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sepublic · 5 months ago

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Kanden Debut Pitch

Per the title, here’s a pitch for another hypothetical Metroid episode; One debuting Kanden. I’ve already done the basics on a debut episode for Noxus; I think it’d be a fun idea to introduce the motives of each bounty hunter from Hunters by showing them in individual episode format, via a conflict it presents to Samus, rather than just having a log scan of hers tell the audience outright; Except maybe Sylux, since he is meant to be kinda mysterious and all. And indeed, maybe Samus doesn’t even get the chance to log scan him in the show, so his motives are left ambiguous until the Beyond arc…

But I digress! An episode for each hunter, or at least their backdrop in the case of Trace, to shine. Thus we have Kanden.

The episode begins with Samus Aran silently trekking through some area; Maybe the ruins of some city devastated by the Metroids, and evacuated accordingly. Or maybe a forest, to add some diversity; I think it��d make sense for Metroids to just migrate en masse towards a larger, concentrated source of energy after whittling down a location’s. Makes them more efficient in targeting X after all.

Samus notes something yellowish-green out of the corner of her eye; She turns around, arm cannon ready. But it’s not there. Maybe it’s hiding behind something. Either way, she feels there isn’t a threat and continues. Her Metroid tracker begins to beep; She’s here to round up remaining Metroids abandoned by the Space Pirates.

She seems to have figured out the area; The entrance to some underground cavern. But before she can begin, Samus gets ambushed by a giant ball of electricity. She dodges, but because she’s standing in some water, gets shocked anyway. In steps Kanden, the Enoema bounty hunter we’re all aware of. He’s backed up by some other minions too. They don’t seem Space Pirate, and Samus is able to confirm with a scan that they’re an entirely separate criminal organization, much smaller. Most head down into the underground area where the Metroid is, while the rest stay back to handle Samus.

As the battle rages, we get the POV of the mysterious figure from before through binoculars, watching Samus.

The minions aren’t much, but Kanden is a whole beast, able to shrug off smaller firepower like it’s a warm spray. His Stinglarva form surprises Samus too; Kanden is able to shift from such a huge target to a small one, and back. His Volt Driver short-circuits Samus’ visor, messing with her vision whenever it hits. Kanden eventually gets the drop on Samus, hoping to finish her off.

But a minion shoots a rocket at some debris hanging above Samus. It falls down, burying and incapacitating her; Kanden looks back at the minion, perhaps angry that he got cheated of a fight. But in that minion’s defense, this is the more practical solution to handling the Hunter.

From the underground area emerges those other mooks, but with notably lesser numbers than before; And they have the Metroid captured. The one in charge gives the command to fall back; Kanden looks back at the buried Samus disappointedly but follows.

Samus comes to, hearing someone digging her out from outside, mumbling worriedly. She breaks through, surprising them; It’s the yellowish-green figure from before, hands up in surprise. They resemble a walking tardigrade, but their aesthetic is quite similar to this mysterious Kanden…

Samus is wary at first, but lowers her cannon. The stranger apologizes, clarifying they mean no harm, and explains they weren’t sure if they could trust Samus; They were here for an entirely separate agenda. The Metroid, Samus guesses laconically. Not quite, the stranger corrects, but they fear it is quite relevant now.

Kanden, they name the monster Samus fought earlier; He is a bounty hunter. He is Enoema like me, or was… The Enoema gets frank; They need Samus’ help in destroying Kanden. He is their greatest mistake.

Cue a flashback; The Enoema explains that their people were afraid of being subjugated by the Space Pirates, but they had no desire to join the Galactic Federation either. But the Enoema are weak; To defend themselves, they began the Living Weapons Project; Their goal was to create an invincible supersoldier, perhaps the first of many more to come, to protect themselves with. Instead, they created an immortal beast; A monster…

The Enoema is present in the flashback; They and others created a living chimera called the Volt Driver, and incorporated DNA from various insects, such as the Stinglarva, into their test subject Kanden. Maybe Kanden was a brave patriot, or just a poor soul forced into this position; Either way, the mental conditioning, the jolts blasted through his brain and body, all of these placed much stress on Kanden as he transformed into a hulking brute. He would suddenly scream loudly; He would be placed through a pacifying procedure of questionable efficacy and ethics, and emerge silent. The stranger would watch, concerned, but ultimately say nothing.

All of this had its toil on Kanden, who finally snapped and went on a rampage, breaking through even the toughest restraints. Armed with the living Volt Driver, he laid waste to the laboratory, slaughtering all but one of the researchers as he cackled maniacally. The carnage finally ends in a shot-for-shot recreation of his intro cutscene at the beginning of Hunters; Kanden slithering out of the smoking lab as a Stinglarva, transforming back. He waits for the explosion, not looking back, and roars in triumph when it detonates.

Only I survived, the Enoema explains, crawling out of the rubble as they watch Kanden move his attention towards the nearby town, for his rampage is not finished just yet. Per narration, Kanden would eventually gain infamy as a brutal, unpredictable bounty hunter. As the flashback fades, the Enoema mournfully notes that despite the failure of the Living Weapons Project, the Enoema got their wish; They were subjugated to neither Federation nor Space Pirate rule. Instead, they were conquered by the Kriken Empire, who wiped most of them out.

Samus listens solemnly, as her log scans confirm from the Enoema what they’ve said; Their homeworld was terraformed by the Kriken, and only a few Enoema exist now, scattered across Federation space.

The Enoema needs to make up for their sins, and destroy Kanden; He’s beyond reason, they know that now. And they’re willing to pay Samus quite a bit, all they have left, to help them. They know of her feats on Zebes, if Samus can take down Space Pirate high command, she can do this, maybe.

Samus opts to refuse the payment; She needs to finish off that Metroid anyway, per her pre-existing contract with the Federation, and that requires tracking down Kanden. The Enoema reassures her they can do just that; During the experiments, they implanted a tracker into Kanden in case he got captured, lost, went rogue… Obviously it was that last one that happened. They can use it to find him.

And the Enoema has no concern that theirs and Samus’ paths will be forced to diverge; They are quite convinced that Kanden and the Metroid will stay together, despite his contract to help the criminal organization secure it. Because in their investigation on Kanden, the Enoema has figured out this much; He is obsessed with perfecting his creators’ work on him by becoming the ultimate warrior, and will rely on any augmentations to achieve this. And they call the Metroid the Ultimate Warrior…

As the Enoema says this, we cut to the criminals next to their ship, cargo bay open as they’re loading the cold containment unit with the incapacitated Metroid inside. The commander gives Kanden a briefcase loaded with seguru, and tells him he can leave. As they turn around, they mumble in their tongue in disgust, Freak.

Kanden continues to stare them down, and then at the Metroid. The pilot is prepared to take off, everyone just needs to get in. At which point, the commander is about to board as the last one, when they notice Kanden still standing there. Well, they ask impatiently. What are you waiting for??? You can leave, we haven’t paid you to escort us any longer!

Kanden drops the briefcase; And then grabs the commander by the neck.

