#this is the last of my doom patrol ideas

[wanderingmind867]

Issue #17: With earth beginning to go mad, we finally reintroduce Beast Boy into this story. He's one of the few people who's slightly immune to the plague. Possibly because of his connections to the Doom Patrol, he's got some resistance to the madness. It affects him, but not enough so he becomes a gibbering fanatic. Similarly, the teenage heroes the Doom Patrol had been training (Lodestone, Blaze, Karma, Sprite and the Mind-Grabber Kid) are also somewhat immune. So by pure chance, they end up finding each other and teaming up to try and deal with the madness.

Along the way, they find a handful of others who're seemingly immune to the plague of insanity: people like The Joker and Ambush Bug. Turns out people who're already insane can't be affected by more insanity. They're pretty much immune to the effects of the sanity drain. And sadly for all of us, The Joker, Ambush Bug and their fellow insane weirdos may be earth's last and best chance at survival. While the Doom Patrol and the Brotherhood of Evil try to find a way out of Mister Nobody's surrealist pocket dimension, these people have to hold down the fort and prevent earth from completely folding in upon itself.

Issue #18: The members of the Doom Patrol are finally all reunited, but the reunion is not nearly as positive everyone hoped it would be. For at least a full year (if not longer), Niles, Rita and Larry have been trapped in torture chambers of Mister Nobody's design. Wild torture chambers of surreal design, each one uniquely designed to prey on their worst fears. The Chief, Rita and Larry have really lost any mental stability.

The Chief now has crippling guilt over his every action, to the point where he can't think beyond crying. Rita was forced to imagine a world where she left the Doom Patrol and lived with Mento, accepted by society yet always knowing they mock her privately. It's given her severe paranoia and self doubt. And Larry…well, I liked how the Doom Patrol TV show made Larry a closeted gay man. I want his torture dimension to have had Mr. Nobody preying on that, making his self-loathing ten times stronger than it ever was before. So all three of the missing Doom Patrol members have lost their mental strength and fortitude. And now Mr. Nobody wants to give the same treatment to Robotman, the New Doom Patrol members, and the members of the Brotherhood of Evil.

But what Mr. Nobody never counted on was the outside world interfering, and running him ragged. He can't focus on maintaining his 5-10 different pocket dimensions; not when the people of the outside world are also trying to unravel his mysteries. He tries to handle all 11 tasks at once, but he simply can't. As the New Doom Patrol members begin losing their sense of self like the old ones, the dimensions all dissolve around them. And then they're flung back onto earth, free from his influence.

Issue #19: Now that Mr. Nobody's powers have been stretched thin, the Doom Patrol (plus the three members of the Brotherhood of Evil) team up with their teenage members and with the already insane denizens of earth to put a stop to Mr. Nobody's mad scheme to drain earth of all sanity. Despite their incredibly fragile mental states, Larry, Rita and The Chief join in the fight too.

And eventually, the Doom Patrol and their allies manage to stop Mr. Nobody. They restore sanity to earth, which also means Steve Dayton is freed from his months long stint of possession and mental manipulation. Still, Mr. Nobody isn't dead. He's just too weak to continue his attacks. But he'll be back one day. And next time, he'll remember to bring allies. So watch out, earth. Your days are numbered. Then he vanishes, before anyone has a chance to follow him.

And now that the earth has been saved and the Doom Patrol have been exonerated, they're all free to return to their Midway City headquarters. But still. Trouble is brewing, and it'll need to be addressed. Rita and Steve need to reassess their relationship and help each other through their mental crisis. The Chief needs to learn to trust himself again, and to open up to Arani. And Larry needs to put all the pieces of his life back together again. But they have the time to do that now. The Doom Patrol is back. And once they've recovered, they're gonna be bigger and better than ever!

[gonkaccino]

don’t cry because it’s over. cry because it’s been 4 months since the mid-season break and we still don’t have any proof that the last few episodes will air this year, if they even get aired

[revalition]

OCT 19 - SHIVERS Raise the hair on your neck. Tune in to the city.

shivers my beloved!!! I love her so much!

Here is my favourite shivers quote since I didn't include it in the image this time:

SHIVERS - FOR THREE HUNDRED YEARS I HAVE BEEN HERE. VOLATILE AND LUMINOUS. MADE OF SODIUM AND RAIN.

weeps... <333 not only is it such a gorgeous quote but it was also my first time hearing from la revacholiere... You need shivers of 5 to get it but luckily my first playthrough I had FYS of 4 and I got the patrol cloak the first day so I guess that's 5.. so when I was messing with the electronic doorbell on the first day and eventually got this line!!!!! I had NO IDEA what was happening but I was immediately fascinated by this skill.

also if Kim isn't with you, you can ask yourself what just happened and not a soul answers. your skills *never* just leave you in silence like that...

afterwards she also says:

SHIVERS - IF YOU WANT ME YOU CAN FIND ME ON THE BEACH, DANS LE DERNIER BAL.

which, like. what does that mean. the last ball? the last dance maybe? and then when you do the shivers check in the church there's a modifier that just says "+2 FIND ME ON THE BEACH"

anyway... no it's not oct 19 but that's the naming convention I set when I started so that's how it's going to stay. tbh I had no idea what to do with shivers which is why this isn't anything like my other skilltober posts but hopefully it still does her justice

lots of quotes under the cut as always

what's this? actual screenshots from the game??

this scene was just. so amazing. the worst part is how easy it is to miss! if your inland empire is too low you don't get the dialogue that lets you even try the shivers check (found that out the hard way in my second playthrough >:( and you only need 2 IE to get it) and then the shivers check is quite difficult too... the two people I know who played it, neither got to talk to the city! but that also made it feel very special

I remember screenshotting my game when I got this dialogue so I could go look for it! and then finding the body on the boardwalk and looking all around there and going ah, guess I can't get under the boardwalk and it was just flavour text. and forgetting about it.

and then finding it down there!!! it's my favourite I wore it the rest of the playthrough. also the modifier on it!! +1 Shivers: Gift from La Revacholiere 😭 shivers... shivers ily...

shivers memories of your mom?

she's so helpful

this one kills me every time I read it

also I've been angry with shivers about the humiliation of the shivers fail in front of neha the dicemaker where you take your pants of... and I went to grab a screenshot and it... was Harry all along? all shivers says is that you don't feel anything and it's a bit too warm, and Harry does the rest... sigh. of course he does.

this is a dialogue you can get after talking to Plaisance about the curse after you investigated the doomed commercial area... I know you can come to the conclusion that the curse of the doomed commercial area is caused by being so close to the pale, but that fact that Shivers can pick it up so early on...

I love when she humours you...

this damages your endurance! shivers scolding you can make you *die*

this one damages endurance too... but inland recognizing that shivers isn't one of your skills...!!!

there are a bunch of these (unsure if they're implemented in the game or not, I've never encountered them at least) of your patrol cloak talking to you through shivers!

Kim trying to convince you not to leave in the airship is heart-wrenching on its own, but La Revacholiere begging you not to forsake her...? sobs

this one has to be in here... the three skill checks are godly difficulty. urgh it hurts my heart

the miracle!! she protects the phasmid too, watches over it. observes it skating across the water, opening the buoy to retrieve the passport...

my two supranatural skills bringing you to the precinct! this dialogue has their names, even (usually EdC just relays it to you)

harry and the city are inseparable...

this one hurts me. the church sidequest is my favourite in the game, but there's always this underlying sadness to it that things cannot exist in that church...

fuck...

shivers is so poetic... In my first playthrough, all of their information on the surrounding area was overwhelming. And I didn't have high enough shivers my second playthrough to get the dialogue... but looking through it again now, it makes so much more sense after playing once.

Revachol forever.

this brings me great comfort... the city with pocket it for you. and you can finally move forward.

I don't know what this means... but I wish my city loved me the way revachol loves harry. you also need to pass a godly logic passive to deduce that the world is the thought reader...

that's only 27 screenshots but I don't have any others to add right now... so here is shivers from the spring storm WIP since I havent shared one of these in a bit

dont mind empathy and pain thresh photo bombing it...

and here is my personal shivers skill portrait, which conceptualization drew...

i'm not sure if it's weird to add this but screenshot from our shared discord, but it's kind of cool. they're often silly or rude to eachother but they have their moments. re: shivers suggesting moving to toronto (there is a bit more before this that I was contributing to).

I can count on one hand the number of times I've heard from my shivers... the first time was actually *in* toronto when I was there for a concert. the way Harry loves his city isn't the way I love my city, but it does make me wonder if I could feel that way about somewhere else...

anyway weird note to end this post on but. that's okay. half light next... hopefully tomorrow

[igotanidea]

The fear : Jason Todd x fem!reader part 8

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

***

„You good?” Damian asked taking in her pale face and hurt eye expression.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She muttered, obviously lying. Even despite her experience-enhanced skills in the art of deceiving it was impossible to cover up for the fact that unwanted, unneeded and unwelcomed encounter with Jason took a huge tool on her mentality. And it lasted no longer than an hour.

