#tbh can’t see gambit any other way

[bistec-37]

Remy lebeau, gambit uses gambit/gambit/gambitself pronouns, but he/him is also acceptable mon cher!

I love that X-Men ‘97 brought back Gambit’s pronouns of Gambit/Gambit (with the occasional but rare He/Him) from the original series. Truly my favorite part! 💖

[spiritintheteapot]

@siliquasquama asked a question about Water Logic:

What was Ocean’s gambit, and why did she involve Zanja?

The following contains major spoilers for Water Logic and the beginning of Air Logic.

🌊🌊🌊

The water is warm. The harbor is protected. There is a narrow beach, insurmountable cliffs, a pounding waterfall. These have not been enough. … They trade for all that their small harbor does not give them. To this chary shore, to toothed rocks, to hungry waves, they return, she returns, the tide rises and falls and she returns, and the pattern is failing. … the tide flows, in and out, and always inevitably there is less. The pattern will be failing, the pattern has always been failing, and it has failed.

– Water Logic, p. ii

1. Ocean had a problem: Secret Bay didn’t have the natural resources to support her people. 

What were her options? A few possibilities: could she have sent her people to a different refuge when they fled there (when Ocean was a child, when the Shaftali conquered the land, four centuries before Karis became G’deon)? It doesn’t seem like there were a lot of places to hide, and it could be more difficult for Ocean to control what happened at the very beginning of her life. Could she have uprooted her people in the years since and found a different home? Well, Shaftal only seems to have expanded, and unlike other border peoples, the Essikret don’t have mountains or grasslands to retreat into: they are literally the last thing before the ocean. We know that Shaftali attitudes toward the border peoples are better in Zanja’s lifetime than Tadwell’s, and even near the present day (when it might well be too late for the Essikret) it doesn’t seem like there’s a precedent for returning any land in Shaftal to indigenous hands.

Perhaps [the water child] knew–or would know–what Ocean had done so that her people could survive in their hidden harbor.

–Air Logic, p.11

So, if Ocean can’t get her people better land, the other path is obvious: the land they have must be made better. And this is possible, via terraforming! Ocean can’t do this herself, of course. But she knows a man who can.

2. Tadwell G’deon, the landscaper.

But others say that the land’s many fingers are stealing space from the sea. … An account of this earthquake can be read in any history book. But that Tadwell G’deon had caused that earthquake was known only to the border people who saw him do it…

– Air Logic, p. iii

It’s open to interpretation whether the earthshaking had to happen 200 years ago because that was the point of no return on Secret Bay’s resource timeline, or whether it happened at that time because Tadwell is the only person with the power to do it throughout Ocean’s lifetime. I’m partial to the latter explanation: we know that a person can only be vested with the power of Shaftal if they already are a powerful earth blood, so it would make sense if different G’deons can do different miraculous workings based on their inborn talent, and the power of the land acts more as a x1000 buff. But if you prefer an interpretation where every G’deon has basically the same spell list, then I’d say it’s explanation 1 and that still points to Tadwell (as the G’deon at the time) being the only person able to do what Ocean needs.

If Ocean goes and asks Tadwell to move some rocks for her and make a sweet sweet salt marsh, will it happen? No way. We see the xenophobia of the era during Zanja’s journey. Ocean might not even be able to get in the door at the House of Lilterwess. And crucially, she has no standing with the G’deon, or with Shaftal. At this point in time there isn’t even a Speaker for the Essikret (I don’t think?). I also wonder if Ocean would have problems going too far inland, like how the earth bloods can’t stand boats.

What she needs is someone who can bring Tadwell to her. She can carry out the rest.

3. Why Zanja?

Zanja is a hinge of history, which is probably enough for Ocean to extrapolate from, tbh. But for the rest of us, more context. 

Ocean needs to move someone through time, because a time traveler will go looking for a water witch (great insight from my girlfriend!). And of the 400 years Ocean can access, Zanja is unusually well-matched to the task: she is a border woman who is intimately acquainted (ahem) with a G’deon, and the fire talent makes her quick on the uptake. But there’s a more important reason to choose Zanja, more important than that she would do a good job at it: she (symbolically) stepped forward for tasks like this.

Now, I know that when Zanja stood up at the Council meeting she did say that she didn’t speak for the Ashawala’i or any other border people. But symbolic, unspoken, non-legal truths are a purview that fire and water share. By standing up and advocating for the border peoples where they were not represented, Zanja became speaker for all of them. Karis gets it too: 

She looked up into Zanja’s eyes. “Will you begin to visit the tribes?”

– Water Logic, p.62

And if this theory is convincing, it’s no accident that Ocean whisks her away at the end of the same chapter, barely a day after her gesture and at the first possible opportunity. Ocean knows she has standing with Zanja now.

🌊🌊🌊

So, those are the answers that satisfy me as to what incited the plot of Water Logic.

An interesting related question comes out of this, though, because if Ocean had asked, Zanja certainly would have said yes. So why does she resort to abduction? Would she have been able to get a message across time and space? If she could have and didn’t, what does it say about her approach that she considers a blanket consent to have been given… or that she just doesn’t care if Zanja is willing? Is it a failure mode of water logic to believe that the ends justify the means, the part is subordinated to the pattern?

[fireemblems24]

Azure Moon: Chapter 17

I'm an emotional wreck right now.

If you're looking for a coherent review of events - this isn't it. I'm going to need to cry in a corner for a bit first.

Pre Battle:

Oh, right. Now Gilbert and Rodrigue are talking about fog. Did they just forget to make this Fog or War or something? Not that I'm complaining.

Oh, boy, Duscur talk. Poor Rodrigue. He lost a best friend and two sons that day 😭I still hope Felix forgives him. I really don't think Rodrigue did anything wrong.

So I had to look up who Lady Patricia was again, and please, dear God, no. Please tell me Dimitri's step-mother didn't arrange that.

The writers are like - how much trauma can we shove into one character: all of it. Oh, wait, oh wait, let's have his step-mother arrange his brutal death too! Oh, great idea. 😑

HOLY SHIT - DIMITRI ALMOST DIED AT DUSCUR. HE DIDN'T TELL ME THAT. OMG. All this time.

So he spent the whole time talking about how everyone else got hurt and didn't even mention he ALMOST DIED 😭😭😭😭. This character makes my heart hurt.

So are we gonna see Patricia again? Is she part of that evil mage group?? God I hope not.

Oh, no, the messenger to the Alliance got killed. That explains how the game is going to be like - no two lords for you! - even when it makes more sense to team up in AM. Did this happen in VW too? That would explain why Dimitri didn't want to join Claude tbh.

Sounds like a pretty brutal death too. 100% picked it was the Empire. Dimitri's all about it lol.

Oh, "Maiden" Fleche is back.

Good God this feels 100x more epic on AM than VW. I'm honestly starting to feel sorry for Claude. He got done dirty compared to the other two.

And now it's Ferdinand's birthday. Now is not the time, bro.

I'm betting it's the same cut scene? I get to see Dimitri say "Kill every last one of them again" lol.

Edelgard be like - last time we were classmates fighting, this time I'm here to kill all of you and take over your lands.

Battle:

Alright - the battle. Thankfully I have Bernie recruited so no more fires for her, poor thing.

Lysithea and Ignatz are on here though. I'm assuming Claude retreats? Probably not the other two. But I'm trying to stick to the "kill everyone" (or I guess I should say "Kill every last one of them!" lol).

Gotta have Dimitri fight Claude and Edelgard to get that sweet-sweet dialogue.

Dimitri's just going to solo the alliance troops. Batallion Wrath/Vantage/Retribution is one hell of a drug. Just gotta watch out for gambits, but only really worried about Claude tbh.

Claude's range is too big, which is why Dimitri's taking that route. Thematically I'd love to watch him just solo all the Empire troops, but I can't risk Claude flying around if I want that unique battle dialogue.

LAMO - Byleth crit Hubert. Though, interesting note. In VW, Dedue insists he can still fight when he's defeated, and Dimitri tells him to get off the battlefield and live (rudely). Hubert says he needs to retreat, and Edelgard says nothing about his injuries.

Oh, shit, Petra too. Didn't see her there.

And now Leonie and Hilda too. Does Hilda retreat like Hubert and Dedue?

So Leonie, Lysithea, and Ignatz are dead. Hilda, Petra, and Hubert retreated. Hubert really likes to show up, get his ass handed to him, and then retreat. Who do you end up doing this to more, Hubert or the Death Knight?

Guys, I think Dimitri might have an issue with Edelgard. If you let them fight each other in VW, does he say the same thing?

OMG Edelgard philosophizing about death after Dimitri's like - pick a way to die. For some reason this is amusing.

And then he crits. Dimitri likes doing that.

Oh, shocking, she retreats too.

OMG Dimitri was MVP (shocking, I know), but it's so amusing to see "Dimitri's motivation is maxed out" right after criting Edelgard.

Post Battle:

So Dimitri goes to chase after Edelgard, which kills him in VW.

Man he sounds so enraged - like a setback after the progress. And yelling at Rodrigue 😭

Oh, shit, what is Fleche doing here.

Man, this is so much more intense than VW.

Oh shit - Fleche stabbed Dimitri. OMG. Saw that coming. Rodrgue's so worried.

Oh shit. Oh God. Rodrigue just died saving Dimitri, didn't he? Dimitri wasn't even going to fight back, was he?

OMG 😭😭😭😭😭😭

He's really dying guys. Why.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

WHY DID HE DIE THOUGH?

"Live for what you believe in. Your life is your own."

If I ever hear anyone shit-talk Rodrigue, I'm going to have words.

Oh, shit Felix. Felix never made up with his father.

Nevermind, I want VW back. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

(Oh, wait, nevermind, Dimitri just died in VW. I take that back)

Chris Hackey though. (I get the feeling he really liked Dimitri. How could you not, though?)

Oh shit guys, I'm getting watery-eyed.

Rodrigue just fucking died saving Dimitri.

Yo - Lambert is hot though. WHY DO ALL THAT HOT OLDER GUYS DIE? Please someone look out for Seteth.

Oh, shit Lambert should've listened to Rodrigue.

Rodrigue is so loyal and good. Fuck any haters.

On a side note - Byleth pretty badass taking Fleche out.

Ok - here comes the Byleth part.

Dimitri's "I haven't slept in a week" look is gone.

Oh, shit, where is he going? He's going to leave, isn't he?

C'mon, Byleth, don't let him leave. 😭😭😭

Dimitri thinks he'd just too far gone 😭😭😭😭😭😭

There's Survivor's Guilt, and then there's Dimitri, holy shit.

OMG his little voice wavers asking the professor for answers. Dimitri's going to be the end of me.

Also - Chris Hackney is a gem. Like, all the VAs are pretty good with a few exceptions, but Dimitri demands more range than most of them, and he sells all of it. It's what Dimitri deserves though.

I picked "You must forgive yourself," because holy hell 😭😭😭

He really just thinks he has no value, doesn't he. 😭😭😭

"As the sole survivor of that day, do I . . . Do I have the right to live for myself?" 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

And Byleth just reaches out her hand again 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

"Your hands are so warm . . . have they always ben" 😭😭😭

Shit, man, I don't like Byleth much, but this is good shit. Maybe I like Byleth a little.

Next Chapter title is "The King's Triumphant Return" 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Hell yeah, we're going to free the Kingdom!

Does this mean I get Dimitri's supports now?

Oh, boy, Dimitri's here. And Dedue's worried about his wounds. OFC he is.

He sounds so normal now.

Dimitri's apologizing. Is it weird to feel proud of a character? Because I feel proud of a character.

"I wish to do the right thing from now on." 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

OMG, Dimitri, this route is an emotional ride.

Hell yeah, let's go kick the Empire out of the Kingdom!

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

He's finally going to start living for himself, I'm just feel like a proud mom.

OMG FELIX CALLED HIM DIMITRI. WHY IS THIS ROUTE LIKE THIS?😭😭😭

I love all the Blue Lions so much. They're all precious.

[bedlamsbard]

Salty Asks for SW Rebels: 3, 4, 8, and 15, please?

Have you ever unfollowed someone over a fandom opinion?

Oh, yeah, not recently -- I don't actually follow that many SW blogs; I'll go to them specifically rather than follow, for various brain reasons -- but I've definitely unfollowed people over fandom opinions. The one that's coming to mind right now is some of the initial Ahsoka drama back after the S1 finale and I was absolutely sick of it. This was the "Dave Filoni is disrespecting Ahsoka's cultural heritage by changing her headband and getting rid of the akul teeth" take back when.

Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?*

I'm not fond of Zeb/Kallus, which is pretty popular. I don't read in my writing fandoms, so it doesn't really affect me in any way, but it's not something that will appear in anything I write. I'm pretty aggressively a mono-shipper for Rebels, so I kind of wince at any other ships for Kanan and Hera -- the only spoiler I asked for about the Rebels finale was if it put Kallus and Hera together, because for some reason I was terrified they were going to do that?

Have you received anon hate? What about?*

I have anon off because I don't want to even have the option of getting anon hate, and I've only turned it on a few times for memes when I know I'm in a headspace to handle possibly getting negative anons. I have gotten extremely critical/hateful comments on Gambit and Wake but can't recall if they were anon or not. (The most recent ones were two days ago. I can mostly spot them before I read the whole thing and delete the notification e-mail, so I don't recall the entire content, but there was definitely something about Padme cheating and everyone being out of character in there.)

Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

Ugh I think everyone's heard most of my really unpopular opinions before, even just in glancing, do I have any less common ones I haven't mentioned lately? Oh, here's one I was talking about the other day with friends on Zoom, so I probably haven't put it on Tumblr lately.

I think after S1 ended -- and I'd be willing to put this partially on Greg Weisman's departure -- that the show really wasn't entirely certain what to do with Kanan, and you can see that in the way his plot arc tends to wander around from S2-4. One thing I really appreciated from TCW S1-6 and Rebels S1, which is something that fell by the wayside in Rebels S2-4, was not really an issue in Resistance because it had an older cast, and TBB has been a disaster about, is that TCW S1-6 and Rebels S1 were uh...willing to let the adults be in charge, for lack of a better way to put it? From S2 forwards in Rebels Ezra (and to a lesser extent Sabine) are really taking the lead (literally, in a command sense, not in the sense that he's the main character) in a way that's understandable for a show meant at a younger audience, but doesn't fully parse from a logic point. And you can see in the way that S2 doesn't really know how to deal with Kanan, who all through S1 was the field commander for the team. Mostly in S2 forwards he just...is not. And yeah, you can put that off on trauma from being captured (which I doubt they did deliberately, though there's that line of Seventh's about finally crawling out of his hole) and not wanting to be taken prisoner again, but it's not something that's ever dealt with, so his arc just kind of wanders around. He doesn't have a direct nemesis -- a brief attempt at giving him one with Maul goes nowhere. He's not really in the field except as extra muscle at times; in S1 and AND he's the tactics guy and field commander, but all of that gets ignored from S2 forwards. Some of that goes to the show's about face re "Hera was always the commander" even though in S1 it's clearly a position Kanan and Hera share; some of it can be "he's insecure about his Jedi-ness with Ahsoka there"; some of it can be "getting captured was traumatizing and he doesn't want to be in that position again"; and those are all reasonably valid. But tbh, I think after S1 they just didn't know what to do with Kanan as a character.

[heroesmakingbadchoices]

Thoughts on What I Read this Week (DC Edition) - Spoilers

DC Pride: The Tim Drake Special

Obviously a lot of what was in the special had already appeared in Batman: Urban Legends but I can’t state enough how much I really loved the handling of Tim Drake coming into his sexuality. The story was sincere and empathetic without sacrificing the excitement of a Batman comic. The new story was cute, but all in all I’m just very excited for Dark Crisis: Young Justice and Tim Drake: Robin. I also really want to see more of Bernard, why he and Tim fit as a couple, and how he’s prepared to (albeit unwittingly) handle the challenges of dating a superhero. Finally, I will say Tim Drake does seem to be in a moment of evolution and redefinition and if DC doesn’t use this momentum to finally age him up and allow him settle on his own mantle I will be Upset.

Poison Ivy #1

I was a bit underwhelmed by the lack of action in this opening gambit (the comic is mainly introspection with one set-piece scene at the end). It felt more like an epilogue that a beginning, but I am still hopeful that we will get a full realization of Ivy in her Anti-Villain Era and will keep reading this series to find out.

Robin (2021) #9, #10, #11 & #12

My general feeling on the Robin comic is that it has been deeply fine! I find the plot to be a bit rushed and convoluted at times but I have liked the al Ghul family lore and the moments of genuine character growth from Damian (him saying that his manga is the one thing he has that belongs just to him? baby!) Unexpectedly, one of my favorite parts of this series has been Ghost Alfred?? I love the way this comic has explored their relationship and in general I appreciate the way this comic has de-centered Batman. I will say I’ve found myself wanting more from the characterizations of Rose, Connor, and Flatline and wish this comic has a stronger ensemble feel. Haven’t read Shadow War yet and might not tbh! Lmk if you think it’s worth it!

Would love to hear other people’s thoughts on any of these!

[tepkunset]

Are there any other indigenous people in X-men? Like islanders?

So here’s a list of every Indigenous mutant in Marvel Comics (Earth 616) that I know of. Unfortunately, some are just straight up offensive. But there are a number of underappreciated gems!

Dani Moonstar AKA Mirage (Obviously gotta start with my fave)

Cheyenne

Illusory powers (originally her powers were creating illusions of peoples’ fears. Overtime her illusions eventually expanded to pretty much anything she wants. After she gets fried by the High Evolutionary’s machinery, her illusions could become solid objects, but she could only have one at a time. And during her time undercover with the MLF she developed the ability to channel her illusions into psonic arrows that stun people, trapping them in their nightmares. This is what she mostly uses, currently. (TBH I’d really like to see writers remember her abilities have far more uses than just that... Like, remember that time she recreated Jimmy’s whole damn farm and family so he could ‘see’ them again?)

Dani is also a valkyrie with the ability to sense death

Original member of the New Mutants

Honestly the best character on this list IMO. I could ramble about how awesome Dani is for days...

Forge

Cheyenne

Superhuman mechanical ingenuity/genius (kind of a complicated power, but basically his mutation is that he can understand machines and create anything he can imagine. Like a mutant Tony Stark except better in every way, fight me.)

Back in the day he also dabbled in sorcery but turned out uh Not Good and he hasn’t since

He’s been a member of a bunch of different X-Men teams and none of them have ever given him the respect he deserves

I like Forge a lot TBH, especially after the sorcery thing was dropped and forgotten

A shame we will probably never get to know his real name

Lucas Bishop AKA Bishop

Indigenous Australian (Unknown Nation)

Energy absorption and redirection, subsequently super durability (if you blast him he will just blast you back)

Bishop isn’t technically from 616, being born in a dark future, but has existed in the main universe for as long as he’s been around. He’s been a team member in Uncanny X-Men and X-Treme X-Men but then went through a period as an enemy, mostly cause he has a That’s So Raven syndrome where he thinks he's shaping the future for the better and fucks things up. Can’t say I’m a fan in the way he was used as an inconvenience for Cable, but otherwise you can count on Bishop for being pretty damn cool.

Just a warning for anyone unfamiliar with him but wants to read up on him: His background may be triggering. The tattoo over his eye isn’t a choice, but a brand he received when put into the mutant concentration camp where he was born in.

Shard Bishop AKA Shard

Indigenous Australian (Unknown Nation)

Energy blasts from light

Shard is Bishop’s younger sister, and therefore also not technically from 616. She’s also not nearly as prominent a character, but was member of X-Factor for a while.

Honestly, Shard was never actually given a chance to do anything and her relationship with Fitzroy (green haired, slimy time travelling serial killer) is BS. 

James Proudstar AKA Warpath

Apache

Super strength, speed, senses, stamina, reflexes, durability, healing, and flight (everyone forgets the flight)

Also he’s over 7 feet tall which is its own superpower

John Proudstar’s younger brother

Sadly, Jimmy chronically suffers from writers not having a sweet clue what to do with him or how to write him. Swear to god, no one should be allowed to touch him before reading X-Force vol 1 after Liefeld left. James appearing to be scary to people who don’t know him and actually being a sweetheart is the whole deal with his character. He is not a violent raging edgelord! Everyone at Marvel just collectively forgot he rejected the name Warpath after starting to come to terms with the death of his family, too. 

Anyway, I love James with pure spite and venom and would love to fistfight all the writers who’ve done him dirty over the years...

John Proudstar AKA Thunderbird (speaking of getting done dirty)

Apache

Super strength, speed, senses, stamina, reflexes and durability

James Proudstar’s older brother

This poor bastard was created to die for shock value, and has been one of the few X-Men for which death has not been a revolving door. For the brief time he was around, he was portrayed as nothing but a jerk, too. It’s only in brief flashbacks that he’s ever been given more character. Also that one Chaos World mini.

Gloria Muñoz AKA Risque

Seminole

Can make objects implode (think the opposite of Gambit)

Risque was an anti-hero/anti-villain associated with the original X-Factor, and formerly James’ GF. She was a complicated character and deserved a redemption arc. That’s a hill I’m gonna die on.

John Greycrow AKA... I don’t even wanna say it

Unknown Nation

Technology manipulation (can like, turn a gun into a different gun for example), super healing

Scalphunter. His name is fucking scalphunter. And just like the other Indigenous Marauder member on this list, he’s been nothing but a lingering racist caricature. He is currently a protagonist in the running Hellions series and I honestly do not know what miracle Zeb Wells thinks he can pull to reinvent this character, but I guess we’ll just have to see.

Kodiak Noatak AKA Harpoon

Inuit

Can supercharge his harpoon with energy

That’s right, the Marauders don’t have just one, but two racist as fuck caricatures! He also... for some reason... speaks... like this a lot... I sure... wonder why...

Gateway

Indigenous Australian (Unknown Nation)

Teleportation portal creation

Oh look, it’s the X-Men’s bus ticket. Seriously, Gateway is nothing but a silent teleporter for the X-Men to travel around by, and another racist caricature. However, there is one good thing to come out of Gateway’s existence, and that’s that without him, we may never have gotten...

Eden Fesi AKA Manifold

Indigenous Australian (Unknown Nation)

Teleportation portal creation (and some interesting ways of using it too)

I swear Hickman must have looked back at Gatway and thought, you know what, let’s try that again except not offensive. Eden is pretty cool, and one of the three reasons I read Avengers vol 5 (the other two being Bobby and Sam). It’s a shame he’s never gotten the chance to interact with the X-Men, what with being a mutant and all. I would love to see him on Krakoa. Given that Hickman is at the helm and Eden is a Hickman character, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched of a hope?

Yeah, that’s all I can think of, unfortunately. Really makes you wish there were more, huh.

BONUS:

Julio Richter AKA Rictor

Listen. I will fight to my last dying breath to defend what I have always seen as the obvious; Julio was created with the intention of him being an Indigenous Mexican boy. I legit have a half-done powerpoint presentation about it that I never finished upon realizing no one would take me seriously when I sound like this mapping out all the evidence -

[aurorawest]

What's your top 5 Loki moments in the MCU? :)

Aka an impossible choice, haha. I’m trying to think of which scenes I like to go back and watch.

1. The Elevator Scene (Thor: Ragnarok)

Does any scene define and capture Loki as well as this scene? Last night I made a post about how my wife had observed that in my most recently completed fic, “Loki got what he wanted, and now he’s sad.” That’s Loki! That’s who he is. Satisfaction isn’t in his nature. Give him what he wants, and he’ll immediately realize he didn’t want that thing at all. And it’s just so beautifully done in this scene because we also get Thor realizing that he can’t give Loki what he wants, that he’s been so intent on saving Loki when really the only person who can save Loki is...Loki (I say this a lot so sorry for sounding like a broken record).

Tom Hiddleston’s acting is always fantastic but he does a particularly great job in this scene, too.

2. Loki’s death (Avengers: Infinity War)

I know, I know. I don’t like that Loki died. But I also think it was a very well done scene, and I do not think it was poorly written, or nonsensical, or whatever. The fandom likes to wank about this scene because they didn’t like that their fave died, and whatever. It’s a good scene.

I wrote a post about why I think Loki is one of the bravest characters in the MCU and tbh I’m not going to word anything better here than I did in that. I’ll just excerpt this part:

So all the Asgardians fall, leaving Thor, Heimdall, and Loki—and Loki is the last man standing. Thor and Heimdall are done; they’re terribly wounded. Loki tries one more gambit — “We have a Hulk.” And here’s the thing: he could have escaped here, too. He could have taken the Tesseract and run.

