#the doomed part is that they end up in League of Legends

[ducktoo]

Supersonic Rift

fromis_9’s Nagyung x M!Reader

Note: soo when I saw this request, i remembered there was also a Nagyung fic with a LoL Reader as well (which is here by @kdollikesthighs )

Dw, mine is based on that one youtube video where 4 members played league. Thanks for the request again anon 👍

(Gosh she’s so cute)

You were a seasoned pro in the League of Legends scene—cool under pressure, skilled in every role, and practically living in Summoner’s Rift. But today, your skill wasn’t being tested in a tournament, scrim, or even a casual ranked match.

Nope. Instead, you found yourself in a brightly lit studio, sitting in front of four very giggly members of fromis_9: Jisun, Chaeyoung, Saerom and Nagyung.

Then again, you’d been in a lot of unique situations since turning pro in League of Legends. Sponsorship deals, photo shoots, interviews—it came with the territory. Heck, you even coach newcomers with your prior experiences as a tutor.

Though, sitting in a gaming chair next to Nagyung while her bandmates giggled like kids in a candy store?

Yeah…this was new.

This was part of their comeback promotions for Supersonic, and apparently, someone (ahem, HYBE) thought it’d be a genius idea to make a YouTube video where you teach them how to play League of Legends. You didn’t know who signed you up for this, but you were already reevaluating all your life choices.

"Alright, Y/n-ssi, be honest," Saerom started, leaning on her chair with an easy smile. "How bad are we gonna be at this?"

You chuckled, spinning your chair around to face them. “It can’t be that bad. Have any of you played League before?”

Jisun raised her hand timidly. “Does ARAM count?”

“That’s not the real game!” Nagyung interjected, her tone already halfway to exasperation. “You can’t flex ARAM as experience.”

Chaeyoung nodded sagely. “It’s like saying you know how to cook because you microwaved ramen.”

Jisun pouted, crossing her arms. “At least I’m not completely clueless.”

You smirked. “Alright, Jisun-ssi has a little bit of experience. What about the rest of you?”

Saerom shrugged. “I know the champions are cute.”

Nagyung let out a loud sigh, already burying her face in her hands. “Oh my god, we’re doomed.”

Chaeyoung smiled sweetly at Nagyung. “I’ll follow your lead, unnie. Just tell me what to do.”

“Don’t die?” Nagyung replied dryly. Her face scrunched at Chaeyoung calling her unnie despite her age.

"Pff, at least Nagyung is seasoned enough." You commented. "She got the sass going."

The staff called for silence, signaling the start of the shoot. The intro was smooth—a cheerful announcer explaining the collaboration, showing clips of your pro matches, and transitioning to the girls settling into their chairs.

The producer called out, “Rolling in 3… 2… 1! Action!” The red recording light blinked on, and you shifted in your seat, throwing a casual smile at the camera.

“Hey, everyone! I’m here with fromis_9—”

“Super-super! Supersonic!” Saerom and Nagyung interjected, throwing up peace signs. “Let’s gooo!”

“—and today we’re teaching them how to play League of Legends. Key word: ‘teaching,’” you said with a grin. “We’ll see how this goes.”

Jisun leaned into her mic. “Spoiler alert: badly.”

Chaeyoung cackled. “Speak for yourself. I’m about to carry this team.”

“Chaeyoung, you’re literally standing still in spawn,” Nagyung deadpanned.

“Wait, how do I move?” Chaeyoung asked, clicking aimlessly. “Oh! I got it! WASD, right?”

You blinked. “Uh… you right-click to move.”

A beat of silence.

“Oh.”

“Yeah, we’re doomed,” Nagyung muttered, burying her face in her hands.

-

Surprised to say (or not), this game went very well.

The loading screen faded to reveal Summoner’s Rift, its iconic three-lane battlefield glowing under a stormy sky. The vibrant green jungle glistened, and the enemy Nexus loomed ominously at the far end of the map. As the countdown to minions ticking began, you adjusted your headset and glanced at the screens of the four idols next to you. This was going to be… interesting.

“All right,” you began, pointing at each of their monitors. “Jisun-ssi, you’re on top lane. Just stick near the tower and farm minions. Saerom-ssi, you’re mid. Same deal. Chaeyoung-ssi, jungle, but don’t… uh, don’t overthink it.”

“And me?” Nagyung asked, locking in as Jinx, the manic, rocket-wielding ADC. She leaned forward, gripping the mouse like it owed her money.

“You’re bot with me. Just follow what I'll say. I'll support you with my Thresh.”

Her smirk was sharp. “Carry me, pro player.”

-

The game kicked off with your champion, Thresh, and Nagyung’s Jinx heading down the bottom lane. You expertly wove between minions, last-hitting to gain gold while zoning the enemy duo—a scary-looking Lucian and a tanky Leona.

“Stay behind the minions,” you said, pinging the map. “Leona’s going to try to stun you if you get too close.”

“Got it.” Nagyung’s Jinx strafed left and right, tossing out attacks with her minigun. Her voice wavered slightly. “Wait, why does she keep walking at me? I didn’t even do anything!”

“She’s baiting you,” you said calmly, flinging Thresh’s hook to snag Lucian. The chains glowed green as you yanked him forward, stunning him. “Wreck him!”

Nagyung hesitated for a fraction of a second, then unleashed a flurry of rockets. Lucian’s health plummeted, forcing him to retreat under the safety of his turret. “I did it! I hit him!” she exclaimed, bouncing in her seat.

“Nice. Now, don’t get cocky,” you warned.

-

Meanwhile, Saerom’s Orianna was standing in the middle of the lane, her robotic sphere idly rolling in circles.

“Saerom unnie, move!” Nagyung yelled, glancing at her screen.

“I’m observing,” Saerom replied serenely, as the enemy Yasuo slashed through her health bar. “This is fascinating.”

“You’re feeding!” Nagyung groaned.

Saerom tilted her head. “What does that mean?”

You chimed in, trying to keep the frustration out of your voice. “It means you’re giving the enemy gold every time you die. Just stay back and use your ball to poke.”

“Poke?” Saerom echoed, frowning.

“Like this.” You flicked your mouse at her screen, gesturing to how she should aim Orianna’s sphere. She tried, sending the orb in the right direction, but it stopped short.

“Close enough,” you muttered.

-

Chaeyoung’s Evelynn prowled through the jungle, clicking furiously on the minimap.

“Where do I go now?” she asked, spinning the camera wildly.

“You’re supposed to gank,” you said, keeping your focus on bot lane.

“Gang?”

“Gank. Attack a lane to give your teammates an advantage.”

“Ohhh.” Chaeyoung hovered near mid-lane, waiting for Yasuo to push forward. “I got this. Watch me.”

Saerom had just respawned and returned to lane, cautiously poking at minions. Yasuo spotted Chaeyoung’s Evelynn and turned his attention to her.

“Help me, Saerom-unnie!” Chaeyoung cried, smashing her keyboard.

“Good luck,” Saerom replied, retreating to her tower.

Yasuo cut through Chaeyoung in three quick slashes.

“You didn’t help me!” Chaeyoung said, throwing her hands up.

“You didn’t ask nicely,” Saerom countered, her tone utterly calm.

-

The match spiralled into chaos as the timer hit 25 minutes. Both teams had lost their outer turrets, and the map became a war zone of ambushes and desperate team fights.

“We need to group!” you called, pinging the map near Baron Nashor. “Stick together, and don’t get caught alone.”

Jisun’s Teemo, however, was wandering aimlessly in the top jungle.

“Jisun, what are you doing?” Nagyung shouted.

“I’m placing mushrooms! You said to place mushrooms!”

“Not in the middle of nowhere!” Nagyung exclaimed.

The enemy team capitalized on the lack of coordination, ambushing your group near Baron. Leona’s ultimate landed a perfect stun on Nagyung, and she frantically clicked to escape.

“Help me! Help me!” she cried.

You flashed forward as Thresh, landing a Flay on the enemy ADC and peeling for her. “You’re safe. Focus Lucian.”

Nagyung’s Jinx unleashed her ultimate, Super Mega Death Rocket, landing a clean hit and finishing him off.

“Yes! Did you see that?!” she yelled, nearly jumping out of her chair.

“Carry harder,” you teased, shielding her from another attack.

-

The game ended with a hard-fought push into the enemy base. Nagyung’s Jinx secured a pentakill, her face glowing with pride as the words “VICTORY” flashed across the screen.

Jisun and Chaeyoung, however, were in shambles.

“Why didn’t anyone save me?” Jisun complained.

“You were 0-12, Jisun-unnie. There’s nothing to save,” Nagyung retorted.

Chaeyoung pouted. “I got MVP in spirit.”

“No, you didn’t,” Saerom said, still calm as ever. “But good effort.”

You leaned back in your chair, rubbing your temples. “So… how did you all feel about your first game?”

Nagyung grinned triumphantly. “I carried.”

“You were decent,” you said, smirking. “But don’t let it get to your head.”

“Oh, it’s already there,” she shot back. “Rematch next time?”

“Only if Jisun and Chaeyoung promise to read a guide first.”

-

The idea came about in true Nagyung fashion—bold and overconfident.

“Well….I think we can take you,” she declared, arms crossed, after the producer suggested wrapping up the shoot. Her bandmates froze mid-pack-up, turning to her like she’d just declared war on a dragon with a butter knife.

“You think we can beat them?” Jisun asked, pointing at you. “Have you seen how today went? We’re terrible.”

“You’re terrible,” Nagyung corrected. “I’m decent. And if we all gang up, we might have a chance.”

Chaeyoung, ever the chaos agent, perked up. “I’m in. Let’s take them down.”

Saerom tilted her head, considering. “It could be fun.”

You couldn’t resist grinning. “Alright, but I’ll make it fair. I’ll play Blitzcrank—no damage, just good old hooks and crowd control.”

Jisun narrowed her eyes. “Isn’t that the creepy robot with the grabby hand?”

“Yep,” you said cheerfully. "I like playing him for the grabby hand"

“I don’t like this,” she muttered, sinking lower into her chair.

The game loaded up, the arena illuminated by the eerie glow of the Rift. Blitzcrank’s hulking frame materialized at your spawn point, his glowing fist radiating ominously.

“Alright,” you said into the mic. “This is a 1v4. No excuses if you lose.”

“Talk less, grab less,” Nagyung shot back, locking in Caitlyn for her AD Carry pick. Beside her, Jisun picked Yuumi again (“She’s cute! Don’t judge me!”), Chaeyoung locked in Amumu, and Saerom, after much deliberation, went with Morgana.

“You’ve got a decent comp,” you admitted. “Let’s see if you can use it.” -

As the game timer hit 1:30, you maneuverer Blitzcrank toward mid-lane. His movements were slow but deliberate, the sound of clanking metal echoing with every step.

“Why’s he so creepy?” Jisun asked nervously.

“It’s intimidation,” Chaeyoung said confidently. “He’s scared of us.”

"Rude..!" You smirked, hiding in a bush near mid-lane. They were about to learn why hiding wasn’t the same as being safe.

Nagyung stepped forward, trying to poke you with Caitlyn’s long-range basic attacks. Her focus was split, though—she was too busy keeping Jisun tethered to her.

Perfect.

You pressed Q—Rocket Grab. A glowing hook shot out from Blitzcrank’s hand, snaking through the fog of war. It latched onto Nagyung, yanking her straight into your massive frame.

“What the—?!” she yelped.

Before she could react, you hit E—Power Fist. Blitzcrank’s fist glowed bright yellow as he knocked her into the air. A few auto-attacks later, her screen went grey.

“You died already?” Jisun wailed.

“He grabbed me out of nowhere!” Nagyung protested. “Where were you?”

“Attached to you!”

“Useless!” -

The chaos only grew. Blitzcrank thrived on unpredictability, and you used it to full effect. With every bush and dark corner, you waited patiently, like a predator.

Saerom cautiously approached the bot lane, farming minions with Morgana’s Q—Dark Binding. You stayed hidden, watching her pattern. She’d step up to the wave, then step back into the safety of the turret.

The moment she mis-stepped, you pounced.

A hook shot out, landing squarely on her.

“Noooo!” Saerom cried as you dragged her helplessly into the tower range. The turret’s lasers finished the job.

Nagyung groaned. “Why don’t you guys look at the map?!”

“I was looking at my character!” Saerom defended.

“Great,” Nagyung muttered. “Our jungler’s crying in the corner, our support’s attached to me like glue, and our mid-laner’s… farming daisies or something.”

“I’m trying! Stop yelling!” Jisun snapped. -

Despite their bickering, the girls started to improve—or at least coordinate better. Nagyung set traps with Caitlyn’s W—Yordle Snap Trap—while Chaeyoung dove into fights with Amumu’s Q—Bandage Toss.

You could feel the pressure. Even with Blitzcrank’s resilience, a 1v4 was tough. Every missed hook cost you time and cooldowns. Every misstep brought you closer to defeat.

“Guys, we can actually win this,” Nagyung said, her voice steely. “Stick together. Focus them down.”

“Yeah!” Chaeyoung echoed. “Let’s go, team!”

The final fight began at Baron Pit. You hid near the brush, ready to land a clutch grab.

They approached cautiously, sticking to the plan. Chaeyoung led the charge, tanking hits from Baron while the others poked from afar.

You waited for the perfect moment.

“Where is he?” Jisun whispered nervously.

“Probably hiding,” Saerom guessed.

“Just focus on Baron,” Nagyung commanded.

The moment they grouped too closely, you activated Blitzcrank’s R—Static Field. A shockwave of electricity stunned everyone in range.

“Gahhh!” Nagyung screamed.

“Not again!” Jisun cried.

You followed up with a hook, pulling Chaeyoung into your clutches. She dropped instantly, her health bar melting.

But they rallied.

Nagyung stepped up, pelting you with headshots. Saerom’s bindings locked you down, and Jisun’s healing kept them alive just long enough. Blitzcrank fell, the screen announcing: You Have Been Slain.

“YES!” Nagyung screamed, leaping out of her chair.

The others cheered, their laughter filling the room.

-

As the session wound down, Nagyung approached you, arms crossed but a smirk tugging at her lips.

“Next time,” she said, “we’re playing a game I’m good at.”

“Like what?” you asked.

“Anything but this,” she replied, laughing.

“Aww, fine” you said, extending your hand.

She shook it firmly, her eyes sparkling with determination. “And next time, I’m taking you down for real.”

“Looking forward to it,” you replied, grinning.

