#the way cabbys arc is going is hitting HARD

[worldsfirstgayknife]

nothing to offer 📁

[orionshounds]

I'm making this post WAYYYY later than I thought I would but I am still NOT OVER part one of the ii finale, and I just wanted to gush about why I think it worked so well (long post + spoilers ahead, everything here is just my own personal opinion!)

And to start talking about the episode, I'm not going to talk about the episode at all, but rather THE BUILDUP

as has been said many times by Justin and Brian, Mephone4 creating the contestants has been something they've planned for awhile (since 2015 if my memory is correct), so they have had plenty of times to sprinkle in little details building to this reveal. But what I find fascinating is how well they hid the clues to the reveal because they all were hidden in plain sight

Fan glitching and saying he doesn't know who he is outside the show

Cabby struggling to remember her parents

Anytime a character is asked (in FFF or an exit interview) about their past they reply with "for as long as I can remember"

Characters describing how the show can feel like it's taking over their lives

Looking back over everything I almost feel stupid for not catching onto it before, but the clues were made by design to go over viewer's heads. Because in almost every case, there was a second, "more reasonable" conclusion the audience could take away from these moments.

For Fan his whole arc had been about his unhealthy attachment with the game, it made sense that he would struggle with his identity outside of it (we just didn't know how LITTERAL that struggle was). And him glitching was in response to being beamed up by the Prime Shimmer, at the time it was safe to assume it was probably something to do with the alien tech and not Fan himself. For Cabby's scene, god I love this scene, everyone (including the characters themselves!) assumed that it was just Cabby's memory that was at fault because that's what her arc was centered around. Every clue was so well hidden because they used our own assumptions against us

And now I want to talk about season 3 a little more because in my opinion, the twist would NOT have hit as hard without it

I know there were a lot of real world reasons why the crew made a season 3, but it serves as the perfect primer for the season 2 twist. First and foremost the Cabby scene again; since the objects' world is so different from our own and there is no universal "lore" on how such a world operates, Cabby's scene with Bot is soooo important for one specific reason; it plants the idea in the viewer's heads that, in this world, objects are supposed to have parents. Cob's specifically has a line taunting Knife and Suitcase about this (What did your parents say when they heard the good news?) that would not have hit as hard without this scene subtly directing the audience to expect them to have parents

Then there is Walkie's whole monologue at the end of iii's finale;

I'm gonna be real, when this finale came out I really did not understand this monologue at all. I didn't understand WALKIE at all. She suggests she wasn't made by Meeple, which didn't feel like a lie, but I just couldn't figure out what her deal was.....then the season was just over!

I was confused and a little irritated when they didn't elaborate on who exactly she was and where the hell she came from, and I think the crew wanted the audience to feel that way. They wanted us to keep the questions of "who" and "why" in our heads so that season 2's reveal would make it all click into place

iii's confusion doesn't stop there either, since after it ended probably the biggest question everyone had was how does it fit in the timeline? Because the crew always said it was canon, and the characters kept making references to how season two was "still going on", so when episode 15 aired I was really curious on how it would all fit.....

....what?

That was my reaction at least. There was no way season three happened in only half a day....right? And then I thought, "oh, ok, silly object show rules. They didn't want season 3 to intrude on season 2 so they're going to brush this off, just don't think to hard about it". Obviously, this wasn't the case, but we wouldn't know that until the finale. And again, I think the crew wanted this confusion. By leaving the audience with questions, you're helping to build tension towards that finale payoff (and to be clear, at the time of writing this we still don't know 100% HOW this timeline works, but no doubt Mephone's powers had something to do with it)

With all of these questions, and Brain running polls on twitter on how many characters we thought might die (thanks brian), finally it was time for part one of the season 2 finale...

and then the twist dropped like a bombshell; mephone made the contestants

the very foundation of my understanding of the show changed after that. Everything I had been prepared for was thrown entirely out the window, which I don't think was an accident. With how the crew teased about this episode, it felt like they were preparing us for everything except the twist, ensuring it could fully blindside the most amount of people possible

I want to talk about how brilliantly they presented the twist as well because honestly, building up to it is half the battle. With how important this moment is and how much of our understanding of the show it changes, it needed a ton tension and weight behind it, which the crew pulled off flawlessly. I still get goose-bumps watching that final scene

Kicking it off, Mephone finally answers the call from Cobs. As someone who is particularly invested in Mephone this was huge, it's the biggest thing we know he's been dreading and shows some significant growth from him as well (I don't think pre-iii finale Mephone would ever face his fears like this). Then Knife and Suitcase confront Cobs, Suitcase setting the mood by saying "It feels too easy, doesn't it?" and it does. We, as an audience, know that this is only part one. There is no way Cobs is about the be defeated....not to mention that he has some sort of grand plan we don't know about, so the audience is now on the edge of their seats wondering what is about to go wrong

As the pair confront him they have this exchange;

"Bored? You expect us to believe that??"

