#if you win you get 1 cosmic fragment

[mr-moonfucker]

konichiwa, akivili. now THIS is the last stop, bitch boy. empty the compartments of your pantaloons :3

[maxwell-grant]

Only one of his at least 5 identities was a straight-up FF villain, but that story was iconic and also he's tied to them by blood, so. Thoughts on Kang? Please don't just talk about how the MCU handled him.

I'm not gonna talk about the MCU at all actually, but Kang was a colossally stupid idea for a next big bad/Thanos from the get-go, he is just not great villain material. The issue with Kang, besides the time travel variant bullshit complications that have their uses but are clearly a major factor against his viability as a villain (and besides him being overwhelmingly a classic Avengers villain and classic Avengers being overwhelmingly boring), is that everything is too utilitarian with him. His core concept makes it so that either he wins too easily, because he has literally all the time and resources he could possibly need to win, or he loses despite having all the time and resources he could possibly need to win, which makes him a colossal loser. He has all-powerful resources and is kinda inevitably fated to win, and is still a chump loser who is also inevitably fated to lose and become an even more boring person at the end.

Nothing Kang does matters, because all of his victories are cheating, and everything he does can be erased and retconned away with another time jump, and so he's forever stuck between anti-climactic boring victories in a vacuum, because he can bend time, and being a chump, because that's what you are if you're bending time and still losing. I heard Kang described as the cosmic equivalent of a bored rich white hunter who goes to hunt animals in nature preserves just because he can, except the animals are constantly kicking his ass, and that's really fun, that's a good character to have around, but that's not really thrilling big bad material.

I think Kang works fine in his current role as someone who will never materially be a big deal supervillain, in a world where Doctor Doom exists, but is powerful and far-reaching and full of enough potentially interesting bullshit that you can pin stuff on him. Not at all an exciting villain to put big stuff in, but as some horrible guy everyone has to deal with, Father Time as a pompous punchable and horribly petty supervillain who can always make a situation cosmically volatile by showing up, is a thing you can bounce good stuff out of in 1-to-1 character interactions, even with himself.

The very things he has going for him as a character make him suck if you try and make him the main threat to take down, but he's good connective tissue and a decent interim villain and a nice fixed quantity to pin dynamics around, and every direction you can take his character is covered by an alternate identity he has, which are essentially different characters, and that can be interesting too, having a time traveling villain fragmented enough that he can sit on a circle with versions of himself at potentially different points of his life and they will be essentially different characters, that kind of stuff is pretty interesting to me.

To me he's like Apocalypse, in the sense that he's really only interesting to me as a character who exists in this world and not so much as a villain, but at least as a villain Apocalypse says and does cool sick shit on occasion, where as Kang, despite some efforts (I did like his solo mini), ultimately only interesting for what he brings out of others. Which can be good, again I do like him somewhat, I think his existence as a major player/threat the Avengers have to deal with is perfectly justified, but he is an Avengers problem largely because he's not good enough to be a Fantastic Four problem, hence why, as Kang the Conqueror, he is consigned to a suitably mediocre existence, as the number two time-traveling supervillain of the world.

[sampatico]

I’ve decided that Erik in the movie production of Phantom of the Opera is an eldritch monstrosity that was cast out of the stars and made a pocket dimension under the opera house, to account for ;

1) the hands coming out of the walls

2) the random? Fucking horse?

3) the lit candles ascending from the pools of water under the Opera Populaire

Also, the catastrophe that was his dungeon after eons of bed rotting and slaving away at his maximum opus just makes way too much sense. Cosmic divinity straight up sewn into Don Juan Triumphant like impossible-to-replicate embroidery while ignoring every other fragment of reality surrounding him until he hears the voice of Daae.

When he got evicted from space he was just really weak man and when you get fired from a job like that things can get depressing. Thats just how it is bro.

In my au— Erik wins over Christine because that is cosmic horror for you.

In the end, there is no escaping the music of the night.

[mach-speed-spin]

oh yeah, thing i've been slightly curious about since i never finished metal fusion or even mfb as a whole- what IS ryuga's whole deal anyway? like what was that guy's problem is he just Like That or is there somethin else goin on with him

In short: Ryuga's actions weren't his own. L-Drago (who is an amalgamation of the souls of the most evil humans in history) was using him as a vessel, and he spends the following 2 seasons trying to get revenge on Doji

Long version: The first beys ever created were from an island kingdom in the South Pacific. The king, Hades, made a bey out of a meteorite that had passed through the Black Sun. (the physical manifestation of cosmic evil). The king was then possessed by the bey (Proto Nemesis) and attempted to destroy the world (this is based on the Nemesis Hypothesis, a real life attempted explanation for several of Earth's mass extinctions). Zeus, the ruler of a neighboring kingdom, with the help of 4 other bladers, went on to fight Hades. They battles long and hard, and just when it seemed Hades would win, the Earth itself swallowed him and sealed Nemesis away. With his final breath, Hades laid a curse to make sure he would reawaken eventually

Doji was part of a cult trying to bring back Nemesis, believing that humanity's continued existence was an act of defiance against fate. Doji grew tired of waiting, so he sought out Ryuga (who in the manga was a dormant emperor of a long-gone dragon clan) to control Lightning L-Drago. Lightning L-Drago was created as one of the earliest beys, and was generally used by evil tyrants. L-Drago absorbed part of each user's soul, growing into the embodiment of humanity's greatest evils. During Fusion, Ryuga was controlled by L-Drago. L-Drago's influence grew stronger the more powerful he became, and he eventually turned on Doji. When Ryuga tried to resist, L-Drago entered his body and started transforming him into a dragon-human hybrid. He was freed from its control during Fusion's finale

During season 2, Tsubasa has been infected with a small fragment of L-Drago (which manifests as an evil version of himself in his mind). Once the main characters realize what is going on, they send Hyoma to find Ryuga and ask for his help. Ryuga had at this point overcome L-Drago's evil by sheer willpower. Ryuga goes to Tsubasa (who is on a rampage on an Italian guy's backyard) and basically tells him "don't fight it. The dark power brings out the worst parts of you, but rejecting it makes it stronger." He then picks up Tsubasa's unconscious body and delivers him to Gingka. Gingka, confused, challenged him to a battle. There, Ryuga gives him some advice about being one with your bey and leaves. Tsubasa accepts his darkness as a part of him, thus overcoming it

