#protagonist over 30

[sunsinourhands]

That Time I Reincarnated as a Lewd Monster Man Exorcist

The Cave Slime was a lot bigger than the guild scouting party reported. Bigger. Tougher. Stronger. More Aggressive. Was it possible for slimes to be mean? Were Dire Slimes even a thing? Charlotte, as a Guild Receptionist, was tasked with filling out report on the expedition. Was she a member of the Adventurer’s Guild? Yes. But, she wasn’t an adventurer! She wasn’t prepared for this! 

So why the hell did the Slime grab both the cute young redhead rogue from the guild and also Charlotte?! If this happened to be some sort of perverted, naughty-tentacle situation, Lin Lin was an obvious choice! After all, the young rogue was barely into her twentieth year: svelt and slim where she was supposed to be and perky where it counted. Lin Lin looked like she belonged in this world. And she had the speed and dexterity that suited her class. Ah, youth was wonder—that was not the point! 

The point was that Charlotte, pushing 33, and now an unwilling victim of gravity and a slowing metabolism, was also getting dragged off by the giant blue slime towards what was probably the back of the cave. Hopefully not to die via digestion. Charlotte never would have said she was particularly ugly. But, she was decidedly softer than she was in her first world, over a decade ago in her college days. Especially around the thighs and her stomach. And, well, she just wasn’t quite as ‘proud and perky’ as she was back in the day, even if she had gained a little fullness. 

When she first came to the second world, Charlotte did receive a class. Was it a fighter? Or a wizard? Would she get to shoot fireballs and Drago-Slaves like she had always wanted? Hell no. Her class was stated as ‘Lewd Exorcist’ but there was a little asterisk by it. A popup stated, as if making fun of her, ‘You can pacify angry monsters by getting fucked by them.’ 

All of this had to be a punishment of some kind. Was it because she masturbated too much to fictional characters? Or because she spent her money on custom dildos ostensibly shaped like the genitals of various fantasy monsters? Or was it her secret tentacle kink? 

Regardless, Charlotte had decided that maybe she needed a change. Her and eyes had changed to a dark, almost pine dark green. So maybe she should give up the Pervert Life and try to be normal. She decided to forget her class—which was probably just divine punishment of some kind—and get a secure, stable, and less dangerous job. 

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Charlotte noted that she would have to get a new Guild Uniform. Because the one she wore got all kinds of torn up, and was only shredding more. Some of is was probably just gone. 

It was fucking dark, ok? Charlotte couldn’t see anything, and there were no torches or magic stones along the wall to provide any light. For an undetermined amount of time, Charlotte could only feel the tight grip of the slime’s (tentacle? Pseudopod?) around her midsection as it carried her deeper and deeper into the cave. 

The worst thing was that Charlotte knew she had bought innumerable erotica stories and hentai doujins of nearly this exact situation in her past world. And it was decidedly less sexy when she thought this really might end in a very painful, very slow death. But, some horrible, horny part of her brain commented that this could very well be a dream come true. 

That part of her brain needed to learn to shut up. 

I shouldn’t have been such a horn dog, Charlotte thought. 

Or maybe I should have not been such a coward and actually learned to fight or something. Anything, she mentally lamented. 

Eventually, the darkness gave way to the tiniest light. More, then a little more. And it occurred to Charlotte that the slime was actually taking Lin Lin and herself towards a light source. After a little more time, Charlotte could make out the shape of her hand, then a handful of other, close things in an eerie green light. There, who-knew-how-deep into the cave system, there was a space the size of a small stable covered in strange plants with flowers that cast light. 

The Slime dropped Lin Lin into a make-shift cage built from thin, acid-burned lengths of stone. Then, using more strength than it should have possessed, the slime pulled a flat sheet of iron on top. 

It tossed Charlotte onto the cave floor. 

Or…set her? 

That didn’t feel right to say. But, it wasn’t nearly as rough as it could have been, even though Charlotte still ended up on her butt. 

Before Charlotte could begin pondering the unique horrors of a Slime that could use tools and pre-meditate its actions, it began to change. She was reminded of play-dough. Or, perhaps, that toy slime that kids were obsessed with before she got pulled into the other world. The slime stretched, twisted, and folded in on itself like a giant, invisible pair of hands was sculpting it. The cool, aqua blue of the creature then shifted into a bright, fluorescent green. 

Then the Slime seemed to somehow condense itself into a tighter, more defined form. Eventually, it formed the shape like a person with no fine detail. The figure seemed to have long hair pulled up into a tail, which then split off into a thick pile of slimy green tendrils. 

Ah, this must be my lucky day. I’m really going to eat great tonight. With no vocal cords, the slime seemed to telepathically express itself. The words and strange voice just wriggled into Charlotte’s head. 

It paused, then turned its featureless, flat face towards Charlotte. 

What an expression. Not like she can actually hear me. It laughed. 

Unless…she actually can? It seemed amused. 

Charlotte must not have been to keep up a pokerface. 

Perfect! The Slime’s telepathic voice bubbled. 

Half a dozen glistening, featureless tentacles shot forward from the creature. 

[quibbs126]

Also another Dragon Ball thing I noticed, despite it being considered basically one of the blueprints for shonen (not the originator but one of the biggest influences), Goku doesn’t follow the typical shonen protagonist in being a teenager

At the start of Dragon Ball Z, which is the part most people know (at least in the west), Goku is married and has a kid, and is like, 23. And he and almost everyone else outside of Gohan and then later Goten and Trunks are all fully grown adults, instead of being teenagers out to prove themselves or something. They’re in their like, late 30s by the the Buu Saga, if I’m not mistaken

And while he was a teenager during the original run of the manga, first 15 and then 18 at the end of the original “Dragon Ball” story, he wasn’t introduced to us that way, being instead an 11-12 year old child when we first meet him, and his teenage years don’t take up that much of the story, at least relatively speaking

I don’t know, I just find that interesting

I mean, personality wise, he fits right in with the typical shonen protagonist, but in terms of his age, he stands out

[words-after-midnight]

I have a problem currently in that I have to add some new scenes to the final version to address a COMMON beta reader comment, which is that we don't see enough of the development of the central relationship on screen. And in order to develop a couple aspects of this relationship on-screen I have to include a couple of key smut-adjacent scenes. Which is not the problem in itself, because I actually don't think I'm terrible at writing those scenes. The problem is that the characters* involved are Not Fucking Normal and shouldn't be involved with each other lmao. Also, the dynamic is not, uh... typical? So it's a bit hard to find examples of the ways other folks have done it without having to wade through a bunch of pieces involving Stereotypical Gay Relationships even when they're allegedly not that, lol.

[monstergraffiti]

sparkling ✨

[katefathers]

And attached to this is also the struggle to connect to new novels and films and TV shows as you get older, because often protagonists skew young. And while it felt so easy to connect with characters who were your age, and aspire to be characters who are older, it feels different trying to connect with a character who is 15 years younger than you.

Now, this isn't true across the board. There are protagonists who are written and acted so well, it's easy to connect with them no matter their age. And there are plenty of older protagonists (a lot of romantic k-dramas have protagonists in their 30s, and I love that). But some genres and even some mediums just skew so young. Anime and manga protagonists are rarely in their 20s, let alone their 30s and 40s or older. Fantasy adventures are usually aimed at kids and teens. Doctor Who companions are rarely over 30. There's tragedy in outgrowing characters, but there's also something heartbreaking about outgrowing--being forced out of--whole genres.

the fact that i'm no longer the same age as the protagonists of novels and films i once connected to is so heartbreaking. there was a time when I looked forward to turning their age. i did. and i also outgrew them. i continue to age, but they don't; never will. the immortality of fiction is beautiful, but cruel.

