#no nexus were harmed in this comic

[zaana]

Omega finding random cute animals

[tangledinink]

PATREON - KO-FI - COMMISSION INFO

'hey, whatchya makin' over there--? oh good god--'

yay! a ✨masterpost.✨

general art tag is here.

faq is here-- plz consider reading before you send an ask!

friendly reminder post!

-> 💎 I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now?

[ rottmnt au in which splinter is able to obtain cloaking brooches when the turtles are still tots, and they live their lives are 'normal' humans, so very much so that they eventually forget their mutant origins... until they remember... ]

cw: themes of child neglect/endangerment, child abuse, gender dysphoria, self-sacrifice, and mental illness. plz be mindful of tags.

-> 💫 Gemini AU

[ rottmnt sep au focusing on leo and donnie raised by big mama in the grand nexus hotel and performing in the battle nexus-- and, eventually, their long-lost family members. ]

cw: themes of child abuse, self-sacrifice, cults, blood and injury, ableism, emotional manipulation, sexual assault, and csa. plz be mindful of tags.

-> 🦶 Foot Squad AU

[ rottmnt au in which the turtles were raised in the foot clan alongside cassandra jones, and, eventually, april o'neil ]

cw: themes of child abuse, cults, and emotional manipulation. plz be mindful of tags.

-> 🧬 TMNT: Stabilize

[ tmnt fan iteration following the turtles' attempt to uncover the origin of the mutated forms in order to save the life of their father, master splinter ]

cw: themes of child neglect, parentification, chronic/terminal illness, death, mental illness, psychosis, and self harm. plz be mindful of tags.

-> 🦢 Swanatello

[ that's right-- the au the fandom has for SO LONG been asking for. a rottmnt x swan lake crossover. you guys... you guys HAVE been asking for this, right...? ]

cw: themes of memory loss/delusions/unreality, domestic abuse, and death. plz be mindful of tags.

-> ☘️ Clover Crown

[ in which leo is spirited away to the feywilds, home of the fae and their kingdom... without the rest of his family, however, he's forced to navigate his new surroundings and companions on his own. ]

cw: themes of body horror, abuse, ableism, and emotional manipulation. plz be mindful of tags.

-> 🐢 Processing Grief Through Ninja Turtles

[ a very loose 'series' of comics exploring grief/loss with rottmnt ]

cw: themes of grief, death, loss of a parent, and loss of a sibling. plz be mindful of tags.

[leon-doggo]

Soooooo I accidentally just wrote a ~1300 word fic for a silly little idea during the recovery era of my Fight Dogz AU instead of going to sleep like I planned to.. and it’s 3:45 in the morning… and I have to get up at 8:30… so enjoy I guess!! I’m also making a short comic based on this because this idea has been eating at my brain for some reason. Head warnings very carefully and read at your own discretion!!!

TW: mentions of animal death, depression, mentions of self harm, suicidal thoughts, mentions of dog fights

Father-son bonding time over movies with very healthy amounts of concern, very much based off of interactions I have with my mom of the same caliber

Splinter happily sat up in bed, turning the page of his newest romance novel. He was just getting to the part of the woman discovering she was deeply in love with the business man when a shadow came over him. His ear flicked in alarm of the sudden intruder until he looked up and saw Leonardo standing in his doorway. It was still very new to see the young boys standing on two feet, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out the wolves were still getting used to it from their awkward stature.

A lighthearted jab sat at the tip of the rat’s tongue until he fully took in Leonardo’s state; the boy stood in the doorway, his left leg trembling from the lasting injury of his last fight in the Battle Nexus. He wore one of the more well loved hoodies that Splinter knew mostly smelled like him, since he wore it all the time back when he was still acting. He held his portable DVD player that Splinter had gifted him a few years prior as a peace offering, a few movies sitting atop the technology. All of that was good and well, but the dried track of tears were what caught Splinter’s attention.

His boys all struggled with their mental health, but Leo always seemed to be the one most affected by the horrors that followed him from living with Big Mama. Of course he worried about them, but it was really only Michelangelo that had come to him to chase the monsters away.

“Can we uh… can we watch a movie?” Came Leonardo’s voice. His voice seemed to scratch from his throat, protesting its use.

Splinter smiled and moved farther towards the wall to allow the canine into his bed.

“Of course we can. Come, climb in.” He insisted, patting the mattress next to him. Leonardo smiled sheepishly and shuffled over to the bed, the sound of his paws dragging across the stone echoing through the room. He was careful climbing into the bed, mindful of his dvd player and the movies he held while being tentative about entering unfamiliar territory. Usually, if Splinter could hear him, the rat would come and stay in Leo’s room if he was having a bad night of night terrors or flashbacks. This was very new for both of them.

“I thought we could watch that movie, Dirty Dancing?” He muttered, clicking on the device and opening the disc console.

“Ah yes! One of my favorites. That movie had just come out before I was taken into the Hidden City. What an accomplishment that movie was!” Splinter agreed, his hand resting on his white beard. Leo smiled softly as the old rat regaled in his acting days; it was a nice distraction to the thoughts fighting for attention in his head.

Leo was no stranger to the clutches of depression and anxiety. His thoughts often got the best of him on a good day, and he would go to Donnie or Raph when that happened. He didn’t want to force any of his problems onto Mikey, the youngest of them already dealing with his own issues, but his older brothers were always willing to listen to him. Tonight, however, was one of the nights that were downright terrifying. His thoughts screamed at him, reminding him of everything he had done and regrets, the other dogs he had fought almost to their death (some he had fully killed all in the name of the stupid sport he was forced into), demanding he pay for what he had done. One of the first nights they had spent in their new home was one of the worst nights he had experienced, driving him to force his claws into his scars to remind himself of the pain he had caused all of those other dogs and their families (since then, he always kept his nails very short and blunt). There was even a point when he struggled with the motivation to stay alive, his brain demanding he pay for the death of all those others with his own. He had simply returned to his brothers’ sides and snuggled closer into their pile.

Tonight was another horrible night, almost mirroring that initial night in their home. He couldn’t take it, and finally mustered up the courage to look to his dad for help. Though, he couldn’t just talk about how he was feeling, so he had to bring in his favorite distraction.

“Leonardo? Is everything alright, my son?” Splinter’s gentle voice broke through his train of thought, startling him for a moment. He took a deep breath and nodded, beginning the movie.

“It was the summer of 1963, when everybody called me Baby, and it didn’t occur to me to mind.”

They sat in comfortable silence, watching the movie progress in its story. Leo swallowed his pride and snuggled up close to Splinter, maneuvering himself far enough down the bed to tuck his head under the rat’s chin and rest comfortably on his chest. Splinter smiled softly to himself and wrapped an arm around his son, his heart fluttering with pure happiness and pride when he felt Leo’s tail wag ever so slightly under the blanket.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Splinter whispered, turning his full attention to his son. Leo swallowed softly and shrugged, his uneven ears flattening ever so slightly. Splinter shifted gently and looked down at Leonardo, a frown adorning his face.

“What is going on, my son? You can tell me anything.” He muttered, his hand gently running through some tangles in his son’s fur. Leo’s ears flattened more and new tears sprang to his eyes; he didn’t know why, but hearing the genuine care and worry in his dad’s voice broke a hole in the dam.

“I-I… I’m just having a really bad night. My brain won’t shut up.” He whimpered, hiding his face in his sleeve. Splinter’s concern only grew; he understood bad mental health himself, and was well aware of how dangerous it could get when going unaddressed.

“Shut up how? Are you… are you having flashbacks? Nightmares?” He asked softly. Leonardo shook his head, tensing ever so slightly as Splinter’s hand stilled against the back of his neck.

“Are you safe with yourself?” The rat asked, and that forced Leo to look up at his father, tears finally falling at that question. After a few moments of looking at each other, he forced his face into his dad’s chest, shaking his head as he sobbed. Admitting that he didn’t feel safe alone was one of the hardest things for Leonardo to do. He always tried to put on a brave face and tough through it, but there were so many times when he couldn’t.

“Okay… okay…” Splinter whispered, gears turning impossibly fast in his head as he tried to devise the best course of action to help his son.

“I want you to spend the night in here, alright? We can keep watching movies. It looks like you brought quite a few of them!” He requested, offering a small smile as Leo peeked up at him from his sleep shirt, now decorated with small spots of red from the dark red dye that remained over Leonardo’s face markings. The wolf nodded, sniffling and rubbing his eye to dry it.

“Yes please.” He whispered, sounding more like the teenager he was instead of a vicious dog fight champion. Splinter smiled and hugged Leonardo closer, returning his focus to the movie and spotting an old friend that was an extra in the movie. This, of course, set him off on a whole tangent about how they got to meet each other. Leo chuckled softly and snuggled in closer, happy to listen to his father’s crazy tales as long as it took for the voices in his mind to shut up and let him sleep.

[n30n-le0n]

[This was fine. This was all normal. Donnie’s reaction was normal, and expected—though of course Leo had noticed that his twin had been more than a little on edge lately as well—and Leo couldn’t help but grin and mouth “show off” at Donnie’s exaggerated spins of his bō staff, readying his own katanas with an exaggerated spin of the hilt through his fingertips. For a moment, it felt like normal again. The two of them bantering, fighting together, like it had been before the Krang had tried to tear the very fabric of his entire existence apart.

He’d missed this, Leo realized with a jolt. He’d missed feeling this carefree, like he didn’t have to walk on eggshells around his entire fucking family for fear of reawakening any of the various traumas that they’d been through. And his own self-doubt was only a hum in the back of his head now. Easy enough to push to the side. Easy enough to ignore, and pretend that everything was normal. Now, his witty banter only felt the tiniest bit forced when it came from his lips.]

Kinda funny how you somehow think you’re gonna win, Don. You’re looking at a five-time Lair Games AND a former Battle Nexus champion here.

[A comical waggle of what equated to eyebrows on someone of his species, and then he was continuing.]

Alright, I guess I should lay down ground rules as the leader ‘n all. No mystic powers, to the floor, best out of three?

[Leo would wait just long enough for Donnie to give any sign of agreement before suddenly exploding forward in a flurry of movement, katanas raised in the classic stance of a kesi giri—slashing downward at an angle from left to right, traveling from his left shoulder down to his right thigh. It would normally be a devastating blow against an actual opponent, but Leo was of course holding back from the full extent of its deadly power. He wasn’t going to willingly harm one of his brothers. Not ever again.

Sure, he hadn’t exactly given Donnie much in the way of a warning before he’d thrown himself at his twin like a bat out of hell, but that was the entire point of the combat exercise, wasn’t it? An enemy wasn’t going to warn them about when they were going to attempt to attack, and he wouldn’t extend the same courtesy just because the two of them were brothers.

He had to be better. He had to fight until it was all he knew how to do.

He could do this. He just needed to focus.]

[He wasn’t getting anywhere with this. Leo was intelligent enough to know that much.

He’d been training for what felt like hours, and it had been months since the Krang invasion, and yet his arms still felt stiff and leaden whenever he tried to swing them through the various stances and techniques that he’d been taught from a young age. Sure, okay, if pressed hard enough he might admit that he may have been overdoing it a tad, swinging his swords around with all the intensity of a grease fire and leaving himself far too many openings for a potential enemy to take advantage of—rather than falling into the careful, practiced techniques he’d been taught—but Leo couldn’t afford to quit now. It wasn’t good enough yet. He had to be good enough. He had to start taking his leadership duties seriously, before another member of his family got hurt or the Krang came back or an even worse enemy popped up, he had to—

WIPE THAT GRIN OFF YOUR FACE.

The words came to Leo completely unbidden, causing his hands to shake and his grip on the swords to loosen so much that he had to fumble to catch them before they buried themselves into the floor of the training hall. He had to be better. It wasn’t about him anymore. It was about the safety of his family—Raph getting fucking possessed because of you, Donnie having to hard-wire himself into a fucking alien ship, Mikey damaging his hands creating a fucking PORTAL to pull you out, they’re all better off without you—it was about being a better son and leader, it was even about living up to the standards of future him. Or at least a version of future him. Casey’s words back then had been like knives stabbed into his heart, and he.....he had to be better.

But how could he be better, when he was still having fucking nightmares almost every single night, when every dark shadow within the lair had him flinching away from it and instinctively reaching for his swords, when teleporting anywhere almost made him want to vomit, when even months after the fact he still couldn’t stand to be on his own for long periods of time and couldn’t stand any sudden weight being pressed against his shell and couldn’t—

Heaving out a sigh and swiping the sweat from his eyes, Leo almost snapped to fearful attention at the sound of footsteps nearby, his swords half-snapping into a battle stance as he turned before Donnie’s familiar form came into view—

Idiot, it’s only your brother, why the hell are you being so jumpy, don’t think about the way his body just plummeted when the Krang punched him off of that building, don’t think about how he probably didn’t even shed a tear when you trapped yourself up there—

It was almost scarily easy to shift into a more neutral position then, letting the old cocky smile slide back onto his face as he leaned against his sword like he didn’t feel about five seconds away from imploding under all the pressure. He had no idea if Donnie knew the full extent of what he was going through—of course Donnie probably had an inkling, the two of them being twins and whatnot—but Leo was determined to keep it that way. If he acted like all was well, maybe he could keep Donnie at arm’s length for that much longer. Maybe he could actually start feeling better, instead of just saying that he was.]