As the cameras packed up and the girls chatted excitedly about the shoot, you couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction. Maybe coaching rookies wasn’t so bad after all—maybe after a few breaks before each match.

Yep, even if Nagyung did threaten to uninstall the game halfway through.

[clonerightsagenda]

Kat's "I could fix her" Arcane season 2 post Part 1:

Yeah we're skipping straight past the recap/reflections on what this show actually was into my 'just let me into the writers room' post because I'm currently tormented by, ironically, what could have been

What's funny is the characters didn't even end up doomed by the narrative because of their League of Legends fates!! They killed a whole bunch of champions! They just Did All That anyway.

As I was saying in previous posts, the season was overstuffed. I genuinely liked some of the music video portions lol, but there was just so much going on.

I still would put Mel in a Magic Coma for the entire season and spin out her Black Rose plot for a third season or new spinoff (it seems like there will be one anyway). Her storyline as is felt like an afterthought and wasn't fully explained. Am I supposed to know the Black Rose lady? I don't. Being crammed in does her a disservice; I'd rather give her room to breathe. This would create a stronger absent mother/absent daughter bond between Ambessa and Caitlyn, and Caitlyn could see Ambessa claiming to do things for her daughter's sake even though it's obviously stuff Mel would never approve of, and that could force Caitlyn to reflect on how her mother wouldn't approve of the actions she's taking allegedly for her sake. That could sell Caitlyn's immediately re-siding with Vi better.

This may be a very hot take, but I didn't really like the werewolf Vander plotline. My understanding is he's a LoL champion, but he felt particularly cartoonish even in an increasingly cartoonish season, and just kept retreading the same ground. Vander's dead. :( He's alive! :) He's dead again. :( Obviously the cycles are part of the point, and he represents how Vander's death is this monstrous always dying never at rest force between the sisters tying them together and strangling them at the same time, but I'd cut it. Have Vi seek Jinx out after the prison break because she can't believe her sister did that, have Jinx admit she only did it to save one girl, and they reflect on how Vander also did stuff just for kids versus ideals. Make Vi reflect on how her little jaunt with Jayce killed a kid, and here Jinx is saving one, and people are complicated. Still not clear on how Jinx has no negative effects from Shimmer, so give her a few and that can be their new reason for going to Viktor's commune. Ambessa can hear about his new weird magitech without needing a werewolf to pique her interest.

Obviously this raises of the question of what Vi and Jinx are doing in the finale, and while I don't think every character needs a big damn fight scene, they can back up Caitlyn versus Ambessa since Mel won't be there, which also forces them to deal with the Vi-Caitlyn-Jinx tension. IDK if there's a way to have Jinx ambiguously blow herself up in that scenario but here's a thought, maybe the most prominently disabled characters don't all need to die and/or commit suicide? More on that later. Ambessa is subdued, not dead, though, so she and Mel can talk later.

Finally (for this post) I already expressed my frustration that the key class conflict so present in the first season and first half of the second gets mostly shoved under the rug because there's a new enemy to fight. Yes, that's often used as a distraction irl, but that's not a *good* thing. Sevika's sitting at the councilor's table at the end of the show. Who negotiated that? Caitlyn? If we absolutely must go the direction of a big damn final battle, I want to see that conversation and all of the pain and distrust that must've come up during it.

That's the kid gloves version. If I was being aggressive - and I would be - I'd have the fighting totally destroy Piltover with arcane corruption, and now everyone from Piltover has to live in the Undercity/Zaun as refugees. Forget Sevika sitting down at the Piltover table as the new councilors glare at her. Now the Piltover councilors are having to sit awkwardly down at a table with Sevika and Ekko's number 2. (Or Ekko. What is he doing besides sitting sadly on that roof. Is he involved in governance. Is his tree ok.) Piltover suffocated Zaun for years with their industrial runoff. Now they're choking to death on their own magical industrial waste, and they're going to have to learn to live like everybody else.

I am still parsing the whole Viktor, Jayce, and disability thing since as you know that's one of the elements that fascinates me most about this show (the new improved crunchy ableism even as they genuinely try to explore something interesting) so I will be typing a separate post about that, probably thinking through it as I write. Stay tuned.

[he-thaang]

Care to share your thoughts on how Arcane ended? I'm dying to talk about it with someone!

(Also, I sincerely apologize that this is the first ask I've sent you)

Hey Bay! Thanks so much for the ask! I love hearing from you :)

I have so many thoughts about the Arcane ending. Let's go episode by episode, because there's just so much to unpack.

Episode 7 is my favorite episode in the entire series, I think. I have no notes. Ekko has been my favorite character since season 1, and I was thrilled to see the show finally give him the focus he deserves. Painting the mural of Vi, bonding with Heimerdinger, the doomed romance with the alternate version of Powder that allowed him to understand Jinx better--my god. So good. The scene where Ekko and Powder were dancing was definitely one of my favorite scenes ever.

And poor Jayce--my dude spent the whole episode in the trenches. But I thought the writers did a really great job with him this episode. His leg injury mirroring Viktor's, realizing that maybe he overstepped a bit too far with Hextech, all that fun stuff. The funniest part of the episode, though, was when Heimerdinger and Ekko were all prepped to go home, and then at the last possible second, Heimer LEAPS out of the wild rune and is like "Be back in a jiffy, my boy :)" and then gets himself blown up. He couldn't have done all that stuff before the process started? Poor guy. He exploded twice in the span of 40 minutes :(

All in all, loved the episode. I'm home from college, so as soon as I finished watching it, I SPRINTED up to my little sister (who also watches the show) and started gushing about how well-written it was.

Episode 8 is where things went a little off the rails, IMO. I was so glad to see Mel again, and was very excited to see where they went with her plot line. (My League of Legends knowledge is limited strictly to Arcane, so I'm probably missing out on a lot of lore here, which is why I Did Not Understand What Was Going On.) Act II had this whole big reveal where Ambessa had a third kid, and I got the impression that that kid was the person who kidnapped Mel? But we never got into that, or why Mel was so attuned with the Arcane. That really disappointed me. I LOVED her new look, though.

Jayce and Viktor interacted again after the attempted murder, and something LGBT happened between them. It appeared that their whole conflict now revolved around the idea of perfection, which Viktor claimed he could create with the help of the Arcane. And Jayce is all like, "My partner (no homo), you're making a bunch of mindless soldiers with no personality and stuff." And then they fight. Jayce was very unfair to Mel this episode, so I'm glad they had a heart-to-heart later.

Now onto the issue of Jinx, Vi, and Caitlyn. Jinx was done so dirty this act omg. Also, there was literally no mention of Isha??? What happened there? She was completely blown up, but Vander/Warwick walked away totally fine? The only real indication that she ever existed was Jinx's grief, but even that seemed sidelined in favor of Vi and Cait. That sex scene was WILD, guys. I would have liked to have a scene where Cait apologizes to Vi for the way she acted, and how she got so caught up in the idea of avenging her mother that she forgot to view the members of the Undercity as people. BUT WHATEVER. The sex scene will do. If Mel and Jayce get to have one, Cait and Vi do too. Hashtag love wins.

On to Episode 9. What a time to be alive. The fight scenes were superbly animated, as always, but I felt there was something lacking. The central conflict wasn't really well explained (but I was also watching this at 1 am, so my brain was probably fried). I liked the scene where Caitlyn and Mel team up, but Ambessa's death was a bit wonky to me. There was a lot of stuff about foxes and wolves that did't really leave an impact on me.

Ekko kicked ass, as always. My dude knew what he was doing. Viktor and Jayce were being gay in the Hex Vault. I did really enjoy the scene where the mage that saved Jayce's mother's life was revealed to be Viktor. I'm a sucker for those kinds of plot twists. And Viktor's monologue about Jayce being the only person in every timeline who helps him realize that total perfection was meaningless had me kicking my feet and giggling. I desperately want to know where they ended up after destroying the wild rune.

Vi and Jinx--this was where I was most disappointed. The show is supposed to revolve around their relationship, but they were sidelined so hard in favor of other things. And I was so mad about Jinx's "death". Just when it seems that things are turning around for a former villian-turned ally character, (cough Shane cough), they end up getting themselves killed for no reason. Vi could have so easily moved off that ledge. Jinx's death (or not death, it wasn't really clear) felt very last minute. Their whole relationship this season has been about the two of them accepting that they both have changed, but that doesn't mean they can't love each other in a new way. Jinx's death felt like an easy way to avoid all these lingering feelings. And Vander was just in his beast form the whole time, with no indication that his mind was still there.

Overall, I still think Arcane is a spectacular show, but Arc III felt a bit rushed and stilted. It was a wild ride, but it left me a bit unsatisfied. I'll still miss the show and the characters a lot.

Thanks for sending this in again, Bay! Feel free to pop into my ask box any time :) I loved writing this, and would love to hear your thoughts as well. Hopefully my ramblings are understandable. Have a great day!

[warrioreowynofrohan]

Getting back to Marmion! Some bits of context for the last few days’ posts.

A palmer was sort of a continual pilgrim, who spent a period of time travelling to holy sights and praying. The greatest holy sight of all was Jerusalem, where the palmer in the poem has in fact been, along with a huge list of other holy sights, from Mt. Ararat where Noah’s Arc reputedly came to rest after the Flood, to Mt. Sinai, to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and in England Durham and Canterbury among others.

I think (I am not sure) palmer paid for their travels in part by donations from pious people, who might want the palmer to pray for them at some shrine. Marmion himself expresses a more lighthearted picture of palmers in general -

I love such holy ramblers; still

They know to charm a weary hill,

With song, romance, or lay:

Some jovial tale, or glee, or jest,

Some lying legend, at the least,

They bring to cheer the way.”

- and that may not be unrealistic for a category of people that could have included the medieval equivalent of a tourist with a GoFundMe. But this palmer is not of that kind - he’s haggard and gloomy, and kind of disturbing with his nighttime mutterings. But Marmion chooses to accept him as a guide all the same, and the next morning the whole group departs.

The first canto (The Castle) ended, we switch scenes and characters for the second (The Convent), to a boat travelling north, up the eastern coast of England, from Whitby to the island of Lindisfarne (also called St. Cuthbert’s Isle) with a group of nuns aboard. Now, where has Lindisfarne been mentioned in the previous canto? In the bit about Marmion’s former page:

That boy thou thought’st so goodly fair,

He might not brook the Northern air.

More of his fate if thou wouldst learn,

I left him sick in Lindisfarne:

The voyage is both a little scary and exciting for the nuns, who don’t get out much. Many of the castles the pass, like Warkworth and Dunstanburgh and Bamburgh, are ones you can still see on the Northumberland coast today.

But two of the group in particular are not having fun: the abbess (chief nun), who is not named, and the novice (i.e., has not yet taken vows and become a nun) Clare. Clare joined the convent recently after the loss of the man she loved, and in order to escape an unwelcome suitor who is trying to marry her in order to get at her property.

She was betrothed to one now dead,

Or worse, who had dishonoured fled.

Her kinsmen bade her give her hand

To one who loved her for her land;

Herself, almost heart-broken now,

Was bent to take the vestal vow,

And shroud, within Saint Hilda’s gloom,

Her blasted hopes and withered bloom.

On top of these griefs, there’s been an attempt to murder her, and the people who attempted it are now prisoners in Lindisfarne awaiting trial:

And jealousy, by dark intrigue,

With sordid avarice in league,

Had practised with their bowl and knife

Against the mourner’s harmless life.

This crime was charged ’gainst those who lay

Prisoned in Cuthbert’s islet grey.

Moving back a bit to yesterday’s entry, this is why the abbess of Whitby is going on this journey: to sit in judgement on these attempted murderers.

Sad was this voyage to the dame;

Summoned to Lindisfarne, she came,

There, with Saint Cuthbert’s Abbot old,

And Tynemouth’s Prioress, to hold

A chapter of Saint Benedict,

For inquisition stern and strict,

On two apostates from the faith,

And, if need were, to doom to death.

Lindisfarne is a tidal island: at low tide it is a peninsula that can be reached from the mainland across mudflats, but at high tide it is an island.

The tide did now its floodmark gain,

And girdled in the saint’s domain:

For, with the flow and ebb, its style

Varies from continent to isle;

As the ship reaches Lindisfarne, the nuns of Whitby on the ship sing a hymn, and the nons and monks of Lindisfarne sing one in return.

[comicreadingorder]

Suicide Squad by John Ostrander (and Kim Yale) Reading Order

This is the run that influenced both movies to the point where James Gunn has given it multiple shoutouts.

It created Amanda Waller, distinguished the team, and gave many characters new characteristics, like Deadshot’s death wish and Captain Boomerang’s backstory. Because of the constantly rotating lineup Ostrander was able to bring characters out of limbo like Shade (who spun out into a miniseries that was so popular it became a 70 issue run), Vixen, Bronze Tiger, and Nightshade and make them significant. As well as turning Barbara Gordon into Oracle. Something I never see mentioned is that a couple dozen issues into the run Kim Yale —a DC editor and eventually wife of Ostrander— started being credited as co-writer through to the end. Bold=Main Story Italics=Optional

Legends 1-6 — Event miniseries by Ostrander that brings the team together. You can just skim the SS parts, which is any scene with Boomerang, Waller, or Flag.

Secret Origins 14

Suicide Squad 1-10

Doom Patrol/SS Special — Takes place around the same time as 11 and 12 but 12 spoils the end.

SS 11-12

Justice League International 13, SS 13 — Crossover

SO 28 — Backstory of Nightshade. Not by Ostrander but she has a detailed origin that shouldn't be skipped.

SS 14-18

Deadshot 1 — 4 issue miniseries by Ostrander. The character doesn't show up in SS again until 22 but this issue has a break between stuff and is mentioned in 19, whereas 2-4 are one story.

SS 19

Manhunter 6, SS Annual 1 — Manhunter sets things up but the Annual feels so different that it doesn't come off like the same story.

SS 20

Deadshot 2-4

SS 21-26

The Janus Directive: Checkmate 15, SS 27, CM 16, SS 28, CM 17, Manhunter 14, Firestorm 86, SS 29, CM 18, SS 30, Captain Atom 30 — long crossover, involving some other titles by Ostrander.

SS 31-66

SS (V3) 1-8 — Returned years later for an 8 issue miniseries that spins out of Rucka’s Checkmate. It works fine without reading Checkmate (which I still haven’t.)

SS 67 — The title comes back years later as part of Blackest Night but it's really more of a Secret Six tie-in and should be read with that instead.