[flawseer]

#30 - "Your Choice"

Smaugust 2024

I am very fond of the second arc protagonists. They are my favorite collective of plot focus characters, which may be evident by the fact that I've been drawing them more than any other in this challenge. They are a very charming group, even if a few possible character connections are vastly underdeveloped (Moon and Turtle, Winter and Turtle, and Winter and Kinkajou could probably form very strong bonds if they were explored).

The flipside of fondness is usually the formation of strong opinions. I think about these guys a lot. One thing I initially thought was fine, but then struck me as strange on a revisit was the ending of Moonwatcher's book. You have the group (sans Winter), who previously struggled to accept Moon for her unintentionally invasive powers, ostensibly overcome their mistrust of her and solidify their respective bonds with her. Kinkajou in particular tells her that, because she makes no secret of her thoughts anyway, it doesn't matter to her that Moon can read her mind. Up to there it is all very wholesome and heartwarming. Moonwatcher then decides to give them an out, sharing the secret of Skyfire as a way to block her powers. This is a good and very noble gesture, really showing her trustworthiness and respect for their privacy here.

But then they actually take her up on that offer, right after stating they are over their misgivings. I get why they do it--Moonwatcher's uncontrollable power is really inconvenient and annoying to be around--but backtracking 5 seconds later makes their previous declaration of acceptance ring a bit hollow. If I could make a choice here, I would really have liked this to turn into a long-running character arc for the group, where they gradually learn to trust Moon and eventually decide that they don't need the Skyfire anymore, taking it off for good. And Moon in turn could work on refining control over her power so she can be around her friends without accidentally reading every thought. Maybe all of that could have been a scene in the arc 2 finale. But at the very least I would have liked for Kinkajou to stick with her original declaration and reject the Skyfire outright, signaling to Moon that--contrary to her mother's words--the powers are not a curse and that she doesn't need to be ashamed of them.

I guess here is an idea for potential fanfiction: Make them chuck the Skyfire in the bin. Let Moon see that her friends choose to hang out with her even if they can't block her powers.

-----

Long comic today. Sorry it took a while to come out. I think this is the longest one I've drawn for this challenge too.

Just one more day and then Smaugust will be done. I hope you have been enjoying this so far. Thanks for sticking with me.

[xreader-writing]

STILL HERE | "They're eating sushi!'

✦ Sumarry: Y/n comes to her ex-boyfriend Lando Norris' defense when he's being canceled, and Lando couldn't be happier about it.

✦ Pairing: Ex!Lando Norris X Actress!Reader. | Timothee Chalamet? 👀 | ✦ WC: 1.491

A/n: English is not my first language, forgive my spelling mistakes dear.

LAST | S.MASTERLIST | NEXT

Y/n sighed and put her phone in her pocket.

"What happened?" Her castmate Timothee asked, handing her a cup of coffee.

"As if you didn't know." She said laughing, and he smiled back, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, but it could be another reason!" He said laughing, making her laugh even more.

Timothee looked at her and noticed her worried look.

"I read your text, it must have helped him a lot."

"Yes, but Lando is a little immature sometimes, and that makes things worse." Y/n sighs and runs her hand over her face.

"I wouldn't like being his lawyer." Timothee says making Y/n laugh.

"Thank God you act then, huh?" The two laugh and stay silent for a moment.

"Don't think too much about it, he has to deal with the consequences, I would say you've already done too much for him., none of my ex-girlfriends ever wrote me a cute text like that when I got canceled." Timothee says laughing and Y/n laughs more.

"Oh, poor him." She says, squeezing Timothee's cheek with her free hand.

"But seriously, I bet he's completely crazy about you right now." He says, raising his eyebrows and Y/n rolls her eyes.

"WHERE ARE MY TWO PROTAGONISTS?!" They hear the director yell, and Timothee whimpering covering his face with his hands.

"For the love of God, I just want a break!" he pretends to cry and Y/n rolls her eyes pulling his hand away.

And Timothee was completely right, Lando was checking his phone every 30 seconds to see if there were any messages from his ex-girlfriend.

"Stop checking your fucking phone Lando, her not going to call." Carlos said, patting Lando on the shoulder.

The pilots were all together on a "guys' night", but Lando couldn't keep his head there.

"Yeah, she was really nice to make that Instagram post for you." Charles says sitting next to Lando.

"Sorry, I'm lost." Max says trying to make sense of the matter.

"Didn't you see? They're canceling Lando." Charles says pushing Lando's shoulder.

"He seems pretty happy for someone who's being canceled."

"That's because Y/n made a post on Instagram defending him." Carlos says and Lando smiles as he remembers.

"Y/n? Your ex-girlfriend?" Max asks, still a little confused.

"That's her." "But you don't think she wants to get back with you just because of that, do you?" Pierre says, breaking Lando's smile.

"Why else would she do that?" Lando says a little louder now and Pierre scoffs.

"She might be completely over you, which is why she doesn't feel uncomfortable doing it." He shrugs, irritating Lando.

"That doesn't make sense..."

"Actually, it kind of does." George says thoughtfully.

"Why did you guys break up?" Oscar asks, and Carlos scoffs, taking another sip of his beer.

"I broke up with her." This gets Pierre's attention.

"Why would you do something crazy like that?" Pierre asks, laughing.

"Because... Iwantedtoenjoy." Lando says this so quietly and quickly that the pilots look at each other in doubt.

"You wanted to what?" Chales asks and Lando covers his face with his hands.

"I wanted to have fun, but I couldn't do that if I was dating."

When he finishes, there is silence in the middle of it, and wide eyes towards Lando.

"If you broke up with her, why the fuck do you want to get back together?" Pierre asks indignantly.

"Okay, let me get this straight, you broke up with your girlfriend of two years because you wanted to be with everyone until you caught a sexually transmitted disease?" George says and Carlos laughs.

"No, look, I don't know, I just wanted to have fun, okay?"

"Oh, I would have had a lot of fun if I was dating her." Pierre says laughing, making the others laugh along.

"Fuck you!" He says, getting up from the couch and heading to the kitchen to get some water.

"Wait Lando, it was a joke!" Pierre says laughing but Lando gives him the middle finger.

"Was it a joke Pierre?" Charles asks

"No" Pierre says laughing

Lando finds a bottle of water and leans against the counter, drinking it and checking Instagram.

He never unfollowed her, and she never unfollowed him, like she said, they remain friends. In fact, she has always been much more mature than him, and he remembers how she reacted to the breakup like it was yesterday.

—

"It's not you, okay? It's me." Y/n sighs and massages her temple.

"Lando, I know it's not me, and it's okay that you don't want to be with me, I just need to know why, that's all."

"I want to have fun, I want to go out with guys without having to worry about someone else holding me back." Y/n scoffs at that.

"I never stopped you from going out with your friends."

"I know, but you end up getting in my way."

"You end up getting in my way." That's what he said to the woman who put up with him day and night.

"That's right Lando, if I'm just a stone in your way, I better go." Y/n says this with an expression that leaves Lando upside down, Y/n has always been very reserved when it comes to feelings.

"I don't want to lose your friendship Y/n." Lando says as soon as she turns her back. She sighs and looks at him smiling.

"You're not going, you can count on me if you need anything."

