#the 1 difference is that i don't think hank as a character does it on purpose and i DO think the show does it on purpose (to the audience)

[a-power-outlet]

thing abt my interpretation of hank and norm (with a dash of lucy)

plz feel free to comment on it if you want, but this is usually how i think of it when i'm writing their dynamic. i'm gonna kinda go step by step through ep 1 + beyond commenting on things i noticed.

it's all under the cut bc i yapped too much lmaooo. i love dissecting family dynamics, but also plz feel free to comment on this if u want.

i think like, yes, they don't fully get along. and norm is often seen as lesser compared to his sister. and hank does likely compare norm to lucy all the time, leading to some resentment within norm. norm clearly does love his dad, though, since he's staring at the photo of him on that balcony. norm misses hank, even if he does get mad whenever he's compared to lucy.

but, i still think hank loves him, which is important!! he teases norm during the wedding dance scene, and he hugs him tightly when they're dancing. it's one of my favorite gifs (it's funny as fuck to me) because hank ruffles his hair and norm puts it back. norm could easily walk away, but he stays because it's his dad, and they do care about each other. or at the very least put up with each other.

there is an argument to be had that norm sticks around hank for appearance sake. but norm doesn't seem like the type to go along with things he doesn't really want to do. so i'm not sure about that.

norm's willingly being a bit of a prick in episode one too. he's not helping set up, he's trying to tease lucy (and probably stress her out) like siblings do. hank is stern during this, yes, because norm is being stubborn. they're both being shits tbh. norm moreso. and i don't blame hank for being like. son please stop stressing out your sister who is getting married today.

i love norm being a little shit. i think he deserves to be a little shit more. he keeps this trait up when he antagonizes chet for being a coward and i fucking love him for it. my baby boy you are such an asshole when you're upset i love you.

they're all playful with each other, at least a little bit. but i think a key thing is that norm willingly is a little shit to his family (possibly for attention? possibly because it's against the grain and he enjoys it?). he comes to regret it in later episodes, since i think he sincerely misses his family and wishes that his last interactions with them weren't traumatic, for one, as well as annoyed. because he was ANNOYING THEM!!

imo, hank says that lucy's the future (i forget the exact line at the wedding...) because lucy's getting married! i too was like. wow why no norm. but norm's not getting married and isn't about to reproduce. at my aunt's wedding my grandfather didn't mention my mom, or her sisters. just my aunt! maybe it differs depending on people, but i mean. it is lucy's wedding. so i don't really see much there.

lucy putting norm into the storage box thing because she loves him and knows he isn't a fighter. knows he's traumatized by almost being killed. so she keeps him safe. ugh. i love their dynamic a lot. anyways-

i think the "you're my world" line is interesting... like, what about norm? but, before then, when hank and lucy run towards the door, we don't know what they're saying. i am going to choose to believe that hank cares about his son enough to ask lucy where he is. hank doesn't have to be like "you and norm are my world" because norm's not there, and he knows norm is safe already. he cares about norm, but it was lucy's wedding and lucy's there with him and moldaver. (and she's also the main character...) it is weird that lucy never mentions him outside of the vault setting but tbh the writers had a VERY limited timeframe/number of episodes to get their story across so i don't really pay it much mind.

hank in the vault tries to be as kind as possible . the vault values good deeds. if he treated norm super poorly, i don't think people would keep electing him as overseer. they'd elect betty, probably, since hank is now a big red flag. i don't think norm would be the type to hide if he was being affected severely by his dad. and there's only like 100 ish people in the vault anyways, someone would catch on.

there is the argument that the rest of the vault doesn't care if norm's being lectured by hank, or if hank is being stern on him to get him to comply, because the rest of the vault doesn't really care about norm as a person. i think people do care about norm and what norm says. the vault values good deeds, as wilzig said, and so i think inherently they are all caring people. if they had empathy for the raiders who killed some of their own, they'll have empathy for norm!!! so i don't really think hank is super hard on norm, at least not until after season 1.

i could imagine hank in his current state yelling at norm. saying he's a failure, and just wanted him to go along with what everyone else does. that he wanted norm to comply. that he wasn't supposed to break all those rules. but i don't think that'd really happen pre-season 1. norm was a little weird, but hank still cared about him. however i do want to see their current iterations interact it'd be angsty as fuck.

he's strict on norm, yea, because he has a super rigid worldview of how norm can act. norm must get a good job in the vault, and norm must love it. norm must find a woman and have children and continue the legacy of the macleans. norm's the one who would keep the surname. norm is the heir to the maclean name. so, norm does need to eventually step up and at least procreate. he'll probably get "randomly selected" for the triennial trade.

but i don't think hank hates him. hank is disappointed in him, but he LOVES HIM.

i think hank could be a little neglectful. he's a busy man, running a whole vault. but also, lucy seems very self motivated at all times. i feel like she'd latch onto the things she was taught in school and comply. norm never really did that, maybe the loss of his mother jaded him from the start. maybe he does remember the surface, just a little bit, and doesn't feel like he fits in. or, he's just naturally stubborn and doesn't want to follow what everyone else does.

whenever i'm writing them, i try to keep this all in mind. hank still cares about him, he cares about him significantly. they have personalities that just don't mesh. hank is interesting to me because he presents himself so... pathetically? like he can't hurt a fly? simultaneously, he's a strong leader that guides the vault well. and the people go crazy for it, the vault falls apart without him. but, ithink it could be a facade to make sure no one becomes suspicious of the things he's done. but he also believes he did the right thing!!! bringing norm and lucy back, to him, was the right thing, even if he had to kill his own wife. she wasn't his wife when she stole the kids. she was going to get them killed (in his mind).

and, i think he keeps this facade up in 33. he'd try to be the best dad possible so that people have the confidence that he's the best overseer possible. if his son wants to do nothing, then so be it! he's also got this rockstar daughter who likely gets more attention. he'd definitely try to push norm to a job he'll enjoy, and maybe do the cringe dad thing of trying to set norm up. he'd try to mold him into a gold dweller, but it's not like norm is devoid of good deeds. he's still liked in the community, so hank would consider it a win.

i don't think norm would mind that too much. he doesn't really get along with them too much anyways, they're too jovial for his liking. but they all love each other regardless! they let him sit at book club and play holotape games. they don't have to do the same things, but they at least can exist in the same space.

imo, norm's main mental conflicts are: 1. he wishes he wasn't mean/a coward to his family the last time he saw them 2. he wishes hank wasn't trying to mold him into a good vault dweller (i.e. getting a constant job and stuff).

i'm up for commentary on this because i know there are different perspectives but i just. idk. as someone with a rough relationship with my dad, i relate to norm but i can tell that there's still familial love there yknow?

really want more norm and lucy interactions in season 2, or maybe more norm and hank interactions? this could all be proven wrong the next time they interact but i just rly enjoy dissecting family dynamics.

ALSO i'm not a hank apologist 😭😭😭 he's an evil man but i think there's a lot of nuance to his character, especially when i'm writing him in the vault setting.

[totally-italy]

Honestly, I'm hyped to find another Just Add Magic fan on here, it's one of my face obscure shows, and if you don't really mind, I'd like to rant about the parallels between the original protectors and the main three.

At first glance, the parallels seem obvious. Kelly parallels her grandmother, Hannah Miss Silvers and , although it doesn't match up with the other two, Mama P with Darbie.

However, looking at the shows events more deeply showcases a more subversive take.

First off, I think that Miss Silvers parallels Darbie.

Despite how different the two seem, they are both very passionate about an art, Darbie with theatre and Miss Silvers with piano. They both share the magic with a non protector friend, although in Miss Silvers case, it backfired. They both have a high amount of empathy, and both of them scream neurodivergent to me Darbie with ADHD and Miss Silvers with autism. They also seem more likely to use the magic for 'frivolous' things, it's a novelty to them.

Next up, Hannah and Becky, Kelly's grandmother. They both care strongly about their friendships, and are cautious with the magic as opposed to the others, who use it as a means to an end, or as a fun way to make life simpler. They both are used by Chuck to bring back his sister Rose, even though he was successful with Becky and not Hannah. They both care deeply about thier friends and family, to the point where they sacrifice their own well being.

And my personal favourite: Mama P and Kelly.

At first, Kelly seems like the typical leader character stereotype, but it's later shown that she is the most morally grey of the group. She will do anything, literally anything, to achieve her goals. She's marginally obsessed with magic, and although she cares about only a few people, she would kill for them. Sound familiar? Mama P matches that description, although her and Kelly have different goals, they show ambition throughout the show. Also, when chuck arrived first, during the OCs protectership, he targeted Mama Ps father. When he returned, he targets Kelly's father.