He doesn’t. He stays. He throws the Tesseract away and stays for his brother, whom he has let go of and pushed away so many times before. He stays and walks to his death, he faces someone who has done terrible things to him, and he tries to accomplish something by dying. He fails, but that doesn’t make him any less brave.

And I’m not even taking into account here his arc during Ragnarok, during which he also shows immense bravery. Loki has been through some shit, and he has a beautiful story about persevering.

3. The gladiator cell on Sakaar (Thor: Ragnarok)

I love that Loki reaches out to Thor here in the best way he knows how. This is actually a huge moment for him. Loki isn’t good at reaching out. You know what I just thought about that hasn’t ever occurred to me before? This scene echoes the moment in TDW where Thor comes to Loki in the dungeons. I think even their poses are pretty similar.

Anyway it’s a really good Brodinsons moment. It really captures the toxic dynamic they’ve got going on. “I’ve placed a large wager against you tomorrow. Don’t let me down,” is basically just, “You hurt my feelings and I hope you DIE, Thor!” in that way that siblings say stuff like that to each other.

4. Breaking out of Asgard (Thor: The Dark World)

It’s not that I don’t love TDW. I do. It’s a Thor movie. It has most of my favorite characters in it. But let’s be real. It’s not a good movie. It’s not a bad movie. But it has serious structural problems. And that makes the part where Loki, Thor, and Jane bust out of Asgard a shining light in the middle of this film. It’s so funny and so engaging. It’s the first time we see Loki and Thor really act like brothers together. It’s super relatable too if you have a sibling. I feel like the clear superiority of this entire section of the movie probably had a lot to do with the direction Ragnarok took their relationship.

Honestly Loki is at peak snarkiness throughout this entire sequence and I’m grinning thinking about it.

5. The Weapons Vault (Thor)

This is actually not a scene I go back and watch a lot, but I feel like it deserves a place on this list. Watching Loki’s entire world shatter and crumble at his feet while his dad thinks he’s saying the right things but is in fact saying the exact wrong things will never not be devastating. And that’s not a dig at Odin, btw—if I haven’t already outed myself as someone who doesn’t hate Odin, but finds him a complicated, interesting character who is actually not An Evil Abuser™, well, I am now. This scene is tragic because Odin is trying to reassure Loki with logic and facts, but that’s not what Loki needs. Honestly Loki really just needed a hug here. If Odin had just hugged him, probably most of the MCU could have been averted. Stephen and Wong could have actually got their sandwiches in IW if Odin had just given Loki a hug in Thor 1.

Honorable mention:

Loki and Stephen Strange’s meet cute (Thor: Ragnarok)

Haha just kidding!!! It’s not a meet cute. Unless...Marvel...? Feige...? You want to give Loki a sarcastic, magical boyfriend...?

Thank you so much for asking! 😄 

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

i need to know about the ivy accepting tommy’s proposal au now please!

okay so!!!  First you have to deal with a mini infodump on the context of Tommy’s proposals!  

The first time is about a year after Oliver dies — Ivy is still very much mourning (and so is Tommy), and they’re just sort of talking, and Ivy mentions how rarely she sees James, and Tommy makes a joke about how, back when they were all in high school, Oliver once made Tommy promise that if anything happened to him, Tommy would take care of Ivy!  He follows it with a joke about how if she were his fiancée then he could make sure that she was really taken care of — accompanied by a teasing smirk and an obnoxious wink.  Ivy rolls her eyes and tells him “in your dreams” (to which he responds “every night’) but it’s the first time that she’s smiled since the Gambit went down, which was his goal all along!

And I talked about it a little bit here, but Ivy isn’t exactly happy with James, though she is content.  But fast forward to another year or so after Oliver died, and Ivy and Tommy are talking (as they so often do, neither of them really has anyone else to talk to about Oliver and also they’re best friends) and Tommy mentions how long Ivy has been engaged without even the slightest hint that she’s started planning the wedding.  Ivy just shrugs him off, but Tommy quietly asks her if she’s happy with James.  She shrugs again and explains that she’s not unhappy, and she thinks that she could be content with him.  He’s someone to come home to at the end of the day — when he’s in town — and he cares about her, and maybe she doesn’t love him as much as she loves Oliver but she’ll never love anyone that much again and she’s willing to settle for “affectionate friendship” if it means not being alone.  

And Tommy... Tommy isn’t in love with her by any means, but Tommy loves her more than anything in the world (tied with Oliver and Laurel, naturally), and he basically says that "I can't give you epic romantic love, but I love you more than anything, and we make each other happy, and you know I’ll always be there for you”.  And Ivy... Ivy really considers saying yes.  Because he’s right, and she loves him too, and Tommy and Laurel and Oliver have always been her home and she would be happy with Tommy.  But, she doesn’t want to do that to Tommy.  She knows that Tommy would take their marriage seriously and wouldn’t sleep around, but she also knows that he loves sleeping around, and she’s not sure if she’d be able to sleep with him (he’s not Oliver), and she knows he has a bit of a thing for Laurel and she ultimately decides that it wouldn’t be fair to him.  That being said, my tag for them is “I almost said yes” because she came so close to accepting and often wishes that she had.

So anyways info dump over, onto the AU!  Basically, in this AU, Ivy initially says no and explains why, and Tommy tells her to be selfish for once.  He loves her more than he loves sleeping around at parties, he wants her to be happy, and “only say no if you don’t want to marry me, not if you think that I don’t want to marry you” and well, she can’t say no when it’s phrased like that because she does want to marry him.  She might not love him like she loves Oliver but she does love him, and she thinks that she could still be happy being Mrs Tommy Merlyn, even if not in the way she expected!

So they get married, they don’t fall in love but they do love each other, Tommy moves in with Ivy bc “your dad is creepy as fuck and my family house is empty anyways”, they figure out a life that works for them.  Ivy still works ridiculous hours and Tommy still doesn’t work, but he convinces her to take more breaks and she convinces him to at least get a business degree since he’s supposed to inherit the family company.  They grieve together but also help each other keep going day by day, Laurel is the most supportive best friend ever and is ready to throw hands with anyone who has an issue with the relationship, and they’re both pleasantly surprised to find out that Thea is really happy for them (at least once they explain that it’s very much not about them forgetting Oliver)

Fast forward to canon and naturally Oliver is very surprised and Ivy is very “i don’t know how to explain this to you” but Tommy sort of handles that and explains why he proposed and why she said yes and that Ivy is actually very much still in love with Oliver.  He’s confused still and a bit hurt but he does understand and he privately admits to Tommy that he’s glad that he was there for her when Oliver himself couldn’t be.  At this point Tommy and Ivy still stay together because Oliver clearly has a lot to deal with (at one point Ivy does tell Oliver that she still has strong feelings for him but that he was dead for five years and they had been broken up for years before that and both of them need a chance to reconnect before they even touch those feelings again).  

Tommy definitely survives in this AU (I’m still trying to figure out if there’s a way to make him somehow survive in her main fic too bc I love him so much), I’m not sure how the secrets that James is keeping from Ivy will come out tbh but probably from Malcolm, Tommy probably tells Ivy about Oliver being The Hood (she already has her suspicions but he confirms it), both of them join Team Arrow sooner, and they’re able to find out more details about The Undertaking sooner!

Oliver and Ivy still ultimately end up together though because they’re soulmates, but Ivy and Tommy would eventually label their relationship as queerplatonic and honestly not much would change except that Oliver and Ivy would share a bedroom and Tommy would get his own, and Ivy and Oliver would eventually get married!  But it’s all completely amicable and Tommy couldn’t be happier for her!  And anyways if James weren’t such an important part of Ivy’s season 1 then I would definitely make this canon because I really do love these two and their dynamic!

[cobalt-penguin]

y’know what i’m still feeling annoyed and petty, plus i’m stuck inside and it’s storming out so why not type out a checklist of what everyone in TOW did to me.

since i am mean and manipulative, petty and pathetic, and so much more? why not bring up some old beef and give ya’ll something to eat. 

Gansey: tried repeatedly to instigate drama -- if not actively break up -- my OC ships by encouraging -- through IC shenanigans -- cheating and lying. One of these happened while I was on vacation with my family and i still remember crying about it in a hotel bathroom because i thought one of my few ships in the RP was over and I hadn’t even been asked about it. This also included trying to get his OC Tomas to make IC/OOC (hey you can feign innocence when it’s in that dubiously OOC space, until its receptive in which case you can say it was IC the whole time!) at one of my ship partner’s OCs. Made repeated fat jokes at one of my fat characters (the same one they were clearly trying to get away from their partner...hmm...). Claimed I was always running to vague on my personal. Fair enough, I did, but they did the same thing. In poem form. Never answered my message about leaving the RP group because they felt ‘disrespected” by it. Repeatedly including untagged dubcon/noncon elements on the dashboard and triggering me. Lying to Ivy and me about having a full Overwatch party then trying to say “oh it just emptied you can join now”. hid this “FAR” idea from the rest of the RP community and then played coy when they got found out and asked about it by another anon (not me). Made fun of other RP groups in Tumblr tags then, when I asked them and their friends not to, was told “we’re a step above them.” Saying I was excluding them from things when I asked to play OW with them AND invited them to my horror RP group AND, only months beforehand, were inviting them to my Marvel RP??Trying to emotionally manipulate me through threatening to kill characters they had obviously grown tired of playing (probably because their major connections were to me and not their other friends) -- “haha i’m probably going to kill (my oc) idk but doesn’t that make you upset?? what will (your character) even do??” Engaging in nasty “”IC”” interactions with my character, basically telling me, through them, off, and being supported by the entire community in doing so. All of this really hurt me because I considered Gansey a friend and a major inspiration at one point in my life. Someone I non-jokingly looked up to and trusted. I feel like Gansey left TAR, our first RP group, because of how controlling, self-interested, petty, and mean-spirited the admins there were. That they were limiting other people’s creativity while building up their own narrative -- everyone else just there to be their audience. But you and Roman literally became Usa and Jen. Congrats. You lived long enough to become everything you’d rebelled against. And yes Gansey -- I saw all of your messages to everyone. Emotionally manipulating others -- telling them how terrible you are you don’t deserve their friendship, but would like to -- isn’t an apology. Its a tactic. Do better in the future. And despite me “blocking” you? There were a hundred ways to still reach out to me if that was what you really wanted. But let’s be real. It wasn’t. That was part of your gambit to. Goodbye. 

Rosie: asked literally EVERYONE about what had happened with the ““TOW explosion”” except me. never even asked my side of the story. Rosie I don’t even get because the other admins treated her like shit -- making her do all the coding and technical components for the entire RP -- but she was still defending them to the end. Okay. And then to treat Shelly like utter SHIT even though Reyne was running her passive-aggressive mouth off about people who couldn't even defend themselves? Amazing. Yeah, she’s the bully. Your perspective was so twitested by your biases that you were ready to victim blame Shelly just because Reyne had to run at the sight of someone actually throwing their bulltshit back at them. 

Reyne: Like Gansey, frequently indulged in cheating/cucking scnearios for fun -- again, including my own characters without asking or telling me. Don’t think Reyne ever apologized for this, IC or OOC. Dropped ships with me repeatedly -- leaving the group even -- without a word. Passive-aggressive to the max. Made a ship with Gansey just to play out her Teen Wolf OTP -- something that will never not be funny to me, when she called Gansey’s “character” Stiles. Smooth. 

Frankii: Repeatedly dropped me and my characters from plots. Gave me one of the most hurtful comments of my RP community by essentially being like “maybe if your plots and characters weren’t so confusing than more people would want to RP with you.” Invited to join my horror RP group and never made a character. also told me this after Gansey wrote that enormous callout about me, that Roman piggybacked on while the getting was good: “also I'm not here to advocate on behalf of my friend but I really don't think Gansey was trying to be rude last night, they can come off a certain way when they're stressed.” COOL. The rest of Frankii’s message I really appreciated, at the time, but, surprise surprise, then despite us being “cool” they never spoke to me again. 

Laura: I actually really liked Laura tbh but I guess she didn’t feel the same. Some of our interactions back in TAR were actually some of my favorites. I invited her to join my horror RP group and she never made a character. When I asked about this -- and if she needed any help making someone or wanted to leave -- she said she was working on it. Basically stonewalled me over time. Honestly though? Not a lot to say I actually think Laura is a good writer and pretty cool. Its just obvious who her friends were and I, stupidly, thought I was included in that. 