And yes, he did and she was there, just like she said she would be.

—

Lando went on Y/n's Instagram for the tenth time that day, maybe to read her text again, or to see if there was a new post or story from her, he doesn't really know.

He just wanted some kind of update, that's all.

He feels his heart beat faster when he sees that there was a new story from her, but before he can press the photo icon, a hand squeezes his shoulder making Lando almost drop his phone.

"Damn Carlos, what a scare." Lando says, dropping the water bottle and putting his hand on his chest.

"You weren't upset, were you? You know how Pierre is." Carlos says, patting Lando on the back.

"I know, I'm just pissed at myself, that's all." Lando says, pressing Y/n's photo icon and immediately regrets it.

"What the FUCK is this?" Lando screams and Carlos snatches the phone out of Lando's hand to look at it too.

"Oh my God, Lando, they're eating sushi!" Carlos can't help but laugh and Lando takes the phone back, looking at those images.

"Fuck! Fuck!"

"I don't know why you're so nervous, she said herself that they were on a break from the movie, besides, you guys aren't even dating anymore." Lando looks at Carlos without answering.

Carlos knew he was a little drunk and stressed, and he knew Lando would have to deal with the consequences even in that state.

Carlos sighs as he hears Lando sniffle.

"I miss her..." He says softly, wiping his eyes on his sweatshirt sleeve.

"Oh Lando, come here." Carlos pulls Lando into a tight hug.

"I know you feel that way, but things can still work out, it's not like they're posting pictures on social media or anything." Carlos tries to joke, but Lando lifts his head and walks away from Carlos, fiddling with his phone.

"That's it, I need to go on his social media."

"I didn't say that-"

"Son of a bitch!" Lando yells and Carlos closes his eyes.

"Lando, please-"

"Look at this!" He practically rubs his phone in his friend's face showing a post from Timothee.

Liked by youruser, carlossainz55 and other people

Tchalamet 🫡

@Youruser

—

Youruser 🫡

Tchalamet 🫡

User1 I hope they get together Geez.

User2 I don't know if I want her or him

User3 I think she deserves someone good for her

User4 I hope this movie gets nominated for an Oscar

-

"Why the hell did you like, Carlos?" Lando yells in Carlos' face.

"I liked it? I didn't even notice."

"Yes, you liked it damn it, whose side are you on?" Carlos observes Lando's state, controlling himself not to laugh.

"I'm on her side, for sure."

"This isn't going to stay like this, not at all." Lando starts doing something on his phone and Carlos sighs for the thousandth time in that half hour.

"Don't do anything you might regret later."

"There, it's done!"

"You must be possessed or something."

—

Timothee was looking at his Instagram and raised his eyebrows, surprised by what he saw in his notifications.

landonorris started following you

—

Taglist

@emryb @sltwins @lottalove4evelyn @weekendlusting

[death-limes]

Ozzie having a specific line about how “lust shouldn’t be about force” was honestly the most contrived and immersion-breaking thing when I first heard it. Like… why would he care? Lust, in the context of being a sin, is about indulging one’s own desires with no regard for the wellbeing of others. It’s just selfishness and shamelessness in the context of sexual pleasure.

I get that him being a Lust demon leaves this implied white-elephant question of “does that mean he condones r*pe” but listen…. there are other uncomfortable implications to this show that just get handled by never being addressed, e.g. what it’s like being an imp/other hellborn child living in the Lust ring, especially when shit like Fizz’s dildo-cannon-limo thing happens out of nowhere. We never see any children in those scenes, so the question just never comes up. Similarly, you can just have Ozzie’s feelings on consent never come up in the story.

Or, if you really must make him explicitly state that he’s against r*pe, at least have him look at it from a different perspective. For example: “If the only way you can get laid is to literally force someone to fuck you, that’s pathetic. I ain’t about that.” Like boom, done, some might even say that sounds contrived but at least he still sounds evil & isn’t getting on a moral soapbox.

(and in case this point has been lost amid the discourse, and since tungl has the best reading comprehension ever: the only reason any of this is weird or a problem is because the story takes place in literal, actual Hell, with literal demons and devil princes meant to embody sin)

No offense but the Helluva goes on, the longer it feels like it just shouldn't be in Hell. A lot of characters took a massive downgrade to keep them likeable and it makes the setting feel pointless.

Seriously why is some moth from the 70's more evil than an ancient being of Lust that's existed for eons? Not only is it out of place but feels more like virtue signaling. Seriously wasn't this guy talking shit at Stolas for giving up his privileged life and reputation for a thrust?

Why is he such a pushover? And don't give me that shit of Viv not wanting her OC to rape, Stolas is right there and she has to basically wussify him in order to ensure audience didn't hate him though it didn't work on me. Ozzie is also ok with Veroiska and literally supplies her with a crystal to go to Earth and use her arousal inducement powers on a bunch of unsuspecting people. Don't you think that fucks with their ability to consent or is rape only bad when Val does it?

And the Devianart furry OC Viv dares call the Embodiment of Gluttony is worse. She's basically a Kesha insert and overly nice and feels like this would be better off if it wasn't in Hell.

It makes you wonder why Charlie doesn't just ask them for help with her hotel since Heaven clearly isn't gonna let the Sinners in if their reaction to Cherub is any indication.

Like no, Viv, you can't just decide only certain characters are allowed to be evil. It's telling how safe edgy this show is that it refuses to allow certain literal embodiments of vice to be evil.

[leeholtwrites]

Magical Girl Reunion Tour: Chapter 7

Magda

This morning had not gone as Magda expected. She had hoped to convince Shonda to take over as leader, but after seeing her, leaving her to fight Omira on her own didn’t feel right. Shonda didn’t know what Magda had experienced last time, just the aftermath after her little truth mirror trick. She had kids and a husband. Magda would just have to tighten the straps on her trauma backpack like a big girl and pick up the leadership mantle again. Even if she really, really didn’t fucking want to. Just the thought of transforming into the short little skirt again made her want to stomp her feet like a toddler and scream.

Then she had seen Chloe. Magda had tried to make light of the whole situation after Chloe tried to slug her, making jokes, breaking ice, and the rest of that nonsense. The truth was, the whole thing had rattled her, especially after Chloe had pointed a sword at her. A sword of all things! She had never expect her friends to be so mad at her for not speaking with them in fifteen years. Sure, a little cold maybe. The kind of irritated with her where they wouldn’t even give her the time of day, but to both assault her. Well… damn. If they were going to defeat Omira, they might need to talk, and not the easy kind.

There was not enough booze in the world to make Magda okay with telling them the truth.

For now she would just have to wear enough truth on the surface to make them happy. Hell, if they defeated Omira quickly enough, she would never have to tell them. She wondered if they would be okay with getting only Christmas cards, even though Kelsey was Jewish.

At least Sarah might not try to kill her. She was always the nice one.

When the light faded, they stood behind a parked car in a lot behind a brick building. The day was sunny, but not too warm, and filled with screams.

“What the hell?” Chloe said. “Why are we in a parking lot?”

Magda turned on her, half panicked. “That is what you’re focused on? Not the screams?”

Shonda peeked over the car they stood behind to see people rushing by. In the distance, iridescent light flashed against dark, darting figures. “Remember when we said how lucky we were that Omira hadn’t attacked yet? I think our luck has run out.”

Magda joined Shonda, narrowing her eyes to see if she could get a better assessment of the situation. The flashing iridescent light came from a figure dressed in blue, brown braid whipping around behind her. “Sarah’s already transformed. We should join her.”

