#identities both in-universe and out of it

[possessedmen]

The Spell of Desire

In the dim light of the evening, Ezra, a reserved art history major, returned to his university dorm room, his mind preoccupied with his unrequited feelings for his roommate, Brandon. Brandon was the epitome of a college jock—muscular, charismatic, and, to Ezra's knowledge, straight. Their shared living space was a constant reminder of what Ezra couldn't have.

As Ezra entered, he froze at the sight before him. There, sprawled on his bed, was Brandon, or so he thought, in all his naked glory. The room was silent except for the soft hum of the air conditioner, and Brandon's usual confident demeanor seemed replaced by a strange vulnerability.

"Brandon, what the hell?" Ezra managed, his voice a mix of shock and intrigue.

The man on the bed shifted, sitting up with a look of flustered confusion. "Hey, Ezra, uh, I was just... I thought I'd surprise you. You know, with a, um, prank. Yeah, a prank," he said, his voice not quite matching Brandon's usual deep timbre. It was higher, more nervous.

Ezra raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "A prank? Since when do you prank me by getting naked on my bed?"

"Well, you know, I've been feeling a bit adventurous lately. Wanted to spice things up around here. Plus, it's hot, and I thought, why not cool off a bit?" The faux-Brandon chuckled awkwardly, trying to mimic the easy laugh of the jock.

Ezra couldn't help but let his gaze linger over the body that was supposed to be Brandon's. There was something off, something not quite right in the way he moved, the way he spoke. "You're acting weird, Brandon. What's really going on?"

"Okay, okay, you got me. I'm not Brandon. I'm Theo. Theo from your literature class. I... I used this old spell book I found in the library. I swapped bodies with Brandon because I've been crushing on you for ages. I wanted to be close to you, to... to see if you felt the same."

Ezra's eyes widened, the pieces falling into place. "You swapped bodies with Brandon? With black magic?"

"Yes, I know it sounds crazy. I'm sorry, I'll reverse it, I just—"

"No, wait," Ezra said, stepping closer, his voice dropping to a husky whisper. "If you're going to be Brandon, let's make this believable. What would Brandon say now?"

Theo, still in shock, tried to think on his feet. "Uh, he'd probably say something like, 'Hey, roomie, you caught me. Now, what are you gonna do about it?'"

Ezra chuckled, "That's more like it." He began to unbutton his shirt, revealing his toned physique slowly, deliberately. "And what would Brandon do next?"

Theo swallowed hard, his borrowed body looking out of place with the expression of a shy nerd. "He'd probably... um, flex a bit, show off, right?" He awkwardly flexed one of Brandon's muscular arms.

"Close, but let's make it more... intimate," Ezra suggested, letting his shirt fall to the floor. He climbed onto the bed, his body close to Theo's, the heat between them palpable. "So, 'Brandon', what do you think of this?"

Theo's eyes followed Ezra's movements, his breathing quickening. "I... I think you look good, Ezra. Really good."

"Shh, just keep being Brandon," Ezra instructed, a playful smirk on his lips as he leaned in, capturing Theo's lips in a kiss that was both exploratory and demanding. After a moment, he pulled back slightly, "What would Brandon say if I kissed him like that?"

Theo, encouraged by Ezra's seduction, began to settle into Brandon's identity. "He'd probably say, 'Damn, Ezra, you're full of surprises. But I like 'em.'" His voice was gaining confidence, mimicking Brandon's casual arrogance.

Ezra laughed softly, his breath warm against Theo's skin. "And what would he do?"

Theo, now more playful, pulled Ezra closer, his hands finding his waist with a newfound boldness. "He'd pull you in like this, and say, 'You wanna play, roomie? Let's play.'"

Ezra let out a low moan, "Good. Now, what would Brandon want next?"

Theo, channeling Brandon's confident, friendly arrogance, whispered, "He'd want you to join him, to make this moment even more real." His voice was steady now, playful and teasing.

Ezra's eyes sparkled with desire. "Is that so? Well, let's not disappoint 'Brandon' then." With a fluid motion, Ezra undid his belt, letting his pants slide off, joining Theo on the bed fully. "What's next, 'Brandon'?"

Theo, feeling the heat of Ezra's body against his own, grinned, "He'd probably say, 'You're making this too easy, Ezra. But I like it.' And then maybe he'd..." Theo hesitated for a moment before continuing with a smirk, "He'd start kissing your neck, right?"

