#john's wrong about a BUNCH of stuff here

[nyaskitten]

EDIT: THIS POST IS INACCURATE !!!

I made the assumption Olive was editing the wiki articles, and while that's a very logical conclusion to reach, it was actually someone who shares the same viewpoints as them!!! Anything including the wiki articles and Olive's involvement is wrong and that's my bad!!!

Alright fellas, I guess we did it. We have reached the tipping point. I'm going to dedicate this post to calling out one specific person, @olivescales3, and their very toxic behavior. This post will be a bit messy, and I do apologize in advance, I'm writing this from the perspective of a Ninjago fan who also thinks beyond just the petty fandom stuff, what they're doing is just not cool.

I will clarify, I do not make this post for petty fandom drama, I make this to better spread awareness on some of the bullshit they're doing, so you can look out for and understand that they're bullshitting. Without further ado, I think we should just get into it.

So, what have they done?

Now, I should say while there is no 100000% concrete link between hyenabro and olivescales, I think based on their talking points (as well and the information I've recieved from friends in the Chima fandom, who have a bunch of prior experience with them,) it's safe to make this assumption!

So, what has olivescales DONE in this case? Simple, they've vandalized the Chima wiki on NUMEROUS occasions, even after several different people have revised their revisions, so as to discredit any conenctions between Dragons Rising and Chima.

(Green is their edits, red is the ones prior to theirs, I found this while going through their contributions section on their Fandom account, HyenaBro119)

As seen here, they have (under the username HyenaBro119) edited the pages for Chima AND the Forever Rock (I have two similar screenshots of essentially the same thing, one was from the Forever Rock article, the other was from Chima) and claimed Ninjago's lore to be some alternate universe. To further validate it, they write "Ras' visit to," but Ras NEVER claimed to have VISITED these locations, just that he knows them. They also claim the Forever Rock was destroyed, a blatant lie. Only a small section of rock on the Forever Rock was actually destroyed, not the whole thing.

Now, you're gonna ask "but Raine, how can you 100000% say it's them?" and I will cite common sense. While I cannot directly tie Olive to hyena, I CAN say their wording is SO very similar.

Both Hyena and Olive call DR "a parallel/alternate universe," and again, claim Forever Rock was destroyed, WHICH IS A FULL ON LIE. They're so adamant to protect "the sanctity of Chima's pre-established, set-in-stone lore" that they can't stop to think maybe, JUST MAYBE, sometimes a story can get new lore which can ALSO be canon!

I'd also love to share this HILARIOUS screenshot of one of their many posts, which not only backs up what I'm saying, but it's like damn they really set themself up huh!

Gee I wonder why you feel alone! Maybe it's because you are! Maybe it's because you're lying and making shit up to prove yourself right! No one is as big of a hater as you!

The also LOVE saying Ninjago cannot do anything with Chima unless they get express permission from the creator of Chima, some guy named John Derevlany, but oh man what's this I see before me?

CO-CREATOR? Oh but Olive, I thought he was the CREATOR of Chima, not CO-creator... ALSO Lego owns the rights to Chima, and Ninjago, and every other theme, as said by Doc himself! If anything he wasn't really dodging the question, just giving a vague answer, because he doesn't know much about the old contracts!

From what he said, it's clear that if they wanted to use anything from the other themes, they'd have to consult folks over at LEGO, not John Derevlany or Tommy A.!

Now here's the THING, I GET where they're coming from, it CAN be annoying to have people only care about a thing you like in relation to something else, but when you're going out of your way to argue that none of it can be canon and it's all an alternate universe it's like... god it's so sad and pathetic really.

Their lies and BS don't even end there with the wiki shit, because I have THIS glorious gem.

A) They bring up that the Ninjago folk do not know who the Phoenixes are which is like, okay??? Why the fuck are they gonna know about how another universe was created??? That's like if someone told me I don't exist in the same universe as my glasses because I have no clue who made them, that is to say, that's stupid as FUCK to say!

B) OH they say something REAAALLL funny ohohohho I am actually dying. Olive says the Phoenix icon "appeared in a Ninjago episode" and "Ninjago tends to reuse assets." Yep, NINJAGO is the one who reused the phoenix symbol, mhm. The symbol that was made in 2011 for NINJAGO, which cameoed in CHIMA in 2014, was actually just an asset reuse by Ninjago. I feel like this actually goes to show how desparate they are to feel right and validated, because this? This a lie! Ninjago made the symbol, and because Tommy A. is co-creator to both, he wanted to slip in a neat Ninjago reference, so he slipped in the Phoenix symbol Nya uses for the Phoenix tribe, not the other way around!

Another REALLY funny thing they did, aside from the wiki and Phoenix symbol shit, was this hilarious attempt at being right!

Yes, the compared the WOLF Masks to BATman's cowl, and did a horribly rough comparison illustration that very much does not make sense. If you actually compared them side by side, the only similarities would be they're both angry animal themed mask with pointy ears, which does NOT go very far in the long run. The foreheads they drew aren't even the same fucking shape lol.

OH ANS WE CANNOT FORGET THIS ONE! Their using a post about the Palestinian genocide and boycotting Lego in order to complain about Ninjago.

They claim Ninjago is produced by Lego, unlike other Lego shows, which is an EXTREMELY bullshit fucking claim. Just like Chima and Nexo Knights, Ninjago is produced by Lego, it's not JUST Ninjago produced by Lego, they are all Canadian-Danish CGI action shows, and they're all known to have Tommy Andreasen involved in the creation of them.

They're using a post about boycotting for the sake of innocent people DYING to complain about a lego ninja show for... killing evil people? It doesn't glorify war, the worst it does in regards to war is like not address how fucked up it can be in regards to the Serpentine War, but that's like it. I think it's so funny they want to single out Ninjago as if it's the only TV series where villains die for trying to conquer/destroy the world.

So, what do I want the takeaway from this post to be? What do I want you to get from it? I don't really know anymore, I just don't want Olive's horrendously toxic behaviors, and straight up lies to stop. If anything I think it's beautiful that Ninjago is making others interested in revisiting Chima again, stop being such a fucking hater dude. They act like Chima is some holy grail of Lego, the greatest thing since bread, but it, just like Ninjago, Dreamzzz, Hidden Side, and Nexo Knights, have Tommy in creative roles.

To act like Chima is somehow greater than is to place it on an unrealistic pedestal as if it's a godsend, when in reality it was co-created by Tommy Fucking Andreasen.

If you read through all of this, I do THOROUGHLY appreciate it, I didn't mean for this post to descend into an angry ramble but ehhh yk how it is. And Olive, if you see this, please, just stop with the bullshit.

[seat-safety-switch]

When I was a kid, going to the zoo was a joyous occasion. You'd get to see a giraffe, maybe your dad would stay home from work, and at the end there'd be a root-beer-flavoured candy stick from the gift shop. Nowadays, I'm an adult, and adults most definitely do not go to the zoo on their own. So I did.

As soon as I arrived, and paid the eyewatering sum required for the parking and admission, I immediately had a rush of childhood euphoria upon seeing my favourite animal again. That animal is a John Deere Gator 6x6 all-terrain-vehicle and utility tractor. The groundskeepers were still using this reliable workhorse, and, thinking they were dealing with nothing more than rebellious toddlers, had left it parked in front of the penguin exhibit with a length of chain link fencing and copper wiring in the back.

Oh yes, copper wiring. They should be more careful about that. A real creepazoid thief would steal that stuff, get a couple bucks. I, however, pride myself on respecting the private property of others a little bit more than that. As I plunked the Gator into low range and began climbing the stairs to the wildebeest area, I gave myself a pat on the back for being such a good citizen and having so much restraint and impulse control.

I'd like to say that the resulting chase through the facility involved a bunch of daring high-speed turns, but the scrub radius on one of these six-wheel-drive abominations is just terrible. Every time I even went near the steering wheel, I was rewarded with copious understeer. Despite what the evening news says, it is to my credit as a race driver that I managed to only gently skim the butterfly exhibit, rather than crash through it. Security did catch up to me when I stopped to get a corn dog, but that's only because the lines were so long.

As I lay there on the ground, my arms handcuffed behind me, the cop's knee in my back, I had no regrets. Well, maybe one. You see, I had picked the wrong snack counter, not realizing just how far a giraffe's neck could bend. Being forced to watch that long-necked asshole swallow my corn dog – which I paid for – whole is the real injustice here.

