#steven stronghold

[darrenpeace]

Some greenscreen photos from behind the scenes of Sky High!

source

[lacking-artdration]

hey, I remember you, you're that fan- uh, Jim, Joey, JOHNNY!

my NAME is ALL AMERICAN BOY

[lily-s-world]

This site should be more obsessed with the icon that is Warren Peace from the cult classic Sky High (2005). In this essay I will…

I did want to write about it, so here we go:  

If you watched Sky High at some point as a kid or teenager, Warren was your crush. He is super handsome.

There is a universal agreement that Layla should have chosen him over Will.

He is the bad boy loner, that steals the show and ends up being a favorite over the main hero.

At the end of the movie, he is friends with the main group, fitting the found family trope.

Besides his appearance and expressions of “get away from me”, Warren is actually a nice person that offers life advice and tries to cheer you up. Not to mention he worries for his classmates and had no doubts about helping save the school, even thought a lot of them only seeing him as a villain.

He has an amazing name: Warren Peace!

He is a fire boy!

Not only is he cool, but his backstory is also super interesting. Superhero Mom and Villain Dad, talk about slow burn enemies to lovers. I’ll watch a movie about his parents and what happened between them.

In conclusion, we should stan Warren Peace more.

[smallville2k]

Childhood favorite, sky high. 💙

To let true love remain unspoken is the quickest route to a heavy heart. - Warren peace 🔥

[thatswarrenpeace]

during the Christmas season, Warren brings his guitar and sings carols at the nursing home where his Nonna stays

[steve-smackdown]

Bracket 6, Round 1

[fanaticloser]

Warren had two super parents too.

Do you think his powers came in late like Will’s?

Or do you think he got them before getting to Sky High?

[sjsmith56]

The Fae Elements, Part 7 - The Past

Summary: A flashback chapter that explains more about the fae king James Barnes, specifically how he managed to have a much younger mortal son.

Length: 5 K

Characters: James Barnes, Sheriff Brown, Cora, Mr. Horton, Steven Rogers.

Warnings: Despair, grief. A young woman is described as easy to seduce.

Author notes: Okay, it was supposed to be only six parts, but this came to me, so I added it on. It's a flashback, but it kind of explains some things that happen in the main story. This is set in 1945 and explains how Buck came to have a mortal son. It also somewhat explains his reluctance to protect Sage as a child, with a marriage bond. Unlike the rest of the story, this is written in 3rd person POV. The AI images of James Barnes as a farm worker and rich businessman, were created by the author, using Microsoft Copilot app, in Designer mode.

<<Part 6

👮🏼‍♂️ 🧑‍🌾 🪦

The crowds in New York celebrating the end of the war in Europe were boisterous, loud, and finally too much for James Barnes to continue observing. Although he was happy to know that the hostilities of the mortal world had ceased, at least in that part of the world, he would wait for his council to assess the damage so many years of warfare had inflicted on the North African and European landscape. Certainly, the repercussions on the environment would be felt for years to come, not to mention the cost it had inflicted on people, both fae and mortal. So many of their kind had been swept away by the madness. So many mortal descendants had been killed by both sides.

As he leaned back against a building in the alley he ducked into, Barnes ran his hands over his face.  He had been fae king for far too long, had overseen massive technological and industrial changes in the human world that greatly affected the fae world.  His own self-imposed isolation after Daere's death placed their kind in peril, as the Industrial Revolution that spread all over the world introduced stresses on nature that seemed unthinkable.  Vast tracts of forests had been cut down to satisfy the needs of the mortals for fuel, building, and agriculture, forever changing some landscapes for the worse.  A sense of despair threatened him suddenly, and he looked around to make sure no one was watching as he flew out of the alley, away from the noise, and the singing and dancing that suddenly felt wrong. 

For hours he kept high in the sky, using the warm air currents to glide from the city to the countryside. Everywhere he considered landing seemed to be teeming with people intent on being joyous. Certainly, it was their right, but he craved solitude at this moment, so even the stronghold wasn't an option for him. He could have always gone to the sanctuary, but he had spent so long there after the death of his wife, in his self-imposed exile, that he knew if he returned, he risked turning his back on everything once again. So, it had to be somewhere else, somewhere quiet, where he could think.

As the sun went down on May 8, 1945, he finally found a spot and landed, making his wings invisible again, then using his magic to make sure his clothes were appropriate for the area. Wearing the garb of a migrant worker, overalls, shirt, work-boots, short jacket and cap, he began walking into the small quiet town. His appearance at the edge of town drew some attention and at one point, he was approached by a man wearing the uniform of a law enforcement officer. Taking his cap off, in a gesture of respect, he waited for the man to reach him.

"Stranger," said the man, wearing a badge that said Sheriff. "Where did you come from?"

"I was hitchhiking and was dropped off here," said Barnes. "The driver of the truck said I might be able to find work." The Sheriff frowned and the disguised fae king realized the people here likely were not friendly to strange men. He needed to think fast. "I've been searching for work since returning from Europe."

"You served? Where?"

"France, I went in with the 101st Airborne on D-Day," replied Barnes. "Received a leg injury that took me out of the war in Belgium and got sent home."

"Where's home?"

"Virginia. My wife was with another fellow, so I left. Been on the road ever since."

He looked away, hoping to convey his embarrassment at his situation. The disapproval from the lawman rolled off of him in waves, and he knew instinctively the man likely wouldn't allow him into town.

