#very evil rick MY BELOVED

[stropharian-world]

"OH IT'S ON MOTHERFUCKER-"

(( No seriously I'm a GIGGLING MESS SCREAMING AND CRYING THIS IS PERFECTION TY TY TY 😭🥰 YOU'RE AMAZING!! ))

(The booping is not over ;y ))

@stropharian-world

"I TOLD YOU TO GIVE ME A FEW"

[stropharian-world]

@e-22912 :y

[francy-sketches]

If I'd actually posted all my pjo art when I made it instead of hoarding it like a little goblin for no apparent reason today I might have been known as the octavian guy instead of the joffrey guy...scary thought...

[sarahreesbrennan]

sorry if you have already answered this, but are we getting any queer rep in Long Live Evil? 💕 i am super excited to see what you've cooked up for us either way!

I came back after I'd gone off on one, seeing the post had struck a chord and being thankful but fearful of my inbox. Let me say with delighted surprise that all the asks are very kind.

Thank you for this one, sweet anon. I am so excited and so nervous about my best beloved, Long Live Evil, and about coming back with a new book of my own after so long, when I believed for a long time it was hopeless.

I'm really grateful to find readers waiting for me. But I know readers are naturally more invested in characters they know: I extremely appreciate you taking an interest in the future.

So, short answer: YEAH you are!

Long answer: Long Live Evil wouldn't exist without its queer narratives.

C.S. Pacat and I were talking in our virtual Brookline Booksmith event recently about our favourite Disney villains. C.S. Pacat picked Maleficent, a fine choice. I picked Snow White's Evil Queen. We agreed we loved most of them.

Here's the relevant excerpt I was quoting in my last post from Carmen Maria Machado's In The Dream House, saying 'I think a lot about queer villains, the problem and pleasure and audacity of them.' Well... me too.

I think many of us have experienced feeling made wrong in some way - for not wanting what society said we should or being what we were expected to be - and that one step along that journey of discovery is going 'Okay, if it's wicked, I'll just BE wicked.' And that's part of why those characters appeal - because they seem free, and free of pain.

But modern storytelling isn't confined to coding, and audiences can now feel free to expect, not the certainty, but the possibility characters who aren't introduced as such still might actually turn out to be LGBT+. The essays I've read about Supernatural, Teen Wolf, Sherlock, Ted Lasso, Fox 9-1-1... I think the latest argued Jaime Lannister was bisexual. (Pretty persuasive.)

I remember reading the Raven Cycle going 'oh? OH.' I remember being at a writing retreat in 2013 and running through the halls screaming about Nico diAngelo. Ten years later we got a Nico diAngelo book co-written by Rick Riordan and the amazing Mark Oshiro. I watched Red, White and Royal Blue with a friend and she said 'honestly I hope the guys get together, but...' and I (having read the book) silenced myself with a herculean effort and watched her hopes come true. I didn't know about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and almost dropped the book in a swimming pool. But I've also read and watched many things thinking, just maybe... oh, no. Still that hope existing is meaningful, the thought that if the story had gone differently, if this revelation had happened, if this realisation had happened, if, if, if...

Long Live Evil is a story about the story going differently and asking yourself questions about your own nature, and the escape to fiction of those who really need escape. The book is based on that 'if,' and the 'if' itself is joyous, and brings me back to the idea of gleefully transgressing the narrative that much villain love is based on.

It's also an ensemble story with a rogue's gallery of characters and multiple PoVs. (I was much inspired by the Six of Crows ensemble.) So it isn't about any one character's romance, and by the book's nature there exist many possibilities. A critique partner read and said 'I didn't know you were going THERE' and I responded 'Should I?'

I've never been one to confirm where stories are going, and I won't do so now. I'm not talking about any one character or telling you a direction.

I'm just saying yes to rep. It's baked in.

[countlessrealities]

Send IC naughty fantasies on anon and my muse will try to guess who it’s from || Accepting !

Anonymous sent: "Is this supposed to be anonymous? Whatever, here's my fantasy, d- I mean, Rick Prime's kitten. I want to slowly take your hand and put it in mine, while we go on a nice stroll together through a decrepit, abandoned planet. And if you really want to get freaky, maybe we can share a kiss or two, while we're covered in the blood of the ones we've just killed~" Cue a very maniac laughter. { To your Evil Rick for the IC "naughty" fantasy meme }

What an odd game. Rick doesn't understand it. Why demanding anonymity when then everything is made so easy to guess? What's the point? Where's the fun in that? He was expecting a challenge. This looks more like a lame joke.

Of course, he won't voice those thoughts. He knows how sensitive his partner can be when things don't go as he wants them to go. It's not worth ruining the mood, also because, execution aside, the picture that's been drawn out for him is enticing.

He can see it so clearly. He can taste the blood in his mouth, smell it in the air. He can feel the excitement of the massacre thrumming in his veins. Having his partner there with him, sharing it all with him...It just makes the idea better and more thrilling.

"I-I would love to, beloved. All of it. E-Even the freaky kissing part."

Oh yes, that last sentence is a little jab, a bit of teasing, but there's no malice in it. If something, it's filled with dark, eager delight.

