#idk idk it's silly to measure out coolness but like

[willtolove1977]

Somehow stumbled my way into dating someone wayy cooler than me, ruh roh! ...

[carolmunson]

carol’s at the laundromat mat, so:

older!modern!eddie it is.

(tw: implied sexual themes, implied smut/spanking idk. they argue but it’s kind of hot leave me alone.)

Gwen whines, not used to having to sit still for so long and the iPad lost her interest twenty minutes ago. He bounces her on his lap to try and make her laugh but she’s tired and grouchy; he’s out of snacks — forgetting how long this takes when he’s not in control of it. When the only thing you can do is wait.

“Wan’ go home daddy,” she pouts, resting her curly head on his shoulder, “Pwease.”

“I know you do, baby girl,” he coos, big ringed hand smoothing over her back, “But we wouldn’t be here if you didn’t put your crayons in the washing machine.”

She huffs, burying her face in his neck and pushing her body further into him. Maybe if she melts his heart enough he’ll relent and take her home; but he can’t leave you here to do it all yourself.

You come over from switching the loads into the dryer; it’s a dead night so you can use a few to make the process a little faster. You’re about as grouchy as Gwen is; annoyed that you had to retreat and wash the loads you did originally and now that you have to get the washing machine professionally fixed. You run your tongue over your teeth when you sit down next to them, crossing your arms against your chest with a huff that matches your daughters.

Two grouchy girls.

“Why don’t you take her home and I’ll fold it all?” he offers quietly.

“No. I’m the one doing the laundry because you’re so out of touch you can barely work a laundry card. You can deal with an angry toddler,” you snap.

“Well right now I’m dealing with two angry toddlers, so,” he snaps back with a shrug; his voice is cool and calm. The measured tone puts warmth in your chest; perks up your posture.

“I’m not acting like a toddler,” you say back, Gwen occupied now with Eddie’s phone, looking at herself in the front facing camera.

“All that huffing and puffing?” his brows raise, “Coulda fooled me.”

“Shut up, Ed,” your voice sour, reaching into your canvas tote to take out a book while you wait for the clothes to run through the dryer.

“Steeb!” Gwen smiles, the FaceTime ring coming in with his photo in the corner. Eddie tosses you a tight look before answering the call, connecting an AirPod to one ear and the other on Gwen.

“Hold on to it, Gwenny,” he instructs.

“Kay, daddy,” she nods while he holds the phone in front of her face. Steve smiles at the sight of her.

“Hi girl,” he coos, “How are you, lady?”

“We’re at the washa-masheen sto’,” she smiles.

His brow quirks, Eddie leaning forward to explain her toddler-ese, “We’re at the laundromat.”

“Ew. Why?” Steve’s face sours at the thought of a laundromat, sharing machines, leaving things behind.

“Your favorite girl put her 64 pack of crayons in the washing machine so we have to get it repaired,” he sighs.

“Aww, Gwenny,” he pouts into the screen, “You silly girl.”

“It was by assident,” she pouts, lower lip jutting out.

“I know,” he matches her face back at her, apologetic voice on, “You’ve never done anything bad in your life. You never will.”

Eddie let’s a puff of breath out of his mouth with a roll of his eyes, “Yeah wait until she breaks something of yours before you say that.”

“She’s an angel every time she’s in Chicago,” Steve shrugs, “Maybe it’s just you. You’re an angel, right Gwen?”

“I’mma angel, Daddy,” Gwen nods, not really knowing what she means. Eddie giggles at her, running a hand over her soft curls.

“Yeah you are,” he smiles down at her before pressing a kiss to the back of her head while she babbles at Steve. He can still feel your frustration emanating off of you while you hastily turn a page in your book.

He takes a the headphone out of his ear before turning his head your way, voice low with warning, “Sorry, am I bothering you?”

“M’just trying to read,” your voice teeters on bratty when you whisper back to him with narrowed eyes, “You’re both being so fuck—freaking distracting.”

His mouth falls opens slightly in a surprised smile, “You’re in rare fuckin’ form tonight, you hear me?”

“Don’t talk to me like that,” your brow furrowed and on defense.

“Why don’t you go home? I’ll fold while Gwen talks to Steve,” he offers again, “Maybe you can figure out where all this attitude came from on the way there.”

“You can’t carry all that back with Gwen,” you counter, head nodding towards the empty laundry bags next to him.

“We’ll take a car,” he nods bitterly, “Go home. We’ll see you in a little.”

There’s no room for arguing, not when he puts on his authority voice. A voice normally reserved for Gwen when she’s in need of some parental guidance; but he’s used it on you a few times. A reminder — still twelve years your senior.

You suck in your cheeks, chewing on the skin for a minute while you consider it. You put your book back in your bag, tossing your keys in too, “Fine.”

“Fine,” he retorts back. He bounces Gwen to get her attention, “Say bye to mommy, honey.”

She turns, her big baby eyes rounding with confusion, “Bye mommy?”

“I’m gonna run home and start dinner, Gwenny,” you smile at her, forcing yourself not to be annoyed while you soothe her, “You want some chicken tenders and rice?”

“Ya,” she giggles, “Please.”

“Good manners, girlie,” you smile, kissing her on the forehead, “See you in a little.”

“See ya in a widdle,” she parrots back.

“Where’s Peach goin’?” Steve asks when Eddie puts the headphone back in his ear, watching you leave through the automatic doors.

“Home,” he sighs, rubbing his temple, “Dealing with two bratty girls today.”

“Ouch,” Steve nods, “Sorry about that — but, to be fair, Gwen is never bratty.”

“I’m gonna hang up on you, man,” he laughs, pushing his curls out of his eyes while Gwen takes over the conversation again; finally smiley and settling.

Eddie gets home later with the folded laundry and a napping three year old on his hip. He barely speaks when he brings the clothes upstairs and puts Gwen in her room while you work on dinner in the kitchen. Just like the both of you to hold a mini grudge when you don’t know what you’re arguing about in the first place.

He eases down the metal spiral staircase, jeans swapped out for sweats and long socks, t-shirt with the arms cut out that show off his arms and the tops of his obliques.

“You got somethin’ you wanna say to me?” he asks. You slam the oven in response.

“Ooh, okay,” he nods, perked up at the challenge, “Look’it me, huh?”

You look at him from under your lashes, aggravation pumping through you — you don’t even know why you’re mad anymore.

“What’s your problem?” he asks, making his way over to you, pressing you up against the counter while his arms come around to cage you in.

“Just — I don’t know, tired,” you shrug.

