#the wesley family in general

[callmesel]

Not sure if you wanted to play or not

if you don't feel free to delete

but got any thoughts you want to share on Percy?

any unpopular opinions?

Any ships you'd like to see more of?

I have some thoughts but they are all so random that there is no way to categorize it so it is going to be just me yapping

Percy is a theatre kid. I have a headcanon that Hogwarts has a theatre club somewhere and he has being going there since first year. It was just for extra credit and then he found that he actually enjoys it and he is really good at it. That poker face had to came from somewhere. But he stop after the become prefect but there are some times that he had directed the plays because prefect duties and he is really happy to help. Bill was one of the prefects who help him when he was part of the cast so he feels nostalgic whenever is his turn.

Kind of realated to the last one, he knows how to play the piano and the violin. Tbh, any of the strings suits him in my mind. I want to think that aunt Muriel made all the Weasley kids go in a full manners and etiquette course and playing the violin because the piano is too easy and your kids need something to make them stand out from the rest was part of it. But the only one that took it seriusly was Percy, I think Ron is also able to play is but he was lazy and bored by it as a child, buit he is pretty good at it. Not saying that he is good at it, he is mediocre at best but he knows how to play. What he can paly really well is the piano. He has long fingers and a delicate hands so I think he would be great playing soff symphonies or ones that required to move you hand around the keys. Having long fingers is really useful if you don't have a really big hand so I think it would be easier for him to reach the keys in the cornerrs.

I want to think that he was a bug and insects kid, but not like the ones that goes around looking for them, no, that is Charlie. He just watches them. Like, Charlie gets the bugs and he just puts them in a jar and Percy is just there watching over them. They do that with every animal Charlie finds, half of the time is both of them watching over the animal, the other half is Percy taking it as his and only his so now is Bill thing to make sure that they don't have and infestation of ants in a week. That is how they got Scrables.

He likes laying over Oliver's thighs sometimes. It's just in some special ocations and when he is feeling really tired or they are alone in their room he does it but then he is kind of embarassed because of the position. Oliver has told him multiples times that he is okay with it and that there is no issue, and Oliver himself has done the same with Percy but he is just kind of ashame. This might be a bit of projecting but when I'm aware of how I'm actually position or how I look in set position I become really selfaware and it's really unconfortable and I feel that Percy would have the same problem. He is aware of everything that his body is doing and when he isn't he then questions himself. It isn't always negative but most of the time it is.

He does journaling. He owns like a hundred notebooks from all the years he has being journaling. It's more of a common place book if you know what I mean, but it's really organised and colour coded. He has a colour scheme depending of the topic, the feeling and how is expressed. Even though it's really organised, you can't really understand his thought process because it jumps from a topic to another. And the colours and notes, because he sometimes goes back on what he has written to comment on it an reflect on it, are kind of distracting you from the actual reading.

He has a library somewhere in his house. I don't think his collection is small but if its, it doesn't matter because it's also categorise in the following way: muggle author or magical author, genre of the book,with a tier list, top shelf is a 5 star book and the lowest shelfs are the one stars, and arranged in an alphabetical order according to their title and not author. He doesn't really care about the author except if he really likes them. If he does, he has a special shelf for them and their books.

He doesn't really like bubble tea that much but he drinks it when Penny buys him some because he is not going to make her feel that she has waisted her money and she looks so happy to gave the new flavour that she discovered in a near shop that he can't just say no. And sometimes he actually likes it and tells Penny, which makes her happier.

He had a crush on one of Charlie teammates who was really friendly with him once and when Charlie found out he went crazy and told his teammate to back off and let his little brother alone. It was just onesided and like a puppy love than anything else but Charlie is Charlie and didn't think before saying dumb shit. Now he jokes about it and Bill is like "bro". But Bill is not better, when he found out the also went crazy and was like "TEN FEET APART PEOPLE". They just didn't know how to deal with their little bother having a crush because in their mind he was still a baby like all the other siblings. It's more of the age gab they have, because Bill and Charlie are like just one or two years and with Percy is like 4 and 7 so it's a big distance, specially in their teenage years.

He likes having his head stroked, it reminds him when his mother use to do that to calm him down during the war and it just calming in general. It's better because when he is cuddling with Penny or Oliver, they just do that without thinking and he really likes it. Has he told anyone about it? No. Would he tell anyone? No. But he is happy with them.

There is a spot in his back that is you press it he will bend. It's a reflex he has but doesn't really know why. Fred and George has used it to mess with him and they always get screamed after but its worth it. Ginny has done it too, specially when he isn't listening to her and she thinks it's really urgent so she press his back and he just flips. She doesn't get screamed because she is Ginny.

He has two favourite siblings, Ginny and Charlie. I don't think I have to elaborate.

He has read fanfiction about polititians before, and his hogwarts teacher. Penny writes them and sometimes Percy will asked Penny for an expecific trope from some characters of a book because he can't write it himself. Penny is thrilled whenever this happens and sometimes things excalated and they end up planing a full novela about how Lockhart is in love with Snape but Snape is rejecting him because he is in a toxic relationship with Mcgonagall, where she was cheating on him with Pomfrey . There was this one ocation that Flitwick heard them and ask Mcgonagall if she had anything to tell him something and Mcgonagall was like "wot?"

