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wolfsbanesparks · 2 years ago

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I'm curious and making a seperate post about the forgotten and older Captain Marvel characters from the past comics, but what are your thoughts on them? A bunch of them aren't even used anymore, but have so much potential to them if they're ever brought back.

Like Joane Jameson, apparently she was Billy and Captain Marvel's secretary at Whiz Radio, who knew of both of his identities and helped them. I really like this idea and think it would really be useful for a Billy Batson that's a street kid and constantly wary of adults who might want to turn him back in to the foster system, she provides a safe example for Billy to look up to and actually trust. Not just that, but she could also provide assistance for Billy/Captain Marvel on missions, things he may lack insight on or informing him of villainous attacks/incidents.

Are there any characters you wish to see be brought back to the present day comics or see them be included in fanfictions more? I also really like the idea of Dr. Sivana's children be brought back into the action more, especially Beautia, since she's actually a good person (from what I remember) and on good terms with the Captain

So it's taken me literally forever to answer this because every time I do I go down a mini research rabbit hole about older/unused characters because there are SO many that I would like to see more of.

My thoughts under the cut because it got long.

This isn't even everyone, but it's a lot of cool underutilized characters I'd love to see brought back.

Because of the number of characters, I'm splitting them into categories for ease of reading:

Civilians

Cissie Sommerly: Billy's girlfriend and the niece of his boss Sterling Morris (who also needs to used more tbh) She is a sweetheart who loves her little brother (Pete) and is very kind hearted. She didn’t get much development in the older comics, but she often had to deal with Billy and Cap’s shenanigans. I would love to see more of her!

The Sivana kids Beautia, Georgia, Thad Jr, and Magnificus: we recently got an adult Georgia in the New Champion of Shazam but I want to see the whole family together! And exploring their family dynamics with only half of them being supervillains would be so fun! They love each other but it's complicated. Georgia and Thad jr were basically parallels to Mary and Captain Marvel Jr and that was a fun balance. Meanwhile Beautia and Magnificus weren't really interested in their father's evil scheme though they gkt roped into them sometimes. And of course Beautia's crush on Captain Marvel causes problems but she's still awesome and even tutors Billy for school.

Sunny Sparkle: basically he was so universally beloved by everyone who met him that they just gave him things. Bank robbers would just hand him their stolen cash. Car jackers would give him the keys. He was gifted so much stuff every day that Billy had to help him donate and sell stuff regularly. In modern comics, I think it'd be cool if he was unknowingly a metahuman whose power was being hypnotically charming.

Freckles Marvel: she was Uncle Dudley's niece and despite not having powers, liked to tag along on adventures especially with Mary. She's a lot like Darla with her upbeat little sister energy. I can see them being friends in modern comics (or maybe even related since they both have the last name Dudley)

Dexter Knox: a child prodigy and inventor who was good friends with Billy. He's basically the smartest person in Fawcett and he loves showcasing his inventions to Billy.

Villains

Arson Fiend: an insurance salesman that uses extortion and threats of arson to meet his sales quota. He drinks a potion that gives him fire powers which he uses to commit arson against people who didn’t buy insurance from him. We've talked a bit about his connection to other Captain Marvel villains like Lady Blaze who healed him and gave him his powers back when he lost them. He's such a simply evil character that works really well for comics.

Chain Lightning: a teenager with multiple personalities and the power to control lightning. She has 4 personalities: Amy (the "main" alter), Amber (the more angry/volatile alter who protects the system), the Inner Child (no name besides that but encapsulates their child like wonder), and ID (the embodiment of their id, thus more impulsive than the others). She actually absorbs some of the Marvel’s magic lightning which allows her alters to temporarily have their own bodies. Amy is in love with Captain Marvel Jr because he saved her life, but the other alters are more wary of him, especially Amber. While any adaptation of Chain Lightning needs to be conscious of the ableism that happens when depicting a system, I think there's a lot of great potential with this character.

Sabina: she is technically from the Trials of Shazam not Fawcett comics, but I think she's cool. Basically she was raised by a cult called the Council of Merlin. She was destined to be 10th in line to receive the powers of Shazam so she starts killing those ahead of her in the order to ensure that once Billy was mo longer the Champion the powers would go to her. But when Billy was transitioning to become the Wizard he chose Freddy as his Champion, bypassing Sabina and the predestined order of things. So Sabina decides to kill Freddy AND the gods he was going to get his powers from. She's so evil and cool and I really like her design. I definitely think there's a way to bring her back.

Fawcett Heroes: there are a ton of fun characters that weren’t necessarily Captain Marvel characters but were part of the same world before he was a DC property.

Bulletman and Bulletgirl: literally Billy’s favorite superheros! He reads their comics and everything! They were very popular at the time, Whiz comics second most popular characters behind the Marvels. They are a husband and wife duo that gave themselves superpowers (strength, durability etc) which they use to fight crime, particularly supernatural villains.

Mr Scarlet and Pinky: Brian and Pinky Butler are a father-son vigilante duo. They were so good at their jobs that Brian barely had any work as a district attorney because of such low crime rates. They were basically a working class version of Batman and Robin. They're good friends with the Marvel family and when Mary got her first solo series, part of the advertising was having Pinky send her pen pal letters inviting her to have new adventures with him and the other Fawcett characters.

Ibis the Invincible: an Egyptian prince whose mummy was uncovered and brought back to life (by Shazam). He uses the Ibistick, an extremely powerful magical wand, to help people as he adjusts to modern life. He can do just about anything as long as he has his wand and often gets thrown in the middle of conflicts between gods.

Kid Eternity: aka Kit Freeman, Freddy’s long lost little brother with ghost powers! After dying in a boating accident when he wasn’t supposed to, he was brought back and given powers as compensation. He can summon spirits, turn invisible, and become intangible, though his powers shifted over time. He's such a cool character and he deserves more love!

Whew that was a lot! If anyone else has characters to add (and I know there are many) I would love to hear about it! And if any of these characters intrigue you I encourage you to check them out and sneak them into your fics!

#ask me whatever you want y'all #shazam #billy batson #dc captain marvel #fawcett comics #forgotten and underutilized characters #we need to see more of these guys #so many of the Fawcett comics characters have been tossed to the side despite being so cool #and the marvel fam's supporting cast has just been gutted in favor of cameos from other DC characters

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adelaidedrubman · 8 months ago

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4, 8, 10, 18 for the pride asks for both (or just one you think it's more relevant to) of ur far cry girlies

TY BELOVED these were great ones to think about and i did do each question for each girlie and am sorry, as always, for the long answers 💕

4. Is your oc's environment supportive about their identity? How does this impact them?

of all the reason she’s locally hated, bisexuality isn’t top of anyone’s list. although actually on second thought a significant portion of the hope county population has probably looked at johnjess and said “huh, i think i’m biphobic now.”

but in all seriousness there is ofc a montana circa 2018 level of biphobia in her life mandated by the setting. mostly only passing reference as far as what’s actually on the page because that’s the only capacity in which it’s fun for Me, The Author to explore it. and because jestiny doesn’t hang out with straight people. which also is really only because as god of the universe i decide every character from canon i like enough to write about must in some way be not cishet. i’ve done many cruel things to mary may, but i won’t do that

and as for family of origin, jestiny certainly did not receive much support. her parents and extended family were mostly bible belt evangelicals and took that to heart, so. not a lot of pride flags hung up in the windows growing up.

that being said, her extended family never really learned she was bisexual because she never voluntarily socialized with them, so they never knew they had anything to disapprove of. in part because her parents’ open disapproval mostly took the I Pretend I Do Not See It/this is one of her many Difficult Phases form of biphobia. this isn’t a problem because it isn’t really happening, and if it is she’ll grow out of it. teenage jestiny stomping through the house screaming “BYE everyone i’m going out on A DATE with my GIRLFRIEND who i KISS WITH TONGUE because i LIKE WOMEN AND MEN” and her mother saying “that’s great sweetie i’m glad you’re finally making some gal pals and developing a positive attitude tell the boys you’re going on your double date with to have you back before curfew” (she goes no contact with her father and never tells her mother anything about her personal life in adulthood so to them this is where it left off forever)

8. Have they had struggles with their identity, be it due to internal or external reasons?

nothing that deep. it was probably a very easy childhood trip to the library to get on the computer and go “google am i gay quiz. whoa bisexual you can do that?? ok that’s out of the way. wikipedia chinook salmon” for her. and her natural contrarian disposition has helped keep her from internalizing most of the bigotry she was taught she should be internalizing. those signs won’t stop her because she can’t read etc.

10. Does your oc celebrate Pride? How?

idk why my first thought was that sasuke fic line like “i don’t dance! what’s pride what do they have to be proud of?” anyways yeah every year she goes to the bars with rainbow flags to pick up chicks and bi men then gets piss mad about the place being full of overpriced rainbow shots that are mostly water and food dye and Straight Allies and yells and complains and leaves belligerently announcing she’s going to go actually celebrate pride by catching rainbow trout if you even care. local bisexual woman finds a way to get less ass during pride month than any other month of the year

4. Is your oc's environment supportive about their identity? How does this impact them?

copy paste what i said above about montana circa 2018 but substitute lesbophobia. although ig 2018 jenna would be experiencing less of it on the day to day since her primary social circle is eden’s “We Like Gay” gate. which brings us to yes, her primary canon environment is supportive.

prior to her time in the project her main environment was academic institutions in the greater san francisco area so. yes, she was assured, constantly, very loudly, of how approving her environment was, like the most approving place on earth, basically perfect, and they’re waiting for her applause. (that being said being where she was did give her above average opportunities to connect with other queer people and find a personal community she gelled with.)

as for her family of origin, this is the one part of her life her parents are unconditionally supportive about. “mom, dad: i’m a lesbian” -> “yay, good to know!” vs. “mom, dad: i’m switching career fields from the natural to the social sciences” -> screaming crying throwing up how could you disappoint your family like this what will we tell people where did we go wrong. also they have disapproved of every woman she’s ever brought home but never for the being a woman thing.

8. Have they had struggles with their identity, be it due to internal or external reasons?

nah, identity is a very flexible and mostly social communication thing for jenna in general so there’s never been a lot of identity formation drama for her, including wrt gender and sexuality. which isn’t to say she doesn’t reflect on it, but it’s more intellectualizing than struggling to come to terms with anything about herself. same with external challenges, she perceives them but intellectualizes it without taking much to heart or feeling any type of way about it, as is her wont.

10. Does your oc celebrate Pride? How?

she does, jenna has a lot of appreciation for cultural observations and attending sociql events in general, so. if there’s a big pride event near her she’s probably stopping by, albeit often more as a spectator than as an active participant celebrating herself and her community. but she shows up, and may put a pride flag in her window

AAAAAAAND FOR GENERAL:

18. Do you prefer to give your ocs specific labels, or keep it unspecified? Why? If applicable, do you change their labels depending on circumstance?

i usually define them with whatever is the best familiar term available in character descriptions even if they tend not to define themselves with the same terminology or wouldn’t specificy at all in universe. i don’t always have a character’s sexuality nailed down on day one, but some form of wlw is the default starting point bc write what you know and want to see more of and such. so far i don’t have any ocs that have been adapted for vastly different universes, so i haven’t had to think about whether to change labels to reflect changed circumstances.

also for the record, i would write a straight oc if their being straight was really necessary to the plot or they were a funny side character or something

#oc: deputy jestiny ellen #oc: jenna swann

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everybody-loves-purdy · 3 months ago

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Idk about everyone else but I am S O GODDAMN EXCITED for Changing Skies!!! Maybe my hopes are a little too high cuz Star ended on SUCH a banger but the premise for this arc really feels like something we’d see in the earlier books!! I can’t remember the last time human intervention and how it effects the clans was such a BIG plot point but I’m really really looking forward to the Big Problem being humans again!!! It really makes the clans feel more grounded but also adds a threat that’s SO out of their control you don’t know how they’re gonna fix it!!

Also AAAAA!!! TAWNYPELT AND LEAFSTAR POVS!!!!!! For the LONGEST TIME I’ve been wanting to go back to an older cats POV and THEY PICKED MY TWO BELOVEDS!! Don’t get me wrong I ADORE the new protags we’ve been getting but following a familiar face whose already survived so much and knows what to do when shit hits the fan is so exciting!!! (And this is just a personal pet peeve but I think it’s SO SILLY that people find Tawnypelt being old and grumpy at the ‘younger generation’ annoying but when say, Jayfeather does it he’s soooooo endearing and interesting like,, I GET IT but also,,,, BDNEHDNDN)

Also also MOONPAW!! MOONPAW!!!! She feels like some 10-year-olds Deviantart Mary Sue OC AND IM LIVING FOR IT!!!!! The way the fandoms kinda Goncharoved her into being in love with the moon pool PLUS her weird absorbed twin thing going on???? IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS LITTLE WEIRDO /POS however I think like a lot of people I am really nervous that they’re gonna do a weird bad ableist DID/Schizophrenia arc with her and I’m just. Crossing my fingers and praying that doesn’t happen!! We stay nervous forever!!

