#the second one diego said the same thing when he saw the original timeline

[imjustavenuxwithaboomerang]

absolutely hate how each season of tua seems to start with the siblings acknowledging reginald as the main problem/a problem in general but somehow ends with them ultimately blaming themselves/the other siblings

[pretend-writer]

Kids Of The Future (Chapter 6)

Mini-Series

Summary: After time traveling from the apocalypse in 2019, a surprise waits for Diego and Y/N as they arrive at Dallas, Texas circa 1960.

Pairing: Hargreeves x sibling!reader, Diego Hargreeves x reader

Word Count: 3.9k words

Warning: mention of violence, mention of death, gruesome violence, swearing

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- Y/N's POV -

Five had left me by myself in The Handler's office, hunting for the briefcase as I read more of Belinda's files.

It was a huge mystery how she ended up in the 60s with us. She was only a baby when we found her in the alley, nothing made sense at all.

A loud creek shifted my thoughts, making me jump up. Staying in character, I spoke up thinking that it was probably someone from the commission. 'Who's there?'

'Ahh!' Diego screamed as he tackled me, 'You creep! It was you at the alley harassing my girlfriend huh? Who the hell are you exactly and what do you want with my daughter?'

'It's me, oh my- Diego, it's me!'

He seemed confused until the realization hit him; Diego's jaw dropped when he noticed that I was shape shifted into The Handler. 'Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know this is what you were doing.'

'What are you doing here?' I turned back to my original form, slightly raising my voice at Diego. 'I told you it's just me and Five here today.'

'Sorry, I just got worried and-and I came here. I didn't meant to cause trouble.'

'But what if you got caught? We don't know what these people are capable of.'

'Well, I took the risk for you.' Diego bit his lips and shifted eye contact. 'I had to make sure you were okay.'

I sighed, frustrated but flattered at the same time that my stomach was filled with butterflies. He had called me his girlfriend, came all the way here to talk to The Handler about that night.

But I was far too focused because my baby was in danger; more importantly her history was revealed. I handed Diego the file that was in my hand, 'Read it.'

His brows furrowed, showed nothing but confusion as he saw Bel's name across the file. 'Where's this from?'

'It was in this desk. The Handler's desk.' I answered as he opened it and read throughly. 'It-it kind of answered our questions we've been wondering for the past three years.'

'This... this has got to be a mistake, right? I mean she's one of us then? But how?'

'I have no idea.' I was scared; scared as to how she got here in the first place. Scared about what was going to happen to us, to Bel. Scared that this whole thing could've been a set up and we never knew.

Diego grabbed my hand, 'This... this won't change the fact that she's still our baby.'

A small smile formed on my face, it was nice that Diego was giving me reassurance. In a way, I was glad he was here. He made me feel safe. 'Yeah. You're right.'

'You don't have to worry anymore. I'm here to protect you and Bel.' He smiled, it was weird for him to say such thing because this whole time we'd never talk to each other like that. Or in this tone, at least. He squeezed my hand, pulled me in as he wrapped his arms around me. 'You're safe with me, Y/N.'

As I smiled back at him, Five appeared out of thin air using his powers. With a briefcase in his hand, he stared at us. 'Guys, get a room.'

'We're already in a room.' Diego chuckled, 'You're the one that interrupted us.'

Five rolled his eyes, 'What the hell are you doing here anyway? This is supposed to be mine and Y/N's mission.'

'Sorry, I couldn't sit still knowing how crazy The Handler is. Didn't want anything to happen to you guys.'

'Well, we're fine. Now let's get back to the others and figure out what the hell we're going to do now.' We gathered around together closely, Five controlling the briefcase as we traveled back to our meeting spot, the Karate Gym.

Everything was fine, or at least we thought it was until we turned around and saw all our siblings tied up with one person standing around them while holding onto Bel; Lila.

'You really think you could impersonate my mother?' Lila laughed, 'Your acting sucks.'

'Stay away from Bel. Put her down.' Diego shouted.

'Ah, so that's where the cute one went. I was looking for you, Diego boy.' She grinned, 'What makes you guys think I'll give her back?'

'Give me my baby back, now. Or I swear I'll do harm to you far more worse than you can imagine.'

Lila raised her eyebrows, 'I'm not scared of you. What, you're going to morph into Frankenstein or something?'

'Ha, I wouldn't test it if I were you. She's pranked us with things scarier than that.' Klaus laughed softly.

'You see Lila, my power is such a great thing because you know why? I can turn into anything I've seen and I've read many books as a child. Many.'

Lila laughed, 'You guys are such idiots. I thought it was just Five but seems like it runs in the family.'

'Watch your mouth!' Five yelled at her.

'You Hargreeves aren't the only ones that have super powers, you know that right?'

The cheeky grin made me want to just punch her in her smug face. 'We already know Bel has powers. We went through The Handler's fil-'

'I'm not talking about her.' She flashed a smile as she stepped closer to Diego and I. 'Diego, I heard a rumor...'

Diego's eyes flashed glassy grayish white, completely freezing into place. My mind immediately was out of focus, noticing that somehow, Lila had Allison's powers. But I didn't have time to think, I had to get her before she got into his head then try to get Bel back also.

My eyes met with Five, knowing exactly what we needed to do. He disappeared into thin air, appearing back next to Lila as he quickly grabbed onto Bel.

Lila was distracted, not realizing I shifted into Luther as I used the strength to pull her up the floor.

'You can take their powers too?' Lila smirked, holding onto my hand as she tried to grasp for air. 'Thought it was solely just for design.'

'Why are you surprised? I'm a shape shifter, I told you I can turn into anything.' I threw her to the ground then shifted into Vanya, using my force field to try to hurt Lila. While my surrounding turned blue as my energy started to build up, Lila kicked me hard into the mats.

A scream came from the other side of the room as Diego charged towards Lila, throwing knives at her when she tried to get up. As he tackled her down, I grabbed one of his knives and held it only a centimeter away from Lila's neck.

'What do you want with Bel?' I yelled as I shifted back to myself again. 'And don't fucking lie to me.'

'I don't know, this was all mom's plan. Even if I did know, I wouldn't fucking tell you.' Lila giggled devilishly.

This time, I stuck the cold knife onto her skin, letting her bleed lightly to scare her but not hard enough to where she's severely injured. 'I appreciate you playing this "I'm a bad girl" act, but cut the shit or I'll really hurt you.'

'You wouldn't dare.'

I raised my brows at her as she tested my patience. It had been a while since I've "investigated" anyone but the thrill and the adrenaline just took over my body. It didn't help the fact that this girl was a part of taking my baby away from me.

As I took her hand off the floor, I snatched her index finger and this time, pushed the knife right under her finger nail. 'I'm not playing around, do you believe me now or should I keep going?'

Lila was terrified, breathing heavily as she shook her head. 'S-sorry.'

Five kneeled next to me, joining in on the conversation to try to get information out of her. 'So how did Bel end up here in the 60s?'

She rolled her eyes. 'You really are a kid aren't you? Story time is-'

I interrupted her as I pushed down the knife that Diego struck into her arm earlier. Screaming in pain while the knife dug deeper into her skin, I got closer to her face.

'Okay, okay. Don't mess with you or your brother, I get it now.' She said before I let go of the knife. 'Who are you people?'

'Couple of old roommates that had to play house with an old man that never gave a shit about us.' A fake smile formed on my face. 'That geezer taught us a lot of stuff, taught me how to interrogate people at the age of six. Sounds great right?'

She laughed, 'We would've been great friends.'

'I'd rather have my eyeball chewed off by a wolf.'

Five groaned, 'Will you guys shut up and let me know how this baby ended up here please?'

Diego chuckled, 'Oh no. Keep going. It's hot watching Y/N getting riled up.'

Klaus gagged from behind. 'We're only tied up you know? We can still hear.'

Lila sighed, probably fed up with the Hargreeves shenanigans that she had to deal with. 'Anyways, she was several months old when she started to discover her powers, poor baby couldn't control such powerful thing. Her ecokinesis energy collided with the lightning that was flashing that night, aligned with your timeline as you were traveling back in time. Then boom, alley. Crazy huh?'

'That is actually fascinating.' Diego nudged Five's shoulder as he nodded, interested in the story. 'What? Don't tell me you're not surprised as I am how that worked. That means lightning can somehow boost time traveling. Maybe that's why we're stuck here.'

'Or you just suck at time traveling.' Allison added.

I looked at Lila and smiled. 'So what do you say? You let us go and never ever see us again.'

'That's cute of you, really but I can't let you do that.'

Five cracked his neck and his fingers as he looked at me and Diego, 'Guys move out the way.'

Diego asked, raising his eyebrows as he was a bit scared of what might happen. 'Uhm why?'

'Just go untie them, please. I'll handle Lila.'

'Handle? What are you going to do to me?' She replied back as Five pulled out some weird item from his blazer. In a second, he made Lila shut up which I was thankful for. On the other hand, I was a little scared since I didn't know what the hell he did. Hopefully, it was a tranquilizer.

Making sure that Lila was no longer conscious, Diego and I walked over to our siblings. As I reached over behind Allison to untie her, she cocked her head. 'Ah. Well, Five left with that girl.'

'Can we please talk about the weird  but sort of cool transformation that Y/N did?' Klaus added as Diego helped him untie the rope. 'You turning into Luth-'

'Yeah, no let's not mention it.' Diego shook his head, 'Y/N don't ever do that again.'

Luther gasped. 'Hey! Honestly, I thought it was awesome.'

I laughed as I stood behind Luther after I was done with Allison, fiddling with the knot on his wrist. 'I mean, it worked right? I needed the strength and Luther was the first person I thought about.'

'Why couldn't you be like Hulk or Wonder Woman?' Diego complained, untying Klaus from the ropes from his wrist.

Just as I finished untying Luther, I heard the voice. Her voice.

'Majority of the Hargreeves in one room, very impressive.'

'Yup, did it all by myself. Are you proud or what?' I implied as I popped up from behind Luther, quickly shifting to Lila. 'Couldn't find Five or Y/N but asked the commission to keep an eye on them while I'm here.'

The Handler smiled, 'Good work. So tell me why everyone's untied except for Luther and Vanya?'

With Luther's hands still behind his back, he played along and kept his hands as if it were still tied. Vanya was still tied up from when Lila captured her, since Diego and I didn't have the chance to untie her yet.

Klaus, Allison and Diego on the other hand, stood still and stared at me. Thinking of some random excuse, I went along with the first one I could think of. 'I've rumored them to stay like that and to keep their mouth shut. They're harmless now.'

'Brilliant. Wow, Lila. You're more ready than I thought you were.' She walked over to me then "booped" my nose.

Oh, what I'd do to wipe the strong perfume off my nose. I just kept on talking to The Handler, hoping that it would distract me from the smell. 'So what should we do with this baby?'

'I'll take care of it. Raise it like I raised you, make it a warrior and hopefully become a powerful part of the commission.'

'She.' I corrected her. 'The baby is not a thing.'

The Handler chuckled, putting her briefcase down as she walked closer to me. 'Does it matter? Don't tell me you're attached to.. "her". Are you?'

'No, mom. Just wondering if you ever thought of me like you do this baby.' I was a bit proud of myself, thinking of a scenario and keeping Lila's accent as I fooled this woman.

'Oh, no darling. I could never.' She stood close to me, caressing my cheek and smiled at me. 'You will always be my one and only daughter. Always making me proud.'

'So you don't mind us taking Bel back then?' Allison stood behind her and smiled, knowing that she took The Handler by surprise.

Luther walked over next to Allison, grabbing The Handler's briefcase off the floor. 'Excuse me while I take this off your hand. You won't be needing this anymore.'

The woman's brows raised, confusion rushing through her brains as the rest of my siblings except for Vanya started roaming free. 'H-how did you guys-'

'Ha, it's just me behind my powers.' I revealed myself in front of The Handler, watching her jaw drop. 'My accent was pretty good wasn't it?'

'Way better than The Handler performance, to be honest.' Five popped out of nowhere, smiling and waving at the woman. 'Long time, no see granny. Did you miss me?'

Vanya stood up as Klaus helped her with the rope. 'Uh Five? What did you do to Lila?'

'I figured out that she can manipulate people's powers so I had to improvise.' Five grinned, 'Used my briefcase, zapped us to a time where she won't be able to survive. Now I'm back here.'

Luther stared at him, 'Wow. You're fucking evil.'

'Thank you, how kind of you.'

'You bring my daughter back right now!' The Handler stomped on the floor.

Diego gasped, 'Hey! You're going to ruin our mats. It cost us a fortune building this gym.'

'You only want your daughter back because you have no power when she's gone, right? Just like how you want Bel for her powers.' Five took a step towards her. 'You can't control and manipulate them anymore.'