All of the minions aim their weapons, the pilot asks what’s going on. Kanden hoists the commander by the neck in the air in front of him, as a hostage; His Volt Driver is charged. There’s some tense seconds of deliberation… And then Kanden just snaps the commander’s neck anyway, chucking their body at the minions as they fire; Nothing to lose now!

A few get knocked over, and Kanden goes on a brutal rampage; Something to really earn this episode its TV-MA rating. It’s a good thing the carnage is colorful alien fluid… He tears the minions apart, using the Stinglarva’s bombs to blow up their feet, and then finishing them off as they fall down in agony. The pilot tries to take off, but Kanden displays his incredible strength in lifting the ship from the front, causing the unsecured Metroid capsule to fall out.

Kanden drops the ship, disorienting everyone. He fires his Volt Driver, electrocuting the whole craft as its energy spreads throughout the metal surfaces and shocks all inside. His carnage reaches the poor pilot, and then he comes back around to secure the Metroid. The last survivor gets a horrible death; Both hands wrapped around their skull, eyes gouged out by Kanden’s thumbs as they scream. Kanden’s fingers dig into their skull, and with a burst of strength he rips the poor minion’s head in half, splattering himself in viscera and clearly relishing in it.

The groggy Metroid watches from inside its containment unit, as Kanden detonates the ship with his larva bombs. In his great strength is able to casually hoist the Metroid capsule between his arm, when previously it took multiple minions to carry it. As the ship burns, Kanden walks off, and the camera pans down to the seguru, untouched.

The lighting changes to night, to indicate time has passed, with Samus and the Enoema staring down at the seguru. What did I tell you, the Enoema laments regretfully. Does that tracker work on an interplanetary scale? Samus inquires. It does, the Enoema confirms; At which point, it’s time to go back to the ship…

Before she does, Samus asks the Enoema to look the other way, to their confusion… And then grabs the briefcase while looking around, because no use letting all that money go to waste! The Enoema looks back in baffled, mildly scandalized surprise. Samus loads into her new gunship, the one seen in Prime –replacing the starship destroyed in Zero Mission- with the Enoema aboard. They sync up their tracker with the ship’s navigational computers, and fly off.

Cut to some run-down, urban area on some other planet; Kanden’s glowing green, Enoema-like ship –possibly another organic creation of the Living Weapons Project, or just every hunter in this series having ships that look like them- landing down beside some shady-looking building. Kanden hauls the Metroid with him as he enters.

Inside a room is some poor scientist, chained to the wall, and a bunch of dubious-looking equipment. The poor scientist asks Kanden what they want, and when they see him set down the Metroid, they begin to stammer; No no no… That’s a Metroid, these things have ravaged the entire galaxy recently, worlds have fallen to them! Kanden ignores the scientist, unlocking the bonds.

The scientist continues: Extracting its DNA would be nearly impossible; It’s been confirmed that attempts to remove any cell samples fail, because they disintegrate nearly immediately. They ramble on the theories, that Metroids are partially energy-based and without a source of energy from the larger body, the DNA dies… And technology can’t replicate that energy, either. Cryostasis is not viable because of the Metroids’ weakness to cold, which will erode their tissue and DNA if freezing is prolonged!

Kanden grabs the scientist around the neck and they gag out, But there could be a way to work around this!

Kanden lets go, unchaining the scientist and watching menacingly as they get to work. They explain that to implement Metroid DNA is tricky; They’ll have to directly hook Kanden up to the Metroid, to transfer its DNA immediately. This will be a precise process… But more importantly; Even if this does work, Kanden wouldn’t want this because the Metroid cells will turn on him. They turn on anything they come into contact with, it’s as if they have the ultimate immune system; Kanden himself will surely be killed in the pro-

Kanden grabs them by the neck again. But what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, the scientist chokes out.

Samus lands nearby, and her and the Enoema sneak into the building; Now the Enoema’s tracker beeps, silently. They explain they devised a serum tailored to Kanden’s body, based on the experiments they performed upon him; It will, hopefully, tear apart the bonds keeping Kanden’s various DNA components together, unraveling his chimera genome and killing him. The serum relies on Kanden’s own bio-electricity to fuel it, turning his own power against him. Without this, Kanden’s own DNA could render him unkillable.

Our protagonists get a glimpse of what’s going on from outside; I knew it, the Enoema grimly confirms. He’s going to implant Metroid DNA into himself, just as we implanted Stinglarva and other insect DNA into him.

Kanden is in a seat, there’s a tube linking the Metroid in its cold containment unit up to him. The scientist explains the generator below will pump power into this entire process, keeping the Metroid cells alive just long enough to last the trip into Kanden’s genome. The scientist sorely mumbles in their tongue, I hope this kills you, as they work on the final touches. Kanden silently looks at them; Does he understand, or at least hear the sentiment? The scientist nevertheless tenses, feeling eyes down their back.

They’re about to begin the process, here goes… When Samus barges in and blasts the tube, severing it. Kanden springs up, alarmed; The scientist raises their hands in surrender as Samus guns right for the Metroid, vulnerable and contained.

Kanden leaps in front, blocking with his arm, and engages Samus. Cue chaos as the scientist escapes, while Kanden’s funky theme song plays. Kanden continues to give Samus trouble, but suddenly the Enoema unleashes the Metroid, which targets the biggest prey in the room; Kanden. You wanted this power, the Enoema reminds Kanden; Now take it! The Metroid latches onto Kanden and he flails around in pain, even his invincible hide means nothing to the hunger of the Ultimate Warrior. He tries to pry it off with his hand, but no luck.

Alas, he has just the perfect tool to deal with this, the same way Samus does; Kanden turns into the Stinglarva, which the Metroid is still latched onto, but drops a few larva bombs that send it flying off. Kanden turns back into his humanoid form and spin-kicks the Metroid right towards Samus. There could be a semi-humorous moment where the two play tennis with a Metroid while the Enoema just looks back and forth to keep track; But Samus eventually gets latched onto, tries the Alt-Form plus Bomb trick, but the Metroid just latches right back on.

Kanden prepares to attack Samus in her vulnerable state, but the Enoema confronts them. They try to talk gentle and calm him down, apologizing for the experiments, and explaining they only let the Metroid loose to protect Samus; But they know, having worked on Kanden, that he’d survive. They’re holding behind their back a syringe, containing the killing serum. Kanden seems to calm down too, approaching; But his Volt Driver looks suspiciously charged up.

Is either of them sincere? Are they just playing it safe? In Kanden’s case, he could intend to be sincere… Only to change his mind away. You can never know.

The Enoema lunges, injecting the serum into Kanden. We zoom into it attacking his DNA… But it’s either not working, or not working fast enough; After doubling down in pain, Kanden straightens up anyway, and impales the Enoema in the face with a metal spike. Samus cries out, rushing over to help, and Kanden resumes the battle. They’ve also got a very angry Metroid to dance around, too; Kanden refuses to let Samus destroy it, but this gives her some room to breathe because it means he can’t be focused on destroying her, and is even taking hits for a creature that will also try to kill him too.

The lab catches fire, but all three are unaffected by the heat. Kanden charges up the Volt Driver, energy ball prepared to launch, and punches Samus with it; She learns from this and does the same.