- 🐴 (so I can find this post later!!)

It’s fantastic you are so excited lol, I’m very excited too! Hopefully the arc lives up to the hype!!

My greatest fear with Moonpaw is that it is going to be a poorly handled and ableist thing… fingers crossed it won’t be!

#🐴#anonymous

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acaciapines · 1 year ago

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If you’re still doing songs - song 69 and 138?

im always up to do em lets GO! i'll put both above the cut n then talk below :)

69. It’s Called: Freefall – Rainbow Kitten Surprise

king misses his mom. he misses his sister. he misses his aunt and his grandparents and mari trying to pin him down and luz letting him crawl under her covers and eda hugging him when he grabbed for her and firefly chirping good morning and good night and throwing out her wings to keep him safe.

“kiiiiiiiiing,” the collector whines, flipping upside-down through the air. “you’re so boring, what is your problem?”

“just tired,” king says. it’s hard to look at the collector straight-on. the thoughts that surround him are a messy array, and barely any of them are his, the way they are for anybody else: it’s a weird conglomerate of old thoughts like those that drift through the sky, but so packed together he can’t make anything out. it’s a beach of golden sand the collector runs through, leaving kicked-up grit in his awake.

“naw, c’mon,” they needle, landing right in front of him. “you’ve been tired forever. be fun!”

he misses his family so bad he’s sure it’s a wound spilling out of him. how can’t the collector see that?

“okay,” king says, “fine. let’s play.”

138. Habits – Genevieve Stokes

ask anybody: edalyn-owlbert clawthorne was never planning to have kids.

never really interested her. not the settling-down part, not the needing to keep another living creature alive part, not the having to be a good influence, gag. nah. kids were never going to be her thing, and so she never sought them out.

and then the little buggers found her.

well. she’s technically the one who stumbled across king, the owl beast’s faltering flight into that abandoned ruin he was living in, but king was the one who followed them both and refused to be left behind. plus, that stone-monster was going to kill him. eda wasn’t a fan of kids, but she didn’t want to leave them for dead, either.

looking back she’s pretty sure the owl beast was laughing at her.

laughed even harder when she took in luz. you’re an apprentice, kid, eda had told her, and the girl had squealed, and her daemon had sat there on her shoulder with her tiny chest puffed out, and something in eda knew this was going to be a permanent thing.

oh well. at least she skipped the changing diapers phase of things.

Discussion

for the first one: oh! hey! this one is relevant to for the future which im writing right NOW! ive been thinking a lot recently about how kings gonna be Doing in that entire like, 2-3 months he's basically on his own with the collector, because i'll be expanding out from what was shown in the show, and just...god. poor kid.

its terrifying! im a collector lover but even i'll admit he is Not great with king, especilly towards the start, and thats not going anywhere--king misses his family and the collector has been on his own for so LONG, and has this sense of entitlement to kings time + space. why does everyone else get a lifelong friend with them since birth? the collector wants that! and if they werent born with it they'll find a friend then! like KING!

its just a LOT. it makes for fun writing though kdnfkgdfg king doesnt hate the collector but oh boy is he not actually friends with them.

this one also makes it pretty obvious what im doing in regards to king being a titan lol but ive decided not to talk so explicitly about that unless im asked a question in which i cant speak around it. i gotta keep some of my secrets!

for the second one: MOM EDA MY BELOVED sorry i literally love that trope so much okay. its so so fun to write. eda really tripped and fell into parenthood like ah shit now ive got to be responsible for HOW MANY of these guys now? two? three? am i supposed to count mari and luz as one or two because based on the day that is a WILDLY different answer.

but yeah <3 its also made even more funny that firefly knew 100% what she was getting into. this was a massive shock to eda, but firefly's been a mom from the start!

also ooooh got that owlbert mention huh wonder what that is about...wonder what my owlbert secrets might be....if he shows up at all....hmmmm...

#ask #toh #daemon au #king clawthorne #eda clawthorne #the collector #i write #also keeping owlbert's name is actually so funny thinking about it #eda's parents really looked at their newborn daughter like 'yeah. fuck it. name him owlbert.'#and a grove of palistrom to you

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misscrazyfangirl321 · 2 years ago

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Grimm 1x01

*Hank is a confirmed Shutterbug.

*Hank has been married 4 times. I always forget.

*Nick seeing his first woge in the first minute of the episode is a Good Call. Also, my heart at him buying that ring for Juliette. The ring Juliette will never wear.

*Also Nick the profiler. AU where Nick, Audrey, and Will are just cops together and Lucy is the local history professor who gets caught up in their cases.

*"I didn't know you couldn't sing." Their friendship my HEART.

*The Time Wars crossovers are turning into the Big Four of Back in the Day.

*Oooooo the aunt Marie introduction! Played like a villain! Like Ashley! Saving the reveal for later on!

*"Do you have a photo of her?" "Uh, yeah, on my iPhone." Literally Nobody would say it like that.

*.... Nick and Lucy could have met taking Carol and Marie to treatments. .... Except for the whole "different states" thing.

*Marie couldn't move for a week when she saw her first Wesen. We know from later on that she was 11. My HEART.

*Nick killing his first Wesen with the power of "shooting him a whole bunch of times"

*THE KEY. Ohhhh the keys my beloved storyline.

*AU where Meg transfers out of Old City to get a from the Weirdness and ends up working in a Portland hospital. And then her first patient is Aunt Marie.

*Might just let four narratives entwine irrevocably and change each other forever. Idk.

*Renard looking out for Nick... I know he has Ulterior Motives and everything, but to a point, he really does treat his men as his People, under his protection. I think there's some sincerity in that.

*Cannot get over the fact that one of the biggest images from the ads for this-Juliette running through the woods in a red dress-is from a three second dream that has no bearing on the show ever.

*"I think it was just a cat." Juliette, having no idea that a cat will change the course of her life forever.

*Oh, right, Marie was a librarian at one point.

*Hank being the one to figure out that the girl went through the park.... Is very important to me. Nick knows people. But Hank's not just someone who tags along. He's a really good cop.

*R.H. Robin Howell. Red (riding) Hood. I'd forgotten how Specific this show gets sometimes.

*Monroe and Nick's first meeting was so bad, guys. So, so bad. I always forget how truly bad it was. I remember the tackle through the window, but that was the second meeting. The first... Oof.

*"And by the way, you're paying for that window."

*"You people started profiling us over 200 years ago." Given how the show progresses, this has the same mood as that post about Julius Ceasar dying well over 70 years ago. Or was that Abraham Lincoln? Anyway, that.

*"No, I'm here because of the little girl." And "We're not things." . Very similar to Will's "You said you were tracking the boy," and later, Magnus' "I'm not sure how he'd feel about you calling him a thing." Just. Similar.

*Okay but Monroe and Nick's dynamic is made 10x funnier by the fact that Monroe is 10 years older than Nick. Just. Very Tired Guy Does Not Get Paid Enough For This Nonsense. (But yes, obviously he's going to help. Just, for goodness' sake, could you please learn to go to bed at a reasonable time?)

*See, Hank and Joe have very similar roles: The grounded partner to contrast the one who sees the Impossible. The voice of reason to keep the out there one grounded. But whereas Joe is basically a paper cutout designed to look ridiculous while Will looks smart, Hank is a really intelligent man and an excellent cop.

*Wait Adalind really just straight-up tried to kill Marie right in front of Nick? Like, you couldn't have waited until visiting hours were over? You were disguised as a nurse, so it wouldn't have caused you problems.

*"Let's hope she doesn't wake up first." * Immediate cut to Marie opening her eyes* Brilliant episode ending tbh.

#i speak #grimm #the time wars #sort of #valentine's day 2023

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inevitably-johnlocked · 3 years ago

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Hi, dear Steph, i hope you doing well ❤️ it's sensitive topic, so take your time to respond

so, i'm trying my best to deal with bbc sh after 5 years, and I really think that we will have an s5 in the near future, they have given a lot hits about, (BC finally talking about a new season, the free copyright party 2023...)

So, my biggest problem with the s4 is the morgue scene, and i've been reading some s4 fix-its that properly deal with john's behavior. I read some about Sherlock leaving/moving on after what happened (my favorites I must say, cause I can't forgive john) (+ sanjay my beloved)

And I ended up in a category of "dark john", and I'm sure some traumatized me forever

I read this fic, post s3, where j&s has an established relationship post mary, and their relationship starts to change to something abusive (on john's part), this fic is amazing, honest and realistic about abusive relationships, and well the ending is tragic for johnlock, with an happy ending only for sherlock.

Then I saw that the fic was from 2015???? And that left me shocked, cause... john's behavior was always like this? Should we have realized sooner what was going to happen?? And that just made me hate the show even more. And looking back, maybe it was always there, especially after the fall. At least me, I never really gotten my head around the violence scenes, and I took the morgue scene as something OOC from John, but now I don't think it was. It makes me so sad.

I wanted to know if there are any metas and analysis about john's behavior in the show, because WATSON would never do something like that. I hate this show with all my heart at this point, It's ruined me :(

Thanks, all love to you and your amazing work as the Oracle of this fandom ❤️

Hey Lovely!

Thanks! I appreciate you letting me take time to answer this. Not necessarily anything other than "lol it was long and I was lazy" hahaha.

ANYWAY, this is just my perception of the fandom before S4: No, John wasn't overtly portrayed as a "dark" character... I think the darkest the majority thought of him as was as just a man with anger issues he was working on. That said, regardless of fandom, there's ALWAY ALWAYS a "dark" genre of fics where one or the other "protagonists" are characterized as "morally ambiguous to downright evil" people, and that's all it is. Dark Sherlock and John fics were a popular subgenre once upon a time, but I've never personally read any of them because I have a hard time with fics if the characterizations are "off" from my readings of them (literally it's just me), but I have no problem if that's what someone else wants to write about.

As for meta, the closest I can do for you are these meta about who John is as a character, and you can check out my 'who is john watson' blog tag for more (I've put it under the Chrono tag so you can see the earliest posts first).

(sorry that “my posts” is a bit messy... tumblr doesn't allow sub-bullets anymore... bolded are the main posts, and italicized with square brackets are the sub-topics. for my meta, I have a TONNE more meta about John, but I just pulled the relevant character-arc ones I’ve done)

MY POSTS:

WHO IS JOHN WATSON

People and John (TAB)

Why Didn’t John Hug Sherlock in TEH?

Of Scars and Gunshots

John’s Panicking in TGG

Secrets, Half Truths and Trust

Was John Ever a Hostage?

[TBB and TGG were Orchestrated for John]

John Will Cry Buckets and Buckets

Is John / Martin Left Handed?

Things John Never Said

John’s Hand Clench

[Why Does his Hand Start Trembling?]

Why is There so Much Emphasis on “Solve it!”?

John the Dummy

[Who Would Sherlock Bother Protecting?

[What if Mary had Shot John?]

[Mary Surely Can Tell When John is Lying (Mary Underestimates John)?]

[Damsel in Distress]

Why Do People Think John is Well Endowed?

Trash John

[Why is there a double standard, where Sherlock is always forgiven but John is an asshole?]

[Why Trash John]

John’s Middle Name: Sherlock’s New Addiction

They Seemed to Forget He Was A Doctor

Modern TAB!John is Like S4 John

Did John Have an Imaginary Sherlock?

John’s S4 Hair

John’s Family Mentions in Canon?

Do I Think John Quit his job at the hospital in S4 / S5?

Is John Left or Right Handed?

The Post with John vs Irene Through GIFs?

John Grieved for Years Over Sherlock (Sherlock vs Mary)

John’s CV / Resume

When Is John’s Birthday?

SUICIDAL/DEPRESSED JOHN

Suicidal John Masterpost

A Weather Eye (Was John Suicidal When Sherlock was Gone?)

What are John’s Nightmares Actually About?

Did John Have an Imaginary Sherlock?

John’s Suicide Meta Links

The Coffin (John’s TAB Theory)

Open or Closed Casket For Sherlock?

John is a Very Sad Man Compared to Molly

Any Meta On the 3G Moment Being John’s Suicide Attempt?

JOHN’S SELF-ESTEEM

John’s Guilt

John Blames Himself for Sherlock’s Death (TLD Reflection)

John Wanting to See Someone Else?: Faith as a John Mirror

JOHN’S PTSD

TLD Morgue Scene: Is it PTSD?

John in TGG looks like he’s having a panic attack (hostage past)

I don’t like angry John

JOHN’S FORGIVENESS

Punches the Superintendent but Forgives Mary?

Did John Forgive Sherlock?

Did John Forgive Mary?

JOHN’S CHARACTER ARC

John Loves Sherlock in Every Episode!

John Loves Sherlock

John’s Cheating

John’s Past and his Bisexuality

John’s Attracted but In Denial?