[nanamissuit]

141 x fem short and stocky reader who actually kinda hurts them in playfights on accident

Ow! - 141

Pairing: 141 x Short & Stocky!Fem Reader 18+

Warnings: Hurt/Comfort,Slight suggestiveness?

John Price:

Now when he started dating you, he knew you were strong. You went to the gym, took many different wrestling classes and just a whole bunch of other stuff.

But he was never too worried, you were short and he was tall plus he was in the military so he never cared when you play-fought him because he knew you had no intention to actually hurt him.

Usually he’d just pick you up and toss you onto any soft surface near him,a couch,a bed,etc. 

But this time was different…

You accidentally hit him a little too hard, and you definitely left a mark.

“Ow!” He dropped you on the couch after you hit his spine way too hard, “Oh my god babe! I’m so sorry oh my god-”

He winced a little but then reassured you it was okay, he then forced you to baby him as he whined and moaned about his bruise all so you’d run your fingers through his hair and kiss him “better”

John 'Soap' Mactavish:

He had 0 clue just how strong you actually were.

Don’t get him wrong though! He came to the gym with you and watched you workout and he knew you were hella strong but he wasn’t quite sure how strong you actually were.

You and him play fought a bit but never too much, but when you got a good hit on him? Jesus.

“Aye!” He backed up a little as you hit his stomach a little too hard, but the thing was he wasn’t exactly upset or anything…

“Oh god baby! I’m so sorry! Here let me see-” “That was hot.” He looked at you half lidded and smiling as you lifted his shirt to see the bruise, you scoffed and rolled your eyes.

You got him some ice and he was perfectly fine, just admiring you.

Kyle 'Gaz' Garrick:

He knew how strong you were no doubt, he knew what he was getting into as he play fought with you.

He watched you at the gym, he even let you box him sometimes (He would never ever hit back.)

So when you unintentionally hurt him it wasn’t a shocker, it’s happened before a couple of times so he wasn’t too worried.

“..Ouch?” He kind of said nonchalantly as you hit him in his side a little harder than usual. You freaked out a little and got him some ice.

“Babe I’m fine really-” “No no I insist!” He eventually took the ice and placed a small kiss on your forehead and pulled you into a bear hug.

Simon 'Ghost' Riley:

Knows how strong you are, but he fucks with you alot because he doesn’t think you can actually hurt him.

He goes to the gym with you and is even your sparring partner, but you never necessarily hurt him or do any damage.

But when you did, he was shocked…Maybe even terrified.

“Shit!” He kinda whined as you hit him in the ribcage a little, no no way too hard. 

“Oh fuck! I'm so sorry, Si!” He looked at you and his eyes softened but he was also impressed, he’s a large man and your a tiny girl…But he never fucked with you after that day that ribcage injury was no joke.

You babied him for 4 hours after it, he fake sobbed too.

IM SO SORRY FOR BEING MISSING LMAOOO I'm back on my bs, send anons/requests <3.

[tanadrin]

The Gish Gallop was a term coined I think on the 2000s internet for a rhetorical maneuver where to buttress an argument you provide a ton of low-quality evidence; that the evidence is bad means it should be easy to refute, but the very large volume means it will take much longer to explain why it's all wrong than it did to copy-paste a bunch of links, and to a certain kind of very naive onlooker, it looks like the galloper is winning--after all, the one interlocutor has presented a ton of evidence! The second interlocutor has to spend so much time bending over backwards to refute it! Surely the first guy is more knowledgeable and authoritative. You aren't going to look at all that evidence yourself, of course--who has the time?

But listening to Dan McClellan talk about the Gospel of John this morning, it occurs to me that I don't think this is disingenuous. Not entirely. I think this is just the style of argumentation a lot of Christians (of a particular religious flavor) are used to. And I'm not just talking about in non- or para-religious matters like evolution. This is how Christianity understands the Bible.

This week's Data over Dogma is about the theology of John, and why it is non-trinitarian (because the Trinity is a much later doctrine developed as a kind of political compromise, maintained only because it had state backing) and does not actually identify Jesus with God (the theological developments are more complicated here; but suffice it to say it was not at all a given that "authorized bearer of the divine name" and "actually God" were the same being in 1st century Hellenistic Judaism, and indeed the distinction between the two had developed in Jewish thought precisely to avoid the awkwardness of anthropomorphic figures proclaiming themselves God in some of the older sections of the Hebrew Bible).

The funny thing is, there are a ton of passages in John that get trotted out as proof texts that Jesus is God. There are very good reasons in the case of each one to doubt that that is actually the correct reading; but of course, if you don't know anything about Greek, all you have are modern translations produced under the assumption of the dogma of the Trinity--mostly for devotional readers of the Bible who would be outraged if the Trinity wasn't in the New Testament--and you have been raised in a cultural and/or educational milieu where it is simply a default assumption about the way the world works that the Trinity is a timeless concept that has been in the Bible from the beginning, it sure looks like one side is spinning up tendentious arguments based on silly semantics that have nothing to do with the religion you learned as a kid.

But this exegetical approach (really, eisegetical) is common to many topics in traditional Christian theology. There are a ton of passages from the Septuagint that the Gospels warp to be about Jesus, even though, in their original context, this doesn't make any sense; sometimes even they're based on obvious mistranslations, like having Jesus ride into Jerusalem on the back of two animals simultaneously because you don't understand appositives. And you can poke holes in any individual bit of this exegesis, but psychologically having a ton of low-quality evidence for a thing is a pretty effective bulwark against thinking critically about that evidence; for every individual argument you knock down, the person you are arguing against is probably thinking, "yeah, but what about all that other stuff," even if they can't actually name all that other stuff in the moment.

And it's not mendacious! This is the stuff of true belief; this is how you get breathless Christian commentators saying the Bible couldn't possibly be written by human hands, because it so perfectly predicted Jesus even in the Old Testament--and the evidence they point to is, to anyone not steeped in traditional Christian exegesis, and especially to Jews who have their own exegetical traditions, absolutely barmy. Like really pants-on-head crazy stuff. But of course even now it is still being processed, in many parts of the world, through a two thousand year old tradition trying to reconcile it all and to normalize it all, and--to bring it back to discussions of evolution on the internet in the 2000s--I can't help but think of all those people who talk about the experience of thinking evolution was so obviously nonsense, because all they were exposed to was the fundamentalist strawman of it. When they finally sat down and began to read about it on their own, from unbiased sources--often with the intent of criticizing it--they realized how distorted their understanding was, and how limited their supposed outside view.

(If there are general lessons to be wrung from this situation, I think it's simply "beware of echo chambers." Social consensus in a bubble can make bad arguments feel much stronger than they really are, especially if you are not exposed to the actual opposing view. Be on guard against mistaking "quantity of evidence" for "quality of argument," especially if you're not gonna evaluate that evidence yourself. Also all religious traditions are fundamentally eisegetical, because in order to keep holy writ relevant to the community its meaning has to be constantly renegotiated. So, uh. If you want high-quality exegesis, ask an academic, not a theologian.)

[superman86to99]

Action Comics Weekly #642 (March 1989)

Superman gets offered a job as a Green Lant-- hey, wait a minute, why are we back in 1989?! Is Zero Hour already messing with the timestream? Nah, it's because, while making a Superman '86 to '99 reading guide at League of Comic Geeks, I noticed we never covered this issue -- we have a post about the Superman serial in Action Comics Weekly #601-641, and one about the classic Action Comics (Non-Weekly) #643, but this one sorta fell through the cracks since it wasn't technically part of the serial but not really a monthly issue either. So, with present-day Action Comics going weekly again this month, it seems like a good time to right another long-time wrong and plug this tiny hole in the '86-'99 continuity.

Anyway, the issue starts with a flashback to the day Green Lantern Abin Sur crashed down on Earth and, in his dying moments, instructed his ring to select and bring over a successor, who ends up being... Clark Kent?

Yep, this issue reveals that Clark was Abin's first choice for Earth's Green Lantern -- and no, this doesn't take place in some alternate timeline, like that annual where Superman becomes GL and President of the USA. However, the ring soon determines that Clark doesn't qualify for the gig because he's from a species "not native" to this planet, even though Man of Steel #1 established that he was born on Earth. Still, I guess it wouldn't be good for his GL authority to be undermined by any potential birther movements. Before having his memory of the incident wiped by the ring, Clark sees a projection of the other GL candidates, which include Robin, someone who looks like Pope John Paul II, and a test pilot Clark remembers interviewing called Hal Jordan. (Oh, and no women, leading Clark to correctly deduce that Abin's bosses have "an attitude problem.")