They have one track minds, and can't quite seem to grasp the consequences of their actions entirely.

Okay lol sorry about how long this was, I've been rotating it in my head for a while

Hank you for reading if you did!

Oh my gods, I actually had to start writing this comment before reading the entire ask, but I absolutely agree with your point about neurodivergence, particularly with Darbie, because she gives me such ADHD vibes and, as I was re-watching it this time, I honestly really felt that she mirrors some of my own experiences as a self-diagnosed ADHDer. Also, though I don't know if I actually thought about it as deeply, I really do think that Miss Silvers is autistic and I thank you for bringing it to my attention!

Also, I really agree with what you were saying about Kelly and Mama P because, though I think Kelly she be cut some slack due to her youth and her being literally poisoned by the magic, she is very similar to Mama P and I don't think it is a coincidence that Mama P particularly wanted to teach Kelly. Also, considering how close Kelly is with her grandmother, I think it also makes sense that Mama P would try to manipulate her (and actually succeeded) with regards to the Pluot Festival.

I feel like the connection between Hannah and Becky is a little bit more obscure, but it is definitely accurate, particularly if you consider the fact that, in Season 1, Hannah covered for Kelly but then snitched on her, and Becky did the same thing in the last season, after finding Kelly's earrings. Also, though I don't agree with Becky trying to get rid of the book and I don't feel like Hannah would have done the same, she clearly does demonstrates the same unwillingness for her own friendships to deteriorate and tries to serve as the mediator a lot.

On the other hand, if you remember the first episode in which they created the bitter truth truffles, wherein Darbie and Hannah admitted that they probably wouldn't be friends if it weren't for Kelly, I think that in itself does create a link between Kelly and her own grandmother, since both originally serve as links between their friends.

I honestly really agree with pretty much everything that you said, though I don't think I had actually ever thought about it that deeply, so thank you for allowing me to analyse it further and for sharing your own perspective on it!

For the record, you absolutely do not have to apologise and I have actually made way longer posts than that before (namely my 1347 word rant about Greek Mythology).

If I might ask, have you seen Mystery City and, if so, what do you think about it? Also, have you ever seen Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra?

[positivelybeastly]

I'm new to comics and love beast. Is there any comics with beast that you'd recommend? There's so many xmen comics and idk where to start.

Hello there, friend! Getting into comic books is damned hard, but, thankfully, resources like Reddit, Tumblr, and Marvel Unlimited (or your pirating site of choice) all make it a lot easier to get into them these days without having to worry about being confused.

Well. You'll still be a little confused. Comic books are convoluted. But at least you'll be able to engage with them on your own terms. :) And, it's worth it. Mostly.

I'll tell you straight out that if you want some good entry points, like, this is my first X-Men comic, what do I read, I'd recommend the following:

X-Men: First Class (2006)

X-Men vol. 2 (1991)

New X-Men vol. 1 (2001)

Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 (2004)

X-Men vol. 6 (2024)

As for Beast specific recommendations? I have a ton!

For Beast as a character, being examined in his own right, I would recommend the following:

X-Men Origins: Beast - a retelling of his origin, updated with modern art and writing. Written by Mike Carey, whose work you should generally look into if you like X-Men - he focuses a lot on characters like Rogue and Xavier, but also on Beast, which is handy for our purposes!

X-Men: Unlimited vol. 1 #10 and vol. 2 #10 - so, this may be somewhat confusing to a new comic reader, but comics have volumes. This is when a comic of a certain title ends, and it's then relaunched with a new creative team, usually with a very different story.

So, X-Men: Unlimited is an anthology series that tells unconnected stories that fit in other places, between other comics, and there were two different volumes of it, one in the 90s, and one in the 00s. Both volumes have an issue #10 that focuses on Beast, and I'd recommend them both! Vol. 1 #10 especially would be, in my opinion, required reading if you really want to get into Beast.

Amazing Adventures vol. 2 #11 through #17 - the first stab at giving Hank his own solo series, from back in the 70s! Don't let the age get you down, I find this series to be actually fairly modern and easy to get into, and it's a nice sort of superhero/horror blend of tones that I find really effective.

X-Men: Endangered Species - this is a Beast solo story dealing with the aftermath of the Decimation, the event where Scarlet Witch removed the powers of 99% of the world's mutants. It's quite dark, but I think it's probably one of the best examinations of the character in the medium, and it works as an excellent sequel to Unlimited vol. 1 #10. Most of the context you need is given to you in the comic, which is handy. :)

X-Men: S.W.O.R.D vol. 1 - this is kind of a team-up comic, kind of not? The context for this is reliant on reading another run that I'll be recommending, but trust me, it's worth it. This is an outrageously funny book with a good emotional core, and it really captures Beast's essence, as a dual sided goofball jokester with a heart of gold and the intellectual moralistic do-gooder who can't leave well enough alone. One of my favourite comics of all time.

For Beast as part of a team, I would recommend the following:

X-Men: First Class - a prequel book set during the days of the Original X-Men, this series bounces between Cyclops, Angel, Iceman, Marvel Girl and Beast a fair bit, but even in issues that don't focus on Beast, he's still a part of the story and quite well written. Very slice-of-lifey, with a lot of charm to it.

X-Men: Season One - a retelling of certain stories from the original 60s run of X-Men, this is a pretty good one-and-done graphic novel that does change a few things, but keeps the spirit intact and tells you a lot about these characters and how they relate to one another. Just watch out for Iceman's Bieber hair.

Avengers vol. 1 #137-211 - this is a pretty long run of comics that features Hank's initial tenure on the Avengers, and will occasionally require a bit of reading around to make sure that you're reading the Annuals in the right place - usually, the comic will tell you to go read Annual #6 or whatever, but if you find a lot of stuff has happened and the story jumped ahead without you, chances are, it's in an Annual. Very variable in quality, but if you want to see classic Beast in all his glory, there's some really good stuff here, especially the foundation of his lifelong friendship with Wonder Man.

The Defenders/New Defenders vol. 1 #96-152 - probably one of my actual favourite run of comics ever. Beast joins the team a little later than #96, but if you jump in when Hank does, you'll be just a little confused, so it's best to start at #96 and go from there. Especially once Hank reforms the team to the New Defenders in #125, he basically becomes one of the very main characters and gets a lot of focus. Absolutely love this comic.

X-Factor vol. 1 #1-70 - the first six or seven issues of this are pretty bad, but it really comes into its own once it starts being written by Louise Simonson, who makes it much more soap opera, more character driven, gives all the characters a lot to do. There's a lot of crossover with other books, but usually it'll just tell you what to read if you want to know more about a part of a story in little editor's notes!

X-Men vol. 2 #1-95 - the classic 90s run; not my personal favourite, because it's pretty confusingly plotted, but if you want something that hews extremely close to the 90s cartoon, this is that to a tee, to the point where a lot of stories and characters were adapted to and from the comics directly!

New X-Men vol. 1 #114-156 - a landmark run on X-Men by Grant Morrison, this evolves Beast into a new form and changes up his character in a new, tragic manner that, personally, is my favourite iteration of the character. Very high concept sci-fi, occasionally quite confusing and problematic, but extremely good stuff, imo, and essential for getting into modern X-Men.

Astonishing X-Men vol. 3 #1-35 - a sort of sequel to New X-Men, this is again an extremely good entry point into modern X-Men, and it's very, very classic while still progressing the story. Just a note - when you read issue #24, do NOT go to issue #25, you need to go and read Giant Size Astonishing X-Men instead, THEN go to #25. I know, it's confusing, I'm so, so, so sorry, comics are just like this. This is the comic that leads straight into S.W.O.R.D pretty much.

Wolverine and the X-Men vol. 1 #1-42 - a more zany, school focused book, Hank is part of the wider cast here, but he does get some spotlight issues, and I do enjoy him here, especially his relationship with Broo. There are crossovers with Avengers vs. X-Men and other events in here, but those events are kinda sort skippable because they're bad. If you feel confused, you can read them, but I don't necessarily recommend them.

X-Men vol. 6 #1-ongoing - the current run of X-Men, written by Jed MacKay! To put it very bluntly, Beast went through about a decade of being quite badly written and slowly turned into a scummy villain through the recent Krakoa era, which I was not a fan of. There are individual issues between 2013 and 2024 that I can recommend, but if you like Beast, I would not recommend reading them, because I think that they are pretty bad and not fun to read. This is me being kind. But the new series picks up after that's all fixed, and Beast is getting a lot to do in this series, so I'd recommend it!

