#people can interpret him and their barbie dolls however they want

[savage-rhi]

This bi coded walking stick bug of a silly man is responsible for the 3 editions of Don Quixote I own, and Capcom, I see what you did. I understand the vision, but what happened in game felt personal, and after this, I'll never forgive (but thank you for the fic material, you bastards).

[princelylove]

Sometimes it just feels better to turn your brain off and let someone else do aaaallll of the thinking for you.

Dumbification comes in a few different forms. Dollification and bimbofication, mainly. What's the difference?

Wellll. Dollification could be a number of things. People like all different kinds of dolls. Porcelain ones that sit on the shelf and do nothing but collect dust all day, action figures that can be posed, sex dolls that you inflate like a balloon and have your way with, rag dolls that have been through the war, actual stuffed animals, the list goes on. A doll is anything their owner wants them to be that day. That's what playing pretend is all about!

I see quite a few of my yandere interpretations being into dollifcation for their darling. Unfortunately not many for themself, but it's alright.

I think it's obvious that Jotaro loves dolls. Porcelain dolls, those fabric dolls with frilly dresses... he thinks they're just oh-so-cute. It's a shame they break so easily. He usually would go for someone that's already a bit doll-like- maybe their skin resembles porcelain, or their fashion sense makes for an obvious comparison.

I've spoken a bit in the past about Jotaro's fascination with lolita fashion, but it really does make a little too much sense to me. It scratches an itch for him. You either get it or you don't. The 'sweeter' styles- classic lolita, sweet lolita, hime lolita, even gothic lolita, they're all appealing. It's not necessarily the colors, it's about the amount of frills and lace and layers. He probably has a thing for petticoats because of it.

Jotaro's ideal day with his favorite dolly is nothing special. He'd prefer his doll on a shelf, safe and sound from the elements. It's not that he's a collector, it's that his darling is his prized possession. Taking care of it makes sense. He just wishes you'd stop thinking so much.

Yukako thinks you're better when you're finally broken in. You're just so much cuter when you let her dress you up and take you out! It irks her that you're not talking, but she can get you a voice box! Communication cards? Something! Maybe you're just shy. Aha. Ahahahahahahahahahahha.

She thinks a darling with a modern, feminine fashion sense is the cutest. Girly, but fitting for her age. If that isn't what she initially wears, Yukako has no problem gifting her some pieces here and there until her closet is full of cute clothes! Or, just. You know. Kidnapping her and not giving her any say in the matter. Either works. Have fun taking lots of pictures with Yukako!

There's a lot of yandere interpretations of mine that enjoy 'total bombshells,' but what about an actual bimbo? For some yanderes, it's about taking an entirely normal person and making them a mindless slut, for others it's about trapping one out in the wild and taking it home. It's your own little barbie! Or a bratz doll, depending on their style, I guess. Who can really tell?

Pannacotta isn't the type to openly degrade someone, his insults take a second or two to really process. He loves the adorable look on your face while you're thinking about it. Really, he's fine with you dressing however you want to, he just wanted you to know that it's fine in the first place. You know, some people don't prefer their girlfriends to dress like that, but he doesn't mind at all.

He knows how to keep his darling in the mindset. I think I've spoken a bit about Pannacotta's inclination for mind games and conditioning, of course he's into the process of bimbofication. So rewarding to do it himself, even more rewarding to keep his darling in such a state. It's a slow process, but it's worth it. He's more patient than his interactions with Narancia would have you believe. You're not Narancia, are you? Gooood, no you're not. It's simple, really. Reward behaviors you want to repeat, punish behaviors you want to stop. The reward depends on the darling, but the punishment.... it's Pannacotta. You can guess.

His conditioning is very slow. It takes a while to break someone in, but it takes an even longer while to learn someone's exact niche. He starts off by 'helping' with simple things. Things you can absolutely do by yourself, but are currently having an issue with. He'll use a machine for you, like a coffee machine or a ticket machine. Can't think of a word? Tell him the definition, he'll help. Pannacotta's gentle and firm, and fine with taking the time to learn what makes his darling tick. He loves to study, anyway. He'll figure out what his darling appreciates, and harp on it. It's often infantilizing, but hey, Panna's just Like That. Oftentimes both Guido and Narancia will excuse his behavior for him, the guy's a bit of a control freak. Just let him have whatever he's worried about and the guy'll go away.

He likes to emphasize the syllables in 'big' words here and there for you. Slowly says them, even. It's im...pera...tive... that you don't forget to call him back later.

Jolyne has never felt comfortable embracing her girlier side, she appreciates people that are openly feminine and comfortable about it. She just has a sort of mental block when it comes to her own femininity- she used to love being called "Jojo," and God knows what other cutesy, girly names, but now cringes at the thought. To her, femininity is vulnerability, and she's just not ready to embrace her old self again. Pretending- no, really being- tough is her new way of life. A darling that's already feminine, and needs her.... it's hitting a niche she didn't think she'd like.

Honestly, the dumber they are, the better. The first time Jolyne ever heard her darling say "Huuuh?" it was love. She wouldn't consider herself to be above average when it comes to stuff like that, but she's smart enough, in her eyes. She loooves when her darling asks her questions- rely on her. Keep coming to her. No, she's got zero fuckin' idea how half of the shit you're asking about works, but she can read something and sum it up for you. Maybe read it to you, add in a few extra words she thinks you don't know... (Author's note: Jolyne actually does know some niche things, she pulls out a Mobius strip in canon. Her intelligence and creativity is negated by the fact that darling is probably asking if she knows if there's carbs in butter. No idea, sweetheart.... no idea. Let's go look.)

Jolyne isn't really one for mind games, so breaking in her darling isn't going to come naturally. She's more likely to fall for someone that's already like that, or shows signs of it. Jolyne's someone that struggles to use her words, but finds it easy to do things for someone she likes or bring them gifts. Girls like you like makeup, yeah? Here. She'll leave it where only you could find it- assuming you're both in jail, she'd put it in your bed, under the covers. Seriously prays you aren't all tuckered out after headcount and don't just drop your dead weight on this palette she had to fork over a benjamin for....

It's worth it when she gets to watch your lips as you talk. Perfect, glossy.... sooo much happier now that she's helping you express yourself... Huh? She heard you, yeah. Say it again though, but slower...

[renaerys]

Hello! I really love the progress of the heiress and the hierophant. The chemistry between Ino and Itachi is just magical and magnetic. What are your head canons regarding Itaino?

To be honest, I'm never quite sure how to answer questions about ship headcanons. I think it's because I don't think of them as one unit, but as separate individuals who, due to their personalities and proclivities, fit together in a dynamic like two pieces of a puzzle.

I see Itachi as someone who is a deeply loyal person, but also a very intense person, often in an extreme way. He doesn't care much about 99% of people beyond a surface level required to maintain standing and reputation in social circles. But when he decides he does care about someone, he dials it up to an 11. He's 0 to 60 in 3.5, in the immortal words of our lady and savior Rhianna. Obviously, Sasuke is #1 always and forever. Aside from Sasuke, canonically we know that chosen person for him was always Shisui (however you choose to interpret the nature of their relationship, that remains true). Shisui is generally accepted as an extroverted, highly gregarious, cunning trickster type, i.e., kind of the opposite of Itachi's personality. I think Itachi would be drawn to people who fall somewhere on that spectrum: loud, feelings-forward, (sometimes, to varying degrees) politically savvy types who are either A) well-liked and popular or B) outcast pariahs doing their own thing and fuck everyone else. Ino and Shisui fall into the first category, and people like Karin and Deidara fall into the latter, but both types are very much "this is me, love me or hate me, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere and you get the immense honor of dealing with me" vibes. Whereas Itachi strikes me as more the type to bend and cave to the path of least resistance in order to go unnoticed or avoid conflict/confrontation with people if he can help it. He's duty and honor, and he needs someone who is like "but what if we got drunk and committed arson and then kissed a bit after". Having that person fill in the gaps in his personality and preferences would be exciting and probably also very frustrating for him, and I think it would hook him so hard.

Ino is someone I see as kind of a contradiction. She has all these cool abilities that allow her to read people literally, and a personality that, to me, seems very much the type to hone in on people's motivations and attitudes. At the same time, though, she is someone who is tunnel-vision determined to achieve her goals (I'm thinking of her in the 4th war in what I consider to be one of the most badass moments for any single character in the manga when she was like "I just have to do it!" re telepathically connecting everyone in the Shinobi Forces right after her dad died). If she decides to do something, it is fucking getting done, bar none. And if we apply that attitude to people, to figuring people out, we have someone who will dig and dig until they draw blood and still keep going. She deals in lies and secrets and neither are safe from her. Pairing her with someone like Itachi who is the cream filling in a roll cake baked out of lies and manipulation is like...both the best and worst thing I can do to either of them. Plus, she is that politically savvy social butterfly who would drag him out of his mission, mission, meticulously steam clean my ANBU uniform, mission, repeat cycle to live his life a little bit. She likes being in charge and running shit, and I think someone like Itachi, who has been sort of forced into that role his whole life whether he wanted it or not, would find surprising and intense relief over letting her take those reins so he doesn't have to deal with it for five minutes.

So idk if that really addresses your question. But this is sort of how I think about them individually and what that would look like when I smash them together Barbie doll style and make them kiss.

[colorfuldream]

Random Barbie thoughts:

Seeing people say that Ken represented women in Barbie but IMO while the KenS represent how women are treated (explicitly stated, I can't believe how many people somehow miss it), Ken himself represent men. Men who can't really take no for an answer even though you make it clear you won't date them. Men insecure and vulnerable who end up falling into incel/right-wing ideology. Men performing what they think is expected of them and suffering because of it.

And, you know, even though Ken suffers in Barbieland, he's still treated better than Barbie was in the real world. He suffers, he struggles, he's unhappy. And that's shown. That's integral to the story. But guess what? Barbie's own suffering is also shown. Even though it's the focus, it doesn't take away from Ken's. Both men's and women's sufferings are shown at the same time, none of them negate the other. There's not one greater than the other. It's just that the main focus is on Barbie's, and thus women's, suffering. We don't forget about Ken's, about men's, of course but it's not Ken The Movie. He's not the main topic. The movie is about the place of women in society, Barbie discovering herself and her place in it, what being human is.

And that's why people calling him the main character is so deeply gross. Ignoring completely EVERYTHING in the movie to focus on the man and his struggles. Ken was the antagonist. He wasn't the villain, but his actions were antagonistic. (Yes, the overall bad guy is the patriarchy and toxic masculinity but Ken was used to represent them, even though he didn't like it). That's why people like him, we usually gravitate towards the antagonists, especially now that they're more sympathetic and understandable.

We saw him fall into that rabbithole. So we feel attached. But also he didn't have the most development like some people say. Even after losing, he still wanted to be with Barbie and confessed he did all that because of her. He was at the same point as the beginning of the movie, only more open about it. Barbie is the one telling him that he needs to learn to be himself and that he shouldn't live only for her. She's sharing what she learned with him and telling him he needs to be his own person. And THAT is when he will develop as a character. THAT is Barbie's own development shining.