'Letting you choose the easy way or the hard way.' I watched her squirm, looking around the room for a way to escape or perhaps a weapon that can hurt us.

Klaus smiled, 'There's no way out of here.'

The Handler huffed. 'The commission will come and hunt you forever if you kill me.'

'They already don't like you.' Five laughed, 'We'd be doing them a favor. And you know it.'

She slowly backed away from us, knowing this was the end for her. I would've felt bad about all of this but knowing that she only wanted to use Bel for her "personal project" and seeing how manipulative she was towards Lila, I didn't feel any remorse at all.

'This won't hurt. Maybe.' Five smiled as he inched closer to The Handler.

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- Diego's POV -

Our gym was a wreck. I guess it didn't matter though because we were about to go back to our own timeline, leaving everything we've ever had here. It sucked that we had to leave this place that we called home for the past three years, it was even worse that it got turned into a crime scene all because of this woman that couldn't mind her own business.

I was always for beating the back guys and punishment but seeing how this turn out made my stomach turn a little. It had been a while since we did something as gross as this; not since we all left dad's mansion. But Five mentioned that a bullet through her brain wouldn't even stop her, so I guess this was necessary to stop her once and for all.

At the end of all of this, Bel, Y/N and the rest of the family was alright. That's what mattered.

'Wow, damn.' Luther spoke in awe as he looked around the room. 'This place is... uhm... I'm so sorry guys.'

'It's okay.' Y/N let out a soft laugh, 'Like Five said, we don't belong in this timeline. Nothing here will matter anymore once we go back.'

Allison took a deep breath, trying to catch up her breathing after long, hard work. 'Still, Y/N. This was yours and Diego's home.'

'Honestly I'm more worried about Bel watching us do what we just did.' I looked over at her, realizing that she had fallen asleep in the corner of the gym. 'Oh, well I guess I don't have to worry.'

Klaus got up from the mat, 'So you guys ready to go back home? I know I am.'

'Hold on, there's something I need to do before we go back.' Y/N said, then looked over at Five. 'Do you mind helping me with something?'

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The seven of us stood behind a bush, in front of a nice, suburban house after Five zapped us here with a briefcase. Five and Y/N haven't told us where we were yet, guessing that they didn't want to share whatever they were whispering to each other. Luther questioned them, 'Where are we?'

Both of them ignored him, continuing to mumble amongst each other. Y/N seemed sad, as if she was about to cry. I wanted to comfort her but decided to wait until she reached out to me.

Vanya nudged my side, grabbing my attention and looking at me then back to Y/N. 'You know what's going on?'

I shook my head in response as I was confused as she was. Continuing to watch over Y/N, she finally looked over at me and motioned me to come. With Bel in her arms, she held her tight and kissed her forehead. 'Everything okay, Y/N?'

She stared into my eyes, tears streaming down as she nodded slowly. 'You see the two couples inside the house? That's Bel's parents.'

My eyes fell to our baby, then back to her. Hoping that it didn't mean what I thought she meant, I clarified. 'We're not in the 60s anymore, are we?'

Y/N bit her lip and shook her head. 'Five took us forward in time. This is the year we'd turn three years old, where Bel would turn three too.'

'Wait so-' My mind was all over the place, I wasn't prepared for this at all. 'What are you trying to say?'

'You know Diego, you know.' She sniffled, 'Please don't make me say it.'

Y/N cried on my shoulders as I hugged her and Bel tightly, heartbroken that it had to be this way.

I didn't know what I expected when we took her in. I've never thought of the days where we would finally see the rest of the Hargreeves, or getting the briefcase to go back to where we came from. I didn't even imagine the days where Y/N and I would grow old together, raising Bel peacefully as we start our lives in the 60s. I just simply took it day by day, enjoying every single moment with the two girls that I loved so much.

But everything was different now, so different that I didn't expect any of this. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Bel, I couldn't imagine being back to a "normal" life because my norm was being with her. I knew, however, that this was the right thing to do and I was sure Y/N knew that too. This must've been a tough decision that she had to make, I stood next to her and supported her choice even if it hurt so much.

'Don't cry, mama.' Bel giggled, touching Y/N's cheek and wiping away her tears.

A laugh escaped her mouth, smiling as she kissed the top of Bel's head. 'I'm sorry kiddo. I-I just love you so much.'

'I love you, Bel. More than you could ever know.' Belinda smiled at me as I said those words to her, grabbing me on my nose.

Y/N exhaled, 'You ready, Diego?'

'Yeah.' I said hesitantly, gazing at Bel for the one last time before Allison took her in her arms. 'You're going to say bye too?'

'Something like that.' Allison walked to the front door, guessing that she needed space from me and Y/N.

She mumbled words to Bel, making her eyes turn grayish white for a few seconds before it turned back to normal color. Y/N saw my facial expression change, holding onto my hand as she comforted me. 'It's for the best, Diego.'

Allison knocked on the door then left Bel on the front porch before she joined us back behind the bushes. The couple came out, gasping in surprise as they reunited with their baby once again.

'She's back with her family. It wouldn't have been fair for her to remember everything, you know? A normal life is what we want for her, right?'

I hugged Y/N and kissed her on the cheek as she wrapped her arms around me. We've loved Bel as if she was our own, took care of her for the last three years of our lives. Knowing how much Y/N loved her, it must of been hard to let her go. 'I love you, Y/N. I love you so much.'

'Aw, that is so cute. I love you all. I actually loved that little goofball too.' Klaus joined in on the hug, ruining my not-so-romantic moment with Y/N, although I wasn't slightly upset about it because Klaus was just Klaus.

Luther chuckled, 'Look at us being a family again.'

'Again? We were never a family to begin with.' Five cackled. 'This will be a start of something new, maybe. If you guys won't piss me off, that is.'

'That is the cutest and the kindest thing that's ever came out of your mouth, Five.' Allison grinned.

Five rolled his eyes. 'Ugh, never mind then. Let's just go home.'

'Okay, okay. Quick question though before we have this wonderful and fun time traveling back to 2019.' Klaus beamed, ear from ear. 'So when you turned into Luther, did you turn into Luther? You know, like your body everywhere?'

I hit him on his stomach, grossed out by the imagine in my head. 'Klaus, I swear I will leave you here in the 90s.'

'Actually, that doesn't sound too bad.' Klaus hummed.

[partypetes]

TUA Creator’s Bingo: Diedora

Summary: The apocalypse is over. Diego has some catching up to do.

Pairing/Characters: Diego Hargreeves/Eudora Patch, Diego Hargreeves, Eudora Patch, The Hargreeves(as a unit)

Word Count: 1,180

Square Filled: Diedora

Warnings:

A/N: whats up, im doing @tuacreatorsbingo ! i have a lot of cool spaces but i decided to try my hand at these two assholes first.

AO3 Link

“So this timeline is stable.” Luther said slowly.

“Yes.” Five answered.

“And we’re back one week from the original apocalypse.” Vanya stated, her arms crossed like she was hugging herself.

“April 1st, yes.”

“And this isn’t some really mean, really roundabout prank you’ve been pulling on us nonstop for the last four months.” Klaus added, then looked around the living room at everyone’s expressions. “What?”

Five gave Klaus a blank look. He took a long, intentional drink of his coffee.

“Ben just called me stupid for you.” Klaus grumbled a second later, crossing his arms.

“Thanks, Ben.” Five said casually.

“So everything… is fine.” Allison clarified, her eyebrows raised at their littlest brother.

Five smiled sweetly at her. “As long as you don’t fuck it up.”

She scoffed, turning away. “I just…” She pressed a hand to her forehead, “I can’t believe it’s over. And you’re sure? Completely sure?”

“We’ve taken out or prepared for all the variables.” Five said firmly, “The timeline is already irreparably changed and The Commission is a pile of rubble. The apocalypse is over.”

There was silence at the announcement, broken up only by Klaus’ commentary to Ben.

“Yeah, right.” Klaus muttered over his shoulder, “He’s fine now, but in five hours he’ll be raving and writing on the floor underneath the dining room table like a lunatic.” Five’s empty coffee cup hit him square in the forehead. “Ow!” He screeched, flailing backwards, “Bullying! Bad Five!”

“Any other questions?” Five asked, an edge to his voice. He didn’t like prying or being questioned.

“Yeah.” Diego spoke up, “Can I leave?”

“I..” Five paused, blinking at him, “Yes..?”

“You’re just going to leave?” Luther stated, sounding more confused than upset. To be fair, they’d all spent four months glued at the hip while they fixed the timeline and stopped the clock on the apocalypse. The idea that Diego just wanted to wander off was maybe a little jarring.

“I’ve been stuck with you assholes for months and I’ve got things to do.” He shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly, “If everything’s back to normal, I have to go.. You know… be an adult again.”

“Shit.” Allison sighed, “I guess I have to call my therapist and see about Patrick and Claire.”

“I have students.” Vanya said reluctantly.

“I have drugs to avoid.” Klaus shrugged.

All of the Hargreeves stood around, watching each other with uncertainty. The past few months had relied on them being together and bonding, solving problems.. And it was over, just like that. They were free and splitting up for the first time in ages.

“Nobody’s dying.” Diego huffed, crossing his arms, “I’ll be back, I just have stuff to do.”

“Can we all meet back here tonight?” Luther asked abruptly, looking over each his siblings with concern. “Or- or just check in, at least?”

“..yeah.” Diego agreed. The rest of them nodded in agreement, watching each other warily. “Sounds good. Sure thing, big guy.”

It was quiet again. The silence was loaded with uncertainty.

“You guys are so fucking dramatic.” Diego sighed, turning around and walking out of the living room.

“You’re one to talk!” Klaus called after him affectionately, wiggling the fingers on his goodbye hand, “Don’t stay out too late! Don’t do anything I would do! Love you!”

Diego kept his cool as he grabbed one of Reginald’s cars and headed out. He started speeding as soon as he hit the main road, though- what he didn’t tell his siblings was that he was on a time crunch. 

Commercial buildings slowly shifted into neighborhoods and parks. He slammed the breaks as soon as he was close enough to the curb of the house he wanted, tires squealing as he threw the gear shift into park and yanked the keys out of the ignition.

It was still early in the morning and her car was still in the driveway. Eudora had a habit of leaving the house at exactly the same time every day for work on the dot. He’d never been more grateful for it in his life than when he urgently pounded his fist on her door at seven in the morning.

He heard movement from inside the house. Suddenly, he felt more nervous than he had in months- years, even. Four months. Four months of loving and missing and mourning Patch, and she was right on the other side of the door without a scratch.

It was out of character, and if anyone ever brought it up he’d deny it until the end of the earth(again), but as soon as Eudora opened the door, alive and well.. Diego threw himself forward and latched onto her with a firm hug.

“Wh-” She stiffened, relaxing slightly when she realized who it was. “Diego? What the hell are you- why are you hugging me?”

“Dora.” He breathed, pressing his face into her neck as she slowly lifted her arms and settled them around him in a tentative hug. “Dora, shit. I missed you.”

“You missed..?” She trailed off, and he could only imagine the look on her face. “Di, is this about your dad? I saw the news, and I--”

“Dad? My dad?” He scoffed incredulously, pulling back with a teary-eyed grin. He guessed Reginald did just kick the bucket in this timeline.. “Who gives a fuck about my dad? Shit, Eudora, shit-” He reached up with a hand and almost cupped her cheek in his palm before he faltered and thought better of it, putting his hand on her arm instead. “You’re here.” He whispered.

She stared at him, wide eyed and confused as all hell.

He hugged her again, his shoulders starting to shake. He was laughing, and also kind of crying, but he didn’t fucking care because Eudora was here and alive. She was warm and full of life beneath his hands and he probably seemed fucking crazy, but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except for this.

“Diego,” Eudora said testily, “I’m gonna give you ten more seconds to hug me, and then if you don’t get off and answer some questions..”

“Thirty seconds. Got it.” Diego replied, his voice cracking. She huffed. He held her a tiny bit tighter. “Wh-whatever you want, Eudora.”

“Who the hell are you and what have you done with Diego?” She asked.

He laughed softly. He hoped she wouldn’t kill him for being so affectionate. “A lot happened.” Diego said, voice gruff, “A hell of a lot. Can I come in and explain?”

She heaved a sigh, running a hand up and down his back gently to betray her soft side. He pulled back, putting his hands on her shoulders and smiling softly at her.

She eyed him suspiciously, her head tilting slightly while she considered it. Finally, she sighed. “I’ll call in sick. This had better be good.” Patch grumbled, pulling away from him and walking back inside. She left the door open for him. “You coming?” She asked, looking over her shoulder.

