#then serving as the comic relief of their group

[moonfromearth]

- *yawns* I could use a nap.

- How can you even think about sleep at a time like this?!

- *shrugs* I dunno, dudes, but this serial killer business has me drained.

Day 6 - The Sacrifice/Fool

"We care about them, they're funny and relatable. Usually ridiculed by The Jock and The Bad Girl. As much as we care about them, they typically die a gruesome death, ultimately warning the others of just what kind of danger they're in."

from @windbrook's Slashed Challenge.

[homunculus-argument]

Anime concept: One of those Group Of Heroes On An Adventure - animes that start out upbeat, cute, lighthearted and funny, but which keeps getting steeply more serious and dramatic as the story goes on. There's a wide range of characters and unfortunately one of them is the Comic Relief Pervert whose "oh I just cannot help myself I am so pathetic ówò" bullshit - and the female characters' various responses to being sexually harrassed - are played for laughs.

And halfway through the first season, the party gets split and the characters are dealing with their own challenges in groups of two or three. The Kindest Sweetest Girl Ever and the Comic Relief Pervert end up in some situation where the latter is trapped in a way that he can't escape, but the Sweet Girl could easily save him by doing something really simple, like pulling a lever, flicking a switch, just moving her hand, and he pleads her to do it, fully expecting her to, because come on, obviously she's the Sweet Girl who's never been mean to anyone, ever.

And instead she smiles sweetly and asks: "Do you have any idea how much I've always hated you?" And calmly watches him get consumed by whatever death had been prepared for him. Snapping out of this sweet, catharhic satisfaction she looks around to make sure nobody saw that, and turns out that somebody did. Another character of the party, the Chaotic Neutral At Best Loose Cannon Fighter Woman who frequently has to be kept on leash to keep her from causing destruction that'd compromise the party's goals. And she famously fucking hates The Sweet Girl. She had just been silently standing in the background, unseen at a distance, this whole time. Saying nothing, she disappears back into the shadows.

Once the party is re-united, everyone starts giving their accounts of what happened to each of them. Somebody asks The Sweet Girl what happened to the Comic Relief Pervert, since the two of them were last seen together. Everyone knows she doesn't know how to lie, and she stammers, when the Loose Cannon interrupts, saying oh yeah he died, real tragic. This girl totally did everything she could to save him. Which wasn't much because we all know she's fucking pathetic but I'm almost impressed by the absolute heroism she displayed back there. Too bad he was beyond redemption. Anyway at least we're all free of hi- I mean sure we're all going to mourn him now. Anyway what's for dinner.

It doesn't even cross anyone's mind to consider the possibility that The Sweetest Girl Ever could hurt anyone - she can't even kill enemies - or that the Fighter Woman would side with her on anything. And The Sweet Girl looks to her in awe, astonished that this woman who hates her would pass up the opportunity to throw her under the bus when it was served to her on a platter. And the Loose Cannon just silently glares at her, with a distinct "if you ever speak to anyone about this again, I will fucking kill you" look.

And they never speak of it again.

[actually-factually-anonymous]

Ladybug Vs Avatar's use of the supporting cast and the problem thereof.

I'm not sure if this has been covered before, but there's a serious problem with Marinette being the be-all end-all of everything in Miaculous.

And it's not just because "she's stressed" or "it's all on her". Her being the most important, talented and plot-relevant character in every situation is.

Let's make a comparison to the Gold Standard:

In Avatar the Last Airbender, Aang is the axis of the story. He holds incredible powers beyond anyone else, can bend every element and could conceivably end the entire conflict that plagues his world with relative ease- which he eventually does.

However, for 99% of the story he cannot do so. Because Aang is untrained, he cannot access that divine win-button of the Avatar State at will, and using it carried enormous risks to himself and those around him- making it functionally unusable for common conflicts. Furthermore while he does technically have the capacity to use all four elements, he had only mastered one and needed to learn the remaining three.

Indeed, Aang has outright difficulty with learning Earthbending despite his innate talents and while he's a quick study for the other two, he doesn't demonstrate the same effectiveness with water and fire as Katara and Zuko.

This means that Aang cannot do certain things as well as the others in his team. This means that for the majority of the story, even though his first and preferred element provides him with useful abilities" Aang has weaknesses that he needs others to cover and provide for.

Enter Katara, Sokka, Toph and Zuko.

Katara is a waterbender who teaches Aang and later advances her powers to include the all-important power of healing and the disturbingly effective (though situational) Bloodbending.

Toph is an earthbender who is also one of Aang's teachers, and whose tremor sense later allows her to both detect liars and invent Metalbending.

Sokka is seemingly just the comic relief normie. However his technical mindset allows him to serve as the general of the group, and even plan and lead in that role for entire armies later in the show.

Even Zuko who joins later and becomes less a teacher but a fellow student alongside Aaang in firebending is a skilled infiltrator and melee weapon expert. (This is less of a case than the others since it's not used as much, but it's more of a concrete example than his insights into the fire nation and his potential utility as a replacement Fire Lord).

They each provide far more than those short summaries, but it's important to note that in each case, even when Aang does learn the elements and starts growing into his role as the Avatar: he never gains the full range of abilities that his team offers. He never assumes the fully strategic mindset of Sokka, and even though it's downright implausible that no Avatar before him never learnt healing, he never demonstrates that ability or any Metalbending prowess even in the Avatar state.

There's also the enemy trio of Azula, Ty Lee and Mai. Azula is a powerful firebending genius, but Mai's prowess with her throwing weapons are a close match- and Ty Lee's chi-blocking can outright cripple enemy benders for any given fight when combined with her insane agility: something that not even Azula can do with her firebending. They are an incredibly dangerous combination and when Azula loses them, she becomes far less effective for their absence.

In both teams despite the leader being a powerful, talented bender who is objectively the strongest person on their respective side: there's no doubt about each member of the team contributing something that said leader cannot.

-

Now let's look at Miraculous:

Marinette is the "Greatest Ladybug" of all time despite being fourteen, only having had the earrings for less than a year, and having a list of predecessors that go back literally thousands of years and include Joan of Arc.

She is also the Guardian of the Miracle Box. Specifically she is the Guardian of The Mother Box that is the most important of all the boxes, despite there being at least a full Temple's worth of actually trained candidates somewhere in Tibet who should be far and above more capable than her or her mentor Fu. However, her supposed superior Su-Han seems entirely convinced that she's already surpassed any teachings his order has by how often she breaks said teachings in his face only for him to roll over like a dog. There's not been a single time when Marinette has been confronted by some shortcoming in her responsibilities as a Guardian where she has had to learn anything from the multi-millennia old Order of Guardians.

Marinette has also worn almost every single Miraculous in her Box at the same time, a feat that supposedly risked serious harm to her but merely made her woozy for an afternoon (if that). As of the season five Finale, she has also unified her earrings with her partner's ring: a scenario that in earlier seasons seemed to imply great risk: yet she was able to use the powers flawlessly.

As Ladybug, she is also the lone hero who has unlocked any new advanced powers with her Miraculous (unless you also include the arbitrary "adulthood" that she and Chat Noir achieved that allows them multiple uses of their Miraculous before detransforming), and on the occasions when she's used anyone else's powers has shown no sign of being any less capable than they are with them.

Ladybug does everything as well if not better than everyone else.

Marinette can not only unify with any Miraculous she needs for a given mission, she can use the powers as effectively as their "dedicated holder" can and without any restrictions. Unlike the majority of the cast who are still under the child-power limit. She can even unify with multiple miraculous at the same time without any drawbacks.

And without those drawbacks, without anyone on the cast being able to use the power of their Miraculous more effectively than Marinette: everyone else on the team is more or less superfluous.

Sure, Marinette has tossed out the Miraculous to her team like candy now. But when you get down to it: the real lesson that she should have learnt from Strikeback to just put some damn security on her Yo-yo/The Box. Because this just means that she has to wait for the hero in question to show up when she could have just pulled off whatever plan she has in mind herself.

