#turned that knight into a robot and pilot again.

[seithr]

[girlwiththegreenhat]

hey when they wrote "knight behind bars" and they wrote kitt helping a couple get together and they gave him the line "Some day, it will be my turn" [to find love]. did they know what they were doing. did they know that in some 40 years some gay autistic robot-obsessed little freak on tumblr would not stop thinking about it for weeks and write literal dozens of paragraphs screaming about it on discord. did they know they were going to ruin Me, Specifically, with this concept that feels like the culmination of everything kitt has gone through through the show and such a fascinating thing to think about in regards to michael and kitt's relationship,

one of the themes of knight rider is kitt developing as a Person, developing a line between the Knight Industries Two-Thousand, and Kitt. discovering humanity, his own emotions, the joys of the seemingly and logically pointless, and often through the lens of his own driver, his partner, his friend, Michael - his primary guide through all these experiences, his reference for those human things he doesn't understand. and as much as he initially claims to not be capable of experiencing emotions, of understanding feelings, he learns to. he experiences a wide range of emotions through the show even while claiming he doesn't, he even learns fear and insecurity. perhaps it's only natural a robot would learn to love, or at the very least be terribly curious about it and wonder if such a thing could ever exist for Him

the majority of people are not exactly kind to kitt. they talk about him like he's not there, they talk about him like he's a machine, a novelty, some people are even scared of or disturbed by him when all he's trying to do is make polite conversation and company. he's always Othered - there's no other cars like him (at least not anymore), but there's no other person like him either, he doesn't truly belong among humans or vehicles. some of the technicians at FLAG don't even seem to fully respect him as a person, at least they don't based on my vague recollection of how they talk about him in Junkyard Dog. when Michael asks him after KARR is destroyed if it feels good to be one of a kind again, he doesn't say yes or no - he only says it's a "familiar feeling." it may be familiar, but it's surely also isolating, and i think that's something he'd realize as he slowly picks up this curiosity about love. where could he even find it when so few people see him as an equal person to begin with?

and then there's michael. oh my god, and then there's michael. no matter what flavor you choose to read it in, the whole show is about their relationship, they're a duo, a set Not to be separated, they're Partners. they work together, they worry about and look after each other (forever insane about when kitt was a melted shell, Michael stuck around the garage for hours, waiting for any news like a worried spouse, constantly checking on him every opportunity he got... encouraging him to recover, and even helping paint back on his protective coating... kitt always looks after michael, but for once, it's michael's turn to look after Him), in a way they were Made for each other - Kitt more literally, being programmed for Michael and holding his namesake, but Michael was also made in a sense for the pilot program, hand picked and given a second life to work for the foundation and with this strange supercar. and even if they had a rocky start, michael comes to view kitt as a person - car, TV set, or computer core, Kitt is his partner, his buddy. he helps him find himself, guides him and teaches him about these things that make us human, and in a way, kitt becomes human - but his entire experience is still through the perspective of an AI in a car, it's still very unique and isolating, and I think he sort of grows into his own limitations, he's finally brushing against the walls that define him.

he learns of love, and then he learns to dream Of love. these things he sees in the movies, that michael tells him about, that he so often sees michael Partaking in that he gets so oddly jealous of, doesn't it all seem so wonderful? he's very curious. but who could ever love steel and circuitry, who could ever see him as an equal let alone a partner in a romantic sense? who would ever love a car and all the limitations That comes with? it's a problem for a hypothetical hopeful Some Day, in the meantime stuck between two worlds where he doesn't perfectly belong to either, where no car Can love him and no human seemingly Would love him...

and michael loves him anyway. before either of them really realize or talk about it, in spite of everything, in any form, regardless of the fact it wouldn't be a typical relationship by absolutely any means, michael loves him anyway. kitt is as much a person to him as bonnie or devon or RC, and that person is someone he loves and cares for deeply. the feeling is mutual, kitt's world revolves around michael, he's one of the most important people in kitt's life, and he'd do anything to protect him.

and it is michael that will finally teach him to love, and what it means to feel loved in turn, to be loved as the person he undoubtedly is.

[mellodazey]

when you're bored out of your mind waiting for december to come, so you try to put the Dog Man trailer scenes in order (long post ahead)

(sorry there's no pictures. I did this in MS word and copypasted it here. also, you might wanna avoid this if you're afraid of spoilers.)

Scenes from the first trailer-

Overlook of the city. Possibly the beginning shot, or right after the first scene.

Bomb is shown.

Shot of people panicking. Could possibly be later in the movie.

Officer Knight with Greg, about to drive off. Probably before the shot of the bomb.

Shot of Officer Knight flooring it. Note the ramp in the background.

The cop car.

Shot of Officer Knight and Greg in the car again.

Brief shot of the car going off-road(?) Possibly before the ramp.

Officer Knight and Greg going up the ramp.

Ramp jump.

The cop car with a parachute, landing on top of the abandoned expendable warehouse, where the bomb is.

Shot of Officer Knight and Greg doing a fist bump. Can’t tell what’s outside the window. Could be right before the bomb.

Officer Knight and Greg attempting to defuse the bomb.

Shot of ambulance going to the hospital.

Officer Knight and Greg in the hospital.

Doctor and Nurse Lady with goggles. Could be reversed, right before showing Officer Knight and Greg.

Shot of outside the hospital. Possibly when the ambulance arrives, or when the surgery is about to start.

Various shots of machinery. Looks like Petey’s lab. Could be when Lil Petey is being created.

Shot of Dog Man about to run out the hospital door.

Doctor and Nurse Lady shaking hands.

Sarah turning around.

Seamus looking past his camera. This and the scene with Sarah could be in either order.

Dog Man busting out of the hospital doors.

Dog Man twirling handcuffs. Later scenes show this is connected to when Petey drives the squirrel tank.

Shot from inside Chief’s office, showing Dog Man being praised by the police.

Dog Man fist bumping with a baby. There’s a news headline in the corner.

Dog Man catching a thief. Another news headline.

Sarah talking with Chief. Another news headline. Could be before or after Dog Man’s other news scenes.

Dog Man playing piano for the elderly. Another news headline.

Shot of outside Petey’s lab. Could be anytime.

Shot of newspaper showing Dog Man. Looks like Chief’s hands holding the paper. Environment looks like Chief’s office. Can’t tell what’s behind the paper.

Petey in his lab.

Petey possibly programming something. Could be anytime.

Shot of Petey showing up with the squirrel tank.

Petey firing a shot at Supa Priceless Objects.

Sarah yelling at Petey.

Dog Man in Chief’s office.

Dog Man saluting Chief. Based on Chief’s hand placement, he could have just given Dog Man his badge(?)

Shot of Chief talking beside his corkboard. Could be before he sends Dog Man to arrest Petey.

Shot of Dog Man leaving some place. Could be anytime.

Dog Man growling in Chief’s office.

Dog Man barking while Chief is talking. Corkboard isn’t lit at this time.

Chief crumpling up newspaper.

Dog Man playing fetch.

Chief ordering Dog Man to arrest Petey. Beginning of the montage.

Shot of Petey laughing. He has only two whiskers on one side.

Dog Man growling.

Dog Man chasing Petey, who’s piloting a robot bee. Could be part of the montage.

Petey driving off in the squirrel tank with Dog Man on top.

Various shots of Dog Man receiving awards in the paper. Could be anytime.

Shot of Petey chasing Dog Man with a trap. Could be part of the montage.

Dog Man running from Petey’s robot vacuum. Could be part of the montage.

Petey using a catapult to launch bones. Could be part of the montage.

Dog Man posing in a battle stance. Squirrel tank scene.

Shot of the squirrel tank driving into a barricade with Dog Man on top.

Shot of the squirrel tank jumping away from an explosion.

Sequence of Dog Man getting distracted from the monitors he’s supposed to watch. Petey is shown sneaking around. There’s one camera on Flippy.

Dog Man tackling Chief and licking his face. Could be anytime.

Scenes from the Tiktok trailer-

Dog Man leaving some place. Also shown in trailer.

Petey firing a shot from the squirrel tank. Also shown in trailer.

Shot of Petey laughing. Also shown in trailer.

Dog Man dodging shots from the squirrel tank. Connects the handcuff twirling scene to the squirrel tank scene.

Scene of Dog Man eating. Weirdly cropped, presumably to hide Lil Petey.

Dog Man twirling handcuffs. Extended beginning from trailer.

Dog Man tackling Chief and licking his face. Also shown in trailer.

That scene from the art book cover-

Dog Man finding Lil Petey.

My speculated scene order-

City overlook.

Officer Knight and Greg about to drive off.

The cop car.

Shot of Officer Knight and Greg in the car again.

Car going off-road(?)

Officer Knight flooring it.

Officer Knight and Greg going up the ramp.

Ramp jump.

The cop car landing with a parachute.

Bomb shot.

Officer Knight and Greg attempting to defuse the bomb.

Ambulance going to the hospital.

Doctor and Nurse Lady with goggles.

Officer Knight and Greg in the hospital.

Shot of Dog Man about to run out the hospital door.

Sarah turning around. / Seamus looking past his camera.

Dog Man busting out of the hospital doors.

Dog Man fist bumping with a baby.

Dog Man catching a thief.

Dog Man playing piano for the elderly.

Sarah talking with Chief.

Petey in his lab.

Dog Man in Chief’s office.

Dog Man growling in Chief’s office.

Dog Man barking while Chief is talking.

Chief crumpling up newspaper.

Dog Man playing fetch.

Shot of Chief talking beside his corkboard.

Chief ordering Dog Man to arrest Petey.

Shot of Petey chasing Dog Man with a trap.

Petey using a catapult to launch bones.

Dog Man chasing Petey, who’s piloting a robot bee.

Dog Man running from Petey’s robot vacuum.

Various shots of machinery.

Shot of Petey laughing.

Dog Man finding Lil Petey.

Scene of Dog Man eating.

Shot of Petey showing up with the squirrel tank.

Dog Man posing in a battle stance.

Petey firing a shot at Supa Priceless Objects.

Sarah yelling at Petey.

Dog Man twirling handcuffs.

Dog Man dodging shots from the squirrel tank.

Petey driving off in the squirrel tank with Dog Man on top.

Shot of the squirrel tank driving into a barricade.

Shot of the squirrel tank jumping away from an explosion.

Shot of people panicking.

Scenes I can’t place-

Officer Knight and Greg fist bumping. Somewhere in the beginning.

Shot of outside the hospital.

Doctor and Nurse Lady shaking hands.

Shot of Dog Man being praised from inside Chief’s office.

Shot of outside Petey’s lab.

Shot of newspaper showing Dog Man.

Petey possibly programming something.

Dog Man saluting Chief.

Shot of Dog Man leaving some place.

Dog Man growling.

Various pictures of Dog Man receiving awards.

Sequence of Dog Man getting distracted.

Dog Man tackling Chief and licking his face.

(this is all I could find as of now. remember that this is all speculation and I could be wrong. if anyone else wants to give me their input/their own interpretation, be my guest.)

[websitewizard2005]

A guide to my OCs!

hey guys, figured i’d make this post because i have a shit ton of OCs that i post a lot of and i haven’t really explained most of them. they’re all part of different stories/universes, so i’ll be listing them based off of that.

Rex Sucks at Bass

Rex Sucks at Bass, or RSAB, is my webcomic. as of making this post, i’ve posted the entire first chapter! i’ve been planning this comic since late 2021 and i’m holding myself accountable to finish it no matter what. it’s a supernatural/coming of age story that takes place in 2009 about young adult named Rex who has to deal with relationship issues, worries about his future, sexuality crises, and of course, the impending apocalypse. also all the characters are anthro animals but that’s mostly because they’re easier to draw than people. some prominent characters from RSAB are Rex Xavier, Frederick Zhansky, Henri Bal, Sylvia Rose, Alex “Cowboy” Lorenzo, Lola Ramon, Scott “Spott” Simmons, and Marvin Xavier.

We’re Just Young

We’re Just Young is a fake sitcom about teenagers making bad decisions and friendship. it has a bunch of storylines i’ve planned out, but i mostly just draw the characters out of context. its main character is Gilbert Quarters, who is a gay bass player just like every single other character i’ve ever created. its main story takes place in 1997-98, during the characters senior year of high school. there’s also a “spin-off” to We’re Just Young, which follows Gilbert and a few others in college as they form a band called The Halloween Goats and gain some mainstream success as both musicians and ghost hunters. some prominent characters in We’re Just Young are Gilbert Quarters, Gerry Dawson, Marzy Lee, and Jackson Jefferson. some more prominent characters in the spin-off are Raymond Emerson, Wallace Waxman, Leo Hall, Jimmy Nickel, and Sebastian Ingalz.

Untitled Space Story

when i was 13 i read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and thought “I need to write my own sci-fi story” and then this past summer i got really into Star Wars and ELO and decided to revamp the whole thing. Untitled Space Story follows the adventures of a small crew assembled by infamous space pilot Sonya Blasmo, who is essentially the butch lesbian version of a cross between Zaphod Beeblebrox and Han Solo. she was “retired” because she accidentally turned her wife into a robot but nobody knows that! all they know is that she’s taking to the skies again! the other characters in Untitled Space Story are Alexis “AL3X15” Goldberg, Mindinoma Lycentine, Mariella Young, Sheldon Spinelli, and Casper “Capers” McFarlin.

Heartstake Heartbreak

a really shitty, simple love triangle story about lesbians at some sort of shitty boarding school in the mid-2000s. the only three characters are Maxine “Max” Dallas, Phoebe Jean Weathers, and Francesca “Frankie” Knight. i created this one like a week ago.

Friends of Daisy Harrisson

Friends of Daisy Harrisson is a musical i wrote, and i don’t draw the characters too often, but i figured i’d still put it on this list. it’s got a really vague story, essentially Daisy goes missing and her wife (Freyja Windsnap), ex-husband (Jim Hartley), and childhood best friend (Barneston Williams) are all brought together through her disappearance.

i have a few other miscellaneous OCs that i draw on occasion, but those are all the main ones! thanks for bearing with me on this long post. if you’re curious about these guys/their stories, feel free to check out their tags! i’ve posted a lot of other character/story info outside of this post. also feel free to send me asks about them like please send me asks about my OCs that is my dream.

fun fact: Rex Sucks at Bass, We’re Just Young, Friends of Daisy Harrisson, and Max Dallas is Not a Lesbian all take place in the same town! mostly because i do not want to create another town. the only reason Untitled Space Story does not take place in that town is because it takes place in space.