John’s Soldier vs. Doctor Dichotomy (TLD)

S4 Is John’s POV Masterpost

Dream John from TAB same as S4 John?

John’s Character in S3

John in S4

Canon Evidence of John Having Problems with People of Authority?

Does John Know He’s In Love With Sherlock?

Fic Writers’ Characterization of John

OTHERS' META:

Trained No To Cry: Challenge of Being A Soldier

Tom vs Sherlock and John vs. Molly: Obvious Mirrors

Doesn’t He Have Friends?

Captain John Watson (TSo3 Scene)

Adorable John Watson: Tricky to Write

John’s Hole

Closeted John: Growing Up in a Homophobic 80’s/90’s

Watson’s Horny Disdain

Crack Shot John Watson Under Pressure

John as a Perpetrator of Domestic Violence?

Writing John Watson

John Watson’s Medical School Life (wellington goose)

is it any wonder John is closeted

John Watson Eating Disorder

John was OOC in S4

That Time Sherlock threatened to replace John with Jim

-----

Sorry this got long, but I hope it helps :)

#steph replies #long post #sherlock meta #who is john watson #john's character arc #meta masterlist #my meta

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imeternallylove · 3 years ago

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Holy Ground - BBC Sherlock

Sherlock x Reader

genre: songfic, angst, fluff and (little)strong language

words: 997 words

character: mention to Mrs Hudson, John, Mycroft and Mary

summary: Sherlock's back from the falls

holy ground - taylor swift (x)

(gif not mine)

While having tea all alone, and God, it took me away.

Back to a first-glance feeling on London time

Back when you fit in my poems like a perfect rhyme.

Mrs Hudson gives Y/N a cuppa, so smell, as always.

Sherlock's black armchair is empty, Y/N breathes express sadness out. "Y/N, you need to eat or drink. You look horrible!" The old landlady fixes Y/N's hair in an elaborate updo. "Your hair is done. Now. Before Mycroft's car appears, go put your cloth on, Y/N."

Took off faster than a green light 'Go.'

Yeah, you skipped the conversation when you already know

I left a note on the door with a joke we'd made.

And that was the first day.

Y/N could remember it all. 'Afghanistan or Iraq?' Sherlock asked John in Molly's labs. Four serial suicidies. The science of deduction. 'Welcome to London,' the trio of you ran to escape the police. Pink suitcase, a pink telephone, John's blog; Study in pink. John left his staff. Laughing in the hallway, the two pills, the shot(of John), giggling at a crime scene. That was the first day.

The great includes the odd story of the trio consulting detective. One is a high function sociopath who solves crimes as an alternative to getting high. The next one is addicted to dangerous situations and never back from the wars. The last one is a girlfriend of a sociopath high function sociopath who also solves crimes for fun. Even the landlady used to run a drug cartel. The game is always on at 211B baker street.

Then the tree of love follows, with John/Mrs Hudson/Molly/Greg as the cupid. Sherlock Holmes and Y/N Y/L/N, the King and Queen of Reichenbach, London.

And darling, it was good.

Never looking down.

And right there, where we stood, was holy ground.

The rest of the cases were great kidnapping? John and his girl have been taken away from Chinese immigrants! Dull compared to the bomb now strapped to Y/N's chest? In the school pool with the sniper? That's the day Sherlock propose to Y/N, after the horrific situation.

Oh. Please try The Woman; Unreadable and prefer to call dominatrix. CIA from America breaks her penthouse? How about some hallucinations? Y/N chuckled at that. Those fond memories. She looks down at her engagement ring, teardrop.

Spinning like a girl in a brand new dress

We had this big wides city all to ourselves.

We blocked the noise with the sound of 'I need you.'

And for the first time, I had something to lose.

The falls of Reichenbach. The final problem, St Bart's Hospital rooftop. Sherlock's blood on the pavement, his eyes fully open but no sign of escaping death. Y/N sees his face in every crowd. How did she cope before? This gaping hole is here. Sherlock left to save his beloved. The absence is too much to sore, traumatic and forever changed his people around.

And I guess we fell apart in the usual way.

And the story's got dust on every page.

But sometimes I wonder how you think about it now.

And I see your face in every crowd.

Black sunglasses, along with Y/N's eyes, hid the atop of red face flowing. She wore a black long buttoned coat over her and high heels colour as the same overall. Colourful bouquet set on her lap. Inside the car is Mycroft, Mrs Hudson, John and Y/N, sitting at a loss for words, just sobbing silently. The car driveways to drops at the peaceful Hampshire churchyard.

And darling, it was good.

Never looking down.

And right there, where we stood, was holy ground.

Y/N couldn't stand staying at the grave for too long. It was too much. Way too much for her. Sherlock wasn't there standing beside her as his promised; Snorted as an echo, reflection inside her mind. He's a liar, a cock that leave everything before her. 'I'll be there for you, always with you.' Ridiculous. He was lying beneath in it, at the holy ground.

"I'll leave these flowers here." Y/N touch Sherlock's cold grave. Tremblingly said. "You deserves it."

Tonight I'm gonna dance for all that we've been through.

But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you.

Tonight I'm gonna dance like you were in this room.

But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you.

Y/N didn't want to live. It wasn't possible to live without Sherlock. Not now. That's huge of guilt, unwillingly to accept that he's gone. It's hard to hold on when the reporter askes. They repetitiously push her to go into the broken place of her heart, a kind of surgery with no morphine. They're all invasive into her life.

"Y/N, I'm back."

Those were the words she heard Sherlock say when she walked through the door three years later.

Then she saw him, slap-up, hugging him, crying like a baby with cruse words. Sherlock let Y/N yell at him when she's in his tight embrace and her head placed on his neck.

"Let's go to John Watson."

"No! He's proposal his girlfriend tonight. Don't ruin it!"

"Yes."

"What?"

"Go to ruin it. We've to prepare John. How dare you let him keep growing that ages beard!"

"He's said Mary likes it!"

"Hmmm. No."

"She does!"

"She doesn't!"

The landlady's voice came from downstairs. "Stop it! You two!"

They both stop yelling, lock their eyes smilingly, in touch and, kisses in complacent, then giggle in each other embrace. Y/N presses her chin on his shoulder while Sherlock strokes her hair.

Went back to being two sides of a whole.

The dramatic partner of Baker St.: Sherlock Holmes and Y/N Y/L/N.

Tonight I'm gonna dance for all that we've been through.

But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you.

Tonight I'm gonna dance like you were in this room.

But I don't wanna dance if I'm not dancing with you.

#bbc sherlock #sherlock bbc #bbc sherlock x reader #bbc sherlock x you #sherlock holmes imagines #bbc sherlock holmes x you #sherlock holmes x you

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sineala · 3 years ago

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Tony Stark and Arthuriana

Coming to you by special request, a very long post about 616 Tony's interest in Arthuriana, with a focus on all of Tony's run-ins with Morgan le Fay!

I feel like I should disclaim the extent of my knowledge here, which is that I still haven't managed to read anywhere near every issue of Iron Man -- at least, not yet, anyway -- so I'm just going by the things I know I've read, and Morgan le Fay's Marvel wiki entry is frustratingly under-cited, so it's very possible I've missed something relevant, but I'm pretty sure I've got the big stuff down. My other disclaimer here is that I'm not as big an Arthurian nerd as Tony is, which is to say that most of my familiarity comes from modern retellings -- T. H. White's The Once and Future King, Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave, Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset -- and not so much the usual classic sources on the Matter of Britain, though I've read bits and pieces of them.

(This is because I wanted to read versions of them that were as close to the original as possible but so far have not ended up finishing any of them because, well, that's hard. So I've never read the Mabinogion because I do not know Welsh. I've got the Norton Critical Edition of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, which is probably the best student edition if you're looking for something without modernized spellings, as I was. I've also got -- well, okay, it's my wife's but I'm borrowing it -- a relatively recent Boydell & Brewer edition (ed. Reeve, tr. Wright) of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain), which is, you guessed it, in Latin with a facing English translation. I haven't gotten very far in it because, in case you didn't know this about Latin texts, the beginning is pretty much always the hardest, so I gave up and read some Plautus adaptations instead. Anyway, if for some reason you too want to read Geoffrey of Monmouth in the original Latin I'd recommend that one, but I can't recommend any particular English translations because I've never read one by itself. I bet you didn't think you'd be getting Latin prose recommendations in this post. I mean, maybe you did; it is me, after all.)

Okay. Right. King Arthur. Here we go.

We've got:

Flashbacks to Tony's childhood in late Iron Man volume 1

A brief discussion of Morgan's origin story and Avengers #187

Iron Man vol 1 #149-150: Doomquest

What If vol 1 #33: What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?

Iron Man vol 1 #249-250: Recurring Knightmare

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom #1-4

Avengers vol 3 #1-4: The Morgan Conquest

Civil War: The Confession

Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11: Time Is On No One's Side

In terms of universe-internal chronology, we know from Iron Man #287, from 1992, that Tony has been a fan of King Arthur since childhood. This is an issue of a fandom-favorite arc which features Tony having a lot of childhood flashbacks, including the famous "Stark men are made of iron" line (in #286) that for some reason MCU fandom decided it loved; I mean, seriously, I've seen that quoted in way more MCU fic than 616 fic. But slightly later, in #287, we get an entire page devoted to Tony's love of King Arthur.

The narration reads: "Over the next few years, I learned as my father intended. Discipline of body. Strength of character. But in what free time I was allowed, I worked my way through the school's library. At thirteen, I discovered Mallory [sic], who showed me a whole new world. A world of dedication to a cause greater than oneself. Of chivalry and honor. And the fantastic deeds -- of armored heroes."

The art shows Tony as a child sitting under a tree, reading a book labeled Mort D'Arthur by Mallory [sic] -- no, don't ask me why nobody at Marvel checked how to spell either the name of the book or its author -- and daydreaming of King Arthur, the Sword in the Stone, knights, et cetera. Just in case you somehow missed the extremely blatant hint that we are meant to understand that Tony's knight obsession heavily influenced him becoming Iron Man as an adult, we see one of his armors mixed in with all the drawings of knights. So, yes, canonically Tony is Iron Man at least partly because he's a giant King Arthur nerd, which I think is so very sweet. I love him. He's such a dork!

(This issue is currently in print in the Iron Man Epic Collection War Machine, should you need your own copy.)

This isn't actually the only reference to Tony as a King Arthur fanboy in this era of canon, either; a little later, in IM #298, we see that one of Tony's passwords is actually "Mallory." (Yeah, no, they still couldn't spell. But it's cute.)

But in terms of actual publication order, this is definitely not the first time we have seen in canon that Tony is into Arthuriana, as I'm sure you all know. I would assume, in fact, that giving Tony a childhood interest in Arthuriana is because Doomquest is one of the most beloved Iron Man story arcs of all time, and that all started at least a decade before IM #287 here was published.

The villain of Doomquest -- the one who isn't Doctor Doom, at least -- is Morgan le Fay. Yes, that Morgan le Fay. Yes, Arthur's evil half-sister Morgan le Fay. Yes, all of this King Arthur stuff is canonically real history on Earth-616. Morgan's first appearance in Marvel, per the wiki, was in Black Knight #1 (1955), which I have not read, and judging by the summary I feel like this is probably just supposed to be a straight-up comic retelling of Arthurian legends for kids; I don't think Marvel really had the whole Marvel Universe in mind as a concept in 1955, so I'm not sure this was meant to connect to anything else. I feel like this is another one of those instances of Marvel discovering that they can write comics about characters in the public domain for free -- like, I'm pretty sure that's how we also ended up with, like, Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology wedged into 616.

As far as I can tell from the wiki, the first time Morgan tangled with the Avengers (or indeed the larger 616 universe) in any way actually predated Doomquest -- it was in an early arc in Spider-Woman (#2-6) and then Avengers #187, which came out in 1979, actually right when Demon in a Bottle was happening over in Iron Man comics. If you read #187, Iron Man is not in it because he's off the team due to his drinking problem and also his accidentally murdering the Carnelian ambassador problem. So Wonder Man's filling in instead. This issue is part of Michelinie's rather sporadic Avengers run, which makes sense, I guess, considering where we see Morgan next.

Anyway, Avengers #187 is the classic issue where Wanda is possessed by Chthon, but what you may not remember from Chthon's backstory (I sure didn't!) is that he was summoned by Morgan le Fay because she was the first person who tried to wield the Darkhold to summon him. As you can imagine, this did not work out especially well for her and her followers and they had to seal Chthon away in Wundagore Mountain, which was where Wanda found him. (The Spider-Woman stuff is only slightly earlier and also appears to be about Morgan and the Darkhold; the Darkhold is not one of the areas of 616 canon I am especially conversant with, alas. It's on my to-read list.)