And that superfluous label includes Chat Noir.

As frustrating as it is to come to the this conclusion: as of right now, there's no real reason for Adrien Agreste to be anything but a temporary holder. Certainly you can point to his experience with Plagg's power, and a few examples that seem to imply he can do more with it (in his second outing he was able to reconstruct part of the Eiffel Tower into a makeshift extension to catch someone from). Things that imply that if he perhaps received any actual training in the show like Marinette did from Fu, any guidance whatsoever from the Order or their Grimoire he might be able to achieve more.

But there's no solid evidence to expect that Marinette wouldn't be as effective, and the narrative precedent does not lend itself to the idea that anyone could overshadow Ladybug as a holder even of their own Miraculous. If anything, the sheer ability Marinette showed as Bug Noire implies that her having a partner instead of just keeping the ring herself is a detriment to any given situation.

If you can justify exposing the ring to potential capture in the first place considering that there seems to be no requirement to do. By all rights the practical thing to do is just keeping Plagg in the box instead of risking reality.

Of course we wanted to be generous, Adrien could still be of some use. He's the resident meatshield and narrative jobber. So long as he has a Miraculous he could continue faithfully serving in those roles, eating up mind-control beams and taking hits for Bug Noire so she can save the day as usual.

But everyone else on the Miraculous team might as well turn in their furry super-suits and go home.

-

You couldn't get a more black and white depiction of the value of others outside of the protagonist. in Avatar, Aang is literally a semi-divine being who still needs to be humble and learn while the others around him still have useful special talents and prowess that he can't simply attain at will.

While in Miraculous, there's only one person of actual true competence. From Paris to Shanghai, Marinette alone is the capable one- barring the odd episode in the limelight (Alya and Felix stand up and take a bow. Adrien can stay seated).

There is a word for a character that is impossibly more capable than any other in spite of all reason and logic. And Marinette is increasingly fitting that mold as the show goes on. There's also a term for characters that ultimately contribute nothing good or bad to a story; wasted space. You can't have an entire ensemble of characters as part of the cast and have them provide nothing if they're supposed to have even a smidge of narrative value without making them something the story would be better off without.

Just as you can't just have one person at the centre of everything, make them capable of everything and not eventually have the story they're in turn into (at best) a power fantasy.

And it's a shame. Because Miraculous seemed like it could have been a lot more.

[wilcze-kudly]

Siblings in turmoil; the Katara+Sokka /Bolin+Mako comparison

So after making this post about the interesting parralels between our two favourite pairs of siblings, I wanna play around more with the parallels and similarities between them. Mind you, this will not be a one to one comparison, since both pairs of characters are simply much too different from one another to perfectly fit into one archetype.

This post serves more to compare these characters, their respective dynamics. You know. For fun. Because overanalysing traumatised children is fun now.

I think the set of similarities that jumps out at us first is the one connecting to Katara, Mako and their respective losses.

I mean, it is very obvious. Kid witnesses horrific, violent death of parent(s), keeps a dead parent's belonging around their neck, acts as their other sibling's parent to some degree.

If we look to the other corner, Sokka and Bolin have some surface level similarities. They act more as comic relief, and seem less affected by their circumstances than their siblings. They also somehow are incredibly popular with the ladies (and guys). It's that ole autistic rizz.

Mako and Katara's losses are the, let's say, centrepieces of their characters. To some extent, the pain and horror they went through as children, guide them through life and influence how they see the world and how they make decisions. You know, as trauma does.

Both of these characters had to step up and fill a void left in their and their siblings' lives.

Katara is on multiple occasions described as "motherly", which does make sense. Katara's loss of her mother impacted her tremendously, and it most likely shook her family dynamic to the core. Therfore, Katara takes on certain maternal characteristics. She also fulfills the chores that a mother would in a traditional household.

It is important to note that Sokka also takes on a typically parental role with Katara. However, rather than filling a void left by a mother, he fills the void left by a father. Hakoda and the men of the village leaving was not only very traumatic for Sokka, but also a very heavy shift for the rest if the village. Sokka being the only man, even only teenage boy leads to him not only taking on this role in his family but also the 'leader, chief, provider' role that men traditionally took on in their environments. This is still emblematic in how protective Sokka is of his companions, often even shielding them with his body, putting himself in harms way.

In Bolin and Mako's dynamic, however, Mako takes on both parental roles. To some extent. Where Sokka and Katara still had a certain amount of adults who could take care of them, Bolin and Mako were completely alone. This leads to Mako's care of Bolin being more focused on literal survival than emotional wellbeing.

Korra: [Side shot; unsure.] So, why is Bolin running around with the Triple Threat Triad, anyway? Mako : [Uncomfortable; evasively.] Well, we ... we used to do some work for them back in the day. Korra: [Dismayed look on her face.] What? Wha- Are you some kind of criminal? Mako : [Defensive and angrily.] No! You don't know what you're talking about. I just ran numbers for them and stuff. We were orphans out on the street; I did what I had to do to survive and protect my little brother.

Now, Bolin is the outlier in this group. Rather than stepping up into a caretaker role, Bolin seems almost intentionally like a child. This may seem counterproductive to Mako and Bolin's survival, but I'd argue that Bolin acting in this hapless, childike role is very important to the brothers' codependent dynamic. While it would seem like the better option for the brother's to both be able to be independent, the leader/follower dichotomy they have may actually have felt safer and more direct for them. Also, by being more easygoing and cheerful, Bolin is able to support Mako emotionally.

I can even make an argument of Mako infantilising Bolin, and stifling Bolin's growth (not deliberately or consciously, of course) because of the comfort this type of relationship brings.

It's also important to note that Bolin's behaviour also had the added benefit of endearing the brother's to people. The whole reason they became pro benders is because Toza took a shine to Bolin and whem the brothers were kidnapped by the Red Lotus, Bolin immediately pivots to trying to befriend them. When you combine this with the fact that the brothers probably lived off of the kindness of strangers as children, his demeanour starts to look like a behaviour learnt in order to survive.

Katara and Sokka aren't nearly as codependent as Mako and Bolin. They do both parent one another to some extent, Sokka has unconsciously replaced images of his mother with Katara. While on the flipside, Sokka often tends to try and steer Katara's actions, not unlike an overbearing father would. Katara, unlike Bolin, however, doesn't take direction well and will often outright disagree with or even mock Sokka.

Sokka: [Camera closes in on Sokka and Katara next to each other.] I know you all wanna fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe this time and walk Katara: [Leans forward at her brother and smiles.] Who made you the boss? Sokka: [Points his finger at his chest; to Katara.] I'm not the boss, I'm the leader. Katara: [Amused.] You're the leader? But your voice still cracks!

Both Mako and Katara have strong caretaker instincts. This is mainly how they express affection. You can see this not only in their relationships with their siblings. Another their romantic relationships with Korra and Aang respectively. The difference here being that Aang is quite receptive and willing to reciprocate Katara's caretaker type love, whereas Korra has different needs in her relationship. It's honestly quite fun that Korra's first love interest has a very similar love language to Aang's wife, and Korra and Mako braking up is a very good way to differentiate these two Avatars even further.

So that's it, Mako and Katara have a lot of similarities and Sokka and Bolin have some as well. That's it case closed. Except not so because we I'm here to disagree with myself.

Where Katara and Mako differ, is how well in tune they are with emotions, both their own and those of others. Katara is very, very open about her anger. She's very quick to escalate conflict and she feels emotions very strongly. A stark comparison to this is Mako's very avoidant approach to conflict.

This, once again makes sense with their environments. Aside from the loss of family, Katara has had a huge amount of her culture stripped away from her, a wound made even more painful by Katara being the only waterbender in her tribe. She's also just a naturaly passionate and determined person, I think. While, for Mako, anger and conflict usually could mean that either he or Bolin are going to get hurt, especially at the time when they were running with the triads.

