#love a character destined to become an avatar of a god…

[kazz-brekker]

*carefully adds serapio from black sun by rebecca roanhorse to the list of bird-themed men in fantasy novels that i love a lot*

[likealittleheartbeat]

Here's the conclusion to the longest atla meta I ever wrote (about platonic love in the show) for all the old and new fans coming into the fandom (def spoilers):

"Ideally, within the morality of the series (at least as it appears to us with no regard for whatever limits or self-censorship occurred due to its era of production and child-friendly requirements), “friends'' are maintained alongside romantic partnerships. Both Zuko and Aang’s separate romantic relationships blossom within the same episode that they declare their “friendship.” In fact, a vital plotline is the development of Zuko’s relationship with Aang’s romantic interest. While anyone in the fandom is well aware of the popular interpretation of romantic affection between Zuko and Katara because of their shared narrative, I have to point out that romantic feelings across the series are made extremely explicit through statements, blushes, and kisses. Zuko’s relationship with Katara can be better understood in the light of the coming-of-age counternarrative: While the love interest often serves as a catalyst for separation for a homosocial relationship, the friendly relationship with Aang’s love interest—seeking her forgiveness, respecting her power, calling on her support, etc—is vital for Zuko to ultimately create an environment of peace in which he and Aang can fulfill their destined “friendship.”

We can look at Katara’s femininity as the most important device for manifesting Aang and Zuko’s eventual union (and therefore the restoration of balance to the world). It’s her rage against misogyny that frees Aang from his iceberg, midwifing him into the world again after his arrested development, the complete opposite of a Wendy figure. It’s her arms that hold Aang in the pieta after his death in the Crossroads of Destiny, positioning her as a divine God-bearer. Afterwards, its her hands that resurrect Aang so that they together can fulfill his destiny. It will be these same hands with this same holy water that resurrect Zuko in the finale. Only through Katara’s decided blessing could Aang and Zuko proceed toward the fated reunion of their souls.

The importance of this critical relationship to femininity becomes relevant to a scene in “Emerald Island Players” that one might note as an outstanding moment of gay panic. Zuko and Aang, watching their counterparts on stage, cringe and shrink when, upon being saved by The Blue Spirit character in the play, Aang’s performer declares “My hero!” Instead of the assumption of homophobia, I wonder whether we might read Aang and Zuko’s responses as discomfort with the misogynistic heterosexual dynamics the declaration represents. Across the board, Avatar subverted the damsel in distress trope. There’s a-whole-nother essay to be written on all the ways it goes about this work, but the events in “The Blue Spirit” certainly speak to this subversion. It’s quite explicit that Zuko, after breaking Aang’s chains, is equally dependent on Aang for their escape. And, by the end of the actual episode, the savior role is reversed as Aang drags an unconscious Zuko away from certain death. To depict these events within the simplistic “damsel in distress” scenario, as The Ember Island Players do, positions Aang as a subordinately feminized colonial subject, denies him his agency, and depicts the relationship as something merely romantic, devoid of the equalizing platonic force that actually empowers them. The moment in the play is uncomfortable for Aang and Zuko because it makes Zuko the hero and Aang the helpless object. Aang is explicit about his embarrassment over his feminized and infantilized depiction in the play. And Zuko, newly reformed, is embarrassed to see, on one hand, his villainy throughout the play and, on the other hand, see how his character is positioned as as a savior to the person who has actually saved him.

At the heart of the series is not the idea of a chosen one or savior. Instead, we are saved by the ability for one person to see themselves in another person and to feel that same person equally understands their own soul. This is the ideal of platonic love. Platonic love between two matured boys—two boys within whose memories and bodies bare the scars of their queer sensitivities—is an essential part of the future of peace.

Many fans have a sense of this, labeling the relationship as “brotp” and “platonic soulmates.” I simply encourage people to acknowledge that platonic love, especially in this context, is not a limit. There is no “no homo” joke here. When we remark on the platonic love between Zuko and Aang (and across media more generally) we are precisely making room for friendship, romance, and whatever else it could mean, whatever else it might become.

While I find Legend of Korra lacking and in some ways detrimental to appreciating the original series, it’s finale interestingly parallels and extends this reading of platonic love in a sapphic vein. And most recently, She-ra Princess of Power was able to even more explicitly realize these dynamics in the relationship between Adora and Catra. Let’s simply acknowledge that Aang and Zuko’s relationship blazed the trail: that peace, happiness, hope, and freedom could all hinge on a “friendship,” because a “friend” was never supposed to be set apart from or less than other kinds of relationships. For the ways it disregards gender, disregards individualism, disregards dominion--platonic love is the foundation of any meaningful relationship. And a meaningful relationship is the foundation for a more peaceful world." 

[copaganda-clobberfest]

WELCOME

TO THE FIRST ROUND OF THE COPAGANDA CLOBBERFEST!

“You know that trope? That one trope *Everyone* hates? The trope in which a well meaning antagonist to our heroes, one looking out for the good of a certain community, suddenly does something horrible and drastic to make not only them, but the ideology they stand for the most villainous of all?”

NOW IS THE TIME TO BATTLE THEM OUT! Like Ken dolls, fighting for survival! Like your Polly pockets discarded in the closet, we’ll see which of these bitches jumped that slippery slope harder! Whose character did numbers on y’all, and blew up a bunch of grandmas and babies and hospitals with it!

ROUND ONE

DAENERYS TARGARYEN from GAME OF THRONES vs PRINCE LOTOR from VOLTRON (LEGENDARY DEFENDER)

Dany propaganda (TW: domestic abuse mention, slavery):

“Sold off as a slavewife to a warlord in another country. Slowly rises up gaining the love and trust of the warlords people, eventually becoming their leader after his death. Goes on to conquer another nation and free all the slaves. Deals with her quickly growing list of real and perceived enemies in increasingly awful ways. More stuff happens. Eventually she makes her play for the throne of Kingslanding and forced a swift surrender… but instead snaps… over…? and instead starts killing everyone in the city indiscriminately because the only way to build her great version of the world everyone who even remotely likes the current one has to die.

And then her sorta bf kills her.

Its kinda funny how the US was also founded on a revolution lead by people with Not Great Morals and its media industry loves to now churn out stories where revolutionary figures turn out to be bad guys, actually, so you shouldn’t revolt and just accept your place in their world. Is this actually a British psy-op to get americans to accept the error in the ways and rejoin the UK?”

“daenerys propaganda: the literal in-text justification d&d gave for dany always being secretly evil and destined to massacre innocents was that she was too mean to the slavers that crucified a bunch of children. so they had this domestic violence survivor die of yet more domestic violence. they couldn't even let her go down in battle, she had to be assassinated by her lover in a moment of physical intimacy. (and tyrion, who literally strangled his gf to death and burned a fleet alive, suddenly became the audience avatar fretting about ethics.) the only woman permitted to retain power at the end of the show (sansa) was the one who said being raped and abused made her strong; dany, who explicitly condemned physical and sexual abuse and took steps to eradicate the perpetrators and break the wheel that crushed the oppressed, had to go crazy and die. the script explicitly condemned what they referred to as "liberation theology." d&d are the ultimate centrists and they turned dany into a fox news caricature of an activist.”

Lotor propaganda (TW: xenophobia):

“He wasn't exactly presented as a straight-up villain initially, more like a rogue agent. He wanted to reform his father's evil empire to be less tyrannical and xenophobic (the 2nd one is especially relevant because he's only half Galra. He went from an enemy of the heroes to an ally, then oops! turns out he's actually been a genocidal mass murderer with a god complex this whole time and then he dies in the most horrible way. It's been a while since I watched the show but I will never stop being mad over how they did my boy dirty.”

Always feel free to rb with more propaganda :)

[ooccaaa]

I’m actually not okay about Oban Star Racers. I just finished my second rewatch of it and I have some feelings. Sappy rambling below with spoilers

I don’t know why it hit me this hard. I’ve seen Oban before, I knew how it ended and everything. I felt so sad for Jordan. I didn’t like Aika this time around. I’m happy for Molly. I wanted to know what Rick decided to do with his life. I’m nervous that Jordan won’t be coming back in the potential sequel series.

Honesty Jordan messed me up this rewatch. I thought he was cute and endearing, even if he was a little cringe, but then I started to get the feeling that he was only put in the show to satisfy the networks need for a boy protagonist. So I thought, okay that may be the case, actually it totally is the case. For the most part Jordan could be removed completely and nothing major would change. That made me sad, because I really liked him on this rewatch, I thought he was cute. It was like watching a person be destined to fail and still rooting for them anyways. Then, when the finale happened, I realized my biggest critic I had of the writing the first time I watched the show was completely wrong. See, I thought Jordan was severely underdeveloped and his motive for wanting to become the avatar came out of nowhere, but that’s only if you take what he says to Molly at face value, which I did. This time around, I realized that, no, he just said that to Molly to make her feel better. He literally sacrificed his whole human life to protect the girl he likes and knows she doesn’t feel the same way AND AFTER HE MAKES THE SACRIFICE HE STILL PROTECTS HER FEELINGS AND DOESN’T DEMAND ANYTHING FROM HER IN RETURN. Like, that is the most selfless act of love, kindness, respect, care literally ever and it really crushed me this time around when I realized that. AND HE CRIES. The last shot of him is him CRYING. I CAN’T. It hurt me so much. He will live so many lifetimes, far beyond what Molly and anyone he’s ever known ever will, based on a decision to save someone who never reciprocated the same kind of feelings that he did. Literally the best I love you fiction cartoon character Jordan.

AND I NEVER REALIZED THAT JORDAN’S GRANDPA ACTUALLY SHOWED UP IN THE SERIES

god I love this show so much

[tell-talesignsof-awkward]

What are your thoughts of Bea losing hope and her faith in religion in second half of season 2? As Ava mentioned, she wouldn’t have before.

Also did think it was unfair that she lashed out on Ava and told her to run.

