simonshepherd - Tumblr blog

[simonshepherd]

Chthon is the superior shitty dad because no one sane will pretend he is secretly a man who just loved deeply. No one will complain about Wanda hating his guts and fighting him to the bitter end.

[simonshepherd]

No hate like fandom love.

Honestly I prefer blatantly hateful X-fans than "I like Wanda but she would be so much better and cooler in muh franchise stripped of everything that makes her her, btw I hate every single adaption of her that actually helped her popularity, and I am gonna make a claim based on a brief wiki browsing and her X-book appearances to show that I am actually a comic fan" type of fans.

Please gatekeep me and my fav, I would embrace it.

[simonshepherd]

Very old thoughts from IvX days and the narrative favors popular franchise can afford.

I will assume you all know the stories of Inhumans Vs X-Men and the can of worms it opened.

So what if they a story like this again but instead put mutants in Inhumans' shoes?

The emerging of more and more mutants cause increasingly more accidental death and destruction across the human population and humans are trying to get rid of X-genes or surpress it for safety reasons.

Oh wait, they already did and mutant cure is treated like a genocidal scheme almost everytime and all humans involved are actually just bigots or misguided at best. So is the threat of terrigen cloud more legitimate than a ticking genetic bomb that is X-gene? If anything X-gene is even more unpredictable because regular ass civilians cannot see it coming most of the time. I am not arguing that our heroes shouldn't fight against an actual genocidal scheme, but more about the fact that everything that poses inconvenience to them is conveniently evil or stupid.

Lives are more important than power and birth rights, I can agree with that, that is why X-Men/Mutants are ultimately in the right in the IvX conflict. But writers will never put mutants in the tough situation where the continuation of their power and birthrights are causing more and more death and destruction, and they had to seriously consider that question.

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Random thoughts about simplying Maximoffs twins' origin.

Say in a hypothetical adaption of Maximoff twins in a game or animation, one needs to simplify the whole rather convoluted Nights of Wundagore origin, how will you go about it.

I think High Evolutionary, despite its lore significance to the Wundagore region and Marvel Universe, can be skipped/ignored here. Magda will simply be found by Django and Marya instead.(Yes, I am getting rid of Bova as well) And then she will pull a Padme on the Maximoffs I guess.

Chthon's marking can still be relatively easily explained if Maximoffs live closer to Wundagore mountain and within "effective range".

[simonshepherd]

TLR unironically makes me want to press the "just let the planet explode" button. Literally just let the world end as it is, that would be the moral choice, just let Alendi do his damn thing.

Mistborn Try Not To Excuse Lord “Genocide and Eugenics For All” Ruler Challenge (IMPOSSIBLE)

[simonshepherd]

Random Stormlight/Cosmere thoughts

My sadistic mind think Moash should make it post-timeskip character along with Gavinor.

Moash will no longer be Vyre and try to make amends to people like Kaladin and bridge 4, but never regret his decision with Elhokar.

Why? I just want to see the fuck Moash crowd's brains melt. Should they be pro-Gavinor revenge plot or not? Like what if Moash is no longer a convenient target for revenge like Amaram who turned out to be the cartoon villain and Kaladin can get his sweet resolution.

[simonshepherd]

Except Mephisto being involved in Wanda's pregnancy is a retcon by John Byrne which is specifically just there to get rid of her kids.

Also Mephisto himself didn't even show up for the twins' death, it was Master Pandemonium, anyone who actually read WCA back then know Mephisto is just a convenient plot device for home wrecking.

LITERALLY all Mephisto theories makers basically read a wiki page about WCA era and decide Mephisto is such a big influence on Wanda, it is in the same vein as HoM theories where people define a character based on the only story they read/hear about.

Ultimately Jac Schaefer made the right call and used Chthon/Darkhold instead but that one is a monkey's paw since Waldron/Raimi fucked it up in the most uninspired way possible immediately.

Yeah I think it's more likely that this is a case of people hyping themselves up for something that was never promised in WandaVision and then being disappointed that it didn't deliver on a promise that didn't get made.

I'm not proud of the fact that I wish some of those insane theories were true, but ONLY because they would've taken the heat off Wanda.

[simonshepherd]

Ah, in what sense is Magneto Wanda's "true father", she said this in response to Loki's comment about Laufey who is his biological father. Fine, I understand if writers want to pretend Magneto still occupies the birth father spot, I prefer that anyway.

