#inifinite possibilities

[meliake]

Am I the only that really is not a big fan of Cyclop's 90's uniform? Like I undertand it's a classic and everything, but just look at it-

What do those thigh belts do?? and don't get me started on the uneven belt thing across his chest. I can forgive the underpants, but even in the realm of superhero suits, this is a stretch.

And generally, I think Cyclop's suit is allowed to change style over the years, and there are so many good styles to take inspiration from.

And if they wanted to keep the hair out instead of the cowl like i prefer, at least make it look cool dude.

[boyfridged]

What Batman did in the UtH finale, was that ooc or not?

you mean the batarang or just leaving? if you mean the batarang: once i'd say yeah, it was ooc, but there is something so severely wrong with post-crisis bruce wayne that nowadays i am somewhat convinced that he would do that under circumstances of distress; which it definitely was. he definitely did not mean to actually hurt jason; and you could argue that bruce is too competent to hurt someone when he does not need too, but consider that: 1) jason wants to get hurt 2) bruce is not thinking clearly and it makes sense -- nothing comparable has happened in his career before, nothing that personal. jason quite literally designed this plan to be the worst possible scenario bruce could encounter. (though i think if he was smarter about it/or maybe just even more unhinged, he'd be more heavy on threatening bruce with suicide instead... alas.)

but while i find it plausible to a degree, i do not believe it serves the batman mythos right. which is somewhat tied to the question of him leaving jason there:

-- because if you're talking about bruce leaving him, then my answer is that bruce technically did not leave him; i will copy-paste a part of my reply to another ask here:

bruce does not come because he is just... not there. my understanding is, that in a way, the events of under the red hood did not happen. there is nothing to follow. that purple mist in the finale of the utrh, that is often read as a force resurrecting jason (not technically wrong, either)- i believe that is the timeline already rewriting itself, making the whole story into something that was not. and the reason for the above is the infinite crisis. if i'm not wrong, it's also the inifinite crisis miniseries where bruce meets dick right after the explosions in (or of) bludhaven-- that in batman clearly happens in the background of his confrontation with jay. however, in infinite crisis (#4, just checked it now), bruce tells dick: "i wanted to make sure...you're alright... i was in new york when it hit. got here as soon as i could." which could be a lie or a matter of the editorial not being synced enough- but i'm willing to give them a benefit of the doubt given how it ties with that sudden, stunted ending of utrh. this makes sense for canon for several reasons. in the animated movie, since it spares us the infinite crisis tie-in, bruce says of the whole incident: this changes nothing. it changes nothing because although aditf isn't, utrh is a tragedy; it changes nothing because since his death, jason is necessarily always pushed at the peripheries of the narrative, no matter how much the fate itself tries to fix it, becoming a tragic footnote. the dead have one right and it's the right to remain silent. and that is ironically ensured on a cosmic level, with his violent attempt at being seen hidden in the folds of the timeline. you can also see it clearly in canon -- i believe it was not until the infinite frontier that the events of utrh got just tangentially mentioned (before that, even lobdell barely touched upon it). other than that, they have no consequences; they are barely ever spoken of; they seem to slip out even from jay's solo comics. this move was necessary for batman, as a character and as a title: let's say bruce does hold red hood as he does in the alt cover of annual 25 (and the cover of the deluxe edition of utrh.) that would implore a reckoning with his failure and his (suddenly non-productive) grief that would either reconstruct the whole myth or lead to some terrifying implications.

but as i said before, it is ultimately just proof that urth does not belong in the mainstream canon and should have been an elseworld. i can be convinced that post-crisis bruce would do that, if pushed; but it is pointless (also or maybe most of all) on a meta level for everyone involved.

[frances-baby-houseman]

also fucking me up is that there are the same number of inifinite points on a line that's 12 inches long as there are in the universe.

I'm sorry maybe don't read The MANIAC it's possibly ruined my life.

sos i'm sending this from a sanitorium

[xxlunadeaxx]

More than one Monarch (DP AU)

(dp hyper fixation go)

So you know the ghost zone, the 'flip side' of the physical world, portals to different dimensions, time, and space. The Infinite Realms basically exist anywhere/anytime in creation. Who says there aren't various rulers in other 'corners' of the Ghost Zone/Infinite Realms. You have beings like Dora and Frostbite who rule 'areas/islands' in the Ghost Zone, why not beings who rule a 'realm' in the Inifinite 'Realms' Look I just want Danny (little baby man, eldritch being, the one everyone adopts) Phantom to meet other "Undead" Rulers. And possibly get adopted/learn from them. Currently, the main one I have is Giratina, another unwilling ruler of the Distortion Realm. Another Eldritch snake being that was banished to the Distortion Realm for being too violent. (Unfair obviously, why can Palkia be Dialga fight and destroy places but when Giratina does it they’re too violent and need to be banished?? this is a joke) So possibly mellowed out after being there for so long but still hates some beings, and is wary of humans.

