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twoidiotwriters1 · 4 years

Text

Iron 7 (Peter Parker x F!Oc)

Words: 2, 323

Masterlist

Chapter 6

Post-credits scene (Iron man 1) / Chapter 8

2010

"It's unfair that I can't go," Lily complains, walking into the living room.

"You should get used to it," Jess says without taking her eyes off the television where they’re playing the replay of the grand opening of Stark Expo. "No one else can find out who your father is.”

Lily leans against the back of the chair where Jessica is.

“It’s unfair. My dad hasn't even said anything about going, lots of kids have fun there,” She sighs.

The screen highlights the dance of some women in small red shorts and tops, referring to the armor. And to Tony with a huge smile showing his great achievement.

"Even he has more fun than me,” She grimaces. "Although, I think he’s more cocky now than before…”

“Big word,” says Jess. "Stop complaining. Maybe one day, I can take you.”

"Seriously?"

"If your father lets us visit him for free, of course,” She turns to see her and smiles. “Now finish your homework.”

“Fine."

Lily returns to the table with all the homework that her math teacher left her after her private class. She expected to go to school like a normal girl, but Pepper and Tony insisted on hiring several teachers to visit her during the week. "We can't risk it," They said, much less when reporters and practically the whole world follows Tony in every move since he broke the news about the Iron Man.

She can’t complain, some subjects are fun and she advances very fast, if she were in a school, she wouldn't be able to do it. In addition to the private lessons she has some with Happy, she appreciates that too. It's fun to see Happy struggling to learn the subjects with her.

"Hey, Lily. You have to see this,” Jess says from the living room. Lily returns and this time sits on the couch to see her father in the Senate or the military committee. Obviously, television doesn't show everything, but enough to see that her father just makes fun of everyone, especially that businessman Justin Hammer.

"Very cocky.”

Both girls nod.

***

"And I also learned about worldwar-two, but Professor Edwards said it would take us longer to do our research because there is so much information," Lily informs walking next to Pepper.

"I'm glad you're enjoying your classes, honey," She says with a smile, but then sneezes.

"Are you sure you shouldn't be resting?" The worried girl asks.

"I'm fine, don’t worry.”

They both go down the stairs until they reach Tony's workshop. Pepper puts the combination and they enter. Lily, seeing Tony for the first time in a few weeks, runs towards him. Tony gets up from the chair and receives her with a hug, bending down to her height.

"You should also greet me this way, Pepper," Tony teases. Pepper rolls her eyes, but she can't help a smile at the cute image.

"Why didn't you wake me up when you arrived?" Lily asks as they part. She crosses her arms.

"I could hear your snoring outside,” He jokes. “No nightmares?"

"Didn’t have any this week.”

“Good, and enough waiting for me on the couch, last time you complained about back pain. Those complaints are not allowed until you’re fifty years old... or thirty, it depends,” He nods, ruffling the girl's hair making her laugh.

The moment ends when Pepper remembers why she was upset with Tony. Now they both walk around the workshop discussing things. Lily listens to them as she sits in the chair where Tony was. She frowns when she sees a brown box, but Pepper's comment distracts her.

"The Expo is a gigantic waste of time.”

“There’s nothing more important to me than the Expo,” answers Tony. “It’s my primary point of concern.”

"Hey!" Lily complains. “What about me? I’m your daughter! And you haven't taken me to Stark Expo yet, so unfair…” She says with a pout.

"What?" Tony says from the other side. “I'm sorry, kid. Grown ups talking here!" He answers by pretending not to have heard her.

Lily makes a face.

"The Expo is your ego gone crazy,” follows Pepper.

Lily stopped listening. Photos of boring cars on Tony's computers are more interesting than Pepper scolding her father. She only lifts her head when they return to the entrance. Tony trades a painting for an Iron Man painting. Then, suddenly, Tony appoints Pepper CEO of Stark Industries.

"Trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be,” says Tony over a few glasses of champagne, "and then I realized, well since she's only eight, she can't run a company,” He points out to the girl.

"Yet!" She yells from her place.

"It’s you. It's always been you.”

***

"I think I'm ready for that training," says Lily pulling the ropes of the ring in the middle of the room.

"Not yet, Smarty," Happy replies.

"But I'm eight now and I can outrun you.”

"Anyone can outrun Happy, kid," adds Tony.

"So why did you tell me to come if you won't let me train?"

“Watch us and learn.”

Lily makes a face. She’s getting tired of everyone forbidding her so many things.

It doesn't take long for Pepper to walk in asking Tony for a signature. Lily walks over to the white chair near Pepper. She sighs, she's about to complain to her, but the presence of another redhead interrupts her. She had never seen that woman and apparently she also distracts the two men.

"What’s your name, lady?" Tony asks

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman,” She introduces herself.

“Hi," greets Lily. Natalie looks at her with a smile.

"Wait, I thought no one should know about Stark Jr.'s existence,” Tony points out.

“She’s already signed a confidentiality contract. Don’t worry.”

Tony shrugs and invites Natalie into the ring. She obeys. Pepper sits on the couch next to Lily and Tony pulls her aside to sit on the same couch.

"Now she’ll be your assistant?" Lily asks. Pepper nods. “Wow, you used to be Tony's assistant, now you have one. I wish I had one,” She says.

"I want one of those too," says Tony. And with that, they argue again. Lily rolls her eyes, but something else interrupts her thoughts and the discussion.

Apparently Natalie is more than capable and better trained than Happy since she manages to throw him to the floor in one movement. The three of them get up from the couch.

"Happy," Pepper squeals.

Lily goes back up to the edge of the ring and smiles seeing how Happy gets up with difficulty. She raises her head to see Natalie.

"Cool! Can you teach me to do that?"

“Sure."

"Definitely not," Pepper and Nat say at the same time.

"Why not?" Lily frowns and steps out of the ring

The second redhead clears her throat, she puts on her shoes and talks to Tony about some documents. In the end, they finally finish the paperwork for Pepper to become CEO. Natalie leaves. Tony and Pepper start talking about a trip to Monaco.

"What? Are you going to travel again? You just arrived,” The girl complains, drawing their attention.

“It'll only be a couple of days, Lily," replies Pepper.

"That's what you always say.”

“Hey." says Tony. "It's a business trip, kid.”

"That too you always say,” She rolls her eyes. Pepper looks surprised, that's not how she used to act before. "Can I go this time? I can do my homework there.”

“Sorry, but no. Remember that you’re still a ghost." says Tony

She frowns.

"That's not fair. You always leave me here, I can't even go to a park and you don't let me accompany you, you’re hardly home anymore,” She says, raising her voice and causing a certain tingling to appear in her hands.

"Watch your tone, Lily,” says Tony starting to get annoyed. He looks down at the girl's clenched hands. "Turn that off, now.”

"Just this once, I promise to be good. If you want, I'll stay at the hotel,” She insists with a frustrated sigh. She opens her hands to avoid making a mess.

"I said no, young lady.”

"But-"

"Lily Stark, I said no,” Tony ends with a firm voice.

The little girl clenches her teeth and runs out of the place before they can see her cry from anger.

"Huh, it brought out your moody side too, Tony," Happy says from across the room.

Stark sighs.

"I'll talk to her when we get back.”

Pepper feels guilty. Maybe they’d been more absent since Tony announced the identity of Iron Man and now it’ll be worse because of the new job. She wants to follow her, but she knows better to leave her alone for a moment.

***

"Hey, you broke your record," Jess says, handing a bottle to the girl, who gasps. She takes it and sits on the chair next to the girl.

It's been a couple of hours since Lily started running through the gated area of the Stark property.

"Can we do something else?" Lily asks.

Jess takes out the notebook where the itinerary is written.

"I suppose we can rest for a while," Jess replies, taking off her sunglasses.

"You didn't do anything, what are you going to rest from?" Lily says with a smile.

"I can't be in the sun that long, I want to be tanned, not burned.”

"If you say so.”

After the break, Lily continued with her task, finishing earlier that she is used to. The rest of the day, they both decided to just relax with some masks that Jess had brought.

"Why do they smell funny?" Lily asks feeling the texture of her mask.

"That's coconut, you'll get used to it,” answers Jess. “Afterwards we’ll paint our nails, we’ll watch romantic movies while we eat ice cream. It’ll be fun.”

"Why are we doing this?"

"It's what some girls are used to doing when they are alone or with their friends.”

Lily nods. "Why?"

Jess laughs. At this point she’s already used to the onslaught of questions that she sometimes receives.

“It's fun, it's also girls quality time, you know, they talk about handsome people, the boys they like from school. It’s a distraction that sometimes we need, even from parents.”

Lily frowns.

"Do you need a distraction from your parents?"

“Okay,” Jess gets comfortable on the bed to sit in front of the girl. “Many times, especially when you’re a teenager, you argue with your parents and it’s normal. That’s why it’s good to have friends with whom you can vent. Trust me, if I didn't have my friends, my relationship with my mother would be a disaster. But it's not a bad thing,” She clarifies when she sees Lily's grimace. "Parents also need to get away from their children a bit.”

"Is that why Tony travels a lot?"

"I don’t think so. He’s an important businessman and he just wants to take care of you, that's why you should stay here.”

"It's not fair,” She crosses her arms.

“Yes, you should get used to that too. When you’re older it’ll be a little easier.”

Lily's head fills with more questions.

“Jess."

"Yeah?"

“We're friends?”

"Of course.”

"Can I vent to you about my dad?" Jess laughs.

"Tell me everything.”

They both talk about many things and do girlish stuff. Lily learns a few things as Jess tells her about her life as a student and everything she does when she’s not taking care of her. At one point, she wishes she had that life, but, even if she could go to normal school, she couldn't have all of that, at least not like Jess.

Night comes, Jess sleeps in the guest room leaving Lily in her room. The great Stark mansion is completely silent, the nightmares that had not tormented the girl for several months return and this time, they’re worse.

She’s on the floor of an empty room, the four walls are completely white. She doesn't see anyone else, but she knows someone is watching her. She wants to ask for help, she wants to scream, but no matter how much she opens her mouth, nothing comes out of her. Her torso and arms are trapped with a straitjacket. She tries to get out of it, but everything is useless.

The tickling starts in her hands, but this time she’s not in control and quickly spreads throughout her body. She wants to burn the straitjacket, but in the dream it’s not possible.

"Lily!"

The girl suddenly wakes up sitting on the mattress. She looks everywhere, but her mind is still in that empty room. She falls off her bed, but keeps moving until a wall stops her.

“Lily, it's okay! Quiet! You have to breathe…” Jess says in the dark.

“Don't!" screams Lily. Her chest rises and falls rapidly. "Please don't hurt me!” She sobs. “Please, please…”

"Lily, it's me!” The girl approaches the girl and touches her arm, but she removes it immediately when she feels the high temperature. Jess screams in fright, causing Lily to jump in place of her. "J.A.R.V.I.S, turn on the lights!” She orders and the AI obeys.

Lily blinks trying to focus her vision, when it happens, what she sees is another fear: Jess is in front of her looking at the blisters on her hand.

She had done that. Lily burned Jess.

Memories of when this happened with her mother come to her mind, causing her panic to escalate.

She doesn't hesitate twice to leave the room, ignoring Jessica's calls. She runs through the house, down the stairs and to the workshop. J.A.R.V.I.S lets her in and sets the code so that no one else could enter. Finally, Lily goes to one of Tony's cars and hides underneath it. She bends her legs and hugs them to her chest. The only thing that can be heard in the workshop are the uncontrollable sobs of the girl.

Taglist

If your username is crossed out it’s because Tumblr didn’t let me tag you, sorry. If you want to be removed from the taglist, you can tell us, we also make mistakes, lol

@stardusthigh @silenthappyplace @yourbonesareinmybody @aylauwuuniverse @tyb1 @skittles-skittles @hufflepuffzutara @poetryislife0715 @21bruhs

@just-here-to-escape-from-reality

@heavenlymistakes @lauramacch @i-am-scared-and-useless-bisexual

#Iron #peter parker fanfiction #Peter Parker #Peter Parker x Oc #Peter Parker x reader #Avengers #Avengers fanfic #Marvel #Marvel fanfic #Tony Stark #Lily Stark #Star! reader #Pepper Potts #James Rhodes #Iron Man 2 #Spider man #Iron man

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akitsune-lune · 4 years

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a lukewarm defence of Blossomfall

or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the IvyBlossom

Hi there. Do you have a minute to talk about Blossomfall?

My goal here

Analyse Blossomfall’s behaviour in OOTS. Clear up misconceptions and aim to change people’s minds regarding the relationship between Millie, Briar, n Blossom, as well as making a case for IvyBlossom not in fact being A Toxic Evil Ship Propagated by Abuse Apologists. This is going to be an extremely long post and hopefully THE Blossomfall Defence Post. Fly, my pretties, share it around, this took so long.

1: The Text

let’s go over everything single thing Blossomfall has done in OOTS so that there’s no way for us to be in disagreement over what she’s done. It’s gonna take a while. This will be everything vaguely important to Blossomfall’s character, but not including shit like characters noticing Blossompaw sitting with her mentor or whatever. You are free to ctrl-f “Blossom” your way through all of OOTS to see if I’m cherry picking passages for my clever scheme to make everyone think about Blossomfall. (spoilers, I’m not)

Fourth Apprentice:

Literally nothing of note. Just filling in random background bits.

Fading Echoes:

P.68 This is pretty much our first look at Blossomfall. She squabbles with her littermates and maybe has a crush on Toadstep.

P.128 next is our first interaction between Ivypaw and Blossompaw. Ivypaw thinks Dovepaw is getting special treatment, and Blossompaw disagrees.

P.149 And a first interaction between Millie and Blossompaw. Blossompaw jumps onto the Great Oak and hurts herself, then Millie fusses over her. This is a pretty good set-up for showing Millie to be a bit of an overbearing mother and no spoilers, but if Millie’s attention suddenly vanished, you could imagine that would leave Blossompaw off-kilter.

P.174 Now we have an antagonistic interaction between Ivypaw and Blossompaw; Blossompaw is rude and thoughtless and it plays directly to Ivypaw’s deepest insecurities. Throughout the assessment, Blossompaw treats her like she’s useless.

P.235 A quick acknowledgement of Briarlight’s siblings cheering for her

P.248 another moment of sisterly affection between them

P.258 The first mention of Thornclaw in relation to Blossomfall. I’ve heard it cited as evidence of Thorn/Blossom set-up, which... seems like a stretch, but maybe.

P.361 And to round out Fading Echoes we get Ivypaw and Blossomfall working together in battle, and Blossomfall being appreciative of Ivypaw’s abilities.

