#...Yes a bit of fan service was in this comic

[genericpuff]

The Mishandling of LO’s S3 Mi(n)season Hiatus - Part 3 1/2

Here we go, Part 3 of my analysis of the current FP episodes - a three-parter episode set leading up to the midseason finale of LO.

Part 1

Part 2

Truth is, I had actually forgotten a lot of the weird (and very stupid) shit that happened in this episode, that I thought Episodes 251 and 252 had already offered up the worst that this three parter set could dish out. Boy, was I wrong, because when I went back to check out Episode 253, I was reminded of a reality that my brain had wiped out in an attempt to protect my withering psyche-

I also forgot just how long this episode is. It's so long that I frankly can't even fit it all into this post, so this is gonna be part 3 1/2.

Anyways, let's just get on with it. This is the final stop on our trip into absolute nonsense.

CAUTION: THIS IS PART 3 OF A 3 PART SERIES IN WHICH I WILL BE SPOILING MUCH OF EPISODES 251-253. THIS WILL BE A LONG POST. BRACE YOURSELF.

Well, it's the midseason finale, and what better way to open it up than with the final title card-

Typo and all. It wouldn't be an LO episode without one. Granted, IIRC this typo has been edited out, but the version of the screenshots I have from it feature it in all its original unedited glory. So enjoy that.

And yes, just like the last two times, the title itself only applies to the final cliffhanger, which is an absolute doozy especially for those who were there to experience it in real time.

This is already a bit of a wild opening compared to the last two episodes, but it's quickly revealed that this is laying the foundation for the prophecy that Psyche gave to Apollo back in Episode 252. In true LO fashion, the story can't actually be linear in any regard, we're always segmented from pieces of information at a time. Loyal fans will call this a "writing style", I call it Rachel just trying to get another 70 cents out of me.

That said, I will say the art here is fairly decent, but I think that just goes to show that LO's one of worst features these days - ironically enough - is its coloring. What began as its strongest feature has now become one of its biggest weaknesses due to the sheer laziness in its rendering and the colors become more and more saturated into the grotesque over time. So at this point, you pretty much have to rob these characters of their colors to make them look decent, and of course at that point it just further highlights Rachel's same-face problems. She definitely tried to make them look distinguishable here, at least, with Hestia and Poseidon being the most unique.

Now, this isn't the first time that we've heard of this herb being referenced - it was stated by Hades that Hera was the one to originally poison Kronos with the herb after gaining his trust - but to see it suddenly just pop up and play a role again out of nowhere already gives me a bad feeling in my stomach. It feels like yet another plot device - especially when presented in this type of format - that Rachel is suddenly using to try and seem "unique" in her writing, much like the strange narration we got back during the "Run For Your Life" sequence. It's just once again LO lacking any specific identity, it's always trying to be a million other things at once.

I will say, much of this in and of itself is panel filler. Why? Because the location of the herb doesn't matter. You'll see what I mean in a moment, but the mentioning of Anthedon plays no role here, it's just yet another obligatory "see, I know how to Google things!" lip service moment from Rachel "self-proclaimed folklorist" Smythe.

Anyways, Eros is perplexed by this but Psyche immediately catches on, knowing right away that Apollo is going for Zeus. And this is where we get yet another one of the dumbest sequences in this comic.

(see what I mean that the location of the herb doesn't matter? Because Apollo already got it and laced it into the cupcake).

Now, first of all, the fact that Eros and Psyche believe Kassandra's prophecy is already hilarious in and of itself, because ... well, because it literally defeats the point of her establishing it as a curse in the previous episode. Unless it only works on mortals? It never stated as such, so we literally just have to go with it and pretend not to notice that.

But most of all, of course LO had to play this off as some joke. Like, "hahaha how awkward! I've already eaten the cupcake!" and he still doesn't seem to really be in shock. Zeus has seen what this herb has done to gods before him, and yet his reaction to this is akin to a dad getting upset that he stepped LEGO's that he asked his kid 20 times to pick up off the floor. The whole "record scratch" style formatting of this followed by Zeus' lack of reaction just really makes me not care about any of this, because clearly the story doesn't care either.

But we don't see who he makes these calls to because the comic, of course, can't spend any longer than 10 panels on a single scene, so we cut to Hades and Persephone.

Again, I don't know what the point was of having Hera relay this information to Persephone for her to relay to Hades, aside from the fact that Rachel needed to act smart with Therapy Speak that didn't even apply to Hera's situation (as we talked about in the last part). They gotta make Persephone the center of everyone's world though, so it's Persephone who's delivering this info and trying to come up with the solution.

Hades, though, wants to focus on his wife's birthday the commemoration of spring.

SIR. THE WOMAN YOU WERE IN AN AFFAIR WITH SINCE BEFORE YOUR WIFE WAS BORN IS CURRENTLY GRAPPLING WITH YOUR FATHER WHO ABUSED HER AND IS NOW HAUNTING HER. THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR FLUFFY ROMANCE TIME. THERE IS A CHILD BEING HELD CAPTIVE IN TARTARUS AND LITERALLY NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE.

Anyways, apparently (for some reason) Hades is the one who has to go meet Demeter out front. Even though Hades has literally NOTHING to do with this ceremony, it's not his domain, but Persephone literally says "yep, that's correct" when he asks if he needs to go out to meet Demeter.

This just feels like such a pointless conversation and I don't get what the point of this exact exchange is. Again, this isn't Hades' domain, so I don't see why he needs to be the one to go meet with Demeter.

But then, of course, to make matters worse, this man has the absolute audacity to pretend like he's never done anything wrong to Demeter. As if she should be obligated to be cool with sharing a bench with this man who literally terrorized her for years and then essentially groomed her daughter.

I hate him so fucking much and I can't believe we're supposed to be rooting for him. He has not undergone ANY of the character development necessary for me to want to care about him.

Anyways, Hades has a seat with Demeter, and the conversation is very brief before Hades says that he has a gift for her. And what is it, exactly?

Oh great, Hades. Sure wish you would have had this consideration hundreds of years ago. I fail to see what good this does for her now because it doesn't change the fact that he still cost her the role of Queen of the Mortal Realm and treated her like shit for hundreds of years. This comes across as such a shallow and empty "apology" because it's barely even a "gift", rather something she was OWED back then that he didn't want to hand over for his own selfish reasons. He still comes out the winner here because he's gotten to spend thousands of years being a rich slave-driving oligarch while Demeter has had to maintain the Mortal Realm on her own even without the glory of having a title.

I especially detest this "twist" because it's less of a twist and Rachel finally accepting the fact she couldn't come up with anything better than what her fans had to come up with for her. If this had been the fact the whole time, we would have seen it established back when we first got those flashbacks showing Hades being a total prick to her over the volcanoes. Instead, Rachel dragged it out for weeks and weeks until finally dumping this "twist" that her fans had been talking about all that time. This is yet another one of those "Rachel used her fanbase to come up with her ideas" moments. I know that that seems a little mean and presumptuous, but the fact of the matter is that the writing in this story is such an absolute mess that you just know Rachel's writing by the seat of her pants and has to rely on her audience's headcanons to actually fill in the gaps of her story. Most of the time when people commend her for the "great storytelling" in LO, what they're referring to are things they came up with entirely on their own because of how easy it is to just make assumptions about LO's storyline. Rachel benefits off the story being as vague as possible because then her fanbase will fill in the gaps with their own assumptions and give her all the credit for an idea they came up with.

By the way, to the "self-proclaimed folklorist" who wrote this, the volcanoes were really just entrances into the Underworld. Hades did not own them. They were owned by Hephaestus. And I would argue that the volcanoes were only seen as "entrances" into the Underworld because, fun fact - if you jump into a volcano, you die!

Hades frames his reasoning as feeling like Demeter was pushing him out of the Mortal Realm, but this makes no sense because none of that is on her. He claims that he felt like an "outsider" but the reality is that he made himself that way. He resigned himself to being King of the Underworld, he ate the pomegranate and made the deal with Erebus, and even he stated that he could still actually leave the Underworld, just not for long periods of time. So he was the only one keeping himself away from the Mortal Realm, not Demeter. We even see that in the VHS tape flashbacks where Hades stumbles onto Demeter's property and she lets him sleep it off in her home. So this whole sob story about how he felt "pushed out" by Demeter is such a bad take from someone who's routinely known to make himself out to be the victim. Because Hades can't have an actual reputation for a reason, no, this is a "retelling" told by someone who got all their Greek myth info off Tumblr circa 2016 and the front page of Google, so Hades has to be the misunderstood uwu sad underdog. Even though he routinely does things that reinforce the reputation he has within the comic, like being a slave driver, abusing lower class nymphs, and grooming teenagers.

Minthe showing up for a split second in the background is the best this comic has been since S2. We stan our girl Minthe, fucking run girl, do what Persephone couldn't do. She's the real hero of this story (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ

And honestly, I'm sorry, but Demeter really SHOULDN'T be taking the high ground on this. She has more than enough reason to be upset. For a comic that tries to celebrate feminism and holding abusive men accountable, it sure is willing to make the women - often victims of the men - the real villains who have to "do better". Except for Persephone of course. Persephone is married into the system now, she doesn't have to "do better", she's a "boss babe" for being abusive and petty and undeserving of her status because she's the self-insert Y/N character.

So the ceremony for commencing Spring begins. I gotta say, for the final major scene of the mi(n)season finale, the art is severely underwhelming. You can really tell the difference between S3 and S1 art here, there's barely anything extra done to make this scene even half as impactful as the most basic of scenes from S1.

Like, it's fine, but it still feels so half-baked and rushed to attempt to replicate the kind of art that's been gone from the series for years now. The full sequence itself is actually quite lengthy, with a lot of nymph hands just moving around and playing instruments, but it's about as bland as any other panel, so it makes the sequence itself feel dragged out and boring.

This is about as pretty as the sequence gets and it's still not even as good as the original Dread Queen transformation. There's barely any rendering in the skin, and they couldn't even be bothered to make the hands look normal. It's like it's trying so hard to be "original LO" but is fundamentally missing the point of what made the original LO so captivating.

But oh noooo, looks like Persephone did a bad!

Are they actually gonna give her some kind of flaw? Are we gonna FINALLY gonna find out what she traded to Erebus?

No. We're just gonna make her the cause of winter.

Spaghettios.

And that's where I'm leaving this review for now because, as mentioned in the beginning, this episode is a LOT longer than I remember it being. There's still a whole ass segment with Apollo that we need to cover and I don't want to leave it out but I also don't want to do it entirely in text format and I've hit that pesky image limit. So I'll be posting that second part as soon as I can!

That said, I really can't stand this "subversion" by making Persephone the reason for winter.

First of all, because this is a common problem in a lot of H x P "retellings", as many of them fundamentally miss the point of why Persephone is the "Goddess of Spring".

Persephone was not born the "Goddess of Spring". She was born Kore (Κόρη), a maiden born from Demeter. It wasn't until after she was taken by Hades that Demeter, in her grief, took away the harvest and created winter. It was the return of Persephone every six months that brought about the spring, hence, she earned the name, "Goddess of Spring". What these retellings COMPLETELY MISUNDERSTAND is that the gods aren't 'born' with their titles, they're granted these titles by the mortals who comprehend them and write of them as harbingers of their respective elements, stories, and messages. Zeus wasn't "born" the God of the Sky and Heavens, he was granted that title after he overthrew Kronos and took the Heavens for himself. Hades wasn't "born" the God of the Underworld and the Dead, he was granted that title after he became the ruler of the domain of death.

Where these retellings really fuck up is constantly trying to "subvert" the H x P myth in an attempt to romanticize it, thus undoing the point of why Persephone is called "The Goddess of Spring". A Touch of Darkness also made this mistake by putting a "twist" on Persephone's character by having her start out as someone who couldn't make things grow. But if she sucks at making things grow, then why is she still referred to as The Goddess of Spring? In LO, Hades is referred to as "Grandpa Winter" and the seasons already seem to exist as we saw in this episode through the ceremony, so why has she been called "The Goddess of Spring" this whole time?

But I also can't stand this "subversion" because it fundamentally misunderstands the very myth it's trying to "retell". By giving Persephone the "curse" of creating winter, it further robs Demeter of her own agency in this story, more than it already has. It wasn't enough to make Demeter a helicopter mom, it wasn't enough to drive an actual rift between her and her daughter, they had to take away Demeter's entire role in the story and the creation of the seasons and give it to Persephone.

And this is, surprisingly enough, NOT the first time the comic has done this. There are many traits associated with different gods that have been given to Persephone and Hades. The volcanoes belong to Hades rather than Hephaestus, Persephone is "more beautiful than Aphrodite", Thanatos' and Psyche's butterfly symbolism is given to both Hades and Persephone, Aphrodite's symbolism of roses is given to Persephone, the list goes on. Every single plotline has to involve Persephone as the hero, and every single attribute that's commonly associated with other gods has to be granted to H x P in some way to make them better and more interesting than every other cast member in the comic, and yet they still come across as vapid and boring protagonists with nothing to show for themselves.

So to give the ONE thing from the source material that made LO what it is, it comes across as so unbearably cruel.

But then again, we should have seen this coming. After all, Rachel does not cite this as a retelling of The Hymn to Demeter. She simply refers to it as its more unofficial name: The Taking of Persephone.

Look, I get it, the story is meant to be told from Persephone's POV (or at least through the lens of her being the main character) so I can understand why Rachel may have chosen to reword this to make it more clear. But it's really depressing that she went to such an extent with making it about Persephone that she had to rob one of the most integral character of her moment and retribution. Especially when one of the only books in her cited "research" that's primarily about Persephone is, shocked, The Hymn to Demeter, which is listed at the very bottom of every "research" list you can find in LO's history.

LO should have just stayed as self-indulgent fluff. This isn't "subversion", this isn't a "twist", it's just yet another item on the list of making Persephone the most Important One of all. Even when it attempts to be a 'flaw', it fails tremendously by acting as yet another aspect of her being a Mary Sue, because her 'flaw' has come at the cost of another character's story, identity, and strengths. What was originally a tale of grief, retribution, and standing up against a patriarchal system, has now been warped into a consequence of a muddied plot that doesn't have anywhere left to go. For a story that claims to be "feminist", it has ironically missed the original point of its source material entirely, and completely robbed itself of the feminine strength it could have had if it hadn't tried to be "subversive".

I don't really have anything much more to say than that. I could leave it here for good, but we do still have that extra segment to talk about that covers the actual final cliffhanger in this episode, so... we'll see you on the other side.

[coralcatsea]

Can't all of that usuk things be seen as brotherly love or someone who is important in your life but not in a romantic view? Not hating, honest just thinking

Your ask is about this post, right?

So looking at my examples, you can interpret it that way with some if you want, but with others...not so much.

I hope you actually want to hear me out, because this might get a bit long. Apologies in advance. 😅

-I can't imagine how awkward it'd be to view them as sıblıngs considering some of the suggestive things they do in canon. Personally, I think it'd be pretty weird to grab/tug on a sıblıng's apron when there's nothing underneath and say it "matches them well".