Kanden gets a nasty, impromptu idea; He grabs some cable and lashes it around the Metroid, strapping it to his fist; At the angle he does it, its mouth is facing outwards, so it can’t drain Kanden’s fist through the top of its head. As the Metroid squirms, he uses it like a boxing glove against Samus, a new hand. She tries to freeze it, but attached to Kanden’s quick arm, he can always move the Metroid out of the way, or protect it. Kanden latches the Metroid onto Samus, and when she tries the Morph Ball and Bomb technique, Kanden just pushes it back towards her.

Luckily, a Power Bomb pushes back Kanden, and as Samus retreats, the Metroid squirms through the cable tying it down; Metroids are slick and flexible, they can squeeze through any small space bigger than their fangs, like an octopus. It turns around and latches onto Kanden’s fist anyway.

Kanden’s fist starts to shrivel, and Samus fires an Ice Beam at the Metroid. Still not giving up, Kanden moves the Metroid out of the way, his wrist being frozen; Undeterred, Samus fires a Super Missile that shatters Kanden’s hand off. Fluid drains from the severed stump, Kanden roars as Samus tries to freeze the damn Metroid, which is reducing Kanden’s fist to dust; But the flames augment the Metroid’s thawing ability. The arm cannon’s cool down means Samus can’t fire a Super Missile fast enough, even if there was nothing to distract her.

So she blasts the floor, causing it to collapse as her and Kanden fall into the room below, containing a shoddy generator. It’s cooler down here, way less open flame. The Metroid, not realizing its tactical advantage above, flies down to attack Samus; She freezes and blows it up with a Super Missile, finally.

She sighs in relief, and then Kanden lunges at her in rage. He slams a Volt Driver punch into her abdomen, before wrapping his injured arm around Samus in a chokehold, immobilizing her. He charges up the Volt Driver for another point-blank hit, and Samus’ energy tanks are running low.

Samus spots an unsecured cable from the generator; She lashes out with the grapple beam, tears it out and brings it to her other hand before jamming it into Kanden’s severed stump. As he shudders, Samus kicks his Volt Driver to aim at the generator as it fires; The electrical blast supercharges the generator, which sends a particularly powerful surge into Kanden’s body. It begins to pulsate and strain, as we cut to the serum, super-charged, doubling its attack on Kanden’s DNA. Samus fires some Wave Beams at Kanden, piercing his hide and adding to the current.

As the fire pours down from above, Kanden’s muscles swell grotesquely, suffocating and crushing his head beneath, as they’re unable to take it anymore; Kanden explodes, splattering all over the place. Poor Samus is drenched, and looks down at the scattered viscera; She sees the smoldering tracker that had been implanted into Kanden, the one she and the Enoema used to find him. The generator looks ready to blow, the fire is spreading here; Her work here is done. She glances up solemnly at where the Enoema’s corpse should be, but let’s be real, the fire probably scorched it to ash at this point.

Cut to outside the laboratory, that poor scientist from before limping away. They look back as it explodes, and mumble, shaking their head. They continue to limp ahead, when oh! It’s Samus Aran. Armor steaming as Kanden’s blood boils away, but very much alive. The scientist thanks Samus graciously, presuming she finished off Kanden, and also tries to continue past; But then she silently holds up a holographic wanted poster with their face on it.

They know better than to resist; The scientist groans, rolls their eyes, and holds their wrist out. Ugh, fine; Just get me away from that freak. Samus applies the future’s handcuffs; A device that messes with your bioelectricity, causing your limbs to go limp, while allowing your organs to still function. She drags the scientist away, taking a moment to look at Kanden’s ship, pondering… Before heading back to her gunship.

…On the other side of the burning laboratory, we see a glowing, yellow-green trail of slime, quite similar to the Stinglarva’s, leading out into the darkness. A soft rendition of Kanden’s leitmotif plays in the background.

If you look closely when Kanden explodes, a couple of his darker, solid bits are sent flying; But among them for a split frame is the Stinglarva (depleted of bombs, making it look even smaller), implying Kanden can regenerate by shedding his body and re-growing from his renewed form, like how a snake sheds its skin. And the tracker, shown earlier, has been excised from his body; Samus has no way to track Kanden anymore…

(I wouldn't say the battle and the Enoema' sacrifice was for nothing though; By keeping Kanden down for a while, this would minimize any other harm he could’ve done. At the very least Samus and the Enoema’s effort destroyed the Metroid, preventing any possibility of the augmentation actually working, god forbid.)

#Metroid #Kanden #Samus Aran #Enoema #Metroid Prime Hunters #Fanfic #Fanfiction #My Writing

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talkingbl · 9 months ago

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GMMTV's Gen 2 problem

I am not impressed that GMMTV just commenced representation of BounPrem. Why? Because their priorities recently have looked a lot like this:

Gen 2 (or maybe stylized Gen Z? still thinking of a name for them...)

Pillars & Pillar-adjacents

Personalities (think Godji, Nicky, Jennie)

LYKN

Girls & Basement dwellers

Rookies

And I hate it.

IMO, Gen 2 is far too overexposed for the sheer lack of talent in their group. I mean out of all of them they only have, who? Fourth? JimmySea on a good day? And honestly, Gen 3 is already starting to debut in roles but they don't seem to get content that'll be widely received. And a lot of the potentially interesting stories (that inevitably get ruined by poor direction/writing) are being funneled to Gen 2 instead of elsewhere, where they belong... I don't mind JimmySea (and to a lesser extent GemFourth) getting good stuff but stop just allowing PondPhuwin, ForceBook, and JoongDunk to do whatever tf they want and start giving Gen 3 & basement dwellers something to do!

Pillars and pillar-adjacents are doing everything I want them to do (OffGun never unemployed, TayNew remarried, KristSingto look to be on the horizon). I mean, we do need to have a serious conversation about letting OffGun take a very long break...but that's a conversation for another time. Plus, GMMTV has turned around and given EarthMix a Japanese remake when they know they've been having problems with Japanese distributors...seems dumb to me.

The personalities will always be employed and, honestly, I rarely watch their content unless my faves are guesting. I like Jennie in a lot of the stuff she's been in. Plus, I feel like their content doesn't require too many resources, so I don't think it's a huge concern to have the personalities continue to stay booked.

But where things get interesting to me is how GMMTV seems to be pouring a lot into making Project Alpha guys into actors... Like P'Tha if you don't let those boys be tpop idols and stop shoving every remotely soft looking boy into a ship!! Nothing is worse than an "actor" who really wants to be a singer istg!!

And this leads me to another issue I have and that is how only like 5 out of: Mook, View, June, Jan, Ciize, Tu, Neen, Namtan, Pod, Thor, AJ, JJ, Luke, Sing, Pluem, Joss, etc., can get work at a time. Like I know they do het and ensemble stuff at times but it really feels like they don't get the stuff with the juicy marketing budgets.

Then there's the poor rookies. And I'm not talking new to the company like Sky and Inn. I'm talking about the ones who've been signed for at least a year now and only have, at most, support roles under their belts. These are the Javas and Indys of the world. Sometimes I forget they're even represented by GMMTV the way they haven't had a chance to showcase any talent.