An hour, that took turn from open hostility to a little unexpected heart to heart that opened old wounds. Reminding of the past mistakes, lost things and casted wounds. Ruined relationship that was doomed from the very beginning.

But even though-

They fought for it.

They fought to the best of their limited abilities, despite the world that was conspiring against them and throwing obstacles their way. Damn that tears that started flowing down her face when she started dwelling in the past. There was no denying she still held strong feelings for him, though couldn’t quite define if they were good ones or the bad ones.

“Y/N…”

“I’m fine, Damian. I’m fine, I’m fine, I’m fine…” she repeated as some sort of spell. A lie told a hundred times becoming a reality.

“Let’s get you upstairs first. We’ll watch some silly movies so you could stop telling me bullshit.”

“Hey! Language!”

“I’m 15, you can’t tell me what to do.”

“15 my ass. Still the same nasty little boy as always only with a fouler mouth.”

“It’s good to see you again Y/N.” Damian smirked

“Yeah, you too, kiddo.”

“You do realise you won’t be heading back home tonight, right?”

“What? Huh! You’re gonna keep me captive now or something?”

“You voluntarily got yourself in the house full of vigilantes, the heck were you thinking?”

“I could argue on that voluntarily part but-“

Regardless of what she said, it was evident that Damian has grown during the time they didn’t see each other. Not only in height, but also mentally. And it only made her realise the full amount of things she lost.

Not just the man she loved, but also priceless time with her best friends Wayne boys.

While Y/N was getting drunk and laughed with Dick, Tim and Damian upstairs, Jason refused to step a foot out the batcave as long as she was still in the manor.

Fuck her.

Fuck her help, her words, her gestures, her eyes and hair, her smile and her coming for the rescue attitude. Who the hell she thought she was?! Paw patrol?!

The anger started boiling in him again, threatening to take over.

Anger at everything, but mostly at himself for getting so vulnerable and honest with her, to the point when he asked her to fucking take him back.

Pathetic. Foolish. Idiot.

“Aghghhg!” he jumped from the chair kicking it with all the rage he had, nearly breaking the metal.

Fighting the urge to destroy all that stupid batcave – the real reason of his fucked up life and psyche. He could have been a normal boy being in a relationship with the girl of his dreams. Instead he had to die (leaving her in tears), come back (leaving her in tears), suffering from the Pit madness (leaving her in tears) and due to this fucking fear gas incident loose her again (leaving her in tears)

“FUCK!” he grabbed the chair and threw it on the floor “FUCK!” he yelled, throwing all the stuff from the nearest desk “FUCK!!!” he pulled at his hair, hard enough he could be left bald.

He had no idea what he wanted.

So fucking angry, horn-mad, charged with hands itching to punch something, someone, to destroy, hurt, kill…

Stop…

“Huh?! Get the fuck out of my head Y/N!!” he yelled in the air, his voice echoing through the empty space.

Stop, Jason…

Right. Stop. He was past his killing days. He was not a monster. Not a beast.

He changed. He grew up, matured, became a man and not a boy.

He had to get a hold of himself.

Move past the past.

If he couldn’t have her he might as well spend the evening with his crazy asses brothers, giving them his attitude, using the bad mood to banter and bicker and pick up on someone else to make himself feel better.

So he emerged from the batcave, almost in the same way he did emerge from the Pit.

Slowly heading upstairs.

To the main room, filled with surprising silence. Deafening silence that formed goosebumps on his arms and immediately put him on alert, searching for some kind of threat.

Vigilante instincts never fail.

There was some movement on the couch.

Two people, a man and a woman judging by the silhouettes.

Girl sitting on man's lap, straddling him, their hands all over each other, their lips moving together, the room filled with soft whines of pleasure and sweet whispers.

“Y/N…” the man whispered.

THE FUCK!?

Jason stomped inside without a care in the world, making the couple break the intense make-out session and look at him with terrified expressions.

“Grayson!!!” he yelled taking in the scene, his fury immediately raising head again. “Y/N!!!”

He was right.

There was someone else in her life already.

And that someone was the fuckboy - his older adoptive-brother.

[otherone12]

What Would They Do, If They Just Knew

(P!ATD reference lol)

Gerard Way × Reader

-> Masterlist

A/N: Hey!! This is the most basic plot ever, but it was 2am and I wanted to write something. I tried to make this with more feelings, idk I liked this one. If you have any request, I'll be happy to write it :)

A/N 2: I'm writting a Frank x Reader imagine. Idk how to finish, but i will post it soon.

Summary: You are a famous actress who was dating Gerard for about 2 years, but you haven't turned your relationship public yet, because of all the issues that this could bring to your career. However, you both were hired to some Comic-Con, and you don't know whether or not this is the right time to tell'em about it.

- Word Count: 1,905

- Warnings: Big age gap (again, 'cause I love it)

- Ps: I'll not use y/n…

- Ps2: I'm brazilian, so english is not my first language ... sorry if i wrote something wrong.

___________________________________________

1st person POV

   Being famous is such a complicated thing, and dating another celebrity is a mess. All the fear of how fans will react, and how the media will turn more invasive about our personal lives just freak us out. That's why Gerard and I keeped our relationship out of the lights for so long. 

    Yesterday, I got a call from my agent. She asked me if I was up for being one of the guests of the Comic-Con this year, together with my co-star, who had already agreed to participate. 

    Prior to answering anything, I had a mind to ask Gerard what he thinks about it, and if he wanted to go with me. 

    Before I could call him, my phone started to ring. I knew who was by the name of the contact, but hearing his voice always make butterflies in my stomach.

    -Hey, sugar! Got a sec? I need to ask you something. If you aren't busy, of course.

   - Hi, babe! Yeah, I was about to call you too… - I giggled a bit by the coincidence - But you go first. What's shakin’?

    The moment he started to talk, I got up from my bed and started to walk through my bedroom. I don't know why, but I do this every time I answer a call.

   -So… the staff of Comic-Con want me there to talk concerning Doom Patrol and meet some fans. - He sounded really excited and I couldn't help but let a smile grow on my face. - I was wondering if you'd like to go with me. 

   - Well… They want me there too, so I think we're going together though!

   - Really?! - He practically screamed at the phone. - That's awesome! 

   - You know, I was wondering if isn't this the moment to tell'em about us. - I started to speak and notice that I will have to be the most convincing I could. - Will be very suspicious if we appear together without an explanation, so I thought that the easier way to do this was to tell them. 

   The silence lasted for a few seconds, so the best thing I might think of to try to take all this pressure off him, was to show that I understood whatever his decision was. 

   - But if you don't think it's a good idea…

    I sounded the most calm I could. 

   - I wanna tell the world about you, about us, but… you know how this could end. - He sighed. - We kinda belong to different worlds, and the age gap doesn't help at all. 

    -You're right. Sorry… - I didn't know how to feel, half of me longed that he wanted to turn this public, but the other half are relieved he doesn't want to. - I must have been out of my mind and… Well, I have to tell my agent that I'm in. l call you back later? 

   - I'll have the rest of the day free. I'll be there so we can talk properly. What you think?

    “Talk properly”? About this? I thought that he was sure that wasn't a good idea. Even so, the prospect of seeing Gerard cheered me up. 

   -Sure! - The last time we could spend more than a dinner together was about a month ago. - You gonna stay here?

   - If you don't mind…

   - I'd love to! - I literally jumped for joy 

   - Gotta go now, catch you later, babe!

   - Bye! 

   He turned off the phone, and I called back my agent, confirming my presentear the Comic Con. 

   I couldn't wait till Gerard came here. Maybe it is a bit silly to be that excited about a simple thing like this, but we were so busy in the last months and barely had time for each other. Of course we call and text each other every day, but I miss the nights we spend together, laughing, cuddling and… you know

   Anyways, the sensation of waiting made me bored for the first time in years. I'm again overthinking over the conversation, and what “talk properly” means. 

   All the possible scenarios end up with a confused blur in my mind. The boredom gradually turned into an anguish that slowly consumed me.  

   Before things got worse, I heard the bell and went downstairs to open the door. The moment the creaking of the door echoed in my ears, I looked up only to meet his eyes. Standing in front of my door, Gerard looked pretty as always, the smell of coffee emanated from his green coat and all my worries left my mind when I felt his arms around my body.

   - Hey 

    Gerard’s calm voice in my ear and his warm arms holding me, made me feel better than I have in weeks. 

   - Hey 

    I mutter with my face buried in his chest. 

