#what did blowing up those bases do to him? like if there’s no meaningful convo on this shift in characterization it really didn’t mean shit

[starlooove]

Im not a Bruce fan stop making me defend him tim and dick both would’ve felt terrible about killing somebody and scenes written to make them look cool that are never spoken about in depth again don’t change that yes this is about that council of spiders shit bro

[moonchildsaurora]

The ex-Mercenary with the endearing dimples

»»—— Crew Member #5 of Space Pirates ATEEZ ——««

all aboard The Perihelion, welcome to the co-pilot’s log system! here you’ll be able to access the crew’s profiles should you wish to read about their journeys: (no nsfw content)

[CAPTAIN] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]

“if you fall for those dimples, then you’re already half-way in the hunter’s trap”

only a handful of people actually know of his origins, and being a changeling sure comes with a lot of perks for his (previous) field of work

[database file: changelings are nomadic beings, and are able to shift both face and form at will. There are no official records of a changeling’s standard/normal form, and very rarely would anyone get a chance to witness it. Most changelings take on forms of existing beings, depending on the location they’re at and how much they want to blend in, some preferring to add their own artistic flair on appearance]  

San’s hair changes almost as quickly as he changes his dagger blades, his current hair of a rich dark brown colour with a turf of silver that never seem to stop shimmering slightly – much like moon light. Which makes his Selenian [database file: moon/silver elves] form all that more convincing

he started his mercenary life on the planet Tundaoria, where all main networks of black markets and underground work are based at

young blood with no last name, a growing reputation – San is an all-round enigma. But he had a talent for tracking, deadly accuracy and disappearing without a trace, hence nobody questioned him other than for getting a job done

he used to work with a small group, ‘Windstriders’, known for their efficient timeframe and clean work. People pay for the quality, majority of the time San worked with others but sometimes he might pick up a few solo missions on the side

earned the nickname ‘Dimples’ from his ex-team mates however whilst he seems harmless on first glance, “the kid? Aye he’s one big sweetheart he is”, he’s learnt to use that highly skewed perception to his advantage

that’s to say he’s managed to coax beings either to bed for a night of pleasure or their deathbeds, talk about deadly charisma  

“so on average, what are the chances of someone walking out of your room alive?” 

San prides himself with maintaining a level of morality, and won’t kill unless it’s the specific target themselves and/or out of self-defence for any unfortunate souls who decide to intervene with his job. Has nothing against stealing or gambling because, “what’s living without taking a few risks?”

lowkey has a soft spot for younglings and became unexpectedly close to a particular orphanage in a town on the far northern-side of the planet. The head guardian (most orphanages are cared by a guardian or two) found San passed out nearby after a particularly tedious mission and took him in for healing. Since then that place had become an unofficial healer’s spot and safe house  

the younglings absolutely adored having him visit, especially when “look, look! The Moon Prince is here!”, bearing gifts such as trinkets, new toys or aleagette pastries [database: assorted savoury or sweet pastry-type snacks that melt in the mouth when eaten, the surprise is that the flavour isn’t known until the first bite]. San would later on start contributing part of his earnings towards the upkeep of the orphanage as a repayment for the guardians’ hospitality (and it’s really for the younglings but he won’t admit that)

every time a youngling treats him to a toothy smile, a wild giggle or when the bolder ones would run up and wrap their petite arms around his legs his fondness grows exponentially. Once, a guardian caught him helping the younglings doodle whatever their hearts desired on themselves so they could match the many permanent silver ink patterns that decorated his arms and back

“already influencing the little ones with your ways, Sannie?” (another nickname that the younglings picked up on and would parrot it back)

“I’ll have you know what we’re doing here is called art”

the one time San was caught off guard was having a past target’s associate track him down to his safe space and carry out a revenge attack – “you took my family away from me and now I’m going to take yours”          

San never fully recovered (the invisible wounds at least) for causing innocents to get caught up in the crossfire, for realising too late how attached he’s become to these people and their meaningful presence in his life 

as a parting favour, the Windstriders helped San relocate the survivors of the orphanage far away to the much more peaceful city of Aeria (known as ‘City of Healing’ on the planet Cidestea). They said goodbye to a reliable comrade, to his old identity, to his previous lifestyle; mutually promising that contact will only be made again in a dire situation as a last resort – Dimples was off the radar for good