And then there's all the new male talent who rightfully got lead roles basically immediately. Sky's in a homoerotic het drama with Nani. Inn and Great are practically having sex onscreen by GMMTV standards. Perth was basically assigned to a ship before he even signed with GMMTV... I have a feeling these guys will continue to get more and more roles thrown at them based on the success of their previous dramas, their acting skills, and the hype for their current/future ones dramas.

All this makes me wonder where on earth former Wabi Sabi artists fit in? As for Santa, I don't think we'll have to worry about him because I have a feeling he'll either be a basement dweller, get mostly het roles, or be paired with a LYKN member so he can finally breathe the same air as a functioning idol. Same with Yacht--except he'll almost certainly be sent to the basement for not having the GMMTV vibe (I'll explain on another post). But if GMMTV wants to cast BounPrem together, I feel like they'd have to carve out a space for them that they'd usually give to FirstKhao and pillar-adjacents like EarthMix. Maybe GMMTV can do that but it just doesn't seem like their bandwidth his large enough, nor their story selection good enough to do right by BounPrem. I hope I'm wrong but that would require GMMTV to care more about all of their artists rather than just Gen 2.

For Reference, when I say Gen 2, Pillars, Gen 3, Rookies, Basement Dwellers, these are the folks I'm talking about -

Pillars & Pillar-Adjacents:

TayNew OffGun KristSingto EarthMix Win

Gen 2 is anyone with a lightstick that participated in LOL that's not a pillar:

PondPhuwin JoongDunk GeminiFourth ForceBook JimmySea PerthChimon FirstKhao Ohm Pawat Nanon

Gen 3 is still forming but I'm including everyone who has appeared in multiple BLs but not in an established ship and joined the company within the last 3 years; everyone who just got their first ship and lead role; and everyone who recently joined the company who looks as if they're being prepared to star in a bl. NOTE: I'm not including Inn because I feel like he's more pillar-adjacent due to his age, his talent, and the fact that I don't think GreatInn will go on beyond Wandee Goodday.

Mark Pakin Ohm Thipakorn AouBoom SeaKeen WinnySatang LYKN (particularly Lego & William) Java Ryu Chokun Fluke Aungpao

Basement Dwellers include folks who have been at the company for 3+ years who have either been apart of several BL ships or who have mentioned wanting to star in a BL or who get fancasted in lead roles but never get the work:

Pod Guy Gawin* Joss* Luke Drake AJ JJ

#gmmtv #studio wabi sabi #bounprem #taynew offgun kristsingto geminifourth jimmysea earthmix firstkhao seakeen winnysatang aouboom perthchimon pondphuwin joongdunk #markohm nanon korapat ohm pawat win metawin greatinn jossgawin forcebook

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asknarashikari · 1 month ago

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Looking at this reddit post you made...

This did help me realize something...when WAS the last time the final bad big was just taken down in a monster form instead of a rider form?

That would be....Schwartz from Zi-O, the LAST Heisei Rider season. Schwartz being Another Decade an' no I do NOT consider Another Riders to be actual kamen riders, for one they look more MONSTEROUS and two another riders are clearly meant to be more twisted distorted false imitations of the actual riders who's powers and history they copied hence their monsterous look.

And then before Schwartz from Zi-O, Evolto was the final villain in Build. Yes I know he became a rider in the actual show...but Sento's final battle against him as the worlds were fusing together, Evolto fought in a more MONSTER-like form that was suppose to be his STRONGEST FORM, even stronger than Evol Black Hole.

Okay then before Build, Masamune Dan AKA Kamen Rider Cronus from Ex-Aid was the big bad that was fought as a rider. But even before Cronus from Ex-Aid, many of the final big bads in the Heisei Era overall were in more monsterous forms rather than rider forms. Hell even final bosses who had fought as riders like Kaito/Kamen Rider Baron and Hajime/Kamen Rider Chalice were ultimately fought in more MONSTER like forms (Overlord Baron and Joker Undead respectively)

Overall, the fact that ZI-O was the final Heisei rider season to have a big bad fight in a MONSTER form...that might just be saying something. Hell even in the Heisei Era overall, the only instances of the final boss having to be fought in rider forms...were Kamen Rider Odin from Ryuki, the aforementioned Kamen Rider Cronus from Ex-Aid, and to a much lesser extent Kamen Rider Baron from Gaim. (I say lesser in his case because even then, he ultimately resorted to his strongest form, Overlord Baron which was a monster form to begin with) It was ZERO-ONE, the FIRST REIWA RIDER SEASON, that kickstarted the whole admittedly consistent trend of the final boss being fought in a rider form...: Zero-One -> Horobi/Kamen Rider Ark Scorpion Saber -> Storius...uh...Kamen Rider Storius Revice -> Vice/Kamen Rider Vice (Not the final "big bad" per say but still technically the final boss and obviously he sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the others because for a final boss he ain't really a big bad) Geats -> Suel/Kamen Rider Regad Omega iirc? (Honestly I wish he didn't come back in the final arc after Ace gained Geats IX but I digress) Gotchard -> Geryon/Kamen Rider Eld (Though I will say at least this rider form ACTUALLY looks more monsterous rather than rider-like)

So yeah...I can see what you mean about your predictions on Lango getting a rider form in the end. What? Is that to say he's extremely weak in his monster form or that he'll severely overestimate Gavv or Valen to the point he'll realize he might need one? Haha, dry wit aside...(still, free feel to answer that as you please) I can see your point considering this has been going on for FIVE FUCKING SEASONS NOW and it really seems to be a consistent staple for Reiwa Kamen Rider now. Honestly, I think I might miss the days when the final boss was fought in a powerful monster form...do you think the reason why they stopped having final big bads being monsters (to the point you are calling it that Lango will get a rider form much later on) is because rider forms are more marketable than monster forms or something?

Do you think there will EVER be a day in the future where the rider franchise officially STOPS using monsters and every bad faction, even the god damn mooks and MOTW are just evil rider mooks or one-offs? Do you think monsters in are still a staple that would- and SHOULD - be kept around in the kamen rider franchise? Do you think monsters and villain mooks are complete UNNECESSARY in the kamen rider franchise and should be replaced with one-off riders and mook riders?

Oh what the hell I went off on a tangent...

Yeah, it's been a while since we've had a final boss not be using a rider form in the end. That's why I just assumed Lango would get one, though I do say that with hindsight I may have jumped the gun on calling him the final boss, since he may be usurped by someone else, like one of his siblings/relatives (they're def messed up enough that it's likely power struggles are going to happen)

While I don't think Lango is weak, I think he is the type to seize any opportunity to have more power, whether it's social power by marrying off his otherwise useless siblings (the twins), or physical power by becoming a Kamen Rider. And his interest was definitely piqued by Shouma's performance against his Agents.