Night Whispers:

P.33 The very first moment of Blossomfall in Night Whispers is an in-text, explicit acknowledgement that Blossomfall and Ivypaw have put their previous quarrels to rest. After that, (P.111) we get a quick moment of Ivypaw and Blossomfall talking like chill Clanmates, which might further support that their previous animosity is gone.

P.114 We get another instance of Blossomfall complimenting Ivypaw, then an exchange which leads Ivypaw to think No wonder Hawkfrost doesn’t visit [Blossomfall’s] dreams.

P.143 After that, we hear Millie bemoaning how her daughter’s life is meaningless now, followed by

P.143 Which would imply that Bumblestripe and Blossomfall would take issue with how Millie talks about Briarlight and her life.

P.327 another moment of Blossomfall showing concern for her littermates, and that rounds off book 3 of OOTS.

Sign of the Moon:

P.178 Blossomfall is now training in the Dark Forest and Ivypool is very upset by it, later thinking ThunderClan cats are loyal.

P.179-180 In Blossomfall’s first training exercise in the Dark Forest, Ivypool interferes and risks punishment to save Blossomfall from injury.

P.181 Blossomfall is ungrateful, but Ivypool doesn’t really react to her remark.

Next, Ivypool wants to speak with Blossomfall about her training in the Dark Forest. Before she has the chance, however, Blossomfall’s old mentor Hazeltail notices that Blossomfall is injured and tries to draw Millie’s attention to it.

P.273 This is our first hint that Millie has something to do with Blossomfall’s training in the Dark Forest. I’d like to point out that it’s Millie ignoring her and not Briarlight that provokes the anger from Blossomfall.

P.276 Twofold - First, Blossomfall doesn’t jump to Thornclaw’s defence when Ivypool calls him bossy, rather she agrees. Blossomfall also rebuffs Ivypool’s efforts to check on her.

P.277 Next, we have Ivypool pushing further, and Blossomfall seems edgy. Ivypool expresses more concern in her head and is scared for Blossomfall.

Now we have the big scene. Ivypool and Blossomfall go exploring in the tunnels and Blossomfall’s character finally gets her moment.

P.279 Blossomfall makes a remark about losing the use of her legs, which could be interpreted multiple ways, a dark joke about what happened to Briarlight, jealousy over the attention that her sister’s condition has resulted in, etc

P.312-313 Now we cut to the heart of the matter. Blossomfall doesn’t even know if Millie loves her anymore.

P.313 “I hate myself for feeling jealous of Briarlight. I can’t help what I feel, and that proves I’m not a good cat.” Because of jealousy and attention-seeking urges, Blossomfall has decided that she’s a bad person and deserves to go to the Dark Forest.

P.313-314

P.323 Then they get back to camp after having been missing for several hours and after Blossomfall has been injured, and Millie lectures her.

P.323 and then there’s the nail in the coffin. I’d also like to draw attention to the fact that Blossomfall doesn’t lash out. She just accepts Millie’s lack of concern for her and her lecturing, while relying on the Dark Forest for validation. She especially is never shown to lash out at Briarlight. That’s the end of Sign of the Moon.

The Forgotten Warrior:

P.247 In book 5, Blossomfall is shown to be again antagonistic, though this time toward Dovewing, and very protective of her littermates, in a negative light this time. This is pretty much the only moment of note for Blossomfall in the whole book.

The Last Hope:

P.67 Now we get the magnum opus of Blossomfall and Thornclaw being chummy and Lionblaze misinterpreting this as meaning they’re going to end up as mates, then realizing it’s actually because they’re training in the Dark Forest together. This is the third time Blossomfall and Thornclaw have been mentioned in the same sentence, and the first time they’ve ever interacted with each other. It’s the first time where they’ve been explicitly friendly; the first BlossomThorn moment was a mention of Thornclaw’s mannerisms rubbing off on Blossomfall and the second was Blossomfall indirectly calling Thornclaw bossy. This is why I say with relative confidence, BlossomThorn in AVoS was not planned in OOTS. Our ‘evidence’ is

Blossomfall thinks he’s bossy

Blossomfall imitated him once

They’re friends because they trained in the Dark Forest together

She has a similar number of moments with Mousewhisker and Toadstep, but I haven’t included them other than the very first moment with Blossomfall because those aren’t the ships that end up canonized. Even with Toadstep, Bumblepaw explicitly says that she’s mooning over him, which is far more indication of future romance than BlossomThorn gets.

ADDITIONALLY in the reprinted version of The Last Hope...

He’s replaced with Mousewhisker! Which knocks BlossomThorn mentions in canon down to just two, only one of which is at least neutral, and they never even interact before she’s nursing his kits! *screm* Erins WHY?

and uh... that’s actually about it for Blossomfall’s moments in Last Hope. She’s lumped in with Mousewhisker, Birchfall, etc with Ivypool and ThunderClan trying to track them down and make sure they don’t fight for the DF, etc, and then she doesn’t, n book ends.

Alright let’s analyse some data.

2: The relationship between Ivy/Blossom

It's toxic and unneeded- just because it's not heterosexual it doesn't mean it's healthy. Blossomfall bullied Ivypool for almost the entire first half of OotS, and just because she supported Ivy once it doesn't mean that they're friends. It means they've moved on and forgiven each other.

Forum post on January 14th, 2019

Alright, I’ve heard some crazy shit about BlossomIvy and I’m here to tell you, forget it. You don’t have to ship them, but if you’re gonna call them toxic, I’m gonna call you full of shit.

Ivypaw and Blossompaw’s first big conflict is during Blossompaw’s assessment, at which point she calls Ivypaw a bad hunter and Ivypaw gets upset. Now pay close attention, folks! This is the only time Blossompaw and Ivypaw argue before Blossomfall starts training in the Dark Forest. After this, once Ivypaw has been training in the Dark Forest, Blossomfall compliments her on her skills and the text explicitly suggests that now Ivypaw and Blossomfall have ‘put their quarrels behind them.’ After that, once Blossomfall begins training in the Dark Forest, Ivypool intervenes on her behalf to save her from injury and is called out by Brokenstar. Blossomfall is ungrateful, but Ivypool shows no regret for helping her.

Then we get the big moment between them in the tunnels. Blossomfall, after being injured, asks Ivypool if she thinks Millie will miss her. Ivypool realizes why Blossomfall is training in the Dark Forest, and Blossomfall confesses that she knows that the Dark Forest is bad news but feels that she deserves to go there because she’s a bad person (cat?).

Something I want to pay special mention to is the fact that Blossomfall is confessing all of this to Ivypool rather than any other main character, because they understand each other. Whether or not you like the ship, it is an undeniable fact that Blossomfall and Ivypool have a great deal of common ground.

They were both taken advantage of by the Dark Forest because of their jealousy over their sisters, they both know that the Dark Forest is up to no good but don’t leave it, and they both acknowledge in no uncertain terms that they’re jealous of cats that would also want something that they themselves have--in Blossomfall’s case, her able body, and in Ivypool’s, her lack of super-powers and involvement in the prophecy. Blossomfall and Ivypool can relate to and understand each other on a level that they cannot their other Clanmates.

Blossompaw and Ivypaw have a moment of animosity in Night Whispers, when Blossompaw says Ivypaw is a bad hunter and that she’d prefer Dovepaw, and Ivypaw is very upset. Then later, again, we get an in-text acknowledgement from another character that Blossomfall and Ivypaw have put their quarrels behind them. After Blossomfall’s assessment, she and Ivypaw only have friendly or neutral interactions. The next time they argue is when Blossomfall joins the Dark Forest, is out of her depth, and Ivypool intervenes to save her. Blossomfall argues that she can take care of herself and Ivypool thinks she’s full of it, but doesn’t push the point.

Then later, they have a bit of an antagonistic interaction where Ivypool is scared that Blossomfall is making the wrong choice by training in the Dark Forest and wants to help her, while Blossomfall rejects her help.

And then of course, the big scene. Blossomfall admits her deepest fear, that Millie no longer loves her, to Ivypool, and Ivypool immediately understands, thinking of her own jealousy of Dovewing.

That’s pretty much a summary of the evolution of the BlossomIvy relationship. For all you visual learners, here’s a handy chart

It’s hardly scientific, but arguing that Blossomfall and Ivypool don’t move from antagonistic to emotionally vulnerable with each other would be a hard stance to take given the sharp difference between the argument during the assessment and the conversation in the tunnels. Even when Blossomfall is telling Ivypool that she can take care of herself after Ivypool saves her from Ratscar, it doesn’t necessitate an interpretation of them as hostile--it can be read as either “I don’t want your help” OR “I can take care of myself” the latter of which invites a lot of classic romance tropes.

If you don’t read their relationship as potentially romantic, they still go from not understanding each other to understanding each other the best out of any other cat in their Clan. That’s a pretty significant development (especially for Warriors oof) so even if you still think Blossomfall is a brat or spoiled or emotionally stunted because of her jealousy of Briarlight, the text shows that Ivypool and Blossomfall at least have the potential to be extremely close friends and confidantes.

And if you DO read their relationship as potentially romantic, first of all welcome to the club, here’s your club-sanctioned hat and waterbottle with an engraved picture of em, and second of all, it’s really not a stretch. Again, they have a great deal of common ground. Blossomfall tells Ivypool her deepest insecurity and Ivypool understands. She doesn’t lecture Blossomfall and disagrees when Blossomfall says that she’s a bad cat. Despite not having a whole lot to go on, what we do have 100% shows them trusting and understanding each other.

Overall, what I want to argue is that THE BlossomIvy argument in Night Whispers is absolutely not enough to write them off as toxic; in fact, it later shows how much their relationship has developed. Additionally, it’s not just some random ship where we picked two she-cats out of a hat and then made a bunch of fan art; they have a legit connection, whether or not you think they have chemistry or are a better ship than say, FernIvy. They are in similar enough situations that they’re able to sympathize with each other more than Lionblaze, Jayfeather, Bumblestripe, Toadstep (?) or any other important cat in their lives can. That’s a helluva lot more to go off of than just “they trained in the Dark Forest together” or “they’re friendly sometimes” like we have for other major ships for the two of them. (Let me also explictly say that I’m not trying to argue that BlossomIvy is more canon than BlossomThorn and FernIvy, because no shit--the latter two have kits and are canonically mates. I’m just arguing over what makes most sense and who would work best as a pair)

3: Blossomfall’s family

Here’s the other major point of Blossomfall’s character; her relationship with her sister and her mother. Let’s answer a few questions. Is Millie actually ignoring Blossomfall or is Blossomfall being unreasonable? Does it matter if Millie is neglecting Blossomfall and should Blossomfall be self-sufficient as an adult? How does Blossomfall’s jealousy of Briarlight affect Briarlight herself, and what is Blossomfall’s relationship with her littermates? How does Blossomfall react to Millie’s perceived neglect?

And we’ll knock em off one by one:

Q: Is Millie actually neglecting Blossomfall or is Blossomfall being unreasonable?

A: This isn’t an easy question to answer. There are arguments to be made on both sides; Blossomfall is a young adult by the time Briarlight is injured (around 18 if you use my AU lol) and therefore probably shouldn’t require her mother’s constant attention. On the other hand, Millie is shown to be very attentive to her children and very concerned when they’re hurt or potentially going to be hurt (149, Fading Echoes). After Briarlight becomes disabled, Millie’s concern for Blossomfall vanishes. Blossomfall is injured training in the Dark Forest (and let me point out that Blossomfall is not the one who seeks out her mother’s attention; Hazeltail does it on her behalf) and Millie doesn’t care. (273, Sign of the Moon) Later in Sign of the Moon, Blossomfall has hit her head pretty hard and turns up after hours of being missing and Millie’s reaction is to chastise her for not hunting on Briarlight’s behalf. It’s sharply contrasted in-text with how Whitewing reacts to Ivypool, who hasn’t even been hurt. (323, Sign of the Moon) This is a pretty definitive display of how Millie does not care about her other daughter’s well-being anymore. If you’re thinking, “Well, Blossomfall was being irresponsible by running off into the tunnels, so she’s not innocent here” I agree, however let me employ my good friend Extremely Detailed Metaphor to explain why Millie isn’t either.

Let’s put this in terms of a human situation; a high school AU, if you will. I’ll paint a picture; it’s mid-winter, Sunday night. Blossomfall, her mother, and her sister Briarlight, live on a block where everyone is expected to shovel the snow in front of their house. Briarlight and Blossomfall get to school by walking to the bus stop at the end of the street. Millie tells Blossomfall to shovel the snow outside of their house that night so that Briarlight will be able to get to school on Monday in her wheelchair.

Instead, Blossomfall goes to a party, gets drunk, tries to drive herself home, gets into a car accident, and gets a concussion. Millie arrives at the hospital and, without making sure Blossomfall is okay, goes off at Blossomfall, telling her that she should have shovelled the entire block instead of going out to party.

Now, we’re once again in a situation where Blossomfall has been irresponsible, Millie is putting unreasonable expectations on her other daughter out of pity for Briarlight, and Millie is unconcerned about Blossomfall’s well-being. Unquestionably, Blossomfall did the wrong thing by going to a party/exploring the tunnels. BUT. That does not excuse Millie’s reaction. Millie is justified in being upset that Blossomfall is shirking her responsibilities, but not even bothering to find out how seriously she’s been injured is appalling behaviour from a previously-attentive mother. And you don’t need to take my word for it; from Whitewing and Brackenfur’s reactions, it’s obvious that no one thinks Millie is behaving in an acceptable fashion. She blatantly disregards Blossomfall’s well-being.

Seriously, I know it’s a pretty dire accusation, but with both examples of Blossomfall being injured post-Briarlight-injury and Millie either ignoring her or lecturing her, I don’t really know what other conclusion can be drawn. And let’s not villanize Millie utterly; Graystripe gets absolutely no mention in any instance despite being their father, so ??? what’s up with him. Overall, though, Blossomfall is not making up shit. There is literally no example post-Briarlight-injury of Millie showing concern for Blossomfall, only ever ignoring or admonishing her.

Q: Does it matter if Millie is neglecting Blossomfall and should Blossomfall be self-sufficient as an adult?

A: Again, not an easy question to answer. This is highly subjective, but if an adult’s mother suddenly lost all concern for their well-being, I’d argue that would be pretty damn destructive to that adult’s self-esteem. When you turn 18 or become a warrior, you don’t magically become self-sufficient and totally independent from your family, no matter what Warriors wants to tell you lmao. Those relationships are still very important, particularly for Blossomfall since as I’ll argue later, one of the most consistent points of her character is that she is extremely family-oriented. To go from her mother fussing over her and always being concerned for her health to her mother giving less than a shit about her when she gets lost and injured... I don’t care if she’s technically an adult. It’s not about her being attention-seeking or childish, it’s about her being completely cut off from one of the main relationships in her support system for no fault of her own. It does matter if Millie no longer cares about her daughter, whether or not the daughter in question is 16 or 18, an apprentice or a warrior. Blossomfall has lost an important relationship in her life, and it does a big hit to her self-esteem.

