#their two murder clones of cartoon characters

[weridbirat]

I wanna see Borkis and Sinny together right now!!!!

Here ya gooooo! (Sorry if I was a little late)

[warsamongthestars]

ONTO TBB - POST-SERIES

I am going to need to sit down, and go through all of the show, and I hope to (energy providing). Mostly to make a review, or series of reviews. Produce a few what-ifs. Someone might want the fanfic inspiration.

( I hope, I'm not going to promise because I am bad at energy, and I'm not going to promise things until I can actually deliver. So let's just say I want to do it, but we'll see if it happens or not. )

Look, I still dont' want to rain on people's parades this close after the Finale, so read at ye own risk. Lots of critical down below.

I would call the TBBshow a waste of time. But its not a waste of time, the reason being is that, I have dedicated an enormous amount of energy, to tearing this show into pieces. It soothes and enflames the rage that lies in my heart.

( Remember, I do love Star Wars, and I love the Clone Wars. And Anger and Fury are what happens when something you love, or something you cherish and care about, gets hurt very badly. And I find that the TBBshow is both the weapon and wound. But its a weapon I can turn against itself. And it is a wound I can remedy. )

Now for my bit thoughts on the finale, and bit thoughts on the show itself.

They're just big bits, because when I want to really tear into the little issues of this show, I will go molecule-by-molecule, atom-by-atom when I do.

I am going to be the fucking Saturday morning cartoon villain, with suit and cape and evil laughs, about it.

So...

One). Fifth Enhanced Clone and Omega wasn't it, remember? You remember that from the first Finale?

I remember. The show didn't.

I 'd like to think it was Emerie. It points it that. But even now, I have doubts.

Because what was the point.

They oh so twittered about Emerie, and that didn't end up much--and I'd know because the biggest TBB Fans here haven't talked jack about her. That's how good her character is.

Just listen to the silence and all those crickets.

Two). Remember how this was supposed to be the Republic becoming the Empire?

They didn't act like it, did they. You could place these scenes in the Clone Wars, and y'know, it would not only still make sense--it would be more pointed on how the Republic had always been the Empire underneath.

Because you don't get the evil of an entire instellar Empire out of nowhere. That just doesn't happen in stories that have any depth.

If it does happen, you're reading a kindergarten story then.

( ... Frankly the kindergarten story would prolly tell it better, honestly. )

THree). They killed Tech, and CX-2 meant nothing.

You can't tell me they didn't have time, because they spent 3 seasons bullshiting and then at the last minute went "Oh shit, we're supposed to have a plot! Uhhh THORW SOMETHING AT THE WALL AND WE'LL SEE WHAT STICKS"

They knew full well how much fucking time they were alloted, because TV time always allows at least 3 seasons unless you have fucked up that royally.

It is by Contract. They Knew, and they still Bullshitted.

They murdered Tech for Shock Value. Oh someone is going to say "But George Lucas didn't Like Tech--so it made sense to kill him!"

I know they're going to say it.

If they didn't want Tech, then they shouldn't have created him. If you didn't want the Apple Pie, you shouldn't have made the damn Universe. When you introduce a vital character, a main character, people are going to care about them, especially upon character development.

So when you kill that character for Shock value, and then made that value meaningless by lack of conversation and perceived impact, then all you've done is spat in the face of everyone who cared about him--who might've identified with him--or felt that they needed a fictional example of grief--or fucking hells, just WANTED TO HAVE CHARACTER IN YOUR FUCKING CHARACTERS.

Tech was the point where my fires started. He was the point, where I realized, there was no hope in this show. Can't repair the character dynamics, can't do anything of significance now.

And by their refusal to allow the characters communication and grief, they stamped Tech into the dirt by the heels of their imperial boots.

CX-2 had all this development, for fuck all. What was the point of the CXs if they weren't going to do jack with them.

Four). Spent an awful lot of time shitting on other ideas.

Every possible guest character that could appear, did appear, and it took away from the story. Worse, it took away from Authors, and Game Makers, and spat all over them with a "Haha this is OUR CANON NOW!"

Cid lost her appeal. Because it was an episodic format, and the series did not stick to an episodic format. Would've been a great minor villian, too fucking bad though.

Phee was a phenomenal character (even if I don't care for Indiana Jones / Lara Croft archetypes), and she didn't go anywhere. She stood nearby Tech, gave him a pet name, and that's it. They wasted her.

( I would say that the shippers went too hog wild--but shippers have always been hogwild. To say that they're overdoing it, means they've been underdoing it. They will go hogwild for "Nameless Twi'lek in Background". That's the beauty of the shippers. Keep shipping folks, the Empire can't take all of us out. )

They killed Scorch. Scorch, from Republic Commando, is dead now. You remember that happy go lucky guy? The one who wanted to go back for Sev?

( HE WAS MY PARTY MEMBER, GODS DAMN IT. I PLAYED THE GAME WITH HIM. )

Well. He can never go back now.

( From the bottom of my gamer heart--I felt like this was the greatest Fuck You of all time. Tech's death was already unforgivable, but this? This is as if you just executed Carth Onasi in front of me. )

( The only way they could've done worse, is if they had made a poor copycat of the deathstar as some star destroyer with a rip off of Darth Revan except he's like, the grandson of Darth Vader or something. And he like, murdered a lot of Jedi again, because they wanted to rip off the prequels... )

Why is VENTRESS EVEN THERE.

Why did we need KANAN AGAIN!?

Oh look, Rex, and... Clones... Fucking wonder what's going on there. I can't imagine that the sequel of the Clone Wars would have anything to do with Clone Wars maining Clones. Can't imagine why they might've been important for the Star Wars audience. They're just CLONES AREN'T THEY ITS NOT LIKE THE AFTER EFFECTS OF THE CLONE WARS WOULD HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH CLONES.

Completely dissed the Chip plot, for victim blaming, and all the victims paid for it. In fact, they even villianized the victims and punished them dearly. Through execution, or dismemberment.

And they just straight up murdered every villian they could get away with, for... no reason. It wasn't satisfying. It was bullshit.

The sheer audacity to fuck Echo up. He was our Audience Surrogate, on par with Ahsoka, and THIS IS WHAT THEY DID TO HIM? Made him a bit player in his own show?

Only gave Fives, one of the most important people of Echo's life, a mere throwaway mention.

Not gonna get into what they did to me boys the Bad Batch, because we'd be here all day. And I've got other things to do.

And finally, because this made me rage so fucking hard.

FIVES) The Spoken Message "Now we can be who we want to be!"

...

ARE YOU FUCKING FOR REAL. WHAT IS THIS SHOW'S MAJOR MALFUNCTION.

The Entire Point of the Bad Batch, was that they were already being who they wanted to be or who they were, since their introduction in Clone Wars. They were Unique Nonstandard Clone with Unique Abilities and excellent character (In the Clone Wars)

And suddenly the show wants to say "Oh by they weren't really being themselves--"

They didn't set that the fuck up. The TBBShow, spent the last 3 years fucking around in the ether. They had plenty of time, and they squandered it, and then they rushed jobbed like kids on final group project day.

If the "Good Soldiers Follow Orders" was the set up, then that is akin to saying "Oh don't worry about being drugged into doing something you didn't want to do, you can learn from the experience of having all your choices forced from you and against your consent, and be better from it!"

We can even take in-story!

They spent, so much time, never once talking to one another, about one another, setting up jack all. In fact, vast majority either followed Hunter's lead or ignored him, and left the Camera--there has never been any "Oh we can be who we want".

Unless you're Omega. And y'know, I tots watched a show called the Bad Batch, because I was totally clearly there for an original character not apart of the Bad Batch.

At the end of all it, I have to ask... what... story were they trying to tell exactly?

The show didn't dedicate itself to anything. It spent so long avoiding dedication that it robbed all impact, and left a constant sense of tension in every episode.

It didn't dedicate to a story. Oh it dedicated to the Rush, the New AND SHINY CONTENT--but that's it. Honestly, if they wanted the feeling of rush, they should've just dedicated themselves to Youtube Shorts, Vines and Tiktok.

I'm not here for the rush of content. I'm here for a fucking story, with characters. I have games that are decades old, I have the original Han Solo Trilogy, far before that fucking film.

And I go back, and I reread and replay, because I fucking love them. And that's what you do with something you love, you return to it constantly, its not a Fad that passes once the rush stops.

But I can only go back to the TBBshow, to take what little is good, And destroy the rest, and plant garden above the ashes.

(There are things good in this show that I want to drag out into the light and into better things. And I know, plenty of people have found that good too, and they have done the same. The sheer dedication of interpretation is a beautiful thing. )

There is no Replay Value here. By all accounts, they turned this into a throw-away show, that I guarantee, in about six months, half the fandom is going to be gone from because there's no substance here.

( I'd be shocked, but also not shocked, if it isn't, but I'm not hopeful here. )

And I'll guarantee to you, my audience, that I am going to be here with a never ending coal-fire in my chest.

Because as a lifetime Star Wars fan, from birth and unto where ever the end of my journey is, it has me--it can have my Love, or it can have my Never Ending Rage, but it has me regardless.

ADDENDUM

There are other things, believe me, I am not finished, but I wanted to get the big points down and out, to air my grievances. Twas an emotional response of sheer fucking unbelievable rage. The fires of mustafar would mean nothing in comparison to fires that lie inside. ( i'm in my darth vader arc. )

This hasn't been a waste of time... But fuck it was a Waste of Story and a waste of characters, and I will never forgive the TBBshow, for the fact that the Clone Wars lead me to love, and the TBBshow lead me to antagonizing rage.

The TBBshow story should've been a tragedy. That would've set some things to rights. If they had just, killed the team, and finally made the Empire into the tragic but villianous threat it really is, then that would've at least, made up for somethings. It wouldn't have fixed the show--S1 and S2 are still bad and no amount of good endings will fix that--but it would've been an anchor for it.

[mamuzzy]

I only wanted to answer in reblog but it got so long i decided to make a separate post. But it had me thinking about media consumerism and how it could affect the open-mindedness for different shows soooo...

Here is a guide to...

HOW TO GET SOMEONE TRAPPED IN THE CLONE HELL

... not entirely a guide but more like an observation.

If we want to look at the problem with the fast-paced media consumer viewpoint, I think starting with the Bad Batch it's actually not a bad idea for someone who never watched Star Wars animated media before. It's sad but cartoons, animations can repulse people to watch things because they link them to child stories, something only a child would watch, also most of the people prefer live action instead of animated stuff. Especially if the said movie/series is quite old. cont. under the cut...

There could be a reason why people are not interested in clones

If a friend, family member, boyfriend/girlfriend/whatever only saw the movies and were not interested in TCW before, had not seen it as a child on TV, they will probably have prejudice against the clones. - They weren't the main characters in the movies therefor we have not seen them interacting that much with the main cast. - But even if you don't know star wars, you will probably know the clones for Order 66, white armored assholes who murdered the jedi aka good guys. And when the movies came out, inhibitor chips weren't in the picture. ---> this observations came while watching TCW with my dad who didn't like the clones because for this exact same reason: the clones basicly serve antagonist without question in a world where rules were set: jedi are good, sith are evil. -> I don't care that it is more complex that. It is what was shown. While he enjoyed the clone-centric episodes, he still stood at his point. They killed the jedi. End of story. - People have different interests :'(((((((

THE CLONE WARS 2003

Why do I recommend this first.

