#spider-ham and his world-breaking powers

[mercurydancer]

Burning Matches Pt. 2

Adaptation

_

This was all written like. Directly after Into the SpiderVerse came out and kind of ignored the ending bumper with Miguel because I didn't know what was coming. So! We're going to say this is an alternate universe of an alternate universe.

Not like it's out of the question LOL

_

            Peni Parker was smart. She had learned how to hack into a mainframe when she was six, and she had been making her own mechanical suits since she was eight. Her father’s death had catapulted her headfirst into the role of pilot at nine, her main motivation for creating those suits fading with the sudden realization that the one that she wanted to pilot them would never be able to again. But there was something else that probably made her more dangerous and more efficient than anyone believed she could be:

           Peni was adaptable.

           When given the information that the only one that could use her father’s suit was her, Peni had gone with it. She had allowed the spider-half of the SP//dr CPU to bite her, and in turn she had gained the arachnid’s presence in her own brain…and she had also gained the ability to use the mech. Peni had taken to it like a fish to water and had been operating the mech successfully for five years. She had learned how to use the SP//dr’s own abilities and make them her own, she had learned how to hack those same mainframes when bullets were fired at her, and she had learned how to go with the flow when under constant pressure. It was why when the world suddenly changed around her in a way that pulled her into a swirling vortex of color, she didn’t panic, she instead sought to gain information.

           It had been harder than she had originally anticipated. The universe she had found herself in had a significantly less advanced information system and it had been difficult to gain access to it. Yet, Peni was adaptable. She made it work as well as she could, until she felt the tugging in the back of her mind.

           Finding the black-and-white man pressing himself to the side of a building had been odd at first. Okay, more than odd, it had been downright mind-blowing. There was nothing to explain why he was able to stick to the side of the condemned building, nothing to explain why he was absorbing all of the multicolored lights from the billboards and reflecting said light as white. He was an anomaly dressed in a trench coat and a spider-mask, complete with large bug-eyed lenses, and it was odd.

           It was also kind of amazing.

           Peni couldn’t stick to walls, she used her SP//dr for that, but here this man was, and he was pressed to it as though he was made for it. Even so, there was a kinship she felt to him, a mutual understanding born from something that she couldn’t quite grasp hold of. Yet, there had been some information that she had managed to glean from this world, and this was something that she actually recognized, even though she had not expected to see it so soon, nor quite in this manner.

           She had seen the information in this world of someone called Spider-Man. Had seen videos of him swinging across New York with webs, stick to walls, and dodge things that he would have no knowledge about, and she thought that perhaps this man was the same. He was simply as out-of-place as her, but in a very different way.

           Peni wondered if whatever had pulled her to this world had pulled him as well. It was what allowed her to do something else she hadn’t initially planned on doing.

           It allowed her to be vulnerable. It allowed a bit of that fear to rise up and display itself before someone who she had no doubt would not take advantage. And besides…whatever fear she was feeling, whatever unvoiced anxiety she was struggling with, she could tell that he was in much worse condition than her. Even still, the moment she opened her mouth and allowed a surprised, almost awed “you’re like me” pass her lips, and heard the answering echo from him, she watched as everything that he was feeling was discarded. He stood before her, booted-feet easily keeping him stuck to the concrete as he stared into her revealed eyes as the hatch opened, and she found herself idly impressed.

           ‘Peter,’ as it turned out his name was, was also proving to be adaptable.

           When he suggested that he was like her, and they both had similar out-of-place stylizations, and brought up the fact that this similarity likely wasn’t coincidence, she was sold. She was sold enough to not mind when it turned out that Peter couldn’t adapt quite quick enough. Peni herself was having trouble whenever she looked at him, she couldn’t imagine the agony of suddenly being hit with an almost infinite number of colors.

           Peni’s tolerance was quickly turned to impressed when he suddenly flung himself away from her mech and threw out his own web halfway to their destination – a taller building so she could gain more signal (the past was weird). The web he threw out was as black as he was, a stark contrast to the white of her own, but she knew what it was as soon as she saw it. He kept pace with her easily, though he had to take two swings for every one of hers. Her extra five feet made up for a lot when it came to swinging, but he still managed to keep right alongside her.

           Peni grinned as she realized that this wasn’t just someone that was like her, this was someone that she could trust. This was someone that would push themselves, would push her, and she needed that. Particularly when the rest of the world didn’t seem to want to stop throwing curve-balls at her.

           The pig was…weird. He was colored, which was nice, but he seemed to disobey every law of physics there was.

           Peter Porker did not adapt to the world around him. Porker made the world adapt to him.

           He came in literally floating in the breeze by his nose, towards a hot-dog stand of all things. The only thing that saved the people from a panic-attack and potential questionings of sanity was a black web that was launched out, catching the pig, and bringing it to them. Peter Porker reacted to them in a similar way to the way that Peter and herself had reacted to each other, and gave his own story as they all stood on top of another building, out of the way of the people underneath as the sun set behind them

           Adapt, Peni reminded herself, adapt. The poor black-and-white Peter looked absolutely boggled when she spared a glance his way. This wasn’t his day.

           “So, I was a spider living in the basement of this wonderful pig named May Porker, right? Well one day she decides she wants to reinvent the hair-dryer and irradiates herself!” He throws his hands around as he describes this, and both Peni and Peter watched him silently, taking in his pacing. “And then she bit me, and I turned into a pig, with most of the abilities I had before when I was a spider! She’s been acting as my Aunt ever since, I think she feels bad for biting me, but it’s not been that bad of a gig! I get to save the world and aside from Pork-Grind, it’s been a pretty nice deal. I guess you can all call me Porker considering there’s another Peter that got here first, and that’s a good way to identify us. But what about your stories? Who are you guys?”

           The explanations they gave had very little difference to the one that they had told each other, and Porker made a bit of an exaggerated “yeesh” sound as Peter finished his own story. “Lighten up a little,” he told him. Peter didn’t give him a response.

           The fact that it was also a Peter that they found, though in this case given the last name of Porker, further emphasized the fact that this seemed extremely targeted. It also made the idea of seeing if this universe had an Aunt May even more appealing to Peni. Pete – something that black-and-white Peter suggested they call him when it became apparent that it was likely the Spider-Man of this universe was likely named Peter, and they couldn’t both be Peter – seemed extremely wary of the idea at first, but at both Porker and Peni’s combined pushing, he caved.

           Peni found Aunt May’s address easily enough once she knew what to search for, as well as the confirmation she needed that it really was a Peter Parker that was swinging around the city. They had their safe-haven found, they had the one that could help them, and likely hook them up with her nephew in order to get them back home, in case Peter lived somewhere else. They would be able to help him fix what was wrong, they would save the world…

           Later, Peni would almost wish that Pete hadn’t caved to their plan of finding Aunt May.

           Peni hid SP//dr as she didn’t want to draw anymore stares than they already did, her spider friend carefully perched on her shoulder.

           The way the door swung open and an older woman stepped out was something that Peni had not expected, nor was the sight of the baseball bat. She especially hadn’t expected the way she locked eyes on Pete and almost sagged. Peni watched as that Aunt May threw her arms around Pete, and how after a moment’s shock, Pete returned the embrace. They were brought into her house before attention could truly focus on them, and that was when they saw the television.

           “Peter Parker found dead at 26,” read the ticker-tape on the news station it was turned to, and Peni felt her heart sink.

           Pete tightened his grip on this aunt that wasn’t his, and the other two took a step back out of respect.

           It was something else to adapt to, and they were good at that.

_

           Adaptability was something that Miles did not seem to have.

           It seemed to be something that he was learning, but for now he didn’t have it. He couldn’t react to Pete’s punches, not even when he loudly announced what he was about to do, he couldn’t react to Ham’s quick-talking, and he couldn’t react to her questions. He couldn’t turn invisible, he couldn’t shock anyone… Miles could barely swing, could barely cling to walls.

           Miles couldn’t get back up.

           Miles was the kid she never got to be.

           Miles was the one that had never been forced to adapt, and while a part of her resented that, the rest of her envied that. Well, now the world was trying to force him, and he just…wasn’t ready. Peni didn’t hate him, nor did she want him to die, and it was with this in mind that she was one of the first to state that he couldn’t be of help to them. Pete’s voice was right there with hers, as was Porker’s, and while Gwen tried to say that she had seen him, knew he had potential, it seemed as though Miles knew he wasn’t ready to adapt either.

           Miles ran, having finally managed to turn invisible, and Peni hoped that he stayed away, if only for his own safety. Miles isn’t like them, he can’t adapt, and Peni doesn’t want him to get hurt.

_

           Pete couldn’t be the one to use the Goober.

           When making it she had not considered the fact that he had never seen color before in his life. She had made the Goober with color, had designed it to be simple to use – for ones that had grown up with color, had learned their names and shades when they were growing up, not one that had never seen them. Pete kept trying with the Rubik’s cube, kept trying to name the colors, and he kept failing. He recognized his failure and took himself off the list of people that could stay behind. This was something that he couldn’t adapt to, not in time, and as soon as he recognized it, he stepped away. It was done with a grace she had not expected, even though she could see the way it killed him. He didn’t want to let Peter B do it, he didn’t want to let Gwen do it, his very nature hating the fact that he had to let another life take the hit, but he knew that he couldn’t do it.

           Peter Porker had a similar problem, as being a pig he was used to color, but was color-blind in a way that was different to Pete’s. He reacted to the inability with a similar way to how he reacted to everything else, made a joke out of it. Peni wasn’t sure how to react to the cartoon pig that operated on a different level than they did, but she was willing to see how far he could take his ability to make things adapt to him and see what he could do.

           Peni vowed to herself that as soon as she found something that she couldn’t adapt to, she would handle it like Pete.

           When they finally went together to stop the Kingpin, the fight was worse than she had ever expected. It was also the most surprising. She hadn’t expected herself to suddenly be pinned to the ground as Scorpion hit and hit and hit and… Peni couldn’t do it.

           Peni couldn’t adapt, she couldn’t get him to stop, she couldn’t get away, she was…she was going to die.

           She let go…

           And then she was saved.

           Porker appeared out of nowhere and proved that there was so much more to him than met the eye, something she had known from the beginning. The large mallet he pulled out of his pocket and beat Scorpion with was a wonder, and if Peni hadn’t been struggling to get out of her crippled mech she would have been amazed. Pete came in then after Porker stunned him, and grabbed the Scorpion with his deadly tail, swinging him around in a circle as she finally managed to climb out of her busted mech and pulled the SP//dr’s leg away, holding it like a bat, making eye contact with Pete. Pete let go, sending the Scorpion flying towards her, and she finally hit him with that leg, sending him out into the void, rage filling her and fueling her. Her rage faded just as suddenly as it appeared, taking in the sight of her broken mech. Spider crawled out then, the small arachnid that was her best friend and had been her only companion crawling onto her hand as she offered it. She felt the words that he whispered into her skull, felt the soothing thrum of assurance in her head, and in the tapping of his pedipalps on her hand, and then there was someone behind her. When Pete offered her his shoulder, she accepted as she offered the Spider her own, and Pete swung her out and towards the Goober with the others, for one final goodbye, and she felt a smile stretch her face as she finally caught sight of Miles, a sudden burst of happiness hitting her even in her mourning over the lost mech.

           Miles had adapted.

           They would be okay. They’d all go home, and they’d be okay. Miles knew what he was, he knew who he was. He was Spider-Man. He could do it.

           They said their goodbyes and their last words, and then they were gone.

           Peni found herself in her universe down more friends than she ever wanted to lose, and for once in her life decided she didn’t want to adapt. She wasn’t going to quietly accept it like Pete had, she was going to do something different.

           Peni was going to be like Porker. She was going to force the universe to adapt to her. She was bringing her Spider-Fam back, no matter how long it took her, and the universe, quite simply: could suck it.

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Above and Beyond! Cast: Mr. Needlemouse

Replaces: Spider-Ham Made by: @mcgamejolter

“Am I a hedgehog or a rabbit? Who knows?! I just call myself Needle the Rabbit-Hog!”

Is he a hedgehog? Or perhaps a rabbit? I mean, who really knows? What I can say about Mr. Needlemouse here is that he inhabits a cartoon world of his own, sporting cartoonish physics even outside his land.

His usual routine is a mix of enjoying chilli dogs (the loss of one he had the burden of being his canon event) and fighting the villainous Dr. Beeman (think Robotnik's classic bee outfit, but also including bee's wings on his back), each time of which emerges victorious for the plucky hedgerabbit. Oh, yeah. He also faces foes like The Killer Six, Chomper Shark, Bomb-Bastic, Loonatic Hunter, and the Ferocious Fly.

After one of his tangles with Dr. Beeman, though, a portal appeared which dragged the rabbithog into the OMT dimension, where he met OMT!Tails and the members of the Blur Gang thus far at that point. From there, this guy's the one to serve as the comic relief for when things start to get a bit rough.

As such, he serves as the fifth major member of the Blur Gang starting from One More Hero. He does express several jerk-like qualities, and is like that just for the heck of it, but still pulls through for his true companions.

He even comes to rescue EX!Alice from harm and gives Surge a good beating, though due to the limits on his toon powers, he can absolutely humiliate his opponents, but if he wasn't limited, any attacks from him to a villain would prove fatal. Due to this, an anvil to the head just went and near-harmlessly buried half of Surge's body underground.