Q: How does Blossomfall’s jealousy of Briarlight affect Briarlight herself, and what is Blossomfall’s relationship with her littermates?

A: Oh good, an easy one at last. First, Blossomfall doesn’t blame Briarlight. She blames Millie. Second, Blossomfall is only ever shown to be loving and caring toward her sister. Third, (again) the most consistent thing about Blossomfall is that she puts her family first. The first two points can be supported in tandem; if Blossomfall truly blamed Briarlight for Millie’s disregard of Blossom, then why are all her interactions with her sister warm and loving? Very unfortunately, we don’t have many interactions between Briar and Blossom of any kind post-Briar-injury, but Blossomfall and her brother are the first to cheer for her at Briarlight’s ceremony (235, Fading Echoes) and Blossomfall eagerly brings fresh-kill to share with Briarlight (248, Fading Echoes). Later, Dovewing and Poppyfrost overhear one of Millie’s little monologues about how Briarlight’s life is ruined and Poppyfrost remarks that it’s a good thing Bumblestripe and Blossomfall didn’t overhear her. Draw your own conclusions, but to my understanding, this is a pretty plain demonstration that “Millie thinks Briarlight’s life is ruined and Bumblestripe and Blossomfall vehemently disagree, to the point at which they would start a big argument with their mother over that point” is common knowledge in ThunderClan. (143, Night Whispers)

Time and time again, Blossomfall loves and supports her sister. There’s no instance of Blossomfall putting the blame of Millie’s behaviour on Briarlight, only on Millie herself. In the big moment in the tunnel, Blossomfall doesn’t say “Do you think Briarlight would happy if I died and she got all Millie’s attention to herself?” she says “Do you think Millie would miss me?” followed by “I can’t bear seeing [Briarlight] suffer.” (312-313, Sign of the Moon) It’s not about Briarlight. She loves her sister and at the same time, cannot help being jealous of her, because it’s about Millie’s attention.

Finally, Blossomfall’s family is incredibly important to her. She and her littermates are continuously used for Dovepaw to angst about how she and Ivypaw are no longer close. For example, we get Blossomfall fretting over both of her siblings (327, Night Whispers), then Blossomfall being petty and upset because Bumblestripe chose to train with Dovewing instead of her and Bumblestripe dismissed her as being ridiculous (247, Forgotten Warrior). I’m not saying Blossomfall was in the right, there, but it does show Blossomfall’s devotion to her family and her expectation that her littermates do the same. There are also all of the above examples of them cheering at Briarlight’s ceremony, Blossomfall bringing fresh-kill to share with Briarlight, and the implication that Blossomfall and Bumblestripe would object to the way that Millie talks about Briarlight.

Q: How does Blossomfall react to Millie’s perceived neglect?

A: Another fairly easy one. Blossomfall puts on a front of not caring. When Millie admonishes her for daring to get lost and hurt, Blossomfall doesn’t lash out at her mother, much less Briarlight. She never fights back, she doesn’t tell her mother that she’s being callous and neglectful, she accepts it silently and then tells Ivypool, verbatim, “Whatever. This is just the way that it is now.” She rolls over and accepts it, as much as it hurts her, and the Dark Forest takes advantage of that unresolved pain. (323, Sign of the Moon)

Even earlier in Sign of the Moon, when Blossomfall has just begun training in the Dark Forest (suggesting she has been ignored by Millie long enough that the Dark Forest has been able to draw her in) she wakes up injured and Hazeltail notices. Blossomfall brushes it off, which I would infer is because she’s adjusted to her pain and injury being ignored but you can read as an isolated incident if you really want to, but Hazeltail insists on bringing Millie’s attention to it. Millie dismisses it and Blossomfall is angry, but silent, which again, I would infer is because that’s what Blossomfall expected from Millie and is hurt to have her expectation confirmed (273, Sign of the Moon). This can’t be read as an isolated incident, because Blossomfall is already training in the Dark Forest, therefore Millie has been ignoring her for a while now.

4: Is Blossomfall a bad person?

In conclusion, no.

Blossomfall is upset when her mother stops caring about her well-being and believes that she deserves to go to the Dark Forest because of her jealousy over her sister (313, Sign of the Moon). I’m not saying that her self-hatred means she’s a good person, but it’s obvious that she wouldn’t choose jealousy if she had the option to not feel this way.

Critically, what I want people to take away from this, is that Blossomfall, like all of us, doesn’t have complete control over how she feels. She cannot choose to wake up and simply not be jealous of her sister and be fine with her mother’s indifference to her well-being. She believes that feeling this way makes her a bad person and would, of course, change if she could. The only thing that is within Blossomfall’s control is how she reacts to her jealousy and hurt. And the way that she reacts is by taking it out on herself, by training in the Dark Forest, and by mentally beating herself up for feelings outside of her control. There is not a single example of her lashing out at Millie, or god forbid her sister Briarlight. She is silent in the face of Millie’s bad treatment of her and supportive and loving of Briarlight. Self-hatred is of course, not a virtue, but our society prefers it to harming others.

That’s why I can say with confidence: Blossomfall is a good person, if prone to occasional self-hatred, pettiness, and thoughtlessness. Those are not flaws that make someone evil, just normal and struggling. She is not perfect and completely loveable, but she is not toxic, or spoiled, or unreasonable. She’s just a person who has been hurt by others’ behaviour and punishes herself for things outside of her control. She loves her family, tries to take care of herself, and doesn’t always perform perfectly.

Thanks for reading. I hope you’re at least thinking a little more about previously formed opinions on Blossomfall and that we all continue to read critically in the future.

End note: So why did I call this a lukewarm defence, anyway? Other than making reference to one of my favourite video essayists, Blossomfall is a complex cat often misunderstood by the fandom, but she’s also a shithead. Post-OOTS, she’s pretty unequivocally a kitty-racist. But she’s also Thornclaw’s wife, so it’s not like that’s the only way her character gets yanked out of its previous characterization for the convenience of the plot. Consider this a defence of Blossomfall in Omen of the Stars by a person who would rather pretend she died just after it and A Vision of Shadows (and later books) has another character in her place. I’m not interested in debating Blossomfall’s behaviour post-OOTS. She’s bad, whatever, but don’t smear the good name of her character development in OOTS.

198 notes · View notes

definexzero · 3 years

Text

322 spoilers

mood: imagining the looooong way canon plot could steer into canon bkdk, unlikely as it may be.

in my reader mind - platonic bkdk is in high demand, i would like to place an order for friendly banter and reconciling and a secret handshake of the two.

also Ochako <3 i love her part in holding the “who would protect those who protect others” the whole “i got your back” theme.

next chapter bets:

- Bakugo yelling/giving a speech that both makes sense and is aggressively to the point to the opposing citizens - you know, where it’s 70% bratty backtalk, 30% pure genius.

- Nezu cutting in to speak to calm down the citizens with his 100% intelligence over humans

- Deku x hospital bed reunited, begrudgingly

- maybe, the 324 is small moments back in the dorms

- but probably 323 is addressing the citizens

- or we can just, not give a f at all , and time skip

#bakudeku #bkdk #i only wanted to cry on bkdk #ended up crying over future past and present

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stainedglassgardens · 4 years

Text

Favourite films watched in 2020

In no particular order:

Katalin Varga (Peter Strickland, 2009) The Gleaners and I (Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse, Agnès Varda, 2000) Land of Silence and Darkness (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit, Werner Herzog, 1971) Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas, 2012) The Return (Возвращение, Andrey Zvyaginstev, 2003) The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack, 2018) Transnistra (Anna Eborn, 2019) Ghost Town Anthology (Répertoire des villes disparues, Denis Côté, 2019) The Petrified Forest (Archie Mayo, 1936) Viy (Вий, Georgiy Kropachyov & Konstantin Ershov, 1967)

Complete list of all 323 films watched in 2020 under the cut!

January

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (Gurinder Chadha, 2008) Blade (Steven Norrington, 1998) Who Among Us! (Abhishek Prasad and Rebecca Kahn, 2019) Brotherhood (Meryam Joobeur, 2018) Disctrict 9 (Neill Blomkamp, 2009) Hair Love (Matthew A. Cherry and Karen Rupert Toliver, 2019) Kitbull (Rosana Sullivan, 2019) Sister (妹妹, Siqi Song, 2019) Nuts! (Penny Lane, 2016) The Judge (Erika Cohn, 2017) The Ghosts of Sugar Land (Bassam Tariq, 2019) Amazonia (Dominic Hicks, 2018) Dearborn Ash (Hena Ashraf, 2018) Pineal (Jenny Rinta-Kanto, 2019) Headcleaner (Nick Scott, 2019) Rattlesnake (Zak Hilditch, 2019) The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn, 2016) Skin (Audrey Rosenberg, 2018) The Banishment (Изгнание, Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2007) F is for Friendship (Shaya Mulcahy, 2016) Paradise Hills (Alice Waddington, 2019) Road House (Rowdy Herrington, 1989) Hustlers (Lorene Scafaria, 2019) I Believe in Unicorns (Leah Meyerhoff, 2014) Ghost Train (Lee Cronin, 2014) Troop Zero (Bert & Bertie, 2019) For the Love of God (Pour l'Amour de Dieu, Micheline Lanctôt, 2011)

February

Sitting Next to Zoe (Ivana Lalović, 2013) Dark Places (Gilles Paquet-Brenner, 2015) Nocturnal Animals (Tom Ford, 2016) The Limey (Steven Soderbergh, 1999) Side Effects (Steven Soderbergh, 2013) Good Sam (Kate Melville, 2019) Anima (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2019) What Did Jack Do? (David Lynch, 2017) Fleur de tonnerre (Stéphanie Pillonca, 2016) Parasite (Bong Joon-ho, 2019) The Field Guide to Evil (Peter Strickland, Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala, Katrin Gebbe, Yannis Veslemes, Ashim Ahluwalia, Agnieszka Smoczynska, Can Evrenol, Calvin Reeder, 2018) Devil (John Eric Dowdle, 2010) 37 Seconds (Hikari, 2019) The Falling (Carol Morley, 2014) Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓, Hotaru no Haka, Isao Takahata, 1988) Elena (Елена, Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2011) The Lighthouse (Robert Eggers, 2019) Baskin (Can Evrenol, 2015) In Fabric (Peter Strickland, 2018) Leviathan (Левиафан, Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2014) Suffragette (Sarah Gavron, 2015)

March

The East (Zal Batmanglij, 2013) Solaris (Солярис, Andrei Tarkovsky, 1972) Mamma Mia! (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008) There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007) Io (Jonathan Helpert, 2019) The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (David France, 2017) A Bump Along the Way (Shelly Love, 2019) Color Out of Space (Richard Stanley, 2019) Divines (Houda Benyamina, 2016) Vanishing Waves (Kristina Buožytė, 2012) Mirror (Зеркало, Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975) Zama (Lucrecia Martel, 2017) Swallow (Carlo Mirabella-Davis, 2019) Joy (Sudabeh Mortezai, 2018) Good Time (Josh and Benny Safdie, 2017) Quarantine (John Eric Dowdle, 2008) The Reflecting Skin (Philip Ridley, 1990) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Martin McDonagh, 2017) Leto (Лето, Kirill Serebrennikov, 2018) The 39 Steps (Alfred Hitchcock, 1935)

April

Queen of Earth (Alex Ross Perry, 2015) Black Christmas (Sophia Takal, 2019) Dogs of Chernobyl (Léa Camilleri & Hugo Chesnel, 2020) Firecrackers (Jasmin Mozaffari, 2018) Les Misérables (Ladj Ly, 2019) The Evil Dead (Sam Raimi, 1981) The Daughters of Fire (Las hijas del fuego, Albertina Carri, 2018) The Fallen Idol (Carol Reed, 1948) The Wailing (곡성, Gokseong, Na Hong-jin, 2016) Inherent Vice (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014) Sorrowful Shadow (Guy Maddin, 2004) Mistery Lonely (Harmony Korine, 2007) The Grand Bizarre (Jodie Mack, 2018) Zombieland: Double Tap (Ruben Fleischer, 2019) Waves '98 (Ely Dagher, 2015) Uncut Gems (Josh and Benny Safdie, 2019) The Last Séance (Laura Kulik, 2018) Too Late to Die Young (Tarde para morir joven, Dominga Sotomayor Castillo, 2018) Room (Lenny Abrahamson, 2015) Queen & Slim (Melina Matsoukas, 2019) The Holy Mountain (La montaña sagrada, Alejandro Jodorowsky, 1973) The Chaser ( 추격자, Chugyeokja, Na Hong-jin, 2008) Made in Dagenham (Nigel Cole, 2010) The Color of Pomegranates (Նռան գույնը, Nřan guynə, Sergei Parajanov, 1969) Lost Girls (Liz Garbus, 2020) Ghost Town Anthology (Répertoire des villes disparues, Denis Côté, 2019) And Then There Were None (René Clair, 1945) Doctor Sleep (Mike Flanagan, 2019) Meshes of the Afternoon (Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid, 1943) Circus of Books (Rachel Mason, 2019) Catfish (Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, 2010) Wildling (Fritz Böhm, 2018) Delphine (Chloé Robichaud, 2019) The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (Lewis Milestone, 1946) The Red Balloon (Le Ballon rouge, Albert Lamorisse, 1956) Nona. If They Soak Me, I’ll Burn Them (Nona. Si me mojan, yo los quemo, Camila José Donoso, 2019) The Lodge (Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala, 2019) Invisible Man (Leigh Whannell, 2020) Sans Soleil (Chris Marker, 1983)