You can always say it's made by the same guy who made Samurai Jack. Strategically speaking Clone Wars 2003 would be a good starting point despite not being canon anymore because TCW is adapting some of the stories shown here. It recaps well what happened between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Also this is the first media where Asajj Ventress and Grievous were introduced, and where you can actually see Grievous in his prime, an absolutely terrifying foe who actually can mop the floor with the jedi. Lots of jedi were introduced here which later also appeared in TCW. Why is this important: Having familiarity with the characters shown in memorable scenes helps that you will recognise them later in other media. Like... Hey it's the jedi dude who stripped in the middle of a fight! Hey, aren't these the same guys who mutated an entire village out of fun who kidnapped Echo??? And so on. TIME: 25 x 5 minutes episodes full of action so it keeps up the interest, and... FORDO. 5 minutes of full clone badassery. While TCW emphasises on the theme that the clones are living, feeling human beings who can die exactly like a human, in CW2003 they are shown like really the badass super soldiers (especially the ARC Troopers) who were bred for war. How much time it takes an episode to watch is an important factor. Because someone who binge watches 10 x 1 hour long netflix series under one day without sleep, drink, eat is not a guarantee that they will be able to sit through 133 x 22 minutes episodes. The sheer numbers will scare them away, nobody has a time watch 133 episodes when you can watch like... 5 different series instead! STORY TELLING COMPARED TO TCW: CW2003 goes for mostly visual story telling instead of talking. It's suspenseful, it's scenic, it's extreme, sometimes silly (rocket-launcher clone in the elevator with zero fuck given is still my favorite) but it's guarantee that you will remember. TCW episodes are varying from episodic to two-to-four episode arcs, it has silly comic relief episodes, it has serious dark episodes, obligatory beach episode, obligatory valentine day episode, obligatory school festival episodes obligatory-just kidding lol , so the lenght of one story can be varying, so is the quality of them. So unless you have a hyperfixation, or are a completionist, or interested enough, the episodes - in psychologycal term -, won't urge you the continue. Because in one 22 minutes episode you got a complete story without cliffhanger it won't make you think, because all the questions asked in the beginning of the episode was answered at the end. It won't rush you to continue, because you know that probably the next episode will be about an entire different conflict. You can stop anytime without the feeling of "just one more episode, just one more episode". Also, it doesn't help that you know how the story will end if you saw Revenge of the Sith. The forementioned uglyness... It took me years to finish TCW. I hated when it came out back in 2009 despite loving Star Wars and CW2003 and only after a decade picked up my interest again, it still took me years to finish it anyway. Back then, I really hated how everything got quickly 3D in neglection of 2D. But can't say it's ugly because it's old, it was ugly when it came out! You really have to force yourself to accept how it looks until you are fine with it, because your eyes got used to it. Also some episodes were boring, not entertaining, I just lost interest and only came back later to continue and I even forgot what happened before. I can't remember most of the arc expect those I was interested in to rewatch it again in the last years. Yes, the quality will improve. Season 7 is beautiful. The visuals of Bad Batch is also beautiful. But between season 6 and season 7, years passed.

THE BAD BATCH

Why do I recommend TBB for someone who ain't got time for shit™:

- TBB season are 16 episodes long. It's friendlier than 133 number wise. - There are only a few main characters to follow. It's important because when there are a large cast of characters, it's easy to get confused who is who and with literal CLONES as main characters, it's hard to distinguish them from each other. I know I can distinguished them, because I'm so fixated on them that every single verbal and non-verbal gesture they make will shoot me into outer space. - The Batch uses popular character tropes, different looks, different voices and tones, so they are recognisable, therefore, you will remember them for the rest of the show. So it will be a chance that you will fall for at least one member of the batch. And then you'll be thirsting mess over one character and eventually you'll be staning all of them, and eventually you will seek out more contents,fanfics, fanarts, headcanons with them that will attract TCW characters or events as well that will lead further deep down into the clone-hell. --> You can start showing the Bad Batch arc TCW where Jesse, Kix, Rex, Cody is also present, so there are plenty of topic and characters to talk about later. Also... Who is this Echo guy, how did he end up here? You can show the Domino Squad episodes, Kamino arc, citadel arc... - This could be a double-edge sword, but TBB are shown resemblance to Delta Squad, Omega Squad and Null ARC troopers. You know Delta Squad from the Video Game, Republic Commando, while the Omegas and Nulls are the main characters of the book series with the same name by Karen Traviss. I say it's double edged, because without these fantastic characters we wouldn't have The Bad Batch, but also I can understand the fans who wanted the Deltas adapted properly instead. - In season 1, the "fillers" add to the story and the characters as well and they won't get episodic-amnesia. (they may have TCW amnesia though... yes, I look at you Echo.) - In Season 1, there is a clear conflict which shadow always lingers even if the plot of the episode does not directly touches it. - Returning characters from TCW like Rex and Gregor could make the consumer ask the questions: who are these guys and why are they important? Rex is cute, is there more episodes with him? Oh yes, my dear prey friend, there is a whole series about him. - I only say season 1 because I'm not entirely satisfied how season 2 were handled while I enjoyed the first one. My hyperfixation for TCW last year literally started with Bad Batch. The trailer was so misleadingly awesome I wanted to watch it before season 2 would come out, but I wanted to finish TCW first (finally!). Season 6 and Season 7 were basicly binge watch and it got me interested again in the previous seasons too.

STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS 2008 (movie)

Why do I recommend this before TCW - It has Fox - Because sitting through a one-night movie is still easier than watching 133 episodes while maintaining the same quality of the show. - It has Fox - It shows the story how Ahsoka is introduced as Anakin's padawan the first time and we get a glimpse of their initial relationship and dynamic. - It has Fox - Basicly two arc in one movie but the introduced characters stay the same the entire time so you have time to get to know them, recognise them, and later you can remember them. - It has Fox - It has Fox.

TALES OF THE JEDI

It has that one episodes with the clones where they train Ahsoka. Possible questions could be asked: wtf happens at the END? Where is the rest of it? You can instantly show the last arc of season 7. Which would lead to another questions: wtf are the mandalorians, why Maul is here, wtf happening with Rex during O66, why is he hesitating to shoot Ahsoka? Now you can show the Chip conspiracy ARC with Fives! This Fives is a nice guy, is there more episodes of him? Oh boy~

And if they are interested in watching TCW with you..

- Watching together as spending time together usually helps. I think discord also has a function where you can stream movies to others. - You don't have to watch it in the exact order the episodes came out - Show arcs. There are lot of clone centric arcs. I literally collected all the episodes where Echo and Fives are present. --> Dad remembered Echo the whole time and he felt sorry for him. I showed the episodes in such order that his story could be followed easely. ------------- I know. I get it. Every episode is awesome. Every character is awesome. They are. They are all blorbos. They are our blorbos.

[cheetahsprints]

(If you don't like mentions of a slash ship featuring certain anthro hedgehogs just scroll past!!!! Quickly!!!)

TL;DR (You can skip this blurb if you want the full story)

I went from being like neutrally aware of the Sonic franchise characters' existence to totally obsessed practically overnight with Shadow and Sonadow. Went full speed ahead brainrot on them because of a freaking dream where cartoon (unspecified) Sonic & co accidentally entered the dimension of live action Sonic. Shenanigans ensued, most notably a dreambrain-hatched live action Shadow fighting his cartoon version because of his attitude toward Sonic & co.

(End of TL;DR)

[Text wall below for details]

A few nights ago I had a random as hell dream about Sonic the hedgehog and I am now here I have watched freaking Sonic Prime on Netflix because the mental images wouldn't leave me alone so I treated it like a weird message from the universe e send Help

My only previous interactions with sonic stuff was some person I followed on twitter for something else posting art of it (mega long time ago), watching the sonic live action movies why I have no idea (super long time ago), and that joke game that went surprisingly hard The Murder of Sonic the Hedgehog which I completed even though the minigames to progress got hard AF for me (pretty long time ago) and like even before all that I knew of Sonic from ads, memes, and various posts on social medias. But I didn't fully engage with it.

Side note: the twitter posting was mostly sonadow and I would look it over like uh-huh ok the vibes check out and just keep scrolling like lsdfkjdskl but that is pretty much the main reason I knew Sonic/Shadow existed but at the time I didn't actively seek it out or try to learn more.

Onward...

My brain is so so so weird and the dream was somewhat vivid like watching a movie omg where the live action sonic and pals met the cartoon versions of the characters?? even though I never watched any of the cartoons before??? as such it wasn't a specific series, I just knew it in the dream they were from a generalized cartoon universe

Specifically it was Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in the movie group, while the cartoon group had Amy and Rouge instead of the other two alongside Sonic, who I only even really knew about because of the April Fool's game. And Shadow was also there in both groups because why not I guess and they (the Shadows) fought each other because the movie one thought the cartoon one was a jerk lmao idk? Yeah my subconscious decided it couldn't wait for Sonic 3 and made up its own version of movie Shadow.

Early in the dream there was also a little kid clone of Sonic who belonged with the cartoon group. There were some cute interactions but in nonsensical dream fashion that character just disappeared later like he was never there lol

…There was some plot about the cartoon group needing to get back to their dimension because Sonic accidentally got them blasted into the movie one somehow... after watching Sonic Prime I'm like my dream was so FREAKISHLY similar to that show's plot, but I SWEAR I knew nothing about the premise of SP before the dream. Although, in the dream they were like... multidimensional travellers doing hero stuff and had met other variants before, just this time it wasn't intentional and it messed something up.

Uh getting off track... (which the dream itself did a lot tbf)

Anyway, what I remember is the movie dimension made the cartoon group look in the more realistic style so at first Shadow thought the actual movie group were the ones from his dimension (Shadow & Amy got separated from Sonic & Rouge) and was rude to them because he was so ticked off blaming Sonic for being a dumbass and yelling at Tails for not preventing whatever happened or something, so actual movie Shadow appeared like. don't talk to my friends that way asshole and beat the absolute shit out of him. There was an explanation Tails gave that the movie Shadow was more powerful for some reason I don't remember and Amy told cartoon Shadow to stop trying to beat him. But yeah bro was so pissed movie Sonic had to step in and physically stop him because he wouldn't listen to and/or overpowered anyone else. He reminded Shadow that the other Shadow was still him, in a sense.

