#let them make their own decisions ffs its literally no big deal

[gunsatthaphan]

in other news Kid-Nap was confirmed as a BL and now the obnoxious ON stans are protesting on the streets I-- 💀

[ignitification]

Cold Flame

Cold Flame

A brief explanation of how Rei and Shouto's evolution have to do with the return of Touya Todoroki.

tw: mentions of violence, mentions of suicide, mental illness

1.) I think these two panels tell a whole story of its own.Touya mentions how “The only thing he taught me was how to turn up the heat” referring to Endeavour. This sentence blatantly refers to the accident where Touya’s flames could not be stopped, because his strive to show his father that he is indeed someone to be proud of, has been ignited and then never shut down. Endeavour took Touya, lighted up the flames in Touya (both metaphorically, in his drive and strive to be a hero, and be his father’s hero - and literally, to bring out his fire quirk out while training), and then tossed Touya aside. Rei, on the other hand was not capable to stop him: whether this references to his training regimen, or to him chasing Endeavour, or even his dream is highly unclear - but the sole fact that Touya blames them both (because he feels like he has been bred for this goal, and Rei agreed to it, and then had not enough power to actually put an end to this nightmare) and he is partly right, because this has hurt more people than it was supposed to and that it was necessary. Rei does not know how to stop his kid from getting hurt, which is getting her hurt in return. In this panel, she looks frightened, offended, desperate to grab at Touya (who is silently and slowly slipping further away from her and her grasp) but she cannot. Now, I am not going to go further in this, because Rei not saving Touya is a partially incorrect statement, as yes, she could have done something if herself was not in a very bad place in the first place and if actually everything that happened between Endeavour and Touya did not hinder not only the relationship between Touya and Enji, but as well the one between Rei and Touya (as he see him rejecting her, because Touya knows why he had been born and probably has been influenced into thinking that his mother is weak, as she cannot fend for herself and just blindly accepted whatever Endeavour put in front of her, and not because she did not know any better, but because she did not know how).

2.) The jealousy an older sibling feels towards the newborn is completely normal, because the span of attention given to older siblings usually decreases. But here we are talking about two kids, breaded and raised to be vessels of their’s father dreams. This is an extreme scenario, where the competition between sibling is not about skills or quirk, but instead Touya sees it as a way to regain the lost affections/attention, which since Shouto has been born have never been sent towards him. And the fact that the birth of Shouto triggers in Touya’s the abysmal feeling of being a mistake, tells us that the parents did nothing to let him feel better, or to understand that it was not that way (even if arguably, Endeavour had other kids just because he wanted a perfect kid, which means that at the end of the day, he did consider Touya a mistake). And the fact that Touya was been willing to go this far, as far as to injure himself, as to emotionally condition himself into turning his flames from red to blue, is not only a sign of the mental pressure he put on himself and his emotions (always fuelled by that grating feeling of feeling less, worse, not right), but as well of the constant disappointment he felt when his father paid attention to him while scolding him, being angry at him, scowling and not making any effort. This angry, dark face is what shapes Dabi’s memories of Endeavour - an expression he wants to wipe out of his mind because it reminds him of not being the victim of shitty parenting, but of being considered a failure, worthy to burn to death,  alone.

And these two. 

2.5.) The ‘If only..’ hurts. Because this means not only that there was a chance that Touya did think about it, but he considered it then and there - because it was too much. Because even now, it is too much for him. Rethinking about all this moments is crucial for both Endeavour (who’s memory is definitely triggered into remembering gruelling details of his behaviour towards his children of when he was younger) and Dabi, who instead wonders whether the path he took, the decision he made all those years ago and that brought him there, was actually worth it. Because when Touya died, and Dabi was born on that hill when he was 13, he made the decision to take revenge and actually prove to his father that he is not a failure. He instead, is such a big mistake that Endeavour cannot cancel him anymore. Touya wanted desperately to be noticed for being right. Dabi wants desperately to be noticed because he is wrong, and a big mistake (which is also the result of Endeavour being his father and whatnot).

2.6.) And this. It’s the realisation that Endeavour is sowing the grief and pain of his oldest son, but it is also a realisation for Dabi: he took a decision, which he is sowing now (along with all the murders and the pain he himself inflicted). Memories which are more painful, and the fact that Dabi’s only comments on the accident is actually that it was scorching hot and that he couldn’t stop is very alarming and sad. He says nothing about how he felt. He just admits to the consequences of that gesture. He is not thinking of how much pain it was, or how sad he was, or anything else but just that this event was what made him into the person he is now, and there is no going back. He maybe thinks that things might have come out better if he actually had died that day. But he never talks of what is happening inside himself, because Dabi cannot allow himself such a weakness. And so, he feels nothing.

2.7.) These two panels (below) give me chills.They are so similar in the feeling they give up: desperation, realisation, hope, terrifying anger and sadness, elatedness in knowing that there is something to hang off, that maybe now the right moment has come. And it’s a sort of revival, a feeling brewing for so long and finally exploding in the hate, and the will to drag his father down in the mud with him.

3.) Rei's involvement, in Touya’s upbringing is a problematic topic for two reasons: she feels guilty about it, and her mental state which has been deteriorated by her family and her husband, does not allow her to even look for an excuse, as Endeavour did. Instead, Rei has been driven to a point where she just wants to let go. 

I think that here, Rei, plays a very big role: she is stuck between a husband she cannot take on by herself, and a child who wants nothing to do with her because of her actions (which are inherently caused by Endeavour). And her mental health further deteriorates. Rei looks distraught. I would say even fatigued, and weighted down by everything that is happening, and how she cannot and does not want to deal with it. 

In the hospital room, in Chapter 300, when she comes back and tells Endeavour that he is not the only to have suffered, she is not only referring to Touya, but to herself as well. I think it is important to note how the change happened. For both Shouto and Rei, Touya is a central button: after the accident, things escalated so much for Rei that she ended up in the hospital, Endeavour instead got the full time he wanted with Shouto (reversing his negative feelings, guilt, remorse and strive for his broken dream) into training. 

And the fact that in this moment, she chooses to let Touya go (metaphorically) is not only heartbreaking, but also reflects the anger in Endeavour’’s eyes who’s thinking line has to go along the lines of: ffs, I have to do everything around here (which I do not want to sound rude, comes off as misogynist, but as well disrespectful and just right arrogant). However, the fact that Rei here is weak, does not define her character and instead Touya coming back is exactly what she needs to step on her feet again, and transform this

into ‘I’m here now’ and I’m going to solve this situation. Because Rei is tired of the situation, of Endeavour and wallowing in Endeavour’s shadow. It is time for her to actually intervene like she should have done years ago, and save her kid (or at least, give Touya a forgiveness sort of goodbye, and maybe tell him that notwithstanding their mistakes, and the fact that he was born because of a Quirk Marriage, Touya was still loved).

