#Hating the clone when you are a technically a clone yourself

[goldengirlgalaxy]

You know how there's a whole thing about how DC superheroes die and get brought back a lot? Well, for DPxDC, how about this?

Every time a Justice League member gets resurrected, their ghost remains in the Ghost Zone.

So you'll have a member of the Justice League bite the bullet for whatever reason, they'll form as a ghost in the Ghost Zone. They'll make themselves comfortable, maybe they'll even becoming defenders of peaceful ghosts who have no experience fighting or no desire to fight. Maybe they'll find dead family members and re-establish their bonds. Maybe they'll find other dead members of the Justice League and make and undead branch of the Justice League. Maybe they'll meet Danny and either help teach him how to be a hero (if he's still young) or become a hero group supported by him (if he becomes the king).

And then, for whatever reason, someone found the magical amulet that can revive a person, they somehow developed 1-Ups for a limited time, the revival machine finally got a tune up, the hero gets revived. But the ghost doesn't leave the Ghost Zone. Because of this, the revived hero doesn't have any memories of their time in the afterlife. The ghost probably doesn't even notice something changed and that their old body is up and running again.

This all ends up coming to a head when the GIW decide to push the manhunt for Danny Phantom and all other ghosts, lying to the Justice League in order to convince them to help. They eventually decide to hunt down Danny and corner him, ready to capture him...

… And suddenly he's saved by a bunch of ghosts that look identical to them.

[deadsetobsessions]

Danny Phantom Writing Prompt:

When she comes to, a silver haired man with a matching goatee greets her. Kind of. He’s disappointed.

She’s surrounded in neon green and she is so, so, so confused.

——

Her name is-

Well. It was something else.

What matters is that Vlad doesn’t call her by anything other than “Danielle” and “you.”

She thinks if she wasn’t who she is- if Vlad hadn’t ripped her out of her own life, poured her tattered soul into this imperfect body- she’d believe the father like figure he’s poorly pretending to be. But she knows. This is a show she’s watched many times. Vlad, even if she hadn’t had years of actual life and the foreknowledge of Danny Phantom, she’d eventually clock him as a villain.

“You can do it, Danielle.” He says.

“Obey, or suffer the consequences,” she hears. She knows manipulation when she hears it. Vlad thinks it’ll work. After all, little pod baby Danielle would know no different than the confining walls of her room. But she does know, and the voices of her loved ones bolster her in this delicate balancing act.

So, she pretends to let him mold her. Let him shape little Danielle into a puppet he could pilot as he wishes.

To act like her body’s template, but to be obedient in ways Danny would never allow himself to be. To turn trusting blue eyes up towards the drawling billionaire and pretend to take his word as gospel.

In return, he gives her more freedom. He thinks it’s control, that she returns even when he gives her ample chances to leave. She knows it’s a test, and she’s always been good at those.

She collects evidence, slowly. Because Vlad might have overshadowed people and signed their companies over to him, but he was sloppy. He was sloppy and she was a paralegal.

——

Vlad gives her the mission she’s been waiting for. She goes to Danny with a neutral mask and acts like a person who knows nothing of normal social cues.

It’s what Vlad expects of her.

The time is not yet right.

——

So when the time comes, Danielle makes a decision. She was never the baby Dani. She will never be. When she punches Vlad, she tears into him with everything she has. She makes him bleed and she breaks him and she slaps the anti-ghost belt on him to lock his ability. And she breaks more, just to make sure he might not heal all the way, all the while Danny watches in horror.

And then she starts the process of legally beating him up. Danielle bankrupts Vlad in two months with legal fees, and she takes vicious pleasure in rendering him destitute.

Hah. Try creating clones of your one sided love now, you creepy motherfucker.

——

She’s melting. She makes a joke, because Danny looked terrified and she got attached. Well, it’s hard not to get attached, considering he risked his neck for her even after learning she was there to…

Well.

He saves her. She knew he would.

She’s whole again. Stable. But something in her breaks, because she knows, with a sense of unfathomable knowledge, that she will never rid herself of the name Danielle again. She’s bound to this world. The price for her life was an eternity of imprisonment in a realm where she will never see the people she loves again.

——

“I’m not… I wasn’t always Danielle.” She admits to Danny, Tucker, and Sam.

“What does that even mean?”

She sighed, leaning against the window sill.

“The reason I was stable and my… siblings weren’t was because Vlad ripped my soul out from my body and shoved it into the body of a clone. He killed me.”

Danny stuttered to a close. Grief. She smiles at him.

“Technically, I’m older than you and Jazz.”

“I’m sorry,” Sam says, head buried in her hands. Tucker just stares at her.

“Yeah. Me too. But you shouldn’t blame yourself, Danny.” Danielle knows that look on his face. “I hate him, yeah. But… I can’t change it now. So, I’ll see what this world has to offer.”

“I’m sorry,” Danny says to her.

“I get it.”

And she does. Because Danielle knows what it is to die, now. So does he.

So she flips off the window sill, enjoying her always novel powers of flight, and laughs.

“I’ll be Nellie. You can call me Nellie.”

[itsabouttimex2]

How would the platonic yandere Demon Bull Family react to a reader who, unlike Redson, did not grow up with a strong connection to the family or love for them? reader can be loyal to them but usually acts indifferently when it comes to "family love" and sometimes refuses to call Princess Iron Fan "mother" and Demon Bull King "father" but instead calling them "king" and "queen" would also be the same thing to Redson, with respect but like the others two doesn't want to call him "brother"

Fiery Reunion: Part One

(Part One) (Part Two)

“This is your father,” Princess Iron Fan says to you, her voice thick with devotion and love. “Restored to us after centuries of oblivion. How long I have waited for this moment…”

That’s right. It has been a long time, hasn’t it? For all your life, your mother and brother have had one single motivation pushing them forward- find a way to save your father.

Technically, you could say that your goal was one and the same. You’ve been helping them all throughout your life, after all. But even though you’ve shared centuries with them, fighting for the very same man…

You just can’t bring yourself to be as passionate about saving him as they are.

“This is your father,” Princess Iron Fan has to say, because you were barely beyond infancy when he rose against Sun Wukong and was struck down and buried under a mountain for his crimes.

You’re sat on the ground, staring up at him with wide eyes. After having stumbled backwards and fallen to the floor in surprise and fear at the sight of him, you now stay there, gaping at the tremendous demon before you.

Your father, the terrifying Demon Bull King casts a hard gaze to your cowering form, raising an eyebrow.

“So the youngest of my children… has grown up. I had assumed the worst when I did not see them at my prison. Tell me, my love- have they become a powerful warrior for the Bull clan?”

He’s talking like you aren’t even here. Maybe that’s to be expected, given that you were barely a toddler when he was imprisoned and sealed away for hundreds of years. It’s not like he’s ever spoken to you.

Maybe it’s fitting punishment for not remembering the man your mother and brother adore. No matter how unreasonable the feeling is, you can’t stop hating yourself for something so far beyond your control.

“My love, Y/N is a skilled alchemist… they’ve proven their worth many times over. I’ve brought them here to restore your broken horn- and the rest of your body, while they’re at it.” She turns to you, her gaze growing determined. “I will have a troop of Bull Clones assigned to your command. Use them to procure whatever you need to create-“

“That’s alright,” you say quite confidently, interrupting her. “I have all I need to restore him to full health. I’ll only need two, to help me with my cauldron.”

The irritation from being interrupted by one of her children quickly dissipates, her creased brow and frown replaced with a satisfied smirk.

“Wonderful,” she breathes out, grinning from ear to ear. “I’ll leave you to it then.”

You politely bow to her, then to your father.

“If you would follow me, my king?”

He pauses to raise an eyebrow at how you’ve addressed him, but shrugs it off and walks along after you.

(He’s your father, he wants to say. He didn’t come back after hundreds of years to be addressed so formally/coldly by his own flesh and blood. But he’ll let it slide… you just need some time to adjust, perhaps.)

———————————————————————

“A room dedicated to the alchemical arts, I see… and you’ve quite the collection of rare and valuable specimens. Then you will be able to restore me in short order, I take it?”

You reach out to reposition a small pot of glowing crimson star-shaped flowers, shifting it out of the way and leading your father deeper into your room. Two Bull Clones stand uniformly still against the back wall, ready to assist at a moments notice. Really, you only use them when you need a cauldron continuously stirred or heavy ingredients relocated. If you need petals plucked or seeds stripped, you do that delicate work with your own two hands.

“I have dedicated myself to the herbal arts. With the right supplies, there is little I cannot do, my king.”

“Good. It seems you have grown useful in my absence, little one.”

You briefly stagger at his words, unfamiliar to your ears and so, so very strange to hear.

Promptly you compose yourself and grab a well-worn ladder, leaning it against one of your many shelves. Before you can start to climb it, DBK reaches up to grab the glass canister you need. After lifting it close to his eye for examination, he holds it just out of your reach.

“What do you need lotus seed oil for? How will this restore my body to health?”

(And is it dangerous for you? He might just have to take a look through this room of your and confiscate anything you could hurt yourself with.)

“My king, the oil is merely a catalyst- it will allow my other ingredients to mix together properly without interfering with the alchemical process they’ll undergo.”

He allows you to have the canister, watching as you pour nearly a gallon of the oil into an ancient cauldron, emblazoned with glowing sigils. You keep a firm grip on the delicate glass, holding it firmly and slowly pouring the oil-

Then the door to your room opens with a slam, Red Son’s foot leaving a notable crack running through it.

You drop the canister in shock, flooding the cauldron with far more oil than any recipe would need. Grabbing a clean rag in a huff, you turn and shoot him a displeased look, just in time for to see him lunging for you.

He snags you by the shoulders and shakes you back and forth as he yells, “Have your brains taken a vacation, Y/N?! You aren’t supposed to work alone! You know that you’re not allowed to play with your little cauldron if mother or I aren’t with you!”

You push his hands away, pointing up at your father to prove that you aren’t alone in here, that you aren’t breaking any of the frankly unnecessary rules set that he and your mother have set into place for you.

He takes one look at your father, the goes right back to yelling at you for not telling him you’d be using the cauldron anyways.

(A nostalgic pang resounds in Demon Bull King’s chest as he watches the two of you squabble. Before he had been sealed away, you and your brother had been a child and young teen respectively. He had missed so much…)

When he snaps back to his senses, you are on your knees, carefully ladling the excess oil back into the now slippery glass container you had fished out of the cauldron with a rag. Red Son stands over you, frowning as you do.

“Why don’t you just get a Bull Clone to do this for you, Y/N? Even they could do it more efficiently. And you’d be able to prepare more of the elixir-“

“I hate to be disrespectful, my prin-“

“Brother,” he seethes, dark and low. “I am your brother, do you understand me?”

“Y-yes, brother.”

“Now, explain yourself… and do it clearly, little sibling. I don’t have time for any nonsense.”

“The Bull Clones don’t have the precision or gentle touch required to handle my plants and containers. Last time I tried to set them to such a task, I had to relegate them to sweeping up glass instead.”

“Tsk. I’ll make some minute adjustments on two or three of them for you. Perhaps reduce their grip strength and increase their joint dexterity… don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone, Y/N.”

Red Son turns and leaves, and to your surprise, your father goes with him, leaving you alone to finish your work.

Just barely, you hear your father’s voice from the hall, low and hushed.

“You seem… to be quite ‘adept’ with your sibling.”

Somehow, you feel that this doesn’t bode well for the future.

[momojedi]

now idk if youve been requested smth like this before but tbb finds reader (whos another clone child like omega)?? thatd be cool, id think!! gn reader btw 🫶🫶 ALSO LOVE YOUR WRITING SM TY FOR WRITING THIS IF YOU DO

— FAMILY FOUND pairing. omega/clone force 99 x clone child! gn! reader

**

type. oneshot note. hi anon! thank you for your request, i'm incredibly happy to hear you like my writing! regarding your request, i hadn't thought of anything like that so far, but i love the idea - this is set during season one! the reader could technically be seen as disabled but i'll really leave that up to your interpretation. enjoy! warnings. needles, human experimentation, dehumanisation, sisterly omega fluff, big brother/dad batch, slight injury, potential reference to the blackwing virus, references to clone wars events word count. 2k

star wars masterlist || pinned post

Four hours.

That's how long you'd been running from the Empire and the claws of the Kaminoans, swiftly escaping the planet with the help of AZ-3. After a tearful farewell, the droid had tightly sealed the escape pod's hatch as well as your fate, leaving you to hold off the Kaminoans from tracking you as you fled Tipoca City, the place you once called your home.

When you landed on Ord Mantell, the sudden impact of the crash had swept you off your feet, chucking you to the floor with a loud bang. The intense pain that abruptly shot through your arm as well as the burning sensation that spread in your right cheek quickly lead you to realise that you needed to get a hold on some medical supplies as soon as possible.