Cartoon Sonic and Rouge appeared and Sonic started bickering with cartoon Shadow. but the movie versions were best friends so they were watching them like wtf is wrong with y'all. Movie Shadow got fed up quickly and punched cartoon Shadow again and stood protectively in front of both Sonic versions bristling and wouldn't take his eyes off his counterpart. Cartoon Shadow was so goddamn confused by Shadow's protectiveness and asked how Sonic had made movie Shadow his loyal bodyguard (derogatory) Amy and Rouge like explained the backstory to the movie crew, which is fuzzy to me but it was something along the lines of, Shadow had been brainwashed to rival Sonic, tricked to think that Sonic was evil (unbeknownst to that Sonic who in his pov had this random edgy hedgehog start attacking him out of nowhere during a mission) and they had a lot of intense fighting before Shadow found out the truth. But the two of them never quite got over the misunderstanding. Listen I didn't know Shadow's backstory, literally none of it, but I have read the wiki since ok

Meanwhile movie Shadow, in the dream, was made and raised in a lab and similarly believed he was made as Sonic's rival/equal. Behind the scenes some government thing or whatever were afraid of Sonic's power and wanted a backup plan. But some evil guy stole and unleashed Shadow. At first it was basically just a duel, Shadow admired Sonic, but the evil guy had put a chip in his head that when activated made him try to kill Sonic. Eventually he was subdued and the chip deactivated- and despite everything Sonic insisted Shadow come with him to his home and the rest was history. This unfolded in like flashback style.

There was a funny part where Shadow questioned Sonic's home like "What kind of base of operations is this?" In a very unimpressed tone. Sonic said sarcastically "Oh, sorry if you were expecting my own Fortress of Solitude." And I guess Shadow was allowed to watch tv because he got the reference and shot back "Does that make me Lois Lane?" Didn't make a whole lot of sense sdlfkjds but movie Shadow delivered this line very confidently and flirtatious and just walked away leaving Sonic shocked LOL

And then later Shadow complained that the government people would always rewind and loop the villainy parts and he never got to see if Lois and Clark kissed (It's been too long since I watched any Superman movies so I couldn't tell you if this makes sense) and Knuckles teased him for being a romantic, and then the whole team binge watched every Superman movie.

In the "present" at some point movie Sonic and Shadow pulled their alternate versions aside and like told them off for being mean to each other lmao cartoon Sonic was kinda like uwu I didn't know Shadow had feelings he's like a lone wolf and like was surprised by his counterpart's vehemence. Movie Sonic told cartoon Sonic that Shadow can be a great friend if you give him a chance. I don't remember the Shadowses convo much but it was a lot more chill despite the fighting before (though still prickly) because Shadow's reasons were more valid and it was more of a pep talk from movie Shadow that if he opened up more it might give the others around him more opportunity to know and accept him.

I remember there was this one specific heavy emotional line in the dream that stuck with me when I woke up said by cartoon Shadow about Sonic, "He's my best friend but I'm obviously not his" DFKLJDSKJ

Additional small detail that movie Sonic and Shadow had known each other for over 2 years during dream events. And they were quite close and in sync. But still bantery

My brain basically conjured a LITERAL FANFICTION in my sleep and I have been thinking about it a lot What's hilarious is I knew next to fuck all about these characters my brain pulled the plot points of this dream out of its ass

Typed out, this dream probably sounds a lot longer than it was... the "scenes" just felt oddly detailed for how mashed together and quick passing they were.

But yeah I kept thinking about the dream and like daydreaming more scenes and it somehow turned even more into Sonadow (like, I imagined Cartoon Sonic & Shadow finding out in a very abrupt way that the movie versions were an item. <- to my delight I did find a fic with a premise very similar to this just not movie universe related. Also played with the idea of Sonic and/or Shadow accidentally kissing the wrong counterpart in their excitement at being reunited which Awakened Some Things for the receiver of the unexpected passion😂 )

The dream kinda acted as a base that inspired daydreams to spiral out from my brain without permission but I just... mentally jumped into it because ships sometimes grab you like that.

And Sonic Prime made my sprouting interest worse, basically fuel to the fire, so now I am obsessed with them... like what a fucking way to get into a ship

[sarcastic-salem]

