#like cons and stuff. like comic con stuff“. at the time since i was literally dying i didn't have much motivation to draw but her words-

[cirqyt]

2020 / 10 / 31

missed the holiday 4 years in a row

[genericpuff]

All That Glitters is Not Feminism - An Analysis of LO's Brand of "Feminism" and What Remains of its Fanbase (A Prologue)

So I referenced a certain article in a recent reblog/ask response and I just need to talk about it because what the actual fuck-

This has to have been written by either a bot or a hater who's reached peak god tier level at playing the long con sarcasm game because NOTHING about this feels sincere or even factual. Much of it almost has to be read in a mocking tone for it to make any real sense.

It says "Lore Olympus" (literally in quotations) in just about every single paragraph over and over again and every single talking point revolves EXCLUSIVELY around Persephone, which I suppose comes as no surprise considering that seems to be all the comic - and its fanbase - cares about at this point.

I really love (/s) how Persephone's "evolution" is being naive and then 'blossoming' into an independent woman who relies entirely on the rich man who groomed her to solve all her problems.

Also all she's done since becoming Queen of the Underworld is abuse lower class people. That's the stuff feminist dreams are made of <3

While we're talking about the main leads, "poster child" is definitely a word for Hades, I think a more appropriate term would be "literal child". And boy howdy, 'god of consent' sure is a title to give the guy who ripped out a lower class satyr's eyeball and beat him half to death.

This man owns slaves, btw. And both he and his "powerful wife" are equally horrible to lower class people, especially women.

This is hands-down the funniest section of the article and we're only three bullet points in.

Thetis and Persephone have never even so much as spoken one word to each other outside of the courtroom that Thetis technically put her in after plotting against her for an entire season.

Eros is a man. Nothing wrong with that but it comes with the unintentional icky hilarity of implying that because Eros is the gay best friend, that means he's a woman.

They literally don't read this fucking comic-

Everyone always relies on this weird talking point of Demeter not being able to "let Persephone go"... y'all, she just didn't want Persephone to outright move to Olympus, she wanted her to commute. That was it! That was literally the only problem! She wasn't preventing Persephone from pursuing a higher education or telling her she wasn't allowed to work, she literally fucking encouraged it! And with the added later context of Persephone killing a bunch of mortals - and, ironically, the fact that Persephone was assaulted/put in harm's way by TWO SEPARATE MEN in the first two days of her time in Olympus - yeah, I don't blame Demeter for not wanting her daughter to move cold turkey actually LOL

Also hilarious that they claim Rachel has turned "tradition" into "innovation" when the only thing she's managed to do is set back modern feminism in her young adult readers by 80 years and re-establish misogynist brainwashing in her adult ones. Rachel, your fanbase was literally shipping a victim of abuse with her abuser just a few days ago.

oh boy this is uh

this is some cult shit ngl

and the "rewriting the script of Greek mythology" part is VERY concerning knowing what we know about Lore Olympus and who it was written by. This is literally cultural appropriation, full stop, and it exists because Lore Olympus - and works like it, made by people like Rachel - exists.

I can't even commit to the original theory that this was written by a bot because it all feels very pointed and intenetional. This is being written by someone who, at the very least, REALLY sucks at media analysis and writing, because the entire article is just "Lore Olympus, buzzword, Lore Olympus, buzzword, buzzword, Lore Olympus", it's like a white knight incantation for guilty virtue signallers who have zero clue what they're talking about. And at worst, yes, it's appropriation from someone who doesn't mind taking a culture's stories and myths and promoting their erasure by people outside of the culture like Rachel.

And that's it, that's literally the article lmao

*EDIT: There was a section here before addressing the writer of the article from a very opinionated POV that, while isn't unusual for what I do here, did feel necessary to remove after I was contacted by the article writer who addressed the flaws in their original article and is now seeking to correct them with revisions/an article rewrite. So I felt it only fair as a compromise to at least remove that section as it really doesn't have a whole lot to do with this post as a whole and can be removed without entirely ruining the flow of this analysis. If/when that article is rewritten, I'll be revisiting this post and my overall analysis !

And honestly, it's all really telling, because this does accurately reflect the state of the LO fanbase.

Not only do many of the people who defend this comic like it's their job not pick up on the blatant misogynist tones that are going on in its narrative (I can't even call them "undertones" anymore, they're no longer that subtle) but whether or not they even read the comic at all is up for debate with how much stuff they tend to get wrong in their own arguments and justifications. And this is something that's VERY regularly seen in the fanbase discussions, readers will constantly be unaware of things that happened because they skimmed through it at lightning speed just to see if Hades and Persephone kiss and so they can get the top comment on Webtoons so they can be "ahead of the fanbase". It's no wonder that Rachel has gotten used to getting away with retconning things because her fanbase didn't even read what she established the first time.

Rachel's fanbase was literally defending the romance ship of an abuser and his victim on the newest FP episode preview. When that FP episode came out two nights ago and Hera said, point blank, that he didn't love her but abused her, I could only think of that portion of the fanbase who was very audibly simping over Kronos in the IG comment section. Are they actually having their moment of shameful clarity now? Or are they just gonna move the goalposts and pretend that didn't happen?

I don't want to say anything bad about Shelby here because she really seems like she's fighting for her life on this site that she's trying to get off the ground, but a lot of her other articles also come across as very one-note while being peppered with buzzwords that make it seem like what she's talking about is "progressive" when it really isn't. Case in point, Lessons in Chemistry has been commonly criticized for not actually appealing to the demographic that its Mary Sue-ish main character is supposed to represent - women in STEM career fields.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Lore Olympus is not 'feminism', it's white feminism that is designed to appeal to predominantly heterocis white women who think the solution to misogyny is to willingly submit to it and accept the status quo - that it's "empowering" if the woman is smiling and having all her needs paid for by a man. Sure, I can accept that different women will be looking for different relationship dynamics, some women genuinely are happy being in a relationship where they support their husbands first and foremost. But can that truly be called feminism? Or is the real feminism the choices we make along the way that we should be given the freedom to make?

It says a lot about the folks who tend to regularly prop up LO on a pedestal like this as some "revolution in feminism" despite the contrary after spending more than just 30 seconds skimming the attention-grabbing art, and Shelby is just one of many. She's not the worst of the bunch, though.

That goes to someone else who I want to give proper light to in their own essay. Someone who definitely earned a good stern talking-to this past week and has, thankfully, had consequences dished out to her for her horrible actions towards queer POC writers.

If you know, you know. If you don't, buckle up.

[kamwashere]

saw your tags and yes PLEASE do a proper fic rec list!

5 times Wade didn't believe Peter, and the one time he did by keikoHPfan [T, 1K]

Wade isn't a fool. And he knows better, whatever Spidey says. Or five times Wade didn't believe Peter, and the one time he did.

✦ kam's notes: The first ever SMDP fic I’ve ever read! I had this bookmarked in 2016 with a note saying, “I wanna scream but fam is literally right hEre so I'm just here making this weird sound in my throat this fic must be treasured for life.” Super angsty and fluffy!

The Perks of Being Smarter Than Everyone Gives You Credit For by alphasaceraptor, Orcusnox (Cat9894) [M, Graphic Depictions of Violence, 32K, WIP]

Peter Parker, your friendly neighbourhood Spider-man, is sapiosexual. You'd think, working as an intern under Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, he'd have his pick of the best brains around. But apparently not. Someone's been lying about how smart a certain mercenary actually is, and that puts Peter in a sticky situation when said mercenary starts interacting with Peter. And with trouble brewing at Stark Industries, you just know this is going to be a wild ride...

✦ kam's notes: Sadly, I think this has been abandoned  as it hasn’t been updated since 2017 but it’s still worth a read! Featuring super smart Wade and super horny about it Peter. 

Propositions by stuckybarnes [T, 8K]

“Yeah…” Deadpool drawls. “Anyway, Pretty Boy, I have a proposition for you.” This makes Peter kind of want to throw up. Propositions by Deadpool always end up with them in varying degrees of pain, and a lot of explaining to do with the Avengers. OR Wade finally convinces a very tired Peter to go to New York Comic-Con with him and enter a Deadpool and Spider-Man cosplay contest, sure they'll win. Obviously. It doesn't go exactly as expected, and Peter is not thrilled.

✦ kam's notes: Spidey and DP go to Comic-Con! Fanservice, cosplays, banter, and feelings! All that fun stuff.

Ooh, Spicy by misato [E, 2K]

“It’s me,” he croaks, and Peter readies his web-shooter, aiming it at his mouth. He starts talking. Fast. “I’m Deadpool. Wade Wilson. I’m from another universe. In that one you’re dead and I’m more than a little bit bummed about it.” Surprisingly, that’s what gets Peter to loosen his grip. “You’re from another universe?” he sighs. “That’s so last week.”

✦ kam's notes: Hell yeah, another Peter B./Wade fic! This one is very spicy, kinda sad, but still sweet. Wade worships every version of Peter and I love that. 

baby, i’d victoria your secret anytime by ghostsoldier [E, 4K]

Peter’s known Wade for a while now, so he can maybe see how this makes sense -- like, maybe Wade has a thing about going commando and just happened to have an old girlfriend’s panties lying around, one thing led to another…but… “And the bra?” Peter croaks.

✦ kam's notes: Wade (unknowingly) seduces Peter with lingerie (!!!) and pancakes. Spice ahead!

I Think I Missed a Step ('Cause I'm Fallin' For You) by mokuyoubi [E, 42K]

There’s a weird familiarity about the kid's tone and posture, and it’s true that Wade is pretty far from home today but he’s also certain he’d remember that baby-face if he’d seen it before. On the other hand, he has spent the better part of the past few years feeling like he’s missed a step, so this conversation isn’t exactly anything new. [[A hot guy is willingly talking to us. Go with it.]] [Don’t make an ass of yourself.] “Shaddup,” Wade grumbles, though Yellow has a point... OR Peter thinks Wade knows his secret identity, and Wade is really confused by the hot coed who keeps popping up and hanging out with him.

✦ kam's notes: I debated putting this here a lot since when I first read it, I did so without reading the tags or the notes and missed the Tom!Spidey disclaimer but please don’t be discouraged, it is still a very good fic. Peter is aged up (still feels like a weird loophole) and is a full-fledged adult. Anyways! This fic lovingly abuses the classic identity porn trope. Very good and there is a variety of MCU cameos.

what light through yonder window by hellornothing [M, Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, 14K]

The figure moves quickly, but Peter’s faster. He’s still adjusting to the sudden brightness, so dark red is really the only thing he takes from this initial encounter, but it’s enough. ‘Deadpool?’ - aka the one where they get together via late night window visits

✦ kam's notes: This fic has EVERYTHING: late night talking, identity reveal, pining!Peter, TLC. I really love Wade in this; he’s so tender, funny, and charming. This is also domestic in ways I can’t explain.

finger tap pulses by twentytwosevens [T, 3K]

"The first time Peter’s timer stops he is eleven years old. It times out in the middle of the night and wakes him up like an electric shock. The blank timer stares at him from his wrist as he yells and screams for his aunt and uncle." Spideypool AU with timers where Wade keeps getting killed and making Peter's timer go blank. By the time they meet he's pretty pissed off. This was certainly a summary with words, but they were not good ones. Based off a tumblr prompt that I cannot find anymore.

✦ kam's notes: Oh, this one has a delicate amount of angst and crack. Poor Peter! Deadpool-typical suicidal ideation, be warned. 