Clark recommends Hal for the job because he's "the straightest arrow I ever met" and will surely never go insane and kill a bunch of his buddies. Great call, Clark.

Meanwhile, in the present (well, 1989's present), Hal Jordan returns to that same desert where he first became Green Lantern to investigate a bunch of stolen nuclear materials someone's been piling up here. Some military types start shooting at Hal, which wouldn't normally be a problem for a Green Lantern, except that Hal is feeling so insecure lately that his ring malfunctions and lets the bullets hit him. When an army major shows up and starts barking orders, Hal just lets the guy arrest him and ends up getting shot in the chest by him. Again: great call, Clark.

As Hal lays dying in the desert, his ring is like "whelp, here we go again" and goes looking for potential Green Lantern candidates from all over the planet. They are: a union leader at an Eastern European factory, a priest in South Africa, an old Native American guy who fights mountain lions, a hostage negotiator in Beirut, Nightwing (so Robin again, but all grown up), Deadman (currently possessing some criminal), and Guy Gardner. Doesn't Guy already have a GL ring? Nope, because he just gave it to some very confused arms dealer who looks like G. Gordon Liddy to make a fight more interesting.

Oh, and Clark Kent again. Wasn't Clark already disqualified from the job? You'd think the ring would keep track of stuff like that.

As Hal's ring-projected ghost looks over his potential replacements, who are frozen in time at the desert, Deadman is able to talk to him (being a ghost too) and tries to convince him to just let himself die and go to heaven, where he can chill with Abe Lincoln, Ghandi, MLK, Robin Hood, and some unicorns. Clark unfreezes himself in time and tells Hal he should continue living, his main argument being "What if you miss out on the exciting space exploration that's definitely happening in the next decades?" (which is kind of a weird thing to say to a guy who can fly through space on his own).

Clark and Deadman get so caught up in their argument that they don't even notice an AI version of Abin Sur coming out of the ring and joining their little ghost party. "Abin" tells Hal that all of these other candidates are "lesser wills" compared to him, which surprises Hal (wonder if he heard "lesser willies"). Apparently that's what gives Hal the confidence to go back to his body, instantly heal himself, go kick those military dudes' butts, and convince a judge to prosecute them. While Hal's doing all that, we see that every one of the potential candidates took some GL energy with them as they got transported back to their countries and unknowingly used it to deal with the sticky situations they were in, from "convincing a factory boss to hire an old man back" to "declawing and defanging a mountain lion."

As for Deadman, he possesses the body of a kid from Clark's building just to continue his life/death argument with him. Clark tries to ignore him as he walks through Metropolis, but Deadman keeps jumping from body to body (a doorman, an old lady walking a dog, the dog) to pester him. Clark refuses to take the bait...

...until Deadman goes away, proving that Superman's will may not be as big as Hal's, but at least it's bigger than this guy's.

Creator-Watch:

Unless you count the Kingdom Come novelization, this was the only Post-Crisis Superman story written by prolific Pre-Crisis writer Elliot S! Maggin, who wrote over a hundred Action, Superman, and Superman Family issues in the '70s and early '80s. This is also, not coincidentally, the only Post-Crisis Superman story that ends with this Clark offering his once-customary last panel wink at the reader, though nothing we've seen so far suggested that fourth wall-breaking winks was in his power set. Maybe he just saw Bibbo across the street?

Plotline-Watch:

The "ACTION - CLOSED FOR RENOVATION" sign up there is a reference to the ads DC used to hype up the Action Comics Weekly series in 1988, which showed a theater marquee with messages like "WATCH FOR GRAND OPENING" and "GALA PREMIERE." Ending with "RENOVATION" is appropriate, since the regular Action title wouldn't be back for three more months.

The retcon about Clark helping Abin Sur pick Hal Jordan as Green Lantern means that, in a roundabout way, Superman is responsible for all those deaths in "Emerald Twilight" and certain dramatic events we're about to see all over the DC Universe. So, if you think about it, this issue is connected to the Zero Hour coverage we've been promising for some time now...

When Clark and Deadman are arguing about whether Hal should live or die, Deadman says one shouldn't "screw around with the way things go" (meaning: you can't just go back to life if you already died). Clark says "I resent that." I'm guessing he resents it even more post-Doomsday.

The stuff about Hal feeling fearful and insecure is explained in his ACW serial, but it's interesting that it lines up with the future retcon about a certain space parasite crawling up his butt sometime around this period. His next appearance would be in the rebooted Green Lantern #1 (1990), which is the issue where his hair started going grey (due to the fear caused by the aforementioned space bug, it was later revealed).

Don Sparrow says: "This issue, which was supposed to wrap up a number of the anthology of storylines depicted in Action Comics Weekly (or just feature the players within the book) was actually the second attempt at a final issue. The first attempt was written by Neil Gaiman, but was deemed unsuitable since his story relied on Superman and Hal Jordan knowing each other’s civilian identities, which was an editorial no-no at the time. So the story that Gaiman -- fresh off Black Orchid at the time, but before he'd hit it big with Sandman -- wrote went on a shelf, eventually emerging as a one-shot prestige format book which was released 11 years later. Though it had its moments, that story also felt similarly disjointed, to me at least, and the art styles from each chapter clashed even more jarringly than this issue. But at least that’s the last controversy Neil Gaiman was ever involved with." (Who's gonna tell Don?) I remember kinda liking that one. Since it came out in 2000, it's outside the scope of this blog, but maybe we'll cover it at the newsletter and Patreon at some point anyway.

Shout Outs-Watch:

Speaking of which, massive Hal Jordan's willforce-sized shout outs to our supporters, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, Dave Shevlin, and Dave Blosser! You can join them at those links above, because we feel self-conscious enough about plugging them once already.

And now, Don's take on this issue, plus more art from the stacked roster of artists (including Steve Ditko and Kevin Nowlan)!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

Starting with the cover, and it’s a strange one.  I absolutely adore Ross Andru generally, so, not knowing if it’s the inks or the pencils, both the drawing and colouring here seems pretty rushed.  The image of Superman weighing the Green Lantern uniform is a good concept, and would have made a decent panel, but it seems a little under-developed for a proper cover.  Add to that the fact that only some of the crowd behind Nightwing, Deadman and Superman are familiar, and there’s a strange weightlessness to Nightwing’s stance, and it just doesn’t feel like what I’m used to seeing from Ross Andru. 

Inside the book though, we open with an absolute treat, with the opening pages drawn by the instantly identifiable Gil Kane.  This is late period Kane, and while it’s not as sharp as his drool-worthy early Green Lantern or Spider-Man runs, his late, ligne claire style is still a joy to read.  It’s especially wonderful that these early pages are right in his wheelhouse with a lot of space technology—Kane did practical-seeming high-tech buttons, panels and wires about as good as anyone.  It’s fascinating seeing the visuals of the other candidates Abin Sur’s ring seeks out—to my eye that looked like Pope John Paul II (I guess the ring, nor the writers of this comic could see that he wasn’t entirely honest, or without fear), Dick Grayson (who I mistook for Jason Todd because of the haircut), John Stewart, and then Hal on the far right.  I wasn’t sure, on my first reading just who the mustachioed fellow is between Stewart and Jordan—Hector Hammond I thought.  So I was glad the stories in later chapters elucidated these images. [Max: Worth noting that it's mentioned John Stewart wasn't invited to the latter part of the story because he was off-planet, not because the ring has something against architects. Also, they say the white priest is dead by then, so that can't be John Paul II unless 1981 went very differently for him in this universe...]

If I dare criticize someone with a legendary career, I was a bit thrown by how frequently Kane draws Clark with a prominent (and very Superman-like) S-curl in his hair, jeopardizing his secret identity.  Then again, he recognizes the alien is dying, so maybe he’s deduced it’s ok to be a little careless with the forelock.