He'll probably debut it at a point where he feels like he has to dirty his hands to do the work (e.g., he feels like his siblings and Agents are no longer reliable enforcers)

From a marketing standpoint, I think Rider Forms are definitely more marketable, simply because of the range of possible merch you can make out of one- eg, figures, belts, trinkets, weapons, all of which can be made at different scales/quality levels for different audiences. And of course the lifespan is extended by them releasing legend rider trinkets themed after the rider in the series succeeding the rider's original show.

#kamen rider gavv #lango stomach #ask #ultrariderfiretornado

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scruffyplayssonic · 1 year ago

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Are the ArchieSonic comics actually an 80's/90's syndicated cartoon? Episode 53: Henchman joins heroes for one time only

Welcome back to my look at the ArchieSonic comic series, and how it shared a lot of the same story tropes as a typical ‘80s or ‘90s syndicated cartoon! In most cartoons the contrast between the heroes and the main villain is pretty black and white. Good is good, bad is bad, and never shall they be able to find common ground. But what about the lesser villains? The henchmen, the mooks, the hired help? Sometimes those guys are portrayed in shades of grey instead…

Episode 53: Henchman joins heroes for one time only

There could be any number of reasons a henchman might temporarily team up with the good guys. They could be a victim of memory loss or brainwashing, they might have had a disagreement with their boss that drove them into the arms of the heroes before they decide to go back to being a bad guy, they might need the heroes’ help to defeat an even bigger bad that’s usurped their boss, or they might join up with the heroes while claiming to have been reformed but secretly planning to stab them in the back.

So what about in ArchieSonic? The best example we have here is a scheming little weasel of a man (not literally) named Colin Kintobor Jr, but who is better known as Snively Robotnik.

Hoo boy, now here’s a guy whose loyalties seemed to change at the drop of a hat in ArchieSonic. Let’s take a look at this guy’s history, shall we?

During the Great War Snively came to Mobotropolis to join his Uncle Julian, supposedly in service of King Acorn. But they were actually plotting a coup and successfully took over the Kingdom, exiling the King to the Zone of Silence and transforming most of the populace into robotic slaves.

Snively remained in the service of the newly rechristened Dr. Robotnik afterwards as his right hand man, although that role was often seen being fulfilled by the badnik Crabmeat in the early issues before Snively was introduced (and sometimes even afterwards). As the years went by Snively started to become more disillusioned and less trusting of his uncle, as Robotnik suffered defeat after defeat at the hands of the Freedom Fighters and started growing more abusive towards Snively. Snively longed to take control of Robotnik’s empire and prove that he could do better, and took full opportunity to try and do so in Sonic #30 when Robotnik was accidentally trapped in another dimension called the Void.

Robotnik soon returned though and the status quo returned to normal (aside from Uncle Chuck having regained his free will and joined forces with the Freedom Fighters). Snively started scheming about how to once again remove his uncle from power and was finally given the chance in Sonic #50 when Robotnik tried to use his superweapon, the Ultimate Annihilator.

The device was programmed to erase Knothole Village from existence, but Snively sabotaged it so that it instead fired on Robotnik himself. Snively didn’t have long to enjoy his self-promotion to CEO of All Things Evil though, as he was captured just a few days later when the Freedom Fighters came a-knocking at the front door.

Snively was imprisoned in the Devil’s Gulag, which led to the stuff I mentioned in one of the recent previous episodes. First there was the mysteriously engineered prison breakout, after which the other escapees put Snively in charge as they believed he was one who had freed them. Following that came the kidnapping of Nate Morgan, and Snively’s supposed death from a giant squid explosion when Nate’s rescue team barged in to save the day. However what actually happened was that at the last possible second he was teleported away and ended up in the clutches of none other than his supposed murder victim.

Maybe he would have been better off with the squid.

So, here’s the bit where I get to the topic of the day. In Sonic #73 the Freedom Fighters finally figured out someone was using a series of satellites to wreak havoc on the planet - causing meteor showers, earthquakes, prison breaks, the re-enslavement of all the formerly freed Robians, fun stuff like that - and went into orbit to investigate. This led to them discovering that the satellites had now combined to form a large space station, run by none other than the very much not-dead Dr. Robotnik. Except surprise, it was a trick!

After taking an accidental acid bath and melting off his fake skin, the big bad revealed himself to actually be Robo-Robotnik, the alternate dimensional counterpart of Robotnik who had tried to rule over all of reality with the Giant Borg. The Freedom Fighters were captured in an electric prison forcefield, but to their surprise Snively released them.

He explained that he needed their help to escape, as Robo-Robotnik intended to roboticise him too. The Freedom Fighters weren’t exactly keen on teaming up with Snively, but they let him escape with them before blowing Robotnik’s space station up and heading back to the surface. Once back on the ground, Snively pointed out that their plan to evacuate back to Knothole Village was doomed to failure, as Robo-Robotnik would have escaped the explosion by downloading his memory into a new body back in Robotropolis (giving birth to his modern Eggman design) and would have a file telling him Knothole’s exact location.

In exchange for keeping him safe from Robotnik’s shadowbots, Snively reluctantly agreed to join Sally and Sonic to sabotage Robotnik’s database and infect him with a virus (literally).

After that Snively disappeared for awhile, going out on his own and not reappearing until after the Sonic Adventure arc. Robotnik’s army recaptured Snively in Sonic #94, and he agreed to go back to working for Robotnik when he was offered the chance to deal with his previously unmentioned daddy issues.

Having gotten that out of his system - and again, I mean that literally, as Snively willingly let himself be robotocised until the Bem intervened and deroboticised him - Snively stayed in his uncle’s employ until the Xorda invasion of the planet in Sonic #124, during which he mysteriously vanished. For awhile it was believed that Snively had been roboticised again, but this turned out to just be a duplicate that Eggman built for… some reason?

He got bored of it pretty quickly though and had the “Silver Snively” project scrapped. The real Snively resurfaced in Sonic #152 though, when Sonic and his ��Angels” (ew) were investigating a city made of nanites that had popped up overnight and was rapidly spreading across the land.

Snively had developed some EMP detonators to halt the nanites, and after he explained himself to Sonic he worked with them to try and end the threat. Surprisingly, after this incident he actually joined the Knothole “Brain Trust” and continued his work on nanite experiments with them for a time.

But he soon wondered what he was doing there and felt that it really didn’t suit him that well. So it was no surprise that when Eggman came sniffing around Knothole and offered Snively his old job back that he accepted the offer.

But what was surprising was that this opportunistic, back-stabbing, power-hungry little man actually did have a moment of hesitation, because he was concerned for the well-being of his “step”sister Hope, who had been living in Knothole as a refugee ever since Eggman had roboticised her father and grandmother.

Snively actually caring about anyone other than himself was something that hadn’t really been seen in the series before, but here he was trying to convince her to leave Knothole so that she didn’t get wiped out with everyone else when Eggman attacked, although of course he didn’t tell her that was the reason. After ensuring Hope’s survival Snively returned to the Eggman Empire, and this time he got a spiffy new uniform to go along with his new position.

Snively stayed on the side of evil all the way through the rest of the pre-reboot era of the series, and ended up paying the price for that when he tried to break from the Eggman Empire and begin his own evil regime.