Ezra tilted his head back slightly, giving Theo access, his voice low and seductive, "Go on then, show me how 'Brandon' does it."

With a newfound confidence, Theo leaned in, his lips brushing against Ezra's neck, planting kisses that were firm and teasing, just as Brandon might do. He felt the thrill of embodying the jock's persona, the playful arrogance coming naturally now. "You like that, huh, Ezra?" Theo asked, his voice now a perfect mimic of Brandon's casual, cocky tone.

Ezra chuckled, his voice a soft moan, "Yeah, I do. What’s next Brandon?"

Theo's hands roamed over Ezra's back, pulling him closer with a confident grip. "I'd probably want to feel more of you, to make sure you're as into this as I am." His fingers traced the line of Ezra's spine with a deliberate slowness, savoring the reaction he elicited.

Ezra, feeling the shift in Theo's demeanor, whispered, "And what would you say if we went further?"

Theo, fully immersed in Brandon's identity, smirked, "Finally, took you long enough, man. Let's see what you've got." His tone was playful, almost challenging, as he watched Ezra's hands move to the blanket covering him.

Ezra smiled, his hands moving to pull the blanket away, revealing Theo fully. "Then let's not keep 'Brandon' waiting." As the blanket fell, Ezra took a moment to appreciate the view, his eyes dark with desire. "You look good, 'Brandon'. Really good."

"You know, Ezra, you've always been too fucking quiet for your own good," Theo said, his voice a low, teasing growl that was unmistakably Brandon's. "Let's see if we can make you scream tonight."

Ezra, his heart racing with anticipation, looked up at Theo with a mix of excitement and surrender. "Show me then, 'Brandon'."

Theo smirked, the cocky grin that was so characteristic of Brandon spreading across his face. He leaned down, his lips capturing Ezra's in a kiss that was commanding, leaving no room for doubt about who was in charge. His hands roamed over Ezra's body with purpose, guiding him to lie back on the bed.

With a fluid motion, Theo positioned himself above Ezra, his movements confident and assured. "You ready for this, roomie? 'Cause I'm gonna fuck you like you've never been fucked before," he said, his voice dripping with playful arrogance and a vulgar edge.

Ezra nodded, his breath hitching as he felt Theo's presence so close, so dominant. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Theo, now fully embracing the role of Brandon, didn't hesitate. He took Ezra's hands, pinning them gently above his head, his gaze intense. "Good, because I'm not holding back, you little slut," he whispered, his tone a mix of promise and challenge.

The room was filled with the soft sounds of their breathing, the rustle of sheets, and the low, appreciative moans from Ezra as Theo explored his body with a deliberate slowness, savoring each reaction. Theo's touch was firm, his movements those of someone who knew exactly what he wanted, and right now, what he wanted was Ezra.

As Theo prepared to take the lead, he maintained eye contact, ensuring Ezra was with him every step of the way. "You're gonna love this, Ezra," Theo said, his voice confident, as he positioned himself.

Ezra, caught in the throes of desire, could only nod, his body responding eagerly to Theo's dominance. The moment was charged with an electric intensity as Theo, embodying Brandon's assertiveness and vulgar charm, began to move with a rhythm that was both commanding and raw.

Their connection deepened with each thrust, each movement a testament to Theo's complete immersion into Brandon's identity. Ezra's moans grew louder, his hands gripping the sheets as Theo took him to heights of pleasure he hadn't known before.

"You like that, huh, you dirty boy?" Theo teased, his voice a husky whisper in Ezra's ear, maintaining the playful arrogance that had become his second nature. "Tell me how much you fucking love it."

"I... I love it," Ezra managed between gasps, his body arching into Theo's with every motion. "You act like him so well, Theo. You've made him so fucking edgy, and I love it."

As they reached the peak of their passion, Theo's confidence never wavered, his control over the situation absolute. The culmination of their encounter was explosive, leaving them both breathless and satisfied, as Theo came inside Ezra with a groan that was all Brandon's vulgar satisfaction.

In the quiet that followed, Ezra turned to Theo, his eyes soft with affection. "You know, if you could really stay as Brandon, I wouldn't mind at all. You could stay like this forever."

Theo chuckled, still in character, playing up the confusion with an ironic twist. "Stay as Brandon? What are you talking about, man? I am Brandon, you idiot. Always have been," he replied with a smirk, his tone playful yet convincing in its irony.

Then, as he lay there, still inside Ezra, Theo added with a mix of sincerity and vulgarity, "But you know what, Ezra? Your hole makes me crazy like no girl ever did. Fucking you, it's... it's something else, man."