[justmenoworries]

Smith is depicted as someone with powerful, intense desires, who repeatedly settles for less because he believes what he actually wants is impossible. Cartoon heroes aren't real, so he pilots the realistic military mech. When it turns out they are real, the super robot chooses someone else. He can't pilot Superbia, either. He clearly dwells on this stuff and gets his feelings hurt– he has nightmares about being rejected by Bravern, what a nerd– but it never festers or becomes toxic envy. He's unrelentingly positive and determined to make the best of things. "A relationship with Isami is obviously impossible, but I can be his friend, and I can protect him with the Brave Knights." Smith is also passionate and brave, but he's reckless with his own life. He "dies" during the training mission in the first episode because he disobeyed orders and rushed in on his own. He dies for real fighting Cunus, essentially sacrificing himself for everyone else. But he's brought back from death by his mutual love for Isami– a character who is essentially the inverse of Smith, in that he is not necessarily traditionally brave, but has a strong desire to live and protect the lives of others. They each have what the other needs to learn. Cunus' relationship to Smith is what Bravern's relationship to Isami superficially appears to be in the first two episodes, but with a more antagonistic lens: a powerful alien robot watches a human from afar and fixates on him. She knows his name, but from his perspective they've never met. He is terrified of her, but she doesn't take no for an answer. She chooses him because she can sense the intensity of his hidden desires, and once he becomes Bravern he makes it very clear what those desires are. This guy isn't just enthusiastic and friendly, he was so in love with Isami that the physical embodiment of desire was drawn to him over literally everyone else on Earth. I can only imagine that initial experience of becoming Bravern was euphoric, as the perfect realization of all his desires that he had given up on. It's his childhood dream. It's another chance to save the world. It's metaphysical proof that Isami loved him and wanted him to come back! Bravern can be openly gay with none of the fear or embarrassment that comes with attaching those desires to his human identity. But oh, wait. Isami is scared of Bravern. Isami doesn't know why Bravern chose him. Isami is going to fall in love with Smith, and then Bravern is going to have to let him die– and he also knows that Isami doesn't trust Bravern, because he said it to Smith's face before that final battle. It's a really interesting contradiction to navigate, and it's obviously part of why Bravern chills out and becomes much more reasonable over time. He cares about Isami's feelings, and he wants to form an actual relationship with him as Bravern, not just selfishly steamroll over him. ...But he's still not able to connect the two identities. I think it's very telling that the love confession happens while he's a robot, and that he only ever admits to his identity indirectly when he's literally about to die. Bravern is the representation of Smith's love for Isami in the most literal sense, and he's also the only thing that allows Smith to express that love openly. He's still settling, even as a super robot. "I can't touch Isami the way I used to, but at least now I can connect with him as my pilot. I can't have the same relationship we had before, but I can make a new one." I think this is the biggest reason they had him return to his human body in the end. It was a moment of him having to face Isami as himself, without a mask. He "came out," so to speak. I think it would have been cool to let him keep the robot body, but I get why they ended it the way they did (and honestly, if they ever make more, I fully expect them to give him a way to henshin into being the mech again.) Thanks again. I hope my thoughts make sense and were interesting or clarifying as to the appeal for other viewers, and that I didn't come off as combative. (2/2)

They made perfect sense, no worries!

I'm about to answer with my own thoughts on this and they're probably gonna be controversial.

I think Smith becoming Bravern actually lessens his character arc. Smith is introduced as basically a bait-and-switch. He's someone the viewer can almost instantly relate to: He's a young reckless guy with dreams of becoming a hero, inspired by the Robot Hero shows he watched when he was a kid. These shows that gave him hope in difficult times and inspired him to become a hero like the robot pilots in his shows.

And he's already half-way there, he's the pilot of a TS, that's as close to a super-robot he'll get in "real life".

Or so he thinks.

But then here comes Bravern. A seemingly one-to-one copy of every perfect mecha hero you've ever seen. And he doesn't choose Smith. Smith, who has been dreaming of this moment since he was a little boy whose parents died tragically. Smith, who's chosen to become a Titanstrider pilot because it's the closest he'd ever get to being like the characters he looked up to so much. Smith who might as well have "Shonen Protagonist" burned into his forehead with how many typical characteristics of the ideal hero he embodies.

And as you said, what does Smith do?

He accepts it.

He accepts that it's not him. He's not the Hero. He's not the Protagonist. Someone else is. Isami. The guy who already proved himself Smith's better during the training exercise. Who, in literally any other setting, would probably be the stock rival character.

So instead, Smith accepts that he can't be Bravern's pilot. But he's still a pilot. Just because he's not in the flashy mecha doesn't mean he can't do anything to help.

Then Lulu comes along and Smith finds a new purpose: As her guardian. He realizes, through her, that there's still people who need him. Including Isami and Bravern.

And then comes Superbia. The proverbial final nail in the coffin. Seemingly a second chance for Smith to step up to the plate. Nope! Superbia also cannot be piloted by Smith.

Here's where it finally clicks.

This is war.

There's no such thing as The Protagonist.

Everyone here still needs to work together to protect the Earth they love. A supporting role isn't suddenly unimportant just because a giant robot manifested a flaming sword. That's what Smith realizes.

So he forms the Brave Knights. He co-pilots with Lulu to help Bravern and Isami in any way that he can.

Enter Knuth.

A twisted facsimile of what Smith wanted at the beginning of the show: a super-mecha who is focused on him, only on him. And she's completely unhinged. Dangerous. Selfish.

But Smith has grown past her. Past the desire to be The Protagonist. He's accepted that he's still important. That super-mecha or not, he's still a hero protecting Earth.

...Except no, Smith was actually always The Protagonist. He was always destined to become Bravern and all his development until now? Doesn't matter anymore. Wish fulfillment fantasy ahoy. What are themes?

[funnytooncaps]

Baby Looney Tunes review - s1ep1b and ep1 song (A Secret Tweet and They Love to Sing song)

Intro stuffs

This will be a text basic description of the plot of the episode and my thoughts about certain things. Sorta a text react more like but whatever.

Baby Looney Tunes episodes are divided in double bills with a short song number in the middle counted as 1 episode all together. I put the individual section names I am covering here in the brackets above.

Song

This song is rather ironic as it is talking about the characters singing yet they never do in these song sections. Instead the characters dance around in various costumes and do little clumsy cartoon visual scits while someone elses voice sings the song. These songs are often nursery rhymes and other well known kids songs with lyrics changed to be about the Looney Tunes instead. These sections will also often have baby versions of Looney Tunes characters which are never in the normal episodes.

There often isn't much to say about these song numbers as they are pretty standard and probably what you expect with the above description. However, this pilot episode decided to do something...erm... shall we say; a little extra. There are various outfits and pop culture references in this one and then check out this screenshot.

Yep your eyes are not deceiving you, that IS a toddler dressed as a pimp. This was not a smart move especially on the FIRST EPISODE! You'd think they would check this a bit more closely being the pilot episode but nope. No fucks were given here.

Episode

This episode starts with the Looney babies playing with their toys again and Bugs apparently has a duck toy. I wonder how Daffy feels about that. Anyways, there is a joke were Daffy says he is gonna pretend to be the king and Sylvester is gonna be his knight. Then Sylvester scares Daffy with a toy robot and laughs at him. This makes no sense coz no1 why would Daffy be afraid of a toy he already knows about just being used as intended and no2 why isn't Sylvester the one being scared? Sylvester's character trait is that he is a "scaredy cat" and they use this as a joke several times later in this same episode totally confusing this supposed joke. Great start lol.

Then we get a scene where Taz interacts with a xylophone like any toddler would do. He throws it, chews on the drum stick and then smashes his fists on it. The show has no problem with this like this is normal. This is literally the opposite of the moral from the previous episode.

Then Tweety is playing with letter blocks and makes a joke about how he doesn't know his letters. Is this joke intended for the kids or the adults? I have no idea. How does he even know they are letters in the first place? Anyways, carry on.

Granny mentions how they are playing together despite them all clearly shown playing apart from each other in different parts of the room. Then she invites everyone except Tweety for a chat outside the room. Tweety investigates and it seems they are whispering about something together. Tweety asks about it but they blow him off. There is a joke about Daffy mentioning the secret isn't about him because Daffy is dumb. Hope you like this joke coz they reuse it A LOT in this show!

Then the scene changes to the kitchen where Granny is making a cake mix with Taz in the toddler chair for some reason near her. This is obviously a terrible idea as Taz eats the ingredients on the spoon the moment Granny's back is turned. He contributes nothing to the cake making. He is literally just there for this joke. Tweety then comes in and asks about what they are cooking and Granny blows him off by claiming it is a new diet food for Taz.

Then the scene changes again to Sylvester cutting shapes into paper to make a Tweety shape chain decoration. Btw the way Sylvester cuts this with his claws makes no sense. Then Tweety comes up and asks them what they are doing. This somehow scares Sylvester onto the roof and Lola blames Tweety for it and tells him to leave. This feels a little too mean spirited an excuse to get him to leave but whatever.

Then the scene changes again to Tweety finding Bugs and Daffy whispering about something. Daffy ends up laughing about how great the secret is while Bugs tries to tell him Tweety is behind him. I hope you like this joke because this one is also reused A LOT.

Then the scene changes yet again to Tweety chatting with Taz. He vents about how he feels like something is wrong with his friends because they are acting weird around him and whispering secrets. Taz is fine to stay there coz he can't ruin the surprise since he can't talk lol. Taz is called away by the others and Tweety is sad and alone again.

The scene changes again to Tweety feeling sad and hearing whispering in a dark room across the hall. Tweety turns the light on saying he is sick of the secrets but it turns out it was all a surprise party. Tweety says they thought they all didn't like him but they say they do. This is a classic cut and paste cartoon episode plot which has been done a million times so there really isn't much to say about it. Boring episode.

[yestolerancepro]

Tolerance Project extra The 8 Best Star Wars Rip offs Ranked

Part 2 Battle Beyond the Stars Battlestar Galactica and Flash Gordon 1980 and Spaceballs

Introduction

Welcome to the second part of my blog looking at 8 of the best films which RIP off Star Wars this chapter covers Battle Beyond the Stars Battlestar Galatica the original series from 1978 the 1980 film version of Flash Gordon and Spaceballs

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)

Battle Beyond the Stars was produced by the famous B-movie director Roger Corman. Who died on May 11th 2024 you can read a tribute here https://variety.com/2024/film/news/roger-corman-dead-producer-independent-b-movie-1235999591/

 His rip-off follows a farming world being threatened by warlord Sador (Darth Vader) who needs body parts to salvage his own deteriorating body. He possesses a Stellar Converter that turns planets into stars unless their inhabitants comply. By proxy, volunteers (Rebels) band together to thwart the doomsday machine. The film is comically derivative and was intended to be a Magnificent Seven in space.

My Memories of Battle Beyond the Stars

Not really a Star Wars Rip off its more Magnificent Seven in Space but its its still a great film I remember seeing it on ITV network one afternoon the story didn’t really grab me but I thought the acting was great I remember thinking what is John Boy from the Waltons and Hanibal Smith from the A Team doing in Outer Space lol

For those Wondering what I am talking about ha ha Richard Thomas who played John Boy Walton in the long running series played Shad the hero of Battle Beyond the Stars. George Peppard now more well known for playing the role of Haniball Smith in the A Team played the role of Cowboy in the film.

Further Watching

To watch a trailer for Battle Beyond the Stars click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t7z_44nGio

Battlestar Galactica (1978)

Battlestar Galactica began with the television pilot "Saga of a Star World" and was released theatrically as a standalone film. A thousand-year-old war in a distant star system between humanity and a robot race known as the Cyclons. A peace treaty is reached but ends in deception after the promise of sparing the Cyclon race was broken.

They use the Battlestar Galactica to protect them from the impending robotic fleet. The film and short-lived series led to a copyright infringement lawsuit; the planet Carillon, for example, has a gambler's den similar to the Mos Eisley cantina.

My memories of Battlestar Galactica

For me the original and best version of the show Again speaking as I find the Star Wars references went over my head. I loved the series as a kid  for a number of reasons. One was the classic theme tune by Stu Phillips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzyHxYxc to listen to an interview with the composer click here : https://filmumentaries.com/2023/06/78-stu-phillips-composer-battlestar-galactica-knight-rider-etc/

The charectors of Starbuck and Apollo played by a pre A Team Dirk Benidect and Richard Hatch I also loved the space battles with the Cylons who were great baddies

Talking of the Cylons the blinking eye motif that moved across their faces would turn up  again in another Glenn Larson series for the grill in the talking car action series Knight Rider.

To learn more about Knight Rider click here (368) 10 Things You Didn't Know About Knight Rider - YouTube

I also loved the stories as well about them trying to find somewhere called planet Earth a planet for them to settle on a place to call home they would find Earth but not until the sequel series Galactica 1980 which took place 30 years after the original series .

Further Watching

To watch a trailer for Battlestar Galactica 1978 click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZUHkZPK1AY

To watch a documentary called WTF happened to Battlestar Galatica 1978 click here (368) WTF Happened to Battlestar Galactica? (1978) - YouTube

Flash Gordon (1980)

Flash Gordon is a space opera superhero film based on the comic strip of the titular character. Its story follows an unlikely hero who receives aid to stop a ruthless alien tyrant from destroying the Earth. George Lucas attempted to secure the rights to make his own adaptation of the space faring hero, but when denied, he made Star Wars instead. The film has since reached cult status for its campy, exaggerated costumes, set design, and special effects.

My Memories of Flash Gordon

Again this is not a Star Wars Rip Off Flash Gordon was arround in the early 30s and 40s long before Star Wars was even thought of.

I used to watch the old black and white serials with Buster Crabbe during the summer holidays you can watch a trailer for Flash Gordon conquers the universe by clicking here  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlEWl3igd0c

Also this article is worth a read about how the 1930s Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon seriels changed scifi https://www.tor.com/2019/08/21/the-flash-gordon-serials-of-the-1930s-changed-the-face-of-sci-fi/

 I had also seen the classic Filmation animated series The New Adventures of Flash Gordon 1979-1982 which again was shown during school holidays  and loved that  the first series more than the second.

So I was well grounded in Flash Gordon before I saw the film I first remember seeing this film as a movie première shown on the BBC during Christmas in the early 80s and I have loved it ever since.

The film is really well done acting and effects wise and Queen who I also love did an excellant soundtrack for it Flash’s theme which you can see by clicking here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfmrHTdXgK4 is a great example  I think its a real shame that there was no sequel to follow it I would have watched it anyway

Further Watching 

To watch a trailer for the 1980 film of Flash Gordon click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6uOHnxf85g

To watch a documentary called 10 things you didn’t know about Flash Gordon Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu1bOFUtP5g&t=13s

To watch a retrospective review of Flash Gordon 1980 from the Oliver Harper Youtube channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TI2_323Rvg

To watch a documentary called 10 things The Flash Gordon 1980 the version we never so click here (261) 10 THINGS - Flash Gordon The Version You've Never Seen - YouTube

Spaceballs (1987)

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Spaceballs is the funniest love letter to Star Wars in the entire galaxy. The parody created by comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks follows mercenary Lone Starr (Han Solo), his half-man, half-dog sidekick Barf (Chewbacca), Princess Vespa (Princess Leia), and the wise, old alien Yogurt (Yoda), who teaches them the power of the Schwartz (the Force).

Together, the ragtag team stop the planet Spaceball from stealing the air from Vespa's home planet. The comedy also makes jabs at other franchises, including Alien, Planet of the Apes, and Star Trek.