Before it was time for him to head back to his dimension at the end of One More Hero during the final fight, Mr. Needlemouse lent OMT!Tails his signature hammer to make use of, and due to its hyperspace properties, he could always fit it in his pocket (or equivalent of). He made a grand exit by proclaiming "That's all, folks!", leaving CR!Sonic a bit confused, citing "Wait, can he legally quote that?".

Though he doesn't actively partake in More than One Universe's events, he does return for Into the Sonic-verse and Many More Heroes (the AU's version of Across the Spider-Verse), with the Blur Gang fully formed in time for this new batch of chaos.

Even then, he remains the main guy for comedy around this AU, and nothin' can change that! Prior to Many More Heroes, he also had a good laugh making an absolute fool out of Errorverse Eggman and his SSSSS Squad, being an absolutely-hilarious prick about it and causing them trouble just for the heck of it. It's to the point that the three dumbots were mainly assigned to catch Mr. NM whilst Metal and Sage paid more attention to EV!Sonic and Nitro. NM still has a good heart under all his troublemaking, of course. Don't worry.

That's also where he's technically a foil for AOSTH!Sonic, the original cartoon iteration of the blue blur; whilst they're both cartoons, AOSTH!Sonic is firmly heroic, whilst Mr. NM is a straight-up prick to a lot of people. The two initially got along marvelously due to being toons, though AOSTH!Sonic began losing his trust in the rabbit-hog when discovering his jerk act, especially when Mr. NM shrugged off the former recalling his angst and sarcastically remarking that it's a miracle he's even got a friend to be with.

That said, though, there is one thing Mr. NM is not heartless enough to cross; the point of harming someone mentally. Attacking a cartoon for giggles is one thing, but the heart is a whole other thing. And when he discovered that EV-2019's Zane Chaos had been neglecting both his brothers in their worst states, he was not amused in the slightest.

"I've hurt a couple of folks before, but at least I hurt them in a funny way! You can attack a cartoon all you want, but the heart is a different story, man! And you've been breaking that a lotta times, it ain't even funny!"

And Mr. NM's reason for joining the Quill Society part-time?

"Am I a useless asset? Sure! Heroic qualities? None. But I'm loyal if you feed me, and I'll never leave you because... well, I need the food."

As one of the scene posts shows, in Many More Heroes, he made a small bet with Mini Sonic as to whether or not OMT!Tails would get back from his scuffle with Crimtake in one piece. Of course, he did, so the rabbit-hog owed the miniature hedgehog 100 rings.

Bet you're glad I didn't say he had a cannon event

If you have any questions about him, @mcgamejolter's the one to ask, since he did make the character.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Hi, hi!

I like to personally think that yes, Hobie has powers different from other Spider-people, particularly connected to his world/animation style.

Throughout the series we only see a small few of 'fully-stylized' characters - or characters who styles take priority over the universe they are in.

Miles and Gwen lose most of their comics and water color influence when transitioning universes, however Noir, Spider-Ham, and Hobie seem to be the ones who don't.

(If I'm forgetting anyone, please tell me!)

For Noir, it seems that his style extends only to his appearance and not much farther. However he does have action bubbles when fighting, though they don't effect much.

Spider-Ham and Hobie are different however.

Spider-Ham seems to be one of the only ones who breaks the laws the same way Hobie does.

We see him using his hammer multiple times, pulling it from nowhere. And he tells Miles it will always fit in his pocket.

Because of this Spider-Ham and Hobie seem to be the only Spider-people who are able to 'conceal' things in their suit. Spider-Ham can hide his hammer, and despite the fact he has more hair than Miles, Hobie's hair disappears into his mask - while you can see Miles' hair a lot (esp in ITSV)

Spider-ham also seems a lot more lucid and squishy than other Spider-people, and is able to pull off 'looney-toon' type behavior.

The same way Hobie can pop back and forth with his art style, Spider-Ham can float through the air (when smelling a delicious pie). - I find it fitting that Hobie pops around too. He only really changes colors when he's outta sight - even for a moment (like if you look away and look back he's different) so I think it'd be cute if he did that with movement too.)

Because of this I'm starting to think Spider-Ham was productions first shot at having an 'animation-breaking character' in a more subtle way. So they may have chose Spider-Ham, knowing a lot of what they learned would help and give them ideas for a larger 'animation-breaking character' later. Which turned out to be Hobie.

It seems that both Hobie and Peter Porker are the only two that

Retain their art style regardless of where they are

Have the ability to move based on their art style - Slapstick cartoons for Ham, and Collages for Hobie

Have the ability to conceal things in their suit or have a 'skin-tight suit'

Has a weapon that adds power, based on their art style.

So I think the same way Spider-Ham can conceal his hammer 'magically', and use it in battle, Hobie can too with his guitar.

However instead of his guitar being concealable, it's more of an active weapon.

And also -

Hobie does not need an amp to play electric guitar, which is NOT normal.

In the shot from his intro, he has large speakers behind him, but at Alchemax, he doesn't. Without an amp, his guitar would sound muted and dead, but it doesn't. It seems like Hobie can play guitar anywhere, without an amp or hookup, and still have it sound normal - as if the music is coming more from him than the guitar.

Which makes me think even more that the guitar is more connected to him than an average one.

(and to answer your second theory! Hobie has a right-handed guitar and strums with his right hand!)

Theory time! (again)

What if Hobie also have powers that most spider-people don't?

When I first saw the this scene I thought it was supposed to symbolise Hobie havning a similar power to Miles, as he was able to break the barrier when the other spider-people couldn't! (Though this could also be because Miles loosened it like he mentioned himself!)

Having watched the movie several times now I'm not as convinced that this is the case, BUT it would also explain how Hobie knew that Miles could use his powers more efficiently if he used his palms and not just his fingers; if Hobie had a similar power he would know how it works!

(Another theory could be that Hobie is using a shockwave from his guitar to break the shield like shown when he introduces himself, though he also appears to have some giant speakers behind him in that scene).

ALSO: At first I thought it was just part of the way Hobie was animated, but I heard someone mention it in a youtube video and now I wanna bring it up too:

Can Hobie teleport?

If we look at the first GIF of him telling Miles to use his palms we can clearly see him suddenly appear much closer to Miles than before!

And in the next shot he appears to be back where he stood before! He actually does something similar another time:

I did not remove anything between these scenes, Hobie literally goes from lying on his back to behind the corner (top left) in a second. And once Peter B appears he's now behind Miles and Gwen (who have both turned 180 degrees to face Peter!) (I uploaded the video to better show what I mean)

Again this might purely be due to the way he's animated and the fact that he doesn't believe in consistency but I think it's fun to speculate nonetheless!

[hampal]

Hey hey, people. Ham here. Have you ever wanted to explore the high seas? Have you ever helped someone, out of compassion, only to realize that you helped that person make a small farming community face a grizzly end? Have you ever wanted to fight Cthulhu with the power of some rocks and a mortar? Well, do I have a game for you.

Welcome to Abandon Ship!

Story:

You play as ‘The Severed One’, a former high ranking official of The Order, a doomsday cult made up of 4-Chan users and Lovecraft enthusiasts that have just summoned Cthulhu. You, wanting to touch some grass, escape the Order using the Piracy™️ Mobile™️, freeing a few of the cult’s prisoners to be your crew mates. And so, you set off upon the waves, with encounters good and bad waiting for you to discover them.

Gameplay:

Basically, the game is a open world version of FTL: Faster Than Light, with a time limit in each zone for the first half of the game. What is this timer for? Well, it’s the amount of time before Cthulhu finds you, of course! To reset this timer, you must go through gates that transport you to a new zone. To open these gates, you need to do a random number of activities in the zone, such as diving for treasure, attacking Cult ships, and potentially attack merchants.

Ship combat is just like FTL. You put people in separate positions on the ship, and fire at the enemy ship that’s right next to you. You may not realize it, but this combat system goes deep. From Kennedy Killers sniper rifles to chainshot, to mortars that fire out zombies and spiders eggs. No, I’m not joking.

Environment:

The environment in this game is outstanding. There’s the Wild Sea, a area with winds so strong, it’ll break your masts. The Spider Islands, infested by giant spiders that are servants to a Lovecraftian spider goddess, are not recommended for arachnophobes. 2 and 1/2 stars. “My husband fell into a pit and now he’s a simp for his spider mommy.”

The writing for this game is just as good as the environments. I imagine the writers, in their auditioning, ran off of cocaine and benzos, and described a doll as well as James Dashner. A painting is worth a thousand words, and by God, that painting is beautiful.

In my play through, I helped a necromancer build a Frankensteinian monster that was made up of a giant spider head, and a zombies body. The necromancer forced me to deliver this monstrosity to a nearby small port that had wronged him in the past. In a act of defiance to save the Wendy’s that was there, I threw the encaged monster into the sea. It thrashed in its cage, trying to find a way to escape its slow demise of drowning at the bottom of the cold water. After a while, the sounds of struggling stopped, and I thought I did the right thing.

Here is where the funniest thing happens.

It came back up. Not even drowning could kill this thing, and it knew it. It stared at me, mocking me, before swimming towards the port, and killing every last man, woman, and child. You might think, “Well, just back up a save.”. That’s the funny part. You can’t. Whatever decision you make is final. Your actions dictate what happens to the world, and what you do after the fact.

Final Score:

5/I got scammed by Jack Sparrow’s edgy cousin, and somehow I got enjoyment out of that.

Abandon Ship is 70% off on GOG, if you are interested!

PS, this game is on mobile ports for Android and Apple. What a time we live in!

[365days365movies]

March 4, 2021: Spirited Away (2001) (Part One)

Having not seen this already is one of my great shames.

Yeah, I should’ve seen this by now, right? I mean, this is the only foreign language and 2D-animated film to win the Oscar for Best Animated Film, considered by most to be the greatest animated movie of all time, and it was the highest grossing film in Japanese box office history, until something else came along this year.

I should also watch Demon Slayer at some point, huh? Well, anyway, yeah, this movie has been on my list for years, but I’d never gotten around to it...until today! Now that I’ve watched Kiki’s, finally, I can get to the almost universally considered Miyazaki’s best. Will I like it as much, though? Well, we’ll see, huh?

And I probably should have some big preamble here, right? I mean, most of my other recaps start with a few paragraphs worth of content, dotted with pictures in order to break up the text monotony; that’s my typical formula. But, uh...I dunno. I got nothin’. Mostly because I don’t know anything about this movie going in.

So, yeah, fuckit. Let’s just get started here, I’m pumped! Been pumped for years. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

Chihiro (Daveigh Chase) and her parents have just moved from their home to a new pace, and Chihiro’s not super happy about it. I get it, Chihiro, we moved a lot as a kid. On the way there, they get lost, and end up entering a forest with shrines at the entrance. Chihiro’s dad is a...reckless-as-FUCK driver.

They finally end up at a building with an open doorway. Chihiro’s a bit creeped out by the whole thing, especially as there are shrines all over the place that make her uncomfortable. Chihiro’s folks go through the archway and enter an old decrepit train station.

They exit through another door, and see a vast green field, dotted with shrines and broken down buildings. Chihiro’s father believes that it’s an abandoned theme park, which seems...wrong. Chihiro stays behind for a second and hears the building moaning. Chihiro’s parents continue to make their way through the park, as they smell food, and find themselves hungry. 

But the park is still completely abandoned, with not one person in sight. And yet, somebody’s making food, and it’s fresh. So, they do what anybody in their position would do: they eat the SHIT out of it. Chihiro doesn’t, but her parents go ham on it. Seriously, they pig out on this shit. Frustrated, Chihiro walks away and continues to explore the park.

A giant ornamented pagoda-style bathhouse stands tall above the rest, seemingly new and running. This is where she encounters both the train and a small boy, around her age. He warns her to leave, and get back across the river near the entrance.

Chihiro runs away, and goes to get her parents, who are still pigging out.

Ah. Well. Chihiro doesn’t realize that these pigs are her parents, and runs away in fear. She stops by a full river, and sees a vast glittering city in the distance. Meanwhile, spirits gather in the formerly decrepit park. Chihiro, believing this to be a dream, tries to wake herself up. In her chanting, she ends up becoming somewhat invisible.

Meanwhile, a riverboat comes closer, carrying spirits whose bodies materialize as the touch the shore and enter the park. Chihiro runs away, scared and disappearing. Soon, the boy from before catches up to her. This is Haku (Jason Marsden), and he brings Chihiro food from this world, which she must eat or risk disappearing. Very mythological, I like it.

By this point, Chihiro has realized that the pigs were her parents, and asks Haku if she can see them. He says that he will eventually, but they must run away quickly, as a mysterious bird with the face of an old woman is hovering above, potentially looking for Chihiro.

Haku takes Chihiro to the bathhouse, and instructs her not to breathe, as the creatures around them will see her is she even slightly breathes. They cross the bridge, and Chihiro is almost spotted. Haku takes her into hiding, as the word of a human’s presence breaks out. Haku instructs her to make her way to the boiler room to find Kamaji, the Boiler Man, and insist on getting a job or risk being turned into an animal by the owner of the bathhouse, Yubaba.