5 years later, after a successful loot haul The Perihelion stopped by Aeria for a re-fuel and mainly because Seonghwa wouldn’t miss an opportunity to stock up on his medicinal herbs (also adopting some new plant children). Hongjoong led his small crew after being directed by a local to “the best tea spot in town” which turned out to be ‘Mosaic Brews’ run by none other than San

now sporting a more turquoise shade of hair and a woodland elven appearance where once silver ink ran along his skin, now a bold black-brown. The younglings who decided to stick by him now have grown too, toughened up by life yet maintained their soft innocence under San’s care for the past years

curiously they stared in awe at Yunho and Mingi, clearly never seeing such giants (to them) before, the older ones enthusiastically brought out the multi-coloured teas for their new guests and the younger ones were spoiled by Seonghwa’s constant cooing. Hongjoong thought San was more than what met his eyes, the seemingly bright shop owner who’s dimples were on full display and heartily conversed with the young captain still had a guarded air around him

it wasn’t until Yunho and Seonghwa gave a few Urousbaines (with captain’s approval of course, one does not just hand out rarities for free) from their loot to the younglings and San’s nonchalant reaction that got Hongjoong’s eyes sparkling

“don’t worry little one, the flower isn’t frozen, here pass me that water bowl.” and the younglings are still convinced till this day that San is some intergalactic prince with magical powers. Because right in front of their eyes the supposedly frozen flower bloomed and the sunlight refracted off its crystal-like petals, casting a spectrum of colours to fill the small shop

“oh how wondrous! How did you know to do that?” (…and San has left the chat)

A LOT of convincing was needed to get San to hear Hongjoong out (by now the crew knew what their captain wants, he gets) and only after tucking the younglings in for the evening in their rooms on the upper level of the shop did the serious talk start

San swore to leave that life behind but he would be kidding himself if he said he didn’t feel a slight tug at his heart for adventure, yet again. It was a tug-of-war between what the head knows vs. what the heart yearns for

“But Sannie how are you going to save the galaxy if you’re stuck here?” came the soft-spoken voice of the youngest and the group nearly had whiplash turning around. The younglings had snuck downstairs and listened in on the convo, knowing it’ll be sad to part with San but even sadder for him to purposely hold back

the younglings won the debate, that they weren’t naïve nor helpless anymore and together they could take care of themselves and the shop – after all they’ve only learnt from the best (San did notify some of the locals whom were trusted regulars of his temporary leave and to keep an eye on the younglings in his stead)

Yunho offered a communication bot to keep in touch so San could check-in whenever he wished, the younglings were fascinated as the Sheirzoi showed them how to work it and a chorus of “oohs” and “ahhs” were heard when they saw the main deck of the ship through the screen. At present, he made sure to check-in at least once every week, all smiles & dimples when he sees the little ones’ faces squeezed into the single screen

San held onto the younglings right up until he boarded The Perihelion, and making sure to wave back until they were right out of sight. He packed simply but made sure to put up some of the drawings the younger ones gifted him up on his room’s walls and the ‘lucky charm’ that got braided into his hair was worn proudly (the older kids had woven a band with colourful beads & crystallised Echetta wings they found in the garden – from the ‘lucky butterfly’)

the crew reminded him of his old team, how they looked out for one another despite not being blood-related but nevertheless a family of sorts. Eventually everyone found out of his changeling abilities after he nearly gave them a heart attack, “SAN! YOU’RE PURPLE…WHY IS YOUR SKIN PURPLE?!”

Hongjoong never dug too deep into San’s past but was very grateful and appreciative of his fighting skills, thus made him in charge of training the others to be able to defend themselves at least. Cue strict combat trainer San to pop out (Yeosang adds a new curse word to his vocab list after every lesson)

they’ve seen his lethal side where he went on a rampage after Seonghwa got shot

Is probably the only one Jongho trusts to trial his new weapons without blowing something or someone up accidentally

argues with the hot-headed Wooyoung frequently that sometimes Seonghwa has to put them in time-out, initially was legit arguments but now it’s more with an affectionate undertone

Hongjoong and Seonghwa nearly gave him ‘the space dad & mum talk’ after, “bloody hell did you get attacked or something?” upon seeing an array of purple-pink marks across San’s neck when he came stumbling back to the ship just near dawn. The faint scent of perfume lingering and tousled hair gave away that much. “At least leave us a message if not we’re sending the precious cargo retrieval brigade next time”

recently adopted a Kiatrafel [database file: small winged feline-like creature that can spit fire], he calls her “my girl” and is in the midst of training it to not mark its territory everywhere (including on people)

“SAN! Your hellcat just pissed on Hongjoong...again and coughed up flames on Yunho’s notes. Captain says if you don’t come within 5 seconds he’s throwing her down the chute”                                          

(moodboard made with love, by @s1ardusk​ ♡)

[sophygurl]

I feel like there were a lot of moments that worked in the micro (were impactful scenes very true to the characters involved, or were just cool/fun), but were incredibly problematic when viewed in the context of the MCU as a whole (which they have to be, not least because this is The Culmination of Ten Years of Storytelling). Examples: Nat's death, Thor's convo with his mom, the girl gang scene. Thoughts?