"I can give you a bed in the jail for tonight, and a couple of meals if you clear out a storeroom for me," said the sheriff, surprisingly. "But I want you gone tomorrow. I'm only letting you stay the night because no man should come home from the war to find his wife with another."

"Thank you, sir, I appreciate it," replied Barnes, hoping he looked desperate enough to be appreciative of a bed and food.

Following him back into town, he was aware of everyone's eyes on him, even noticing people coming out of their homes to watch him pass. It was more curiosity than anything else and he did all he could to insert the thought that he was forgettable into their minds. As they re-entered their houses after he passed, he breathed easier, knowing that he had successfully passed himself off as just another sad mortal man, down on his luck. The Sheriff entered the jailhouse, nodding at another uniformed man, typing a report using his two index fingers.

"This is ...."

"Jim," said Barnes.

"Jim is going to spend the night in a cell and then clean out the storeroom in the morning. He gets a meal now and a meal before he leaves. He's not under arrest. He's just another soldier who came home to an unfaithful wife."

The other man saluted him slightly, then returned to his report. Sheriff Brown got on the phone and ordered a meal for all three of them, then showed him the cell where he could sleep. There was a cot, with a thin bare mattress on it and nothing else.

"I've got a pillow and blanket in the storeroom, if you want to come and have a look at the mess."

He led the way to the storeroom, turning a light on by pulling a string that hung from the ceiling. It was full of all sorts of equipment, old furniture, and boxes everywhere. Reaching to one of the boxes, the Sheriff pulled out a bare pillow and a scratchy wool blanket, handing it to Barnes.

"If you can make some sort of sense of this mess, I might be able to give you some money as well, but I'll see how good of a job you do. You're welcome to work on it overnight if you can't sleep. I have to lock you into the building as Joe and I both go home to our wives overnight unless we have a prisoner that needs guarding. That okay with you?"

"That's fine," said Barnes. "I appreciate you giving me a place to sleep. If you don't mind, I can start now before the food arrives."

"Suit yourself."

Brown took back the blanket and pillow, leaving the other man there who started with the boxes, moving them to the hallway and taking stock of what else was in the cramped space.. After ten minutes Barnes took his jacket off, already feeling warm as he used his strength to shift some of the heavier furniture into a place that was out of the way. The food arrived and the other officer came back to get him, leading him to the front office, then gesturing at a table where a young woman was unpacking a basket.

She was pleasant to him, in a way that reminded Barnes of Daere, his long-dead wife. Her honey-coloured hair wasn't curled like the other women who wore theirs in large Victory rolls. Instead, she let it hang loose over her shoulders, her natural waves reflecting the light from the overhead fixtures. He imagined that in the sun it would be more golden in colour. Her soft brown eyes reminded him of a doe's eyes, so large and trusting. Smiling kindly at him, she placed a plate of food in front of each man then set out cutlery.

"Thank you, Cora," said Brown. "If you come back in an hour, you can pick up the dishes and return them to the restaurant."

"Yes, Sheriff," she replied quietly, then took her leave.

"Nice girl," said the lawman. "Her family's had it tough since her brother went to war. Her daddy died of a heart attack and it's just her and her mama running the restaurant. Maybe now with the surrender her brother can come home and take care of them as she doesn't seem to be the marrying kind. Eat up, before it gets cold."

It was good food, hearty, simple fare that reminded Barnes of the type of meal they strived for when he first arrived in America in the early years, with Daere and their twin sons. The council had sensed that the Americas needed the fae king there, as great trials against their people were coming. Unfortunately, there was little he could do about the troubles, as the paranoia was so great against anyone who tried to defend those accused of being in league with the dark one. After Daere's sister was hung, and she wasted away in despair, Barnes retreated to the sanctuary with his then young daughter, Hope, as her older brothers chose to remain in the stronghold, still being built at that time. Shaking himself out of the painful memories, he finished the meal and returned to the storeroom to continue working on it. Later, Brown stopped and had a look at his progress.

"Cora hasn't returned for those dishes yet, so I've left you the key to let her in," he said. "Mind you don't let her linger too long. People gossip about her. They think she's too trusting with men and there may be some truth to it. She's a sweet girl but without her father and brother to watch over her I think she's lonely and some have taken advantage of that. Anyways, good night, Jim."

"Goodnight, Sheriff," replied Barnes, locking the door behind the man, still coming to terms that the man didn't want him to hang around town but was willing to leave him on his own inside the jailhouse and with a woman who was a little too "trusting."

It almost didn't make sense but then mortals could be like that. A timid knock 30 minutes later brought him back to the door and he looked out the small window to see it was the young woman, Cora. He let her in then stood back as she packed the dirty dishes back into the basket. They stood there a bit, then she looked him in the eye.

"Where are you from?"

"Virginia, originally," he said, lying a little bit, as he was from England originally, then moved to Virginia in the mid 1600s.

"Are you married?"

"I was. My wife is now dead."

"I'm sorry." Her hands were fumbling a little with the hem of her sweater. "Do you miss her?"

"Very much. Are you married?"

She huffed a little. "No, ain't no one wants me. They say I'm not right." She looked out the barred window of the office. "Doesn't stop them from inviting me into their car or their barn."

"Why do you stay?"

She shrugged. "Don't have enough money to go to the city. Mama needs me, although there's talk of selling the restaurant so Mr. Horton can build a factory for all the men coming home from the war to work at. Maybe you could stay and work at the factory. Maybe you could marry me."