Hm maybe if you can, could you please provide your thoughts on that entire conversation and her character arc from episode 7-8? I simply chalked it up to she lost faith in religion, but also now thinking about it…in Ava too. Your analysis of the pressure of being the next Mother Superion helps make sense of the otherwise calm Beatrice.

oh my gosh Hiiiii!! This is a cool question, and I intend to fully infodump about it.

Beatrice hits a horrible crossroads in ep 6 when she sabotaged Adriel’s meeting with Miguel’s titty bomb by just rugby-tackling the love of her life to keep her from being impulsively selfless. 

Bea’s method of surviving the trauma she’s experienced up to this point is to put all of the parts of her that wouldn’t otherwise make it into a series of tiny boxes to be reopened in a kinder/safer world probably never lol. Up till now, the sacrifices she’s been required to make to survive/in her line of work were either something she had the space/support to come to terms with, or were within her capacity to give freely. Suddenly, Shannon’s gone. Lilith’s gone. Vincent’s a traitor. Mary’s gone. Their headquarters are compromised. The angel who inspired her sect isn’t even an angel and is also a dirtbag. All of the pillars of her existence have crumbled into ash, except the Warrior Nun. If she can keep Ava alive, something about her life is still worth it. She can still be Good, and Useful, and the version of herself she needs to be in order to be the leader she’s destined to become. The world she can she see will still be at least somewhat recognizable. There’s still a world in which she and Ava have a shot at falling in love. Now the world is demanding she rip up that final shining part of herself, and in the moment, she balks. She lets Vincent take the Crown and puts her body between the bomb and the detonator.

This is a fucked up thing for Bea to try and reconcile with in the aftermath, and because she’s human instead of the avatar of Duty and Responsibility she believes herself to be, she handles it badly and has a meltdown in Ava’s direction about it. I don’t think she means pretty much any of what she’s saying, and it fits the pattern of the conflicts they’ve had earlier in the season. Beatrice and Ava do have this kind of established conflict pattern of “my feelings are deeply hurt but I cannot fully voice everything” which devolves into hurting each other’s feelings back and forth a bit until someone gets to the crux of the issue, they Actually Talk, and they tenderly make up. The problem this time is: 

the crux of the issue is that Ava received a message from Maybe-God telling her to blow herself up to save the world

Beatrice’s final straw is Ava

There’s no time to circle back to making up, the world’s about to freakin end

Ava even spots the pattern and throws her a bone with the offer to run away, but it doesn’t matter in the end. Bea’s repeatedly stated that she cannot watch Ava die, and to have Ava essentially state her intentions to hand-detonate a bomb in an angel’s face is more than she can handle. In that moment, she’s screaming from her most vulnerable self for Ava to be selfish for her, but they’ve both run out of steam to keep outpacing reality. The cozy bubble that formed over them in the Alps - and even before that during their Halo training - finally pops, and the rift it creates between them is almost uncrossable. Beatrice is bereft, adrift, and has finally run out of pieces of herself to give.

She gave the OCS and the Church her life, her friends, her family, her hopes and dreams, her body, and not a small amount of cognitive dissonance. Having to hand over a fleeting glimpse of what could be is her breaking point, and she doesn’t even get a say in handing it over. 

I don’t think she’ll break Catholic forever, by any means, but my girl Beatrice is in dire need of a gay sabbatical and a damn nap. Also, a gay sabbatical comes with a class on communicating your feelings lol

[farlynthordens]

SKB Chronological Timeline

Related to my volume timeline, but in this one i tried to put all known events in the series in chronological order as best as i can. CONTAINS MAJOR PLOT AND CHARACTER SPOILERS

All of the dates are approximated based on literally these 2 pieces of info: the tokyo explosion happening in 2028, and apollo being asleep for around 300 years. also referencing known character ages + those we vaguely know, plus my volume timeline post for general spacing of events. take everything with a grain of salt (haha), this is just for fun

---

Early 2000′s: Akaboshi Apollo and Nekoyanagi Domino are born

2020′s: Apollo and Domino begin working in the same lab together, then later fall in love

2028: A tetsujin explodes, triggering the rusty wind and creating the Tokyo Crater. Domino dies

Apollo survives. He creates his 3 avatar helpers by removing elements of his own personality to shape them - Joy, Hope, and Rage

2030′s: Hope goes rogue and founds what’s later known as Kusabiraism - the dominant religion practiced in Izumo - in hopes of it one day becoming of use in defeating apollo

Apollo kills him, but his spirit survives.

...

2130(ish): Kelsinha is born (the tottori mushroom keepers say that he’s rumored to be 200 years old, but I can’t recall if his exact age is ever given)

2185(ish): Tirol’s great-grandfather (the high priest who leads Banryou-ji) is born (short story 5 states he is over 140 years old)

2270(ish): Jabi is born (iirc it says he’s in his 60′s when he died?)

[sometime while chaika’s father is still young]: the benibishi invade hokkaido

2308: Tirol is born (cobkubo confirmed she was 21 at the start of the story)

2310: Pawoo is born (cobkubo confirmed she was 19 at the start of the story)

2312: Bisco and Milo are born (17 at start of story)

2313~14: Shishi is born

[sometime 2315~2317]: Jabi meets bisco for the first time. bisco becomes his disciple. (based on info from a short story included in the s1 bluray set)

[shortly after previous point]: Jabi tells marie to let him take care of bisco so she can follow her destined path of being a god. marie creates mayor, but has jabi watch over it for a brief time.

2316: Amli is born

2318: Marie gives custody of bisco to jabi. she leaves with baby mayor

2318~20: Chaika is born

2328~29: Bisco and jabi set out to find the rust eater

2329: Milo and Bisco meet. kurokawa is defeated. (vol 1)

They travel to izumo and defeat kelsinha (vol 2)

2329~30: Gopis revives kurokawa, transferring their consciousness into a new tetsujin-based body

2330: Apollo awakens from his 300 year sleep. the boys defeat him (vol 3)

Bisco and pawoo get married

They meet shishi, free the benibishi from six realms prison. king housen is slain and shishi takes the throne (vol 4)

The benibishi war and the fight for control over hokkaido happens (vol 5)

2331: Kurokawa retakes control of imihama, until being defeated AGAIN (vol 6)

2332: Jabi dies

2333: Bisco, milo, and pawoo are living in imihama unhappily<3 (vol 7)

The incident with the cat realm happens

The trio elopes to Kaso to start their new polyamorous life together there

Mayor and the UFO appear and are subsequently defeated. sugar is born (vol 8)

It’s been 15 years since marie last saw bisco

2334: Salt is born

2354 (or later): Salt is living on his own and became a writer (vol 8 epilogue)

[venfx]

magnus fic roundup

as tma comes to a close, i thought i'd post some of my favorite fics to come out of this fandom. most of these are classics, listed in no particular order.

A Weather In The Flesh by @cuttoothed​ | 3K | S1-S4 | Jon/Martin | Complete

"There is a span of years where Jon doesn’t touch anyone other than the occasional hand shake. It’s not so bad. He’s never been someone who’s needed physical affection."

Jon has never been any good at making people want to stick around.

↳ this is such a well-done exploration of jon’s character and his relationship with touch, and i’ve re-read it at least five times. sweet and sad and phenomenally well-written.

in the chillest land and on the strangest sea by imperfectcircle, singlecrow | 20K | Safehouse, S1-S4 | Jon & Daisy, Jon/Martin | Complete

Jon remembers a statement he read years ago given by a Jesuit priest, who said that the shortest prayer he knew was, just, fuck it, as in fuck it; it's in God's hands. He takes Daisy's hand and trails on after her.

or; hope is a thing with feathers.

↳ hey, you wanna fuckin..... feel things? read this.

The Magnus Institute vs the 21st Century: a series of emails and IMs by shinyopals | 26K | Series | S3 | Pre-Jon/Martin | Complete

The Magnus Institute hires a Data Protection Officer. He sets about diligently booking in meetings, writing policy documents, and training all the staff in the importance of confidentiality. Now if only he could get hold of the Head Archivist, who seems to have vanished again...

(Jon is only trying to save the world, but apparently some people think he should still be doing his day job.)

↳ i’d be surprised to find people who haven’t read this series, but it’s the definition of “the magnus archives is a workplace comedy”. also, alasdair stuart has actually read some clips of this on Twitch, so that’s a fun bonus.

Bell, Book, and Candle by yellow_caballero | 102K | Series | S3 into S4 | Jon/Martin | Complete 

In accordance with the Ride or Die Pact of 2009, Jonathan Sims can call upon Georgie Barker at any time for aid with no strings attached. Despite their rocky history, their childhood friendship, and Jon’s barely recovered alcoholism, this pact is sacred and must be upheld.

Georgie Barker may regret this. She may regret it when she discovers that the world is full of monsters and eldritch gods and dickhead managers. She may regret it when a punk rocker who should be dead collapses on their doorstep, a teenager again who needs their help. She may regret it when her stupid ex-boyfriend starts selling his soul for knowledge and the ability to keep his new family safe.

But she probably won’t. Georgie isn’t scared of anything - not a Clown’s apocalypse, not the apocalypse that Jon is destined to begin, and not Jon’s own loss of humanity.

Maybe she should be.

↳ if you’re looking for an everyone-lives-no-one-dies-happy-ending fic that also happens to be massively chaotic, look no further. 

The Reverb in These Holy Halls by @wolftraps​ | 98K | AU, S1-S4 | Jon/Martin | Complete

Undoing the apocalypse would have been enough for Jon, if all his people survived. Without them, Jon's only recourse is making it so it never happened in the first place. He's going to do better this time.

↳ quintessential time travel AUs. plot-wise, i feel like these can be difficult to write, but op does a fantastic job of tying things together in a way that makes sense. plus, it’s just fun to read.

jon sims v the nhs by @thoughtsbubble​ | 12K | Series | S3 | Complete

Joan Bright has a new patient. He's carrying an old tape recorder and is covered head to toe in scars. Jonathan Sims looks dangerous, but Dr Bright has dealt with all sorts of atypical individuals. She has no reason to be nervous.

Right?

