#so you can imagine all of the movies technically happening somewhere in the timeline without suspending disbelief

[waffliesinyoface]

the naruto movies are usually Not Great because the villains are all 100% the generic "anime movie mustache twirling" variety, usually with poorly explained powers that don't fit within established canon but allow the plot to finish in 90 minutes (ie: snow kingdom movie has ""Chakra Armor"" and the main bad guy, who is not a ninja, attempts to fight them with a STRONGER version of that chakra armor, only to get one-shot by a RAINBOW RASENGAN)

that said, the pre-shippuden movies are usually pretty good because its like. what if we just had more team 7 antics.

[miraculouscontent]

Ask Explosion #9:

Asks answering previous posts:

Sabrina, I have one word of advice for you...

R U N

“Chat, please stop talking.”

“But that’s my thing!”

“YOU JINX EVERYTHING!!”

Ayyyyyy~

Well, it’s something, I suppose?

Answered this here.

It absolutely did. Bless you, kind and hilarious citizien. ;P

I’m torn because... on one hand, I want to give proper mythology and such for like--anything that’d be put into the show, but on the other, I liked the idea that Alix’s brother was just sort of a conspiracy who thought of stupid stuff (which is why I kept the concept for MC Jalil Kubdel).

Zoe did it really well in Scarlet Lady where Alix knew the actual mythology and started blurting it out whenever Jalil got it wrong.

New Asks:

Considering “Ikari Gozen,” I imagine Alya and Kagami don’t get along as well. I agree with basically everyone that Marinette and Kagami not getting along is bad, but Alya and Kagami not really getting along makes more sense and is more tolerable.

Since Alya is Marinette’s “““BFF”““ (supposedly), I could see her kind of being like, “You’re competing with my girl over the same guy,” and keeping Kagami at arm’s length, worried that keeping Kagami close will allow Kagami to be closer to Adrien since Adrien is an extension of their friend group (kinda, sorta, not really, but Marinette calling him a friend so technically--)

You know, Alya trying to be a good friend and help Marinette with Adrien in more subtle ways. It’s the wrong way to go about it but she’s trying.

LUKANETTE IS AMAZING IN TERMS OF PROGRESSION KDJNGJDFG, I ADORE IT. Every episode they share together, we either learn something new about them or see more details on their relationship.

I think I was already all-in before “Silencer,” but man, that episode just sealed it even more. I was like well dang, why does the love square even EXIST???

jfdngjkfdjgfdg

Incredible. Only problem is that the creator doesn’t know how to use it properly.

You mean fourteen year olds aren’t perfect human beings???? :o

(no, but really, that’s me all the time; like, she’s barely a teen!)

He’ll believe it if it’s Chat Noir who’s doing it. If Marinette ever does it though, he’ll be sure to shut it down. ;P

Ugggggh, the worst part is that I have the same exact fear that they really are going to be like yeah Ladybug you silly fool Chat Noir has been with you since the beginning!

I mean, we’re already basically getting that with the New York special; Chat was supposed to protect Paris and then didn’t tell Ladybug that he “had to” leave for New York (and the New York thing is inadvertently Marinette’s fault and parts of the fandom actually did blame her for it even though it was Chat’s choice not to say anything), then Ladybug gets upset with him when she discovers it mid-battle, which leads to Chat being distracted and Cataclysming someone (another thing that Ladybug can be “inadvertently” blamed for), then Chat gives up his miraculous so Ladybug isn’t even allowed to be angry and cue the later line of “I can’t imagine being Ladybug without... him.”

So clearly that’s saying something. Adrien doesn’t get anything close to that level and Marinette is chewed out for not asking him to stay when Nino had already asked him too.

It’s like--Marinette chooses to go after Adrien and then gets either nothing in return, or humiliated by the narrative, and then in the New York special, she decides to do nothing and everything still goes wrong while Alya yells at her for it. The “damned if she does, damned if she don’t,” on display is stunning. The girl tries to confess and it’s like, “no, not allowed, but Chat is allowed to confess.”

I still don’t understand this logic of his overarching plot but also “there’s not much of a timeline.” I think the only solid thing we’ve ever gotten was something about all the episodes in one season coming after all the episodes in a previous one, but there are still things that don’t add up? The only thing the season 3 production order will give is making sure the hero debuts work out (so no Viperion or Pegase before “Party Crasher,” for example).

It’s not really reliable. I mean, like--I’ve been experimenting with timelines for a while, and stuff like “Miraculer” baffles me. It’s basically non-canon with no value whatsoever. All it does is make “Heart Hunter” look even more confusing and treats Marinette even more horribly for not picking Chloe when she explicitly told Chloe that she wasn’t getting it back.

I’m not familiar with that one! Is it any good?

(Okay, I actually was too curious and ended up looking it up; fancy! I couldn’t have guessed that it was a webtoon! I started reading the 1st issue and before I knew it, I was on the 6th! Oops~)

Lila is totally Rashta, 100% agree. The fact that the comments have a nickname of “Trashta” for her, equivalent to Liar Rossi, says as much ;P

Because lessons that involve telling someone that they’re valid and allowed to feel a certain way don’t apply to Marinette. Isn’t it nice? :3

Not that I know of? Though I also don’t look for that kind of thing, so it’s possible that it exists and I just don’t know about it.

Even if it did exist thought, I don’t see a problem with you doing your own regardless. Good luck if you do!

No. No I do not. ;P

GREETINGS FELLOW INTJ!

And yeah, I’m not really capable of not analyzing shows. There are some small exceptions, but they’re usually not full shows in the normal sense. If there’s an ongoing plot, my mind tends to be working at all times.

In terms of Miraculous, Season 1 was harmless enough where I was bothered but pretty quiet about it, but then it just got progressively worse. It really feels like one of those things you can’t unsee when it finally hits you, y’know?

I’m glad I was able to help you get that satisfaction you need (and appreciate Lukanette, of course ;3)!

Non-Miraculous Asks:

(some heavy Puella Magi Madoka Magica salt below)

Wow, this is a really dedicated ask! Nice!

Gonna go point by point here:

1 - Yeah, the whole thing with Homura not “being able” to save everyone... kinda questionable, and I didn’t really buy the arguments they used to explain it away. I think there was this one PSP game or something with Madoka Magica where you could kind of choose what happened (like, there were bad ends where Sayaka didn’t get her soul gem back in time and her body was partially decayed; ick) and I think there’s a good end where Homura saves everyone but--yeah, not canon.

I just don’t care for twisted stories like that unless there is actually a good end on the horizon (and I mean like “Everyone Lives and is Happy” good end). Angst is just so exhausting so the second I saw Mami’s head being bitten I was just like, “Ah, okay, so we’re doing this then.”

2 - Eugh, the sexism thing. It’s so... yeah, and especially this because the whole “girls are emotional” thing, I don’t really care whether or not the show is trying to “subvert” or “explain” anything, it just feels like poor taste and I don’t like it. (I also didn’t know about that Death Note thing because I didn’t watch it, but geez.)

3 - Wow, I’ve been away from the show for so long that I forgot what Mami’s wish was; I thought it was to “not be alone” or something (or maybe not die alone?? I really don’t remember), but either way, the fact that it follows some sort of genie wish logic is just--*sigh*--they’re teenage girls, come on (plus, the “genie wish logic” is really overdone to me anyway).

4 - The other thing about Sayaka is that it’s really predictable that she’d “die so quickly.” Basically everything was pointing to her just being annihilated at some point, and being Madoka’s best friend, it was pretty inevitable that she’d go.

((semi-unrelated, but someone also asked me which character’s name was lied about before episode 3 hit and they wondered if it was Sayaka’s; it was Kyubey’s))

Yikes. Sorry you had to experience that.

Anyway, I guess I’m not experienced enough in multiple fandoms to say for sure? If I was ever in a fandom, I would just blacklist the people/stuff I didn’t like, so I didn’t get to see a tong of “bad things” going on.

+ I try really hard not to generalize fandoms into one thing.

𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝓝𝓸𝓻𝓶𝓼 𝓐𝓻𝓮 𝓢𝓽𝓾𝓹𝓲𝓭 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓑𝓸𝔂𝓼 𝓐𝓻𝓮 𝓐𝓵𝓵𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓛𝓲𝓴𝓮 “𝓖𝓲𝓻𝓵𝔂” 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼

Oof, uhhh, shows, huh? That’s tough.

I think the main ship from Given (Mafuyu and Ritsuka) is really adorable (you might’ve seen the amusing video of their love being mutual before), and while I would’ve said the same thing for the kinda-sorta side ship, it gets--uh... really bad during the movie/rest of the manga, I’ll just say that much.

Mafuyu and Ritsuka though, totally adorable.

Inuyasha kinda? Though Inuyasha and Kagome are definitely not the kind of romantic chemistry that I lean towards (I find “the bickering couple” to be rather exhausting). Plus, Cardcaptor Sakura did the “male tsundere” better than Inuyasha did (though the Clear Card Arc was terrible, at least it’s not canon kinda-sorta? idk it seems like a mix of the anime and manga so...).

After that there’s...

uh

...

hm.

I mean, there’s probably a couple more examples somewhere, but--yeah, I’ve got nothing. Maybe if I thought back to all the generic children shows I watched when I was little (like those old Disney live-action shows; I had no taste when I was younger), there might’ve been something that satisfied kid me but idk.

I don’t remember what post inspired this, but I have no problem answering regardless, ahaha~

My main issue is Aang’s attitude about the whole thing. I’m not saying it was right of Katara to go out and get “revenge via murder” exactly, but I also think that Zuko had the right idea with allowing her to go and face the man who killed her mother so she could get some form of closure (also note that Zuko doesn’t express any sort of opinion when Katara decides not to kill him; he just wanted her to have whatever she thought she needed to heal).

It’s also the episode where Zuko directly confronts Aang on his “violence isn’t the answer” rhetoric which then goes completely ignored as Aang lionturtles his way out of the conflict. Aang is also not confronted on his point of “forgiveness is the first step to healing” (when Katara has a right not to forgive and Aang isn’t challenged outside of Katara commenting on it) and was permitted to ride his high horse when Katara “steals” Appa like, “It's okay, because I forgive you... that give you any ideas?” which is just--

reaaaaaally "holier than thou”-esque when Aang is like, ten, and Katara is a sort of motherly figure to him. The episode even has Sokka praise Aang for how “wise” he is and I groaned through the entire thing.

Another smaller thing is that it sort of makes the air kingdom look way too “perfect” by having Aang be the “source of wisedom,” especially when it’s like “violence isn’t the answer” while all the other airbenders are dead.

[locktobre]

What first sparked you to start your Barbie universe?

It’s hard to remember off-hand, and I wasn’t great about tagging things back then (or maybe I just literally didn’t post as much back then, I know I’ve posted MUCH more Barbie stuff as the years have gone on), but from what I can piece together from the posts I did tag... It was... You’re not gonna believe this.

But it goes back to Pauper and Popstar! Bc I was excited that they “redid”/homaged one of the songs! I was really excited about it. Since I came to the fandom with fresh eyes, I didn’t know about any of the drama back then. I was just really happy and excited and I wanted to take all the easter eggs and references and tie them all together in a big universe, the way ppl do with d*sney or p*xar, but in a way I actually liked that made sense to me.

My ideas have changed a lot from back then, but the basic idea has stayed the same. Secret Door, my first new movie in the fandom (well, technically movies came out after I joined, but SD was the first release I was excited for and stayed up til 1 am waiting for the movie and then watched it even tho I had to be awake for work at 6 am), ended up being very key to the whole thing, since I placed Zinnia in Fairytopia. (Okay, so it’s an island off the mainland, and even that idea took a LONG time to get to where I am now.) I was so excited to make it all work and fit it together, and the drama about “old” vs “new” Barbie was just like... what? Why aren’t we all just having fun? I was having so much fun, but I felt like the only one!

It really ramped up in 2014 when I started planning Riptide with Jojo, after I had begun to fixate on the fact that Rip’s “death” did not make a lot of sense, and the few pieces of dialogue we actually had could imply that something else may have happened. I had already been drawing parallels between Merliah and Elina, since Merliah’s a mermaid without a tail and Elina’s a fairy without wings, and I thought that Elina must be half-human, and if I needed somewhere for Rip to be, somewhere that he could be trapped instead of abandoning his baby daughter Merliah on purpose... then Fairytopia could be the place to put him. So Merliah and Elina became half-sisters, and Rip’s story snowballed from there. I wasn’t just doing one-to-one crossovers anymore, I was actively trying to fit it all together in one big multiverse. Rip’s story alone (now) involves elements from Mermaid Tale, Fairytopia, Pearl Princess, Fairy Secret, Rock N Royals, and Secret Door. (That I can remember. I may have forgotten something bc tbh it’s all so enmeshed in my head at this point.)

And it’s just been growing and changing and evolving ever since, as I notice new things, as I piece different things together. Like, Fairytopia (and Zinnia and Gloss Angeles) were in another dimension until after SLA came out, but then I decided I wanted it to be another planet instead (trying to streamline, so I could be dealing with only two dimensions, instead of three, and it also works for thematic purposes). And now I’m up to working on two divergent timelines.

I never imagined I’d go this far with it, but I’m so glad I have. In the beginning, I was really worried about being “the weird one” in the fandom, about my ideas being too strange, and tbh sometimes I still worry about that as I get into more abstract and esoteric concepts, but at the same time, I’m having so much fun with it. I do it more for me than for anyone else, and I think I’ve really found my creative footing by thinking of it that way. I have a story I want to tell, I have so much planned, and I am SO excited to get into it.

[dogcopter]

Rose Quartz is Melon Mutt

and Lion (but only sometimes!) theory. I know this is an ancient one that is generally disregarded at this point, but please suspend your disbelief for a few minutes and entertain the thought, have some fun with me. After all, it’d be really funny if they revealed Rose a third time.

This stuff can probably be explained by some kind of magical connection to Steven’s gem. However, his actions can also be explained by Lion sometimes just being a lion and sometimes having Rose Quartz in his brain, no additional magic required. And I think that makes him the Melon Mutts too. 

Spoilers for all of Steven Universe and the movie!

In “Escapism”, the melon dog sees Steven off on his makeshift raft with a worried expression.

Lion shows up to save him after being battered on the open ocean, knowing he’s Steven, and brings him back to the Temple to relay his message.

Bear with me question: What if Lion knows where Steven is and is searching for him on the ocean right now, because whoever is in Lion was just in the dog that saw which way he was headed?

We know that Steven can astral project, and that he has occupied other organic bodies like the Watermelon Stevens. He even controlled Lars’s body before he’d ever magically revived him.

We know that there’s some kind of distinction between the “soul” or consciousness and the body, in Steven’s astral plane powers. 

We also know that the person can be represented by their projected body, organic body, and/or their gemstone (but the person doesn’t appear to be present if they’ve retreated into the gemstone to heal.) Could Rose be piloting another body without her gem or body? Maybe so.

We know Steven has the ability to leave his own body and communicate with other people this way through direct contact and across great distances in psychic ghost land and/or dreams, including both humans and gems. He even talked to Lapis in his dream while she was part of a fusion.

So we know that psychic ghost powers exist, and we know someone who has the Pink Diamond gem who can use them. We also know the manifestation of gems’ body can be altered through choice, or damaged through both physical trauma to the gemstone and mental trauma to the person. We know even shattered and corrupted gems retain some measure of their original personality and Clusters can be formed. 

There are things we don’t know about the real nature of the gemstone/personality relationship, but it’s clear a Gem is more than their gem. We know that Steven also, for example, doesn’t need a gemstone within Watermelon Steven’s body to continue to be “Steven”. 

This post doesn’t have an explanation for Steven’s Rose/PD dreams, but I don’t want to guess about Gem mechanics, this theory is strictly based on the hypothesis that Lion’s actions make the most sense if Lion is Rose.

And we know one other thing! A change in body is usually accompanied by a change in consciousness, at least for Steven. He needs to fall asleep to leave his body, and when it’s time to return, he wakes up. So piece 1: Steven’s Psychic Ghost Powers Are Real, Body Swapping Is Real. Lion being a body swap is in the Pink Diamond moveset.

- But why wouldn’t Rose have told him if she’s Lion by NOW?

Rose Quartz, the character defined by running away from her problems? I’m gonna say this is still plausible in the magical world where this theory is true. I actually think it’s more likely that RQ faked her death twice than that RQ trusted a lion and/or additional accomplices with some of her most closely guarded secrets. But don’t take my word for it, keep looking at the screencaps.

- But Steven we can’t both exist I’m going to become half of you?

Gems use “physical form” to mean their projected light body, but technically, their gem is their physical form. What if Rose gave up her physical form - her gemstone and body - but her psychic ghost (or part of it) is still dickin around somewhere? She also says in Nora’s version of the tape, “We can’t both exist but I won’t be gone”. The message of Lion 4 is that Steven is just supposed to be Steven, but imagine the speculation if that line had been in Steven’s video way back when.

This all establishes that astral projection is real, Rose would have had access to it during her time with Steven’s gem at a minimum, and it could explain the possibility of the same consciousness inhabiting both Lion around Steven and Melon Mutt around Watermelon Steven - particularly if the Rose ghost is linked to his gem or ghost in some way. 

And rule of Crewniverse And Emotional Torment: the thing that sounds really frustrating and narratively terrible has often ended up being executed in an awesome, Steven-appropriate way. We love a reveal that retroactively makes the entire series more upsetting. 

But back to the first question.

-What about all the other times Lion has found Steven on his own?

Well, what if they can also be explained either by Lion being Rose, or Lion having seen where Steven went?

In “Steven’s Lion”, Lion is first shown under Steven’s shirt. 

This is how he spots Steven and recognizes who he is, because his gem is exposed. (Rose’s gem is also under Steven’s shirt.) 

Hypothesis: Lion (Rose in Lion’s body) was also hunting the Desert Glass, and his meeting with Steven was by chance. Upon spotting the Pink Diamond gem, he came to Steven.

So question 1: Why did Lion know who Steven is? I think Rose recognized the gem, obviously, and would understand this is Steven.

This can be explained by magical connection as easily as by the Rose idea, even though we know now that Steven doesn’t have a magical destiny (Lion 4) and Lars doesn’t have a sixth sense for locating Steven in his moveset (Jungle Moon). Gems repeatedly recognize Steven as Rose or Pink based on his gem so it’s possible Lion knows to do the same.