See Also:

Firestorm — Beginning with 55 Ostrander takes over. This was written around the same time as SS and even crosses over during the Janus Directive.

Spectre 1-22, 0, 23-33, Annual 1, 34-62 — Beginning shortly after SS ends, Ostrander begins by far the longest run anyone has had with the right hand of God. Partnered with his frequent penciler Tom Mandrake.

Martian Manhunter 0, 1 Million, 1-36 — After Spectre ends he and Mandrake tell the definitive (and again, longest) run of the character. I would recommend it to anyone curious about MM.

Secret Six — Gail Simone was a big fan of Ostrander’s Suicide Squad and this is basically her version of it, even co-writing an arc with him. It goes through a couple volumes and short return during New 52.

Villains United 1-6, VU Infinite Crisis Special, Secret 6 1-6, Birds of Prey 104-108, S6 1-16, Suicide Squad 67, S6 17-30, Doom Patrol 19, S6 31-36, DC Sneak Peek: S6, S6 1-14

[crosbyism]

Next Generation’s Best | Three

An essay on generational talents, gender, and the NHL in six parts.

<Previous | Masterpost | Next>

Part Three: Before And After

Let’s talk about The Next One.

Most things are defined by a before and after, aren’t they? I’ve been talking a lot about the before, but the whole point of the concept of The Next One is about looking for the after.

No, I don’t mean that Next One, or the other one. And not Sidney Crosby either. I’m talking about the first Next One. You didn’t think hockey media took over twenty years to come up with that moniker just for Sid, do you?

In 1991, the very first Next One was Eric Lindros. Looking at the cold stats now, you might wonder about how comparatively low he is on the all-time points list to the other names I’ve mentioned, but the second you see his points per game, you’ll understand. He really lived up to the moniker. 

They called his line the Legion of Doom, and everyone was afraid of playing against Lindros. Big and broad and tough; a lean mean points machine. He was what they called a “power forward” at the time, which mostly translates to: the masculine hockey ideal. Good to take and throw punches, but a big and skilled guy that’ll light the buzzer.

Lindros is also a good guy by all accounts. Principled. Those principles were the root of the problem, I imagine, when he refused to play for the team that drafted him. He still won’t say exactly what his problem with the then-Nordiques owner was, but I trust that it wasn’t frivolous, the way everyone seemed to think it was. You don’t stir up that much of a media storm, warn the team in advance, refuse all the money in the world, and sit out your rookie season if you just hate Quebec City.

The then-Nordiques owner Marcel Aubut, for what it’s worth, seems to have turned out to be a real unsavvy character. He had to step down from being the president of the Canadian olympic committee in 2015 due to multiple sexual harassment accusations.

It was an outrage at the time, of course. Lindros ended up getting traded to the Flyers for a king’s ransom, but he was branded a diva instantly, and couldn’t shake the label for the rest of his career, even when his own front office almost killed him.

I mean that quite literally.

1999

In the early hours before dawn on April Second 1999, Keith Jones wakes up. Something’s wrong: the other bed in the hotel room is empty. His teammate is supposed to be resting after the rib injury he got last night against Nashville.

Jones creeps out of bed and into the bathroom. The best player in the league is lying in the tub. He got into the tub to warm up, but despite the warm water he’s cold and pale, pulse racing, gasping for air.

Jones goes on red alert immediately. He drags their trainer out of bed who calls their GM, Bobby Clarke.

Bobby Clarke got the silver spoon shoved down his gullet, and that’s saying something for a league that boasts as much rampant in-house nepotism as the NHL. He was one of the original Broad Street Bullies, a living Flyers legend and Hall of Famer who led them to their Stanley Cups in the ‘70s, only briefly giving up captaincy for a few seasons in order to be a playing assistant coach— yeah, you read that right, they couldn’t even wait for him to stop playing to make him a member of the front office. After he stopped playing, he was handed the GM job on a silver platter. He was pretty much the personification of an Old Boys’ Club, and Clarke’s generational shadow loomed almost as large over Eric Lindros’ tenure on the Flyers as his ego.

By the time that night in April rolled around, Lindros was still suffering from concussion syndrome after suffering two concussions in quick succession. The NHL of the time was bad at handling those anyway, but the Flyers’ medical staff seemed especially lacking, and there was enormous pressure for Lindros to play through it. Clarke had started openly belittling Lindros for sitting out the few games he did sit out to anyone who would listen, publicly calling him almost everything under the sun: a momma’s boy, a drama queen, a diva— but most of all weak and not tough enough. Frankly, he stopped just short of calling Lindros a limp-wristed pansy into a live microphone. I suppose he wasn’t called a Broad Street Bully for nothing.

Keith Jones sits next to the bathtub while the trainer talks to Clarke on the phone. The trainer then talks to their team’s orthopedic specialist. When he returns, he says that they’re going to fly Lindros back to Philly together with another injured teammate and see what the problem is there.

Jones looks at Lindros’ pale, gasping face in the tub. He knows that ever since Eric’s concussions started piling up, the team doctors have been a little too quick to wave him off. He makes a decision that will save Lindros’ life.

It takes almost three hours of arguing with the trainer for them to finally get Lindros to the hospital, but when they get there, the doctors immediately wheel Lindros into surgery. He’s lost three liters of blood by then; that’s half the blood in his body. He was already in hypovolemic shock when Jones found him in the bathtub.

It turns out that what the Flyers’ trainer waved off as a bruised rib is actually a punctured lung. If they’d put him on that flight, he would’ve been dead before reaching the cruising altitude.

—

Before and after are the starting point for defining most things in life. I don’t know what it’s like to define “before I almost died” and “after I almost died” in the same way Eric Lindros probably does. I can, however, say that Eric Lindros defines the exact point between before and after in the modern NHL. In many ways, he’s at the heart of all of this; the centerpiece of NHL history before and after which everything is different. With hindsight, almost everything about him carries a touch of fate and magic to it, the way things in hockey do sometimes.

The first Next One. The first star to wear 88. A Flyers legend. The reason the Avs won their Cups in 1996 and 2001. The first turning point in concussion handling. The trade that changed all future trades. I could probably save myself the effort of writing most of this post and just talk about Lindros instead, but that would probably defeat the point. You’ll see what I mean.

You’ll be unsurprised to hear that after that night in April, Lindros and Clarke’s relationship deteriorated even further. After humiliatingly stripping Lindros of the captaincy, denying him a trade to the destination he wanted, and benching him for the 2000-2001 season, Bobby Clarke finally traded Eric Lindros. Lindros had four barely-treated concussions by then, and he never returned to full form or won a Cup, bouncing around a couple of teams before retiring in 2007.

<Previous | Masterpost | Next>

[antihibikase-archive]

the hero’s journey.

In the hero's story, both the princes of truth and ideals are accompanied by a party of three.

A warrior, for  boundless strength.

A scholar, for adaptive knowledge.

And a heart, for unwavering emotion.

That’s how the story always has been.

And that’s how the story should always be.

...

Two years ago, N laid eyes on Hilbert at Chargestone Cave, accompanied by his two childhood friends and a newcomer. 

As soon as he saw their initial party of three was now a party of four, he was confident that Hilbert, was, in fact, destined to battle against him, his ideals, and his friend Zekrom at the end of his journey.

The hero’s journey.

In the hero's story, both the princes of truth and ideals are accompanied by a party of three.

How fitting. Their parties were complete now.

All that was left was to let time take its course, until both Zekrom and Reshiram chose their respective heroes.

Hilbert was a hero himself, opposite of his own tale, accompanied by his fateful companions, all who will fall to the mighty dragon of ideals.

Clearly, the heart was poor little Bianca Alabaster, who was seeing the truth that not everyone could become stronger.

Clearly, the scholar was the newcomer Hilda Weiss, denied of the throne of champion, but blessed with knowledge and experience.

Clearly, the warrior was Cheren Slater, who fell behind Hilbert's strength and compassion in every way, who grew up in his shadow.

Wrong.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.

Just like everything N had learned so far in his journey, he was completely and utterly mistaken.

N finds himself unable to meet Bianca's gaze when she asks him if he had thought the same as her back then. 

If he had mistaken her kindness for weakness. 

If he had mistaken Hilda’s experience for knowledge.

If he had mistaken Cheren’s stoicism for strength.

He finds himself unable to answer.

Because it’s true, isn’t it?

The prying eyes of the league were nothing compared to her heartbroken voice.

Though they may accept him with their hearts, he knows not all would forgive him, especially for the part he had played in forcing Hilbert’s hand in accepting the sword. 

In accepting the crown.

In becoming a hero.

Being pure and innocent did not absolve him of his compliance in his father’s crimes, nor did it excuse his escape at the end of it all.

Perhaps Zekrom leaving his side in favor of a new hero was for the best.

Both his truth and idealism were wavering after all.

...

Bianca is able to pinpoint why Cheren starts closing his heart again.

Why he feels this way.

Of course she does. She seeks the truth, and she finds her answers.

It is befitting of a scholar, no?

It’s never easy to swallow, the reality of the role she was bestowed upon by the gods themselves. The road she was carefully curated to take.

It seems ironic to her that Cheren, who had come across as the cool, calm, and collected one in their group, had been assigned the role of the heart in the hero's story.

Twice, in fact.

Bianca knows how it must hurt.

To be stripped of one's agency.

To be seen as weak.

To be doomed by the narrative.

Twice.

Bianca brings the bitter truth to everyone's attention, supplying her hypothesis with evidence she had gathered over the years; pictures of the murals she's seen all over Dragonspiral Tower, accurately translated text from ancient scripts, and verbal confirmation from the cooperative sages and N's sisters themselves, who were well-versed in the story of the legendary heroes.

All Hilbert and N can do is lower their heads in guilt, while Nate, newly crowned champion (but still a child) tries his best to look for a way to help Cheren, nevermind all this talk about heroes and legends and destiny.

There were three heroes in this room, weren't there, Nate asks. 

What use is that title if they're unable to save one person? 

Much less from some bogus story from years back?

It’s not bogus, silly child. There are facts. There is proof. The truth is laid for all to see.

But a little white lie passes through her lips, and she masks it all with a smile and a sense of false hope.

...

Hilda does not believe in legends, even if they rip through the fabric of space and time just to show themselves to her.

She does not believe in them in the sense that she does not think they are worthy of her trust.

How could they, when they were complacent in Team Plasma's sins?

If they had really cared about humanity, wouldn’t they have taken better care of their withering garden?

She doesn’t get it. 

Not at all.

Not even when she sees the dragons with her own two eyes.

Not even when the swords of justice appear before mere children.

Not even when the spirit of victory itself chases after her.

She knows she has no place at the table of the league. She was rightfully denied her title as champion, as her strength had not been lacking, but her heart and resolve were weak.

Yet, she finds herself in the spotlight once more, clasping Bianca’s and Hilbert’s hands with her own as she listens to the tale she dreads to hear, in an effort to make everyone understand.

Understand why the heart was wavering.

In the hero's story, both the princes of truth and ideals are accompanied by a party of three.

It was only right for the warrior to remain in the shadow of the hero, as so the ancient texts say.

She feels their hands squeeze her’s for reassurance.

She hates it.

Not them. Never them. Her precious, precious friends.

She hates how everything turns out. How everything played out.

How the gods themselves jeer at them.

How they toy with them.

How their journey was executed like it was a bad adaptation of a decades-old play in Nimbasa City.

She’s sick of it.

These dragons, these mythical creatures, these legends don’t deserve the praise and worship they get.

Not even if they save the world.

...

Cheren tries.

He knows he’s spiraling out of control.

He tries to find proof of his existence as something meaningful.

He knows that Reshiram and Zekrom don't see him as lesser of a human being even if he feels like he was a sacrifice just to wake them.

He wants to prove his fears wrong.

And he does.

For a brief moment in time.

He sees the small Pokemon in his home, thriving and enjoying their lives to the fullest because Cheren raised them, provided for them and cherished them.

He sees lovely flowers on his desk- Gracideas, even, from Nate and the rest of the students, who are all wishing him the best of health.  

He sees the thank you card that comes along with it, from Nate and the rest of the children, with little doodles of Stoutland, Watchog, and Cinccino.

It works for a little bit.

But then he spirals.

Its a cycle.

He feels better about himself but then he falls apart.

Constantly.

There's only enough flowers he can receive before it starts to feel like he's being a bother.

Like he's being patronized.

Like they're sending him off to a funeral.

He knows he’s losing himself.

But he can’t. He just can’t.

He can’t let them take him.

He can’t let fate do this to him.

Not again, not again, not again.

In an attempt to regain control of his life, Cheren runs to the only place that he knows will cut the strings and set him free.

At the top of the lookout, the breeze feels vaguely reminiscent of his home.

...

Hilbert is a hero, whether he likes it or not.

He’s not incredibly smart like Bianca, or amazingly strong like Hilda.

He knows that. 

He’s fine with that.

He accepts that. 

But what he doesn’t accept is the truth of the heart.

In murals and ancient texts, the hero is depicted with a silver crown embedded with stones of black and white, a velvet cape draped over their shoulders and a sword in hand.

The scholar is depicted in heavenly robes imbued with long-forgotten magic, carrying a tome of blessings and curses.

The warrior is depicted in heavy, impenetrable armor, an army of weapons at their disposal as they ride their mighty steed.

But the heart has no direct depiction.

That’s what Bianca said.

In some versions of the story, the heart is not even included at all.

A strange role to play, he thinks.

But an awful, awful one at that.

He supposes he knows the reason why the heart is an ugly thing to touch upon, especially once he understands the very purpose of the heart in the hero’s journey.

No one likes hearing about how their heroes are imperfect.

The same must have been the case for the old Unovan folk, who saw human sacrifices as a necessary evil if it was to appease the legendary dragons.

It was sick.

It made him sick. 

But moreover, it made him anxious.

He did not share the idealism that Nate had. 

Even if they claimed he was an integral aspect to the meeting, Hilbert boarded Reshiram’s back and made his way to Aspertia as soon as the terrifying realization had set in.

The heart was of unwavering emotion.

But not Cheren.

Not his best friend. 

Not the person who had grown up by his side. 

Not the person who had cried in secret at his own frustrations for being weak.

Not the person who had temporarily lost his self at the hands of the enemy.

Not the person who was used as a sacrifice. 

Twice.

And his best friend, his poor best friend who had suffered so much to catch up to his steps, to support him through thick and thin.

His poor best friend who he had abandoned to wait for him.