Ezra laughed, the warmth of the moment enveloping them. "Right, 'Brandon', right. But seriously, you're incredible like this."

Theo, or 'Brandon', pulled Ezra closer, their bodies still intertwined. "Well, then, let's keep this going, roomie. Because I'm not going anywhere." And with that, they drifted into a contented sleep, the boundaries of their reality blurred by the magic of the night, the playful deception of identity, and the unique intimacy they had discovered.

[bloogers-boogers]

An AU where Lucifer and Adam fall in love after Lilith fled the garden yet went back to convince Adam to join them, in this universe, Lilith convinced Adam and he joined their revolution. Lucifer falls in love with Adam during their time planning, he tells Lilith and she understands. Eventually with time heaven finds out about this whole entire thing, including Adam and Lucifer's now growing relationship/ family. And lastly Lucifer is given a hard gut wrenching choice. To pick choosing to save Adam and their son instead of keeping his memories of falling in love with Adam. The consequences of chosing this option is that both Lucifer and Adam would forget their history together as if it never existed, the gain from this? Heaven doesn't have to get rid of Adam and Abel.

Eve basically raised Abel as her own without the knowledge that she did not birth him unlike Cain. Adam continues being the chosen one to father all humanity alongside Eve, his wife. And ends up growing resentful towards Abel thinking he was the result of Eve’s and Lucifer's affair as Abel looked and acted identical to Lucifer. Eve obviously denied everything but Adam was too blinded by rage and betrayal to believe her word for it. Eve knew Abel was Adam's but deep inside she felt no genuine connection to Abel like a mother would have to their child. But she loved Abel regardless.

And as for Lucifer, he has no knowledge of Abel being his son neither does he hold any feelings for Adam. He remembers nothing.

The moment Adam dies however, Lucifer regains his memories, immediately, his heart shattered into pieces. And also, he so desperately wants to reconnect with his son afterwards.

[malfiora]

Motherhood in WandaVision, Doctor Strange 2, & Agatha All Along

Many, many spoilers ahead

Summary

Starting with the obvious: Wanda creates her and Vision's twins, Billy and Tommy, entirely from her own imagination. After losing them when she takes the hex down, she embarks on a quest to bring them back to life, even if it means tapping into dark forces and killing anyone who stands in her way, as we see in Doctor Strange

During the events of WandaVision, Monica attempts to connect to Wanda, empathizing with her grief over Vision through her own loss of her mother Maria.

As an inverse of Wanda, America Chavez's mothers sacrificed themselves to save her, now making her an orphan as she dimension hops. Wanda initially tries to abduct America to use her powers, and America stops her by bringing her to an alternate universe in which the twins are afraid of her and call out to their timeline's version of Wanda.

Around this time, Billy's soul takes over William Kaplan's body, and while he doesn't remember anything else before that moment, he knows he needs to save his twin Tommy, whose soul is lost. He seeks Agatha to access The Road, which is rumored to grant any who completes it whatever they want. Along the way, Agatha learns who he is.

Billy rejects the idea that Wanda is his mother, claiming he already has a mom (implying William's mother), and Agatha plays along. Still, Billy's reality manipulation and Wiccan costume match Wanda's.

Not long before this, Alice Wu-Gulliver is able to break her family's curse and learns along the way that her rockstar mother's rendition of The Witch's Road ballad was actually a spell to keep Alice safe since her mother couldn't protect her from the curse.

At the end of Agatha All Along, we see that Agatha conceived of her son Nicholas Scratch by herself ("from scratch") but he was doomed to die young. She kills witches to feed him for as long as she can but Rio (Death) inevitably comes to him. It is Nicky's song that sparks the rumor of the Witch's Road, which Agatha uses to trick other witches to steal their power.

Agatha admits to Billy that she is afraid to face Nicky in the afterlife, and that he reminds her of Nicky. They walk off together to "go find Tommy."

Analysis

Grief (defined here as the response to the loss of a loved one characterized by sadness and/or anger and similar emotions) acts as a unifier and motivation. The mishandling of grief leads characters (Wanda, Agatha) to cause suffering to others and steal resources to protect or bring to life their loved ones. Both characters are redeemed by the empathy of another grieving character, usually a grieving child (Monica, Billy, America).

This manifests in grieving parent/grieving child relationships that then lend to a found family dynamic: Monica and Wanda, America and Wanda, Billy and Agatha. Despite Billy claiming that he doesn't see Wanda as his mother (most likely indicating that he sees William Kaplan's mother as his true parent), he still falls into this dynamic, first by default and then willingly.