X-Men: From the Ashes Infinity Comics #15-18 - a supplementary comic that focuses on Beast, best read alongside the above X-Men run I recommended; it can give you all the context you need for where Beast is at, and why he's feeling the way that he is. A very, very good read, way exceeded my expectations, and I'm really pleased I can actually recommend modern comics for Beast again!

These are the main runs I would recommend! There's a lot more, if we want to get esoteric, and I'm sure I'm missing out on a lot of material - Beast has been around for 60 years, he's been in a LOT of stories - but if you want to get stuck into X-Men comics and really immerse yourself into the world and the stories, there's a lot of really good material here!

Welcome to the X-Men comics, friend! Hope you survive the experience!

[itzsephig5]

Intro (Code Ghost: The Space Between)

My Masterpost

Ava Starr Masterlist

This story on Wattpad

0 1 2 3 4

Doctor Y/n Lang, the younger sister Scott Lang, has been living on her own for a while now. She works alongside Doctor Bill Foster as she continues her studies on quantum physics when she is not working at the local children's hospital. Y/n also has a girlfriend, Ava Starr, who due to an accident when she was a kid, has molecular disequilibrium. Y/n and Ava deal with the fact that Ava can't touch Y/n at all, but they soon learn that there might be a way for Ava to not deal with this anymore. What happens when Y/n figures out that her brother might be the key into fixing her girlfriend.

What date is it:

August 5th, 2016

Characters:

Name: Y/n Lang (Dr. Lang)

Age: 25

Birthday: March 14th

Sibling: Scott Lang

Niece: Cassie Lang

Girlfriend: Ava Starr

Job: Doctor at a children's hospital, Biochemist

Name: Ava Starr (Ghost)

Age: 25

Birthday: September 7th

Girlfriend: Y/n Lang

Job: N/A

Name: Scott Lang (Ant-Man)

Age: 43

Birthday: April 6th

Sibling: Y/n Lang

Child: Cassie Lang

Partner: N/A

Job: N/A

Name: Cassie Lang

Age: 11

Birthday: July 10th

Parents: Scott Lang, Maggie

Aunt: Y/n Lang

Name: Hope Van Dyne (Wasp)

Age: 41

Birthday: November 18th

Parents: Hank Pym, Janet Van Dyne

Partner: N/A

Job: N/A

Name: Hank Pym

Age: 67

Birthday: February 26th

Child: Hope Van Dyne

Wife: Janet Van Dyne

Job: N/A

Name: Janet Van Dyne

Age: 65

Birthday: June 1st

Child: Hope Van Dyne

Husband: Hank Pym

Job: N/A

Name: Bill Foster (Dr. Foster)

Age: 57

Birthday: July 30th

Partner: N/A

Job: Biochemist

Notes:

I do NOT own any of the Marvel characters that may show up in this story. The only this I own is the story plot. If there is anything that matches up with another story, please reach out and let me know, I am willing to change it. I am ONLY taking constructive criticism! I will not take any other forms of criticism. I am not sure about ages, so some of them are made up for the story and they fit for the plot. There are also other things like their birthdays that I might not know so I put random birthdays for them. Most of them I found through Google searches. The rating of this story is 16+

Warnings:

- Mature Content

- Swearing

- Violence

Overall Announcements:

- If you don't like how I write my stories or portray a character, then don't read my stories, simple as that

- I am ONLY taking constructive criticism! I will not take any other forms of criticism

- Just because you think something is cringy or weird doesn't mean everyone else does

- If you have any questions about my stories, please reach out to my Instagram (itzsephig5), I have no problem discussing any questions you might have and I'm always up to discuss any new ideas you all have for my stories as well

- PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM AN ADULT! I WRITE SOME THINGS THAT MIGHT NOT BE SUTIBLE FOR ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 18!! I was one of those people who thought at that age that if I read it, I would be fine. I know how you think

- I will not be putting warnings on each individual chapter as they are listed here in the intro. I will add any new warnings that may show up at the beginning of that chapter and will also add it to the warning list as well. If any of these warnings trigger you, please exit the story and find a different one to read

- THIS STORY IS FICTIONAL! NOT EVERYTHING IS ACCURATE TO THE MOVIES/SHOWS! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE COMMENTS LIKE "This is not how this is in the movies" OR "This is not how it is in *insert thing here*"

[sineala]

Hi Sine, have you read the new Ultimates (2024)? Any thoughts? I'm currently on the fence, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I have read the new Ultimates! I have actually been keeping up with it since Ultimate Invasion, so I've read Ultimate Invasion and Ultimate Universe and am also mostly keeping up with Ultimate Spider-Man, Ultimate Black Panther, and Ultimate X-Men, but since none of those three are really my corner of comics fandom I think I am less qualified to speak to how they are going since I don't generally follow their 616 counterparts and wasn't reading them in the original-flavor Ultimate universe either.

I think the actual Ultimates comic itself has a surprising amount of potential and I'm liking it a lot more than I expected to like it considering that we are only two issues in and the fact that I'd literally never heard of the writer before did not fill me with a lot of confidence. But, y'know, I'm here for Steve and Tony and if Steve and Tony are friends I am, in that regard, fairly easy to please.

So I like the team dynamic so far, but from the beginning I haven't really been a fan of the worldbuilding, and I think a lot of my problems with the worldbuilding would be fixed if they simply had not also called this Ultimates, but as we all know, it is forbidden for Marvel to come up with new names for anything ever.

See, the original Ultimates had a pretty clear and relatively unique mission statement: it was meant to be a low-continuity universe, set in something closer to the real world than 616 is, with grittier and more realistic storylines. The idea was that fans could read and enjoy this universe without needing to know decades of backstory. And, sure, if you knew the backstories there would often be little Easter Eggs, but you're totally capable of reading and enjoying Ults 1, say, if you don't know why the Hulk is gray or why Hank and Jan have a terrible relationship. Because within the context of Ults, that's just how things are. Sure, they're that way because of things that happened in 616, but you don't need to know that.

The original Ults is also gritty and grimdark and polarizing. A lot of people don't like it. The new Ults universe has almost nothing in common with it except that the Maker (Reed Richards) originally hails from Earth-1610. Which, as it happens, does affect the plot a lot, but old Ults and new Ults are different things, and I think the shared name actually hurts new Ults. Because, when you think about it, who's going to want to read this? You've got the people who liked old Ults and are sad that this isn't it. And then you've got the people who didn't like old Ults and have been avoiding this universe because they assume it's the same one. So who's left? People who just like the name "Ultimates?" People who are willing to take a chance on anything Marvel releases? I just feel like there are probably fewer of those people.

I know that the new Ults universe was supposed to be Donny Cates' project before he had to leave due to medical issues, and that Ultimate Invasion was then taken over by Hickman. And honestly I would have liked to see Cates' take, because I wasn't a big fan of Hickman's Ults run, mostly because I didn't like the Maker -- so I'm not, you know, really thrilled that the one thing that gets kept from Earth-1610 is my least favorite character.

The new Ults universe has also pretty much abandoned the two things I thought were the big draw of old Ults: a more "realistic" setting as well as a low amount of continuity. As you probably know, the premise of new Ults is that the Maker goes universe-hopping, gets to Earth-6160, decides that's good enough, stops there, and proceeds to epically fuck shit up. He has his City going, just like 1610. The Earth now has a handful of massive countries, which I guess makes it easier for a shadowy cabal to rule them. So we are definitely abandoning any kind of real-world…geopolitical similarity. Britain and France are the same country; Captain Britain speaks French. China and Japan are the same country. The US fell apart in the 60s. I mean, it's not necessary to use real places in superhero comics -- DC and its array of fictional cities seems to be doing fine -- but it seems weird to do it here when that was supposed to be part of the attraction of Ults (and later on, the MCU, which pulled a lot from Ults). It's a thing people like to read. It gives you a little more investment, I think, as a reader.

The Maker's goal is to prevent superheroes from showing up at all by taking them off the playing field. He gets there at some point after WWII -- because Steve was still Captain America and got iced -- but before the modern Marvel universe kicks off. The Maker is clearly going after as many people as he can. He prevents Peter Parker from being bitten by the spider. He has a creepy museum/mausoleum where he collects artifacts and corpses of dead heroes; for example, we see an adamantium skeleton that is presumably Wolverine's.

Of course, the heroes aren't going to stand for this. Which heroes, you ask? Who's left? Well… mostly Tony, actually. In this universe, Tony is very young and has more of an MCU-influenced backstory in terms of his relationship to his father and to Obadiah Stane. He's also Iron Lad. So, yes, this is a Kang thing. He has help from this universe's Reed (who is masked like Doom) and they're going to assemble the Ultimates and get back as many heroes as they can. Tony finds middle-aged Peter Parker (who is married to MJ and, oh, yeah, Uncle Ben's still alive) and gets him a spider. They are going to fix the world and make everything right.

