#identity theft squad

[bihastuff]

If I had a nickel for every time my favorite Victorian boys stole someone's name, I'd have 3 nickels which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened 3 times

[moodyvoid]

The League of Villains get interrogated.

Cop: “So, you’re the leader of this operation, huh? Tell me about your crimes.”

Tomura: “You first, pig.”

—

Cop, hasn’t even spoken yet—

Twice: “OKAY. I confess! I’ll tell you everything. In kindergarten I stole my classmates erasers. They were shaped like fruit and I just wanted to see how they tasted—“

—

Cop: “I wanna know about the arson.”

Dabi: “Which one?”

Cop: “The one that happened on Tuesday.”

Dabi: “Oh, that one… Was that the gas station around like 8pm?“

Cop: “Yes. That one.”

Dabi: “Wasn’t me.”

Cop: “The fire was blue—“

Dabi, lighting a cigarette with a blue flame: “Could have been anyone.”

Cop: “You’re on the security footage igniting the flames!”

Video of Dabi starting the fire then flipping off the security camera plays.

Dabi: “Not sure who that handsome bastard is, but all this useless talking isn’t going to unburn that building.”

—

Twice: “In middle school, I snuck into an R-rated movie, but I got the wrong room and had to sit through an entire documentary about the origins of yodeling—“

Cop, absolutely bewildered.

—

Cop: “Tell me about the crimes.”

Toga: “The only crimes here are your tacky uniform, your lopsided mustache, and my wasted Saturday night.”

Cop, lightly touching his mustache: “Lopsided?”

—

Twice, now crying: “—and then, I offered to walk this old man’s dog for some extra cash. The dog got off the leash. I chased him for four blocks, but he was too fast. I switched the dog out for an identical one and took the money. The old man never noticed. I still think about that dog every day. I’m so sorry, Porkchop—”

Cop, now surrounded by several other cops all bewildered at Twice’s stories.

—

Cop: “Confess your—“

Mr. Compress, holding out a deck of cards: “Pick a card!”

Cop, picking a card: “Uhh… okay.”

Mr. Compress: “Memorize it and return it to the deck.”

Cop, slipping the card back into the deck.

Mr. Compress: “Now close your eyes and focus on your card.”

Cop, closing his eyes.

Mr. Compress: “Open your eyes!”

Cop, opening his eyes to see Mr. Compress holding a gun, his gun missing from its holster: “What the fu—“

Mr. Compress, holding up a card: “Is this your card?”

Cop, smiling: “Oh shit, it is!”

—

Twice: “I went to the self checkout aisle at the grocery store. I had a bag full of bell peppers and one jalapeño. I rang up the bell peppers, but I didn’t ring up the jalapeño. I felt so bad, I broke into the store to put it back—“

The entire station is sitting around listening like a children’s story time.

—

Cop: “Get to talking.”

Spinner: “…”

Cop: “We can do this all night, kid. I suggest saying something.”

Spinner: “Wanna know what my favorite video game is?”

The cop looks away for one second, looking back to see Spinner gone. There’s an open vent on the ceiling.

A second cop enters the room: “Hey, so that Spinner guy punched-out the sheriff, stole his squad car, and yelled Grand Theft Auto?”

—

Twice: “—and that’s everything. I feel a lot better…What were we here to talk about again?”

All the cops asleep.

Twice, standing up and tip-toeing out of the room.

[goldenraeofsun]

Stepping Back In

A headache pulses behind Bruce’s temples, and his lower back twinges every time he shifts in his supposedly lumbar-supporting office chair. He fractured three knuckles in his right hand fighting Killer Croc last night, so he fumbles with his left to grab the office phone on the right side of his desk. The move does his back zero favors.

Just as he brings the phone to his ear, the call goes dead.

Scowling, Bruce sets it back down. When he opens an urgent email from Lucius, the phone rings again. 

“You’ve reached Bruce Wayne,” he says distractedly as he brings it to his ear.

A few panicked breaths echo across the line. Foreboding trickles down Bruce’s spine.

A throat swallows. “Dad? I… need help.”

Bruce’s blood turns to ice in his veins as every nerve in his body comes alive. He rasps out, “Jason?”

Jason’s voice audibly shakes. “I’m at the GCPD. I get only one phone call, and –”

The line goes dead.

“Jason?” Bruce inhales a sharp breath. “Jason!”

Nothing. No word from his son. No signs of –

Bruce stands up so swiftly, his office chair violently bangs into the glass wall.

He storms out of the office, past his empty secretary’s desk, out on lunch. The elevator ride down to the ground floor is excruciating, and he can’t help the dozens of scenarios that flit through his mind as the numbers tick lower and lower. 

Jason’s Red Hood identity has been compromised.

Jason is getting shipped to Waller and her certifiable Suicide Squad. 

Jason is dying, again. Why else would he willingly call his estranged father?

Bruce all but runs to the garage, and races across Old Gotham to the GCPD headquarters. He blows through at least two yellow lights and one red. Five minutes later, he double-parks outside the building – let them tow him; it’s not like a car is worth more than his son – and hurries up the steps. 

He braces both hands on the welcome desk, glaring down at the receptionist. “Where is my son?”

The receptionist blinks up at him. “ Uh, I need an ID, sir.”

Incensed, Bruce snarls, “An ID –” but a new voice cuts him off.

“Mr. Wayne,” Detective Montoya steps forward. “Good, you’re here. Follow me.”

Bruce’s expression darkens. He doesn’t budge. “Where are you keeping Jason?”

Montoya sighs. “Let’s talk first.”

Bruce exhales a short breath of relief. At least they haven’t shipped Jason anywhere yet. Jason is still here; Jason is still in Gotham. Firmly, he tells Montoya, “I’m not going anywhere until you take me to him.”

Montoya crosses her arms over her chest. “I’m afraid there are a few things we need to talk about first, Mr. Wayne.”

“After I see my son,” Bruce corrects, straightening to his full height. He has nearly a foot on her. “I have so far extended the courtesy to the GCPD of coming without legal representation, given the urgency of the situation. However, I will –”

“Christ,” Montoya mutters under her breath. “Fucking billionaires.” She clears her throat. “He’s in Room 2.” She gestures him forward. “After you see him, we need to talk. Separately.”

“Fine.”

She casts him a probing look out of the corner of her eye as they skirt around the bullpen and head back to the hallway that leads to the temporarily holding cells and interrogation rooms. 

“What are his charges?” Bruce asks curtly. With Jason’s rap sheet – murder, manslaughter, wire fraud, theft, robbery, assault, aggravated assault – he could be looking at life in prison without the possibility of parole.

“Car theft,” Montoya says.

Car theft?

Bruce waits expectantly for more, but apparently that’s it. He turns to her, about to ask several follow up questions, but she’s already rapping her knuckles on the door to Interrogation Room 2.

“Your dad’s here,” she says as she cracks open the door, and Bruce can clearly see over her curls. Jason sits at the table. He doesn’t look small exactly, without his usual leather jacket, but he does look… diminished. He’s wearing a threadbare red tee shirt, stained jeans, and worn chuck taylors. His hands aren’t even handcuffed to the metal ring in the center.

What the hell is going on?

As Jason spots him standing on the threshold, Jason breaks out into a large grin, which does not help Bruce's confusion at all. But before he can demand Jason tell him exactly what he is up to, Montoya shuts the door and all but shoves him across the hallway to Interrogation Room 1.

Once they’re inside, she turns to him. “We’re running a DNA test. We already checked for traces of Clayface, but he’s 100% human.”

For once, Bruce doesn’t have to fake his surprise. They arrested… Jason Todd. Plain (albeit deceased) Jason Peter Todd.

Montoya runs her hand through her hair, her frustration clear. “This is why I didn’t want you to see him before we could verify his identity.”

“Oh,” is all Bruce can say.

“I didn’t want to get your hopes up,” she adds unnecessarily.

Bruce’s gruff exterior cracks, just a little. That was nice of her. “It’s alright, Detective.”

“I’m honestly surprised we haven’t had more scams like this,” she says, gesturing to the door where Jason sits just across the hall.

Bruce narrows his eyes. “And you’re sure it’s a scam?”

Montoya’s eyes soften. “Unfortunately, that’s how most of these cases go. They claim they were trafficked or have amnesia, which kept them away for so long. They’re always bogus. They’re scumbags looking to prey on a family’s grief and bank account.”

Bruce holds back his grimace. A year ago, he contacted five highly respected neurologists under a pseudonym. He asked them about the presenting symptoms of retrograde amnesia and hacked their files for a dozen case studies to send to Jason if he ever decided to reestablish his civilian identity.

Bruce also identified three federal judges with long histories of ruling favorably in family court cases involving improbable medical miracles. They might still be worthwhile to hold onto, depending on how Jason plays this.

Bruce inhales a shaky breath. “But he… looks like Jason,” he says, laying on the pleading tone a bit thick. “He sounds like my son.”

“He’s done his homework,” Montoya explains apologetically. “With all your time in the public eye, it makes you an easy target.”

“I want to speak with him.”

Montoya’s eyes widen in alarm. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“I need to look him in the eye,” Bruce says firmly. “If it is Jason –” he breaks off, swallowing.

Montoya purses her lips. “I really advise against that. You can’t give these conmen an inch. They’ll –”

“I need to speak to him, alone,” Bruce interrupts.

