#plus there's so much interesting stuff around the Book and WHY it's not actually all that accurate to the real story in a lot of ways

[ixmelodix]

Okay, so, I only meant to write out a couple short excerpts from the Disciple's Book for Rising Star...

...but now I'm at ~5k words just from the Book itself, and definitely not done...

...AND I kind of accidentally started writing the actual story, as it happened, and not just the Book...

In other words, fuck me, I dug too deep and now I have Plot and Worldbuilding and Feelings and now I guess AoA is going to have a prequel - probably updating alongside Rising Star - because I am getting way too excited about the AoA ancestors' story and how it ties in to the rest of AoA and Eridan and Sollux and Karkat and everyone to not post it.

The Book will still be in the form of excerpts in Rising Star (just significantly longer ones than I'd originally thought, probably closer to their own chapters) rather than being its own work, but I'll post the ancestors' actual story separately.

[thatsbelievable]

A Message From the That’s Believable Guy

Hey, it’s me! The THAT’S BELIEVABLE guy! The one who writes all this stuff. I’ve been doing it now for about 8 years, give or take. Posting 7 times a day, every day. I’m grateful to everyone who takes a few seconds out of their day to read the nonsense I write. Thank you.

THAT’S BELIEVABLE is, was, and will remain free. So, in order to pay bills and buy clothes and food for my kids, I write other stuff for money. Most of those projects are work-for-hire, meaning, I don’t own the characters. I love working on these projects, because it’s fun to write stories with Spider-Man, Lilo and Stitch, you name it.

Then there are other things I write that aren’t work-for-hire — projects that I own (or share the copyright with an artist). One such project is THE MONSTROUS ADVENTURES OF MUMMY MAN AND WAFFLES. It’s a spooky humor middle-grade book I wrote, and that artist Robb Mommaerts illustrated. This is a story that has been zipping around my brain for nearly a decade, based on my childhood (and well, let’s face it, adult) love of classic horror movies.

MUMMY MAN means the world to me, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that HarperCollins actually published the book! And guess what? There’s a Book 2 coming next year!

But I want to create even more MUMMY MAN adventures. In order to do that, I need people to read Book 1 — The Monstrous Adventures of Mummy Man and Waffles. You can get your own copy at the links below (including autographed copies from Books of Wonder). You can also ask your local library to order a copy for you to read! Believe me, I know it’s not always in our budget to buy books. I’m often in the same boat. That’s why libraries are so important. Publishers count library sales, too! If MUMMY MAN does well in libraries, that can help move the needle! (Plus, librarians are cool.)

If you’ve made it this far, thank you very much for reading this. For reading That’s Believable. And hopefully, for being interested enough to get a copy of MUMMY MAN from a bookseller or your library.

Oh, and guess what? You can read a few chapters of MUMMY MAN for FREE, HERE!!

We now return you to our usual nonsense.

Get MUMMY MAN HERE!

Get an AUTOGRAPHED COPY HERE!

READ THE NAMES OF 33 BATS HERE!

[iactuallykissedsharawheeler]

⭑⌗ 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐄 𝐇𝐂𝐒 + 𝐟𝐞𝐦 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

✶ let's go ahead and clear that idea that ellie wouldn't be like. immediately obsessed with you and giving you secret discounts on the weed.

✶ she met you five seconds ago and she was like. why would she ever pay for anything?? she's literally my reason for breathing?? (ok babe 😭) so you're getting that stuff for lowest price she can possibly make it. and if you flirt a little?? she's wondering why she's not just handing you the bag for free.

✶ when you guys get closer, she notices you're kinda into pink so when she sees pink papers???? she's SLAMMING that card, best believe. when you're freaking and like HOWD YOU GET THIS she's trying to pretend to be all cool like oh idk just found 'em and thought it'd be funny but if you like 'em you can have them ... i guess 😒

✶ if you're a little inexperienced with it she's a little protective and is like oh i don't think you should try that this one's way better and gives it to you on the house like?? you're trying to pay for it and she's like noooo it's for you just take it even though that was some of her good weed and she never gives that out. but you're nice and sweet and her bestest customer so who is she to charge you??

✶ when y'all are closer she literally just starts buying shit for you. you're like oh my gosh this bracelet is literally so pretty and next time you come over she's like so.. guess what and there's the bracelet in a box under two pretty pre-rolls (that she's also not letting you pay for btw)

✶ n you're so worried about breaking her bank when she does it but she's literally living lavish because she's everyone's dealer and no one with weed isn't getting it from her. (charismatic queen tbh)

✶ plus if you think this is gonna kill her wallet just wait until you guys start actually dating. she's not even waiting for you to ask for shit, she's telling you to put your cart on public so she can surprise you all the time.

✶ you're like babe how am i gonna pay you back and she's like just .. be pretty for me, yeah? 's not hard for you at all. (just flustered myself give me a minute)

✶ and some random things i just think she'd do:

✶ texting you high out of her mind about dinosaur facts because she just knows too much and needs to get it out immediately (she's such a nerd I love it 😭)

✶ trying to shotgun with you but she sees your face lookin' all pretty n dazed, chokes on the smoke, and just simply never does it after that. (give her a week, she'll be back)

✶ reading a shit ton of sci-fi. she compulsively reads savage starlight all the time but she's actually obsessed with the whole genre n can't exist without it atp (she DEFINITELY owns a few space cowboy books and before meeting you she would always imagine she was the lead guy with the hot love interest who was definitely some kind of alien. don't question it.)

✶ if you're a plushie girlie (me fr) she's ALWAYS buying you plushies. but she always buys one that matches yours for herself so you guys are "always together" or something. idk she's a little bit of a loser.

✶ she's so bad at keeping up with skincare but now she just weaponises that and makes you do it for her. literally rolling her eyes and pouting if you do yours without her, mumbling shit like "oh yeah, just forget about ellie, huh? that's what they all do" until you're like babe what??? 😭

✶ also i know that everyone says this but she really does own some weird ass shirts 😭😭 she'll get high and buy weird shit like that shirt that just says tomatoes it's so wild going through her closet lmaoo

✶ and because of her high shopping she also has some weird ass bongs like. seriously. there's a an astronaut one with octopus legs for sure, i can feel it.

✶ high ellie tweets>> she's actually so out of pocket sometimes 😭 some of her greatest hits would probs be

✶ also she was so nervous around you and wouldn't look you in the eye for too long because she didn't wanna scare you but then she got a little bold when she found out you liked girls and then was just straight up cocky when she realised you liked her, too (that blunt flick when dina said she wanted her to kiss her .. yeah that ellie)

✶ she's just the bestest, silliest, nerdiest girl ever and the best girlfriend literally anyone could ask for 💞💞

hey guys back with another banger hope you guys enjoyed make sure to like follow and subscribe‼️ no but seriously give me opinions because i love hearing you guys have little convos and the reposts are always so wild 😭😭 thank you new jersey, and goodnight (also don't look at the tags im shy) as alwaysss creds to @ cafekitsune bc these dividers are so mf cute

[buurial]

﹙　wc: 1.5k　﹚⠀⠀⠀ᡣ𐭩⠀⠀⠀enjoy, my corpses

　　◡◡　dirty life .ᐟ　⠀｡　⠀b. pavlikovsky && t. decker

⠀⚰࿔　๋࣭　tags、gender neutral reader.　underage drinking, underage smoking, underage etc.　first (writing) post.　english is not my first language.　lowercase intentional.　unhealthy habits.　realistic consequences of someones bad choices. 　boris speaking different languages and speaking broken english: grammar speech mistakes are on purpose.　the goldfinch MOVIE because the book was, um, interesting.　pills; painkillers.　reader is said to be a lightweight.　sex mentioned.　one small sex(ual) implication.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀꣑୧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀sypnosis、a look into boris' daily life, ft. you and theo by his side.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀꣑୧⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀authors note、uffhfh enjoy maybe.　boris and theo are my wives (real)

BORIS' ROOM WAS, WELL, MESSY, TO PUT IT NICELY.　it had a certain smell of weed, multiple bongs placed around the room and a few tipped over, almost foggy from how much cigarette smoke is contained in there which doesnt ever leave as boris never has his door open, clothes—some of which arent even his, a few similar to other peoples clothes and some just completely random that look like clothes he would never even dare to touch—not even in a hamper and just looking like they are just tossed around casually onto the floor and on really any object near, having no sheets on his mattress—that looks as if it hasnt been cleaned in a while, having cigarrete burns and cigarettes ashes covering it, plus random food crumbs and more, barely looking comfortable—and a blanket that is haphazardly discarded to the point only half of it actually stays on the bed and the rest of it laid on the dirty floor below, boxes of stuff set around full of sweet jewels and expensive stuff that he could never afford meaning it was likely stolen, etc.　boris wasnt an organized or clean boy, opting to do the least amount of anything he really could and choosing lazier options.　the only thing he truly put effort into was doing bad things and manipulating others into things they didnt desire of doing, and you and theo were a great example of such.　he never really experienced having friends, so why would he know anything about how to treat a friend?　he knew little to nothing and was all street-smart when it came to anything, only intelligent when trying to learn a new way to get a fresh supply of cocaine or something.　when he finally realized he had managed to gain not only one friend, but two, he couldnt fight back a smile, happiness enveloping him for once in his life, but of course it didnt last long and he went back to that sorta emotionless him once more.　he thought of having friends as a way to escape reality, as sappy as it sounds, but also them being like his own kinda, like, slaves?　in a way?　friends could do anything for him!　supply him weed, cocaine, alcohol, anything, right?　besides that though, friends werent an important thing to him, but he kept them because he knew he wouldnt find any others who would even stomach anything he would, or could, do.

　midnights that were full of drinking, doing lines, and smoking turned into early mornings that consisted of headaches that could kill a small, sickly victorian boy at one feel of it and so many painkillers, laying next to two of his only friends with one still dead asleep; theo.　you were awake with boris, orange-tinted bottles scattering the already dirty mattress with a few of the pills spilling out, it being said that they were painkillers on the white that stuck to the bottle.　boris could handle the heavy nights, but you clearly couldnt, groaning in discontent with your head stuffed in a pillow where you almost couldnt breathe.　being a lightweight and scared to do bad things sucked when friends with boris cause he was just hardcore as hell, wanting to do anything and everything bad that would affect his health and future.　it was another day that smells did more than linger, strongly smelling of every bad decision that boris had ever made.　boris, even after an entire night of drinking, doing lines, and smoking, had a cigarette between his pointer and middle finger, fogging up the room just a little more as he brought it to his cracked and dry lips, taking a deep inhale before pulling the cigarette away from his mouth.　he let the smoke really soak up into his lungs for a moment before finally puffing the see-through mist out, staring blankly ahead.

　"you хорошо?" boris eventually asked, breaking the deafening silence.　he glanced over, taking in the view of you being distraught.　you, not knowing russian, turned your head out of the pillow—and intaking a large breath after having your head placed in the fabric for a good while, not getting good airflow—and only blinked at him.　he blinked back before mumbling an 'oh, sorry'.　"you, uhh.. good. you good?" he corrected, asking once more.

　you offered a small shake of the head, frowning some.　did you look at all okay?　no.　your eyes were bloodshot and droopy including eye bags, your skin was slowly becoming rougher by each day you decided to join boris on his crazy nights, your lips were chapped, and just overall looked like boris but, like, not.　you were still your own person, just worse than before, you know?

　"im not good," you soon answered.

　"good? no? oh."

　after a moment of silence, boris speaks again, "sex helps."

　you narrowed your eyes at him for a moment before huffing, being quick to deny his, what you assumed to be, offer, "no thanks," with a shake of the head. you turned your head to the other side, catching a glimpse of boris shrugging and taking another long inhale of his cigarette before meeting with theos asleep face.　now looking at theo, you sat up, trying to push away the immediate body pain that struck up the whole of your body like lightning.　you only let the frown you wore deepen at the pain, but besides that, theo probably needed to wake up before a nightmare would ensue.

　at first, you were gonna ask boris to wake theo up, but looking back at boris he seemed too busy staring into space, smoking his cigarette, and thinking of god knows what.　your lips rather became a thin line, looking back at theo before putting your hand on his shoulder, shaking his body some.　theo awoke soon enough, eyes fluttering open and meeting yours.　he seemed as if he was gonna smile, but he instead was met with the same pain you had felt when you woke up earlier too, leaving his brows to furrow.　you sighed, grabbing one of the pill bottles on the mattress and handing it to him, to which he yanked out your hand—soon to mutter a 'sorry'—before tossing them in his mouth and swallowing, eventually coughing but recovering quickly.

　theo took a small moment of silence before speaking, "good morning– or bad morning." he finally offered the smile he originally wanted to give before the pain had shot through him.　the smile was small, just barely showing the yellowish-white of his teeth at the side of his mouth, but it was nice nonetheless to look at.

　"morning, potter," boris said, interrupting the stare theo and you had shared for a moment.　theo looked at boris, having gotten used to the nickname by now, and gave a small wave as a familiar way to greet boris back.　boris hummed, letting theo know he acknowledged the wave before taking another drag of the cigarette, soon putting it out on the ashtray that was on the bedside table.　"was плохой morning," boris joked, though it was semi-truthful, so maybe not as playful as he wouldve assumed.　you turned to theo, seeking a translation, to which theo did answer, "it means bad." theo had started recently learning boris' languages that he speaks until boris would make a little more effort into trying to learn english 100%.　hes learned quite a bit, it was cool.

　your lips shaped in an 'o' before nodding, smiling some as a silent way to say thanks.　theo returned the nod, silently saying youre welcome, before of course boris ruins it once more.　you were unaware if boris would interrupt moments like this on purpose or not, assuming he was just bad at social cues or something cause that sounded the most accurate than stopping you and theo from having a nice time with eachother.

　"potter, make food?" boris questioned, though it slightly sounded like a command.

　theo looked over at boris, thinking for a moment seemingly as he was silent, before shrugging which you and boris assumed was a yes.　boris gave a small grin, showing off his more yellow teeth—his red gums that looked like they should never meet cold anything just barely hidden—which was expected for a boy like him.　realistically, would you expect someone who drinks, does lines, and smokes to have pearly, blinding white teeth and completely healthy and pink gums?　didnt think so.

　"i can make breakfast i guess," said theo. "what do you guys want?　your options are limited cause i cant cook that well.. and im tired still."

　you offered making something that you wouldve liked for breakfast, and boris did aswell, and soon enough your guys day had officially started.　it was likely today was another that would turn into a night where you all overdid drugs, alcohol, lines, etc., sure to include some non-friendly touches between not-so friends that were you, boris, and theo, and that would be something boris would never be against.　he didnt know whether he could say the same for you and theo, but he was relatively more happy since he met you both, but he wouldve never admitted that to your faces.　that is too heartwarming to say for a person like him– too sweet.

