#seriously hated the way i wrote my original post

[ugly-anarchist]

I said it in the tags of that one ask but I wanna Talk More so...

I think that if trans women said they had a period and it was just that my reaction would honestly be "I don't agree but it's not my place to say anything because I don't think it's harmful. It would be more productive to find your own terms or whatever but honestly who cares"

But the reasoning in why they say they have periods is why I really think it's harmful. Cramps and hormonal changes are not a period and saying you have one because of it (I feel) adds to the stigma around periods and we shouldn't be defining periods on just the secondary symptoms that cause harm and discomfort.

[mbat]

before i pass out for the night. since my brain is back on dan and phil as if its 2016 or something i need to put this out into the world. this isnt some sort of important life changing post, just a personal funny thing

so when i was 13 and fixating on dan and phil, i read a lot of fanfics. like, i guarantee that even after all these years that, if i had the statistics, that fandom was the one i read the most fanfics for and constantly. i couldnt tell you what nearly any of them were about, and i have a feeling that many of them are probably lost to time by now. i also dont know if i need to mention that yeah, a lot of them were shipping, and yes ive long grown out of that. (the dnp fandom is actually what made me grow out of that)

anyway all this to say that over the last 6 years after i stopped fixating on dan and phil, one fanfic stuck with me and i just. i think about it every once in a while. its been over half a decade. it wasnt a groundbreaking fic, i dont remember any quotes or specifics, just the premise as of at least the first few chapters. idk why it stuck with me

it was literally a fic about. if the world had gotten to a point where almost every child was born as like, a science baby instead of a natural baby, and phil was a science baby, but dan was a natural baby. and there was somehow this like, thing where the science babies would bully the natural babies for some reason idek, and this was a highschool setting and i think dan was a new kid in school. and what gets me about the fic is that dan was some small shy scared kid and phil was some mean jerk bully. and how wild that is compared to how they are in real life

this isnt me trying to find the fic or the person who wrote it or any of that, this is literally just. i remember this fic at least once every few months and i needed to get it out of my brain somewhere

[hollaforlyla]

"YE MAY BE IN LOVE..." ── prime!sonic x reader

posting this here because why not :p

NOTE: wrote this back in 2022, and i really like it, so im reposting it here. originally from my wattpad. <3

enjoy, if have not already read!

You kicked the tree that was on the one single island you and your crew members were able to invade and a single coconut fell from the leaves, landing near your foot. " ARGH ! I told yall we'd find some food on this pity island ! " You grinned as you lift the food and threw it in the air, catching it in the air with a toothy grin decorating your lips.

Suddenly a loud splash of water caused you and your three members to jump in fright and look towards the shore of the land to see some sort of blue figure emerge from the blue waters and on the land. 

You all hid behind the large rocks to overhear him talking to himself, " Okay, stay calm. One minute, I was looking for Nine, then I saw that gnarly ship, and then, somehow... " he pauses as he looks around and questions, " Wait, where am i? " 

He suddenly sat on the green grass and huffed, " How did i get... "

" Ah! wonder what these guys do. " He spoke looking at his shoes and gloves at the same time before Batten spoke aloud, " Ahoy there, stranger! What brings ye to the No Place? " She asked while you, and you, Black Rose, and Sails sat behind her while she hung from the single tree. 

"Seriously? " the creature suddenly laughs causing you to raise an eyebrow. " Pirates? That's--that's super! Just great ! Of course your pirates ! " He laughs as he extends his arms out. 

" I bet he's one of the old crew ! " Sails spoke and that's when you made yourself known. 

" Do you have some sort of hate for us pirates, mate ? " You spoke, getting close up to the blue hedgehog causing him to bend back as you tower over him with the tip of your sword close to his throat. 

The blue hedgehog gulped as he chuckles, " No-no ! Of course not ! Pi-pirates ar thy best ! " He spoke in the worst accent as he backed away from your sword far as possible and uses his finger to move the tip of your sword. 

" What should we do ? " Rose spoke as you stood in between her and Sails.  " I say, we pirate ! " Batten suddenly jumped beside Black Rose, causing her to jump as Batten raises her sword in the air and grins. " But the captain's not here ! " You spoke up, causing Batten's grin to disappear as she looked back at you three.  " Yar be right ! " Rose added, " I don't think he'd approve of us, you know, 'pirating' ". 

" What kind of pirates don't pirate ? " Sonic asked and you suddenly grinned after hearing that sentence escape from his lips. " Landlubber is right ! Yarr know how the saying goes ' Dead men tall no tales ! ' ". And once again, you along with your crew raised your swords to the unknown hedgehog, causing him to back away and try to talk with you in his once again pirate voice.

" Argh, Argh ! I don't mean to harm ye ! I'm just a wayward hedgehog looking for a way home ! "

None of you listened to the creature and when you all threw your swords down he was able to jump over you all and run around the island. He looked back to see Batten fly after him and when he looked forward he skidded to a stop before he could hit the water. 

No matter where the hedgehog went, you and your crew were always one step ahead of him because this island was so small he didn't have much space to run around. " Boy, it sure feels good to a pirate, don't it ? " Black Rose asked and grinned, squatting beside her as you were somehow able to pin the hedgehog to the edge of the large rock.  " Aye ! Brings me back to the good ol' days, Black Rose ! "

You and the blue hedgehog were able to make eye contact for a longer period of time and this time he had a blush on his face. Back in your old world, Sonic had some sort of crush on you, so to speak. But being the Hero of Mobius he didn't have much time to worry about all the lovey-dovey stuff because of a so-called Egghead. 

Whenever you got close to the Blue Blur he would panic and hide it with his heroic charm and runoff. He had no clue if you liked him back, but he knew for sure this version of you didn't, 100%. 

Black Rose was able to trip the creature as he ran past her, and let out a scream as he was about to collide with the water, but suddenly he felt Sail's robotic arm catch him and lift him into the air and keep him there as he stared at Batten, Black Rose, and ..... Y/N. 

" Well, wouldn't you know. I'm caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. " He spoke and Batten and Black Rose shared a puzzled glance with each other before Sails spoke up, " You know, he's too fast to be part of the old crew. "

" Listen, I am not a part of any crew you're looking for. In fact, I've lost my crew. It's a bit of a sore spot actually. " He admitted and Batten only smirked as she raised the tip of her sword to his throat once again. " I'll give you a sore spot, all right ! " Before she could do anything else, you step in front of her and pushed her back. " All right, all right. Enough of that Batten. Not everything needs to be beaten to a pulp....even if they are among our seas... "

The blue hedgehog and you made eye contact, but this time you glared at him as you placed your sword back around your waist in your belt whilst Sonic blushed...trying to keep his composure. " Gather the coconuts. The captain would want us to get back to the ship with something other than a filthy landlubber. "

" Arr, Y/N. " Black Rose agreed, " Leave this scalawag for the bazzards. " Batten only sighed as she watched you and Black Rose collect the coconuts, " Well, it was fun while it lasted. " And with that, Sails tossed the hedgehog back on the land as he faceplanted and followed his crew to collect coconuts. 

" Wait, you're leaving ? " He questioned as he watched your four work, " Uh, you can't leave me here ! " He cried. " And why is that ? " You asked, leaning against the tree trunk and kicking it once more to gather the coconut from its leaves. " There's literally water everywhere ! "

You rolled your eyes and followed your crew to a small boat as you tossed the coconuts in there. " Uh, where're you going ? " He asked, " Somewhere with a lot of land, hopefully. "

" Back to our ship, and we don't take scalawags. " Batten responded, tired of the blue hedgehog's whining. " You know, with all that speed, this landlubber could be useful. " Sails explained as he circled around the creature using his tails to hover around. " Swabbing the deck, raising this mizzen mast, rowing the boat. "

Batten sighs, " I hate rowing the boat. " " Gives me bad cramps for days, " You added and Black Rose nods. " I'll row ! I'm a great rower ! Heh, I'll bet you 20 coconuts I'm the best rower you've ever seen ! " the creature grins as he nudges Sail's side before jumping down to the three others. 

" FIne, I, too, hate rowing. But, there is one condition when we get back to the ship. It's captain's orders or else ! " Black Rose spoke as she turned, but suddenly Sonic zoomed in front of her and chuckled, " Or else? The plank ? I can assure you that this hedgehog has no interest in planks. " The creature spoke and you suddenly spoke up, 

" Then prove to us you can take orders from a captain, or the plank is what you'll get ! Savvy ? " You placed a hand on your hip as he winked at you. " Captain's orders got it !...I love captains... " You roll your eyes as you pushed him to the side by placing a hand to his face and got into the small boat.

Once everyone was seated in the boat, Sonic grinned as he sat in his said spot. " Everybody got seat belts on? " You all blinked in silence and you stared at the hedgehog. " Seatbelts ?-- "

All of a sudden you felt yourself grab Batten's arm as the boat zoomed through the water faster than you've ever seen a bird soar above the ship's sails. You all let out a scream before you made it back to the ship, and your grip on Batten fell loose and you felt yourself fall a top of the blue hedgehog. Your arms were extended outwards and pinned on the sides of his stomach and your face was buried in his chest. 

A blush formed on Sonic's face as you sat up as the boat was lifted onto the actual ship and you looked back up to see the hedgehog was gone and by the other side of the boat, covering his face to hide the blush. 

You on the other hand felt your stomach twist in different directions until Batten tossed an arm around your shoulder, " Aye ! Looks like little Y/N caught herself a lucky one ! " You only nudged her arm and pushed her off of you, crossing your arms as you spoke. " Blimey ! 'Il crush ye barnacles if you think I would have some sort of feelings towards a stinkin' landlubber ! " 

As Batten rose her arms in the air with a snarky smile, you looked back at the hedgehog and blushed before splashing some water on your face from one of the barrels and entered inside the ship and towards your room where you sat for a while until the captain was introduced to the blue hedgehog. 

🏴‍☠💙🏴‍☠

The sound of the seagulls cawing awoke you from your slumber and as you entered the deck of the ship you saw your captain and other crew members sound asleep. You looked around for the blue hedgehog but you couldn't find him anywhere on the ship until you suddenly felt two hands grab onto your shoulders, " BOO-AH ! " You turned around and were able to tackle the intruder to the ground by the poop deck, but as the tip of your sword hits the neck of the person you let out a puff of air when you noticed the intruder was no one but that Sonic fellow. 

" Sneak attacking a pirate can be a bad idea mate, especially if you're trying to befriend said pirate... " Your feet were planted to the floor as your back was leaned forward as the hedgehog's back was pinned to the ground, his quills squishing between his face as he lets out a half-heart chuckle. " I never knew pirates could be sneak-attacked? You're not like all of them, are you ? :"

" Your one to talk, hedgehog. Your fake pirate accent couldn't threaten a baby sea horse ! " 

Sonic's belly laughter soon escaped from his lips and you cocked an eye up. " Yhou make uhup the strangest pahrases i've ehever hehard ! " You growled softly under your breath and moved your sword away from his neck and stepped off him so he could stand. You placed your sword back around your waist and walked towards the portside and stared at the water. Sonic slowly walked beside you and placed one elbow on the ledge and the other arm was placed on his hip. 

" So you have no idea who I am ? " Sonic suddenly asked and you looked over to him playing with the small locket on your neck, " Well, I know you are very easy to tackle, you are very fast, and you have a very strange laugh... " You explained and Sonic chuckled, 

" You somehow still remind me of my Y/N .. "

" Your Y/N ... ? "

" Oh, N-nevermind .... Have you, uh, got any sleep? You look overworked and tired. " He asked and you smiled, " I could be asking you the same thing, you look like you haven't slept in weeks. " You flicked his nose causing him to grab it and laugh, " I got my fair share...your the one who looks like they need some shut-eye... " Your smile died down and you had to admit you were tired. " A pirate's work is never done...stayed up all night cleaning the poop deck and made sure the captain's cabin was cleaned from sea bugs and other sea creatures. Got 'round 3-maybe 5 hours of shut-eye? " You guessed and Sonic looked to the water and thought for a moment.

Looking at the sun he could tell it was around maybe, 7 AM, and the rest of the crew was still asleep, so Sonic grabbed the sword from your waist and stabbed it to the pole of the sails. " Hey ! What do you think your-- " Before you could say anything, the blue hedgehog swung his legs into your ankles causing you to fall back but he caught you and placed you to the wooden floor of the deck and he laid beside you, his hands wrapped behind his head. 

He sighs as he closed his eyes but you were still confused. " I- what are you doin- " He hushed you but slammed his hand over yours gently and you glared at him, about to bite his hand until he removed it and spoke, " It's still early in the morning...thank me later when you get at least 7 hours of sleep. " 

And with that, he closed his eyes once more and you turned your body to face him and stayed like that waiting to see if he'll do anything...but he didn't. He just laid there with eyes shut, his chest moving up and down lightly. You looked around to see the rest of your crew sound asleep and you huffed quietly. 

Eventually, you shut your eyes and around 10 minutes later you found yourself asleep, the waves hitting the bottom of the ship rocked it, giving the atmosphere a more calmer sound. 

When morning hit, Sonic was the first to wake up and he found you sound asleep beside him, your mouth gaped open to create a small circle and he smiled fondly at the sight until he stood up......

[indulgentdaydream]

Hello luv, first of all... I LOVE NURSE!READER!!! OH god the last lines were soooooo heartwarming for my social worker heart!! LOVE LOVE IT 🩷🩷

So, may I request a Jason x reader again but with a little something... Jealous Jason because reader and Roy know each other longer than Jay and reader and then he gets all jelly and and—! Oh god I love a jealous petty man.

Missy when she fucks up the queue and queues this post for NEXT YEAR by accident 🫣🙃 NEXT YEAR?? LIKE THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE POSTED LAST FRIDAY AND I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE THAT IT DIDN'T GO UP

anyways AHHH THANK YOU SO MUCH your words are already heartwarming ♥️

I loveeee jealous jason imma cook this up so quick just you wait and see (i wrote this when i first made the draft and i found it funny to leave it. It’s literally been a month I’m so sorry)

I also made this into headcanons because I had a VISION and did not think to give it any justice. (koi youre seriously my number 1 supporter i hope you enjoy this garbage I just threw up, really)

Pining!Jealous!Jason Todd x Reader

Warnings: slight jealousy (not too overly consuming), alcohol consumption

Roy had invited Jason to hang out at the bar

Bros being bros

except...

Roy brought you along (because he KNOWS Jason has got a fat crush on you whether or not he’s told him)

(He tried to convince roy it’s not a crush, but always fails because his whole demeanour changes when you walk in the room)

examples:

he's always going to be standing beside you, consciously or not

jason isn't always a tense guy. But he for sure isn't as long as you're talking to him/looking at him/etc. (but if you put your hand on his arm/touch him in any way, it's game over)

your name is brought up, he's listening SO INTENTLY

like a dog when it hears its favourite word

Anyways

The three of you are sitting in a booth

It was originally you and roy before jason showed up, the two of you on either side

Jason shows up and just sits right next to you. No hesitation.

You and roy are laughing away, recounting stories and telling jokes.

Jason is just... really quiet

unusually quiet

He doesn’t look at you guys, rather looking out across the bar, trying to hide the fact he’s feeling this way

That he's feeling unreasonably jealous of his best friend

who literally brought you FOR JASON

He knows it’s stupid. He trusts both of you. You two are the two people he trusts the MOST

He hates that he’s like this, but he can't help it

Roy's better than him. You've known him for longer. He's making you laugh harder than Jason ever has. He's better looking, too. Older. More experienced.

His thoughts are clogging up his head. He's really not listening anymore, just holding his beer, eyes scanning the bar floor, watching the other patrons.

Then Roy is standing in front of him, saying something about using the bathroom.

He is giving a VERY pointed look at Jason.

a "make conversation with your crush or I'm shoving an arrow down your throat" kind of look

Jason felt a little stab of genuine anxiety shoot through him.