“Okay, no,” Montoya says quickly, “That’s possibly the worst thing you could do, Mr. Wayne.”

Bruce exhales a sharp breath. Enough of this. He’s getting nowhere stuck here in this room. “I’ll be the judge of that.” He pushes open the door and strides out into the hallway, ignoring Montoya’s muttered curses. He opens the door to Interrogation Room 2.

Jason’s head snaps up. “Dad?”

“We’re leaving.”

Jason blinks. “What? I – I don’t think we can do that?”

“Has he been charged with anything?” he turns back to Montoya. “What is the physical evidence against Jason?”

Montoya’s scowl deepens. “A witness placed him at the scene.”

Bruce throws her his most unimpressed look, one that would send Robin confessing to unfinished homework within fifteen seconds or less. “So,” he starts, “you only have him on circumstantial evidence, and the car wasn’t even stolen.” Damn it, he can almost feel Jason’s smirk at his back.

“Attempted theft is still a crime,” Montoya says coldly.

“Get up, Jason.”

Jason hops to his feet. It’s the fastest he’s obeyed an order from Bruce since he was fourteen years old.

“I’m taking my son home,” Bruce says. “My lawyers will call to settle this. If you need to contact Jason, you know where to find him.”

Jason actually shoots finger-guns at Montoya as they pass her on the way back to the bullpen.

Bruce just barely refrains from rolling his eyes.

* * *

Bruce inhales a sharp breath as Jason closes the door behind him. “What the hell was all that?” he asks, his voice even.

Jason levers the passenger seat back to a reclining position and lazily turns his head to face Bruce. “C’mon, that was fun.”

Bruce starts the engine and pulls out into the street. “What was the point? Other than to waste my time?”

Jason shrugs. He tries to prop his feet on the dash, but his legs are too long, so he nearly knees himself in the chin before he gives up.

Bruce coughs to hide his smile.

Jason scowls. “Shut up.” 

At the first red light, Bruce turns to him. “Why did you steal that car?”

Jason raises his eyebrows. “Pretty sure I didn’t steal anything.”

Bruce exhales a silent breath and prays to Alfred for patience. “Why did you make the GCPD think you were trying to steal a car?”

“Let’s chalk it to old time’s sake,” Jason says airily, but his eyes are calculating as he meets Bruce’s gaze.

Bruce blinks, and sitting across from him in the passenger seat is a twelve-year-old in equally ratty clothes, wearing the same calculating expression, terrified but doing everything he can not to show it to the man in the driver’s seat. A kid, starved for affection as well as just plain starving.

“Jason –” He breaks off as his phone rings. With a grimace, he roots around in his jacket pocket, mindful of his fractured knuckles. He scans the screen, Jeffrey Lobe. He takes the call and puts it on speaker.

“Mr. Wayne,” Jeffrey’s voice comes through, his typical annoyed tone dialed up to eleven.

“Jeff,” Bruce says, forcing his voice to stay light. “How’re you doing, old friend?”

“What’s this I hear about your son coming back from the dead and stealing a car, of all things?”

Jason hones in on the phone, his whole body tensing. “Who is this?” he mouths.

Bruce ignores the question. To Jeffrey, he says, “I was just going to tell you about that.”

“I’m sure,” Jeffrey says sardonically. “You know, it is good to keep your legal counsel abreast of developments like this.”

Jason blinks.

“I swear, you were my next call,” Bruce lies. “But you’ll take care of it, won’t you?”

“I’ll get the preliminary paperwork started on voiding his death certificate, but forgive me if I don’t rush to update your will,” Jeffrey says dryly.

“It can wait a week or two,” Bruce says, deliberately keeping his eyes on the road, “Jason isn’t going anywhere.” He doesn’t dare look in the direction of the passenger seat.

As far as Bruce is concerned, this is a good thing. If Jason didn’t want to come back from the dead, he shouldn’t have gotten himself fingerprinted and called Bruce Wayne’s office number from a GCPD phone. If Jason did want to come back – which Bruce strongly suspects is the case, since Jason isn’t stupid and wouldn’t get caught dead by the GCPD unless he was actually deceased (again) – then Bruce already has a plan in place.

“Bruce…” Jeffrey drifts off, “This is all highly unusual – it’s fucking crazy, if I’m being honest with you. This takes eccentric billionaire to a whole new level.”

Bruce sighs. “Jeffrey, it’s really my son. I don’t have the whole story yet, but he had amnesia of all things. He only remembered my name last week, and a big help that was, since he was stuck in Addis Ababa. I’ll of course be consulting with Dr. Vietti at Gotham University as well as Dr. Hou at Princeton to make sure it all checks out. But if you could track down a few more expert consultants, that would be a real help, Jeffrey. Who runs Gotham General’s psychology department? Dr. Page, right? Add her to the list too.”

Jason’s eyes are nearly bugging out of his head.

“Amnesia?” Jeffrey asks, his tone dripping with skepticism.

“Can you believe it?” Bruce says, suppressing a smile.

“Not really, but I know better than to argue with you after all these years.”

“You’re a stand up guy, Jeffrey.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Jeffrey grumbles. “Keep the compliments until you see my billables for this month. I’d better get going. I have my work cut out for me this week.”

“Call if you have any questions!” Bruce says cheerfully and hangs up before Jeffrey can splutter a response.

Jason breaks the silence first: “Where the hell did that come from?”

“Excuse me?”

“The amnesia? Addis Ababa?” Jason asks, his voice growing more frantic with each question. “All those fucking doctors? What the fuck are you playing at?”

Bruce merges onto Kane Bridge. Only when he slows with traffic does he turn to Jason. “Isn’t this what you wanted, the whole point of all this? To resume your civilian life?”

Jason gawks at him, his jaw hanging open.

“Isn’t it?” Bruce prompts. 

“Well, yeah! But,” Jason flails, “I was gonna go with a kidnapping gone wrong.”

“Five years ago?”

Jason scowls. “I was working on it.”

“We’ll go with amnesia,” Bruce says with finality. “You can read up on the recent case studies, and Dick and I can run mock trials to get you ready to display the right symptoms.”

“This is insane. You are insane,” Jason says, but his tone lacks any heat. “I can’t believe you thought of this in, like, an hour.”

Bruce snorts. “I’m good, Jason, but I’m not that good.” He wrestles with himself, but he eventually has to say, “I started contacting experts in neurological trauma a year ago to prepare for your case.”

Jason goes still. “A year?” he echoes blankly.

Bruce gives one stiff nod.

Jason’s eyes are wide. “Bruce…” he starts in a tone that Bruce hasn’t heard in years, certainly well before Jason’s trip to Ethiopia. The way he’s looking at him too, for once without anger or hate or spite, but with disbelieving awe - Bruce has to look away.

Eyes back on the road, he clears his throat. “Burgers.”

Jason starts. “What?”

“We should get burgers,” Bruce announces as he makes a u-turn that causes a cascade of honks from the traffic behind them. “For old time’s sake.”

Jason smiles, a real smile, not a sneer or smirk. “If I say yes, are you gonna eat it with a fork and knife?”

“Of course,” Bruce says as he steps on the gas. “I’m not a savage.”

A hundred kisses to @a-canceled-stamp for betaing this oneshot!

[astralfandoms]

"It's hero time, get ready to rumble!" "Don't get in the way of Rough and Tumble!"

So, I have a whole AU involving the Bad Guys squad and the villains in it, and we have a lot of thoughts and vibes about it, but we'll start off with Rough and Tumble!

First of all, they aren't actually. Evil.

Like, at all.

They're just really bad at being heroes to the point of being mistaken for being villains. Also they keep getting duped into villainy because they're not...the smartest people ever.

Second of all, the outfit explanations!

The first outfit is their default outfits, because the outfits that they had in their concept art slapped and I wanted to bring it back.

Second outfit is what I like to call "the identity theft arc" which is when the two were duped by Starline into pretending to be a couple of gods at the expense of having their (already terrible) reputations get worse.

Third outfit is when they're in prison pre-jailbreak in Bad Guys. It's just a pretty standard prison jumpsuit.

And finally we have the "uniforms" for when they worked for Starline in the Bad Guys arc! They both are much more casual about it then like. 90% of the group.

I like these two a lot and I have so many thoughts about them so :3

[boom-fanfic-a-latta]

I would like to hear about shadows of the past! The tags have intrigued me

Okay so the basic premise of the AU is as follows:

In TTYD Chapter 4, things start going awry once Mario has his identity stolen. After the fake-out ending (and in a scenario that's now BEEN MADE POSSIBLE IN THE REMAKE) Mario ends up losing his first post-theft encounter with the thief/imposter.

Due to being...a nameless shadow, he's fading away due to nobody knowing he actually exists (aside from the thief but that feels like an acceptable exception due to THEM BEING THE IDENTITY THIEF).

However, luckily for Mario, Vivian ends up finding him before he can completely fade away--but he's faded away ENOUGH that he's basically got amnesia.

Thus, now unaware that he's been identity thefted, things go off the rails. Especially because our thief ASSUMES that Mario's faded away completely, thus has no reason to stick around in town.