Haku wishes her good luck by name, which she questions. He says that he’s known her since she was very small. My girlfriend begins laughing maniacally, which probably means nothing. Chihiro, still quite afraid, makes her way to the boiler room.

There, we meet Kamaji (David Ogden Stiers), a multi-armed man that runs the boiler for the bathhouse, and commands dozens of spider-like soot spirits to do his bidding. This dude is a cross between Eggman and Doctor Octopus, and I love him. The soot ball spirits, too, while we’re at it. I recognize these guys from My Neighbor Totoro! Or their relatives, anyway. They’re cute, no matter what.

Chihiro saves one from being crushed, and is told to “finish what she’s started”. She carries the rock, which is seemingly super-fucking-heavy, and throws it into the boiler. Once she does this, all of the soot balls begin dropping the rocks onto themselves to get Chihiro to do it for them. I love them.

Kamaji tries to stop Chihiro from working, which is when his granddaughter, Lin (Susan Egan), shows up with lunch for Kamaji and the soot balls, and sees Chihiro. She notes that his is big trouble, but Kamaji tells her to take Chihiro to the owner, Yubaba, to properly inquire for a job with his recommendation. Reluctantly, she takes her to the top floor of the bathhouse via elevator.

We see the various spirits in the bathhouse, which is a great time to note the fact that this movie looks fucking FANTASTIC, and the art direction already gets a 10/10 from me, without any argument. This would be even better if I were fully beefed-up on my knowledge of the various Japanese spirits. 

On the way up, a Radish Spirit (Jack Angel) follows them to another elevator, and Chihiro ends up stuck with him in an elevator going up. He helps her get to the top floor, where Yubaba’s quarters are. And it’s here that we finally meet Yubaba (Suzanne Pleshette), a powerful spirit in her own right.

Yubaba is definitely not warmed to the presence of a human here, as humans have long abused the world that the spirits reside in. This includes her parents, who ate the food of the spirits like, well...pigs. She zips Chihiro’s mouth shut as she rants, but once she unzips it again, she repeatedly asks her for a job.

Yubaba isn’t pleased with this, and lemme say, she’s fucking TERRIFYING. As she goes after Chihiro more directly, the assault is interrupted by Yubaba’s baby waking up, and Yubaba hastily accepts her offer to work for her. Chihiro signs her name away, and Yubaba quite literally takes it, giving her the name “Sen” in exchange.

She summons Haku, who takes her away and pretends not to know her. He also tells her not to talk to him as they go down to find her a job. Nobody’s willing to work with a human, and Haku eventually assigns her to work as Lin’s assistant. Chihiro doesn’t feel very good, and that’s not helped by the fact that Haku was rather mean to her in the elevator.

The morning comes, and the spirits each retire to their domains, with Yubaba using her cloak to turn into a bird-like creature and fly away. Which I totally love, by the way. Chihiro, however, has not slept, and has in fact been crying and shaking with fear the entire night. Haku finds her like this, and tells her to meet him at the bridge, where he’ll take her to her parents.

With a new pink outfit in tow (and shoes protected by the soot spirits), she takes off to the bridge to meet Haku. But also lingering on the bridge is a mysterious spirit whom I already know as No-Face (Bob Bergen). He’s a pretty recognizable character from the film. When she crosses the bridge, No-Face disappears, and Haku is waiting on the other side.

Haku takes her to the pigsty, where her parents are. They no longer remember their identity as humans, and astonishingly, Chihiro refers to herself as “Sen,” the name that Yubaba gave her. Yeah, she doesn’t remember her own name, until Haku gives her back her old clothes to hide. In them is a goodbye card from one of her friends, with her name written in it. Yubaba controls people by taking their names, which is some old-school mythology shit, boy!

Chihiro thanks him, and he gives her food to help her regain her strength. This causes her to sob while stuffing rice into her face, which the girlfriend has referred to as a big mood. Chihiro goes back, and sees that Haku (not his real name, as Yubaba has taken it) is flying away, as a white dragon.

From there, she goes to work cleaning the bathhouse with Lin and the other workers in her department. In the process, she also lets No-Face into the building. He later repays the favor by helping her get a needed wash token from the human-hating foreman. Yubaba, meanwhile, senses that something is coming, slinking about in the rain. She refers to it as useless scum, and it is indeed a big pile of scum, and an intruder to the bathhouse.

The other attendants of the bathhouse seem to think that it’s a stink spirit, although Yubaba isn’t sure. She commands Chihiro to attend to it, and it is...gross as SHIT. It apparently smells EXTREMELY bad, and this entire sequence is...viscerally gross. Dude is DISGUSTING.

However, through all of that shit (literally), Chihiro manages not only to attend to the spirit, but also finds some kind of thorn in his side Yubaba then realizes that something is wrong, and gets everyone else to help. They tie a rope to the object, and they pull it out together, with Chihiro at the head.

They pull it out, only to reveal a MASSIVE pile of human garbage. Once it’s all out, the spirit reveals itself to be not a stink spirit, but a polluted River Spirit (Jim Ward), who thanks Chihiro for her assistance. He pays the place a HELL of a lot of money, and Yubaba congratulates Chihiro directly for her good work.

THAT is a good place to pause! See you in Round Two!

[thepartyresponsible]

i’m kinda stuck on a current project, so i’m finally looping back to the mcr fills i promised. two people requested winterhawk and disenchanted, so here’s the first of two fills.

it’s an update for the soul bond verse, so warnings for some serious angst and self-loathing. warnings also for unrepentant cuddling and wearing combat boots to bed.

Loki is asking him how to hurt Natasha, and Clint’s telling him, outlining every weakness, describing every fear and flinch-point and flaw in her armor. He doesn’t want to. He loves Natasha more than he loves himself. He’d do anything for her, everything for her.

But it doesn’t matter. None of it matters. Who he loves, what he wants. Under the weight of Loki’s mind, he’s just a hacked database, spilling every secret he’s ever had.

Loki likes Natasha. He’s interested in Natasha. Pretty and deadly and useful in a way Clint isn’t. Clint’s a blunt instrument, a scout and a sledgehammer. Functional for the moment, but, when the broad strokes are done and it’s time for delicate work, he’ll need something subtler.

There’s a part of Clint that’s horrified, dumbstruck and terrified, by the idea that Loki’s going to send him like a pawn across the board and exchange him for a queen. But the part of Clint that’s screaming hasn’t had a mouth since Loki stole it.

No, he thinks, but it doesn’t matter. No and no and no again, while he tells Loki exactly how to do it, how to catch her, how to draw her away from the others, how to take her and hurt her and keep her.

No, no, no, and—

There’s the smell of coffee, sudden and strong. Dark-roasted and freshly-brewed. Smoky. French Roast, he thinks, ludicrously, and something slips in his head, like a wedge prying him back, peeling him away from Loki. Burrowing and burrowing, creating distance like popping stitches.

What, Clint thinks, into an echo chamber that’s been filled with the sound of his own desperate denials, repeated constantly, a looping track.

There’s a hiss and a clatter, the sound of something heavy falling, metal clanging against metal. A shield – Cap’s shield – forms in front of Clint. It shimmers and grows, fills up Clint’s whole field of vision, blocks out everything else.

In the distance, far away but growing closer, he can hear Iron Man’s repulsor’s powering up, can hear the angry roar of the Hulk.

What, he thinks, again. Loki’s scrambling at his mind, but the shield pushes him back, and it doesn’t make sense. None of this makes any sense.

The smell of coffee is filling his nose, filling everything. When he breathes in, it’s so strong that it rolls over his whole mind like a fogbank, and everything dulls and fades, and then he’s blinking awake in Stark Tower, and Bucky Barnes is staring at him from across the room, thinking the scent of coffee at him so hard that it’s all Clint can process for a moment.

He sucks in a startled breath, and the air catches in his throat, and he makes a wretched, pathetic, small-child sound and hates himself, hates Loki, hates how one might as well be the other.

“Sorry,” he says, shoving the heels of his palms into his eyes, curling up on his side. “Fuck. Sorry you had to--- I wasn’t gonna show that to you.”

He wasn’t going to show any of that to anyone. Ever. The single good thing about Loki breaking his bond with Natasha was that no one ever had to know how weak he’d been, how completely fucking useless.

Worse than useless. A traitor. A terminal threat to everyone who loved him. A malignant tumor, growing, corrupting, turning against---

“Stop,” Bucky says.

Clint curls up tighter, bites hard into his lip, tries to give his brain something to focus on. He’s spilling too much between them, flooding the bond with misery and shame and disgust. But his brain’s broken too. He’s only a little better than Barnes. It hasn’t mattered, because he’s been alone, but now Barnes needs him, needs him steady, needs him to not be so Goddamn worthless, so fucking toxic, and---

“Stop,” Bucky says, again. Thinks it this time, too. Loud in Clint’s head, ringing.

“I’m trying,” Clint says. “Jesus Christ, you should’ve synced with anybody else. Should’ve bonded with a fucking ham sandwich, Barnes. I don’t know why the hell you--”

Bucky makes a sharp sound in the back of his throat and crosses the room in long, agitated strides. He climbs right into bed with him, combat boots and all, and shoves up against his back like he belongs there.

Maybe he does. This close, with this much contact, Bucky floods the bond with static, with the mental equivalent of white noise, a sudden, soothing rush of water over an active burn.

He swamps Clint’s brain with thoughts. Disconnected tidbits. Sensations, more than anything else.

The taste of the coffee Clint makes every morning, the feeling of warm water on skin. Daybreak on the Tower roof, the sound of Clint’s own laughter, echoed back. Soft blankets and warm socks. Ice water and a full belly. Sugar on his tongue, candy and doughnuts and vanilla. Clean hands, clean clothes. The scent of familiar skin on sheets, waking up right where he fell asleep, unbothered, unhurried.

The view of the world from behind Clint’s shoulders, braced and steady, forming a barrier, a barricade, a levee, a shield.

“I’m glad it was you,” Bucky says, and he’s too deep in Clint’s mind to lie to him, too broken open to hide a damn thing. Clint can feel how much he means it. How deeply he believes – genuinely and profoundly, to the core of the parts of himself he’s stitched back together – that Clint’s some kind of blessing, some lucky accident he didn’t earn.

Clint chokes on it, on the shame and hurt, on the feeling like coming back from frostbite, the pins and needles of warmth after cold.

Bucky’s arm wraps tight around Clint’s waist, hand flat against his chest, fingers spread wide over his heart. He pulls him back, and it should feel like some kind of threat, Clint’s bare skin against all that body armor, but there’s no danger in Bucky’s mind, no interest in exploiting any kind of vulnerability, a reactionary flinch at even the awareness in Clint’s mind that he could be any kind of threat.

I’m going to help you, Clint hears. In his mind, passed along the bond. You’re going to get better.

It’s his own voice. It’s damn near the first thing Clint sent to Bucky, back when he was fresh from being the Winter Soldier, a walking wound with a mind like a sieve, barriers like gauze or a spider’s web.

You’re going to get better, Bucky thinks, passing the memory back. I’m going to help you.

It feels worn and well-worked, like a photograph that’s been folded and unfolded a hundred times. Like something Bucky keeps close. A worry stone, a talisman.

“We are,” Clint says. Because they have to. Because Bucky deserves to. Because they’re leashed together, and Bucky can only get as far as Clint can drag himself.

We are, Bucky says, brimming with hope and resignation, weary acknowledgement of the long road ahead.

Clint closes his eyes and reaches up, laces his fingers in with Bucky’s, feels the steady pulse of his own heart.

Bucky hums and leans in, presses his face against the back of Clint’s neck. He thinks about coffee and sunshine, about Steve’s shield and Natasha’s Bites. Barriers and barricades and better days coming.

When Clint falls asleep, he doesn’t dream about anything at all.