{ @mcltiples }

[ambreiiigns]

Yes tell me about "rick's crybaby backstory"! I didn't think this was a backstory type of show, that's exactly what I'm curious about! And what do you mean evil morty?? Tiny rick? Beth clone? Toilet episode? Pissmaster????? What is going on lol

YAYYYYY THANK YOU BUCKLE UP SORRY FOR TAKING A DAY XX HEHE

rick's crybaby backstory. that's what he calls it. he had wife (diane) and kid (beth) for whom he was going to give up science entirely (big deal for a rick, apparently he's the only one who was willing to do that !) enter Rick Prime. remember how the multiple realities and multiple versions of characters is a big plotpoint. yea. this Other Rick shows up and tries to get our rick hooked on interdimensional traveling but he refuses! bc he says it sounds lonely! ARGH so prima kills his wife and kid. oh well. we Later find out he's been killing everyone's diane and in fact invented a device that allows you to kill evert version of someone throughout every dimension. so rip diane forever and ever

so our rick goes on a revenge spree. he invents his own portal gun - apparently every other rick borrows their portal gun from prime who's the only one who built it himself. besides Our rick. and starts tracking prime down killing a bunch of other ricks in the process. so many in fact that those remaining build. the citadel of ricks. stay with me. it's like. idk a space station something where a bunch of ricks and their morties live and or stop by to mind their business. whatever. so this haunt for rick prime and killing himself over and over is what eventually gets our rick, who was gonna choose his family and human connections over science and adventure, to be as jaded and nihilistic and Alcoholic as every other rick before and after him. f in the chats for my man

so when the premise of the show is "rick had abandoned beth as a child and randomly crashed into her garage and settled down w her a couple of decades later" we know that's Wrong and that he's been on a quest to avenge her and her mom for all those years. aight. now it also ties into the overarching Plot of rick and morty bc during his quest to kill rick prime our rick also got in general trouble w the Galactic Federation who's like. big ass space government. and made friends w people who want to overthrow it. so he helps fight it yippie. this is how he meets my BELOVED birdperson and squanchy The Boys™ gang gang. we don't have time to discuss that rick's in love w birdperson maybe next time. the federation seems to be permanently dead rn if you care

by evil morty i mean THEE mvp i think some of the most iconic episodes revolve around him he got fed up w his rick and almost killed him put like some computer shit inside of him to control him like a little mechanical puppet. slay. then he went on to. become president of the citadel. slay. and revealed his Final Plan of killing a bunch of ricks and morties to create a portal that would get him out of the. my god. central finite curve. which we find out it's basically. every universe in which rick exists as the smartest being. evil morty's Evil Plan is simply to get out from under ricks' collective thumb and live by himself for himself. there's like a whole morty black market around the universe bc ricks use morties GOD I DON'T WANNA GET INTO IT IT'S SUCH BULLSHIT ACTUALLY but evil morty is my sweetheart he was right he did nothing wrong. he had a convo w our morty that knocks your tits clean off that goes like "if you've ever been sick of him you've been evil too" or "he's attached to us infinitely through his weakness and our forgiveness" like it slaps. it slaps i'm sorry what can i say

i feel like i end up talking too much abt rick when i love morty so much more but ofc the old man who goes on space adventures has more to be said abt him than the 14yo boy. but i do love him to death he's had such good if slow growth he's such a. victim to rick lmao even tho we find out very early on that ricks are usually SO much worse to their morties but he's been growing balls! he tells rick off now and finds him annoying and gets mad at him and all that! i love to see it. in fact rick is just as attached to morty at this point. it's so cute to see. grandpa's little buddy FUCK yeah and the other ricks make fun of him for that HA

tiny rick is. one time he turned himself into a teen and went to school w morty and summer. i like that bc he became pathetic and kept admitting he's Sad. beth clone is umm whenever we find out beth is in fact her father's daughter and is probably just as clever and violent as he is he proposes to make her a clone that will watch after jerry & the kids while she gets to go on space adventures like he did. and she doesn't decide she lets Him decide but instead of deciding her fucking. randomizes it so now there's a SUPER FUCKING COOL SPACE BETH RUNNING AROUND BEING BADASS and her own dad doesn't know which one is the original. top 10 most pathetic rick moments. the toilet episode good lord rick has a special planet where he shits and some alien guy finds his special shitter and rick gets really mad at him. the guy tries to make friends but rick refuses until guy Dies and then it's sad. it's sad. pissmaster episode? EVEN FUCKING SADDER it's like rick has a bunch of random enemies that bother him pissmaster being one of them jerry fuckin Destroys him and it's so humiliating that pissmaster. kills himself and his daughter's looking for him and it pulls at rick's weak spot so he. dresses up. as pissmaster. and sets up this fucking. suicide mission where he saves people from a bomb but dies in the process to kinda. give pissmaster a. proper sendoff. give his daughter closure. you know. it was SAD OK!!!! IT WAS REALLY GOOOOD

[mcltiples]

@countlessrealities sent; The holidays had once again rolled around and, for the second time in his life, Rick had found himself forced to take them into serious consideration. His partner enjoyed them so-very much and that meant that he had to meet the other's expectations for the event.

Gift giving was hardly one of his well honed skills, it wasn't a skill he possessed at all, even if he had been slowly trying to learn it. Thankfully, there were plenty of resources he could consult to find good ideas for presents. And, of course, he always made sure to give them a little personalised twist.