Now, the main thing setting Bolin and Sokka apart, is also the thing that ties Sokka and Mako together.

Mako is... cynical, very jaded by the world. His pessimism and distrust of others shows how broken down he was by his difficult childhood, growing up around dangerous people.

Sokka is similarly jaded, as we see at even the beginning of the show, with his stark oppositon to fun and potty breaks.

Where Mako and Sokka come together, is that they were both tasked with protecting their family members, with Sokka also having to step into that role for the whole village. For them their rolee of protectors force them to always consider the worst possible outcome and any potential danger.

Sokka: I'm coming with you.

Hakoda: You're not old enough to go to war, Sokka, you know that.

Sokka: [Desperately.] I'm strong, I'm brave, I can fight! Please, Dad!

Hakoda: [Lays a hand on his son's shoulder; grimly and sadly.] Being a man is knowing where you're needed the most. And for you right now, that's here, protecting your sister.

Contrasting Mako and Sokka's pessimism is Bolin and Katara's powerful optimism. Hope is what drives these two forward, as well as their huge compassion for others, both human and animal.

Mako: What are you doing? Are you trying to get us in trouble with Shady Shin? Bolin: No! I just ... Maybe I'm not as mean as you! Maybe I just can't turn my back on people when they're down!

This often causes arguments between the respective pairs of siblings. Mako and Sokka wanting to protect their siblings from danger, while Bolin and Katara's need to help others draws them into risky situations.

Katara : Well, what was I supposed to do? Sokka: Leave! Do nothing! Katara: [Angrily.] No, I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!

The difference between Katara and Bolin, of course is that Katara is able to stand her ground for her strong morals, while Bolin, due to his upbringing, is much more "go with the flow".

But it is still a very interesting and compelling comparison, the younger sibling, full of hope and kindness, and the older sibling who shields them from danger.

I really enjoy these two pairs of siblings, and they easily make for some of my favourite dynamics in the show. I like that while they have certain overt similarities, there's much more to this comparison than meets the eye on surface level.

I think Sokka and Katara's relationship is incredibly wholesome, yet rather deep, watching them both mature side by side is very satisfying, if not a little sad. Bolin and Mako's relationship can be frustrating, but also fascinating. You can tell that they mean everything to one another, despite how dysfunctional their relationship can be.

Avatar has a knack for writing wonderfully complex siblings and the main two pairs of siblings are no exception. This is one of my favourite aspects of the show.

Anyway, that's been me telling you that these two pairs of siblings have both similarities and differences. Glad you sat through the stupid rant. Tune in next time for when my dumbass tells you that the sky is blue and the grass is green.

Bye bye

[physalian]

Character Types: Femme Fatales & Comic Relief

These two have nothing in common except the one thing I hate about them: By design, they exist to fulfil one shallow purpose, so I’m lumping them together.

—

Comic Relief

Characters that only serve one purpose in the cast stick out like a sore thumb. “Comic Relief” characters exist solely to be funny, as if the rest of the main cast is incapable of humor, and that this character is incapable of any serious moments. Instead of distributing different flavors of humor—sass, dry wit, jokers, pranksters, dark humor, dad jokes and puns—the writer comes up with their grumpy group of heroes, then I guess thinks “oh I need somebody funny to cut some of this seriousness”?

But on top of that, as this character exists just to be funny, there’s usually comparatively less development and rich character nuance for the comic relief over the other heroes. They get whatever crumbs are left over after every other more important character has eaten.

If they do have some tragic backstory or any serious moments, they are still the one desperately trying to cut the tension and either annoying other characters and the audience in the process, or being quite tone deaf in their endeavors.

The one everybody hates: Jar Jar Binks

The one some people hate: Olaf

The one that subverted himself right quick: Sokka

Prequel apologists, step aside. The writing is still terrible and Jar Jar even in Clone Wars features in episodes (“Bombad Jedi”) I routinely skip on rewatches. Maybe he’s funnier for little kids? I haven’t seen every piece of SW media out there but I can’t recall a single moment where Jar Jar has any moment of depth or seriousness and he’s frequently the most inconvenient element of any mission he winds up on.

Honorable mention for C-3PO, far less irritating but still largely a bumbling idiot (I love him, to be clear, he’s just always in the wrong place at the wrong time). The droid factory shenanigans on Geonosis comes to mind, as well as when he was so useless, he was riding around in a sack on Chewie’s back because he got disassembled in ESB.

Jar Jar is funny, but he’s only funny, and most often incompetently funny.

Olaf’s dark humor is what saves him for me personally. “I’ve been impaled” still makes me chuckle no matter how many times I see Frozen. Not only that, but he does have the big heart moment of the movie with Anna. He has zero tragic backstory, he was basically born yesterday, but he’s not a one-dimensional cardboard cutout.

Another honorable mention to, like, 8 out of 13 Dwarves, specifically Bombur, in the Hobbit trilogy. A combined 9 hours of movie and they chose to fill it with Mirkwood River Rapids™ instead of making up development for the heroes.

Sokka, on the other hand, looks like he’s going to be the sarcastic comedic relief, but he becomes so much more and wastes no time doing it. Compare him to the version of him written by the Ember Island Players. He’s been essayed about to death and there’s nothing more I can say about him that hasn’t been said before so I’ll leave it here: Sokka (and Toph) is comedic relief done right.

The whole cast is funny when they want to be, serious when they have to be. No one character gets designated “the funny one” or “the hopeful crying one” or “the buff one” no matter what Fire Nation propaganda wants you to think.

Final honorable mention to Leo Valdez. He has a ton of depth and nuance to him, but is very much "the funny one" of the Seven. Comparing Percy's trip to Ogygia with Leo's and one was a rather sullen "you could have this peaceful escape if you left your destiny behind, but you won't, noble hero" and the other was a bizzare romcom that, to me, wasn't funny, and just created a whole new set of issues surrounding Calypso's character.

—

Femme Fatales

Femme Fatales exist to look pretty, kick ass, pretend to be strong female characters, and be something for the male characters and male viewers to guiltlessly lust after because she’s asking for it. This is not a badass woman protagonist. The classic depiction of this trope is the shallow accessory to a male character, a seductress meant to either manipulate the hero into straying off his moral high ground, or to pit him against another man.

So.

Black Widow.

In Iron Man 2, you can argue that she’s supposed to be shallow. She plays it very close to the chest as a spy and has no reason to let any other characters, especially Tony, behind her mask. It’s not her movie.

In this movie specifically, though, she is this trope exactly. The bodysuit, the perfect hair, the whole changing in the back of the car, her provocative fighting style. She is eye candy that can kick ass, the only thing missing is an attempt at seducing Tony but you'll still catch him looking. That’s the femme fatale.

Extremely popular in 80s and 90s action movies as an accessory to the male protagonist but they've existed as long as film has. If he doesn’t have a damsel in distress to save, he has a sexy leg lamp to woo.

But Black Widow shows up in another decade’s worth of movies and dies to motivate the boys (and because her life matters less than Clint’s because he’s got a family while she can’t have kids), only getting a solo film after they killed her off, but in that time, they gave her plenty to do.

Natasha has many moments with depth, most of them in Age of Ultron and Winter Soldier, but she does have them. She laughs, she cries, she jokes, she’s smart and resourceful in moments where she doesn’t have a male character to impress, she has strengths beyond her physical attributes, and she has flaws. And, she and Steve Rogers miraculously weren’t written a romantic subplot in Winter Soldier.

On the one hand, Natasha knows exactly what she is and her fighting style fully leans into using the weapons she has as a woman… but on the other hand, in creating her character, the writers chose to lean into sexing her up.

I love her character, I just don’t love what they did with her.

—

Both of these character tropes tend to feature in scripts that aren’t the best to begin with. A strong, nuanced cast of heroes doesn’t usually have that one outlier that completely drops the ball.