They could meet before Danny’s coronation while he’s exploring the ghost zone, or after, but in my head they meet before. Danny would show up unintentionally as always (since the fruitloop sent him into a portal with a one-time spell to be “banished” into the Distortion for a 'time out'). And while this place is in the ghost zone, there aren’t any other ghosts around, and this place looks different from the normal ghost zone, until he runs into Giratina. Gira is totally a menace and would battle Danny for entering their domain, but they would be more testing the waters of this being, seeing for his intent. Since the “Distortion” is more closely linked to the “living side”, any damage to that place can affect the other side. So other beings are warned off (vibe checked) by Giratina most of the time. Giratina would be impressed by the sheer gall of the boy willing to fistfight a God and his ability to learn on the fly, which would allow him access to the Distortion Realm with good intentions. Teach him how to fight with more than just his fists, he has a tail, and why limit to just his hands? And how to weave his intangibility into his fighting. Also giving a safe space since all Danny has to do is speak “Giratina” into any reflective surface and a portal to the Distortion Realm will open for him. (Clockwork would definitely appreciate and respect Giratina and vice versa for being willing to mentor the goblin child)

(You tell me that Danny doesn’t have the attitude to realize he’s fighting some eldritch being and still try to punch it anyways.)

[pinkeoni]

Will is the Most Powerful Source of Energy

(aka me finding a way to tie Will into the Russia plot)

So the cover for the lab is the United States Department of Energy, who is basically in charge of nuclear energy and weapons. We see the lab try to breed kids into weapons with their psionic powers. Eleven demonstrates this ability pretty well.

But what if they were also breeding them as a source of energy? After all, we are shown in season 4 that they test their ability to control lights, not to mention that one of their other covers is Hawkins Power and Light.

Also in the puzzle game, which granted isn’t canon but may hold some potential easter eggs for the show, there’s a lab worker who explains they are trying to explore new forms of energy. The name of that chapter is “Strange Science: Let There Be Light”

Okay so here’s where I try to find a way to to connect Will Byers to all of this.

Will is responsible for giving power to the lights in the Upside Down, I’m pretty confident in this. Nancy’s dialogue in 4x07 points to this, when she says “Will found a way. Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights.” She uses Will’s name twice here for emphasis, and following this is when they discover the light particles that they can use to communicate, the one’s that “feel good.” (Also the music track they use here is the same as the one as when Will is talking to Joyce through the Christmas lights for the first time) Not to mention this is the same season where Will is constantly being bathed in light.

So Will can power the lights, but more than that whatever magic he used to power the lights stayed there in the UD for years, almost like an inifinite battery. Will’s energy could possibly be even more powerful than nuclear energy.

At the time the show takes place the still would’ve been in the Cold War with Russia, which was basically a nuclear arms race that the show incorporates through it’s supernatural themes.

I think Russia’s motivation is pretty simple, they want power.

At this point in time, post s4, I don’t think that Russia is after Will Byers specifically, but they are after powerful energy. I think this extends to El to, if they heard about a girl who could rip holes in space and time they would most definitely be after her too. If Russia had similar goals as the US in the real Cold War then it’s a safe venture that they have similar goals in the show as well— they want to be able to harness whatever supernatural and psionic energy they can that would give them more power.

Once there’s a power reveal in season 5, there’s a chance that Russia might go after Will. None of the characters would be expecting Will to have powers (unless Owens knows something) but especially Will, so there’s a chance that whatever power reveal we get could be messy and public, and could leak to Russia intel.

[dairy-farmer]

Bruce dies in his own universe with a fractured family and pseudo children before waking up in another one, where he is the youngest son of Damian and Tim with Jason, Dick and Cass being older siblings. Think reverse-robins, but Tim gets to be Bruce’s mom and him and Damian are deeply confused about why their son woke up one day to be the angstiest person ever.

!!!!! bruce reincarnated as the youngest child in tim and damian's little family!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️

bruce’s last memories before he dies are just about his broken up little family, they’re all so distant from each other, the cuts of anger and resentment between them too painful to allow them to come together. bruce is filled with nothing but deep regret because he knows that without him there’s no reason for them to want to come together. they all resent one another for one reason or another, the bonds between are more rooted in competition and seeking his approval than a genuine love and desire for each other.

bruce is just in pain and lost because he had no idea how to fix it and now that he died there was no way for him to ever fix it.

but then he opens his eyes and it turns out he’s alive.

sort of.

bruce knows the multiverse exists, knows that there’s infinite possibilities and inifinite versions of himself living infinite lives. some of those lives might feature members of his family.

like the one he’s in currently where he’s in diapers and starting to eat solids while tim, who is his mother, coos at him and feeds him with a pink spoon that has a bunny on the handle.

dick, jason, and cass are there too. they’re all around preschool age and are arching their heads around the corner of the dining room to watch the cartoons playing on the tv. 

damian is at the stove and frying what smell like eggs and hashbrowns. a breakfast infinitely preferable to the mashed berries that tim is attempting to feed him. but bruce needs to eat them because he’s learned that resistance to the pureed baby food will lead to tim picking bruce’s chubby body out of the high chair and tugging him to his breast (the milk was admittedly delicious but bruce had enough trauma to last him a lifetime and he didn’t need to add breastfeeding from his son to the list).

bruce is aware that he probably had a lot of screwed-up things going on in his brain and being in a child’s body and so utterly incapable of doing anything about his situation frustrates him. to tears sometimes because his little infant body has no other catharsis.

tim and damian are both worried about him. in his past life it would’ve entailed confrontations, concern that turned to frustration to annoyance to inevitable fights that led to them storming out of the manor for several days. 

in this life they try to cheer him up. putting on cartoons and showing him his toys hoping to entice him into a playful mood. tim kisses at bruce’s soft cheeks and murmurs about how much he loves him. he strokes bruce’s back and lays him on his chest and something about the soft hand on his little back and the warm...motherly voice that bruce hasn’t heard in so long telling him how much he loves baby bruce it just...breaks something in him.

bruce cries as a baby.

a lot.