We saw in Buddy’s Book that the lions were already pretty tame even when not-pink. We see Lion’s nose only, before the shot changes to Rose, but the other lions are gentle with Buddy. Lion’s tame behavior when acting as a normal lion is in-character for Rose’s lions.

Timeline recap: we know a couple of centuries ago, Rose had alive tame lions. At some point Lion died and was revived by her healing tears, but remained a secret from the other Gems, including Pearl, who is the only person we know of who knew about Pink Diamond. Rose later met Greg and was with him until they had Steven. At some point after meeting Greg, she put objects inside Lion’s mane. There is a VHS tape addressed to Steven in the mane dimension, while the Nora tape was abandoned in the desert, indicating that he was likely meant to find that stuff.

Remember what we just established about Steven’s body swaps being linked to a change in consciousness? What better character to mask body swapping sleep with regular sleep than a cat?

Lion finds Steven and his eyes are glowing. 

We know that Lion’s eyes and mane sometimes glow when using his powers, like making wormhole warps or summoning objects from his pocket dimension. Sometimes his eyes just seem to glow for no reason, but what if they can also indicate a body swap taking place?

As soon as he catches up to Steven, Lion immediately falls asleep. 

...and then acts like a totally normal very tame lion while Steven cuddles all over him.

Then when the Gems show up, Lion’s eyes are glowing again. 

After this, he watches Steven and the Gems leave, looking alert, and shows up at the Temple to break things. Lion doesn’t always appear to switch bodies onscreen, but another time this happens is in “It Could’ve Been Great” when Steven is begging for a ride to the moon.

“No more Earth, no more naps...” Lion is napping, then suddenly stands up and roars. His eyes glow, then he teleports them all to the Moon.

Back in Steven’s Lion, here’s the Second Finding Of Steven to support my point.

Lion shows up to find Steven and finish beating the Desert Glass.There’s about a five-hour time difference between the Delmarva area and the Sahara IRL, so it could be noon or early afternoon in the desert at the same time that it’s early morning in Beach City, and Lion seems to show up pretty quickly.

How did Lion know who the Gems were? How did he know where to go?

Here’s a rundown of things we know about Lion and the Crystal Gems and Rose, that explain this scene based on knowledge and not mysterious magic powers.

The Temple is where Rose used to live.

And where the Crystal Gems and Steven still live.

When they are hunting a corrupted gem like the Desert Glass, they return to put it in a bubble here, or bubble it and send remotely.

Lion can make wormholes to travel across great distances quickly.

If he goes too far it tires him out, even by endgame in the series.

He can run very far without growing tired, but has to travel in realtime.

Lion had to travel across continents to get to the Temple.

Lion did not use our warp pad to get to the Temple, because he arrives outside the door.

Lion is energetic enough for this and a battle, which could mean he warped straight there.

It’s unlikely Lion had met the Gems personally before because the Gems didn’t know Rose had a lion and didn’t know the Lion was Rose’s until Steven confirms it later, even if it was “kinda obvious” per Amethyst. (Connie is actually the team member who has seen the most of Lion, and she doesn’t have preexisting Gem knowledge)

By the same logic, it’s unlikely but not impossible that Lion had ever been to the Temple himself before, as well.

The Gems don’t have Rose’s gem, so Lion wouldn’t have recognized them the same way he recognized Steven if it’s a Rose-magic-connection thing.

Rose would know who the gems are, where they took the Desert Glass that Lion was hunting, and she’s one of the few people who would even know Amethyst, let alone well enough to predict her slacking off on the bubbling job! Warping straight there matches the available facts about Lion’s abilities.

Sidenote to Lion Finding Steven: Lion also found Pearl in Rose’s Scabbard, and kept pace with her as she headed to a place special to Rose and Pearl. We’ll come back to this episode in a sec.

Remember, this initial bit is to establish that there’s a logical explanation for Lion finding Steven at other times, therefore lending credence to the idea that the Watermelon rescue was based on knowledge shown onscreen (dog seeing Steven leave) and not a one-off magical GPS. 

Here are the other Lion Finds Stevens that I found:

In “So Many Birthdays”, Lion is shown dozing off at Steven’s party. The party location shown in the beginning is the cliff overlooking Beach City, from where Lion would be able to see Steven on the beach when he woke up.

Lion shows up later that evening to save old!Steven on the beach and drag him to the Gems. Then he stays by Steven’s side. 

In “The Return”, Lion comes to get Steven and bring him back to protect the Gems with his shield. 

Lion only shows up after Steven has popped out of the car in a bubble, and all his neighbors stop the evac caravan to check if he’s OK. If Lion were looking for Steven via non-magical means, he could easily locate the commotion from any Beach City vantage point as they’re in the valley right now.

After the events in Jailbreak when they crash back down, Lion comes running straight onto the beach searching for where Steven’s bubble landed and uncovers the gang. 

Lion fought during Mirror Gem/Ocean Gem, but doesn’t fight Jasper in The Return. Couldn’t there be a reason he stayed out of sight when Homeworld gems showed up but came out of hiding to find them after the events on the ship happened?

Interestingly, despite Lion having run beside Greg’s car during the Lapis episodes and being shown around Greg before, in Full Disclosure Lion hears Greg’s van coming and immediately peaces out. Maybe Lion feels bad about showing up to grab the kid and then almost getting him sent to jail on Homeworld?

(Ronaldo voice) Rose Quartz, running away from the consequences of your actions yet again I see????

Either way, this can be explained by Lion seeing things from an ordinary Beach City vantage point. So an explanation is present when Lion finds Steven. Which also explains the times Steven is lost/in danger and Lion doesn’t show up to save the day.

Next part: In Steven’s Lion a big part of my argument is that Lion returns to the Temple because he knows things only Rose would know, not just because he can follow where Steven warped.

When does Lion know things only Rose would know?

Exhibit A: “Lion 2: The Movie”

Connie shows off some overhand deathstrike and Lion, uncharacteristically chatty this episode, says, “You need a real sword, am I right?”

Lion talks to characters repeatedly. He behaves like a normal cat most of the time, but on a few occasions he actually tries to respond verbally to someone talking to him with a kind of meow. We saw it in Steven’s Lion as well. Lion is obviously sentient with a will of his own and the ability to understand language, even though he doesn’t always respond. I think the super catlike behavior can be explained by body swapping as well as Rose picking up instincts from her nothlit body.

In “Lion 2″ we see Lion responding to speech again. Steven says he and Lion are both untrained, so Lion brings the kids on a field trip to get weapons and training. 

Obvious belated notes: Heart shaped face, star shaped mane like Pink/Steven/Rose, color scheme, Rose had a sword, Rose loved humans and swords, Lion is Rose’s size, Lion’s themes involve Rose’s theme.

More talking. “Nyurry up”

“Come on Steven. Push the button.” 

Then he takes a nap! and the kids get beat up by the training program. When he wakes, Steven asks for help. Lion judges Steven for running after asking for this training, but assents.

...Only to conveniently leave the wormhole open long enough for the robot to show up and the kids to HAVE to finish their training.

This is when they receive Rose’s sword. Lion appears to be able to summon objects from his mane. (Later, Steven claims Lion can’t get to things stored in his mane, but he might just be wrong.)

Interesting that Lion summons the sword through his forehead in this Utenatastic shot, which mimics the position Rose would have drawn a sword out of Pearl.

Note that Lion does hang by and look out for them right up until it’s clear they’re going to win.

We find out in Rose’s Scabbard that Rose’s Armory was another secret that Pearl thought only she and Rose were in on. It’s also in a location far from the desert that Pearl had to freeclimb a million miles to get to. The movie theater is in Beach City. 

Lion can warp to these places, but unless he has Rose’s knowledge, would he know where to go? 

Exhibit B: Speaking of “Rose’s Scabbard”.

In this episode, Lion’s not happy about the battlefield. Garnet and Pearl are telling war stories, but he busies himself with digging up Rose’s scabbard after Pearl suggests Steven find something he like. 

Pearl and Lion are pretty antagonistic in this episode too. We know how Pearl feels. Under the assumption that Lion is Rose, I think Lion grouching at Pearl could be interpreted as friendly as well as “Please move on.” Notice also that Lion, who hardly interacts with the others and was surprised by a hug from Amethyst in “Ocean Gem”, watches Pearl intently in this episode and tries to talk to her twice. Despite the fakeout at the beginning while he searches for the scabbard, this his Lion’s least catlike episode by far.

The scene where Pearl knocks down the painting goes without saying. I think the Rose parallels are also echoed in the end when Steven and Lion chase her down, I think we’re supposed to read some of Steven’s dialogue as an echo of past times Pearl was upset and Rose handled it the same way.

Steven: Pearl! Did I... did I do something wrong? You got to tell me!

Steven: Pearl! Pearl, you have to tell me what's wrong. Pearl: Sometimes, you even sound like her... 

We even get a rare glimpse of Pearl’s pent up anger toward Rose as she holds her sword.

Here’s what we have seen onscreen: So far Pearl has treated Lion as a slightly annoying animal that she tolerates for Steven’s sake. They hadn’t met before Lion found Steven. Their interactions in this episode are antagonistic up to the point where Pearl runs off.

Lion contradicts or ignores Steven sometimes, but this time they both take action immediately. Steven asks if he knows where Pearl went, and Lion responds in the affirmative. This is another example of Lion Finding People Because He Knows Where To Look (Because He’s Rose.) 

Do you remember this place? Do you have any of her memories? We were right here, over 5,000 years ago.

They chase Pearl to the place where Rose and Pearl decided to stay on Earth and fight. Somewhere Pearl expects Rose to remember. The choice Lion and Steven both make to chase her down and demand answers reminds Pearl of Rose. 

If Lion is Rose, it explains his motivation for helping Steven/Pearl despite not seeming to know or like Pearl very well, his knowledge of where Pearl will be, and the fact that Lion and Steven both reacted the same way Pearl expected Rose to.

Lion Knows Rose Things Exhibit C: Lion 3: Straight to Video

Steven wants to know more about his mom and Lion keeps pushing him into his mane in response. We see some treasures in there.

Some stuff from the war, some Greg related stuff, THE CHEST!! and Steven’s tape.

Consider this seriously for a moment: How did Steven’s tape get here? 

We do see Lion manifest the sword for Steven and Connie, which we know is a physical object created by Bismuth and not a hard light construction, we see it here in the mane. We also see Lion cough up the key to Rose’s storage unit later, where Steven finds the Nora tape. In theory he would know how to put things in his mane, and we’ve seen him take things out. 

We also know these things, continuing from assumptions in Steven’s Lion:

The gems didn’t know about Lion.

Lion had to be dead before his mane could be accessed, so Rose would have stored these things elsewhere as early as ~200years ago per Buddy’s book.

Rose would have placed the Greg items in Lion after meeting Greg, chronologically.

Greg and Rose made two tapes because they didn’t know Steven’s sex.

Only Steven (Or more likely, Pink Diamond gem holder) can enter this dimension, although he can take others with him.

Steven’s sex wouldn’t have been apparent until after Rose was gone.

The other tape is in the desert in Rose’s landfill.

The lion is from the desert.

The landfill is framed by Pink’s ship.

Steven doesn’t recognize the ship in Lion 4 or “Legs From Here To Homeworld”, but to the gems it is immediate and obvious what’s buried there.

So who moved the Steven tape into the mane and left the Nora tape in the desert after Rose gave up her physical form?

If Lion can put things in his own mane, and Lion is Rose, we have an answer. An accomplice is unlikely, given that only Steven can open Lion’s mane, and any gem who saw her possessions at the landfill could put the pieces together that Rose and Pink Diamond are the same. The Landfill clearly belongs to Pink Diamond and the objects in Lion clearly belong to Rose Quartz.

Pearl is the only Gem we know of who knows about the secret, because she started it, and Rose wouldn’t even allow her to speak of it after they staged the shattering. Rose didn’t even tell Greg about her past (which he respected). She didn’t tell the Gems about Bismuth, and Bismuth is in the mane. Any Crystal Gem would know Bismuth and know one of Rose’s secrets, so the likelihood of a secret gem collaborator who both survived the war and helped Rose cover up Bismuth’s bubbling is basically nil. 

Given the timeline and Rose’s secrets, especially given her secrets from Pearl who otherwise knows the most Rose lore and spent the most time with her, it makes very little sense for someone else to be involved but a whole lot of sense for Rose to be Lion. Lion could have moved Steven’s tape into the mane after meeting Steven.

Sidebar: THE MOON

Isn’t it convenient that the being who can teleport them to the moon is so tired out by the trip that he’s then unconscious during the plotty Diamond reveals and we don’t see his reaction to anything?

Again, Lion didn’t know the Gems and wasn’t known to them pre Steven. But when he takes the gang to the moon, he heads straight for the moon base, which Rose would have been to before - another location previously visited only by Rose and Pearl that we know of. Amethyst has to open the door and check - “YUP, WE ON THE MOON!” 

But we do get a shot of him with the Pink Diamond portrait in “Can’t Go Back”; a shot of PD’s mural pans down to Lion facing away from the camera as Steven initiates a cliffhanger.

As we all know, after this, Steven slips into Pearl’s memories and sees everything.

Which leads me to:

The thing about Rose’s portrait and Lion. (and that one (1) pic of Pink Diamond)

I think I’ve made clear why Rose = Lion seems plasuible in terms of mechanics and Lion’s behavior. Now for a couple thematic notes.

I’m just gonna dump some more screencaps for this one. Basically, we never see Lion’s face and Rose’s in the same shot. The only exceptions are panning shots that still don’t have both in the frame. And sometimes this happens while Steven is talking about his mom, or other people are.

I remember people speculating about the meaning of hiding Rose’s face. I was looking for Lion things on this rewatch, so I didn’t look closely at the painting, focusing more on character, but I don’t think Rose’s face being covered has to exclusively mean one thing; there may be other instances where it’s symbolic to the scene and unrelated to Lion. However, Lion is the only character for which this seems to be a hard rule.

Sometimes Lion is just being a goofy cat while Rose’s portrait hovers in the background, static, serene, complete.

This one pans down from Steven looking at Rose, to Lion looking back at Steven, much like the PD shot on the moon base.

(Lion, Steven and Bismuth waiting to see how the CGs will react to Bismuth appearing)

Ok, that’s a thing, and we know the art and story go hand in hand in this show. Moving on, just a few last thoughts. 

Lion eavesdropping awake and asleep, & angst potential

The thing about a character that’s always napping in the background is, sometimes maybe they’re awake? And if a change in consciousness can trigger the body swap, which crucial conversations has Lion been present to overhear? Certainly not many of Steven’s complicated feelings about his mom? Wouldn’t that be a great long road to retroactively torture us all?

In “An Indirect Kiss”, Lion is dozing while Steven complains about not having the healing powers he already has - Lion’s annoyed with Steven’s moon in the beginning. While Steven tells his story, Lion’s tail is moving and at the end he opens an eye. 

It's just... I mean, I don't know how to feel about you, but everyone else does. I wish I could have met you then this place would make me sad, and I could cry healing tears, like you.

So Lion probably heard the part that made Connie cry, when Steven is laying in statue Rose’s lap and lamenting how little he knows about her. We also discover later that Lion was revived by healing tears.

In “Nightmare Hospital”, Lion is awake to witness Steven hugging his mom’s sword while Connie hugs her mom. I invoke rule of Crewniverse emotionally devastating everyone in Steven Universe.

In “Ocean Gem”, Lion’s there for Pearl’s explanation of corrupted gems to Steven.

He’s present for the convo at the beginning of “The Test” about Steven learning the Sea Spire mission was a setup.

He’s there when Steven and Amethyst catch Pearl tricking Garnet into fusion.

And when Peridot is learning to love the Earth and accept things that don’t make sense.

He’s also hanging out with Connie at Kevin’s party and is there to hear Steven and Connie talk through their conflict.

Lion could still just be a lion that happens to know things only Rose would know but I choose to believe there’s somethin’ going on. 

Finally, in the Tale of Steven intro to the movie, Lion is a Rose.

This brings us to the final question, which was also the first question:

Why why why would Rose not just come clean? 

The simplest explanation is yeah, Rose still hasn’t learned to stop running and hiding. I have a theory below because it seems to line up, but I am pretty convinced that Lion is Rose. I know we’ll enjoy Steven Universe: Future regardless of what they’ve done but I just think it makes sense.

TL;DR: We know there are psychic ghost abilities and astral projection can be triggered or ended by sleep and that someone can be in someone else’s body in a non-fusion way. Lion sleeps a lot and occasionally seems to know things only Rose could have known. If Lion isn’t Rose, it doesn’t track with Rose’s secretive behavior. Lion is Rose.

SPECULATION from here on.

I’m inclined to believe we’ll find out Pink was responsible for the damage to Pink Pearl’s eye, maybe due to giving an illogical order-

-Or lashing out in anger?

We would finally understand the first choice Rose made that changed her, like what A Single Pale Rose did for Pearl. And if she had a core trauma unresolved it could explain why she kept hiding from the past. We’ve seen something similar with Lapis.

And what do you know, before Steven Universe wrapped, Lion got an adorable little one-eyed companion!

Rose genuinely being gone forever is a choice I like also, but to me, there’s too much about Lion that’s explained this way that is more satisfying than just “he’s magic and knew rose offscreen”

To cite another conspiracy theory, maybe this could be how Steven emotionally self-corrupts, if that’s a thing. I’m not attached to that one but this could trigger it. What could possibly be more upsetting than this? What could force him to deal with his own problems?

RECAP

Lion’s actions make sense if he’s Rose more than another explanation because 

He has only warped to places Rose would know about

A number of which only Rose and Pearl know about, canonically

Rose’s big secret identity is compromised if anyone interacts with Lion. In fact Lion basically holds all of her secrets?

He gave a shit about Pearl’s feelings in Rose’s Scabbard despite Lion not knowing her

VHS tape conundrum

We know Steven can body swap without bringing his Gem along

Connie, a HUMAN from EARTH who has a SWORD and LOVES MAGIC and is Pearl’s FAVORITE STUDENT, is Lion’s favorite person*

Lion has a personality and sentience, why would he not have a character arc and motivations and knowledge that explain his behavior? Does it really make sense for him to be a handbag who takes Steven on quests? Isn’t that exactly what Pearl’s character arc was all about not being?