"Where is it, where is it - kriff!"

Despite years of being reprimanded by Commander Colt not to curse and avoid the usage of bad words, you couldn't help but ignore your late brother's teachings when you sat back up on your knees after crawling out from under the pod's control panel. There wasn't a medkit in sight. You huffed, gripping your throbbing head with your healthy arm. "I must've hit my head," you whispered to yourself, squinting your eyes in pain. Slowly but surely some medical attention was starting to become really necessary, especially when you felt warm liquid dripping down your cheek.

You sat up. Perhaps you'd find some help in the inner city?

Ord Mantell was huge; bigger and much more crowded than Tipoca City you found yourself realising. Though, that view might've been influenced by the fact that, like most clone children, you'd never seen anything but Kamino throughout your entire life.

Time and time again had you sat among your brothers, listening intently to their adventurous tales fighting in the war and visiting various places throughout the galaxy. And although you felt bad for the loss and pain they went through day by day, you couldn't help but envy the wonderful worlds and systems they also had the chance to experience.

Unlike most clones, you hadn't been made to be a soldier but rather a subject to be tested on. Your entire purpose since you'd been born was to be a lab-rat, to endure tests and examinations in order to help the Kaminoans determine the breeding conditions of their next clones. You thought little of the Kaminoans, as most clones did. Their constant pricking of needles and blood letting made you feel sick and although you'd grown up on Kamino and were used to being dehumanised and seen as an object, a tool rather than a living being, you still hated the longnecks with a burning passion, silently enduring the torture they'd been putting you through. Naturally that also meant that you were made to suffer from various side effects of the experiments, such as age acceleration - or in your case, deceleration.

Unlike the usual clone, you aged slower, almost at the pace of a nat-born. You couldn't see very well due to visual tests they'd made for a special clone unit when you were very young and your hair was trimmed unevenly from being shaved off time and time again.

Naturally with that also came the judgement. Many of your brothers considered you a freak, curiously eyeing you and some times even mocking you. But even though there were many bad apples, you were proud to say that most of them had gladly taken you under their wing, partially having even grown up around you, and you couldn't be prouder of their accomplishments.

When the Empire took over and Admiral Tarkin arrived on Kamino, you swiftly developed a strong disdain for the imperial official and his scornful treatment of the clones. He frightened you with his skeletal appearance and judgemental expressions, scoffing at you when he'd first crossed you following a kaminoan scientist down the corridors of the city.

This disdain solidified when, from behind a window, you observed Tarkin handing obscure plans to Prime Minister Lama Su, signaling a clandestine exchange that left you feeling uneasy. Pressing your face against the glass to glean any insight, you overheard a conversation that sent shivers down your spine.

"I can assure you, CE-0003 will make a wonderful asset to project Blackwing—a low cost for such a risky intrusion; the potential loss won't be of any importance," Prime Minister Lama Su coldly stated, not bothering to acknowledge your presence. The mere mention of your designation number, CE-0003, served as a chilling reminder of the dehumanization endured by clones, but Tarkin's emphasis on "low cost" and "loss" struck an ominous chord, setting off alarm bells within your conscience.

Feeling the weight of an impending threat, you knew that the time had come to make a fateful decision. Unwilling to succumb to a potential death sentence or exploitation in the Empire's mysterious project, you resolved to escape Tipoca City. In the brightly lit corridors, your internal struggle reached a tipping point as you confronted the severity of your situation.

You shook your head, clearing your thoughts. "Kamino is in the past," you mumbled to yourself, avoiding looking straight at the faces that passed by. After all, who knew whether someone had been sent after you or not? The Kaminoans were a very ambitious species and although Ord Mantell was filled with dubious figures, you could not let your guard down just yet.

Your head was starting grow dizzier by the minute and your world was starting to spin. you quickly managed to get a grip on some metal structure to keep you steady - or at least as steady as possible - when a voice caught your attention nearby.

"Oh ... can assist you in any way?"

Only now did you realise that the metal you'd gotten a strong hold on was, in fact, plastoid armour. Immediately you pulled your hand away, apologising profusely, though halfway slurring your words. You weren't even able to make out the stranger's face as the world spun around you and before you knew it, you passed out, barely hearing the stranger calling out another name.

"Echo, come here!"

"A - a clone?"

Hunter and Echo's eyes were settled on Tech, whose own goggled pair were glued to his datapad, as usual. "Precisely," he responded matter-of-factly, "It appears that they apart of a specialised cloning program founded specifically for scientific and medical experimentation."

"You're meaning to tell me the longnecks tortured this child for some bioweapons and drugs?" Echo's voice was angry, his face twisted into a furious grimace as he turned away from your unconscious form whilst holding the bacta-soaked cloth he'd previously been dabbing the gaping burn on your cheek with. Tech huffed, eyeing his brother over the edge of his datapad. "Yes Echo, that is exactly what I'm telling you."

"Unbelievable," Echo scoffed, fist tightening around the cloth, "and to think we once fought alongside those monsters." With a deep sigh, Hunter pushed past his bickering brothers to look over your sleeping form. By now, they had made sure to patch up your broken arm and clean any leftover bruises, settling you down on one of the parlour’s benches. It didn't look necessarily comfortable but seeing as Cid had business to attend to, it was all they could come up with so far - Tech had even dug out Wrecker's civil poncho in the Marauder which you now were cozily wrapped in.

Hunter gingerly brushed the loose hair strands out of your face, watching you with softening eyes as he took over cleaning your bruising face. A small smile tugged on his lips at the sight of your peaceful expression. How would Omega react to you?

As if on cue, the loud chitter-chatter of Wrecker and their little sister erupted in the stairway of Cid's bar, turning the heads of the rest of the batch. Omega squealed excitedly when the giant clone set her down, running toward Hunter with a box of Mantell Mix in her hands.

"Hunter, look!" She chirped, holding out the sugary treat for the sergeant to see, "The nice lady added new toppings and - [name]?"

Her eyes fell upon you and suddenly, she forgot the world around her. Hunter raised a brow before exchanging a questioning look with Echo, who had quietly observed the interaction. Was that your name? How did she know you? Taking the box out of her hands and setting it on the table, the clone sergeant took Omega aside, kneeling to be at her eye level.

"Omega, do you know this child?"

With a worried expression at the sight of your wounds, she hesitated before nodding slowly. "Their name is [name]," her voice was hoarse as she kept an eye on you, "we both assisted the scientists in the medbay, back on Kamino ... they'd often do those weird tests on them, to the point they wouldn't show up for days afterwards." Hunter's blood boiled at the thought of the painful abuse you must've had to endure but he stayed composed. He had to focus on the task at hand after all.

"Are - are they okay?" Omega's eyes were wide as she glanced back at him. "They're alright so far," he slowly stood up, crossing his arms over his chest, "We took good care of their injuries. Tech and Echo found them earlier - they suspect they may have crashed nearby. Should that be the case, they can consider themselves lucky."

The light sound of a confused groan caught Hunter off-guard as he turned to look at you. "Well, look who's up."

You had squinted as your world had grown clearer with every passing second after you woke up, still trying to make out what was going on around you - until you had noticed the five figures standing in front of you. And then the panic set in. Had the Kaminoans already sent out people after you?

"Please don't bring me back," you had sniffled, hot tears already rolling down your cheeks, "I don't want to go back!" It had only been when a familiar girl had approached you with raised hands that you slowly but surely had started to calm down. "Omega?"

As it turns out, the men you had feared to be mercenaries were in fact the infamous Clone Force 99 that had gone rogue and deserted the Empire a few weeks before you escaped. Although you'd heard talk of them plenty of times from your brothers and the scientists, you had never met nor seen them in person as they were usually out on missions and only ever briefly stayed on Kamino. When Omega had left with them, you were heartbroken to see your sister go - most of your time was spent alongside her, after all.

By now, Cid, the Trandoshan woman the bar belonged to, had returned and to the Batch's apparent surprise, quickly took a liking to you; that or she at least pitied you enough to slide in a hot meal and grant you some company as she sat down with you and grunted every now and then while looking over her datapad. Either way, you weren't going to question it and simply enjoyed having the chance to fill your stomach after what felt like forever.

"So, how's AZ?" Omega had managed to squeeze in between you and Cid, eyes fixed on you. "He's okay," you mumbled between bites, "He helped me out a lot when I ... well ..." You frowned as you remembered your escape, setting down the spoon. Although you had fled with good reasons, you couldn't help but miss the place you had once called your home. Fortunately, Omega quickly caught on as she settled a hand on your shoulder with a warm smile.

"I know what it's like," her voice was firm and encouraging when she looked over her shoulder the other side of the bar, where the tall clone you'd earlier found out to be called Wrecker roared in frustration at one of the arcade games set up in the bar while the other, Tech, tried his best at explaining it to him. Echo, the one with the scomp arm, watched and shook his head with a sigh and the leader, Hunter, chuckled while playing with the vibroblade in his hand.

"Our brothers ... they know what they're doing. We keep each other safe," Omega then grabbed your hand tightly and grinned, "And as long as we're here, we'll keep you safe, too."

if you're interested in being tagged for my future works, let me know in my comments or by sending me an ask!

@patapouille @flyiingsly

[multi-fan-dom-madness]

Hello! Spreading more asks around for the first kiss prompt!

I'd love to see the prompt - "don't you dare tell anyone about this." "wasn't planning on it." With Crosshair, but the second part being said by the reader possibly with a wink? If that's too specific just the prompt going either way. (The inner Crosshair simp must be fed!)

Love and Wrecker Hugs! ❤️🖤

ahhh!! this was the perfect prompt for Cross and I had a lot of fun writing it! thank you bb!! I fully intended to wait to answer all of these all at once but I'm too excited so, I present:

First Kiss - Crosshair

Summary: Exactly what it says on the tin, folks. Prompt in bold.

Warnings: some angst (because it's Crosshair), a little bit of a toxic relationship but it's fine, mention of my OC Captain Flare, medic!reader, gn!reader, fluff, confessions

Word Count: 1.4k woops

TBB divider by the wonderful @wizardofrozz, other divider by @dystopicjumpsuit

You’ve worked with Clone Force 99 now for nearly a full year, and while you could technically be reassigned at any moment, both Cody and your supervisor, a bitter old bat, assured you that the Republic had bigger fish to fry than the logistics of shuffling one nat-born medic every few campaigns. And so you’ve stayed with the outcasts. They’ve become something akin to family, at least to you. You know most of them feel the same—Wrecker never fails to express his brotherly affection for you, Tech continues to adjust the ship’s thermostat to a temperature that is best suited to you when you’re feeling off, and Hunter’s silent nod and smile tell you all you need to know. 

Crosshair, though, is a tough nut to crack. 

At first, you swore he hated you. Despite the rest of the squad’s assurances that he’d come around, you’d been skeptical. It wasn’t until several months into your assignment, on a mission you really shouldn’t have been on as the team’s medic, when you saved Crosshair from commando droids that something changed. He still snarked you, still flicked his used toothpicks at your face to bother you. But he slowly began to open up to you. He included you in inside jokes, actually listened to your medical advice, and even let you hold his Firepuncher once.

So despite the hospitality and friendliness of the rest of the squad, it’s Crosshair that your heart has chosen to love. You know he cares about you. You just don’t know to what extent. 

Because even though he still maintains an impenetrable wall around himself, he looks after you. On missions and otherwise. When you go out on shore leave as a squad, he glowers at anyone who dares even look in your direction. 

And that’s exactly the situation you find yourself in tonight. Planetside, on Triple Zero, you’d convinced the others to have a night out with you before you shipped back to the warzone in a few days. The missions have been nearly incessant, and you’re all starting to feel the strain. 

Leaning back against the sticky bartop, you survey the crowded dance floor. Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker lounge in one of the coveted corner booths, looking more relaxed than you’ve seen them in a long time, dressed in civvies and nursing the cheap booze served by the 79s management. A smile lifts your lips. They deserve this, just one night off, to remind them what the war is for.

But you came here wanting more than to drink weak, watery beer. Taking a swill, you glance sidelong at Crosshair perched on a barstool next to you. 

He hasn’t left your side since you walked in. Normally, his presence is comforting, especially in unfamiliar settings, on unfamiliar planets, around unfamiliar people. But 79s hosts none of those things. In fact, the way he’s ordained himself your personal shadow is beginning to grate. You know he’s scaring off any of the regs who might otherwise ask you to dance, or offer a drink, or even just a friendly hello. You know he’s hovering to protect you. 

You just don’t understand why.

Sighing, you take another swill of your drink. “Kark, what’s a person gotta do to get a dance around here?” 

Crosshair doesn’t answer, just shifts his toothpick to the other side of his mouth. 

You huff. “Cross, c’mon. I don’t need a babysitter. Go drink with the others. I’ll be fine.” 