Uhhhh, short version? Yes.

Longer version? Ugh. Yea, there were a lot of things that were either outright plotholes or that could have easily been done another way that would have made more sense in the larger context BUT that also were chosen to be done the way they were because they wanted to give that to the fans. [The whole time heist stuff was such an incredible reward for the audience getting those peeks at the older stories but ... honestly ... it was almost sillier than Legends of Tomorrow storylines in some places!]

Also some things that make sense for the series as a whole but that disappointed me in the micro-sense of individual character’s stories. This kind of thing is just gonna happen in a series like this. It would be incredibly hard to avoid. But it’s still frustrating.

One of my big examples is actually how Thanos was ultimately felled.

Of course it had to be Tony, it was always going to be Tony. He started the whole series and the emotional notes leading up to the crescendo of the big battle all led in that direction and him taking Thanos down with the line “I am Iron Man” was almost too epic for words. So, in the context of the past 11 years and the journey these characters have been on since he first said those words, it was very meaningful. (One could even say ... inevitable?)

But I personally felt like it would have been much more meaningful if Nebula and Gamora had taken him down. I know they were important parts of the fight overall, but because of the powerfulness of their stances against him, I always envisioned the two of them working together to bring him down in the end. Or at the very LEAST to have had a more significant role in his downfall. 

Like maybe they could have been there to help give Tony the set-up that he then took. IDK. It just really left me kinda cold how little they ended up having to do with defeating him when it came down to it.

Now, a lot of this is perspective and I’m seeing so many different perspectives based on which characters and stories impacted people the most. And for me, it’s always been the stories of the female characters that hit me the most. So I wanted this for these two sisters who worked so hard to be able to work together against their abuser. *shrug*

I’ve also seen a lot of people sad or upset that Carol didn’t end up having a big enough role, but I feel like - well she wasn’t going to be there for the big emotional beats in the first half because she wasn’t part of that Avengers family. (and in the in-story reason of course being that she had a whole universe of planets to help while Earth had all these other heroes)

But what she did contribute to the fight was pretty damned epic. Showing back up just in the nick of time and blowing through Thanos’s ship was *chefkiss* - I was bouncing around in my seat practically chanting her name! 

And same for the whole “girl gang” scene. Like, ooof, this idea that all of the badass lady fighters who may or may not even know one another well would drift towards one another protectively and fight together just felt Dead ON to me. 

Would it have been better if the MCU had more carefully and intentionally fostered relationships between the female heroes, and perhaps even cultivated more female heroes in the first place? Heck yea! But lacking that? I love the idea of them finding one another organically in the heat of battle and cooperating like that. That’s pretty much what would happen, imo. Women fucking rock. 

Nat’s death is another one that can be framed in so many different ways, depending on the perspective you have going in. I find stories of sacrifice really meaningful and touching, and to me it made perfect sense for her character that she would make that choice. Obviously, Clint wanted to be the one to make it and probably any of the other heroes who would have found themselves in that situation would have tried to have done it, too. That’s part of what makes them all heroes.

But for Nat, especially being there with Clint, who saved her and who’s family was her family? There was no freaking way in hell she was ever going to let him be the one to sacrifice himself. 

And it sucks that she had to. And it sucks that the storytelling couldn’t come up with a better way and/or have given the audience more context for her character by having given her a solo film prior to this heroic end, etc. But it still made sense to me and was deeply meaningful to me and left me satisfied as far as her having made the choice that fit for her arc. All she wanted was to fix things and save her family. And she did. She did that.

IDK, I feel like I’m tangenting at this point. But I’d love to hear more of what you thought worked on one level but not another. For me the biggest one was the sisters and Thanos’s downfall. But there were definitely others. 

Thor’s whole arc fit weirdly into the overall story. But his arc has been kinda goofy for awhile, anyway. I know some people are mad about it, but I liked his choice to abdicate. I never felt like he Wanted to be king. His choosing something else for himself was not, I felt, a result of his depression but rather his way of crawling back out of it. His people needed a leader, though, so he found someone who he thought could do a better job, and really, why should leadership go down a familial line? Valkyrie will be an amazing king. And Thor is gonna have such fun adventures with the Guardians!