#its going to be a really complicated fight

[apolaskiart]

Frost and Gricko's tattoos for the iasuw au! Moving on to the kinda complex designs that made me have a bit of a crisis (legit), these ones are just as fun to make but relatively challenging to the previous one in terms of "what do I even put?".

I'll be yapping on my thoughts/headcannons regarding these below, so feel free to dive in! A warning that it is quite lengthy because of said crises-induced reflecting session (a proud citizen of yap city indeed)

First off, we have to talk about the technicalities of Frost's tattoos. It actually put me in a crisis when making this because the first question that came to mind when finding inspo was was "how the hell do you put tattoos on a tiger?"

Aside from the issue of tattooing onto fur, there is the presence of stripes that make it difficult to create a design in the first place. So for this a.u's sake (and my well being) we can treat fur like skin where tattoos can easily be applied and expressed, but would have a shorter lifespan, aka fade quicker, as a con so retouching would be more often. It can also overlap the patterns of the natural fur if designed as such (as I did with Frost).

With this, characters who have fur (e.g. Jornir) could possibly be given tattoos designs in the future while side stepping the technical issues to avoid putting to much focus on it. This could apply to other characters who may have leathery or feathery skin types.

Now of to the designing part. Unlike Gideon and Torbek, the aesthetic/style of the tattoo was not apparent at first and took a bit of a backseat to the actual design elements for Frost. Originally, using a purely geometrical style did not feel satisfying. After revisiting his canon for some ideas, an illustrative style was added to contrast the geometry which then seemingly worked out.

"Frost's design is built mostly of geometry (circles, squares and triangles) to reflect the motion of balance between familiarity and change, logic and unpredictability, comfort and discovery. Strict in pattern and position, most are simple as to take into account the stripes of his fur.

"The only complicated design, a dragon circling a tower and followed by a koi fish, was inspired by the legend of a koi travelling an upstream waterfall to turn into a dragon, signifying strength and perseverance. It is also a sign, that behind a rigid demeanor is a fiery passion waiting to be unleashed." -> The connected yarn was to give the idea that Frost can weave this path of his, but a connection as well to my other hc that it is his main reminder of his home in Yulong.

Things also mostly come in eight (resembles infinity as well as signs for wealth and success)! It was quite fun determining how to add this in as well :D

For the actual main inspo, IVE's "HEYA" has been on the forefront. Combined with another inspired by the phrase "When tigers used to smoke…" (which is the literary equivalent of "once upon a time…" and what has "once upon a…" in their name?), I must say that culture took the reigns in directing Frost's design and imho I would say that, compared to others, his was more appropriate to have strong semblances of his home as a remembrance (e.g. yarn, temple) during his travels.

Also I used a green coloring scheme because literally all other colors did not look as good as i intended. Fate really wanted him to have a green-orange scheme.

Now we got Frost out of the way, its Gricko's turn! Despite being challenging as well, Gricko's design had assistance from punk/heavy metal aesthetics. Though the only idea that I really had mostly was the logo of different band names

I will gladly argue on why Gricko's college band name should be "Goblin Deez..." Imagine, you can say nuts if you are being funny or hands if you want a fight. Anything really, which is liberating at its finest.

From here though, the main idea really that bloomed after this was that most of his tattoos were going to be personal too him!

"Aside from the egregious tattoo of his band name, the tattoos all over him speak of his journey. A pinup of a lady troll and a crown from the hit tv series game of chairs, for his childhood dreams of being a king and bagging a hot troll. A scale and guitar for his college pol. sci days. Others speaking of his collected hobbies and knick- knacks throughout a particularly challenging adulthood. Yet on his chest is his most cherished, his center and everything, which is none other than Hootsie."

The covered half sleeve tattoos on his arm ? That's to cover up the name of his exes (Headcanon that Gricko was just as much a womanizer as Gideon, but mostly in his college to early adult life. He slowed down once Hootsie entered the picture). Also its just more badass looking with designs of the monsters his canon self uses lol.

ALSO ALSO PAINTED NAILS, I'LL ARGUE WITH THE WHOLE COURT ROOM THAT HE AND HOOTSIE PAINT EACH OTHERS NAILS AS A HC!!!!

End of yapping session. Meeting adjourned!

[acupofinkedblood]

Rocket x Playgroundian reader [Two Side of The Same Coin]

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Playground has an infamous reputation because of the violence that occurs almost daily inside the factor. It does bring the name of the factor down, even drags those who choose the pacific path into the mud as long as everyone knows they come from there. No matter how much of a good deed they accomplish, people can’t just help it but being taken back when figuring out the location of their Spawnplace. Playgroundians always have that specific thirst for chaos everywhere they go after all, some honorable mentions can definitely include a particular skater or a wannabe villain as such. Sure, maybe some of them don’t have that savagery everyone is wary about, but who can blame them?

Chaos is the taboo Playground folks bring to the table in everywhere they leave trace of. Intentional or not, most of them share that same burning fire in what they deem right to their own benefit. One thing that people have came to realize is that there is no use crying out for help on the street. You have to fight for your survival there. And with gangsters lurking in every single corner of the street, the chance of a merciful gesture seems to worth more than life itself. It’s either you have to fight your way into some gang there to seek protection, or you have to stain blood on your hands while keep your eyes opened all days and all nights long alone. Fight or flight, it’s your choice

No one can choose the place they want to spawn into life, and the same applies to you. But hey, it’s technically not that bad. If we take the brutal nature of the place you were technically spawned into without a chance, at least it’s rich in culture. And other good things too, like lovedove’s species. They are quite the sweethearts. Ironic, isn’t it?