‘Sup, Don-tron? Here to get a piece of the action? Come on, I’ve been sparring by myself all afternoon, I could use the practice against an actual opponent.

[An easy twirl of his blades around in his hands, trying to ignore how his stomach twisted at the thought of having to raise them against another one of his brothers, and then he continued.]

Promise I’ll go easy on you.

@purplegenius90000

[luxuriantegg]

POV: you're watching Loki episode 5. Loki and Sylvie share a blanket, and then five minutes later sylvie’s like “we’re the same :)” which comes after them holding hands to cause a Nexus event, Mobius implying they're in love, and Loki appearing to want to confess some sort of adoration for her before being pruned,,, and so far, it seems the showrunners/writers are on board w/ calling it a love story,,,,,,,,,,

let’s dive a bit into this ship.

(note: i'm not going to tag this as "syl//ki," and i will not put any ship in the body text without the "//", but tumblr may take the "syl//ki" out of "anti syl//ki" and put it in the ship tag. that's out of my hands. you need to block "anti syl//ki" if you don't want to see that.)

when it comes to defending or being anti syl//ki, I think a lot of people sort of missed the memo on or forgot about the fact that Loki is a frost giant. I have looked on both Twitter and Tumblr and literally have not seen a single person talk about it in the selfcest debate so far. I've probably missed something. So if you have seen this argument, well, here it is again!

so, syl//ki defenders will say,

It’s not selfcest because they are genetically different. They might have different parents since they were adopted by the Asgardians.

If they were genetically similar, then they would also be genetically similar to Boastful Loki and Alligator Loki.

First of all. Loki’s last name is Laufeyson. Sylvie’s last name is Laufeydottir. Due to the naming conventions used here, both can be assumed to be children of Laufey. I realize we haven’t seen Sylvie’s Laufey, but who’s to say they look any different than the one we saw in Thor? Furthermore, there’s nothing to suggest that they weren’t adopted by the same exact couple (i.e., Odin and Frigga or some variation), and if you’re not ok with Thor and Loki, you probably should consider this. Probably. We'll really just have to see what happens if they develop Sylvie further. Who knows, they might get cold feet in the last episode and actually make her Enchantress (Sylvie Lushton) proper.

The second point really pisses me off not just as someone who loves Norse mythology but also just. The race card. Does no one remember the fact that Loki is actually supposed to be blue? He’s not genetically white. There is nothing in his genes that command him to be white. That is a disguise (originally put on him by Odin if I’m not mistaken? feel free to check me on that).

Loki could literally be any gender and/or any color he wants to be. Hell, we've seen him shapeshift into Steve Rogers briefly and Odin presumably for a good while. Really, it's hard to pass judgement on the relationships that the other Lokis have to their respective timelines. We can only make assumptions based on the evidence we have. (but also have fun with headcanons of course)

(also the funny part about bringing up Boastful Loki is ,, everyone is always like “well, are you trying to tell me that our Loki has the same genes as Boastful/Hammer Loki? 🙄🙄🙄” and like, they won’t come out and just say one is white and one is black like,,, :) they’re trying so hard not to sound racist it’s hilarious. AND THEN TO PUT ALLIGATOR LOKI IN THE SAME CATEGORY. LAUGHABLE. str8 up.)

But concerning the alligator, in Norse mythology, frost giants can have kids that are really just. Out there. Jormungand is a snake that can wrap itself around the world, Fenris is a gargantuan wolf, and Hel is a half dead child. Those are just Loki’s kids (note: in the mythology. they also exist in the comics as his children, but I am also aware that Fenris and Hela are not his children in the MCU and trust me, that peeves me a lot). I’m sure there’s more examples though. So like. Potentially????? Yeah, Loki Prime could be genetically similar to Alligator Loki.

Furthermore, according to this Gizmodo article, Alligator Loki is a Loki (2021) creation, and they admit to playing with the idea that Alligator Loki may not even be a Loki. So take that how you will.

So my verdict is that Loki and Sylvie are the same person with different looks, possibly some difference in genetics, depending on the mother.

(note: Loki is marked in his file as genderfluid, technically we cannot know what he was assigned at birth. we only know his pronouns. he could be AFAB. Sylvie may be AMAB.)

I don’t ship lok//ius, and I don’t care if Loki gets with a girl (I actually really like Loki and Darcy) so don’t come at me with the biphobia excuse that’s running around. I will say that yes, I would adore seeing Loki in an mlm or wlw relationship. Yes, it is really cliché to have the two opposite gender-presenting leads get together. Yes, I want to see Loki and Sylvie as friends/family. But that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I’m just here to ask if this is selfcest or not.

So yes, Syl//ki really does appear to be a selfcest ship and like, if you’re willing to own that, own it. It looks like that’s how the show’s going so far so,, uh,,, enjoy it if that’s something you want to do I guess. I’m ,, probably not going to though. But congrats on the canon! If it is!

I’m not asking you to stop shipping it, if you do. I'm not even asking you to ship with caution. Overall, I just hope I made you think a little more about it and maybe get a discussion going that doesn't revolve around the same arguments we've heard for the past three weeks.

Because like, it's not hurting anyone to ship it, and if you send hate speech to any shippers or the showrunners, literally what is wrong with you???? there are civil ways to discourse, my lord.

Personally, if I had to ship it, I would only do so as a self-love metaphor, and I think that's as far as I would take it. As it currently stands, it's on the same level of Oncest, so like. it's weird but honestly it doesn't hurt anyone. (and if you don't know what Oncest is, give this video by Sarah Z a watch.) Really it all just amounts to this test from Buzzfeed that you've probably seen in fandom memes before. So you can use that as your squick-o-meter when it comes to this ship.

I will end this by saying I am not pro-ship. Inc//est and pedo//philia have no place in fandom and thinking these are okay could lead to harmful thinking in real life, especially with regards to children in fandom.

Selfcest is not technically on the same level as inc//est, and yes, I know, in the words of the great Buzzfeed Unsolved team, "anytime you have to say technically that's not great" but I really mean it here. We can still say technically here.

TL;DR: yeah syl//ki is more than likely selfcest. don't send hate to people who ship it tho (this includes the showrunners).

[jazzythursday]

More Things I Would Change About/Add To The Loki Series If I Could (but now I’m just having fun)

This is a continuation of this post I did right when the series ended titled My Take on The Loki Series, And All The Things I Would Change About/Add To It If I Could (in vaguely chronological order), but branches off from most of my more thought out points into “haha this would have been cool I think” territory if you catch my drift. A lot of them exist in separate versions of the show unless specified.

When the paperwork scene happens it goes:

“Please sign to verify that this is all you’ve ever said”

*Defiant silence* from Loki. The workman taps his pen rigorously on the desk in apathy as Loki grows annoyed.

“Fine. Just- give it here.”

…

“Wait, that can’t possibly be everything.”

“Of course not, this is just the index for all the folders we have for you in the back room. You Asgardians can sure say a lot in millennia. Poor Frank had to spend decades organizing all of that, didn’t you Frank?”

They turn their heads and Frank nods sadly.

When watching the tape of Loki’s life, we see his fall from the Bifrost, and a shot of Loki floating through the void. Then we see real Loki’s face in reaction to this go stone-cold-fear-style and before we can see anything else he makes Mobius stop the tape. They have a brief discussion about what happened back then that ends with:

“What scares you so much that you, you, can’t even face it?”

“Well, Mobius ‘Mr. self proclaimed Loki expert’ Mobius, you’d know, wouldn’t you? You’ve seen it.”

Mobius, stoically, “Screened it. But yeah, yeah I have.

“Well then, you’d know that there was something far worse at the end of it.”

Loki getting angry in the time theater about how his family lied to him and always treated him differently etc. and holding his ground about how they most certainty did him wrong and never apologized for it.

“Well technically, you don’t know that they didn’t apologize. Haven’t lived it.”

“And now I never will? That supposed to make me feel better?”

…

“Did they, then? Apologize?”

“No, they didn’t.”

When Sylvie and Loki touch, they both start to go blue. Loki conspicuously spends the rest of the episode/episodes avoiding touching her.

- I talked about in my other post the possibility of Sylvie and Loki enchanting each other, and how if Sylvie enchants Loki it would lead to a memory of the day Odin took him. In this scenario Loki would have to be okay with them both shifting into frost giant form for it to happen, so it also makes sense why that memory would be triggered.

- Or, OR, Sylvie and Loki grab hands on Limentis 1 and shift into frost giant form intentionally as they accept their fate, but also themselves, and this is what starts their Nexus Event.

- Another way to address it would be for them to need to do ice magic to defeat an enemy, and grasp hands to both shift and to enhance their power.

Loki’s outfit change in episode five comes from a closet in the Loki Bunker pieced together from different things that have fallen into the void (no longer titled the void). He tries on a bunch of increasingly ridiculous outfits, most of which are references to both other Marvel characters/comics, as well as Loki himself. I’m talking classic movie makeover sequence here complete with the other Lokis inserting their opinion and critiquing each look (Classic Loki is of course a very vocal participant). The final outfit is a small nod to AOA Loki but with more of an MCU Loki twist.

“Well, you can’t go out in that.”

“Right. Huh, I suppose I’ll need something more… suitable for fighting giant cumulonimbus dragons.”

*that British smile™*

“We’ve got just the thing.”

- I’m thinking a bit more rugged than his usual looks, the cool belts and green coat but less devil-may-care than AOA Loki. Either this is where he gets the broken horn helm or he gets the helm pre-break and breaks it in the fight with… something. Then he has an interaction with Classic Loki where afterwords he says:

“Remember what you said before, about our being the ‘god of outcasts’?”

Classic Loki nods.

“Well, nothing so bad about that. All of us outcasts, we can be alone together, can’t we?”

In the same scenario, Classic Loki is later hiding out back with the other Lokis as they bicker (A mild take on the scene where all the Lokis start fighting) while thinking about his conversation with our Loki. He mobilizes the other Lokis to go help Loki and Sylvie and gives a very inspiring speech I don’t have the patience to write. Mostly I’m just imagining this slow zoom towards his face (that replaces the god-awful one we got at the end of the series) where he’s visibly fighting over the decision before standing up abruptly and deciding to try, and to accept both himself and all the other Loki’s for who they are, as they are, thus reinventing the way he thought of the title ‘god of outcasts’.

“ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU! IS THIS WHO WE ALL WANT TO BE? A bunch of petty braggarts bickering over nothing?! Well I’ll tell you something! I wanted to be more! I… I tried to be more…”

- Okay actually expanding on earlier when I said “… something”, what if there are sort of waif-y demon creatures that prowl the void (no longer titled the void) and prey on anything Alioth hasn’t gotten to yet. Obviously makes being out at night there a lot more dangerous, and gives Loki a chance to help out in a fight, which is when he loses one of the horns. (Ooooh I like that!)

Mobius convinces the other Loki’s to leave the void (no longer titled the void).

(No Sylvie here) Loki ends up meeting an IW Loki variant who’s trying to get back to his Thor. They talk, they have revelations about whats important to them and how their past isn’t the only thing that can dictate their lives, etc. Lots of IW Loki reparenting our younger Loki. Honestly this is just the interaction that we all wanted when they said they were making a Loki series with time travel, so just imagine that. 

Loki and Mobius (again, no Sylvie) find proof that the timeline isn’t just one Sacred Timeline and that a multiverse already exists. This is what jumpstarts Mobius’s acceptance that the TVA is not what it seems.

Time travel shenanigans in the library of Asgard with Mobius. Serious Loki magic gets to happen here. Also he disguises Mobius (in the absolute ugliest outfit he can think of) for the purpose of blending in. He uses his female form as most people in Asgard wouldn’t recognize it (I sort of head-canon that Loki used his female form most often when venturing outside of Asgard to explore/ have fun).

The return of pilot!Loki, because I love him.

Slightly crack-ish I know but Loki and Mobius time travel shenanigans where they end up stuck somewhere that has a beach and Loki tells Mobius to just get on with his jet-ski fantasies already. While he’s waiting (maybe getting a drink and people watching or trying to find a way back by fixing the broken Tempad or getting the Tesseract to agree with him he runs into trouble and by the time Mobius comes back Loki is ominously nowhere to be found.

“Well, would you look at that.”

“Wh- no. No, Loki, I am not getting on a—”

“Why not?”

“…”

“No way back as far as I can see, no apocalypse coming to destroy the place. Honestly. Honestly, what harm is it really going to do?”

“…”

Loki finds a way to use the Tesseract in the TVA but accidentally drags Mobius along with him (yes I’m basing this on the jet-ski idea above). More shenanigans ensue.

Loki and Sylvie both get trapped in their “ideal versions” of life that Kang offered them and have to fight their way back. Maybe Loki ends up needing to convince Thor of what’s really going on and gets his help. Brotherly bonding ensues??

They literally blow up/burn the TVA to the ground, resulting in everyone having to evacuate. In a very tense sequence, Loki saves the cat on the way out.

[the-audio-journalist]

Film Theory : WandaVision, The secret THIRD witch Revealed!

2021. Film theory: WandaVision, The secret THIRD Witch Revealed!. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaYsHV3rIYk> [Accessed 17 September 2021].

Agatha Harkness is an actual salam witch who infultrated the hex to steal Wanda's powers which means that wanda did create the imaginary reality and inslave the citizens of Westview after she as driven to her pyschological braking point from discovering S.W.O.R.D desicrating Visions body.