He sniffed, clenching his fists and nodding as he stepped over the threshold.

He’d do better this time around.

[moviegroovies]

y’all i saw terminator: dark fate!!!!!!!!!

GOD i loved it. i think i’ve admitted before that the only way i really rank exciting plot points in movies is by how much i anticipated them/wanted them to happen, and terminator: dark fate did NOT disappoint. fuck every writer or director who makes weird shit happen in their stories just to give the audience a story they couldn’t possibly have anticipated. (cough avengers endgame cough.) sometimes the best ending is one you can see from ten miles away, because that means it’s been set up EFFICIENTLY. 

obviously, i think the new terminator did that. there were a few things i wanted to happen that didn’t (mostly regarding the life of one or two key characters), and a few things i legitimately didn’t see coming that i really liked, but ultimately the story was solid, awesome to watch, and very faithful to the original. i haven’t seen any of the sequels past judgement day, and i have no plans to change that anytime soon (lmao), but i’ve heard that it discounts all continuity past the second one, and that’s completely fine by me. the actors were great. LINDA HAMILTON was great. and i am sexually attracted to old soft arnold schwarzenneger. 😔

i was debating on whether or not i should make a separate post to talk about the time travel in the terminator franchise or if i should just go crazy go stupid and lump it in with my review and ultimately i think it can just go here, because i have some things to say re: the way it ties back to the originals. 

personally i think the neatest example of time shenanigans in the franchise comes from the very first movie. that one sets up time travel in their universe as very “you already changed the past,” insofar as, without the time travel elements, there is the very real sense that the future the terminator came from would never have existed. kyle reese, from the future, becomes the father of his superior officer john connor. without the time travel, there would be no human resistance for skynet to fear. not only that, when the terminator’s arm is left behind intact, even after sarah destroys the machine, they set out the idea that skynet itself was DEVELOPED FROM THE TERMINATOR’S TECHNOLOGY, so if there was no time travel, there was no skynet, and no apocalypse... etc. at the end of the movie, the picture of sarah that kyle comes back with is taken by a child at a gas station, and it seems like a clue that everything is happening on track. sarah will give birth to john connor, the machines will rise up, the resistance will rally, time travel will ensue. the events of the first movie are a closed time loop, and ultimately, i find that really satisfying. 

However. 

from a narrative perspective, i think the changes in those time travel mechanics are super interesting. 

basically, in judgement day, there’s still some implications that the timeline is a closed loop--the terminator’s hand is actually shown to be the basis of what will become the skynet computer, which is being built right then and there. the apocalypse could indeed be on, and everything seems fixed. then, though, they find the creator of the computer, and miles bennett helps them to destroy his work in horror at what he will create. skynet never happens. they change the future. 

by dark fate, that ability to change what is “written” becomes not only a plot point, but a sort of rallying cry. the skynet apocalypse is officially off--now the dark future is controlled by a very similar breed of computer known as legion. sarah’s efforts changed the future, permanently. there’s the feeling perhaps that the future can only be changed to an extent (the skynet apocalypse being canceled, but replaced by a very similar robo-hell, for example--almost like the timeline is trying to set itself right), but that feeling is tested and challenged as the movie progresses. in that sense, dark fate is the full culmination of the trendline that their “trilogy” represents: sarah’s fate was sealed in dark fate, but with john’s influence in judgement day, things were officially set off course. dark fate represented dani’s turn, and she took everything into her own hands--she personally stood up and refused to run, refused to let the bad future win out, refused to take things lying down. sarah felt a kinship to her, based on the position that she found her in, but it’s like she realizes--dani is not sarah. sarah’s realization is that “she’s john,” which is closer--she’s the leader of the resistance, humanity’s only hope, but i think the message is pretty clearly telling us that she’s not john connor either--she’s dani ramos. 

and she fucking OWNS.

one thing that i was a little iffy about at the start of the movie was the “white savior” thing. i don’t think that was an unfounded reservation to have--based on the formula from the first movie, a terminator is sent back to kill, and a hero is sent back to protect. this time, the “hero” is a white girl cyborg named grace, while the character in danger, who the movie clearly wants you to think is in the same boat as sarah connor, ie the mother mary role, literally important not for her own self but for her womb, is a mexican woman. that could have reached unfortunate implication levels like hella fast, but honestly (and i will disclaim this by adding that i’m white, so if you felt differently about it i would appreciate hearing why), i think the rest of the movie subverted that pretty beautifully. for one thing, grace being fundamentally human underneath her augmentation meant that she wasn’t an unstoppable machine ready to continue on until her metal frame was torn to shreds. she was a BADASS, obviously, and in the first fight, grace did prove herself a worthy successor to the “uncle bob” terminator in t2 with her kickass skillz (sorry kyle reese you’re just not that cool), but soon after that we got to see grace’s limits. if it hadn’t been for sarah connor, grace’s plan on the bridge finally boiled down to “when the terminator starts to kill me, run.” soon after that, grace’s power is shown to be fallible even more thoroughly when she hits her limit and starts to convulse, a byproduct of her augmentation. grace can do more than what a human can do, but she can’t do it forever like a machine could. very quickly in the movie, the tables were flipped, and even though grace came back through time to protect dani, dani was the one who had to take over the driver’s seat (despite never having driven before), and the one responsible for getting grace to medicine so that she could be resuscitated. and all that was BEFORE the big reveal.

a note: there were two scenes in pretty quick succession in this sequence that made me sob. the first of these was the death of dani’s brother diego, because in his last act, he was reassuring his sister that he was okay, despite being impaled by a metal pole. that line gave his character some depths that i hadn’t expected, and it really made dani’s pain after the car went up feel palpable. diego didn’t get a lot of screentime, but we saw him flirt lamely with a neighbor, we saw him dream of internet fame, we saw him joke at the factory even as his job was being replaced. we saw how much dani cared about him when she told him to take her job while she sorted out his replacement by machine parts. their relationship was a solid brick in the movie’s foundation, and his loss felt a lot more real than many comparable losses in movies. you know that whole “show, don’t tell” adage? they didn’t have to tell me that losing diego (and her father) was like a knife in dani. i saw that for myself. the second scene was at the pharmacy, when the employees and the other customers reached out to help grace even after she and dani had both lashed out and threatened them with the gun in fear of what was happening. y’all ever get emotional over the way that people are essentially good and will help each other when they can? god i fucking love that.

anyway, the reveal. the reveal was awesome. 

i started suspecting that dani wasn’t the mother of humanity’s last hope, but rather, humanity’s last hope herself, during the conversation on the train telling us exactly the opposite. sarah makes some assumptions and projects her experience onto dani, telling her flat out that she’s pretty much a walking incubator for humanity’s last hope. there’s a sense that sarah might be bitter about having that role handed to her, and perhaps even more so because it was then taken away--she lost the son that she risked everything for, fought two terminators for, and for nothing: for some machines in a future that no longer existed. in that scene though, crucially, grace never says anything to confirm sarah’s assumptions. the one character with knowledge of the future doesn’t impart it, and it shows. sarah knows things that dani doesn’t simply because it’s not her first rodeo, but she’s also wrong sometimes, too. again in the kitchen later, the “carl” terminator asks about grace’s mission, but she doesn’t share it or give any information on who dani is going to turn out to be. the absence of information can often be an answer all in itself, and the reveal had some EXCELLENT groundwork throughout the movie--both in grace’s actions and in the brave and heroic actions of dani herself.

dani’s nature and grace’s past being revealed in the plane was one of the best scenes in perhaps the entire franchise. i said i sobbed at those scenes i outlines before, right? yeah, that was nothing to how hard i was crying and also cringey stimming during the reveal. we got to see a peek of dani ramos some twenty years in the future, and she’s incredible. she’s fearless, she’s tough, but crucially, she’s still kind. she takes no shit, but she not only saves a child’s life, but she offers a new one to the thugs who were chasing her. in just one scene, the way that dani bands a resistance together is obvious: she’s the best of us, and she uses that for good.

god, i love dani ramos. 

the way that ultimately, dani takes the “hero” role over for herself (much like sarah did, honestly) and the way that we get to see grace’s weaknesses make them a very balanced pair. they’re both badass women in their own right (hell, sarah is, too), and they counter each other excellently. grace is augmented, and has physical capabilities that dani can’t match. at the same time, though, dani is willing to make risks that grace isn’t, because while grace’s concern rests on the fate of one woman, dani wants to find the best outcome for everyone--including herself, but not ending there. grace is willing to drop dani at the bottom of a mineshaft, if that’s what it takes to keep her safe. dani is willing to sacrifice her safety to face the confrontation that’s looming, because that’s what it takes to move forward. 

i think one of the coolest things about the movie is that both grace and sarah come into the action with more experience in combat than dani, and more knowledge about the situation than dani, but ultimately the movie shows that they aren’t infallible, and there’s never a moment when dani is punished for naivety or made to feel stupid because she wasn’t as informed as them. both grace and sarah, in fact, are openly shown to be wrong about dani in different ways--grace knows who she’s going to become, intimately, but that closeness makes her too reluctant to put dani near the front lines, choosing to run indefinitely from the terminator rather than face it head on and use every advantage they can get to beat it. sarah, meanwhile, respects dani’s agency more, but in a way she sees past her at the start of the movie, dismissing her importance in a way that reads as sarah dismissing her own--she’s attacking herself and using dani as a proxy, but sarah’s wrong, because dani isn’t her. i love how both grace and sarah are good characters, and they’re both doing what they think is necessary and right, but they’re allowed to be wrong and misguided. ultimately, if it wasn’t for dani’s own agency and choices, the terminator would not have been defeated, and there would be no hope for subverting the bad future everyone is waiting for.

fate, believe it or not, is a very present theme in dark fate. obviously, i talked earlier about how this movie is the culmination of the “you can’t change the future” ->  “you can change the future?” -> “you can change the future.” chain of events represented in the good terminator movies that i will acknowledge, but it’s more than just that. through the character of the “carl” terminator, we also get to see the blatant subversion of one’s nature for the better, and that was just. really epic. ngl.

in terminator 2, i enjoyed how john connor was protected by the reprogrammed terminator “uncle bob,” but i was a little disappointed by the execution. having uncle bob be a protector to john was exactly what i wanted, but the explanation that he had been programmed to do so rubbed me a little the wrong way. what i didn’t realize until i watched dark fate was that this pinged as wrong because dark fate gave me what i wanted: a terminator that didn’t change sides because he was taken down and forced to change, but rather, a terminator that actually made a conscious decision to be better because of what he observed in humanity. carl saw a familial dynamic and realized that he had taken that from sarah, and reached out to her, giving her a purpose like his family had given him a purpose, because he chose to. and that was the sexiest thing he could have done.

can you tell i LOVE what they did with the terminator. his arc and sarah’s were such awesome continuations for sarah’s general history and the progression of terminators played by arnold schwarzenneger. part of me was hoping for an ending where we saw sarah and carl drive off together, waving to dani and preparing to live out the rest of their years saving the future. yeah, well, we didn’t get that, but there were several scenes that hinted at forgiveness from sarah (an almost impossible feat given how she felt and what she lost) and trust between the two of them, and i loved that too.

dark fate was a good movie, y’all. it was so good. 

there’s probably a million other things that i could talk about going down this vein, but this post is already a monster. i’ll just sign out by saying: one last thing i thought was epic and cool was how the protagonists cross the border from mexico into the us and at no point is such an action demonized; in fact, it’s necessary for them to reach essential aid in the form of carl, and the man who facilitates the action, dani’s uncle, is never treated amorally or like a criminal. i know, i know, the bar is on the fucking floor, but in the political climate we’ve got, for a blockbuster to take that stance felt like a pretty solid statement to me. 

also, i liked the terminator’s line about texas. watching that in a theater in texas, i must report that it got the biggest audience reaction out of any line in the whole movie. folks, there were wolf whistles. ciao.

[aion-rsa]

Remixing the Robotech Saga

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Writer Brenden Fletcher discusses Robotech's place in remix culture and how that influences his new comic.

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For anyone fearing that the new Robotech: Remix comic will be headed up by a new creative team, don’t worry. A hardcore fan is at the helm. Writer Brenden Fletcher, known for his work in comics such as Gotham Academy, Batgirl, Isola, and Motorcrush loves Robotech.

Not just the Macross Saga like many more casual fans. He loves anything and everything to do with the franchise, including the various Japanese series that spun out of Macross and the original versions of the three anime that made up Robotech. Even thought Fletcher is a big fan that doesn’t mean he’s sticking too close to what we’ve seen before. Robotech: Remix will be making big changes to the Robotech franchise that comes in the wake of recent events in the comic. The biggest being that Dana Sterling, the lead character of least popular entry in the franchise, The Masters Saga, is now stranded in the past with characters from the popular Macross Saga. We have an exclusive look at the line-up of the new cast here!

