#code versus killing

[skjam]

Comic Book Review: The Best of DC #38: Superman Vs. the Supernatural

Comic Book Review: The Best of DC #38: Superman Vs. the Supernatural edited by Nicola Cuti As I’ve mentioned before, Superman’s impressive array of powers at the top of the super-scale make him a hard character to write challenges for. This led to the invention of Kryptonite and its subsequent overuse as a plot device. But at some point in the early Silver Age, it was also established that…

[lady-ephemeral]

Dorian Pavus the Altus, and later Magister and Archon, the Man that you are.

And Ofc,

Illario Dellamorte (The Lesser) and my favorite Crow (don’t tell Viago)

This was my reference Click for better quality because Tumblr is a dick, and closeups under the cut!

[tobiasdrake]

Where do you fall on the "killing vs. not killing bad guys" argument? I know the debate is complicated and there's a lot of various factors for and against either side, so I wanna hear your take on things.

An intensely complicated subject that tends to get oversimplified on both sides of the equation. I generally don't like to take a "side" on this because I feel like the idea of there being "sides" on killing misses the point.

Unless you're talking about cold-blooded execution of a subdued foe, killing generally isn't a choice you get to make. It's a consequence of the choice you already made to use violence.

While arguments about killing villains exist beyond superhero comics, this is a particular way that they tend to happen in superhero media. Superhero stories depict their heroes as, effectively, SWAT teams. The Green Goblin is about to blow up Newark, so Spider-Man breaks in and smashes his face against a brick wall until he passes out.

Part of the fantasy is the idea that nonlethal violence is easy and reliable. After Spider-Man reduces the Green Goblin's HP to 0, a Windows menu pops up and says "Would you like to finish him?" Spider-Man boldly clicks "No" after every fight like the hero he is.

It allows fans to enjoy brutal takedowns of bad guys without having to reckon with the reality that when Batman brought an entire floor down on top of that guy's head, he probably didn't wake up in a hospital bed. Batman can throw a guy off a third story balcony and watch his knees crack as he hits the ground and the story assures you that he's fine. He'll just need a little stay in the hospital.

But realistically speaking, all of these guys would have body counts. Not because they were aggressively trying to murder, but because you don't really get the choice. It is extremely easy to kill someone and surprisingly difficult to nonlethally incapacitate them. The line between how much blunt-force cranial trauma will knock someone unconscious versus how much will kill them is extremely blurry and it moves.

There are less lethal ways of incapacitating someone than others. Obviously, tasing someone has a lower mortality rate than shooting them with bullets. But the only surefire way to uphold a Code of No-Killing is to not use violence as your problem-solving tool in the first place. And there's not a lot of de-escalation training going around the Avengers Mansion.

So it always just feels kind of self-delusional when superheroes brag about not killing people but their primary mode of problem-solving is to shoot a guy in the face with an exploding arrow or something. You're gonna kill people if you're Batmanning. Sorry, that's just the reality of violence. When you throw a guy off a roof, you don't get to choose what physics is going to do to that sack of meat and bone as it hits the ground.

Now, on the opposite end of the spectrum, should superheroes kill people on purpose? Uh. No. I don't want cops extrajudicially murdering whoever they don't like, and I don't want Batman to do it either. Due process exists for a reason.

Superheroes should not try to kill people. But they are going to kill people sometimes, because their hammer is violence and their stories are just excuses to pit them against nails.

"But the Joker always breaks out of prison." Yeah, but he also always comes back to life. If you can nitpick about genre conventions then I can too. Hell, often times you can't even redeem a villain without the next writer unwriting it and making them a bad guy again. At a metafictional level, there is rarely any way to truly do away with a popular villain.

But. Y'know. Let's talk about heroes who aren't fucking copaganda. In the broader fictional sense, should stories end with the hero killing the villain or shouldn't they?

This, again, has no simple Yes or No answer. It depends heavily on the themes being explored and what the villain is meant to represent.

We need to talk about the "demise" of the villain, which can be a literal death or it can be many other things. The primary function of the villain is to be wrong about something. To oppose the hero, who is right about something.

The villain holds bad ideas, bad beliefs, bad ideology. The hero may start out holding good ideas, or they may be something that the hero comes to over the course of the story. But by the time these two meet in the third act climax, they are meant to embody the two faces of the story's central thesis. Regarding whatever this story is trying to talk about, the hero is right and the villain is wrong.

Whatever form it takes, whether literal death or not, the demise of the villain is the final statement on their incorrect or even toxic beliefs. Which often does take the form of literal death because it's easy to write a comeuppance that way.

Luke Skywalker believes that there is love in his father's heart for him, and Emperor Palpatine is confident that Anakin is truly lost. But Luke's love for his family wins out and destroys Palpatine.

Scar is selfish, cowardly, and disloyal. Simba returns out of a sense of responsibility and loyalty to his people, coming clean to them and accepting his place among them. Scar tries to sell out the hyenas to save his own skin, as well as stabbing Simba in the back. For his treachery, the hyenas rip him to pieces; He is devoured by the very loyalties that he selfishly betrayed.