↳ if you’ve ever thought “hey, jon should probably go to therapy”, then 1) you’re absolutely right and 2) this is... probably what would’ve happened. prior knowledge of The Bright Sessions is not required. also, apparently, this fic is written by the showrunner of The Underwood Collection? wild.

Family, Found by Dribbledscribbles | 9K | S4 | Complete

It’s Basira who catches onto it.

The collective shift that seems to come over them when heading in or out of the Institute. Not just the oppressive sensation of being observed, their every move catalogued for the voyeuristic cravings of some unseen Eye(s). That feeling remained with them even when they left the Institute these days, but it was always stronger inside its walls. That wasn’t the change. Nor was it the point.

The point was: making life worse for Jonathan Sims.

↳ i think being part of the avengers fandom circa 2012 has given me permanent found-family-trope brainrot, but you know what. jonathan sims can have a little happiness, as a treat. 

Road to Damascus by @titanfalling​ | 107K | Series | S4 | Jon & Tim | Complete

n. an important moment of insight, typically one that leads to a dramatic transformation of attitude or belief

Or, in which Tim becomes an avatar for the end of all things.

↳ tim dies and then he doesn’t. there is catharsis and world building. just....read it.

Come, Change Your Ring With Me by @backofthebookshelf​ | 29K | S3 | Peter/Jon, Jon/Martin, Peter/Elias | Complete

The Lukases demand the Archivist marry into the family, and the Institute relies on them too much to say no. Peter is smug. Elias is fuming. Martin is suffering. Jon thinks this might be tolerable if only Peter would hurry up and leave him alone already.

OR, the soap opera we call an Archives revolves around Peter Lukas this time.

↳ superb evil-bastards-in-love content, feat. martin pining, tim being obnoxious, and jon being... well, tired, mostly. i will literally never get tired of how op writes peter. 

creatures that i briefly move along by @dotsayers​ | 16K | Series | AU, Post-S4 | background Jon/Martin 

Mr Sims was so weird, was the thing. Miss Grant always said calling people weird was rude, and Anna sort of agreed, but she didn’t know what other word to use to describe Mr Sims.

He’d only been in with the class for a few days, really, and half of that he just sat at the back listening, but that didn’t stop her from making a swift judgement. 5BG had had student teachers before, back when they were 3ST, and they’d been uniformly normal.

Mr Sims was… actually, Anna had a better adjective. He was interesting.

↳ i just.... love teacher!jon fics. this series delivers. 

Once Bitten by @apatheticbutterflies | 1K | S4 | Jon & Daisy | Complete

Jon Sims has always been a jumpy kind of guy. Nervous. Twitchy. Daisy used to think it meant he was guilty. Turns out he was. Just not of what she’d thought.

Daisy learns how to peel an orange.

↳ daisy and jon’s relationship is an example of an instance where i’m happy to say “fuck what you wrote mr. jonny ‘chocolate torte of tragedy’ sims, i want them to be friends”.

pins and needles by mutterandmumble | 13K | S1-S4 | Complete

He’s got a reputation to uphold anyways; an uptight, rigid reputation that dictates the way that he interacts and functions and is such an integral part of him that he can’t let go of it anytime soon. He likes his safety nets. He likes his contingencies. He likes his privacy, and everything around this place right down to the walls seems to have ears, so he’ll stay tight-lipped up to and beyond the threat of death.

He’s good at that.

In which Jon takes up embroidery and bumbles through life the best that he can.

↳ out of all the introspective jon pieces i’ve read (and there are many), this one stands out. maybe it’s the symbolism or the characterisation, or maybe it’s the fact that i have an embroidery kit lurking in the back of my closet along with a hundred other half-pursued hyperfixations. whatever. this is excellent.

sleeping in by @ivelostmyspectacles | 5K | S2 | Jon/Tim | Complete

“Who are you trying to convince?”

Jon gives up, letting his head sag against Tim’s shoulder. “I don’t know.”

aka Elias gets tired of Jon and Tim's bickering, sends them away for a "team-building" weekend trip, and is sure to book them a room with only one bed

↳ this has everything you’d need from a “oh no there’s only one bed” fic. someone please get these men therapy.

if you try, sometimes (you get what you knead) by @ajcrawly​ | 3.5K | S1-S4 | Jon/Martin, Tim/Sasha | Complete

It starts with an abundance of boeuf bourguignon and ends up as a team tradition.

Food and love in uncertain times.

↳ more found family fic, this time with a diverse og!archival staff and food as a metaphor for love. hurt in all the right ways. made me hungry in the process.

[chaosrealm-mk-imagines]

Hi there^_^ I've come up with a hc request: how would Quan chi, Frost and Kronika react when seeing their s/o being seriously injured? These three need more love. Have a nice day!

Since you asked for such underrated characters, I’m adding some of the other unloved ones at it! Everyone deserves loves, it doesn’t matter if they’re Ermac or even Kollector. Thank you for the request and hope you like it!

Ermac

- They all share the same body and love for a single person, the one who is able to catch Ermac many attentions is more than worthy of applauses. Ermac acts overprotective around their loved one, floating around like a ghost and silently watching over them.

- When their beloved falls in danger they’re the first to come for rescue, all the souls became fearful that something bad may happen to their S/O which means they must act together for it

- Ermac feels like if they failed towards their one true love, they are not concerned about what happened but about what can be done now. Immediately takes their S/O in their arms and flies away from the conflict, taking them to a healer while using their own magic to try helping them out himself if there is no healer avaliable

- After their S/O recovers from their wounds, Ermac tells them that they feel unworthy of their love if not even able to protect their S/O from harm, any kind of injurie that comes upon their beloved hurts even more at them.

Frost

- Having Frost in love is a hard thing but when it happens she won’t let anyone hurt her beloved, the ice queen promises to take care of them and even offers to serve as a scout if she feels there is danger coming for her S/O.

- When her beloved falls in danger her first thought is of slaughtering anyone who dares laying their hands at her S/O, she goes on rampage and kills all who hurted her loved one. She can’t help but feel anxious with the thought of losing someone she cares deeply.

- She carries her S/O carefully to a safe spot, taking care of the wounds with her cold touch to stop the bleeding, afterwards she takes them to the hospital, staying at the side of her beloved during all the healing process. She feels weak for not being able to protect them and is angry with herself for that

- After her S/O recovers she bursts in tears and hugs them, talking about how scared she was of losing them to death, it’s the first time Frost cries in front of someone and she doesn’t regret it. After the incident she acts in an overprotective way and is always aware of danger, she will never be able to rest again without her beloved at her side.

Kollector

- Awakening the interest of him is a rare thing, all he thought to care about was fortune, but no treasure he found could be more valuable than his S/O. Kollector gifts them with everything he thinks that may be useful, from trinkets to magic amulets and sharp daggers, he wants his beloved to be able to defend themselves when he’s not around

- When his beloved falls in danger he will not only kill anyone who dared to hurt them but also have their heads as a trophy. Kollector catches his S/O and has no time for thinking, he will use all the magic artifacts he has to try making them stable. Afterwards he takes them to the best medic that money can afford, leaving jewels and flowers at the side of his S/O bed while they’re in a deep sleep of recovery

- He feels useless to have let his most precious treasure fall in the wrong hands, will do anything to repay for what he believes to be his fault. He starts thinking of ways to keep his S/O safe and searchs about every kind of artefact that allows people to comunicate when in danger, that’s when he discovers the Earthrealm most powerful trinket; the cellphone

- After his loved one recovers he gaves them all the kind of gifts possible, takes them out for having their favorite foods and keeps asking if everything is okay, he will need a lot of self-reassurement after the incident to be able to forgive himself, Kollector becomes more clingy around his S/O because he fears to lose them and never wants to feel that terrible angsty of seeing them hurted again

Quan Chi

- The necromancer heart is a cold and rotten place, pretty much like his servants. But when someone is able to make it beat again it shall beat like the drum of drums, the one who makes his soul smile again is worthy of all the protection in the underworld. That’s why he gifts his S/O with an amulet to call them when in danger and have their location, not only because he’s kind of a jealous guy.

- When his beloved falls in danger he calls all the legions of the dead to go search for them, bringing his S/O to the Netherrealm extremely injured makes him want to cry but he holds it back. Quan Chi is not worried about death because he can always bring them back, but he’s worried about the pain his loved one is feeling and wants it to stop, the experience of death is not pleasant neither and he doesn’t want them to suffer it, he shall then use magic to heal them

- Quan Chi feels like something died inside of him, was him destined to be alone for all eternity? Death indeed followed his steps and the ones from his beloved too, he would never move on if his S/O died forever, he would never want them as mindless revenants or servants, he doesn’t want that light that shines in their eyes full of life to disappear

- After his S/O recovers he assures them that such thing will never happen again, promising to keep them safe and well. He creates a skeleton fighter that is inside a beautiful garnet ring, the minion may be summoned by his S/O when in danger and that makes Quan Chi more calm about their well being

Shinnok

- The fallen elder god should not allow his broken heart to guide his actions, but it has always been an issue to him. Falling in love means putting someone needs above yours and to him it’s not different, he wants his S/O to be happy even if it means he has to give up some of his plans. Gods love are much more deep and passionate than any mortal could ever imagine, their love is eternal and true to the core.

- When his beloved falls in danger he allows all the anger inside him to avenge them, by ripping off the souls of those who dared to hurt them and channeling it in a endless dismal suffering through all eternity as punishment. Shinnok shall gather his S/O in his cold deathly embrace and release them from the frail mortality, granting them eternal life at his side so that they shall nevermore be in pain

- Shinnok feels guilty to have condemned his beloved to eternity, but he knows that in the end it’s the best option and that they will understand him after all, he has a lot of plans for his S/O and wants them to be happy forever with him

- After his S/O awakes he has a lot to explain and tells them that it was his only choice left, he could not allow them to continue in such pathetic existence that risked their well being, no matter the reaction that his beloved has about it he will keep them at Netherrealm and only allow them to go when he’s sure they are able to defend themselves from all and every danger, but it would break his dark heart to have his S/O angered with his decision 

Kronika

- The keeper of time never believed at the possibility of falling in love, but when she does so she brings all the versions from her beloved to her side, from past to future she shall have them all collected and merged into one perfect being, the only one worth of her love and adoration, which she becames more than overprotective about

- She has forseen that her S/O would be in danger and terrible injured in many timelines, she was tired of seeing them being tortured by pain through history and decided that the best option was to erase those who dared to hurt them, this way they would never have the chance to do it no matter the situation.