Ryuga takes up a life of walking around the wilderness indefinitely. Then some bladers try to capture him and he beats their asses. He learns that they had been sent by Dr. Ziggurat, Doji's former employer (and part of the Nemesis cult). Ryuga is pissed at Ziggurat because he blames them for L-Drago. He fights on Gingka's team in the world championship finals (as half of Gingka's team was hospitalized at the time). Turns out that Ziggurat was using the world championships to conduct research on beys so he could create Twisted Tempo to power the Spiral Core (think of a nuclear reactor but powered by a black hole. Just turning it on created a desert in New York). Ryuga, pissed, tried to destroy the Spiral Core, but simply causes a meltdown (which threatens to destroy the planet). He then, alongside Gingka, yeet it into space so it can detonate away from everybody

This explosion fulfills the prophecy of Nemesis' return (which involved "a bright light shined in the heavens," which a nuke counts as). A star fragment comes down to Earth, but it splits into 10 parts. 1 part goes to Nemesis, and the other go to 9 Legendary Bladers. These bladers are the descendants of the original bladers who fought Nemesis (representing Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn), as well as 4 bladers to represent Earth's 4 seasons (spring, summer, autumn, and winter). The Four Seasons Bladers have the power to create Zeus's Barrier, which is the only known power capable of defeating Nemesis. Ryuga is the Blader of Summer

Ryuga decided he's going to 1v1 Nemesis because fuck teamwork. Kenta decides to follow him around until he convinces Ryuga to help. What follows is Kenta unknowingly undergoing the same training as Ryuga (which mainly consists of walking through deserts, mountains, jungles, etc.). Ryuga says that if Kenta can make himself be taken seriously by Ryuga, he'll join Gingka. Ryuga and Kenta then have their own side adventures, including a battle with Tsubasa at the Tower of Babel. Ryuga encounters the rest of the main cast at the Beyster Island Tournament, where he says he wants to absorb the power of all the Legendary Bladers because fuck 'em, however he's stopped by Kenta (who he's grown to respect). Kenta actually manages to crack L-Drago's facebolt during a battle, which is when Ryuga, even if he doesn't admit it at the time, started taking Kenta seriously

Ryuga and Kenta show up when Nemesis is revived. However, Doji's back and being a dick. Ryuga, rather than help form Zeus's Barrier, breaks formation and tries to 1v1 Nemesis to prove a point to Doji (that Ryuga is truly the strongest blader to ever live). The temple they're fighting in collapses. Everyone escapes, but Kenta is separated from Ryuga

Nemesis goes to the Lost Kingdom of King Hades, which it raises from the bottom of the ocean. Everyone heads there to battle Nemesis before he calls the Black Sun to Earth. Ryuga is the first to arrive, and 1v1's Nemesis. He kills Doji in the process (he blasts him off a cliff. Doji's body dies, but Merci the French computer rescues him and uploads Doji's mind to a computer. Don't worry, Doji dies for real in season 4). Ryuga puts up a decent fight, but Nemesis beats him and puts him on the brink of death. When Kenta and everyone else arrives, it's too late. Zeus's Barrier can no longer be made since one of the 4 bladers required is missing. Still, they fight Nemesis, and unlike the first time, don't get their asses handed to them almost immediately (though they are on the losing end). Ryuga uses the last of his power to give Kenta the piece of the star fragment in L-Drago. Ryuga says that Kenta managed to be taken seriously. Then Ryuga dies. Kenta, now with Ryuga's power, manages to turn the tides of the battle, and eventually win

[neveralarch]

I'm out of town for a wedding and briefly have no responsibilities, so I played this game where you make a playlist of all of the songs you stole fic titles from. The fun part for me is that I almost never do this, so there's only 18 + 1 songs over 7 years. There's also a BIG chunk of The Builders and the Butchers, because I made a good faith effort to name every single Welcome to Nightvale fic after their music.

This was a LOT of fun, highly recommend doing it. I want to hear other people's weird playlists! If you don't have access to Spotify I suggest youtube maybe? Song list and liner notes under the cut! Song title links to the fic it namesook.