Obadiah Stane, the embodiment of war profiteering and the military-industrial complex, is literally consumed by the clean energy project that Tony wants to move the company towards instead.

Sauron underestimates the power of the small and meager folk, and believes wholeheartedly in Great Men of History. And so when Great Man Aragorn marches to his gates, he allows himself to become convinced that this is his true nemesis, his true rival, the threat he must face. This is the glorious battle that will decide the fate of Middle-Earth. And so he turns his eye away from the common folk that will be his undoing.

The villain's flaws, their toxic ideology, the things that make them the villain, are what their demise is supposed to be about. They can be consumed by their failings or undone by the hero's virtues, but either way, in a well-executed demise, a closing statement on the story's thesis is made.

But a well-executed demise doesn't necessarily have to be fatal, either. Like I've said, it can be things other than a literal demise. Sometimes it absolutely should.

In Civil War, Zemo is driven by an obsession for revenge. His homicidal retaliatory bloodthirst is a toxin that he infects both T'Challa and Tony with over the course of the story. Tony succumbs and has to be defeated with force, though Steve still demonstrates his strength of character by sparing Tony's life in the end even when the madness of the battle threatens to grip him too.

But it's T'Challa who delivers Zemo's demise. Not by killing him, but by making the choice to rise above vengeance. T'Challa breaks the shackles of Zemo's infectious vengeance and chooses mercy. And it's in this moment that Zemo's feelings, his cruelty, are opposed and vanquished by T'Challa's heroic virtue.

Firelord Ozai believes in the Social Darwinist ideology of Might Makes Right. He leads a culture where disputes are settled with deathmatches and believes it is his right to blanket the world in fire because he has the power to do so, and no one can stop him. Aang, by contrast, is a pacifist at heart because those are the values he was raised in; Values of a culture that Ozai exterminated, whose very last vestiges exist only in Aang's heart.

Ozai would kill Ozai and Azula, who often gets left out of this conversation. Because theirs is a culture where righteousness stands hand-in-hand with brute strength. Where who is right is decided by who is left standing when the dust settles, and who is a pile of ash. Aang defeats Ozai; By Ozai's belief system, Aang is stronger thus Aang is righteous and it is his Conqueror's Right to execute Ozai where he stands.

But Aang doesn't just beat Ozai; He rejects Ozai's way of life. He renounces the belief system of the imperialist colonizer and holds true to the belief system of a people they destroyed. While a simultaneous outcome plays out between Katara and Azula, as Katara similarly chooses mercy once she's obtained a position of power and control over Azula.

Special note also to Zuko who demonstrates that he actually cares more about protecting people than about winning his Glorious Deathmatch of Imperialist Honor. Which also serves as a rejection of Azula's beliefs that relationships are founded on fear and control. Zuko, too, rejects the belief systems of Ozai and Azula and warrants recognition. Ozai would never have taken a hit like that for Azula. Azula would never take a hit like that for Ty Lee.

It's this mercy that breaks the Hundred-Year War, destroying not the perpetrators of it but the very principles on which it is founded. This philosophical annihilation of Azula and Ozai's very understanding of strength and power is their villainous "demise", and weighs far more than just cutting their heads off and calling it a day ever could.

There is no correct answer to whether or not heroes should kill. What matters most is how the demise the writer chooses for the villain reflects upon the story's central ideas and thesis.

[creatingblackcharacters]

Hello! I'm making a group of characters who each have animal code names like Lion, Hawk, Spider, Shark, etc. which I plan to also incorporate into their designs and personality traits. I was wondering if there are any specific animals to avoid with my Black characters? I know for sure that Monkey/Ape/etc is a huge no, but are there any other animals that we should avoid associating with Black characters? And I wonder if there are particular animals that you would like to see associated with Black characters more often? Thanks!

To use a notorious example 🤣 think about how Zootopia attempted the concept of predators versus prey and how that went. It's not necessarily about avoiding any animals as it is what you're saying with the ones you choose for them and why. Focus on your characterization itself.

So, if all your Black characters are connected with predatory animals that are often treated as brawny instinctual beasts, versus the rest of the cast, that's gonna be questionable. Because what are you trying to say? What are you actually saying? What made you pick certain animals for the Black characters and their temperaments, versus others?

This idea reminds me of Kill Bill; everyone was named after a snake, and the temperament of that snake vs the assassin was why Bill gave them those codenames. It sounds like you're already on your way.

I gotta be honest, there's not really any animal I would "like" connected with/as a Black character. I don't think we really think about it like that; I just wanna be included in the story, in a thoughtful way. Like Black Panther is cool for its historical and cultural references, both to Egyptian mythology and to the political group's symbolism and importance, but it's not like the panther itself was the part that gave it the power imo, if that makes sense. Just make the character cool with the animal they symbolize 😅

[foggysilverfeathers]

Grian as a watcher: Mysterious. Nature versus nurture. The one pulling the strings.