May

A Russian Youth (Мальчик русский, Alexander Zolotukhin, 2019) Sicario (Denis Villeneuve, 2015) Fedora (Billy Wilder, 1978) LoveTrue (Alma Har'el, 2016) The Platform (Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, 2019) Water Lilies (Naissance des pieuvres, Céline Sciamma, 2007) The Assistant (Kitty Green, 2019) The Half of It (Alice Wu, 2020) Tomboy (Céline Sciamma, 2011) The Last Man on Earth (Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow, 1964) Beanpole (Дылда, Kantemir Balagov, 2019) Mommy (Xavier Dolan, 2014) The Fall (Jonathan Glazer, 2020) Girlhood (Bande de filles, Céline Sciamma, 2014) Carnival of Souls (Herk Harvey, 1962) Marguerite & Julien (Valérie Donzelli, 2015) Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fille en feu, Céline Sciamma, 2019) This Magnificent Cake! (Ce Magnifique Gâteau!, Emma De Swaef & Marc James Roels, 2018) Romantic Comedy (Elizabeth Sankey, 2019) Transnistra (Anna Eborn, 2019) Eraserhhead (David Lynch, 1977) The Farewell (Lulu Wang, 2019) Emma. (Autumn de Wilde, 2020) Late Night (Nisha Ganatra, 2019) Charlie's Angels (Elizabeth Banks, 2019) Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (Cathy Yan, 2020) The Ancestors Came (Cecile Emeke, 2017) Suicide by Sunlight (Nikyatu Jusu, 2019) Anthropocene: The Human Epoch (Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, 2018) A Perfect 14 (Giovanna Morales Vargas, 2018) Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist (Lorna Tucker, 2018) Free Radicals (Len Lye, 1958) Aniara (Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja, 2018) Vivarium (Lorcan Finnegan, 2019) La Pointe-Courte (Agnès Varda, 1955) Diary of a Pregnant Woman (L'Opéra-Mouffe, Agnès Varda, 1958) Salut les Cubains (Agnès Varda, 1964) Uncle Yanco (Oncle Yanco, Agnès Varda, 1967) GUO4 (Peter Strickland, 2019) Atlantiques (Mati Diop, 2009) Sitara: Let Girls Dream (Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, 2019) Lions Love (Lions Love... And Lies, Agnès Varda, 1969) Živan Makes a Punk Festival (Živan pravi pank festival, Ognjen Glavonić, 2014) Plastic and Glass (Tessa Joosse, 2009) The So-Called Caryatids (Les Dites Cariatides, Agnès Varda, 1984) The Octopus (La Pieuvre, Jean Painlevé, 1928) Hyas and Stenorhynchus (Hyas et sténorinques, crustacés marins, Jean Painlevé, 1929) Sea Urchins (Les Oursins, Jean Painlevé, 1929) Bernard-L'Hermite (Bernard-l'Ermite, Jean Painlevé, 1930) The Sea Horse (L'Hippocampe ou "cheval marin", Jean Painlevé, 1934) Voyage to the Sky (Voyage dans le ciel, Jean Painlevé, 1937) Le Vampire (Jean Painlevé, 1945) Freshwater Assassins (Assassins d'eau douce, Jean Painlevé, 1947) How Some Jellyfish Are Born (Comment naissent des méduses, Jean Painlevé and Geneviève Hamon, 1960) Shrimp Stories (Histoires de crevettes, Jean Painlevé and Geneviève Hamon, 1964) The Love Life of the Octopus (Les Amours de la pieuvre, Jean Painlevé and Geneviève Hamon, 1965) Acera, or The Witches' Dance (Acera, ou le Bal des Sorcières, Jean Painlevé and Geneviève Hamon, 1972) Pigeons of the Square (Les Pigeons du square, Jean Painlevé, 1982) The Slumber Party Massacre (Amy Holden Jones, 1982) Jane B. par Agnès V. (Agnès Varda, 1988) The Cranes Are Flying (Летят журавли, Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957) Crystal Swan (Хрусталь, Darya Zhuk, 2018) Take Me Somewhere Nice (Ena Sendijarević, 2019) Microhabitat ( 소공녀, Jeon Go-woon, 2017) The Unforeseen (Laura Dunn, 2007)

June

Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997) Louise Bourgeois: The Spider, the Mistress and the Tangerine (Marion Cajori and Amei Wallach, 2008) Wodaabe: Herdsmen of the Sun (Werner Herzog, 1989) Bells from the Deep: Faith and Superstition in Russia (Glocken aus der Tiefe - Glaube und Aberglaube in Russland, Werner Herzog, 1993) We Are the Best! (Vi är bäst!, Lukas Moodysson, 2013) Olla (Ariane Labed, 2019) Return to Reason (Le Retour à la raison, Man Ray, 1923) Ghosts Before Breakfast (Vormittagsspuk, Hans Richter, 1928) Sissy Boy Slap Party (Guy Maddin, 2004) The Republic of Enchanters (La République des enchanteurs, Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, 2016) Sullivan's Banks (Sullivans Banken, Heinz Emigholz, 2000) Black Panthers (Agnès Varda, 1970) Asparagus (Suzan Pitt, 1979) America (Valérie Massadian, 2013) The Fall (Tarsem Singh, 2006) The Watermelon Woman (Cheryl Dunye, 1996) Douce Menace (Ludovic Habas, Yoan Sender, Margaux Vaxelaire, Mickaël Krebs, Florent Rousseau, 2011) Curling (Denis Côté, 2010) Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001) The Return (Возвращение, Andrey Zvyaginstev, 2003) Maillart's Bridges (Maillarts Brücken, Heinz Emigholz, 2000) Two Years at Sea (Ben Rivers, 2011) The Creeping Garden (Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp, 2014) Homo Sapiens (Nikolaus Geyrhalter, 2016) A Radiant Life (Une Vie radieuse, Meryll Hardt, 2013) Shirley (Josephine Decker, 2020) Disclosure (Sam Feder, 2020) Baghead (Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass, 2008) Lahemaa (Leslie Lagier, 2010) Closeness (Теснота, Kantemir Balagov, 2017) Touki Bouki (Djibril Diop Mambéty, 1973) Daughter (Dcera, Daria Kashcheeva, 2019) Human Nature (Sverre Fredriksen, 2019) 1 Dimension (一维, Lü Yue, 2013)

July

Post Tenebras Lux (Carlos Reygadas, 2012) Something to Remember (Något Att Minnas, Niki Lindroth Von Bahr, 2019) Gegenüber (Ewa Wikiel, 2019) The Claudia Kishi Club (Sue Ding, 2020) Villa Empain (Katharina Kastner, 2019) Fata Morgana (Werner Herzog, 1971) Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder,1959) Breakwater (Quebramar, Cris Lyra, 2019) Y a-t-il une vierge encore vivante? (Bertrand Mandico, 2015) Virus Tropical (Santiago Caicedo, 2017) The Tribe (Племя, Miroslav Slaboshpitsky, 2014) Integration Report 1 (Madeline Anderson, 1960) Tribute to Malcolm X (Madeline Anderson, 1967)

August

The Stopover (Voir du pays, Delphine and Muriel Coulin, 2016) Our Time (Nuestro Tiempo, Carlos Reygadas, 2018) Never Rarely Sometimes Always (Eliza Hittman, 2020) Land of Silence and Darkness (Land des Schweigens und der Dunkelheit, Werner Herzog, 1971) Continental, a Film Without Guns (Continental, un film sans fusil, Stéphane Lafleur, 2007) Spaceship Earth (Matt Wolf, 2020) The Go-Go's (Alison Ellwood, 2020) First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019) Light of My Life (Casey Affleck, 2019) Wadjda (Haifaa al-Mansour, 2012) Spinster (Andrea Dorfman, 2020) Love and Anarchy (Film d'amore e d'anarchia, ovvero: stamattina alle 10, in via dei Fiori, nella nota casa di tolleranza..., Lina Wertmüller, 1973) Shapito Show (Шапито шоу, Sergey Loban, 2011) Charade (Stanley Donen, 1693) Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942) Radioactive (Marjane Satrapi, 2019) Tabloid (Errol Morris, 2010) The Mourning Forest ( 殯の森, Mogari No Mori, Naomi Kawase, 2007) Lilya 4-ever (Lilja 4-ever, Lukas Moodysson, 2002)

September

The Nightingale (Jennifer Kent, 2018) Babyteeth (Shannon Murphy, 2019) Let the Corpses Tan (Laissez bronzer les cadavres, Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, 2017) Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin, Wim Wenders, 1987) In My Room (Mati Diop, 2020) Katalin Varga (Peter Strickland, 2009) Les 3 Boutons (Agnès Varda, 2015) Somebody (Miranda July, 2014) Öndög (Wang Quan'an, 2019) Strasbourg 1518 (Jonathan Glazer, 2020) Mermaid (Русалка, Anna Melikyan, 2007) The Lighthouse (Маяк, Maria Saakyan, 2006) Phenomena (Dario Argento, 1985) That One Day (Crystal Moselle, 2016) Brigitte (Lynne Ramsay, 2019) The Wedding Singer's Daughter (Haifaa al-Mansour, 2018) Shako Mako (Hailey Gates, 2019) Carmen (Chloë Sevigny, 2017) The Summer of Sangailė (Sangailės Vasara, Alanté Kavaïté, 2015) Hello Apartment (Dakota Fanning, 2018) Seed (Naomi Kawase, 2016) Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint (Halina Dyrschka, 2019) Matthias & Maxime (Xavier Dolan, 2019) The Gleaners and I (Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse, Agnès Varda, 2000)

October

American Murder (Jenny Popplewell, 2020) Hereditary (Ari Aster, 2018) Ghostland (Pascal Laugier, 2018) Triangle (Christopher Smith, 2009) The Amityville Horror (Stuart Rosenberg, 1979) The Visit (M. Night Shyamalan, 2015) The House of the Devil (Ti West, 2009) Misery (Rob Reiner, 1990) The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973) Coherence (James Ward Byrkit, 2013) Metamorphosis (변신, Kim Hong-sun, 2019) Errementari (Paul Urkijo Alijo, 2017) I Am a Ghost (H.P. Mendoza,2012) The Changeling (Peter Medak, 1980) Witching and Bitching (Las Brujas de Zugarramurdi, Álex de la Iglesia, 2013) Thirst (박쥐, Park Chan-wook, 2009) V/H/S ( Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Radio Silence, 2012) The Autopsy of Jane Doe (André Øvredal, 2016) Overlord (Julius Avery, 2018) Häxan (Benjamin Christensen, 1922) Viy (Вий, Georgiy Kropachyov & Konstantin Ershov, 1967) Amulet (Romola Garai, 2020) A Bucket of Blood (Roger Corman, 1959) The Wasp Woman (Roger Corman, 1959) Mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017) Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) The Open House (Matt Angel, Suzanne Coote, 2018)

November

The Damned Don't Cry (Vincent Sherman, 1950) Notorious (Alfred Hitchcock, 1946) While the City Sleeps (Fritz Lang, 1956) The Man Who Wasn't There (Joel Coen, 2001) The Naked City (Jules Dassin, 1948) The Petrified Forest (Archie Mayo, 1936) Croupier (Mike Hodges, 1998) In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950) Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l'échafaud, Louis Malle, 1958) Key Largo (John Huston, 1948) Dial M for Murder (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954) The Long Farewell (Долгие проводы, Kira Muratova, 1971) The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946) Gun Crazy (Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) Alphaville (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965) Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944) The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949) Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998) Night and the City (Jules Dassin, 1950) Ace in the Hole (Billy Wilder, 1951)

December

Nimic (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2020) Elsa la rose (Agnès Varda, 1966) Le Bonheur (Agnès Varda, 1965) Little Girl (Petite Fille, Sébastien Lifshitz, 2020) Cold Meridian (Peter Strickland, 2020) The Fiancés of the Bridge Mac Donald (Les Fiancés du Pont Mac Donald ou (Méfiez-vous des Lunettes Noires)) (Agnès Varda, 1961) Along the Coast (Du côté de la côte, Agnès Varda, 1958) Vic + Flo Saw a Bear (Vic + Flo ont vu un ours, Denis Côté, 2013) Zootopia (Byron Howard, Rich Moore, 2016) It's a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) Paddington (Paul King, 2014) Miracle on 34th Street (George Seaton, 1947) High Life (Claire Denis, 2018) Paddington 2 (Paul King, 2017)

#films #watched in 2020 #2020 in review

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ghnosis · 4 months

Text

Ghost dissertation bibliography as of 30 May 2024

hey! some of you were curious to read things I'm working on/my bib. my comprehensive exam is 18th June, so these aren't like, FINAL final (in terms of citation formatting), but they're pretty darn close.

I'll probably paste the contextual review document I've been writing for 2 years as well - it's awaiting final say-so from my supervisors right now.

ALDERSLADE, Merlin. 2019. 'How Ghost became the face of the new generation of heavy metal.’ Metal Hammer. May 29 [online] Available at: https://www.loudersound.com/features/how-ghost-became-the-face-of-the-new-generation-of-heavy-metal

ANZALDÚA, Gloria. 2021. Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. (The Critical Edition, edited by Ricard F. Vivancos-Pérez and Normal Elia Cantú) San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books.

ANZALDÚA, Gloria. 1991. 'To(o) Queer the Writer – Loca, escritora y chicana.’ In WARLAND, Betsy (ed.). Inversions: Writing by Dykes, Queers, and Lesbians. Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers, 249-264.

ARROW, V. 2013 ‘Real person(a) fiction’. In JAMIESON, A.(ed.). Fic: Why Fanfiction Is Taking Over the World. Dallas: Smart Pop, 323–32.

BAKHTIN, Mikhail. 1984. Rabelais and His World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

BARNARD, Ian. 1997. ‘Gloria Anzaldúa’s Queer Mestisaje.’ MELUS. Spring 22(1), 35-53.

BENNETT, J. 2013. 'Receive the Beast’. Decibel. Issue 100/February, 75-84.

BENSHOFF, Harry M. 2015. 'The Monster and the Homosexual.' In GRANT, Barry Keith, The Dread of Difference: Gender and the Horror Film. Austin: University of Texas Press, 16-41.

BIELAK, Zbigniew M. ‘Prequelle.’ [album art]

BUSSE, Kristina. 2006. ‘My life is a WIP on my LJ: Slashing the slasher and the reality of celebrity and Internet performances.’ In HELLEKSON, Karen and BUSSE, Kristina (eds.). Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays. Jefferson: McFarland and Company, 207-224.

BUSSE, Kristina. 2005. ‘Digital Get Down: Postmodern Boy Band Slash and the Queer Female Space.’ In MALCOLM, Cheryl Alexander and NYMAN, Jopi, eros.usa: essays on the culture and literature of desire. Gdańsk: Gdańsk University Press, 103-125.

BUTLER, Judith. 1990. Gender Trouble. New York: Routledge.

CHANEY, Keidra and LIEBLER, Raizel. 2006. ‘Me, myself and I: Fan fiction and the art of self-insertion' Bitch. 31, 52-57.

CHARMAZ, Kathy. 2006. Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. (2011 reprint) London: SAGE Publications.

CIXOUS, Hélène. 1976. ‘The Laugh of the Medusa’. Signs. 1(4), 875-893.

CLIFFORD-NAPOLEONE, Amanda. 2015. 'Living in the margins: Metal’s self-in-reflection.’ Metal Music Studies. 1(3), 379-384.

CLIFFORD-NAPOLEONE, Amanda. 2015. Queerness in Heavy Metal Music: Metal Bent. New York: Routledge.