All I’m asking for is to not designate any one character as the bearer of whatever you forget to give the rest of the cast. “Oops I forgot the funny, let me add in a comic relief, here’s Bob,” is a disservice to Bob. “Oops I forgot the women, let me add in this femme fatale, here’s Nyxandra,” is a disservice to Nyxandra.

Let every character have some funny moments.

You want a femme fatale? Go right ahead, honestly, but maybe don’t make her the only lady in the cast? If she’s a femme fatale because she wants to be, that’s great, but maybe have a woman who proves that you do, in fact, know how to write women?

[orbital-obvious]

The Batman (2022) thoughts [pt 1/?] the villains (w Spoilers)

This movie had hijacked my mind and I have so much to say about it, I need to express it in SEVERAL posts

Gonna warn ya'll again, there's spoilers.

Let's start with the villains, of which this movie have plenty.

The Penguin caught me by complete surprise, and it wasn't just a cameo or anythin', he really had a role in this!

I liked how we had an array of villains that wasn't just "comic book supervillans" but the overall range of what Batman - Gotham - needs to deal with. Corrupt officials and the mob and, in contrast, the Riddler. Batman villainy is a spectrum, ok?

Considering the above, the inclusion of the Penguin adds a lot, because for me he always felt like the fine line between "realistic" and "fantasy" criminal, who could easily blend with both groups and re-invent himself to fit both groups. Dude's got a place at the poker table in Arkham AND Blackgate, know what I'm sayin?

I like this Riddler as a main villain for a Batman story, but I think he is not really my type of Riddler adaptation. To be fair, this entire grimdark telling hinges on him being realistic and scary, so we can't really have our usual flair of "minor annoyence vibez" we usually get from the Riddler. Overall I really enjoyed it, especially the sheer horror of the Riddler as a mirror to the Batman.

I would NOT abide by that Riddler outfit, though. Everyone is serving looks and this man is serving outhouse.

What was the Riddler's point, exactly? To drown Gotham? a move that would hurt the poor and weak above all else? To cause chaos? Maybe the fact that this plan is, upon the slightest scrutiny, absolute garbage, is part of the point.

"What does a liar do when he's dead? He lies still" made me go oooooooowwww when I got it. great riddle.

a lot of the riddles the Riddler riddles are just outright questions. I took it upon myself to call him the questionnaire. The Q&Anon.

The puns were great, though, so glad they put it in. We like to have a little fun here in Gotham. Thumb-drive, get it? get it???

I cannot believe we got to see Riddler Henchmen in this. I know they are not henchmen and in the movie the realization of the moblized forces of the Riddler is actually really terrifying (harking back to real world shit). But, like, Riddler henchmen. The worst kind of henchmen you can be.

The Penguin was great and I'm looking forward to watching the HBO show. I kind of liked how he was almost the comic relief of the film, and how there is no doubt in my mind he will use the chaos at the end of the movie to rise to the top and move himself along the realism-fantasy Batman villain line.

I was really stupid and didn't get the Falcone-Falcon connection till the movie pointed it out to me. I think it's just cause, like, him being the rat was so unthinkable - even though it made perfect sense once pointed out.

That part in the mayor's funeral where: Bruce Wayne (regarding Falcone leaving his territory): "Aren't you afraid you will get shot?" Falcone: "why? Because your father ain't around?" Was DIABOLICAL. I howled. Falcone you are SO wrong for that.

I HAD noticed that lil Joker cameo in the end there. I AM ignoring it because I have no patience for this clown loser.

Riddler looked at the batman and went "he's just like me fr" and he was so wrong. I go at smeared makeup battinson and go "he's just like me fr" and i'm so right.

[juneisafantasyaddict]

The writers of the SaB show seem to be pulling the exact same shit that lb did in the books. because there’s no way they think ignoring everything the grisha have been forced to endure, pretending that the darkling is the beginning and end of their issues and ravka’s, making sure alina never understands what she’s actually fighting for, etc is going to do anything except make me root for the darkling even more.

The entire second season gives me flashbacks to that insane trilogy because somehow they managed to be even worse than the books. they have alina telling the darkling that he doesn’t understand sacrifice?? really??? a man who has spent centuries of his life fighting for the betterment of his people doesn’t understand sacrifice?? the person who literally made protecting grisha his life goal doesn’t understand sacrifice??? does alina realize that the only reason she wasn’t killed the moment she was discovered was because of him?? because of the work he has done??

They had time for baghra to tell stories about her crazy family and how she killed her sister, but there was no time for her to say “this is what life was like before my son decided he was going to make it better for our kind?” if anything, they just pissed me off more because how the fuck is it possible that they are pretending the biggest issue they have is the darkling?? not the monarchy that has exploited grisha and ravka, not the fjerdans who hunt and kill grisha, not shu han who experiments on them??

Sigh, I can’t even write out my thoughts coherently because I’m so irritated by pretty much everything that happened this season. I’m irritated that instead of telling a complex story, we got this dumbed down garbage that tells us nothing, accomplishes nothing beyond “guy in black is bad.” the narrative condemns him for using merzost because he was so desperate to save his people, he tried forbidden magic, but 20 seconds later the hero is using that same forbidden power to bring her boyfriend back to life??? With zero repercussions?? I want to scream!!

If the narrative is so sure they are right, if they are so sure the darkling is wrong about everything, then why are they so afraid to expose the hero to the suffering of her people?? Let her see what they have to deal with, let her truly understand then. She has been a grisha for less than a year, and somehow she knows what’s best for them?? She doesn’t even know them. The show writers literally spent this season making her chase Mal around. Look what happened when they were going after the seawhip, two people died because she didn’t want to kill it, but they moment it went after Mal, suddenly killing it was ok. Her side of the war got attacked and instead of checking to make sure everyone was ok, including her friend’s brother who was literally about to lose his arm, she was screaming about Mal. You want to tell me about sacrifice?? She only cared about one person, and he was perfectly fine at the end. What does she know about sacrifice?? Why oh why is this fucking story just so determined to make her make all the worst possible decisions??

Incase you haven’t noticed, I haven’t talked about the crows at all, because I hate their presence in this story. They are a distraction!!! The grisha are fighting for their right to exist, Ravka is in the middle of a civil war, I do not have the time to follow the shenanigans of a group of criminals from a different country. I still don’t understand their purpose in this story, except comic relief?? 🤦🏽‍♀️

I love Alina, I really do, but jfc you cannot girl boss your way out of real solutions. They have her basically serving the monarchy and the whole time I kept thinking, if I were grisha, I wouldn’t follow her. She’s the leader of the second army but she’s wearing a first army uniform, she’s more interested in protecting the Lanstov throne than she is in protecting her people. She’s so blinded by everyone saying “the darkling is bad, the fold needs to go” she’s not stopping to say “what happens when the fold is gone?” “What happens after the war?” Because surely, she isn’t naive enough to think the people who started killing grisha as soon as they thought the darkling was gone are going to live peacefully with them now?? It took 2 seconds after the darkling died for Fjerda to send an assassin on jurda parem into ravka. Now that there’s no fold to stop them, what will stop Fjerda or Shu Han from sending an army?? Ignoring everything else the crows did, Kaz was right when he said “when they stop looking at her with gratitude, they’ll start to wonder if she hasn’t overstayed her welcome.” Which is basically what Aleksander kept saying btw, they are not going to love you for long, they are going to hate you eventually because they are afraid of what they don’t understand.

I don’t even know what the point of this was, but yeah, I guess it was a rant about how Fucking ridiculous season 2 of shadow and bone was.