4.) But then, Shouto's has always been aware of how bad the situation in his own home is. Him protecting his mom is greatly telling in this sense: Shouto, despite being as traumatised by his father’s behaviour as Natsuo and Fuyumi (who are older than him, and are also crying in this panel - because Endeavour is a very tall, and build man and he is the Head of the family, which is also probably why they know what is going on, and no matter how many times this happened, if one or twenty but there is no excuse for Endeavour scaring his children so much they feel the need to retract in themselves (as shown by Fuyumi’s position on the floor, and Natsuo trying to be shielded by his bigger sister) and to cry as silently as possible with the hope that the angry person does not notice them. Shouto, on the other hand, while also crying actually stands up to his father (as he continued doing til today) and despite the shouts, angry stare and all the burden that comes with parent’s argument, he still tries to protect his mother, because he knows that the dominance of Endeavour’ character is too much for Rei to take. Because Rei is tired. Look at her face. Look at her eyes and her general exhaustion. The panel of point 3 stands to identify that she cannot take anymore. And instead, Shouto plays the bigger person. Notwithstanding all the obstacles he has overcome (the hellish training manu, his father’s expectations, the burden left by Touya’s disappearance, his father’s ego and anger, his mum burning him, Rei’s hospitalisation, the scattered relationship with his siblings, his empty childhood), Shouto stands tall and proud, knowing what he has to do. 

I think that Shouto’s being the Hero of his own family, is a very important ‘part’ of not only the story, but as well for Shouto, who is evolving in character and setting the foundations for an individual whose past prejudices his future, and he has to resolve the plethora of things that he carries involuntarily with him, before possibly saying that he has achieved something, and that he became a Hero. I like how Horikoshi pointed slightly out that this whole drama, even if the protagonists are Touya and Endeavour, is not only the shaping path of Shouto, but as well his stepping stone for being a real hero (through the pits of fire which once again he has to do, in order to let go of the past, and instead his future, depicted in fire and ice).

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

THE SEEIN’ DEAD MOD IS A BAND-AID FIX

gearbox locked zane’s lazy fix behind a paywall

tl;dr: for the love of god, the seein’ dead class mod should be what the seein’ red capstone is and vice versa. also. MORE SYNERGY. also i redesigned all of Zane’s trees and augments for more synergy you’re welcome.

is 1am and i don’t want tomorrow and im angry and thinking about borderlands so this seems like the perfect time to immerse myself in remaking Zane’s skill trees (for the 5th time). mainly because some of zane’s skills are still irking me and i’ve written extensive essays for the bl3 subreddit about the seein’ dead class mod and just playing around with zane’s skills in general, but i don’t think i’ve ever posted here before about it. so here we are. i notice i usually save lore/theories/characterizations for this blog and meta/balancing/gear talk for reddit. not sure why that’s a split for me. 

now i’ve remade zane’s skills a number of times, but honestly this was all before the seein’ dead mod was released. then, instead of fixing his skill trees, i wrote a lot of essays about why that mod was a terrible bad decision on gearbox’s part (you can read one of the shorter arguments in a comment from 5 months ago here). I’m just gonna remake the skill trees now with all his current abilities in mind.this post really should be titled: ALL THE PROBLEMS WITH THEIR BALANCING DECISIONS

so imma just talk for a bit about why i love/hate the seein’ dead class mod. 

Obviously it’s a god tier mod, and you see almost no zane builds without it, and no top tier, can solo m10 true takedown builds without it (unless ur like, the 1% of masochistic players, in which case i salute you). and while that obviously means its a good mod, it also shows the problems with all his other class mods and his skill trees in general.

They all kinda suck. and that wouldn’t be a problem, bc, hey, the seein’ dead mod is ez to get, just pop on over to the casino and kill a few baddies and they’ll  drop like candy. Which is really awesome!

slight problem.

the dlc is locked behind a PAYWALL

now this is a problem because if zane was a top tier character BEFORE the dlc, and everything was hunky dory and people weren’t on their knees begging for gearbox to fix Zane, then him getting a new badass class mod wouldn’t be such a big deal. but the problem was this was gearbox’s solution to giving Zane a buff.

they literally locked a buff for a character behind a pay wall.

I recommend Zane is every single person I try to convince to play bl3, but i always have to add this like, commercial-esque asterisk. you know, terms and conditions or, side effects or whatever. *you probably want to get the seein’ dead mod if you’re looking at end-game play because unless you wanna struggle that’s his only viable play style.

what if they don’t want to buy the dlc?! for real...

There’s also the point that this class mod makes his (arguably) BEST capstone obsolete. so we have distributed denial which literally no one uses because its broken, double barrel which is always traded for seein’ red or more points in other skills, and seein’ red, WHICH WAS MADE USELESS BY THIS CLASS MOD

gsfdhjikdhgdaskjfhgaskdfjh

okay and it wouldn’t even be so bad

IF THEY DIDN’T CHANGE HIS ENTIRE SKILL SET BEFORE RELEASE

like they lowered ALL his kill skills, then they turned Seein’ Red into his capstone instead of Death Follows Close, meaning they nerfed Death Follows Close so it could fit as just a game changer. my poor boy was g u t t e d.

so, imagine this, everyone is reaching the end-game content of bl3. it’s a month or 2 weeks or whatever after the game dropped and people are finally hitting level 50. and moze/fl4k/amara are all killin’ it, and the zane players have to work their ASSES off to do like... 50% of that damage output (now, they did also eventually nerf the crap outta moze and fl4k but the point stands). 

so instead of gearbox going: “oh... shit that pre-release nerf was an awful idea, revert the changes guys” they decided to keep him gutted and then they released what was, in my opinion, a kick in the nuts with the maliwan takedown (aka the antifreeze mod, alongside the spiritual driver) ahahahahahaha. what good times it was. (I say this sarcastically.) 

man i remember people were soooo livid with that class mod release. well, both of them. zane mains were pissed off (for good reason). “yes, let’s make the people who are begging for a straight damage increase jump through MORE hoops (LITERALLY) for a pitiful amount of damage. oh, also, let’s give their 28 skill point build to the strongest character in the game for free and also make it 10x better”. because it was 10x better than violent momentum (driver didn’t have a damage cap) until they fixed both the spiritual driver and the violent momentum skill. it was the worst of times.

i will note here they did, around this time, let zane have stackable kill skills, but it was only 2 stacks and also it was still *incredibly* difficult to achieve stacks because zane just. struggled to kill anything. I still remember when i grinded the shit outta an antifreeze class mod and it took me over 20 minutes to kill Wotan my first time solo on m4. Not the fight UP to wotan. literally. just killing wotan.

then the seein’ dead mod dropped and i had. a fuckin. 15 minute decrease to my time on killing wotan (5 minutes!!!!). now i am not perfect, and i 100% believe i could’ve lowered the time even more. but that... that shows a VERY CLEAR problem.

they never actually fixed zane, they gave him a class mod that’s stupid OP just to make sure he could hang on next to the other Vault Hunters. it’s just a bandaid fix. you remove the class mod, and he’s back to pre-jackpot power levels (which will NOT hold up at m10, let me tell you). 

all his pre-jackpot problems are still here, and that’s why people are not using any other class mod of his. I bet we could have some really fun builds with the conductor mod! but nobody will ever use it because it’s just... not even close to the seein’ dead mod.