[plounce]

tma fic recs? i went into ao3 and it was a mess

yeah it’s been slow-going for me too because of the amount of freak shit people post/have posted, as well as the fact that a lot of the high-kudos’d jm fics are from before s4 really ramped up their relationship development. and i’ve found i can get pretty picky about martin’s characterization. here’s a couple i’ve read and liked

(now with a read more because it’s gotten long) (updated 2/15/20)

the umbrella (4.6k) - mag160 fixit, probably my favorite fixit so far. includes canon-level non-graphic blinding. but it has a happy ending. it’s tma, i don’t need things to be light and fluffy all the time, i’m good with canon level darkness yk? as long as there’s a happy ending and the gays’ love for each other is pure.

feel the done days and you’re pulling through (1.8k) - jon deprogramming from being an avatar. living a very domestic and idyllic life. it’s adorable

all resistance wearing thin (4.7k) - ok this is the ONLY web!martin concept ive ever liked. bc it doesn’t make martin a crazy villain hes still himself and hes just NICE he LOVES people (aka jon). and we all like to indulge in a bit of mutually obsessive love. happy ending :)

some invitation of light (4k) - i love the joke that “martin is proof that playing hard to get works,” and this fic is in line with that. i’m picky about jealousy in fics but this one was enjoyable

ways to save the world (19.3k) - oooooogh urghhhhh jon gets trapped in the lonely and martin communicates to him through passages of poetry… im a total sucker for epistolary fics and this one was so GOOD

*

above all shadows (4.3k) - canon divergent from s4, written before the finale. very fairytale esque. theres some paragraphs in this that made me go HAM

catch and release (2.3k) - pre canon divergence au where theyre both avatars being spooky and doing a back and forth. martin is full lonely and jon got RAISED BY SPIDERS. somewhat edgy but in a fun way. we love creepy shit

agate, amber, amethyst (994) - short sweet and soppy. magpie jon is so utterly charming to me.

reciprocity (1.9k) - short and sweet caretaking stuff. both these bitches need to sleep.

always a reason (1.7k) - we love jon taking care of martin!! as he deserves!

pl: nuclei; but you only need one, anyway. (1.1k) - s3 phone calls with jon asking martin for research help. timezones. jon trying to stretch those “i care about you” muscles

1. can’t be helped (5.3k) 2. rituals (8.4k) - two fics in a series. very monster boyfriend. the first is martin losing his emotions to the lonely. the second is martin getting them back, but jon has been subsumed by The Archivist, which is figuring out what martin means to it. there was a moment in the second that made me go a little whoa hey! it was the archivist compelling martin. but it wasn’t anywhere near enough to make me stop reading. they were good, heartrending reads.

misshapes, mistakes, monsters (7.9k) - jon takes martin as his plus one to an oxford reunion. an enjoyable read, along with an almost cartoonishly villainous posh man. pining! “it’s nice to feel like i’m something worth protecting” arrrghhhh

small things, simple acts (6.6k) - post-159 fic. bookmarked this one! because they LOVE each other and TRY SO HARD for each other!!!! jon buys martin a stuffed cow because he saw martin looking at it and theyre TRYING for it. “There are a lot of things that Jon can’t give him, like safety or a normal life. But he can absolutely get him a stuffed toy just because he looks like he wants it.”

i’m almost me again, you’re almost you (12.9k) - you know when you try to feel feelings and it’s like touching a hot stove? that’s what martin does this whole fic as he’s recovering from the lonely and jon is being so achingly sweet and good with him, but martin can’t 1. deal with it just yet 2. believe that jon loves him back. post-159 fic. god. READING it felt like touching a hot stove, or stepping into warm bathwater with cold feet. jesus christ. excellent

fate, or something (107.8k) - this is that 100k blind date s1 canon divergence au, and i tried it out and i LOVED IT. martin has a spine! it’s just so sweet. they’re friends! martin works with melanie for ghost hunt uk! a great read. it’s that sloooowwww burn shit.

forever is composed of nows (5.9k) - jon meets martin (a single dad) and martin’s daughter (agnes! who had good writing for a child in a fanfiction) in the library and things grow from there. this fic is SO CUTE. it’s wonderful. i literally had to take breaks while reading it to make wild animal noises because i couldn’t deal with it. god. it’s so good. UGH (thanks to @infernallegaycy for the rec!)

and i won’t pray for an unfilled grave (5.9k) - daisy after coming out of the buried. daisira and daisy&melanie bonding. WOMENNNNN I LOVE WOMEN

*

hello my old heart (15.8k) - jess @thedistortion, the person who got me into tma and a dear pal, wrote this, and their brain is utterly huge and good. i love this so much. a deeply excellent post-159 fic that i would also say is pre-160. so many parts of this make me gasp and clutch my chest! but it also has an excellent realism to it. spiders that enrage me. please read.

yesterday is here (26.6k+, WIP) - post-canon jon and martin travel back in time and hang out with the pre-canon crew and attempt to make everything better. guaranteed happy ending. it’s so sweet watching jon be so kind and gentle and Better At People with his coworkers and make things right - and the s1 jon and martin fumble at seeing their extremely married and Knowing counterparts.

a measure outside the lines (22.9k) - i looove post-159 fics that show that martin hasn’t been completely severed from the lonely and still really struggles with it. this one is EXCELLENT at it. there’s some moments in this one that just made me totally ache because oh… oh martin. it’s so wonderful and has such excellent emotional catharsis

*

interlude (7.8k) - s3 au where georgie meets martin over facetime with jon! makes me wistful for the friendship they could have had without all the coping mechanisms in the way. the fond teasing is very cute. the pining! the banter! the slips of the tongue! very, very enjoyable.

skin deep (3.1k) - another s3 au where georgie meets martin on better terms - she calls him for help after jon’s meeting with jude (as jon’s locked himself in his room). the way jon leans on martin and lets him in and just… the way he behaves around him. very sweet.

bury my heart on the coals (3.6k+, WIP) - au where martin was one of gertrude’s assistants who is now a ghost haunting the archives. i’m enjoying how he’s so judgmental of jon and all the little signs of Haunting that jon and the assistants are experiencing.

nor any more youth or age than there is now (6.5k) - outsider pov of jon being a primary school teacher in scotland post 159!! so, so sweet. i LOVE outsider pov stories and this one is so good. jon using his powers to protect his students and displaying all that character growth he’s had… the glimpses of his domestic life with martin… it’s adorable. please check it out.

take sides in divided cells (3.4k) - in an idyllic domestic post-canon, martin’s father tries to reconnect with him. from jon’s pov, so it’s a lot of him worrying about martin and then being protective. oof! oof! emotional hurt/comfort.

pieces of you stuck on me (1.9k) - spy au. a little snapshot - i enjoy all the implied backstory going on. the thrill! the longing! the suspense! and i’m generally a sucker for spy aus, i’ll be real.

be kind, i beg you (14.9k) - post 159. oh this one is so achey… i love it. jon obsessing over “loved is past tense” and trying so hard to be Good to martin, while martin deals with mood swings from his recent emotional traumas. they try really hard and are very domestic, talk about gardening, and clean up the safehouse. LOVED THIS.

[satoshi-mochida]

Following the announcement of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales for PlayStation 5 last week, Insomniac Games creative director Brian Horton has shared more information in a PlayStation Blog post.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a standalone game that lets players experience the rise of Miles Morales as he discovers the new powers that set him apart from his mentor, Peter Parker. It is set one year after the events of Marvel’s Spider-Man, just before Christmas break. A war between an energy corporation and a high-tech criminal army has broken out, and Miles’ new home in Harlem is at the heart of the battle.

“You’ll experience a full story arc with Miles, one that’s more akin to a game like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy in terms of overall scope,” Horton said. “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an important, heartfelt, emotional and essential experience to expanding the Marvel’s Spider-Man universe. And we hope it will be for you as well.”

In terms of PlayStation 5 features, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will utilize “near-instant loading, ray-tracing, 3D audio, and the DualSense controller.” Characters have been upgraded with “4D scans and improved skin shading for more realistic looking characters and spline-based hair that moves far more naturally,” and “many of the city’s assets have also been updated to take advantage of the new console.”

As for Marvel’s Spider-Man protagonist Peter Parker, Insomniac Games teased that while “we still have much of Peter’s story left to tell,” Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is all about Miles—as its name implies.

Here is the full text from Brian Horton:

Hi! I’m Brian Horton, Creative Director at Insomniac Games. Last week, we were so thrilled to introduce you to the beginning of your Marvel’s Spider-Man journey on PlayStation 5—Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. This standalone game lets players experience the rise of Miles Morales as he discovers new powers that set him apart from his mentor, Peter Parker.

The reaction we received last week was nothing short of incredible. But we wanted to take a little bit of extra time to talk about the game and the trailer you saw and point out some things you might’ve missed. Take a look above.

At Insomniac Games, we’ve loved the character of Miles Morales for a long time. It started years ago, when Bryan Intihar (creative director, Marvel’s Spider-Man), suggested that we should have Miles Morales be a part of the same universe as Peter Parker. We sneakily introduced him at the end of our E3 2017 demo, surprising the audience when they thought the PlayStation Briefing was over.

As we continued with the Marvel’s Spider-Man universe, we knew that Miles’s origin story as a Spider-Man was something that needed its own game. Miles’s multicultural background reflects a more modern, diverse world and we wanted to give players a new story, with new set-pieces, fresh villains, and unique quests across Marvel’s New York City. This had to be a can’t-miss next adventure in the Marvel’s Spider-Man universe.

Let’s set the scene for the game a little more. It’s now wintertime, about a year after the events of the first game. Marvel’s New York is covered in snow, and just before Christmas break, a war between an energy corporation and a high-tech criminal army has broken out. Miles’s new home in Harlem is at the heart of the battle.

We know a lot of you want to know how big this game is. Our team at Insomniac has been working incredibly hard to bring you a fantastic Miles Morales adventure since we concluded development on Marvel’s Spider-Man. You’ll experience a full story arc with Miles, one that’s more akin to a game like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy in terms of overall scope. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is an important, heartfelt, emotional and essential experience to expanding the Marvel’s Spider-Man universe. And we hope it will be for you as well.

We are also excited for the game to demonstrate the power of PlayStation 5 this holiday. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will show off near-instant loading, ray-tracing, 3D audio, and the DualSense controller. We’ve upgraded our characters with 4D scans and improved skin shading for more realistic looking characters and spline-based hair that moves far more naturally. Many of the city’s assets have also been updated to take advantage of the new console. As you experience Miles’s story, you’ll see, hear, and feel things in a whole new way, all thanks to PS5.

It’s been amazing to be creative director on Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, working with such an incredible team. I joined Insomniac near the end of Marvel’s Spider-Man, and being able to collaborate with our team and Marvel to create a new story and experience all around Miles Morales has been a career highlight. It’s been great to also work with Bryan Intihar, who directed the first game, as he continues to imagine big things for the Marvel’s Spider-Man universe.

Oh and one last thing: Many of you fans have wondered if Peter Parker is OK. Don’t worry, we still have much of Peter’s story left to tell. But this game is all about Miles, a critical part of our Spider-Man universe, and you won’t want to miss what happens.

Thank you so much for the incredible reaction to our game last week, and for all of the kind words on social media. We’re so looking forward to getting to spend more time with you in the coming months to reveal more of the game we’ve all been working on.

We can’t wait to see you swinging through a wintery Marvel’s New York City this holiday.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is due out for PlayStation 5 this holiday.

Watch a new developer diary below (transcript follows).

Brian Horton, Creative Director: “Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a standalone game, and it’s the next essential adventure in the Spider-Man universe.

“Insomniac has loved this character for a long time. We introduced him in Marvel’s Spider-Man and we knew we needed to tell a standalone story of Miles Morales becoming a hero.”

James Ham, Senior Animator, Hero Character: “I feel like it was important for us to work on Miles’ game because he is such an important character right now, especially with his influence in the first game.”

Horton: “We wanted to make sure that when you played the game, you felt like you were playing a brand new Spider-Man.”

Ham: “We wanted to make sure that his traversal was unique, his combat was unique, and we also wanted to make sure that Miles is his own Spider-Man.”

Horton: “Miles has these incredible, explosive new powers like bio-electricity and invisibility.”

Ham: “He isn’t as confident, but he’s learning from Peter, he’s trained with Peter. He doesn’t move the same way, so when he’s swinging, he’s a little bit more flaily.”

Horton: “The PS5 allows us to have a fully seamless experience from beginning to end. We take full advantage of the DualSense controller and the haptic feedback. And with ray-traced reflections, the city comes to life.

“Every single person on this team is a true believer in Miles Morales and the journey he’s going on to become a hero. It goes with our studio vision: to make a positive and lasting impact in peoples’ lives. And we believe this game has the opportunity to do that.”

Ham: “I feel like Miles is very important because representation does matter. And it’s not just about him being a black superhero. It’s about being a superhero that happens to be black. So watching the fan reactions was amazing. And seeing everyone’s face process the moment where you see his hands and you’re like ‘what game is this?’ And the moment you’re like, ‘Oh! That’s Spider-Man!… Wait, oh, it’s Miles!’ And you see their faces light up—that inspires up, and it’s such a great feeling to know that everyone seems to be behind this project and love this character.”

Horton: “Well the trailer you’ve seen is just the tip of the iceberg. We have a lot more to share in the coming months. And from all of us at Insomniac Games, please take care, and we’ll talk to you soon.”

[daddysfangirls-marvel]

Little Bug

Request 

Warning: sadness, angst, Fluff ( this shit is like a sour patch kid)

Summary: AHH! I’m so glad you write for the spider-verse not many do and I’m glad to know one of my favs does! Can I request a spider-verse where the reader is RiPeter’s daughter 5-6 and after his death spends a lot of time with Aunt May in the shed? Maybe she has spidey powers too but a little more after ex. Makes her own webs? How would she react to the spider fam and how would they react to her? How would Peter B. feel knowing she could have been his daughter. (Maybe she accidentally calls him dad?)-TY A

(Y/n) didn’t say anything she hadn’t say anything since she heard of what happened. In the beginning, she screamed cried and begged for her daddy back but he wasn’t coming back he was gone, forever. 

Everyone knew who she was now, of course, they weren’t saying anything to her now because she was young and grieving but they were watching waiting. She was Spider-man’s daughter. Would she be the next one? She had to be the next one. She really didn’t want to be next she just wants her daddy back.

As her mother gave a speech to all of New York at daddy’s funeral. Aunt May was holding her pulling her hoodie down tightly hiding her face from the camera’s not that it was any use. The only reason here face wasn't all over the media along with her daddy’s was because of her age. 

(Y/n) peaked through her hoodie looking at the gathering crowd at the steps of the church. She whimpered as her sense became hyperactive telling her something was here or coming. Her sense continued to go crazy until they were in the church and away from the crowd.