-If someone talks about your sıblıng being good looking, I don't think most people would get flustered enough to start sweating and trying to play it cool. I feel like the sıblıng equivalent would involve something more like eye-rolling.

-For the cake one, sure, you could interpret it as them being goofy in-universe, but from a meta perspective, putting an item that is so heavily associated with you on top of the cake seems to me like putting the wedding figures at the top. It comes off as intentional fan service, which Hima often likes to include.

-For Valentine's Day, the scene with Alfred and Arthur is paired narratively right alongside the shippy GerIta stuff. Additionally, there is a note that says this:

"In Europe, it's traditional for lovers to give gifts to each other."

"In America, giving gifts is also mainly done between lovers."

It does indeed mention male to female, but only to give cultural trivia about the difference between Europe and America. The important part is the emphasis on lovers, and we all know Hetalia doesn't shy away from same-sex shippy moments – as evidenced by Germany proposing to Italy in the very same strip. Speaking of proposals, one dynamic that closely parallels Arthur/Alfred is that of Antonio/Lovino, and Antonio tried proposing to Lovino in the manga.

I digress.

-Sıblıngs typically don't suggest ideas like dressing in sexy outfits and swaying their hips provocatively. Which reminds me, I forgot to include a similar scene in my post where Alfred intentionally has Arthur wear a Robin costume that shows off his legs. Yes, intentionally.

"Also, didn't you notice your costume is from the movie and mine is from the comic?"

Of course Alfred would notice. There's no way a big Batman fan like him would've chosen Arthur's costume carelessly, but instead of answering why Arthur has the skimpy version of Robin's costume when it doesn't even match his, Alfred instantly deflects. He then proceeds to tell Arthur to stop crouching and show – ...something. Based on what Arthur is covering, the logical assumption is that Alfred is telling Arthur to show off his legs.

-"Are you fighting like an old married couple again?" Self-explanatory. If they were sıblıngs he could just say, "Are you having a sibling squabble again?"

-Cardverse is a canon AU by Hima, and Alfred and Arthur are the King and Queen. Magical Strike is also a canon AU, in which Alfred has a fαthεr who is the company president. No other fαmiliαl relations are given. Arthur is a salaryman who simply works for the company.

-There's the scene where Arthur is dying that plays on the "near-death love confession" trope.

-Other characters comment on their relationship...

Again, if it was brοthεrly they could just call it a brοthεrly quarrel. It comes off to me more as teasing friends who could potentially have romantic feelings for each other.

-Tony sees it, too, teasingly commenting "Love me bubu. Kiss me bubu," in reaction to Arthur and Alfred's conversation. He doesn't normally say things like that, either.

-Terms like "big brοthεr" in Hetalia shouldn't automatically be taken literally. They are used in a more Japanese sense (e.g. calling a somewhat older person who isn't related to you "big brοthεr" out of respect). France calls himself "big brοthεr" to literally everyone and even Norway refers to Denmark as "brοthεr".

-Regardless of how you interpret their usage of "big brοthεr", Arthur decides against being called that right away, Alfred himself rejects the idea of it during the Revolution, and Arthur later claims their relationship is "not like that" and fumbles for a way to describe it, mainly considering himself as more of a former mentor or boss.

So I believe that after the Revolution, it's most accurate to consider them as coworkers or friends (who may or may not be attracted to each other).

_____

At the end of the day, you can interpret it however you want. But with how often USUK fans are given a hard time for liking this ship, I wanted to point out that we're not pulling this stuff out of nowhere. It's hinted at and given shippy fan service moments just like several other ships.

I only really disagree with people constantly insisting they MUST be fαmily. Romance vs fαmiliαl are NOT the only two options. I would honestly like to see more non-shippers just let them be friends. Just because I ship it doesn't mean others have to, and just because some perceive it in a fαmiliαl way doesn't mean everyone else must view it like that, either.

And to those who do decide to hop aboard our ship, welcome! We have lots of variety to offer and are always glad for more people to have fun chatting about ideas with.

[saytrrose]

Small question you're free to ignore but I'm curious.

What are all of your head cannons for Kinger and Queenie? :3

I have SO much so this definitely won’t be ALL of them but ramble time lets go some might be a bit suggestive because silly silly!!

—————

- Kinger and Queenie aren’t actually married, due to circus rules they’d had to have met in the circus because the erasure of memories but yes they were in a relationship and dated.

- While they don’t need to sleep, they still enjoy keeping up the schedule as if they do, in order to not go crazy over it. Kinger and Queenie usually spend their time in on or the others room though, as opposed to seperate.

- Kinger the type of mf to give Queenie a friendship bracelet and her say it’s lame and he almost cries and tries to take it back and then she puts it on her wrist and says no it hers (she cares she’s so bad at showing it)

- Queenie get jealous easily and Kinger can’t wrap his head around the concept of jealousy

- Kinger is Vegetarian and Queenie finds it weird

- Kinger is your token cishet white man

- I lied he’s maybe bisexual but won’t admit it

- Queenie is a trans woman AUGH❗️❗️

- I genuinely love the theory on Kinger and Queenie being the originally beta testers and the first of everyone to enter the circus. And for my peeps that love religious imagery esp tied to tadc- then you could think of them as Adam and Eve, the firsts and Queenie being the first to abstract aka a way to resemble the betrayal of sorts.

- Kinger hates chess and Queenie doesn’t know how to play

- Old music fans ❤️❗️ Frank Sinatra plays and Queenie is dragging Kinger to dance with her

- Oh yeah, good dancers. But traditional dancing of course.

- Kingers “bug” collection is actually glitches within the circus, not genuine bugs. Like the glitched potted plant, he picks up glitched items or “bugs” and collects them in his room.

- Pls pls projecting Queenie was a motorcycle girlie

- Kingers autistic, but Queenie is not

- Kinger also has paranoid schizophrenia and ADHD, Queenie is bipolar

- Made a comic on this one, Queenie always made pillow forts and eventually invited Kinger into them, and taught him to make them.

- they are both married to me /j

- One time they were doing “adult relationship couple things” when Caine called everyone into the hallway and they accidentally rushed out of the room in one another’s robes instead of their own

- Kinger is a horrible liar and Queenie just gives him a look and he immediately spills everything he’s thinking about

- Queenie is a hello kitty fan

- First time!! Kissing!! Kinger leaned in to kiss Queenie for the first time and it was pretty quick and he was nervous, and Queenie grabbed his face and told him to calm down and whispered if he’s ever kissed someone before, and he said he doesn’t think he has so Queenie gave him a good cute little “tutorial” on that.

- Translation: THEY MADE OUT GANG!!

- Anytime there’s a snow themed adventure, Kinger likes to make a Snow Queenie (this applies to before and present day)

- Kinger is little spoon Queenie is big spoon

- Very clingy- they both are very clingy it’s just Queenie is the only possessive one over it.

- Kinger randomly mutters to himself “Queenie would love this”

- They aren’t afraid to always perform pda around the others, hugging/kissing/nuzzling into one another and the only one brave enough to comment on it would be Kaufmo who I personally think hates viewing affection in the slightest and he’d later get whooped by Queenie

- Kingers a service top/sub

- Queenies a bratty bottom/top

- They can both be switches why not

- Queenie loves plushies

- I’m getting tired so I’ll stop here this isn’t even most of them or a lot hhhh

[pumpkinstrawbrew]

░a░p░e░x░ ░p░r░e░d░a░t░o░r░

[̲̅&]

a 🆂🅽🅰🅲🅺

...

(a second batman x venom crossover. i mean, they just kinda keep having similiar themes all around, an' with two my fav halloween freaks. i cannot just pass this chance, haha.

either way, jon n' jack havin' a swell time as you can see. they're at the bottom of the food chain quite literally. poor twinky ghouls are about to become a dinner in more ways, than one. how unfortunate for them! but what a feast for a nosferatu n' alien parasite. one drinks 🩸, the other love eatin' human 🧠, so it's no biggie that both jon an' jack are scrawny an' undernourished. their predators aren't after their meat or limited fat. they are after more individual body parts an' components.

so yes, this is my halloween 'special' thingy! a conjoined mash-up about big bad predator an' their twangy, evil prey. the sort of dynamic, that both pairs had going on at one point or another. less so 'canically' for scarebat, since that series of comics *where batman was a savage vampire* is technically a separate 'what if' reality. but still, jon n' jack had a very real brush with smth, that is way stronger than them. an' only one made it out alive, but oh well, this is what AUs n' other stuff is for. bc how about no, an' how about some more homoerotic take on those scenes? like, it was 'hot' to me in some ways. esp with words like 'territorial dispute' an' implication of batman givin' scarecrow good ole vampire succ, post morten or not.

i honestly always amazed, when the comics does smth very servicing for my tastes / interests, without actually ever tryin' to pander to people like me. it's prob one of the most 'erotic' things to me as to an author. it's like a possible wink wink to someone, who wants to see it. but generally, just a part of the story. not even a big one, but that's just a tasty bit anyways! i always had a weakness to predator/prey thrope, esp when it's less of fluffy, twinlight kind of romance, but instead a gore-ish sort of deal, where one party can end up actually dying even if by pure accident. it provides some pretty big stakes. not to meantion, that there is always an unspoken paralell between sex n' death in horror genre. including consuming / stabbing / sucking blood an' such. it's important for me as horror movies fan. i like there to be some 'love' in my horror, even if it's not traditional or on the nose. it gives all those exederated gore-y / deadly scenes more meaning, if one wants to impliment it there. an' it just makes for a memorable scene as well.

also while i'm not super into the heroes 'turnin' bad' stuff, in this case, there is an appeal of flash / bruce going feral. it's hard to resist the playful thought about how bruce n' flash find their foe tempting, *iresistably attractive*, but in a different manner now. jack n' jon aren't no rosy maiden, who usually gets the spot of main dish / love interest, but this what makes it even better. jon an' jack are walking ginger bread, an' that's that, really. but tbf, they're kind of weirdos, who would always partly dig it. their handsome, brooding *arch*-enemy wants to eat them an' not some random hussie. that's very scary, an' also sexy lol.

still it's one of those moments in comics, where i wish that they kept the secenes going for a bit longer. just expanded on that suggestive possibility of them taking it step futher. but i also get why they didn't drag it out, cuz it wasn't the point of issue, anyways. just some lil fun moment. tho, i do love how batman *out of his mind or not* seemed to have enough mercy on crane to kill him off relativly quickly compared to the others. the riddler, pen-pen *yeah, i call oswald this* n' ivy had to suffer through the whole overdeal with full awarness, feeling their throats being ripped out, as they were still alive. jon was spared of such fate. the bat came, lectured him, broke his hand an' beheaded him. way quicker vs when you have to feel your meat and blood dripping all over ya. an' in venom's case, i loved how jack was so oddly forgiving of flash nearly decapitating him on the spot lol. flash *at that point* had already ate a fella or two. like bruce, he clearly wasn't proud of those times or enjoyd it, but out of all people, who managed to snap him out of the murder mode, it was jack. but hey, not on my watch! no one will die, but someone will be 'consumed', alright. that's just natural order of things or whatever. an' it's so bc i do make all the rules, haha.

as for more technical side of things, i did altered a few things. mainly with flash n' jack. i made flash's berserk venom form smalles an' all black, bc of well...uh, reasons. and also jack has an actual face here lol. also while at first, i wanted to draw him with his trade-mark messed up features, but kinda end up drawing him all 'dolled up' instead lol. so i suppose, along with all other au-ish elements, his face wasn't blown off in this universe either. an' on somewhat unrelated note, i like how both jack *even some of spiderman's ones* and jonathan are usually shown to be brunette or redhead. my pref will always be with those two being redheads, but still, it's a funny thing to ponder on. another technical bit is that, i wanted both jack n' jon being unable to use their hands / arms in one of the picture, since for me it's like snaring a 'prey' and then, they are kinda useless without it too. jon can land one hell of a kick for sure, but it won't help him to push away the vampire from his neck. also no fear gas to spray from his gloves, even if it would have acomplished nothing. in jack's case, it's similiar situation. he can throw / shoot lil flames from his gloves, the only thing that all symbiotes seem to detaste, besides specific levels of noise. but if he can't do it, and it's too risky to shoot flame from his helmet, welp, he's screwed lol. an' i also wanted to use venom's tongue as bondage tool lol. it was one of those things, that i always loved about venom symbiote / carnage looks an' anatomy, is how 'bendy' their bodies are. an' how creepy they can strech their body parts as well. both, bruce n' flash possess superhuman powers in this, so nor jon nor jack is actually a match for them. but taking away even the last of their defenses is a cherry on the top. jonathan is already always spooked animal, an' with someone as dumbly tunel-visioned as jack, it take a tad more to scare him shitless. esp bc he thinks, that he's such hot shit of a mercenary, haha.

so yups, this year batman n' flash got a treat. jack and' jonathan *in comparison* got tentacles and anemia respectively. can this count as trick? i mean, i guess lol. but on bright side, jonathan is kinda bruce's bf / blood bank in this one, an' jack is....well, he's a bitch. i mean, he touched the toxin, so now flash have to 'mark' him lol.

anyway, this is as pg-15 as i can go about it on here. i have two extra adult-ish artworks for these set ups. you can call it a follow up, if you want. here's the link, if someone is curious. but pls remember adults only. while there is no nudity in this one, there is still a clearly sexual cut in it. *also, i'm working on fics related to these set-ups as well. already workshoping vamp!bruce/crane one. sadly, had no free time to finish it all on halloween as well, but hey, it's always halloween on this blog!*)

[thesherrinfordfacility]

LWA: I'm going to ruminate a bit more about the parallel between Maggie's & Nina's conversation with Crowley and the Metatron's conversation with Aziraphale--they refer to Aziraphale as Crowley's "partner," the Metatron talks about their "partnership"; both insist that Aziraphale and Crowley need to talk--because while I think it's easy enough to see that the Metatron deliberately manipulates Aziraphale (while not understanding him fully), Maggie and Nina accidentally do the same thing to Crowley (while also not understanding him fully). There's been ample discussion of the Metatron conversation, but not so much about Maggie's and Nina's messing about.

I think we have to begin from the position that Maggie and Nina are mostly misguided and, in Nina's case, explicitly hypocritical. Other people have already pointed out that Nina's barrage of questions about Crowley's and Aziraphale's relationship is ludicrous and inappropriate--this is not even bad fanfic outsider POV levels of behavior--but given her outrage when Muriel pokes into her own business later, the script sure seems to imply that, yes, her barrage of questions really /is/ ludicrous and inappropriate. (She's had, what? Two minutes of interaction with Crowley up to this point? What even is that conversation?) Given that Maggie and Nina are Crowley's and Aziraphale's primary mirrors in S2, although always bearing in mind that Gaiman likes his mirroring to be askew or warped, is it the case that Nina's behavior in particular just reflects our angel-demon duo's behavior straight back at them?