He let go from me, but still close, he held my chin with his finger and brought his lips closer to mine slowly. I felt a shiver down my spine when our lips finally met and he grabbed my hips pulling me even closer. I melted against him, letting myself get lost in the moment and forget that we weren't supposed to do that at the front door.

    Finally, we pulled back, breathless and slightly dazed, his kind gaze almost made me kiss him again.

   - I missed you - Ahead of i could do anything, Gerard looked deep in my eyes and all the colors of his iris were glowing. - I missed you so much fucking.

   - So did I - I smiled back at him and grabbed his hand. - Come in!

   I closed the door behind him, he gave me his coat and I put it on a hanger next to the door.    

   I took a record from my collection and put it on. while Gerard sit on the couch. As soon as the ambient music started, I fell by his side and stayed next to him. I laid my head on his shoulder and, with a heavy sigh, he began to bring up the subject that he wanted to “talk properly”.

    - So… about the call, I've been thinking - I couldn't read his gaze this time, so I felt my stomach doing a few flips and I started to get worried again. - I know that this is gonna have to happen someday, but now?

    - Well, it's a place full of fans, so I think that they'll support, Right? 

    I didn't move from his shoulder, so he wrapped his arm around my back. I never thought I'd be by my boyfriend's side, trying to figure out if we will or won't tell our fans that we're dating. Such a weird situation.

    - If they don’t? - I’m not used to the serious tone he used. - I mean, you’re half of my age… your fans will be a bit mad with this.

    - If they are real fans, they will understand that if i'm happy they have no reason to be mad. - I took a second to think of another possibility - On the other hand, reporters and gossip magazines will freak out over this, and probably the sensationalism will make our names trending topics.

    He moved his head to face me, and with a shy smile, he said:

    - I think you are worth the risk.

    I turned my gaze to him and smiled back:

    - Are you sure? 

    - Totally. - Gerard kissed my forehead, and his soft smile turned out that serious look again. - How will we do that?

    - Well, I'll have to answer some fans' questions and always someone asks me about relationships. I could bring you to the stage and formally introduce you.

    - Sounds like a plan to me.

*** time skip ***

   Today is gonna be the day. I dressed up in comfortable clothes, which matched the warm weather. Gerard and I decided to go in different cars, so people will know just when we tell’em. All the event is cool, pretty cosplays and kind people everywhere. I saw Gerard in the comics section, and a kilometer line of fans, waiting to get an autograph.

    On my way to the stage, I noticed that the presenter was talking with my co-star. He saw me and waved with a big smile on his face. We've worked together for eight seasons, and always had a strong friendship connection, even though our characters were each other's romantic interests.

    Finally, it was time to answer the fans' questions. So we, my co-star and I, went to the stage with microphones and bottles of water then we started. The first question was about the new season, the second was over my new haircut, but the third one was exactly the question I wanted to answer.

   - Hi! I’m Anna, and before asking you my question, I want to say that I'm a huge fan of both of you. I've watched your series like a hundred times. - The teen girl giggles and keeps talking. - And I also have a bunch of posters of you in my room. 

    - We’re happy to hear it! - He says, looking at the girl and smiling - What’s your question, Anna?

   - The question is for both of you. You have so much chemistry, why don't you both try dating?

    I looked at him and we laughed a bit.

    - We’re good friends. - He said, trying not to be rude with the girl - But I really don’t think we’d work together, you know. 

    - Yeah, and I also have a boyfriend for about two years. 

   I took a deep breath and got the courage to move my gaze from the girl to the crowd. I saw a lot of confused faces and shocked gazes. 

    - Neither did I knew that! - My co-star wasn’t that different from the rest of the people there. - Can we know who this mysterious guy is?

  - Guys, you really want to know? - I asked the crowd with a teasing tone. - ‘Cause he is right here backstage…  

     I pointed to the curtains behind me and the loud screams made me laugh. I walked through the people who take care of the sound and lighting on the stage, and found Gerard, who was looking at me with a fake confidence smile. 

    - You’re ready? 

    I standing my hand to him, he take it and after some instats he said: 

    - I think I'm alright. 

    Hand in hand, we walked back to the stage. I thought I was about to throw up, but as long as he was still with me, I'll be fine.

    - NO WAY! - My co-star said with wide eyes - I mean, literally “The Way”. 

    We laughed, but the crowd was still very confused.

    - So… guys, here’s my boyfriend, Gerard Way. 

    I gave a brief look to him and back to the fans, but I wasn't expecting what was coming.

    Gerard turned to me and held my face with his hands. I looked up at him, knowing what he was about to do. I wrapped my arms around his neck and we kissed, on the Comic-Con stage. 

    The sound of applause, along with screams and one or two isolated boos echoed throughout the event.  Some camera clicks were also audible. But we didn’t mind, and kept kissing until we lost our breath.

    - Now they know. 

   I whispered. smiling at him and a feeling similar to quickly removing a band-aid came over me. I think we can call this feeling relief.

    -  I think so - He smiled back and gave me a quick kiss. - What about now?

    - Now we wait till tomorrow, and check our social media. 

   I’ll not lie, I'm really nervous about it.

___________________________________________

~ So... that's it. lemme know if you enjoyed ;)

Part 2

[honourablejester]

Heart: The City Beneath

For reasons, I’m assuming because I’ve been watching actual plays of various ttrpgs lately (Legends of Avantris playing D&D 5e, Nobody Wake the Bugbear playing Mothership, several others), I was recommended a video on a game called Heart: The City Beneath. Just a basic overview video, themes, tone, talking the game up a bit. But it sounded interesting, so I went to look up what the 9 playable classes were, just to see what kind of ideas we’re working with, you know?

And. Just from that online write-up. There was one particular class that caught my eye enough to go buy the actual game. Now, having read in more detail, there are several other classes that also sound really cool, but I still want to talk about the thing that caught my eye.

The Vermissian Knight.

Now. I would not ordinarily go for a very martial class when magical-type classes are an option. It’s just not usually how I roll. But the classes in Heart are all very, very setting-related, and all very, very weird, and the thing with the Vermissian Knight …

Okay. The setting for this game is Heart. The, well, City Beneath. There is a mile high surface city called the Spire, and then there is a vast living beating realm of something beneath it, called Heart. It is alive. It may be an extradimensional benevolent parasite. It might be a god-cocoon. It might be a seed of terraforming fuel. It might be a lot of things. But it’s definitely alive and weird and warps reality the further down into it you go.

The city above it, Spire, was run for ages by arrogant elves. And at some point, those elves decided that the city needed a mass transit system. A railway network, called the Vermissian. Right? But it wasn’t working, it was a lot of infrastructure, and funding was complicated, and power supply was an issue, and they wanted a way to hook the whole thing together and power it mystically. Right? So, what did they do? What does any arrogant race sitting on top of a magical weirdness bomb do when they suddenly need power? Yeah. They decided to core down into the Heart Itself, this mystical, weird-as-shit, possible god parked under their city, and they decided to hook their mass transit passenger network right the fuck into it.

It went, as you might imagine, horribly wrong. The reality-breaking weirdness of the Heart smashed up through the transit network of the Vermissian and nearly corrupted all of Spire above, save that the warding glyphs on the transit tunnels kept it confined. Within the system, time and space and reality got smashed and thrown about higgledy piggledy, and batshit monsters crept about the tunnels. The entire network was cut off, the stations abandoned, and Spire did its best to pretend there was never an attempted transit project to begin with. Just shove the whole mistake behind some condemned signs and pretend it never happened, boyos!

But the network is still there. The tunnels, the trains, the monsters. It’s hidden in Spire, but down in the Heart, the stations stand unguarded. Stuff leaking out. And people venturing in.

And the Vermissian Knight, as a character class, is someone who seeks to understand and patrol that network, to explore it and protect people from it. The class is built around armour, armour built from scavenged parts of eldritch trains. And the class builds …

Okay. In Heart, all characters are doomed. It’s a whole thing. This is not a long-form campaign sort of game. You will not last. Your character will die. So levelling is … you’re not building towards power, you’re building towards a climax. You’re building towards a spectacular end. Not necessarily death, but something that will take your character very dramatically off the board. And the Knights. Their Zenith Abilities, their capstone, dramatic ends, should they survive long enough to reach them. They can either bind themselves to a landmark, potentially a station on the line, or they can become a techno-organic titan, a biological perpetual motion machine that stalks the Heart and can be summoned by your surviving party as a deus ex machine, OR …

Or they can cast a death rite that summons the last surviving Vermissian train to tear its way through to them and crush them under its wheels, while also wiping out anything else in its path. Like. Your last, taking-you-with-me stand as a Vermissian knight is summoning a hell engine from a warped extra-dimensional transit network to plough through your enemies.

That. That is just so cool? Just. That whole concept. It’s so cool.