and when he’s not crying he broods. he pouts and stares at his ‘older siblings’ as they have tea parties, draw, read, and help their mother pick up their toys when it’s time for lunch or dinner.

dick, cass, and jason all attempt to include bruce in their games but he’s just too small so they content themselves with building their blocks all around him.

they’re all so...young. so different from what bruce knew them as.

cass isn’t quiet or sneaking around all the time. she’s the loudest of the bunch, giggling and screaming when her brothers chase her around the house for taking one of their toys when it was ‘their’ turn. she’s the troublemaker of the bunch. she receives the most scoldings from tim, mostly for playing too roughly and biting a tearful dick. it’s incredible seeing the kind of person she turns out to be without the influence of david caine or lady shiva in her life.

dick is a surprisingly quiet child. sensitive too. and very prone to tears. a bit of a cry baby, tearing up at the smallest things and darting to his mother for help. he’s very attached to tim, always hugging his legs and burying his face into his clothing. he often has to be encouraged to join his siblings. it seemed that the ‘star of the show’ personality was more something that came as a result of being in show business since birth. an introverted dick grayson. go figure.

jason is...the same. the same as how bruce remembers he’d been when he’d been robin...before red hood. he’s sassy. he talks back to both tim and damian and tries to unionize with his siblings against bed time and vegetables. but he’s also so heart achingly kind and sweet. he protects the second youngest, dick, from their roughhousing eldest sister. he’s the first to offer their mother help and the first to dart to the door and yell ‘daddy’ when damian arrives home from work. jason is that same kind boy that bruce had treasured so much that it had nearly killed him when he’d died.

damian and tim are good parents. they’re kind and loving, they dote on each otheir children and are so clearly head over heels for each other.

bruce was reborn in a good family, one with plenty of siblings and overflowing with adoration and love.

bruce is put in the impossible position of both warming up to this new life and mourning his old one where his children could hardly look at each other and were constantly at each other’s throats.

the complex feelings lead to bruce brooding a lot. 

his parents are confused about why their sweet giggling baby has started watching the news with them while chewing on his teething ring. the next time they take him to the pediatrician they’ll bring up the personality change and bruce will be diagnosed as gassy.

so while struggling with his complex feelings about his new life, bruce’s brooding will be interrupted by coos and questions about if his tummy hurt followed by gentle tummy rubs and discrete diaper checks.

bruce is having a hard time adapting to say the least.

[nitw]

why do some of my biggest hobbies have to be so notoriously frustrating to work with AJHVDFHJD like here are some projects i'm juggling between at the moment:

a horrible video i'm putting too much effort into that requires me to both draw and animate AND BTW vegas constantly freezes/crashes for me because i need a better graphics card

web design (2 different sites with pretty different layouts)

modding for a game in java, having to update that mod semi frequently

a visual novel in ren'py

like 6 unfinished vocaloid and synthv projects

developing a webcomic in every possible way OTHER THAN drawing it

also why do i keep starting new projects all the time anyway. couldnt i just be like really into photo collages or soemthing that would make my life inifinitely easier

[106alibi]

unspoken love ; MARK LEE

pairing: mark lee x reader

genre: fluff!!!

disclaimers: mark is a loser who does not know how to say anything other than dude

a/n: shit posting a little because my hands itched to write about (loser) mark with a one-sided crush 🤭 also really wanted to get something out first!! enjoy my tumblr debut!!

"markie, do I look good?"

good? you never looked just good. you were art. you were what artists wrote about, sang about, drew about. you didn't belong here in mark's bedroom, standing in front of the mirror scrutinising your outfit. you belonged in Louvre to be admired. with each and every of your curves so carefully and delicately sculpted by a potter, from the bridge of your nose to the arch of your back. the way the inifinite black holes of your little pupils sucked him in and chained him in its grasp and he thought he wouldn't mind being stuck there for hours. and your oh so dangerous, kryptonitic smile that turned his legs into jelly and took away the words in his throat. he thought he could write poems and songs and entries about you but a simple look is all it took for the nerves in his brain to short circuit and erase his ability to speak.

oh god, could someone be so beautiful? mark thought he must have saved a country in his previous life for aphrodite to have taken the form of his best friend, with somehow the powers of zeus because for some reason, the sky seemed gloomier when you cried, and sunnier when you laughed. and he deduced that he must be allergic to you because of how warm his face became when he thought about you, blooming rashes of shyness and anxiety creeping up from his neck, and the lingering tingle on the back of his hand when it brushes against your skin. he must be running a fever, he thought. he must be ill. or drunk. so drunk and intoxicated by your soft, marshmallow skin, adorned with sweet champagne perfume that made him dream of sinking his nose into your bare neck and drinking in your scent, like one too many shots of vodka with how dizzy you made him by just breathing. every possible adjective in the dictionary would not be precise enough for the beauty you exuded, and he knew that good was definitely too much of an understatement.

"dude, you look fine."

what a loser. maybe one day he'll muster up the courage to tell you how he really felt. one day.

[auliashifahamida]

* 1027 1037 1047

The repeating sequences of 1 signifies new beginnings by taking charge and responsibility of your life, both in the present and future state. The repeating of 0 signifies inifinite, unrestricted possibilities, that God has made vast and abundant. The repeating of 7 signifies good fortune and blessings coming for your way, manifestation of your prayers, strong intuition and connection with your Higher Self and the Divine, solitude and indepenence, continuous learning, and following your passions.

The number of 2 signifies intuition and connection with the Divine, trust and faith, harmony and balance, duality and all kinds of partnership, and collaboration, and serving your soul's purpose.