A lot of S2 struck me not as fan service so much as fan /corrective/, in particular about the fandom's tendency to read them as more human than angel and demon. Even in S1, we were shown repeatedly that no matter how much they might like humans and aspects of human affect/existence, they don't move through the world like humans, they don't have a human relationship to time (and not just because Crowley can alter it), they do things the "human way" explicitly for /fun/, and they demonstrate over and over again that they have at best a limited grasp of human psychology. Crowley's "godfather" plot doesn't work not only because of free will, but also because even in the GO comic universe, it represents near-total incomprehension about how messily nurture /operates/; neither of them understands Anathema's fear about accepting a lift home from what appears to be two men; etc. It genuinely does not occur to Crowley (and therefore to most of the audience) that turning paintguns into real guns for fun might be an issue, nor to Aziraphale that wiping Mary Hodges' memory after the interrogation might be suboptimal. This kind of mayhem is bog-standard comic character behavior,* but the trick that GO plays is to ask you to think about the ethics involved when the bog-standard comic character is super-powered. The thing is--and you will have noticed this is a running theme in my asks, I suspect!--is that while it's very easy to identify with these characters as /oppressed/ trauma victims, the novel explicitly and the series implicitly keep warning us that in relation to the humans, they are still the /oppressors./ In the novel, this is Aziraphale's insight at the end, and if S2's more pointed emphasis on how both characters unthinkingly treat human beings is any indication, it's also where the series appears to be tending. (This is why I get a little antsy about reading Crowley's brand of temptation as promoting "choice" or something else positive: it's great that Crowley dislikes killing people, but he's still mucking about with them to make his souls quota. Satan /likes/ what Crowley did with the M25.)

To circle around to Maggie and Crowley again: a) they understand Crowley and Aziraphale about as well as Crowley and Aziraphale understand them, which is to say, they don't, and b) Crowley still does not understand how to apply human frames of reference to his own relationship with Aziraphale. Besides the warning about treating humans like toys--which Crowley, in typically on-brand behavior, excuses rather than apologizes for--the most important thing Nina says is not the "romantic" advice. It's the point she makes about her readiness to be in a relationship after being dumped by an abusive ex, which is to say, her non-readiness. Because it would be cruel to the other person. /This/ is what Crowley needs to hear and understand, and he...doesn't. (Aziraphale also needs to hear this, but he's off having his relationship with Crowley rewritten by the Metatron.) S2 spends a lot of time demonstrating that Crowley and Aziraphale haven't even been dumped by their respective allegorical "exes," let alone that they've recovered sufficiently to actually "go off" together or have a full-blown romantic relationship. Crowley's panic at the end of S2 leads him to accelerate straight into marriage proposal mode, when it is exactly the thing that he has just been warned that he /should not do/. That is, he would have been warned if he grasped the analogy between his situation and Nina's, but he genuinely can't see it, much as neither he nor Aziraphale understands fictional marriage plots. It's an analogy that exists for us, the human audience, but not for him.

I do think fans sometimes forget that Aziraphale and Crowley /are/ comic characters who think and act like comic characters, and that this has ramifications for how S3 will resolve their relationship?

hello again LWA!!!✨ im so sorry this has been burning away in my inbox for a fair while!!!

i gotta be honest, the mirroring of aziraphale and crowley in the general sense to maggie and nina is something that ive had a pin in for a while, just because of the sheer amount of information the parallel in all its skewed glory contains (and then that got me to thinking about the other mirror couples too, and its taken me a while - and pages of notes - to climb out of that particular rabbit hole). ie: dear LWA, once again you're going to get ramblings you didn't ask for.

on face value, maggie = aziraphale, and nina = crowley, right? maggie is soft and gentle, more readily/outwardly compassionate and innocent, even dresses in a typically lighter palette, and runs a shop that was literally carved out of aziraphale's own one. nina is acerbic and dry, outspoken and unapologetic, dresses likewise in darker clothing, and runs a coffeeshop that not only has a name that offers its patrons a choice, but feeds people with their fix - a material desire, if you like. it's far from a direct copy-and-paste of aziraphale and crowley, but they're instantly recognisable.

but you then have their situations (and im not breaking new ground here; this is just so i exorcise the thought-demons rattling around to make way for new ones) and their behaviours, that then reflect the opposite main character. maggie is shown fairly neatly to the audience, by virtue of her interaction with shax, to follow a similar pattern to crowley's circumstances as shown to us in s2 - linking a silly gifset demonstrating where im coming from on this, bc it saves the typing. she brings what is essentially a courting gift to nina, and then helps her out in the shop after the demon raid (reminiscent of the 1800 chocolates specifically, and then just... every favour/demonstration crowley has ever performed for aziraphale, frankly). nina is shown as being in an abusive relationship that she seems fully aware is abusive, full of gaslighting and possessiveness, but that she can't, for whatever reason, bring herself to leave - especially telling given her line that she thinks lindsay actually "never liked her very much", which aptly seems to reflect a good portion of how heaven views aziraphale. she's understandably hesitant and standoffish, and despite how unhealthy her relationship is, she is faithful and loyal to it despite the (unintentional, circumstantial) temptation being offered.

what i find interesting is that aziraphale interacts more with maggie, and crowley with nina. couple of thoughts on this, and all (and more besides) could be equally true:

aziraphale and crowley are drawn to the circumstances that their mirror is in; aziraphale is drawn to showing kindness to someone who is lonely and trepidatious, crowley is drawn to showing a wider perspective to someone who is inhibited and wary. the eden scene, in this context, feels all the more recognisable... plus, the anathema/newt mirroring!

aziraphale and crowley are drawn to the person that reflects their personality, possibly because it feels comforting and familiar. they feel kinship to the human that behaves more outwardly like themselves. again, im struck by how this feels a lot like their respective interactions with tracy and shadwell in s1

the fact that aziraphale and crowley interact more frequently and comfortably with maggie and nina respectively is used to draw attention to the moments where they don't interact with the other.

this last one is something i want to parse out a little bit. it is almost certain that aziraphale has had previous interactions with nina; he's possibly been in the coffeeshop before given how easily he addresses her, and nina remarks that aziraphale never goes to the monthly meetings, etc. she doesn't know him as well as maggie does, but by virtue of being neighbours, it stands to reason that they have had previous encounters that build up an acquaintance. crowley, on the other hand, does not appear to have met either of them before.

where aziraphale appears to interact with nina, however, in a one-on-one context, is the following conversation (im blithely ignoring the end of ep4 that's not even a conversation):

specifically, the culmination of where aziraphale has not only presumed that he has license to mess about with her personal life in general, but now with her and the other shopkeepers' autonomies and agencies. he's playing god in this, weaving his power (imo, to varying degrees of consciousness) to set up the perfect romantic scenario for maggie and nina, but also for him and crowley.

the fact that nina doesn't conform, pushes back on that magic, has broken away from the collective mentality of just accepting the situation and instead is questioning it all, directly and without hesitation, is a crucial part of this for me; because aziraphale backs away, leaves the line of questioning, very quickly. he doesn't want to confront it, doesn't want to be shown where this is a reflection on his actions. he's being shown the same way of thinking that scared him with crowley, and aziraphale is still scared of it upending careful order and blissful ignorance.

he brushes it off, and carries on with what he's doing, because it's what he's able to control; aziraphale has to make order of things, cannot conceive of the chaos that asking questions would bring. translate this directly to how he ignores crowley's concerns in ep5, and then basically the fact that a good deal of crowley's characterisation is built on the premise of asking questions, and you can see where this - asking questions - is something that aziraphale still fears; it poses danger (it had direct consequences in the fall, after all!) so, of course asking questions is something to fear.

but then again, is it because nina is a mirror of crowley? if circumstantially nina is actually aziraphale, is aziraphale actually reacting in a way that shows he's scared of himself? he who is starting to ask his own questions? starting to reexamine the status quo? i think this possibly rings more true than the simple nina = crowley thought, because whilst aziraphale may still not be completely comfortable with crowley's questions, and what they mean, i do think that it's a part of crowley's... crowleyness that aziraphale likes and loves. something that he has accepted... but only when it comes from crowley. the aziraphale that baulked at questions in the pre-fall scene/in eden is not, arguably, the aziraphale we see in 2023; he's in love with crowley, as he currently is (or at least, how aziraphale perceives him).

so wouldn't it make sense that aziraphale is actually afraid of how much nina is reflecting his own innermost thoughts back at him? the thoughts that begin to question why it is that an angel and a demon can't be together, what the point of heaven actually is, why heaven is the way it is, and why - if god has set things out the way they're meant to be - does that feel wrong? if aziraphale is questioning all of this, what does that say about him? how close is he to losing being an angel altogether? he's previously defied god and heaven's orders, but is this a step too far?

moving on to the maggie and crowley dynamic; this to me is equally as interest because they... do not interact, as far as i can remember, in a one-on-one context, at all - with the exception of this one scene:

im not quite sure what to read into this. my initial thought however, if we take the conclusion that maggie's circumstances and subsequent insecurities are a reflection of crowley, i do wonder if it's the absence of interaction that is key; that crowley is avoiding his reflection. that could be for any number of reasons, and no one reason feels quite right to me - arrogance, shame, embarrassment, fear of being seen, vulnerability... it's probably a mix. but it would nonetheless correlate with crowley's portrayal as not only an unreliable narrator at times, but also, as we've discussed previously, that he hasn't quite yet reached the development point of wanting to fully confront a good handful of his decisions and actions, nor want to acknowledge his circumstances that leave him open and vulnerable.

so what seems to be a rather purposeful tepid and... uninteresting? conversation suddenly has weight in everything that is missing. add to this, the way that crowley remains outside the bookshop as maggie, blissfully unaware, strolls into the bookshop, and he leaps in to stop the demons in their tracks before they can get to her, speaks even louder. he's most comfortable in being a protector, a fixer, a hero - even if it goes unnoticed and thankless, because that is his method of control:

but anyway, to actually head back to what your ask is actually saying! i find the assessment of nina as acting somewhat hypocritical really interesting - because yeah, she definitely appears as a very private person when questioned by just anybody (if we take into her responses to mrs sandwich and muriel into account)... but she does open up slightly to maggie.

she doesn't outright state the true problem with her relationship - again, im fairly certain she's aware of the abusive nature of it - to maggie, but she definitely aludes to its true nature more than we see her do otherwise. when maggie makes the assumption that being bombarded with texts automatically means that the sender must care about the recipient - said with some good measure of naivety - nina puts that to bed with her thinly veiled response that it's not out of care, but out of possessiveness. she reveals a bit more of herself to maggie; it goes from "doesn't like when im late", to the more vulnerable, "...likes it if i text that im gonna be more than ten minutes late..."

so when it comes to how she comes across as hypocritical in how she questions crowley about his and aziraphale's relationship - yeah, it's odd. it's funny as hell, and the comedy of it has its own merit, but it is invasive and uncomfortable at the same time. whilst it doesn't make it right (she ultimately needs to mind her own business, same as she impressed on others to do with her), it's not difficult to see where her line of, "other people's love lives always seem so much more straightforward than our own" would suggest that this is her brand of her escapism from her unhappy one. she's just witnessed gentle/fond ribbing between aziraphale and crowley, otherwise sees them together frequently, and they probably come across to her as an incredibly happy couple, that out of a place of perhaps envy and wistfulness, she becomes inappropriately nosy about it. for me, the saddest line about her relationship, repeating it from earlier, is that she doesn't think lindsay even liked her, which is the abject opposite of aziraphale and crowley.

poking her nose into their relationship, such as it is, is absolutely a mirror to their behaviour in messing about with hers with maggie, but it is understandable why she uses this as her own outlet, same as crowley and aziraphale seem to use hers as theirs. not justifiable, but understandable. but, like you say, it's not at all on the same level playing field - aziraphale and crowley have actual power that can influence the world and people around them, including magically creating scenarios according to what they think constitutes a romantic story, full of violins-swelling, world-stops-around-them moments, whereas nina - as far as we're aware - doesn't have any of that. this very imbalance highlights that they are not the same, and that the two situations cannot be directly compared.

like maggie remarks, she and nina are not a game, and shouldn't be played with just because it amuses them. for all of aziraphale and crowley's preachings about free will (including that they don't have it themselves as an angel and a demon, but that humans absolutely do and should have it, "that's the whole point"), the show expressively indicates that they don't appear to respect it or consider it more important than themselves, going so far as to remove it entirely and render it conditional on their own terms. whilst they may stray into very human behaviours (or maybe more accurately - human situations), they are manifestly not-human, they don't understand (or... care?) how the world in the general sense works, and arguably them being on earth in the first place contradicts that free will... blessings and temptations are all well and good, depending on how you look at them, but they shouldn't be happening to begin with.

the systematic presence of heaven and hell altogether arguably contradicts the foundation of free will, which seems to be something that neither of them fully see - they don't acknowledge that very problem... actually, no! i lie - crowley dances briefly and gingerly on this very point:

it's interesting how much the condition of humanity fades into the background when the narrative focus is on two supernatural characters and their personal storyline. and it's equally interesting how those same characters prop up their own irony as being the very thing that contradicts humanity from operating as it should, and - arguably - how it may have originally been designed.

everyone accepts that free will came to humanity from knowledge, and that knowledge was tempted to humanity by crowley... but he only says that he was sent up to eden to 'make some trouble'; who's to say that humanity wouldn't have come around to eating the apple anyway, which as crowley remarks was placed very pointedly within the garden, within literal arm's reach? did free will even need crowley to kickstart it? from the very first scene, we know that crowley evidently has free will by choosing to tempt eve to the apple, but we know that aziraphale has free will too, by choosing to give away the sword... so why wouldn't god have made humanity by the same design in the first place?

getting slightly off topic now, but it all seems to feed into the point that heaven and hell are superfluous to humanity's existence, and have only proven to treat humanity as a sandbox for their own ends. unfortunately, aziraphale and crowley don't quite seem to treat them much different in the grand scheme of things, even if their story, their 'version', is very much a 'lesser-stakes' microcosm of the wider narrative. nurture - ie. their unique experiences - may well have changed aziraphale and crowley in many ways, and separated them out from their contemporaries, but they equally still haven't fully shaken off their respective natures, either.

[frankendykes-monster]

Countdown to Halloween 2023, Ranked

43. Swamp Thing (1982)

42. Curse of Bigfoot (1975)

41. The Haunting (1999)

40. Orca (1977)

39. Teenagers Battle The Thing (1958)

38. The Beast (1975)

37. Don't Go in The House (1979)

36. Countess Dracula (1971)

35. Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967)

34. Beware! The Blob (1972)

33. Alien Space Avenger (1989)

32. Baby Blood (1990)

31. Shriek of The Mutilated (1974)

30. The Mutations (1974)

29. Phase IV (1974)

28. Curse of The Faceless Man (1958)

27. The Sadist (1963)

26. Jennifer (1978)

25. The Wasp Woman (1959)

24. Noroi: The Curse (2005)

23. Girls Nite Out (1982)

22. The Monster of Piedras Blancas (1959)

21. The Cat and The Canary (1927)

20. Tell Your Children (Reefer Madness, 1936)

19. The Company of Wolves (1984)

18. It's Alive (1974)

17. The Wolf House (2018)

16. Michael Jackson's Halloween (2017)

15. The Girl Who Knew Too Much (1963)

14. The Omega Man (1971)

13. Gamera: Rebirth (2023)

12. Student Bodies (1981)

11. Night Caller From Outer Space (1965)

10. Inhumanoids (episodes 1 - 5, 1986)

9. Blind Woman's Curse (1970)

8. Maniac (1980)

7. The Child (1977)

6. Zombie 3 (1988)

5. Return of The Living Dead (1985)

4. Spider Baby (1967)

3. Basket Case (1982)

2. Messiah of Evil (1973)

Godzilla (1954)

Woof. Okay. This has been a mostly disappointing viewing experience.