After Kane’s brief story, we’re treated to another rarity for its time—mainstream comic pages from Steve Ditko!  Being fairly familiar with his style in the 80s, I’d say Art Thibert (future super-teamster, lending a very Jim Lee aesthetic to Dan Jurgens lines in the early '90s) has a pretty heavy hand here, as Ditko’s pencils, while always energetic and succinct, had gotten a little looser by the late 80s.  No matter who is more responsible for the images we see, there’s a great sense of movement and imagination to these pages, especially Hal’s use of his ring. Battering rams we’ve seen before (even in Superman comics, wherein Hal may or may not look so totalled it makes Superboy wanna hurl) but making a dragon creature to simultaneously capture armed guards and excavate a roof is pretty darn inventive.  I also appreciate Ditko’s pure cartooning—this is certainly a more visibly expressive Green Lantern than we’re used to seeing, so it’s bold to have the character emote a little more. 

The Curt Swan pages that follow are unsurprisingly excellent, Ty Templeton’s precise inks making them look all the more crisp (if memory serves, Templeton was a sharpie marker guy as well!) but they don’t give Swan a lot to do, drawing lots of real world, civilians in clothing type storytelling.  Don’t get me wrong, Swan can do it all, but this glacial, decidedly non-superhero interval gives a hint to me as to why Action Comics Weekly kinda sputtered out. Though it’s perhaps a dull scene (Clark typing out a story on a computer), the rendering and lighting of the panel of Superman using his visual powers is almost photographic, it looks so good.  The Deadman section has a bonkers depiction of Heaven, complete with Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi, Jesus Himself (!), Robert, Earl of Huntingdon (AKA Robin Hood) and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, with Deadman assuring a ghostly Hal Jordan that Lincoln is the funny one in the group. [Max: Wait, is that Jesus? I thought it was Uncle Sam without the hat, or maybe a time-displace Lex Luthor Jr.]

A few pages later we get a great look at Hal Jordan diving into a spiral caused by helicopter blades, and as often happens with Kevin Nowlan, the penciller underneath, no less than Carmine Infantino, gets a little lost—not that I’m complaining—I love Kevin Nowlan’s sometimes overpowering inks, because they’re so clean and delicate. [Max: Side note: Why do all the guns in this issue look like water pistols squirting green liquid?]

The Nightwing section is Jim Aparo at his reliable best, though the inks by Nyberg look a little dated next to the more modern finishes of Nowlan. 

SPEEDING BULLETS:

Fun, but tragic fact—the consistent line weight of Gil Kane’s self-inked pages (like the ones in this book) were largely created by non-archival alcohol or xylene based markers, so a lot of Kane’s original art from around this period yellowed so significantly over time that some of his pages feature ink “blacks” that are light yellow on white, making those beautiful creations almost invisible.  Fortunately, having looked into it, these very pages still look pretty good today.  

I like that even back in 1988, Clark Kent is evolved enough to question why Sur’s ring didn’t find any female candidates.

While it’s fun to explore the function of Hal’s ring, I don’t know if I subscribe to the notion that his shield would be that weak if he had a confused thought. 

I like oldies enough that I can’t help hearing Neil Sedaka’s high pitched tones as I read Hal thinking “Oh, Carol!”

On the whole, I found this whole yarn, about military corruption, with the brief if colourful interstitials to introduce the other Lantern candidates (which had little bearing on the rest of the story) pretty hard to follow.  Even more so, since we don’t actually see the fruits of Green Lantern’s labour—Major Easterly isn’t shown being arrested, we see only the signing of the warrant for his arrest, which feels like something more consequential than the kid selling door to door in Clark’s apartment building, say.

Action Comics Weekly was an interesting experiment, and there’s a pretty in-depth explanation of DC’s reasoning behind discontinuing it.  They do acknowledge that sales weren’t strong, but also posit that they weren’t at cancellation level.  Their rationale for cancellation was that the weekly schedule was too difficult to keep up with, especially with a double sized book like Action Comics Weekly.  I remember being incredibly excited when it was first announced, then crushed when I realized that Superman got only two pages in each issue.  Yes, the story was by Roger Stern, and yes, illustrated by Curt Swan, so we were in good hands, but there was a dullness and a lack of fantasy or superhero action in the stories that persisted, and made ACW feel less than essential.  The teams were top notch talents (people like Mark waid, Peter David, Dave Gibbons, Christopher Priest, etc).  The characters were ones I wanted to read about, but what happened in the stories often felt like strange choices.  For example, there was an extended Hal Jordan story where it was revealed that Hal Jordan, whose only thing is that he’s honest and fearless was revealed to be neither honest, nor fearless, but had been subconsciously purged of fear and dishonesty by his ring, requiring him to deprogram the ring to remove that influence.  That decision led to reading about Hal Jordan cowering on the ledges of buildings, afraid to fly as he got his bravery back.  Interesting concept, or intellectual exercise, perhaps, but is it what the average Green Lantern fan would want to read?   It felt like there was a lot of that to me (though it did have the unique element of depicting Oprah Winfrey threatening to break…something… of Green Lantern’s). Once Roger Stern was brought on as a regular writer, some elements (like the Superman cult of California) were a little more integrated into continuity, but for the most part as a Superman fan at the time, the ACW story read a lot like pre-Crisis Superman.

Missed an issue? Looking for an old storyline? Check out our new chronological issue index!

[incesthemes]

happy (late) wincest wednesday!! what do you think sam and dean's favourite books are? which books do you think they would have inexplicable (or explicable) beef with?

i'm sure after moving around twice a month for fifteen years and having to read the same books over and over again gave them a few rivalries, lol! -lizzy :)

omg happy wincest wednesday thursday!!!! thank you, this is such an awesome prompt.

ok i think they've both probably read a lot of classic lit and stuff from the literary canon because it's the kind of thing you can find anywhere, right? it's always available in some form or another, at school or in libraries or even just as movie adaptions.

based on vibes i really want to say dean's favorite book would be on the road, both for the metatextual nod to mister eric kripke and because i think dean would relate to it (well, obviously)—and the main character is dean too :) it's cute :) i also think he'd be really into westerns; the one i've read the most of is the titus bass series by terry c. johnston so while it's not quite what i imagine dean's tastes to be (too historically accurate, too little heroism) i'll go with that one. rough, gun-slinging action and lawless heroes are right up dean's alley. the trashier, the better.

on the other end of the spectrum, i see sam being quite into gothic literature. it's relatable to his feelings of exclusion and otherness, and like any child trapped inside a horrific queer narrative i think he would relate heavily to the monsters haunting the protagonists. i can see him really liking frankenstein especially, and i also definitely think he'd have a thing for kafka. it's horrible of me, but i also think he'd be drawn to rosemary's baby, imagining (subconsciously or not) his own mother as rosemary.

importantly, i think they'd both be most drawn to narratives they see themselves in, and i think they'd be rather disinterested in stories they can't directly relate back to their lives. as a result, they probably have a LOT of overlap in the books they enjoy, but the differences are marked and striking to an almost concerning degree. nevertheless i do think they've read through a great deal of the literary canon even if they don't personally love it, simply because it's what they can get their hands on. i can definitely see dean enjoying long, heroic epics like the iliad or beowulf, while sam has certainly read dante's divine comedy cover to cover (and of course, then they switch and read the other's pick, now hundreds of miles away from the library they stole the books from).

i really want them to have some kind of ongoing discourse about east of eden in particular, just because of HOW many similarities there are between cal/dean and aron/sam. i'm trying to figure out how to articulate the nature of that discourse (dean thinks it's just like them fr fr and sam insists it's not? the other way around, perhaps—though i can't see that as clearly. perhaps a simple debate as to whether it applies to them, or which generation they see themselves in most) but i really need to see something like that.

i think sam would definitely have petty beef with supernatural stories when they get the monster lore wrong. "we already KNOW what they do, how can you be THIS wrong about it???? open a book, dumbass," and the like. dean just thinks it's awesome no matter what (as long as the monsters are the bad guys) and they definitely bicker about it incessantly. on the flip side, dean would probably turn up his nose at gothic lit quite a bunch when the monsters are portrayed sympathetically (hello again frankenstein) and would, with his best Big Brother Voice, talk down to sam about the shit propaganda he's reading. sam in turn calls him an idiot in his best Little Brother Voice and doubles down on whatever he's reading. (naturally, the conflict here is that sam sees himself as the monster and therefore sympathizes with it, whereas dean sees "sympathetic monster" and shuts down entirely via john's unquestionable training. i can't imagine dean as a kid being able to comprehend the idea of sam viewing himself as wrong or bad in any way, so the thought of sam relating to the monster simply doesn't compute.)

anyway yeah THANK YOU for this ask, i LOVE well-read and self-educated winchesters so much 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[peaches-creek]

You were typing away at your computer, just as you have been for hours. Being blessed with the freedom of education, doesn’t make it any less of a curse. Here you were spending half of your life’s savings so that one day you could earn it back. Finals week was exactly 9 days, 2 hours, 17 minutes and 45 seconds away. With what felt like no time to spare you were cramming as much knowledge into your brain as you could. You are a smart person, you know it, but with the way you are struggling, it feels otherwise tonight. Sometimes things just get too heavy. You are under a ton of pressure at work, your friends are pressuring you to hang out when you have no time for yourself, you need to get groceries, check the mail. Etc. but there’s only so many minutes left in the day and you need to put those minutes into your studies.