"I'm not staying, Cora," he answered. "The Sheriff wants me gone tomorrow. I can't marry you because I don't love you and that wouldn't be fair to you."

She frowned and sighed. "Can you take me with you? If I stay here, no one will want me. They all think I'm loose but I'm just lonely."

"Well, I understand lonely," said Barnes. "Give me your hand."

She obliged him, placing her soft hand in his. Barnes closed his eyes and used his magic to see a little further into Cora's life. It was a gift he didn't like using because things could always change but what he saw surprised him and he looked at her intently for a bit, before releasing her hand. She wasn't well educated, having been kept at home to look after her sickly mother. Her brother had tried to teach her more before he left for war in 1942, but without his encouragement she hadn't gone past a basic level of literacy. Now, he was dead, already buried in a cemetery in Belgium, although the family hadn't yet received the notification. There was something else that concerned Barnes, but he knew it was likely her only way out of this tiny, backwater town. He decided to be honest with her as so many here hadn't been.

"Cora, what do you know about the fairy folk?"

"That they'll steal your baby's soul when you're not taking heed," she replied. "That's what the older people say. I would like to see one. In my mind, they're beautiful, with wings, and they grant you wishes."

"Some do, some don't." Barnes sighed, then stroked her golden hair. "What if I said that I was one of the fairy folk?"

"Are you? Do you have wings?"

"I do, but if I show you, then you can't tell anyone. There's only one wish I can give you, Cora, but if I give it to you, then you have to leave here and go to the city."

In his hand were several strands of her hair. Entranced she watched as they glowed and transformed into gold threads that intertwined and became a gold necklace.

"That's magic," she said, then looked up into his blue eyes. "You are one of them."

"I am. I was feeling sad and came to the country to gather my thoughts, but now I think I was guided here to see you and make it possible for you to leave. Your mama will move on soon and join your daddy and your brother in the next life. You'll be alone. Most of the people here think you're not smart enough to take care of yourself but you are. You're kind and gentle and you're a hard worker. When you go to the city, you must wear this necklace always to protect you but keep it hidden by your clothing. With the money that the army will give you for your brother's service to his country, and that Mr. Horton gives you for your mama's restaurant, you can start over again in the city. You're going to have a baby, Cora, so you'll have to stop going with other men until you meet a man in the city, named William Hart. He's a good man who will love you and marry you, even though you're going to have another man's baby, a boy, that you'll name Richard. That baby will have my eyes. He'll be so smart and make you both so proud."

"Will you come to see us?" she asked, her brown eyes questioning him.

"I will but you won't see me, as that's how it has to be. The necklace will let me find you again. When Richard is old enough, I'll make myself known to him and he can choose whether to join me and the fairy folk or to stay in the mortal world. Either way, he'll have a good life and so will you."

"So, you have to put a baby in me," she stated, understanding his meaning. "Will you tell me I'm pretty?"

"I already think you are, inside and out."

He smiled, then turned out the lights and led her to the cell where his cot was. Using his magic, he transformed the cell into something nicer, holding a proper bed with a soft mattress, clean sheets, and flowers everywhere. Placing the necklace around her neck, he kissed her, gently and with kindness, knowing she had never received that from any of the men in this town who had used her for their own pleasures. In fact, only a handful of men, including the sheriff, hadn't taken advantage of her loneliness. It wasn't something that Barnes would normally do. He had actually been celibate since Daere's death, but it would be the only way to make sure Cora left this backwater town, it's darkness evident just under the surface. If she stayed, her life would be a misery and she was too kind to be subjected to that. When they were finished, he showed her his feathered wings, allowing her to stroke the feathers with her soft hands. He walked her back to the restaurant, carrying the basket of dishes for her, making sure she was safely inside and locked the door before he returned to the jailhouse and let himself in with the key the Sheriff left him. It took him all night, but he finished organizing the storeroom, and rested for an hour before the Sheriff returned.

"You did a good job," he said to Barnes, as he inspected the storeroom. "You must have worked all night on it."

"Almost. Sheriff, why did you let me stay?"

"You seemed like an honest man, maybe a bit down on his luck," he replied. "Only a handful of others would have helped you."

"Is that why you trusted me with a key, and with making sure Cora picked up the dishes? For all you knew I would take advantage of her."

The Sheriff's jaw tightened, and he swallowed. Barnes could feel the heat of the man's shame, even though he knew by his touching of Cora's hand that Brown was one of the few men who respected her.

"I was hoping you could take her away with you," he finally said. "She's too pure of heart and kind to stay here. When that factory is built, the type of men it will attract for work will look at her and use her for one thing."

"Will she and her mother get a fair price for the restaurant?"

"No, Mr. Horton will try to cheat them. That's the type of man he is. If her brother doesn't return before her mama passes away, she could end up with nothing."

"Her brother's not coming home," said Barnes. "He lies in a grave in Belgium. The notice should be coming in a few days and then the life insurance that the army gives will follow."

"How do you ...." He frowned then looked at Barnes again. "Jim, who are you?"

"Think of me as someone who cares about her," he replied. "I have abilities and I looked into her future a ways. She does have one, but she has to leave here to attain it. I need you to make sure she gets what's owed to her. She needs to be made responsible for her mother before she passes, then you need to make sure that Mr. Horton pays what the restaurant is worth. I'm going to make my own visit to him, but you'll have to be here to follow up on that."