COHEN, Cathy J. 1997. 'Punks, Bulldaggers and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?’ GLQ. 3, 437-465.

DAWES, Laina. 2013. What Are You Doing Here? A Black Woman’s Life and Liberation in Heavy Metal. Brooklyn: Bazillion Points.

DAWES Laina. 2015. ‘Challenging an "Imagined Community:” Discussions (or lack thereof) of black and queer experiences within heavy metal culture. Metal Music Studies. 1(3), 385-393.

DERECHO, Abigail. 'Archontic Literature: A Definition, a History, and Several Theories of Fan Fiction’. In HELLEKSON, Karen and BUSSE, Kristina (eds.). Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays. Jefferson: McFarland and Company, 61-78.

DORAN, John. 2012. ‘Mass is in Session.’ Metal Hammer UK. April 2012, 38-47.

DRISCOLL, Catherine. ‘One True Pairing: the Romance of Pornography and the Pornography of Romance.’ In HELLEKSON, Karen and BUSSE, Kristina (eds.). Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays. Jefferson: McFarland and Company, 79-96.

EHRENREICH, Barbara, HESS, Elizabeth, and JACOBS, Gloria. 1992. ‘Beatlemania: Girls Just Want to Have Fun.’ In LEWIS, Lisa A. (ed.). The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media. London: Routledge, 84-106.

FABBRI, Franco. ‘A Theory of Musical Genres: Two Applications.’

FAST, Susan. 1999. ‘Rethinking Issues of Gender and Sexuality in Led Zeppelin: A Woman’s View of Pleasure and Power in Hard Rock’. American Music. Fall 1999, 17(3), 245-299.

FAUSTO-STERLING, Anne. 1993. ‘The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female are Not Enough’. The Sciences. March/April 1993, 20-25.

FAXNELD, Per. 2017. Satanic Feminism: Lucifer as the Liberator of Woman in Nineteenth-Century Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

FIESLER, Casey, MORRISON, Shannon, and BRUCKMAN, Amy S. 2016. ‘An Archive of Their Own: A Case Study of Feminist HCI and Values in Design.’ CHI ‘16 Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

FIESLER, Casey. 2019. ‘Ethical Considerations for Research Involving (Speculative) Public Data’. Proc. ACM Hum-Comput. Interact. 3, GROUP, Article 249 (December 2019), 249-249:13.

FRITH, Simon. 1996. Performing Rites: on the Value of Popular Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

FRITH, Simon, and MCROBBIE, Angela. 1990. 'Rock and Sexuality’. In FRITH, Simon and GOODWIN, Andrew (eds.). On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word. London: Routledge, 317-332.

GARLAND-THOMSON, Rosemarie. 2002. ‘Integrating Disability, Transforming Feminist Theory’. NWSA Journal. Fall 2002, 14(3), 1-32.

GHOST. 2012. ‘Children! In the wait for some news from the ghoul front, devour some graphics that we applaud here within the ministry...’ October 30, 2012 [Facebook post]. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/thebandghost/posts/297668790339417

GHOST. 2019. ‘Chapter Seven: New World Redro’. June 13 2019 [YouTube video] Available at: https://www.tumblr.com/ryuzatodraws-archive/672367379880312832/i-remembered-the-jesus-showing-off-his-top?source=share [accessed 30 May 2024]

GHOST-BAND-AIDS. 2020. ‘Interview with GHOST and TRIBULATION.’ [Tumblr post] Translated from DELASTIK, Anja. 2020. ‘Schlagabtaush: Ghost vs. Tribulation.’ Metal Hammer Germany. March 2020. Available at: https://www.tumblr.com/ghost-band-aids/190811297796/interview-with-ghost-and-tribulation https://www.metal-hammer.de/schlagabtausch-ghost-vs-tribulation-1424295/

GREEN, Shoshanna, JENKINS, Cynthia, and JENKINS, Henry. 1998. ‘Normal Female Interest in Men Bonking: Selections from The Terra Nostra Underground and Strange Bedfellows’. In HARRIS, Cheryl and ALEXANDER, Alison (eds.). Theorizing Fandom: Fans, Subculture, and Identity. Cresskill: Hampton Press.

HAGEN, Ross. 2015. 'Bandom Ate My Face: The Collapse of the Fourth Wall in Online Fan Fiction’. Popular Music and Society. 38(1), 44-58.

HALBERSTAM, Judith. 2003. ‘Reflections on Queer Studies and Queer Pedagogy’. In YEP, Gust A, LOVAAS, Karen E., and ELIA, John P. (eds.). Queer Theory and Communication: From Disciplining Queers to Queering the Discipline(s). Binghamton: Harrington Park Press, 361-364.

HALBERSTAM, Judith. 2005. In a Queer Time and Place: Transgender Bodies, Subcultural Lives. New York: New York University Press.

HICKMAN, Langdon. 2023. ‘The Dialectical Satan’. In LUKES, Daniel and PANAYOTOV, Stanimir (eds.). Black Metal Rainbows. Oakland: PM Press, 335-350.

HILL, Rosemary Lucy. 2016. ‘”Power has a penis”: Cost reduction, social exchange and sexism in metal – reviewing the work of Sonia Vasan’. Metal Music Studies. 2(3), 263-271.

HILLS, Matt. 2002. Fan Cultures. London: Routledge.

HINERMAN, Stephen. 1992. '”I’ll Be Here With You”: Fans, Fantasy and the Figure of Elvis’. In LEWIS, Lisa A. (ed.). The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media. London: Routledge, 107-134.

HOAD, Catherine. 2017. 'Slashing through the boundaries: Heavy metal fandom, fan fiction and girl cultures’. Metal Music Studies. 3(1), 5-22.

HOOKS, bell. 2015. Feminism: From Margin to Center. New York: Routledge. (third edition)

HOPPER, Jessica. 2021. The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. First MCD x FSG Originals Edition.

HUTCHERSON, Ben and HAENFLER, Ross. 2010. ‘Musical Genre as a Gendered Process: Authenticity in Extreme Metal’. Studies in Symbolic Interactions. Vol 35, 101-121.

IRIGARAY, Luce. 1989. This Sex Which is Not One. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

ISMMS 2023: ‘No Outsides’. (Conference June 3-6, 2023)

JENKINS, Henry. 2013. Textual Poachers. New York: Routledge. The Classic Edition.

JONAS, Hans. 1958. The Gnostic Religion. Boston: Beacon Press.

JONES, Rhian E. and DAVIES, Eli (eds.). 2017. Under My Thumb: Songs That Hate Women and the Women Who Love Them. London: Repeater Books.

KAPLAN, Deborah. 2006. ‘Construction of Fan Fiction Character Through Narrative.’ In HELLEKSON, Karen and BUSSE, Kristina (eds.). Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays. Jefferson: McFarland and Company, 134-152.

KROVATIN, Christopher. 2018. 'Ghost is the Most Try-Hard Satanic Rock Band on Earth’. Vice. 31 May [online]. Available at: https://www.vice.com/en/article/9k8qbe/ghost-is-the-most-try-hard-satanic-rock-band-on-earth [accessed 29 May 2024].

LATZKO-TOTH, Guillaume, BONNEAU, Claudine, and MILLETTE, Mélanie. 2017. ‘Small Data, Thick Data: Thickening Strategies for Trace-Based Social Media Research’. In SLOAN, Luke and QUAN-HAASE, Anabel (eds). The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods. London: SAGE Publications, 199-214.

LUKES, Daniel and PANAYOTOV, Stanimir. 2023. Black Metal Rainbows. Oakland: PM Press.

MCINTOSH, Peggy. 1990. ‘White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack’.

Metal and Religion Conference 2022

NAMASTE, Viviane. 2009. 'Undoing Theory: The “Transgender Question” and the Epistemic Violence of Anglo-American Feminist Theory.’ Hypatia. 24(3), 11-32.

PAGELS, Elaine. 1989. The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Random House. (Vintage Books Edition, September 1989.)

PARR, George. 2023. ‘Rape Culture’. In LUKES, Daniel and PANAYOTOV, Stanimir (eds.). Black Metal Rainbows. Oakland: PM Press, 353-361.

PASCOE, C.J.. 2011. Dude, You’re a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. Berkeley: University of California Press.

PETROCELLI, Heather Oriana. 2023. Queer for Fear: Horror Film and the Queer Spectator. University of Wales Press.

REED-DANAHAY, Deborah. 1997. Auto/ethnography: rewriting the self and the social. New York: Berg.

RICHES, Gabby. 2015. ‘Re-conceptualizing women’s marginalization in heavy metal: a feminist post-structuralist perspective’. Metal Music Studies. 1(2), 263-270.

RICHES, Gabrielle, LASHUA, Brett, and SPRACKLEN, Karl. 2014. ‘Female, Mosher, Transgressor: A “Moshography” of Transgressive Practices within the Leeds Extreme Metal Scene’. IASPM Journal, 4(1), 87-100.

ROACH, Emily E. 2018. ‘The homoerotics of the boyband, queerbaiting and RPF in pop music fandoms’, Journal of Fandom Studies. 6(2), 167-186.

RYUZATODRAWS. 2022. ‘I remembered the “jesus showing off his top surgery scar to the homies" post so heres Trans Copia showing his off!’ [Tumblr post] Available at: https://www.tumblr.com/ryuzatodraws-archive/672367379880312832/i-remembered-the-jesus-showing-off-his-top?source=share

S_G. 2022. ‘Ghost/Tobias Forge - Hård rock pä export, 2022, (English subtitles) [YouTube user-generated content]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPwiFdYJc20 [Accessed Jul. 31 2022]

SAVIGNY, Heather and SLEIGHT, Sam. 2015. ‘Postfeminism and heavy metal in the United Kingdom: Sexy or sexist?’ Metal Music Studies. 1(3), 341-357.

SHADRACK, Jasmine Hazel. 2021. Black Metal, Trauma, Subjectivity and Sound : Screaming the Abyss. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.

SLAVGHOUL. 2019. ‘Tobias on being the sexy face of Satanism.’ Translated from CZARTORYSKI, Bartosz. 2019. ‘Seksowne oblicze satanizmu. Rozmawiamy z liderem zespołu Ghost.’ Available at: https://slavghoul.tumblr.com/post/189496141322/tobias-on-being-the-sexy-face-of-satanism [accessed 29 May 2024].

SLAVGHOUL. 2020. Into the Fog. Translated from LAGERGREN, Richard. 2010. ‘In i dimman’. Sweden Rock Magazine. 76. Available at: https://slavghoul.tumblr.com/post/619019726477213697/heres-an-interview-with-papa-from-2010-that-i [accessed 29 May 2024].

SLAVGHOUL. 2022. ‘Ghost MySpace, 2010’. [Tumblr post]. Available at: https://slavghoul.tumblr.com/post/695852845125238784/ghost-myspace-2010 [accessed 30 May 2024]

SLOAN, Luke and QUAN-HAASE, Anabel. 2017. The SAGE Handbook of Social Media Research Methods. London: SAGE Publications.

SMOKE-AND-SILVER. 2024. [Tumblr post] Available at: https://smoke-and-silver.tumblr.com/post/741475063435542528

SPRACKLEN, Karl. 2020. ‘From The Wicker Man (1973) to Atlantean Kodex: Extreme music, alternative identities and the invention of paganism.’ Metal Music Studies. 6(1), 71-86.

STASI, Mafalda. 2006. ‘The Toy Soldiers from Leeds: The Slash Palimpsest.’ In HELLEKSON, Karen and BUSSE, Kristina (eds.). Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in the Age of the Internet: New Essays. Jefferson: McFarland and Company, 115-133.

SWIST, Jeremy J. 2019. ‘Satan’s Empire: Ancient Rome’s anti-Christian appeal in extreme metal.’ Metal Music Studies. 5(1), 35-51.

TEDDLIE, Charles, and TASHAKKORI, Abbas. 2009. Foundations of mixed methods research: integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches in the social and behavioral sciences. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.

TIIDENBERG, Katrin, HENDRY, Natalie Ann, ABIDIN, Crystal. 2021. tumblr. Polity Press.

TIIDENBERG, Katrin. 2018. ‘Research Ethics, Vulnerability, and Trust on the Internet.’ In HUNSINGER, J., ALLEN, Matthew M., and KLASTRUP, Lisbeth (eds). Second International Handbook of Internet Research, Springer. 569-585.

THOMSON, Andrew. 2021. ‘Right hand up, left hand down: The New Satanists of Rock n’ Roll, Evil and the Underground War on the Abject.’ Metal Music Studies. 7(1), 43-60.

TRANARCHYREIGNS. 2024 [tumblr post] ‘I made a diagram that represents myself perfectly.’ March 26th, 2024 Available at: https://www.tumblr.com/tranarchyreigns/746022566448316416/i-made-a-diagram-that-represents-myself-perfectly [accessed 30 May 2024]

TRINH, T. Minh-Ha. 1989. Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

UNGER, Matthew P. 2019. ‘Ode to a dying God: Debasement of Christian symbols in extreme metal.’ Metal Music Studies. 5(2), 243-262.

VASAN, Sonia. 2010. ‘”Den mothers and band whores”: Gender, sex, and power in the death metal scene’, in HILL, R.L. and SPRACKLEN, Karl (eds.), Heavy Fundamentalisms: Music, Metal and Politics. Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 69-78.

VASAN, Sonia. 2011. ‘The Price of Rebellion: Gender Boundaries in the Death Metal Scene,’ Journal for Cultural Research. 15(3). 333-349.

WALSER, Robert. 1993. Running With the Devil: Power, Gender, and Madness in Heavy Metal Music. London: Wesleyan University Press.

WEINSTEIN, Deena. 2000. Heavy Metal: the Music and Its Culture. Da Capo Press. First Da Capo Press Edition 2000.

WISE, Sue. 1990. ‘Sexing Elvis’. In FRITH, Simon and GOODWIN, Andrew (eds.). On Record: Rock, Pop and the Written Word. London: Routledge, 333-340.