(It's a bit ironic IMO because even his growth is caused by Barbie and not by himself. However they've been established as dolls and have a weird way of thinking. Barbie only deviated because of the person playing with her. Not many people play with Ken dolls so it would be difficult for him to realize he can be his own person too. My own personal interpretation is that because he couldn't achieve this realization on his own, he did everything he did in the movie instead of questioning everything like Barbie did. Anyway!)

Ken was hilarious. He's the comic relief. He was the goofy antagonist. The fact so many people adore him shows that the movie worked at least partly. The jokes landed. But he's not the whole movie. If you stop thinking, if you don't bother seeing beyond the jokes, then you're stupid. I'm sorry but it's true. Critical thinking is a thing. The movie was crystal clear about its themes, its messages, its metaphors. You have to be purposefully obtuse to ignore everything but the funny man on screen in such a movie. I guess some men related to Ken, what he represented, and his struggles more so that's why they ignore everything else?

Anyways, I'm leaving it there because it's messy and ramble-y. Originally, I was only going to talk about what was in the first paragraph. I think it's really fun and incredible what the Barbie team managed to do! They put in so many things in a simple-to-understand movie. One character can represent so many things all at once! Thinking about it scratches an itch in my overthinking brain.

[frecklystars]

As Barbie's girlfriend, can you settle the discourse on whether she's bisexual or aromantic or lesbian? I've seen so many takes.

"As Barbie's girlfriend" oh baby that means EVERYTHING TO ME. I am so honored, I'M Barbie's girlfriend?? 😳💘💘💘 the absolute love of my life... she's Barbie she's EVERYTHING and she's also My Girlfriend. So sorry to Ken Carson, but I am WINNING here.

Is there really discourse?? 😭 There shouldn't be! She's Barbie and it's just a movie. I am not the Official Person to ask for any "hey I think THIS is canon" but here's my personal headcanon just for fun:

My answer changes depending on the day and how I'm feeling. As someone who is a sapphic bisexual (possibly a lesbian if I really take the time to think about it but HAHA I won't spiral over THAT today, don't need an existential crisis right now, NO TIME FOR THAT), I might also be on the aromantic spectrum (or I might not be. it could just be the 'tism.), but I know for a fact I am asexual. SO, as a... my god what would you call me, an aroace WLW? I see Barbie as any of these things.

She -- and every single doll in BarbieLand -- is canonically asexual (expressed by Margot Robbie in multiple interviews). Now, she says it's "because they don't have reproductive organs", and we know this changes for Barbie at the end of the film. So, is she magically no longer asexual because of that logic? Who knows. You can be asexual but that's quite a spectrum. I am asexual but sex neutral, meaning I have zero sexual attraction but I am willing to sleep with my romantic partner if they desire it, and if I'm in the right headspace to do the work (since it's literally just All Work for me and not Feeling), and hey, maybe Barbie is asexual but sex neutral. Or sex repulsed. Or sex positive. Who knows!! When it comes to fiction, I feel 100% safe and comfortable exploring sexual feelings for my F/Os @beach-him-off-until-he-kens with art, fics, daydreaming, etc. Asexuality is a spectrum. Maybe Barbie is demisexual! Maybe she's ace! Or maybe when she's human, she isn't anymore. Who knows!!!

I can see Barbie as a lesbian because she had a male-identifying (I'm sorry if that's the incorrect phrase; feel free to correct me on that) doll quite literally CREATED to BE her love interest, that she had zero interest for (in the 2023 movie ofc, other iterations however are entirely a different story) but she was soooo loving with her girls, her Barbies. She could just be best friends with Barbies without any romantic attraction whatsoever, of course, but I remember a Margot/Ryan interview where Margot said "if Barbie were on a dating app, she'd have to be VERY CLEAR that her partner NEEDS to be okay with the fact that she needs her girls!! She loves her girls and NEEDS her girls nights" and yeah you could interpret that as "she's just best friends with girls" but as a queer person, I read it as queer. The lesbian-colored shirt Gloria was wearing, too... oh, honey, that cannot be a coincidence, there's no way they didn't know those were the lesbian pride colors. This movie was made with a few openly queer people (i.e. Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Hari Nef), for queer people, and possibly even by a few queer people. I would not rule out the possibility of Barbie being a lesbian.

I remember another Margot/Ryan interview where someone asked "people believe Barbie and Ken are queer, do you think that's true, can you confirm that" and of course they cannot just outright be Renee Rapp and say "YEAH MY CHARACTER IS 100% A LESBIAN" because these people have had media training SLDFJSDLFSDF. But I remember Margot and Greta have both said that BarbieLand is inclusive for queer people and they want EVERYONE to feel welcome there, that any dolls being queer there wouldn't be seen as "abnormal" like it is in our world, because BarbieLand is just... dolls. They don't face homophobia or transphobia or racism the way that we do in the real world, they don't even have a concept of that, they are quite literally not built for it. Somebody else can absolutely phrase this so much better than I can, but I hope what I'm saying makes even just a little bit of sense.

So anyway to answer your question, I personally see Barbie as a lesbian asexual, possibly somewhere on the aro spectrum, like a demiromantic ace lesbian, but I am open to her being literally anything at all. My answer changes every so often! Some days, I see her as a biromantic asexual, because who says she'd only be attracted to women just because she wasn't attracted to Ken? She could be attracted to any gender, and Ken just might not be her cup of tea, y'know? Some days I see her as aromantic asexual. Some days I just say she's WLW/queer and it doesn't have to be deeper than that. After all, she's Barbie, she's Everything, and Barbie Can Be Anything™.

[depvotee]

Please tell us about your fc5 interpretation!

Thanks for asking and for your patience!!! :’D (Also this is my interpretation of the game and basically how I base off Jason’s story around.)

This long, so, I added some images!

The basic premise is: the deputy threatens the power dynamic between the seeds.

The Seeds are so fascinating to me.

Because in a way or another they’re obsessed with the deputy as much as they LOAD them.

There's a range of reactions to them: Anger, Discontent, and fear but the main one is an obsession. [Rage against them, get them in your side, or just simply get them out of the way. The only constant is their obsession. Which also it's only there because Joseph was infatuated with the deputy, nothing else.]

To John they became something to prove, Faith maybe someone to use as a shield and  Jacob became much more. Dep became his legacy,

I'm currently re-playing the game, and I noticed the absolute acidic tone John takes as soon as Joseph is out of ear range, there’s was also an NPC talking about how John takes only the people he seems to find use. 

So this is how I see it: John sees the deputy as a liability, they destroy property and his 7 yr old efforts, he only captures them because Joseph sees something but then well, our first encounter it’s him trying to drown dep.   

John has clearly anger issues that stem from childhood trauma. He was a sweet child and like Joseph said that made him an easy target.

The Duncans behavior towards him, they took advantage not only of that but also of the fact that he was their child. They hid their sadistic behavior behind a religious doctrine.

Joseph finally gave him affirmation to said world view, but when the deputy came, it threatened everything, and the worst part is his relationship with Joseph. (We can take now a lot of interpretation of what it’s the type of John’s obsession, maybe he sees the deputy as a “new” (youngest) sibling and now he as the change to do the same things that were done to him, maybe its more of religious frustration one, and this the moment where you pick and choose your flavor!)

But one thing is certain for sure, after all the things he inflicted upon them that makes them the same as him, a shared pain, he doesn't feel as lonely as before. They became something deeper the moment they became the key to not only Eden’s gate but to Joseph’s approval and worst also Dep approval or at least understanding, deputy denying him is no other thing but as them being just rebellious, he cannot see why, because the deputy wasn’t raised the same was like him (also, because sadly, fc5 is not an rpg)

Faith with using others to shield herself, this is self-explanatory, Faith it’s a position, a concept, this one however has known how to play her cards right and keep Joseph happy and not only that but she is his favorite Herald, this to me, is a great indicator that Rachel is hyperaware and what kind of position she is. 

Unlike John, she sees potential in the deputy’s arrival and if she plays by the rules she might get on top, the problem is that dep doesn't play by Eden’s gate’s book. Faith tries her best and I think all her cinematics show her behavior towards dep as her in survival mode. In the final scenes, It feels like she is a child that the barbie doll game didn't went her way and it's throwing a tantrum. This speaks volumes of the situation she is in and how much she can reach. 

I love this and I feel bad for her. 

Jacob with his obsession with leaving a legacy

Remember when I said that John felt not so alone by putting Dep in the same abuse he went through?

Well, Jacob is WROST. He does it with calculated and deliberate malice, he trains Dep to be a deadly machine and if they were to fail, it doesn’t matter what Joseph thinks because they’re weren't worthy; he knows that won't be because he’s not betting blindly. Joseph saw something in deputy and Jacob decided to just trust his brother and put the same type of ominous faith in them but in this case on his own discipline, to make them stronger for whatever purpose Joseph had for them. 

In the end, I think Jacob had a gut feeling that the Deputy would end up killing him. Jacob is obsessed with leaving a legacy behind (Joseph’s words) indicating that he wasn’t satisfied with his chosen nor the soldiers he trained. Maybe thinking that they’ll be useless afterward? After all this new Eden is a place of peace and “going back to how things once we’re”. Culling the herd is not only for the weak animals but also for violent ones. (that’s courtesy of my friend @/sleepfight, not tagging u because this shit is long af)

So when the moment comes, that’s the tell that he left a legacy behind, the deputy would’ve killed him and show they’re stronger and more fit to lead. He’s finally at peace. 

And finally Joseph! What can I say but him? He got a bunch of already affected people and made them work together in the worst and best possible way. He knows how to crave his way into someone’s head and heart. He is scary and I love his character. (Also his fabricated melancholy for a place and time that never was (the garden of Eden), taking it for the only thing that sounded peaceful and stable in this ultra-religious and abusive childhood home. Can we please TALK ABOUT THAT???)     

Well, if made it all the way here, I just wanted to thank you :’D I hope I made sense! 

Also, Faith and Jacob’s photos aren’t mine, I fond them on google!

[sexandthesuburbs]

Dream Journal #10

What a strange sex dream, if you can call it that. I arrive at a hotel (later in the dream it turned into rooms on a yacht), and an ex-lover, his wife, and then two other women, a former friend (I don’t even know if she’s still friends with this couple), and then a friend from high school who was a catalyst for many of my early high school explorations show up in the lobby. I don’t know they are going to be there, I’m embarrassed that they are all still in touch without me. I want to have sex with the man again, it’s an immediate response, but I have to seek permission from the women. I ask if he can sleep over in my room and my high school friend says no, but is willing for me to come to their room. What I don’t know is that their room is giant — there’s a pool in the middle with a lazy river around it with seating all around the sides (I’ve been watching too much Selling Sunset!). And there are tons of people there, it’s a full blown party. The dream gets murky from here, but I distinctly remember sitting around a coffee table with the man where people are watching a mounted TV. I’m trying to have a conversation with him but it’s hard with the other people there. I think he also wants to have sex with me, but is not going against his coterie. He gets my attention and tells me to look. He uses the remote to block the view from the others around the table and takes his hard penis out of his pants. It’s about as long as the remote, thick, and gleaming/pale. I’m still innocent because the first comparison my mind made is gleaming like the phallus was made out of Barbie doll material, but then typing this I realize, duh, gleaming like a silicone realistic sex toy. I think it was supposed to be his real penis though, I don’t think he was trying to trick me. Anyway, I’m further filled with lust in the dream but can’t do anything about it, so I think I wander around the crowd a bit. I talk to my former friend, she still has all her old issues and I’m still trying to reason with her. The last part I remember is that I have to pee so I find the bathroom, but it’s stuffed with toilet paper. I try to flush it but it threatens to overflow so I tell someone, so my former lover comes in to unclog the toilet. I am mortified.