So what does the seein’ dead mod do that makes Zane so good?

IT BRINGS HIM BACK TO PRE-RELEASE VALUES

this mod, plus Death Follows Close, brings Zane back to pre-release zane. and i don’t understand how gearbox isn’t putting two and two together and going “Oh.”

it also is a BETTER VERSION of Seein’ Red!!! something players could have had at, like, level 15, but instead had to wait until they hit a capstone! the capstone is completely obsolete at this point. There is nothing seein’ red can give you that seein’ dead doesn’t do but better. Getting that capstone is a w a s t e of skill points.

AND they locked this fix behind a pay wall!!! i cannot say that enough. you don’t wanna get the handsome jackpot dlc?? guess u don’t wanna play zane at endgame then. too bad, so sad.

have i stated that enough? because it still blows my fuckin mind. THEY LOCKED A CHARACTER FIX BEHIND A PAYWALL

djhdgakjhakjdah. imagine playing without any prior knowledge and being like, aw man i love this zane character. can’t wait to get to max mayhem end game like all my favorite youtubers and friends!! then finding out you gotta drop 15 bucks or whatever it is just to actually be able to play at max mayhem level. that is not a skill difference, that is A BALANCING PROBLEM MY DUDES. like. my favorite zer0 build was still viable without the story DLCs. obviously grog > rubi, pimp > lyuda, rapier > law but, it was still fuckin viable.

guh. gufhgufhsdgkfjsdh. it bothers me.

ok so there’s a lot i just went over: my main issue? is that by making Seein’ Red a capstone, they did nothing to make it an actual legit capstone. They definitely nerfed Death Followed Close to make it a gamechanger, but they never gave Seein’ Red a buff to move it from a gamechanger to a capstone. It was the same exact skill. Seein’ Dead is what Seein’ Red SHOULD be and that’s what angers the crap outta me. they locked this obvious fix behind a pay wall (AND a gear slot!!!!!) n ur probably thinking ‘but cruddy this WAS really nice of them to try and fix zane... they could’ve just let him be suuc’ and like, yeah, they could’ve, and it is good they’re TRYING, but also, they’re leaving the people who DON’T buy the DLC high and dry.

keep in mind i DO own the dlc. have the season pass and everything. IM STILL MAD!!!

Zane should be strong no matter what class mod the players want to use. Same with Amara, same with Moze, same with Fl4k. FFS, it is not that hard. CHANGE THEIR SKILLS!!!!!

so im gonna be taking the time to go over all of zane’s skills and shit just to put him more on par with the others (WITHOUT THE SEEIN’ DEAD MOD)

imagine the seein’ dead mod doesn’t exist for this. we’re gonna make a balanced character since apparently THAT’S TOO HARD FOR A TRIPLE-A BALANCING TEAM

first things first, the tree with the most fuckin problems: 

Under Cover

oh god this tree is a fucking train wreck what the hell were they thinking. good god. my eyes. they’re burning.

not actually, but it still kinda sucks.

Action Skill: Barrier is fine. I would not add the ‘picking it up decreases benefits’ when Zane’s whole schtick is running around fast. You get the full bonus no matter what form it’s in. also, you can hold down the action skill activation button to deploy the barrier directly on yourself.

Tier 1: Hearty Stock is a trap. never get this. so dumb. no synergy with his other skills. Adrenaline is okay, but not really great during end game. Ready For Action is similarly okay. Just a very MEH start to this tree. 

Adrenaline: Zane gains increased Action Skill Cooldown Rate. 10% per level, up to 50%. this shouldn’t be tied to his shields being full because if your barrier is down (cooling DOWN)... your shield is taking damage. c’mon now. THINK GEARBOX T H I N K

Hearty Stock: (maxed) Zane and his clone gain 5% magazine regeneration while an action skill is active. This skill stacks. In it’s original state, this skill is such a trap skill. for real.

Ready For Action: i mean, it’s fine. We’ll keep it. +30% shield recharge rate and -29% (why????) recharge delay

Tier 2: ech. Stiff Upper Lip is not that good. Brain freeze is what u really want. Rise to the Occasion is also okay.

Brain Freeze: keep the same.

Stiff Upper Lip: when Zane is damaged with a hit that would break his shield, he gains (max) +20% bonus gun damage on his next shot through the barrier.

Rise to the Occasion: Zane and his clone gain health regeneration. +5% max health/s. Not determined by shield availability.

Tier 3: `screams in confident competence` oh lawd. this skill is good. the accuracy thing is kinda laughable. i tell you, i always thought that zane was originally meant to be the sniper with the Under Cover tree but they decided to swap Zane and Fl4k’s skills. which is why Zane has soooo many accuracy buffs.

Confident Competence: fine the way it is. I would also add, since this IS a game changer, that the Barrier’s damage amp is now 40%.

Tier 4: ew. tier 4. Really Expensive Jacket is literally the only skill you might want to get and EVEN THEN. ugh. Best Served Cold is so pointless. and so is Futility Belt. YOU TAKE MORE DAMAGE WITH IT

Really Expensive Jacket: Elemental Status Effects have reduced duration (-50%). Additionally, Zane is not slowed by Cryo anymore.

Best Served Cold: Remove the cooldown. Buff up the damage at least 200%. Make it an AOE Brain Freeze. That is, the cryo novas stack and if overkill damage is high enough, enemies hit with the novas freeze. Kinda like a discount Frozen Heart.

Futility Belt: HA. Ahahahahaha. Ha. Zane gains resistance to non-elemental and cryo damage (+15%). Futhermore, after killing an enemy, Zane’s barrier gains additional cryo damage (+20%) for 8s.

Tier 5: is oki. My only real complaint is with Nerves of Steel. Like. Seriously.

Refreshment: god tier skill actually. Keep the same.

Best Served Cold: also keep the same. The only change I will make is this: resetting your action skills’ cooldowns counts as action skill start and end.

Nerves of Steel: The longer Zane’s barrier is active, the more stacks of Nerves of Steel he gains (a maximum of 15). For each stack, Zane gains 2% shock damage, 2% cryo efficiency, and 1% damage to frozen enemies. (why shock damage? cryo doesn’t do well against shields.)

Tier 6: *cries in the worst capstone in the entire series* WHO DID THIS. WHY. WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU???