Offers the opportunity for Rose to face her problems

*this isn’t really evidence but I love Connie and so does Lion

(Lion is also Melon Mutt because)

There are 3 Melon Mutts but they all come to Steven immediately after body swapping

The Watermelon society episodes are clearly saying something about the story (Baby Melon = Pink Diamond and Steven Melon 1 = Rose), but my galaxy brain is too deep into Lion to actually understand the melons beyond that

Lion rescued Steven because he saw where he went

Why would we need Melon Mutt at all otherwise? What’s the point? We already have Pumpkin?

[atamascolily]

lily liveblogs “terminator 2: judgment day” for the first time, part 3

(First and second parts here and here, respectively)

I like that Miles Dyson is a black computer geek, a manager, a programmer, a rich man with a wife he clearly adores. It's just sad that he's also going to destroy the world, and is on a collision course with our heroes. I think that's the point - that good intentions/ideals/not being a terrible person don't save you from doing terrible things...

Miles' computer has a sign taped to the top saying "BIT HAPPENS" aaaaahhhh, he's such a nerd, I love him... except his subsequent speech to his wife makes clear he is so determined to perfect everything and not really consider the consequences, aaahhhh. but he does turn off the computer and go spend time with his kids, and the family is really cute together, so he's very very human and relatable.

(this movie is so freakin' relevant in 2019 on so many levels, I can't even)

Sarah is still wearing her psych ward clothes under her jacket, just like Kyle did for most of the first movie, parallels...

I love Sarah's expression when Enrique offers the T101 booze, and she just grabs it and drinks it out of the bottle, like WE DO NOT WASTE ALCOHOL ON ROBOTS IN THIS HOUSE, ENRIQUE. lolololol. 

OH MY GOD SARAH'S WEARING ALL BLACK AND A TANK TOP NOW AND I CANNOT GET OVER HOW AWESOME SHE LOOKS

"Just drop by anytime and totally fuck up my life, all right?" - this franchise in one sentence

Of course the T101 isn't going to survive this movie, and we learn this in a literal Chekhov's Armory. oh, and there's a big, fucking gun. I'm sure we'll see that again.

Sarah's biceps continue to be amazing, all those pull-ups paid off big time. I'm in total awe.

Male bonding with engine repair. it's endearing. John blames Sarah for telling potential father figures about Judgement Day and scaring them off. Poor John just wants a father. GOD I WISH KYLE REESE HAD SURVIVED.

Just realized the only reason John knows how to re-program a T101 is because his younger self did it again when they sent that same T101 through time. HISTORY CREATES ITSELF, THE FUTURE CREATES THE PAST, IT'S ALL ONE BIG, STABLE TIME LOOP.

Sarah watching John with the T101 and realizing it's the perfect father for him. I'm surprised there aren't AUs where she starts sleeping with the T101, too, for similar reasons. Kyle Reese would be spinning in his grave...

I was hoping for another Michael Biehn scene when Sarah falls asleep, but no, it's that playground again...

OH GOD, that woman in the dream looks just like her in the '80s, and she's even wearing a dress that looks like the waitress dress... holding a kid and living a normal life... ahhhh, what Sarah really wants (even though she's a badass on the outside and so strong and competent). I don't know how I feel about this. Like on the one hand, Sarah has massive PTSD, and this is a totally valid thing for her to want, and on the other hand, given how this film keeps treating women, it feels kinda regressive?? Sigh.

Then she burns and everybody burns when the bomb goes off... this is James Cameron's signature nightmare image and it's ours, too, now... callbacks to the first movie and the liquid melting flesh of the new Terminator....and Sarah’s photo burning, ahhhhh.

There's all this destruction, but no blood. That's the thing I notice most about this movie--there's just as much violence as the first film, but it's all CLEAN violence... hardly any blood at all. Horror is bloody. Action is not. I don't think I realized that fully until I watched these two films back to back.

it's too bad Sarah couldn't see a real therapist instead of Silbermann for all this time, because she has such a tremendous case of PTSD.

She drives off without saying good-bye to John, he's supposed to go to safety, but of course he won't.

John says that his father told Sarah there's no fate but what we make for ourselves, which is technically true since he said it to her in this movie, but didn't SHE say that to HIM? Oh, right, it's a message from John that he gives to her so she can give it to John later so he can give it to Kyle. Right.

Why is John so upset that Sarah is trying to change the timeline after all? Because he might not be conceived? I doubt he's thinking about temporal loops here? Or does he think he can help her? Or because he thinks she’s crossed a Moral Event Horizon by going after Dyson?

T101 is like, "dude, your mom's probably right," and John's all, "I don't care!" RIGHT YOU STUPID ASSHOLE, you're going to let millions of people die instead?? You can tell he hasn't been fighting at all yet.

I'm all Team Sarah here. John Connor has yet to convince me why he's in the right here. Why shouldn't Sarah try to shift them onto a better timeline if she can? Especially since it’s not 100% clear what her plan is??

(And if she's wrong, then her actions were necessary in order to create the original future, so... it gets complicated to sort out. I get it.)

Okay, she’s at Dyson’s house. She's going to try to kill him, but she doesn't really need to kill him, just destroy the Terminator chip he's using as a model. She's basically become a human version of the Terminator now, because Cameron loves his parallels...can she not see there are other options?

Speaking of which, there's a radio controlled toy truck that Dyson's son is driving through the house, lol.

Yup, there's a red laser guide beam just like the T1 did to her. And she's going to see Dyson with his kid and think better of it, because she yearns for innocent time with her own kid (that she didn't have because she was training for the future).

NOPE, she shoots him, but he ducks when the car hits his foot, and he hides behind his desk just like Sarah did in T1. The circle is complete. She's even firing automatic rounds like the first Terminator did. SHE’S BECOME THE ENEMY NOW.

Sigh, the first time Sarah talks to a woman in this movie, and she's calling her a bitch and telling her to get down on the floor after she's shot her husband. I hate this so much.

She can't shoot him. His wife and son are watching and she realizes what she's become. She's doing to Dyson what the Terminator did to her.

The fact that Dyson, who is black, got his home shot up by a white woman and nearly killed while his family watched in terror is... not a great image, and I can only imagine what must be going through their heads right now.

Dyson recognizes the metallic hand once the Terminator strips its skin off. Wow, what a gory move to prove the truth. effective, though.

"You're judging me on things I haven't even done yet" - Sarah's face here when Dyson says that.

Sarah has no patience for Dyson's protestations of innocence: how could you think that eliminating humans from the decision-making process would go well? She says "Men like you--" and all I can hear is "patriarchy".

The difference between Dyson and Sarah is Dyson did his invention purposefully, whereas all Sarah was supposed to do was have a kid. She could have died once John was born and it wouldn't necessarily have mattered, because her role is finished (just like Reese could die). Still, her line, "You don't know what it's like to really create something" is so IRONIC in this context... would men feel the need to create weapons of war if they could create life like women do??

I hate teenage John shutting Sarah down, because she's right, if not tactful, and I'm so tired of people dismissing Sarah and even her own kid is treating her like a crazy person when she’s just so goddamn tired and haunted by visions of the end of the world. 

Tarissa (Dyson's wife) asks the smart question: Aren't we changing things now, just by having this conversation? Dyson says, no way I'm finishing this now that I know. Would that the future worked like that.

god, why didn't Sarah just bring the Terminator with her as proof she wasn't crazy? Why did she have to shoot Dyson BEFORE all this?? why wasn’t she thinking outside the box? sigh. she’s not stupid. 

They go to Cyberdyne headquarters and Sarah is wearing a jacket like Kyle’s, oh my heart. Dyson is taking this amazingly well--we were right to like him--but I'm pretty sure he's not going to survive the movie. Although since this is action and not horror, maybe he has a chance??

I like the contrast between the security cams in the state hospital and the Cyberdyne building. Glass doors, too.

Oh, the T1000's going to be waiting for them because he knew they would show up here because IT IS WRITTEN. I wonder if he's hiding in the floor somewhere like he did before??

Dyson might be able to get out of this by claiming Sarah and the T101 forced him at gunpoint to break in, assuming he survives.

Good thing John is a budding hacker!! He can open the doors when the guard trips the alarm and locks the doors.

John knows EXACTLY WHAT SARAH MEANS when she warns him about "fire in the hole".

I like how the mechanical factory of the previous movie is now a sleek and shiny '90s lab with computers and chips and things. And now they have a collaborator on the inside who's working with them to take it down instead of being totes on their own.

The T1000 is at Dyson's house. How did he track them there? Did Tarissa call the police?? But he gets the police call about the raid of Cyberdyne, so hopefully Tarissa and her kids survive the night.

Parallels to the police helicopters and cops in the parking lot with the human beings on the ground vs. the machines in the opening.

Cyberdyne is using literally the same locking software as the bank ATM, lol.

ahahahah, it's a remote control to set the bombs off, because even more parallels, lolololol

oh, hey, there's the big fucking gun with a freaking mountain of automatic bullets. Ironically, the name for this monstrosity is "mini-gun". somehow, he shoots all the cars and doesn't kill anyone - he's just that good a shot!! Just enough to make the cops get clear. Then he shoots the cars to make them blow up. CLEVER.

Of course John doesn't destroy the chip once he gets it out of the safe, because where's the drama in that??

SHIT. THE POLICE SHOOT MILES AS THEY ENTER THE ROOM FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK I HATE THIS. They don’t even try to save him, or seem aware that Sarah might be using him as a hostage. and of course he's got the detonator in his hands, too.

all this shattered glass reminds me of the police station sequence from T1, but it's way less of a slaughter.

T101 busts through the clean room to save Sarah, just like he did the mall walls before.

Miles dies. His hand drops. The building explodes. GOD DAMN IT I LIKED HIM WHYYYYYYYY.

"we got a war zone here"-- oh, you just wait. Probably there's going to be Judgement Day anyway and Miles died for NOTHING. *sob*

Okay now the T1000 shows up.

"I'll be back," says the T101, because of course he does.

Good thing they brought an oxygen mask to a gun battle!! 

The T101 is so creative. He won't kill you, but he'll still shoot you in the legs, and it will hurt like hell.

lol, the T1000 literally rides in on a flaming motorcycle OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE. He even takes it up the staircase WHAT.

meanwhile the T101 is firing tear gas, and then pulling peoples' masks off. Then he drives a truck back into the building to pick Sarah and John up.

THERE'S ONLY ONE GODDAMN CASUALTY IN THIS ENTIRE SEQUENCE AND IT'S THE BLACK GUY, WHO WAS A FUCKING GOOD GUY, I WILL NEVER BE OVER THIS!!! All the white cops get to live, but not the black dude who was an actual character. FUCK THIS.

T1000 rides his motorcycle off the edge of the building and hijacks the helicopter to chase after John. He tells the pilot to "Get out" and the guy does, but idk if he survived? OWWWWWW.

John tells Sarah of course he'll stay hidden behind the bullet-proof vests, but of course he doesn't.

Yeah, John was getting shot at by intelligent machines from the sky long before it was cool. No wonder he's the leader of the resistance... he was literally trained from birth for this! Plus, you know, he had help. From the future.

Sarah gets shot in the leg, owwww. The helicopter rams the truck and crashes. So does the truck. This is just like the bridge scene in T1, isn't it?

Ohhh, a gas truck showed up, so YEAH THINGS ARE GOING TO EXPLODE. Oh, it's liquid nitrogen, not gas, does that make a difference? Oh, maybe that has an effect on the Terminator melting metal??

Both the dudes who stopped to check on them are going to get killed... yeah. Sigh. Oh, one of them went over the edge, he might have survived.

Pity anybody who is on this road tonight, 'cause it's clobbering time!!

Oh, good thing John knows how to drive! And they take the off-ramp, just like they did before in the river chase.

Oh, good, just bust through the gate into a random factory, that always goes well. Ah, drive right into the middle of a molten steel pour. EPIC.

Liquid nitrogen everywhere. This is so going to be relevant in a moment.

Good, all the workers flee. Fewer casualties that way.

The liquid nitrogen makes him frosty and metallic. He's literally shattering. This can't be the end, though, because we still have at least twenty minutes left.

The T101 shoots him and he shatters. But doesn't each piece keep hunting??

Yup, the hot steel is melting the nitrogen, he's coming back.

John's carrying Sarah just like Sarah carried Kyle at the end of T1... and the T1000 comes out of the liquid in the same pose as it came into the past...

Sarah's hair is loose and crazy-looking, and she's also lost her agency since she's been shot and in shock. Symbolism is not lost on me.

Now the T1000 starts mimicking the scenery. Now they're in the part of the factory with machines. t101 stays behind. John's going to lose his father-figure again, but find him in the future again I guess?

Oh, the T101 gets his hands trapped underneath a giant gear, IRONY. And the T1000 just literally rolls its eyes and walks away because it doesn't give a fuck about anything but John. T101 hacks off his own arm, while Sarah and John stumble up more stairs just like T1. God, I hope Cyberdyne doesn't find that arm stuck in the machine gears and destroy the world with it... JUST LIKE LAST TIME.

Sarah puts John on a conveyor belt while she stays behind to fight. JUST LIKE T1.

She shoots a literal hole in his head and it doesn't work... no blood, just cgi silver stuff... and this is simultaneously horrifying and yet cheapening the effect of real blood/bullets, etc...

He pins her to the wall. All he needs is to touch her. He tells her to call to John - he can mimic her voice, of course this was coming...

But the T101 intervenes! Now he's getting rammed with a hydraulic press, just like last time. Crawling towards him, just like before... but he gets stabbed again and shorts out. Good thing Terminators are hard to kill.

T1000 takes Sarah's form and starts calling for him. God, this dude must be so freakin' paranoid as an adult knowing this. Actual Sarah shoots Fake Sarah and he transforms back into his usual form. He doesn't say anything, just waggles his finger at her, and it is is scarier than any one-liner possibly could be.

"Get down!" -arc words, apparently, since that was also what happened in the beginning. The T101 shows up and shoots the T1000 back into the pool of molten metal and then it's really over. But not before he turns into a CGI silver monstrosity first.

Chorus sings the Terminator theme slowly and dramatically while the thing transforms into every form it's ever taken, including Sarah because we needed more symbolism of Sarah's face melting in flames in this franchise. Oh, wait, no, I think that was the only one we didn't see. Wow.

Oh, man it's like being at the fires of Mount Doom when John tosses the first Terminator arm from T1 into the molten pit. Of course a piece of the chip has broken off somewhere - they should have destroyed it in the lab!! Sigh.

The T101 has to toss himself in to prevent anyone else from finding the chip. ahhhh, John has to sacrifice what he loves for the world. Sob. So much for being a happy Terminator family together, except in fic. And it doesn't matter because of that goddamn missing piece *sob* Miles' death, this... for nothing if anyone finds that missing chip piece. AAAAAAH.

"I can't self-terminate"--wow, that means Sarah and John have to do it themselves, EVEN WORSE. John is pulling a Frodo and screaming a lot.

Wow, Cameron managed to make us feel AWFUL and SAD at the death of a Terminator. Well played, sir, well played. John cries. T101 and Sarah shake hands. It's all so moving. fuck.

ONCE AGAIN, SARAH PRESSES THE BUTTON TO KILL HIM OMG. John is forced to watch someone who came from the future to protect him, whom he came to love dearly after just a day or so of knowing him, DIE IN FRONT OF HIM, just like Sarah in T1.

GOD IT'S SO HOPEFUL AN ENDING, BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT MISSING CHIP CHUNK, DAMN IT!! And the, uh, severed robot arm the T101 left behind? We end the movie in pretty much exactly the same space as we began - with an arm and a chip unaccounted for. I do not find this hopeful.

[duck-duck-me]

So I keep thinking about that scene in Endgame where Tony and Steve go further back in time to get the Tesseract and more Pym Particles. When I was first watching the movie, I didn’t even consider them going back to the 70s. There is no tie to that timeframe within the movies, and honestly from a story telling point doesn’t make a lot of sense.

My immediate thought (as somebody who has seen almost every marvel movie at least twice) is that they would go back to the 90s. Specifically December 16, 1991, the day The Winter Soldier (not Bucky Barnes, big distinction there) killed Howard and Maria Stark. This brings us back to a significant timeframe in the story, and would allow for a little more closure on the Civil War, and Winter Soldier plot lines.

Now Tony and Steve could save the Starks and create an alternate universe that allows Tony a much happier life, and prevents the entirety of civil war (which could butterfly effect into an alternate universe where the snap never even happens because the avengers are all working together anyways because they don’t all hate each other, nobody would be a war criminal, and Tony might actually be motivated to help Bucky Barnes when they find him again. An alternate universe with the original Cap 3 plot so to speak. Plus with no guilt over the secret AU Cap can lift Thor’s hammer from the get go)

BUT, lets say they don't do that. Tony and Steve get to that street in Long Island minutes too late. They stare down the Winter Soldier who is holding a briefcase with an infinity stone and Pym Particles ready for hydra. Think about it for a second. Steve Rogers is technically still in the ice, no news stories about him, no seeing him on TV. This would create a scene where before TWS (Before the end of Cap 1 even) where the Winter Solider sees Steve Rogers, adding significance to the “Bucky is still alive” line and creating a direct reference to “But I knew him”. This fight, this moment where Steve “But Tony he’s my friend” Rogers takes his shield and fights The Winter Soldier for the content of that briefcase, plants the seed that (Who the hell is) Bucky Knows This Man 23 years before the scene on the rooftop. The scene where Bucky’s eyes say more than a 2 hour movie ever could. I mean, somebody has already called him Sergeant Barnes, and now this guy, who he could swear is somewhere in the back of his head is calling him Bucky.

But Tony is also there. This is good for him too. Yes he has the trauma of knowing his parent’s just died and he couldn’t save them, but he is also here because the entire world is resting on his shoulders. Tony Stark gets to see the actual Winter Soldier in action. He sees the assassin that is willing to Kill Captain America without a second thought, and suddenly the picture of this man in leather pants with a semiautomatic weapon is so different from the scared fugitive that the star spangled man, Steve Rogers committed treason to protect. Tony finally understands that this person who destroyed his live, is not the same person that he tried to kill in Siberia, and the fact that Steve Rogers knows the difference between his friend and a hydra assassin.

So they get the pym particles. The how isn't super important. Maybe they just fight The Winter Soldier and leave him on that street to be picked up by hydra, he really isn’t prepared for 2 superheroes, those don't actually exist yet. Or maybe, the more poetic version. Steve cuts to the chase ahead of time, he doesn’t even throw a punch before saying “Bucky Barnes I don’t want to fight you, because I am with you til the end of the line” and that trigger phrase is exactly what they need to wrestle that briefcase out of his metal arm. That 5 minute scene would be powerful enough on it’s own, but imagine how much it would have impacted the rest of the movie.