"The city will swallow her up." Brown's anxiety and fear for the young woman was all over his face.

"No, she will meet the right man, one who loves her gentle soul." Barnes placed a hand on the Sheriff's arm and shared the vision with him. "He'll love her and the baby that she's going to have and will bind himself to them. They will have a good life."

"You had your way with her?" The man's anger simmered, and Barnes sent him soothing thoughts.

"It was necessary to give her the gift of a child. She won't go with other men now that she's carrying it and will wait for the one man who will love her as she deserves. I swear that I was kind and gentle to her, truthful as well. You are also a truthful man which is why I am charging you with making sure she gets to the city. You care about her and that is more than most in this place."

"How can I be sure that you're being truthful with me?" His anguish rolled off of him, as he wanted to believe that Jim had Cora's best interests at heart.

Barnes displayed his wings, unfurling them to stretch almost the entire width of the room. His eyes blazed with a blue light, and he raised himself towards the ceiling. With a cry, the Sheriff lowered himself to his knees and covered his eyes. When he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see Jim back in his human form.

"You're an angel."

"No, a light fae, fairy folk," he answered. "Angels are distant cousins. We both fight the dark but fae are more ... worldly. We love, we marry, we have children, we mourn, we try to leave the world a better place. Now, will you help Cora?"

"I swear I will drive her to the city myself," said the Sheriff.

"I believe you." He turned to leave, pausing at the door. "Where will I find this Horton man?"

"He has an office in the large red brick building in the centre of town. You'll know him as he dresses like a banker and carries himself as being better than everyone else."

Without a word, Barnes left the jailhouse and walked to the centre of town. The red brick building was quite prominent, seeming to be better maintained than the other buildings. Stepping inside he asked where he could find Mr. Horton. Directed to an office on the top floor he went up the stairs. No one else was nearby and he transformed his look into someone who was wealthy, with well styled hair and a fine suit. As he entered the office, everyone in there stopped talking.

"I'm looking for Mr. Horton," he announced, confidently.

One of the men sitting at a desk approached him.

"Who are you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

"J.B. Barnes of Barnes Industries," replied the fae king. "I'm interested in setting up a factory in town and heard Mr. Horton was the man who could make it happen. Of course, if he's too busy I could always go to Westville."

"I'm sure he would like to meet with you, Mr. Barnes," said the man, his attitude becoming much friendlier. "Let me check with him. Please have a seat, here at my desk."

Disappearing into a nearby office, it was only a minute before he returned, with Mr. Horton in tow. The older man, tall and thin, with a superior attitude, immediately offered his hand.

"Mr. Barnes, a pleasure. Please come into my office."

"I'll get straight to the point," said the fae king. "I've heard you plan to open a factory here in town, building it on a site where several locally run businesses currently sit. I want the same site and I'm willing to outbid you to acquire it for my investment."

Immediately, Barnes disliked this man, Horton. Recognizing him as one of Cora's unwanted "admirers," while he shook the man's hand, he could barely disguise his reluctance to even be near him. The physical touch as they shook hands allowed him to foresee the effect Horton's business would have on the town, bringing in all sorts of destructive elements, even attracting dark fae. It was dying and there was nothing that Barnes could do to save the small community, except make sure that this man's factory did as little damage to the environment as possible. As he shared his plans, he could feel the intensity of Horton's desire to outbid Barnes in order to build the factory to accommodate a technology that Barnes knew would be outdated within a few years. It was easy to manipulate the man into unleashing his desire to acquire more profits. By the time he left there, Barnes was certain that offers better than his proposed ones would be made to the business owners within a day or two at the most.

Returning to the jailhouse, he walked in, still dressed as a rich man. Sheriff Brown's eyebrows raised at the sight of him and with a smile, Barnes restored his farm worker look.

"It's all set," he said to Brown. "Horton will be making offers to the business owners very soon. Make sure they cash the checks quickly and leave town as soon as possible, before the building of the factory is even started. The town is dying, Sheriff. I think you already know that. Before it dies, Horton will wring out all of its decency, making it a small island of despair and depravity." He breathed out, then looked at a fishing rod, set up against the wall behind Brown's desk. "Do you use that very often?"

"Not nearly enough," said the lawman, glancing back. "Figured once I retired, I would have more time. Are you saying I should retire? I can't afford to, not yet."

"Let me work on that," said Barnes, smiling kindly at the man. He picked up a pencil and a slip of paper from the desk, writing a phone number down. "When Cora and her mother receive her brother's army life insurance, and the check from Horton is cashed I want you to call this number. You will be given an address in the city. I may meet you there or it may be an associate. Either way, you will be able to retire with your head held high. Don't thank me. My kind takes thanks as an obligation for you to do more. You're already doing enough."

With a nod, he left the jailhouse and began the walk to the edge of town. When he was out of sight of mortals, James Barnes, the fae king, took on his normal appearance and flew up into the sky, away from the dying town, away from the mortal woman who now carried his son. Surprisingly, to him at least, he felt good about it. By helping just a few people he was changing things for the better.

A week later, a phone call rang in an office in the city. Answered by a young fae man, the mortal on the other end was hesitant at first.

"I'm calling for Jim, to say that Mr. Horton's checks have been cashed and Cora's mother cashed the army life insurance check."

"Yes, Sheriff, we've been expecting your call," said the relatively young 50-year-old fae, Steven Rogers. "Do you have a pencil? I will give you an address. We have an apartment ready for Cora and her mother to live in, as it would be a good time to bring them to the city. Someone will meet you there."