Is this fun? I think so! I am down for a plot where Tony restores superheroes to his world. However, the thing it isn't is low-continuity. Unlike original Ults, there is so so so much continuity just embedded into the worldbuilding. We see the Maker's big list of characters he's gotten rid of. You're already supposed to know who these people are.

If you pick up the original Ults, let's say Millar's Ults 1 & 2, you don't need to know anything about anything. Sure, like I said, there are lots of things in it that are callbacks to 616, but you don't actually need to know what they are to understand the plot. But everything in new Ults is, within the plot, a reference to something else in the multiverse. They're putting things back the way they were. To do that, you actually need to know something about the way things were. Some of this stuff is going to be obvious to most people who are even vaguely familiar with comics -- I don't read Spider-Man, generally, and even I know it's a big deal that Uncle Ben is alive. But not all the changes are as big as that, and if you don't know them, it's confusing. Ultimate X-Men is all about a teenage schoolgirl named Hisako, in the country presumably formerly known as Japan. "Mutants" don't seem to be a recognized group of people. She doesn't know anything about her powers and I didn't even know she was a mutant until someone told me that was Armor, a mutant obscure enough that I only vaguely remembered her after I was told her name. I spent all of issue 1 wondering who this character was and why I was reading a horror comic about her classmates dying and what she had to do with anything. Apparently she's a mutant and I would know that if I had kept up with X-Men.

Over in the realm of the Ultimates themselves, the worldbuilding has a lot of stuff I wouldn't bank on people just knowing. Does a casual fan know who Iron Lad is? It's probably going to matter! The FCBD issue features Steve liberating Jim Hammond from the Maker's storage. Now, I am very fond of the Invaders and I was thrilled that someone here at Marvel remembered Jim Hammond, but I would bet that a lot of people reading this don't know who Jim Hammond is or why Steve wants to find him. Similarly, I thought Midas was a great villain for Ultimates #2 but I also read a discussion thread where someone asked who he was and three people in a row managed to extremely confidently misidentify Midas' origin and what decade of comics he was from. The earliest they got was the 90s. (Iron Man #17 is from 1969, guys. Also the first appearance of Whitney Frost as Madame Masque, which is why I know it.)

(Skipping ahead a little to the Ultimates team itself, you can take Hank and Jan as an example. They're both recruited in Ultimates #1 and Hank learns about what he's like on other worlds and his first concern is whether he's going to hurt Jan if he becomes a superhero. To fully understand this plot point, you actually need to know what Hank has done, because otherwise you don't actually know what he is upset about -- and that means you need to be familiar with a bunch of other comics. In the old Ults, Hank just hits Jan. Yes, Mark Millar went for the gritty, edgy choice. But it's also a choice that doesn't require you to know anything about Hank hitting Jan in any other universe. It just matters that it's happening here.)

This is a roundabout way of saying that, after Ultimate Invasion and Ultimate Universe, and seeing the starts of the other Ultimate comics, I didn't have high hopes for the new Ultimates comic, and I also had never heard of the writer, which didn't really help.

And then I started reading the new Ultimates comics and I know we've only got two issues but I honestly really like them. Like I said, I am here for the high-continuity new universe; I don't think that's necessarily going to be a winning long-term move in terms of getting new Ults fans, but, like, I am in this fandom partly because I like being in fandoms with massive amounts of continuity.

Jan is great. Did I say that already? No? Jan is so great.

And, of course, I am a Steve/Tony fan, so I am here for the Steve/Tony dynamic and I think it's really interesting. Steve wants to have a revolution. Hell yeah. I'll definitely read that Captain America. He knows the world's wrong and he wants to fix it. 1610 Steve -- in early canon, at least -- just kind of exuded depression from every pore and Did Not Want To Be Here but he was a soldier, goddammit, and he was going to run the mission. 616 Steve was a little more lost, still sad, but kind of keeping that to himself as much as possible and trying to just find meaning in leading the team and the things the team was doing. This new guy seems more like that. but sadder. because the world is way more fucked up. I mean, he woke up and learned America didn't exist anymore, which has to be a downer.

I'm still not a fan of the Iron Lad thing, but the letter Tony writes to Howard is pretty amazing.

It's interesting that Tony is younger and so much less experienced than Steve. He's clearly smart, of course, but it's clear they're not great at teamwork yet -- not because they don't like each other, but because they don't know each other well enough, which I think is interesting and which I haven't really seen in canon, because this wasn't a thing Marvel was going to show us in 1964. But, like, we've had multiple fight scenes where they aren't quite pulling off the plan as intended -- say, when they're rescuing Jim Hammond and no one else can do what Steve is asking so he just does it himself. Or in #1, Steve telling Tony that his recruiting plan isn't going to work, and Tony not listening, and then, surprise, it doesn't work. Or in #2, when Tony tries to tell Steve that his suit modification will drain all his power if he uses it, and he doesn't manage to tell Steve this, so he does the thing when Steve tells him to do it and then, surprise, he has no power. Like, that doesn't happen in 616. Either 616 Tony does the stupid thing without ever telling Steve because he knows Steve would tell him no, or he just flat-out tells Steve no because he's not afraid to disagree with him, or he asks Steve for advice and actually follows it. They don't do this. So this is pretty fun. It's different. Maybe Tony is a little intimidated by Captain America? We shall see!

I'm a little grumpy that Ults is making me like (presumably) Teen Tony, though. I did not like The Crossing! I really did not!

So, yeah, it's interesting! Looking forward to seeing more of it! It could all go wrong, of course, and two issues is kind of a small sample size, but so far I'm into it.

[brw]

2 + Hank Pym for the character ask game :-)

2) Favorite canon thing about this character?

This is just because it's in my head as I'm reading Avengers West Coast, but I really like how being a leader suits Hank. It's a role he never asks for or really wants, but most of the time where he has it it does him a lot of good. He is the leader of the West Coast Avengers in the later stages of that run in everything but name, because he's the most experienced member of the team next to Janet and naturally falls into a peace-keeping role that evolves into leadership. And you can notice this on Avengers Academy too, and I think it's having the responsibility of so many people, both on the team and in the people the teams are fighting to protect, makes him pay more attention to the impact his actions are having on others and makes him less likely to retract and isolate, because he can't really get away with that so much. Obviously, Slott didn't write him this way, but that's a different post entirely, but by and large I like how much being a leader is like, good for him, despite being something he never think about or pursues.

[aydaptic]

If writers word is law and canon must always be respected then Reed900 is also wrong?

Given that Cage has said that he doesn't make games for faggots?

In the game itself it is never explicitly stated that Hank and Connor are father and son, and myself and thousands of others never picked up that they were supposed to be. Writers saying things outside of the media when they chose not to explicitly put it in is meaningless. Like JK Rowling constantly tweeting things that aren't in her books.

If they wanted it Canon, they could have explicitly added it. They chose not to.

(1/2) At what point did Williams/Cage say something like "Gav sees Niner as a son" -- which would make shipping them equally as bad -- like they've come out and said "Hank sees Con as a son?"

You've lost all credibility comparing the two.

Cage allegedly saying what you claim, to my knowledge, is nothing but an unproven accusation. Where's the proof? Anyone can throw accusations.

An author stating something outside of a product is not "meaningless." To think you can override the creator/dictate what's canon is self-entitlement. It's their sandbox, and if they want to change the sand, that's their right. The rest of us are just playing in it. It's like saying that whatever I reply in an ASK -- when ppl ask about my Reed900 Alive series -- isn't canon in my very own ficverse.

Someone: "What does your Niner do when he's severely stressed?" Me: "Singing 'Hold On' to soothe himself -" Someone: "That isn't canon bc I didn't see him doing so!"

I hope you understand where your arguments fall apart now.

As this ASK was sent less than 5 minutes before another, I assume you're the same anon, so I'll add it here not to clutter tags/dashboards.

(2/2) Other ASK below the cut:

I repeat... It's "objectively creepy/wrong to ship two characters" when the lead writers themselves coded them father/son.

Hank isn't "replacing" Cole. A man can have several sons. I've heard this ridiculous argument so many times and it boggles the mind that ppl still use it. My big brother didn't cease to exist when I was born.

Just bc you need them to state so in-game doesn't mean it's not canon. The world doesn't revolve around you. Just as the world doesn't revolve around me. Ppl have different opinions/takes on many things. To demand everyone think the same is to erase individuality.