Anna: Actually I really liked Anna too tbh but I guess I vastly overestimated our friendship? It happens. Dropped me from one of her plots -- after talking to me about including me in one of hers because she felt “obligated” basically, from being featured in my own -- without mentioning why or talking to me about it. Invited to join new RP -- refused (not mad about this, just making note of it). Refused to follow my new account when I lost my old one because “lol they’re such a furry”. 

Roman: lmao where to even start. Roman was condescending and elitist literally from the beginning of TAR. barely acknowledged my existence until he had to.I started a plot with an open invitation to the entire RP group, with a deadline so I could start writing. Roman waits until its over and complains that they were left out. I include him anyway. Roman mocks the fact that I ask to tag or outright remove aphrodisiac dust -- because I don’t like seeing untagged dubcon/noncon on my dashboard, it upsets me a lot -- and then goes on a whole thread about it after I go to bed and can’t even defend myself. Apparently told his friends not to invite me to things because he doesn’t like me??? And then he has the nerve to be like communication is key and you can come talk anytime??? While having me on their public “friends” list with a description about me on his blog??? omfg...I literally can’t. To this day. Actually let this image speak for itself.

Everything Else: The repeated, childish treatment of strippers as immoral (””your character is stripping?? my character is so upset and is going to protect them!!”). The implication that characters who were stripping were also automatically sex workers. The continued references to my character, who owned this establishment, as being sleazy and manipulative. Also, honestly, what was with ya’ll adopting some random teenager into your OW groups? That was weird af. And then bringing some random person into TOW without asking anyone and trying to pull rank like “we’re the admin team and we can do whatever we want”. and shit-talking Meg and me in your “open forum” when all we wanted to do was get on with out lives. Like? Who cares? Ya’ll didn’t want me, at least, there anyway, clearly. You don’t get to exclude me then talk about how disrespectful and “wrong” the way I left was..........

Me: I didn’t do everything perfectly either. I know I could be passive-aggressive. I could be self-interested. I could make bitter comments. I dealt with feeling angry and upset by making memes -- which, I’m gonna be honest, I get why ya’ll were upset but I don’t regret either. I had spent so long in TAR/TOW with nobody interested in my characters and plots -- originally because I didn’t vid and played furries but, later, well.........see above -- that I did focus on my own narrative. I wasn’t invited to plots. I didn’t have sexy vampires and boy band werewolves. I played weird characters that didn’t fit the common niche of the cast of an angst and hookup filled supernatural YA novel. Maybe my plots were confusing but, honestly? It was because they were always going to be in the background. I wasn’t disinterested in anyone’s stories. I had just been left out of them for so long -- having to beg to even be a mention in a single mention -- that I had to make my own. I wasn’t there to just be an audience member to be aghast by Roman’s newest quirky boy or Gansey’s newest possessed twink. I was a writer. A member of the community. And, at the time? I thought a friend. Someone who deserved appreciation and respect. 

I know who my true friends are now. We did, ironically, exactly what you did -- we have out own group, our own setting, our own community. 

And I still live with the mean and manipulative things YALL said everyday. Even as an adult -- even with everything I’ve accomplished and am so proud of -- I’m still traumatized by being treated so poorly -- for years -- and not even realizing it. Something I’m still working on -- one of the many reasons I still have trust issues to this day. Congrats. That’s your legacy on me. aNYWAY

byeeeeeee

[msbeccieboo]

Arrow 8x09 Brain Dump

It was...not all bad. I really want to like this. I love Mia, William and FTA. I want to enjoy BS like I did in S7. I want to see Dinah written consistently with any kind of actual character. Well, at least my love for FTA is still intact 😂😂

Mia

Kat was brilliant in this episode. Her leading lady really jumped out 😂😂 Her emotional moments hit the mark, and I think she juggled her post-Crisis new life with her old memories brilliantly.

We opened on her waking up in the Queen mansion(!), with a very yummy Diggle Jr in her bed, only it’s JJ not Connor 😱😱 She’s also surrounded by adorable family photos, showing that Oliver got his wish of her and William growing up together (and confirmation that the Olicity Love Cabin still existed!) Basically, she’s living the best life that Oliver could have wished for her, without him in it, of course 😭

Probably the most notable change in ‘new Mia’ (other than her being infinitely happier and living in a crime-free city) was her social poise. She’s been brought up in Oliver Queen’s old world, and is quite the socialite, only without any of the haughty frivolity that one might expect (I imagine we have Felicity for that 😍). She loves her life and her friends, and she defends them, especially in the face of Laurel, who seemingly does nothing but scoff at her lifestyle for the whole episode 😒 I loved her addressing the press!! That was pure Queen! Maybe the influence of a certain Aunt Thea?

Source: feilcityqueen

More below the cut…

Basically this Mia is smart and loving and happy, and Oliver gave her a warm and otherwise full life, save for finding her true purpose (which is gonna be vigilanteing, of course). So of course BS and Dinah rock up and upend it all 😂 I really liked how they made the returning of Mia’s memories a source of conflict, as well they should. It was so brutal to just return them with no preamble, to destroy what happiness Oliver had given back to her, just because, what? BS couldn’t complete her own fucking mission? (More of that later lol) Then Mia standing up to BS when she went as far as to mock Mia’s new world, just gave me life!!!

Anyway, with her memories restored, and bad guys to track down, of course Mia couldn’t resist her heroic calling and suited up, then proceeded to be the epic badass that we have grown to love.

Source: kathmcnamara

I loved seeing her struggle with her memories returning, and the guilt that they brought with them of not living up to Oliver’s legacy. At the same time, she appreciates what Oliver did for her, that all he wanted for his family and the city was to be safe and happy. She ultimately decides to remain the Green Arrow, taking up the guard of her city in her father’s memory, to protect the new world that he sacrificed himself to create.

Source: felicityqueen

We’d seen she’d developed her ‘street smarts’ in the flash-forwards, so I think she’ll end up bringing these together with her new social skills, and badass moves, and be an unstoppable force!! Hopefully that will include her old FTA team as well, and not just the two feathered ones 🙄

FTA/JJ

God this needed more FTA.

We got a small amount of William, more of JJ, what with him being Mia’s fiance (!!), and little more than fleeting glances of Zoe (!) and Connor. The disrespect!! 😂

William (who even knows his surname in this new life?) continues to hold my whole heart in his hands 😍😍

Source: oliverxfelicity

LOOK AT HIM!!!!💗💗💗

He seems to have been least affected in terms of his character, post-crisis. It’s implied that he’s running Smoak Tech, and that he and Mia grew up together and are basically each others’ ride-or-dies 😭😍😭 

I truly hope if the show is picked up, that they increase the William content by a solid 1000% 😂 He brings so much heart and a certain humour and lightness, just like Felicity brought to Arrow, and Ben is such an amazing actor. The new show will need a William. BADLY. He really seems to have his shit together (in the very limited time we have seen him of course 😒), but I’m hoping that that doesn’t lead to Mia keeping her memories from him for long (although remembering who their Dad is, I’m guessing she could take a while 😂😂).

So JJ proposes to Mia at the beginning of the episode!!!! Apparently they are the love of each others lives here. Dig clearly learned from what Connor told him, and steered JJ away from becoming a murdering gangster...YAY! Although it seems that in doing so, our darling boy Connor ran into a few issues of his own 😫😫 It looks like there is no love lost between him and Mia, that he has been in and out of rehab, and is now somewhat of a bad boy 😏😏 But when they first lock eyes there is still definite history and heat there and, just HJJHDFVGDFK 🔥 BACKSTORY IS NEEDED!! Then at the end, JJ has his memories restored by scary-dude-in-cloak (who I was totally hoping would be Dig or Oliver tbh 😂), so I’m super interested to see how he copes with his dual memories!! So now Mia loves JJ, but knows he was evil and killed Zoe, and she hated Connor, but now remembers they had feelings for each other and that he is a beautiful soul, and all the shit is gonna hit the fan!!! I usually hate love triangles, but this is so exciting, with the good boy/bad boy switch up, and then the opposite memories being returned...YAAAAASSSS!! Although I’d like to make it clear that, whilst I’m going to enjoy the drama getting there, I am firmly in the SmoaknHawke end game camp!! 

And as excited as I just got, all of this took up just about 5 mins of screen time 😫😫 It reminds me of what Arrow was lacking in its early episodes...heart and hope. They lucked into it with Felicity/Emily, but they have it here, ready and waiting, and are so far not using it.

Kat knows what’s what. This is the show we deserve. 

Birds

There was a lot of bird action. Apparently in shaping a perfect future, Oliver saw fit that Mia never met BS or Dinah...this is why we stan 😂😂 Dinah has also seemingly been erased from the history books 😬, waking up after Oliver’s funeral (😒😭) 20 years in the future, so naturally becomes a bohemian, opens a bar and sings a lot. Cool, I’d probably do the same 😂😂 Laurel, it seems, went off to spend time with Sara, and has apparently become a solo time-traveller, trying to stop 2041 from becoming a really bad year. Righto. 

Dinah was actually ok in this episode, if not hugely out of character, but that in itself has been inconsistent throughout the show, so here’s hoping that the zen-filled peacemaker that she was in this episode continues! Dinah’s new-found peace and bearability seemingly comes at the cost of Laurel being utterly awful. She rocked up in the future like Billy Big Bollocks with a huge chip on her shoulder, just sneering her way through the episode. She had such bitterness, disdain and anger directed towards Mia (and Dinah, at times) for no apparent reason, when they seemed to have somewhat bonded previously?! She spent the majority of the episode sauntering around looking down on everyone, portraying a bitchy-tomboy type, deeming anything vaguely typically feminine or not hard-moody-’badass’ as beneath her. This is not #girlpower. Fuck off.

Then we have that clusterfuck of a scene at the exhibition 🙈🙈 where BS tries to tell Mia that she used to date her Dad, before quickly correcting herself to “some version of him, anyway”, as if they were one and the same 🙄 Laurel’s continual need to imply that she knows, or has history with our Oliver is infuriating as hell. E2 Oliver died on the Gambit in his early 20s. Even if he was similar in character to E1 Oliver up until then, that person bears no likeness to the man he became. Her past with her ‘Ollie’ is entirely irrelevant to the man that was Mia’s father, who she barely even got to know at all save for a couple of episodes in S8. And not only the implication that she knew him, but then to actually try to trash him as well, to his kid?! All to push her idea that all versions of people are the same (which was refuted when JJ doesn’t even turn out to be behind the Deathstroke mask anyhow)? NO! At least Dinah and Mia were cringing along with us 😂

It’s just astounding, the turnaround they’ve managed with Laurel/BS. They already did the unthinkable in S7 and got a lot of people from this side of the fandom to empathise and warm to her, without pissing off her existing fans. I really did grow to like her in S7 (check my reviews, I still can’t believe it 😂), she was snarky, but not bitchy, and showed some heart and vulnerability. So it’s mind-blowing how they took all that growth and just obliterated it this season, and then even more so in this episode where she is just plain nasty and unlikeable. 

I do think, however, that giving BS and Mia a tempestuous relationship from the off was a good idea, cos let’s face it, you can tell there is no love lost between them. But they could have made them clash in a better way than BS just being an arsehole to Mia for most of the episode. My best guess is her anger comes from Mia coming out of Crisis with a life untouched by violence, whilst her earth was still lost? (Was it? I can’t actually remember if E2 came back.) She can’t complete her self-appointed mission on her own and knows she needs Mia’s help to do it?? I don’t know. She had a lot to say about JJ supposedly being a ‘homicidal manic’...pot, kettle much?! She also seemed to find the notion of Mia initially wanting to just appreciate the peaceful life she had been given and not becoming a vigilante reprehensible, but why? BS is the one that needs to atone for past sins. Mia does not. 

Stray thoughts

That cliffhanger!!! WHO TOOK OUR WILLIAM?!?!?!

The music was...not good. Especially during the fight scenes. Arrow was always so on-point with its score. I don’t understand how this can be so bad?! I did like hearing Mia’s theme in there, though, that was a nice tie-in the old flash-forwards.

Who is this Kevin that cheated on William? He must be destroyed!😡

Some of that future make-up was really something 😬😬 2040 is all about the severe/dead and unblended looks, apparently. The fashion was fabulous though!