He's talked to you alone before. Many times. You two were friends, of course. He doesn't know why this is how he's feeling right now.

Then your hand is resting on his forearm.

Poor boy is still so caught up in his head he just looks down at your hand for definitely a second too long before finally meeting your gaze

Your gaze with those stupidly pretty eyes.

Then comes that horrendously pretty voice, "You alright?"

He nods. Shrugs. Like a stupid teenager who doesn't know how to handle his emotions.

He has to admit he's still a little tense about your attention being focused more on Roy. But not to you. He'd never admit it to you. You'd probably find it unattractive and then he'd really never have a chance.

“Yeah, no, im enjoying the talking. Always forget how well you and roy know each other”

“Oh yeah he just knows how to get me going. You know how he is”

Jason doesn’t know how he does it.

Like some leap of faith.

Some, jealousy super-powered leap.

He tries to be non-chalant about it.

“It’d be nice to do this again sometime. Maybe without Roy around.”

BOY'S HEART IS POUNDING

Sipping on his beer, looking down at it instead to avoid eye contact with you so he doesn't lose his cool.

Or someone show on his face that he is actually shitting bricks

You don't respond for a second and the alarm bells start going off in his head

WHY DID I SAY THAT WHY DID I SAY THAT WHY DID I SAY-

"It would be nice," you say, "Could we make it a date instead?"

He's smiling, turning to nod at you, "Course we can."

But his internal dialogue is just straight screaming at himself

"IDIOT YOU SHOULD'VE MADE IT OBVIOUS YOU WANTED IT TO BE A DATE IN THE FIRST PLACE"

The things jealousy will make you do

Roy comes back and sits down

Jason's into the conversation now

It doesn't really matter that Roy is still making you laugh

because he's not the one holding your hand under the table

AH I HOPE YOU LIKE -missy

I also love a jealous petty man (as long as it doesn't become toxic and he doesn't use it as an excuse to be an asshole)

[longtallglasses]

saw this post, original post from @jonathanbyersphd :) and wrote a little goodbye ritual. here on ao3

Will sadly plots his feet back down the stairs to the basement, just having received a devastating call home from his Mother.

Mike and Lucas sit beside each other on the rug near the bookshelf. They had all been playing with Mike’s toys for hours at this point, abandoning whatever they had been watching on the TV when they arrived.

He stands at the landing for a minute watching them, not knowing how to bring up this horrible news.

Mike seems to sense his presence and looks up, his brow furrowing at Will’s less-than-happy face, “Will? What’s wrong?”

Looking down at his feet, kicking them nervously, Will mumbles, “My mom just called. She’s coming to get me soon.”

“No!” Lucas begins to yell, but Mike quickly interrupts, overpowering his sentiment.

“What!” Mike exclaims, shooting up to run over to him, “Noo, no, no, you can’t go, we still haven’t fought off the forest warriors. We need you for that, we need our wizard!”

“I know,” Will says sadly, hating to see the despair take over Mike’s face. They were so close, so close to victory.

Mike quickly takes Will’s face in his hands, covering his ears to save him from Mike yelling, “Mom! Mom!”

They hear the telltale signs of Karen’s feet pattering through the kitchen. She opens up the basement door and looks down at them, “Michael, what are you yelling about?”

“Will can’t go! Call his Mom back, we need more time! It’s too early!” He shouts as he keeps his palms over Will’s eardrums.

Mrs. Wheeler sighs, looking down at his son’s astounding anguish over a friend leaving that he will no doubt see the next day. “It’s not too early. The Byers’ have something planned tonight, Will has to go, you’ll see him soon,” She says, trying to placate her distraught son.

“Noo!” Mike cries again.

“Michael. It’s final.” She states seriously and leaves the boys to mourn their loss.

Mike removes his hands from Will’s ears to wrap his arms around him, “You can’t go,” he whines.

From behind them Lucas rolls his eyes, as the third member of the group he’d grown quite accustomed to the antics of the other two when they inevitably had to say goodbye. He didn’t really understand it—the way they clung to each other and professed dramatic words about when they would next see each other. He feels no pull to perform such a show like they did.

Lucas watches on in un-amusement as Mike pulls away from Will, suddenly excited, “Your hat! Quick get your hat!”

Will’s face lights up, no longer looking as if he’s on his way to the gallows. running over to the couch to scrounge between the cushions looking for his wizard’s hat. Mike for his part, darts to their pile of costume pieces laying out, taking hold of his wooden sword and pretends to secure it in its holster under his arm.

“Will the Wise!” Mike calls out dramatically, puffing out his chest as Will finds his purple pointed wizard’s hat and pulls it over his head.

“Mike the Mighty!” Will calls back, standing on the couch and gazing across imaginary miles to his companion.

Lucas on the ground crosses his arms, settling down to begrudgingly watch the show. A show he’s watched almost everyday now this year since he became friends with the two.

“My wizard, I’ve searched for signs of your magic for a hundred miles now, and now we must part again so suddenly!” Mike falls to his knees, lowering his head to his chest.

“My paladin, I’ve been casting calls in the night to reach you, hoping you’d follow them and find me,” Will jumps down from the couch to approach Mike, who looks up at him, eyes sparkling, “But my prowess is needed elsewhere this evening, I must leave you now,”

Mike stands, bringing his sword up, and with a gallant swish bestows the wooden blade on each of Will’s shoulders, “I grant you my protection even in my absence. My dear friend, I will follow you to the ends of the land to keep you safe,”

A faint pink hue blossoms across Will’s cheeks, “And I you. My magic will always follow you,” Will tells him, taking the hold of Mike’s wrist that grips his sword, bringing them slightly closer, “If you are ever in danger I will be standing beside you. You have your shield?”

Sighing loudly, Lucas falls onto his back, picking up the toy dinosaur at his side and idly fiddling with its arms, patiently waiting for his friends to reach the end of this tired, tired, production.

“Yes!” Mike declares—he doesn’t actually—but he bolsters his arm out like it’s sheathed on his forearm.

Will places his hands on his arm, “Remember my magic lives in here too, if you are attacked I will be your shield,”

Nodding seriously, Mike places his hand over Will’s, “I remember. I could never forget.”

Lucas groans, “Are you guys done yet?”

“Silence Sundar!” Mike cries, keeping his eyes on Will, “my wizard is leaving me, I must say goodbye properly,”

Will smiles through a giggle, but composes himself, “Not leaving. This is not a goodbye my paladin,”

“No. You’re right, it’s not,” Mike agrees softly, “we will reunite quite soon,”

“And our adventures will continue,” Will finishes.

Mike smiles, “Please journey safely,”

“Will’s Mom isn’t even here yet,” Lucas complains.

Will’s hands grip Mike’s arm tighter, “I’ll be thinking of you with every step I take, and every spell I cast,”

Mike takes hold of his shoulder, “Every swing of my sword and every battle cry I yell will be for you, my wizard,”

“Oh my god,” Lucas moans, rolling over to bury his face in his arms.

The scene goes on for several minutes. The wizard and the paladin continue to recount the ways in which they will be with each other in their absence, how they will reunite, and how they will continue on stronger together than when they parted. Lucas, their ranger, having to bear witness in agony to the whole drama.

Finally a knock comes to the door of the basement. A ring of reprieve for the ranger, and a sounding of distress for the other two party members.

“Will, Joyce is here!” they hear Mrs. Wheeler call out to them.

The two mothers probably know the boys will not come so easily to those words, opening the door and taking a few steps down to survey the severity of this particular goodbye today.

Joyce stands with an amused grin a few steps up from the bottom landing, watching as the two boys scramble back to the other side of the room in hiding, “No!” They cry.

“Will, it’s time to say goodbye,” Joyce says, trying to sound light and positive.

“Mom, please just a bit longer,” Will begs, standing behind the arm of the couch with Mike, as if the small barrier would protect them.

Joyce sighs, “Will you know Grandma is visiting, we gotta go. You’ll see Mike tomorrow,” she reasons.

“But that’s forever away!” Mike cries, holding Will against him and pulling him behind him.

“Michael,” Karen cuts in, “Let your friend go,”

Mike shakes his head, defiant, grumbling, “Mm-mm,”

Watching on from his place on the floor, Lucas rolls his eyes for a third time in the last fifteen minutes.

“Mike,” Will says softly, “It’s okay, I will see you tomorrow,” giving in to make his friend feel better.

Mike turns to him in betrayal, “No wait, we haven’t finished our goodbye,” he tries desperately.

Will smiles, the finish, his favorite part. The part he imagines in his mind when he rests his head on his pillow at night.

It’s not anything crazy, but it’s the way they do it. Will nods, “Yeah, yeah, let’s finish,” he says.

Mike kneels again, placing a hand over his heart, “Until whence we meet again, Will the Wise, I’ll be preparing for our next adventure,” he looks up at Will, appearing strong in his sorrow.

Will mirrors the action, placing a hand over his own heart, “Until then, Mike the Mighty, my full strength won’t return until I see you,”

Outstretching his arm, Mike offers his hand palm up, which Will slides his into. Mike brings his hand to his lips, leaving the chastest kiss upon his knuckles.

Somewhere in the room the two women giggle at the show, and the ranger rolls his eyes for a fourth time. Yet the wizard and paladin pay them no mind, their gaze locked with their hands clasped.

Mike abruptly breaks the dramatics of the moment, leaping up from his knees, “Okay, bye!” he says jovially, as he engulfs Will in his arms into a tight hug.

“Bye,” Will whispers, squeezing back as hard as he can.

“Okay,” Karen sighs, “You’ve said your goodbye now,”

Mike sways them back and forth, pulling Will off his heels for a moment, “Bye,” he says again, quieter this time, just for Will’s ears.

Eventually Will and his Mother make their exit, leaving Mike and Lucas alone at last in the basement.

“Do you guys seriously have to do that every time?” Lucas asks, exasperated and exhausted from having to have had to live through the Mike and Will show once more.

Mike looks at him like he’s crazy, “Yes,” he answers indignantly.

“Why?”

“Because…” Mike thinks for a minute, “because our bond is just special, you wouldn’t understand,” he finishes with a shrug, but an apparent blush has appeared on his face.

Lucas shakes his head, “We seriously need a new party member,” he decides.

[sanesaviour]

Solarion (1st image is character sheet, 2nd is another outfit exploration I did) read more below⬇️⬇️⬇️

I’ve decided to mess with you little bit like Solarion messes with people lol, so plot twist- Solarion is girl, I know, shocking- her real name is K… yes just K (I wanted to call her so me really long complicated name… but I find it quite interesting having only one letter as name)

She uses voicechanger bc she knows that people will take her more seriously as male vigilante than if they knew the truth, but she also does that to protect herself and her identity… Of course spidey team doesn’t know about her true identity and neither does S.H.I.E.L.D. ... It’s really hard to track her down bc everyone is convinced that Solarion is a man, but also bc she no longer has family nor friends, she dropped out of highschool and she doesn’t do nearly anything else besides vigilante stuff (maybe she sometimes goes clubbing at night to lose some steam)

I kinda think she is not American (well bc I’m not too lol so you have to deal with it now), she is from somewhere in Europe (haven’t decided from where yet, but when I will write someday about her origin story I will definitely mention it so stay tuned)… after one incident she had nothing left to lose so she moved to New York to fight villains and help people (she needed to find some meaning to her life)… she became masked vigilante named Solarion and quickly became really popular amongst people (you can read more about that stuff in my previous post)

Ofc Spidey team is not happy about Solarion, he sometimes get to places faster than them and defeat villain before they even arrive, so naturally they sees him as competition (I write him bc they think she is man, I know it’s bit confusing), but lot of times he is very cooperative and helps them in fights and on the other hand they often save his ass from getting beaten too, but still they don’t like much each other mainly because how unserious and reckless he can be, because of his double meaning jokes, but also bc of how well he can connect with regular people (lot of people root for him)

I already wrote about Solarions relationship with Spidey and Nick Fury in my last post about him but here are some headcanons and stuff about him and other characters:

1. Nova really despises Solarion, mainly because of how he constantly humiliates him, but also he is bit jealous of Solarions popularity amongst young people, how they adore him or how they copy his style… Nova always pokes fun about Solarions outfits like “nice outfit, did you find it in dumpster” but secretly he is just bit salty about that he didn’t came up with that idea before Solarion… also I think he once tried to wear regular clothes over his hero suit but got memed on social media so bad (or called Solarion fanboy or wannabe) that he never did it again… they make fun of each other all the time, but that doesn’t stop fangirls from shipping them (Nova hates it, Solarion loves it lol)

2. Powerman doen’t really get how others can be so annoyed with Solarion, he knows that Solarion likes to rage bait them and always tells Nova to just ignore him and focus on mission (nova never listens), he actually doesn’t mind him that much as long as he helps them and actually thinks that Spidey and Solarion are not that different maybe because how they both manage to joke in most inappropriate situations… also at some point he starts calling Solarion bro (Solarion is so happy about it and tries to hide it, but sometimes that spark of joy is way to visible) and he calls him bro back ofc

3. White tiger also despises him, mainly because Solarion jokingly flirts with her and calls her kitty, she finds it disgusting (for Solarion it is mostly just a cover to hide his identity, although he really likes how she looks while fighting, bi curiosity lol)… she hates how arrogant he can be, whenever he smirks at her during fight she gets irrationally annoyed but doesn’t know why… out of everyone Ava is most suspicious about his identity, something about his movements and mannerism feels off, but she can’t put her finger on it

4. Iron fist never gets frustrated with Solarion’s sarcasm, he treats it like a puzzle rather than problem - he just observes him and tries to find some patters and reasons why Solarion might be like that… after listening to his rants he just tells him “you should try out meditation and finding some balance” and solarion answers “I am balanced - balanced between being super awesome and being super hot”, also Danny either really hates Solarions inappropriate jokes (mostly because his mind suppose to be stay pure and focused) or he doesn’t get them at all

So in nutshell they are not very happy about Solarion lol, although Peter is more sympathetic towards him than others… they sometimes hang out on rooftops for moment after long day and just talk for while… but this all is how things are before they find out Solarions true identity

Also I m so sorry for how poorly is this written but I just can’t do better today, but I swear I will write more stuff (and hopefully better stuff) in near future… hope you like my rant but also art :))))



[midnight-glasses]

I'm back with a little post! Enjoy the atrocities I wrote.

Some things I think he does or has done, even if it's intended to be humorous:

🐺 — Shin bullies kids on roblox and enjoys it more than he'd like to admit.

🐺 — He takes board games way too seriously, normally flipping tables when loses and accuse others of cheating even in games of pure chance.

🐺 — He believes in Santa.

🐺 — Shin wakes up on November 1st and starts decorating for Christmas.

🐺 — He tackles and wrestles people to show affection.

🐺 — For some reason, he believes vacuum cleaners are some form of modern human weapon and avoids them at all costs.

🐺 — He has an incredible long-term memory but an awful short-term memory.

🐺 — Shin has a stash of bad pickup lines that he tries out to flirt, like: “Are you a full moon? Because you’ve got me howling...”

🐺 — He is a furry.

🐺 — Shin has a Mary Sue oc.

🐺 — This oc also has a fursona version, which is clearly a self-insertion of himself into a character.

🐺 — He often uses this character to make the oc×canon, simply because he is too proud to admit that this Mary Sue oc is a self-insert.

🐺 — He uses the word “dude” like a comma

🐺 — Shin knows fnaf lore complete and can give very specific, useless details about it even if you don't ask for it.

🐺 — Just like his brother, he is awful with technology and doesn't know how to use a smart phone.

🐺 — He accidentally posts selfies to social media with strange captions like: “What hell is this shit?”

🐺 — Shin claims to hate modern human food but secretly loves pineapple on pizza. He sneaks out late at night to grab a slice of his guilty pleasure.