And also about the ships, I shipped him with Snape back in 2021 but it was because of this one fic that it was super good for my standars. I cried a lot. Like it had destroyed me when I read it but I re read it a few months back and it was a bit disturbing, and more if I was reading it when I was 13. It's called Tacenda and it was really good depicting their relationship and how fucked up it was, specially because it started when Percy was still and student and he was like 15/16 but you still wanted to root for them. Or at least that is how I remember it. I really liked fucked up dynamics that can easily end up as an abused relationship. Now I can read anything that isn't fluff because it makes me anxious. I also remember that it has just been finished but it took me a month to finish it.

Sometimes I wish to be able to read stuff like that without a care in the world but with that bitter after taste.

I think that is all for now, i can't really think properly lately so if there is a lot of typos or incoherence, i'm sorry

Thanks for asking because I would have never really posted anything similar :D

[rosalie-starfall]

Beverly & Her Boys

Space Family

Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Picard

[divinemissem13]

The Watcher

Whumptober, No. 20: “People don’t change people, time does.” | Found Family Fandom: Star Trek (TNG, PIC) Ship: Beverly Crusher & Wesley Crusher AO3 link

The being who used to be Wesley Crusher could see every moment at once. It had taken him years of training to be able to do this, and then even more years to be able to focus on only the moment he wanted or needed to see. 

He missed a lot of Wesley Crusher’s life, during these years of training and retraining. Of course, he could go back and visit those moments. But he had missed his chance to be an active participant. 

He wasn’t supposed to be an active participant in Wesley’s life anyway, and all of those years lost to confusion and overstimulation of his senses had certainly helped him stay away. 

But the key to finding one moment, as it turned out, had been his mother’s voice, calling him back from the abyss. 

Wesley Crusher hadn’t seen Beverly in years - not since attending Will and Deanna’s wedding. He had seen the lingering looks and the furtive touches between Beverly and his former captain at that wedding, and for the first time he had suddenly been able to see multiple moments at once. 

He was at the wedding, watching his mother and Picard dance, and he was in the captain’s quarters, watching them clad only in bathrobes and sharing silly contented smiles over coffee and croissants. And he was at Starfleet Medical, watching an older Beverly as she held an infant boy to her chest and stared at him in wonder as tears streamed silently down her cheeks. 

He knew, then, that she would be ok without him - happy, even - and he had returned to his mentor and proclaimed himself ready for the next step in his training. 

That had been years ago. Or a minute ago, depending on your perspective. 

Wesley Crusher finally emerged from the time stream, ten years after he had entered it, because she needed him. 

The Watcher, as he was now called, could visit any moment in time that he chose, but he could not participate. Wesley could participate, but he was tied to linear time and was not able to choose his moments. 

Beverly called, as she had many times over the years, but for the first time in years, he was able to respond. And so Wesley found himself pulled into that moment in Starfleet Medical, the one he had foreseen a decade ago, to realize that he had badly misjudged the situation. 

Beverly cradled the infant to her breast as she looked down and cried. But those were not tears of wonder. Her voice wavered as she spoke aloud in the otherwise empty room. “Oh Wesley, how I wish you could see him. That we could be a family again.” She smiled ruefully and continued. “I’m a lot older than I was the first time I did this, you know. I don’t know if I can do it alone, again.”

Alone? Why would she be doing this alone? Where was Picard anyway? This was his son, wasn’t it? Had he died? Or just left? 

Wesley asked the questions but it was the Watcher who knew the answers. Beverly was the one who had left. It was her own choice, one that she made to protect her younger son from the complications of being Jean-Luc Picard’s child. But just because it was her choice, didn’t mean it hurt any less. 

Even as Wesley Crusher he wasn’t really supposed to interfere, and he still had so much to learn about time and space… but the Watcher reminded him that the thing about the infinite nature of time and space was that there would always be plenty of both. 

So Wesley stepped out of the shadows and declared “You’re not alone.” 

Beverly gasped and blinked away her tears, startled by the sudden appearance of this strange man in her hospital room. But as her vision cleared, she could see, past the scraggly facial hair, past the dark circles, she knew those eyes. 

“Wesley?” she breathed softly.

The tall, lanky man (and when did he get so tall?) gave her a sheepish smile as he approached the bed. “Hi, Mom.”

[horsechestnut]

Truly baffled by the fact Wesley is 18. I know in theory it’s been years, but in my head he’s been frozen at 16 for the entire show.

[jalicecookie]

Cat Food

When Data has to work longer on an important Project, he asks Reginald the shy Engineer to step in as babysitter. And Reginald quickly learns, that Cats and Toddlers are not that different - because both can cause a lot of Chaos - or try to eat the Cat food together.

Some things in life are simple. Like how to do good friends a favor - or write an entry in your personal log after a successful day at work.

Other things, however, are incredibly difficult and complicated. Like how to build emotional bonds when feeling emotions was limited or impossible. Or take on the upbringing and responsibility for a child and also have a job.

Not to let the gap between family life and work get too big seems impossible to many and even on the Enterprise there are moments when more exhausted family mothers and fathers visit Deanna Troi and ask for advice.