His poor best friend who had now seen the truth his purpose in Hilbert’s journey.

Apologies were long overdue, but it wasn’t enough. It would never be enough.

But if Hilbert was a hero like the world had claimed, then he would do what Nate had asked of the league, and save the heart from meeting a grim demise.

...

In the hero's story, both the princes of truth and ideals are accompanied by a party of three.

A warrior, for  boundless strength.

A scholar, for adaptive knowledge.

And a heart, for unwavering emotion.

That’s how the story always has been.

But Hilbert would be damned it he let it stay this way.

[fire-of-the-sun]

Viktor Season 2 Theories: Motivations for Transformation

So, I've been thinking about what needs to happen to make Viktor finish his transformation next season when he no longer has the desire to... which is completely in-line with his character. For a person whose main goal in life is to help others, accidentally killing someone (especially one of the few people in the world who genuinely cared about and looked up to him) would be absolutely devastating - the exact opposite of everything he’s trying to achieve. He went too far and, in realizing this, rightfully decides that the Hexcore needs to be destroyed even if it means dooming himself. He’s never been a cautious man when it came to his work or the risks to his own person, but he won’t extend the same recklessness to others. It’s not worth making progress if people are harmed in the process, as Heimerdinger once said. 

After the missile though (I’ll discuss how I think he’ll survive it in another post), war between Zaun and Piltover is inevitable. As a person who has a foot in both worlds and who has only ever genuinely wanted to help everyone no matter where they come from, this could result in a huge internal struggle for him. However, if all chances for peace fall through and it came down to a choice, I think he'd definitely choose Zaun over Piltover. Things could be made even worse if Piltover decides to go forward with making hextech weapons, perhaps even using the Hexcore to do so. Viktor can’t let that happen and may steal it to keep it from being weaponized, knowing better than anyone the dangers of it.

This situation could be what brings Viktor to decide his fate once and for all. Before the missile, he perhaps thought he could at least die content knowing that peace with Zaun was possible and that Jayce would maintain that and continue their hextech dream without him. If the deal changes and if Jayce changes his mind too, Viktor may feel he has no choice but to turn against his friend and Piltover as a whole to do what he thinks is right.

Viktor may determine that the only way he can help people is by keeping himself alive to protect Zaun and perhaps stop the war. This imbues him with new purpose. He’ll always be devastated by accidentally killing Sky and never forgive himself for it, but he may also come to believe that ‘quitting’ and dying when his people are in danger is basically giving up on them and forfeiting a chance to make real change like he’s always wanted. What Viktor uncovers from Sky's notes could also inspire him to continue as well if he believes it's what she wanted. That by pursuing the gift she gave him, he is also honoring her memory.

It may be misguided and partially influenced by the corrupt Hexcore itself (it’s shown to have some control over him and could very well slowly begin to change him into someone unrecognizable), but it still ultimately aligns with his character goal and that's the only way at this point that I can see it happening. 

As Sky says: “Everyone’s gotta play their part [in making the world a better place], right?” This is his part to play. His way of truly helping others, honoring her memory and living up to her belief in him. Even if he is killed in the process, at least he’ll believe he went out trying to make a difference once and for all and securing his legacy by becoming a solider for Zaun... which, in turn, will put him at odds with Jayce, the hero of Piltover and solidify his transformation into the Machine Herald.

I want to point out though that I think all of this will take some time. I don't even know if we'd see a fully-fledged Machine Herald by the end of season 2 honestly, it could easily take longer and I'm okay with that. I'd be very surprised and even disappointed if Viktor starts changing too soon. I doubt that'll happen though because the writing on this show has been excellent so far and I think they've done a great job with his character and will continue to do so. Also, I'm not familiar with League of Legends so the specifics of his actual lore didn't influence much of this post, my thoughts are based mostly on what information and foreshadowing the show alone provides. 

To read more of my thoughts and analysis of Viktor and Arcane, search the tag #arcanemeta on my blog!

[judedeluca]

Jude’s 32nd Birthday Wishlist

Yeah, I’m posting this now. Because if I’m getting the holiday prompt list up for everyone else I might as well.

This year has been a fucking nightmare. You’ve all seen my posts about what’s been happening in my life. With my mom, and the house, and the mortgage and everything. It’s just been blegh. So I might as well.

That’s why when I put this together I made it entirely villains and antagonists.

07th Expansion: Featherine Augustus Aurora

The majestic Witch of Spectating and Theatergoing, who is said to have died and come back to life to surpass the realm of witches. She’s considered to be a total monster by the likes of Bernkastel, and has the power to simply pull out reality’s script and change it at her whim if she feels like it.

Avengers: June Covington (Scarlet Witch/Toxie Doxie)

A scientist with an affinity for poisons and body augmentation, she has no regard for human life and enjoys experimenting on herself. She served as Norman Osborn’s Scarlet Witch in his second version of the Dark Avengers.

Batman: Nocturna

Natalia Knight, a morally complicated jewel thief who fell in love with Batman, and later became the foster mother of Jason Todd. Her relationship to Bruce and Jason was erased thanks to Crisis on Infinite Earths. Unfortunately, later characters using the Nocturna name have been written as sexual predators, though they are NOT Natalia Knight.

Captain America: Superia/Broad-Stripe

Diedre Wentworth is a noted misandrist who has tried to take over America using an organization of all female supervillains called the Femizons. She at one point altered time by inserting herself into the early days of the Avengers under the name “Broad-Stripe.”

Courage the Cowardly Dog: Benton Tarantella

In life, Benton was a serial killer who posed as an amateur director. He killed over a dozen people before he was finally put in prison. Benton spent the rest of his life behind bars and died, but came back as a zombie.

Dial H for Hero: Ayenbite

A shadowy spirit of remorse summoned when Q-U-E-D is dialed.

Doom Patrol: The Toy

A later member of the Brotherhood of Dada.

She’s often late, and people die because of it.

Flash: Lady Flash

Christina Alexandrova, a.k.a. Lady Savage, Lady Savitar, what have you. A Russian speedster and cocaine addict who became obsessed with Wally West.

Goosebumps: Lucy and the Camp Spirit Moon ghosts

Campers and counselors who were killed by a mysterious black fog, left to haunt the grounds of Camp Spirit Moon. Their only means of escape is to possess a living body. Anyone who tries to leave the camp on their own becomes part of the black fog.

Graveyard School: Aunt Mab

Kyle Chilton’s supposed great aunt, or rather his grandfather’s aunt’s cousin or something. She looks extremely young for her age to the point she doesn’t seem human. She enjoys subtly screwing with Kyle’s head.

Green Lantern: Lord Malvolio

A mysterious alien whose parents were a Green Lantern and an Earth woman. His battles with Hal Jordan ended with the implication that Malvolio tampered with Hal’s ring.

Gundam: Katejina Loos

A selfish young woman who tried not to get involved with the League Militaire’s battle against the Zanscare Empire, only to gradually lose her morals and sanity after she was rescued by Chronicle Asher of BESPA

Iron Man: Hypnotia

A seductive hypnotist and top henchwoman for the Mandarin, she is lusted after by Dreadknight and Blacklash but desires only Tony Stark

Justice Society: Harlequin’s Son

A time lost forgotten antagonist connected with the Justice Society and Infinity Inc., son of Molly Mayne, the original Harlequin

Legend of Zelda: Twinrova

Gerudo sorceresses Koume and Kotake raised Ganondorf and act as his servants, watching over the Spirit Temple and brainwashing the thief Nabooru to serve him. While fighting the Hero of Time, the two combine into Twinrova.

Legion of Super-Heroes: Saturn Queen

Eve Aries of Saturn’s moon Titan. One version of this criminal telepath traveled back in time and helped raise Superman and Batman from childbirth with her cohorts Lightning Lord and Cosmic King. This Eve somehow survived the rebirth and destruction of her universe and ended up in the Phantom Zone.

Magical Girl Raising Project: Melville

A nomad Magical Girl with a rather bizarre speech pattern. She has the power to change her color, letting her blend into the background. Melville wields a harpoon and a bow as her weapon.

She is an ardent supporter of the Musician of the Forest, Cranberry, and will use any means possible to kill her opponents

Mahoney’s: Tormenta

The ebon sorceress and frequent patron of Mahoney’s, she’s crushing hard on server Blender.

Mario: Sue Pea

A ghostly little girl who took a nap and died in her sleep. She haunts the guest room in Luigi’s Mansion.

Power Rangers: Dark Rangers

Lord Zedd’s attempts at creating his own set of Power Rangers. The first group was made up of bullies from Angel Grove High. The second time he went international and recruited criminals from around the globe. The third time, he empowered his minions and a putty duplicate of Rita Repulsa.

Sailor Moon: Zoisite

One of Queen Beryl’s Dark Generals, a smug, vain, and manipulative bastard happy to use underhanded tactics and backstabbing to get what he wants.

Sleeping Beauty: The Evil Fairy

Whether it’s by Disney, Jetlag Entertainment, or Shelley DuVall, she exists to not get invited to the princess’s christening and gets super pissed off. So she curses a baby to die at age 16, and even when the spell’s altered to an eternal slumber, she won’t be deterred. You’ve got your Maleficent, your Odelia, and your Henbane.

Spider-Man: Talon

A “trust fund baby” named Cheyenne who moonlights as a cat burglar, out to steal items of sentimental value from famous people

Static Shock: Madelyn Spaulding

An egotistical and unpopular girl who gained the power to control minds from the Big Bang. She went on a rampage after no one would nominate her for student body president, and tried to take over Dakota.

Supergirl: Superior Girl

Belinda Zee, an unstable duplicate of Linda Lee created when kryptonite rays were filtered through a projector. She’s pretty, popular, and absolutely horrible.

Superman: Puzzler

Valerie Van Haaften is an obsessed Superman fangirl who decided to get his attention by become a supervillain. She now has a body made up of enchanted puzzle pieces she can manipulate with her mind.

Super Sentai: The Flowery Kunoichi Team

Also known as the “Hanarangers,” the Kunoichi Team is made of evil, floral themed women who were created to fight the Kakurangers.

Titans: Dark Angel

An evil, demonic witch obsessed with making Donna Troy as absolutely miserable as possible. She’s the person who destroyed Donna’s past and succeeded in making it impossible for it to be straightened out.

Urusei Yatsura: Ran

A supposed best friend of Lum, Ran puts on the façade of a cutesy homemaker who loves frilly things and baking, when she’s really a vindictive, manipulative succubus capable of sucking the vitality out of people through her lips.

Wonder Woman: Blue Snowman

Byrna Brilyant, a gender fluid immoral scientist who stole their father’s invention of “blue snow” and uses it for the sake of monetary gain.

X-Men: Nanny and Orphan-Maker

A pair of traumatized mutants who try to “save” mutant children by killing their human parents

Yu-Gi-Oh: The Kageyama Sisters

Risa Kageyama and her identical sisters are obsessed with Duel Monsters and have built their deck around the Hecate Sisters

[weightlessribbons]

ARCANE: The Personal and the Political

Arcane, the animated Netflix series in the universe of League of Legends, was released last week, and it seems to have been a breakout hit. Despite the source material they had to work with, the creative team at Fortiche were successful in creating a product with astounding animation and special effects work, beautiful design and art direction, and compelling characters and interpersonal tragedy. But I don't think that it's perfect, and there's one thing that bothered me as I was watching: Arcane's politics are too normie for its own good.

Arcane's story is at its heart a personal drama starring Vi and Jinx. The political themes of class struggle of Topside and the Undercity serve to construct a world and characters that allow the writers to build the central tragedy of the story. Jinx, an Undercity orphan outcast even within her peer group, loses her emotional anchor in her sister and is forced to grasp at chances for respect and self-confidence, leading to her to fall in with the villain Silco and ends up firing a rocket into Piltover's council chamber in an act of desperate defiance that ends all hope of a peaceful end to the subjugation of the Undercity. The tragedy of this final act is threefold: first, the personal loss of life, exemplified by the loss of Caitlyn's mother, a councilor; second, the inevitable backlash and open conflict that will inevitably harm the already-oppressed; third, and most importantly, the culmination of Jinx's character arc as a person who has grown dependent on violence to maintain her sense of identity and autonomy. As she prepares to fire, we hear in Jinx's mind, through voiceover, Silco: "We'll show them. We will show them all." As the rocket flies, we see the council vote for peace; a soon-to-be doomed measure. And just before impact we are shown the faces of those about to die: the entire council, including Jayce, Caitlyn's mother, and Viktor. These three angles work together to form a tragic ending that seems ordained by fate, separate threads of history converging upon a single point. It's a strong conclusion to the story, but I nevertheless was left with something bothering me. The weak point in the ending is the political angle. The shot of the council unanimously voting for peace, ignorant of their fast-approaching end, sends clearly the message that this will kill any chance at peace. This return to an uneasy peace, as the story tells us through Vander, is the only way to keep the downtrodden from further suffering, and its stillbirth is a major part of the central tragedy. But this message is troubled by the fact that the possibility of peace is unconvincing. Silco would not accept the terms and give up Jinx, and is dead anyhow. Is the council voting for peace believable, given that the previous shot of them was their near unanimous uproar when presented with the terms? I don't think so. And, most importantly, are we to believe that the technologically superior Piltover will not seize upon any sign of weakness (say, the death of the Undercity's de-facto leader, Silco) to reestablish control? No; instead of the message "Peace was just out of reach" that the ending frames, a much more compelling message (I think) would be: "Peace was never an option." No justice, no peace; capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction. The belief in a peaceful means to the end of oppression is a key pillar in liberal thought, and keeping this in mind is helpful in understanding the message of the story. The tragedy we are presented is that it "could have been" different: that were it not for the pain and suffering and anger of a single person, things could have turned out all right. But we, as the audience, know differently: it had to be this way. Not just because of tragedy being a foregone conclusion, but that Jinx was born and molded of the hostile, rapacious environment that she lived in, and if not for her, then some other hurt, angry soul would have sparked off open conflict in her place.