Wanda didn't know her powers were really witchcreaft as Agatha points out the Wanda is the Scarlet Witch that is a legendary being that uses chaos magic.

The third witch :

Agatha and Wanda's magic are colour coded with wanda it's always shades of red while Agatha's is purple. All the flowers outside Agatha's house are purple and the roses ouside of Wada's are red.

In the black and white episodes we were introduced to Dottie Jones. Agatha says 'Dottie is the key to everything in this town!'

Dottie is set up to be an antagonist to Wanda. Dottie says ' I've heard things about you... you and your husband' and Wanda replies 'but i assure you i don't mean anyone any harm' and Dottie says ' I dont believe you'.

One of Dottie's creepier lines include 'all of this s for the children' to which the other ladies but wanda immediently reply 'for the children'

After this Dottie disapperas for the remainder of the show.

But in the middle of the confrontation between Wanda and Monica we get a cutaway scene to a blonde haired woman that looks like Dottie and yellow roses.

In the Marvel comics there is a blonde superhero sorceress who's magic energy signature is usually yellow and who's last name is Jones just like Dottie.

Arcanna Jones isn't just from the marvel universe she comes from the Marvel multiverse. Arcanna wasa member of Squadron Supreme a whole team of characters that are parodys of Justice League members.

They live on an alternative reality Earth.

Marvel just recently revealed that there big summer event series will zap the universe into an alternate timeline that core heros never got their origins which means the Avenger's never formed.

Fake commercial act brakes :

The toaster was Tony Stark's bomb.

The hydra soak was the mind stone.

The shark eating magicyogurt was Agatha looking to consume Wanda's powers leaving her a empty dried out husk.

The only one left unexplained the was antidepresents Nexus commercial and thats because its not looking backwards butrather is the only one looking ahead to whats to come.

Nexus is a clear reference to the comic Nexus of all Realities which acts as hub between the different regions of the multiverse and also to Nexus beings. Super humans that are powerful enough to manipulate the order and shape of those realities.

Wanda is a Nexus being the people who made that distinction are beurocrats names The Time Varience Authority.

[unwiltingblossom]

Hey there. Sasusaku may know me, but Zutara probably doesn’t. I’m not in the ATLA fandom, but I have observed enough to notice something that intrigues me about Zutara, aside from the fact I’d totally board the ship if I were foolish enough to watch a show knowing I was going to fail (actually, consider me proto-Zutara I guess because I think I liked it in the movie. Maybe I liked Kataang. Maybe I liked both. Can’t remember. moving on.)

I think it’s interesting that somewhat unintentionally Sasusaku and Zutara illustrate pretty clearly the difference between Japanese fandom and western fandom, in a way that Sasusaku already shows to a lesser degree.

There’s a bunch of fundamental differences in these two ships, I’m aware, but at their core, I feel they’re much the same. Call it ‘same energy’, if you will. Yet in one story they end up together and the writer keeps adding more things to insist that they are, and in the other one they end up apart and the writers keep trying to delegitimize the pair more and more.

In Sasusaku’s case, not only do they marry and have a child, the writer has stated that he always intended them to be together, and given various interviews and novels and mini comics for them.

In Zutara’s case, the writers seem to contradict themselves claiming they didn’t plan it, and that while it’s interesting, they mock anyone who actually thinks it would be a good idea or would happen, claiming their relationship would be unhealthy and unhappy.

Now this is interesting, because there are parallels with how fandom reacted to Sasusaku (and if ATLA ever got released in Japan I’d be curious how the fandom reacted to Zutara). In Japan, Sasusaku has always been one of the, if not the, top ships. Mostly what beats it out is slash, because fujoshi are gonna fujosh. Fans love it, went crazy for its ending, and loved all the scenes it got leading up, joking about them getting married and such offscreen.

In the west, however, while Sasusaku is still super popular, it gets a LOT of pushback. People like to insult it, insist it’s abusive and horrible, claim that Sasuke and Sakura could never be happy, and that anyone who honestly thinks they should be together should never get into a relationship for their own safety, because they’re romanticizing abusive relationships and will be hurt.

Sure sounds familiar, right?

Well, I’ll do you one better. Because you’ll see often the complaint that “I wish Sakura had just been strong and realized she didn’t need a man, becoming an independent etc” or “This is really harmful to Sakura’s character, because it forces her to abandon the things she loves and live subservient to Sasuke as some wife”

These are, almost without exception, lies. What they’re almost always saying is actually “I wish she would have grown up past Sasuke and married instead (Naruto/Lee/Kakashi/Sai/a girl), but if she couldn’t do that, then at LEAST she should have been alone!” they just cut off the first part because it reveals their bias.

And frankly, there’s a lot of parallel between Narusaku, who had a childhood crush on Sakura because a part of him thought she’d give him the recognition he needed and becomes the sage of six paths hero who saves the world from war in the end, and...well. Kataang. Which basically seems to have been a puppy crush on the first girl he met, that he nurtured into love over years as he became the Avatar hero who saved the world from war in the end. Both have a brother/sister or mother/kid relationship with the female in question through their quest (Sakura treats Naruto much like an annoying little brother and Naruto + Minato both recognize Sakura as ‘like his mother’, and Katara has a very motherly relationship with Aang most of the time until they start kissing)

Most importantly, I feel there’s a lot of parallels to be found in Sasusaku and Zutara.

Sasusaku runs on a baseline of Sasuke being extremely hostile and cold to everyone, refusing to let anyone in, and Sakura reaching out to him and through his defenses over and over despite this. She is the first person that he admits the reason for his behavior to -before Naruto or anyone else, he begins to explain to her that his brother killed everyone - and they have a mutual respect. Sasuke acknowledges her skills and smarts, and considers her to be the one light in his life, the ‘spring breeze’ and ‘the one who filled his lonely existence with love’. Despite this, he betrays her and everyone else, choosing his revenge over his happiness, but even through the many years of isolation and hatred, his response to Sakura always has a softness that isn’t there for anyone else. He saves her when he doesn’t need to, he listens to and responds to her before anyone else, and he even offers to let her go with him on his quest. Yes, it’s because she’s a healer who can replace Karin, but do you really think he couldn’t have used Naruto at his side, the other one the village rejected and turned against, who might want revenge? Juugo and Suigetsu aren’t healers, but he keeps them anyway because they’re useful. Sakura is the only person in the Leaf he offers to join him.

Anyway. Although they’re enemies most of the story, her love for him endures and she keeps trying to reach out to him. Every once in a while he responds, catching her when she falls, caring about her harm. The eventual nexus of their relationship is after his final battle with Naruto - which he puts her to sleep during, because she jumped in the way and almost got killed last time, and he doesn’t want her to do so this time - is her kneeling over him laying on his back, healing him, crying. He apologizes until she finally accepts his apology, and canonically this is the moment he realizes he loves her (though it’s much longer before he acts on this in a real way).

I won’t presume to fully summarize Zutara, because I am but an observer. However, I do know that they begin as enemies, that she is able to break through his cold shell with her kindness and compassion, so that he opens up to her about things he either never does to anyone else, or doesn’t to anyone else for a long time. I do know that he betrays her trust, and that they don’t truly mend fences for a long time because of their antagonistic relationship and betrayed trust. I also know that one of their later moments involves a scene where Zuko is on his back and she’s kneeling over him in tears, and he thanks her.

Plenty of details are different, but there’s all sorts of similar themes, notes, and visual parallels. Zuko’s appearance during later episodes looks very similar to Sasuke’s appearance after his duckbutt hair stage, Sakura’s color scheme is usually red and Sasuke’s is blue, and of course Katara is blue while Zuko is red. Sakura is a healer (I can’t think of anything water related, no), and Sasuke uses fire (when it’s not illusions or lightning). You can definitely make a convincing argument to say these relationships are pretty close to the same thing portrayed in different media with a different story shaping their behavior.

So then, why is it that one of them ended up together and has a happy family life and is considered to be the ‘good end’, while the other one didn’t end up together and is considered to be the ‘bad end’ were they to get together?

Why also did Kataang get together and become the ‘perfect’ couple that everyone should have seen coming and agree with, but Narusaku was nothing more than jokes to tease the audience with occasionally and was completely sunk multiple times in canon before they both married other people?

Well...I think it’s a difference of cultural sensibilities directly affecting the outcome of the same story.

In the west, essentially, the woman is the ‘prize’ for the hero at the end of the journey. If he finishes his homework and saves the day, his reward is the woman he’s been pining after for ages. It doesn’t matter whether she openly wants him or not, there will be little ‘checkpoints’ through the story where you see that secretly she does want him as he gets better and ‘more heroic’, so anything he does in trying to woo her is ‘acceptable effort’, essentially. And more importantly, the person who has love needs to ‘deserve’ that love. The heroine has to get with a ‘good’ person like the hero because the antihero isn’t ‘good enough’ for her. He’s the ‘bad boy’ that she flirts with but then grows out of so she can marry the nice guy instead. And it’s this to an extreme. If she marries the ‘bad boy’, then she’s consigning herself to a lifetime of abuse or unhappiness, because she can’t be happy with someone who isn’t as good as her. This is tripled if they have an antagonistic relationship, like if they’re at war with each other and have been enemies. (this doesn’t work in reverse. A bad girl can marry a good guy if she sufficiently redeems herself and goes good, because men can’t be abused in this cultural standard) Instead, the antihero generally ends up with a woman of similar morals if he marries - another bad girl turned good, another rogue figure, something like that. That’s because it’s what he deserves and in turn what she deserves.

Weirdly enough, it works in reverse for attractiveness - hot women marry down, but not hot men. But that’s neither here nor there right now. The point is, you can see how on this scale the ending NEEDS to be by western standards Kataang, Maiko, Narusaku, Sasukarin. The tarnished and dark man MUST marry the tarnished woman of ‘inferior morals’, while the good and pure hero MUST marry the heroine, because she must be his prize for his heroism and success, and  he is the only one worthy of her goodness, therefore the only one who can make her happy.

In Japan, it’s just not really like that. The hero doesn’t need to get the girl in the end as his reward, and in fact it’s often the girl who gets the man she’s always wanted by the end of the story. This is because ‘patience and dedication’ is seen as more praiseworthy and deserving of reward. Because the heroine stuck with the love she had even when that person wasn’t ‘deserving’ of it yet, her love should blossom and be returned to her. Much more focus is on enduring and quietly continuing onward in spite of difficulty, basically. Orihime must get Ichigo because she loved him from the beginning. Same with Naru and Keitaro, Hinata and Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke, Juvia and Grey. They ‘make their love choose them’ instead. In fact, who the man wants is sometimes just played off as a joke, such as in Black Clover where Asta is determined to marry a nun while there’s a princess not-so-secretly swooning over him. It’s not hard to guess how that story is going to end.

Anyway, because the qualifications of what makes an ‘acceptable romance target’ differs in  Japan, worrying about whether the girl is ‘good enough’ or the man is ‘good enough’ for the romance is less important, only whether they’re dedicated or patient enough.

It’s not saying one is better than the other, whether using the man as the prize or the woman as the prize is the correct way of writing it - and there are exceptions, plenty of Naruto’s couples are written just because they go well together, there’s western stories where the girl gets the bad boy after he’s redeemed himself and it’s fine - but the differences are there to be seen.

And, weirdly enough, I think is what ultimately determined the different endings between Naruto and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

[ptilopseth]

POV you are my spotify as i repeat ‘covid-19 type beat’ ‘stay safe’ and ‘no flex’ while writing that part of this bit

sqrt(-1) love you bit, transcription of comic i need to scan. nothing truly saucy happens but you will be able to tell if you need to do the ol’ clickie off

BEEP.