So Vivian decides to help out the "amnesiac" Mario, as well as a pair of adventurers that the two run into in Twilight Town proper--two OCs of mine, Toadara the Treasure Tracking Toad (based on the Purple Captain Toad co-op pallet swap), and Logan the sentient Tattle Log.

And so while the identity thief is playing out TTYD...fairly normally? In the background, our squad is going around trying to figure out how to help "Shade" remember who he used to be, uncovering a couple random bits of info along the way--like a name they don't know what to use for, overheard from a parrot in Creepy Steeple.

But so, after [insert undefined shenanigans here], they end up in the game's finale, which...might not be going the way it's supposed to.

TLDR: TTYD Chapter 4 but Mario gets Memory Loss after being Identity Thefted, and ends up teaming up with Vivian to try and find out who he is. The two also end up recruiting a pair of Captain Toad OCs of mine. This causes the rest of the game to go a little off the rails.

[slocumjoe]

If Sole wasn't around, who do you think each companion would hook up with? (If anyone)

Since all of them meet through Sole, we're just going to keep that funky guy around...maybe they go moon over Edward Deegan, like a civilized person of taste and class

Cait; i could see her ending up with anyone, but I can't see her ending up happy with most of them. Honestly, I think her best bet would be Piper, maybe Preston. Preston, she'd have to have a lot of character development for...shake off some of her more raider-y traits. As for Piper, that's more her speed, and I think Cait would do well, having Nat around, getting to be Auntie Cait. Piper is more of a troublemaker and spitfire, and I think Cait could easily get bored with Preston. Happy, yes, but Cait gets a little stir crazy, not getting into trouble.

Curie; I fucking love Mac x Curie, I'll admit...but I'm not sure she'd, in text, care much for him. I also really like Curie x Danse, both are very cute to me. I think I like Danse x Curie more, as they're both scientifically minded, care very much about history and preservation of it, and big scary man who loves his small and sweet wife who's actually the weird, unsettling one is top tier.

Danse; Again, I can see him with Curie...and again, Preston as well. I've said before that Danse is very adaptable, romantically, so really, you could make a case for any of the other companions?? Some would absolutely be harder than others, and Gage is an outright fuck no, period. Gage is a fuck no for literally everyone here, spoilers. But Danse...as long as you've got some morals, and will be nice to him, you've got a chance. Low bar? Yeah. Yeah it is.

Deacon; Deacon can't even be romanced by fucking Sole. Bitch needs a crowbar to open up. But...if you have a taste for romantic black comedies...X6 x Deacon is fucking hilarious. Is it possible? No. Not even an inch. But that's not the point. The point is I like it and it's funny. As for what Deacon could actually land? Uh...no one? He's a known liar, he's closed off as shit, and he's prone to identity theft. I think the only one that stands a chance is Nick, but would Nick put up with it enough to fall in love?? Idfk.

Gage; No one. Not even X6. I've seen people say Cait, and I have to ask, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU? CAIT WAS A SLAVE. GAGE IS A SLAVER. I LOVE HIM TO BITS BUT HE VERY MUCH IS A SLAVER THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE

Hancock; I kinda like MacCock but Valencock is also pretty good...honestly, Hancock has never struck me as a...romance kinda guy? Like, I get why he's romancable, but...I always felt like he'd be better with a bunch of casual romantic relationships, rather than one super serious one. But, I can see Hancock getting with Nick, Mac, and for a very fun wildcard, that I love for being a shitshow, Danse. Yes. Yes I just supported DanseCock. Its FUNNY AND QUESTIONABLE. OF COURSE I LIKE IT.

MacCready; So, Curie and Hancock I've already said, but if I didn't think Piper was a lesbian, I'd say her. What? They both got kids, both like candy, both have similar values and methods of getting around...but they'd butt heads a lot. A very bickery couple. But MacCock is also cute, though I think they'd have a lot of Very Real Issues. Curie, less so, because Curie is better at communication and doesn't do things Mac is Very Not Okay With. Though, he'd have some shit to stop doing for both MacCurie and MacCock, ei, stealing and murder, etc.

Nick; VALONGFELLOW SQUAD LETS GOOOO. But honestly, no one. Maybe Codsworth. I say Hancock, but pretty unlikely. Nick is a Confirmed Bachelor, man. Thats just how the cookie crumbles. UNLESS YOU GET ANOTHER OLD MYSTERIOUS DEAD WIFE MAN LETS GOOOO

Piper; If not Cait, Ellie, maybe? I always struggle to look at Piper beyond my Very Famous Issues With Her. It's just, Piper is lesbain to me. There are Two Other Girls. Curie is an...okay option? I think Piper would seriously butt heads with Curie in a relationship, though I can't put my finger on why exactly...on the other hand, Piper has genuine chemistry with Cait. Honestly, I don't put much stocks into canon x canon ships, anymore, I prefer the found family thing. Piper really showed that for me, thinking about this, because I don't really go crazy for her with anyone? It doesn't help she's got one option.

Preston; I've said he had a hoe phase and boy howdy, could Preston pull any of these bitches if he put his mind to it. But who would he want to pull? Not Curie, too naive and optimistic. Not MacCready, used to be a Gunner and acts like it. Cait, he wouldn't like her that way, as we know her. Again, personal growth needed there. Gonna have to say Danse as a flat, completely possible possibility. For a non-companion, Sturges. Obvi.

X6-88; I liked Curie x X6 for a time until DeacX6 revealed itself to me in a fever. But neither of these are based in reality. So, much like Gage, no one. Maybe they can hang out as bachelors and make fun of people together, idk. Bromance.

[eretzyisrael]

by Meghan Blonder

The head of the New York City public school system testified to Congress that he recognizes the "urgency of addressing" and "rooting out" anti-Semitism. Just weeks prior, he held an event alongside an anti-Semitic Democratic fundraiser who has promoted Holocaust denial and runs a pro-Hamas Facebook group.

Chancellor David Banks testified before the House Education and Workforce Committee on Wednesday to address the New York City public school system's response to rising anti-Semitism. He told the committee that his schools are "focused" on being a "candle in the darkness" in the fight against Jew hatred.

"At New York City Public Schools, we are focused on our charge to fight hate and foster inclusion through safety, engagement, and education," Banks said. "We’re working hard and we have a long way to go. There’s always more to do. I hope in New York we can be a candle in the darkness."

Less than a month before, on April 11, Banks and New York elected officials held an Arab American Heritage celebration which featured anti-Semitic Democratic fundraiser Maher Abdel-qader, who has promoted Holocaust denial and online content that describes Jews as "Satanic." Banks posed for a photo with Abdel-qader, who also is the founder and administrator of a Facebook group called "Palestinian American Congress" where members have posted anti-Semitic content and cheered Hamas terrorists.

In 2018, Abdel-qader shared a video that said Ashkenazi Jews are "not true Jews," accused Israeli Jews of "identity theft," and cast doubt on the validity of the Holocaust. "The Jews in Israel are not true Jews, they are Khazars Ashkenazi Jews, identity theft," the video said alongside a photo of a Jewish man wearing a ski mask to cover his face. "Research the truth about the Holocaust, and you’ll definitely start to question what you thought you knew," the video’s narrator says. In another post, Abdel-qader compared Israel to ISIS and accused the Jewish state of running "concentration camps."

In a 2017 post that echoed an anti-Semitic trope of Jews controlling the government, Abdel-qader claimed Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) was a "foreign agent."

"Our US Congress is full of ass-kissing Israeli defenders. A few of them are actually unregistered foreign agents. Ben Cardin is one of them. He is convincing the rest of the lowlifes in Congress to throw away our rights to free speech, and kowtow to the illegal so-called 'state' of 'Israel,'" Abdel-qader said.

In the days after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, members of Abdel-qader's Facebook group cheered the terrorist group's fighters.

An Oct. 12, 2024, post in Abdel-qader’s Facebook group read, "We don't want to throw you in the sea ... we want you to ride it back from where you came," accompanied by a photo of a Hamas terrorist with an elderly Israeli hostage. Another post commended the "achievements" of "resistance" fighters after they killed Israeli soldiers.

NYC Public Schools posted a photo online of Banks speaking at the event, with the caption: "Today we hosted our inaugural Arab American Heritage Month celebration!"

The revelation comes as other Democratic members of Congress also embraced Abdel-qader around the same time. "Squad" members Jamaal Bowman (D., N.Y.), Cori Bush (D., Mo.), Summer Lee (D., Pa.), Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.)—many of whom face a pro-Israel primary challenger—embraced Abdel-qader at an April 18 Washington, D.C., event.

Abdel-qader served as Tlaib’s finance committee chair during her first congressional bid in 2018 and has donated thousands of dollars to her campaign. Tlaib repeatedly thanked him for his help multiple times during her 2018 campaign. In November, he advertised a fundraiser for Lee and Tlaib, saying the "Squad" members "wholeheartedly" support the "just cause for Palestine."

In one photo from the event, Abdel-qader stands front and center displaying a special document, flanked by Banks and other leaders.

The celebration included a "showcase" of Arabic cuisine, music, handmade artistry, and cultural exhibits. The event also "honored" Abdel-qader and a Palestinian New York City police officer who spoke about the importance of the "Palestinian cause" for their "coordination and contributions to making the event both unique and enlightening," Arab America reported. Banks "commended their hard work and leadership,"according to the report. Abdel-qader was listed as a contributor to the article.