Both Steve Rogers and Tony stark now have a new understanding of the other’s relationship with The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes. This is the chance for an honest to god apology from both of them; a chance to see how much Bucky hurt Tony, but also a chance to see that Bucky is the only reason Steve keeps going. This is the moment that they actually forgive each other, the moment that makes Tony’s ending such a punch in the gut for Steve Rogers. It also would change Steve’s ending too. Tony, of all people, finally truly saves Bucky Barnes, and Steve’s whole story, a story that started because he couldn’t stand 3 days in WWII without one Sergeant Barnes, finally ends. He goes back and gives that infinity stone back to an unconscious winter soldier, or maybe he finishes the mission and gets to say goodbye to a pregnant Peggy Carter in the process, and maybe just maybe he gives 19 year old Tony Stark the hug they both need in that minute. In this timeline there is nothing in the past for Steven Grant Rogers, but there is so much in the future. So 5 Seconds pass, and Steve is back on that landing pad, no longer in costume, but in a very 90s tshirt and jeans. Bucky asks, “So what stupid thing did you do while you were alone?” and Steve just smiles. He pulls Sam aside and holds out his shield. Steve was always a hero because of Bucky, and now that he is finally safe, Steve can pass on the mantle without guilt.

[bearpillowmonster]

Heir to the Empire Review

So when I figured out about Star Wars Legends as a kid, I got excited because I wanted to know what happened post-Return of the Jedi so I got a book called "Shadows of Mindor" seeing as it took place right after and I have to say that I was kind of bored with it and never finished it. I tried again when the sequel trilogy came out because they had at least an outline to go off of, coming before The Force Awakens. It was called "Aftermath: Life Debt" and I knew it introduced some cool new droids and with my obsession with BB8/BB9 at the time, seemed interesting enough to try and explore. I have the two books but I quit both and I want to talk about why.

Legends is known for having a good amount of crap but also a few diamonds in the rough, one problem I came across is that they start the books with new characters and technical terms we've never heard of and then don't explain it right off the bat so it's hard to get invested and get a clear picture. There is also a lot of fluff in there to replace that and sure there is some good content in there like Shadows talking about how Luke didn't want to take credit for the Death Star or be considered this icon or hero, he was being humble about it and kind of missed the days of being a moisture farmer. That was a great version of Luke and how I envisioned him, but it's what they did with those characters that rubbed me the wrong way. They will have them do things like "Let's take the X-wing somewhere." but it's easy to get lost because of how much it talks about, like you can't just say you took the X-Wing? Then you have the literal versions of the book; they are usually pretty thick but not very wide and have a small font which isn't a very comfortable way to read in my opinion (yeah I usually use physical books, with digital I wouldn't have that problem) At the beginning of this book, they start with new characters and terms that I never heard of and expect me to know what it is. I'm like "Here we go again." but I started trying to visualize it and it all became clear to me.

I'm going to review this as if it were a Star Wars movie, seeing as it's so beloved by many fans and considered to be a better sequel trilogy (I'm only on the first book so I can't make that call yet) This author had some science fiction background even before he became a big Star Wars writer and it shows but he also brings a little bit of an Earthly vibe, which is very odd with things such as years and times, like if you're in space then why is there time when our world alone has more than 24 time zones? (not to mention hot chocolate) I get that minutes and such all work the same but I still never heard it used in Star Wars. This book introduces Thrawn which I've never been a big fan of...that is until now, it's starting to make more sense. They call his throne room "an art museum" and things started to visualize into my mind better and I started actually getting into it. Thrawn reminds me of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, the way he's strategic and he always tries to be one step ahead which makes for an interesting character because it's a game of tug of war between the heroes and Thrawn, he can always predict their movements due to his experience and intelligence based on pattern, I mean it is an art how he keeps up, it really makes you feel like the heroes can't get any sort of handle. He's so precise in fact, that Pellaeon, the captain, is used to sort of show off how far he can get just by using statistics but it's more like a game or challenge to him. They contrast him to Vader, same with Leia, and show how calm they are about certain things while everybody else is on edge "Please don't hurt me." Something Kylo Ren fully adopts. That isn't to say he's not cold blooded or less menacing. He makes you believe he's good, he has good intentions. There's a scene where he seeks to get someone to admit their wrongdoing, he has no reason for this information, he's not mad, he just wants to get inside his head, he's a psychological villain, he gets his answer and then shoots the guy because it had no place in his "elite" force, he has class and standards to uphold, there's something classic about it, he sees things through and if they turn sour, he easily just turns the table.

They also add some background to these characters that I appreciate such as Winter, Leia's childhood friend/assistant in her role as Princess. And also the feelings they get, it's like the force amplifies their feelings. With that, I'm sure you can imagine we explore their weaknesses and strengths extensively. We're also given more depth with some previous side characters such as Wedge and Admiral Ackbar, we've seen them in battle but what are they like outside of the ship? I never even really thought about it but it's interesting to note.

Now I'm going to compare it to the current "sequel trilogy" It really bothers me at how much Disney Star Wars has been inspired from yet hasn't really adapted. Look at the twins and tell me that isn't Kylo and Rey. Look at C'Boath and tell me that isn't Malekith from Jedi Fallen Order. Then the whole line that Han says "You know it was a lot easier back when we were just taking on the Empire, at least then we knew who our enemies were." A lot of things in the Last Jedi alluded to this, how the rebellion/resistance wasn't everything it was made out to be but then they scrapped it for the next movie. I waited until after I saw TROS to read this but honestly I wish I had read this before any of the sequel trilogies because that way I would really see what's been going on, Kathleen's "We don't have any source material to draw from." Is a piece of crap, yeah maybe nothing from that specific timeline, 30 years after ROTJ, but you've been drawing it from elsewhere, I've saw some KOTOR vibes here and there too, which bothers me. It actually made me feel sick to my stomach when I realized this, just how zombified they made Star Wars, pieces from here, pieces from there so it doesn't seem too much like a retread again, but the new content is rare and too far between. This (so far) doesn't have that problem, it came out in the early 90s and takes place only 5 years after ROTJ, I'm still interested 30 years after the events but this is more in line with how people imagined it. A big complaint about the sequel trilogy is that Anakin's prophecy was a hoax considering it didn't mean much anymore, this doesn't have that problem, as I've said, Thrawn is a very different villain, it's not about the "balance to the force" (just yet). As a side note (because I didn't know where else to put it): There is a gambling scene that could have been a bit clearer, I didn't really understand what Torve was doing but it was still cool.

I can't mention this book without mentioning the debut of Mara Jade, I kind of want to keep everything about her a secret though since that was part of the reason I started this book in the first place. They introduce her, well kind of just how I would have wanted, the fandom has made her hypeworthy and made me consider her apart of Star Wars from the start because in a way we all have our own version of Star Wars. It's nice to know that she's living up to it. They even made a backstory book for her as well as various spinoff books, I've looked into them but it seems like this trilogy holds the most weight so I'm going to stick with it for now.

I'm just saying this is a thick and long book so every page could've seemed like a chore but it follows the Star Wars formula visiting different places within the same chapter to get all the sides of the story and then at the end it converges, some apparently don't like that about movies but you can't argue that that's how Empire was structured. It's a good book and I'm interested to read the other two in this trilogy at least. I felt that way with The Force Awakens so you could say in terms of sequel trilogies, it's 1 and 1.

[splattales]

Fifteen Questions. Fifteen Mutuals.

Repost, don’t reblog!

(HEY DID Y’ALL KNOW I HAVE LIKE 1,000 MUSES? I’LL DO THEM ALL. HERE’S A READMORE FOR YOU. SORRY MOBILE USERS)

1. Are you named after anyone? 

Molly: Sorry, nah. Can’t really ask anyone though.

Finn: I believe my first name is my grandfather’s middle name. Dad’s side. 

Marina: Maybe? I think I was named after a historical figure, but it’s, like, a really popular name anyway...

Brine: Nope! Just salty water.

Pansy: I’m named after a flower. It’s a tradition in my fam’bly to name your first-hatched after a flower...

Ribbon:  Momma’s a Ribbon Eel!

Slushie named himself -- though technically, he’s named after a beverage.

Tay: Yes! Many rulers in my bloodline were also named ‘Octavio’. 

Sabi: It’s shortened from ‘Wasabi’. Not very creative, I know, but ... I’ve had a few names. This is just the one I’ve gotten used to. 

-

2. When was the last time you cried? 

Molly: Nunya bizness. (About three days ago.)

Finn: I’m actually quite happy at the moment! Maybe two weeks?

Marina: I don’t ever cry, duh. (Last week after spilling her meal on the floor.)

Brine: Yesterday! Don’t worry, it was just a touchy subject that came up. Always cry when you need to, it can really help.

Pansy: Haven’t in a fair bit, I think I cried on Groa the other day about somethin’ real dumb. One of my workmates left n’ I burnt dinner n’ then something else happened and just… well, I sure hope he doesn’t think I’m weird ‘cause of that, eheh.

Ribbon: It was my birthday recently, so I haven’t felt like crying! I dunno.

Slushie cried the last time he ate a memcake, so two days ago.

Tay: That isn’t any of your business. (Ten minutes ago.)

Sabi: Sometimes I cry when I’m listening to sad music, so, um… Tuesday?

-

3. Do you have kids?

Molly: No! Adopting might be cool when I’m older, but I’m only 19 and I have way too much to deal with already!

Finn: Do I look like a father? I’m still in uni! … That said, a few of my classmates have kids, it’s really strange.

Marina: No, but I have younger siblings, so I know how to take care of ‘em. … I don’t think I’m gonna want kids for a while, if ever.

Brine: Haha! No! Maybe someday.

Pansy: Slushie’s my kid! He’s adopted, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t family. I hope he knows that.

Ribbon:  You’re funny! Sometimes I pretend my dinosaur toys are babies, and then we destroy the town as a powerful army.

Slushie is 15 years old!

Tay: I think Reed could be considered my ‘child’, but I’m still not altogether sure about that. And Masako, I think? But I never had any children in this timeline, so it’s a little confusing…

Sabi: No, no, I don’t think I’d make a good father…

-

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot? 

Molly: Here and there. I don’t like to overdo it, but it’s totally justified sometimes.

Finn: Yeah … my friends aren’t exactly a good influence.

Marina: All the time. I don’t think I could live without it.

Brine: Hardly! It wouldn’t be good if I sassed my superiors, and it’s mean. But a harmless eyeroll won’t hurt, on occasion.

Pansy: Eh, sometimes. I’m not really smart enough, I get out-sarcasm’d, and it ain’t the nicest thing.

Ribbon:  Doing a sarcasm can be pretty hard… you get told off, too.

Slushie doesn’t talk enough to use sarcasm, but his body language often suggests it!

Tay: Oh no, I neeeever use sarcasm…

Sabi: …It isn’t kind to be sarcastic.

-

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people? 

Molly: Their face. Some people have real distinguishin’ features.

Finn: Their ink colour! If they don’t have one, then I look at their style instead.

Marina: Uh, does it matter? It depends on the person, right? I usually notice if somebody’s an Octoling.

Brine: Usually? Their handshake. I know that’s kind of weird to say, but the way someone shakes your hand can tell you a bit about them.

Pansy: I try to look at how they carry themselves n’ the expressions they make. It helps you figure out what a person’s like – though how they talk and what they do’s the next important thing. S’ important to watch the eyes.

Ribbon: If they’re smiling!

Slushie pays very close attention to the way other people talk.

Tay: How they behave towards me! Respect can be the difference between a guest staying or being thrown out – and potentially a matter of life and death when assassins are concerned!

Sabi: How much of a threat they are to me, haha… I try to keep my head down.

-

6. What’s your eye colour? 

Molly: Kinda… teal green? Lighter?

Finn: Rose pink!

Marina: Green eyes, green sclera. Just once I want somebody to say I’ve got eyes like emeralds, but I don’t see it happening. Nobody’s that suave, and I’d probably slap a stranger if they did.

Brine: Ocean blue!

Pansy: Deep pink. Cute, right? Haha, that was a joke…

Ribbon:  Pink like dad’s!

Slushie’s eyes are purple, with a white sclera.

Tay: Soft blue on green~

Sabi: Blue – and um, I’m the kind of octoling that has green ‘whites’.

-

7. Scary movie or happy ending? 

Molly: I like scary movies, they’re usually not that scary, haha. Happy endings make me think of those sappy films, but I don’t mind them in like … regular stuff.

Finn: I love happy endings! Especially in a romance film. Scary movies aren’t so bad, but some of them I’d prefer not to see…

Marina: Horror. Happy endings can be way too saccharine for my tastes.

Brine: I do love a good happy ending!

Pansy: Yeah, happy endings here too. I don’t mind horror so much if things work out in the end, though. What’s the point if everyone dies?

Ribbon:  No scary films please!!!

Slushie isn’t a fan of scary films. He’d much rather watch something happy.

Tay: It depends on my mood. I like a happy ending, but it has to be written well, and scary films – well, I’m not scared of anything, but too much of it taints the mind, you know…

Sabi: Please . . . take one look at me and say I’d enjoy a horror film. You’d be wrong in every way…

-

8. Any special talents? 

Molly: People keep saying my cooking’s good, but I don’t really see it? I know lots ‘bout weapons…

Finn: Art! I’m trying to make a career out of it.

Marina: I’m pretty good at mending up old human tech, and I can program. Real dab-hand at fixing technology. Betcha didn’t know that.

Brine: I’ve got a good eye! … Yup, that’s all I can think of, ahah.

Pansy: Me? Er, I guess I can cook pies pretty good. I used to be decent at all that detective stuff too, but now I’m not so sure.

Ribbon:  I dunno what my special talent is yet! I’m hoping it’s to do with detecting.

Slushie is very good at puzzle solving, and has quick reflexes. He’s also an absolute STAR at learning languages.

Tay: I have so many talents! Always looking good is practically a talent, and there’s my overall intelligence – I’m especially good at mathematics – but I’m a creative mind too! I’m PERFECT at stage performance and mixing music, not to mention I’m excellent at tinkering with machinery, I’ve built plenty of things and […etc.]

Sabi: Oh, um, I’m pretty good when it comes to music, I guess…

-

9. Where were you born? 

Molly:  Small town just outside of Inkopolis, but basically Inkopolis.

Finn: I think my parents moved to Inkopolis around the time I was hatching? Yeah.

Marina: Octopolis. You know, underground.

Brine: Inkopolis, hatched and raised. (This is a retcon--)

Pansy: Cuttledown, it’s a little village right near Calamari County.

Ribbon:  Here! Inkopolis!

Slushie doesn’t know when or where he hatched, but he was quickly picked up by the underground orphanage.

Tay: Oh, somewhere on the surface a very long time ago… (Actually, that isn’t true.)

Sabi: In a lab somewhere underground. It’s, uhm, not very glamorous.

-

10. What are your hobbies? 

Molly: Turf War! I listen to music a bunch too, n’ play games.

Finn: When I’m not doing art, I like to play Turf War and hang out with my friends.

Marina: *gestures to her room full of human artefacts and study notes*

Brine: I don’t have a lot of time for hobbies, aha… sometimes I still make coffee…? I like stargazing and laughing at conspiracy theories.

Pansy: I garden a lot, but that’s also my job now.

Ribbon: I play videogames and draw and use my imagination and collect dinosaurs.

Slushie is still trying to find his place on the surface, so is trying a lot of new things.

Tay: Tinkering! I get excited about circuits and wires. Surprising, no?

Sabi: I really… REALLY invest a lot of my time into music. But I, um, I also like to read. Mostly science fiction.

-

11. Do you have any pets?

 Molly: Nah. Banned. I leave too much to give ‘em attention anyway.

Finn: My little brother. … Okay uh, that was kind of a cruel joke, eheh. No.

Marina: Pets are cute, but I don’t have the time! Not to mention no space.

Brine: Haha, Mom would kill me.

Pansy: We used to have a nudibranch back at Ma’s but not anymore. Maybe I should get another…? They cost a whole lot, long-term.

Ribbon:  I reeaallly want an axolotl but dad and mom say no! It’s not fair. Dad used to live on a farm so he basically had EVERY PET.

Slushie lives with Pansy, so likewise has no pets.

Tay: Hm, no… perhaps I should invest in one for companionship. I’d pay someone else to feed and clean up after it, of course…

Sabi: Ah, that’s a lot more responsibility than I could handle…

-

12. What sports do you/have you played?

[Everyone says ‘Turf War’ in unison, except for Tay who says ‘Sword fighting’ and Slushie who says nothing].

-

13. How tall are you? 

Molly: *grumbles* 4’10”…

Finn: 5’4”, still waiting for that growth spurt.

Marina: 5’5”. I’d like to be taller.

Brine: 5’11”! Nothing more, nothing less.

Pansy: Not nearly tall enough. 5’7”. I’m the shortest of my siblings, and I’m the oldest, pffah.

Ribbon:  Small! (She’s exactly 4ft.)

Slushie is something like 5’2”, I haven’t written it down anywhere.

Tay: Tall enough! (He’s 5’6” and insecure about it.)

Sabi: Aaah… I’m 6’8”, how embarrassing… I’m thankful I’m not any taller.

-

14. Dream job? 

Molly: I sure as heck don’t know, my dude. Something where I could show off my knowledge about battling, I guess. A teacher?

Finn: An artist that gets paid!

Marina: I will become the world’s greatest archaeologist.

Brine: Almost there! I’d love to be a fully-fledged lawyer.

Pansy: … I already lost my dream job as a detective.

Ribbon:  A detective!! Or a secret agent!! Or… a mailperson!

Slushie doesn’t really know what he wants to do with his life yet.

Tay: What could be better than being an emperor and a DJ? … being an MC? A showhost? I could do that too.

Sabi: My music is already selling well, so I’m very happy.

-

15. Favourite subject in school? 

Molly: I hated school. Uh, I liked history sometimes, but I wasn’t great. Music? We used to mess around a lot…

Finn: Apart from the obvious ‘art’, I did enjoy literature too!

Marina: Human studies. As for the military side, I did always enjoy target practice.

Brine: Law! Since it’s a later subject, I also had fun in Social Studies and Inklish Language.