Eventually his choice had fallen on something that could once again be both useful and pleasant to the eye. The gift that was presented to his alternate was impeccably wrapped in glassy black paper, adorned with a blood red ribbon. Underneath, what looked like an elegant cylindrical flask, made of slick, dark gray metal that matched the colour palette of his partner's outfit.

Of course, it wasn't just a beautiful water-bottle. The central section could be used to hold drinks and it was designed to keep them at any set temperature, but the rest of it was made of small compartments, made to carry small objects, pieces of technology or anything else his alternate might have wanted to fit into them.

Most were currently empty, but Rick had left a few, smaller gifts in some of them. Vials with samples of his toxins. A spare crystal that could be used as a part of a weapon. A bunch of very small pearls that were, in truth, explosives.

"I-I hope that this gift is of your liking, beloved," he spoke, grey blue eyes trained on his partner's face, studying every twitch of his features. "H-Happy holidays."

[[ Evil Rick for Weird Rick~ ]]

When presented with the present, Rick took his time to carefully unwrap it. The wrapping paper looked too pretty to just rip open and he didn't want to accidentally offend his partner for being so careless. So he managed to open it with only just a few tears here and there.

He examined the water bottle, pressing it's buttons to unlock the small compartments. Eyes lit up at the even more smaller gifts left behind in it. It was so well thought out and his heart swelled at the feeling.

Logically, he knew that his partner couldn't feel love, but some days he was utterly convinced that the other was in love with him. Specifically due to how much he was willing to put up with and all of the things that was given.

"Oh, darling~ you've made me so happy with this," His voice went low, almost to a whisper.

Sliding himself up against the side of his alternate, he wrapped both arms around that waist, pulling closely with a harsh grip. Gently pressing a small kiss at the corners of those lips.

"Happy holidays, my sweet kitten~"

[crossover-enthusiast]

1 2 5 6 9 Streb boy, Rick?

*breathes in*

1:

I love Streber's design!! His vampire costume is classic but still very stylish (that cape is so cool), and in general I just like how he looks

I like how you can just take one look at Rick and go "yeah he's depressed", Pelo really captured the vibe with him

2:

Streber's voice <333 Tbh anyone Gabe voices just sounds great, I like how Streber has some vocal pauses as he talks off-shift but still sounds very confident

Fun fact, Rick's voice is actually one of the ones I have trouble nailing in my head, it fits great for his character but the constant monotone isn't something my head replicates well lol

5:

I wake Streber to make his own prosthetic!! Also there is so much potential for him to just take that chainsaw and Evil Dead some people like I want to see that

I don't think there are any theories for Rick? I like the idea he's related to Carmen tho

6:

That he's dead.

This isn't a theory but more of a headcanon I don't like but- why does everyone think Rick is the same age as Radford and Kevin?? There's no way in hell this man isn't at least thirty

9:

Candybats is v v silly, and Fruitbats has that classic "we've known each other for years" love where they're just really comfortable around each other! Tbh I wish people looked at other Streber ships more often, I only ever see Kevin and Ethan

Bitterpopcorn my beloved- in general all Rick ships are just fantastic! Rick is a very fun character to bounce off specifically because of his personality, because everyone else is so expressive and he's just :| Also I have a soft spot for Rick/Patty, sad there's not a lot of it anymore

(Spooky Month Digit Ask Game!)

[stropharian-world]

Absolutely brilliant.

@stropharian-world

[floripire]

"Can I help you? Is there a reason you're staring?" (idk she wanted to interact.)

askbox fun // @malka-lisitsa

the person is not doctor gilbert because doctor gilbert smells like antiseptic and disinfectant most of the time. (and a little bit like perpetual heartache too, though floribeth would never dare ask if it's because doctor gilbert divorced mister salvatore shortly after stefanie's birth or if it's because of everything she's been through.)

this person smells fruity with a hint of something floral. and she doesn't sound like doctor gilbert, either. her voice is huskier. snarkier, too. doctor gilbert doesn't sound like that.

not even when she's mad.

the only time floribeth ever heard about the good doctor's anger had been a few years ago, when alyssa chang - a witch - made a broomstick fly during physics class. rick rogers - a wolf - had clambered onto the thing, lost his balance and promptly fell thirty feet.

that fall resulted in a lot of fractures and broken bones for rick and it had been the first and the last time floribeth had heard elena gilbert scream.

(what? she's graduated from a school for the supernatural by the skin of her teeth. inside those hallowed halls, news always travels about as fast as a vampire can run.)

it takes but a moment for her brain to catch up that the woman she'd been staring at must be the ever elusive katherine pierce. (hopefully floribeth gets to keep her eyes; she needs them to play video games, after all.)

"no reason in particular, miss. i mean, i was just thinking." more like overthinking. floribeth is certain that miss pierce could hear her mentally crunch the numbers from three miles away. "you wouldn't happen to know why whenever a man gets his life ruined, he passes the ruination on to another instead of going for the person or people who actually did the life ruining?"

the younger vampire runs a hand through her hair as a sigh escapes her lips. "and yeah, i know that my sire can't exactly knock on klaus mikaelson's front door like hi, you used me to make a bunch of hybrids and then that didn't pan out and then you killed the pack i lived with because i doubt derek machado is ever gonna get an apology or anything like that and i doubt an apology would be enough for someone who lost both his best friend, his family and the love of his life in one fell swoop."

unbidden, a stray thought comes to her: miss pierce would be fun to play games with. floribeth knows herself well enough to know that the odds of winning against miss pierce would not be high but it'd be enjoyable anyway because challenges often are and it'd be a moment to learn something new. even if floribeth, too, is a sore loser.

she shakes her head, as if to chase those thoughts away. they are for another time. for another conversation, maybe. a conversation that isn't this gordian knot that floribeth cannot, for the life of her, untangle.

not without help.