There are many crew members who get along well with the children who live on the ship and then there are some residents of the Enterprise who prefer to keep a large distance from the younger Members. One of those people is Captain Picard. It's no big secret that he doesn't get along well with children and that there is an unwritten rule that he will not tolerate children on the bridge. And yet the families who lived on the ship were one of the strengths - because there is nothing better than observing this bond. And the Captain couldn't find a bad word against this statement either.

But it wasn't always easy for Parents to go to work and have family Time. That hit Commander Data that early evening. The Android recently took in a little girl and a little boy as adoptive Children in order to be able to explore another facet of Humanity and to give the two orphans a new family.

It had been an battle, and Data was still getting very strong criticism for not being able to parent two young children with as an Android . But he showed everyone that it was chaotic, devastating and complicated every day - but the two children absolutely loved Data - even if Data himself would never be able to reciprocate this love. Because an Android like him was not able to feel emotions.

"I am very grateful Reginald . I would otherwise have left them two in Geordi's care. But my best friend is part of the project...so we both need to work this Evening" - Data was in an ssressed position and he had to take part in an important Project. He needed a babysitter for the Toddlers, and since the shy engineer gets on so well with Spot, Data has no concerns about hiring him as a babysitter for the evening. It had taken a bit of persuasion, but now Reginald was here in Data's quarters and looked around nervously.

"N... No problem. I just hope I'm not doing anything wrong ... I've never been a babysitter before ... well, except for Spot. Is there anything I have to consider with the two of them?", Barclay stuttered nervously and watched, how Spot came running up to Data and started running around the android's legs, rubbing her head against his pant leg, purring.

"The project lasts 2 hours and it would be appropriate,  if the children are ready for bed when I return. We had dinner together half an hour ago - Castor and Despina probably want to play with Spot later. Oh and you should make sure,  that they don't go to the bathroom alone - last time they managed to fill the bathroom with soap bubbles ", Data nodded briefly to Reginald and then left the quarters.

Reginald was nervous and he didn't know if he would be a good babysitter. Even if it should only be for a few hours - Data was the main reference person for the two toddlers and Barclay doubted being able to do justice to the pressure. But what didn't you do for friends?

***

"Desy give back. Mine!" - a small, dark-haired boy ran after his sister and tried to snatch the toy from her, which actually belonged to him. His sister took it very unfairly and now he wanted to play with it. She should look for something else.

"No Cas - Desy Toy", said the blond-haired little girl and she ran with the toy in her hands into the entrance area of the quarter, where she almost collided with Reginald's legs and was able to stop just in time.

"Desy my toy. Give back," Castor turned directly to Reginald. "Where Daddy? Gone?", Despina asked shyly and let the toy fall directly on the floor, to look from Reginald to the door. Castor took this chance and took the toy with a big grin.

"Daddy gone work - Regy babysitter";  Castor explained and his little sister looked up from her brother to Barclay questioningly. "That right kids - I'll babysit you as long as Data has to work. D ... Do you want to go to your Room? You have more toys there, yes?", Reginald spoke nervously and while Castor ran forward enthusiastically, his little sister looked away sadly the door to Reginald.

"Daddy coming back?", asked the toddler fearfully. "Of course - he'll be back ... y ... you don't have to worry, okay?", Reginald replied and for the moment the words seemed to calm the little blonde and she ran in the direction of the nursery as well.

***

Reginald watched Minutes later, how the two Toddlers were playing with their toys and were completely immersed in another world. It was amazing that in the three months that they lived with Data they had settled on the Enterprise.

The two are not biological siblings. Castor comes from an abandoned research station on the edge of the Alpha Quadrant and has survived an attack by a hostile species by hiding in an empty box and Despina ran into Data on an outside mission and never wanted to let go of his leg. The inhabitants of the planet on which the mission took place have told the Enterprise crew that the little blonde showed up with her parents a while ago, but that her parents had been killed by one of the dangerous predators in the wild.

Data had taken both children in and every single day was a challenge for the Android. It later emerged that both Castor and Despina still had relatives on earth - but it was clear that they wanted to stay with their new Guardian- they wanted to stay with Data. And Reginald finds the bond that the emotionless Android has built to the two toddlers in these three months impressive.

When it was time for the two children to get ready for bed, they had already passed their bedtime. Reginald hadn't kept an eye on the time and at some point he had sat down with the children and they had started building a small town out of Lego.

When the shy man looked at his watch, he was shocked to see that Data would be back in five minutes. So he went to the bathroom with the Toddlers and helped them brush their teeth - but the engineer was distracted when there was a loud clank from the kitchen and the meowing of Data's cat Spot.

The adult went to the kitchen, followed by Castor and Despina, and found the cat sitting on the counter. Spot had managed to toss a glass from the counter and now proudly meowed over it.

"Oh no - you two are staying here - I'll take the broken pieces away. Not that Spot or you are still stepping in, yes?" - said Reginald and got a broom to sweep up the broken glass from the floor. He was busy with this task for maybe two minutes and when he turned around again Reginald saw that neither Spot nor the two toddlers were standing behind him.

"Castor? Despina? Spot?"

Reginald put the broom aside and began searching Data's quarters for the two Children and the Cat. He found the trio a few moments later at Spots Food Bowl.