“S’not you I’m worried about,” he mutters. “S’them.” He jerks his chin toward the dance floor, gesturing broadly to the gathering of regs. 

“I can handle them,” you say, an edge of ice to your voice. Frustration at his inability to actually say what he means boils below your skin. 

Crosshair, predictably, ignores the bite of your words. “Didn’t say you couldn’t.” 

“Great,” you say, pushing away from the bar, “glad we’re in agreement.” 

Shoving your half-empty bottle into his hands. He looks down at it with a bewildered expression, then up at you, his eyes narrowed into slits. You give him a sarcastic, two-finger salute before dipping into the crowd. 

You find a clone—Flare, you think he says his name is—who is more than willing to dance. His grasp on your body is unfamiliar but respectful. The pair of you sway and grind through several songs (you’re certainly not keeping track, too focused on trying to avoid the impulse to see if Crosshair is watching). When Flare whispers into your ear, his lips brushing your skin, your eyes slide shut, desperately wishing he were someone else.

A moment later, Flare yelps and his arms are ripped from around you. Eyes shooting open, you whip around to find Crosshair, every line of his body radiating anger, his fists clenched at his sides. Kriff. 

“Sorry,” you call to Flare as you grab Crosshair’s bicep and haul him through the crowd to the front door. “What the fuck are you doing!?” 

Scoffing, Cross yanks his arm free, though follows hot on your heels as you emerge into the cool night air. “Could ask you the same thing.” 

“I was dancing,” you say.

This is going to be an argument, you just know it, and you don’t want to subject all these strangers to the impending shitstorm. So you keep walking, leading Crosshair around the corner where it’s quieter. 

“Bantha-shit,” he hisses. His firm grip on your shoulder spins you around. “His hands were all over you.” 

“He wasn’t doing anything I didn’t want,” you say, glaring at him. “Maker, what is your issue? I can’t even have a fun night out without you stepping all over my plans, can I?” 

“No,” he spits. “Not if it means—” He cuts himself off and looks away, jaw clenching and unclenching. His chest heaves with emotion, two high spots of color on his cheeks. 

Something in you softens, anger cooling into confusion. “Not if it means what, Cross?” 

Nostrils flaring with every inhale, he shakes his head minutely, eyes pressing shut. 

You hesitate, but after a moment, you sigh. Reaching up, you gently cup his face to draw him back to you. His eyes flutter open to meet your own. This is the closest you’ve been to him, you realize, in your entire time with the squad. Besides his medical exams, this is the most you’ve touched him, too. The realization sets your heart pounding. 

“Don’t shut me out,” you say. “Please.” 

He studies you for a moment. Across his face flits several emotions, none of them identifiable, and you begin to grow worried that all the progress you’ve made with him is about to be tossed over the ledge of this Coruscanti sidewalk. 

A worry that is dashed as soon as he surges forward and kisses you, one hand cupping the back of your neck to steady you. A sound of surprise squeaks out of you. Then you’re melting against him. Tilting your head, you deepen the kiss, one hand settled over his heart. It beats hard and fast under your palm, nearly in tempo with your own racing pulse. His lips are chapped and rough against yours, but you don’t care, because it’s him, and this is all you’ve needed these past few months. 

When he pulls away, he doesn’t go far. His forehead pressed against yours, his eyes remain screwed shut. He releases a shaky exhale. 

“Cross, I—” 

He kisses you again. “Don’t. Don’t apologize.” 

“How did you—”

“Because I know you,” he says, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

Warmth blooms deep in your chest, right where you’ve made space for him in your heart. “Y-Yeah. Alright. But—”

“No,” he grumbles. “You need to know that I- I’m sorry. For being a di’kut. I should have made a move sooner.” 

A soft chuckle spills from you. “Yeah, you should’ve.” 

At last, his warm, amber eyes flutter open to meet yours. Your breaths mingle in the small space between your faces, and the intensity of affection in his gaze nearly makes your knees collapse. Smiling up at him, you catch the barest hint of a smile in return. For a moment, it’s just you and Crosshair in one another’s embrace, the sounds and smells of the side alley of 79s fading away. 

The moment is shattered when he speaks again. “Don’t you dare tell anyone about this.” 

Laughing in earnest, you can’t help but shake your head. The others are going to find out about this new development sooner or later, but as you meet his gaze again, you realize he doesn’t mean the kiss. Sobering, you nod. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

You can’t resist winking, though. He rolls his eyes and grumbles, but tucks you against his side all the same to lead you back to the barracks.

List of Ragu: @the-hexfiles @dystopicjumpsuit @clonemedickix @freesia-writes @littlemissmanga @wolffegirlsunite @anxiouspineapple99 @wings-and-beskar @sinfulsalutations @523rdrebel @sunshinesdaydream @moonlightwarriorqueen @sev-on-kamino @starrylothcat @deejadabbles @starqueensthings @mandos-mind-trick @idontgetanysleep @eyeluvmusic21 @wizardofrozz @mythical-illustrator @sleepycreativewriter @bobaprint @thorsterstrudle @droids-you-are-looking-for @goblininawig @dreamie411 @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @9902sgirl if your name is struck thru I can't tag you so check your settings! (to be added or removed from my taglist, click here!)

[ghostofskywalker]

Hey Tori! Sliding in with a 3k (yay!!! congratulations🩷) request for Echo our most beloved <33

I am forever thinking about that one scene where Echo says "Harm her and you're a dead man". It lives rent free in my brain and never fails to make me smile the ways is says it is just so-

So maybe something with Echo being a little extra protective over the reader? Looking out for them and making sure they stay safe?

thank you ezzie!! he is just So Lovely!! i don't know if this is anything like what you had in mind but i really hope you enjoy this :)

words: 1,750

summary: rationally, echo knew this assignment was going to be easy, an in and out acquisition of information. he's just annoyed that he's not the one playing your lover at that gala tonight.

clone troopers masterlist || join my 3k celebration!!

Under a Watchful Eye

Echo watched from his seat in the cockpit as you stepped out of the barracks area of the ship, and the dress you were wearing stopped his breath for a minute. It was long and flowing, fluttering and shifting around your legs with every step you took, and the fact that the color was a near-perfect match to that of his old battalion was not helping. 

But unfortunately, he was not the one you were dressed up for. 

Technically, the mission was the reason that you had donned the gown that had apparently come from Echo’s deepest fantasies, not a person. But still, this assignment required two people, as you were going undercover as guests at a banquet. And much to his dismay, it wasn’t him that had the privilege of being the one who played your lover this evening. 

No, that honor had apparently been bestowed on Crosshair. 

Logically, it made sense why you and Crosshair were the ones going on this mission. Even though there was little to no Separatist presence on this planet at this point, you couldn’t risk being recognized, and Crosshair was the member of the team that looked the least like a traditional clone (and he was also the least likely to draw attention to himself in the way that the others would). 

But even though it made sense, it didn’t mean that Echo had to be happy about it. 

He knew his brother, he knew that there was no way Crosshair would willingly put you in harms way or leave you behind, but there was still a festering cauldron of worry in Echo’s stomach as he thought about the fact that all he could do at this point is just sit and wait until you left the function. He would have to sit by if something happened to you in there, and he hated the thought of it. 

“Do I look okay?” you asked, stepping into the cockpit as you finished putting a pair of earrings in your ears. As well as matching the color of the dress, they would serve as a communication device that could easily be turned on and off from a remote location, this way if anyone tried to scan you, nothing would show up. That was Echo’s job this evening: to sit there with Tech, Wrecker, and Hunter and listen to everything that went on while you and Crosshair were gathering the information they would send back to Commander Cody.

It took him a moment to realize that you were talking to him, and his eyes widened slightly before he responded. “You look amazing,” he said earnestly. 

“Thank you,” you responded, and he could see the hint of a smile cross your face. “I wasn’t sure how the dress would look, since I don’t usually wear this type of thing.” 

“Well, I would never know it if I just looked at you,” he said, the urge to walk over to you and take your hand only growing. “I mean it, you look stunning.” 

You opened your mouth to respond, but were interrupted when Tech stepped into the space. “Oh good, you’re here,” he said, directing his attention to you. “Come with me, I have a few things for you to add to the ensemble.” 

The “extra defense” had been Echo’s idea, a way to ensure that you would be able to defend yourself if necessary. Just in case everything went wrong, he wanted to make sure that you made it out unscathed, and it would be a lot easier if you had a tiny blaster strapped to your leg. 

Right as you and Tech walked away, Crosshair stepped into the cockpit. He was a wearing a suit, the tie matching the color of your dress perfectly. Somehow he had found a way to cover his tattoo, and Echo hated to say it, but the image of you and him together screamed “power couple” to anyone who wasn’t aware of your identities. 

The only thing wrong with Crosshair’s look this evening was the scowl etched onto his face. “Do you have all the information from Cody about the mission?” Echo asked, wanting to make sure they didn’t miss anything. 

“Yes.” 

“And you remember where we’re going to meet you when you have the intel?” 

“Yes.”

“And you know-” 

“Echo,” Crosshair said, cutting him off with a matching glare. “I already got this lecture from Hunter, I don’t need it from you too. I promise that I won’t let anything happen to your girlfriend.” 

“She’s not-” 

“-Your girlfriend, I know,” Crosshair said. “Even though you’re acting like it right now.” 

“I’m-” 

But Crosshair silenced him with a look. “You’re questioning me like I’m brand new to the team, and you haven’t been able to stop glancing over at the entrance to the barracks. It’s not that hard to figure out that you have feelings for her.” Crosshair was right, but Echo did not want to admit it. “Look, if you don’t want to say anything to me it’s fine, but don’t lie to yourself about it.”

Echo was suddenly very glad to see you step back into the cockpit, because he had no idea what he was going to say to that. However, that happiness was tempered slightly when he realized it was time for you and Crosshair to leave. After one final check to make sure that everyone was up to date on the plan, he sat down in one of the seats in the cockpit and watched you walk away until you were too small to see. 

Security was bypassed, and you and Crosshair had successfully infiltrated the banquet. This was an assignment that spawned from an unnamed informant to the Senate, so they didn’t have as many details as they would have liked about what was going to go down, but so far it seemed like everything was going to work out and no major catastrophes would happen. 

“Do you see anyone suspicious?” you asked quietly, and you voice easily carried so that the rest of the team could hear you through the small device that Tech made to communicate with your earrings. 

“Not right now,” Crosshair responded, his voice slightly quieter. “But I don’t think we’ll have a good vantage point from where we are now.” 

“Where should we go?” 

“What about over there?” 

They could hear shuffling, so it was clear that you were moving somewhere, but the fact that this device only picked up audio was starting to get a little annoying. Echo wanted to see what was happening, rather than just hear what was being said. 

Suddenly the music suddenly got a little louder, and his curiosity only grew. 

Finally, your voice once again came through the radio, and he was allowed to imagine some of what was going on out there. “Wow Crosshair, you didn’t tell me you were such a good dancer.”

“I’m a man of many talents.” 

“I’m sure.” 

It was only for the mission, it was only for the mission, it was only for the mission, Echo kept repeating to himself. Although he understood the fact that you and Crosshair were going to be posing as lovers for this event, he didn’t really think about what that might have entailed. The thought of you dancing with someone that wasn’t him was almost too much, but he forced himself to keep his cool. 

***

Trouble always found them, there was no way they should have expected anything different with this mission. After you and Crosshair had acquired some very interesting information from another set of guests (which sounded a hell of a lot like what they needed to bring back to Cody), Tech was right about to tell you and Crosshair to meet the rest of them back at the ship when the sound of blaster fire came across the communication device, and they realized something was wrong.

Instantly, Echo jumped into a frenzy. “What’s going on?” he asked worriedly, pulling the radio device up to his lips. 

“Bounty hunters just showed up!” you whispered. “I don’t know what they want though.” 

“That doesn’t matter, you need to get out of there, now!”

Crosshair’s voice came through the device next. “Wow, what am I? Chopped bantha?” 

“You know I meant both of you!” Echo responded, rolling his eyes. He didn’t have time for the jokes right now, not when you were in danger. “Now, before anyone sees you!” 

All they could do was wait until you and Crosshair could be seen through the windows of the cockpit, and it was taking a much longer time than Echo was comfortable with. Although the communication devices you wore were still technically active, the sounds of footsteps and general chaos really were not of any use to them when trying to determine your location. 

Finally though, the two of you were bounding up the ramp of the Marauder, and Tech was pulling the ship off the surface of the planet and back into hyperspace. None of the other batchers batted an eye when Echo got up from his seat and made a beeline to where you had just walked in. 

Crosshair had already disappeared, probably having gone into the refresher to wash whatever was hiding his tattoo, and you smiled at Echo when he got close enough. “Are you okay?” he asked, noticing a few rips near the bottom of your dress. 