YOUNG, Iris Marion. 1990. Justice and the Politics of Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

YOUNG, Iris Marion. 1990. Throwing Like a Girl and Other Essays in Feminist Philosophy and Social Theory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press

#getting a phd in ghost #the band ghost #ghost bc #ghost band #follow your dreams kids and get a PhD in heavy metal.#metal scholars #metal bibliography

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a-dinosaur-a-day · 5 years

Text

Melanorosaurus readi

By Tas Dixon

Etymology: Black Mountain Reptile

First Described By: Haughton, 1924

Classification: Dinosauromorpha, Dinosauriformes, Dracohors, Dinosauria, Saurischia, Eusaurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Bagualosauria, Plateosauria, Massopoda, Sauropodiformes, Anchisauria, Melanorosauridae

Time and Place: From 210 until 201 million years ago, possibly into the Jurassic, from the Norian through the Rhaetian (and possibly into the Hettangian) of the Late Triassic

Melanorosaurus is known from the Lower Elliot (and, maybe, the Upper Elliot) Formation of South Africa

Physical Description: Melanorosaurus was a later Sauropodomorph, the group of dinosaurs that includes Sauropods and their close relatives (aka, “Prosauropods”). Melanorosaurus was technically not a Sauropod, but it does highlight how these quadrupedal behemoths evolved from basic dinosaur precursors. It was quadrupedal, but with awkward front feet still retaining hand-like qualities of its forefathers. The hindlimbs were more sturdy, and in general the pillar-like proportions of the limbs helped to hold up its great weight. It was probably up to 8 meters long and 2 meters tall, making it one of the heaviest animals in its environment - weighing about 1.3 tons. It had a pointed, triangular snout, and teeth like earlier Prosauropods rather than proper Sauropods. It had a short neck and long tail, with a very thick trunk. As for external appearance, there is a question - it was small enough, just, to still have fluff, but it also was big enough to have lost it in the interest of keeping cool. Given it lived in a particularly hot climate, it makes sense that some - if not all - of the warm fluff of its ancestors may have been shed off. That said, it also lived southward - so it’s possible that the Elliot had a cooler environment than other places of the Late Triassic. All in all, the fluff status of Melanorosaurus is a question, so here we present it fluffy to some extent, since most interpretations of it are scaly.

Diet: Melanorosaurus would have been an herbivore, but it may have fed occasionally on small animals to supplement its diet, especially since Melanorosaurus had the teeth of its omnivorous precursors.

By Ripley Cook

Behavior: Melanorosaurus was a smaller Sauropodomorph, so it probably would have taken care of its young (like its close relative Massospondylus) in nests and potential family structures. These nests are hypothetical, however, so we can’t say what sort of lifestyle Melanorosaurus would have lead in this regard. It probably would have stuck together in herds for safety from large contemporaneous predators, and moved together across the dry landscape of their environment looking for new sources of food. Given they managed to survive the end-Triassic extinction (probably), this was clearly a successful strategy to some extent. Their short necks means that they probably would have had to feed mainly on low-lying vegetation, though it is entirely likely that they could have reared on their hind limbs in order to reach higher sources of food. Since they still had some traits of bipedality (likely vestigial), this seems more likely than not.

Ecosystem: The Elliot Formation was a highly arid sub-tropical desert, filled with hearty conifers (which did a lot of the desert-plant jobs before cacti evolved) lining seasonal rivers that would dry up come the long harsh season. It was cooler than other places in the Triassic, but still quite hot and harsh, making it a baking environment for the creatures that lived there. The exact composition of each environment - the Lower Triassic part of the environment and the Upper Jurassic part - is difficult to determine, because the levels tend to be hard to define, but some work has been done on this in recent years. Other Sauropodomorphs included Plateosauravus, Eucnemesaurus, and Bikanasaurus - so, some not very well preserved species, making Melanorosaurus an exception in this region. There was also the Mammaliaform Elliotherium and the Dicynodont Pentasaurus. However, literally every other example of creature seems to be from the Upper Elliot, so it is uncertain what the predators of Melanorosaurus would have been.

By José Carlos Cortés

Other: Melanorosaurus is such an almost-Sauropod that its description and study often threatens to redefine exactly what it means to be a Sauropod or… not. As such, Melanorosaurus is literally defined out of Sauropoda, with Sauropods defined as those members of the sauropod-y group more closely related to Saltasaurus than to Melanorosaurus. That said, Melanorosaurus has a significant amount of similarities to later Sauropods, one of the weirder and more magnificent experiments of Triassic dinosaurs - and a sign of the scale of dinosaurs to come after this period of experimentation ends.

~ By Meig Dickson

Sources Under the Cut

Fabrègues, P. C. d., R. Allain. 2016. New material and revision of Melanorosaurus thabanensis, a basal sauropodomorph from the Upper Triassic of Lesotho. PeerJ 4: e1639.

Galton, P. M., P. Upchurch. “Prosauropoda”. In D. B. Weishampel, P. Dodson, & H. Osmólska (eds.). 2004. The Dinosauria (second edition). University of California Press, Berkeley 232 - 258.

Galton, P. M., J. Van Heerden, A. M. Yates. 2005. Postcranial Anatomy of Referred Specimens of the Sauropodomorph Dinosaur Melanorosaurus from the Upper Triassic of South Africa. Tidwell, V. & K. Carpenter (eds.)Thunder-Lizards: The Sauropodomorph Dinosaurs. Indiana University Press.

Gauffre, F. X. 1993. The most recent Melanorosauridae (Saurischia, Prosauropoda), Lower Jurassic of Lesotho, with remarks on the prosauropod phylogeny. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie Monatshefte. 1993 (11): 648 - 654.

Haughton, S. H. 1924. The fauna and stratigraphy of the Stormberg Series. Annals of the South African Museum 12: 323 - 497.

McPhee, B. W., J. N. Choiniere, A. M. Yates and P. A. Viglietti. 2015. A second species of Eucnemesaurus Van Hoepen, 1920 (Dinosauria, Sauropodomorpha): new information on the diversity and evolution of the sauropodomorph fauna of South Africa's lower Elliot Formation (latest Triassic). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 35(5):e980504:1-24.

McPhee, B. W., E. M. Bordy, L. Sciscio, J. N. Choiniere. 2017. The sauropodomorph biostratigraphy of the Elliot Formation of southern Africa: Tracking the evolution of Sauropodomorpha across the Triassic–Jurassic boundary. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 62 (3): 441 - 465.

Paul, G. S. 2010. The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs. Princeton University Press: 170.

Yates, A. M. 2007. The first complete skull of the Triassic dinosaur Melanorosaurus Haughton (Sauropodmorpha: Anchisauria), in Barrett, P. M. & D. J. Batten. Special Papers in Paleontology 77: 9 - 55.

Yates, A. M. 2010. A revision of the problematic sauropodomorph dinosaurs from Manchester, Connecticut and the status of Anchisaurus Marsh. Palaeontology 53 (4): 739 - 752.

#melanorosaurus #melanorosaurus readi #palaeoblr #triassic #dinosaur #prosauropod #sauropodomorph #reptile #prehistoric life #paleontology #triassic madness #triassic march madness

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collectorscorner · 3 years

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unioncolours · 3 years

Text

20 Questions- Writing Edition

Stolen from @thespookymoth ❤

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

19 fics are currently uploaded

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

553 605 words

3. How many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

Since I began writing fics again, only Naruto and Boruto. At 14-15 years old I wrote a few fics for Tokyo Mew Mew, Shugo Chara and even CATS.

4. What are your Top Five Fics by Kudos?

To go down with the Sun - 355 kudos

Shadows and Sand - 323 kudos

To dance above the Stars - 182 kudos

Trial of the Heart - 148 kudos

I found love in the eyes of a boy - 125 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to respond to every comment. However, after I slipped into - I guess you can call it - a depressive episode at the beginning of 2021 replying to comments became extremely hard, and at some point I had to stop doing it. Now I am slowly getting back into the ropes and replying feels nice again. After I came back from a break in the summer due to all the pain, I haven’t gotten that many comments on my newer fics, so I haven’t had that much chance to prove I can reply again.

6. What fic have you written with the angstiest ending?

The End, in which both Temari and Shikamaru dies.

7. What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

Here I guess To find hope in the Universe, which had a grossly sweet ending after everything the characters went through!

8. Do you write crossovers? If so, what is the craziest one you’ve written?

No, I’m not a fan of crossovers. I tried to write an Elfen Lied x Harry Potter fic when I was 14 and it went nowhere, haha!

9. Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I wouldn’t say hate, only genuine critisism. I’ve dealt with the critisim in varying ways, either ignoring or responding and working through the issue.

10. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Yes, I do write smut! It’s maybe not what I am best at, but I like it enough to do it again :) I have written all flavours - mlm, f/m and wlw smut. I think I like writing wlw smut the most.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes, To go down with the Sun is translated into Russian on FicBook!

13. Have you ever co written a fic before?

I have! However, the other party bailed out and I was left with an 8k fic that should be like 15k. One day I will finish it myself, but way later. It was fun, but time consuming since we were always on voice chat while co-writing, and of course everything ended in varying emotions when the project died.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

Shikatema and Shikajin, hands down.

15. What’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

I have finished all my WIPs so far, except that co-fic. There is one Inojin-centric fic that I developed negative feelings around, which is not edited nor uploaded onto AO3, so I guess that is the closest to “not-finished” I have.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I guess I write different kinds of pain pretty good, both mental and physical. And cliff hangers, haha. I would say I am good at making up plots as well.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Sometimes sentence structures and describing body movements.

18. What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Haha, I used to dream of writing a WWII AU, in which it would be natural to incorporate dialogue in other languages in it, but for now, I am not up to that challenge.

19. What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Tokyo Mew Mew, hahaha

20. What’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

To dance above the Stars. I genuinely think I peaked as a (fanfic) writer with that one, and won’t ever write such a good story again. Can be bad self-confidence talking, but at this moment, I believe that.

#majsasaurus

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multiverseforger · 3 years

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U.S. Agent

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For United States agents, see Federal law enforcement in the United States.

U.S. Agent (John Walker) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually those starring Captain America and the Avengers. He first appeared in Captain America #323 (November 1986) as Super-Patriot.[1] He was later redesigned as an incarnation of Captain America and, a few years later, as U.S. Agent.

U.S. Agent

U.S. Agent.

Art by Leinil Francis Yu.

Publication informationPublisherMarvel ComicsFirst appearanceAs Super-Patriot:

Captain America #323 (November 1986)

As Captain America:

Captain America #333 (September 1987)

As U.S. Agent:

Captain America #354 (June 1989)Created byMark Gruenwald

Paul NearyIn-story informationAlter egoJohn F. WalkerSpeciesHuman (empowered)Team affiliationsMighty Avengers

Omega Flight

New Invaders

S.T.A.R.S.

The Jury

Force Works

Secret Defenders

West Coast Avengers

Dark Avengers

Commission on Superhuman Activities

Bold Urban Commandos

Astonishing AvengersPartnershipsBattlestarNotable aliasesJack Daniels, Super-Patriot, Captain AmericaAbilitiesExceptional hand-to-hand combatant

Highly trained acrobat and gymnast

Superhuman strength, agility, reflexes/reactions and endurance

Peak-level speed, dexterity, coordination and balance

Use of nearly indestructible shield and firearms

Wyatt Russell portrays John Walker in the Marvel Cinematic Universe streaming television series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).

Publication history

Fictional character biographyEdit

OriginEdit

Learn more

This section needs additional citations for verification.

John Walker was born in the fictional town of Custer's Grove, Georgia. He grew up idolizing his older brother, Mike, a helicopter pilot who died in the Vietnam War in 1974. John wanted to live up to Mike's memory, who was idolized by their parents, and so he later enlisted in the military. John served at Fort Bragg, although it was never specifically stated which unit he was attached to.[5] Unfortunately for John, he served during peacetime and so never became the hero that he perceived Mike to have been.

After John received an honorable discharge from the United States Army, he was told by a friend about the Power Broker, a mysterious individual who gave people superhuman abilities.[volume & issue needed] Walker and his friend received treatments that granted superhuman abilities.[6]

Super-PatriotEdit

John Walker as Super-Patriot. Cover of Captain America #327 (March 1987). Art by Mike Zeck and Bob McLeod.

Walker, now in debt to the Power Broker, intends to join the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation but meets Ethan Thurm who becomes his manager and persuades Walker to become a hero instead. Thurm secures financial backing, helps Walker design a costume, and sets out a strategy that allows him to debut as the corporate-sponsored Super-Patriot who then travels the country promoting his image to the nation through patriotic rallies and community service.[6]

At a rally in Central Park, he holds a secretly rehearsed performance in which he publicly criticizes Captain America and is subsequently attacked by three extremist supporters called the Bold Urban Commandos or "Buckies". Walker defeats the Buckies in the staged fight as a demonstration of his combat prowess and patriotism. Steve Rogers confronts Walker privately afterwards and demands that he stop using the Buckies, since people attending the rally could have been hurt in a panic resulting from the staged attack. Walker refuses, arguing that his actions are justified by his quest to replace the outdated Captain America as the nation's symbol.[7]

When Captain America repeatedly refuses his challenges to a fight, Super-Patriot attacks Captain America. Although Captain America proves to be a more skilled fighter and lands blow after blow, the trash-talking Walker manages to absorb the attacks. With neither man falling after a lengthy brawl, Super-Patriot flings a number of throwing stars at Captain America who is too tired to dodge. One hits in the chest, embedding into Captain America's uniform but doing little to no actual physical damage. With the successful strike, the gleeful Super-Patriot claims victory and promptly departs. The weary and dejected Captain America tries to tell himself that the fight was a draw, as neither man actually went down but is nonetheless left questioning his own fighting abilities while acknowledging Super-Patriot's superior strength and stamina.[8]

Walker catches the eye of the nation though when he tackles the terrorist Warhead who threatens to detonate a nuclear weapon in Washington, D.C. atop the Washington Monument. Walker scales the monument, disarming Warhead with a throwing star, before sending Warhead plummeting to the ground below. Warhead – preferring to go out 'like a man' – kills himself before hitting the ground by detonating a hand grenade.[9]

This high-profile act makes him an instant celebrity, appearing in The Washington Post and on national television where he claims himself to be "America's future", which in turn brings him to the attention of Valerie Cooper's role as a Presidential advisor.[6]

Captain AmericaEdit

Soon after, Steve Rogers abandons Captain America's costume and identity when ordered to report directly to the Commission on Superhuman Activities, feeling that Captain America had grown beyond the name's original role as a symbol of America during the war and not wanting to be tied down to a political agenda.[9] The Commission debate who should be the new Captain America, with Nick Fury and Sam Wilson both being considered as candidates, although it was considered that the former was too old and would not want to give up the autonomy enjoyed as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, where as in the case of the latter they did not believe that the United States was ready for a black equivalent.[10]

Dr. Valerie Cooper, a member of the Commission, suggests that Walker should be made the new Captain America as a U.S. government operative. Though repulsed by the notion of giving up being Super-Patriot and taking on the Captain America identity he has criticized so much, Walker ultimately answers, "Ma'am, if Uncle Sam wanted me to be Mickey Mouse, I'd do it." As Captain America, he is forced to abandon Thrum as his manager, and can only retain Lemar Hoskins, one of the Buckies, since the other two fail to pass background checks.[6]