- By vanishing the existence of those who harmed her S/O, they are finally safe but not forever and she knows it, Kronika gaves immense power to her beloved being able to fight against anyone who could harm them, she’s the ultimate being and doesn’t measure efforts for protecting her one true love

- Kronika feels personally attacked by anyone who hurts her S/O, their enemies are her enemies too and so shall be until the end of the times. If her S/O is fond of revenge she will put their enemies in an eternal death loop so that they pay for their actions through eternity

Cetrion

- The avatar of virtue discovers her biggest flaw at her new found most precious feeling; love. By giving her heart to a mortal she allows herself to be vulnerable but accepts it as a small price for being at the side of her beloved. She shall not forgive those who defile the love of her eternal existence

- When her S/O is in danger she shall call upon the wrath of nature to punish those who are guilty, appearing as a spectre of light to guide her S/O through their pain, she heals them with her pure magic and allows them to rest at her garden of life at the heavens, while watching over their recovery

- Cetrion feels like she’s the one to blame for the danger that has fallen upon her loved one, taking her time to meditate and try to forgive herself for such carelessness. She prepares the whole garden for her S/O awaken, growing the most beautiful flowers they could have ever seen and creating fairies to take care of it for her, her garden is a sanctuary were few are allowed and the darkness never touches, it’s specially used for healing gods from extreme harm and enlightning the heart of those who are filled with doubt

- After her S/O recovers she receives them with a bright smile, laying at the soft grass with them, the grounds of her garden are more comfortable than any bed and more healing than any medicine. She assures that will never let them be hurted again and shall always look over them from above even that means being in danger herself

[antihero-writings]

The Offspring of a Dream

Fandom: Bloodborne

Fic Summary: Why does the Doll call you “good”?

Notes: 

Obviously the lore in this game is very hidden and up for interpretation, so this fic in part has to do with my personal interpretation of things, so please keep that in mind! I know there's a theory about the Doll being a Great One/Avatar out there (haven't read up about it much through), but currently I find there's something rather beautiful about the Doll truly just being a doll, who is genuinely kind, and just trying to help us out, because the game has little to no other characters like that. I also know whether or not we are "good" is definitely up for great debate, but I'm the kind of person who likes to see/read redemption into everything, so this is just my rather optimistic interpretation of events.

Also, I don't necessarily ship the Hunter and the Doll, but I do think it's a cute ship and enjoy content for it...So you're free to interpret the internal monologue as platonic or romantic, whichever you prefer.

This is one of the only times I've used second person, so go easy on me...I chose second person because I didn't find third or first nearly as compelling for it.

I'd really really appreciate it if you could leave a comment!! They seriously do make my week, and give me the motivation to keep writing!!

I also have another Bloodborne fic about Vicar Amelia's transformation, I'd love it if you could check that out too!! Links in a reblog!!

The Offspring of a Dream: 

“New Hunter”

“Mister Hunter”

“Hunter”

“A Hunter!”

“Moon-Scented Hunter”

“Miss Hunter!”

“Good Hunter of the Church,

"have you seen the thread of light?”

“Welcome home,

Good Hunter.

What is it you desire?”—

No name.

Not a greeting, nor title.

No adjectives or addendums like ‘holy’ or ‘accursed,’ ‘beast,’ or ‘man.’ Not a crow, or a wolf, or an avenger, or a knight. Nor a roar of what you hunted.

A lonely hunter without a name, or a word.

Just a hunter, who may or may not be good.

And it was a doll, a doll who had a dreamer, but was equally lonely—

Is this all in my mind? Did I dream her up?

It was this Doll who said you were good, every time you arrived in the dream, always ready to turn your desires, the echoes of a scourge, into strength.

She said it faithfully, and it was not easy to recognize when she said it, it wasn’t a greeting, or a title.

It was a prayer.

Because she had watched a thousand “good hunters” walk through the dream, and a thousand fall. A thousand keep her company, a thousand ask for her to make them stronger with the echoes of their killing. A thousand become drunk with blood, trapped in a very different dream, that some might call nightmare. And a thousand become something other than a hunter…something other than good.

A thousand graves.

Graves for the ones who woke up.

So with a title she prayed to the moon that this one—this one—would be good.

That’s all she needed. That’s all any of them ever needed; one good man.

The title ‘hunter’ was meant to be synonymous with good. A force of holiness to purge the impurity. …But their name became equivalent with evil. Or maybe it was from the very start.

The spreading corruption burned.

Before the blood parched their lips and ravaged their bones. After. At the end of the day, we’re all human. At the end of the day, we���re all beasts.

Born of the blood… undone by the blood…

So she—inhuman, human—she prayed that one day there would be a hunter who could fight the monsters and not become one. That the blood wouldn’t burn and coil and wrap its tendrils around them, twist them inside out, and make them something more than just a “good hunter”…and so much less. She cast goodness over you, as if reminding you not to give in to the beast. Not to give in to your humanity. Reminding you that though you were a hunter, though you were drenched in blood, with heart full of holes, and brain full of eyes, you could still be good.

She put her hands together and she prayed. She prayed, and she helped you on your journey, she channeled death into strength, she whispered, and she tended to frail, living flowers, and feeble, dying, old men, and she cried.

Any god-fearing man, not burdened with an overabundance of naiveté, would know that dolls don’t whisper. They don’t ask if you love them. They don’t move. They can’t help. They don’t pray. And they definitely don’t cry.

Dolls sit lifeless on the floors of children’s nurseries, and the abandoned workshops of bitter, maniacal, old men.

Is this just a dream? Will I know you when I wake?

What’s waking worth without you?

If the gods don’t love me I still promise to love you.

You watched human hands twist into claws, skin into fur, faces into tentacles, tongues into snakes, and eyes into eyes, and wondered if perhaps this doll, with her porcelain skin and hair, with her tears and prayer, if she was more human than the rest. This doll—who asked about gods and love, who cared for you, who hoped even the worst hunters might be worth something in another, better world—was more human than the offspring of an old, forgotten town. More human than we, who are born and die by the blood.

How was she born, and how would she die? What caused her to breathe, to come alive? Was it just our minds, some ill-gotten, internal eyes? Was something so primitive as hope or love? Or was it the twisted will of some faceless moon without a man in it?

Is it just me?

Is it my mind?

Tell me she’s more than children’s toys, and old men’s dreams.

Tell me she’s real.

Could something made of metal and mechanics, and the puppet strings of our own minds die?

Do dreams die when we wake up?

Or, in the end when men are all either monsters or gods, would she stand in the wreckage, the only real, awake thing left…the only thing left that’s still human?

When men become gods, do our creations become human?

She watched them fall. She watched them reach for bare threads of guiding moonlight with human hands, and howl at the same moon with a wolf’s cry, and she still had enough hope left in her to call you “good hunter.” To believe that you would be different.

Did she say this to everyone? Did she hope every time? Or was it just you? And which meant more? If she hoped despite just how many had failed, or if she saw something different within you alone?

Here you stood, steeped in the blood of beasts. Ugly thing. Killer. Cold and merciless.

And she called you good.

Did that mean she saw the blood, and the murder, and thought it was good? Or that she looked past all that and saw the good still?

How could she, a doll, an echo herself, know what it meant to be good?

Perhaps she was made by someone who had seen a world with good left in it. Or a world which was evil, but in which there was someone like her, who encompassed all the good in the world to him.

Perhaps that’s what she was to you too. The good. The human left. Without her you may never keep fighting. You had no one else, after all. Your friends were either mad, or intoxicated, or destined to die, or destined for…worse.

Is she just a trick of the moonlight?

She was the embodiment of hope.

You tried to be good. For her. For the world. They all did. But most became drunk on blood, or knowledge, and lost themselves along the way.

What is it you desire?

It always starts good. Goals, on paper, always seem so noble. In practice, so bloodthirsty.

Laurence made a church. A force of holiness and healing. And he turned the city into a madhouse, a cage for monsters.

Wilhelm made a school. A place of mindfulness and learning. And he dabbled in rituals to hide the moon.

The old hunters thought stealing a child wouldn’t incite the wrath of its mother.

They all thought the world could be saved, that the plague could end through quarantine or amputation.

When they cut off the diseased heads the blood only spread. When they stayed in their houses they went insane instead.

The world needed more than a simple fix to return to being “good.”

The hunters thought they were fighting for a noble cause. They thought they were all good…and they turned into the very beasts they fought, awaiting another hunter to spill their blood, and start the cycle again.

The hunters only did what they could; keep killing. That was all they knew to do to get rid of the the beasts in this brick forest.

They needed a hunter who would break the cycle. Do more than just kill and give in to the call of the blood. Who would seek the paleblood, and end this dreadful night.

Transcend the hunt.

But how to eclipse the chase when evolution without courage is the name of ruin?

A hunter who would look beyond today’s night, today’s hunt, today’s beasts. Beyond the blood. Resist its seduction. A hunter who could learn where all this started, find it. And do what hunters do best:

Kill it.

—(For sometimes death is freedom, at least when it’s a dream)—

Seek the paleblood. Hunt the great ones.

—(And sometimes waking up is far worse.)

The formless blood wanted to have a child. Perhaps he thought he was giving those he chose a gift of a sort. Only horror followed.

Every great one loses its child.

One particular woman, long ago, held the name of this broken town. Perhaps it was only fitting that the child of blood and name was born in voice alone.

This child’s formless cries echoed through more than the nightmare; through the waking world—(if you had enough eyes, at least)—calling you to comfort it, to silence it.

Could everyone in the town hear it? Is that what drove them mad? Listening to a child’s endless cries, with no hope of comforting it?

Many had tried to contact it. Some tried to become gods…and misplaced their minds in the process. But you found it. Knowing it was not to be exalted, but destroyed.