With Robotech: Remix being announced at San Diego Comic-Con we sat down for an in-depth chat with Fletcher about his history as a Robotech fan, his feelings about Dana’s history, remix culture, and what’s in store for the comic as a whole. 

Q: So where to begin?

Here’s a good place to start. I was never in love with Dana Sterling as a character. I don't know a whole lot of people who were. I think we all saw that she had potential, if for no other reason than she was in the Robotech story, a child of two very important heroes that I think we all loved from the Macross arc.

Any Robotech fans are probably all really in love with the Macross saga. If you're a creative and you get an offer to do a Robotech thing, you probably want to play in the Macross sandbox. So when you're handed a thing and the place you have to pick up the story is more of the Masters Saga or Southern Cross era, it's maybe a little disappointing. I don't know that anyone wants to envision a part of the story that has anything to do with the Logan fighter. Did anyone like that mecha?

Q: The mecha were not the strong point of Southern Cross/Masters.

I don't mind the Ajax actually. I thought the Ajax was always a little cool. I was so-so on the Hover Tank until I got the Matchbox toy for Christmas. That thing was amazing. Carl, my best buddy who does the A cover for the first issue of Robotech: Remix, he got the Hover Tank first. I loved that thing. I would go over to his house just to play with that Hover Tank. I got the non-transforming, weird, hybrid VF1S.

Anyways, so Dana would not have been my first choice as a younger person to tell a story about. Now as an older Robotech fan I see the value in digging into the meaty potential material that was left on the table with Dana Sterling. Her past, her future, her emotional state. Even in the original Southern Cross version of the character, Jeanne Fránçaix, there's a lot of questions around why this young woman is so boy crazy. Why that's her focus over anything else in Southern Cross. There's at least a little bit of context behind that in the Master's Saga. That's something that I really want to dig into in my arc in my story for this comic.

What is the cause of being in that place in your life? What can lead someone to want to feel close to people, but then be desperately afraid of being close to people? I think we all know what the answer is with Dana. It's that her parents left her on Earth at ten years of age, seemingly never to return. I'm sure Rolf Emerson and uncles Rico, Bron and Konda did their best to bring her and Bowie up but I mean those two kids are messed up. They're both in need. You watch the Masters Saga and these are both kids in really weird places in their lives. Neither of them are necessarily happy. Neither of them are happy at all. Bowie is not comfortable being a part of this military machine at all. They're both longing for something else. I think in the context of Robotech you can take that back in their psychology to being unhappy as a result of not getting to properly reach adulthood with their parents. Knowing that their parents are off doing something else that was seemingly more important than them.

In the Titan series Simon [Furman’s] done a great job of crafting this thing that has the bones of Macross, but brings this most important character back inside of it. During Simon's story when Dana comes out of hibernation I would guess she's about 30 years of age. She comes into a world just before she would have been born.

read more: The Robotech Comics Are Making Dana The Star

In my story, and I won't spoil the end of Simon's story, in my story, she's still there. Ten years later. Max and Miriya never got together. Dana's never been born. Things seem okay. So what's the point of Dana? Where does she belong? Did she ever matter to her parents? They just left her. I mean we know as human beings; of course she mattered to her parents. [When] they left her behind, in their minds, it was to protect her.

Dana carries this with her. Dana, now a 40 year old woman living in her own past where the only version of her is this middle aged version. It is a story about her own broken nostalgia. The way that we could almost have nostalgia for the Robotech that we grew up with. Looking back on these stories that we enjoyed as kids, she's looking back at a time where she was happy as a child, but knowing what's about to happen is the moment that ruined her life.

And she might have to experience that all over again.

In this case her parents aren't even a couple, so what is the point of it all? What was the point of her saving the universe, coming back in time and saving maybe this universe? Or maybe every timeline? She doesn't know yet. What was the point of her existence [if this] doesn't really matter? If this timeline can continue forward without her. What part does Dana Sterling play in the universe, and meta texturally, in the story of Robotech?

So many people with Robotech say, "You can just skip that second part. Who needs it?"

To the title, Robotech: Remix, what point does a character originating from Southern Cross have to do in amongst other characters originating in another show called Macross?

You're taking somebody who wasn't supposed to be there and dropping them in.

For the most part, in the way that Robotech was assembled from three series back in the early '80s, there were very few instances of footage from one series being edited into the other. There were some shots of the Masters being edited into Macross to help tell the Robotech story. There are very few instances where we are seeing that mash up for real happening.

It's interesting in the original show that the Masters Saga is the one that suffers the most from having to be welded next to Macross because they have to change the most to make it work. 

I love people talking about re-imagining what Southern Cross could have been. Not to say, I think they did an amazing job with it to turn it into the Masters. It actually gives the child of Max and Miriya more depth. I mean more depth than she had as Komilia in spin off Macross stuff. It's so interesting to see people imagine what it would have been like if Carl Macek had decided to make Lana (Nova in Robotech) the "Dana Sterling" character because her temperament is a little more like Komilia from Macross. Her hair color is the same as Komilia. It seemed like that would have been the natural fit, but the decision to make Jeanne be the child of the Sterling's, to turn her into Dana, is a really interesting one. It brings us to where we are today and it gives me so many gifts for the series that I'm doing now.

read more: Things You Didn't Know About The Creation of Robotech

You're reading between the lines for both The Masters Saga and Southern Cross?

I'm looking at both. I'm looking at Masters, but I'm also looking at Southern Cross. I'm now working in a space where there are no limits to the way a character can exist. Simon rewrote those rules through the series he did with Brian Wood and this "Event Horizon" thing. All bets are off now. This is the world that I get to play in.

What was that like for you when you were first handed the idea of doing this comic? Did you know all these things were going to happen?

No, no, no. When (former Titan Comics Senior Brand Manager) Chris Thompson invited me to go out for coffee for him, I suspected this was wanting to talk to me about Robotech. I sat down with him and I said, "All cards on the table, I'm only interested in working on my own IP right now. I've got a lot on my plate. I am a huge Robotech fan. Massive Macross fan. I think they're perfect as they are and I appreciate what you guys are doing with the comic, but I can't imagine that there's anything that I want to do with it creatively that's going to be enough to take me away from my own things that I'm building."

Then he told me what Brian and Simon were doing with their series and what "Event Horizon" would actually be and what that could mean for what I could do into the future, and I think I might have used a few swear words. I hung my head and I said, "It's too cool and it feels like it would probably be the most fun thing I could ever work on." Then I asked him a question about characters that I could use and the way I could use them, and he said, "Yeah, no limits man." I just about lost it. I did leave the meeting saying, "Let me think about it. Let me think about it." It went on to be a little bit of a negotiation, but my mind was reeling. 

I think everything that Simon and the guys have put together is fantastic. Very humbled and very nervous to be filling their giant shoes with this. I don't think I can. I can do something fun with a little bit of a different flavor. I think that was why Chris had asked me to take it over. He knew I was a big fan. It's why it's being relaunched I think because the tone's different.

In what way?

Well you can see just from the approach to the art and the artists that I'm bringing in. It's definitely got a more anime flavor to it. If you've read any of my other work, it is not as straightforward and head down serious as the harder sci-fi military approach that Simon and Brian had used. My tone varies. I like to be able to shift over to that when it's appropriate. The stuff that attracted me to Robotech to begin with is the soap opera stuff. Slice of life stuff, the love triangles, is why I was in it. I mean I love the cool transforming robots, but the love triangle was what sold it to me. That's where I am with this, not to say that there is a love triangle.

read more: How Robotech Was Ahead of its Time With Representation

I think Macross as an ongoing franchise has really cornered the market in making sure that every iteration, every sequel has one very powerful love triangle. To the extent that the last series was called Delta and has the symbol of a triangle and there are songs called "Triangular." I love that, I think it's great. I don't think that should form the core of what a great Robotech story is but I think the interpersonal relationships are integral and they need to be front lined, for me, to feel invested. So I think we've got a great sci-fi military set up. What I want to do is take that and deliver you the interpersonal stuff that will break your heart within the sci-fi military set up that I've been handed.

I think I can kind of spoil a little bit here. I think your readers can put together just from looking at the covers what this is. We've got middle aged Dana reliving her past, in a situation where she doesn't exist as the child that should be there. Her parents have never gotten together. This is, to be a little crude and break it down to its barest elements; it's Back to the Future with Dana trying to get Max and Miriya together so that she can feel like she has a place in this universe.

We've already seen a little bit of that in the back up stories. Is the purpose of those back stories to set up things for your run? Does it take place before that run?

Yes, it takes place before the run and there are some elements to the "Curtain Call" story that seem innocuous that are actually critical to larger reveals that will happen in maybe my third arc of the story. Down the road. Minmei is one of those. What happened to Minmei. If you're reading "Curtain Call" in the back of the "Event Horizon" stories, you'll note that she is no longer alive and part of what's shocking in that story is that she has seemingly returned, but in the form of a hologram during a concert. But, is that just a recording? What's the deal with that? If this isn't Minmei, well who's doing this and why? What's the purpose?

Not to say that all of that will be resolved in the last "Curtain Call" installment, but you'll certainly get a clue as to who is behind it, but why is another matter. I think they are a bunch of clues about why as well.

So then the title Robotech: Remix itself, talk a little bit about that. How does that play in? I've noticed even on the covers that we've seen, there's a little bit of vapor wavy look to them.

At its core for me, Robotech is one of the first artifacts of remix culture in greater pop culture. I mean it might not be, it's a corporate entity. It's a thing that was done to meet a demand. Not an audience demand, but a business demand, but being able to get a program into syndication in the early '80s. Hitting an episode number and just piling stories on to another story just to get a certain number. I think it’s unprecedented, incredible. I think that remix art has a place in the world above and beyond the artistic bones that we're used to creating as a being, as a living, breathing thing. I think that I want to honor that with this series. 

read more: The VF-1 Valkryie: A Truly Iconic Mecha Design

I think again that Simon and Brian Wood have provided me a great context to do that. Robotech is, to me, this great work of early remix culture in a way. Opening all these other doors that Simon's opened, it's taking this to the 'nth level here. So I get to actually make a comment within the narrative and in another textural way about what that means to the characters to coexist in places that they suspect they shouldn't. Maybe that they are better for, or greater, or changed in a profound enough way to find value in that coexistence. Then the meta textural way for us to understand how and why these things happened in media in the eighties and how we can talk about it now in a way that makes sense and enhances those things that we loved from the past and seeing them in new ways in the present and into the future.

I'm a big fan of all this stuff. I think that there are smarter people who can talk about it academically, but what I can do is give you a little bit of commentary, food for thought, within the new narrative that I can present. Hopefully if you're taking that into account when reading this story. I'll let you look to the future of the overall Robotech narrative through a different lens. 

Where can it go as a comic? Where can it go outside of the comic once you understand it in this context? Once you understand that Dana Sterling can live through the Masters Saga, live through the New Generation, rediscover her parents and her other sibling born in space, Maia Sterling, then there's the Shadow Chronicles. A bunch of other stuff happens and she has to go back in time and relive some of it without her, but also understand that there are other timelines, other universes, other worlds. What does that mean to her? What does that mean to the other characters? What does that mean to the future of Robotech as a brand?

read more: The Robotech/Macross License Has Been Extended

All these different things around them, they could be a part of, they all could have some impact.

What does that mean for us as creators? Or even fans? What do you want to see then as a fan? I know what I want to see. I'm going to try to put that in the story.

Can you give us a little bit of an idea of what that might be?

What can I say? I may have already said too much.

That's fine. What I find interesting about what you're saying and about Dana re-experiencing her life and I'm sure this is intentional because of how deep you've done this. You literally having her experience deja vu all the time in reference of course to the Southern Cross opening theme. Was that intentional?

Again, it's much like Robotech, experiencing her life again, but not the exact same way. It is changed, it is different. It's interesting to me that you say she lived through all of that, went back through time and she's still having issues with her parents. She hasn't dealt with all of this stuff. Exploring that would be something I'm very interested to see. Yes. That is the crux of this thing.

In a way are you, because it could have been very easy in another version of this comic to just tell the Masters Saga and do it "better." Have it be more connected. Not having the weird boy crazy stuff. Whatever else. Now you're telling a story and being able to comment on it without changing it either. Was that important for you to do?

Yeah. I think honoring what Simon and Brian have all labored over for these years is important to me. I feel like when I'm picking up the baton I don't want to say no to any of the choices that they made coming in. I want to put my best foot forward from that point that they left behind. I feel like what I'm doing is the natural extension of where Simon has left it. I also don't want to spoil the end of "Event Horizon".

