#A: Recap Kid before the comics happen | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

factual-fantasy · 5 months

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22 ASK! THANK YOU! :DDD

@a-weird-bean-bag

They are not related by blood, no. (Blood? Frosting..? Filling?? Anyways-)

Red is actually Seafoam's great Nephew. And he joined the crew because of a tradgedy involving his mother,, Seafoam's niece..

When Red joined the crew he was very shy and scared of everything. Coco at this point was a rough and tough pirate gal.. but man, something about that kid.. she just adored him. She took it upon herself to take care of the little guy and be his guardian.

She loves him to bits and has definitely taken the role of "mother" in his world. When ever the ship is under attack, she is the first to swoop in and take Red to safety. She is the one Red goes to when he cant sleep or is scared. She takes care of him when he is sick, she cleans his clothes and feeds him too.

Seafoam has made it very clear that she does not have to do any of this. And that Red is 100% his responsibility. But she just ain't havin' it. She chooses to be involved in Red's care and wouldn't have it any other way. 💖

Its a good thing too, Seafoam has no idea how to raise little kids <XD

(Also thank you so much!! :DD )

👀👀oh?

@yoylecake420

Sorry uh- I don't know that character. I made some OCs for Cookie run but I haven't played any of the games, I don't know the lore and I don't know/remember any of the characters- sorry!

Ah,, I don't know? <XDD I don't know how the games work- are there other types of cookies?? I don't know--

Judging by what I've heard/seen of that game? They'd run for the hills! They're not safe there <XD

<:D Ah sorry- I don't know who that cookie is- remember I haven't played either game and I don't know any of the lore!

@storylover2

.....OH-

THERES MORE??--

Also thank you so much!! You are beary nice :}}}

@universal-hunter

AAAAWE!!! :DDD THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :}}}}💖💖💖

@couchwow

Thank you for the no spoilers!! :DD I have not seen it but I have heard of it :0 perhaps sometime I'll give it a go! :}

@thetiredpenguin

Man, cookie run lore is WILD XDDD

@sparkdrawsstuff

Thank you! My day today was better than yesterday at least! XD

@keakruiser

AAAAA THANK YTOIU SO MMUCH!!! :DDDD 💖💖💖

I've drawn them twice actually that I can remember! Once in my FNAF Recap/Repair part 2, and once in a doodle dump post thing! :00

@elegantjellyfishmemachine

:0 eh? Huh? Til what?

@readeren

I actually haven't thought much about that :0 I worried that the group wouldn't feel very diverse if I had duplicate characters.. but the opposite personalities but same person is genius! But whompst would be duplicated... 🤔

@blissthewolf

Hello! I believe I do write scripts, but if I'm being honest I don't think I can scrape together even one sentence of sound advice for you- 💔😭💔

I am known to be very bad at explaining how to do things. A lot of what I do is just taking random things and stapling them together and ripping off some parts and gluing this here and put that over there and tada! Comic! "How'd you do that" "...Honestly I cant really remember-"

The only think I can think to say is figure out what you want to come from the scene and.. do what ever it takes to make it happen..? Uhhh- for example, "I want these two characters to fight and character A to leave in a huff." Well then give them something to fight about, and make character B say something that would make character A mad enough to leave without saying anything..?? But that doesn't explain how I would figure out what the argument would be about- I

I'm afraid I am of no use to you here-

@neo-metalscottic

AAAA THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I'm glad you like my minecraft guys and my cookie run critters! :DD And not to worry- He'll catch on XD right now the main thing keeping them some what apart is Seafoam's thoughts of "She's a beautiful mermaid, why would she be with an old Captain like me..? :( " And Blue's thoughts of "He's a well respected Pirate Captain! What would he see in a big whale like me..😔" But they get past that eventually-- XDD

And yes! I have drawn them before <XD although those drawings weren't made with my Mario AU in mind.. When they grow up they will definitely be more stylized. :0 Not sure how they'll interact with Bowser as they age, but they are intended to all be his biological children :)

As for the birth order, I haven't thought it through fully,, but I have decided that Ludwig is the oldest and next in line for the throne. And JR is the very youngest with Lemmy being second to youngest. And Larry being 3rd to youngest :00

@solst1ce-sketches

Thank you! And to be honest if the D.A was split and gender swapped, I would just slap on some eye lashes and make them both generally appear more feminine.

Glitchy sun tho.. man, how would Fazbear Entertainment deal with that? <XD

@minnesotamedic186

Thank you!! :DDDD

@rubyplayz12

Wah??

(Post in question)

XD Well? Did it work?

#my response #fnaf security breach #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #cookie run ocs #my ocs

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askcometcare · 6 months

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OOC: Merry Kissmas everyone! So, in case anyone needs a recap, this is all the parents' backstory lore dropped in the Kissmas prequel. I put it all in bullet points, everything listed here is mentioned or implied in dialogue from the comic.

WARNING FOR SPOILERS FOR KISSWAS.

As of Jecember, 6019:

Carrie and Uni are dating and sharing an apartment

Doom and Uni started dating before Mune 6019

Barry and Uni are not in a relationship yet

Additionally, Barry still refers to Uni by her last name, suggesting he still hasn't accepted the unicorn thing

Uni is out of the closet

The first three ships in the Comet polycule to become canon in the AU were Carruni, Doomi, and Carroom (in that order)

Regarding the hospital:

Apparently the CLC government is involved in some sort of coverup for what happened at SC and they're providing the people formerly involved with everything with compensation that includes financial help and housing

According to Carrie, the government is essentially making them lie to everyone about what happened at the hospital in exchange for normal lives - this implies that the world doesn't know what happened at Sparklecare even though they're all free now

Any actual dates regarding when this stuff unfolded and happened were not disclosed or referenced

The whereabouts of Cuddles or whatever happened to him are still unknown

Uni feels a lot of regret over the fact they're being forced to stay silent, and doesn't know if she'll ever truly accept the outcome of what happened to that place

Part of the reason the kids don't know about the hospital is probably related to this (the parents legally cannot tell them)

Other stuff:

Carrie apparently had a crush on Doom before Uni did, and it even went as far back as the hospital days where she would pretend to flirt with him (but apparently wasn't lying about her attraction to him)

Carrie held resentment towards Doom because of the fact he never apologized for what happened with her and Uni, and she felt like her feelings were irrational, so she pretended like her resentment was related to his actions as a nurse at the hospital

Doom gives Uni a meteorite necklace and talks about it manifesting wishes, and this happens immediately before Carries outburst, suggesting it manifested them wanting Carrie to get along with Doom and overcome their problems. It being meteorite also is a reference to the "Comet" name

I hope all this lore was interesting to learn!!! I'm very excited for you guys to see more backstory stuff in the future, and again, Merry Kissmas!!! 💖💖💖💖💖💖

#ooc #arc:kisswas #putting this in the tag for the arc at the end so new readers can get the recap when they finish it

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stnaf-vn · 1 year

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Hello! I just finished playing Friend and it was a very good experience, I wish a could erase my memory and play it again lol I wanted to know if you had share Friend's backstory or past, if so, I'm interested in knowing about him and the other characters in your blog so please tell me where I can read it🙏🏻😩 I'm currently playing A Cry for Help and I look forward to your next project <3

I have! Back before I like knew how tumblr worked, so the comics and stuff I made may have gotten lost....

I'll make a short list here and add them to the FAQ!

TW: CHILD ABUSE, MANIPULATION, FAMILIAL DEATH, DRUG AND ALCOHOL USAGE

Just A Dream

Friend going to Therapy? Friend....crying? High School Friend Friend comes from a wealthy family Friend's Sexuality Friend wears makeup And feminine clothes How Far Would He Go to Have You? Keagan's Opinion on Friend Keagan Talking about....that night.... Aftermath: The 'Accident' Friend's Side of the Story Friend Falling out of Love?

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I'm gonna make a small recap of what Friend's childhood was like behind closed doors, as well as what the 'accident' mentioned before was....

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Friend's Childhood:

Friend grew up in a wealthy home. His mother was a strict and shrewd woman, and his father was also strict. They were both very serious people. Friend's mother wanted to have an heir for the family company that they inherited through their parents (Friend's grandparents). They birthed Friend, and they decided that they wanted to wait to give him a name until they can see what he is capable of, so he didn't receive his birth name until he was old enough to read and write. Because of their lineage of inventors and businessmen and women, Friend's parents expected him to be good at everything he touches as soon as possible. But he wasn't. And so, he was practically cast out of the family. He'd get hit often if he messed up and his mother was very homophobic and hated how "girly" he'd act when he sewed or sung or get in her makeup. Then, he met you. Elementary School. He uh....he was pretty rude to you as kids, and he'd always get annoyed when you'd call out to him.... but, he liked the name Friend. So, he wanted you to just call him Friend. He slowly started getting used to you being around, and he even started being nicer. Although....he was covered in bandages a lot.

His mother thought of him as nothing but a disgrace, so she birthed his sisters: the triplets. After that, his mother gave up on having children as they are "wastes of space" and "can't do anything right." So, she neglected them. Their father, even though he was also pretty stoic himself, was frightened of his wife. Friend practically raised his sisters from elementary to when he was just going into middle school. Which is when the first accident of STNAF happened.... His entire immediate family died in a car crash on their way to a corporate meeting. All Friend has left of them is the amount of wealth given to him and the hair clips his sisters wore. He moved in with his grandparents after that.

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Accident Two: Electric Boogaloo

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In high school, you and Friend were always together 24/7. At the time, he didn't realize he had feelings for you and he was just an average delinquent. His grandparents, although they are nice people, never really got involved in raising him. They just let him do what he wanted. If it wasn't for you, Friend would have probably not passed high school. And there, you met Keagan, an athlete of the school. One day, he suddenly asked you out, and you said yes. Keagan didn't like Friend very much due to the weird "serial killer" aura he gave out (in Keagan's terms), and you and Friend eventually started drifting apart. One night, Keagan started taking you and his friends home. You were the only sober one in the car. And his friend and Keagan thought it'd be funny if they left you in the middle of town, at like 3 AM. So, that's what they did. They drove off without you, leaving you stranded. As this was happening, Friend was also high at a different party. He started getting annoyed because other people kept hitting on him, so he went outside and was desperately wanting you to talk to him Then he got a message from you with your location in it. And he high tailed it to you. (This is where Aftermath: The 'Accident' comes in) That's where the...obsession started. At first, he wasn't sure what to call it. He never felt something like this before, but now.... he just can't imagine his life without you in it. And having you away from him for so long....what if you leave him again? But, he knew what it was when you two graduated and you asked him what his plans are for after high school. He wanted to be with you everywhere you go, do everything you wanted to do together. So, he cleaned himself up, cut his hair, cut back on the weed and alcohol (Although he does indulge from time to time). And, he started studying on how to be the perfect partner. He has mastered every domestic skill needed to have a happy fulfilling relationship. He started working out, and he started actually paying attention to his appearance. He has, and still is, learning how to be the best partner for you. How to be patient, how to make your heart skip a beat, how to be confident but not too confident..... he wants to be perfect for you.