Clancy Brown isn't a lead writer. He's an actor. Neil Newbon has said plenty of things himself about Gav/Elijah. Those are their own fanon headcanons of the characters they played. Not objective facts. The only objective fact about Gav that Neil has talked about, as far as I'm aware, was when Neil said he and Cage agreed the nose scar was recent. It's also proven by the scar being red still and not white/healed.

If you have more to say -- as I don't wanna clutter the tags/dashboards with ASKs talking about the exact same thing -- do it in the replies.

[ofsmokenandgold]

Land of Women Episode 5

More flashbacks - this time Julia, playing bitlles with Mariona to determine who gets Andreu - Julia loses deliberately because she knows Mariona really likes him - but it's not clear at this point if this is before or after she slept with him.

Later this is important because they have another game to determine whether the ladies have to listen to Gala after she has pissed them off once again, and Julia flashes back to the earlier game and deliberately underthrows thinking she's back 40 years before. It also results in a conversation between Julia and Mariona that leads to them working out their differences (Julia apologizes for sleeping with Andreu when she knew Mariona liked him) and to Mariona getting on Gala's side over the winery.

So Gala - she begins the episode bargaining with Tony to give him installments based on the profits from the winery - which she is absolutely not entitled to - but I can forgive that as a temporary stalling measure so Hank and Kevin don't kill them. She then lies about who they are and sticks Amat with housing them, instead of telling Andreu when she had the chance. And when she finally talks to Amat, he explains why he's so mad at her and tries to get her to come clean, but it just results in her lying some more and focusing on that fact he said he was worried about her.

They go into Day 8 with Amat trying to figure out who the guys are and finding a box of shells, so he knows they are dangerous. He goes in search of Gala only to be waylaid by Montse who wants to talk. And he's a total fucking arse again - he apparently blew off the date they had the night before and hasn't been answering her calls and texts. For someone who yelled at Gala for worrying him by not answering her phone, he's really blasé about the fact that he just didn't answer Montse because he "was busy". And actually, he wasn't busy - we see him standing at his bedroom window watching Kevin for quite a long time the night before - he could have called her then if he wasn't so focused on Gala. And he blows her off once again - he's too busy to talk - she doesn't fail to notice that the first place he goes when he's done with her, is to Gala's side.

Can I just say how much I love Ariadna Gil here - I don't know what the hell the writers/showrunners were intending, but she lets us know with face and body and gesture that Montse is deeply unhappy with the way she is being treated, even if she's too much of a mature adult to make a fuss about it. I have to wonder if she saw the way the story treated the character and just thought "Fuck it, I'm not going to let her be an NPC." But then, anyone who is cool and smart and interesting enough to have been in a relationship with Viggo Mortensen for the last 15 years, I'm sure knows how to craft her characters in ways that give them life and authenticity - regardless of what the writers are doing.

Eventually, Kate saves the day with her drawings of the women, and Gala finally apologizes and makes an impassioned speech about how special they all are and everyone rallies round to get the wine ready for Edna's visit.

And finally, Gala comes clean to Amat about what is going on and he says he won't let anything happen to her and that he trusts her to get them all out of this mess. Cue an almost kiss, interrupted by the arrival of Fred - nice timing Fred, I appreciated it, even though many others didn't.

So, I have to ask - why does Amat trust her? She's made consistently bad decisions, she's arrogant, stubborn, entitled and rude, her lies have put all of them in danger - especially if it turns out that Amat may have his own reasons for hiding out (see episode 6). And he's known her all of five days (we first see Gala the evening of Day 1; she meets Amat on Day 3 and this is now the evening of Day 8).

I get chemistry, I really do, and their chemistry is undeniably great, but it doesn't make up for careless storytelling. And this is really careless, she's given him no reason to trust her or even like her - but here they are about to kiss. It really makes him look like he's thinking with his dick. Yes, she's pretty, yes she's glamorous (even in "dirty work clothes"), yes she's new and different and exotic, but none of that is a reason to be this into someone you've known for all of five days and THEN we add on that he's already in a relationship (no matter how casual, it's still a relationship).

It's like the writers are SO focused on the romance and the relationship between the two principals that everything else gets either ignored, or twisted to fit the story of Amat and Gala's ill-fated (but of course, ultimately happy) romance.

But I shouldn't also forget that once again he's very pretty and is really rocking the layers - t-shirt, henley, shirt and waxed jacket.

[connorsjorts]

Fic tag game! Tagged by the lovely @sweeteatercat , thank you!!

1. How many works do you have on AO3? 4

2. What's your total AO3 word count? 229,987

3. What fandoms do you write for? DBH

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? I don't even have 5 fics 😅 but here they are in order: 1. he's making a list; i'm checking him out 2. long way home 3. stupid sexy priest 4. make my wish come true

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Always! I haven't responded to comments on my latest chapter yet, but I will. It's really important to me: 1) If someone takes the time to read my work AND share their thoughts with me, that really does mean so much, saying thank you (and clumsily attempting to express the depth of my gratitude in an annoying amount of emojis) is the least I can do; and 2) This is a community! The validation is nice, yes, but I write to connect with people. I love hearing what people have to say and I love to talk with them about it! I've made friends through my ao3 comments, we're all here because we love the same thing, and if you're excited about my silly contributions OF COURSE I'm gonna want to talk to you! Your reactions to the work are just as important as the work itself imo. Art is a conversation!

6. What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Probably make my wish come true, just because it's an alternate POV of a scene in a different fic so the main conflict remains unresolved. But it still has a feel-good ending! Sad endings don't exist in my world

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? I'm not sure! What do you guys think? Generally in my fics I try to wrap everything up in a happy little bow without everything being too perfect--we still have to work, we still make mistakes, life is still hell; but it's easier when we have each other and have found faith in ourselves.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I haven't yet...... (bracing myself for my first hate comment to come through as soon as I publish this post)

9. Do you write smut? If so what kind? Sure do! I write the over-the-top, too long, lots of emotion, lots of laughing/banter, taking-off-your-pants-is-awkward kind. Sex is cool but friendship is the most romantic thing to me ❤️ I enjoy writing smut the most when they really, genuinely like each other as people.

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you've written? I have not and I doubt I would. Probably the closest I would get is an au based on another piece of media (I do dream of a hankcon twin peaks au)

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I have never even considered that being a thing until now

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Someone requested to translate one of my fics but I don't know if it will ever come to fruition. I hope it does though, I would love that!

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? No but I've briefly discussed it with a friend... now that I'm done with the bb I'll need to contact them and see if they're still interested because I sure am 👀👀

14. What's your all-time favourite ship? Hankconnnnnnnnnn

15. What's a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? I started a fic where Connor works in a sex shop and a very vanilla Hank comes in looking for something to spice things up with his girlfriend. He gets some fuzzy handcuffs and they do their job when it comes to Hank's boner, unfortunately that has more to do with Hank fantasizing about the person who sold them to him more than anything else. He breaks up with the girlfriend and most of the fic would be Hank continuing to frequent the sex shop as an excuse to talk to Connor as he gets more and more in over his head thanks to Connor's recommendations. It was really good in my head, but when I put it to paper it just... wasn't. So I'll probably never continue it.

16. What are your writing strengths? Characterization, I think! I get a lot of compliments on it. It's the best feeling when someone falls in love with one of my characters ❤️

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Setting 😖 I like to pepper in details as I go, I really struggle when the scene calls for describing the whole-ass place at once

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? If y'all want a fic about the Duolingo characters, sure. Otherwise I'm sure I'd be abysmal at it. I'm not proficient enough in any other language to get the voice right.

19. First fandom you wrote for? DBH. I am a fic-writing newbie and also I tend to stick with one thing for 4,000 years

20. Favourite fic you've ever written? Probably long way home, it's not as popular as mall santa but there's so much of my soul in that fic. Artistically and thematically, it's very me, and it's also the story that taught me how to write. I had never written any work of fiction before I started it (Hankcon was just that strong) and now I never want to do anything else. Thank you for reading, if you want to play consider yourself tagged! 💖

[ace-of-whatever]

I really liked the Fallout show. Though I like most media and stories I consume so that doesn't say much.

I wanna talk about it so this'll be my post where I list all my thoughts and it WILL contain spoilers so if you haven't finished the show then you have been warned.

(this is me creating space between the spoiler warning and the spoilers)

I have never heard of a ghoul serum in the games. How would that even work? I thought you became a ghoul as a result of prolonged radiation exposure.

Apparently Cooper managed to get his daughter somewhere safe and then she and his wife were moved somewhere else. I assumed she had died and he was just unlucky enough to become a ghoul.