The two siblings sat next to the Cat and had some of the cat food in their little hands and before Reginald could have prevented anything, the two toddlers ate the cat food together with Spot.

And exactly at that moment Data came back and while Reginald nervously from the trio that enjoyed the ´dinner´, looked over at the android - the engineer tried to find a suitable answer to any questions.

".... the project was a complete success. Geordi and I achieved some interesting results. Is everything all right Reginald? You seem ... more nervous than usual?"

"I'm more nervous than usual ... it just comes across ... why should I be more nervous and ... okay I think the children started eating the cat food at a careless moment ..." Reginald stuttered nervous and Data looked from the babysitter over to the corner where Spot had her food bowl.

"The two show this behavior often. I have already tried to teach them to stop from doing it. But so far, my attempts at raising Children in this field have been unsuccessful. Castor? Despina? You shouldn't eat Spot her cat food away  - come to me please? ", Data explained and it took a moment until the two Toddlers listened to his calls and came running to Data with an innocent smile on their face.

"Were you good and behaved while Reginald took care of you?", Data asked the two siblings, while he gently removed the remains of the cat food they were holding in their hands.

"Yes Daddy - Regy come back again? Cas and Desy brushed teeth," said Castor and Despina nodded in agreement.

"Hm - I think we have to brush your teeth again - cat food is not something you should eat. Say goodbye to Reginald and then go to the bathroom. I'll be right there," said Data in a neutral tone and Reginald watchend how the children waved him goodbye,  before they ran to the bathroom.

Reginald then said goodbye to Data, who thanked the shy man again for helping out as a babysitter. When Reginald was on the way to his Quarters, he had to realize that cats and toddlers weren't that different after all and that he might be suitable as a babysitter.

Only next time Reginald should place Spot's food bowl outside of the toddlers reach. 

THE END

[wilwheaton]

When I was a kid, and I was 14, 15, 16 years old, my home life was terrible. I was really sad and abused and having a terrible time at home, and the only place I was happy and felt safe was at work. I went to work and I loved my Star Trek family, and they loved me and I loved being there. And then the work we did, people were mean to me about it. People who didn't know me, who I didn't know, got on what was Usenet at the time, and they were awful. They wrote angry letters to Starlog, and they were really mean to me. They were cruel to this child at conventions and stuff in ways that would never fly today. I think that a narrative took hold ��� “Nobody likes Wesley.” That is empirically false. That is completely unsupported by decades of data. The truth is the kids who Wesley was meant to bring into Star Trek loved him! A lot of them grew up to work on Star Trek, right? [Laughs] What happened is, at that time, the kids who loved it weren't writing letters, they were not using Usenet. They didn't even have modems! They were just loving the show. It took me 30 fucking years to hear them and meet them and know, “Hey, buddy, you're not the person your dad said you were. You're not the person that those fans made you believe you were. You're that guy, and he is you, and there's a bunch of you together. You inspired a generation of kids.” I am so relieved and happy for my younger self. I wish I could just, like, pop through time real quick and just whisper in my ear, “Buddy, I know how much it hurts right now, but I promise you there's a day coming where it's really okay. You're not even gonna remember this.”

Wil Wheaton Reacts to the Positive Reception of Wesley Crusher's Star Trek Return: "It’s 35 Years Overdue"

[hawkepockets]

actually. 🫷😀🫸 THOUGHTS ON AVELINE

i think aveline is a CORE da2 character, and her relationship with hawke is super super interesting. she’s hawke’s oldest friend in the game & by act 3, maybe the only enduring connection to their homeland & childhood besides the mabari. her voice, her bearing, her stated values are all very noble & movingly fereldan—but her actions both as guard captain & as a party member should be so profoundly disappointing to hawke almost no matter how you play them, which generates a powerful tension. imo it’s really poignant and adds a lot to the game’s central tragedy.

because how can hawke cut her off! but look at how she behaves: ignoring the serial killing & sexual assault of isolated older women and elf girls, baiting the arishok, slut shaming isabela, condescending to merrill. but how can they cut her off? the question is a privilege and a torment!

in this way i think she strikingly complements gamlen. like no matter what gamlen does and says to you, your love interest, leandra, the surviving hawke twin—he’s family and the only way into kirkwall. hawke is not permitted to sever those ties. and no matter what aveline does and says to you and all the women in your party, she remains your oldest friend and the only way back to ferelden, emotionally.

both aveline & gamlen will maintain a warm relationship with hawke as long as hawke tolerates their picking on those in proximity to hawke—but if hawke pushes back with aggressive dialogue options, both will tone match and became sour and hostile. aveline can be really quite awful to a red hawke, and will throw them to the ground and beat them at 100% rivalry. so there’s kind of an underlying challenge in both of these characters: how much will hawke, as gang leader & player character, put up with when it’s not directed at them?

of course, for all the nostalgia that seems to occlude av’s wrongdoings in kirkwall, she’s not really a childhood friend of hawke’s. she was a grown woman when they met, lothering was lost, and the moment was pretty heated thanks to aveline’s hostile templar husband.

and yet hawke is no more reliable & objective in their treatment of the past than varric is. and aveline is what they have! she’s standing in for all of ferelden, all of the past before the blight!

and likewise hawke for her! hawke is the only one left in act 3 who remembers wesley! aveline is the only one who remembers the dead hawke twin!