She whipped around to face Shonda and Chloe, holding out her wand, her face carefully controlled to hide that she couldn’t believe those words had just left her mouth. In her logical mind, she had told herself that she was here to lead, to stay, to help her friends and those in trouble. The part of her that still broke out in a sweat whenever she smelled the sickenly sweet scent of some teen girl’s body spray, or even the occasional strawberry desert, fought to shove her wand back in her purse and run for it.

Her wand thrust up into the air, she swallowed the lump in her throat and shouted, “Dress me in love!”

Warmth and light passed over her. The pull of the magic for white gloves. A hot magenta robe, mantle, and boots. The most ridiculous pink bow imaginable on a thirty five year old woman. Magda struggled to move with the magic, to let it guide her through the dance. The panic arose, choking, stifling. Every muscle strained with tension as the sweet strawberry scent bathed her, dragging her back to eighteen in the cavern made of prisms. It passed, leaving her sweaty and wide-eyed. She gingerly touched her forehead, the feel of her gold band under her gloved fingers. Another swallow and a sigh. Shonda and Chloe couldn’t see her panic. They weren’t allowed.

They would ask too many questions Magda wasn’t ready to answer.

Luckily for Magda, she had plenty of external distractions from the internal darkness threatening to break her down into a sobbing, hyperventilating mess. One of those many distractions was the great variation between what all three of them were wearing now versus what they looked like as a teenagers. Their primary colors were still pink, orange, and green, but there weren’t miniskirts and midriff bearing tops and many other fashion details that would have looked embarrassingly young on them in their thirties. For one, Magda didn’t have her tell-tale pig tails no matter how she had styled her hair that day. Second, they now looked more like some costume designer couldn’t decide if they were part of some fantasy show or some sci-fi show.

Shonda’s transformation leaned more towards the sci-fi side with a white full-body suit as the base with no definable shoes. Instead the soles on her feet were a low wedges of a vibrant orange, the only feature on her feet that didn’t make her look like she was wearing footie pajamas. To help flatter her wide hips, a multitier peplum starting with a top layer of vibrant orange, each shade moving lighter until the bottom layer was white, hung almost to her knees. An obscenely fluffy bow of bright orange started at the hollow of her throat and covered most of her chest, a feature that it seemed none of them could escape. Same with the gold band across the forehead. They all had it, except Shonda had a nearly transparent visor floating over her eyes. It couldn’t hide the ombre eyeshadow that tastefully complimented her vibrant orange lipstick.

Chloe was almost a complete one eighty. Her whole body was covered in a sleek white plate mail armor that looked simultaneously futuristic and archaic, like the Ren Faire version of Storm Trooper. Under the white armor was a layer of spring green. Her long black hair was tied up in a green ribbon the same shade as The Bow – which Magda could not escape thinking of despite her best efforts as the most tacky thing that just had to carry over from their original transformations. Her makeup matched Shonda’s – except green – which means Magda’s was the same only pink.

Magda looked down at herself. Shonda gets a future cat suit. Chloe gets armor. She gets a hot pink robe with slits down the side to show off white leggings. A robe. As their fearless leader, she was a tad offended. At least she had a stylish gold belt to keep her from looking like Gandalf’s daughter. And no sleeves longer than the mantle over her shoulders. She didn’t know how she would feel if her sleeves were long enough to smuggle kittens in.

Shonda snorted. ”Wow. You both look like LARPing rejects.”

Chloe scowled and commanded her wand to transform. “Do not mock me. I have the sword.”

“You have armor.” Magda waved at herself with a sweep of her empty hand. “I look like I repurposed some little girl’s sheets.”

Before Shonda or Chloe could respond, there was another scream. They all whipped around toward the sound. “I’ll keep complaining later. Let’s go help Sarah.”

They charged around the cars in the parking lot and out into the street, Magda calling her wand to its true form. Ahead of them, Sarah had rolled behind an outdoor cafe table she’d knocked over for cover and was firing periodically at four identical parasites closing in on her. Sarah jumped to her feet and shouted “Concussive Comet!” A bright streak of light the size of a softball smashed into one of the parasites. It staggered, but didn’t fall.

As Magda and the others neared, the parasites spotted them. Each had a little satellite orbiting them. Pinpricks of green light appeared, seeming to gather from the air around each satellite. Before Magda could say anything, Chloe charged in front of them, her shield up. The specks of light flashed, sending bolts the same color through the air at Magda, Shonda, and Chloe. Chloe shouted “Sunshine Shimmering Shield!” A glowing, golden convex wall flew up from her shield, deflecting the green bolts back at the parasites. The bolts smashed into the parasites, staggering them, but they still didn’t go down. All three of them slid behind the table, joining Sarah, Chloe keeping the shield up.

Magda cleared her throat. “So, what’s going on?”

Sarah seemed to finally see them, drawing her wary eyes away from the circling parasites to turn wide eyes on them. “You’re here,” she shouted excitedly, but then her expression morphed into confusion. “Wait, you’re here.” That last bit, was obviously not addressed to anyone but Magda by the intensity in Sarah’s eyes.

“I’ll explain later,” Magda responded, happy that for Sarah had yet to try to punch her or use her powers on her. “Can you give us an update?”

She shook her head as if to clear whatever shock at seeing Magda had wreaked on her. “It’s my friend, Michelle. I went to invite her to lunch because I hadn’t seen her in a couple days, and I found her looking unwell. We argued, and her computer mouse turned into one of Omira’s little toys. Of course, that can’t be right, Omira is dead.”

“No she isn’t. We were coming to tell you. Please, continue.”

Sarah looked like she wanted Magda to explain more, but decided that could wait till later. “After she transformed, she stole bits of tech to make those little satellites, and then multiplied. They have a wickedly strong shield, so I haven’t been able to deal a lot of damage, even with my strongest attacks. I was actually getting a bit worried. I don’t have any purification spells and I’m running low on energy.”

There was no doubt Sarah had been working hard to keep this thing occupied. Her hair was falling out of her poof and braid, and her skin was covered in fine sheen of sweat. She was breathing hard. There was even the suggestion of bags under her eyes. Of course, her magical makeup still looked flawless, which was strange considering how tired Sarah looked.

Magda adjusted her position so she could assess her team. Chloe was standing, holding her shield, but it started to flicker. Sunshine Shimmering Shield was such a high energy spell there was no way for Chloe to maintain it much longer. “Shonda, we need to figure out if those additional parasites are physical copies, or just illusions.”

Shonda nodded curtly, her gesture of agreement. She called her want to its true form, then held it out over her left forearm as if looking scanning it. The mirror melted without a command, conforming to Shonda’s arm like it were made of mercury. Except mercury didn’t harden like cooled silver. Her mirror had turned into a bracer of near white metal that gleamed in the midday sun. With a wave over it, a command panel appeared above it. It too had changed. Where once the panel had been nothing but garish colors, it had matured, taking its colors from the sunrise shades of Shonda’s transformation.

She poked at it with her right hand while peeking over the table. Shonda was silent for a beat. “They’re illusions being protected by the satellites. It looks like those satellites are projecting the shields as well as firing the beams. If we destroy the satellites, then Maggie should be able to cast her purification.”

“I’ve tried,” Sarah said. “They move like they know what’s coming next.”

“You’re going to have to use Sterling Stars,” Magda replied. It really was the perfect option. “We’ll cover you while you get the lock.” Chloe’s shield flickered again. “Everyone good with the plan?”