1. Anonanimal by Andrew Bird Hold on just a second, don't tell me this one, you know, I know this one, I know this song, I know this one, I love this song I tend to name fics with odd catchy words and phrases, and this chorus sticks in my head like nothing else. 2. The End of the Over by The Duckworth Lewis Method The end of the over / The over is ending / The end of the end of the over is over In my head, this is the title to the fic about space cricket because this is a song about cricket from an album about cricket by a band named after cricket. But, no, this is the fic about Five having really inadvisable revenge/remorse sex with the Master - the cricket fic is Professional Foul, which isn't from a song at all. 3. The Very Model of a Modern Major General by Gilbert and Sullivan This is the easiest fic I've ever titled. 4. Summer in the City by Lovin' Spoonful Come-on come-on and dance all night, despite the heat it'll be alright This is the best title I've ever come up with, and I don't think anyone ever got the joke. But I knew. I knew. 5. Blood Gets Thin by Pete and the Pirates She behaves like she's on fire / On her tip-toes reach up higher / And if the doctor can't do tricks / You can use your normal fix This is another clever title that I think was born out of complete desperation to find a title, any title. I also absolutely couldn't remember what song I'd mined, since it was such a small fragment of a lyric, but fortunately it came to me right before I was going to post this. 6. I Want a New Duck by Weird Al Yankovic I want a new duck / Not a swan or a goose / Just a drake I can dress real cute / Think I'm gonna name him Bruce I just think it's fate that I wrote a fic about Bruce Banner turning into a duck, and Weird Al had already written its themesong. 7. The Night Pt 2 by The Builders and the Butchers It's a harder way to heaven on the rope you swing / and the night ain't filled with gentle things I started getting really into The Builders and the Butchers and Welcome to Nightvale at almost exactly the same time, and they really really fit together. 8. Red Hands by The Builders and the Butchers I was dreaming restless / And you were thinking of the rest I've actually used this song twice - the title of this Wimsey fic is also copped from here. 9. The Night Pt 1 by The Builders and the Butchers Your heart is in my pocket / and there's a lie inside my hand I managed to mishear this line in two different ways, which made it hard to figure out which particular song inspired the fic title. 10. Without Me by Eminem So let me just revel and bask / In the fact that I got everyone kissing my *** / And it's a disaster such a catastrophe / For you to see so damn much of my *** you ask for me? This is a podfic, so technically the original author chose Eminem, not me. But I'm happy to add the radio edit version to my playlist, for reasons that will be obvious if you listen the podfic. (There's also a linked clip of me swearing for ten seconds, which @einzwitterion recently played for her husband. My legacy.) 11. Find Me in the Air by The Builders and the Butchers You waited your whole life, said you're looking on for something / You look so hard and you never find nothing / and the chances run like sand through your hands 12. Black Elevator by The Builders and the Butchers And the cables break / You're sinking to the ground / No one here knows your name / And you won't be coming home The last of the great string of Builders and Butchers fic titles. Man, I miss how easy this was. 13. Team the Best Team by Doomtree Who want it more? It’s already yours It's really easy to tell when I integrated into the Twin Cities music scene. 14. Bad Moon Rising by Credence Clearwater Revival I hope you got your things together / I hope you are quite prepared to die This was on one of the greatest Teen Wolf fanmixes of all time, not an easy category to win. So I used it to title my niche Mountain Goats fic. 15. Take a Break by Lin-Manuel Miranda When the night gets dark / Take a break As a member of fandom in 2015, I was contractually obligated to use a Hamilton lyric as a fic title. 16. Ice on the Dune by Empire of the Sun I’ve been reaching all out darling / And I can’t operate now Tim Lincecum has used some weird stuff for his walk-up music. 17. Alle Jahre Wieder Kehrt mit seinem Segen / ein in jedes Haus / geht auf allen Wegen / mit uns ein und aus. I should title more fics with rough translations of German songs. So easy! So meaningful! 18. Open Your Eyes by STRFKR Open your eyes / Squeezing the palm of my hand / In these bodies, we are alone If I ever make a melodramatic true and forever OTP mix for Johannes Cabal and Zarenyia it will just be this song ten times in a row. I literally keep pasting different pieces of the lyrics into this section and then deleting them, I feel like I'm seventeen again and discovering that Mumford and Sons songs are really about Doctor/Master. Bonus track: What's Up? by 4 Non Blondes And I try, oh my god do I try The title of this fic is invented, and tbh is one of the best lines I've ever come up with and I think about it all the time. But the summary is straight up lifted from this song. Honorable mentions: I was convinced that Cosmic Galacticans was from a Bowie song, but apparently I made it up. Operator, Operator is from a toy switchboard my great-grandmother owned, which would say 'Operator, operator!' in a very scratchy voice when you turned the crank.

[myupostsheadcanons]

Dissecting Predictions I made in S4 (Dec/January 2018).... Or: How I guessed most of what was going to happen

Vrepit Sa: Waking up the Past.

The salute likely started off as a “cry for help” from what ever fragment left of Zarkon’s old self that is rattling around the back of his brain screaming at the brick wall at what had been going on. The Salute is a language nod by the writers of the show, it means “Wake Up” in Romanian. (Was he trying to tell Honerva to wake up?)

This turned out not the case. Even if the meaning of the salute in our language means one thing. The Salute in the Galra Empire meant “killing thrust” and a homage to a great battle that was won in the distant past.

Their abrupt personality change after waking from death and their total focus on gaining power and more quintessence brought forth the popular theory that the original personalities of Zarkon and Honerva are not in control. There are aspects of their original personalizes that are active, but with several of their negative traits amplified in intensity.

This is confirmed. As it is shown the dark creatures did in fact infect their bodies and change their wants/desires. We see this when Pre-Rift Ghost Zarkon is revived in the Spirit Realm, and grief over learning what had transpired between his death and being revived. His memories were frozen since his death resurrection as he was aware of what he had done up until that point.

What would cause them to and/or how would they wake up? That is up in the air.

The Zarkon that was possessed died and was basically reset with a backup from the spirit realm. Haggar went to Oriande....

“Why should they wake up?” is another question entirely. We’ve seen the “bigger bad” the creature that is part of or is the thing controlling their actions. With the introduction of their past, their previous personalities, and the creature from the rift: Zarkon and Haggar went from being straight-up the villains of the show to “antagonists only because we have no choice but to be.” This sticks them on a path that means they could be redeemed. Zarkon as the “fallen hero” and Haggar is the “atoner.”

While we have seen the rift creature return, it was in its smaller pieces. it was being used by Honerva to control the other Alteans rather than be the end-game villain.

And to go back on parallels in the story, because it was Honerva’s actions that caused Zarkon to risk their lives and the lives of billions to save her. It is likely going to mean that Haggar is going to be the one to “wake up” as Honerva first and save Zarkon from the path that he was set upon.

Kind of true. Zarkon died, so was stopped that way. Honerva did manage to “save him” in a sense that she had his uncorrupted spirit on back up in the mind-scape that did come back and help put an end to HER path of destruction.

Another thing is ‘What is going to happen after they wake up?”  Which can be broken down onto several paths and some paths can overlap:

1) They die closing the rift, destroying the rift-creatures, and saving not just their universe but the multiverse. Correcting their mistakes of the past.

The most straightforward ending, tbh. With the fewest loose ends.*** (more below)

This.... is basically what happened. yay me.

2) Allura and Keith, they are going to need help.

Allura has nobody that can help her with her powers. Alfor already stated that Honerva was the better alchemist than he was. Allura has the raw power, but not as fine control; Honerva has control, but not as much power. Honerva is also the only adult female Altean left from her era that has any knowledge about Quintessence. Allura  has to go to another universe to find any more Alteans.

And Keith is still having problems accepting command and if Shiro finally does “leave”… who else would there be to help Keith with the Black Lion?  Keith, in the end, is meant to be the better Black pilot than Shiro, and Shiro is flatly overwhelmed sometimes by how many powers Black still can unlock. Just think about how far advanced Shiro would have gotten if Zarkon wasn’t sabotaging him the entire time. Then of Keith being helped rather than hindered by that same force.

