#in related news I'm enjoying my Legion read

[androxys]

The idea that comics are constantly rebooting, or have too many characters, or are too lore-laden to be accessible to new readers is a statistical error. Legion of Super-Heroes Georg is an outlier and

[positivelybeastly]

🌌💖💔🎮 :)

🌌 - What’s your favourite part of RP?

So, there's two aspects of RP that I would say are my favourites?

First off, I'm what I would call a fairly strict canon adherent writer - I try to stay accurate to what I know to be true to Hank as a character, in all of his various forms, even the odd little factoids like him apparently being allergic to sawdust or him being a great Dungeon Master - so I get such a kick of getting to slide a scene into canon, as it were.

Getting to fill in conversations or scenes that SHOULD have happened, that I think would have been fascinating, but didn't happen because of the limited page space, is a special joy for me, and it's why I seek out very certain characters to write with, especially X-related muses.

Shout out to @emmatriarchy for letting me do precisely this with our beautiful Hank + Sage thread, that slides right into New X-Men, and to @maximummuses, whose thread with Hank and Logan just tearing each other to pieces with their words and their regrets and their guilt is just - perfect. It's such a special, rare thing, I adore it.

Second off! The completely unexpected! I did not have Hank getting into a strange enemies-to-lovers arrangement with Sabretooth (the always lovely @themarvelliteraryuniverse) or becoming Tess McKay's best friend in the whole wide world (the inimitable @themckaytriarchy), but it happened, and I love it! It caught me completely by surprise, it happened out of pure chemistry and spark and adoration of their writing style, and I feel so happy every time I get to read their writing because it, by rights, shouldn't have happened!

💖 - What’s something you like about your muse?

Oh, so much. I genuinely adore Hank to pieces. Uhh, if I had to pick just one, I guess I'd say it's his courage. It takes so, so, so much courage to keep coming back from what's been done to him, whether it's self-inflicted or not - it would be so easy for him to just give up and throw in the towel, but he doesn't. He refuses to give up.

Because he believes in something. He believes in humanity. He holds it so dear and so close to his heart, and it gives him courage. People make him strong. People give him the ability to go on even when he's been kicked in the teeth and had his faith broken. It's a part of him that I try to bring out in myself, genuinely.

💔 - What’s something you dislike about your muse?

He's so unkind to himself.

He does not believe a single kind word about himself. He believes he can always do better. He always believes he manages to snatch defeat away from the jaws of victory. It's so rare that he has a victory he gets to hold in his hands and just enjoy.

It's why I savour the moments when he's happy so much, because the next downswing is always on the horizon.

🎮 - What’s your favorite video game?

Mass Effect 2! You have no idea how much that shit blew my goddamn mind when I was but a wee bab of just 17 years old! The Normandy opening, the Suicide Mission, Archangel, Legion, all of it, I just was enraptured from beginning to end. I'm eagerly awaiting getting around to a replay on the Legendary Edition when I'm done on Baldur's Gate 3, because fuck, I love Mass Effect.

[pluckyredhead]

as someone looking to get into the Supergirl comics, what titles/runs would you recommend? I started reading Tom King's Woman of Tomorrow and didn't think it was that bad (though I never finished it) but seeing people's anger about it makes me think that my enjoyment might be because I'm not familiar with her character before this and thus don't get why it's a bad take on her like what I've seen.

Well, first I should disclaimer that my very loud opinions on Woman of Tomorrow are opinions, lol. I firmly believe that I'm right but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it! You're allowed!

But here are my recs for comics to get into Supergirl that feel...more in keeping with the spirit of the character, imo.

In Continuity:

Supergirl (2005) #34-59: After dying in Crisis on Infinite Earths, Kara came back to the post-Crisis DCU in 2004. For the next four years, she was treated very badly by DCU, who positioned her as a jailbait sexpot "bad girl" who was maybe evil but also totally wanted to date you, 45-year-old cis guy in the audience! Sterling Gates and Jamal Igle's run changed all that, letting Kara be three dimensional and human (well, Kryptonian, but you know what I mean) and not miserable softcore porn 24/7. (They put bike shorts under her skirt and it was wildly controversial.) She gets to smile and be friends with women! It was a breath of fresh fucking air, I tell you what.

Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes: During those years DC was treating Kara like shit, we could at least escape to the future, where Mark Waid and Barry Kitson let her be her best self. This is an ensemble book so it's not totally focused on her, but the whole ensemble is pretty great.

Supergirl (2011): Honestly, I thought the New 52 run was pretty solid. Or maybe it's just less bad than every other New 52 comic I've ever read? Either way, it's an easy jumping-on point. And there are actually female writers and artists involved!!! AMAZING! (In the interest of full disclosure, the 2005 series had a couple of female creators towards the very end - Kelly Sue DeConnick and Amy Reeder each got a couple of issues - but they sadly didn't have a lot of time to do much with the character.)

Supergirl (2016): Cute! Cheery! Too good for this world! This takes a lot of inspiration from the TV show, which was on the air at the time.

Kids Comics/AUs/Elseworlds:

Adventures of Supergirl: This is a tie-in comic to the TV show, but you don't need to be super familiar with the show to read it. And Sterling Gates is back!

Supergirl: Being Super: This is a standalone graphic novel in which Kara, who doesn't know about Clark or that she's an alien, discovers her powers after her friend dies in a tragic accident. It's definitely on the angsty side but in a way that feels relatable and compassionate to me, rather than gratuitous. And it's by Mariko Tamaki and Joelle Jones, so it's fucking stunning, of course.

Supergirl: Cosmic Adventures in the Eighth Grade: This is for kids but it is SO STINKIN' CUTE. Highly recommended.

Superman Family Adventures: Also for kids and I cry happy tears at how precious it is every day.

Not Actually Kara:

Supergirl (1996): So after Kara died in 1985 and before she came back in 2004, there was a completely different Supergirl named Linda Danvers. She wasn't from Krypton, she was a mortal girl merged with a protoplasmic being from an alternate dimension who was also an angel. YES, IT'S BONKERS, AND IT'S GREAT. This series is 80 issues long and it's the best Supergirl comic ever published. I know it's not Kara, but if you only read one Supergirl comic, make it this one.

[bells-of-black-sunday]

1, 11, 29, 36 ( whichever muse you feel most similar to )

Munday Asks | Accepting

1. at what age did you start RPing?

8 or 9??? I was still in elementary school and I'm turning 23 in like a month- so it's been a long while.

11. would you be interested into playing with doubles?

Absolutely! I think one thing that's really interest about Danny is that he comes from a franchise where there's always multiple g.hostfaces, so I think it's really neat to see how everyone takes his lore and bends it. Same with anyone else on my muse list, d.bd's lore is really up for interpretation a lot of the time just due to the nature of the Entity being a weird cosmic god no one really knows anything about, so lore is just told through memories which do have gaps and it's fun to explore those gaps.

29. what are your honest thought about your muse’s canon?

I'm going to be entirely honest and say, I love Ritos world building, but their lore makes no sense no matter how many times they retcon or say everything is cannon, the lore team is just so disorganized they get their own cannon dates mixed up. That and with a lot of lore being told in game through events makes it so you have to find outside sources to read it which makes so pieces inaccessible. I'm hoping the mmo they're developing will keep the lore all in one place instead of scattered, but who knows what's even going on with that at this point.

On the other hand: D.bd's lore may not be nearly as messy, but it's even more inaccessible. You can read all the bios and times you want, but that still won't give you the big picture of what's going on and terms of characters like the Legion it just makes their lore even more confusing. The devs used to do lore Q&A streams every month, but they stopped doing those and even then those would say conflcting information. An example being they said everyone in the Legion is 18 and over then they switched to everyone is 21+, but Susie's school day cosmetic still says she's a sophomore.

That's not even counting characters like Danny where is biography is him reading about his own murders, but if you go to his chapter description on the steam page or watch his announcement video it tells you things about him that should've been in that biography. Tarhos's lore is a mess where they both want him to be this super violent only is having fun when there's blood on his hands and his ears are ringing, but he'll lament to Vittorio about how he hates senseless violence and killing people for other men's egos. It's very messily written for what I can only assume is lore re-writes from him initially being a F.or H.onor chapter.