and as reprehensible as some of her decisions are, aveline’s grief for wesley and her enmity toward the old corrupt guard captain are sympathetic and her voice is sexy and husky and beautiful enough that. well im sorry i just lost the plot for a minute. uh

there’s also the act 3 subplot of the templars trying to take over the city guard, which sets up aveline as the only thing standing between kirkwall’s mages & absolute templar authority in the city. it’s literally her or cullen at his most brainwashed & violent. (to cullen’s credit he also thought it was a bad idea. but i won’t give him so much credit that i believe he’d turn down the position if aveline was removed.) between a knight-commander and a hard place, a pro-mage hawke has to choose the hard place.

so both of my playthroughs i’ve felt like hawke’s friendship with her is at the very least strained, if not completely ruptured, but they have to back her. how much that feels like fucking sandpaper may vary from hawke to hawke.

ultimately i just think she brings a lot to the table. i don’t necessarily understand why she’d be anyone’s all time #1 favorite companion, but you know.

[felassan]

New today on DA:TV from Game Informer:

"How Romance And Relationships Work In Dragon Age: The Veilguard by Wesley LeBlanc on Jul 08, 2024 at 02:00 PM Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a BioWare RPG, which means a lot of things, including the fact that the game will feature romance. Based on what I learned during a recent trip to BioWare's Edmonton office for the current Game Informer cover story, Veilguard will be the team's most romantic game yet. Relationship Level"

"Every companion in the game has a Relationship Level related to Rook, and the choices you make (and not even specifically about the companion, but in the world in general), what you say to companions, how you help or don't help them, and more all play into it. Every time you rank up a companion's Relationship Level, you unlock a skill point to spend specifically on that companion. Though companion skill trees pale in comparison to Rook's expansive tree, which features passive abilities, combat abilities, and more, as well as paths to three unique class specializations, there's still some customization here.  Each companion has access to five abilities, but you can only take three into combat. Thus, it's important to strategize which abilities to spend a skill point on and how those abilities can synergize with your current build on the battlefield. Though I couldn't confirm, Dragon Age series art director Matt Rhodes hints that companion issues, problems, and personal quests will play into this Relationship Level and how a companion interacts with Rook.  "[Bellara Lutara, for example] has her own story arc that runs parallel to and informs the story path you're on," Rhodes tells me while I watch game director Corinne Busche play through a linear, story-driven mission in Arlathan Forest where Rook is searching for Bellara. Busche adds that "relationships are key, not only romance but friendships. We wanted to lean into not just the relationships the characters have with you but the relationships they have with each other. It's a found family, and at the end of the day, they need to trust they all have each other's back." Romance"

"However, fret not, BioWare fans – romance is a key part of relationships in the game, Busche says, noting some of the romances will get quite spicy. However, not all of them will, as "each romance has a very different flavor," according to Busche. Some characters are straight to the point, while others are more awkward, having never been in a relationship before. "You learn who these characters are in how their romances unfold," she says. She likens romantic and platonic relationships to another way to "level up" your companions. It's not just experience and skill points that determine Rook's standing with companions, but diegetic conversations, too.  BioWare has already revealed that every companion in Veilguard is pansexual, notably different from the community-dubbed "playersexual" approach in some games, which sees NPCs adjust romantic and sexual interests based on the player rather than their own sense of sexuality. As pansexual companions, they are attracted to people of any gender (or regardless of gender). That's a critical distinction because, in Veilguard, your companions aren't just going to vie for your affection – they might take attraction to other companions in the titular Veilguard.  Giving one companion the cold shoulder might nudge them into the warm shoulder of someone else on the team. Busche says companions can form romances with each other, although I'm unable to confirm if that means locking Rook out of forming a romance with them.  I saw nothing resembling romance in my very early hours with the game. However, I did see the romantically inclined "emotional" response in Rook's dialogue choices at times, which led to my Rook flirting with ice mage and private detective companion Neve Gallus. Busche says this is the option to flirt and push platonic relationships into romantic territory, though Rook's flirtatious efforts aren't always reciprocated. But that's not to say you should ignore the other options – I saw dialogue choices resembling friendly, snarky, and direct, too, and I can see how these different flavors of dialogue likely mix and mingle into Rook's relationships with companions. It's still a mostly mysterious system to me, but as Veilguard is due out this fall, I don't have to wait too long to learn more and neither do you. For more about the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features, and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below."

[source]

[phoenixyfriend]

Movies I've been meaning to see for ages and now, on the plane, I finally have:

Lisa Frankenstein

Birds of Prey

Scott Pilgrim

Disenchanted

V for Vendetta

Blade

I have opinions on all of them. (Yes this was all the same flight. Thirteen hours.)

(I've slept a total of maybe 4 hours in the past uhhhh 46? Gonna pass out as soon as I can lol.)

Lisa Frankenstein is a high-budget Wattpad fic and I mean that in the best way possible. The main characters are generally ludicrous overall and it actually works! The "slutty cheerleader" stepsister is actually the sweetest character in the movie and I adore her. Also, Cole Sprouse is clearly having SO much fun.