BDE (Big Dick Emergency) by DerRumtreiber [E, 6K]

“Oh my god,” he says again. “Oh. My. Gaa-awd, Becky. Did you?” Wade is visibly vibrating. “Did you really say ‘giant penis problem’? Really? Truly?” “What did you think I meant the first time?” Peter asks through clenched teeth. “I dunno, wrong hole?” ~*~*~ Or, the one where Peter is in need of some practical advice, and Wade is always happy to share his ass knowledge.

✦ kam's notes: THEE BOTTOM!WADE FIC, imo. Peter has unsatisfying sex life due to his Big Problem/Blessing and Wade is determined (and super thrilled)  to change that. Not to be a spoiler but he definitely succeeds. 

Love of a Different Lifetime by alicat54c [T, Graphic Depictions of Violence, 15K]

In another time and place, Wade would have gone back to Weasel’s bar and met the love of his life, Vanessa. However, in this life, predicated by a squeaky skateboard wheel, he met Peter instead. ... “Yo mamma so dumb, she thought Tiger Woods was a forest in India.” Wade's arm spasmed, causing his swing to go wide, sending the ball clear out of the course and across the sidewalk. Peter carefully kept his eyes on the score sheet as his companion turned around, expression playfully murderous. He scratched a line with a short pencil. “So, that’s one point against you.” The older man’s face split into a toothy grin. “Oh, it is on, baby boy.”

✦ kam's notes: And to end this fic rec, I bring you the ultimate filmverse!Spideypool fic. It rewrites both DP1 and TASM1 and it entwines both of the film’s canon together. In this fic, Peter doesn’t have his powers yet but he does meet Wade pre-cancer. They fall in love. While Wade goes into the program, Peter becomes Spider-Man. Cue Deadpool being born, Spider-Man trying to stop him, heartaching reunion and all that. Loved this one. 

Oh, and also there are some Team Red moments!

As usual, I'll just add my own fics as well —

my heart is wild (and my bones are steel) [T, 9K]

Out of the corner of his eyes, MJ quietly takes the seat across the younger Peter, swiftly sliding into his place. He visibly relaxes, resting his forehead against hers. They belong together in a quietly intense way. Longing burns hot inside of him, like a branch caught in a forest fire. It’s strange. Even if this version of Peter has lost virtually everything, he still finds a way to be envious of him. He thinks of Wade. For some unfathomable reason he isn’t quite ready to examine yet, he misses the idiot.

No Way Home, but in Peter-Three’s perspective.

all the skeletons you hide (show me yours, i’ll show you mine) [M, 23K, WIP] [Just updated]

A wave of affection and longing almost makes him stagger on his feet. Just seeing him in that suit—looking less than impressive, scratching his butt—makes him realize just how much he missed him. “Wade,” Peter cringes at how his voice catches, “Hi.” Wade turns around, turns back, turns again and does a double take. He eyes Peter up and down and to his surprise, turns away snootily. “Sorry cutie, any other day, I would be super into this hipster nerd slash skater boi with an I you’ve got going on—devastating combo, by the way—I’m sadly not in the mood.”

Peter, fresh out of his multiversal escapades, gains a new perspective in life. One that includes a certain mouthy mercenary, perhaps?

The problem is, the mercenary doesn’t seem to remember him. Like at all. He has a sneaking suspicion it has to do with that spell thing Peter-One was talking about…

‣ Both are a part of the new york isn't new york without you series

[riodoesstuff]

"The Z in 'Zine' stands for Z■■■"

Pt.1 // Pt.2 // Pt.3

As one of our college works, we got tasked to make a zine of whatever we wanted that had at least a minimum of 20 pages, so i did a 27ish pages long comic using the minecraft end poem about one of my OCs, Mr.Z , whom has become the main target of my brainrot.

Since some of the things said in the pages aren't really true to the actual TDV storyline, I would say this is semi-canon, but most of it is fr canon.

Also, fun fact! the first printed version of this zine was all in B&W, save for a dark and denatured shade of red. Why? Well, because it turns out that making 5 in color copies of a 27-page long zine is not. cheap. So how do you solve that problem? Easy! Make & Print it in B&W, then paint all those 27 pages by hand and cut out different pieces of colorful paper for the glasses.

-> Pros: Cheap, no extra costs in printing; Cool hand-made stuff fits the character's theme!

-> Cons: You are out of time, and this is extremely time-consuming and not effective at all; Your hands and wrist hurt like hell; They are not uniform at all; Literally everything else.

Why did i do that. am i fucking mad.

[darkshines1984]

So, i finally got around to watching the final two episodes of Agatha All Along for a second time (and this time on tv screen and not bleary eyed on my phone in the middle of the night). In terms of where the story line went, I pretty much expected it and had long since excepted Agatha was going to die and become a ghost like in the comics.

Was I super impressed by the two episodes? No. Episode 9 wasn't a bad episode in itself but it was a strange season finale. It felt underwhelming after the drama of the episode before. Episode 8 had a lot of good stuff but it felt disorganised and chaotic. I think it really contrasted against last weeks Episode 7, which brought a lot of threads together very intellugently and fluidly. Instead, so much was thrown into a short time in episode 8 that the threads of storyline just kind of touched base in the episode without truly intertwining. I think the episode probably needed to be ten minutes longer to fit everything in more comfortably.

Was it a terrible ending? No. I am happy with were it left off. Its a neat place to go from Agatha All Along to 'Wiccan' or whatever they chose to call the next series.

I know a lot of people are hoping for a season 2 of Agatha All Along but its not going to happen. Like Wandavision led directly to this series, this series was always leading to Wiccan. Not to worry though as, like Billy was the other main character in this series, Agatha is going to have a key role in his. It will no doubt be Jac Schaeffer again and this will allow time to explore more of Agatha's backstory. I will eat my hat if Rio isnt involved somehow in that series, especially as death will still be a theme. I also did really enjoy Billy's story and cant wait to see were it goes.

What they decide to do with Agatha at the end of that season will depend on if the MCU has further plans for her. If they do, then somehow she will come back to life (as she does in the comics). If they dont have plans, then the option is there to finally lay her to rest with her son, reconciled with her own past. You have to feel that in either of those options, Rio has a role to play.

Finally, although I love a redemption story as much as the next person, i am glad they didn't completely go down that line with Agatha. Yes she has some redeeming qualities but on the whole she is a pretty terrible person. She is selfish and cruel. She is a murderer and con woman. She made her own child complicit in those murders. Yes, I get she wanted to keep him alive, but that absolutely does not make her actions right. She is emotionally manipulative...i mean so manipulative she pretty much emotionally abuses and uses the literal embodiment of death. I dont think you have to ignore all that and even try to make excuses for her to still love the character.

I have to say though, if I was playing Alice's 'kiss, kill, marry' game with the last three women standing (i use the word standing with Agatha very loosely), I would be killing Agatha all over again. You couldnt trust her as far as you could throw her 🤣

So, I would just like to finish by saying thank you to Jac Schaeffer, her team and the cast for a great show and the amount of amazing queer representation. Also, huge shout out to the fans who have made so much content (fics, videos, gif sets, artwork, commentary etc). You have made this wild ride even better X

[stra-tek]

The TV shows and movies: Everyone has seen them, they're the canon, everyone knows about it, it's all good. Even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff. Even the episodes and movies everyone hates.

The novels and comics: 2% of the viewing audience have read them. They probably happened between episodes, but they're never ever referred to on TV (except that ONE time on Voyager). Vetted thoroughly (well, since Killing Time at least) and approved by people involved in the show prior to publishing.

The fanfic: These adventures are so numerous and secret, not even the people involved in the show knows about them (erm... with the exceptions of Spirk and Garashir, which have been referenced in Lower Decks and the Lower Decks mobile game. And Ni'Var being named for a poem in an ancient fanfic. And T'Khut. And possibly Una but maybe that's coincidence because after all Una = One). Literally anything can and does happen. Did they happen? Who knows? Who cares? They sometimes get to have sex. Gay sex.

The fan films: Non-canon adventures where the uniforms don't fit so well, sometimes featuring some of the actual Trek actors so not very secret at all. Probably happened in alternate universes with inferior Starfleet tailoring.

The fan manuals: Often more detailed and thoroughly researched than the official ones. Deck by deck plans of starships, instructions on what buttons do what on the bridge and extremely exhaustive backstories for starships only mentioned in passing in official technical books. The people in charge know they exist and shut loads down in the 90's for trying to make money off the Star Trek name. Did they all happen? So long as you don't try to actually compare walking routes on the shows to the floorplans of the Enterprise.

The fan art: At a con Mark Leonard (Sarek) once saw a naughty 'zine illo of naked, chained up Spock. Denise Crosby has been sent Data/Tasha naughty art. People involved in the shows sometimes see it, and are often bewildered by it. Oh, and IDW kept accidently tracing fan art of starships in their comic books because I think they just use Google image search. Did they happen? Yes. Especially the naughty ones.

The A.I. art: endless shitposts of your favourite characters doing anything your caffeine addled, sleep-deprived brain can come up with. Spock taking down the Christmas tree? Kirk cleaning the gutter? Picard having a replicator/soup catastrophe? Riker defeating John Cena at Wrestlemania? Janeway making ends meet by posing for naughty magazines in her Academy days? The people involved in the shows probably actively wish it didn't exist (at least until they find a way to monetise it). Did they happen? Well it's kinda like that time Barclay made out with a holographic copy of Troi...

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

Logically I always feel like we're supposed to hate Rudy more but goddamn, Mary has always made my skin crawl. I mean there were a LOT of reasons why I could never get into the YJ cartoon but I specifically remember seeing the way it portrays Wally's parents and something about it just felt icky and wrong

Rudy on some level is just so cartoony of a villain.

Like, the fanon version of Rudy is this bumbling angry alcoholic who hits his son because he needs someone smaller than him to take out his aggression on and that version of Rudy is very real. I think that's why fanon tends to view him that way. Because it's a more realistic characterization and it's easier for them to understand and portray.

But the truth of the matter is that Rudy is cold, calm and calculating. He's smart. And he doesn't care. Not about Wally and definitely not about Mary. Rudy doesn't see them as a family, he sees them as a long con. A get rich scheme in the making. Wally is supposed to be powerful so Rudy tries to 'shape' him. The abuse isn't out of anger, it's Rudy's misguided attempts to make him stronger.

Rudy also tries to bond with Wally. He knows he needs a good relationship with Wally to keep Wally in line when he gets older. That's why you see things like Rudy poisoning the little league coach to let Wally play and letting the air out of the other team's tires so Wally's team wins.

He was really fucking bad at it but he was attempting to make Wally an ultimate weapon that only listened to him. What he did instead was push his son away and teach him what not to do.

But that kind of calculated, off-the-wall mentality is so foreign. It's bad and we can recognize it but it's like something out of Criminal Minds. It's hard to see any part of that in our daily lives.

But Mary? Mary is something else. Mary is little comments about Wally's outfits. Mary is guilt tripping her son into spending time with her. Mary is being confidently incorrect about her son's wants and needs. Mary is discouraging comments when you just need a hug. Mary is so real it hurts.

So yeah, I can absolutely agree with you. Rudy is on another fucking level and he objectively does worse things (like murder and child labor camps and cult stuff). But Mary is so real in her abuse. She genuinely horrifies me.