#jesus i didn't realize how much lore I've written over a year--#💾- see thru need a friend game #✨-friend #💔 keagan the tsundere #♡-stnaf lore

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vortainz · 10 months

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How it ends

the ending of IZ is ,, a really odd topic

technically it has 4 endings, well, 4.5

1 : invader dib

no, it in no way was a planned ending ever, but i feel it deserves mentioning considering how prevalent it was

it originally started on TAIZS when the producer was interviewed, he went on to confirm there was a intention to steer the show towards IRK and talking about its “”existence””

(also istg there was a ask where he vaguely explains the plot as a joke but i can’t find it for the life of me)

there were multiple versions of it but there’s two that circulated the most

A: “this special would have allegedly followed Tenn’s kidnapping by the Meekrob, and an all-out war happening between the Meekrob and the Irkens, which would have ended with Zim (aided by Gaz) being victorious over Dib, The Resistys, and the Meekrob, and finally conquering Earth.” (fan wiki)

B: the focus of the show would slowly shift towards irk, dib would get more crazed trying to stop the empire, zim and gaz would team up (or date, depends on who you asked) and stop both dib and the empire. everyone else dies and zagf/r saves the rest of earth

2 : space smoothies

In a nicktoons magazine, IZ made its “””final””” return. in which it had its first comic iteration where zim successfully took over the earth, but just kinda gives up when he sees the merch of himself. dib complains and zim offers to just have a jolly ol’ time in space, them both leaving earth in disarray while just being buds

3 : dookie loop

The “”canon”” ending, basically zim traps dib and the rest of the universe in a timeloop due to not being able to finish a puzzle. blah blah blah i’ll rant about his reasoning for that in another post ANYWAYS,, he eventually finishes it and resigns to fixing the timeline, but the “fix timeline button” doesn’t work and the universe implodes, everyone dies.

4 : nothing is real

i haven’t fully pieced together the lore but this is what ive gathered

rk is god. kinda.

in their orginal universe, zim and dib are real people, dib has gone missing and zim conquered earth. the conditions are really bad till he finally gets the idea to just indoctrinate them all

rk uses the comics as a “coping mechanism” of sorts, avoiding what’s really going on by just reading the comics, it’s really the only think they can do anyways

here’s where my idea sort of splits

A : they continue reading the comics and recapping them all, imagining this fantastical world where life is just zim and dib fighting in middle school, each winning and losing occasionally. rk starts making their own comics and aus, getting more and more absorbed by the characters of zim and dib that anything other than them is incredibly distressing

they get so sucked into their own mind that at this point they feel as though they ARE the creator of these characters and comics. when the story in their mind gets too off track, when it’s getting to the point where it might end, they insert themselves into it and fix whatever issue there was

B : bk (brain kid) is god essentially, rk was originally from the universe as described before but was scooped up by bk at some point and put into the recap section of the comic universe, something similar to in issue 40. in the comic universe, IZ isn’t real, it’s just a comic. yet rk is still able to manipulate the story and interact with the characters, when the comic is finally coming to and end they step in and just start everything over again

oh yeah in both A n B what i mean by ‘the comic ending’ is that earth is burning and no one wins, both zim and dib are about to die

⬆️ sorry if none of this made sense 😭 i’m struggling to word it correctly + still theorizing

4.5 : timetravel

Probably the most simple one, zim conquers earth, dib dies by being stupid, zim gets killed by his younger self, the end. the only reason it’s “4.5” is due to it being specific to the timeline of that issue, as none of the other entries acknowledge it

#invader zim #Vortz #they’re just like me fr (starts sobbing)#apologies for my writing

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tenebraevesper · 1 year

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Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer, Issue #59: Urban Warfare (Part 3)

Finally, it’s here! You guys have no idea how much I had been looking forward to this Issue, and for a good reason, but let’s first admire the art by Nathalie Haines, which was actually drawn like a classical painting. It’s magnificent!

*clasps hands*

Anyways, Urban Warfare (Part 3); what is there to say about it? Holy Hell, what isn’t there to say about it? Honestly, I had been losing my mind the moment I read the summary for it, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. But, before I start, a little recap since it has been a while.

Sonic and the Diamond Cutters (Tangle, Whisper and Lanolin) arrived at Eggperial City to figure out what is going on, and have found out that the city is expanding by itself. As they plan their next move, the Diamond Cutters end up in a different dimension due to one of Eggman’s portals featured in The Test Run Arc, while Sonic calls for reinforcements. Tails, Amy, Blaze and Silver show up and as they progress through the city, they run into Team Dark destroying Badniks left and right.

So, I’m not even one page into the story and I’m already picking up Sonadow energy from this moment. Trust me, I had a field day with this one.

Sonic is genuinely shocked to see Shadow... and only Shadow. I can’t blame him though, considering how their last encounter went.

Yeah, I’m not sure how many of you remember, but Shadow’s last appearance was in The Chao Races and Badnik Bases Arc, where he made some rather questionable decisions, but not as bad as what happened during The Crisis City Arc (aka the Zombot Fiasco), based on how SEGA wanted him to be written in the story. Fortunately, regarding the writing, we had actually gotten some good news in the weeks leading up to Team Dark’s, and especially Shadow’s, reintroduction to the comics.

To keep it short, all that talk about Shadow having a bunch of locks and chains placed on him to keep him in line with their vision... well, they started to break. From what I understood, SEGA gave more workable guidelines for him that allow for more liberties with writing his character - or in other words, Vegeta!Shadow is finally gone!!! As a matter of fact, while reading through the story, the improvement in his character was remarkable. Admittedly, it might not be for everyone, but goddamn, I’m loving it!

Not to mention, this is the first time since The Crisis City Arc that we see Team Dark working together once again. Also, Rouge, why are you calling everyone else kids when you’re only 18? (And yeah, I know SEGA removed the ages for all the characters, but let’s be honest, who pays attention to that?).

Sonic quips how he’s flattered that they’re here to rescue him, but they’re late to the party and... Silver, what the hell are you doing with Blaze?

*laughs* Even Tails and Amy have noticed that Silver is holding Blaze upside down, while he didn’t register any of it. I suppose Silver is too focused on Team Dark’s reappearance to realize what he’s doing.

Shadow just leaps off the scrapped Badniks, replying to Sonic how he has no idea what he’s talking about, nor does he care. Sonic, on the other hand, looks a little disappointed with that answer. I suppose he had been hoping for some banter.

Rouge then quickly brings him up to speed, explaining how she called in “her boys” (I see this as another win for everyone who say Team Dark are friends!) to see what they could do about Eggperial City - aka destroy everything in their path, foil Eggman’s plans and maybe steal some kind of treasure.

Sonic figures that makes sense, but I’m still convinced he’s disappointed they (or rather Shadow) weren’t here to help him out.

Cue Amy shoving Sonic away to talk to Rouge. I saw people saying how she’s just being overprotective of her crush, but I was questioning where Amy’s line of sight is. Amy notes how this is awfully altruistic of Rouge, but as I said above, she’s in because she wants to raid Eggman’s private vaults for a handsome reward.

Tails and Silver are hyped up to work with them to destroy the city though.

Omega notes how the conversation is irrelevant to their mission, and Rouge notes how Team Sonic would just slow Team Dark down and they’d be going off on their own, with Omega also promising to not hit anyone in the crossfire. Honestly, I think this is the nicest thing Omega could tell them.

Meanwhile, Sonic looks so done with everything. We don’t get annoyed Sonic often, so it’s neat to see him like that, and it makes sense, considering how in a (I assume) very short time-span (depending on when Scrapnik Island takes place), he had discovered Eggperial City and was chased by Metal Sonic while keeping Tails, Kit and Belle safe and having his leg injured, fought Surge at least three times, discovered what Starline had done to them, got separated from the Diamond Cutters and is now trying to foil another of Eggman’s plans while being on his territory and having to deal with Badniks.

That, and Rouge said they were slowing Team Dark down.

Never tell Sonic he’s slowing you down. Never.

Oh, and as the cherry on top, Eggman decides to make an announcement. But instead of talking about how he’s gonna blow up the moon, he decides to explain to everyone how the Eggperial City works. It is a self-replicating and self-repairing metropolis. Anything they destroy, dozens more will rise to take its place. Eggman also figures that this would be a nice time to rise the stakes a little, so he calls in for a little surprise.

IT’S THE SHADOW ANDROIDS!!!

To note, we haven’t seen these guys since Whisper’s backstory way back in the Tangle and Whisper Miniseries and before that, we haven’t seen them since Sonic Heroes and Shadow the Hedgehog.

Going by Shadow’s reaction, he’s clearly shocked to see them again, and Eggman’s obviously going to use the Shadow Androids to their fullest potential.

Hell, Eggman has already the popcorn ready, all to happy to watch the carnage unfold. He calls it a stroke of genius in regards of building robots that mimic Shadow’s skills and holding onto them for the right moment (and that’s not even accounting for the mindscrew Shadow had to deal with when he encountered one for the first time).

Metal Sonic, though, is not happy about the Shadow Androids being dispatched. I’m certain that he wants to be the one on the battlefield.

While this is happening, the Diamond Cutters have infiltrated the control room, Lanolin and Whisper sneaking in, while Tangle just strolls inside like she owns the place, much to Lanolin’s chagrin, and points out how no one’s gonna spot them as she places her hand through Metal’s head. Lanolin just sighs, figuring this should make checking the room out easier, while Whisper stares in the screen in pure shock, realizing that the past is about to repeat itself.

She breaks down, and honestly, I really love the backgrounds in this page. We can see the darkness surrounding Whisper as she tells them how everyone’s going to die. However, the moment Tangle reaches for her and comforts her, the darkness slowly fades away, replaced by a ray of light. Tangle hugs Whisper, promising her how things will be fine, and even Lanolin joins in on comforting Whisper. While these three are still learning, they do make a great team.

Speaking of the Shadow Androids, we see Team Sonic fighting them, everyone being clearly in shock to what they are, with Tails being unable to get clear readings about them as they’re too fast. Even Blaze’s fire is not enough to keep them back and they’re strong enough to deal with Amy’s hammer.

Now, I’ll stop here to put a reminder. On the heroes side, no one but Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Whisper and Tangle here knows about the Shadow Androids. Whisper’s encounter with them is obvious, and Tangle saw footage of that, while Shadow, Rouge and Omega ran into them in Sonic Heroes, and Shadow had another (dubiously canonical) encounter with them in Shadow the Hedgehog.

Realizing just how dire the situation is, Sonic calls Silver for help so they can escape. Silver, being the awesome psychic he is, lifts the ground into a ramp and with Blaze frying the Shadow Androids that are after them, Sonic grabs everyone to get away from the robots in pursuit (also, nice Sonamy moment with that little blush).

Team Sonic finds Team Dark after the groups have been briefly separated, with Blaze grabbing Sonic and Amy’s hands and rushing over to help Team Dark. Yeah, there is an error in the panels, as both show Blaze grabbing hands with rings around them, suggesting she was grabbing only Amy’s hand. I suppose the artist forgot to erase the ring to make it clear she was also grabbing Sonic.

Back with Team Dark, Shadow assesses how Eggman’s trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers and how there’s no strategy to their movements, meaning they can be easily manipulated. He figures that, once they move to a better position, they can take them out.

Cue Blaze throwing Sonic and Amy (another error, both are blue instead of being blue and pink) with Sonic spin-dashing and Amy smashing the Shadow Androids that were about to attack Shadow.

With a nose flick, Sonic is right back to quipping, asking Shadow whether he had some cousins he never told them about, while Shadow responds with “Please. These cheap copies don’t deserve to wear my place.”

Have I told you how much I love these two together? (≧◡≦)

As the battle continues, Shadow explains how the Shadow Androids are cheap copies created by Eggman, and how he’ll pay dearly for this insult. Unfortunately, Omega loses his footing and is being brought down by the Shadow Androids, but he keeps on fighting. Realizing how things are getting dire, Rouge asks Shadow to use his own powers against the Shadow Androids, but he responds how it is impossible without a Chaos Emerald (makes me wonder what happened to the Chaos Emerald Rouge stole in the Sonic Annual).

Tails rushes in, telling Shadow how the crystals are also generating Chaos Energy, with Shadow agreeing, but notes how the energy is distorted.

“Fake Emeralds... I hate to stoop to using such a pale substitute, but... it will do.”

Okay, can I say that this panel is absolutely amazing, and what’s about to happen is jaw-dropping!

I swear, this was my reaction to seeing this page:

Not only is the art absolutely gorgeous, but it finally shows Shadow as a pure badass who has the skills to support his title of The Ultimate Lifeform! Honestly, words cannot describe how much I love this! Bow your heads low, all hail Shadow!