Critical difference between this year's countdown and the past two is that now that I have stable employment, there is far less time to be watching horror films. I normally begin the countdown in September but we started in July of this year and still barely managed to crack 40, with my original goal being a full 100 this year. Timing. As such a lot of my plans and possible viewings were cut short and compared to last year specifically we fell back on a lot of "seen it already" at least for the top of the list.

This year's batch of viewings were largely blah, but a step up from the shitshow I put myself through last year (watching nearly every Texas Chainsaw sequel does things to a person). As such it'll be difficult to conjure up words for a decent chunk of these mostly because yes, these movies exist, I watched them, I would not recommend that you yourself watch them. That is all. If I write briefly on a given film that's not necessarily an indictment of its quality as there a decent number of these that I saw and enjoyed it's just their impact might be a bit fleeting. You will know which ones I actively disliked. I mostly just want to write about the top five or so but I will play fair.

Our grand loser this year is Swamp Thing, the DC Comics adaptation by Wes Craven. I watched this pretty much entirely because I finally got the Alan Moore Swamp Thing run in paperback this year after quite some time of having it on my to-buy list. Longtime Rachael/Ray/Ratchet fans may recall me reading it in early 2019 alongside [REDACTED]. Still one of the best Moore comics, and a second volume of Swamp Thing wouldn't have been possible without the success of this film. For context I did read the early Swampies by Len Wein and Bernie Wrightson and my general reaction to those was a'ight but there was definitely material for a serviceable film adaptation there. This is not that serviceable film adaptation. I'm not hung up on details like how Abigail has no connection to Arcane now despite being his niece in the comics, but this film is just kind of painful in how relatively unambitious it is which is saying something for Swamp Thing sword fighting another human mutation at the end of this. It's just silly and stupid and not scary or awe inspiring or anything, the Swamp Thing suit sucks, the action sucks, any sense of pathos is not there or gone, it stretches for 30 minutes too long like it's a padded TV pilot, the only highlight is being able to see Adrienne Barbeau's breasts. Fuck this it's a miserable experience to sit through. My mistake for watching a Wes Craven film that doesn't have "Scream" in the title.

Our next shitter is the two-for-one abomination that is Teenagers Battle The Thing (1958) and Curse of Bigfoot (1975); these are the same movie except Curse of Bigfoot has a 25 minute opening scene framing device that is bizarre given that "The Thing" of the original film is a Native American mummy of some sort unearthed by a group of white high school students. It's the rare personal pet project movie made for fun by some locals but the only highlights are the occasional kill scene, Curse of Bigfoot ranks lower just for making me sit through it longer. Blah.

Speedrunning through a bunch of these because theyre all varying degrees of bad and I don't want to spend any longer writing about these than you probably do reading about them: The Haunting is awful and I don't even super care for the original film so adding shitty CGI monsters and a moral lesson of "it's about family!" doesn't help. Orca is a shitty Jaws cash-in that's like a reverse Moby Dick where the sea animal hunts down the human, nice finale where the orca and shitty poacher guy are fighting it out in the Arctic but otherwise avoid. Don't Go in The House is a mysoginistic torture porn movie that really doesn't sell the "seemingly normal guy is a closet nutcase" thing even though movies made before and after have done it well (see Maniac several paragraphs below). The Beast is advertised as this really scandalous porno film but most of it is French aristocrats sitting around in stuffy rooms arguing about real estate. I think I only watched Countess Dracula for its inclusion in the "if this is her vibe I would fucking cum" meme and it's barely worth bringing up at all. Hillbillys in a Haunted House has an absolutely lovely Tennessee country soundtrack that I wish I could listen to without having to watch the actual movie which is devoid of both scares and laughs. Beware! The Blob gives off the feeling of sitting at a funeral for a family member that was just distant enough for you to be aware of them but not actually be upset but it's still a funeral so it's not like you're smiling, stick with the 1988 Blob film. Alien Space Avenger has some decent gore effects but that's all I can recall from it. Shriek of The Mutilated has one of the best titles for an otherwise uninspired yeti movie that has a needless third act twist about it being a cover for a cult and blah blah blah fuck you. Baby Blood has an alien mutant whatever crawl up a woman's vagina into her womb and she has to eat people to feed it and yeah I'm actually struggling to remember what happens here. The Mutations has a scene where a guy cuts into a tree and it bleeds, I think he's played by Donald Pleasance. Yeah, it's like Freaks except it plays to the freak show straight so you get to laugh at all the outcasts of society, no thank you.

Some odds and ends that I'd say are decent-to-pretty-good: Phase IV has some footage of ants and synth music. All you need is some footage of ants and synth music. Curse of The Faceless Man employs a rarely seen archetype of the living statue monster, it's cute. The Sadist is another starring vehicle for Arch Hall Jr., who was also the star of last Halloween's Eegah! (1962), though this film is a bold trendsetter for the 1960's with Hall being a unhinged killer holding people for ransom until they can fix his car and he can make a getaway. The film lives and dies by Hall's performance and it's mostly the latter until we get to an absolutely superb final act with him hunting down his remaining victims, it makes the whole film worth seeing. Jennifer is an oddball that plays out mostly like a character drama ("It wasn't my fault Daddy it was that stupid hillbilly bitch Jennifer") that suddenly remembers that it's supposed to be a cash-in of Carrie (1976) in the last 20 minutes and cue our titular character being able to summon and control snakes to send after her tormentors. Girls Nite Out is a plodding meandering slasher that's oddly hypnotizing considering so much of it takes place in pitch-black night and the killer is wearing a bear mascot costume with serrated knives hidden under the glove, not sure what fully to make of it. The Monster of Piedras Blancas is made up of leftover parts from the Gillman, Mole People, and Metaluna Mutant, but still manages to star in a decent enough film that gives a sense of what a series of monster attacks would do to a small seaside community. The Cat and The Canary is "cute" for lack of a better term being a horror comedy before the former genre had fully crystalized. Reefer Madness is horror adjacent more than anything but a hilariously good time about how the use of "marihuana" will drive today's youth into becoming crazed fiends and get involved in organized crime.

We can do this.

The Company of Wolves has an excellent story book like setting an atmosphere that you can't get in films nowadays and it's a shame that it's mostly remembered for its transformation sequences. it's Alive is the best Larry Cohen film by default of not sucking but it's still not "great", genius however for playing the concept of mutant newborn killer baby completely seriously without any sense of humor to the proceedings. The Girl Who Knew Too Much is almost a parody of giallo films which is interesting given those hadn't fully sprang up in 1963; absolute highlight is the main character being interviewed in bed by doctors and reporters and the like that yes she did see a murder and no she doesn't drink. I've always been fascinated and haunted by I Am Legend and while The Omega Man doesn't really capture the novel to a superb degree it's so beautifully shot that it lands high in the rankings for that alone. Night Caller From Outer Space is hilarious to me because of how it shifts halfway through from a Hammer-esque mystery about a meteorite with radioactive properties to a film about an alien that lures women in through a modeling advertisement. Blind Woman's Curse I've mentally confused with Irezumi for a while now (haha all 1960's Japanese genre films where woman have large animal tattoos on their backs are the saaame), and it's one I mostly watched for being directed by Teruo Ishii, but there's enough bloody yakuza fights and cats licking up blood for me to stick around; not the strongest Meiko Kaiji vehicle compared to Female Prisoner Scorpion or Lady Snowblood. Maniac I find mostly interesting as a precursor to American Psycho (2000) but also it's probably the only serious film to successfully pull off it's ending trope (which I will not spoil here). The Child is an absolutely lovely 1970's only-a-dozen-people-made-this-and-not-much-more-watched-it horror that oozes atmosphere, I could watch stuff like this all day. Aaand Zombie 3 is far and away the best film that Lucio Fulci has been involved with that I've ever seen. I love random scenes and set pieces of ghouls just massacring people that are shit out out of luck.

Okay, now for the ones I actually want to write about.

The Wasp Woman is one that sticks in my head way more than any other random monster movie that Roger Corman directed in the latw 1950's. I've said on here and Letterboxd that it could have served as a standard pop-feminist piece about how the cosmetology industry is built on misogyny and invariably a monster is accidentally created because of that, but this most recent viewing has made me sort of "get it" because that might be what the film is going for considering Susan Cabot's performance leads me to believe that she is aware that she is becoming a homicidal wasp monster but views it as a tragic means to an end where she still has the ability to have a new advertising campaign with her as the star. Tragic. This is why you don't wear make up.

Both Noroi: The Curse and The Wolf House are ones I didn't care for whatsoever but I put them in places on the ranking that I thought were fair given that people should probably watch them regardless of my personal thoughts. Noroi's format didn't really lend itself to the escalation of tension and reveal of information that the plot demanded and I found myself thinking it meanders quite a bit. The Wolf House was an odd one where everything that was happening onscreen bounced off of me mostly because I felt intimately aware that I was watching a movie, that someone had made something and that I was now being shown it. Blah. People like these so don't let me stop you.

Our animated offerings this year...

Michael Jackson's Halloween more than anything feels like an unlicensed creation that later had an English fan dub commissioned, not something that actually aired on CBS twice. Any laughs that I found in this thing were the unintentional type as we open up with Bubbles talking and being Jackson's chauffeur; you know exactly what you're getting into. Very little of the plot is explained but I'm assuming Jackson (who has no lines given this was made posthumously) orchestrates a dark fantasy adventure to hook two...teenagers? People in their late 20's? And convince them to follow their dreams of performing instead of working a deadend dayjob. I'm not sure who the actual audience for this was given it feels like so much of it was made for children but I will say anything that has this much of Michael Jackson's music in it can't be all bad, though I'm not sure why they didn't largely stick with tracks from the album Thriller (in the contention for best album ever, I don't care).

Gamera: Rebirth is one I feel like I'm on the outside on compared to most other tokusatsu fans because I didn't really *love* to a serious degree even though, yes, Gamera is finally back. The first three episodes are mostly just kind of a slog for me with the backhalf not doing enough to retroactively make me think highly of it, though giving off End of Evangelion vibes may make me consider that a second viewing must be in order down the line. Rebirth's strongest attribute is that it feels like it takes into consideration and influence from every prior era of Gamera, no stone is left unturned, and it's a marked contrast from how every recent Godzilla property only captures a single facet of their respective character. But that also creates unique issues like how a lot of criticism of ongoing US military presence in Japan is undercut so there can be a white kid in the main cast (because white children were always present in half of the Showa series) or having the ancient civilization that genetically engineered the kaiju now being malicious and actively sacrificing children as a means of reshaping the world gives me vaguely anti-semitic tones, I don't know, Gamera is still here, I guess.

"I was just a little twerp who liked Scooby-Doo and Smurfs, now I was viewing Cthulhu mutants ruin the Earth."

Everyday that we have Inhumanoids is a gift. Inhumanoids is another Hasbro/Sunbow production like G. I. Joe, Transformers, or Jem and The Holograms, and it is truly tragic that it never got anywhere near that level of attention compared to its siblings. The fact that a 1980's action figure tie-in cartoon is named for its antagonists is only the start; the series follows a small paramilitary outfit of scientists named Earth Core that are tasked with more or less saving the world alongside the Mutores, elemental beings, when the Inhumanoids, eldritch abominations, are unleashed. The degree of world-building beyond your typical "good guys vs. bad guys" affair is astounding with villainous humans and virtuous monsters abounding, but Inhumanoids is mostly magical and remembered for saying fuck all to any type of broadcast standards. Seeing giant monsters destroy cities, undead armies, and spelunking deep into the Earth (where nightmares begin...) are just standard fair here, as are witnessing the actual Inhumanoids such as Metlar (basically the devil) or D'Compose (giant undead entity that can zombify people by touching them and uses his ribcage like a jail cell) in action. The first five episodes here are the pilot movie of sorts for the series which only lasted thirteen overall, and they get more grissly from here on out, but maybe it's best that Inhumanoids is the short lived cartoon and no the cartoon that went soft as early as its second season. I will never not love this show, to this day it's one of my favorite animated series from any decade, much less the 1980's.

Back to our regularly scheduled live-action programming...

Student Bodies is a fascinating film for a myriad of reasons the first of which is that there were somehow enough slasher films by 1981 for there to be a comedy poking fun at all the already established genre-cliches. It's essentially Scary Movie (2000) a full 20 years ahead of the curve only actually funny in spite of the subject matter frequently being as juvenile and prejudiced; but it also reminds me quite a bit of Scream (1996) with stuff like two killers working together. All I know is I was in for a decent time when the film opens with three identical shots of a house just with different framing text: "HALLOWEEN," "FRIDAY THE 13TH," "JAMIE LEE CURTIS' BIRTHDAY" and then the killer, The Breather, calls the opening kill girl doing nothing but breathing heavily, she hangs up, he calls back with "I SAID [heavy breathing]."

Return of The Living Dead is one of those films that should have destroyed the any artifically-imposed boundaries between "high" and "low" art. Every aspect of this film is brilliantly made, it just so happens to be made for stuff like Scooby-Doo music overlaid on top of thunderstorms over graveyards where one female character is stripping to the concept of dying. Media involving ghouls is incredibly oversaturated, and this was still the case in the 1980's where a film like this had to redefine the rules to make it so killing ghouls was basically a non-option. It only recently struck me on this viewing that that's the whole purpose of removing virtually all weaknesses they have, to keep the characters as the nail instead of the hammer. Compared to the Romero films, there's never a point where anyone is in control of the situation, it just escalates further and further until there is literally no way out. Taking that into consideration, there's no way this film couldn't have been a comedy that frames people getting swarmed and eaten by ghouls as hilarious.

The soundtrack and the faux-punk sensibilities lend this a daft feeling of "you shouldn't be watching this" in spite of it not being one of the MOST gory horror films of the 1980's. I still don't get how this never broke into the mainstream. I mean somehow people know that ghouls (in this film) speak and only eat brains but I can't go down to Target and get a Tarman action figure like I can one of Michael Myers. As such Return of The Living Dead remains a criminally overlooked film regardless of its subject matter. It's made me laugh and cringe and feel disgusted and revolt at the concept at dying but mostly it's made me feel a delicious sense of joy at seeing corpses rise out of the ground to the tune of "Do you wanna party? IT'S PARTY TIIIME!" Some of you need to sit in the corner and think about your life choices for making stupid shit like Re-Animator (1985) or fucking Shaun of The Dead (2004) more popular than this, fuck you.