After giving him the address Steven went to the roof and created a portal back to the stronghold, reporting in person to the king that the phone call had been received. Then he returned to the city, taking his post at the apartment, waiting for the woman who carried the king's son, and her mother, and the good man who was bringing them, who would be given his own check, allowing him to leave his town and retire. It would be Steven's duty, shared with another relatively young fae man, Sam Wilson, and a fae woman, Natasha Romanoff, to make sure the young woman, Cora, and her son, were kept safe, until the man chosen to be her husband, William Hart, a mailman by occupation, returned from the war in Europe.

Having seen the worst of humanity during the war, Hart was filled with a need to do some good in the world.  He tasked himself to be kinder to people, and to embrace life and love in a way he hadn't before the war.  When he arrived back in the city of his birth, it would be a few months before he would see a young woman, with honey-coloured hair, and soft brown eyes, like those of a doe, weeping at a new grave in Forest Green Cemetery, where he had just visited his own parents.  Hearing her pain, and wanting to help her through it, he approached her, speaking to her kindly.  He didn't see the blue-eyed stranger that watched him approach her, offering comfort.  The strange man, the fae king known as James Barnes, was standing under a gnarled oak tree, rumoured to be hundreds of years old. He whispered to the tree, calling it Daere, which meant oak tree in the ancient language that his late wife grew up speaking. 

"My love, I vowed never to be with another after you, but I had to get a young woman away from a place of darkness and had to give her a child to bring it about," he said, softly, his forehead resting against the tree. "I don't love her, but I did care for her. That's her mother in the newest grave, here where you died so long ago. The man is the one who will marry her and raise my son. By the ways of our kind, you know I must reveal myself to my son when he turns 30 and offer him a place in our world. I have deliberately not seen past that time to know his answer, leaving it to fate and destiny. Forgive me for breaking my vow of never-ending love for you, Daere, my beloved."

Tears fell from his eyes, wetting the bark of the old tree. Then a breeze came up, rustling the leaves and Barnes raised his eyes up, gazing at the canopy of green above him. Slowly, he nodded his head, as if the tree spoke to him. If it was speaking to him, it did so with words of comfort because his face became soft, and his tears ceased. His attention returned to the woman, Cora, and the man, William. It was exactly as he had been shown when he touched Cora's hand. The man was already in love with her, and that love would be enough to protect her and the half-fae son she carried. As for Barnes, the old oak, that held the spirit of his late wife, had already indicated that a day would come when he would take another as his beloved. Until then, he would visit Daere as often as he could. Until that day, someday in a future that he wanted to keep a mystery, he would continue to mourn the last fae queen who had ruled their people beside him.

THE END (for real this time)

Series Masterlist

Please support the author by reblogging.

[nepobabyshowdown]

THE NEPO BABY SHOWDOWN!!!

setting this up was exhausting btw. i'm never doing a 64-person bracket again

matchups below!

Quadrant A (april 9)

Jesus Christ (the Bible) vs. Kang Tae-mu (Business Proposal)

Steven Universe (Steven Universe) vs. Piper McLean (Heroes of Olympus)

Spandam (One Piece) vs. Michael Corleone (The Godfather)

Asami Sato (Legend of Korra) vs. Jon Kent (DC)

Bruce Wayne (DC) vs. Abigail Bellweather (Motherland: Fort Salem)

Percy Jackson (Percy Jackson) vs. Olivier Mira Armstrong (Fullmetal Alchemist)

Diluc Ragnvindr (Genshin Impact) vs. Dee and Dennis Reynolds (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Light Yagami (Death Note) vs. Charley Witherspoon (BoJack Horseman)

Quadrant B (april 10)

Shoto Todoroki (My Hero Academia) vs. Jorgen Weight (Skyward)

Gretchen Wieners (Mean Girls) vs. Carmen and Juni Cortez (Spy Kids)

Rufus Shinra (Final Fantasy) vs. Janine (Pokemon)

Will Stronghold (Sky High) vs. Mark Grayson (Invincible)

Seto Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh) vs. Jack Knight (DC)

Loona (Helluva Boss) vs. Richie Rich (Richie Rich)

Jack Zimmermann (Check Please) vs. Byakuya Togami (Danganronpa)

Gideon Nav (The Locked Tomb) vs. Cordelia Goode (American Horror Story: Coven)

Quadrant C (april 11)

Kendall Roy (Succession) vs. Han Joo-won (Beyond Evil)

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb) vs. Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl)

Jason Grace (Heroes of Olympus) vs. Jay Ferin (Just Roll With It: Riptide)

Weiss Schnee (RWBY) vs. Sterling Archer (Archer)

Kuroto Dan (Kamen Rider Ex-Aid) vs. Sebastian Debeste (Ace Attorney)

Damian Wayne (DC) vs. Jack Shephard (Lost)

Revolver Ocelot (Metal Gear Solid) vs. Reagan Ridley (Inside Job)

Cheryl Tunt (Archer) vs. Chloe Bourgeois (Miraculous Ladybug)

Quadrant D (april 12)

Adrien Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug) vs. Victoria Dallon (Worm)

Toph Beifong (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs. the Bluths (Arrested Development)

London Tipton (Suite Life) vs. Richard Gansey (The Raven Cycle)

Pacifica Northwest (Gravity Falls) vs. Sam Manson (Danny Phantom)

Glimmer (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) vs. Nathaniel Plimpton (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend)

Steven Stone (Pokemon) vs. Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)

Hercules (Hercules) vs. Mitsuru Kirijo (Persona 3)

Tim Drake (DC) vs. Porsha Crystal (Sing 2)

[feministdragon]

— When the 2000 election recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court was halted by five corrupt Republicans on the US Supreme Court — handing the White House to George W. Bush by a disputed 537 votes — nobody knew at the time that Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, had commissioned a huge purge of voters, using a list of Texas felons that was 68% Black and Hispanic.