And to add a cherry to the top of this moment of awesomeness:

Absolutely badass! It’s really great to see Shadow let loose from time to time. Hell, even Team Sonic is amazed!

Tails, Amy and Silver are starstruck, Rouge is proud of her boy, Blaze is... stunned, to say the least (I suppose she never saw what Shadow was truly capable of), while Sonic figures he should too give it a try.

And yeah, I saw the Dark Sonic jokes floating around. Are you guys forgetting that Sonic was the first to use a Fake Chaos Emerald for Chaos Control back in Sonic Adventure 2? He knows how to handle them.

Shadow then points out that they’re not done yet and goes for another Chaos Control, only for something to happen...

A giant crystal shoots out of the ground, throwing everyone off, while Rouge asks Shadow what’s happening. Shadow is crackling with Chaos Energy, warning her that it’s too much and...

Holy frigging Hell! Shadow unleashes a blast of Chaos Energy, nuking everything surrounding him. Everyone escapes, and when Rouge tries to get back to Shadow and Omega, she’s stopped by the crystals, which are now shooting out from everywhere.

Eggman quickly attempts to regain control of the situation, figuring Shadow would cause trouble. Tangle wonders what happened, with Whisper answering how it was Chaos Overload (how does she know that?). I suppose Shadow used to much of the surrounding Chaos Energy and it was too much for him to handle since the Fake Chaos Emeralds were spread out all over the city. He may be a Master of Chaos Control, but even this would overwhelm someone like him.

Eggman activates the emergency limiter, rebooting the system, noting how it’ll take more to take out his city.

Team Sonic and Rouge observe the destruction Shadow had caused, with Tails figuring it was some runaway feedback loop. Rouge is worried about Shadow and Omega, but Sonic, Silver and Blaze assure her that not only are the two tough, they also know what they’re up against and they can deal with Eggman. Rouge is cheered up, while Sonic looks forward to Shadow’s expression when he saves him.

Yeah, Sonic will never let Shadow live that down.

Back with Eggman, the power has returned, the system got rebooted... and Eggman lost Sonic and co. Lanolin points out how the power surge nearly crippled the entire city, so if they trigger another bigger one, this should destroy it. But in that moment, all three of them become suddenly visible, with Eggman spotting them.

In two magnificent panels, we get an Eggman obscured by shadows, really creeping me out, as he figures they ran into his spatial-displacement trap. He explains how they almost got out when the power dipped, but he has a way of dealing with them, summoning another model of the portal and telling them how this will scatter their atoms into oblivion.

Whisper takes the shot, and honestly, if she still hadn’t been trapped in that other dimension, she would’ve killed Eggman then and there. The blast went right through his chest. Like, this was probably the fourth time she attempted to kill someone in cold blood (first Mimic, followed by another attempt at Eggman’s life, then Surge and now Eggman again).

What’s even more chilling is how calm Eggman is, well aware what his trap had done. It then surrounds Whisper.

Tangle screams for her as Whisper is trapped inside the device, and then spots another one flying for her, only for Lanolin to ram her out of the way and tell her to tell everyone what happened and what to do before getting captured herself.

Tangle is cornered, but she suddenly phases through the window, falling out of the command tower. The story ends on a literal cliffhanger.

Holy Hell, I absolutely loved this Issue! It was beyond awesome for all the reasons I already talked above, but there is one specific thing I wanted to discuss in the ending of this analysis - Shadow’s portrayal.

Honestly, I had absolutely no complaint with how he was written in this Issue. People might not agree with me, but I think Urban Warfare really redeemed him, as rather than being prideful and arrogant, he was more business-like and focused on the mission, pragmatic and patient in explaining to everyone what is going on, as well as having his moments of banter with Sonic.

As for him being taken out of the battle, alongside Omega, I’m actually fine with it, as it’s the manner with how he was put out of commission.

Seriously, compare this:

To this:

It’s not about pride, it’s about saving everyone with his own power, and that’s what I had been missing from IDW!Shadow for so long.

I really hope we’ll see more of this in the future.

Links:

#Previous Issue

#Next Issue

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer (Masterlist)

#Sonic the Hedgehog Analyzer #idw sonic #sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #dr eggman #shadow androids #amy rose #miles tails prower #blaze the cat #silver the hedgehog #rouge the bat #e-123 omega #lanolin the sheep #whisper the wolf #tangle the lemur #metal sonic #orbot and cubot

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asofterhibou · 9 months

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I make no promises of how many of these I will do, but in honor of the Great Magicians Rewatch, here's a part one of a recap of The Magicians season one, episode one, "Unauthorized Magic", for anyone who didn't have time to rewatch but wants a refresher. Notes about spoilers and warnings below the cut.

Spoilers: for season one obviously and also probably future seasons, as I'm not going to hold back commenting on future episodes.

Warnings: The Magicians has so many warnings, friends. So many. I would ask you to please google the warnings for this show if it's at all an issue, but general series warnings: graphic violence, graphic sexual assault, child abuse, heavy themes of depression and suicide, suicide committed on screen at one point, themes of drug and alcohol abuse, graphic animal death.

We begin in New York City in 2015, on a busy city street. A door opens in one of the graffitied buildings and reveals, impossibly, a sunny green lawn on the other side. A man walks through; he's Henry Fogg, Dean of Brakebills University, and he sits on a bench and has a cryptic conversation with a woman named Eliza.

She's late, he says, which in context is very funny. She drops a dead moth on his newspaper and tells him, "It's happening."

"They're not even at Brakebills yet," Fogg says, and she tells him to get 'them' there, and hope they get a little something under their belts before 'he' finds them.

They argue about how much control is possible over the situation, and whose responsibility it is, Eliza saying that Fogg has to train them, because they know nothing, especially 'him'.

"I will do what I can," Fogg says, and Eliza gives him a pocket-watch, tucking it into his jacket pocket.

"You still have an eye on our boy, don't you?" Eliza asks, and Fogg says yes, before admitting the answer is "not exactly."

"Why not? Where is he?"

Cut to: the Statue of Liberty, and a sign saying 'Midtown Mental Health Clinic', and then to a spinning coin on a table, and a finger reaches out to stop it in place - finally, our boy, Quentin Coldwater, hoodie-clad and rolling the quarter across his knuckles before using sleight of hand to make it disappear, as the opening notes of MGMT's 'Pretend' start up, and yeah, it's an excellent fucking intro.

"Wow, nice trick," the psychiatrist sitting across the table from him says, and Quentin looks at her and makes the quarter appear again in his hands.

"I'm sure you're a hit at parties," she says, and Quentin grimace-smiles in a way that says about a million words.

Cut to the party in Julia's loft that night, full of people dancing - and Quentin sitting in a beanbag chair with a red plastic cup in his hands and staring pathetically at the ass of the girl dancing in front of him. She catches him staring and leaves, Quentin hiding his face behind the cup, and we get a back and forth between Quentin being godawful at parties and the conversation earlier that day with the psychiatrist where he tries to convince her that he is totally good to sign himself out of the clinic and leave, despite having signed himself in saying that he couldn't eat or get out of bed, felt like he didn't belong anywhere and was the most useless person who ever lived. (shout-out to Quentin telling someone at the party that the Danish version of a film is better because "the Danish people have a dark soul," iconic, unforgettable) Quentin tells the psychiatrist that when you're a kid you have notions about what life is and what it could be - but eventually you have to let all that go, and that's what he's doing. "It's part of growing up. Selling the comic book collection and getting serious."

At the party, Julia tries to gesture Quentin over to where she and James are sitting, but he retreats.

The psychiatrist asks him what he's doing after graduation, and Quentin tells her he has a grad school interview for Yale on Tuesday. When she says she would recommend further treatment, Quentin says quickly that he's never threatened to hurt himself or anyone else, so she can't make him stay, his confidence slipping slightly at the end with a "Can you?"

Back at the party, Quentin’s hiding in his room reading a book, his meds on the nightstand, his room filled with books and memorabilia of Fillory and Further, a fantasy series. The book he’s reading is Fillory and Further Book One, The World in the Walls, it’s got a old-fashioned cover with a picture of a grandfather clock with rams’ heads carved into the top. We get Quentin’s voiceover giving a summary of the book: the Chatwin siblings Martin, Rupert and Jane had been sent to the countryside, and the three of them enter into the doorway of the grandfather clock and emerge into a forest filled with trees with clocks inside them, a fountain and a castle in the background: the magical land of Fillory.

Julia comes to find Quentin in his room, and tries to talk to him about the girl whose ass he was ogling earlier, because she was wearing a unicorn t-shirt and so clearly is into fantasy, which speaks to a certain level of desperation of Julia’s part here I think. She comes to sit next to him on the bed, Quentin defends his party-reading by saying he’s getting a last look at the first edition before selling it on eBay. Julia scootches down next to him, shoulder to shoulder, says she was calling him all weekend, her voice getting quiet. “Where were you?” Quentin lies and says he was at his dad’s. Julia leans over to kiss his cheek just as her boyfriend James comes in, who fakes shock and then leaps onto the bed yelling “Threesome!” (I love how hard they go at foreshadowing the actual threesome, it’s so important to like, the themes, guys.)

It’s the day of Quentin’s grad interview and Julia’s walking him there, both of them in their wool-coat dark academia best, talking about how Quentin shouldn’t stress at all, “It’s only the alumni interview. It’s only Yale.” “Right, lesser Ivy.” Quentin says Julia doesn't have to come in with him, she smooths his hair and tells him to tighten his shit, their whole relationship in a nutshell.

They go into the house for the alumni interview, there’s no one answering their calls but there is an extremely familiar grandfather clock. And then Julia screams, because there’s also a dead body sprawled in the chair in the corner.

The paramedics are wheeling the body away, and one of the paramedics is Eliza. She hands Quentin a manila envelope before Quentin and Julia leave, saying that she thinks the dead alumni guy had left it for Quentin.

Out in the street, Quentin opens the envelope and finds a handwritten manuscript titled Fillory and Further Book Six, dated 1952. Quentin starts losing his shit in excitement - there are only five Fillory books but there have been rumors of a sixth, Julia is much less enthused. (I get that this has to lead up to the fight they’re about to have, but getting randomly handed a Fillory manuscript from the dead alumni guy’s house actually is pretty weird, so it’s a little strange Julia’s so blase about it) Julia finally tells him he has to stop: “You can’t run away hard enough, can you? What happened to giving up on the Fillory crap?” And then they have an ‘old-friends-with-years-of-built-up-issues’ fight; Quentin’s side - Julia uses to like Fillory, Julia in fact got him into Fillory, it was their thing, Julia’s side, I liked it (I loved it, she says), and it was silly nerdy bullshit that got us through high school, but -; Quentin: “it never seemed to bother you until right around the second you met James.”

Julia stops, then brings out the big guns too - she knows he was at the mental hospital this weekend, not at his dad’s, and that he feels the same as he did the last time. “Life is starting, for real,” Julia says. “You’re good at so much stuff, pick something. Please. Start living your life,” and like, she’s not completely wrong, but it’s not helpful, and Quentin’s not having it. And she has to leave to go meet James, of course. “I love you. Call me, okay?” and Quentin says nothing as she walks away. (also the first time you hear what I think of as ‘the sad magicians theme’ which rips at my heart every damn time. someone please tell me the real name of this music)

Quentin walks alone down the street with his manuscript, a page blows away from it and he chases it down an alleyway.

Julia goes into a building and gets in an elevator.

Quentin chases his lost paper into a gated wintry garden, and Julia’s elevator is going down to the parking garage instead of up.

Quentin pushes his way through the tall bushes at the back of the garden - and emerges into sunlight, onto a large green field with imposing college campus like buildings all around him.

Julia’s elevator opens into a bright hallway with a sign saying ‘To Exam’. Julia walks down the hallway and we see Quentin outside her building walking in parallel with her: wherever they are, it’s the same place.