Doomquest, as you probably know, was a classic Iron Man two-parter in Layton & Michelinie's first Iron Man run that set up Tony and Doom as rivals; Doomquest itself was IM #149-150, in 1981, and then in their second IM run they came back and did a sequel in 1989, Recurring Knightmare (IM #249-250), and then the much later four-part sequel to that was the 2008 miniseries Iron Man: Legacy of Doom, which was also by Layton & Michelinie but generally does not seem to be as popular as the first two parts. They've all been reprinted, if you're looking for copies; I have a Doomquest hardcover that collects the first four issues and then a separate Legacy of Doom hardcover. Currently in the Iron Man Epic Collection line there's a volume called Doom, which confusingly only collects the 249-250 part of the storyline (as well as surrounding issues), because for some reason the first Layton & Michelinie run isn't in Epics yet but the second one is. So the beginning of Doomquest isn't currently in print, as far as I can tell. I'm sure you can find it anyway.

So what's Doomquest about? Okay, so you remember how Doctor Doom's mother's soul is stuck in hell for all eternity? Well, Doom's obviously interested in getting her back, and the strategy he has embarked on is to try to team up with other powerful magicians who can help him out, and he thinks Morgan le Fay would be a good choice, for, uh, his quest. Doom's quest. A Doomquest, if you will. (If you've ever read Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment, you're familiar with the part where he later ends up waylaying Strange for this and they go to hell together. And if you haven't read Triumph & Torment, you really should, because it's amazing.)

So Doom is off to his time machine to go team up with Morgan le Fay and Tony thinks Doom is up to something -- Doom has been stealing components for his time machine from a lot of people, including Tony -- and he follows him and it turns out one of Doom's lackeys has a grudge and wants to trap Doom in the past forever, and Tony gets caught up in it. Now they're both in Camelot. Surprise! #149 is actually all setup; they don't get to Camelot until #150.

IM #150 begins with Doom and Tony thrown back into the past; there's a fandom-famous splash page of them locked in combat, only to realize that they have found themselves in Camelot.

They are then discovered by knights; Doom would very much like to attack them, but Tony, who naturally would be happy to LARP Camelot forever, persuades him to play nice. Also Doom thinks Iron Man is only Tony's bodyguard so he keeps referring to him as "lackey," much to Tony's annoyance. Somehow everyone thinks they're sorcerers. Can't imagine why. The knights take them to meet King Arthur himself, and Tony has clearly had his introduction all ready to go, as he introduces himself in a timeline-appropriate manner, says he's here to apprehend Doom, and demonstrates his "magic" by levitating Arthur's throne. Doom's response is essentially "I'm the king of Latveria," which is, y'know, also valid. So they're guests at Camelot for the night while Arthur figures out what to do with them.

We then have a page devoted to Tony alone in his room, musing sadly about how alien he feels, how he doesn't know if he'll ever get home, how he could never fit in here without his beloved technology. Then a Sexy Lady shows up to keep him company for the night, and he decides maybe it's not all bad. Thanks, Marvel. I guess they can't all be winners.

Doom is using his evening much more productively; he compels one of the servants to tell him where Morgan's castle is, because he's still interested in having that team-up. Then he jets off. Literally. He has a jetpack.

The next morning Arthur's like "one of you is still here and one of you has punched a hole through the castle wall and flown off to join Morgan so I guess I know which of you is more trustworthy." He then explains to Tony who Morgan is, because Tony professes ignorance, because clearly we had not yet retconned in Tony's love of Arthuriana. Tony offers to go fight Doom and Morgan with Arthur; meanwhile, Morgan and Doom have teamed up and Morgan has offered to help get Doom's mother out of hell if he commands her undead armies against Arthur because for Reasons she can't command them herself anymore. So that's a thing that happens.

So, yes, it's Tony and Arthur versus Doom and Morgan. Fight fight fight!

Tony tries Doom first but then decides to hunt Morgan down, and in the ensuing fight we get what I think is Tony's first ever "I hate magic," a complaint that we all know he still makes even to this day.

Anyway, Tony freezes a dragon with Freon (mmm, technology) and Morgan gets upset and disappears, so the battle comes to an end, and of course Doom is extremely mad at Tony because he blames Tony for Morgan not sticking around to save Doom's mom, because I guess Doom trusted her to keep her word? Weird. (Like I said, for the next chapter of Doom saving his mother, go read Triumph & Torment.)

Doom says if he and Tony work together, the components in both of their armors can send them both home. So Tony has to trust Doom. Which he does, because he really has no other choice. They build a time machine and Tony makes Doom agree to a 24-hour truce when they get back, so they can both get home. So it all works out okay, and they end up in the present, and Doom tells him, ominously, that they will meet again. Okay, then. That concludes the original Doomquest. It's fun! You can see why fandom likes it.

So that's all well and good, but you might have noticed that Tony's ability to get home hinged on Doom actually being trustworthy. And Doom was. But what if Doom hadn't been? What if he'd just stranded Tony in Camelot forever As you may have surmised from the form of that question, that is in fact a question Marvel asked themselves, because, yes, there's a What If about this! What If v1 #33 is "What if Iron Man was trapped in the time of King Arthur?"

The divergence point from canon, as you can probably guess, is the very end of Doomquest. Instead of Doom bringing Tony home, he deceives him and leaves him in Camelot. And since Tony cannibalized a lot of the tech from his armor to make the time machine, he doesn't have a way to go home.

This is not a story where Tony comes up with a way to go home after all. He really doesn't get to go home. But instead of drowning his sorrows in mead -- because, remember, Demon in a Bottle has already happened and Tony is sober now -- he decides he might as well just play the hand he's dealt. So with what's left of his armor, he defeats some enemies that Morgan rounds up to send against Camelot. And for his services, he's knighted. He is now Sir Anthony.

Tony acknowledges that he is both living the dream and would also like very, very much to go home.

He does end up having some fun in Camelot; it's not all miserable. But he obviously doesn't want to be there.

So if you're at all familiar with King Arthur, you know how this goes, right? Arthur fights Mordred and Mordred kills him. And that does happen in this version. Except Tony is right there, and with his dying words, Arthur asks Tony to rule Camelot... and Tony agrees.

So, yes, Tony Stark becomes king of the Britons after Arthur's death and he never goes home again. The end. Man, I love What Ifs.

Heading back to main 616 continuity, there is still more of this arc to go. The original Doomquest was only two issues, yes, but it was popular enough that Layton & Michelinie did a sequel a hundred issues later, in their second run of Iron Man, and that's Iron Man #249-250, Recurring Knightmare. (In the intervening issues were Denny O'Neil's IM run, specifically the second drinking arc (#160-200), and then Layton & Michelinie came back and most famously gave us Armor Wars (#225-232). I would have to say that Armor Wars is definitely the standout fandom-favorite arc of their second IM run; for their first one, I think a lot of people would have a hard time choosing between Doomquest and Demon.) But anyway, yes. Recurring Knightmare.

Recurring Knightmare is... well, the best way I can describe it is "a trip." It is definitely a sequel to Doomquest, and it is also definitely not a sequel you would ever have expected to see for Doomquest.

Much like #149, #249 is pretty much just setup. Fun setup, but the big action is in the next issue. We open with Doom in Latveria, on his throne, pondering which of his servants he should have disintegrated. Anyway, he's just hanging out there when a mysterious object appears. In California, Tony is suited up and entertaining the crowd at a mall opening when the same object also appears! He takes it to his lab. Please note that this is after the Kathy Dare incident, so Tony is still recovering and is walking with a cane. Doom sees on the news that Iron Man has found the same object, which cannot be carbon-dated, and he shows up at Tony's house. He criticizes Tony's taste in art.

Anyway, Doom basically orders Tony to work with him. Tony refuses, and then Doom sends some robots to attempt to steal Tony's version of the object because he thinks if he has them both he will be powerful. Doom manages to steal it, and when he puts the pieces together, both he and Tony disappear.

So where do they go, you might ask? Camelot?

Not exactly. The future! There is a great callback to the Doomquest splash page.

It turns out they are in London in 2093. Merlin brought them there. Tony still hates magic. And in the future, King Arthur is still there, except he is now a child, because he has been reborn. But he does remember Tony from Doomquest, at which point Tony kneels. Doom, of course, is not impressed. He asks why they have been brought to the future.

The answer is that things are going wrong in the future. If you do not personally remember United States politics in the 1980s, I need you to google the words "Strategic Defense Initiative" right now. I'll wait.

Back with me? Okay, so this is a future where Reagan's Star Wars program actually happened the way he wanted it to, and the satellites are still hanging around the Earth in the future and messing everything up, and Arthur and Merlin need Tony and Doom's help to stop them. Doom once again flies away with his jetpack, of course.

Tony is game to help, but he's not in an armor that can stay in space for long. This is when Merlin takes him and Arthur to the mall and Tony manages to get everything to upgrade his armor at Radio Shack. You see what I meant about this issue being weird.

Tony is out in space trying to disarm the SDI platform, which is where he runs into his future descendant, Andros Stark, who is in armor you will probably recognize from Iron Man 2020. He is referred to as "the resurrected spawn of Iron Man 2020" so I assume he's actually directly related to Arno rather than a direct descendant of Tony; Wiki confirms that Arno is his grandfather. This is all from way before Arno was contemporaneous with Tony in canon. Anyway, he's fighting Tony.

Oh, by the way, Future Doom exists. Future Doom would like to rule this future Earth and for some reason Andros would like to help him. Meanwhile, Present Doom finds out from Merlin that he can't leave except by magic and he can't leave without Tony, so he is reluctantly on Tony's side.

They need help from the Lady of the Lake, except the lake has been paved over and is now a parking lot. Merlin makes the lake come back and then of course they get Excalibur. Arthur is a kid, so he can't wield a longsword; Doom assumes he's going to take it because he is basically a king, and he's pretty grumpy when the sword picks Tony. Tony then uses Excalibur to destroy the space lasers, and I bet that is a sentence you never thought you would read. It's pretty cool. Tony concludes that magic has its good points. Tony stops Andros and Doom stops, uh, himself, and the world is saved and they get to go home. Also, Doom finds out Tony is Iron Man, but when Merlin sends them back he conveniently erases their memories, so neither of them remember anything about this and Tony's secret is still safe. And that's the sequel to Doomquest.

And if you think that's weird, wait until you see Legacy of Doom.

Iron Man: Legacy of Doom is a four-issue miniseries from 2008, also by Layton and Michelinie. Even though it's from 2008, it's set during a much more classic time in Iron Man, continuing on from where we left off in this Doomquest saga. We start with a framing story in 2008. Tony, who has Extremis now, is busy scrapping some of his older armors and reviewing his logs when he suddenly remembers that there was a whole thing with Doom that happened that he seems to have forgotten about until right now. So the whole thing is narrated by Tony in flashback.

Tony's in space fixing a satellite when a hologram of Doom shows up and summons him to Latveria. It's not really clear why Doom needs Tony's help in particular here, but Doom tells Tony that he's discovered that Mephisto would like to bring about the end of the world, which Doom finds, and I quote, "presumptive." So Doom has his Time Cube, and with it he takes Tony to hell.

(Yes, I promise this is relevant to Doomquest. There will be some Arthuriana shortly.)

Doom brings Tony to Mephisto, and it turns out it's a setup! Doom trades Tony for an item he wants from Mephisto, leaves, and Tony's going to be trapped in hell forever! Oh no! (I mean, he's not. But it's quite a cliffhanger.)

At the beginning of issue #2, we find out what the Arthurian connection is, which is that we learned that after the events of Doomquest, Morgan had been granted sanctuary by Mephisto in exchange for a shard of Excalibur that she had somehow stolen. Doom still wants Morgan's help with some magic -- he doesn't mention what it is here, but he says he needs someone of Pendragon blood, and that'd be her -- so he traded Tony to Mephisto in exchange for, I'm guessing, Morgan and the Excalibur shard.

I have probably mentioned this elsewhere, but Legacy of Doom #2 is one of my favorite issues of Iron Man ever, solely because of the next scene. We return to Tony in hell. Howard Stark is also in hell, and he is now a demon, and Tony has to fight him. Mephisto brings popcorn and watches. This is the one time in canon when Tony actually confronts his father, and okay, yes, it's a fistfight in hell and Howard is a demon, but that's comics for you. Howard spends several pages insulting Tony -- specifically insulting his masculinity, but that's a whole other essay -- until he finally insults Maria too, and that's when Tony fights back, because his mother taught him to be good. Honestly if you're a Tony fan I'd recommend this issue just for that scene.

Anyway, we go back to the Doom and Morgan plot, and Morgan casts the spell Doom wanted, which was fusing the Excalibur shard with Doom's armor. Then Doom sends her back to Camelot rather than hell, because he's still mad that she never helped him get his mom out of hell like she said she would.

Tony freezes Howard with Freon -- yes, the same trick he pulled on the dragon back in Doomquest -- and tells him, "You're no father of mine." It is immensely satisfying.

(I had been going to mention that I thought it was a shame that neither canon nor fandom seems to have really engaged with this confrontation, and I know canon never believes in narrative closure but fandom sure does -- and then, anyway, it occurred to me that since the framing story of Tony remembering this is set when Tony has Extremis, there's a very good chance that he no longer remembers remembering it. Goddammit, Marvel.)