Motherhood is also tied to sacrifice. On one hand, we have mother figures who sacrifice themselves to save or protect their children: Lorna dedicated her life to protecting Alice, America's mothers helped her escape their dying world, and even Maria can be seen as having sacrificed herself since she built up SWORD while dying thus enabling Monica's career path. On the other, we also have mothers forced to sacrifice their children: Wanda must release the twins as she lets down the hex, and Agatha eventually loses Nicky. This divide evenly splits the mothers who are seen as heroes and the mothers who are deemed villains.

And finally we have rejection. For some characters, this means rejection of their self; for others, it's a rejection of their mothers. For Billy, these are almost the same thing: he denies Wanda as his mother while also questioning his identity. This might be because Wanda has hurt many people and Billy didn't want to identify with that.

Alice initially rejects her mother's career and belief in The Road, believing that the obsession drove her mad. Upon learning the truth, she accepts everything, which empowers her to break her family's curse.

On the alternate Earth in Doctor Strange 2, Wanda's rampage is only stopped by her fear of rejection from her children.

And of course, Evanora rejected Agatha centuries ago, claiming that Agatha was born evil. This is most likely why Agatha acts like a villain: she was told from the beginning that that's all she is. We can see in her repeated pleas to her mother that she "can be good" that Agatha longed for her mother's acceptance, or at least to be spared her wrath, but she never got it. Interestingly, Agatha's parenting of Nicky is exactly the opposite. She cherishes her son, dotes on him, even refuses to get upset and comforts him when Nicky disobeys her.

In a nutshell, the MCU places motherhood along the continuum of heroism and villainy that is defined by what a character must sacrifice and how they handle their grief. While the depth of emotions surrounding this trope is a shortcut for creating accessibly deep characters, this still feels like a narrow view of femininity. This of course harkens back to Natasha Romanov's abominable character moment in which she claims to be a monster because she can't have children. If the definition of womanhood is the ability to have babies, and then the definition of motherhood is to die or lose, then the MCU is basically arguing that its women are disposable props. Based on how compelling the femme characters since WandaVision have been, this doesn't seem intentional, and in fairness non maternal femme characters (e.g. Rio, Lilia Calderu, Jen) are still given emotional depth and range and interesting arcs. So hopefully Marvel will continue to show motherhood as an aspect of life that can add depth to a character, and not an inevitability fraught with death for all women.

[a-fic-reviewer-757]

the cost of being a good dad:

by: Mawiiish | word count : 96,533 | AO3 | chapters: 10/10 | rating : Teen And Up Audiences

Summary:

Dick, Jason, Tim and Damian are all tired of watching Bruce struggle with the stress of trying to handle the newly formed Justice League. He needs an outlet, he needs to relax, he needs to get out of the house, he needs... he needs to start dating. And what he doesn't know won't hurt him, right?

--

“Excuse me, I don’t know who you think I am, but I think there’s been a mistake.”

“Bruce, right?” the guy says, albeit less confidently this time. He looks slightly concerned and if Bruce is not mistaken… a tad embarrassed. “Bruce Wayne? You look just like your pictures.”

“My pictures?” Something finally clicks in Bruce’s mind, and he takes a small step back and plasters a smile on his face as to not rouse suspicion. Stalker. “Ah, of course, I’m sorry but I’m late for an appointment.”

Tags :

superbat - Freeform l Online Dating l Catfishing l Blind Datebat boys wanting their dad to be happy l Flirting l Bickering l Bad Pick-Up Lines l the boys are menaces l Bruce Wayne is So Done l Bruce Wayne is tired l Clark Kent is being catfished l Misunderstandings l POV Multiple l Getting Together l Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence l Dialogue Heavy l there's a lot of bat family dynamics as wellI l Identity Porn l Identity Reveal l Angst with a Happy Ending l Hurt Bruce Wayne l emotional and physical Hurt Bruce Wayne l Jason Todd Feels l First Kiss l Bruce Wayne is Bad at Feelings

Review : 💜💜💜💜💜

Frankly, I have to say this is one of the funniest fics I've read in a while — what a way to start the year with a bang! Superbat is one of my favorite couples, but it's rare for me to find a fic where I truly enjoy how both characters are portrayed. This one nailed it. The story captures their nuances perfectly — Clark’s gentleness and kindness tempered by his immense alien strength, and Bruce’s struggles with self-image and paranoia. The balance between them felt authentic and compelling. The fic had its highs and it s even higher moments, and the ending didn’t feel forced at all, which is such a win in my books. The sequel is also fantastic, and I’m waiting with so much anticipation to see if the author writes more in this universe. I know I’d absolutely love it. With the recent surge in Superbat content, this is a fic I’d definitely recommend to any fan of the ship.