“Tired?” he laughs, tilting his head down to run the tip of his nose over your neck, up over your jaw, “You sure?”

Your needy sigh clues him in, you’re not tired.

“Think you need me to help you get over it,” he purrs, “Don’t you, baby?”

You whimper in response, he leaves a long kiss at the hinge of your jaw, “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you later. I promise.”

“You’re insufferable,” you sigh, trying not to give in to him but wanting to desperately.

“That’s why you married me,” he smirks, coming back up to kiss you softly on the lips, “But keep it up, sweetheart. All that mean girl shit. See if I go easy on you.”

Later that night; you’re both grateful that his office is soundproofed.

[jdorian]

so we know buck likes to do flowers/hot air balloon/etc...

but curious what tommy's love language/how he'll be romantic is. Like, he def likes the flirty teasing to show affection, but do you think he likes giving gifts or cooking dinners... idk, Buck is more the romantic speech giver, tommy prob prefers action.

idk, just wanna know how tommy romances bc so far he's wooed buck by being a) muscly b)Cool and c) a dork

mm actually... i think Buck is into the actions and big gestures, though he is getting better at talking about his feelings, not just letting them take the reigns and see where he ends up with them lmao

on the other hand, Tommy is very measured. he doesn't seem to say anything without intention, even his silly little quips and dark jokes are all there as a stress response — plus he listened to Buck ramble on and on, before realising he had a shot and shutting him up with a kiss lmao

based on what Lou told us about what he imagines Tommy's background to be like and what we saw in canon in season 2 and season 7... Tommy's childhood traumas seem to be pretty similar at the core as Buck's; abandonment issues, feeling alone and lonely, looking for love and family, people to belong to and a place to call home — the difference is that Buck had Maddie (on and off, but mostly on) and then the 118 and Bobby, while Tommy had no one.

for most of his adult life, Buck has been surrounded by people who he could come out to without an overwhelming fear that he'd lose the relationships, so much so that he went for it after having one kiss and a botched date with a guy.

Tommy had a homophobic boss/father figure of sorts, and a bunch of guys who followed Gerrard's lead; even if he had a months- or even years long relationship with a man, I don't think he would've ever risked coming out at all.

Tommy learned what his needs and wants are, and how to recognise his feelings, what's the appropriate way to express them and how to be true to himself, probably through a lot of self-reflection and therapy. (and now he clearly has a lot of friends and is easy to make friends with — however deep those relationships run, we'll just have to see if they'll show us more of that in s8)

all this to say; Tommy recognises Buck's needs and wants because he has been there and is probably still there.

so the way i see it; Tommy would already know how he feels, but would wait for Buck to say 'I love you' first, allowing him to set the pace and show his comfort levels in the the relationship.

but after that? he would say it to Buck every day, he'd tell him how important he is to Tommy, he would make time for just the two of them, but would also include Buck in group activities with his friends, he would never stop checking in on him, even when he's kinda sure that Buck really is just tired and he would know when something is important to Buck even when he waves it off as 'nevermind' and if they ever had a fight, he'd let Buck walk it off, cool down and when he was back, they would sit down and talk and they wouldn't get up until they talked everything through and reached a peaceful middle ground

and when Buck would show up with the bouquets and the fancy tickets to monster truck derbys and packed lunch for their couple's hikes, Tommy would tell him in every which way possible with his words and his touch just how much he truly appreciates Buck's presence in his life.

TLDR: Tommy's love language is communication and reassurance.

[your-unfriendlyghost]

it feels so…… weird… seeing a cishet dude be so chill with queer themes lmao your soda-in-drag moment, the stevepop of it all, even guys with queers in their friend circles can’t bring themselves to partake sometimes lmao 😭 but it’s cool !! refreshing even sjksksndks this is a /pos statement I promise

Thanks lol! I think it’s cos I’m fairly secure. Sorta. (I’m still prone to compensating for things and being a stupid teen boy, but like, I’m aware of it, at least when I stop to think. Yk I’ll still join in on dick measuring contests, but deep down I’ll know it’s dumb and performative.)

I guess I feel a kinship to queerness. I go to art school where I’m sometimes the only guy in a class of girls, and I’ve been the token straight guy in every friend group I’ve been in since freshman year of high school. Beyond that, growing up I was frequently mistook for a girl- I had long-ish hair (post bowl-cut era 😭) and I’m part Asian, I was pretty androgynous lol. People irl have thought I’m gay, or a trans man on testosterone (I mean fine, I guess I am pretty short and hang with a lot of trans guys.) Hell, I did drag on a dare once, back when I was even more secure. (And I was hot asf in drag lemme tell ya. It felt lousy and it’s definitely not my thing, but man if I had a clone who was a girl-) All this to say, I say I’m straight, but honestly I don’t really know. I like girls a lot, but I have seen a buddy of mine in drag, and lemme tell ya I felt something but I’m not gonna examine that rn lol. Straight just feels comfortable, safe, and it’s good for interacting with folks who ain’t so progressive, so it’s what I’m sticking with…but I’ll admit there’s a gray area.

I relate a lot to the guys in the Outsiders, and irl I like to present myself as a tough, cool, Very Masculine guy. Hell, sometimes I play dumb about stuff because it’s “feminine” and a guy like me shouldn’t know about it. I act a lot like how I write Steve Randle, he’s my guy I like to project on lol. Honestly, I’ve got a fair amount of internalized toxic masculinity. But I think because I know how silly it all is deep down, I can interact with queer themes in art without feeling like I’m not ��man enough”. Idk, I suppose it’s an outlet in some ways. Who knows maybe in 2027 I’ll come out as bi or something, but don’t wait up.

idk, I guess what I’m trying to say is that I like exploring queer themes, not because they’re queer necessarily, but because they’re human and I relate to them. And that’s hard not to partake in, y’know?