Pansy: Long time ago, uh… I remember bein’ pretty good at geography? I was awful at Inklish n’ Maths and that. Science was pretty good though.

Ribbon: Hm… I love all the subjects! Does snacktime count as a subject? We hardly get those anymore now we’re older.

Slushie likes foreign languages. He also excelled in agility training.

Tay: I’m not sure I remember exactly, but I do love mathematics.

Sabi: I technically never went to school, um…

Well, here’s the end!

Tagged by: @manysquidsandoctos

Tagging: meap

[smoochcal]

numb without you (part three)

a/n: I’m so thankful and genuinely pleased with the amount of you that want me to continue this series. last night I actually had a dream about this series (weird I know) and once I’m done with this POV (which isn’t gonna be for a while lmao) then I might do an alternative version with a different point of view if you guys would like :) anyway I’m trying my hardest to write and update this series as soon as possible so if you like what you’re reading please let your friends know so they can go on this wild journey through this series along with us. also please please please let me know how you like this update! love hearing what you guys think and my inbox is always open!!!

pairing: readerxluke

word count: 2.2k

summary: after luke leaves you are left alone. or so you thought. discussing everything that is going on with someone else...

playlist: sucker by the jonas brothers, numb without you by the maine, pity party by lovelytheband, 2 / 14 by the band camino, someone to you by banners

rating: PG-13

warnings: swearing, implications of unsafe sex, mentions of blood

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Y/N’s POV:

You let your ringtone go on for another minute, staring at your phone contemplating what exactly you should do. He can’t know what’s going on. He can’t be calling for that reason. In fact, you don’t even know how Calum got your number in the first place. Probably Luke but this all seemed a little too coincidental. If you didn’t answer though he would know something was up. You sigh and press accept hoping that he calls you for some entirely unrelated thing.

“Hello?” you say, surprised that your voice sounds as confident as it does.

“Hey Y/N, have you seen Luke?” Calum asks on the other end.

“Yeah, he just left my place,” you respond, the corners of your mouth quickly turning into a frown as you remembered why he left.

“Okay. I usually wouldn’t bother you with something dumb like that, but he left the studio earlier in a hurry about something, and he wouldn’t tell us what was wrong and now he won’t answer my calls,” Calum states sounding rather defeated.

“Hmm…well I hope you can get a hold of him or he returns soon. Sorry I’m not more of a help,” you reply trying to sound oblivious to the awful situation you recently put Luke through.

“Thanks anyway Y/N. I’ll see you around,” he hangs up immediately after muttering those few words.

You sigh, thankful that Calum kept the conversation short and sweet. You can’t even begin to imagine what exactly you will say to him when the time comes. I mean if your timeline of everything is correct, which it should be because Calum was the last fuck you had, then you’re already three months along. Meaning the baby will be here in six months or less. The thought alone sends shivers down your spine. You’re going to be a mom. In less than a year. Soon. Fuck.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calum’s POV:

You know something’s up with Y/N. You hate to admit it, but you know her pretty well. Not like it is something to brag about, you’ve just been around each other for a while. You’re almost 100% sure she’s the reason Luke ran out of the studio earlier that afternoon. He’s always had a soft spot for her, which you find pretty admirable. You could tell something was wrong though. First of all, she took forever to answer your call. You know she loves her ringtone, but not enough to almost miss your call. Usually you wouldn’t be so observant, but you were worried about her since you took her home that night after the club. You know getting close to her probably isn’t for the best. Luke is very protective of her and you don’t want to intervene more than necessary between the two of them. But if she doesn’t even know where Luke is, maybe I should just drop it. If Luke left her and she’s still sounding upset, you should probably stop by her place.

You finish up at the studio fairly quickly, especially without Luke there to finish up his part of vocals. Once everything is said and done for the day, you grab your car keys and head out to talk to Y/N and make sure she’s okay. Her apartment is about a 20 minutes drive, give or take with traffic. You turn on the radio to ease the drive and immediately start humming along. You recognize the song as Sucker by the Jonas Brothers. You laugh to yourself thinking about when you and the guys covered one of their songs onstage and how fun it was to be that carefree and goofy.

You finally arrive at her apartment complex, relieved that you remembered the way here. As you walk up to her front door, you suddenly feel really awkward for showing up unannounced. You swallow that uneasiness and knock on her door.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Y/N’s POV:

You finally thought you were alone for a little bit when you hear a knock on your door. You don’t recognize the knock, like you normally recognize Luke’s, which makes you nervous. You don’t normally get many visitors, which is what confuses you the most. Your place because a mess after Luke’s dramatic exit and you haven’t had the time, nor could you be bothered with tidying up again. You open the door, not thinking to look and see who it is first and see Calum standing sheepishly in front of you. You stare at him dumbfoundedly for a minute, not knowing exactly what he was doing here. Your subconscious brings up the thought of him knowing something he shouldn’t already, leaving you a bit scared and worried.

“What are you doing here Cal?” you ask as you mentally chastise yourself for using the pet name so soon in conversation. You can see his hesitant with finding the rights words to reply to you with, which worries you even more.

“I…uhm…sorry I stopped by to see if you were alright. You sounded a bit frazzled on the phone and I figured if Luke left then you might need someone…thinking about it now it was probably a bad decision. Fuck, I didn’t even bring you dinner or anything. Not that you can’t cook for yourself it would’ve just been a nice gesture…GOD I need to shut up I’m rambling I’m sorry I think I’m nervous but I know I shouldn’t be because we’ve had a civil conversation before…okay I’m going to stop now,” he mumbles, leaving you to raise your eyebrow at why he is nervous.

“I mean you can come in if you want. I was just about to see if I had anything to make for dinner. If not, we can order take out or something, not really in the mood to leave my apartment tonight,” you say coolly, moving into the kitchen allowing Calum to close the door.

He sits down on your couch, the one you were crying on just minutes before he stopped by unannounced. You rummage through the cupboards and you feel a sudden wave of déjà vu, like you have done this before. Which is true, you have done this before. Moments before in fact with Luke right before you two started the movie. You couldn’t find anything that seemed appetizing in your kitchen, so you sighed and turned towards Calum.

“Nothing sounds good here, is Chinese takeout okay?” you ask him as you pull up your favorite place’s website looking at their specials for the night.

“Yeah that’s fine, do you want me to go pick it up? I know I showed up kind of unannounced and I didn’t really want to intrude, just wanted to make sure you were okay,” Calum replies, getting up off your couch and grabbing his wallet out of his pocket.

“I mean if you don’t mind, I’ll hold down the fort here until you get back. Let me go grab my wallet so I can pay for my half,” you walk into your bedroom to look for wherever you placed your wallet last.

“Don’t worry about it, just order it and I’ll be on my way,” Calum yells from across your apartment.

You smile at the kind gesture, reminding yourself that it is technically the least he could do for everything that has happened. Not that he knows what all went down. Not yet at least. You come out of your bedroom to order what you like and hand your phone to Calum to order his food. He smiles as he hands you your phone back and grabs his things to go pick up the food.

The minute he leaves your apartment you let out a sigh of relief. You know you have to tell him. You can’t hide this from him forever and now seems like a better time than down the road, especially considering you are already three months along. Of course, you can’t be certain as you haven’t seen a doctor, yet which is probably something you should plan to do. In fact, you grab your phone and call your OBGYN’s office while Calum is gone. They set up an appointment for you for Monday morning, four days away. It made you nervous that you would have to be a little late to work for this, but you have to get used to it. This is your life now; doctor’s appointments and juggling work around with it until the baby comes.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twenty minutes later Calum comes back with the Chinese food. He grabs everything out of the bag while you grab utensils and plates. You will never be that person that can eat your food with chopsticks even though you have made quite a collection of them over the years. You grab a plate and pile it with one of everything, even “Calum’s food” which he doesn’t really seem to mind. The two of you eat quietly at the kitchen table with the soft noise of the tv in the background. It wasn’t exactly awkward, but it wasn’t comfortable either. The silence was somewhere painstakingly in the middle.

When you finish your food, you pack up the leftovers for Calum and put your portion of the leftovers in the fridge. You rinse the dishes and throw them in the dishwasher quietly pressing the button to start a new cycle. You go to sit on the couch assuming Calum will follow you over there. It’s now or never.

“Hey Calum, can we talk?” you ask tentatively, knowing he will probably say yes.

“Sure, is everything okay?” he responds, answering your question with another.

You sigh before you start, “I’m going to tell you something and you have to promise not to get angry right away…you’re allowed to be angry later, but you have to let me say everything first, got it?”

He nods in response, a little too afraid to say anything to upset you.

“Okay, here goes nothing. I’m pregnant…I’m pregnant and it’s yours…I guess I’m not 100% sure but I’m 98% sure and I have an appointment scheduled with my doctor on Monday morning to verify everything that I’m pretty positive is happening. I skipped my period two months in a row right after we spent that night together after the club. I was pretty buzzed when we hooked up and for the life of me can’t remember if we used a condom. But if we did, it broke. I’m not on the pill or the shot or anything like that because I used to take it and I gained weight on it and I haven’t been sexually active in a year or so since my ex dumped me. So, I don’t really know who to blame. But this is happening. This is real and I’m sorry. I know you will probably be frustrated about this. Whether your anger is directed towards me or the situation at large, you’re still mad. And I get it. I didn’t find out until earlier today. I took three tests. All positive. I’m sorry. And Luke knows. He called me earlier and thought something was up, so he came over and then he found the tests in my bathroom. I wanted to tell you before him but it kind of slipped. So, I’m sorry for that too. I’m going to stop talking now so you can say something…” you spill all of this information way too fast.

Calum looks at you like a deer caught in headlights, which is honestly what you expected his reaction to be. This is a lot to dump on someone, especially at his age of 23. I mean you were only 22 yourself, how were you going to have this baby now? And after he or she pops out you are going to have to raise them. Who are you going to raise them with? Does Calum even want to be involved? Your mind is racing a million miles a minute with all of these questions, waiting for Calum to say something, anything.

“Wow…I really don’t know what to say. I barely remember that night as well, so I don’t think either of us are really to blame. But we are having a baby. Or like we are 99% sure we are having a baby. Wow. I’m sorry I’m trying to comprehend this all as fast as I can, but this is a lot. You said you have a doctor’s appointment Monday, right? I could come with you. Only if you want of course, I don’t want to intrude. But what I’m trying to say is that I’ll be there if you want me to be. I’m here to help you in any way I can. I want to be there for my child, and for you,” his words almost run together because of how fast he is speaking.

“Thank you,” you finally say, your voice quieter than you intended. “That’s all I could ask is for you to be honest. I’m scared. Scared shitless. But this is happening and god dammit I am going to be a mom whether I like it or not. So here goes nothing,” you conclude.

The way Calum looks at you is the same way he has been looking at you for the three years you’ve known him but somehow it is entirely different at the same time. This is the begin to a long journey that the two of you now have to share.

[asukaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I watched 3.33 again, after many a year, and it’s going to take some more rewatches to really stick in my brain, but here’s what stands out to me.

Most of it’s Kaworu-heavy, as there is a lot going on here.

Also please note that this is just me getting my thoughts in order. This is all me trying to figure out what I just watched for the first time in many years. I will likely come back to this post and change some thoughts.

Also also, if you don’t like the Rebuilds, don’t bother with this post. It’s hard enough to find any discussions about these movies without someone sticking their ass in to say how they hate them. I don’t care if you hate them.

Kaworu is both the first angel and the thirteenth/final angel, which isn’t too big a difference from the original NGE, but it’s still significant to me. He becomes the ‘thirteenth’ when he and Shinji unknowingly fall into Gendo’s plot to wipe out the last traces of SEELE (which includes getting rid of Kaworu). This means Kaworu is technically the Alpha and the Omega--like Vergil from DMC :3

Kaworu is called “SEELE’s boy” by Fuyutsuki and Gendo, which means at some point between 2.22 (when they saw him on the moon) and 3.33 (fourteen years after he was given to them), they discovered his origins. They also learned he was intended as part of their Instrumentality Project (which is why Gendo insists Shinji pilot Unit 13 with Kaworu when the time comes).

But I don’t think Kaworu’s just a clone of Adam. Or rather, if he is, he’s the ideal type with a soul intact. When Shinji asks Kaworu why Rei wasn’t chosen to be the second pilot of Unit 13, Kaworu says that a “replica of [a human] won’t do; her soul is somewhere else.” This suggests that Kaworu, despite being made from Adam, also has a soul.

Kaworu seeing himself as the first angel--Adam--makes his comments to Shinji about how there is no such thing as an unforgivable sin, and that there is always hope, hit a lot harder this time around than they did originally. He’s speaking from the heart about things he feels about himself. He’s telling Shinji things he’s had to learn alone. This makes him hangin’ out on the moon, always looking up at Earth (which is still heavily damaged from Second Impact--in fact, you can see the wound of Second Impact on Earth very visibly from space) make a lot more sense. He’s looking at the damage he caused. He can’t not look at it.

This also makes him showing Shinji the damage of Near Third Impact incredibly painful not just because it’s an awful truth Shinji has to face, but because Kaworu is likely thinking of his own past and guilt. Shinji was unknowingly responsible for the near total destruction of the world and humanity--something Kaworu, as Adam, was also responsible for. But even though Kaworu himself technically didn’t do it (nor did Adam willingly cause Second Impact), he still harbors the grief and guilt--the sin--of those actions. This is why he’s so determined to make up for the past. This is why he clings so stubbornly to hope.

This is also why he takes the choker off Shinji. He is very blatantly taking on the burden of Shinji’s “sin” as an act of trust and love to Shinji. The choker was created to prevent an awakening disaster that was similar to the Impacts. The Second Impact only happened because test experiments on Adam woke him up. Kaworu puts the choker on himself, saying that it was created by Lilin because they feared him. I imagine a lot of this goes completely over Shinji’s head, and it sure flew over mine until this rewatch. While the choker wasn’t created with Kaworu specifically in mind, it was created in response to the type of destruction he did. Ergo, it was created out of fear of him.

The only two people in the world, in all of existence perhaps, who can understand the guilt, pain, horror, and desperate hope of being both responsible for the world’s destruction and its only chance at hope, are Kaworu and Shinji. These are also the two pilots whose hopes and actions are consistently used against them by the machinations of others (SEELE and NERV respectively).

This is in no way an attempt to diminish what Mari, Asuka, and Rei all go through as pilots, by the way. They’ve all got it pretty rough, and I’m not saying Kaworu and Shinji have it worse, only that 3.33 lays it on pretty thick that Shinji and Kaworu are the two characters who can really understand how the other one feels as they’re both consistently used as pawns. (Rei isn’t even a pawn, she’s cannon fodder waiting to be deployed, and that’s fucked up on a whole other level that makes me really sad for her.)

One thing I find quite sad about the choker bit is that it’s clear Kaworu never for a moment doubts that his orders (pilot Unit 13 with Shinji, remove the Lances, and restore the world) are in any way lies. He, like Rei (who only does anything as long as it’s an order), trusts his orders implicitly--which makes me wonder what, exactly, SEELE told him. I’m gonna guess they told him he was responsible in some way for the Second Impact, and that only he (and Shinji) could work together to fix it. He puts on the choker because he doesn’t think there’s a chance of it activating, doesn’t think there’s a chance that what they’re doing is wrong, but he still wants to relieve Shinji of his fear and pain.

The one thing that strikes me as really bizarre--like, to the point where I still struggle to understand it--is Kaworu’s final speech to Shinji.

Shinji: What should I do?

Kaworu: Even if your soul disappears, your wishes and curses remain in this world. Your will roams the world as information, and gradually changes. Eventually, even your own self is altered.

I think this is Kaworu saying, in a very... Kaworu way, that even if he dies, part of him will remain here with Shinji. The hopes he and Shinji shared, and even their pain/sin, will linger on in the world. That “will” lingers, and creates change. That’s why his final words are him directly saying, “We’ll meet again.”

I think this is also a very Kaworu way to tell Shinji what he was told at the start: don’t do anything/there’s nothing you can do. Kaworu is saying that there’s sadly nothing Shinji can do in this situation, just like there’s nothing any living person can do to control the fact that who they are--and how they are remembered--will be forever out of their control after death. But he also points out that even if you can’t deliberately change things, your impact on the world (your will) does change, and that in turn changes you.

3.33 is really not easy for me to digest, so I’m going to have to watch and rewatch it a lot to see what sticks out again. I just wish there was more actual analysis of the Rebuilds going around, because the changes they’re doing are super interesting, and 3.33 in particular seems to be both a big step up from EP 25/26′s and End of Eva’s lessons combined (how the only way you can ever hope to change what you hate about yourself and your life is by continuing to live). 3.33′s final message is about how change is inevitable even if you can’t control it--it continues on even after death.

But also, Kaworu’s final message is just one more evidence in the “loop zoop reincarnation timeline” theory pile lmao. Because his last words are ABOUT MEETING AGAIN AND HOW PARTS OF YOU LINGER IN THE WORLD AND CHANGE EVEN IF YOUR SOUL IS GONE

SO RLY THE FINAL CONVO IS LIKE

Shinji: What should I do? Kaworu: Wait a little bit, another loop zoop will kick in eventually.

[awfydreich]

Making sense of it all

So I’m still trying to process how I feel about the ending of Endgame, and particularly Steve’s ending, but I’m not going to be able to do that until I can understand exactly what happened, or at least the most likely implied scenarios that followed, so this will be a long ass post in which I try making sense of it and setting it all out. (And I’d be grateful for any help, additions or corrections as I’ve only seen the movie once so far and may have just spent too long spewing out things as they come to me and it might not even make sense)

This is just going to be about the whats and the possibilities and ramifications. The whys and the shoulds and the making of the decision itself is for another post.

I was fine and on board with it until it got to the part where the stones had to be returned to where they had originally been to keep everything as it should be. We have Loki making off with the tesseract in 2012. Then, of course there was Steve. Perhaps the timeline where both Loki with the tesseract and Steve fighting his former self and telling him about Bucky, were erased after he took the stones back and this loop was closed maybe? That was the point of bringing the stones back to their original times and places kinda? So the order of the universe didn’t go awry or something? I’d maybe have to watch it again to get the exact explanation. So the alternate 2012 branches can possibly be explained away anyway? Along with any others. But maybe not, maybe bringing the stones back only stopped things from becoming worse in those timelines but now that they exist they will continue on from there.