[venuscrashed]

Hi there!

Can I maybe get some Hc of the demon brothers with a male Alastor (from Hazbin hotel) like reader (maybe reader is a demon, but not from the devildom, but from actual hell?) Kinda want to keep this short, so here= Reader always has his staff/mic thing with him- no matter where he is. Reader basically always wears old-fashioned suits, has Alastor's sharpish teeth, and is basically always smiling (like Alastor does). How would the demon brothers react to first meeting reader? What would they think of reader at first? How would they act towards reader at first/and after they became friends (or dating, either is fine c:)? Sorry if this is long. I hope ur having a nice day/noon/night :]

low key never watched the show so sorry about that

word count: 1k (total)

warnings: death mentioned in Belphies part, it sucks, literally pulled this out from the back of my closet, gn reader, tags are to reach a wider audience btw

Lucifer: He actually didn’t know what you looked like considering you stuck to the radio. It worried him but nonetheless he was intrigued by your style. The old fashion suits and the staff reminded him of how humans were before he fell. He was also captivated because he could fell the pride in you, your ego was never shown but he could sense the way you felt superior around others. After you become friends he mainly sticks to his office but does hang out with you from time to time. Whether it’s buying you more suits, because you guys basically have the same style, or are off doing stuff for others. Once you guys date he is so smug and your guys superiority complex combined tires out everyone. Even Diavolo is leaving the room when you two are together. 

Mammon: Was absolutely disappointed when he heard he had to babysit you but when he saw you… Thought you were made of money when he first saw you. The old, EXPENSIVE, suit and the staff…there were dollar signs in his eyes. He would be sucking up to you all for that credit card. That smile did creep him out though…He’d get so greedy from just your attention. Is absolutely smitten once you two become friends. Plus, he uses that as an excuse to steal your mic and basically scream in it for hours. Once you start dating, oh god is he flustered. Like “yeah that's my rich, expensive human. Yeah they smile weirdly but it makes me weak in the knees” Is always begging for some money, if you can buy those suits you can spare a couple hundred thousand grimm right?

Levi: Was absolutely disappointed when he had to be there. He was playing games the whole time but once he saw you he was shocked. You lowkey reminded him of this rich dude that wanted to be a detective in this anime but more creepy like, you know? Would absolutely avoid you though, you’re creepy alright. That smile just sends shivers down his spine. Once you become friends he would absolutely be jealous about the size of the crowd you bring in. Why are you so charming? Would also absolutely use your mic for his gaming sessions if his broke and didn’t come within the 15 minutes he ordered it. Once you start dating he would convince you to cosplay with him. He finds some duo or couple that has similar fashion to you and he would just buy(steal) the outfit from you.

Satan: Why was he here again? Oh right he was forced to, much to his dismay. Out of all of the exchange students there(since he most likely never met Simeon, right? idk) you were the most interesting. You remind him of the one of the detectives in his books with that outfit. He tried to impress you when you two first met, can’t have you looking down on him now. I also feel like he would actually like your big smile. Once you two are friends he steals your mic to go and prank Lucifer. 9/10 times he also stole a piece from your wardrobe. When you guys are dating people also steer clear of you two. Since you’re always attached at the hip, nobody stays near you. Scary dog energy from the both of you. He’s the “run if he starts smiling" type and you're the “run if they stop smiling” type.

Asmo: Really just wanted to see the new human exchange students. Was drawn towards you. The style, the staff, the smile, everything. Would absolutely try to charm you and when he fails it actually hurts him. Even before you guys are friends he would steal your clothes. For the “aesthetic” you know? Once you guys are friends he tries and gets your dental routine, he’s lowkey jealous about how white there are and pointy. He’s always hanging off of you and swearing you’ll protect him. When your in his room he’ll steal the mic and start “serenading” you with whatever song. When you guys date he is so in love. Never shutting up about you and Always bragging about you to his two brothers. “And they are so good looking” “We know asmo” “Their smile is amazing” “We know Asmo” “And their eyes…” “We live with them to Asmo”

Beel: What should he have for lunch today? Was staring at you the whole time they were explaining where you were and why. No thoughts behind those eyes type of look. Likes your style, also reminds him of how humans used to be which also reminds him of his sister. If he ever got crumbs on your suit he would feel so bad. “I’ll get it dry cleaned” “Beel it’s fine” “No” He would stop eating around you just to keep the suit clean. Once your friends though he does start eating but is careful. He will always hold it against himself. I’m convinced he tried to eat the mic at one point when he was tired and delirious. When you two start dating he focuses on your teeth more. He has sharp teeth too, but yours are better. Smiles when you smile and gets all giddy when he sees.

Belphie: Was in the attic being delulu again, what else is there to do? When he saw you through the door he was like “you gotta be kidding me” He likes the style, looks too much like Lucifers, although you wear it better. When he kills you he feels bad, obviously. “Can I buy you a new suit” “It’s fine Belphie” “Let me buy you a new suit” “I said it’s fine” “I’m buying you a new suit” Once you two are friends he steals your mic. Gets someone to scream to annoy Lucifer. Pulls so many pranks with it that he gets banned from it. Sees that smile in his nightmares, considering that was the last thing he saw before you died. It’s unfortunate that that's your permanent face too. When you two are dating he feels a bit better about it. Would wear your clothes but they are not sleep worthy, even though he can sleep in anything. Somehow the pranks get ten times worse when you two are dating, it’s a mystery what this man does. 

[rjmhereunderprotest]

Crossed Paths & Tangled Webs: Why I Ship SpiderCat

This is gonna be a controversial one through no fault of my own... but also it's all my own damn fault. A confusing contradicting statement to be sure, but when you're talking about Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy, that statement seems to ring the most true. Two people who are as perfect for each other as they are imperfect. In love through no fault of their own... and completely at fault for being so.

My poll for another ship to cover picked this... I'm more than happy to talk about it but we're dealing with volatile stuff right now. As I write this, Spider-Man and Black Cat actually ARE in a relationship with each other. Peter has recently stated that he no longer feels romantically for his long-time love-interest, Mary Jane, calling her more akin to a sister. MJ was apparently stuck in some post-apocalyptic Narnia situation where enough time passed for her to have kids with another guy. And if that wasn't enough... Mary Jane may be about to join Gwen Stacey in the fridge, if you get my meaning. As Zeb Wells is teasing the most shocking Spider-Man story since Gwen Stacey's death and the solicits for the story afterwards say Spider-Man is about to suffer a terrible loss. Felicia is on the covers of at least one of those issues. So unless it's a complete fake out and Wells is going to kill off a relationship he has stated he both prefers and spent a ton of time setting up at the expense of the preferred romance among fans... yeah it's not looking good for MJ. I mean he might kill off Aunt May again, but... well there's no guarantees in comics... ever.

This is a strange time period to be a long suffering SpiderCat shipper. I have held a torch for these two for such a long time it feels like almost second nature. I see Felicia, I want to see her with Peter. No one else, man or woman, will do. (Yes she's Bi, shut up, it's canon) Yet right now, a SpiderCat shipper is now writing the Spider-Man books and everyone seems to absolutely hate Zeb Wells' execution of it all. I've gotten what I wanted, at last, but fans are outright rejecting it. Not so much for Felicia and Peter being together mind you, as much as they're annoyed MJ is being thrown under the bus.

Which I get actually, I may have wanted this ship over Peter/MJ, but not at her expense. I don't want her DEAD or badly written. And given how Marvel has basically treated MJ and Peter over the years, it's hard to argue that these reactions are anything but justified. Even decades later, One More Day's shadow still looms large. Marvel has constantly teased and poked and prodded and snickered about the possibility of Mary Jane and Peter Parker becoming an item again. If not married, at the very least dating. But Marvel seems insistent on this point. "The Marriage was a mistake, we're never going back to it. And anything that is even remotely similar to that status quo is not allowed. Ever." The inability of Marvel's Spidey writers to craft a compelling happy marriage between Peter and MJ has been an albatross around the neck of the ship forever! Even when they did it in an ongoing, it had to be a different universe! One where the Civil War comics event wasn't a thing, so that was also a plus. And MJ had to get Spider Powers too in order to smooth over the whole thing for writers.

So, yeah, MJ's been blamed for making Spider-Books dull and kept at arms length from Peter as much as possible. Because if Spider-Man is EVER TOO HAPPY that can only spell DOOM for the character. His world must always revolve around misery. Linkara of AT4W has said it time and again, in the eyes of Marvel, Spider-Man can never be allowed to be happy.

And yet, despite all that, I still hold true to this maxim, Peter Parker and Felicia Hardy are made for each other. If I ever had an OTP, if I ever had a ship I'd die for, if there was ever any romance I was forever evergreen invested in... it was SpiderCat. Despite whatever the world says, that it can't work, that it's a bad idea, that they don't need each other, that it will never be the way Peter/MJ were once... I don't care. I reject all of that and state proudly, without shame, every time that Spider-Man and the Black Cat are and always shall be perfect for each other.

So Let's Talk about Why that is...

Usually I'm inclined to give brief synopsis points about both characters in separate sections. But Spider-Man is so well known and Black Cat so simply explained in their initial set ups it feels almost... pointless. When you can describe at least one half of the shipping dynamic with a theme song from a sixties cartoon it's hard to honestly come up with anything new or original.

So yeah, Peter Parker, nerdy wimp who gets bitten by a radioactive spider, doesn't get cancer from this, but super powers. Thinks about using these great powers to enrich his life, but after letting a criminal get away because it's "not his problem" he learns a harsh lesson about responsibility. His uncle dies at the hands of said criminal, it's all his fault, and Peter proclaims that as long as he has these powers he will use them to help people.

And as a result, Spider-Man is the hero that always gets up because he has to, he needs to. Because people, strangers and loved ones, depend on him. This comes at the cost of a great deal of things that would make him personally happy. Because if Spider-Man is about anything, it's about personal sacrifice and responsibility. It has been a running theme since his first comic and will continue until the heat death of the universe. If you know nothing else of Spider-Man, this is the most important fact about him going forward for the rest of this essay. Spider-Man is Responsibility and Self-Sacrifice Personified. Whenever he doesn't live up to either aspect of himself, bad things happen, to him, to the people he cares about and New York City at large.

On the other side of that coin, Felicia Hardy, aka the Black Cat. Infamous thief. While her origins are more fluid throughout her incarnations, her general story is pretty much the same. Felicia is a thrill seeking thief, who lives for the daredevil rush only a well-executed heist can accomplish. The Black Cat persona is that of a femme fatale thief of the highest order. There's no question that she shares more than a few similarities to Catwoman of Batman fame. Save for the fact she might possess a slight passive power that causes bad luck to her opponents.

Different character of course, but that's just to establish that it is a superpower. Felicia uses it mainly to steal whatever she wants and get away scot-free. She, in general, tries to avoid personal consequences for these actions. While her motives may vary from one story or universe to the next, ultimately her purpose in life is the same. To live for herself, for her needs and how she wants. The Black Cat persona is just that, a means to indulge in her wants and desires to the fullest extent. She is, inherently, self-serving and selfish whereas Spider-Man is selfless.

On the surface this presents a dynamic akin to oil and water. Spider-Man is an avatar of personal responsibility. The Black Cat is the personification of independent self-interest. They are such opposites, such contradictions, that they should just not work. They should be enemies... and that is how they started.

Amazing Spider-Man #194, Black Cat's first appearance where she and Spidey come to blows over her illicit activities. Felicia has contracted a crew for a job to spring her terminally ill father from prison. Spider-Man tries to stop her, only to end up buried under the rubble of the exploding prison wall. Black Cat flees the scene with a quip about crossing her path and Spidey with a bad arm post-fight. The next issue sees Spidey deduce Felicia's real identity and that Felicia only broke her father out so he could spend his dying hours with his wife and her mother. Spidey and Cat come to blows outside arguing over the merits of what she's done. However in the struggle Black Cat starts to fall off a roof into a surging river below. Spidey catches her with his bad arm, trying to stop her fall... but can't hold on as Felicia seemingly falls to her death. He tries to return to the Hardy residence, only to see Felicia's mother in grief over the death of her husband. Not wanting to add to it... Spidey leaves.

Of course, this isn't the end for Felicia, issue #204 sees the Black Cat return. She's actually been watching him it seems, taking photos of him swinging around town. They get reacquainted at the museum where Cat manages to slip away again after another fight with Spider-Man. Felicia is annoyed though that he keeps fighting her, not understanding why she's doing this. And by the next issue it's revealed, the art pieces Felicia stole were meant to symbolize what she thinks of Spidey. Namely, that she has developed a crush on him. No doubt because, despite trouncing him almost every time they've fought, she's clearly enjoyed all of it. And Spidey hasn't exactly helped in that regard as he has routinely flirted with her. He can't help it, she is hot. Felicia claims she wants to leave thieving behind, at the behest of her mother and she would like Spider-Man to help her reform. Seeing a similarity to a current situation with a girl he's instructing, and that Felicia might be suffering a bit of a mental break as a result of her father's death, he promises to get her help.

These introductory stories set the stage for Felicia and Peter's on again off again relationship for years to come. Felicia is self-servingly selfish, desiring things that aren't hers. Yet her motives are more complicated than pure greed, it is always based somewhat around her emotional state. Her need to give her father and mother some closure before she passes, her desire for Spider-Man to lead her out of a life of crime, as per her mother's wishes. She isn't evil, she has noble intent, she just goes about it in very self-centered ways. Spidey, in the meantime, is selfless to a fault. He'll keep chasing her down, he'll keep trying to set her straight, keep trying to stop her crime sprees. He is drawn to her by his selflessness and sense of responsibility to prevent her from just getting away with whatever she wants. But he does genuinely want to help her and he will not take advantage of her fragile emotional state, even if he himself is somewhat into her. Hell, the first thing he thinks about when he first sees her is that he hopes she isn't a criminal because he'd like to ask her out. He is clearly drawn to Felicia, even if it only starts out as pure infatuation, but he will not take advantage of her interest in him because he knows better than to try to exploit that for his own self-interest.