Sarah nodded, gripping her bow.

Shonda nodded.

Chloe nodded without taking her eyes off her waning shield.

“Right. On my mark. Go.”

They all sprang to their feet. Chloe stayed with Sarah while Magda when right and Shonda went left. Sarah raised her bow, her own visor appearing to float across her vision. Chloe dropped the shield spell and drew her sword. Magda needed to draw the parasite’s attention from Sarah. She extended her empty hand toward the nearest parasites and shouted “Miraculous Myriad Meteors!” Magda ignored the little part of her that shriveled inside from how absolutely ridiculous she felt saying the spell as silver streaks of light shot from her hands, smashing into the parasites. They staggered, their shields shimmering. They continued to advance.

Shonda threw her own spell, a web of shimmering light that wrapped around each parasite, lines of rainbow light extending from Shonda’s fingers. She had positioned herself next to a light pole and was using its leverage to keep the parasites from advancing, one foot on the pole as she pulled. “I really need to stop skipping arm day,” said through gritted teeth as she struggled.

Magda struggled not to laugh as she sent another scattering of silver light to pepper the parasites.

“I can help you with that,” Chloe replied before she shouted, “Glimmering Edge,” her blade cutting through the air. An arc of sparkling white light smashed into the parasite nearest to her. “Well, that’s new.”

“A sword and a new spell. You bitch,” Shonda tried to snark despite her obvious discomfort trying to keep the parasites tethered.

“Sterling Stars!” finally came the cry they were waiting for. Sarah released her bow string. Multiple sliver arrows of light shot through the air, each one streaking into the orbiting satellites. The exploded on impact, and Magda was ready.

Moonlight Purification was a performance. She can’t simple say the words and the spell is cast, problem solved. Her staff held out before her in both hands, she closes her eyes. Suddenly, she thrusts out her left arm and left leg behind her, spinning the staff in one hand as she rotates on one foot. A circle of light forms around her. She stops once it’s complete. She places both feet back on the ground, one foot in front of the other, continuing spinning her staff with both hands now. Then she stops, and with her right hand waves it from left to right as she calls with all the conviction she can muster, “Moonlight Purification!”

A wave of pulsating white light washes over the parasites. Unearthly screams emanate from them as three of them melt away, the copies. The last one keeps screaming, its armor peeling off and turning to dust in the wake of the pulsating light. Slowly a woman is revealed, shook, but alive. The light will sooth away the nightmares and horrors. She will only lose a few days. A pang of jealousy strikes Magda, and the light waivers, but by this point the spell has done its job. She lowers her staff, and weariness over takes her. She’s glad she has something to lean on as she surveys the aftermath.

Sarah runs from her place over next to Chloe, who was supporting her, to the woman kneeling on the ground. “Michelle,” she asked softly.

Magda frowned. That woman knew Sarah. What was the chances that the first parasite to pop up would know one of them?

She didn’t have long to dwell on that though. The people that had been in the area, the ones that had hid, started to reemerge from the shops and other hiding places they had found during the battle. Some of them even started whipping out phones.

Sarah was on the ground now, embracing the freed woman – Michelle if she recalled right. While many people could interpret their reunion as just a hero checking on a victim, Magda didn’t want to chance it. She rushed over and promptly dropped to her knees next to them. Sarah didn’t look up, and she had to touch her shoulder. “Sa-Blue.”

“What is it, Pink?” The distain in her voice was unmistakable.

“Do you have any plans you need to get to? People have their cell phones out, and I think we should work on maintaining our cover,” she whispered.

Sarah shot her a side-eye glare. There was a pause before she said, “I do.”

“We’ll take care of her.” Magda met her eyes. “I promise. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll meet up again before we go speak with Purple.”

Shonda and Chloe stood behind them now. Magda wasn’t sure she was grateful for their presence so she didn’t have to be alone with Sarah, or if she was feeling a tad ganged up on.

“Go, Blue. We’ve got your friend,” Shonda said.

Sarah glanced around at all of them, before standing and running off. They would have to send her a text later so they could meet up.

Magda stood, guiding Michelle to her feet. Flashing lights and the wail of sirens grew closer. She sighed. “When this is all over, who wants coffee?”

[jaxon-exe]

Dp x dc prompt

So this starts with Danny becoming the ghost king on his 18th birthday and almost immediately every power-hungry ghost in existence starts proposing to him. At first he just ignores it but after the 10th time someone tries to kidnap him to marry him Greek god style, he’s fucking sick of it and goes to Clockwork for help.

He’s not much help. The only way for other people to stop trying to marry him is if he’s already married. What’s more, because he’s the king of the infinite realms, it has to be someone that’s considered a citizen of the Infinite Realms. (Like he can marry someone that’s still alive but they wouldn’t count and people will just keep trying to marry him) CW also warns him that people will try and kill anyone he marries if they can so a living person isn’t really ideal. The only bit of real helpfulness he does provide is a list of non-evil non-power-hungry citizens so he can have an easier time finding someone.

So Danny takes the list and starts crossing of names (like Johnny, even tho the guy won’t abuse the power of being the ghost princess, kitty would kill Danny for good this time) when he comes across the perfect candidate.

Jason Todd (Robin/Red Hood)

He’s been to Gotham before, knows the Robins all do good work and knows the Red Hood is already a good and fair ruler of his criminal underground. Plus the guy could definitely fight off any ghost trying to kill him even without the power boost and some helpful weapons Danny would give him if he agrees. Plus he has the perfect bargaining chip to get the guy to help by offering to fix the corrupted ectoplasm in him (not that he wasn’t gonna do that anyway when he had the time to but Hood didn’t need to know that)

So Danny hops over to Gotham and after quickly getting permission from Lady Gotham (she’s very protective of her Knights) heads over to crime ally and pitches the idea to Red Hood.

Which basically goes like-

Danny: so I give u, the title of prince, access to the Infinite Realms whenever u wish, a sweet private wing in my castle, any of the op ghost weapons in the castles armoury and a fix for ur rage problems and u marry me so I stop getting people trying to propose to me in increasingly more annoying ways :)

Jason, a literature geek with a secret desire to be the protagonist in a shitty YA romance: u had me at Prince

So the two of then jump over to the Infinite Realms to get married thinking it’ll take 30 minutes top only to learn that CW left out that a Royal wedding has to take at minimum a week otherwise no one will consider the Marriage valid. So the two, not backing out at this point, join in on the week of parties and celebrations without putting much more thought into it.

Meanwhile back in Gotham, after not having Red Hood check in after his patrol, Oracle searches CCTV and finds Jason having a conversation with a figure that is glitching out the camera to much to identify them, then the figure seemingly grabs Jason and drags him into a portal and the two of them disappear.

So obviously the Batfam comes to the conclusion that Jason was kidnapped by some sort of magical being and calls in John. He identify the magic as that of the ghost king’s and has been hearing that the king had been looking for a bride so comes to the conclusion that Jason has been kidnapped Persephone style to be be married and is under the (wrong) conclusion that it will mean Jason can’t leave the realm of the death after.

And so the Batfam + Constantine start planing to crash a wedding.

[shizucheese]

Hey guys, we need to talk. Because a certain little something in TMAGP 8 is causing what is genuinely the most toxic part of the Magpod fandom at large to once again rear its ugly head. So let's talk about podcast character appearance head canons, shall we?

I'm tagging this with the Magnus Archives, TMA and Magpod tags because I am absolutely calling all of you out, but if you don't want spoilers for The Magnus Protocol episode 8 then stop reading right now.