Quentin walks across the field to Eliot, who’s stretched out smoking a cigarette on the large stone sign that says “BRAKEBILLS”. Eliot pulls a card out of his pocket, checks the name, and asks, “Quentin Coldwater?” like it’s the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard. He then gives Quentin a once-over, tells him he’s late, and to follow him. Quentin’s freaking out, Eliot tells him he’s at Brakebills University in upstate New York and has been offered a preliminary exam for entrance to the grad program; and also points out that it doesn't do much good to ask your suspected hallucinations if they're hallucinations.

Quentin and Eliot get to the exam room, and we get a good first look at Penny who’s also at the exam, and Penny’s amazing biceps, thank you for that. Quentin and Julia start to work on the exam, a paper booklet whose questions move and change. Julia tries to ask a question and is refused.

As they go up to the front to pass in the finished exam, Quentin and Julia see each other and hug. Quentin’s relieved that Julia’s here and seeing what he’s seeing, since he just started new meds and was worried none of this was real.

In the next room for the final exam, Julia is alone except the examiner sitting across from her, who says first that they suspected she has nascent magical abilities - Julia smiles and starts to say, “I used to think that -” (a moment for me to cry over baby Julia who thought she had magic and then clearly put that aside with the rest of her childish things) and then the examiner tells her actually she failed the written exam and he’s there to send her home. Julia immediately starts to protest, says the test was crazy, “don’t you want students who make actual inquiry instead of just accepting like sheep?” The examiner gives her a look, and she reins in it, puts on the charm instead, says she can’t go to Yale if she knows this place exists. The examiner says essentially no worries, because she’s not going to remember this place exists. He gets up to sanitize his hands, and Julia takes off one of her rings and scratches it hard up the inside of her right arm, drawing a long line of blood.

In Quentin’s final exam room, there’s a panel of judges with Fogg sitting in the middle. “Quentin,” Fogg says, “let’s see some magic.” He places a pack of cards on the table.

Quentin starts to do card tricks, Fogg asks for real magic. Quentin drops cards on the floor, picks them up as Fogg gets up from his seat and starts to circle him. Fogg asks if Quentin wants to go back to his old life (“that pointless, miasmic march to death”), back to feeling alone and wrong. “No.” “Then quit dicking around.” “Stop it.” “And do some goddamn magic!”

“I said stop it,” Quentin yells, and does some goddamn magic, the cards in his hands flying into the air and then hanging in place, before spinning into shapes that turn into a castle made of cards on the judges’ table. “Holy shit, I’m doing this,” Quentin says. (Notable: the card castle is Whitespire, the castle in Fillory with the spinning towers; and the shadow of the cards flying through the air looks creepily similar to the shadow of the cloud of moths that we’ll see later) Quentin passes out in a dead faint on the floor and the castle collapses.

Quentin’s walking in a dark forest, looking at a clock tree: Fillory. When he goes to touch the clock, the young girl sitting in the tree warns him that time magic is difficult, “you’ll just make it worse.” It’s Jane Chatwin from the Fillory books, and she appears next to Quentin on the ground to tell him that it won’t stop the Beast from coming. “You’re in the school, he’s going to find you. You’re the one he wants.” She tells him to look down - he’s standing on a stone path. If you stay on the garden path, the Beast will kill you, she says, kill everyone. Step off the path, or -

There’s a growling sound, a blast of wind and a glowing blue moth flying directly at Quentin’s face - and he sits up in bed, waking up from his dream.

End of part one.

#the magicians #the magicians recaps #the magicians recaps season one #unauthorized magicians rewatch

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duhragonball · 1 year

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Dragon Ball Super 062

How it started.

How it’s going.

Last time, Trunks got really really really really mad, and transformed into some other variation of Super Saiyan. So now he’s almost as strong as a Super Saiyan Blue, which doesn’t help, since Goku Black is currently 4-0 against Super Saiyan Blues.

Vegeta tries to jump in, but the Zamasu double-team moves are just impossible for them to cope with.

And Goku’s down with a nasty case of a big hole through his torso. Funny how he’s actually selling in this episode when it seemed to just make him stronger in the previous episode. Fuck this arc so hard.

The best Trunks’ new form seems to be able to do is to hold Black and Zamasu off long enough for the others to retreat in the Time Machine. Vegeta hates this idea, but he hated the idea of coming here without a plan, and everything that’s happened on this trip has proved him correct. He shouldn’t see this as a cowardly retreat, but a correction of an earlier blunder.

So Bulma and Vegeta return home with Goku, and Bulma is furious with Beerus. She tells him what happened, which isn’t too complicated since it’s basically the exact same thing that happened on the first trip to fight Black. Nothing has changed. Beerus destroying Zamasu in the present day didn’t accomplish diddly dick.

Beerus tries to play it cool by acting more bemused than shocked. He admits he had a feeling it might turn out this way, since Trunks did make a compelling argument for this. But Bulma’s pissed because he acted so insulted when the others doubted him. She nearly takes a swing at him, but Vegeta tells her they need to focus on finding a way to help Trunks.

As for Beerus, once he hears Vegeta’s report of the situation, he takes his leave. As far as he’s concerned, the situation has been resolved in this reality, which is the only one he’s beholden to. The Earthlings may do whatever they wish going forward, but his involvement is concluded. Whis wishes Bulma good luck. She seems upset to see them go, but it’s not like they were doing that much before, you know?

I mean, they helped save “our” Gowasu, but that guy sucks so who cares? They got rid of “our” Zamasu, but that’s the equivalent of Krillin blowing up the embryonic Cell in Gero’s basement, while the adult Cell is running around drinking whole Battlebowl teams. And they helped uncover the mystery of Goku Black’s identity, but I’m not sure knowing who he is really changes the calculus of this battle. Besides, he seemed quite happy to explain the whole thing himself.

Vegeta takes a walk to think this out, and Kid Trunks goes to the one person he can count on for support: Goten. Hey, yeah, remember Goten? He’s barely done anything in this whole arc. And... he still won’t do anything from here on. I find this annoying, because they put him on that still at the end of the opening credits, which shows all the major players in this saga.

See? There in the upper right. Goten. The implication is that it’s Goku, Mai, and Trunks against Zamasu and Goku Black, with Kid Trunks, Goten, and the Pilaf Gang doing comic relief bullshit. That’s mostly turned out to be true, except for Goten being involved. And it’s not like I’m a huge Goten fan or anything, but that still feels like a bait-and-switch.

Anyway, this leads to Chi-Chi and Gohan coming over to find Goku and Goten, and everyone meets in the yard and this is how Chi-Chi finds out what’s been going on all day. She started cooking food for Goku while she waited for him to come home, and now she’s got tons of food, which works out, because Goku’s starving after that liver-stabbing defeat he suffered in the future.

I’ll skip the part where they recap the whole Saga for the other characters. All that matters is that Bulma will have the time machine refueled in twelve hours, but they need a strategy to beat those dickholes. Piccolo has an idea: The Evil Containment Wave, also known as the Mafuba.

Just in case you’re new to this: The Mafuba was Plan A for defeating King Piccolo in his saga during Dragon Ball. Roshi’s master, Mutai-Itoh, developed the move when King Piccolo first attacked the world centuries earlier. Since King Piccolo was too powerful to defeat by force, Mutai-Itoh focused on developing a technique that would contain King Piccolo by sealing him up in a pot, where he could never harm anyone again. It worked, but Mutai-Itoh died from the intense physical toll of the technique. When King Piccolo returned, Roshi attempted to use the move again, but he missed. Tien tried to use it himself, but his jar got damaged before he could make the attempt. So the world had to settle for Plan B, which was the Goku-Beats-the-Ever-Loving-Fuck-out-of-King-Piccolo Technique. Plan B was awesome.

The bottom line is that this could be a way to defeat Zamasu despite his invincible body. Goku just needs someone to show him how to perform the move. Piccolo offers, since he used it himself to turn the tables on Kami in the 23rd Budokai, but Goku ignores him and teleports to Roshi to learn it from him. Quite a sick burn on King Piccolo’s son. Plan B’s a long game.

So while Roshi teaches Goku to practice on Turtle, Vegeta goes to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber to train, since he’s clearly not strong enough as he is now.

Meanwhile, Beerus returns... to Gowasu’s home in Universe 10? Seems he isn’t finished with this matter after all. Whis confides in Gowasu that Beerus feels responsible for things going poorly, since he was sure he had solved everything by destroying Zamasu in Episode 59. The trouble is, while Beerus is sure he could easily take out Black and Future Zamasu, they’re in the future of an alternate timeline, so he can’t get to them without violating the rule against time travel. But Gowasu can, so Beerus tells him the entire story, and Gowasu resolves to take responsibility for this. Well that’d be a first...

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drifting-pieces-blog-blog · 8 months

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Breaking down the comics: Visions of the past (issue 32)

Moon Knight, Issue #32: When the Music Stops (Part 2)

Written by Doug Moench and art done by Kevin Kowlan and Carl Potts.

Tag line: How many more will have to die before the final note is played, the grimmest of dance finally done?

The end of the story also has a short:

"Cancer" Written by Alan Zelenetz, Marc Silvestri, and Gary Kwapisz.

Tag Line: Somewhere in the hospital there is a desperate man with a gun and the person he has to kill.

We open on Moon Knight overlooking a block.

"A slum stuffed somewhere in the gray miasma called Brooklyn. Directionless, its bleak streets are ruled by poverty, hopelessness, despair....and gangs."

We have a mild recap of the last issue.

A 17 year old boy named Lenny who paces Dough Row, heading back to the pawn shop to buy back a pawned dream, his old music box.

As he walks he starts to get a higher point of view on what is happening. The thug life, the protection money racket, the gang wars, selling his mother's prized music box....

"But how, Lenny wonders, has it come to this?" He views himself trapped by fate, careening down a tunnel without a way out.

He recalls his tossle with Lewis and Moon Knight.

He views his gang in memory as they declared to make Lewis an example and asks why he volunteered to collect the money. Why he felt the need to come up with the money on his own.

The music box was almost like fate handing him an out.

A hysterical mother begs him to get the box back, thinking it was stolen. He promises to get it back.

Now, as he walks the street, he holds the cash in his pocket. He has to use it to quell the Savage Studs...Or buy back the box.

Shank, the gang leader spots Lenny and calls out to him, asking for the money.

Lenny lies. "Uh...No...I ain't got it. I...I been thinkin' Shank and I decided..."

Wrong thing to say. Shank is pissed and demands that they all go to the pawn shop now to get the money. On the way, why not also make example of a few other shops too?

They grab Lenny and force him to come along.

Back at Grant Mansion, Moon Knight prepares to take off. He confides in Marlene that he feels he was too hard on the shopkeepers, stopping them from standing up for themselves. He decides to go make sure things are alright and that they stay protected.

They bust into the pawn shop and Lewis comes running.

Shank sends Lenny forward and tells him to do his job and shake down the old man.

"Don't fight it, Lenny-Not now--It's too late. I...I'll give you the money...But you still won't be able to buy back what you lost." Lewis tells him it's okay.

It's not enough for Shank. He doesn't just want the money. Now he wants blood.

Sometimes the quiet moments in comics speak louder than anything that can be said.

Moon Knight arrives to find shattered windows. He's too late.

The other shop keepers have arrived and are gathered around Lewis' body.

The shopkeepers are angry. They yell at Moon Knight.

"You! You're what happened! If you'da let us take care of it before it reached this point--"

He argues that there would have been more dead if they had fought.

He tries to make them understand, but they won't listen and they tell him to leave. He isn't welcome there.

"And despite his protests...Their words sting sharply... Perhaps he is responsible."

He walks to the wharf. There he finds the club house just as Gena's boys, Ricky and Ray, promised.

Inside, the Studs are not happy with Shank.

The other members are displeased with the death of Lewis and Lenny isn't there.

You know who is there?

Moon Knight kicks in the door dramatically and declares "The kid gloves are off, Studs. Now that it's murder, you've just come of age."