"hope's dad is pretty much untouchable. so i suppose in that regard, it's easier to go for someone who can be hurt. like in once upon a time, when the evil queen blamed snow white - who was a kid - for the dead of her lover, instead of her mom, who actually did the killing."

it's such a shame that floribeth parted ways with emma tig when she did because, honestly? those therapy sessions of hers did help. except, of course, when one finds out that one's once beloved therapist helped throw one's ex-headmaster by throwing kids into a prison world which also conveniently houses someone who is very, very dangerous.

the question behind the question, then, so miss pierce's time isn't wasted: why are certain men the way they are and why do other people suffer for it? why do they not hold themselves accountable for all the shit they pull?

[mooooooosicals]

Bad summaries of Hatchetfield songs:

TGWDLM:

The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals: here comes the... well I wouldn't call him a boy. More like six foot tall office lad.

La Dee Da Da Day: musical townspeople do what musical townspeople do... harass the protagonist

What Do You Want Paul?: the number that you don't want to get stuck in your head during sex

Cup of Roasted Coffee: convincing braindead customers to buy shitty coffee with hips and harmonies

Cup of Poison Coffee: oh. oh they're evil now. ok. cool.

Show Me Your Hands: the acab song. it should have been a tap number, fuck you.

You Tied Up My Heart: kinky shit in the basement.

Join Us And Die: ma'am I appreciate the c#5 but this is a Wendy's

Not Your Seed: Alice has an appetite for nachos. And shooting her father dead.

Show Stopping Number: old man does what old men do best, tie up their former students in their basement and shake ass

America Is Great Again: I dare you to show this to That One Family Member. I dare you.

Let Him Come: I'm thoroughly disappointed with the lack of jokes in the fandom here. Missed opportunity.

Let It Out: dance, funky office man, dance

Inevitable: well shit, that's depressing. cool lighting, tho.

BLACK FRIDAY:

Wiggly Jiggle: capitalism, but make it cute and a little bit unsettling

What Tim Wants: thank you, Tom, very nice vocals. But sir I just met you I really don't give a shit.

CaliforM.I.A.: admit it, the best part of this song is Hannah dancing in the background

What Do You Say?: high school reunion but with more 🎵spice🎵. And choreographed thrusting, for some reason.

Our Doors Are Open: capitalism with a bouncy time signature

Feast or Famine: February 2020: the song

Monsters and Men: Johnny Mac n Cheese my beloved... and uh... who are these guys again? Sorry I got distracted by the fact that mac n cheese man is back.

Deck The Halls: pov: you're watching Black Friday for the first time and have not a damn clue what's going on. Wait Santa's a pedophi-

Take Me Back: oh look, the traumatized couple sings! And... fucks-

Adore Me: MILF becomes a murderous MILF, even better

Do You Want To Play?: Other fandoms took one look at this song and said "fReE rEaL eStAtE"

Made In America: really good song for a really unnecessary plotline

Black Friday: teenager sings while being choked. That. That makes no sense.

Monsters and Men (reprise): so now they have powers all of a sudden? Did I miss something??

If I Fail You: again, Tom, pretty vocals, I don't give a shit

Wiggle: townspeople shake ass and moan for an ugly ass kids toy

What If Tomorrow Comes?: the child sings and then goes boom. we think. we're not sure.

NIGHTMARE TIME SEASON 1

Nightmare Time Theme: everyone is evil now, I guess

The Hatchetfield Ape-Man: ya like jazz?

The Blinky Song: Blinky is a shitty boss and the Sniggles need to unionize

Snoozle Town: I feel like we've heard this song before-

With A Thousand Eyes: TTO is in the HFU?!?!

Forever And Always: oh my god we're so in love uwu owo 🥺🥺

Time Bastard: woman. Pretty woman. Pretty woman singing.

Peanuts!: this song is probably therapy after that mindfuck of an episode.

Jane's A Car: we should make this song a Rick Roll in the fandom. How can you even take a song about a sad man wanting to fuck his car seriously anyway?

The Witch In The Web: little girl plays a ukelele but like. with magic.

The Web I Spin For You: spider lady sings and makes me gay

[countlessrealities]

CUPID'S ARROWS EVENT || Active !

@mcltiples sent: Weird Rick just happens to walk in, not paying much attention to his surroundings. He's fiddling with some kind of device { To Evil Rick bc of reasons 🤭}

Usually, when his partner stepped into the lab, Rick didn't instantly turn to look at him, especially if he had his hands already busy with something else. That time, however, he instantly straightened from where he had been studying through the microscope a few samples taken from the odd arrow.

Under other circumstances, he would have noticed his own unusual behaviour and he might have made the connection with having been hit less than an hour before. Instead, now every thoughts about it vanished from his mind the moment when he laid his eyes on his alternate, replaced by nothing but the other's image, smell, taste, by the sound of his voice and the feelings of his insides under Rick's own fingers.