This was basically addressed in seasons 5-7. As we are introduced to Oriande and Keith spends over two-years with his mother Krolia. I basically forgot Krolia was going to be a thing when i wrote this post.

In the end all the old paladins returned to help the team. And, Shiro’s experience in the spirit realm helped them greatly when it came to connecting with Voltron and later with Haggar’s Mind.

3) Lotor kills them.

This can happen in a few ways:

-Lotor becomes corrupted by the Rift Monster around the same time Zarkon and Haggar become un-corrupted. They all go down together.

ALMOST. But rather than stop the rift creatures, it was to restore the multiverse that Honerva destroyed just because she couldn’t get her way. 

-Lotor has plans to destroy Voltron, the Rift Monster, and His Parents: taking out everybody in his way to sitting on the top of the shit pile.  If Zarkon and Honerva wake up and switch sides to help Voltron in their fight against the Rift Monster: that is only causing more of a problem for him… He pretends to be playing along only to stab them in the back, literally.

Didn’t happen. But Lotor’s goal of destroying the Galra and reviving Altea was later taken up by Haggar. So his motivations were rather clear. And he did become corrupted and died in the rift.

-Lotor can’t handle the abrupt change. He only remembered them being good and loving, but because he had spent so much time in the darkness becoming a snake-in-the-grass to just survive, their personality change creates a different conflict of interests. They don’t agree with how he does things underhandedly, which is brings him back to square one (they didn’t agree with him when they were evil, now they don’t agree with him now that they are better).

This can be exacerbated by if Zarkon and Honerva have to help out Keith and Allura. It would be plain jealousy on his part. That his redeemed parents are acting more parent-like to total strangers and inadvertently pushing him aside in the process.

Most of this is garbage. I meant to say “he never remembered them being good and loving”... but this was a very long post and i don’t have a proof reader.

Allura turned out to be quite the Knight Templar. And while her “holier than thou” attitude burned bridges with Lotor: she was able to convince Honerva to sacrifice themselves to hit the cosmic reset button.

I was making wild guesses as to what could happen at this point ... which explains the next segment:

4)  They stick around to fix the Galra Empire from the top down.

AKA: The Rainbows and Sunshine ending, or The Galra Christmas Carol. A complete subversion of what happened in GoLion and DOTU to the characters (they all died like the assholes they where). I mean, if you go by Voltron 3D Zarkon was pretending to be good for a while to save his skin. If he actually did become good, stay good, and survived that would be a slight nod to that plot line. I mean, they did borrow the Quintessence thing from the “haggarium” plot line that Voltron Force’s Lotor had.

It would’ve been nice... but wishful thinking.

“Classic Story Conventions” dictate that the First option must happen to end their story. And at the same time, it is kind of boring, over used, and everybody sees it coming from a mile away.

Yep. 

And the problem with taking out Zarkon, Honerva, and Lotor out of the story all at the same time would leave the Galra leaderless. They have spent the past 10K years at war, everybody with any claim to a piece of the Empire is Militaristic and thus would create a great Civil War with the massive power vacuum. It is why Haggar stuck Lotor on the throne in the first place, he had the most legitimate claim as Zarkon never disowned him even if they didn’t like each other and Lotor got kicked out.

This is exactly what happened. Before we even knew what a Kral Zera was. This was what was going to happen.

***Now at the same time, Lotor’s kind of a dick. He’s going to have a lot of problems if he has to fix the empire by himself, or with too much non-Galra outside help. The closest he could get is if the Blade of Mamora step up and get inserted into key command positions. Between the Blade and if he can win back his General Squad, he could have a solid power base and a buffer between him and all the zealots that exist in the current Galra chain of command. His reputation would need to be carefully maintained. As in he can’t pull off something he did with Throk… he can’t just send every Commander, General, and Captain that he disagrees with out to the asshole of the universe, and he definitely can’t just kill them: That would be worse when you are trying to keep an Empire from falling apart. He needs to be seen as merciful and fair, and not just pretend to be. He will chafe and squirm if he has to play the goodly but stern ruler for the rest of his days.

Lotor was pretending to care. And look at what that got him. But if he did everything the way he should have, we wouldn’t have had conflict in the first place.

Do you know who wouldn’t chafe and squirm under the reins and actually want to act as the goodly but stern ruler? An un-corrupted Zarkon desperate to fix what he created within the Galra Empire. Zarkon also has a lot of clout he doesn’t have to work for to get. “Just because I say so,” works much easier with him than if Lotor was in charge. He’s already got the reputation of being a hard-ass, if he wanted to replace his entire command staff on a whim few people will argue about it, nor challenge him on the issue. 

If only.

Also think about what kind of chaos would happen when all the quintessence-powered machinery suddenly stopped working? It would be a massive scaling back of military might in seconds and riots will erupt everywhere. Without some kind of centralized command center rogue factions will quickly overrun the Galra bases and what is going to stop these people from just murdering their captors? The Galra command will have to work in tandem with Voltron and Alliance in order to prevent/stop these insurgent forces from causing mass panic and spilling Galra blood in the streets.

This is what was going on. The Voltron Coalition’s plan before Honerva derailed it was to stop the Galra from fighting and conquering among themselves. But because Voltron and Lotor vanished for 3 years, they were not around to prevent it from happening.

Part of the current arc of the series is to get others (and the audience) to see the Galra as people and to show that there are Galra willing to fight against the corruption in their government. But, prejudices and the idea of “privilege” still persist and most Galra in command are still asshats that need a someone to grab them by the bootstraps and make them fall in line. Lotor isn’t going to be able to do that.

It also helps that the Galra Command basically killed themselves. Not withstanding that Haggar gathered them all together at a Kral Zera and murdered them.