I thought the experiment of vault 111 was to test the cryo pods. But they were seemingly essential to the plan in vaults 31, 32, and 33. So does that mean they already knew how they would work? What was the deal with vault 111 then?

I'm kinda actually mad about the reveal that Vault-tec dropped the bombs. I thought it was supposed to always be a mystery, but now they just came right out and said it.

I swear Cooper called the dog "Dog Meat" once in the show. I think it was before that other scribe got her but I don't remember. They did a Wired video where he said it's name was some random letters and 404. I don't remember what. I guess the character wouldn't have known that.

I was trying to think of Special stats for those main characters and I can't decide if Lucy had high luck or low luck. It seemed like she kept lucking her way OUT of situations. And there was an amount of actual skill too. All the same could be said for Maximus.

That episode that ended with her being arrested in vault 4 felt actually stupid. It was a dramatic ending that felt like it led into nothing. Also, I would definitely hit them with the "why does it seem like a considerable portion of your dwellers worship the woman who kidnapped my dad?" After they arrested me. Feels like an important thing to ask in such a situation, seeing as that's kind of the question that landed you in that position in the first place.

PREWAR MR. HOUSE! LET'S FUCKING GOOOO!

Is moldaver the one who told Cooper to spy on his wife? He had that flashback or whatever when talking to the president of "The Govermint" so I thought she was. But then how was she still around 219 years after the bombs fell. She wasn't with Vault-tec, right? So she didn't have a cryo-pod?

Cooper was in the Vault-tec building spying on his wife and he called that woman who brought in Henry (Hank) Betty. That was the woman who became overseer of vault 33, wasn't it?

The other company heads listing what they would want to do with their vaults was a cool scene.

I thought the vaults already had a lore explanation that had to do with the Enclave and space travel. That is clearly not the case in the show.

But now I'm remembering there was more to that last thing because I think Vault-tec pretended to be working with the Enclave.

Was that THE Prydwen?

Did the BoS say they got the tip about an Enclave defector from their Brothers in the Commonwealth? The Enclave moved there within the last 9 years? Would Nate or Nora join the Enclave? But if the BoS is in the Commonwealth, wouldn't that mean the canon ending to fallout 4 is to side with them? Or maybe take no side at all?

The Enclave is a prewar faction. Just saying it would've been neat to see reference to them in the prewar scenes. Or maybe there were references and I missed them.

This wasn't in the same area of California as the first two games, right?

I remember how the BoS seems wildly different across 3, 4, and New Vegas. They seem different in the show compared to how they are in these games. Is the shows depiction of them more in line with their 1 and 2 iterations? I have a hard time getting into those types of games so I can't really make myself play them to see for myself.

In the Wired interview they were wondering what Gulpers are. In the show they look like Axlotl's to me.

They goin' to the Mojave. You know what that means.

Fucking Cazadors.

I didn't see even ONE live Deathclaw in the show. Just that skull in the LAST SCENE. What a let down.

I probably had more thoughts but I can't remember them. Most of these thoughts are based on my memories of the earlier episodes and so might be inaccurate to the show itself. Take them with a grain of salt.

[dazzasarchives]

Tales to Astonish Volume 1 Issue 27

Alright this next comic may astonish you. We're taking a break from our fantastic friends, and looking into the origins of some other soon to be heroes. Our first Origin story starts with the Dr Henry Jonathan "Hank" Pym, and his shrinking and growth serums, later known as Pym particles. Let's begin shall we?

Our story begins in the lab of Dr Henry Pym, as he tests out his new growth serum on a chair successfully shrinking it to the size of an ant, then using his growth serum, bringing it back to its standard height. He then tests the chemicals on himself and shrinks, he shrinks for more rapidly than he guessed, and ends up the size of an ant.

Our brave hero runs around the room frantically and ends up running out of the door, and ends up trapped outside. Where he sees a massive anthill. The ants then head down towards Dr Lyn ready to attack him. I'm Dr Pyms blind flight of panic he stumbles down into the Ants nest. Landing in a massive room filled with honey.

The ants then come towards him ready to attack him, but Dr Pym throws a rock towards a match lighting a fire. He then uses this fire to help him escape, only to realize he can't climb up the walls. All hope looks bleak until one ant comes and allows Dr Pym to ride on its back, as it takes the doctor up to the windowsill where his enlarging serum is.

After regaining his height Dr Pym decides to get rid of his height manipulating serum. He also never harmed another ant ever again.

Alright this comic is, well astonishing. It really does not feel like a hero origin story but it is. I really don't mind it, I enjoy how different it is to other origins. Alright let's look at the sole character of this comic shall we?

Dr Pym, there's not a whole lot to do say with the character yet, he's fine over all he just needs to stop blindly running around, that has been the cause of most of the problems in this issue. I think he's an alright character, but he definitely has room for improvement.

Alright that is it for this comic, in our next post we will see another origin for another hero, a very incredible hero. So don't miss it. Until next time.

I do not own the images in this comic they are part of Marvel Comics.

If you'd like to visit the site that I use to follow these comics in Chronological Order please follow this link here:

Did you miss the last issue and want to catch, don't worry I have you covered. Just follow this link right here:

Or is this your first time seeing one of my posts and you want to start at the very beginning of this universe, well follow this link here please:

[isaackuo]

Honestly I'm not sure where people get the idea that Barb would do anything for her family. Did she fight the no dogs rule? Maybe I'm just cynical and I know first hand way too many people who disingenuously throw around saying that they're doing X for their family as a weapon to use in arguments with their family members.

Anyway, let's assume that Barb really is earnest when she says she's doing what's necessary to keep her family safe (which she explicitly says is ONLY Cooper and Laney, not Roosevelt). All of the scenes we see her in are from before the divorce.

And here's the thing about divorce. Divorce can make people do crazy destructive things. Like, there was this popular TV show where a divorced person tried to run a football team into the ground just out of spite. That's like ... like real life divorces are like that. And way worse.

We have a hint that Cooper and Barb's divorce was acrimonious, since he's paying alimony. This seems strange because Barb presumably had a high income, while Cooper's working birthday parties to get by. But if you know enough divorced people, you'll know ... yeah, some people will do that sort of thing just to spite their ex.

Anyway let's look at what we know for sure. We know that Lee Moldaver says Vault-Tec dropped the bombs, and that Hank doesn't deny this (at the time, Hank had a lot to try and lie about and/or otherwise justify to Lucy at the time, so his lack of denial doesn't really mean much). I don't think we can take Moldaver's claims at face value, though. How does she know? Does she know? Or is this just what she believes? Is she mistaken due to limited information?

My point is ... the writers have a lot of flexibility despite Moldaver's claim that Vault-Tec did it.

Personally, I theorize that Vault-Tec did it, and also that Barb either did it or was directly complicit. It's just ... I feel like it would not be very interesting, story-wise, for it to be the fault of some mysterious new character we don't even know. And I think Barb as a character is more interesting for it.

However, I see two distinct and interestingly different possibilities:

Barb was so bitter from the divorce that she did it to hurt Cooper. This would mirror the way Hank was angry at Rose.

Barb really did care about the safety of Cooper and Janey, and she knew where they were at the time, and she had the bombs dropped where they could get to a vault.

I think possibility 1 is pretty self explanatory.

Possibility 2 deserves more explanation. So I'm thinking ... yes they're divorced, and Cooper's so disillusioned about Barb and Vault-Tec that Barb can't directly convince him to go hide in a vault. So how does she get them to go to the vault? Give them no choice.

But Barb doesn't know about the future problem of ghouls and such. On the way to the vault, Cooper is irradiated and he starts showing symptoms of turning into a ghoul. He sees others, and some of them turn feral sooner/quicker. So by the time he gets Janey to the vault, he knows he's going to turn into a feral ghoul sooner or later. He gets Janey to take shelter in the vault, but he himself stays on the surface.

Is the show going to go in that sort of direction? I dunno. It's just a random idea of mine, which I feel like could be dramatically interesting.

Ok hear me out re Barb and vault tech.... (Heavy spoilers)

People keep saying she would do anything for her family and I'm just interested to see if this is true.

How did we get from her doing despicable things to save her family to her divorcing her husband, him seemingly having their child, and the bombs detonating when her kid was not in a vault? I have a couple of theories.

1. Warning this one hurts but it also has the least support: Barb was always out for power/vault tech. Her being married to Cooper Howard was entirely tactical. Getting him on vault techs side was a calculated movement from the beginning. Once they got the endorsement and he became a pest the family point didn't matter (I fully believe she knew Cooper was listening in and that directly effected her mentioning that she's doing this for her kids future. She sees him near her pipboy, seems a little suspicious after that, and chimes in after we hear the audible feedback in the earpiece after looking presumably at her pipboy.)