Distributed Denial: no. just. no. scrap this whole damn thing. IT DOESN’T EVEN WORK!!!! either fix it COMPLETELY or do something else. My recommendation? Whenever Zane throws down his barrier, his shield instantly begins recharging. If Zane’s shield is already full or recharging, enemies with no shields (or freeze immunity) that touch Zane’s Barrier for the next 10s are instantly frozen.

Augments: why the hell do i gotta place my barrier down when my entire fuckin’ character is about RUNNING. ALSO JUST AS A BLANKET STATEMENT: ALL THESE AUGMENTS WORK 100% EVEN IF HIS BARRIER IS PICKED UP. SO DUMB. a fully pointless restriction.

that last sentence immediately fixes Charged Relay and Nanites or Some Shite.

Redistribution: If his shields are full, Zane can sacrifice 50% of his shields to have his next shot deal 100% bonus cryo damage by holding F.

All-Rounder: Fine as is. Only thing I would add: whenever Zane melees an enemy, his shields are drained by 50% and his sliding augment is added to the melee attack.

Deterrence Field: Fine as is. But! I would add: whenever Zane sprints into an enemy, his shields are drained by 50% and slam augment is activated.

THAT WAY we can have both slam/sliding relics actually DO SOMETHING. because my god they’re so useless rn.

alright, moving on.

Hitman

Tier 1: is okay. nobody ever takes cold bore. ever.

Violent Speed: fine as is, but we’re taking it back to pre-release values. Max: 30%. can stack 2x.

Cold Bore: Zane gains (max) 20% bonus cryo damage to all shots fired while moving.

Violent Momentum: fine as is, but taking it back to pre-release values. 30% gun damage at default walk speed. Additionally, Zane can now shoot while sprinting.

Tier 2: my boy zoomer needs more fun.

Cool Hand: fine as it is. I would buff his base reload speed up to 20% and kill skill reload to 20% as well. 17 and 13 are such weird numbers.

Drone Delivery: fine as it is. Additionally, Zoomer’s base shots now take on the element of Zane’s grenade mod.

Salvation: fine as it is. I won’t mess with this bc life steal is messy business (coughs in grog)

Tier 3: hhhynf.fdsg. 

Death Follows Close: Kill Skill Bonus: +30%. Kill Skill Time: +7s. Additionally, enemies targeted by Zoomer take 5% more damage from Zane.

Tier 4: these two skills are actually p dope by themselves. it can stay as it is. I would MAYBE increase the violent violence max buff up to 20% but that’s just me.

Tier 5: ahahahaha. this skill. just remember, we’re pretending Seein’ Dead doesn’t exist, so imagine how this skill looks next to calm cool n collected. so pointless.

Good Misfortune: Killing an enemy with a critical hit adds (max) 10% efficiency to Zane’s kill skills for 8s. This does not stack.

Tier 6: WE’RE GONNA MAKE YOU RELEVANT AGAIN BOO HANG IN THERE

Seein’ Red: Zane has a (4%) chance to activate his kill skills upon dealing gun damage to an enemy. Additionally, enemies targeted by Zoomer now take 15% more damage from Zane.

so why didn’t we make good misfortune the infinite action skill build?? BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT CCnC IS SUPPOSED TO DO!!! why have 2 skills that do the exact same thing AT THE EXACT SAME TIER except ONE IS OBJECTIVELY WORSE!!!!!

what happens to the Seein’ Dead class mod if we’re giving its perk to this capstone? I’m so glad you asked. “Zane activates his kill skills when activating his action skills. Additionally, the kill skills activated this way have 15% more efficiency”. look how much better balanced that is!!!! that’s a class mod!!!!!!!!

Augments: these aren’t THAT bad, but they could be a lot better.

Winter’s Drone: Zoomer gains 20% bonus cryo damage to all shots.

Bad Dose: pump these numbers up. Fire Rate: +7% per affected enemy. Movement Speed: +10% per enemy. everything else is fine.

Boomsday: just make this more beefy. fr. It’d be a good choice if it were stronger.

Static Field: also fine. I would again give it better damage output, but that’s just me.

Almighty Ordnance: remove the build up honestly. Like i get the vibe and it’s really cool, but in combat it just DOESN’T WORK. maybe if Zoomer is targeting an enemy, he will unleash the missiles if they are above 50% health after 30s or something. I honestly think these should have a debuffing factor instead of a damage factor (you know, to not get in the way of boomsday). maybe something around 15%? the 1x per action skill activation thing would be easily subverted with CCnC with the changes we suggested, so it could work. 

Doubled Agent

ahhh, Blane. Blue Zane. Love ya, buddy. One change: he prioritizes pinged targets. That way you can kinda get him to fight specific people. Also, lower the teleportation timer. pls.

Tier 1: actually p good. could be better, but its not bad.

Synchronicity: Zane gains 20% bonus damage per active action skill. While Zane has an action skill active, he gains a stack of Synchronicity. Max Stacks: 10. For each stack of Synchronicity, Zane gains 5% Action Skill Cooldown Rate and 2% Action Skill Damage.

Praemunitus: Zane and his digiclone gain (max) 30% magazine size.

Borrowed Time: For each action skill active, Zane gains 30% action skill duration. The longer Zane’s action skills are active, he and Blane gain a higher Fire Rate and faster Reload Speed, up to 20%. (the idea is you choose between this or synchronicity bc... either permanent action skills build or fast paced action skills build)

Tier 2: Donnybrook is fun. Fractal Frags is fun. Duct tape mod is a GODDAMN DISAPPOINTMENT

Donnybrook: fine as it is. I might buff the max numbers up to 20% gun damage and 3% health regen. But that’s really it.

Fractal Frags: Blane will periodically toss a grenade from Zane’s stockpile at his targeted enemy (cooldown: 20s). Kill Skill: Blane has a 45% chance to throw a free grenade.

Duct Tape Mod: this skill... why... No cooldown. NONE. Zane has a 1% chance to also fire a grenade from his gun. Kill Skill: This is increased to 15% for 8s (stays at 1% for the whole time, but the kill skill will increase by 3% for each tier)

Tier 3: Actually Quick Breather is one of my favorite skills. this can stay.

Quick Breather: Same as is. Additionally, Zane and his clone gain 25% Gun Damage after swapping places for a short time (8s).  I really wanna promote swapping places. It’s really underutilized. they’ve ADDED stuff to this skill already!!! even tho it didn’t work until the next patch. BUT THEY SHOW ITS POSSIBLE TO ADD TO SKILLS!!!

Tier 4: actually a really good tier. a few minor changes. 

Pocket Full of Grenades: Kill Skill: Zane gains (max) 15% grenade regeneration for 8s. If Zane’s grenades are full, any excess grenades are shot from his gun with 25% bonus damage.

Old-U: If Zane falls into FFYL while his digiclone is active, he can press the action skill activation key to destroy his clone and gain a second wind. When he does this, he takes the place of his clone. His clone will also drop a grenade when it is destroyed.