"I don't know, it is the truth though"

Since Cob's is known to be an unreliable narrator, to me this feels like Brian subtly signaling to the audience that whatever Cobs is going to say next IS going to be the truth, whether we like it or not

Cobs then nonchalantly confirms he's the one deleting the contestants, putting the audience on edge. I mean, who calmly admits to murder like that?? Then, he begins probing about the bizarre nature of the show. Alllll of the little things that might have bugged us, or things we brushed off because "its an object show" Cobs highlights. He builds the audience's tension by pointing out the same questions a lot of them have been asking themselves since the beginning. And then, he starts building the tension with the contestants;

(I really love this beat, how he takes a moment to think of just the right question to ask without giving it all away. It shows how much he's enjoying fucking with the contestants, really living up to being the final big-bad of the show)

The way he begins to lead us to the answer is so sick and twisted. Asking Knife and Suitcase seemingly innocent questions, going on about creative vision, answering Mephone's call and realizing with delight how even HE doesn't seem know the answer. Winding the audience up and up and up before;

"How'd you get an interview with him anyway?"

"What'd your parents say when you told them the news?"

"You'd think you'd remember something like that, oh wait, no you wouldn't."

"He made you."

...

To this day, Inanimate Insanity is the only show to leave me literally speechless after an episode. I think everything about part one was handled phenomenally, hats off to the entire crew

Finally, I wanted to talk about where this twist leaves the show. Let's be real, putting a "nothing was real" type twist into your story is risky. If not done properly it can leave the audience feeling like the story was pointless or is no longer engaging to revisit. I can confidently say ii's twist has avoided this pitfall

Not only has this twist been properly built up too, incredibly I think it makes the characters more interesting in hindsight. Many of them follow an arc about becoming more than who they are assumed to be at the start. With this twist, those arcs are suddenly much more meaningful because instead of overcoming a personal flaw, they are overcoming what they were literally created to be. It changes the status quo in a way that will alter your perception of earlier episodes, but in a way that makes you re-engaged with the show and excited to revisit it

All in all, I love this episode and I love the twist, and I'm really excited to see how it continues to shape the characters and world in part 2 :)

[got-into-worm-by-mistake]

“You needed worthy opponents.”

When do we the readers get told that 'You needed worthy opponents' was 'Eidolon gave rise to the Endbringers?' Sometime in Arc 28? 29? 30? How long do we wait to find out how saying that meant? Like, I know, because spoilers, but.

Also, apparently Scion can Path Eidolon. Fun.

so like, we know from Yamada's interlude that Eidolon says he can reach his powers better, have better powers, during dangerous fights. Hence why he was going to Echidna. Not realizing perhaps that the improvement never seemed to last, but...

So like, was he already experiencing some power loss when Behemoth showed up, and that's why he needed worthy opponents? Was it initially just a degree of vaingloriousness? Some weird desire for challenge? How hooked up to the 'I need to be better with my powers for the final fight against scion' was the motivation?

I do gotta say though that... like, I get that [High Priest] is an Eden shard and thus dead, but creating the Endbringers, as fuckoff OP as they are, is very much an r/maliciouscompliance type thing from the Shard.

Like, it feels like the Shard is going *new york cabbie voice* 'Hey, you want some worthy opponents? I got your worthy opponents right here!' *Shard looks at the audience like a Shakespeare villain doing an aside, in a more normal voice* 'I'm about to fuck this man over so hard'

I mean, Behemoth in Arc 24 was well, well WELL beyond 'Worthy Opponent' territory.

Like, when I think of worthy opponent, I think 'a challenge, something not easy, but also an enemy that you could at least, conceivably beat'. Not, you know... that.

And the Endbringers just attacking random cities means that everyone else gets involved. Wouldn't just... attacking Eidolon have been a more direct and efficient way to do it?

I do get that [High Priest] is basically running Conflict_Engines.exe on like, bootleg out of date software that doesn't meet the manufacturers recommended minimum requirements, but also like...

man, if the Endbringers were supposed to be Worthy Opponents, that's like...

You know that meme, 'Task Failed Successfully'? This is the opposite 'Task Succeeded Fail-ly' (There has got to be a better way to say that. Let me hit the thesaurus, one sec)

Thesaurus is not giving me anything useful but a reddit post suggested 'Task succeeded pyrrhically' as the opposite of 'Task Failed Successfully' which doesn't really feel like the best possible version, but it does kind of work.

Anyway, the points is, MAN did the Endbringers overdeliver!

[silverjetsystm]

Rarely does Jake get ‘beautiful sentiment.’ He tends to get blank stares or surprise he can sling words on the human condition together. Grant may’ve gotten them to pieces of paper -- earned his own pieces of paper to play with numbers and stocks that translate to products and dollars in some universe -- but Jake and Marc aren’t stupid.

Potato Rosti fork-speared against white platter in a small screech, chin resting against the back of his hand. “Can you?” twinkle in his brimmed eyes not a tease nor a stab to her upbringing or her own pieces of paper. Leaning into the dance, basking in similar wavelength, in his posture and rhetorical. They have the hard jobs. Doing what they can for humanity in all its infinite diverse combinations. She continues out the same tear he’s got going, passion for her work, her way, a lantern shining from inside her.