Oh and the maps have lore. They all do, but it can only be read in the custom games setting menu where you can select maps. Every add on has a quick lore thing that are sometimes really important. Killer powers sometimes have important lore things too, archives, cosmetics etc. etc. everything has something written on it that makes it important lore wise down to how every blighted cosmetic is a thing that happened in lore. And if I remember correctly every cosmetic is something both survivors and killers actually own too. (another Q&A I think)

It makes it really hard to get into and try to piece together what's actually happening in lore vs what's just for fun and I can only imagine how much harder it is for new players trying to get into it since I started playing and I started playing around the time Blight came out.

36. do you feel similar to your muse in any way?

I feel like when you're passionate enough about a character you write a bit of yourself into them no matter how much you try not to, so even muses I have that are horrendous of people like Danny or Karth, I can relate to different aspects of them. I too have a love for writing and story crafting and I too also think death customs are really fascinating. They just take those to a whole different extreme of course, but they're both interests I have and enjoy writing about.

[haysprite]

apparently in the description of the legion comic issue 4. it says that Susie had a crush, and I am hoping that it's not one of the legion members (espically Julie or Frank). (if Julie ends up being that crush I will be very upset and a little happy at the same time because I relate to Susie a lot and I view her to be a sapphic so seeing her canonically be a sapphic makes me very happy but if her crush ends up being Julie it'll make me very upset because I never liked "the gay person has a crush on their best friend but it's clearly obvious that it's one-sided" because it reminds me of the time I had a crush on my best friend and it was so painfully to me that those feelings I had for her will never be returned the same way I liked her so seeing a character who brings me lots of comfort going through something similar to what I went through makes me sad) (if Frank ends up being her crush then I will be very disappointed because I don't like the idea of it and I view them to have a sibling like relationship so yeah). i highly dought her crush is joey because there was nothing that implied Susie and joey hang out together (you know without Frank and Julie) unless we get to see the two interact with each other alone but overall i just hope it's a new character we get to see in the comics because that would sound way more interesting.

(i'm so sorry that this is very long)

I'm gonna be so fr with you Anon, the description has me lowkey nervous as hell for her issue fdsljljkfds. I'm sure it'll be fine, but hmggmdslkj there are soooo many ways it could go south tbh, they just have to play with the idea in interesting and creative way ig.

From the way I'm reading it, I have a suspicion that it will be on somebody within the Legion? Just from the way its written n everything, but obviously they could still surprise me here. I'm gonna guess Joey probs (which I personally wouldn't mind since I enjoy the ship, I HC her as biromantic), since for all we know they could expand upon their relationship a LOT within the comic! They did cause some trouble together in Julie's Tome as well (causing those car accidents together n shit), so who knows! We still don't know as much about them as Frank and Julie, so I don't wanna assume anything quite yet, so for all we know they could be really close considering they most likely knew each other pre-Frank. Also they'd defo be/get close if they're both in The Legion together. Julie would be interesting as well if they play their cards right, but it'd defo end in a one-sided crush since Julie's with Frank, and I just don't think it'd fit well within their story. I personally HC that Susie had a small crush on her growing up, but it never led to anything (obv) and fizzled after a while, which Susie never really minded. (I personally enjoy stories like this, since it does remind me of myself and my relationships a lot, so it'd be nice to see something positive in this regard ig? idk if that makes sense but jlfdsldjk yeah). If it turns out to be Frank, I will be putting my copy down, drive over to my work, and lay down on a rollercoaster track /neg (/nsrs),,, I highly doubt it'll be him tho cause nahhh lame :o) I also HC them to have a sibling like relationship, as well as the fact that it'd be weird considering her BEST FRIEND is literally dating him kjlfdsjlkfdsjlkfds IDKKKK,,,

What I'm most curious about, though, is whether or not it'll be Pre or Post Fog? Considering its mentioning a first kill, I'm assuming Post Fog, since their first kill was the janitor (unless they retcon this, which I'm PRAYING they don't, which I'll discuss another time). So this could very well lean into a Survivor being involved or somethin, which I'm also not really keen on, since idklkjfdskjfds I'm just not a big fan of the idea of Killers falling in love with Survivors and vice versa, its just not for me. Somewhat befriending in an obscure way, sure, but not anything more than that. So unless this happens Pre Fog, which I wouldn't mind whatsoever, I'm just leaning towards Joey at this point, since I fee like he'd probably be the best choice here.