The clock-in device for Rhodes Island emits its usual shrill sound, and Dr. Seth Warren steps into the building at five AM sharp. The base infrastructure smells of machinery, of cleaning solution, and of Seth really, really needing a coffee. After a quick detour with Dr. Kal'tsit ("remember to do your work, etcetera, etcetera"), Seth steps into his office and finds his usual secretary Ptilopsis arranging books. It's a surprise to see her actually awake at such an hour, considering her narcoleptic tendencies. "Hi, Ptilopsis." Seth sets his messenger bag to the side of his desk, and sits down to begin working on whatever recruitment papers or promotion sign-offs he's got to deal with today. "It is a new day. The Doctor is now online." Ptilopsis turns away from her books and towards Seth. "Detecting emotional surge within Ptilopsis." "Who're the roses from?" Seth eyes the very noticeable glass vase of red roses on his desk. Not often he receives such gifts from Operators. And it isn't like Dr. Kalt'sit or Amiya to gift him anything as extravagant as this. "They are from me." Ptilopsis says very matter-of-factly, as if Seth was supposed to suss that out from simply looking at them. "Oh. Well, thank you, then." "...I believe you are misunderstanding the intent of my gift." Ptilopsis walks over to Seth's desk to confront him directly. "Oh, am I, now?" Seth leans back in his chair, crossing his arms indignantly, as if there are often times where he understands anything at all. "Yes. You are. Out of 500,435 queries, I wanted to choose the most adequate vessel to express my feelings for you." "Wait-" "Doctor, may I remind you that roses are a stereotypical symbol of love." The words kinda stab Seth through the chest. His face flushes, but his reply does not indicate such an appearance. "Then you're lying." Ptilopsis tilts her head, confused. "You're lying to make fun of me." "Lying? Surely you are aware I cannot lie to you." "Yes, but-" "I ask you to stop there." And so it is done. "If you will notice the additional note on your desk, you will see that I have compiled a list of the most vital reasons that contribute to why I feel as I do. Please observe." Seth picks up the handwritten note, one created with very flowy handwriting unexpected for Ptilopsis. "Dearest Doctor Seth Warren: Through intense research and data analysis, I have concluded that I, Operator Ptilopsis of Rhine Labs, am in love with you. The flowers on your desk symbolize such feelings. Additionally, please review these ten reasons that I consider the most vital to my attraction towards you." Seth does as he is asked and reviews the ten. His eyes linger on #1: "As you are aware from reading my case file, Originium poisoning has allowed me to see the world in a newer light. As such, I realized recently that there is merit in attempting to observe the world through a less analytical lens. Of course, I cannot truly do as such unless my Oripathy is cured; but after exhaustive study of the object of my desire, and through one query, I have deduced that the serotonin which is delivered to the system nexus when I see you is the most vital reason behind my romantic feelings towards you." Seth sets the note aside and lays his face between his arms resting on the desk. "Ptilopsis..." "Yes?" "Are you sure? With me being- you know-" "I am aware you suffer from occasional bouts of a mental illness identified as depressive disorder. However, this will never affect my ability to, or degree to which I am romantically interested in you. And I truly see no harm in the transition of one's gender, so long as it provides you with some form of happiness or an increase to the mental or physical quality of your life." Seth turns away for a moment- "Or do you not trust my analysis? I may find need to rerun the queries I have calculated." -And turns back, now finding it difficult to look Ptilopsis in the eye. "Rerun them how?" And this isn't a lead-on; he's genuinely curious. "...Please do not reboot the system. Ptilopsis is analyzing your query. ...I have deduced via 40,523 queries that the most adequate way to validate the truth of my data is to participate in the common romantic gesture in which two or more parties press their lips together." Seth sighs, and stands up to face Ptilopsis, just a few feet away from her in front of his desk. "Ptilopsis... tell me you know what a kiss is." "Relax. It was just a joke." The two are silent for the longest two seconds of Seth's entire life. "If you are not comfortable with the gesture, I will not force you to participate." "No, it's just..." Seth's eyes well with tears, and- "...Ptilopsis has discovered that the emotional source behind your tears is that of dopamine. Why do you cry? Is something the matter?" Seth buries himself in Ptilopsis' strangely comforting hug. "I'm alright." "Is this a verifiable truth? I do not want to leave you in such a state." "Yeah." "Then what is the meaning behind your tears?" Seth pulls away from Ptilopsis. "Because, I- Ptilopsis, nobody has ever said they loved me like that before. Not like you have." "I see. Please do not reboot the system. Ptilopsis is analyzing your query. ...I have formulated a solution through 435,642 queries. I will simply take it upon myself to remind you. ...Adding protocol to base system commands. ...Protocol added. Initiating protocol." And with the ghost of a smile on her face, the most she can manage: "I love you. I love you in such a way that I do not believe data can adequately describe. There is something very strange about the ways you push yourself, but I will admit it is one of your multiple admirable qualities. Despite your lack of memory, you have never hesitated to call on others when you falter. A capable leader knows when to perform such an act. You also have a certain way of bringing yourself up from your downfalls. You may tend to keep to yourself, but rest assured that I can assist you in managing such emotional valleys. Lastly, for now at the very least, your craft has always sparked some kind of interest within me. The system nexus has encountered errors while attempting to parse your creative works, but that does not mean I do not support you in such endeavors. In fact, I will ponder these errors from now on and make an effort to repair the system and fix them." "I..." Seth is expectantly speechless. "You do not have to weave such prose in response. A four-word reply will suffice." "I love you too." "Is Ptilopsis granted administrative permissions to go forth with the earlier activity outlined?" "Yes. But! Do I have permission to get saucy with it?" "Based on the associations of your previous uses of the phrase, I have deduced the meaning of 'get saucy.' Ptilopsis gives you full administrative permission to 'get saucy' so long as it assists in satisfying such a need." "Well- it's not a need, but... I'm not into it unless you are." "Do not worry. Ptilopsis is currently experiencing such a desire. I do not need to deduce via query that I am very into it." "Good," Seth leans close to Ptilopsis, so close that their lips are brushing. "Just had to check." And the two kiss, Ptilopsis' arms finding their way around Seth's waist, and Seth positioning his hands on Ptilopsis' hips. With a series of intricate steps to the right, Seth presses Ptilopsis against the bookcase flush with his office wall, and releases from the kiss. His lips graze down Ptilopsis' face, and come to rest just above her collarbone. "Ptilopsis has deduced that the action you are about to take is one that would result in the creation of what I believe is a hickey." Seth leans up, looking to Ptilopsis, suddenly embarrassed. "Do you not want that?" "I do not mind. I will notify you if you take an action I do not want to be a part of." Slightly less embarrassed, Seth leans back down and gently bites into Ptilopsis' neck, once on the right and twice on her left. "Ptilopsis has a request." "Yeah?" Seth brings himself back up to Ptilopsis' eye level. "Do I have administrator permissions to take part in the same action?" Seth nods. Ptilopsis latches onto Seth's neck just below his jawline; Seth's breath hitches. "Uh-" Ptilopsis immediately retracts. "Did I go too far?" "I- uh, yes, I think? Sorry, I just-" "Pay it no mind. I will not continue if such an action discomforts you in any way." "But I-" "The system nexus has a very high tolerance for what you personally consider 'saucy,' as stated earlier. Do not worry." "Gonna be honest with you. No idea why I asked you that." "It is fine. I believe I will ask the same thing if such a situation as this ever occurs again." "You want it to?" "I do not need to run a query to determine that my answer is a definite yes." And just then, Seth's phone rings from inside his jacket pocket. He carefully removes one of his hands from Ptilopsis' waist to grab his phone and answer it. "Hi?" "Hi, boss?" There's only one Laterano at Rhodes Island with that pep in her voice at five in the morning: Exusiai. "What's up? "You were supposed to be briefing us in the RIIC command center fifteen minutes ago." "Fuck." "Where are you? I saw you clock in this morning, and then you probably went to your office, but, like, I know Kal'tsit gives you a lot of paperwork, but not that much, right?" "Uh. I had some complications." "Complications, right." Exusiai says it in a knowing tone. "...I won't rat you out, boss. Promise." "Not a lot of people can say that, Exusiai." "Can you put Ptilopsis on the phone real fast, though?" Seth hands the phone over to Ptilopsis. "Hey, Ptilopsis?" "What may I assist you with, Operator Exusiai?" "I assume it worked?" "Yes it did." "Cool. But that was meant to take, like.. a few minutes? What happened?" "We had some complications." "Oookay, now I want to know." "Seth and I mutually decided to begin making out in the middle of his office. We then gave each other hickeys." "...I'm gonna hang up. Just get to the command center." "Affirmative." Ptilopsis hangs up the call for the two of them. "What was that about?" "Operator Exusiai will not tell anyone. She swore a vow of secrecy when I first asked her for advice on how to best court you." Seth steps away from Ptilopsis, his non-free hand accidentally lingering on Ptilopsis' hip for a moment longer than intended. "Court me? Awfully, uh... formal." He walks over to his desk and picks up his messenger bag, hoisting it over his shoulder. He takes his phone back from Ptilopsis and tucks it back into his jacket pocket. "It is simply the truth." "Court, like, date? Or marry? Or intercourse?" "I have deduced through three queries that the appropriate answer to this question is 'yes.'" Seth's face turns beet-red. "Oh. I think we should go on a few dates first, though." "I am in agreement. I do wish to truly know you before advancing in such measures as described." Seth does one last sweep for missing items. All good. "Wanna head out?" "Yes. Although I would like to ask for administrative permission to perform two tasks." "We're late." "They will take only a moment." "What's up, then?" "As a gesture of goodwill, may I lightly kiss your cheek?" "Yes, what? You don't have to ask about that." Ptilopsis provides a quick peck on the cheek in affirmation of Seth's reply as the two make their way out of Seth's office and into the hallway. "I would also find joy in performing the classic romantic gesture of holding hands as we walk to the command room." "My palms are sweaty, Ptilopsis." "I do not mind." "Pff- okay, you win." Seth closes the door to his office, locks it, and takes Ptilopsis' hand in his. ...And then, from around twenty feet back, in the shrill tone of a Supporter Operator whose skill with mechanics is unmatched: "Ohmygod, Ptilopsis and the Doctor are dating?!"

[davids-cartoon-corkboard]

April’s Uncle

Though Mayhem was important in the first episode, he’s just been in the background since then. We know he’s connected to Draxum, but apparently not to his drama with the turtles. I think Mayhem will be relevant again when we start focusing on April… and her family.

Mayhem doesn’t have thumbs, so someone else must have tied the vial to him.

Also, he immediately befriended April, a total stranger, while he was running for his life.  April’s family was involved with plot shenanigans in 2k3 and 2k12, so that might also be the case here; April reminded Mayhem of an ally, so he felt safe around her.

I’m leaning towards the 2k3 version of events because having the same plot as 2k12 where (spoilers?) April is revealed to be human/kraang could have Unfortunate Implications if applied to a black character.

2k3 April’s uncle Augustus (or “Augie”) was a traveller who “mysteriously vanished” one day. He had been swept to another dimension via a magic artifact, and had jumped through various other dimensions to try and get home.

Big Mama is the Rise character most involved with dimensional stuff, but Draxum is too, through both his connection to Mama and an interesting style choice in his minions.

The glowy dots that appear when Draxum’s goons transform are called “Kirby Dots”, after the late Marvel comic artist Jack Kirby.

Usually this wouldn’t mean anything other than the artists are nerds, but 2k3 had an homage to Kirby in the episode “The King” as April’s neighbor.

That episode also featured dimensional shenanigans, though they were unrelated to Uncle Augie’s.

Rise Augustus may have been in a situation like Lou Jitsu’s, with Big Mama and Draxum fighting over him (likely for information or artifacts). While Draxum got Lou, Mama got Augstus- but not before he swiped Draxum’s mutagen to keep him from harming Earth.

Big Mama is a poor tactician; the turtles would have benefited her more as allies than rodeo clowns. As soon as she thought she had what she wanted from Augustus, she tossed him into the arena to die.

But one doesn’t spend time dimension-hopping without picking up a few skills. Augustus survived and climbed the ranks of the battle nexus. Eventually he got Big Mama’s attention again. Worried he wouldn’t be able to keep the mutagen a secret, he gave it to a little friend he had made on his travels, and then they parted ways.

Of course, Augustus wouldn’t resign himself to the short and brutal life of a gladiator. He has a family to get back to! That Draxum’s goons referred to Mayhem as “the agent” in the first episode suggests he may have helped Augustus cause some unrest in the nexus… and not the kind villains profit from.

When the team goes dimension-hopping, they’ll find out April is also related to a celebrity; she’s the niece of the unbeatable adventurer Augustus O’Neil, the death-defying, rebellion-leading

BATTLE!

NEXUS!

CHAMPIOOOOOOON!!!

[aion-rsa]

Jimmy Stewart and the WW2 Mission That Almost Broke Him

https://ift.tt/3oDIaDK

The sound of the impact is deafening. More than 18,000 feet above the German city of Fürth, the World War II B-24 bomber they call Dixie Flyer has just delivered its full payload onto a German manufacturer, devastating its ability to build military aircrafts and turning the airfield into a scrap heap. But even before making the full turn out of Bavaria, Dixie Flyer’s copilot and the leader of this bombing group, Maj. James Stewart (Jimmy Stewart to his fans), is nearly lifted out of his chair.

That’s because a German shell (or flak) has pierced directly through the center of his B-24 Liberator. The whiplash is so intense that only harnesses keep him in his seat. Still, Stewart rises in the air; pilot Capt. Neil Johnson’s hands are briefly shaken from the controls; and for a moment, the entire plane is consumed with smoke as it violently ascends. When Stewart finally gets his bearings, he’s able to look down and see the hole in the aircraft—the edge of it is inches from his boot. Almost two feet in width, the gap offers a clear view through the plane’s fuselage and straight on to the German landscape below.

There is little time to worry though. The German ground defenses and their .88 shells are rattling the sky with more flak, and out of the corner of his eye, Stewart can see one of his planes, and his crews, also get hit. They’re not so lucky as a wing comes off and the craft falls to the earth. Meanwhile, German Focke-Wulf 190 fighters are beginning to swarm.

Stewart’s 445th Bombing Group only have each other and the tightness of their formation for protection—the Eighth Air Force and RAF fighters that accompanied the mission are spread too thin across the rest of Operation Argument’s ambitious list of targets to help—and they’re a long way from home.

It was the fifth day of the Eighth Air Force’s Big Week in February 1944, and Stewart was on his 10th combat mission in the air as either a group, wing, or squadron leader. This is what he left Hollywood for, circumvented Louis B. Mayer to participate in, and felt a lifetime of obligation to fulfill. It would be his finest moment in the air. It also would be the one that almost broke him.