Now what I’m really trying to wrap my head around is how the timeline(s) goes from there. I think there had been something said about not changing the past and a lot of posts seem to assume that when he went back, which obviously changed things, he did little to nothing else.

So there seem to be two main possibilities as a result of going back and staying. The first of which I don’t think is what would’ve happened but I’ll explore it anyway.

1) He remained within the same main timeline of the MCU thus far

The fact that he didn’t appear back on the platform and that he was just sitting there, waiting on the bench as an old man, seemingly having lived out his life and gone to them once time had caught up to when he left, might imply that all the alternate branches were closed upon returning the stones and that he simply went back to the past, stayed and grew old and then made his way naturally to the place and time that he left from, that he was still part of the same reality rather than an alternate one which he had returned from. If that's the case, how did he stay in the same timeline/reality instead of a newly created one in order to do that?

And I think that’s where all the posts about him just sitting back and letting all these awful things he knows about just happen, from Bucky and HYDRA to the world at large, come from. Because if he had rescued Bucky and done things differently, then that would have rippled up and their memories of events would have been significantly altered, which was definitely not the case. 

So IF he was still from the same version of reality as Sam and Bucky at the end, then it almost certainly implies that he did nothing else to affect how events unfolded. But then again I’m not sure just how being with Peggy would have rippled onwards, even if he lived quietly and anonymously and was the person Peggy married all along, between her dementia later and Sharon at the very least, the cat would be out the bag and it still would have impacted later events. There’s no way it couldn’t have an effect on the way things went. Would he just have effectively become a ghost just prior to 2012 and hope that neither Sharon (if she knew), or at least a severely addled Peggy would let on about him in order not to mess with how events would unfold from then? And that’s even with assuming that any version of Steve could ever have left everything else alone and not tried to stop HYDRA or save Bucky from them. 

But the rules that the movie seemed to establish was that going back and changing things could only result in a new timeline and would not affect the ‘current’ one. Which is why as they said, going back and killing baby Thanos wouldn’t work.  And he'd still have had the means to travel back  to his original timeline and didn't necessarily have to show back up on the platform for this to be so. So should it be ruled out that Old Man Steve was here from the same reality/timeline unless there was some way to get around that I’ve not caught onto?

2) An alternate timeline was created

Now, if we go down the other road then since that seems the more plausible fit, he looped everything back except from where he got off the ride so to speak and the very fact that he stayed meant that another reality/timeline was created?

It’s still possible that he did as little else to impact future events as possible. But if it’s a whole other version of reality from there on out was there anything to now keep him from making more changes? And either way, I really cannot imagine him living through the years, knowing about Bucky and HYDRA and any other number of bad things that happened and being able to ignore it. 

However, either way you look at it, in either timeline or version of reality for him from then on, there is still the version of him frozen in the ice. Would he have left himself there until he was found the same way in 2012? Then what? That Steve wakes up after losing his time and place in the world and everyone he knew to find that another version of him got to live the life that should have been his? Would there then be two Steve’s around? Or is that the point in which Steve would have left that reality and gone back to his original one in order to let newly woken Steve be the only one? But then I can’t imagine him leaving Peggy and whatever family he may have at all by then, and especially as she had begun to deteriorate. And again, people would still be left having known about him being there prior, whether he made major changes or not.

I guess the best case scenario there would be that the new Older Steve would have talked to him and eventually told him and set him on a path in which he could also go back and live a life?  Although in that case, here we would have every version of Steve having to go backwards in time and create a new timeline and new reality every time in order to be able to live a life and be happy and that seems really sad... 

Also, although I don’t want to go too much into the whys and whether he should have made the decision in the first place because this post is already far too long, as long as I’m going into all the potentials of what exactly happened with Steve and the ramifications, I think it needs to be mentioned that Steve knew that Peggy had moved on, gotten married (can’t remember if there were kids?) and had lived a full life and had been happy. Now, keeping opinions and judgement out of it for the moment, there is no denying that, while this becomes another version of events, it’s still a life Peggy would have had or should have had, but for his directly changing things and that would always be somewhere in his mind.

Here now, there is certainly a case to be made that he didn’t marry Peggy at all. He didn’t tell Sam who he married after all, it seemed deliberately ambiguous there, even if the cut to their long overdue dance would definitely imply that it was her. And if it wasn’t, aside from it once again raising questions of whether he lived his life keeping away from making waves... it would then be the case that he left his friends/family and the life he had built since waking up, to not then make a life with the person who was at that point still the love of his life? Just have their dance and live in another time again without most of the people he had come to know and care about and hope he could meet someone new and make it worth it? Now that seems pretty damn far fetched.  

Lastly, I think for now anyway, while still trying to keep this from becoming an argument against the ending and whether you think it was in character etc, while I think we all love Steve want to see him able to look to himself for once and he absolutely deserves to have a chance at happiness, it should still also be said that whichever way you look at it, however the timelines play out, what we’re left with and the only thing we know for sure happened is that even if perhaps he technically didn’t leave his friends and everything else, since he showed up again right after to them... but still instead of trying to make a life for himself in the world as it is alongside his friends that had become family, I don’t know if there’s any other way of laying it out other than that Steve literally chose to create a whole new version of reality to live in and leave his own, to make this other life that he wanted for himself. 

Again, the issue of that is a whole other debate although this has probably been coloured at least a little by that side of things, but in trying to make sense of events this is what I’ve got so if I’m way way off and I’m coming at things all wrong, please add to this or let me know.

[ebelwrites]

Counting Heads

The very early hours of the morning isn't the best time to have a scare because of a false alarm. Neither is it a good time to have a serious conversation with your boyfriends. But it still happens; that doesn't mean it achieves all that much.

In which things are discussed but nothing changes, but did they really want them to change in the first place.

(Alternative title: Nightmare Stresses, Error Knits, and Dust Has Had It Up To Here With This Baloney)

He blearily blinked his eye opened as he slowly returned to wakefulness. It was a soft wakeup, nothing had startled him awake, and so his body took its time slowly adjusting to the waking world. He blinked a bit more to try and remove some of the fog from his sight, it didn't do the same for his mind. His thoughts felt like there was tar dragging at them, preventing him from fully grasping them. But his instincts drove him to lift his head upwards; On reflex, he began to count the other beings in the room with him.

one…two…three…four…-…FOUR?!

Instantly, Nightmare snapped awake, his peace long forgotten amidst the panic he now felt. There was one missing. He bolted upwards, trying to get a better view of the room. His panic surging forward, driving him to count again. Who was missing? Who was missing? He had to be wrong.

One; Red scarf-On the right.

Two; Black streaks-In front, on the floor.

Three; X markings-Tangled with Two

Four; Glitching code-In the armchair, to the right.

Five? Five? Where was-

A loud snore cut off his panicked thoughts, and he sought desperately to find where the noise had come from. He almost believed he'd imagined it, some hallucination born out his mind's attempt at preservation against the panic, until he heard it again, and quickly whirled to face the direction it came from. It took a few moments for him to realise what he was seeing, but then he fell back with a sigh.

Five; Cracked skull-Under the table.

Well, there was definitely no going back to sleep now. He grumbled to himself as he surveyed the chaos of the room; the remains of the movie night they'd had, before everyone had drifted off to sleep wherever they had been. Apparently, for some of them, that had been a rather unusual place. The title screen of the last film they'd watched, some B-rate horror flick that Killer had picked up in the last above-ground timeline he'd entered, played upon the television screen, casting the only light upon the scene. It was a testament to how tired he was that he didn't even realise he'd woken Dust until he went to get up in order to start cleaning (Because there was popcorn everywhere, it was in his carpets), and found a pair of hands dragging him back to the couch.

"Nope, too early." With that eloquent sentence, Dust, terroriser of worlds, murderer of hundreds, let out a kitten-like yawn and fell back into position against Nightmare's shoulder. He really didn't want to disturb Dust, but there wasn't any way the leftover anxiety was going to let him rest.

"Let me go; Someone has to pick up."

"It can wait until morning."

"Technically, it is morning." Dust made a noise somewhere in-between a snort and a groan at his reply and raised half-lidded sockets up to glare at him without any heat.

"You know what I meant; It can wait until a reasonable hour." He squinted and grumbled to himself as the light from the TV caught him the wrong way. "What are you even doing awake? It's far too early to be up. No one else is even up yet." A pair of clicking needles quietly wormed their way into the conversation to dispute that observation. "Well, except for him."

In fairness to Dust, Error had been pretty quiet. Sitting curled up in the armchair that they'd reserved for when he wasn't feeling up to physical contact, he'd been quietly knitting away since before Nightmare had even stirred. But, then again, Error had sleep patterns that put Nightmare's to shame, so it wasn't that unusual.

"Dust has a good point; what did stir you so badly?" Error carefully set his knitting to the side, staring intently at the two on the couch. "You woke peacefully, I had assumed you would just fall back to sleep. What startled you?" Nightmare grumbled a bit, his face tinting blue slightly.

"…I couldn't find Horror…" It was all he said, but it was all he needed to; Dust and Error let out groans in unison.

"You stress far too much." Dust settled against his side, doing a wonderful job of, almost innocently, pinning Nightmare in place; it was quite the good deception, even though Nightmare already knew about this trick of his. "Not a single being, no matter what their skills, would be able to sneak into this place undetected, and you know it."

"Besides, you'd hope that after last time, people would have more sense than to try taking one of us." The only reason Error could say it was because he was the one taken, but it still made Dust and Nightmare wince at the reminder. A Swap!Papyrus, not the Swap!Papyrus, but one who'd heard about Error and that particular Swap!Sans, had thought himself clever to kidnap the destroyer of AU's. Nightmare and the rest of the evil Sans' had taken offence to that and rained hell upon his entire world. By the end, they'd made him regret ever thinking up that particular scheme; or he would have regretted it, if he'd still been alive to regret, but that was beside the point. Nightmare didn't think he'd ever had been as emotional as that time. (The others had thought it to be rage; Privately, he thought it was fear. Whichever it was, he'd made sure to keep them all in sight for the next several days. It eased the coil in his ribcage, being able to check on all of them at once.)

"The point remains, Nightmare, you should go back to sleep. We're all here, we're all safe, and cleaning can wait until a proper hour." And apparently, that was all Error would have to say on the subject, as he picked up his knitting again and continued with some new project. Dust seemed quite welcome to the idea, settling down almost immediately; he'd been hanging onto consciousness by a thread, and now that an opportunity to go back to sleep presented itself, he took it. He was soon slumbering against Nightmare's shoulder. With no other option presented to him, Nightmare took one last glance around the room; making sure everyone was exactly where he'd last seen them. His eye closed almost against his will, and he found himself curled up to Dust. The steady clicks of the knitting needles slowly eased the last dregs of tension and anxiety that had coiled in his ribcage; he drifted off without even realising.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Okay...

Finally sitting down to watch Zi-O ep 4...

Let’s game?

Well, no, actually no, we won’t, but I was trying to be thematic.

And in no particular order:

Okay, that explains it. When I saw the preview images it looked like they were talking to Emu, and then Geiz and Sougo both henshined and took a knee for some reason. It’s actually the other way round.

Geez, Emu. Since when were you this uncommunicative and unhelpful? That’s Taiga’s job!

Like seriously, you know these two are Kamen Riders. Just explain yourself to them instead of making weird vague statements.

Geiz at it again w/ the grump. Have I mentioned--you know where that’s going.

Tsukuyomi w/ the intercede again. I’m liking this trio.

Okay, I wanna know who Goggles is. The guy whose hand Geiz was holding in that future-flashback? A friend? Brother? This being Toei it’s unlikely to be a boyfriend, but it’s still possible. He looks like he mighta been a nice fellow, I’m sorry he died.

I guess this is a lot to take in, and Sougo is generally pretty slow on the uptake, it appears, so... But looks like he’s getting it now.

Tsukuyomi, I really hope you’re aware just how much of a problem child you just decided to adopt.

I actually agree w/ someone else I saw, I think. I kinda wish they would give her a better reason than ‘I don’t know’ for this. Like, I’m liking the idea that she doesn’t want her childhood friend to technically become a murderer by killing someone who is, at that point, still innocent, but this ‘I don’t know’ thing is kinda... meh to me. It doesn’t feel touching or sweet, and is even kinda out of character... But that’s just me. She’s super great, but she otherwise seems so decisive and confident that it’s a little odd.

OH MY GOD IT’S THAT CHURCH! I mean--it’s that wizard Bugster!

Fun fact, that Church is not just a Toei set. I have seen it in about FIVE other shows I think (don’t ask me to name them all, I can’t--but Kaname Jun was in one I think)

AH! Brave is here! But it’s back in 2016, episode... 2? Or maybe 3, but it would be when Hiiro literally just got there, so he’s still an ass. I mean, I still love him. But he was an ass.

Geiz, mister straight forward, just fucking informs them he’s from the future, I love him.

Maybe this has something to do w/ Hiiro’s sense that he should help them before... Aside from grumpy secondary solidarity, ofc.

‘From your perspective,’ Geiz, you are literally from 2068. I’m pretty sure, excepting folks from 2069 onward, that that’s the future from everyone’s perspective.

Also, to get this out of the way: AAAAAAH! SETO IS SO PRETTY! OH MY GOD I LOVE HIM SO MUCH EVEN WHEN HE’S A DICK! AND ESPECIALLY WHEN HE’S NOT!

Note: I don’t love him because he’s a dick, but what I love is grumpy, pretty much jerky characters who come out of that bc they start caring about someone or something (again, in Hiiro’s case). Did that make sense?

Also, I’m actually giggling bc of how much of a pompous ass my grumpy surgeon son was. The fact that this is literally like, right after he first showed up, means that he’s at peak dickishness and it’s really funny to look back.

Kids pulling on Geiz. God, honey, what were you expecting when you put that thing on? Well, at least they’re aware of how goofy it is.

On that note, ARE WE EVER GONNA SEE YOU WITHOUT IT?

Also, dear god, someone get this boy some fashion advice. I’ve SEEN that preview image sweetie. You canNOT dress yourself.

Oh my god, it’s the hospital helipad. Now I’m nostalgic.

Okay. Emu can teleport to game worlds now? Al... Alright then. You know what, whatever.

And Emu’s getting thrown around again. Some things never change. What’s still funny about this is still that Ijima Hiroki is (still) not a short man. He’s 5′ 10″. This, to me, makes how much Emu get’s thrown around utterly hilarious.

See, Emu. This is what happens when you don’t pull a Taiga, and discuss things w/ people. You’re the one who forced Hiiro to learn that, why are you doing it?

Aw, Sougo appreciates that Tsukuyomi is trying to save the future w/out killing him. Good kids.

Where’s that B99 ‘cool motive still murder’ picture? I mean, I know it’s a kid. But dude... You don’t have the right to other people’s lives (or body parts) just bc your son is dying.

Hm... I know people are thinking it’s named after Hiiro, but... What if it’s named after his dad? I mean, Kagami Haima was the director of the hospital, he had to start somewhere. To me that feels more logical? Bc it’s only been two years since Ex-Aid, that’s awfully fast to name a medical procedure... But it’s just a thought.

You know what, I bet Hiiro feels bad for brushing Geiz off in the past, so now he’s like ‘I must do everything I can to help these kids out bc when I met them before I was a jerk.’ Part of his ‘stop being an anti-social grump’ attempt. And he’s worried about Emu.

Does the Time Majin have an AI? How did it know to fly up to the roof right then? Is it telepathically connected to Sougo now?

So Uhr is helping Ora/Hora out? Maybe there is hope for a villain-family dynamic after all...

Also apparently that’s Takeru’s mech? Takeru has a mech? I really need to finish Ghost... But it’s either just for the sake of cameo, or it’s related to how Geiz got the Ghost Ride Watch. Now I’m wondering if he maybe stole the Drive and Ghost Watches from the Time Jackers? But if that’s the case, why did they have them? They usually use the Another Rider Watches...? Are Takeru and Shinnosuke okay? Oh my god, did Takeru die again? Actually, I guess Shinnoksuke also died a lot in that one movie so... Oh dear.

Is Sougo transforming in tiny spaces gonna be a thing now?

Come to think... Since the opening, we haven’t seen Woz. What’s prophet boy up to?

This tiny gremlin child who I adore and want to pinch the cheeks of just giggling to himself in his busted mech like a five year old.

Sorry, Geiz, you can’t beat the bounce.

Sougo just fucking slams this thing w/ the Time Majin.

And so, the path toward very reluctant and at first very awkward friendship begins. Let’s a-go kids!

But also god that boy is skinny. Honey, do you even HAVE hips? Are you okay?

Geiz is having feelings but is very confused right now. Punching things is generally a good venting method.

And the boys are still very bad at not being good at teamwork. Like, they’re already synchronising in pretty much every fight they’ve been in--not just in henshins but in attacks and so on.

Emu that looks NOTHING LIKE YOU, WHY would you call it a doppelgänger.

Since this is after Hiiro first showed up, it means that the two of them still don’t like each other (bc it took them a while to get there), so I’m not surprised that he wouldn’t call Hiiro immediately if something came up. Plus this may not show up bc CR relied on reports by witnesses and were in an abandoned warehouse. But then why is Emu...? Oh, I don’t know.

Was his henshin really always that deep?

Oh! There he is! Woz! I was wondering where you were! So, uh... Where were you?

Geiz: ‘Oh no, not again!’

Wow, he did the hoppity hop thing!

HE HAS GIANT BUMPS ON HIS ARMS! I LOVE THE GIANT BUMPERS ON HIS ARMS!

(I think they’re meant to be buttons?)

Aaaaand, right on cue, there Woz goes again.

Emu just like ‘okay then, let’s roll w/ this then, I guess!’

Wait, but the Brave and Snipe (and Genm, and then there’s Para-DX, and Poppy, and Cronus... Though I guess those last ones may not end up existing since they’re post-this?) Watches don’t seem to be in-show, so... Does that mean that Hiiro and Taiga keep their powers? Bc there was a Crozz-Z Ride Watch, so I now understand Ryuuga losing his, but there were so many Riders in Ex-Aid... Though maybe there’s a whole butterfly thing that simply by removing the primary everything is effected. Bc if you had to account for each individual Rider... Imagine how complex and difficult shows like Ryuki and Gaim would be to explain/sort through.

Hiroki has such a nice smile. Actually, pretty much everyone is Ex-Aid had a nice smile when they smiled.