There are other classes in this game, and they are also pretty cool, don’t get me wrong. The Deadwalker, a person who died and came back haunted by the personification of their own death, able to potentially slip into the afterlife while living and bring people along for the ride. The Deep Apiarist, a person so determined to fight against the living chaos of the Heart that they have allowed themselves to become colonised by a megaconsciousness of order-inducing bees, in the most body-horror way possible (the bees go in through your nose and convert at least one of your organs to wax and paper to inhabit your body)(the Sunless Sea vibes are so strong with this one). The Hound, a group of mercenaries aided (and potentially possessed) by the spirits of the cursed survivors of a massacred army once sent to invade the Heart. The Junk Mage, magic addicts that eat scraps of power and make bargains with eldritch entities. There are a lot of cool classes in this game.

But the train knights. Just. The train knights. The image just enchants me. A cursed railway network, a twisted tangle of tunnels and weirdness, and the armoured paladins who seek to explore, understand, and protect those who encounter it.

I love it so much. I’m not fully sure why, what it is about that concept, that image, that so bowls me over, but …

I wanna play a train knight. A gnoll train knight, seeking enlightenment. Answers. I’m down here, in this strange, twisted place, because I want to know. What is it down here, in the Heart, that could do that to our network? What actually did happen to the network? I want to explore and I want to know.

(The Calling system is what you’re down in Heart looking for. Your class is what you are, your calling is what you want. There are five options: Adventure, Enlightenment, Forced, Heartsong, Penitent. You came for adventure, you came for answers, you came because you were forced to, you came because the Heart itself called you, or you came because you fucked up very badly and this is the only way to make up for it. Each calling gives you story beats that you can choose from along your quest for a suitable climax, and they’re really cool, and many of them encourage you to act, shall we say, incautiously. You’re not going to survive this, honey. Nobody comes down here who’s sane or sensible and likely to live long. So do something mad and dangerous and interesting with your time here. I actually really like that part of the system a lot).

Yeah. A Vermissian Knight, seeking Enlightenment. I would totally play that.

This is a boss-ass game, you know that? The setting is really cool.

[alexwilltellyouthings]

1, 8, 9, 13 for the dbd ask game

Thank you anon!

1. Who is your favourite character?

Charles. I love Edwin very much and sometimes I almost change my mind, but Charles... he's everything to me, really.

8. A headcanon you have (that you havent seen talked about yet)!

Oh I just answered that, it's the last post!

9. Have you seen/read any of the other Dead Boy Detectives media? Which?

I never actually read the comics, just saw panels. But I did see the Doom Patrol episode exclusively for them, and I really liked it. Not the same of course, but they were cute and sad as they should. Also I never got rid of that Crystal's voice in my head saying "whatever the fuck, Charles".

13. Favourite case we see the detectives do?

At first I thought the Devlin House, but that's mostly because of the emotional impact on Charles and the idea of a trauma loop (which is amazing). But as the actual case, Two Dead Dragons. We see them actively investigating, working together, we find new information with them. It's also very emotional and it connects to the boys and Crystal, of course, but it felt more like its own thing, you know? Also the girls (the one who killed herself and the one who killed the jocks) both hit hard for me. It's a great case.

[musical-chick-13]

Why can't people ve normal about female characters 😭😭😭

I am ALLLLLWAYS asking this.

I feel like anything I say beyond this point is just. Repeating myself, so I'm going to link to a post I made about how I personally judge a work in regard to how it handles its female characters.

here it is

Wait, apparently I do have one last thing to say upon rediscovering this post. Which is that...yes, obviously some writers mishandle their female characters because of misogyny. They don't let them do anything, or they villainize them when whatever they did wasn't comparatively that bad when stacked against the other characters' actions, or they intentionally give them less backstory/glimpses into their inner emotional world/realistic human flaws that are important to the story, or they use them to make "commentary" on how all women are shrill or unreliable or manipulative or stupid or [insert sexist descriptor here]. I'm not disputing this claim, no group of people--including artists/creators--is immune from perpetuating misogynistic ideas and behaviors.

BUT!!!! This is. My God, it is NOT the case every time. There are plenty of people out there writing interesting women who do interesting things. There are plenty of romance arcs involving women (one OR more of them!!!) that are satisfying and compelling and narratively important, actually. Everyone is going to find some duds occasionally (see: how even I couldn't manage to finish Ore.shura and my continued hatred of Cit.rus, despite those both ostensibly putting objectionable, flawed female characters center-stage. And also my uh. Highly controversial takes on a certain Toy Movie, which I promise I will actually get into at some point.) But to act like it's just...a fact of life that NO female character is going to live up to her male counterparts.............for one, that's wrong. (Go watch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend!! Go watch Doom Patrol!! Go watch The Apothecary Diaries or Search Party or Kaguya-sama: Love Is War or, LITERALLY ANY NUMBER OF THINGS.) And for another...well. You know what "because of things out of my control, a woman in a given context can never truly reach the level of a man" sounds like right.

Honestly, I think that a big part of this is the continued refusal to look at things with nuance. You know the post I linked? That was actually about Kill la Kill. The show has...some pretty egregious issues (to the point where people are always surprised when I say that I like it). There are plenty of things about it that I would change. But you know what ELSE it has? A core cast of three interesting and entertaining female characters (and one genderless piece of sentient clothing) who drive the narrative, have dynamic relationships with other characters, and have distinct personalities and ways of looking at the world. People can argue night and day about whether this is a good show (I personally happen to think it is, overall, in spite of its flaws, but I am very much only one person), but the three main girls ARE good characters. It was clear Studio Trigger cared about them and saw them as worthy of the audience's attention, sympathy, and investment. I'm not going to call it a feminist masterpiece. But it DOES do a quality job at writing interesting female characters with clear arcs and emotional complexity.

I could also make a similar case about GoT. I'll be the first to admit this show has. God, SO many problems. Not the least of which is the way it shoehorns in all sorts of nudity and violence against women for literally no reason. But all the female characters are different. They have important effects on the story, they have realistic flaws, they have different and engaging relationships with the people around them and the world at large. If you cut any of them out (aside from...probably Ros, sorry girl), the story becomes incomplete. There are pieces that won't fit together, themes that won't get full commentary or crystallization. It's completely fair to say this show isn't for you, that the flaws it has outweigh the good, that you can't stomach the way it handles certain topics. What isn't fair is to say that the women in it are shallow or one-dimensional, or to solely reduce them to one or two qualities that the viewer finds annoying. The women are better than that (the story and its themes straight-up don't make sense if they aren't). Not being willing to recognize that fact is a you problem. (<-general "you," not "you" the anon)

A piece of media can have plenty of issues (even misogynistic ones) and still have interesting women worthy of analysis and consideration in it. A piece of media can handle some topics well while handling other topics poorly. A piece of media can be too flawed for one person while giving something incredibly valuable to another. But, as always, women enter the picture and any general attempt at nuance goes out the window.

[paragonrobits]

there's been some real drama with that Youtuber I Hate and a youtuber whom i have come to greatly respect and honestly its been a delight seeing that youtuber i dont like going full circle on 'fuck around and find out' and apparently rapid-fire switching between constantly crying about being victimized and being a vicious and hateful person to apparently EVERYONE who interacts with her (follower or not) and it's a real case of a kind of internet personality i find exhausting but its made me realize a few things:

one is she apparently considers superhero comics an inherently Bad genre without artistic value (a bold statement coming from someone whose big media opinons are 'the entirety of Japan are man-children who do sex crimes' and 'i'm going to hate on these cartoons for not turning into a murder frenzy at the last second'). i'd say she's clearly never read Magneto's story arc under Claremont, or anything to do with the Morrison run on Doom Patrol (its artistic, demented, filled with coming to terms with horrific trauma, your own depersonalization, and also the primary antagonist is literal nonsense) or the famous story God Loves Man Kills but i ain't holding my breath

the second thing is that apparently she's under the belief that once you have been victimized, it excuses all your actions. This lines up with some common elements i've seen in fandom, especially those who fixate on villlains as the True Heroes, similar to some of my other thoughts on how people seem to tihnk a compelling/tragic origin justifies anything the character does. This is the mentality of completely divorcing a character's moral place in a narrative from their actions, and instead based on their victimhood. It really explains the whole idea i keep seeing there, and its something to address in my story concepts.

Third thing is more important, more profound. Its hard for me to articulate WHY people like this bother me so much; that they're so unrelentingly unpleasant, cruel to everyone around them, and even similar attitudes of people who are just casually rude. Even if there's no harm meant, you can just... not talk like that. You don't have to be mean with every single word you say, and you can resist the urge to turn every exchange or observation into an opportunity to sound like a smart ass; that's how you get stuff after James Earl Jones dies, you post pictures of Mufasa's death and then fail to understand why people are upset by you immediately making a joke about an inoffensive, much beloved voice actor who never did anything to you.