A New York City Department of Education spokesman distanced Banks from Abdel-qader.

"At our Arab American Heritage event we had only two honorary speakers: NYPD captain Filastine Srour and New York state assemblyman Nader Sayegh. We did not invite this individual to our event, nor was he honored, and the chancellor neither knows this man nor endorses his views," the spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon. Abdel-qader did not return a request for comment.

Banks during his testimony indicated that both Jewish and Muslim students have experienced hardship since the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, and the school system is working to accommodate both groups.

"Our classrooms are not insulated from the global stage. Since October 7, our students and staff—Jewish and Muslim, Israeli and Palestinian—have suffered immensely," Banks said.

[jade-kyo]

RvB 20th rewatch: s10

An end of an era… god I love this season… I love this story

DELTA!!!!!!!!

CAROLINA BABYGIRL!!!!

“I think I just got dumped by Caboose… this is un-fucking-believable”

Washington commits identity theft

Wash and Carolina interaction my beloved

Also I feel like the animation really improved between seasons

“Let’s just say you know a lot of women with quick tempers… you got a fetish or something?” // “I guess yeah you could say… apparently…” Church a sub confirmed

Trocadero my beloved

Carolina my babygirl you will discover your lost silly soon don’t worry

I’m a fucking moron how have I never noticed that the ship in the junkyard was the staff of Charon

I mean I knew it was a part of Charon but I just never made the connection that it was THE staff of Charon

I love that Sarge is the one who vouches for Wash. Sarge character development my beloved.

OH THE PENIS JOKE THAT TOOK ME THREE REWATCHES TO REALIZE IT WAS A PENIS JOKE

WAIT THE DIALOGUES DIFFERENT

I SWEAR Wash says “yeah but yours is green” but in this version he says “yeah but yours is really shiny, so it looks more substantial”

I kept thinking some of the dialogue was different on the dvd version from what I was used to but I kept second guessing myself

THETA!!!!!!

Man sometimes the Director says things and I’m just like… that was a kind of Church thing to say my guy. Feral.

Carolina cares so much akahskshfusgjsgdkshdkd

“Don’t tell me how to lead my squad” bro the first time I watched this show I got SO MAD at Carolina, I straight up did not like her… man I was a dumb bitch

Theta falling off his skateboard is so cute omg

Carolina embrace your inner silly

“Usually I would agree with Simmons but in this case that would also cause me to agree with Grif therefore I will simply grunt ambiguously… *ambiguous grunt*” quoted line

Love that Tucker is the one who usually points out the difference between Alpha and Epsilon… taking notes

Also love how chill Tucker is about Church being multiple people

Wash is as silly as his straw

Why does he have so many FRUITS

I love Carolina and York fucking with Wash

Hey remember when I did that guess the fake fact poll and everyone thought there was no way Elijah Wood was in the show? Good times

Caboose messing with Church my beloved

“Friendenepanion” line quoted

God they establish so many parallels between Tex and Carolina

Rip CT

“How the hell am I supposed to trust a ragtag team of idiots when I couldn’t even trust the people closest to me” THATS WHY YOU CAN TRUST THEM!!!! BECAUSE THEYRE IDIOTS!!!!!!!! DONT WORRY BABYGIRL YOU WILL UNDERSTAND SOON!!!

G o d Yorkalina you will always be famous to me

Screaming crying throwing up

“I mean we are friends” // “… friends…” SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP

AAAAHHHHH EPSILON AND CAROLINA MY BELOVED

THEYRE SO SILLY!!! THEY DESERVE TO BE SILLY!!!!!!

Wyomings mustache is the sexiest character

AGONY

The show: angst agony pain // me: giggling kicking my feet because I just love the show so damn much I can’t help but happy stim when I’m watching it even when it’s pain

It was so real of them to just have Carolina have this one sided beef with a copy of her dead mom. Absolutely insane. I love it.

“No because I’m pissed off!” That one line really made me love Tucker even more. I remember being floored by it and suddenly realizing that oh shit this is fr getting tense like- he’s ACTUALLY mad. Just such a good subtle character moment

So like was Sheila just… left in that crashed pelican… forever

York is such a cringefail king

“Thanks I won’t need it” THE PARALLELS

ALLISON

GOD CAROLINAS SCREAMS

Feral

DONUT!!!!!!!!!

DOC!!!!!!!!!!

Church being defensive of Carolina AGSKGDKSHSKD

Tex is very small compared to North

OMG ALPHA GETTING TORTURED AHSKHAKSHSKHSKSHSJSHSKHSKS POSSIBLY ONE OF MY FAVORITE SCENES!!!!!

Sarge continues to have the best character development

Wash’s implantation, Tex learning the truth, Allison reveal IM AKJSKAHSKHDKSJ F E R A L

The fact that the director was gonna send Carolina to find Tex is INSANE

“You and Wash are taking your relationship to the next level, I knew it the writing was all over the wall” Caboose was the first carwash shipper

SARGE YOU ARE SO INCREDIBLE

Fun fact: everyone walking out on Church and Carolina was the first scene that actually made me cry

TEX YOU ARE SO SEXY

AUAUUAGSJHSKSHSJ YORKALIN

Tex just wanted to save them… she just wanted to save Alpha and Carolina auuuuhjajahjshajsjkshdjsjjsh

GOODBYE

G O D THEYVE COME SO FAR I CANT AKDHAKHSKAHSKBS WORDS

NINE POINTS YA DIRTY WHORES!!!!!

“Cheesy forgiveness speech later” and I like to headcanon that they held Church to that

ROSES ARE RED!!!!

G o d Chex you were always doomed…. Agony

GOODBYE

I literally have no words for what the Carolina and Director and Church scene makes me feel so I will simply summarize

AHKSHAKDHKAHSKHDKDHKWHSJSHKSHSKDBKDHXKDHKSJSOSHKSHDJJDJDBSKSHJD

-8)39/719)2&:93$8hwkahaiydhajisJWJDIHSKSBSIDGEJJEJ$2)/9$2&2)?:$&:!$-828&:@JEBDHEIGWJAIWHKQUE

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAHHAHAHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH

“Better is good enough” I’m gonna be sick

Putting the full Allison video at the end of the credits was FOUL

I really wish I was better at putting my thoughts into words cause G O D does this show make me feel things. I unlock 57 new emotions every time I watch it… truly I love this show. Especially the freelancer storyline. There’s something really special about all of this… just beautiful.

[cloudcountry]

♡ AUBURN'S MUTUALS !! (there's more of you than i thought HELP)

@tinyletterz / 🍙 — my friend since forever ago, genuinely one of the kindest people i have ever met. she's so cute and she writes beautifully!!!! i highly HIGHLY recommend her flower language series GFGRGRGRGRFRFR

@identity-theft-101 / 🪓 — bonded over mushroom stayed for the eels tbh!! chaos incarnate BUT he has a cute bird named asa that said she loves me so i'm winning

@names-are-dumb / 🐚 — i'm so glad i got to introduce them to twisted wonderland. i am reliving my own experience through him rn. IM SO GLAD YOU LIKE OCTAVINELLE GRAHHH!!!!! one month later and we're married he's my husband and my angelfish that i write cringe ass sonnets too and i adore him <33 muah muah

@merotwst / 🧶 — LITERALLY SO SWEET OMG. she's so warm and welcoming its no wonder people just gravitate to her :C i adore her tbh she made me feel so welcomed even though i'm still scared of most twst writers LMAO

@shkrmpp / 🦐 — one of my first moots!!! personally i really love their hair dye headcanons GRAH they're so cute BUT!! they also draw C:< AND ITS A CUTE STYLE. plus their blog always looks MUAH

@siren-serenity / 🌙 — YOU'RE EVIL I STILL THINK ABOUT "i need you" WHY DID YOU WRITE THAT /lh no but actually you're so good at writing angst that rips my heart out like. if i want to sob i'm going for your azul angst (ITS A GOOD THING PROMISE)

@siphoklansan / ☔ — BEAUTIFUL ART. STUNNING. i love love love how much detail she puts into her pieces (yes i am thinking abt the floyd piece for the lipstick challenge ITS SO CUTE) AND SHE DREW STUFF BASED ON THE SONG HEART ATTACK AND I THINK ABOUT IT EVERY DAY.

@fukashiin / 💌 — silly little goofy deuce rambles and omg the leech twins. I REREAD THE STARING THINGY SHE WROTE OVER AND OVER AZULLLL AZUL'S PART IS SO %@$!%##@%!$#$%@!$#%@$!#%!@%#$!@#$%

@ryuubff / 🪼 — omg there is literally so much i could say about them. my first obey me mutual. the first person who was alike "omg let's create solomon content together." i love talking to them sm and honestly they deserves the best because they're so kind and creative C: WAHHHH

@hisui-dreamer / 🌟 — SO SWEET. i know i'm saying a lot but i have so many mutuals that made me feel so welcomed and rinna was one of them. every single piece of work you'll find on that blog is brewing with emotions and gentle care I LOVE.,,.., I LOVE!!!!!!

@officialdaydreamer00 / 🌠 — ?!?!?!?! ALSO INCREDIBLY KIND AND SO SO CREATIVE!!!! they draw me things all the time and it literally melts my heart :((( i love lov love talking to them about octavinelle and they're super easy to connect with :(((

@the-v-lociraptor / 💙 — we literally just became moots a little bit ago BUT i find a lot of good fanart through her!! she reblogs a lot of cool stuff :D !!!!!