ALSO I'm curious if we'll get any like, sexuality confirmations as well??? Idk cause they could VERY much so hint at something, or even outright confirm it, which I'll v much stick to canon in this regard since I 100% respect confirmed shit like this! I personally think they're all Bi (shhhh I'm mpsec myself, let me have this) , but who knowsssss :3

IDK at this point I don't wanna assume anything, I'll just wait and see what happens! I'm sure we'll probably be able to figure it out as each Issue comes out as well, since they could easily build something up on the sides! I'm just excited to see where these comics take these characters, since honestly after reading all the descriptions, I'm a lot more excited and intrigued to see what they'll do! Joey's esp, since holy shit that has me PONDERING, I'm so fuckin curious to learn more about him <3 Also Julie comic <3333 I will 100% be reviewing all of them (with spoiler warnings, dw, I'm not an asshole), but not until I've reread them a few times so I can fully gather my thoughts! I'll post live reactions on Twitter, but I'll save my "deep thoughts" n shit for after I've fully thought it through! I'm gonna become the most annoying mf around when these drop istg

(Also don't ever apologize for long asks lol, I love readin em and it gives me things to think about giggle)

[evergloffpress]

Bottle of Blog No.54

The Empire Strikes Back This Is Not or Rocking the Boat For Rock’s Sake

When Disney purchased Lucasfilm George Lucas was said to have presented his ideas for a sequel trilogy which we're promptly rejected. Perhaps the powers at Disney wanted to distance themselves from the creator of the Prequel trilogy and they're less than spectacular impact. Maybe the plots went against the ideas they had in mind. Whatever the reason could they of been any worse than what Rian Johnson presented us with Star Wars Episode 8: The Last Jedi?

Rian Johnson made a name for himself with his films Brick and Looper. Enough so that he caught Disney's attention to put him in charge of Episode 8. In 2019 after directing the Last Jedi Johnson released his latest movie entitled Knives out. A who-dun-it movie turned on it's head. It was a fresh and ingenious take on the traditional tropes of a murder mystery and it worked. Sometimes taking a long-standing paradigm and turning them inside out can work in a creative field where almost everything has been done a thousand times before. Though not always. Rocking the boat just to feel it rock does not consistently work. Case in point Star Wars : The Last Jedi.

I'm just going to go straight to all my issues with this movie. For they are legion. I won't be nitpicking either....O.K, one nitpick. The phrase ”punch it” is used too many times for my taste. Think it was used at least twice. It still got irksome.

My first gripe is why was Han Solo's death completely ignored? I understand the movie pretty much starts right after episode 7 ends and they were fairly occupied so a funeral might not of been on the agenda. Could of been in the novelization for all I know but I elected not to read it. But Han's passing should of at least been on their minds some considering who decided to off him. It should of been especially on Leia's. Speaking of Leia what the holy Hoth Hell has her brother Luke Skywalker been doing all this time in self-imposed exile aside from squeezing the udders of lactating sea monsters? Also, he’s supposed to be the last Jedi. Isn't he being a tad selfish to wallow in self-pity and let the galaxy fall into the First Order’s clutches? Goes against who we thought Luke was. Even of he does blame the Jedis for allowing to Sith and the Empire to rise to power why not use the tools you have at your disposal to do what you can against them? You don’t have to go around calling your self a Jedi Knight but if you want to just edit the ”sacred” texts so than any written bureaucracy that would keep you from doing the most good is expunged. He was the last Jedi who was going to stop him? Even Yoda who popped up later knew how restrictive they were. It made no sense.

Why wouldn't the resistance high command share their plans with Poe after Leia was blown out into space and did her magic dance back to the ship?

The remanmants of the Resistance were panicking so why not reassure everyone that there was a plan and share that plan? Instead, Poe and company cook up this silly scheme that made no sense which screwed up the original secret plan by looking for a slicer on the Canto Bight More on Canto Bight in a minute. So Finn and friends figure out that they are being tracked through hyperspace by a device they cant possibly know exists and deduce that said device has to be on the Supremacy which is Supreme Leader Snoke’s ship. Also why was the tracking device on Snoke’s ship? Why didn't General Hux have it on his ship? They then formulate a plan based on a hypothesis which is flimsy at best from their perspective. Yes they were right but they had little to nothing to go on. Which brings us to Canto Bight. The pointless side trip that caused more trouble than they were already in. It's like the director wanted to have a scene take place in a space casino but had no real reason to be in a space casino. Finn and Rose go to to Canto Bight and park on the beach which apparently is illegal. A naturally they get arrested and meet a sleazy hacker in the jail who could have broken out whenever he wanted to but waited till he had an audience to do it in front of. They then hop on giant rabbit horses and ride away to the outskirts of town to freedom and an awaiting ship.