-

Miles was in the crowd his senses were out of wack telling him something. It was the same feeling he felt when he met Mr.Park Spider-man. Was there another person like him? was there another spider-man? or a person? He looked around standing on his tiptoes as looked for anyone with telltale signs but then again what were telltale signs or a spider-person? His eyes stop on the stairs behind MaryJane Parker was May Parker Mr. Parker’s aunt and in her arms was Mr. Parker’s and MaryJanes daughter. 

The young girl was wearing a jacket and covering her face as she clung to her aunt May. Was she the reason his sense was tingling? Was she like her father? Did she have abilities like him? Was she like him?

-

(y/n) opted out of going home with her mother she knew that she would be talking to a lot of people and getting lots of interviews for a while she didn’t want to be involved in that so she went to stay with her Aunt May. She really just wanted to be left alone but not even Aunt May would leave her in peace. 

“Hey, little Bug” May said as she slipped into her bedroom. It was Peter’s old bedroom besides the clothes in the closet and a few pictures everything was exactly the same. 

(Y/n) was at the desk deep into whatever she was sketching that she didn’t even notice when May walked into the room. “Little Bug?” She jumped startled looking back at her aunt.

“You’re supposed to knock”

“I did”

“well.. not loud enough. Be louder”

“Okay, sweetheart. What are you drawing?” she crouched by her

“Designing”

“oh excuse me, Designing.”

“yes, a new spider-man suit,” she said showing May a black and red Spider-man suit she drew up herself.

“whose that for?”

“I don’t know anymore”  Tears started to swim in her eyes before spilling over. She began to cry again as she held the pictures to her chest. May pulled the young one out of her chair and into her lap cradling the young one and whispering sweet promises and praises. Telling her everything is going to be okay sooner or later.

-

As smart as she was it was quite easy hiding things from (Y/n) she was often in her own world lost in her own head. In the last few days, she had created several new webbing and web-shooters but she wasn’t aware of the Spider family that was growing under the shed in the back yard. She knew something was going on as her senses were going crazy and she knew what they meant her father had explained it to her and if helped her practice and understand them doing things such as putting glasses on the edge of  tables, sneaking up on her, and throwing things at her (SOFT THINGS like pillows and teddy bears). She knew something was happening but she just didn’t have the energy to investigate.

And she was going to continue ignoring everything and acting clueless until she felt it. Her senses were tingling again but this was different as this tingle felt familiar like at the funeral. Just like before. It felt so familiar like, like when she was with her daddy. It wasn’t exactly the same but it was still just like daddy.

Quickly dropping down from the ceiling, where she had been sitting down watching youtube videos on her tablet, she rushes to follow the feeling which leads her to the shed in the back yard. But the closer she got to the shed the more the familiar and warm feeling began to mix with a headache and tightens in her chest but she kept going. She was panting practically sobbing shaky on knees as she grasps her shirt pulling it tightly against her chest. It seems to get stronger as she got on the platform and the elevator began to go down.

“Woah, wait a minute”

“Someone is coming down”

“who’s that?”

“Does anyone else know about this place? who else knows about this place?”

The elevator stopped and (y/n) held her breath not because there were six different Spider-people in front of her ready to attack and one of them was a pig. No, it was because daddy was one of them. She didn’t say anything she didn’t hear her aunt’s protest she just jumped into his arms and hugged him tightly.

“Daddy, Daddy, oh I missed you so much, daddy. “ sobbing into his shoulder as he held her. Peter B was shocked as he held the little girl in his arms everyone else was looking at him crazy while Miles was just sad, heartbroken. He let out a heavy sigh as he slowly started to rub her back as she sobbed into his shoulder. Was this what it felt like to be a father? This felt nice but also sad.

“They said you were gone ...they said you..died..  they said ...” She was panting and breathing heavily as she hugged him tightly. 

“(Y/n) ...Honey, you need to get off of him. Peter, you need to put her down” May said it was then that she realized.

“Why? what’s wrong? she’s sad” Peter B said holding her tighter and stroking her hair.

This wasn’t her father.

“Peter, please” May stepped forward but Peter stepped back.

That headache was raging and pound now that tight feeling in her chest was tighter to the point where she could catch air, she could breathe. This was not her father. She started to push away from him and tried to climb out of his arms but he wasn’t really trying to put her down yet. He liked this feeling. 

Was this what it felt like to have a daughter? Would it feel like this when he had a daughter?

“Peter please put her down she can’t breath”

“WHAT?!”

 That, sure enough, brought him back to earth he quickly put her down and started to panic. As she fell to her knees Peter crouched down next to her as he begged May to help and tell him what to do or to do something. The others were panicking as well listing off what could possibly be wrong with her.

“(Y/n) has spider-sense like you all but her senses are more sensitive and goes further than yours. She can’t always handle it.” May pulls out a needle and inhaler from her back pocket stabbing her thigh“This should dull her senses and bring her back. Peter made it back when she was a baby. It’s very rare that we use it”

(Y/n) breathing started to slow down her lunges opened up. She still had a headache but at least she was breathing now. She was still crying as she sat up May pulled her into her lap and rocked her back and forth trying to calm her down. Everyone else gathers around them and just watched as they didn’t know what to do.

Miles reached forward rubbing her back. (Y/n) pulled away from May and turned around crawling into his lap. He immediately started freaking out screaming internally. He didn’t know what to do he had very little to no experience with children. He just let her crawl into his lap and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her rubbing her back. She eventually fell asleep in his arms.

-

“I... He has a daughter.” Peter looked at the child in Miles's arms. He seemed to calm down a bit now and was holding her close.

“Yes, she’s five. Her name is (Y/n) Parker, Our Little Bug.”

“She has Spider powers like us,” Peni said a bit shocked 

“yes, she has Spider senses, jumps really high, really strong especially for her age, venom bite, and...that” May smiled as Miles started to freak out (Y/n) was gone but not really as she was still in his arms but not visible.

“She’s like me,” Miles said smiling gently at her.

“She’s like all of you she was born this way. She’s also really smart. Made different webbing and designed several suits.”

“She’s like me” Miles whispers again.

-

So everyone had got into a big fight when (Y/n) was asleep Miles had handed her off to May and walked off is was but a few minutes after that that she woke up. Her comfort was gone.

(Y/n) was in the farthest corner of the room on the ceiling sitting upside down. She was messing with little gadgets as the others discussed their plan which she was more than happy to not be apart of. She was keeping her distance from them as being to close gave her a headache and messed with her sense. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have fun. In between breaks they would take turns trying to throw treats into her mouth from a distance. She liked these people too bad they gave her a headache.

  Peter was trying to talk to the others but every few minutes he’d look back at (y/n) up in her corner. As cute yet said as it was  Gwen was getting quite annoyed with it.

“Was your dad a good dad?” She suddenly asked interrupting whatever Spider-Ham was saying

“Daddy was the best daddy”

“Even as Spider-man?”

“If he wasn’t spider-man he would be here right now,” Noir said causing everyone to scold him but he was just stating the obvious

“Yes, but New York wouldn’t a lot of other people wouldn’t. I’m happy daddy was Spider-Man. I’m happy daddy saved the day. I’m proud of my daddy... I just wished I could make him proud too.”

“Oh honey, You make him proud every day. You make him proud by being you. I mean look at all the cool stuff you’ve made. Black and Red webbing so cool” Peter said as he walks on to the ceiling next to her. She ignored her headache and began to ramble and example her inventions.

“The red webbing is something you can use to patch holes or stick Villians to walls or something. It’s more than what he looks like one drop and it spreads really really quickly like a whole bunch. Like those little dino pills that you put in water. You can breathe through it and it dissolves after an hour. And the black once as soon as it backs contact with something it gets really really hard. It dissolves after two hours and....” Her senses started tingling “ Miles is here”.

Peter immediately jumped down from the ceiling along with (Y/n). Miles burst through the door and (Y/n) rushed to hug his waist but he didn’t take notice.

“My Uncle-”

“Hey where have you been I was just -”

“My uncle Aaron he’s-he’s the prowler-” Miles was stumbling with his words obviously panicked Peter tried to calm him down and understand.

“slow down”

“He works for king Pin he tried to kill me”

“Slow down”

“This is a pretty hardcore origin story” Noir commented Peni hit him for everybody.

“It’s okay, we’re okay. We’re going to figure it out.” Peter said trying to calm Miles down and fix the situation. (Y/n) hugged his waist tighter then her senses started going off.

“Were you followed?” Gwen asked

“No-”

“YES” (y/n) cried then everyone else senses went off-putting on their masks as there was a ding-dong at the door. Miles pushed (y/n) behind him and Peter pushed them behind him. Suddenly the door busted open and a long tentacle came in knocking the next round of treats out of Aunt May’s hands.

“Cute place, real homey”

“oh great, it’s Liv” May scoffed.

“ I guess I was followed” Miles whimpered sadly.

“Get out of here kid and take her with you,” Peter said. Miles took (Y/n)’s hand and ran for the back door but was quickly stopped by two men.

“You messed up big time kid. Very sloppy” Tombstone said walking in from the kitchen. Scorpion followed saying something in Spanish no one understood.

“Let me guess scorpion. We’ll we’re the spider-um-”

“Family” Noir quickly pulled (Y/n) back behind him and against the wall

“Yeah we’re the spider-fam,” Peter said

“Would you mind taking this outside?” May asked kindly gesturing to the door

“We don’t pick the ballroom room we just dance,” Noir said getting into a fighting stance.

When Doc Ock attacked Noir pushed (Y/n) to Peni and ducked out of the way. Peni then pushed her into the corner of the room next to the cabinet with the dishes and hoped into her suit. (Y/n) was ducked in the corner of the room as everyone was fighting glass was breaking and flying around the room. May saw her in distress and tried to back it to her with getting hit or in the way of fighting but it was very difficult. Then scorpion stabbed the wall above her head and well she snapped getting a bat she started taking a few swings of her own.

“I Said. Take it. Out. Side”

In a Panic (y/n) crawled out of her hiding spot and upstairs. Trying to get away from all the fighting. She screamed when she discovered the hole in her bedroom ceiling. Where was she supposed to hide now? Miles rushed into the room. He pushed her into the closet and climbed out of the hole in her ceiling. She could hear the fight on the roof with Miles and she just... she just couldn’t.

“Oh no,” she cried “oh no, no, no” She tried to climb out on to the roof but her shirt got stuck halfway. “ Please no. Miles”

The prowler looked back at the little girl confused but then looked to the boy in his clutches who unmasked himself to be..his nephew?

(Y/n) screamed as someone pulled her down from the roof but then let out a cry of relief as she sees her Aunt May. Picking her up May quickly left the house. They were almost out the door when they heard a loud bang. She buries her face in her Aunt’s shoulder as she runs across the street to their neighbors for shelter.

-

May had convinced the police that she would call MJ and tell her what happen, but she didn’t. Instead, she thanked her neighbors and convinced them that they would be okay. Sighing May shook her head and picked up a broom. (Y/n) walked around the house picking up her gadgets and pictures, anything else she thought was important.

“What do we do now?” (Y/n) asked picking up a high school photo of her daddy.

“They’ll be back”

“They bad guys?”

“no, no our Spider friends. They’ll be back but I bet they won’t help clean up” she groaned as she began swiping up and removing the bigger pieces of trash.

“I thought they were going home”

“Do you really think Peter’ll leave without saying goodbye to you” She smiled gently giving (y/n) a forehead kiss as she walks by “ be careful of the glass Bug” she walks to her trashed kitchen (y/n) could hear her groan “Oh god”.

(y/n) smiled a bit as she heard she could just imagine what her dad would say 

“oooo she sounds mad. Maybe we should hide” 

(Y/n) gasped as she turned around and found Peter stepping into the house through a hole in the wall. He pulled up his mask and smiled. “ Hey, sweetheart. I didn’t forget about you.”

“You came back” she jumped into his arms delivering a tight hug

“Of course Little Bug.” he pulled back “I just ...you’re just so beautiful, perfect, and fragile. I never thought about something like you and when I did it scared me. But then I met you and I was so happy and I don’t know why I was so scared anymore and I don’t know how I could live without something like you in my life... and I don’t want to leave you” 

“But you have to” (Y/n) said with a sad smile, she was too smart for her age “ I’m not yours and you’re not mine. Mine is gone and yours isn’t here yet. You should go get her or him, hopefully, her.”

“But ... you’re right here” she pushed out of his arms

“You’re not my daddy. I don’t know who you are. My...My daddy is dead I don’t have one and you can’t be it” Peter’s arms dropped and tears ran down his cheeks “ Go home because I don’t want you here”

“Um...” Peter didn’t know what to say nodding his head he kissed her forehead and pulled down his mask walking away. 

(Y/n) walked into the kitchen tears streaming down her face to find Aunt May leaning against the wall waiting for her. “ I made him go away. Did I do good?”

“You did good sweetheart, you did well. He needs to go home and he will.” May pulls her in for a hug and kisses her forehead. Letting her cry in her arms. She’s been crying a lot lately.

-

“You’re late” (Y/n) says as the plate form makes it to the bottom. He looks down at her determined. “ Which one do you want?” she held up two different spider-man designs. Miles points to one.