🐺 — He tells dad jokes.

🐺 — Once, he tried to use his cell phone camera to shave his balls but got confused when hearts started appearing on the screen.

🐺 — Surprisingly, his live stream wasn’t taken down until he realized what he had done and ended it, but it became a joke among those around him.

🐺 — Every time Shin tries to cook, he makes a culinary apocalypse. He once set off a fire alarm while boiling water, and now swears that cooking is not worth it for him or is beneath him.

🐺 — He’s convinced he’s the best singer ever, even if everyone else is cringing.

🐺 — Shin tried to connect with his “inner wolf” by howling at the moon, but he lost his voice for two days and refused to admit it was from the howling.

🐺 — He spends an embarrassing amount of time in front of mirrors and gets genuinely offended if anyone catches him.

🐺 — Shin has a soft spot for animals and secretly has a collection of bunny plushies hidden in his room. If anyone finds out, he pretends they're “battle trophies”.

🐺 — He secretly keeps a Pinterest board for “Alpha Aesthetic”.

🐺 — Shin secretly wonders why he doesn’t have an fan club like Kou. He once tried to form one for himself, but no one joined.

🐺 — He uses dog shampoo to make his hair look nice.

All my written content is original, however, I do not claim ownership of the characters depicted. ©2025-Present.

[beyondspaceandstars]

Paint 'n' Sip

Relationship: Bucky Barnes x Reader Warnings: N/A, just all fluff! Summary: You convince your boyfriend Bucky to go to a paint and pour with you. A/N: so this is part of my attempt to post the writings I originally posted on ao3 before I made this account so this is a pretty old one-shot (ao3 says 2020 but I feel like I wrote this before that lmao) however I did go through and edit it so it's a bit stronger than it was before! please enjoy, it's a super simple little fluffy thing :)

Masterlist

"Doll, come on…" Bucky sighed as he gripped the event flyer in his hand. You were sitting on the couch, watching, while Bucky was planted in front the kitchen island.

You just came in the room minutes ago with puppy dog eyes in full swing and a pout as sad as you could muster. Of course, your boyfriend immediately knew something was up, but he gave you the benefit of the doubt and read the flyer you were shaking about. You had got yourself cozy on the couch and waited for his reaction. As predicted, he wasn’t a willing participant.

"What?" You frowned. "It’ll be fun."

He shook his head and turned to you. "Painting and drinking wine? Sounds more like a girls night activity."

"Well," you sighed and crossed your arms, "none of my friends are available, so I thought my wonderful boyfriend who loves me so much would go with me." You tried to keep your face as serious as possible, but it was difficult thanks to Bucky’s expression which told you he wasn’t that convinced yet.

"Doll, seriously, of course I love you, but I draw the line somewhere."

You groaned and got up from your seat, making your way over to your stubborn boyfriend. He placed the flyer on the counter and opened his arms to engulf you. Despite your slight annoyance, you accepted. You were always weak when it came to him holding you.

"You’re being a bit dramatic about this," you said as you gently ran your fingers through his hair. "It’s just a bit of painting paired with some wine sipping. What’s there to really hate?"

"Well, for starters, I’m not much of an artistic guy—," you rolled your eyes, but he continued, "and it’s gonna be full of moms."

You couldn’t help but let out a laugh. "Moms? You think it’ll be full of moms?"

Bucky gave you a look, eyebrows raised. "Wine and painting? Sounds like a mom activity."

You shook your head. "I’ll have you know, this is a very trendy thing trendy adults do."

Now, Bucky was the one laughing. "Oh? And we’re so trendy?"

You lightly hit his arm for that comment. "Come with me and you’ll see that it isn’t so bad."

He truly couldn’t say no to you. And you both secretly knew it.

Saturday night had finally rolled around.

You sat at your vanity touching up your makeup while Bucky lounged on your shared bed. You kept sneaking glances at him through the mirror, taking notice of how he had freshened up a bit more than usual. His jeans hugged him in the right places and his hair was done well. It warmed your heart to see the effort he was trying to put in for you. Even if it was just a night of painting and drinking, it was still a night out with each other.

"You almost ready, hon?" Bucky asked as he kept glancing at the clock on the wall. Your reservation was at seven and you were sure going until the last possible second with your makeup.

"Oh, sure, sure," you waved a hand in dismissal. "Just let me put on lipstick."

"Lipstick?" Bucky frowned. "That just means you won’t let me kiss you."

You let out a laugh, trying to stead your hand as the scarlet color coats your lips. "You can keep your lips to yourself for a few hours."

Your boyfriend mumbled something under his breath then whisked you out of the shared apartment.

You both arrived in just the knick of time. After checking in and grabbing your drink, you two found the only open seats. They were in the middle of the room. And they were nicely situated between two groups of excited, bubbly women.

It didn’t go missed by you that Bucky was the only guy that and from the frown forming on your boyfriend’s face, you realized he noticed at well. You did your best to hold in laughter. He would probably bug you endlessly for this one, and you knew it.

"I think you owe me for this, sweetheart." Bucky muttered as he stared emotionless at the blank canvas propped up the table.

You glanced down at your sorted paints and brushes. "Maybe this will allow you to find your inner Picasso."

Bucky let out a humorless chuckle before taking a big gulp of his drink.

While your boyfriend stewed in his grumpiness, you decided to eavesdrop on the ladies around you two—partially desperate to prove it wasn’t just moms here. You quickly found out that the women on your side were college students out celebrating the end of finals. There was, also, what looked like, a bachelorette party going on a few tables in front of you. You were just about to tell Bucky he was wrong about the clientele when the women sitting closest to him started talking about their children's soccer games. As if on cue, Bucky shot you a look.

"You so owe me for this," Bucky whispered to you. You had to cup your hand over your mouth to stop yourself from roaring with laughter.

The room died down when the instructor introduced themselves and began the class. The painting on tonight’s agenda was a simple sunset with a forest landscape. It sounded quite cute and may even make a nice piece for over your dresser, you thought.

As you got into the painting, you kept glancing over at Bucky. To much surprise, he was extremely concentrated on his canvas. Every brush stroke was done such precision and no move was done unwisely. His drink was even going untouched, completely forgotten about as he was consumed by paint. Your heart fluttered at this sight.

Turning back to your canvas, you tried to match his precision. The blending of your sunset wasn’t exactly up to par, but you thought if your stubborn boyfriend could get into it, you could too. It was your idea after all. How were you doing to be shown up by Mr. Grumpy over there?

Eventually, the instructor concluded the session and everyone around you was quick to show their group what they had done. Plenty of wine had flowed as well, probably contributing to the frenzy.

You stared at your sunset and were a bit…unimpressed. It was alright for a beginner, you figured. You turned to ask how Bucky was doing but your words died on your tongue when you saw his final painting. Bucky’s was the completed opposite of yours… It was like a whole new world. The detail, excitement, colors, everything… The care and concentration he had put into it didn’t go unnoticed. Everything flowed so gently and beautifully. To say you were amazed would be an understatement.

"Buck, that’s…incredible." You were in awe. Bucky glanced at you and a slight blush creeped up on his cheeks.

"You really think so?" He asked.

You nodded. "We’re gonna have to hang it up when we get home."

He chuckled and asked if you ere ready to go. You agreed, deciding it was time to free home.

With both paintings in one hand, Bucky used his other to intertwine your fingers and swung your arms back and forth gently as you two walked back home.

"I’ll be honest, I had a good time tonight," Bucky admitted.

"Really?" You giggled. "I hadn’t notice at all. I thought the canvas would combust from your intense stare."

He bumped his side into you lightly. "I was just… really into it. We gotta paint more."

"Oh, no, not we." You shook your head. "I think this is your hidden talent."

Bucky started to blush again and looked away toward the street.

"I mean it, babe." You mumbled, rubbing patterns on his hand with your thumb. "I think it could be good for you. Therapeutic, maybe."

His walking speed was slowing down a bit. You were looking at him while his eyes were trained on the pavement.

"Only if you promise you’ll hang up every painting I do."

You smiled at the comment. He started picking that talent up from you—making some lighthearted comment even in the slight serious of times. The fact he even considered it made you feel all fuzzy. You couldn’t wait to see what he could do with a full set of acrylics.

"It would be an honor to display any of your paintings."

He gave you a peck on the cheek, now making you blush as you continued your way home.

[wildflowerteas]

20 questions for fic writers!

thank you to vik @minusboy for the tag <3 <3 <3 i missed seeing you on my dash.

how many works do you have on ao3?

. . . 2

what's your total ao3 word count?

503,872. (⊙ _ ⊙)

what fandoms do you write for?

just bsd! i try to work on original stuff in my down time, and I've considered writing for hannibal, sw, dune, etc... before however I've found i enjoy reading fics more for those fandoms.

what are your top five fics by kudos?

i don't have enough fics for this ;_; 1. when i awake 2. the second perspective

do you respond to comments? why or why not?

i try!! i have a huge backlog because i was gone for so long but i'm slowly slowly working through them ( 180+ )

what's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

when i awake's ending is definitely bittersweet, but sometimes death really is just the ending that provides the best narrative fulfillment for a character. however considering the ending I have planned for tsp... ugh. i actually think when i awake might be angstier

what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

see above.

do you get hate on fics?

apparently~ not much, though, thank god. i have seen people talk about my writing in passing on twitter when they didn't know it was me they were replying to, or they think i don't check the qrts on my posts, but it's mostly harmless stuff about my writing not matching their preferences which is alright <3

do you write smut?

yes, only very recently though

do you write crossovers?

i'm thinking about it... mostly because i think an altered carbon bsd au could go CRAZY

have you ever had a fic stolen?

no!

have you ever had a fic translated?

i've had people ask to! but nothing has come out of it just yet ( or maybe I haven't looked hard enough )

have you ever cowritten a fic before?

i'm hoping i can...i just have huge issues with creative control so it's going to be a big thing for me.

what's your all time favourite ship?

Hannigram or destiel

what's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

with the way things are going right now it might be TSP. but in all seriousness, there's a BEAST AU skk thing sitting in my drafts waiting for a better outline...and all I do is stare at it longingly. lots of little snippets of it exist in a nebulous plot cloud ( my notes app ) alongside the synopsis of a soukoku actors au

what are your writing strengths?

i think the thing i do best is probably symbolism or the like... bringing moments back full-circle, weaving bits of the real-life authors' or bsd canon and meta-canon into the fic is where i find myself most satisfied with what I've done. also--since TSP is so noir-inspired--adding references to some of my favorite films hehe.

what are your writing weaknesses?

i'm awful at dialogue ( banter ), action sequences, and planning.

thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

i don't do it in languages i don't know unless i have a team of people willing to check it for me. i just write it in the same language as the rest of the fic and add a dialogue tag specifying it's being translated...

first fandom you wrote for?

you'll never find it but i did write destiel way back when

favourite fic you've ever written?

it WILL be TSP... when i finish it.

tags!!! no pressure to continue <3

@booksandpaperss @nyxi-pixie @saoirseyun <3

[sylsoddsandends]

My experience with Microtia, v2!

A (hopefully) educational post!

I wrote the original version of this post back in 2021! I've learned more things since then + I've gotten better at writing, so I thought it'd be nice to remake it with some updates! So, let's get into it :)

What is Microtia?

Microtia is a congenital facial difference that affects the outer ear, where the outer ear doesn't fully develop during pregnancy like it should.

Microtia comes in four "grades" depending on how developed the ear is. At higher grades, it may also include atresia, which is the lack of an external opening to the ear canal. The highest grade, grade 4, is also known as anotia, and that means there is no external ear present at all.

Microtia can be present on its own, or it can be a part of the wider conditions Hemifacial Microsomia, Goldenhar Syndrome, and Treacher-Collins Syndrome.

If you'd like more fancy clinical information, I'm gonna direct you to this website :) I'm not a doctor.

What effects can microtia have?

Probably the most obvious effect of all is that microtia is a visible difference. People will notice, and they will wonder about you. When I was younger, I was asked more than once by my peers if I had been in a fire! To which, hey, it's none of your business!

I know most adults, at least, understand that it's rude to ask, but I still wear my hair down near-constantly, just to avoid any attention getting drawn to my ears. I've never gotten them pierced, for the same reason.

If atresia is present, then microtia can also be a cause of deafness. Whether a person with microtia is involved with the d/Deaf community may vary (I am not), but it's still pretty hard to hear when there's no way for the sound to actually get to your inner ear.

Some people opt for reconstruction to change this- essentially, plastic surgery to open up the ear canal and make the ear appear more "normal". Others get a bone-anchored hearing aid, aka BAHA– sound can be conducted through bone, so a BAHA delivers sound as vibration directly to the bone. Still others (like me) choose not to change it– I feel my ears are fine as they are, and I would rather the people around me simply be accommodating! (More on this in a bit!)

I, specifically, have microtia in both my ears, with atresia on my right side. This means I am unilaterally deaf. Unilateral hearing loss requires some different considerations than bilateral hearing loss– I can still generally hear and understand others, but I have trouble with a few things, which I'm going to give their own subsection right here.

People standing on my right side– I generally call it my "bad side" but that's definitely not the most neutral thing to call it and it'll vary person to person what they're comfortable with. If someone stands on my bad side I will struggle to understand and keep track of them, and I may not even realize they are speaking to me if I didn't expect it.

Due to this I try to always stay to the right of others and stand at a little bit of an angle.

Unilateral hearing loss causes a loss of what we call "distance perception", much like how loss of vision on one side causes a loss of depth perception– my brain can't compare inputs from both ears to tell where a sound is coming from and what sounds to prioritize.

This means that I am bad at Marco Polo, buuut it also means that noisy areas can be especially overwhelming and I can struggle to follow conversations there. I hated my high school cafeteria with a burning passion.

The little things! I can't wear earbuds in my right ear, and they get uncomfortable quickly in my left. I need the earpieces of my glasses bent further so they stay on right, and I can't wear face masks that go over my ears. If I get earwax or water in my left ear, I will really struggle to hear at all. It's a pain in the neck!

How can you (and/or your characters) be accommodating to someone with microtia?

Don't ask invasive questions! Seriously, it's really uncomfortable, they'll tell you on their own if they want you to know.

Stand and walk where they can hear you well! If you do this on your own it's really nice and shows you care.

Use the language they are comfortable with! There's not as much of a "person-first" versus "identity-first" thing with microtia– I mean, I guess I could be called a "microtia-having individual", but it'd just feel really clunky. But I'm not the spokesperson for every person with microtia out there! So respect the language they'd like you to use.

Be mindful of situations where they might be struggling to hear you, and make a conscious effort to include them in conversation! Remember how I mentioned the cafeteria? Yeah, I might not have hated it so much if the people I knew actually tried to have intelligible conversations with me. Also, please just repeat stuff if we ask, it just feels like you're purposefully leaving us out if you say "never mind".

Why am I writing this?

This is the most important part of this whole guide to me!

The thing is, I've never seen a character with microtia in media, and only once or twice in art. As much as I would love to see characters who look like me, that just doesn't happen.

Yeah, microtia is rare– it occurs in somewhere between 1/6000 to 1/12000 births– but even by that logic, for every 60 to 120 redhead characters, there should be one with microtia! And I know a LOT of redheads in pop culture.

Furthermore, even the discussion of microtia online is pretty heavily focused on family and what they can do to "fix" microtia. And while I won't bash people who did go that route– if its right for you, it's right for you!– I see my ears in a neutral light and would rather just treat them as a part of my body like any other.

I want to be able to have conversations with people like me and commiserate about how annoying it is to have someone try to talk to me and be unable to understand them, or how convenient it can be when someone is apparently being annoying off to my right side and I don't have to listen to them!