Supersonic Man: Zane gains increased movement speed for each active action skill: (max) 15% each. Additionally, teleportation is considered to be Zane’s maximum speed for its duration and 5s after. 

Tier 5: oh god oh fuck oh god.

Like a Ghost: Oh god why. Zane and his digiclone gain a (max) 15% chance to ignore all damage while teleporting and for 7s after.

Boom. Enhance: actually a pretty swell skill. I would probably add Health Regen +3% per grenade tho. Blane needs help a lot.

Trick of the Light: bring back the shock damage. Zane deals 40% bonus shock damage for 7s after swapping places with his clone.

Tier 6: oh ngl I actually love this capstone lol

Double Barrel: Zane’s digiclone gains a copy of Zane’s current gun when it is deployed (and all the anointments work and he actually fires it like a reasonable person). Zane’s clone now deals damage equal to Zane’s base weapon damage. Upon swapping places, both Zane and his digiclone deal 50% bonus damage for 7s.

Augments: 

Binary System: is okay. Kinda uhhh underwhelming tho. Buff up the damage and also maybe reduce teleportation time.

Schadenfreude: I like this one a lot. Zane’s shield is restored by 100% of the damage his digiclone takes and vice versa.

Dopplebanger: lower the waiting time. I get that u don’t wanna override the teleportation, but it’s really annoying. Buff damage and don’t make it dependent on action skill duration. If this explosion kills an enemy, the clone is reactivated with 50% action skill duration.

Which One’s Real?: I’ve never actually felt this work. Maybe for like 2 seconds? Make it work more like Zer0′s hologram or Timmy’s Jack clones or smth. Maybe give an activation cue? im v lost with this one. Enemies targeting Zane take 30% more damage from the digiclone.

Digital Distribution: 75% of the health damage Zane takes is distributed to his clone instead. The digiclone gains 5% Health Regeneration/s and sends out 3 [level specific damage] shock spikes to enemies that attack it. 

literally all Zane needs is SYNERGY. if they can change a few skills, pump up a few numbers, and ffs fix the seein’ red/dead capstone/mod, they’d be in FUCKIN BUSINESS

but no instead

THEY LOCKED THE BUFF BEHIND A PAYWALL.

WHYYYYYY

[hellyeahheroes]

Future Foundation #1 preview and interview:

After so many years absent from the Marvel Universe, the return of the Fantastic Four was a huge event for fans. Was their homecoming as much of a cause for celebration for yourself, as well? I have to imagine getting to tell a part of the family's new story with a re-imagined Future Foundation is a job any Fantastic Four fan would jump at.

WR: I’ll let Jeremy answer that mostly, all I can add is it’s definitely awesome to work in that universe, hopefully Jeremy can sneak something Thing in for me to tackle!

JW: Yeah, it was huge for me. I think I have the experience of a lot of fans around my age of having grown up thinking of the Fantastic Four as being less exciting than the X-Men and Spider-Man, but then having been reading comics during two of the best runs of FF related in comics in decades between Hickman and Fraction. I was a huge fan of their runs and had a special place in my heart for Fraction and Allred's version of the Future Foundation. Seeing so much of what those runs had built taken off the table for a long time was tough, but then to be part of the team that gets to bring all of that stuff back is just amazing. While Dan gets to run around with the first family of the Marvel Universe, I adore the chance to get to play with these wonderful teenage geniuses and have so much history to pull from in the Fantastic Four and everything adjacent to them.

So far Marvel has revealed that the Future Foundation will be on their own 'search and rescue' mission. That sounds like it will be an easier story for newer fans to jump into (with an introduction from you both coming in Fantastic Four #12). For readers who may not be as well versed in the history of the Foundation, what will they need to know/be prepared for hopping on board?

JW: I think there's a very low barrier to entry. Obviously many of the characters we're using have decades of history in the comics, but we're doing our best to make it accessible to every reader. While I'd encourage people to go back and read Hickman and Fraction's run on Future Foundation because they're great, we're gonna tell you everything you need to get up and running - and we're going to be up and running fast. This first arc is packed with action and adventure and all centers around a prison break from one of the most dangerous prisons in the universe. We want you to jump in and hold on for the ride, regardless of your history with the characters.

For anyone who takes one look at the new team assembled in these pages and covers, the attitude and personality of the book almost speaks for itself, giving a clear sense of this kind of adventure. Were you both on the same page, between the story and style, from the beginning?

JW: Oh yeah. I had been working out some of the plot points of the book with Marvel for a while, so I had a little bit of a head start. But as soon as I found out Will was going to be illustrating it I tracked him down and asked what he wanted to draw. He loves monsters and aliens and big action, so I've done my best to slant things toward what excites him in the book. Also, Dragon Man. Will loves drawing Dragon Man, which will be obvious to anybody reading this book.

WR: We have worked together to make this a true collaboration. Not only between us, but between the whole creative team. I’ve never been on a book with this much collaborative spirit before and it’s making me push my art to new levels.

Whenever a story follows the Fantastic Four family into the larger Multiverse, it tends to lead into some strange corners, really breaking the limits, in terms of the visuals, of what readers are used to. With the Foundation's mission taking them into the Multiverse, how did the visual style of the new series take shape?

JW: I'll let Will speak to this in greater detail, but as for the styling of the characters and their new costumes, our goal was to capture the idea that these are teenage geniuses who are really left to their own devices for the first time while they're jetting through the Multiverse. We wanted to give them each personal touches that felt like they were given access to make their own decisions about fashion and what's "cool" for a superhero costume. Some people kept it minimal, some stylized, but Bentley 23 did the most. He's now got a leather jacket, purple sunglasses, and pouches everywhere. I hope that new readers will take a look at the costume designs and instantly get a feel for the characters.

WR: Stylistically, I’m a cartoony fan. I like to keep things bouncy and focus a lot on the acting of the characters. For the look of everything, it’s just what speaks to me and the team!

Special attention obviously needs to be paid to the Foundation's "guest professor" Yondu Udonta, who has enjoyed newfound fame thanks to the Guardians of the Galaxy films. Even though James Gunn and Michael Rooker's version of Yondu isn't exactly who that character was originally, you can't argue with how memorable he's proven to be. Has this Yondu been made in that new mold, the old, or maybe a combination?

WR: GOTG is my favourite marvel film, and us dealing with a prison break means that there’s a lot of influence of that film in the book. I love Yondu and he’s a lot of fun to play with, definitely leaning more into the Rooker on my end.

JW: Mostly our Yondu takes after the newer version, who has also popped up in a few places in the Marvel Universe recently. While I know the original has his fans, it's hard to deny the dirtbag charm of the Rooker version and when you're a bunch of (mostly) upright children who find yourself needing to break into a space prison, that Yondu is exactly who you want in your corner, which is exactly how he got there. He's the guest professor they needed for this job.