“Good choice,” Aunt May says as she shows him some new web-shooters she made herself.

Both of them sat back and watched as Miles painted his own suit becoming his own spider-man.

“Miles” she stopped him on the Platform” will you tell the others I said bye and good luck. And Peter ... I’m sorry ”

-

Miles was holding the front of Peter’s suit as he dangled over the edge he’s about to let him go when he grips his shirt again and says “ She’s sorry “ and let’s go.

“I know”.

-

(Y/n) was sitting on her window sile as Miles sat on the wall outside her window. It was two weeks since the Spider-fam had separated. The two had become close friends since then and (y/n) had moved back in with her mother after she heard about what happens at Aunt May’s. She was not happy at all about that.

“How do you think others are doing?” She asked

“I think they’re okay, especially now that they back home. They’re probably saving the world right now as we speak.”

“...what about Peter?”

“I’m sure he figured everything out. Especially after you pointed him in the right direction. He’ll be okay.”

-

Peter was grinning so hard his cheeks were in pain but he couldn’t stop. “She’s beautiful” MJ laughed at her husband but she couldn’t agree more. She looked at her husband holding their beautiful angels she slept in his arms holding on tightly to his pinky finger and he didn’t want her to let go.

A young nurse came in with a clipboard smiling. “well isn’t this a beautiful new family. And does your newest member have a name”

“not-”

“(Y/n)” Peter said interrupting his wife without even looking up. Then the little angel opened her eyes and smiled. They were just like her eyes and he knew. “ This is our baby. Beautiful, perfect, and fragile. Our (y/n), Our Little Bug.”

My Little Bug

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[momentofmemory]

fictober - day twenty-four

Prompt #24: “Patience... is not something I’m known for.”

Fandom: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

Warning: Vague references to depression/death

Characters: Peter B. Parker, Gwen Stacy, Spider Noir, Spider-Ham, Peni Parker, May Parker, Miles Morales

Words: 1720

Author’s Note: set between the attack on may’s house and the spidey crew’s arrival at miles’s dorm. there’s a good concept in here that got lost somewhere along the way, but the first half at least is pretty entertaining, and it ends hopefully, so that’s enough for tonight.

>>Someone’s Gotta Take This

Peter’s in the midst of an absolutely devastating take down of Doc Ock when she freezes mid punch.

“Cat got your tongue?” He takes the opportunity to slip his trapped appendages (all four of them) out of her grasp, and backflips into a perfect three-point landing.

Okay, semi-perfect. It might classify as a three and a half point landing; his elbow was just a lot closer to the ground than he expected. Doc does the whole ‘look at how tall my mechanical arms can make me’ thing, and he rolls his eyes.

“Actually, you’re an octopus, so come to think of it probably not a cat.” He stands up and widens his stance, ready for round two. “What kind of predators do you guys have? Fish? Other fish? …Sushi restaurants?”

He expects a claw to the face for his troubles, but instead Liv taps her finger to her chin. “You’re a lot like him, despite…” she gestures down the length of his body. “…Everything else. How fascinating.”

Which, one, creepy; and two, rude.

Then she shrugs and starts climbing away. “If you start completely falling apart molecularly, do let me know. I’m sure it’d do wonders for my chance at a Nobel this year.”

“Yeah, that’s a no—”

“Peter!”

It’s Peni, and she sounds like it’s important.

Peter looks at the receding figure of Doc Ock and sighs. “I hope you know I’m going to go home and have just, the biggest plate of calamari Tomo’s has to offer when this is over!”

The Doc doesn’t respond, maybe doesn’t even hear his shout, but it makes him feel better anyway. He leaps down from the rooftop and swings as fast as a suburban neighborhood allows in the direction of Peni’s voice.

He lands in the wreck that was Aunt May’s front lawn and sees the whole gang, minus this earth’s rogues’ gallery.

“What’s with the long faces, guys?” he asks, unease settling in his gut. He suddenly notices Miles isn’t around, and his expression hardens. “Tell me they didn’t get the goober.”

Four heads shake in unison, but it doesn’t feel reassuring in the slightest.

“They got Miles’s uncle.”

It’s Porker that answers his question, but he feels the weight of the statement in each of their faces. His eyes flick to Aunt May, sees her alive and whole in this universe instead of rotting six feet down in a grave, like in his.

God, I’m so sorry Miles.

“Let’s go back inside,” Aunt May says, and it’s Aunt May, so no one questions it.

They trudge into the house—Peter’s the only one that bothers with the door, because he’s civilized—but the rest of the spider crew just wander in through the eight foot hole in the wall. There’s wreckage everywhere from the fight: overturned furniture, pillows ripped inside out, pieces of May’s kitchen tiles with the yellow-painted sunflowers lying shattered on the ground.

This can’t go on.

“Peni, can you trace the goober?”

She looks up, one hand still rubbing slow circles on SP//dr’s head. “I mean sure, but what about Miles?”

“Where ever the goober is, that’s where he’ll be, too.” Peter yanks his mask off. “But honestly, we need the goober right now more than we need him.”

“Peter—”

“No, Gwendolyn,” Noir says. “As much as I hate to admit it, this scruffy Spider-Man has a point.”

“What did you call me?”

“Clearly the kid isn’t ready for this level of threat yet.” Noir squints at the Rubik’s cube in his hand. “We can’t risk letting Kingpin get away. Some sacrifices always have to be made.”

“Hopefully just the one this time, but agreed,” Peter says. “Now, Peni, if you can just find that goober we can grab it and sneak into the collider tonight—”

“Whoa, hey, have we forgotten the whole ‘someone has to turn it off’ part?”

Everyone turns to look at Gwen.

“Because if Miles isn’t doing it, that’s a death sentence.”

Peter winces. Time to move this along.

“It’s all good, I’ll be the one taking care of the collider,” he says. “We just need a plan to get there.”

Noir flips a row around on the cube, still baffled by the colours. “Now wait, if we’re talking Chicago overcoats here, the lady might not be wrong about putting this to a vote.”

“At the risk of losing my snout, what the Sam heck’s a Chicago—”

“Guys,” Peter interrupts, valiantly not pulling out his hair. He thought he’d be used to this kind of thing by this point in his career, but no. “It has to be me, and that’s fine, really.”

“Why?” Peni looks up at him and the innocence there reminds him of Miles.

God, kids are so small.

He clears his throat. “Y’know, just, so many reasons. For one, I’m the oldest, so—”

“Incredible. You don’t look a day over seventy.”

“I don’t think I have an age?”

Peter drags his hand across his face, refusing to acknowledge either Noir or Spider-Ham.

“Okay, I’m older than half of you,” he says. “But this still isn’t up for debate.”

“Why not? You’re not the only hero here.” Gwen crosses her arms over her chest, and it doesn’t take a genius to see the forced nonchalance in her stance. “I just think we should slow down before you go all martyr on us.”

“Yeah, see, patience is not something I’m known for and I’m thinking—”

“You’re thinking the same way my Peter did!” Gwen bursts out, then her fists clench like she hadn’t meant to say that.

“Gwen—” Peter hesitates. “Look, I don’t know what happened to your Peter, but I’m not him. This is about you guys. You and Miles and Peni—you’ve got your whole lives ahead of you, and Noir’s got colours to discover, and Porker—”

Spider-Ham looks up at him expectantly.

“—Porker’s got laws of physics to break,” Peter finishes.

There’s not a single face in the room that looks convinced, but fortunately for Peter, at that moment everyone’s atoms choose to go nuts.

Thirty seconds later, Peter finds himself sprawled out on the floor along with the rest of the crew, nerves still twitching.

“I vote we agree to the orange spider’s plan,” Noir says.

“That’s red,” Spider-Ham says, his voice muffled from where his snout is pressed face-down into the floor, “but I second the motion.”

Peter rolls over and looks at Peni, and she rubs her arm and looks down.

She nods.

Gwen doesn’t even bother voting. “Guess I’m overruled.”

She stalks out, and Peni heads down to the lab to trace the goober. Porker drags Noir into the kitchen to discuss colour theory, and that just leaves Peter. He flops his head back down on the floor and stares at the broken patches in the ceiling.

He’s so, so tired.

“Peter.”

He freezes mid thought, because there’s been so many nights he would’ve done anything to hear that voice, yet every time he hears it now it feels like a stab from Scorpion’s tail.

“…Aunt May?”

She leans over him and offers a hand, and slowly, he’s pulled to his feet.

“I know you’re tired.”

He flinches, and he knows she sees it.

“My Peter was too, you know.”

He thinks of the Peter he’d seen in the memorials, all perfect hair and perfect teeth and perfect life. It doesn’t seem possible, but there’s a talking pig and a literal black and white detective arguing over china in the kitchen, so he knows better than to doubt it.

“I’m fine,” he says.

“You told everyone else what they have ahead of them. What do you have?”

“…This,” Peter says, and it isn’t a lie. “I have this, because I can do this. Really.”

Aunt May’s lips pull into a thin line. “Promise me one more thing, then: when the time comes, you let my boy have his chance.”

“Miles?” Peter blinks. “I mean, yeah, of course I’ll let him try before we go with it. I’m not completely crazy.”

“Good.” Aunt May seems strangely satisfied. “Tell MJ I love her when you see her for me.”

“…Sure.” He’s pretty sure she can tell her on her own time a lot easier, but he doesn’t question it.

He has a job to do.

Peter’s a man of his word, so he gives Miles a chance to use his powers on command. He can’t, but he won’t hold it against the kid—he has better things to do in the time he has left. Then he sees MJ, this world’s MJ, and he tries to do as Aunt May asks but he gets a little overwhelmed, because MJ.

He doesn’t think much else about May’s words until Miles shows up again, and God, Miles is amazing. Doesn’t mean he’s going to risk the whole earth on a newbie, though, so he tells Miles he’s got this.

Miles sweeps his legs right out from under him, and as Peter hovers over the portal and his own chance, he realizes the boy May was referring to wasn’t Miles at all.

It was himself.

“You gotta go, man,” Miles says, and Peter thinks he taught this kid way too well.

He backflips into the stream and lands on his bed in a three point landing that’s all legs and elbows. The pizza slice on the ceiling doesn’t judge him, so it’s all right.

He takes three weeks and a lot of introspection—as well as a couple calls from Miles and Gwen, because apparently Gwen’s figured out a way to communicate even though the collider’s gone—and then he shows up on MJ’s doorstep. He’s brought her flowers in an expensive, pressed suit, he’s prepared a litany of apologies, and he’s ready to announce his realization that he has paternal feelings after all.

MJ opens the door, and she’s wearing fleece pajamas and fuzzy slippers and her hair is up in curlers, and it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen, even more beautiful than the MJ he saw at the gala on the other earth.

This is his MJ.

“Hi,” he stammers, monologues vanishing in an instant.

MJ stares at him, apparently just as shocked as he is, and come on you idiot just say something—

He swallows, and holds out the flowers.

“Aunt May said to tell you she loves you.”

[detroitbecomevenom]

Falling

Character: Miles Morales

Summary: In an act to prove that she can fight, Y/n manages to get herself stuck in another dimension. Luckily, there are a few others in the same situation

(This was requested a long ass time ago by an anon but like thanks this was fun to write)

~~~

“How long until I’m allowed to fight on my own?” Y/n followed Stephen Strange and Wong as they got prepared to fight a major battle at the sanctum in Hong Kong. She trailed closely behind them, just enough to potentially grabbed Stephen’s cloak if she needed. She had her own suit on, which was just a cloak with a hood over it, no special powered clothing yet.

“You’re not trained enough. If we let you do this, you’ll get hurt or worse and I can’t let that happen.” The two sorcerors abruptly left through a portal, leaving the girl alone in the New York sanctum all alone. With a huff, she walked back to the main area where her trombone case sat. It wasn’t like she had anything else to do, so she decided to quit putting off her practicing for a little bit.

For only playing for a few weeks now, she didn’t sound like a dying animal, but an actual good musician. Wong had suggested that she put all her stress into playing an instrument because in the line of work that she would be thrust in for the rest of her life she needed some type of outlet. The news channel was on very quietly in the background as she played one of the songs that she needed to play for her concert, but it wasn’t very interesting until they mentioned breaking news.

Apparently, the sinister six, which included: Doc Ock, Scorpion, Electro, Rhino, and Vulture, were all terrorizing the people in times square. Nobody knew why they were called the six since there were only five members, but they could only speculate that there was a secret member or something. Y/n finally stopped playing and watched the story. “This can be my moment to show everyone that I can do things on my own,” she muttered to herself, placing her trombone down and making a portal to the location.

It was a lot more chaotic than Y/n had seen in the news, with five big guys attacked a bunch of different parts of the square. She started with Rhino, who was probably the least powerful one in terms of weaknesses.  She conjured a weapon and attacked as strategically as she could, remembering everything that she was taught. Catching him off guard was the best thing she could do and with a few quick moves, she tied him up in some wizard spell that came to her mind.

She paused for a moment, admiring her good hero work when something hit her from the back and sent her flying, only to be slammed against a wall. She tried making another weapon, but she was thrown again into another building. Y/n opened her eyes, seeing Scorpion about to swing again. She made a weapon a retaliated, hitting him hard. It was her playing field now and she went off on the villain.

When the final blow was about to be made, something grabbed on to her arm and pulled her. Another thing hit her to the ground and the process repeated. She could feel her bones cracking after each hit, but she tried to get back up again. She was left on the ground for a second and as she tried lifting herself up, someone (who she presumed to be the vulture) grabbed on and held her in the air.

There was a sudden rumbling coming from the ground. New York wasn’t a place where earthquakes were common, but along with the terrorist attack from eccentric villains, it seemed normal. A portal that was unfamiliar to Y/n’s type of magic opened in the ground and started to pull her in. She was released by the villain and her limp body fell into the portal.

The whole thing looked like some bad hallucination brought on by LSD, but it was indeed real, and Y/n landed in Times Square again, but this time it wasn’t the one she was just in. News about some hero called Spider-Man dying was sprawled all over each television screen. Wherever she was, it wasn’t the same universe that she used to be in.

Stephen had talked about the presence of a multiverse, but Y/n had always shrugged it off as some weird myth. Apparently not. She picked up a newspaper that mentioned the hero having an aunt that lived nearby, so she decided that she could confide in this lady for help. Maybe she knew this universe’s Stephen Strange if there was one.

Y/n had a painful walk to the house of Aunt May, considering that she probably had a few broken bones from the fight. She knocked on the door and a nice elderly woman answered, looking concerned for the random bruised girl in a cloak that was standing in front of her. “Look, I don’t know how believable this might be, but I’m-” the lady smiled and cut Y/n off.

“From another universe? Come inside and I’ll help you,” Y/n walked into the house and inside sat a few other superhero-looking people. “Peter, Miles, Gwen, Noir, Ham, and Peni, meet--” she paused realizing that she didn’t even know Y/n’s name.

“I’m Y/n,” she said quietly, watching the spider-looking people waved hello. They all seemed a little lost as well.