[funnyscienceman]

ok so umm thoughts

Dont like that ori didnt get to do her 'going down to help despite dad's orders', unless somehow she did that as the, like what, twelve year old she's stuck as in that coccoon? So there's hers AND viktor's agency down the drain lmao

Singed actually being, if not corin, A reveck is still cool. Though idk why corin would be a separate person at this rate. I guess it's not impossible. In any case the locket has the initials C.R. on it in fancy writing so take that how you will

I love singed being goofy doing his own thing hes so funny

'No one in power is innocent' and also 'Patience is a virtue that comes with age, both of which I have in abundance' and like everything else in that scene. singed ily

I just love singed getting to be emotional. Getting to talk more and do more besides the baseline stuff in s1. Believe me i love those too bits too but i love singed BECAUSE he can have all this depth and is still somehow extremely silly lmfao

'Chin up, little one.' HE KNOWS HOW TO TALK TO CHILDREN. like we already knew that from his scene with viktor but it's just cool getting to see more of it. He knows how to talk to kids, how to interact with them, because he was ACTUALLY HALFWAY DECENT AT THE DAD THING. granted we dont get to see much of him being a dad with ori alive and walking around but im honesty willing to bet on it, because

Doesnt that make him MORE fucked up? That he would know how to be gentle, how to talk to kids, "Don't be afraid. You built this? Why aren't you playing with the others?" "Chin up, little one. We won't be in there for long." THE TONE OF VOICE. He CAN be decent, he CAN be kind, and he CHOOSES to experiment on and torture people and hurt people and let them get hurt for his own ends. Even his own PUPIL, he's willing to sabotage, just to get to warwick, for orianna. I have no doubts that he gives A shit about viktor, but he also loves Ori and he's put her in a coccoon and did she want that?

Besides the fact that he also could just see how the whole thing was some measure of fucked up and was like nah yeah thats not gonna last lmao heres ur warning kid, take it or leave it

In the moment i had thought that the instant cut from isha to singed at the rally was singed seeing that a kid was getting hurt and choosing that moment to act, but that could've also just been a cut to his reaction to cutting himself to draw warwick out, idk. This is just a footnote it doesnt matter much in the grand scheme of things lmao

Singed in a public space. Never thought i would see the day

THE BEDTIME STORY LITERALLY BEING THEIR SITUATION FFS

I will never recover from all this singed material. What's that? Viktor's started a cult? Jayce has a beard? Caitlyn's flip-flopping allegiances? Dude i dont care, im just here for singed. Look at him being goofy how could you not love him

Though to be real i am going to mourn the massive change to Ori's lore. What was so cool about the idea to me was how Orianna took her own life into her hands, first from dad, then death, and then dad again. I was baffled by it before, but upon rereading it i realize now why Ori left after giving dad her heart — he couldnt stop her from leaving anymore. It's framed as 'oh she's not human anymore so she has to find her place in this world' but it's really the root of her going down to Zaun in the first place: not the part where she's kind and giving, but the wanderlust. She wanted to go out and see the world, and Corin was always like no, it's too dangerous, you're staying here; and he was even pretty sucky about it by making the mechanical lungs require a key for winding, which he kept on his person up until he got sick. After the surgery, Ori took the key and left.

I'd thought myself that it was because she couldnt face him afterwards — i mean, she DID drug her dad and then perform heart surgery on him, using herself as the donor, all without his knowledge or consent; loving a gesture as it was it's still pretty fucked up LMAO — but i guess there's no reason for it to not be multiple things at once. And not like it matters much given s2 act2

One thing i find funny is how ori's image in the locket keeps changing. In s1 she looked like a lil baby, a preschooler maybe. In singed's arcane skin she looked like a teenager or even a young adult. Here in act 2 she looks like a tween lmao pick one rito

My thoughts are all over the place. Im no good at organizing. It's 12am and im brimming with energy.

Honestly no matter what happens, i think it'll be fine. Whatever riot declares as canon, you dont have to keep it. The thing about creative stuff like stories and characters is that once they're out there, they're not just the creators' anymore. That's the fun part about fanfic, we can just do our own thing and ignore whatever mess is going on in 'canon' lmfao

I like the idea of Ori's story being intact, and singed being corin reveck, and ori still going fullmetal and doing the heart surgery and leaving all before arcane even starts. I like the idea of s1 leading directly to all the fun fun fun stuff of league and LoR lore. Also i think singed doing all this unhinged science stuff and keeping himself alive just to preserve the last piece of his daughter, which she had given to him to save him, is pretty neat, so. I'm gonna stick with all that unless something absolutely drastic changes my mind

(Also i think it'd be funny if the worst man to ever walk Runeterra only came to exist/didnt die when nature said he should simply because his daughter, piltover's best most moral champion, loved him so much she gave him the last of her humanity to save him. Like congrats ori, your dad is still alive and kickin! Bad news is he has now aided and abetted imperialism/colonialism, chemical warfare, drug trafficking, and up to a thousand and maybe more awful awful human experiments and other crimes against humanity. Like can you imagine her coming back to piltover and finding all that out? That could mess her up. And wouldnt that be a neat character conflict to work out! Maybe with viktor who's also trying to find a balance between helping people and cold hard machinery! I love this little bubble and i will never leave thanks hahaha)

[l1ve-l4ugh-lov3craft]

Marauders Arcane AU Idea Dump Part 2

@taleofapart-timepoet I have more lol But only cos @cheekyboybeth was enabling my madness in the comments of one of our posts

Starting off strong with the rest of my episode 2 ideas:

“Nobody wins in war, Sirius.” That whole conversation is very Alphard to me so we need that I think

Idk if i feel like doing the ‘Jayce almost slip n sliding’ thing so we gotta come up with another way Lily and Panda meet

“What makes you different makes you strong” - use this bit maybe? Idk we’ll see how the rest of the ep plays out for them

Episode 3:

The Silco flashback in the beginning can tie into Riddle’s backstory??? Something something with Alphard

“You’ve got a good heart, never lose it.” - Alphard, Sirius content is WINNING

Possibly do ^^this chapter from Alphard’s POV and then have an interlude that’s Sirius’ POV

Make all that^^ the end of a chapter to leave everyone on a miserable cliffhanger after Alphard gets captured

Start with some pandalilly content the chapter after :)

Have a nice but angsty lil James and Sirius moment when they debrief about Monty dying and Alphard getting caught

Silly goofy scene of mary catching pandalily while they’re trying to break in and get lilly’s research

The whole “you’re not ready” scene needs to HURT

“Crank it” joke required

And then ofc the scene with the hex cores and powder’s freak out moment are ALSO important but we’ll probably tone it down just a little bit to fit regulus’ character a bit better (A/N: okay for this one I imagine a sort of pacing, regulus falling into a bit of an inferiority spiral thinking of all the ways he feels like he's failed Sirius up until then. More of a panic attack then a breakdown cos i feel like that's more his forte)

The entire bit from when vi and crew make it to rescue vander up until the end of the episode will possibly be its own chapter? At least a VERY sizeable chunk of the chapter

^^alternate sirius and regulus POV

We DO have to include the oogly moogly scientist bits with pandora and lily cos that is important