“We got some of the same passengers. Dealing with em on their worst days. An’ their body fluids no doubt. Sometimes get folks that I gotta drive your way. It’s a headache for other drivers. Legal hot water. Stressin’ someone’s gonna pass on.” Labor – single women, steely teared faces; stressed couples yelling for him to go faster. Young and old OD-ing. Bleeding from bullets and blades in his backseat.

Worn leather jacket shoulder rises and falls. “Me, I don’t mind so much. They don’t got any real options if they’re hailing one of us.” Fees for ambulance, for care, wait times. Systems within systems power has built and don’t seem bothered to unbuild.

Marc also being the guy who people wanna treat and street or stick five-pointed in the grippy socks hotel, Jake reckons he has responsibility.

Smile goes worn as his leather jacket, adjusting his brim. Voice lowered, darker wood, words for him and her, “The NICU is a mitzvah. They don’t just let anyone in. Lil ones and their parents must grateful to have you watching over them.”

He pulls away a skosh, mixing Rosti and salmon together. Chewing quietly for mouth noises should be kept to himself. Nothing less than five stories are pulled up, riffed through, and tossed. “Okay. I got one. It’s a trade though. One ride for your room.” Cheeks remain the usual shade.

“So, years back, three robbers run outta a bank into me turnin right. Head guy pulls his gun on me. They’re all Halloween hero masks. Y’know. Spidey. Devil, and someone wearin’ one with a red wig on top. They all get in. Tell me to shut it and drive till I hit water. I make way towards Coney Island, don’t spare the horses neither. Weavin’ in an’ outta traffic a bit wilder than usual.” Cabbies right? gleams his side smile.

“Try an’ spook em a bit. Warn em we’re attracting attention. They don’ listen to ol’ Jake. Stun ‘em with a hard brake. Stick a trunchon to the accelerator, hop in the back. Rough em up a bit an’ that’s when Marc tells them -” Jake’s accurate Moon Kni.ght’s macabre delivery odd past the first fingers of dawn, “You said not to stop until we hit the water.”

A pause, flat hand curving in an arc miming a dive into his low mug.

His pronouncement over the food earns him the corner-of-her-lips twitch. Not a full smile but a sign of either amusement or a relief from the tension, the fear that it would be badly done and turn him off. Maybe a combination of both. Her shoulders seem to sag beneath her scrub top and her cardigan. She doesn't feel she has a right to pry into the way his eyes closed a moment before. Why she felt a field of stones in her belly when she caught it from the rims of her lashes because she can't expect him to sort out her feelings because something tripped over something private that he hadn't bothered to vocalise. That's part of the dance, the back and forth exchange in conversation; taking what's given and knowing when to change tempo or flow. Beth considers herself a pretty decent dancer. "I'm glad. I t'ink I would have been horrified if it was~" she waves a hand toward the decor and the dining space. Places like this she means, without daring say so aloud. Political move, never insult someone to their face unless you're prepared to deal with the fall out and it isn't worth it. Not when he seems happy enough. Food isn't the hill she wants to die on any more; when she was younger she lived maybe hours or days between hunger-strikes. It took Andy years to figure out the things that she could stomach and what would send her right up the curtains. Now, as an adult, she eats because she has to, it's rarely a pleasure. Maybe this moment is one of those precious few times. "Wha' a really beautiful sentiment." She means that. There's an unmistakable glow of warmth in her demeanour as she regards him. Head tilted to the side, gaze meeting gaze. More questions seem to pile up behind her teeth and she isn't exactly sure how to ask them or, again, if she should. "I can easily put myself in ya place. It's same-same wit' patients. Sometimes pain or personality makes you wanna jus' treat 'em an' street 'em, fast as you can. Some of dem are so gracious, so kind, even in dis terrible moment for dem, dat you wish you could keep in touch once dey've gone. Spendin' time in da NICU? I am blessed " That winsome smile reappears. "Wanna share you're mos' adventurous ride?"

[kalypsichor]

and they were quARANTINED [a beatles fic] - ch 1

summary: George takes a shit. Ringo braves a trip to the tescos and loses a bit of his soul. John harrasses the general public and Paul’s just trying to get them home before they kill each other. All while a virus tears the world apart.

warnings: CRACK (not cocaine), geo’s bad potty habits, ringo’s copious use of emojis

so, this is different... but i’ve always been a crack fic writer at heart. this is the result of being quarantined myself due to COVID-19. i’ve been seeing so much fear and frustration and hatred that i just wanted to write about it kinda cathartically. enjoy!

Unfortunately, George doesn’t realize that they’re out of toilet paper until after he’s taken a shit.

“Fuck,” he mutters. “Ringo?”

No answer.

“Ringooooooooo. RINGO!!!”

George’s legs are starting to lose feeling. He bounces them up and down a bit and the motion almost makes him drop his phone in the toilet.