“I’m fine,” you responded, reaching out to take his hand. “We got out of there just in time, no one even noticed us leave.” 

“But-” 

“We took a shortcut through some woods and the shoes they sent me weren’t really meant for anything too extreme,” you said, laughing quietly as you reached up to place your other hand on his cheek. Echo’s gaze traveled back up to your face, and he couldn’t help but fall in love with the smile you gave him. “I promise, everything is okay now.” 

“I know,” he said, too busy drowning in the sensation of your fingertips touching his skin to really worry about what he was saying. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“Me too Echo,” you said, pulling your hand away from his face. Echo would have been upset at the shift if you hadn’t leaned up and placed the softest of kisses on his cheek. It felt like his skin was set aflame, your lips permanently marking his face; it was evidence that he’d always be yours, even if you didn’t know it yet. “Me too.” 

- the end -

i no longer have a taglist! if you're interested in being notified when i post, you can follow my library blog @ghostofskywalker-library and turn on notifications!

[inkstainedhandswithrings]

TBB S2 EP 11: Metamorphosis

right from the get go already looks like cliché horror film intro (this initially made me dislike the ep, mainly bc we have too many bad horror films playing at the cinema where I work rn, but dw I came around)

the music was actually chillingly different than usually and continued into the scene in which Dr. Hamlock was introduced. I liked that, but in a bad way

the closeup on his hand confirms that the Zillo Beast ate it, no this is not up for discussion, Zillo Beast had himself a treat

I'm kinda coming around on Nala Se, ngl

Also for as uneasy Dr. Hamlock makes me, I feel like we're finally getting a high-quality villain on TBB and I'm here for it

BAD BATCH TELLING CID OFF BAD BATCH TELLING CID OFF BAD BATCH TELLING CID OFF

HUNTER WANTING TO CUT CID OFF HUNTER WANTING TO CUT CID OFF HUNTER WANTING TO CUT CID OFF

Cid, being a huge dick:

Me:🤨🤨🖕🖕🖕

I like watching Wrecker show off how smart he is. He knows all the weapons and how to use 'em. Yes. :D.

"Whatever did this wasn't human." <- I find that an interesting sentence, considering this is Star Wars. If this was a show that took place on earth, somewhere where it was unlikely for an animal to be, that line would've been chilling. In Star Wars? Not so much. Humans are only one of many species in that galaxy and while I do believe that clones = humans, via star wars lore, that doesn't apply. Clones are classified as their own species, meaning technically they aren't human. I'm probably over thinking this but whatever, the line struck me as oddly placed

"By yourself?" "Your concern is not warranted. I will be fine." <- ok, Tech ik you got the whole cool, logical, I-know-what-I'm-doing-vibe going on, but I gotta tell you, the person who says that in horror films dies first.

OFC THE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT IS KAMINOAN FCK

everytime tech checked what's going on in the hallway I yelled "nO" at him. and then he did it anyway. rude.

The second we first saw it I realised it was the Zillo. I've been wondering when/if it would ever come up again, since the Chancellor did order for it to be cloned when the og episodes aired and then we never saw it again, so the arc felt incomplete.

BUT I LOVED THE ZILLO BEAST ARC SO THIS MADE ME V HAPPY AND V SCARED AND I KNOW IT'S NOT CANON BUT CAN THE ZILLO BEAST PLS GO EAT PALPATINE NOW??? IT DESERVES A TREAT!!!!

Hunter grabbing Omega to protect her from the beast 🥺

Tech's slow "Fascinating." followed by his "Take cover."???? sir u already had me, u didn't need to go harder

Wrecker grabbing Omega to protect her from the explosion🥺

Tech casually causing the explosion

"It ate the crew?" MY POOR BABY

"I can help. I know my way around Kaminoan tech." hmmm omega tryna stay out of the fight? she scared? hmmm Tech whatcha do???

Omega being better with Kaminoan tech than Tech and him just going with it and trusting her expertise. Yes. :D

idk where the "Zillo Beast feeds on energy" thing came from bc that wasn't part of the original arc and kinda threw me off, but alright, they needed a reason for it to grow real fast, I'll take it

they're already fighting the beast and then the empire shows up hhhhhhhh whyyyyyyy

omega just casually pulling the plug on tech's research, I love her

Tech grabbing Omega to protect her from the explosion 2.0 🥺

yes, hello, I'd like to inform you all again that I hate the empire, thank you

Tech allowing Hunter to keep flying even though he is the designated pilot and clearly very skilled. Just shows how much he trusts his leader and brother to keep them save. Love that :))

When the Commandos began rounding up the villagers I immediately knew what it meant and GAH HONSLTY WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS

The Empire only destroyed Kamino to control cloning, not to end it, hm? surprise surprise (these fcking motherfckers i swear)

"Send the data to Echo and Rex. See what they can find out."

....

........

............

YES HUNTER YES SEND THEM THE DATA YES GO WORK WITH ECHO AND REX AND SAVE THE GALAXY YES LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

end of the ep confirms yet again that Dr. Hamlock is a bag of dicks :)

Prime Minister said f you and I'm here for it

and then he brought up Omega and I was not here for it anymore

finally the music during the last shot makes me think that this facility is going to come up again and it will likely be very traumatic and horrible and terrible and um ya. sucks man.

gonna tag @jealous-sloth77 and @saturn-sends-hugs bc I'd love to see their thoughts too :))

[rexxdjarin]

I love your writing and thots 🥵

One bed trope or needing to fake date on a mission with Din, Boba or any clone and reader? Spicy or not but maybe enemies to lovers? 🥺

If you’ve already written similar, please let me know I neeeeeed to check it out!!!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Bby thank you so much 🥺💙 it means a lot to me when people compliment my work and my writing. It truly goes a long way.

Be sure to check out my masterlist in my bio for all the work I’ve written !!! I’m going to write a clone bby I’ve surprisingly never written for before 😉

“I cannot believe there was only one bed left.” You huffed in annoyance, laying on the last makeshift cot on the far side of base camp. You weren’t originally supposed to be on this mission so it was technically on you. It wasn’t Kix’s fault that Skywalker demanded he tend to an off the book injury he had caused himself.

You were the only available medic for the scout squad made up of Jesse, Tup and, the bane of your existence, Fives. The devilishly handsome, boisterous and extraverted arc trooper of the bunch.

“C’mon, gorgeous…I’m not that bad of a bunk mate.” Fives argued from the other side of the stack of pillows wedged between you to make a sizable enough division.

“Of the three of you, you are the loudest one, Fives. So help me…if you snore for even 5 seconds, I’m suffocating you with these pillows.” You rolled your eyes, pulling your portion of the blankets over your side.

Fives laughed from right beside you and slowly crept his foot over to kick your calf muscle. “Oh please, you’re the one taking all the blankets. You’re lucky you make me laugh so much or I’d be mad at you.”

You sighed and shoved a pillow down on top of him starting an avalanche of shitty republic supplied sleeping materials on top of him. “Warm enough, now, Fives?” You giggled.

“Nope.” He declared muffled beneath all the layers. “This planet gets cold at night, you know. Protocol is that we sleep close together to share body heat under the standard issue shit we’re given.”

Unfortunately for myself, he was right. That was technically the right thing to do in a situation like this. But doing so would be very uhm- compromising for you. Because despite your best efforts and medic’s intuition and logic, you were unfathomably attracted to the clever fucking arc trooper.

And not knowing what it was about him that made you want him so bad made you unreasonably angry. Maybe it was that focused, driven, raw talent of his. His ability to motivate anyone. The strength of his compassion for other lifeforms and for his work. His happy go lucky, constantly joking attitude despite the world of pain and struggle they endured everyday. He was just perfect. And you hated it.

He was naturally good at everything. And you weren’t. You worked twice as hard as everyone and still you struggled. You were a gifted medic, probably the best available behind their brother, but only because you’d worked yourself to the bone to get there. He was everything you wished you could be naturally and he didn’t even know it. Didn’t know the power he had or how it effected you. He was painfully oblivious.

He flirted with everyone and everything. Everyone was gorgeous to him and he made it a point of telling them so. But because you knew him so well, whenever he called you that it just didn’t feel special or unique to you. You had a hard time believing he meant it for you. Even as badly as you wished he did.

But it was cold. You didn’t want either of you to freeze. You groaned, “fine. come here.” You shifted the pillows and felt him scoot in behind you. He was warm. Firm and strong in all the right ways. The scent of him made your eyes cross. It was intoxicating just like everything else about him. The same magnetic, alluring energy he had seemed to grace every single thing about him.

“Ahhh.” He sighed in relief, “finally. Thank you. My teeth were chattering.” Which had to be a fucking lie. He seemed perfectly toasty to you. “Now if you wanted to get into bed with me…all you had to do was ask.” He joked.

“Fives!” You shouted, trying desperately to hide just how much that comment sent chills down your spine. Because if he really meant that then…well…you might have a chance. Maybe it wasn’t all in your head. “Don’t..don’t say that.”

“Say what?” He feigned ignorance, resting his head on his pillow and folding his arms across his chest.

“Don’t say things you don’t mean. Not even as a joke.” You muttered, the sternness you practiced in your head coming out more like a whisper.

He sat himself up on one elbow and cocked his head at me, clearly taken aback. “Who said I was joking?”

You gulped. This couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t happening. “Fives…you always say nice things like that to everyone. You can’t always mean it.”

“Absolutely I do.” He said sounding offended. “I feel like people should be told when they look nice or have a good vibe or whatever. Is that a crime?”

You took a deep breath before finding the strength to turn around and face him so closely. “You say it to me and don’t mean it all the time.”

He scoffed, his jaw quirking as he looked up at every planet shining in the sky above you. “Cyar’ika…I especially mean it when I’m talking to you.” He raised his hand to nervously run his fingers through his hair. “I’d been wondering why it’s taken you so long to notice, actually.” He looked up at you like a sad kicked tooka and bite his lower lip, maybe for the first time realizing he was struggling to say what he really meant. “I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear.”

You blinked probably five hundred times, absorbing the shock of him revealing he did actually find you attractive. His feelings did match yours. “So…” you stuttered, trying desperately to find the right words to say. “S-so you did want to share a bed with me.” You smirked at him.

He fished around in his pocket before pulling out the straw he drew earlier that he’d very obviously broken in half. “Oh yeah. I broke this in pieces just to make sure.” He laughed, “pretty low. I know. I thought you didn’t like me so I dunno. I guess I thought this was the best way to get you to talk to me.”

The way the moonlight was bouncing across his face, the way the shadows made him seem even more brooding and intense than usual. He looked so…pretty. You just wanted to…

And before you knew it, you were leaning in and pressing your lips to his. It was slow and sweet, like you both had been wanting to enjoy it for some time. His hand cupped your cheek and he pulled you closer, deepening the kiss and letting your tongue slip inside to meet his.

You pulled away slowly, leaving him in a confused yet completely thrilled haze. “Go to sleep, Fives. We’ll talk in the morning.” You smiled like an idiot as you turned over and felt his protective arm curl around your waist to tuck you into him. After all, you did have to keep warm.

[tarisilmarwen]

Rebels Rewatch: "The Honorable Ones"

Kallus starts growing the nigglings of a conscience and also I never want to visit Bahryn ever.

Does this count as Friendship Fetch Quest episode? I mean... we do technically recruit an ally, albeit we make one out of a consistent former enemy, and he is important to things later...

Yeah, you know what, I'm counting it.

Geonosis looks gorgeous.

Oooooof SO many Death Star foreshadowings in this conversation. This is in fact where they started construction on the Mark I, as far back as the Clone Wars. Some time between now and then (Wookiepedia thinks it's between "Breaking Ranks" and now), the project was moved, the orbital stations scrapped, and the entire population of Geonosis genocided to conceal the project's existence.

Just, you know, your ordinary Tuesday for the Empire.

Hi Kallus!

Love Chopper getting to be an absolutely murderous psychopath again lolol.

Ohhhh hey, this cue is from back in "Droids In Distress" when they were about to blow up the ion disruptors. How fitting, lol.

Ezra is still Not Fond of leaving people behind.

He looks so worried. :(

Love how Kallus and Zeb stop fighting for a second when they realize they're about to crash. Matching Oh Crap expressions and everything.

Ngl, I felt that cry of agony deep in the recesses of my childhood.

(I fell off some parallel bars once in gym, didn't break anything, but my first scream? Sounded not too unlike that.)

Lol Ezra banging on Chopper. "Yes, we want him back! Don't be a sleemo!"

Jeez, how terrified Kallus must have been, stuck in the exact scenario that traumatized him so in the past. Lucky for our favorite asshole Zeb is the honorable type.

Yup, yeah, pissing his pants terrified. David does a really good job with Kallus this episode, it's one of the first times they let him show a bit more range and he does shrill and hysterical very nicely, if I may say so.