[normalestenstars]

Thanks for tallying all this! Was a fun poll. Mind if I ask why you mentioned Mayoi in that big response to decaf-nosebleed’s ask? I get writer bias effecting the Amagis and Adonis but don’t really get him & want to know more. Thanks

Sure! I will preface this ask first by saying that I do not know what's the state of Mayoi's writing as of ES2 since I do not actively keep track of translations. However, because there haven't been that many new stories with Mayoi I do not think this disclaimer matters much to your question. 

As a starting point, I think Mayoi suffers from the typical enstars problem that many characters do: whatever subject in relation to a character is not being addressed with the proper care and nuance it needs. With Mayoi specifically, it's the ableism. Regardless of whether one likes Mayoi as a character or not, I think it's undeniable that there are instances of his writing that are… questionable. Think about it objectively, and within the context of enstars stories: do Mayoi's problems exist in order to show a genuine portrayal of a mentally ill person, or comic relief? 

While none of the cast belittle Mayoi for his anxious/intrusive demeanor, what's the purpose of the often over-exaggerated responses? For example, in Vegabond Mayoi jumps out of the ceiling when Hiiro calls out to him. Souma and Kuro are weirded by his sudden appearance, but when he starts apologizing profusely Hiiro just responds with 'You're so funny Mayoi-senpai!'. And then they move on from the subject altogether. Another example is in Romantic Date, Tatsumi shows Mayoi clothes that he thinks would look nice on him. But Mayoi's response is just a humorous freakout about how he'll melt because it has a cross on it. The point I'm trying to make is that the writer's intent (which is to provide comedic relief) doesn't exactly align with a respectful portrayal of a mentally ill person. 

There's also the subject of intrusive thoughts, but I'd rather not address that personally for various reasons. I think this user covers the subject pretty well, so give her post a read!

Second, I do not fault people for not knowing this but Mayoi is indigenous. It's implied in Grand Slam, and his family background is explained more in Black Jack IIRC. Mayoi has also said he's felt a connection to Hiiro, which IMO tracks with what Akira has said about Alkaloid's development. Originally, Mayoi was supposed to have some of Amagi's background (in particular, their um… "Mysterious hometown" → source, link to translated tweet). So taking that into account, I think there needs to be more sensitivity on how we/the writers portray Mayoi as an indigenous character to avoid harmful stereotypes.

So with that in mind, I think it's important to give a bit of critical thought as to what specifically makes Mayoi strange? And to question writer's intent in these cases, because what purpose does pedophilia bait (that doesn't even make sense because all of his comments are aimed towards people who are literally in his age group, like Shinobu) serve?

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Will Weissert and Adriana Gómez Licón at AP, via HuffPost:

MIAMI (AP) — From Pennsylvania to Florida to Texas, areas with high numbers of Hispanics often had little in common on Election Day other than backing Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris for president. Trump, the president-elect, made inroads in heavily Puerto Rican areas of eastern Pennsylvania where the vice president spent the last full day of her campaign. Trump turned South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, a decadeslong Democratic stronghold populated both by newer immigrants and Tejanos who trace their roots in the state for several generations. He also improved his standing with Hispanic voters along Florida’s Interstate 4 corridor linking the Tampa Bay area — home to people of Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Colombian and Puerto Rican origin — with Orlando, where Puerto Ricans make up about 43% of the local Hispanic population. Trump was the first Republican since 1988 to win Miami-Dade County, home to a sizable Cuban population and the country’s metropolitan area with the highest share of immigrants.

It was a realignment that, if it sticks, could change American politics. Texas and Florida are already reliably Republican, but more Hispanics turning away from Democrats in future presidential races could further dent the party’s “blue wall” of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, that had helped catapult it to the White House before Trump romped through all three this time. The shift might even make it harder for Democrats to win in the West, in states such as Arizona and Nevada. Harris tried to highlight the ways Trump may have insulted or threatened Latinos. Trump, in his first term, curtailed the use of Temporary Protected Status, which Democratic President Joe Biden extended to thousands of Venezuelans, and tried to terminate the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. He also delayed the release of relief aid to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 until nearly the end of his term, having long blasted the island’s officials as corrupt and inept.

Once he returns to the White House, Trump has pledge to stage the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. That could affect millions of families in mixed-status homes, where people who are in the United States illegally live with American citizens or those with legal residency. But the Democratic warnings did not appear to break through with enough voters for Harris. Now the party must figure out how to win back votes from a critical, fast-growing group. “Trump, he’s a very confounding figure,” said Abel Prado, a Democratic operative and pollster who serves as executive director of the advocacy group Cambio Texas. “We have no idea how to organize against him. We have no idea how to respond. We have no idea how to not take the bait.” Ultimately, concerns about immigration did not resonate as much as pocketbook issues with many Hispanics. About 7 in 10 Hispanic voters were “very concerned” about the cost of food and groceries, slightly more than about two-thirds of voters overall, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide. Nearly two-thirds of Hispanic voters said that they were “very concerned” about their housing costs, compared with about half of voters overall.

[...] Harris promised to lower grocery prices by cracking down on corporate price gouging and to increase federal funding for first-time homebuyers. Also, recent violent crime rates have declined in many parts of the country. She also spent many of the final days of the campaign trying to capitalize on remarks by a comic who spoke at a Trump rally in New York and joked that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of garbage.” She even leaned on Puerto Rican celebrities — from Bad Bunny to Jennifer Lopez — to decry racism. But Trump nonetheless gained ground in some of the areas with the highest concentration of Puerto Ricans in Pennsylvania, the state where Harris spent more time campaigning than any other. He won the counties of Berks, Monroe and Luzerne — and lost Lehigh County by fewer than 5,000 votes against Harris. Biden had carried it by nearly three times that margin in 2020.

The big rightward shift among Latinos-- especially Latino men-- towards Donald Trump, is what got him over the line over Kamala Harris. Trump has long championed anti-Latino/anti-Hispanic bigotry in his campaigns.

Exit polls revealed that Latino men swing gigantically from a modestly Biden 2020 group to a small but sizable Trump group, as Latina women stayed with Harris but with reduced margins from 2020.

[indigomovn]

starlight boys ep. 1 performance thoughts.

blood, sweat & tears — this performance felt a little awkward to watch. this song is already difficult to cover for other artists yet alone trainees. it might be due to nerves but this performance wasn’t what I was expecting. also, did they really call themselves team bts?

breathe — I like Syo and Kaito but the choreography felt odd when it was only two people performing it instead of five. if only they adjusted it a little more just so it was less awkward to watch.

dadari — Seungju was so cute performing this and he has the talent to charm the audience. I was a little iffy about his one star evaluation at first but you know what? I think he deserves the one star. I believe in his potential to develop his vocal and dance skills on the show.

crazy form — oh this was good. you can tell that they practiced this at least 40 times a day. Jeongwoo definitely deserved that all star evaluation, he really captivated me with that performance. Sunjae and Junho did really well but Jeongwoo has made his way into my top 9.

black suit — Siheng’s performance was just so good it was as if he owned the song. he felt bad for preparing this performance 3-4 days prior but I think he did an excellent job. also the ending camera moment, yeah he’s performing at a music show not on a survival show.

beautiful — it was cute and all but that was it. the only thing I like about this performance was that it was cute. it felt like watching a group of boys performing at a monthly assembly in high school which isn’t a bad thing but maybe not the right vibe for a survival show. I thought it was a little harsh evaluating all of them zero stars but it is a survival show after all.

my house — trust bae173 to serve us a good performance. I really liked them on Peak Time and it’s unfortunate that nothing much happened to them after that. Minjae really caught my eye during this performance and I’m glad he got an all star evaluation. please let this program be the last survival show Hangyul participates in.

fantastic baby — I’m gonna ask this in the most respectful way possible, but what on earth was that performance? the vocals were off, the dance wasn’t in sync and it was almost painful to watch. I’m not too sure if this was prepared as a serious performance or as comic relief but I will give them A for effort.