You were a hunter after all.

So you killed the only thing keeping it alive, the thing desperately trying to play a lullaby and sing it to sleep.

You yourself played a tiny music box for it, from the beginning of it all—that belonged to a family ravaged by the blood, the hunt, which held a song about love and loss—just to hear it laugh, before the nightmare let out it last.

Cords of thirds. Cords of three.

One from the child of voice. One from the child of night. One from the child stolen long ago, sitting in an old, abandoned workshop.

A workshop alive now only in hunters’ dreams.

You could have left your own nightmare long ago. You could have woken from this dream and believed the world was not so dark, not so strange, not so fascinating.

But this wasn’t the only nightmare you had to liberate.

There was another, another for which all not-so-good hunters were destined—(and thus you too if the Doll’s prayers were in vain). They sent you there with a piece of a drunken man before you yourself became, inevitably, intoxicated, in this bloody bar, so that you could, perhaps navigate sleeping minds with your sanity in tact.

We, the offspring of an old, forgotten secret. Destined and bound by the chase.

So our forefathers sinned?

Ludwig thought he was holy, fighting for a noble cause, and he stood, accursed, in a bath of the blood he spilled, trampling the ghosts of those he killed.

Is it possible there exist moonlight in even the darkest nights?

When we reach for the thread of light, none of us ever want to know what it truly is. Hope can be so vicious that way.

The church turned their eyes from their hands.

All too often, when men try to become gods—or something akin—they become monsters. There's a reason the moon is out of our reach.

Laurence thought the blood would heal. That the gods wouldn’t mind a little thievery. He thought they could keep their humanity in tact, as long as they prayed hard enough.

And he watched the world burn. Watched his hope turn his universe into a waking, walking nightmare. And he burned in his own broken Neverland, ever searching for his own lost, rotted humanity.

Maria, beloved apprentice Maria—

…Is that you, my dear Doll?

Who was there from the beginning. Who vowed to forsake the blood—including her own. Maria, so sickened by her actions, who threw the hunt down a well. Who vowed to in death to be the hunt’s secret keeper, and sat, alone, a lonely princess at the top of the clock tower, alive by the puppet strings of a nightmare—

She sacrificed herself, her values, to purge you from the plague of wild curiosity.

A corpse should be left well enough alone.

And at last, behind time, was a quaint, sad, little village, that lay dripping with secrets, ransacked for its eyes.

A quaint little village where it all started. Where the sky wept, and sun collapsed in on itself, and the great lake held too soft and depraved a secret.

Every great one loses its child…but this one lost his mother.

A quaint little village where a sympathetic mother fell from the stars. Where her child was ripped from her, dissected for parts, by the very people you once thought were good.

The wrath of an angry god is to be feared. But the wrath of a sympathetic god is far worse.

And the wrath of a mother is a lasting curse.

Death is freedom, at least in a dream. But when waking up is far worse, we rewrite the past within our dreams.

This was an orphans dream, pulling the hunt into a nightmare, as he waited to be freed from reality, as he waited for a hunter to rewrite the sins of their ancestors.

As he waited for a good man.

And the spirit thanked you. And the hunt thanked you.

And the Doll thanked you, for a shackle she never even knew was there had been lifted. She thanked you on behalf of the first hunter, for he slept a little sounder.

But there was one last dream that needed slaying:

Your own.

You could have woken long ago. You could have forsaken it all for the sunrise, and left someone else to find the answers, left someone else to be good.

It would have been nice to believe the world made sense.

It would have been nice to believe the dark side of the moon wasn’t made of blood and bones, haunting a poor, old man.

Few dreams offer you the choice to die before the bad part starts—(or perhaps simply to put an end to all the ‘bad parts’ you’ve gone through, to negate the possibility of more). But you would not bow to a happy, false reality.

Neither would you allow yourself to be taken captive by the nameless presence of the moon, made to perpetuate this hunt endlessly.

You understood the word “hunter” was never synonymous with good. They lost that title before the hunt even started. They lost that title when a little orphan was stolen from his mother.

You understood at last. It was her. Maria. The one who threw her weapon down the well in protest. She—(or at least, a version of her)—stood by your side, trying to guide you back all this time. Trying to guide you back to the beginning, where perhaps her sins could be atoned for. Where perhaps there could be good still.

So in a lonely field full of flowers, it was not you who were released from the dream.

You had enough eyes to see and slay the presence of the moon, who had orchestrated this all.

We’re all just puppets of the moon.

…But a cord of three strands is not so easily broken.

So in the end you neither woke nor dreamed, but saw the world as it was—though through newborn eyes. A child of the hunt. A child of the dream. Not destined to create a nightmare…but perhaps a better reality.

When the Doll picked up your small body, she smiled at last. She knew you’d succeeded, for this was unlike any hunter’s death, or transformation, she knew. She knew you’d atoned for the sins of your predecessors. She knew you’d freed the children, the nightmares, and the men.

And she called you “good hunter” still. For she knew the gods listened to her prayers after all. She knew that though you were a hunter no more—

You were certainly good.

[cobra-diamond]

Hicks and Yang on Azula Fans

Cult.

Upset.

Scary.

Aggressive.

During the 2019 San Diego Comic Con, an Avatar Q&A was held including Michael Dante DiMartino, Gene Yang and Faith Erin Hicks.

One fan asked about the franchise’s plans for Azula. Here is a summarized transcript of the exchange, with my own commentary:

Fan: “Hi, so the comics have shed light on characters who have a lot more of their story to be told after the Finale. I has wondering if you might be able to, if you have any plans for, expanding on a character you’d mentioned before: Azula.”

I can hear the trepidation in this fan’s voice; they can’t just come right out and say it. I know the feeling: should I feel interested in Azula? Will others understand why? Will they accuse me of minimizing her evil and villainy? Am I minimizing her awfulness in the show? Am I even right to want more Azula?

Yang’s answer:

Yang: “I have to say, in my experience with Azula Fans, it has been almost like a cult [crowd erupts in laughter]. Not saying you are!”

Well, actually, Yang, you kind of are.

And you didn’t answer the question.

You know what’s also a cult following? The Princess Bride movie. But was Yang referring to that kind of cult? No, because nobody would think twice about insulting Princess Bride fans by referring to that movie as having a “cult-like” following.

No, Yang was referring to that kind of cult, the one where if you accuse someone of being a member, you are insulting their intelligence and accusing them of borderline nefarious obsession. Yang was referring to the spooky, deranged kind that believes aliens seeded the Earth with Human life and built the pyramids. Only in the case of Azula fans, the original show seeded Azula with humanity and left the door open for a deep, compelling change-and-growth story in the Post-Finale setting.

Hicks’s answer:

Hicks: “I have to say, for the most part, Avatar fans have been just absolutely lovely to me, but I got this scary e-mail from someone who was an Azula fan and was very upset and aggressively demanding that I write her a certain way. I actually had to shut down my e-mail because it unnerved me so much. And it was a little weird because Azula is one of my favorite characters as well, but it made be scared off, perhaps, from writing her in the future.”

God dammit. Hyper-sensitive and impassioned fans are everywhere. This most certainly occurred. Even Bryke have spoken about getting hate mail from jilted fans. At any rate, to anyone reading this, don’t do this. Clearly Hicks doesn’t have the intestinal fortitude to put up with it, neither will it change hers or anyone else’s minds.

Azula’s place in the franchise isn’t where it is because fans haven’t been loud enough; she’s a secondary character and a villain. If they were ever going to expand her non-villain role in the franchise it would have happened a long time ago. As the articles “She’s Completely Crazy!” and Mirror & Misdirection explain, the piss poor handling of her character comes from a much deeper, unchangeable source in the Creators’ minds.

But the first thing that jumps to Hicks’ mind is one instance of hate mail? Telling this fan she is grouped in with someone who is scary, upset and aggressive? And that is enough to scare her off?? Holy shit. Hooooly shit. She better not be tasked with salvaging, or even writing, anything regarding Azula. Someone tasked with writing Azula, I mean really writing Azula, especially after the mess of Smoke & Shadow, needs far more guts than this. She is far too spooked by fans, and the current canon and lack-of-vision of Bryke is only going to infuriate more.

Hicks’s answer continued:

Hicks: “So please be kind to creators. We’re working very hard on licensed properties. I know none of you guys [the crowd] would do this [send hate mail; crowd erupts in laughter]. Um, I love Azula. I think she’s great. I would like to write her. I would like to write more stories. Gene actually left her place in the world very open-ended. I actually loved the way Gene wrote her. I liked Smoke and Shadow a lot. I think that story and where Azula’s journey went was really fascinating to me. So yeah, I would like to write Azula stories. As of right now, I’m writing new Avatar stories, not necessarily about Azula, but maybe someday in the future. Azula fans, please be nice to me. I’m trying my best.”

First of all, nobody cares about Smoke and Shadow. Yes, nobody. Its popularity on Goodreads nose-dived compared to The Promise and The Search. There are parts of it that are okay and likable, but not the work itself. I will give Hicks the benefit of the doubt that she is just going, “Yes, my Emperor! Your clothes are beautiful!” to her naked overlords. Smoke and Shadow was a mess for more than just Azula and an utter train-wreck for Azula. Don’t read much into that comment by her.

She is scared off from writing Azula, but still wants to writer her. Wants to. Whether we get more Azula shouldn’t come from her wanting to, she should have to if that is the plan for the franchise. More evidence that the franchise has no overarching plan for telling compelling stories about these characters. It doesn’t matter if fans know that Azula is destined to become Zuko’s closest advisor. It doesn’t matter if fans know Zuko and Azula reconcile, as implied by generous interpretations of Smoke and Shadow.

Well, duh!!

Of course that’s going to happen. It’s the only logical outcome that is consistent with the themes of the show. Fans don’t want to be told what happens; they already know what has to happen. What fans want is to see HOW it happens. They want to see the journey, and right now the journey is crap, and the franchise doesn’t even appear to know what they even want the destination to be.