Most fans speculating on Rey’s lineage thought she might have been related to Obi-Wan or the product of a nightstand by Luke or something. Instead Kylo simply states that she is a nobody. Came from nobodies and is no one special. Rather anti-climatic considering how adept she is at using the Force. Then there is how Supreme Leader Snoke was so easily done in. Sliced in tow. Though it did lead a sweet team up between Rey and Kylo versus Snoke’s royal guards. But who was Snoke? How did he come to be? He was presented as the big bad of the sequel trilogy and he is tossed aside just rattle the narrative’s cage. No pay off from his introduction what so ever.

Finally we have the battle of Crait. It's where the Resistance managed to escape to while being chased by the First Order. The needlessly secret plan made worse by Poe and pals poorly thought out plot to save the fleet made things significantly worse. The sleazy jacket Finn and Rose brought in betrayed them and showed General Huz the fugitives’ escape plan which resulted in forty demise of most of them. Poe really really messed up. Also why was Admiral Ackbar allowed to die like he was wearing a red short on Star Trek. He should of flown that cruiser at light speed through Snoke’s ship at light speed and not Laura Dern’s character. Ackbar should of gone out a hero not a long side a random tech officer on the bridge. So they get on the surface of Craite which was a rebel base years ago. At first glance it looks like the ice planet Hoth but it turns out to be a salt planet. That doesn't stop the bad guys from pulling out the New At- At walkers. Gorilla walkers seem to be more accurate. So all of a sudden it turns out to be a reverse Empire Strikes back. At- At attack near the end. Yoda appears to Luke after he did his less than enthusiastic training routine on Rey. Like ESB the main characters go their separate ways to achieve separate goals. A faux revelation with Rey and the whole gang getting together in the end after getting their behinds handed to them. The concept of the Death Star was used again only this time as a cannon on the field of battle. Why could it not just of been just a cannon? Why income the Death Star yet again? So with that in mind what does the Resistance send against said Death Star cannon? Poorly armed and maneuverable skippers that were already falling apart. Why not just chuck xorngogs at them. None the less Finn goes right at it in some idiotic suicide run. What did he think he was going to achieve? Rose then crashes her skipper into the side of Finn’s ship in an attempt to save his life. Again she crashed her speeding metallic vehicle into His soeeding metallic vehicle on the middle of a battlefield right in front of a super laser cannon in an attempt to save his life. Then the real froaning begins when Rose implies to Finn she had feelings for him. That's right talk about your feelings while you are injured in a warzone with thousands of guns pointed right at you. Makes all the sense in the world.

The crowning WTF ingredient in this fustercluck of a film is Luke’s cop-out appearance at the Battle of Craite. He Force projects himself on to the planet from his xave island hideaway. Says good bye to Leia and distracts Kylo Ren while what's left of the Resistance escapes out the back end of the Rebel base. The strain of Luke projecting himself from so far away was too much for him and he dies. Disappearing into the ether. Metalic arm and all. That makes no sense. What of made more sense if the metallic arm would of just clanked in to the ground. So with Han dead and now Luke dead we are thoroughly cheated out of having the original cast share the screen one more time.

So the director shook things about hoping to come up with something many fans would consider worthy of Star Wars. Alas, I feel he missed the mark in trying to come up with something different yet remain familiar. Which is clearly hard to do. It seems each creator wrote their cliffhangers without taking into consideration who would pick up the threads next. Disney should have spent a little more time creating a cohesive storyline than rushing in to recoup their investment. That way the next film does not waste time explaining what didn't make sense before. This franchise was a guaranteed cash cow so they could have bided their time and let the story ferment a little more.

So much of this movie was infuriating and nonsensical. I was questioning settings, dialogue, and motivations far too many times throughout the film to enjoy whatever parts I did like. Be all that as it may I really did like the porgs. See? It's not all hate and bile but it mostly is.

Oliver Evergloff March 21st,2020