So i think about how to describe this... or perhaps how to AVOID this. How to talk and act in ways that's softer and doesn't hurt people for a quick joke or jibe, or acts like they can't understand why its wrong. And then I remember the game Undertale, where in the Pacifist route (the only route I've ever played), Sans will warmly tell a player who has actively refused to ever kill or hurt a single monster by saying that 'it just means you kept tenderness in your heart', and i think that's a good way to do it.

Just keep some tenderness in your heart. Let yourself be open and be gentle as much as you can. A thing that is tender ache when it hurts something or hits something pretty much at all, so its important to keep that tenderness so you DON'T hurt others too.

The world is sad and unpleasant enough as it is. You don't need to make things worse just so you can feel better about yourself.

[spacetrashpile]

so everything i know abt dc (very little) has come from my mutuals' posts (mostly yours) and i wanted to say congrats on your special guy's return!!! but also i had a few questions! kid eternity's previous iterations were all boys right? is this the debut of a new one or has she been around a while? at first i thought they may have made her trans but then i realized how unlikely that was for a long-standing character, even a minor one. what's her backstory? does her canon coincide with any previous versions? (i'm vaguely recalling a post of yours with 4 versions of this character over the years.)

i'm probably never gonna read any of the comics myself but i think she seems really cool and i really like hearing about comic character lore, so if you're up for an infodump i'd love to hear it :D

HI THANK YOU I'M ECSTATIC. YOU'VE ALSO ACTIVATED MY AUTISM TRAP CARD WITH THE TRANS THING. AND ALSO THE OTHER STUFF BUT THE TRANS THING SPECIFICALLY.

So you are correct, all the previous Kid Eternity incarnations have been guys! And yes, there have been a couple versions of him across the years (four or five, depending on who you ask/how we're drawing lines). This is the opener image I made for my "all Kid Eternity appearances" spreadsheet (still a WIP) that I made, and I feel like that helps give a quick reference for him. (It's not full opacity, but unfortunately I no longer have the original file and can't change that.)

So, this new Kid Eternity seems to be an entirely new iteration of the character. One, she's got a new costume (though it's riffing heavily on the 90s/early 2000s version of the character), and two, everyone is pretty sure she's a girl, which is insanely exciting for me specifically. This JSA issue, which came out today, is her first appearance ever, and that page I've posted like twice now is her only appearance in the actual issue, since it happens right at the end. As such, we have no idea what her deal is, or how she lines up with Kid's past appearances. However, that means it's time to speculate wildly!

A quick note about the trans thing- you're right that making any longstanding character trans would be kinda crazy for DC, even a character like Kid who's had less than 100 appearances under DC's ownership, but if it was going to happen to anyone, I could see it happening here. One, Kid is wildly minor. Like I said, less than 100 appearances while under DC's copyright, and when you add in the comics from when he was owned by Quality Comics, he still doesn't cross the 200 appearances line. So while making a character that's existed since the 1940s trans would be kinda crazy, if you're gonna pick any character to do it to, you may as well pick one that everyone forgot existed back in the 90s.

Furthermore, Kid is a character who's played a lot with concepts of gender and sexuality. You'll notice that the two pictures in the middle of the above image feature Kid with long hair (and in the costume closest to the kid we saw in the new JSA), for one, but the second image is a cover from Kid's third solo, which was published under the Vertigo imprint. Vertigo was an imprint that DC started back in the 90s that focused on publishing adult content that wasn't necessarily suitable for DC's primary audience. This means stuff like sex, nudity, drug use, etc. but it also means a lot of queer characters and story lines were published under this imprint. Just to name a few, John Constantine/Hellblazer, the Doom Patrol, and Sandman are pretty famously queer characters/groups, and they were some of Vertigo's big names back in the 90s.

Kid is never explicitly trans in his Vertigo run, and no actual trans characters ever appear to my memory, but they do play with his gender just a bit (particularly, in my opinion, in issue 9, "Hysteria Knows No Gender", but it's not much, just a fun possible read). The comic also deals very heavily with homophobia and hate crimes in some of the last few issues, and don't shy away from the idea of queerness at all. (Genuinely, issues 10-12 of this comic are harrowing reads. Issue 10 deals with violence against women while issues 11 and 12 deal with homophobia and my god are they heavy.)

Also a point that has less to do with Kid and more with the comic itself, but still something worth bringin up- this is happening in JSA (2024), and the JSA has made a couple longstanding and/or much more important characters (in the grand scheme of things) queer in the past! Notably, Todd Rice (obsidian) (first appearance 1983) was revealed to be gay in 2006 and Alan Scott (the first green lantern) (first appearance 1940) was revealed to be gay within like, the last 5 years. Still no trans retcons to my knowledge (though I'm not super up to date on the JSA, so if I may be missing some important stuff), but that's still pretty notable in my opinion.

ALL OF THIS IS TO SAY that while Kid has never been trans before, this Kid being trans genuinely doesn't feel out of the question to me. I'm not gonna get my hopes up or anything, but hey, wouldn't it be cool???

Anyways, the other questions you asked! Like I said, we ultimately know nothing about this version of Kid Eternity right now, except what she looks like, and that she's in Hell (par for the course for Kid, to be quite honest.) Judging from which comic she features in and what her costume looks like, however, I think I can solidly say that the backstory they'll be drawing on is the 90s era backstory, so I'll give a quick rundown of that!

Kid's initial backstory, from the 1940s, boils down to this: Kid was a child on a sailing ship that ran afoul of a Nazi sub during WW2. Kid and the rest of the crew, including his grandfather, died and went to a place called "Eternity" (legally distinct Heaven). Upon their arrival, however, it was found that Kid had arrived about 60 years before his time. In return for the mistake, he is sent back to earth with new powers and a spiritual guardian from Eternity, Mr. Keeper. These new powers allow him to shout the word "Eternity" and call on any historical, mythological, or fictional characters and summon their ghosts to help him solve problems. The fictional characters fall by the wayside after a certain point because of copy right concerns, I imagine, but I have to bring it up because it's always comical. Shout out to the time he summoned Jean Valjean to talk a thief out of stealing a loaf of bread and when that didn't work he summoned Javert and then Javert and Valjean beat each other up until he sent them back.

The 90s backstory, which is introduced by Grant Morrison in a horror mini series, builds on this backstory with a few retcons. Most notably, Kid never actually went to "Eternity" or any sort of heaven. Instead, he went to hell, where he was picked up by a staple of the DC magical mythos called the Lords of Chaos (which are exactly as bad as they sound), specifically by the one who paraded himself as Mr. Keeper. He was lied to about what happened to him when he died, about what was happening to him upon his arrival in Hell, and was strung along to do the Lords of Chaos' bidding for decades before he was able to free himself in a really complicated series of retcons and dumb writing choices across about 20 comics written and released over about two decades so we won't get into the weeds of that part.

The Lords of Chaos are opposed by a group called the Lords of Order (who could've guessed!) who are very important to the Justice Society, primarily to Dr. Fate, a key member, because Dr. Fate is a Lord of Order possessing/manifesting through a human person (and a helmet). Not only that, but this new Kid has appeared in JSA volume 2. The first JSA came out in 1999, and y'know who appears (and dies but that's less important) in the first issue of that comic: 90s Kid Eternity! It's a part of this whole plot regarding agents of the Lords of Chaos and Order, and since the current plot of this comic has a lot to do with Dr. Fate, I imagine that Kid is being pulled from that original JSA comic to be introduced as a potential foil to the current Dr. Fate (a young man who seems to be close in age to this version of Kid) and/or as another wrinkle in the Everything that's going on.

ALL OF THIS TO SAY! We really don't know much yet, but Kid Eternity is literally one of my nichest favorite characters of all time, and I am beyond ecstatic to see them running around again (fun fact, post New 52 reboot in 2011, Kid has had a whole thirteen appearances, and 6 of those appearances weren't even in the mainline universe. It was dire out here!)

[purplemarshal]

Lovers Rock

Possibly the last chapter for my little 2012 Casey x Donnie fic. Unless there's high demand for more.

Casey’s P.O.V.

When I woke up the next morning I wasn’t surprised with the absence of Donnie. Not saying that I have the best memory of last night but I do think we were a little closer than either of us would like to admit. But I wasn’t going to let something as silly as essentially cuddling get in the way of today, but I think we all know Don would. 

After stumbling over a couple loose projects I finally made my way out of the dimly lit lab and into the equally familiar environment of the entrance of the lair. 

I could both hear and feel the turtles training in the dojo, so without any goodbye’s I left, walking through the sewers as though I didn’t have a care in the world. My hands practically froze to the ladder as I was climbing up so the rest of my walk home was already doomed. 