The Mission of a Lifetime

Long before he entertained the idea of movie stardom, James Maitland Stewart felt the call of military service. In many ways, it was viewed as his birthright. His father’s father, the original James Maitland Stewart, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, participating in the valley campaigns of Shenandoah and serving under Gen. Philip Sheridan and a young officer named George Armstrong Custer. His maternal grandfather was at Gettysburg and Fredericksburg (he would die before “Jimmy” was born). And as a boy in the 1910s, the younger James Stewart would sit on his namesake’s knee, hearing eyewitness accounts about the war that preserved the United States.

Around the same time, young Jim was also receiving German helmets and paraphernalia shipped home by his father Alexander Stewart, who was off in Europe serving in World War I. Jim would use these real mementos of war in the makeshift plays he’d put on at his home in Indiana, Pennsylvania.

Biographer Robert Matzen, who authored the definitive account of Stewart’s World War II years, Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe, tells us this background had a formative influence on the rest of Stewart’s life and his sense of duty, which he carried with him on the train to Hollywood and then, eventually, on the plane ride out of it.

“All of these things added up into this sort of nexus of ‘I will serve, I have to serve, it’s my duty, it’s my time,’” Matzen says during a Zoom conversation. “And when the time came, he answered the bell. He was so fast out of the gate in the sweepstakes for World War II that he was in the first draft class. He willingly went. It’s not that he enlisted, he was drafted, but he was happy to be drafted. He called it winning the lottery.”

Indeed, Stewart’s then-recent status as a movie star of the 1930s was practically an accident, at least as far as MGM, the studio which held his contract, was concerned. The studio’s top brass viewed Stewart as a possible character actor or background comic talent. But then Frank Capra saw the everyman appeal in Jim’s thin frame and irrepressible earnestness, and cast him in You Can’t Take It with You (1938) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)—on loan at Columbia Pictures.

Stewart of course positioned himself to have that career, just as he positioned himself to be ready to serve if his country ever needed him. Hence alongside his sense of service and sacrifice, he also carried a passion for flying. And as soon as his movie star bona fides were cemented, he celebrated by flying his personal aircraft, a military trainer, learning his way around the skies.

“There’s so many things to think about up there that you forget things down below,” Stewart told an interviewer in the late 1930s. “Flying is something altogether different from the way I’m earning my living. That’s what I like about it… Flying is sort of a guarantee that life will continue to have variety.”

According to biographer Matzen, it also was a guarantee he’d be ready to serve when the time came.

“Step by step, he set himself up to end up in England in a bomb group,” Matzen says. “One of those steps was taken years before he was drafted, and that was when he became a star in Hollywood and bought a plane that was an army trainer and proceeded to learn to fly and train, and log hours on that plane so that he could be a pilot when the war came. And war seemed inevitable by 1938.”

Stewart even used his off-time to prepare for it. Says Matzen, “He took out a trip to Europe toward the end of ’39 to get the lay of the land because he thought he was going to end up fighting there.”

James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan in the 1930s about to fly in his Stinson Voyager plane. Courtesy of Robert Matzen and the Jay Rubin Collection.

The ‘I’m a Movie Star’ Card

That preparation served Jim well. While he was initially rejected from service in 1940—more than a year before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor—his capability as a flyer, and ability to find a doctor to explain that this 32-year-old man’s unusually thin frame was due to genetics and not ill-health, kept him in line to not only be drafted early but excel in the U.S. Army Air Corps.

“He was deferred in October of 1940 and his father was furious,” says Matzen. “He thought that Jim was in on the deferment for some reason. And Alex called him and chewed him out, and it made the papers that his father chewed him out. But it wasn’t anything. That’s what I think sent Jim back to talk to that doctor and get this letter written that was his carte blanche to get into the military.” That same letter was also the first record Matzen found at the top of Stewart’s military file more than 70 years later. It was the piece of paper which got him into the service and, along with his capability as a flyer, helped him rise all the way to the rank of brigadier general while serving in the Air Force Reserve in the 1950s.

That talent is also how Stewart circumvented the wishes of commanding officers and Louis B. Mayer, who likely applied pressure on the government to keep Stewart stateside during the war, essentially to make propaganda films for the First Motion Picture Unit.

“Jim was furious when that happened, because that was not his intention,” Matzen says. “He was a movie star of the first order who walked away from Hollywood. He took his fame with him and it did allow him to speak to officers that otherwise would not talk to a private and then a corporal, and then a second lieutenant. He got his way by playing the ‘I’m a movie star’ card. But it wasn’t, ‘I’m a movie star, don’t send me in harm’s way.’ It was just the opposite.”

In November 1943, Stewart would get his wish when he was sent to England as part of the 445th Bombardment Group in the Eighth Air Force.

Maj. Stewart circa 1944 waiting for his group to return at the Station 124 control tower in East Anglia. Courtesy of Robert Matzen and the Film Stills Collection, L Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University.

Squadron Leader 

Stewart almost never spoke about his experiences during the war. Just as he would refuse to ever star in a World War II picture, he abjectly refused to give an interview to the press after arriving in Tibenham, a remote and perpetually damp village in East Anglia. His reticence is even the reason Matzen was first wary of writing a book about Stewart’s war experiences. Yet, for whatever personal recalcitrance the actor had toward talking, the story left by his military file, records of his bombing runs, and even the testimonials, diary entries, and occasional published memoirs of the men under his command paint a strong picture.

As the oldest man on the plane and in the air—with his pilots frequently being between ages 19 and 23—Stewart offered a precise and measured authority that made him a natural leader who was too good to keep stateside.

Air Corps officer Beirne Lay Jr. recalled, “Things seemed to go all right when Stewart was up front. He made free use of the radio, like an aerial quarterback, to advise and encourage the other boys during a mission, and here his experience in films gave him a novel advantage. Because of his precise enunciation, people could understand him. It sounds like a little thing, but clear, quick communication between formations was of extraordinary importance.”

The talent made Stewart a natural choice to become a commanding officer in the 445th. Always from the copilot seat of a B-24 Liberator bomber, Stewart would command anywhere between 25 to 150 aircrafts, depending on if he was lead, wing, or squadron commander. But even on the days he didn’t fly with the men he trained, he would brief his boys about the day’s missions. Then came the long wait in the cold mud of Tibenham, below the radio tower of Station 124. Those hours of seeing if all his crews would return felt interminably longer than actually flying the missions.

“He had very few of what they call milk runs,” Matzen says, “which were the easy ones where you hopped over the North Sea to the Netherlands or you hopped over the Channel to the coast of France, and you bombed something easy: a submarine pen here or a gun emplacement there. His very first mission was to Kiel in the very Northern tip of Germany, near Denmark, to bomb submarine pens. It was this long mission east over the North Sea.” It was a clean one on a bright December day, despite encountering countless rounds of flak.

A few weeks later, they would not be so easygoing. On Jan. 7, 1944, Capt. Stewart was wing lead of the 445th when the 389th, the lead bombing group that day, took a wrong turn over the Rhine. The formations had successfully carried out a bombing raid of the German city of Ludwigshafen, but the 389th turned at a mistaken angle that put their return flight on a path over Nazi occupied Paris instead of Tibenham.

Despite the 389th ignoring Stewart’s radio communication, the 35-year-old officer made the even-headed choice to follow the 389th and keep formation tight (as opposed to creating chaos and isolation in the sky), which came in handy after the 389th inevitably became a target of the German Luftwaffe air force outside of Paris.

American Thunderbolts and British Spitfires ended up saving the 389th that day, which still lost several planes and even more lives, but the tight flying of the 445th led the Luftwaffe to not even tangle with Stewart’s group.

It was the mission that earned Jim the rank of major. His confidence grew, yet day by day, and mission by mission, the stress likewise increased as he saw fewer faces he trained return home. For instance, on one mission, Stewart’s aircraft suffered engine troubles while crossing the English Channel and had to return home. The plane that took their place in the formation as group leader, the Liberty Belle, was shot down in their place. Only three parachutes were spotted getting out in time.

Similarly, Jim was at the barracks in December 1943 when they celebrated the 22nd birthday of his pilot Dave Skjeje. In February, he was writing to Billie, Dave’s widow of the same age, about how her newlywed husband died.

“He was told don’t get personally involved,” Matzen says. “There is a hierarchy here and he stuck to that pretty well, but he also was the one to write the letters to families, to wives, to mothers and fathers when somebody was lost, and it really weighed on him.”

It would soon reach a tipping point.

Jim Stewart and the crew of the B-24 Liberator called Lady Shamrock. Courtesy of Robert Matzen and the Eckelberry family.

“The Roughest 10 or 15 Minutes”

Operation Argument (aka “Big Week”) was the campaign the Eighth Air Force spent the winter of 1943/44 waiting on. In the span of six days, the U.S. military would drastically ramp up its daytime precision bombing campaign and cripple the Luftwaffe ahead of what would become the D-Day invasion.

Says Matzen, “The Eighth Air Force was determined to knock out the German aircraft manufacturing capabilities, so they looked for one week where they could have clear weather to have a series of campaigns, bombing missions to hit strategic targets related to aircraft manufacturing. Those missions were extremely dangerous.”

Jim flew the first day of Big Week over the Netherlands. It was considered a major success even though three planes in the 445th went down. One of his pilots called it “the roughest 10 or 15 minutes I ever spent.” But it was about to get much worse for the 445th.

On Feb. 24, Stewart was standing below Station 124’s tower when the remnants of the day’s planes limped home, some of them still smoking and on fire. Twenty-eight planes had taken off that morning, headed for the German city of Gotha, but three needed to return due to technical troubles while over the English Channel. Of the remaining 25 bombers in the air, only 12 returned to East Anglia. More than half had been shot down.

The next day, Jim would lead the 445th again in the skies for his second Big Week mission… over Fürth, an area just northwest of Nuremberg. The mission was part of an ambitious push that would send 754 B-17s and B-24s, with an escort of 20 groups of Eighth Air Force fighters and 12 squadrons of RAF Spitfires and Mustangs, into southern Germany to attack three Messerschmitt aircraft production centers and a ball-bearing plant.

With the bomb bay doors open at 18,500 feet, the air was already 40 degrees below zero in a Bavarian February. After a .88 shell nearly blew a hole between Stewart and pilot Neil Johnson’s feet, the temperature was dropping around their oxygen masks so quickly that ice began forming inside of the plane and on their gear.

Immediately after Dixie Flyer was hit, the first of several planes in the 445th went down in the hail of flak. Stewart could see as the wings of one B-24 under his command came off and the aircraft disintegrated midair. Only one parachute made it out as the rest of the crew plummeted. Perhaps it was in this moment that Stewart noted his crew’s parachutes were already sucked out of the vacuum in Dixie Flyer when the shell hit.

“How he didn’t die that instant is amazing,” Matzen says. “He looked over to his left and another plane [Nine Yanks and a Jerk] had a shell go directly through the cockpit on one side and out the other, and he thought that the pilot and co-pilot certainly must’ve been killed, and that plane was going to go down. But they lived, they made it back too. It was crazy.”

Relief from Allied fighter planes never came, but most of the 445th somehow made it back to the English Channel that day, with Dixie Flyer and Nine Yanks and a Jerk limping home. Indeed, with its fuselage in tatters, Dixie even lost two of its engines before it saw the English coastline. While running on fumes, Johnson and Stewart had to use every muscle in their fiber to brake the collapsing plane when it finally landed at Tibenham. The pair were unaware at that moment that their plane was literally breaking apart as it touched down, with a crack ripping from the bulkhead to the cockpit.

The plane’s bombardier Jim Myers recalled, “[Stewart] was blue from the cold whistling through the holes in the plane, but he hadn’t received a scratch.” At least not physically.

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As Matzen says now, “It was very interesting. The plane cracked and Jim cracked.” No one officially ever said Maj. Stewart became “flak happy” (the Air Force nickname for PTSD at the time) after the mission over Fürth, but Matzen contends no one needed to. In the first instance since December, more than two weeks passed before his CO allowed Stewart to go back in the air.

“This was the first time that he had to miss turns in the rotation, the leadership rotation leading missions,” Matzen says. “And that’s a huge deal to him. That’s him letting himself down in his crazy dedicated mind, in his perfectionist mind. All of a sudden, he’s not up to commanding in the air because he had been flying steady, steady, steady, then all of a sudden you look after February 25th, and he didn’t fly again till March 15th, and that’s a long time for him, and then he flew again on March 25th, then he didn’t fly again at all for a while.”

The pressure of leading, and perhaps more acutely the pressure caused by seeing so many of the men he trained go down, at last got to him.

Says Matzen “He had to just do what a lot of them did, which is go off into the country, take sodium amytal, and just chill and get reprogrammed. They’d sit and they’d talk to you, and they would give you perspective and they’d calm you down. Then they sent you back online.”

Left: 2nd Lt. James Stewart before combat missions in 1942. Right: Maj. Stewart in early 1944 after first two months of combat. Courtesy of Robert Matzen, the Margaret Herrick Library, AMPAS, and the Film Stills Collection, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham University.

After the War

Jim would fly two more missions as group leader of the 445th, including a bombing run over Berlin. However, the gaps between the final two of his dozen missions in the 445th belied that he was essentially becoming grounded. Shortly after his run over Berlin, he reluctantly accepted a transfer to the 453rd in Old Buckenham. He effectively became a chief of staff there, briefing the crews of his new group, including on the bombing runs in June 1944 that paved the way for D-Day. To his regret, Stewart did not fly on any of those tactical missions.