Also, yeah I can agree about the YJ thing. Rudy and Mary being terrible has been a central part of Wally's story since the beginning. (and before people say "but Walls, the Wests were so kind in their first appearance!" they were literally only in a few panels and Rudy didn't even have a name yet. Also it was a Titans comic and not the Flash comic, ofc the characterization would be off) It's definitely a disservice to the character to write the West's as good/normal parents in any capacity. Especially because the excuse was that all the other members of the team had bad home lives/childhoods so they wanted Wally to be 'normal'. Bruh. Hate to break it to you but the kids in suburbia with the white picket fences can also suffer abuse behind closed doors. It's unfortunately a very common and 'normal' thing.

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, major bracket quarterfinals

*Daisuke Jigen x Lupin III and Mystique x Irene Adler are now an alliance since they tied in the last round. Old Gays as in they've been around for decades at this point, gay and doing crime.

Propaganda:

For Arsene Lupin III and Jigen Daisuke :

The start of be gay do crime! Jigen literally buys Lupin flowers while Lupin calls him "Jigen-chan" but they also shoot and kill and steal!!!

Lupin and Jigen have been Partners in Crime (and more) for over 50 years of media history. From the very beginning, when Jigen thinks Lupin has died in Part 1 episode 13 he openly weeps, tears streaming down his face and everything. Earlier that same episode Lupin tells Jigen he looked sexy in the maid costume he wore for the heist. In Part 5, they pretend to be two old men living together in an apartment above a cafe. They bicker like an old married couple. People are tying to track Lupin in the first half of the season and this: ‘As Lupin’s Lover where ever he is Lupin must be too’ is said about Jigen. In Part 6, Lupin keeps giving Jigen flowers. (He’s buying the flowers to keep an eye on someone and doesn’t want to look suspicious but he gives them to Jigen, after telling the store owner their for his wife) he calls Jigen either a ‘Fuzzy Angel’ (sub) or Hairy Hunk (dub). Jigen also tries to break Lupin from mindcontrol by bringing up their partnership. Like Sub line is ‘I’ve always been your partner man’ and the Dub line is ‘is that any way to treat your partner?’. The biggest thing though is in Lupin Zero, where Lupin declares he’s going to make his first official heist as Lupin III. He walks up to Jigen, places his hand on his chest, closes his hand and draws it back to himself then asks Jigen ‘So Jigen…was I able to steal it?’ To which Jigen replies ‘I’d say so’ while pulling his hat down over his face. Lupin’s ‘first real heist’ was STEALING JIGEN’S HEART! Also in Lupin III vs Cats eye Lupin pats Jigen on the ass (sound effect and everything) and Jigen doesn’t even react. There’s way more stuff from various movies and specials, this is just some of what jumps to mind right now. They may not be CANON but they’re pretty close :)

They are in fact husbands and they do be murderin’ (since 1960)

For Irene Adler and Mystique:

They have a daughter they train to be evil. They've been gay for so long they're one of comics first be gay and do crime couples ever. They're wives.

They are married and in love and have been for decades! Mystique is totally down to kill anyone in her way and so is Destiny. Destiny died years and years ago and for all that time up until recently one of Mystique’s most common motivations was trying to find a way to bring her back to life, which succeeded a few years ago

For the Leverage trio:

No murder (except occasionally by Elliot) but the theifsom as they are sometimes called rob from every kind of evil rich asshole they can find. Three of the best criminals in the world. Be poly do crimes. 

A canonical (Word of God) triad who run cons with the ultimate goal of helping people. Hardison is a hacker, Eliot is a hitter, and Parker is a thief

[the-s1lly-corner]

Could you possibly write hcs for dates Johnathon and the reader would go on before the collider incident? I hc him as a giant sci fi geek so I can just imagine going to comic con in matching cosplays or sm :]

Going on dates w/ Jonathon!

Hello hello! so ! im going to be writing a lot of the remaining spot asks on my computer so i'll be more focused and since im a faster typer with a physical keyboard! so if you see my typing style change, this is why! typos may be more noticeable, unfortunately :( also it lets me blare music right in my ears while i type cuz spotify is mean on my phone anyways!! ueueueu this idea sounds so cute :3

honestly youre so right about him taking you to cons and such; you guys do matching couples cosplays from varies different medias you both like

movies, shows, games; its all up for grabs

though he wont force you to dress up in cosplay if you dont want to! he wants you to be comfortable! and not all cosplays are.... comfortable

while not totally sci fi, and obligatory admin doesnt know much about it; but from what admin does know, i feel like hed be into DND

both as a normal player or as a DM; you guys probably join a campaign together

anyways

not all dates have to be outside and doing something; sometimes you guys hole yourselves up at home and watch a few movies

another note admin doesnt touch sci fi all the much so their experience in the genre isnt very... much

he seems like the type to be a fan of the alien franchise, or at least the original

ponders

just the two of you cuddled up on the couch with blankets and loads of snacks and pillows

very nice and cozy

totally doesnt try to casually lay his arm around you

again, i see jon as a cliché, he does all the stereotypical romantic stuff even if it makes him look like a dork

i mean hes a dork when it comes to you, but

yeah

moving on

this dude will literally consider you two cooking dinner together a date

especially if you guys dont live together yet

oh? you need help cutting something up?

(not so) casually puts his hands on yours to help you out; assuming your hands are smaller than his they get completely engulfed

if not, hes still gonna try to guide you

thinks

whenever he has the money and wants to splurge on you he takes you to some fancy restaurant

NO CUZ

i just got done watching the original Spiderman trilogy for the first time yesterday and this dude

would pull the same proposal idea as peter

fancy high end restaurant. ring in the champagne glass, having the band play a specific song, ect ect ect

AGAIN

dude is cheesy

so

yeah

i kinda got off topic there but thats more or less my date hcs!! i dont really right date stuff often so this was a fun little thing

[tinukis]

FINALLY SHOWING OFF MY COLLECTION !!! i finally reorganized a little bit buuut it still feels incomplete... anyway!! it's a mix of one piece and pokemon... ft other things but mostly one piece

FIRST SHELF:

again, mostly pokemon and one piece. i've been collecting pokemon plushies/merch in general since 2018. and to be completely honest with you, i feel like my life didnt start until 2018. i have no recollection of anything at least irl before 2018... i have a bunch of pokemon plushies still that arent even on here or theyre just hiding from sight! (like behind gladion is a steven stone plushie nfmshd) OH AND I HAD MY GLADION AND MIKO PLUSHIE MADE !! i just drew it and then gave the designs to a manufacturer :3 my next goal is to make another two but with their alt outfits this time :D

also on the top shelf, other than the action figures and plushies, are artbooks! for original sun/moon, usum, scarlet/violet, and it's hard to see but artbooks for the great ace attorney/dai gyakuten saiban as well !! also the gladion acrylic standee blends in well with wano zoro jfkdhjd omg do yall think gladion could do a closet cosplay of zoro (miko got him to do it <3)

also im not rlly big on pop funkos, theyre just gifts <3

AND TWO BINDERS OF POKEMON CARDS... i dont play i just collect them bc i like pretty art

SO UM. SECOND SHELF. one shelf dedicated to zolu, asl, and ace and sabo :3 behind the zolu figures are tiny plushies of them and rubber straps but well, its hard to see em </3

i got into one piece since like. early september and now i have an entire display dedicated to one piece 😭 + other things like persona lol

feat my pokemon boxes and unboxed one piece figures. ofc, this isnt Everything i have but it's Mostly everything

the last two things i'll show and the second post wont be posted until i update my stuff more

so heres my poorly made luffy cutout that was literally made with sweat and tears... in fact i startwd this project like a WEEK after starting one piece 😭😭😭 thats how you know i was strapped in for life

and my corkboard!! some cool one piece works and the wano zolu sc :3 it's really cool to have these things hfmhdjd

the ace print, frobin charms, rubber pins, and stickers i just pinned on are stuff i got from a con. everything else from jp mercari !!

tbh, the sealed gladion acrylic standee is like my most prized treasure... not that i dropped hundreds on it but i got it for a lot cheaper compared to the other sealed ones online :'D + his postcards too are one of my most prized possessions... i wonder who my favorite pokemon character is

honestly idk what to fill the empty space in with but i wanna balance out this corkboard with pkmn and OP so maybe i'll try to hunt for more pkmn stuff

this is all i'll share for now but the next post will show my two ita bags that i have :0 !!! and my comically large arcanine plushie that i named ace 😁🫶

[omniuravity]

I didn't check my poll because I'm an idiot, so here are my comic con pictures and experiences.

Here's some tags: @bloodypeachblog @fatgumsurpremacy-remastered @dynogadget @moths-and-mantids @pinkhimecat

I saved up a lot of money from my summer job to pay for this because I am financially irresponsible. I also spend $100 for the VIP pass because I wanted the best experience possible for my first convention.

So there were lots of cool guests at the convention I went to, but me being myself, the people I was the most excited to meet were some of the cast members of Hazbin Hotel (specifically Blake Roman, Erika Henningsen, and Amir Talai).

Day 1:

I get to the convention center and find out my boyfriend (who took most of the pictures) didn't buy a VIP ticket because he bought his literally the day of the convention.

When we got there all the VA's had gone to their respective panels (there was a Hazbin one, a Fairly Odd Reunion, stuff like that), so we just wandered the convention center. I bought an Alastor print from a vendor, and he bought an Angel Dust print.

To pass the time we went to the Hazbin panel and I asked a question and gifted each of them bracelets I made. My question was, "What's your favorite line that you didn't say?"

Erika said, "Cause I'm having sssex with everyone here!"

Amir said, "Who gives a shit?"

And Blake said "What? They say insane shit all the time!"

After the panel, my boyfriend and I rushed to get in line, and he had to stand in the normal line (which was wrapped around the convention center). Meanwhile, I breezed past everyone in the VIP line and got the opportunity to talk with Blake, Erika, and Amir. Amir even traded a bracelet back when I met him. Unfortunately, my boyfriend didn't get to meet anyone that day before he got tired and we decided to go home.

Day 2:

I chose to cosplay as Valentino this day, and I really wish I wish I did it the day before so I could've met Blake in the fit. Anyway, I get to the convention center at 9:30 (since I thought VIPs were supposed to get in there at that time) and security stopped us and said VIPs get in at 10 or 10:30 I don't remember. Regardless, my bf and I went to Party City to buy a $10 feather boa that ended up basically disintegrating throughout the convention. I am still mad about it. When we get back and are allowed in, I brought him as my plus 1, so he got to be in the VIP line with me while he gave his ticket to two of his friends. We met Blake (I met him again). My boyfriend was especially excited since they talked a good while. We wandered the convention and bought more things before going home for the day.

Looking back:

I had a blast at my first convention, and adored meeting the Hazbin cast though I wish I made time to meet the Fairly Odd Parents cast while I was there. I also wish I had a cosplay planned for both days instead of just the one though I fucking rocked my cosplay.

Here are the pictures I took!

Day 1:

Day 2:

Thanks for listening!

[mychlapci]

Wait a second I just saw your post that was like who’s that one dude who shows up for a episode or a page who’s really important to you.

And you just gave me a chance to talk about my favorite random guy you’ve chosen this fate it’s not my fault.