X-23: Innocence Lost & Target X Are The Books That Will Make You Hate Steve Rogers

~~~~~~~~~~

X-23: Innocence Lost is a 2005 graphic novel published by Marvel, following the popularity of the X-Men: Evolution cartoon series which was based off a miniseries of the same name. The show featured the X-Men attending public high school as teenagers while living at the Xavier Institute, which for all intents and purposes served as a group home in the show. The show also served as the debut for the fan favorite character Laura Kinney — AKA X-23.

Following her debut in the Evolution cartoon series, Laura became so in demand that Marvel decided to officially introduce her into the Marvelverse with Innocence Lost. And lemme just say innocence was indeed lost.

The book focuses heavily on Sarah Kinney, whose a scientist and Laura’s mother for all intents and purposes. Sarah was originally hired by the Weapons Plus program — the same government program that produced Weapon X (Wolverine) — to create a clone of Logan Howlett. But when Sarah failed to create a male clone and instead produced a female clone — this is next part is a wee bit fucked up — she is forced to carry Laura to term herself as punishment.

I bet you’re starting to wonder how Steve Rogers comes to play into all of this.

Welp, following years of child abuse — I mean, training — and being forced against her will to carry out multiple assassinations by the Weapons Plus program, Laura eventually escapes the facility she was raised in following her mother’s death. Grief-stricken and rife with PTSD, Laura decides to hunt down Logan at the Xavier Institute in Target X, which is the direct sequel of Innocence Lost. It all leads up to what, I think, is a very touching murder-suicide attempt.

Luckily, Logan is saved from the fourteen-year-old girl by none other than….

Steve Rogers

And if you wanna see the irony and hypocrisy that ensues, I highly recommend doing a compare and contrast of these two books alongside of Ed Brubaker’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Or, ya know, watch the movie. That might get the message across a lot clearer.

Happy Reading❤️

[howdidthisevenhappenanyway]

actually I’m going to do a rec list seeing as ao3 is down and also there have been quite a few hickups recently so maybe people will find it useful in the future

this year my favourite quantum bang story was absolutely a story called OB-1 by sunryder

Title: OB-1

Author: Sunryder

Fandom: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

Genre: Angst, Family, Kid!fic, Science Fiction

Relationship(s): Gen, background pairings

Content Rating: PG

Warnings: Discussion-Child Abuse, Discussion-Sexual Abuse, Discussion-Slavery, Self-Harm

Author Note: In the grand tradition of The Clone Wars cartoon, the moral of this story is: Never mistake the obedient choice for the right one.

Word Count: 79,685

Summary: For over a thousand generations, Jedi Knights have been the guardians of peace and justice in the Galactic Republic. Force-sensitive children are brought to the Jedi Temple and there taught the ways of the Jedi. Throughout their youth these children undergo many trials, the last of which is to be chosen as an Apprentice before they turn 13. Despite his skill and talent in the Force, Obi-Wan Kenobi has been caught fighting another Initiate and deemed too angry to become a Jedi Knight. The Youngling has been expelled from the Temple to join the Agricorps instead…

(my synopsis: ob-1 is waylaid by a droid oc who will steal your heart before he headed off to bandomeer and that droids intervention not only prevented a lot of pain for Obi-Wan but also leads to a lot of very positive changes for the Jedi Order. it’s a case fic with a heart of gold)

jillyjames writes some really great sentinel fusion stories and tony dinozzo of ncis is her unicorn. my favourite of her sentinel works is by far a MCU crossover called Stick Around and its sequel Demons. The battle of new york scene remains one of my favourite fanfic action scenes i’ve ever read.

Title: Stick Around (prequel to Demons)

Author: Jilly James

Fandom: MCU/NCIS/The Sentinel

Genre: Romance, First Time, Contemporary, Crossover, Fusion, Sentinels Are Known AU

Relationship(s): Tony Stark/Tony DiNozzo (aka Dominic Rossi), Other Minor Pairings

Content Rating: NC-17

Warnings: Canon-level violence, explicit sex

Author Notes: I’ve taken liberty with the location of the FBI offices in NY—if you even can take liberties with the location of something in a fictional universe. Also, Tony DiNozzo’s name is Dominic Rossi, though he was born Tony DiNozzo. The reason for this is explained in the story. I just can’t do two people named Tony in a relationship. It’s too confusing.

Challenge: Written for the Little Black Dress Challenge on Rough Trade, July 2018.

Word Count: 24,079

Summary: In the aftermath of the battle of New York, Nick Fury recruits a sentinel to be the new handler for the Avengers. Dominic Rossi doesn’t want the gig, but Tony Stark thinks he’d like it if Dom stuck around.

she has also been writing some of the best Fox911 fanfic and singlehandedly brought me and many others into the fandom when she wrote a 911 fic for the quantumbang a few years ago. I don’t think I can choose one favourite so I encourage you to just go through the navigation of her site lmao

another fandom she brought me into with the power of fic was teen wolf with this really lovely fic. I was drawn in by the Lenny Kravitz casting of her OC and stayed for the hot pairing of mature characters.

Title: The Dark Road

Author: Jilly James

Fandom: Teen Wolf

Genre: Drama, Paranormal

Relationship(s): Gen. Minor OFC / OMC, vague hints of future Peter Hale/Noah Stilinski

Content Rating: R

Warnings: Canon-typical violence; Death of Minor Canon Characters; Murder; Character Bashing. References to hunters being raging bigots and committing terrible crimes, also references to atrocious canon events (Hale fire, everything Kate).

Word Count: ~34k

Summary: When the Hale house burned, most of his family died, and his new alpha left him for dead, one member of Peter Hale’s pack refused to leave him behind.

one more before I go clean my fridge.

ellywinkle has some great adventure stories, I love this ncis/stargate crossover:

title: Trust Issues

Author: Ellywinkle

Fandom: NCIS/Stargate Series

Rating: R

Warnings: Character Bashing, Death – Major Character, Discussion – Murder, Discussion – Torture, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Violence – Canon – Level

Genres: Alternate Universe, Canon Divergent, Crossover, Established Relationship, Science Fiction, Slash

Relationships: John/Rodney, pre-Ronon/Tony

Word Count: 78,112

Author Note: This starts during the NCIS episode Dead Air. The Stargate Series are AU, so don’t waste a lot of time trying to sync the timelines. Also, DADT has already been repealed, because I refuse to mess with that. Thanks to Jilly James for help with the art. The line about attraction to your brother’s spouse was completely for her. While I have seen many stories use avatars for Atlantis, Keira Marcos’ Lantean Legacy was the first time I had seen it adapted to individual ships in Stargate. I hope my Alex lives up to that standard.

Summary: While taking voice prints for a case, Special Agent Tony DiNozzo stumbles across a kidnapping. His trust in his team is shattered when his expected rescue never appears. Now he finds himself forced to use every skill he has to keep himself and his fellow victim alive as he is thrust into a universe that is much larger and deadlier than he ever imagined.

[the-owl-house-takes]

I'm tired of people telling me (a child abuse victim who developed CPSTD and other things from the horrors I experienced) that disliking a cartoon character who is also abused is "bad" and "not respecting abuse victims" - and yes, this applies mainly to Hunter, but also to other abuse victims in the show.

I don't hate them because they're abused. I hate them because they're poorly written in so many regards, and I feel as though they should have developed them more and not made so two dimensional in some places

The show being shortened doesn't excuse poor writing choices - boo hoo, I'm tired of that excuse!

Being an abuse victim doesn't excuse Amity or Hunter's behaviour towards others (death threats, long-term bullying etc.) , same with Lilith in some regards - sincerely, an abuse victim.

Of course, I can't speak on all abuse victims, but neither can they speak on me. And this just... it just really fucking pisses me off and I don't know why - I've been in the fandom since the show first aired, have official merch and shit, but this never fails to annoy me.

Doing this anonymously because I know how people in this fandom can be with their faves... especially Hunter stans/fans (I used to like him but they really fucking ruined him for me; some Hunter fans are just...horrid and cannot accept other opinions on their uwu clone of a white colonialist witch hunting murderer).

Hopefully this makes sense.

-

[balis77]

You know I feel like whenever people talk about something that's been going on so long the quality has decayed because the creators just keep throwing out more stuff, they're usually talking about long runner cartoons like Spongebob or Fairy Odd Parents, or shows that went way past the point of original planning and lost the original plot like Walking Dead or Game of Thrones.

But you know what's probably the ultimate example of "We've been going so long and through so many writers we've lost all semblance of sanity"? Fucking comics. You have any idea how absolutely deranged mainline DC and Marvel have gotten over the years, using the same narrative for their main titles for so long?

Eddie Brock got retconned into having cancer, then retconned into thinking he had cancer because the symbiote wanted him to think he had cancer so he wouldn't take it off, only it turned out it did so so well it actually gave him cancer

Wally West once accidentally murdered a whole bunch of superheroes at a superhero mental health facility because his powers randomly overloaded in a way that never happened before or since. It was a whole mystery as to who could've done it and not only was Wally not one of the suspects the whole time, he was thought to be one of the victims, and there was absolutely 0 foreshadowing or clues to any of this being the case.

Jason Todd initially came back to life because a multiverse variant of Superman (Superboy Prime, long story) punched reality so hard it retconned him into never dying in the first place. Except everything else played out the same so he literally had to break out of his own coffin even though he never died.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksliver have been retconned back and forth from being Magneto's kids like a dozen fucking times. And note, the idea that they could be his kids in the first place was itself a retcon since they were initially labeled as being the kids of two completely different superheroes from Golden Age.

The symbiotes went from being "Strange alien slimes that act as symbiotic suits for people" to being the spawn of the god of darkness, who's original appearance for them was... a bunch of dragons. Not the symbiotes possessing dragons just... symbiotes perfectly formed into the shape of dragons. And two of these dragons wound up on Earth in ancient times and were the basis for Grendel and his mother from Beowulf.

Spider-Man once discovered Gwen Stacy had an affair with Norman Osborne, and because of the goblin formula in his body the kids from that affair aged rapidly to adults who Osborne then sent to kill Peter by telling them that Peter was their father and killed their mother. Mary Jane even told Peter she knew about the affair beforehand... except this was so unpopular it got retconned to being even more ridiculous, because actually the affair wasn't real, Norman had Mysterio hypnotize MJ into thinking it was real by disguising himself as her therapist, the kids were actually clones he made (and weren't in on any of this), and the whole thing was just a needlessly elaborate bit to fuck with Peter Parker.

In both DC and Marvel vampires are real. Not like, "there was a scientific experiment that made someone with vampire-like abilities" (Even though this has happened in both. Characters like Man-Bat and Morbius just coincidentally super-scienced their way into similar traits), not any kind of mutant or metahuman infection, but like, just normal, Bram Stoker-style vampires are real and always have been. Dracula is a character in both. Hell in Marvel he fought alongside Captain America in World War 2 against the Nazis. Jubilee got turned into a vampire for a while because Dracula's son bit her.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Death Wish II (1982)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

I’m fairly sure everyone involved in the making of Death Wish II knew they were making trash, which begs the question: why was this movie made? This is exploitative, cynical filmmaking that does little more than re-iterate everything that was said and done in the first but worse.

After Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) comes home to find his maid and daughter raped and murdered by the thugs who stole his wallet, he returns to his vigilante ways.

Woah, Woah! Slow down Death Wish 2! TWO of Kersey’s close ones get raped and murdered? Save some of them for Death Wish 3! I mean, otherwise what crime will the incompetent police force fail to solve, forcing Kersey to take the law into his own hands AGAIN? If you’ve seen Death Wish, you’ve seen Death Wish 2. There’s something particularly vile about this action film, and it isn’t only the excessive amount of female nudity as the hooting criminals gleefully lick their lips while ripping off the women’s clothes. Say what you will about the first but it was exactly that, THE FIRST. You needed to show those trauma-inducing moments to make you understand why Kersey would take the law into his own hands. This time, director Michael Winner's only objective is to exploit the audience. It's so manipulative you'll be tricked into wanting to see violent revenge fantasies brought to life by a man that’s way too old to play the role he’s playing. The criminals in this film do nothing BUT victimize women and torment innocent people. They're cartoons.

This picture has nothing to say, even if you haven’t seen Death Wish or its innumerable clones. We do not explore the toll this violence has upon Kersey beyond his lust for revenge. There are no moral dilemmas about the vengeance he rains down upon the thugs (which, if it interests you, includes a young Laurence Fishburne III). The topic of vigilante justice is never shown in a balanced manner. I can’t even say the action scenes are particularly exciting, or the deaths satisfying either.