Probably the best Star Wars Rip off of them all is this one George Lucas even liked it the only thing he told them not to do before giving the production team the green light was asking them not to produce any merchandise for the film

Further Watching 

To watch a trailer for Spaceballs click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGIM_yNzeUo

To watch a documentary called 10 things you didn’t know about Spaceballs click here

10 Things You Didn't Know About SpaceBalls (The Re-Upload) (youtube.com)

To watch a Documentary called Spaceballs 10 things the version we never saw click here 10 THINGS - Spaceballs: The Version You've Never Seen (youtube.com)

Space balls will be getting a sequel click here to find out more https://www.avclub.com/spaceballs-sequel-josh-gad-mel-brooks-1851548890

To find out more about the planned Spaceballs sequel click here https://people.com/everything-we-know-so-far-about-spaceballs-2-8674590

Notes

Thanks to Minty's comedic arts for his documentaries on Flash Gordon 1980 and Spaceballs and Oilver Harper youtube channel for his Retrospective video on Flash Gordon 1980 You tube for the Viarous film trailers and google images for the pictures

[maguro13-2]

Death Vengeance ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Finale [3/3]

[Beyond the Bounds by Maki Kimura plays]

"It's that time again. The news to the real world was shocked when fictional death city have mysteriously vanished from the face of the United States's map."

"A criminal mastermind known as Neo Metal Sonic had teleported both the school and the city itself into outer space, waiting for to be the target of it's final execution."

"And they say that if Neo Metal's demands were not met within in the next 24 hours...The mass weapon of destruction called the Eclipse Cannon will be firing at Death Weapon Meister Academy as part of a contingency plan, to destroy the Kusakabe legacy."

"Tsugumi Harudori, known as the halberd hero Sir Halberd, who turns out to be the self-proclaimed creator of Meta Knight's flying masterpiece and now plans to create an army to go against. Hehehehe... So now... it's time for me to get myself into gear."

[woman singing in Finnish]

Dingo : It's showtime! [Get into Jehuty's cockpit]

ADA : Greetings pilot : Dingo Egret. Weapons armed and ready for combat operation. Preparing for launch.

Dingo : Hey, Leo. I heard the whole thing from that weird monster attack incident in Japan seven years ago.

Leo Stenbuck [via Communication] : Yeah, a school from another world got transported into space, and more importantly, a girl that claimed to be the hero of Soul World that ain't appeared who she was.

Dingo : We found a photo of two girls that are heirs of that alien menace. (Shows a photo of Moirai and her sister (Maka)) These girls are the daughters of the brethren of Phanto...Moirai and her young Identical twin sister that consider to share the race's blood.

Leo Stenbuck [via Communication] : Oh, man. You're joking, right? This is the "real" Maka Albarn? I thought the Maka Albarn that everyone knew on earth was supposed to be a human.

Dingo : The real Maka Albarn was actually born on the same planet that Phanto has taken her mother to the sanctuary due to having the same blood as Master Phanto, one the brethrens's most powerful beings in the Galaxy. While on earth, the Maka Albarn they knew was an imposter, a nosy demon disguising itself as the hero of Soul World covering the whole planet in a layer of pitch black.

Leo Stenbuck [via Communication] : Who knew that she faked being the hero of a Shounen Icon? It's clear that we finally managed to get along with the mysteries of Inky Albarn's whereabouts, of why would a demon would cover the whole planet in darkness.

Dingo [via Communication] : Beats me. Something tells me that the school and the fictional town Death City is now the target of an execution event going on. But whatever it is, it's no execution, they're using school and the city itself becoming a death trap orchestrated by blue robot that wanted to destroy Shinra's legacy.

Leo Stenbuck [via Communication] : Yes, that might be true.

Dingo : [sighs] God damn it. It's been 10 long years since was dropped out by Kojima himself. Where did it all go wrong?

Leo Stenbuck [via communication] : Well, things have changed since the popularity of Metal Gear, but right now we need more focus on stopping that robot menace. This is what we prepared for,

Dingo : You got that right. Come on, let's go give this blue robot a taste of his own medicine.

Leo Stenbuck [via communication] : Good. Over and out.

[the two orbital frames flies off]

Dingo : This is gonna be a fun wild ride.

"We are the Machines and we have the the power to bring souls as a great source of robot energy from this planet."

"Humans, Witches, and Demons have valuable efforts of putting their hatred between each other and making Humankind and Witchkind being an arrogants caused by the Kusakabe Legacy itself."

"Humans of Soul World is so pathetic being heroes to yourselves."

Soul Evans : Damn you, Metal! You will pay for this.

"So as becoming the once known Ultimate Overlord, this world of Soul Eater shall be nothing but a pile of space dust! And the real world will be mine!"

Shinigami (?) : (sighs) This is ridiculous. When will everyone become a deathscythe now?

Great Old One of Power (?) : So, is it true that you finally understand on what happened after becoming God of Death?

Shinigami (?) : No. Not like this. [takes off his face ; revealing Shotaro's face] Looks like I'm not worthy of being death itself.

Eibon (?) : And it is true. You thought of becoming a Death God of your own in the Ohkuboverse, but i realized that all data from the Kusakabe Legacy is officially going to have it's end for no means tomorrow. You can take that stupid costume off, Shotaro.

[Shinigami's body reverts into Shotaro's, Great Old of power reverts into Mana Hinoki and Eibon takes off his mask, revealing to be Yohei himself]

[All Torn Down - Jun Senoue]

Yohei Nanami : So, is everything going according to plan, Shotaro?

Mana Hinoki : Looks like we're ready to finish the job of back where we started.

Shotaro the Dokeshi : Not now, guys. Once again I think I wanted to become the Death God I wanted to be, but eventually, I failed becoming like one.

Yohei Nanami :You don't turn down on me. But we eventually coming down on our tracks. We can continue to fight, we can still fight to save the planet, and keeping the nations strong. But you lost your primordial form as a death god due to the effects of Time reversing in the Ohkuboverse, and there might be a way that we can finally reveal of What Demon Vibe was planning on using these villains as puppets!

Shotaro the Dokeshi : Guys. This isn't about souls or a team of three, this is about the stupid legacy that Shinrw created, Demon Vibe planned this from the beginning and we were doomed from the start. But you are right, we must keep the nations strong. I'll handle this one with the help of my friends! If only Emine hadn't become the victim to the heartlesses, we would've stopped demon vibe's plan of conquering a universe. Who or what has Demon Vibe created the Ohkuboverse in the first place?

Yohei Nanami : There would be someone that have might of created the ohkuboverse, a fictional universe that created one being that is responsible for the Ohkuboverse what created the ohkuboverse, and what made the inspiration for our to created the universe that we lived in?

Shotaro the Dokeshi : Hmmm....

Mana Hinoki : Please, Shotaro. Tell us who created the Ohkuboverse?

Shotaro the Dokeshi : Okay...I can think of one person that created the ohkuboverse 2000 years ago. I found an old photo frame a legendary TV Star from 1990s superhero shows. The Ohkuboverse isn't created by one man, but a woman at least that Fire and Soul go to together. Combining with the elements that is mixture of religious that is the Holy Fire and the Holy Soul. This is one person that we can think of...the one that demon vibe helped with, started it all. This is the one that really started the Ohkuboverse.

Yohei Nanami : Is this...?

Mana Hinoki : Huh...? This is the one that started it all?

[In Shotaro's hand is a photo of the Sailor Scouts]

Yohei Nanami : This is...Sailor Moon star Rei Hino, Sailor Scout codename : Sailor Mars. This gives me the reason that the Ohkuboverse is created by Superheroes called Magical Girls.

~ Forty-Ninth Scene : Creator of the Universe ~

[purplekoop]

hi, was busy most of tonight, finally got to read this and...

See. I was effectively warned that the solution was going to be. well.

but. oh my god. Turret-hardt. that's actually the most big brain solution possible. I love it.

First off, no notes about the backstory. I think that little twist of fate is the perfect simple change for this AU.

Though, granted, as much as I love just a haunted turret bouncing around while screaming "HONOR", I think there's a number of options to take the exact execution. If you absolutely insist on him dying, then I think something with a little more lore precedent would be having an AI replica ala Echo pilot the vessel rather than... his ghost? please correct me if I misunderstood what you implied by that. I mean... I don't think it'd be a problem if it was a ghost kind of situation (I say as the "hey I think the Japanese magic spirits are fine in this world that already has scientific feats so fantastical they might as well be magic anyways" person trying to not be a hypocrite), but I feel like that's the more "Torbish" solution to the "your best friend died" problem.

Alternatively, he couldn't be actually dead, just injured so greatly in that mission that going to fight again actually would kill him. Not sure what injury would be too much for the level of technology in this world to be incapable of fixing, maybe something like a spinal injury where it'd be a risk to try and just fix it even with cybernetics and nanomachines. Maybe it's something that is in theory fixable, but he decided that it's not worth the risk, either to himself or the people he cares for. I feel like it'd have to be something drastic for Reinhardt Wilhelm of all people to retire willingly, but it'd be an interesting (narrative) role reversal between him and Torbjorn. In this case though, the "turret" would be a remotely piloted machine. To make it cooler and not just like 2012 Metalhead's debut episode with Rein just watching the fight from a TV screen and controlling a robot with a SNES controller, say it's like some kind of ultra neural link or something so that Rein controls every little action directly with his mind. Makes it a little more personal at least.

I'm also thinking about a form factor... slightly more flattering than. turret.

Honestly I don't know to what extent though. Part of me is imagining essentially a fusion between Bastion and Reinhardt's OW1 designs (which considering I thought Reinhardt was a robot too at first glance, makes frankly this whole thing funny), but I dunno if that'd be too direct of a way out. Honestly I think one of the cool things about a game that gets as wild with its characters as Overwatch is that there's just so many instances where you can point at the most outlandish designs by the general FPS standard and go "you can play as that". Not even just guys in silly costumes like Cass and Reaper, but like, a floating robot monk, a gorilla with a jetpack, a big robot that turns into a big gun with tank treads, a gamer girl in a mech, a robo-centaur literally like nothing else in fiction ever (other than Huitzil Darkstalker's crouch animation and that's actually it), and a hamster in a bootleg Omnidroid. Shoot, a playable walking turret in an even more literal fashion than Bastion was possibly considered for the actual game if Spider Mech being in the concept art group shots was an implication it was meant to be playable.

(spider mech my beloved you will get your post one day)

So like... I don't think a fancy turret possessed (or remote controlled) by the spirit of a german knight screaming "HONOR!" and "BEER!" would be that dumb. Or at least it would be a dumb I think should be encouraged rather than shamed. Because like, come on, what other game is gonna let you play as that?

Actually hang on, that's the real messed up and twisted part of killing Rein and trapping him in a mechanical vessel, he'll never be able to enjoy beer again for the rest of eternity. you monster.

But seriously, massive thanks for this absolute brain blast of an idea! Being able to collaborate on stuff like this is my favorite part of sharing them, it gets me past my creative blind shots when I'm not able to see things a different way.

Stepping back a bit, I think what I'd want to do is put Reinhardt as a DPS and Brigitte as a Tank, keeping the numbers of 12-13-13 role distribution the same as I outlined in my last post. Especially in this context, it'd definitely make sense to have Brigitte train to fill Rein's old role in a proper set of Crusader armor, very reminiscent of his normal kit, but with her own twist to make it her own. Bigger rocket flail, bigger armor, and bigger Brig to carry it all... yeah that sounds nice to me. Plus it's also neat to me that the Rein/Torb/Brig trio all gets a swap from one role to another. Rein goes from Tank to Damage, Torb goes from Damage to Support, and Brig goes from Support to Tank. That pleases me.

Also excited to see how you decide to handle Genji and Hanzo! Those two stump me a little, and while I think I could come up with something I'm more than happy to get some help with those knuckleheads.

Role Requeue: Reinhardt, Part 1

As my dear friend @purplekoop pointed out: when trying to fit Reinhardt into Role Requeue, we run into a massive problem, literally. He is too big. Shrinking him down would be the most unreasonable change due to the fact that he is already comically massive. The change in size would be jarring. So, what if we leaned into that?

All we need to do is change a single event ever so slightly.

In Operation White Dome, a team featuring Reinhardt and Torbjorn went to Istanbul to weed out omnic forces. The team was attacked immediately. Reinhardt was lightly injured. Torbjorn lost his arm. He only survived the battle because Reinhardt came to his rescue. As Torbjorn recovered in the hospital, Reinhardt spent a great deal of his time at Torbjorn's beside. To ease his friend, Torbjorn let Reinhardt name his newest daughter. And the rest is history.

Now let's rewind.

In Operation White Dome, a team featuring Reinhardt and Torbjorn went to Istanbul to weed out omnic forces. The team was attacked immediately. Reinhardt was lightly injured, at first. Torbjorn lost his arm. He only survived the battle because Reinhardt came to his rescue. Unfortunately, while rescuing his friend, Reinhardt took too much damage. While Torbjorn made it to the hospital, Reinhardt never did.

After recovering, Torbjorn went through Reinhardt's things. He found a name etched into a journal: "Brigitte". He named his daughter in Reinhardt's honor. While going through Reinhardt's stuff, something came to Torbjorn.

Reinhardt was not a restful spirit in any way. He had never given up. No matter the odds or circumstances. He kept fighting. Never staying with a failure. So neither could Torbjorn. He had to do something! Reinhardt was his friend. He was going to be his daughter's godfather! Torbjorn knew what he had to do.

It took months, years of hard work. But it payed off. Using Ziegler's, Liao's, and even O'deorain's research, along with his own engineering know-how, Torbjorn brought Reinhardt back. He couldn't bring his body back, it was far too damaged. But Torbjorn built the most powerful vessel he could.

Unfortunately, Torbjorn can really make only one thing soooooo

Reinhardt looks like this. Forever.

he can walk around and stuff. The turret's legs can walk. If he becomes a support he can spray out healing fluid like a freezing turret.

I think this idea speaks for itself. If you want to go an entirely different direction feel free to. Just know that Turret-hardt will always be there for you. If I feel like it I'll make a moveset for either damage or support Turret-hardt.

[bensolosbluesaber]

Secret Identities - Part 2 (Marc Spector, Steven Grant, and Jake Lockley x reader)

Summary: The Avengers, your team of superheroes, has been called in to handle an invasion in New York, and you’re bringing your superhero boyfriend, Moon Knight, with you.

Part 2 to Secret Identities.

Action/adventure, Cameo-fest

Pairings: Marc Spector x reader, Steven Grant x reader, Jake Lockley x reader

Warnings and A/N: I did my best to accurately represent DID, I put very little effort into creating a plot and a lot of effort into writing dialogue

--

It was only you, Marc, and the agent - whose name you had never learned and didn’t care to learn - on the quinjet. You held Marc’s hand the entire time. There was no denying the anxious fluttering in your stomach as your two lives continued converging. Each second brought Marc closer to the Avengers, and you’d be lying if you said that didn’t scare the shit out of you.

You read through the briefing notes, getting occasional comments from the agent now piloting the quinjet. Rogue artificial intelligence, not Ultron level, but dangerous nonetheless. SWORD suspected some alien involvement, but that wasn’t the concern right now. The immediate issue was an army of robots hidden underground waiting to be activated.

At some point you started to fall asleep against Marc’s shoulder. He gingerly shifted you into a laying position resting your head on his thigh in a familiar comfortable position. His hand settles in your hair and strokes the curves of your face, soothing you into sleep. You hardly sleep for an hour before Marc shakes you awake.

“Something’s happening.”

“We need to drop you in,” the agent called back. “The activation happened earlier than our intelligence suggested. Most of the team is already on the ground. Everyone else is on their way. Don’t forget your comm links.”