I'm sure there are other choices that could have been made. I'm sure I could have pitched something else. This is what I want to see after knowing "Event Horizon". After just looking at what I find interesting about these characters. Looking at the part also of Robotech that maybe had the most heavy-handed edit to it, to make it make sense. Even in of itself, to make it an appealing thing where Southern Cross had maybe failed on a few accounts. Finding what about it could be magic in the context of Robotech and then rewriting it and re-editing it to play to its strengths on its own and within the context of a larger saga. It's all very interesting.

The characters of Jeanne versus Dana are very interesting. These are all things that I'm looking at and commenting on in a way. A thing that we don't talk about as creators in the Robotech world very much is where everything came from. I want to do that. I want to talk about the importance of Jeanne Fránçaix as a character. I want to talk about the importance of "Deja Vu" as an opening theme song. I mean, I don't want to reveal in this interview how/why I'm thinking about it, or how that exactly factors in. It's important to me that we acknowledge the past while we're remixing to create the present and the future.

Are there any pivotal moments from the original Masters Saga that really stood out to you that really informed your writing of Dana?

All those moments where she has a breakdown. That moment in that back alley and she's got the things that became the Cha-Cha's. That moment where her artifice is down, she loses her mask. Or basically every scene with Bowie. Thinking about why Dana's mask is important for her [and] for Bowie. As kids who grew up for a number of years almost as siblings. Dana feeling for this young boy who's in a place that he shouldn't be and wanting to protect him. Knowing that he is suffering emotionally the way she is, but he can't cover it. [She tries to] lift him up through her own performance.

In "Dana's Story" she sees Bowie's not having a great time. She's like, "Oh I'll sing. No. I'll tell you a story."

That is exactly it. I think you can see it in "Curtain Call". Bowie is a 10-year-old boy in this story. Dana is a 40-year-old woman. She has watched her best friend be born and grow to a 10-year-old boy. She knows what happened with her Bowie in the past. As much as she felt protective of Bowie during the Masters saga, imagine that now with a bunch of years later and she's almost in a parental role with a young version of her best friend. Knowing what could become of him. Knowing where his heart is and wanting to do anything in the universe possible to protect it. 

Just the fact that she took him to a music concert.

This is not Macross. It's not all about music, but also, in every part of the Robotech saga, with the exception of Shadow Chronicles and Love Live Alive, music played a pivotal role. It's part of the culture war against the Zentradi. In Masters Bowie is obviously a musician and that's where his heart is. He would rather play music than fight. Dana even plays guitar. Musica had a hand in controlling the clones through music. It goes without saying that in the New Generation we have Yellow Dancer.

As a kid that stuff was so important to me. I grew up around music. My parents were musicians and it’s part of what sent me to Robotech. That music played such an integral role in every part of the saga. Again, not in the way that Macross has grown in Japan over the years to be something bigger with Delta having a girl group of essentially, magical girls whose music is central to the storyline. That's not what Robotech's about. To me, when I want to see a new chapter of Robotech there has to be music in it somewhere. So that will play a part in everything that I'm doing here.

On just a side note, a little easter egg (in Curtian Call) Bowie's wearing his Casio size portable keyboard on his back and his strap says, Sato Dan on it. The two composers of the Southern Cross score. I'm a big nerd. Have you listened to the music score? Speaking of taking a thing and making it your own, there are pieces of music in there that are almost direct lifts from other bands. There's an action cue that's essentially "Synchronicity II" by The Police.

Video of The Police - Synchronicity II Video

Here's the super deep cut question, because we know in the show about Maia Sterling who showed up in Shadow Chronicles. We assume that's the same one that we saw in that weird vision at the end of Masters. What about the one that Dana mentions with Zor where he says, "Do you have a boyfriend?" and she answers, "No, I just had a brother."

I don't know if I should say anything. It might be something that is addressed in the very concrete way in the story.

read more: The Biggest Stories From San Diego Comic-Con

Do you have anything else to say for the fans that are going to be reading this? People who might be coming to this for the first time. In the past it’s ostensibly been said, "you can read the Robotech comic if you've never seen the series."

It's my goal to make this super readable, but I'm also coming into it adopting a massive cast and entire saga of stories that take place before mine. I admit that it's a challenge to make it streamlined. My inner fan, what I want to see out of it, but also presenting it as a clean, easily readable story. I hope it's appealing to everybody. I can't pull myself far enough away from it to know that it is or not. I almost have to have the finished first issue and give it to my wife and ask her, "Does this make sense to you?" Everyone else whose read it is sort of too deep in the weeds to know for sure. It is my goal to make it something super accessible while also answering a lot of questions that my inner fan needs answered.

Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter! He also co-hosts a Robotech podcast, which covers the original series and the new comics. Give it a listen! Read more articles by him here!

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Interview Shamus Kelley

Jul 30, 2019

Robotech

SDCC 2019

SDCC

from Books https://ift.tt/2MqeA3O

[bigassheart]

Just wanted to post some quick time-line info for the show because I’ve been seeing a lot of really weird ages thrown out there, especially for the times when they’re kids. (Like one headcannon that Klaus was 3 years old in the mausoleum scene. I mean... have you met a 3 year old before?)

Anyway, the following ages are based on the casting info for the kids and other assorted dates/etc. that we have for the show. 

October 1st, 1989 - The Umbrella Academy kids are born. 

Vanya trains with Reginald and is subsequently made to forget about her powers around age 4. (based on casting for the young Vanya and young Allison roles)

This is also when Grace comes to the house, therefore the kids all get their names sometime after this. (I would assume Grace names them fairly quickly, but that is 100% just an assumption)

Klaus is locked in the mausoleum when he is 8. (again, based on casting for that role) 

We know that Five leaves when he is 13. 

According to Pogo in episode 1, Five has been gone for 16 years, 4 months, and 14 days. The date in that episode is March 24th, 2019 (according to Vanya). That means that Five disappeared on November 10th, 2002, a little more than a month after the Umbrella Academy kids all turned 13. 

That means the museum robbery, and pretty much all of the scenes with those actors are when the characters are 13 or (very likely) 12. 

In episode 6, Luther says that he was on the moon for 4 years, making him about 25 years old when he left/when he had his accident. We don’t know how soon after the accident he was sent to the moon (weeks? months? years?), but the show implies it was a relatively short amount of time later. The safest best is probably just a few months. 

Now, going back to Five and following his journey for a bit... 

Five finds Delores pretty soon after the apocalypse (again, same actor, so I’m figuring a year leeway at most). He tells Diego (or Luther? Klaus? Gotta be honest, I don’t remember who.) that he was with Delores for 30 years. That would make him about 43-44 when The Handler shows up. 

When Five gets back to the present, he gives a very specific amount of time he has been gone: 45 years. This means he spent 11-12 years working for the Temps Aeternalis, making him 58 at this point. 

That brings us to the present. The members of the Umbrella Academy are all 29, except for Five, who is 58, and Klaus, who spent 10 months in Vietnam and is therefore 30 now. 

There is of course one mystery left: Ben. 

Ben obviously survives to be at least 13, but we don’t really know much beyond that. 

Some clues: 

Klaus mentions that Ben died “young and tragic”

Everyone left the house after Ben died. 

Luther’s accident also happened after Ben died, though it’s unclear how long after that. Luther is the only one left at the house by that time, but we don’t know if everyone else left within a few days or weeks or months of Ben dying or if they just drifted away, one by one, over years. 

Ben’s statue does not have a date on it and Ben’s age in the statue is difficult to determine. There’s also no guarantee that it was modeled after Ben at the exact age that he died. He could have been older and they just used a younger image for the reference. However, he does look significantly older than his 13 year old self. 

From all this combined, we know for sure that Ben was between the ages 13 and 25 when he died. I would venture that he was probably at least 15, based on the image of his statue. 

If anyone else has more clues from the show on Ben’s death or other details of the timeline, please add them to this post. I definitely feel like there are some things I’m missing... 

Update 1: Originally, I said that Klaus was 8 when he was locked in the mausoleum because the actor in that scene was cast to play 8 year old Klaus. 

However, there is a post somewhere out there that took a screen shot of Reginald’s journal where he is talking about locking Klaus in the mausoleum and the date given is June of 2001 (I think it’s June. I moved off that page for five seconds and now I can’t find it again, but it was definitely 2001). That would have made him 11 years old. 

But then I saw another post that claimed Klaus said it happened when he was 13. I went back and watched the scene where Klaus hangs out with Reginald in heaven and it’s true. Klaus does say that happened when he was 13. 

So either Reginald locked Klaus up in a mausoleum more than once or the show is just wildly inconsistent on this matter. But knowing Reginald, my guess is that it’s the former, rather than the later. 

[luxuryvehicle]

LV #1: Nile Gibbs

Jon Colyer: Alright Nile, basic info. Let’s hear your full name, your date of birth and your hometown, where you hail from.

Nile Gibbs: My full name is Nile Duncan Gibbs. I was born in Seattle, Washington, but I grew up on Bainbridge Island, which is just across the water from Seattle. I’m 24 years old.

JC: Bainbridge Island, where is that?

NG: It’s like a ferry ride away from Seattle, 25 or 30 minutes. Just a small, small island, where you kind of know everyone. That’s where I grew up skating though, we would just take big weekend trips over to Seattle to skate the streets or the local indoor park, Innerspace.

JC: When do you first remember coming across skateboarding?

NG: Damn. I want to say I was like 11 years old. Even before I had moved over to Bainbridge… Actually, I was probably like seven or something, and we had gotten X-Games boards as a Christmas present or something, my brother and I. My mom was going to take us to the old Seaskate, the second one that was built. We get there and we were just so fearful that we ended up just skating across the street in these little tennis courts. I don’t even think we got on our boards; we were just in awe of older kids and adults skateboarding at the actual skatepark. It wasn’t until years later that I had a neighbor who I thought was cool or edgy or whatever, he like smoked cigs and could fuckin’ ollie and do tricks that I didn’t even know the names of. I was like “Damn, this could be cool to try this.” For my birthday when I turned 12 I asked for a fuckin’ Element Bamagram skateboard, I printed it out off the Internet and sent it to my grandma to ask her for it. On my birthday I ended up getting a hand-me-down board from my cousin Bergen, but I was so stoked.

JC: Who did you start skating with, who were the first people you met that skated?

NG: I had a few friends in middle school that skated, one of them, we had happened to be in the same class in elementary school, we became friends. He already could skateboard, knew how to skateboard, and he would give me all his old shoes and shit.

JC: Who was this?

NG: This was Manny (Dancel). He always had old Adio’s and shit. I had an idea of what skate shoes were, like Adio’s and the I-Path’s with the strap. He gave me those and I was like “Damn, Air Force I-Paths!”

JC: (Laughs)

NG: So it was just like, me, him and my older brother Jordan skated too. I think we picked it up around the same time; he got a board a little later. Along with his older friends that skated, we became a crew.

JC: So Manny skated before you?

NG: Yeah.

JC: But Jordan skated after you?

NG: Yeah, yeah. Manny could already ollie and shit. I remember him showing me how to jump down stairs. I would just roll off stairs, but he could actually ollie.

JC: So growing up in the Pacific Northwest, where it rains a lot, what would you do to cope with that?

NG: Fuck, it was crazy, we definitely took advantage of every dry day. And when it wasn’t dry we had this undercover area that we would go to. Fuckin’ seven days a week it seemed like, every day in the winter after school.

JC: That was the LGI?

NG: Yeah, at my high school (Editor’s Note: Bainbridge Island High School). After awhile people kind of knew us, like teachers and whoever on the school staff. We were already the rebellious kids throughout our school careers, so they knew we’d be skating after class. And we also had like an old gas station we could go to that we knew closed at 4:00 or 5:00 pm, we would wait for them to close. It was called Hockett and Olson.

JC: A gas station that closed at 5:00 pm?

NG: Yeah, and an auto body shop. It was literally as big as this room, the overhead area. But we could skate stationary flatground and the little curbs there. It was across the street from the apartments I lived in.

JC: So with you guys at the LGI seven days a week sometimes, did the teachers and the custodians and the security guards just sort of know who you were?

NG: Yeah them and typical small town folks, you know? The police? They knew us, all 10 of them or however many there were. There were times when we would get our boards taken and we wouldn’t really know how to get them back, we thought once they took them that was the end of it. It got to a point where we would just run away any time we saw a police officer.

JC: Of course.

NG: The town was so little that they would just meet us at the next spot or even get there before us. It would be a gamble whether they’d take our boards or just give us a slap on the wrist.

JC: How many people live on Bainbridge Island?