Playground, when you have learned how to adapt on its lifestyle, isn’t that bad as anyone thought. It’s not the easiest, you have to admit that. And then again, it’s better than nothing. It is not like you can leave that tag of being a Playgrounder anytime soon anyway. Things are too complicated to even process fully

But you still look forward into the future. Like, c’mon, there are other Playground folks other than you that are still roaming around Inpherno with ease, why should you bother? If anything, it does keep unwanted attention away from you in a certain level. No one in their right mind would want to cross those that comes from Windforce’s territory after all, knowing how much of the deal they can be. With that, you don’t give a damn about how people view your own factor. You still live your normal life — maybe not too normal to other’s taste, but hey, it’s your own life — and make friends too. Of course, Rocket somehow hops into your life without a warning and just stay there. Perhaps it’s the other way around, who knows?

To describe Rocket, you have quite the handful to say about this guy. He doesn’t show much of himself when the two of you just met, that’s for sure. But gradually, you worm your way into his friend circle steadily after a long while of getting to know him. And that’s when you know that there is another side of him which is livelier than the defensive attitude he put up when the two of you first interact with each other. Though he does appear to be pretty standoff-ish at first, you soon realized just how fun is it when he is around. It’s never boring when you have Rocket to be by your side. He isn’t too much of a nice guy, but enough to not fall into the bad boy category. He is just Rocket, and that makes you keeping your eyes on him out of interest. Not to mention, he does have that charm in which you can’t really put a name on. That cheeky grin of him can get on your nerves but also makes you forget what were you two talking about.

So how did you come to the realization that you have fallen for him slowly? Does your heart have the answer, or are you just as clueless as a fish on land?

Knowing Rocket and his poor ability to keep the accuracy of his own target without screwing it up, he aims right into your heart without even knowing what has he done. You like Rocket. You like his company and his personality, his appearance is also an addition into the list you have of what you like about this guy. Damn those butterflies that have been causing a havoc inside your stomach whenever he beams his toothy grin at you, damn that blush of yours when he playfully wraps his arm around your shoulder and pulls you close as the two of you are joking around. At this point, damn Rocket for making you feel this way

But fate must have loved messing around with the peace of your mind. Since it can’t reach you personally, it sends someone that manages to earn your worthy attention to bound with you but with a simple addition: You soon realized just how much he dislikes a certain region. And in this case, it’s unfortunately enough to be Playground that he grits his teeth at

You still remember that time when you briefly mentioned an upcoming festival being held in Playground soon. You were about to ask Rocket if he wanted to come with you. Though before that question could leave your mouth, his face grimaced slightly. That was when you started to become curious of why did he make that face. After a few questions with no hard feelings, he finally told you that he just didn’t want to mention that region again

“Yeah, not technically a fan. Playground, I mean. It isn’t for me”

“How so?”

“Just something personal,” was what he felt comfortable enough to tell you when you asked him that, “But yeah, uh, not in a good way, at all”

It’s not too much of a surprise when you confidently claim that Rocket seems to hold a grunge with Playground itself to some extent. You don’t understand where does his bitterness towards Playgrounders comes from, but after a few subtle hints he drops here and there when the two of you are talking together, you know damn well that just the factor’s name alone leaves a bitter taste on his tongue. Hell, whether it’s on purpose or not, he surely makes it obvious that he doesn’t have any intentions of playing the friendly card when it comes to anyone who comes from that hell of a factor in front of his face

Well, that hell of a factor where you come from, to be specific

You don’t tell him anything about your factor when the two of you get to know each other, and Rocket has thought that you were also factorless as him at some point. Maybe it’s your demeanor or style that gives him that impression. He makes that assumption without even telling you, so you don’t even get the chance to clarify things with him. But seeing how he has this hostile attitude towards Playgrounders? You immediately keep your mouth shut. That inner monologue of him looking at you with the same eyes that he uses to glance at them in distaste leaves you no other choice but to try and keep it that way. The fear of rejection is already enough, you don’t need to imagine how he will react if he finds this out. Anxiety creeps up on your nerves almost daily. Your heart can’t take it in peace when you think of him like that

The dreadfulness, you feel it in your skin. At some point, you even see it in your nightmare. This crush will be the death of you soon if you don’t figure out a way to deal with it. But you have been too far gone, haven’t you noticed? As much as you try to resist his playful touch — even though you feel like he doesn’t do it on purpose, mixed signals are such a pain in the ass — you can’t escape this torturous clutch in this heart-shaped prison you have locked yourself in, even going so far to throw the key away into nowhere. All because of him. When you realize just how much he makes you feel alive, you can’t even meet his eyes for too long anymore. To pin over someone like that, it makes you go crazy — or in this case, he makes you go crazy — why does it have to be you to suffer internally like this?

For a very rare moment in your life, you feel helpless as a Playgrounder in this game of love that you know damn well you are holding the loosing flag with Rocket out of all people. Maybe you’re just overthinking things, maybe it isn’t that bad— But you can’t be sure of it. What if once he finds out about your deeds with Playground, he will turn his back at you? You have known him for quite some good times now, yet your worries don’t seem to see the light as much as you tried to reassure yourself. You’re desperately wanting to bury this fact deep within the ground and never mention it again. Do it, but what about your fellow friends who are also Playgrounders? Your business at Playground isn’t actually finished anyway, and you can’t leave it completely behind. You know that you can’t keep this hidden forever, no? Yet for the time being, you keep clinging onto that brief hope that Rocket will be blissfully unaware for your sake

Your heart has been hurt enough because of your — supposedly as this is how you think — one sided feeling for him, you don’t need to have a massive bucket of cold water of rejection being thrown directly in your face in this cold weather anytime soon. This will be fine, right? As long as you keep your mouth shut, everything will be well. He doesn’t have to know this

Yet heaven above really knows just how can it make you miserable. You really underestimate Rocket and his ability to figure things out on his own. Do you really think he doesn’t notice it when he sees you taken back by something he has said when the topic has to revolve around something in Playground? And the way you avoid some of his questions really gives it away that you’re keeping something away from him. Here’s the thing: Rocket does respect you when you want to keep things hidden. Everyone has something that they wish to keep in the dark, even him. But does it help his curiosity when you look like you purposely don’t want to mention anything about your life to him? Yeah, you can’t really blame him on this, it is quite suspicious