2. Are they alluding that vault tech dropped the bombs to pull that rug out from under us? Even if she was forced to divorce Cooper because of his falling out with vault tech (which he also could have separated from her because of what he saw), if she is the character that gave everything to save her family, she wouldn't drop the bombs while her child isn't safe. If this is her character that can indicate that, even though they planned to drop the bombs first, someone else did.

We know Cooper doesn't know where his daughter is and thinks vault tech might indicating that something split them up from the last point we've seen them and leaves him hope. Is it to be assumed that Barb stepped in and took the kid? How would she find them easily and quickly? Did she tell the vault to make sure to let her child in but keep Cooper out?

Of course there are thousands of different ways the story could get from point a to point b these are just my theories. What is everyone else thinking?

[zymurg3]

 Hey Guys , Today tobpic; 2bhank

I will assume everything anything in the main series, Project Nexus 1 and 2, and anything Krinkels has said is canon. ONE IMPORTANT NOTE: Krinkels has stated “Relationships aren’t really a thing in Nevada” but that’s stupid, and this is the same man that keeps making Sanford and Deimos make out and be valentines day posters etc. etc. even if it’s for fan service I don’t really care and I don’t think anyone else does. Anything I talk about will be referencing canon, with some speculative thoughts.

Generally their situation is so ... strange to me ?!?? I’ve really looked for ways they could be heterosexual I have but nothing they do makes sense to me. Hank is trustworthy enough of Doc to live with him (and more importantly, Doc is able to live with Hank and survive,) Doc is close enough with Hank to have known Hank’s “soft side”, curiously “considering how much he stitches him up” meaning they’ve both spent a decent amount of time together and that Doc does... something medical? with him. more on that soon

Let’s lay out some basic character traits. Hank is a murder machine, entirely defined by his violent behavior. He’s easily irritable (Killing Boombox Guy for having annoying music?) and always looking for a reason to slit someone’s throat (”Yeah? Because between you and me, I was hoping it would come to this.”) They don’t yield very well to being good with people, described as uncooperative and seems to be much more antisocial as the only characters in the entire series that don’t outright hate him are Sanford, Deimos, and Doc.

Doc is a calm and collected professional working as S.Q.’s communications and possible shadow leader. He takes a lot of care in his words to get all the details laid out to give you simple commands to follow and play out whatever mission you’re assigned however you can, as long as the job gets done and done well. His professional facade comes off as soon as he’s alone or with people he trusts, such as Deimos. He’s more of a crude arrogant asshole, signing himself off with “Big D(issenter)” and swearing “God damn it, Deimos.” He jokes the same as the rest, probably thanks to his background in the AAHW.

First thing that caught my attention was the house they both lived in, I made a chart you can refer to as well. (Edit: In the middle of making this post and looking at twitch clips, This fucking comes up, so money can’t be a motivating factor for anything he does.)

So, an Ex-AAHW agent invites the single man his operation was against to live in his home, and somehow that man agrees. Hank, if he was after something like his house, could just easily kill him and take it for himself but it seems Doc provides something that Hank can’t get all for himself, he needs Doc. It’s likely that most of the reasons he began living with Doc were circumstantial, from Madness Combat 4 and earlier Hank would of been able to revive (and even stitch himself back together?) himself without Doc’s help, he isn’t getting paid to stay, and there are no other canon known reasons as to why Hank would even trust Doc enough to live with him. I genuinely cannot wrap my head around this, PLEASE add your thoughts if you have any. Sadly I don't think there's even enough information on Doc in general to get any more than "He thinks Hank's revival ability is whipass and wants to check it out."

Hank's trust in Doc might imply a deeper relationship, like history with the other before coming to live with him. Doc is able to get Hank to do a LOT of different things, contracts to suppressing his violent tendencies to living in his damn house.

(A note reading,

"Hank, Pretty please

1, Rescue Noobs

2, Acquire hardware

3, Destroy Nexus

4, Proceed")

The first image is purely speculation, but considering the language used ("Rescue noobs") as well as Sanford & Deimos' only known alliance to be with S.Q. and Doc working as the shadow leader/communications for jobs like these, it is pretty safe to assume Doc was the one who wrote this message to Hank.

In Project Nexus 2, he asks him to do the same thing as he did in Project Nexus 1 (The timeline for this series is a little weird, so that's for another post) and even ends up giving him the rocket launcher he asked for during the SOMEWHERE IN NEVADA flashback. There is atleast somewhat of a mutual relationship with this, Doc gives him all the tools and a goal while Hank gets to kill anything to his hearts desire.

(Doc stopping Hank from pulling out his sword and stabbing Jebediah by only raising a hand.)

The second image shows that Hank, faced with the man who'd killed him twice, was about to kill him only to stop himself when Doc raised his hand to him. His natural response to most situations is to simply murder, shown in both Madness 6 and 9.5, and most of the characters have trouble dealing with that trait including the Employers. Doc, however, is the only character we've seen able to control and reason with these urges while others have failed pretty miserably leading to SOMEONE'S death.

It's incredibly odd to me how Hank's personality switches up entirely in every case he's interacting with Doc, where he goes from an unstoppable murder machine to a decently-mannered soldier who allows himself to be vulnerable. He isn't even getting paid.

I'll make a second part for Doc / 2bdamned , but this is what I have for Hank rn. I might edit this later as well.

[disniq]

Season 1, Episode 2, “Hawk and Dove”.

Joy.

We are introduced to Hawk, AKA Hank Hall, who is already captured and being tortured! Listen, I don’t often side with torturers, but he probably deserved it.

Dove, AKA Dawn Granger, saves his ass and then we get a gratuitous bathroom shot because Alan Ritchson is hot, and also to show that the superhero life fucks you up, kids.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really understand what their plan is here? They’re taking out arms dealers and stealing the money for themselves until they have enough to “retire”. Dude, you’re both in your 30s, just get a normal fucking job that isn’t destroying your body and mind, maybe?

(This is a recurring theme with these two. They talk about quitting, one of them goes back on it, they fight, they make up, they talk about quitting… It’s a whole thing.)

Dawn is so pretty, fuck me.

She rescued him and plays nurse afterwards? Dawn, honey, he does not deserve you. He can't even fuck.

Flashback time, and Dickie-boy is hanging out with the Bad Kids against Batman’s orders. (I say “Kids”. All of these people are in their twenties at least. And, also. This is four years ago, but in s2 they say the og Deathstroke stuff is four years ago. Don't think to hard about the Titans timeline, good lord.)

DO LIKE; the fight choreography here! Dick is all flippy acrobat but Hawk and Dove are like pro fucking wrestling lol.

DO NOT LIKE; this weird fucking love triangle, and I use the term “love” extremely loosely. Poly supremacy man, you all have bird names and a shit ton of fucking issues, you could all be each others problems instead of inflicting yourselves on others <3

(oh my god, I’ve only just hit the titlecard. This episode is *so* long)

(Or maybe it's just that I find it incredibly boring.)

I'm sure that's not relevent

Dick is taking Rachel to Hank and Dawn, so he calls Alfred for some money to… pay them to keep her?

(on a related note, there is such a frustrating interesting dissonance between what we are told and what we are shown in this show. We are told Dick has a rep for being great with kids, but he doesn’t really know what Rachel should be eating or watching at her age, and he tries to get rid of her the second he can. Rachel says she’s not a kid, and then the very next scene is her sprawled out on the bed surrounded by snacks. Rachel says she can tell when people are lying, but her "Mom" was lying to her her whole life?)

I’m trying really hard not to get too bitter too quickly here, but god the difference between how Dick treats an upset Rachel to how he later treats an upset Jason makes my heart hurt :(((

Oh, The Family are fucking creepy okay. It’s the heteronormativity.

Dick is a terrible fucking liar, omg.

Rachel: You’re gonna leave me too, aren’t you? Dick: Dick: Dick: Dick: No.

Dick introduces Rachel to Dawn, Rachel gets a little sneak peak of their former sex life as a treat. Awkward.

Ahaaaa

“I’m outta the life,” Dick says, like he didn’t put the Robin suit back on like. A day ago. (another tell vs show)

I do love when people say Dick’s name like the insult.

(Unfortunately, it’s Hank being an insecure macho fuck over Dawn “Sure, I cheated on you with him before, but it’s not like I’d do it again how dare you not believe me” Granger. They’re so unhealthy, fuck. And the manufactured melodrama is so bleugh.)

The Family ambush and torture Amy, and she somehow tells them where Dick is despite him literally never telling her. Because plot.