(If I got to retcon one canon thing about Tony, I think "the entirety of World's Most Wanted" is up there. I mean, okay, a lot of things are up there, but WMW is definitely on the shortlist.)

Okay. Tony has now engineered his way out of hell, and he's back with Doom in Latveria. Doom has Excalibur. Doom would very much like to fight him. While wielding Excalibur. You get the sense that this is going to be bad. Another cliffhanger!

Legacy of Doom #3 opens with Tony destroying Doom's lab to buy time and running away from Doom and Excalibur. I should probably mention that Doom still doesn't know Tony is Iron Man (anymore), so he thinks he is dealing only with Iron Man, Tony Stark's lackey. Meanwhile, some scientists at SI think there's something weird going on with space. Meanwhile meanwhile, Tony is in a forest taking a breather when a mysterious old man walks up to him.

It's Merlin! Surprise! Merlin wants Tony's help to stop Doom from doing whatever he's doing with Excalibur. The sword makes you invincible and the scabbard makes you invulnerable, so Merlin sends Tony to Scotland on a fetch quest for the scabbard. Doom has now magically sent the sword in search of the scabbard, so the sword flies away to meet it and Doom follows. Turns out the thing that's wrong with space is a thing that's going to hit Earth at the exact place Tony and Doom are. What a coincidence! So Tony and Doom get trapped in a stone circle and fight some stone warriors and then Tony ends up with the scabbard. And by "ends up with," I mean it fuses to his armor. Next issue!

Legacy of Doom #4 is when things really, really get weird. A giant demon made of eyes (???) appears, and this demon is apparently what Doom had been preparing to fight (because it's mad that Doom stole one of its spellbooks), and now he can't, because the sword and the scabbard aren't together. Thanks, Shellhead.

That's when Merlin shows up and says all is not lost. They can defeat the demon... if they put the sword into the scabbard.

"But I'm the scabbard now!" Tony says, uncomprehending.

"Yes," Merlin says. "You are."

Then Tony gets it.

So, yes, Doom has to, um, penetrate Tony. With Excalibur. I love comics. I love comics so much.

So that's a thing that happens.

And then Tony flies off and, I guess, resolves to never, ever think about any of this again.

We head back to the framing story, in which Tony, now having remembered all of this, flies to Britain, buys the land the lake is on, and paves it over, presumably so it will be there for Merlin to bring back in Iron Man #250. The end.

Whew.

Okay, yeah, I know I didn't have to summarize the whole thing, but Legacy of Doom here really is one of my favorite Iron Man miniseries. And I just want to share the love. Please read it. It's great.

But the Arthuriana fun doesn't end there! In fact, now we get an Arthurian-themed arc that actually isn't in Iron Man comics. It's in Avengers! Iron Man is involved, though.

(There is also apparently a Morgan arc in Avengers #240. I actually haven't read it. It seems to be yet another Spider-Woman arc. I get the impression that this isn't really Arthuriana other than having Morgan in it fighting Jess, though, so it doesn't seem quite as relevant. Morgan also apparently has some appearances in FF, Journey into Mystery, and Marvel Team-Up, but those seem like more of just basic villainy. Also, probably not involving Tony.)

Kurt Busiek's 1998 Avengers run, volume 3, is in large part the kind of Avengers run that is a nostalgic love letter to older comics. Heroes are heroes and villains are villains and good triumphs over evil. The Avengers all live in the mansion and are BFFs. I love it. It does assume that you are already a fan of the Avengers, because it starts out by summoning pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger and is available to the mansion, and that is... a lot of people. Thirty-nine, by my count. Also, when the entire team is magically whisked away, we are treated to the following narration, as Steve disappears: "And Captain America's last thought, as the world goes white around him, and he with it -- is that Iron Man would hate this."

The narration doesn't tell you why Iron Man would hate this, or how Captain America would know that Iron Man hates this. This is not explained later on. But if you have read comics -- or if you have read the above summary of Doomquest -- you know that Tony is absolutely, one hundred percent, thinking, "I hate magic." And Steve knows it.

The reference is not relevant to the plot; if you don't get it, you'll be fine. But that's what I mean when I say this is a nostalgia run. There are definitely Easter eggs for people who have read a bunch of comics. Busiek does this a whole lot in his work -- there's a reason you can buy an annotated edition of Marvels -- and, yeah, it happens here too. Just know that there will be references you're not getting, if you're new to comics.

Anyway. So Busiek's run actually starts out with an Arthurian arc, #1-4, "The Morgan Conquest." The name is a dead giveaway. Yes, Morgan le Fay is back. Again. For once, Doom is not involved.

The Avengers are all back from their sojourn on Counter-Earth after fighting Onslaught -- don't worry about it -- and mysterious things are happening. There are a lot of monster attacks. So pretty much everyone who has ever been an Avenger is summoned to the mansion, at which point we learn from Thor about some mystical artifacts that are being stolen. (They are the Norn Stones and also the Twilight Sword. That sounds like something from a Zelda game, doesn't it?) The Avengers go to try to stop this, end up in Tintagel, and then they run into Mordred. He wants to capture Wanda, presumably for Magic Reasons. Morgan le Fay casts a spell on all of them, reshaping reality. Yes, all of them. Surprise!

So now all the Avengers are living in a medieval castle and/or town; Morgan is their queen, and thanks to the power of mind-control they are all basically living in Ye Olden Times. The Avengers are all some variety of knight, except for Wanda, who is chained up in the dungeon so Morgan can steal her magic and use it to fuel all this reality-warping.

Wanda calls for help, and that snaps Steve (Yeoman America!) out of the mind control (or altered reality or whatever you want to call it) pretty fast, because Steve's always been very good at resisting mind control, and then Steve promptly goes and snaps Clint out of it, because I guess Steve is also good at inspiring people to snap out of mind control. "Oh, man!" Clint says. "Not another alternate reality! Not again!" (I assume he's referring to Counter-Earth? Maybe?)

So Steve and Clint go around reassembling the Avengers and orienting them as to reality. They get Jan and Monica easily, but then Steve insists on trying to get Tony because, I guess, he likes Tony and would really like to hang around Tony, who is half-naked and asleep in his bedroom, and certainly I am reading nothing whatsoever into this. Clint tells Steve it's not going to work. Tony has historically been fairly susceptible to mind control; it was only pretty recently at this point that he'd been doing Kang's bidding in The Crossing. But the more serious impediment is that this is Tony Stark and he would obviously like to LARP being a knight forever and ever. Tony, therefore, does not believe Steve, and throws him and Clint out of his bedroom and into the barracks.

"Iron Man's a good guy, normally," Clint says. "But he's waaay too into his whole nobleman/lord of the manor trip. That spell musta hit him right where he lives!"

Clint speaks the truth, clearly.

Anyway, they go around and manage to make pretty much every Avenger in the room other than Tony snap out, and attempt to rebel against Morgan while Tony is stil fighting them because he is Still A Knight. There's a lot of punching, because some of the Avengers still aren't free; they weren't ones Steve found.

The day is saved when Wanda manages to channel Wonder Man and break free. This gives the Avengers a fighting chance against Morgan and the Avengers are all lending Wanda their power when Tony finally snaps out of it and is on the side of good.

Then they take Morgan down, go home, and attempt to figure out which of these thirty-nine people should be on the active Avengers team. Hooray.

But that's not the end of Morgan le Fay showing up to screw around with Tony's life! There's more to come! Not much, but there is one that I know of, and at least one more memorable reference.

(I haven't read all her appearances or anything, but one of them definitely involves Tony; I can't swear that he doesn't appear in any of the other books Morgan shows up in, but it'd be a cameo for him, because I only know of one more arc that she's in in a book that Tony stars in.)

In a few more years, we have now entered the part of Marvel Comics history where Brian Michael Bendis writes all the Avengers books at the same time for, like, seven years running. It was sure A Time. There were a lot of word bubbles.

And the thing about Bendis is, Bendis looooooves Doomquest. If you're familiar with the very end of his tenure at Marvel where he made Doom be Iron Man after Tony got knocked into a coma in Civil War II, you have probably figured out already that he likes Doom. But he also likes Doomquest, specifically.

I mean, if nothing else, the giant splash page in The Confession where Maleev redrew the climactic Doomquest fight while Bendis had Tony talk about how deeply meaningful to his understanding of the world this all was -- and how it allowed him to predict Civil War -- was probably a big clue, right?

As far as I am aware, Morgan le Fay makes exactly one more appearance in Tony's life. And that's in Mighty Avengers vol 1 #9-11. Only one of those issues is named, so I'm going to assume the arc is named after it: Time Is On No One's Side.

You remember Mighty Avengers, right? The deal with the Avengers books at the time was that after Bendis exploded the mansion and made the team disband in Avengers Disassembled, the main Avengers book was no longer called just Avengers. Instead, the main Avengers book was New Avengers, and that was the only Avengers book. Then Civil War happened, Steve got killed, and New Avengers became the book about what was left of the SHRA resistance (i.e., Steve's side) after the war. So about halfway through New Avengers, Mighty Avengers starts up, and Mighty Avengers is about an extremely fucked-up and grief-stricken Tony Stark trying to run the official government-sanctioned Avengers team, with Carol's help. This is the comic with the arc where Tony turned into naked girl Ultron. You remember.

So, anyway, there's this Mighty Avengers arc where Doom is Up To Something (there are symbiotes and a satellite involved) and somehow Tony and the Avengers end up in Latveria, punching Doom. Also, by the way, Doom is visiting Morgan in the past because he likes her. The Avengers attacking his castle made him have to come back to the present, so he's kind of cranky. And he fights Tony, and in the course of the fight, his time platform explodes and sends Doom and Tony and also the Sentry to... the past.

This is one of those times where you should definitely look up the comics if possible because the way the past is visually indicated here is that it's colored with halftone dots the way you would expect old comics to be colored, although they have modern shading and color palettes. It's very charmingly retro.

So the three of them are stuck in New York in the past, and naturally they would like to leave. There's one person in this time who has a time machine and it is, of course, Reed Richards. Doom and Tony have a lot of banter in this arc; I think it's entertaining.

Sentry has to be the one to break them all into the Baxter Building because of that power he has where no one will remember him. So they do that, travel forward in time, and end up in Latveria in the present again except Doom is gone and also things are currently exploding where they are.

Doom, of course, has made a side trip to visit Morgan again and he asks her to help him build an army, because I guess this is what their relationship is like. So the rest of the Avengers are captured by what look to me like Mindless Ones and are in a cave in magic bondage, because comics. Jess comments that at least they aren't naked, because she too is remembering that memorable New Avengers trip to the Savage Land. Doom threatens Carol in some creepy sexist ways and eventually it turns out that Tony and the Sentry are fine and everyone kicks Doom's ass. Business as usual.

And the last page of the arc is Morgan alone, wondering where Doom is. So technically Morgan and Tony don't come face to face here, but I think she counts as being at least partially responsible for ruining Tony's day here. And then Secret Invasion happens and Tony has a very, very bad day.

There are a few more Morgan appearances after this, but, as I said, I don't think any of them involve Tony. She shows up in Dark Avengers, apparently, which was one of the post-Civil War Avengers titles I didn't read, and I know that recently, on the X-Men side of things, she's been in Tini Howard's Excalibur one, which I have only read a little of. No Tony there. Just a lot of Morgan and Betsy Braddock and Brian Braddock and the Otherworld.

If you are interested in Morgan's other appearances, you might like this Marvel listicle that is Morgan le Fay's six most malicious acts. I pulled some of the Darkhold backstory from their discussion, but it's not really focused on Morgan and Tony.

So there you have it! That's everything I know about Tony's love for King Arthur and every run-in I know about that he's had with Morgan le Fay! One of two terrible people in Tony's life named Morgan! Actually, I don't think we've seen Morgan Stark in a while. I wonder if he's alive. There should be a Morgan & Morgan team-up. I should probably stop typing and post this.

The tl;dr point is that you should all read Doomquest and its sequels, especially Legacy of Doom. They're great!

#posts i actually wrote

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roddyretrograde · 3 years ago

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another oth unpopular opinion is that i think i prefer high school brooke to adult brooke? it’s hard to say sometimes, especially because i do really love her character in s5 and s6. 7-9 however is not my cup of tea. it kind of felt like after peyton left, the writers turned brooke into their new punching bag to the point where it felt ridiculous and over the top. relationship problems, fertility struggles, loses her company, etc. they had that poor girl crying every damn episode lmao and in the process felt like they stripped her of a lot of the qualities and flaws that made her so compelling. high school brooke most definitely had some flaws and bad moments but for me helped make her the interesting character i fell in love with. adult brooke felt like a perfect mary sue at times in 7-9. also her being obsessed with marriage and babies at 22 was horrible omg. it felt like her entire character just got reduced to that after a certain point.