Rocket does notice that you have been acting kind of different lately. And that doesn’t help with the fact you purposely keeps avoiding his questions about your life. He just realizes that aside from what he already knows about you, like your basic information or hobbies that you show around him, he has no clue about the other things. Where do you live? Where do you work? Do you have any other friends? What do you have to face daily? Why are you so insistent on keeping him in the dark even when the two of you are pretty much closer than just typical friends? Rocket cares for you, he genuinely does. He likes you — at least, as friends for now — and your company, and it makes him wondering why do you keep things away from him

Rocket soon puts his mind into works without you knowing. He does this because he is worried about you. And besides, it can’t be possibly that bad? All he will do is just ask around and try to understand certain things about you. You might call it ‘investigative’, he calls it ‘get to know your friend better’. There is a difference in that, mind you

But never did he think that his action will have a consequence of how he will view his ideas and prejudices in the future. By all means, he has expected to find a lots of things about you — you gotta give him credit for this, because Rocket doesn’t play about his skills — but he doesn’t expect the fact that you are a Playgrounder to be on that list. The moment he finds out about it, Rocket’s mind just short circuited on its own. He has mixed feeling about this piece of information that he has about you

A part of him feels betrayed, yet the other part just deems it as ‘Oh’. He doesn’t know what did he expect, but he just slumps against his chair while staring into nowhere as his thoughts are such a mess at the moment. Sure, he hates Playgrounders. He hates them because of what have they done to him in the past. He didn’t just magically run away from Playground because of nothing. They have ruined his life. Thinking about those days sleeping with on eye opened still makes him bitter. All those bruises and scars, how can he forget about its origins? Playground is somewhere that he detests, and all the folks in there are no better than the shadow in the past under his eyes. But now, you are one of them. How should he feel about this?

Rocket definitely needs a drink to clear up his mind. He groans, brushes his hand across his face as he thinks of how should he look at you now, his thoughts are conflicting with each others like crazy now. Should he even tell you about this? Casually telling you that he knows you’re one of those from Playground that he dislikes with a passion? Yeah, what the heck has he gotten himself into now? But to top it up, he wonders what will you say if you know that he has figured this out. But then his phone suddenly rings out of the blue: It’s you. Damn, speak of the devil

Now, back to you. After so long, you have decided to brave yourself to confess to him! It should be easy, you text him to meet at the usual hangout spot of you guys which is on the rooftop of a building that no one cares enough to drag the two of you down at any circumstances. It’s a nice getaway spot, usually when you or he wants a break from whatever is going on in life. That spot will be the prefect location for you to confess to him, the precious memories you have together with him play an important part in this after all. As you just finished sending your message to meet you on the usual spot, you can’t help but pace around impatiently while waiting for his response. And then he does, saying that he will meet you there in a few minutes! Even asking you to buy some drink on the way to. It brings a bright smile on your face, sure, you can spend your bux to buy him something or two. It’s all worth it, at least that’s what you hope

The rooftop is as empty as always. This is your hangout spot for a reason after all, a space where you can freely express your thoughts without having any annoying mosquitoes barking nonsense into your ears. Just you and him, together. The temperature has dropped lately, winter really doesn’t hold back once it has a chance. Thankfully your coat is enough to warm you up, or else you might as well freeze there on spot before you can tell Rocket of what you feel. Holding the plastic bag with your choice of beverages inside that you got from the convenience store, you start to think about what should you do once you meet him. Rocket will definitely laugh his ass off if he knows you have been rehearsing your confession multiple times in front of the wall like an idiot before this

And here he is, making his way onto the roof as he waves you a ‘Yo’ all casually

“Took you long enough,” you throw the can into his hand, “There, like you said”

“Be for real, I got here within five minutes. Give me some credit for it”

He catches the can without missing a beat. You just shrug it off with a smile while Rocket opens up the can after he walks up to stand beside you. You also have a can to yourself, mainly to encourage yourself from stop backing down like a coward. There is a reason why your can is half-emptied by the time he sees you after all

The two of you just stands there together for a good while, taking the view of Crossroad below without a word spoken to each other. Before you can even speak up, Rocket starts looking down at the opened can of beverage in his hand, then mumbles to himself yet make it clear enough for you to catch his words as well on purpose

“You didn’t tell me you’re from Playground”

That question makes you freeze almost like a deer caught in front of the headlights as your eyes opened widely. You stare back at Rocket, who currently taking notes of your dumbfounded face without letting you know what is he feeling at the moment. There is it, that anxious nerve-wracking feeling gradually creeps into your heart, making it heavier each moment passing by. You feel like it’s slowly dwelling into the deepest pit of your stomach. It takes you a while to finally close your mouth, looks away from him. He knows, SFOTH above, he finds out despite all your attempts to keep it away from him

“How long did you find that out?”

Your voice is like a whisper to the wind, quiet and easy to slipped away if one’s ear isn’t paying attention enough. That gets Rocket to huff out a dry laugh while he sets the can down onto the railing carefully

“You still have a lots to learn about me”

Silence starts to fill the space between you and Rocket. It is uncomfortable to you. The worries are eating you up alive, numbing your mind into radio’s statics as you really can’t take this anymore longer. You wonder what is Rocket thinking at the moment. He is surprisingly calm in this situation, you can’t help but be amazed by it. Isn’t he upset at all?

“You’re not mad at me?”

“Not really. I mean, I know you long enough, so I know you’re better than those assholes,” he shakes his head, “Just…Well, a bit taken back. Conflicted too, I guess? And maybe something else, but can’t really know what to call it”

Rocket has already been through all stages of mind before meeting you. And trust me, it does surprise him that he doesn’t seem to mind it that much. You know what they say: Stay close to your dearest friends, but also even closer to your opponents. You are one of them, and he has been so close to you this whole time. You have been both his most beloved friend and his enemy this entire time. But then he starts to think about it: Does that matter to him? That you’re a Playgrounder? All those time the two of you spent together, he knows damn well that you’re different than them. You even have his back in the toughest time. Never once have you tried to harm him, you stay with him through thick and thin. Hell, he doesn’t want to see you as someone in the opposite side of his, that’s for sure

After what feels like eternity, you finally feel that need to speak up and break the ice. And out of everything you can ask, you go for the one that pops up immediately in your mind

“Are we still friends?”