Use the monkey clanging or the individual bomb explosions as a sort of measurement for how fast things happened after regulus throws in the bomb (A/N: OKAY THIS??? Let me see if I can paint a picture properly. I'd love to start the scene with a "As (description of whatever happens and regulus throws in the bomb), (insert number here) things happened all at once." and then describe how the bomb rolls in and bounces. And each time it bounces, do a description of one of the aforementioned things happens. I dunno how to fully describe it, I may have to write out a snippet and make a post on that to fully describe but AGH! it is SO good in my head)

Random Ideas I've Had:

I want to focus a bit more on James and Regulus' relationship in the first few chapters before it all goes to hell so that the scene on the bridge when the two of them will fight hurts as much as it should

not plot related, but it would be LOT to have one fic for season 1 and one fic for season 2. like a sequel. cos pitfighter sirius???? are you fucking KIDDING ME?? I will die

obviously the prison Vi is in is gonna be Azkaban for this AU, so that's super cool

I would LOVE to pay homage to the horcruxes in the way that Silco has his who creepy stuff on his face (idk I don't play league so i don't know the lore

I am THRILLED to have Mary as Mel cos agh! her character arc is going to be FANTASTIC and i love that I get to let Mary commit crimes

OH MY GOSH- I just had the idea to have Barty and Evan as Clagger and Milo and it's going to be FANTASTIC having the two of them haunting the narrative (and regulus' conscience) the way milo and clagger do for jinx

uhhhhhh that's all I have? for now? I think? but I'm certain I'll have more. Thank you for coming to my ted talk :)

[puffyducks]

DCRC Week #20 (Part 1)

Guys how has it already been 20 whole weeks time isn't real. Anyways speaking of, we're reading PKNA #16: Extraordinary Repairs which is a huge deal cause it means that after waiting 20 whole weeks I CAN FINALLY DOXX CAMERA 9'S FULL LEGAL NAME AND ADDRESS!!! IT'S S-

Okay FINE I guess I'll wait to say his name until we actually get to the right part in this post. And idk why I've even prevented myself from saying his real name in front of my friends that are going through this series for the first time cause it's not even like a secret or revelation, they literally tell you his name at the end of Day of the Cold Sun in his character sheet, but nobody reading the English fan translations would know that because nobody has uploaded translated versions of the character sheets (yet...) ANYWAYS

Just as a heads up to anyone who is reading this comic for the first time, the English translating here is a little scuffed (I assume whoever translated this chapter wasn't a native English speaker) so there are occasional grammatical mistakes but nothing too severe that it limits the effect of the story!

Angus I can PROMISE you do not want to start doing research into Everett Ducklair, do you know how many fuckin doomsday weapons he kept "accidentally" making??? You don't want the smoke.

What kind of fucking idiot steps into an elevator shaft without stopping to see if the elevator is ACTUALLY THERE omfg I hope he hits the bottom and dies

GUYS HE SAID THE- HE SAID THE TITLE OF THE CHAPTER!!!

ALSO HDL MENTION 🔥🔥🔥

guys.... there he is.... the man of the hour

shoutout to the way the other guy is drawn in this panel btw (his ears fell off I guess)

OHOHOHO TRENCHCOAT REVEAL!!! GUYS I AM GIDDY AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY I JUST THINK HE'S NEAT

HE SAID THE THING

why he ourple

OHHH YEAHHH IT'S YA BOI STEFAN MOTHAFUCKIN VLADUCK!!! Who appears to be constantly having a series of PTSD-related war flashbacks but ummm let's not worry about that right now

It's really interesting to me that Donald is a fan of Stefan's work. I mean media was obviously different in the 90s but still, when's the last time you heard someone bring up their favorite photographer? Either Stefan is FAMOUS famous or Donald is one of like 10 people that like to read the credits under newspaper photos.

This panel makes me laugh cause out of context it looks like Stefan is running away from PK (on account of his huge torn up fucking evil looking cape) bro is literally FNAF 2 jumpscaring at him

I FUCKING TOLD YOU

Coolest character design of all time (literally just a duck in a trenchcoat)

What have you seen WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN. 200 page comic docuseries covering all of Stefan's horrifying past experiences NOW!!!!!

You're telling me Ducklair was in his basement building fuckin DINOSAURS??.... ok I can't lie that's cool as fuck good for him

So close except actually not close at all. Granted PK does hang out in Ducklair Tower all the time, but it's not like Angus knows that 😭

Love how much this laser gun just looks like a regular pistol

Me reading poorly written analysis posts of DT17 sorry

I love evil fucked up PK can we keep him like this actually

PAPERINIK MURDERS ANGUS FANGUS IN COLD BLOOD (REAL)

Nvm we just gave him a concussion. also hi Stefan 👋

Also we drugged him. Y'know just for good measure!

NO FUCKING WAY YOU GUYS EYEBALL REVEAL 🔥🔥🔥 HE HAS GREEN EYES. or at least one green eye... I guess he could have heterochromia or something whatever

btw this is the most we'll ever see of his face so SOAK IT IN FOLKS (at least, the most we'll see in PKNA, there's like one singular comic from 2016 that shows his entire face if you're curious. You can just google his name and the photos will come up.)

SHOUTOUT TO THE LITTLE CAMERA 9 END HERE IT'S SO SILLY.

I love this issue, Camera 9/Stefan is probably one of my favorite characters. He's just fuckin cool man idk what to tell you. He's fairly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things but I like having him around, he's a fun character to add as a little bit of flavor to a series with so many ongoing narratives. I do wanna highlight this bit of text from the bottom of his Paperpedia page (which has been auto-translated from Italian and might be a bit off):

I'm so incredibly intrigued by the analysis here because, if true, I wanna know whose idea it was to start referencing classical Luigi Pirandello literature in a Donald Duck comic. I'm not saying I don't want my duck comics to have commentary on media sensationalism and alienation, but I am saying that it's certainly unexpected. Still a welcome topic!

I used most of my image limit covering the main comic so I won't be able to add a lot about the bonus comic but I will say: WAHHH WAHHHH THIS IS THE LAST TRIP COMIC 😭😭😭 at least for a while anyways. There are the Trip's Strip comics but I haven't seen anyone translate those into English and they also start at like chapter 40 so

Is the Raider just fucking allergic to dressing normally like what's going on here. Also HAHA TRIP THOUGHT HIS DAD DIDN'T COME TO THE GAME BUT HE WAS ACTUALLY WATCHING THE WHOLE TIME, EVERYONE POINT AND LAUGH 🫵 YOUR DAD LOVES YOU HAHAHA LOSER

Goodbye Trip, my sweet summer child... my child who sucks so fucking bad. He's the worst I'm gonna miss him. And ummm see you later with more spooky Carl Barks!

