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[chaoslordcrull]

What Joystick’s backstory gets right about adverse childhood experiences

Two things about me: I am a superhero geek, and I work for an organization that provides mentors for juvenile delinquents.

To the latter point, a part of my training involved listening to lectures about how the traumas at-risk youth often face (called Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs) shape the chemistry of their developing brains. For example, my boss worked with a girl who had been removed from an abusive home. When she was placed in a genuinly nurturing second home, she acted out in a self-destructive way long after the shock of the tranfer had left. The girl had spent so much time in a disfunctional home that her mind now considered that chaos as normal. When put in a fuctional home, the girl had anxiety because safety was unfamilar to her mind. Her response was to lash out in an unconscious attempt to recreate that familiar chaos.

So what does this have to do with a C-list supervillain who hasn't done anything since 2006?

In Thunderbolts 102, Joystick gets a backstory. Her past had gotten cryptic hints a few times during the 2004-2006 New Thunderbolts run, but this was the issue that gave most of the details. Her dad was a gambler who blew so much money chasing the big score that he ended up borrowing from loan sharks to recuperate his losses. When he couldn't pay them back. . .

So Joystick was exposed to violence against a parent as a child. That's sad, but not unique for comic book backstories. What stuck out to me was how this trauma impacted her.

Over time, Joystick lost the ability to feel empathy for her father because she witnessed him get beaten over and over. I interpret this as her psyche's way of protecting itself. It would have been emotionally painful seeing a loved one get hurt constantly, so her subconscious protected itself from that trauma by numbing its capacity for empathy. What interested me is how Joystick rationalizes what happened to her family as just being the way things are. A lot of comic characters mull over how their tragic backstories hurt them, making them more pitiable and sad. While that is a perfectly valid response to trauma, I found it surprising to see an individual normalization of an ACE. It's like she doesn't even view what she went through as a bad thing. That half acceptance/half denial will be important later.

So what else? Joystick once confronted her dad about his gambling habit, and he had this to say:

He introduces her to the idea that self-destructive risks are rewarding. I've known kids who were gang-affiliated because their parents taught them the toxic values that led them to that lifestyle. While this isn't exactly the same, it is similar enough to the point where reading it really hit close to home. I also hated how shameless he was while explaining why he does things he knows leads to traumatizing his wife and daughter. Now, it could be argued that Walter likely has a gambling addiction, so giving it up for his family wouldn't be so easy. That's probably true, but. . .

He had a stash of emergency funds the whole time. If he really wanted to, he could have used that money to help pay his debts and get clean for his family's sake. Instead, he puts his thrill-seeking over the safety of the family he is supposed to care for. He may not be physically abusive like many other supervillain's parents, but his neglect and selfishness really hit something deep in me and made him one of my most hated comic book characters.

Flash forward to Joystick's college years. She becomes a basketball player. She starts taking stupid risks like her dad. She takes money from gangsters to win a game, but then bets a ton of money on her team losing. When she throws the game for a big payout, the gangsters confront her. . .

She betrays her dad. The gangsters take the stash and beat the shit out of Walter, leaving Joystick's mom to let her know what happened. Having been in so much danger yet getting away with it is implied to be the event that convinced Joystick to take bigger risks, putting her on the path to becoming a supervillain.

Most people I've met dismiss Joystick as a one-note addrenaline junkie, and I understand why. But I believe her backstory and the subtext in the comic give her depth that is not immediately obvious on a first reading. There are hints that Joystick feels more regret over betraying her family and her lot in life than she is willing to acknowledge. For example, this little snippit from a behind the scenes panel:

Plus, her inner monologue in her backstory comic has a large section about the importance of hiding the truth to beat other players in a game. It's spread out, so I'll summarize. She does not like being called by her first name, Janice, because it is too painful for her. Now why would that be? There isn't anything traumatic associated with her name in particular. But her T-Bolt teammates (at least the ones she gets along with), call her by her middle name, Olivia. Her parents are the only notable characters to call her Janice. Her monologue then turns from hiding the truth from opponents to hiding it from yourself. She says burying the truth from yourself, crushing your own spirit, is when you've really won. That is because one's toughest challenger is oneself. Now, what challenge is Joystick trying to beat herself at? What challenge could require hiding the truth from herself, and what is that truth? I believe there is a part of her deep down that feels guilt over betraying her parents, a part that knows there's something wrong with her self-destructive lifestyle.