Anyways… Nacelle my beloved. He’s not even good at anything in particular. He’s not good at flying or fighting or lying and do not ask him about history. He may or may not be an engineer. But he just wants to be important! He’s eager to prove his worth! And that’s where what we actually know about him ends- he may have been in G1. And he was in a few comics. That’s it. I’m obsessed with him. He’s just a guy! He is literally just somebody’s weird coworker! I think he should get to go on suicide missions- after all nobody else would volunteer, and besides losing him wouldn’t even be that bad in the con’s eyes. Even surviving those wouldn’t get him much recognition though. Also really random thought but since he was an aerodynamics engineer before I think he’d be really fascinated by Earth’s atmosphere and gravity. When he has free time he’d just take the chance to look at birds and clouds and watch human planes moving around. I also think he’d like model airplanes and those sorta things. He thinks it’s rather impressive that humans(who can’t naturally fly- who are very tiny and sensitive) managed to make such amazing things, as skyscrapers and fighter jets. I also think he’d take good care of his fans and thrusters and turbines. Always make sure everything is in working order. I think he’d know a lot about doing maintenance and also a lot about how flight actually works. It’s just that knowledge doesn’t really translate to his actual flying skills. Also apparently he worked with shockwave and upgraded his wings and turbines in one of the comics?! So yeah he can have high powered turbines as a treat. And that actually leads to my next thought. I think he’d like birds. I bet that the winds for his turbines would be warm and easy to fly in- what if he kept them on a low power setting so that birds could just use it as a little boost. What if he got covers for his fans and stuff specifically so that birds wouldn’t get stuck or hurt. What if he specifically tried to avoid disturbing birds when he’s out on patrol. He likes them because they’re cool and interesting and also the other cons don’t care about them at all- they’re just like him fr.

And I have more thoughts but they’re too muddled to actually be coherent- point is I love Nacelle and I want him to appear more because he is amazing and I love him.

oh my god.... anon, i love you. this is exactly what i'm talking about. pick out a guy who had one appearance and go ham crazy over him. I already love Nacelle so much. and i only googled him 2 minutes ago.

[mekatrio]

anime con log diary whatever

the epic outfit for today:

thankfully no traffic so that was epic. i was there pretty early (10:30-ish) so it was easy to find parking. got lost in the mall for like ten minutes until me and friend found some staff members for the con, and they showed us the way. the entrance was rly out of the way lol, usually theres two point of entries, but one was out of service. u had to follow a rly specific path to get there. there were also a bunch of buddha statues near the entrance stairway?

idk what was up with that. anyways since we were early there was no queue for us to get in. very nice. also its the weekday so i heard that theres significantly less ppl here today than there'll be the next two days. also very nice.

several booths were still being set up while we walked around. we checked out the official vendors first before checking out the artist alley, which was the main reason we were there. immediately my friend finds and starts buying some hoyoverse merch. i check the booths out w her for a while and then i get myself a green tea latte. then we check out the goodsmile booth and i find these

very cool but i do not get them, bc 1.) expensive, and 2.) i do not like plastic figurines. i also stop my friend from buying a persona 5 joker figurine. she goes and buy some more hoyoverse stuff instead. then we go check out the artist alley... and then friend realizes she left her water bottle somewhere. and as per usual with the cons i go to w her, we are seperated. and then we meet up again, but not before i buy two epic items:

i am sooo happy w these two purchases 💜 they were the only ones of their kind, so im glad i got them when i did. the gengar plush will live on my purple bag and be gomamons new neighbor, like so:

^ this was also how my bag looked for the rest of the day 🤭 yayyyy 💞 anyways after looking thru the artist alley some more, we take a break to get some food. cuz we barely had anything for breakfast and we are fucking starving. the food area looks like this:

and everything there was unsurprisingly expensive lol. me and friend get the cheapest thing there, which are pizzas

tho im kinda starting feeling nauseous at this point.. and have to keep myself from throwing up. thats what happens when u take supplements + drive + drink a green tea latte on a nearly empty stomach and little sleep. dont do that. so i go to the bathroom and freshen up, and eventually i feel better. i eat three slices of pizza and give the last slice to friend, and sadly have to throw away the rest of the latte or i would feel sick again. but i feel way better now that ive eaten.

we then spend the next two hours going thru the rest of the artist alley. me and my friend joked abt the possibility of finding at least 1 (one) kgpr merch. or possibly tota merch. but unsurprisingly, there was absolutely none Lol. tho i did find vesperia merch instead

literally only one booth was selling vesperia merch haha. also surprisingly there were quite a few ace attorney merchs? its surprising to me cuz the last art event i went to only had one narumitsu sticker in the entire place. but here there were several

^like this artist, who i didnt know was based in malaysia! ive seen their comics on tumblr a few times. didnt buy from them tho, sorryyy.. anyways, various pics from the artist alley:

after we finished looking thru the artist alley and had bought our fill of art (and good god did my friend buy loads of art), i checked out a second hand vendor that i saw earlier. they had loadssss of stuff, and me and friend spent a good 15 minutes digging thru this massive tub of pins and keychains in hopes of finding smth good

i was rly hoping to find something tota or kgpr in here, cuz if they were anywhere in this convention they would be here.. but sadly there was none haha. it was rly funny digging thru this thing, i kinda felt like a racoon/archeologist. oh but i did find these two pins which made me laugh

and in the end i found and bought a bunch of revue starlight merch + a cute embroidered pin

and then after that we finally left the con.. we spent a good 5 hours in there. we went to a store for me to grab some stuff for home, then played 2 rounds of taiko hehe (6 songs total). then we went to grab some food

^ the mall the convention is in also has a fucking river flowing thru it lol. i remember seeing this as a kid, its been over ten years since ive last been here

then i drove my friend home in ATROCIOUS weather... omfg it was raining so heavily. and stupid navigation app sent me to drive on some nearly flooded roads 😑😑😑😑 but we made it in one piece and i chilled in her room for a bit. she took a pic of everything she brought... which was SO MUCH LOL

^her haul. and then finally i arrived back home.. here is my comparatively much smaller haul:

but yayy it was a fun day today ✌️ but now i have work tomorrow.. bahhhh

[batwynn]

A semi-official announcement :

TLDR: I will no longer be participating in the ‘professional’ comic industry, but I will continue to make comics and art stuff as usual elsewhere. I may also delete my website after this last payment cycle ends because the cost does not seem worth it.

The long of it:

I’m done. I don’t want anything to do with the ‘professional’ comic industry, and I’ll be removing myself from the industry spaces. Yeah, it was my dream to work in comics for a large part of my life. I literally drew them since as long as I could pick up a pen. I loved to read them (and still do). I think a ton of people who work in comics are super cool and decent people, and I’m really glad to know some of them personally.

But no longer want to work there. Ever.

There’s really, genuinely, nothing more eye opening than watching the comic industry from the sideline for the past 20 years—more intimately for the past 10. Because that’s how you see how truly fucking horrible it is. How unkind people are, how abused other people are, how easily the scammers get away with stealing everyone’s money, how an entire group of misogynist racists still get good jobs and thrive, how the same four people get selected for major jobs and hey are they all white cis men?, how even the awards ceremonies will always choose the well-known names of famous people dabbling in comics over people’s actual years of amazing work, how most creators don’t get paid for months-years-ever, how every minority creator works until their fingers bleed and still don’t get any respect, how women creators are STILL treated like they don’t belong, how there’s a new story of a rapist/sexual harasser at comic-cons and in meeting rooms every single day, how the big companies all dipped into NFTs and AI art here and there while not hiring actual artists, etc etc etc.

It’s just… gross. It’s bad. And after years of putting in work, money, and time into it, I just don’t think I want to be a part of it anymore. I hate that it was all a waste, and I hate that this foolish kid-dream of mine has been thoroughly crushed, but I can’t even stand looking in from the sidelines anymore. It’s like watching multiple car crashes, constantly.

What this means for you:

I will continue to make comics! I’m not going to stop creating. I am going to stop applying for professional comics jobs, leave the comics discord/groups/etc., and possibly delete my website when the pay cycle comes around again. (That depends on how many people prefer to read my stuff there or who actually look at my portfolio for illustration stuff.)

So, really. Nothing is going to change much for y’all in regards to what you’ll see from me. In fact, it means I’ll have more time to dedicate to working on stuff for you, rather than wasting time on applying for jobs and gigs I don’t even want anymore. 🤗

So. I’m going to go cry a little bit, do some hurricane prep, and I’ll (probably) be back after the storm!

[remimibanana]

AVCon 2024 Convention Report!

I went to AVCon for both Day 1 and Day 2 in Adelaide!! This was the first ever convention I went to, so this would be my second time attending!!

I cosplayed as March 7th from Honkai: Star Rail alongside my good friend Pie (@piedivide) as Dan Heng! We did so many things and met so many cosplayers both new and familiar that I have to write about before I forget!!

Everything under the cut!

Day 1

I woke up at the ripe old time of 6am to become the wonderful March 7th you see right here.

Why, you may ask? I had to catch a train at 9:58am in order for us to get to the convention around 11am and I need time to get ready!

My mum helped me get ready (thank youuu), I quite literally cannot put on the top without help. It’s so hard to get on and off, but it fits fine once it’s on me for some strange reason. Many safety pins were also used to pin things in place (four actually but who’s counting?).

The things we do for cosplay.

I once again didn’t have time to actually try on the whole cosplay before the convention, it’s becoming a running trend for me which isn't good. Next time, it won’t be the case since I’ll have loads of time to acquire and try on my next cosplay!

For context, OZ Comic Con and AVCon were about three weeks from each other and I had Uni to finish up and the actual cosplay to order…was definitely cutting it close. It all worked out at the end thanks to me paying for express shipping.

The weather was horrible this day, it was raining for the whole morning and it was really cold. I remember not wanting to get up when my alarm started blasting. My trusty umbrella that doesn't like to stay up came in handy!

I got to the train station and immediately someone kindly pointed out that the camera March had fallen off me. It never stays on thanks to the weak clip so I didn't bother clipping it back for the rest of the con and subsequently forgot about it.

The train ride was fine at the beginning, until these really loud and annoying teenagers came and were right next to where I was seated since they had scooters. They kept going on about vapes and talking about me…and one even touched my shoulder aha

I was so glad when I finally got into the city and was rid of them forever. I absolutely abhorrer people like that, I just ignored them by staring at my phone pretending to scroll through stuff. It was hard when they literally tried talking to me at one point too…

Anyway!

Pie was waiting for me at the station, and he looked amazing! I really liked their wig, I don’t know how they do it. I feel like I’m doing something spiritually wrong because mine doesn’t look anything like the ones I see on the internet aha

I had to keep cutting off these small strands that kept going into my eyes. I think I'm not using enough hairspray to keep the hair sections together, which I shall work on!

I’ll work on my wig styling skills these next few months in between conventions. I shall learn the secrets of the trade eventually, and become a master!

We headed to the Adelaide Showgrounds, excited for what was to come for Day 1!

The line was HUGE. It went on and on, we literally couldn’t believe our eyes. We went to the very back of the line, which was right where the building across from the convention was (they have the Farmer's Market there on Sundays).

There were two lines actually as we could see, we didn’t know where to line up so we just went to the one on the left and hoped we were in the right one since we had pre-bought physical tickets from Shin Tokyo earlier in the week!

I had my umbrella out since there was a bit of rain PIE as we waited. I kept insisting that there was rain, while he kept insisting that there wasn’t despite the fact there WAS PIE!

I won when it started to rain harder and you could clearly see the droplets on his head as I so pointed out very smugly (I won okay don’t tell me otherwise or I swear—)

It took about 15 minutes or so to get inside of the convention. The theme of this year’s AVCon is a Sports Festival where there are four teams duking it out for the first place, so there were many unique passes you could get!

I didn’t really have a preference, but I would have liked the Pink team since pink supremacy, while Pie wanted the Green team since green supremacy. We thought we could choose, but they were randomly given out by the staff (I assumed it was because of the sheer number of people)…we did get the ones we wanted though!