That question leaves your mouth while your hands are clutching onto the hem of your coat with a firm grip. You’re worried, of course you are. How can you not when thing has escalated to this point? He has found out that you’re a Playgrounder. Although Rocket doesn’t seem like he will make a fuss out of this, you don’t want him to just turn his back to you. The cold is there, but maybe it’s not the only reason why you’re trembling slightly. Of course, Rocket notices at that. He can’t help but sighing at the distressed expression on your face. He is right, you were hiding that you’re a Playgrounder because of him. It makes him guilty somewhat though

He looks at you for a moment before wraps his arm around your shoulder to pull you closer. Though the fabric of his jacket is rather cold at the first contact of your skin, you can still feel his natural warmth radiating from his body. It’s comforting, especially in this kind of weather. How did he manage to soothe your nerves, and even get you to feel sentimental like this?

“Why not?” Rocket clicks his tongue slightly before looking up into the sky, humming while keeping you close by his biological hand, “Always”

That simple answer is enough for you to calm down for the time being. Aside from those times when he is absolutely clueless about what should he do in certain times, he really knows how to read the room. Rocket keeps you close to him. Physical affection is always his way of showing those he cares about that he has their back, including you. Especially you, if one might add. It’s one of the reason you have fallen for him after all. After being deep in thoughts, you finally accept the current situation of yours and just leaning against Rocket’s side

For now, this is more than just the reassurance you need to hear from him. This is enough at the moment

As for your confession, you decide to halt it for the time being. Not now, not like this. You know better than that, don’t you?

You did hide things away from him first, worried that he will project his bad feelings onto you when he figure who you actually are. To have him accept this without causing a scene is already a miracle in your poor heart, but you know that if you really want to be with him, you have to let him trust you completely firsthand. And after this, you know that you have to wait again. It’s not like he will just walk away from your life anytime soon. Plus, this doesn’t seem like a good atmosphere for you to confess your not-so-little crush to Rocket

Maybe next time, so he can build his trust with you again. If you love him so much, that’s what you have to be aware of. But then again, you’re willing to do so. Next time, hopefully there will be a next time with him for you. That small flickering candle of hope in your heart isn’t blown away, it’s still there, waiting for the right moment for him. In the end, you still have a chance to make things right, so just take it easy. Time will grant you its fortune soon, rest assured

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝

Note: Writerblock is such an annoying thing damnit- Sorry for the delay of the request, I really have to fight myself to get this done (￣Д￣)ﾉ

[lasnevadaslaborunion]

Okay, finally caught up on the full VOD and here are some messy thoughts

...

So. UHHH. On a gut emotional level, I fucking hated that lmao. Whole chapter of my life finished with a bang and a whimper. Las Nevadas Labor Union is over, y'all. The boss just deny, defend, deposed himself. Holy shit.

On an intellectual, thematic level... I... can't really... argue with that? Like, we didn't actually expect a character that cc!Q explicitly said was inspired by Walter White to receive a happy ending or a functional relationship, did we? We were really high on our copium supply, good grief.

I could, and still might, write a whole meta about how c!Quackity has been passively suicidal with a foreshortened sense of future for a very long time. As far back as Doomsday, he didn't care if he lost his life, as long as he got to watch those who hurt him go down first. He declared so many times that he would die with his country. He was incessantly compared to c!Wilbur, both by other characters and by the narrative itself. He was fucking terrified of being betrayed again, but he always expected it, and moreover did nothing to prevent it. He told c!Foolish and c!Purpled outright that they would have every right to kill him for what he did to them. Didn't even consider making himself immortal with the revival book, instead focusing on making sure c!Dream would no longer have it. Didn't fight back when Slime killed him. Doubled down on his mistakes, and in hindsight rationalized everything as inevitable. Wrested back control the only way he knew how, following another's model. Las Nevadas was a broken institution, built by a man who had given up on fixing anything. His story was always about the self-perpetuating cycle of power and abuse.

This... isn't shocking, unfortunately. If anything, it was too obvious an ending.

I won't go too deep into the OOC implications, because they will make me sound... way more parasocial than I want to be. But I don't think it's controversial to say that the DSMP holds a lot of complicated, difficult, bittersweet memories for many of its former members. It does not surprise me at all that the ending cc!Q chose for his arc was an unhappy one. There are several possible conclusions I would have greatly preferred, but none could have realistically happened without Certain People returning. I wonder how aware the creator was of that, and how much those emotions bled into the writing.

And while I'm... still not certain how I feel about c!Quackity blowing himself up even after being given a second chance (I will always prefer "live and try to do better" à la Bojack Horseman for characters like this), I see the in-universe logic behind it, and everything up to that point was completely in character. Right down to his denial of having ever done the deed, boasting that his enemies deemed him important enough to kill, while ironically taking hollow pride in denying them the chance to take the revenge he so desperately sought for himself, showing no mercy to who he maybe subconsciously believed was his greatest obstacle to true glory... ughhh, c!Quackity makes me so fucking SAD you guys-

Ahem. Anyway. Could he have forgiven himself? Would he have ever accepted the forgiveness of others? Perhaps, perhaps not. In two other lives, those he unknowingly gave a second chance to, he did. q!Quackity went on living for the sake of someone he loved, knowing he, too, was loved. k!Quackity went on living until he found justice, knowing he did not deserve to be wronged. c!Quackity... what other legacy would he have left? Does he know what he truly wanted, before all that fear and hunger for control tainted his heart? Was he content to know someone would remember him with a shred of fondness? That he left a single positive impact? That his life did have a purpose?What if he knew that even some of those with the most reason to hate him still wanted him to be better?