The ultimate goal is to dissolve the Empire into a Republic or Democracy and scale back their territory so the local residents will be in control of their own systems. The process will have to involve finding the Galra a new home planet and a territory to call their own. They are currently spread out all over the universe, living on other people’s planets, in other people’s territories, or on base-ships in massive flotillas out in the middle of space. A lot of what spurred the Galra to rise up and fight the war was because they lost their home, they could have stopped after Altea was destroyed if they were just out after revenge, but they didn’t. Revenge didn’t fix the fact that they were now migratory and most of their society was now living on warships or on other planets as refugees. It even took the Blade of Mamora a while to go “Oh, hey, this is stupid and pointless.” before they broke off to do their own thing.

A Few THINGS:

The Empire was dissolved into a Republic/Democracy. After the command offered to give it to Keith first and he refused it.

With the cosmic reset button Daibazaal and Altea were restored. So the Galra have a home again.

Kolivan and Krolia, leaders of the Blade, are basically their President and VP now.

Food for thought.

< / meta >

GO ME. I could’ve practically wrote this show.

[navek15]

This needs to be said.

Hello, everyone! Now, I know I talked about my opinion of Secret Empire #0 on the first entry of my planned weekly blog, Comics are Awesome! But there is one thing I neglected to mention in that entry that the internet has gone insane over. And really, this is yet again another case of everybody losing their shit without even thinking about for a second. At the very beginning of the issue, we had a flashback to 1945 with Hydra-Steve meeting in secret with Daniel Whitehall AKA The Kraken. The main implication was that the reality of the main Marvel Universe was that Hydra actually won WWII and the Allies invented the Cosmic Cube to rewrite reality and make it so that the Allies won. And then everyone on the internet lost their shit...again. You know, there’s only so times that can happen before it stops being funny just becomes sad. Now, if you are one of those people who are pissed at the implication that the 70 plus years of Marvel Comics continuity has been null and voided by this revelation, I implore you to think back to when Captain America: Steve Rogers #1 came out and how so many ‘fans’ were offended when Steve said “Hail Hydra.” But then, Issue 2 came out and revealed that Kobik (a sentient god-child created by cosmic cube fragments) rewrote Steve’s mind when she restored his youth. And in every issue of Captain America: Steve Rogers, we’ve been treated to flashbacks that show Steve’s rewritten memories to explain his actions in present day. And that’s what the opening pages of Secret Empire #0 are. Just another flashback of false memories. Hell, they even explain the rewriting in the previously on segment in the goddamn issue!!!!! And before anyone points out about Elisa Sinclair being the new Madame Hydra and Baron Zemo siding with Steve like in the flashbacks; 1). These flashbacks were created by Kobik, so Elisa is probably a byproduct of her screwing with reality. 2). Zemo is obviously playing the long game and just acting like he believes the false memories Steve told him of so he can betray him later. What’s my point in all of this? That I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so sick of idiots getting pissed off at stuff they really shouldn’t be pissed off at. Let me state something plain and simple for you overreacting dimwits. Steve Rogers has not secretly been a member of Hydra for 70 years. He just thinks he is. Hydra did not win WWII. Those are just more false memories that Hydra-Steve is using to justify his present day actions. You know, this reminds of Batman and Robin Eternal #1, where it was implied that Batman shot two parents to death in front of their young child just like his parents were killed. And yet, there was no writhing legion of Batfans screaming that DC ruined Batman’s character. How that’s offensive and goes against everything Batman stands for. Why, because they knew that Batman would never willingly do that ever. So why does Batman shooting two people to death get off scot free while Captain America saying Hail Hydra breaks the internet? I am just so sicked and tired of this crap. Hell, even my favorite comic reviewer Lewis Lovhaug AKA Linkara has fallen into this. You know, this why comic books have been stigmatized even to this day. It’s not stuff like Hydra-Cap. It’s bitter raging ‘fans’ that alienate anyone who’s new to comics and doesn’t want to join such a toxic fanbase. But not me. I’m still going read the comics I love. And when the next big comic book ‘controversy’ happens, I’ll take solace in the fact I’m not going to send death threats to writers or boycott companies. That I’m going to wait to see how the entire story plays out before I pass judgment while only caring if the story is good. Unlike you assholes, I’m going to actually act like an adult. And only hope everyone else realizes this. Let’s keep enjoying the comics we love, despite all the toxicity on the internet. And if you have legitimate reasons for not liking someone, don’t rage out like a teenager. Discuss it like an adult. Until next time, have a good day everybody.

[hereticaloracles]

Asteroid Files: Hekate

Helios on Hekate– HOLY FUCKING CHRIST Y’ALL, I HEAR YOU. Fine, i’ll do another witch asteroid if it’ll make you little monsters happy- and this one is the Queen, bitches!

The Astronomy– Hekate is a large main-belt asteroid. It orbits in the same region of space as the Hygiea asteroid family, though it is actually an unrelated interloper. Its albedo of 0.19 is too high, and it is of the wrong spectral class to be part of the dark carbonaceous Hygiea family. It is listed as a member of the Hecuba group of asteroids that orbit near the 2:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter. Hekate was the 100th asteroid to be discovered, by J. C. Watson (his fourth discovery) on July 11, 1868. It is named after Hecate, the goddess of witchcraft in Greek mythology, but its name also commemorates it as the hundredth asteroid, as hekaton is Greek for ‘hundred’. A Hekatean occultation of a star was observed on July 14, 2003, from New Zealand.

The Myth– Hecate or Hekate is a goddess in ancient Greek religion and mythology, most often shown holding a pair of torches or a key and in later periods depicted in triple form. She was variously associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, light, magic, witchcraft, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, ghosts, necromancy, and sorcery. She appears in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter and in Hesiod’s Theogony, where she is promoted strongly as a great goddess. Hecate was one of the main deities worshiped in Athenian households as a protective goddess and one who bestowed prosperity and daily blessings on the family. In the post-Christian writings of the Chaldean Oracles(2nd–3rd century CE) she was regarded with (some) rulership over earth, sea, and sky, as well as a more universal role as Saviour (Soteira), Mother of Angels and the Cosmic World Soul. Regarding the nature of her cult, it has been remarked, “she is more at home on the fringes than in the center of Greek polytheism. Intrinsically ambivalent and polymorphous, she straddles conventional boundaries and eludes definition.