I am beginning to think that most of my dreams are just me getting embarrassed in new and humiliating ways. Can’t a girl get a good dream once in a while?

Interpretation

The setting - I have a fair amount of dreams set it hotels/dorms. Since the setting is supposed to be your inner state, whose influence you are under, I see these types of sleeping-away-from-home places as a blank slate, a place of relative lawlessness, the masks come off. The unvarnished self.

I know water in dreams is related to emotions, which makes sense to me. Either in the dream, or my dream-self remembers trying to walk through the water in the lazy river. It’s a slog. I think I have an aquifer’s worth of stored up emotions about them. I don’t think about them in my day to day life, and they don’t really have any social media presence, so I’m not getting those reminders of their current lives, so I think I’m still sad that those friendships are over.

The penis? The most Freudian of all dream topics. I have to wrap this up, but typically, penises in dreams are about power, virility. Since I was “cockblocked” in the dream from the sex I wanted to have, I think it’s more about frustrated desire, unrealized attempts to gain power. However, the unnatural nature of that particular phallus perhaps means that there’s a fake/inauthentic nature to that power?

Lots to think about!

[ryanmeyerart]

Grace Hartigan’s “Barbie”

This essay was written in 2012

Opinion alert — Jackson Pollock is the most famous Abstract Expressionist painter. Fact alert — it was in New York City that Pollock and the other artists associated with this new movement blossomed. The “Irascibles,’ as they were dubbed, began to shake up the art world with their new philosophy and aesthetic. The novelty of Abstract Expressionism was powerful enough from the beginning to draw in a younger group of artists. Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, Sam Francis, and Grace Hartigan are a few of the artists known as the second generation New York School. Despite her young age, Hartigan was deep in the Cedar Tavern circle and was considered a friend by Pollock, de Kooning, Rothko, Kline, etc. Curious and observant, Hartigan looked outward at her surrounding physical, social, and political world for inspiration. She began to paint a combination of what she saw and what she felt. Her commentary on daily life is the leading characteristic of her work. Her paintings such as Barbie have been interpreted as feminist precursors to pop art, but in reality, Hartigan did not ally herself with either feminism or pop art. For Barbie the output is a statement about the contemporary ‘60’s society. This painting and the great majority of her other works are musings on life and should be viewed the same way one reads poetry. A complete interpretation can only be accurately made by considering her own words as well as clues from her life’s story.

Hartigan was born on March 28, 1922 in New Jersey. She was greatly influenced by her aunt, an english schoolteacher who piqued her interest in writing and theatre which lasted all through high school. She married at age 18 and ended up in California after she and her husband ran out of money on their way to Alaska. They lived there several years with their newborn son until World War II broke out. They decided to move back east where he was then drafted. She began to take night classes to learn drawing and painting and got a job as a draftsman. She fell in love with Matisse after being introduced to book of his work and immediately began seeking out a way to paint like him. She then began to study under Ike Muse and moved to New York with him after she and her husband split. Not much time passed before she and Muse split also and she began to support herself with a “life of total poverty but meeting all marvelous, exciting people.”1 This is a reference to the collection of artists and writers who patronized the Cedar Tavern in the 40’s and 50’s. She visited Pollock’s and de Kooning’s studios and began the journey headfirst into pure Abstract Expressionism which solidified her status in the group as well as Clement Greenberg’s approval. Her first few works in ’49 and ’50 were very gestural and resembled the flat, all over composition of Pollock’s work. This only lasted a couple years before she began to slowly introduce representational elements that are very similar to the figures in de Kooning’s Woman paintings. A key factor in this change was her growing relationship with the poet Frank O’Hara. Hartigan’s childhood love for literature re-blossomed vicariously through O’Hara who dedicated several poems to her. In 1952 O’Hara gave a series of twelve poems called Oranges, Sweet, a Dozen to Hartigan who then turned them into her Orange paintings. This rebellion against Greenberg allowed her to extend her boundaries and begin to develop her own identity as a painter. Her first step was to look back at the Masters like Velasquez, Goya, and Rubens all the while keeping Matisse and the Abstract Expressionist aesthetic in mind. She then began to look outward in the exploration of her world, New York City. For several decades she painted shopping malls, billboards, vendors, shop windows, and anything else that caught her eye and stimulated her mind. Hartigan was overflowing with material that she felt compelled to paint. Throughout the ‘60’s she pulled out all the stops and painted everything from mythical creatures and gods, Marilyn Monroe, lily ponds, human emotions, and Barbie dolls. The only reoccurring visual elements are the gestural forms that came from her Abstract Expressionist background and the bold use of color drawn from her love for Fauvism. This inconsistency of subject matter is the first clue as to Hartigan’s thought processes.

The mistake that critics and historians too often make is the lack of attention paid to Hartigan’s body of work as a whole. When they step back and get the big picture view, they consider it for a couple of minutes and quickly conclude that, “She has reached for new ideas so often that she has no signature style.”2 Naturally at this conclusion, they are forced to focus on individual paintings or small series of them. Unsurprisingly, the interpretations of Hartigan’s Barbie paintings are straightforward and superficial.

The Barbie doll made her debut in 1959 and it was not long before Mattel, Inc. began receiving criticism for the doll’s negative body image. The doll has often been used as a symbol for the unacceptable image of women portrayed in pop-culture. When Hartigan painted Barbie in the heat of the controversy, many people, both feminists and non-feminists, assumed that she was making a feminist statement. The well-informed researcher might also argue his/her point with evidence that Hartigan originally signed her paintings as “George Hartigan” for her first few shows. This has been taken as a statement of the difficulty for women artists to succeed in the world of Abstract Expressionism. However, both of these arguments can be easily refuted by Hartigan’s own words. She has repeatedly denied having any feminist sentiments and even supported Pollock by saying, “The myth I find most infuriating is the one of Jackson Pollock as brawling, woman-hating, drunk and macho. The man was tender, suffering- an inarticulate, shy genius, but people don’t want to hear that about Jackson.”3 When asked why she signed her work “George Hartigan” she replied, “Because I identified with George Sand and George Eliot — they were my heroes. The real story is I had gay friends who all had female names amongst themselves and I thought it would be fun to have a man’s name.”4

The argument that Hartigan’s work is a precursor to Pop art has greater merit, but still doesn’t go much deeper than the paint on the canvas. Nevertheless, Hartigan did paint an abstract work titled, Billboard which can be compared to James Rosenquist’s work, and a couple of paintings of Marilyn Monroe which invariably conjures Warhol’s ghost. These images in addition to the Barbie doll are unquestionable pop culture icons. One can easily imagine Barbie as the subject of a Warhol painting and should not be surprised that he did indeed use the child’s toy in a series of prints. Warhol’s Barbie is very different from Hartigan’s however. In her essay, which analyzes Hartigan’s work, Melody Davis points out that, “Pop art is typically hard-edged, cool, acrylic-painted, repetitive and de-personalized.”5 This is the antithesis to Hartigan’s work. In response to this new aesthetic, she made an unapologetic statement in the 60’s saying, “Pop art is not painting, because painting must have content and emotion.”6 Similar to the contrast between the quality of a hand crafted table that exudes warmth from the carpenter’s personal touch and the mass-produced particle board piece made by machines and sold in an IKEA store, so is the unfriendly relationship of Hartigan and Pop art. It is not uncommon to see the subject of Barbie in everyday life, but just as Dutch genre painting is not Pop art, neither is Hartigan’s work.

Instead, the individual work is one of social commentary. Referring to the Barbie doll, Hartigan made this statement, “I’m very interested in dolls of all cultures, because a doll is an essence, really, of what society thinks you should present to your little girls, about what they’re supposed to plan for, how they’re supposed to think about themselves. And if you’re supposed to think about yourself as a bride that deserves a $100 dress and you only cost $15 and your husband is a castrated man, boy, that tells you something about American morals!”7 Hartigan painted what she saw around her. When she walked throughout New York City she painted vendors and shop windows. When she studied the masters at the MET she painted the scenes and figures that excited her. When she noticed a changing country she painted a doll that symbolized a part of it. Hartigan was not supporting or criticizing mass production, mass marketing, or mass media. She was taking input, processing it, and then giving output. Hartigan explains, “I try to declaw the terribleness of popular culture and turn it into beauty or meaning.”8 Now a motive fueling her creative machine becomes apparent. By zooming out and viewing the entirety of her life and work, we see that Hartigan takes both the ugly and mundane as well as the beautiful and exciting and gives them a poetic quality. This should not be a surprise, given her love for literature as a child, her very close relationships with the poets who patronized the Cedar Tavern (O’Hara in particular), and her “heroes,” the novelists Eliot and Sand. For the final piece of evidence let’s again consider Hartigan’s own words, “As most painting moves closer to sculpture and architecture, my own work moves nearer poetry…It increasingly must be ‘read’ in terms of meaning and metaphor.”9 Hartigan’s bold colors, gestural brushwork, and expression through abstraction are some of the tools she employs to give emotional life to the content that she chooses to paint. The successful viewer is the one who does indeed “read” her paintings. Poetry and Hartigan’s work are musings on life.

With a creative career that lasted over half a century, Hartigan produced a large body of paintings and prints. She did not stray far from her aesthetic, yet changes throughout the decades are visible and tell her life’s story like rings in a tree. Her experiences at the Cedar Tavern were truly invaluable and would cause envy in any historian. Unfortunately, she has been misunderstood a great deal too much. Barbie should be read as a poem, and not as Pop art or feminist art. Only then can one fully appreciate the creative mind of Grace Hartigan.

Bibliography

Diggory, Terence. “Questions of identity in Oranges by Frank O’Hara and Grace Hartigan.” Art Journal 52, no. 4 (Winter93 1993): 41.Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 9, 2012).

Gibson, Ann Eden. Abstract expressionism: other politics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.

Hartigan, Grace, interview by Julie Haifley. May 10, 1979.

Hartigan, Grace, interview by Jonathan VanDyke. February 12, 2000.

Hobbs, Robert. 1995. “Grace Hartigan: A Painter’s World by Robert Saltonstall Mattison: Reviewed by Robert Hobbs.” Woman’s Art Journal , Vol. 16, №2 (Autumn, 1995 — Winter, 1996), pp. 42–44. JSTOR (accessed October 18, 2012).

Jachec, Nancy. The Philosophy and Politics of Abstract Expressionism: 1940–1960. Cambridge [u.a.: Cambridge Univ., 2000.

Kunitz, Daniel. “Gallery chronicle.” New Criterion 20, no. 3 (November 2001): 51–54. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed October 19, 2012).