Kallus is so assured of the Empire's fairness and nobility, aww let's shatter that to pieces this episode. :D

Worried Ezra continues to be worried. <3

He is already shivering, nice little animation here. Also lol @ Zeb pettily pulling the heater closer towards him.

Ahhh the glowing rock of friendship. Love that Kallus keeps it after this.

"You're going to hurt yourself!" <3 See this mother hen behavior right here is why I stuck the Iron Squadron kids with him in my Mirrorverse series, Kallus being a fussy fretful Team Mom is hilarious.

Ah NOPE, nope, nah-uh. Nooooooo thank you.

The bonzami are actually really well-designed. They look like prehistoric dinosaurs of some kind. Definitely evocative of all my childhood nightmares about T-Rexes.

Kallus parroting the Might Makes Right and Social Darwinism of the Empire, leading to Zeb beginning to ask pointed questions.

Oh man there was a really good analysis on here someone did about Kallus's fighting style, how he's better at close quarters than distance/ranged, I wish I remembered who wrote it.

Subtle animation appreciation detail: That pinched guilt in Kallus's expression.

Oooh yeah, that's the good stuff.

Kallus launches into his tragic backstory, possibly to try and remind himself why he personally hates Lasats, rejustify in his head how it was okay for him not to question orders when told to use the ion disruptors--("They deserve it, they're bad people, they kill the injured!")--and the connection to Saw is not a coincidence I think, the writers expand heavily on the whole "It's how we fight that matters." and "The ends justify the means." conflict later on down the line. Numerous characters on this show like Saw and Thrawn and Kallus to an extent represent what happens when you go too far to fight those you consider monsters. I've always loved how firmly Rebels comes down on the side of "The means do matter."

Probably one of the reasons I'm still kind of relucant to watch Andor, I know fandom loves that "I burn myself for a sunrise I'll never see." quote but eehhhhhhhhh.

The exchange right after Kallus's story is a bit clunky, I get what the intent was--that there are people in the Empire who aren't cold and bloodthirsty and evil and the Rebels shouldn't write them all off like they're the same--but it's clumsily executed.

PPFFFFTTTTTT LOLOLOL. KALLUS CANNOT BELIEVE THE SHEER PETTINESS IN ZEB HURLING THE BO-RIFLE OUT OF THE CAVE RATHER THAN LET HIM HOLD IT.

Hey remember when I said I love David Oyelowo's hysterical Kallus voice? Yeah.

Zeb's prehensile feet put to good use again.

Ohhhhh yeah no that's absolutely a terrifying concept for me. Nope.

"Hey we didn't get eaten! Are we friends now?"

There's some debate in the fandom about the inconsistency of the stories Kallus tells from "Droids In Distress" to here. Some parts of fandom point to how he almost gleefully bragged about giving the order to use the ion disruptors and others point out that he couldn't possibly have been high enough in the ranks at that point to actually have the authority to do that.

I tend to fall more towards the latter camp, that he wasn't actually THE one to give the order but he didn't question it and passed it right along due to his prejudice against the Lasat, and only said what he said to Zeb to rile him up. As much as he hated Lasats though, there has been some guilt severely weighing on him since then, and I'm pretty sure it's partly due to his confusion over the Honor Guardsman giving him his bo-rifle. There was a note of aggravated self-defense in Kallus's voice when he explains to Zeb how it was given to him, like he's dispensing with an act and being all, "All right look here's how it really happened."

This conversation is slightly less clear but to me reads like Kallus is detailing his thoughts from the moment he'd been given the order. Like it's mid-battle and it's going harder than they anticipated and the weapons are handed out and he's told to use them and he realizes, "Oh. The Empire is not playing around are they?" and he shoves down his own potential qualms about it and just passes on the order.

Zeb, having had his character development, is dismissive of Kallus's attempt to explain the massacre, saying that it doesn't affect him anymore, basically.

They're so happy to see him. <3

Awwwwwww.

Subtle animation appreciation moment: Zeb's little elbow bump to Ezra's arm as they climb up the ramp.

Ohhhhhh man the behind the scenes had a little plot bit that they should have kept, basically it was not the Empire that retrieved Kallus from Bahryn, it was a scavenger ship, the Empire spent a paltry two rotations looking for him and then wrote him off, he had to make his way back to them on his own.

Konstantine doesn't even look at him.

:((((((

Kallus's redemption is a bit of a polarizing topic in fandom. Personally I'm very fond of it, I like Kallus as an antagonist-turned-Rebel, I think he's a lot of fun post Heel Face Turn and the many myriad fanfics that bridge the gap between "Zero Hour" and Season 4 featuring Kallus slowly blending in to the Spectres are among some of my favorites.

But it's also one of my major nitpicks because it's a bit lacking in legwork. Show👏me👏the legwork!👏 Like 90% of all writing problems can be solved just by expending some effort. Don't just have Kallus as the new Fulcrum offscreen between seasons I need to SEE it.

That being said, this is a mostly tightly written Locked In A Room type episode, well-paced, decently animated. Fandom definitely loves it and I'll still give it fairly regular rewatches since it's another of the husband's favorites.

Next up, we return again to Lothal for Force Weirdness.

[sketching-shark]

Bangs head on my desk. Its sooooo fucking hard I have literally most of the LMK fandom blocked and I still can’t fucking escape that mid ass pairing I want to explode. Honest to god it sucks because I actually like analyzing LEMH and Sun wukong’s dynamic when it comes to the original story and like the idea of a character trying so hard to be this other person they just fundamentally erase any aspect of who they could be. That shit is interesting (especially if you interpret the two as actual family bc there’s a level of. Tragedy there) but NOOO mfs wanna focus on shipping clones/siblings together instead and painfully writing both characters ooc instead of just making an oc good fucking god. ( that being said I really like the art you draw of LEMH. It’s really cool. Keep up the good work 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾)

fregarewargtfds I once saw someone describe the LEMH & SWK ship as jttw retellings's reylo and. hm. yeah.

BUT YEAH YEAH YEAH to this day one of the things I find most baffling about the western monkie kid & jttw fandom is this widespread refusal to even recognize LEMH's actions in the og classic. Because it's like: here we have what could very well be one of literature's first instances of the "evil twin" trope and it's being done SPECIFICALLY in a way to create the maximum amount of conflict and uncertainty for SWK!

Because on one hand the false monkey of the true and false monkey king arc is essentially the very embodiment of everything that SWK ever wanted; LEMH, in copying SWK so completely, does it in such a way where he gets to be both a yaoguai warlord with a loving family AND a holy pilgrim bound for glory at the exact same time, whereas SWK is constantly being forced to choose between the two! But LEMH's also doing it in the worst way possible! He beats Tang Sanzang into unconsciousness, steals their stuff for his own use, and in so doing drives a serious rift between SWK and the pilgrims!

He clearly doesn't give af about the Mt. Huaguoshan monkeys outside of how they can serve as his personal tools to fulfill his own aims! He just wants them to use their own powers of transformation so that they can serve as his own obedient group of pilgrims! He even eats one of them as part of a merry feast he throws for himself after a violent encounter with Sha Wujing, and immediately has that monkey replaced with another! And he's doing ALL of this wearing SWK's face and adapting SWK's mannerisms! EVERYONE thinks that it's SWK doing these things! It's like LEMH's very existence is throwing it in SWK's face how this horrible version of himself is closer to achieving ALL of SWK's desires than SWK ever was, and that no matter how much SWK tries to change for the better even the two sides of his beloved family automatically think even this version which would inflict such violence on them is the "true" him! No wonder SWK hated him so much!

And AUGH the possibility of LEMH either being a manifestation of SWK's worst impulses or of being his brother just ramps the tragedy and horror of this situation even more! Like if it was part of SWK inflicting all this pain on the people SWK loves most, well there is truly something messed up about this situation where even if it's not technically "you" going along with your worst impulses they will still hurt people! Could you ever trust yourself again? Should you? How much of the blame for this situation lies with you? And can it be enough to fully acknowledge you have violent impulses but don't act on them?

And yes @the-bitter-ocean even in interpretations where LEMH is some random yaoguai who decides to commit identity fraud the story from his point of view of him throwing away his identity so completely that there's basically nothing left of him is just...goddamn. In his ambition he literally reduced himself to one part of SWK's story, just one more obstacle for the Monkey King to overcome.

And SCREAM if LEMH was SWK's brother? Imagine this situation where for SWK he's confronted by what is essentially the culmination of his failures to protect his family, where his beloved brother (I'm saying beloved because SWK loved all members of his monkey family very much) ended up despising SWK so much that he has essentially destroyed everything that he was or could have been in his bid to be the "real" monkey king and bring glory back to that name, but does so in the worst way possible to the point where SWK feels he has to take down LEMH himself. And then for LEMH, you can see how love and admiration for his brother would be twisted into resentment, envy, obsession, and hatred due to the series of atrocities the Mt. Huaguoshan simians faced in large part as a consequence of SWK's challenge to the heavens and his own sense of entitlement, so that eventually he convinced himself he would be a more "true" monkey king than the monkey king himself, and thus completely discarded his own identity to take on that of his brother, and in doing so basically tossed his own morals given how his "version" of the monkey king cares for no one but himself.

Sorry for the rant! But all the pieces for a whole series of interesting tragedies are! Already! Right! There!!!!! Why are we all so hellbent on ignoring/rewriting them!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

[wantonlywindswept]

mando 3.8 liveblog (at least it’s finally over)

alright here we go

hey what happened to not being able to use comms

i will consider it justice if axe dies too

ahh feckin imps with beskar

did they? drug him??? hit him?? HE WAS WALKING FINE BEFOR---nevermind

ewwww they even have flamethrowers???? fuckin mando wannabes

also lol really only 2 of them for din??

baby~!!

no torture for din :(

btw BO YOU LET THE INFANT WANDER OFF ON HIS OWN??

tracking?? WHY IS HE RED AND GROGU A GREEN DOT oh cos droid mb? that would make sense. fucking hilarious if they were color-coordinated by gideon tho lmao

scomp. what. what is that word

frankly surprised R5 wasn’t scrapped tbh, he DID deserve it

guys you. you cannot make another R2. i do not have emotional investment in a droid that betrayed the covert

din why ask questions when you can’t understand him

yes! yes if axe dies on the cruiser as his epic death scene i will allow it for paz

fuckin love mandalorians just. flinging themselves out into space. love them.

ah yes the stupid vader shields

IS THIS GONNA BE ANOTHER DUEL OF THE FATES bc it can’t, that shit was too cool to be remade

mmmmm knives

PARRY THIS BLADE BETWEEN THE ARMOR YOU FILTHY CASUALS

i am loving all of his kicky moves

tube people! 

are these the mandalorian jedi i wanted--oh my god the bitch cloned himself THE NARCISSIM. i mean im not surprised but

damn that life beneath the surface though, so green

oh boo that means the armorer isn’t the spy doesn’t it

is it just gonna be ‘facist chick and gideon were the spies for the evil facism council’?? so boring.

oh my god that flying saber pose pls

lol u bitches wanna try to take on mandos mid-air? you’re not THAT good of copies

I WAS RIGHT I WAS RIGHT HE WANTED TO PUT THE FORCE INTO CLONES/MANDALORIANS I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT DEMAGOLKA 2.0

technically he exploded them before they could draw their first breath

guys beskar v beskar hand to hand is. silly.

ohh worm? mando vs shithead fake siths?

baby jedi vs sith??

oh god that heartbroken little ‘no’ din yelled

guys you’re being beaten by a giggling infant

oh gideon totes put an exoskeleton in his suit didn’t he, loser

no. no. no. really? really bo vs gideon? my fucking god it hate it.

we were shown how gideon vs mando was important, their fight vs each other during the seasons, and the fight gets passed over to bo. like yeah i get din saving his kid more important but i just. the lack of payout.

woves you’re still alive?

OH?? OHHHHHHHHH UIT BROKE? IT BROKE IT BROKE IT BROKE FUCK YEAH FUCK YEAH

seriously the classist bitch gets to live but paz doesn’t??? lame. uber lame. go down with your fucking ship woves

so slippy slidey

okay if gideo died in that fire they abso---NEVERMIND BABY FOR THE WIN

damn love that precedent being taken advantage of. would love if more things were too

rip the great forge

oh??? mythosaur??????? please??????

oh no ragnar

why you gotta be like this

oh i guess they didn’t count his as complete

FUICKING. BAPTISM??

oh we gonna baptize grogu now too?

OH? OH I WAS FUCKING RIGHT YOU DIDNT CONSIDER YOURSELF A DAD YET YOU MOTHERFUCKING GO ON, SAY THE FGUCKING WORDS FUCKING DO IT

MYHSAUR NOW??  FOR MANDO JEDI???