The dialogue in the action scenes was soooo hammy.

Who is the mysterious, villainous “she”???

“Frack you!” and “I’m not interested in joining your Canary club” YAASS MIA 😂

William and Mia’s “pet rock” talk was super cute 😍 

Oliver’s statue!! 😭😭😭

Hopes for the future, if series gets picked up:

Increased focus on Mia/FTA. We have such a fresh, interesting, diverse cast, with intertwined back stories ready to go for this show here already, waiting to be used. USE THEM.

A deadly outbreak of avian flu 😂🙊

Failing said outbreak...keep the birds in the background or MAKE THEM LIKEABLE. This is a chance for a clean slate!

I wanna see Papa Dig so bad. David had said we’d get to see 2040 Dig in Arrow, but looks like that isn’t going to happen now, and I’d just love to see how he is. I can also imagine David being entirely done, and not wanting to be a part of this, however, but a cheeky little cameo would be amazing 😂

SmoaknHawke to RISE 🔥🔥🔥

As it stands, I’ll watch if it goes to series, but for how long remains in question. I just know I cannot get on board with the faux feminist “heart/vulnerability/girly is ‘weak’! Let’s be hard/edgy/angry badasses and fight men and show the world we’re strong pow pow pow” narrative that BS in particular, but also the general tone of the show overall, is trying to portray. I really think that if the show is picked up that they should look to see what is working and what is falling flat on its arse. It’s in dire need of more heart and fewer birds imo, but we can have both, if they’d just write them as better people.

Thank you to the beautiful gif-makers 😘 Any uncredited gifs are mine.

💗💗💗

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Just ranting/venting about Destiny 2 a little bit more. It’s become my new addiction/hobby, and despite the fact that I seem to hate on it quite a lot I actually am enjoying most of it and am eager to see where it all goes.

I just accidentally happened upon what is I guess a clue to where the story is headed (not like I ‘discovered’ it or anything, I just found it for myself which led me to google it and read up on it). I loved when Overwatch did this right before releasing new characters. That whole ARG for Sombra was honestly really cool. 

Apparently Bungie did something like that a while back for Warmind which I was reading up on. Pretty cool stuff. Wish I’d been there. I think now they might be setting up for another one, assuming I read things correctly. Something about an Evacuation Protocol I think, which would make sense I guess given the state of things.

Putting the rest under a line cause it got a little longer than I thought when I started lol.

I’m growing to accept the fact that many of the quests/challenges in Destiny 2 are PVP-oriented; after awhile Crucible or Gambit matches do tend to grow on me. Personally I prefer Gambit because it’s more PVE-focused with some PVP. Still would rather not play them, but they’re mildly tolerable.

Although one of my quests so far is honestly kind of unbelievable in my opinion, but whatever. It requires me to kill I think 250 players and any time I die it subtracts from that number. So I essentially need to go positive every game or I’m fucked.

I haven’t gotten to Trials yet, mainly because it requires a Nightfall Strike completion and for some unknown reason they don’t let you matchmake for those. They really should just let you matchmake for anything, be it strikes, raids, dungeons, or even just general play.

I have to say my favourite times playing this game are just when I’m in an area doing a public event and 4-5 other people are all there doing it with me, reviving each other, getting enemies off each other’s back, etc. I ran through Escalation Protocol events like 50+ times today because at first I was just grinding for the Escalation armour set (best looking armour imo) but then I was honestly just have fun rolling through them with that group. I wish every multiplayer aspect could be like that, but I somewhat understand why it’s not.

TBH though what isn’t okay are the select missions that are arbitrarily higher difficulty to force you to play with other people, or just become a god.

I’m specifically thinking of Darkness in the Light where the enemies are ridiculously over-powered, I mean come on, every Acolyte has a shield. WHY.

Or the Fallen Transponder quest where you have 20 minutes to run through hundreds of beefed-up tracer shanks.

Or the Whisper where you have 20 minutes to run through a gauntlet of platforming challenges in a game that really really really should tone the fuck down on it’s platforming. I mean for fucks sake, it’s like trying to land a bouncy ball on a 2x2 square that’s slanted at a 15 degree angle by throwing the ball at it and praying it lands on the square.

What bothers me about those is they aren’t any of the standard multiplayer-specific missions like Strikes, Nightfalls, Raids, Dungeons, etc. They’re just supposedly run-of-the-mill missions, but you can’t matchmake for them...

Like seriously, a lot of issues I think would be solved if you had the option when you log in to immediately start up a matchmake to get put with two other people. I see literally zero downsides to this. It’s opt-in only so you can still play solo. It avoids the need to look up LFG places online or on apps in your phone, which can take time to get responses, be intimidating to some people, etc.

This way from the get-go you can have a Fireteam to go and do Fireteam missions like Strikes, Nightfalls, Dungeons, etc. Or hell, you can just go and do whatever. And when it comes to Raids, just start up a matchmake to get paired w/ another Fireteam and boom, Raid team assembled. My understanding of why Raids don’t let you matchmake is because you need to be coordinating with your team...but there’s voice and text chat in Destiny...so coordinate with your team using one of those. Not that difficult.

[senpai-no-lie]

Blue Lions Route

So I finished the Blue Lions Route! 

Why I chose Blue Lions: Okay, so when the first trailer was dropped, I thought Edelgard would be my favorite. I liked her character design and I just thought she was really pretty, but Dimitri was on my radar because lol they named a FE character after my chinchilla, nice. I ended up picking Dimitri, because what I knew about his character arc appealed to my sensibilities and I thought he was the nicest during the House introductions, talking about his classmates.

Who Was My Dancer: Felix. I thought he looked cute in the outfit, had the potential for magic anyway as well as swords, and had the avoidance to not be nuked by enemies with his pitiful defense/resistance. He made a great dancer! From my understanding, it might’ve been a bit of a waste, because of gambits, but I didn’t really understand them or use them much in this playthrough

What Paired Endings Did I Get:  

Petra & Linhardt 

 Ralpheal & Ignatz 

 Dorothea & Manuela 

Dedue & Flayn (this one really surprised me) 

 Annette & Mercedea

 Shamir & Catherine 

 Lysithea & Cyril

 Lorenz & Leonie (a bit miffed about this one, but it’s what I get for choosing to go for Seteth with Ingrid instead of with Leonie)

 Ingrid & Seteth 

 Ferdinand & Marianne 

 Felix & Sylvain 

 Ashe & Caspar

Who Did Byleth Marry: Dimitri... not so much because I ship them as characters as I just liked Dimitri the best. Don’t @ me 

Which Dimitri Do I prefer?: Pre-timeskip! I wasn’t a super fan of either character design at first, but I just do not enjoy how self-loathing and mean Dimitri was for a good chunk of the timeskip. I feel like the fandom calling that “feral Dimitri” is a bit of a misnomer. When he returns to being is usual self, it was a welcome change

General Thoughts: I liked the route! It was a good-enough personal arc for Dimitri to keep me engaged, despite some of the mechanics getting in the way of the story. I wish Dedue had been more important to the post-timeskip portion. Mostly, though, I was surprised how short the route was; I’m used to 28ish chapters, so I’m a bit nervous to see how long Crimson Flowers is if that’s the shortest route. I liked all my house characters and had a good time. 

The Blue Lions Characters: 

Dimitri: I think he’s probably the most well-developed, consistently done character in the entire game. I love his character, his supports, and his empathy. There have been a lot of other people who’ve done a great job analyzing his character, so I won’t bother, but A+ boi

Dedue: I like Dedue and his role as Dimitri’s retainer, but he’s not particularly appealing to me. In general, I don’t like the gap moe that comes with strong, silent types that have a feminine side. I think he was a bit of an improvement from Benny (who I liked but didn’t pay much attention to), and I was so grateful to make him not a Fortress Knight (War Master or whatever Dedue did a lot of good punching) because that is probably my least favorite unit type.

Felix: I had a good idea I’d like Felix, because I tend to like tsunderes regardless of gender, but from how the fandom memes about him, I was surprised by the depths of my fondness. He often gets labelled as an asshole, but I would be more generous and say he’s merely got an abrasive side, like a sponge. He had some good, cute moments in his supports and I think his presence added to the story of Azure Moon. I also like that he’s like the only character that has different endings if you recruit him to a different route.  

Sylvain: I know he can be a bit of a controversial character because of his playboy ways, but I like him! I like horse-mounted units and units that can use magic, so he was gonna be a winner for me. I also understand why some people don’t like him and find him to be sexist, but he didn’t particularly read that way to me. To be fair, I find Sylvain’s backstory to be relatable because I myself have a similar situation, of sorts, with my older brother, so I’m just inclined to be more lenient about his more negative traits. I think it hurts Sylvain’s likability that some (or maybe all) of his supports aren’t pre-timeskip locked to demonstrate he really does change his ways, but I think his supports are good and that he’s never irredeemably awful to anyone. 

Ingrid: Another hot take: Ingrid is probably my favorite BL girl lol. I think she’s cute, she’s got some gap moe to her with being so stern but also a food-loving goober and super excitable about knight stuff. My friend said she never was able to get Ingrid to be usable, but my Ingrid rocked. I feel like she had the most connections to the story of BL of the girls, and I wish they had used her more. 

Ashe: It’s a toss-up whether he’s my second fav or Felix is, but I love Ashe. I’m pretty pro archer characters (sans Bernadetta), but Ashe is also just so sweet and caring, despite some of the things he’s been through. I think he’s very cute and a great unit. I might end up marrying him to Byleth if I playthrough BL again (which I will to get DLC supports)

Annette: I like her, but I don’t think she really stands out. I feel sorry that she has to deal with Gilbert, but honestly you could erase Annette from the main story and it wouldn’t change a thing, sadly. I think she’s cute and quirky and I like her spunk, but there’s really not too much to say about her.

Mercedes: I love Mercedes, but similarly to Annette, she doesn’t add as much to the storyline as I’d like, outside of the thing with the Death Knight, which is almost a footnote tbh. I like her character design and her supports and she’s an all-around great unit and character. 

Gilbert: Ugh, I spent a lot of my time complaining about what a whiner he is. As I mentioned, not a fan of Fortress Knights, and Gilbert not only had a base speed of 2 but would regularly miss with an 70-80% hit rate. As a character, I thought he had some good supports, but in general I hate that Dedue took a backseat to him, and that Gilbert is a horrible father. I view as Gilbert a good model for Dimitri, in that Dimitri should not follow Gilbert’s example in how to express and process grief and guilt. Another reason I dislike Gilbert is that I got locked out of his support chain with Catherine, and that’s just annoying

Technically, since I’ve recruited every character except Claude, Edelgard, and Hubert (and I guess the DLC, but now I’ve unlocked them) and almost every associated support, I could write out my thoughts on them, but I’ll save that for the appropriate routes. 

Assorted Bulleted Thoughts: 

Hubert: Man, he just popped up as a cartoonish villain to defeat all the time, and I digged it haha. It became tradition to have Ingrid fly in and to kill him in one hit without taking any damage. It was great. I felt bad that Edelgard had Not A Word to say about Hubert’s death. 

Edelgard: She was built-up so much as the person that had to be defeated to end the war, but there was a lot of dicking around (and all the time we had to go back to homebase for long periods of time) that Edelgard didn’t really get the time to flesh her out as an antagonist or make me, the player, feel particularly motivated to defeat her. Especially when you learn she apparently had nothing to do with the Tragedy of Duscur, and Dimitri is pretty lukewarm about having to kill his stepsister, once he clears his head. Though, that final animated cutscene was top tier

Rhea: I think there should have been one chapter either before or after fighting Edelgard where you rescue Rhea, because as it is, the way her return is handled is incredibly sloppy and emotionally dead. Not even a scene where Flayn and Seteth greet her. Lame

Marianne: She was my favorite and first recruited unit. Love her. That’s all 

I wish all the Blue Lions had been able to reach A-support with each other, especially Sylvain. I think there woul’ve been a lot he could have gained as a character especially. 

It is dumb as hell male Byleth can’t S-support Dimitri, or any of the male Blue Lions, for that matter. If you could add one male student from GD and BL to be bi, I would’ve picked Dimitri or Ashe from BL. Everyone in GD is pretty hetero, so I will arbitrarily choose Ignatz 

[sobdasha]

"I definitely updated my list of books I was reading on tumblr so it's all good" -me, a lying liar, right before spending several months finishing my reread of All The Discworld Books I Own But In Chronological Order For The First Time Ever Which In Fact Makes A Difference.