Hecate has been characterized as a pre-Olympian chthonic goddess. The first literature mentioning Hecate is the Theogony by Hesiod:

And she conceived and bore Hecate whom Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honor also in starry heaven, and is honored exceedingly by the deathless gods. For to this day, whenever any one of men on earth offers rich sacrifices and prays for favor according to custom, he calls upon Hecate. Great honor comes full easily to him whose prayers the goddess receives favorably, and she bestows wealth upon him; for the power surely is with her. For as many as were born of Earth and Ocean amongst all these she has her due portion. The son of Cronos did her no wrong nor took anything away of all that was her portion among the former Titan gods: but she holds, as the division was at the first from the beginning, privilege both in earth, and in heaven, and in sea.

According to Hesiod, she held sway over many things:

Whom she will she greatly aids and advances: she sits by worshipful kings in judgement, and in the assembly whom she will is distinguished among the people. And when men arm themselves for the battle that destroys men, then the goddess is at hand to give victory and grant glory readily to whom she will. Good is she also when men contend at the games, for there too the goddess is with them and profits them: and he who by might and strength gets the victory wins the rich prize easily with joy, and brings glory to his parents. And she is good to stand by horsemen, whom she will: and to those whose business is in the grey discomfortable sea, and who pray to Hecate and the loud-crashing Earth-Shaker, easily the glorious goddess gives great catch, and easily she takes it away as soon as seen, if so she will. She is good in the byre with Hermes to increase the stock. The droves of kine and wide herds of goats and flocks of fleecy sheep, if she will, she increases from a few, or makes many to be less. So, then, albeit her mother’s only child, she is honored amongst all the deathless gods. And the son of Cronos made her a nurse of the young who after that day saw with their eyes the light of all-seeing Dawn. So from the beginning she is a nurse of the young, and these are her honours.

Hesiod emphasizes that Hecate was an only child, the daughter of Perses and Asteria, the sister of Leto (the mother of Artemis and Apollo). Grandmother of the three cousins was Phoebe the ancient Titaness of Prophecy. Hesiod’s inclusion and praise of Hecate in the Theogony has been troublesome for scholars, in that he seems to hold her in high regard, while the testimony of other writers, and surviving evidence, suggests that this may have been the exception. One theory is that Hesiod’s original village had a substantial Hecate following and that his inclusion of her in the Theogony was a way of adding to her prestige by spreading word of her among his readers. Another theory is that Hekate was mainly a household god and humble household worship could have been more pervasive and yet not mentioned as much as temple worship. In Athens Hecate, along with Zeus, Hermes, Hestia, and Apollo, were very important in daily life as they were the main gods of the household. However, it is clear that the special position given to Hecate by Zeus is upheld throughout her history by depictions found on coins depicting Hecate on the hand of Zeus

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hecate is called the “tender-hearted”, a euphemism perhaps intended to emphasize her concern with the disappearance of Persephone, when she assisted Demeter with her search for Persephone following her abduction by Hades, suggesting that Demeter should speak to the god of the sun, Helios. Subsequently, she became Persephone’s companion on her yearly journey to and from the realms of Hades; serving as a psychopomp. Because of this association, Hecate was one of the chief goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, alongside Demeter and Persephone. Variations in interpretations of Hecate’s role or roles can be traced in classical Athens. In two fragments of Aeschylus she appears as a great goddess. In Sophocles and Euripides she is characterized as the mistress of witchcraft and the Keres.

Why She Matters– Now I had to cut a TON out of her explanation, BUT Hekate is super awesome and one of the most important deities in the Greek myths. Most importantly, she’s one that Zeus DIDN’T try to fuck. That alone speaks volumes. Now, she was a Titaness (and a direct descendant of Helios *cough cough*) so that nakes it even more interesting, as Zeus led an entire war against the Titanes, called the Titanomakhia (ask me about that sometime, its my main obsessions with myths, all else is just distractions). So why would a powerful member of the defeated opposition be allowed agency and power in the new administration? Simple- She is stronger than Zeus, by every single marker of strength. He allows her agency because not doing so is death to him and his reign- He rules at her discretion, not the other way around. In the chart, this asteroid is a point of great personal power, if you are willing to work it.

Now, for the witchcraft angle- Yes, Hekate rules witchcraft in general. This does not mean that its placement in your chart does or does not have anything to do with magical power or descension from any long line of witches or any nonsense like that. It may, however, indicate a person with a tendency to look towards those sorts of solutions to problems that they face. For instance, two people with the same trauma (lets say the death of a loved one, and discovering the body, for example) one with a downplayed Hekate would probably turn to coping mechanisms and therapy, whereas someone with an activated Hekate would gather their bones and try to pull off some ill-advised necromancy. So its not necessarily aptitude we’re talking about with her, but the choice to go into the shadows to find solutions outside the norm, whether or not that is advisable.

To find out where she shows up in your chart, go to astro.com, put in your birth details and in the extended options, all the way at the bottom of the next page, there will be a menu of additional objects. Under that is a blank space where you can enter the number 100, for Hekate. Once you have it entered, generate the chart! Where does Hekate affect your life? Let us know in the comments below!

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Asteroid Files: Hekate was originally published on Heretical Oracles

[zeroviraluniverse-blog]

Hubble solves cosmic 'whodunit' with interstellar forensics -- ScienceDaily

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/hubble-solves-cosmic-whodunit-with-interstellar-forensics-sciencedaily/

Hubble solves cosmic 'whodunit' with interstellar forensics -- ScienceDaily

On the outskirts of our galaxy, a cosmic tug-of-war is unfolding-and only NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope can see who’s winning.

The players are two dwarf galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, both of which orbit our own Milky Way Galaxy. But as they go around the Milky Way, they are also orbiting each other. Each one tugs at the other, and one of them has pulled out a huge cloud of gas from its companion.

Called the Leading Arm, this arching collection of gas connects the Magellanic Clouds to the Milky Way. Roughly half the size of our galaxy, this structure is thought to be about 1 or 2 billion years old. Its name comes from the fact that it’s leading the motion of the Magellanic Clouds.

The enormous concentration of gas is being devoured by the Milky Way and feeding new star birth in our galaxy. But which dwarf galaxy is doing the pulling, and whose gas is now being feasted upon? After years of debate, scientists now have the answer to this “whodunit” mystery.