[dervampireprince]

Same anon as in the chatbot ask!

I appreciate and admire your stance on AI; I’m working on a research project highlighting the harmful impacts of CAI and was really hoping you weren’t in support of the platform.

I’m frankly disturbed by how many creators I found bots scraped from with a quick scroll. I’m so sorry it happened to you, and equally sorry to have to bring it to your attention. I hope this is more of a one-off than a recurring issue.

Have a lovely evening, keep being cool :]

/gen /p

honestly it makes me feel almost violated.

i remember seeing a reddit thread where someone was like 'i joined a vtubers patreon and got in vc and said i use cai and they all told me i shouldn't use it' and all the comments were like 'theyre so toxic' 'they just dont understand' and guys... yes they probably did understand. if someone is making fun of you for being lonely or 'cringe' by using cai yeah they're being an asshole, but you are in the wrong for using cai. how do you think it generates writing and voices? by stealing the writing and voices from people.

i've seen cai users say the voice feature does 'feel' wrong as it's taking from real people, but none of them seem to know or want to acknowledge that the writing also steals from real people. generative writing like cai, chatbots, chatgpt, etc, have to get trained on something. and that something is real writing by non-consenting authors, ficwriters, journalists, anyone who writes anything online even someone's personal blog or tweets. even if you're making a chatbot for your own oc, and not someone else's character, the chats it generates your oc is taken from stolen writing.

as far as i can see there is no way to get my characters removed from cai. you can report voices being used without consent, but not writing.

this is what i found of my characters on cai, and it makes me really upset and uncomfotable.

they also took some of my art of ambrose and arden to use as the thumbnail and didn't credit me as the artist. even if they had credited me, i do not allow reposting of my art. also, no one in their lives has ever described arden as "smiley" (i'm not policing anyone's headcannons or imagination with that one, just pointing out something silly to lighten the mood so i don't have a complete meltdown).

yes i censored out the cai users name who made these chabots. please do not go and hunt them down, please do not go and find them or message them. especially as we don't know if they're a minor.

it seems to me a lot of minors use cai which is worrying as who knows what the chatbot could spit out regardless of safety measures they have in place. and i'm sorry anyone's so lonely they have to turn to cai only.. you don't have too. fanfic exists, rp communities exist, various online communities whether tumblr groups, discord servers, subreddits, are people still using amino? i mean if you're a minor you should be extra careful getting into online communities and talking to others online (and if you're a minor you shouldn't be following this blog) but like... imagination exists. try getting into creative writing?

idk when we did get so bored with imaginations we had to do this. you know what i did as as kid and there was no access to anything like this? i would copy and paste fanfics into microsoft word, find and replace one characters name with my own and boom you got yourself a self insert fic (note: these edited files were only ever kept on my pc, i never posted them anywhere). and there's soooooo many reader insert fics out there now, hell i literally make my own reader/listener inserts of my own characters, i'm not starving you for content out here. and i'm okay with people writing fanfic about my ocs or commissioning others to write you fanfics (my commissions aren't open).

thankfully i don't think my voice has been uploaded on there? i clicked the 'call' button to see what would happen and nothing did so i think that means there's no voice? or perhaps it doesn't work unless you make an account i don't know.

yeah sorry that became a longer rant. i don't know if more of my ocs are on cai, these are just the ones i found by searching my username in there. there could be other copies of my characters on there that don't credit me.

also a lot of character uploads use ai 'art' as their pictures which you know is also terrible and steals from artists.

and you're right, there's so many more characters taken from small creators and other VAs. i searched yuurivoice on there and got 50+ results of chatbots of his ocs AND ALSO OF HIM. please do not making cai's of real people that is so much worse than someone's oc, it's equally as bad on the stealing front but also so paraosocial. you do not know yuurivoice, you cannot get a bot to act like him as you do not know him or how he acts. watching a creators videos or streams does not mean you know anything about the real them, and especially does not mean you know them or are friends with them. found at least 5 for cardlin audios, some of his ocs and some of him. 6 for dark and twisted whispers ocs.

and if a creator gives you permission to make their oc into a chatbot... that doesn't make the chatbot okay. a creator can consent all you like, but the writers who's work was stolen to train that chatbot still didn't get to consent.

in the rare chance any cai user who's made chatbots of my characters on there sees this post: please delete them. please. you didn't get my consent for this. and you didn't get the consent of all the writers your chatbot was trained on. i don't think you're stupid or cringe for using cai, but you are contributing to generating ai content which is stealing from real humans and harming the environment.

[34saveme34]

so like w new years and all

it's funny because 2024 was truly the year of smg4 for me

I. don't remember anything else much that I did

never thought it would survive almost a year (I count myself in the fandom from You Used to be Cool's release) considering I've been having mostly 3-6 month lasting interests and then this one popped in and made me write again, and I do feel I have improved a lot, met a lot of cool people, saw a lot of drama happen, said some things that probably people didn't like (I know at least one person has me blocked, no I won't say who I don't wanna make drama out of it obvsly it's just a silly block moment), got weirdly obsessed with my own work in a way I didn't before, at least not to this extent

sometimes felt very included, sometimes not, that is just the way of Someone Like Me (I will not elaborate.)

but tbh it had been really fun n one of the first times in a while I'm in a more major fandom despite several people outside the fandom insisting that smg4 fell off

anyways if someone comes up to your for some reason n you want to argue I think the best thing to say to smg4 fell off is well, sometimes things fall out of popularity and that's okay, that won't define whether or not I'm here for it or not

also I bet they like worse media as well so they really shouldn't be one to judge, I think we all have our guilty pleasures

besides most of the time these ppl only complain because of the shift of focus that story became more important than random silly meme stupid

like if you're thinking about it you can really see the difference measured in in the amount of naked mario jokes

the less there is the more you go on to recent episodes

anyways this post isn't me saying goodbye, I've still got so much to do and despite how smg34 shippers (some of them) can make me feel (for various reasons) I still wanna do stuff with those 2 and everyone else the best I can

I've had a lot of ideas actually, 2 that are newer

one that has to do with 3, one that makes you feel Dread (tm), one marbob thing that's super silly, the absolute need to write an smg4 murder mystery

tbh w how much I wanna write I do sometimes like um........... think about collabing? I maybe only mentioned it once but would be real fun if a fellow writer wanted to help w anything (I can also absolutely help in return! like with for example being a beta reader to look out for mistakes, let it be grammatical or something plotwise) like Idk if anyone would like to or maybe they want to involve me in their own idea you can jsut like, message me on here or ask for my discord as I do have one