But the next line gets into erasure territory, Loki talked about Odin, his adoptive father who raised him, but Wanda still kept talking about Magneto, instead of you know? Django? Who is a better paralell to Odin?

It's a such low hanging fruit for this convo where Loki talks about his two fathers from two worlds, but Wanda cannot think of any parent figure other than Magneto, wow, just wow.(It also doesn't help Magneto is called her "adoptive father" in this issue, again.)

Also Loki mentioned the whole Chthon thing, and it still didn't ring a bell for Wanda, Django fucking died trying to save her from Chthon, that should mean something to her, people in her life should matter, not fucking ignored because the other character is more popular and shiny.

The AXIS retcon and Marvel's backpeddling made Magneto the only father figure that mattered in her life, they had to pretend the retcon didn't happen so he is functionally her biological dad anyway, but they also cannot straight up break continuity so he is also her adoptive dad, resulting in some rather blatant erasure.

[simonshepherd]

AD/HoM unfortunately are the reason I am a separatist as a Wanda fan. Granted I did believe she would be the sacrificial lamb for Avengers/X-Men reboot with or without this connection. But the highly marketable nature of the Magnus family certain made House of M's stains on Wanda's character last longer than it would otherwise.

With the appeal of the Magnus family, Wanda's worst story became her most famous one. And she was gone like 7 full years so that characterization of her stuck to some degree.

After more than a decade of new fans coming into the fandom knowing nothing but her AD/HOM stories and claim that's just what she is, I really get the urge to just figuratively amputate a limb to save the life.

I want the biological ties restored because the original Nights of Wundagore is the cleanest origin for the twins, the current alternative is way worse and unfair to Pietro. But Wanda herself is probably better off being functionally isolated from Magneto and they are just each other's background.

Dadneto is getting more cringe every other day.

Seriously the AXIS retcon and Marvel’s obsession to make Magnus family still a thing leads to all kinds of shit writing.(Not really in this particular case but still I don’t like the word used here.) I don’t mind Joseph’s writing here but seriously calling Magneto that is weird.

Because they lose the bloodties, now Marvel needs other justifications to still sell them as a family. To the point they need to conjure none-existent family affections for them(cough Trial of Magneto where Wanda acted like a timid teenage girl).

Let’s call Magneto Wanda’s adoptive father even though dude never raised her, unless you count being a shitty ex-boss as being a parent. Not to mention she actually had adoptive parents, you know the ones where the Maximoff name came from? Django who stared down the face of an Elder God and saved his daughter, and Marya who is actually still alive in Robinson’s Scarlet Witch run. But let’s make Erik and Wanda play wholesome daddy and his little girl and pretend they had this nice family relationship and quietly erase those who actually loved and cared for the twins because Magneto is the far more popular character right? Why don’t we replace Uncle Ben with Tony Stark while we are at it?

Can we just restore the blood ties and make them estranged biological family again? I like Wanda better when she took her allegiance and affection seriously.

And as much as I love Wanda for being a sentimental person, writers’ constant mishandling of her family relationship just makes me wish she is more of a stonehearted bitch who doesn’t give a damn.

[simonshepherd]

Just finished Metro game trilogy with Exodus's Sam's Story DLC. And OMG, I wish Atryom can talk. Granted I don't like Sam talking even when he is just picking up shit but damn can you imagine actually responding to people? Like, interacting?

I buy into Sam/Ed's friendship way more than Atryom/Anna's romance because all of her conversation is extremely and literally onesided. It's fine in the first two games since there aren't many deeply personal relationships but dude, that's your wife and brothers in arms in Exodus, say something damn it.

[simonshepherd]

If I am more honest, I would say individually, Lorna fans are more willing to sacrifice other characters for the sake of Magnus family, even more so than Magneto fans, because a large chunk of them already feel secure with Magneto's immense popularity and they don't necessarily desire others to be worn like trinkets.

Lorna fans on the other hand is in this weird hypocritical state of complaing about her supposed subordinate position to Havok, but they are more than happy to throw other family members(it's mainly just Wanda and Pietro) into the meat grinder if it means they can have some blood juice.

As a matter of fact, they are one of the more common HoM celebrators.(The most common types, unfortunately are clueless Wanda stans who never really read her stuff.)