I suppose one might imagine an open-ended resolution, exchanging that last shot of c!Q's last life vanishing with him riding Boner/Ossium away from the explosion and into the sunset to build a better legacy. What would that new legacy look like? I have no idea. I don't think he knows yet, either. But we can pick our favorite based on the day. Time travel is real, and canon is made up. We can do what we want forever now. Enjoy.

...

He's not a fucking gringo, though. c!Quackity is Mexican, importantly so, full fucking stop. Stop infecting him with more Trump particles than he already had. "Oh great, a foreigner" honestly FUCK you Alex. 0/10 for that

[starzels]

Satou would win

(well, not exactly win, but in all honesty, he would have survived. The average death age for men in Japan is roughly 81 years old. So, it doesn't matter what Goku would do to him, he's the epitome of averageness, therefore making him die at such a young age is not possible there. Plus, even if Goku could lay a single finger on him, Saiki's NOT letting it slide.)

[snikt111]

hi hi hi hi I found out about Hal Jordan TODAY and am going so autistic over him it’s insane can you please give me a rundown on what his deal is I think you’re the Tumblr Green Lantern guy

omg hi, insane compliment btw, tysm! i'm glad to give you a rundown!! also definitely check out @katmaatui for more hal info, red is SUPER knowledgable abt him. @rillette, @catboyollie, @halcarols, @starsapphire and @yellowcorps (along with so many others that i cant think to tag off the top of my head) have some great hal takes too! (edited the post just to tag more ppl)

apologies if this is a bit rushed/messy, i'm doing this while i smelt stone in minecraft LMAO

that being said... i think this will be a long one, so more below the cut :3

(cw for light mentions of pedophilia, abuse, canon typical violence)

okay, so hal jordan is the first human green lantern of the GREEN LANTERN CORPS. it's important to note that there was technically a human green lantern before him (alan scott, originally from earth two/the justice society, but integrated into main DC canon after crisis), but his power comes from a different source- which is a whole different ballpark that would take ages to explain, lol, so i'll move on from that.

hal was originally introduced in a showcase issue in 1959, but ended up getting a solo run in the mid 60s because of his showcase issues doing well. he's been a test pilot, middle brother, compassionate, rule follower (although being surprisingly liberal for the time) with an interesting relationship with star sapphire carol ferris since those first appearances. for the first 20 odd years of his appearances we had no information on his parents, but we got a lot from other family members, such as uncle titus, cousin hal jr (aka airwave), younger brother jim jordan and older brother jack jordan. through the 60s and 70s those members of his family were developed along with him; with the audience learning that jim's wife sue thought jim was green lantern, rather than hal, and hal himself training his cousin, hal jr.

the most known version of how hal got the ring in the first place is probably based off of geoff john's rewrite in the mid 00s, reiterating the original story of abin sur crashing onto earth and dying, leaving hal with his ring to be trained by sinestro and the rest of the glc, while also changing miniscule details that had been developed in emerald dawn 1 & 2 (which was released in the 90s, more on that later). the main premise of abin sur's crash has stayed the same, but the story around hal's current life, job, family and stability keep changing. for instance, the original comic with abin sur in showcase only showed hal getting the ring, the guardians choosing him. the first rewrite i can think of was emerald dawn volume 1, published in 1989 and continued in emerald dawn v2 (1991). here we get the classic hal watches his father die in a plane crash with carol ferris beside him as a pre adolescent, and some of the biggest implications of the mistreatment from his father. we also get introduced to hal, despite his stick to the rules, straight edge attitude, making some serious mistakes and putting people in danger and even death- with the implication of alcohol abuse. the audience HAS known hal used to be in the air force since sometime in the late 60s or early 70s (sorry, i don't remember the exact issue!), but emerald dawn shows us that hal's moved on from the air force and into test piloting, and that his mother keeps having to bail him out for making mistakes. emerald dawn vol 1 shows the abin sur moment, followed by fights that cost hal's friends life, and is followed up by sinestro training hal in emerald dawn vol 2, where we get to see the iconic scenes of hal finding out about sinestro and his... dictatorship.

along with that; how the guardians and rings are treated and hal and the glc's perception of them is vastly changed over time. in the early days of gl in the 60s, the guardians were really never to be seen. hal was repeatedly summoned to them and then had his memory almost fully wiped- only leaving a vague notion of his orders. the guardian's called hal to them at seemingly the worst times, ending up with him almost getting injured, getting in trouble at work, and even ending up jobless and homeless. the chaos of being a green lantern has been around the WHOLE time, but originally, the green lanterns didnt really... fight it. the guardian's were their masters (and even father figures, to hal) and not to be questioned. the rings in the 60s were also much more powerful, despite the yellow weakness (the yellow weakness is the notion that from about the 60s to the mid 90s the green lantern rings were completely unable to be used against anything yellow). time travel, phasing, teleporting, etc were all very viable and common things- as well as forceful shapeshifting, invisibility, mind control, mind reading, etc etc. these days, writers have dampened these powers down to mostly shooting light and constructs.