These young thugs have nothing on Moon Knight's combat training.

He takes the out so easily. An all out brawl and he doesn't hold back.

The details on that glove are amazing.

With the gang beaten, Moon Knight asks "All right, who did it? Who killed the pawnbroker?"

Lenny walks in. "Leave 'em alone, Moon Knight. I did it."

He tells Moon Knight that the other members of the gang have had enough. He wants them to get a second chance and he surrenders himself.

Moon Knight tells him that it was an accident. That he could testify on his behalf.

"Yeah, sure--And how 'bout another song and dance about the dreams bein' mended someday, huh?"

"Healing is possible, Lenny."

"Maybe, Moon Knight, but right now I don't believe it..."

He asks Moon Knight for a favor before he gets turned in.

Unfinished business for his mother.

They return to the smashed up pawn shop where he turns in the cash.

"You were wrong, old man--I am redeemin' the ticket."

He places the money on the counter and picks up the music box.

This particular two parter is very bitter sweet. You see Moon Knight struggling to help and talking about healing. He helps a young man that has similar views to what he once had as a young Marc Spector. Perhaps he feels that helping this kid can somehow help Marc.

Yet in the end, the pawnbroker is dead, the kids will not be able to afford putting on the big dance they wanted, the gang breaks up, and Lenny is going to jail.

Moench does a lot of stories that don’t have clear cut villains. There are no evil big bad guys or super villains out to destroy the world. More often than not, it is just an average down on their luck person with no way to a clear cut victory.

It’s these stories where you see what’s happening in the world in those times and what is still happening. You have small stories that are close to home. You also have what feels like closer stories to Moon Knight. You see him try and often fail to help.

Moon Knight has always had a soft spot with the teenage punk. With the rebellious youth and the kids that feel they have nothing ahead of them but violence.

Jake connects with Gena and her boys, knowing they don’t have a father and he works to keep them off the streets and away from drugs and gangs as best he can. The heart of the Moon Knight system will always remember their own pain and do what they can to help those avoid the same path.

EVEN MORE SO. This story took a special interest for me because of a callback. A lovely friend and fellow Moon Knight enthusiast (FAR bigger fan than I ever could hope to be and that’s saying something) pointed out to me that The Moon Knight revival of 2014 (after Bendis' horrid run and before Lemire blessed us). We had Ellis, Wood, and Bunn take on Moon Knight in an effort to draw interest back in and bring the character back to how it was when Moench first started painting us the picture.

You see, Moon Knight was in trouble at Marvel. Interest had tanked and he was in danger of getting dumped and forgotten about. As luck would have it, the Editor and chief of Marvel at the time, Joe Quesada, claimed to be a huge Moon Knight fan and was super hopeful about this edgy run, and then super disappointed in how badly it tanked.

In a last ditch effort, Mr. Ellis stepped up and requested he have a crack at Moon Knight.

Ellis is known for a certain style and Marvel shrugged and said "Why not".

Ellis started his run by doing callbacks to original popular stories.

In issue 3 of Vol 1 by Warren Ellis and the amazing Declan Shalvey, we find Moon Knight facing down a gang of ghosts.

The title of this issue? "Box".

Boy those punks sure do look familiar.

This particular issue gave us the glorious Khonshu armor designed to kick ghost ass.

And of course Moon Knight kicks the ghost butts. He hates ghosts. Chasing the ghosts down, he finds their main hide-out. And….

Moon Knight finds the music box. Inscribed on the bottom "Johnny, be good. Love Mom."

Now, we know in the original run, the punk's name was Lenny. But Johnny Be Good is a reference to a song.

Hard to say.

Look at those skeletons huddled together in the corner. Each a bullet in their heads.

As Moon Knight leaves, he takes the box with him where the ghosts now reside. Flying away, he drops the box into the river to let it be buried.

While most likely not the original gang of Studs from before, the reference is clear and so very appreciated. Most of the stories in Ellis’ run end on this note of sadness and a feeling of loss for the past.

Honestly, it works because the past is now so bitter to him. His struggles have come to a breaking point and the peace here is far away.

It’s just a little extra tidbit that I really appreciated once I figured out the reference. And Modern Moon Knight is still filled with references to Moench. You just have to know where to look.

---

As a juxtaposition to the story of lost dreams, we now come to the short:

"Cancer" by Zelenetz. We're going to see a lot of stories by Zelenetz. He starts to fill in for Moench when he's out and does a lot of the shorts.

We open on a doctor talking to another man.

"Bilateral inoperable carcinoma of the lung. In Layman's terms, it's quite simple, Mr. Fixler. Your brother's dying."

He tells Mr. Fixler he wasted a trip and should have just called.

Mr. Fixler begs Dr. Steele to do something. He loves his brother and he feels Dr. Steele has just written him off.

Dr. Steele brushes it all off. "Your fraternal devotion is commendable, but I'm afraid it doesn't concern me as a diagnostician."

Mr. Fixler calls Dr. Steele out on his attitude.

"You know, Joey may have cancer in his body, but you, mister, you have got it in your soul. You're the one oughtta be dying."

Mr. Fixler leaves and Dr. Steele sips his coffee, not at all bothered.

"Elsewhere, early that evening, at the Mansion owned by Steven Grant, Millionaire alias of the Silver and jet crusader known as Moon Knight..."

We see Moon Knight returning to the mansion. Steven walks into the room, running late to get them to a fancy dinner set to help raise money and open a new hospital wing.

He removes the cape, but puts the tux on over the Moon Knight suit.

Marlene calls him out on it and asks why he feels he needs to wear it to a charity event.

"Aw, c'mon toots. You know it's my security blanket. Besides, Moon Knight's as much of a philanthropist as Steven Grant. He just gives his charity differently."

Back at the hospital, Mr. Fixler is visiting his brother, who is hooked up to breathing machines and IV drips, asleep in the hospital bed.

"Hot shot doctor tells me to get a private-duty nurse. 'This isn't a hotel', he says. 'we don't wait on patients hand and foot'." He hates how helpless his brother is and how he seems so far gone. All the tubes and lines connecting to him just to keep him alive and suffering.

His brother wakes up and looks over, but he is unable to say or do anything.

In the grand part of the hospital, the charity event is happening.

Dr. Steele is giving a big speech about why he's a doctor. Considering what we just witnessed, it's a little full of bull.

Steven can hardly hold his tongue, making small remarks to Marlene about the level of corn involved.

"You want me to pass him the salt and butter for all his corn?"

The Doctor's pager goes off but Dr. Steele ignores it.

Apparently Dr. Steele has a reputation of being cold and uncaring as a computer.

Nearby, Mr. Fixler has decided to take matters into his own hands. He collects a gun and heads back to the hospital.

Gunfire rings out and an announcement goes off over the loudspeaker.

"There has been a shooting reported on the premises. Please stay where you are until members of our staff have given you clearance."

Steven hulks out of his tux and bolts out as Moon Knight.

Yeah, he takes out the cops.

"Don't worry though, I'm not in this for the bounty. Soon as I find our mystery sniper, he's yours."

He races around the hospital where it looks like everyone else is just carrying about their business despite an active shooter.

Not to say mass shootings weren't a problem back then, because they absolutely were, but the social response has absolutely changed. Perhaps with the more prominent availability of not just instant news, but of video, the reality of an active shooter would cause far more of a scene than what we see here. And this bothers me for a lot of reasons. Especially seeing a comedy of Moon Knight running around the halls causing chaos as he passes people standing and talking or at the water fountain or of nurses casually handing out lunches.

It really bothers me.

The loud speaker alerts that someone's been shot up on the top floor and Moon Knight heads that way.

Out on the fire-escape, he grapples up to the top floor. Mr. Fixler sits in his brother's hospital room.

"I had to do it." He sits on his brother's bed as Moon Knight bursts in. Only to find that Joey is the receiver of his brother's bullet.

"You can go an' arrest me now. Joey's out of his misery. I just couldn't leave him suffering like a dog anymore. The Lord wasn't handling it--Blasted Doctor didn't care...So I shot him, fast as I could. Didn't hurt him. Then I took off all them ugly tubes. Look at him. Isn't he the most peaceful guy you've ever seen?"

The cops arrive and Moon Knight takes his leave, looking sad.

Back at Grant Mansion, we see Steven in bed with Marlene, looking pensive.

"It's a matter of heart, I guess, Steven. To end somebody's life for them." She tries to comfort him.

This bothers me too. This line to this System. Considering everything they have been through.

Steven accepts it. "I know. Still, Marlene, the whole sad thing--It kind of reminds me of one of those days you take out the flag, wave it, and throw it away."

The next morning we see Dr. Steele at his desk sipping coffee as he signs a death certificate. He asks the nurse to remind him which case it was. He can't bother to care.

It’s a story that we’ve probably all seen before. A doctor that can’t be bothered to care about his patients. The line of leaving our loved ones to suffer vs. putting them out of their misery.

I’m not going to get into it. That’s a can of worms I’m not willing to open up here for some very personal reasons.

If you really want to know what I think you are welcome to DM me. I’m also willing to discuss the social changes in America in regards to gun violence over the ages. Considering this was published in 1983 and we are reading this now in 2023, a lot has gone on.

So the big question here is did the writer have something to say?

That’s what stories are about. A message to get across. A way to move the audience to feel something and to think about things.

Probably not in the way it was intended, it is making me think about things and I do have a reaction to it. But was this told well?

Again, we see Moon Knight reacting to something and arriving too late and once again feeling like he could not help. Not to mention wondering if it even a right act or not. A lot of times it isn’t clear cut what the right response is.

Maybe this is unique to Moon Knight writing in particular. Something that’s always been there. An underlining of trauma and points of view that are not clear cut.

What’s even more interesting is how this will ebb and flow as the years progress with different writers. Some chose to ignore it and take the more ‘heroic’ route and others dive into it so deeply that perhaps we miss the character response altogether.

What do you think? A victim of the time or a shot in the dark that just didn’t land?

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight comics #Analyzing the comics #It's almost midnight so it's time to once again post a thing #I really liked the story of the music box and punks #I really did not like the short #Anyone interested in one day reading about the rise and fall and rise of Moon Knight?#I sat in on a panel with Joe Quesada during the Bendis run #Anyways #I babble too much #the ten picture limit is driving me nuts

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tinyinvadr · 1 year

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It’s been a couple days, but I’m back with a new chapter! I’ve been kinda stressed out lately, but I wanted to get another chapter out since I love this story so much and I wanna have at least one good thing happen today lol. Also I finally got my hands on Dookie Loop Horror last night, so now I officially own all the Zim comics! I would like my award now.

Borrowed Family

Chapter 5

“Rosie, please be quiet. Do you want the humans to hear you?”

I was running around our house, playing with my plushies, when my parents stopped me.

“What’s the big deal with humans, anyway? Aren’t they sort of like us?”

Dad placed a hand on my shoulder.

“No, Rosie. They’re monsters. Monsters who want us dead. And if they find out we’re here, they’ll see to it that we’re all killed, understand?”

“But… maybe some of them are nice! And the family that lives here has kids! Can’t I go play with them?”

He looked me dead in the eyes with the coldest glare.

“If they see you, they will kill you. The only thing you’d be playing with is our lives. I don’t want to hear another word about this.”

“But-“

“ENOUGH!!!”

I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. I always hated when Dad yelled at me.

“Humans will never be our friends. Put those childish fantasies aside and accept the truth. If you don’t, we’ll all have to suffer for it. Now, keep it down.”

Just as I was giving him a little nod, the walls began to shake. A human hand burst through the wall like it was nothing, and it was grabbing at everything, trying to reach us.

Before I could run, the hand grabbed me. I looked to my parents, crying even harder.

“MOM! DAD! HELP!”

They both just stood there, looking at me with disappointment.

“Now look at what you’ve done.”

That was the last thing I saw before the hand pulled me out of the wall. My family, the only family I’ve ever known, ashamed of me.