The act of watching Spider Baby is like discovering the missing link. For as much as 1960 gave us an explosion of horror (Eyes Without a Face, The Ship of Monsters, Psycho, Jigoku, Black Sunday, etc.) and Night of The Living Dead (1968) reins as the perennial transition point of the genre, Spider Baby is the road by which we go from The Cat and The Canary and The Old Dark House to the likes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Eraserhead, it's magical finding an essential piece of a genre you love so much. Both the former and latter points of comparison are apt as a family of now only children [and their butler] suffering from Poe-esque hereditary illness have their condemned house set upon by distant relatives and everything slowly unravels.

Lon Chaney Jr. is an actor who for the longest time I felt never got a proper chance to shine wherein the last 25 years or so of his career was spent playing as side character actor in independent films. Spider Baby is his crowning achievement. Seeing him smile through almost tears on several occasions as he has to play bridge between worlds of sanity and madness and lie to everyone that he has some sense of control over the situation is brilliant in ways I always knew he was capable of but had never seen before this point. Bravo.

I will never not love Basket Case with everything I've got. This is the epitome of 1980's horror and my clear pick for best of the decade. It has everything from being a grungy putrid grindhouse spectacle to being an intimate character drama to everything presented through a wry ironic lense where you can't tell if any "bad" performances are all done on purpose. Between this, Brain Damage (1988), and Frankenhooker (1990), there is literally absolutely no reason why Frank Henenlotter shouldn't be more popular than Stuart Gordon, Brian Yuzna, and Lloyd Kaufman *combined*. It's tragic that the world of cinema being enclosed and captured by studios again in the late 1980's prevented us from getting more from him, but realistically could we ask anymore than what we already got from Basket Case? I could watch this every day and never grow tired of it. I will never stop making more and more people watch this.

If Basket Case is the apex of 1980's horror, then Messiah of Evil is the same for 1970's horror. This is one of the most efficient horror films ever made in how not a single frame is wasted, the opening scene is literally a guy running from unseen force, seeking refuge, getting his throat slit, cue title card with synth music that then leads us to a sunburnt hallway as our narrator descends into acceptance of complete lack of control of the situation. Every night shot in this film must be 50 - 75% completely black with whatever headlight or store front there is just making the scenery look like a dollhouse that our characters are trapped inside. There's so many shots of people running away or walking down streets that make them look tiny as the camera is so far.

Every scene is an exercise in building up dread. There's no point where the film relents, something awful is not only coming, it's already here and there's nothing anyone can do. What I love particularly is that the mystery being laid out doesn't offer any answers because there's another mystery on top of what our characters find out only too late. Layers upon layers of dread that even the titular Messiah of Evil isn't the center of. The world is a cruel fucking place where this film languishes in obscurity whilst shit like The Exorcist enjoys mainstream attention. A lot of my taste amounts to "why isn't this thing I like more popular" and cases like Messiah of Evil vindicate me.

"Godzilla is the son of the atomic bomb. He is a nightmare created out of the darkness of the human soul. He is the sacred beast of the apocalypse." - Tomoyuki Tanaka

Generally a yearly trend is that a #1 pick for Halloween is self-evident to me and this year it was Basket Case for all of 30 seconds until I picked Godzilla back up.

There's something to be said how Godzilla isn't quite a horror monster? Terrifying but not necessarily creepy, but what power do things that go bump in the night have against the destruction of everything you know? Everytime I watch Godzilla is like the very first time, when flashing lights out at sea destroy fishing ships I have no idea what happened, or at least any much of a clue as anyone in film does when we're told that the entire ocean exploded.

Godzilla is a reptile, but lacks scales and its entire body is coated in keloid scars. In 1954 Godzilla must have been the largest monster every committed to film, trains are derailed from running against its ankle and bell and radio towers are throttled for being a sensory inconvenience. Godzilla's first on-screen appearance on Odo Island is obscured by a hurricane but the impression is clear; you can't fight Godzilla in the same way you can't fight a natural disaster. When Tokyo is reduced to complete ruin amidst a sea of flames, it's an onslaught of destruction never before seen in a film of this genre. Survivors being afflicted with radiation poisoning shows that Godzilla will claim victims long after being driven back to sea.

There's a sheer apocalyptic dread to all of this sensed by all the characters. Love tries to exist on the edge of annihilation. There's nothing that can be done but persevere and maybe hope tomorrow will be better. A scene that always strikes me is when Serizawa is adamant about not using the Oxygen Destroyer until forcibly confronted with the results of one night of Godzilla making landfall in Japan. The absolute pain felt by everyone in the finale starts here, things couldn't play out any differently as the "scientist of the century" can't join in and celebrate his victory.

Godzilla is a rare perfect film. I will never tire of it.

[danothan]

@cessmaga i felt like this could be its own post!

this is so funny bc i've said this all before but for some reason it hurts me to read it </3

incoming pondering

i have mixed feelings. the punching bag portrayal of hal definitely feels… selective compared to other characters. lauren faust has said that the way she figured out everyone's personalities was to take their most popular iterations and exaggerate them into distinct roles. and it honestly works well for the show! yes even when it’s ooc! superman being a proud hotshot? well he did have a bit of an ego on him when he was younger, and this superman is 19-20, so that checks out! wonder woman being a fish out of water? i mean, she was even the audience stand-in for g1, it makes sense from a writing standpoint! hell, even "playboy bruce wayne" and "theater kid oliver queen” feel random and ooc, but it’s hilarious and plays on some recognizable tropes of the characters, so i’m definitely not complaining. it’s more important for an adaptation to hold up on its own than be a 1-to-1 reference to the source, and i think there’s smth for both comic fans and first time watchers to enjoy

but hal is more complicated. i didn’t get this impression from him when i first watched dcshg. i can see why they chose him for the jock character, someone had to fill that role after all, and i can see how his moments of silliness in the comics can add to the Dumb in Dumb Jock. like i get where they’re coming from. but it became more abt making hal fit the jock role than making the jock role fit hal

i don’t think it’s all bad tho. his debut ep endeared me upon my second watch. like hal was SUCH a senior, it was mean-spirited, but seniors are just like that 😔👊 sometimes it felt like they were pushing it, but it serviced karen’s character. they’re not making a show called dc superhero GIRLS to make it abt the boys (and i’m certainly not asking them to). so there’s definitely a right way to do it, but i feel like they lost the plot somewhere down the line. how did he downgrade so hard lmao, i can accept the premise but you have to actually like your oc too

this problem isn’t just a hal thing ofc, other decisions felt questionable to me too. like why is diana boy-crazy. the whole “she came from an all-girls island so she fell for the first boy she saw” thing is WILD for her specifically. she came from an all-girls island, connect the dots.

but i do feel like hal consistently gets the brunt of it. maybe it’s just my hal vision, but it feels targeted. how come barry gets to have all these barry-specific quirks and references, but hal is just some generic jock. they’re best friends in the comics! if you know sm abt barry, SURELY you knew that too!

bad characterization aside, my main problem is his (mis)treatment in the show. it’s straight up unpleasant to sit thru, he’s a metaphorical AND literal punching bag. the contrast going between an episode for hal vs anyone else is crazy, it’s like someone read only the worst versions of him and decided to punish the character for being poorly written. oh my god it’s like zack snyder making a superman movie. waittt it’s exactly like that oh god 😭

design-wise… he’s so ugly, every friend i’ve shown a picture to always responded in disgust 💀 and after watching g1, the choices in his redesign speaks volumes to their view of his character. but here’s the thing…

it’s actually rly grown on me I KNOW I’M SORRY. like, okay, his hair style is not doing him any favors (idek what version of him it’s supposed to be inspired by??), and anyone that changes brown eyes to blue/green is my personal enemy. buuuut… he still has his signature cleft chin <:) and his raglan tee is a clever translation of the cut of his GL suit <:)

idk, going from g2 to g1 back to g2 gave me more of an appreciation for the tooniness of the style. we think g1 is better bc it’s inoffensive. it’s bland. i def think the slapstick for hal in g1 felt like laughing with the character instead of at him, and his overuse of constructs is sooo classic hal, but in terms of visual personality, i didn’t get much just by looking at him. i miss that damn jacket tho, no idea why they didn’t keep it

but picture daze wrecked me so bad that it gave me rose-colored glasses and now i can’t remember what it was like to ever think he was ugly

is it so wrong to think he looks like a sweetie :( a silly little guy :(

sidenote, i haven’t seen this ep before but wth is this:

this is not a 17-18 year old highschooler, this is a 30-smth divorcee. i think that might be the joke, but tell me why his hair looks more recognizable here than the default 😭

all of this to say: world’s biggest hypocrite over here defending dcshg hal after talking essays worth of shit abt him LMAO. i accidentally gave him a consciousness and now it feels like he’s the victim of bad writing rather than the perpetrator of it. i’m not even mad that they made him a dumb jock anymore, i just want him to be happy ☹️

[ryuichirou]

Replies

Hi! We have a lot of replies related to our previous posts today, plus some random ones :) All twst-related, quite a lot of AzuIde ones.

Anonymous asked:

Hello hello! Just popping in to say I love your art before disappearing and lurking silently behind the screen and just liking your posts for the next few months! From one fan in a fandom populated with antis to another, thank you for your service in creating the tastiest pieces ever seen in the Twisted Wonderland fandom!

Hi Anon! Ahhhh thank you so much for your kindness and support, we really appreciate it! <3

You’re very welcome, and thank you again. We’re so lucky to have people who are into our stuff following and supporting us. Let’s keep having fun with this amazing cast and 19812739187 potential relationships and scenarios that they could have.

Anonymous asked:

In reference to the last question about Idia and Azul, when in their relationship did the comic about Idia losing the board game and being forced to, ahem, “compensate” for it take place? Were they a thing or was Azul just being a creep? 😅

(this is related to the first reply from here and this comic)

A little bit of both lol When I was drawing it, I had in mind that even if they weren’t dating by that point, they already had something. They’re already flirty, maybe even had sex a couple of times…

Which doesn’t mean that Azul isn’t being a creep mind you lol

Anonymous asked:

I saw a sketch you posted with fem!Idia and just plain old regular Azul and I was wondering if that changes their dynamic at all?

I actually did talk about it, but it was about a year ago, so I’ll reiterate!

For the majority of aspects of their relationship it would stay the same. But Azul is all about keeping appearances and creating a certain image to make a good impression (and then profit from it), so at times he’ll try to act like a perfect boyfriend (or even fiancée): he’d bring flowers, talk about inviting Idia to a romantic dinner. And it isn’t even 100% for Idia: it’s for everyone else to see how perfect their relationship is and to be jealous. He enjoys this role of a gallant princely… beau. Even though both of them know that Idia is (first and foremost) his friend who knows that he is as much of a nerd as she is… So Idia doesn’t play along.

Once again, it doesn’t happen all the time. For the most part they just play board games and talk shit about everyone, like they always do. But every once in a while they’ll start arguing because Azul wants his rich genius girlfriend to also look somewhat presentable, and Idia would absolutely hate that.

Then again, I guess Azul would do that to regular!Idia too…

Anonymous asked:

Dare I ask what Idia did that merited that “one little spank”?

(this is related to this comic)

He was probably being annoying lol Azul is that one person that Idia loves to poke, because he isn’t as terrified of him getting pissed at him. Well… maybe he should be.

Anonymous asked:

I know Idia is basically ass-less but I don’t think I’d be able to resist smacking it at least once just together his reaction. Hopefully, it doesn’t send him to the hospital….

Don’t worry, his ass (the lack of it?) is sensitive, but as long as you aren’t Azul or anyone else whose slap would break 30 bones, it’s all good! The prospect of hearing Idia’s terrified little “HIEE—!!“ is way too alluring.

artfulhero-m asked:

Your dick sucking headcanons got me thinking about how Azul can't because Azul be the kind of guy to put it in his mouth then immediately be able to tell exactly how long it's been since it was cleaned and also probably what that person last ate recently based off the pre and he is NOT risking his mood to be ruined because his partner's pre tastes like he was just chugging energy drink or something lol

(this is related to this post)

Omg yes absolutely. He has a lot of reasons not to want to put any dick in his mouth, and this is one of the major ones: he doesn’t need all that information, and he WILL judge that person and nag at him, especially considering that this certain someone chugs nothing but energy drinks…

characharing asked:

Riddle sucking like that hamster with the banana meme

Yes. Absolutely. Always. This is his spirit animal.

hipsterteller asked:

Rollo is probably bottom after seeing that art

(this is related to this art)

Yeah, he absolutely is… If being a bottom was a sport, Rollo would be a champion. And he is a virgin…

blackbutlerfandomnerddomain asked:

Every student LOVE Rollo, like wet dreams, love letters, collections of his stuff, the usual highschool/collage romance

Of course! His vice president is super lucky to be able to hang out with him more than the other guys, but every student loves Rollo.

Anonymous asked:

Who do you think Vil had his first time with?

While there are a lot of possible scenarios, we tend to think that Rook was his first. We have an entire post about their first time together! Another possible option is Jack, I guess.

Anonymous asked:

New headcanon, Rook likes to wake up Vil in the morning with a kiss like Snow White. His lovely beautiful Roi du Poison deserves to be awaken in a romantic fashion.

Awww, this is so sweet!

And also much more romantic than to just have Rook staring at Vil until he wakes up… He should definitely do that, Vil deserved it.

Anonymous asked:

After re-reading book six I gotta ask: Any opinion on Azul/Riddle? Thought towards the end they were kinda cute together but also the way Azul pushed for riddle to be both a doctor and a lawyer felt very "I can use you in the future"

I talked about them in our post about book six, and also we have a hc post about them!

We don’t really ship it much, but their interactions really are great. And I also really like the fact that Azul considers Riddle useful, I am 100% sure that they’ll exist in each other’s lives even after graduating NRC, even if they won’t be romantically involved with each other.

Anonymous asked:

I hope to one day see Lilia go through all the bottoms and leave them all shaking messes 🙏

Grandpa is too old for this type of gymnastics..! Just kidding, he’ll leave them all shaking messes lol And THEN he’ll collapse.

You know, I think out of all of our “tops”, Lilia has the most potential bottoms ship-wise… him and Floyd, both of them have quite a harem due to their flirty nature.

So yeah maybe one day you will see Lilia going through all of them. I would like to see that…

[hairasuntouchedaspartoftheamazon]

i listen to a bit of mcr but i was not aware there were characters?? and a plot? and it sounds intriguing 👀

I am not the best person to ask about this as I only started really getting into the lore about three weeks ago, also I'm really only familiar with the Danger Days/Killjoys lore and stories, I'm vaguely aware that there's some level of lore for the other albums and performances because MCR are nerds like that. but if you want Danger Days lore, lore you shall receive. Below the cut because this is allowing me to ramble about my current hyperfixation:

@ryebreadlord this is also for u bestie

Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys is MCR's fourth and as of yet final studio album released in 2010. it's also a concept album, set in the distant year of 2019 in the irradiated nuclear desert of Southern California where Better Living Industries (BLind) has built up a fascist and repressive regime in Battery City. (If Battery City is supposed to be a particular city in California I'm not aware). There's a lot of lore that was explained both through the two music videos for the album(which I'll get to later), the band commentary, and Gerard Way's later comic book series that explores the world.