Most Thunderbolts know they are carrying baggage. They either try to overcome it or acknowledge it without caring enough to change. But Joystick stands out in that she seems to be in denial that her entire gimmick is a trauma response. Why does Joystick feel a need to constantly seek danger? Because she is subconsciously trying to recreate the danger that was normalized by her upbringing. Why is she so uncaring towards her teammates? Because during childhood she was forced to stop caring for loved ones to cope.

Joystick's backstory accurately reflecting the impact of childhood exposure to violence may be coincidental. I have no idea how much Fabian Nicieza researched the different effects of ACEs before writing this issue. And my analysis is biased in that I saw bits of people I know in this story. Maybe she was just meant to be a one-dimensional bad guy. But just as Joystick hides the truth from herself, I think the depths of her character are similarly obscured from the reader if they don't look beyond the first glance.

[chaoslordcrull]

Probably my favorite Theon and Jeyne art ever.

The Mirror Is this our world? I look in the mirror, I can’t get over you. Is this our world? Is this someone else?… I look in the mirror and I try to see myself, my head full of terror from the games I play so well. I try to see clearer, I try to forget the fires I started. I try to be nearer to where you are. Where you are… -Mirror by Ellie Goulding Step by Step

[chaoslordcrull]

Love the idea of living well to spite Ramsay

If you’re still accepting prompts, Ramsay somehow finds out that Theon and Jeyne are happily married and in love and living without him and he’s furious but there’s nothing he can do about it.

"My pets could never live without me," Ramsay Snow leers at her from the depth of his cell. Sansa's stomach turns and she understands why everyone had told her to not come see the Bastard of Bolton prior to his execution the following day. But there some part of her that needs to do this, as a sort of vengeance on Jeyne's behalf she supposes.

"Oh but they are," Sansa says coolly, making sure to meet his eyes, so he would no she was telling the truth. "In fact, Jeyne is Lady Greyjoy now."

"They married?" he sounds incredulous, but when he laughs, there's a note of hysteria in it. "Reek actually found the balls to do something? My wife--"

"Not your wife," Sansa interrupts, a little sharper than she had intended. "And they are quite in love it seems, from Jeyne's letters. Trust me, they soon enough, you will have become nothing but a bad dream." Sansa doubts it will in fact be that simple for either of them, but it gives her a sick sort of pleasure to witnesses Ramsay Snow's helpless rage. The the very least of what he deserves.

[send me a ship + prompt and I'll write a 3 sentence fic]

[chaoslordcrull]

Supervised Machine Learning

[chaoslordcrull]

Avoid the obvious. - The Jeankasa discussion

I'm basing my contribution on this article here because it picks up on the theories I've already heard and has a few new ones up its sleeve. ~*~ The first big discussion sparked this picture:

Mikasa is seen visiting Eren's grave, with a man and child with her. Judging by his clothes and hairstyle, one could assume that this man is Jean. The Child is adoptet-Theory: The first thing that comes to mind when I see Mikasa with a man and children is: She is married and has children. But there are also people who actually believe that Mikasa got the baby from Historia's orphanage... I can't really refute it. So I'll leave it like that.

This scene has now been animated in a fairly small format. But you can see the color of the hair and the color of the suit. Here, too, it is easy to conclude that it is Jean.

The Man is to tall to be Jean-Theory: Based on the second scene, in which the man runs across the hills with Mikasa, he is estimated to be a little taller than Jean. You can see from the grave scene in the manga, that the man is exactly Jean's size. Especially because the man appears taller in one scene, because the landscape is sloping and he is therefore walking on a higher level like Mikasa and therefore appears a bit taller.

Source There are two different versions of the scene where Mikasa lies in the grave. In the manga, she lies in a bed as lilies. she has her hands folded in front of her chest. In the anime, Mikasa wears a ring on her ring finger and her grave is made of roses. These same roses are also on her chest. The flower-theory: The flower theory includes two versions. The one with the white lily and the one with the four roses. According to the "White Lily Theory", these symbolize Mikasas purity. Says that she hasn't slept with any other man and will remain loyal to Eren until death. Qoute: They are chosen for both weddings and funerals and symbolize the renewal of the soul. They can represent purity, commitment and rebirth, so they are often used to express compassion. - Source To make it short. Lilies are grave flowers. That´s why they´re put in Mikasa's grave and not to highlight her chastity.