Oh, god, yes. I really hope that the Rider trying to teach Sougo how to do the finisher in some way (miming for Emu, explaining for Sento) is a thing every time... Though I guess since they couldn’t get Gentaro we won’t get to see him do it... But maybe Takumi will? (I’ve never actually watched Faiz, so I have no idea what the finisher looks like)

Oh, hey. When Sougo hits him it says it in... Kanji, I think? But in Japanese characters of some kind instead of English.

ATTACK OF THE SUBTITLES!

Geiz standing of to the side trying to act cool while these two dorks help this man up.

... He’s wearing socks and... You know what, this is Japan. They’re probably his shoes for inside, and because he was running out to the ambulance with his dying son, he didn’t bother to change.

I love how Emu is like ‘who could we possibly... OH! That asshole!’ (again bc this is the very early season, back hen we didn’t like each other)

HE SAID IT! I guess they cut away so Seto didn’t actually have to eat the cake. Apparent he doesn’t actually like sweets? Maybe bc he’s such a sweetie. ^^

I really love it when the ones playing the ‘serious grumps’ are really adorably dorky and super nice. Like apparently, Seto was the funny and fun one, which I find so cute and hilarious.

Sougo here, getting into the groove of things during his second rodeo.

Emu’s like ‘are you two together?’ and Geiz is like ‘someone shoot me.’

Awwww. Of course Hiiro saved him. Though they haven’t shown us anything yet... So, maybe, even in the altered timeline, he and Emu still ends dup becoming close somehow? Can I pretend that’s the case? Seriously, Hiiro needs that kid. Otherwise he’s just gonna continue forgetting how to be human.

Why do you need another plate? But I think it’s cute how Junichiro is making so much food. I wonder if it’ll be like Mario in Zyuohger, where when he find out (if he doesn’t already know) he decides to just make life at the shop as homey as possible.

Geiz, maybe you should start using his name? Just to, you know, keep Uncle from getting suspicious?

ALSO WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WEARING WHY... I just can’t anymore. I love my dorky fashion disaster assassin son.

Here we are w/ the intense staring again. Wouldn’t be KR w/out it.

Geiz and Tsukuyomi be like ‘wow no pressure.’ Seriously, Geiz looks like he’s having a small panic attack back there.

He looks very pretty, though.

Aw, they’re keeping their Ride Watches together!

Well, there’s clearly a friendship theme, so I’m hoping there’s a level of deepening the bonds that just started forming in this episode. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Faiz other than apparently Kaixa is a horrible person (given that the preview images imply he’s strangling some poor girl, I am inclined to agree), so I can’t make any guesses there.

All I ask for Christmas is ONE episode where Geiz doesn’t wear that damn collar thing. I know it’s only been four eps but just ONE.

And, in final news, looks like they’re switching the Watches around.

Okay! Well, that's that for now. Now, my head hurts and I still want pizza, so... Not much else to say. Imaginary pizza for anyone who read all of this, you really didn’t need to do that.

I’m gonna pretend Hiiro and Emu are still friends somehow. Having a good time here, looks like we’re looking at another solid trio and I love it. Also, w/ OOO and Ghost apparently coming up... Good times.

[empress-of-snark]

(last header by @caseyblu)

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (2018)

(I am a Fool and I didn’t post this yesterday, I apologize)

AKA: I wish I hadn’t already used the “Everything hurts and I’m dying” reference on Iron Man 2, because it’s even more applicable now.

(So many spoilers, like seriously, don’t read if you haven’t seen Infinity War yet.)

Hoo boy, wow. This was the big one. It’s kind of like Civil War--there’s just so much going on that it’s hard to know where to start. Only it’s like 100 times bigger than that. So yeah, this might get confusing. Sorry in advance.

First off, I’m not totally convinced that Loki’s dead. I know, I know, I’m not gonna go off on a rant and it’s not just because I like him. It’s because his death really didn’t make sense. I mean, I understand why it had to happen plot-wise, but I don’t understand why someone as powerful as Loki would simply use a knife to attack Thanos, who now has two infinity stones. One could argue he wasn’t thinking clearly after seeing Thor tortured, but that doesn’t seem in-character to me. I dunno, maybe I’m just in denial. But I have a hunch he may come back one last time in Avengers 4, maybe with Valkyrie.

There were a lot of characters absent who I expect will make an appearance in Avengers 4, assuming they weren’t dusted. Hawkeye, Ant-Man & the Wasp, Valkyrie, Korg & Meik, Lady Sif, Wong (if he’s done protecting the Sanctorum, that is).

Actually, I’m calling it right now. End credits scene of Avengers 4. Dr. Strange opens the doors to the Sanctum Sanctorum, bloody, bruised, and exhausted after the fight of his life. Wong is sitting on the stairs with a half-eaten carton of Ben & Jerry’s “Hulk-A-Hulk-A-Burning-Fudge” ice cream. “How’d it go?”

Also excited to meet Captain Marvel and learn what exactly she’s been doing for the past ten years that was more important than ever helping save the world. Maybe she’s just so powerful that no threat has been big enough to require her presence? I guess we’ll find out next year.

Anyway, it was great seeing all the different characters meet and interact for the first time. It’s another big crossover, like the first Avengers movie. Except this one is like three or four big groups scattered across the galaxy and you have to keep track of who knows who and who’s where doing what. It gets confusing at times, especially trying to remember things like who’s supposed to know about the infinity stones, who knows about Thanos, who has no idea what’s going on, etc.

I spotted another timeline issue that confuses things even more, actually. Tony references the events of the first Avengers film and says they happened six years ago. Which means that technically Spiderman Homecoming is supposed to happen two years after this (as the beginning indicates it’s eight years after the attack on New York). I guess it doesn’t make a huge difference, I’m just surprised they’d make a mistake like that, with how meticulous they usually are about continuity.

It was still pretty painful to watch all those characters turn to dust at the end, even though I know they’re definitely coming back in Avengers 4 (they literally just announced the release date of Spiderman 2). Ugh, his scene still gets me. Knowing that his lines there were improvised honestly makes it worse.

This is obviously the first time we’ve ever seen a villain actually win, even if it’s just part one. And before anyone says anything else about Quill ruining the plan and being responsible for their loss, consider this: Strange saw this future. He knew there was only one way they could defeat Thanos and if he didn’t stop Quill then, that means it had to happen. If Quill had stayed quiet and they’d gotten the gauntlet off, something else would’ve gone wrong and Thanos still would’ve killed half the universe.

Also, consider that Quill has always been a very emotional character. He had the same reaction to Gamora’s death that he did in Guardians 2 when he learned that Ego killed his mother. He was not acting rationally and we shouldn’t condemn him for being sad/angry that the woman he loves is dead.

It is a little unhelpful that Strange dissolved before leaving any sort of instructions. He’s the only one who knows exactly what should happen and now he’s gone, leaving everyone else to figure it out on their own.

One complaint that my brother pointed out is that this movie kind of negates a lot of what happened in Ragnarok. Yes, Asgard is still gone, but the point of Ragnarok was to strip Thor down to nothing. He lost his hammer. In Infinity War, he’s got a new axe. He lost an eye. Rocket gives him a new one. He and Loki finally reconciled. Loki’s dead now. He befriended Valkyrie. Who even knows where Valkyrie is. Also half the Asgardian refugees are dead now. It just makes you wonder what the point of Ragnarok was if nothing stuck.

So let’s talk about Gamora real quick. First of all, her singing along with Quill to his music was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Second of all, I’m not convinced she’s dead either (yes, like Loki, this is partly just because I don’t want her to be dead). There’s theories that she may be trapped in the soul stone, possibly along with everyone who got dusted, which means that there may be a chance of getting her back in Avengers 4. I really hope so, cause I just can’t imagine another Guardians movie without her.

There’s probably a million and one other things left to say but I don’t want this review to drag on too long. You all saw the movie, you know how devastating it is, I don’t have to tell you.

RANKINGS:      Disclaimer: We’re considering the characters who went through the most change/development as ‘heroes’ and everyone else as ‘supporting.’ I’d love to sit down and rank every single character in this movie, but we’d be here all day.

     Hero(es): 8.5 Stormbreakers out of 10. This is Tony, Dr. Strange, Peter Quill, Gamora, Vision, Wanda, and Thor. All seven of these characters went through a ton of character development and growth, and come across as the real main characters. They all played off each other well (those that interacted, that is), and every one of them had to make some incredibly hard decisions that really reflected their heroism.

     Villain: 9.5 snaps out of 10. I mean, a villain always gets points when he’s easy to hate, and Thanos makes it soooo easy, omg. Like some others, his motivations actually make sense in a really twisted way and he’s not just trying to take over the world, which gets old. Plus, he actually succeeded in his goal! Can’t wait to see him get beaten to death in Avengers 4, fingers crossed.

     Supporting characters: 8 tuna melts out of 10. This is everyone but the seven mentioned above. Lots of the supporting characters provide a little comic relief in the more stressful moments. Just about every character plays some important role in the story and they all manage to work together to defeat Thanos.           Female characters: 7.5 Bechdels out of 10. This one kind of passes for a very brief interaction between Wanda, Natasha, and Proxima Midnight (Thanos’s evil daughter) on the battlefield in Wakanda. But we’ve established in the past that a movie can still be feminist whether or not it passes the Bechdel test. And this one still gets points for having multiple female characters who play crucial roles in the plot. Wanda and Gamora especially, as previously stated, are central characters. In fact, I think I read somewhere that Gamora actually gets the most screen time out of all the heroes, at something like 19 minutes.

     Action scenes: 10 punches out of 10. Nearly every MCU hero from the past ten years has to band together to fight Thanos and we get to see the full extent of everyone’s abilities. I especially love watching Dr. Strange and Wanda’s fighting techniques. Plus, the movie does a great job at balancing all the action by cutting back and forth between the different locations and giving us some reprieve from non-stop fighting.

     Stan Lee: 4 cameos out of 10. As Peter’s field trip bus driver, he delivers one of his best cameo lines: “What’s the matter, kids? You never seen a spaceship before?”

     Charisma: 8.5 points out of 10. This movie has some great themes of love and sacrifice. Multiple times one of the characters is forced to choose between a stone and a loved one (Thor and Loki, Gamora and Nebula, Wanda and Vision, etc.), and nearly every time, they choose their loved one. Thanos believes in sacrifice for the greater good, which is why he was willing to kill Gamora for the soul stone, but the heroes do not. Wanda is the only one who ends up sacrificing the one she loves (Vision) in order to destroy the mind stone, but she only does so under extreme duress and after exhausting every other option first. The running themes are very consistent, though I can’t say you leave the movie feeling good about anything, lol.

In total: 56 out of 65, so an 86%, which is actually higher than its Rotten Tomatoes score of 84%.

And that officially concludes the Great Marvel Rewatch of 2k18!! Thanks for following along, those of you who did! It’s been a fun, emotional, two weeks. Stay tuned for later, follow-up posts featuring a complete rankings list and possibly some other bonus materials! :)

[aion-rsa]

Was Captain America: Super Soldier Almost Part of the MCU Canon?

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If you’re anything like me, you probably haven’t thought about 2011’s Captain America: Super Soldier in years (if you remember the game at all). While a decent enough action game in its own right, Super Soldier is perhaps best remembered as a remnant of a very brief time when MCU films were adapted into video games that were often released the same week as the movies.

However, I recently heard an interesting rumor that I haven’t been able to shake. That rumor suggests that Super Soldier isn’t just based on an MCU film but at one point was meant to actually be part of the MCU canon. The only reason it apparently wasn’t added to the canon is simply that plans changed somewhere along the way.

It’s the kind of rumor that is easy to dismiss as wishful thinking crafted by internet trolls. Yet, much like we saw when we broke down the rumors that Link and Zelda are brother and sister, there are certain truths to this rumor which don’t necessarily confirm or deny it but instead reveal fascinating possibilities regarding what the MCU could have been if a few things had gone just a little differently.

Captain America: Super Soldier is Set in the MCU Universe but It’s Not Entirely Clear How it Fits

The first question that needs to be answered about Captain America: Super Soldier has to be “Is it actually based on Captain America: The First Avenger?”

It’s a surprisingly complicated question. At first glance, Super Soldier seems to be a fairly standard video game tie-in. Many of First Avenger’s main actors reprise their roles in the game, and Super Soldier was even released the same week as Captain America’s MCU debut. That all suggests that the world of the game is roughly meant to be the same as the one seen in the film.

However, the wording of this section of Super Soldier’s official announcement creates some confusion regarding the exact relationship between the game and the movie:

“[Christos] Gage wrote his original story for Captain America: Super Soldier so that the setting exists within the same world as the upcoming movie of the same name, but he infused the game with immersive twists designed to enhance gameplay with all-new cinematic action sequences.”

That statement certainly seems to be trying to carefully avoid the implication that Super Soldier is a direct adaptation of the film, which is an oddly prudent move given that the events of the game’s story happen during a time period that the movie doesn’t specifically cover. It’s certainly not hard to walk away from it with the impression that the intention was for Super Soldier to tell a First Avenger story that happened but just wasn’t shown in the movie.

One other interpretation of that statement to keep in mind is that Sega was trying to suggest that they were essentially creating a “What If?” scenario or some other kind of situation wherein they could justify having so many connections to the movie without strictly being based on it. The biggest problem with that idea, though, is the implication that the game is somehow arguing that there’s an MCU multiverse where the characters from that universe exist as we know them in the films but are going on entirely different adventures. That’s obviously hard to believe given the nature of the MCU’s structure as we know it today.

Mostly, though, that statement is just the first piece in what proves to be a larger puzzle.

Super Soldier Oddly Helps Set-Up Major Winter Soldier Plot Points

The most interesting quality of Super Soldier is how it almost accidentally sets up plot points that would appear in Winter Soldier and future MCU movies. There are few examples of that concept more intriguing than the game’s portrayal of Arnim Zola.

There’s a fascinating moment in Super Soldier when we see that Captain America has been captured by HYDRA. While he’s being restrained, Zola informs him that he has taken samples of Captain America’s blood in the hopes of recreating the super serum that gave Steve Rogers the abilities he needed to become the legendary hero. 

While Zola is stopped before he can deliver the completed version of that serum to Red Skull, we later learn that he had intended to use it on one of Captain America’s friends, James Montgomery Falsworth, in an effort to turn one of Captain America’s closest accomplices against him and give HYDRA a living weapon as strong as Rogers.

Strangely, that’s basically what happens with Bucky. In fact, the idea that Zola previously captured Captain America and used his blood to create a super-soldier serum goes a long way to explaining how and why Bucky turned out the way he did in the films. Zola was able to take what he learned from those experiments and simply fashion a new serum that was used to help create the Winter Soldier.

Another interesting “coincidence” involving Zola occurs later in the game when we learn that Zola has transferred his mind to a machine in order to battle Captain America. While that’s clearly a way for Captain America to have a more traditional video game boss fight against Zola, the entire process is oddly similar to how Zola eventually transfers his consciousness to a series of computer servers (as seen in Winter Soldier).

It should be noted that both of those stories were previously seen in Marvel comics and certainly aren’t the sole property of Super Soldier‘s writers and creative team. Still, it’s fascinating to consider how well those concepts gel with future MCU events.

Equally noteworthy (if certainly not as impactful) are the similarities between the HYDRA helicopter Captain America must battle at the end of Super Soldier and the design of the devices we see in the climactic aerial battle of Winter Soldier. In fact, the two designs are so similar that this is one area where you’ve really got to wonder if Sega was working with rough design sketches provided by Marvel or if Marvel Studios was perhaps intrigued by the way that Sega animated and designed those vehicles and decided to borrow them for future films.

It should also certainly be pointed out that one of Super Soldier’s core plot points involved an attempt to awaken an ancient force known as the Sleeper. Well, in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., we see an army of robot soldiers known as “Sleeper Mechs.” It’s hardly a 1:1 reference, but it’s another of the fascinating ways that later MCU works at least utilized basic terms and concepts that we previously saw in Super Soldier. It’s not even that hard to imagine a world in which the names of those soldiers have canonically intended a direct callback to HYDRA’s failed plot in the game.

While those similarities are undeniably fascinating, the most interesting thing about Super Soldier may just be the way it differs from what comes next.

The Mysteries of Baron Zemo, Wolfgang Von Strucker, and Madame Hydra’s Super Soldier Roles

Much of Super Soldier takes place in Castle Zemo: the home of Baron Heinrich Zemo. Comic book fans will no doubt recognize that character, but the name “Zemo” may only ring a bell with MCU fans who recall Zemo’s appearance in Captain America: Civil War and his involvement in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

Well, Super Soldier follows the Zemo characters of the comics a little more closely by portraying Henrich Zemo as a Nazi/Red Skull/H.Y.D.R.A. sympathizer who is eventually betrayed by forces who largely wish to use him for his resources as well as access to the Sleeper. In many Marvel Comics stories, Helmut Zemo is portrayed as the son of Henrich whose hatred towards Captain America is based on a desire to get revenge for his father. Obviously, the MCU version of Helmut Zemo could not possibly be the son of a man who died around the time of World War 2. 

Interestingly, though, the Civil War writers mentioned that they were, at one point, at least intrigued by the possibility of portraying the MCU’s Helmut as Henrich’s son. Ultimately, though, they felt it was too much of a stretch to suggest that Helmut would be so motivated for revenge over something that would have happened over 70 years ago in the MCU timeline. 

Still, you could interpret that statement to mean that there may have been a point when the MCU producers and creative team members were at least considering the possibility of portraying Helmut Zemo closer to the version of the character commonly seen in the comics and that Super Soldier could have been an early attempt to get the Zemo name out there.

There’s also the strange case of Wolfgang von Strucker. Strucker isn’t introduced in the MCU until Winter Soldier’s mid-credits sequence, but he ends up becoming a fairly important piece of the MCU in Age of Ultron (despite his relative lack of screentime). His eventual role in the MCU makes it that much more interesting that the first piece of any MCU adjacent media to introduce the character was Super Soldier.

While the version of Von Strucker we see in Super Soldier is certainly different than his eventual MCU counterpart (he sports the iconic Satan Claw from the comics, for instance, and he’s…you know..alive during WWII), it’s fascinating to see Von Strucker oppose Captain America years before the two would share the screen in Age of Ultron.

Then you have Madame Hydra. While not a part of the MCU films, she was a character in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. series who was, again, first utilized in this Captain America game that at least suggests it was supposed to be related to the universe of the pivotal MCU film Captain America: First Avenger.