Landau, Ellen G… Reading abstract expressionism. New Haven: Yale, 2005.

Lavazzi, Thomas. 2000. “Lucky Pierre Gets into Finger Paint: Grace Hartigan and Frank O’Hara’s Oranges.” Aurora: The Journal Of The History Of Art 1, 122–137. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed October 18, 2012).

Lord, M. G.. Forever Barbie: the unauthorized biography of a real doll. New York: Morrow and Co., 1994.

Princenthal, Nancy. 2009. “Grace Hartigan 1922–2008.” Art In America 97, no. 10: 142. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson), EBSCOhost (accessed October 18, 2012).

Robert Saltonstall Mattison. “Hartigan, Grace.” Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, accessed October 18, 2012,http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T036782.

Shapiro, David, and Cecile Shapiro.Abstract expressionism: a critical record. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

[askthedespairkids]

Future Shorts: AU Special- 79-C Killing game prologue

//Yep, it’s been a hot while! And so to make up for it you get an extra special and extra long future shorts in a killing game AU of the 79-C class.

//I might do highlights of this AU at a later date, but for now all that you’re getting is the introductions of each character which was an interesting challenge since I had to write all of them pre-development. Hopefully I did well with everyone else’s characters.

//Welp, hopefully you’ll all enjoy

-A Killing game Intro: Devil’s Luck-

 Hope’s Peak Academy. It’s a school admired, not just nation-wide, but internationally as well. The school’s alumni pretty much run the world. It’s insane that one school could produce so many powerful figures. Politicians, business owners, top scientists, the list goes on. Really, the students here are the best of the best.

 So…how did I manage this? No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t make sense. I’m nothing special, and that’s not even an exaggeration. I have nothing going for me. Average in every sense of the word. Sorry, I’m always told I start off on the negative foot. I should really try making an introduction.

 “I always find this part embarrassing, but here it goes. My name is Ryuu Nagata. Like I said, I’m a pretty average person but I like to think I don’t cause any trouble…I hope we can get along.”

 Yeah. That’s me. I wasn’t exaggerating. You might be wondering how someone like me could get into such a prestigious school, right? What kind of talent could’ve gotten me in? Well…I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student. Pure luck.

 I mean people always say I blessed with luck, but…it’s more like anyone around me becomes lucky. Not me. I’m more of a lucky charm, if that makes sense? No…it doesn’t, does it? I’m gonna stick out like a sore thumb among these actual Ultimates…

 -A Killing Game Intro: Artist’s Interpretation-

 “Uhhh…?” I raised my head to find myself in a classroom. I must have fallen asleep during class, that’s out of character…huh? Why am I in a classroom anyway? The last thing I remember, I was outside…

 “Is this Hope’s Peak?”

 “You’re awake then.” I jumped in surprise, letting out an -admittedly high pitched- scream. “…you’re that kind of character then. I see.” I blinked as my eyes fully adjusted to see a girl with pink hair tied up in a bun standing in front of me. She had a forceful glare, I almost wanted to cower in fear from her strong energy alone. “I’d prefer if you didn’t stare so much.”

 “A-ah, uh…s-sorry?” Was I supposed to apologise there?

 The pink haired girl sighed. “No, it’s fine. You’re the last one awake, everybody else went ahead to investigate the situation. Let’s go.” She moved towards the classroom door.

 “W-wait, hold on! I don’t understand what’s happening at all! Who are you…?!” There were so many questions being thrown at her, I wouldn’t blame her for getting annoyed. However, she kept her composure and turned back to me.

 “I’ll start with introducing myself then. My name is Maemi Watanabe. I am the Ultimate Harem Mangaka.” Ah, I knew that name. She’s an Ultimate…? She certainly carries herself like one, so I’m not completely surprised by that. Plus, if she’s the Ultimate Harem Mangaka…then she’s THAT Watanabe-san. A goddess in the manga world. Even if you don’t read manga, you’ve probably heard her name before.

 “And you?” She looked at me expectedly.

 “O-oh, um…I’m Ryuu Nagata. Ultimate Lucky Student. It’s really nice to meet you, Watanabe-san!” I ended up bowing in a panic. God, what am I even thinking?! I quickly straightened up to find that she hadn’t reacted to it at all. Was she just so unphased by all of this…?

 “Nagata-san. Lucky student…I see, so you won the lottery this year. You seen like a sensible person, if not a little nervous, I hope we can get along.” She seemed to smile a little. Maemi Watanabe is a pretty mature person, even though we’re the same age. Hopefully she’ll be someone I can rely on until I find out what’s happening.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Heads Will Roll-

 “Um…hi…” I spoke quietly. A boy with black and red hair glared at me. His waistcoat was the same colour and the white shirt he was wearing had a black skull sprinted on the shoulder of the sleeve. He exuberated this intense aura that made it hard to look away from him.

 “…so plain.” Was all he said. His tone was quite sharp. I wasn’t expecting him to go straight for the jugular there…man, does he really have to point out my looks the first time we meet? “You’re going to introduce yourself, right? Go ahead then.”

 “O-oh, um…my name is Ryuu Nagata. I’m the Ultimate Lucky student. Y-you are…?” The boy almost seemed offended when I asked him to introduce himself.

 “Are you a complete shut in?! How could you not be able to recognise the great director, Toson Shinko?!” Oh! I know that name. He’s a famous horror movie director with a huge range of award-winning films. I’ve never seen his face before though…between Shinko-san and Watanabe-san…I’m basically between two celebrities!

 “Honestly. How can you be so stupidly ignorant? Unbelievable.” Though nobody mentioned his attitude…

 “We haven’t been formally introduced either. I am Maemi Watanabe, the Ultimate Harem Mangaka. A pleasure, Shinko-san.” Watanabe-san extended a hand. Shinko-san looked at Watanabe-san but seemed caught off guard. He quickly turned his head to the side and placed a hand over the lower half of his face.

 “H-how formal…” Huh? Was he…blushing? “Y-yes, well…a pleasure, W-Watanabe.” He wasn’t making any effort to look at her. Watanabe-san didn’t seem too sure how to react as she brought her hand back to her side.

 “I see…he probably has a strong weakness for women. A common trope for love interests in reverse harems. Can make interesting tsundere characters…” Watanabe-san mumbled all of that to herself. Shinko-san isn’t good around girls? For someone who seems quite arrogant, it’s…surprising.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Porcelain Barbie-

 “This doll was in the room we woke up in. I wonder if someone brought it out here.” Watanabe-san commented about a life-sized porcelain doll in the hallway. It was rather eerie to look at. As if it could come to life at any moment. “It’s a rather pretty doll, no?”

 “I suppose. I’m not really an expert.” I shrugged. Staring a little longer at the doll, I felt the urge to try touching its face. Though as I reached out-

 “Please refrain from touching the doll.” The doll spoke. Watanabe-san seemed more surprised from my reaction to stumble back and end up on the floor.

 “I-it’s alive?!” I scrambled back onto my feet. The doll fell silent again, holding an unblinking gaze. Seriously, this was way to creepy! “Y-you just talked, right?! Do it again!”

 “Hello. A pleasure to meet you. This is our first-time meeting, so I will tell you my name. It is Mami Asano. The Ultimate Living Doll.” …huh? The girl blinked finally and turned to me and bowed, then did the same to Watanabe-san.

 “Ultimate…Living Doll?” I repeated. What the hell did that even mean?!

 “Yes. Are you confused by that, sir? I can explain if you wish.” Asano-san sounded so polite when she spoke, but with this whole look…there’s no way about it. It’s almost like a horror movie.

 “C-can you…? A-and, Nagata is fine. I’m Ryuu Nagata.” I clarified. Asano-san nodded as if processing the information like an AI. Maybe she’s a robot…? I mean, no normal person could look like this.

 “Nagata-san then. I shall explain. I was born into an extensively wealthy family who wished to have the perfect daughter. Starting at the age of 6, I began undergoing surgeries to become an image of artificial beauty. I was home-schooled and taught things like classic literature, dance, and music. I was trained to become the Ultimate Living Doll that stands before you.” She pauses. “Is that a satisfactory explanation?”

 “Th…that sounds terrifying…!” I couldn’t help the outburst. Watanabe-san seemed to just be staring as all this went down. “H-how could you be okay with all that?! How could any of that be legal?!”

 “Legal?” Mami tilted her head. Don’t tell me…

 “What kind of parents-“

 “Calm yourself, Nagata-san.” Watanabe-san stepped in. “I don’t particularly like it…but Asano-san must have been taught to never question her parents. You won’t get through to her if you go like that. Plus…if I had to guess, Hope’s Peak probably brought her into this programme to get her away from her parents.”

 …she might be right. Asano-san’s situation is awful no matter how you look at it. I don’t understand she can stand so calmly after what happened to her…

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Blood’s a Great Colour-

 I made eye contact with this guy. Even though he’s dressed like a normal teenager, his eyes are piercing right through me. I’m…kind of scared to talk to him. Watanabe-san, completely fearless, walked up to him.

 “You were the boy who stood at the back of the classroom. The unsocial type, am I correct?” D-does she not fear for her life?! The boy shoved his hands in his pockets and stared down Watanabe-san for a few moments.

 “We’re in a strange situation. For all I know, you could all have kidnapped me.” Was his response. The cautious type then?

 “Somehow I doubt that would be possible. Your aura is something rather formidable…care to introduce yourself? I am Maemi Watanabe. Ultimate Harem Mangaka.” She held her hand out. The boy stared at the extended hand for a few moments before shaking it.

 “Sly. Ultimate Assassin.” He said it so casually that it took me a moment to really process it. I could feel myself drain of colour when it came from him.

 “A-assassin?!” I exclaimed, ready to run in the other direction. We were trapped in this strange situation with an assassin?! No way! I refuse! I wanna go home!

 “Is there a problem with that? It’s my talent. No point in hiding it.” Was his only response.

 “I see why you came up with the kidnapping theory. Maybe someone related to a victim organised all of this to get revenge on you. Plausible.” Watanabe-san nodded to herself. Seriously, it’s not normal for someone to be so unphased by all of this! It’s just…wrong!

 “Though if you’re all like him, I’ll probably have no problem killing you all.” Please don’t say something like that! I’m nervous enough as it is. Sly-san looked at me. “It was a joke. Hah.”

 It seemed to make Watanabe-san laugh, much to Sly-san’s surprise. “What a character you are! I’m intrigued by you, Sly-san. I am.” That only seemed to make him scowl. He reached into his pocket. D-don’t tell he’s-

 He pulled out a wipe and revealed a dog tag that was around his neck on a silver chain. He began to clean the dog tag before putting in back in place. “Best not to get involved with me. You’ll just end up getting hurt.” He turned away from us and walked down the hallway.

 “An assassin…” I murmured.

 “The Ultimate Assassin. This is definitely going to be quite the interesting scenario no matter what’s going on.” Watanabe-san seemed almost excited now. Seriously…what’s her deal?