really really — the vocals are off-key and the dance is okay but there’s nothing spectacular about it. Daeul didn’t really improve from his boys planet days, the only difference is that he performed a brighter song which suits him more than bts’ danger. if he wanted a redemption arc, he would improve in his performance quality.

love 119 — I will admit, I lowkey got frustrated when Jinghe stopped performing when his mic pack fell. like dude keep going, you can’t just stop because it fell. I will let it slide as he said he never used an in-ear mic before. Wang Kun did well and he caught my eye during the performance.

rush hour — Junhyuk absolutely slayed this and performing a Monsta X song on a solo stage was pretty cool of him. you can tell he’s experienced by how he dealt with his in-ear mic getting snagged by the chains. I wish him good luck on this show and yes, he’s on my top 9.

good guy — the vocals are on point and the dance was nice. Pentor and Kris did an excellent job performing this, some trainees should take notes. the choreography while performed by two instead of nine, it didn’t feel weird and I like how they adjusted it just for the two of them. I really enjoyed this stage.

answer — oh my ixform boys. it feels bittersweet seeing them on another survival show after the disastrous ending of Youth With You 3 and they were my faves on the show but I have hope. it’s no surprise that they slayed this stage, especially Xingxing. they performed that song as if it was theirs. I like that Youngjun gave Xingxing a chance to showcase his dance skills because everyone needs to see it.

[justanotherghostwriter]

Dear @coffeepotcat. It was my privilege to be your gift-giver for the @secret-cyborg event this year!

Under the cut, you'll find a fanfic set in a happy-ending aftermath of the Cyborg Soldier episode "When You Wish Upon a Shooting Star"/"From Here to Eternity".

It features some (hopefully) fluffy brother-family-team bonding between 002 and 004, with 009 being the mischievous little brother instigator of family cohesiveness. It also does feature some injury recovery mentions for both 002 and 009, and mentions of death, self-sacrifice and grief. I tried to keep the latter two brief, though, so as not to impede the found family fluff. I really hope that you enjoy!

Officially: screw the idea of gratitude over being alive. 002 was going to bitch about things that deserved being bitched about. And crutches? Crutches fell into one of the top tiers of Deserving of Bitching About. He’d gotten used to maneuvering the wheelchair they’d found for him quickly and, after days of having to lie around in bed, any form of restored mobility had been a relief to the crawling he swore he could feel under his skin. He’d thought that Gilmore slapping some prototype legs on him would have been a nice step forward, pun stolen from 007, regardless of how many times the doctor had gone on about the damage done to 002’s body and the fact that they’d have to do a lot of trial and error with the constructed-from-scratch legs, especially as 002 continued to heal first and then get used to the new grafts.

A stumble forward was more like it. Where the wheelchair had brought bruised fingers when he misjudged a doorway, the crutches seemed to get caught on everything. Including his half-working new legs. It was infuriating, and he knew some people had it worse, and he knew that it was only a pure miracle 001 had had enough power to stop the crash-landing from outright killing both him and 009, but 002 was not going to deny the absolute ass of it all even in the face of the relief.

What was really raining on his — completely justified! — honest assessment of the circumstances was, of course, 009’s reaction to everything. Joe had come out with most of his external structure fine, thanks to fancy technology and updates that hadn’t been around when 002 was first built. But things had gone wrong on the inside, somewhere between the Yomi battle and the Robot Turned Spaceship battle and the freefalling through space,leaving the younger cyborg weak, perpetually freezing and often struggling for breath from a crushed windpipe Gilmore was tearing his hair out trying to heal. But it wasn’t because of the damaged throat that 009 complained less. Oh, no; he was just one of those infuriatingly demure and positive patients.

When he wasn’t trying to undo all his healing by pushing himself far beyond his limits, of course.

But, this time, there was no threat to serve as an excuse for 009 to hop over some steps of recovery. Just an uncertain, slightly shell-shocked, somewhat-grieving somewhat-celebrating group of fellow human war experiments. While 002 told it as it was, 009 hid his face behind his bangs, insisted he was fine and grit his teeth to swallow the shame and frustration when it did arise.

Once, he’d grit them so hard that he’d accidentally activated his acceleration switch. It was the first time since the Yomi mess had started that everybody laughed as one: first at 009 and the comical, horrified shock on his face where he’d gone tumbling. Then at 006’s cry-laughing. Then at 007 mocking all of their laughter styles. Then just... because they could. Maybe because they had to.

Aside from that memorable incident, and one or two other moments of cautiously pushing the envelope a little when 002 assumed the underlying emotions were getting almost too much to control, 009 was complacent and as self-reliant as he possibly could be.

Which was why 002 was wobbling down to Dr Kozumi’s sitting room, tripping over his legs and the crutches and getting what felt like under-arm blisters from the whole ordeal. Because Joe, through his bangs, had quietly asked if 002 could please sit with him, because even the fire that 006 made and all the blankets they piled him under weren’t helping, and they still gave off something akin to body heat, as cyborgs, which might help. And, hell, cuddling a guy on a sofa was not exactly how 002 wanted to spend the afternoon but...

But he couldn’t get the image of 009, shivering violently in the sickbed to his right, back when he’d been more out-of-it than awake. And 005 walking in and asking, so gently, if he could carry 009 inside, where there was a fire. It had happened so many times after that, but that first one... it stuck. The worry beaming off of everybody, and his own helplessness — hadn’t managed to save Joe, hadn’t managed to help him then — and the memory of how 003 sounded when she sobbed for 009 and the look on 009’s face all cemented themselves deep.

Plus... Joe had asked. The rarity made it something precious, and something Jet couldn’t deny. Especially because he was, actually, grateful to be alive. And almost more grateful that 009 was alive, too.

Of course, when 002 fumbled his way into the sitting room, out of breath and as frustrated as he was viciously triumphant, there was no 009 in sight.

004 was sitting on the couch, though, a book open in one hand and his eyebrow raised in 002’s direction.

“Where’s 009?” 002 asked, anger clipping his words.

“Hmmm. So you got told the same story, huh?”

It took 002 half a beat too long to understand. “He told y—? I’m going to kick his ass.”

“Are you going to ask him to sit on the floor in front of you to do it?” 004 asked, beginning to smirk.

002 glared at him, temper crackling. “I can, and I will, kick his ass in a way that — ah, shit —”

Stupidly, he’d lifted a crutch to brandish it, threateningly. And that tipped his balance completely, leaving him to slow-fall, windmilling the whole way, until he was on his butt on the floor, slightly sprawled.

“I’m listening, you can keep going,” 004 said, smirking widely.

002 responded by giving him the finger, humiliation and rage both heating his face and why did they still have the ability to blush? Surely that should have been engineered the hell out. 004 got up, languidly, stretched, and then sauntered over to offer 002 a hand up. His smirk was slightly softer. More knowing. 002 cursed at him, but then took his hand and allowed the other man to haul him up, steady him, and then help him wordlessly to the sofa, where he collapsed to regroup.

And then there was silence. Not awkward, exactly, but still tenser than it had been. Than it usually was between them, unless they were in the middle of a serious disagreement. It just felt, all of a sudden, like there was too much to say, and 002 realised that they hadn’t talked since everything had gone down. He hadn’t even seen 004 around, recently.

“I thought you’d left,” he commented.

“No,” 004 said, still reading. “I was just... helping out in other ways. In other places.” He shot 002 a crooked grin that made 002 uneasy at once. It was self-depreciating in a way that made warning bells start to ring in 002’s head. “Might have shot either one of you for being your own particular brands of annoying.”

Usually, 004 was a bit of a puzzle to figure out. But this one was easier than most, because 002 had had a lot of time of lying about and thinking and remembering and processing what had happened in the Yomi Kingdom. And he remembered 004, straight-backed, fury so cold it looked emotionless, as he faced 009 and offhandedly said how he’d managed to shoot Van Vogt.