The original Future Foundation got its name and its mission from Reed Richards being dissatisfied about how science was being used - or ignored - to improve the world. That idea is obviously relevant to the world today, so will the series tackle real world issues, or is it more about capturing that ambitious, dreamer spirit than literally solving the world's problems?

JW: As important as I think the first is, since we're not on Earth and are attempting to reassemble the pieces of a cosmic entity, I think the dreamer spirit is much more in the forefront. The Future Foundation has been through a hundred different realities and come out of it full of ideas and ambition. Their goal is to solve big problems - any problems. The harder to deal with the better. And given their resources, they can bring in any guest professor from the multiverse to teach them how to do nearly anything. I think they're a more powerful force than anyone realizes and they are about to get tested with some very big problems.

Final question: Since you won't brag, just how unprepared are readers for what your storytelling partner has in store for them?

JW: Oh they can't possibly be ready. I'm doing my best to throw twists and big ideas at the wall to challenge Will and he keeps coming back with even bigger and better versions of what I had in mind. He's an incredible talent and anybody who sees these issues is going to know that. Also, Dragon Man. He draws that giant fire breathing android with such love, I just can't even tell you guys.

WR: Jeremy is the best writer I’ve ever worked with. Usually in my experience it’s a “here’s the script” and no real communication between writer and artist — I hate that! The great comic book writers and artists have always worked together, because comics is a true collaboration. I change some things in my art, and Jeremy changed some of my art with his story. He wants to make me happy and same on my end. Hopefully we will collaborate for many years to come.

[brevoorthistoryofcomics]

Back at the Drug Store, I was astonished and elated to find this issue of FANTASTIC FOUR in my latest dive through its big bin of somewhat-older comics. And the reason is that this issue pre-dated all four of the FANTASTIC FOUR issues that I’d previously found there. It was evidence that it was possible not only to fill in the gaps between those issues and the current ones, but also to delve back even further into the history of the series. So this was a pretty exciting turn of events.

This issue has become oft-reprinted in the years since, in that it’s both effectively a self-contained story and most of the action takes place in--well, let’s get to that in due time. That’s a beautiful splash page of the Thing by George Perez and Joe Sinnott. Perez would become my favorite contemporary artist for many years, and I still think Joe Sinnott is just about the best inker comic books have ever seen. I must confess that the Thing talking about having been just a guy in an armored suit confused me a little bit--did this mean that he’d been in a costume for the preceding 175 issues and had only just now been literally transformed into an actual monster? And how did that square with the MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS story I had read in which Ben was permanently cured? Had he been in an armored costume ever since then? It was all very mysterious and intriguing.

The story opens with the FF on their way back to Earth after a prior adventure in which they faced Galactus, who is responsible for this mysterious transformation on the part of the Thing. Apparently, the team were able to defeat Galactus only with the help of their passenger: the Impossible Man. I already knew all about Impy from the subsequent issues I had read--he could transform his body into any shape or form he desired, and he was childlike and a bit of a brat. 

The Thing is so not used to his rocky form that he winds up accidentally destroying their ship’s braking system, leading to a brief action sequence in which the Human Torch exits the ship and creates thermal updrafts in order to slow its crash-landing in the lake near Central Park. It has to be said that writer Roy Thomas and George Perez fit in a ton of character and incident on these pages, mostly due to Perez’s facility at crafting 8 panels on a page or more. Anyway, everybody survives the crash, but now they’ve got to get across town and back to the Baxter Building.

The New York checkered cabs of this era will only pick up 4 passengers, and the there are five who need the lift, so Sue uses her power to remain invisible. Along the way, though, Impy gets bored and freaks out the cab driver by changing into a rear view mirror ornament among other things, and the FF wind up in the middle of traffic trying to soothe the poor cabbie. An unlucky motorist has the poor sense to lean on his horn in the Thing’s direction, causing his vehicle to suffer an enginedectomy at Ben’s bad-tempered hands.

As luck would have it, the team is right outside the 575 Madison Avenue offices of Marvel Comics--and when the Impossible Man hears of this, he makes a beeline inside to demand that Stan Lee make a comic book about him. And this whimsical look into the Marvel offices of 1976 is why this issue is so remembered and so often reprinted. Roy and George are in conference with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the big two of FF lore, when the Impossible Man bursts in--Roy and George are stymied because with the FF away, they have no information with which to create their authorized comic book featuring the team. In a characterization that is perhaps retroactively too on-the-nose, Kirby tells them they should just invent their own stories.

The issue pauses here for the letters page, which this month is devoted not to the readers’ knocks and boosts but rather to writer Roy Thomas explaining the genesis of the story we’re in the midst of. Among other things, he mentions a similar story being in the works at the same time for NOVA, but it would be many years before I’d get the opportunity to have a peek at that one. Looking at it today, I find this page really indulgent (especially when Roy digresses to talk about an impending meeting with a fellow Elvis aficionado) but I have to say that it did its job perfectly. Already the various creators who made up the ranks of Marvel were better known to me as personalities than their DC counterparts whom I’d been following for many years.

Back at the story, Stan remembers the Impossible Man from years ago, and how the Marvel readers expressed that he was too silly for the Marvel books. This pisses Impy off, and he goes on a wild in-joke filled rampage through the Marvel offices, using his powers to mimic the powers and attributes of assorted Marvel characters. From what I can tell, George wasn’t using the actual Marvel offices as reference for this fight--he simply drew a generic set of offices designed however the story needed them to be. The Ff show up in the midst of Impy’s rampage and try to corral him, but to no good effect. Marvel Comics is being trashed.

Getting to the heart of the Impossible Man’s anger, Reed snaps up Stan Lee and explains to him that all it will take for the Impossible Man to go away is being featured in a single conic book issue. Stan’s not having it until the Thing stares him down. But there are more important issues for the FF to deal with: a classified ad informs them that the Frightful Four have taken over their Baxter Building headquarters and are holding tryouts for their fourth member that afternoon. Conveyed by Impy, the FF head out--and Stan immediately and two-facedly reverses his decision on doing an Impossible Man issue. Comedically standing in front of a huge personalized Howard the Duck poster, he proclaims that “Marvel Comics hasn’t got time to waste on silly-looking characters!” I’d already read the next issues in which the FF and their evil counterparts battled it out, so the wrap-up where the Frightfuls are confronted was just checking boxes to me. But this was another wild and fun issue by Roy and George.

[thewritingcaptain]

the Spider-Man: Introduction: The Buildup

Full story on AO3 (Smidget) and FF (CaptainS10).

Summary:  A novel version of Spider-Man's journey in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from shortly after he was bitten through all of the movies.

Note: Hello, Marvel fans! So this is my first foray into the world of MCU fanfiction, and I'm super excited! I have been wanting to write something for this fandom for a long time, but I felt like I didn't have any decent ideas. This one came to me on a whim yesterday, after chasing scenes from the two Spider-Man movies in my head around for days that I really liked. Why not do a novel retelling of the movies? I have no diea if it's been done before for this fandom, although I realize it likely has been; but one can never get enough of something they love, right?