.

.

. Okay, so, Gerry exists in the TMAGP universe. He's happy (or at least acts cheerful). And some people have headcanoned this to mean that he is no longer goth, or at the very least isn't dying his hair black with bad box color. And other people have decided to get seriously agro over this. I have literally seen with my very own eyeballs someone call "un-gothing" Gerry a "hate crime" and calling the person they were talking to "gothphobic."

Let me make this absolutely clear for all of you: podcasts are a purely audio medium and unless a physical trait of theirs is explicitely stated, everyone's headcanon for how a character appears is valid. Goth TMAGP Gerry is valid. But also

Rainbow Goth TMAGP Gerry is valid. Pastel Goth TMAGP Gerry is valid.

Not Goth At All TMAGP Gerry is valid.

Bald Gerry who has actually gotten his brain cancer diagnosed in time and is getting treated for it is valid. Somebody's headcanon of a character that has no canonical description to them, or whose headcanon matches the few crumbs of canonical description we have but otherwise doesn't look the way you imagine them to, is not going to take away from your own headcanon of what a character looks like. If someone imagining or drawing a character looking a different way from how you imagine them looking somehow takes away from your enjoyment of the fandom or otherwise makes you feel like you need to barge in and tell them that they're Wrong and need to conform to your headcanon or else, that is a reflection on you, not them.

And this problem way predates TMAGP, let alone TMAGP 8. The only description we have of John is that he is in his early 30's and has prematurely greying hair.

If someone thinks he looks like the pastiest motherfucker to ever dwell in a basement, an extra-in-the-Adam's Family or Tim Burtan protagonist of a man, let them.

What's that? You want to tell them that John is BROWN and if they don't headcanon him looking that way they're WRONG and RACIST? Back away from the keyboard and go outside.

(Ironically, as someone who started getting grey hairs in my hair in my 20's myself, I'm pretty sure everyone's headcanon of John, with tiny little whisps of grey in his hair, is wrong, because if he was so grey that people were surprised to learn he was "a child of the 90's," he was probably full on salt-and-pepper when he was in his 20's.)

The only description we have for Martin is that he (man who canonically has the self esteem of a used doormat) describes himself as "not the smallest guy", Not-Sasha called him "roomy", Melanie is skinner than him, and Jonny said he imagined him as a "bigger guy" who would beat Alex in a physical fight. If someone decides to take this information and conclude that it means he's tall, broad and has muscle, rather than that he's overweight, fucking let them. If your first instinct to this is to run to your keyboard and call them "fatphobic" or otherwise bash them for it, I once again urge you to back away from your keyboard and go outside.

Someone headcanons Basira not wearing a headscarf? We have exactly 0 canonical physical description of her and the people who headcanon her as having one are basing that purely off of her name alone. Fucking let them. Someone headcanons Melanie and/ or Georgie as a skin color you don't agree with or a hairstyle you don't like? Fucking let them. As long as someone's headcanon of a character's description doesn't contradict the few canonical descriptions we have of a character, why do you care? Them having a different headcanon from you doesn't take away your right to imagine the characters looking however you like, anymore than it should take away their right to do the same. Someone headcanoning John as white (or Black, or Asian, or Mixed, or whatever) isn't going to make all of the fanart of John as brown with long hair suddenly disappear, nor the fanfiction describing him as such (although I do often wonder if the opposite is not true; is the fact that John looks the same in so much of the fanart I see on here really because of fandom "consensus", or is it because people are absolutely awful to anyone who draws him Different?). Someone headcanoning Martin as not fat isn't going to make the mountains of fanart of him as a fluffy little marshmallow vanish into the void (although I do remember hearing about someone getting bullied off the internet for daring to draw Martin as not fat). And someone headcanoning Gerry in TMAGP as not being goth isn't going to take away your preciouse goth TMAGP Gerry headcanon. That should be part of the fun of it, shouldn't it? Seeing what different images people have conjured in their heads of these characters we only get to experience with our ears, and celebrating the differences as well as the similarities? Why are we bullying people into conforming to one appearance of a character when no actual canonical appearance of them exists?

[damienkarras73]

An essay on Furiosa, the politics of the Wasteland, Arthurian literature and realistic vs. formalistic CGI

Mad Max: Fury Road absolutely enraptured me when it came out nearly a decade ago, and I will cop to seeing it four times at the theatre. For me (and many others who saw the light of George Miller) it set new standards for action filmmaking, storytelling and worldbuilding, and I could pop in its Blu Ray at any time and never get tired of it. Perhaps not surprisingly, I was deeply apprehensive about the announced prequel for Fury Road's actual main character, Furiosa, even if Miller was still writing and directing. We didn't need backstory for Furiosa—hell, Fury Road is told in such a way that NOTHING in it requires explicit backstory. And since it focuses on the Yung Furiosa, it meant Charlize Theron couldn't return with another career-defining performance. Plus, look at all that CGI in the trailer, it can't be as good as Fury Road.

Turns out I was silly to doubt George Miller, M.D., A.O., writer and director of Babe: Pig in the City and Happy Feet One & Two.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is excellent, and I needn't have worried about it not being as good as Fury Road because it is not remotely trying to be Fury Road. Fury Road is a lean, mean machine with no fat on it, nothing extraneous, operating with constant forward momentum and only occasionally letting up to let you breathe a little; Furiosa is a classical epic, sprawling in scope, scale and structure, and more than happy to let the audience simmer in a quiet, almost painfully still moment. If its opening spoken word sequence by that Gandalf of the Wastes himself, the First History Man, didn't already clue you in, it unfolds like something out of myth, a tale told over and over again and whose possible embellishments are called attention to in the dialogue itself. Where Fury Road scratched the action nerd itch in my head like you wouldn't believe, Furiosa was the equivalent of Miller giving the undulating folds of my English major brain a deep tissue massage. That's great! I, for one, love when sequels/prequels endeavour to be fundamentally different movies from what they're succeeding/preceding, operating in different modes, formats and even genres, and more filmmakers should aim for it when building on an existing series.

This movie has been on my mind so much in the past week that I've ended up dedicating several cognitive processes to keeping track of all of the different ponderings it's spawned. Thankfully, Furiosa is divided into chapters (fun fact: putting chapter cards in your movie is a quick way to my heart), so it only seems fitting that I break up all of these cascading thoughts accordingly.

1. The Pole of Inaccessibility

Furiosa herself actually isn't the protagonist for the first chapter of her own movie, instead occupying the role of a (very crafty and resourceful) damsel in distress for those initial 30-40 minutes. The real hero of the opening act, which plays out like a game of cat and mouse, is Furiosa's mother Mary Jabassa, who rides out into the wasteland first on horseback and then astride a motorcycle to track down the band of raiders that has stolen away her daughter. Mary's brought to life by Miller and Nico Lathouris' economical writing and a magnetic performance by newcomer Charlee Fraser, who radiates so much screen presence in such relatively little time and with one of those instant "who is SHE??" faces. She doesn't have many lines, but who needs them when Fraser can convey volumes about Mary with just a flash of her eyes or the effortless way she swaps out one of her motorcycle's wheels for another. To be quite candid, I'm not sure of the last time I fell in love with a character so quickly.