“RICHARD FUCKING STARKEY!”

There’s the sound of footsteps and then a pause before Ringo answers.

“What’s up?”

“What took you so long?”

“Had my headphones in. Sorry I couldn’t be at your beck and call, O Lord of the Loo.”

“SHUT up. Look, do we have any more loo roll?”

A pause. “Why, are we out?”

George rolls his eyes so hard he sees stars. “No, I’m askin’ for the banter.”

“I’ll go check. Don’t move!”

George can almost see the shit-eating (heh) grin on his mate’s face as he walks away. With a sigh and some choice curse words that would make Louise cry, George pulls out his phone again. Opens Twitter. Sees yet another tweet from that spraytanned clown across the pond. Closes Twitter and contemplates deleting it. After about three rounds of this, Ringo comes back and knocks on the door.

“We’re all out. Got you some tissues, though.”

Krishna help me. George tips his head back against the wall and thumps it a few times for good measure.

“Thanks,” he says flatly. “Could you- ?”

The door opens just a smidge before he can finish talking there’s a flying blur of Kleenex box, a blinding pain in the side of his head, and a sickening crACK—

***

“I’m really sorry,” Ringo says for the millionth time, hovering over George as he examines the spiderweb of cracks on his phone screen. George huffs. He wants to be mad, he really does, but Ringo’s face is doing that stupid thing where his eyes are very, very blue and droopy and his teeth are worrying his bottom lip and it’s obvious that he’s genuinely remorseful and—fuck, he’s got it bad.

“It’s fine,” George insists, even though he can hear his bank account having a fit. “Piece of shit phone, anyway. And look, it still works!” Very shittily, his brain adds, but that’s what you get with a five year old phone.

The older boy’s eyes still have an unconvinced, sad look about them and George wishes he could kiss it away. No homo, though.

“How can I make it up to you?” George’s brain does a slutdrop into the gutter. “I’ll… I’ll get the groceries! How ‘bout that?”

“NO!” Scrambling off the couch, George just barely misses smacking noses with Ringo. “What about the… the virus?”

“I’ll wear a mask and all. Wash hands for twenty seconds, stay six feet away from people… am I missing anything?”

“Yeah, the quarantine bit.”

Ringo snorts and puts a hand on George’s arm. “Quit your worrying, Geo. I’ll be fine. Haven’t John and Paul been out all day?”

***

John and Paul want to go the fuck home. They’d walked all the way to a new art gallery opening only to find out it was cancelled (“Why didn’t you check Google?” “Why didn’t you?”). And now, both being tired as hell from their long trek, they couldn’t even flag down a single cab to take them home.

“This is the worst thing ever,” John cries, flopping his entire body down on a park bench. Paul rolls his eyes and lifts up John’s stupidly long legs so he can sit down as well.

“People are dying, John.”

“I feel like I’m dying.”

“John.”

“Okay, fine, maybe I’m being dramatic. But this stupid… thing… is fucking up all our plans!”

“It’s not fucking Voldemort, you can say the name.”

“Alright, fine. Coronavirus. CORONAVIRUS. You happy, Paul?”

A woman hurrying by shoots them a wide-eyed, nervous look and crosses the street, tugging a little boy by the hand.

“... bitch.”

“Jesus, John.” Paul pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’d do that too if some rando was shouting in the streets.”

“Yeah, but she didn’t hafta shoot that nasty look at us… did you see that? Paul?”

“Hold on, hold on.” His phone is vibrating in his pocket and he fumbles to pull it out. “Your stupid legs are in the way.”

John huffs and makes a show of wiggling said legs, almost kicking Paul in the face. Still, he tucks them to his chest (flexible, Paul thinks and then instantly regrets) so that Paul can take out the buzzing rectangle.

--

bongo: do u or john want anything? 🤔🤔

bongo: like groceries

bongo: going to tescos

Shouldnt you be quarantining?

bongo: ur literally at an art museum 😂

It’s a gallery

And it got cancelled :/

bongo: oop sorry m8 thats tough

bongo: srsly tho whaddaya want

We need more vegetables. Carrots, etc

--

“Tell him to get cornflakes,” John says, peering over Paul’s shoulder. He’s sat up and practically draped over Paul’s lap. Paul sighs and shoves his legs off, ignoring the indignant squawk the other boy makes when he almost falls off the bench.

--

Also that cornflake cereal stuff

bongo: k

bongo: tell john i said hi

Heyyyyyy rich wots up

Paulie’s being a bitch he pushed me :((((

Why is his auto caps on lsdnfol

--

“Give it back!”

“Ow! Ow stop hitting me Jesus fuckin-”

--

Sorry that was john

bongo: yeah i could tell lmao

bongo: where are u guys??

Stuck at some park. Can’t get any cabs home

bongo: well duh coronavirus 😷😷😷

bongo: bad time to be a cabbie man 😔

Yeah yikes

Pick up some rice for george too

And hand sanitizer

bongo: ill try but twitter says handsan itizer is going fast

bongo: what the fuc why did it space like that

Lol

bongo: oh also

bongo: geos being a mother hen and making me wear a face mask

bongo: u know where they are?