The number of 3 signifies fertility, feminine energy, joy, optimism, creativity, pursuing your passions, and putting yourself first before others.

The number of 4 signifies persistence, smart work, practicality, pursuing your goals, and building solid and secure foudations for your future.

The repeating and consistent sequence of 1, 0, and 7 in the respective 2, 3, and 4 guides you to embrace new beginnings; but in the midst of inifinite possibilities and endless open doors being presented to you, it requires you to have a deep connection with God and with cultivate in listening to your inner voice to know what you truly want in life and be firm in it. It can also signifies great luck and good fortune and infinite blessings and manifestation season in the aspects of all kinds of relationships; your feminine energy and creativity; and building solid and secure for your future. In summary, this is a great time to take charge of your life by pursuing your goals and cultivate meaningful relationships, but you can only do that if you cultivate a discerning heart, know what you want, and have faith that God will guide you through.

What to Do:

1. Cultivate a discerning heart in embracing new beginnings and inifinite possibilities.

2. Know and be firm in what you want.

3. Choose things that resonate with your heart and spirit, pursue your passions, while maintaing deep connection with God knowing that He will guide you to your heart's desires.

Why to do with the Number:

1. Numbers 1 & 0: Embrace new beginnings by having a discerning heart.

2. 7: Cultivate and maintain deep connection with God and listen to your intuition

3. 2: Maintain meaningful relationships. Let go of what no longer serves you. Forgive others and yourself for past mistakes. Great time to restore and reconcile with old friends who you believe deserve new and frest starts with you. Great time for all kinds of partnerships and relationships.

4. 3: Pursue your passions. Embrace your identity as a woman.

5. 4: Define your "succees". Pursue your goals.

[brownhairedbookworm]

“Absolute nerd~”

He laughed, kissing her head

“Oh! By the way, guess who met an actual Time Lord?”

"...I guess in the inifinite universes it was going to be possible. But also what?! That's super cool!"

[imunbreakabledude]

OOOOH okay FAQ clarification says that TR does work the second way. Which makes sense because that makes it a much harder choice.

The nice thing here is I don't think there is a "WRONG" choice between these 2. Both will offer a LOT of the same utility, and it will mainly be personal preference or small differences in your region choices that will drive choices here. both have great bossing & skilling utility and as long as you have one or the other you'll get the benefits at most content and won't feel like you're living in the regular game (at certain content) while people with the relic are enjoying turbo speed. It'll just be MEGA TURBO vs regular turbo for some activites and swapped at others.

I'm sure others will come up with detailed breakdowns but here is my initial pro/con assessment.

BANKER'S NOTE

Pro: usable in instanced content, particularly useful for supply management in content like raids and inferno

Pro: Less time spend teleporting back and forth, less time spent repeatedly banking

Pro: more "zero time" skilling options, namely with crafting or herblore, while doing stuff like questing, clues, running to PVM or waiting for respawns.

Con: you WILL be spending more time running and waiting for respawns versus someone with TR.

Con: "inifinite supplies" in your inventory is nice but you do still need to OBTAIN those supplies.

Con (ish)?: baking less often, but you do end up doing a lot of fussy inventory/noting management

Overall Verdict: Better than TR for location-based Skilling activities such as prayer*, runecrafting, and plank-making; better than TR for longform instanced content like Raids/inferno; worse than TR for most other PVM (including instanced bosses that you would't need or want more than 1 inv of supplies for like zulrah, vorkath, etc.)

TOTAL RECALL

Pro: multiple QOL upgrades/buffs from previous Last Recall which was already quite good - faster teleport, ability to Save a specific tele at will and not have to pay close attention to avoid fucking it up and losing it...!

Pro: The ability to also restore prayer/spec/HP not only saves time but also acts as a substitute for POH pool/ferox pool/nardah statue access, so it's great for people who don't have those in their regions, plus just early game PVM (if this is an early relic)

Pro: requires fewer gathered supplies than BN and also skips monster respawn timers

Potential Con?: it is not 100% clear to me but based on the current wording it sounds like TR will NOT cure poison/venom or restore other stats besides HP and prayer, which might be annoying with certain content.

Con: While the removal of the possibility of accidentally fucking up your stored teleport is nice, you do still have to "manage" the tele and it might feel slightly worse to switch between content knowing you'd have to reset your tele for whatever activity you do?

Con: it's a bit slower and clunkier than BN for skilling content with repeated banking/running such as prayer*, runecrafting, plank making

Con: has zero applications at longform instanced content like raids, inferno, or minigames. Tbh, with raids buffs skilled players don't benefit much from the noted supplies of BN in PVM content, but for people learning new content who want the safety net this could be a big drawback... and for people who have minigame heavy regions the might miss BN and its ability to multiskill while doing boring minigame tasks.

Overall Verdict: Better than BN for vast majority of bossing, especially bosses that have longer runs from a teleport and/or long respawn timers. Better if you hate gathering supplies and/or don't have access to a restore pool in your regions. Worse if you like to multiskill and/or want the safety net of "infinite supplies" for learning raids or other high level PVM

*prayer becomes stackable in one inventory if you pick Golden God, which would then remove any difference between BN/TR for prayer training.

lol color me not surprised that we have bankers note vs. last recall this year.

i know some people were speculating both would be freely given to everyone (or maybe recall given to all + a slightly nerfed/altered BN as alternative to Golden God) but this makes sense to me as both are really really good and compete well with each other but would be easy picks over MOST other relics.