Pie kept saying there was a Calli cosplayer in the distance, but I said I couldn’t see them multiple times (all I saw was pink hair in the distance) because I thought he was talking about Callie Splatoon, not Calli Hololive as I realised after.

You need to specify with me or I will make silly mistakes like this.

Our first order of the day was to find somewhere to sit and reorganize ourselves. I had to take off my jacket and Pie had to put away things as well before we could enjoy our time! We went to the main stage since there were many seats there and it was in front of us upon entering.

Once we got ready, we decided to go get something to eat since we both skipped breakfast to get ready. All the food at the convention was outside interestingly, so we headed outside after realizing this fact.

We both got some large fries that were decently priced! They were really good, not too soggy as they often can be with just the right amount of warmth! I put normal salt on mine for this day, although there were more to choose from!

During this time, Pie was contacting his brother who was also attending the convention but apparently he got lost in the meantime trying to find it and the line. It was kind of funny to be there viewing all the chaos unfolding.

I did get to meet Pie’s brother which was very nice! I kinda just stood there smiling the whole time because I’m no good with people haha

PAiDA!!!

When we headed back to the main stage, PAiDA was about to start her performance! She was a part of Babybeard's Adorable Assault Tour who opened for them here!

It was so amazing watching her perform, I've been a fan for quite some time now of her! I wish I could have met her, but I'm happy enough to have seen her in person!!!

Her final song was Future☆★Town, the song that made me discover her! I jammed out to that happily while eating fries!

Babybeard!!!!

THEIR PERFORMANCE WAS AMAZING. HANDS DOWN THE BEST PART OF DAY 1.

This was the first time I ever heard any of their songs properly, and I wasn't disappointed in any way! The mix of cute singing and metal screaming is incredible, Adelaide finally won because we never get anything here!

In the middle of the performance, a whole fight broke out between Ladybeard and his former coach who appeared stating that he was a disgrace and that his pigtails had to go. I had no idea that this would happen, they jumped off the stage and went all around fighting each other while interacting with the crowd!

They even fought in front of Pie and I! I whipped out my phone and started recording it because it was a chance I couldn't miss. As they headed back to the front of the stage, we rushed there too and managed to be right in front for the rest of the performance!!!

I swear to everything that Ladybeard, Mahri and Suzu were staring at me at times as they performed. I was copying their movements to an extent since I'm pretty good at that after all the Just Dance I've done in my life for fun but I thought I was being delulu about the staring like usual.

Pie after told me that they were definitely staring at me and waaaaaa I can't believe it!!!

Someone actually asked if we could take a photo with them during the performance once it was all over, although it was really hard to hear them so I had to ask for them to repeat their question twice just to make sure aha.

I will never forget this performance!!!! You can actually see me in the group photos that were posted by Babybeard alongside Pie on the right!!! We're famous now.

We even were shown on national television on The Project who had Ladybeard as a guest!! I was watching the show live on TV and I remember the whole time I was mad because they showed Ladybeard last so I had to watch the entire thing!

I just wanted to see him man and they kept saying “soon” over and over! It was worth the wait, but couldn’t they just have said that he was going to be the last guest in the first place?!

Point is, it was all amazing.

Dokibird!!

After Babybeard, Doki had a karaoke for us all! She was so straightforward about her going after them and how she said yes to a karaoke for some reason. She also couldn't actually hear us so we had to give thumbs up instead, this is why I love Doki man.

I’m proud to be a fan. Did you know she actually visited Adelaide before?! I couldn't believe it when she told us, I didn't expect such a renowned figure ever coming here since no one ever comes here and forgets about us mostly.

She sang three Disney songs for us with such cool effects and animations to go with them! All this effort for us Aussie Dragoons, it was a lot of fun to be there! I actually recorded the entire karaoke so I can look back on it!

My favourite Wii game of all time. I finally have it again.

We were walking past stalls and there was one filled with retro games and consoles. I remember we were walking closer, and a particular game's top caught my eye inside a container. I rushed to grab it, and it really was Mario and Sonic at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games!!!

It was an immediate purchase.

...

I got many photos with many cosplayers on this day!!! Please allow me to blab and gush about them all!

Firefly!!!

We were walking past the retro consoles that were set up and we saw a Wii that we immediately beelined to and used as our chance to put on the Dan Heng headbands Pie got us graciously and turn on my 2DS because I forgot to.

As we were sitting there, across from us was the Firefly cosplayer and we awkwardly waved to one another haha, it was great. Pie then went to ask for a photo as soon as we were done getting ready!

They look amazing!!!

Dan Heng IL!!!!

You know we had to get a picture with another Dan Heng since Pie was also Dan Heng! They looked really cool!!!

Is this like...March's dream lol

Jolyne!!!

They look so cool!!!! People always do such amazing JoJo cosplays, I'm always so impressed!

I'm up to Stone Ocean so I finally get a taste of who Jolyne really is and man I like her even more than I did before!

Bridget!!!!

I saw them while walking through the Artist Alley and blurted out it was Bridget. I really like Guilty Gear so I went to ask them for a photo very confidently!

They were so nice, I could tell they were so happy that I asked for a photo!

We even high fived at the end hehe

Joker!!!

We saw them when we came into the convention, actually! I pointed them out to Pie, who immediately was happy because he's a huge Persona fan!

I think Pie mostly wanted the picture but still invited me to join in, that made me very happy hehe.

A.B.A (and Paracelsus)!!!!!!

Before the convention, I was seriously brainrotting over A.B.A after seeing someone talk about her and show her sprites from Isuka.

I was watching videos and ingesting her lore like some crazy person. I think I manifested them because I freaked out when I saw Paracelsus from afar when we got to the convention! I know how that giant axe looks like from afar!

I needed a photo.

Alas, it was like a whole wild goose chase to actually find them. No matter where we looked, they literally didn't exist. Pie kept saying "Giant Yellow Key" to refer to them, which is not completely wrong as we searched high and low. I thought I missed my chance, which I was slowly accepting.

We found them eventually though near the doors, and I went straight to ask for a photo before they could leave! They looked so cool and their Paracelsus prop is everything!!!!

Elphelt!!!!!!

I also was brainrotting so hard over Elphelt as well, so to see an Elphelt cosplayer was also insane to me. I loved her Strive design from the beginning, but I was also learning about her previous designs in Xrd and Xrd Rev 2 and her lore!

I manifested this too, I was winning so damn hard!

It was such a struggle to get a photo with them as well, Pie and I kept losing sight of them in between all the people in the Artist Alley. They kept going up and we tried to follow to no avail. We finally managed to catch them at the end around a corner!

I asked for a photo and they pulled out Elphelt’s mic, a must have! I was really happy!!!!

Neuvillette!! (@edenzcosplay on Instagram!)

It was nice seeing her again alongside Cypher (@cypher_cosplay on Instagram)!!! We first met them back at OZ Comic-Con earlier in June and we always have such nice chats!!!

Thank you for the photo!!

Himeko!!!!! (@gumiho_cosplay on Instagram!!!)

All we're missing is Welt and the Trailblazer and we'd have the whole Astral Express here.

We saw her while walking around, finding it very awesome to see Himeko here as well! Eventually, we went up and asked for a photo with them!

They’re so pretty!!!!

Calli!!!!!! (@cheshrae on Instagram)!

This was the Calli cosplayer Pie was talking about earlier!! We saw her walking by and Pie went to ask for a photo! She was so kind, and even put a hand behind me which made me very happy!!

Very pretty!!

We spent the last of our time at the arcade, playing the various games available!

This time around, we were able to use our Nimo cards on the various rhythm games set up! Pie and I have one from Timezone, they literally gave us them for free since it wasn’t in the system yet!

Sound Voltex was a game we played at AnimeGO last year, so it was nice to play it again! I kept spinning the knobs too much so I always messed up that part of the gameplay.

I was waiting in line for another rhythm game that was next to Sound Voltex after, but unfortunately the wait was quite long (there was another in front of us that we didn’t know about) and I didn’t want to make Pie wait since he wasn’t going to try it out.

We headed back to the city at that point, deciding on getting some food!

It was after 5, which made things harder since most places were closed, again. At the end, we went for Hungry Jacks. It's becoming our tradition for every con, which I don’t mind!

I tried the Big Jack this time around, and it was so damn messy! Pie did tell me so but I wanted to have it so I could say I tried it once in my life. Note to self, don’t ever order this again.

We then went to take photos at the photo booth! It was a self serve one where you simply walk in and use the machine to take photos. We had to take eight photos and we had no idea what poses to do. It was really fun though! I put the picture strip away in my photo album, hehe.

Then we went to Karaoke! It’s our tradition to do this to end the day off! I managed to sing all of the English songs off my list this time around, leaving me with only a few left that were mostly Japanese ones that I didn’t get to.

I think the highlight for me was when I did Zombies on the Lawn from PvZ, Pie did the Zombie voices while I sang the Sunflower parts! We totally slayed that song I feel.

I was running out of songs to sing for Day 2 as I soon learned, which wasn’t good. On the train ride home, I thought up of some more songs based off my Spotify playlists!

I then headed home, taking off my cosplay immediately without a second thought.

I didn’t sleep until after midnight.

Day 2

I woke up at 6am once again to get ready! I only slept for like five or so hours, so I was pretty addled the whole time. For example, I tried to wash my face again when I already washed it.

Getting ready went much quicker this time around though! I was dissatisfied with my makeup while applying it actually and then liked my makeup again after....don't ask.

I had to use more safety pins for the ribbons on March's sleeves because they were about to fall off. It was worth buying them for sure!

The weather was so much better this time around to my surprise too when I stepped out! There was no rain this time, and we had a bit of sunshine! It was perfect since this day was special, very special!

It was Pie's birthday!!!

They are so lucky to have their birthday during a con! I knew that this year, I had to get something for them more tangible than what I did last year! I usually draw something digitally for them, but my drawing tablet is out of order ;;

The cable broke and I haven’t gotten a replacement yet, I want to buy a new tablet since mine is over 5 years old and I think it's time for a new one!

I was thinking long and hard about what to get him, and only one thing really came into my mind: Welt Yang acrylic stand. Pie is Welt Yang's biggest fan and what better to give to such a fan than the character himself?

Mihoyo officially released an acrylic stand with Welt's splash art and I knew it would be such a perfect gift for him! Honestly speaking, I was so busy that I only had time to order something in less than two weeks, so I was fearing I wouldn't be able to get it.

I looked on Ebay, hoping that they a) had the acrylic stand and b) that it would come in time. To my absolute joy, AmiAmi were selling the stand for a decent price AND it would come in time thanks to free express shipping!

I bought it immediately. I actually missed the package the first time since no one was home to pick it up and DHL don't leave packages at the post office. I got it at the end, don’t worry.

I still wanted to draw something for Pie, so I made a card!

I love making cards, I always do for one of my friends, so it was time to do so for them! I drew them doing a JoJo pose because yes for the front and drew myself inside alongside a small message wishing them a very happy birthday!

I used my markers and various traditional supplies, although I wish I had more colours to play with. I’ll get more colours eventually!

For the final present, I got some dark chocolate because he really likes it. It’s not because I already had some lying around or anything in my drawer full of sweets. I'm a bit of a sweet tooth, I can't resist the sugary temptation...

I put all this into a gift bag and brought it with me, making sure not to forget anything!