Amidst your circling chains of thought about all of the things that you need to do, should be doing, and are doing, John enters your office. He takes in your form, headphones on and hunched over your books and laptop, messy hair, dead tired eyes. It makes his heart ache. A person he admires for her hard work, looks so worn out and god, do you look tired. He wonders how long it’s been since you had a good sleep. You need it clearly. He wishes he wasn’t so caught up with, maybe then he would’ve noticed you were struggling, but there’s not time for him to feel guilty, he has to help his girl.

He walks over, softly takes off your headphones, and swivels your chair to face him.

“Hi darling.” He flashes you with that wholesome smile that’s always on his dopey face. He brings a hand up to gently wrap around your neck, beckoning you forward to trap you in his warm embrace.

“Missed you.” You say, though it’s muffled against his shirt.

“What are you working on.”

“A bunch of stuff.”

“I can see that,” he chuckles.

“I know you can see that, now that you know I can get back to the endless amount of information that needs to take home into my brain.” you attempt to turn your chair back around, but his hands stop the chair from moving.

“John-“ you start.

“Don’t wanna hear it, you’ve been up to this for days, time for a break.”

“I don’t have time to take a break.”

“You absolutely have time to take a break. So you are taking one now. And I am going to tuck you into bed, a bed that you get to sleep in with your husband who loves you very much.” He justifies.

John has the habit of usually being right, he usually reminds you after the fact. He also knows that you hate being wrong, and you absolutely hate when people know you are wrong, which is why you are studying so damn hard.

“I appreciate it John but I really can’t tonight y’know, I have to-“

“You have to sleep.” He says.

“I can do that later.”

“Why not know.”

“John you are actually pissing me off.” You would’ve found this whole thing adorable if you weren’t already so frustrated.

“Don’t care,” He says as he tips you forward, essentially throwing you over his shoulder, “you’re going to bed.”

He begins to walk toward your bedroom passing the halls littered with pictures of the two of you and your beloved cat, Lady. When he reaches the entrance of the room, you reach up and grab onto the door, not letting go. This causes John to nearly drop you, nearly.

“Oh my god, that’s it you little shit!” He drops you onto the bed and proceeds to tickle you. Running his fingers over your ribcage over and over again.

“John sto-“ you choke out, “John I’m gonna pee fucking sto-“ you interrupt yourself with your laughter.

Eventually when he decides you’ve had enough, and that you’ve tuckered yourself out, he stops. He then hovers above your body and stares into your eyes.

“You know some people find that creepy.”

“Not you.” He grins.

“Yeah, not me.”

He gives you a sweet kiss to the lips, and then to the both of your cheeks, then your nose, lastly your forehead. He gets off of you and the bed heading to your side. He pulls back the covers and gently grabs your body and tucks you, just like he said. Once you are situated, he gets up and walks to the light switch and flicks it off. In the darkness, he makes his way back to you. He tucks himself in right behind you, spooning you.

“Goodnight, My Darling.” He says. But he doesn’t expect an answer, you are already half asleep.

“G’night John.” He gets one anyways.

[i-may-be-an-emu]

Hija!! Do yk which of the guys had the most characters with sad, tragic or bad endings? Asking for an edit >:))

Hmmmm I’m not sure! It’s pretty even I think? Idk let’s see :D

SFTH SPOILERS BELOW (also long-ish post so be aware of that I guess)

All of them have a kind of messed up time in habberdashery (Luke’s child character not the wife) (Tom wasn’t there though)

Lost in your eyes Tom and Sam have a tragic love story

Long John’s I haven’t watched in a little bit but Luke killing his brother (I think) was pretty messed up, Tom’s character dies and AJ holds him as he does.

Jockey is VERY messed up, Sam’s probably the one with the most tragic stuff.

AJ’s character in hare says she’s had a tough life, then Jimmy the Hare dies in her arms

Midnight mystery ends with Scottish Batman being in the middle of dying (I think) and Robin like kills someone or something??? The ending confuses me a little

Cube has Bubba and Jeremiah which like, Bubba loses his legs and Jeremiah has to deal with that, then yk, Jeremiah DIES in Bubbas ARMS and everything, so those two (I could ramble about Bubbamiah for the rest of this post but I won’t lol)

Bus is kinda tragic with the whole thing of Arthur BD getting imprisoned inside the vagina cage (…yeah. that’s a Sentence alright.) and then dying from the acidity

NIGEL IS SOOOOO MESSED UP AND I LOVE IT Andrew being imprisoned and his uncle not even caring or looking for him for two weeks!? Nigel getting him hooked on cocaine (and also doing whatever he did consensually with Andrew tied to the chair- even if it was consensual it might have been the drugs or the Stockholm syndrome… which is REALLY dark.)

Caravan has Jericho (Tom) who is terminally ill and dying of some disease and he has dreams of being an actor and then gets replaced with no remorse.

Stegosaurus is SOOOOO dark and i think that Chip and Cliff could both be said to have tragic backstories- even that French guy actually if you look at it from his point of view. So Sam and Tom, and AJ as chip if you include that part as well.

Lefternmost window is kind of dark but not really tragic, cause it’s all resolved in the end but you could say Tom’s Scottish character who was shot in the throat maybe

Neighbours you could argue it’s tragic for every character, really. Johnny and Janae mostly, though Annabelle dies and idk if she did much wrong. Definetly Johnny and Janae.

Milkman you can say Peter, Toby (the boy in the room) and The other kid (AJ) and also probably Mr Steven, plus Hank (the Texan bartender) all of them have pretty tragic stuff happen.

Beetroots Sam is pretty tragic, all of the stuff that happens in that. Justin’s parents died in a fire so maybe also him.

The evil make a wish kid you could say Luke’s character as the father, cause, well, his son is evil and also died and kills his mother. (And blew up every petting zoo in the entire world)

Priscilla is pretty dark too so probably Priscilla, she goes through a lot

Circus you could definitely say Watson, he kills a bunch of people cause he’s in love with Sherlock and goes crazy and becomes a creepy clown (hi if you’re reading this and don’t know the fandom, welcome! Everything is so normal)

Murders in space would definitely be Mary, with working on the whole time penetration/dilution thing her whole life only to have to fade away to save the world.

I’d need to rewatch Hugh and moist and magical for the specifics but characters from those two are not having a good time

JIMMY DOESNT KNOW HOW TO USE A DOOR AND NO ONE WILL SHOW HIM (also Clancy did doohicky’s wife but who cares about that when there’s Jimmy)

Alexa and Janusz from Ballet are both pretty tragic but again I’d probably need to rewatch it to have more details

OK SO

adding all of this up here’s an extremely rough tally just based on this

AJ llllllll (8)

Luke llllllll (8)

Sam llllllllllll (12)

Tom llllllllll (11)

So Sam, but Tom’s close (although I think Sam has more like main characters?? But I’m not sure)

I hope this helps!!! :D can’t wait to see the edit if you make one

[thewertsearch]

AG: You see John, you and I actually have some things in common, 8ut you couldn't possi8ly understand why yet. AG: So I'm planning on helping you!

Well, she's clearly not talking about their personalities - in fact, when Vriska was first introduced, she struck me as John's natural opposite. From where I'm standing, all they share is a signature color.

EB: ok, i will be sure to let my guard down. EB: psyche!!!!!!!!!

John's never been a complete chump, but - and I mean this in the nicest way possible - his guard is permanently down. I don't think it'll be too hard for Vriska to mess with him, whatever her goals truly are.