Second drawer down in the bathroom, behind the rubber gloves

bongo: … how did u reply SO fast

Uh i know where things are in our flat? Like a normal person?

bongo: thats sus but ok

bongo: wow theyre actually here

bongo: okay imma head out before it gets dark

What’s after dark? Zombies?

bongo: u never no

bongo: *no

bongo: FUCKING *KNOW

Nice

Okay stay safe ritch

bongo: 😘🙃👍🏼✌🏼✌🏼🌈🌟🥦🥦🥦☮️

***

Ringo has never seen this many people at Tesco in his entire life. Two grown men are having a full on argument in the pastries. A harried-looking dad almost knocks Ringo into a rack of Twinkies, pulling along two screaming kids with one slung on his hip. And… is that person actually wearing a Hazmat suit??

“This is insane,” Ringo mutters to himself, slightly muffled due to the face mask. He just needs to find the loo roll and then he’s going to yeet outta here ASAP.

Okay, hygiene aisle… here we g—what the—

The entire aisle is empty.

It’s like a goddamn Old Western. Just add a cow skull… cue the tumbleweed… and it would be perfect.

Not for the first time that day, Ringo sends a prayer to whoever is listening above. There’s got to be something left. He walks down to the end of the aisle. Walks back. Jumps a couple times to check if there’s anything on the top shelf. Sincerely hopes no one just saw him do that. Finally, shoved at the very back behind a couple of Always boxes, Ringo digs out a dusty as shit six-pack of toilet paper.

Well. It’ll have to do.

As he’s walking to the check out lines, a woman drops her bottle of hand sanitizer. It rolls across the floor in a perfect arc and Ringo scoops it up before it can get too far.

“Oops, you dropped this!” He says cheerily, handing it to her. Well, trying to. The woman makes a strangled noise in the back of her throat, physically flinches away from his outstretched hand, and almost drops the rest of her groceries. Before Ringo can react, she’s disappeared behind the produce aisle.

Ringo’s arm falls to his side. He stares at the space where she was just a second ago and holds in a scream.

“More for us, I guess.”

***

By the time Ringo reaches the flat, he’s ready to never see another person again. He trudges right past George in the kitchen, dropping the groceries on the table with a thwack. John hums a greeting to him in the living room and offers him a biscuit.

“No thanks,” Ringo says. He faceplants into the couch.

Something clinks onto the coffee table. Well, coffee table is one way to put it; it’s more of a hunk of stone from back when Paul thought he was going to be the next Michelangelo and get really into classical sculpture. It now sits in the living room and primarily holds George’s textbooks, plus takeout for whenever they don’t feel like cooking (which is all the time), so you can see how that panned out for Paul.

“Tea for you,” George says. He plops onto the floor between the couch and the table and runs a friendly, comforting hand through Ringo’s hair. Ringo practically purrs, leaning into the touch, and George feels his heart melt and trickle through his ribs. “You okay?”

“I’ve lost all faith in humanity,” Ringo mumbles into the cushion. John reaches over and pats him on the back.

“Don’t worry, Ringo. There won’t be any humans to have faith in soon.”

George throws a packet of sugar at John who dodges it, snickering. Ringo groans and tries to sink even deeper into the couch.

And that’s when they hear Paul scream.

[rndork]

The Year of the Goblin, Pt. 2

There was a plan. There’s a plan. Quickly that was becoming a mantra. Something to step him through the horror of his worst nightmare unfolding all over again. Quill, on the rooftop, immobilized, out of his reach, rigged to blow. Years of experience, he was better prepared to handle this, wasn’t he? He’d fought battles that he never could have dreamed of back then.

In the moment, it didn’t matter, he felt all of nineteen. A scared teenager trying to save the girl he wanted to marry. He could almost hear the echo through time of his words back then. ‘Your presence in this world has been a source of constant agony to me. I wish you to leave it permanently, or else Gwen Stacy dies.’ And they all knew how that ended. Back then he’d always pulled it off, losing Gwen had shaken him to the core. And here he was again, facing this same man who always knew his weak spot, the people he cared for, ready to have a repeat performance with Peter’s husband. There’s a plan. Focus Peter, there’s a plan. It’s not like last time. You’re ready.

A plan, but was it a plan he could believe in? He trusted Miles, trusted he could pull it off, but was this something Norman had planned for? Maybe he’d lead one more of the most important people in his life right into danger yet again. Maybe he’d be risking the both of them. That doesn’t make sense. Norman sent his goons after Spidey, if this was some kind of master plan, he wouldn’t have expected him here. He’s not planning for him. Now wasn’t the time for screwing around on this. Stick to the plan. It was a good plan. Spring the trap, keep him busy, hope to all hell the kid pulled it off or he might just as easily lose them both. “You ready for this kid?” He asked just once, while they were still out of sight. ‘Ready as I’m ever going to be. I know the plan. If something goes wrong, I mean, I’ve been at this long enough to improvise.' And that was what left Peter worrying. He’d always thought he was good enough to improvise too, up until he failed. But then unlike him, Miles had had people to help guide him through this, to teach him. Time to let him spread his wings, see him fly.