There were no annoying teenagers on the train this time around, although I did drop my MetroCard and a kinder older lady pointed it out to me. I also forgot to put on my gloves ehe

When Pie and I met at the station, I immediately said happy birthday and gave them the gift bag without letting them say a single word aside from hello.

They asked me if they were meant to open it now, and I answered nonchalantly “if they want” but of course I meant “YES OPEN IT NOW MY FRIEND YOU MUST SEE IT”

We went to sit down at a bench and I watched with excitement as he opened the bag! Pie first pulled out the card, reading the little message I wrote inside for him!

I'm glad he liked the card at the end and the drawings at the end! I worked hard on it, although the inside drawing didn’t want to stick down in place so it kinda just flaps around haha

Then, Pie pulled out the main present.

I could see in their eyes how happy they were seeing the acrylic stand of Welt Yang himself staring back. He excitingly ripped open the plastic wrapping and kept thanking me over and over.

I knew he’d like it.

The chocolate was lastly taken out and he was happy with it of course, but Welt Yang was stealing the show obviously. Pie hugged me while still thanking me for everything profusely.

I'm so happy that he was so happy with it all! I really wanted to surprise him for his birthday!

We then headed on the train back to the Adelaide Showgrounds for Day 2! Our plans this time around were to do our shopping and meet all the famous guests today!

There wasn’t a real line this time around as we noted, so we took this chance to buy some food since we skipped breakfast again.

We ordered the same large fries again! I put Himalayan Pink Salt this time around, but I underestimated how much salt would fly out of the container. We actually got way more fries than last time, which was a win in our books!

Heading in was easy since we already had our Weekend passes, so we just showed them to the security guard and off we went! We sat down at the main stage again, noting how there were many cosplayers lining up on the right side of it.

The Cosplay Parade was about to start, as I quickly worked out. We decided to watch a bit of it and leave once we finished eating our fries. In fact, we stayed for the whole time.

Upon trying to leave, someone asked for our photo and used their 3DS to take it! It was very cool.

The first guest we met was Bryce Papenbrook, the guy who was my literal childhood. He was Kirito, Adrian, Makoto and Nagito….it was a real honor to meet the voice actor of them all! I didn't know what to say to him, but I tried my best!

I spiritually embarrassed myself I feel because I kept blabbering about how he was many characters for me…I’m no good when talking with people I’ve noticed sometimes.

Bryce literally ended the conversation and I’m very thankful he did because man I would have continued on if he didn’t aha.

We actually came at the earliest time, but we had to come back later since he had his panel. We received these little tickets with a number so we wouldn't lose our spots!

I’m happy to have met him though!

ELYSIA (@_lumistar.cos on Instagram) AND EDEN (@shell._cos on Instagram) (dies)

I was so excited to meet them, since I knew beforehand that they would be here as the Elysia and the Eden!!!!

If you didn’t know, I’m a HUGE Honkai Impact 3rd fan who’s been playing through the game! I’m on Chapter 32 right now of Part 1, and I’m playing through Chapter 3 of Part 2!

I was talking with Lumi, the Elysia cosplayer way before the convention who told me that she would be cosplaying as Herrscher of Human: Ego Elysia alongside her friend as Eden and I freaked the heck out, of course.

Elysia is one of my favourite characters and I really liked Eden when I was playing through the Elysian Realm!

HONKAI IMPACT 3RD COSPLAYERS ONCE AGAIN AT MY ANIME CONVENTION I KEEP WINNING

They actually saw us first while we were waiting in line for Bryce and they waved at us before continuing on their trek! It was too bad weren’t able to take photos then but I knew we would get our opportunity, eventually!

If I wasn’t in line, I would have rushed right over to them without a single thought.

Once we finished with Bryce, we headed off to find them! We needed that photo! I needed to see them again before they disappeared somehow haha like some of the other cosplayers from Day 1.

We headed towards the larger area filled with tables and we saw them sitting down at one from afar. Our plan was to leave and come back when they’re done, but they started standing up and eventually came over to us!!!!

You two looked amazing!! I’m so happy I could get a photo with the both of you!!!!

Caelus!!! (The main trio is HERE)

Pie saw them first when we got to the convention, and he was hoping we could get a photo! We didn’t see them for a while, until they appeared in front of us and Pie went right after them.

They looked great!!!

Jing Yuan (@starkiller.cos on Instagram)!!!!!

Pie and I were talking near the main stage, and suddenly we see a bird in between us cutting through our conversation haha

I was so surprised, seeing a Jing Yuan cosplayer right next to us who wanted a photo! Of course we obliged, can’t have too many photos!!

They were really cool!!!

We got to catch a bit of Dokibird and Babybeard's QnA panels!!! We couldn't stick around too long for the both of them, since we had to line up for meeting people and what not.

It was so cool seeing them again! Someone from the audience mentioned by accident something in relation to Doki's past when asking a question and someone literally overreacted by saying it was forbidden and stuff really loudly which was a bit much.

Otherwise, it was very awesome!!

We did buy prints for ourselves and one another, but Tumblr image limit sucks so I can't show them. I can describe them though!

I got Acheron and Robin from HSR prints for myself, while I received Pikamee and Sunday from HSR prints from Pie! I absolutely love them, thank you once again!!!

For Pie, I got them a Silver the Hedgehog square print since they really like Silver and it caught my eye while walking around and a Bruno Bucciarati from JoJo Part 5 print since he's Pie's favourite and immediately knew I had to get it upon sight!!!

I also got three A5 prints of Aventurine and Dr Ratio as gifts for my friend whose birthday is coming up really soon! She REALLY likes the two of them, I can't wait to see her face.

I GOT TO MEET DOKI HERSELF AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I will never forget this.

Pie and I rushed over to the guest area where Doki was going to have her meet and greet, noting how there already was a decent line forming.

We inserted ourselves into the end of the line, hoping we would have the chance to meet her! We were pretty sure we would, especially since we each only had about two minutes with her and they did time each person.

It was quite the wait, since all of us had to wait for everything to be set up and for each person in front of us to have their turn. My legs were hurting the whole time, but it was all worth it!

In the middle of it all actually, there were some technical difficulties. The PC that they were using to stream Doki to the large tv screen decided to stop working properly with the headphones and the staff couldn’t work out why or how to fix it.

At the end, they used a laptop and apologized to us all that it had to be like this. I didn’t mind at all, we still could meet her despite how long it took to resolve all the issues which was the important part at the end!

Pie and I actually wrote letters for Doki, since we were allowed to bring gifts for her! I bought this really pretty letter set from Daiso that I used first, and then gave a set to Pie since they wanted to write a letter as well after seeing mine!

There was also a collectible card we could buy with Doki on it, but we had to go to the merch stall as we learnt. On the table, there was a QR code that I decided to scan, finding out that there was a whole scavenger hunt at the con?!

No one told us! We probably would have done it if we knew, a bit of a missed opportunity. It seemed you could have gotten a prize of sorts if you completed it all.

I was nervous the whole wait because a) it’s Doki hello she’s super famous and b) I didn’t really know what to talk to her about.

There was one thing I knew I would definitely say, mention that it was Pie’s birthday before I say goodbye and if she could say happy birthday to him!

I wanted to make his day even better, and I know how awkward it is mentioning that it’s your birthday to someone yourself without it sounding like…entitled? I don’t know how to exactly explain it, but I’d do this for him any time!

Anything for a great friend like Pie! I got you!

My turn finally came around, with me holding my phone out so a staff member could take a photo of me and Doki! They asked if I wanted a selfie or a photo, and there was no way in hell I'd do a selfie without messing it up miserably and looking ugly so I told them I wanted a photo.

Once they did, I sat down and put on the headphones. I said hello, and Doki said hello back! She was talking to meeeee!!! I couldn't believe it!!!!

At that point, there was this very short silence between us that I knew I couldn't let it go further so I started blabbing about how she was here in Adelaide. It was the only thing I could think of at the moment.

I first told her that it was such an honor to meet her, and how I saw the announcement on Twitter. I then said how I watched her karaoke and how she said she visited Adelaide! I literally gushed to her and she didn't seem to mind at all!

I latched onto that topic and it worked out well I feel! I didn't stutter too much or anything, although I feel I did accidently interrupt Doki when she was about to say something at times, I was just that excited and nervous aha.

I only had ten seconds left to talk to her after all this as the staff pointed out, so I went straight to mentioning that it was Pie's birthday and that if she could say happy birthday, it would be amazing.

Doki said that she got me and asked for Pie's name! I told her his real name since I assumed it would be more personal that way! I was so glad that she would do this for me!

I thanked her again before saying goodbye multiple times! I was over the moon after that, standing nearby watching Pie talk to her! I had a stupid grin on my face as I could tell that Doki said something regarding his birthday.

I saw that look towards me Pie, hehe. I said I got you, didn’t I?

Once Pie was done, they ran to me and demanded to hear what I talked to Doki about, noting how I did well and didn't seem too nervous at all! I'm glad I looked that way because I surely didn't feel that way haha.

We spent some time gushing over Doki together, with me finding out that Doki said that I doxxed Pie during their talk (and she wasn't wrong lmao). I was so happy to hear that I made Pie happy with this small little gesture!

I still can't believe I met Doki.

After that, we went to buy the collectible card! We couldn't find the merch stand so we had to ask a staff member, only to find out we were quite literally near it the whole time of course. We had to wait a short while since the staff was busy, but Pie eventually asked about us getting some!

We got SUPER lucky since there were only two left that we paid for immediately!

Our plan was to meet Babybeard as well today, but they were nowhere to be seen interestingly after their QnA panel earlier. We did see PAiDA near where Doki was, but we assumed that meant they were relocated elsewhere. I can only guess their meet and greet was cancelled for some reason, since we couldn't find them at all after walking all around the convention.

We met Doki, so it was fine! I’m sure we will get another chance again someday to meet them!!!

After one final walk around, we decided to leave and head back into the city for some food once again! We decided on the Izakaya we went to last year sometime since we wanted something warm and we had a bit of extra time!

I was practically nearly broke by the end of it all as I could see from my bank account, so I only got myself some Takoyaki while Pie got a ramen bowl. I spent way more than I expected, which isn’t a bad thing!

I just uh...have to not spend crazy amounts of money for a while until I recuperate.

We went to Karaoke once again! I was set since I knew what songs I wanted to sing, while Pie was the one struggling this time. Usually, our roles are reversed and I take forever to choose anything so it was kind of funny.

I think the highlight was when we started singing meme songs out of nowhere. Pie did the HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA song (very impressively I might add) while I did Witch Doctor! It was a lot of fun jamming out to them!

I did sing a whole bunch of Japanese songs this time! I did mess up many times but it was still a lot of fun! I sang Gift and Sevendays Love, Sevendays Friend, two songs from Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live I really like!

I then headed home after that, taking off my cosplay immediately and relaxing near the warm heater. I was going to record some TikToks like I usually do, but I really didn't feel like doing them. Next time, I will!

It was an amazing weekend! I did so many things and met so many people that I will never forget any of the experiences I had alongside Pie!!!

Thank you AVCon!!!! Thank you Pie for the fun time, and thank you to everyone who came up to us for a photo!!!

I love cons so much!!!

-Miku

[stereogeekspodcast]

[Transcript] Season 4, Episode 3. X-Men ‘97 Spoiler-Free Review

The X-Men are back! Ron and Mon caught the Canadian premiere of X-Men '97 at Toronto Comicon 2024, and the following episodes. We share our review of the new season, all the feels about seeing our favourite X-people onscreen, and what we're looking forward to from the rest of the season. No spoilers!