I will have to do some serious thinking about which one suits my areas better but my gut instinct is saying BN because as good as last recall is... BN can substitute for a LOT of Last Recall's applications, and tbh I think the Clue teleport relic offers amazing TPs near a lot of PVM content that didn't already have close TPs so the places where LR is BETTER than BN are honestly not too many.

off the top of my head, I feel like DKs and KQ (pre-diary) are gonna be 2 of the places last recall is strictly better to skip the travel time, and both of those ARE in my regions. I was gonna say GWD as well, but the bank tele relic has the nex bank which is nice, and the clue relic gets a tele right outside kril's door. So not as good as LR which can get you right outside ANY gwd boss door at will, but again, if you can bring infinite supplies you can just chill at GWD for ages. I guess the main drawback versus LR in that case is the respawn timers. which would slow down your kills considerably in leagues. But you could just tele out with the altar and re-enter, right? basically same effect, you just miss out on spec restore.

but DKs with the new agility shortcuts is not that bad tbh and with BN for noted supplies to extend trips it wouldn't be a run you'd have to make very often... ditto for KQ, like yes she shreds and yes Last recall to Nardah to restore and back is the BEST way but BN for long trips pre-elite diary and then just doing the run back post-elite-diary wouldn't be all that much worse.

then there's the fact that BN has applications for raids/instanced content while LR can't help with that at all.

and as far as I know for SKILLING content BN is actually quite a bit better than LR. things like prayer, runecrafting, making planks can all be done without any banking; other gathering skills that you don't take the t1 relic for can also be done without banking; processing skills like crafting, etc can be very easily "0 timed" while questing, etc.

LR also had some great applications for clues, especially with specific steps that are way out of the way, but the clue compass basically makes that 100% moot.

I'm also wondering what tier these'll be because both were early tiers in previous leagues BUT with them being known to be so strong and pit against each other this time I could see them being held for later. so I feel like they could be like t3 or like t6.

more thinking must be done! but as much as I was happy with being a non-bank-noter last time around, having Fire Sale + Last recall, I feel like in this case, BN is gonna be better for me, and for many people.

last recall is good. last recall can sub for a LOT of BN. but I learned firsthand that it can't sub for ALL of BN, and while the Fire Sale benefits were significant enough with my regions last year to feel worth it, I don't think it's the case now.

ALSO, I might be misunderstanding, so I'll have to go read FAQ/discussion, but total recall says: "This can store any single coordinate, alongside your HP, prayer, and special attack energy, and teleport back to it at a later date..."

This is very unclear to me. On first read it made this relic sound WORSE than preivous last recall - because the way you'd use it previously was to tele OUT at the end of a boss kill (for example), restore, and come back, but this version would... un-restore you? Put your HP and prayer and spec back to how drained they were at the end of the fight?

BUT the wording makes it sound like... maybe you can "Store" the memory at will, rather than it automatically being your last teleport this time around? Which would mean, you'd roll up to the boss room with full stats, "Store" that memory, then kill the boss, then just do one click on the cyrstal to tele back to the boss room door with full stats. which would make it BETTER than old last recall, just by a small amount. But that would be increased if it's an early-tier relic, if it could essentially substitute for POH pool/nardah in the early game. then that makes it more competitive. if that is how it works it might be a tougher choice...

[chalabrun]

how i ship madasaku (woyy ver.)

Disclaimer: This is not an analysis of how the fandom ships Madasaku. This isn’t pertinent to any other version other than my own that exists in my WOYY AU. This is not the result of fanon influence, nor should it be taken as such, because this is not a fanon analysis. If any other Madasaku fans want to know how your favorite authors/fanartists portray Madasaku, I highly recommend you ask them. They’ll probably love the interest. This is a subjective take and it shouldn’t be blown out of proportion as anything but.

So, with The Maiden wrapping up (it’s finished, I’m just staggering the posting rate) and The Mother (its sequel) coming very soon, I thought I’d round out the year with my thoughts on this ship as it exists in my series. It doesn’t need saying that Madasaku is a controversial ship at best, and has extreme potential for dark fic at worst. At its absolute best, time travel AU’s that occur before Madara snaps highlight what can be fantastic about this pairing as much as more villainous, post-canon takes can showcase how toxic it can become. 

(And for the record, people who utilize more toxic dynamics shouldn’t be shamed for it. The potential is there, easily. Madara after he left Konoha spirals into depravity despite his endgame being anything but (”a world of peace, of winners, of love” is basically the tagline for the Inifinite Tsukiyomi) and there’s a lot to address for the harm Madara does, of how inhumane and merciless he can be. The toxicity is already there post-canon if an author decides he lives, but it only takes certain nudges to make it glaringly apparent.)

Which I think is what makes Madasaku such a fascinating character study. As I’ve come to find, healthy fic of this ship post-canon are rare. Very rare. Have I read them? Not greatly. Do I know they exist sparingly compared to time travel AU’s and modern mafia AU’s that draw so many people in? Certainly? Now, on to the discourse!

To begin, I think it merits saying that Sakura, as the main character, exists in a curious space of potential and underutilized latency despite being the main heroine. Now, in light of the well-established reincarnation cycle that Sasuke and Naruto share, it goes without saying that inserting Sakura as part of it as Naruto and Sasuke’s past lovers IS a popular trope, especially since Sakura married Sasuke (yes, they do love each other; Sasuke can’t be forced into a relationship, ya’ll!) and Naruto’s crush did flourish into true love. With the love triangle that flourished in canon well and true, it makes the potential of past love interests and finding ardor in those past incarnations who loved Sakura’s past incarnates a fun possibility to mess with in fandom.