You notice a neat aesthetic contrast between mother and daughter in retrospect: Mary Jabassa darts into the desert barefoot, clad in a simple yet elegant dress, her wolf cut immaculate, only briefly disguising herself with the ugly armour of a raider she just sniped, and when she attacks it's almost with grace, like some Greek goddess set loose in the post-apocalyptic Aussie outback with just her wits and a bolt-action rifle; we track Furiosa's growth over the years by how much of her initially conventional beauty she has shed, quite literally in one case (hair buzzed, severed arm augmented with a chunky mechanical prosthesis, smeared in grease and dirt from head to toe, growling her lines at a lower octave), and by how she loses her mother's graceful approach to movement and violence, eventually carrying herself like a blunt instrument. Yet I have zero doubt the former raised the latter, both angels of different feathers but with the same steel and resolve. Of fucking course this woman is Furiosa's mother, and in the short time we know her we quickly understand exactly why Furiosa has the drive and morals she does without needing to resort to didactic exposition.

Anyway, I was tearing up by the end of the first chapter. Great start!

2. Lessons from the Wasteland

Most movies—most stories, really—don't actually tell the entire narrative from A to Z. Perhaps the real meat of the thing is found from H to T, and A-G or U-Z are unnecessary for conveying the key narrative and themes. So many prequels fail by insisting on telling the A-G part of the story, explaining how the hero earned a certain nickname or met their memorable sidekick—but if that stuff was actually interesting, they likely would have included it in the original work. The greatest thing a prequel can actually do is recontextualize, putting iconic characters or moments in a new light, allowing you to appreciate them from a different angle. All of season 2 of Fargo serves to explain why Molly Solverson's dad is appropriately wary when Lorne Malvo enters his diner for a SINGLE SCENE in the show's first season. David's arc from the Alien prequels Prometheus and Covenant—polarizing as those entries are—adds another layer to why Ash is so protective of the creature in the first movie. Andor gives you a sense of what it's like for a normal, non-Jedi person to live under the boot of the Empire and why so many of them would join up with the Rebel Alliance—or why they would desire to wear that boot, or even just crave the chance to lick it.

Furiosa is one of those rare great prequels because it makes us take a step back and consider the established world with a little more nuance, even if it's still all so absurd. In Fury Road, Immortan Joe is an awesome, endlessly quotable villain, completely irredeemable, and basically a cartoon. He works perfectly as the antagonist of that breakneck, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote-ass movie, but if you step outside of its adrenaline-pumping narrative for even a moment you risk questioning why nobody in the Citadel or its surrounding settlements has risen up against him before. Hell, why would Furiosa even work for him to begin with? But then you see Dementus and company tear-assing around the wasteland, seizing settlements and running them into the ground, and you realize Joe and his consortium offer something that Dementus reasonably can't: stability—granted, an unwavering, unchangeable stability weighted in favour of Joe's own brutal caste system, but stability nonetheless. It really makes you wonder, how badly does a guy have to suck to make IMMORTAN JOE of all people look like a sane, competent and reasonable ruler by comparison?!?

…and then they open the door to the vault where he keeps his wives, and in a flash you're reminded just how awful Joe is and why Furiosa will risk her life to help some of these women flee from him years later. This new context enriches Joe and makes it more believable that he could maintain power for so long, but it doesn't make him any less of a monster, and it says a lot about Furiosa's hate for Dementus that she could grit her teeth and work for this sick old tyrant.

3. The Stowaway

Here's another wild bit of trivia about this movie: you don't actually see top-billed actress Anya Taylor-Joy pop up on screen until roughly halfway through, once Furiosa is in her late teens/early twenties. Up until this point she's been played by Alyla Browne, who through the use of some seamless and honestly really impressive CGI has been given Anya's distinctive bug eyes [complimentary]. It's one of those bold choices that really works because Miller commits to it so hard, though it does make me wish Browne's name was up on the poster next to Taylor-Joy's.

Speaking of CGI, I should talk about what seems to be a sticking point for quite a few people: if there's been one consistent criticism of Furiosa so far, it's that it doesn't look nearly as practical or grounded as Fury Road, with more obvious greenscreen and compositing, and what previously would've been physical stunt performers and pyrotechnics have been replaced with their digital equivalents for many shots. Simply put, it doesn't look as real! For a lot of people, that practicality was one of Fury Road's primary draws, so I won't try to quibble if they're let down by Furiosa's overt artificiality, but to be honest I'm actually quite fine with it. It helps that this visual discrepancy doesn't sneak up on you but is incredibly apparent right from the aerial zoom-down into Australia in the very first scene, so I didn't feel misled or duped.

Fury Road never asks you to suspend your disbelief because it all looks so believable; Furiosa jovially prods you to suspend that disbelief from the get-go and tune into it on a different wavelength. It's a classical epic, and like the classical epics of the 1950s and 60s it has a lot of actors standing in front of what clearly are matte paintings. It feels right! We're not watching fact, we're watching myth. I'm willing to concede there might be a little bit of post-hoc rationalization on my part because I simply love this movie so much, but I'm not holding the effects in Furiosa to the same standard as those in Fury Road because I simply don't believe Miller and his crew are attempting to replicate that approach. Without the extensive CGI, we don't get that impressive long, panning take where a stranded Furiosa scans the empty, dust-and-sun-scoured wasteland (75% Sergio Leone, 25% Andrei Tarkovsky), or the Octoboss and his parasailing goons. For the sake of intellectual exercise I did try imagining them filming the Octoboss/war rig sequence with the same immersive practical approach they used for Fury Road's stunts, however I just kept picturing dead stunt performers, so perhaps the tradeoff was worth it!

4. Homeward

Around the same time we meet the Taylor-Joy-pilled Furiosa in Chapter 3, we're introduced to Praetorian Jack, the chief driver for the convoys running between the Citadel and its allied settlements. Jack's played by Tom Burke, who pulled off a very good Orson Welles in Mank! and who I should really check out in The Souvenir one of these days. He's also a cool dude! Here are some facts about Praetorian Jack:

He's decked out in road leathers with a pauldron stitched to one shoulder

He's stoic and wary, but still more or less personable and can carry on a conversation

Professes to a certain cynicism, to quote Special Agent Albert Rosenfield, but ultimately has a capacity for kindness and will do the right thing

Shoots a gun real good

Can drive like nobody's business

So in other words, Jack is Mad Max. But also, no, he clearly isn't! He looks and dresses like Mad Max (particularly Mel Gibson's) and does a lot of the same things "Mad" Max Rockatansky does, but he's also very explicitly a distinct character. It's a choice that seems inexplicable and perhaps even lazy on its face, except this is a George Miller movie, so of course this parallel is extremely purposeful. Miller has gone on record saying he avoids any kind of strict chronology or continuity for his Mad Max movies, compared to the rigid canons for Star Trek and Star Wars, and bless him for doing so. It's more fun viewing each Mad Max entry as a new revision or elaboration on a story being told again and again generations after the fall, mutating in style, structure and focus with every iteration, becoming less grounded as its core narrative is passed from elder to youth, community to community, genre to genre, until it becomes myth. (At least, my English major brain thinks it's more fun.) In fact there's actually something Arthurian to it, where at first King Arthur was mentioned in several Welsh legends before Geoffrey of Monmouth crafted an actual narrative around him, then Chrétien de Troyes added elements like Lancelot and infused the stories with more romance, and then with Le Morte d'Arthur Thomas Malory whipped the whole cycle together into one volume, which T.H. White would chop and screw and deconstruct with The Once and Future King centuries later.

