and avoids ever giving his audience a moment to question him or the path they’re on. He wants control over people so he can use them to realize his ambitions, and every book he reads in camp has a similar motif that explains why he thinks that way.

There are conversations between Lenny and Dutch, too. Lenny is not a fan of Evelyn Miller and tells Dutch why. Dutch is blind to the criticism. This speaks volumes about the two characters. This conversation made me realize that Dutch is used to peddling his philosophy to people who are not as well read as him; the moment he has to defend his ideas to someone more intelligent he gets defensive and angry. Because he isn't searching for a debate; he's searching for affirmation.

Everyone loves to paint Dutch and Hosea as the perfect partners and even ship them in a gay way. But Dutch doesn’t respect Hosea? Also Hosea was a happily married man. They're supposed to be partners, but he certainly doesn't treat him like one. He doesn't listen to him, he yells at him when he's doubting, coughing or in pain, and he makes him sleep on the cold, hard, dirty ground. He even openly ignores him in Colter, in front of the other men, and rides off when he tries to stop him from robbing Cornwall's train. I'm not saying they don't have a rich history or good moments, but it's a toxic relationship at best. Not exactly something worth praising. If you don't believe me, you can find unique dialogues as the game progresses, verifying he’s lost all faith in Dutch. To the point that he even starts telling other members to leave. Abigail, John, Arthur, Lenny, Tilly, Sadie -- he tells all of them to leave. During a dominoes game we played together he even said, "Maybe it's just me, but Dutch seems to be getting more and more unhinged." And as early as chapter one he told Arthur, "Try to stop Dutch getting all of you killed, because I'm about beginning to think he's finally lost his mind." There are also other conversations where Hosea’s disappointment with Dutch is far more blatant. He basically tells Arthur he’s been disillusioned for a while and wishes the gang would change, but when Arthur asks what they’d do instead of thieving, Hosea says, “I don’t know. I never knew. Guess I could never figure that out, neither.” By this point he’s just so dejected and defeatist because he knows Dutch won’t listen to him. He also goes on a whole tirade about how they’ve become “nothing but a bunch of killers”, which breaks his heart, and during a random campfire encounter he bares his soul and flat out tells the gang he no longer believes in Dutch’s “we’re above the law” philosophy. I feel like Dutch is glad Hosea was killed because the biggest doubter and thorn in his side was taken care of.

I mean this is what Hosea feels about the majority of Dutch’s plans

The moment John put his family as a priority, Dutch saw this as a threat and has been paranoid about John ever since. 

He tried to play the Grays, Braithewaites and Bronte  the same way he’s used Arthur, Hosea, John, Bill, Javier, and even his women like Molly, Susan and Annabelle. To Dutch, people are just set pieces in his life. He cares for them and wants them to love him, but it’s only because he’s a narcissist that needs their support to make himself stronger.

He never snapped or went crazy or turned. The Dutch that drowned Bronte is the same Dutch that had always been there. He was frustrated that he did not have the upper hand on somebody, that someone had played him the same way he plays others, and it’s probably the same reason he shot a girl in cold blood on the ferry and the same reason he shot the girl in the bank in rdr1. In that scene in rdr1, he said something like “you’re the master now John” before Dutch did what he did.

When Dutch isn’t in control, he rages against the world around him. Because as far as he’s concerned, he’s the smartest and most virtuous man around and anyone who opposes him is wrong. And anytime he loses or isn’t completely in control, somebody’s out to get him and play him like a fool. That’s why he turns on Arthur and John, and why Micah manipulates him so easily

Blackwater, going up against Cornwall, playing the inbred families and Bronte is what sealed the gang's fate.

Blackwater. If Dutch had just ignored the ferry job and let Hosea and Arthur handle their Blackwater real estate/tax scam, then they would have made it big with no one dying

If Dutch had just ignored the O'Driscolls and their train heist plans, then Cornwall would have went after Colm O'Driscoll while Dutch and the gang could have either went to Horseshoe without incident or gotten lost out West. Don’t forget it was Hosea who was against robbing that train back in chapter 1 that belonged to Leviticus Cornwall. It was after that robbery when he started sponsoring Pinkertons to find Dutch. If they stayed away from that train, they could’ve shaken off the Pinkertons easily. Hosea was right from the very start. Even before that he was saying that Blackwater robbery was a bad idea.