[yusuke-of-valla]

I don't remember exactly what I dreamt about but I did wake up very upset about shows that treat the secret identity part of being a superhero as a burden for their narrative that they have to speedrun getting rid of

[afterthelambs]

Shuake and Jundori are basically the same ship

List of similarities between Joker/Akechi and Junpei/Chidori:

Ship is between a chill guy and an assassin

Characters share the same persona affinity (Arsene and Loki both use curse, Hermes and Medea both use fire)

Assassin's outfit colors are mainly white and red (specifically akechi's robin hood outfit)

Assassin's persona may hurt them (Loki has call of chaos and Medea attacks Chidori)

Assassin deceives the chill guy into thinking they're normal to get info on the group he's part of

Assassin betrays and kidnaps the chill guy + separates him from his friend group because he's the leader (Junpei was lying about being the leader but Chidori believed it)

Friend group is only cordial with the assassin at best but doesn't wish harm on them

Chill guy is the only one who truly connects with the assassin

Assassin insists they dont care about the chill guy but deep down they do

While responsible for their own actions, the assassin is still being manipulated by someone close to them

Revealed that the assassin's abilities were being exploited by the families of both games' wealthy Empress Arcana (Okumura used Akechi via Shido to assassinate enemies, Kirijo group used Chidori as a child experiment)

In late November, the assassin has a 1-vs-many fight against the chill guy and his friends

After you beat the assassin, the ones manipulating them appear and reveal they're willing to discard the assassin for being weak

The manipulators threaten to shoot the chill guy instead

Assassin sacrifices themself for the chill guy during the shooting

Chill guy's greatest wish was to be with the assassin and losing them challenges their resolve to fight (Joker may or may not fold on 2/2 but Junpei gets his resolve back as part of the plot)

Toxic doomed trope

If Royal and Reload (because thats what I played):

14. Chill guy and assassin have a special attack (showtime and theurgy)

15. Assassin died permanently in the original version of the games, but they can be saved in future remakes (if you spent enough time with them and made the right choices in-game)

I think that's it? But if anyone points out more I will edit this and add them

[cabeswaterdrowned]

“Democracy’s a farce,” Ronan said, and Adam smirked, a private, small thing that was inherently exclusionary. An expression, in fact, that he could’ve very well learned from Ronan.”

Adam emulating rich boys he’s attracted to continues to go crazy

[warrior-of-storms]

they're menaces, they know that they're menaces, and they take pride in being menaces together.

Gwen can and will crash on Terry & Dana's couch when she's in the area, and her greatest joy in life is annoying old Bruce because she's not a Bat and he can't do anything about her. Gwen is like the sister Terry never had. They share like half a braincell whenever they're in the same place at the same time. Bruce is so done with them all of the time.

Somehow, Gwen's life is miserable enough that she considers visiting Terry in Gotham to be a vacation.

[tasticturbo]

[starculler]

Reverse Robins AU except the first kid Bruce collects is originally from the correct timeline/universe (physically and/or mentally, but either way having no way back home).

It's a tossup for me between having that first kid be Duke or Damian (both at once might be an interesting challenge!), but the results are the same:

A kid stuck in a world where they're the first sidekick with all the weight and responsibility and the learning curve that entails. Thinking they're alone until the one who came before them crash lands into their life, and then trying desperately not to let the version of this person they know best overshadow how they interact. Clinging desperately to a hard-won legacy while also having to re-invent themself from the ground up.

[notmyenergy]

how does Ateez lore also center on a character named MITO who wears an all-black cowboy fit

[fellhellion]

head in hands miles’s arc in spiderverse means so much to me. choosing to embody all that spiderman IS by earnestly trying to save those around him and rejecting the notion that he should simply lie down and let fate take its course....augh....