What this means is that the text believes that a state of liberal peace- a peace characterized not by the presence of justice, but by the absence of open conflict- should be the principal goal of political action. Once we have a hold of this idea of a liberal peace, we may find elsewhere in the story traces of this ideology. The first thing is the villain and principal antagonist Silco. He is a drug-lord who manufactures Shimmer, an addictive drug that makes you more physically dangerous but comes with debilitating side-effects. The parallels to War on Drugs narratives are clear: the lower classes are killing each other with drugs, and these drugs make them a threat to polite society besides. Additionally, Silco is the loudest voice to speak for the liberation of Zaun, the Undercity, from Piltover; making the villain someone who takes a good thing too far is a time-tested way of injecting cheap moral complexity to a narrative, and allows the writers to indulge in a bit of both-sides-ism. The way Silco frames the oppression of the Undercity by Piltover is flawed, since he is an industrialist and a villain besides. But this flaw neatly both strengthens his characterization as a Nuanced Extremist Villain and diminishes the credibility of radical anti-Piltover sentiment within the narrative and allows it to present us the novel liberal idea: What if Revolution Bad? This leads us to the subject of Ekko and the Firelights. They're the faction that the narrative portrays as The Unproblematic Ones. The most important thing they do, thematically, is show through their community organizing efforts that the Undercity can flourish despite its circumstances: a rose grown from concrete. What we don't see, though, is them taking taking action against Piltover: no strike action, theft, sabotage, or assassination. We only see them on their own turf in episode 6 and destroying Silco's Shimmer cargo in episode 4. Now, I want to be clear here: I don't think their portrayal is a bad thing; organization and community support is a necessary part of revolutionary work. Still, we can read between the lines: what actions does the narrative approve of, and which does it condemn, and why? The answer is plain: revolutionary violence is futile, and ought to be condemned. This brings us back to episode 1, in which Vander gives us this message explicitly. There is nothing to be gained in violence against topside, because retribution is inevitable. Now, I don't want to say that the show positions peace as easy or pleasant; Vander dies for his beliefs, after all. But he is consistently the one portrayed in the most favorable light by the narrative, and the characters who take issue with Vander's passivity (Silco, Vi, Ekko) never end up proving him wrong. What does the narrative position as the most likely path to peace? That after a drug raid on a manufacturing plant, in which a child is killed in crossfire by law enforcement, a virtuous, repentant councilor will feel sufficient shame and remorse to grant the proletarians peace, sovereignty, and access to trade routes. He is able to convince the entire council, whose fortunes depend on the exploitation of proletarian labor and on exclusive control of these trade routes, to agree to these terms, thereby cutting the economic engine of their own empire off at the knees. The show says: "Suffer, then, and they will see you suffer virtuously, and they will show you mercy." This proposition is in a sense the least believable part of the show. We know that those in power do not care if they harm their subjects; suffering is inevitable if you're poor, after all. The much-feted pacifism of Gandhi and MLK would have been ineffective without the threat of violence from an organized populace. Can we believe that the rulers of a nation, who direct both its law enforcement and all its industrial might, would hesitate to crush an upstart working-class? No, of course not. The framing that the show wants us to accept as true, that peace could have been achieved through the reasonableness of those in power, rings

hollow. No one believes in starting a war they can't win. But political power grows out of the barrel of a gun: domination and brutality sustains the capitalist, and he will not go quietly. The downtrodden cannot build themselves a new society if they are defenseless to the exploitation of the state. The condemnation of liberatory violence, taken alongside the minimization of the everyday, banal violence of poverty and depredation, serves to uphold the capitalist state's monopoly on legitimate use of force. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate clearly what options are available to the modern dissident, and not to foreclose on avenues which by common axiom must by definition fail. Hm! It got a little heavy there, for a critique of a Netflix serial. I want to repeat here that on the whole, I really enjoyed Arcane. Vi and Jinx's story-line was effective and affecting, Silco was a fascinating, compelling villain, and Vi/Cait were a moving, well-executed take on the classic Lady-and-the-Tramp story. These are uncontroversial takes, and for good reason! I liked the show. (Don't play League of Legends, both Vi and Caitlyn are cops there.)

[fancoloredglasses]

Ace’s Saga part 2: Epilogue (The REAL origin of Batman)

[All images are owned by DC Comics and WarnerMedia. I hope I’m too small-fry to sue...]

In my last review, I introduced you to...

...Ace, a girl with the power to warp minds. This episode is Ace’s second and final appearance. It was also supposed to be the final episode of Justice League Unlimited, but it ran for another season after this.

Before we get to the review, I would like to introduce you to someone who anyone who saw Arrow or either Suicide Squad film would know...

...Amanda Waller. She was first introduced in the Legends comic miniseries as the head of Task Force X (the government division that runs the Suicide Squad), but later found her way into the espionage division known as Checkmate, the DEO, the metahuman experimental lab known as Cadmus...basically, any government agency dealing with the cape-and-mask set she has a hand in and often sees herself as the one who draws the line in the sand between the world and the metahumans who would take it over (including the heroic ones), often straddling the line of legality and ethics to do so (but she’s more or less one of the good guys)

She’s butted heads with the Justice League on a few occasions.

(Thanks to Kojack155)

Now, you may be wondering why I’m bringing up Waller in a review involving Ace. No, Waller doesn’t have her (though apparently she rounded Ace up along with the rest of what would become the Royal Flush Gang when they were younger) Trust me, it will become clear by the end of the cold open. Speaking of, if you would like to watch the episode, it’s available on KissCartoon...

We open about 40 years after the events of Batman Beyond, which would make Terry McGinnis in his 50s and Bruce Wayne in his 90s.  Let’s just ignore that, because otherwise Terry would be looking for his replacement. Plus there are inconsistencies in the dialogue that don’t mesh with this. You know, forget I put that graphic up there and just say it’s a number of years after.

We open on a small mansion with what look like “private security” patrolling the grounds.

However, these are easily evaded or subdued by a shadowy figure in a trenchcoat. Eventually the figure makes his way to the mansion’s study where we find...

“I’ve been wondering when you were going to show up.

Terry McGinnis...or do you prefer to be called...Batman?”

Roll opening credits!

Yes, we’re dealing with a more mature Terry who’s been Batman for many years and a much older Amanda Waller.

We cut to a flashback (we know this because it’s in black and white and in letterbox format) where Terry is about to have yet another falling out with Bruce.

We switch back to the present (well, the present as of the beginning of the episode anyway; episodes set in the future can be a bit confusing) and Waller is attempting to make small talk and be a gracious hostess, but Terry simply wants answers. Waller offers Terry tea, but he smacks the cup aside, shattering it.

We cut to another flashback where Terry is breaking up with Dana, his long-time girlfriend of 15 years (not 40 if the graphic at the beginning of the episode was correct), that he’s breaking up with her for her own safety (yeah, she knows about Terry’s double life by now)

Back in the present, Waller muses about the lost cup while Terry mopes about being doomed to always being Batman.

We cut to yet another flashback where Batman leaves the Justice League.

Back in the present, we find out exactly why Terry is more broody than usual: he discovered his DNA was a genetic match to Bruce’s when Bruce needed a kidney cloned. That could only be possible if they were related.

We cut bask to Bruce’s flashback. Bruce bristles at Terry’s accusation that he manipulated Terry’s DNA. Bruce points out that he never met Terry or his mother until Terry was 16, so how could he? With that, Terry walks out...which catches us up.

Back in the present, Waller tells Terry he’s wrong about Bruce and tells him a story of years past (now we’re getting to Ace)...

(Thanks to BatScenes)

Excuse me...sniff...I have a bit of stolen childhood in my eye...

Back in the present, Waller says she gained a great deal of respect for Bruce after that day. She also reveals that she knows Bruce didn’t manipulate Terry’s DNA...because she did!

Waller couldn’t bear to see a world without Batman, so she arranged for a new one! Thus began “Project Batman Beyond”. Waller picked Terry’s parents as her test subjects (without their knowledge)

Terry’s father was unknowingly injected with a compound that rewrote his reproductive organs to produce sperm that matched Bruce Wayne’s DNA. Then Terry was conceived (does that mean Terry’s brother Matt is also a potential Batman?) Waller was prepared to have Terry’s parents murdered to set the chain of events rolling...

Wait, is that Andrea Beaumont?!

I guess it is!

Anyway, Andrea wouldn’t go through with it, saying if Waller wants to create Batman she needs to adhere to his ethics.

Upon hearing this, Terry laments that his dad died anyway. Maybe he was cursed to become Batman. Waller offers a different opinion: Terry’s not a clone of Bruce, but his son, capable of making his own decisions rather than being forced down Bruce’s path.

Later that evening, Terry returns to Wayne Manor at 3am and makes up with Bruce. He then makes a phone call to Dana (at 3am? You’re lucky she loves you!), saying he wants to ask her something on Friday...

Good for you Terry! With that, we would’ve gotten closure on the Dini-verse had they not green-lit another season

[sbirdmrapinoe]

OKAY delayed because I had to get my heart rate under control first, but time for thoughts on the US vs. Netherlands game:

- First, to all y’all USWNT fans who are being cocky and snotty about this win, sit down please. This was nothing to be cocky about. This was a very even match and could have easily gone either way. The US did not play better than the Netherlands, whatsoever. And Miedema was hands down the best player out there today. She is a legend in the making and the fact that she’s so young and already has accomplished what she has is just... wow. Every time she touched the ball I felt nothing but awe, respect, and a sense of impending doom as a US fan. Give credit where credit is due, and stop living in an alternative reality. Nothing but love and respect to the Dutch team 🇳🇱❤️

- NAEHER lord have mercy I almost cried when she saved the first PK and largely became unhinged in the shootout. She was an absolute brick wall. Just phenomenal. I will admit, I had concerns going into this tournament because of her slump in the NWSL lately, but she has found her groove again and damn I am thankful for that. She is saving the defense’s—and the whole team’s—asses this tournament. A clinic out there from one of the best goalkeepers of all time🙏🙏🙏

- Becky and Crystal had some very important saves/tackles in this game. Also, Crystal did some solid work moving up the left side and had much better passing this game. Still, neither seemed to be as sharp or impenetrable as usual

- O’Hara and Dahlkemper have been completely exposed in this tournament. That right side was so, so fragile. Dahlkemper simply couldn’t keep pace, and she made some nearly (and sometimes actually) fatal errors in regards to passing and blocking. O’Hara also left too much space and was sloppy with clearing. Plus, her fouling is a liability. With that little time left??? In the box??? That was practically inexcusable to me. Very disappointed in both of their performances tonight and throughout this tournament

- Speaking of risky/sloppy, Horan was looking pretty good at the beginning of the game, but in the second, things took a bad turn. Her passes became terrible, and she turned over the ball in the worst possible areas. She is not clean and doesn’t make good decisions in the heat of the moment

- Ertz. As much as I hate to admit it, we NEED her. Like *need* her. She is a rock out there. Taking falls and getting back up. She is a beast and integral to breaking up the opposing attack as well as starting the offense for the US

- Sam!!! She is starting to get her magic back!! 😄🙏 Although I didn’t notice her all that much other than her goal, it was so important to get that goal to tie things up. Great timing on her part. She also had a great little tap to Lynn to keep things in play for her goal

- Rose’s speed is really underrated in my opinion. Once again, she was putting in great work on both sides of the ball. I have never really appreciated her defense until this tournament, but my eyes have been opened now. She didn’t stand out to me as much as the other games, but still, very solid out there. Stepping up first for the PK was also HUGE. Big plays in big moments for Rosie

- LYNN!!!!!! 🤩👏👏🙌 I very much doubted Vlatko’s choice to have her start over Press, but she proved me wrong and I am SO glad she did. Her speed was necessary and an absolutely beautiful assist AND beautiful goal. She really stuck with it before the goal, stayed ready. If she stays in this form, she should be a fully rostered player from the get go for the next major tournament. We know she can deliver, and now we are finally seeing her do it on an international level. Flowers to her!

- Lloyd didn’t exist to me today. Did absolutely nothing. I didn’t register her existence. Idk what else to say than that lol 🤷‍♀️ Added nothing meaningful in my opinion

- Heath hasn’t found her stride yet it seems... For one, she should not be doing set pieces. I know that without Press, Pinoe, or Davidson there is no clear option, but it shouldn’t be Heath. That’s not her game. She seems to be getting some of her confidence and creativity back footwork wise which is nice to see! I just would like to see her creating more chances for herself and others. She was relatively quiet for me this game. More games versus Mexico vibes please ✨

- Morgan was also quiet for me today. She didn’t seem to do much? Bless her making her PK, of course, but otherwise it just seemed like a good bit of flopping. She had some chances created for her, but no magic from there

- Press ALSO seemed to struggle today. Similar to last time, she was dispossessed a lot and seemed to have a very hard time organizing her feet to keep the ball to make any meaningful chance for herself or her teammates. She just didn’t seem as poised or under control as she normally does. She also fell to the background for me today. Like Morgan, huge props for the PK. She 100% kept her cool and composure there. The PK was peaceful to watch almost haha, very on brand for her 😊

- Oh, Pinoe. 👩‍🎤🥶🤩✨ The PK queen. What a fitting punctuation mark to a tense, exciting game. She is a big time player in big time moments and that’s exactly why you keep her on the roster. She thrives in that pressure. I guarantee that Horan was set to go fourth but they switched to have Megan go fourth once they knew they could clinch the win. That was just a world class PK shot as well; her positioning made it nearly impossible for the goalkeeper to save it no matter what. The joy I felt when she ran back to the rest of the team and the bench players ran out onto the field. 🥺 As for her play prior to the shoot out, I really have no idea what Twitter is talking about because she was the second best forward today after Williams in my opinion. When she first came on, she had a VERY sloppy pass that resulted in a dangerous turnover. Pretty soon after that though, she got it together, and from there her passes were—for the most part—well chosen, precise, and clean. Her service on set pieces is very off. While I would still choose her over Heath for those, at this time, I’d pick Press or Davidson over P for set pieces until she is out of her slump (the olympics is not the place to have her play through the slump; let her do that in league). Megan made some great runs, did a wonderful job of maintaining possession, showed some great creativity with her footwork, and had some fantastic crosses/passes that resulted in some very much welcome chances for her teammates towards the end of the match. Most of those final chances were coming through her, and I think that was important from a morale perspective as well. Also she dropped back for a couple of really solid defensive plays??? I live to be surprised by the purple soccer elf.

And on to the semi-finals! Let the North American dual commence haha 🇺🇸🇨🇦

[speedprofessor]

THE DEFINITIVE CANON REWRITES POST

     I have been writing Eobard for long enough that a lot of things has changed and shifted over the years and his canon on the blog really has become truly unrecognizable from the show. So if you came here expecting a canon compliant Eobard, you will be severely disappointed. So this post will hopefully be your handy dandy guide to all the retcons and divergences I have from all the seasons. 

     A final point of note is that a lot of my canon is shared with @isjustice​ as we are exclusives and I highly recommend you check out her season rewrites to get a better idea of the whole picture.