okay, it's parallax time. the emerald twilight arc from the mid 90s wasn't an arc that was as thoroughly planned out over a long period of time as it probably should have been. a lot of fans at the time (and even now) hated what happened there, and claimed it ruined hal's character entirely. i can understand why! but, at it's core, the parallax arc is a story about a broken man pushed to the limit, fully grieving his home and family (originally, he lost his brother jim in the destruction of coast city, along with a lot of other family members) and being goddamn fed up with how his "masters" treated him and the rest of the corps. the so called "perfect lantern" (no, he wasn't that much of a rebel, despite what johns wants you to think) snapped and essentially tried to gain as much power as he could to bring back coast city. when the guardians stripped him of his powers so he couldn't, hal became enraged and took down every lantern in his path, just to get to the guardians and that power. long story short, he kills the guardians and absorbs all the energy from the central power battery on oa, becoming parallax- essentially a god. this marks the start of zero hour, an event made by dc to restructure and reset; giving the comics a new generation of heroes. hal destroys the world and remakes it, but is ultimately taken down by kyle rayner, the new green lantern, with the help of the jla, jsa and associates. there are a few more run ins with parallax after this, before kyle convinces parallax/hal that he can make up for all of this by reigniting the sun after it went out- aka killing himself. hal does it, is stuck in limbo for awhile and then becomes the spectre to continue to make up for the horrible things he did as parallax. the spectre is the spirit of god's wrath and vengeance, a weapon used to drag sinners to their very own, self made hells, and scare the shit out of people. the spectre, from it's very first appearance, is a ghost like spirit that takes on a host, and is primarily described using christian terms and is used in a very... christian ideology. HOWEVER, the spectre 2001 confirms that hal is jewish (jewish mom, catholic dad) and that belief system, plus his personality as a whole, literally makes him change the spirit of vengeance into the spirit of redemption, for at least as long as they are bonded. the whole parallax to spectre arc is about grief, pain, cycles of abuse and terror, redemption and guilt. it is NOT about a fear bug that possess hal. (im so serious though, the spectre 2001 is one of the best comics ive ever read. amazing. changed my world view) but... geoff johns changed all of it, decanonized the spectre, and ruined the legacy of parallax and hal's growth as a person by releasing green lantern: rebirth in 2004/2005. this retcons hal's breakdown and journey through grief into him BEING POSSESSED BY AN ENTITY CONTROLLED BY SINESTRO THAT FULLY CHANGES PREVIOUS GREEN LANTERN CANON AND IMPLICATIONS. also, fucks up the importance of kyle becoming ion, but whatever. geoff johns writes hal (and even more so, carol) so very wrong, and change their stories so vastly in ways that go against the stories very meanings.

SIGH.

now... time to get started on some rougher stuff. hal jordan misconceptions. i'm saving that arc for last.

- hal jordan wasn't much of a rule breaker or rebel until the 70s/80s, where he BEGAN (very slowly, mind you) to be radicalized by oliver queen during denny o'neil's green lantern/green arrow. hal was painted as more of a conservative during this period (which, admittedly, kind of goes against previous canon... he's always been relatively central to liberal, not to any extremes like ollie though, lol) but gets more and more understanding of how power structures work and how lower classes are mistreated during this time- which ends up opening his eyes a bit to how shitty the guardians are. (this is helped by the guardians literally just. leaving. the green lanterns and kind of disbanding them so they can go fuck the zamarons, lmao). geoff johns tried to change this narrative into making hal a very... maverick-from-top-gun type of character, who punched his way out of the military (when, in reality, the original story during emerald knights in the late 90s was that hal had been framed for stealing a jet and was dishonorably discharged, which he took the punishment for because he knew someone had to) and hits on women constantly and gets ladies and allat (which, funnily enough hal was awful at getting carol to like him for a long time, since carol fell for green lantern rather than hal. not to mention the awkwardness of carol's proposals or hal's many, many failed relationships). hal has always been insecure and lowkey boyfailure, he is NOT a top gun maverick tom cruise sorta guy! fuck you jeremy adams!

- hes not that much of an idiot asshole. hal can be a real dick, he's had that going for him since the beginning, but he isn't what you read in batfam fics. he's not stupid and shouldn't be the laughingstock of the justice league. i assume this idea started from the obsession with batfam and the fact that the jla has quite the history of ignoring hal and his issues (as well as. all of their issues. theyre not so great at work life balance), but it's gone too far. hal isn't making fun of the robins and pissing bruce off bc of that. hal isnt fooling around on the job 24/7 (he takes being a gl and pilot VERY seriously, although he does enjoy some danger and high stakes) or slacking off to get girls. again. not top gun maverick.

- hal has not been a creep since the beginnings. hal was not weird with carol in the 60s. things were weird between them, yeah, but that's based off circumstance and the craziness of star sapphire and green lantern. he was NOT being horribly sleazy! i hate that i even need to say this, but i see this take too much not to

- going off of what was said above, lets discuss the arisia arc. if you want to be a real hal fan, this is unfortunately something you need to know about. in action comics, after crisis and the guardians left to go fuck the zamarons, most of the green lanterns fell apart and seperated. a small group went to earth- led by hal and consisting of hal, john stewart, katma tui, kilowog, salaakk, ch'p and arisia rrab. (also sometimes guy gardner, but that's complicated) previously to this arc, hal treated 14 year old arisia like a beloved little sister, welcoming her and leading her into the corps just like everyone else. things started to change once the timeline gets closer and closer to crisis, where arisia starts showing that she has a crush on hal (who is roughly 30s at this point). any advances made by arisia are shut down by hal at the beginning, because she's a child. now, it's unfortunately a common thing to just call hal a "pedophile" because of what happens in this arc- but it really isn't that simple. still weird and icky, but definitely not to the degree of which some fans like to act like it is- esp to attack hal fans for, which is... an odd choice regarding how many fucked up things every character (esp male characters) did back in the day. arisia ends up using her power ring to artifically age herself up, making her body AND MIND into that of a young adult (the comic makes this very clear). once this happens... hal stops rejecting her. they get together, they kiss. the only person in the group of green latnerns who actually has an issue with it is john (salaakk is meh about it, but he just doesn't like human-esque romance no matter what), and katma even directly encourages their relationship. kilowog ends up crushing on arisia as well, and guy gardner hits on her repeatedly throughout the whole period. eventually, hal and arisia break up, but this legacy (thank so much englehart, for wrtiting this. /sarc) is a big controversy among the comics crowd. "is hal jordan a predator?" personally, and i know a lot of friends/mutuals/other gl fans choose to erase the arisia arc entirely (versus how canon ended up retconning it to be 14 earth years is equal to that of an adult and she didn't really get super ages up, or whatever) and go with the familial relationship between hal and her. that's my preferred version! i know red (@katmaatui) has explored that version as well as an alternate version where the arisia arc did happen, and how it affects arisia in particular, which is really depressing but super interesting. anyway, it's complicated and weird and nuanced, but that whole occurence doesn't mean hal's a bad character or person (cause yk. retcons) and it's certainly not bad to like his character. (definitely ignore any guy gardner fans who try to bitch about this arc. cough cough. guy was ALSO into her and hit on her repeatedly. smfh) most people who bring this up to demonize fans didn't even read the arc, and don't know the nuance or the other weird shit that happens in it. (hal is not a horse, sigh)