Of course it's a lie, well partially. Felicia faked being crazy to more easily escape a psychiatric hospital than a prison. But she is indeed in love with him. After her escape, she invites Spidey to a masquerade ball via a sky writer. Ultimately revealing that she lied to him about her mental breakdown in a selfish bid to escape consequences for her actions. But she wants to make up for it now, because this masquerade ball is being hosted by mafioso she stole from and says Spidey can now arrest them all! Crime is too easy she thinks, superheroing is her next thrill seeking adventure and she wants to do it with him. And despite being tricked and more than a little bribed into this, Spider-Man decides ultimately why not give it a try? If she really does want to go straight for him... isn't the responsible thing to do with her to help her out even if her motives are a tiny bit selfish?

This is how their romance starts and sets up the ultimate tug of war dynamic. Spider-Man does want Black Cat, but is wary of her desire to push him into a more selfish mindset. Black Cat actually desires Spider-Man, but can't get over her compulsive selfishness. In this story alone she has to sort of trick Spider-Man into coming to a date that's actually a mafioso party that he can break up. It's a highly manipulative plan that appeals to her selfish infatuation and Spider-Man's selfless heroism. It is a constant push and pull between them at multiple points. By all accounts, they should not work and a good deal of comics past this point go on and on about why they can't work.

I could cover the lengthy relationship between both characters throughout the 80s, Spidey was actually dating Felicia for a long time during the Black Suit days, even after he gave up the Symbiote. And for the most part this dynamic does not entirely change. Peter wants to help Black Cat be a better person before he can truly commit to her. Felicia wants to be a better person and make things work with Spider-Man, but she has a hard time wrapping her head around selfless action over selfish indulgence. It's the roadblock between them truly working as a couple. And there are a ton of moments during this time period I could talk about, but frankly, they are ALL before my time.

None of them really prove my point either, all I've done is just explain why their dynamic as a couple is riveting. It's not exactly like Batman and Catwoman's, but its of a similar vein. The key difference is Spider-Man, being who he is, isn't as opposed to the idea at first as Bruce is with Selina. Catwoman plays a lot harder to get for a lot longer than Black Cat, she also doesn't become Batman's superhero partner. Felicia and Peter by contrast are much younger though, so their reasoning is frankly more in line with their age demographic. They're just quicker to jump in than most people. The only thing holding them back is Black Cat and Spidey's diametrically opposed ideologies, even though we'll see those two viewpoints somewhat crisscross soon enough.

If you want to know however where I actually came in on this, we need to hop over to another universe. The one firmly positioned in the decade that defines the pop cultural wasteland... the 90s.

In an effort to compete with DC's Batman cartoon, Marvel fast tracked a Spider-Man show into production. While not on the same technical/narrative level as the landmark Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series still did a tremendous job at capturing the essence of the character and is still a good series in its own. Even on a recent rewatch, I was surprised to see how well-thought out and true to form the series was. Yes, it's overuse of repeated animation and various other shortcuts was annoying, it certainly wasn't perfect, even by 90s standards, but it deserves recognition where it counts. Part of that was, in my opinion, the dynamic between Felicia and Peter Parker/Black Cat and Spider-Man. It certainly wasn't a slamdunk, I'm going to talk about where the writers fumbled it, but when it worked it worked and I think those parts where it worked so well were what cemented the idea in my head that this relationship, fraught as it was, COULD become something everlasting.

There's no hiding that Felicia's story is completely different from the comics. She actually knows Peter to begin with before she even becomes the Black Cat. They actually date for a while and despite the fact Peter is poorer than dirt, she is clearly interested in him and remains so for a good portion of season one. Peter's first kiss in the series is Felicia in fact. Even when MJ is in the picture, Peter is still torn between her and Felicia.

You might think we're dealing with a Betty and Veronica situation, but it never really materializes as such. Felicia and MJ never really meet this early and Felicia herself isn't really the rich girl stereotype. She's not particularly girlish or whinny. She doesn't really look down on anyone for their status. In fact she more often than not tries to rebel against the stereotype. She does a lot of charity work, she shows concern for the good of New York's citizens and she gives credit to those who deserve it, not just because they flatter her. She also gives Peter a lot of chances despite seemingly screwing up with her. She is reluctant at first to go out with him, but is not embarassed to be seen with him. The issue that arises is, from her perspective, Peter is never around when she gets in major trouble... but Spider-Man is. This become important later, but the thing to note is she is still close friends with Peter for a good amount of time and shows an interest in hm.

The only reason Felicia doesn't get with Peter is, again, Peter's terrible luck as a result of his responsibilities as Spider-Man. He accidentally stands Felicia up one too many times and she... ugh... ends up falling for Michael Morbius. Yes... that Morbius. No, we're not doing the meme. I only bring it up here because its one of the flaws in the show, Morbius as Felicia's love interest feels so incredibly out of place. It exists purely to prevent Felicia and Peter from getting together because nothing about it works. Morbius is hardly charming, he's somewhat of a creep, he's rude, abrasive and his petty rivalry with Peter just makes him unlikable. Its this petty bullshit rivalry, in fact, that causes Morbius' transformation into a Vampire monster in this continuity. Peter tries to claim responsibility for it because it was caused with his radioactive blood, but Morbius was an asshole and did it to himself. He's at fault and he sucks... pun not intended, not entirely. But because he's doing all this to stop a plague in his home country, and he saves Felicia this one time when Peter doesn't show, we're supposed to buy that she's smitten with him. And I do not buy it. In fact, I'd argue the show's writers didn't even buy it and were somewhat forced to do this so they wouldn't step on the iconic romance with Peter and MJ.

Morbius' subsequent flight into exile, as he basically becomes a mutant bat monster, starts an ongoing subplot with Felicia, the fact she has seemingly terrible luck with men. Early on, after Morbius has left her life, Felicia begins to develop a crush on Spider-Man, as at this point he's been there for her more than most other men in her life, saving her or her mother. Spider-Man, as a result, has become a very huge constant staple in her life, more so than any other man as far she can see. Peter, despite his messy love life, does care for Felicia, and is very quick to jump in to help her whenever she is in trouble. Partially because of his connection to her, partly because he still blames himself for Morbius' transformation. So Peter is spending a lot of time as Spider-Man with Felicia at this point, more so than MJ even who is dating Harry Osborn for a while. As far as Felicia is concerned, Spider-Man has become something akin to a knight in shining armor who is always there for her. She can't help but fall for him.

She reveals this by suddenly kissing him on the balcony, pulling up the mask half-way and everything. Peter, however, says he can't reciprocate, as much as he probably still has feelings for Felicia. He says he can't have a girlfriend though because it would put her in danger. It's bunk of course, he's still trying to be with MJ even though she's currently with Harry, but I imagine it plants an idea in Felicia's head. Regardless, for now she's crestfallen and this leads her into the arms of another man, Jason Phillips Macendale, a rich well to do playboy-type. Even still, she retains her feelings Spider-Man throughout their relationship. There is a scene at a carnival where Jason wins a stuffed Spider for her, which she remarks she finds spiders cute while he acts rather annoyed and jealous over it. Despite the fact she very clearly still wants Spidey to be with her, Felicia does agree to marry Jason when he proposes.

At the engagement party, which Peter attends with MJ as she has dumped Harry at this point, he changes into Spider-Man to spy on the Kingpin and Osborn over some business with the Hobgoblin. Annoyed he has to leave MJ to deal with this problem, he's interrupted by Felicia.

She asks if he's here to wish her good luck and Peter fumbles his words in saying as much. Which leads to this exchange:

Spidey: Do you really love this Jason Phillips guy?

Felicia: And why should you care about that? Unless you got a better offer?

Spidey: (Thoughts) This is crazy, I can't have one girlfriend as Peter Parker and another as Spider-Man! (Speaking) No, I don't... I just want you to be happy.

As Spidey swings away, Felicia mournfully says "So do I." It's a very clear statement, she's settling. Jason is rich and powerful and the person she's expected to marry due to who she is, but she's not really sure about it, or happy. Because the man she wants is currently swinging away. It's obvious that, in Felicia's eyes, she's missing something in her life that makes her happy and Spider-Man seems to be that something. Likewise, Peter, the paragon of self-responsibility, knows he can't abuse his secret identity to cheat on MJ, even though he seems very tempted to admit that he still has feelings for Felicia. But in the end, all he cares about is her happiness and if she can find it in this Jason dude, who is he to ruin that?

Well, he doesn't have to ruin it. Because we find out, shock of all shocks, Jason is the Hobgoblin and the revelation shakes Felicia to her core. The fact that this person she was dating, this man who she decided on because she couldn't have Spider-Man was a fraud, a criminal, a liar... it's a terrible thing to realize how poor your judgment is. Almost reaffirming that this was the wrong choice from the start.

Spidey of course once again comes swinging to her rescue and defeats the Hobgoblin. But Felicia has questions for her former fiancé. Jason relents that he used crime to create everything he is and get everything he has, including her. She's just another possession to him. What she deep down probably feared going into this, why her heart wasn't in this, why she wanted Spider-Man to give her a way out and save her again.

Felicia: I have to know, did you ever really love me?

Jason: I don't know. I love things about you. Your wealth, your beauty, your refinement.

Felicia: That's not love! I've experienced true love... and it's nothing like that.

And we don't get a flashback to Morbius, as this show constantly does because it's very not subtle, we don't see her talk about bat boy at all. She looks directly at Spider-Man as she says this and the camera zooms in on him as she speaks those words. This overtly informs the audience what love means in Felicia's mind. Love in Felicia's mind is being there for someone, who Spider-Man has been for a long time now. And more importantly, it's about wanting that person to be happy, which was all Spider-Man said he ever wanted. Spidey never asked anything of Felicia, he was just there for her and perhaps, in Felicia's mind, the reason he can't return it is because she can't be there in the same way. She is after all a damsel who he needs to keep saving and Spider-Man made it an issue that they can't be together because she'd be in danger.

In fact, this incident has given Felicia a complex that alludes to her future. "Every time I give my heart to someone, disaster strikes!" She sobs to Spider-Man. "I'm like a Black Cat spreading bad luck to everyone who crosses my path! Including my own."

By the next season things have taken a turn for the tragic, Mary Jane has vanished into realms unknown after mirroring Gwen Stacey's fall from a bridge into an interdimensional portal. As far as Peter knows though she's just gone, maybe forever. They can't say dead on this show, you know how it is.

This would probably leave the door back open for Felicia, but Peter is in no mental condition for another relationship right now and Felicia is smitten with Spider-Man, not Peter. Although he does wonder if she could help him with his grief as he swings over to her apartment. Not to say she doesn't care for Peter, but her heart belongs to his masked vigilante persona. In fact, so much so that she proclaims that Spider-Man is the only good thing in her life during that same visit. (Granted this is after an attack by Doctor Octopus, but the point stands) It's obvious that Felicia is now clinging to Spider-Man as one of the few constants in her life at this point, what with repeatedly being placed in danger by monsters and maniacs. The lack of control and helplessness is eating at her terribly.

However, this does lead into what we've all been waiting for, Felicia's transformation into the Black Cat and the start of the multi-episode season storyline, "Partners in Danger."

Felicia's father isn't just a cat burglar anymore. It turns out he got a peek at the formula for the Super Soldier serum back in WW2. He was almost tricked into giving it to the Nazis but managed to evade them. He was a kid at the time and was on the run for several decades. He's been in SHIELD custody for the past few years, until now when the Chameleon breaks him out only to hand him over to the Kingpin. Soon after, Doctor Octopus kidnaps Felicia and brings him to Fisk to reunite her with her father. And basically blackmail her into performing crimes for Fisk to test out the Super Soldier formula.

Yes, the Black Cat in the 90s Animated Series is basically a super soldier thief. It is suggested its not a complete process, but it grants Felicia more capability than she used to have. As the Black Cat she's now stronger, faster, more agile, versatile and has heightened senses. She's basically a mini-Captain America sans shield and a less patriotic aesthetic. Also, the Serum allows her to completely alter herself, her hair turns white and grows longer, while she also becomes more ripped and taller. This is so people won't really recognize her, an important detail for later.

While it's obvious Felicia hates being forced to go along with this to protect her father, she doesn't hate the new powers she's been granted and seeks to use them to eventually turn the tables on Fisk and save her dad. However, for the time being she gets in more than a few scrapes with Spider-Man, one of which leaves him knocked out in front of her. She considers pulling off his mask, but decides against it, preferring him to do it for her himself. She does plant a kiss though, the first of many as the Black Cat. The sequence is clear, Felicia is no longer the damsel but Spider-Man's equal and she hopes that this means things can change.

True, Felicia still gets into trouble and Spider-Man has to save her before the episode is out, but they actually do come together as partners by the end and effectively work together to defeat Fisk and save her father. Sadly, he has to return to SHIELD custody, of his own free will, to prevent the secrets he knows from ever getting out. I'd kinda like to to think they would give him a more witness protection situation than imprisonment for the guy, even if he did become a thief. It's SHIELD though, it's kinda expected they don't always do the sensible thing.

However this sets up the dynamic for the next few episodes as Black Cat and Spider-Man work together more and more. Spider-Man is reluctant at first, still mourning Mary Jane, but Black Cat manages to shake him out of that stupor. Reminding him not to close himself off in his grief. And Spidey himself remarks, as he and Black Cat work together, that he's actually having fun for once as Spider-Man. This is something to keep in mind, Black Cat actually challenges Spider-Man more often than not throughout their time together. Pushing him to remember why he does this job, stopping his pity parties cold, reminding him to not see his power as a burden that he so often does and as a gift he uses to help people. Even if she's not the same self-serving Felicia from the comics, as the Black Cat she embraces the liberated self her persona grants her. She's finally being able to do the things that her position as a rich socialite kept from her. Her stance is that Spider-Man can afford to think about what he wants and what makes him happy as much as his own responsibilities.

Frankly, it gets through to Peter. As time goes on, Spider-Man becomes more receptive to the idea that he should move on from MJ and be with Black Cat, a fellow crime fighter, on his level who can look after herself as much as him. This has been the problem Spider-Man has faced for a while, being able to protect the people he cares about despite his powers seemingly always getting in the way. In the same vein, Felicia's newfound abilities enable her to be Spidey's equal. Allowing her the opportunity to see him as a person and not just the superhero who saves her. This gives her the ability to challenge, as well as compliment him, as pointed out.

Their dynamic frankly rings more true and honest as a relationship. Even MJ never pushed Peter in the same way Black Cat pushes Spidey to be better. That's not to say MJ was a bad girlfriend, but on the show... she frankly resembled the comics version of Gwen Stacey personality wise. Black Cat may have been in love with Spider-Man, but that never stopped her from telling him off when he got something wrong. She had her own opinions and views on how this relationship worked and despite clashing with Spidey, they always seemed to be getting closer and more intimate every time she crossed his path.