Idk I'm talking a lot now I always have a lot to say </3

[credulouscanidae]

not to sound like an influencer doing a sponsorship but man....hello/fresh has saved my life the last month

ive been giving it a go, and while the novelty has worn off a bit and im still battling some degree of executive dysfunction with cooking...i cannot even BEGIN to explain just how much it's helping me right now

i think the reason it works so well for me personally is that it eliminates every single hurdle i face when cooking. i get really overwhelmed at buying ingredients that may need to be used more than once (sauces, flavours etc) cuz i cant...plan out what meals i could use them for before they expire/perish.

also the idea of measuring things out, doing a lot of prep work and knowing exactly what to do adds to those little head blocks and it piles up to a feeling of impossibility etc.i waste so much money on perishables that expire and it's :/

so having pre-portioned ingredients, everything you have is what you need, has honestly given a spark back into cooking for me.

and i feel silly that i need this right now, cuz i should "just be able to cook" because i CAN cook. but the reality is that my depression and neurodivergence is quite uhhhhh life impacting at the moment. and ive gained so much weight, felt physically unhealthy/tired etc because i was at a stage where i could eat frozen pizzas and chips+pie or 2 min noodles every night. i started to crave fresh veggies and salads so badly, but i never bought them cuz they kept going off and theyre also very expensive ingredients for what they give me. same goes for flavours, where it can cost a lot for a bottle when you dont know if youre gonna finish it in time or like it etc, so you are less motivated to experiment with new flavours

this has been years and years of trying to eat better more consistently, and it seems that HF is finally something that is actually working for me.

a downside is that sometimes the cooking method is a bit inaccurate, but i also luckily have enough cooking skill to recognise and adapt it, so a lot of the cons to it hasnt been a dealbreaker for me yet.

again, ive probably just been riding some kinda high and man. i still feel extremely mentally ill lol, but i can feel the difference that a month of eating better has done for me. ive lost weight, have more energy, saved money (the meals are for 2 people so i get leftovers or 2 nights worth of food) and yeah....

i know this all sounds silly but even if it didnt save much money, i would pay that adhd tax because it's honestly changed my life for the better. not to mention ive also felt inspired to cook and i get to try new flavours which has also been cool! im not eating the same crap every night anymore.

just thought id...idk post some positivity for a change aaaaa

[kaz-playz]

HERE! HOUSTON!

dating/crushing on either Miami or New Orleans (or both she has two hands)

Favorite song for a lover would be sway by michael buble

A huge, shameless flirt. But only for her special person(s). And as a joke between her and her close friends.

Has tattoos. Idk what yet but I'll get back to you on that.

Florida absolutely loves her she's like his niece/ maybe DIL?????? Anyway, unstoppable duo

Rlly cool babysitter (ik the illiyork kids are wayy older than her irl but does it need to make sense if its silly!???)

Huge foodie. Knows all the best restaurants/ LOCALS that cook in every state. She knows the locals people.

Definitely wears sunglasses indoors

Never cooks like ever. And she's amazing at it too.

Texas still mourns his "innocent daughter" and damns Florida to hell for corrupting her every time she does smth chaotic.

She loves physical touch and is a snuggler. So when she climbs people expect neck nuzzles and sleepy texan. So cute.

Houstonians typically dont have a twang or drawl from my experience of 7 years living here but hers comes out with strong emotion or when she's tired.

Calls her dad by his name on the regular, but calls him "daddy🥺" or "papa🥺" when she wants something. And it works most of the time. She calls him "Dad" when she's angry or upset with him.

She's a powerful woman. Gov fears her.

Austin is often apologizing for her.

She takes advantage of Texas's papa bear thing a lot. When she doesn't want to deal with it, "PAPA!!!!" And usually that person gets threatened or beat up. She does handle shit herself mostly but our girl can be lazy once.

Definitely made sure her and Austin had the same amount of snack/drink as a kid and made sure Dallas had less. Like she would measure the liquid in the cup and take some of Dallas's to make it even between her and Austin.

When Dallas was too little to be an asshole, she enjoyed carrying him around to show him off and reading him bedtime stories. He was a cute baby.

Loves bracelets but has MAD sensory issues so she cant keep them on for lobg periods of time or she'll keep adjusting them and rubbing her wrist raw bcs its uncomfortable from all the shifting.

She cant wear fake metal earrings she's allergic (real)

She thinks Springfield IL is REALLYY annoying.

Thinks babies are the cutest thing ever. She's also good w kids so sidegig#2 our girls a babysitter.

Loves scented candles and has a huge hoard of them.

[iannageorge]

Can you talk a little more about Malcolm and Clarisse's side of the city security issue? I didn't quite understand the debate.

Loved this chapter! I have to admit, it's an annoyance to me when characters seem to forget all their responsibilities when in a sexual relationship while working together, so it was amazing to see Malcolm and Rhode do so much work (competence!). The pining was fun to read too. And poor Ainsleigh, I live in fear of being thought of by someone the way Malcolm thinks of her in this chapter. It's very realistic though, and I liked her interactions with Rhode.

First of all, thank you for this! ���

Second, are you the same Diana from years ago?! On FF.net? Or? IDK there could be so many Dianas!

Third, I relate to Ainsleigh so hard. I am so sure I've been in her position before. She's trying—in more ways than one. 🥺 I also wanted to show Malcolm's mean side! 😂 ('"That's kind of you." No, that's your job' was one of my favorite parts in the chapter lol.) But he also doesn't... understand... her motives. Because she's not incompetent.

Fourth, I can revisit the security thing to make sure it's clearer. For now:

Clarisse thinks it is silly not to take measures to prevent danger in New Athens. The example in the chapter is, well, what if there are "monsters" like empousai (assuming they were "good"—i.e., on the Olympians' side) who want to visit or live in New Athens? They should be allowed to, but should anyone be allowed to come? Anyone at all? Any monster or problematic god? Maybe not, right? How much danger would residents face if the city allows that? So, maybe the city should have border patrol.

Malcolm thinks it would be expensive to implement those measures, but then again, he also wants the city to be safe (the references to Soteria also hint at that). He thinks it would be dangerous and also expensive not to take any preventative measures and to just react to whatever havoc anyone wreaks upon the city. [FORGOT TO ADD SOMETHING: Basically, he's concerned about overpopulation, like if housing and healthcare can't keep up with the number of people living in the city. He's also cool with people's mortal families living there, but it of course can't be any mortal.]