That being said, what about a relationship with one of Sasuke’s past incarnations and Sakura?

I think what makes Sakura such an interesting choice (beyond what I’ve established here) is that she simultaneously inhabits two extremes. At once does Sakura embody the bull-headed, strong-armed approach of Tsunade with the strength to match. She has a temper, bonks offenders on the head as much as she smashes her way through the world, and responds to challenges with a tomboyish, undoubtedly masculine glee. Tsunade’s power was described as being like a “god of war”, while Sakura has undoubtedly surpassed her in every way, justifying Sakura’s own intense, warlike nature. To say that Sakura has an intense amount of masculine traits like Tsunade is valid. In Part II, she’s very battle-ready, warlike, refuses to give up, and someone who won’t back down from a challenge. And the same time...

Yet, Sakura embodies the feminine just as much. She was a victim of bullying that revealed itself in her demeanor, which in turn made her chronically insecure. From her introduction on, she’s established as someone who is a romantic, very centered on love (that doesn’t always have to revolve around Sasuke), has motifs that are strongly associated with Japanese femininity, and is established as being a kind and caring person who puts others before herself on many occasions; while Tsunade is definitely a caring person herself, she’s not as soft-hearted as Sakura, which is fine. But still, the crux of Sakura’s character is that she encapsulates both in equal spades.

Which is what makes contrasting her to Madara so extremely interesting. 

Now, Madara is a complex tangle himself. Madara before Izuna’s death is a kind man, as Hashirama said. As a child, he had the same boisterousness and inferiority complex as characters like Naruto, and was the underdog in his relationship with Hashirama. As an adult, he seemed to be shier and tended to avoid confrontation/directness, even after Izuna died. Despite his uneven morality, even when revived did he himself state the belief that he wouldn’t seriously fight a child due to how unequal it would’ve been. Even during the war, in his interactions with Sasuke he wasn’t proactive in fighting him, it took him a long time to fatally wound him after offering an alliance and it seemed to be as a last resort. Does this mean he’s entirely gentle? Not at all. Despite the fact that he saved Obito as a child, or that he wanted to save the world from despair, at the same time, he’s the reason Rin died and can kill thousands of people without second thought (bonus addition that his name itself can start wars, as a testament to his power in a negative light); he also stole Sharingan without remorse (threatening to take Obito’s), and did it to Kakashi during the war and threatened Sasuke with Sharingan theft, too. 

Outside of the extremes Madara embodies in canon, one thing that is a fulcrum of his character in The Maiden is the fact that he’s grieving. The reason for this was established early on, but Madara was never made aware of the fact that the Uchiha were massacred, or that he was halfway responsible for it. When he first met Sakura, he makes it plain that he believed the Uchiha were killed off like the Senju, mostly from the Shinobi World Wars that killed thousands over the decades. When he discovers the truth, it crushes him; he wanted nothing more than to protect the Uchiha, even when he couldn’t. Especially since Obito, the boy he mentally and spiritually destroyed to gain a pawn, was half-way responsible for the Uchiha massacre. Of which makes it Madara’s fault, not even considering how those still loyal to Madara’s ideals wanted to start a coup that implicated them by Danzo. 

In this happening, his grief is compounded by the fact that WOYY Madara saw himself as dead when Hashirama killed him them first time. Like a ghost returned to his own corpse, he shut down his humanity to enact the Tsuki no Me/Eye of the Moon Plan. When he meets Sakura, after learning the truth of the Uchiha, that grief is the start of his spiral back into humanity through his vulnerability. And Sakura plays a huge part in guiding it along, both intentionally and not, over the course of the year they work together to begin exposing the Uchiha Massacre and other dark crimes Danzo facilitated. 

A phrase I think suits their interactions the most is that Sakura very much puts her foot down, but keeps her fists up with Madara. Despite the fact that Madara is deeply depressed and in a state of mourning over the Uchiha, she’s not his doormat, nor is she there to perform emotional labor to help him cope even if it does play into their growing relationship. 

To put it simply, it’s Sakura’s presence at the start of Madara’s fall back into humanity that makes him fall for her (even if it takes a lot time); it’s her place throughout its reawakening that steadies and develops it. More than that, in sacrificing everything to clear the Uchiha’s name and their reviled status in the world (which is what Sakura continued for Sasuke when he had that hope snuffed out by the end of his final battle with Naruto at the start of The Maiden), he grew to know her as someone who didn’t blindly worship the Leaf and wanted to set things right (as blind love of Konoha earned Madara’s hatred, like with Hashirama). In this happening, he grew to trust Sakura. And in trusting her with both his humanity, his clan, and faith to make Konoha atone, it allowed his heart to open and for feelings to enter through their times together. 

I know it’s a popular Uchiha fanon that they tend to be powersexual and fall for people who can beat them up, but for WOYY Madara, this couldn’t be further from the truth. If anything, people more powerful than him earn Madara’s hatred because it taps into a feeling of insecurity in his own abilities he hates feeling. Even with Gai--the only other person besides Hashirama who has the power to kill him--and the enthusiasm Gai earned from Madara, he would likely hate him if they ever came to interact due to how much of a Leaf patriot Gai is. Hell, the reason Madara fell for Hashirama was because he trusted Hashirama with their dream and, more than that, he trusted Hashirama with his clan despite his faith not being ironclad. Before the cracks showed, that consideration for his clan is what made Madara fall for Hashirama, and it was the same with Sakura. 