[rathayibacter]

thinking a lot about how IMMORTALITY squeezes a ton of meaning out of being a game. like, theoretically, you could get all the same themes and significance from watching all the footage once or twice, in order, all the way through. after all, that's kinda how previous game by the studio Her Story was: there was a full picture, and it was waiting for you to put all the pieces together so you could see it.

but IMMORTALITY's a bit different. the thing that you perceive to be the big mystery actually isn't that hard to solve, and is really just a couple stops to check off along your much longer journey of understanding. and so much of that is thanks to the specific mechanic of how you uncover new clips. you click on something in the shot, and you're brought to another shot with the same object, or a shot related to that object, or a shot thematically linked to that object. you're navigating via the Kuleshov Effect, and that means you're constantly, inevitably creating meaning through how you interact with the game.

like, super minor, non-spoiler-y example: there's a set of scenes connected by a cat. you see a cat in one scene and click on it, and you're taken to the rehearsal of a scene that will have that cat, but they aren't using the animal actor yet cuz it's just rehearsal. you're brought to the moment that an actress is leaning down and petting where the cat will be, at some point, later. it's a cute little move by the game designers, cuz yeah, these scenes are connected by that cat you clicked on, but not literally, only in the final product.

but then i clicked on the space where the cat would be, and it took me to another scene, once again with the actual cat. and isn't that funny. isn't that interesting. of course it makes sense in hindsight, right? we're traveling via cinematic language, and in rehearsal there's no difference between a cat and an empty bit of floor where the script tells you a cat will be. you gotta treat that empty space like there's a cat there, or else the whole thing falls apart.

this isn't a significant moment in the game. none of the three clips involved really matter that much. but like, at the same time, by connecting these three pretty empty filler scenes in this way, by taking you from a cat to a not-cat to a cat, and telling you that they're all equivalent, the game is making a pretty strong thematic declaration, one that would be completely absent if you'd just watched these three clips separately, in the parts of the movie that they belong in.

not every player is gonna read that deeply into this moment, just as i havent read this deeply into most of the other connections ive made in my so-far 12 and a half hours with the game. some folks will read something completely different into it (there's a pretty fun discussion you could have about it happening in 2 Of Everything specifically, playing into the mistaken identities plot via Schrödinger's cat). some players won't even find that connection at all! there's enough redundancy in everything here that nobody needs to find every possible point of interaction to finish or understand the game. and all that's kinda the beauty of it, right? there's a million ways to examine this text, to work your way through the enormous tower of information you're presented with, and every single one of those paths is gonna create unique meaning. they've taken the process of interpreting art and made it a game mechanic, without hamstringing the actual act of interpretation in the process. the game says "hey, in order to see everything, you're gonna have to make connections," but never forces your hand in what those connections have to be. it's absolutely fascinating.

[age-of-moonknight]

“Solve for X: Part 2 (of 3),” Strange Academy: Moon Knight (Vol. 1/2023), #1.

Writer: Carlos Hernandez; Penciler and Inker: Julian Shaw; Colorist: Edgar Delgado; Letterer: Clayton Cowles

[arolesbianism]

Beginners guide to my Jackie and Olivia universe thoughts except the handwriting might be kinda unreadable so idk figure it out

[qasian-tech-support]

Please ignore if I clicked the wrong blog to respond to.

But I also want new Megas and Protomen :(

RIGHT?!?!

I mean, yeah, the Megas also have their takes on Skullman's theme ("Cracked Skulls"; inspired by MM4) and Chill Penguin's theme ("Chill XMas"; inspired by MMX), and I guess there's also one based on Storm Eagle's theme ("Rougmer Storm"; MMX), but I haven't listened to that one yet.

Like, I get that they have a good story arc to cover the first 3 classic games, but it would be so cool if they explored some of the themes of the following games, y'know? Or flesh out the MMX or other series music! Or hell, pick and choose some Robot Masters and make a new narrative, or like literally anything, please, people are starving over here! And it's not like they aren't still active. Don't get me wrong, I love their Castlevania stuff under the Belmonts label, but it would be nice to get Mega Man content outside of just remixes/remasters of their existing songs. Plus, they're still doing concerts, so like the audience is there for it!

And as for the Protomen, I hope that they actually end up releasing Act III at some point. Having listened to The Fight, it makes me crave it to an unhealthy degree. I love the grimdark kinda take on Mega Man that focuses more on the role that humanity takes in all of the conflict. I feel like that angle gets extremely neglected in Mega Man media.

Idk, as a fan, it's just kinda frustrating how neglected mega man gets. Like, it feels like the rare times whenever we do get content, it focuses on the first three or four games (if we're lucky), and then it just dies off! Or goes dormant for a decade or more. The franchise has so much creative potential that just isn't realized and it's so sad!