EB: if you don't mind, i would like to try to go back to sleep. EB: i was dreaming about something important. AG: You can't sleep now, John! AG: What a8out J8de????????

And it seems she's done her homework. Vriska isn't on a random walk, like Karkat - she's taken the time to study the kids' session and familiarize herself with its events. Any actions she nudges John into taking here will be very deliberate.

AG: Where the hell do you think you're going to go? You don't even have your copy of the game yet! [...] EB: do you know where i am supposed to get it? AG: Easy! Just w8 around for a few minutes. [...] AG: Even though you were going to do this stuff anyway, it turns out I am the reason you were going to do it anyway in the first place! AG: Your timeline is my we8, and suddenly you are all tangled up in it, wriggling and helpless.

I mean, it's kind of arguable. No matter what you do with John, here, you're not really the 'reason' that he was going to do anything. John has to do these things, because the Alpha Timeline says so, and it doesn't care if you approve or not.

Vriska is only able to pretend that she's 'causing' current events because they're what she wants to happen anyway. If she saw a future event that she didn't approve of, though, she'd be powerless to prevent it. Her control isn't real.

EB: so, you seem to like 8's a whole bunch, and i guess you are like, kind of spidery themed or something? AG: Yeah! EB: haha, spiders are gross! AG: Fuck you!!!!!!!!

Heh, he's actually getting to her - but for the record, John is dead wrong. Spiders are awesome.

...could it be? After all this time?

After 2'627 pages, we've finally done it.

Homestuck's original objective has finally been completed!!

[lemon-natalia]

Harrow the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 37

hmm yeah it is suspicious that the Emperor has to be locked away during the attacks. he gives an explanation, but we really only have his word for it

the Lyctors seem perfectly (and very convieniently) made to be able to enter the River while still defending themselves, which makes me wonder if that was the original purpose of creating Lyctorhood, and the Emperor maybe has some kind of plan revolving around it?

now this guy is quoting fucking Psalms 26 in Latin?? thats different to the quotes from before, the fact that its religious is interesting given this guy is apparently ‘God’ now, but he’s quoting a biblical text. also given Harrow can’t possibly know what he’s quoting 90% of the time, he’s awfully pretentious

Harrow’s eighteen, i’m pretty sure she knows how babies are made dude. at least she definitely knows after you guys nearly had a threesome in front of her on the dining room table

he’s been thinking Harrow and Ianthe are a thing omfg

the mysterious A.L.! somehow i was right that the Annabel Lee poem connected to her. and her having another name, and being dead for ten thousand years, i feel like thats a pretty good candidate for the good old Locked Tomb body. at least, thats my current theory.

‘She was my Adam’ again with the biblical stuff, this guy is seemingly religious, but also thinks he’s God??

and apparently the First House was destroyed via climate change and nuclear explosions. if i needed any other confirmation that its Earth (or some equivalent) then i’ve got it here i think

also he was just a normal person before the world ended, and he was the only one who survived and somehow became an incredibly powerful necromancer. i mentioned waaay back at the beginning of this liveblog that i knew there was a guy named John who had something to do with an apocalypse, but i didn't know if i was misremembering him being actually responsible for it, or if i was mixing it up with the Magnus Archives. and i, uh, still have no clue if that is the case or not from this convo, though i do feel like there's more he's not saying about this anyway (please no spoilers about this, i really appreciate everyone explaining things to me in the notes but i'd like to find out whats actually going on with this specifically while reading)

and A.L. was not a ‘normal human being’ whatever that means, and the Lyctors are ‘in a very real way’ A.L.’s children … what on earth does that mean? she discovered the secret of Lyctorhood maybe?

well that whole conversation both answered a whole bunch of questions and absolutely nothing at the same time 😂

well okay the dude’s gone past playing parent and just outright told Harrow he sometimes wishes she was his daughter. i really don’t know how much of that affection is genuine

imagine telling someone you view them as a surrogate daughter and they fucking. smash a glass table in response lol. and yeah if its been ten thousand years and you haven’t developed emotional intelligence yet, then i don’t think its happening mate

ohhhh shit she’s telling him about the Locked Tomb. and i suppose there are worse ways this could have ended than him not believing her at all, but i really don’t think she’s wrong, especially since Gideon said she saw her do so/saw the door open in the last book, i think she did get in there somehow

wait i was working under the assumption that it was the Emperor who’d messed up her memories, but its not! did she do it to herself then after writing the letters?

[blade-that-was-broken]

Well there’s child that bites that’s Bruce jr I believe, there is the one that got stuck in the ketchup bottle that one is also real hyperactive so maybe HC those two as twins make em identical nightmare children. I saw a fanfic where one of Bruce’s kids was like super allergic and intolerant to practically everything which causes problems cause Bruce owns a restaurant. And of course there is anarchist daughter. You should definitely give Bruce and brandy at least one pair of twins or triplets to justify him eventually having like 8-9 kids by the time he’s like 40ish.

Thanks for the ideas! Since we basically know nothing about them and most of them I don't even think have names at this point (?) it can be kinda of difficult. Bruce was about 13 when their parents divorced and it has been about fifteen years so Bruce is only about 28 at this point. He's not done having kids but he's got several already.

"Those two are twins, Jr. likes to bite," Bruce grimaced a little as he showed John some pictures. Brandy insisted on driving back home, even though Bruce said he could do it. He wasn't sure what her game plan was but she wasn't taking no for an answer. John just silently looked at whatever Bruce showing him at any given time and didn't seem to mind the rant and chatter. "And his twin is really... hyperactive. I love them to death but wow, they are everywhere, you have no idea."

"I can probably fix the biting," John replied.

He'd been doing that, insisting he could help or fix things or whatever. Bruce really wasn't sure what to make of it. His first instinct had been thinking that John thought there was something wrong with his kid that needed to be fixed and that made him upset. Sure, Jr. shouldn't be biting and they would work on that but he wasn't some broken thing to be fixed.

John said everything so plainly and Bruce couldn't really determine his meaning.

But he kept telling himself that John wasn't exactly himself either. The doctors said he would probably come back to himself. He just didn't really know who his brother was anymore.

"Uh... this one is allergic to pretty much life in general, especially cats, for some reason?" he said, flipping through the photo. "Which is tough because out neighbor loves cats and well... he's been kind of taking a liking to them too."

"Feed him eggs from a farm with barn cats," John replied.

"Uh... what?"

John looked up at him and tilted his head a little. Bruce had to take a moment to take that in. Clay did the same thing. Geez, how was he going to tell everyone else? He'd figure that out later.

"Helps with allergies."

"Okay...? It can be difficult with the restaurant since there is a bunch of stuff he's allergic and intolerant of but we are working on a medication regiment. And he's not really supposed to be around the kitchen anyways," he continued, trying to keep things normal but his speech just kept getting quicker and more excited. "They are going to love you. They have always wanted an uncle living close by. I know technically you don't have to stay out here but it is the best and you have an in!"

"An... in?"

"Me!" Bruce nodded with a grin. "I can get you set up with a fantastic place when you are recovered, if you want. You can stay with us as long as you want, I just know a lot of people tend to be independent so I thought hey, maybe he'd want a little place on the beach or something instead but then again, we haven't really seen each other in..."

"Alright, honey," Brandy interrupted. "You are getting a little excited."

"Where else would he go? We are by far the most financially stable and it's Hawaii for heaven's sake. People would kill to live here. There can't possibly be anywhere better. He doesn't even have an address."

Brandy just shot him a slight glare in the rearview mirror.

"Uh, he's right... uhm about the address thing," John confessed. "If I needed to spend my leave off base, I usually just found a camping spot or stayed with one of my squad."

Brandy's face twisted into something interested and possibly mischievous. John wouldn't have been able to catch it but Bruce definitely could. "Oh! We would love to hear about them! You must be very close."

"We are," John shrugged, lightly. "Might as well be family at this point. Kinda curated an orphans, losers and runaways club. Or in my case, all three," he chuckled.

It was the first time Bruce heard any sound that could possibly be classified as vague amusement from John, although Bruce wasn't entirely sure if it was genuine. He knew one thing; he didn't really like the type of humor.

"Except for Chaz, he's just a fool," John snorted. "They wouldn't let me get rid of him."

"What about the others?"

"Dickory is one of the best. He's very cunning but you can count on him even in strange plans. Pete is retired, not that you'd ever know he was there in the first place. Barely said a word. We useta call him Growly Pete cause that's generally how he was."