Astute readers may have noticed I'm not a big fan of Hank but idk folks, I just think maybe it’s a little tasteless to make a “pants off” joke (TWICE) about a character that has long term trauma from repeated childhood sexual assault :/

Okay, fuck, Dick is already making me work for that body count list.

OKAY.

He castrates the torture guy, stabs another guy in the eye with a birdarang and drops a guy from the ceiling. I’m pretty sure they’d all live, if be permanently disabled. BUT. The last guy, he throat punches and then hits in the head so hard with his own gun that there’s a huge fucking blood splatter on the window, so I am counting that as a half-kill.

I’m OuT oF tHe LiFe - Dick Grayson (definitely not wearing the Robin suit again. Nope.)

Ah, more meledorama.

Rachel finds the money and Dick’s custody arrangement letter. She is not happy about it. She shows Hank, who isn’t ever happy about anything.

And then The Family show up to kidnap Rachel, so problem solved I guess?

[More Titans Rewatch here :D]

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Are edward and walter white similar?

Fascinating question, the answer is yes and no.

A Bit on Edward

Edward, I'd say, is a mix of several characters. He's Patrick Bateman, with a dash of GOB from Arrested Development, Buster from Arrested Developmen, and Walter White from Breaking Bad.

However, what I'd say is that Edward and Walt share similar tendencies and similar tragic flaws. However, they have them to different degrees and are ultimately influenced by different traits.

Pride

Edward and Walt are both very prideful people. Edward is a deeply insecure person and is driven, in part, by pride to come back and confront Bella Swan out of terror of being the one who fucks up. Edward feels deeply daunted by Rosalie's perfect record, by Carlisle's. He has this whole nonsense inheritance scheme so that he can contribute some funds to the family like Alice and Carlisle, never mind that this more than anything might get them caught down the line.

Edward is very driven by pride and vicious to those who cast doubt on it (i.e. Bella Swan in the beginning of their relationship where her very blood nearly caused him to lose his shit).

Walter's this but to eleven. Nearly every tragic decision Walter makes, every time he chooses to be worse, is driven by pride.

We learn as early as season 1, very early in before the meth goes anywhere close to taking off, that he had options. He could have gotten help from Hank and Marie, from his mother, and of course Gretchen and Elliott. There was no need to cook meth. But he did because he couldn't stand the thought of being thought of as not being able to provide for his family.

Which, of course, leads to problems when he has to launder the money and throws a fit in that it's being given to him as "donations" from strangers across the US through his son's website.

We also learn that even before the show, Walt could have had a very different life. He walked out on Elliott and Gretchen for what seems, in part, due to Gretchen's money and his chip on the shoulder regarding that and then his refusal to be a part of the company when they had broken up.

We don't know how he ended up a high school teacher with those degrees, but I imagine there was a very similar path of Walter just being too damn proud.

Perfectionism

One of Walt's tragic, defining, features is an inherent need for perfectionism. Everything Walt engages in, he has to be the best. They have to expand to more territory, he has to go straight to a distributor, he has to be a kingpin, he's always pushing even in truly dangerous scenarios where he has no idea what he's doing and this inevitibly leads to disaster.

This quality, I'd say, Edward doesn't have. Edward does tend to obsess on something and fixate. When he decides to stalk Bella he does so thoroughly by hiding in her house, seeing her through the eyes of unwitting friends, following her into town, etc. If he's going to stalk Bella, he's going to do it right.

We also see him come up with various schemes such as the scholarship fund that Bella sees through in two seconds. The stealing of Bella's photographs of him to make it so he never existed.

However, he's just not at the level of Walt.

Were it Walt in Edward's position, he'd demand the murder of the Volturi at the end of New Moon because he knows they might be coming and he can stand for nothing less. He'd infiltrate human gangs undercover in the 1920's so as to better gain a network to find out who exactly he should be picking off. Then murder those who he doesn't need to eat either.

Ego in Terms of Intellect

Both Edward and Walt think they're the smartest people in the room. In Walt's case, he actually is a bright guy, though not as much as he gives himself credit for.

Edward's dumb as bricks but still consistently believes he is by far the most intelligent and is shocked whenever Bella does something to prove that she may, in any way, be able to keep up.

(Edward was stunned out how good Bella was at high school Biology, which... Edward... Jesus...)

Edward doesn't show it too often, as there's no real Jesse around who is quite bright without all the education that Walter respects, but he has a similar way of treating everyone else around him.

They Both Run Their Mouths and Are Very Impulsive

Edward and Walt both have this bad habit of, when backed into a corner, trying to resolve this by yelling at the people who are more than likely going to kill them or are the only means of saving their lives.

Walter confronts Gus relentlessly upon realizing that Gus is going to kill him. He panics for an entire season, desperately trying to get in contact, while alternately losing his shit at everyone around him not limited to Jesse, Mike, Skylar, Hank, etc.

Edward thinks it's a grand idea, upon having broken the law, to yell at the Volturi in their throne room WHILE THEY ARE DEBATING WHETHER HE OR HIS GIRLFRIEND LIVE OR DIE.

Later, Edward breaks a TV in his frustration. Walt does shit like burn his cash, crash cars and make them explode, make other people's cars explode, break into his lawyer's office, etc.

They Want to Be Better People Than They Are

Walt has his moment in early season 3 where Jesse after rehab notes that he's finally accepted what he is, he's the bad guy. Walt has an existential crisis for several episodes where he tries to convince himself that he is not a criminal, that he's really a good guy, and that this life isn't his.

It doesn't last long, but he desperately wants to believe it, to believe that he's different and not like the rest.

Edward, too, wants to believe he's a good man. Edward's slightly more self-aware in that he knows what he is, that he's not a good man, but he very much wants to be one and it haunts him that he might not be.

Violence

One place where they do differ is that I'd say Edward is driven (and terrified by) an inherent desire for violence. He has frequent fantasies of smashing Mike's head in, he calmly plots the murder of an entire classroom of students so he can eat a girl, he plots luring this girl out into the woods to eat her, he very nearly murders the men who followed her in Port Angeles. This is something Edward is aware of and something he despises in himself and constantly fights against.

Walter isn't so much driven by violence but that his pride, his ego, his panicking inevitably leads him to having to commit violence. And as he dons the persona Heisenberg, he likes the idea of how it makes him look. Heisenberg is a kingpin, a man to be taken seriously, someone who "is the danger" in Walt's own words. Heisenberg is the man Walter wants to be. I never got the feeling that it was so much that, deep down, he had an innate need to strangle Crazy Eight and see the light go out of him.

Of course, in the AU where Edward decides to break bad, I could see him having a very similar ego trip on his way to becoming a kingpin.

[brw]

25 & 26 for John Walker?

25) What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

So, I didn't think about him. Like, at all. I occasionally made jokes at his expense, but prior to two weeks ago my main factoids about John Walker were "conservative" and "canonically likes frozen margaritas" because Simon saves him one at a party once. He existed exclusively in the peripheral as I read WCA/AWC for Wanda, Simon, Vision, Janet, Hank, and I never really paid him any attention, in part because I don't think his character was ever intended to take up much space in the first place. Like, I can't say I disliked him, I just didn't ever think about him.

Anyway, it was when I stumbled across the comic where he's praying to a scarecrow to give him a hallucination of his dead friends who he murdered and then collapses in a ball out of grief and guilt saying "I'm too unimaginative to hallucinate" that I decided I needed to get into this guy because it was an insane thing to read. And I don't regret my decision! He's a very interesting character where I am right now. Later comics I think make him a parody of himself, a parody of what weird ultra conservatives are in the liberal American headspace. And I can get why–it is funny–but John as he originally exists is just so interesting because he feels like a real person. I know people like John. I imagine most people do! He's the guy who says "Why can't we still be friends?" after saying he doesn't agree with your lifestyle. he's the guy who can't conceptualise bigotry and racism as anything other but the most overt, nazi-like actions, but you talk to him about it being systematic and you've lost him. He says he isn't anti-gay, he's just anti-woke. Like that's a man I know! And yes, making fun of that has it's own value, but there's a rawness I think to seeing that depicted so ruthlessly and openly, and seeing what a lonely, miserable, bitter person it makes him. When you make him over the top and ridiculous, you kind of lose his interiority and what his character is actually commentating on–the supposedly moderate conservative, the guy who says "When did it become bad to celebrate American values!", the guy who earnestly thinks he's different and better than the more overtly racist of his neighbours, but still invites them for a coffee every once in a while. He feels like such a real person despite how ridiculous he is, I really appreciate it.

26) What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

I read this comic last night and I'm still thinking about this sequence. John Walker. Can't walk. Stand first. Why does he think like that hfchjdvh vchkdvbj