 -A Killing Game Introduction: It’s all Groovy and Fresh!-

 “YAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!” I stumbled back. All I did was approach this girl and she yelled in my face. “More people! This is so awesome! I’ve never met so many people my age before! Can we get to the introductions now?!” She seemed high-energy, I almost couldn’t keep up with what she was saying. “Okay! The name’s Karma Graves, and I’m the Ultimate…wait for it…wait, am I allowed to tell you…?” She mulled over it for a few seconds. “Aw, screw it! I’m the Ultimate Secret Agent!”

 “My name is Maemi Watanabe. The Ultimate Harem Mangaka.” Watanabe-san nodded politely.

 “I’m, uh…Ryuu Nagata. I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student.” Graves-san covered her mouth and gasped.

 “Wow, you both have seriously hip talents! It’s totally amazing! A mangaka and a lucky student!” Graves-san beamed. For a secret agent…her personality doesn’t fit at all. What’s with her? “Hey, homie. You like my get-up?”

 She gestured to her candy-coloured outfit. It was gaudy that it was hard to look away from. “U-um…Graves-san...? You said you’re the Ultimate Secret Agent.”

 “Sure am. I work for an agency in Canada. Japan’s a little out of my usual field for missions, so it was exciting when Hope’s Peak recruited me! Do you think I’ll make a lot of friends? I hope everybody’s chill.” It was one statement after another in an almost frenzy.

 “M-maybe…! Though with the situation…”

 “Yeah, it’s totally weird, right? I wonder what’s going on. Meh, no need to worry. If I’m around, I’m gonna make sure you guys are all safe. Count on me and my skills, got it?” She tipped her hat down and smiled. Graves-san…is eccentric. It really doesn’t fit her talent at all, but…she must be reliable, right? I think I can trust her.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Love is in the Air-

 “It’s all so hopeless…what am I gonna do…?!”

 “H-hey, calm down!” I tried to reassure a panicking boy. “I know the situation is kind of scary, but I’m sure we’ll be okay-“

 “Not that! There’s so many girls here! I’m doomed! Doomed, I tell you!” Huh? What is he talking about. “L-look, you even brought one of them with you! Are you a rival in love?! Are you?!” The boy seemed ready to cry. Wh-what is his problem?! “I’m so doomed to be humiliated in front of every girl…! In an enclosed space at that…! Ah, Doi Kurohiko is gonna go down in history as the most doomed person ever!”

 Doi Kurohiko? I know that name! He runs a dating website that has a high success rate. Apparently, he doesn’t use an algorithm and makes the matches himself manually. So…why is this his personality?!

 “Kurohiko-san, yes? My name is Maemi Watanabe-“

 “The Ultimate Harem Mangaka. I know who you are. I took the liberty of learning your name and talent before I came here. W-well, not to say I didn’t learn everybody else’s I totally did! I wanted to know who everyone was before because that way I could just fire in and hope for the best! N-no, wait that sounds really perverted! GAAAAAAAHHH!!!” He turned and slammed his head against the wall. “GYAAAAAAAHH!!!” He hunched over onto the ground, holding his forehead in his hands.

 I was far to stunned to say anything. He’s the Ultimate Romance Expert, but…he’s like this around girls? I’m not sure what to do in this moment.

 Watanabe-san and I waited for Kurohiko-san to regain his composure. Getting a better look at him, his actual appearance makes him suit his talent. He has a handsome face with a suave charm. “I’m really sorry about that. When I’m around girls…bad things tend to happen. I’ll get extremely clumsy and do something stupid or say something stupid.”

 “I see. A complete failure of a man.”

 “S-so direct!” Kurohiko-san looked ready to cry again.

 “Watanabe-san, that was a little harsh…” I murmured. Kurohiko-san’s crestfallen face was…pitiful, there was no other word for it. He looked pitiful. “Kurohiko-san, um…if it helps, I’m not really good around girls either.”

 “Even though you’re the Ultimate Lucky Student…what a cruel twist of fate…” His eyes seemed sorrowful as he put a hand on my shoulder and gave me a thumbs up. “Let’s be brothers, Nagata-san. Brothers who are failures as lovers.” That’s…not what I meant.

 Kurohiko-san seems like an overall nice guy, but not the most reliable. Hopefully we’ll be able to get along without any hiccups.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Death Becomes Her-

 “Surrounded by the living in such a hollow place. How enchanting.” A gloomy looking girl giggled with delight. What a creepy vibe…and the way she speaks, she’s strange. “Forgive me, I’m getting ahead of myself. I am Tsukiko Ishikawa, the Ultimate Thanatologist.” The girl curtsied and smiled brightly. Her personality was quite the contrast

 “I’m Ryuu Nagata, and, um…Thanatologist? I’ve never heard of that before.”

 “I am not surprised. Many people haven’t heard of it. Thanatology is the study of death. It investigates the mechanisms and forensic aspects of death, such as bodily changes that accompany death and the post-mortem period, as well as wider psychological and social aspects related to death.” She studies death, huh…? Kind of morbid for someone our age, but…her aesthetic certainly fits a talent like that.

 “I’m surprised you’re able to stomach such a sight. Researching the decomposition of cadavers, what a horrid thought.” Watanabe-san didn’t seem too comfortable with this whole topic, not that I can blame her.

 “I feel almost at home though. Among those in the dreamless sleep, so you need not worry about my state.” Huh…?

 “You feel at home among bodies?”

 “Of course. Though I have managed to awaken from the dreamless sleep, I understand my true state is among the dead.” Ishikawa-san smiled as if everything she was saying made perfect sense…but…don’t tell me she thinks she’s dead or something?

 “Ishikawa-san, I prefer you not to joke around. You’re not among the dead. If you were among the dead, you wouldn’t be walking and talking as you are.” Watanabe-san said matter-of-factly. Ishikawa-san only seemed to giggle at that comment and placed a hand to her cheek.

 “Indeed. What an odd thing. Though, please refrain from calling me a zombie as my flesh is yet to start decomposing.” Seriously, so morbid…is this girl for real?

 “Hmm…I think I’ve heard of this. Cotard’s Delusion. Essentially, the person believes themselves to be a walking corpse. It’s extremely rare, but I’d guess that Ishikawa-san suffers from it.” Wow. Watanabe-san knows about a lot of obscure facts. Maybe she learned all this stuff when she was doing research for writing.

 “Cherish life, both of you. You might not be as fortunate as me.” Tsukiko Ishikawa. She’s…a character. I’m not entirely sure what to make of her just yet, but I can’t help but be interested in how she ended up like this.

 -A killing Game Introduction: Going Viral-

 “Hey, watch where you’re going!” I jumped in surprise. Was that guy always there? I could’ve sworn nobody was there…”Geez, maybe you should update your prescription if you’re that blind.” The blond kid growled.

 “I don’t remember you being in the room when we all woke up. Just who are you?” Watanabe-san eyed him suspiciously. The boy shrugged and grinned at Watanabe-san.

 “What can I say? I’m bad at drawing attention to myself. Considering your friend here failed to notice a guy in the middle of a room should be proof enough, right?” The boy put his hands in his pockets. “I’ll introduce myself, but you’ll probably forget me quickly. I’m Junpei Yokozawa, the Ultimate Blogger.”

 “Junpei…Yokozawa?” I was surprised. I knew the name well, I followed a few blogs that he ran, but…I never expected this. I expected his personality to be pretty like how he came across online, someone fun and charismatic…this guy in front of me…doesn’t even remotely resemble the image in my head.

 “A pleasure. This is Ryuu Nagata, the Ultimate Lucky Student.” Watanabe-san gestured to me before holding her hand out. “My name is Maemi Watanabe. The Ultimate Harem Mangaka, a pleasure, Yokozawa-san.” Yokozawa-san seemed surprised for a few moments, an expression like being starstruck.

 “W-Watanabe-san. I’m a big fan.” He smiled and shook her hand. The change in demeanour was immediate. I suppose he’s got a lot of respect for Watanabe-san, not that I blame him, but…fanboying like this, shouldn’t he be a little embarrassed? I’d be embarrassed to meet someone I was a big fan of.

 “So, what do you two think of this situation we’re in? The school entrance is totally blocked off…I think it’s safe to assume we’re stuck.” Yokozawa-san crossed his arms, which I noticed were trembling slightly. He must be nervous.

 “Trapped…? Are you sure?” I attempted to hide the fear in my voice. The idea of being trapped in an unknown place…forgive me if I’m not excited about that.

 “I haven’t been able to find any signs of an exit so far. You think it might be an elaborate prank? Kinda sadistic, am I right?” Yokozawa-san shrugged again, his hands are definitely trembling, I’m sure of it now. It seems his cool and chill character is a pretty weak façade.

 “I doubt that it’s a prank. Not even Hope’s Peak would go this far for a prank. I’m not entirely sure of the current situation, so we should all be cautious and do our best to work together to find a way out of here.” Watanabe-san fixed her glasses and smiled.

 “Y…yeah. Okay. I think I can manage that.” Yokozawa-san seems like a reasonable person, I just hope that his nerves won’t get the better of him…which is a little hypocritical when it’s coming from me.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Under a lock and key-

 “Ah, hello. My name is Ryuu Nagata, I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student. Could I get your name?” I asked of a girl with stark white hair, her face was completely neutral, she was impossible to read. A few moments of silence passed then she raised her hands into a familiar idol pose from an anime and with a neutral face and monotonous tone, she spoke-

 “Amaterasu Hokama. I’m the Ultimate Thief…” She returned to a normal standing position and stared us both up and down. Then she grabbed me by the shoulders and began to sniff me.

 “Wh-what are you doing?!” I tried to protest but Hokama-san had a strong grip on me, and I was forced to endure her face being pushed closer and closer to me. She let go of me, but before she could do the same to Watanabe-san, she held up a hand and pushed Hokama-san away.

 “Refrain.” Was all she said.

 “Right. Okay then.” Hokama-san nodded and turned to walk away.

 “Stop right there. Return Nagata-san’s shoes, please.” Huh? I looked down to see that my shoes were indeed missing. D…don’t tell me Hokama-san-

 “You noticed.” Hokama-san produced my shoes from seemingly nowhere, just when did she manage to do that?! “Here you go. I was gonna return them later.” She handed my shoes back to me.

 “H-how did you do that…?! Hokama-san, that’s incredible!” If not a little abusive of your abilities. I began to put my shoes back on.

 “Call me Amaterasu.” She crouched down and stared at me straight in the eyes when she said it. “Hokama is too formal. I like Amaterasu better. I’ll call you Ryuu-chan.”

 “R-Ryuu-chan?!” I could feel my face flush. Nobody had ever been so…endearing so quickly with me. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do.

 “Right. Amaterasu and Ryuu-chan. We should be good friends, and I’ll make sure to steal from you a whole lot, okay?” She didn’t even wait for a response before she patted my head and headed down the hallway.

 “Wh…what just happened?”

 “I’m not entirely sure myself, but it seems you’ve caught the attention of Amaterasu-san.” Watanabe-san let out a giggle of amusement. Ugh…just my luck.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Rough and Rocky-

 “Piss off, will you?! I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone, got it?!” The tanned boy snapped at me. This isn’t good…Watanabe-san said the best course of action was learn who everyone was, but he really doesn’t seem like the cooperative type. He’s dressed in an air of professionalism, but his way of talking to someone he just met…I’m pretty unsure what to think.