You sit up and rifle through your bag, pulling out a familiar costume and stripping off your clothes. Marc blinks at you a few times like he’s surprised at your lack of modesty. He knows you well enough that he really shouldn’t be.

“We can’t all summon our suits,” you tease and toss him an ear piece, even as his eyes begin to glow with white moonlight.

“Tell her she looks amazing!” Steven gushes.

“Keep it in your pants,” Jake snaps back.

You reach for a parachute, but Marc’s white gloved hand stops you.

“I can fly you in,” he offers through the mask. 

“You told me no flying last month!” You protest.

“I didn’t know you were an Avenger last month.”

“Bad call, mate.”

“Oh, so you thought I was fragile before?” You tease, not really mad at the man.

His mask peels away so he can tilt his head and shoot you an amused glare.

“You’re in range!” The agent calls back.

You turn and plant a kiss on Marc’s lips, then punch a button. The door opens slowly with a cold rush of air. You wrap your arms around his strong body, take a deep breath, and together you jump from the plane into free fall. His cape catches like a parachute part way down, guiding you through the clouds lower and lower until the skyline is in view.

Smoke rises from burning buildings, the wreckage of a city that has again become a battle ground.

“Shit,” Marc whispers. “We’re gonna have to stop having technology free dates.”

“Yeah,” you reply, only half paying attention, too busy scanning the ground for your fellow Avengers. It’s pure chaos on the ground, a complete and utter disaster, but then, through the smoke… “There!”

You point Marc in the direction of a bright flash of blue and white, and he angles you toward the ground. The comm link in your ear begins to crackle and finally beeps a connection. You were right.

“-end up here? We’re supposed to be on vacation!” The voice of Bucky Barnes fills your ear at the same moment the bright red, white, and blue wings of Sam Wilson reappear. “Sam, what the fuck is in the sky?”

That would be Marc.

“Good morning, Captain America,” you smile down at the small figures of your friends on the ground.

“Oh thank god,” Sam replies. “Buck and I are a-” he grunts, “A bit outnumbered. We have to hold this street, or it will interfere with the wizards’ spell.”

You’re streaking toward the fight below, finally able to see the action for real. They are more than a bit outnumbered, the two men surrounded by humanoid robots armed to the teeth with every bit of weapons technology available. You drop to the ground at Bucky’s side, Marc landing next to you.

“You’re late,” Bucky calls. “Who’s the mummy?”

Marc shoots him a glare.

“Marc, don’t glare at Bucky Barnes! That’s-”

“I know who Bucky Barnes is Steven,” he answers silently.

Yeah, he knew Bucky Barnes. Well, Steven knew. At some point in their childhood, Steven realized he shared part of a name with Steven Grant Rogers and harbored a small fascination with the former Captain America ever since.

“That’s Moon Knight!” Sam’s wing decapitates a robot as he turns to look Marc up and down. “Read your briefing packets, Buck.”

Bucky rolls his eyes and returns to the fight. You draw two long knives, gifts from King T’Challa, and make short work of any robot that approaches. Marc hurls crescent darts, each finding their target. But he doesn’t let Steven front. Not yet at least.

Occasionally, he glances back at you, checking to make sure you’re alright. You are doing the same to him. You have never fought at his side before, but already you know that you would do it again and again.

“The sorcerers - not wizards, Sam - are working some spell in that building,” Bucky gestures vaguely behind him. “They can shut the whole AI down, but we have to keep these things out.”

“Androids!” Sam shouts as he jumps over one and buries his shield in it’s neck. “Androids controlled by aliens who can be stopped by wizards. The big three!”

“The big three?” Marc turns to Captain America.

“Don’t ask!” You and Bucky shout at the same time.

The four of you stand no chance of holding this street. Of course this couldn’t be a time-efficient spell, and the robots just keep coming, an endless supply of mindless soldiers puppeteered by some unknown force. A piece of shrapnel slashes your face, distracting you from the fight for a split second. It’s enough for a blow to land at your midsection, knocking the breath from you.

You pull the gun from your waist, SWORD issue with some advanced technology you don’t care to understand, and shoot. It’s not your preferred weapon, but it is necessary. Marc is by your side in an instant. He grabs you around the waist and wraps you in the white fabric of his cape. 

It’s just the two of you in this little cocoon. The rest of the world is forgotten as his mask falls away for a moment. The expression on his face is pure horror, lips pressed in a tight line, eyes murderous. His gaze is focused on the blood dripping down your cheek.

“I’m fine,” you insist and run your fingers across his nose and brow that is furrowed deeply, trying to soothe away those worry lines.

“I need Jake,” he breathes, a confession he rarely makes. “We need Jake.”

Jake will do anything to protect Marc and Steven and anything to protect you. It’s probably why you had never actually seen Jake suited up for a fight. He is the ‘whatever it takes’ part of the system, and all three of them are still afraid to show you that side.

“Okay,” you grip his upper arms. “It’s okay.”

His eyes flicker for a second, then his suit shifts, darkens to a midnight black that is more like tactical armor than Marc’s mummy wrappings. A bright white crescent moon shines on his chest; it matches the bright white of his cape. He tilts his head with a little smirk, and just like that Jake Lockley has joined the fray.

“Cap? Cap?” Someone is shouting through coms. “We’re coming to you. Do you copy?”

The voice is crackly, so you can’t make out exactly who it is.

You turn back to the fight, watching with bit of admiration and a lot of attraction as Jake expertly dispatches android after android.

“Did he change outfits mid fight?” Bucky punches a robot beside you.

“Sort of.”

You kick a robot across the head, stabbing one of your vibranium knives into it’s chest and immediately lashing out toward another. You glance up, and the world seems to slow around you. The battle is forgotten as you can only stare at Jake. He is fighting desperately, holding his own except...

Except behind him. A metallic arm is raising a heavy blade for a killing blow, metal arching toward his neck. You’re trying to scream his name. You are screaming his name, but it’s too late. You stab the android in front of you, but you will never make it. Jake’s suit will protect him from a lot, heal just about anything, but not decapitation.

Red flashes across your view, a bright flash hurtling through the air. A stick strikes the robot through the forehead, and the metal being collapses in a dead heap. Jake whips his head around as he realizes what almost happened. A figure in dark red drops from a nearby fire escape, grabs the stick from the robots sparking brain, and nods to you. He jumps into the fight at Jake’s side, the two men working together with an impressive synchrony for two strangers.

“How did you see that?” Jake shouts.

“I heard it,” Matt Murdock replies as he dispatches another android.

A few more minutes and the fighting finally stops. Another wave of robots is undoubtedly assembling nearby, but for now the team has a moment to breathe.

Jake’s mask falls away as he studies Daredevil. His eyes linger on the upper half of Matt’s face, noticing how his eyes are completely obscured by the dark red of his mask. You sprint to Jake’s side, wanting to reach for his hand, hold him, kiss him, feel that he is alive, but you restrain yourself. Your relationship is a secret, and for now you want to keep it that way.

“So this is the boyfriend?” Matt asks.

Your relationship is not a secret.

“How-” you start to question how Matt could possibly know that you had a boyfriend, let alone that this was him.

“You started smelling different a few months ago,” he explains. “It’s him. His scent is all over you.”

“Is there a better way to say that then ‘his scent is all over you’? Tone down the creepy… vibes? Vibes? Is that the word?” 

“Give up on the modern slang, Buck,” Sam makes a face and pats his partners’ shoulder mockingly.

You plant a kiss to Jake’s cheek, and he brushes his hand across your fingers to tell you that he is okay. You watch him and Daredevil with interest, hoping Jake might find a friend in the hero who protected his city with the same ferocity and passion as Jake protected Steven, Marc, and you.

“What’s up with the little horns, el diablo?” Jake asks. “What are you the hero of? Hell?”

“Hell’s Kitchen, and it’s Daredevil actually.”

Jake shoots you a glance then shifts his gaze back to Matt. A smile fills his features, a genuine one, and a second later the same expression appears on Matt’s face. You let out a heavy sigh of relief as they slip into easy conversation and you turn back to Sam and Bucky.

“You and Moon Knight, huh?” Sam frowns. “Guess Spidey was right.”

As if summoned by his name, the mysterious masked hero drops from the sky.

“Hey you guys! There’s another group heading our way.”

He starts to turn to Cap, notices Jake and does a double take to stare at the white costumed man, everyone else forgotten. Jake looks at him completely unimpressed.

“Oh my god, you’re Moon Knight!” Spider-Man’s voice has a youthfulness that always surprises you. “I love you! I wanted a cape because of you, but I gave up the idea pretty quick. I mean not in New York right? Handsy people. It would never have lasted. Wow! Mr. Knight, you are so cool.”

“Mr. Knight,” Steven tries out the name “I like that.”

“I hate it,” Marc replies.

“Well that seems like your problem don’t it? I’m keeping it. You can be Moon Knight. I’ll be Mr. Knight.”

“Marc, right?” Spidey asks, and you can practically see the mischief forming in the boys’ mind at his well-meaning mistake.

“I’m Jake.”

“Sorry! Jake-”

Jake’s expression changes, the suit shifting with him.

“Oops, Steven now,” Steven grins.

“O-Okay, Steven,” Spider-Man tries to keep up.

The suit changes as Marc fronts.

“Marc again,” he teases, messing with the young hero.

“Oh,” that catches Spidey off guard. “Nice to meet you, Marc.”

“Actually, Jake now.”

“Leave him alone, you three,” you glower at Jake but have to fight back a laugh.

You thanked any god you could think of that Spider-Man had been there with his goofy remarks and joking attitude to make it easier for Marc, Steven, and Jake to show off this particular skill set.

“Sorry, love.”

That’s Steven.

He adjusts his white suit jacket and grins at Spider-Man, ““You know, the cape is actually really overrated, kid.”

“I’m Spider-Man,” he lowers his voice and puts extra emphasis on the ‘man.’

“More like Spider-Kid,” Jake mutters.

Steven ignores his alter and nods conspiratorially to Spider-Man. He gives him a thumbs up like they just shared a secret.

“Figure out how to really punch criminals yet?” Daredevil snarks, tossing an arm across Spider-Man’s shoulders affectionately.

“I’m not beating the shit out of people,” he protests.

“It’s more efficient.”

“Whatever you say ‘really good lawyer.’”

You observe their interaction with some interest. Had Matt defended whoever was in the Spider-Man suit? No time for that now though, you realize as a mechanical whirring fills the air. You take a defensive stance at Steven’s side, Bucky to your right. Cap and Spidey leap into the air. Matt stands beside Steven.

Sam looks down at his makeshift team then out at the approaching mechanical army. They’re not much, but they’ll do.

“Avengers…”

--

A/N: I left this open for a part 3. Not sure if I’ll write it, but I do think a 3rd part to wrap it all up and let the system meet some other Avengers would be fun! Let me know if you want added to my general Moon Knight tag list!

Tag List: @love-on-the-murder-scene @bookfrog242 @irethepotato @graciexmarvel @simonsbluee @nagemasstuff @whovian378 @cringingmemeries @eerievixen @velyssaraptor

Other Tags: @bored-as-hell-666​ @teenageranchpsychicwagon @yanelimerida @winterwitch107 @tachibubu @eiressmurdock087 @natalieisfreeziing @thehuntresswolf @isnt-itstrange​ @dearlawdimasimp​ @multi-fandoms-of-madness

[popculturebuffet]

Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye Issue By Issue: Issue #1: How To Say Goodbye and Really Mean It (Patreon Review for Brotoman.exe)

Hello all you happy Autobots. I hope you've packed your ready for a long and lengthy quest as today I undertake one of the longest planned projects i've ever done, courtsey of my newest proud patron, @brotoman-exe. It's the first time in a LONG time i've had a new 5 dollar patron and he seems to be in for the long haul as he's requested monthly reviews of a series that spans over 50 issues and goes into a second volume. And that's not getting into if we cover the dark cybertron crossover, the tie in issue for revolution, or the annuals. But it's one i'm more than happy to do for as long as possible and covers a series near and dear to my heart.

Transformers More Than Meets The Eye is one of my faviorite comics again and the work that got me back into transformers. It's a wonderful epic that is in my faviorite genre of storytelling: A ragtag bunch of misfits who often have no buisness doing what their doing let alone being a group becoming a found family of sorts while proving there more than what both those around them and they themselves think. It's also loaded with humor, character, and giant robots, so what's not to love.

It's also a chance to correct a past mistake. See this isn't my first attempt to do a retrospective of this comic. Back in pride 2021, I did a review of the first three issues of this series, as the series is both one I badly wanted to cover and one that is warmly and greatly represntive, using the fact 90% of all transformers are male to be gay as heck. And I did.. but a combination of an overtaxed schedule, a shaky mental state, and said schedule being flip turned upside down lead to me constantly delaying part 2 before scrapping it entirely and planning to cover the series later. So when Brotoman asked me to cover it monthly, I had only one response

So this is the first project i'm doing over again, and hopefully not the last as I intend to revisit New X-Men at some point, and hopefully this time i'll finish what i've started, however many years it takes. So let's get ready to blast off into space as we meet the crew of the lost light again for the first time. Before we get into the series proper we need to cover what lead us here.

Transformers At IDW

For those less familiar with comics, IDW is a third party comics company that mostly focuses on liscened comics, with highlights being reprinting a bunch of european Duck and Mouse Comics, being the current home of Sonic the Hedgehog, and biggest of all, being the primary home of Hasbros properties: Dungeons and Dragons, My Little Pony, GI Joe and many many more (Including everyone's faviorite Space Knight Rom) got comics here and naturally Transformers was one of the first. And to really get this right, they decided to launch a whole new continuity under transformers legend Simon Furman, who took over for the marvel comic and has written tons of transformers since.

And because I wanted to be throughly prepared for the first time I attempted reviewing this run and to know where things had been I read all of Furman's run and the runs after it to have a good sense of history. Here's an archival photo of me after that experince

Yeah I'm not one to take the side door so i'll come right up front and knock: most of the comics in this continuity before More Than Meets The Eye are mediocre at best and downright awful to sit through at worst. While i'm glad I read them all to have proper context for these reviews, i'm also glad I NEVER have to touch these things again.

Starting with Furman's run which took the idea of "robots in disguise" dead seriously. And some of the ideas are good: having the autobots actualyl use their disgusiese more, a shadowy third party in the war that runs out of a company. They even cleverly redo the headmasters, an old toy gimmick that had aliens pilot transformers, by having them be knockoff transformers needing a pilot to work. There were really solid ideas and reworks of various gimmicky toylines. There's also a variety of good one off stories in the one shots, as furman used Spotlight issues (literally called that) to shed a light on other things going on and expand the story past the main minis.

The problem is that while there were good specks of story here and there, in paticular the series made me a fan of blaster, six shot and has an excellent version of hot rod, if not as good as what more than meets the eye would later do but we'll get tot that, the main story is REALLY boring and dry. The characters don't really have a lot of personality , even my boy starscream, the story moves at a very slugish pace and there's just no levity. I'm not expecting it to be joke o clock but I need more to really keep me going. Ther'es just not a lot here to latch onto or really care about. The ideas are there but the end result wore me out by the end.