This Post-Finale setting, while containing some nuggets of gold when taken out of context, are an unplanned, butchered mess that does far more telling than showing, and the telling it does is half-baked and confusing.

“Licensed properties” is an important key word, however. It reveals the reality that Faith Erin Hicks has guard rails put on her, whereas for us fans, our imaginations are the limit and is not constrained by canon, deadlines or the commercial realities of Avatar.

“Licensed properties” also implies the Creators. While we can think of all the great ways a novelist or a competent manga author could create a sweeping epic about both Azula, the Fire Nation and her ultimate place in the Avatar world, the commercial realities of Avatar might just not allow it: Zuko and Aang are the faces of the franchise, followed by Katara. Everyone else are just secondary characters. As a result, Azula becomes a razor thin eggshell painted to look like a person but is not actually a person because the Creators have neither the time nor inclination to turn her into one.

And lastly, “I’m trying my best” is not a very assuring statement. Once again, more evidence that there is no plan or even “faith” in what they are doing. If these authors have to “try” then they don’t know either their market or their product. They’re hoping fans will like what they come up with versus buckling down and actually figuring out how to tell Avatar stories worthy of Avatar’s reputation.

So remember Azula Fans, or Avatar Fans, if Azula Fans are even counted as Avatar fans, your desire to see a competent, well-written, compelling and emotionally-gripping Azula story makes you part of a:

Upset,

Scary,

Aggressive,

CULT.

Well, they certainly got the first one right.

P.S. Don’t harass Faith Erin Hicks. The situation with the comics and Azula are way above her pay grade. At best, we can learn why.

[mindthelspace]

Well

I have very mixed feelings about that one. Strap yourselves in, because this is going to be a looong post: 

- Firstly, I love that Annabelle’s argument was as compelling as she promised. She’s presented Jon with a choice to make that is genuinely complex, and genuinely has pros and cons either way. 10/10, better than I was expecting.

- ... And maybe it’s bad, but my immediate reaction to Annabelle’s argument was “fuck yeah, do it! Send the entities through!” Obviously killing the entities or kicking them out of every world is the best outcome, but a method of doing that doesn’t seem to be forthcoming at the moment. Given that, sending the entities into another world- thereby ending the fearpocalypse and ensuring that any fearpocalypses in other worlds can also be undone- seems like the next best thing. Who knows, maybe someone in one of the other worlds will come up with something better. 

- So the Web did have a sort of ‘plan’ after all, but given how incredibly not-behind that concept i’ve been, I think they actually threaded the needle pretty well. The Web isn’t waaay more sapient than the others, it’s just able to- along with the End- conceive of a couple of additional concepts. This is enough to make it’s goal ‘ensure my continued survival’ as opposed to ‘break into the world and take it over’. Aside from that though, it’s basically the same as any other entity when it comes to carrying out its wishes. Entity ‘wants’ something, it’s avatars run around for decades trying to work out how to make it happen. Annabelle and her predecessors did all the planning and leg work for what they believed the Web wanted. It didn’t and couldn’t do it by itself. 

- There are still no reliable narrators and I love that. Annabelle says the End fears it’s own death- but Oliver said it would be satisfied by it. Oliver is the more likely of the two to be right, but we don’t know. 

- I really don’t think Annabelle was lying. I think she might have been twisting the truth a bit about the outcome for Jon if the entities left- “He’ll live as he believes himself to be” could mean a lot of things. But I think her description of the situation is basically what she believes it to be. Which is good, and honestly more interesting than a, er, web of lies would have been. 

- I love the implication that a massive spanner could have been thrown in the works if Jon had simply lost or broken the web lighter, or had it taken away from him. 

- I mentioned last week wanting to know whether the Web avatars at Hill Top Road were pawns placed there by other avatars, or whether they were going to their deaths knowingly. This episode strongly suggests the latter, and honestly, it makes sense. Becoming an avatar in actual service of the Web seems to involve believing 1) that you don’t really have choices and 2) that your own wants don’t matter. Raymond Fielding and his predecessors probably didn’t want to die, but that didn’t matter to them because they had a Part To Play, a part that they didn’t believe they could change or opt out of. Same thing for Annabelle- she probably doesn’t want Jon to kill her, but she won’t try to stop him because There Is A Destined Path and that is All That Matters. In her mind, what she wants doesn’t matter and can’t matter.

As for what I didn’t like:

- What on earth was Annabelle’s transformation? What was that voice shift supposed to tell us, exactly? Made it sound like she’d taken steroids or transformed into a massive Yeti thing. 

- The whole thing about ‘marking Jon young’ feels backwards. It would be much more believable if Jon had been marked accidentally, got the Web’s attention that way, and then been recognised and steered by whichever avatar was in charge at the time. Because prior to the Web mark, Jon was just a random eight year old. What could he possibly have had about him that would not only make a Web avatar notice him, but decide that yes, he was the guy that was going to end the world? Seriously, what? And as for the marking itself- that’s something that could easily have happened by accident, but sounds like it would have been a pain in arse for even the Web to orchestrate. Make sure Nana Sims gets the book, make sure somebody takes it away from Jon while he’s reading it... god. I’m choosing to believe that Annabelle was mistaken here, tbh. She wouldn’t have been the avatar in charge of the plans at the time, after all. 

- I swear to god, if they, after giving Annabelle a backstory like that, and making her become an avatar that way, they don’t give her any more development, I’m going to be unhappy. “We won’t see each other again, I await your decision?”. I hope not. It would be a massive waste of a character arc if they left Annabelle as she is at the moment. She’s got a lot of potential to be really compelling, and so far she seems to be being used almost as a plot device more than anything else, with her backstory completely divorced from her current actions. Don’t like it, don’t want the last we see of her to be running off into a tape web after dumping exposition. 

[mikestoklassa]

SO as I said I just rewatched Avatar: The Last Airbender and my god...I love this show. A few things I loved/ want to comment about (Spoilers?):

- I’m sorry, but even after all these years I’m still a Kataang girl. Just them growing together over the three seasons and falling in love....That episode with the guru where he tells Aang that even though the airbenders are gone, their love for Aang is still very much real, and it makes Aang think about his own love for Katara? Katara learning from the psychic that she would marry a powerful bender and having a small realization about how that’s Aang at the end of the episode? That is BEAUTIFUL (also can you tell I’m a sucker for soulmates/destined to be together shit?)

-The parallels between Zuko’s agni kai with Fire Lord Ozai and being banished to him begging Iroh for forgiveness and Iroh hugging him and affirming his love for Zuko is just....so beautiful and not to be corny but even after all these years that still brought a tear to my eye!

-Azula’s ending in the show is so much more gut wrenching than I remember. Her being chained to the grate and realizing that it’s all over for her? She just breaks down and starts throwing a fit. It’s such a stark contrast from the rest of the show. No witty comebacks or taunting Zuko and Katara. She just starts bawling...ouch.

- I’m about to expose myself as The Corniest Bitch Ever but as a kid I ALWAYS wanted Sokka and Toph to get together. I mean it was pretty obvious that Toph and a crush on Sokka and I always found it frustrating as a kid that it wasn’t explored more (yes, this was little me projecting onto Toph bc I love Sokka). But now I ADORE how they handled it. Having a crush on Sokka doesn’t become Toph’s character. It’s hinted at like at most 3 times and that’s it. She never loses sight (no pun intended) of helping Aang become a better earthbender while also becoming the most powerful earthbender herself, despite being babied all her life. Anyways in this 50 page essay about how Toph Beifong is an incredible character I will-

- Also I love Katara and I’ve always found it annoying the way some fans find her whiny and emotional? And you know what maybe she is; but she also a child who’s mother was murdered senselessly and was left to be the only waterbender in her whole tribe from such a young age. Maybe let her be whiny and emotional. Anyways in this 50 page essay about how Katara is an incredible character I will-

-Aang is hands down the best character. Him reckoning with the genocide of his people, him reckoning with how he believes it’s his fault, him reckoning with the fall of Ba Sing Se, and despite it all he genuinely believes in good. I think all of the main character’s and their arcs were handled well, but Aang’s has always captivated me the most.

Anyways now time to watch Legend of Korra~

[mittensmorgul]

After rewatching the scene between Billie and Sam at the end of the episode Im pretty sure she's going to be a villain and the Winchesters will defy her and Chuck together. What do you think?

Hi there! You know, I think you’re driving on the right highway here...

I remember when we all first started postulating that Billie was Dabb’s in-story avatar, and how it made me, at least, consider the possibility that she was “on our side” as far as the final battle between TFW and The Original Creator went. We saw her scheming with the Shadow and Jack in the Empty at the end of 14.20, and had all summer to wonder what exactly they were cooking up.

All of this was based on the postulation that CHUCK was the s15 ultimate Big Bad of the entire series.

But it’s become clearer and clearer throughout s15 that Chuck himself isn’t the big bad. THE STORY ITSELF is the big bad.

Which, despite her stated goal of taking out the Original Creator for his sins, doesn’t exactly put her on TFW’s side.

I mean, Dabb will literally be ending the story. That is his role as the final showrunner.

So, notice that Dabb’s in-story avatar isn’t actually TFW.

Dabb has set up this Cosmic Battle between Chuck and Billie and Jack, and all the while Sam and Dean are destined to be “messengers of God’s destruction.” Which sounds like a terrible thing to be destined to be...

But remember, THE STORY ITSELF is the big bad, and this is still part of the “cosmic story of Supernatural.” The story isn’t the storyteller, though. Or it doesn’t have to be. Look at Becky, who took Chuck’s creation and made it her own. She transformed the work and made what she wanted to from it, she made the version of the story that brought her happiness and fulfillment. She rewrote her entire life for herself.

For the last 15 years, from Kripke through Dabb and every writer and showrunner in between, people in our universe have been dictating the Winchesters’ lives. In-story, they may only be able to achieve true free will and a happy ending free from cosmic interference, but from the doylist perspective, from the view into their universe from our world, that true free will is Dabb relinquishing control of their lives and handing it back to the characters (or to us, the fans and fandom creators like Becky) to write their own story. The true power of free will is being able to write your own future.