Harris did this because the national pool of Black and Hispanic names is relatively small: Black felons in Texas with names like Jim Washington or Jose Gonzalez are extremely likely to have similarly named counterparts in any other state with large Black and Hispanic populations like Florida. 

Thus, when those Texas names were compared via a “loose match” (didn’t require a birthday or middle name match) with Florida voters’ names, disproportionate numbers of Black and Hispanic Florida voters were deemed to be possible felons who’d somehow recently moved to Florida from Texas, and tens of thousands were removed from the voter rolls. As the US Commission on Civil Rights noted:

“14.4 percent of Florida’s black voters cast ballots that were rejected. This compares with approximately 1.6 percent of nonblack Florida voters who did not have their presidential votes counted. … [I]n the state's largest county, Miami-Dade, more than 65 percent of the names on the purge list were African Americans, who represented only 20.4 percent of the population.”

— When Donald Trump was certified the winner of the 2016 election, nobody knew at the time that Russia had illegally poured millions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of man-hours into targeting swing state voters identified by the RNC, whose names were handed off to Russian Intelligence by Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort.

When Robert Mueller’s FBI team determined this crime had helped put Trump in the White House, and that Trump had personally intervened in investigations ten separate times in ways that could be prosecuted as criminal obstruction of justice, Bill Barr kept the news from America until the story had largely faded from the headlines.

What will it be this November? We have some clues.

— With the blessing of five Republicans on the 2018 Supreme Court, Republican-controlled states with large Black and Hispanic populations are purging voter rolls like there’s no tomorrow. Just between 2020 and 2022, fully 19,260,000 Americans — 8.5% of all registered voters — were purged. The purge rate in Red states was 40% higher than the rest of the country. We won’t know this year’s purge numbers until well after the election is over.

— The GOP is trying to organize an “army” of 100,000 rightwing warriors to show up at polling places to “oversee” elections and challenge voters they think look suspicious. They’ll also be challenging signature matches on mail-in ballots, particularly in Blue cities in Red states.

— Republican elected officials from the state level all the way up to the US Senate are refusing to say that they’ll accept or certify the result of the election this fall if Donald Trump doesn’t win. Multiple Republican members of Congress have asserted that only the House of Representatives should decide the presidential election this year (which would throw the election to Trump regardless of who the voters or electoral college choose).

— In multiple states, Republicans have passed laws allowing them to manipulate and change the location of polling places, criminalize voter registration drives, replace Democratic and nonpartisan election officials with partisan GOP hacks, and in Georgia and Arizona throw out ballots from entire precincts. As Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt noted for The Atlantic: “Throwing out thousands of ballots in rival strongholds may be profoundly antidemocratic, but it is technically legal, and Republicans in several states now have a powerful stick with which to enforce such practices.”

— Typically, when politicians engage in nakedly deceptive politicking or election theft they’re outed in the press and punished at the polls. Since 2020, however, Republicans have rewarded their politicians who tell lies and engage in underhanded tactics, suggesting there will be no limits to what the Trump campaign might do or say in the weeks leading up to the election, including the use of deepfakes and AI.

— Saudi Arabia and Russia — both allies of Trump — have cut oil production by over 1.4 million barrels a day to drive up gasoline prices leading up to this November, just like they did in a dress rehearsal during the fall of 2022. History shows that gas prices spiking over $5 or even $6 a gallon will have a measurable impact on inflation and thus the election.

— Russia fielded a small army of online trolls to assist Trump’s electoral efforts in 2016 and 2020. Expect the same in November, except this time, according to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, China is also getting into the act on the GOP’s behalf. 

— Benjamin Netanyahu defied President Obama when he was engaged in delicate negotiations with Iran, visiting the US and addressing Congress at the invitation of Republicans. He’s expected to do the same slap-in-the-face gesture this fall to Biden, along with defying the president’s wish that Israel minimize civilian casualties in Gaza. Netanyahu will do everything he can to ensure Trump comes back into office if for no other reason than keeping himself out of prison; demoralizing young progressive voters will almost certainly be at the top of his list.

But these are all things we know about right now, even if there’s little we can do about most of them.

Given the Nixon/Reagan/Bush examples, our biggest concern should be to find the things we’d otherwise look back on after the inauguration and say about them, “Nobody knew at the time…”

[movies-to-add-to-your-tbw]

Title: Sky High

Rating: PG

Director: Mike Mitchell

Cast: Michael Angarano, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Danielle Panabaker, Bruce Campbell, Lynda Carter, Kevin Heffernan, Dee Jay Daniels, Kelly Vitz, Loren Berman, Nicholas Braun, Steven Strait, Malika, Khadijah Haqq McCray, Jake Sandvig

Release year: 2005

Genres: comedy, science fiction, romance, action

Blurb: Will Stronghold, son of the famous superheroes Commander and Jetstream, tries to find a balance between being a normal teenager and an extraordinary being.