That is until the goddamn Vampire comes back and ruins it all, because Felicia still has feelings for Morbius, I guess. In fact, he comes back so soon and suddenly, just as Peter is thinking of committing to Black Cat as Spider-Man, that it again feels like a mandate from on high. They're getting too close to each other, we can't have that, break them up by making Morbius a thing again. And quite frankly it feels forced because the only thing that seemingly prevents Spidey and Cat from sealing the deal is that neither of them have guessed at who the other is.

This is despite the fact that the Black Cat is obviously Felicia, given her very close relationship with Felicia's father that she doesn't even try to hide at all during her introductory episode. But Spidey has been consistently dense when it comes to secret identities, he couldn't even figure out Matt Murdock and Daredevil were the same person under similar circumstances. Using excuses THAT HE HIMSELF USES to cover his ass as Spider-Man. For being so smart, Peter is incredibly slow on the uptake when it comes to guessing Black Cat's identity despite how damn obvious it is. Not that Felicia is honestly much better, as both before and after this there are a number of clues to Spidey's true identity. Like... she kissed Peter AS Peter, she should know that mouth!

But the fact is, and this is where the forced editorial mandate thing comes in, that if they ever found out who the other was... that would be the end for any possible Peter and MJ relationship at this point. Felicia would finally realize why Peter seemed to never be around when she was in trouble, it's because he was Spider-Man. And given that Felicia's reasoning for being in love with Spider-Man is, again, the fact she feels he's always been there for her, she'd realize her most long standing intimate REAL relationship was with Peter all along! Peter in turn would realize that Felicia, the girl he first had a crush on, the one he was most conflicted about getting with before MJ vanished, a person he still has strong feelings for, is also the person who taught him to love again after MJ vanished. A friend he cares about who is now on his level and has also been there for him! There would be no way they couldn't get together at that point, or at the very least it would be very hard for Peter to decide between her and MJ from then on.

But no, the adventure with the returned Morbius leads to Felicia deciding to go with the creep Mutant Vampire and Blade to hunt other vampires and leave Spider-Man behind, just as he was about to be with her. Of course, Peter doesn't put two and two together that Cat is leaving with Morbius because as established he's an idiot when it comes to this stuff. If he was smarter, he'd have figured it out right now and probably revealed himself to her, and that would create a conflict and probably make her question this frankly boneheaded and nonsensical decision. So no, Felicia and Peter never find out each other's secret identities and she goes off with Morbius leaving Peter alone for no really good reason other than this felt like the fastest way to break them up so MJ could slide back in.

And MJ does slide back in, not long after this episode in fact and Spider-Man quickly fast tracks to proposing to her, revealing his secret identity, the works. However, Felicia isn't out of his life as MJ still keeps getting into trouble, constantly. At the wedding, Black Cat returns to make sure Peter's big day doesn't get ruined, because she does care about Peter even if she isn't with him. She does this again when MJ is seemingly kidnapped, first comforting Peter as Felicia reassuring him during a moment of hopelessness and then becoming Black Cat again to track down MJ for Peter.

And she admits aloud that she's doing this because she doesn't think she made the right call to follow Morbius and Blade, she still has feelings for Spidey, even though he's loyal and committed to MJ. Again, Felicia does not put two and two together given how gung-ho Spidey is for finding MJ. This also marks the only time MJ and the Black Cat meet, it's very quick, Peter has to answer a few obvious questions. After all that, Felicia decides to head back to Transylvania and once again Peter doesn't put two and two together that Felicia and Black Cat are back in town right at the same time. Because he's stupid like that.

What's important to note is that Felicia will drop everything for Peter, which suggests to me, on some subconscious level, she knows who Spider-Man is. And the fact she's still playing mental support coach to Peter, even outside of their secret identities, speaks volumes for their bond and connection. Even outside of the Black Cat persona and without directly knowing it, Felicia is there for Spider-Man when he needs her, just as much as he was for her.

But of course, all of this is for naught concerning Mary Jane's fate. Because... this is not Mary Jane. This hasn't been Mary Jane since she returned at the end of last season and conclusion of "Partners in Danger." Because we've been doing a random ass Clone Saga deal this whole time! This MJ, the one Peter married, shared his secrets with, probably most likely banged... wasn't his MJ. She was a clone created by Miles Warren who can use frickin water powers like Hydro Man because Hydro Man is an asshole ex who is obsessed with MJ and wanted his own version of her. But she wandered off, blah blah blah, point is her clone stability is breaking down and she's gonna evaporate. Cue one of the most gut wrenching screams in animation history.

So yeah, Peter never got the real Mary Jane back, only to be set up for heartache all over again. One could argue he probably loved this Mary Jane more. Sure he thought she was the original, but everything he experienced with her were steps he was unwilling to take with the real one. Similar to how Felicia has been feeling conflicted, one has to imagine Peter is even more so at this point on several other levels. Not that he has much time to mourn though. Madame Web has returned after a long absence from the series and she has war for him to fight, a Secret War.

In a very loose adaptation of the original Marvel Comics Event, Spider-Man is tasked by the Beyonder to lead a team of superheroes to liberate a planet that has fallen to villains he's plucked from Earth. This becomes a bit of a crossover between pretty much every Fox Entertainment Marvel Cartoon running at the time. From X-Men to Iron Man to the Fantastic Four, not Hulk though, Hulk rights are always a problem. But even after he's picked all the heroes he can afford to recruit, like any Gamer he can't resist modding shit to give him more stuff. And of all the heroes and allies he could pick to increase his ranks... he chooses the Black Cat.

It's a fairly odd choice honestly. Spidey has worked with a lot of heroes, maybe not as extensively as the Black Cat, but he's fought beside Doctor Strange, he knows other X-Men who are on Storm's level or at least just as capable. But he picks Black Cat. He picks her despite knowing that Madame Web knows the Real Mary Jane's location and promises it as a reward if he helps her. He picks Black Cat, despite knowing she is currently with Morbius and Blade. Makes one wonder... why?

Felicia isn't happy with this herself, because she just got pulled away in the middle of a vampire slaying fight. Don't worry, they're fine. It's Blade he'll manage without her.

...

What? Oh Morbius, yeah I guess he'll survive too just by being in close proximity to Blade. Have I mentioned I hate Morbius?

Anyway, the point is Black Cat is none too happy get pulled into Spidey's adventures against her will, like he can just do that on a whim. She's kinda right to be angry at him and she is for a good portion of the episode. When Spidey explains he picked her because he needs her support and they work good as a team, Felicia rightly says that he can't just rip her away from things because he needs to hold her hand. She'll be more than willing to do so on her own, he doesn't need to ask, he just shouldn't force her. It's a surprising role reversal, with Spider-Man being a bit more selfish than usual and Black Cat outwardly demanding to know when Spider-Man is gonna grow up. A question many comics fans wonder themselves to this day.

Spider-Man's ultimate ulterior motives are a bit more obvious though when he gets pretty jealous over Captain America and Black Cat bonding over her having the super soldier serum. And it doesn't help that Cap keeps kinda outshining him constantly when he saves Felicia a few times. But to be fair, Steve Rogers does that with everyone.

After the mission that topples the Red Skull ends, Spidey does apologize for taking Felicia against her will into this war. But she's no longer angry. Taking part in a mission bigger than even vampire slaying is important, a big deal, and if there is one thing Felicia has wanted its to not be left out of a fight for something bigger than herself. Plus, she get's to do it beside the greatest hero of all time. Spidey thinks she means Cap, but she corrects him, she's talking about the Web Head. Despite not being as perfect as Captain America, Spider-Man did prove himself out there as a leader to her and she admits she wouldn't want to miss this action with him for anything. Despite not wanting to be here initially, Felicia ultimately can't get over the fact Spider-Man wanted HER here with him. And given their last meeting had him coldly rejecting her advances, it says to Felicia that Spidey still feels for her and she clearly does too. Black Cat then kisses Spider-Man... and it's the last kiss he'll ever receive in the series. That's right, Peter's first and last kisses on this show come from Felicia. How do you not expect anyone to read into that?

No matter what lame line Morbius tries to give at the end of the episode, Felicia's heart doesn't really belong to him. It is very evident, crystal clear, painfully obvious, to anyone paying attention, that Felicia and Peter, on this series at the very least, were specially connected. Maybe not at first, but Felicia became someone who could match Spider-Man, physically and mentally, in many ways. And it's undeniable that, regardless of anything else, Peter held feelings for both Felicia and her Super Thief persona. Their banter was perfect, their partnership was top notch, the chemistry was amazing. The only thing keeping them apart was a story writing mandate from on high that they could not be endgame. Even though the writers took every chance they could nab to put them together. To shove Felicia back into Peter's life, even after she went off Slaying it up with Morbius. When I rewatched the series, it became painfully obvious who the writers seemed to prefer Peter with. None of this is to knock MJ as a character, on this show or in the comics, but it's hard for me to buy that there wasn't some kind of bias towards Felicia given everything that happens in this show.

Or maybe they just wanted an excuse to keep bringing Jennifer Hale back, I don't know! But I still choose to think that someone on that writing staff wanted a different endgame. It's been known to happen, creative teams aren't immune to shipping. Avatar the Last Airbender apparently had an ongoing tug of war between the executive producers and some of the writers over whether Katara would pick Zuko or Aang. It honestly feels like something similar happened here and as a result it comes across as the best evidence in my mind that this relationship could work. And the insane reality that less than a decade after Spider-Man TAS concluded, a show that did everything to ensure Spider-Man never got with the Black Cat because Peter/MJ were too iconic to not happen... One More Day drops and Peter has barely been with MJ for more than a single run out of several writers since. Said single writer being Nick Spencer, the Hydra Cap guy! Possibly in an effort to redeem himself from being the Hydra Cap Guy.

But I digress, as one can plainly see concerning this short retrospective of the series above, the 90s Cartoon has been over for a long time. Next year, it will be thirty years old. I can point out how it could've worked in that show, but that does nothing to prove Felicia and Peter ever have a chance now. All it shows is that I have a nostalgic attachment to this pairing because of an animated series. One with a highly different set of canonical circumstances between Spidey and the Black Cat that were crafted uniquely for this show alone. Circumstances that are worlds apart from the comics.

And that's because, as loathe as I am to admit it, Peter and Felicia's relationship has always had roadblocks in every piece of media involving them before and since. And I would be remiss if I didn't address any of those before I can start proving its viability now. If I don't I'll just have to do it later anyway. We'll look at how SpiderCat appears in other works as we go through this, but we need to head back to comic book land if we're really going to lay down what's actually keeping these two apart, and it's not the very weak contrivances preventing them from figuring out the obvious like in the 90s cartoon. No, it goes deeper than that. As you can see here.

90s Felicia wanted Spidey to unmask for her, but Comics!Felicia has had a hang up about that for a long while. This is the crux, the problem, with their relationship. The thing that always comes up when SpiderCat shippers argue for it. Comics!Black Cat loves Spider-Man... not Peter Parker. And mixing the two is too much for her to bare. This is what put strain on their relationship, Felicia didn't want her fantasy ruined by knowing the man behind the mask. Peter being an ordinary guy shatters her illusions about his prowess and ability. The phrase "Anyone can wear the mask" comes to mind and as long as Peter wears it for the Black Cat that is true. Take it off and Peter's normality leaks into things.

As a result, the main problem is Felicia can't love a man like Peter, who has a normal life outside of his superheroing. Felicia doesn't want normal, she likes what she is, who she is, doesn't want to go back to it. She wants to be the Black Cat because as the Cat she can do and get whatever she wants. Peter is, again, weighed down by responsibilities. While Felicia, once again, desires her independence from everything, including responsibility. Felicia would rather Spider-Man give up being Peter and just be the hero who swept her off her feet full time. To forever chase her across the rooftops and do what they want whenever they want. She's fine if that means fighting bad guys... so long as they're not tied down to normality. But Peter can't do that, he can never do that, not as long as he has ties to his life as Peter. And that's probably why Wells is considering severing a pretty big tie to that in order to make sure SpiderCat can't be reversed so easily. Can't really blame him for that though, given how comics are in constant flux. (Remember This)

This sort of issue is constantly reinforced. In the Spider-Man 2 video game, based off the Sam Raimi sequel, The "Spidey's loss of his powers" sub-plot is replaced by Black Cat trying to seduce him away into forever crime-fighting as his relationship with Mary Jane becomes strained due to her upcoming marriage to Jonah Jameson's son. Their dynamic matches the comics pretty well... and that means Spidey eventually breaks it off with her, saying he can't abandon his real life to forever play superhero with her. He needs a balance and that means he can't see her anymore. She leaves amicably, but it's sad to see happen.

In the Spider-Man: Web of Shadows game, Black Cat is revealed to still have feelings for Spider-Man and wants to be back together with him. This is pretty bad timing given the symbiote invasion going on. As the game is using the then popular trend of multiple choice endings there is one where you can have Black Cat be with Spider-Man at the end. It requires you basically healing her after a fight with your black suit, turning her into a Venomized version of herself. You can still pick the good ending after this where you defeat the Symbiotes, but all you know for sure is that MJ and him are on quits. You only see Felicia again if you pick the bad ending where Spider-Man breaks bad fully and decides to lead a symbiote army with Felicia by his side. Further emphasizing the idea that Peter can't pick being with Felicia without abandoning everything that makes him who he is.

There's also Spectacular Spider-Man, the other beloved Spider-Man animated series. Shorter-lived, but just as impactful. Where Spidey and Black Cat seem to hit it off during the start of Peter's whole symbiote storyline. Their banter is great, the chemistry fits, Felicia and Pete seem destined to be star-crossed opposite sides of the law lovers. However, when they meet up again Felicia is breaking her father out as she usually does... but the twist this time is Felicia's father is the one who shot Uncle Ben.

Naturally this completely wrecks any goodwill concerning Black Cat and Spidey's second meeting. As from here on out he's adamant Felicia's dad is not getting out. While it turns out Dad doesn't want to leave either and he decides to sacrifice his chance at freedom to stop a mass jailbreak of supervillains, that changes little. Spider-Man does not forgive Felicia's father and Felicia blames Spider-Man for infecting her dad with sentimentality. Even knowing he took an innocent life, all Felicia sees is her dad rotting away in jail. She declares she'll never forgive Spider-Man for this and rushes off in anger. The series ended shortly thereafter and this was never resolved. Greg Weisman, the show's creator, says if it had continued the relationship would've been "fraught." And once again this is the typical line concerning the fact Felicia's selfish desires run up against Spider-Man's heroic responsibility. And letting a criminal get away, especially one that killed his Uncle, is just something he can't do.