If Dutch or Hosea put their foot down and requested Herr Straus to stop loansharking desperate people or risk being banished from the gang, then maybe Arthur would still be alive

If they requested the aid of Trelwany to see if the rumor of Confederate gold is legit or not, then they could've realized playing one or the other family was a complete waste of time and not worth the effort.

The moment they got Jack from Bronte, they should have just left Lemoyne and never looked back.

The moment Arthur began helping the Wapiti tribe, he should have never went back to Dutch. Arthur, Charles, Sadie and John should have helped them and never looked back. John would’ve gotten Abigail and Jack out alive, while from some convincing from Arthur, Uncle and Susan would have helped Mary-Beth, Tilly and Pearson leave the gang. 

Even if everything turned out the way it did but Hosea, Lenny and Sean were alive, the gang would be split. Hosea, Susan, Lenny and Sean would have sided with Arthur. There would have been a chance that Hosea and Arthur could have talked sense into Dutch, but Dutch would not want to see that he fucked up royally and costed EVERYTHING, he would stand by the choices he made, even if it meant fighting his own brother and sons.

But no, Dutch needs to feel like this big and important leader. He needs one last take. It wasn't about money, it was wanting to prove that he won and just wanting to be the big man, like Evelyn Miller or all the outlaws that are romanticized. Micah saw him for what he was and was playing him like a fiddle and milking him for all he's worth. It was so easy for Micah to play Dutch and so easy for Arthur Hosea, Sean, Lenny, Susan, Davey, Mac and Jenny to die for the sake of Dutch proving that he is a winner and that he is right. It was never about getting lost out west or even the money or even Tahiti, it was about Dutch wanting to prove he is right and all the doubters are wrong.

Dutch Van der Linde’s pride and ego is what destroyed the gang. Even if Milton did not kill Hosea, there was no stopping Dutch’s path of self-destruction.

[bitch-for-a-rainbow]

Problems with Kara’s Reveal Part 1: Supergirl = Symbol

To be honest, I think the thing that bothers me most about Kara revealing herself as Supergirl to the world (beyond the nightmare of having put everyone around her in constant physical danger. I would hate to be her neighbor. What if someone plants a kryptonite bomb in her apartment? You don’t just tell all of your enemies where you sleep.) is that being “just Kara” kind of derails a fundamental principle of what Supergirl is and what she does. She isn’t just an alien who flies around fighting crime. Supergirl is a symbol. She’s more than a person: she’s an idea. She is a “beacon of hope”— the show’s own words. She’s steadfast in a way that a single person could never be. Supergirl always has to be more than the person wearing the cape, and Kara can’t always be that, nor does she want to be. 

Trust in Supergirl is very important— the show has had multiple arcs where public faith drops due to an imposter, red kryptonite, or some villain’s scheme. Every time that trust wavers, there are problems. For one, if the lack of trust is due to fear, it’s harder to help people who are more afraid of you than the gunman you’re trying to save them from. For another, if the lack of trust is due to doubts about Supergirl’s ability or a belief that she is vulnerable, THEY HAVE REPEATEDLY SHOWN IT CAUSES CRIME SPIKES. With Supergirl as an ever-present monolith, why bother trying to rob that bank, obviously she’s just going to catch you anyway. Think about the solar-flare episode in season 1, “Human for a day”. When Kara talked down those robbers she channeled her own ‘humanity’ for lack of a better word, but the whole reason she didn’t get shot and die is because the first words out of her mouth upon seeing the gun were “You know that won’t work on me!” and they did know that. They did know, from the moment she entered the building, that it was over. Supergirl was there. No point in resisting. 

Hearing about how Supergirl is just a person, Supergirl has all the same problems you do, and that she has people she’s dependent on removes some of that larger than life, monolithic status. It becomes easier to doubt in her ability. It’s much harder to trust a person with your life than it is to trust an idol. 

Besides, you’re more likely to rob the bank if you think Supergirl is busy with her day job. 