Is there ANYTHING good in this film? Well, two I suppose. The first is that because the film is obviously lewd and lurid from the first few scenes, it’s never actually as impactful as it should be. It’s the most backwards compliment I’ve ever given but it’s true; by being crappy, the film manages avoid becoming offensive. This makes it “better”. Even so, it still contains gratuitous amounts of rape so maybe I’ve just become numb to it. Your mileage will probably vary on this issue. The second “good” aspect is a scene so bad it becomes comical AND checks off an item on my list of things I’ve always wanted to see in a movie. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s when a character jumps out of a window when they have no idea what’s outside. In Death Wish II, someone jumps and lands on something that kills them instantly. I’ve wanted to see that ever since I sat through 2005’s A Sound of Thunder.

Trashy, lazily written, unimaginative, tired, cheap... there are many unflattering adjectives which would comfortably fit Death Wish II. It’s wretched and I can’t imagine the next in the series will be any better. (Full-screen version on DVD, November 4, 2018)

[theprinceandthewitch]

I still think time magic is going to be used heavily in the final episode. Simply because cartoons with time travel mechanics always save a time travel plot it for a finale - and they usually use it for the series finale.

But I wanted to talk about Hunter meeting Caleb and how Luz and Hunter might build a time door:

See, here's the thing, the only "facts" about Caleb Hunter is aware of is from history books.

History books are unreliable as sources of truth because facts will be omitted or twisted to fit a certain narrative. We can see this in Yesterday's Lie by the way humans present Evelyn. She's presented as this evil entity [she literally has a devils tail] that lured away two helpless brothers to a world of evil, never to be seen again. In the play in TTT, she is presented as an old woman who lured away Caleb by dazzling him with magic and visions of a strange yet beautiful place. And Philip is presented as a sympathetic figure who wants to save his brother and bring the witch to justice. But again, these brothers are never seen again. They also get the ages of the brothers when they meet Evelyn wrong. Both of them met her not too long after coming to Gravesfield, so they knew her for YEARS.

Hunter is interested in knowing more about him, we can see in the ending credits in TTT that he has a photo of the statues and a book titled the Witchhunters of Gravesfiled. He has been studying Caleb's "history" and the history of Gravesfield as whole. This information will form very, very negative preconceptions of who Caleb was as a person. Hunter knows what witch-hunting was actually about, so he's going to think Caleb was exactly like Belos. Someone who was completely devoid of compassion and empathy. Hunter would have also applied this belief to himself because he is a clone of Caleb.

It's up in the air whether or not Flapjack even told Hunter about Caleb. It's unclear whether or not Flapjack remembers Caleb to this degree. He definitely remembers what Caleb looked like as a teenager. Which is why he took interest in Hunter and stayed with him despite not forming an emotional connection to him until the end of Eclipse Lake. Flapjack didn't even tell Hunter that the rebus lead to Titan blood even though he would know this because he was Caleb's palisman.

Basically, what I'm trying to say here is: Flapjack was never going to tell Hunter about Caleb, simply because it'll be unsatisfying to hear this information from Flapjack. Flapjack cannot communicate through speech UNLESS his soul was absorbed into someone like those palismen from Hollow Mind. Only Hunter can understand what he's saying but we can't. Having Flapjack chirp at Hunter while Hunter repeats what he said would have been and annoying and an unsatisfying way to learn more about Caleb.

So, the best way to solve the Caleb and Evelyn mystery is to actually meet them. Hunter meeting them would shatter his [and the majority of the audience's] preconceptions of who he AND Evelyn were as people. Hunter would know Caleb wasn't "lured away" from Philip. He left the human realm because he fell in love with a witch he was friends with since he was a teenager and wanted to start a family with her. Hunter would also know Evelyn wasn't some evil woman who tempted a man away from the only living member of his family. Their personalities are going to be completely different from what he's read about in history books. There's even a chance we'll get to see their kid. Because in the painting where Evelyn is zapping Philip with a spell after he kills Caleb she doesn't look pregnant anymore.

I really think we are going to meet Caleb and Evelyn on the day Philip murders Caleb, because not only is it really emotionally impactful to see Caleb die in the same episode where we have our preconceptions of his character are completely shattered - it also shows us how much of a irredeemable scumbag Philip is.

Because again, humans have presented Philip in a sympathetic light - he just wanted to save his brother from a witch who lured him to a world of evil. And because of the mystery surrounding Caleb's death, you could have assumed Caleb, the witch-hunter who met a witch named Evelyn, died by her hand. So you can assume he wants all witches and demons dead as vengeance for killing his brother. When you see Philip killing Golden Guards who betray him, you might actually believe it comes from a place of hurt rather than malice. Because they don't understand he's doing all this to avenge him. You could have even blamed Philip's more monstrous personality traits on his condition rather than believe these monstrous traits were a part of him before he ever came to TBI's.

So, any sympathetic light that's been shined on Philip is going to be completely destroyed when we see him kill his brother. I need to remind people that Caleb was Philip's caretaker even though he was only a teenager at the time he and his brother were orphaned. The caretaker role comes with alot of sacrifice and an unbelievable amount of stress. Caleb clearly still loved Philip despite their differences in beliefs. Once he sees Philip again [after their implied argument and Caleb's decision to stay with Evelyn on TBI's] he gives him a hug. Caleb probably thinks Philip has come to reconcile, but as we can see he has actually come to kill Evelyn. And to kill him as well, so that he can "save" Caleb's soul from being corrupted any further.

Okay so... I do think time magic is going to be used really heavily in the final episode. I think Luz and Hunter are going to be chasing Philip across time, and along the way King is going to get roped into this chase. Belos is going to have a way to make at least a few time pools/portals because all you need for them is coagulated titan blood from a specific era and magical algae. Belos still won't be able to control what specific moment in time he'll end up in, but he'll get lucky enough and end up in a time period where he can possess an adult Titan. And this Titan is going to be King's father. That mural from Echoes of the Past was foreshadowing King killing his father to free him from Belo's control. Through the death of King's father comes the creation of TBI's.

Belos is going to be able to possess King's Father because he knows a teleportation spell. He uses it to travel directly to the center of the skull in Elsewhere and Elsewhen. So he has direct access to his brain... gross.

But yeah... before we get to the time period King's Father is in we're going to take a detour to the day Philip murders Caleb.

I've been thinking about how this is going to play out... I did say that Belos might go to this time period, but I'm starting to think he won't. If he's trying to go back in time to snag an adult Titan as a last ditch effort to destroy everything, he isn't going to waste time with irrelevant time periods. This could be a situation where he'll send Luz and Hunter to a random point in time as a way to get rid of them. And this time period just so happens to be the day Philip kills Caleb.

You know... Hunter and Luz aren't going to be able to kill Philip. See the thing is, while Hunter AND Luz are the type who will give up their own lives to save the people they love they're not going to do it because Flapjack will be erased with them. While Flapjack isn't gone forever they can't actually communicate with him unless Luz goes into Hunters mindscape. They can't exactly ask him how he feels about their plan.

So while they're not going to kill Philip, they are still in a situation where they need to figure out a way to get back home.

And like... I don't think they're going to break the rules they set up for time travel. Like if King wanted to get Luz and Hunter, he isn't going to be able to rip a wormhole in space time just to get to their exact location. This is most likely going to play out in a way where King has to get lucky with the time pools. Since King isn't going to know exactly where Luz and Hunter are he's going to grow throughout his travels. That's why King is so big in the mural.

The various sizes of titan skulls in World's Edge make me inclined to believe titans DON'T grow to colossal sizes when they go through puberty. So King isn't going to become a giant after his growth spurt. Titan size seems to be an indication of age. Titans also appear to be able to shrink their size as evidenced by Kings Tower. So King isn't stuck as a giant and can actually be discreet as he searches for Luz and Hunter.

Oh and another thing - I think The Collector is going to go back into the mirror in the second episode. But instead of being banished to some hidden location, King is going to take them with him when he travels through space-time looking for Luz and Hunter. This will give King and TC plenty of time to bond and form a strong friendship. The Collector will also teach King about Titans, like what they're capable of. And he can also teach King spells. Through spending time with King, TC will change and become more empathetic, which will allow King to feel comfortable enough to free them from the mirror.

So that being said... King could show up right after Caleb's murder... or this could be a situation where Luz and Hunter, with Evelyn's help, build a tracking device for time pools. But we're going to have a "all hope is lost moment" when Luz and Hunter can't find a time pool on TBI's. Again, time pool locations are completely random and they don't have the resources to travel away from TBI's. This is where King shows up with TC.

OR

Hunter and Luz track Philip down and steal coagulated titan blood from him while he's vulnerable from Evelyn's spell. Which he could have even at this point in time. Again, he seems to be aware of time magic by the way he's writing lies in his journal and by the way he faked a leg injury to gain Luz's sympathy in Elsewhere and Elsewhen.

Then they take the coagulated blood back to Evelyn so that she can mix it with magical algae from The Boiling Sea.

Like... maybe they'll make a magical doorway that jumps randomly between time periods? Just so you know Evelyn did figure out the right ingredients to build a doorway to the human realm. Yesterday's Lie implies the original portal door was created using specific ingredients. She figured it out way back when she was a teenager. So with certain ingredients they could build a doorway that rips random holes in space-time.

OH...

Oh Okay so that might be what Philip is trying to do in the next episode.

Like I said before I think he is aware of time pools, but he could have made a time-door to cut out the wait time for the next batch of time pools to show up. He's also knowledgeable about doorways as he rebuilt the old one. He hid this time door somewhere but didn't bother to destroy it since he thought his Draining Spell plan would have gone off without a hitch. But the door is going to need a power source of some kind, which he can get from The Collector or from King. By making them fight each other until they bleed or he could try tricking The Collector into giving him a power source.

This is how Luz and Hunter are going to get back to their time huh... Evelyn is going to build them a time door, because not only does she have the knowledge to build a door she'll have access to titans blood. She gave VIALS of it to Caleb so he could travel between worlds...

[ao3feed-harleyquinn]

Down With The World

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/g0z9pZ8 by BitchIEatPeople Alecto Eris Fowle-Shimura, Daughter of the ex-villain Shigaraki Tomura, heiress to Fowle Enterprises, and proud student of the H.I.V.E Academy for Villains, had everything; loving and supportive parents, a caring extended family of ex-villains, the two best friends anyone could have asked for, a strong meta ability, and to top it all off, she was from a wealthy, magically-powerful bloodline blessed by a goddess. She was ready to take the world by storm... that was, as soon as she figured out exactly HOW she wanted to do that. Fortunately, the chance to figure that out was practically gift-wrapped to her; the Headmistress of H.I.V.E Academy suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by the sinister and untrustworthy Brother Blood. Wanting to save her school from Blood's clutches, Alecto and her two friends, Zachary Zatara and Jinx, set out to find their headmistress and put a stop to the man's plans, sending them down a path that intersected with the likes of the Justice League and the Light. A path that was neither hero nor villain. They were the Knights of Coventry. Words: 12276, Chapters: 2/?, Language: English Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga), Young Justice (Cartoon), Justice League Dark (2017), DC Animated Universe (Timmverse), Teen Titans (Animated Series), Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010), Batman: Assault On Arkham, Constantine: City of Demons (Cartoon), Batman - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: F/M, Multi Characters: Kurogiri (My Hero Academia), Bubaigawara Jin | Twice, Toga Himiko, Sako Atsuhiro | Mr. Compress, Dabi | Todoroki Touya, Iguchi Shuuichi | Spinner, Ra's al Ghul, Talia al Ghul, Floyd Lawton, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, John Constantine, Killer Croc, Anthony Ivo, League of Villains (My Hero Academia), The League of Shadows, Hecate (DCU), Clone Roy Harper | Will Harper, Jason Todd, Shigaraki Tomura | Shimura Tenko, Jade Nguyen, Teekl (DCU) Relationships: Zachary Zatara/Original Female Character(s), Jinx (DCU)/Original Female Character(s), Klarion (DCU)/Original Female Character(s), Damian Wayne/Original Female Character(s), Cameron Mahkent/Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)/Original Female Character(s), Roy Harper/Jade Nguyen/Jason Todd, Shigaraki Tomura | Tenko Shimura/Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - DCU Fusion, Out of Character, Canon Is A Sandbox And I Am Holding The Plastic Shovel, Reverse Harem, Polyandry, Robins Are Child Soldiers Fight Me On This, Happy Murder Family, League of Villains as Family (My Hero Academia), Male Jinx (DCU), Hijinks & Shenanigans, John Constantine is a Mess, Mamagiri, Sensei | All For One Being an Asshole, Damian Wayne is Not Robin, Jason Todd and Damian Wayne Meet in the League of Assassins, Jason Todd and Damian Wayne are Siblings, Good Person Ra's al Ghul, Talia al Ghul is Jason Todd's Parent, Talia al Ghul is Not a Rapist, at least in this story, Good Parent Talia al Ghul, Damian Wayne is Like a Disney Princess, Inappropriate Use Of The Lazarus Pits, Someone Tell Damian To Stop Using Them To Bring Back His Dead Pets, Hellsing Abridged references, Shigaraki 'Nope's To Another World With The LOV And Marries A Hot Witch Mommy Who He Has A Kid With, Safe To Say This Story Is Weird, Crack, Batman is an asshole, Alfred Pennyworth is So Done, Absolute Fucking Chaos, Tim Drake is Robin (DCU), Feral Behavior, Fluff and Crack, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Dick Grayson is Nightwing read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/g0z9pZ8