So in that respect, yes, even Dabb and his in-story avatar are part of the season’s Big Bad arc.

And yeah, I think Humanity and Free Will must win out over any sort of cosmic destiny-- either Chuck’s or Billie’s.

Right now, Chuck is trying to destroy his own creation. He’s already destroyed a vast number of alternate universes. Lol at Dabb saying there were gonna be massive numbers of deaths in an interview a while back, because it’s true... everyone in billions of alternate universes has died. RIP that random radio shed clerk...

But... Billie is also an agent of destruction. I mean, she is literally Death. She may want to reap Chuck at the end of all things, but like... won’t that take the rest of the universe with it? Including TFW and even Billie herself? This... seems like the antithesis to everything they’ve been setting up all season long.

And we still don’t know where Amara is in all of this. How much of her is the actual avatar for the emotional engagement of the writers with TFW? After all, she’s been content to let the world keep on doing its thing. She may not have been there since the start, but she loves this creation and has become her best self through her experiences living there. Much like the writers. Much like we want for TFW, right? So I’m really interested to see her part in the rest of the series, too. In a meta sense, yeah, Dabb’s controlling the Big Picture Narrative which by necessity must come to an end by the end of the season, but I think in a lot of ways, Jack has also been an avatar of Dabb and the writers in how he’s reflecting TFW back to themselves to push them toward the end of their own character arcs.

I mean, I’ve been saying since 14.20, in this post I made shortly after that episode aired: https://mittensmorgul.tumblr.com/post/184450904185/supernatural-showrunners-as-their-in-story

This is Dabb’s in-story Avatar:

Please note: this is not a picture of just Billie... I very specifically chose this screenshot.

Billie is the Cosmic Story Itself, the Showrunner’s overarching narrative. Jack is the TFW self-insert.

[godsboychildposts]

Title: Wake Up World, Heavenly Parent's Holy Community is Here for You.

I. Introduction:

Today is an Ahn Shil Il day Heavenly holy calendar 8-8-22 or 20-10-8 by Solar calendar.

I believe every man and women was created in the love and beauty of God's image. We were each created in the beginning as Soul Mates, twin pairs destined to meet each other in an eternal love triangle as a trinity copy of the Holy Spirit of Heavenly Parents. But because of the FALL of MAN this perfect harmony was lost for eternity.

II. The Source of Our Suffering:

What we are experiencing as love and life today is a product of the Fall, thus it is conflicted, painfully filled with unneccessary suffering, loneliness, and despair. Clearly DRUGS , CRIME and CORRUPTION can not solve this problem it only exasperates the problem. The only real hope for humankind as a whole to return to that state of original perfection of peace and harmony is to first deny this world completely. I didn't say self denial, or denial of God, but rather denial of the falsity of this world order! As long as we continue to think things are normal and acceptable there is no hope for the majority of humankind.

III. The Hope of Humankind:

Of course a few will continue getting richer as Classism continues to seperate the HAVES and the HAVE NOTS at the expense of human dignity, rights, gender inequality and abject poverty of the majority. All "-ism" such as Racism, Tribalism and ultimately Classism tends to seperate the Oneness of humankind resulting in conflicts, pain and sorrow. Why can't we see this simply reality and awaken? Why do we continue to suffer unnecessarily? It is situations like this which leads my scientific mind to conclude in the existence of evil forces of nature called the DEVIL. A Devil not stronger than God, but a Devil who can only be defeated by the collective righteous of all humankind not just a few! It is for this purpose Heaven promised to send us a Second Messiah as a Messianic Couple. They will rise from the deepest Hell on Earth to become the first ever victorious True Parents. In the end times they alone will be the hope of heaven, earth and humankind.

IV. The Mission of True Parents:

So how do we stop mankind's spiraling decay towards a bottomless pit? How do we stop this perpetual state hopelessness, pain and suffering centered on our fallen state of existence? I believe only the True Love of God and Heavenly Parents can completetly liberate us all into a New World Order.

We must return to the original ideal of love and life. After perfecting our hearts and character centered on God's ideal of True Love, we must find our Divine Soul Mates and fulfill our true destiny our True purpose of creation by living a life of JOY, PEACE, and HAPPINESS for for all eternity.

This is the True Parent's legacy to humankind. While many only see them as "a self proclaimed Messianic Couple" my wife and I see them as the Avatars or earthly presence of our Invisible Heavenly True Parents. Our final prayer and hope in life is to awaken as many people to this same realization. Love you all forever.

A message of hope and peace from truelovefamilyfoundation.org. Please don't miss attending the the upcoming 3rd #globalrallyofhope scheduled this month October.

[multiverseforger]

Edit

Born in Chicago, Illinois, Marc Spector is a Jewish-American rabbi's wayward son. As an adult, Spector had been a heavyweight boxer before becoming a U.S. Marine serving in Force Recon, afterward, he left the Marines to become a mercenary occasionally doing work for the CIA. As a mercenary he befriends the French pilot Jean-Paul DuChamp, whom he affectionately calls "Frenchie". While working for the African mercenary Raoul Bushman in Egypt, the group stumbles upon an archaeological dig whose crew includes Dr. Peter Alraune and his daughter Marlene Alraune. The dig had uncovered an ancient temple where artifacts included a statue of the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Intent on looting the dig, Bushman kills Dr. Alraune. In response to Alraune's murder, Spector challenges Bushman to personal combat and is defeated by Bushman and left to die in the sub-zero temperatures of the desert night. The Egyptians who worship the ancient gods find Spector and carry him to their temple. Helpless before the statue of Khonshu, Spector's heart stops. Khonshu appears to him in a vision, offering Spector a second chance at life if he becomes the god's avatar on Earth. Spector awakens, wraps himself in the silver shroud that covers Khonshu's statue, and again confronts Bushman. He defeats Bushman and returns to America with Marlene, Frenchie, and the statue of Khonshu. Deciding to become a crimefighter, Spector creates a silver cloaked costume, based on the silver shroud, and becomes Moon Knight aka "The Fist of Khonshu".[24]

After his return to the United States, Spector invests the money that he had accumulated as a mercenary and develops a small fortune. To distance himself from his mercenary past, he creates the identity of millionaire entrepreneur Steven Grant, using this identity to purchase a spacious estate. To remain in contact with the street and criminal element, he also creates the identity of taxicab driver Jake Lockley and has acquired civilian allies such as Bertrand Crawley, Gena Landers, and her sons.[25]

In the character's first appearance, the criminal organization the Committee supplies Marc Spector with the name Moon Knight, his costume and weapons (using silver) to hunt down Jack Russell. In Los Angeles, Moon Knight captures the Werewolf for the Committee, but then frees him and halts the Committee's plans, fighting Russell again.[26] He battles Conquer Lord,[27] teams up with Spider-Man to fight Cyclone,[28] and fights Lupinar,[29] and his brother Randall, the Hatchet-Man.[30]

His origin of being "created by The Committee" is explained as a ruse set up by Frenchie so Marc can shut the Committee down.[31] He then encounters the Midnight Man[32] and returns to Chicago to prevent the poisoning of its water supply by a group called the Werewolves,[33] encounters Morpheus[34] and teams with Daredevil to fight the Jester.[35] It is around this time that he first encounters Stained Glass Scarlet.[36] Later, he battled the Werewolf once again,[37] battled Bora, and met the X-Men, the Fantastic Four,[38] and Doctor Strange.[39]

Volume 2: Fist of Khonshu (1985)Edit

Spector abandons his Moon Knight, Grant, and Lockley identities after the effects of Russell's bite (lunar cycle-based strength)[40] fade away, and functions as an independently wealthy man opening art galleries around the world, with the help of art historian Spence. Spector's estranged relationship with Marlene ends when she finally leaves him for her ex-husband when he becomes Moon Knight again.

The cult of Khonshu telepathically summons Spector to Egypt and supplies him with a new arsenal of moon-themed projectile weaponry, originally designed by a time-traveling Hawkeye in ancient Egypt. Khonshu himself appears to Spector and enters his body, giving him the same lunar abilities he previously had.[41]

As the agent of Khonshu, he aids the West Coast Avengers, but at the cost of alienating Frenchie and further distancing Marlene.[42] He time travels to 2940 BC to rescue the Avengers, where he learns of his weapons' design by Hawkeye.[43] He officially joins the West Coast Avengers[44] and enters a relationship with Tigra for the remainder of his tenure on the team.

While investigating the Phantom Rider with Daimon Hellstrom, Moon Knight and the Avengers are attacked by soldiers working for Khonshu's rival, Seth, who is invading Asgard. Khonshu abandons Moon Knight to battle Seth after explaining it was his wish to join the team, not Spector's. Moon Knight resigns from the team,[45] and reunites with Marlene and Frenchie,[volume & issue needed] only to die and be resurrected by Khonshu once more.[volume & issue needed]

Marc Spector: Moon Knight (1989–1994)Edit

This volume introduces Moon Knight's teenage sidekick Jeff Wilde, also known as "Midnight", the son of Midnight Man, a member of Moon Knight's rogues gallery. At this time, Moon Knight first encounters the Black Cat.[46] Midnight is turned into a cyborg by the Secret Empire, then is seemingly killed in a battle with Moon Knight, Spider-Man, Darkhawk, the Punisher, Nova and Night Thrasher.[47]

Teaming up with the Punisher, Moon Knight defeated ULTIMATUM,[48] and during the "Acts of Vengeance", fought Killer Shrike, Coachwhip, and the second Ringer.[49] He then encountered Silver Sable and her allies Sandman and Paladin.[50] As Marc Spector, he was tried for murder in Bosqueverde, South America.[51] Moon Knight teamed up with the Punisher again, as well as Spider-Man against the Secret Empire.[52]

While fighting with his brother Randal Spector over who is destined to carry the mantle of Moon Knight, Marc discovers Khonshu is not the god of vengeance but the god of justice.[53]

Moon Knight eventually upgrades his armor to adamantium armor rather than his original Kevlar costume.[54] This upgrade is critical since Moon Knight needs the armor to hold his body together after being infected by the then-possessed Hobgoblin. The disease is revealed to be the villain known as Demogoblin trying to possess him.[55] With the help of Doctor Strange and Mister Fantastic, the Demogoblin parasite is removed. Moon Knight seemingly severs his ties to the Avengers by burning his membership ID card after being brought in by Thor to answer charges in regard to his illegal actions against Doctor Doom.[56] By the end of the series, Moon Knight is killed violently, sacrificing himself to save his loved ones from a computerized villain called Seth and his "Zero Hour" program.[57]

Resurrection Wars and High StrangersEdit

Moon Knight was resurrected in two separate limited series in 1998 and 1999.