“009... doesn’t think less of you. For shooting Van Vogt. You know that, right?” Joe was a bleeding heart, but he wasn’t a naive idiot. Evil was evil, and deserved to go straight back to the slime pits of hell. 004 stared down at the book. “He was just...” 002 struggled with the words, not knowing himself how to phrase it. Joe hadn’t wanted Albert to have the bitter taste of revenge coat that moment, he supposed. 009 was still too black and white for all of that.

“I know. We’ve chatted. I thought him asking me here...” 004 trailed into silence for a few beats, and then sighed and snapped his book shut. “He doesn’t,” he repeated, as though reassuring himself. “But it still happened. I’m... angry.” 002 pressed his lips together, one part of him in solidarity, and the other painfully aware of how alien 004’s experience was to him. “We’ve... won. I guess. For now. Until the next... I’m angry,” he snarled, hands curling into fists, metal creaking somewhat. “At Van Vogt. At Black Ghost. At you.”

002 reeled back a little in shocked surprise. “At me? What the hell.” Surprise, hurt, shame, defensiveness, bitter rage all catalysed into his glare. 004 met it without flinching. “That is not fair. I did everything I could. I— I...”

“Didn’t think.” Albert’s voice was more measured, but no less heavy. “What would we have done if you’d died, huh?”

“003 wasn’t crying over me.”

“So that means it was fine?”

002 wished he could get to his feet easily. Having this confrontation sitting down was making his chest tight like he hadn’t felt in... years. “You,” he snarled, “Cannot seriously be the one lecturing me about self-sacrifice and not caring about what happens to the team if I die.”

“I think I’m uniquely able to talk about it, actually,” 004 snarled right back. His arms were crossed, shoulders visibly tense as he continued to lean against the back of the couch.

002 switched tactics. “It could happen any time. Battles kill people. Look at how suddenly we nearly lost 008.”

“That’s the point.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that the whole freakin’ universe wants to take us out. So we shouldn’t be helping them. It means that at any moment, we could lose anybody. Anybody. Without warning. So we have to think and do all we can to protect one another. This team. This family. Every member. It means that you’re part of us, whether you like it or not.” 004 swallowed and broke eye contact. For a moment, he was silent. When he spoke again, his voice was cut glass, and 002 had a dawning impression that 004 wasn’t only lecturing 002, but himself as well. “You’re an important part of this family, Jet.” The first name cut through the growing defensive anger, leaving 002 with nothing except vague guilt and upset. “And you wouldn’t have been able to help him. You had to have known this. But you went anyway. To die. Knowingly.”

“I thought I could — ” But 004’s face stopped the familiar lie. “I hoped I could save him. But... but I... I didn’t...” With a snarl of frustration, he scrubbed at his face and then buried his fingers in his hair. “Out of nowhere one day 009 came to me and asked about the acceleration mode. Asked me if... if anything about it had ever made me feel... lonely. I told him no, weirdo, or whatever but... but it stuck with me. And then, when they were dying, all the sisters wanted was to reach one another and I...” He swallowed. “I couldn’t let him die alone.”

004 exhaled, loud and shaky. And then silence, thick but no longer oppressive, blanketed them.

“I’m sorry about Vena,” 002 said, quietly.

Another audible exhale. “Yeah.”

002 slumped back. 004 played with his book a little. “So. You’re not leaving?” 004 eventually asked.

002 shrugged. “Maybe for a bit. To go visit. I promised. But... No.” He glanced at Albert. “You?”

“Nah. Maybe for a vacation or so when you lot drive me absolutely crazy. But...”

But. Things were different, this time. None of them wanted to disperse like they had when they first thought they’d destroyed Black Ghost. And, even back then, they’d all been one moment away from regrouping. There was very little out there in the world for him, Jet realised with a small pang. Maybe, in a few years, there wouldn’t be anything at all.

“Ready to go find 009?”

002 scoffed. “Yeah. That asshole.”

004 waited for him to get himself to his feet, and matched his pace as they shuffled together toward the deck. They found 009 in one of his favourite spots, basking in the sunshine and wearing a coat that could only have been one of 007’s thrift store finds, it was that hideous.

“What the hell was that?” 002 snapped at him, and 009 opened one eye to look at him, all Butter Couldn’t Melt In My Mouth. “Made me walk all the way to the damn sitting room and then you’re not there?”

“What’s the game?” 004 echoed, arms crossed.

009 gave a crooked smile. “One Father used to play with us when he wanted us to talk about things. The, um, priest, I mean.”

Like they didn’t know whom he was referring to. Like they didn’t know too much about each other. 002 thought of Joe’s orphan friends — his only sort-of-family from before — who had been turned into cyborgs. He suddenly realised that Albert had referred to them as a family, and it hadn’t even struck him as strange. On the tail end of that revelation came another: there was nothing much left in the world out there, but everything for him in this ramshackle group of idiots, morons and annoyances.

He would do anything for them. And they for him. And the line, he guessed Albert had been trying to teach him, just had to be one that was a negotiated give-and-take. Because that’s what family did.

“Don’t know what you were hoping for. This idiot just fell down, is all. How did you even get out here?”

“GB, before he left,” Joe admitted, and the coat’s owner was all-but-confirmed.

“Well, come on, I don’t have all day to stand here being messed about by you. And don’t think I’m staying to keep you warm, now.”

Joe only grinned, fond and bright, and began levering himself to his feet. Despite his words, and the almost ever-present annoyance, Jet found himself starting forward on instinct, ready to help. Albert beat him to it, and Joe accepted the hand up that stayed, as support, to lead him back to the sitting room. The silence was, finally, light and easy, though there were moments of twisted shadows as Joe wavered and Jet banged into things like a blind one-hour-old colt.

By the time they got to the fire, Joe’s breathing was laboured, and it was with a grim-faced worry that Albert settled him down and dumped the blankets on him. Joe was back to insisting he was fine, but 002 sat beside him, anyway, since he was there already and all. They talked about Albert’s book, and then GB’s plans for books, and then the movie theatre in town and if it was showing anything good, and then movies that they liked growing up. Joe faded very quickly, and Jet found himself playing pillow as well as space-heater.

“Shut up,” he said, quietly, to Albert’s smirk. “He cannot still be cold...” But he could feel the unnatural chill against him, and hear the raspy breathing, and so he didn’t begrudge the slightly uncomfortable position, or the heat of the fire. “Thought Japanese people hated physical affection. Makes sense we got the defective, cuddly one in a million,” Jet grumbled.

“Black Ghost is notoriously good at finding the worst possible candidates for ruthless soldiers.” Jet blinked at Albert’s words, and the German laughed. “Look at our team. How many pacifists and golden hearts do we have on it?”

Jet thought for a moment. And then snorted. “Wow. They really should have done background checks.”

“I’m pretty sure you and I would have been the only two to make the cut. Maybe 008...”

Jet rolled his head so he could see more of where Albert was reading through Joe’s wild stack of hair, made wilder by the sea spray. “You’re a marshmallow on the inside,” he said, with a heatless sneer. “Complete sap.” Albert looked up at him, sharply, a scowl forming. “And we need you on this team, too, okay? In this family.” He blurted it before he could think twice about it, emboldened by Joe hiding his face somewhat. He’d never had to do emotional brotherhood speeches. Sue him. But he knew, regardless, that this was important. “So... you know. What’s good for me, is good for you.”

They had a bit of a stare-down for a moment, and then Albert nodded. Just once. Small. Slightly defeated, entirely brimming with hope.

And then he went back to reading, mechanical hands turning the page so gently, and Jet went back to trying to keep Joe warm, and he daydreamed about all of them going to take a picnic on the beach on a good day, and all the horrendous shenanigans that would ensue because they turned one another into delinquents when there was no threat to turn them serious.

Jet was looking forward to it.