He had always felt a pull towards his partner, since day one. It was what had pushed him to believe that this particular version of himself could be the the one true connection he had been seeking out for his whole life.

In that moment, though, there was something more to it. Not only the unnamed emotion was stronger and deeper, but it filled him with the kind of craving he had very rarely experienced.

He had never felt so ravenous.

Before he could even realised it, he had crossed the room, pried the device out of his alternate's hands and carelessly dumped it on the floor.

"Beloved."

The word was spoken in a low, hoarse voice, almost a purr, as fingers gripped at his partner's jacket, digging into the flesh underneath, as if they had been trying to claw their way to it through the cloth.

Rick's too sharp teeth were bared, in what would have been a grin if it hadn't looked so eerily dangerous, so terrifyingly hungry.

"You took my soul, my heart, my everything." Grey blue eyes fell on the other's chest, a dark light darkening them. "Now I want to rip your beating heart out of your ribcage." One of his hands moved up along that chest, pushing between the ribs of its left side. "And dig up your essence through your bone marrow."

His other hand wrapped around his partner's neck, once again tight enough to bruise.

"I want to consume you whole."

[land-of-brains-and-chocolate]

Rec list for Eddie and Symby being vaguely to very gay?

I'm sorry for coming to you with my monsterfucker agenda 😔👊 (no I'm not)

i mean, i probably could’ve seen this coming.

venom is dominated by two opposing narratives. let’s call this the “relationship narrative” and the “control narrative”. they’re not perfectly separated, like, you’ll definitely get elements of one in the other, but generally one of them describes what the story, at its core, is using the symbiote for.

now comics are an endless tug-of-war at the best of times, much less the gayest and slimiest of times. there’s a neverending backlash and backbacklash going on between these two takes. what you want is the relationship narrative.

everything very much started out with that take. eddie and the symbiote are two characters who forge an evil alliance because it lets them do what they wanna do (kill spider-man, more or less) and they have the same kinds of neuroses and complexes and syndromes. lots of early comics are also very fun about the merged consciousness, merged identity deal. that’s kind of the textbook relationship stuff.

personally i absolutely think the original stories (venom was created by david michelinie) have romantic undertones, even starting in the villainy days. eddie describes their first meeting as “a shadow moved, caressed me.” he takes the rejection of the symbiote still being “in love with” spider-man really hard. he sobs his eyes out when he thinks it’s dead and promises to avenge it bare-handed. they totally expect to live happily ever after on a deserted island together.

then there’s venom: lethal protector, which is cute on its own, but if you’re reading for slime romance, i very specifically recommend the novelisation. i won’t even spoil it. and then, planet of the symbiotes is the first comic that i would say has outright queer themes, intentional or not.

so all those recs until now are collected in this post.

we're trucking along through the 90s, we explore elements of one take and then the other and sometimes we ignore the symbiote completely, but not too much changes, overall. the next BIG stop in Gay Venom is, of course, the hunger.

miniseries by len kaminski, just venom: the hunger. plenty of people have written their essays on it, but what’s always important to me is that it DID NOT come out of nowhere. as said above, it expanded on themes that were there, it references michelinie venom very explicitly, like you get your SECOND “tenderly touching the green glass tube” scene.

but yes this one is specifically about, like, stigmatisation, otherness, mental illness, meeting all those things with care and empathy and optimism, tentacle sex. again, many essays. a venom comic that can go “look at the twisted deviance of this relationship” and then turn it around into “but how are you looking at it” is good. god how good would it be if they also did that to eddie more. anyway.

a few years later you get the first MAJOR fucking backlash, culminating in the SECOND story titled the hunger. spectacular spider-man: the hunger, from 2003. completely reboots venom and retcons their motivations and backstories, makes very spiteful references to planet of the symbiotes and the hunger, like it is not also called that by sheer coincidence. literally starts out, in a comic that wants to tackle and redefine venom, with the line “the PROBLEM is that you guys are like an old married couple”. so the new status quo is that the symbiote only ever used eddie to be with spider-man, and eddie only ever used the symbiote to not die of cancer.

the “control narrative” that really kicks in here uses the symbiote as, you know, a thing to control, eddie’s demons personified or even a completely foreign force to torment him. if eddie is evil, it’s not because of what he thinks and believes and wants, it’s because he couldn’t control the symbiote and gave in to its inexplicable bloodlust.

this is an unambiguous downgrade in terms of complexity, in my humble opinion, completely fucks up eddie’s responsibility themes, and is also a pretty clearly petty reaction to venom’s absolute oversaturation in the nineties. the bitch was everywhere and most of it wasn’t good. so there was LOTS of “look at this creepy loser” content by writers cringing themselves into self-awareness at the time. the 00s were going to be GRITTY and MATURE.

this of course means that we get to see eddie slit his wrists and bleed to death on panel after selling the symbiote to supervillains as an attempted act of redemption???

wild fucking times! it’s not exactly worth recommending as ~shippy~, but the first real backbacklash to this first round of retcons comes from dan slott, who just kind of ignores it all in new ways to die. drags eddie back to the land of the living and relevant, makes the symbiote refuse to let its new host kill him, telling that host, and reestablishing, that it loves eddie. and then, to keep him living and relevant, slott makes eddie anti-venom.