I'm starting with Spider-Man for a few reasons. A, because I've always loved Spider-Man, and I had always wanted to write something for him anyway. B, because I recently saw both of the new MCU Spidey movies, so they were fresh in my brain. C, because I'm still recovering from Endgame, and I'm desperately craving to write some Tony Stark and Peter Parker scenes.

So yeah! This will follow the canon of the movies pretty closely, but it's not going to be a carbon copy of it either. I will keep major story and major conversations the same in their essence, but I'm hoping to fill in some of the missing pieces of things in the MCU and give us some more of what we want to see. I do hope to do at least a few of these - Iron Man is next on my list to try - and while each will include bits and pieces of other characters, the main ones will be the main POV focus for each. Surely there will be some crossover later, but I'll sort that out when we get there.This has been a long author's note, so sorry! If you're here to check this out, then thank you, and please enjoy! <3

Story below the cut! 

INTRODUCTION: THE BUILDUP

Everything seemed… grey.

For weeks after the funeral, things seemed out of focus. The only time it ever seemed in focus was when the pain hit, and he couldn’t deal with it, not for long. So he didn’t. He let things slip out of focus, instead of fighting it. Everything that was happening was unimportant now. Even his stupid powers.

Those powers he’d gotten - oh, he didn’t even want to think about them. They were the source of this issue, without a doubt. If he hadn’t been so distracted messing with them, reveling in them instead of trying to figure them out and put them to good use, maybe it wouldn’t have happened. Or maybe it still would have, but maybe he’d have actually had a shot at stopping it. Maybe he at least would have seen it coming. Maybe he could have done something, at least, or tried to. Maybe then he wouldn’t feel so guilty. 

It was worse, of course, because it wasn’t just him. No - death rarely ever left only one hurting person in its path. Just as it had been when it was his parents, his aunt was also left behind to suffer. Only this time, the person who had helped her through it was the one that had died. Now they were the only people they both had left, and yet… Oh, he wanted to help her. He wanted to ease her pain, so badly, but he couldn’t even ease his own. 

In the aftermath of it, and in the weeks after the funeral, things were just grey. And not just for Peter Parker; the loss of his uncle was hard on his aunt, too. And while he knew that the whole time, it wasn’t until the night that he heard her weeping from her own room, quietly, trying to cover her pain for him, to help him, that he realized how big of a mess he’d been. And then he realized he needed to fix it.

He wasn’t the only one mourning. And doubtless, he wasn’t the only one who had ever mourned like this, either. His scenario was a wretched one, at times, but he was far from the only one who’d ever experienced anything like this. Seeing his aunt mourn was enough to remind him of that. 

Seeing her pain was enough to dull his. It was enough to bring the world back into focus. That included making him face the amount of pain he was in, and the thoughts that accompanied it, rational or not. But his mind was sharp, as it always had been; and he knew enough to know, when he was thinking clearly, what lines of thought were rational, and what ones were not. 

And despite it all, the one that had stuck with him, the one that bothered him the most, was oddly the most rational of them all. He may not have been able to stop his uncle’s death either way, but part of the reason he was so upset by it was that he had a chance to, if he’d only stepped up to the plate. And from that realization came a determination: he needed to step up to the plate. He had these powers now, like it or not. He had to decide how to use them. 

It didn’t take long to come to a decision. So long as he had these powers, he had a responsibility to use them. And that meant to him that no one around him would ever feel like this again if he could help it. His reach may not have extended the world over, and he may still have other things to do, and other obligations to attend to, but this would become number one if he could help it. Number two, perhaps, if he absolutely couldn’t. 

And so he stepped up to the plate. His grades, which had slipped to minimal while he was in his practically catatonic state, went back up, as high as they ever were. He came back out of his shell; he took the time to catch up with his old friends - or old friend, specifically, as fate would have it - and with his aunt, talking with her, trying to work through things, He knew it was still painful for her, but she was managing. She was handling it all better than he ever did. To think she had lost everyone she’d ever cared about and managed to go on like this… Hell, he’d got bitten by a genetically altered spider and went off the rails for a while. His uncle died, and he completely lost his mind, for a lot longer than a while. And then there was her, taking it all in stride.

That was the difference between an adult and a child, he supposed. Perhaps next time he would be able to handle it like an adult.

He shook the thought away. There wouldn’t be a next time. He wouldn’t let it happen again. 

Anger became his drive. Pain became his fuel. 

And that’s when the hero began to form. 

~~~

By the second month after the funeral - three months since he’d been bitten and discovered he was getting strange capabilities - he had started to work out the kinks in this whole hero thing. 

For one thing, he’d finally started to come into his powers. He kept discovering more things he could do as he went. 

The first one he’d discovered, invariably, as it had developed on its own and was near impossible to miss, was his heightened senses. He suspected they had been heightening over time, a simple way his body had changed after the bite, in response to whatever the hell it was it had actually given him. He didn’t experience the full height of these new senses until after he’d came to from his grief, so to speak. He’d been catatonic, and his pain had literally taken the world out of focus, dulling everything, including his senses. When he got them back at what should have been normal, full capacity, they were much stronger than he remembered. The only logical conclusion was that they were. 

The next few showed up in quick succession. He again suspected that these had been developing before, but due to him being catatonic, he rarely was in a scenario where he may have accidentally used them, and even when he did, he was too out of it to notice. When he settled back into the real world, he began to realize how often he would run into things, or grip something too hard and leave a dent in it. Super strength, agility, speed, and even the ability to heal cuts and bruises quicker. He knew these couldn’t just be in his head, because he’d never seen anyone crush their door handle like a crumpled wad of paper, or stab a fork through a plate and into the table when they tried to spear a bite of macaroni and cheese a bit too hard. Both of those were fun to hide from his aunt. 

The last one was rather unusual, but not to say useless. It showed itself in a rather weird way as well. He didn’t often go outside at night, so it was no surprise that night vision was both a shock and a late revelation to his list of powers. But there was no other explanation for how clearly he saw things in the dark dead of the night. In retrospect, maybe he should have expected that with his heightened senses, but it was still an odd experience when it happened. 

Armed with these powers and all the knowledge he possessed, he also spent this time to work on the making of some sort of suit. Every hero had to have a suit. Even Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, still had one, despite revealing his identity years before. And Peter wasn’t so sure how he felt on that front; keeping it a secret seemed a better idea for now, not least of all because if his aunt found out… well, it was likely his vigilante days wouldn’t last very long, to say the least. She didn’t need that extra stress in her life right now, anyways. 

So he knew he needed a suit, and a name. He could always try for something sophisticated, something to make him sound smart, like he was worthy of trust and leadership, but… well, he also knew he needed to keep it simple enough to be recognized, and he was still a kid, regardless. He could sound as cool as he wanted, but it meant nothing if he couldn’t back it up. And right now he had nothing but basic superhero powers. He had nothing to set him apart, nothing to make him worthy of trust or leadership even if he claimed it, and worst of all, he had no experience. He had nothing to back any fancy-sounding name or costume up.

In the end, he had to keep it simple. He had to stick with something he could do, and a name he could back up. And what better way to stay true to his roots than to go with a name related to what gave him his powers in the first place? Besides, a spider-like costume would be easy enough to make. Some colors and some stripes - he couldn’t go all one color; he didn’t want to seem like he was ripping off the only other spider-related hero there was - and he would be all set. He could do some basic sewing. It just wouldn’t be fancy. 

And of course, every hero needed a signature, something to be known by. For him, that was easy. He was a spider-man; he would have webs. He went to a science and technical school; he had access to everything he needed to make them. 

By the end of that second month after the funeral - the end of his third month coming in to his powers - he had everything he needed. A suit, basic control over his powers, some rudimentary webs… he’d even quit the robotics team to make the time to practice and work on actually doing this whole superhero thing. He was set. 

And so Spider-Man, officially, was born.