Fifth, I'm glad you like the work/competence/responsibilities part! That was essential to me. ☺️ And I mean both Malcolm's and Rhode's separate work and their work together. Very clearly, they are both workaholics who care deeply about what they do, so I couldn't leave out their responsibilities. And very clearly, it is also because they're like that that they're drawn to each other.

[isa-ah]

Fuck it I'm foregoing the anon button

Same person from the previous 2 TOTK asks: putting Teba my beloved aside, yes: I was making the rounds on zeldatube after everything and I quite enjoyed the zonai theories and all, especially when they tied into the twili or something, but (and perhaps this is symptomatic of our current culture) I'm not a fan of theories becoming canon. Like I remember back in the day when the timeline was just a theory but Nintendo made it canon, along with the downfall timeline, yet know it seems to be irrelevant with the kind of stories they want to tell: so basically they trapped themselves into a corner

so with the zonai, while it's cool to expand upon them, it completely derails the previous culture and history. Are they ancestors to the shiekah? Are they a separate tribe? Who knows!

perhaps it would've been better if they had left the zonai untouched, like the kingdom of Ikana from majoras: there's so much history there (and woah the theories are intense when they interpet them as blasphemous beings shunned by the goddesses) but they aren't important to the main plot. I think Nintendo forgets that an npc, a background, can be just that without needing to expand upon it

THATS A FANTASTIC COMPARISON.. ikana is the PERFECT measure of "this is a land of DEEP blood soaked history, but you will only get the fringes of it. the remaining hostile spirits, the restless soldiers who dont know the wars over, the futility of it all when no one survived." and thats all they had to say! thats fantastic!

or likewise, the twili. i think they Should have gone more into the twili, but ultimately? the amount of information we got was just enough of a taste to leave an IMPACT. their structures, their culture, their subjugation by hyrule, the way their ancestors being ruthelessly punished has carved out the space they now occupy, down to their very beings... it MEANS something. its impactful! it stays with you. i still think about the twili now, and some of my silly headcanons i had as a kid, bc they did a Good Measure of implications, showing, and not telling.

ultimately i would have been fine with the zonai being left as they were. i had no expectation for them being ACTUALLY brought into totk like this- and its very obvious they had no expectation to either. i didnt particularly want confirmation for theories, but if they were going to use them, they could have at least Pretended to adhere to the scraps of worldbuilding theyd already done.

its less that they didnt conform to fan expectations, and more that they didnt conform to Anything and then refused to expand on it anyway. what was even the point? of using the zonai? beyond getting more attention because the fandom had cultivated their own interest in it. idk. it just feels like a cheap novelty; you could swap the zonai out for anything else and it would be just as congruent with our previous understanding of hyrule. thats bad writing!

[jellyfishjulie]

Packing up my office for the move prompted me to revisit some old books and I ended up buying a bunch of runnaways issues to fill out my collection (I only own like vol 5 thru the horrid joss wheden run rn) and man idk if it actually holds up or if I've got my nostalgia goggles on, but these comics REALLY very much do feel like a measuring stick for where marvel might have gone in a world without favreu's iron man. The vibe was young, it was edgy, it was experimental, it was such an odd mix of serious and silly, it was VERY queer, it was very fashion, the art was so confrontational and weird! It did NOT care if characters like cptn america or dr doom looked cool or not. It give zero credence to corporate nostalgia. It was so diametrically opposed to everything the mcu ended up doing ! and now all people remember of runnaways is that gawdawful cw show they did.............. Anyway. It made me really sad back then, makes me less sad now, still sad.

[strawberryseeded]

i spent the weekend watching various horror movies in netflix (my moms accnt obvs) cos i was too lazy to pir/ate anything. i watched uuh.. konferensen 2023 (it was fine, it was a good time), split 2016 (p good imo tho the superhuman angle was kinda silly to me. but it was interesting. solid. ending was a bit unsatisfying tbh? and the msg quite confusing? like i geddit, empowered victims.. but the kidnapper ended up becoming a perpetrator too? and the fl didnt shoot him in that crucial moment AND they also didnt show what she ended up doing abt her uncle. idk if the plan was 2 make a sequel but it all ended up coming off as.. pretty lukewarm..), the stepfather 2009 (nice. rly straight foward w the premise tho not super focused w its message.. like it was abt family but it gave too much focus to the protags gf? which i thought was a bit juvenile like we get it they are teens in love now lets get back to the dude trying to murder the whole family please.. also i kept thinking the story wud have been fun from the mothers perspective as well.. oh and a bit more bg & development for the killer wud hv been stellar), monster 2023 (indonesian) (plot was p standard (rly reminded me of that free ice cream horror flash game) but i rly liked it visually! rly cool scenography!! it almost had no dialogue & that was rly refreshing and interesting. it really didnt need any), and today i watched longlegs 2024 w my sister (which i did pirat/e)..uuuuummm... ok SPOILERS for longlegs

i rly liked the way it was filmed n the photography. also the music/sound dsgn. the time setting was confusing as hell for me tho?? like idk im not usamerican but the story supossedly took place in the 2000s but it all looked like the 70s to me???? and there are big differences between the 2 eras its not like im THAT period blind. the only scene i thought oh yeah theres no way this is the 70s is a scene in which you can see computers in the bg but anyways. the movie.

it started off GREAT. very eerie.. i had no clue abt the plot or anything btw i went into it completely blind.. so i had no idea if the movie was going for a realistic angle or a more supernatural angle. it rly reminded me of it follows 2014 not bc the fl was played by the same actress (it was) but bc everything that was happening seemed not quite real. like a dream. i loved that..

so ok. its p clear from the beginning that something is p weird (supernatural weird) abt this whole thing. the fl makes my suspicions grow bc shes some sort pf psychic so i though ok the killer is def some kind of hypnotist. i was wrong tho, whatever. lets skip a lot of stuff. plot twist it was the devil all along. i felt kinda silly bc im usually p good/fast understanding movies (esp this type of movies) but i was so confused by the end of this.. i was like huh.. wait what do you mean the devil is real in this story. it was rly easy to catch onto that btw i was just still expecting a psychic weirdo killer angle idk maybe i liked that idea more deep down lol? but it wasnt so my sister was like dude are you serious the devil was right there in one scene and i was like what. she went back to that scene. the devil was right there. oh ok. wait then what about the scene in which the mother shoots the dolls head why did she do that if the deal wasnt over. and what about the surviving victim why did she kill herself after the ball was out of the dolls head. oh god i almost forgot what abt the chief(?)s (no ok i literally cnt remember either his name nor job title im so sorry. yanno lees boss) did not even ONCE say smt like "oh hey my daughter has the same age n bd date than all the other daughters from the victim families. thats peculiar. lets take some measures maybe?" like forget that last part, why wasnt this even BROUGHT UP. another ridiculous thing abt this was the "birthday party" lee was invited to if thats even what you can call it.. most of the movie i was waiting for an actual party, with lots of people (STAKES, yknow?) but lee was literally the only person invited apparently?? what was up w that. also why didnt the fl shoot the dolls head at the bd party in the first place why did she wait until the dad started killing ppl. also the deal was supposed to end with the 13th victim i think so why did the mother say she will keep killing. me & my sister concluded well idk lets sleep on it i guess. yeah.