DIN GROGU HELL YEAH. also does that mean the naming styles are eastern asian style? IS DIN ACTUALLY HIS LAST NAME. WOT. is ‘din’ some form of appellation? WHAT IS GOING ON

oh my god are y0ou fuckign srs he has to leave mandalore already what is this SHIT

MTYHOSAUR??? BABY SEE MYTHOSAUR????

oh worm visiting the pubs? yay more carson!!

oh my god are we ACTUALLY bringing back the droid

lawls vacation cabin, glad to see the secondary ‘obtain a house’ quest was fulfilled

oh god we brought the droid back as the marshall

din get a landscaper in there

congratulations din djarin on successfully becoming the npc side character he always wanted to be

[astorinx-writes]

I’ve Written A Lot of Fan Fiction… And I’m Here To Talk About Them

Something I’ve found out about myself over the years, is that I’m quite the jack of all trades. From design, to video making— I feel like I’ve done it all! But one thing is for sure: no matter what, writing is something I can always fall back on. For as long as I can remember, regardless of what I was primarily interested in, I always had writing in the background as a sort of unbeknownst craft, lurking and waiting for its opportunity to shine. So, is it really a surprise then that I’ve been writing fan fiction for pretty much as long as I’ve been an Astro Boy fan? Personally, I’d say no. But regardless— I thought today we would take a look into my fan fiction writing history. See what I wrote in the past, what’s available to read now, what you may be able to read in the future, and what might never see the light of day.

As usual, I gotta hit you with a disclaimer. For those that don’t know, I do have a bit of a spotty memory, so this may not be as all encompassing as it could be. Also, a lot of the works I wrote were when I was a minor. Though, this doesn’t absolve me from having written anything unsavory. I take full responsibility, and I do try my best as an adult now to put my best foot forward. I have a duty to do right by the community and not be a weirdo posting offensive and/or inappropriate stuff.

It’s All In The Past Now

To start, let’s discuss the fan fictions that I have written, but are no longer accessible (for the most part). I’d like to consider these fics gone with the wind, so to speak, and I have no intention of rebooting them in any fashion. These fics are basically dead, and expected to stay that way.

Vivid Insomnia

Probably my biggest undertaking, and what might’ve been my crowned jewel if I was still delusional and thought it was great. Vivid Insomnia was actually not (for the most part) done by me alone. Sure, it did originally start around 2012-2013 with me writing the (technically) first story, “Zoran vs. Uran”, but Vivid Insomnia would’ve not been what it was if it weren’t for the collaborative efforts of both me and my (now) partner. I think what made VI so special to me was how it really felt like an alternative universe, despite not being one at all. Also, the plethora of original characters! There was so much to chew over and get lost in, even though looking back, there were so many plot holes, it was astounding! The quality of said fics also left a lot to be desired. Certainly when I was younger, I was practically parading this series around like it was an MLM sales pitch, but nowadays, my motto is usually “Don’t read it. You don’t hate yourself that much, I promise.”

But what was Vivid Insomnia? Well, to be honest… neither of us really knew.

I mean, in technical terms, it was a fan fic series (something akin to a novel series). But in terms of actual overarching plot, it was quite unclear. When we made the (now deleted) Tumblr blog for the series, we billed it as a series revolving “Astro’s road to recovery” and when I began the rewriting process with “Zoran”, I did make it a point to focus a bit on Astro’s mental struggles. However, where it gets lost, is in its obvious attempt at being slice of life. It’s hard to say what exactly a series is when you have a million things going on at once.

First you got O’shay being a total ass, then you have Astro being mentally ill, and then he gets a girlfriend, and then his girlfriend starts going through shit because she has an abusive mom. Then Astro gets cloned, then the robot Tenma made and shipped off to O’shay out of jealousy decides to [REDACTED] herself, so now Astro hates his clone because it was supposed to be him not her that got dismantled once the experiment was over.

Honestly, trying to explain the plot of VI to literally anyone would be so difficult and convoluted, you’d have no choice but to think it was totally batshit wild. Not to mention the OC plot lines; you have Quinn who already has quite the story line going back as far as when Tenma worked at The Ministry, then there’s Stephen and his… interesting mom. We already talked about Astro’s GF Brianna, but she’s quite the basket-case. Oh, and the self inserts! The self inserts!!!

So, why did it go away? Well, it wasn’t just because it was bad. In fact, I even had plans to rewrite the whole thing and improve it! But the issue lies in the fact that I don’t think there was much I could’ve done, knowing what I know now, to improve upon it in a relevant time frame. You see, not only was the series plagued by so much convolution, but it was also… a bit problematic.

For starters, the amount of toilet and adult humor had no business existing there in the first place. Maybe I did find it funny back then, but I think now as an adult all I can do is cringe and seriously wonder why no one thought to pull me aside and tell me to knock it off. Of course, I can’t go back and change what I did, time travel isn’t a thing. But what I can do, is own up to what I did and make a commitment to be vastly cleaner with my jokes.

I think through looking back at VI, I’ve become a lot more stringent with what I write and consume. And sure, some may say I’ve become a bit prudish as a result, but I think I owe it to myself, and the audience I have to, as I mentioned earlier, not be a weirdo.

Secondly, I think the psychology knowledge and better understanding of mental health that I have now makes what I had written before leave a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. You see, when I wrote VI, I had practically no knowledge of mental health— I wasn’t even fully sure of what I had going on personally. So, I suppose it’s congruent for me to have written something a bit on the fearmongering/distasteful side. But again, I’m not absolved of the repercussions of my actions, nor of the responsibility to apologize for it. To the mental health community, therapy is not a sin or something to fear, and I’m profoundly sorry that I portrayed it as such. Especially given the audience I had while VI was in the works, it was erroneous and borderline malicious, and for that, again, I am sorry. As I’ve learned so much more, I know now that my works shouldn’t demonize the tools we have at our disposal.

That wasn’t the only reason it went away, however. Apart from the harsh truth that it probably wouldn’t have been till I was 30 that the series would’ve been finished, I realized midway through working on my secret project, that if I wanted to write about the “general” premise of what VI “supposedly” was about, I’d have to start completely from the ground up. Now, I don’t want to get too deep into this point because I want to save it for when I mention my “secret project,” so all you need to know is that I found something better, and I’m willing to make peace with VI as a result.

The Love Trilogy

Picture this: it’s 2016, you just left Google+ for Tumblr because you thought being able to customize the way your desktop blog looked was cool, and you find out there’s an actual community dedicated to this show you like! In true Sage fashion, my initial thought was, “I gotta let these people know I write fan fiction!” But I wasn’t just going to make an AD post about Vivid Insomnia, I had to make something original! So, I did, in the form of Painting With.

Painting With (yes, named after the Animal Collective album of the same name), for those who don’t know, was a (very) short one-shot about Astro and Reno. Basically (if I remember correctly), Reno gets asked by The Ministry to either paint a mural, or put up a billboard, something like that, and brings Astro along for the ride. Now before Painting With, I was of course a big Astro x (my OC) Brianna shipper, naturally because of VI. But during this time, despite me not remembering much, I do know this is when I started to shift and practically became an Astro x Reno (AKA “Retro”) shipper overnight. Painting With was basically my first foray into writing Retro fan fics, and if you know me in any capacity now, you know it would not be my last.

So Painting With gets good feedback! And so, I decided to come back with another fic, Escape The Dinner Party. Not intended to be a sequel, but after I wrote the next fic, Dream Sequence, it was pretty apparent at that point that I was onto something.

In comes The Love Trilogy, a name I gave the series of fan fics I had written so far, and would continue to write for quite some time. Basically, the entire plot surrounded Astro and Reno deciding to leave, fearing oppression. Now, what it actually ended up being was more like “Reno takes a 2-week vacation from work and Astro tags along,” despite it originally being billed as a runaway fic. TLT I’d say was a (small) step-up from VI quality wise, but it was definitely plagued by being dialogue heavy, to the point where there was certainly more being said, then there was being done. In my defense, I hadn’t read a single book in forever, so knowing how to structure a paragraph was not my forte, but at least it didn’t have original characters up the wazoo or jokes better suited for something like “Rick and Morty”.

Where it did fall short, however, is in its portrayal of O’shay. I’ll admit it: I hadn’t seen the 2003 series in quite some time, and I think it did play a role in how I thought O’shay was character wise. So, no, making him essentially a baddie in both VI and TLT was not “accidental” technically speaking, but obviously now I know he’s not a raging queerphobe and total ass with no regard towards his kid's mental health because he thinks it’ll make him look bad.

There’s also something to be said about writing something queer and making it trauma based. I think now when I look back, I can see where my past self was coming from, but I could’ve honestly done without the trauma plot and maybe have made it a bit… cuter, I suppose? I mean, they’re going on vacation! There was so much I could’ve done with that, and the whole “dream sequence” thing that happened too could’ve been the dash of spice I needed to add angst to the series! But I digress…

After writing arc 1 (it’s hard to explain, but basically, I wrote 10 fics and lumped them together like TV episodes in a season) I went on to write arc 2. That one was arguably much slower in terms of release, but it at least didn’t deal so much with O’shay. Instead, Astro gets some unexplained bug that Reno has to fix. It reminds me a bit of “Astro Reborn” from the 03 series, except (spoiler alert) Reno doesn’t take Astro to Tenma, and manages to fix it on his own. I did plan to work on arc 3, a prequel arc meant to explain how Astro and Reno started dating in the first place, but at that point I was bored with the series, and I needed a change of pace. So with that, and another reason I’ll get into later, the series got the ax.

No matter what, though, TLT will always hold a special place in my heart. Not so much because of the material itself, but the way it broke down barriers for me. You see, at the time, I wasn’t working on anything else but VI with my partner, and it was starting to get to the point where I was afraid of working on anything solo. What if I wouldn’t finish it? What if it didn’t come out as great? So many questions, it really got in the way of me being able to write. Now, I unfortunately am not a “words” person (let it be known I’d be in a much better place if all it took was for me to hear the right words or work through my issues logically), it takes experience for things to actually click and internalize.

So TLT was just that! It was an experience that significantly boosted my confidence in being able to write solo. But most importantly, it made me give less of a shit! Nowadays, I just see writing stuff like fan fictions as just… something. If I go weeks without a fan fic update, or never finish a certain fic, who cares! It’s this sort of “fuck it” attitude that’s been honestly quite freeing. In fact, I kind of now find my old mentality/opinion to be a little silly, but I do understand where past Sage was coming from.

A Gift Wrapped Present… For The Present!

Now, we’ve gone over what once was, but what about the now? What’s fully out there and available for you to sink your teeth into? Whether these fics are finished or not doesn’t determine its status being a part of this section. If you can read it on fanfiction (dot) net or ao3, then it’ll be here.

Tales From The Laboratory

After working on The Love Trilogy for so long, I was starting to get a little bored with it. For starters, I was coming to realize my portrayal of O’shay was flawed in more ways than one. And I also just wanted a fresh start, no more worrying about fanon rules set up in the series that I had to follow, also no more fics where the plot boiled down to Retro in their lab together just shooting the shit and getting sappy. It was okay once, but it gets boring rather quickly. So, because of this (and the other reasons I mentioned earlier) I gave TLT the ax, and went on a sort of hiatus as far as writing Retro fics goes. Eventually, though, I wanted to get back into it, but again not in the TLT universe, or even for TLT. So, I decided to start something new!

Tales From The Laboratory, as the name implies, is essentially a collection of one-shots (fandom speak for “short story”). Every story is about Retro, and even for the most part, has Astro and Reno as the sole characters in the fic. For the most part, they don’t intersect or belong to a linear plot line (except for Going Further Away, which we will talk about soon), and some may or may not be AUs.

Technically, this series is ongoing, but I can stop it at any time since again there’s no main plot to be had, so there’s nothing really to be resolved. What has been cancelled, however, is Going Further Away. This was sort of a “series within a series” if you will, with installments that were meant to be peppered into the “normal” one-shots being posted. Sort of like a “oh, let’s check back in on what they’re doing!” scenario. Why it’s being pulled is pretty much similar to why TLT is done. I just don’t think the series is necessary, and to be quite honest, it reads more like a fic I’d write just for myself and have for keeps. The plot is basically similar to TLT, so there’s the “queer trauma” element as well, and it just overall doesn’t pique my interest as something I’d be publicly posting about.

Other than that, though, TFTL is still growing strong, and I actually just posted a new fic, Is It True (yes, named after the Tame Impala song). My next one, Dancing With You (named after the Jane Inc song) is slated to come soon, and will hopefully be the start of a sort of miniseries where I write fics based off songs in Retro’s Spotify playlist.