Okay. Best friend. Crotchety old man. This was okay. This seemed normal.

"Tresillo... hasn't been with us long but he's shaping up to be a good kid. Needed some discipline but considering his parents weren't exactly in the picutre, I get where he's comin from. He's grown a lot in the time that he's been with us, we're really proud of him."

Brandy glanced at Bruce again. He knew what she was thinking.

He wasn't going to think about it.

"Anyone else?" she asked.

He listed off a few more. "And then... and then Delta."

"Oh! Who is Delta?" Brandy asked with a smile.

"She's mah girl."

His what?

"My partner in crime, the law, whatever you wanna call it," John replied, rubbing his arm and looking out the window. "Go-to gal, best friend, right hand man or I'm hers, whatever you got, it's us. By some miracle the military thought it best to keep us stationed together. She ain't crazy but probably a good choice on their part."

"So, I suppose we will be seeing her visit sometime?"

"I'll haveta call her sister and see what all happened after well, this," John shrugged. "But maybe. It used to be where you found one of us, you wouldn't find the other far behind. I dunno how that'll be now. Things are different, but uhm... I'm hopin' she''ll come around sometime.''

[thewebcomicsreview]

Homestuck 2 updated today! Even I'm not enough of a dork to leave a Christmas Party to go read Hamsteak, but it got late and I'm back now, so let's do it. Months ago, but not many, before Alt!Calliope collapsed. Has it really been months, in-universe, since Dave/Aradia left Candy? Time is confusing, especially in Homestuck.

Oh wait, this is after Jade broke free of Calliope's control back in Chapter 6. That was months ago? Man, it's so weird how we've cut back to the Meat Rocket several times since then and Jade just....hasn't done anything or said anything about being possessed? At least onscreen? Totally glossed over.

Probably the biggest mystery in HSBC right now is who the Candyland narrator is. The "Lady" giving commands is clearly Alt Calliope, so who's the narrator pushing back on her here?

Oh. We have another Alt Calliope. An Alt-er Calliope. This seems to literally be the same person as Alt Calliope, though, since they re-fuse. Maybe this is something to do with Ultimate Selves, which might be why non-Alt Calliope is so afraid of her.

Cutting from Alt Calliope talking about decorum to Davebot and Aradia taking selfies with her corpse is a cute gag. I'd forgotten Aradia had a new Calliope-themed outfit. That's kind of weird.

DAVEBOT: to be fair this was typical teen jade behavior DAVEBOT: honestly shoulda done a little more research into that host body

Oh that's an interesting explanation for why Alt-Calliope-In-Pre-Retcon-Jade's-Body passed out (and almost certainly not the original team's reason). But Jade's narcolepsy was Vriska-induced.

DAVEBOT: you just went on another one didnt you ARADIA: yes DAVEBOT: who did you meet this time ARADIA: the necr- DAVEBOT: no dont tell me its simply too much to bear ARADIA: are you doing a bit DAVEBOT: of course im doing a bit

I do like the idea that Aradia uses her time powers to have entire adventures in between sentences. I suppose this also makes Pesterquest's Aradia arc canon, since that involved a bunch of HS2 stuff. I haven't played Pesterquest in forever so I don't know if the "necr-" ("necromancer"?) is a reference to that or foreshadowing.

ARADIA: actually i doomed thousands of timelines DAVEBOT: thats kind of fucked up ARADIA: yeah! ARADIA: to be fair i was doing it on purpose DAVEBOT: thats even more fucked up

Aradia is the best troll.

Dave's pillow wearing sunglasses is a great gag. Also, a cute character moment. Those glasses were a gift from John, and Dave kept them even after becoming a robot.

ARADIA: i could go see him right now DAVEBOT: you wont ARADIA: i wont 0u0

Assuming "him" in Sollux, that seems to imply that Aradia can come and go to Candyland freely, which is...interesting.

ARADIA: youre welcome 0u0 ARADIA: anyway the point im making here is that some of these missteps end up serving a grander purpose ARADIA: things that seem unimportant or even “wrong” can end up being essential components of whats meant to happen ARADIA: and who even decides whats wrong in the first place? DAVEBOT: i dunno megido thats borderline blasphemous

This is pretty obviously about Candyland, especially since Dave just shit on his pre-Ultimate Candy self as being a different person from a "lame" timeline, and "How much does it matter if something is canon or not?" is the question HS2 is allegedly about in the first place. But also I kind of like this nerdy time shit philosophizing even without the thematic subtext. The Homestuck EU has mostly been "Trolls! Aren't they neat!" and Ultimate Selves, but the Classpects haven't really been talked about much for a long Time.

Dave also refers to "Skaia's alpha timeline" in this conversation, but it's never been fully clear to what extent Skaia was pulling the strings. The "alpha" timeline was just the one with no paradoxes, and it was Lord English, not Skaia, who was making it so restrictive.

ARADIA: whats the right way for a butterfly to flap its wings? DAVEBOT: the way that doesnt make me gay

Dave...you are gay. You've been gay since Homestuck proper. It was a big part of why your marriage to Jade fell apart. Ultimate Dave is comprised of all Daves, and since Dave quit time-traveling before figuring out his sexuality, he seems to have regressed somewhat.

Dave was always scared of creating Dead Daves. "Dead Daves are the enemy", and it's why he doesn't time travel any more, and Aradia here seems to be arguing that this is limiting him, that he can't grow and explore without breaking some rules and dooming some timelines. This is, of course, Thematic™. You can't go in an interesting new direction if you're too worried about sticking to what the story's "supposed" to be about.

DAVEBOT: also now feels like a good time to mention that despite my omnitemporal awareness of everything that has and ever will happen to me i actually have no idea where the fuck youre proposing to take me ARADIA: oh word ARADIA: fun huh? DAVEBOT: being real i kind of hate it ARADIA: woohoo! DAVEBOT: youre such a freak DAVEBOT: TONE INDICATOR: AFFECTIONATE

ARADIA: cmon you shithead

This is such a fun pairing.

Hm. Calliope gets back up right as Aradia and Davebot's feeling jam is getting somewhere and makes them stop. Hmmm...

Good update. Aradia is my favorite troll and this was Good Aradia Content. I am increasingly convinced that she is not a Handmaid to Calliope, despite the cult outfit. Also rather interested in what's up with the Double Alt Calliope thing, but I imagine that'll get a follow-up at some point.

[maribatshipper]

Hey, hey, hey, we all know Maribat/Adribat/Miraculous-Batman-DC crossovers, right? The very Popular Damianette ship?

Okay, and we all know John Constantine making deals with all sorts of demons and monsters, sleeping with them, missing pieces of his soul, snorting Santa's bones, we all know John Constantine, right?

Okay... Now, I give you...

Blond Flirty Cat-boy...

Blond Slutty Trenchcoat Man...

And make John think he screwed some French chick because, Damn, THIS KID REEKS OF MAGIC!!!!

Why? Adrien's a Senti-being, AND the Ring of Destruction. It takes a while for John to figure it out, but when he realises this kid wasn't made from sex, he thinks, "Shit, did someone make a magic golem with my DNA?!"

By the time he finally gets the rundown on THE PEACOCK MIRACULOUS, he's too reluctantly attached to Adrien and Adrien is somehow clinging to this Much Better than Gabriel Father Figure despite all the red flags because "This Dad Taught me stuff I can use! And let's me do things I wanna do!"

Okay, but why is John in Paris, you may ask?

Magic People can Sense big things happening. Like a magic tear in reality. And the Wish in the end of Season 5? Yeah, that set off EVERYONE'S alarm system, but nothing seems to be going wrong in Paris, or it isn't going wrong anymore, and the timeline seems the same, no one can figure out what changed, but SOMETHING did, because they sensed it.

So John goes there for some reason or another, to grab whatever caused that magic surge and hide it, to use it for himself, whatever John is more likely to do.

Only to bump into this kid with his date that looks like a *Happy, healthy* version of a younger him, making both of them stare at each other in shock. The biggest difference being the eye colour difference. But John can sense magic *radiating* from the kid. But it's like he can't pinpoint where, if it's the kid or something he's carrying. (Quantum Masking magic, New York Special.)

The young girl that looks like Bat Adoption Bait on the boy's arm notices the way they're staring at each other and moves in front of the boy protectively.