@ceruleancattail / 🔷 — I FORGOT TOW RITE SMTH HELP EM anyways <33 ceru writes some cute ass shit that makes me kick my feet and squeal (AND ALL THE AZUL CONTENT I HAVENT BINGED YET....UGH IM SO EXCITED)

@i-like-forgs / 💪 — appreciator of sand cats and draws a lot!! the creator of my wedding venue with azul and enabler of so many of my ramble i am clinging to his ankle as he drags me around

@valerie-leech / 💚 — we just started talking but they're part of the auburn azul wedding squad!! :D im excited to interact with them <3

@twst-beam / 🎉 — we also haven't talked a lot yet but i can't wait to get to know her better C: !!

@iseethatimicy / 💎 — a fellow azul kisser!! i finally found another one!! :D has an unholy amount of azul memes i do not know where they come from (probably pinterest) but they are Fascinating

@acornwinter / 💫 — sends random shit in my inbox because they started talking about their dreams once and i decided Yes!! and now they draw my ocs and its super cute and i love their little tiny ppl drawings C:

@totallymem3 / 🥀 — we just started talking but!! very sweet <33 her art style is just MMMMUAH CHEFS KISS!!!!!!!!! i love it. it reminds me of spring.

@z3llous / 🐸 — draws azul SOOOOO good i love lovelovlevoevloev his art!!! its so scrumptious i eat it all up for breakfast lunch dinner ON NOMNOM

@cecilebutcher / 🪩 — has a bunch of really cool ocs!!! igor my belobed /p they have such a creative mind and its a pleasure to listen to them ramble about the characters they created!!! :D

@ang33333333l / 🙏 — another azul kisser!! we haven't talked much but i can tell doll is a very sweet person <33

@axvwriter / 👻 — SHE HAS AZUL'S DORM UNIFORM AND IM SO JEALOUS. LITERALLY SO UNFAIR.

@soru-ya / 🍞 — THEY WROTE AROACE CONTENT FOR ME :((((( CRYING RN they're such a good writer please go check them out PLEASE im begging you

@rains-asleep / 🐝 — ANOTHE RGOOD WRITER WHAWHWAHWHAHWA <33333 we had such a deep conversation about caramel once it was enlightening.

@shinysparklesapphires / 🎀 — floods my inbox with precure stuff and now its next on my watch list. started the laura and azul siblings conspiracy :O !!!!!

@twistedchatterboxed / 🌊 — The jade kisser ever. we have a lot of mutual moots (hehe say that ten times fast) so i'm excited to get to know her better!! :D

@keii01 / 🍡 — she's so sweet i want to put her in my pocket and carry her around everywhere i go!! she draws a lot of cute stuff too (there is no such thing as too many ribbons <3)

@tsun0tar0u / 🐉 — showed me a genshin glitch once and i have never been the same. also i would die for kafka btw. normal about rollo btw. So Normal.

@non-binary-lil-shit / 🍄 — enables my marine bio and mycology rambling!! also i am very concerned for you C:

@queen-shiba / 🦁 — your profile theme is literally so pretty i am eating it right now (IDK I JUST LOVE ORANGE) also the leona blender post made me so confused but also i laughed really hard HELP

@vioisgoinginsane / 💜 — she likes some vampire game i think LMAO but the twst content? YUMMY. a writer once in a blue moon and apparently best known for the BITING ROOK HUNT post. GET IT!!!

@moonlit-midnight / 🌸 — hannah is such a good writer :(( WRITES PLATONIC FICS DID YOU HEAR THAT EVERYONE!!! PLATONIC FICS!!!!!!! they're all so adorable and make me want to curl up under a blanket with a mug of hot chocolate <3

@ryker-writes / 🦚 — asked about to deep sea and LET ME TELL YOU i got so excited about it and im still writing it hehe. ryker writes a lot of familial angst so its that your thing go for it!!

@datboredpencil / 💀♦️ — GORGEUYS ART ABSOLUTELY SCRUMPTIOUS YUMY UMY UM AN ENTIRE BUFFET!!!! theres a lot of idia x cater content too if thats youre thing!!! :D

@twistwonderlanddevotee / 🪷 — we havent talked a lot but im still happy to have you here!! :D

@beeirdos-buzzing-bogaloo / 🐥 — apparently very normal about sebek. the Most normal. we havent talked a lot but hes silly :D

@dove-da-birb / 🪿 — literally so funny. putting you in my pocket right now!! ALSO I LOVE YOUR BRAINROTTING HELP

@loser-jpg / 😬 — YOUR BEWILDERMENT AT MY DASH SPAMMING WAS REALLY FUNNY i hope you get used to it </3

@ashipiko / 🌺 — THE #1 ACE KISSER EVER???? her art is so munchy and yummy i want to eat it :(( HER STYLE IS SO CUTE SRSLY IF YOU HAVENT SEEN HER ART YET PLEASE CHECK IT OUT

@shyhaya / you should pick an emoji!! — wrote the most fantastic delicious delightful heart wrenching thing for azul and tagged ME in it :(((( AAAAAA IM SO SORRY I DIDNT SEE IT SOONER. IF YOU EVER WRITE FOR AZUL AGAIN PLEASE TAG ME I'D LOVE TO SEE IT.

@musicalhistorical / 👹 — omg hi quotev person you've been putting up w my bullshit since forever ITS SO FUNNY TO SEE YOU HERE LMAO

@thehollowwriter / 🎶 — ITS LITERALLY A CRIME I HAVENT FOUND YORU WRITING SOONER??? WHY HAVENT I SEEN IT??? IM GOING TO BINGE YOUR AZUL FICS RIGHT NOW EVERYONE SHUT UP I AM SHAKING YOU AROUND QUINN

♡ AUBURN'S ANONS!!

magical girl anon

seahorse anon

❤️ anon

[polliwoggers]

Where does Dark Nebula fit into your headcanon of Kirby?

There's something of a tradition that is necessary for Dark Matter clans to continue in the event that their sole reproductive member dies somehow. Basically, that reproductive member (or "queen") will produce a "protégé" to carry on the lineage in case they die -- but they don't want the protégé to be TOO strong, in case they become a threat to the existing queen's rule.

Dark Nebula was an early attempt at a protégé by Zero. They have a significantly higher concentration of potent Dark Matter compared to filler Dream Matter in their body than "drone" Dark Matter globs, and they have enough magical ability to control the elements (fire, ice, electric) and possess people... but they don't have much more going for them than that.

While they ARE significantly stronger than normal "drone" Dark Matter globs (which are still individually powerful enough to take over entire planets on their own, like in DL2+3!), they're nowhere near enough to pose any threat to Zero. Other, more functionally powerful instances of Dark Matter were also created under Zero, like Gooey and Miracle Matter, but they weren't given enough Dark Matter to reproduce because Zero feared they might replace him, given the chance. They were more of experiments anyway, and failed ones at that.

Sometime in the past Dark Nebula must have gotten frustrated serving under Zero and tried to strike out on its own, got sealed in the chest, and was largely forgotten about until it was freed in Squeak Squad. I've chalked up the "ruler of the underworld" claim as in-universe over-exaggeration of Dark Nebula's power post-sealing. Pretty much all of this applies to how I see Necrodeus as well, only he was a drone, not a protégé. also he committed some pretty major identity theft but that's not relevant to Nebula here.

Side note, but Zero was also once a "protégé" offspring from some older, unnamed Dark Matter queen. He's not a first generation Dark Matter -- I like to think he's a second-gen one. Whichever original queen spawned him must been much, MUCH more powerful than he was to not see his power level as a threat. His power must've only been a sliver of theirs! Wild!

[il3x]

Greetings fair mutual!

I beseech thee with a question:

How do you think the Worm universe would handle somebody with the power to transfer their consciousness to a corpse, reanimating it. Also he has wings and the people skills Jack Slash wishes he had?

I'm considering some crossover story ideas

Hmm! I think how he was treated would depend a lot on his personality/motives. Heroic? Villainous? The power, of course, lends itself more easily to villainy.

Reminds me of Pretender. As such, the power would be useful for (heh) identity theft, at the most obvious level. If they decided to go hero, I don't think they'd use reanimation in the public eye. Either disguise their power as the wings alone, or rely heavily on subtlety, like Vegas capes or Indian 'dark' capes - or for an independent example, Eraserhead from BNHA.

Reminds me - do the wings appear on the reanimated corpses? Or on his 'true body'?

If any corpse he reanimates has wings, he could probably start a religious cult if he wanted to. Scratch that, he could start a cult regardless. Would be interesting to see his interactions with some of the religious groups - Haven, was it? That hero group? I give it 70:30 odds they find him blasphemous, lol. Wonder if he could subsume a Fallen (or other cult) sub-group, if he so desired, to kick-start his own cult.

As a cult leader, the ability to wear any face (including yours) is pretty strong fuel for fear tactics. Especially if he regularly changes bodies - double especially if the wings don't transfer. Anyone you pass in the street could be the leader; any of your family members could be replaced; you could be killed and replaced, if you transgress, and the man in your body could do anything in your name... and it's hard for the PRT to catch him, too. Alternatively, he hides that it's his own consciousness and pulls some Victorian spiritualist schtick. "I've brought your loved one back and they tell you they love you and you should totally join my group to get to heaven and also pay me 1000 monies. totally".