~~~

Y/n sat with one of the Spider-people, who she knew as Miles. He was the same age as her and just recently got his powers. They were oddly similar and got along pretty quickly, laughing about stupid stories each one told. She had been fixed up as much as she could but knew that she was still pretty damaged.

“What was it like? Randomly getting powers?” she asked, eating one of the french fries that May had made for everyone. They both sat on the couch, laying back and relaxing for a moment. They all knew that soon enough, they would have to fight the biggest thing they’ve ever fought, so the older spider-men planned and the younger ones sat and talked.

“It was like puberty on drugs. You see Gwen’s hair?” They both looked towards Gwen, who had a section of her head shaved. “I got stuck to her hair and she had to shave it,” Y/n choked on the water she was drinking in utter disbelief. She felt lucky that she volunteered to learn after finding out that her mother was also a sorcerer.

Y/n wasn’t sure what she was feeling at this moment. She loved being with Miles, but she was still lost in a dimension that she wasn’t supposed to be in. She also wasn’t a spider type hero, so why did the universe decide that she needed to be here at this point in time. They could be dealing with either fate or dumb luck (wrong place, wrong time).

~~~

Leaving Miles back in his room tied up was hard for Y/n to do, knowing how much he talked about saving the world. May had given her web shooters and a brief tutorial on how to use them, even with her explaining that her portals are a faster way. The whole team, including Miles, were around the control panel that would shut off the particle accelerator and jumping back into the respective dimensions.

Y/n faced Miles, somehow the words of saying goodbye didn’t come to either of their minds. They had to potential to be great friends and maybe more, but this was the moment where it all ended for their relationship as they knew it. “It’ll get better, Miles. Maybe there’s another me in this universe and you can be friends.”

The two leaned in for a hug but halfway through it, Y/n glitched and fell out of his arms. He watched as her body fell into the portal. (She had a weird habit of unconsciously falling through portals, apparently). Once he destroyed Kingpin, Miles made it a goal to find the Y/n in his own universe or discover a way to hop through dimensions.

[redrikki]

I saw Into the Spiderverse yesterday and I have some thoughts

First off, the animation was just amazing. I loved how it pinged between straight up comic book and almost photo-realistic. The use of thought bubbles and visual sound effects (BAGEL!) was great. The scene where Miles jumps and the city flips so it looks like he’s falling up was the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in a theater all year, if not ever.  And don’t even get me started on the visual craziness that was the final battle. 

Things I loved in no particular order:

I love Miles. I love the way he wanted to leave his mark on the world, but struggled under the pressure to be what his dad and his teachers wanted. I love his art and his science jokes and his very honest reaction to trauma. His relationships with his dad and his uncle and Peter were all wonderful and touching in entirely different ways. Heck, even his brief, thirty second relationship with his universe’s Peter was wonderful.

Speaking of Peter, we got canon confirmation that he (at least one version of him) is a nice Jewish boy. It’s not just subtext anymore, baby! You break that wedding glass, boy. I loved Peter’s dad bod and how comfortable he was with his powers and hero-ing while simultaneously failing at all other aspects of his life.

Actually, I loved all the Spider-people. I loved Gwen and how her friendship with Miles healed her lonely soul. I loved edgelord Peter Noir with his rain-scented wind and taste for egg creams and Nazi punching. I would have loved to see more of Spider-Ham and Peni, but they did both have some great moments. Peni just going to town with one of the broken off legs from her destroyed mecha said pretty much everything you needed to know about her.

I loved Aunt May who made gadgets to protect her boy, but lost him anyway. I loved that she knew Liv (only her friends call her that) and defended her home with a baseball bat. Her reaction to seeing Peter B., and his to her, were just deliciously painful.

I loved the little gasp from the woman sitting next to us when she realized Uncle Aaron was the Prowler.

I loved all the little details and shout outs to the Sam Rami films, not to mention all the comics. Peter gave Miles the same advice about disinfecting the mask as he did in the Spidermen crossover. How could I not love that?

I will own this movie when it comes out on DVD. I may even pay to see it in theaters again, something I have only done once. It was just that good. Seriously, if you have any feelings about Spider-Man, go see this movie.

[dragon-stones]

Toddler Madness

Chapter Name: So much for calm  Part: 8 Pairing: Frostiron     Rating: T Summary: Peter causes someone to swam dive! And Doctor Strange is thrown into this mix. Can this get any worse?

Find on AO3 and FF.net

Tony sits on the counter as he watches Loki clean the children with a damp washcloth. Peter had woken up and is happily babbling baby nonsense. The inventor found out that the spiderling loves to be bounced. So here he is bouncing a baby on his knee. This is such a strange situation for the adult. But something about Peter being a baby seems to melt the engineer’s heart. Don’t tell this to Rhodey or Pepper though, they’ll never let him live it down.

Once the kids were cleaned, Tony handed Peter to Loki and slid off the counter. Though he did see the annoyed look the other gives him. Loki doesn’t like people sitting on the counters, something about it not being sanitary. Though, Tony doesn’t care one bit.

“Okay, who’s ready for lunch?” Tony clapped his hands together and Loki snorts. This man is a weird one.

“Me!” Clint says as he jumps up with his hands in the air.

“No, I am.” Bruce mimicked the archer, with more enthusiasm though.

Soon all the kids were getting rowdy. Well all except Natasha, she just looked annoyed. Much like Loki. And Tony to a point. The adults sighed as they watch the kids exclaim who was more ready for lunch. Soon, Nat piped up.

“You all noisy.”

Tony snorted a laugh. Yeah, the kids can be noisy. He’ll agree with that. Loki seemed to find amusement in what Natasha said. But they are kids, so this is normal. But soon, it was getting annoying and Tony is getting a headache.

“Hush now kids.” Loki hushed the kids as he herded them out of the bathroom.

“Crazies,” Tony mutters, shaking his head.

“No, they're not.” Loki snorts, patting Tony’s back.

Tony raises an eyebrow. “Oh yes, they are.” He snorts, but it’s heart filled and not full of malice.“I’m going to look into what caused that flash of light.”

Loki nodded. Indeed, what caused the sudden flash? Did Jarvis have a malfunction? It’s possible. Even highly advanced technology can malfunction. But that fact the flash of light can cause the kids to lose it like they did worry the god. What if it happens again and they can’t calm the children done? What if it happens in public?

“Then I’m calling bold one-eyed pirate about if they found anything.” Tony huffed as he headed to his Lab, pulling a phone from his pocket.

“Right.” The god muttered under his breath. Then turned to the kids. “Come, children, time for lunch.”

Loki ushered the kids out of the bathroom and down the hall. Jarvis had told him that Pepper is using a kitchen on a lower floor since the penthouse is a mess. Jarvis had ordered things for the room to redone. So the penthouse is off-limits for a while. Ushering everyone into the elevator, they were taken the floor Pepper is on. With a ding, the door opens and Loki leads the children to the kitchen. Pepper had made ham and cheese sandwiches and cut them into small squares. There are glasses of juice and water on the table with the plate piled high with food.

“Good, lunches ready.” Pepper sets plates on the table as Loki sits the kids into chairs.

Loki nodded and hums. “Tony’s going to call Fury to see if they found anything about this.”

“Hopefully they found something,” Pepper says as she grabs a small sandwich square.

“Same here.” Loki bites the square he picked up. “Thanks for lunch.”

“Not a problem,” Pepper says as she grabs another.

They eat in calm talking. The kids munch on their lunch like there’s not a care in the world. Peter is sitting in a high chair with a bottle in his mouth. Where did the high chair come from? Loki didn’t remember Tony owning one. But Pepper did do some shopping when she was told about what had happened. So, the chair could have been delivered. Loki taps a sip of his water when he notices Peter beginning to fidget in his seat.

“Something wrong, spidey?” Loki sets his glass down and walks over to the little spider.

But stops in his tracks at what the little gut says. His jaw hitting the floor.

“D-d-daddy.”

The room falls silent. And eyes are staring at the baby. Loki had never heard Peter utter a word. All he did was babble, so the Frost Giant had assumed that the toddler couldn’t speak. But it appears that he had been wrong. Blinking Loki turns his head to Pepper. The redhead is just as stunned as he is, mouth agape. The other kids are shocked as well, Clint even dropped his half-eaten square on the floor.

“Did he just…” Pepper whispered, her voice filled with shock.

Loki slowly nodded. “He did.” Another slow nod. “He said...daddy.”

“Daddy!” Peter whined.

“Do you think he means Tony?” Loki turned to Pepper as she shrugged.

“Maybe.” The woman said. She turned to Peter. “Do you want Tony, honey?”

Peter looks at the adult and nods. The spider made grabby hands. Loki picked the child up and chuckled as the baby wrapped his pudgy arms around his neck. Pepper had once made mention the Peter liked to be held. So Loki picked the little spider up.

“Well, let’s see what tony’s doing.” Loki chuckles.

“Daddy!” Peter clapped his hands.

“I think that’s a yes,” Nat said from Loki’s side.

“Well, let’s go see daddy then.” Loki muses as he heads to Tony’s lab.

Pepper watches. She knows that something is up and didn’t like the feeling she is getting. But, this is Loki. So, anything can go.

“Oh no.” Pepper whispers under her breath.

In the lab, Tony paced with a phone to his ear. The engineer is annoyed, even aggravated. Could this day get any worse? With the information that he had been given, he felt like nothing could make this worse. Why did this random shit have to happen to him?

“Well, that’s just great.” Tony hissed into the phone. He pulled the phone from his ear as who is on the other end started to yell.

“Fucking fantastic.” The engineer muttered low. He sighed and placed the phone back against his ear.

“Yes, they're fine. Rowdy little hunch.” Tony sighs, sitting on a chair. “Yeah, not a problem. Goodbye.” He hung up with a growl.

“Great, just great.” Tony tossed the phone on the table place his head in his hands. He hated his life.

“Sir, Miss Potts is coming down with Mr. Loki and the kids,” Jarvis said.

“Thanks, Jar.” Tony huffed.

Hearing the door open, Tony looked up and sighed. They’re not going to like the news he’s going to have to give. Why is his life so hard? Why can’t he get a break?

“Found anything?” Pepper asks as she stands next to Tony. Loki stood in front with Peter in his arms and the kids around him.

“Yeah, the powder they found has a spell on it.” Tony leaned his head into his hand. The inventor's voice is full of tiredness and annoyance. Though there is a bit of hope as well.

“Well, that’s great.” Loki snorted, this news he did not like at all. As the mortals, they’re SOL’d

“What? Can’t you fix it?” Tony perks up and blinks. He hoped that Loki could fix this.

“No, Odin took my powers away.” Loki huffed.

Shit.

“Can this day get any worse?” Tony grumbled standing and grabbing his cup of coffee.

“Don’t jinx it.” Pepper sighed. She’s hoping Peter does say what she knows the little one will say.

“Daddy!” Peter stuck his chubby little arms out at Tony, a goofy smile on his face.

Tony blinked, eyes wide. Did, did Peter just call him? The cup in his hand dropped, shattering pottery shards and coffee on the lab floor. His face is the perfect imitation of a fish out of water. Why...why is Peter calling him...

“Did he just—” Tony didn’t finish his sentence. He collapsed to the ground in an unconscious state.

Tony Stark had fainted.

“Oh...oh dear,” Loki said, looking at the unconscious man.

The sound of sizzling caught the attention of everyone and they turn to see a ring of orange light. A man steps through in blue robes and a red cape. The man does not look impressed and even annoyed. One could tell that he didn’t want to be there. Much to Loki’s amusement.

“Well, well. I didn’t think you’d come.” Loki snickered, the man glaring at him.

“Why was I called?” The man’s voice is monotone.

“Now, now, Doctor Strange, was it?.” Loki chuckles, causing the man to have an annoyed look. “We need your help.” He gestured to the kids.

Strange looked at the kids and baby in Loki’s arms and sighed. Oh, this can’t be good. Not with a God of Mischief involved. His eyes trailed each child and then to the man on the ground. Pointing a shaky, scared finger, he asks…

“What happened?”

[paperanddice]

Al-Aeshma Genie

Genies in general draw very, very loosely from Arabic folklore, where they were beings created from scorching desert winds. Since then, mixing of folklore with other areas provided other ideas of what genies could be, and when D&D came along they were made into a type of elemental nobility, with different names given to the different elemental types. Not just made from scorching winds now, there are earth and water genies, while air and fire have been separated. The history and mythology of genies in D&D is as varied as it may be in real world folklore, and it regularly changes up with each edition of the game. Beyond even that, it has hundreds more variations in different settings, adventures and home games.