Buzzcut Season

I guess this is technically named after the song by Lorde, but I wouldn’t say it was intentional (unlike the ones in the past that were intentional). My idea was simple: each “fic” (or rather one-shot if I’m being honest) would surround a character with something they need to overcome. Originally, I intended to write more after just the 3 chapters that are up, but after stewing on it and losing interest, I decided to cut it to just those three.

There’s not really much else to say, except a funny IRL anecdote that I hope at least (1) person finds funny. I am quite the lazy person, and I also don’t like writing stuff that isn’t at least remotely AB related. So, when I was assigned to write a short story for my junior year English class, I basically ripped myself off and slightly modified one of the chapters to use for the assignment. I (obviously) got caught, but I never contested it because I wasn’t about to admit to my English teacher I write fan fiction. So, I took the L and lived with the shame. Take it from me, buds: don’t plagiarize, not even yourself!

Little Effort, Big Adventure

One of my favorite episodes from the 2003 series has got to be “Lost In Outland”. So naturally, I would make a fan fiction (vaguely) inspired by it. And by vaguely, I mean not at all related, but I do remember wanting to make this after having seen LIO, so perhaps there is a connection… somehow. My idea was simple: a light on plot, silly little story where Astro travels by train (for some reason) to various towns and cities to see how the locals live. I based it on this idea that Astro doesn’t really leave Metro City much, but has always wondered about other places nearby, so they work out a plan with O’shay to make it all happen.

The funny thing about this fic is probably the fact that I was so consistent with it. I had a bi-weekly schedule (AKA 1 new chapter every other week) that I did follow through with for a while. Why did I stop? Well, at the time, I wanted to rewrite Vivid Insomnia, and I had technically already begun that process with writing Zoran, but it was far from finished, and NaNoWriMo was coming up, so I thought that would be a perfect opportunity to finish it up. Now of course looking back, I (and probably you too) could see why that was a stupid decision, since VI got cancelled in the end. But I guess it’s just something I have to make peace with. And I was happy with what I made for Zoran anyway, so I suppose I shouldn’t be too bitter.

As it stands right now, the fic is pretty much in development hell because I have so many other things (even outside of fan fictions) to work on. Perhaps maybe one day I’ll get the spark to keep working on it and finish what I started, but for now, it’s basically in limbo.

One Shots (And Boy Are There Many)

This one is basically an amalgamation of all one-shots I have at the moment. Obviously, these are all finished, and you can find them on fanfiction (dot )net and ao3!

First, let’s start with Parental, this has got to be my most popular one shot out of all of them for sure. Fun fact: I actually got my partner to help me write this one! Back when we wrote Vivid Insomnia, she used to write the lines for Tenma. So, when it came time to write him, I knew just whom to call. And I gotta say, while this fic is a little rough around the edges, and certainly has some stuff I would change if I could write it all over again, I totally get why this is as popular as it is. Without spoiling the story, basically Astro decides to pay Tenma a visit during the winter time to see if he’s okay, and that’s all I can say.

Second, we have My Dad Eats Collard Greens For Breakfast. Sort of an “unofficial” sequel to Parental, I originally came up with the fic title way before knowing what the plot was going to be. I was basically shopping it around and seeing what fic ideas the title would best suit. Eventually, I decided on a fic where Astro visits Tenma again. But this time it cuts right to the chase, wherein Astro’s already there. Now again, no spoilers, so I can’t say what happens while they’re there— you’ll have to read it to find out.

Finally, there’s Pronouns. You ever get so pissed off at dumb people sliding into your asks and saying the stupidest things, you decide to write a fan fiction as retaliation? No? Just me? Well, regardless, the entire premise of Pronouns comes from an ask I got on Astorinx basically questioning why I use “they/them” pronouns for Astro in my fan fictions. Now, this wasn’t the first time I got asked that. In fact, on Parental, I got asked about the queer elements written into the fic. And to be fair, it was probably petty of me to write an entire fic after getting such comments, but in my defense, I felt a little annoyed at the constant questioning. Especially as a “they/them” pronouns user myself, it just irritated me a bit. Why should I have to explain to you why I use “they/them” for Astro? Personally, I feel I should be left in peace in that regard. But nevertheless, this fic took me no less than 10 minutes to write, and basically says what’s on the tin, detailing why Astro uses “they/them” pronouns. The idea here was basically that I’d have something to link to whenever I get asked this, but thankfully I haven’t. I should also clarify that I’m not against criticism or receiving asks, comments, ETC. My only issue is getting asked things like “why did you do this?” regarding anything queer related in my works. Mostly because the answer is quite obvious: I’m queer, and I write fan fiction.

Contrary To Popular Belief

I guess you could say this is sort of a flip-side, or 3rd cousin twice removed relative to Tales From The Laboratory, but regardless, Contrary To Popular Belief, is probably the most “out there” (quite literally speaking, to be honest) fan fiction I have. Similar to TFTL, Contrary To Popular Belief is a one-shot compilation, but with a twist! What twist, you may ask? Well, every one-shot is a different AU! Pretty much, I wanted to use this as an opportunity to write about stuff I normally don’t, or to get some ideas I’ve had that wouldn’t work with the way the 03 series canon is set up out of my brain. There’s not much else to it, but if you are interested in reading it, the 2 first stories, Left Of The Spacecraft and 2-Star Yelp Review are out. And yes, the fic title is a joke.

You Might See These… In A Few Years

No, I am not joking, it really may be years until some of these fics make their big debut. But I still want to talk about them anyway, in case you’re interested. I also want this to serve as a way to make room in my brain for other ideas to hyper-fixate on for weeks at a time.

Paternal Amnesty

I suppose now’s a better time than ever to be frank: I lied to you all. You see… I did say that Vivid Insomnia was over with, and it is. But… I did manage to (sort of) bring it back, but with a big, giant catch.

One of the things I loved the most about VI was the dynamic between Astro and Tenma. It was heartfelt, but it was also stupidly hilarious. I mean, the number of times Astro would take a jab at Tenma only to get immediately read for filth was definitely something for the books. So, is it really a surprise I’d want to try and bring it back somehow? Well, I suppose not!

Don’t get it twisted, though, this is (unfortunately) not just straight up “yoinking their dynamic from VI and putting it in a new fic”. For that, you’ll have to (spoiler alert) check out Contrary To Popular Belief when ____ Of The Year comes out. What this is, though, is a sort of derivative of the VI fic Two Halves Of The Same Heart.

Now because of spoilers, I’m not going to say what happens in that fic, but seasoned VI fans will hopefully now have a better idea of what Paternal Amnesty has to offer.

Basically, this fic centers around an Astro who is very much aware that their mental health is not great. But unfortunately, O’shay is completely unwilling to provide the support necessary, so they can get the help they need.

To be clear: there are no OCs in this fic, and no, you will not be needed to have read VI to read this. I will say though that if O’shay being portrayed as an asshole is not your vibe, then this fic might not be for you. If you do, however, like Astro and Tenma’s dynamic, or perhaps wished they were on speaking terms, then this might be for you.

My Secret Project

No, that is not its actual title. Back then, I thought maybe if I spoke the least amount possible about what I was working on, I was more likely to follow through with it. Well, suffice to say, it’s been 3 years since I originally came up with the idea, and I haven’t even gotten a single chapter done.

So, why am I being so secretive about it still? Well, to be honest, I’m not sure. I guess now’s a better time than ever to let you all know….

Drum roll….

Ignorant Mischief

Sort of a flip side of Paternal Amnesty, Ignorant Mischief will probably be the biggest undertaking since Vivid Insomnia I will ever do. And this is actually the fic that made me decide to cancel VI.

Why exactly, you may ask? Well, it would help for me to explain (generally) what the plot of IM is (again, without spoilers!).

Basically, this fic is an AU that I’ve dubbed my “adult AU” (more on that later) where Astro is a twenty-something (21 at the start of the fic, to be exact!) who is… for all intents and purposes… a bit of a serial romantic. Where the actual plot is, lies in Astro entering yet another relationship, but this time around it’s with someone they genuinely have cared about for quite some time just as a friend (gee, I wonder who that could be.). Naturally, they don’t want it to go to shit like all of their past relationships have, so they decide to start therapy in hopes of learning how to keep it together. And the rest is, as they say, history! Or at least will not be mentioned here because again, spoilers spoilers spoilers.

So, when I finally figured out what I wanted IM to be about, I realized I was basically writing what VI had intended to be about: Astro’s road to recovery. But it was improved upon in ways I couldn’t have with VI without completely starting over. It felt a little redundant to have both VI, and it's much better in every single way relative up and active at the same time, so why bother?

Now, the difference between this fic and Paternal Amnesty is pretty much night and day. PA is mostly about Astro and Tenma, with less of an emphasis on the therapy they’re receiving. IM, on the other hand, is pretty much solely about Astro’s time in therapy. I mean, sure, there are moments of Astro in therapy in PA, just as much as there are moments of Astro’s life outside of therapy in IM, but neither is the focal point of their respective stories. Another big difference is that Astro in PA is about 13, whereas IM Astro is an adult. Also, O’shay isn’t an ass in IM, but the trade-off is that Tenma is pretty much out of the picture (and is intended to stay that way).

Why this fic has taken so long to come out, actually circles back to why I ended VI and the apology I made earlier. As I stated, this fic is about Astro’s time in therapy, so I, of course, need to know quite a bit about what going to therapy entails, but also have the psychology knowledge necessary to be able to write something accurate. The points and messages I want to have and make, hinge so much on being done well and by someone who is knowledgeable about the subject.

Now, I am aware that it might be a bit excessive to think I’d need to become a psych expert overnight to make this fic happen, but I’d argue against that. Again, it matters a lot to me now that what I write is accurate, and done in good taste. I couldn’t possibly bring myself to write something, fully knowing that I’m ill-informed, with good conscience. Also, as a newfound stickler for psychobabble, It’d also be a bit hypocritical for me to write something akin to a pop psychology piece. What I write has to be accurate, and again, respectful. So tl;dr, I need to do more psychology research, and that’s going to take a while.

Finally, I do want to talk a little about the universe itself. Even though this fic hasn’t come out yet, it has technically been made public in a sort of related way. You see, the foundation of which this fic is built upon is my adult AU. Which for the purposes of this post I won’t get into, but many of my newer works do take place in a version of said universe.

This doesn’t mean every fic I’ve written is connected to IM, though. They just all use the same base, kind of like different plants that use the same pot and soil. Where this is most prevalent is in Tales From The Laboratory, where I’ve pretty much moved on to writing about Retro exclusively as adults, so of course I use this universe as its foundation.

To explain why, I think when I became an adult, I immediately became distasteful of anything to do with minors. In fact, all of my OCs are adults now for this reason. It just doesn’t sit right with me and puts a sour taste in my mouth to write about kids. Of course, I’ll make exceptions, but only when I feel it’s absolutely necessary, or it would break the plot otherwise.

El Campo

Spanish for “the countryside” El Campo is an unofficial prequel to Ignorant Mischief. The intention here is to get a little peek into who Astro would become as an adult. But make no mistake, it’s not the focal point at all. What is the focal point, however, is it’s “actual” plot.

Basically, Yuko sends O’shay off on another vacation after it became apparent that he was up to here in work related stress, and needed to get away for the weekend. So, he decides to take his kids (+ Reno!) to a cabin-like place in the countryside.

There’s really not much else to it. Obviously, since this is much easier to write because it’s just a one-shot and doesn’t require profound psych knowledge, this’ll probably be out a lot sooner.

You’ll Never See Me Again… Except You Never Saw Me At All To Begin With

Even though September won’t cry for you, I will still extend my condolences to you for these fics that were meant to exist, but never did, and (maybe) never will. But hey, there’s a catch! You see, for just the fics in this category, I’m giving the ideas away for free! If I’m not going to make them, it’d be pretty gatekeep-y of me to hoard them. Especially if perhaps somebody else could take them and make them a reality. It just wouldn’t be very punk rock of me to do anything else.

Thespian Alloquy

Technically, my first-ever AU, Thespian Alloquy was supposed to be a fan fiction consisting of an ensemble cast that were all actors. Tezuka Star System jokes aside, what this basically was about is simple: Astro is a preteen (+ human because this was also a human AU for some reason???) that’s looking for something to do over the summer. They have a huge passion for acting, and so after asking many a friends and teachers for ideas, their drama teacher suggests they join Metro City’s local theatre, and they immediately agree.

Now, they also do bring Reno along for the ride, but you don’t have to include him. I just think Reno is definitely the Bonnie to Astro’s Clyde, so any chance I get to have them together and be BFFs, I’m going to take.

Key elements included Astro living with their (presumably divorced) mom. Changing their name to Astro after coming out as agender (besides acting, they’re a huge space/astronomy fan). And of course, being human (again for some unknown reason, I suppose you could make them a robot again if you can figure it out plot wise). Another major plot point takes us to where I get to discuss who went where, character speaking.