So, I hope this little guide post of mine inspires you to include microtia in your artwork, or for that matter, to include other lesser-known differences! I'm sure there are other people out there hoping for the same thing I am. So go forth and talk to them, include them, and I bet they'll be really happy to see themselves, just as I'll be :)

If you've still here after this little ramble of mine, feel free to ask questions or provide suggestions if you have them! I'd love to hear what you have to say, too ^^

[lakesparkles]

(I was originally gonna post this in the replies of the last ask but I got shy ;-;)

YES. YESSSSS oh my god. you and I. we're like the same. ramona's guilt was what drew me to her in the first place. it's so rare to find a character that truly struggles with feeling like a bad person, and bryan wrote it so perfectly. it's such a shame that this part of ramona never made it into any of the adaptations. he represented how domestic abuse affects victims so well, SO WELL. anyone who argues that being interested in gideon/ramona is bad has never experienced d/a. long-term abuse destroys you. it rewires your brain. it makes you obsessive and vulnerable and lonely but afraid of people. I was attached to my ex for years after we broke up. years after we stopped talking I still fantasized about earning his approval and love and affection. I think it's quite natural to obsess over similar situations, in a way. healthier than thinking about your own lol

bryan wrote gideon and ramona. so. well. I do wish he would have explained more about them, but what we did get (in the comics) was really personal and important to me. ramona's self-hatred, her misplaced guilt, her feelings of being an evil person who can't be saved... yeah. any time someone says "ramona was the real villain!" I do the biggest eye-roll ever. no, she's not. being a victim makes you do some terrible, terrible things to yourself and others but I don't think even that makes her evil. she's just a person

and yes. I love villains, and gideon is nowhere near the worst. the way that he's presented, especially with the tone of scott pilgrim, is very comedic. he's hardly evil in the anime/movie at all

I love. characters who struggle with morality and feeling evil so much. if I had replied on the last post from my main you could've seen my fave for the past year😭😭

-🦊

(oh don't worry at all, I know how it feels 😔)

You understand me so much, reading your asks even comfort me in a way, thank you for this <3 EXACTLY!! And when I find a character who feels this way... They're usually written in a way that I can't relate to. But Ramona is very different, it was like she was translating my own feelings into words and I could finally understand what I felt, in the first place.

And you're surely not wrong or alone for being this way, with me it was basically the same. I don't see my ex for seven years (?) and I still think about her all the time. I wonder how different things could've been. I wonder if I was the one who acted wrong (not surprises, this is what happens after you have a relationship with someone who manipulates you to believe it).

This is exactly the reason Ramona is so important to me and why Gideon and her are the best representation of an abusive relationship. Many people are afraid to show that, when you're a victim of it, you don't feel good about yourself. In fact, it's like you feel guilty and ashamed for the longest time. And, even worse, that this kind of relationship has good moments too and this is the hardest part. When my ex was nice, she was VERY nice.

I love villains, however, Ramona is NOT EVEN CLOSE to being one. I haaate when people say this about her... But let's be real, a big part of the Scott Pilgrim fandom hates women :( and yeees, Gideon is just "normal villain" level to me. He's bad, he's showed as bad but many of his scenes are funny. Bryan himself doesn't take his seriously and, most of all, he's a loser. I love him for this.

Now I'm so curious about your fave haha but like I said, don't worry at all!! You're always free to reply with your main or DM me, but only if you feel comfortable doing so ^^

[forest-of-stories]

Throwback Thursday, Fandom Edition: "Be back before Dawn."

This Throwback Thursday entry was inspired in part by Michelle Trachtenberg’s recent death at the age of 39.  May her memory be a blessing.

“Real Me,” which established Dawn Summers as part of the main cast, was one of the first episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer that I ever watched.  I remembered Michelle from her roles on Nickelodeon when she and I were both much younger, and was very happy to see her again.  And I knew from fannish osmosis that Dawn wasn’t all that she seemed, but it was a while before I picked up the show again from the beginning, and eventually learned the full story.

Over a decade ago, a LiveJournal blogger named eleusis-walks wrote an essay about Dawn that, unfortunately for us, seems to no longer be publicly available.  One of his most memorable points was that her character subverted (at least to a degree) the trope of the young person who, despite having lived an ordinary life, discovers that she has a mystical origin and purpose.  The horrific twist, this blogger argued, is that Dawn’s ordinary life, identity, and connections to her loved ones were part of an elaborate lie forced on her and on them without their consent, and her mystical origin and purpose didn’t give her supernatural powers or a triumphant destiny.  Instead, they made her vulnerable to evil beings who endangered everyone she cared about, so that they could eventually kill her and bring about the apocalypse. This existential drama was irresistibly fascinating to me, and Michelle Trachtenberg carried all sides of Dawn’s character – from cheerful to anguished – with charm and pathos.

Eleusis also framed his post as a rebuttal to viewers who hated Dawn… which was a fandom trend of which I had sadly become aware by that point, although most fans with whom I had regular contact seemed to like or at least tolerate her.  I’ve never been comfortable with the custom of shouting “Shut up, Dawn!” at “Once More, With Feeling” sing-along events, or responding to her singing “Does anybody notice? Does anybody care?” with a chorus of “No!” The amount of gleeful vitriol aimed at a teenage girl, even a fictional one, often by adult audience members, doesn’t sit right with me… and Michelle was a real person, she wasn’t much older than her character, and I’ve read that she was upset by the audience regularly yelling about how much they hated Dawn.  I don’t have a direct source for that claim, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if it were true, and I wouldn’t blame her.  Dawn was sometimes reckless and selfish and excessively emotional (or “bratty” and “whiny” if you prefer), but – as Sarah Z pointed out in her video about Season 6 – there’s something validating about the way that the other characters and the show nevertheless deemed her worthy of love and protection.  

I watched most of Buffy from 2006 to 2007, on DVDs that I borrowed from the library or from my local independent video store.  Although Season 5 contains “The Body,” which was justifiably recognized as a standout examination of grief, the season finale, “The Gift,” was just as much of an emotional gut-punch, even though I knew that Buffy wouldn’t stay dead.  As I wrote immediately after watching:

My sisters are among the most important people in my life; we’re lucky that, to date, I’ve never needed to worry seriously about one of them dying, as an act of self-sacrifice or for any other reason.  The age difference between Buffy and Dawn is the same as the one between Older Sister and myself, and the mixture of exasperation and love between the Summers sisters has always felt very authentic to me.  In the latter two seasons, Dawn was more than an object to be safeguarded; she and Buffy saved and protected each other more than once.  Ultimately, Dawn had to decide that she was a real person, that her love for her friends and family – and theirs for her – was genuine, and that her past might have been false but she could still make choices for her present and future.

[tossawary]

As I post about rereading SVSSS for lore and characterization, and about sometimes ignoring canonical details for the sake of whatever story I want to tell / explore in fanfiction for fun, I want to make it clear that I don't make these changes because I think it makes a "better story" or that I can write a "better story". I don't even like using the term "fix-it" for my canon divergence AUs that avert some in-universe tragedy, even if it is the "correct" fandom term in some cases, because I don't think that SVSSS is a story that needs to be "fixed".

(Honestly, a lot of my minor alterations to canon's details are because I can't remember what exactly canon is and can't always be bothered to hunt for one sentence (which I may or may not remember existing at all) across multiple volumes, especially when I don't always think strict faithfulness to canon is that crucial to the main concept of what I'm doing. I wrote PINTWILF and several other fics before the official English translations were fully released, when checking minor details was an even greater pain in the ass. Sometimes, I'm cooking without the recipe in front of me because I just want to eat.)

Like, I have criticisms of SVSSS, definitely. When I first started writing SVSSS fic, I was more frank about this (fond but less fond of the characters and world than I am now), and I've talked about things I wished the story expanded on more. I think it has flaws. I know those flaws are a dealbreaker for many people. But it's not my story. I can't tell MXTX's story better, because I believe that every author's story belongs to them and only they know what they're trying to achieve, even when I may personally think that the story might have been stronger if it had done something differently or I'm ignoring some minor detail specifically because I don't really like it.

It's awkward, sometimes, occasionally being told by someone that they enjoyed my fic more than the original story. It's very flattering (I can't pretend I don't have an ego) and I don't think anyone means any harm by this, people enjoy stories or don't for many different reasons (enjoyment is not necessarily an indication of quality and I think engaging with fandom can often be more fun than just reading a story on its own by yourself), but it is a little awkward, especially when SVSSS is not an English / western story. I have an advantage appealing to western readers. Reading a translation of the original story, I know there are details of SVSSS going over my heard, references I'm missing, nuances I don't recognize, even as I endeavor to keep learning. I personally enjoy some of my fics more than SVSSS itself because I associate them with good experiences and a lot of them appeal to me personally in some way or another (all of my favorite tropes! we all have favorite tropes!), but they are built on the back of someone else's original work on the other side of the world, and I want to be respectful of that.

I don't want to compete or fix. I'm not trying to compete or fix, I think I would fuck it up if anyone seriously set that task on me, and I don't think that's a good way to view anything. I want to explore and appreciate. I'll type up a lengthy post at some point as to why I'm generally not interested in concrit on my fics (honestly, mostly it's because I'm not interested in being told that a reader hates the present tense and wishes I would rewrite the entire story, which has happened to me before), but I hope that doesn't come off as disinterest in the original story or its cultural context, or as me thinking even a little bit that any of my stories are flawless and/or better than the original.

I want to make a "why would you put two bad bitches (compliment) against each other like this?" joke here, but I also want to be clear: I think MXTX is by far the badder bitch (compliment) in this situation.

(Turning off reblogs, btw, because this post skews more on the personal side.)

[badaziraphaletakes]

Hello, I just want to state, in the hopes that knowing this can contribute to maybe lowering the temperature in the fandom a bit, that this blog absolutely and categorically was not made with any individual in mind. I think that is a worry people have when they see something like this, and I get why that would be a concern.

So in case this helps, here is how I run the blog:

75% of the takes I post are submitted to me (many with a request from the submitter to stay anonymous), not things I select myself, and they come from a variety of original authors. Occasionally I post one that I saved myself that I've been mulling over, most of which I have had kicking around in my files for months. (Seriously, I put a looooot of thought into this.) Those also come from a variety of people.

When it comes to deciding what to post, I make a point of specifically choosing takes that I have seen re-iterated by a lot of different people. If I post something, it's never because so-and-so wrote it - it just happened to be the particular post I either screenshotted (screenshot?) or was sent. (I also don't save people's handles when I do screenshot a take, unless I'm planning to reply directly to them, so 99 times out of 100 I don't even remember who originally wrote the take).

If I've only seen a take expressed by one person then I don't post it. Period. Because dollars to donuts it's just them bringing their experiences to how they view something. For that reason, individual people's takes aren't of concern to me. When you see a take over and over again, though, that's when I can no longer attribute it to one person's unique perspective and instead begin to look at broader societal biases that may be behind it. I didn't think of the problematic Aziraphale takes I've seen as victim-blaming/anti-Autistic/etc until I saw the sheer number of them. And that's when I realized, huh, this just isn't an individual person looking at it through their own personal lens - something bigger's going on here - this is a societal thing.

I came up with the idea for this blog weeks before deciding to actually make it, and it was not as a reaction to any one post. The idea just popped into my head one afternoon as I was sitting there feeling sad about the Aziraphale hate I was seeing - especially as regards victim-blaming and anti-Autistic bias - and lamenting that I didn't have a space to express how frustrating and hurtful it was. I'm far less concerned with anyone's individual opinions and more concerned with overall trends.

Bottom line: IF IT WAS ONLY ONE PERSON SAYING THESE THINGS, I WOULD NOT HAVE HAD ANY REASON TO CREATE THIS BLOG. That would just be a waste of everybody's time. Moreover, setting out to specifically attack anyone would lower people's experience of the fandom as a whole, and that is the opposite of what I want to do.

The fact that the very brutal anti-Aziraphale takes are coming from a lot of people is exactly why I felt the need to speak up. It made me and a lot of other people feel uncomfortable in the fandom. This blog has been my way of attempting to try to combat that by helping them know they're not alone and give people a space to express how hurtful it has been. (And also to hopefully find some humor in a difficult situation).

If anyone is worried, I hope this can help assuage those worries. I absolutely promise I am not sitting here raging over any specific people or anything like that. I'm just not wound that way. I have no bones to pick with any specific people.

Thanks.

[baradorable]

Marvel is about to introduce a villain called the Krakoan, who is an X-Man gone rogue. It's pretty obvious that this villain is actually Hellion. And people are split on that. Some feel that it's out of character for him. Some prefer him as a hero, or don't want him to have his character ruined, ala Nature Girl or Beast.

But who IS Hellion? If you're willing to sit through my long-ass post about him, odds are you already know and love him. But let's pretend that you don't know who he is. I'll talk about where he started, what might have lead him to becoming a villain, and why everybody will be investing in #HellionWasRight stocks in a few months.

And if we're all wrong, and Hellion is not the Krakoan? Well, no one will give a shit about the Krakoan anymore anyway, so no big deal.

First off, what is a "Krakoan?"

We'll get to that. But for now, you just need to know that the X-Men had an island nation called Krakoa. Now it's gone and it's all because no one listened to Hellion, despite him being right about everything that has ever happened.

Who is Hellion?

I'm letting you all know right now: this is blatant Hellion propaganda. Everything I said is coming from a place of heavy, heavy bias. But there will be some objectivity, in that Hellion is objectively perfect.

It's tough to summarize Hellion, because who he is has changed over the years. Though some writers might forget this, he's actually a fairly nuanced mutant who has undergone notable shifts in his character.

Introduced in New Mutants (2003) #2, he basically starts off as Draco Malfoy, if Draco was trying to bang Harry Potter.

Julian Keller, AKA Hellion, was a spoiled rich kid from California with advanced telekinetic abilities. Something that will stick out immediate is that he was hilariously petty. Like he would take any opportunity to insult people he dislikes, often for no reason. Half of his dialogue is him choosing to be a jerk to anyone outside of his social group, starting drama, or otherwise being a generic early 2000's bully archetype.

And it was amazing. Seriously, he had some of the funniest lines in the book.

He was so over the top and crude that he ended up being hilarious. He was classist, exclusionist, and a little sexist. When presented with the option of Bullying Others, and Literally Anything Else, he would choose bullying.

Julian was Emma Frost's protege and star pupil, so naturally he shares a lot of that bitchy charisma. When the school was divided into Harry Potter house-style squads, Emma put Julian in charge of his own squad, the Hellions. She also let the Hellions pick their codenames. Guess which codename Julian picked.

Emma advised him to be humble after he and his squad won a school competition. What was the very first thing he did once he got the trophy?

You would hate him so much if he were real. He's every 13 year old boy in 2003. Look at him exposing Elixir's affair to Elixir's girlfriend, solely out of pettiness.

I'd post more, but I already hit the image limit. Which is a shame, because I wanted to share the panel of him making fun of Josh for his parents abandoning him.

Hellion's original creators had this to say about him.

Back when we were working on New X-Men, we had a message board called “The Grind Stone” on the site X-Fan. One of the fans there consistently referred to Julian as “shnasty.” That person defined it as a combination of sexy and nasty. Urban dictionary these days refers to it as shitty, hot and nasty. We think that works for Julian, except when we wrote him he didn’t look like shit - not ever. He just acted like it. Once we left, he got a little more disheveled for a while, and probably better embodied the full modern version of “shnasty.” Either way, we think that’s his secret. He can treat you like shit but then turn around and be a gentleman. He sometimes acts like hot garbage but looks fine doing it.

He's catchy, offensive, brutal and gross, but with youth appeal. And if his character was just that, then bravo. He's hilarious. He wouldn't need depth to be an icon. He'd just be this little gremlin of a being, showing up and delivering devastating one-liners like some proto-Chanel Oberlin. But that's not all to his character. Despite being a supporting character in a book about teen drama, he was actually a complex character.