Learn more

This section needs expansion.

Minor appearancesEdit

In 1998, Spector uses his Ka to help a critically injured Black Panther through the Kingdom of the Dead.[58]

In 2001 and 2002, Moon Knight joins the "Marvel Knights" non-team to capture the Punisher.[59] After making a brief appearance in the "Avengers Disassembled" story-arc, he makes a minor return in the 2005 Marvel Team-Up miniseries, fighting alongside Spider-Man, Daredevil, and the Punisher. He later appears in issue #2 of the Great Lakes Avengers mini-series where Doorman offered to recruit him in the GLA, but he immediately rejects the offer.[60]

Moon Knight Volume 3 (2006–2009)Edit

This volume opens with Marc Spector's early retirement which comes after a brutal battle with Bushman. Although his body is broken after a tremendous fall and both knees shattered, Moon Knight finally defeats his nemesis Bushman by carving off his face with a crescent moon dart. Spector is then haunted by a spiritual apparition of Khonshu, who chose a faceless Bushman as his ethereal representation. Marc Spector's background is updated, so he fought in the Gulf War and that his time as a mercenary was during the 1990s. It is also revealed that Frenchie is homosexual and in love with Marc Spector; which is why he stuck around for so long.

The new Secret Committee then hires The Profile, an amoral character who can analyze a persona past and future habits with a glance, to help them entrap Moon Knight. He escapes after the plan collapses because they authorized a mugging of Frenchie too soon. Profile then becomes a reluctant source of information for Spector himself, even giving him advice on rekindling his relationship with Marlene.

Moon Knight eventually gets drawn into the Superhero Registration Act as he investigates a string of murders perpetrated by Midnight, his former sidekick. Other Marvel heroes take notice of his violent return to vigilantism. Spider-Man attempts to contact Moon Knight but is rebuked.[61] Captain America pays him a visit to deliver a warning and they quarrel.[62] The Punisher and Moon Knight have a lengthy conversation about the nature of their vigilantism and their shared past.[63] Moon Knight is forced into a final confrontation with his cybernetically enhanced former sidekick Midnight, seemingly killing him for good.[34]

Iron Man also investigates Moon Knight's activities by placing him under close surveillance. Finding his mental condition unstable, Iron Man decides that arresting Moon Knight under the Registration Act might make his mental instability worse. Moon Knight begrudgingly applies for registration after much prodding from Khonshu, not wanting the law to keep him from his work. The new law requires him to submit to a psychiatric exam. The psychiatrist controlling the exam, along with the government and Tony Stark, has no intention of granting Marc Spector approval for registration. After speaking with Spector's repressed alter egos Jake Lockley and Steven Grant, the psychiatrist begins the process of officially turning him down, suggesting possible future imprisonment. Subconsciously Spector breaks the doctor's will by speaking in the voice of Khonshu and pointing out the doctor's own antisocial tendencies, as told to him earlier by the Profile. The psychiatrist not only approves his application but bows to worship him as well. However, later on, Marc meets the Profile with their dialogue suggesting that the personalities above were just an act to be approved for registration.[35]

Moon Knight shows little regard for his newly licensed superhero status or any passion to the people around him, further alienating himself. His former nemesis Black Spectre returns. Carson Knowles, recently released from prison, attempts to frame his murders on Moon Knight. He steals some Stark nanotechnology and plans to unleash it on the city. Moon Knight pushes Knowles off a building apparently to his death. Tony Stark, as the head of the Initiative, revokes his superhero registration, but buries the fact that Spectre had stolen Stark Tech.[64]

The Thunderbolts, led by Norman Osborn, are now on the hunt for Moon Knight. Tony Stark and second-in-command Maria Hill argue with former Avengers government liaison Raymond Sikorsky, now a representative of the Commission on Superhuman Activities, who desperately wants for Moon Knight to be apprehended with extreme prejudice.[65] Marc Spector himself busts up a drug deal while wearing an entirely black costume while going through an internal monologue about how crime-fighting is much easier without the burden of his reputation and "costume recognition."[66]

Several weeks later, after barely surviving an altercation with the Thunderbolts, Spector pleads for Khonshu's forgiveness for turning his back on him and for the god's renewed assistance. Khonshu appears and informs Spector he doesn't need him anymore, as he now has other worshipers. Spector returns to his Moon Knight costume to aid Frenchie DuChamp in gaining revenge on the Whyos gang for attacking his restaurant and injuring Frenchie's lover Rob, only to find the Whyos' attack was designed to draw Spector into another conflict with the Thunderbolts when he is ambushed by Venom.[67] After a brief fight Moon Knight is captured, but escapes when S.H.I.E.L.D. shows up. Frenchie agrees to help Spector, and Ray joins the reformed team as well. Bullseye is released to kill Moon Knight, as Spector prepares to go out with a bang.[68]

Moon Knight is next seen battling Bullseye on the streets of NYC. He eventually leads Bullseye to a bunker/warehouse where he has planted several explosives. Bullseye narrowly escapes as Moon Knight ignites the explosives. Later that day two press conferences are held: one by Norman Osborn to announce the Thunderbolts' success and Moon Knight's death and the other held by Tony Stark who denounces the methods used by the Thunderbolts. At the end of the issue, it is revealed that Moon Knight has faked his death, escapes from the warehouse through a secret passage in the floor, and is hiding in Mexico. It is also revealed that the Marc Spector persona has "died" and that Jake Lockley is now in control.[69]

Now living as Lockley, the Moon Knight escaped to Mexico.[70] Laying low to avoid attracting the attention of the Registration Act any further, Lockley gets roped into a mission involving criminal cartels, two boisterous sibling luchador assassins, and a murderous Toltec avatar. During this stint in Mexico, Moon Knight learns he was being shadowed by The Punisher from the moment he crossed the border. Frank Castle's reasoning was that he knew Moon Knight would find himself somehow involved with the very cartel Frank had been pursuing; however, the Toltec god's avatar made quick work of the cartel.[71]

Eventually, the super-hero Civil War ended with Norman Osborn as director of H.A.M.M.E.R. and with him replacing S.H.I.E.L.D.. Lockley knows that Osborn had been behind the group of Thunderbolts sent to kill him and that a deranged psychotic was not fit to run the U.S.A.'s national security agencies, so using some spoils from the Cartel, Moon Knight decided it was time for a comeback.

[zukoshotleafjuice]

legend of korra season 1 thoughts!

so I finished the first season of the legend of korra and I have a lot of thoughts so here’s a review post! i’ve heard a ton of mixed opinions about it but i’m keeping an open mind and trying not to let other people’s opinions colour mine :)

pros:

korra herself! we stan a strong, kickass, muscular woc. i love that she’s powerful but also realistically flawed - she’s headstrong and tends not to think things through. in a lot of ways she’s the polar opposite of peaceful and good-natured aang. i love her with all my heart and she’s probably the best part of the show so far 

the steampunk/20s mafia vibe of Republic City is amazing - it’s so different from atla but it makes perfect sense that this is the direction the world took. it also makes for a lot of new things for Korra et al to explore so that their world feels different from the Aang’s

the interactions between technology and bending are great

LIN AND TENZIN. these two are incredible characters on their own and their dynamic is amazing - without dwelling on the details of their relationship, the small moments between them say everything. I love that Lin ends up sacrificing her bending to defend Pema and the airbender children - her love for Tenzin goes beyond the pettiness of relationships and jealousy and I could go on about these two forever but in the interest of time, I won’t. Anyway, I’d probably ship lin/tenzin (linzin?) if I didn’t like Tenzin’s family as much as I do. 

Jinora and Ikki are adorable and I would die for them.

Amon/Noatak is a really good villain, and I wish they’d given him more space to excel. he’s a classic example of ‘good motivation, bad methods’ - is it really so wrong to demand equality for non-benders? on that note did they really show a murder-suicide in a children’s show?! they did Not hold back at all huh

surprisingly, I really enjoyed pro-bending - it makes perfect sense that in a developing world where technology is becoming a norm, the skills that were once mainly used for fighting/day to day life become valued primarily in sporting arenas. 

in general, the show does a really good job of paying homage to atla and the legacy that the gaang left on the world without letting their presence overwhelm korra’s story. also, the giant aang statue was incredible. 

iroh II being voiced by dante basco and sounding exactly like zuko was completely unexpected but also incredible I love it

cons:

that love triangle was god-awful. I get that korra is bi, and that’s important, but the mako/asami/korra triangle and the mako/korra/bolin triangle weren’t very well-executed imo. korrasami wya

I feel like Team Avatar wasn’t very fleshed out. Developing each character’s personality and relationship with Korra was overshadowed by the weird romance stuff going on between the whole lot of them. I’m trying not to compare it to ATLA too much, but each member of the Gaang had their own distinct motivations, development and backstory - by the end of season 1 I was just as invested in katara, sokka and zuko as I was in aang. I don’t really feel the same way about mako, bolin and asami. Hopefully, they get that development and backstory later on in the show!

meelo’s potty humour was Not It. 

was it really necessary to kill Sokka? I want to see 84-year-old Sokka kicking ass with a boomerang and being the grumpy grandpa he was always destined to be

I actually think the season’s shorter episode count hurt it quite a bit this season - many elements that I found lacking could have been improved on a lot given a couple of filler/backstory episodes. Things like relationship development were forced to take a back seat since the plot had to reach a conclusion in 12 episodes. Overall, though, I did enjoy season 1 and am really looking forward to the next three!!!