Reanimation would get him clocked as a parahuman easily, wing usage even quicker. In this case, I expect PRT (and/or other hero team) response - not very high-caliber response, though, since as far as Worm cults go this is fairly innocuous. As such, solid shot at killing + impersonating one of the responders and infiltrating the PRT, if he so desires. Just realised I've been saying PRT when I meant Protectorate, lol, but that actually works nicely - I've never seen a story focusing on a solely PRT-squad raid. And if he can't use the powers of the reanimated, this is a safer route.

Can he use their powers?

If he relied on personality for the cult, with the Changer-esque applications of reanimation kept under wraps similarly to Mama Mathers' power, he could glide under the radar, though. In that case, I'd expect his opponents to be people with closer personal ties to the cult. Close enough to notice what's going on, and object even without knowing it was a parahuman affair. Indie heroes or vigilantes who protect his particular territory; villains, rogues, or non-parahumans whose families (or income) got tied up in the cult... Non-parahumans could be fun here, too, especially since it gives you the chance to integrate a trigger event at some point and shift the playing field. That said, it really depends on the story you want to tell. He might also face parahuman opposition from inside the cult, if someone triggers, or a recruited parahuman starts being deprogrammed.

Whew! Okay, enough cults. I saw 'Jack Slash' and went bonkers. Other options, other options... Something that comes to mind is being used as a political scarecrow like Canary (greater crackdown on villains/regulation for heroes/fearmongering around Changers/Masters/death-related powers) and the fallout. Though with his charisma he's well equipped to handle that.

Maybe Pretender gets mad at him for stepping on toes if he goes hero, lol.

That's all I got. Good luck with the crossover, and I'd love to hear more about it!

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #304: "... Yearning to Breathe Free!"

June, 1989

Vs. the U-Foes! Special guest appearance by the pouncing PUMA!

Look at the roster box trying to pretend Reed and Sue are still around. You can't fool me.

And, hey, the U-Foes! They're a quirky miniboss squad that hasn't fought the Avengers so far, at least not in the Avengers book. Which feels weird!

The Avengers should fight all the quirky miniboss squads. They're practically made to fight all the quirky miniboss squads.

Well, now they get to fight this one.

And Puma is a guy. I don't really know the guy. He's a mid-80s Spider-Man book guy.

Also also, this is very clearly a fill-in issue. I mean, so was the Super-Nova arc. But that had the goal of writing Reed and Sue out of the Avengers, which it couldn't even manage.

This one seems to be more in the style of one and done, spin the wheels until John Byrne takes over.

... That's happening a lot lately.

Last times in Avengers: long story short, the team broke apart but a new team formed during the X-Event Inferno. And then after fighting a big guy from space, 2/5ths of the new team fucked off.

This is a fill-in, you don't gotta know a lot.

Huh. The opening splash waxes poetic about Ellis Island and the title is a line from the New Colossus poem that was written for the Statue of Liberty.

Will this be a Very Special Episode about immigration? I'm sorta not confident in this era of Avengers to do a Very Special Episode.

Least surprisingly of all, the terrific trio of Avengers are at Ellis Island because it's being renovated and a Department of the Interior pal got Captain America permission for a special preview visit.

Steve Rogers is, of course, a huge fan of Ellis Island and immigration and just all the good America stuff. He loves America so much.

And being a huge nerd, he invited Thor and Gilgamesh along as a kind of casual relaxing activity after all that Super-Nova biz.

Thor: "I, myself, Steve, am an immigrant of sorts -- from eternal Asgard. I share much in spirit with those who passed through here."

Dammit, Thor. I don't think your situation is really the same since you retain whatever counts as citizenship in Asgard and freely go back and forth whenever you want to live in a giant castle.

Also, you have a fake identity set up by the American intelligence community which most immigrants don't get.

Gilgamesh calls Ellis Island meager compared to the cool architecture that the Eternals are used to. But adds "there is an aura of greatness all about" which may or may not have just been to cushion the insult.

While the heroes in civilian duds wander around and look at construction, they overhear one of the workmen muttering anti-immigrant sentiments to himself.

Charles Little Sky: "'Noble immigrants.' Hah! Nobody wants to admit the real truth."

Oh, no, we are in for a Very Special Episode.

Captain America being Captain America even when he's being Steve Rogers, decides this is an invitation to a conversation and asks the guy to elaborate on his thoughts.

Charles Little Sky: "Yeah, I've got a beef, mister, why shouldn't I? I'm an American Indian!" Thor, in glasses: "And...?" Charles Little Sky: "And my people were here long before anybody. These 'immigrants' who came through here were just another group to come and take my people's land... Just like foreigners, starting with the Mayflower, have always done! This place should be called the Museum of Theft!" Captain Steve: "I understand your bitterness, son. Injustice was done to your people. But those who came through here certainly weren't to blame. They were just looking for a refuge from poverty and oppression themselves."

Captain America makes bold stand: pilgrims bad, immigrants good.

I hope the Avengers don't just bother this dude all day.

Thor, in glasses, asks why Charles works here if he hates it so much but, c'mon, everybody needs to eat and not everyone has a palace in a magical sky realm or gets paid $1000 smackeroos a week by Tony Stark.

Charles also mentions that he can't afford to be choosy about jobs that don't ask a lot of questions. Then realizes he's oversharing with strangers and just teal deers it as he needs the job and he's gone once he has enough money saved up.

Then he spots HIM! He's been found by HIM!

And runs off, to the Avengers' confusion.

Then a sharp-dressed man in a bolo tie tells them its none of their business, stay out of it, and yells for Charles to stop running away because he means him no harm.

Then the man transforms into some kind of furry and chases after Charles.

Pretty much guaranteeing the Avengers are going to get involved after all. Because a dude turned into a furry right there in Ellis Island and chased after a terrified young adult.

Also, the dude is Thomas Fireheart, aka Puma.

But do the Avengers know that?

Yes. And they don't know if Puma is a hero or a threat or a menace. So definitely decide to get involved.

Thor slams his hammer to put on his working duds while Cap duck behind something to change his clothes.

He shouts at Puma to hey maybe explain what he's up to. And since Puma ignores him, Thor throws his mighty hammer. And when Thor throws his mighty hammer, its because he's done with the yammer. Or something.

Since Thor wasn't throwing at 'turn Puma into salsa' force, the cat man is able to jump over the hammer and yell that Thor better not delay him!

That's not an explaining himself though so Captain America throws his mighty shield. But instead of yield, Puma catches the shield and throws it back.

What a jerk!

Gilgamesh, who I guess hasn't decided whether he's going to get involved or not because he's just standing around, jumps in front of the shield so nobody else less tough gets hit by it. And Cap catches it when it bounces off Gilgamesh's gilgapecs.

With this exchange of violence exchanged, Cap asks Puma again to explain things.

Since Thor and Captain America are standing in his way, he actually does.

Puma: "The youth and I are both of the same tribe. He possesses great power -- power that could unleash itself at any time! My uncle -- our tribal shaman -- realized this. He sent me to retrieve Charles, so that he could be trained in the power's use... for his own -- and for the world's -- good."

See, was that so hard?

The two Avengers happened to catch Puma right when he was like five feet from catching Charles Little Sky because the young adult is just right there. In the scene.

He insists that he doesn't have powers, that the elders are just making shit up to prevent him from leaving the tribe.

And sure, he has headaches sometimes and they make him act weird sometimes but that doesn't mean he has powers!

Thor and Cap pause to ponder this. Charles Little Sky is clearly hiding something. And Puma is a dubious source because while he very heroically fought the Beyonder once, he's also a mercenary who has worked for some shady customers.

But while Thor and Cap ponder what to do, Puma makes the decision, in his mind a tough decision but for the greater good, to escalate the conflict and endanger by-standers. Rather than risk the Avengers deciding against him.

So he rushes off (while Thor and Cap just watch) and topples one of the tall scaffolding towards a crowd.

Sure that the Avengers will jump to deal with that and backburner him. Which they do. Good job saving lives, the heroes!

Thor wind-blasts the scaffolding toward Gilgamesh, who catches it. Cap ushers civilians towards the exit.

Leaving Puma free to pounce on Charles Little Sky.

Puma again states that he's just here to be a helpful helper man but Charles says crock to that. He tries to punch Puma but only hurts his own hand.

Apparently, breaking a knuckle punching a cat man is one of the triggers for Charles' great world-threatening power.

Light and kirby crackle burst out of Charles and he feels as if he's being torn apart.

Then, he's blasted back as a rift in space opens.

And out of the rift in space-time strolls the U-Foes!

Not a surprise, since they were on the cover, but hey! The plot is here!

Real quick: The U-Foes. They're like an evil Fantastic Four. In that there's four of them and they got their powers from cosmic rays. By explicitly copying the Fantastic Four's space trip. Two of them are even siblings. Do these guys fight the FF a lot because they're a better evil opposites than the Frightful Four.

Vector: the one with all the lines and suns on his design. He has telekinesis, which often manifests as repulsing lasers.

Vapor: she's a gas lady, made of gas. She can turn into any kind of gas.