I absolutely agree. I love Brooke as a character, absolutely adored her quirks and fun personality in high school and how deep she really was being shown throughout. I had a really tough time enjoying the seasons after high school (as well as season four), because a lot of the writing just seemed to go in a completely different direction for what they set up for our beloved characters in the beginning of the show. I think half of it is that the writers have literally zero idea on how women work, and can't imagine what a well-rounded woman looks like if they don't want marriage and a family right away, and it's SUCH a disservice to so many of the characters, but especially Brooke - who is smart and driven and flirtatious and passionate about so many things! She was running an EMPIRE, you think the only thing that would make her happy is a baby where she stays at home on maternity leave before she hits thirty?? Sure, that's okay for some people, but not everyone. Give that to Haley who you already saddled with a baby. Then there's just the obvious trauma porn that the show had for putting everyone through the ringer, which is juicy and dramatic, but it's like they have no concept of character growth and still having "flaws" after, and well rounded characteristics and ideals without for some reason BABIES being the end all and be all. I mean, ya, a lot of people want kids - I do too one day - but in your twenties?! They didn't have any just good old twenty-something messiness which would have been SO GOOD. I mean, how lazy are they when they were like "oh the girl with dead moms is off the show, better kill someone else's now" with Haley?? I'm forever so salty and it's why I never finished the later seasons.

#anons #answers #brooke davis #one tree hill

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talesofafangirlwithadvr · 4 years ago

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October/November Picks

Long time no see! So...it’s been a little bit since I’ve posted a wrap up. I had all intentions of posting one after October, but then you know life gets ahead of you and before you know it it’s Thanksgiving. Not much has changed in my viewing habits for these past two months, so I thought I’d group them together for a mega wrap up. Hope you enjoy :)

Without further ado here come some spoilers.....

…..

….

SECRET SOCIETY OF SECOND BORN ROYALS

This Disney + original movie was one of my highly anticipated watches for the fall. I am disappointed to share that it was a let down. The concept was such a cool and creative one. Having the second born in a royal family not simply be the “spare” but be the protector...with superpowers! (In a very YA way, getting their powers at a specific age.) They just should have gone about the story in a better way. I wanted more time with them learning about the powers and to make the villain stronger. Overall the acting wasn’t bad (which is good for a Disney + original), but it was just lacking. The movie was LONG and yet much did not feel like it happened. It was cool seeing Casa Loma (the castle they filmed at) as I was just there two summers ago. Sadly, I will not be watching this movie again.

VIOLETTA SEASON 3

We all already know how pumped I was when season 3 of Violetta was released on Disney Plus in September. I couldn’t believe it after waiting so long for the second season. I really enjoyed the beginning of this season and knew we would be headed down a road where I would grow tired of the storylines.

We have hit that point.

Quick Violetta rant. Things I am done with:

Roxy and Fausta plot

Fran and Diego being a secret

Herman and Priscilla

Pablo not at the studio

Milton being evil

Ludmilla lying

Recently, my sister is catching up to where I am in the season, so this has pushed me to watch more. I am on episode 43 and some of the above venting has been solved, so that is super exciting. I am finding myself wanting to watch it more now, so fingers crossed it continues to get better.

JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS

Kenny Ortega has done it again! When I first heard the premise for this show and watched the trailer on Netflix I wasn’t too sure. Then both of my sisters watched it and they wouldn’t stop talking about it, so that was a sign that I needed to watch it. Since then, I have watched the show twice and can’t stop listening to the music. THIS. SHOW. :) I get the hype. It’s just so wholesome and feel good. The characters are well crafted and the episodes go way too fast. They are the kind of characters (and cast) that make you wish you were a part of the show. I can’t wait for the next season (because there better be one). Definitely add this one to your list if it’s not on their already.

THE OUTPOST

The Summer CW shows were pushed to the fall line up due to delays in filming of the originally planned shows. I hope this means that they’re getting a little more love this year. The Outpost deserves it, as it is currently in its third season. (I think it might have gotten a little more now that the 100 is over and the commercial aired during the 100′s last season. Maybe people heard Black-blood and decided to give it a go.) This season has seen a new threat and during the first eight episodes there’s been MANY twists and turns, making it hard for me to remember how this season started. There’s been a lot of unrest in the Outpost and changes in who is in charge. While there are some unnecessary plot-lines (like that Tobin had to be married), I’m really enjoying others. Like how important Janzo is, his relationship with Ren, more Munt and that TALON AND GARRETT FINALLY GOT TOGETHER!!! It makes me so happy and is what we deserve after these three seasons. I love how strong both of their characters are and how they are both Warriors. I hope the season ends strong.

PANDORA

Just like The Outpost, Pandora was originally a Summer CW show that is now airing its second season. I really enjoyed the first season (like more than I was expecting), so I went in with higher hopes for this new season. Unfortunately, I have been let down so far. With the first season, there were parts that left me confused and my biggest review of this show has always been how there were gaps or moments where I didn’t know how much time had gone by. Those kind of things I could overlook, but this season the overall plot just seems weaker. I think this in part because of so many new characters. I know a lot of the season 1 cast ended their characters’ plots away from the Academy, but I wasn’t expecting them not to be a part of this season’s story. That has been a difficult adjustment. I also feel like I only understand Jax’s story and not so much about the other government/rebellion points. It’s getting a little better, but I hope it gets to be more enjoyable.

THE SPANISH PRINCESS--SEASON 2

When I originally was creating this list I had just started this season, and felt completely different than I do right now. I just finished this season last week. Much like my above review on Pandora, The Spanish Princess wasn’t sucking me in. I had a few episodes gather on the DVR. Then once we hit episode 3 or 4 and more drama was starting/Henry was starting to show glimpses of the Henry VIII we all know, I was growing more interested. In season 2 of the Spanish Princess, we do not see a loving Catherine and Henry for long. Problems Catherine have in conceiving a boy (male heir) are one of the main focal points, as is Woolsey’s growing influence on the king. With several sub-plots this season, I specifically enjoyed learning more about Meg in Scotland (as a big Mary Queen of Scots/Reign fan, I liked seeing a portrayal of her grandmother) as well as Princess Mary Tudor (who I was unfamiliar with. I loved her and Charlie Brandon’s relationship and wish we could have gotten more.) Each week I watched this show, I found myself Googling a lot. That is always one of my favorite parts of watching a historical drama based on true events. I know right now it looks like the producers aren’t continuing with the Tudor line and might have a different part of history as their next show, but I wish they would. I’m feeling the call to watch the Tudors as it’s on Netflix and I haven’t seen it before. I want to learn more about his wives.

BLOWN AWAY

In a complete shift from a period piece, here is another Netflix show I thoroughly enjoyed watching last month. Do you find the act of glass blowing to be extremely interesting, but you would never dream of trying yourself? Or do you like competition game shows that are not like anything else you’ve watched before? Then Blown Away might be for you! It’s a very fast watch with only a handful of episodes that are about a half hour a piece. (I honestly wished they were a bit longer because it was SO GOOD!) Each contestant is a glass blower and they get to show off their skills by competing in a specific challenge. Each episode you see someone get eliminated until the final where the winner gets a residency at Corning Museum of Glass in upstate New York. This show came out in 2019 and I am hoping a second season comes out.

LIFE IN PIECES

This CBS comedy was one that I remember loving when it first came out. But I only remember watching the first season because then I couldn’t remember which day it was on. (It’s going to sound weird, but because I don’t watch a lot on this network I often forget it exists. We also only had a one room DVR at the time, so we couldn’t tape more than 2 things. Oh, the joys of multi-room DVR). After I finished my re-watch of Derry Girls in September, I was looking for another sitcom to re-watch. This was when I stumbled on the full series of Life in Pieces on Amazon video. (It’s free to watch with Prime.) I was so surprised to see there were 4 seasons! Since then I have been watching a good amount of episodes when I sit down to watch it. Now I’m about mid way in the second season. I highly recommend this show if you haven’t seen it before. It gives vibes of Modern Family. Very short episodes that include four storylines. The format is one that I haven’t seen done before in a sitcom.

SUPERMARKET SWEEP

The revival of the beloved game show from the early 90s is now hosted by Leslie Johns and is the best thing you should be watching on Sunday nights. If you know your grocery shopping list like the back of your hand then you are all set for this show. Leslie Johns is hilarious as are the cast of characters that are regulars in her supermarket. I think it would be a great TV show to be on and I’m not just saying that because I want one of the sweatshirts (although that would be great). If you want (another) feel-good watch, look no further! You catch up on demand.

RE-WATCHING

ANNE WITH AN E

It’s hard to believe that we only got the third season of Anne with an E at the beginning of this year (as this year feels like its been going on forever and when I watched the third season I was in a much less stressed place). Currently, I am teaching a class involving Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. The main focus is on how these stories get adapted in recent times and include such modern plots (and sub-plots). Naturally Anne with an E is perfect for this topic (and after watching season 3 at the start of the year) was one of my major reasons for choosing this topic. (The other being Greta Gerwig’s latest Little Women.) As I’ve been planning my schedule, I’ve re-watched this show. There is something so great about watching it from season 1 all the way through to season 3. You get to watch them grow up and it’s crazy to see how young they first were. Comparing it more to the novel has been a fun time, but also analyzing it more has been great and made me appreciate it even more. With all the stress of our current situation watching this show has made me escape and feel good. (Yes, I know I’ve used that word a lot in this wrap up, but it’s true.)

***

******

Hopefully my next wrap up isn’t as delayed. Wishing everyone a happy holiday season!

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coeursetcolores · 4 years ago

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What I Would Add To/Change About: Psychonauts

Howdy! Today is April 19th, and if you don’t know what game came out today, then why don’t you try and read my mind to find out? Go ahead!

So what’s your answer?

...

Why yes, it was Psychonauts! Way to go, you just earned a merit badge, cadet!

...What do you mean you just read the title?!

Anyway, for those of you who know, Psychonauts is a beloved cult classic that unfortunately received not that much mainstream attention, which is such a shame because I loved playing this game! I’ll admit there’s some problems, but I had such a psi-blast playing it, I didn’t really mind! That being said...

I’m still gonna talk about the problems.

This is all just my own personal opinion and if you disagree with me, that’s perfectly okay! If you’d like to talk about a point I made, please let me know, but please try to respect my opinion as I respect yours.

Well, without further ado, let’s open that Psycho-portal!

SPOILERS AHEAD!

As usual, first let’s get out all the things I absolutely ADORED about this game!

The. Voice. Acting. I cannot say enough how much detail went into dialogue and performances, you just have to listen to it. I was talking to/inspecting as many people/things as I could and seeing what dialogues were available when I switched things out. I probably spent more time doing that than actually playing the game! Definitely Richard Horvitz’s best work in my opinion!

The environments. This game is a mixed-up feast for the eyes and the level design is the main course. Things can go from the nice and simple Whispering Pines to the breathtaking and colorful Black Velvetopia to the utter lunacy and ominousness of the Milkman Conspiracy. It’s a masterpiece in artistic expression.

The Milkman Conspiracy. My gosh, this level deserves all the hype it gets. I really wish it hadn’t been spoiled for me, but even then it’s just such a trip that I can’t mind it that much. Also, Steve Blum!

The character design may not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but it fits the messed up and wacky world of the game to a T.

JUMPING!!!!!!

The puzzles can get frustrating (especially at a certain final level whose name shall not be said in respect of those still recovering from it) but they’re really fun to experiment with and find ways to move ahead in.

I really enjoyed Raz as a protagonist. He wasn’t too moody or obnoxious and he was necessarily sassy when he needed to be. He was also really relatable, being a kid who felt ostracized at home and didn’t understand why his father wouldn’t let him do what he wanted. And he was just so nice in spite of how upset he was at his family situation while still being determined to accomplish his dreams and help people. And even when he reached the asylum, it never felt like he was going into anyone’s mind as a means to an end, he genuinely wanted to help these people along with the campers. Also, he’s a total fanboy geek and that’s awesome!

As fast as it happened, the romance between Raz and Lili was really sweet and cute and I’m glad it didn’t lessen their characters or take away too much from the story. It was definitely two kids going through their first puppy love.

I also really liked Raz being nice to Dogen. Their scenes together were just sweet!

All the different abilities were so cool to use and the different types of enemies encourages you to switch things up on the fly which keeps gameplay from getting stale as you progress.

Underneath all of the trippy sequences in the levels there’s a solid moral that not everyone can deal with their mental issues by themselves and sometimes you need someone else to step in and help, and I appreciate that kind of message. Even with all of their eccentricities, the mentally ill are people too and even if you can’t fix their problems like Raz can they still deserve basic compassion and understanding.

With all that being said, I feel like the game could have used a few more things.

ADD:

I really wish Raz got a new look for every mental world like he did in Black Velvetopia.