The album was hugely controversial among fans when it came out because it's a STARK departure from MCRs previous albums and sound. Where many had previously dubbed them "emo" "vampiric", etc. this album came out and said "no, we're fucking pop punk and we're going to kill you with color". For this reason among others it is my favorite.

Lore-wise, there's a lot of content but not a lot of info as to how it all fits together. The main points are thus:

SETTING

-There's Battery City(Batt City), controlled by BLind through a combination of propaganda, military force, and heavily drugging the populace with 'voluntary' medications that can fix anything. Things BLind thinks need to be fixed include emotions, personal expression, and anything that is non-conforming. Citizens wear white, are incapable of showing strong emotion (or any emotions at all), and essentially work as wage slaves to BLind to create their entertainment, propaganda, supplies, and medications. City mottos include ‘keep smiling’ and ‘we can fix you’ and ‘the aftermath is secondary’. When citizens show deviation from the expected norm, they are either given more medications and ‘re-educated’ (implied to be brainwashing/torture techniques that erodes people’s personalities and emotions) or turned into Draculoids.There's a Chairwoman who rules over it all, with the police force being separated into two parts. There's the Draculoids (Dracs), which are bodies who, yes, wear vampire masks that control their brains and put them under control of higher ups in Battery City and the Scarecrows. I say bodies because afaik Batt City can reanimate dead bodies with the use of the masks, and also if a living person has one of the Drac masks put on they will lose their free will and operate as a Drac. Now Scarecrows (Crows) are experienced fighters who typically lead squadrons of Dracs. Scarecrows have their free will, but are utterly in service to BLind, spending most of their time in a sleep stasis and awoken when deemed necessary by the Chairwoman/BLind officials. They're fucking terrifying and if one is after you, you're in deep shit. Scarecrows, afaik are also called Exterminators. Where Dracs are mindless muscle (picture Stormtroopers but in bad prom suits and vampire masks), Crows are the brains. They usually have specific missions and targets. Weapons used include laser guns and rifles. They also have trucks and motorcycles, all painted white.

-There's the desert, which is irradiated and fairly inhospitable after the vaguely referenced "Analog Wars" and "Helium Wars"(may be the same thing with different names or two different series of wars). The place is split into (depending on who you ask) 6-8 Zones, (Zone 1 being the area directly surrounding Batt City, and the rest being arranged around it. No, they are not in concentric rings.) The Zones are connected by a variety of roads in disrepair, with one of the biggest and best maintained being Route Guano(also referred to as the Getaway Mile). Crows regularly lead patrols of Dracs around the Zones. The inhabitants of the Zones fall into two groups, the Neutrals and the Killjoys. Neutrals do not care about the politics/policies of Batt City, they just wanna be left alone to live their lives. Neutrals typically dress sensibly for the desert and move out fast when they hear trouble is on the way. It's left unclear whether these are people who were living in the area before everything went to shit or if they're wanderers from outside the Zone or if they're refugees from Batt City. The comics and fanon imply that they have semi-permanent settlements throughout the desert. and finally, what you've been waiting for, there's the Killjoys.

-Killjoys are comprised both of people who've never lived in the City, and those who escaped the City somehow. (there's a lot to say about that, I'll get to it). The Killjoys have two missions: to live fucking fabulously and to take down BLind. They dress impractically and colorfully and uniquely, steal weaponry and supplies from BLind and co-opt it for their own use, and regularly fight against Dracs and Crows for both survival and fun. Killjoys run in crews of 3-10 (but sterotypically 4) people and typically have hideouts/homes throughout the Zones. They're very good at scavenging, and make most of their living by stealing from BLind, scavenging old gas stations and other buildings still left standing, and (for the sake of my trained city planner heart) probably doing small amounts of gardening when they stay in one place long enough. (I include that point because I understand that 80% of the shit in this album is fun set dressing but the part of me that is a TRAINED ENGINEER(@ryebreadlord understands) knows that like you can't support a society on scavenging like that they have to be producing SOME of their own supplies. I've seen a few fics deal with the realities of a society like this really well and it heals my heart. moving on) Weapons used include stolen laser guns that are painted obnoxious colors, various self-made bombs, fucking bazookas, and a lot of being obnoxious and willing to fight dirty. They have a combination of old cars/vehicles from pre-Batt City (the titular Fabulous Killjoys drive a 1979 Trans Am, no it doesn't make logical sense pls roll with it), and vehicles stolen from BLind and souped up/painted. Killjoys do live fabulously, not only being dangerous rebels in awesome outfits but also holding concerts, creating zines, and basically being an explosion of artistic creativity as a huge fuck you to BLind. They are not a unified fighting force, just many groups of people with similar goals and attitudes. Can work together though.

This is where we pause and I ask you to go watch the NA NA NA music video with this new context, and also because it's a good intro to our main characters.

CHARACTERS

There are a bunch of named characters(mostly throughout the comics), but as someone who has only partially read the comics, I'm gonna focus on the ones that are explicitly present in the events of the album/music videos. also, heads up, Killjoys choose names for themselves that sound cool/dangerous/fun. if you liked this album when you were 15 you probably picked a killjoy name for yourself.(I did) The Fabulous Four are the characters that MCR play in-universe, one crew of Killjoys among presumably many.

-Party Poison: Played by Gerard Way, generally assumed to be the leader of the Fabulous Four. Distinctive for their bright red hair, bright yellow domino mask, and bright blue jacket. Generally the driver of the Trans Am. Confirmed non-binary.

-Jet Star: Played by Ray Toro, generally assumed to be the sharpshooter/medic of the Fab Four(based on a bit of info from the comics and music videos, this is likely more fanon than anything but I like it). Distinctive for his long curly hair, spaceman helmet with a lightning bolt on it, and black leather jacket with the American flag covered by a spider(as seen on the Danger Days album cover). Over the course of the album events, he gains an eyepatch over his right eye as a result of a fight with BLind. Previously wore black sunglasses.

-Kobra Kid: Played by Mikey Way, generally assumed to be the close quarters/heavy hitting fighter of the Fab Four. Distinctive for his bleach blond hair, red leather jacket, and motorcycle helmet with 'GOOD LUCK' written on the visor. Because of band interviews we have learned that not only is he British(???), but he also knows karate and rides a motorcycle. (This is your periodic reminder that MCR is comprised entirely of weird nerds).

-Fun Ghoul: Played by Frank Iero, generally assumed to be the detonator of the Fab Four a.k.a. the one creating and setting off bombs. Distinctive for his black dyed hair, bright yellow shirt, Frankenstein mask, and (for some reason) unanimously fanon-adopted Chelsea smile. (genuinely no idea where this came from but I'm not opposed to it). Funnily enough, the only one of the Fab Four not mentioned by name anywhere in the album.

-The Girl: Played by Grace Jeanette, her story is not explored directly in the course of the album but she is the main character of the later Killjoy comics. No she does not have a real name, partially because she is (via comics lore) basically the messiah who with her electricity manipulation powers is fated to someday bring down Batt City. Generally assumed to be under the protection of the Fabulous Four. Distinctive for being a) the only eight?(her age is inconsistent throughout the lore) year old girl in a group full of teenage/twenties rebels and b) her blue puffy vest and gray helmet with a STOP sign on it. (this is also where I state that we're not sure of the Killjoys canon age. could vary from teenagers to early thirties based on MCRs age when filming. fanon goes in different directions for this.) point being, the Girl is one of the few characters we got a canon age for.

-Dr. Death Defying: Played by Steven Montano, the radio DJ speaking during the 'Look Alive Sunshine' and 'Jet Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report' tracks. Dr. D is a radio host that disseminates information among the scattered Killjoys, tipping them off to danger and possible supplies, as well as playing some kickass tunes to keep the revolutionary spirit pumping. Travels in a wheelchair due to injuries sustained during the Analog Wars. Distinctive for his long hair and headband as well as probably never leaving the radio station.

-Korse: Played by Grant Morrison, the head hitman of BLind's Scarecrow division. Leads squads of Dracs into the desert in pursuit of Killjoys to kill or 're-educate' in Batt City. Distinctive for his frilly vampire shirt, gray trench coat, and baldness. Pursues the Fab Four on a regular basis, both because he hates them and because Batt City wants the threat the Girl poses to be eliminated.

Named characters from the comics that I’m aware of include fellow Killjoys Show Pony and Cherri Cola, DJ Hot Chimp, salesman Tommy Chow Mein, and the fictional band Mad Gear and the Missile Kid. Also every fic writer out there has created Killjoy OCs. It’s lovely.

PLOT

The two songs that have music videos and therefore are technically the only ones with plot are 'NA NA NA' and 'SING'. (Fun fact, on YouTube, the teasers of the characters released before the album in Nov. 2010 have one of those two songs playing in the background). The rest of the songs tie into the themes/ideas of the album and the surrounding world (Bulletproof Heart, Save Yourself I'll Hold Them Back) or explore various facets of the world (S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W/, DESTROYA). The exception is 'Jet Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report', which is practically a timestamp for the universe and takes the form of Dr. D giving announcemnts over the radio. They're very much set in the Killjoys universe, and there's been a LOT of good meta written about this. I’m probably gonna make another entire post on that.

But to the point.

NA NA NA sets us up with the Fab Four living out of their base, which is an old diner/motel, hanging out with The Girl, and periodically getting into kickass firefights as they rebel against BLind in various ways. However, by the end of the video, a fight lead by Korse goes badly, resulting in all the Fab Four being incapacitated and The Girl being kidnapped by Korse. It’s in this fight that Jet Star loses/seriously damages his right eye and Fun Ghoul (probably) gets his Chelsea smile. The Girl is taken into Batt City, presumably to be studied/brainwashed. Remember, Batt City is aware of her abilities and obviously never wants her to take them down.

The SING music video opens up with the Fab Four storming BLind so they can get The Girl back. The entire video is a rescue mission and SPOILERS AHEAD the entirety of the Fab Four die by the end of it. Yes, you heard me right, the Killjoys die three songs into the album, protecting the Girl as other Killjoys (Dr. D, Show Pony, and probably Cherri Cola) get her out of Batt City. (This is where I take a brief pause to say that the song Save Yourself I’ll Hold Them Back actually fits the plot of this video so much better but that is probably part of the point, I am going to make a post about this later). The video is high key depressing, as you can see in the Fab Four’s faces that they know they aren’t going to make it out of this fight alive. And they don’t, but the Girl is saved from the control of the Chairwoman and makes it out of Batt City.

And then this is where shit gets weird.

‘Jet Star and the Kobra Kid/Traffic Report’ is a track about halfway through the album that takes the form of Dr. D updating Killjoys on the state of the Zones. In this update, he states that Jet Star and the Kobra Kid have gotten in a fight with an Exterminator and gotten killed. “But Seb!” you might be saying right about now, “How can Jet and Kobra die two songs after the entirety of the Fab Four have already died in SING?”

The answer is I don’t fucking know. What we do know is that Danger Days as an album is non-chronological, and does not form a complete story. Like folk songs, some events are immortalized, but the tracks do not form an entire narrative, mostly just giving us glimpses into the world, introducing our heroes, and detailing two or three events that would be important to the Killjoys in this world, i.e. The Girl being kidnapped and later rescued, as well as the deaths of the Fab Four. So it makes sense that contradictions exist. In the real world, when folk stories are being told (and yes Danger Days functions as a folk album in-universe, FIGHT ME ON IT) things get mixed up and only the really important bits are consistent.

My personal theory, one very similar to some popular fanon theories and that somewhat lines up with comics lore, is that after their deaths in SING, the Fab Four became the faces of a revolution/movement against BLind. For all the anarchist/punk spirit of the Fab Four, you’ll notice that none of their activities in the music videos are coordinated at all. Like, they don’t have grand plots to take down BLind, they’re just trying to survive and inconvenience the pigs where they can. The rescue mission for the Girl is laughably simplistic, they literally just blast their way in and out again. They weren’t rescuing her as a ‘fuck you’ to BLind, it’s a very personal rescue mission for someone they care about.

So they probably weren’t very important while alive, but after their deaths their actions became legendary and more stories got told about them, with events changing from telling to telling. Thus multiple deaths, weird inconsistencies, and non-chronological storytelling. So yeah, the lore breaks down a lot, but that’s the main plot points of the album. I’m not fully going to get into comics lore here, because again, I haven’t finished them!

ASSORTED LORE

This is where I link to my Killjoys bible, a.k.a. a very nice list of all the slang terms/assorted bits of lore from this universe. I've gone over some of it but if you want more, here it is. Some of this is fanon, other bits are straight from the comics or album.

also here's a link to the Killjoy comics, which I haven't finished yet. 

That’s all I got for right now, at least in terms of what is mostly canon. There’s a LOT of really good fanon and meta out there, which I definitely wanna expand on at a later date, but hopefully this is a good launching point into the world of the Killjoys.

Keep your boots on, keep your gun ready, and die with your mask on if you’ve gotta. This has been the traffic.

-Seb

[thebestharleyquinn]

𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓭𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓴, 𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓴𝓲𝓭? 🥴

-𝓗𝓪𝓻𝓵𝓮𝔂 𝓠𝓾𝓲𝓷𝓷

Pc: @jimbembenek @area15official @antoniobtwo @vegas @birdsofprey 📸

Costume is from @amazon and @spirithalloween

Makeup 💄: @antoniobtwo

Okay so I am a day late but would it even be my post if it wasn’t fashionably late lmao? 🤣 Can’t believe it’s already been 3 years since Birds of prey was released. Tbh this cosplay took me so long to put together because there is so many pieces to it and it was expensive but worth it. I am so proud of myself for finishing this fantabulous cosplay! Birds of prey is such a genius work of art and loved all of the girl power in it. The future is female and I know a ton of people will disagree but it was refreshing seeing Harley without the joker in this film. Yes I love joker and Harley but there is just something special about Harley realizing her own self worth and teaming up with other femme fatales. Also Ewan McGregor did fantastic as black mask and of course Margot Robbie nailed it! If you haven’t seen birds of prey yet and you’re a fan of dc comics and Harley Quinn like myself please check it out! This was such a fun photoshoot and big thanks to @jimbembenek for taking these pics and @area15official for letting us use their location for our photoshoot. Huge appreciation for @antoniobtwo also he did a wonderful job on my makeup and it was perfect! I always love bringing Harley Quinn to life! Plus little bit of fan service for my followers! Enjoy everyone and yes of course I still love Harley Quinn very much! She forever lives in my head rent free lol! ♦️

🪅🍸

[tathrin]

since you're a huge LOTR fan, I wonder if you've heard about the new LOTR MTG set and if so what you think of it. As an MTG fan who never got into the books or movies, I love it

Oh my gods HAVE I?!!! (The answer is extremely yes.) I work at a comic book store, and we carry Magic cards, so it's going to be quite a struggle for me to be surrounded by them and not purchase any, despite the fact that I've never played MTG and have absolutely no prospects of playing it either. (Although I did play the knock-off LotR Magic-ish card game that came out back when the movies did and loved it, tbf.)