The Tome of Beasts is one such example of investigating the possibilities of genies by looking at what happens if a genie refuses to grant a wish to a mortal. The lore of the Tome of Beasts specifically focuses on djinni for this, tying in the efreeti. Interestingly, whether on purpose or not, these are the two elements that traditional genies might be associated with. It’s a cool little twist, thought it’s likely just born out of the fact that the dao and marid aren’t OGL material. The al-Aeshma are djinn who refused to grant a wish to a mortal for any reason, and so the Lords of Air declare an eternal punishment on them. They are stripped of their ability to grant wishes and turned over to the efreeti who will act as their jailers and torturers for 1,001 years, after which they will be banished to the Material, assuming they even survive that time period.

This is quite the hideous punishment, and looking into the reasons for why a djinni refuses to grant a wish in the face of this threat could be interesting. I think there’s much more to be looked into if your players encounter an al-Aeshma than simply making them a combat encounter with no context. This is a being who survived over a millennium of torture and humiliation, and while such treatment will have an incredibly traumatic effect on a being’s mind, genies are not mortal. Their sense of scale and the strength of their will means that their ability to recover is likely greater than our own.

Whether a furious and devastating natural disaster taking out a thousand years of pain on others, or a focused revolutionary seeking revenge against the lords who betrayed them, the al-Aeshma has potential to be a major driver in a story arc or full campaign, and can bring in the politics of other planes for players to negotiate and explore.

Oh, also, maybe remove the curse of Ham implication that the al-Aeshma have had their skin turned black by their punishment, and that’s an indication of their evil? Just saying. The fact that we still need to address this shit is kind of ridiculous.

Almost 1,500 years ago, an elf wizard asked a wish of a djinni to kill all hobgoblins in the world to end the threat they posed against elves. The djinni, horrified by the mindless cruelty of such a wish, refused it and as such was punished by the Lords of Air for breaking the ancient compacts that govern the genie and their wishcraft. After she was released by the efreeti and dumped upon the material, she spent almost half a millennium just recovering her mind enough to begin investigating the shape of the world she lives on now. It appears the wizard was never successful in binding another genie, for hobgoblins and elves both yet live to this day, and conflict between them still exists. Twisted to hatred against the elves for the wish that resulted in her punishment, the al-Aeshma now acts as an adviser to a powerful hobgoblin warlord, assisting his crusade against the nearby elves for her own revenge.

Many of the rules of wishcraft can be traced back to the work of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa when they ruled over the elemental planes. They were the ones who established the most ancient magic that bound genies to grant wishes, at the time to boost their own civilization and aid in the war against Chaos. With the fall of the Wind Dukes after the end of the war, powerful genie lords came into power and established their own relationship with this magic, some seeking to destroy and replace it and others accepting it and seeking to live within it. One who sought to reject the magic was banished, and after a thousand years of torment and a thousand years further of recovery and planning, he is making his next move. Revenge against the Wind Dukes can be brought about by recovering the Rod of Seven Parts and using it to free Mishka the Wolf-Spider from the prison it was thrown into so long ago. With the Wolf-Spider released, and the Wind Dukes in no position to fight against it again, their destruction will be all but assured.

A party of adventurers delving into an efreeti fortress can find their way into the torture chambers. Among the other prisoners is a djanni who begs for release, claiming that they have been imprisoned here for hundreds of years and if the party leaves them they will simply be passed on to another efreeti to continue their torture. Releasing the djanni (who uses the stat block for an al-Aeshma even if they haven’t fully suffered their 1,001 years of torture) draws the ire of the Wind Lords though, who will attempt to recapture the escaped prisoner and punish those who set them free to ensure their authority over wishcraft is maintained against all challengers.

[theswartzreport]

Musings: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

               “I Think I’m Kinda Gay”: Evil Willow and Duality in the Buffyverse

If you’re one of those people who sings through half of “Once More, With Feeling” in the shower, you may have found yourself dwelling on Evil Willow. To be clear, this is not Willow from the final two seasons - that baroque and self-contradictory jumble of ham-fisted addiction stereotypes and grief-as-anger manifestations warrants its own treatise. Rather, this is the alternate-reality Willow introduced in “The Wish” (S3 E9), after Anya grants Cordelia’s wish that Buffy had never come to town, and the world is transformed into Bizarro Sunnydale, complete with a leather-clad pansexual vampire version of Buffy’s bookish bestie.

First off, to state the obvious: Evil Willow is awesome. When she pops into the show’s restored reality in Doppelgangland (S3 E16), she serves as a counterpoint to Good Willow’s crisis of confidence. Appearing shortly after the unfortunate labeling of “Old Reliable,” Evil Willow’s swagger, style and unbridled sense of self causes her friends to sit up and take notice, to reconsider their treatment of her as a bland goody-two-shoes. She also turns the tables on a bullying jock, which is always good fun.

But therein lies the dichotomy and, indeed, the genius of the Buffyverse’s moral compass: Evil Willow is also, well, evil. She is a murderous vampire, one who tortures for her own pleasure, declaring “bored now” when a victim begs for mercy. The same lack of restraint that allows her to glory in her power and her sexuality, also frees her from even a hint of empathy. She is the negative framing of Spider-man’s creed: with her great power, she can elect to not take responsibility.

This blend of heroism and villainy, of kick-ass girl power and devastating consequences, is what always grounded the Buffyverse’s horror hijinks in recognizable moral reality. Reams have been written, courses taught, on Buffy herself as an inherently fascist avatar: like all superheroes who operate outside the bounds of law enforcement (or in Buffy’s case, Principal Snyder and the corrupt Watcher’s Council), her might makes her right, and she is unconstrained by societal strictures. When Faith goes rogue in Season 3, we see the damage that a slayer unbound can do, but we also root for Buffy (mostly) without reservation as she sets her own hierarchy of which demons must die, and which are more useful alive. With her blonde hair, blue eyes, and impressive roundhouse kick, she is the überfraulein, striking with the hand of God based on her own judgement.

This blurring of traditional roles is pervasive among the Scoobies: Xander is fiercely loyal and commonly coded as the “heart” of the group, while also being a sexist pig with a chip on his shoulder about being the only one without supernatural abilities; Giles manages to be both hidebound and a loose cannon, providing fatherly advice while eliciting childlike rebellion; Anya’s hilarious forthrightness about the idiocy of human customs highlights her other-ness and struggle to assimilate into humanity; and Spike is a master class unto himself on relative good within one person. Angel comes off as the simplest case, because his dividing line of a soul puts him squarely on the side of good, or bad, depending on how recently he’s experienced true happiness.

Which brings us back to Willow (Good Willow, the show’s in-universe Willow), and her last-second intervention to spare her doppelgänger from Buffy’s stake. Despite Evil Willow’s more outré tendencies, Good Willow still sees herself in her: she recognizes the loss of kinship and purpose beneath the soulless demon shell. Evil Willow serves as both warning and premonition, prefiguring Good Willow’s growing power, eventual fall from grace, and difficulty in separating boundaries worth breaking from those that cut her off from her innate goodness. (And the “I think I’m kinda gay!” foreshadow, a full year before Willow comes out, is still one of my favorite Whedonisms.) Like all the Scoobies – like all humanity – Willow contains darkness and light, and she has learned (through her lived experiences, her relationships, her faith, and her luck) how to tamp down the parts that don't fit her persona, or the ideals of her surroundings. When Evil Willow gives free reign to all of those sequestered traits, she releases the bad (murder, torture, lackey bullying) along with the good (her sexual identity, confidence, a taste for skintight leather). Good Willow suppresses her id to a fault; Evil Willow has let hers run free – and catches a splintered 2x4 in the heart for her troubles.

[entertainme-reviews]

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie review. Is it the best Marvel Movie?

Plot:

Spider-man into the Spider-verse debuts Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) as the brand-spanking new Spider-man. However, in this movie, despite being called “Into the Spider-verse” only one Spiderman can exist at a time in one universe. This means Miles’ Peter Parker (Jake Johnson) equivalent meets his unfortunate end at the gigantic hands of The Kingpin (Liev Schreiber (A.K.A Sabretooth from Wolverine Origins)). However, this Peter Parker does not die in vein as he inspires Miles to take up the mantle of being the superhero to save New York as well as Time and Space. 

The reason why Peter Parker...dies is because he tries to interrupt Kingpin from creating a barrier which will allow him to have his wife and child again, he wants his life back, he wants things to be the way they were before spiderman. However, time travel might be tricky in the marvel universe, However, Dimension hopping is a piece of cake within any comic book universe. As spiderman tries to break the machine that could lead Kingpin to his dreams his face gets caught in the beams of energy that it is emitting and therefore instead of trying to find kingpins wife and child and bring them to the Miles’ universe he instead brings 4 Spiders. 1 Spider Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld), 1 Spider-man Noire (Nicolas Cage), 1 Spider-Mech/Penni Parker (Kimiko Glenn) and 1 Spider-Ham/Pig (John Mulaney). They then try to make their way back home to their own universes/dimensions, and put and end to Kingpins Plan. 

Opinion:

This will have Spoilers:

The Art direction in the film is stunning, each Spider has their own art style and animation, you can tell that a lot of effort, care and dedication went into all of them, there are Easter eggs throughout the film as well, for example, you can see in the Ex-Peter Parker the suit from the Spiderman game that was released this year on PS4. This movie is worth the extra money to see it in 3-D so the art comes off as intended Eye-popping, colourful and masterful. 

With the talk of Art I must also talk about the Music within the movie as well, as music plays a part of Miles self control as being the new spiderman and aids him too in a lot of other ways. The art is extremely modern a large range of hip-hop similar to Post Malone (who has a credit in this movie as being a voice actor), however there are throwbacks to the original spiderman theme, as well as spidermans own Christmas theme, much like the batman Christmas theme. 

I also highly appreciate Stan Lee’s cameo as it could not have come at a worse time, since his sudden passing, but it also came at the perfect time for Stan Lee to tell us that we are all heros and we must follow are our hearts, I love that you can tell everyone who had a hand in this movie cared for his words, were inspired by his works and are truly all heroes within their own right. 

The Voice-overs were all incredible I grew to care for Miles’ character extremely quickly as i was not as familiar with his Spider-man as I was Peters’. Shameik Moore did an excellent role of showing all the ranges of emotions, the struggle of what it is to always do what is right even if it might break your own heart. Jake Johnson showed the laid back attitude that his spider-man has developed over time,  as well as his depression and longing to no longer be for his world as his personal life has come to ruin, he conveys this in both his voice as well as the way that he moves (which goes to the credit of the animators). The other Spiders were in the movie to quick ass and show what other heroes could be on the screen other than the ones that we are already used to. Spider-Gwen was there to encourage Miles to be a hero, but that could be said for any Spider, Spider-ham and Spider-Noire were for comedic relief at a lot of times, but Noire was more kick-ass ask questions later however he was teleported from the 1930s ....wait forgot what i mentioned about time travel earlier.... and Penni Parker (Spider Mech) probably has the most emotional scene in the movie, because she has lost her Spider power, her power came from the mech...well from what we could tell in the movie, as the spider that bite her actually was powering the mech, she was just able to control it. 

End Credits:

The end credits has one message from Stan Lee, to tell us to be hereoes all we need is to follow our hearts and what is right.

When we wait through all the credits you will see the appearance of another Spider, Spider-man 2099, which if they make another movie, AND THEY SHOULD MAKE ANOTHER MOVIE will most likely have a large role in it, however as i am only familiar with comcis through shows, I know very little other than what i saw in the post credits. And he seems to be the equivalent of Tony Stark, his suit, which is obviously the suit of Spider-man 2099 is futuristic but is similar to Batmans suit in the Christopher Nolan trilogy as well as he has a female holographic version of Jarvis... or it could just be a hologram that someone is projecting from another distance, I am only theorizing here. 

And if you appreciate Spider-man memes you will certainly love the End Credits ;) 

Overall Score: 

I love the art, the plot, the music, the animation, the voices, the character development and so much more that i must hold back on, despite this being the review for this movie, I encourage everyone to go watch it, even if you do not like superhero movies you will appreciate the art, you will appreciate the time and effort it took to create this movie. 

and for that I give it: 

10/10