     TL:DR -Seasons one, two and the beginning of three are canon as shown, rest of season three is not acknowledged. -Legends of Tomorrow is heavily rewritten. -Legends: Eobard in charge of the Legion of Doom is in fact Hunter Zolomon before his appearance in Flash season two. Real Eobard begrudgingly teams up with the Legends to stop him, he does “die” at the end of the adventure. -Crisis on Earth X is absolutely NOT CANON. He instead teams up with the Justice Syndicate from Earth 3 to crash the WestAllen wedding because he is petty like that. -Eobard plotline of season 5 is canon, rest is not. -Crisis on Infinite Earths is HEAVILY rewritten. Eobard assumes the role of Harbinger, during the events of the crossover he and Barry make amends and he helps the heroes defeat the Anti-Monitor. -Post Crisis is fully canon divergent. Eobard becomes Professor Zoom and is counted among the Founders of the League. 

IN DEPTH BREAKDOWN:

FLASH SEASON THREE:

-Flashpoint lasts approximately six months, Eobard is still imprisoned and is keeping Barry company. Trying to be the voice of reason and make Barry revert the changes. -Flashpoint overall is a lot more fleshed out and expanded upon. Atlanteans and Amazonians, once only myths, now exist in the world and are at war with one another. -Oliver Queen has been murdered by The Condiment King. -The Atlantean - Amazonian War reaches a fever pitch and causes the destruction of the United Kingdom, upon realizing the true consequences of his actions, Barry finally lets Eobard out to ‘finish what he started’. -Upon killing Nora Allen and entering the Speed Force to take Barry home, Flashpoint!Eobard’s memories are merged with that of his season one self, leading to the restoration of Eobard Thawne proper.  -Alchemy and Cobalt Blue are the villains for the rest of season three. Savitar!Barry does not exist. -Cobalt Blue is Flashpoint Eddie Thawne who remembers that timeline and is bitter about it. Read more about it here.

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW:

-Eobard, upon attempting to run back home, is alerted to the existence of Black Flash Racer, who is an extension of the Speed Force that wants to correct the mistake that is Eobard’s paradoxical existence. -He starts running through history to find a solution to his problem, during which he discovers that there is another Eobard Thawne operating with a group called Legion of Doom. -This Eobard that is part of the Legion of Doom is in fact Hunter Zolomon, before his season two story arc in the Flash, masquerading as Eobard so his own identity is still kept a secret. -Real Eobard teams up with the Legends so the Legion of Doom doesn’t get his hands on the Spear of Destiny. -He does want the Spear for himself just to fix his paradoxical existence, but he has no desire to ‘rule’ the world. -Most of that season can happen as normal just know that ‘Eobard’ in that season is not actually Eobard -In the end, Eobard chucks Zoom back to Earth-Two but then immediately gets killed by Black Racer because time is an ironic bitch.

FLASH SEASON FOUR:

-Eobard is dead and back in the Speed Force and very desperate to go back home. -He makes a deal with the Speed Force that makes him a pure conduit of the Negative Speed Force, effectively tethering his existence to Speed Force. ( supplementary headcanon. ) -He is now a living paradox and fully connected to the Negative Speed Force, rendering him immune to timeline changes. -The moment he is out, he attempts to run back home, but Speed Force blocks him from doing so, partially as punishment for his past deeds, partially because he needs a reason to run and keep the Speed Force healthy. -CRISIS ON EARTH X DOES NOT HAPPEN, instead Eobard recruits the EARTH-THREE CRIME SYNDICATE to ruin Barry’s wedding, bitter about his new situation and his inability to run back home. -While doing so, he is starting to realize that he no longer harbors the same intense rage and hate towards Barry. -Upon Crime Syndicate’s defeat, Eobard escapes and is imprisoned in 2030 for Reasons™ -Listen the show never explained it why the fuck should I.

FLASH SEASON FIVE:

-Savit’r is the big bad of the season, Cicada gets a two-parter episode at best because he sucks. -Cicada’s dagger, however, is still in play and is what’s keeping Eobard imprisoned. -Eobard’s training of Nora takes place over a period of TWO YEARS, instead of the laughably small amount of time shown in the show. -Cicada is killed by Savit’r, who then destroys the dagger and leads to Eobard being freed. -Eobard / Nora / Barry confrontation happens as shown. -He genuinely grew fond of Nora and wanted her to survive by using the Negative Speed Force, so he is sad to see her get wiped from existence. -Upon running away from the scene, he is stopped by Mar-Novu, who promises him a way home in return for his help with the impending Crisis.

SEASON SIX (abandon all canon all ye who enter here)

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, EARTH ONE.:

-Eobard is The Harbinger, tasked with running between all the Earths and recruiting others. -He works with Oliver Queen during this time. -Over the course of Crisis, he comes to terms with the fact that he no longer hates Barry like he once did, so he buries the hatchet with him and finally lets go of his vendetta. -Watches Barry die as he destroys the Anti-Matter Cannon, the resulting tachyon explosion catapults Eobard back home. -This drabble takes place.  -The Multiverse is Destroyed.

CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS, EARTH PRIME:

-Multiverse is Rebooted. *Eobard is back in 25th Century, having never become Reverse-Flash in this timeline. (how does post-crisis season one work, then? Shhh don’t worry about it.) -The moment the Paragons ‘awake’ in Earth-Prime, he gets struck by lightning, (re)gaining his powers and his memories of the Pre-Crisis timeline. -As he is from the future, he recognizes he has all the time in the world, so he spends five decades living with his wife, Rose, until her death by natural causes. -Upon her death, he uses his powers to restore himself to his peak physical condition and runs back to 2020 to take place in the Final Fight against the Anti-Monitor. -Due to his actions in COIE, he is given a Founder status in the newly formed Justice League.

SEASONS SEVEN AND BEYOND:

-He makes himself a new suit, and renames himself Professor Zoom. -Nora Allen is alive in this timeline and is the tether that keeps Barry in the Speed Force, so, at her urging, he kills her again to bring Barry back. -He tends to spend his time operating as the Chief Financier Officer of the League because he knows other heroes aren’t all that fond of him and he’s overall still uncomfortable with the notion of being a Hero™. -He keeps his distance from STAR Labs overall, because even though he is on ‘good terms’ with Barry, there is a lot of nasty history there. -He does help out the League and Team Flash if he is absolutely needed, however.

[brokenxfragments]

Five Songs (for Rosalia)

1. Sacred by Citizen Soldier

Yeah, you're such a slave to anxiety Your future, your past, pulling you away It made you so blind, now that must change 'Cause right now with who you love, this is everything

You get one life, one chance Give it everything 'cause this is all we have If this day was your last Could you hold your head high? Could you live with that? So take it in, just embrace the adrenaline This is sacred, we'll never get it back again

In this moment, will you live? Embrace the unknown, your past forgive? Every minute's a priceless gift It's all yours, so what you gonna do with it?

Don't take the ones you love for granted, not for a second You're gonna miss these days, yeah, the present is precious

2. Legends Never Die by League of Legends (ft. Against the Current)

Legends never die They're written down in eternity But you'll never see the price it costs Scars collected all their lives

When everything's lost, they pick up their hearts And avenge defeat Before it all starts, they suffer through harm Just to touch a dream Oh, pick yourself up, 'cause

Legends never die When the world is calling you (when the world is calling you) Can you hear them screaming out your name? Legends never die They become a part of you (they become a part of you) Every time you bleed for reaching greatness Legends never die

3. My Demons by Starset

They're all around me circling like vultures They wanna break me and wash away my colors Wash away my colors

Take me high and I'll sing Oh, you make everything okay, okay, okay (okay, okay, okay) We are one and the same Oh, you take all of the pain away, away, away (away, away, away) Save me if I become My demons

I cannot stop this sickness taking over It takes control and drags me into nowhere I need your help, I can't fight this forever I know you're watching, I can feel you out there

4. Already Over by Red

You're all I'm reaching for It's already over All I'm reaching for It's already over now

I give it all to you I offer up my soul It's already over, already over now

Give it all to you Letting go of me Reaching as I fall I know it's already over now Nothing left to lose Loving you again I know it's already over now It's already over now I know it's already over, already over

5. Return to Oblivion - OST of FFXIV (Eden’s Verse: Refulgence of Shiva)

Falling too far for the fear to embrace me A voice from the past screaming there is no end (no) A slave to my fate, ever doomed to repeat this again and again and again and again (yeah, I'm)

Falling too fast, no it won't overtake me A voice from the past echoes loud like a drum (oh, yes) no more goodbyes, though my heart is still aching Now open my eyes, one more time, Here I come

Reason resigned Dark seasons' design Spring's promise of sun is honored When winter's weighed down on us

Tagged by: @beznahxntress​ (thanks!!)

Tagging: Steal it.

[popculturebuffet]

New X-Men Xtrospective Part 1: E is For Extinction “They Will Need Us”

I am SO fucking excited for this one. As might not be obvious to ALL of my readers but should be obvious to some, I fucking love the X-Men. They are one of my favorite superhero teams period as are several of their spinoffs such as X-Factor (All versions), New Mutants, and Marauders. I love the wide cast, the hugely vast universe within the already vast and wonderful marvel universe, and the sheer amount of GREAT stories. I own all 11 movies, have several action figures, and two posters from Jonathan Hickman’s current and utterly dynamite run right above me right now as I work, as well as a marvel 80′s themed poster behind me that’s at least half x-men for good reason. I love this gang of mutants and I have not talked about them enough. 

I”ve done some X-Men stuff sure: I��ve talked about hickman’s time as head writer of the books a year in earlier this year, I did a few scattered reviews back when I did single issues of comics, and then we get to the one I beefed big time: covering ALL of X-Men evolution. While it’s a noble endeavor I freely admit to overexerting myself: I recapped the episodes way too closely, gave myself no real schedule and did so while I was already covering two shows a week at the time. My point is it was a good idea, but the timing was REALLY fucking bad and if I do it again, I intend to do it right and iwth a proper place in my now properly paced schedule. I also planned to do the movies which, unlike evolution, I have solid plans to do once I clear out some of my projects. Point is I burned bright and then exploded and took a whole projecet with me phoenix style. 

I had until this moment yet to do a really big x-men project, something digging into the comics, something that could help fans both of the comics and not get familiar with something really good, and help me dig into both the good and bad of something. I jsut needed the right start. 

Then Christmas gave me that spark, that project that gave me the idea for a butload more x-men content on here and was the perfect starting point for some. See my friend Marco lives in Honduras, and so since i couldn’t afford to send him anything for christmas in the mail, as i’m not exactly rich, I instead offered him three reviews of anything.l He still hasn’t taken up two of them, nor one I gave him for graduating college, but the first one was a doozy, something he hadn’t read due to not liking the art, which is fine as I have some art in comics I don’t like everyone has diffrent tastes, at least for the first arc, and something VITALLY important to x-men as a whole and that’s the backbone of hickman’s current run: the first arc of new x-men, e is for extinction. And given New X-Men is one of my faviorite comics of all time I not only lept on it.. but decided fuck it I’m covering the whole thing. So every so often on here from now until I finish, i’m going to be covering Grant Morrisons ground breaking, mind shattering, status quo destroying run on the children of the atom. This.. is going to be fucking awesome. Buckle up. 

New X-Men came about in 2001. Stop me if you heard this one: The X-Men, once marvel’s best selling title and one of i’ts most beloved, had been set adrift in a seal of editorial bullshit, bad writing, bad storylines and a stale continuity where not much could change or grow and things always reset to about the same place it was last week. If this sounds familiar it’s because it somehow happened AGAIN thanks to Ike Perlmutter’s bullshit, hence the current hickman run, but we’ll get into all of tha tsome other time. Point is as it was in 2018, so it was in 2001: The x-men were in bad straits and marvel reached out to a host of various creators to swing for the fences and find a new direction, something to bring sales and life back to the book. To my shock they actually took a LOT of diffrent pitches in before Morrisons won and from huge names: Geoff Johns, who had not yet returned to DC never to leave, Alex Ross, Keith Giffen.. all huge creative types. but in the end the best man won.

For those unfamiliar with him, Grant Morrison is a gloriously batshit scotsman with a long, storied and delightfully insane history in comics, mostly at DC before and after this comic. This is for good reason: DC scouted Morrison specifically because of his early work at 2000ad. See at the time Alan Moore had hit it really big with Swamp Thing, taking a d list, so so book and making it into an utter masterpiece and giving it thoroughly interesting mythology. Given it was a blockbuster hit that’s still widely loved and discussed, as it should be today, DC decided to repeat the strategy of asking British indie comics creators to come do the same to another property. This same experiment is why Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman exists, so.. yeah it was actually a great strategy and naturally Grant had their first big hit with Animal Man, a metafictional take on a b-list hero that made him a loveable family man, while also putting him through hell and playing with the medium and dc’s vast history, the last two being Morrison’s trademark from then on out.

 They’d next go on to reinvent one of my other faviorite teams: THE DOOM PATROL!  The patrol are a bunch of victims of strange accidents who got powers out of them that are basically curses... and Morrison solidified that concept, taking over after a weak run that ironically enough was trying to imitate the x-men’s success at the time. Instead Morrison just went all out with his weird shit for the first time and made them a team of broken but likeable people with weird powers fighting just the weirdest most incomprehensible shit, a run i’ll likely be digging into eventually along with the team as a whole. It’s also, along with Gerard Way’s recent run, the bedroock for the current and utterly masterful doom patrol series I need to catch up on. They also apparently once wrote a satrical comic starring and lik mocking hitler... a fact I somehow JUST learned but naturally doesn’t surprise me at all. 

Morrison’s career at dc, after doing some creator owned stuff there when Vertigo opened up, hit it’s peak in the late 90′s as they were given the go ahead to reinvent the Justice League, with the wildly successful and awesome JLA, another book I probably need to take a look at that put the big 7 back into the team.  And by now your probably getting the point of me covering his career pattern.. besides giving morrison the praise they deserve, and they’d have some really great runs after this.. and some terrible ones but no one’s perfect. My point is that at this point in their career Morrison’s greatest skill was taking something that had grown stagnant or been forgotten, blowing it up and reworking it into something glorious and new. Taking what worked, scraping away what didn’t and on the whole making something fucking glorious out of it. So here we are. The X-Men needed a new coat of paint and uncle grant had their lcd laced psycadelic paint bucket and brush shaped like a pidgeon at the ready. And for better, way better and admitely sometimes here and there worse,they changed the x-men for good. Some changes were rolled back out of spite, others finally got their chance after said rollback recently, and some were just outright thrown on the grown and smashed with a hammer. But for the most part Grant left a huge impact on the x-men and i’m here to show you why, warts and all. To me my x-men, this is new x-men.  Now naturally there’s even more exposition but i’ts more in what COULD’VE been. Originally while Wolverine, Cyclops, Jean Grey and Professor X were all part of the team the other two members of the slim roster for this run, Beast and Emma Frost.. weren’t. Originally Morrison was going to have Colossus and Moira Mactaggert, long time team ally, token human until very recently, and now thanks to hickman one of the most important x characters peirod and long before that a fan favorite of mine, on the team, with Moira taking over for beast. 