Following the reboot Snively eventually showed up again, now sporting a beard (possibly to prove he could at least grow hair on his face? LOL) and working as a scientist for GUN.

Commander Tower was rightfully suspicious of his motives, as Snively and Eggman had both previously worked for GUN as a step to creating the Eggman Empire and overthrowing King Acorn while trying to prevoke a war between the Kingdom of Acorn and the United Federation. In this timeline Snively left Dr. Eggman’s service much earlier than in pre-reboot. In fact, he returned to GUN right after the events of Sonic and Knuckles, claiming he’d been forced into working for Eggman and that he had in fact been spying on him the entire time and looking for an opportunity to escape.

Commander Tower let him come back to work for them, expecting that he was planning something shifty and that he would try to stab them in the back, but hoping to catch him in the act. Sure enough, Snively did have some sort of evil plan in the works.

Unfortunately the series was cancelled before we got to see exactly what he had cooking.

I would also like to give a brief shoutout to Bean and Bark for this segment. It’s true that they weren’t part of the Eggman Empire, but they did take on jobs for Eggy as mercenaries for hire - in fact, they were working for him for almost the entirety of the post-reboot series. But there were a couple of times where they briefly joined forces with the heroes too. In Sonic #187 Mammoth Mogul put out a bounty on Sonic, and pretty much every scruffy ne'er do well Sonic had ever fought joined forces to try and take him out.

During this battle Sally offered Bean and Bark double whatever they were being paid to take out Sonic if they helped her fight back against the other mercenaries instead. They quickly agreed and started attacking their former allies, but when the mercs managed to capture Sonic Bean and Bark decided to cut their losses and quickly switched sides again, figuring they might as well get paid by someone. Bean and Bark later also briefly joined forces with Blaze, Marine, Amy and Cream in the Sol dimension to take on the dreaded Captain Metal. Having been sent to the Sol dimension during the second Genesis wave that came with the comics’ reboot, Bean and Bark had initially joined forces with Captain Metal.

But after they stole Captain Metal’s Sol Emerald they came into conflict with both his pirate crew and that of Captain Whisker, and so they ended up working with Blaze’s team against their common enemies.

Are there any other instances of henchmen briefly joining forces with the good guys in ArchieSonic that I missed? Let me know in the comments! Next time I’ll be looking at - what is it again? Let me see here… “Random child rescues hero. The episode’s all about him now.” Hmmm, that’s another tricky one. I’ll have to think hard on that one and see what I can come up with.

#archiesonic syndicated

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darthkvznblogs · 11 months ago

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What are your thoughts on Sailor Moon and its characters? I'm personally still surprised over how ahead of its time it was and how much it holds up in today's media.

I was going to answer this ask while I watched Promise of the Rose last night but it’s not available where I watch it 😭 this is devastating…

Anyhoo, I have a LOT of thoughts re:Sailor Moon! I'll list them below, rapid-fire style, in no particular order. I also have no idea what the consensus is so there may be some hot takes I’m just not aware of haha :P

I had no idea how much of a little shithead Usagi was! I guess seeing gifs and images from her I had a very different concept of what she'd be like, but I really love how much of a gremlin she can be.

For such a romance-obsessed series (which I don't mind and actually quite enjoy most of the time) they don't actually show you much of the actual relationships, which I think is a shame. You've already sold me on Usagi and Mamoru, but I need more meat on those bones! Show me them going on cute dates! Show me arguments that last longer than two lines (and are often motivated by magical destiny BS)! You're telling me about a love that has managed to survive through death and the thousands of years in between their past and present lives, now show me it!

I'm such a sucker for the premise of S1. The sense of love and duty persisting through death and reincarnation, the struggle to regain the memories of a past life while keeping your footing in the modern world, the classic balancing act between being a teenager and having the weight of the world on your shoulders as a superhero, the engaging dynamics between the members of the Dark Kingdom and, of course, the bonds between the Sailor Scouts...

...and that finale, goddamn. What a freakin' sucker punch. It's one thing to allude to the fact that death is a very real possibility when facing the enemy throughout the series, but the show hadn't done much more than flirt with it a bit here and there. Seeing that flashback to the Silver Millennium and realizing that not only is it possible for them to die in the line of duty, but that it's actually a very likely prospect...and then following through with it! That sequence, as each of the Guardians sacrifices themselves to clear the way for Sailor Moon, with Usagi going through pretty much every stage of grief in a mere few minutes, had me slack-jawed the whole way through. And Usagi finally fully embracing her identity as Princess Serenity and sacrificing herself as her mother once did, wishing for something as simple (as understandably selfish, as heartbreakingly yearning) as giving herself and her beloved friends their normal lives back, free of their burden. Genuinely perfect ending.

I think the only part that doesn't work for me about the S1 finale is that the monsters that kill the Guardians aren't shown to be special in any way, just volunteers from Beryl's monster hordes. I wish they'd been her elite royal guard that never left her side or something, otherwise why wait to deploy what are clearly your most powerful mooks? It makes the lieutenants lesser by comparison.

The bespoke animations for each of the signature attacks (and the transformation sequences, of course) are great, but there's like...no fighting in this show, which is disappointing, ngl. I know this isn't a shonen and I'm not asking for complex fight coreography, but trading a few blows, damaging the environment, just generally showcasing that the Guardians aren't just soundbites and elemental ranged attacks would be much appreciated.

I regret to inform you all I've become a Sailor Earth truther. NARU DESERVES BETTER (or at least, she deserves to have superpowers so she doesn't get her life force drained every other episode, jfc)

S2 had kind of atrocious pacing - I didn't mind it having two distinct arcs, but the Ail and An arc dragged on for too long and too much time was spent with Rubeus relative to the other Black Moon clan members, so it really robbed them of their impact. I felt great satisfaction when Rubeus was defeated, but the others...eh. I did love the Spectre Sisters and their decision to become normal humans, and Wiseman/Death Phantom (though he kinda came outta nowhere) was super cool. Never underestimate the stark image of a bleached human skull and a cool voice haha.

I feel like most people probably find Chibiusa really annoying (and I was right there with them a few times, admittedly), but remembering that she's a terrified, traumatized child really helped. It was utterly bizarre of Usagi (and the show, to some extent) to consider her any sort of rival for Mamoru's love, that was uncomfortable and ridiculous. The reveal that it's her fault that Crystal Tokyo went to shit was great, I loved that (and generally the implication that the Black Moon Clan is only a problem because they were excluded from utopia as part of Silver Millennium 2.0 for very vague reasons felt like a very intriguing detail, like Neo-Queen Serenity might've also made a huge mistake there.)

Just generally speaking, I wish the Sailor Scouts were a bit more consistent in battle; they're either utterly dominating or getting absolutely destroyed within moments of arriving.

The drip (as the kids say) in this show is impeccable lol everyone always looks amazing

I could go on but you get the idea! I just started Sailor Moon S yesterday so I'm still trucking along. If there's anything I didn't mention that you want my opinion on feel free to hit me with another ask!