The game should have been stretched out over more than just one day. It would have given more time to expand upon certain plot elements and develop the characters more, as well as make Raz’s psychic growth a little more believable. I know that the plot kind of relied on Raz only having a day to do everything, but it just made him seem like of a Mary Sue learning all that in one day.

I feel like the game should have explained some things more. I get that video games shouldn’t hold your hand too much and they should be a challenge, but some things took FOREVER to learn the right button for.

A tracker for emotional baggage? I couldn’t find it all.

Maybe make the other counselors seem suspicious so it’s not so easy to single out Coach Oleander as the villain?

Add some side quests around camp to help the other campers: Stand up to Bobby, talk Crystal and Clem out of suicide, show Mikhail he’s being used and knock some sense into Maloof, get a show for Phoebe and Quentin’s band going, and help Dogen control his powers, etc. I feel like they really could have expanded Part 1 at camp more.

Maybe add some flashbacks of Raz’s family life before he ran away to help the audience see through his eyes and understand his thought process better.

More fights with the Nightmares would have been cool. The scrapped plot about them escaping from Milla’s mind and abducting kids while they didn’t have their brains would have been a cool subplot. Or they could have come from the kids themselves or Oleander. I just think they had more potential.

Dr. Loboto boss fight (I did not play Rhombus of Ruin, I don’t do VR!)!

I’d kind of want to see Raz’s dad arrive at camp and how he got to where all the action was. Maybe some scenes of him getting there too to really make the player feel just how little time they have.

A scene of Ford Cruller getting up to go help out and save everyone?

Alright, now it’s time to get to the ugly!

CHANGE:

Oh my gosh, ARREST COACH OLEANDER! I know he was genuinely remorseful and the Psitanium might have had a hand in it and he was unfairly rejected from every branch of the United States army for his height, but that doesn’t change the fact that he lobotomized an entire camp full of children, attempted to murder one, built psychic death tanks, mutated and brainwashed a peaceful fish, brainwashed an asylum patient into covering his tracks through arson without regards to the residents of the asylum, kidnapped and lobotomized two colleagues whom he then tried to kill, hired DR. LOBOTO and tried to take over the world. At least have the guy monitored and put under probation, geez!

Change the rules of the race in Milla’s Dance Party so you DON’T have to win! I don’t care if I lose, I just want to move on already! This is not a racing game!

LESS. FIGMENTS.

I honestly don’t know what to say about the **** ****** except HAVE OLLIE STAY PUT AT THE TOP SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT KEEPING HIS BUNNY-LOVING HIDE ALIVE!!!!!

Maybe the Two-Headed Dad Monster could have been more challenging at the end? As I’ve said, I am not a gameplay expert, but that final boss fight was really easy, and not in a satisfying way. Then again, you did just have to play through the **** ******...

And, that’s about it, I really don’t have much to complain about. Psychonauts is a super fun game and I highly recommend it. It’s colorful and explores heavy themes with respect and humor while going hand in hand with interesting gameplay and plenty of likable characters. There are no dull moments, I genuinely enjoyed this game greatly. I wish more people had given it a chance when it first came out and we could have gotten the sequel sooner, because I am honestly super nervous about it living up to the first. This is nothing on Tim Schafer and Double Fine, I just don’t have high expectations for a sequel made and released after ten years of radio silence as a rule. But, who knows?

Maybe they’ll go in and change my mind.

#What I Would Add to/Change About...#Psychonauts #Criticism #Praise #My Silly Personal Opinion

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auroras-blend · 4 years ago

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I Hate It Here

Summary: Vittoria gets used to her new church in Garland City and Leonardo finds he not as welcomed as he once was.

Note: Occurs after chapter 33

“Vittoria, step out of the car,” Papa demanded as he held the car door open for her.

Vittoria shook her head. “I don’t like this church.”

“You haven’t even been inside yet,” Papa reasoned, “Stop embarrassing me and get out.”

“I want Sg.ra Giordano,” she protested, crossing her small arms.

Papa sighed heavily, “We’ll return one day and you can see her, but for now, this is our church.”

“No.”

“What do you think God will think of you if you refuse to go to church on His day?”

Vittoria frowned and a potential offense to God made her step out of the car. She’d never want him to think she didn’t love him. Her little black mary-janes pattered onto the asphalt as she slid off the leather seat. She had resisted the entire time, decreeing that the Cathedral of the Holy Virgin was not her church. Then Papa told her no church belonged to her, but to God and that shut her up. Still, I miss our old one. People were nice to me. I liked our priest.

Papa held her hand as she smoothed out her dark navy blue dress, afraid the wrinkles would offend God and Christ. Papa had dressed her up, pinning her hair into a braided bun and clasping the diamond cross around her neck even though it brought up painful and bitter reminders of Sg.ra Bianchi. Whenever she thought of something sad, she talked to God. She talked to him a lot more now, the only voice she heard at night when she was left alone with her thoughts.

Her eyes drifted up to the imposing building. Like her church back home, it was grand and opulent, a marvel of architecture. It was a sterile white with statues carved into the face of the marble, a true sight as it towered over the buildings around it. Churches should be bigger than other buildings. The domes and spirals were erected so high, it looked like they were trying to reach God and heaven itself. Of course, like the cathedral back at home, the inside was as marvelous.

Rows of polished redwood lined the inside of the church, the number of pews taking up enough space to seat the massive amount of congregants filing inside. The pulpit is so big, but, “Where are the pictures?” she asked.

“The what?”

“The one at home had pictures of Jesus behind it? Where are the pictures-,” she began before a glittering light caught her eye.

Her green eyes widened in awe at the stained glass containing vivid colors, some portraying biblical scenes. Oh, there they are. They cast brightly over the wooden floor, which felt warm and like she was basking in holy light. It’s warmer than the one back in Italy. Vittoria noticed that her hands and legs weren’t cold. Maybe this won’t be so bad.

Papa led her to a pew as she was distracted by the grandness of the church, so distracted that she didn’t notice some women sliding away from him with wary eyes. But Papa noticed. He pulled her closer. “Principessa,” he whispered with a friendly and fatherly smile, “It’ll be in English today, except for the usual Latin.”

He handed her a Bible as she pulled out her favorite red rosary, “Really?”

“Yes, so you better pay attention because I’m going to ask you plenty of questions when I’m done,” he said in good nature.

She smiled back at him. “Sg.ra Lisi said I’m really good at answering questions.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” he said before gesturing to the dark-haired priest who came out to begin the service.

Vittoria, for some reason, felt her ears were mildly shocked by the English the priest was speaking in. It was her first language, but for some reason, it felt harder to follow along. Usually, at this time on Sundays, she was straining to hear some familiar words and heard herself thinking in Italian, as she desperately tried to program her brain to recognize his English. Eventually, she did and was as transfixed on the priest as her father was.

During the service there were eyes on her and Papa, making her squirm nervously in her seat. One young woman, in particular, had her eyes analyzing her body, as if trying to find something wrong. Papa didn’t notice and she dearly wished she had because the young woman glared at him with repulsion and distrust before she corrected herself with a smile when she saw Vittoria look back at her. As if she was trying to say, you’re not the problem. Vittoria shyly averted her gaze back to the pulpit and priest, trying to ignore the congregants who were as nosy as the ones in Summerfield.

Thankfully, the service seemed to go a lot faster and it ended as quickly as it began. Perhaps because it didn’t take her as much work to follow along and it kept her interest. Well, as much as a service could do for a nine-year-old. Papa helped her out of the pew before offering his hand and a friendly smile to an older woman who huffed and moved past him anyways. This is why I didn’t want to come back. American people are rude. What do they have against single parents?!

Vittoria frowned at her Papa who stepped out of the way and led her from the pews before smiling again as he caught sight of someone whom he must’ve known before. “Ah Mr. Howard,” he grinned, “It’s so nice to see you!”

The man pulled a face and looked ready to turn before he caught sight of Vittoria and decided to put on a facade of politeness. “Mr...Mr. Borghese,” he stuttered before being forced into a hug, “It’s been a while.”

“Too long,” Papa smiled, “And Mr. Borghese? When did you become so formal? You can still call me Leonardo.”

The man shifted on his feet uncomfortably, tugging at his collar that Vittoria could hardly believe was choking his skinny neck. The man was small, well smaller than her Papa, and only reached up to her Papa’s shoulders. He had sandy brown hair and blue eyes that reminded her of Pastor Marks. “Yes...well…” he glanced down, “You have a child.”

Papa smiled down at her and pulled her front and center. She wished he hadn’t. She hated strangers. “I do. Would you like to introduce yourself, sweetheart?”

Sweetheart? Not principessa? “Hi,” she said in a small voice, giving a tiny wave.

The man, or Mr. Howard, gave a strained smile. “Well hello,” he greeted, his demeanor becoming less stressed and friendlier, “What’s your name?”

“My name is Vittoria,” she said shyly.

It didn’t escape her Papa’s attention that prying eyes were on her, the little girl who walked in with the formerly beloved by all, Leonardo Borghese. There was something entirely innocent and non-threatening about him having a daughter. “Well, that’s such a pretty name. And how old are you?”

“I turned nine in December,” she said, wishing she could already leave.

“Wow, so you’re a big girl now, huh?”

“Not as big as Papa. He’s a giant,” she said quietly.

Mr. Howard and her Papa gave low laughs. “Leonardo,” an older woman approached with a thick accent that she couldn't recognize except she knew it wasn’t Italian, “You come back and you don’t introduce the girl?”

Papa smiled at the woman who had previously snubbed him. After all, how could he be terrible if he had a small daughter who loved him? Who looked at him with religious reverence and complete undying trust. Then there were the others who glanced over at the child with wariness, protectiveness, and apprehension. Fearful that she was in a monster’s presence, but she found they didn’t linger too long or approach her at all. Apparently, the young woman from before didn’t care enough to check on her; she’s probably going to gossip about us later.

The longer she and Papa stayed, the more people crowded her and asked her questions. Mainly the elderly who had much more faith in her father than the younger churchgoers. Old women spoke with Papa in Italian and Vittoria adorably responded in the same language, earning her pinches and smothering hugs into their breasts. WHY?! EVERY TIME?!

“It’s so nice to see you settled down,” a white-haired woman cooed, “She’s so sweet.”

They always talk about me. Never to me. “She was such an angel during the service. Some parents here just can’t control their children,” an old man scoffed.

“Well, she’s a good Catholic,” Papa praised.

That made her feel a little better. I try to be. “If you’re interested, St. Agnes’ is a lovely Catholic school for primary-age children. Well, girls. It’s an all-girls school,” a woman with a breathy accent smiled, “My nieces went there.”

“I’d consider all girls,” he smiled, “She hates boys.”

“I don’t hate you,” she said defensively, causing everyone to laugh.

Her face reddened in embarrassment as dread filled her chest. I wanna stay home with him forever. I don’t wanna go to another school. Vittoria liked being close to her Papa, and only with her Papa. I wish he’d hurry up so we can go home and play kingdom together. He promised we could play kingdom!

It was her very favorite game where she was the princess and he was the king. He’d build a castle fort with her, they’d sit for tea, go up on the balcony to wave, and dance. They didn’t do everything, but the game made her feel special. Vittoria tried focusing on planning the agenda and what they’d do for the kingdom game while he kept talking because he’s taking foreverrrrrrr!

***

The trip to the car was long. She felt relieved when they left the church, but all they did was move to talk outside. And she dearly wished they had gone home because they finally asked about the one topic that brought her agonizing pain and memories. Mama. “She passed away,” Papa said, softening his eyes as if he were devastated.

Light gasps sounded and she could feel her nose begin to sting. Vittoria retreated back behind her father. “Well bless you, for doing it all by yourself. I can’t even imagine,” an old woman exclaimed, her hand pressing against her chest.

Mama did it by herself and no one was nice to her. “How are you going to balance work and fatherhood?” one woman asked, “Childcare is a financial nightmare. I remember this one time…”

Oh my gosh, I just wanna go home! Vittoria grew restless and was about to sprint to the car before Papa was finally able to bid them all farewell. Well, not before they pinched her cheeks as a goodbye. Why do strangers think they can touch me? She had gotten used to it after a while in Italy, but it was always odd that everyone was so physical with her. Papa never minds!

The whole ordeal sent her into a distressed state and after her Papa inspected the car and buckled her in, she began to weep. Papa sighed when he sat in the driver's seat. “They touched me,” she cried, “Please don’t make them babysit me, Papa.”

I never want a babysitter again! Her Papa sighed, “Principessa...I’m going to have to go back to work eventually…”

“Then let me come with you,” she begged, “I’ll be quiet and good. I can even help.”

I can decorate his office and sort papers into folders! I can do all types of things. “I’ll even do it for free!” she offered.

People like free things.

“That’s very sweet Vittoria, but I can’t take you to...work with me. We’ll figure something out, okay?”

Papa had already decided she wasn’t going to a real school yet. Vittoria could hardly handle a grocery store; it’d be a nightmare at a school. No, he was hiring tutors again. That worked so well last time. He started the car and he began the drive home while she continued to cry.