NG: I think the population is like 26,000 or something.

JC: Do you think that small town environment had an affect on the way that you skateboard now?

NG: It got me accustomed to being able to wake up early, say its dry in the morning but not at night. I’m a planner, it’s been awhile since I’ve planned anything, but when I’m skating all the time I have things planned out. Since I was 16 too, I’ve always been trying to hold a job, so I’ve also learned to skate around work.

JC: Outside of your friends, do you remember the stuff in magazines and videos back then that had an influence on you?

NG: Yeah, along with getting my first skateboard, the first two mags I ever got, I stole from the Safeway nearby where I lived. One was a Thrasher, it had Jamie Thomas on the cover barefoot, grinding a rail. (Editor’s Note: December 2006)

JC: Yup, King of the Road.

NG: Yup. And then the other one was… Skateboarder or something? Another mag that’s not in business anymore. But yeah, I stole that and it was just on from there. I thought Zero was the sickest. Jamie Thomas being The Chief and all. Even though none of that really influenced how I skated, I just thought those were like, the top-notch dudes. Same thing with Tony Hawk, I thought he was super sick, but I never really wished to skate any sort of ramp.

JC: Do you remember the first skate video you saw?

NG: My first video was a local Manik video, it was Splash or something. My friend Manny had the tape and he brought it over to watch. He had older brothers who skated and I think they were trying to show us what was out there, spot-wise. It was probably the year it came out or the year after. That video influenced me for sure. A few months later Josh Anderson, who was a local pro for Manik, ended up being the first pro skater I ever met, and he has a part in that video.

JC: When do you first remember filming tricks? Who was the first person that filmed you?

NG: Out there gettin’ it? Shit, since I was a fetus, nahm sayin’? I been making it happen!

JC: (Laughs)

NG: Nah fuck, its probably still on YouTube. It was an old Bainbridge High School edit, some dude named Kyle, who was originally from California, was filming us with like a tiny mini-DV camera as we skated this little drop. It was maybe two feet high, but we would do every trick off of it, meaning like pop shove, kickflip, heelflip. I want to say that I varial flipped it, and that trick made the cut for the video. Then I definitely would try to go skate with him and try to jump off stuff.

JC: At what point did James Lorimer enter the picture?

NG: Oh yeah, Janky (laughs). Probably like a year or two after I started skating I started seeing this kid who was just insanely good, and could skate both switch and regular. He was really good at both and I just thought that was insane. He would film videos himself and had videos he made on YouTube, so I would low key always watch those. I figured out he lived in the area, and his name was James.

JC: And he had just moved there?

NG: Yeah he had also come from California, San Diego. He was the new Cali kid coming into our scene. He knew how to skate flatground really well and that was such a big influence on me. Also filming, just going out trying to explore and film tricks. It was so crazy to think that I could hang out with dudes who were like, four or five years older than me. Especially back then, when I was like twelve, these dudes were almost adults to me, but that didn’t really matter because we were all just skating.

JC: Yeah?

NG: Yeah. But when I met James we pumped out like four or five video parts nahm sayin?

JC: (Laughs) Just to keep the timeline straight, what year was this?

NG: 2006 or something? I was 12 when he moved there, he was probably 15. Then after that I got to a point when I was about 16 or 17 when, I wasn’t like over skateboarding, but I was meeting new people and having other friends who definitely did not skateboard at all, so I kind of started doing other stuff. I have an addictive personality or whatever they call it, where you do one thing and get super into it. For me, that thing became basketball for like a year. I literally didn’t pick up my skateboard for one year.

JC: I definitely remember that year.

NG: Yeah, because I would see you guys! I would see you and James just fuckin’ skating the LGI or whatever, and try to duck.

JC: We asked you “When are you going to skate again?”

NG: James was probably a little more mean about it, he wanted to beat the shit out of me.

JC: Yeah, and at one point we asked you that and you just laughed and said “Never,” then you walked away.

NG: (Laughs) It helped too, because it disciplined me. Nothing is really handed to you, and nobody has to give you any chances either. So it’s like, just go out and get it yourself. Playing basketball on a high school level too, I got conditioned. I came back and I could ollie higher, jump over way more shit.

JC: Sick. I remember James calling me when you came back to skateboarding, he said you beat him at SKATE just trading off with just his board or something. Still doing nollie flips and tre flips and shit.

NG: Yeah! Something like that.

JC: Going backwards a little, were you already filming with Ben Ericson when you stepped away?

NG: Not really. But actually, when I was like, 14 or 15 or whatever, James met this guy that had nice camera gear and shit. He kept saying he was legit, really good at filming, just seemed cool too. He was like an older dude, a little older than us. I met him and then we didn’t really film until like exactly a year later. I met him in the summer when I was probably 14, then we didn’t film anything until the next summer. It’s funny that it took a whole year for us to actually go skate, because we essentially lived only two towns apart, and the scene wasn’t huge.

JC: You were probably the only person in that area at the time that was really trying to skate, and Ben was definitely the only person who was serious about shooting skating.

NG: Definitely, but people are busy. I didn’t have a car, so either Ben would drive out to pick me up, or James and I might spend two hours driving to a spot to meet him, before that maybe just take the bus. In that time, whether or not we got anything didn’t even really matter, it was more that we were just out there skateboarding. We had a goal, but nobody was enforcing any sort of deadline.

JC: So when did you become fully re-immersed in skateboarding after stepping away?

NG: Probably days after my last high school basketball game, so I was 18. I went to 35th North and bought a brand new complete board. The same dudes were working there that were there when I left skating. I love that place.

JC: And you were back in the streets?

NG: Yeah! Just picked right back up. I started filming with Ben right off the bat and was trying to get back to where I was before I quit.

JC: You filmed that little “Welcome Back” part with James too at that time?

NG: Yeah, we filmed that part, which was basically just me sort of getting everything back. Then when that was done I just sort of picked up where I left off with Ben, nobody even really knowing that I had quit. We had probably a good couple minutes of footage that I hadn’t even seen at the time. That stuff never saw the light of day, which I’m totally fine with. But I’m sure it shows the stages of me growing up too, at like 15 or 16.

JC: Now those clips are like eight or nine years old!

NG: Exactly, and the video took about seven years to come out anyway. You can see the progress, sometimes I have short hair, sometimes I have an afro, then a flat top. Skinny pants to slightly baggier pants…

JC: Purple Axions?

NG: Yeah! (Laughs) So many levels.

JC: But like you said before, with Ben, it’s always more about the ritual of going skating and hanging out with your friends and exploring than it is about stacking clips at every session. I’m not surprised a video like that takes seven years to come out, but look at the finished product. Amazing.

NG: For sure.

JC: When did you move to Seattle from Bainbridge?

NG: It was kind of a weird time for me, because I was living with my brother and trying to finish high school. During my last summer before senior year I wanted to move out, because my brother was out of school already and it was getting too hectic at the place he lived. I decided to move out with a friend of mine, who then ended up having to go to jail over some stuff. He had a warrant that caught up to him and had to do jail time to straighten it out. It happened to be around the same time we had found a place, only the first or second month that we moved in. When he left I wasn’t really capable of paying enough money to hang on to the place alone, with no knowledge of when he might be out. On top of that, I had to start basketball with the new school year. So I broke the lease and ended up moving into my grandparent’s house in Seward Park, Seattle when I was 17, turning 18.

JC: But you were still going to Bainbridge High School at that point? Were you commuting to school?

NG: Yeah, so I commuted the whole year my senior year on the ferries. It wasn’t really bad at all. Essentially it’s a half-hour ferry ride and then about a 20 minute walk to school from there. It’s mellow.

JC: Was the school hooking you up with an Orca card or what?

NG: My grandma got me one, they might’ve been paying her back for it but I’m really not sure.

JC: You already mentioned this, but how did your initial connection with 35th North take place?

NG: When I was still really young, 15 or 16, I went in there for the first time. Before that, we had a skateshop very close to the ferry terminal in Seattle, Snowboard Connection. They eventually moved locations, making it inconvenient for me to shop there. Around the same time James and my other friends started telling me that 35th was the place to go in Seattle for boards, but it was further up from the ferry terminal on Capitol Hill. Anyway, the first time I went I was amazed by how sick it was. The owner, Tony, was there and really dope. Somehow he already knew that I was coming over from Bainbridge and taking the ferry, so he gave me a discount on the very first board I bought there.

JC: Did he know who you were?

NG: I guess so? From like Ben and James having YouTube videos or something. I think James and Manny were already going to 35th for boards so they probably mentioned me. I was 15, so that was right before the first time I did All-City. I’m sure Ben had said something as well, or showed him my footage to get me in the contest. Tony hooked me up with a deal though, not like I was sponsored or anything at the time, and he was just extremely friendly. I guess it was a blessing that Snowboard Connection moved (Laughs).

JC: What was the first time you did All-City Showdown? You did it quite a few times, what was your overall impression of the contest?

NG: I didn’t even really think of it as a contest at first. I was 16 the first time I did it, and it was on my birthday (September 2nd).

JC: That was probably the first time I had heard your name. Around that year of All-City was also the time I started commuting to 35th for boards from Poulsbo. Tony asked me about you the first time I came in the shop. I remember seeing your team’s footage on the All-City DVD and wondering how the hell I hadn’t met any of you guys yet. Not to mention I was blown away by Ben’s filming. He probably had some of the best looking clips in the whole contest, but he was just some dude from the boonies. When you think back on all your video projects while living in Seattle, which ones stand out?

NG: Back then I wasn’t even filming with a goal in mind. Like I said before, I wasn’t trying to get myself out there really. My thought process was more like “I want to go film, these dudes are cool, I’m into skating with these guys, I’m into these filmers, they’re just dope people, so I’m going to just film with them.” I just didn’t want to half-ass things really, have like a couple clips here and there. More like, why don’t I try to get as much footage as possible with like, these four or five dudes. You got 24 hours in a day, you have so much time to do anything you need to do. Go to work, try to get a clip before work or after work.

JC: Before the filmer goes to work? (Laughs)

NG: Exactly, and I didn’t have like a girlfriend or anything back then. The first real video “part” I had drop though was that sponsor me tape thing or “Homies” as James titled it. I really legitimately thought that that was what people did, they just upload their footage to YouTube and send their own footage to companies, like a mixtape. So that was kind of what I did, and then to make it a part we just added some fuckin’ music to it and called it a day.

JC: It’s good!

NG: Yeah, but a few months after that was when I took a break and wasn’t skating, so that’s pretty funny. I remember this though, on January 1, 2012 I wrote something on Facebook saying like “This year I’m going to skate more.” Like some New Year’s resolution bullshit, and then that was the year that I ended up not skating at all (laughs). It was New Year’s so I think I had been drinking the night before and just woke up and thought, “I’m going to do something better with myself.”

JC: Amazing.

NG: The video part that really stands out though as the first big one I had was The Outer Limits part, for sure. That was the first premiere I was really a part of, other than those All-City Showdown premieres. The dude who made that, Ben Ericson, is my favorite filmer in the Northwest. Just his vision and his talent are amazing.

JC: Absolutely.

NG: After that, it was on. Like, “I’m just going to skate.” At that time too I wasn’t really on social media that much. I didn’t pay attention, so I didn’t see as much of what was going on in the skate scene, or realize that what I was doing was excessive.

JC: What do you mean?

NG: Like filming too much, dumping too much content on the Internet or Instagram without a purpose. It wasn’t like a company or anyone was asking me to do that. So I kind of changed my vision or my train of thought after that.

JC: We were filming a lot together during that point. We did Luxury Vehicle around the same time as Outer Limits, and then we immediately did that night part for Amigos Skateboards.

NG: That was sick though! Like a month later we had the premiere for Luxury Vehicle and I had a full part in that. Those dudes, too, like Dane (Barker), Ian (Wishart) and Michael (Bala), were more of the dudes who I was actually skating with every day at that point. Whereas with Outer Limits we had all already started to drift apart. That’s why Ben started to get serious I think, in his head he was like “Were not skating as much as we all were before, such-and-such isn’t even skating at all.”

JC: I do remember the point when you told me you felt that you needed to move on from that project, it had been X number of years and none of the footage had come out.

NG: That’s why Luxury Vehicle was important too. I took filming for that part very seriously, because we had a set deadline and we knew when it was coming out. I watched you book the premiere and shit and just knew it was coming. That was a fun time, another reason to bring the whole skate community together to watch a video.

JC: There are a lot of good memories in there.

NG: Yup. Then we moved in together in December of that year and just said “It’s the winter, it gets dark early, why don’t we try to make something all at night?”

JC: That came out in March or April of 2016, right as daylight savings time was ending and the days were getting longer.