[goodoldfashionedengineer]

Watched it. Spoilers under the cut

It starts with a flashback to the end of season 2. Great. A painful reminder of that hopeless, devasted feeling I had at the end of King's Tide

I did expect that the first episode was going to remain in the human realm but I thought episode 2 was going to take place in the human realm as well with perspective shifts to what happens in the demon realm

I did NOT expect Camila to say that she was going to go with them and even encouraging the crew to go to the demon realm

I had the theory that the eye on the door is important and will mean something

I did not expect to be Titan Blood in Gravesfield but it makes sense

Caleb was Phillip's older Brother. Who took care of Phillip. AND PHILLIP/BELOS MURDERED HIM

If I didn't know the context I would assume that Phillip was scared of losing his brother to someone because Caleb was the only one he ever had

But with the context that Phillip would become Belos I am so horrified how he can bettay his own brother, who took the paternal role, Phillip smiled in a few pictures in Hollow Mind and Caleb was with him. How did he become so corrupted by this town's ideologies that he murders his own brother because he fell in love with a witch

And then he would create clones of his brother

Clones of the brother HE murdered

And he raised them, or at least Hunter, as his nephew. HIS NEPHEW! He looks like your OLDER Brother! I don't know what I should think of that! It just shows how much control Belos wants

The Collector said that he thinks that Belos creates these "things" with the whole purpose of destroying them

Belos is disgusting. Even more than he already was.

It hurt to see the pictures in the hallway with Luz's dad

And then later we found out that he didn't die suddenly but that he was sick. And her "quirky" behaviour is a coping mechanism. Because she lost her dad. And she's trying her best.

Her dad gave her the Good Witch Azura books

Maybe wanting to be a witch made her feel closer to her dad

Camila got bullied. I like how the show includes the adults so well. Because yeah a lot of parents probably experienced bullying as well as a kid

And she got worried(?), ashamed (?) when Hunter and Gus talked about Cosmic Frontier. She probably liked it and got called a geek. And more

I like how these characters I am invested in also get invested so much in media they like

I am going to talk about the small things now and continue later

They watched Hocus Pocus

All the references to past episodes and other cartoons like Amphibia. Like the flyer in the vet office

Giraffes are terrifying

Lumity Studios. The Shipname. And edit. Wow. Fourth Wall is non existent

Luz and Anity were so cute. I am so happy we got to see more interactions between them

The coming out was so amazing, I squeaked

The bi pin. The bi sticker. The lesbian sticker. Yes.

Gus saw fun in the human relam even tho a bit earlier he cried because the portal was closed. His excitement seemed fin at first but looking back it reminds me a lot of griefing

Hunter got stitching lessons!

And he likes wolves! Wolves are loyal and work in a pack. It fits! And Camila said something about how Wolves are great parents. I wonder how these two things are connected

When Camila wakes up with all the coupons on her bed. It is too relatable.

The moon on Luz' ceiling that resembles The Collector

I wonder what her Palisman will be

Honestly Camila is so good

But I still miss Eda

I don't know why I like Eda so much

Most of my favourite characters are closer to Hunter but I like Eda more

Hunter cutting his hair because he saw Belos in his reflection. The show just made so many one-shots I read with this trope in various fandoms canon

Luz has a Swap console

Hooty but in creepy

I like how the show is so obvious with Luz' feelings of guilt and feeling like she let everyone down and everything is her fault. They made the villain from the Azura 2 movie resemble her

Hunter crying when Luz says he is oart of the family

That. That got me. That shows how lonely he was and how little everyone around him cared about Hunter

And he gets attached to the cgaracter he relates with

The snakes. The snakes eating it's own tail. It's everywhere. Example, Camila's nightstand. Good that I know the symbolism for it. When a snake eats it's own tail to fron a circle or infinity symbol, it represents birth and death. Something new will rise and something will die. Maybe Flapjack's death is the birth of something new? And Luz' Palisman as yet to hatch. But it could also be that it can be used for multiple events.

Hunter breaking free of Belos' possession because of Flapjack

I thought "Oh he is going to be so devastated". Instead he confronted Belos, the one who manipulated him and told him who he is and about his dreams and wishes. So powerful

Ok but honestly I was confused for a second when he went to the water because I thought he was going to drown himself.

I thought that Vee could steal magic was going to be a plot in how to open the portal. I was wrong but it was nice seeing her try to steal Belo's/Hunter's magic

Flapjack's death. It was so quiet. But so many emotions. A loved one dying is one of the worst feelings imaginable and I got confronted with it twice in this episode. Someone in my family died last year and it shattered me. I was so sad and quiet, everyone around me noticed the changes but I am so glad for the people that helped me in a way that helped me. Not everyone did, many tried the wrong technics but those who just sat with me in quiet an hold my hand, maybe hugged me, helped me the most. This scene in which everyone had tears in their eyes and Hunter saying "I know" reminded me of that

Flapjack also always wanted to be free. He represented freedom for Hunter.

I don't know what the Collector's deal is

They are a child from the star's and a Titan entrapped him, they want revenge and they have powerful magic

I see too many parallels with Bill Cipher. Except he's not because The Collector wants revenge. And they are a child. And they want to build an Owl House

Yeah I understand why many are so scared

But I think they would help in defeating Belos

If they are a child from the stars maybe there will be more references to Cosmic Frontier?

Maybe they're the moon's child? Mayve the sun's as well? Maybe they ARE the stars? Yeah I don't know, I'll find out maybe on the 21th

I am so excited what The Collector did

That's all I could think of for now, maybe I'll add later

I am going to watch the first episode of season 3 now. I saw one major spoiler but none besides that one. I am so excited what the team planned. I hope my heart won't get broken too much. I am going to reblog this once I am finished, so that one will be with spoilers

[superectojazzmage]

A Handy Summary Of The Star Wars Franchise:

The Phantom Menace: Two hours of political babble interspersed with cool fights and annoying CGI characters. Introduced the world to George Lucas’s… interesting dialogue. Not as bad as you remember.

Attack Of The Clones: The real worst movie of the Prequel Trilogy. Obi-Wan Kenobi IS Philip Marlowe while Natalie Portman makes an admirable effort to act like she’s turned on by child murder. Worse then you remember.

Revenge Of The Sith: Depression - The Movie. The bad guy wins, the good guys are dead or turned to evil, the Galaxy falls to darkness, and the asthmatic cyborg will never get to finish his lightsaber collection.

A New Hope: The one that started it all. The heartwarming story of a himbo farmboy who joins a radical terrorist movement at the urging of an old man who says he’s a wizard. Really more of a framework and jumping off point then a real story, so everybody says they love it but don’t have much of anything to really say about it.

The Empire Strikes Back: Aw yeah, now we’re talking! The best of the mainline movies. The Rebels come out swinging and get their shit kicked in while James Earl Jones and Mark Hamill have a touching father-son reunion and Boba Fett steals the show. Not as shocking as it used to be considered because everyone copied it.

Return Of The Jedi: The OT movie everyone has mixed feelings about. The epic conclusion to George Lucas’s personal story in the setting, dragged down by the addition of hideous funk singers from my nightmares and militant Care Bears. According to Disney, nothing that happened in this one mattered btw!

The Force Awakens: Brace yourself for disappointment. J. J. Abrams blows up the Star Wars universe to get everything back to the “Empire Vs Rebels” status quo and set up his mystery boxes. Tricked you into thinking the Sequel Trilogy would passable.

The Last Jedi: Subverted your expectations that it would be good. Rian Johnson tries to salvage what Abrams did to the Star Wars universe and do something edgy and new, to severely mixed results. Luke Skywalker drinking alien titty milk was kept in but him mourning his brother-in-law’s death was cut as “unnecessary”.

The Rise Of Skywalker: Disney tries to stick the landing and breaks their legs instead. J. J. Abrams throws a shitfit over what Johnson did with his mystery boxes and torches the Star Wars universe down even more. Somehow… this movie is not good. How is this possible? Dark business, corporatizing, secrets only the Mouse knew.

Rogue One: Everybody’s dead, Jim. The Dirty Dozen if it was set in the Star Wars universe. A giant continuity filler manages to be infinitely better then the entire Sequel Trilogy.

Solo: Now the story of the smuggler who lost everything and the acclaimed director who had to film his origin story. It’s Solo Development. The tragically underrated and unlucky one, guilty of nothing but being released at a bad time and quite good removed from that.

Droids/Ewoks: Ah, yes. “Droids and Ewoks”, the first two Star Wars television series made back in the 80s, of generally poor quality and so painfully divorced from the Star Wars aesthetic that nobody acknowledges their cursed existence. We have dismissed that claim.

Clone Wars Microseries: The real first Star Wars TV show. Genndy Tartakovsky makes one of the most kickass cartoons ever in one of the most limited time frames ever. General Grievous gave you nightmares as a kid.

The Clone Wars: “This is for kids?” - The Series. The sprawling, epic story of a failing decadent government’s final days, occasionally interjected with painfully out of place juvenile comic relief. One of the big reasons for the Prequel Trilogy’s salvaged reputation.

The Bad Batch: Immediately after the Clone Wars, a crack commando unit was persecuted by the Empire. These men promptly escaped to the galactic underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them... maybe you can hire The Bad Batch.

Tales Of The Jedi Cartoon: Dave Filoni wants to get those unmade Clone Wars episodes finished and he WILL goddammit! Totally dickteased you by making you think it would be a TOTJ adaptation.

Rebels: The wacky, fanciful, fun-filled story of a terrorist cell waging guerrilla warfare on a tyrannical fascist government. Fights an uphill battle to meet the standard set by Clone Wars, and ultimately succeeds.

The Mandalorian: Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau show Abrams and Johnson how it’s done, God bless them. Pedro Pascal is sent on an epic quest to recreate “Lone Wolf and Cub” using a Yoda-themed Cabbage-Patch Kids doll. Meanwhile, the Mandalorians continue to uphold their most important cultural tradition; hating other Mandalorians.

The Book Of Boba Fett: They fucked with the wrong Māori! Boba Fett tries to become a crime lord but accidentally becomes a civic planner instead, while also going on drug trips and learning the ways of the proud “Native American Metaphor” people. Probably not what you expected it to be, but not necessarily in a bad way.

Ahsoka: Ahsoka and Sabine’s Excellent Adventure. Lucafilm decides to finally resolve plot threads from Rebels over a decade later. Tremble in fear as Rosario Dawson makes the women in your life question their sexuality.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Live footage of Obi-Wan aging terribly due to the stress of his awful life and getting sassed by little girl Leia. Meanwhile, the Inquisitors have some office drama. Shockingly weak despite a lovely premise and some great performances. Tremble in fear as Ewan MacGregor makes the men in your life question their sexuality.

Andor: Disney starts scraping the bottom of the barrel for Star Wars spin-off ideas. Nevermind this show fucking slaps. A treat for all those fans who wanted more dark, gritty Star Wars. Sex becomes canon to the Star Wars universe as Cassian Andor re-enacts Ocean’s Eleven and some more Imperial office drama leaves numerous people dead.

Resistance: The crappy Sequel Trilogy equivalent of Clone Wars and Rebels. Shows great potential but is hobbled at every possible turn, fails utterly to mature, and ends with a whimper. At least the animation’s nice.