The second I was fully out, I heard the human laughing. I almost didn’t recognize the voice, but then he said something that made my blood run cold.

“I have you now, Recap!”

I was turned around, forced to face Dib. He had an evil smirk on his face as he loomed over me, holding me tightly in his fist.

“Dib!? Why!?”

He kept laughing at me. “Did you really think I wanted to be your friend? I lured you right into my trap! Your parents were right, you ARE stupid!”

I woke up in a cold sweat, my heart pounding like it wanted to burst out of my chest. It didn’t help that I didn’t immediately recognize where I was, either.

The bedroom door suddenly opened, and I yelped and jumped back as Dib came into the room.

“Recap? What are you doing up?”

I inched further back as he approached the desk.

“Whoa, are you okay? Did you have a nightmare or something?”

I shut my eyes as he got closer, waiting for him to grab me like he did in my dream. But after a few seconds, I realized he wasn’t making any moves to reach for me, and I opened my eyes.

Dib was looking down at me, but with concern. He could tell something was wrong, and he stayed at somewhat of a distance.

“You’re… still scared of me, aren’t you?”

“I… y-yeah…”

Surprisingly, he didn’t look too upset.

“I understand. You just went through something awful, you only just met me, and I’m basically a giant to you, of course you’re scared. But… even if it doesn’t feel like it, you did the right thing coming back here.”

At that point, I wasn’t sure what to say. In only a couple days, my entire life got so much more complicated than I ever thought it would be. Though, I guess if my dream is anything to go off of, these problems have always existed, I just learned to ignore them.

“If it makes you feel better, I can go sleep downstairs on the couch.”

“N-No! I mean… I’m scared, but… being alone would be a lot worse…”

He simply nodded.

“Okay… then maybe we could stay up and talk for a little while, until you feel more comfortable. It doesn’t have to be about anything heavy, just, anything that you think would calm you down.”

I thought it over for a minute. What could I even talk about? I didn’t want to go into the details of my dream, especially since he wouldn’t exactly love hearing that I saw him as a monster. Then, I thought of something.

“This is probably a dumb question, but… do you ever feel scared?”

He chuckled. “All the time. I think I mentioned him a couple times, but there’s this alien in my class, Zim, and he seriously terrifies me. The amount of times he’s almost killed me… yeah, I definitely need therapy.”

“If you’re afraid, why don’t you try to stay away from him?”

“Heh… it’s complicated. You see, I’m the only one who knows Zim’s an alien. Well, Gaz knows, but she doesn’t care. And because of that, I’m the only one who can stop his evil plans. It’s my duty to defend Earth and protect the people I care about… even if they don’t always appreciate it…”

It was hard to believe how much pressure he was under. He was only a couple years older than me, and he had to deal with all this. The responsibility of keeping his family safe shouldn’t fall on him alone.

In a way, he was a lot like me…

While my parents didn’t expect me to protect them, they still wouldn’t let me just be a kid. Everything that I did had to be considered from the the perspective of “will my family die because of me?”

That’s… not something that kids should have to go through.

“Dib… I’m sorry for freaking out. You’re not a monster. You’re a kid, just like me.”

“You don’t need to apologize. I can’t even begin to imagine what it’s like being so small. You’re a lot braver than I would be in your place.”

To be honest, I really didn’t feel all that brave. I ran away from my problems and went to a kid I only just met in the hopes that he would help me.

Then again, I’m not really sure what I would’ve been proving if I chose to stay in the house with the family that didn’t want me. Maybe this was the better option after all.

Dib let out a yawn. “Do you think you’re ready to try going back to sleep?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but, um… Could you do that thing where you pick me up and rub my head again?”

He chuckled as he scooped me up and pressed me against his chest like he did before, gently hugging me and running his thumb across my head.

“Things are gonna be different now, I promise.”

After a few minutes, I started to feel tired again, and he put me back down on the coat. The real Dib was nothing like what I saw in my dream, and I could rest easy knowing that. I couldn’t say the same about my parents, but at least I knew for sure that no matter what horrible things my mind had to throw at me, I would be safe in the morning when I woke up.

#giant/tiny #g/t #giant tiny #g/t community #invader zim #borrowed family

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thompsborn · 7 months

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Hello!!! i’m so interested in the HB2 plot! I feel like we see peter angst way more commonly than Harley—so if you ever feel up for rambling about it under a cut or a spoiler tag this is a free space to do so! He really is my blorbo and you’re my favorite fic writer so I know whatever happens it’ll be amazingly done but I’m dying for hints at more of what that’ll look like! Are we talking, like, caught in the literal crossfire or devastating hostage situation 😂

okay before i do the harley rambles i!? I’m your favorite fic writer??? my guy what the FUCK that’s so sweet but also have u read any of sarah’s fics?? oddy’s parkner fic or oddy’s parksborn fic??? ANY of the Classic Iconic parkner fics circa 2020-2021?

i’m actually very VERY slowly making a parkner fic rec list to post at some point but just. WHAT. there are So many INCREDIBLE fic writers and saying i’m your favorite is BONKERS to me but also so nice i ??? thank you??? oh my god???? ❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙

okay anyway sorry to what the ask was actually about pfkfj, HARLEY!!! i agree it’s definitely a lot easier to come across peter angst than harley angst, which most likely has to do with the fact that there is a LOT of material to draw from for peter’s character—various movies, comics, shows, timelines and universes and the games. it’s a lot easier to come up with angst for peter because there’s a lot of canon angst to choose from AND there’s so much content for him that it’s a lot easier to get a grasp on his character and create angst based on that, you know? but as a fandom we have definitely created many ideas of harley based on when he was a kid in im3 and his cameo in endgame, plus the WEB comics + ride at avengers campus, so harley angst is for sure out there but like you said it is NOT easy to come across lmao

as for the HB2 plot—i have an ask in my drafts from like a month or two ago asking for more information about hb2 and i’m gonna try to finally finish answering that and post it sometime today, so that post will definitely include some insight in what to expect from the sequel, but harley in hb2 specifically? i GOTCHU.

OKAY !!! let's do this!!

so homeward bound, as i've said before, is PETER'S story post no way home, right? but in hb2 it's peter AND HARLEY'S story post homeward bound. the first chapter is a recap of the first fic from harley's pov with a lot of extra bits thrown in, starting on the day that thanos first snapped and ending either where the first fic ends or maybe in the summer between school years. unsure as of now but one of those, for sure. so that's going to offer a lot of perspective about harley's character in homeward bound - his thought processes, how he was feeling in a lot of key moments during the first fic, things he was doing while peter wasn't around, etc etc etc.

but in hb2, after the recap in the first fic, it picks up at the start of their second year at ESU. he might still be roommates with harry. he might not be. it won't be the same room at the very least, so no matter what, there's going to be some changes, right? but also:

everything is different.

there are the small changes - not the same room, harder classes as they climb their way through the pre-reqs, potentially a different roommate, some stuff happened over summer, etc.

but also there are the BIG changes, like his dynamic with peter, and knowing that peter is spidey and now being a part of keeping that a secret due to peter not wanting anyone else to know. he also knows about the spell and he knows that peter is someone tony loved, someone that pepper and morgan and happy and rhodey knew and cared about, and none of them remember him, but they know harley.

with harley's pov comes the reintroduction of the rest of the world, basically. peter has no one, right? his old life was completely destroyed and erased, leaving no connections to the people he used to know, so he's been VERY closed off from everyone and everything.

harley, however, still knows pepper and morgan and happy and rhodey. he still talks to them on a regular basis. he has his mom and his sister. he isn't closed off in classes like peter is, actually having conversations with his classmates, even if he has no interest in befriending them. peter's pov has been very limited because his world has been completely changed. harley's has been changed too via the loss of tony and him being dead for five years while his mom and his sister had to adapt to a life without him there, but it's not been changed to the extent of peter's, you know?

harley is going to have a few struggles in hb2, some centered around peter, some not. there's going to be family stuff. there's going to be this urge to tell pepper and them about peter because he thinks that peter would benefit from having these people in his life again but also he wants to respect the fact that peter doesn't feel ready to do that.

there's going to be some conflict about the people in his life learning that he's involved with spider-man's business somehow. there's going to be people getting angry at spider-man because of it.

a lot of mental and emotional turmoil is going to come out of all this. but, in the physical sense, he's not going to be entirely safe, either. again, people are going to realize he's somehow connected to spidey. he's going to want to do whatever he can do to help peter, to the point where he's going to get a little reckless with it sometimes.

caught in the crossfire? yeah.

hostage situation? no. at least, not in hb2. not that i currently have planned. that could change, but as of my current plans, no.

hope that's enough information to build some intrigue >:)

#homeward bound fic #homeward bound fic spoilers

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isfjmel-phleg · 6 months

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After the end of YJ 1998 and years of canceled-comic limbo and the occasional guest appearance (including being among the few survivors of Grant's team that got brutally attacked), Ray ended up in another team book in 2007, Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters. This was the current incarnation of the team his dad used to be on, so it makes sense for him to be there. And the arc they gave him was to address his long-ignored relationship with his dad. A complicated issue, but one that had potential as a premise.

...they just didn't do it from Ray's POV.

The narrative presents the conflict by...not really presenting the conflict. It would have been helpful to have a recap of Ray's issues with his dad, since those hadn't been addressed since a series that ended in 1996. It would have been useful to let the audience know that what happened was that Happy arranged for his son to be raised in the dark believing that sunlight would kill him (really to prevent his powers from activating), stayed out of Ray's life and let him believe that his uncle was his father, had Ray told that his mother was dead when she was not, told his wife that their son was dead when he was not, continued with the lies and manipulation once he and Ray finally met, treated his son with contempt and harshness, refused to acknowledge that he had ever done anything wrong, and...oh by the way, there's another son thirty years Ray's senior who's been cryogenically frozen at age eight for decades because Happy couldn't handle this kid's powers.

All of that would have been good to know for an audience not already familiar with these characters.

Instead, all this narrative will disclose is that there's a rift between father and son because of something unspecified about Happy's parenting, but they're working on it! Well, Happy's working on it. He's just a kindly man who's trying to get through to his stubbornly hostile son. Oh, and he retired from hero work because it was just too stressful.

(...not true, he quit after freezing Joshua.)

(Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 2007 #1)

Resolving the conflict isn't presented as something that Ray necessarily wants. In fact, we don't really know what exactly Ray wants here because he's oddly passive in this story. He's someone for his father to familially pine after and not much more. The active player in this tale, the one who is presented with more sympathy, is Happy. Which is baffling because...he's not even the one who's on the eponymous team of this book.

Here we have Happy (with Ray's red hair for some reason?) trying to connect with Ray like a Good Dad™, pointedly and poignantly adding that he has no right to be worried but is anyway, right before getting told that Ray is in serious trouble and needs his help!

(Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 2007 #5)

So the narrative shifts to Happy's POV. (Ray's POV does not appear in this series at all.) This would be a good place for him to reflect on his relationship with his son, on his regrets...but all we get is information that makes him look good. He just wants to help his son! He never wanted to be a superhero! He's just a modest everyman, honest.

...except this is a man who immediately after getting his powers became obsessed with his own greatness and felt he had the right to play God. So this rings rather hollow.

See! He's such a Good Dad™! He's super-protective of his kid and willing to fight to get him help! So noble.

(...Ray is all he has left? Excuse me? Joshua exists?)

(Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 2007 #6)

So Happy manages to acquire the powers of the guy he went to for help and makes a dramatic entrance with his new Super Cool, Better-Than-His-Son's, Immune-To-The-Current-Villain's-Mind-Control Powers of Awesomeness, and Ray is all admiration.

Happy saves the day and delivers this utterly ridiculous one-liner.

Once again, he is Such A Good Dad™.

(Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 2007 #7)

Such a good dad that Ray can't stop complimenting him, and Happy responds with Fatherly Banter.

(Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters 2007 #8)

Once again, we are reminded that he's just a humble dad doing his job with no desire for the spotlight. None whatever. (Please note his cool new powers. You can call him Neon now.)

The arc ends with father and son bonding at a baseball game, and everything is just fine now. All it takes to convince Ray is his father's saving his life, Happy manages to sound remorseful without actually apologizing or addressing the actual problems, and Ray tells him not to feel guilty, which no doubt is exactly what Happy wanted to hear. Problem solved.

Quite frankly, this entire arc reads like Happy Terrill propaganda. It seems to be going out of its way to present him in the most blameless light possible, glosses over any issues, and makes him The Hero in every way. The narrative wants us to see him as a kindly older man, but in light of his portrayal in both of Ray's solos, this comes across as just more lies, victim playing, and lack of accountability--with the reward of an easily-granted warm parental relationship. It's completely unearned and thus ineffective.

For a plot like this to work, it would require actual demonstrable character growth and characterization that is consistent with what's been previously established. It would need to address all of the wrongs done. Ray would need to play an active role. Nadine and Joshua would need to be involved, because this mess impacted them too. There shouldn't be an easy solution. And we don't see any of that here.

And I'm not sure why the writers of this series chose to go the route that they did. But I suspect they might not have read The Ray 1994.

#comicsposting again #RT: born with the light #HT: you just can't stop lying can you?#don't read this series it's not only poorly written but has some questionable content #and a bad case of Drawn By A Man Syndrome

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iiota · 1 year

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i dont want to be a dick in the notes of this person asking people opinons on archiesonic but its such a loaded question and im finally reading it at 27 (almost done on the last 60 something chapters) and being an adult there is like so much you Cannot overlook that made my skin crawl that i cannot believe adult men put in a comic aimed at children THATS ABOUT TEENAGERS. GENUINELY GROSS. but i can see how a lot of kids/teens did like it because a lot of weird stuff definitely went over their heads and so they can focus on their fav parts no problem (also nostalgia goggles)

that being said its actually WILD to get to the point where people who care and can actually write a comic story work on it like theres instantly much more intrigue that isnt just a cheap cliffhanger to nothing (although there are at least two chapters i distinctly remember that should be eradicated. i do not know if ian was supposed to use old characters or if he wanted to give everyone a chance in the newer arcs. but. leave some of those guys behind.)

anyways for sure left a hole in my brain definitely an experience dont read anything before chapter 160 especially not 150 just read a recap of what happened before but also i cannot in good conscious recommend it to anyone

#it was a little funny to see them try and replace robotnik for like 50 chapters and then another version of him came back to stay #bc all other options sucked #i will admit. while i do like it and the writing is objectively good. the genesis wave(second) killed a lot of momentum #it could have been written in a way that didnt weirdly lower the stakes. i did like the worlds collide com #ic though #the best chapters were blazes universe ones. no lie #pre 160 there are 2. TWO. parts of a chapter i enjoy..i guess stories? that werent just find to read

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marvelinorder · 2 years

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Fantastic Four (1961) #5 recap

"Prisoners of Doctor Doom!" by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby

This issue contains the very first appearance of Doctor Doom, who as I'm sure many of you know is a pretty significant recurring villain. On the opening page, he claims that he's the only one on Earth that can defeat the FF and takes a helicopter to go see them.

The FF themselves are engaging in leisure activities, one of which being Johnny's reading the Incredible Hulk comic, which is a fun Easter egg:

As one can probably predict at this point, Johnny's barb devolves into a whole fight between him and Ben, with Reed stepping in to pin Ben to the ground with his stretchy limbs, and Sue firing at Johnny with a fire extinguisher. All seems well again.

But suddenly! The power goes out and Doctor Doom drops a giant net over their building from his helicopter! He introduces himself, which prompts Reed to recognize him from his voice as someone he knew from college. Read the explanation below.

von Doom tells the FF he wants Sue as hostage, and she agrees to go to his ship so that she can lure him out for the rest of them. Once she's onboard, von Doom tells the rest of them to board the ship but to promise not to attack, which, uh, sure, dude, just take their word for it. He picks them up via a contraption that looks to me like a golden plunger:

He flies them to his castle, where he informs them of his real motives: he wants to send them back in time via time machine to recover Blackbeard's treasure! With Sue still hostage, they agree and are sent back a few hundred years.

As the next panels show, once there they decide they need new clothes, but this doesn't go the way I, at least, expected it too, for they don't steal the pirates' actual clothes, just their "booty."

They don their disguises, and, as Reed says, Ben looks like a real natural!

The lads go to a tavern, unsure where exactly Blackbeard is, but a pirate crew sees them and roofies their drinks in order to kidnap them and force them to work as their crew.

When they wake up, they make quick work of their kidnappers, with Ben busting up through the ship's deck, and Reed manipulating his height to punch the guy in the crow's nest. Johnny, for his part, melts a pirate's sword.

This doesn't mean they're in the clear, however, for just then they're attacked by another pirate ship!

Johnny uses his flames to turn the ocean into steam, destroying the ship's visibility, and Reed stretches across to their ship to provide a walkway for the rest of them to board the other ship.

They fight gallantly, but there's one unexpected side effect-- the pirate crew nickname Ben Blackbeard, taking him as their leader.

Oh hello, time paradox.

After they swap out the jewels for a worthless set of chains to give to von Doom, Ben decides he quite likes being Blackbeard as opposed to the Thing and tries to send Reed and Johnny away so he can live out a life here in the past, but a storm hits the ship before anything too fatal can occur. They wash ashore along with the chest, and it's then that they get zapped back to the present.

While von Doom is checking the contents of the chest, the following happens:

That was a nice touch of foreshadowing for a later plot with Namor, there.

Doctor Doom isn't kidding and he really does start to suck the oxygen out of the room, but luckily Sue turns invisible and short circuits his machine while he's not paying attention, saving them. Once they're all together, they bust out of the castle, which provides an opportunity for Johnny to demonstrate a new ability:

Johnny then tries to smoke von Doom out of his castle, but he escapes handily. The issue ends with them expressing concern that now both Namor and Doctor Doom are still on the loose, and there's no telling what they'll do.

And with that, another recap ends! Next on the docket is Amazing Fantasy #15.

#fantastic four (1961)#fantastic four #comics #comics recap #marvel #id in alt text #comics liveblog #ben grimm #reed richards #susan storm #johnny storm #doctor doom

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thespectralvision · 2 years

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Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (Part 3)

So after a number of discussions about where Wanda (and Vision) are likely to appear post Multiverse of Madness in the MCU, a lot of rumors and ‘leaks’ are pointing to a likely Young Avengers Children’s Crusade adaptation. I’ve not read the run in some time, and decided to refresh myself and do a breakdown of it for those not familiar with the story. I’ll be including my commentary about how I think they could adapt this for the MCU.

This series of posts WILL HAVE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS SPOILERS. If you have seen MoM or don’t mind, feel free to keep scrolling. It will also obviously have spoilers for the comic stories Avengers Disassembled, House of M, and Children’s Crusade.

PART ONE - Background Info from The Vision and The Scarlet Witch (1985) and Vision Quest, Avengers Disassembled, and House of M

PART TWO - New Avengers #26, X-Men #204, Young Avengers Presents #3, and The Mighty Avengers #21-34

This section will explore the first half of The Children’s Crusade arc in detail.

You can find a complete listing of my Comic Breakdown posts HERE.

Avengers: The Children’s Crusade (2010) #1-5

We start the issue with a quick recap of the past few arcs and an introduction to the Young Avengers team.

Spectral’s Commentary: Once again, trying to convince me Jonas!Vision is just Vision. Nope. Not buying it Young Avengers.

The Young Avengers and the actual Avengers are fighting the Sons of the Serpent, and there is an explosion. At first the teams think it was the Serpent’s, but it was Wiccan’s powers. After they’ve returning t their headquarters, the YA team are worried about the levels of power Wiccan is using, thinking he may become another Scarlet Witch (who is still MIA to their knowledge).

Carol (Captain Marvel) fills the YA crew in on what happened with Wanda Maximoff, recapping Avengers Disassembled and House of M for the kids and the reader. It prompts Billy to ask if they believe he and Tommy are the missing sons of the Scarlet Witch.

Billy still doesn’t believe Wanda was capable of the horrible things she did, and argues that she must have been controlled by some other force because she was a hero.

Background: The Scarlet Witch was Billy’s favorite Avenger, and he had an encounter with her when he was a boy in Young Avengers Special (2005) #1, before his powers manifested. She gave him some motherly advice that ultimately led to him discovering his powers, though he nearly killed another teenager who was bullying him in the process. This is part of why he’s a bit touchy about the subject of The Scarlet Witch.

Billy walks out, and the YA’s find him. They seem just as worried as the Avengers, afraid of Billy’s abilities after what they just witnessed. Except Tommy, who supports him. Even Teddy (Hulkling, Billy’s boyfriend) tells him he’s worried.

Billy goes home, but Captain America is there waiting for him to bring him back to the Avengers headquarters for monitoring. While they fly back, Billy asks Cap about Wanda.

Steve warns him that being connected to Wanda isn’t going to “win any friends” after what she’s done. Billy challenges him, asking if the Avengers ever considered Wanda may have been innocent, knowing her history of being used and possessed. Hulkling shows up saying he’s going wherever Billy goes, and Cap is ok with that. They are given a guest room at the Avengers which Billy pulls a Wanda on and makes much nicer.

Billy and Teddy are about to have a nice couple moment when Tommy interrupts. He tells them he’s rescuing them, and Vision phases in through the wall. Tommy uses his ability to vibrate everyone’s molecultes fast enough to vibrate through the wall (like father like son?) and once they are outside the rest of the Young Avengers are there waiting. Billy argues that he should go back, because he doesn’t want to put his friends in danger, but they suggest he go looking for the Scarlet Witch instead. Their reasoning is simple enough - if Wanda did all of this in response to losing her boys, she can undo it once she knows her boys are still alive.

As they discuss the matter, Magneto makes a trademark Big Entrance, saying it’s time Billy and Tommy meet their grandfather.

Issue #2 picks up there with Magneto tells Billy and Tommy he accepts them as his grandchildren, and that they need to go to Transia together. Billy tells him they have already been there and she wasn’t there (as shown in Young Avengers Presents #3).

Patriot and Kate Bishop don’t seem convinced, and while they argue the Avengers show up to stop Magneto. Billy once again argues that the Avengers should go find her, but Magneto understands the truth of the matter.

Billy decides the only way to resolve all of this in-fighting is by finding Wanda and he casts a spell, teleporting the Young Avengers away. The Avengers decide they’ll let the kids lead them right to Wanda so they can finish the job, taking out both her and Magneto.

Unsuprisingly, Billy’s spell took them to Transia. Billy wants to send his friends home but they once again tell him where he goes, they go. They also make fun of Magneto being ‘the world’s oldest Young Avenger’. Oh and Billy uses magic to disguise them, dressing them like the Von Trapps. Like mother, like son apparently. (Jonas!Vision in the nun outfit is far funnier than it should be to me)

Patriot expresses his concerns that they are betraying the Avengers to Kate, and Jonas!Vision tells Cassie he has a bad feeling about all of this. From what he has observed, magic always comes with a price, and he is not certain anyone will like what the price might be.

Magneto stops at Magda’s grave, telling theboys she was his wife and therefore their grandmother. He fills us in on backstory (all of which has been retconned since), talking about how he lost control of his powers and Magda fled to give birth at Wundagore Mountain. She died and the twins she gave birth to (Wanda and Pietro) were taken in by the Maximoffs until Magneto saved them from the mob (going back to Wanda and Pietro’s origin story in X-Men (1963) #4. He regrets the way things ended up and tells Tommy and Billy he will not let the same thing happen to them.

They all link hands (after Tommy grumps about it) and Billy is able to sense Wanda in the village nearby. Tommy takes the initiative, wanting to show off his own skils and darts off only to run into Quicksilver. Pietro tells him if he and the Young Avengers don’t leave, Magneto won’t be the only person he kills. Magneto and the rest of the Young Avengers join them, and Pietro warns him off.