(and then I did it again after the libraries closed)

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin Hm, so. I definitely read this. At some point. It was not really for me, not bad, but not really for me. This particular edition had various notes before and after the text, all of which I read, which made it an experience I got more out of. It's important for me to know that the author is aware that the protagonist is a raging misogynist who's stupid, and yes this was on purpose so you'd realize how really incredibly stupid he is and thus maybe be tricked into changing your mind yourself. It is a legit tactic, but one I tend not to enjoy, so if I hadn't been forewarned I'd have been UUUUGGGGGHHHH MAKE HIM SHUT UP ALREADY and probably rage-quit. As it was, I was able to better appreciate what Le Guin was doing here, even if this book didn't win a place in my heart and I probably won't reread. I definitely preferred Ancillary Justice's take, with the feminine pronouns. For my brain, masculine pronouns = they might as well all be men = business as usual = I didn't really get any gender queering from it. I can't really remember much else now. Oh, it was also part "survival in the wilderness" story, which they're big on making you read in school (which I find very suspicious), and which I tolerated and read a few classic ones on my own until they kept assigning these kinds of stories for us to read and now I get nothing from them and mindlessly hate them. Anyway, as I said, not bad at all but not really for me.

Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin This one's a reread--I picked it up from the library during college because we were doing Titus Andronicus in class and it didn't occur to me that there might be more than one Lavinia???? But hey it worked out because later in college we did the Aeneid and then I had Background for rereading Lavinia. This is the book that is lyrical and beautiful and pulls me in and makes me care deeply about the world and the characters. This is the book of Le Guin's that makes me feel the way everyone else feels about Earthsea and The Left Hand of Darkness and etc. I would like to find more of Le Guin's work that makes me feel the same way, because as I've said you can really tell from her other stuff that she's a solid writer who knows her stuff. I just…don't enjoy any of the other things. Anyway I recommend. I always forget about this book, and then when I reread I'm like "wow why don't I read this more often?????"

How Long 'Til Black Future Month?, N. K. Jemisin I liked every story in this short story collection. I should just reread it and try writing this up again tbh but also tbh I'll probably do the rereading and then just not write anything up again. Just read Jemisin's stuff I love her writing so much okay. ETA: that’s exactly what I did, I reread this during my covid rereads and said “I should do a proper write-up this time” and lo and behold where is it

Tehanu, Ursula K. Le Guin Okay, this last Earthsea book treated me much better than the others. It's probably not for everyone else, which might be why it's for me. It's much more domestic, much less "plot" happening, full of introspection, and centered on women rather than men. This novel acknowledges and confronts the rampant internalized misogyny in the previous three books, engages it in a way that the misandrist in me finds satisfying even though it never comes to a good solution for the problem. This book is more like a reflection. Earthsea has never been about "light is always good, dark is always bad; be a hero, fight evil" etc. But this one I think shifts the tone a little farther; it's less about balance, and more...I guess I'd put it as, "actions have consequences." It's not concerned with right or wrong, it's concerned with people getting hurt. It's pretty somber and serious, without any humor to balance it out, tons of bad things happen to people, lots of PTSD...but this time I really cared about the characters, and I feel like it was all handled really well? In addition to critiquing internalized misogyny, it also critiqued victim blaming. Seemed like it handled disability pretty well too--was honest about how people are jerks about it in reality, while still being optimistic and treating Therru as valuable; made occasional mentions of considering work-arounds for having only one fully-functional hand, while mostly just having Therru go about living and doing chores and being capable and assuming she did find those work-arounds without having to draw attention to it; and Therru's terrible scars didn't get magically healed at the end, the whole book makes a point all the way through that her physical scars will always be with her the same way her emotional scars will be, and she's simply learned how to go on living with them. Tehanu: a book full of trauma happening to people, where what would normally be the plot in a fantasy novel ended up not even getting started to be resolved, but Le Guin's writing and handling of the subject matter helped heal my jaded soul.

Ninefox Gambit, Yoon Ha Lee A quick summary of my experience: Chapter 1 - ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh what is going on what even Chapter 2 - no, no this is just, this is what sci fi is like, right? Just give it a few chapters and then by the end of the book everything will probably make sense. I'm sure that's how it works. Remember how even in Ancillary Justice I ended up with two separate Battles of Valskay, but now everything is fine??? It's. Fine. Chapter 4 - (ohhhhhhh I still don't know what's going on) Several Chapters Later - still no clue what's going on, but hit my stride with the terminology, my foreign language instinct kicked in where words stopped sounding weird and while I could not for the life of me define any terms for you, I had a vague comprehension of how the words operated In Context. Sort of. And by then I had, without realizing it, begun page-turning and binging, so I guess I liked the book lol! Another serious-but-not-funny one, but with an extra dose of War Memoir and all the gruesomeness that entails (but probably, like any good War Memoir, probably not actually gratuitous and actually in fact the necessary amount of gruesome). Jedao was turned into a woobie at the last minute and, well, damn, guy knows the way to my heart. The novel apparently gripped me enough that I don't even mind that it only came into play at the very end of the game. And hey, there's two more novels to deal with that revelation, which I have picked up from the library to read immediately! Yay! Current personal theory: based on the heavy math references that made me want to cry at the start, but the almost entire absence of actual numbers, and a reference to "there's no way actual physics works like that, it was obviously a calendrical effect" or something…I'm going to throw out a wild guess that the calendar stuff (and all the social structuring that goes with it) is so that they can break and reinvent math. So they can effect a universe where 2+2=5 and therefore a bunch of people standing in this exact position makes a force field or bullets of rose thorns or whatever and some other dude can make himself immortal. This sounded like a pretty terrible theory already and it sounds even worse now I've typed it up but oh well.

Raven Stratagems, Yoon Ha Lee Guess who didn't write this up back when she read it!!! Also, I returned Ninefox Gambit to the library right before the libraries shut down for covid. So, I had Raven and Revenant on hand for months but I didn't have Ninefox on hand to do an immediate reread to see if that made the sci fi make more sense. (It probably wouldn't have, but I would have liked to do a rereading while the ending was still fresh.) By this time there is a lesser degree of visceral viscera. Lee is brutal, however, about continuing to be honest about what war costs and whether war is worth that cost (which depends, really, on whose lives you think matter. Very relevant for these times. Very much prepared me to shut up and not whine about the inconveniences of protests and their fallout. There is no pretty and clean way to have a revolution, since it involves destroying a particular [terrible] way of life, so we're all just gonna have to sacrifice together). Also I think by this point all the character development from the first novel paid off in the form of character dynamics being hilarious now despite, y’know, the gruesome shadow of war.

Revenant Gun, Yoon Ha Lee Continues to discuss the honest price of war and the messiness of fallout. Shuos "The risks I took were calculated, but boy am I bad at math" Jedao. Oh I think this is also the one where every so often one of the characters thinks, "Okay so this person is a tyrannical murderous dictator but he is ensuring that there will never again be food shortages and no one in the space empire ever goes hungry." And then Lee turns around and is like, "Haha but don't forget this same person invented a form of vital infrastructural technology (and also immortality) that is optionally based off ritual human torture sacrifice. Like he didn't have to do that to make it work. He just decided to anyway. And that's always bad :) " (Also useful in our current climate of "Okay but we should consider the other person's circumstances and point of view" and also "Yeah but that doesn't apply if they're literally Nazis tho.")

Hexarchate Stories, Yoon Ha Lee A collection of short stories set in the universe of those three books. There's one story at the end that does satisfy the "But I wanted another sequel!!!" urge. And there's a bit of backstory for Jedao and Cheris. But by and large what you should be in the mood to read is flash fiction snippets that simply happen to be set in the same universe but have no bearing on the plot. Which is pretty cool and interesting if you are in the proper mindset! Even better, Lee includes author's notes at the end of each story to talk about the story, or the influences, or the context of his life at the time, etc etc. That is always my absolute favorite part of a short story collection. Also these notes told me everything I needed to know about why I liked certain things about his writing. "I wanted to write my own AUs," "If I get stuck I go on TV Tropes," "My only regret is that I had to cut the scene where Jedao goes to ~Halloween~ dressed as himself and trolls people" ahhhh that's also a regret I share.

Dragon Pearl, Yoon Ha Lee This one is YA! There is a lot less gore although I guess there was still genocide! Read this when you are in the mood for something that doesn't attempt to hide the fact that the plot is completely, conveniently contrived to give you fast-paced action and fun. Min sure has a lot of coincidental meetings that should stretch my disbelief but I don't care. Also, I am enjoying reading books with girls as protagonists that do what I'm tired of being told to love about boy protagonists--just keep barreling along with complete self-assurance that you are right and, if you run into trouble, you can egotistically figure your way out.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin Gods and mortal ruling family's messy soap opera sexcapades is not exactly my favorite genre, but luckily it is handled by Jemisin so it's all good. Lots of Souma Family Values. I'm really appreciating how Jemisin considers choice of narrator very carefully and uses it to brilliant effect in this trilogy. Stories are things told by a narrator to an audience; why should we rely on the artifice of an "impartial" "reliable" "omniscient" 3rd person narrator writing into the void? This trilogy was Jemisin's first, I believe, so it's a little awkward coming back to them now, only because Jemisin is such a powerful writer that the themes she's begun working with here have only gotten stronger with each successive work.

The Broken Kingdoms, N. K. Jemisin This one I rated as I read for Protagonist Is Blind based on the scale of a sighted person going "but some of my best friends are blind!" In that regard, I think the book does really well! Blindness doesn't define Oree's life and value; Oree doesn't get magical powers that make her a blind person who isn't really blind; Oree moves away from home and gets a job and lives on her own which seems very accurate to me based on my knowledge of one (1) person who is blind; instead of being ~cured~, Oree actually gets more blind at the end of the story and this is considered a Good Ending. Also personal bonus points are awarded for references to her stick being handy for hitting people with. Some stuff was stereotypical, but Jemisin's intent was not. A+, will read again, please support including way more characters who are blind in media. Anyway I enjoyed this one.

The Kingdom of Gods, N. K. Jemisin First off, Jemisin directly up front critiques the narration choices she made in the first two books and then pays it off like a boss at the end. Like holy crap. I admit by now I was getting a bit bored of the genre, but the book was still very engaging because Jemisin is a master. It may also have been affected by how much increasing pain I've been in lately.

The Awakened Kingdom, N. K. Jemisin I'm dead. This one was way more my speed and you need the other three books to understand this novella but ohhhh my god it's perfect. I read a lot of choice passages of this aloud to my roommate because how could you resist. It's still heavy but it's hilarious. Bless Shill.

[bedlamsbard]

fascinated by the distinction drawn between "audience member" and "fic writer" bc I think I know what you mean in regards to kind of re-writing it in your own head not as the secondary way of interacting with it but as the first. But I would not have thought of putting it that way!

A lot of it has to do with the specific fic genre I write in, which is long plotty AUs that I’ll probably be working on for years -- to some extent I can set aside everything in canon that occurs in in-universe chronology after the span of my story; Backbone and Crown doesn’t have to take into account the events of the OT and ST because they haven’t occurred yet.  On the other hand, I can’t totally set aside major set piece events that involve causes and players outside of whatever characters and timeline I’m working with, because depending what I’m working with things are still going to happen whether or not my characters are involved.

And I make compromises all the time about whether things are going to make it into the story -- there’s a whole discarded Backbone subplot about Zare Leonis that I considered really carefully before not including, even with the knowledge that leaving him and his interaction with Ezra out of the story meant that his arc in the Servants of the Empire novels will be completely changed.  Backbone covers about half the span of S1, maybe less; I was always running out the timeline of S1 to figure out what events would be happening that would or would or not be affected by the Ghosts’ changed circumstances and if that merited being included in the story.  Rebels S1 is very small-scale; going further into the timeline of the show means that opens up further and further and a lot of other factors are in play.  The earliest version of Backbone was also quite different; the Free Ryloth fleet didn’t exist, Cham and Alecto were members of the Rebel Alliance, a number of other Rebel Alliance characters were there; I reworked it after Siege came out and it was revealed that the Rebel Alliance wasn’t yet a thing.