Pausing in front of my apartment door I took a moment to reset. My house was normally quiet, especially when compared to the Hamato household. So considering the time, not even six a.m. yet, and how I stayed at a friend's house last night I should probably make breakfast for the three of us. Silently I turned the doorknob and crept into the dark living room, making sure to not step on any of the floorboards that I knew would cause any form of auditory disturbance. 

Angel, my little sister, slept in the room closest to the entrance, followed by my dad then me. The kitchen and bathroom were on the wall opposite to the bedrooms so I had to be ever so careful with what my next move would be, but because of my experience I worked mainly off of muscle memory, making my Dad’s meal first because his alarm should be going off soon. Next I would make mine, and last I would make Angels. Once everyone was awake, and soon gone I had the apartment to myself.

Hours passed and I barely did anything. The turtles didn’t need me for patrol today and April was coming back tomorrow so all I could do was stay here; and there is nothing to do here. Except for sleep.

Considering how little I slept last night it sounded pretty good. Sprawling onto the living room couch I mentally imagined how the rest of the day should go. Angel is staying at our grandparents house so no need to worry about picking her up today, and dad is going on another business trip so I could sleep however long I wanted. 

‘Someone is watching me.’

I stumbled off of my cramped sleeping arrangement to try and calm my nerves, I was home alone, so why did it feel like I was being watched? That however was resolved as quickly as the green brown and purple flash that sprinted into my room. Why is Donnie here? My eyes quickly found the small digital clock beneath the T.V. damn seven P.M. a four and a half hour nap was probably not the best idea, but that wasn’t my biggest concern right now. 

“Donnie?”

I called out, putting on my favorite record, turning it up enough to fill the emptiness of the apartment in a pleasant way. Peering into my bedroom I wasn’t surprised to see the oh so familiar mutant sitting on my bed, even though they couldn’t say the same. Their eyes and mouth blasted open at the sight of me, although surprised to see me in my own home. 

“Hey Don, I’m surprised you're not sick of me yet.”

They chuckled and shook their head, calming down a little but they still looked uncomfortable.  

“Would you like to be?”

The bed creaked under my added weight as I sat next to them. 

“You know what I said the other day on patrol, about how “charming you were? Well what I meant by that was-”

Being the idiot I was while stumbling over my words I didn’t notice them leaning in, and eventually meeting their lips with mine. A short, but extremely effective way to shut me up I suppose. The kiss however got interrupted by the sound of my record skipping, Donnie got up and flipped it over, but when they sat back down, I didn’t fail to notice how they were slightly closer to me. 

“You’ve already said that, asshole.”

Donnie muttered, moving their hand on top of mine. I felt like I was on fire, and if I weren't the Casey Jones I probably would’ve exploded from all of the emotions at once, but instead, matching their tone I mumbled.  

“I might let you stay, but just for tonight, Birdbrain.”

They chuckled into the second kiss, this time it was longer.

“Now, how many men have you kissed?”

We pulled apart, but still touched our foreheads.

“Very few.”

A short answer.

“But you offered me a kiss, why?”

I positioned myself to meet eye to eye, full of adoration. 

“Such a foolish reason I’m afraid, I just wanted to kiss you.”

12:10 a.m. Jan 1 2024 So, yeah. Not sure how to feel, Happy New years everyone!

[slashingdisneypasta]

For when you want... I thought of something very cursed while closing last night. What would happen if the world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit went through a Dorothy Must Die scenario.

Don't ask me where this came from, I don't even know how it'd work 😭 but what I briefly thought of last night was that, for some reason, the world of toons gets blocked off from humanity (maybe they were considered too dangerous after the story of Theadore Valient got out?). And Doom, instead of trying to enact his plan to replace Toontown with a freeway, decides this is the perfect opportunity to take over and control the toons instead. So basically, Doom is DmD!Dorothy (I did not need the image of Doom in the gingham dress, but my brain went there 😭)

This was mainly imagining the Toon Patrol as the DmD trio, admittedly 😅 being Doom's enforcers and striking fear into the residents of Toontown in this AU. Psycho and Greasy are like Scarecrow, being the two most feared of the patrol for similar and different reasons. Smartass and Stupid could be similar to the Lion, being more on the dumb side, but also not questioning Doom and happy with his position as his seargent. That leaves Wheezy most like Tinman; deep down, he knows that all this is wrong, but he doesn't try to stop Doom or Smartass for his own reasons. They use DIP to scare the citizens into obeying these new laws, but they're far more grusome and dangerous here, just like the trio are in DmD. Can you imagine that bubble gun Tin's soldier used on Indigo, but with DIP?? (Ngl, I've been having fun imaging Greasy as the Scarecrow in particular).

I'm not sure who Amy Gumm would be, probably Eddie if he ever decides to visit the tunnel again or somehow got a job that required him to get close to Toontown and he got captured. Or it could be an original character. But Jessica and Roger are part of the rebellion to take Doom and his patrol down, along with various other characters. They're war torn and traumatized, but they're still kicking.

I have no idea why I thought this, but here you go 😅😅😅😅

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS!! Especially Scarecrow!Greasy, oh my g o d. Let me just- let me just- *gets out copy of Dorothy Must Die, which is heavily sticky-noted and thick from rereads already, and starts reading through all of Scare's bits imagining my favourite weasel* ... would it be crazy of me to write fanfiction of this concept!?? XD

YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME.

The only thing 'cursed' about this is Doom in gingham 🤣🤣🤣 But its all just 👌👌👌 Perfect! This was such a gem to wake up to XDD

I also love Stupid getting a main character part for once!! We too often let him fade into the background and this weighs heavily upon my soul, as I'm sure it does yours 😰Lion!Stupid would be so adorable!! Lion!Stupid developing a particular interest in a servant at the palace; them of course becoming his Favourite. Lion!Stupid struggling between his sexual appetite and his hunger for blood, licking and sucking and tasting his S/O any time that they're intimate; whimpering when they bleed because he got too rough with them; wanting to eat them. He wants to tear them apart and feast on their flesh, feel his teeth sink into their fat. Lion!Stupid feeling curious about this desire- because he loves them, doesn't he?? He doesn't understand. Lion!Stupid going to his good, old, most trustworthy, most intelligent friend Scarecrow!Greasy asking about it. Scarecrow!Greasy saying basically that he doesn't blame him- Stupid is an animal, after all. And that Y/N... is a delicious little morsel~ Do what feels right, Greasy tells him absentmindedly, going back to his work (Greasy never did alot the Lion much of his precious time, anymore, since Dorothy came back. Sometimes Stupid wondered why everything had changed). Follow your excellent, leonine instincts. Lion!Stupid returning to his lovers bed that night and doing exactly as his good comrade told him. Lion!Stupid eating what he loves (Lion!Stupid never losing the perfect taste off his tongue). Tin Woodman!Wheezy giving him a word of advice, later; that old friend of ours is crafty and cruel, Stu. Everything's different, now. 'ts best if ya don't trust any of us.

[augustheart]

doom patrol finale review

character-by-character breakdown:

vic's ending is definitely the best. i love this for him and i think it's the natural progression of his character in this show especially considering little moments like his relationship with baby doll--he's so good with kids of all ages and this is definitely where he would've ended up... maybe not regardless of what happened after he became cyborg, but i think this was definitely an "all roads lead to compassionate mentorship making a difference home" ending for him. i also think he and derrick should get married but that's secondary.

larry's ending is second best for me. to be clear i have no idea what the fuck they're gonna do now but i am very happy for him. we should all wish to be endgame with sendhil ramamurthy.

i really, really wish i liked k's ending but because tv-verse casey is so Nothing i don't care for it. i have complex feelings about the original morrison plot point the underground's coexistence in this way is based on but i think the show handled it fine. but i'm glad they're happy and i think them going by K is nice because it's a reflection of the fact that k-5's chosen name in the underground is k-5, not kay challis. they can't identify with that name because of trauma, but they can reclaim the girl. i may be talking myself into liking it more just by writing this. but i still wish tv casey was actually a character/anything like her comic book counterpart. she doesn't even get to have her own paragraph here.

i think i like cliff's ending. i don't like that it presents being with clara in florida as home when i don't think that's been the case at all throughout the show, but i do think i like it other than that. especially as someone who has been a fan of this character in the comics for years and wants him to be able to finally rest after outlasting so many in his life. i also find divorce having so thoroughly infected cliff's family to be hilarious. only clara and mel escaped the divorce curse.

laura's ending is good. no notes.

rita's ending is so, so close to being good. i actually really like it. she was the first with niles and she's the first to leave without him. but i don't care about agent ! in the slightest. sorry. he just doesn't mean anything to me. but i do think her getting her happy ending is good. i wish larry brought something of hers with him when he left, though. they love(d) each other so dearly until the end even when they were annoying the shit out of each other.

dorothy not being in the finale at all and only being mentioned once is very weird. where's my baby girl!

in terms of other things:

i think they should've wrapped up the actual plot of the season in the last episode so this one just could've been a homecoming finale, because as it is it felt rushed and weird. (i have similar criticism of the stargirl finale, but i give that a little more wiggle room because at least the climax happened. like. onscreen?)

clint mansell's score still goes beyond crazy because he's never composed something that doesn't fuck supremely imo

i am inherently prejudiced against stories that are like "and then they all went their separate ways but remembered their wacky found family fondly" at the end but i think the way they did it here was probably the best they could've done if they wanted to go that route.

i think my season ranking is 1, 4a, 3a, 4b, 3b, 2? maybe? as you can see those middle two are kinda wishy-washy, but i do still really like (...for the most part) the beginning of this season and of season three.

i have more thoughts but i'm having trouble formulating them. if anyone wants a more detailed look at something i left out then feel free to ask.