overall enjoyable and interesting, but i feel like the plot-twist reveal and the ending were a bit idk rushed?? like ill be quite honest i didnt feel anything abt the mother being the accomplice???? it was good in concept but was a bit lacking in execution.. like. why shud i even care.

[oliveroctavius]

idk if its an accurate word since it's not usually intentional, but how do you feel about the queer coding with Eel's gender? (especially in the 2018 comic)

to steal someone else's joke phrasing that puts it well:

I... have complex feelings on the 2018 solo's writing overall. I think my final thesis is: The character decisions were cool enough, but 2018 Plas misses out on some SUPER interesting possibilities by ignoring so much of original Plastic Man's lore.

I hope you sent this ask expecting an essay because you're getting one under the cut. Contains musings on the nature of comedy, "passing", and comics-typical transphobia.

~ ~ ~

I'm going to start with gendered attraction instead of presentation—I think it explains some things.

"The noble chaste hero gets a funny horny sidekick" is an old trope. OG Plas was the neutral hero. He seems actively scared of flirtation.

IIRC his only on-panel kiss is when he lets a lady who electrocutes via kiss power catch him, in order to defeat her (PC #100).

(Including these panels just because they're gorgeously rendered.)

The JLA writes him Like That because they'd decided he was the Horny Sidekick now. This ran into creepy-guy-threatening-women territory quick. 2018 Plas being the bouncer (get it?) at a strip club feels like both a continuation and direct rebuttal to that characterization.

Is there a hard line between queer coding and comedy-driven sexuality?

Comedy often works via expectation/setup -> subversion/punchline. Gender and sexuality standards are a kind of setup. (A man would enjoy attention from a pretty woman. A man would rather not see the Riddler in a thong.) Implied asexuality or bisexuality is then a subversion, a punchline.

I'd say it's on a sliding scale. Mockery wants you to laugh, because the subversion is impossible or unnatural. Earnest representation wants you to nod, because the subversion is possible and acceptable.

Bisexual Plas is in the spirit of the original, somewhere on that sincerity scale. Did I mention an off-panel golden age kiss?

Also, Plas and Woozy lived together and slept in Bert & Ernie beds. Listen: Woozy is a whole pile of transgressions you're supposed to find funny. If you're going for bisexual Plas, why not make him like Woozy and retroactively validate some of those jokes as possible states of being? Just sayin'.

Right, right. Gender. I'm guessing you're thinking of is the parallel drawn between Plas and the explicitly trans kiddo Pado Swakatoon. Seeing the Suave Prince of Pine Street boldly claim such a seemingly silly identity makes Eel decide to embrace Plastic Man.

So I'm disappointed that they dropped something that could make the trans parallel explicit: OG Plastic Man wasn't just Eel in shades. He created a new, permanent face and body for himself both as an expression of identity and a protective measure. Being "outed"--even though he has not physically been Eel for years at that point--nearly loses him friends, his job, and his freedom.

All 2018 Eel is really considering changing is his moral compass. With little else at stake, the parallel feels weaker.

The pressure to "pass" is an (unintentional) theme written all over pre-DCverse Plastic Man. Explicitly related to gender, even: the meanspirited man-in-dress jokes were rarely targeted at Plas even though his job included missions in girlmode.

If a joke is the gap between expectation/reality, "passing" is meeting enough expectations to close that gap. Plas fits the mold enough to dodge most of the 1940s otherwise rampant transmisogyny.

But passing as female is dangerous, too. When Plas takes a woman's place, he's usually trying to act as a lightning rod to a threat targeting her. That's another reason I love the "bouncer for a strip club" thing. They could push his identification with the dancers even further. Skimpy costume, dubiously legal night job, talented physical performer whose intelligence is often underestimated and whose secondary identity puts them at risk for violence...

It's odd. The 2018 series only has Plas take on other forms partially, momentarily, and usually just as a punchline. Passing as other people or innocuous objects to go places unaccosted is usually an entire pillar of his shtick.

When people "clock" him, they tend to shout something like "That's not a table! It's Plastic Man!" But if he's shaped like a table, and acting as a table, it would be just as accurate to say "Plastic Man is a table now" until he resumes his "normal" form. He can be one thing today and another thing tomorrow and all of those things for real.

Your ask uses the word "queer". That word shows up in the oldest comics in its original meaning: out-of-the-ordinary. Those who self-identify as "genderqueer" often do so because they'd rather not define themselves in relation to male or female-ness. "Passing" only has meaning if your goal is to be seen as one of the Expected Categories. What if you're something entirely unexpected?

(At this point I'm just kind of adding vaguely relevant panels to break up my wall of text. Thank you, 70s Plas.)

2018 Plas does briefly turn into Wonder Woman. I don't really know why he does this? Did he want to get tackled? Either way, he talks like Plas Doing A Parody--this isn't really a form he's trying to own.

Later he turns into Harley Quinn, mostly. The artist later apologized for adding serious crotch bulge to how she normally draws Harley. Which could be based, but the "transgression" lasts for just one absurdist sexed-up panel.

Plastic Man is the character it makes least sense to trot out the "men can only ever parody female-ness" jokes on. He doesn't even have toes—what's inside this man's Speedo is a state of perpetual quantum uncertainty.

I love Pado Swakatoon being included in the 2018 comic. But Pado's transition, rejecting identity A, preferring identity B, probably isn't the best lens for reading Eel. Transition doesn't have to be a straight line to a fixed destination; it's slipperier than that.

I'd argue "being Plastic Man" isn't a goal identity; he's just a conveniently safe default for someone who can be anyone. He's more defined his ability and enjoyment of change: the joy of self-determination without boundaries. The joy of being able to change one's mind at any time for any trivial reason. Because it can be helpful, because it can be fun, and because it can be him, all of it.