He's a great leader and strategist. He could lead a team, he was willing to be pragmatic and bend the rules, and his plans helped his team beat out every other student during that aforementioned school competition. It was a team effort, but Hellion knew his friends' strengths and how to get them working well.

He has a natural charisma that draws people to him. He's the big man on campus for a reason. It's best exemplified in New X-Men (2004) #5, where he sees all the other students turning their backs on a mutant called Wither.

Wither had unintentionally killed his father when his death touch power first manifested. The authorities would come bearing down on the school, looking to arrest him and have him face the law for his actions. It was an accident, completely out of his control, and Wither has been wrestling with the guilt ever since. Now there was a chance that he would be thrown in jail for it.

Wither was vulnerable and in pain, but it seemed like so many people were turning against him. Hellion, who had previously been bullying Wither for his powers, saw the scorn, gossiping and scrutiny Wither had been getting from the rest of the student body. And he had to stand up and say something.

He gives a rousing speech to everyone in the cafeteria, pointing out how many of the people who were mocking him had caused others harm with their powers in the past. He derides them for not helping out of of their own, and that any one of them could be next on the chopping block if they let Wither go without a fight. If they're not willing to support each other, they're terrible mutants.

His radical speech gets one person comparing him to Magneto. And that's not entirely wrong.

Hellion and the Hellions (along with another mutant, Wind Dancer) would work together to try and bust Wither out of police custody. It was a stupid plan that would only create more problems for them, and it would ultimately be worse than what actually happened: Wither would face trial, where he would be found innocent in the murder of his father. Wither would be free and no longer be in trouble with the authorities.

But that's the thing with Hellion: he's passionate. He might will think with his heart over his head when it comes to mutant rights. Especially when it comes to those he cares about. He's quick to take the hostile and violent path if he thinks it's right. Despite being an asshole, he's a bleeding heart who will go to the extremes for those he loves.

Wither and Hellion would go on to have a life-long friendship spanning months, as Wither would leave the school, get statutory raped by an immortal vampire witch, become a villain and die shortly after M-Day.

Hellion was always looking down on humans - and why shouldn't he? They're not part of his social group, he's not really one of them. But while he'd call them apemen and flatscans, he didn't believe in killing. In fact, he was opposed to killing even in self-defense.

That last part would change over time. But that's only because this cruel world stole every last bit of innocence and joy out of him.

Or how about the time the villainous Kingmaker offered him and his friends all their wishes, in exchange for working for him? He and his friends would eventually chose to give up their dreams and stop the Kingmaker's plans, because that was the right thing to do. Because the Hellions are heroes.

Over the years, Hellion would mature as a person. There would be less emphasis on him bullying others, and more emphasis on him enduring tragedies, fighting for the sake of others, struggling with anger and abandonment, and be forced to make more radical moves against the world. While he doesn't look that jerkish spark of his (and some writers would roll him back to a generic bully character whenever the plot called for it), he would become a lot more mature than he was at his debut. He was no longer a high school bully, but an anti-hero of young man with a talent for leadership, a lot of charisma, and big heart that got him into trouble.

Since we're on the subject of friends, let's delve more into some of his relationships. A key part of understanding his character is seeing how he treats others.

Hellion and the Hellions

So New Mutants (2003) and its sequel book, New X-Men (2004) primarily focused on the New Mutants squad. Hellion and the Hellions would be so popular that they would get their own mini and eventually become main characters. But the early books were centered around the New Mutants.

The Hellions are antagonists, the Slytherins to their Gryffindors. Except their dynamic is a lot more complicated than you'd think.

The New Mutants are lead by Wind Dancer, who is also Hellion's first love interest. While Wind Dancer has a huge heart and a knack for bringing out the best in others, the team would fall apart over personal drama. Bitterness, resentment and insecurity would bubble for a long time, culminating in the group briefly splitting up. It would take a lot of work getting them to resolve their issues and be friends again.

This is where the Hellions act as foils. Sure, they might antagonize the New Mutants. Hellion might tease some of them. But the group functions way better as a unit, and they don't have the same interpersonal drama as the New Mutants. They're a cohesive team of friends who support each other.

The Hellions got to star in their own mini, and it delivered on the friendship. In the first issue, we see Hellion picking a fight with airport security for his friends' sake. Instead of going for a more peaceful route, he's quick to order his team and bust out their powers. When Dust chases security down to try and reason with them, he's annoyed that she put herself at risk.

The series is peppered with moments between the various Hellions, which is really nice. I recommend it not just for Hellion, but for the whole Hellions squad. Every one of them is a unique character, and I think they deserve love. There's a reason why New X-Men would revolve more and more around the Hellions.

You won't be surprised to know that Hellion doesn't make fun of fellow Hellion, Mercury, when she's feeling some heartache. Without any sense of sarcasm or irony, he sits down with her and has a heart to heart. No ulterior motives, no gotcha - Hellion is there to support his friends.

One fun thing about Hellion is that he's a huge hypocrite. He will regularly insult others outside his group of friends. But he would rarely hurt his friends, and he'd be the first to defend him. This is most evident in New Mutants (2003) #8, Surge's introduction issue. He's quick to accept his friend Anole's strange mutation and chides Elixir for not being as accepting. In the next couple of pages, he insults a homeless girl, tells her she smells bad and refuses to offer any sort of help.

When M-Day happens and Prodigy got depowered, Hellion kicked him while he's down and belittled the guy. He mocked him for being human now. But when he found out that his beloved Wind Dancer is depowered, he tried to comfort her and disregarded everything he previously said about Prodigy. Because Julian holds his friends to a completely different standard than he does others.

He has an incredible amount of loyalty and empathy, but much of that is reserved for his own inner circle. He might be slow to warm up to someone, but once you're in, you're in for the long haul. Unless you really mess up or your name is Josh.

Mutants as a whole are part of that circle, in a way. He won't be friends with every mutant, but he would defend them all with his life. Even though a lot of them don't appreciate his efforts.

Emma Frost

His relationship with Emma is pretty good: she encourages his rowdy behavior because she sees potential in him. He has that same spark, attitude and guile she does. She recognizes that he has the potential to be a great leader, and he does everything he can to meet her expectations. She tends to be lenient on him. She'll bail him out of trouble. When others write him off or turn their backs on him, she's standing with him. But in return, she makes it clear that she expects nothing short of amazing out of him.

Boy, I sure hope nothing ruins this bond.

Prodigy

Speaking of people who don't appreciate Hellion. David Alleyne, AKA Prodigy, was a frequent target of Hellion's bullying. Julian would mock Prodigy for having a lame power [Being able to temporarily absorb skills and thoughts from others around him], and sometimes it would get under David's skin. He really knew how to dig into Prodigy's insecurities and hurt him with them. In turn, Prodigy was always ready to fight back against Hellion and put him in his place whenever he could.

Here's Prodigy's then-girlfriend kissing Hellion, right in front of him.

This is horribly out of context, I just thought it was funny to bring up.

The two would butt heads constantly. Over the years, more tragedies would be thrown at them. They'd mature and function better as a group, but there would always be tension between them, for one reason or another. Both of them are opinionated, and their opinions tend to differ.

Why am I bringing Prodigy up? Prodigy will be a main character in the upcoming NYX book, which is where the Krakoan will debut. The two don't have the most meaningful relationship, but it could easily come into play at some point in the book.

Wind Dancer (Sofia Mantega)

Sofia Mantega was the primary character of New Mutants (2003) and much of New X-Men (2004,) She was the Harry Potter that this Draco Malfoy wants to bang. Sofia was the newcomer to the world of mutants. She was confident, outgoing and stuck to her principals. Despite being very gentle, amiable and friendly, she was strong-willed. She knew how to stand up for herself and others.

Julian and Sofia flirted throughout New Mutants. There was an instant rapport between the two. But that doesn't mean it's all smooth sailings. One of my favorite examples of this comes from issue 3. Julian reached out to Sofia, and she says she liked dancing. As they made plans to go somewhere, Laurie Collins (Wallflower) passed by. While Sofia eagerly makes lunch plans with Laurie, Julian dismissed Laurie and called her a freak.

Sofia responds by hitting Julian's ear with compressed air, making him lose his balance. She and Laurie walked away, leaving him behind.

Sofia knew Julian was a bad boy and a jerk, and she'd stand up to him when she saw him doing something she disapproved of. But she still liked him. She was never afraid to give him a taste of his own medicine, and he loved her for it.

From their first meeting in issue 2, we saw what there were similarities between them. The most obvious would be their powers: they could both fly, and Sofia's power lets her manipulate objects with the same precision as a telekinetic's psychic force.

Like Julian, Sofia was great with people. Unlike Julian, she wasn't one to discriminate. While Julian was quick to brush off and demean Wallflower, Sofia was quick to befriend her.

During class, Julian was quick to tell newcomer David Alleyne (Prodigy) to stay away from Kevin Ford (Wither,) because his powers were dangerous. Meanwhile, when Wallflower worried about how lonely Wither was, Sofia invited him to hang out with them. She dismissed Wither's concerns about his powers. She wasn't afraid to be his friend.

Josh Foley (Elixir), a former Purifier recruit, came to the school after previously turning them down. While Prodigy was quick to turn against him, Sofia listened to how Elixir's own family turned against him for being a mutant. She related to him and gave him a second chance.

While Prodigy and Sofia would be co-leader of the New Mutants squad, Sofia was the glue that held them together. However, her caring side did get her into trouble: she followed Julian and the Hellions on a mission to bust Wither out of police custody; she wanted to help, but didn't know what to do and needed some guidance.

Speaking of the Wither incident, it briefly took a toll on Julian and Sofia's relationship. She at first helped the Hellions, but Sofia would ultimately side with her squad and turn against the Hellions, feeling like it was the right thing to do. Julian saw it as a betrayal. It soured their relationship for a bit, though the two would make up in a later arc, when a protective Hellion helped the New Mutants deal with a ghost. He was there for her, even when they were not on speaking terms.

Imo, this was the crux of Julian and Sofia's relationship: they were both popular, charismatic and and good with people. They were passionate about helping those they care about. The difference was that Sofia opens her heart up to more people, while Julian cares more about his inner circle.

The relationship helped to humanize Julian and show that, despite his attitude, there was a lot of good in him. Even if most people couldn't see it. This girl saw that he was a good person and she stuck by him, but she also didn't let him get his way or take advantage of her kindness. And that helped make him a better person.

Conversely, Julian was a fun foil to Sofia. He could give her advice, be there when she needed someone to talk to, and he'd never treat her like he treated her squad. He was a jerk, but he had the purest intentions with her. He was the first student she met at the school, and he was there for her through the good and the bad.

Julian also has a pet name for her: Beautiful. He uses it a few times. And yes, it's important to mention this fact.

It was a very pure, wholesome relationship. Two high school sweethearts who were also on rival teams. Sofia brought the best out of Julian, and Julian bettered himself for her. They butted heads, had their ups and downs, and would let their emotions blind them. But in the end, they loved each other.

Gee, I hope some witch doesn't swoop in and ruin everything with a magic spell.

The two would end up falling out, but they weren't really over each other. After Sofia left the school, we'd see her still dream about being with her friends and kissing Hellion. Meanwhile, Laura would catch Julian muttering Sofia's name in his sleep.

Wolverine/X-23 (Laura Kinney)

"You were dead the second you touched Julian Keller." - Laura, to Lady Deathstrike

When it comes to Laura romances, there are two that are popular with fans: Jubilee/X-23, and Hellion/X-23. Opinions on Laura's other ships tend to range from decent-ish, to mid, to terrible. Hellion/Laura (also known by their combo name, Helix) is, by far, the most popular ship. To this day, 13 years after the pairing was torpedoed, it retains an active fanbase. And they were never officially a couple!

So when Laura first came to Xavier's School of Witchcraft and Mutantry, she wasn't in a good place. She was a former child soldier who was only taught to kill. She was a former teen prostitute who was constantly being abused by others. She had and lost friends. She was forced to kill her own mother. She was barely allowed to feel her own emotions. And right when she meets Wolverine - her father/the man she was cloned from - she's dropped off at a school full of strangers. In the middle of a crisis, where students were being hunted down and killed. Everyone treats her with suspicion and fear, and Emma Frost is doing everything in her power to get her out of the school entirely.

And then there's the school bully. Right off the bat, he was dismissive of her, cracked jokes at her expense, and even teased her a bit. He lets her hang out with his group, but he's not very sympathetic to her trauma. Of course, he wasn't projecting images of her dead mother into her head, so he was better than Emma here.

Things turned around when the students were asked to fight against each other, in order to determine who is strong enough to be on the New X-Men team after M-Day. Emma used this opportunity to try and have X-23 taken out of commission. She wanted Hellion to ensure she got hurt.

Instead, Hellion ended up protecting her. Emma was furious. She picked Surge as team leader over him out of spite, and made it clear that he was very disappointed in Hellion.

Over the course of New X-Men, their relationship would evolve into a close connection. Julian would be protective of her. He would risk his life for her. He pushed his powers to the absolute limits and had Emma break away any mental restraints on them, so he could use them to save her life.

Through her crush on Julian, Laura began to truly experience many of her emotions. All her friends at school helped her process and grow, but the growing romance between these two kids was especially endearing. Despite being partly scared of her, Hellion would stand by her. He'd even go on to call her his best friend. When everyone else treats her with suspicion, or they suspected her of falling back to her violent ways, he was the first one to jump to her defense and see the absolute best in her.

Let's not forget the time Laura was ready to kill her arch-enemy, Karima. She knew Karima was to dangerous to let live, and she told Hellion that they had to kill her. But Hellion declined. He wanted him and Laura to be better than that. Hellion wanted to help break her out of that way of thinking.

Their dynamic sort of shifted as things went on. In that Hellion becomes this sort of damsel in distress who gets horribly injured and needs to be saved by Laura. She even went to Hell with a demon in order to save him. The most notable example of Hellion's Tragic Love Interest-ification is the time Lady Deathstrike shanked Hellion.

Laura totally lost it and beat Lady Deathstrike's ass.

These were two broken people. They suffered so much throughout their short lives. But then they found each other. They were broken together, but they found happiness. They bought out the best in each other, and showed the other that they are more than the tragedies they've endured.

There are a lot more nuances to the relationship, such as Hellion being more accepting of Laura's quirks and insecurities, how some fans interpret their dynamic as a play on traditional gender roles, how Laura was portrayed in their dynamic, how it styles over every other Laura romance. You can ask pretty much any Helix fan about the relationship, and they'll all have different aspects on the pairing. Some I haven't listed or even considered. I'm really just covering the barest essentials.

I just hope no writer comes in and ruins their relationship.

Other Loves: Ships that Pass in the Night

Hellion dated Shark-Girl for a bit, and once flirted with Armor. He also took three of the surviving Stepford Cuckoos to the school dance, at the same time - though he immediately ditched them for Wind Dancer. However, years later, one panel had one of the girls casually mention that they were going on a date with him.

Remember Prodigy's blue-haired girlfriend? She was the homeless girl Hellion had previously bullied. The two would have some animosity over the years, largely due to them being two stubborn, strong-headed individuals. Neither of them liked to take the other's crap, though to be fair, Hellion was usually the one causing trouble. The two would eventually be the New X-Men team together, and they would come to respect and care for each other. While there wasn't an actual romance between them in the main continuity, the two were shown to be married in one future, in the non-canon Battle of the Atom mobile game.

There was also that time he and Diamondback briefly flirted.

Fun fact: Hellion has a thing for powerful women. Women who can take charge, or are outspoken, are in control, or otherwise strong. If they can kill him, he can bed them. While all of his love interests have different personalities, they're all powerful women in one way or another.