He eventually would make it back into the air, leading a total of 20 combat missions, although by his final mission in 1945, the Luftwaffe was all but destroyed and a near collision course between bombing groups under his command convinced Stewart and his commanding officers that his time in the air was done—Stewart even vowed never to fly again (he did not keep that oath).

When he finally returned to the States in the fall of ’45, the gawkish and youthful leading Mr. Smith had vanished. Graying and gaunt—features which came from spending the end of the war so stressed he could only keep peanut butter and ice cream down for weeks at a time—Stewart was nearly unrecognizable to his proud parents when he disembarked off the Queen Elizabeth in New York. He was also unsure if he’d ever work in Hollywood again.

“He was ever thinner with skin hanging from him” says Matzen, “He lost his hair and the rest of it went gray. That’s what dragged himself back from Europe and arrived in Hollywood. He thought he was only fit for character parts now.”

Like the first time he arrived in Hollywood, the only person waiting for him at the Pasadena train station in 1945 was his old acting buddy Henry Fonda. While Hank had maintained his movie star status during the early part of America’s WWII years, he ended up following Jim into military service by joining the Navy. But he also had taken a shorter break from the silver screen. When Stewart arrived back, the only place he had to move was Hank’s “play house,” a small home he built in his mansion’s backyard for his children Peter and Jane Fonda. But Hank assured Jim, it had a fully functional kitchen and bar. Priorities were covered.

“They just decompressed together,” Matzen says, “and I think Hank saw what the toll had been on Jim and just helped him. Neither of them was a big talker. So they came back together and they started building model airplanes, which is what they had done before the war. They flew model airplanes, they flew kites, Fonda had access to these war surplus military grade kites that they would take out and fly together and do their thing: not talk much, listen to records, make airplanes, and re-assimilate in the peacetime world.”

Hank also helped Jim get a new agent to adjust to the postwar Hollywood where actors could truly be free agents. Which came in handy since MGM terminated Jim’s contract after he refused Mayer’s idea of capitalizing off Jim’s wartime service with an adventure movie about him as an ace pilot called The James Stewart Story. According to Stewart, after he flatly refused to do the movie, LB called him a son of a bitch and said “you’ll never work in this town again.”

Best friends Jim Stewart and Hank Fonda in their ladies men era in 1930s Hollywood. Courtesy of Robert Matzen and the Jay Rubin Collection.

It’s a Wonderful Life

Of course Stewart did work again, making his comeback in the film he is still probably best remembered for: Frank Capra’s seminal holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Like Stewart, Capra had enthusiastically joined the military and war effort back at the beginning, running the Army’s Motion Picture Film Unit. The phone didn’t ring for either man after they came home. And while It’s a Wonderful Life received an initially muted box office reception (it only became a classic after it started airing on television), it gave Stewart the confidence to rebuild himself as a leading man who carried long shadows.

“It’s a Wonderful Life has become synonymous with the holidays and with spiritual rebirth and perseverance, all those things that really embodied Jim were infused into this picture and captured for all time,” says Matzen. Nonetheless, even as Stewart was able to recapture the youthful energy that made him a star in the movie’s early scenes (wearing a hair piece as he plays twentysomething George Bailey), there was something harder there as the character aged throughout the picture.

Says Matzen, “When he comes back and he’s so much older, he has a dark streak from the war. He has rages, he can’t sleep, he’s got shakes, and he learned to channel it early on in a couple of places in It’s Wonderful Life when he flies off the handle [on the school teacher over the phone] and when he destroys the model he’s got in the living room, and he throws things and he terrorizes his family. I was never comfortable with that scene long before I wanted to write a book about Jim and the war. I was very uncomfortable with just whatever this menace was inside of him.”

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It would become a hallmark of some of Stewart’s most popular postwar roles. Director Alfred Hitchocck particularly enjoyed taking Capra’s all-American everyman and casting him against type, leaning into the menace. It’s there, faintly, when he becomes an obsessive voyeur in Rear Window (1954), or a snobby misanthrope in Rope (1948), and it’s all-consuming when Stewart channels Hitch’s own obsessions about molding blonde women into his fantasy idealizations in Vertigo (1958).

“Strategically, he was brilliant in recrafting his career,” says Matzen. “The same brain that had taken all those steps to get him to Europe, he ultimately applied that brain and took steps to get his career back in order and relaunch himself.”

Capt. Stewart newly arrived at East Anglia’s Tibenham in 1943. Courtesy of Robert Matzen.

Haunted by the “Happiest Times”

Until the end of his days, James Stewart refused to speak candidly about the war. Once in a while, however, he would hint at the importance of those memories. He even volunteered, “I was, in many ways, far happier in the service than I was at any time in my life. Closeness and camaraderie with all those wonderful guys. Feeling I was part of a whole, part of a divine scheme, with an obligation to do my best. It wasn’t playacting then. I was living it.”

Perhaps this is why he revisited Tibenham twice in his old age, making the long muddy journey from London to East Anglia, allowing his companions a few photos as he walked with his ghosts along the same ramparts of Station 124 where he used to wait for his men to return. What he thought during these reunions, however, remains a mystery. He kept his own counsel about those days. He even kept that part of himself closed off from the men he remembered so fondly.

“He did not keep in touch with [men he commanded],” Matzen says, “but he would be polite if they tried to get in touch with him. He did not seem to be a sentimental soul. He was too closed off for that…. They wanted him to come to their weddings or their kids’ weddings. ‘Oh wouldn’t it be great if Stewart would come?’ But nope.”

Like so much else, Stewart kept the happiest times of his life locked away with the scars they left.

Says Matzen, “His wife talked about the nightmares. His daughter talked to me about the nightmares and about how she would find her dad sitting alone in his study just staring. So yes, it was the time he felt was the most rewarding in his life because he did get to serve his country and he called them this family, this group of people dedicated to a cause all pursuing this common goal. And that really made him feel good, being part of this brotherhood. But he remained an introvert and a closed off person throughout his life… I think his wife understood him and Hank understood him, and boy, I don’t know beyond that. That’s a small group.”

Nevertheless, during the war this introvert was a part of a larger bombing group whole; it carried him through his darkest days in the air—and those that came long after.

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The post Jimmy Stewart and the WW2 Mission That Almost Broke Him appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[chickadee-sun]

IRA Propaganda tactics that worked on me

(Note that many posts used multiple tactics, so I'll link to them multiple times.)

Stealing real content from real activists on social media

Most often this is done by screenshotting tweets, Facebook posts, etc. Or at least, those are the easiest for me to notice. Some of these posts don't directly further the IRA's objectives. They just make the pysop blogger look more like a real person and increase their popularity and influence. Other times they add snide little comments to help alienate and demoralize their readers. Stuff along the lines of "nobody is talking about this," or "nobody cares about this," designed to make people despair and give up on improving their country.

Now, screenshotting instead of linking should be a red flag. A link would make it easier to interact with the actual activist, not the person screenshotting their words. But tumblr's coding suppresses offsite links, making screenshotting seem like a completely normal and reasonable way to reference other platforms. The snide comments often fly under the radar because that attitude is sadly common among genuine users as well.

Of course I already knew that grabbing people's tweets and posts is a lazy and effective way to "write" a clickbait article without effort or creating content. Apparently it's also a lazy and effective way to supress the progressive vote and increase division.

I am pleased to note that I grew more fed up with the nihilist comments and less likely to reblog them over time. In another recent post (which as far as I know doesn't come from the IRA) I pushed back slightly against "why isn't this in the news?" So I think I've been on the right track even before this new information. https://chickadee-sun.tumblr.com/post/171839411085/thatpettyblackgirl-urgent-if-you-are-in

This appears to be what I interacted with the most. Here are some posts I reblogged that used this tactic: post/146412193105/musingsofaraven-valerie-volatile post/146757386220/verolynne-open-plan-infinity-swagintherain post/147206820005/chrisevansisbeautiful-areyoucoldflash post/152473414650/bellygangstaboo-this-is-happening-in-america post/153133340745/godzillakiryu91-reverseracism post/153147035545/thetrippytrip-i-wish-the-world-would post/153231802135/ghettablasta-this-is-a-great-story-of post/153483724025/dorowot-gogomrbrown-thread-my-moms post/153538772200/bellaxiao-2-years-ago-today-on-november-22 post/153734325290/an-gremlin-the-real-eye-to-see-and-media-is post/153736403455/mousathe14-raptorific-fromchaostocosmos post/154092886970/17mul-nevaehtyler-so-um-let-me-get-it post/154330979730/thetrippytrip-feminine-black-men-the post/154474122260/lagonegirl-because-we-can-recognize-more-than post/154807853475/ghettablasta-thats-so-annoying-that-no-one post/155697023025/nevaehtyler-this-is-important post/155719509740/fenrisesque-shepherdmoon-foxnewsfuckfest post/156425339773/snailchimera-ephitania-dukeofellington post/157571042371/gogomrbrown-exactly-what-the-whole-terrorism post/157590672069/go1ds-heartless-tony-blog-lagonegirl post/157983742239/roachpatrol-blackness-by-your-side-my-utopia post/160621066778/lagonegirl-white-people-using-their-privilege post/163641274771/blackness-by-your-side-people-need-knowledge-not post/164382771945/lazyscience-nevaehtyler-whats-next-take-away post/168358486495/aokayinspace-witwicky-down-to-venus-when

What I plan to do better: I'm just not going to engage with this sort of stolen content. If someone wants to screenshot *their own* twitter thread, that's fine, but if you just copy and paste someone else's content I'm not interested. Screenshots are inaccessible for people who use screenreaders anyway. This isn't foolproof, as nothing stops a propaganda blog from copypasting and pretending text is their own content, but it's a start. I also plan to push back harder against the "no one is talking about this" "nobody cares" narrative. Even when it's not from psyops on purpose it's still really harmful and counterproductive to activism. (Not foolproof; see "positivity and celebrating accomplishments" below.)

Fake news is not a euphemism for propaganda

A while ago there was a meme going around angry about how often the media allows the right wing to define terms and eumphemises the shit they pull. OK, but it claimed that "white nationalism" was a euphemism for "white supremacy," which is isn't. White nationalism is a specific type of white supremacy and the specificity matters. Likewise it claimed that "fake news" was a euphemism for propaganda. Nope. Fake news is stuff that's made up and factually untrue. Propaganda isn't defined as being untrue; it's defined by being heavily slanted and trying to prompt people into a particular course of action. Advertisements are propaganda even if they never say anything factually untrue about the product.

It's not that I'm completely gullible or without skepticism. But my skepticism and fact-checking were badly, badly miscalibrated to protect me from psyops. I was only looking for false statements from people who were misinformed or lying. I was checking to see if a reliable source backed up their basic fact claims. So when a post appeared to pass this test, I let down my guard. I was completely oblivious to the possibility of people deliberately using a pattern of basically true information presented in a misleading or inflammatory way to sway the public. And like many social media users, I had a tendency to merely skim the referenced article and not pay close attention to how closely it backed up the specific claims in the post.

Here are some posts I reblogged that used this tactic (reliability isn't binary; some are more reliable than others): links to Mother Jones links to Democracy Now and Al Jazeera links to CBS links to the Huffington Post, though the linked article appears to be about Standing Rock in general and doesn't mention Maori activists screenshots Boing Boing, links to The Guardian screenshots CNN, The New York Times, and Amnesty USA links to The Daily Beast gifset of Trevor Noah on The Daily Show screenshots The New York Times, gifset from Fusion TV screenshots Democracy Now and a scanned-in print article screenshots Al Jazeera OK, this one I'm very ashamed of reblogging, since it actually does fall into the fake news category. It embeds a video from the Youtube account 1 Soul Global, which describes itself as "an acronym for “One Source Of Universal Love.” We are a Spiritual Nexus for Global Transformation." I don't like watching videos in posts, but if I'd watched this one I would've figured out it's bullshit. It links to a, I don't know, blog? I've never heard of called Women In the World but it does some trick with the url so that when you hover over it it appears to include "nytimes.com". Oh my god, did I just hover over the link without checking it??? I guess I was too impressed the post having slightly more caution than I'm used to seeing in pseudoscientific woo??? Most of these I can see how I fell for them but this one I don't have a fucking clue. Am I really this stupid? screenshots The Atlantic Screenshots The Daily Mail--not that The Daily Mail is a reliable source for anything other that "what The Daily Mail is claiming," but that's what the post is about so good enough. Or was it? I took this post as "The Daily Fail is a trash rag, let's make fun of it," but the troll blog never really said that they were singling out one evil tabloid for ridicule. Were other people in the thread interpreting this as "news media in general is untrustworthy and unreliable"? That's actually a pretty subtle double meaning for a foreigner to pull off. I'm kind of impressed. gifset of Laverne Cox on CBS, links to Media Matters (Oh my god, Media Matters was created specifically to be a watchdog checking on media misinformation. And it was linked to by the IRA. Nothing is real anymore.) screenshots Quartz, links to The Guardian and MIT's Technology Review, as well as to some local sources I don't know the reliability of screenshots Mother Jones, links to the National Organization of Women

What I plan to do better: if someone claims an article backs up their claims, I will make sure to read the entire thing to confirm that it actually does, and does not just make sort-of related statements. If I don't have time or energy to do this, I won't reblog the post. But for the larger issue? True things arranged in misleading or manipulative patterns? I'm not sure what to do about that, though I suppose just being aware of the tactic might help a little. Suggestions?