And I could go on, there are a ton of examples of this very problematic element of the relationship. It's the thing Marvel has consistently used to explain why Peter and Felicia aren't the right fit. Any romance would require either character to make sacrifices they are incapable of. Namely Felicia's independence and Peter's Responsibilities. Marvel itself decided to set this in stone to a degree with the usual question they ask... "What If?"

"What if... Spider-Man Married the Black Cat?" is the second part of a longer What If storyline answering what would happen if Peter and MJ did not get married. (HA! After OMD, one cannot help but laugh!) And as much as that cover paints wedded bliss... it's anything but. Felicia and Peter come to blows repeatedly, unable to reconcile their differences. Their goals are far too distant from each other overall and they just can't find common ground. By the end of the issue, Felicia lies dead, Spider-Man heart broken and the grim reality that this romance could never work is cemented in stone it seems. "What Ifs" aren't definitive statements about the only possible outcomes for the Marvel universe. But they are definitive statements from Marvel itself, a decree from on high that the current continuity, for all its faults, could be so much worse and we should be happy for what we have. And while the issue is loaded with nice panels that any SpiderCat fan would adore, the end result is still plain as day. Felicia and Peter are too oil and water to ever mix. And the end result would be the destruction of one or both.

How do you overcome the dreadful reality that your ship is declared doomed forever by the very company that in some sense set it in motion? Not just because Spider-Man can never be happy, but because the Black Cat is just too toxic a girlfriend to ever truly make him happy. Everyone argued that MJ and Peter's marriage was boring but they didn't want him to get with the next best option either because they think it's non-compatible, that they're just too different and of opposing thoughts to ever reach common ground.

And Marvel has tried to permanently set that in stone in canon once. To forever place SpiderCat as beyond possible, to sever their connection as decades long allies... and all because of an octopus in the brain.

The image above is not that of Peter Parker fighting the Black Cat. This is Doctor Otto Octavius, piloting Peter's body after jacking his mind. This is the Superior Spider-Man, and he does not care about Peter's past infatuations. He's here to prove he's the better Spider-Man and that means apprehending all criminals. In an otherwise re-affirming storyline that proves Peter Parker is the true Superior Spider-Man, Otto failing to live up to his lofty ambitious boasts, this scene... this one bloody scene, leads to the absolute low point period for all SpiderCat Fans. I call it the "Bitch Be Crazy" Era, an offensive title for a frankly offensively disgusting sub-plot in the Spider Run post-Superior.

Peter Parker informs all his Superhero buddies that Doc Ock had taken over his body for a long time, explaining his shitty behavior for the past year or so. Most everyone's response is "Oh, yeah, that's obvious in hindsight." Not Felicia.

The tables have turned, now Felicia has broke bad, but for real. And there is no way to describe what she becomes but extremely out of character. She doesn't accept Spider-Man's explanation, she doesn't even care. She is now obsessed with becoming the next Kingpin of Crime, a murderous, merciless mob boss who pulls the strings of supervillains, all in a bid to destroy Spider-Man and all he holds dear and it's absolutely, completely, stupidly, idiotically terrible. No matter how selfish Felicia can be, this is NOT her. Felicia has never shown any desire to be a crime boss, to be feared. Her desires have always been thrill seeking, shiny things and not being told what she can and can't do. She might be violent, but she is not a cold-blooded killer. She might be cynical, but she is not this petty. Every element of this terrible subplot makes no sense unless she's absolutely lost her mind or been replaced by a Skrull.

The only fun thing in this whole mess, was that Gwenpool's first in-universe story took place during this sub-plot and she crossed paths with her. And then did this.

I guess that justifies putting a Gwenpool tag below somewhere. Win for me!

Suffice to say, no one liked this change. Everyone hated it, even more than Superior Spider-Man. People came around on that, no one liked Felicia the Big Black Cat of Crime. Dan Slott could never justify it because it made no sense that Felicia would care this much about street cred because Spider-Man beat her up. As if there isn't a single crook in New York at this point who can claim Spider-Man hasn't knocked out one of their teeth. Others tried to explain it, to give it a more sensible face. There was an explanation in the Silk comic, but it didn't really stick as something that would drive her to this extreme. Regardless, it was a dark time for SpiderCat Shipping Fandom. And it took way longer than it should've to fix it all.

But it did get fixed and that brings me the counter to ALL of this stuff that stands in Peter and Felicia's way. And that is that no matter how much things stay the same, comics always inevitably change and so do the characters in them. We like to pretend that the way we see a lot of the characters in comics now has just always been them. But no, they're not. Batman used to carry a gun in his early days, Superman didn't always fly, Captain America, a WW2 Veteran, claimed he never killed anyone for a short time, Deadpool didn't always break the 4th Wall and Starlord used to be a lot more of a straight edged serious space hero and not a rock music lovin' dancin' fool of a rogue Han Solo. Tastes change, writers change, people change... and so has Felicia.

Felicia hasn't always been honest with Peter, she's tricked him into chasing her, played him to get away with a score, gotten superpowers from Kingpin in an effort to keep up with him which led to their first break up, she even dated Flash Thompson trying to make him jealous. But if one thing has been consistent, it's that Felicia can't help but cross back into Peter's life. And in the process, because she cares, even loves him, there are things she's had to accept, to admit to. And chief among them is Peter Parker is Spider-Man and Peter Parker's life is as if not more important to him than just being Spider-Man. She hasn't only loved Spider-Man for years at this point, for a long time. She loves both. and she is willing to accept both. If there is any problem, it's Peter accepting Felicia for who she is... which is a better person than even she gives herself credit for.

Spider-Man wouldn't be partnering up with Felicia so often if he didn't believe there was more to her than just a shallow thief. And the influence has affected Felicia, she's admitted as much. Maybe her shift to doing good was set off by a crush, but she owned that change and she kept pushing herself. She'll never have a strict moral compass, but she does know what the right choice is at the end of the day, what feels right. And when Spider-Man needs an ally, he can call on her as much as anyone. Spider-Man being in her life has only been a net positive for Felicia, Peter being with her has only been a net positive. And that brings us back to her time as a lame crime boss and how they fixed her. Because there's a better, deeper, actually meaningful reason for their schism besides Felicia's loss of street cred.

She forgot the man she loved and changed for.

Yep, we're factoring One More Day into this thing proper like. After an adventure with Venom and Spidey, dealing with some symbiote nonsense, Felicia is convinced to hash it out with the Wall Crawler. And she admits to him that she lost something, his face. When Spider-Man made the world forget who he was under the mask it affected Felicia too. All her memories, all the time spent with Peter post reveal, everything that she knew about the man behind the mask... it was either gone or in a fog. She can't remember all those times that Peter trusted her with who he was and it has been eating her up inside for years! And Spider-Man never thought about how that would affect her, a person he's loved, been intimate with, and at least now cares about. That was an important time in her life and it's just gone now. And it may be selfish to want all of it back and even demand it back... but she's right. Those memories were hers and Spidey took them away. And Spider-Man, being selfless as he is, can't just let that stand anymore.

Everyone says Felicia only loves Spider-Man, but that's not true. She may love the Spider... but she changed for the Man. She cherishes that time she had with that Man. And it's hard to believe that she doesn't love the Man as much as the Spider because, ultimately, they are the same person. That's the other difference between this and Bruce/Selina. Bruce Wayne is the mask for the boy who died in that alleyway, Batman is who he's been since that day. Peter and Spider-Man are the same person, it's why he can't leave either persona behind. And Felicia has long since accepted that, and that has never changed how she feels about him until she lost who he was beneath the mask. Now it's all back, the highs and lows of that tumultuous time in her life when she fell for a Spider and came to love the Man. It doesn't heal everything, but it repairs the bond that was broken so long ago and so unintentionally.

There is, however, another argument being floated around these days I have to address. That even if Felicia can accept the man beneath the mask, do either really NEED each other? I'd point to all the stuff above that shows how that's simply not true, but there's more to it than that. Love isn't always about what you need, it's just as much about what you want. And I'm not talking about a person or thing, not something material. What does Felicia want? What does Peter want?

Felicia wants to be more than what she is, always has been. She wants thrills, she wants to be her true self and I feel Spider-Man brings out those qualities more than any of her other boy or girlfriends, especially since he started her path to change and growth. She stops being selfish and reacts more selfless. His influence on her is undeniable and she knows as much as anyone. She'll never be a good girl, but she'll at least be a better one than she is without him in her life.

Peter wants to be at peace, to be happy with who he is, to not always feel burdened. Felicia has always been one of the ways he's released that burden, he's been happy with her. Sure he's been happy with others, but Felicia has met him on a level that none of them could, she's been able to be in the thick of it with him. She's been able to share the burden. She's been able to be an active participant. With her around, Peter's world as a superhero doesn't feel so lonely. And maybe, if Felicia could accept the man as much as it seems she has, so too could she accept Peter's regular life.

In Taylor Swift's song, Anti-Hero, she reflects on how exhausting for her it's been that she hasn't seemed to learn anything and keeps making the same mistakes over and over. And if you pay attention to the lyics enough, they start describing Felicia Hardy pretty well.

I should not be left to my own devices They come with prices and vices I end up in crisis (tale as old as time) I wake up screaming from dreaming One day I'll watch as you're leaving 'Cause you got tired of my scheming (For the last time)

However, just as much of it can sorta apply to Spider-Man as well. His heroic selflessness is frankly a very long depressing slog of him being unable to forgive himself for letting down Uncle Ben, placing all the blame on his shoulders and then repeating that process whenever his great power can never live up to his great responsibility.

Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism Like some kind of congressman? (Tale as old as time) I wake up screaming from dreaming One day I'll watch as you're leaving And life will lose all its meaning (For the last time)

When it comes to Spider-Man and the Black Cat, a lot of the things that make them unhappy are self-inflicted. Lewis Lovhaug of "Atop the Fourth Wall" Fame has argued that the problem with Spider-Man in a lot of modern stories is that he never learns from anything. He hasn't done enough to improve himself as Spider-Man or as Peter Parker, he just keeps feeling sorry for himself that one gets in the way of the other. And frankly, the same curse has affected Felicia. Because a lot of what has prevented her from being with Spider-Man has been herself. Ultimately both will, as the song says, always look towards the bright sun of what they think they want, but never in the mirror. They'll hurt themselves, never realizing that they're the source of their own dissatisfaction with how their lives are. It must be exhausting always rooting for the anti-hero, especially when its yourself.

Maybe Peter and Felicia don't need each other, but they do need someone to set them straight and get them to stop believing their own bullshit. To make them stare away from the sun and into the mirror. Because they are each exactly the kind of person who would do that for the other, in fact they've been doing it for as long as they've been together. Their bond is stronger than people give it credit for.

Early on in their relationship, Black Cat was badly injured and has to be rushed to a hospital. Helpless to really do anything, Peter could only stand by her bedside and hope she'd be okay again. For all his power, once more, he can't do anything but just stay with her. And actually, that's enough.

But come now, would Felicia ever do the same for Peter you ask? Well... during a recent story event, Spider-Man was badly injured and slips into a coma. But there was one person constantly by his side throughout it.

This isn't derogatory, Felicia is clearly lamenting the fact that someone so good who does everything so selflessly despite no thanks or praise, is so constantly placed into situations like this. It's unfair to her. It's why she's here now, like he was for her. And just like before...

It's Felicia who gets the first response out of him. Claim all you want that Felicia doesn't need Peter, that she's moved past him, that Peter and MJ are too perfect for each other, that the Black Cat can't ever settle down like Peter probably wants or that Peter can never really be there for Felicia in the way she wants. But I don't buy it. And stuff like this is why.

No matter how much bad luck she is, Spider-Man wants and in some ways needs the Black Cat is in his life. And no matter how much she can try and say she's over it, The Black Cat will always find a way to cross paths with her Spider.

In the recent PS4 Spider-Man game, Felicia came back after a stint of going straight to prepare for a major strike back against Hammerhead and the Maggia families. She coerces Spider-Man into another of her games where she steals $50 Million worth of stuff and forces him to chase her around the city to find it all. She leaves the loot behind though, because it was all trick to break into the police evidence lockup and snag her old gear. But she did leave Peter a cool new suit, a reference to the time when Felicia made a new black suit for Peter after giving up his symbiote. You know, so they match.

Felicia's little game comes to fruition when "The Heist" DLC comes out. Felicia strings Spidey along, pretending Hammerhead has her son, strongly implying its his. Ultimately this is revealed to have been a lie of course, another game. Because this, to Felicia, is basically the perfect date night. Spider-Man chases her, they team up, she gets what she wants and runs off into the night. In this case the entire wealth of the Maggia after double crossing Hammerhead. This gets a target on her back instantly. Spider calls her to warn her, leaving Felicia more than a little surprised.

Felicia: I just conned you and here you are trying to save me. How can you be so damn nice all the time?

Spidey: It's not about being nice, it's about doing the right thing! You have so many talents, I wish you'd use them to help someone other than yourself.

Felicia: Yeah well, you should know by now that's not how I roll.

Spidey: People can change, Felicia.

Felicia: Love you, Spider. I'll miss you.

Felicia's penthouse explodes and she appears to die. But eagle eyed players would notice the puff smoke just before the bomb goes off. The Black Cat fakes her death more than Doctor Doom uses robots. Felicia got away, scot-free, with all the money she could ever need or want. She conned Spider-Man, Hammerhead and everyone. She won hands down and can do whatever she wants from now on. No one will be looking for her. Hammerhead's plans to utilize weapons of war to take over the city isn't her problem.

And yet...

Felicia comes back to help Spider-Man, knowing it will basically put her on the radar again given everything she's stolen. She doesn't stay, but she saves him and gives him the means to take Hammerhead down. No matter what anyone thinks of Felicia, especially herself, she is not nearly as incapable of being selfless as one thinks. And this is true of most of her incarnations. Perhaps because the Black Cat will do anything to get what she wants, even if it means turning over a new leaf for her Spider. It's how this all started after all. Selfish Selflessness, it's probably the best middle ground Peter can hope for. But at least it means he can count on her, to be selfish. And that's why she'll always be there for him. Felicia doesn't like to lose the things she has.