Also, Wind Dancer and Shark-Girl are both Latinas. Laura (at the time) and the Cuckoos were also clones, of Wolverine and Emma Frost, respectively. (Well, I SAY clones, but technically none of those characters are clones in the strictest sense. It's a whole thing, but oddly enough they still share that in common.) Point is, the man has a type.

Ready for yet another fun fact: Hellion went on a date with all three Cuckoos at once. At best, Quentin Quire got with only one of them. He managed to officially date that Cuckoo, as opposed to just going on dates. But Quire was also responsible for another one of the others Cuckoos dying, which I feel cancels it out.

My favorite Hellion ship, you ask? Thank you for asking, reader. And to be honest, I don't know. On paper, the tragic romance of Helix is compelling and dramatic. It's very easy to see why the ship endured nearly 20 years later. It'd be a slam dunk... if Hell-Dancer wasn't so compelling, charming and sweet. For me, these two ships are usually neck and neck.

I'm also partial to Surge/Hellion, and a bit of Hellion/Rockslide. There was also a fake leak going around back in the day, claiming something along the lines of Emma hooking up with Hellion and getting impregnated by him. Fans on Tumblr were going mental over it, even if no one took it seriously. I love that for us. I love that for them. Sometimes you don't want a good romance. Sometimes you want to see nuclear fallout. It's like watching MILF Manor, but it's even more gross. You know it's bad and it's not something you would even enjoy watching. But you still want to see the mess it creates.

The Keller Family

What kind of people would create Hellion? Looking at how their son turned out, they must have done a great job. Only super-parents could have crafted perfection, right?

Actually, no. It turned out that Hellion is perfect, amazing, and the best character in all of fiction, DESPITE them.

We got the first red flag when Parents Week rolled around. Julian manipulated his teacher Northstar into getting him out of work duty. He gave a sob story about how his parents don't want to see him, though as Anole pointed out, his parents really didn't come to see him. Julian casually waved this off, stating that his parents were busy skiing in the Alps.

Hellion was not only bragging about manipulating someone, but he was bragging about his parents blowing off their own son to have fun. He only focused on how they're doing something cool and elitist. At that point in time, they had likely not seen or spoken to their son in months. He was aware how the situation would be seen as unacceptable by others, but was seemingly incapable of recognizing it on a personal level.

In the past, his parents spent 10 thousand dollars on Julian's 12th birthday party. Hellion casually stated that L.A. parties hard to compete with, meaning that this type of excess was normal for people in the area. Considering he mentioned "competing" and his parents would be shown to care about their image, I wouldn't be surprised if all this attention was not just about Julian having a great birthday, but also making the Kellers could look good. Hell, when you get to know his parents more, you could argue that his parents only cared about looking good.

They were powerful and had connections, to the point where Hellion was able to casually call up the Department of Homeland Security to help him out. Hellion clearly got his Trust Fund Baby attitude from.

Hellion's parents would debut in the 2004 mini, New X-Men: Hellions. (That's right. Hellion's Hellions book walked so Krakoa's Hellions book could run.) They were immensely disappointed in their son causing a scene at an airport, using their connections to get out of it, and bringing his friends to their house without telling them.

Julian's father was shown to dislike his son's mutation. He didn't like that his son had to go to the Xavier Institute, and he was glad that his son mutation was easy to hide. While he was angry at his son for using his powers and making a scene, it was clear that he only cared about how it affected the Kellers' image.

Hellion's mother was a little more understanding. She was softer spoken. While she compared him unfavorably to his older brother James, she was fine with her younger child walking his own path. But she also sided with Daddy Hellion, because they worked too hard and didn't want their son to risk their assets.

Hellion's parents had cut Hellion out of the will. The family business and all of their money would go to James. Hellion and his friends were welcome to stay at the house, and Hellion was still family. But no way were they letting their twerp kid make them look bad or endanger their comfy lifestyle.

Then they left Hellion and his friends to go on vacation.

The moment Mama and Daddy Hellion left, Julian enlisted the help of his friends to root through their personal belongings to find something to use against his parents. Despite originally telling his friends that his parents were self-made billionaires, he made his thoughts clear to them once they cut him off. No one could make so much money, so quickly.

We got a rough timeline how things went down: they were making about 30k a year, 18 months before Hellion turned 12. Around that time, their company went international and became incredibly profitable. Considering Hellion was stated to be 16 at this time, this means that they became international moguls and billionaires in less than a decade.

So what was the source of their success? It turned out that they used magic to perform a dark ritual, summoned an evil being known as the Kingmaker, and then formed a sort of Faustian bargain with him for all their wealth and power.

Hellion and the Hellions summoned the Kingmaker, at first not actually thinking it would work. But nah, it worked. Kingmaker would offer all of them their hearts desires. But as we covered earlier, the kids eventually chose to give up on their wishes to stop his evil plans.

Hellion's parents were extremely pissed at Julian for running afoul with their benefactor. Mama Hellion reminded her son that they couldn't protect him from someone as powerful as the Kingmaker. But Hellion dismissed him and pointed out how his parents were the ones who got in bed with a villain, and the Kingmaker would more likely go after them, since Hellion and his friends were strong enough to beat him up.

Yet despite being disinherited, being treated like the family shame for being born a mutant, and finding out his parents teamed up with bad people for their own personal gain, Hellion still wanted to be there for them.

Despite Hellion's loyalty, his family would never return it. In fact, this would be the last thing he would ever say to them. Because they would eventually cut him off completely, sell their house and not even tell him where they moved to. They would abandon their son when he needed them most.

At least the other guardians in Hellion's life weren't letting him down, right?

Abandoned!

We have a character who thrives through his connections with others. But what happens when we take them all away?

Just after the Hellions' big summer blow-out against the Kingmaker, M-Day happened. M-Day - also known as Decimation, which should give you a good idea of what it entailed - saw the Pretender (AKA the Scarlet Witch, AKA the Scarlet Bitch, AKA the Harlot Witch) saying, "Haha no more mutants, eunh 😜" and depowering the vast majority of mutants. Their numbers, previously in the thousands (being in around the millions before the Genosha genocide) were now in the very, very, very low hundreds. Cerebro clocked a 91.4% remaining reduction in the mutant population.

To be fair, Wanda was going through some things at the time, and it's not like she was in the right mindspace after others were taking advantage of her mental breakdown for their own personal gain. She was a victim. But to be unfair, it's also the start of everything going wrong for Hellion.

Xavier's school was absolutely wrecked by this. The vast majority of students were depowered, some of them dying as a consequence.

Among the depowered students was Prodigy, and Hellion was quick to swoop in and make fun of him for it. Including stating that Prodigy didn't belong with them at the school, now that he was human. He assumed Prodigy was ready to abandon the mutants now that he could be "normal."

Unfortunately, Wind Dancer overheard what Hellion said. As it turned out, she'd also been depowered by the Pretender. She turned the situation back around on Julian and asked if she was less "Beautiful" to him now, and not worthy of being loved in his eyes. Angry, Wind Dancer stormed off and stopped talking to Hellion.

Once again, hypocrisy. Julian would think that about Prodigy, and he was ready to make things harder for him. Hellion would never see Sofia as anything less, whether she be human or mutant. The thought wouldn't even occur to him. Julian loved Sofia. He'd never hurt her on purpose. But through his own attitude and carelessness, he ended up hurting her the most.

At that time, Wither was also going through some things. He accidentally mangled his crush's arm with his death power, and that drove her further into the arms of Wither's rival, Elixir. Already heartbroken that over the torment his powers had brought him, Wither became more withdrawn.

Hellion was stuck trying to reach out to both Wither and Wind Dancer, but he couldn't be fully there for both of them at the same time. He was unable to reach out to Wither and stop him from running away from the school. They would not see each other again until Necrosha, half a decade later in real time. By then, Wither would be their enemy.

Sofia also quietly left without telling Julian. The two would never even see or speak to her for over 14 years IRL.

But that wasn't the end of it. Tag, one of the Hellions and Julian's best friend, also felt hurt. Julian was so worried about Wither and especially Sofia, he completely neglected to see Tag's pain. He had also been depowered, and was worried he didn't belong with them anymore. Tag, along with most of the other depowered students, would leave the school. He and many other kids boarded a schoolbus and prepared to leave their old life behind.

And then a missile hit the bus, killing all inside. Hellion and his friends would get injured in the attack, trying and failing to save the other kids. Julian was just about to reach Tag and save him, only for the bus to explode and severely injure Hellion for his troubles.

42 children died in that attack. 15 of them were buried in the X-Men's own backyard because even their families didn't want them.

Well, at least the Marvel universe had a ton of heroes who could help out during these trying times. In fact, here comes Carol Danvers to... Oh no, wait. She's just here to try and get the mutants to help her side in the Civil War event. All the other heroes are too busy fighting each other to protect these kids. That's a shame.

At least the government stepped in with Sentinels, who would stand guard outside the mansion and protect the kids. And by that, I mean that they did absolutely nothing and completely failed at their jobs. Because assassins managed to sneak into the school and kill even more kids.

The remaining X-kids would go on to have several misadventures, including getting themselves involved in X-23's life when her old enemies come knocking, fighting a time-traveling Nimrod robot from the future, fighting alongside the adults to save a mutant messiah baby, and getting kidnapped by a demon (NOT the same demon that would go on to stab Hellion, who had already been stabbed by someone else before. Hellion wasn't even involved with this demon adventure.) I won't go into detail over all the horrible things that happened to Hellion and his friends, but know that a lot happened to them.

The kids were technically under the care of the X-Men, but the X-Men were too busy, were spread too thin, and were fighting the world from all fronts to focus on the kids. So the kid were largely left to defend themselves. This is best exemplified when, after the X-Men failed to protect the kids from several attacks, Surge dismisses their help. "We already know how to die."

One issue was dedicated to the kids trying to find out which among them was the youngest. They believed that the youngest of them would become a target, and therefore more likely to be killed. They singled out the youngest kid, but they truly believed that they were all going to die.

I bring this up because this was what the X-Men tragically considered a good day. At that point, a good day was one where nobody died, nobody was tortured, and nobody's soul was torn apart.

And this isn't me exaggerating. The X-Men were openly remorseful about how they failed these kids. They explicitly stated how the kids had serious emotional and psychological trauma. But despite everything, the X-Men cared for their students. They couldn't always be there for them like they should, but they were still their guardians. They would do anything in their power to make the world a better place for them.

So anyway, Cyclops disbanded the X-Men and shut down the school. The kids they previously failed were now scattered to the wind.

Emma left Hellion. As much as she loved him and wanted to keep him safe, she knew she had to keep him away from the X-Men. He needed to be kept away from the fighting and wars for as long as he could. Maybe now he could find some semblance of a normal life and keep himself safe? At the very least, Angel paid for his hotel and food for the time being.

Anyway, Hellion found out that his parents abandoned him, so he had nowhere to go. He was now homeless and had no support system, putting him in more danger than ever.

Hellion would seek out Magneto (not in hero mode at the time) to team up with him. Magneto calls him arrogant, but desperate to please. He refused to take him in and went on to say this:

"Everything you thought you were is gone, and the only thing you had left, the only thing you held on to so tightly was that you were an X-Man. Your teachers abandoned you. Your friends died. Your heart broke. Your beliefs shattered. The X-Men failed you. So, you find me, their greatest enemy. You love them so much that you want to hurt them. But I won't use you, and I won't kill you."

He says that Cyclops had given Hellion the gift of time. He had a moment of peace and a chance to be away from all the trouble, before war would come for mutants once again. At least for now, Hellion was safe.

Then Hellion was injected with the Legacy Virus (mutant AIDS) and used as a hostage in a wicked supervillain plot. Don't worry about it, it was just a small addition to the tapestry of suffering that is his life.

Hellion Was Right

After the X-Men disassembled and anti-mutant sentiment was on the rise, Hellion took a more radical approach to dealing with issues. He'd openly protest on the street, belittle and even attack mutant bigots and haters. He had enough of the X-Men kowtowing and trying to create peace with people who wanted them dead. No more worrying about the silent majority minority of well-meaning humans, no more trying to police their own or trying to achieve co-existence. Hellion was coming more radicalized.

Hellion's radicalization was bad. He resorted to extremes, violence and anger to hurt anyone who got in his way. His actions, while meant to help mutants, were sabotaging relationships between humans and mutants.

But let's be real: there will never, ever be co-existence between humans and mutants. In real life, the drama, threat and isolation mutants face are a big part of the mutant narrative. Take that away, and the franchise seems a lot less viable.

So Marvel will constantly throw in threats of violence and extinction at mutants. It ramped up to insane degrees by the 2000's, to the point where mutants were facing extinction for over 20 years real time, and things have only been escalating. Society will only grow to hate mutants more and more.

While Hellion's radicalism isn't necessarily right, Xavier's dreams of peace are objectively wrong. If anything, the X-Men are indirectly upholding the status quo. Yeah, they also prevent things from getting worse (Days of Future Past), but much of their strides end up being undone.

Mutants would almost achieve coexistence with mutants via their nation of Krakoa, in that the mutants basically bribed the world into tolerating them and attacking them less. While Krakoa would reach out and help humans with various matters, and the books would rely much less on extinction events for stories, things were nowhere close to perfect.

I'm going to say it: Hellion was right. The X-Men were wrong. Humans can't be reasoned with so easily. They need to force their view onto others. They need to fight humans for their rights. The only reasons why they don't? Aside from status quo, it's because the X-Men and other superheroes would step in and give some speech about peaceful co-existence being the right path, even though it's hard. Not knowing that things will objectively never get better because Marvel civilians are irredeemable.

Hellion wouldn't have helped mutants with his actions. But he couldn't make things any worse at that point, because the world turned against him long before he was even alive. No matter what, mutants were fucked.

But hey, it's not like mutants can live without humans. Coexistence is necessary for their survival. It's not like they have proof that mutants would thrive without the presence of humans. Yet.

Anyway, Hellion protested and Emma & her Dark X-Men arrested them. Emma betrayed the evil fascist government run by Norman Osborn, blah blah blah, it was all cool because Emma helped him. She also punched him in the face and put him through a lot of shit, but let's ignore that. It's island time.

The Hands Job

So the X-Men decided to make an island nation, where they gathered all the stray mutants they could and offered them sanctuary. This time, was Utopia. Next time, it would be Krakoa.

Hellion would return to the field. He'd fight the good fight alongside the X-Men, protecting mutants and humanity because it's the right thing to do. Despite everything that had happened to him, he still believed in the X-Men's cause. Or at the very least, he wanted to protect those he loved.

Anyway, a Nimrod Sentinel ended up blowing off his hands.

It really messed him up. Hellion got metal prosthetic hands to and made due by puppeting them with his telekinesis. He had the option of getting mechanized hands he could control more easily, but since he was deeply traumatized by machines, having little robots at the end of his forearms was the last thing he wanted.

To be fair on Rogue, she reached out to Hellion to try and help him. She'd offer to have him go on a trip with her and others to India, though he'd decline. He wasn't in the mood to have people gawk at his missing body parts. Which, fair.

Also, Hellion got stabbed by a demon-possessed Wolverine and Laura had to save him. It's only worth mentioning because Laura peaced out after this.

He was pretty pissed off that the X-Men could always come back from the dead one way or another, yet they couldn't fix his hands. He lashed out at the mutant messiah, Hope, for doing jack shit when it came to miracles. Really busting her balls.

So the X-Men got involved with rebuilding San Fransisco after the whole... everything that had been happening these last several paragraphs. Rogue decided that Hellion should come along and help them with reconstruction. And let's get something out of the way: the X-Men were sending Hellion on a mission while he is was, self-admitted, still on painkillers following his double-amputation. Rogue meant well; it was meant to be a safe, no-action mission where Hellion could get some fresh air and put his troubles aside. And hell, maybe he could have refused the mission at any time. But like??? This child, trained to be a soldier by the X-Men, just had his hands chopped off and was thrown into work while hopped up on drugs.