With Gambit, otoh, there were a lot of galactic-scale repercussions; I was always running the timeline back and forth and figuring out what the originating events were and how those would play out in the altered timeline of this single-point divergence AU.  But the crucial difference is that for Gambit (and Wake), I was working is that I was working with a closed canon -- I didn’t have to worry about something down the line adding something to the in-universe chronology, and a lot of it was heavily altered by the divergence point anyway.  (Actually, that canon reopened partway through Wake when The Lost Missions dropped in a way that was relevant; the chip scenes were somewhat shoehorned in because I couldn’t leave that out.)  Crown is working in a tighter timeline but one that comes a lot closer to the set piece events of the saga; I have “where is this in relation to Rogue One?” running through my head when I’m working through any of the Rebel Alliance scenes.  There are a number of small-scale changes that aren’t immediately clear (because the story’s not finished) that have come about because of the story’s divergence point that would have a much greater influence on galactic events than they did in canon.

When it comes to out-of-universe chronology, the added canon that comes out after I’ve already started working on a story, it can be a lot harder to deal with.  95% of the time, if the additional canon deals with the character/setting of my WIP, I’m going to ignore the bulk of it but occasionally integrate details here and there as relevant (such as the name of the Tann Province in Backbone -- you may note it doesn’t show up until quite late in the story, after the S3 ep aired).  I didn’t change the names of the Inquisitors -- in fact, I made the decision early on that however I named the Inquisitors it would be different from what canon did, as that was prior to them being called “Seventh Sister”, “Fifth Brother,” etc.  5% of the time it’s something that I cannot ignore, like the clones and the chips -- that’s pretty rare, tbh, but it happens.  (I’ve scrapped a story because of additional canon; I had a chunk of Kanan/Hera time travel written where they both got thrown back to the Clone Wars, but the Kanan - The Last Padawan comic coming out threw me too badly with their clones as opposed to my OCs.)  To some extent, I try to only work with the canon that was available when I started writing that story; that’s not entirely sustainable with canon coming out so rapidly, and sometimes it can throw out a reader.

The worst part, as a fic writer, about dealing with additional canon isn’t trying to integrate it into an ongoing story: it’s that it may change how I feel about Star Wars, or if it’s done poorly, I may end up in the kind of mental place where I get very “why am I doing this when the canon doesn’t even care.”  There’s a scene in the Darth Vader comics where the Inquisitors are doing shots after killing a Jedi and stealing his baby.  When that particular issue came out, I was working on the big Inquisitors vs. Kanan & Ahsoka fight scene in Backbone, and I was so badly thrown by the disconnect that I had to step away for a few days.  I hated the Rebels finale so much that I couldn’t work on Backbone for a while even though it’a completely different universe.  A lot of what canon did with Ahsoka post-S2, and the way she gets idolized by both fandom and the PTB, has messed with my perception of her so much that with Crown Ahsoka and the backend of Backbone Ahsoka I didn’t trust myself writing her and had to have multiple beta readers just for her characterization, something I have never worried about before.  (This is one reason I did that deep dive the other week to figure out what the hell was going on in the writers room about her, and honestly?  I feel better about it now that I’ve rationalized what was going on in a way that makes sense to me.)  I had to stop reading the Doctor Aphra comics because Hera was so out of character there that I was getting really, really upset (and also the animal harm), and then I just stopped reading all the SW comics because they were making me mad and I wasn’t enjoying myself.  Sometimes you get big universe consequences stuff that doesn’t deal with your main characters (looking at you, TROS) and it’s frustrating if you don’t like it!  Then I have to sit down and try to decide “hey, am I going to use any of this Palpatine stuff?” -- this was actually a problem for Crown, because the Palpatine scenes weren’t written yet when TROS came out, and I was so badly thrown by TROS that I didn’t know how to deal with that in Crown even though it’s mostly not relevant.  Would I be happiest if I was working in a closed canon, or if at least I knew (or thought) my main characters weren’t going to get any more canon stories about them? GODS, YES, THIS IS WHY I STARTED WRITING PREQUEL FIC BACK IN THE LATE 2000S.  (Ironically, I started writing PT fic before TCW came out, then flipped fandoms and came back in 2012 -- but all my 2012 PT fic only used the closed canon of the EU Clone Wars/Republic comics, not TCW.)

Mostly as an audience member I don’t want to see my writing characters on the screen anymore -- there’s a certain amount of hypervigilance that comes with having your writing characters or settings active in canon, even if you don’t intend to integrate any of that.  I watch and read Star Wars very differently than I watch and read anything else; I mostly don’t find it relaxing because I’m always aware of the fact that the stuff I care about could pop up at any moment, or because I’m concentrating so hard on characterization/nuance/worldbuilding that my brain is going 150 mph, or because I have very specific deal-breakers.  (I do find reading in the EU relaxing because bro, that is CLOSED CANON.)  I would like to relax!  If canon finally contorts itself to the point I can relax again that will be a relief, tbh, even as frustrating as it would also be.

...this is probably a much longer response than you expected.

[bigskydreaming]

thatninja replied to your post:

I know I’m usually that guy who’s always...

Gambit is 100% riding on his charm and looks. Plus Rogue could punch a hole through just about anyone that could argue that, which is prolly some kinda factor.

someothermonstra replied to your post:

I know I’m usually that guy who’s always...

isn’t… isn’t that canon?

LOL it actually varies pretty wildly depending on who’s writing him. I mean, good luck finding consistent characterization with any popular comic book character that’s at least three decades old, but all kidding aside, I do love the guy and Gambit in particular is a frequent target of character assassination. There’s even a trope named after him, though I forget its specific name at the moment. 

But its basically the idea that certain male characters who end up more popular with women than male comic book writers expect, or understand - like as in they don’t understand what about them appeals to female readers so much, or misunderstand the basis of that appeal - there’s this weird trend where some of them basically take it out on the character and kinda...do their best to sabotage them? Idk, its like, it frustrates certain dudes who have rigid expectations of what women want in a ‘ladies man’ type character, that when faced with characters who get that reception not because of how these writers WOULD write them, but for reasons they just...can’t put a finger on.....they basically get butthurt about it and are like ‘well what’s so great about this guy anyway.’ 

I mean for sure, being jealous of a comic book character - let alone one you yourself are getting paid to write - is pretty pathetic, buuuuuuut lbr, that describes a lot of dudes in that industry and I mean....there’s a pretty obvious and proven track record of characters like Gambit and Nightwing and the other well known ‘lotharios’ of the Marvel and DC universe regularly getting tanked in various runs and written as vapid airheads or thuggish jerks (not to mention cheaters), in ways that really don’t make any kind of sense from even a basic storytelling perspective and really seem to only exist to make them look bad. 

One writer that always stood out in this regard for me with Dick Grayson was Chuck Dixon, who wrote his Nightwing solo comic for a long time in the 90s, as well as adjacent titles. And to be clear, it was always pretty obvious that Dixon WANTED Dick to be received by readers as a ladies’ man.....but for reasons and ways that Dixon wanted. Like Dixon was a pretty right wing, conservative d-bag at the best of times, (and also the one who made Dick a cop, which tells you all you need to know about what I think about him, lmao)....and so its not hard to guess what he THOUGHT an ultimate man’s man, macho but suave lady-killer James Bond kinda guy SHOULD look and act like, and how female readers were meant to like...swoon at his take on him.

Except....that’s not remotely Dick’s appeal, and why he’s so popular with female fans. If anything, that’s pretty much the exact OPPOSITE of the times he’s most popular with women, and like....you can kinda see throughout the course of Dixon’s Nightwing runs where that just baffles and frustrates the hell out of him....and with him then all of a sudden throwing curveballs into his OWN long-term character work and storylines, just to be kinda like ‘well what do you think of him NOW, huh?’ In particular, I’m thinking of this one infamous stand-alone issue, I think it was an annual or whatever, and it was a flashback issue that was written late in the 90s but meant to take place right before Dick was supposed to get married to Kory back in his Titans days. And it involved Dick going to see Barbara one last time before his wedding, and talking about their romantic history together and hand delivering to her the invitation to his wedding with another woman....and then she’s like wtf....and that somehow led to them sleeping together.....and then him waking up the next morning in bed with Babs and being like, well that was great, I’m off to go marry Kory now!

Seriously. That actually happened. That issue was thankfully considered non-canon by most readers and other writers and never referenced again (outside of occasional references to Dick being a cheater, but as I’ve talked about before, that BS existed long before that story and stems from the crap with Mirage).

But like....it made ZERO sense. In story, in context of the characters, in terms of how Dixon HIMSELF usually wrote both Dick AND Babs, which he’d done a LOT of....like he also wrote Birds of Prey for a long time? With Babs front and center in that? And forget about Dick even for a second, in what universe would SHE sleep with someone who was about to go marry another woman?

Like, it came absolutely out of NOWHERE, and made zero sense whatsoever, and tbh, Dixon didn’t even really try and justify it within the actual narrative, it was kinda a wham bam, well here you go, this happened, DEAL WITH IT. That story’s only purpose really was to make everybody in it look bad, b/c Dixon’s the kind of dudebro to throw a temper tantrum within his own work b/c his female readers don’t like Dick for the reasons HE thinks they should like Ultimate Ladykiller Fantasy Man Dick Grayson, but for reasons that don’t make sense to him and he CAN’T replicate because of that.

Its the same trope with Gambit. And it actually kinda originated with him, even though Dick is a vastly older character, because don’t forget, a good fifty years of Dick’s history was as a preteen and a teenager. He was only growing into that persona of the character with mass romantic/sexual appeal at the time that Gambit was created.....and right from the bat, Gambit’s creation and reception kinda threw writers for a loop.

B/c Gambit, as Claremont initially conceived him, was not SUPPOSED to be sexy. Like, he had really longterm, complicated and convoluted plans for Gambit originally, and how he was connected to Mr. Sinister and other characters, but like....in Claremont’s own words in past interviews, he’s basically said that like....Gambit was supposed to be more obnoxious than charming. Like, he kinda meant for him to be taken as this greasy, weaselly kinda sleazebag who was only ‘charming’ because of something to do with his mutant power, that much referenced but little canonized ‘charm’ ability he’s always been rumored to have in addition to his kinetic energy powers.

Except....between how artists throughout Gambit’s early years actually portrayed him, and the ways Claremont and other early writers wrote him and the things they had him saying all being taken entirely differently than they intended....Gambit was pretty much an instant hit, with female readers in particular....and just like Nightwing in later years to follow, this frustrated the SHIT out of certain writers, because they just DID NOT GET IT.

And so with Gambit, just like with Dick, half the time you have writers who are total fans and just want to show off those characters (and other characters that fit this particular niche archetype) to the best of their abilities, highlight just how competent and skilled and intelligent they are....with fans of course usually being very receptive to this and upholding these particular runs as iconic and fave portrayals, enjoying the characters here for the reasons they’re ‘naturally’ appealing to a lot of fans, etc. 

Which of course, in turn, just kinda frustrates and annoys that Certain Dudebro Writer Type all over again. And thus the next time one of THEM gets their hands on these characters, there’s all these little digs built into the stories and the characters making mistakes that ‘reveal’ them as the kinda insensitive assholes they are, the jerks who don’t deserve the kind of acclaim they get, just like....Those Popular Jocks That Don’t Know How To Treat Women Right, Not like A REAL Nice Guy Like Me Would, and are really just kinda dumb airheads anyway and why do people even like them, ugh.

Anyway. So yeah. That’s definitely a thing that’s stood out for a lot of fans and readers over the years and been noted and talked about pretty extensively, with again, there even being a trope named after Gambit because of it. This weird, self-defeating obsession some guys have with making sure that like ‘Well if women aren’t going to like these Male Power Fantasy Characters for the reasons WE think they should like them, then we’re gonna make sure they just don’t like them at all.’

[ryouverua]

Trial 6 - Ghost in the Machine (8)

Please clap.

(LET 👏 US 👏 (NOT) 👏 VOTE)

Trial: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7

Whoa, she’s seriously, truly not happy about this at all! This is… really, really scary? Like, I’m kinda finding her more terrifying that Junko right now…

!!! I - I didn’t even notice that? But she’s right - so that’s Tsumugi’s tell?!