“Good luck Junior. I’m counting on you.” Please save him. When he looked to the right, Miles was nowhere to be seen, though he could still see the strands of webbing he shot out, watching where they ended and how the lines bent under his weight, though it was difficult to keep track of with the chaos down below, sounds of all sorts of chaos and madness as Norman’s footsoldiers wrought havoc down below.

He could also hear the groan, even over the sound of the wind. ‘Told you to stop calling me that!’

Peter didn’t chance an answer. Not with Alchemax in sight. Showtime. He’d come up with a plan and made it here before the deadline he’d been given when Quill had seemingly finally called back one of his tens of missed calls. Instead he just caught the best glimpse that he could grab of the situation, and centered himself. Normally he’d be thinking up some smartass thing to say, but when Osborn was involved, his brain tended to cloud over. And sure enough, there was the Green Goblin, circling high around the rooftop of the building on his glider. Now hard and fast or try to talk his way in? That was the question.

It wasn’t much of a question. His whole goal was to be distracting. Play it with desperation, like he was making a rush for him. Strike hard and fast and Norman would work hard to do the same, get both of them away from the rooftop. That’d be necessary space if Gobby caught on to Miles, even camouflaged as he was. Finally he closed the distance, webbing onto the glider, but using his own weight to arc himself up and past as if he wanted to make for the roof. “You know, if you wanted an invite to the wedding, should have just said so. No point in acting like you got snubbed. It was a real small affair.

He was almost down to the roof, when he felt that cold stab of alarm at the base of his skull. Wondering if he could pull this off on his own had always been ambitious, but it still left him concerned, even as he twisted his body in midair, out of the way of the razor bats, dodging further from blasts of electricity as he touched down, rolling a bit further away. “You took your time making it here Parker. I was beginning to wonder if you lost your stomach for this. Hubby dearest’s only got a few minutes left. Don’t worry. You’ll get a good seat before you join him.” The part that really drove him nuts was the cackling as the Goblin swooped at him, low to the roof. An easy enough dodge to avoid the hit.

The hit wasn’t hard to dodge. Maybe that wasn’t the point. The two of them had been doing this for years. Norman knew how he operated, and Peter was mostly running on instinct. His dodge led him right into a grab at the back of his neck,coupled with a nasty jolt, and then he was falling, down down over the edge of the building while he tried to throw off the shock of those damned gloves. Catch himself, had to catch himself. But there wasn’t much of a chance of that. This. Was not going according to plan anymore. He was supposed to signal to the kid when he was ready to go. Not much hope of that. Despite his earlier concerns, he hoped to hell that Miles was following through on that whole improvisation. Peter just barely managed to catch himself. One narrowly averted street pizza. Only half a breath later, spots still flashing in his vision, the wing of the glider caught him right in the midsection before stopping fairly abruptly.

The landing held about as much grace as possible. Meaning pretty much that he only hit the one car and grabbed hold. Okay. Back on your feet. We’re going to bring him in, because that’s the only way my whole family isn’t still at risk. He comes in tonight or it’s all over. That thought alone was enough to get him to pull himself out of the creased metal on the car hood, ignoring the angry curses of the cabby who’s car had just gotten one Spidey sized dent in it. “What? That all you got?”

It wasn’t.

And Peter was more than fine with that.

By the time the fight migrated back skywards, Peter had accumulated bumps, bruises, and injuries far more nasty than anything so innocent as those. Not that he hadn’t given as well as he’d got. But damned if he wasn’t hurting. If Miles hadn’t moved on this, hadn’t gotten Quill free and whoever was inside that building out? Then none of that pain would matter. At that point...he ditched that thought. He couldn’t lose focus now. It was part of why he’d long been ignoring the nasty little snipes and comments Osborn had been sending his way all this time.

And then everything happened at once. There was Quill, on the edge of the rooftop and fast plummeting. Where in the world was Miles? And then the world lit up. All those damned bombs and this high up the shockwave hit him like a semi. He was barely aware of one impact, and then another, and finally a third, though he wasn’t moving anymore. And then the spinning world faded out for just a moment.

When it faded back into place, he wasn’t sure how much time had passed. The world was still quiet, and he couldn’t hear much of anything. He didn’t need to hear the most important things as he painfully sat up. Quill was here. Osborn was still down (though he thwipped out a hefty dose of web fluid to ensure he stayed that way.) He still didn’t know exactly where Miles was, but a quick check of his phone had a thumbs up emoji waiting in a text for him. That was a good kid there.

Maybe, just maybe things were looking up after all

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

The Vindication of Venom Part 1: Introduction and Background Context

Part 2

This essay series is my attempt to address some of the criticisms surrounding the most famous Spider-Man villain of all time, Venom.