Just keep this in mind. Hellion had no business being there, but the X-Men thought it was a good idea.

So Hellion was pissed off, bullied Hope for being a shitty messiah, and wantonly blew up debris, endangering everyone around him. Before he could accidentally hit anyone, Omega Sentinel (some human lady with evil robot programming that makes her turn evil sometimes, whatever who the hell cares) turned evil and started beating up all of the X-Men. Just absolutely wrecking them. They had no chance.

She would turn on Hope and a little human girl in the area. Just as Omega Sentinel was about to kill them, Hellion intervened. A miracle happened, and he got a powerup (implied, but never stated or followed up on, from Hope.) He was strong enough beat the robot lady's ass.

And he did. Repeatedly. He lost his temper and just kept viciously attacking her, all while yelling about his hatred of the machines who ruined his life and took his hands. Omega would return to her senses, but she knew it wouldn't last. She begged Hellion to finish her off. She asked him to kill her, before she could turn against her friends and harm them. She wanted to die human.

And Hellion obliged. Omega Sentinel would be left comatose.

At any rate, he saved Hope's life. Considering she would be integral to the very foundation of Krakoa, Krakoa would not exist if Hellion were not around. Hope was also the key to saving the mutant species multiple times. Mutants would have been doomed to extinction if not for Hellion. Yeah, others saved Hope and had way more of a direct impact in restoring their species. But still.

It was a tragic affair, and as Julian recounted the events of the mission to Cyclops, he was clearly shaken up and unsteady. He insisted that he had no regrets and said that he wasn't going to apologize for what he did. But he was clearly not doing well.

Cyclops was pissed because he felt that Julian's level of violence was unacceptable. Also Omega was still a good person, despite being overwritten at the time. She was a victim in all this, too. Yet Hellion didn't even consider any other option but violence and death.

Though it's not like he actually had the luxury of options, considering Omega was annihilating senior X-Men, he only had a split second to save Hope and the girl from danger, and even his victim supported his actions with her dying breath. Hellion lost his temper and was flippant about his actions, but he did the right thing.

Hellion then delivered this take-down to Cyclops, basically saying how Cyclops is a hypocrite who did shit (including killing people!), but apparently it was okay when he did it? Things aren't all black and white, it's not like Cyclops was some crazy psycho who killed and always got away with it. But like... Hellion was right. Cyclops had a very "ends-justify-the-means" attitude at the time. He was a revolutionary who was fed up with the way mutants had been treated. It's just that Cyclops had main character privilege and Hellion didn't.

So yeah, the X-Men were shitting all over Hellion for saving them, an innocent child and the fucking mutant messiah, because he wasn't sad enough about it.

But wait, it gets better.

Hellion Was Right: Omega Sentinel

Hey, remember how everyone shat on Hellion for killing Omega Sentinel? How he refused to apologize for doing what needed to be done, when no one else would? Yeah, the X-Men really chewed him out for being so cool with killing for the sake of protecting innocent lives.

Anyway, Karima would come back as a major antagonist in the Krakoa era, after a future, fully-roboticized version of herself would travel to the past, take over her body and dedicate her life to ending the mutants and humanity. Something she nearly succeeded in, when she helped create the terrorist organization known as Orchis.

Rogue especially took this hard. She crapped all over Hellion for attacking Omega Sentinel in a fit of rage while she was down. She would later assault him over it.

Here's Rogue in 2024, after the X-Men finally defeated Omega Sentinel.

Hellion's only mistake was not finishing the job.

But despite all this, Hellion had morals. He would spend some time debating if he felt sorry for what he did to Omega Sentinel. Which goes against him confidentally telling Cyclops that he wasn't sorry about it. Coupled with this, Rogue going on to say that Hellion felt guilty and wanted to atone, and later stories showing him wrestling with the incident and verbally trying to justify his actions to himself, it's implied that Hellion did, in fact, feel guilty after all.

Also, Hellion would not talk to his friends and classmates about what had happened. After his battle with Omega Sentinel, he briefly passed by his friends. He didn't reach out to them, they didn't acknowledge him. Later, fellow classmate Blindfold would straight-up call Hellion a monster. Hellion was all alone.

Fractured But Whole

Before we continue, let's circle back to Hellion getting a power-up earlier. I said it was implied to be from Hope, performing some sort of miracle. But either she gave him a permanent power-up, or Hellion just unlocked his own natural talent. Because the same run later showed Hellion using his powers to remove an explosion out of someone's body, showing he can mentally manipulate heat and energy on a cellular level. Yeah, fellow X-Man Rachel used her telepathy to spot him, but for those keeping count: Hellion could move energy through people without harming them, move at subsonic speeds, create force barriers, shoot telekinetic blasts, control heat and energy, and work on a cellular level at minimum. Laura once told Julian to create a telekinetic bubble inside of a villain's brain or heart to kill them. Hellion was against this on principal, but he doesn't say he can't do it. Considering he could weave his energy into someone's body and remove a fucking explosion, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that Hellion could bubble some jerk's brain.

Now keep this all in mind. The X-Men had one of the most powerful telekinetics alive. He was hurt, vulnerable, and becoming increasingly isolated due to the mistreatment and trauma he had been enduring. Which was largely made worse by the X-Men just being inconsiderate assholes. And despite everything that had happened, despite his growing cynicism with the world and his disillusionment with the X-Men, he still worked to be a hero. Surely this is the type of mutant the X-Men would want to nurture, help and encourage.

Anyway, Hellion was probation unless they needed to use his powers for missions.

Okay, Cyclops and friends were a bust. They treated Hellion like shit and degraded him when he needed help. Maybe he could find help from somewhere else?

So Cyclops and Wolverine broke up over (among other things) the ethics of raising child soldiers and letting these kids kill. Cyclops is pro child soldier, and Wolverine was against it. You'd think this might be in response to them letting down their students and helplessly watching as they got gunned down. But they go back to using them once this event is over, so it's kind of pointless when you think about it.

Hellion choose to side with Wolverine during the Schism. He joined the school Wolverine has built. He was still a brash bully, but he was supporting the more idealistic and good-natured path of righteousness Wolverine is offering. Despite Wolverine treating him like shit and his daughter breaking his heart, he believed in what Wolverine has to say.

Wolverine was suspicious of him and threw him into a special class with other troublesome kids, so Spider-Man could spy on them and see which one might be a traitor. Still better than being with Cyclops though. And Hellion even got to go on crime-fighting adventures with Spider-Man, protecting New York!

But then this was ignored and never acknowledged again. Hellion would never talk to Spider-Man again and this whole thing might as well not have happened.

Hellion would become a shut-in. Trapped in his smelly room, he pretty much cut off all contact with everybody. He made it clear to a belligerent, antagonistic Wolverine that he didn't want to be there anymore. But he couldn't leave, since people saw him as a threat and would come after him the second he stepped out. Wolverine takes the opportunity to antagonize the disabled child soldier war hero with PTSD, whose life he helped demolish. Wolverine even said that he didn't give a damn about Julian's troubles, and was only getting involved because people were complaining about Hellion being a ticking time bomb.

One day, Laura came to visit him. Julian was quick to forgive her for leaving him on read for several months after he became an amputee and had his life destroyed. And to be fair, she was going through a lot of stuff on her own, which Hellion recognizes. He did briefly lash out at her in his anger, but quickly corrected himself and apologized. He also grabbed her arm when she tried to leave him without an explanation again - uncool, but he at least checked himself and let go when she told him to.

Gambit got involved to try and protect Laura... by threatening to blow off Hellion's arms and legs, to match his missing hands. Hellion was being an asshole, but keep in mind Hellion is a child soldier who had his arms blown off in the line of duty, and has spent the last few months being mistreated by pretty much every X-Man he has come across.

Hellion was also jealous of Gambit, but also worried that he was a groomer who was trying to put the moves on Laura. He was wrong, of course. But maybe he heard about a certain student named Foxx (aka Mystique,) who tried to frame Gambit a banging one of his students.

Hellion stalked Laura asked around and located Laura at the Baxter Building, where she would be spending the night babysitting Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman's two kids. They would get attacked and abducted by the Collector, leading to this whole adventure. It was a thing. Julian helped save her and the kids from dying in the cold recesses of space. Also Julian made fun of the Collector to his face multiple times.

But while this was going down, Hellion showed his insecurities to Laura. He knew she had her own issues, but he didn't know the extent of what she'd been going through. She didn't talk to him about them, and he would have liked that. He felt abandoned, and wondered if him being disabled now was one of the things driving her away from him. But she assured him that she didn't abandon him, and kept watch over him when he was injured and recovering.

When all is said and done, Laura was ready to part ways with Julian. But he didn't want to go without talking things out. He still loved her and wanted to be with her. But she didn't feel the same way and rejected him. Julian lashed out and accused her of being an unfeeling machine - something that would hurt her. She still cared for him, but her feelings for him had changed as the two of them had changed.

This whole debacle is very controversial with fans. Who was right? Who was wrong? How justified were either of them? Was Julian abusive? Was Laura unnecessarily cruel? Generally, people will agree that they both messed up. But who was more in the wrong usually depends on which character you stan more. Hellion's behavior near the end is never really justified, though many people at least understand where he's coming from.

Despite being a Hellion stan, I lean more towards Laura. Despite their mutual feelings for each other, she wasn't obligated to put her feelings aside to take care of him. Her life was also falling apart and she had her own struggles. Yes, she could have handled the situation better. But I don't blame her for focusing on her own life when she was drowning. And it's not like this girl, raised from birth as a tool and still coming to terms with her own humanity, pain and emotions, was capable of dealing with him in the best way, even though she wanted to.

But I can't be mad at Hellion because he suffered way more these last couple of months, didn't have the support Laura would come to have, and, oh yeah, he had his hands blown off by an evil robot. That didn't entitle him to lash out at her the ways he did, but he absolutely didn't deserve to be brushed off. Which is what Laura did, even if it was unintentional.

It was a failure to communicate. They both wanted different things. They had their own issues and that kept them from being there for each other. They were hurt by other people and situations, those warped them and made it harder for them to reconnect. Ultimately, the Laura and Julian we were seeing now, were not the same people they were when they met and fell in love.

I see the vision, but it still feels kind of abrupt and it looks like largely happened just to write out the romance, while not really doing anything to address their issues. It's a story about them growing apart, but not really making it feel like they grew apart. It just looks like Laura is avoiding Hellion even after he explains that her how her behavior also hurt him, but only Hellion's behavior is treated as heinous. And to be fair, grabbing onto someone the way he did, lashing out at them and poking at their insecurities around their humanities, is arguably worse than anything she did to him. But shutting yourself off from someone without explanation, ignoring them when they're begging for help, not showing much concern for their suffering and ignoring multiple pleas to be honest about their problems, is also pretty nasty.

Again, Laura wasn't obligated to deal with his baggage. And it's not like she was in the right headspace to help. But she was involved with Hellion's life and problems, and he was with hers. To ignore this connection was very insulting. Neither of these traumatized, PTSD-ridden child soldiers handled this complex emotional situation well.

So I get it. But the story was written in a way that downplayed Laura's faults and felt like it had to force the issue in order to make it work.

Anyway, Laura would get into a poorly-received, crappy romance with a time-traveling teen Angel from the past. She would also spend hundreds of years in a Vault with Synch as her only companion, where they'd fall in love under dubious circumstances, largely off-screen. She'd forget all this and Synch would accept this, then get back together with another version of Laura, who is also the "real" Laura, and an old MILF. But most fans don't care about old Laura or accept her as the "official" Laura, and she ends up dying, living inside of Synch's head and then dying again. So this whole paragraph means nothing.

But at least we would get a couple shots of Hellion looking at Laura through some bushes like a creeper, just to twist the knife and make sure that the ship was properly killed.

The Fart Cloud

Remember that time the Inhumans unleashed a stupid fart cloud onto Earth in the hopes of activating latent Inhuman genes in some humans? But the fart cloud was poisonous to mutant and started killing them? The X-Men had to hide their numbers in a Hell dimension for safety.

So Julian was poisoned by one of those clouds, and the X-Men totally failed to find and save him when he went looking for their help. Thanks again, X-Men. You're always there when Hellion needs you.

Hellion would visit the Inhumans on their Earth turf. Now dying from the cloud, he was determined to be a martyr. Let the Inhumans witness a person they'd harmed with their actions.

His powers wrecked New Attilan as he lost control over them, endangering everyone around them. Luckily, an Inhuman named Synapse was able to turn off his powers and stop him.

Synapse argued to the ruler of the Inhumans, Medusa, to help Hellion despite the damage he caused. Medusa didn't need convincing though; they were not going to persecute the infirm, and they were going to help this poor, suffering mutant as best as they could. He was going to get the best medical care and they would work tirelessly to see him recover.

Yes. The Inhumans who nearly gassed him to death treated him better than the X-Men. Hellion would be so grateful for their help, he would volunteer at their hospital as an orderly.

Not much would happen to Hellion after this. Despite being told (by everyone) that he was a dangerous mess they didn't want to deal with, Hellion... never really did anything beyond sometimes teasing classmates sometime, briefly date Shark-Girl, and help the X-Men whenever they asked. Many of his cameos consisted of him being in the background, having been beaten up by whatever villain the X-Men were facing.

Also, another fun fact: The X-Disassembled event saw the adults chiding the students as young, inexperienced kids who should stay out of real missions. Which was disrespectful to the kids who rose to the challenge when the X-Men failed them. But at least they weren't interested in using them as child soldiers.

Except one of the adults telling them this was Jean, who has their fellow student Laura as a member on her team. AND she had Laura's 12 year old sister, too. Hellion was notably absent from the majority of this conflict, since his very existence would undermine the adults' message entirely.

Also the school got blown up. It got blown up quite a few times while Hellion was a student. It got blown up so many times, the kids were cracking jokes about it. Surprisingly, none of those explosions were caused by him.

But just because Hellion wasn't active, doesn't mean he wasn't still pulling out Ws.

Hellion Was Right: Etc.

Hellion was right about a lot of things, but I can't sit here and list every single one of them in great detail. So here's a bulletpoint list of his other truths.

During the Utopia era, he knew that humans would eventually round up mutants and put them in camps. We know that happens in a few bad futures. This would also happen during the fall of Krakoa.

He knew the Brood were irredeemable monsters and hated Broo on sight. And in the end? Their only "redemption" was the X-Men to use them as weapons against the terrorist organization, Orchis. They could never truly be saved.

He ended up siding with Wolverine during the Schism, despite him and Logan hating each other. Guess who won the Schism in the end?

Right away, Hellion knew Wind Dancer was a catch. He also had a thing with Laura, dated Shark-Girl, and in an AU he married Surge. The man just can't stop picking Best Girls. He has a supernatural sense that allows him to figure out which girls are superior.

Remember that school competition, and Hellion bragged about how none of the other squads could ever hope to win it again? Shortly after Hellion and his squad won it, the school was hit by the mass depowering event known as M-Day. The majority of students were depowered and many were subsequently massacred by anti-mutant terrorists. Even when the school recovered, they never had these school-wide competitions again. So yeah, no other students would get to win that trophy.

Hellion had been open about his dislike of robots, after they took his hands. Who was behind Orchis? Omega Sentinel. Not only that, the group was primarily run by robots, and they wanted to wipe out all organic life - especially mutants, but they had plans to kill all organic life to preserve themselves. Humans would be their next target, after they finished killing off mutants.

Hellion thought it was weird how Wolverine kept picking up teenage girls as his sidekicks. He joked that Wolverine was a perv, of course Wolverine isn't a predator, he has no ill intentions with those girls, and some of them just dropped into his lap. But it's still pretty sus, even if no one else wants to point it out.