Birds of Prey: I was spoiled for a LOT of this movie. I didn't realize how late in the game they came together, though, and while people had talked about Ewan really selling Sionis as this blatantly queer villain trope, I still was not spoiled for That Much. Like. It didn't come across as a homophobic stereotype (to me) but I'm BAFFLED as to how.

Most likely, it's because we see three former relationships or signs of attraction, and all three are at BEST messy (f/f, Montoya and Ellen Yee), but generally just really bad, in the abusive f/m (Joker/Harley) or toxic m/m (see everything about Sionis, but also idk what he and Zsasz were up to).

Scott Pilgrim: The diegesis! I expected this to be something in the vein of Walter Mitty, where the superhero segments are all just extended daydreams that are 100% not actually happening. I thought the space-time weirdness was just the new show. But no! People have comic book and video game logic! And they're aware of it! People literally die and leave behind coins! Insane!

Also, wow, you(?) all really weren't joking when you said that 22yo Scott dating a 17yo is more Pathetic and Doormat than predatory creep.

Also I did not expect the mind control.

And I knew there'd be some big names but I was still blindsided by Aubrey Plaza and Anna Kendrick in the opening credits.

Disenchanted: love the plot concept! I adore some enforced tropes and family bonding! However, some of the "heavy" lines fell flat due to the writing, and the songs overall just felt worse, both in execution (Amy and Idina both sound strained when reaching for their upper registers) and just in general writing quality.

V for Vendetta: Really cool overall, great plot and messaging, but I occasionally had trouble keeping track of the Various White Men. V's accent seemed to slip to American a few times? I kept trying to figure out what year it supposedly was, and also which characters I saw being claimed as "V before he transitioned" on Tumblr.

Blade: I love the way Wesley Snipes talks in this. IDK why.

Pleasantly surprised that there was like... way less sexism than I'd expect from a 90s action flick. However, I was blindsided by the vaguely incestuous energy that was brought in every time Blade talks to his vampire mom.

[dcdreamblog]

Simialr to the previous question, but less heavy; how often did people in general, and other superheroes in particular, give Stripesy agita over being an adult who sidekicked to a child?

No, if only because the term "sidekick" hadn't been invented and that's not how either Pemberton or Dugan saw their relationship.

See, the term "sidekick" wasn't used in contemporary records and it's never recorded as being in use by the heroes themselves to their younger partners.

(A war bond image of The Sandman and Sandy the Golden Boy. You can tell it's a war bond model because that is NOT what Wesley Dodds looked like! Circa 1943)

These superheroes tended to refer to their sidekicks as "wards" if referring to their age specifically, placing themselves in the legal caregiver role and responsibility. Most often though they simply called them their "partners" or even their "young partners" if they wanted to be specific. The sidekicks were trusted comrades to the heroes they palled around with, if they weren't they certainly wouldn't have been trusted to go up against nazis, criminals and supervillains.

Any attempt to undermine or overrule superhero sidekicks in official channels or ESPECIALLY in the heat of battle were pushed back on HARD by the heroes themselves.

To use Sandy as an example, there's a famous anecdote of an OSS agent speaking over Sandy during a JSA meeting and being interrupted right back by Hawkman slamming his mace on the table before every hero present turns to Sandy and asks him to continue his thought.

Afterwards the agent was given a warning by Hawkman: "Sandy is one of us, we trust him."

With the implication being clear as to their opinion of the agent.

Stripesy was a special case but not an absurd one.

(A signed promotional shot of the pair, signed and given out to a young fan. circa 1942)

Now don't get me wrong everyone knew which of the pair was "in charge", just look at how they're billed. And SOME heroes did give Stripesy some pain for following the Kid's directions so flawlessly. Wildcat specifically was known to be particularly adept and willing to press that button. But Wildcat was a gadfly on his best day and it was some good natured ribbing among friends.

Any attempt by the public, ESPECIALLY media or government to talk down to Stripesy would have and was met with direct, warning hostility from any other heroes present. Especially the Kid himself.

The most demonstrative story is one where the Kid was invited to take a meeting with a state's governor to discuss a raft of sabotage afflicting coastal manufacturing. When the governor's security attempted to disallow Stripesy entry to the meeting, the Kid turned, kicked both of the guards' knees out of from under them and chilled any response from the governor with a glance.

Pemberton and Dugan saw themselves as partners, no matter what. Especially due to Pemberton's...distant and difficult family life, Dugan was the closest thing to family Pemberton ever saw himself as having to the point that Dugan was/is the sole inheritor of Pemberton's will and trust. (Save some deep legal chicanery from one Lex Luthor that has since been corrected)

[iconuk01]

From about ST:TNG Season 4-ish: After an spacial anomaly leads to the disappearance of the Enterprise shuttle Einstein, it is believed that it has cost the lives of several crew members: Commander Riker: Lt Commander Worf, Ensign Wesley Crusher, Dr Selar and a few other minor characters.

After spending a suitably long time searching for any sign of them, the decision is made to call off the search and, along with some nice little moments like seeing how Riker's Dad, Selar's mother and Dr Kate Pulaski react to the news of the loss of their family/friends, we see the memorial service held for them on the Enterprise, and we have some rather nice eulogies. (For some reason I really like Geordi's tribute to Wes, it paints a good mental image) Star Trek: The Next Generation #21

Writer: Michael Jan Friedman Pencils: Peter Krause

(Of course, spoilers: they are eventually found)

[fantasyfantasygames]

The Fall of the House of Crusher

The Fall of the House of Crusher, Wild World Entertainment, 2018

No connection to Wesley or Beverly.