The Holiday Special: THIS DIDN’T HAPPEN.

Dawn Of The Jedi: The painfully obscure origin story of the Jedi Order and the chronologically earliest Star Wars story. Both more and less interesting then you would think.

Tales Of The Jedi: The awesome as fuck and woefully underrated comics that form the backbone of the whole Star Wars universe. Civil wars, tragic falls from grace, hot Sith-On-Sith action, crazy battle sequences, great characters, and a surprising amount of busting ghosts. What more could you want?

KOTOR Comic: John Jackson-Miller bridges the gap between Tales and Knights using the most pathetic failure of a Jedi ever and his quest to not get murdered for bad grades. None of the characters are who you think they’re supposed to be, except when they are.

Knights Of The Old Republic: You were Space Hitler all along and you didn’t even know! Now redeem yourself by completing side quests and beating up your disabled former friend… or screw that and use Force Persuade to bully people into giving you free stuff. BioWare makes the best Star Wars game ever and ever amen.

Knights Of The Old Republic II - The Sith Lords: Winner of both the “Unnecessarily Long Title” and the “Tragically Unfinished But Released Anyways” awards. Drew Karpyshan’s adventurous writing is replaced with Chris Avellone’s edgy nihilism. An annoying old shrew badgers you to question things while never letting you question her ever. APATHY IS DEATH.

The Old Republic: Post-EA BioWare begins their long and glorious history of shitting on their legacy by refusing to make KOTOR 3 and instead producing a Titantic-shaped MMO that inexplicably did NOT sink and die. Enjoy it for what it is, just don’t regard it as canon for your own sanity.

Knight Errant: A Jedi becomes a social activist in Sith Space. Kinda cool comics and books set between the Old Republic era and Darth Bane. Could’ve bloomed into something more interesting but Disney hates fun.

Darth Bane: A based and red-pilled Sith Lord decides the other Sith are doing it wrong and sets out to do it right. An entire novel trilogy built out of a character and backstory detail that didn’t even make the final script of Phantom Menace, and it’s awesome.

The High Republic: Novels and comics about the Jedi spending their glory days fighting evil plants and a bunch of a anarchist rednecks who know hyperspace magic. Still finding it’s feet but wins lots of points for creativity.

Darth Plagueis: A sweet old evil wizard gets backstabbed by his apprentice after getting shit-faced. Probably one of the most important novels.

Open Seasons: Jango Fett’s Life Fucking Sucks - The Comic Book. Contains vital lore for the Mandalorians which Disney took over a decade to acknowledge.

Jedi Apprentice: The prequel to the Prequels. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan squeeze as many quirky stories as they can into the timeframe right before Phantom Menace.

Starfighter: A pair of great flight sim games set in the Prequel Era. Play as a various mercenaries, soldiers, and privateers and engage in direct action against Space Amazon the Trade Federation. You WILL love Nym.

Bounty Hunter: Jango Fett battles criminals, monsters, fallen Jedi, Mr. Krabs, and annoying level design in this sweet video game tie-in to Attack Of The Clones. Have fun getting distracted chasing after side targets!

Republic Comics: Quinlan Vos is a loose cannon Jedi who doesn’t play by the rules! Also, lots and lots of war crimes happen. One of the few EU works to be fully endorsed by Lucas himself but surprisingly (and undeservedly) obscure despite it.

Republic Commando: SWAT but way cooler because it’s Star Wars. Your tactics will confuse and frighten your men. There’s some supplementary novels too, if you feel like listening to Karen Traviss bitch about the Jedi and suck Mandalorian cock for several hours.

Battlefront: Call Of Duty but way cooler because it’s Star Wars. Watch out for those wrist rockets!!!!

Empire At War: StarCraft but way cooler because it’s Star Wars. Have fun making rancors eat people.

The Force Unleashed: God Of War but… well, it WISHES it was cooler because it’s Star Wars. Fun gameplay is held back by a completely ridiculous story resembling a terrible fanfic that is so embarrassing its barely considered canon, if it is all (it usually is not).

Purge: Rubbing the salt into the wounds of Order 66, starring Darth Vader!

Dark Times: That title ain’t a fucking joke. A Jedi struggles to keep his morals in one of the darkest, bleakest, edgiest Star Wars comics ever written. Seriously, this will give you depression.

Jedi - Fallen Order: The Dark Souls of Star Wars. Cameron Monaghan gets his ass kicked by Oogdo Bogdo so you can get that new poncho.

Vader Immortal: Battle Darth Vader himself with the power of a gimmicky thousand-dollar VR video game accessory that almost nobody owns!

Han Solo Trilogy: The ORIGINAL secret, depressing origin story of Han Solo. If you don’t feel like reading books you can just watch Solo, it’s basically just a distilled version of this.

Marvel’s Star Wars Comics: Comes in two flavors: batshit crazy 80s-era Marvel or bland and worthless 2010s-eras Marvel! At least they do great reprints.

Splinter Of The Mind’s Eye: A really really really weird early novel. Notable for being one of the first EU works and for the copious amounts of accidental incest-shipping.

Tie Fighter/X-Wing: Simulate being a pilot in the Star Wars universe, complete with getting killed by Darth Vader for minor mistakes.

Empire/Rebellion Comics: A cool and underrated little pair of comics depicting the day to day of the war between the Rebels and Empire.

Agent Of The Empire: SECRET AAAAGENT MAN! SECRET AAAAGENT MAN! James Bond comics in the Star Wars universe.

Shadows Of The Empire: Is is a comic, a video game, a book, or a toyline? The answer is yes. Important mostly for how it helped establish how the Star Wars EU could actually function.

Aftermath/Shattered Empire: Disney’s clumsy, boring attempt to make their own Post-ROTJ canon and justify the Sequel Trilogy that will be subsequently contradicted by the Sequel Trilogy itself. Roundly ignored by just about everyone aside from Cobb Vanth and periodic vague token mentions of Operation: Cinder as a thing that happened we guess.

X-Wing Rogue Squadron: Michael Stackpole sends Wedge Antilles and his merry men out onto zany, continuity-fixing misadventures and ends up creating the Chad Fel Empire that makes the Virgin New Republic look bad. Comes in comic, book, and video game forms for easy consumption!

Crimson Empire: One of those Amogus-looking red guys that follows the Emperor around takes center stage and surprises you by being totally awesome.

Squadrons: Disney’s discount version of the X-Wing/Tie Fighter games, but now with an immersive first-person perspective and a yawn-inducing story.

Luke Skywalker And The Shadows Of Mindor: The awesome novel everyone forgets. Matthew Stover fixes Star Wars continuity by pitting Luke Skywalker against his mightiest enemy yet; bad fanfiction.

The Thrawn Trilogy: The REAL Sequel Trilogy. We got military competence and clones all up in this joint! Timothy Zahn sets a standard that future Star Wars will constantly struggle to meet. You WILL root for Thrawn.

Dark Empire: Somehow… Palpatine has returned several decades before Disney did it. Generally viewed with withering contempt by everyone, which makes one wonder why Disney copied it so much over the rest of Legends. Surprisingly not the worst thing looking back.

Dark Forces Saga: KOTOR’s main competitor for title of “Best Star Wars Games”. Kyle Katarn and Jaden Korr spend four increasingly awesome video games torturing stormtroopers with the Force, solving frustrating puzzles, and busting ghosts.

The New Rebellion: Another awesome novel everyone forgets. Luke Skywalker fights one of his students turned evil. That, uh, happens a lot.

Young Jedi Knights: A fun little series of novels about the Skywalker kids becoming real Jedi, and also war crimes. Yet another example of what people WANTED the Sequel Trilogy to be.

Hand Of Thrawn: Weekend At Bernie’s, Star Wars edition, guest-starring psychic furries. Timothy Zahn sits down the EU writers class and shows them how writing for Star Wars is done.

Union: Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade get hitched and promptly get caught up in an international incident proving once and for all the power of the Skywalker Gene.

New Jedi Order: The Star Wars universe is invaded by Warhammer 40K rejects in the epic novel series that breaks all the rules, for better or for worse. Of variable quality for large stretches but ultimately settles down on being pretty awesome, if overly dark at times.

Dark Nest Trilogy: The Jedi fight a bunch of evil bugs. It exists, and that’s about all it has going for it.

Legacy Of The Force: Jacen Solo’s No Good, Very Bad Fall To The Dark Side. Has WILDY varying quality and is mostly just the nightmarish location of a huge spat amongst some of Legends’s writers. Still not as bad as Dark Nest and has some cool bits sprinkled in here and there. But really, you’re better off just skipping to FOTJ.

Fate Of The Jedi: The Jedi and Republic battle corrupt politicians, Cthulhu, and the backwoods yokel version of the Sith in the real sequel to NJO. Things get back on track after the disaster that was LOTF. Deeply flawed in some respects, but ultimately pretty good and a fitting finale for the Post-OT era.

Legacy: The spectacular chronologically final story. Politics, war, redemption, and Cade Skywalker getting high off his ass on deathsticks in the grand final battle between the Jedi and Sith.

Visions: Star Wars finally achieves its lifelong goal of becoming a kawaii as fuck anime. It’s an anthology so quality is all over the place.

Infinities: What If… Star Wars had a terrible ripoff of Marvel’s “What If…?” comics?

Tag And Bink: Abbot And Costello Meet Darth Vader.

LEGO Star Wars: Your childhood comfort food. Spend countless hours of non-canon fun killing Lego Jar Jar and trying to find all the goddamn unlockables.

Legends Canon: The original continuity. Free and experimental but wildly inconsistent at times.

Disney Canon: The new continuity. Relatively consistent but often stifled, bland, and overly-safe.

Your Personal Canon: The only real continuity.

[clonewarsarchives]

TALKING TARKIN (#125, MAY 2011)

In his varied career, actor Stephen Stanton has provided the voices of a vast array of characters, from Obi-wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Empire at War to Darth Maul in Star Wars: Battlefront II. His latest role is as the snide Captain Tarkin in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Words: Jonathan Wilkins

How did you become a voice actor?

I’ve been pestering people with my cartoon voices ever since I was a kid. I used to try to imitate the voices that actors like Daws Butler (Snagglepuss, Yogi Bear) did. I originally came out to California to go to film school, but even back then, if anybody needed a narration or something like that, I'd do it. Then I decided it was really taking up a lot of my time, so maybe I should think about it as a career. So I moved into acting full time.

Were you excited about playing such a well-known character as Tarkin?

Absolutely. I originally went to see Star Wars as a teenager. I was familiar with Peter Cushing's work from all the Hammer horror films, and one of my favorites was Island of Terror (1966). There was a scene where he gets his hand chopped off that really freaked me out as a kid. I went to see Star Wars and I was like, Wow! This movie is great and it's got Peter Cushing in it!

When the chance came to audition to play Tarkin in The Clone Wars, I thought, They're looking for a young Peter Cushing sound-alike, and so I immediately started doing my research and turned in my audition tape.

What was your audition piece?

It was a scene from "The Citadel." I think Tarkin might have been a sergeant in the script, but it was just a page of sample dialogue from the episode.

It was really straightforward, because there wasn't much else to do except Peter Cushing, only younger. So I re-watched Island of Terror and watched the BBC television series Sherlock Holmes. Dave Filoni suggested that I watch the 1960s movies where he played Doctor Who so I got the DVDs, only to find he was already playing an old man back then!

What sort of nuances and vocal characteristics did you pick up?

Well he definitely had a cadence that's very particular to him. When he rolls his 'r's, that's something that's very Peter Cushing. I listened to a lot of dialogue just trying to pick out when he rolls his 'r's, and when he doesn't, and that up-and-down style.

What made Tarkin so tricky is that there is no performance of him as a young man; there's only the Tarkin that we know on the Death Star. So I had to create that based on what I knew of the character in A New Hope and what I could hear from Peter Cushing as a younger man, and combine the two in order to come up with the young Captain.

He still has to sound like the cold-blooded, heartless Tarkin who kills everybody on Alderaan to prove a point, but now he has to be this vibrant, younger character, too. He's still proper, he's still distinguished, but he's not quite that cold-hearted murderer yet. We're not quite sure how it gets to be that he's one of the few people that gets to order Darth Vader around: "Enough of this, release him!" And Vader listens to him, no questions asked.

Anakin and Tarkin are fractious from the start. Did you have a back-story for their relationship?

Dave Filoni is very good at giving reasons why characters interact the way they do. He talked to myself and Matt (Lanter, Anakin Skywalker) before we started recording and explained that we were exploring the relationship, because, when were first introduced to Vader in A New Hope, you can tell that people who were around him in the Death Star think he's just this creepy guy that hangs around with Tarkin. No one thinks of him as the supreme villain that we all do.

Did you know how Tarkin would look when you recorded the voice?

No. There are a lot of things that are very confidential on The Clone Wars—scripts, images and so forth—so I didn't see what he was going to look like until I got there on the day of the session. When I went into the booth, they said, "Oh, we've got a picture for you of what he's going to look like." I saw a picture, and thought, That's incredible, that's great, it's him.

This is not only a much-loved character from Star Wars, but also a much-loved actor. Did you feel a sense of pressure playing the role?