Although Sakura does become much more powerful in The Maiden--and will continue to grow exponentially into The Mother--he doesn’t care about her power at all. It’s the trust she earned, the sanctity of the Uchiha to Madara she honored and fought to salvage, and his vulnerable humanity she was there throughout to foster and protect (even unknowingly) that earned Sakura his heart. 

As for Sakura, what made her fall for Madara was the fact that she was saving him when she couldn’t save Sasuke, as the want to save Sasuke made Sakura fall in love with him in the manga. It was the same case with Naruto, too. Even if it wasn’t her intention, nor does the plot revolve around Sakura saving Madara, it happened and she fell in love with him. She fell for his vulnerability, for his heart, for his humanity that showed him who he really was. She fell in love with who he really was as someone there for her throughout her trials and one of the hardest journeys she’d taken to date. 

In The Maiden, Sakura fell to her lowest point in doing what she did almost entirely solo with its success riding on her shoulders alone. But, like Hashirama, Madara was a light for her. Even though he was difficult at times, she stood up for herself and shut conflict down, especially when it was inappropriate (like Madara haranguing her for her dual feelings for Hashirama as much as him). 

With her foot down and fists up, it’s more or less the story of how Madasaku came to be in the WOYY.

[ghostesez]

The Timeline of this Show Makes No Sense - Let’s Talk About That

We need to start by establishing when Danny’s accident happens. The show’s pilot, ‘Mystery Meat’, is established to happen about a month after the accident. We don’t know when exactly ‘Mystery Meat’ takes place, but we do know that it’s prior to Halloween (since Halloween is featured promenantly in ‘Fright Knight’). For the sake of the timeline, let’s say that ‘Mystery Meat’ happens a week after the school year starts (I’ll explain why this is wrong soon).

In the US, school usually starts on the last week of August, usually a Tuesday. I’m pining August 24, 2004 as the start date of the trio’s freshman year. This would put the accident at circa July 24, which is a nice date considering it’s a Saturday. I’m putting ‘Mystery Meat’ so early in the school year for two reasons:

1. Despite the love in the Phandom of mentioning it in fics, it’s never said that Danny missed school because of the accident. We know it was likely significant since Danny’s family definitely knows that it happened (they talk about it during the episode). It’s reasonable to assume that the accident happened while Danny was on break from school.

2. The whole plot centers around Sam changing the lunch menu. While Sam is implied to have been discussing it with the school board for a while, Sam is the type of person to change the menu ASAP and not wait around to do it months later. For all we know, she could have been talking to the school board instead of the school because she didn’t yet attend Casper while on summer break from middle school. This also points to ‘Mystery Meat’ happening early in the school year

So, I’m setting ‘Mystery Meat’ as happening on August 30-31, 2004. Meaning that all of the follow episodes happen between September 1 to October 30, just under two months:

But! Prisoners of Love takes place during May, it is specifically on May 9th if I remember correctly, because Maddie makes reference to that day being the date of her wedding anniversary. So what the hell is going on here?

If we instead say that ‘Mystery Meat’ happens in January, this makes more sense with the timeline established in season one. The accident can then be set as having happened over winter break, and my two previous points above applying to a new semester rather than a new year (which makes Sam’s comment about talking to the school board make even more sense, even if she now took longer to complete her goal). The inclusion of Danny being shown at Casper in most of the season one episodes makes it difficult to establish when his summer break was. Since ‘Fright Knight’ comes after ‘Teacher of the Year’, this would mean that all of these episodes happen over the course of about ten months. An accident in January would mean that these episodes happen in his sophomore year.

There’s one particular screen shot from ‘Shades of Gray’ that complicates things.

So, ‘Shades of Gray’ happens between October 22, 2004 and October 31, 2004. Assuming it happens on October 23 and the days after, that leaves only a couple of days for ‘Teacher of the Year’ before moving onto ‘Fright Knight’. I guess it’s possible, but a very small window of time, especially if you buy into season one happening over a year instead of like two months (which you probably should).

Here’s the rest of season one:

And here’s the first part of season two:

The episodes ‘13’ to ‘The Fenton Menace’ take place between November 1, 2004 and December 24, 2004. Let’s talk specifically about ‘Memory Blank’ and ‘Reign Storm’ for a moment. In ‘Memory Blank’, Danny gets his logo from Sam. This makes sense with the date established in that photo from ‘Shades of Gray’, but there’s no way Valerie knew to title the photo as ‘Phantom’. Amity Park calls him Inviso-Bill and all manner of nicknames until ‘Reign Storm’, when Danny sets them straight. How does she know his name is Phantom? Does she know other secrets of the universe? Is Valerie secretly a member of the Illuminati? More at 11.

Okay now for the rest of season 2:

Let’s assume that ‘Micro Management’ takes place in January. ‘Reality Trip’ takes places at the end of the school year and the beginning of summer break. The rest of the season takes place between January and May. The season takes place in a spring semester of their freshman or sophomore year, depending on when the accident happened. Because of ‘Prisoners of Love’, I’m inclined to believe that it was their sophomore year.

Here’s the list of all of season three with the intentional exclusion of ‘Phantom Planet’ because we all hate it:

‘Reality Trip’ served as both the end of season two and the beginning of season three... kinda. Which is why ‘Inifinite Realms’ is listed as the second episode here. The 2000’s were a weird time for Nickelodeon scheduling, guys. Just go with it.