Sadly things didn't improve all that much with the next era, All Hail Megatron, a 16 issue maxiseries by Shane Mcarthy that was IDW's first attempt at a soft reboot of this continuity. It would be FAR from the last. I went into this one hopeful despite it having a mixed reception, as the premise is badass and one any transformers fan can get behind: After the autobots decided to leave earth unguarded to deal with another crisis at the end of the last series

Megatron takes the opportunity to conquer earth, and uses a reluctant traitor in the autobots to stage attacks on every other autobot garrison in the galaxy, stranding our heroes and having him have won. Or in simplist most bonechilling turns, Megatron WINS.

So once again we have a good concept: Megatron won, our heroes are left trying to find SOME WAY to turn the tide, and earth is left at his mercy. It should be a no brainer.

The first issue was executive meddling: Apparently Hasbro didn't want McCarthy to show too much of the actual destruction and nightmare that would enuse from their takeover.

So shockingly, numbing the sheer terror and nightmare that ensues when a bunch of technicolor evil robots get to run rampant on the world without anyone to stop them , made the story fall flat. We see some of what they do but without any real damage or stakes it just dosen't have weight.

The next issue is the humans. Most aren't focused on enough with only one, Andy Reid, is really getting what the book should have focused on: normal people stuck in the crossfire when evil wins. It's not a bad concept but with the fangs removed we only get to see it from two perspectives. And one of them.. is Spike Witwicky

Spike is every action hero cliche poured into an action figure mold for an off brand gi joe that somehow became a real boy. Spike is a swaggering dipshit who thinks he's the greatest and the narrative agrees because Spike has snipers trained on it's family and if he dosen't call them every four hours they fire. Having one resourceful hero against the decpticons isn't a bad idea but having this guy be at the front yeesh. And somehow he only gets WORSE with each series.

The other problem is our heroes, spend most of their desperate situation... bickering with one another. I get why: one of them betrayed the others, hope is low, and optimus may be dead. It isn't till Hot Rod shows up with his gaggle of intresting autobots that the story gets some life. I don't mind the autobots having to make their way back or be out of the main action on earth, that's kind of the point. I don't mind it being grim. What I do mind is it taking so long for a lot to happen, and for things to really kick into gear. I'm suprised just how tiresome robots bickering gets but here we are.

Not only that the decpticons themselves are just kinda there.. there's a good idea of Megatron pondering what he does now he's actually won, but it goes nowhere. And that's really the series in a nutshell: it has some great ideas it ocasionally captalizes on but ultimately goes nowhere.

The one bright spot is a tie in mini centered around a character introduced in this series. A character a lot of people really diddn't like at the time: Drift. And I see why: In All Hail Megatron he gets a lot of focus. Problem is Drift is an entirely NEW character Hasbro apparently crammed down fans throats. As usual the homer simpson approach to promoting a character failed.

His mini though was one of those bright spots I mentioned; A decently intresting tail about a city that keeps itself out of the war that finds itself hope to one of the worst of the decepticon army and how it changes the future Drift into a better person. There is a decent amount of standard "we can't interfere because we're self righteous morons who will inevietibly be punished for our hubris" stuff, but Drift himself is engaging and the story does challenge that sort of viewpoint. Also said city and society will be important later as Drift is a main characte rin MTMTE , which helped smooth out the edges and made him into a fan faviorite.

So we're onto phase 3, the ongoing book Transformers by Mike Costa. Mike Costa is a good writer otherwise, what i've read of his x-men run being a fun paced action thrill ride. But this book?

Out of the three main phases before the big relaunch here, this is the one people seem to hate most. And it. Is. JUSTIFIED. The premise is the autobots are on earth, trying to repair the damage done but being hated by the US Goverment and seen as no better than the decpticons. Optimus decides he has to go fuck off to space because that worked out so well last time, and leaves it with bumblebee, which leads to shoddy leadership, conflicts with paper thin analogues for foreign countries, and a lot of humans being stupid and not getting that as incompitent as they are the autobots are the good guy and Hot Rod being an impulsive idiot and trusting a guy literally named Swindle because the constructicons came off as the better option compared to the autobots.

It's a murky mess of plotlines and bad decisions that i've mostly blocked out for my own sanity and won't spend forever recapping here. Ya'll REALLY don't deserve that headache.

Once again a mini series was the ray of light here. Last Stand of the Wreckers. Roberts contributed to the story while the writing and art for it were by Nick Roche, a great artist who contributed to the first arc of MTMTE before the stress of doing a monthly got to him. It's a wonderfully gritty tale that succeeds where the other attempts at being darker failed, following the rough and tumble Wreckers, essentailly the X-Force of the Autbots, as they go on a suicide mission to a prison that's been taken over by the Decepticons, lead among them Overlord, a new character and a throughly terrifying villian that keeps slauthering people and doing terrible things so daddy megatron will notice him at last. It's tense, sad and throughly great nad worth checking out. And like Drift and the Circle of Light, Overlord will also be important later. Last Stand is what helped James put his foot in the door.

What solidified things though was Chaos Theory. I plan to cover this series indepedently when we get to the shadowplay arc, as it's sort of a prequel to that and lays the groundwork for the various trips to past cybertron the series takes. It takes place before the war as tensions bubble and a future member of the MTEMTE cast tries to murder megatron in his cell. It's great, and has a great moment with Megatron admitting his villiany that will be mentioned later in MTMTE.

So shortly after that Chaos happened, a messy finale. To make a long story short, Galvatron, who in this continuity is not the same as megatron, raised an army of zombies called sweeps to raze cybertrona nd later merged with something to become an outer god. Megatron one upped him, things sure did happen, and Roberts helped write the script. The important things are that Cyclonus, Galvatron's old buddy who aided him till he realized he be crazy, turned against his friend nad saved Hot Rod's life, Cybertron was radically transformed into a primal state, and Megatron was defeated.

As a result we get what would kick off the next era of IDW Transformers, an attempt to right the ship by doing something radically diffrent: The war the Autobots waged against the evil forces of the Decpticons.. was over. The Decipticons surrendered. The question was.. what now? What do you do next when you've spent CENTURIES fighting a war? Oceans rise, empires fall but it's much harder when it's on your call.

So that's where this era kicked off with the Death of Optimus Prime. I opted to jump into the series instead of this as while not a terrible start at all, it's where I came in as this issue is in the first MTMTE trade, it's more of a pilot for the sister series Robots in Disguise. See instead of having a mini series or just one ongoing, this era had two with the split coming in said one shot.

Death of Optimus Prime follows the title character as he finds despite the war being over.. things aren't great. Like at all> The New Reborn Cybertron is having a temper tantrum and causing earthquakes, disasters and what not with most of it REALLY not being safe and only Iacon, which somehow surivived everything, standing. Not only that most of the cybertronians who opted out of the war or abandoned it have returned.. and blame the autobots for everything that happened. The NAILS, as their dresrively called should have a point, that they didn't want any part of this war. It is perfectly valid to object to a war especailly when it's senseless. In this case thoguh it's sorta like objecting to the allies during world war II: Megatron was not going to stop until he had won and would kill anything non cybertronian.

With Optimus unable to repair things due to the matrix of leadership having split right in half like a kit kat bar, our heroes end up divided on the issue after a map is found inside, leading to the mythical Knights of Cybertron, a group that allegedlys founded a Cyber Utopia: Bumblebee wants to stay on Cybertron and try to set up a goverment despite not being wanted. Hot Rod wants to fuck off into space to go find the knights, hoping they have a way to heal the planet, as well as a way to honor their culture instead of buldozing it. Optimus.. gives them both halves like a parent who just wants his kids to stop fighting and plans to leave, doing so to settle things down since he's the face of war and taking his old name of Orion Pax back.

So the series split into two: Robots in Disguise follows Bumlbee as he tries to make a go of things nad fails as the NAILS won't shut up and Starscream spins circles around him, playing the NAILS well while being awesome because well. he's starscream. He also gets a crown eventually which is wonderful. As you can tell i'm not a big fan of RiD,. RiD is a lot of arguging, people being stupid, and the sympathetic characters being sidelined. It's also a LOT of Prowl who we'll get into in a moment but for now is best summed up as

It gets better in Season 2, with Optimus joining the cast, along with Cosmos a friendly UFO and Sky Linx, whose a giant space dragon thing that's also a space shuttle, as well as Thundercracker and his kitty. But like so many before it's good ideas, bad execution and overall no matter how many times I tried I just couldn't get into John Barbers run. A third mainline book, Windblade (Which later became Till All Are One), was MUCH better and I truly recommend it, with it's writer not only helping fix the verses shaky reputation with women robots (Arcee became one after being born a male transformer via horrifying experiments and became angsty as a result> I shodulnlt' ahve to explain to you why this is bad but someone shoudl've to Simon Furman, who then got into a fight with Windblade's writer over it despite her being objectively right> Their cool now but still.. jesus man) , having fun intrigue and of course my boy starscream in a tiny crown.

So yeah as you can see the IDWverse was a bit shaky, but it had it's bright spots and it's sad it's coming to an end, with it's second reboot having ended after also failing fairly hard and Image now having the rights via it's Skybound imprint. But for all ti's faults, it gave us some bright lights.. and no light was brighter, better, or weirder than the lost one. So with all this exposition handled.. we can finally set off

The Issue Finally

I may comment on the covers on and off, we'll see, and i'll be sticking mainly to the main covers, as there's just so many dang variants and this review is long enough as is, I can't imagine what the others, even withotu the idw exposition, weill be like. This cover is near and dear to my heart, and i'm fully biased on that as it's an homage to one of my faviorite covers of all time that kicked off one of my faviorite runs of all time.

Given the runs are both semi-sitcom (if less so in MTMTE's case) takes on classic properties, it fits like a glove and it won't be the last time we get an homage to this cover as we get two more echoing it: One for season 2 and one.. that I won't spoil because it's a MASSIVE spoiler for the final arc of season 2.

The issue opens with Rodimus giving one hell of a speech to the people of cybertron. It's one of my faviorite scenes in the entire run, and for good reason setting the tone of wonder and exploration that goes in hand with the heart, hyjinks and tragedy of this run.

While he's obviously selling a big epic quest with tons of stakes, what he says there.. and what he says after really underlines the true meaning of the quest

"You Deserve To See The Universe Without A Gun in your hand"

It's a chance for once to enjoy the universe. Even if there's a big, booming underlying goal to everything Rodimus is doing, both the one he says, and the one for his own drive and ego we'll get to shortly, the real appeal to most of these bots watching.. is a chance to start over. No wars waged to destroy the evil war of the decpticons. Just a noble goal, a chance to see the universe, and all the time in the world to do it. It appeals to one of the purest and most loved aspects of sci-fi, what made Star Trek so beloved and what's made works since, from Star Trek's own newest series Brave New Worlds to spirtual spinoff the Orville: The love of exploration, of going out into the world and finding yourself or something new. The wonder of this kind of thing. The fun of setting off into the world and seeing what happens. MTMTE mixes Star Trek's wonder and scope with a bit of Firefly's taking a bunch of scraps from a war and seeing what they do next, and is helpfully not created by a guy who sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms, so that's nice.

Speaking of sucks dirty ass in thunderstorms, watching this along with cybertron is Prowl

Prowl is an overly paranoid, overly fascist police officer who feels the war isn't ended. He also sucks and I hate him. He's with Wheeljack who dosen't suck and in fact has a realy cool helmety face i've always loved. Wheeljack predicts a max exodus as let's face it, who dosen't want to fly up into space in a giant ship and explore the stars. Prowl however thinks it'll be a non event and that his calculations show barely anyone leaving

Yup as usual Prowl is wrong about people, what's going on in the world and the general concept of things, and the next day, the day most of the issue takes place, a GIANT crowd is lined up to board the lost light. IT's almost as if the guy who thinks the war still isn't over can't grasp that people no longer want to fight it and just want to get on with their lives.

We'll resume the "Prowl Sucks and I Hates Him" hour in a moment as we transfer from one of the worst versions of a G1 Autobot to one of the best, as Ratchet is overseeing a NAIL protester who transformed himself to death. While i'll have to admit I hadn't seen really ANY of G1 going into this comic, or into this retrospective , Ratchet already had a place in my heart thanks to transformers animated and the fact he's about the same here, a crotchety old legend who ends up with a bunch of younger less prestigious weirdos for his own reasons, was a big up.

Ratchet admits he could've saved the guy had his hands not been shaky. We also get one of the best terms in all of transfomers

It really highlights roberts approach to the franchise: unlike other works in this verse, Roberts isn't afraid to embrace how silly things are. He got away not only with naming something rigormorphis.. but having the dead body transform wtih the old cartoon sound effects. Yet at the same time it underlines how he treats things: he's not afraid to fully embrace the silliness of the franchise or crack jokes, it's what keeps this work so great.. but he also does everything with a purpose. Rigor Morphis, while darkly hilarious.. is also a geninely intresting concept that fits perfectly with the world. Roberts is dedicated to geninely building up how Cybertronians function, their culture and their unverse and taking it seriously enough to still work, but with enough good humor and sense that this is a franchise built upon selling toys, comics, tv shows and other merchandise to not take himself TOO seriously. It's an approach I hope future shows including the upcoming at the time of this review Earthspark take to heart.

Naturally given he has focus, Ratchet is joining the ship which bumblebee takes with all the grace and civlity of a 12 year old. LEADER OF ALL OF CYBERTRON FOLKS. He needs him here, but Ratchet makes a valid argument why he wants to leave: he's served every prime since Nominus and thus has been at this for a LONG time, and knows his number will be up eventually. Since Rodimus has promised to pick up any strays they find on the way who were lost since not EVERYONE from the war has been found just yet, Ratchet sees it as the perfect opportunity to find and train a replacement, his swan song. It again underlines a common theme with the Lost Lighters and this work as a whole: It's not the journey it's the destination. As we'll see most people join not for the knights of cybertron quest, but simply to find something else. For Ratchet it's a chance to pass his legacy on and make sure his knowledge and skills live on long after what time he has left is gone.

We next meet Cyclonous, who as I said was part of the whole Galvatron mess. He's an ancient warrior, a bot out of time who awoke to find a cybertron he didn't like and that now it's only gotten worse with the primal reversion, the gleaming cities he remembers from Cybertron's golden age now replaced with a nightmarish landscape. Why he's leaving is obvious: On a Cybertron that throws him in with the Decepticons depsite not really being one and that is unrecognizable, what reason has he to stay? He finds signs of life in a cave though that seem familiar and heads to check them out.

We next get more prowl

And this is where he REALLY shows his ass.. or whatever transfomers have that serves as an ass. Point is he's dressing down his old partner in both senses of the word Chromedome for leaving.

Yeah as we'll find out a few issues from now said "talent" is mnemosurgery: Chromedome can break into a bots mind for information, which was used as an interregation tool both pre-war as a cop and during the war as Spec Ops. It's also a talent Chromedome BLATANTLY dosen't want to use again.