Oh, you better believe it! I think that most of the pressure just came from myself, because I wanted to do it right. I'm such an admirer of Peter Cushing, and I realize that Peter Cushing is more than an icon. Tarkin is iconic, but Peter Cushing as an actor is so revered and he did so many great things.

Of course, Peter Cushing appeared alongside Christopher Lee (the live-action Count Dooku) in many classic Hammer horror films. So the big question for a lot of Hammer fans is: Do you think Tarkin and Dooku will ever meet?

That was the first thing that went through my mind! I was sitting right next to Corey Burton, and we were both wondering whether there was a scene in here somewhere where the two of us talk! I'm sure they've thought about it. It'd be great to see these two icons of cinema meet in animation; that would be wonderful, don't you think?

If you could play another character on the show, which would it be?

I did the voice of the older Obi-Wan Kenobi in the video games. I think everyone's love of Obi-Wan is really based on that original performance by Sir Alec Guinness—how can you not love that guy? That'd be fun to do again. Admiral Ackbar would be fun to do. There's a little bit of Winston Churchill in him I think. He's a great character.

Would you like to play Tarkin again?

Oh, absolutely. They've got a long way to go from the character we just saw in "The Citadel" to the guy commanding the Death Star in Episode IV. I'd love to see how that whole relationship develops between Anakin and Tarkin. What do those two guys have to go through to get to the point where, after everything that's happened, they are working together? I'm all for it.

REBEL FRIENDS

Stephen Stanton on his earlier career in special effects working with Phil Tippett on projects such as Alien 3 (1992) and Batman Returns (1991).

Very early in my career, I was doing both voiceover and visual effects. I was young, I wanted to do everything, so I tried and it kind of wore me out. Working with Phil Tippett was great. Phil has such a legacy with Star Wars and Lucasfilm. I also worked with Richard Edlund early in my effects career. He's another Star Wars alumnus and another incredibly talented guy. It was through Phil that I actually got to meet Ray Harryhausen, another person who inspired me as a young filmmaker. These are all guys that have done so much in the entertainment industry and to inspire me in my own career.

[brawltogethernow]

@mirrorfalls​ submitted: Came across this while searching for James Bond’s scrambled-eggs recipe (long story). Your thoughts?

~~

But did you find James Bond’s scrambled eggs recipe?

In this article, Scocca laments his inability to find accessible, lighthearted superhero comics suitable to read with his young son, while also demonstrating a mysterious aversion to looking at DC and Marvel’s lines of comics for children, which is where the accessible, lighthearted superhero comics suitable for reading with young children are. He wants his elementary schooler to be able to safely have the run of all superhero media so he doesn’t have to touch the yucky baby books.

This is not an industry-wide crisis. This is just one dude who got paid to write an article where he accidentally exposed one of his personal hangups.

The child headed toward the trade paperbacks of Marvel and D.C. superhero titles on the side wall […] a few steps in front of me. […] Is he with you? a clerk asked me. I said he was. You know, the clerk said, we have a kids’ section. The clerk gestured backward, at a few shelves near the entrance. I said, Thanks, we know and tried throwing in a little shrug, as the kid kept going.

You can’t just turn a seven-year-old child loose in a comic-book store to look at the superhero comic books. […] My seven-year-old really wanted to see that last Avengers movie […] that is, he wished it were a movie he could see, but he understood that it was, instead, a movie designed to scare and sadden him—a movie actively hostile to people like him.

They have a children’s section. Because comics are a medium suitable for stories for everybody, and they are sold in comic book shops, which have sections, like bookstores. You can use this organization to find books that you know in advance are suitable for children. What goes in that category is determined by industry professionals. This area will be bigger the bigger the shop is. These comics are not lower quality that titles from the main lines. They are actually slightly better-written on average.

Your local comic book shop has considerately wrapped Empowered in a plastic bag, so your child will not be drawn in by a colorful superhero and accidentally read a graphic scene. If you think your kid might find a memoir about internment camps upsetting, it is your job to notice them picking up They Called Us Enemy and read the blurb on the back before you let them have it. This comic adults are meant to read is in a comic book shop because that is where comics are sold. Not every public place is supposed to be Disneyland.

Movies have ratings systems. If you do not want your child to watch a PG-13 movie, you will find that most superhero cartoons are for children. They are about the same characters. Some are quite good! I really enjoyed Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Your child may like Avengers Assemble. At least I think that’s right. I’m always mixing those titles around.

This is a deeply weird bias for Scocca to casually demonstrate, because he identifies in the article that real childishness is striving for empty maturity.

He compares an old comic,

[…]a 1966 Spider-Man comic in which Spider-Man meets, fights, and defeats the Rhino; participates in a running argument between John Jameson and J. Jonah Jameson about his heroism; buys a motorcycle; breaks up with his first girlfriend, Betty Brant; flirts with Gwen Stacy; and reluctantly agrees to let Aunt May take him to meet her friend Mrs. Watson’s niece, Mary Jane.

and a new comic,

[…]a 21st century comic book in which Thor, brooding in a Katrina-destroyed New Orleans, beats up Iron Man. He also yells at Iron Man a lot about some incomprehensibly convoluted set of grievances, including involuntary cloning, that he believes Iron Man perpetrated against him while he was dead(?), and then summons some other Norse god from the beyond somehow for reasons having something to do with real estate. I think. Where the 1966 comic is zippy and fun and complete, the whole contemporary one is muddled and lugubrious and seems to constitute a tiny piece of a seemingly endless plot arc—simultaneously apocalyptic and inert.

and concludes that the edgier comic is actually less mature. This is true. (This is not news about mediocre comics.)

It also has nothing to do with either comic being child-friendly, the article’s nominal thesis, except in the sense that ASM #41 (yes, I eyeballed that from that summary, yes I am just showing off now) is better written, making it more everyone-friendly. It also has practically more space dedicated to word balloons than art and is about a college student juggling girl problems and a part-time job with a tyrannical boss. But the immature one, as Scocca points out, is dour.

These are both teenagery issues, separated only by quality. It’s true that lots of new comics published by the big 2 are bad in the specific way Scocca describes here, taking themselves too seriously and hauled down by associated stories instead of buoyed by them. Some are not! Some titles from these companies’ main continuities are zippy, contained, and child friendly. Give your child The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl! Or if you like vintage comics so much better, why don’t you…buy some?

The books on the kid’s rack are good and fun and totally suitable for parents to read with their children without wanting to scoop their eyeballs out. Scocca cites the Batman ‘66 comics as the brightly colored, tightly written all ages solution to his problem about sharing superhero stories with his son. My local comic shop stores this title in the kid’s section. I am glad that Scocca’s does not, as he seems to have a peculiar aversion to looking for comics to read with his son there.

Scocca cites Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse as a superhero movie he could watch with his kids. (I was surprised when this line made it sound like he has several. I don’t want to assume the other one isn’t in this article because they’re a girl, but I very much am assuming that.) Great! Go to the kid’s section and look for Marvel Adventures: Spider-Man. It’s a fun, zippy title directly inspired by ITSV where Miles, Gwen, and Peter superhero together. It’s much more tightly written than most of the various Spider-Verse comics, which are ambitiously messy ubercrossovers. You may not want to give those to children because they include murder and so on, but also you just have the choice between the two as an adult reader deciding how much continuity you want to deal with. Adventures is one of the only titles I would buy on sight before corona. The kid comic rack is a reliable place to take a break from How Comics Get Sometimes regardless of how old you are.

This article makes me feel quarrelsome. Maybe it’s that it doesn’t seem like exploration of a single idea so much as a loosely grouped bundle of things to kvetch about. Maybe it’s that the experience of getting into superheroes that Scocca describes experiencing, projects his seven-year-old son will experience, and from which he extrapolates a metaphorical microcosm of the history of the genre is completely alien to me.

Comic books [and] comic-book movies—are […] trapped in their imagined audience’s own awful passage from childhood to adolescence. A seven-year-old has a clean […] appreciation of superheroes. They like hero comics because the comics have heroes: bold, strong, vividly colored good guys to fight off the bad guys and make the world safe.

But seven-year-olds stop being seven. […] They become 13-year-olds, defensively trying to learn how to develop tastes about tastes.

The 13-year-old wants many things from comics, but the overarching one is that they want to prove that they’re not some seven-year-old baby anymore. They want gloomy heroes, miserable heroes, heroes who would make a seven-year-old feel bad. (Also boobs. They want boobs.)

Not because of the boobs line, although that does illicit an eyeroll that this gloomy thinkpiece is fretting over preserving the superhero experience of little boys who resemble the little boy the writer was while casually dismissing everyone else. I was one of those unlikable little seven-year-olds with a college reading level and the impression that maintaining it was the crux of my worth. I only read Books - distinguished media you could club someone with. I have a formative memory of pausing, enraptured, in front of a poster for Spider-Man 3, preparing to say that it looked pretty cool, and being beaten to the punch by my mother making a disparaging comment about how the movie was trash. It wasn’t out yet, but it was a superhero movie. That meant it was for loud, brainless children.

That was the total of my childhood experience with superheroes, excluding being the unwilling audience to incessant renditions of “Jingle Bells, Batman Smells” that left me wondering why in god’s name Batman’s sidekick was named Robin. I certainly never visited a comic book shop. I got into TvTropes, which got me into webcomics, which got me following David Willis, who got me into Ask Chris at ComicsAlliance, which led to me rewarding myself for studying like a demon for the AP tests with three volumes of Waid’s Daredevil, pitched as a return to the character being colorful and swashbuckling. I was seven…teen.

This is of the same thread as Scocca’s point that immaturity is running from childish things. It leaves me baffled that he doesn’t follow that maturity is embracing them.

I will disclose here that while I think it was dumb I had to overcome my upbringing’s deeply embedded shame associated with enjoying arbitrarily defined lowbrow media and children being childish, I think it’s fine that I was allowed largely unchecked access to technically age-inappropriate content. In my limited experience, content small children are too young for is also content they’re too young to understand, so it kind of just bounces off of them, and what actually ends up terrorizing them is unpredictable collages of impressions that strike out at them from content deemed perfectly child-friendly. I would not forbid a seven-year-old I was in charge of from seeing an MCU movie unless I had a reason to believe that specific child would not take it well. These are emotionally low-stakes bubblegum films. It will probably be easier to socialize with other kids if they have seen them.

But then, when I picture being in charge of a hypothetical child, I usually imagine this being the case because they are related to me, and the pupal stage in my family strongly resembles Wednesday Addams. ALL children love death and violence, though, right?? This isn’t a joke point. I know it looks like a joke point.

The MCU thing seems especially weird in light of the article’s particular focus on Spider-Man, which is the kiddie line of the MCU, even if they refused to waver from their usual formula enough to get a lower rating. Though I am more inclined to describe it as “preying on the young” than “child-friendly”.

(MCU movies are increasingly dubious propaganda, but I would not judge them in front of a child who wanted to watch them for that reason, just in case this led to them partaking of them without me the second they were old enough to and then they grew up to run a blog about them while our relationship suffered because they didn’t feel like it was safe to talk to me about their interests…Mom.)

I tried to overcome the philosophy of letting anyone read anything while compiling this handful of mostly-newish superhero recs for the road that anyone can read. (Handily, I have been in spitting distance of being hired as a comic shop clerk enough to have thought about it before):

For actual children:

Marvel Adventures Spider-Man (the new one is reminiscent of ITSV, the old one is more like 616) any DC/Archie crossover, Archie’s Superteens The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (for bookish children who think they’re too good for comics and adults afraid of the kid’s section) Teen Titans Go (even if you hate the show) Superman Smashes the Klan

For teens:

Ms. Marvel Young Avengers (volume 2) Unbelievable Gwenpool Batman: Gotham Adventures Teen Titans Go (the tie-in comic based off the old show was also called this)

Here are a bunch of relevant C. S. Lewis quotes.