Walker is partnered with Hoskins as the new Bucky but Hoskins later changes the codename to "Battlestar" due to the negative racial name connotations for a black man. The two follow Adrian Sammish's orders. Walker is trained by the Freedom Force, the Guardsmen, and the Taskmaster—Taskmaster's training focusing on teaching him how to use Captain America's shield—and goes on his first mission against the Watchdogs militia group.[11]

Another of Walker's early acts as Captain America was a mission to "aid stability and democracy in South America" by teaming up with the Tarantula in order to hunt escaped political dissidents from his home country on behalf of its oppressive regime in order to silence them. Despite believing in the fight against Communism and in the principle of helping America's "Democratic allies in Latin America", Walker becomes increasingly uncomfortable with the methods used by Tarantula after he interrogates and threatens occupants of an immigration detention center for information on his targets. The two battle and wound Spider-Man, however Walker – increasingly conflicted by the fact that both the immigrants who Tarantula interrogated and Spider-Man looked upon him and the uniform he wore with fear, seeing him as an enemy – decides to walk away, convincing himself that this course of action was not something that Captain America would support. Spider-Man ultimately defeats Tarantula and Walker later learns that the individual who gave him his orders to help Tarantula was a rogue agent who did so without legal authority, beating him and telling him that the uniform he wears is supposed to inspire, not terrify.[12]

Although Walker finds himself trying to emulate Rogers's ethics, Walker is more brutal than his predecessor due to his reactionary points of view. His superhuman strength and lack of emotional control lead him to inadvertently beat Professor Power to death.[13] as well as badly injure 'The Resistants' mutant group.[14]

Left-Winger and Right-Winger, the two rejected Buckies, crash the press conference arranged by Cooper to reveal the "new" Captain America and Battlestar, and announce Walker's name and birthplace on national TV.[15] His parents are subsequently killed by the Watchdogs; this incident drives Walker closer to a mental breakdown, particularly when the Commission orders him not to step out of line in the future, resulting in him missing his parents' funeral due to his responsibilities. In a state of rage, he kills many of the Watchdogs,[16] and beats Left-Winger and Right-Winger to a pulp, leaving the two to die in an explosion,[17] and are left terribly burned and in critical condition.[volume & issue needed] Walker is then captured by Flag-Smasher, but rescued by Rogers, Battlestar, and D-Man.[18]

The Red Skull, now in a clone body of Steve Rogers, lures Walker to Washington, D.C. The Red Skull attacks Walker with a horde of Walker's enemies, but Walker kills or critically injures the enemies all in a single brawl. The Red Skull arranges for Walker to confront Rogers—now using "the Captain" identity and costume—but Rogers defeats him and confronts the Red Skull. Walker wakes up and throws his shield at the Red Skull, causing the latter to be exposed to his own "dust of death" which resulted in the supervillain's reddish skull appearance, but the Red Skull escapes. Rogers and Walker give a report to the Commission, which returns the Captain America uniform to Rogers. Rogers declines the offer, but Walker persuades Rogers to reconsider and accept it. At a press conference announcing the original Captain America's return, General Haywerth fakes Walker's assassination by a Watchdog in order to set up Walker in a new identity.[19]

To address Walker's psychosis, he is hypnotized into believing his parents are still alive, and he would not recover his full memory for many years. He is also given a new cover identity of 'Jack Daniels' as well as speech therapy and work to erase old mannerisms in order to help hide the fact that he was the man the public had recently seen "assassinated".[20]

U.S. Agent/West Coast AvengersEdit

Walker soon resurfaced as an adventurer known as the U.S. Agent, wearing a variation of the Captain costume and using the vibranium disc as a shield. Walker continued to work for the Commission. He was first seen as the U.S. Agent, battling an Iron Monger as a test for the Commission.[20] He was placed as a watchdog of West Coast Avengers and the Vision by the Commission, as a condition to possibly get their government clearance reinstated.[21] Some time later, he rescued Battlestar from the Power Broker, and reconciled with the former; Walker learned that his memories had been altered and that his parents were dead.[22]

The manner of his appointment to the West Coast Avengers team, and his own abrasive attitude, saw U.S. Agent frequently come into conflict with his colleagues, in particular the headstrong Hawkeye (Clint Barton), which culminated in a battle between the two that saw both suspended.[23] He later almost killed Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter) – an ex-employee of U.S. Agent's former employers – hesitating over delivering the fatal blow before collapsing in grief – his guilt over his long history of violence catching up with him.[24]

While under the employ of the Commission for Superhuman Activities, U.S. Agent was charged with the responsibility of taking down the Punisher (Frank Castle). U.S. Agent locates the Punisher and after some hand-to-hand combat, the Punisher discloses in attempting to take down the Maggia; he agrees to help the Punisher, vowing to take the Punisher into custody once they had done so. U.S. Agent takes down the superpowered mercenary Paladin who had been employed to kill the Punisher by the Maggia, breaking both legs with his shield. Ultimately, the Punisher upon completing the mission escapes U.S. Agent by dressing a deceased henchman in his uniform and leaving him in a burning building, convincing U.S. Agent that the Punisher had perished in the fire. U.S. Agent is berated by his employers who inform him that his job is to act, not think and declaring that it is no wonder that he failed as Captain America. U.S. Agent walks away halfway through his dressing-down.[25]

U.S. Agent was once more forced to choose between following the rules and laws of the nation he had dedicated himself to serving, or ignoring said rules in favor of doing what he personally believed to be right, when he investigated a series of gruesome murders of illegal immigrants on the Mexico/U.S border who he later discovered were being committed by a corrupt law enforcement official.[26]

U.S. Agent investigates the killer "the Scourge of the Underworld" and discovers that Scourge is not an individual at all, but is in fact essentially a franchise of killers trained towards the singular purpose of wiping out the menace posed by the world's various super-villains.[27] U.S. Agent attempts to infiltrate the organization but is captured, tortured and interrogated until he is released by a masked operative who reveals himself to be none other than Mike Walker – U.S. Agent's older brother who he had long thought to have died in the Vietnam War. Mike tries to convince U.S. Agent to join the Scourge program before letting him go in order to think it over.[28]

It is later revealed that "Mike" is not U.S. Agent's brother at all but rather a cleverly designed deception intended to lure U.S. Agent into joining the Scourge program himself. U.S. Agent decides against joining the program at which point 'Mike' – better known as 'Bloodstain' – attempts to wipe him out unsuccessfully.[29]

Through interrogating members of the Scourge organization, Agent traces its mysterious benefactor back to a high-class estate, at which point he is revealed to be none other than Thomas Holloway – the man previously known as the World War II era hero "The Avenging Angel" – who reveals how he had set up the Scourge organization using his immense wealth after witnessing an innocent bystander killed by a criminal's bullet meant for him. Unable to continue his costumed career because of the guilt he instead decided to set up the organization to atone for his failings as a crime fighter and battle those criminals who would undermine America's moral character.[volume & issue needed]

U.S. Agent and Bloodstain battle one last time, and Bloodstain is eventually dispatched by his own bullets as they deflect off U.S. Agent's shield. Thomas Holloway is subsequently arrested for his crimes and the Scourge program seemingly closed down. Later, U.S. Agent muses that just like Holloway he had done things as a hero that he feels he needs to make amends for, but promises that unlike Holloway he will find the true path to salvation.[30]

U.S. Agent fought alongside the Avengers in several battles. After the Avengers moved to a United Nations based charter, he received only one vote (though not from himself) in the ensuing vote and consequently lost his place on the team.[31] Even with his personality conflicts and reckless behavior, he soon proved himself worthy of being an Avenger and was able to rejoin.[32]

During his time with the West Coast Avengers, U.S.Agent participated in the 'Infinity War' in which he was part of the team that remained on Earth to protect it against Magnus waves of superhuman dopplegangers,[33] the 'Infinity Crusade', during which he was recruited by the Goddess along with other heroes who were susceptible, as they are either especially religious, mystically inclined, or have had a near-death experience,[34] and Operation Galactic Storm in which he was responsible for guarding the Kree prisoners Captain Atlas and Dr. Minerva,[35] and battled a Kree Sentry.[36]

U.S. Agent also helped the team battle the likes of the Lethal Legion,[37] Dr Demonicus and his Pacific Overlords,[38] Ultron and his robotic 'bride' War Toy,[39] the 'Night Shift',[40] the 'Bogatyri' – a group of Russian extremists intent upon ushering in a new Cold War,[41] 'Death Web' – a team of spider-themed villains,[42] and Immortus.[43]

U.S. Agent, along with fellow "replacement" heroes Thunderstrike and War Machine, was manipulated into battling the heroes who had inspired them – Captain America, Thor, and Iron Man – by the time travelling villainess "Terminatrix", before putting their differences aside to team up against their common foe.[44]

U.S. Agent along with the rest of the West Coast Avengers, the Avengers and the X-Men, participated in the 'Bloodties' crossover,[45] during which Professor X attempted to negotiate a peace to end the civil war on the island of Genosha.[volume & issue needed] U.S. Agent was charged with the responsibility of acting as bodyguard for Professor X.[46]

Captain America sarcastically cited U.S. Agent's use of his "famous powers of composure and diplomacy" as one example of the recent failings of the West Coast Avengers when he indicated his intention to shut the team down. This provoked U.S. Agent's fury who raised his hand to strike Captain America; Iron Man stopped him and uttered, "Not now. Not ever".[47]

During this time, U.S. Agent was featured in a Marvel UK comic called Super Soldiers, initially battling, then teaming up with American and British soldiers empowered by a variation of the drugs that created Nuke.[48]

Force WorksEdit

When the West Coast Avengers dissolved, he dumped his U.S. Agent costume and shield into the Hudson River.[49] Soon after, most of the then-current members of the West Coast Avengers were asked by Tony Stark to found Force Works. Initially U.S. Agent was reluctant, however Scarlet Witch later persuaded him to join, stating that she needed U.S. Agent to be the team's "backbone" and intended to run the team on tight military lines and the values of strength and dedication that Agent had shown her during their time together on the West Coast Avengers. U.S. Agent ultimately joined the new team, wearing a new costume and using an energy-based shield provided to him by Stark.[50] Stark describes U.S. Agent as a "loose cannon", suggesting that he could have an identity problem, expressing the desire to develop a new look for him "to get U.S. Agent out of Captain America's red, white and blue shadow".[51]

U.S. Agent travels to an isolated region of Tennessee in order to locate Hawkeye who had disappeared after the death of Mockingbird. Angry at the fact that Hawkeye had abandoned his teammates when they had desperately needed his support to avoid the dissolution of the West Coast Avengers, U.S. Agent finds him and they initially fight before eventually reconciling, at which point U.S. Agent informs Hawkeye of all the recent changes – including the formation of Force Works and the death of Wonder Man (Simon Williams).[volume & issue needed]

Hawkeye vents that he has been through a lot with the loss of his wife, and that he mistrusts Tony Stark, prompting a rare showing of emotion from U.S. Agent who confesses that the death of his own parents haunts every waking moment of his life and that he more than anyone knows what it is like to live life on the outside looking in – never quite good enough for anyone – but at least he is not running and hiding from it![volume & issue needed]

The two agree to put their spat aside and sleep, with U.S. Agent telling Hawkeye that he will be taking him back in the morning regardless of any objections, however when U.S. Agent wakes Hawkeye is gone – although he leaves him a note thanking him for helping him get some things off his chest, and letting him know that he is not all bad after all.[52]

In the spirit of forgiveness, U.S. Agent later formulates a plan to reconcile Hawkeye with the rest of his former teammates – especially Stark – by inviting him as a secret guest to the Force Works Christmas party. While Hawkeye waits alone he monitors U.S. Agent and the rest of the Force Works team via video feed as they listen to Stark issue a sincere apology for his behavior in recent times – from walking out on the West Coast Avengers team, to faking his own death and not trusting them with the truth.[volume & issue needed]

Unfortunately Hawkeye only catches the part of the speech where Stark talks about Hawkeye's "loud mouthed opinions", switching the feed off before he hears Stark refer to Hawkeye as the backbone of the West Coast Avengers team, a friend, and how he misses his presence more than anything, and when U.S. Agent learns that Hawkeye has left in a temper, he wonders what on Earth could have gone wrong...[53]

U.S. Agent remained a member throughout the team's tenure, fighting threats such as the Kree,[50] alien parasites The Scatter,[54] Slorenian supernatural threat Ember, Slorenia's armored protectors Black Brigade,[55] The Mandarin,[56] fighting alongside Australian super hero Dreamguard (Willie Walkaway) against the dream-manipulating Orphan,[57] Slorenia's undead shock troops The Targoth and Volkhvy the Eternal One,[58] teaming up with the Avengers against the Kree commandos Excel,[59] intergalactic mercenary The Broker,[60] battling Force Works' own rogue security system VIRGIL,[61] an alternate reality version of deceased former Force Works member Wonder Man (Simon Williams),[62] and the Serpent Society.[63]

Heroes ReturnEdit

U.S. Agent was briefly referred to as the Liegeman as it was the codename for him in the Morgan le Fay verse.[64]

U.S. Agent briefly appears in Captain America (Vol 3) during the 'American Nightmare' story arc attempting to steal an experimental jet plane. Captain America stops him, and U.S. Agent is later seen in stasis along with others affected by the villain Nightmare.[65]

He eventually became the field leader of the Jury, a group of armored corporate vigilantes, owned by Edwin Cord, owner of Cordco. U.S. Agent again wearing his original U.S. Agent uniform and now using an eagle-shaped shield that could be directed in midair via remote control. The Jury's job was to take down the Thunderbolts, but they were defeated by the Thunderbolts and their new leader Hawkeye, a former Avenger teammate of Walker's.[66] The Jury attempted to apprehend the Thunderbolts a second time, but instead the two groups joined forces together against Brute Force and the Secret Empire's soldiers.[67]

U.S. Agent was severely beaten to near death by Protocide. Due to emergency medical procedures performed on him, he was outfitted, by S.H.I.E.L.D., with an enhancing exo-skeleton.[68]

S.T.A.R.SEdit

Following his recovery, he soon adopted a new costume and rejoined the Commission on Superhuman Activities, with the position at the head of the federal government's U.S. Marshal division, called S.T.A.R.S., the Superhuman Tactical Activities Response Squad. The group battled alien invaders and superhuman threats and was responsible for their imprisonment.[69] In this role, he was placed in charge of coordinating Earth's heroes during the 'Maximum Security' crisis when Earth became a prison planet, claiming that he was needed to prevent the other heroes getting 'sidetracked' by their concern for the prisoners to ensure that their focus remained on what was best for Earth.[70]