~~~

End Note: So, I know the Russo brothers decided doing a retelling of his story of becoming Spider-Man and all that was redundant, but I wanted to explore a little of what made this particular version of Spider-Man tick, and I also wanted to do some sort of intro before just jumping right in to the story. And I know this chapter seemed a bit distanced - I did that on purpose. From here it will actually be from Peter's perspective (though still third person).

From here, after perhaps a chapter of Spidey doing his thing, we'll go in to the MCU versions, starting with Civil War as that's canonically his first appearance. I hope to upload this on a schedule, probably a chapter two days a week if possible, but we'll see how it goes at first before I set it in stone. And if you liked this and are interested in seeing more of this, then great, and thank you for reading!

[robotnik-mun]

Ok, now I think I'd like to ask: What about the Iron Dominion Arc was so bad? (Also, if you have the time how do you feel Flynn mistreated Rotor?)

In my opinion? The following reasons, which will probably get repeated/elaborated upon when @robotnikholmescomicblog finally gets around to reviewing the arc. 

They are as follows-

1) Snively handing over the reigns to The Iron Queen and her group feels out of character for Snively given how long he has wanted his uncle out of the picture and to take control for himself. Particularly given how quickly he was dispatched after Endgame (ugh), it feels like his character got cheated out of finally having a go at being the man in charge for an extended amount of time, all so that a one shot villain barely remembered by anyone could get pushed to the forefront, all at Snively’s own expense as a character. 

2) Monkey Khan getting strawmanned for being ticked off that the FF’s won’t even consider executing Eggman. Given that Monkey Khan was literally flayed alive and had his internals replaced with machinery after witnessing his entire village killed by the same way, only to lose yet another village thanks to Eggman, having Sonic telling him he was in the wrong felt… achingly tone-deaf, and I didn’t appreciate that Khan received this treatment given what he had suffered at the hands of Robotnik and later Eggman. Having someone like, oh say, Bunnie talk sense into him would have made a great deal more sense, but the bottom line is that Sonic was essentially telling Monkey Khan he was wrong for wanting the person who had heinously wronged him dead. I’m not the biggest fan of Khan, but I felt it was kind of messed up. 

3) The Iron Dominion got pushed way, way too hard- early on they were virtually unstoppable. Not helping matters is that they were hyped IN-Universe as well, at one point having things mentioned as ‘being worse’ now than it was under the Original Robotnik. Given thatl Robotnik 1.0 came within a hair’s breadth of killing ALL of them, with only sheer dumb luck by way of Snively to save their lives, it felt like there was too much effort going into convincing the readers that these were a legit big threat. It’s not helped that not long before that, Eggman had succeeded in obliterating Knothole and very nearly condemned EVERYONE to perish in the Egg Grapes. That’s two instances of things being way more dire, so again, it felt like a point only brought up to insist upon the idea of the Iron Dominion TOTALLY being THAT dangerous, u gaiz. 

4) It dragged on way, way too long. The novelty wore off quickly and after a point it just felt like a chore to slug through everything.

5) The revelations regarding Espio’s backstory and his subsequent re-acceptance into the Chaotix afterwards. While I know it was done in order to justify him suddenly being a ninja, there were better ways to go about it than revealing that his entire life he’d been lying to his friends and gathering information on them, and was so good at it that he was privy to all their secrets and keeping information from them. It throws everything about him into question, and I can’t accept that the rest of the team would be so willing to let bygones be bygones. 

6) The prominence of the Ninja Clans. The clans are not something in of itself I object to, but I’m not too fond of the whole ‘China and Japan are Interchangeable’ thing rearing its head again. Furthermore, I found the idea that ESPIO’S clan just HAPPENED to be the ‘good’ clan to be an eye-rolling development- Ninja at heart are thieves and murderers for hire, and trying to pretty things up in such a way left me with a bad taste in my mouth. 

7) Regina’s laugh. This isn’t a ‘real’ criticism, I just feel an unspeakable rage when I try to envision how it sounds. 

8) Making Sally and Khan an actual thing. While it only happened briefly, this still felt like a baffling decision given the circumstances under which the two originally met, and the development of the moment felt way too rushed for them to reconcile and actually kiss each other. While it mercifully didn’t go anywhere, it still brought back shades of the Love Triangle nonsense that had plagued the book pre-Flynn, as well as gave fresh ammo to those jackasses who screamed about Sally being a Mary-Sue. 

As for Rotor, I don’t think ‘mistreated’ is the right word, so much as Flynn not knowing what to do with him and his solutions not really being all that helpful. Flynn seemed to struggle with the notion of Rotor being a fairly peaceful and sensible member of the FFs, and him being taken out of commission via the back injury and the council felt like a cheat, and the power suit he was later given was just ill conceived, especially since there had to be a bullcrap reason for why he couldn’t build another for Bunnie after she’d been De-Robo’d. 

Post-REboot wasn’t much better for me, given his ‘upgrade’ into a brawler and his new design (which to this day I despise with the fury of a thousand suns)- while the developments with Tundra were quite excellent, at the end of the day it felt less like he actually wanted to write Rotor and refused to really work with what made the character who he is. The fact that it was stated that one reason Rotor was taken off for a while was due to there being ‘too many tech guys’ likewise fell flat when Muttski was arbitrarily updated to be a Mobian lab assistant to Chuck, yet ANOTHER tech guy. 

So yeah, the Iron Dominion arc is easily one of my least favored arcs for those reasons, and I really don’t appreciate all the stuff that happened to Rotor. I’m not a super huge Rotor fan, but to me it’d be like if Big were to suddenly become a svelte melee-monster who quipped all the time because a writer didn’t really want to use Big as he was or try to make the character work with what he had. It misses the point, very badly. 

Hope that answers your questions.