#ask box #anon ask #sailor moon #the best thing i can say about sailor moon is that i've never been bored by it #usagi's too much of a gremlin for that lol

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thelandswemadeofpaper · 1 year ago

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Authority

Alliance

Evil Power Vacuum

In Its Hour of Need

Playing/Running Both Sides

The Man Behind the Man

Voluntary Vassal

The Missing Faction

Lonely at the Top

Civil War

Enemy Civil War

Brain Drain

Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot

Ambitious Lesser Noble

War and Battle Trophy

Isolationism

A City Sacked

Peace Treaty

Ban on Magic

Royal Decree

Envoy

Trade

Garrison

Siege/Besiege

Restoration

Servitude

Slavery (Race? Mooks?)

Submission

Tame

Dowry

Honor and Reputation

Rumors

Good Princess, Evil Queen

Demilitarising

Monopoly of Resource (can be a more abstract thing, like the Sun?)

Devasted Land After War

Inheritance

Fallen Princess

Finders Rulers

Rightful King Returns

Orphan Heir

Inadequate Inheritor

Superior Successor

Disinherited Child

Lost Orphaned Royalty

Denied/Stolen Heritage

Denied Position/Candidate

Passed-Over Inheritance

Mother Makes you King

Hidden Backup Heir

Spare to the Throne

Rejecting the Inheritance

Only Surviving Candidate

Royalty Superpower

Former Rulling Dynasty

Nepotism

Royal Blood

Long Lost Heir

Second Son

Position

Conqueror

Tyrant

Rulling Couple

Puppet King

Alleged Boss

Fake King

New Master

Shared Position

Unaware Position

Questioned Position

Unwanted Position

Klingon Promotion

Demoted to Dragon

Stripped of Titles

Dragon Ascendant

Offered the Crown

Abdicate the Throne

Abdication in Shame

Regent for a Life

Weak Leader

Naive New Ruler

Reluctant Ruler

We Can Rule Together

Rash Grey Ruler/Bait-and-Switch Tyrant

Throne Battle (cousins? siblings? uncle?)

Heir-in-Law

Usurper/Usurped (what happened to the usurped? Run Away? Locked Up? Killed?)

Successor/Predecessor (how the they got the position? Their relationship?)

Disgraced

Stolen Lands

Second Place

Vacant Position

Rebellious Rebel

Society and Nobility

Social Hierarchy

Colony

Capital

Split Folk

Foreign

Fantastic Caste System

Ethnicity Monarch

Foreign Ruling Class

Interclass Friendship or Romance

Class Segregation

Nobility Marries Money

Nouveau Riche

Rags to Riches/Royalty

Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor

Crapsaccharine World

Adopted into Royality

Royal Bastard

Minor House

Branch House

The Outsider Befriends the Best

Impoverished Patrician

#authority #power #society #political #tv tropes

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lesser-mook · 1 year ago

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Shut Up Amazo 2? (ft.Parasite) | My Adventures with Superman-Kun

Do I believe it's legit? 900% absolutely- fuckin not.

I'm a fkin nobody, just how I like it.

Hence: "LESSER"mooK

I found the "coincidence" funny tho, could you imagine a timeline where this was legit tho... Think about it. You claim the video, take loose inspiration from it.

Only to miss the point of the original video completely lmfao.

Imagine how cool it would be if Zucker-borg Morrow didn't say anything, kept his mouth shut about the suit function. And we see Superman just scanning the dude mid-fight, taking & slipping punches to size up the suit, all while he's fighting, on some Goku shit.

(Tho unless this Clark has a boxing/combat background, wouldn't make sense that he'd be that good a fighter this early in his career but it'd be cool to see, eventually since a Season 2 is confirmed)

Especially given that a version of him did join the Military:

Since his powers manifest late anyway, say he gets the durability later, and he legit knows how to fight cause he was trained in the American Armed Forces, Combat Vet.

THIS GUY: (My jaw would drop if this happened)

And actually, New52 Superman fights like with intelligence anyway!!! So it wouldn't be GOKU style, it'd be SUPERMAN acc ngl.

#superman new 52 #my adventures with lois chan #my adventures with superman #clark kent #combat intelligence #parasite #amazo #copyright claimed #motherfuckers #mwahahahhaha

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calico-strawberry · 2 years ago

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Hrm, from what I've heard is that Desolation is probably more death for a Pokemon game then I'd like? I'll still definitely get to Desolation at some point, I don't want to put it down before I play it for myself, but I probably won't enjoy it quite to the same degree as other stuff.

But yeah, big issue with Pokemon fan games I have is having a lot of death. Most of the stuff I take issue with with Reborn's story is just the amount of death and in particular the amount that just feels like more of a shock factor then anything (like only Kiki and Taka's deaths and to a lesser degree Sigmund, made me feel anything more then just shock, the other prominent side characters that died only gave me feelings of "well that just happened". not to mention all the generic mooks who get killed for... Reasons I guess). I still like Reborn and most of it's story and characters, but all of the stuff I mentioned definitely means I put it a decent chunk below other fangames/ROM hacks I've played

Another similar example I have is Unbound and the "Dark and Edgy" version of the story which has been removed since it's full release.

And don't get me wrong, character deaths existing on it's own isn't the problem, it's more so a combination of how it's done, how much and frequently, and probably most importantly, who. Like I'm not gonna enjoy it if a character who's around from the start or something Gets Got by the narrative unless there's a very very good reason for it.

Basically, Pokemon is not a thing where I generally sign up for grittiness/lots of death or depression. Again Reborn is very much carried for me by the characters and gameplay.

#sorry for the ramble just having thoughts #again I'll probably get to Desolation at some point but it's not a priority with other games i have on my list to finish/play #lemkn rambles

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suddencosmology · 2 years ago

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Yesterday I made a discovery. A revelation. I've been running a Pathfinder game based in Dark Souls for my friends, loosely following the first game's plot, supplemented with plot details and story beats from the excellent Daughters of Ash mod to make a more interactive story.

However, the more casual ttrpg session does not lend itself to long, solemn wanderings and serious characters with small glimpses of levity through a Sky of oppressive clouds. The game is escapism, and lends itself well to frivolity and strokes of luck that enable goofy plans.

Which led me to understand myself better, and no matter how much I adore Tolkienesque high fantasy and somber, quiet Fromsoft apocalyptia, in my heart that's not the fantasy world that shaped me.

My campaign is a filter of furries away from being Redwall. The common mook still able to speak is not wicked or vile, but humanly unintelligent and honest, fully capable of kindness but terribly gullible or uncritical of their commanders (also they have default vermin lingo and voice patterns). I keep letting the party just lie their way through situations by having the encounter start off on neutral ground, with them holding all the cards or just going unnoticed by the powers behind the scenes.

Lesser villains are not all cold, noble, and half-mad. They're curt, reasonable, distinctly Not Good but still understandable in their actions. Only one major boss has been a zero dialogue machine. There's a degree of cunning in the inhuman Hellkite Drake that harries the party.

Any friendly settlement or camp they crossed was met with good cheer, exchanges of gifts, and a feast.

Three side characters were just Benjy, Wincey, and Figgs from the Bellmaker.