Four roses means "Nothing will come between us", so Mikasa will love no one exept Eren. Okay. Is this is the right meaning, as I found out myself. Source But I see one or two Roses und two other Blooms on this Grave...

Source

Besides, you never know what colors the roses were. This is also important to know. Therefore I would rule out this theory. The ring of purity-theory: Mikasa wears a ring on her ring finger that looks like a wedding ring. But opponents of Jeankasa claim it would is a chastity ring. Unfortunately, that can't work, because Attack on Titan obviously takes place in Germany. The last date I could record was the year 850. Source

The “True Love Waits” movement, which also included the chastity ring, only became active in Germany in the 21st century. So in our current era. Source

The pioneer of the chastity ring was the chastity belt: There is no clear evidence that the chastity belt was already known in the Middle Ages. It is believed to be a myth that was invented and spread in the Baroque period to paint the picture of the “Dark Ages”. Other stories say that the chastity belt was invented by the Doges of Venice in order to effectively collect tax debts from prostitutes. Source

So it's pretty unlikely that Mikasa wears a chastity ring. In that case it would probably be a wedding ring. The Hairstyle-Theory: It is often said that you can't even know that it is Jean, because many people have that hairstyle. For example, Armin, who is often portrayed as Mikasa's grief companion. To underline this, antis often use such images:

Source In one picture Armin's hair is flying back and in the other picture Armin has actually pinned his hair back. But let's be honest, folks. When you have two people to choose from. Jean and Armin. Who will you choose then? Someone who has this hairstyle naturally or someone who doesn't usually have this hairstyle except in a picture?

Especially because Armin must have had a really big growth spurt to be Jean's size. But fine. Let's play a round of "Choose the Color":

All in all, it also depends a little on the exposure. But which hair color is closer to that of the man at the grave? Armin's or Jean's? The man's hair color is ash blonde. A color that not everyone in Attack on Titan has either. So... It can't be Armin but obiously Jean. ~*~ Other arguments: Jean whould never betray Eren with marrieng Mikasa: Did Jean make such a vow? - No. And I don't need to cite any evidence that Jean was definitely in love with Mikasa. Mikasa only rejected him, because she was in love with Eren and he accepted that too. But Eren is dead. Why shouldn't he be allowed to marry Mikasa? In the AOT-Guidebook it´s stated that Mikasa's martial status is single: When is the book from and how old was Mikasa? Prove please. Mikasa loves Eren because of what is written on Eren's grave, her scarf, because she let herself be buried next to Eren, and so further: I don't understand this concept of "just one or the other". Just because Mikasa loves Jean and has a family with him doesn't mean she has to give up her feelings for Eren. She is still allowed to mourn him, think about him and talk about him with others? I don't understand how things like this are always taken as evidence of "Mikasa only loves Ereh." And Mikasa can be happy without Jean, but she can also be happy with Jean. So why does the obvious always have to be downplayed? WHY Mikasa has to be with no one exept EREN? Her hidden Bandages: Why should the bandages be evidence that Mikasa didn't pass the symbol on them to her children? Maybe she doesn't want to present the symbol to everyone. Maybe she doesn't want to pass it on to her children? Maybe she had already passed it on to her "adopted" children and still covered her arms? How do you know that those in the picture are even bandages?

~*~ It makes sense that Mikasa is married to Jean and has children. Family has always been very important to Mikasa. Especially because she lost her family twice. It was only thanks to Eren that she threw herself into the fight against the Titans. As you could tell from her dream with Eren, she preferred a simple life to fighting. She cut her hair, because Eren wanted it that way. It was supposed to protect her from the Titans. Jean, on the other hand, found this so beautiful about her. Anyone who wasn't struck with blindness could clearly see that Jean was in love with Mikasa and knew that his feelings were not reciprocated. But this certainly changed after Eren's death. Jean also dreamed of having a family with Mikasa and the child in Mikasa's arms looks a lot like a baby.

It is quite logical to conclude from this dream that there is a real wedding. Why would Isayama bother to draw a family when it really isn't a family? Then he could have easily drawn Mikasa alone at Eren's grave. But he didn't. Mikasa is married and the first candidate for a husband would be Jean. Not Armin, not Farmer-Kun or some random guy. JEAN. ~*~ Thanks for reading.