I have been very happy in the past decade to see more and more games that get outside the traditional RPG box. I like fantasy adventures and sci-fi merchant ventures and maybe some modern fantasy, but we have a lot of that. So when other kinds of games come along, even if I wouldn't play them myself, I'm always intrigued.

The Fall of the House of Crusher (FoHoC, pronounced like faux-hawk) is a drama that follows a pro wrestler and his family as events unfold and unravel in their lives. The eponymous Crusher has been a heel for years, both in the ring and out. His wife is cheating on him with his best friend and he knows but hasn't called them on it yet. His daughter, "Generation", also a wrestler, is infatuated with a new wrestler who's a face in the ring, but Crusher knows he's an asshole outside it. You pick up the pre-gens and make a few tweaks (including gender options). Then play what is assumed to be a three-part game, whether that's three acts in one day or across multiple sessions.

One of my favorite bits is that all of your moves (this is a PbtA-type game) are both wrestling moves and emotional moves. It's not that you have to choose which version you're using - every move does both things at the same time. So the DDT dazes someone, which switches their stance to "unready", which means your next move is more likely to land. Then you can hit them with a Giant Swing, which forces them to Reset, losing any momentum they had. That can be physical, with the slam and the spin, and at the same time it can be emotional, where you stun someone with a revelation and then turn the tables on them to force them out of the argument they've been building.

Another cool piece is how you switch from playing your character to playing the crowd. When you're in the limelight, it's assumed that you have an audience. It might be a wrestling match, an argument at an outdoor restaurant, an argument at an outdoor restaurant that devolves into a wrestling match, a date at a movie theater where the other moviegoers are heckling you and it becomes a wrestling match, etc. There's a lot of assumed wrestling is what I'm saying. The mechanics only cover wrestling.

The game definitely has a good ending and a bad ending, and several mixed ones. They give short suggestions for other ways things might go, but honestly I think "the wedding" and "the divorce" cover a lot of ground.

In the end this might make a better LARP than tabletop game. The story could be condensed, the mechanics could be adjusted, you could keep the PC/audience switching for major events... I could see this running at Intercon very nicely. You just need a strict reminder that no actual wrestling moves are to be performed.

[explosionshark]

(Kicking my feet off the bed Iike Faith) so anyways. Caitlyn’s maternal family have been watchers for generations, but Caitlyn resents that her mother uses her influence on the Watcher’s Council to keep Cait out of harm’s way. She LEAPS at the opportunity to ship off across the pond & be away from her, even if her assignment at that point is just “twiddle your thumbs for a bit”.

she’s assigned to the same county that Vi is incarcerated in: ostensibly because the council has credible reports of a potential slayer in the area & will send details soon (lol), more realistically bc sending her there fulfills her desire to be In The Field while satisfying Cassandra’s desire to keep her safe. After all, the only would-be Slayer she could mentor is behind bars, and the Council can’t just meddle in the American Judicial System for their own benefit, right???

right?????

Anyway Vi 110% does not listen to her bc who the fuck are you, you’re like 4 years at most on me, fuck off. It’s Caitlyn exasperatedly trying to explain things and plan with Vi whose solution to everything is just “okay but I can stake them and they die right? So why not just go in with that plan every time?” While Caitlyn tries not to Scream

im realizing implies Jayvik are the closest things to Willow and Tara and yknow what. That’s not that wrong either. When you really think about it, Mel leaving Piltover is kinda like Cordelia leaving Sunnydale. Which I guess makes Noxus the Los Angeles of League/Arcane, a statement that is actually not untrue LMAO

Anyways. I’m going insane about this now. I’m so normal about this. Vi the Vampire Vlayer real.

CAITLYN IS WESLEY....!!!! LIKE SHE SUCKS LESS BUT DUDE SHE'S LIKE IF WES WAS A HOT LESBIAN WITH MOM ISSUES

Honestly, Cait's mentor being Grayson who managed to pull strings for her to get Vi released is perfect bc like. Yes it was the right thing to do. But it also involves the absolutely unconscious flex of a massive amount of privilege that Caitlyn would 100% not even think of acknowledging (it's not PERSONAL privilege after all, it's just using the massive institutional power she has behind her and it's actually just making things right so no big deal???) and that would absolutely put her and Vi in such a tense place to start out bc Caitlyn literally bucks the entire prison system ("what like it's hard?") that has had its boot on Vi's neck for years and THEN starts telling her whAT TO DO. NO SHE DOESN'T HAVE FIELD EXPERIENCE BUT SHE TRAINED A LOT AND HAS ALL THESE BOOKS

But also she IS hot and Vi IS a dyke and she ALSO is weak to anyone taking care of her at all so it wouldn't take much to get a hook in her.

Jayvik + Mel rounding out the Scoobies is so good. Ekko + the Firelights could stand in for Gunn and his crew. There's something here. I'm going crazy.