Martyn as a watcher: Bloodthirsty. Ready to break any sort of honour code for that delicious pain. Lore-intensive.

Jimmy as a watcher: A former listener. Canary killing the coal miners. A turncoat.

Oli as a watcher: *WAHHHHH sounds from the distance.* Has never died. *EEEEE* Largest kill count. God. *OOOEEE echoes closer*

[writers-potion]

Writing Group vs. Group & One vs. Many Fight Scenes

Group vs. Group

To win the readers' sympathies, make sure there are more (and stronger) bad guys than good guys.

Portray a strong "them versus us" mindset. Sometimes, this is a microcosm of a larger religious, social, racial conflict.

Visual clues are often used to emphasize the divide between the two groups: black coats versus white suits, jeans against shorts, etc. They'll have different weapons, use different languages or speech patterns.

Each group will have a leader who spearheads strategies and motivates the rest. This can be an established leader like the eldet sibling, the head girl of the school, etc. Or someone who has the respect of the others and takes charge spontaneously when the situation rises.

The Point of View

Group fights are easiest to write in omniscient PoV

Otherwise, choose a PoV character who is invovled in most action, and restrict yourself to their line of vision. You can take short breaks (like two seconds after he kills his immediate opponent) to account for how his comrads are doing.

One vs. Group

1 vs. many fights where the single person comes up triumphant are fun, but hardly plausible. The key is to provide an illusion of reality.

Keep the number of opponents realistic: three, not thirty.

He would be more highly trained/have special powers than all of his opponents.

He is positioned in such as way that all of his opponents come at him from only one direction (like having his back to a wall), or he stands in a higher terrains from where he can keep an eye on all of them.

She identifies the group's leader and takes him out first.

She creates a situation which forces the group to spread out, or hits when they are already dispersed rather than tightly knit together.

He uses a weapon which can take out several opponents at once. The most effective one for this would be a machine gun, or the hero holding two swords, one in each hand.

If you want the bad guys to come at the hero one by one, some ideas:

The hero has aken p position in a place where only one villain can squeeze through at one time

The attackers don't arrive simultaneously. They come running, and each attacks as soon as they reach the hero.

The gang has a code of honor which demands 1:1 fights.

The fight is an initiation requirment where the newbie must prove themselves in 1:1 combat with all of the established members.

Some tips:

If a hero with superior arms taking on many who are unarmed will make the readers see him as a butcher, and their sympathies will be lost for good.

If he take out too many opponents at once, the readers wouldn't feel like he has really put up a fight. If your hero has a superpower that allows him to do this, establish the boundaries of this power and push the hero to the limit.

If the novel has too many 1:many scenes, it will lose its dramatic effect, and worse, seem unrealistic as you move along.

If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! 📸

[chickenkurage]

Possible new AU? (Duck Alan AU?????)

Where in canon happens, except around Showdown, Alan got extremely worried that Second and the others hadn't come back yet. So he uses his brand new VR headset that he had bought (was planned to use it so he could finally meet and talk with the stick figures, but forgot)

He hadn't set a model for his VR so he used his ROBLOX character as his model, except the VR had twisted it and turned his whole model as a Duck. (His ROBLOX model is a duck head XD). So he sets his way towards the portal and was able to stop Second before he could kill Dark.

What he thought he would look like.

Versus what he turned into.

Second was confused when he saw Alan, cause why was there a random Duck trying to get his attention?

Alan is swimming through the water so he could get to Second and the others (He still has not noticed he was a duck, he thought he was just extremely good at swimming, and awfully small for some reason)

Now onto some doodles! Duck Alan with his kids!

VICTIM

Here Victim discovers Alan was in the outernet and kidnapped him, and instead he was disappointed to find Alan looking like a Duck instead of the "Scary Cursor" form he had. So now his revenge was in shambles and forgotten since Alan had disappointed him so much in such a short time.

(Alan bothers Victim frequently by sneaking inside Rocket Corp)

Alan sad mode because he got kicked out of Rocket Corp again.

CHOSEN

Alan also fell asleep behind the VR as well (thank goodness he was laying on his bed) He totally did not sneak around and carefully laid himself down on top of Chosen.

DARK

Initially, after the Showdown and Alan saving Dark from Second (by distracting him for looking like a duck). Alan has now fixed Dark's code, and he is much more chill now, since he has no voices telling him to destroy everything.

Though he is still mad at Alan (It's just hard to be mad at a cute looking duck, even if that duck is Alan himself, or so he tells himself that)

Alan is secretly very happy to see them all in person, so he cant help but stare at them in awe.

SECOND

Alan has no legs, i like to think he just glides around the place since that's just a VR model XDDD.