He's had to do TERRIBLE things for the war and like most soldiers, especially those suffering from Trauma which Domey canocially does, he's carried enough of the war with him. He's earned a right to live his life without having to keep doing the things that haunt him. This is all recorded by Chromedome's current Conjux Endura, Rewind whose pointedly Prowl's oppisite: he geninely supports Chromedome wanting to get away from what he used to be and heal into what he CAN be, he's a non combatant having as we lean a memory stick for an alt mode, and he's calm and gentle to Prowl raving like a paranoid luantic.. which dosen't remotely let up after

Yeah the table flipping apparently became so memetic it got turned into a running gag as well as canocially just something he does a lot. Bless you James

So as he radios some agents on board the LL to load some cargo, which shockingly is not remotely a good thing and we'll get to much later in the series what that cargo actually is, we can get into why I hate Prowl so much.

Prowl is a narcist,and a facist, the latter terms can be thrown around haphazzardly, so I am treading carefully.. but it applies and is fully necessary here. Prowl dosne't care for anyone else on an emotoinal level, only what they can do for him, only seems to think he's right even undermining OPTIMUS FUCKING PRIME later in the verse, and being blatnatly descrimtory to the nails and decipticoons. I'm not saying either group has issues: The Deciptcons were the bad guys and while some geninely want to reform or not be mistreated, many are just as bad as ever, and the NAILS, while having some valid points, have a majority of them screeching said points. Prowl cares for nothing and nobody except his own warped version of right and wrong that involves tourture, no real cybertronian rights, and Prowl being judge jury and executioner. He's everything wrong with policing wrapped into one character. He dosen't want the war to end because of one sad simple truth: he's obsolete without it. He's the kind of soldier, the kind of cop, the kind of person who fights not because it's the right thing to do, not because there's no better option, not like any of his commrades.. but because he ENJOYS it. He enjoys killing, tourtruing and doing this and framing it all as the greater good when really it's just him wanting to be the hero because without the trappings of war, he's just a bully who refuses to move on like everyone else is trying to do. It dosen't help that as far as I can tell he SURIVIVES the entire run of this universe.

I just.. needed to get my rage out NOW so I can move on and focus on the characters I actually like. Speaking of which next we meet Tailgate, a tiny transformer whose suffering from a bad case of no legs, having fallen down the hole six million years ago and preparing to blow some shit up to escape.

We next meet Whirl. Whirl is someone with severe issues, both with impulse controls and mentlaly a former wrecker fired for reasons that'll be revealed dramatically later who is tryign to talk out his issues.. to a pile of dead sweeps, clones of Scourge, another friend of Cyclonuses.. and why he comes in. Naturally Whirl's first instinct on being found in a room full of sorta corpses is to try and murder the witness.

We then get a bunch of intros, starting with Red Alert, the ships mildly paranoid and gruff head of security who in turn lets three new additions to our main cast onto the ship: First up is Brainstorm, a mad scientests mad scientest who has a neat look and a briefcase that for some reason Rodimus is letting him just take on board without remotely checking which can't posisbly backfire

That Chekov's gun got a WHILE before it fires off though so onto our next crewmember: Swerve!

Swerve is a small, mouthy little autobot who can't seem to shut up. So naturally he's one of my faviorites as just how long this review is this far in should tell you I also cannot shut up. So I relate to him, and parts of his character that come up later, heavily.

Next we have Rung, a brand new character.. though it can be hard to tell. As you can probably see at this point, while James isn't immune to using more prominent autobots (Hot Rod, Ultra Magnus, Ratchet, Cyclonus), he's also fond of taking characters who mostly existed just to sell more toys and really fleshing them out. IT's why many of these characters got new toys and Swerve and Tailgate in paticular were part of Walmart's g1 risues.. still haven't been able to get my hands on those or any of the lost light crew aside from Megatron. And yes Megatron joins the crew in season 2. We'll get to that in a year or so, but yes that actually happens. And it is as awesome as it sounds.

But Rung is brand new, a psyctrist whose alt mode is unknown. That as you've probably guessed by now is also a plot point. He collects models of ships and is an intresting addition that shows Optimus' compassion: While rung was a psychatrist pre-war too, as we'll see in a flashback arc later, the fact Optimus brought one in despite having no combat value shows why he's well Optimus. At least for now> This is pre his "I'm going to conquer earth for the greater good!' phase> Which also happened and isn't as awesome as it sounds. Rung ends up getting knocked over by Cyclonus and Whirl.

Before we get to them though we check back with our main trio. And it's here i'd like to get into how I found this book. See I get most of my comics digtially and through Comixology, a spinoff of amazon that has large amounts of comics digtially at lower prices than retail and that's before we get into the sheer amount of sales. It's more cost effective for me than print so i've been using it for some time now. And if that weren't enough they have a netflix-style subscripton service, comixlolgy unlimited which for 6 bucks a month gives you an ungodly amount of access to tons upon tons of comics. If you want to check out idw's transformers before the lsiecne dries up, this is the best way as pretty much everything from it is on there by now

So when they added the first seasons of RiD and MTMTE I was curious, not only because LIndsay Ellis had mentioned this continuity had gay robots but because both sounded intresting. It was simply a matter of which to read first.. and RiD won for fairly simplye and rediculous reasons: I've always deeply liked hot rod and a comic seemingly starring him seemed great. The fact it ended up ticking a LOT of storyteling boxes I like was icing on an already great cake

As for why the first is the dumbest: he looks dope. I still want SOME non-bay version of him on my shelf. The less dumb reason is that after watching the bay movie as a teen and enjoying it, I hopped on my computer when I got home and desperate for more cool robots, found transformers the movie. It remains one of my favoirite pieces of the franchise and a film I intend to cover at some point as I fucking love it. Keep in mind I went in blind so I didn't know the various dead bodies were actual characters, nor that a lot of the new cast came out of nowhere, but even knowing that now I still have an attachment to the season 3 cast. Not season 3 itself as I haven't watched it and i'm clearly better off that way from what i've seen via Phelous, but thed characters had great design, were fun to watch, and were part of a film I loved> The film's also why I love Grimlock so damn much, as should we all. I have one but I want more because you can neve rhave enough talking robot dinosaurs. Same with STARSCREAM, who I do need a figure of, who is glorious as always.

So having an attachment ot Hot Rod and Ultra Mags, not so much Cyclonus but this comic made me love him so hey, it was an easy sell. And i'm glad I did as this is easily the best version of him i've encountered: James took a character that was hot headed and impulsive and had made some stupid decisions, and decided to lean into it. As such Rodimus is impulsive, egotistical, and when we see it is bragging about hwo many crew he's got like a ten year old who just got a cooler transformer than his most hated friend. He's also endearing: it's clear this quest means a lot to him, he cares about his crew and while he may be an ipulsive hammy manchild, he's a cool one. He's basically james t kirk if he were less horny and more hopped on skittles.

With him are two contrasts: Drift whose been made into a new agey samurai who constantly tries to stay peppy and Ultra Magnus, who in this continuity is a giant stickler to the rules who vies wearing your autobadge at an angle as a high crime, isn't fond of his new crew, and is the defention of hardass. The two ballance him out with Drift being the encouragment Rodimus needs and a reminder of the spirftual part of the journey and Ultra Magnus being the hard nosed voice of reason our hero needs.. while also having such a stick up his whatever a transformer has that substitues for an ass that he's a comedic foil. Rodders and Mags are bascially Jake Peralta and Captain Holt without the father son angle, with drift just kinda there, but still not half bad.

So back at the fight Cyclonus shows his character as he dosen't WANT to do this, Swerve is just trying to you know murder him. Meanwhlie Tailgate has been passing out on nad off for the last 6 millon years and prepares to finally ignite the energon.

As if this wasn't enough, the unambgiously gay duo and Ratchet are heading for the ship, with the happy couple bickering a tad as Chromedome tends to bring up the fact his boyfriends alt mode isn't a vehicle. Thei rinterrupted by the fight, with Swerve having one and preparing to execute cyclonus and blaming him for his own issues.. btu Ratchet isn't remotely fooled, figuring Cyclonus might of done something but can't talk Swerve down. Thakfully a giant energon explosion can and our heros decide to load the two on the ship and let Rodimus sort it out, along with Tailgate who shows up talking about a ship and assuming it's their ship bring him along for repairs. Rewind plans to catch up.. after buying some mysterious but clearly shady discs from Swindle.

Thus we come to our ending. Rodimus prepares to take off and refuses to take a call from Bumblebee and we get some great comedic timing

Shockingly Prowl ISN'T to blame but we'll get to that next issue. The important thing is that cybertron thinks everyone is dead for now.. and blames Prowl because I would too if I didnt know they sere still alive. Hell if I didn't know why the engine malfunctoned i'd still think it was an ATTEMPT to kill them

But it isn't, they simply jumped with their quantum engines (their verision of lightspeed) too soon, so as a result they got shot halfway around the galaxy , the ships damaged and many of the crew go flying out it onto a planet, with Rodimus planning to retrive them. We end the main story on rodimus getting some.. less than stellar news when he sees what he thinks is a meteor shower

The issue itself ends on a message from the future... with a bunch of foreshadowing of what's to come...

Where this is from.. well that's for season 2 to settle as is everything else, but it's amazing just how far in advanced Roberts had this planned out as where it comes from was always intended. As for where.. you'll just have to stay on the ship won't you? One last bit of buisness before we depart though

A Most Precious Soundtrack

So one notable thing about the series is it has a soundtrack, with James Roberts, much like fellow comics mastermind Kireon Gilleon, picking out some tracks for each issue, with a few exceptions, as well as a theme song for each season. So having not listened along in the past as I tend to binge read a lot of the time, I thought it'd be fun to give these songs a listen and see what sticks out, what I think, how it fits the issue etc. I'll dot the character themes in with these early issues, but for now i'll just be focusing on the theme for the season and the two tracks for this issue. I'd also like to thank wadapan over at the transformers community wiki who saved this sountrack for us all , which is what I found via google. Let's begin.

Season 1 Theme/Series Theme: Lost Coastlines- Okkervil River 

An upbeat indie song about the band itself struggling to hold it together, using the metaphor about a two sailors going into unknown territory, which fits the comics themes of self doubt, exploration and strife as well as it's tone, upbeat yet full of angst, adventure and longing under the service. I'll likely have this one on repeat post review.

Across the Universe- Fiona Apple

This one I had sought out before for reasons that escape me now. The song itself is a fairly beautiful, very 90's cover. I still prefer the original and version from the movie Across the Universe (Another one for the massive pile of "Stuff I want to review at some point). It's not bad and at first I wasn't sure how much it fit.. but "nothings going to change my world" actually fits the story really well: Our heroes are setting out and get nothings going to change their world. A bit more literal than obviously intended, but still a nice little pun.

Fun fact, the image for this on youtube and likely other services is from the Plesantville soundtrack, a movie I do want to see at some point and sounds fairly good about two teens ending up in a black and white sitcom. But the cover is uh.. it's a lot folks.

Like I know a gimmick of the film is characters going into color but... why does someone set a tree on fire. Why are they making out in front of it. Are these characters even in the movie? I have all the questoins about plesantville, this soundtrack and its marketing team and none of the time to answer them.

Absent Friends- The Divine Comedy

Now this one fits way better. It fits the hustle and bustle, the idea these characters are leaving and may never come back (and with the issue ending explosion it's thought they won't). I really like the western tone of this, it's really neat and I may have to check this band out more. Cool stuff

So with that we're finally finished. This review was a lot and a lot of fun and next month we see who lived, who died and meet Swerve. So till next time thanks for reading, follow for more and consider joining my pateron yourselves. Later days!

[thereaderinsertlady]

It's KRBAY/HNK head canons time!!!!!!!!! (Planet Robobot Addition Part 1)

(Also, once again thanks to Earthbouds for this idea)

The story arc goes like this, it begins with Kirby, Tiff, Tuff, Sir Ebrum, Lady Like & the Cappy Kids hanging out at the beach & having a good time. But then a giant ball with 4 legs grabs Planet Popstar as it buried it's legs on the planet. Tiff and Tuff spotted the Halberd going to attack the mysterious flying object, until the object launched a beam at it, making the ship to land into the ocean (again). Tiff, Kirby, & the others were shocked, but then the legs lifted upward, then stomp to the ground as everything turned into metal and robotic. Tiff, Kirby, & the others tried to run away from the robots who were trying to turn them into robots. Kirby & Tiff accidently got split up from the others, and then ran to the cavern where Dark Meta Knight's steamboat is located. (More on him some other time) Due to it floating in the water, steamboat didn't get mechanized. Tiff and Kirby were panting in fear, but out of the shadow, 2 eyes pop up, screaming at them to get off his ship. Tiff & Kirby were shocked, Dark Meta screamed at them to get off his ship. Tiff explained about what was going outside, in which he didn't believed them. When that didn't work, Kirby lifted him and took him outside. When DMK saw what was outside he was shocked to not only see everything mechanized, but even the Cappies and Tiff's family. When Dark Meta was taking all what he just saw in, the 3 of them saw they were being targeted. Tiff picked up Kirby as she and Dark Meta Knight dodged the attack. They spotted that an otter robot in a Mecha was aiming at them, claiming that all life being should be mechanized. After a long fight, the otter robot girl is kicked off her Mecha. She said that Kirby was quite the fighter, as Tiff asked what was the meaning of turning everything in metal. In which she said sadly that it was her boss' duty, DMK asked why she must obey him, in which she said that he would shut her down and scrap her if she defied him. This angered Tiff, but Dark Meta told the 3 of them to follow him, stating that he'll handle this Haltman guy & his assistant (in reality, he wants to take over the company and start a war). But first, they need to go through the gigantic, robotized Cappy Town, where they had to battle many robotic Cappies and Waddle Dees. Since Tiff and Kirby didn't want to harm them, the otter girl gave them her own robot, where she re-programed it so Kirby can climb and pilot it. Kirby was going to get on, but Tiff made him swallow a wheel, turning him into Wheel Kirby, but as he got on the robot, the robot change. As they were going to escape the angry mob of robots lead by a robotic Chef Kawasaki, Burning Leo, (as seen over here https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/KirbyLightNovel)

and a giant robot named Gigavolt, chased then chased the 4 when they got caught. As the team rushed to King Dedede's Castle, the robot slammed its arms, trying to smash the 4 of them. But as it did, Kirby spitted out his wheel ability, changing the robot completely. The otter girl began telling Kirby what to do, where he managed to completely destroy the robot as the robot armor got out a giant screw and completely damaged the robot. Tiff and Dark Meta Knight were surprised to see how much stronger Kirby was with the armor. The robotic otter girl then stated that now that they're closer to the Haltman company, they should fly be able to fly there. Where then she turned the robot in jet form as they flew into the Haltman company hangar. Meanwhile, Haltmann, his sassy ai called Star Dream, & his assistant Susie are looking outside the Haltmann Works co. office at the heroes and plotting how to get rid of them. After some talk and banter between the 3, Haltmann and supposedly Star Dream leaves the room. When he left Susie then begins to look through his stuff for something (but Star Dream is secretly watching) ... ANYWAYS the next part would start with the 4 heroes trying to make their way from the hangar into Haltman's main office room. As they got off the robot, The robotic otter girl was about to open the hatch that would easily take them to Haltman. However, the security was set on, as a bunch of robots started heading towards them, DMK quickly started battling them, claiming that they were not a match to him. So, while Kirby and Dark Meta battled the robots, Tiff & the otter girl rushed and help. After destroying the security, they heard a hologram, laughing. IT WAS HALTMANN! He said he was disappointed at the otter girl's betrayal. In which he pressed a button, which open a hatch they were standing on, taking them to the lower deck of the Haltman Company, which was filled with water. As they got on the robobot armor, the otter girl told them to press the parasol mode, which allows them to use the propellers. However, they were not alone, as a giant mechanized Acro appeared, where it intended to attack them. As Dark Meta slashed and prevented the robot's bombs from exploding on them. The otter girl had enough of the robot's attack, so she forced Kirby to change the mode from parasol to ice, where it froze the robot allowing them to escape as the jet mode finally recharged. But they quickly turn into bomb mode, where they launched a bomb into the air as they blew up the hatch. Where they got into jet mode and flew away, just in time to avoid the robot Acro. as they went to a higher part of the Haltman company, they triggered an alarm system that shocked the robot armor, frying it system. As the robot girl was about to reprogram the robobot, they met the assistant Susie. Susie introduced herself & Meta Knight, (who was turned into a robot called Mecha Knight) as well as the Mecha Tuff. Both cyborgs intend to attack them. After Susie made her speech, she then left. Due to her horror, Tiff didn't look, as both Kirby, the otter girl and DMK battled them. Dark Meta Knight's temporary sword was destroyed and practically made him break his arm, but thanks to Kirby and the otter girl, they shut both cyborgs down. Tiff then asked if there's a way to restore them, in which the robotic otter girl then said that she'll take them to the sector to restore them and that Dark Meta Knight should go with her. Which he disagrees claiming that his arm is ok, until the otter girl slapped it in which he cried in pain. As they left, Tiff and Kirby had to go by foot. Meanwhile when Susie was looking around the archives room, she stumbled upon a file called MEMORIES. Susie then put the file into her private Haltmann Works co. device, where it's decurved that she was President Haltmann's daughter, and she used to have a mother. She saw moments like Haltmann holding Susie's had as a newborn which really made her cry. She then found out that one day Haltmann was experimenting with portals. Where a young Susie subspecialty falls into the portal.