This.. didn’t pan out since Marvel apparently either didn’t give a shit about their plans or already had things in motion as the climax of the longtime legacy virus storyline killed both off. Colossus until Joss Whedon, bastard he may be, brought him back for his terrific Astonishing X-Men, and Moira SOMEHOW stayed dead until House/Powers of X. See this speaks to one of the big roadblocks morrison faced: Jonathan HIckman currently has absolute power and all his writers working in concert, a new way of doing things comic companies shold honestly copy en masse as it’s really working wonders. Grant.. was just one of many writers and one of three main x books the others being Chris Claremont’s XTREME X-MEN, basically “let the legend do what he wants since he can’t get freedom on the main book” and another writer on uncanny... before eventually chuck austen took over and I will tackle that horrible mess some other time. Point is while Morrison was setting the tone, costume style and making the big waves, they still didn’t have full power and thus had to play nice with eveyrone else.  So their next idea was Rogue, making mer more like her x-men evolution version.. except Chris wanted her, so that was out, though being a decent enough guy he willingly gave up Beast since the moira thing meant Morrison needed a science person. As for Colossus replacement, as it turned out a fan had suggested Grant do something with Emma Frost since Gen X was canceled and while Morrison had zero intention for it clearly Emma clicked with hthem and she was soon both a main part of the cast and one of their biggest contributions to X-Men as a whole.

As for what I think of the needed changes.. they ended up being for the best. I do like Moira... but Hank ended up being a much better fit for the team dynamic wise and power set wise, while Emma was the same. While Colossus, Rogue and Moira are all fantastic characters, I think what we ended up with was just a better mix overall. I DO think the team is incredibly white, but that’s a general x-men problem, even with having an assload of diverse and intresting characters, so it’s not entirely his fault. All in all it’s a fantastic roster: four of the x-men’s best, their leader in the field for the first time in forever, and a new and intresting wild card. IT’s a nice ballance of characters and we’ll get more into it as we go. Now all the expositions done, we can finally dive head first into new x-men. I hope you survivie the experince under the cut. 

After an utterly gorgeous and striking cover, the one used up top, we get one solid page to introduce us to Morrison’s mission statment, how  they feel and how good Frank Quitely’s art looks

I cropped it best i could for tumblr but this one image immidetly says a lot. Our heroes are just.. easily taking down this sentinel, an old model... the same one we’ve seen a dozen times. What were once the grim, possible destroyers of an entire race of beings in days of future past and devistating killing machines in the present.. had become stale easily defeated murder bots There had been noble attempts to really make the sentiinels work again like the horrifying omega sentinels, humans forcibly converted into sleeper agent killing machines, during operation: zero tolerance, but otherwise they were mostly just a prop for the x-men to knock down. And that.. really is morrison’s whole point. Lampshading and mocking the fact the x-men had grown stale, things hadn’t really progressed.. and that it was time to move on. But to Uncle Grant’s credit, they not only uses this as a mission statment but it’s plot relevant: this mission will both be explained soon and explains why Logan and Scott are out and about enough to end up where the plot will soon need them. It also helps, via the sight of the syndey opera house establish something Morrison made a staple of their run: the X-Men going global. While the x-men were never really NOT global post claremont, Morrisons run has them handling rescue missions and what not worldwide far more often than most runs before it sans Claremont, and really made it feel like they weren’t just another super team but a global force of good with a specific goal and mission. More on the global aspect next time, as that’s where it really comes in but I felt it was important to show it was there for minute one. 

So yeah before we move onto the first full scene of the run, let’s talk about the costumes. 

We’ll talk about Emma’s later since she’s not introduced to the story for a while but yeah. There’s a sharp, obvious and immediate change just in the outfits, which take after the movie’s more military look, having the x-men not only look more like a unit but more like a professional orginization. Someone to come and help when needed. While this would take on more siginifigance in a bit, we’ll get to it, it also fits Morrisions own views that the x-men were less of a traditional superhero team and more something different on the edges that fought things out there, sorta what like he did with doom patrol. And it’s honestly a valid interpretation as the x-men are often seen as outlaws and misfits by society for beingn well.. mutants. Not as trusted as the avengers. So having them adopt this look played into that: Having them look more professional and focused as The X-Men have a less blanket mission statement than the avenger.. but also mildly threatning. Something to alarm the humans. It’s an utterly brilliant look thrown best together by the big yellow x’s, still giving it a nice flash of color to show off and show this is still a comic and this is still damn colorful.. this just isn’t your AVERAGE supherhero comic or the x-men your used to. IT’s a real shame the only fox x-men movie to use it was fucking dark phoenix.. a film where it didn’t even fit as xavier was getting flashier and more reckless so why wouldn’t he have more garish and colorful and more traditional superhero outfits. They did look good in their variants in first class though. Props there. Point is this is a classic, utterly stunning look, and tha’ts coming from someone whose fine with goofy superhero outfits and perpetually bitter hawkeye is almost never allowed to wear his actual comic outift and is instead stuck with shades instead of you know.. a mask. Or anything resembling an actual good looking costume. This though this is how you do a less superheroy costume: practical and realistic, but still cool looking and comic book friendly. 

We cut to a mysterious lady, we’ll come to know her as Cassandra Nova and while I know her origin... i’m saving it for later as the comics themselves explain it eventually, and a simpering dolt she brought with her, Donald Trask, a distant relative of the creators of the sentinels who, via holograms she’s showing cro magnons slaughtring the neanderthal. Her point is that Mutants are going to do this and she’s clearly fearmongering him and trying to talk him into genocide: to wipe them out before they wipe out humanity. And it’s here we get one of hte most important plot points of Morrisons run and one of the most intresting: according to cassandra’s research Humanity will be no more in 4 generations. Mutankind is on it’s way to overtaking them at last.. i’ts still a few decades off.. but it’s coming. It’s sometihing that the whole decimation nonsense sadly snuffed.. and John Hickman has thankfully brought back. I’ll get to his run once i’ts complete in a few years, but point is it’s an utterly marvelous plot hook: Humanity, whose already attempted genocide a few times, is now in real danger of what their petty, racist, fearful attacks have been about: being replaced. It’s one of the central themes of the work the other two being “Just what IS mutantkind and what will it be”. WHat are they as a people? We’ll dig into these as we go but the threat of exctincion is the backbone of this arc... and will lead to something truly ghastly. 

It’s then we get our title page.. which nothing really to add it just looks really good and helps show off who are cast is and what they can do with striking simple art. 

And since we’re already talking the art of the book, let’s take a moment to discuss an intresting detail of this run: despite it’s short length there’s quite a few diffrent artist, who we’ll talk about of course as we get to each one. The most common and notable though is Frank Quitely. Frank Quitely is one of Morrison’s closest and best creative partners, having a unique, squishy art style.. i.e. the one my friend didn’t like which is why i’m covering this. And while I like the art style quite a bit, I do get why it’s not everyone’s cup of tea: His art is squashed, weird, and admitely some faces can be good god no incaranate. But it’s also why I like it: his characters feel unique, each body and figure feels like it was custom made and thus feels.. real. Like this is a person before you. And given comics can often surrender to having everybody look the damn same, this is nice. His faces may sometimes look similar but his bodies are where the action is. But while having a realistic feel his work also has a weird alien quality that perfectly fits Morrison, and thus his run on x-men. I will say while I love All-Star Superman, his art fits less there in the more hopeful silver agey story, so he’s not an artist for EVERY STORY OF EVERY TYPE.. but when it comes to sci fi weridness, he fits it like a glove so i’ts unsuprising he and morrison are practicaley soul mates, nor that his art sets the tone perfectly for the run: this is something new, diffrent and strange.. and what says x-men at it’s best more than that?

So after our opening titles we cut to the mansion where Hank is showing off his latest and greatest invention: Cerebra. Cerbebra is a massively upgraded version of Cerebro, aka Professor Xavier’s iconic helmet that allows him to track mutants to help them out.. and covertly backup their conconousness for his long game plan, but shhhh, don’t tell anyone yet that’s not going to be retconned in for a few decades. Though i’m damn certain if Morrison has heard about the current era of x-men and how it both builds on what he built, shatters the status quo and is incredibly weird, he’d be damn proud. As for how it’s diffrent Cerebra not only has a large dome around it but said dome allows the machine to amply Charles powers to a global reach. He can now see mutants all over the world anywhere in the world, something I didn’t realize wasn’t ALWAYS a thing because it seems so simple. It’s also likely to bring it more in line with the movies. And while marvel has done TERRIBLE with bringing things in from the movies or in line with them in recent years, i.e. making star lord more like his movie self while forgetting that’s how he already used to be in canon before later writers thankfully did hte better step of merging the two, Hawkeye’s outfit, Cap’s outfit or Nick Fury Jr.  But for every mistep there’s also been tons of times it’s worked out really well such as here, as well as bringing hulk into the avengers for the first time since the founding, making tony stark more like the mcu version and less like a nightmarish self righetous dicktator who rightfully gets beat up and called out a lot, making Scott Lang prominent since he became prominent in the MCU, Wakanda being a major force in the marvel universe as it always should have been and various titles that have popped up to tie into movies, often bringing back a team or property that hadn’t had a book in some time like Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Shang Chi just to name a few. It’s not always hawkeye looking all jeremy renner is what i’m saying.. though thankfully comics clint isn’t that uninteresting. Hopefully the series will change that. 

So yeah along with a bigger shinier cerebro we’re also introduced to a big change in Hank whose taken on his lion form rather than his classic gorilla with a weird haircut or his return to that except bald. Here he’s more like aslan in a human body and I.. love it. It looks great, helps sell hanks delima of being brilliant while looking like a beast and makes sense: he kickstarted what was likely his own secondary evolution by drinking the potion that made him bestial, so it only makes sense his body wouldn’t be all that stable even if it took years to change again. And even that makes sense as hank was breifly turned back to his original hairless ape mutation during x-factor, easily one of the books.. worse decisions honestly and one that louise simonson thankfully later undid. That probably bought him some time hence why it’s only mutating further now.  It also adds an intresting wrinkle which the run will explore further: how far does this go? Will he regress? and how much hank will be left? And how will society treat his new form? 

For now he’s actually extatic. While he’s going through hormonal changes, and giving out some excellent banter with Jean

Which also includes one of the greatest lines in comic book history, one that’s been in my head for decades and made me absolutely love henry mccoy. 

He’s just great is what i’m saying. As you can tell it’s stuff like this why i’m glad Moira fell through. While I love her.. Morrison’s hank is just a delight and one really questionable subplot aside, we’ll get to that, he’s one of the highlights of this run with an intresting internal struggle, and great chemistry with EVERYONE. And that is the main reason i’m glad Moira fell through as his history with everyone but Emma, who he still has a great raport with, means each interaction has weight. He’s close friends with both scott and jean and thus serves as their needed confidant, while still being able to buddy and banter iwth good old weapon x, and speak with his mentor charles as an equal. While I love moira... Beast just fits into the cast too perfectly and I 100% suspect Morrison was only using her because, while she’s awesome, Claremont wanted her and thus gladly snapped her up when he no longer had a science person. I’ll get into his Jean soon enough but she’s likewise fantastic and easily my faviorite version of the character.. not that until very recently there was much honest competition. 

So Cerebra fires up showing a massive cloud of mutants, showing just how much of a huge spike theirs been with Xavier wondering what it all means.. and Hank seeing a weird flare on the mointor for just a second with his special eyes. But since Xavier isn’t stupid and isn’t the kind of idiot who just dismisses it as a fulke, and since Scott and Logan are in the field, he decides to confrence call them in to see if they can go take a look. 

And naturally we get to see what their up to and get context for what the hell happened in the first page. Our heroes were on a rescue mission to save Ugly John, tha’ts what people called him, a three faced mutant who ends up passing out as they head out of the atmosphere for a second. Wolverine is regenerating and smoking out of his neck becaue he could still smoke back then before marvel decided “he’s setting a bad example”.. in a comic meant for teens and adults. 

I mean I get it on some level as the x-men cartoon was a huge thing in the 90′s and Ben Grimm is basically a giant children’s toy with the mind of a surly 40 year old jewish man from yancy street, but stilll it’s just.. why. I may not like smoking but it’s not like it was SPIDER-MAN saying

It’s a grown man.. whose not a sterling roll model and who Claremont went out of his way to have Logan point out his healing factor means it really dosen’t hurt him in the long run and when Kitty, an actual teenager, tried one of his cigars she choked. I know it’s a weird thing to get hung up on but while i’m all for keeping kids from smoking, this was a really clumsy way to try and hehlp that that made no sense and will never make any sense. 

One tangent later we find out that Cassandra was showing Trask a simulation on a flight to, unsuprisingly, south america, to a sentinel blacksite. Between covertly funding civil wars as they do, the US Goverment naturally founded an experimental sentinal project, and a second master mold during the production of the first line... when larry trask asks where it could possibly be well...

Subtly was not the trasks strong point.. or common sense... or.. not realizing their creations would dominate humanity too or not dying. 

Anyways we then cut back to the x-men, as their having a psychic zoom meeting with Charlie giving one of his patnted big speeches.. and like a lot of this comic it’s too damn good not to use 

The reason I couldn’t should be obvious: This one speech sums up the x-men, why their great and why their necessary in a nutshell: in a world full of prejucided morons.. there’s plenty of scared kids who NEED the x-men to protect and guide them, and with a surge in the mutant population, their needed now more than ever. We also get a good explanation in universe for the uniform change: Charles had them in the superhero outfits hoping humanity would accept them if they were packaged as something they know. Since that clearly hasn’t worked he’s trying new ways to reach out and thus going with a diffrent more rescue team approach to the uniforms. He assigns Wolvie and Cyke to go check out the flair as you’d expect and the meetings over. On the blackbird we get our first hint at a subplot as Logan noticed Cyclops couldn’t wait to get out of there, and is being a tad distant to his wife. He actually has reasons for being kind of cold for once instead of just bad writing as he just came back from being possed by apocalypse. Yeah that happened. So the experience has rattled our boy some what. More on that as we go. But Jean ducks the subject with hank but does breach the fact that Charles has been going kind of crazy with the spending, new uniforms and ambition lately. Hank explains it perfectly: After all the death, suffering and misery the x-men have endured lately, the aforementioned deaths I talked about that took Colossus and Moira off the roster, have lionzed Charles to make sure it was all worth something and look towards the future. 