NG: Yeah, just cranked it out in like four months. That was really my first time interacting much with security guards too, being able to try to just sneak a clip in here or there before you get a full boot.

JC: Then we moved right into Aggressors with kind of a new group of friends that were around, you were riding for Amigos for most of that?

NG: Yeah, I was out there repping the local brand. Amigos was so sick.

JC: I remember getting out of town a lot more around then too.

NG: We started taking lots of trips around the Northwest. Portland, Bellingham, Tacoma, just hungry to explore, see what else we could do besides skate the same downtown spots over and over.

JC: Then at what point did you start thinking of moving to California? And why San Francisco as opposed to Los Angeles or someplace else?

NG: Well we had to leave our living situation; we only signed a nine-month lease. I wasn’t getting burnt out on skating in Seattle, but maybe just burnt out with skating only in Seattle, if that makes sense. I always envisioned like, maybe moving to California for a while just to see what it had to offer. There was always something in the back of my mind like “Maybe you could do something more with skating down there.” But really, it was just to try out living a different life from where I was born and raised. I was still really young and didn’t really have any responsibilities besides just taking care of myself, so why not go? I didn’t ever really think of moving to San Francisco until I met Tony (Vitello) over at Thrasher. Tony at Thrasher and Tony (Croghan) at 35th North are good friends. Croghan knew I wanted to move to California and just sort of brought it forward to Tony Vitello, who said like “Yeah he could move to San Francisco and stay at such-and-such.”

JC: So that was enough for you to bolt?

NG: Yeah that was enough, and I had never been to San Francisco before that. I didn’t know anything about it, besides it being the mecca of street skateboarding, and I really didn’t even know what that meant. But then I stepped into Double Rock and saw Chico Brenes and Myles Silvas. It seemed so surreal.

JC: Was it always in the initial plan to stay?

NG: Well with him allowing me to stay at Double Rock I figured “Oh I’ll just stay down here for a couple months and then once the weather gets better in Seattle in, say May or April, I’ll move back.” I figured I’d pat myself on the back and go back to Seattle. I didn’t even necessarily think I’d be working down here or anything. I had saved up some money to couch surf, even though I really didn’t have any friends down here at all. Tony and my other friend Tet, those were the only dudes I even knew. One thing led to another and I’m still here. It’s been two years, a little over.

JC: How did you end up working for High Speed?

NG: When he told me I could stay at Double Rock, I actually had no idea that it was right across the street from the headquarters. I got there was just like “1303 Underwood Ave, that’s Thrasher right there!” It was kind of a struggle right when I first got down here because we (Editor’s Note: Nile and Ian Wishart) lived in a skatepark. There was no motivation to find a job because literally we would walk out of our room and just be in the skatepark. Then it turned into like “I’m gonna go skate with such-and-such instead of trying to go get a nine-to-five job over at the café.” But that could only last for so long, you know? All my money was going to shit, I had maybe a month left of savings and I decided to get a job at Whole Foods, and then I ended up finding a really shitty place with you…

JC: Yup.

NG: Then we got a slightly less shitty spot out in Glen Park. We let that run for a little bit and while that was all going on I was staying in touch with Tony (Vitello) on a friendly basis, hanging out or skating. Eventually he was like “Hey, I have some stuff you could do here and work part-time.” As soon as he said that I was down, I would rather do this than almost anything else I can think of. At first it was just little stuff like cleaning out a room or organizing books here and there, mags, shipping stuff out from the warehouse, whatever there was that would allow myself to stay longer within the mag, I wanted to do whatever I could do to help. Tony got the idea to start a skate store, a Thrasher store, and wanting me to be a part of it. At that point I knew I was definitely going to stay in San Francisco, if not for skateboarding just to be a part of that.

JC: You were basically their first staff member for 66 6th.

NG: Yeah. I don’t know, but I was for sure one of the first dudes Tony spoke to about potentially working there. I was just in awe, I was like “Holy shit, this could be something really sick.”

JC: How did you get involved with GX?

NG: I knew that Ryan (Garshell) lived out here and filmed all those videos and shit. I was always super into his work as well, I admired his filming and how he goes about putting out a lot of footage of really good dudes that skate in San Francisco. Like the second day of me going out skateboarding in the city I met Ryan and Al Davis and Brian De La. They were all hanging out with my friend Tet, who showed me around the city at first. The city is so small you just see a lot of dudes around. Ryan was working on a video, and the first time I got a clip with him he asked me if I wanted to put it towards that. From there we just started filming more stuff. At first he was like “I’m putting out a video at the end of the year,” which was four months away. Four months led to another year of filming.

JC: You guys went all over the place filming for Roll Up.

NG: Yeah we fuckin’… we went on an East Coast trip where we went to Philly and we went to New York. I had already been to New York City but I had never been to Philadelphia at all. It was super sick, I didn’t really get much there but there was fuckin’ 15 of us, it was so insane. Whether it was everyone trying to skate the same spot at once or just trying to get everyone out of the house and ready. A lot of the homies were definitely trying to go out and party and enjoy themselves. I don’t blame ‘em. We were out here across the country, gotta make the most of it.

JC: You had some clips in the video and people responded really well to them. People were singling you out on the SLAP forum as having some of their favorite clips in the video.

NG: I got a handful of clips nahm sayin? (Laughs) I didn’t imagine he would even use as much as he did just because he’s critical, which is good. Quality over quantity, there’s no reason to have an 80-minute video when it could be 40 minutes and speak to people just as well.

JC: One thing I remember from that premiere is that the whole video is super damaging. It’s just one insane clip after another. You stand there for 40 minutes but you’re just being pummeled by raw footage of insane hill bombs the entire time. It’s the exact opposite of watched “BLESSED” or something.

NG: Someone said they counted, and there are 45 hill bombs in the video. That made me wonder how many clips total made the cut. Like if it’s 100 clips total or something then the video is half hill bombs. But that’s fuckin’ SF.

JC: Who’s your favorite roller to watch?

NG: Probably Matt Finley, that dude is super fun to watch. He has a good bag of flatground tricks. He wasn’t able to get out filming a bunch while I was around because he’s been injured a lot, so it was definitely magical every time I got to watch him skate. Jesse (Vieira) was definitely fuckin’ insane. Especially because he’s not only a risk taker, but also talented enough to really fuckin’ do all those crazy things. Imagine how much footage he must have had the will never see the light of day. That dude can skate whatever the hell you want him to skate or whatever the hell he wants to skate.

JC: Like Geoff Rowley.

NG: Yeah, Jesse was a beautiful sight to behold in the streets. As a person as well, beautiful.

JC: What’s up with the movie you’re in? How did you become a stunt double?

NG: Yeah lemme plug. The Last Black Man in San Francisco, out June 14, go see that shit! Nah, that was insane. Fuckin… just over skating at my local park, SoMa. It was one of those days that I wasn’t really expecting to skate at all, I think I had work in the afternoon. I was supposed to meet up with whoever and they bailed, so I ended up at the park for like 20, 30 minutes. There was no one there of course, it was pretty early in the day. This guy was there, on his phone talking about who-knows-what forever and just looking at me and everyone else at the park, just eyeing everyone. I was like “Who the fuck is this guy?” Eventually he like yells at me and tells me to come to the gate. I said what’s up and he was like “Yo were filming for this movie, you really fit the description of the main character who skateboards.” I had a flat top at the time and he asked me “Is there any way you could pat down your hair? Because the character doesn’t have much hair.” I told him that I could figure it out and I took his crumpled up business card. They needed me in just a couple weeks, the shoot was happening immediately. At the end of the conversation he was like “Oh by the way, we’ll pay you.”

JC: I would hope so.

NG: And then to persuade me he started listing off other skaters and actors in the movie: Daewon Song, Andy Roy, Danny Glover, Mike Epps. Soon after that I went over to his office and he told me the same thing again “You might have to cut your hair, let me see what your hair looks like patted down.” I told him I really wasn’t interested in cutting it unless they were going to pay me a decent amount of money. We came to an agreement on that, his initial offer was more than I thought he would be willing to pay. I ended up cutting my hair into a little-ass nappy ‘fro.

JC: Wow.

NG: Then when it came to start shooting, the script for what we would be doing wasn’t really all the way developed. It was all written, but it was extremely flexible. The other stunt double was a little bit older and wasn’t willing to do quite as much with skating, he wasn’t out there trying to bomb these sketchy-ass hills so they also had me doing some of his work. I was totally fine with that, but then it turned into like me being at work and them calling me like “Hey can you meet up within the next half hour? So-and-so isn’t able to perform this stunt and the last day to shoot this is today. We’ll pay you for a full days work!”

JC: Was it fun? Do you see a future in that for yourself?

NG: Honestly, it was so fun. Something I never thought I’d be able to do or experience. If there’s more work where that came from, sign me up. I’m down! I might have to go skate the park more often.

JC: Maybe you should just hang out at SoMa everyday.

NG: Psych!

JC: What are your favorite things in the current state of skateboarding?

NG: Fuck dude, all those dudes from Europe, Atlantic Drift! It’s been awhile since they put anything out. That’s probably for the best, I’m sure they’re working on the next one. Nah but they put out some really good edits in the last couple years. The Isle video Vase is also one of my favorite videos of all time. I also love seeing new Ishod (Wair) footage. And he always pumps out clips on Instagram or whatever, even if its skatepark footage, I always love to see what he’s doing.

JC: What’s wack then? What stuff do you NOT like?

NG: Instagram is definitely the worst BEST thing there is. It’s like, you could use it in a good way, but in most cases it just oversaturates everything. It’s so easy and so convenient that it just makes everything so bland and excessive. It’s hard to keep your relevancy up or even stay up with consumption, let alone avoid all the bad shit that’s out there. Instagram is just the forefront of it all, you have all these fools trying to trend set and being super blatant about shit. Skatepark clips too, you have so many of them now and they’re so extreme. For me it’s like SoMa park footage, every time I see that on my feed I just scroll right past. You can only watch it so many times.

JC: We spoke on this subject a couple years ago, just on how approaches to social media use change over time. I used to think that posting a lot on Instagram, especially when I was trying to make my full-length videos, was a really good way to market myself, and my product. I think we can agree now that by posting less you’re actually making people care more. Unintentionally, by avoiding Instagram, you’re creating a bigger demand for your footage.

NG: It’s good to be mysterious. You definitely don’t have to put your personal life on the Internet. But if some lonely-ass kid in a small town with nobody to skate with or talk to about skating wants to use Instagram as a way to connect with skateboarding, I’d say that beats just being lonely and depressed. For the most part though, I just see people on there trying to glamourize their lives.

JC: Well said.

NG: I remember when you started deleting it off your phone to take breaks. I was wondering “Why would you even need to do that?” But now a couple years later I realize that you can start to depend on it as some source of pleasure.

JC: To wrap this up, who are your top five Seattle skaters?

NG: I mean, Cory Kennedy. He’s up there, he’s a hall of famer. I’d say Jordan Sanchez as well, I grew up admiring him, seeing him skate in Adidas and shit from the start of it all.

JC: The Campus Vulc?

NG: That shit just looked so sick. In terms of Seattle skate figures I always enjoyed dudes like Marshall (Reid) who seemed like they were in control of it all. He owned Manik and it seemed like the whole Manik vision came from him. I admire that. There’s also some kid I just heard about who’s on the come up right now. I think his last name is Gass?

JC: Never heard of him. (Laughs)

NG: He can skate, he’s kinda cool.

JC: One more.

NG: Brandon Taylor, he was super sick.

JC: How about Bay Area skaters?

NG: Chico is sick, 44 years young and still ripping. Al Davis if he’d stop getting hurt and skate more. Those dudes are older too, and with age comes responsibility. Also Drake Johnson, Jesse Vieira again, Matt Finley again, Simon Jensen too, he’s finally getting some shine.

JC: Last question: What’s going on with your knee?

NG: It’s fucked man. I partially tore my meniscus but I think there’s something else going on with it as well. After this third month of not skating it’s feeling pretty strong, but I’m getting a second opinion on it soon by another doctor who will hopefully tell me when I should be able to skate again. Right now they’re telling me it will be healed in another month.

JC: I’ve never known you to be a guy who takes much time off when you’re injured either. Usually you just push it the second you start feeling better.

NG: Ah, you know what? That reminds me, add Sean Greene to the list of my favorite Bay Area skaters. (Laughs) That dude is a fucking powerhouse. Fastest dude, best flatground, he’s not young either. 30 years old now, maybe 31. That whole GX crew is probably a lot older than people realize, San Francisco is a hard city to make it in if you’re not somewhat of a mature adult who can handle yourself. It’s an older city, for sure.

JC: Anything else?