My thoughts are: I freaking LOVE the parts of it that are awesome, such as of course the most awesome of all:

AHHHHH that's so good I want it as a painting ahhhhhhhh!

Look at him, look at his sword, he's amazing it's immaculate:

AMAZING I SAY!!!

But the problem with the amazing parts? Is that they make the lackluster parts stand-out all the more.

And unfortunately a lot of it is lackluster. Not bad; just...mediocre. Admittedly perhaps my expectations got WAY too high when I saw the wedding card first, but...well, what can I say? That's the first thing I saw, and it was FUCKING AMAZING, so my expectations were raised way too high for most of the rest of the perfectly-serviceable-but-not-novel-or-exciting images to measure up to.

And then there are a few that are downright bad.

Like Legolas, who is inexplicably wearing Last Alliance-ish plate armor? Despite being explicitly described as not wearing armor, except for when he borrows mail from the Rohirrim?

Yeah. That's not a Wood-elf from Mirkwood, buddy, that's just a Generic High Fantasy Elf. At best he could be Elladan or Elrohir I guess, but Legolas? Legolas of Mirkwood? Yeah, no.

(Also if we're going for diverse LotR designs, why is it that all the elves still seem to be white? *All the elves I've seen so far. Hopefully this will change as more cards get revealed. I'm perfectly happy with Arwen the way she is in the above image, for the record; she's described as being pale and dark-haired and she looks exquisite up there. 10/10 on the Wedding Card, no notes! But I'm hoping that this isn't going to end up being a case where the "immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings" species remains wholly white because that's...not great.)

Anyway most of the other cards I've seen look fine, but no better than fine; very much Standard Generic Designs. Less disappointing than the bizarre design for Legolas up there, but nowhere near even half as awesome as Aragorn and Arwen.

And then...well. What is this supposed to be?

Jaskier and Daenerys, maybe? wtf? I genuinely didn't even know who they were until I saw the caption with their names, that's how bad this design is. Why have they turned Faramir into some little bland doofus boy? How the fuck is their hair supposed to mingle in the wind when his is so short? He looks like a child, and there is not a single muscle in her arm, she looks like an airbrushed barbie. For that matter, where is the splint and bandage on her arm? Her left arm? That arm is broken what are you doing? Did you miss that bit with the Witch King??? Was this one even painted by someone who read the book, or is it maybe an image that was done for something totally different that they just went "ehh good enough" and slapped it into this deck instead of making something new and specific for these two? I am SO disgruntled.

That's the worst of them that I've seen so far, thankfully. But you have to admit that it is pretty bad, I think.

So, in summation: I'm still overall excited (admittedly this is bolstered in part just because racists are hella mad about it, and that always makes me happy) but I really wish that they had put the same level of care and attention into the design of all of it that they did in a few of the more stand-out pieces.

Because I probably won't end up buying any of it, unless as more cards get revealed the ratio between awesome-and-blah changes significantly. Because the ones that are good are very very good but the rest of them are just...meh.

And that's so disappointing when they could all be awesome.

[ottokallenhonkai3rd]

⚜ 𝒲𝒽𝓎 "𝒮𝓉. 𝐹𝓇𝑒𝓎𝒶 𝐻𝒾𝑔𝒽" 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐵𝒾𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓈𝓉 𝒢𝒶𝓇𝒷𝒶𝑔𝑒 𝐼'𝓋𝑒 𝐸𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝑅𝑒𝒶𝒹. ⚜

Today I unexpectedly got the pleasure of reading this great manga called "St. Freya High" and I wanted to throw up. At this point I can also understand why this manga was deleted from the site except for two chapters. And because I'm an OttoKallen blog, I only go into the parts that contain Kallen Kaslana in the case. I can't say much about Kiana's relationship with Mei either, because I only play Honkai Impact 3 and their relationship goes beyond that. ~*~ The first thing I noticed was the extreme fan service. Kiana licking Mei's wounds, breasts pressed together. A good view of the genitals and a half-naked Otto

Because I'm not a fan of hentai, especially not with a focus on women, I was a bit served. But I can't say much at this point, because there is also a little bit of fanservice in the game itself. ~♥~ The interesting part of the story for me started with Bronya connecting Kiana to a HOMU device with which she should learn something. She is beamed into an archive and is told the story of how Honkai slowly spread. She then finds the Cross of Kallen, which grants her hidden information simply for being a Kaslana.

She then bumps into Kallen and gets the story of what happened between her time in Yae Village and her sentencing. And here we come to the point of illogicality.

This page implies that Kallen had an explicit death wish, because Sakura is no longer alive. But she never had this. If you follow "Elan Palatinus" and in-game content, you know that Kallen had a choice. She had the choice of keeping her engagement promise to Otto and marrying him now or hanging by a rope. She refused Otto's request to marry her for one reason only. - She knew she would then become the pawn of the overseer (Otto's father) and she didn't want that. Just because of her oath. But that doesn't mean she didn't have feelings for Otto. The rest went under, because Otto left the room. Basecally it meant she would have liked to have married him in another world, free of corruption. In that case, the manga panel doesn't match what Kallen said to Otto. This is followed by a brief background on Kallen and her love for Sakura and the reason she was ultimately sentenced to death.

That makes no sense. If you follow the conversation between Otto and his father Nikolas, you quickly become aware of the problem. Nikolas fears that the Castile will overthrow him. The reason for this is the lost battle and the scandal that Kallen basically triggered. He basically gives Otto a choice. Either you get her to marry you, so I can control her or she has to die. And Kallen doesn't want to be controlled by him. That would mean that she has to accept the corruption. That would also mean that she has to accept, when people are sacrificed for this corruption. And that, by the way, is the twist between Otto and her. At first she thinks he's only doing the experiments out of lust for power, but then she understands that he basically wants to help people. Anyway, the fact that she should only be hanged, because of her love for Sakura makes no sense. She chose death, because she didn't want to be a pawn. It's also inherently illogical, because Sakura was already sealed and dead. So she no longer posed a threat to the church. And this is where the comic itself is illogical, because it says that the crystal was destroyed. In fact, "The grate Graduate Arc" and the samsaras could not have happened at all, because they were fed from Theresa's memories and a piece of the crystal.

But the worst was this. First of all, I've never seen Otto do that flip-hair-back pose, especially in Kallens presence. Neither in other Wecomics, nor in the game itself. Secondly, his behavior here does not correspond to his character at all. Yes. He released the Honkai Beasts to take Kallen with him in the Triggered Panic. But that wasn't his plan, it was his sister's. And yes. In "So Spoke Apocalypse", he vented his displeasure that people just accepted Kallen's death after everything she had done for them. Understandable. But he would never go so far as to willingly sacrifice these people. He was quite desperate and simply underestimated the situation. But here it is presented as if he doesn't care about the people. The main thing is that he is united with his beloved Kallen. And he has never called her "beloved" or "dear" before. that´s also new. And because Kallen sent him a letter to bring the cross to Yae Village, he probably knew about her feelings for Sakura as well. How insensitive is it, then to tell her: "We can travel to the Far East together, if you like it that much." It's also funny that this Arthur actually wanted to let her go, so it was totally unnecessary from Otto's side to release the Honkai beasts. So he's not smart, as he says himself, but stupid. If Kallen could just walk away, wouldn't that be the first option Otto would have used? To top it off, Kallen calls him "Evil" and "Disgusting" and hits him so hard, that he falls over from the punch. In "Elan Palatinus" she hits him too, but he doesn't fall directly on his face. By the way, the manga clashes with "2 Erruption", in which Kallen apparently believes in his good side. ~*~ I felt like I was reading a KiaMei & SakuKallen doujinshi. Otto has been consciously drawn like an arrogant, stupid, anti-social Kallen fanatic. And story gaps were deliberately used to squeeze in the own shipping, whether it makes sense or not. Anyone who thinks that this is canon material, can no longer be helped.

[jagsdoodloos]

A little tiny itsy bitsy (MAJOR) ATLA concept for your consideration:

It's something I've been kicking around in my head for some time and only recently this year on my Instagram, have decided to debut and share. With all the latest ATLA news flying around what with the Netflix show and the new comics and the future animated movie, I've been wanting to continue with my own take on the next saga in the series.

Now before you scroll away - Hear me out.

I know it's something of a sore spot the way Nick did LOK dirty, and believe me I'm every bit as ticked off as all of you. For all the missed opportunities that were missed continuing Korra's legend on TV, we need to look ahead and think about the stories after Korra. Yes it's a difficult subject we don't like to think about, but this is an under utilized and under appreciated IP ignored by Nick that needs to keep going for the good of the fan community. This is a series in real danger of being left behind by oblivious suits leaving money on the table, to put it bluntly. So I wish to propose something for the fandoms consideration; The Saga of Shinyru.

Story synopsis:

This story takes place like many in the Avatar tales, at start of new life at the end of another. After over a century of faithful service to the world it's nations and its peoples, the Legendary Korra passed on. And in her place arose a humble young boy who would grow into the young man every bit the worthy successor to Korra; the great stalwart earthbender - Genjiro. In his short time as Avatar he became a living legend in his own right. A man of the people who's boisterous attitude and charisma made him seem invincible. But one faithful day tragedy befell the young hero, and he was struck a near mortal blow. And what emerged from that near fatal accident was changed forever - a twisted and malformed creature who hid behind his famed smile. For unbeknownst to the rest of the world, in that brief time deep within that thin vail of life and death, a new light emerged. A frail meek child who's very existence filled Genjiro with such fear, seeking out and destroying this young firebender would become his all consuming obsession. An obsession that not only threatens to upend the balance between the nations, but could very well destroy them. A threat this meek firebender must now stop, using the powers of the Avatar he holds in his hands. This is the Saga of Shinyru.

More to come, so stay tuned.

[takerfoxx]

The Owl House, Season 3, Episode 1, "Thanks to Them," First Impressions!

Once again, let us pour one out for the brave and vigilant administrators of theowlclub.net, who toiled tirelessly in preparation for the season 3 debut and fought valiantly to keep the servers up as starving Owl House fans descended en masse…only for Disney to just upload the whole episode to YouTube a couple hours later.

Yes, I know it was region locked so they still formed a vital service to our overseas companions, but even so. I’m sure it must have been…frustrating? Relieving? Who knows.

Anyway!

So anyway, here it is. The long awaited first of three extended specials that will make up the third and final season of The Owl House. More on that later, but man, hype for this was through the roof! And now that it’s here, there’s…a lot to unpack here, mainly because there was a lot packed in! Because, wow, they sure covered A LOT of ground here.

So I’m not going to dive into it fully just yet, but I want to call attention to the name. “Thanks to Them.” At first, I assumed that it was a way to show appreciation for all the kids have sacrificed for their friends, family, and home, but within the first few minutes I realized that there is a second, much darker meaning.

“Thanks to Them” can also reflect the immense guilt and fear Luz and Hunter are carrying around, Luz for helping Belos connect with the Collector during her time travel adventure, and Hunter for his time as the Golden Guard and for being a magic clone of a former Witchhunter. And now Belos nearly killed everyone, their friends are stranded away from home, and the Boiling Isles is now under the dominion of the Collector.

All thanks to them.

Damn.

Okay, we’ll dive into that a little more fully when we discuss the characters, but to start, it is sort of fascinating just how…meta this episode is. Like, I don’t mean them winking at the fourth wall or anything, but it’s clear that they are very well aware of what the fandom has been up to, as well as a specific controversy that has been going on around this show.

To start, let’s go with Luz, who is now fully rocking her beta design. Ever since those original plans had been revealed, people have gone crazy for beta Luz and to a lesser extent beta Amity, as the edgier designs and ideas did have a lot of appeal. We got a couple of nods to that popularity in the past, but here it is in all of its glory, complete with the bat! They did that for us. They didn’t have to, but they did.

As for the second, I don’t know exactly when this episode was made, but it was probably at least partially done when the last season ended, as these sorts of things take time. But regardless, a few weeks ago I made a joke about how reverse-isekai the Owl House fandom had become, in that everyone was so enamored with Luz’s witch friends enjoying a peaceful, slice of life existence in Luz’s world. And…we got it!

Granted, it was in the form of a montage. More than one, actually, but it was still cool to get confirmation that all of those comics and fanfics might have actually happened during the kids’ stay in the Human Realm. One point in particular: giraffes. Turns out, they really are monsters. Who woulda thought?

Also I note that Dana Terrace and her crew have officially stopped giving any kind of fuck. There’s been rumors that the higher than normal amount of queer content might have played a contributing factor to the show’s cancellation, and while there has been no official confirmation of this, it is clear that Dana feels all sorts of ways about the Mouse. So now we’re going all in on that queer content! No more pussyfooting around, we got pride flags all over the place, queer literature, they/thems, and Luz just up and saying that’s she’s bisexual! And it. Is. GLORIOUS!

It also maybe causes a bit of a continuity snag, as the part where she introduces Amity as her girlfriend to Camilla via Powerpoint does seem to suggest that she is also coming out as bi to her mom, when I was under the impression that Camilla already knew, given the bi flag we’ve already seen around the house? Eh, maybe the crew decided that they were just done with subtlety and ignore it so they could go all in.

And yeah, I would have loved to see all of those moments play out in full! Especially since we got confirmation that Luz and Amity did get their awesome slice-of-life date, via scrapbook! And Luz introducing Amity to human rain! And so many other moments too! But like the girl said, we would all love to have twenty more adventures, but we don’t, because of…the Mouse. Yeah.

Okay, moving on. Next, can we get a round of applause for Camilla? Poor girl has just been put through the ringer, having to take care of six very weird kids with very weird needs and lots and lots of trauma, but she is still doing her best, not only when it comes to budgeting to make sure everyone stays fed with food they can actually eat, but also reading up on LGBTQ families so she’ll be as supportive of a mom for Luz as possible, all the while dealing with her own traumas and insecurities and mistakes.

You know, I feel really bad for how much shit I gave her at the start of the show, what with the whole camp thing. Yeah, I still hold that the coding was very close to conversion therapy, which was unintentional, yes, but also…uncomfortable. And seeing nothing from Camilla for several episodes after didn’t help. But even so, I think the creative crew realized this and did everything they could when Camilla did come back to clear the air, and damn it, she is trying her best, but as her nightmare indicated, it is definitely getting to her. She was also a bullying victim growing up who lost the love of her life and did everything she could to take care of her very…unusual daughter, who was dealing with her own hurts and acting out as a result. And now…all of this. But I’m glad that she’s going with everyone back to the Boiling Isles. I’m sure beaning Belos with the baseball bat will make for wonderful therapy!