But enough hope time for horror as Cassandra makes her first direct move, trying to take over Charles brain , make his body her own and use cerebra to kill lots and lots of mutants. We then get one of the best moments of Morrisons run with Charles response to a horrifying monster trying to take his brain

While it is shocking to find out Charles has a gun..it’s a grim but kind of understandable precaution. The guy once got fully taken over by a brood, assembling the New Mutants in part because the brood wanted to create more of i’ts kind with more super powers. You’d be paranoid too if some of your beloved students were brought together partly due to your good intentions and partly because a space monster wanted to make more space montsters out of helpless teens, and even horribly gaslighted one of them. We’ll get to that some day. Point is Charles brain is one of the greatest weapons on earth and if the wrong person got a hold of it, it’d be the end of said earth. Thankfully Charles does not need plan gun, as Jean yanks Cerebra off him but the sheer HATE Charles felt from Cassandra, the sheer power has rattled him.. and also told him she’s in Ecuador and his X-Men need to be warned NOW. It’s a great way to set up just HOW powerful Cassandra is.  Speaking of which as our first issue of the arc ends, we find out two things: Cass faked being int he government but really just used dead soldiers as prop.. and just what kind of sentinels are out there.. wild sentinels. Easily my faviorite variant of the old killing machines and one that’s barely used despite being really damn awesome. Their adaptive killing machines, designed to mutated just like their pray and take tech from around them, as a result they look like a jumble of guns and parts.. but not only does it give them a unique, cool look.. but it makes them ten times deadlier as instead of being big bricks of robots that while intimidating, the x-men know how to kill... their unpredictable variable killing machines. You can figure out how to kill one sure.. btu the next might be entirely diffrent. They are one of morrisons best creations and I hope someone uses the idea again.. aka hickman. Please use it jonathan I know your focused on nimrod but come on. 

And we end on one of the best lines of the entiire run as we close out the issue

Yeah it goes without saying but i’ll say it anyway; Morrison is really damn good with dialouge and being damn quotable. 

So we open with another great quote “When I got up today I didn’t expect to kill 20 million people”... and Cassandra being aware Wolverine and Cyclops are on their way and sending the Wild Sentinels to dispatch them. Also our heroes brought Ugly John along while while a dumb move, Wolvie does point out how dumb it was to divert to Ecuador with a civlian in tow.. after the plane crash of course. As for “wait what plane crash’, the sentinels attack and start picking it apart... and since letting them have such good tech is a terrible idea, Scotty blows up the damn plane. So to recap our heroes are stuck in ecuador, surrounded by murder machines, and oh look their there and knock off cyclops viser. Fantastic. So yeah our heroes are fucked. And naturally captured by the enemy.

The rest of the x-men are doing SLIGHTLY better. While beast makes a note for his girlfriend, more on that later on, Charles is in bed, half alive, explaning the rationale I gave for why he has the gun with Jean refusing to let him get back out of bed and you know.. put on the device that just nearly killed him. But when beast announces they lost contact with our boys.. yeah that ceased being an option. 

Back in the Ecuadorian Genocide Factory, Cassandra does the obvious and kills donald trask as his real purpose..was to stick around and be stupid for a bit while she copied his dna so she could have full control of her new murder toys.She soon uses them, having a horrifying death chamber slaughter john.. or at least flash fry him. Wolverine takes it how you’d expect and since the sentinels need to “perserve trask dna”.. they can’t fire on him without killing her. Scott escapes.. and in a heart wrenching scene mercy kills john.. before getting badass. 

To anyone who says Scott Summers is boring, unintersting, or a stupid asshole idiot head I present exhbit shut the fuck up. Morrison gets scott just right, deconstructing his emotional suppression, while showing him off as a dedicated, companionate man who gets the job done and who seconds after tearfully having to mercy kill an innocent mutant whose death was partially his fault, wastes no time making it painfully clear to the person responsible she WILL die if she tries that again. Logan however realizes she’s already won in some fashion as she’s grinning.. and yeah never a good sign when a genocidal madwoman is grinning like a loon.. and when we find out why.. it’s even less good>  We cut to Genosha. A lot of you probably know what happned to Genosha but in case you don’t know what it is it was once a horribly racist country that genetically enslaved mutants and used them for slave labor. It was freed, but still struggled to truly move on.. till Magneto showed up, took the country for himself and made it a home for all mutants. When we last saw him he once again tried to take over the world leading to Logan seemingly killing him. Right now though Emma Frost finally enters the scene teaching some mutants.. when a young one named Negasonic Teenage Warhead.. yes that one and yes she was entirely chosen for deadpool for her name, reveals, via precognition, that their all going to die.. right as the sentinels attack. 

Genosha.. is gone. In an eyeblink 16 million mutants are dead, a possible future gone, and one of their greatest leaders is no more. Yeah Magneto WAS alive.. but paralyzed so he could do nothing when his island was utterly slaughtered. Only a handful of mutants will be revealed to survive. Humanity had done a lot to mutants before .. but for once.. they’d succeeded in wiping a massive chunk out. What was an x-men location for DECADES at this point.. was now a smoldering crater. A what could of been that would hant the x-men ever after, even now into utopia it remains the darkest day in mutant history outside of hte decimation. It is a truly horrific moment.. and if the changes already hadn’t made it clear this is morrison saying “NO character is safe, nothing is safe, and nothing will be the same and I damn well mean that”. In one act of hate the world has changed. And it hasn’t finished changing yet. 

Issue Three opens hammering in things, as Jean and Beast are in the ruins of genosha, with Xavier having found ONE surivor among the rubble, and our heroes sturggling to find even them, though Jean eventually picks them up and uses her TK to sift through the rubble. 

They find Emma who emerges from a bunker in shock, clutching NTW... and not realizing she’s dead until later and revealing she now has diamond skin, her own secondary mutation. Secondary Mutation was a birlliant idea, new powers sprouting up within established mutants.. it’s just morrison barely used this great idea as did hardly anyone else. Only X-Men Blue ever really dug into it and those were artifical at that. IT’s a great idea..it’s just barely used and at most heavily implied to explain changes in powers like Jamie Madrox Multiple Personalities later on or Doug Ramsey’s vast increase in power. Disapointing. 

While Charles takes in the tragedy and the fact his old frienmie is dead, the x-men wonder what the fuck Cassandra is and what to do with her.. why did she kill 16 million people, and what the fuck is she. I mean I know, but as I said i’ll explain that when the story does.  IN the other room Beast tends to Emma who wants none of not fucking killing Cassandra.. and is utterly right. Bitchy, because i’ts Emma, but right: she killed 16 million people. Say what you want but while it may not be up to the x-men to kill her.. she shoudln’t be living much longer. She commited genocide. Emma decides fuck that and prepares to leave summoning a cab and making peace with being a glorious living fabrige egg. Emma did apparelty change in generation x.. but Morrison is responsible for returning her not only to being a bitch, but a gloriously delightful one And really I don’t think they reset her character entirely: she’s not the heartless monster she started out as: she has empathy, grace, and caring.. she just buries it under a lair of absolute bitch and after you know, surviving a fucking genocide who can blame her? And honestly.. I love their verison of her. She provides a nice contrast to the more idealistic, even logan, x-men and a nice contrarian voice in the room without being obnoxious and her style and sacrastic swagger makes her endlessly entertaning. Thanks to morrison she’s stuck around to this day and went from a pretty good character.. to a great one. And what makes her this way, or as jean puts it “such a bitch?”

With that settled, Hank explains what Cassandra is: a competing species. As he puts it sometimes evolution takes a quantum leap forward.. and Cassandra is the result. Thus she wants to wipe out the compettition and is so far above humanity, she dosen’t need them... especially since she knows what Hank now knows: humanity is at an end. As hank puts it we have an E Gene, one that basically shuts off a race.. and thus the x-men now know what we learned earlier and that cassandra wasn’t lying: in 4 generations there are no more humans and something has to repalce htem. And Cassandra wants it to be her. 

Before Logan can do what he does best, and asks why she looks like charles, Cassandra escapes, and Scott briliantly urges them to fight only on instict as she’s a telepath. A damn awesome fight insues including Cassandra donning Charles Psoonic battle armor, Scott being put in his black bug room and the general good looking chaos you’d expect from a superhero fight. While this goes on Emma has an ephinany and realizes she likes to teach, the x-men have a school.. and she shoudln’t give up on helping kids just because of what happened and turns around. 

Cassandra is near victory, slipping her way to Cerebra.. and planning to kill only one mind before getting to the millions she wnats, a horrifying slug manifesting around her.. only...

So the x-men accept this and cassandra rises.. seemingly saying “I am charles” Huh... and then charles uncaracteristiacally shoots her saying things must change

We’ll get to what all of that means next time as we close on Jean and Scott in bed. Scott explains why he’s been so distant as what I said earlier: fighting off apocalypse stripped away a lot of illusions about himself and he’s having a hard time walking back from that but Jean is willing to help.. but before they can resolve their  issues.. charles has an annoucnment to make and grant has one last whopper of a suprise to end his opening arc on, and just like genosha...it’s a game changer of titanic proportions

No longer is Xavier’s School hidden. Their walking into the light now and so is charles. Hope they surivive the experince. Obviously this move is brilliant: while it removes the veil of saftey the x-men had it also brings on tons of new possiblities and unlike secondary mutation, this one not only stuck but would impact the x-men for good: no longer would they hide and cower.. their mutant and proud.. and their here to stay.  E For Extinction is one of the best x-men stories period. Blisteringly paced, full of great character, great concepts and utterly terrifying and terrific moments that would impact the x-men all the way to present day. It’s beautifully drawn, well paced, and a masterwork. I highly recommend it and it’s a great kickoff to a great run. Shame the run couldn’t of ended on this kind of high but.. we’ll get to that. For now this is a masterclass in how to start a run and if you haven’t read it do so NEXT TIME ON NEW X-MEN: A bunch of weirdos try to harvest mutant organs, the x-men get a brain in a jar and a new teamate, and Scott maybe cheats on his wife. Until then, goodbye goodbye goodbye. 

[augustheart]

i know i just asked you for comics the other day but i thought about how bad comics are for like 20 mins and now i want to Read Them More. so like. do you have recs? (besides doom patrol lol)

yes!!! i do!!! the comics i love are comics i could talk about all day!!! i’ll try to pick ones that you don’t need to have 200 gigabytes of lore to enjoy. this’ll look pretty damn similar to my comfort comic list, sorry about that. 

secret six vol. 4 (2015): don’t let the vol. 4 scare you, this is in the n52 so it’s a total reboot. big recommend. if you like it i also recommend villains united + vol. 2 & 3, especially since 2 & 3 cross over with the doom patrol. just remember the dynamics will be a bit different because of the reboot. this is probably thematically the most like doom patrol? ironic because of how much the teams hate each other with a passion. (hook for vol. 4: six strangers are put in a coffin and told they must kill each other to survive at the whim of the mysterious mockingbird.)

wonder twins (2019): genuinely one of the best comics i have ever read and one of the best comics of the past decade period. seriously. absolutely fantastic. a comic that reminds me why i love comics. this and dial h are in a league of their own. (hook: alien twins learn how to exist on earth while they balance being interns for the justice league and being teenagers.) 

dial h for hero (2019): genuinely one of the best comics i have ever read and one of the best comics of the past decade period. seriously. absolutely fantastic. a comic that reminds me why i love comics. this and wonder twins are in a league of their own. (hook: two kids run away from their small town with the mysterious H-dial, which can transform anyone who answers the call into a superhero.) 

the fury of firestorm: the nuclear men (2011): this one does have some dc continuity behind it, but it’s still a part of the n52 reboot, so you’ll have some help along the way. important to note that the “issue zero” narratively comes at the end of the first arc, not in front of issue one. it’s...not the best, but i like it, i think it’s a good introduction to firestorm, and the love dynamic between jason and ronnie is fantastic. just pretend it ends when it does. the followup in legends of tomorrow sucks even if it makes tonya gay. (hook: someone’s after the means to destroy the world, and the only ones standing in the way are jason rusch and ronnie raymond, two teens who want nothing to do with this--or with each other.)

blue beetle vol. 7 (2006): this is probably the most lore-intensive one of this list. you do have to know a decent bit of dc history to read this one, but luckily it’s told from the perspective of a beginner superhero so you get an introduction that way. starts out pretty slow but that doesn’t mean it starts out bad. it’s also the longest on this list. you don’t need to read all of it, past the climax of the story the rest of it isn’t technically necessary, but it’s good until the end and i think all of it is worth reading. (hook: teenage boy jaime reyes crash lands back on earth with a piece of alien technology attached to his spine, transforming him into the third blue beetle. now it’s up to him to save el paso and maybe even the world.)

far sector (2019): you’ve probably heard of this one just because it’s also under the young animal popup. very good stuff. i love jamal campbell’s art, he’s the reason i’ve looked twice at many a comic, so i’d consider it worth reading on his skill alone. the mystery is good too, and even though it’s very lore heavy it’s comic-exclusive lore. you don’t really need to know anything more than the basics about the wider dc universe. (hook: sojourner “jo” mullein is the newest earth green lantern, tasked with protecting a sector of the universe--one that’s on the brink of a civil war.)

justice league of america’s vibe (2013): okay look. i just...i just want more people to read this comic. it’s a problem i have. the characters are just...they’re just...they’re really good and i care about them incredibly deeply. another n52 comic! you don’t need tons of lore! they explain most of it to you! the tie-in to the main JLA title isn’t really necessary to understand the story! please! (hook: cisco ramon is recruited by ARGUS to be the second-youngest member of the justice league. of america. that one. this should be the opportunity of a lifetime. so why does it feel like a trap?) 

i’ll cut myself off here but i also have some other recommendations that are more character-specific if there’s someone you’ve seen me post about whose piqued your interest!