“There’s been a question: Did the gas come from the Large Magellanic Cloud or the Small Magellanic Cloud? At first glance, it looks like it tracks back to the Large Magellanic Cloud,” explained lead researcher Andrew Fox of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. “But we’ve approached that question differently, by asking: What is the Leading Arm made of? Does it have the composition of the Large Magellanic Cloud or the composition of the Small Magellanic Cloud?”

Fox’s research is a follow-up to his 2013 work, which focused on a trailing feature behind the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. This gas in this ribbon-like structure, called the Magellanic Stream, was found to come from both dwarf galaxies. Now Fox wondered about its counterpart, the Leading Arm. Unlike the trailing Magellanic Stream, this tattered and shredded “arm” has already reached the Milky Way and survived its journey to the galactic disk.

The Leading Arm is a real-time example of gas accretion, the process of gas falling onto galaxies. This is very difficult to see in galaxies outside the Milky Way, because they are too far away and too faint. “As these two galaxies are in our backyard, we essentially have a front-row seat to view the action,” said collaborator Kat Barger at Texas Christian University.

In a new kind of forensics, Fox and his team used Hubble’s ultraviolet vision to chemically analyze the gas in the Leading Arm. They observed the light from seven quasars, the bright cores of active galaxies that reside billions of light-years beyond this gas cloud. Using Hubble’s Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, the scientists measured how this light filters through the cloud.

In particular, they looked for the absorption of ultraviolet light by oxygen and sulfur in the cloud. These are good gauges of how many heavier elements reside in the gas. The team then compared Hubble’s measurements to hydrogen measurements made by the National Science Foundation’s Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, as well as several other radio telescopes.

“With the combination of Hubble and Green Bank Telescope observations, we can measure the composition and velocity of the gas to determine which dwarf galaxy is the culprit,” explained Barger.

After much analysis, the team finally had conclusive chemical “fingerprints” to match the origin of the Leading Arm’s gas. “We’ve found that the gas matches the Small Magellanic Cloud,” said Fox. “That indicates the Large Magellanic Cloud is winning the tug-of-war, because it has pulled so much gas out of its smaller neighbor.”

This answer was possible only because of Hubble’s unique ultraviolet capability. Because of the filtering effects of Earth’s atmosphere, ultraviolet light cannot be studied from the ground. “Hubble is the only game in town,” explained Fox. “All the lines of interest, including oxygen and sulfur, are in the ultraviolet. So if you work in the optical and infrared, you can’t see them.”

Gas from the Leading Arm is now crossing the disk of our galaxy. As it crosses, it interacts with the Milky Way’s own gas, becoming shredded and fragmented.

This is an important case study of how gas gets into galaxies and fuels star birth. Astronomers use simulations and try to understand the inflow of gas in other galaxies. But here, the gas is being caught red-handed as it moves across the Milky Way’s disk. Sometime in the future, planets and solar systems in our galaxy may be born out of material that used to be part of the Small Magellanic Cloud.

As Fox and his team look ahead, they hope to map out the full size of the Leading Arm-something that is still unknown.

[totesmccoats]

Mister Miracle #1

Mister Miracle is a masterpiece.

Which, is to be expected from Tom King and Mitch Gerads at this point in their shared and separate careers. What’s really impressive is how they keep raising the bar, and this first issue already has deeper characterization and a more intriguing plot than some entire runs.

We open on Scott Free having just slashed his wrists open, and waking up in a hospital after being found on the bathroom floor by his wife, Big Barda. Even before he’s released, we see that Scott isn’t just a superhero, he’s a celebrity, and everyone from the press to Superman start asking him why he did it. But through all the noise – including a painful visit from his brother, Orion – Scott notices things have been off since his suicide attempt. For one thing, Barda’s eyes are brown now, instead of blue. For another, Barda tells him that his friend Oberon – who he was just talking to – has been dead for a month, and that they pulled the plug on him. But worse is that Darkseid has finally found the anti-life equation.

Starting with a suicide is a stunt, to be sure, but one that King doesn’t make light of; and while we’re not sure what pushed Scott over the edge just yet, the book does an amazing job of establishing that things aren’t right in the world that he’s waken back up in. Besides all the plot details, there are formal elements of the story that clue the reader in. Things become cyclical, with panel layouts and dialogue repeating themselves. And there’s the art. Gerard uses filter effects on his art to give the impression that we’re seeing the story played out through a camera lens, with different parts of any spread in focus at any given time; or color effects like what you’d get from a bad VHS recording. One character’s eyes appear to be taped onto the page rather than drawn on. And then there are things that I just appreciate, like how Barda towers over Orion, or how cartoony Scott looks with his mask on compared to the more realistic style Gerard uses for every other character.

But if there’s one thing that convinces me completely that King is the right writer for this book, it’s the two panels he writes of Barda putting Orion in his place, throwing his angst back in his face and telling him that he knows nothing of the pain that her and Scott share. Its two panels that show a greater understanding of Kirby’s 4th World mythos than, again, most other entire series. The entire scene it’s in is wonderful, but those two panels are key.

If you missed out on The Vision, don’t make the same mistake twice, pick up Mister Miracle.

  The Flash #28

Following his last fight with Thawn and the encounter with the Negative Speed Force, Barry has some new and destructive powers that he’s yet to get the hang of. He’s also more irritable than usual.

Barry’s got a black suit! This one’s not an alien symbiote, but it the Negative Speed Force looks to be having the same effect on Barry; increasing his powers at the cost of his emotional stability. He’s even doing the whole “if they knew what I really sacrificed for this city” shtick in his inner-monologue. I’m having fun! Also, the black and red lighting that accompany Flash’s new powers the perfect amount of edgelord for the story. Man, I am so glad that we’re past the point of edgy superheroes being cool and can have stories that acknowledge how bad those are while still establishing that such a sudden change in character actually is narratively engaging just on a character standpoint. Because, and what keeps this story from being a parody, is that the negative powers do seem to be acting as a metaphor for depression, exhausting Barry, making him anti-social, and visibly destroying things around him. It’s being played for pathos instead of cool, and it works way better because of it.