OVERALL NOTES!

hal jordan is a super complicated character with an extensive history spanning from the 60s to his worse written appearances in modern age. it's okay to like any version of the character, but it is important to note the changes that have been made, the storylines butchered and lost, and more. he has quite the legacy, and he's particularly interesting as from a moral standpoint. hal's a real sweetie though, when it gets down to it! he's neurodivergent coded (imo at least.. his dad very much gets onto him for being disrtracted, hes kinda shit at social interaction (and then amazing at it the other half of the time) etc etc. "spacecase") and his dad is an abusive asshole, who he desperately doesnt want to be like but thinks he NEEDS to be like!

[tacagen]

one of the things that fascinate me about thawne: yes, he CAN be normal with kids! surprisingly normal!

((not at all times, though. his mental illness still spills through and as usual he, in trying to manipulate or hurt others, spits out at them the exact stuff that would hurt him (or have in his childhood/barry's rejection interpretation) the most in the first place lmao))

but at the same time. his like second instinct when doing his bullshit is FUCK THEM (as) KIDS

(and, well. whatever this classifies as)

[hauntinglyghostie]

inseparable. a shadow and its source. life and death. as much as you want to tear away the thought of him, you can't. you stood by him, and his shadow lingers.

also here's this TERRIBLY shitty drawing I made inspired by @denimscotch saying Lysandre needs to "take a chill pill. make slime or something" and @rainbowpufflez encouraged me to actually post it.

[wa3jetisbestpony]

revstar fans we need to put on the best talent show this towns ever seen and save ReLive!!

[jacqcrisis]

Can I talk about the boat scene with Gale? I'm gunna talk about the boat scene with Gale and my boy, Alfonso "The Face-Breaker" Tombstone.

Cause here's the thing. Alfonso Tombstone isn't a religious person. It's not that he doesn't believe in the gods (in fact I dont think you can in this universe), but he disregards them mostly. Given his upbringing and his poor background, the gods are not a direct force to Al. They can be to other, more special people; people of influence and power and interest, but to little old Al, he's just another ant on the ground, living his life with as much of a thought about divinity as the divine probably have of him.

Given his status pre-tadpole, Alfonso fully knows that his life is more determined by the world and the people around him than any gods. And that's fine, that's preferable as divinity is not a replacement for the life that surrounds you, but it's also never going to get him into a tabernacle praying for a change in his circumstance because the gods don't care about lowly old him and, frankly, he doesn't need them to. If he wants a change, than either he will make that change, a person in his life will make that change, or some random chance will make that change.

And then he randomly gets scooped up by a mindflayer ship and everything goes topsy-turvy. He's miles from home. Surrounded by weirdos. Having an adventure.

Yet he still takes that core belief about deities with him. Its one of the things he and Gale bond over as the academic and divinely troubled wizard finds this uneducated athletic performer of an orc to hold surprisingly nuanced opinions about the very thing that vexes him. They debate about, argue, spend long hours into the evening discussing this chasm between their opinions on the role of the gods that do or do not affect their lives.

They never come to a consensus or an agreement, but it opens the door for their budding romance. The divine stops being argued. Conversations move on, relationships deepen, time passes. Shockingly, Alfonso still believes the gods have little interest in him even as he's suplexing the avatar of one deep in the bowels of a mindflayer nest.

And he's in love. Al doesn't want to admit it, doesn't want to plan for a speculative future, doesn't want to give himself that hope because outside of this adventure, outside of the tieflings and the children calling him a hero, he's still the same old Al. No amount of praise or good deeds done in the world could make him believe that if they survive all this and if life goes back to normal, that Gale won't finally see how goddamn uninteresting Alfonso is and immediately forget about him in favor of anyone more worth his time.

But maybe he does start to think about life after. Maybe he does daydream about simple times and simple days. No mindflayers or tadpoles or cults or dead gods or living gods and maybe Gale is there when Al is at his weakest of daydreams that they could have something in the after this. Maybe a home life or another adventure, but something together where Al can and does measure up to all the things in Gale's life that came before him.

And now Alfonso is sitting in a boat among the stars being asked by this person he finally started admitting he loves if they can ascend to the very thing that will make them leave Al behind. Because Alfonso wouldn't ascend with Gale; that's never going to be something he, the most salt of the earth kind of person to ever exist, would want. He isn't divine material, isn't capable of wrapping his head around the minutiae of that, is interested in that at all. If Gale ascends, he would be doing it alone and who would Al be to him but an ant staring at the sky, grieving the person he loved.

I like to think in that whole conversation, Al told Gale all that. That was his rebuttal to the 'tell me you want what i want' line, along with the whole 'I love you for who you are and not the god you'd pretend to be'. Which leads to the rest of the boat scene and I've got too many FEELINGS ABOUT IT.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

[micamicster]

My favorite thing in the untamed is how at their core all of the relationship conflicts are about fighting for the right to care about each other

[quietwingsinthesky]

the funniest thing about even is that they concluded that being loved was not worth the price and picked out someone specifically who they believed would not form an attachment to them, giving them the security of knowing how this relationship would work, only for the master to. get attached to them.

[transbee]

having did and being online in any capacity is so fucking exhausting because you literally can't go anywhere without seeing the most heinous takes about your existence or validity it's like. can we be normal. can we please be normal and Chill for like two seconds.