[child-of-the-danube]

Ok, I need to preface this with saying that I have not read any of the Doom Patrol comics so I have no idea how well or in what quantity the show follows the comics so I have no concpet of spoilers/certainty as to how it will all end after next episode.

This is gonna be a long ass post so buckle up motherfuckers.

I am thoroughly worried with how it will all be wrapped up in a single episode. They have not gotten their longevity back, Immortus is still out there now planning world domination, Rita's basically dead, the Buttpocalypse future is on their doorstep etc. Either it will be all to quickly concluded with a Deus-ex-machina solution to everything given that Laura in one episode said that the future they saw was only one possible version of it and in this episode future Vic seemed way too calm finding out that his past self is being helped with the time portal thingy and saying it'll work out OOOOR the future they saw is really it and it's all a lost cause. I'm going to focus on my thoughts about the other one.

I would kind of prefer the sadder ending cause it would be more, I guess, poetic that these people turned mutant-turned superheroes who more than once saved everyone around them, the world and eachother, could not, despite all their effort, save themselves this one last time. Well, except for Vic but depends in what version of it.

Digression: I am also 99% sure the Immortimas episode was the one where Michelle and April kissed (which they mentioned in their insta live) cause if you look closely at the "Best friends" scene when they're really close together but we see Michelle's face more, April has her lips pursed and only switches back to a smile when Michelle moves her head away and I am so very calm and normal about this, not wanting to rip my skin off and scream into the void at all. It's fine, it really is :))))))))))))

I'm skipping talking about Rita since she wasn't in this episode at all. I'm assuming that they will either find her dead or on her last breaths once they return from the time stream unless, again, some magical solution falls from the sky immediately.

LARRY: I think of all the characters, Larry seems to be the one who's most prepared for his death. I feel like he always knew, no matter the longevity, that his body would give up on him at some point and was kind of always ready to go. He worries way more about Keeg than he does about what end is awaiting him. I love that he got to experience fatherhood once again through Keeg and I get his frustration about the Negative spirit not wanting to take care of Keeg, but if his end is set in stone, I could see him embrace the fact that he becomes "a new Sun". His journey started in space and ending it there as a new star would be full circle. In a way by becoming a star, a permanent part of the sky, he'd always be, though in new form, there for Keeg to see and visit.

CLIFF: I was wondering when and if it would be explained how Niles broke his back and I have to say I absolutely hate that it was Cliff given that, especially this season, a lot of shit seems to be portrayed as purely Cliff's fault. Like anything he touches or is given the role to take care off goes to shit. He has always been unlucky in that regard but I feel like the last thing in the "how can we fuck Cliff's already declining mental health up some more" arsenal should have been the fact that the first thing he felt in years wasn't his grandson but the blood and insides of another being he just killed. Like, I truly think that was the tipping point to break him completely, the rest is overkill. I hope if the spirit loop Buttpocalypse future is the end that he at least got to see and feel Clara and Rory once before returning to the Doom Patrol and accepting his end.

JANE: Similar to Larry, I feel like Jane got her resolution this episode. She finally said it out loud and accepted what truly happened to her. She became, both literally and metaphorically one with her whole self and can now be at peace, however long that might be, with the people she loves. She got her clarity in a way.

VIC: Vic being alive, well and teaching kids in the version of the future that saved them from the time stream is giving me hope that it might not all be set up to end tragically. That he might find his purpose and happiness after all. Cause of what use is it for him to be the last man standing in the future when everyone he loves is gone or soon to be gone. It's just survival, not life.

LAURA: Oh, boy. Oh, Lord. Here we go. Bare with me.

It's no secret she's my absolute favourite character and the one I have the most feelings and thoughts about. First of all, hats off to Michelle Gomez and her acting once again. You could feel the difference in past and present Laura not just by the way they are dressed but the mannerism, the speech, the body language, everything. The fear in past Laura's eyes not due to being beaten but due to the fact that she HERSELF is saying, or better, admitting, that she's in fact not a good person no matter how much she tries to delude herself or others. I love this character so deeply and that's why I am losing my mind over her.

Present day Laura saying she hasn't changed broke my heart into a million of peaces cause in the same way past Laura deluded herself into believing she's good, present Laura kept that same self hatred and turned it into convincing herself that no matter how much she tries, she'll never be good, she'll never escape her past, making people weapons or fucking it all up for the ones she truly cares about. For my Doctor Who fans, are you all reliving Missy's plot and the pain her end brought as much as I am???? And the "WE'RE THE FUCKING WEAPON" part??!!?!? Holy fucking shit. Her whole life and career she was hiding her abilities for her own safety and partially for the sisterhood's safety, declaring others as weapons, sending them off to fight and die but it truly was her who was the weapon. When you fire a gun, yes, the bullets are what ends up doing the job but they're disposable, you always need new ones to reload. What remains is the gun itself, needed for further firing of shots. Well, Laura was the gun and all those she branded weapons were just the disposable bullets.

It pains me inexplicably to say it, but I simply don't see any kind of happy ending for her. She has no one else but these bumbling idiots she met only a little while ago, who I'm not entirely sure would YET go to the lenghts she does for them for her, and Rita who:

a. Still hasn't fully forgiven her (I mean shit she called her a monster like 2 episodes ago)

b. Is on her death bed

c. I doubt would use her last breaths to tell her she's forgiven or admit that Laura does mean a lot to her

Nobody knows where she's in the future and I have a crippling feeling that it might be caused by Rita's death. If you think about it, all of them love Rita and will be there to comfort eachother after she's gone/as they inevitabely each go. Laura isn't dying. She has whatever natural time is left there for her still to go. She does not share their fate. And, as I've already said, they have known eachother for decades. Laura is someone they've basically just met, learned to trust even later, and in their mind to some degree the one who caused the Immortus stuff. If Rita dies, I have a feeling she will either immediately distance herself from them (or be distanced) or she'll end up watching all of them but Vic die one by one and then leave or worse...

So unless by some miracle everything turns out fine or after they're all gone she encounters Shelley and the Sisterhood and they embrace her, I see no bright ending there

Anyways, I'm booking therapy in advance cause I'm going to need it after next week more than I already did...

[gh0stofstarman]

So after making my last post I decided I’d give my two cents on the other big run that most people point to as one of the golden standards for X-Men. This one’s a bit more fresh in my mind than Claremont, probably just due to the fact it’s much, much shorter. But I do have a ramble for this one too, don’t you worry.

Grant Morrison

I love a lot of Grant Morrison’s work. They’re probably one of the most bonkers writers out there. I’ve read All Star Superman front to back multiple times, I’m currently thumbing through their JLA. I really wanna get into their Animal Man. Dunno if I’d vibe with Doom Patrol just because it may be a bit too insane even for my tastes. Only thing I’ve really avoided of theirs is Wonder Woman: Earth One. From what I’ve read it seems like a swing and a miss. Ironic, because I’m one of the few people nowadays who immensely cares about Wonder Woman’s comics.

And New X-Men carries Grant’s penchant for swinging for the fences, high concept sci-fi, fantasy, drama, what have you. I love that Morrison leaned into the angle that some Mutants don’t have powers that are useful or that they can hide.

Sometimes your mutants aren’t conventionally attractive, and that’s great. They still deserve a chance to live! And I love that’s part of the narrative. It shouldn’t matter if you’re a mutant, it should matter who you are and what you do as a person.

Grant also leans into much more complicated ideas of romance and relationships, paving the way for the allegory of mutants to extend into LGBTQ+ lenses. The school is actually a school now! Professor X is more like the movies where he’s not really a conceited jerk who would drop the X-Men at the drop of a hat, but still comes in conflict with the newer generation.

Genuinely Morrison’s New X-Men is built upon ideas for a maturing, more complicated evolution of what Claremont was cooking.

Mostly.

And there lies the problem that’s always stopped me from clicking with Morrison’s X-Men.

Grant Morrison and Mark Millar

(Please note this surprisingly apocryphal gag was before Morrison preferred They/Them and came out as Nonbinary.)