“We’ll have lunch when we get back, but after that, you’ll take a pill,” he said in a ‘no arguments’ voice.

“You worked from home before. Why can’t you do it again?” she asked, crossing her arms.

“Things are different now…” he explained without explaining.

“I hate it here,” she pouted, “I hate Garland City and I hate America.”

“Vittoria,” Papa hissed, “Never say that again. I don’t care what you think, but you’ll keep those thoughts to yourself. Do you understand?”

A pout was stuck to her lips but she begrudgingly agreed. I hate it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. I hate it here...

#is it a one-shot or is it part of a larger bonus chapter? who knows!#not me #😂#i always really liked the garland city church aesthetic #leonardo borghese #vittoria borghese #i wanted to write this for a long time #also she definitely got in trouble for being disobedient in the first part

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peace-coast-island · 4 years ago

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Diary of a Junebug

Where the sweetiefish swim

Stories have a way of bringing people together - those who come from wildly different backgrounds, those who have loved and lost, and those who keep trudging on. Stories are powerful, lingering on us in ways we'd never expect them to.

The tumultuous life of Priscilla Grimsley "Pringle" Wilder is one whose story of determination and grit gave her great-great granddaughter the courage to carry on after a series of tragedies that plagued her and her sister. Years later it also reunited her with someone from a past she longed to forget, and in turn, finally put those awful years behind her.

First, let me start with the Sweetie River, an almost mythical wonder that has helped many who were lost and desolate. Something about the soft almost pastel pink waters and the graceful sweetiefish swimming against the currents proved as a source of solace for those who need it. No one knows why the fish insist on swimming against the flow, but they just do.

While sweetiefish are known for being native to the Sweetie River, they do pop up in other places from time to time. In a weird turn of luck, they were showing up at Lost Lure Creek. I mean, we do have our fair share of rare aquatic creatures that show up at the camp every so often, yet it still surprises me when they pop up.

I don't think it was a coincidence that the sweetiefish started showing up around the time Lana planned a camping trip with her brothers. Especially since the two who are accompanying them are Pringle Wilder's great-great granddaughters, both whom she had been trying to track down for years.

Unfortunate circumstances tore them apart, things that Lana couldn't even begin to understand. After all, she was only about eight when the sisters lived with them for a spell until something happened that caused Sissi and Mary to leave abruptly. Lana spent years wondering about the sisters, only for her parents to brush her off if she asked. Then disaster followed that left Lana's family with bigger problems to deal with, as well as the possibility that the girls were likely missing and/or dead.

Before getting into all that, let me tell you the story of Pringle Wilder, a survivor of the deadly Saint Goldcrest earthquake. Since her mother's death and father's abandonment when she was fourteen, Pringle religiously kept a diary. It was her safe haven, her way of expressing her grief and anger as well as her imagination and her unwavering courage. After the death of her younger brother at the hands of her abusive uncle, Pringle left home, vowing to never return.

So she hopped on a train that took her miles away. Pringle also cast away her family's name - Walcottingly - to completely cut herself from her father for good. Wilder was her mother's name and seeing how she was the only one left to carry the name, Pringle felt it was the best way to keep her beloved mother's memory alive.

The train took her to Saint Goldcrest, where Pringle became a maid for a wealthy family living in the richest neighborhood in the county. Aside from the daughter Millie, Pringle didn't care too much for the Sumpters. Though, she had stated in her diary many times that while living with the Sumpters was like a prison, it was better than the alternative, which was her uncle.

Pringle stayed in Saint Goldcrest for six months before the earthquake hit, destroying the city and killing thousands, including the Sumpters. Her account of the earthquake is a heartbreaking read, one that still gets to me no matter how many times I've read it. It's not an easy read, the vivid descriptions of the mansion crumbling down, the feeling of dread and terror as Pringle was certain the end was imminent, and the horror of watching Millie Sumpter die in front of her while she herself was trapped in rubble, unable to help or turn away.

What happened afterward was a turn Pringle never expected. Due to the chaos and the fact that she was wearing Millie's clothes during and after the earthquake led to a case of mistaken identity. The girls looked nothing alike but with Millie's body being badly crushed by debris as well as Mr. Sumpter's business partner having never seen Millie before, Pringle didn't even realize the mix up until he addressed her by the wrong name hours later.

With nowhere to go, Pringle had no choice but to keep up with the charade. Since the Charotts didn't know Millie, they never suspected anything. In a way, it was almost too easy, which scared her. While staying with the Charotts, Pringle later found herself untangling a web of deceit and corruption involving the Charotts, Sumpters and, in an unexpected twist of events, her father.

A reluctant Pringle then teamed up with her father to expose the Charotts along with other notable businessmen associated with them and the Sumpters. A deadly showdown resulted in many deaths, including Pringle's father and Mr. Charott. Pringle herself barely escaped as she was grazed by a bullet when her father attempted to use her as a shield. After recovering from her injuries, Pringle once again hopped on a train, leaving behind the destruction of Saint Goldcrest as well as her last remaining tie to her past. In her diary she wrote, "Priscilla Walcottingly died in the Great Earthquake."

The train could only take Pringle so far. With even less than nothing to go off on, Pringle was lost in an unfamiliar world. In her diary, she found herself retreating to her ideal world of make believe. A world where people like her mother, brother, and Millie were alive and happy. An alternate course where she was back in school hanging out with her friends and filling her head with all kinds of stories. She often wrote about her brother, often wishing that she could retreat to her own head like he did after their mother died.

It was the Sweetie River that pulled Pringle out of the cracks. According to legend, the Sweetie River seeks out those who need it the most. Pringle was near death, on the verge of giving up, her diary entries are of almost another person, a broken shell of a once spirited girl. As she wrote in her diary, seeing the little fish fighting the currents awakened a sense of hope in her, one that she had feared she lost forever when her brother died.

Fascinated by the river and the fish, Pringle followed the stream. She marked this time period as the Wandering Years, becoming known to some as the River Lady, known for her kindness towards those she meets. Eventually her wandering took her to Falcon Haven, a once quaint little town during its heyday. Not much about her life is known after that except that she married and lived a quiet life.

The story of Pringle Wilder continues to live on with her descendants. Her great-granddaughter Margaret was the one who found Pringle's diaries and passed them on to Sissi, who was named after her ancestor. Sissi became fascinated by Pringle's life and like her, began keeping a diary to help cope with unfortunate tragedies that plagued her adolescence.

Sissi was fourteen and Mary was ten when their parents were killed in an accident. After that they were sent to live with their grandfather, who never got along with the family. Unable to take the abuse anymore, Sissi took Mary and they ran away.

Inspired by Pringle, Sissi and Mary hopped on a train to start a new life. While on the train, they met Lana, her mother, and her brothers. Lana, who was eight at the time, immediately took a liking to Sissi and Mary. Sissi helped take care of the kids during the three day journey, especially with the boys, who often got rowdy and pestered Lana.

Seeing that the sisters had formed a close bond with the kids, Mrs. Hallie decided to take in Sissi and Mary. Lana and her brothers were happy to have two big sisters. Sissi would try to help out whenever she could, acting like a part time nanny even though Mr. and Mrs. Hallie would remind her that she's one of the kids now. Lana described Sissi as fourteen going on forty.

They were happy for a while, until a big fight resulted in Sissi taking Mary and leaving, followed by most of the city burning down due to the Sliver Way Fire. Sissi's abrupt departure and chaos following the wildfire haunted Lana, and in the years that followed, she tried to track down the whereabouts of Priscilla and Mary Franklin.

It was Pringle Wilder who reunited Lana with Sissi and Mary. Sissi published Pringle's diaries, which became a bestseller. But that wasn't what caught Lana's attention, at least not at first. It was Sissi's novel, Follow the Sweetfish River, that reignited Lana's search for the sisters.

I first met Lana while living in Capricorn, exploring old bookstores and hanging out at cafes. Lana got me intrigued about Sissi and Pringle as well as the Saint Goldcrest earthquake and the Sweetie River. Although she had only known Sissi for a short time, her presence left an impact on Lana and her brothers, especially the stories she told them of Pringle Wilder and the river. Despite having little to nothing to go on, Lana was determined to find out what happened to Sissi and Mary.

As a result of her determination, I too became invested in the mystery of Sissi and Mary's whereabouts. That's part of the reason why we kept in touch once in a while. And I'm happy we did now that we know that the search wasn't futile.

Follow the Sweetfish River is a historical fiction story that was loosely based on the lives of the two Priscillas. It is the diary of Rosemary Grace, a fourteen year old girl who leaves behind her old life following a devastating tragedy, only to have trouble follow her wherever she went. While the book had positive reviews, it didn't make the bestseller list - a shame in my opinion as it really is a captivating read.

Lana happened to come across it by chance at a thrift shop. While skimming through the pages she came across some things that pulled her in. She recognized little details about Pringle's life through Rosemary as well as some parallels to Sissi's life with the Hallies such as Rosemary being taken in by a kind family, only to leave on bad terms.

From there, Lana started to put the pieces together. Her breakthrough was searching for Wilder instead of Franklin, which made things a lot more clearer. At some point after leaving Sliver Way, Sissi and Mary took on their mother's name, which was why Lana has such a hard time finding them. She used the book as a roadmap to figure out where Sissi and Mary have been such as how they escaped the wildfires and survived out on their own with nothing but each other.

It took nearly twenty years but at long last, Lana was reunited with Sissi and Mary. It was something she dreaded and anticipated - she never expected to get that far and there she was. What's done is done and while some things can't be forgiven, you gotta carry on. When Lana broke the news, I was constantly refreshing for updates.

Just as Pringle Wilder said, the truth will come out in some way, whether it's in bits and pieces, or a gradual realization, someone will listen and understand. I'm glad Lana finally has closure on something that haunted her and her brothers for years, same for Sissi and Mary.

The truth was what drove Lana to find Sissi. Before Mr. Hallie died, he finally told Lana and the boys why Sissi and Mary ran off. It had to do with Mrs. Hallie's brother, who Sissi cursed at when she stormed out of the Hallies' lives. He and his friends were responsible for the deaths of Sissi's parents - an accident, they claimed. That was why Mary ran out of the house when she saw him, because she recognized him and he had threatened her to keep quiet. He confessed, resulting in Sissi lashing out while Mrs. Hallie jumped to her brother's defense.

Lana and her brothers were playing in the living room when the whole thing happened. She remembers being confused and scared, especially after her mother told her and the boys to forget that Sissi and Mary ever existed. It puzzled her a lot as her mother always treated Sissi and Mary like her own. All the more reason why she was determined to find them.

Not too long after Sissi left, the city was forced to evacuate. Wildfires around the area had grown out of control and for days the skies had been covered in smog. However no one expected the fire to jump the river or even reach that far out. Lana and the boys were reluctant to leave because they didn't want Sissi and Mary to get scared when they come home to an empty house. The fire spread rapidly, leaving residents little time to escape. The neighborhood where the Hallies lived was completely destroyed by the flames.

Like Rosemary Grace, Sissi barely escaped the flames that consumed the city. She was searching for Mary when the city went on alert. The chaos made it more difficult for Sissi to find her sister, but she absolutely refused to leave until she knew Mary was safe. In the end she had no choice but to be escorted out when the fire began overtaking the city. Sissi suffered injuries from smoke inhalation so she had to stay in a clinic. Just when she was about to give up hope, the kind stranger who saved her reunited her with Mary, who was shaken up but unharmed.

And like Rosemary Grace and Pringle Wilder, Sissi set out to find the Sweetie River. It was the one thing that kept her and Mary going, the stories of Pringle and her journey. Using Pringle's diary as a guide, Sissi was able to find the river and became captivated by the sweetiefish. The river led her to Moonbright, where she and Mary began a new life. They were adopted by a poet, the one who encouraged Sissi to publish Pringle's diaries and write her own books.

Sissi's a historian at the musuem as well as a part time writer and Mary's a preschool teacher. Moonbright is a small, idyllic town where nothing much really happens. After what Sissi and Mary have been through, they deserve a quiet life in the mountains.

Sissi admitted that she was reluctant to meet up with Lana, though she states that she doesn't hold any grudges towards Lana and her brothers for what their uncle did. Leaving the kids like that haunted Sissi too as they were too young to understand what was going on. Neither one knew how well the reunion was going to go but they knew that they needed closure, to finally put the past behind them for good.

Since then, Sissi and Lana have kept in contact, along with Mary and the boys. In fact, this is the first time all five of them have been together. Lana says it still feels so unreal, to see Sissi and Mary after all these years.

Once again, the sweetiefish have brought back what was lost. Pringle, Sissi, Mary, Lana, the boys - I wonder how many more lives the sweetiefish changed for the better. And with this fishing tourney, the sweetiefish work their magic again.

Pringle was right, sometimes lightning can strike the exact same spot more than once.

#animal crossing #animal crossing pocket camp #Diary of a Junebug #headcanon ramble

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