[darrenpeace]

Supervillain profiling! And super-detectives! ...because I watched too many true сrimе videos… and tv serials... and detective stories… But what I mean is that with the appearence of superheroes and, more important, supervillains, the world had changed and therefore the сrimе itself had changed. Which means new technics and methods are becoming more and more damanded for solving new crimes. So imagine: supervillain profiling! and super-detectives! 🔍

[lacking-artdration]

she skying on my high til I Michael Giacchino

[smokeybrand]

Factual Fiction

Cats want to boycott season five of Stranger things because Noah Schnapp is pro-Israel and i kind of find that excessive. Schnapp is a New York Jew who works in Hollywood. I'm generalizing here, of course, but since this sh*t has started, I'm seeing more and more of this specific type of Jew, screaming antisemitism when confronted with anti-Zionism. Debra Messing is another one. Steven Spielberg, too. I mean, he lived in New Jersey but that's close enough, i think. The issue here is that these very much affluent individuals, hyper focus on the idea of Israel and not what the Israeli government has been doing for seventy years. Hell, a lot of them have come out and said that everything Israel is doing in Gaza, is absolutely justified because of the brutality of that November 7th attack, literally ignoring the fact that, in order to even create the open air prison that is modern Gaza, they basically Kristallnacht'd the entire population already living there. Couldn't Hamas use the same logic to justify their attack on the 7th?

It's fine to support what you perceive to be your homeland, however problematic it's creation is, but i find it intellectually dishonest to so one-sidedly support what is basically a racial cleansing at this point. My personal opinion of the Israeli state aside, i genuinely believe it has no right to exist in it's current form, No one, in good conscious who's not a complete zealot, can see the devastation going on during this massacre and honestly believe it's justified. Like, Israel just bombed a refugee camp. They outright murdered three surrendering Jewish hostages, gunned them down in cold blood as one was even waving the flag of surrender, because they thought they were Gazans. They shut of water to the occupied territory at the very start of this holocaust, targeted reporters with lethal effect to keep the news from getting out, and attacked hospitals under the false guise of them being Hamas strongholds: All of which are War crimes, all of which are just the tip off the iceberg in terms of what is going on out there. The personal stories of survivors is more than harrowing but Steven Spielberg wants to propagandize this sh*t and make it seem like all the brown people are at fault. And that's kind of my point.

A few years back, i watched this Vice documentary about how Israel basically started seizing Palestinian property, i believe in the West Bank, illegally expanding their territory and evicting Palestinian residents from their ancestral homes. I watched a Palestinian family plead with this New York Jew, who decided to move to Israel because they offered him a house for free basically. Their house. Generations of Palestinians lived in that house but, because Israel is an occupying force, backed by the strongest military in the world, they just keep committing atrocities like it's nothing. Dude as, like, "This is my house because this is my land because my god said so." You can commit horrors when your god says it's okay. And this is an American Jew. Imagine what actual Israelis think of Palestinians after living in that entitled and propagandized environment their entire lives?

The people waging this war don't see Palestinians as human. They've said as much. Now, i don't know if it's just racism or if that bigotry is tied up in their religious bullsh*t, but i do know that every Jew here in the States, are coming at this from a "chosen Land" perspective first, and then maybe a "I hate darkies" perspective second. Again, when your version of the one god says it's fine, you have a blank check to inflict horrors, something the Israelis have been doing since they crashed the walls of Jericho. That's right, the Israel from antiquity, started with a military siege. God basically "gifted" them a land with a whole ass fortified city on it. You know what that's called? Theft. They stole that land, just like Britain did for them centuries later. They're proud of that sh*t. It's the origin of their entire culture as a solidified peoples. And it started with a brutal siege and occupation of a land which belonged to an entirely different people. Sounds familiar, right?

I might be losing the plot here but this sh*t chaffs my ass. The state of Israel is as terrible as Hamas, which is as terrible as any other terrorist organization; The difference being Israel created Hamas by disregarding the terms of their country's genesis and immediately began persecuting their neighbors in the name of their version of god. That same reason is why so many prominent Jewish people, here, in the US, are so fervently and blindly, supporting Israel. it's fine that these assholes are murdering babies and bombing Gazan historic sites because Hamas is bad. These people experienced a single day of the same treatment they've given Gazans for decades, have gone full mask-off with their genocidal intent, with the full backing of US Jews, and that sh*t is wild to me. Noah Schnapp's perspective is not isolated. You see it throughout most mainstream media. The dissonance between the reality happening on the ground in Gaza, and what these people believe, is, at best, negligent and at worst, calculated.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Sky High (2005)

If you’re making a movie about a high schooler torn between his friends and the popular clique, you’re not going to beat Mean Girls - so what can you do? Add an extra element to make it different. On their own, the high school and superhero elements of Sky High would be forgettable. Together, they make this the kind of movie you’d enjoy as a kid, fondly remember for years, revisit later on and be pleased to see that it holds up.

Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) is the non-powered son of The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston), the world’s most popular superheroes. He hopes his first day at Sky High - a school for superheroes - will unlock his potential. Although he and his friends are relegated to the “Hero Support” (sidekick) department, he catches the eye of beautiful Gwen Grayson (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). When his powers finally manifest, he begins hanging out with Gwen and the popular crowd, just as Royal Pain - his parents' nemesis presumed dead for 16 years - reemerges.