Their NPC buddy Oscar is really just Martin the Warrior. Noble, stoic, a true friend perfectly willing to play along with the gremlin's tricks or defer to the expert's knowledge.

#pathfinder #dark souls #ttrpg #daughters of ash #redwall #dungeon master #brian jacques my beloved

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recoiloperated · 1 year ago

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Kind of long under the cut

I'm sure you're expecting some soppy story about how we met, but no. Of all places we met in a soup kitchen, both of us were volunteering, It was kind of my misguided way of trying to correct the wrongs of my previous life. She was a dorky, stars in her eyes do gooder. And I? Hell. I was a wreck then, unkempt beard, dirty shirt, ripped pants. I looked more like a homeless guy then a volunteer, I figured she was just some college student trying to make merit or something. She seemed like the type...

Honestly, I kind of forget how it started. She just showed up and started talking with me, and the next thing I knew we were getting dinner that wasn't soup kitchen soup. And then coffee, and then wedding cake... God knows I don't deserve her...

Learning she was a B class superhero was a little bit of a shock. We had been married for about 2 years and I had no suspicions, some super villain, eh?

She got some of minor injury tangling with an upper c class villain, and the consortiums translocator, frame shift, showed up in my house. I almost killed him on accident, fortunately I missed entirely. What can I say? I was 5 years out of practice.

At one point I had fantasized about boarding Oracle station as a conqueror, now I was carried on to it as a husband worried about his wife.

It was interesting, there were a lot of other hero's spouses there too. Apparently there's a weekly support group, so of course my beautiful bride bullied me into joining it.

I was a little bit uncomfortable at first, obviously there were a lot of people on board the oracle I had clashed with. surprisingly, no one ever seemed to suspect who I was. If you had asked me whenever I was flamberge what kind of person I thought the living infinite was outside of his superheroing, I would have said that the s class hero was probably a total prick.

He's actually a pretty down to earth guy named Luke who plays pokémon.

They spoke of me like some kind of demon in the dark, which was something between saddening and flattering. S class meta humans are incredibly rare, really it's only me and the living infinite. Most meta humans are E-Class, hardly more superhuman than a particularly good athlete. There's a few d-class heroes, but they mostly stick to stuff like getting kittens out of trees.

Anyways, my wife, Minerva. Known by her superhero name as Saberina- Yes, I bully her about the pun. Had gotten a couple of broken bones, nothing really serious, and the mook that did it got grabbed and locked up. All's well that ends well.

Honestly, I kind of enjoyed hanging out with the heroes for once. This showed me all sorts of stuff, including the simulator they built to simulate fighting me, they based on totally fraudulent idea of what my power was, which is funnily actually my wife's power. Though she has it to a lesser degree than they were attributing to me. "Your wife may someday be able to refine her power to the same level as flamberge," Luke told me once after sparring with my mechanical double. "Right now she can cut through almost any terrestrial material, but, still can't cut me."

I had taken a lot of pains to hide my real power, most people assumed my sword was magic, letting me cut anything. Which was exactly what I wanted them to think. The sword in fact, is a cheap replica I stole as part of my first heist, My power has nothing to do with it. But what made me S class is the fact that I wounded the living infinite with it. I didn't even think I could whenever I tried, and it made my life so much more difficult. From a simple A class bank robber to a globally hunted super villain, branded as the world's Greatest evil? Money and greed lead me down that path and it took forever to escape it. Sure, I have a ton of cash in various untraceable accounts, and when the whole Nation of France surrendered to me I just *HAD* to march into Paris to claim my certificate of surrender. I still have it too. It's too funny.

My favorite part was when we had a casual chat about how various heroes would have faired against different dead, missing or imprisioned villains- bro when they got to me, well- Flamberge. Everyone when dead silent until I claimed my wife would have had him whipped before he knew it. That was funny as hell. If only they knew

It was another 5 years, during which I actually became pretty good friends with Luke before it happened. Seven years of bliss with my wife, we were talking about her retirement and kids, and then frameshift, or Jack, as I knew him now, came and got me.

It was bad.

Really bad.

I... I still can't really think about it...

See, metahuman power classes are exponential. And a group of villains jumped her, a few D class, a few C class... And BloodPrice. The only active A class villain.

She was.... Broken. Her whole body was a terrible bruise, her ribs, arms, legs... I could see her shattered bones poking at her skin...

Jack gave me this speil about gathering Intel, putting together a team, bringing them to "justice"

While their metahuman doctor Caduceus warned me that she might die even with his A class healing abilities...

I didn't want justice... I wanted revenge.

I stayed that night with her, Luke was gone on some mission to represent us at some interstellar thing, Andrew- Talisman, one of the two active A class heroes, was trying to get a team together and work on a plan.

But I had a plan.

My plan was 195cm of sharpened steel.

Even when I was a supervillain I rarely killed, sure. My hands aren't clean, but I was never gratuitous. I wounded and injured a lot. hell, I took one of Andrews fingers clean off. Caduceus grew it back, but I still felt A little bit guilty.

I didn't bother with my old suit, just the sword, my pants, boots, and the zip top pull over I was in the day they hurt her.

The weight of the sword on my shoulder felt intensely wrong. And so, so, so very right.

I hid my true power well... I might not be in my garish Landskenecht outfit, but the swagger came naturally back, the C-class guarding the door, I think they called him Cinder? tried to stop me by setting me on fire. Not much use against a guy who's power is manipulating material properties. My skin and clothes were fire proof, and my bones were osmium dense. I smashed him through the wall with a left hook and all my strength. What was left of cinder was a pink haze that settled on everything and everyone. I remember saying "Where's BloodPrice. He hurt my wife, I'm here to make him pay." Before the party started, and I remember a flurry of blows, the heat, the cold, the venomous plants clawing at my skin, and the bite of my blade against them. An arm flying severed, a leg laying next to a B-class villain, and the blood, I waded through it, cutting and clubbing them as I moved through them until finally I was done. BloodPrice fought viciously, but in the end, I'm flamberge.

I made his bones like glass and skin like porcelain...

And I broke him, like he broke her.

Then I left, covered in gore and the blood of other men. And staggered out into the parking lot of the abandoned warehouse... To see him. A galaxy distilled into a man, a fractal individual.

"Luke." I said, afraid of what happens next.

Slowly, he settled to the ground near me. "Darren."

The silence stretched for eternity.

Finally "the hurt my wife Luke. Maybe killed her, my wife - my love." My voice caught. His hand rested heavy on my shoulder, his other hand held open in front of me. "I need it still. She needs to be protected." I told him. "Maybe you should do that with a new sword, not one with such a dark history..." He answered. "I came here expecting to find an enemy Darren, I hope I found my friend instead."

I gave him the sword.

I don't regret it.

Emily, my daughter is 7 next week. And Luke, my son is 3. We're expecting our third end of the year.

I freelance with the consortium every once in a while. They call me the paladin though. It's a nice change...

You’re a retired S-tier supervillain. After you retired, you married a B-tier hero. You are forced back onto the stage when an A-tier villain attempts to kill your spouse.

#I'm not a writing blog

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