X-Ray: he's pink and looks like a really weird bunch of perspective lines. A guy made out of energy. Can blast various kinds of heavy radiation.

Ironclad: big tough guy made of mineral. He's a pretty blatant the Thing or a Colossus but he can increase or decrease his weight so he's at least got that going on.

So, why did the U-Foes pop out of a portal?

Why, the power of retcons and a shared universe!

Sometimes, a book writes out a character. Has them die or depowers them or just puts them in a situation where they're not available.

And then another book will go "and here's how they got out of that one."

It can be interesting to trace a character through various books, trying to figure out what the hell has been going on with them.

In the U-Foes' case, the Hulk trapped them in different dimensions that counteracted their powers. And possibly killed them.

But they all survived and managed to assemble in the dimensional crossroads to luckily get brought back to Earth by one random portal.

Nothing like a classic contrived comic coincidence.

Anyway, having just gotten back from tailor-made space exile/death, Vector is quite enraged when the Avengers propose to just capture the U-Foes and send them to jail, for being dicks.

Vector blasts Thor, Gilgamesh (still just in his civvies) Captain America, Puma, and Charles Little Sky outside through a window.

Puma is worried because he heard from TV news that the U-Foes were powerful enough to knock around the Hulk. They might kill the Avengers and any civilian in their way!

Buuuuut... he is only here for Charles Little Sky. Opening a random portal that random supervillains fell out of proved to Puma that portal kid is the biggest threat.

Maybe he should just let the U-Foes kill the Avengers!

Is his thought process.

Dammit, Puma.

Anyway, Thor tells the U-Foes that they brought the inevitable beat-down on themselves by blasting him through a window.

So X-Ray blasts Thor. Ironclad slugs Gilgamesh, figuring that if he's hanging out with the Avengers, he's probably one. And Vector blasts Captain America.

Puma goes wow sucks for them that they're getting their asses kicked but at least now nobody will get in my way.

Except Vector and Vapor notice him running away and decide, nah.

The U-Foes have deduced that Charles Little Sky could portal them back to the dimensional crossroads so they need to do something about him. And that means getting him before Puma can.

Vapor turns into carbon monoxide and gives Puma carbon monoxide poisoning.

Vector tells Vapor to turn to chlorine gas and just murderify Charles Little Sky.

Puma belatedly realizes that the better idea would have been to team up with the Avengers to beat the U-Foes. Womp womp.

He decides he needs to buy time for the Avengers to recover from their asses getting beat by getting his own ass beat for a while.

Puma tries to jump between Charles and Vapor.

... But she's gas. How does that work? I mean, it doesn't, in this case. But that's because Ironclad shows up and starts trying to bear-hug him to death.

Then Ironclad get's KLONG! by Mjolnir slightly before Puma gets crushed to death.

It's Thor! Turns out one blast of radiation isn't enough to put him down, obviously.

And he whirls Mjolnir really fast to blow Vapor away from the unconscious Charles Little Sky.

Charles regains consciousness to see X-Ray try to french fry him, only to be stopped by Captain America tackling him.

Even through (or around?) Captain America's mighty shield, he can feel the burn from the radiation X-Ray is putting off.

Vector decides he'll kill the kid himself but Puma jump kicks him towards Thor who clobbers him.

Charles is so freaked out by all of this that his powers start going off again, opening portals to random dimensions, some filled with aaaaaah, real monsters!

Gilgamesh deduces from earlier that Charles' powers don't work if he's unconscious so he eye beams Charles Little Sky unconscious.

Cool contribution, Gilgamesh.

Wait, you have eye beams?

Ironclad tries to throw a Big Rock on the again unconscious Charles Little Sky but Gilgamesh uses his eye beams again to blow up the Big Rock.

Ironclad decides fuck this actually and runs away off-panel.

Vector and X-Ray try to double-team Thor and they have him stalemated by blasting him full power. He can't advance but he's not retreating either.

But in secret, Thor is just face-tanking Vector's telekinesis blasts and using Mjolnir to absorb X-Ray's radiation. Not just the radiation X-Ray is blasting but all the radiation in his body. And when X-Ray passes out from too drained, Thor blasts the radiation at Vector who also falls down.

Possibly with turbo cancer now.

Puma's puma senses detect an invisible lethal gas floating towards Charles so Thor blasts the spot with lightning until Vapor passes out.

Ironclad is still running away

So Captain America trips him with his mighty shield and Gilgamesh decks him in the face BWOM!

With the U-Foes kicked firmly in the butt, Puma rerails the plot to him definitely taking Charles Little Sky back to the tribe.

Captain America says that Charles might be a mutant and there's just a bunch of mutant teams that could train him to control his powers. The tribe isn't the only place he could learn control.

Rather than drag him back against his will, Charles should be given the choice where he will go.

Puma: "And if he chooses no training? If he chooses to continue on the run? It is a danger to the world I cannot allow. Nor can I risk strangers training him incorrectly. Allow me to take him... or I will fight you to the death."

Gilgamesh points out that the death would be Puma's death. There's two god-tier dudes here. And Thor says that Charles will decide for himself.

Charles wakes up and he decides for himself to flee.

Puma tries to leap at Charles but Captain America tackles him.

Thor instead jumps in front of Charles to cut him off but Charles shouts that he's not anyone's property and he wants to be free.

IN A RANDOM DIMENSION IF HE CAN'T BE FREE ON EARTH.

Yeah, he fucks off through a portal.

Despite being a character created for a fill-in story, Charles Little Sky has a small pile of appearances.

Danny Fingeroth brings him back for a bunch of Darkhawk issues but he gets roles beyond that.

Puma: "Thor -- you fool! You've let a being of untold power get away! He could be anywhere now, hurting or being hurt, frightened, alone. Most probably, though, he'll soon be dead!"

Thor points a finger right back. Saying this all happened because Puma decided he was in far too much a rush to explain the situation to the random superhero bystanders.

That relentlessly chasing the kid is obviously what triggered his portal powers going off and letting the U-Foes come through and cause trouble.

Puma retorts that, hey, hindsight is 20-20 but he still thinks he did zero things wrong and that it's all the Avengers' fault.

Captain America says they only have Puma's word that his intentions were good and Puma has a really mixed reputation so it's really hard to take him at his word.

Thor suggests they beat up Puma and Puma fucks off through the broken window, yelling they'll have to catch him first.

Except, the Avengers don't even bother.

There's no charges against him and he eventually helped them against the supervillains.

Left behind to deal with sending the U-Foes to super jail, the Vault, Captain America muses how Charles Little Sky "who was so bitter about immigrants... ended up being, himself, an immigrant in a new dimension. And he entered it through Ellis Island."

That's really deep, Cap. Really makes you think, probably.

Thus ends a Very Special Episode of the Avengers.

Follow @essential-avengers because next East Coast Avengers issue, its Byrne time. Like, reblog, comment, maybe.

[monsters-conquer-the-world]

Mario Kart 8 - Booster Course Pack Wave 6 Speculation/Obsessing

I've always loved the Mario Kart games, but for my money Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the new gold standard for the entire kart-racing genre. It just FEELS SO GOOD to drive these goofy little contraptions around and blow up your friends in psychedelic cartoon worlds.

Booster Course Pack Wave 5 just dropped this week and I'm loving this shit. Squeaky Clean Sprint?! KAMEK?!

This unholy union?!

Of course as awesome as this stuff is, I can't help but think about that one last wave of goodies we're getting at the end of the year. At the very least we know we're getting two new drivers and 8 new-old courses (with 1 or 2 possibly being brand new), but at this point Nintendo hasn't announced any specifics.

It's fun to guess and speculate though! Since we're only guaranteed 2 new drivers (and there's a smaller pool to pull from), I started there.

Prior to the Booster Course Packs adding Birdo, Kamek, Wiggler, and Petey Piranha (all drivers who have appeared in previous MKs), Nintendo added guest characters from non-Mario series like Link, Splatoon Girl, and Isabelle. While it's POSSIBLE they could hit us with someone brand new and/or from a different series, I'm thinking it's more likely they'll pull these last 2 drivers from the existing Kartiverse.

With that in mind, here are the standout possibilities from previous Karts:

DIDDY KONG in Double-Dash!!, Wii, Tour Iconic sidekick/costar of Donkey Kong Country series, and three-time karter (not to mention headlining his OWN kart games). On one hand it's fuckin' crazy to me that he's not already in here, but on the other hand if I can only pick one more Kong, I'd rather have Funky or Dixie 😬sorry didds

HAMMER BRO in Tour I like Hammer Bros, I've always thought of them as Bowser's elite goon squad--hammers hurt and their helmets are dope. On the flipside we already have Koopa-Troopa, Lakitu, Dry Bones, and Kamek, plus 9 Bowser-flavored Koopas. We might already be over koopacity.

MONTY MOLE in Tour This is some goofy left-field shit that I am absolutely into. Not my first choice, but funny, cute and strange enough to be worth it. He a mole driving a car

PEACHETTE in Tour So even though this looks exactly like Peach in a slightly goofier outfit, it's actually Toadette in a powered-up form from New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe.. Identity theft is a crime, Toadette.