In the end, Alan had the chance to change his model, but he kept it because the others are much more kinder to him in that form XDDD

Where did i get this AU idea? Uhh *looks at the AvG roblox gameplays* i don't know either tbh. - S

[hitlikehammers]

(and in your soul) forever's not so long 🤍🩶🖤

“I’d die for you, Steve Harrington. Kill for you. Burn the whole goddamn world and everyone in it, if it was for you,” and Eddie only pauses to lean that little bit more to kiss properly against Steve’s skin before he mouths there, the sincerity of it all straight through to Steve’s bones: “And it would be the honor of my life, only second to the privilege of loving you in the first place.” ♥️

rating: t ♥️ tags: established relationship, post-S4/s5 final showdown, canon-typical violence, declarations of love, heavy drama (because theses boys are involved, that’s kinda a prerequisite), open ending (that I could be persuaded to close on another prompt-day this month, who knows, kinda possibly angsty if not though) ♥️

for @steddielovemonth day five: "I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way, what bliss." - The Addams Family

It’s the night before everything comes to a head. Not that they know it, in the moment: of course they don’t.

But it is that same night.

Eddie’s hands are more delicate like this, without the rings and lazily carding through Steve’s hair where it spreads across his chest, when Steve lies on top of him versus the other way around.

They’re skin-to-skin, as they most often are in bed whether they’ve fucked yet, or even intend to that night at all. They just…

It’s comfort. Routine. Magical in that it’s predictable; it’s who they are now, what they’ve grown into as superstar lives that starting twining inextricable like it was the easiest thing; not a path of least resistance but the direction they’d been waiting all their lives somehow to find, and run like hell with, hand in hand. It’s like a promise, almost, inside all that everydayness, built into what it is to fall quietly, incalculably joyful into the shape of togetherness like this, the most natural configuration.

To touch, and stay, and feel this deep and sure: it’s for always. It’s for keeps.

Or that’s…that’s kinda what it feels like.

Which is all that counts.

But that’s where they are: Eddie’s long, lithe fingers running through Steve’s hair, his breathing even and his heart loud and steady under Steve’s ear before he says the most ridiculous thing, something that should send a pulse racing for how big it is, how…how much it is, and fuck, how much more it is, it means, because Eddie’s heartbeat doesn’t shift a single stroke as he exhales warm against Steve’s temple:

“I’d die for you, Steve Harrington. Kill for you. Burn the whole goddamn world and everyone in it, if it was for you,” and Eddie only pauses to lean that little bit more to kiss properly against Steve’s skin before he mouths there, like massaging the intention, the sincerity of it all straight through to Steve’s bones:

“And it would be the honor of my life, only second to the privilege of loving you in the first place.”

And they don’t say it in words so often, maybe they should—but it’s clear enough, unquestioned enough that the declaration of love in it all doesn’t shake Steve’s breath, just maybe makes him nuzzle into eddies chest a little closer.

It’s more the rest of the statement—not a line in the sand so much as an observation of settled fact—that draws Steve’s hand to lace into Eddie’s and hold him still while Steve turns just enough to catch his eye.

“You say that like it’s a one-way street,” Steve half-whispers; “like you’ve got the corner on feeling exactly all that, and exactly that much.”

Eddie tips his head so his lips brush another kiss to Steve’s skin, almost incidental.

Almost.

“Do you seriously think that any part of that isn’t exactly the same, doesn’t go bo—”

The squeal of the walkie at their bedside cuts Steve off, because of course it would, just when it really matters, and the urgency of Code Red! called shaky across the line, well.

That is what kicks both their heartbeats up to racing.

——

The point is that of course they couldn’t have known. They couldn’t have predicted how it would hold happen that night, how Eddie’s declaration and Steve’s aborted reply would come to echo with a devastating underscore of prophecy, and worse: finality.

It’s growing clear by the second, the farther into the air that Eddie starts to float.

“Such a misfortune to love the one thing that could save him so deeply, that there’s no single melody strong enough to coax him back,” Henry, of the husk of him limping in that’s less physical form and more visceral, desperately-clinging power, all of him concentrated and unhinged, and so much more dangerous.

So much more devastating, as Steve watches Eddie’s eyes roll back to white, the capillaries bursting, the roar of Steve’s pulse something viscous in his ears, threatening to burst there in kind.

“It’s nearly boring, really, how desperate you all always are to save this one tiny, insignificant man, and always him, every time,” and fuck, if Steve’s chest doesn’t roar with a fire that would torch the fucking skies because how dare he, about Eddie, Steve’s Eddie, how fucking dare—

“I detest boredom,” the monster, no longer embodied enough to pretend at being a man; “so I offer a wager.”

They all know better than to indulge it, to even listen. They cannot even think to trust—

“One of you, for him.”

It’s Nancy who screams actual words over the violent raging that erupts from all sides; why the fuck should we believe you?

And Henry, what’s left of a face in him, sneers with pity:

“I had my fun with him once. And I told you. The most inane form of boredom is willful routine.”

And they shout more, they rage and they shoot at a figure that’s not wholly real, and so Steve doesn’t even know how it could be killed—doubts bullets almost as a rule though, on the point.

But here’s the thing. It’s a melee, it’s a shitshow, it’s the endgame and eddies limbs are pulled too fucking tight, too treacherous.

And Steve’s pulse is steady, anyway. His breaths come even, when by all rights they shouldn’t.