NG: Well right now I’m fuckin’ unable to skate, so I’ve been looking forward to doing other things aside from skating. I think it’s so boring to be described as only a skateboarder, there’s more shit to do.

[aion-rsa]

Thor: Love and Thunder - The Women Who Lifted Mjolnir

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Turns out we're going to see Jane Foster Thor on the big screen, so let's look at all the women who have bludgeoned someone with Mjolnir!

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One of the biggest pieces of news coming out of San Diego Comic Con is that Taika Waititi will be directing Thor: Love and Thunder, which will not only bring back Natalie Portman as Jane Foster (who bowed out after Thor: The Dark World and did some minor cameo stuff in Avengers: Endgame), but it will have her take control of Mjolnir. Following in the footsteps of Vision and Captain America, Jane will be showing everyone that she is indeed worthy.

Jane as Thor has been a pretty big part of Jason Aaron's lengthy Thor run, which only just ended. For a while, Thor Odinson believed himself unworthy to lift Mjolnir and the hammer instead fell into the hands of Jane. As with many instances such as this, the replacement hero lasted for a couple years before the original returned to the role and the status quo went back to normal. Hell, this isn't even Thor's first rodeo on this. We had Eric Masterson back in the 90s, but he didn't have boobs, so people didn't freak out about it as much.

There is precedent when it comes to Mjolnir being wielded by a lady. Here's look at Thor's more feminine history from Marvel Comics.

JANE FOSTER

So when it comes to the more modern version of Jane Foster Thor, you might as well just read Jim Dandy's Jane Foster as Thor Explained piece. I'm going to be minimally redundant on the subject and will instead discuss the original instance of the concept, even if it was non-canon.

One of the earliest What If? issues asked, "What if Jane Foster had found the hammer of Thor?" Chased around by rock aliens, Donald Blake was meant to discover a walking stick, smack it against a rock, and transform into the Mighty Thor with the stick becoming his hammer Mjolnir. Odin's plans are a little out there, but sure, why not. In this reality, Jane fell into the cave where the hammer was. Going through the same motions Blake went through, Jane transformed into a female Thor. Deciding to call herself Thordis, she rescued Blake, beat up the rock people, and became the world's most powerful superheroine.

She had plenty of identical adventures to mainstream Thor and even joined the Avengers (Giant Man took over Wasp's role when it came to undressing Thordis with his eyes), but as it goes, Loki had a big, sinister plot going on. In the end, Donald Blake returned to his Thor form and was given back Mjolnir. Thor shacked up with Sif, but Jane got the consolation prize of marrying Odin.

ROGUE

Rogue's ability to carry Mjolnir didn't seem to come from worthiness, but absorbing Thor himself. During her first appearance where Mystique's gang of evil mutants attacked the Avengers, Rogue not only absorbed Ms. Marvel's powers and life force, but she did the same to Thor, leaving his body nothing more than a husk. Things didn't go so well for Rogue at first, as she accidentally killed her allies and Loki found her easy pickings to manipulate into overthrowing Odin and ruling Asgard.

Rogue saw through Loki's lies purely through witnessing Odin's heartbreak. In her mind, Thor appeared before her, explaining that all this time she was looking to fill the void in her soul and accepting her Thorhood would do just that. He told her, "Thor is not simply a person. Thor is an ideal, an example for others to follow. This is your fate, your true destiny! To be that ideal, to be Thor!"

read more: Who is Black Widow Movie Villain Taskmaster?

Rogue tore apart Loki's forces and picked up where her predecessor left off as the hero of Asgard and Midgard. Coincidentally, the inscription on her hammer was changed to say, "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he – or she – be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor."

WONDER WOMAN

In the 90s, Marvel and DC were personified as two giant, cosmic brothers who would fight for dominance until one universe was destroyed. lt was decided that these universes had to settle which reality would survive through a best of 11 series of one-on-one fights featuring heroes from their worlds. Trillions of lives seriously depended on Robin vs. Jubilee. Yikes.

One of the fights had Thor take on Captain Marvel. That's...ummmm...the DC Captain Marvel with the "SHAZAM" and all that. Thor won due to logic. Captain Marvel got his powers from lightning and Thor was the God of Thunder. Unfortunately, his victory transported Mjolnir elsewhere, where Wonder Woman found it. While musing about the definition of what is considered "worthy," she picked it up and became even more powerful than normal.

read more: Marvel Movies Release Schedule: Complete MCU Timeline

When faced with her Marvel opponent Storm, Wonder Woman decided to make the fight fair by dropping Mjolnir. Storm proceeded to zap her into oblivion, so I can only imagine a bunch of DC Universe civilians giving her the sarcastic thumbs up. "We're all going to be wiped out into oblivion, but you got to hold onto your honor. That's fantastic. We're happy for you. Really."

Later on, as the heroes of both worlds fought Darkseid and Thanos, Thor lost his hammer yet again. Wonder Woman casually handed it to him and it took Thor a second to realize that that shouldn't have been possible.

CRUSADER

The final issue of the long-running second volume of What If? featured a story based on the idea of Galactus and the Beyonder killing each other during Secret Wars, leaving the heroes and villains stranded on Battle World. 25 years later, there's mostly a sense of peace among former enemies and everyone had long settled down. The second generation included the offsprings of Wolverine/Storm, Thor/Enchantress, She-Hulk/Hawkeye, Human Torch/Wasp, Dr. Doom/Enchantress, Titania/Absorbing Man, and Molecule Man/Volcana. It also had Sarah Rogers, otherwise known as Crusader, the daughter of Captain America and Rogue.

How did that conception even happen? I'll leave that to you to figure out.

The heroic offspring worked together to take on the evil Vincent Von Doom, who, for the record, was a complete and utter punk compared to his pop. Crusader was magic'd away, but returned to the stronghold with Mjolnir in hand. Her boyfriend Bravado (Thor's son, Balder Blake) wasn't exactly thrilled that Crusader was worthy when he wasn't. Thor shrugged it off with a smile. If Mjolnir said she was all good, who were they to argue?

read more: The History of Marvel's Eternals Explained

Sarah Rogers was wielding Cap's shield and Mjolnir years before Superman ever did and unlike him, she was legitimately considered worthy. Impressive.

EARTH X THOR

In the alternate future of Earth X, it wouldn't have been all so interesting if the ageless Thor wasn't visually changed up in some way. Loki had tricked Odin into believing that Thor needed another lesson in humility and so Thor was turned into a woman, mainly for him to deal with being ogled by men all the time. Loki thought it was hilarious and joked about how he gave Hercules his consent to make a move on his sister.

Being a woman didn't really have much of an effect on the story, mainly because when it came to all the Asgardian goings on, Thor wasn't even the main hero. Rather, it was Loki, who came to realize that their entire existence was a sham and they needed to fight back. In the Earth X reality, the idea was that nearly everyone was linked to the mutant gene. Inhumans? Mutants. Spider-Man? Mutant. Fantastic Four? Mutants. Hulk? Mutant. The Celestials created a failsafe in the beings they tampered with so that when they evolved into life forms of unlimited power (such as Franklin Richards), they would become susceptible to the beliefs of others.

What I mean by that is that somewhere some aliens got so evolved that their powers were unlimited. They came to Earth and were molded by belief to be gods. Thor, Loki, Odin, Hercules, and so on were nothing but brainwashed aliens all along and didn't even realize it. Naturally, the Lord of Lies was the one to figure out that they were living lies.

read more: Thor 4 Villains We Want to See

It took a while for Thor to accept that Loki was telling the truth after all. She willed herself back into male form and became horrified. Eventually, the two joined forces and decided on what it was they wanted to be. Thor chose to be Donald Blake and exist as a doctor. Loki took over for his brother and transformed himself into the new Thor. But, you know, the kind of Thor that has a penis.

STORM

Back in the day, Chris Claremont and Art Adams did a big two-parter that dealt with the X-Men and New Mutants being lured into Asgard by Loki. It was notable for Loki giving Storm a very Mjolnir-like enchanted hammer called Stormcaster. Upon realizing that she was being manipulated, she gave it up, as well as her status of Goddess of Thunder. It was just a ploy by Loki in the end, but if push came to shove, would Storm have been recognized as worthy to pick up the real deal Mjolnir?

Years later, after the Siege on Asgard, Thor visited Queen Storm in Wakanda. In the aftermath of Siege, he discovered a box with Storm's name on it. Opening up, they found Stormcaster. Storm was drawn to it and upon picking it up, she regained her goddess form and returned to Loki's sway. Thor tried to talk her down and had to get physical. Becoming lucid, Storm grabbed Mjolnir from Thor's hand and used it to smash Stormcaster to bits. She returned to her normal self and the two pondered the meaning of Loki's posthumous intentions.

BLACK WIDOW

The What If? miniseries based on Age of Ultron was really cool outside of the bookends. The first issue is droll and depressing while the last issue is nihilistic and depressing. The series goes with the idea that Wolverine's constant time travel in Age of Ultron proper caused tons of problems across the multiverse. At random points in Marvel history, certain characters would see all the different alternate realities at once, have an aneurysm, and die. Then we'd see how history would be changed by their mysterious deaths.

Thor was in the midst of fighting the Midgard Serpent Jormungand, where they were meant to destroy each other and fulfill Ragnarok. Instead, Thor suddenly started screaming and keeled over. Without Thor to complete the prophecy, Asgardian monsters ran rampant across Earth. Flash forward later where the only team of heroes left was made up of Nick Fury, Black Widow, Silver Sable, Falcon, Shang-Chi, and Microchip. The team flew towards Jormungand and all the other monstrosities in a Quinjet, armed with a lot of stolen Dr. Doom tech. Widow jumped out of the plane and Microchip realized that they were merely a distraction (or as Fury put it, "sacrifice") for the real main event assault.

read more: The 100 Best Marvel What If Moments

Picking up Mjolnir, Black Widow flew right at the serpent. Decades later, Nick Fury told the story, bound to a wheelchair. He was the lone survivor and admired the statues commemorating Black Widow and her fallen Valkyries.

Unfortunately, the fifth issue decided to mash up everything by having Ultrons infest all the worlds brought up in the miniseries and wiping them all out until a handful of alternate reality survivors started their own Exiles knockoff on a dead world. So Goddess Black Widow survived with a couple other characters, but at the cost of four realities being wiped out completely. That's disheartening.

THE THORS OF BATTLEWORLD

For those who haven't read Marvel's massive Secret Wars event from 2015, here's the quick version: the multiverse was imploding upon itself and the only thing stopping total annihilation was the team of Dr. Doom, Dr. Strange, and Molecule Man. In the aftermath, all that was left was a planet called Battleworld made up of pieces of alternate universes. Every world that survived the implosion was recreated as a kingdom. Doom ruled as God and the Thors did his bidding as police sheriffs. Each kingdom would have someone deemed worthy enough to wield their own version of Mjolnir or a Mjolnir-like weapon.

read more: Secret Wars: A Look Back at the Tie-Ins

There were several hammer-wielders who were some variation of Thor Odinson, but many others got to shine. This meant a handful of women deemed worthy. I'd be here all day if I gave each one her own profile, so I'm just going to list them off: Jane Foster, Storm, Angela, Dazzler, Valkyrie, Gamora, Katherine Renner, Lila Rhodes, Sif, Susan Storm, Tarene, and Ti Asha Ra.

SQUIRREL GIRL

Squirrel Girl's whole deal is that despite her ridiculous powerset, name, and appearance, she's one of Marvel's heavy hitters. She's the one who made her debut defeating Dr. Doom, after all. In one of her adventures, Doreen accidentally got cloned by a piece of Stark tech. While it was neat for her at first, it soon became apparent that her clone was evil.

The evil Squirrel Girl (named Allene to keep things less confusing) was able to overwhelm the original and went on to defeat pretty much all the Marvel heroes. She then stole a bunch of weapons from them, like an Iron Man gauntlet, Doc Ock arms, Hawkeye's arrows, etc. She couldn't budge Mjolnir, naturally. Doreen tried to stop her once again and was instead teleported to the moon, where she was doomed to suffocate.

Squirrel Girl's BFF squirrel Tippy Toe stole the Iron Man gauntlet and the teleporter, flew to Mjolnir's whereabouts, and teleported the hammer to the moon, next to Doreen's dying body. Moments later, Doreen (who was surprisingly never referred to as "Thoreen") appeared before Allene with a whole bunch of pissed off superheroes joining the fight. Once Allene was dealt with, Doreen gave the weapon back to Jane.

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and wouldn't mind seeing more of the whole Steve Rogers/Rogue romantic pairing. Read his other articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L

Read and download the Den of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Gavin Jasper

Jul 22, 2019

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