[chaoslordcrull]

[chaoslordcrull]

The Last Church

by Koh LJ

[chaoslordcrull]

I love everything about this.

Made my own Vermintide group with a more chaotic alignment, the five of these killers are seeking a meteorite of warpstone for their own purposes, until then they're in an uneasy alliance to kill things together.

Honouring Khorne is Piotr Krovmoroz a Kossar hailing from the bitter lands of Kislev looking to offer the great stone and the slaughter it may offer to the red god so he may live in the warmth of Khorne's favour. Though it's just as likely he may become a twisted being of warped flesh and daemonic metal.

His careers are Traitor, Champion and Anointed

With the patron of Tzeentch Ernesta Tramrea was once a simple bookish scholar of the Empire but she sought forbidden knowledge, not of magics or daemons but of wyrdstone, using the meteorite she believes she can understand it's secrets and become unfathomably powerful and wise.

Her careers are Occultist, Sorcerer and Wyrdscourge

Bloated by the gifts of Nurgle is Dahla Strepton, a hulking armour clad chosen warrior of the rotfather who keeps up a jolly facade around the group but in private loathes them for all their decadence and irreverence to the gods. Using the warpstone she believes Nurgle would be capable of creating a pox so virulent it would kill the southlander's meek gods.

Her careers are Chosen, Blightmage and Forsaken

Ravassk Dreamtease is a discipline of the dark Prince Slaanesh, delighting in deft dismemberment the doomed dullard devotes of displeasing deities, dancing on decaying dead dwarfs. They seek the warpstone simply to find the ultimate thrill, the threat of being transformed into a chaos spawn just adds to the excitement.

Their careers are Narcissist, Wardancer and Defiler.

Lastly is the warrior of the great horned rat. Nelitch Felltail, a crafty scheming Skaven who was easily able to disguise himself as a stormvermin with a bit of charcoal, he was the one to organise this search party for the meteorite, he elected to travel with a bunch of No-fur man things as their a lot more trusting and trustworthy than any skaven, though he does keep a Skaven slave handy for menial work, why does he want the warpstone? Even he doesn't know!

His careers are Blackrat, Acolyte and Gutter runner.

[chaoslordcrull]

Tua’s potential as a character was underused tbh.

Here is a fresh hot take on a minor character from an episode of Star Wars Rebels that aired in 2015: Ryder Azadi should have been Maketh Tua. Tua’s botched rescue marks the first time we really see the Ghost crew fail. Having a scarred, traumatised Tua return as the link to Ezra’s parents fate would have been much more satisfying than some absolute rando whose only notable feature is being voiced by Clancy Brown.

Ryders arc of refusing to help the Ghost crew would have made sense, she put her trust in them and they failed her and she barely survived. The Empire fished her badly injured body out of the destroyed shuttle and then sent her to prison, the last thing she wants is to see these people again.

Tua turning up in “Legacy” would have been a genuine shock, a new Clancy Brown character was not so much.

Everything else that followed with Ryder would have worked as well or better with Tua. The initial reluctance to work with the Ghost crew as I mentioned, the interactions with Pryce, everything would have been better if Ryder had been a character the crew knew before their reappearance in Season Two.

[chaoslordcrull]

Rogal Dorn vs Fulgrim 2 by Serdjek

[chaoslordcrull]

#otp

"[...] As Viper enjoyed the view, Captain America couldn’t help but notice how at ease she looked. He had seen her smile before, but only in a cocky, smug way. Here, her face expressed a peaceful bliss he had never seen on her before. Cap was surprised to find himself enjoying the look on Viper’s face more than the gorgeous shore. Then she turned towards him.

'Captain, you’re staring,' she deadpanned.

The soldier felt his face heat up. 'Apologies, you just have a nice smile.' [...]"

I loved this fragment, It's so cute that I can't. The fanfic it's not mine. Link:

[chaoslordcrull]

#i ship it

PowerPuff Girls Issue #32, “Jelly Jam” introduces a one-off cat burglar. She doesn’t have a name, and doesn’t even have any spoken dialogue. Everything is expressed through thought bubbles, but I kind of like that? It feels like a nice change to have this plain, non-verbal character.

Her crush on Professor Utonium near the end is also adorable! Too bad she was a one-off.