That’s the way he knows.

So he steps forward, meets eyes-that-aren’t-quite-eyes-anymore, but are close enough to see and recognize the gesture: him.

Him, for Eddie.

What’s left of the head nods, and there is and instant. One instant.

Eddie falls to the ground, screams in pain, but only for the impact.

Only that.

And before anyone can run to him, and before the focus of a psychopath can shift wholly, he meets Steve’s eyes in horror.

But under all the horror, that just deepens as he seems to process things he heard when not quite present, seems to unravel what’s about to occur: under all of it, there’s just love.

And since there were wasn’t ever anything misunderstood between them, no matter what was said in words or no, Steve takes the moment he has to clear up the only loose thread he can’t think of:

“It always went both ways.”

And then it’s just pain, and he can’t move his limbs, but he can still see eddies face, contorted in agony that Steve thinks hurts worse to see than any of this could hurt to feel, so long as it’s not Eddie feeling it, not ever Eddie, and he can’t hear—for which he’s grateful—but he tests his neck: a little give left. Henry’s slow, like this, compared to what he used to be.

Steve has just enough time to mouth, eyes trained unblinking on Eddie and Eddie alone:

“Fucking,” and his eyeballs feel like they’re about to cave in the way he fights to keep them steady, to keep Eddie in view as the last thing he ever sees, for the last word he ever speaks:

“Privilege.”

And when it goes white, as his eyes rolls back and he lifts to the sky, it’s okay. More than, even.

To give his life to loving, like he’d always hoped to, and to have gotten it back just the same?

That’s more bliss than most people ever get to know at all, no matter how it ends.

✨permanent tag list: OPEN (lmk if you want to be added/removed): @ajeff855 @askitwithflours @awkwardgravity1 @bookworm0690 @bumblebeecuttlefishes @captain--low @depressed-freak13 @dragoon-ze-great @dreamercec @dreamwatch @dreamy-jeans137 @estrellami-1 @goodolefashionedloverboi @grtwdsmwhr @gunsknivesandplaid @hiei-harringtonmunson @hbyrde36 @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @kimsnooks @live-laugh-love-dietrich @mensch-anthropos-human @nerdyglassescheeseychick @notaqueenakhaleesi @ollyxar @pearynice @perseus-notjackson @pretend-theres-a-name-here

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[ardentpoop]

list some of ur fav sam quotes and why they are ur favs

I have “same circumstances, I wouldn’t.” as a piece of decor in my apartment LOL bc that’s how intensely I love it. don’t think I need to elaborate because I’ve rambled on about it before 😭

“it doesn’t matter what you are, it only matters what you do.” many people find this sam refrain as inspirational as the narrative is positioning it as, but I like it because it makes me very very sad. it implies that there is something wrong with “what you are” when that is only true if you buy into the hunter code of ethics. it is a fallacious mindset doomed to hurt him and everyone like him (see jack in particular.)

“you’re the one who said don’t come back, dad. you’re the one who closed that door, not me. you were just pissed off you couldn’t control me anymore!” YUMMMMMM YUM YUM. GET ANGRY!!!!!!!! TELL IT LIKE IT IS. unfortunately I have a lifetime of shit to project onto these two 🥴

soulless!sam’s “no, I’m saying something you don’t like” to dean’s “you don’t even know what you’re saying.” self-explanatory. honorable mention to soulless!sam’s “dean doesn’t care about me - he just cares about his little brother sammy, burning in hell. he’ll kill me to get that other guy back.” PEAK sam versus sammy episode; really heavy implications.

sam to lucifer: “you’ll taunt me and you’ll torture me, and I’ll say no. and eventually, sooner than you think, my brother’s gonna walk through that door and kick your ass.” makes me unfathomably sad. the passivity of his position by this point! the best that he can hope for is that dean will rescue him, and if this faith in dean wavers at all it will be just as much a “character defect” as it was when he was young and still angry and still questioning the validity of The Rules. agonizing.

I’ll stop there because these are the ones that immediately sprang to mind and if I keep thinking about it I’ll never stop.

[musette22]

Hey Minnie, hope you're well. I love the discussions people are having about civil war Bucky even now. Though part of it makes me feel annoyed (not at you or anyone else here but at Marvel).

It really sucks seeing all the effort Marvel put in to make Bucky less sympathetic after Winter Soldier. In that movie, we saw Bucky completely vulnerable and alone and scared - a victim through and through. Which makes it so weird that leading up to cw the Russos kept saying stuff like 'Is Bucky a dangerous assassin or the world's longest serving pow?' 'Is he a killing machine or can he be Steve's friend again?' Like my guys, you already answered this in the previous movie! Especially when the first real scene we're given of Bucky is him buying plums at a market and smiling at the seller. How terrifying 🙄

Even the torture scenes are wildly different. In catws we see Bucky getting backhanded by his abuser followed by his terrified reaction to the machine. We saw him trembling, breathing heavily, saw the whites of his eyes and heard him whimper before he started screaming. The scene in cw is very . . . distant in comparison. There's a mask covering his face so we can't see his expression and the chair puts him in a much less vulnerable position. (And why include a torture scene if you're trying to leave it up to debate if he's innocent? They could've written him like 616 Bucky, who wasn't tortured and just had his memory erased. He still had a personality and autonomy to fight back against his handlers. Mcu Bucky had none of that).