As for Luz, damn. The girl is just going through it. All that guilt is making her just collapse in on herself. It’s obviously not her fault, but just trying telling that to a neurodivergent kid with a whole lifetime of insecurities and rejection, who never felt like she was good enough or even fit in, who finally found real friends who love and support her, only to feel that it’s your fault that their home was destroyed. No wonder she feels that it’s her fault that her palisman hasn’t hatched yet.

…it’s going to be a spider, isn’t it? I mean, a spider was in that book of possible animals, most of which where the popular fan theories, but also one she didn’t even look at, and a spider landed on her head during her Disney princess video diary entry.  

Honestly, I do love the relationship she’s built up with Hunter. As a white hot mess of issues and insecurities himself, he’s kind of the only person she can fully open up to. It really drives home the new sibling dynamic they have.

Speaking of Hunter, he really did get the most to do here, though I’m sure he didn’t want to. And God, I want to give him all the hugs. How long was Belos riding around in that poor kid’s head? It’s funny, given how many possession arcs have happened in the Owl House’s sister shows (She-Ra, Amphibia, etc.), everyone thought it would be Amity or Luz, but no, it’s poor Hunter.

And we get our first real loss. I saw Flapjack’s death coming, but it was still hard. Now Hunter has to literally carry that sacrifice around with him forever. He even has Flapjack’s eyes. Damn.

On the lore side of things, we also got a confirmation of the theory that the Clawthornes are descendants of Caleb and Evelyn! I mean it was kind of obvious, but hey, Hunter gets to be part of their family too! Kind of? I wonder if Belos knew. Probably.

Also, anyone get the sense that Flapjack might have not been Caleb’s palisman, but Evelyn’s? It would make all the sense.

Speaking of Belos, I was actually shocked that he survived this episode. I thought he would’ve been put down for good here, so they can concentrate solely on the Collector going forward, but nope, Mr. Gooey isn’t done.

A couple of minor complaints. First, Amity forgiving Luz and reassuring her of her support by echoing Luz’s confession back to her was very sweet, but we’ve kind of seen that thing before. I know we had a lot of material thrown away, but I would have liked to have seen Amity be the one that needed to be forgiven a little more, as she has plenty of trauma and insecurities as well. It just seems a little unfair to have it always be Luz making the mistakes. Like, we saw a little bit of it at Eclipse Lake, but that was kind of it.

Also, I hate to say this, but Willow and Gus kind of got the short end of the stick again. I know Luz and Hunter are the important ones, but even Vee felt like she had a little more to do here (love her new look, btw). At least Gus got to bond with Hunter over being a Trekkie (or Frontierie?). Also, Camilla? Stop hiding it and embrace your inner nerd. Even so, I hope those two get more to do going forward, especially Willow. Are they going to do anything with Hunter’s crush on Willow?

But those are very minor complaints that really are thanks to the show’s premature cancellation, and it was still a banger of a start. Only two episodes left to go, guys. Are you ready?

[longitudinalwaveme]

Fictober 2022: The Central/Keystone City Comic Book Convention

Day 3: “That was not my intention.” 

TW: Mentions of violence.

Sam Scudder hadn’t been to the Central/Keystone City Comic Book Convention in decades. Every year when the convention rolled around, he made plans to attend, but something always ended up intervening, and he would miss his chance. Sometimes one or another of his fellow Rogues would call him up and propose a heist. Other times, the Flash would show up and haul him off to prison before he could attend. And sometimes, James would get bored and start following him around, forcing him to drop his plans to go to the convention in order to prevent the other Rogues from learning that he was a closet JSA fan. He and the guys were close, but not that close—and besides, he had a reputation to maintain! 

This year, however, everything had lined up in his favor. No one had called him up to propose a heist, the Flash hadn’t shown up to arrest him, and the Trickster was off in LA bothering some B-list superhero named Blue Devil. Even the weather had cooperated, with the day of the convention dawning bright and clear. (As annoying as Mardon could be, it paid to be friends with the Weather Wizard.) Sam had gotten up at 6:00 AM sharp and, after spending an hour and forty-five minutes ensuring that his hair was perfect, he had entered the Mirror Realm and transported himself to the convention center in downtown Central City—just in time to be there at the convention’s opening. Now he was wandering around the various booths, waiting for the autograph signing that was going to be held by Gardner Fox and E.E. Hibbard and occasionally inquiring about the price of an old JSA comic that he didn’t yet own. Most of them were a bit outside of his current budget, but he had managed to purchase a slightly battered but still perfectly serviceable copy of All-Flash #19 for only $110. He couldn’t wait to get it home and finally have a completed All-Flash collection. 

“You a fan of the Flash?” The sudden question jolted Sam out of his reverie. 

“Huh?” 

“Oh! Sorry for startling you. It’s just that I’m a huge fan of the Flash myself, and I noticed that you were holding a copy of All-Flash #19. I was wondering if maybe I'd found a kindred spirit.” Sam grinned.

“Yeah, I’m a fan. I’ve been collecting Golden Age comics since I was seven or eight, and I’m especially fond of the ones about the JSA. They were my heroes as a kid, you know?” The other man, who had a blonde crew cut and a polka-dotted bow tie, smiled. 

“The JSA were my heroes too. It was so cool knowing that there were real-life people with superpowers who went around saving people, and even cooler that one of them lived right in our hometown. When I was a boy, I even used to dress up as the Flash—Jay Garrick, of course—and pretend that I was saving my childhood sweetheart Daphne Dean from mortal peril or fighting dastardly villains—not that there was all that much peril or all that many villains to be found in Fallville, Iowa.” 

“That reminds me of that year that I dressed up as Dr. Mid-Night for Halloween. My mother couldn’t afford to buy a costume from a store, so she hand-sewed it herself. There’s probably still a photograph of me in that costume somewhere, but I hope that it never resurfaces. The costume itself looked fantastic—Mom’s a seamstress—-but I was eight and so I naturally ended up looking like a total dork wearing it.” 

“If it’s any consolation, there are several photographs of me dressed up as Jay Garrick, complete with pie container helmet, at my parents’ home in Fallville, and every time my wife sees them, she collapses into a giggling fit.” 

“Are you just a cosplayer, or do you collect too?” The other man, who was seeming increasingly familiar the longer Sam talked with him, nodded.

“Yes, I’m another collector. I’ve got 745 Golden Age comics, including 77 issues of the original Flash Comics and 14 issues of All-Flash. How about you?” 

“ I own 697 total Golden Age comics. I’ve only got 65 of Flash Comics, but I actually own all the issues of All-Flash now that I’ve got #12 ,” Sam replied. 

“Wow! That’s impressive! How’d you track down All-Flash #4? I’ve been searching for that one for years, but every copy I’ve ever found is insanely overpriced.” 

“I lucked into that one. The grocer in my neighborhood gave out JSA comics to any kids who wanted them. He said that we needed heroes more than anybody else, growing up on Skid Row,” Sam replied. 

“Skid Row?” 

“Yeah. I grew up on Baker Street, in downtown Central. And everything you’ve heard about the place is true. The Candy Man’s men really do run the place. I remember hearing gunshots outside my apartment all the time, and when I was nine I saw one of my neighbors overdose on heroin. I…I guess that’s why the JSA meant so much to me. They were strong enough to protect people from guys like the Candy Man, and brave and good enough to actually do it. When I was a kid, I always hoped that when I grew up I would be able to be a hero like them. Dumb dream, huh? Everybody knows that superheroes don’t come from Skid Row.”

“Why not? Even if you don’t have special powers, everyone can help to make the world a better place.” Sam was suddenly struck by the memory of the last time he had attended the Central/Keystone City Comic Book Convention. He had been eight years old, and, had it not been for the unexpected generosity of an older boy, he would have never been able to afford to go. The other boy had offered to pay Sam’s way in even if it had meant sacrificing his own chance to attend the convention, and, for some reason that Sam still couldn’t fathom, he had actually turned the offer down, saying he didn’t want the other boy to miss out on seeing the JSA. Maybe he just hadn’t been very bright when he was eight. 

Both he and the other boy had gotten the shock of their lives when Wildcat, a leading member of the JSA, had suddenly come up to them both and praised them for their willingness to sacrifice their own happiness for someone else’s. (When was the last time Sam had sacrificed anything for anyone since? He couldn’t even remember.) Both he and the other boy had been welcomed into the convention free of charge and had gotten the once-in-a-lifetime chance to actually eat lunch with and interview the entirety of the JSA. Sam and the other boy had also gotten autographs from every member of the JSA—autographs which were now proudly displayed in a special corner of the Mirror Realm. 

“You mean, like by offering to sacrifice a chance to meet the JSA so that you could pay for a little boy to do so instead?” While he had been reminiscing over his fondest childhood memory, Sam had finally realized why the other man had seemed so familiar. He had been that older boy who had offered to pay his way into the convention! 

“Wait. You were that little boy who met the JSA with me? The one who refused to let me pay his way into the convention even though he probably would never have another chance to go?” 

“Yeah, that was me. I’ve been wanting to thank you for years. If it wasn’t for you, I’d never have gotten to meet the JSA.” 

“I could say the same thing about you. I remember being super impressed by how someone with so little was willing to sacrifice for someone with so much, and I always sort of wondered what had happened to you.” Sam was wondering the same thing. What had happened to the Sam Scudder who cared more about making others happy than about being happy himself? How could they possibly be the same person? 

“I can’t believe we ran into each other after all this time.” 

“You suppose that this is the start of a beautiful friendship?” the other man asked. 

“Could be. What’s your name?” 

“Barry. Barry Allen.” Sam felt the color drain from his face. He knew that name. He knew it all too well. How was it possible that the boy who had given him his happiest childhood memory had grown up to be his enemy? 

“Barry Allen? As in the Flash?” 

“Yes—but don’t feel intimidated by that. I’m really just a regular guy; somebody who loves his family and geeking out over comics.” 

“You’re the Flash. And you haven’t realized who I am?” 

“Beyond being the boy at the convention all those years ago?” Was the Flash toying with him, or did he really not know who he was talking to? 

“Samuel Joseph Scudder. My name is Samuel Joseph Scudder. Does the name ring any bells?” The Flash’s mouth fell open.

“You’re the Mirror Master?” Sam had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. The Flash had seen him out of costume how many times now, and he still couldn’t recognize him without being told? 

“Yes.” 

“Why are you here, Scudder? Did you come here in order to enact some plan to defeat me?”

“No, that wasn’t my intent. I didn’t even know that you were here until you came up to me and started talking to me.” 

“Then why did you come to a comic convention that celebrates superheroes?” 

“Because I’m a comic collector who loves Golden Age superhero stories? I wasn’t lying when I told you that—or when I told you that the JSA were my heroes.” 

“Then that little boy who met the JSA with me, the one who wanted to be a hero himself—he grew up to be the Mirror Master? What happened to you, Scudder?” Sam shrugged.

“I learned that being a hero gets you killed. Reverend Collins, the closest thing to a hero Baker Street ever had, got shot to death by one of the Candy Man’s drug dealers—and that grocer who gave out the free comics was murdered when he wouldn’t pay Handsome Jack’s protection racket. The good guys might be able to come out on top when they have superpowers, but if you’re just a regular guy, well—better not live on Skid Row. The bad guys always won when I tried to play the hero, so I decided the only way for me to defeat them was to beat them at their own game. And I did!” 

“And what price did you pay for it? What happened to the little boy whom you became the villain to protect?” Sam frowned. He didn’t have an answer. 

“I—I don’t know what happened to him! Why does it matter?” 

“You call yourself the master of mirrors, Sam. Maybe to find the answer, you ought to use your powers to examine your own reflection.”

[adumpofdumbstuff]

So on the subject of Stucky [VERY LONG, TW: DEPRESSION]

And a quick note, Bucky looks at Steve the same way Q looks at Picard.

So, some member of Marvel or something somewhere if someone could find the web article for me please???

Someone who works for Marvel essentially said that Bucky and Nat were both crushing on Steve.

HAHA OK so since it’s not on the screen, you can tell us?

Yeah, that’s my opinion on a lot of things. Sometimes on screen, it’s still so damn obvious. Qcard. SO OBVIOUS. Dakavendish.

Look at Dakota’s face. This is the dorky smile I would get around my ex.

Oh also book series, specifically WARRIOR CATS in which Scholastic said “No you can’t have Leafpool and Mothwing be together” and so that didn’t happen because the Erins are pushovers (???) and then behind the scenes they’ll stay stuff like “yes Darkstripe was gay” “some of us see Tallstar and Jake as something more” “oh yeah RavenBarley is canon”

Yeah, so actually making it happen will bother the censors, right? You do realize answers are a translate away?

Yes, this is a person who is aware how broken Google Translate is but believe me.

Alright, back to Stucky. I can understand why it wouldn’t get canonized. In the comics, Bucky was actually younger than Steve. A LOT younger. They had a father-son dynamic, think Batman and Robin from DC. I don’t remember why this was changed, but I suppose it could have been a bit strange. HOWEVER!!! I, like several other people, HATE the Endgame ending with a passion. Steve’s character arc revolved around Bucky. When was the last time Peggy was relevant? When Steve helped carry her coffin? All of a sudden he sees her in Endgame and “I’m with you till the end of the line” means NOTHING and he goes and lives out his life with a woman who had a full life WITHOUT HIM.

I’m just- I’m just… UPSET with Marvel about this. I’m upset with the Russo Brothers the most cuz they directed this movie.

Guys, when a slash ship is even PARTIALLY canon, treat it with respect on the screen/page. You anger the fandom beast when you don’t.

Oh, and that brings me to another thing that pisses me off. Fandoms bringing canon LGBTQIA-whatever-letters-there’s-a-plus-here-guys+ in so late in the game. Do you realize how long fandoms like Marvel and Star Trek had to wait for this stuff? I mean, I guess Seven counts, but the Seven x Raffi romance wasn’t the best executed??? And the fact Star Trek’s first same-gender kiss WASN’T IN DISCOVERY and was in DS9 and people FORGOT ABOUT IT??? However, even though Eternals SUUUUCKED, it did the whole “Phastos has a husband and son” thing right. Still a twinge annoyed.

Having characters canonized as queer later is cool tho. Warrior Cats with Ravenpaw, Harry Potter and Ron apparently (I do not support JKR) even though if the series happens it will probably suck and their romance would probably feel like shoehorned fan service (Don’t shoehorn your fan service).

BACK ON TOPIC, don’t know if you cared about The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I did. I thought it was… okay dealing with stuff like racism at a time where struggles that the Black community faces really started coming back into the public eye, as well as the idea of the interest narratives that could come from everyone returning after being gone 5 years.

But here, we’re talking about Bucky’s therapy. Don’t know if you know this, but the actress who played Bucky’s therapist, Dr. Raynor, said that this therapy, though court-mandated, could be LIFE-SAVING.

Of course he’s depressed, his best friend/love of his life (AKA NOT SARAH WILSON) ABANDONED him.

I’m just saying saying this stuff doesn’t help with how messed up Steve leaving was to begin with!

Now there was one more thing I was gonna say but I forgot so I’ll post a part 2 when I remember.