PAULINE in Tour Mario's original damsel in distress, Pauline debuted way back on the original Donkey Kong arcade cabinet, but also had a major role in Super Mario Odyssey on the Switch (plus a bunch of handheld DK games in-between). Glamorous singing mayor-lady, cool! Why the fuck not! We better get a New Donk City track if she's added tho

KITSUNE LUIGI in Tour Look I know I gave Peachette a lot of shit for being an obscure power-up (this one hailing from Super Mario 3D Land and World), but at least we can tell this is still Luigi! Plus it'd complement Tanooki Mario and Cat Peach REAL nice. Let me have this. Luigi needs a win. It's not a furry thing (not that there's anything wrong with that!).

POOCHY in Tour This fuckin' guy. I still have acid flashbacks to his levels in Yoshi's Island. Still tho, big ol' dog-thing driving car is hilarious, I'd sign off on his goofy ass

FUNKY KONG in Wii, Tour Finally, another prospect with more than Tour on his Karting resume. Funky Kong fuckin' rules. DKC's resident gearhead, party animal, and big lovable himbo dumbass, this dude gotta come back. Non-negotiable. HE WEARS JORTS... WITH A BELT

DIXIE KONG in Tour The other coolest Kong. Probably technically cooler than Funky. It'd be crazy if both new characters were Kongs, but if they were Funky and Dixie I would shit my pants with joy. Dixie's badass.

NABBIT in Tour This would make sense, but I would also be like "sure why not." Shitty little thieving rabbit-man is fine. Is anyone clamoring for this? No judgement, just curiosity. I got kind of sick of the New Super Mario Bros. series, but I don't speak for the whole fuckin' world.

KING BOB-OMB in Tour HAHAHA YES!!! BIG DUMB ORB MUSTACHE CROWN MAN. I also lost my shit when he showed up in the Mario movie. If B-list bosses like Petey Piranha and King Boo get to drive, let this big fancy idiot. He probably accidentally explodes like a dingaling when he doesn't win.

MEOWSER in Tour Like Kitsune Luigi, this would be a nice complement to Tanooki Mario and Cat Peach, but we already have Bowser Classic, Jr., Dry, and his 7 delightful little punkass shithead kids. Meowser does benefit from reminding me of Kintaro, from my OTHER favorite game series with the initials "MK":

CHARGIN' CHUCK in Tour A different listicle already mentioned his fucking awesome-ass burger'n'fries mobile being the best part of him. I'm trying not to accidentally rip off that listicle COMPLETELY, but I might have. Sorry. I think it was on Hard Times/Hard Drive? CC's beefiness and sporty theming could save him from being another face in the Koopa Krowd, but he's not my first draft pick.

CAPTAIN TOAD in Tour I'm all over the place on this one. El Capitano has his own spin-off games--that's pretty legit! But he's just Toad with some different clothes on... but so is Metal Mario and Cat Peach! Do we need a third Toad? If he's a higher weight class because of his gear, then maybe!

HONEY QUEEN in MK7 Aww, remember Super Mario Galaxy?! I like when lady-characters get to be something besides "skinny human princess." If fricking Petey Piranha can race again, so can this big ol' bee!

PARATROOPA in MKDD!! Ah, our millionth Koopa! Jokes aside, since Paratroopa has ONLY been in Double Dash!! (the one where every driver needed an obvious partner), I bet he's a major longshot. Kamek, Wiggler, and Petey Piranha were all in Tour, so I'm inclined to think Nintendo will be pulling from the Tour roster. But who the hell knows! Here are some other (unlikely) prospects.

R.O.B. in MKDS Between this and his playable debut in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, R.O.B., the (in)famous robot peripheral for the NES/Famicom, was having a little moment in the 2000s. A wave of 1980s nostalgia or a 20th anniversary celebration, maybe? I'm not expecting him to come back again after almost ANOTHER 20 years (Jesus Christ), but I love his kart that makes it look like he has little legs.

PAC-MAN AND OTHER WEIRDOS FROM THE ARCADE COLLABORATION WITH NAMCO in Mario Kart Arcade GP, Arcade GP2, and Arcade GP DX Again, non-Tour to me says longshot, but fuck it would be weird and cool to play as Ms. Pac-Man. Blinky the ghost, one of the Tamagotchis and a happy little arcade drum also made the cut!

Mametchi aka The Cooler Nabbit.

OK he's actually a BIG, SASSY cartoon drum. Still cute. Crazy that the Prince from the Katamari games wasn't playable in these, IMO he'd be perfect and have a deliciously funky, knobby kartamari.

Click here to vote for your fave!

[sonicasura]

Past/Present/Future Squad aka young heroes whose been stuck with a 'destiny' manipulated by old men/ancient entities and need a hug plus therapy for all that bullshit.

Link (Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask)

The Past member of the group who had been gaslighted about his own identity ever since he was a baby by the Great Deku Tree. Underwent the most transformations amongst the squad, no constant companion and is still experiencing traumatic backlash from both adventures. Physically Link's the youngest but is the oldest mentally.

James/Jim Lake Junior (Trollhunters)

Chosen by a magical amulet then tricked into becoming a half troll from said amulet's creator Merlin. Jim is the Present member of the group alongside the only one who never gotten trained at an early age, had an actual education, can cook and also has a girlfriend (Claire). (He's still half troll as Wizards ending alongside ROTT aren't canon in my book unless it's Blinky's crack fic.)

Jak Mar (Jak and Daxter)

The Future member of the group who was manipulated by the Green Eco Sage Samos ever since he was a toddler. Only person who can drive (Grand Theft Auto style), always has his companion (Daxter), manipulates energy(Eco) and uses a gun. Jak is the oldest but he's prone to outbursts of anger which usually leads to him going Dark Jak while martyr like behavior manifests Light Jak.

We can all agree that these three need a shit ton of hugs alongside some serious therapy.

Next part

Alternate: Breath of the Wild Link

Drabbles: A King's Musings

[kudosmyhero]

The Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 1) #54: Disaster!

Read Date: January 14, 2023 Cover Date: January 1968 ● Writer: Stan Lee ● Penciler: John Romita ● Inker: Mike Esposito ● Colorist: {uncredited} ● Letterer: Sam Rosen ● Editor: Stan Lee ●

**HERE BE SPOILERS: Skip ahead to the fan art/podcast to avoid spoilers

Reactions As I Read: ● picking up with Spidey having amnesia and being manipulated by Doc Ock ● (pg 2) Car 54, where are you? (I didn't realize I even had that memory! We're talking Nick-at-Nite in the 80s/early 90s playing reruns of old tv shows from the 50s and 60s. There was a show called Car 54, Where Are You? I just looked it up and realized one of the actors was Herman Munster, and that same actor was the old guy in the original Pet Sematary. 🤯 All of that from this little panel, which I have no doubt is an easter egg for that TV show)

● so the nullifier starts to overheat, so they take it back to Doc Ock's lab for him to check it over. he discovers a missing element--isotope 16--which is stored nearby at Ft. Tyson ● Ock tells Spidey to go there and get it ● (pg 7) meanwhile, Gwen and Harry go to Aunt May's to see if she's heard from Peter because no one has seen him in days. of course all this does is worry May, who is already upset over the "poor, misunderstood Dr. Octopus!" ● M.J. shows up with a newspaper saying Spidey has joined Doc Ock ● (pg 8) Captain Stacy--Gwen's dad. Gwen calls him to report Peter missing ● back to Spider-Man, who has just arrived at the base ● (pg 9) Spidey is surprised at his super strength but didn't bat an eye at climbing walls or swinging on webs 😂 ● Spider-Man drops the map Ock gave him as he makes his escape ● (pg 12) Col. Jameson and his squad follow the map back to Ock's lab ● Ock turning on Spidey now that he has his isotope 16 ● (pg 18) Col. Jameson uses the nullifier on Ock's tentacles ● (pg 19) Spidey still doesn't have his memories, but he realizes he can't be Ock's partner ● Ock is arrested. Col. Jameson tells Spidey that he's detained, too, but Spidey runs for it ● 👏👏👏

Synopsis: Struck with amnesia from his exposure to a Nullifier device, Spider-Man is convinced by Doctor Octopus that he is one of his henchmen. Spider-Man then assists them to commit crimes, which make headlines. Spider-Man however, doesn't feel right about what he's doing. Meanwhile, Peter Parker's absence has gotten all his friends and family worried as they have no clue where he could have gone.

Meanwhile, Doctor Octopus tries to get Spider-Man to unmask, but Spider-Man realizes that if they were really partners, Octopus would already know his secret identity. Spider-Man realizes that he's been tricked and battles Doctor Octopus. Meanwhile, the military has been tracking Spider-Man since his last theft netted Doctor Octopus' secret missile plans.

During the fight, John Jameson manages to immobilize Doctor Octopus with the nullifier. When Dr. Octopus tries to talk Spider-Man into helping him get free, Spider-Man declines. He tells Jameson that he doesn't remember who he is, but he knows for sure that he's no partner of Octopus. When Octopus is taken into custody, Jameson asks Spider-Man to come with them as well. Spider-Man refuses and flees. Later, Spider-Man takes a look his reflection in the window hoping that it will remind him of who he is, but only sees a stranger looking back at him.

(https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_1_56)

Fan Art: Spidey vs Doc Ock by Kenpudiosaki

Accompanying Podcast: ● Swinging Through Spider-Man - episode 54

● Let's Read Spider-Man - episode 34