While all of these characters were of course previously featured in the comics, Marvel obviously could have turned to any number of characters from the Captain America comics over the years when expanding the roster of their future films. Instead, they turned to a few characters who were all previously prominently featured in this Captain America game that isn’t technically canonical but certainly starts to feel as if it easily could have been part of the MCU if just a couple of things went differently or a couple of lines of dialog were added to the films and shows that described those characters as “ancestors.”

How did all of these coicidences happen? The answer may lie in the other Sega MCU games. 

Read more

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Sega’s Thor and Iron Man Games Featured Other Fascinating MCU Connections

The massive Marvel Cinematic Universe began with 2008’s comparatively humble Iron Man movie. It was, at the time, little more than another blockbuster superhero movie. Given the standards of that time, it’s only natural the film was adapted into a video game pretty much right away. 

“Standard” is a fairly good way to describe Sega’s first Iron Man adaptation. Nearly everything about it is forgettable, including its story which largely follows the plot of the film. The game was touted as the start of Marvel and Sega’s relationship, and it certainly feels like something closer to a trial run.

It wasn’t until the release of Iron Man 2 that things started to get more interesting. That game featured an original story inspired by the events of the film but clearly separate from them. Once again, though, the most important thing about that story is how it (perhaps inadvertently) featured plot points and characters that would be seen in future MCU films.

Ghost is featured in Iron Man 2 years before the character appeared in Ant-Man and the Wasp. A.I.M. is mentioned before the organization’s appearance in Iron Man 3. Ultimo is even featured in the game in a way that recalls certain plot points later seen in Age of Ultron.

All those characters and plot points are different in the game than how they appeared in future MCU films, but it remains fascinating that the sequel’s original story utilized concepts that Marvel would later revisit. The same is true of Sega’s 2011 Thor game which takes place before the first Thor film but features characters such as Surtur and Hela who wouldn’t appear in the MCU until Thor: Ragnarok.

All of these appearances could be dismissed rightfully so) as coincidences. Yet, when you add all of them together, you start to wonder what the long-term plans for these games were and whether or not there were ever any intentions of eventually making either them, or any future titles that may have been planned at that time, part of the MCU.

There’s very little official information to suggest that was ever the case, but the ways that Sega and Marvel changed how they talked about these games over time is certainly noteworthy. While the first Iron Man game was described as little more than an adaption of the movie it was based on, Sega started to create a little distance for themselves by using phrases like “same universe” in the PR statements that often announced these games.

The more you look at the history of these adaptations, the more you get the feeling that the relationship between Sega and Marvel also started to change and that the plans for these games changed along with it.

Was Captain America: Super Soldier Ever Supposed to Be Part of the MCU Canon?

While it’s easy to buy into the idea that there was once a time when Super Soldier was developed with the MCU canon in mind, the fact of the matter is that there is no evidence to support the idea that any video games based on the MCU films were ever supposed to be part of the MCU canon or were intended to directly set-up future films.

The genesis of that rumor seems to be both the early relationship between Sega and Marvel Studios as well as the fact that there are so many elements of Super Soldier that do lead into Captain America: Winter Soldier in their own strange way. In fact, it’s been said that an early draft of Winter Soldier featured more WW2 flashbacks. That has only given rise to the theory that there was a point where Winter Soldier would have tied into the events of WW2 a little more closely and that Super Soldier could have represented an early draft of those events. 

What you have to keep in mind, though, is that the MCU was in a relative state of chaos at that time. Netflix was a few years away from debuting Marvel-based shows with a loose MCU relationship, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would generate significant confusion regardings its MCU relationship, and as we’ve discussed, these games confusingly existed within the universe of the Marvel films yet feature significant differences that put them in conflict with the stories and characters of those films.

Those games were seemingly little more than a symptom of a time when Disney and Marvel Studios either didn’t have as much control over the narrative of the MCU or were otherwise less interested in exercising that control and dictate everything the MCU touched. Of course, Disney and Marvel Studios would eventually “trim the fat” in terms of both their direct involvement in video game development and their willingness to spread the MCU beyond the big screen in a way that opened any room for ambiguity regarding the status of the canon.

If anything, the idea that Super Soldier was once meant to be canonical and help set-up both Winter Soldier and future MCU projects is a wish from those who always felt that the lack of notable MCU video games denied us the chance to live out some of the best theatrical experiences of the last 15 years. There’s always been a feeling that so much more could have been done with MCU games.

At the same time, Marvel executives had previously stated that they at least once considered certain comic issues to be canonical within the MCU. More importantly, Marvel Studios’ Creative Director of Research & Development, Will Corona Pilgrim, tweeted in 2012 that Marel Studios’ views towards those early games were best described as “Film Agnostic.”

@wyokid in a sense, yes. @cbake76 and the fellas over in Marvel Games like to use a term coined by TQ Jefferson as 'Film Agnostic'

— Will Corona Pilgrim (@willgrem) February 6, 2012

That statement suggests that Marvel may have, at one point, been working much more closely with the designers of those early MCU-based games and were perhaps even sharing resources and preferred source material. It also makes it much more likely that Marvel Studios members could have been inspired by certain ideas they saw in those games. After all, the Marvel Studios team didn’t necessarily acknowledge the existence of these games in a canonical sense, but they stopped short of outright denying their existence either. Still, the idea that they ever intended for any versions of these games to represent definitive MCU plans remains a very loose rumor, at best.

If nothing else, Super Soldier stands as an interesting look at an alternate timeline. No, I don’t mean the one where Winter Soldier’s story is based on the timeline where Super Soldier is part of the MCU canon. I’m talking about the one where Marvel continued to allow game developers to explore the MCU universe a little more freely. It may have been chaotic, but it certainly could have been fun. 

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from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3bZVQ7q

[yukipri]

Main Home Floor Plans

(of the poly family in my YOI Future!Verse ABO AU)

So! Here they are the floor plans of the big poly family's main home.

NOTE: I know jackshit about architecture or real floor plan drawing, and this was meant to just be a fun imagination exercise/reference for myself for my comics, so just roll with it ^ ^;;

Headcanons beneath cut! Also full view to see the teeny ass text...

For an easier to view version of this post + my earlier draft of their home, please check out my Patreon!

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IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS AU: It’s a Yuri!!! on Ice AU, Yuuri-centric with end-game polyamory in an ABO setting, Yuuri gets married to four mates (Victor, Yurio, Phichit, Minami) and they have OC kids.

BASICS and timeline of this AU

INTRO to how ABO works in this AU

A SUPER DETAILED world-building headcanons post on ABO+ in this AU

OTHER POSTS (comics + illustrations) in the Future!Verse ABO section of my YOI Masterpost.

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Please keep ship bashing out of the comments/tags. Don’t like, just skip <3 Thank you.

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PLEASE DO NOT REPOST, EDIT, TRANSLATE, OR OTHERWISE USE MY ART. More detailed rules available on my Rules & FAQ Post.

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Headcanons below!! VVVVV

I say "Main Home" here because they do have multiple homes, at least one in each mate's home country (pretty hugeass ones in St. Petersburg and outskirts of Bangkok), but this is their "home base" so to speak.

It's located in Hasetsu, and without researching too much into Karatsu's actual layout in rl, I'm placing it somewhere within long but manageable jogging distance to both the Ice Castle and Yuuri's parents' inn. A lot of Japanese rural towns (including my own hometown) have slowly been losing their traditional single storey homes and ricefields and have been turning them into apartment complexes to maximize money yield. In this AU, I HC that Victor and Phichit bought one of these lots and turned it into a huge ass fancy mansion for their family. Again, in this AU those two are filthy rich (though Minami also comes from money), and given the very rural location of their home, the location should be comparatively affordable. Given their family's fame and the amount of frequent travel they do, I figure it's okay for them to want their main home away from big cities and in a place harder for fans/paparazzi to stalk them.

In general, their home is modern but homey, more cream and natural wood colors over pure white, with areas that are more traditional Japanese. Each personal area is customized to its inhabitant’s liking.

While I think most of the rooms are pretty self-explanatory/I haven't thought that much about them myself, here's a floor by floor breakdown of some of the important rooms and what they're used for.

F1 (G) - Ground Floor

Main Entryway - Is traditional Japanese style, very large area where people can take off shoes, big ass shoe cubies on both sides where both family and guests can store their shoes. Inside the home, in general no shoes except in the basement floors.

Living Area - Main area to entertain guests/chill. Tons of couches, super plush carpets to roll around in, huge ass glass doors with a great view of the back yard to watch kids through. Small movie theater screen can descend from the ceiling in front of said glass doors.

Kitchen - Pretty big but manageable domain, everyone considers it Phichit's domain whenever he's home but Yurio spends a lot of time in there too. Also has a small corner for kids to watch parents cook/help if it's a task that requires some extra table space.

Bar - Victor and Chris especially like chilling here, another great guest entertaining spot. Tons of alcohol beneath counter.

Dining Area - Has a huge round table that can fit all of their main family members and a few guests. Because it's so large and therefore impossible to reach around, it's Chinese dim sum table style, with a center that can rotate. It's fantastic because plenty of room for everyone, but it can also be pretty lonely when a lot of people are away, in which case the present family members may choose to dine in another area.

Chill Area/Music Area - Another place with lovely carpet and nice couches, also a grand piano bc every Rich House needs one of those right AHAHAH (of the kids, Arisa plays most).

Study Room/Library - Has lots of tables and computers and books in every language. A good place to chill, but also where Minami likes to tutor the kids. Sitting at the tables gives a great view of the back yard.

Back 2nd building (with kitchen/dining/living) - Second entirely unnecessary smaller building in the back, most important feature is the elevator, which goes through all the floors.

Back yard - Lots of pretty lawn and nice cobbled paths. Is completely enclosed by a stone wall high enough to discourage trespassers but low enough to not feel cut off from the rest of the world (and allow in neighborhood cats, but keep the dogs safely in when they're romping free). Yurio is half-assedly attempting a vegetable garden in the corner with varying levels of success. They like having barbecue parties in the summer, followed by mini fireworks <3 Victor and Chris like skinny dipping in the pool in the middle of winter, Yuuri and the others will watch from the balconies thanks. There's also an area in the back that has a retractable cover, which can look down into the giant communal bath in basement 1.

F2 - 2nd Floor

The "Parents' Floor," also has open areas that look down into the 1st floor and up into the 3rd floor, makes the ceiling feel super tall in those areas :'D

Nest - The biggest main feature of this floor. A huge room with an enormous round bed, it's heavily padded and shaped a bit like a very shallow and plush bowl filled with blankets and pillows. Any of the family can sleep there, and it's usually the favorite place to sleep. Can fit all the main family members including the kids when they're a bit older comfortably. Also has some nice lil tables and desks and a huge veranda overlooking the backyard if people just want to chill. Absolutely no sex allowed in this room because kids can come in at any time.

Other Communal Sleep Room - Also known as "The Icky Room" by the kids, aka the communal room for when the adults are feeling frisky >.>; If people are doing stuff in that room, it's okay for the other adults to assume it's an open invitation to join. Also has a very big bed that can comfortably fit most of the adults at once, and also a very large jacuzzi bath for cleanup...The kids have all had their own Experiences TM, but in general have learned to steer clear if they hear Noises.

Yuuri's Room - All bedrooms are the private domains of the individual, and everyone needs to knock and get permission to enter. Most of the time people prefer to sleep in the Nest, but it's important to have a private space too. Also holds personal belongings, personal closet, etc.

Yuuri doesn't have as many belongings as some of his mates (other than merch of Victor which he absolutely won't get rid of HAHA) and has a relatively small closet as someone who doesn't particularly care for fashion. That being said, he's the most likely to invite a husband or more to come join him, so his private bed is the biggest.

Phichit's Room - While he can't be at home as much of the others especially when he's younger, he needs access to all of his work when he happens to be home, so has a decently sized office attached to his room. Has a big walk in closet and shares a bathroom and veranda with Yuuri, reliving their good ol days as roommates. Also has 3 enormous glass tanks for his hamsters, which Yuuri and the kids take care of when he's away.

Victor's Room + Yurio's Room - These two honestly don't spend that much time in their own rooms except to access their huge ass wardrobes, but again having a private place to retreat to when needing space is important. They share a bathroom and veranda.

Minami's Room - While he assumed he was a guest, he intentionally asked for a room close to the nursery so he could sprint in to take care of the kids before they bothered their parents. He, like Yuuri, has comparatively little in personal belongings (except for Yuuri merch, which he also stubbornly refuses to let go of). Has his own private bathroom, which is nice because he frequently stains it with hair dye...

Chris's Room + Otabek's Room - While technically "guest rooms,” they stay so frequently and for so long that they more or less naturally became "their" rooms. They're across the wing from Victor and Yurio and mirror their rooms in most ways.

Nursery - Easily accessible to both Yuuri and Minami, though the kids weren't there often as they often sleep next to their parents in the Nest or their respective rooms. Also partially taken over by cats, who think the cribs make excellent cat beds...

F3 - 3rd Floor

The "Kids' Floor," pretty much has the same cut outs looking down into the first floor as the 2nd floor.

Big Chill Area - Directly above the Nest and is very open, with a veranda that overlooks the veranda of the Nest. Good place to chill and roll around in. Also connects to several other pretty big rooms for specialized activities for the kids.

The Twins' Rooms - Were offered separate rooms but they asked that the wall be torn down so they could share the space. They have a hugeass walk-in closet honestly bigger than any of their parents' because they haven't learned moderation. They also like having their beds pressed together into one larger bed. Their veranda overlooks Phichit + Yuuri's. Share a bathroom with Arisa and Yuuji.

Arisa + Yuuji's Rooms - Relatively moderate rooms, Yuuji has to go through Arisa’s room to access the bathroom but they don't mind.

Play Room + Study Room - More places for the kids to chill, though adults are in there sometimes too.

2nd Kitchen/Dining Room - Because sometimes the main kitchen is occupied and it's easier to go up a floor? Arisa also likes experimenting with baking here.

Corner Chill Area - 'Nuff said, why you rich people need so much space, gods.

Big Guest Rooms - Some nicer bigger guest rooms, including a fancy one with access to a jacuzzi bath. For Important Guests like Yakov and Lilia.

Window Glass Hall - Big hall with all glass walls that goes over the back yard. A refreshing place to practice dancing, but if anyone wants to do anything there they generally have to shoo off the occupying mass of sunbathing cats.

R - Rooftop

Rooftop Ice Rink - Because of course they freakin' have one. Generally only iced during the winter, and they can skate right up to the edge where they can look down on the back yard and also Hasetsu and probably the ocean. In the summer is a nice flat field for other things.

Track - "Go run some laps on the track," Victor can command and they don't even need to leave the house...

Living Area - Another nice place to chill.

Dining Area - How much do these people eat...

Misc Room - Why do rich people have so much space.

B1 - Basement 1

Aka, Exercise Floor

Ice Rink - The indoor one, available all year round because of course they have one. Not nearly as big as a full size rink, but large enough for some decent solo practice, is great for when weather sucks and they don't want to go out to the Ice Castle. Yuuri especially loves going to it at bizarre times of night when he can't sleep and wants to meditate on the ice.

Weights/Mat Room - 'Nuff said, gym at home keep those muscles ripped yo.

Cardio Room - All them runnin' machines. Also has access to a multi-stall bathroom.

Dance Studio - Pretty darn big, honestly bigger and nicer than Minako's ballet studio. So Minako teaches the kids here. Walls can change between mirror mode or multiple solid color modes, and door seams are near invisible. Also has drop down poles.

Sound Proof Practice Rooms - For all your deafening screaming and instrument shrieking needs...

Communal Bath - Because apparently being jogging distance to an actual free onsen wasn't enough. Big ass bathing area, sure most of the bathrooms come with baths but why bother when you have this masterpiece in the basement. Has a changing room and multi-stall bathroom for after various exercise, opens into a cleansing/shower area, and then nice big private communal bath. The main bath area has a section of the ceiling that can roll back so they can bathe beneath the open sky/let the snow fall on them which is honestly the best type of onsen experience. Even has a small waterfall that Victor can sit under in comfort however long he wants. On the other side, there's a small area with even hotter water and a sauna, along with a pretty lil rock garden.

*Note, while some people wear shoes on this floor because of the various exercise rooms, they all have pairs of shoes that they only use here. In other words, it's relatively clean, no outside dirt, and people generally also feel comfortable padding around barefoot or with slippers only.

Heat Room/Emergency Room - Where Yuuri goes when his heats are strong and he wants more privacy than the 2nd floor rooms. Is separate from the rest of the house and has multiple pheromone blocking doors that keeps his scent mostly inside. Has a big bed, a fridge, and a bathroom for his mates to care for him. They clean up really well after each heat, and because of how isolated the room is, how well equipped it is with sustenance and a bathroom, and how sturdy the walls are, it can double as an "emergency room" in case of threat. Built so it can survive a bombing, and the hall door can close seamless. Helps that only family members know this room even exists, as heat rooms aren't usually openly talked about ^ ^;

EDIT, added: Washing/Drying Machines Room - BECAUSE IT WAS DRIVING ME INSANE that I forgot to add one in the first time round because yes it's a small detail but NECESSARY. It's a big room that has a ton of machines so everyone can do their loads separately, with plenty of counter space for folding and racks for things that can be air dried indoors. It's Japan though so they like to dry their things outside when it's nice out. Located conveniently right next to the elevator.

B2 (P) - Parking/Garage

Ramp - Leads down from the ground floor, is very wide and can comfortably fit 2 large cars side by side.

Parking Lot - Can hold all the family cars (Victor's hot pink convertible, Yurio's custom tiger-print Jaguar convertible, Phichit's cutesy hamster-themed Volkswagen, Minami's painfully plain but honestly most useful family van, Yuuri's also very normal energy efficient car, and a handful of motorcycles courtesy of Otabek and Yurio's growing collection) plus that of guests.

Basement Recreation Room - Called that, but honestly mostly a garage/tinkering area. Generally considered to be Otabek's domain when he's around, he likes bringing in bikes and sometimes cars through the big ass doors they can drive through so he can fiddle with them. Nice couch area for people to watch.

Boiler Room - Bc every bigass house needs a bigass one right? *squints* IDK ARCHITECTURE MAN, just say it works 'kay...

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Aaaaand that’s it folks! Thanks for reading ^ ^ I may or may not draw how it looks externally bc I freakin’ HATE drawing buildings but eh, this should be a decent enough reference for now imagining where they live ^ ^