 To be specific I will be tackling the original earliest portrayal of the character from Amazing Spider-Man #300 and the criticisms levelled at him in that issue.

 I am not endeavouring here to look at the Lethal Protector era of Venom, the Daniel Way run of Venom or even versions of Venom from later on in the David Michelinie run of Spider-Man and make a case for why they aren’t so bad.

 Fair warning, not only will there be SPOILERS if you’ve not read many Venom tales but this series as a whole is very lengthy. I will also be reusing images throughout these posts as reminders or to illustrate different points so apologies there. The same goes for some of my general points.

 With that all said let’s kick off by laying down some foundations for what is to come.

Introduction

 Long story short, my thesis boils down to two essential lines of argument (though there are some other points I will get into as well). These are:

 a)     That Venom/Eddie Brock was a more poorly conveyed character than an outright poorly conceived one. That is to say he isn’t a character who, as has often been the criticism, doesn’t inherently make sense. Rather the nuts and bolts of what makes him tick, whilst present when you look closely enough, are not made explained in the clearest way possible.

 b)   Readers of the past and present project expectations onto the character that are not in fact warranted by his original concept, or at least the original intentions for the character.

 With that said, for the sake of context let’s give little bit of history on Venom leading into ASM #300 and his real life origins as they are vital to understanding people’s problems with the character and my proposed counterpoints.

 Conception

In the mid-1980s writer David Michelinie was given the chance to write the recently launched Web of Spider-Man ongoing series. It was during his tenure as the writer of that series that he originally conceived of Venom, later bringing his ideas over to Amazing Spider-Man when he became the main writer of that book.

 Michelinie’s original conception of the character though was drastically different to what we wound up with on the page in 1988. In a 2008 interview he explained in his own words the early thinking behind the character:

 Initially she [Venom] was a woman...The whole idea is that whenever I write a character I try to utilize the unique aspects of that character. And one thing Peter Parker had that no one else had was his spider sense...Someone flings at him from behind its a reaction he doesn’t even think about it, he ducks. And this has saved his life so many times I started thinking ‘Well, what if there was a villain who didn’t trigger that spider sense? How would he react? How would he cope with that?’

  And they had already established in Secret Wars that the black costume didn’t affect Peter’s spider sense. So I started working out a character who would join with the symbiote costume and actually be a villain...

 ...My original origin story had been a woman who was pregnant and...her husband was trying to flag a cab as she was going into labour, and a cabbie was driving along looking into the sky at the Living Monolith, tying it into that graphic novel, [Michelinie wrote the Graphic Novel in question] where Spider-Man was fighting the Living Monolith...and he hits the husband and kills the husband...the shock of this sends to woman into premature labour and she loses her child, all because the cab driver was watching Spider-Man. So she became unhinged and when she got out she had this fanatical hatred of Spider-Man, blaming him for the loss of her husband and their unborn child. And that drew the symbiote to her and she became one with the symbiote and was going after Spider-Man... 

When Michelinie came to write ASM something special was required for the milestone ASM #300. To this end he proposed they use his Venom character, but then editor Jim Salicrup felt that the readers wouldn’t be able to accept a woman being a threat to Spider-Man. As such Michelinie revised his origin for Venom and we got the character we know today.

 Now let’ take a look at Venom’s origins in the pages of the comics themselves.

 Backstory

 In the Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars maxi-series Spider-Man, among other characters, finds himself transported to the patchwork planet Battleworld to fight a group of super villains. Over time his costume is damaged and, on advice from other heroes, he seeks out an alien clothing machine. However he gets far more than he bargained for. Instead of simply replacing his traditional red and blue outfit Spidey now sports a sleek new black and white costume seemingly made of an extraterrestrial material that flows like liquid and responds to his very thoughts. 

After taking the costume back to Earth and going through various other twists and turns in his life, Peter takes the costume to be analyzed by Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four where he discovers the truth about it. That is it not in fact a piece of clothing but in fact a symbiotic alien life form that does not wish to separate itself from Spider-Man.

The symbiote later escapes from the Fantastic Four and attempts to forcibly bond with Peter again in Web of Spider-Man #1.

Knowing the symbiote’s vulnerability to loud noises Peter frees himself by going to a church bell tower, although this puts his own life at great risk too. Unexpectedly the symbiote actually saves his life despite Peter’s rejection of it. This is because through being bonded to Peter the symbiote has begun to experience human emotions. 

Though no one knew it at the time (and it wasn’t strictly speaking confirmed in-story until Amazing Spider-Man #388, published over 8 years later), the character we now know as Eddie Brock/Venom was first hinted at in Web of Spider-Man #18. In a single page Peter Parker casually awaits a train when a pink sleeved hand pushes him from behind into the tracks. Though he saves himself what is most alarming about the incident is how Peter’s spider sense never reacted to warn him of the danger.

Personally I think the pink coloured sleeve is a hint that this mysterious assailant was intended to be a woman. 