[maddisandy]

honestly i think the fact that laezel is soleils closest bestie and they're partners with astarion is very fitting given they both have the exact sane approvals most of the time. also the laezel lovemailing is very much coming from the fact that while streaming with our friend tonight we were complaining about the awful takes people have on laezel because she acts mean and now im thinking about how much i love her again

[bravevolunteer]

my default interpretation that i will reference in regards to mrs. afton IS her separating with william and, unable to earn custody of michael ( and evan/liz if it applies, though i lean towards her leaving after their deaths due to the grief and continuous deterioration of everything ), leaving hurricane. of course like a lot of assumptions made for my bio this is flexible based on interpretations and plots, but whenever i talk about her these are the events that i'm referring to

[xx0yeet-everything0xx]

please please say things about “speaking of courage”. it was my favorite chapter in the novel, and

hi anon ABSOLUTELY this was my favourite too. we singled out this short story for my lit class, actually, and it's the reason i ended up reading tttc by myself. (which also means might've taken this ask as a reason to, like, almost analyse it... i'm so sorry.) i had that entire chapter annotated it but lost the print-out :/ BUT i still remember everything i need to. lol.

keeping this under the cut because it got too long lmao:

so. speaking of courage is objectively a fucking masterpiece. to me, it's about exactly what the real norman bowker expressed in his letter for o'brien: that sense of sudden lack of purpose. like, okay. the war's over. we survived. what's next? this? where do we go now? where do we go?

so, norman bowker goes in circles. the circle thing is pretty fantastically done. the story, the structure—it brings you back, and then away, and then all of that just to bring you back again. and then it happens, again, slightly different but it's really just the same.

it's a pleasant day. the lake is in the center of everything. there's nowhere to go and norman bowker is driving. in another world he would've been able to say this or that or would've had someone listen to this or understand that. norman bowker rolls the windows down or turns up his music and takes a turn of his dad's chevy. the world is moving around him and he keeps driving. locked away in this metal box with windows. driving.

on a broad level, that same structure just goes on the entire story. it's so beautifully done. and i believe it's literally the language lending to that too? the lake and town and weather is "smooth" and "flat" and the houses are "handsome" and these descriptors remain the same throughout.

there's this line i really like, about a sprinkler scattering water on a garden. and it's described to be doing it, like: hopelessly. round and round. it's a brief on-the-nose symbolism and i love it.

and there's another layer beneath that all, obviously. with kiowa & the silver star, and really it's the war. and just... peeling away any analysis or whatever right now, the story itself is disgusting if you imagine yourself in there. it's shit. the way it's written just. you think you're brave? could you jump in front of a bullet? could you take this? could you sit and wait? if you've had courage in the hardest of times could you have the type of courage you don't get a say in, at all? could you just be?

that line. "he knew shit. It was his specialty. the smell, in particular, but also the numerous varieties of texture and taste." maybe i'm thinking about this too vividly—but that's objectively horrifying to me. sinking in shit. objectively, you could say that "oh, it's better than facing the threat of being gunned down to death," but... let's be so fucking real. think about it: imagine yourself there.

from an analysis perspective, the ending is what gets me, most of the time. it's such a traditionally happy ending, has all the good symbolism points. gets out of the car, dips his head in the river—which, you know, cleansing, rebirth, all that bullshit (ha)—he watches the fire works for the 4th of july and yeah, it's a nice scene.

and then he says it's a pretty good show. that word pretty changes the entire fucking thing! and he's been doing this throughout, hasn't he? objective comments about the weather -- it's nice -- the town -- it's clean, sanitary -- and that's all he does. he's very carefully detached from the meaning of july 4th, too. the colours of the fireworks are pretty much identical to the colours of the flares from the night kiowa died in that shit field.

in a way, norman sort of died then too. with kiowa. the stupid analysis stuff, cleansing, rebirth, whatever—all of it, but inversed. it wasn't the water, it was the goddamn waste. instead of clean it makes you feel dirty—and norman's feeling of "dirty" means so many things. the guilt of kiowa. the distance from the town, the handsome, neat town who doesn't want the dirty war stories. the general view of the vietnam war. how he's completely clung onto all that this "dirty" means because he's still stuck in the war. my favourite description(s): the place looked as if it had been hit by nerve gas.

i have so much to say about that lake too. there's a really fucking oomph factor about the lake, you know? it's the lake where his old friend died. i wish i could explain this bit properly but god, i dunno, i just feel like there's some sort of parallel between the lake and the shit field. he tastes the water too. they're both described as flat bodies of water. there's something about that scene.

the ending isn't depressing, just because that word's too harsh, but it's... not happy. the way i see it, norman's attempting to achieve what the water is meant to symbolise. cleansing, just trying to wash it off of him again. all that shit. the waste of the war, of his guilt, of—and it leaves him disconnected, because that's a part of him and the only way to get rid of it is cutting it off. he doesn't talk about it, doesn't have anyone to talk to. it's not that he doesn't want to talk about it—he desperately wants to, so much that it genuinely breaks my heart. "want to hear about the silver star i almost won?" he whispers it at one point: the more times i read that, the more i feel his quiet anguish. he shouldn't have to be so disconnected, but he is because they don't want to listen. the place could only blink and shrug.

anyway i just think there's so much to take away from this story in particular. yeah, if you analyse it in that classroom style there's the repetition, that lost quality, the idea of being unable to speak. but more importantly there's the gross reality of it -- it was a shit field and he lost his friend and no one wants to hear about it. because it's shit and that's not what we want to hear of war. because norman wasn't able to save him and where's the good ending to that? we want to hear nothing about war that is war, really.

my thoughts on this will never end btw. there is so much more i have that is unsaid. there's just so many angles to this story -- on a literal sense, as a standalone, connected to the rest of the novel,

and it isn't norman's fault he can't speak. because since this isn't a pretty story, since there isn't a moral or point to it, there's just no one who'll fucking listen.

[hecksupremechips]

The anguish I feel knowing no story is ever gonna have characters as good as the letter 😔