"Excuse us, Monsieur." She says and tries to move the boy away, but John has to figure out why he's like that.

"Do I know ya, kid?" John asks, directing his gaze to the boy again.

The boy laughs, speaking in relatively okay English, "It'd be hard not to recognise me. But I quit modelling."

He gestures to a billboard with "Adrien: The Fragrance", with the boy's face.

John is definitely surprised as he looks at the poster, but before he can turn back, the girl has already led Adrien away.

He knows he probably looks like some sort of creepy older guy, especially to young kids like them, but he has to find out exactly what is going on with this "Adrien Agreste."

Meanwhile, both of the children have been warned by the Kwami's that something is off about John (reveal or not, up to you), Plagg saying, "Eh, his soul smells like a bunch of guys took a bite out of it" while Tikki says, "He's missing pieces of himself, of his soul. Be careful."

Marinette is Paranoid and Adrien is surprised as the older man offers them both cigarettes.

John somehow finds Adrien seperate from Marinette and explains that he can sense the magic on Adrien, and Adrien gets awkward. John knows he has to be delicate, but delicate is not his forte, so he's straightforward. About the magic pulse from Paris. Not why he's here, but that he can definitely sense something about Adrien.

[sarathrwizard]

@sarawiz I don't know if you'll see this but you did the right thing. I'm so happy there are people willing to speak up about this. But I wanna get this straight as Sara said before we do not hate you, I promise you we don't, it's the sin that we hate and yeh you may not believe us and u don't have to but yes homosexuality is a sin. But there was no reason for all the hate Sara got for what she and a lot of others including me believe in. Why can't we just agree to disagree anymore like anytime someone doesn't have the same opinion or belief as everyone else you just hate, ridicule, and belittle them for it. Also just because she has her beliefs and wanted to speak up about it doesn't mean you have to just leave her content forever just because she doesn't have the same views as you. There are a lot of people on here making rottmnt content that have beliefs and views I don't agree with but I still like the stuff they make and continue to follow them. Obviously we can't tell you how to live your life and what decisions to make cause it's your life but what me, Sara, and others are trying to say is we don't want the LGBTQ stuff shoved down our throats and be told it's normal, we are just trying to do is what God put us on this earth for, to spread his word, love, and kindness. Y'all don't have to listen or convert or anything again we can't tell you what to do in your lives, but you can if you want to and to Sara, don't back down. Keep moving forward, you will get a lot of hate like Jesus said:

"Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will also keep yours".

John 15:20

As my parents have told me before, if you are getting a bunch of hate and backlash from sticking up for the Lord and your beliefs, it means your doing the right thing. But if your doing something for God and there is NO hate or backlash, then somethings wrong. I'll leave you with this Sara, keep going and don't you ever stop, keep making your rottmnt stories I love them so much and keep doing what the Lord has put you in this world for. And to the others, say what you wanna say, it doesn't hurt us, in reality its gonna hurt you when judgement day comes and you are face to face with God. If you want to follow God, amen but if not it is what it is ya know, okay we've said our peace. Sorry for such a long message but I just hope I got my point across and also I'm not a very good writer. But thanks for all you do Sara and continue making your amazing content. God bless you ❤️

And as it is said in the Bible. (God's word)

9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, 10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Bless your heart @xxtorixx07! You will be in my prayers! And I pray that when hard times come to you, you will seek God! Lord bless you!

[weirdmageddon]

What are your thoughts on some people calling Dave a misogynist? Tbh the only point I can agree with is that at one point Dave believed that Jade was a liability and needed protection but I don't think that Dave was sexist.

I don't know if you quit doing Homestuck analyses so I apologize if this bugs you.

i really can’t in good faith hold that against him at that point in the comic. it’s not as simple as “character is misogynist” (unless it actually is like in caliborn’s case lmfao. but still, you ask where that comes from and really it boils down to he just hates his sister calliope and anyone like her. which means girls. but yeah thats still ends up having the same effect as misogyny and his character is a parody of misogynistic guys)

lil cal is misogynistic / macho since it’s got caliborn’s spirit and a bunch of other junk inside of it

lil cal influenced bro and his attitudes of “coolness = machoness = heroism”

dave was influenced by bro

bro died and eventually dave grew into his own person without that influence, throwing off those shackles of needing to quietly be the hardest motherfucker in the room

this is still one of the best shortform video essays on this aspect of dave’s character and really explains it well, drawing comparisons to the brothers in the devil may cry series which i found very helpful even though i never played them. i highly recommend watching

watch this next one too, since i felt like the one above ended too abruptly without a proper wrap up. lots of good stuff in here too

and also he definitely got over that with jade

keep in mind bro JUST died when he called her “probably more a liability if she got it in her head to take him down” like he was talking to terezi and face down on the pavement. so he didnt have those three years to rid himself of that influence yet

and also a thing i never hear people talk about is how he was wrong about ALL his friends here, not just jade, which is more interesting to me. john got mad enough to pass out and beat the shit out of caliborn. rose did an acrobatic fucking pirouette off the deep end and went to fight jack, and after dying to him, her dreamself actually went on the suicide mission to blow up the sun that she had planned (except she didnt expect her waking self to be dead, after that development she assumed this mission was just going to obliterate her forever). jack (bec) noir wouldn’t hurt jade and she ended up becoming the most OP of the four kids that she had to be kept tranquilized for pretty much all of act 6

tldr: dave isn’t a misogynist but is easily influenced by his environment and the people he’s surrounded by in order for himself to feel loved. also in the post-scratch universe, dave is actually a figure of moral integrity to dirk which is a cool way to flip it around to see the other side

[mayimkjs]

FOOL's MATE Update Post #2

Master Post　　Last Update

Before I start this post, I would like to bring up something that I saw on the cancer that it Twitter. DO NOT HARASS THE STAFF OVER THE T2 SUMMERY AND T3 COMMENCEMENT. Sucks that that needs to be said.

People Suck Man + Delays

I was planning on filming the interview and I emailed probably about 50 people. Not a single positive response. At least this got me to buy a small light kit.

I was also planning on listening to a Jekyll & Hyde audio book while on a plane and work on that section of the doc. My volume was at 100% and it was too quiet. So that's been delayed.

I Made an Anonymous Feedback Form

Made this so that people who don't wanna publicly give feedback for whatever reason feel comfortable doing so. However, if ANYONE abuses this, I will have to enable email collection. You can't see others responses, so you will still be anonymous. The email collection would just be in case I have to block someone.

https://forms.gle/Wv5S5744asszjmGf7

Finally got to do Audio Related Things

I can't really do that stuff at school because there is constant noise. So since I've been home, I was able to do this stuff. I didn't get through it all so I'll try to do Double if I don't have noisy neighbors this year.

Poster Update

I held a poll over a month ago to decide between 4 drafts for the poster/key art/thumbnail. Option 3 won so here's the sketch of John. I haven't been actively working on this and mainly have been working on this when I want to draw. If you have any critiques, feel free to share.

Illustrations and Assets

So, Adobe fucked up Photoshop a few months ago and recently Illustrator. So I've had to downgrade to Photoshop 25.4 which was released in January so I can use it for more then 1 minute. Then Illustrator was just really fucking laggy. Other from that, I'm about half way done with vector graphics. I still have to go through a bunch of pictures and get rid of the backgrounds.

I also decided to try to make some 3D graphics so I've finally decided to learn Blender. Me and a friend are also probably going to work together to make a prop since he has a 3D printer. I also bought Paintstorm Studio which is more of a digital painting software then drawing, but I've found that it's really good for design. I just wish I bought it during 2020 when it was $10.

I've also been working on adding image credits to the research doc. There are a bunch of images that I don't know who made them. I have a list on the beginning of the doc if you want to help with that.

Since I'm expanding on the DID section, I would like to make a request.

Since I've seen some systems floating around here, can you fact check me? I really DO NOT want to get important information wrong. I don't think I've gotten much wrong if at all, but I just wanna be 100% sure.

Changes

Expanded

Foils

DID Terms

Extra info here & there

Modified

Prisoner Genres

Got rid of “(Tentative)” on title page

Moved

Theories about who Es is into Ch8 

“The Kayano System and Es are more connected than we think.” into “MILGRAM Theories” 

Added

Special Thanks

More theories 

Images

Other

Cleaned slides

Links

Research Doc (Comments on like always)

Milanote

Reddit Post