I think it also says a lot that many players felt that Peter and Felicia's chemistry was loads more interesting and compelling than his relationship with the estranged version of MJ Spidey has to deal with. And frankly, Felicia being in those stealth sequences would've made a million times more sense. There are some who have even speculated, with no real proof mind you, that Felicia was lying about lying about having a son. That she DOES have one, he just wasn't in danger. But of course, that's unlikely. For the same reason Peter remains hung up on Mary Jane in this game despite the fact most players seem apathetic to them getting back together. Spider-Man being a father out of wedlock is something that Marvel is not really prepared to sign off on. Just as much as they resist him being with someone other than MJ in other media, despite not wanting him to be with her in the comics.

It all seems so arbitrary to me, that they just can't be together because of the iconography of Peter and MJ. Or because she can't love the man the Spider is, which isn't true. Or Spider-Man can't change her or trust her, which also isn't true. If there has ever been a more consistent, sustainable, supportive and bonded character to Peter Parker it has been Felicia Hardy. Romantically or platonically, Felicia has dropped things to be there for Peter. And the idea that they are toxic for each other has never rung true. People can change, and this romance proves it. They just need to be given the chance to do so, and have the right person along for the ride. And the forced separation feels more arbitrary when you take into consideration, that Marvel has kept MJ and Peter apart for over a decades worth of comics and has never bit the bullet on simply just letting Felicia and Peter be together until now.

Some have claimed the new romance is out of the blue, that Spencer was setting things up to undo OMD, and that Wells just pulled this off out of nowhere. Well... no. Because those scenes where Felicia brought Peter out of his coma, the re-unmasking, the re-entry into his life through a number of adventures... Spencer either wrote those himself or they were written in conjunction with his run. People have confirmation bias, I'm no different, I don't claim to be. However, everyone has wanted OMD to be undone since the storyline first concluded. Marvel has played with fans' heartstrings that it will do so and it has prevented Peter from moving on because if he's not in a committed sustainable relationship, there's always hope that Mephisto's deal will be undone! And it has not helped anyone in the slightest to keep buying that horse crap.

The fact is I'm honestly sick of this "will they won't they" garbage from Marvel on undoing One More Day and I think more people should be by this point. Let me make this perfectly clear, even if they undo the deal... they're not getting remarried. Marvel simply is not interested in going down that road for Spider-Man again. Even with the new Spider-Verse movie showing Peter B. with a kid. Because the problem has never been they won't let Peter be married to MJ. The problem is they won't let Peter grow. The problem is they won't let him move on and change. They stick him in a misery spin cycle and just never let him out.

Why not just end the charade? Let Peter grow. Let Felicia grow. They both already want to. They both already desire to. And they both have already done so for the other. Felicia has been there to challenge and push him, while also protecting and supporting him. And Peter has undeniably changed Felicia as a person. She may never have the same moral compass, but she's no longer as lost as she once was. Her selfish cynicism is kept in check when it comes to Peter. And his selfless self-destruction is held back thanks to Felicia. Why deny them the chance to both be truly happy? Especially when they make each other better people. Why deny chemistry that is so perfectly balanced in its contradiction?

I don't begrudge people for preferring Mary Jane being with Spider-Man. I'm more or less at peace with the reality that some pairings are just thought of as the default and nothing is really gonna change that. I prefer Rogue with Deadpool, that doesn't change the fact she'll always be with Gambit. What I wanted to stress with this isn't so much an argument to ship it so much as the ultimate reason I simply can't let these two go.

For me, SpiderCat speaks on some primal level, more than wish fulfillment, but the idea of growth. That love can hold you up in your worst moments, or change you for the better. That it can make you look in the mirror and ask, who do you want to be? What do you want? What is worth changing for? Felicia found her answer, a nerdy, selfless, eternally tormented wall-crawler, who should know better than to go chasing her trying to save her from herself... but does it anyway. How could she not return the favor and be there for him? It's hard to say whether he caught her in his web, or if she just loves walking across his path. What is certain is they are bonded to each other, in one way or another. And that's the only thing about either character that I don't think can ever truly change.

Well this was a long one, and probably a lot more introspective and personally relatable than I thought. I think now have a better understanding of what has always drawn me to these two. And also now think I have discovered the song that describes them both so... thanks Taylor Swift! Whatever future this rekindled romance holds in the comics, we'll see how it shakes out. But I can enjoy the ride even if some of it has been rocky. Not the first time I've had to deal with that.

If you're still here, congrats, you've made it to the end. And I hope I didn't completely bore you all with this fairly overly comprehensive look at a pairing spanning various mediums and continuities. But I like to be thorough. So I hope you can appreciate the amount of work I put into this whole thing for you all. If I ever do this again I can only hope it won't be so... all encompassing. But I make no promises.

One thing I know though, I'm probably gonna be riding and dying these two forever. The Cat and her Spider, the Self and Selfless. Beautiful in the mess they are apart and the whole they are together.

[kevinsdsy]

(Kevin and Renee anon again... Sorry) I agree with that other anon's hot take so much because it's true and I love how they pointed out the fact that he portrys his care via exy. And to expand on your point about the team for Jean, not only did he find him a team opposite to the Ravens, but he's been helping them help him adjust as well. He found Jean a team with people he trusts to be able to actually help him. Jean even protested it but Kevin knew it was what would help him.. And I'm always thinking about the scene of him asking for Jean's hand to check it, making sure he could still close it and mobilize it, I'm not sure if it's because of what happened to himself but augh, the way he knows Jean so well makes me ill. Any question Jeremy has about him, he's answered easily. His conversations with him are so tender and just....he really cares about Jean. Random head canon but I think his love language could be gift giving because of the trinkets and post cards he'd get Jean from his travels. Plus, in when he bought Neil the racket and I know it was with the team's card but I'm under the belief he just likes buying stuff because it's easier to express that he cares and notices those he loves through buying them things he knows they'll enjoy/like. Not to mention he allowed Neil to fully be sure of his choices instead of going by himself and just getting a racquet he deemed the best.

Somebody fucking talk about History with him right now, I just know he'd be so animated while talking about it. It's literally an important interest that's set aside exy and yet they ignore him to then complain he's "all exy" 🙂‍↔️.

I can write much more and more coherently but it's 7am and I'm running on 2hrs of sleep and m&m's myb 🙂‍↕️ I can't promise this is my last Kevin Day anon but uhm I'll stop being annoying for now 🧎

GODDD THE SCENE WITH HIM ANALYSING JEAN’S HAND AND HIM TAKING THE TIME TO PREPARE JEREMY TO JEAN’S ARRIVAL IS JUST SO !!!!! makes me cry just thinking about it actually ntm when jeremy calls him asking if riko broke kevin’s hand and it’s so noticeable how kevin is jumping around the topic a bit. instead of immediately answering he asks if jean has told them about it and then he finally admits the truth and tells jeremy it’s something he doesn’t tell people since the issue is resolved now anyways and it’s all just so !!!!!

his love language being gift giving/acts of service is also such a good headcanon and i think it fits him so well especially like !!! especially because he went out of his way to buy jean magnets & get him postcards whenever he was away

HISTORY KEVIN DAY IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME!!! like the nerd is reading history books for fun and watching every history documentary he can get around to and i think he will go through phases when he starts hyperfixtating on specific topics (but i’m not as familiar with a lot of history topics so i can’t really give my take on which topics that would be) which also leads to my headcanon of him needing glasses, but hiding this fact by wearing lenses, because why would we not want to make him a history nerd wearing glasses and carrying books around him at all times like

AND PLSSS you’re MORE than welcome joining me in my inbox i LOVE talking about kevin he’s fr the loml

[baileythebean]

Reasons why you should read… Wings of Fire!!

Random LONG-ASS post but idc because this has been my favorite book series since 3rd grade and I still HEAVILY fixate on it - for anyone interested (after I explain ofc) These books are by Tui T. Sutherland and are available in audiobook, paperback, hardcover, and Kindle I think.

Reasons you might enjoy WoF and features of the books!

-creative character designs

-full plot with little to no holes and if there are any, they’re probably explained in one of the MANY side books available.

-well-written characters that can be powerful without being a “Mary Sue” and having their own personalities

-each book follows a different protagonist, sometimes with the protagonist switching up mid-book

-a prologue and epilogue in each book

-15 main books released so far with more coming!!

-STUNNING cover art

-the main characters are dragons!!

-Written like those fanfics where you read them and you forget you’re reading a fanfic but it’s still not quite written like an ‘official’ book, y’know?

-descriptive writing so you don’t have to imagine stuff in weird vague ways

-LOTS OF LGBTQIA+ rep! Including but not limited to: mlm rep, wlw rep, non-binary/non-conforming rep - and the best part about it? It’s casually brought up! It’s normalized! Not even the villains or shitty parents show an OUNCE of homophobia or transphobia!

-There are humans in these books! And POC rep!

-women in leading/strong roles :3

-different continents!

-different tribes of dragons each sharing similar traits depending on their habitat!! NOT JUST RANDOMIZED DRAGONS EVERYWHERE ALL MIXED TOGETHER WHERE YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHO CAN DO WHAT!!

-Each book features a map of the continent it’s set on, a description of the dragons of each tribe living on that continent (including looks, powers, diet, affiliation in war depending on the book, and current Queen) and a page for the prophecy the book fixates around (different for each arc)

-Three arcs, each solving a different conflict but STILL IN THE SAME PLOT!!

-creepy mind-control stuff!

-well-written villains

-lines that have made me CACKLE out loud multiple times

-TONS OF SIDE BOOKS WITH EXTRA LORE/INFO IN THEM!!

-and so much more! Read them for yourself to find out!!

ALL THE BOOKS IN ORDER PLUS THE NAME, SPECIES AND A PICTURE OF THE PROTAGONIST IN PARENTHESES:

THE DRAGONETS OF DESTINY ARC: 1) The Dragonet Prophecy (Clay of the Mudwings)

2) The Lost Heir (Tsunami of the Seawings)

3) The Hidden Kingdom (Glory of the Rainwings)

4) The Dark Secret (Starflight of the Nightwings)

5) The Brightest Night (Sunny of the Sandwings/Nightwings)

THE JADE MOUNTAIN ARC: 6) Moon Rising (Moonwatcher of the Nightwings)

7) Winter Turning (Winter of the Icewings)

8) Escaping Peril (Peril ((the one in front)) of the Skywings)

9) Talons of Power (Turtle ((the green one)) of the Seawings)

10) Darkness of Dragons (Qibli of the Sandwings) (MY FAV CHARACTER YIPPEE)

THE PANTALA ARC: 11) The Lost Continent (Blue of the Silkwings)

12) The Hive Queen (Cricket of the Hivewings)

13) The Poison Jungle (Sundew of the Leafwings) (MY FAV BOOK YIPPEE)

THE RETURN ARC (not sure if that’s actually what it’s called but oh well): 14) The Dangerous Gift (Snowfall ((the one on the right)) of the Icewings)

15) The Flames of Hope (Luna ((the obvious-looking one)) of the Silkwings)

THERE ARE ALSO GRAPHIC NOVELS UP TO BOOK 7 SO FAR AND SIDE BOOKS LISTED HERE: Legends: Darkstalker

Legends: Dragon Slayer

A Guide to the Dragon World

The Winglets Quartet

There might be more but there are also a coloring book plus an activity/storymaking book and as far as I know the fandom is pretty non-toxic and full of artists and cosplayers!! So have funnnn :33

ALSO SEND ME ASKS IF THERES ANYTHING ELSE YOU WANNA KNOW ABT IT, I’D BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO ANSWER THEM (sorry if Tumblr fucks up the image quality)

-IRL Bailey

@toniothegammafish @thesilliestofallqueers @rebootgrimm @ask-sora-aguilar @schnozzlebozzle

@bioexorcismss @piigeonss @weirdassartist @clown-prince-of-gay @lilacquintet 

@wakatoshi-main @metal-mage @vv4loe 

[pinazee]

The Old and the Restless

The first episode to include another Spencer! Now, granted we don’t get much here other than henry doesn’t seem to get along with his dad and maybe doesn’t like the idea of his son being around him. Plus, I don’t think he’s ever mentioned again. I was hoping the introduction to grandpa spencer would give us some kind of reason for why henry is so controlling. We could possibly infer, strictly based on his personality, that grandpa spencer wasnt the most responsible and that henry, as elder brother, took on the brunt of taking care of the family. I mean, you could possibly even go as far as to say grandpa spencer had some run in’s with the law and thats how henry got interested in it- out of spite of his own father and thus leading to the idea that spencer sons resenting their fathers is like a family curse (i think thats actually a thing? I have a vague memory of someone saying it at least). But again, this is all speculation because we never see him again. Grandpas also act differently with their grandkids than their own kids too so who’s to say what it was like for henry growing up. Either way, this flashback really emphasizes how strict henry was, and the more flashbacks i see, the more saddened i get by how downtrodden little shawn is every time he shows up. Liam visibly shrinks when he sits next to him, its heartbreaking. But im glad his grandpa stuck up for him (which is probably why he never saw him again).

The way they pop up here makes me snicker

I love the fast one they played on henry! Shawn knew there was no way he would help unless he thought he could use it as an opportunity to show him up (because his dads a grade A asshole).

I also have no respect for men who call other men girls as an insult, especially when one of those men is his own fucking son. So you gotta imagine shawns heard that kind of bullshit his whole life, so i kind of give him a pass when he makes fun of gus for not being manly enough, though thankfully that seems to dissipate in later seasons so we can call it character growth (though i think it was just the writers, or maybe james, who decided it wasn’t very funny and just hurt the character). Henry has a lot of ground to cover before he can get redeemed in my book. He’s just the worst. im having a much harder time with henry during this rewatch.

Gus is being absolutely adorable here. This episode really made it seem like Gus was henrys kid too, not only because he’s completely comfortable sleeping on his shoulder (I’ve never felt that close to my friends parents at least) but also because he’s giving shit to henry as much as shawn is and i love it! It makes sense too considering how often gus was at his house, henry practically raised him as well.

This is a semi good shawn vs. henry episode. I wish they would have highlighted better how shawn and henry gather their information in different ways but it was more like Henry got some pieces and shawn got pieces but neither had the complete picture so they ended up just working together instead of against. I think i’d have preferred if henry was seeing all the same stuff but shawn actually came to the right conclusion, or that shawn showed kindness to the right person and got the key piece of info that way because ultimately its how he connects with people that separates him from henry (simply because henry is pretty good at seeing the same stuff shawn does a lot of the times is all).

“Just this time im going to teach you a lesson” just this time??? Thats literally all you do henry! Thats like your whole thing!