Read Mon's Episode 1 review at Vocal, and learn more about the creation of the show with Mon's Comicon recap. Ron shares her experience at the X-Men '97 activation at Toronto Comicon 2024 on WWAC.

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

(L-R): Beast (voiced by George Buza), Wolverine (voiced by Cal Dodd), Morph (voiced by JP Karliak), Bishop (voiced by Isaac Robinson-Smith), Rogue (voiced by Lenore Zann), Gambit (voiced by AJ LoCascio), Storm (voiced by Alison Sealy-Smith), Cyclops (voiced by Ray Chase) in Marvel Animation's X-MEN '97. Photo courtesy of Marvel Animation. © 2024 MARVEL.

Hello and welcome to a brand new episode of Stereo Geeks.

I'm Mon.

And I'm Ron.

Today, we will be discussing X-Men ‘97.

The new season of the 1990s X-Men animated show has got everybody a flutter.

We managed to catch the Canadian premiere at Toronto Comic Con 2024, and the hype was real.

I have never seen this many X-Men t-shirts, X-Men cosplayers, X-Men art, X-Men love, anywhere ever before.

And as two X-Men fans, this was a jam.

We literally went to Toronto Comic Con this year, just trying to get as much X-Men stuff as possible, and we did well.

Well, it's also nice because you suddenly see that there are other X-Men fans out there.

They love this franchise.

They love these characters.

Some of them are a little too enthusiastic.

But the highlight for a lot of people was the X-Men activation at Toronto Comic Con.

But it was an experience, getting in there.

Listen, with these exclusive things, it's always a bit of planning, a lot of loss of sleep, considerable anxiety before you can actually get there.

Sometimes you get lucky.

The stars align, the timings of your transporter line, and you get there well in time to stand in line and actually get into the room where it's happening.

The X-Men activation, we were already told several times, limited seating, you should get there early.

So that's exactly what we did, even though we'd spent all of Friday at Comic Con and it was kind of a late night for us.

But yeah, we were there first thing in the morning for the X-Men activation zone.

And it's a good thing that we went as early as we did.

So the activation was called Xavier's Lounge for Gifted Youngsters.

At first, I thought this meant it was only for young folks, like family zone or something.

Thankfully, it was open to everyone.

It was just, the naming of it was a bit odd.

But anyway, basically what this activation was, it was a couple of conference rooms turned into a giant North American living room like you would have back in the 90s.

It was Saturday morning, which is when the original show used to air.

And that's when they had the premiere.

I'd say there were about 10, 12 people before us, and this was a good half an hour, 40 minutes before the show even started.

So yeah, we were there really early.

Yeah, and you're talking about the show as in Toronto Comic Con.

That's not even when the screening started.

That started later, and it actually ran late.

So we missed another session.

But anyway, all in all, it was such a cool experience to be sitting amongst all these X-Men fans.

A lot of people had dressed up, a lot of t-shirts out there.

We were also wearing our X-Men t-shirts.

And just a great deal of buzz and excitement about this franchise that so many of us have loved for a really long time.

The thing is, you and I didn't grow up with this X-Men show.

It never came to India.

The X-Men movies, they came, and then we suddenly just fell in love with this group of characters, and we've been in love with them since.

But for a lot of people in North America, this was their introduction to the X-Men.

This is how they got into the comics.

So for them, this revival is huge.

Yeah, but also just spending time with the X-Men is so special.

It's weird because the X-Men weren't a thing when we were growing up.

Not just this show, but just in general, you never saw X-Men comics.

You never saw anybody refer to them.

So the movies were a game changer for us.

And then on the back of those movies, we had the PSP game, X-Men Legends 2 Rise of Apocalypse.

That really changed how we saw these people because there were all these characters in there, so many of them who still haven't made it to the big screen.

Then we went into reading the Wiki articles about them and finally got to the comics.

And that's how we learnt about this amazing group of people.

Now listen, comics, man, they're tough.

Some are good, some are bad.

Most of them are disasters.

You'll go through some runs and you're like, why do I like these people?

But in general, the X-Men do speak to a kind of community a lot of us feel, which is that you feel different, you feel like an outsider, you don't feel like you belong, and then you have the X-Men to turn to.

This is a really very important group of folks for us, and for a lot of people as we figured out at Comic Con this year.

And we were really like, you get pulled into that excitement.

Even if you're a little bit apathetic or unsure, I was like, oh, you know, like, you just get sucked into this.

Yeah, and we were so excited for anything X-Men related at Toronto Comic Con that we watched all five seasons of the 90s X-Men show on Disney Plus in anticipation for this event.

And I'm glad we did because at Toronto Comic Con, most of the main conference rooms were running the trailer for the X-Men ‘97 show.

And that starts with the ending of the 92 show.

Which has a huge spoiler for what happens in there.

So yes, I'm glad we watched it.

We marathon watched it.

Maybe that wasn't the best way to watch it.

And also as adults, you kind of do look at things differently.

On top of that, we're entertainment writers, so you're constantly analyzing everything you watch.

We are not devotees of the original series.

We have our criticisms of it.

But listen, it's the X-Men.

We had so much fun spending five seasons with them.

And I've gotta say, there were some very interesting notes in that original series.

And when I think about it, I'm like, wow, in the 90s, they were doing this.

I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

And there were some minute character changes, which I really enjoyed as well.

So yeah, I just enjoyed watching all these characters that we've completely fallen in love with for so many, so many years.

And I've been reading the Krakow era comics.

I keep telling you about everything that's been happening.

It's tough to get into those.

It's so vast.

There are so many different series.

I still don't know how certain plots ended because they weren't in the runs of the books that I was reading.

And I'm just like, okay, I'm just going to have to accept that this character died and just move on from that.

I will never find out how it happened.

Well, this revival is also happening at the same time that a comic book revival is happening.

So that's interesting.

I might actually start with these new comics because as you said, the Krakow era, I started it, but it's just too much.

There's too much to do in the world to catch up with that many comics.

I was kind of six months behind on the Krakow comics during Christmas.

And I literally didn't do anything else during the Christmas break, aside from reading comics from the Krakow era.

I'm caught up now and now I'm behind.

Such is the life of a comic reader, especially the Marvel comic readers.

Never know.

Anyway, shall we talk about 97?

Indeed, X-Men ‘97.

There's already a little bit of controversy just before the show launches on Disney Plus with creator and showrunner, Bo DiMeo, unceremoniously being fired.

No idea why.

And I think it's kind of odd because he was talking a lot about how much he loves the X-Men.

I don't know what happened.

We can't really speculate or anything, but it is a bit strange.

And it was obvious from the cast and previous producer and director, Larry Houston, when they were at Toronto Comic Con, nobody mentioned Bo DiMeo.

I was like, obviously the PR people got to you guys.

It's always uncomfortable when you start off something with a little bit of controversy.

His name is still in the credits from what we saw in the screeners.

So there's that.

But anyway, aside from the controversy, there's also been a lot of discourse about Morph.

We won't get into that because that's not even there in the first three episodes.

So let's just talk about the story.

First of all, we are not going to share any spoilers for the first three episodes.

The first two will be dropping on March 20th.

And then there'll be weekly episodes, total of 10 episodes.

All happening on Disney Plus.

So the show kicks off from the previous storyline.

It's not immediately after.

Things have changed.

Visually, things have definitely changed.

The animation style is gorgeous.

I would say it's almost too sexy.

I love the animation, the colors, the movement.

Actually, Larry Houston kind of said, that is really the Disney money because he couldn't get any of that kind of movement when he was doing the show in the 90s.

But yeah, oh God, it looks so good.

And there's a scene that for some reason, they've already shared it on Marvel's Instagram of Jubilee dancing.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

You would not have got that kind of movement in the 90s show.

Definitely not over here.

It's like your eyes just cannot move away from the screen.

Yeah, and the music is outstanding.

Not only has the theme tune been tweaked and updated to be more modern, but there's like these beautiful synth pop background tunes going on, which I'm like, this is exactly what I like.

Yeah, I'm like, are they going to unveil Leila Cheney here?

But you know, she wasn't there.

So one thing the voice cast at Toronto Comic Con mentioned was that the creators of the new show wanted to showcase the X-Men using their powers, but in new ways.

And that's obvious from the first episode itself.

And speaking of the powers, that's what makes the action in this episode so spectacular.

Each character and their awesome powers are introduced one by one.

This allows audiences old and new to acclimatize to the new era as well as the characters.

It was great to watch this.

And it's a really tight episode.

And honestly, it was more fun because we were watching it to the crowd and we were all like oooing and eyeing when the characters were in peril and ooh, they got out of that tight situation, yes.

So yeah, it was a lot of fun.

And another thing that, not that I noticed it, but the cast actually mentioned that the episodes in this season are going to be slightly longer.

So looking at the runtime, it's about 30 minutes for each of the episodes.

And I believe the 92 show, the episodes were generally about 21, 22 minutes.

So you get about six, seven minutes more story.

And I don't know whether that's the reason why it's only 10 episodes long.

We'll talk about that later.

Yeah, so the first episode really sets up a bunch of plot lines, which we're going to be seeing throughout the show.

The story does seem interesting.

The main story maybe, I don't know.

And then there's the Magneto drama, which honestly, I am far more into that than anything else.

Listen, if there's one thing that the X-Men is extremely good at, it's drama.

We don't care about who these big bad guys are that are attacking them.

We live with the drama.

Superhero soap operas, that's what we like.

Let's talk about Storm.

I know that the creators had said, oh, she's going to be powerful and cool.

In the first episode, she is definitely powerful.

She's never been more bad as before.

Yes, Storm's mohawk hair, like that just signifies that this is going to be an era.

I thought she was so cool, so powerful, and I love what she does with her powers.

It's different.

And I don't know whether it's because I've been reading the Krakoa era comics and all the characters are super powerful.

I just feel like it's a nod to what she can do in those comics.

So yeah, I like it.

On the flip side, Morph's look, that's a choice.

Well, Morph's look is much more consistent with their comic book look.

He looks like that?

In the comics, yes.

And now Morph and Bishop have been added to the main cast.

As you see, they're in all of the promos, etc.

Morph's human looking face, I don't know, I felt like it's been softened a little bit from the rather severe angles of the original show.

I don't know if it's a different choice because they have adopted a different default look or if it's just part of the animation style.

Bishop on the other hand, his powers are just so cool.

Again, the way they're using their powers in this show this time around, it's gonna blow people's minds.

I also feel like Rogue's face is slightly more soft.

The angles are gone.

I don't mind it, but because we've been watching the old show, and immediately after we see this one, you feel it.

I don't think this is a spoiler when I say Roberto da Costa has been added to the cast.

A lot of these characters, as we know, they sort of expand their roster, but it's not like they have full on main cast roles and screen time.

But love seeing Roberto, the way he's animated, so beautiful, really beautiful voice acting as well.

Now, we have seen one other new mutant in all this while.

One and a half, if you take into account little Ileana.

But what about the rest of the new mutants?

Also, so Bertro is like a little bit problematic in the comics, especially when he was first introduced.

I really hope they don't have all that misogyny in there.

Listen, when I see Bertro, my lad, I am so happy.

Listen, we lost Adam Cantor, who was a very lovely Bertro to see on the big screen.

I was so happy to see him, and it's really sad that we lost him.

But now we've got Bertro in this show, and he's being voiced by Guy Agostini.

I think he's doing a great job.

It's exactly what I'd imagine Bertro to sound like.

He's not sleazy here.

He's actually kind of sweet, very lost, and I really enjoyed the way they did his story.