:0

[tastycitrus]

i don’t know

to celebrate live-a-live getting a remake, i wrote a brief shitpost

Things were kind of weird for our group of heroes. For some reason, each of them had heard a weird ominous voice before they got teleported to this strange spooky land that looked like someone turned down the saturation on everything. This place was called Lucretia, but none of our heroes knew that because they weren’t from here. Pogo couldn't even fucking read, not that any of the blood-splattered signs were legible.

Speaking of our heroes, they were the weirdest bunch you could hope to find. Pogo was a literal caveman. Cube was a literal robot, but not a literal cube. Kato was weird like that. Sundown was a literal cowboy. Oboromaru was a literal ninja. Li, Yuan, and Sammo couldn't decide on who was going to be the inheritor while the others died so they all just decided to not die and now all three were present. Also they were kung-fu fighting, with kicks that were fast as lightning. Masaru was a level 2 battle hobo wearing only a bandage. And last and certainly least was Akira, a teenage psychic with terrible skills that did no damage who once piloted a giant robot to save his hometown. Sadly, he was here instead of the giant robot, which would've been much more useful than him.

In fact, Akira was so useless that he was actively detrimental to the team at times. Like right now, when he used his psychic powers to teleport everyone away from a fight and ended up teleporting them all to hell.

"Wow, great going, Akira—you teleported us to hell," everyone else complained. Well, Cube and Pogo couldn't speak for very different reasons, so it was more like they beep-booped and made upset noises respectively.

"I didn't mean to!"

With no clear route to leave hell in sight, the group was relegated to just wandering around and hoping they didn't get hopelessly lost. Suffice to say, they got hopelessly lost.

Around hell, there were a bunch of tortured souls as one would expect to find in hell. Whenever the group got close, the souls would resolve into people whose minds Akira could read because he was psychic. Most of them had nothing interesting or helpful to say. In fact, all the knights said the exact same thing. Akira had no idea what the hell an "oar stead" was, and apparently neither did the knights judging by how they kept saying that words couldn’t express it.

There was one guy who looked like a major character, however. This guy had purple hair and looked like an asshole. An extremely depressed asshole, but an asshole nonetheless.

When Akira read his mind, he heard: "Is it my fault…"

"Yes," everyone immediately replied, though again Cube and Pogo couldn't speak so they beep-booped and uhoo'd instead. This was an interesting reaction considering that the only person who actually heard what the man was thinking was Akira, who again had psychic powers that let him read minds. However, though no one else could hear the man's thoughts, they all got the feeling that he was asking a question to which the answer was obviously yes and responded accordingly.

In any case, the answer was yes. Fuck you Straybow.

[enfysandember]

A's Visions shorts ranking (SPOILERS):

1. The Village Bride, 10/10 -- if I'm being honest this short was TARGETED at me and I am in deep love with F I love her I also love all of the other character designs, the voice acting is great, the pacing is great, the final battle is AMAZING I love the golden lightsaber, and I like the story it felt pretty chill and not like they were trying to cram 50,000 things into the episode-- I want more but I don't feel confused about what was happening. If there's one complaint I have the ending couple shots felt a bit static and slideshowy but I'm willing to ignore that

2. The duel, 10/10 -- just great, super cool animation style, great action, just really really cool. I don't have much to say honestly, the main character was mysterious and I will probably read the stuff coming out about him, I like that he's a sith. When he opened his coat(?) and we saw all those red kyber crystals I went apeshit. Very cool short.

3. Lop and Ocho 9/10 point off for having a furry -- listen I actually CRIED at this short and I don't know what I was expecting going into it but it was NOT THIS. I went into it thinking oh god they put a furry in star wars and instead I got this heartwrenching tale about a family split in two and the power of bonds over blood and I just?? They had NO RIGHT to do that to me I want an ending I want them to be a FAMILY AGAIN. I need closure god damn it!!!

4. T0-B1 7.5/10 -- not gonna lie it was pretty predictable I saw it and I was like yeah this professor is probably going to die and toby is gonna become a real boy in spirit and yeah that's what happened but god damn I did like it more than I thought I would. BIG Astroboy vibes except it was like 12 minutes long so I feel like I went through 3 arcs of him 1. going from his idyllic life to the professor being dead and recovering from that to 2. finishing his professor's life work and seeing rain for the first time to 3. getting a lightsaber (where did that kyber crystal come from??) fighting an inquisitor becoming a JEDI KNIGHT having a bunch of his little robot friends killed getting his hand cut off and then killing the inquisitor like that's just a LOT it was very fast paced a little too much for me.

5. The Ninth Jedi 6/10 -- it was alright, it was fine it was cool, I liked the kind of colorless blade unfortunately ETHAN ruined the episode for me and also it felt like it set some things up for like an actual series like a pilot episode but it's just one short like is her dad okay?? where are the other jedi?? and that by itself would be fine but I don't know, there was just no moment where my adrenaline spiked and I went HOLY SHIT like maybe her saber turning from that weird grey color to green would be a moment but it just... happened.

6. The Twins 6/10 -- listen the action looked cool, some of the ideas were cool... it just felt again like they were trying to put too much of a story into the short or it was just weirdly paced or something, and the exposition was not great. I also REALLY did not like the voice acting the voice acting really took me out of it on this one (on english dub)

7. The Elder 5/10 -- it was okay, the style was nice and the characters were... fine. The old sith guy was appropriately creepy but I feel like they could have done more cool fighting with him. The whole short felt really static, during conversations they just kind of cut back and forth between the master and padawan's faces and they didn't move much, during the action it happened in short bursts which was cool but for the rest of it it just felt really static.

8. Tatooine Rhapsody 3/10 -- I don't know what to say. I gave it such a high score because it was kind of cracked out but the tonal whiplash I got from the first scene scene to the rock band was a bit much and I don't like that slugs character design. I feel like the padawan was supposed to have an emotional arc or something but I don't know what it was?? like I thought he would fix his lightsaber and do action stuff but they sand a song for jabba and it was a BAD song too like I did not like it at all.

9. Akakiri

[bexterbex]

A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 11

Warning, if it hasn’t been obvious in the movies there is Nazi symbolism within the First Order. I will expand on this much more throughout the story. If this is something that bothers you, please just exit the story. The author does not condone any Nazi ideals, this is just for fictional uses only.

A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with some canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?

Originally posted on my Ao3 Crystallclover (If you can’t find it here)

Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7a | 7b | 8 | 9a | 9b | 10

Let me know what you think in the comments or my ask box.

Chapter 11: A Room to be Shared

Summary: You decided to take a leap of faith and talk first, “General Hux said you might give me a tour of the ship.”This seemed to take his mind off of whatever was going through his head. “Yes,” he said clearing his throat. “We have time tonight if you would like to?”You nodded in agreement and he had a ghost of a smile on his face.

_______________________________________________________________________

You could feel the pressure of leaving the atmosphere but you did not experience any weightlessness which was disappointing. The ride was silent, no one spoke except for the pilot when informing station control of your arrival. You were very nervous, this being your first time leaving Earth and all. 

The pilot informed you all that it was safe to depart the shuttle. Kylo quickly and swiftly unbuckled himself and reached over to unbuckle you. In a way it made you feel like a child, but it also felt oddly protective. 

Kylo was the first to leave the shuttle, the other officers waited and followed after you. You all descended the ramp and paused at the base. General Hux was right. There was a large battalion of stormtroopers and a large number of officers and pilots waiting for you. They all saluted, Kylo nodded his head and he was off walking again. You were struggling to keep up with his long strides through the handier. Reaching the door he paused and turned to you as if he was now remembering that you were here, he took your arm in his and guided you through the long hallways of the Steadfast. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see two junior officers following you with your bags. 

Throughout your journey in the halls neither you nor Kylo spoke. Officers ducked out of the way and saluted. When you came to a cross-section there was a squad of stormtroopers marching the halls, they paused and saluted while you and Kylo turned down the other hall. Finally, you were in a section that hadn’t had many doors for a while and that no one seemed to be in. You both approached the door. Kylo punched in a code on the panel next to the door and you stepped in. 

The room was quite grand and white, brighter than you expected for a man dressed in all black. The room you entered was very large and had a large bay window showing the stars. There was no furniture in this room except for a podium of sorts that held a melted looking mask. To the right of the doors there were stairs that you could see leading to a bedroom, to the left of the room there were stairs leading to a kitchen. The whole place seemed bare—empty. 

The junior officers just left your bags by the inside of the door and left. You two were alone once again. Kylo let go of your arm, moved away from you and removed his helmet. A podium raised from the ground, this one had a layer of ashes in it he placed his helmet there. He turned to you but stayed silent. You could tell there was something he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find the words to say it. Instead, he grabbed your bags from the doorway and took them up the stairs, you followed him. He paused at the end of the bed and turned to you, unsure. His eyes were nervously darting from you to anywhere but you. He then went to a door on the left side of the room. It opened and revealed another bedroom with a bathroom attached to it. He set your bags on the bed. 

This whole situation was awkward, you could tell there were a million thoughts running through his head but he was unable to speak even one. So you asked, “Shall we have dinner soon?”

This snapped him out of his own thoughts, he nodded and gestured for you to head towards the kitchen. “I’ll have it sent over.” And with that, you saw a data pad in his hands as he quickly sent an order to the ship’s kitchen. In the kitchen of your shared quarters, there was a large dining room table, that you both sat at, beauty and the beast style. 

A few moments passed and just as you were about to speak again the door opened to the main room and a robot appeared with a cart full of food. Impressively the cart was able to traverse the stairs and the droid went quickly to work setting the food that Kylo ordered in front of you. The food seemed familiar but was still not something you have seen before. You wondered about all of the different species of plants and animals that were available to the First Order as food. You both began to eat. 

Kylo again seemed as if he desperately wanted to make conversation but was unable to find the right words. 

You decided to take a leap of faith and talk first, “General Hux said you might give me a tour of the ship.”

This seemed to take his mind off of whatever was going through his head. “Yes,” he said clearing his throat. “We have time tonight if you would like to?”

You nodded in agreement and he had a ghost of a smile on his face. You two finished your meal now with a pleasant silence. “What will we do with the dishes,” you ask. 

“A droid will pick them up while we are on our tour,” responded Kylo. You were both now in the big main room where he picked up his mask again and punched in a few messages to his data pad. Once he was finished and his helmet was on he gestured for you to take his arm again.

This felt nice like you were a princess and he was your prince, your knight. It made your heart flutter and you tried to conceal your blush. You were now out in the hallway, winding and turning until you were at the bridge. You both enter and the chatter you could hear while the door opened died immediately once everyone realized you were there. Generals Hux and Pryde were there, Hux spoke first:

“Supreme Leader, I see that you did decide to give Lady Y/N a tour this evening.” 

“Yes, she requested it,” said Kylo simply. “Would you explain the different aspects of the bridge to her?” And with that Kylo seemed to want to release your arm so you could follow the general. This saddened you a bit but you just followed along. 

“Certainly Supreme Leader it would be my pleasure,” said Hux, he then gestured for you to follow him. “My lady.” And with that, the general took you around the bridge explaining the different roles and introducing you to the officers. You could tell they were all on edge with Kylo there, especially because he was still standing where you left him but he seemed to be following you with his eyes. The officers being nervous as to not mess up, but they seemed more comfortable with the general. Once he was finished explaining everything and introducing you to everyone he returned you back to Kylo and you thanked him.

You took Kylo’s arm again and you left the bridge, you wound the hallways until you came to the med bay. Stepping inside you were met by a man in a white uniform. 

“Supreme Leader.” And he bowed slightly and turned to you. “My lady, my name is Dr. Xero Dabrini. I am the chief medical officer on board the Steadfast. I was informed to give you a tour of the med bay and to give your vaccinations.” And Kylo released your arm again letting the doctor give you a tour. By the end of the tour, he lead you into an examination room.

“Hopefully you will not have to really ever be to the med bay apart from your health check-ups. Now I will be administering all of the vaccines that we require, but first I will check your medical record to see what you are up to date on.” He used a larger data pad to pull up your medical record, you assume that they had it after you had been registered. After confirming your current vaccinations, he pulled out a device that had several needles in it. He prepared your arm with what you assumed to be a sterilizing agent and a numbing gel. You didn’t even feel the shots. He then took something that looked like a radar scanner and held it up to you. “You seem to be in excellent health. Now I have one question for you. May I ask if you are on any form of birth control?”

This question startled you. It was probably just standard procedure but it was also known to him that you were the Supreme Leader’s match. You wondered if this influenced the question because Kylo and you hadn’t spoken much to each other yet and it was not something you were ready for with him. 

“I currently have and an implant in my arm, I just got it three months ago, they are supposed to be effective for three years,” you responded. The doctor nodded and typed something into your medical record. 

“That is very good. The Supreme Leader may request that a First Order one should be put in, but for now, that will be sufficient.” With that, the doctor lead you back out to the main lobby to join Kylo again. You thanked the doctor and took Kylo’s arm again and he lead you down the halls.

You were tempted to ask him about what the doctor said, but knowing you had only spoken with him a little you were sure this wasn’t the time to ask him. He wasn’t expecting you to sleep with him, he gave you your own room. 

You came upon the hanger once again. This time Kylo took you around to the hangar and he talked about the different ships. There was a TIE fighter that was different from the others and he didn’t mention it so you.