[nastyburger]

Is Freakshow/Circus Gothica/Control Freaks going to be a part of your reboot? And if that is the case, are there any differences compared to the series?

it is! i do want danny to have a sorta grim reaper type of vibe associated with him so i feel that episodes pretty integral to that lol.

i havent put too much thought into how i want the events to play out in that episode yet, but one change for sure is that freakshow doesnt know danny is a halfa. he just thinks danny is a ghost whose “gimmick” is appearing human/having a human disguise (so he has no qualms with actually kidnapping a human child to be in his circus lol he literally just doesnt know). he merely goes to amity because he heard rumors of an influx of ghost in the area and decides to go round up some extra performers, danny just so happens to be one of the ghosts that gets picked up.

(rest of post under cut because this ended up being long as hell lol)

freakshow is, however, manipulated into keeping danny’s secret identity after the fact despite not fully understanding it. ghosts in the nasty reboot abide by certain honor codes sorta preprogrammed into them from the moment they form. halfas are a little out of that jurisdiction and dont get that same preprogramming, but the ghosts generally agree that revealing danny’s secret is a no go.

a ghost’s death is a bit of a sore subject, you wouldnt talk about it in any way the ghost doesn’t want you to (which is usually not at all). danny’s secret identity technically falls under this umbrella, he doesnt want humans to know he’s (half) dead and still lives among them. therefore, don’t reveal to the humans that he’s dead and jeopardize his situation! its not quite the same as a ghost momentarily pretending to be human to fulfill something (like spectra or johnny), danny’s human identity is directly tied to his “death” and would be even more so if its revealed so its off limits. the situation is definitely a bit unfamiliar to the ghosts, and its something sorta more “learned” than the usual “i just know not to do this” instinct but they still do their best to up hold the honor code for danny!

freakshow doesnt have the same “ghost envy” as canon because i think thats dumb, but he does still want to play by ghost rules for one reason or another so danny telling him about this rule is more than enough to keep his mouth shut.

one last thing is how the control staff affects danny. danny in the nb boot has a lot of themes of “figuring himself out” in terms of both what it means to be a halfa (in that larger than life where his place is in the world if it isnt with either the living or the dead type thing) and who he is as a person (in the more down-to-earth he is literally an adolescent changing as a part of growing up type thing). one big recurring moral to this character arc is that NO ONE ELSE can tell danny what to be, he has to figure it out 100% on his own. he can have help, and he can have nudges, but it all has to come down to what he decides for himself and what he learns about it. he cant listen to his parent’s biases and what their theories for phantom and what he is, he cant listen to the ghost for what they think is best for his biology, hell he cant and shouldnt even listen to what vlad says about them being halfas most of the time because they have completely different experiences.

danny shouldnt be completely influenced by outside sources when figuring out who he wants or needs to be. the staff in this episode is basically just a very big obvious focus plot point in a very literal sense for this exact moral.

danny does sorta still have free will while being controlled by the staff, and i do mean a little beyond the usual “easier to break out of the spell” kind of thing. i believe monotype-on-phantom had an analysis similar to what im describing here, but basically danny is not a mindless zombie while controlled by the staff. he carries out orders and does freakshow’s bidding for sure, but he still has half a mind and probably carries out orders with more intelligence/thought than a ghost blindly following orders.

for example, freakshow could tell danny to rob a bank and he would do just that. but danny, without orders, would also try to hide his tracks, actually try to steal discreetly as to not get caught. something the other ghosts wouldnt think to do because they cant think! in canon, it seems that he even actually commands the other controlled ghosts in these robberies like a leader. its likely that he wasnt prompted to do this with a command, thats just his leftover free will allowing some of danny’s personality to shine through in the tasks. even though danny would obviously not rob a bank on his own accord, if he did, it would likely be exactly how he carried it out while controlled by the staff.

danny very much has leftover feelings after being controlled, he could vaguely remember making decisions and going through with them. some regrets, some satisfaction, its a whole mess of things intertwining with what he did want to do and what he didnt want but kinda did but also kinda didnt. its all about influence and how especially powerful it is when someone still impressionable is subjected to it like say, a fourteen year old child.