There's a particular line that he says that got everyone in the feels.

Having said that, I don't think anybody ever gets Bertro's skin color right.

Like the New Mutants movie, let's not even start with that.

Bertro's mutant powers kick in because he's being bullied so badly because he has dark skin.

He's a very rich young boy.

It doesn't matter.

He's still getting bullied because of his skin color.

I just don't think it's correct in this show.

Like I love the fact that Bertro is here, but it's not right.

Yeah, no, I agree with you.

I really wish that they had just gone with the darker skin tone.

It's always these little things, you know.

Well, one course correction here has been the voice actor for Jubilee.

She's finally being voiced by Southeast Asian actor Holly Cho.

The original Jubilee actor, Alison Court, she said that she has a different role on the show, and she's actually very happy that she has passed on the baton to somebody who has the lived experience of Jubilee.

Court did not mention who she's playing, though.

Very, very sedative.

Yeah, I'm very happy that Holly Cho is taking over this role.

She got a really great shout out actually from Alison Court during the Q&A section.

She's really very happy about this new addition to the cast.

I'm really glad to see that they're willing to make these changes, you know, after everything that happened during the pandemic.

So it's a good change.

Can't help but wonder why we needed it in the first place.

Having said that, I did do some research, and at the time that Alison Court got the role, when she was, I think she said she was like 16, 17, they didn't tell her Jubilee's origins.

Poor thing was a bit shocked when she found out.

Well, at least they cost corrected.

So another cost correction, if you can call it that, is that this show is finally realizing how hot Gambit is.

Listen, I'm a writer at WWAC.

The WWAC team loves Gambit.

We once did an entire post about how much we love Gambit.

That's how much we love Gambit.

This episode, oh boy, people are going to love Gambit in this one.

Wow, yeah, how is Gambit this hot?

That's all we're going to say.

We're going to leave the rest to your imagination, because he doesn't.

That's a good one.

Oh wow.

So we had a kind of sad reason for a new addition to the cast.

Ray Chase has joined the cast as Cyclops' voice.

And this is unfortunately because the original voice actor Norm has passed away.

I absolutely love Ray Chase.

He is doing a great job.

When I started listening to Cyclops' voice in this show, I was like, this is it.

This is how Cyclops sounds.

Chase is doing a really good job of channeling Norm Spencer, but his voice acting is just so perfect.

He is exactly the way I hear Scott in my head.

I don't know what it is.

Maybe the timbre in his voice or something.

Scott is still a little bit more snarky in both these shows than I would expect him to be, but I love it.

It's so good.

I would listen to Scott in this show forever.

So we'll end the review for this episode by saying, it gets you in the feels.

There's a lot of emotion involved, not least because of the nostalgia value.

You're back with these characters.

You're spending a whole 30 minutes with them, which is honestly more time than you get to spend with the X-Men most of the time.

So this is great.

The best part of this episode is kind of in the trailer, but at the same time, every time I think about it, still makes me kind of teary.

This is quite an experience.

I don't know if it was heightened because of the Toronto Comic Con community and the whole premiere and the voice cast and meeting the person who made most of our favorite shows from our childhood, Larry Houston.

I don't know what it was.

It was a combination of a lot of things, but let's just say this first episode is worth the wait.

100%.

We can't really talk much about what we see in episodes 2 and 3.

We did get screeners to see them.

Let's just say they're quite different from the first episode, and comics fans are really, really going to love this.

From episode 2's credits itself, your mind is blown.

They're openly telling you nothing is the same anymore.

Without revealing anything about the episode, I will say that it was very tense, and honestly, there was one scene which I felt like it was riffing off the January 6th insurrection in the US.

Those sort of visuals and the tension of it, really scary stuff.

Now, whether it's intentional or whether we're putting those sort of visuals together because it literally happened not so long ago, I don't know.

Sometimes I do think art is sending a message, and if an X-Men show is not sending a message, it's not doing it right.

But from the scary to the sublime, if Magneto is so bad, why is he so hot?

That costume, that's something else.

It's making me question a lot of things.

Oh man, well, you know, Magneto's outfit is straight from the comics.

But I think it's the way it's drawn in this animated show.

It's really striking.

And I think it's because you don't usually see male characters dressed in that combination.

We can't reveal too much.

It may already be in the trailer, but when you see it in action, it definitely has a different feel to it.

And on top of that, you have this beautiful animation style and the colors are so beautiful, which actually makes a lot of sense because the X-Men are so colorful.

Like you have to have a colorful show.

Now what I do like, especially in this episode, is how they amalgamate a bunch of storylines into one tight story arc.

It's great because especially if you read different comics, you'll be like, oh, that bit's from this comic arc and this one's from that run.

I really love how they've done that.

Episode 2 for me was the best episode so far in 97, but probably the best episode of all of the original series as well.

Wow, that is high praise.

And I understand the sentiment because the X-Men, the 92 show, it kind of consistently had one message.

No matter what the mutants do, no matter how many people they save, humans will still hate them, humans will still hunt them.

The way that the Krakoa era comics have been going right now, that is the underlying theme.

It doesn't matter that the mutants have found their own island, that they're trying to just help people, cure people, it doesn't matter.

At the end of the day, they'll always be other, and because they are other, they must be eradicated.

This episode leans into that, and I think that's why it really hits you that these events can keep unfolding over and over again, despite what's happened to the X-Men.

The humans in this world will not accept them ever.

Well, one of the things which you can intuit from the first two episodes is that the humans are gonna hate the mutants because they don't see them as people.

And that is literally the real world issue with so many marginalized communities.

The people in power don't see them as people, so they don't see their suffering as an issue.

Now, how many people watching this in the year 2024 are gonna be able to draw that through line?

I have no idea.

Well, one of the things that was really hard hitting during the Q&A at Toronto Comic Con, George Booza and Lawrence Bain, both talked about how the X-Men appeal to people who don't fit in, who feel like they're on the periphery of society, the freaks, as Lawrence Bain called them.

They find refuge in the X-Men, which is what George Booza said.

And that's what makes the X-Men so enduring.

I do have to say that the Krakow era comics, I don't think they did justice to that feeling.

They got kind of lost in all the sci-fi stuff.

Very interesting to read, very imaginative, but so often I would be reading it, and I'm like, all those strong messages about it doesn't matter who you are, what you are, who you love, you're still a person who deserves respect, and the right to not be killed, whether you're mutant or human.

It just didn't come across that much in the Krakow era comics.

I'm hoping that the rest of the season really plays with that, because if you look at it, every time Bishop travels back and forth from the past, he's doing the same thing.

He's trying to save mutants, because humans just will not stop fighting mutants.

And honestly, at a time when the world is so divisive and so ready to fight over absolutely nothing, we need this show to send a message.

And I think it is, in its own way.

I think we're getting very maudlin over here.

Let's talk about the action.

The action was great.

Like the first episode, I loved the action.

It was so crisp.

And again, because we've been watching the old series literally days before, the movement of the characters was really something to behold.

What I loved about the action in the second episode is it's really hard to predict the outcome.

Again, maybe it's the crisp animation, but I felt I could really follow the different characters as they were fighting.

And sometimes in the old shows, I didn't always feel like I could figure out which character was fighting which.

I guess you could say the direction is a little bit crisper.

Again, technology has improved, so you can move animation and camera angles, et cetera, in a different way.

So it's much easier to follow, and it really ups the tension and the pacing a lot.

And Storm has a very interesting storyline here.

It's very different from episode one, but I believe we know which storyline from the comics this is.

So I'm very intrigued to see how the show is going to handle it.

So we mentioned the music in the first episode and how fun it was.

In this one, I felt like there were some musical throwbacks to the films, and it kind of reminded me of the Gotham Knights TV show, Short-lived, Why Did It Get Cancelled?

It was so good.

But that show had a few musical throwbacks to the Dark Knight trilogy.

It really worked to cement that show as part of that universe.

I kind of liked it.

Yeah.

Alright, episode 3.

Now this one, we really can't talk about anything here.

I swear every frame was a spoiler.

So we'll just give a sort of brief idea of this episode.

It kicks off with some extremely disturbing horror imagery.

If I was a child watching this, I would be awake for a few weeks.

This is not for the faint of heart.

And it actually makes me think, is this show for kids anymore?

The original show definitely was.

It was a Saturday morning cartoon.

It was meant for children to watch.

But watching the aesthetics of this show and some of the story arcs, I'm beginning to think this is a show for the people who had been kids when the original was around.

Yes, this episode was the first time when I thought to myself, who is this show for?

Because there are some really mature themes thrown in here.

They do scale back on some of the costumes because the comic storyline, oh boy, they did not leave anything to the imagination.

So that's definitely a bit different here.

But even then, like the horror elements, those were pretty disturbing for adults.

Forget children.

So the other thing I'd say, and I don't know if you noticed this, but Berthold's powers, it's borderline giving me trypophobia.

I really hope it doesn't actually because in the comics it never bothered me, but over here, because of the movement again, I don't know, it was like, oh boy, oh boy.

I really hope it doesn't get any worse.

Oh wow, I didn't notice that.

Now I'm worried.

But I do like how they're adapting stories from the comics.

And the original 90s show also did that, with Dark Phoenix saga and everything.

But the one that's in this episode takes place over several issues, and it's all kind of clumped together in this 30 minutes.

I don't know if that had to be so rushed.

I agree, it felt really rushed.

This was definitely one of those stories that required multiple episodes for the entire arc to run.

But again, how do you squeeze in a multi-arc story when you only have 10 episodes in this season?

The original show, one of the seasons had 13 episodes.

Some of the other seasons had 17 episodes, 19 episodes.

That's a good long time to base out your story.

But also there were a couple of other moments in this episode where I was just like, are people going to know who these characters are?

Because if you're a comics fan, you're like, oh yeah, oh yeah, this is great, this is wonderful.

If you're coming to this show as a newbie, you're going to be like, who's this?

There was definitely one character who I felt like, okay, they've put this character in there because they were part of the original comics arc, but there's no way the X-Men know about this person.

Or does this person even exist in this timeline?

It just doesn't make sense.

It's a great Easter egg, but it just doesn't make sense story-wise.

Talking about things that don't quite make sense story-wise, there's that love triangle.

Where did this love triangle come from?

I mean, it's alluring because the people involved are kind of hot.

But at the same time, it's also ecky.

Was it even canon in the comics?

When you guys watch it, you will know what I'm talking about.

Was it?

Okay, but I think we read about this in the trivia section of the Rise of the Apocalypse game.

I'm pretty sure.

But still, that doesn't mean it's canon.

Must be canon at some point.

This is so weird.

It's really weird.

This is probably the first episode of the three where I could tell that Gambit has a new voiceover artist.

He sounds a lot gruffer.

I couldn't tell.

He sounds the same.

He just looks great.

Yeah, the animation is so beautiful.

Yeah.

So yes, after watching these three episodes, how do you feel about the show?

Oh, I am super excited.

I'm enjoying it.

I love how many of the comic stories I can actually recognize.

I'm interested to see what's happening with the characters.

The animation is just so, so stunning.

I really just love being able to see it.

But I'm very intrigued by some of the story arcs that they've decided to adapt for this season.

And honestly, more X-Men.

Can't go wrong with that.

I completely agree with you.

Enjoying the action, the characters, the storyline, it's all great.

And we love the X-Men.

So glad this show is back.

And that's all from us talking about X-Men ‘97.

What did you think about the show?

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email stereogeekspodcast@gmail.com. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.