 “Okanaya-san, please. Try to be reasonable. Acting like a brute will help nobody, least of all, yourself.” The boy stared Watanabe-san down and grunted. “All I wish is for you to make an introduction, that is all.”

 His expression softened a little. When he wasn’t scowling, he had a handsome face. His eyes seemed to belong to someone much more soothing than the guy I saw mere seconds ago. “Fine then. He’s the kid that was sleeping when we all split up to investigate, right…? Can’t be helped then. Listen up, I’ll only say it once! I’m the Ultimate Tour Guide, Kobo Okanaya. Don’t forget it, or I’ll be forced to knock it into you!”

 “Ultimate…tour guide? Really?”

 “Huh?” He loomed over me. “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?! Yeah, that’s my talent, bastard! You tryna say you don’t believe me?!” R-really, is he gonna hit me?! “Fucking hell, first this weird situation, and now everyone is throwin’ me weird looks. I’ll beat the crap outta all of them.”

 “Oh, hush.” Watanabe-san crossed her arms. “I’ve been looking for you, actually. Since you’re a tour guide, you’re probably the best person to ask. This building-“

 “Yeah, it’s definitely Hope’s Peak Academy. You can tell by the little details in the décor and such in the classrooms and the hallways. Nobody else could mimic this kind of building. Hope’s Peak is really one of a kind, so this is definitely the same building.” Wow…he was really that sure? “Oi, you better not be doubting me! My talent’s the real fuckin’ deal, shitbag!” He growled, cracking his knuckles.

 “No, even for a tour guide, to know this sort of thing…it’s impressive.” I murmured.

 “Tch! I’m not just any tour guide. Any tour guide worth his salt would be able to recognise landmarks and iconic buildings from even the most obscure photo taken by the world’s worst photographer. Even then, I’m way better than anyone you’ll find.”

 Kobo Okanaya…he’s really scary. If I say the wrong thing, I might get introduced to his fist before I even realise what I said wrong…but, even at that, he’s really proud of his talent and for good reason. If I want any more information on Hope’s Peak I’ll have to talk to Okanaya-san.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: You will be amazed!-

 “Greetings and salutations from me! Who am I? Tomoe Hachi, the Ultimate Illusionist!” A masked kid spoke to me before I even approached. He was wearing an odd outfit, but if he’s the Ultimate Illusionist, I suppose it meant this was his show outfit?

 “Hachi-san…um, hi there. I’m Ryuu Nagata. Nice to meet you. Ultimate Illusionist? What kind of stuff does that entail?” It makes me think of magic, but…the fact that he’s an illusionist and not a magician…

 “Well, illusions are naturally my speciality! I can control the wind and make tornadoes, that’s one of my more famous tricks!” They clapped their hands gleefully. It was weird. As I listened to Hachi-san’s voice, I…found it increasingly more difficult to figure out if Hachi-san was a guy or a girl and their outfit didn’t give any hints either. Was it rude to ask something like that?

 “You’re wondering about my gender, right? You can say yes. There are plenty of online forums trying to find out!” Hachi-san giggled. I’d never met someone so completely androgynous before. Was this the ability of the Ultimate Illusionist? “You’re free to hazard a guess, but I’ll never tell you the answer. Nobody wants to find out the truth behind the trick, right? You feel the same way, right, Nagata-chan?!”

 Hachi-san…acts a lot like a child. It’s hard to believe they’re a great illusionist. Does anybody have a personality that matches their talent? But…they do have that talent so I’d love to see what Hachi-san is capable of.

 “Heheheh~ Nagata-chan, better be careful!”

 “Huh?”

 “If you’re not careful, you might fall victim to one of my pranks. Try to best to stay on my good side and I’ll go easy on you!” Wh…what kind of warning was that? Really, I can’t keep up with these Ultimate’s.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Watch the Watch-

 “Uwaaaaaaah! Wata-chan, I dunno what to do in heeeeeere!” A little kid with curly brown hair clung to Watanabe-san. “It’s all so boring, and I don’t know what’s going on either! I wanna go hooooome!” He suddenly bounced back and smiled. “Ah, that was a good cry! How are you, Wata-chan?”

 “Irunami-san…please try to not give me a migraine. The situation is tough as it is.” Watanabe-san massaged her temples. Yeah, even I could already tell that this kid was a handful. He swayed and giggled as he turned to me.

 “Nice to meet’cha, call me Irunami, cause it’s my name! I’m the Ultimate Hypnotist!” Another person with an unfitting talent…hold on.

 “Irunami…? Like, the Irunami Circus?”

 “Yep yep! That’s the circus my grandpa is the ringmaster for! He taught me all kind of stuff about hypnotism!” That made sense. Keichiro Irunami was a famous hypnotist, and if this guy was his grandson it only made sense for him to be an Ultimate.

 “So, you must’ve been scouted during one of your performances at the Irunami Circus, right?”

 “Nope! I ran away from there loooong ago. Circus scene wasn’t for me, so I became a street performer and got scouted through that.” Huh?!

 “Y-you were living on the streets?! At your age?!” No matter how you look at it, that’s not right! He didn’t enjoy the circus so much that he became homeless?!

 “It wasn’t so bad. I’m a hypnotist. I got people to buy me food and let me into their homes so I could stay clean. I had fun with it all!” He’s…he’s a total hooligan. An unofficial criminal… “Do you want a demonstration on my abilities? I could get you to do some really embarrassing stuff! Maybe I should get you to strip to your undies and do an embarrassing dance?!”

 “N-no, I think I’ll pass.”

 “Keheheehee! I was toooootally joking, Naga-chan!” I find that hard to believe. He has this childish innocence, so despite what he’s saying he’s done…it’s hard to be mad at him. But…there’s definitely more to him that he’s letting me see. Irunami-san…I’m curious to know more.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: A Spirited Day-

 A tall girl let out a heavy sigh. I can’t blame her for it, considering the situation we’re in. Maybe I could help her out somehow…? “Hey, are you okay? Do you want any help?” I tried to force a smile since I didn’t want her to see my nerves as well.

 The girl looked me over and placed a hand over her cheek. “Ah, hey. Sorry if I seem down…it’s just…there’s no cold areas or anything.”

 “Cold…areas?”

 “Ah, right, we haven’t met yet. I’m the Ultimate Paranormal Investigator, Saori Kibe.” Kibe-san is someone I recognise by name. I’m not into the paranormal, but people in my old school would go on about the videos she’s recorded of ghost sightings and her conspiracy theories on things like aliens and demons. A pretty popular figure among fans of the supernatural.

 “Wow, it’s nice to meet you, Kibe-san. I’m Ryuu Nagata, the Ultimate Lucky Student.” Kibe-san’s eyes seemed to light up at that.

 “Lucky, you say? Could it be you’ve been blessed by a Zashiki Warashi?!” Huh…? She’s…talking about a yokai, right? “Wow, how incredible! Aaaaaah! I wish I could be blessed by a yokai, but all I got was aliens, probably!”

 “Aliens?” Watanabe-san repeated, doubtfully.

 “Right! I was abducted by aliens when I was little, and they gave me the special abilities needed to investigate the paranormal!” As she spoke, she gripped a glow-stick that was on a string around her neck. “Ah…between my abilities, and Nagata-kun’s yokai, we should definitely be best buddies! Totally!”

 “H-huh, where did that come from?!”

 “What else is there to say? We both have been affected by the supernatural, so we should be best friends, what more do you need? Ah…are you one of those people that has trouble being social? I can give you space if you want. I don’t really mind, but we’re definitely good friends from here on out, fair?”

 Sh…she said so much so quickly that I didn’t really have enough time to process it. “Great! The silence definitely means yes!” N…no, it really doesn’t but…I doubt she’d even hear anything else. Plus, it wouldn’t feel right saying anything now. Kibe-san seems harmless enough.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: Chains and Whips-

 “Ah…a beautiful Fraulein and an adorable Herr…” The cool tone of this tall blond guy seemed enough to make anyone swoon. And…being called adorable so quickly when I don’t even know his name? It’s embarrassing. “Where are my manners? Call me Yuuki Kurosaki. A pleasure.”

 “Kurosaki-san, please do not flirt needlessly.” Watanabe-san crossed her arms and glared at the boy. He was in an odd get-up, as if he raided an Indiana Jones cosplay shop but couldn’t get a complete outfit for one movie. Hanging from his belt were a bull-whip and a horse-whip.

 “Ah~ Mademoiselle Watanabe, you wound me so! Don’t you want to fall in love-“

 “I would rather not.” She cut him off.

 “Gyah, so cruel!” He laughed it off quite easily. “Ah…but you are?” He turned his attention to me.

 “Ryuu Nagata. I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student. It’s nice to meet you, Kurosaki-san. I hope we can get along.” I smiled weakly but his own smile was rather overpowering…w-were these normal feelings to have?

 “Nagata-kyun~ Ah, even your name is adorable. Lucky student…yep, that suits you to a ‘T’. I hope you and I can get along too.”

 “Be careful, Nagata-san. Men like Kurosaki-san are just looking to break your heart. Under that charisma is a playboy, through and through.” Watanabe-san seemed to be staring daggers at Kurosaki-san.

 “Ah…she’s soooo mean~ No wonder she can’t keep a man.”

 “Do you want hit?”

 “I jest, I jest!”

“Oh, Kurosaki-san. I just realised…you never mentioned what your talent is.” Kurosaki-san’s attitude seemed to change quickly. He laughed and ruffled my hair affectionately.

 “Sorry, sorry, Nagata-kyun. I’m the Ultimate Explorer. Nothing incredible…I simply travel around the world and explore ancient temples and such.” Ancient temples? Even if he’s downplaying it, that still sounds pretty exciting. Kurosaki-san must be the thrill-seeking type. He’s clearly a flirt, but I don’t think that’s a problem. He seems like a good guy deep down.

 -A Killing Game Introduction: What’s in a name?-

 A girl in all grey with a black hair was sitting by herself against the wall, her knees were being hugged against her chest as she rested her head a top them. It was too sad to see her by herself, so I tried my best to talk to her.

 “Hey there. Are you feeling okay?” The girl jumped with a yelp, looking up at me with an unmissable fear. “S-sorry, did I scare you?” She hesitated to answer, instead opting to hold onto her hairband which sported two horns. “��ah…um…can I get your name? I’m just trying to meet everyone here. My name is Ryuu Nagata.”

 The girl looked at me curiously and then gulped. “Pl…please, call me R…Ram. I’m…the Ultimate Taxidermist. I’m r-really sorry for taking so long to tell you who I am!” She apologised unnecessarily. Was she really that nervous? Maybe I should make a joke or something to calm her down.

 “It’s nice to meet you…Ram-san, right?” Ram-san nodded, picking herself off the floor. Even stood up, she had a demure demeanour. “Ultimate Taxidermist, huh? That’s…got to do with stuffing animals, right?”

 “R…right. To preserve an animal’s body by mounting or stuffing for the purpose of display or study.” Her eyes seemed to soften as she spoke about her talent. She must enjoy it a lot.