Everybody has their edgy phase. At least I hope we do, would explain a lot.

Grant Morrison had a bit of a reputation in the 90s and 2000s as the big shot, new kid in town. They weren’t afraid to throw shade at Alan Moore, John Byrne, or really any of the old school comic veterans. They were here to play it out loud and in their own way.

They’d work very often together with Mark Millar, setting a real rebellious attitude with them. They weren’t afraid to be edgy, make crass jokes about toilet humor or stuff best left for the bedroom and doctor’s office.

And often times it worked. It wasn’t as though Morrison couldn’t reel it in to be serious like in JLA. But you don’t get a somber story about a cartoon coyote grappling with existentialism in a superhero comic from a normal joe.

Basically what I’m saying is, Morrison could be crass, but knew how to control it within the narrative. Something Mark Millar kind of struggled with.

I don’t have anything deep to really say about Millar and Morrison but they clearly were once conjoined at the hip. Once, being the key word seeing the quote above. But the irony is that when both writers were working on X-Men, it seems Morrison picked up some bad habits from their coworker.

A Dog-Kicking Intervention

Something I notice with Mark Millar’s writing is that he has a good structure for a story, the real great bones of something. However, when it comes to dialogue, it feels like he has to derail it by throwing in the most edgy, tryhard stuff to shock the reader. (The A does stand for frAnce, the fr is silent.) Either that or it’s just kind of blatant soap boxing of these characters without really understanding their history. There are many series that feel like this to me, like Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Civil War, Fantastic Four.

Unfortunately that kinda bled into Morrison’s work, and I feel their New X-Men suffers as a result.

New X-Men has some really brilliant ideas, but it also can be unreasonably cruel and edgy in a bad way. And that’s not to say that it’s due to the themes, as it deals with very heavy stuff like Genocide and PTSD. Some topics do have to be approached even though they’re brutal.

No, a good example would be Ugly John. Ugly John is introduced in the opening arc, E is for Extinction. A brutal story about how millions of mutants die in Genosha due to Cassandra Nova attacking with Sentinels. Wolverine, Cyclops and Ugly John are sent to stop Nova while the rest of the X-Men perform triage.

Ugly John doesn’t have any powers. He doesn’t have any skills. He has three faces. He’s not actually here because he has a purpose. He’s ugly. He’s not even named Steve. That’s the joke. That’s the joke Morrison makes over and over to try and undercut the gravity of the situation.

Then he dies.

What was the point of Ugly John? To fit in a dark moment, not really adding a point besides “wow life sucks doesn’t it?”

That’s probably the biggest thing that sours me on New X-Men. It doesn’t really have the confidence to fully recognize the seriousness of its material and that it doesn’t need any edge to further make a point. Reality is edgy.

And so I feel like this sort of lack of nuance kinda brings down the run. It never feels fully confident that it should be discussing these topics with nuance, so it has to throw something in for the South Park crowd.

Cyclops is nervous about how long Jean and him have been in a relationship for? Well obviously it’s gotta lead to him and Emma making a big affair in bed.

A mutant is developing her powers suddenly and is kicked out of her family? Her powers should be a gross out parallel to morning sickness so her dad thinks she’s pregnant, and she’s a gross stereotype of black people living in the south.

A toddler mutant is being killed by their parents so that they don’t have to live with a mutant? Let’s make a couple of jokes about how the mutant ate a dog.

Jean Grey confronts another mutant who’s able to make illusions that confuse even her? The other guy makes a remark that she wants to sleep with him even though it’s never hinted before and just used so he can escape.

You see what I mean?

It doesn’t really feel like this stuff is in service to the serious plot, it’s just kinda mean-spirited without much actual narrative purpose. Sometimes it’s even derailing the point that Morrison is trying to make. Like Emma Frost’s PTSD is undercut entirely by how inappropriate she acts towards her students, so she comes off as unintentionally unsympathetic. Or Cyclops’ anxiety isn’t given room to breathe and acknowledge that he doesn’t consent to her advances.

Therefore it just comes off as Morrison kicking the dog for no reason.

It just really disappoints me because Morrison is such a skilled writer. But New X-Men fell within that edgy phase and it makes it hard to enjoy the concepts they come up with.

[tmisherewrites]

Chapter 7 Deep Dive: Day 1056 of the Revolution

Chapter 7 is where we start to see where this story will end and how it connects to canon.

I'm going to go into full chapter spoilers below so if you haven't read Chapter 7 of my fic They Will Come For You In the Night yet, I've got it linked here, or if you'd like to read from the start, Chapter 1 is linked here.

Let's dive in!

Kingsley Circe and District 13

This chapter introduces us to Kingsley Circe and his vision for how District 13 should function. He's enamoured with the idea of militarism and loves the aesthetic power of uniformity and sameness. We see the former with Kingsley wearing medals to denote his position and status, as well as his frustration with District 13's former leader Paylor, who was far more of a diplomatic leader than a militaristic one. For those of you familiar with canon, Paylor becomes the President of Panem after the assassination of Alma Coin at the end of Mockingjay, the Paylor of this story is absolutely an ancestor of canon Paylor so don't you worry about what happened to him. As for uniformity, we see the full consequence of this obsession also in Mockingjay. I represent this with the adoption of those grey jumpsuits by Kingsley's followers.

Kingsley was inspired by several aspects of America itself if I'm perfectly honest. It's isolationism which I'll go into later, particularly during the period of the Great Wars. For both wars, it took America several years before it entered the conflict because it's always been America first and as long as those wars didn't directly impact impact America, it would stay out of it and just rake in the cash from weapons manufacturing. In the rebellion, it was District 13's agreement to finally provide the rebels with firepower which finally led to the feasibility of the rebellion.

The more modern aspect of America which Kingsley and District 13 represents is the obsession with the southern border and secession from the Union that you often see in Texas. It's why I made an allusion to the militias which surveil the border and harass people who attempt to cross it with Auggie talking about getting Paylor to allow Kingsley to patrol 13's borders.

Isolationism

The District 13 we see in canon is more or less the inevitable end result of extreme isolationism which is extreme regiment in order to control the population's consumption because nothing is coming in or out.

Syrus knows this, having studied history in District 11's libraries and it's why she's been so adamant with Kingsley that he will doom the people he says he cares about so much if he follows through on his isolationism. It's also incredibly misguided and usually relies on a bit of magical thinking that something will come along to cover for the complex and interconnected systems of support needed in order for a community to survive and thrive. In canon, when we meet 13 they are on their last legs as a society because they've focused so heavily on protecting their borders that they left themselves vulnerable to things like illness and disease.

Negative Freedom vs. Positive Freedom

Some very simple and quick definitions of negative and positive freedom are that negative freedom is freedom from constraints, barriers, or obstacles, while positive freedom is the freedom to act and to take control of one's life. Here's a resource if you want the actual, long form and thorough philosophical explanation if of Negative and Positive Freedom.

I think this is the debate of District 13. Paylor understood this distinction and understood that a balance is needed, that sometimes one type of freedom must be sacrificed in order to uphold another and vice versa. Kingsley doesn't understand that. He is so desperate for his people to have freedom from others that he solely favours negative freedom, regardless of whether those others are Capitol or rebel, that he is willing to entirely remove his people's positive freedoms in order to accomplish that goal.

Quotes

Both quotes have to do with the flaw in Kingsley's ideology and in District 13's isolationism more broadly. The first quote is from Angela Davis whose work should honestly be required reading if you have any desire to understand America. In this quote:

“The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?”

Davis is referring to how the idea of freedom is great as a motivator but if freedom remains only symbolic and not material, then it is not freedom. The difference between symbolic and material freedom can be found in choice on an individual level or democracy on a large-scale level. If you're given the choice between getting punched in the face or getting punched in the stomach, you only have symbolic freedom because you're only give the choice between two different types of harm. Sure, one harm could be worse than the other but both are still harm. Material freedom on the other hand, would be the ability to not have to be put into a position where that choice would need to be made. In this story, Kingsley is looking for symbolic freedom, he just doesn't want his people to be under any outside control in whatever form, no matter how beneficial that he is happy to let go of material freedom to do so and therefore recreates the power structure that the Capitol had on 13 onto his own people.

The second quote is from George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison, they wrote Invisible Doctrine which in my opinion is a really accessible introductory text about neoliberalism. I was reading it when I starting writing this fic and when I read this quote I immediately thought of Kingsley so I thought I'd include it.

That's it for the deep dive on Chapter 7: Day 1056 of the Revolution. It was way more meandering and unfocused because I am currently fighting off a nasty throat infection so I'm a little bit loopy. I swear I've written about these topics in a concise way that makes sense before, I just don't have it in me today.

Here's a gif of Eleanor Shellstrop from the Good Place who is the embodiment of anyone who read this all the way through.