“And this one,” you asked making him pause in front of it. 

He looked at you then at the ship. “This is mine. I designed this model when I was new to the First Order. Its faster, with its twin-ion engine and has two SJFS L-s9.6 laser cannons, two SJFS L-7.5 heavy laser cannons, an Arakyd ST7 concussion and mag-pulse warhead launcher and a proton torpedo launcher.” He seemed proud of it even though the vocoder hid what you assumed in his voice. 

“Sounds like only a very skilled pilot is able to fly it,” you said. Through the vocoder, you could hear him clear his throat as he glanced down at the floor. If he wasn’t wearing his mask you swore he was probably blushing at your compliment.

Regaining his composure he asked, “shall I show you one of my favorite parts of the ship?”

You eagerly nodded and smiled at him. One again you were off in the winding halls of the ship, knowing you would have to be guided for a while as it seemed hard to memorize where you were going and because there were no signs anywhere telling you where you were. 

You came upon a door and Kylo punched in a code. The door opened to a large empty room. He guided you in. On either side of the room, there were large windows. On one side it showed you a hangar bay, similar to the one you toured but this one had more cargo and seemed to be where they actually built ship, not just maintained them. On the other side, the windows were open to the stars. Both sides were beautiful in their own way.

Kylo removed his helmet for the first time during your tour. “I come here when I need to think. When I desire to be alone with my thoughts, where no one can disturb me.” 

He let go of your arm but took your hand and lead you to the hangar side. Your heartbeat was a mess. 

“No one is allowed in this room unless it is an emergency. But this room will always be open to you. There is a room like this on every one of the First Order ships. They are all open to you,” he said seriously.

You took this time to look at him in the eyes and appreciate that he was allowing you into a private part of his life. “Thank you Kylo,” and you gently squeezed his hand. Now you could confirm that when he slightly ducked his head that he was blushing, he also gave a small smile too. It made your heart swell.

He then lead you to the star side of the room. “My dream is to share every star in the galaxy with you. That they know how good the First Order is. And that they may know peace and order.”

The first part of that made you blush especially because he gently squeezed his hand as you did his. You two remained standing there staring into space for a few minutes before he put his helmet on once more and lead you out of the room. 

“This will be our last stop of the night,” he said pausing so the doors could open. They revealed a large throne room. In the entrance, there was a long narrow walkway that had holes on either side of it for no other reason than to look impressive. The narrow walkway opened up into a large expanse of the room. Long red curtains were covering the beautiful windows, you thought this was a shame. There were 4 devices, on tin each corner, they reminded you of Tesla coils as they came out of the floor. In the middle of the expanse, there was a large throne, too big for one person, but you suppose that was the point. In the room, there were a number of red guards that reminded you of the Knights of Ren from the pamphlet but were somehow different. 

“This is my throne room. I am not often here as much as my predecessor was, but I can be found here at different times of the day. I prefer to move about the ship and the planet that we are occupying at the time. To be involved with the daily workings of the First Order.”

Kylo brought you to the throne. “Sit,” he gently commanded. 

You were taken back by this, but you followed orders. He stepped back. Seeming too admire the sight in front of him. 

“The throne becomes you,” he said complimenting you. At this, you blushed and stood feeling awkward at the situation. He took your arm once more and lead you back to your chambers.

[danurso]

Ice Knight

Weiss: *sighs in depression*

Jaune: what's wrong?

Weiss: my father. . .he took my title of heiress of the SDC.

Jaune: what!? Can he even do that!?

Weiss: unfortunately, yes.

Jaune: and can't you do anything about it? Or someone else on your family?

Weiss: i'm afraid not. My sister gave up on her title long ago and my brother is too young to decide if he want the SDC or not, plus he's a puppet that my dad controls so i doubt he would want to help me. 

Jaune: what about your mother?

Weiss: My mother does have power over everything since the SDC is hers and dad just married on the name, but even so all she does in her life is drink her depression away, she doesn't care for the SDC or me, so i doubt she would help me.

Jaune: right. And why did your father took your title of heiress in the first place?

Weiss: because i wanted to come back to my friends.

Jaune: just because of that!?

Weiss: *nods*

Jaune: *gets up, clenching his jaw* i'll be right back. *starts to walk away*

Weiss: where are you going?

Jaune: i'm going to take back what your dad stole from you. *walks away*

Weiss: wait! Jaune. . .He left, what does he think he's doing? *sigh* forget it, i'll ask him later when he comes back*

*eight months later*

Ruby: weiss, are you okay?

Weiss: well, considering that we're all on a jet making our way towards atlas, the last place i wanted to go on this planet including the grimlands, i could be a lot better.

Yang: chill out ice queen, this time we're sticking with you.

Nora: Yeah! If your dad shows up we'll break his legs!

Pyrrha: i just wished jaune was also here with us.

Ruby: me too, he's been missing for eight months now, i wonder if he's okay.

Pilot: attention passengers, we're now landing at the schnee mansion, please get your things ready to leave. Mr.schnee is waiting for you.

Blake: shouldn't we land at the airport?

Weiss: we already have a special place for that on my home.

Yang: is there anything the schnees don't have?

Weiss: happiness?

Yang: ouch, i was joking ice queen, no need to drag us down like that.

Weiss: *sigh* sorry, i guess i'm just in a bad mood, i really don't wanna face my dad again.

Ruby: don't worry, we're here with you. *holds her hand and smiles*

Weiss: *with a small smile* i know. . .thanks ruby. *takes in a deep breath and lets it out in a long sigh* let's go.

The door of the aircraft slowly starts to open, already giving them a view of the schnee garden, weiss gulps knowing that her father is there waiting for her, but as the door completely opened she was shocked to see a familiar figure that wasn't her father.

Jaune: *waving* hey guys.

RWBY/_NPR: JAUNE!?

Jaune: that's my name.

Weiss: w-what are you doing here!?

Jaune: after our talk a few months ago i decided to come to atlas to try and find a way to give your title of hairess back to you.

Weiss: are you crazy!? My dad would never allow that!!

Blake: speaking of him, shouldn't he be here? The pilot said that mr.schnee was waiting for us.

Jaune: and he is.

Before they can ask where he is, the pilot comes out of the cabin and walks to jaune.

Pilot: they're all here sir, safe and sound like you requested.

Jaune: right, thank you for the good work nick.

Pilot: you're welcome mr.schnee. *walks away*

RWBY/_NPR: *freezes*

Weiss: wait. . .did he just call you mr.schnee?

Jaune: he did. *sheepishly* i already told him and a lot of other peoples that they don't need to be so formal around me but they insist in calling me like that.

Weiss: why are they calling you mr.schnee!?

Jaune: well, because-

????: dear~ why are you up so early?

Everyone turns to the door of the mansion where a woman that really looked like an older weiss was standing, with disheveled white hair, a sleepy face and wearing only a nightgown

Weiss: MOM!?!?

Jaune: im sorry sweetheart, but i had receive our guests.

Willow: *walks to jaune and hugs him, resting her face on his chest* you know i hate to wake up alone on that bed, don't you?

Jaune: *hugging her back* yeah i know, i'm sorry for that. *gently holds her face* i promise i'll make up for that later, okay?

Willow: okay *gives him a peck on the lips* arc word right?

Jaune: *smiling* arc word.

Weiss: EXCUSE ME!? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?

Willow: *turns to them* hello weiss, it's been awhile. how are you?

Weiss: DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!! WHY ARE YOU CLINGING ON AND KISSING ARC!?

Willow: *giggles* because i love him, obviously.

Weiss: that's still no excuse! What if father finds out about you and jaune being involved like this!?

Willow: *snort* he already knows about me and jaune.

Weiss: what!?

Jaune: yeah he does.

Willow: it would be weird if he didn't knew, our marriage was the main gossip around atlas for awhile.

Ruby: wait, marriage?

Weiss: don't tell me you two. . .

Jaune: *showing her a golden ring on his finger*

Willow: *doing the same* yes we are.

Weiss: *mouth agape* . . .how. . .how did that happened? What about father?

Willow: your father is being taken care of by winter, he needed to work somewhere after i kicked him out of the emprise and asked for the divorce and winter offered him a place at the military *grins* that was six months ago, all i heard about him after that was that he's been going through hell on the military camp.

Weiss: w-what about the SDC? Who's in charge now?

Willow: well, jaune of course.

Weiss: he's WHAT!?

Jaune: *looks back to her* technically, you're doing most of the work since i don't know how to deal with.

Willow: still, you're the boss.

Jaune: i am, but i would be lost without you.

Willow: you're smart, you'll end up getting the hang of it, soon enough you won't even need me there to help you.

Jaune: *pouts holding her by the waist* and not have you around me in the office? I rather stay the same.

Willow: *chuckles* honestly, how much of a dork can you be?

Jaune: as much of a dork as you want me to be.

Willow: good, now come here you dork. *pulls him into a kiss*

Jaune: *pulls her body closer while kissing her back*

Willow: *deepening the kiss until it turns into a heated make out*

Ruby: *blushing* t-they know we're watching, right?

Weiss: *also blushing* WILL YOU TWO STOP IT ALREADY!!!

Jaune: *breaking the kiss with a chuckle* sorry, i guess we got caught up by the mood.

Willow: agreed.

Weiss: *massaging her temples* oh my god, this is so awkward.

Jaune: it's not that bad.

Weiss: it is, very bad actually.

Jaune: i could be a lot worse. Speaking of worse, remember the talk we had about your dad a few months ago?

Weiss: the one before you disappeared?

Jaune: yup. I told you that i would take back what your father stole from you didn't i?

Weiss: yes, you did.

Jaune: well, thanks to my new position of leader of the SDC, i changed some things and managed to restore your title of heiress of the company.

Weiss: wait, really!?

Ruby: weiss, that's great!

Yang: congrats, just don't let it get over your head weiss-cream, we don't need to see the return of the stuck up ice queen from the start of beacon.

Blake: *nods*

Weiss: wait just a second, you came here to get my title back, and so you married my mom, kicked my dad out of the emprise and took over it just to return my title? Im thankful that you decided to go so far just to help me, but marrying my mom just for that doesn't make you any better than my father

Jaune: well. . .i actually didn't married your mother for that. See, when i came to atlas i decided to confront your dad about your title, but it didn't worked and he called the guards to kick me out of the mansion, i ran away and hid in one of the rooms of the house, coincidentally it was your mother's room. She looked so sad and lifeless clinging on a bottle of whiskey.

Willow: and that's exactly how i was feeling at that time.

Jaune: i tried to talk to her about you but sue wouldn't give me attention, she was just too broken to listen, and so i took upon myself to cheer her up, that way she could maybe help me to restore your title. The thing is, i. . . *blushes* kinda started to like her after some time.

Willow: same goes for me, seeing how such a kind and warm boy like jaune was willing to help me, a drunkard with nothing to offer to this world, sparked something i never felt in years.

Jaune: at first i felt a bit guilty because i knew that the reason why she was asking for divorce was because of me, but then klen told me everything you and your family got through in his hands, and so i helped her to get divorce and kick him out.

Willow: *smiling* after that me and jaune married and we're living a happy life ever since.

Jaune: yeah, i came here just to get your title back, but ended up staying because because of her.

Weiss: what about winter and whitley? Are they okay with this?

Jaune: i think your sister is okay with it, if the sadistic smile she had on her face when she dragged jacques off was any indication.

Weiss: what about whitley? He's always been father's puppet, i doubt he would just accept someone like jaune as his new-

Whitley: *coming in covered in dirt and sweat, carrying crocea mors and taking deep breaths*

Jaune: wow, you look exhausted. You okay?

Whitley: yeah. . .i just finished. . .the exercises you told me to do.

Jaune: and how it was?

Whitley: i just destroyed my first robot.

Jaune: wow, you're really getting stronger *pats his head* im proud of you champ.

Whitley: *smiles brightly*

Weiss: *extremely shocked* w-whitley?

Whitley: oh, hello sister, it's been a long while. I would give you a hug but as you can see, i'm a bit dirty.

Weiss: why are you dirty like this.

Whitley: jaune has been teaching me how to fight with a sword so i can be a huntsman some day.

Weiss: you want to be a what!?

Whitley: a huntsman. In the past i thought huntsman were barbaric people who had no sense of decency, but after i met jaune i realized that it was a lie, one of the many dad had told us. Jaune teached me that huntsman are brave and noble warriors who put their lives on the line for the sake of others, and one day i want to be like them, or at least like jaune.

Weiss: *speechless*

Jaune: if you wanna be more like me than go to your room and take a bath, i don't smell like that all the time.

Whitley: yes sir. *walks away*

Jaune: he's a good kid. . .weiss? You okay?

Weiss: i. . .i guess i'm trying to wrap my head around all of this, it's too surreal for me. I can't believe that you married my mom, a woman old enough to be your mother.

Willow: *muttering* well, he does call me mommy sometimes.

Jaune: i don't think there's a problem on that part, i mean, she might be old enough to be my mom but i still love her. *grins* Plus she still has the energy of a teenager and the body of a top model, so there's no downside in being married with her.

Weiss: *blushes* i don't need to know the details of your relationship okay?

Willow: *wrapping her arms on his neck* are you trying to flatter me my knight?

Jaune: *holding her waist* maybe. What if i am?

Willow: cause if you are, then you're doing a great job.

Jaune: thank you sweetheart.

Willow: don't thank me. *leaning on his chest and speaking sultrily* instead, why don't we get back to our room so i can show you how much you make me happy.

Jaune: aren't you tired after yesterday?

Willow: i just can't get enough of you, plus i can't get tired when i have this. *pulls out her flask*

Jaune: i thought you had stopped drinking?

Willow: and i did. *takes a sip of the flask* this is energetic, how do you think i keep up with you every single night?

Jaune: that explains why i saw klein carrying twelve boxes of energetic to our room last month.

Willow: the last time i drank alcohol was on our marriage, and it was just a glass of wine during the toast.

Jaune: i know, and i'm very proud of you for keeping yourself on the line for so long. *picks her up bridal style* guess i'll have to give you a reward for that.

Willow: i would love that.

Jaune: klein! 

Klein: *coming in* yes, mr.schnee?

Jaune: Please help our guests to feel welcomed, there are some important stuff i need to deal with right now.

Klein: as you wish mr.schnee.

Willow: *pulls him into a heated kiss*

Jaune: *carries her away while kissing her*

Weiss: . . .

Ruby: . . .

Blake: . . .

Yang: . . .well, that was something.

Ruby: are you okay weiss?

Weiss: yeah, i am, i just need some time to get used to jaune being my new step dad even though we have the same age. . .i can't understand why my mom would marry someone so much younger than her.

Ruby: it's okay, at least your mother is happy and healthy now, right?

Weiss: . . .i guess you're right.

Ruby: besides, couples with an age gap like this are normal, like, take your sister for example, she's dating my uncle qrow, even though uncle qrow is almost old enough to be her dad.

Weiss: wait, winter is dating who!?

Ruby: y-you didn't knew? *sheepishly* hehehe, sorry, i probably spoiled a surprise.

Yang: does anyone knows where ren, nora and pyrrha are?

Blake: last time i saw ren and nora they were carrying pyrrha's unconscious body to the house after jaune and willow started to make out the first time.

Yang: oh. . .makes sense.