Also I really hate the retcon of the code words. They should've kept the story from catws - the mind wipes + torture + drugs + brainwashing techniques. It was so much more complex and interesting and showed how bad it was for him. But then cw changed it to 'there's a switch we can flip in his brain to turn him into an uncontrollable killing machine when it's convenient'. It didn't add anything to the story, it was just a tool to make Bucky look more dangerous and to give a reason for him to be shoved in a freezer at the end. It also made it like getting rid of the code words just got rid of the trauma and pain that hydra gave him. (Even though after the code words were removed he was treated like he'd suddenly snap and kill everyone. Stupid writing).

And don't get me started on all the obvious rewrites, done to make Bucky look more dangerous and to stamp #nohomo all over Steve and Bucky. The soft, gentle 'Buck, do you know me?' versus the curt 'Which Bucky am I talking to?' There's some other really stupid dialogue, like when Steve and Sam are talking about Bucky. Sam suggests Nat is right in her saying Steve should not help/protect Bucky. Steve says 'He'd do it for me,' to which Sam replies 'In 1945 maybe.' The problem with this is at the end of catws, Bucky, with almost no memory of Steve, injured and scared, saved Steve from drowning, even though he'd been trying to kill him just before. So Bucky has proven he'd be there for Steve in the same way, well after 1945, which makes Sam's statement ridiculous.

Or the scene where Steve tries to tell Bucky what happened with Hydra wasn't his fault and Bucky says "I know. But I did it,' and Steve doesn't look at him and doesn't reply, which makes it look like he agreed with the notion that Bucky had responsibility. Earlier in the same movie Steve refuses to let Wanda blame herself for the incident in Lagos, so why can't he do the same for Bucky? #Nohomo. (Btw I don't blame either Sam or Steve here, it's not their fault the writing is atrocious).

This is why I'm the same as you Minnie, I refuse to regard a lot of the mcu canon. In my head Steve and Bucky went on the run together before getting their names cleared and enjoying a peaceful retirement together with Alpine.

Even though I can't bring myself to care, I'm genuinely happy that some fans enjoyed Thunderbolts. After all Marvel has done, we deserve something good, or at least decent. It's just that, to me, the whole 'supportive friendship' thing from Thunderbolts just rings hollow. Especially when they never properly addressed any of the trauma with the original avengers. It was either ignored or played off as jokes. Thunderbolts just feels like too little too late.

Sorry for this massive rant, you've just got a really good supportive space here and I appreciate that.

Hi lovely!! Apologies for taking a little while to answer this, sometimes shorter asks are easier to answer quickly, but it's definitely not because I didn't appreciate this ask, because I absolutely did!!

I can't tell you how interesting this was to read, or how much I agree with everything you said here. You make SUCH good point about Civil War and some of the terrible writing in that movie. The trigger words thing especially, but also the stupid dialogue and obvious rewrites (I hate the "which ;ucky am I talking to" line too 😒). I just completely agree - there's a reason I've only seen CW once or twice.

I'm also right there with you when it comes to disregarding canon and rewriting Steve and Bucky's ending in a way that actually makes sense for them and lets them be together the way they absolutely would have been if marvel/disney hadn't decided to no homo the shit out of them. I also feel your sentiments re: Thunderbolts (though tbh I don't really know anything about the plot or dynamic between the characters, so I can't say much about that).

And please don't apologise, you're welcome share your thoughts anytime, especially when they're as interesting as these are! I'm glad this blog feels like a supportive space for that ❤️

[delawaredetroit]

Eri's grandfather saw her quirk as something similar to Shigaraki's - "the power to annihilate". Overhaul discovered that Eri's quirk was actually rewinding living things, but it's easy to see why the boss thought her quirk was destruction. The mechanism might be completely different - rewinding out of existence (Eri) versus breaking things down into particles (Overhaul and Shigaraki), but the end result was still destruction.

It's unfortunate the narrative never did anything with the potential foil that is Kotaro and the Shie Hassaikai boss. There is a parallel between Kotaro and Eri's mom in that after Eri and Tenko accidentally killed one parent after losing control of their quirks, the other parent rejected them.

But the contrast between the Shie Hassaikai boss and Kotaro is crunchy. The boss accepted Eri even with her quirk and acted in what he believed was in her best interest versus Kotaro who rejected Tenko. The boss's issue was that he was a bad judge of character of what help to turn to for Eri...and/or potentially a lack of resources to address quirks like Eri or Tenko's even with well meaning guardians like the boss.