Northstar thought Hellion was making a mistake, picking Emma as his advisor over him. He thought Hellion needed the discipline. Considering Hellion thrived under Emma, she stood up for him when no one else did, and Northstar abandoned him just as the others did anyway... Yeah, Hellion made the right choice in picking Emma.

New Edit: I just saw this post. So you know how Hellion thought mutants should ignore past incidents and accidents, because they need to look out for each other and humans wouldn't judge them fairly? And then the X-Men were all, "NO, we need to listen to human laws!" Yeah, so anyway, the X-Men would basically say the same thing Hellion did, in the Krakoa era. Except now they had the power to enforce their will.

Hellion hated Quentin Quire and beat him up. No explanation needed.

The Gays Love Hellion (And Hellion Loves Them)

So weirdly enough, Hellion has a big LGTV fanbase. Which is weird, because he's from Academy X, not Fraternity X. Why would gay fans gravitate towards a straight, cis, masculine jock who regularly dominates others an- Oh.

Well, it goes beyond that. The X-Men in general have a huge queer audience. But Hellion has multiple factors working in his favor: he's sarcastic and has great quips, he takes after Emma Frost, he's canonically ripped, and he's had his moments of fanservice.

Most importantly, there was that one arc where he was on a beach for a mission. He thought the mission was casual, so he was the only one in swimwear, and nobody told him because they wanted to see him in short-shorts. He's smart, but that scene would go on to imprint himbo energy into the minds of many readers.

Also, he spent the entirety of the Age of X event with his tits out.

I don't find Hellion sexy at all, personally. He's not my type. But he IS a sex bomb. I can see the appeal regardless.

I'm iffy on the femme-y himbo depiction among fans. It's amusing, but I feel like it tends to paint a shallow picture of an otherwise manly, cool, intelligent and tragic character. But Hellion is perfect even if he's a himbo, he's perfect no matter what. I stan the alternate universe black Hellion who was like 5 years old and only appeared in the background of one panel, who may or may not be Hellion at all. He had metal hands, so I like to think he's meant to be Julian Keller.

Krakoa

So the mutants formed a mutant nation, an island paradise called Krakoa. It was this whole thing, it was great, I loved it. I recommend reading House of X/Powers of X if you haven't already. But the tl;dr is that mutants were able to resurrect the dead and give depowered mutants their powers back.

Hellion was given a sanctuary in paradise. The X-Men who had abandoned him had finally given him protection and safety. He had every single one of his deceased friends back, and they were there with him. The days of M-Day were a bad memory, there would be no school attacks, and he wouldn't have to live in fear of M-Pox. If he wanted to, he could die and come back with his hands, fully restored through the Resurrection Protocols.

You know who else came back? Wind Dancer. After fourteen real-life years, the two were finally reunited.

Hellion had regained almost everything he'd lost. All of his suffering was worth it, because he finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel. All the work he put into helping the X-Men, saving Hope and working tirelessly to protect others has paid off.

But if this post has taught you anything, it's that Hellion isn't allowed happiness.

Krakoa would fall through the machinations of an evil organization called Orchis. Lead by such villains as Omega Sentinel and Nimrod, Orchis would frame Krakoa for crimes in biological warfare and sabotage, wanton murder of humans, and plots of world domination. The whole world stood back and did nothing as the mutants were attacked, scattered across the world and hunted 'till near-extinction. Many people even cheered Orchis on. Some governments even assisted them in making life more difficult for mutants. Mutants were rounded up, jailed, put under inhumane conditions, forcibly injected with "cures," and even murdered.

Where was Hellion during all of this? Well, he was in another dimension. Xavier had sent mutants through portals, per Orchis' demands. They wanted Xavier to telepathically force every mutant off the planet, or Orchis would use biological warfare to wipe out millions of humans. Wanting to spare humans, Xavier forced the majority of mutants through portals, which would end up leading them to the White Hot Room. The strugglers were left to deal with Orchis.

Hellion either went through those portals, or he had been killed during the Orchis genocide and gone through the Resurrection Protocols in the White Hot Room. He'd be there for several months, struggling to survive in a desert with 200,000 other mutants.

Hellion and most other named mutants would return to Earth, thanks to the X-Men. But also the X-Men and the ruling leaders of Krakoa were kind of to blame, since they failed to strike down Orchis earlier, despite them being a known threat. They tried some things, sure. But the plot basically forbade them from making any real progress against them until now. So yeah, the adults let Hellion down again. If they stopped playing by the rules and killed Omega Sentinel, they'd be happier.

Also, Krakoa would still exist beyond this point. Or rather, a splinter of the island nation would exist in the White Hot Room. It was shown that, without any humans or other groups coming down on them, they could thrive and grow as a healthy, enlightened and thriving nation. Mutants had the option of giving up life on their home planet to go to the White Hot Room's and have sanctuary, or stay in the trenches and spend their lives under constant threat of humans, aliens, demons and robots.

Look at Hellion at the start of his journey, and look at him now. He lost his friends, his loves, his wealth, his family, his identity as a leader, and any confidence he had from his body. The only thing he has left is his telekinesis.

The Villainous Path

Little hellions, kids feeling rebellious Embarrassed, their parents still listen to X-Men

So now we have a better picture of Hellion. He's a person with a big heart and a huge sense of loyalty, but he's been constantly let down by people around him. He's been kicked while he's been down, treated like a monster, and had the people he loves most walk out on him. His own insecurities, ego and attitude have held him back. And just when everything seemed to be turning around, just when he had everything he had lost... his home is taken away from him and he's left alone all over again.

You can see why Hellion wouldn't want anything to do with the X-Men after all of this. They took him in, but they treated him like shit and failed him constantly. He was constantly pointing out the truth, but they punished him for it and insisted that he was wrong.

But you can also see why he would have a grudge against a world who supported his peoples' genocide and the destruction of his nation. The same world that largely stood by and ignored his plight during those 2 other genocides he directly endured, and several others he would have been witness to.

Marvel's also on a sliding timescale, where their time passes much slower than ours. So bear in mind, he has probably been active in-universe for 2 to 4 years. 5, if you want to be generous. Everything you have read has been happening non-stop in a very short span of time.

Almost everyone around Hellion is terrible. He literally cannot count on anyone to help him out, because they are either grossly incompetent, unequipped to deal with things, or outright trying to kill him.

If everyone just listened to him, everything would have been fine... Or humans, machines and other heroes would have wiped them off the planet, and things would be even worse. But I choose to believe that Hellion had the right of way. After all, he'd been right about everything else.

Hellion proved himself to be a real hero, despite everyone doubting him. But he has also done things you wouldn't see most traditional heroes do, because he's cynical and willing to do harsher things if it means helping others. At the very least, he's firmly an anti-hero.

There is precedence for having him taking on an antagonistic role and going against traditional heroes. The context was always him doing what he thought was best.

So he could easily work as an anti-villain or antagonist; someone who will take the role of the heel, but still be sympathetic and have the capacity to be redeemed.

Right now, many fans are worried that that Hellion won't be portrayed sympathetically. That he'll be suddenly and drastically changed into a villain, solely there to cause trouble, do despicable things and be defeated. To be a strawman of what he once was. And to be fair, that's a fair worry; we recently saw a mutant, Nature Girl, go from a mild-mannered student supporting character, to a genocidal villain at the drop of a hat. Her character was irrevocably warped to facilitate a story. Anyone who liked her original characterization would be turned off by this change.

Or how about Benjamin Percy's take on Beast? The loveable furball was now a vile, manipulative, genocidal villain who would torture his friends for his own gain.

There was room for these characters to become darker figures - let's not forget how Nature Girl had a small story dedicated to her being painfully aware of the torture Christmas trees go through before they're tossed aside by humans, unaware of the pain they have caused. But these characters went from A, to B to Z. Things jumped wildly and they became extreme caricatures that barely resembled their original selves. And even if Beast did some questionable things in the past, no way would he naturally fall as far as he did under Percy's pen, much less so abruptly.

There's also worry that the Krakoan will be used as a strawman against Krakoa. He'd be used to portray the worst aspects of Krakoan culture and somehow prove to the audience that no, Krakoa was actually really bad and you should be glad that it's gone.

The Krakoan is specifically twisting the dream of Krakoa to rule the masses. I'm not paying too much attention to these, since preview blurbs are known to be inaccurate at times. But at the very least, they make it clear that what he's doing is not meant (out-of-universe, at least) to be an accurate representation of Krakoa. He's an in-universe example of Krakoa being misused and represented.

Despite this, if the Krakoan is Julian, I think he will be respected a bit. One of the writers of NYX, Jackson Lanzing, was asked about Hellion. He had this to say.

I think that's a pretty fair take on him. Lanzing acknowledged that he's not some simple character. Hellion has the potential to be a big player for mutants - for good or for ill - and that stems from him being somewhere in the middle of the Xavier-Magneto spectrum. He has some desire for peace and co-existence, but he's also not shying away from the reality he faces. If they're writing him, I fully expect them to portray this depth and nuance, even if it's on a small level.

They acknowledged his ties to David and Laura. The latter is important because there's a lot they could mine here beyond their romance. Hellion was there to show Laura a life outside of the darkness. He wanted her to be a better person and break free from her past as an assassin. While the writers might focus on the duo's romance, they should at least be aware that it's built on a foundation of seeing past the bad side of someone, and getting to the real, good person underneath.

Further, both writers are now on record as being big fans of Hellion. They not only like him a lot, but they clearly have a grasp on his character. I doubt they'd do something that would destroy his potential for future stories.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Hellion's villain era. I could be wrong and the writers could totally flub it. But for now, things are pointing towards him being treated with respect.

And if not? Well, he'll probably be right anyway. He's the new Cyclops/Magneto. As the saying goes, they were right. And Hellion has already proven that he has been right this whole time. If Hellion is reduced to some baby-eating monster, I would defend him. That baby was probably racist and had evil vibes.

From the Ashes

That's telekinesis, Kyle. How 'bout the power to move you?

The new relaunch will see other books release alongside NYX. And yes, they're going to be notably less popular because they don't have Hellion in them. But with Hellion's new role, who says he can't be a key figure in the world of mutants going forward?

Exceptional X-Men will feature Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost mentoring three new mutants. They'll be protecting these kids and guiding them through a world that hates and fears them, ensuring that they grow up to be heroes. Meanwhile NYX's main villain is likely one of their previous kids they trained, who they failed, mistreated and abandoned several times, who was explicitly stated to be unstable after his experiences on the field and under their care.

These kids are fucked. Hellion needs to come in and save them from the X-Men, before Kitty Pryde ruins their lives with her "help."

X-Men will feature Cyclops and his band of heroes (plus Quentin Quire), acting openly and proudly as mutants. They won't return to their evolutionary era, but they will still but heads with the government and are in a place that might put them in opposition with the mainstream opinion. From the looks of it, they will fight for their rights and do what they feel is right, even if it makes humans uncomfortable, because they need to be heard and- Oh wait. Hasn't Hellion been doing all of this from the get-go? Hmm.

Don't worry, I'm sure Cyclops will tell the Krakoan that his methods are super wrong and go too far, and that the X-Men are fighting for their rights the right way. Hurting innocent people to promote your cause is wrong! Then Cyclops and his team will get a few more innocent children killed before moving on to their next project.

What about Uncanny X-Men? Rogue's leading that team, and Gambit and Wolverine are on it. All three of them owe Hellion an apology. Jubilee's also there. She always busted Hellion's balls for how he handled his relationship with Laura... when she wasn't ogling his ass on the beach. Which was fair, but maybe she could apologize for not being a little sympathetic after his hands got blown off by an evil robot while fighting for their cause.

X-Factor will apparently pit the titular team against an underground mutant revolution, lead by Polaris. Hey, you think the Krakoan might want to get involved with that down the line?

Wolverine has a solo book. He can use the 5000 issues he'll get to beg Hellion for forgiveness. That's almost enough time to make up for how he treated Julian.

Dazzler's getting a mini. And guess who's going to be part of her crew? Hellion's exes, Wind Dancer and Shark-Girl. Wonder how they'd feel about him breaking bad?

And Now?

We wait see what comes next. We hope for the best, expect the worst, but know that this book will be the best of the From the Ashes era, simply because Hellion is gracing us with his presence.

I recommend reading more Hellion stories when you can. This post only touches on the basics. There are a lot of things I had to cut out. There are a lot of things that I missed, or didn't include because I they weren't as important to be as they might be to you. You might read things completely differently, even though I am objectively right because Hellion is perfect and could never do wrong. I might have purposely skewed things to favor Hellion because this post is Hellion propaganda. But whatever the case, you absolutely should follow my boy.

I had a whole section about Hellion's telekinesis. He's a telekinetic in a world filled with telekinetics who ALSO have telepathy and other powers. But he was able to stand out with how he varied in its use - he could create energy blasts and projectiles, fly at subsonic speeds, make things combust on a molecular level, and blast through just about anything. I cut it because I hit the image limit and didn't have enough space to show them, and they need to be shown because his powers are visually distinct. It was either keep them and cut out the tiddy pic, or keep the tiddy pic and cut out the displays of power. And I think I made the right choice.

[ladyofthehightower]

Everyone hates women - even those that don't exist

or... The problem with sexism in the House of the Dragon fandom

time for another "controversial" post! this one is an article i wrote for a journalism course i just finished and since i got the highest grade, i'm sharing it here. it was originally written in swedish, but i've tried to do my best translating it and trying to keep the meaning as close to the original as possible. we didn't have a very high word limit, so there is much more to be said and many more examples to include, but i chose to focus on alicent because i knew it would be easy to find examples. in my first draft that was way over limit, i also included sansa stark and daenarys targaryen, and expanded way more on the why and how.

Sexism Around Fictional Characters Is Nothing New

Female characters are held to higher standards, their actions are seen as more criminal than those of men, and the right to be a victim? They lost that long ago.

This is evident in discussions about characters from the TV series House of the Dragon, based on Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, best known for writing the A Song of Ice and Fire series that inspired HBO's Game of Thrones.

Alicent Hightower: Criminally Female

Post on X by @/aIicenting

In House of the Dragon, we follow characters like Alicent Hightower, a young girl married off to the king. She is isolated and lonely, with a strained relationship with the children she has with the much older Viserys. She is far from perfect and has certainly done things worthy of criticism, but the criticism she receives is disproportionately harsh compared to male characters.

For example, the burden of an entire war is placed solely on her shoulders.

Post on X by @/silvcwings

Daemon Targaryen: Effortlessly Male

Male characters like Daemon Targaryen (rapist, murderer, pedophile) are placed on pedestals where their crimes are forgiven.

Of course, these are fictional characters—they haven’t committed real crimes; they exist in worlds with different views on law and justice. Yet people are hated for being fans of Alicent, while Daemon fans get a free pass. In fact, he is one of the most popular characters in House of the Dragon.

Female characters are judged as if they lived in our world, while male characters are understood as products of their fictional settings. For a woman to discipline a son she just learned is a rapist is as terrible as a man disowning a son for having a disability—and worse than committing mass murder.

Post on X by @/elumaxluv, replying to a post by @/GameOfThrones

This is sexism, though people deny it’s about gender. Of course, anyone can dislike any character, but when the language is harsher and being naïve is treated as a "crime" on par with rape, it’s hard not to see sexism at its core.

A thread on X.com between users @/mycomputerissad and @/MlleTeapot discussing Alicent Hightower and Aegon Targaryen from House of the Dragon

This issue isn’t unique to G.R.R.M.’s works. Galadriel from Rings of Power and Adriana from The Sopranos have also faced hate, despite the men in their series being worse: Sauron in Rings of Power and Christopher in The Sopranos.

Sexism in fandoms often stems from women and their interests not being taken as seriously. Like all forms of sexism, this isn’t a problem that’s easy to shake off. What we can do is keep asking people why they really hate that woman in that new TV series and hope that eventually, people realize a woman can be loved—even if she’s young, flawed, and fictional.