Shouldn’t you be happy about that?! Isn’t that an acceptable ending? Or is it because it’ll just be a boring ‘default’ to it - so if they’d all submitted to despair it would be okay, but still not ideal -

I LOVE THAT THEY USED MAD-EYED!KOMAEDA SPRITE FOR HOPE

- quote from K1-b0, also known as ‘kibou’, self-proclaimed Ultimate Hope Robot.

“I literally just don’t give a shit anymore.”

ultimate tsun strikes again

I would have laughed if that had triggered the voting time screen??? But alas, the only student with that power other than the masterminds themselves has been Kokichi -

.... Wait, Kaito, technically.

Kaito if only you had realized you had such power in you this whole time - !

This is.... really weird music for a debate lol. But I like how they give you a ‘continue the game’ bullet! And of course, since the lying function turns it around...

I MEAN HE LITERALLY TOLD YOU THAT THEY WERE DONE -

Aaah, I see how this is going to go. Alright, I got the message loud and clear. I got your back, Sweetcheeks!

I just love how the music keeps stopping when Shuichi talks.

.... And of course, starts up again when Tsumugi responds.

And yeah, now that Maki pointed it out, she’s right??? She really is changing much less than before???

oh now you give me a normal answer for hangman’s gambit

Well since I’m chilling here anyway for the next 30 seconds.... eh, the music in this minigame isn’t bad, but it’s definitely not my favourite or particularly memorable -

FFGH the screen scared me and I thought I might have actually done something wrong?? But that’s the point, isn’t it. To make you feel like you’re making the wrong choice - !

Oh shit are we actually going to rotate through all the games?

.....

WAIT HAVE YOU GUYS BEEN ABLE TO SEE SHUICHI DOING THESE THIS WHOLE TIME?!?! WHAT?!

THIS HAS SOME REALLY WILD IMPLICATIONS -

THIS music is a jam though. Oh, they’ve definitely shortened the playtime for this! Probably good, tbh. Wasn’t the normal time limit at least 5 minutes, maybe even more?

n oooOOo I’M TRYING NOT TO GET ANY BUT I CAN’T STOP THE CAR ENTIRELY FUFUFUUUU

M... Monokuma, that’s.... literally the point....

OH MY GOD HOW DEEP DOES THIS MINIGAME RABBIT HOLE GO

YOU HAVE THIS MUCH CONTROL -d

Yo he is yelling straight past Tsumugi and Monokuma and right at the audience lmao

TSUMUGI SAVE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM AND DON’T READ THE LIVE COMMENTS

Holy crap they’re being so brutal to Shuichi et al., though? Look, I get we all have the people we wanted to survive but -

Anyway Tsumugi definitely has the face of a woman who went against all reason and logic and read the comments anyway. You are definitely a denizen of the internet! You should know better than this!

He is straight up wailing on them I am LIVING for this

Ooof those comments though, honestly - Shuichi is definitely riding high on spite, because I think he’d crumble otherwise. ... Probably being extremely sleep-deprived helps. I also get salty when I’m tired

Tsumugi they are literally going to sit here and complain if you don’t move forward, which is not very entertaining either. 8′D

Ah, but it’s great that they’re a united front. makes it easy to forget this is basically a suicide pact but, uh, let’s try to stay positive -

Oh she’s going for the softest target. But... I don’t think he can be swayed anymore. Even if he was the one fighting hardest for hope.

HUH -

HEY

HEY

HEY WHAT THE FUCK -

WHAT

WHAT JUST HAPPENED

WHAT DID YOU DO -

TSUMUGI WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!!!

guys

I........ I ......

..... I

I thought we were..... at the finish line

what.... this is.... this isn’t good.... wkajfsd;

i’M SCREAMING WHAT THE HELL

WHAT DID THEY DO?!?!?!

THIS IS SABOTAGE! YOU CAN’T JUST HIJACK HIM -

This is also literally K1-b0′s worst nightmare??? As a robot who wanted to be a human??? Oh there are so many layers of unfair to this -

the COMMENTS OH GOD

CTRL+ALT+KEEBO I am mad at how clever this is

dangit grandpas I cannot believe

Life ends in a flash LOL yeah the audience is completely desensitized huh

Is this really okay? .... or maybe not all of them

look at all this salt

shoot for the hope ending

Obviously, they’d be erased.

100% out of 100?

question taaaaaimu!

couldn’t read all of them but yeah

Whoa that reverberation on his voice...

AAAH THEY’RE SO WORRIED ABOUT HIM D: (Maki too, she just seems to react to this in different places for whatever reason.)

AND THEY SHORT-CIRCUITED HIM?! HARD RESET HIM OR SOMETHING?! HE’S A SURVIVOR TOO DAMN IT YOU CAN’T JUST DO THAT -

FFFFFFUFFUFFUUUUUUUUUU

They.... they bloody killed someone.... in the middle of a trial....

And hell, how could the audience have the ability to make that choice??? Who gave them that option?

That means... That definitely means there’s someone that had the ability to create that question for the audience to vote on, someone outside of her... right? Or could that be done via Monokuma? Via that staff she was talking about.... there was definitely a third party that created that option for them, right? As a way to salvage this situation for them.

Are they that depraved?! Do they really feel no attachment to the character they travelled with this whole time?! That’s.... actually really terrible?! I get that there’s a whole genre dedicated to living out your own fantasy through a character you can project yourself on, and K1-b0 served that function in a sense, but he still .... had his own.... character.......

LITERALLY DOES NOT DESERVE THIS

IF THEY TOLD YOU TO JUMP OFF A BRIDGE, WOULD YOU -

Wait actually don’t answer that -

WHY

WHY DID THE VOICE SHE JUST PUT ON MAKE ME LAUGH

FHGSDLKFJ

DAMN YOU TSUMUGI SOMETHING TERRIBLE HAS HAPPENED I FEEL TERRIBLE FOR LAUGHING AT SUCH A CRITICAL JUNCTURE

And now they have their hope vote.... fffgh

AAAAH HE’S BACK HE’S FIGHTING IT

Wow you’re really going to pull the ‘good put-upon white-haired boy gets controlled against his will but struggles against the inner voice in his head in order to help his friends’ thing on me now, huh

....

well it’s working damn it i am not okay

also kokichi will you respect him now that he can theoretically be interpreted as a YGO reference or -

THEY’RE ALL SO WORRIED FOR HIM

god why did it take so long for this

why did it have to be at the very end that they finally banded together with K1-b0

it’s so far too late for that now

K1-b0..............

ME FUCKING TOO SHUICHI FJSKLDFJSDFL;ASDJK

you don’t, uh, look sad like... at all

On that note - she was so pissed at him pre-trial? I’m sure that’s contributing to her feelings right now. And I swear she barely interacted with him in the previous chapters.... in fact, didn’t she dump on him in Ch 4 or 5 about being too sensitive about robophobia? About his ‘persecution complex’? Hot and cold, man...

WE WON’T LET THIS HAVE HAPPENED IN VAIN LET’S FUCKING DO THIS SWEETCHEEKS

UNHOLY SCREECHING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

I WEEP!!! I WEEP!!!!

that is also the noise I made wow I can’t believe we are in sync in this small incremental moment in time

This is the chance they worked so hard to give us!!!

I mean, there it was right there - him using that line that Kaito used to try and inspire them the entire game. He already died, but his love for Shuichi and Maki is present and here right now.

If all of them knew what was happening... I don’t think they would be upset at all. Hell, Kaede walked into that first trial knowing that it was going to be her last day, and Gonta, Kokichi and Kaito all basically used their lives as weapons to try and get the ending that they thought was the best for everyone - and that didn’t even always involve the class’s survival! We were practically primed for an ending where ‘dying is for the greater good‘ from the beginning!  So you know, he’s not... wrong. He’s just following in his classmates’ footsteps.

okay this is slightly cheesy but I’m still with you and more importantly I am always about tearing the wall down between the metaworld and the prime world via the power of love oh wait wrong series...

Would it be presumptuous to say that this is him now using Kokichi’s love for his classmates, right here? After all those things he said about the power of lies, and how lies could be kind, and that final sacrifice... is it okay to say that?

Honestly, Shuichi learned so damn much from the last trial. It’s so great to see it finally come together here.

ghgjgkhdkfh

Oh -

oh no, are we about to do what I think we’re going to do?

Oh no -

isn’t him being chained up a little on the noSE OH GOD OKAY HERE WE GO -

also does that mean this is the one minigame Tsumugi et al have no control over or -

THESE COMMENTS ARE INSANE

AND THE WAY HE’S STRAINING AT THE CHAINS AAAAAH -

oh god he’s screaming they’re all screaming I-I know she said he’s been erased but this isn’t his fault it’s not fair to him -

THIS IS SCARING THE SHIT OUT OF ME G O D

slkdfj the whole globe is blocking me I cannot believe

They’re calling it preachy, they’re talking about it being too meta, they don’t like these twists, hope, despair, hope, despair, give me the happy ending I want, kiibou-da, zetsubou-da, kiibou-da, zetsubou-da, they want closure, it’s all just about entertainment but -

IT’S HAPPENING -

That’s.... it........... -

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE CATCH K1-B0 OH MY GOD HE’S FALLING SO FAR -

I choose to believe that Shuichi spent the last five or so minutes screaming at K1-b0 zooming around the ceiling while the others watched

.... and Tsumugi just let him do that

I JUST SAID SHUICHI SPENT THE LAST FIVE MINUTES SCREAMING AT K1-B0 WHO WAS JUST FLYING AROUND THE CEILING BLASTING INTERNET COMMENTS FROM THE LOUD SPEAKERS MIU INSTALLED ALL OVER HIS BODY -

Logically, I know this must have gone through to them. There’s no way this hasn’t. My heart hasn’t caught up quiet yet, though - I am... cautiously optimistic, but also with that edge of nervous and tentativeness. We’ve gotten through... we most certainly have gotten through...

Why.... Why are you monologuing. You must realize. You’re setting yourself up. You’re setting yourself up, you’re supposed to be the genre-aware one -

Shuichi knows. Shuichi.... knows.

Doesn’t that??? Sound terrible??? And so contrived??? Monokuma, this is why it’s getting stale! It’s the same thing, every time! Honestly Shuichi is doing you a damn favour -

Famous last words, my girl. Famous last words.

It’s been a long time coming, but... we’re finally bringing it home, Kaede.

But, y’know - it just didn’t seem appropriate to end it all looking at her. So, Sweetcheeks? To the end?

.... We did our best. You did good, kid.

Yes!!! You were so strong throughout this whole thing, Himiko! This couldn’t have been an easy decision for you, after pushing yourself so hard to live for Tenko and Angie!

I think... we’re safe on that front at least.

‘And you totally screwed yourself over Imeanwhat-’

I have to wonder then what she would have done if the ending really was looking like it was going to be despair. Would she have allowed that to happen?

y-you can’t say that and ‘puhuhu’ in the same sentence -

You just said kiibou was the winner no need to be redundant okay that was bad I’m sorry

What a terrible ending. Hope at any cost... And here I thought Komaeda was the natural extreme/twisted version of ‘anything for hope’. One game later and we have a mastermind whose end goal was hope winning???

With a new personality, a new script.... and no memories of anything that happened here. Of the people he met, and lost, along the way. That’s so sad.

Wow I don’t know why but I really like that it’s Maki coming to K1-b0′s defense right now???

Her idea of fiction is actually pretty screwed up??? I mean, so much of fiction and writing prides itself on flowing smoothly, and people talking about things ‘being forced’ in a story is generally a bad thing???

Then again, she was perfectly happy to LITERALLY let K1-b0′s 'characterization’ be destroyed in order to brute-force the happy ending she/they wanted...

…. Just like Junko. But…

dude I know it’s a bit very super super super late to ask this but uh, do you need... to talk to someone? Maybe a therapist? I... I don’t think this excessive attachment is healthy....

No dude that’s cheesy af. What - what do those words even mean together? Grasp true hope - like, what?

NO IT’S SO AWFUL AND VAGUE THE ONLY THING INTERESTING ABOUT IT IS K1-B0 BEING THE LONE SURVIVOR AND THEN WHAT? AND THEN WHAT? YOU’VE GOT NO HOOK YOU’VE GOT NOTHING -

maki you sound like me tf

That smile - oh, he knows. Shuichi knows.

TSUMUGI I AM TELLING YOU, YOU ARE FALLING VICTIM TO ALL OF THE CLASSIC VILLAIN TROPES AND ‘DEFEAT DEATH FLAGS’ -

Here we go.....................................

!!