Billy tries to reason with his uncle, but Pietro just picks him up and runs off. He tells the boy he is only trying to save him from Magneto, and Billy reminds him that if he wants to get away he can just use magic and suggests they work together towards their common goal of finding Wanda. They are interrupted by Speed, who comments on his similarities to Pietro who challenges him to a race (Tommy wins but mostly because Quicksilver was distracted by Magneto).

As they get back to the village they spot Wanda, but Quicksilver’s attack against Magneto backfires and he impales her with a stake - and reveals that she is a robot. A Doombot, to be precise, and the issue ends with the team realizing Wanda is a prisoner of Dr. Doom.

Issue #3 starts with a quick recap of who Dr. Doom is, and how he uses both sorcery and technology. Pietro is convinced Doom is holding her captive, but Magento makes a good point:

They formulate a plan to infiltrate and try to find Wanda. Billy triest to sneak off and go to Latveria alone with a transportation spell, but Quicksilver catches him and they talk. Before they can leave together in secret, the rest of the Young Avengers join them however and Teddy is not happy.

Teddy once again threatens that if anything happens to Billy they’ll have to deal with him, and we cut to the Avengers who have summoned Simon Williams aka Wonder Man. The Avengers want Simon to help them track down Wanda, and he argues that Vision or Quicksilver would be better choices. Iron Man tells him that because Wanda rescurrected Simon, his existence is the last remaining trace of Wanda’s magic on this plane of existance. He thinks they can trace Simon’s unique energy signature back to find Wanda. Simon asks the important question though - what will they do when they find her. Wolverine is blunt about it and tells him they need to kill Wanda, and Wiccan too, and Simon punches him.

Simon declines to help the Avengers, but tells them he will go find Wanda before Wolverine can and flys off alone.

Billy leaves Teddy a note explaining that he is going to go off and do some recon in Latveria, and that if Teddy reads the note it means he likely has been captured. He’s found by Doombots, but he disguises himself as Wanda and asks them to take him back to Wanda’s room.

It works and he’s taken inside - only to be attacked by Wanda herself. She asks what he is doing there and he tells her he is there to rescue her from Dr. Doom. Wanda tells him he’s mistaking her for someone else, and that she’s getting married tomorrow to Doom, who finds them together.

Issue #4 begins with Doom attacking Wiccan. Billy accuses him of kidnapping Wanda and putting a spell on her, but Doom and Wanda tell him she is there of her own free will. Billy keeps pushing, telling Wanda she’s The Scarlet Witch and Doom tells him to stop, claiming he is trying to protect everyone.

Doom ends the fight by hitting Wiccan with a blast of fire. Wanda tells him the boy was harmless, and Doom tells her she is too trusting and that by being linked to him she will have many enemies.

“After the wedding tomorrow...nothing and no one will ever come between us.” Wanda tells Doom. We cut back to the Young Avengers, Quicksilver, and Magneto planning their attack. We also see Wonder Man arriving, and reaching out to the Avengers he knows followed him.

Doom uses magic to heal Billy from their fight, and tells him that what is best for the world is if Wanda remains unaware of who she is.

Doom goes on to explain that Wanda came to find him, on behalf of her people. He tries to appeal to Billy by telling him they are similar - both had mothers who were powerful sorceresses, powers that emerged at a young age, and that they share enemies. He reminds Billy that if the Avengers find Wanda, they will kill her. He offers Wiccan protection, telling him he can stay as long as he wishes - or if Billy refuses he will be a prisoner, and reveals that the healing spell also took Billy’s powers away.

The Young Avengers start their plan to save Billy, splitting into two groups. Quicksilver takes Patriot and Stature, and sends Kate and Hulkling with Speed. Jonas!Vision will work on his own to use his phasing abilities to work around Doom’s security. Before they can initiate the plan though - the Avengers arrive.

Billy tries to use his powers and is interrupted by Wanda, who asks him about The Scarlet Witch.

He agrees to tell her if she will help him escape. While they walk through the tunnels under the castle, Wiccan fills Wanda in on their history.

When they emerge, they walk straight into a fight between Doom’s forces, the Avengers, and the Young Avengers. Wolverine goes after Wanda and Wiccan tries to fight him off, and Iron Lad appears to save the day, saying he’s back because the future depends on him saving Wanda and Wiccan.

Background: Iron Lad (Nathaniel Richards) is from the 30th Century of Earth-6311, and is one of the many iterations of the entity best known as Kang the Conquerer. Iron Lad was also a founding member of the Young Avengers. He left to return home after slaying Kang, to ensure the Young Avengers were not erased from history (Young Avengers #5). His suit of armor became Vision 2.0 aka Jonas, and his mind was the template much like Simon Williams was the template for the original Vision.

Issue #5 begins with Nathaniel’s arrival causing a commotion, and everyone realizes Billy and Wanda are missing. Doom has taken them away from the fight, and is hurting Billy while Wanda begs him to stop, telling Doom it was her fault.

It gives Magneto a chance to catch Doom offguard. Wiccan runs off, and tells Wanda to come with him before Doom can capture, kill, or marry her. They reunite with the Young Avengers plus Nathaniel.

Doom catches up to them and Nathaniel pulls them all into the Timestream, just as the Avengers find Doom. He explains what he was doing - trying to keep Wanda safe from everyone, but he failed and now Wanda could unleash havoc across the past and future.

The Young Avengers and Wanda discuss where to go, deciding to show Wanda the past. She agrees, hoping that if she sees what she did she may remember, and that way she can try to set things right. They agree to go back to the day the Scarlet Witch brought Jack of Hearts back to life (aka the beginning of Avengers Disassembled).

The arrive at the old Avengers Mansion before it blew up and Wanda looks around. While she does that, Nathaniel, Jonas!Vision, and Cassie have a little love traingle chat.

Spectral’s Commentary: I think it’s funny how no one can agree if Wanda and Vision divorced, annulled their marriage, are just seperated, or if she was a widow. It seems to be different each time it gets brought up after Vision Quest.

Before they can resolve this, Cassie runs off because she see’s her dad, Scott Lang (who was killed by Wanda during Avengers Disassembled). He points out that the Jack of Hearts costume is in poor taste and the team find Jack of Hearts approaching Wanda, reanimated. He begs Wanda to not make him go through with her plan, but the team pull her out before she can change history and jump to another time.

The Mansion explodes again, only Scott Lang is with the team when they jump. The Young Avengers end up back in their original timeline in the same location, but Iron Lad isn’t sure how they got there because his suit is still recharging. Wanda, now in her Scarlet Witch outfit, tells them she did it.

And that is where we’ll end Part 3. The second half of The Children’s Crusade will be discussed in Part 4.

#marvel #MCU #marvel 616 #marvel comics #wandavision #the children's crusade #the scarlet witch #wanda maximoff #the vision #wiccan #billy kaplan #speed #tommy shepard #young avengers #Spectral's Comic Breakdowns

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taiblogcomics · 14 hours

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Forerunner Is Forewarned

Hey there, faith builds. Wanna talk about some Countdown? Coz I'm still committed to this bit~

Here's the cover:

Hey, it's the Justice League! And also Karate Kid! Maybe they weon't be holding him prisoner any further this issue. But who can tell at this point, since Donna and Kyle debuted on the cover and didn't appear in the issue. Kyle still hasn't appeared in the comic proper! God, this is a generic cover, though. Like, this is the cover they use for the second TPB. This issue isn't even in that trade! We're only, like, 7 issues in and they're already busting out the generic covers? Not a great sign, eh~?

All right, the recap: Karate Kid is being investigated by the JLA. Jimmy Olsen is investigating the recurring deaths of the New Gods while also having superpowers. Donna Troy and Jason Todd were investigating Duela Dent's death, but got waylaid by Amazons Attack! tie-ins. Holly Robinson is avoiding being investigated by the cops. Pied Piper and Trickster are investigating their options with a new crime. And Mary Marvel is investigating her new powerset, having been repowered by Black Adam and fought the most unpleasant demon in comics history. Now let's investigate this issue!

We pick up right where we left off, with Forerunner having beaten up Donna Troy and Jason Todd. She's disgusted that this is what they had to call her for, finding it too easy. And despite Donna being unconscious in a ditch one panel ago, she suddenly flies up behind and punches Forerunner in a two-page splash panel. Like, she punches her hard enough to have her skip like a rock across the National Mall reflecting pool. And this bloodies her knuckles, which might be the first time that's ever happened in superhero comics.

Meanwhile, Jimmy Olsen is putting his thoughts together after watching Sleez's death. He narrates into a personal tape recorder, spending two pages to recap the concepts of the New Gods for any new readers. I won't bother to do the same, despite this series being probably the first time I've reviewed them. While narrating, Jimmy also recounts his powers, and has come to a conclusion. His powers are activated by stress. His life being in danger gives him some sort of temporary power. You'd think being a 20-something living on his own in Metropolis would be stressful enough to make them "always on", but no such luck.

Back with Donna and Forerunner, their battle continues. Forerunner deigns to introduce herself, but her only motivation in fighting Donna is "because they told her to". Donna grabs a machine gun from one of the dead soldiers on the ground (a remnant from Amazons Attack!) and Forerunner is one of those "Only weak species use ranged weapons, there's no honour in it" types. You can say "weak", Forerunner, I'd say "strategic". However, Donna rises to the bait of "come closer if you want to beat the shit out of me", and discards the gun for an Amazon's sword and shield.

There's a brief interlude with a mysterious figure approaching Holly Robinson to offer a better destiny than homelessness, and that's all the screen time she gets this week before returning to Donna and Forerunner. Forerunner's out openly mocking how many war memorials there are in Washington, and I'm certainly no rah-rah patriot, but I think there's a difference between critiquing America and humanity's war-focused history and some fictional alien saying none of these monuments were earned. Anyway, thankfully one of the Monitor teleports in to break up the fight.

And the reason the bloodthirst Forerunner actually does deign to stop fighting is because she's genetically programmed to not attack the Monitors. There's a lot fo sniping back and forth about it, and we also cut over to the other Monitors discussing how the Forerunners also suck. Way to shill your new character, huh? When they pass that topic, they then start in again on their "wayward brother", the Monitor who's down talking with Donna and Jason. Hey, what a surprise, we've come back to "We should do something!" "Should we do something?"

So, that whole cover image of Karate Kid teaming up with the JLA? Yeah, this is all it comes to: no JLA. Dr. Mid-Nite from the JSA is here, though. Starman and Dream Girl also here, which is a conclusion to a Justice Society story. The long and short of it is, some of the Legion of Super-Heroes have become displaced in time, and doing so has addled their memories. So they don't actually remember why they're here in the 21st century. The only thing they have to go on is a premonition from Dream Girl, and she's never wrong. So since they don't know why they're here, they're being confined by the JLA until they do know, just to make sure it isn't "kill Sarah Connor" or something.

Anyways, our issue wraps up today with our Monitor, Jason, and Donna teleporting out, having discarded Forerunner and called her all sorts of mean names. Forerunner tears off her braid to sever her physical link to the Monitors, and that's gotta hurt like hell. She says she'll be waiting until they realise they need her, right there on Earth, alone. And we close out with someone else watching her, figuring she's too valuable to cast aside just yet. And it's fucking Monarch. This is all to lead up to a tie-in (Countdown: Arena), but I don't care. The issue's over, we'll discuss Monarch some other time~

Well, this is a dumb issue. Burned two pages recapping the concept of the New Gods, and spent most of the rest of it spinning our wheels on other storylines or the fight between Donna and Forerunner. All to lead up to some tie-in I won't even be covering! But at least Donna and Jason are finally teamed up with the Monitor, so their plotline can get started for real. I'm sure Kyle will catch up soon~

#comics #reviews #Countdown #Countdown to Final Crisis #Taiblog

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