That being said, Lorna is never an existential threat, no sane writer, even the ghoulish ones are going to butcher other characters for her sake despite some fans' desire to do so.

Edit: Also, I am not personally targetting you if you are not one of those fans, but do understand why some fans wish for separation.

[simonshepherd]

X-fans and their magic thinking, dicking around believing being tied to you automatically makes characters so much better huh?

Why is it so hard for X-fans understand some fans want to get straight to the point? I do think Wanda's Brotherhood backstory should be kept if possible but that should be like 1 episode or a flashback, not seasons long dragged out arc that centers around her shitty dad and if she is a good or bad little girl for daddy. (I am talking about Evolution Wanda, I would have sacrificed her for literally any other adaption.)

[simonshepherd]

Character merging is some murky water territory but generally I sympathize with fans whose favorite character is deemed not worthy to stand on their own in adaptions but instead chopped up and fed to another character.

I don't have strong feelings about Sylvie but like why she needs to have Amora and Sylvie grafted upon her?

I would prefer a more Loki-ish female Loki or just the actual Amora(in a Journey into Mystery/Mystical setting that is, not the TVA one.)

The same goes for the Jessica Drew/Valerie discourse with Spider-Man Across the SpiderVerse, those who argue for the change are usually fans of the more popular and iconic Spider-people, so their favorite characters like Peter and Miles are never really at the risk of being used as fertilizer and merger tools.

Like it's often fans in their high horses talking about how smaller fandom should just shut up and accept their fav being salvaged for parts.

[simonshepherd]

I know they are just inanimate objects buuuuut.

Werewolf by Night make Bloodstone way more interesting than Multiverse of Madness's depiction of Darkhold that boils down to "reading is bad for you"/"evil books that turns people evil!"

Granted Bloodstone is far more straight forward and not as lore rich, but again I am still puzzled by the utter lack of mystical intrigue in MoM.

[simonshepherd]

I am specifically talking about the phenomenon where some Magnus family fans actively celebrate House of M. It’s kinda the center of the topic.

It’s like saying you like Spider-Man/MJ relationship and your favorite storyline is One More Day.

I try not to be mad at Magnus Family Fans.

Annnnnd everytime they celebrate this made-up family.

But they had to celebrate House of M of all comic books.

Sure, go ahead, celebrate this glorious and totally wholesome family with the utter butchering of Wanda. I am sure her fans are totally into it as well.

Isn't it rather convenient that your average Magneto family fan can claim "we don't acknowledge AXIS and it's not canon to me" but they will acknowledge the most damaging story for Wanda to ever exist because it sells/affirms the idea of the Magneto family.(Even if it ended badly.)

So seriously, some of you only care about this character as a side piece for your fav, be it Magneto or occasionally Polaris. Instead of individual character's actual integrity.

[simonshepherd]

I prefer stories that don’t write them severely out of character just so they can be seen together, thank you.

And stories like House of M straight up cost fans like me the opportunity to enjoy her character individually because that shit nuked her out of existence for 7 years.

Yes, it’s not that deep because to me it’s plain harmful.

I try not to be mad at Magnus Family Fans.

Annnnnd everytime they celebrate this made-up family.

But they had to celebrate House of M of all comic books.

Sure, go ahead, celebrate this glorious and totally wholesome family with the utter butchering of Wanda. I am sure her fans are totally into it as well.

Isn't it rather convenient that your average Magneto family fan can claim "we don't acknowledge AXIS and it's not canon to me" but they will acknowledge the most damaging story for Wanda to ever exist because it sells/affirms the idea of the Magneto family.(Even if it ended badly.)

So seriously, some of you only care about this character as a side piece for your fav, be it Magneto or occasionally Polaris. Instead of individual character's actual integrity.

[simonshepherd]

I try not to be mad at Magnus Family Fans.

Annnnnd everytime they celebrate this made-up family.

But they had to celebrate House of M of all comic books.

Sure, go ahead, celebrate this glorious and totally wholesome family with the utter butchering of Wanda. I am sure her fans are totally into it as well.

Isn't it rather convenient that your average Magneto family fan can claim "we don't acknowledge AXIS and it's not canon to me" but they will acknowledge the most damaging story for Wanda to ever exist because it sells/affirms the idea of the Magneto family.(Even if it ended badly.)

So seriously, some of you only care about this character as a side piece for your fav, be it Magneto or occasionally Polaris. Instead of individual character's actual integrity.