The way Henry says this makes it seem like he was struggling to call Gus his life partner haha

Shawn and gus both knew of african gambian pouch rats, so i can only assume they watched a nature documentary together haha Sidenote: i randomly looked up african gambian pouch rat to see what they looked like and they’re being used to sniff out tuberculosis apparently?!? Crazy stuff man.

Lassie just wanted to straight up incarcerate a child. Thank god karen became chief over him- could you imagine??? Shawn would definitely have been locked up in the pilot. Gus wouldve been killed next to mira or something, juliet would still be in miami. Buzz wouldve been fired or killed by that serial killer. So many crimes would’ve been unsolved and so many people would’ve been locked up and innocent. So again, thank god for chief vick.

The indian blood bit gets a pass simply because of the line “they were here first” and gus’ response “im not hating on indians im hating on you” I dont think its terribly offensive but it is a dumb stereotypical joke. It just kind of makes me sigh and shake my head.

Why is gus always trying to get shawn to taste blood?? Does that show up later? Is this a consistent thing? Its just kind of weird considering gus is really squeamish around it? I think its Gus’ way of trying to prank him but he’s like really bad at it haha Also i didn’t like gus’ face there. It made it seem vaguely… nevermind. Its just weird lol

I dont like the B story with juliet and lassie. I think i did at one point because juliet put the fear of god in him and inadvertently that same fear in the others which was fun, but this kids a fucking creep so i don’t think theres any combination of words that would cause this character to suddenly become respectful and it might be the most unrealistic thing to happen on psych, which is truly saying something. Its just one of those scenes you can’t overanalyze so I won’t! Its fun! (But like, thats what im doing here so jk). I did enjoy the “scared straight” subversion moment. Prisons great kids. Its like summer camp. Also his friends name is “white slavery” and idk what to do with that information except point at it with my mouth open in amusement.

I just like how lassie does his “strike two” and im doing that from now on.

Overall its not one of my fave episodes but heres some gifs of some of my fave moments

[rimurutempest]

Hello.....If you don't mind me asking, can I ask, what are your top 7 favorite media (can be books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series/etc) and your top 10 favorite (fictional) characters from any media? Why do you love them all? Sorry if you've answered this questions before......

Interesting specific.......

7 media huh?

SLC Punk - live action movie from the 90s about Punks in Salt Lake City during the 80s. As a trans person that grew up in Arizona in a region populated by a ton of Mormons I sorta related to it kinda and nowadays I feel like it's actually a really funny, really scary, and really beautiful movie that gets overlooked a lot.

The Shining by Stephen King (book) - it's not my favorite horror novel and it's not my favorite Stephen King novel, but it was the book that got me to enjoy horror. The story is so scary and good, the characters are fleshed out, and there's a whole underlying dialogue about abuse and alcoholism that's very scary. Which is part of why I don't like the movie, cuz the movie adaption (erases the usefulness of the titular "Shining") sorta erases the personal story about alcoholism and abuse. And, it's definitely there still, it focuses more of its efforts on just being a spooky haunted hotel, it's style over substance to me. The connection of the personal and horror made me sort of see the true story telling value of the genre, and now I'm like. In love with horror.

Inside Mari by Shuzo Oshimi (manga) - the best way to explain this is, what if Freaky Friday were more of a psychological horror. Reading Inside Mari has been a very important thing to me as an adult, I sorta see myself in it and there's so much trans emotions in this (there's a whole thing that Oshimi is probably trans), this work is so dear to me I refuse to read to watch other people's take or interpretations, which sounds bad but I just want my special thing that I interpret my way to be interpreted my own way. It's amazing and I love it. All of Oshimi's work has hit me in a personal place.

Wandering Son by Takako Shimura (manga) - one of the first portrayals of a trans person I saw in manga, and honestly still one of the best. There's a lot of criticisms we could give it, but I love it and I related to it so much. It was nice to see a story follow such a young trans girl (and boy) and see them grow. Probably part of why I decided to finally identify as trans.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part 3: Rebellion (anime movie) - this one is largely just emotional stuff that's coincidental. The original Madoka tv show (and thus first two movies) were great but I never thought it was perfect, but Rebellion emotionally murdered me and as everything else mentioned, it felt so relatable. Came out in a very important time frame for bonding when my husband, so I got to see it in theaters with him (twice technically, we went a second time with a friend) plus I got to see it with another friend (three times total) hehe. It's just like, a very big date for my husband and I, I remember it perfectly down to what I had for dinner (my first bowl of professional made ramen lmao). The movie just, really hit, and the circumstances around seeing it were just really important to me.

Lateralus by Tool (album) - I'm sure some people are gonna be like "whaaaa how edgy loser" or whatever about this. But Lateralus was an important album for me cuz it introduced me to larger intellectual concepts I'd never considered before, made me really fall in love with that brand of music, and was one of those things I would put on repeat when I felt very depressed (read: dysphoric). I know the members have sorta grown into shitty people (namely Maynard) but this album is just very important to me.

I'm just going to say The Green Knight (movie), there's a lot I want to put here, especially a lot about Arthurian literature, but I think the best way to just, placeholder all the Arthurian shit I'm obsessed with. The Green Knight is a fantastic adaptation that's incredibly beautiful and well acted. Love it.

tbh w/ you I don't wanna do characters rn so if you swing back by later I might.

[mask131]

Creepy and spooky cartoons of my youth (1)

I want to collect, for this Halloween season, some of the "creepy cartoons" of my youth - animated series aimed at a young audience but still about creepy and spooky stuff, and that I encountered during my childhood or teenagehood. I decided to make it a two-parters, and in this first iteration I want to share cartoons I was not particularly a fan of as a kid, or following faithfully as a teenager, but that I did regularly saw or that marked me at some point, and thus were part of a sort of "general mediatic ambiance".

Starting with one I casually watched from time to time, "Growing Up Creepie". I shared a video about it earlier. The show aired around the time I got back from school on the afternoons one specific year, so usually I got a side-look at it on TV while munching on biscuits:

Another one I casually watched without ever going fully into it, but that was an... interesting watch, was Mona the Vampire. While watching it as an adult is VERY different from watching it as a kid, I was REALLY into the whole concept of "It's just kids playing games and incorporating real-life into their imagination world". Plus I was also very much into the concept of a vampire superhero-protagonist kicking the ass of monsters.

There was "Tales from the Cryptkeeper", which I would not have known the existence of, had I not borrowed a VHS tape of it at the local library when I was a kid:

"Esprit Fantôme". This is a French cartoon that aired VERY regularly on television in my youth. I never actually really watched it... I watched trailers of it, and fragments of episodes from time to time. I know the basic cast. But it never interested me as a kid, and I never completed a full episode ever. However I still intend to get a look at it now, because I wonder what all the fuss was about and why everybody liked it back in the days.

"Petit Vampire". The iconic and famous comic book of Joann Sfar was adapted several times as animation, but I am not speaking of the recent animated movie that came out - I am speaking of the first, animated series that was aired on TV. I only ever caught glimpses of it while switching through the channels, and on very rare occasions. I thought it looked cool and interesting, but I never got info as a kid as to what the show was about or where it came from. I only re-discovered it much later, as I looked into Sfar's work and discovered he had made "Petit Vampire"

"Zombie Hotel". Another one of those European shows. I honestly would not have included it on the list... Had I not been spammed with videos of it when looking at something else on Youtube. I had ENTIRELY forgotten about the existence of this cartoon until a month ago or so, and YET when I saw it I was all "DARN THAT'S THIS SHOW I REMEMBER! I don't know what it is about or who are these people but I KNOW THEM!". I still need to re-watch it to understand what was going on.

"Oggy et les cafards". Okay with this one I am cheating a bit, because it is NOT meant to be a creepy or spooky show. It is not horror for kids, it is not horror comedy, it is meant to be fun, wholesome, cooky, goofy... But if you know this show, you will know it is one of the most famous representatives of the "deranged animations" specific to France, and I never watched this show as a kid - half because I was not interested in it and I thought the style was ugly, but also half because this show creeped me out and disturbed me so much. The strange muteness of characters existing in a town seemingly out of "Vivarium", the laws of architectures and physics bending randomly at every scene as if this was Hell rather than the real world, and the random nonsensical jokes and absurd cameos that made this world feel like... like insanity. It did NOT like it - it was basically David Lynch for kids, or at last it was perceived as such in my young brain X)

I preferred to it "Les Zinzins de l'Espace" (Space Goofs), which worked on the same absurd humor and deranged animation, but that at least conveyed well and in a sympathetic and funny way the goofy caricatures and the comedic intentions - Les Zinzins de l'Espace was a safe show, and one of my favorites ; Oggy and the Cockroaches was like a surrealist painting that left me disturbed if I tried to think for too long about it, because I felt by instinct it would give me nightmares.

Next post will be about my actual FAVORITE creepy cartoons!

[pokeshadow]

Ok so this image the official Scream twitter posted of the shrine has been eating my brain for days now. 

WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GHOSTFACE? Just look at all the shit in this shrine! This isn’t just a Stab fanboy, because there’s stuff like the fax machine from Scream 3 and what looks like Richie’s shirt. This isn’t just a Billy/Stu fanboy because Mrs Loomis’s jacket’s in there, what looks like Kenny’s cap is in there, and again Richie’s jacket. But they also have crazy shit like Billy’s blood stained shirt, the robes Stu wore during the party, Tatum’s outfit, a recreation of Steve in the chair complete with the jacket, what looks like SKETCHES Stu or Billy made planning what they wanted to do to Casey, what looks like someone sketching portraits of Sidney Tatum Stu and Billy in the case next to tatum’s outfit, what looks like the CAMERA Gale used to film what went down in the house, there’s a gun next to Mrs Loomis’s jacket that looks just like the one she used, and what I think is most important, the ACTUAL GHOSTFACE COSTUME USED THAT NIGHT. Well, one of them at least, since most likely Billy did also get up at one point to help Stu out, meaning two ghosties were running around at once that night. It’s the only one behind protective glass, and you can see the blood stain on the right shoulder from where Sidney wore it (she was stabbed there and bleeding). If it’s the only one being that well cared for, it has to be the real deal. SO WHO THE FUCK WAS ABLE TO GET THEIR HANDS ON ALL THIS SHIT? Even if most of it is just recreations, HOW DID THEY KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO CREATE? Why such obscure shit like Kenny’s hat? You don’t just recreate sketches when you don’t know someone did them in the first place. So who the fuck could get their hands on Stu/Billy’s art??

They made it clear at the end of Scream 2022 that they weren’t going to share the names or motives of the latest killers to try and break the cycle, so this is someone who KNOWS about Richie. There is a very small number of people in the know about what happened, so it’s someone we KNOW (theoretially). BUT, also someone who’s been religiously following ALL the ghostface murders since the beginning. AND it’s someone targeting Gale and Sam spesifically, NOT SIDNEY.

So, first obvious answer. Is this Stu? Honestly, I really don’t think so. Stu was never this obsessive, his end goal from the start was always just to have fun indulging in his dark desires, and because he loved Billy so much all he had to do was ask. Without a Billy, why would he be doing this? Especially to Billy’s daughter. Even if you want to go the route of he lived and is still full of that old hate, why would he be attacking Billy's daughter when presumably his motives would still be avenging Billy? At the end of the day, if Stu were to still be holding a grudge after all these years, his target would still be SIDNEY. Not Randy’s niece and nephew. Sure, Gale wrote the books that lead to the movies, which slammed the hell out of him, but his end goal has always been Sidney. Plus, the Ghostface we see in the trailers is someone who’s been training for this. They’re fast, agile, strong, they’re trying to be the ultimate killing machine. Even if we say that goofy ass Stu has been training all this time, he’s still at bare minimum, 44 years old. Sure, there’s some fit as fuck people in that age range out being commandos, but someone we know as a gangly stick tripping over his own feet? That and why would he collect stuff from the Stabs and murders not related to him? The Stab 3 case is the most prominant thing in that picture, and why would he track down and keep RICHIE's jacket? I love Stu to death, but it really doesn’t make sense that this is him as the killer.

A semi interesting theory, it’s Leslie Macher. She’s been there since day 1, she’d have some knowledge about Richie since her son was killed in the events of all that, and it’d make sense she’d have a grudge moreso focused on Gale since her books would have ruined her family. It’s implied her partner left her and she had to raise her son alone, if she kept the name Macher for any period of time she would have been hounded by people about what her brother did, given the way Stu seems genuinly upset about his parents finding out what he did it sounds like they were good people who’s lives would have been DESTROYED by what happened. If someone has a grudge against Gale, it’s Leslie. But she was Stu’s OLDER sister. All of the above about Stu’s age not matching the hardcore fitness killer we see apply to her moreso. Sure, she’d have the most direct access to things like Stu’s robes, sketches, the camera planted in her house, but how would she get her hands on all of the stuff not related to her brother. They don’t just let people walk into the police station and take evidence they’re not using anymore. It could be someone on behalf of Leslie, like how Mrs Loomis had her pet Mickey to run around and do the hard work while she cleaned up the mess, but that’s something we’ll just have to keep in mind until the movie comes out.

Another theory I’ve seen go around alot, it’s Sam’s new boyfriend Danny. Ok, kinda makes sense. Danny, like DBD Ghostface Danny, and the name of the irl killer than inspired Scream Danny. That has to be deliberate, or at least known by the film makers. But come on, are they really going to have “Ooo is it the boyfriend?!” for the 4th damn time. Plus with this focus on the history of the killings, why would the killer be just some random guy we met like 20 minutes ago? Unless Danny IS the little pawn mentioned in the above bit, but again are they really going to do the killer boyfriend song and dance *again*. 

There's a neat theory it's Gale given this shrine is in New York, where she's lived the entire time, and she would have the means to get her hands on all this stuff since she’s the reporter who covered all these cases. But really guys come on, after all these years of getting shot and stabbed by these people, and getting the love of her live killed by one, is she really going to turn around now and go "You know, maybe they had a point". Plus, to go back to why I think it’s not Stu, Gale is even OLDER and has a far more messed up body. She's been shot in the gut at least 3 times now. There’s no way she’s our hardcore commando Ghostface. PLUS plus, the starting phone call of the movie is HER being attacked, so why would she stage that when no one would see it but us the audience?

So to round it all back. The killer is someone who knows and worships the history of those behind the ghostface masks. Given the ancient looking mask on display, they might even HAVE the original ghostface mask (or at least one of them, Billy and Stu used like 4 in that first film). They’re someone who could get their hands on things probably SIDNEY didn’t even know exsisted, like the sketches. This isn't just a Stab fan boy, this isn't just a Billy/Stu fanboy, AND it's someone who knows about what happened in the last movie even though they never made the names and motivations of the killers public.