[thealogie]

i don't know how much of this is relevant to you. but i needed to put it somewhere. the normal people to phoebe bridgers pipeline is so interesting to me. everything is connected. paul mescal joins the cast of sally rooney's normal people. paul mescal begins dating phoebe bridgers after flirting on twitter and through interviews. paul mescal and andrew scott star in spoof entitled 'normal people confessions' for rté comic relief. phoebe bridgers writes song for sally rooney's conversations with friends. phoebe bridgers is friends w taylor swift?? taylor swift bf joe alwyn joins the cast of sally rooney's conversations with friends. joe alwyn, paul mescal and andrew scott have a group chat. paul mescal and andrew scott star in all of us strangers. bonus trivia: phoebe bridgers also had an affair with conor oberst of bright eyes fame before dating paul, and possibly matty healy before/around the same time as bo burnham? fuzzy on this one. everyone in ireland is one person removed from this spider web at any point (e.g. my girlfriend went to school with sally rooney yup mayo. my sister went to college with paul mescal's sister, who is a mediocre musician in her own right. phoebe bridgers was served coffee by my best friend on her trip to dublin while she and paul were engaged). i promise i don't care about taylor swift she is tangential to this.

You all are on fire today I can’t even keep up with the number of masterpiece asks

[torchickentacos]

Possible career goals:

The NPC that welcomes you into town in the tutorial and shows you around the shops but gets stuck in the corner and clips through the wall and the cutscene keeps going as if nothing happened

Really bad comic relief in a Marvel movie

Person who sifts through facebook snake groups and tells people that the rat snake is not a copperhead while telling other people to put down the fucking copperhead, that is not a rat snake sir

The lady serving cunt on the handpainted cover of an 80s romantic pulp novel, enveloped in a sanguine glow as she dramatically drapes herself across a victorian chaise lounge. Ideally this book would eventually be made fun of by a cynical cinemasins-esque booktube youtuber that can't comprehend the fact that some people actually like erotica. they probably take betterhelp sponsorships

Mall christmas elf

Ms. Frizzle

Flight attendant on the plane that's about to leave in a romcom, but the main character just can't bring herself to take the job in the new city, she she runs back through the airport and Generic Romcom Man is there running to catch her, presumably having pushed through TSA. The plane takes off before I, the flight attendant, get to see if they get in trouble for that or not.

Headmaster of the school from Wizard 101

Protagonist of Netflix's Tall Girl's spinoff series coming this August, titled Short Girl

One of the village people from The Emperor's New Clothes fable that hypes the hell out of the king and his new clothes. fuck it upppp king 🔥💯

Token mobility aid user in a Target clothing ad

Person who reads out the spotify ads for the Kia Summer Sales Event

[blueyluey05]

Spectacular SheZow Characters: 1

Damien Gai Hamdon- Damien (mostly referred to by his middle name Gai) is the main character of Spectacular SheZow and the alternate version of Guy Hamdon. While responsibility and masking his voice isn't his greatest, Gai still has heart of gold and tries his hardest to continue his great aunt's legacy as the pink hero.

Personality: Cocky, insecure, immature, friendly, rebellious

Maz Robyn Kelper - Maz is the second member of the team and the alternate version of Maz Kelper. He is in the youngest of the group in this AU and serves a loyal sidekick to Gai as well as a bit of comic relief.

Personality: Friendly, goofy, clumsy, loyal

Kelly Deonne Hamdon- Kelly is the third member of the team and is the alternate version of Kelly Hamdon. She is Gai's twin sister and president of the SheZow fanclub, as well as her brother's mission instructor/trainer. While she doesn't tag a long on missions, she along with with Sheila are always ready to lend a helping hand.

Personality: mature, bossy, caring, intelligent

Ash Leroy Robinson- Ash is the fourth member of the team and is the alternate version of [REDACTED]. Dubbed as "the smarter version of Gai", Ash is the brains of the four, being known for their forensics testing/inventing skills. They later would tag along with Gai and Maz on missions and eventually create useful gadgets/weaponry to help both them and the gang out.

Personality: intelligent, sassy, sarcastic, loyal, calm, a bit chaotic at times

SheZow belongs to Obie Scott Wade

[Spectacular SheZow is a FANMADE series that takes place in an alternate universe. It follows the same concept as the original series but with a few differences to its own story.]

[lboogie1906]

Rodney Allen Rippy (born July 29, 1968) is a former child actor, television personality, marketing director, producer, and politician. He appeared in TV commercials for the fast-food chain Jack in the Box in the early 1970s, as well as in numerous roles in television and movies.

He was seen trying to wrap his mouth around the super-sized Jumbo Jack hamburger. The tagline “It’s too big to eat!” became a catchphrase. Another spot showed him giggling while singing the song “Take Life a Little Easier,” which was released as a single in the wake of the commercial’s popularity.

The single (b/w “World of Love”) appeared on the Billboard magazine “Bubbling Under” chart, peaking at #112. At the age of five, he became the youngest person ever to make any Billboard music chart. An LP, titled Take Life a Little Easier, was released.

He had guest roles in many popular television shows, including The Six Million Dollar Man, Marcus Welby, M.D., Police Story, and The Odd Couple. He appeared on talk shows such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and Dinah’s Place with Dinah Shore. He had a co-starring role in The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine.

He made his big screen debut in Blazing Saddles. He portrayed a young Sheriff Bart. In a Peanuts newspaper comic strip, Snoopy awakens from a dream in which he “had been invited out to dinner by Rodney Allen Rippy!”

He graduated from Cerritos College and California State University, Dominguez Hills where he majored in marketing. He opened his marketing firm which he named Ripped Marketing Group. He worked on campaigns such as promoting leisure wear and country music, among other projects. He has taken on a few acting roles since his childhood stardom, filming a few episodes of Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, appearing in Former Child Star and Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star.

He is a partner in the film production company Bow Tie Productions and a spokesman for Hurricane Housing Relief. He worked at KABC-TV in Los Angeles. He has served as master of ceremonies for the Carson Relay For Life. He was a national director of marketing with Metro Networks. He ran for Mayor of Compton (2015). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

[thedawningofthehour]

Hi Fai,

I know you answered on how you feel about Rise Raph recently. What do you think about Rise Mikey?

My favorite character is Donnie for rise. The other three’s order kind of change all the time. Although Mikey tends to be second favorite because I can relate to him in a similar way I can relate to Donnie.

The only other iteration on TMNT I actually started was 2012, but never actually finished it.

Mikey has always been my least favorite. I like Rise Mikey a lot better than the other Mikeys, but he's still my least favorite. Not his fault, the rest of the Rise boys are just awesome like that. One of them has to be in fourth place.

Rise got a lot of flack for 'making everyone Mikey,' which is kind of stupid in the first place because they're not? The tone of the show is more comedic, but all the turtles joke around in wildly different ways. And honestly, I hate 'comic relief' characters. I know they serve a purpose and are necessary, especially in kids shows, but so many are poorly executed. Previous Mikeys, especially 2012 Mikey, were guilty of this. Constantly bursting in to ruin the tension and say something stupid, and most of the time it wasn't even funny for anyone older than six.

Yes, I'm an older sibling. I have one little sister who drove me fucking nuts growing up.

But anyway. I think Rise does a good job of not lightening the tension too inappropriately. And if they do, it's not really Mikey's fault. (and part of it too is that I would prefer the show to be slightly less gimmicky, but that wasn't the vision the writers had and I respect that) I think it was a good choice to give Mikey something besides the comie relief, with him being the more emotionally and artistically intelligent person of the group. I think it rounds out his character and makes him really feel like a valued, integrated member of the team, instead of just the guy there to keep the kids entertained.

And unlike other Mikeys, I think he's genuinely funny in Rise. And part of that is because he's no longer the sole comic relief. It lets him have actually amusing exchanges with his brothers that don't involve them getting annoyed with him or calling him stupid. "You know, you don't see many pitchforks in midtown Manhattan." "Oh mama people are getting rustic out there." -legitimately one of my favorite exchanges in the entire show.