(‘Urban Jungle’ is bizarre okay, I have no idea what happened there. It’s a season three episode and definitely premiered after ‘Infinite Realms’, since that’s where we first meet Frostbite, who then shows out to train Danny in ‘Urban Jungle’.)

We know that ‘Claw of the Wild’ happens during the summer, it’s explicitly stated in-episode. This means that ‘Infinite Realms’ to ‘Frightmare’ happen over the course of a whole ass year. Nobody is shown to be at school during ���D-Stabilized’, so it may or may not happen during summer as well.

They’re shown back at school by the time of ‘Phantom Planet’. If the accident happened in January 2004, this is the beginning of their senior year. If the accident was during July 2004, it is the beginning of their junior year.

It’s been a minute since I’ve seen the show, so I may have missed a couple canonical dates. Please let me know what you think.

TL;DR: The show runners didn’t plan out a timeline and I wasted an hour of my life typing this out on my phone. Huzzah 🙌

[thaylepo]

NOUSE I'M CRYING

Oh my god, I just had the Best Big Brain moment, 

Y’all know that Loony Toons cartoon with the big dog that makes friends with a kitten and winds up thinking the kitten’s been baked into a cookie (but kitty is fine, don’t panic) 

This scenario, but with OtterShore. Sparks decides to make otter shaped cookies, gives one to Shore who discovers that she has a little pouch for storing food so she tucks an extra one in there. Then forgets about it. 

Then BOOM, Gaster’s got the de-ottering machine ready to go, only it’s a tad more, explosive than expected because that’s just par for the course for him. And Shore poofs back to normal, only she kind of goes flying and Gaster doesn’t see that because of said explosion that makes a little dust cloud. 

What he does see is an otter cookie lying on the ground that fell out of the vanishing otter pouch

Gaster: OH GOD NO I TURNED HER INTO A COOKIE, I AM REVOLTING, I AM A SHAM I-

Grillby, poking his head in: Oh hey Shore you’re back

Shore saluting from a pile of knocked over boxes: Indeed and I was going to kick Gaster’s butt but now I just feel bad

This is so DUMB but I’m grinning like crazy

[hashirun]

Cuddle weather but I have no one to cuddle- I'll just hug myself til I fall asleep lol.

So my mind, in its current fuzzy state, keeps going back to the opening line in Milan Kundera's novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being:

The idea of eternal return is a mysterious one, and Nietzsche has often perplexed other philosophers with it: to think that everything recurs as we once experienced it, and that the recurrence itself recurs ad infinitum!

Let's say, hypothetically speaking, that we indeed live in a loop, where we're destined (or doomed) to live the exact same life over and over and over again.

Then it makes me wonder - do loops have a beginning - and if they do - am I living this life for the first time, thus bearing the responsibility to live this life as fully as possible for the sake of my future infinite selves?

Or.. Am I merely one of the inifinite recurrences of my past and future selves, my whole life pre-determined from birth til death? And if so, then isn't it pointless to struggle since the outcome will be the same no matter what?

Another obvious thought: surely my past selves also posed this exact, same question at the exact, same moment in my life, which means this moment is very much part of my fate. Whatever I do, whatever I think, I've already done hundreds, thousands, millions of times in the past, and will do hundreds, thousands, millions of times in the future.

It makes my head spin just thinking about it, I guess I'll just go for that nap.

[asynca]

If a straight cisgender male writes about a bisexual/gay character as their main character, is that morally correct? Won't they end up fetishizing people of other sexual orientations?

Nah. It really depends on how they write the characters (for example, you can write characters in a grossly superficial and non-respectful way) whether or not they’re actually causing harm with it. Many cisgender men can write really great characters of any sexuality in a helpful and respectful way, even if there are sex scenes. 

I think what really matters when we’re talking about non-queer writers writing queer characters is whether or not they’re taking the place that should be rigthfully filled by a queer writer. 

For example, anyone can write fanfic, and one fanfic writer isn’t going to prevent another fanfic writer from writing. The space is inifinite. Everyone can write with no restrictions, so there’s little harm in a non-queer person writing queer characters in the fanfiction space. 

Outside it, though, it’s trickier. 

For example, if a cisgender dude accepts a job to write gay characters, he’s actually taking the place of a queer writer who’d been writing their own representation. In that case, I would strongly, strongly recommend non-queer folks don’t apply for jobs that should be filled by queer writers. “But they’re less famous/experienced than straight writers,” yeah and they’ll stay that way if straight writers continue to take their jobs! Many mainstream queer characters have been written by straight people, and while they might be respectfully written, just think of how much more meaningful those characters would be if given life by queer writers. Queer writers are often relegated to really niche places in the writing industry, and really need the opportunity to step up and shine. ANYWAY I’ll get off my soap box. 

Also, when a non-queer writer gets a traditional publishing contract and they’re writing queer books, they’re potentially preventing a queer person from getting published because the publishing houses don’t have unlimited money. However, it’s possible the publishing house may not have considered giving a contract to a queer writer and only wanted to contract that specific writer anyway, so again, it’s tricky. 

Really what non-queer folks should be asking themselves are: 

1. Am I writing these characters respectfully, and

2. Can I be fairly sure I’m not taking the place of a queer writer? 

And if the answer is yes to both, I see no problem with them writing all the gay sex they want. In almost every case I see the, “You’re fetishizing x community,” and then read the source content, it’s more a case of someone within the community being upset that someone not from the community is writing x character/sexuality. I don’t think that’s helpful. If we want more representation, we need to encourage people not from our communities to always put representation into their work with the support they need to write x characters well.