All this to say: maybe Praetorian Jack looks and sounds and acts like Max because he sorta kinda basically is, being just one of many men driving back and forth across the wasteland, lending a hand on occasion, who'll be conflated into a single, legendary "Mad Max" at some point down the line in a different History Man's retelling of Furiosa's odyssey. Sometimes that Max rips across the desert in his V8 Interceptor, other times driving a big rig. Perhaps there's a dog tagging along and/or a scraggly and at first aggravating ally played by Bruce Spence or Nicholas Hoult. Usually he has a shotgun. But so long as you aren't trying to kill him, he'll help you out.

5. Beyond Vengeance

The Mad Max movies have incredibly iconic villains—Immortan Joe! Toecutter! the Lord Humongous!—but they are exactly that, capital V Villains devoid of humanizing qualities who you can't wait to watch bad things happen to. Furiosa appears to continue this trend by giving us a villain who in fact has a mustache long enough that he could reasonably twirl it if he so wanted, but ironically Dementus ends up being the most layered antagonist in the entire series, even moreso than the late Tina Turner's comparatively benevolent Aunty Entity from Beyond Thunderdome. And because he's played by Chris Hemsworth, whose comedic delivery rivals his stupidly handsome looks, you lock in every time he's on screen.

Something so fascinating about Dementus is that, for a main antagonist, he's NOT all-powerful, and in fact quite the opposite: he's more conman than warlord, looking for the next hustle, the next gullible crowd he can preach to and dupe—though never for long. For all his bluster, at every turn he finds himself in way over his head and writing cheques he can't cash, and this self-induced Sisyphean torment makes him riveting to watch. You're tempted to pity Dementus but it's also quite difficult to spare sympathy for someone who's so quick to channel their rage and hurt and ego into thoughtless, burn-it-all-down destruction. When you're not laughing at him, you're hating his guts, and it's indisputably the best work of Chris Hemsworth's career.

It's in this final chapter that everything naturally comes to a head: Furiosa's final evolution into the character we meet at the start of Fury Road, the predictable toppling of Dementus' precariously built house of cards, and the mythmaking that has been teased since the very first scene becoming diagetic text, the last of which allows the movie to thoroughly explore the themes of vengeance it's been building to. A brief war begins, is summarized and is over in the span of roughly a minute, and on its face it's a baffling narrative choice that most other filmmakers would have botched. But our man Miller's smart enough to recognize that the result of this war is the most foregone of conclusions if you've been paying even the slightest bit of attention, so he effectively brushes past it to get to the emotional heart of the climax and an incredible "Oh shit!" payoff that cements Miller as one of mainstream cinema's greatest sickos.

Fury Road remains the greatest Mad Max film, but Furiosa might be the best thing George Miller has ever made. If not his magnum opus, it does at least feel like his dissertation, and it makes me wish Warner Bros. puts enough trust in him despite Furiosa's poor box office performance that he's able to make The Wasteland. Absolutely ridiculous that a man just short of his 80th birthday was able to pull this off, and with it I feel confident calling him one of my favourite directors.

[flowerandblood]

The Fall from the Heavens Universe Series Masterlist

[ canon • Aemond x Strong • niece female ]

[ warnings: sex content, oral sex, fingering, smut, angst, arranged engagement, obsession, violence, swearing, bullying, chauvinism, mention of injury, character's death ]

[ description: A cool distance turns into friendship and more when two children see that they can find refuge and understanding in each other. However, naïve dreams collide with the reality in which every event has consequences and what once could have been love becomes a dark, newly painful obsession. Angst, sexual tension, obsession, violence, madness, very dark Aemond. ]

Author's note: The story in this series is an alternate reality from the oneshot Stay and love, leave and die, in which Aemond reads the letters his niece has sent to him over the years. They are the same characters and it shows what would have happened between them. I have decided that both Rhaenyra and Viserys' children are titled My Prince/Princess/Your Grace, and Baela and Rhaena are titled My Lady. For the purposes of this story, Lord Arryn has a son, to whom the female protagonist was later betrothed.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Rhaenys's Letters | The Song of Lonliness (Memories) | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 (End) | Aemond & Rhaenys's Children | Duty and Desire | Epilogue | To please, to serve (Years Later)

All Series & Scenes Moodboards The Lost Haven (Modern mafia AU) Play with my heart (Modern actors AU)

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Persona Fun Facts

These are all taken from the fanbooks and novels.

So far in the series, the protagonists have managed to avert between seven and eleven "Ends of the World".

Nanako does notice her flan is missing, but assumes she ate it earlier and forgot.

Yukki has at least three younger siblings.

Dr. Nicholai, the guy who helped create the Deva System, is jewish.

Sae practices kickboxing as a hobby.

Nyarlathotep also made deals with King Solomon, Napoleon, and the actual Hitler.

The project that saw the kidnapping of 100 children to create Persona Users was called the "Artificial Persona Users Research Project"... not very original.

Theodore once adopted a shadow and named it Mochi. This shadow became so powerful it adopted the name of "Near Death".

In the Persona timeline, Tatsuzou Sudou replaced Yōhei Kōno as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, though he wouldn't be able to complete his term.

The Demon Painter first entered the Velvet Room by painting a blue door in his canvas. It is probable he finally managed to paint the Fool Arcana before P3 and left the Velvet Room, having nothing left to learn there.

The saleslady of Anima Mundi has the hots for Tatsuya.

Masataka, Maya's father, died in the Soviet-Afghan War when she was eight.

Ken has stated he wishes he had a Death Note.

Mark drew those marks under his eyes himself.

Minato sometimes muttered in his sleep about how "the end is coming". Mitsuru noticed and it worried her.

Katsuya began baking because it made baby Tatsuya happy.

Sojiro wanted to give Morgana the name of a foreign actor or singer he liked.

Ann doesn't cook because she always makes too much and its always just how she likes it, which causes her to overeat.

Shinjiro doesn't remember his Awakening.

Reiji is such a momma's boy his favorite food is listed as "Mom's home cooking".

Katsuya wakes up at 5:30. He always tries to wake Tatsuya at 7:30, but Tatsuya doesn't get up until 9.

Ken's mom once met and saved one of the kids who was part of the Artificial Persona Users Research Project.

Kubo was given a suspension from Morooka for a week, which hurt Kubo's pride so much he transferred.

If Innocent Sin and Eternal Punishment are considered one long game, then their events did take place over the course of a year like the newer games, from May~ of 1999 to February of 2000.

All of this happened in the same year: Labrys and later Aigis were built, the events of P2:IS took place, Ryuji and Ann were born, the Dark Hour was created, and construction of Gekkoukan High School began.

[queerliblib]

Hello! I don't usually have trouble finding queer romances wherein the characters are in their 20s or 30s. But, I'm in my 50s. Do you have any recommendations for queer romances which revolve around middle-aged characters?

Hello! yes, absolutely - there are so so many that we’re hoping to buy over the next few months, but for those that are in our collection right now we’ve got:

Mimosa - a graphic novel about a group of queers finding community in their 30’s & 40’s

The Four Profound Weaves - centers two older trans protagonists

Bingo Love - separated in their youth, two grandmothers find each-other again in their mid-60’s

No Strings Attached - a mother & recent divorcée takes steps to change her life

happy reading <3

[bookcub]

i need more older women leading fantasy novels. i loved the adventures of amina al-sarafi and the fifth season and nettle and bone but i feel like i run into so many protagonists in their early 20s or even in the ages 16-19 far more often than anyone even over the age of 30, which is still quite young! i love a lot of these books with younger protagonists (who are around my age) but i want protagonists who are older than what i am getting.