don’t even worry about it. anti-venom is essentially eddie seeking redemption with symbiote powers, but without the symbiote, except he pretty much acts no fucking different at all, just keeps on being a murderous vigilante with cracked ideas about innocence and guilt. people still act like he’s better now because, in its metatextual ways, the hunger was right.

then fucking uuuuuuhhhhhhh. agent venom. symbiote goes to flash thompson and the us military, and the writer, rick remender, goes really, really, really hard on the control narrative. the symbiote becomes a substance flash is addicted to, gives a voice to his past abuse, it’s dark times all the times.

people very much do like that narrative for flash, like at least from that perspective it was worth it. i don’t like it much for the symbiote. for the symbiote, representing everything fucked up with flash and forcing him to murder kill bite all the time is resolved via the good guy avengers literally lobotomising it so flash can wear it without further resistance or input. imagine doing that to a human person. you’re uncooperative so we’re gonna turn off your higher cognitive functions and wear you like a meat suit. happy ending for everybody! truly we’ve conquered our demons this day.

then! at the same time, there’s a cartoon coming out, it’s called ultimate spider-man. THAT one does the control narrative take with harry osborn, but then does the relationship take with flash, making it the only cartoon to outright redeem the symbiote and let it find friendship and be valued as a person.

and people loved it! so brian michael bendis gets it in his head that he’s going to redeem the symbiote and make it partner up with flash. and he does redeem it by the highly fucking questionable means of having it be “cleansed”, aka brainwashed and relieved of its memories and personality. not that it matters for long. nothing fucking matters in comics. take this with you if it’s the only thing.

so then for fun friendship times you get venom: space knight, flash and the symbiote’s adventures in space! and then that gets cancelled. eddie is off somewhere being toxin and hunting carnage (2016). many good comics but you did not ask for them.

and THEN.

it is time for the next MOTHER of backlashes.

flash gets literally discarded at fucking roadside to put the symbiote back on eddie and turn back time on their relationship to RIGHT before the FIRST backlash happened. you know, all those 2003 retcons. gone. ignored. no more. venom’s themes are now those circa 1996 again. full fucking on relationship narrative. ROMANTIC relationship narrative, and that after the symbiote was turned into eddie’s evil shadow, after he hated it and spent a LONG time seeking to eradicate all symbiotes (and not even for the first time).

the COSTA run. venom (2016). reviled and beloved.

like this comic is fucking ANGRY about symbiote treatment. i HAD to tell you all of that so you’d understand ANYTHING it’s doing. the first thing it does is flip it completely around, puts the symbiote on a military guy who’s making IT do bad things, makes his ability to control it horrifying and abusive instead of heroic and admirable. one of the later things it does (in the follow-up venom: first host) is outright feature a villain who lobotomises symbiotes, ending on a symbiote serving him swift and sweet payback by doing the same thing TO HIM. it’s exactly as unsubtle as the hunger (2003) was about its hang-ups.

comics... are a conversation.

flash remains a symbiote friend but still got fucked over big time by it all, symbiote-focused writers slott and costa also kind of use him to literally, in case anybody hadn’t caught on, literally spell out the REAL story that’s been going on in the writer's room for the past THIRTY YEARS:

you’ll notice i didn’t actually list any of the Gay Shit for you, you’ve probably already seen it or you’ll get to see it for yourself. yes, they are deeply in love, yes, it’s fucked up and flawed, yes, it is real and taken seriously and has ultimately redeeming potential. yes the concept of that nearly knocked me off my feet and in front of the subway at one point. yes there’s mpreg

it’s also fucking riddled with events, which spin off into other comics, so either ignore those and rely on the recaps OR click yourself forward through the “next issue (story)” button on marvel wikia to know what to read.

and after that must of course come the backbackbacklash, as certain as death or taxes. in the next run, we retcon everything once more, eddie just needs to control his darkness, the symbiote was an evil abuser all along, nothing on earth is ever new.

i’m not gonna go through it, i’m just gonna point you to the backbackbackbacklash issue that came out during this time: venom annual volume 2 number 1 - it’s confusingly named, it’s the one that has a blue-skinned space lady on it. this one ignores the backbackbacklash going on very pointedly and goes “it’s not ABOUT control” again, it’s pretty explicitly romantic.

and then there’s also marvel comics presents (2019) #5, which, oddly enough, does not particularly feature the characterisation you’d typically see in the relationship narrative? but it does feature eddie and the symbiote literally fucking, so you’d want to know about it.

that’s the overall, like, frame of eddie and the symbiote being in a relationship (nuh uh) (yeah they are) (NUH UH) (YEAH THEY ARE)

some stuff that’s smaller but still notable, uh.

nova (1999) 6 - 7, that’s the “we’re space married”

venom: dark origin, that’s an ALTERNATE (!!!) take on the character, don’t expect a likeable eddie but it’s very darkly funny and gay so what can i say.

venom: the end, which i would absolutely fucking hate to be canon, i think its characterisation is quite regressive, but the symbiote sure is in love, i guess.

venom: separation anxiety, the dawn of the control narrative but eddie’s characterisation did not have to go so wrong from here, like if they’d just figured out AT THIS STAGE that he's STILL acting like venom without it... i digress. it has the symbiote going eddie eddie eddieee

venom: sinner takes all, this is the first she-venom comic so that’s. hm. interesting. healing symbiote blanket

don’t read venom: license to kill just look at this panel with me

if i think of more comics worth adding i’ll add them.