You can probably see where this story is going. At the end of the day, the “cool kids” are not the people Will can depend upon; it’s his childhood friend Layla (Danielle Panabaker) who is secretly in love with him and can manipulate plants along, with the sidekick misfits: Ethan “Popsicle” Bank (Dee Jay Daniels) who can melt into a puddle of goo, Magenta Lewis (Kelly Vitz) who can turn into a guinea pig, and Zach Braun (Nicholas Braun) who glows in the dark. If Sky High deviated from the formula more, had richer characters, or took a few more chances, it would be a better film. The movie can tell us that sidekicks and heroes should be treated equally all it wants, but Puddle Kid won’t be saving the day anytime soon and the story fails to make him cool by showing him use his ability to crawl beneath doors to spy on people or combining his skills with smarts or martial arts. Similarly, it’s not like Will confronts his father and persuades him to apologize to Royal Pain for the anguish he made them feel while they were in school together; Royal Pain is just evil and needs to be dealt with the old-fashioned way. There’s another layer of depth and intelligence that could’ve been unlocked.

With that said, the movie has a good number of jokes and when the high school and superhero genre are blended, it works well. Bruce Campbell has a small role as Coach Boomer. He provides some big laughs as he puts the new recruits through trials and comments on their potential - or lack thereof. Equally funny are the scenes in “superhero support” class. The teacher, All-American Boy (Dave Foley) is so lame he deserves no respect. The dubiously useful skills he teaches are showcased in a couple of montages that prove this movie knows the superhero genre and has fun both referencing it and poking fun at a few aspects too.

Sky High is at its best when it’s making you laugh but the teenage drama stuff works fairly well too. In the cafeteria, Will has to contest with Warren Peace (Steven Strait) who holds a grudge against the Stronghold family for imprisoning his supervillain father. The story by Paul Hernandez, Bob Schooley & Mark McCorkle makes him more than just a bad guy. Not that the one-dimensional bullies (played by Will Harris and Jake Sandvig) are bad. Actually, they’re fun in a Bulk and Skull kind of way. I just wish the film blended its two genres more consistently in the second and third acts. There is substance in the scenes of Will and his father talking. His heroic abilities are our world's equivalent of being a star football player but the further we go on, the more detached from reality the characters and the story becomes. There are some twists along the way that make the conclusion quite a lot of fun, however.

While Sky High lacks originality, it uses its tried-and-true elements well. It’s good, family-friendly entertainment with a fair number of smartly written bits and some good character moments. (January 8, 2021)

[tetohe]

Gloriana

Sasha Stevens was an impulsive teenager. Never one to think twice, often encouraged by her friends, she bounced constantly between adventures and mishaps. But going on a hike in the middle of a thunderstorm? That was a bit much, even for Sasha's friends. The school camp still had three days left, they said, and the rain would clear soon.

Undeterred, Sasha snuck out anyway. She found the storm glorious, the driving rain energising and the thunder empowering.

All was well, until she was stuck by lightning. But instead of being hurt, Sasha's body was covered in arcing electricity. Blinded by the arcs leaping from her body, she stumbled back to camp, terrified. On seeing Sasha, the teachers panicked, except one. This teacher called her father, the retired hero Red Shield. With his help, Sasha was able to calm down, and stop the lightning.

In the months following, Sasha’s powers continued to develop. Red Shield became her mentor, helping to stop her from accidentally summoning storms or taking out the neighbourhood’s power.

Red Shield discouraged her from becoming a superhero, but as usual Sasha refused to listen. A man with powers of persuasion called Kredit King was terrorising her community. To protect them, Sasha donned a costume and took the name Gloriana. She quickly busted up Kredit’s operation, driving him out of the city.

Flush with success, Gloriana continued on as a hero, under the watchful eye of Red Shield. She became a well-respected figure in the city.

two years later, when the Gabbot System invaded, Gloriana rushed to join the other heroes in the first assault against them. But protective as ever, Red Shield told her to stay back, and went instead.

The assault went terribly. A number of heroes were killed, and Red Shield was seriously injured. Gloriana, who had mostly listened to her mentor, swept in as the Gabbots advanced, summoning the largest storm she could to give the rest of the heroes time to retreat.

Impatiently, she watched as the Gabbot robots secured a beachhead and constructed their Core Mine, waiting for Red Shield to heal. With the morale of Earth's heroes at an all-time low, Gloriana continued on alone. She battled Gabbot patrols, and tried to encourage other heroes to step up. But most were unwilling, distrustful of her youthful energy.

However, a few were inspired by her. Elementress, fresh from retirement. Big Blue, returning from Space. Fantomah, defender of The Jungle. El Dorado, young, eager and untested. Pekapeka, the ghost. Together with herself and Red Shield, they formed The Protectors. A small group, perfect for infiltrating the Gabbot System stronghold.

The plan was a stealth attack: break the Core Mine drill and disrupt the robot's mainframe. But the team was too inexperienced to do it without notice. The stealth attack turned into an all-out battle, and for the first time in her life Sasha was fully focused. She directed the others from the air, using her lightning to clear a path. Combining their objectives, Gloriana and her team of heroes threw the Gabbot mainframe into the mine, destroying both. Without their central command, the robots became easy targets. The Protectors wasted no time in driving the Gabbot System off the Earth.

Gloriana is the driving force behind The Protectors. Enthusiastic and powerful, Gloriana inspires the team in their defence of Earth.

Art designed in Heromachine 3