Value added later in the reblog chain by non-IRA users

Because of how tumblr works, when I interact with a thread I'm not just interacting with the OP, but with everyone who has added to the reblog chain. Sometimes those are what attracted me to the post, rather than the psyop's post. This is one reason getting popular was so important to them! It allowed their posts to become part of the natural ecosystem of tumblr. I'm not sure how much this counts as a "tactic" because it's mostly passive, but it's significant.

This category overlaps a lot with "fake news is not a euphemism for propaganda" because often what the reblog chain added was sources with more information.

Here are some posts I reblogged that used this tactic:

Added a link to a Mother Jones article better explaining the issue.

Added more information and links to news sources.

Added news stories and a more positive slant. Note the IRA posters pushed their nihilist view of "why aren't we talking about this" while other users shifted the conversation a little to how the guy deserves a financial reward and how 70 lives were saved.

Added a link to a Guardian article referenced by the screenshotted boingboing article and a list of cities from said article.

Added a lot of cool true information about the history of the comics industry. Added something readers can do, a gofundme page. This would seem to run counter to the attitude of helplessness the IRA was trying to encourage. And yes, the gofundme did meet its goal. Added several paragraphs of details from the screenshotted article, including Theresa Kachindamoto's name which allowed me to easily look up the article. Added more information about Evan McMullin. Added more information about Asia Ramazan Antar, and shifted the focus a little (not fully) from how trash the Daily Fail is to how awesome Antar was. Added a lot of debunking of the psyop's anti-science attitude and a lot of information about how science works and how important it is. This one I'm proud of reblogging. Added a lot more information about Cameroon and sources. Added more information about voter suppression and link to the National Organization of Women. Added more information about comic history.

What I plan to do better: I'm... not sure I did wrong here. If I refused to reblog anything without thoroughly vetting the OP, that would be pretty bad purity shit. Some people are feeling vindicated because the threads they reblogged contain pushback against the IRA's narratives, or because they themselves added the pushback. Not so for me; only one example pushed back with any force. But several of the chains did shift the tone or focus of the conversation a little. I guess be less timid about pushing back when someone's tone or emphasis is off? Suggestions?

Positivity and celebrating accomplishments

Remember how I said above that rejecting a nihilist hopeless slant wasn't foolproof? I got exhausted with that attitude, though I didn't connect it to deliberate psyops, and instead tried to signal boost stuff that was positive and/or included a way to help. And yet.

I think some of these were just the innocuous posts used to gain popularity and influence. You can see a some "nobody is talking about this" narrative in a few of them, but not the majority.

Here are some posts I reblogged that used this tactic:

post/147206820005/chrisevansisbeautiful-areyoucoldflash post/152657046470/gogomrbrown-maori-activists-in-new-zealand post/153133340745/godzillakiryu91-reverseracism post/153231802135/ghettablasta-this-is-a-great-story-of post/154007254270/broadlybrazen-badscienceshenanigans post/154330979730/thetrippytrip-feminine-black-men-the post/154474122260/lagonegirl-because-we-can-recognize-more-than post/154505677960/himteckerjam-bitterbitchclubpresident post/154807853475/ghettablasta-thats-so-annoying-that-no-one post/155547170460/jkl-fff-lagonegirl-green-who-lost-her post/160621066778/lagonegirl-white-people-using-their-privilege

What I plan to do better: I don't know? I think boosting positivity is a good habit, even if it's exploitable? Shut down the "no one is talking about this" narrative I guess. Suggestions?

Jokes and memes

There's a reason so many "ironic" bigots hide behind, "calm down, it's just a joke!" People often let their guard down when something has a humorous lighthearted tone. This also serves to disguise English as a second language skills, as people often use deliberately bad grammar to emphasize a joke. 

Here are some posts I reblogged that used this tactic. Gonna explain some of these in more depth:

Non-IRA people are joking about the news media's habit of allowing the right to define terms and bending over backwards to be sympathetic to bigots while scrutinizing progressives. I didn't really notice that the-real-eye-to-see went beyond that and said "And Media is Nazi too". Journalism is an important foundation of a democratic society and there's a difference between critisizing it and dismissing it. Trevor Noah's humor is being used to promote blackness-by-your-side's insinuation about deaf ears. Stealing some viral humor that snarks about bigotry. I think this was one of the posts that's just to grow the troll's popularity, as I can't find anything harmful in it. Combines positivity with sarcastic humor, a twofer. The target of the sarcasm is how rare white people using their privilege to educate is. Not really false, but kind of a demoralizing thing to emphasize in a post that could and should have been just about congratulating the white student. People dragging ICE for being evil. The psyop didn't actually add anything bad, so I guess this was more about looking natural and getting popular.

What I plan to do better: Remember that hiding toxic messages in humor isn't exclusive to the libertarian right. Allow myself to be that humorless killjoy who scrutinizes jokes for harmful implications. Be less afraid to nitpick a joke I broadly agree with. It's less that I lacked this skill and more that using it tends to be socially unacceptable. That's part of what makes these "jokes" such an effective manipulation tool.

Conclusions: wow, these people are really really good at this. I've gotten used to right-wing infiltrators who suck at pretending to be progressive, but those are amateurs. These are professionals. I've seen some bad takes going around. "Oh, of course tumblr users fell for this shit, they're horrible people with purity culture who never factcheck." But no. Some of my vulnerability in fact came specifically from not being a negative stereotype of a tumblr user. I didn't worry about purity enough to vet the OP if other people added information. I did factcheck, to the point that it distracted me from other problems with a post. I didn't micro-analyze joke posts looking for imperfections in them. I made an effort to boost positive stories about good people accomplishing things.

You guys, if I were the stereotypical toxic tumblr essjew, I wouldn't have interacted with a lot of these posts, or my interaction would've been attacking them. People who think they're immune to cons and manipulation are the most vulnerable. Maybe don't just groan in disgust at "tumblr culture" while patting yourself on the back for being better?

Anyway, the psyops didn’t try to create entirely new ideas or change people’s opinions 180 degrees. They played on pre-existing weaknesses among progressives such as infighting, defeatism, disillusion with institutions, and so on. Being careful about those lines of attack is good whether the attacker is an agent of a foreign government, an agent of your own government, or a genuine activist who’s being counterproductive. So when I talk about what I plan to do better, I’m not just talking about the Internet Research Agency.

[dragonicusknight]

[My opinion on a possible headcannon for Quintessa, just a thought I just thought of]

So, we know that Quintessa is the “Great Deceiver” yet this reminds me of a character in the IDW series known as Leige Maximo.

 He came into the story when the Knights of Cybertron left Cybertron to go live their own lives in peace-- he was one of the 13 who ruled cyberton. As he recruited followers, Maximo realized that it was easier to say helpful lies than harmful truths. (It is easier to lie to make someone feel better you know?) So this lying became out of control and he sought to gain power himself (sound familiar?) 

Nexus Prime blamed Maximo and Megatronus for beginning the Civil War. Yes Maximo aligned himself with Megatronus. a LOT of betrayal against Maximo went on blahblahblah. So the rest of the 12 Primes were going to be his Jailers and keep watch on him and swore to never lie again. 

A Titan that followed Maximo was put into exile and the Primes entombed Maximo in that titan (til someone broke him out of course) and exiled them to space. 

The Cybertronians of Caminus called Maximo “The Great Betrayer” . So when he was broken out of his prison on accident, he swore that he would destroy Cybertron as his revenge. 

----- 

So pretty much in short over the span of the comics that is Leige Maximo’s story and it sort of fits in or ties in in certain ways to The Last Knight’s Quintessa. I mean i can see some resemblence with her being called the “Great Deceiver” which is pretty much lying in either statements or appearance, which Maximo did but with statements. And she cannot be the Prime of Life, i mean she could be but Solus Prime is the creator and maker and Quintus Prime is p much a great scientist (dont wanna go into detail). 

We know Quintessa is the name of the Quintesson’s planet. So somehow, all of these: Planet Quintessa, Leige Maximo, Quintus Prime, and Solus Prime are mashed up in some way to make Quintessa. 

Thanks for reading my shitstorm but this could be some sort of possibility though we still do not know who she really is like her origins and who she physically is.

[lobselvith8]

Dragon Age Questions

Based on the post by @raesand.

01) Favorite game of the series?

Dragon Age: Origins. I had a lot of issues with Dragon Age II and especially Inquisition.

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?

I heard you had player choice in Origins so I thought it would be entertaining. I honestly didn't know too much about it and I was pleasantly entertained.

03) How many times you’ve played the games?

I have played Origins the most. Before the recton, the Magi Boon made me pretty happy as it was the option my Surana Warden had chosen to emancipate his people from servitude to the Chantry of Andraste and the Order of Templars. The Magi Boon recton and the rather questionable creative choices for the elves subsequently soured the game for me.

Runner up would be Dragon Age II, although that's because I did a canon run; I wasn't too pleased with how the game was incomplete and how passive Hawke was throughout the narrative, such as doing nothing about Meredith's dictatorship for three years. Hawke being religiously Andrastian no matter what (Gaider forgot that he included an option for the player to be an atheist in the Human Noble Origin in Origins, and similar options were available for the elven protagonist and the Warden-Commander in the Awakening expansion) and the poor paraphrasing with the dialogue options also made me feel disconnected from the character.

The Last Court was pretty fun. The Elegant Abbess brought Carver to my Marquis of Serault. The Cult of Masked Andraste reminds me of the mythos of Silent Hill. The Horned Knight was very interesting (the presence of the dryads and fauns present at the Heartwood Feast was a neat addition to the lore). The Dashing Outlaw was fun (she gets a full pardon).

I pretty much gave up on Inquisition after an initial run; I tried doing a canon run but the anti-Dalish sentiment I kept running into made the game extremely unpleasant to play through as an elven protagonist. Generally, I was extremely unhappy with the railroading (like being forced to side with the Chantry, despite Gaider and Laidlaw claiming before release that this wouldn't be the case) and the poor treatment of the Dalish elves.

04) Favorite race to play as?

Elves.

05) Favorite class?

Mages.

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

In Origins I entertained different choices with Zathrian's clan and the choices in Orzammar before coming to a canon decision.

07) Go-to adventuring group?

I prefer mixing it up.

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

My Surana Warden. Unlike some fans I do not imagine him wearing the Grey Warden armor introduced in Dragon Age II - he wears the Reaper's Vestments. "Reaper was an apostate mage who evaded the templars for many years before being captured. Part villain, part folk hero, it is said he led a charmed life avoiding dangers that would have killed lesser men."

His mother was one of the Night Elves during the civil war against Orlais. He was born in the Denerim Alienage, was forcibly taken from his mother by the templars at a young age, grew up to resent the Chantry controlled Circles (he was ideologically a Libertarian as he wanted the Circles of Magi to be autonomous), and he was a brilliant student of Irving's.

During the Fifth Blight, he was pragmatic, choosing to help Branka (since the Anvil historically provided a century of stability against the darkspawn), supported Taoran Hawkwind, aided the Antivan Crows, recruited Loghain to bring an end to the civil war and fold the tale of the Hero of River Dane into the story of Grey Wardens (to counter the anti-Warden sentiment that was established because of the tyrant Arland Theirin), killed the Messenger and opposed the Architect (there was a rather lengthy discussion at the now defunct BSN forums that brought up the prospect of sapient darkspawn wanting women to turn into Broodmothers in order to create new darkspawn that greatly shaped my decision).

His mother escaped captivity from the Tevinter slavers who had enslaved the Denerim elves during the Fifth Blight. Her freedom was due to the intervention of the Dalish in the Free Marches, including Clan Lavellan, attacking and killing the slavers, as the clans liberated many elves from the human slavers. His mother ended up joining Lanaya's clan when she discovered one of the pregnant elves was carrying her granddaughter.

My Surana Warden leaves the Warens to spend his remaining days with Morrigan and Keiran (who has black hair like both of his parents and looks Latino Antivan with an olive skin tone). Presumably his knowledge of blood magic should stave off the Calling if he was not able to find a way to rid his body of the taint (I lean towards the idea that he found a way).

09) Favorite romance?

DAO: My Surana Warden with Morrigan.

DA2: Merrill. Even if she was too good for Hawke.

The Last Court: The Elegant Abbess. My Marquis of Serault also discovered her role with the Cult of Masked Andraste.

DAI: No one. Although I like to imagine Revas meets Merrill post-game (I like to think Varric gifted my protagonist with the Hawke estate as part of the Comte boon).

10) Have you read any of the comics/books?

Yes.

11) If you read them, which was your favorite book?

None.

12) Favorite DLCs?

Awakening. Although my Surana Warden leaving with Morrigan in Witch Hunt makes it a close second for that alone.

13) Things that annoy you.

Inquisition's tendency to refuse to allow the player to have positive Dalish content without some anti-Dalish dialogue coming at your protagonist from advisers, companions, and even minor characters. It was getting incredibly annoying to deal with the incessant anti-elven rhetoric in a game that never held the Chantry of Andraste to account for the monstrous actions it committed for centuries, like criminalizing the elven faith or purging those of other faiths, or even being able to criticize Andrastians like Celene, who committed literal genocide in Halamshiral.

Also, why is the gameplay content in the occupied nation of the Dales, a predominantly elven region, focused on humans? And what is with the weird habit of the developers making characters of color into white characters?