U.S. Agent continued to work for S.T.A.R.S as America's super human 'top cop' under the observation of Valerie Cooper. In this role his former love, and current agent of S.H.I.E.L.D, Kali Vries—who he had endured Army boot-camp with many years previously, and who had bested him in almost all physical tests—was thrust upon him as second in command. U.S. Agent was uncomfortable with Vries' appointment as she had previously jilted him, although she was still affectionate towards him. Other S.T.A.R.S agents warned Agent that Vries was playing him. Vries is later revealed to be in the employ of ambitious Senator Warkovsky and on his order places a parasite capable of allowing mind control on U.S. Agent's neck.[69]

In their second mission together U.S. Agent and Vries teamed up to tackle a radical faction of Atlantians working with the super-villain Poundcakes (Marian Pouncey). It transpired that Pouncey was attempting to trade more of the alien parasites capable of mind control with the Atlantians. The Sub-Mariner (Namor) disrupts the battle and discovers the parasite placed on U.S. Agent's neck by Vries. Vries later attends Agent's room and attempts to seduce him, placing another parasite on him. U.S. Agent—apparently no longer in control of his own will, and despite being informed that a S.H.I.E.L.D envoy had been dispatched—then takes the duffle bag full of parasites seized by S.T.A.R.S in order to take them to his manipulator who transpires to be none other than the Power Broker (Curtis Jackson)—the man originally responsible for granting John Walker his super-human powers, whose plan is to infect the International assemblage of Heads of State with the mind-controlling parasites.[71]

At this point Captain America (Steve Rogers), who had been revealed to be the S.H.I.E.L.D envoy responsible for collecting the parasites, along with Kali Vries, burst into the meeting between U.S. Agent and the Power Broker. Power Broker places a parasite on the neck of Senator Warkovsky intent upon influencing his address to the International assemblage of Heads of State, but is interrupted by U.S. Agent who is subsequently assaulted by Captain America intent upon stopping him. The two battle with neither of them able to gain the upper hand. Meanwhile, Vries is captured by the Power Broker who reveals that he had been attacked and left for dead by aliens during the 'Maximum Security' crisis at which point, barely alive, he had become the host for an alien which produced the mind-controlling parasites, subsequently attempting to expand its control by infecting influential individuals. Power Broker then infects Vries with a parasite. Eventually Agent manages to escape Captain Americas attentions long enough to reveal the presence of the parasite on Senator Warkovsky's neck and removes it with his energy baton. Together Cap and Agent fight off the crowd of V.I.P's (also apparently under the control of the Power Broker), escaping and then teaming up to restrain both Power Broker and Vries and removing the parasites from each of them. Dum Dum Dugan then appears on the scene to inform U.S. Agent that Vries, far from being a traitor, was actually a deep cover agent acting on behalf of S.H.I.E.L.D with the intention of gaining Senator Warkovsky's confidence and discovering who was using the parasites and attempting to take the mother-parasite into custody for study and as evidence. Agent destroys the specimen and then speculates that he didn't believe it to be alien at all but rather a product of a government genetics lab that went wrong. Dugan is suspicious by his silence and shocked when Captain America indicates that he believes U.S. Agent's accusation. U.S. Agent is later seen deep in thought, looking at a photo of himself and Vries during better times and reading a letter of apology from her for her deceptions. He later burns the photo before running out of his room after being informed that there is an assignment for him, declaring "I love this job!"[5]

U.S. Agent is later summoned along with fellow Avengers Captain America, Thor, Jack of Hearts, Beast, Iron Man, and She-Hulk to unite against a common threat. That threat? Litigation![volume & issue needed]

Accountants Janice Imperato and Max Catan (executives from the Maria Stark foundation who help fund the Avengers) intend to hold a meeting in order to maintain the Avengers tax exempt status, audit the team's finances, and review a recent case – a battle against the "Elements of Doom" which resulted in the expensive loss of an Avengers Quinjet, and widespread property damage.[volume & issue needed]

U.S. Agent – stubborn as ever – claims a complete lack of knowledge of the incident as he "is a very busy man". When asked to justify his actions, U.S. Agent refuses to do so, with his response being "Forget it. Theyre alive right? They should be grateful!" and accused his interrogators of just wanting to drag heroes down.[volume & issue needed]

U.S. Agent leaves his interviewers with one piece of advice: "I go out there to save lives. You just pay the bills. Just be good little bean counters – and pay em!"[72]

InvadersEdit

Clockwise from top left: Human Torch (Jim Hammond), Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Union Jack (Joseph Chapman), U.S. Agent, and Blazing Skull on the cover to New Invaders #1, with art by Scott Kolins.

Walker eventually became a member of the New Invaders,[73] wearing a Captain America-like costume,[73] serving alongside the likes of the original Human Torch, Union Jack (Joseph Chapman), and the Blazing Skull until the team disbanded.[74]

U.S. Agent's first task was to negotiate the release of the Blazing Skull from captivity at the hands of middle Eastern terrorists. It is revealed that U.S. Agent can speak fluent Arabic, but he is forced to exterminate the terrorists when they renege on the agreed deal.[75]

The New Invaders then team up with Namor and his Atlantean forces in order to overthrow the government of Mazikandar – an alliance Namor agrees to because Mazikandar has been choking the seas with pollution by sinking oil tankers in an effort to control supply to the USA.[76]

The New Invaders alongside the forces of Atlantis assault Mazikandar's government forces, scattering them and moving on to the capitol building in order to capture its head of state. Suddenly however they find themselves opposed by none other than the Avengers. U.S. Agent is confronted by Captain America, who calls him a disgrace to the uniform, instructing to take it off before he tears it off, but Walker replies that his country gave him that uniform because Rogers was not willing to do what they needed him to. Walker calls Rogers a traitor, and states that his country has given him the authority of the real Captain America, and that Rogers never understood duty to country and doing what is required to keep its shores safe. Rogers retorts that Captain America represents an ideal for all people, of all countries.[volume & issue needed]

Ultimately U.S. Agent is defeated by Rogers. Mazikandar's dictator is presented to his hand picked successor, who promptly executes his predecessor on the steps of the capitol building to the surprise of both the Invaders and Avengers alike.[77]

The murder of a man without trial causes a further schism with the Avengers, who blame the New Invaders for declaring open war on Mazikhandar. Namor responds that Mazikhandar had declared war on his nation when they decided to pollute the oceans.[volume & issue needed]

U.S. Agent – captive for the time being – receives word from the Thin Man requesting a distraction, which Walker provides by breaking his bonds and aggressively approaching Captain America, growling that the New Invaders operation is sanctioned by the U.S., Britain, and Atlantis, and that the Avengers have no grounds to interfere. Hawkeye tries to cool the situation as only the hot-headed archer could by shooting U.S. Agent in the backside, prompting the now furious Walker to turn his attention from Captain America to Hawkeye.[volume & issue needed]

With the two teams battling once more, Thin Man retreats to the inside of the Capitol building where he berates the new political leader for killing his predecessor and explaining that the previous leader had actually been a simulacrum – an imposter placed into that position when US Secretary of Defence Dell Rusk (secretly the Red Skull) had the real leader assassinated – and the New Invaders only agreed to help because they needed the synthetic alive.[volume & issue needed]

The fighting ends when Namor announces that he has formed an alliance with Mazikhandar, and that it is now a protectorate of Atlantis thus giving the Avengers no need, and no power to remain.[78]

Thin Man later informs the team that they have been formed to tackle a new threat – the "Axis Mundi" – a creation of the Red Skull and something born out of the ashes of Hitler's Third Reich, who have an army of assassins armed with sub-dimensional technology that gives them the ability to move instantly to wherever they wish without fear of barriers or borders and a plan to replace world leaders with synthezoids.[volume & issue needed]

The U.S government, needing to counter the threat first created an elite strike force – the New Invaders – then equipped them with a battleship named The Infiltrator, capable of travelling the world unseen and armed with tactical missiles with the ability to drop entire cities into sub dimensional space.[79]

Walker insisted on being called Captain America.[80] Captain America (Steve Rogers), while attempting to close down the New Invaders, threatened Walker with legal action over his use of the uniform, stating that he owned the copyright to it. Walker informed Rogers that he had only taken the role in the first place because Rogers had refused the Thin Man's invitation to lead the team and that they had to show their enemies "that Captain America is not afraid to fight!"[81]

While Walker initially proved to be unpopular with many of his new allies, he later gained their respect, in particular winning over Namor who had been a close ally of Steve Rogers. Walker saved Namor from a brainwashed and murderous Wolverine, who had been resurrected by The Hand during the "Enemy of the State" storyline. The badly injured Namor later offered Walker his personal thanks.[82]

Civil WarEdit

In the special one-shot Civil War: Choosing Sides, Tony Stark (at this point U.S Secretary of Defense) orders U.S Agent north to Canada – vulnerable due to the death of Alpha Flight, in order to act as U.S liaison to the newly formed Omega Flight team, with an objective to stop super-powered criminals attempting to flee America's Superhuman Registration Act.[volume & issue needed]

U.S. Agent reacts as expected – furiously – stating he "serves Uncle Sam, not Major Maple Leaf", and there is no way he is going to "freakin' Canada". Stark makes the case that Canada supplies the U.S with 20% of its oil, and their security is a top priority for S.H.I.E.L.D., but U.S. Agent is unimpressed and even the threat of arrest is not enough to persuade him as he storms out.[volume & issue needed]

Later U.S. Agent overcomes an attack by a team of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents mind-controlled by the super villain Purple Man, but is overcome by the Purple Man himself who orders him to fall from great height after stealing his shield – something he only survives because of his advanced biology.[volume & issue needed]

Eager for revenge, U.S. Agent's defeat gives Stark the leverage to finally persuade him to join Omega Flight when he reveals that the Purple Man has fled north himself.[83]

Omega FlightEdit

As an employee of Omega Flight, U.S. Agent is given the responsibility of training Weapon Omega (Michael Pointer).[volume & issue needed]

During a mission to take down un-registered super-criminal Tentakill, Weapon Omega passes out mid-combat for unknown reasons forcing U.S. Agent to detain the criminal single handed. Weapon Omega's unusual behaviour rouses U.S. Agent's suspicions, who is later seen to be communicating covertly with an unknown source.[volume & issue needed]

It later transpires that Weapon Omega is being manipulated by Omega Flight's handler Agent Brown as well as his psychologist Dr. Benning, but worse than that unregistered super-criminals are being detained, with no record being made of their detention, and their powers are being used to fuel Weapon Omega's energy absorbing power, resulting in the deaths of several of the inmates who are completely drained of life.[volume & issue needed]

It is later revealed that U.S. Agent is acting on behalf of Iron Man who is monitoring Weapon Omega's progress and requires U.S. Agent to obtain the data analysis of Omega's powers as well as the details of his private consultations with Omega Flight's psychologists.[volume & issue needed]

Before his departure Stark, due to his lack of knowledge that the super-villain Rap-tor had been recently detained—despite having access to all prisoner manifests—unknowingly confirms Agent's suspicions that super-villains detained by Omega Flight are not being officially recorded and that the villains are subsequently disappearing without explanation.[volume & issue needed]

U.S. Agent's suspicions grow when Weapon Omega is not seen for weeks at a time. He is repeatedly told by Agent Brown that Omega is simply unwell and resting. Arachne (Julia Carpenter), acting with U.S. Agent in order to uncover the conspiracy, spies and informs him that Weapon Omega isn't resting and for some reason he is being constantly observed.[volume & issue needed]

During their next training session U.S. Agent is easily besting Weapon Omega in combat when Omega's handlers increase the flow of power from the super-powered detainees. This results in Omega losing control as he manifests the various powers of numerous inmates, breaking U.S. Agent's ankle before manifesting the reptilian powers of Rap-tor, beating and lacerating U.S. Agent almost to death—an assault only stopped by the interference of Sasquatch (Walter Langkowski). U.S. Agent tries to warn Weapon Omega—who is shocked at his loss of control—that power is being fed into him via his suit, but is sedated before he is able to do so.[volume & issue needed]

Weapon Omega eventually realizes that he is being manipulated and that his handlers intend to continue to use him even against his will, however this is stopped by the U.S. Agent having discharged himself from the infirmary despite his severe injuries. Dr. Benning boasts that as a fail-safe had been activated, all evidence of her manipulation of Weapon Omega had been destroyed. It is at this point that Omega reveals that one of the individuals whose powers he had absorbed had been a technopath, and that he had accessed all of Benning's confidential records and sent them to Tony Stark. Weapon Omega then exposes Benning to a glimpse of the hundreds of personalities within his being, leaving her in a vegetative state. He then vows to become a hero rather than a weapon and is last seen assisting the people of Alaska—the location where his powers had first manifested, resulting in the deaths of the original Alpha Flight team.[84]

Mighty AvengersEdit

During the "Dark Reign" storyline, U.S. Agent is removed from Omega Flight by Loki (disguised as the Scarlet Witch) to aid Hank Pym in defeating the reality-altering Chthon. Initially the pro-registration U.S. Agent finds himself in combat with the anti-registration Hulk and Hercules, but they later endeavor to team up against their common foe. Chthon's power is tied to Wundagore Mountain and U.S. Agent plays a part in separating him from that source by planting explosives in order to destroy it. The team ultimately defeat Chthon, and U.S. Agent quits the Omega Flight team – with their blessing – stating it was an honor to serve with them, but 'once an Avenger, always an Avenger'.[85]

Following their victory, U.S. Agent joins the Mighty Avengers.[86] The team is sent on various missions[86] including saving the Infinite Avengers Mansion from becoming untethered from reality.[87] On a mission to China investigating the Unspoken (a former king of the Inhumans), U.S. Agent is devolved by Xenogen gas which turns him into an Alpha Primitive. He attacks Captain America (James "Bucky" Barnes) while in this condition. Quicksilver convinces him to attack the Unspoken by saying "The Commies will win!"[88] Pym later creates a new shield for U.S. Agent after his previous shield was destroyed by the Collective Man.[89]

U.S. Agent was one of the Avengers who joined Hercules in his Assault on New Olympus. He said he believes that the Gods are just people with super powers and battled against Eris, Goddess of discord.[90]

Following a conflict involving a Cosmic Cube-empowered Absorbing Man and the Dark Avengers, U.S. Agent is stripped of his rank by Norman Osborn.[91]

ThunderboltsEdit

U.S. Agent and several members of the now disbanded Mighty Avengers are called upon by Amadeus Cho during the events of Siege. Their mission is to stop Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts from stealing Odin's spear from the Asgardian armory. After engaging the Thunderbolts in battle, Nuke uses the spear to sever U.S. Agent's left arm and leg.[92]

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