[HEAVY BREATHING] VI AND CAIT H/C AFTER THE CRUCIAMENTUM (CAIT WASN'T TOLD ABOUT IT, ABSOLUTELY FLIPS HER SHIT WHEN SHE FINDS OUT VI IS IN DANGER, BIG BREAK FROM HER IDEALISM HERE)

[space-morningstar]

In Star Trek almost all the captains after Kirk are paternal.

Janeway? She saw her crew and said "Yes, we're going to be together for 70 years, so I'm your mother until we get back to Earth" and then spends the whole series protecting her crew, swapping stories and spending time with them as a family.

Sisko? literally a father, he looks out for them, takes care of them, takes them to baseball games, they play on the holodeck and everything, Sisko adopted his crew even though he has a son already, so he's definitely the father of DS9.

Pike? HE IS THE DEFINITION OF DADDY I mean, he doesn't just make silly puns, he spends time with them every weekend, dude! he meets his crew for dinner as a family, he jokes with them, he sticks up for them over anything, he asks if everything is alright, he makes sure everyone feels good and comfortable, he is the father of the entreprise and everyone knows it.

And I'm not going to mention Archer because I'm not done with ENT yet, the point is that any of the captains will see someone slightly lost and say "That's it, I'm adopting you, you need a father figure and I'm here" their first instinct is to care and help those who need it.

Everyone… except Picard

Which is deeply funny to me, because everyone in the enterprise will just say "Oh yeah, that's my dad, I'll be great and he'll be so proud of me" whereas Picard literally one of the first things he said to Riker (his number one) was "Hey, I don't get along with kids, you take care of anyone who comes near me."

He doesn't hate them, in fact he's shown that he can be very kind and understanding with them, giving them advice or trying to cheer them up when things aren't going well, he does his best, but he runs away from them like the plague. With Wesley he does his best and yet he still yells at him and treats him very badly at first.

Sometimes I think part of it might just be his bad childhood, he never really had a chance to behave like a child, it might also be the fact that in general he doesn't like to be around people beyond professional treatment given how introverted he is.

But it's still an aspect of Star Trek that I like, how most of the adults aren't idiots with children, they treat them with care and do their best to explain things to them and protect them, they are willing to explain and help, and I will always hold that in my heart.

[colleendoran]

An answer

I'm not going to post the question because I don't want the person who asked it to get piled on.

The magical art fairy did not give me a great and grand education that my mommy and daddy paid for.

My parents were poor and at one point homeless. They lived in a pigeon coop. With pigeons.

I was not super popular in school. I was a nerd in the dark days before being a nerd was something people aspired to. I had braces, glasses, bad acne and was a bit chubby. When I no longer had any of these things (well, I still wear glasses, I prefer them to contacts,) people acted like I always looked that way and sailed the seas of success on a wave of appearance advantages.

My parents did not pay for my education. I went to regular school like everyone else. I had one year of college which I attended on academic scholarship, and I majored in business. I had an art class with a professor who almost never showed up. When the scholarship money ran out after one year, I left.

After I'd been a professional artist for more than twenty years, I took an online digital art class at one of those for profit art schools, which was quite a trick on dial up speed, I must say. Shortly after, I realized it was a scam, I contacted the administration to demand my money back. I got it. The school was eventually sued into oblivion and went out of business.

I did manual field labor as a kid, worked in a veterinarian hospital, parked cars, and ran a roller coaster. I picked up dog poop and did volunteer work at the U.S.O. and the AIDS Housing and Education Fund. I worked as a condo association attendant.

I don't know where people get the impression that I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth. And it's not like I don't have some advantages. But money and status weren't among them.

Most of the people in comics from my generation come from poverty. Some didn't. But most did.

I am self taught and most of what I learned was from the Famous Artist Course books my mom got as a kid. I was very grateful that my dad invested in a set of encyclopedias for the family when we were still quite poor. I devoured them.

I started sending out portfolio work, story ideas, and resumes at age 12. My first rejection letter was from Random House. I got my first advertising gig when I was about 14-15. The woman who hired me was Linda Wesley Salake.

I met artist Frank Kelly Freas at a science fiction convention I found out about from an advertisement. He was very kind and mentored me. He didn't teach me much about art, but he did teach me a lot about the realities of the art centered life.

I cooked and cleaned house for him after his wife Polly died.

My average income for my first ten years as a professional artist was less than $10,000. And for part of that time, I was not living with my parents. So I supported myself on less than $10,000.

Eventually, I lasted long enough in the arts that I started making some money. Then things got worse. Then they got better. Then they got worse. Then they got better.

Advantages, contacts, ability - none of that is distributed equally. But if you can, make art because it is something that means something to you, and it gives you joy.

And we all deserve some joy.

If it was just about the money, I'd have ditched this bug bin long ago.

That's all.

[theatrical-penguin]

My brother just filled me in on the AI outrages of the Flash movie. I was already skipping it because of Ezra Miller but I had not heard about the level of fuckery WB sunk to.

Wow they really AI’d Chris AND George Reeves against the wishes of the late actors and without the permission of their families. And made an AI-generated Flash who looks and sounds like John Wesley Shipp but without his involvement.

I am honestly shocked that Shipp and the Reeves families haven’t sued WB into oblivion.

And that this isn’t all over the SAG strike info as exhibits A through Fuck You All in need of AI protections.