WHO THE FUCK IS THIS GHOSTFACE???

This post will be fun to go back to in a month after the release of the movie lol.

[misc-obeyme]

Hi CC it’s 🫖o( ˊ̱˂˃ˋ̱ ) back again to ramble. Here’s my ramble for the day.

What niche crafts/artforms would the brothers do?

- Lucifer

Paper mache if not origami. Like he does so much paperwork there’s no way all of it needs to be kept. So I can easily see him putting that paper to good use. These crafts are also very technical at times which I feel he’d take pride in the fact that he’s able to do these crafts well (because of course he’s able to do them well). He definitely likes gifting these to his brothers on special occasions. He also makes small gifts that he gives to beloved bf Diavolo daily. (Dia keeps them all would probably have an entire display for them too)

- Mammon

Diamond painting. I mean I feel it’s rather obvious why he’d like it it’s inherently a shiny✨ craft. Though while he likes the craft it would take a long time for him to actually complete one, because while he loves it diamond painting is very tedious and time consuming. Even more so if you’re just using a diamond painting pen that can only pick up one at a time. And Mammon.. I don’t imagine him to have the patience to sit down and work on it for more than half an hour. Except him to pick one up and have complete months later.

- Levi

Now the obvious answer here is to say cosplaying but I don’t like obvious so I’m going with ✨Perler Beads✨. Now I’m very aware that people will have never heard of this before so allow me to explain. Perler beads are small plastic beads that you place on a pegboard and from there you can create designs. Once you have your pixel art esk design you can use an iron to melt the beads together and voila! You now have a plastic design that you can use for various things like decoration, you can hot glue on magnets and have custom magnets, they can even be coasters, jewelry, and if your ambitious enough you can make 3D designs. There’s many options.

(Can you tell this one of my special interests🧍‍♀️? No I don’t have 175k+ plus unused beads all organized by colour. and no I don’t have 4 big pegboards and about a dozen smaller pegboards. No I don’t have multiple drawers filled with completed items-)

Oh wow we’ve made it back to Levi hooray! ٩( ᐛ )و( I promise I love Levi he’s my favourite character by far! I relate to him so much but that’s fairly obvious if the info dumping is anything to go by..)

Back on topic Levi would make perler beads because you can easily make your own merch with it! He probably would have so many Hana Ruri’s around and he definitely makes his own designs. And he would totally spend hours creating 3D perler figures of his favourite characters. Like Lucifer I can imagine him making gifts for his brothers out of perlers I mean it doesn’t take much time to make a small to mid size piece so he could easily make meaningful gifts of things his brothers like without much effort.

- Satan

Now I’m unsure how exactly to classify it exactly..DIY Miniatures maybe? But what I’m talking about is these pre made sets that use wood, paper, glue, etc to create pretty decorative pieces. To be even more specific the things I have in mind are stuff sold by this one company Rolife. Anyways I feel Satan would definitely like making these especially the book nooks so he can display them in his room. They’re the perfect craft for him to sit down with and listen to audiobooks whilst he builds. I can imagine this also being a way he uses to calm himself down if he isn’t in the break stuff rage.

- Asmo

Ok ok correct me if I’m wrong but is crochet considered niche? Welp if it is oh well but I feel crocheting clothes is probably more niche. Asmo would 100% crochet clothes for himself I mean have you seen crocheted tops they’re so cute!! He’s totally rocking stuff he’s made and he’s probably constantly scouring Etsy for more patterns he can make. He’d totally have lives where he just chats with his fans while he crochets. Not to mention he’d be selling a few and every time he puts up a new item it’s sold out immediately I mean who wouldn’t want something hand crafted by his gorgeous self.

- Beel

Now Beel caused me the most trouble since doesn’t really seem like the type that would into crafts or art really. But I can see him doing tattoos. Now my sole reasoning behind this is the tattoo he has in his human world outfit. And for that I headcannon he has more that he’s done on himself. Another headcannon I’ll throw in is that in his true form he has four arms and so yeah all four arms are covered in tattoos and he has more around his body. Like you can’t tell me that that would be so cool and intimidating that his true form has lots of tattoos littering his body! Finally of course Belphie lets Beel use him as practice as he sleeps.

- Belphie

Similar to Beel Belphie gave me some difficulty because um he’d rather sleep let’s be honest. But if I had to choose he’d make dreamcatchers. Now I personally have never done this myself or have looked into so I can’t speak much on the process. But it seems like something Belphie can easily pick start and stop if he chooses to take a nap midway. Belphie has also definitely made some that are cursed and gives people nightmares and stores them to replay whilst the person is awake because he’s just silly goofy like that ♪(๑ᴖ◡ᴖ๑)♪.

Aha finished!

These rambles keep getting longer- ah it’s fine. Thanks for reading yet again and I’m going to finish my ideas for the road trip thing I wrote! Eventually.. Anyways stay safe and make sure to take care of yourself ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ byeee!

- 🫖o( ˊ̱˂˃ˋ̱ )

Welcome back!

I have to say that I fully agree with all of these! I've seen that Asmo is sometimes headcanoned as a crocheter which I think is really great! It makes sense to me that he'd crochet his own clothes. I wonder if he ever decided to try knitting, too. It's more annoying imo, but you can get a nice fabric from it, too.

I also agree that Mammon's patience is limited and it would take him FOREVER to finish anything lol!

I can see Belphie giving Lucifer a cursed dreamcatcher as a prank, too. Of course Lucifer realizes immediately and removes the curse.

I am HERE for tattooed Beel! And multi armed Beel, too!! I looove when characters have extra arms omg.

Okay I want to make a book nook SO BAD. Me and Satan, just doing all the lil miniatures. I just can't decide which one I wanna do there are so many. But I think a book nook would look so good on my bookshelves~

I am not super familiar with perler beads, but that does sound like something Levi would be into! Especially if you can make stuff that looks like pixel art, I kinda see him making all his favorite old school video game characters and such too...

Of course Lucifer would be origami. Elegant, but complex - just like him. Awww Dia keeping them all they're so precious!

I enjoyed your thoughts immensely, please feel free to bring me more! I like to see what other people think when it comes to headcanons like this!

I hope you're having a lovely day!

[mossdontknowwhattheydoin]

last day before I have to go back to work and my mind supplied me with this

Anyways yk how Q! Phils literally just collecting ppl at this point? Fuckn making a harem-

So I thought, why not dragon Phil? Collecting ppl he likes :))

Also here have somethn written

~•˙~

Dragons like to collect pretty things, it's notoriously known. Though not all dragons collect the same things... Most just collect jewels, shiny things in general.

Hells, he's met one who collects poetry, even.

But the fact is ones own horde represents themselves- what they like, love- how they're personality is.

Which is why so many people are confused about him- because he collects everything he finds interesting.

Shiny things, books, even just the things he doesn't understand.

Though, unlike most dragons he's known over the years, he never liked the idea of just snatching someone up. Aka, kidnapping someone.

And yes, the stuff you hear about dragons are true, sometimes (not all the time) if a dragon thinks the person is particularly... Pretty? Or interesting, they'll want them to be a part of their horde.

But, how could he pass such an interesting person up? No, he wouldn't kidnap them- but, what's a little lying to get to know someone?

Besides, if the creators didn't want them to lie about things, why'd they give us a human form to shift into?

Turns out- maybe he could, and would, collect people- not in the weird way! Just, so many interesting people, why wouldn't he want to get to know them?

Plus they're all so useful! And fun to be around!

Forever and Etoiles are so good at finding shiny things, and ever since the two of them found out about his dragon nature they haven't stopped gifting him the shiniest things they can find.

And they have eggs too! Or, what were they called again? Ah, children- Fit also has a child! They're all so adorable.

Pomme, Richarlyson, and Ramón.

Oh, and there is those two children that live around the forest too, though every time he sees them they run away from him. Maybe he could gift them something to show he's not a threat?

Oh, and the other two- Fit, and Missa. Missa is such a help when gathering herbs! And Fit is so protective of the children, both very admirable traits, he thinks. All his little humans are so resourceful and cute!

~•˙~

Anyways, wrote Dragon Phil as kinda being like- this funny little (big asf actually) dragon who doesn't really understand humans all that much, he just thinks they're adorable.

He's been around for like- 18000 years? Roughly around that long- a lot of the time in isolation- so yeah he doesn't know much about humans.

[iamnmbr3]

would actually be so interested to hear if there is any canon you outright reject (save the epilogue, we all know that ain't right) <3

What an interesting question. I’ve talked here about why I usually ignore Harry using the Cruciatus Curse in book 7. (I think it it could’ve been a really great moment but because the narrative doesn’t do the requisite work it just feels dumb and cheap and pointless so I usually ignore it.)

I also ignore the introduction of “Merlin’s pants” as a swear word in book 7. It was never mentioned previously in 6 books so it feels jarring and out of place and like an obvious retcon. It also doesn’t roll off the tongue naturally and sounds kinda dumb imho. Plus they make a big deal out of Hermione being so upset she says it but that doesn’t make sense either since she’s a Muggleborn and would be unlikely to jump to that term in a moment of stress. Kinda seems like JKR wanted the swear to be “Merlin’s balls” but couldn’t get away with it so we get an awkward solution that is introduced way too late. It’s not in books 1-6 so I ignore it.

ALSO introduced in book 7 (notice how pretty much all of this stuff is from book 7 because imho the writing was much lazier and spottier in that book) is the retcon that you can be your own secret keeper. It’s not even retconned for an important reason. Arthur and Bill are just randomly their own secret keepers when they could just as easily have been each others. This means that Lily and James didn’t need to use Peter as their secret keeper and also that Voldemort could have hidden his Horcruxes with the Fidelius Charm without having had to rely on another person. I could headcanon my way around it if I wanted but really, it’s just very dumb so I ignore it.

The last thing is that I know James and Harry look alike. I really do. And I love that on a thematic level. But my brain always pictures James with brown hair for some reason instead of black. No idea why lol.

[scribe-of-maat]

Ranking DC Pride 2023

9. Love’s Lightning Heart (???, ???)

Starring The Flashlight and The Flash, I think? When he called the dude “Ray” in the beginning I thought it was gonna be The Ray, you know? This only scores so low because I’m not at ALL familiar with anything Multiversity and this story especially seemed to be absolutely thick with that corner of DC lore. I get there’s a Parallax type of thing happening but... this was kind of hard to follow for a payoff that’s pretty lukewarm if you’re not well-versed in who this story’s about.

8. My Best Bet (Jon Kent/Superman, John Constantine

This is hit especially hard in my ranking because it’s the last story in the book and the only thing DC Pride about it is that it stars two Bs. They’re popular queer characters but I’m here for stories that are specifically ABOUT LGBT stuff, not about LGBT people doing stuff. There’s nothing to really talk about here.

7. Found (Xanthe Zhou, Batwoman/Kate Kane)

I’ve been meaning to read Spirit World, and since I hadn’t gotten around to it Xanthe being LGBT was a surprise to me, but not as much as Kate Kane showing up was. It feels like someone threw a dartboard at WLW women and plopped in whoever came up, cuz I guarantee if I flip the newest Batwoman issue open to a random page she’ll have a girlfriend-slash-situationship that won’t be too happy about her seeming receptive to some flirting. But hey, I like Xanthe more now so there’s give-and-take.

6. And Baby Makes Three (Xiomara Rojas/Crush, Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn, Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy)

I like Crush. I can’t claim to have read much of her, because for now that means enduring way too much Damian Wayne, but she seems like an incredibly interesting character. But I could not tell you why she’s here with Harley and Ivy. This, moreso than anything else, has a less than negative chance of being referenced again and it’s giving me even more of that dartboard feeling the last story did. Plus if there’s one thing Harlivy can do, it’s carry a story by themselves. I wish we’d gotten something about JUST Crush, is what I’m saying. I feel like this was a status update for Crush, like her washing ashore was meant to bridge the gap between this story and whatever she was doing the last time she showed up.

5. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work (Natasha Irons/Steel, Nubia)

Listen, I will always have space in my heart for the Irons family. I love Natasha, and I love John Henry, and when DC lets either out of the ether every other year I’m front and center. That, and the recent super-push Nubia has been enjoying made this story one I was pretty excited to read when I realized who it was about. But THIS ART. These faces are TRASH. Even without looking it up I feel like there’s a 0% chance DC would give a nonblack artist this story, so it makes it especially confusing as to why the characters look like THAT. The actual content was fun and even though Io needs to come up off our queen posthaste, I didn’t have any (other) complaints. But it’s SOOOOO UGLYYYYY.

4. The Dance ( Minhkhoa Khan/Ghost-Makes, Thomas Blake/Catman)

I knew Ghost-Maker was bi prior to reading this, somehow. I’ve been meaning to read anything about him because his design is so awesome but I was only really guessing this was Catman alongside him. I really don’t know anything about him, so this ranks so highly just because of Ghost-Maker. I don’t really have anything else to add here since this story’s ultimate purpose seems to just show off muscley dudes post-sex.

3. Anniversary (Lucas Trent/Midnighter, Andrew Pulaski/Apollo, Alan Scott/Green Lantern)

These showcases tend to have like, one story that directly addresses inequality if you’re lucky. This is that story, and it’s such a good one. Midnighter and Apollo’s fame as the canon gay Superbat sort of eclipses anything else about them, but that reputation is put to excellent effect here. Plus, Alan Scott, one of my favorite Green Lanterns, finally shows up. Revitalizing that old slogan to make it clear the LGBT isn’t going anywhere was fun, too.

2. Subspace Transmission (Jules Jourdain/Circuit Breaker, Jess Chambers/The Flash, Andy Curry/Aquawoman)

Jess was an extremely fun and memorable character from the start like, half a decade ago and that holds true here. I was super uninvested in the Circuit Breaker part of this story. I don’t know who that is, and even after reading this I genuinely don’t care. This made my heart hurt for more Teen Justice and Future State stuff in general. That Jackson Hyde cameo at the end was also perfect.

1. Hey, Stranger (Connor Hawke/Hawke, Tim Drake/Robin)

I was definitely in diapers the last time these two characters spoke to each other. When there’s been THAT big a gap in timeframe I can’t be sure how emotional a reunion can be to a modern readership. None of that matters to my enjoyment, because Connor Hawke is far and away my favorite Arrowfam member and his recent resurgence (even if too much of it is attached to Damian Wayne for my taste) has been such a blessing. DC only trots this guy out three times a year but god do we eat good each time. They just need to do a LITTLE more with him.