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

Never Orlais, although I'd prefer the autonomous Dales freed from the Orlesian occupation.

15) Templars or mages?

Mages.

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

I don't have multiple characters in Dragon Age. Each game has a respective protagonist since certain choices have no appeal to me (like supporting the templars or tradition in Orzammar).

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc.)

DAO: Dumat. My Surana Warden had a sense of humor.

DA2: Andoral. It had to do with the Archdemon who was slain during the Fourth Blight and the Hawke family connection to the Free Marches where the Archdemon was slain.

DAI: Sadly, there was no mabari. Maybe Andoral had puppies who stayed with Merrill.

18) Have you installed any mods?

I am on console, so unfortunately no.

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

My Warden wanted freedom from the Chantry at any cost.

20) Hawke’s personality?

That was determined mostly by Bioware, like being religiously Andrastian. Leaned mostly diplomatic after Act I.

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition?

No.

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

I'm sure Revas would stop Solas much sooner if that was an option.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

The 'three mage' recton has no place in my canon. While Inquisition prohibits the elven protagonist from doing anything to substantially help their people (which bothers me given the nature of the Inquisition), I prefer to imagine that Revas used the considerable fortune of the Inquisition to purchase land in the Free Marches for the clans of the Dalish to reside, and that the clans who worked with Revas would settle near Kirkwall. Revas uses the knowledge of the Well that he possesses to assist the Elvhen.

Revas would establish contact with the dwarves through the thaig in Sundermount for the lyrium trade, using the Nexus Golem there to incentivize them.

The Bone Pit (there are no monsters there anymore), which now belongs to Revas (along with the extensive Hawke estate), would be used to employ the Kirkwall Alienage elves. The Estate is where the plans against Solas take place.

Merrill and Revas get together (I imagine they met before during a previous Arlathvhen that took place). They get married. They have children. Revas does not have to sacrifice his beliefs or his culture for an Andrastian significant other.

The prospect of Merrill using her Eluvian knowledge to gain access to some of the Eluvian network, and establish a sanctuary for the Dalish away from the harmful Andrastian Chantry in Thedas, is also a very appealing one. So much about how this franchise presses the reset button on any elven progress annoys the hell out of me so keeping the Dalish on a continent full of bigots and genocidal leaders isn't really my ideal option.

24) Are any of your character(s) based on someone?

No.

25) Who did you leave in the Fade?

Hawke. Given his role in setting Corypheus free it was fitting that he gave his life to stop Nightmare.

Warden Loghain should have stayed to lead the Orlesian Wardens (which he would have hated) during this crisis with the Rift; it was a missed opportunity (then again, so many decisions in that game baffle me - like reducing a continental war to a small regional conflict and having the Wardens led around by the nose by a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain).

26) Favorite mount?

I wanted Revas to have a halla mount.

[askwwwwd]

WHAT WOULD WONDER WOMAN DO?...about the Westboro Baptist Church (Originally posted Feb. 11, 2016)

The vitriol with which they spew their venomous zealotry has made them a national household name, and rightfully so. That’s right, the Westboro Baptist Church is at it again. They claimed to be going to San Francisco last weekend, for the 50th annual SuperBowl, and pledged to picket last Saturday morning’s book signing of Square Zair Pair, A new children’s book by Journalist of The Year award winner Jase Peeples. The writer received multiple threats of picket. However, one can’t help but wonder...Why a children’s book? Well, I think it is pretty clear that the ‘Church,’ which has been deemed a hate group by both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, has proven that they are not above much in this world. Founder Fred Phelps was first brought national attention in 1998 during his picket of the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming man who was killed for being gay. The church’s fire and brimstone antics have continued even after Fred Phelps’ excommunication and subsequent death. Matter of fact, their picketing of funerals and LGBTQ events has become happenstance in America. Sadly, they vowed to turn their attention to children last weekend. Mostly because Peeples’ Zair Square Pair delivers a message about the importance of acceptance and diversity, and that is a message, in the words of the WBC, that “God Hates.” I personally come from a strict Pentecostal Christian upbringing. So, the group has both fascinated and confounded me for a very long time. As with everything in life that confounds me, I continue to pose the same question. Today I ask, in the case of the Westboro Baptist Church: What Would Wonder Woman Do?

Both are creatures of myth and story (yes, I said it). Both are products of divine birth. Both were gifted with divine powers. Both charged by the almighty(s) to show the world a better way. If you’re wondering who I’m talking about it’s Jesus of Nazareth (Jesus Christ) and Diana of Themyscira (aka Wonder Woman). Many aren’t aware of the clear and direct Messiah-like parallels of her story, but I’m here to tell you that they are there. Or at least they were there for the character’s first 70 or so years prior to DC Comics’ ‘New 52’ revamp...

Dr. William Moulton Marston III’s depiction of Wonder Woman’s divine birth, but that’s fodder for another article. Today I’m going to concentrate on the character’s first 70 years with an emphasis on Dr. Marston’s original creation. Because ultimately, that’s the source material and what I believe for what Wonder Woman was intended. In my humble opinion, the ideals of Jesus Christ and Wonder Woman are complimentary and very near to be equally parallel. Since the WBC has claimed to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, I figured I would take their most popular three word slogan “GOD HATES FAGS” and utilize it as a template, to compare: a) their Lord and savior’s message, b) Wonder Woman’s message and c) how the church falls in line with said doctrine. All in an effort to lead me to an answer of ‘what Wonder Woman would do’. Okay,...here we go!

FIRST WORD: ‘GOD’ – Who is this God in the bible that the Westboro Church follows? The Christian faith says that God is three in one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So, when referring to Jesus Christ we are also referring to God. Well, the bible also gave a very clear and direct definition of who God is. In 1 John 4:8 says that “...God is Love.” (Siri, create a Reminder for me to thank John for being so thoughtful and breaking it down for us). Ok, so how does the bible actually define love? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says that, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” By these definitions, God is love and love is exhibiting goodness and kindness...Seems pretty simple to me, right? Dr. Marston also seemed to have similar views.

In the previous photo, Marston’s Wonder Woman proved to the personifications of Love and Wisdom (Aphrodite & Athena), that she was worthy to have people obey her, due to her mastery of love and wisdom. Essentially, in one panel, Marston made a clear statement that Diana being of service to love and wisdom was the prerequisite for her to lead. His character was literally governed by the two ideals, and was commanded to lead with love and wisdom. Seeing this panel really blew my mind on so many levels. Those who I personally consider to be some of the greatest and most memorable writers of Wonder Woman (Perez, Jimenez, Rucka, Simone, Badower, etc.) continued to expand upon Marston’s idea of Wonder Woman being a creature governed by love and wisdom. It’s very clear, to me and in my opinion, that both God and Wonder Woman have love as their foundation. I have yet to see a display of that kind of love (patience, kindness, etc.) from the Westboro Baptist Church. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure if they are aware, but the Westboro Baptist Church has exhibited the equal and exact opposite of every single description Corinthians gave of what love is supposed to be. Especially with the word ‘hate’ being at the nexus of their most popular slogan. Which brings me to the next word in today’s template for examination...

SECOND WORD: ‘HATES’ – I can’t blame the Westboro Baptist Church for concentrating on this particular word. Hate is actually mentioned often in the bible, and they do a very great job of listing many of the mentions of hate in the good book. There is a definite through line of ideas about hate weaved through the holy text. Though ultimately, if you ‘hate’ and claim to be a follower of Christ then you, “...shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 50: 20-21. This passage is conveniently left out of the Westboro Baptist Church’s list of hate mentions. God (Jesus) also told us himself (directly) that one of the greatest commandments was to love our neighbor as ourselves, and John 3:14- 15 says that, “...Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart.” And aren’t we all brothers and sisters in the Lord? So, if I’m correct, God pretty much sees hate as a sin, because “Vengance is MINE sayeth the Lord.” Romans 12:19.

It seems to me that Wonder Woman continues to reflect similar principles of loving everyone regardless. Marston exemplified his intention with Wonder Woman when he has her saying things like, “...keep your hands extended to all in friendliness but never holding the gun of persecution and intolerance.” I personally don’t see any kind of ambivalence there. It’s very cut and dry; always be friendly and don’t persecute or be intolerant. Three words sum it up for me: Don’t hate people. That’s were Wonder Woman seemed to stand in my eyes. It’s a stance that once again parallels what I’ve garnered to be the bible’s. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the interpretation of the Westboro Baptist Church with their “God Hates Everyone” slogans. Moving on...

FAGS – This is not a word I would use in mixed company. I believe it to be common knowledge that usage of the word ‘fag’ is clearly one meant to be derogatory towards homosexuals. Since today I’m comparing Jesus Christ and Wonder Woman (a comparison I know for which I’m probably going to catch a little heat), I’ll defer to what each of them has said in their books. Because I feel it is always better to get information ‘straight from the horse’s mouth’. Otherwise, you run the risk of playing the telephone game. First, let’s look at Diana. She was always an advocate for all people. In the previous panel she talked about learning love and respect for human rights. Since Marston did spend some time as a Hollywood writer of sorts, and he was consistently liberal with his views (especially on relationships...*cough-cough*), I can only speculate that he was in support of LGBTQ rights. Some of the greats expanded upon this idea as well. Perez introduced a gay couple with whom Diana spent time, Jimenez reinforced this, and Rucka eluded to a possible gay relationship. But it was Jason Badower who had Diana come right out and say the obvious. In Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman issue #48, she says to Superman, “Clark, my country is all women. To us, it’s not ‘gay’ marriage...Its just marriage.” Jesus Christ was also very good at articulating his stance on gays. He said....oh wait. That’s right. He didn’t say anything at all. Well, I guess that’s that.

I can’t help but notice that the WBC continually puts special emphasis on the word ‘fag’ and systematically adds it to the majority of their phrases describing sinners. Again, just to clarify, they do not attribute this singularly as a derogatory adjective describing gays, but to most things describing sin... curious. My guess is that if I had the magic lasso and wrapped it around Shirley Phelps, she would reveal that my longtime theory is true. My theory is that Fred Phelps was actually a closet homosexual, who in the last year of his life started coming to terms with how harmful it is to hang on to hate. Then when he decided a love based approached was more appropriate, and revealed this new discovery and updated philosophy to Shirley Phelps she excommunicated him from the church in August of 2013. I can just see the knee jerk reaction someone would have when being on the receiving end of that information. I can only imagine how painful it would be to have the foundation of your entire value system be pulled out from beneath you in one fail swoop. Denial via excommunication would be a totally logical and instinctual action in these circumstances. Yes, this is probably the most obvious answer, because it has been proven time and time again, that those who dig in their heels the deepest, and are the strongest advocates against homosexuality; it is those are who are usually struggling with it the most. So, yeah I think that the Westboro Baptist Church is based on the beliefs of a closet homosexual. Why else would “the lady doeth protest too much?” But again, it is just a theory and I could be way off here. Regardless, it’s plain to see that once again, the ideals of Jesus Christ and Wonder Woman appear to line up almost perfectly. While the Westboro Baptist Church’s do not.

So what I’ve learned here today is that in my eyes, the Westboro Baptist Church doesn’t seem to line up with the principles of Jesus Christ. Yet, they are principles Wonder Woman seems to continually parallel. I find that it is unfortunate that a pagan seems to embrace and uphold the principles of Jesus Christ better than a group that claims to serve him. We have seen the group behave unapologetically offensive, express hate, and insight anger and discord in people. So, what would Wonder Woman do? In the previous, we saw that Wonder Woman is of service to love and wisdom via her greatest weapon: truth. I realize that we don’t all serve the same God, but something tells me that isn’t the case in this situation and that there is a clear and identifiable inauthenticity going on here. I think that Wonder Woman, although always prepared for battle and having the power to do what is necessary, would see through the veil of inauthenticity and would first extend her hand in friendliness. Gail Simone had a fantastic quote coming straight from Wonder Woman’s mouth that exemplified this: “Don’t kill if you can wound, Don’t wound if you can subdue, Don’t subdue if you can pacify, and don’t raise your hand at all until you’ve first extended it.” I think that Wonder Woman would always look for truth in the situation. That she would inspire conversation and debate, very much the way that Rucka depicted her in her Reflections book tour. I think that Wonder Woman would see through this hate, and would use Aikido like principles via her greatest weapon of truth to redirect this hate into love. But do not ever take Diana’s mastery of love and wisdom to be a sign of weakness. Love is never weakness, it is strength and power personified that always wins over hate and war. The Westboro Baptist church proved that when they didn’t show last Saturday to Jase Peeples’ book signing, as reported by theHuffington Post. Jase had organized an anti-Hate rally to combat the ‘church’s message of hate with one of love and acceptance. Peeples wrote on his invitation that he wanted to combat their message of hate with one of acceptance and love, and was prepared to engage in actual open conversation. The church of hate knew what was in store for them. They knew this was a loosing battle because like each and every time #LoveWins!

You can check out and purchase Peeples’ book on Amazon and a big thanks to the Westboro Baptist Church for giving the publicity to the book and helping to spread the message of diversity, acceptance, and love.

[archivistofnerddom]

Whoever thought that Tech and Crosshair would be adequate supervision for Omega when she goes for a hike is clearly mistaken. She always finds a new “friend” for the ship. Results of those efforts vary wildly.

Hunter probably colors his hair so no one can see how much grey hair his family gives him.

Omega finding random cute animals