 “So, like those mounted heads you see in a bad guy’s mansion? That kind of taxidermy?” Ram-san nodded in response to my question. “Wow, that’s pretty impressive. Working with dead animals…I don’t think I could stomach something like that.”

 “Ah…!” Ram-san suddenly backed away. “I’m s-sorry! I know it’s a g-gross talent!” She began tearing up suddenly, w-wait, was she really sensitive about her talent?! “I’m s-sorry for being such a gross Ultimate! Pl-please excuse me…!” Before I could protest, Ram-san sprinted away from me.

 “Nagata-san…” Watanabe-san spoke in a tone that made me fear for my life.

 But it was at that moment that it happened…a school bell sounded and the monitor in the hallway switched on. A hazy silhouette covered by static was being shown and through the speakers an eerily cheerful voice sounded. Resonated.

 “Ahem, ahem! Mic check, 1 2 3! Can you hear me? …great! Please, will all Ultimate’s make their way to the school gym immediately for the opening ceremony!” The monitor turned off.

 “Opening ceremony?” Watanabe-san repeated it, clearly suspicious. “There’s no way this was all actually something Hope’s Peak set up, right…?”

 “I dunno…but, we won’t find out by hanging about here. We should head to the gym and find out what’s going on…” And so, we did just that. Watanabe-san and I headed for the gym.

 We headed the gym…where the story of this group of 16 students would begin.

[thecorruptedquietone]

i think I asked you this a while back, but I'm not sure at all. who would Ken's best friend (excluding Kyle ofc) be?

I do not believe this has ever been asked, or if it was I don’t remember. But I will start off with the core four are best friends. Definitely not always in the conventional sense there’s one in particular who no one wants to call that but they have a bond that solidifies them as a group and sets them apart from the others, so I feel like it’s fair considering them four best friends. Their relationships just all act in different ways and how people label things makes it seem like there’s a ranking; but there really isn’t one that’s more than another, just one that’s different than another. 

That said, I think Kenny would openly say he has multiple best friends. And, since I ramble when I detail this shit, I’m putting my little explanations under a cut. 

Stan and Kyle are obviously the first two answers that come to mind. However, in their case, Kenny would acknowledge that the two of them have a particular dynamic that is different from the one he has with either of them. Like, he’d probably always say Stan is Kyle’s best friend and vice versa because he understands they essentially have platonic partnership. So he says Stan and Kyle are both his best friends, but acknowledge there are ways they’ll relate to one another that he won’t. Y’know, similar to how Kenny compliments Kyle in ways Stan can’t or how Stan plays off Kenny in ways he doesn’t play off Kyle. Literally that is just a formality because they are the epitome of a conventional, ideal best friendship.

Then there’s Kenny’s self-proclaimed BFF: Cartman. Now Kenny would not feel the same–especially since that BFF thing was entirely a stunt to get his PSP–but there’s enough evidence that they’re best friends that he can’t exactly dispute it. Which he probably hates more than anything, since no one wants to admit to that. So instead he just emphasises how he hates literally everything he does and considers him a terrible person. Honestly all three of the boys can describe their relationship with him as “it’s complicated.”

And, of course, we have Karen, who canonically referred to her big brother has her best friend. Seriously, that Casa Bonita DLC was everything because we have Kenny being a protective older brother, Karen admitting she was lonely because Kenny was playing with his other (best) friends, and Kenny responding by immediately dropping everything and making time for her. Like, if Kenny is going to say Stan is Kyle’s best friend and Kyle is Stan’s best friend, then I feel like Kenny is going to say he’s Karen’s best friend and Karen is his best friend. Or more accurately Kenny is Karen’s big brother best friends forever because that is their relationship. 

Now the only other person I’d toss into the best friends list is Bebe, but that’s entirely because of my interpretations and my die-hard conviction that they’re Barbie and Ken-Doll. The reason I don’t do that automatically is I view their relationship as a very separate entity because it’s mostly extrapolation and aggressive headcanoning. So if they’re stated best friends it’s usually because of story reasons, otherwise they’re just really good friends. 

[thegreatmercutio]

Link: https://twitter.com/getfandom/status/1199399763642220544?s=21 and https://twitter.com/variety/status/1199334432538271745?s=21 (article)

My thoughts: (these are just my opinions...mine)

Birds of Prey and Suicide Squad getting a rated R rating...YESS PLEASE!!

Birds of Prey...reshoots? That’s kinda concerning...DC doesn’t do well with reshoot news. I am rooting for this movie. Believe me, so far the “out spoken�� community (mostly fanboys...ugh, the negativity there...it’s disgusting)...wants this film to fail. Many of the comic youtubers...they already...dissing this movie. Which is sad, because it’s not out yet.

The Flash...hopefully it will happen. It’s been delayed again and again.

Aquaman 2...and obviously that will be happening. And a spin off.

Also Wonder Woman 2...and Black Adam with The Rock...very excited...of course.

GREEN LANTERNS...PLEASE...PLEASE...PLEASE...LET IT HAPPEN. I WANT HAL...I WANT JOHN STEWART...I WANT THE WHOLE CORP. PERSONALLY, A SERIES WILL BE FINE...BUT TO ESTABLISH A JUSTICE LEAGUE...we need cinematic films. But let’s hope...things work out.

HBO Max...producing their own DC Comics contents...SUPER EXCITED FOR THOSE POSSIBILITIES.

The Batman...ummmm...I am staying as open minded as I can be...since I was a kid...7 years old...he has always been my favorite...I had Barbie dolls and my Batman. I don’t give a shit about what “today’s” people opinions about him...on how overrated he is...or how he’s this and that...that’s their opinions...he’s a character that has evolved through his 80 and counting years...and how he’s interpreted is through multiple media contents written by so many individuals...so it’s all up for subjective interpretations...Robert Pattinson is not my choice. I understand that he has improved as an actor since Twilight...(I hate those movies...sorry, not sorry...I am NOT a fan of them)...and I have watched his movies afterwards and yes, he had improved...however, it’s a different game from playing an independent character from a smaller films vs. a character with 80 years of contents...to me, I read the Twilight series and I enjoyed them...personally in my opinion...he fucked up Edward Cullen, and that’s not a very complicated character to play but he was younger and inexperienced as actor...so we will see...HOWEVER, “THE NEWS” OF BATMAN’S VILLAINS GETTING THEIR OWN FILMS...YESSSSS!! I a, very excited for that. Batman has the most iconic villains...or rogue gallery out there. Imagine...Two Faces, Penguin, Mr. Freeze, Posion Ivy,....please, please, please...a better Catwoman movie!...the possibilities is endless...thou, side note...please don’t waste the Arkham Asylum arc...it’s too early...established this new Batman first before overwhelming the audience especially the newer younger-Marvel raised audience who had no idea who he is and who....his rogue gallery is...we need establishments first. The Arkham Asylum is one of the best Batman comic out there.

PLEASE LET HENRY CAVILL GET ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY TO FINISH AS SUPERMAN...ITS TOO...EARLY...OR INCOMPLETE TO GO REBOOT ANOTHER SUPERMAN...AND PERSONALLY...LOOK, if you follow me...I am always BIG on diversity...I hate whitewashing with a WRATH...and I AM ALSO THERE FOR MORE POC LEADS...REPRESENTATIONS MATTERS...(so, don’t go twisting my words and make assumptions about my thoughts)...THERE ARE SO MANY POC and LGBTQA OF SUPERHEROES THAT DESERVES REPRESENTATIONS FROM THE COMICS...they deserve an opportunity for the mass audience to know them too...there was a time...when most people didn’t even know Thor, Loki, etc...BASICALLY, 80% of Marvel cinematic characters. Changing the Race of some very iconic characters can be very stressed....as in...they need to be willing to take on a lot of responsibilities and unfortunately a lot of backlash (and it gets ugly)...the unnecessary drama...however, it’s important to know that it works for some characters...and some just don’t...Clark Kent is a hard one, especially with his 80 plus years of contents...If Michael B Jordan in the future will be playing Clark Kent as Superman...that will be interesting...and I am open to see what... will be come of it...it’s all about the quality of the story and the performances. It will be a difficult path to go and BOLD...HOWEVER if HE PLAYS Calvin Ellis from EARTH 23...than that will be FUCKING AWESOME...BECAUSE THIS CHARACTER HAS HIS OWN ROOTS IN HIS OWN SOURCE MATERIALS WITHOUT HAVING TO LIVE UP OR UNFORTUNATELY LIVE IN THE SHADOW OF ANOTHER ESTABLISHED CHARACTER LIKE CLARK KENT. SO....I GUESS TIME WILL TELL...SIDE NOTE THOU, MICHAEL B JORDAN WOULD BE A BEAUTIFUL John Stewart...my favorite GREEN LANTERN. THAT CHARACTER DESERVES A MOVIE.

[kurtty-drabbles]

Belasco au of an au (evil ending)

N/A: I´m so sorry for the inconvenient, I did make screw up with the first ask and now I hope to fix the mistake.  TW: Death  TW: mentions of Sex Tw: sort of evil!Kitty(?)

@djinmer4 @niuniente

The Greek tale of Hades and Persephone(Korra) is full of interpretations, the one that obtains popularity from the media is the version of Hades prisoning the beautiful Persephone(Korra) like the devil would do. Yes, that is the easiest version to tell and the easiest to fix on every religious person´s mind.

Lovely and innocent young woman do not communicate or interact with the devil on their free will, so, of course, the Hades(the eternal bad guy) must have done something, is a safer thought, however, many disregard(by several reasons such as discomfort) that in some versions Persephone(Korra) did enter in the Underworld on her free will.

Kitty Pryde never expected to live in such place, the Limbo(the new Hell, the new Underworld) but the 'new' ruler is very adamant in not let Kitty go(ever) and the scary part is that sometimes she does not wish to leave, sometimes Kitty can call this place home, and most of the times, she likes to be near to the 'new' ruler. Kurt Wagner.

The revelation was bittersweet, didn´t Kitty cry her eyes out? Didn´t she visit his (fake) grave every day? How dare they lie to her face!( why Kurt is a Demon Lord matter little now to Kitty)

Currently, Kitty is wearing her silk pink dress( Kurt give as a present to combine with the aesthetic) and is reading a book and drawing at the same time(drawing places that never existed, no longer existed and will be crafted) on the bed. The bed is the same as always, untouched, is not here where she sleeps (or do other activities)

"Guten Tag, Katzchen," said a voice that is the nightmare of the others, never to Kitty.

"Guten Tag, elf, you do know there´s a door here," she said a bit amused, Belasco(Kurt!) is never the one to pass any dramatic entrance or hyperboles. Kurt always flares to drama.

" Is not important, I have a surprise for you, my leibling" Kurt said grinning like he used before this insanity begins. Kurt now is red, dangerous and promised to keep Kitty safe from the others.

"More aesthetic?"

"Nein, not yet" there´s this knowing glee in his eyes and Kitty goes to see what Kurt give to her this time, it was a feminine version of the unfamous loincloth outfit.

"Really? Kurt, if you want to roleplay just say so" now Kitty is bemused " or are you getting nostalgic?"