The Shie Hassaikai boss, like Kotaro, was the patriarch who controlled his "house" in that he set the values that everyone else was expected to follow. The boss tried to reform Chisaki by bringing him into the yakuza so he would have a strict moral code to follow, but Chisaki only adopted the hierarchy and the bare bones of an ambition while abandoning everything else. The boss was shown trying to engage in a dialogue with Chisaki multiple times during his flashbacks. Kotaro, on the other hand, reacted aggressively to any challenge to his worldview and his ideal home even when that challenge can from his own young child. There's something about how one of the villains was shown to be one of the more well intentioned guardians (the Shie Hassaikai boss) versus several of the worst parents in BNHA being civilians (Kotaro, Eri's mom, Toga's parents, etc.)

[shorthaltsjester]

okay but i am very confused about the energy regarding the weavemind as. bells hells specific enemies? like sure they’re on ruidus and have been introduced in campaign 3 but none of bells hells have expressed a specific interest in taking them down, the weave mind has committed no specific crimes against bells hells that would equate it to being Justice™ for bh to fight them. even if you want to make the tenuous connection that like imogen and fearne are ruidusborn: both of them have focused much more on the consequences and revelations about their families that have come about from their ruidusborn existence than the authoritarian leaders of ruidus itself. so, uh, it is profoundly more interesting to have the party go after the person in charge of the army cult that contextualizes both of their existences and the trauma of the entirety of their party than a obscure group of villains that bh has no actual tangible relation to. like this was literally laid out in the conversation. bh get the cage and ludinus because that’s Their Fight that they’ve been fighting since imogen started dreaming and since orym’s family got killed. vox machina is taking the bridge because of the vax of it all. and mighty nein got the third less prevalent thing, because they’re experienced with psychic threats and manipulation (and also because of course the mighty nein are the ones dealing with the assignment less likely to be seen or heard about).

like the in-character reactions to the breakup of activities were only really considered anything close to negative by braius and dorian who while certainly now members of bells hells aren’t the ones upon which people are claiming to build their “this story is an injustice to the bells hells” sure it is. like ignoring the fact that being unable to get closure on every single issue and potential villain is a long-standing tradition in cr campaigns, i thought the thing everyone loved so much about bells hells is that they’re the npc party? and for better or worse c3 has been about being fast paced and it would be extraordinarily out of character for matt to say “oh these two high stakes and powerful groups have decided to fulfil their plans one at a time so that bells hells can sufficiently take them out.” like the only way that bells hells — the lowest level party — getting to take out One Of The Most Powerful Exandrian Mages is an injustice is if you’ve ignored the entire campaign and its context. like seeing the complaint that “it’s not bells hells story” yes, that has been made clear time and time again in the past 100 episodes. it’s completely fair to not like this, it’s extremely odd to see this as some sort of surprise wrecking ball that has come about in the decision to have more than one party of eight fuck ups trying to stop the unavoidably obvious world ending threat that exandria currently faces and not as something that has been made repeatedly clear by the themes and position of bells hells. like, throughout, unlike vm or mn, they have been handed their missions rather than choosing them (even if between 2 or 3 choices as was often the case with mn), they have explicitly discussed being the npcs or little guys, they have consistently gone to the bigger guys for help with things that previous parties either managed themselves or suffered without or had allies to help them (versus the like. Leaders that bh look to), even the dynamics of the parties express that bells hells are people stuck saving the world due to a bunch of personal moral codes rather than a specific decision to save the world because they’re the only ones who can, they’re expendable. that has made this campaign different throughout, it has made the characters less explored because they don’t have the time or means or desire to do so. and again it’s a matter of taste whether that’s something you enjoy, but it shouldn’t be a matter of “why would they do this” this far into the Bells Hells Aren’t Special They’re Just There campaign (which isn’t to say the characters aren’t special or whatever like they’re a bunch of weirdos but as a party they’re just a party)

[justabeatingheart]

THIS ISN'T ME MISSING YOU ( sentence starters from the extended play by taylor bickett )

DRUNK ON THE STEPS

"Got hit on by a tourist from Canada in a cowboy hat."

"If you had just apologized I'd have taken you back."

"I'm still dealin' with the drama you inflicted."

"They listened, which is more than you ever did."

"This isn't me missing you."

"This is me pissed at you."

"You don't deserve the attention."

"Your name on my tongue makes me nauseous."

"Maybe I'm just having an allergic reaction to seeing you win."

"It's killin' me just sittin' here knowing you've got the upper hand."

"I'm not cryin' 'cause I want you back."

"I'm cryin' 'cause you made me mad."

BINARY CODE

"I pour my heart out, it makes you shut down."

"I didn't wanna give up."

"Sometimes pulling the plug's the only choice that you have."

"Would it have killed you to fight for me?"

"You've been so robotic, emotions versus logic."

"It's just another way to tear me down in the name of being honest."

"Is it a pattern of fatal attraction?"

"I tend to chase after something disconnected."

"I don't know why I thought somehow this wouldn't have the same ending."

"I really wanted this to work."

TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

"What happened to your apathy? I guess that you replaced it with audacity."

"Now that it's convenient for you, you're ready to talk it through."

"If I see him I'ma punch him in the face."

"It's been a month, already hate your guts."