  Secret Empire #8

First thing I want to say about this issue, I love the cover art.

Second thing, it’s basically an issue-long deus ex machina, but it’s also one of the better issues of this event so far. Though events that I’m guessing happened mostly in the tie-in books I didn’t read, Sam Wilson is Captain America again, leading the Underground in their last ditch effort to use their fragment of the cosmic cube to rewrite just enough of reality to give them a fighting chance. And their plan to bring down the shield and the darkforce just so happens to coincide with the other heroes’ own plans to bring the fight to Hydra.

Basically, if this were an anime or a Sonic the Hedgehog game, this is right about where the main theme would kick in. It’s an issue that reminds me that when Nick Spencer doesn’t trip over the half-tied shoelaces of his political analogies, he can actually write a pretty good superhero story.

  Amazing Spider-Man #31

Because of the serial nature of comics, you could easily measure a writer’s worth by how exciting they make the inevitable slide back into the status quo. And if that’s what you’re going by, then Dan Slott has to be one of the best. And that’s not in small part because of how broadly he deviates from it. In this issue, Slott demolishes years’ worth of contributions he’s made to Spider-Man to bring him back to basics; literally even stripping him down at one point; and he manages to do this in a way that also reinforces the themes and core values of the character.

I’m not sure if the rumor that he’ll be stepping away from the book at issue #800 has been confirmed or debunked, but if it is true, he leaves behind one of the greatest (and the longest) runs of the character.

  Ms. Marvel #21

Ms. Marvel helps the captured inhumans and mutants escape the neighborhood militia, but only barely. They escape to the mosque, but Discord and his goons aren’t far behind, and Kamala is too exhausted to continue fighting much longer.

The shoe doesn’t drop until the last act of the issue, but when it does, it’s a doozy. Wilson is an expert in making weaving political commentary into her stories in ways that compliment both the message and the metaphor being used to tell it. In this case, how easy it is for allies to betray a cause when an opposing ideology appeals to their own bitterness. If you’ve been on left-wing twitter recently, you know it’s something that PoC’s, women, and LGBTQIA+ folks are constantly guarded about; and this comic manages to highlight the issue in a way that’s sympathetic without letting any actual villains off the hook for endangering people.

  Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #23

Squirrel Girl continues to be the best comic Marvel is putting out, using its recap page to skewer Secret Empire and event comics in general, and also Spider-Man, while affirming how much better a story it’s telling in its own little corner of the Marvel universe.

And that story is about how Doreen, Nancy, and the other contest winning programmers from Wakanda, K’un-L’un, and Latveria need to debug the programming in the 70 million year old alien computers that keep the Savage Land hospitable to dinosaurs before they all die out – again. But more importantly, Doreen wants to set Nancy up with the cute Latverian boy she’s crushing on, but all he can think about is Doom!

This issue squeezes a ridiculous amount of mileage from Latveria jokes, and every single one of them lands. Aside from some dinosaur puns, Latveria jokes are basically all this book is doing, but they are all so good. Who’da thunk a comic book dealing with characters living under an egomaniacal dictator could be so funny? Ryan North, that’s who.

  The Wicked + The Divine #30

Dionysus waits in the underground for Morrigan to release Baphomet, enduring all of her abuse. But he can’t stay down there forever, as he’s a key part of Woden and the Norns’ plan to activate Ananke’s machine. Meanwhile, Baal and Ammy are still on the lookout for Sakhmet.

This issue, and probably this arc, will be pregnant with anticipation. In the backmatter, Gillen describes this arc as the two minutes before a set, and that feeling definitely comes across in this issue. The tension between Dio waiting underground and him needed to be present for Woden’s plan is palpable as the issue’s bumper-pages become a countdown clock.

There’s also a great couple pages where each panel shows a shot of some of the Pantheon’s Instagram accounts. Seeing the reflection of the phone in Woden’s helmet is one of those neat little details; while a Baal fanpage snapping a pic resembling the cover of The Dark Knight Returns might have taken me out of the book a little much.

  Kill or Be Killed #11

Having discovered the demon in his father’s artwork, Dylan managed to convince himself that it was all in his head, renounced killing, got back on his meds, and started to catch up on his school work. He even reconnects with Kira, who invites him on a date to a Halloween party. Life’s looking up for him, and then he gets sick, like he did the first time after not killing for a while, and he finds out that the Russians are still on his trail.

This really is the “Spider-Man No More!” part of the story, down to a panel with him dramatically exiting an alley. He gives up the mask and things almost immediately improve. The cops stop looking for the vigilante, he catches up on the normal life he left behind, and even manages to pick things up with a newly interested Kira. But that makes for a boring story, so soon enough he gets pulled back in.

But as the beginning of the issue is quick to remind us, that was inevitable. Dylan still has to become the shotgun wielding badass we saw in medias res. The real genius of this brief period of happiness is to once more give Dylan something to lose when it all inevitably goes wrong again.

  Redlands #1

Redlands, Florida 1977. The tree outside the local police station burns, nooses still hanging from its branches. The police inside barricade themselves in to defend against an enemy they thought they had hanged this morning, but is now clear they have no recourse against. A young girl approaches their door, and letting her in also lets in the evil they fought so hard to keep out.

The first issue of this series is the third act of a really good horror movie. The last fight against an unstoppable power. And the atmosphere is laid on thick from the first page. The burning tree, the nooses, the scared cops, there’s no need for exposition, we already know everything we need to understand that this night will be far shorter than the police barricaded inside want to believe.

This is also the book’s greatest weakness, too, however, as we have no sympathy for the cops. This issue essentially has no stakes. We want the cops to die, and their powerless to do anything but. Meanwhile, our protagonists, who don’t show up for most of the book, have nothing to lose, and because they haven’t been properly introduced, it’s hard to root for them yet.

But, just as a first issue to a new series, this is explosive; and the atmosphere goes a long way to telling you what this series will eventually be about, I think. Largely an issue-long cold open, I can’t wait to get the story started in the next one.

Comic Reviews for 8/9/17 Mister Miracle #1 Mister Miracle is a masterpiece. Which, is to be expected from Tom King and Mitch Gerads at this point in their shared and separate careers.