A similar incident to the above occurs in Web of Spider-Man #24. Peter (sans his costume) is using his powers to walk on the outside wall of a building when a mysterious figure abruptly grabs his leg and detaches him from the wall sending him falling. Peter is alright but again he is alarmed by the lack of warning from his spider sense and presumes that the culprit of this incident and the one at the train station are one and the same.

On a side note the fact that the assailant was physically strong enough to detach Peter from the wall could have been a hint that they possessed a degree of super strength.

Though no readers knew it at the time, we got our next look at this assailant in Amazing Spider-Man #298 where he observed news clippings about Spidey and spoke about how he ruined his life and how he will soon return the favour.

We got our first full look at the character in the very next issue when he confronts Peter’s wife Mary Jane in their apartmen, giving birth to (for better or worse) a giant of the Spider-Man mythos.

In ASM #300 we finally got to see the face of our new villain and follow his activities leading into his climactic battle with Spidey. 

 And then of course, rather infamously, we got his origin story dropped on us. 

He is Eddie Brock former reporter for the Daily Globe newspaper. During a killing spree perpetrated by the mysterious serial killer known only as the Sin Eater, Brock was contacted by Emil Gregg who confessed to being the Sin Eater. Brock published his story and later revealed Gregg’s identity to the world. However shortly thereafter Spider-Man captured Stan Carter who had been the real Sin Eater all along, Gregg merely being a mentally ill serial confessor.

Losing his job and reputation Brock hit very hard times and blamed Spider-Man for his misfortune, nursing a burning hatred for the wall-crawler.

Trying and failing to end his own life he found himself in the same church that Peter rid himself of the symbiote. The symbiote had grown to resent Spider-Man and sensing a mutual hatred in Brock bonded with him, granting him powers similar to the wall-crawler as well rendering themselves undetectable to his spider sense.

Armed with the knowledge of his secret identity they dubbed themselves Venom and embarked on their mission of vengeance by killing Spider-Man.

 An important note to all of this is the fact that Brock’s recounting of the events surrounding the Sin Eater seemingly contradict the original story starring the character. In the original Sin Eater story arc (also known as ‘the Death of Jean DeWolff’) Emil Gregg dressed as the Sin Eater and invaded the Daily Bugle, where he was apprehended, Brock seemingly never playing a role in his capture.

 I should mention that there are three mini-series which retcon certain elements into this backstory.

 In Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars, we discover that the insane mercenary Deadpool participated in the conflicts on Battleworld and actually wore the symbiote before Spider-Man, the story even alluding to Deadpool’s own mental conditions as contributing to warping the symbiote (and by extension it’s future hosts).

 In AXIS: Carnage we revisit Emil Gregg who is operating as ‘the Sin Eater’, an apparently supernatural entity who literally consumes somebody’s sins. The story even outright states at one point that Eddie Brock was correct in his original outing of Gregg as the Sin Eater.

 And finally during the Deadpool: Back in Black mini-series we see Deadpool once again bond with the symbiote a while after it was rejected by Peter Parker in Web of Spider-Man #1. It is in this mini-series that the symbiote first transforms into the fanged, long tongued monstrous visage we all know today. The story also hints that Venom’s very name comes from an encounter between the symbiote empowered Deadpool and Kraven the Hunter (the incident also apparently giving Kraven the idea to bury Spider-Man alive as seen in Kraven’s Last Hunt).

 Whilst entertaining stories, since these stories are retcons stemming from non-Spider-Man titles (and also don’t make sense in some cases) I’m not going to take them into account going forward with this essay series.

 The criticisms

 Now we’ve laid out Venom/Brock’s origins we need to define what the main points of criticism are when it comes to Venom’s beginnings. Chiefly these amount to the following:

 ·         The extraterrestrial origins of the symbiote are ill fitting for Spider-Man’s more grounded world

 ·         The symbiote’s hatred of Spider-Man is contradictory to how it had been previously portrayed

 ·         The symbiote is alive despite us seeing it die in Web of Spider-Man #1

 ·         Other versions of the character (such as Spider-Man the Animated Series, Spider-Man 3 and the Spectacular Spider-Man Animated Series) all make Brock to be a much better dark reflection of Spider-Man than the original comic book version

 ·         Brock was a previously unknown character who is unconnected to Peter Parker’s life in or out of his costume.

 ·         Brock’s origin story involves rewriting events from the Sin Eater storyline to facilitate his fall from grace

  ·         The reveal of Brock as Venom, especially in light of previous two points, is a bad resolution to the mystery story seeded in issues leading to ASM #300

  ·         Eddie Brock’s motivations for hating Spider-Man are weak and make no sense, this being perhaps the single biggest point of contention surrounding the character

 I am going to now try my best to address these criticisms in order although some of my points involve tackling more than one of them simultaneously, or otherwise weaving between them. Furthermore some of those points require multiple instalments to properly address, especially that last one. 

Whilst I will endeavour to bring these point back up when appropriate please try to bear them in mind as we proceed going forward.

Part 2