"What? no, of course not, but is important for the present I´ll bestow for you" Kitty can´t help to giggle at the word, bestow, theatrically words and movements are his specialties (in a way, it was always his specialty) and decide to play along, but, before she could dress in this uniform, unexpectedly, his tail prevent the action.

His red tail can rip someone´s arm easily, she saw him doing that with glee and a morbid sense of justice, but here, the tail is holding too kind, to the point Kitty only noticed because of Kurt´s humming drawing her attention.

"Really?" she asked with her eyebrow twitching" I´m not a Barbie Doll, Kurt," said slowly to get the point. Kurt just dismissed with a waving hand.

"But today is an important event and I like to dress you up," Kitty relents as Kurt gets his way. His cold hands(so cold, so unnatural) could easily rip her pink dress to shreds, that never happens. Instead, Kurt lifts it tenderly(touching and savoring the moment).

The dress escape from his hand easily and his hands are free to wander towards her smooth skin, like a serpent traveling to corrupt Adam and Eve is how his hands operate right now. Teasing, marking and playing all in one go, just driving Kitty mad( a will of battle is useless with a Demon of temptation) or she is doing that to herself.

"Kurt," she said softly noticing his hands traveling to her waistline, lower and lower. Then his hands are removed and Kitty groans impatient with this game "Kurt!"

"I got carried away, Katzchen"there´s affection in his voice(teasing and innuendos, Demon of temptations live by his title after all) "you can take on me later" the last part he whispers in her ear, how close two people can be? Somehow, Kitty is sure they are breaking some physics laws.

Now Kurt put the uniform on her, the glee is still present and the teasing is unmerciful, her skin is hot and the wanting only intensifies. Then, it is all over.

"Kurt, you´re evil," she said hating that her body is still showing signals of aroused by his touch(oh, how she wants more " let´s forget the surprise for a moment"

Kurt smiles, a dark and sinister version of his own smile, as he denies the request(after some consideration and time to think, after all, he is the ruler of this place, if wants something...he gets) but the present is important now.

"We can do this later, meine Geliebte" then offering his hand(there´s too much symbolism here, but Kitty doesn´t care anymore) leads her to the present. "Do you remember a few months, when you request something of me?" Kurt flashes a devious smile when Kitty realize what he is talking about.

They are walking towards the halls of the castle, and Kitty marks mentally how powerful Kurt is now, not that Nightcrawler as ever weak, but as Belasco, he can do anything and she can now understand how the power can help(the absolute power corrupts absolutely, she hopes to be the exception) and how can seduce. And, how is hard to let it go(why they should give up on such power?)

They enter in a room, where a woman is stapped down looking scared and angry. Is Amanda(that not her real name but Kitty does not care and neither does Kurt) giving Kitty´s angry stares.

"This is the one you choose? Kurt, please, this girl is not like us, only I can give what you need" she is trying to seduce Belasco(her Kurt)? she really is a fool or a cunning bitch(or maybe both)

Kurt ignored her for the moment, and conjure a dagger for Kitty, smiling devious(his eyes are red, longing for the blood) along with his typical chiton make the aesthetic of a Demon Lord complete.

"meine Geliebte, you ask for her death and I shall give to you," there´s the maniac glee in his eyes, voice as Kurt reaches deeper and deeper in this Demon Lord persona " Her death is your lovely hands, Katzchen," he said ignoring the pleas and sweet nothings Amanda is throwing at him.

Kurt gives the dagger to her, someone would suggest to stab Kurt and run away, if it was someone else, maybe she would do that, but it is Kurt(her Kurt), so, instead, she just graceful pick the dagger and goes to the blonde woman.

She knows Amanda´s disgusting story. Seduce, lie and kill whatever is in her way, too bad she tries to do that with a Demon Lord who not only show revolting towards her but as someone who is more eager to end her pathetic existence.

"Katzchen, you choose me or them?" he asked already knowing the answer(who are they? the X-men? the morals? her humanity?)

Kitty stabs the blonde woman viciously, remembering what she did with Kurt, what she did to get her, remembering her own insecurities as a woman and as a person. All her anger was in 4 blows(the blonde mage is dead in the first one)

The corpse lays there and Kurt claps hands, Kitty is just annoyed(why she have to dress like that? Oh, right Kurt have some fetishes) by the outfit. With a snap of his finger, the woman is back to her health again and Kurt throws her to the dire Wrath, where she will have a lovely time being chased, eaten for the rest of eternity.

"Ok, I could have done this without the outfit" Kitty replies deadpan.

"Maybe, but now our aesthetic really match," he said joking(maybe not really)" and you look a sight to behold" there´s some blood on her outfit, not innocent anymore.

" Well, aside from the outfit, I really like my present"

"Really? In that case, I can help you to take off the outfit if you still want"

Yes, the myth of Hades and Persephone is widely interpreted as a pretty innocent woman trapped in a horror land with an evil monster, that is the version accepted by almost everyone. Sadly, many prefer to forget the version where Persephone meets Hades and falls in love with the ruler of the Underworld and is the Queen who is scariest than Hades.

[writtenbylois]

That One Time I Was A Child Criminal Mastermind

Sometimes I wonder how I didn’t grow up to be a serial killer. There’s a cute picture of me on my family’s barely touched piano. I’m smiling and I’ve lost my two front teeth. I often look at that photo and think “there’s so much evil in those eyes.” I’ve come to a point in my life when I can laugh at the crap I used to pull as a kid, even the most diabolical evils committed against my siblings. One really bad story concerns my earliest memory of my little brother getting spanked.

           I have one of those HGTV-obsessed, do-it-yourself, fancy-couch-buying moms. She takes every piece of furniture in our house very seriously, and has for as long as I can remember. Around the time I was six years-old, my mom bought me a really cute set of lightly distressed wooden dresser drawers for my bedroom. She lined the insides with teddy bear wrapping paper to keep my clothes from catching splinters, and I think she loved those drawers as much as she loved me. My younger brother/partner-in-crime, who was four, shared the bedroom with me. He was a cute little thing with big eyes who, until he started first grade, wrote his name on our dad’s notepads in crayon with the y’s facing the wrong direction. Ryan and I had a hot and cold relationship back in those days. He’d follow me around, take the clothes off my Barbie dolls, and pee on the carpet in our room from time to time. I had a bad, slow-burning temper that included outbursts leading to my older sister’s favorite doll mysteriously losing all its hair and other slightly disturbing things. I can’t remember exactly what my brother did to provoke me, but one day I was really upset with him. I wanted him to receive the worst punishment my mom could give, so I took an orange crayon from my pencil box, walked over to my brand new dresser, and wrote my brother’s name on the side facing the door. The forged signature was perfect, down to the backwards “y.” I can vaguely remember hearing “Mommy, I didn’t do it” trip out his mouth in between tears as he was disciplined for my action.

           I know it’s terrible, but I laughed writing this whole thing, and I started crying from the giggles when I finally confessed to my crime nearly a decade after it was committed. My mom cried when I told her too, out of guilt rather than glory. She hugged the life out of my brother, apologizing to him as I sat in my room, punished, still laughing, and felt equal sensations of remorse and amusement. I’ll never forget my mother turning to me and asking how I could do such a thing to my little brother and laugh. I don’t know the exact reason for my laughter, but I can certainly try to figure it out.  

           In the essay “Nonknowledge, Laughter, and Tears,” Georges Bataille discusses the reasons for and implications of laughter in relation to human awareness, and the depth of other physical responses such as tears. Bataille writes using his theory of nonknowledge, the idea that we will never truly understand why we find something funny, we must “envision a possibility” (350) of discovering more about the unknowable through investigation. His most basic meaning of laughter is described as “something that reveals that knowledge was not given to us, and that situates itself uniquely as being unable to be attained by knowledge” (135). We laugh in response to change as we move into a state he compares to that of a religious experience after writing that “in every case when we laugh, we pass from the sphere of the known, from the anticipated sphere, to the sphere of the unknown and unforeseeable” (135).

           I wouldn’t say my fit of laughter after revealing myself as an evil mastermind was anything near a spiritual moment of transcendence, but I do agree that my laughter was a result of a rapid change occurring in my life. A secret I’d been sitting with for years, one I had forgotten, had been unraveled by my own hands. I could have screamed, cried, apologized profusely—in theory, any response is a valid response if a change occurs—but my natural reaction was an awkward half-nervous, half-entertained laugh. Laughing in the face of awkward situations is something I’ve done since childhood. Perhaps my laughter doesn’t matter as much as my ability to respond to the change at all. My mom cried when I told her what I had done, and shortly after was more pissed at me for framing my brother than ruining my dresser drawers. Both of us reacted in ways Bataille wouldn’t consider much different. My mother’s tears and anger were not only directed at me, but at herself. Before she knew I’d framed my brother, my mom was completely justified in disciplining him. I imagine she was disappointed in herself for ignoring Ryan’s cries of innocence, assuming he was just another little kid who wanted to talk his way out of a spanking, and inflicting unnecessary pain on her youngest child. My mom was angry with me for being vindictive, finding what had broken her heart funny, and, though I doubt she’d admit it, making her feel like a bad mother. In another section of Nonknowledge, Bataille discusses his issues with the fisherman in Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea. According to Bataille, the fisherman—the old man—is a static character who constantly fails in his attempts to capture s swordfish, but evolves in no way throughout the story. Bataille writes that “there is something bothersome” (149) about the lack of reaction in Hemingway’s characters. Bataille feels that people can’t help but to convey some sort of physical and emotional reaction to life’s circumstances, whether good or bad, and sees the fisherman as unrealistic. I think, however, people have the profound ability to be more nuanced in many cases. I remember my brother, who was 14 years-old when my secret came out, reacting in a very subtle way. He was sitting next to me on our parents’ bed when I blurted everything out, and his eyes widened as his memories of the event flooded his mind. “I remember that!” he yelled, smiling, before he nudged me and said something to the effect of “that was really messed up.” Ryan, the victim in this situation, laughed as our mom scolded me for my actions, relishing in the sweet revenge karma had given him. I don’t know exactly what was going through his mind, but I’m sure he wasn’t just laughing at my getting caught. Who’s to say he wasn’t trying not to relive the pain of being falsely accused and punished, because he had certainly suppressed the memory of that spanking for a decade. For to return to his mind meant that the emotions associated with it must have come back, too.  

           While I laughed in response to a change when I told my mother about what I had done to my brother, the type of laughter I experienced recalling the event as I wrote it earlier was very different. It didn’t come from a place of guilt or discomfort. I was laughing, and am laughing, as an older, slightly more mature human being thinking of an extremely childish moment. I suppose I could interpret that laughter as a response, in part, to the emotional and physical changes I’ve experienced in over a decade. I’ve grown from a six to eighteen years-old, and my sense of humor has evolved during that twelve year gap. I know that what I did was wrong, but laugh despite that revelation at the gall I had to go as far as forging my brother’s signature to get revenge. I think I’m more inclined to take a walk when I get as angry as I must’ve been in that moment now, not that I don’t think of shaving off eyebrows or snapping skateboards in half from time to time. If I do snap and do either of those things one day, I’m sure I’d feel pretty guilty about it first, and then find myself laughing about it in another ten years.