the subtext slash text is heavy enough to be present to some degree in literally every cartoon adaptation of eddie brock. spider-man: the animated series goes FULL control narrative, in fact it started the “the symbiote corrupted peter” take that we to this day cannot escape, but the first few venom episodes are VERY playful about their relationship.

in spectacular spider-man it’s canon, but horrible. eddie’s in love with it, but eddie's a good boy and the symbiote is played very, very, very abusively. i think this is an evil symbiote adaptation that works well enough, at least it’s an actual meaningful character instead of just a malevolent force to resist.

in marvel’s spider-man, the only venom episode worth watching is venom returns.

i’ve actually got every symbiote-relevant episode listed right here from when we did our communal watch-through.

also watch truth in journalism. idk if it’s exactly shippy just do it

[cameleoaica]

they got it all backwards!

said cpt. NoPants grinning and showing his sharp gilded teeth while taking the last puff from a bong made out of old circuits

where have i been all this time? where is my ticket to salvation? how did jesus ressurect? why am i not still able to connect two different worlds in adjiacent points of superstition and recognition

i am caught in a meteor shower i am caught in a meteor shower i am caught in the showercab looking at the water running through the pipe bless all this hair that has already fallen stick to the present and melt on the glass walls while cold water is running all over my body what was that dream all about? why is it so hard to grasp all of these intuitions and create something complete out of it? why is the vulcano erupting with ever metamorphosing baby faces while the enemies operate my light body in order to achive the secret of the cube? this is the story of a merchant from saturn riding his charriot, a '66 white cadillac; and there is no more time left.

trick sleek greek running further drip drip drip eat the pain of the cut middle finger with the very sharp razor blade abbandon abbadon l exterminateur saboteur he who is everything but still is a limit of concepts and numbers the door opened on level seven created a reflexion of an unknown world evil was born in this world

save me from my own shadow trapped in the mirror of my own rephlexion an album of braindance alan turing was a trend setter of a new cold war machine a mix of feelings which is incomprehensible for a human regarding all of its genetic code so far new genes all known forms become pattern of aminoacids position imagine DNA with triplehelix imagine all the people... selling their deaths in peace

i keep running and running and running and running and running and where?

rick owens mata badr hari alfred tarski romanii și cățelele saturnaliile cubul cubul clubul cubul lumina stop. am înțeles aș vrea să pot să parcurg tot ce simt dar mi e frică de capătul tunelului. va fi o nouă realitate? love is the law

the green snake was sitting calmly near the stag beetle both resting on the feet of a familiar figure with no face

the hotel the machine the mirror the thrift store i want to sleep it all away and enter all these realms where no matter what happens my body feels no pain

eat the pain away fuck the pain away fire walk with me venus and mars and the cube in the golden age of aquarius the ancient ram is the healer of the new world i believe it s time to go red curtains are pulled apart end of act 1.

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love evol vole vole petit moulin don quixote is envious on me

free me of my mirror humanity is not an error have some faith human hooman namuh eht namuh hours of horus i found you and i am not happy because once i found you i discovered that i created all this alone

the apple of eden was a bomb pew pew the wheel of fortune is operated by a headless chicken the bureaucrats are demons of a secret level entrance to a whole new game paperclip paperclip eugenics nu mâncam eugenii când eram copil i am dying and i feel alive i am alone but not lonely i am alone inside a chaos. o iubeam.

autosuficiența sănurisipeștimunițiasănurisipeștimunițiasănurisipești... mă rog end of act 2.

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a compass was resting on the ground full of blood from my beloved one after i stabbed her in the heart you hurt me she told me smiling with sad eyes the compass was laying near my beloved one on the ground and all the dripping blood was in the shape of a heart o iubeam.

I remember! it was all about creating new spacetime quarters to avoid extinction and eternal repetition how do i create a body without organs a nomad war machine inside an abandoned pantheon 

 end of act 3.

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session of unknown number no more words and thoughts to describe it just a strange feeling never felt before but yet so familiar like the moment of stillness before drowning

still, the gate was open open! i m open i m open! what have we done sweetheart?

there was a reflexion instead of the door it was a mere shadow creating an illusion evil was born

saturn was calling mirror image mirage l assamblage du l etre the last imprisoned god suddenly became aware of his mechanical wings with sharp blades instead of feathers. he slowly activated them and left the earth's core.

the sound generated by this activation was percieved as a double helix sinusoidal soundwave and the flesh prison of most beings vanished

metatron was alone in the void with the cube the cube it was all lost already and yet there was he looking at the cube his projection created the illusory sequence of time

tick tack teek taque tyque taak

the sound of a tear falling on the ground form the last australopitec sedated and analyzed on a laboratory table inside the pentagon. new age music

sleep well, child sleep well, human sleep well, whoever you are there will always be another to enter your dreams and colonialise a new world. you will always be a lonely dying god. level seven is unlocked.

the apple of sodom was inside the cube of metatron in the underground tunnels of the pentagon the sacred chao was a wheel of balance and also the wheel of fortune.