"You broke me, what the hell is even left to say?"

"I don't miss you, if you do that's fine, but I can't relate."

"It's way too little, way too little, too little too late."

"As soon as I finally think I'm over it you show up like you know that you're my weakness."

"I don't need this."

"Is it 'cause you're feeling guilty?"

"Now you're doing damage control."

"Is it even about me at all?"

"It's too far gone, I'm too pissed off."

"I don't wanna be your friend."

"Is it too much to ask I never see you again?"

HER AGAIN

"I keep waking up nauseous."

"I'm scared my subconscious isn't over it as much as I am."

"I made myself microscopic to fit in your pocket. It's taken me a year to re-expand."

"After all this time, it still gives me a tightness in the center of my chest."

"I think you miss me more than I miss you."

COFFEE AND A QUESTION MARK

"It's not a love match."

"It's not a must-have, but it's nice."

"I don't think I'd have noticed it."

"Does that mean that I'm over it?"

[lucky-katebishop]

I read Batman: Cataclysm (1998) and I have screenshots! Let's go!

Tim's entire arc during this series is wild, man. He gets drugged by a girl he very briefly trained with, he kills Lady Shiva while he's drugged up, and then he ends up saving Lady Shiva by basically getting the drugs into her system which then leads her to kill the people they were trying to incapacitate. This is all during a time when Tim's trying to figure out if he wants to continue being Robin or not, by the way. And during a time when Gotham is literally split in half and destroyed by a 7.6 magnitude earthquake. Comics are crazy, man.

Batman is such a freak. I love when they draw him to be depicted as such.

MY BOY! He was only in a couple of panels but my love! My boy! He's so cool. I'm bummed he didn't get to interact with Tim.

Some Alfred appreciation panels :D

D.A.R.E.!Tim going strong (the 90s were really something, huh)

Some animal appreciation panels

Stephanie and Helena teamup! I went on a rant on goodreads like a few hours ago saying how I really wished that Steph would be mentored or even team up with Helena because their philosophies are very similar and LITTLE DID I KNOW IT WAS CREATED!!! They're just so similar but Steph is still figuring out her morals whereas Helena has already become adamant on hers. I really hope they team up some more, I love their dynamic so, so much.

<3 <3 <3 (this is spoken by Bruce btw - he's talking about his identity versus Alfred's safety)

Tim is SO little brother whenever he's in Nightwing's run.

THEY'RE JUST MEETING NOW?! SERIOUSLY?!

Again- SO little brother coded

... ? If Atlantis ever really existed ??? Was this a joke? Is this sarcasm? What? Aquaman's part of the Justice League, right? What is going on? (Also I could have sworn in a previous series Tim met Babs... this is all written by Chuck Dixon, right? What is going on????)

Bonus Zesti :D

'Aight, thanks for reading! I'll have another post about reading Aftershocks soon enough so if you like this, keep an eye out :)

[triangletoothedlockpick]

Off the Devil spoilers under the cut

I keep thinking about like, how Morgan portrays herself versus what actually seems to be apparent from her unspoken words, actions, and beliefs.

One part in particular is when she talks about the industrial disaster that killed >400,000 people. She uses it to justify her murders, sure. The thing is, she 'did the math' she says, to calculate how long it would take to reach that kill count. She's good at mental math because of gambling, sure, but that's a massive stretch.

Which suggests she thought about it ages ago, not on the fly. And she remembered the exact figures. That's hard to commit to memory if it's just make a point.

So I have to wonder, does that specific event mean something more to her? We know from her later musings that she tried to fight what she perceived as her nature. The depiction of her ASPD/sociopathy/whatever you want to call it is not pedestrian or poorly researched. The focus on having her be challenged on her beliefs about herself (by Emma, by Serra) indicates it to be a major narrative focus of the story.

Which means she probably wasn't actually born destined to be a murderer, she's just more capable of it. If this girl was once trying to have feelings the way 'normal' people do, she probably tried having a moral code too. So why did she stop, or at least not take up one that allowed for 'human life is important'. Partly unable to control her urges, so had to pick something that allowed for killing, sure. I think that's part of it, but there's more.

Maybe also events like the industrial incident killed off her already limited faith in humanity. She is constantly cynical about the state of the world. It may be that it actually bothers her a lot how people treat each other, on a social level. That she sees the way corporations and authorities get away with it all, and she hates it. Maybe it even affected her directly, we don't know - her past is still mysterious.

She'd never admit that but it feels plausible to me. There's a lot she doesn't know about herself. She portrays herself as confident, intelligent, above it all, the only one who really knows how it is... but she doesn't. She's as blind as justice.

I could be wrong, naturally. We will have to see how the story plays out. But that's just my 2 cents.

[thevtuberlestat]

If Louis goes back to killing humans as part of his "I own the night" arc in season 3 I gotta be real I'm gonna be disappointed. So much of the first few seasons has been him trying to negotiate his moral code (versus, say, Lestat's or Claudia's) and I hope they don't link his empathy to passivity or weakness.