...and oh! she was so full of secrets! end of session.

saboteur l exterminateur mirror the limit to find the gateway of transcendence simte viața pe care nu o mai ai

the new ones were from the moon the alligned lights in the sky generated the great catastrophe a shift in space time in which a secret door was being opened by the moon creatures.

evil was born evil was born from a reflexion jupiter and saturn in conjunction repeat three time after me love is the law LAM

the gift of premonitions that was my curse access to a world yet to come how can i ever share something that still does not exist?

jupiter and saturn in conjunction alligned lights in the sky the great catastrophe the ailment of the immortal

the end does not exist anymore end of session.

[patwrites]

Some MoM thoughts

Trying to keep these as vague as possible

Danny Elfman redeeming himself from that forgettable AOU score. Back in his Spider-Man era

Love how Stephen just takes everything in stride but he does need to work on being more emotionally honest

All of the Variants we do see are glorified cameos

Apparently only the TVA calls them Variants

Loooved this film’s version of the Illuminati

Illuminati got a lot of chuckles, thank you internet 🙄🙄🙄

Very straightforward plot: Wanda’s been corrupted by the Darkhold and she wants this multiversal traveler’s power to reunite with “real” versions of her boys. Stephen works to keep America from Wanda because this will end up screwing with reality. None of this is a spoiler, it’s all brought up in the first 20 minutes

“Wanda was the villain” THE VILLAIN WAS THAT FUVKING BOOK

I do appreciate that the dialogue repeatedly reminded the audience that this wasn’t really Wanda. Nobody treats her like she’s evil or a villain BECAUSE SHE IS NOT

It actually works. It’s a very simple “save the kid to save the multiverse” deal.

This is absolutely Stephen’s movie, fear not

I still don’t know how to feel about the movie just dumping us straight into the plot

I know Raimi’s films tend to not be longer than 2 hours and change (I think SM3 is his longest work by a lot), but this could’ve benefited from an extra 15-20 minutes

We needed more info on 838-Wanda and her situation. Are her versions of Billy & Tommy flesh and blood or are they magic constructs too? We never see the twins outside the house. Did Wanda create them via magic like our Wanda? Did she adopt them, did she get a sperm donor?

OH Waldron writes Rick and Morty NO WONDER THE DIALOGUE IS SO PEDESTRIAN

Seriously, whenever this script isn’t expositing it’s offering up repackaged cliche stock phrases… that surprisingly worked

838-Christine, my beloved

I really wish we could’ve seen more of the Illuminati, but I understand they were there to fulfill certain plot functions and that was it

I cried 3 times

However emotionally prepared you think you are for the Two Wandas scene, I assure you that you are not

Very much a Sam Raimi film. The Evil Dead influences were the most apparent

Stronger than the first film

I may or may not have audibly moaned at several moments

Very self-contained outside of a throwaway gag about NWH

Why is America a child?? Why?

My big disagreement with the direction they took Wanda in aside, I think this might be my favorite Phase 4 film. I loved it.

Overall, I’d give it a 7.7/10

[olympiansally]

Your opinion on Luke Castellan, if you want?

Send me an ask with “your opinion on _______”

Hello @supermarketcrayons!

Ohhh this one is polemic lmao i’ll give you my take on him, but i have to say that I have not been keeping up with my pjo interactions a lot recently so this will kinda be my 15 year old opinion on him lmao

But ok here goes! I kinda love him tbh jsiwksiwksiwks like tragic greek hero extraordinaire, Luke’s slow corruption and hero of the prophecy twist is absolutely where Riordan’s writing peaked (only to get consistently worse and worse afterwards unfortunately lmao)

I mean, I love a good and villain and Luke Castellan is a great villain. Tragic backstory done right for SURE, you can def understand his motives and the narrative is shaped in a way that makes you wonder if he is right at times BUT he is undeniably a villain and throughout the narrative his actions become more and more questionable to the point where he is causing the end of the world type of wrong

Also the way he was inspirational and beloved by people in camp? All the devastation that losing him caused? AMAZING! He’s such a well done character that I really can’t help love him. Also the way all his best qualities are turned to evil is incredible, how his leadership makes him able to lead so many to the wrong side and create an army of destruction is so good!!

Aside from all of those narrative reasons i have to love him, he’s just such a charismatic villain! I always loved all his scenes and that’s really the point of him. He’s written in a way that makes you suffer his loss so much and i would argue that Luke’s character arc is one of the main thing that made pjo SO MUCH better than hoo. You had a villain you couldn’t help but root for and the way baby me yearned for him to get a redemption and then the way his sacrifice wrecked me? Very good writing for sure!

From an older point of view, looking back on him now, I see some problems with his relationship with Annabeth but honestly that’s Rick’s mistake because a sibling like relationship would have worked perfectly for the same impact and quite honestly i did see it a little more that way? When I first read it I fr thought Luke had a crush on Thalia and Annabeth had an unrequited crush on him. I choose to still interpret it that way because that’s how the text reads to me - any other drama or problematic interpretations i don’t really want to partake in lmao

My overall opinion on Luke Castellan is that he is a villain that I love to hate and one whose motives I understand. He is so well written it is insane for a kids series. His manipulations made me so mad and the way he himself would lose with them too was heartbreaking. I mean, thinking about May Castellan and Silena chills me to this day. I really love him and I have no problems with loving him because he is written for me to love him. Luke is an incredibly well done character and i appreciate that so much!!

In short:

Dramatic ass king of daddy issues we stan, relate and appreciate a good literary symbolism LMAO