Sadly, most of my knowledge has been lost to time since again it is quite spotty. All you need to know though is that basically every main AB character is a part of this theatre. O’shay, for example, conducts the orchestra and has two daughters: Zoran and Uran. Tenma, is the head director of the theatre and basically runs and puts together most of the plays. This is where the big twist comes in because gasp! Tenma is Astro’s father??? Unbeknownst to them, it’s a lot to process and take in. And talk about the irony! Of all places and scenarios for Astro to find out who their long-lost dad was— it was during summer break at a local theatre.

Why this never came to fruition is actually one of the reasons I didn’t touch upon earlier when it came to fics from the future: writing chapters in bulk.

It’s kind of funny and ironic; in the novel world, you, of course, need to have the entire story done before it can be released. But in the fan fiction world, it’s pretty much par the course to write chapters one at a time and post each of them as soon as they’re finished. I however, wanted to at least have a couple ready at hand, so there was enough for people to sink into and not so long of a wait for new material.

This put a lot of pressure on me because I got so in my head and also clearly was not fit for writing in bulk. So, it stayed dormant for so long, and by the time I was finally ready to give it a shot, the hype for the story was basically all dried up, furthering my desire to just give it the boot and call it a day.

That One Time I Decided To Forgo Being A Robot

Based on the 80s episode I cannot remember currently (+ a manga plot if I remember correctly), this was a one shot that was supposed to be about Astro “getting rid” of their robot powers in order to “be human”.

The main reason I pulled the plug on this, was because it was meant to be a more humorous retelling/rewriting of the plot. Because In my opinion you can’t be a robot your whole life, get an operation to “become human”, and not proceed to do silly and idiotic shit thereafter.

Personally, I don’t consider myself to be that funny (at least in the context of writing fiction). And I think in order for this fic to be remotely good, it has to be eye crying, and stomach hurting hilarious.

So instead, I’m hoping maybe someone with a huge funny bone will take this on and give this idea the justice it needs, and make us all fall to the floor dying of laughter as a result.

Crossing The Ts, Dotting The Is, and Fixing The Typos

In closing, I will say this was a very interesting journey to look back on. Sure, I may not remember everything, but for what it’s worth, I’m proud of what I’ve made (minus the problematic elements in some of them, of course). What the future holds for me exactly regarding my fan fictions, is, and always will be, uncertain. But perhaps maybe like me, you’ve at least got to learn a bit more about what I’ve done then and now, what’s hopefully to be done, and finally… what I’ll never (personally) make done.

[drkineildwicks]

BH6 Snippet--TGIF on a Monday--6/6/2022

Okay, since that one fic I was talking about got its own doc and I worked on it a bit today, let’s have some from Two Geniuses in Flight, aka TGIF (y’all should have stopped me when you had the chance XD):

“I was jealous, okay? For like, all of two seconds—it’s not my fault Fred latched onto the idea and won’t let it go.”  Which was technically not a lie.

“Hmm,” Karmi noised, straightening out a stack of papers.  “Well seeing how this is technically your fault, I’m tempted to leave you in your dire straits—let you learn from your mistakes.”

“And who will proofread for you?” he countered.

“I can proofread myself.”

“That’s why you keep mixing up their and there, right?”

Huff at him.  “Fine, you can hide out, but you’d better be making yourself useful.”

Smile—he could do that, part of his orders from his mistress was keeping Karmi happy, this was that.

And considering this also meant helping her iron out the next chapter of her fanfic, it was also something he enjoyed—it had baffled him that the original Hiro had hated this, the concept of stringing words together until they made a coherent story fascinated him, and the fact that Karmi could do this just upped her impressiveness in his book.  The fact that she was okay with his input, even, even though the original Hiro had been so disdainful.

Granted, knowing now that the original Hiro was ‘Captain Cutie’ coupled with knowing how poorly he got along with Karmi cleared up a lot of that confusion.

To put things into context: plot of the fic is Amara kidnapped Hiro and turned him into a monster early on in the CoM arc and replaced him with a clone Hiro to throw everyone off.  She also gave the clone the order to be nice to Karmi since she complained a lot about the original Hiro.  Clone!Hiro’s relationship with Karmi ends up being kind of like that time Calvin only cloned his good side in Calvin and Hobbes, when the good clone tried to be nice to Suzie.

In other news the original Hiro also messes up their and there, seeing as how that’s in one of his journals. XD

[many-gay-magpies]

i’m having such a great time w this YES EXACTLY THE TWO KANGMINS REACH OUT TO THEIR SHADOWS !! AND ONE OF THEM IS SMILING AS HE PUTS HIS HAND OUT!! i know we have this good/evil divide between verivery and the clones but i think the real mission of the clones (and the kangmins) is to get the guys to recognize and accept everything, even the worst parts of themselves. yeah the clones like fucking w them and putting them through some bullshit but they’re still Them. looking at the undercover lyrics, it says “accept our V connection” “i’m trying to make you right, my alter ego” “the ‘we’ born from ‘you’ and ‘me.’” i think the clones are trying to communicate that they and verivery are two sides of the same coin, and kangmin is the one that really wakes up to that and knows what must be done- you either kill yourself to kill the part of you you’re afraid of (which he tried in the “O” concept film), or you face it and become one with it!

english major brain go bRRRRR

-vrvr anon

NO BC THATS LITERALLY WHAT I WAS SAYING ABT THE UNDERCOVER LYRICS IN THIS POST LIKE ... its in the clones' natures, in a way, to be not all that great morally or ethically because... theyre LITERALLY the embodiments of the vrvr members' darkest aspects. but in the same vein i dont think their INTENTIONS are all that nefarious—especially with the lyrics in undercover, it seems more like they just want to be "one" with the better parts of themselves that are present in the main vrvrs-- theyre constantly fighting against (and often losing to) their dark habits because thats pretty much who they are and they can't change that, but they want the best for both themselves and main vrvr (despite all the. yknow. stabbing and saw-esque psychological torture scenarios). mostly they just want main vrvr to accept them (ie: their dark sides) as a part of them, meanwhile main vrvr (or most of them anyway) are busy trying to repress that shit as deeply as possible and, in this case quite literally, run away from their flaws.

kangmin's whole (supposed) journey really intrigues me-- he starts out struggling, hating himself and his flaws, and when they manifest in physical form he tries to eliminate them... but he probably realizes he cant, because theyre a part of him, and always will be. he fights against his dark side with the most brutality, but he comes to accept it the fastest, too

what im gonna say next is mostly for me personally because i doubt youve watched the dark crystal series/movie but. the main villains in both the series and the movie are this "evil" race of creatures called the skeksis (theres some issues with xenophobia and the whole "entire race made up of irredeemable bad guys" concept but thats a conversation for another day), and alongside them are a race of very good, pure, wise creatures called the "mystics" (they have a more technical name but i dont remember it lmao). originally, though, they were one race (the urskeks) and got split into two in some giant magical tragedy-- one representing the dark side of the race, and the other representing the light. verivery's situation is a little different, since it's a group of whole people (as far as we know) essentially running away from the darkest parts of themselves, but the two still remind me of each other (additionally, the whole saga ends with the two races rejoining into one, which seems like something that might happen to vrvr as well, or at least something similar to it).

vrvr lore TRULY makes the writer/english major brain go brrr <33

[jedipoodoo]

Hi! Could you do headcanons for the Bad Batch with a gender neutral reader that has selective mutism? If you don’t know what it is, it’s basically a condition where a person can technically physically speak but sometimes their brain just doesn’t let them get the words out and they go mute, especially when anxious. If it’s too complicated then I completely understand. I hope you have a lovely day! :) /g

Hey anon! Thank you for the request! I've heard of Selective Mutism from Cassandra Cain fans in the DC Fandom, but I've never written about it myself before, so I'd love to try it! And you have a lovely day too, Anon!

(echo bby im so sorry i couldn't find a group gif with you. next time i promise)

The Bad Batch x Selective Mute Reader (GN)

Hunter can relate to not talking when you're anxious or overwhelmed, but not on the same level that you deal with.

Tech is the first one to suggest using Sign language so you can communicate back to them. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Crosshair is the best with prolonged silences. He hates filling the air with mindless prattle and even when you do feel like talking you usually end up sitting in silence with him, either napping or working on some menial task together.

Wrecker is always there to reassure you that you don't need to worry too hard about talking. He talks enough for the both of you!

If you do need some noise because the silence is driving you crazy, you can always go to Echo. When you sit down next to him while it's all quiet he'll automatically start reading to you from whatever manual he's reading. Echo can't stand silence, he's always had brothers screaming around him and when it's silent that means something's wrong.

You, Hunter, and Crosshair are all experts at reading each other's body language. You'll notice when Hunter's holding his knife a certain way that means he's unfocused on the task at hand, or when Crosshair's eye twitches that says he's really trying not to make a scene but he just might if Wrecker doesn't shut up.

When you can't speak, you end up dancing around the ship or drawing to express yourself. You enjoy listening to music, and can usually pull the others into an impromptu dance party with as few words as possible.

Kaminoans would consider you defective, but Tech and the Batch are of the firm opinion that all of you are deviant from the norm, not defective.

You have all of Hunter's hand signs memorized. Wrecker is jealous.

It's reassuring to have a support system that can really understand you like them

The batch has protocols in place for of you get anxiety attacks in the field, in a meeting, on the ship. They've dealt with it enough that none of them panic anymore.

The first couple of times, most if not all of them freaked out (Read: Hunter, Wrecker, and Echo. Crosshair and Tech can keep a level head unless your anxiety attack puts you in physical danger)

If you have an anxiety attack and you can't speak you send out an SOS, tapping it out on the table, the floor, or over comms.

The first step is to get you away from the action. Crosshair takes you up on a lookout, Hunter tracks you down if you're separated from them, Echo takes you out in the hall, etc.

Depending on if you want to be touched or not, they'll start a cuddle pile or make sure you have the space you need.

Hunter will go over breathing exercises with you, and Echo will help you center yourself in your body (like the 5-4-3-2-1 method and such)

Crosshair isn't good with affection, but he tries to stay where you can see him so that you can know he's nearby.

Regardless of your mutism, you're a valued member of the team and they treat you as such. Tech translates your sign language for you in meetings and Crosshair glares down the same natborns who give them crap for being clones before they can comment.

[cryptocism]

ok yall in order to make this au ive now read all thirty-something appearances Thad has made in comics just so i can figure out how to make it as canon compliant as possible. theres a google doc of notes, and im in too deep to stop now.

some highlights:

-Thad refers to Bart as his brother no less than four times, which is hilarious because after their first encounter Bart's attitude towards Thad basically amounts to "ugh, this guy? again?" Thad trying very hard to establish himself as a brother/twin aka equal rather than a derivative copy/clone while Bart could not give less of a shit is never not going to be a combination of very funny and very sad.

-CRAYDL has a Technical Mode for when Thad just wants information, a Silent Running mode for when Thad wants quiet, and a Conversation Mode for talking informally. CRAYDL doesn't have to follow these modes tho and often interrupts their own information spiel to give needless commentary I love them

-Iris wrote a book about the flashes and mentions Thad in it, when Thad meets her he quotes the part about himself and?? how weird would it be to read a book about yourself being this evil villainous figure in someones life before youve even actually done anything

-Thad brings CRAYDL Pink Floyd and Rolling Stones CDs from the past just because CRAYDL likes their music

-technoplasm is actually the coolest weirdest technology that ever gets introduced and its literally never mentioned after Impulse 1995 this is a travesty

-Thad CAN actually phase through objects i was tricked by his prime earth wiki page that says he cant? which is weird bc even in his singular rebirth appearance its never mentioned what his powers actually are at that point

-Thad's evil plans always fail spectacularly, but he constantly reframes it like "pretending to fail" was his plan all along and its amazing. Idk if it was supposed to be part of his character or the writers trying to make him more intimidating, but it results in Thad looking like the worlds sorest loser to the point where he's so in denial about it that he convinces himself he's actually won. It's perfect.

-Thad's first canon appearance after disappearing into the speed force is in Flash #217 standing in the background at captain boomerangs funeral like? out of all the places to be???

-the Very Extreme tonal shift from Thad's appearances in Impulse versus Thad's appearances in Teen Titans 2003 is never more apparent than when Bart straight up breaks Thad's legs in order to keep him from running for a few minutes in issue #46

-Thad's teleportation hoop gets retconned into being called a teleportal which is the cowards way out. t-hoop or nothing.

-one of Thad's evil schemes involves strapping a bomb to Barts girlfriend and making it so that if Bart deactivates the bomb a plasma canon will automatically go off and vaporize him. to solve this problem Bart just? deactivates the bomb, sets off the canon, and then just runs around the circumference of the earth to make the canon blow itself up. ok??????

-Thad is inexplicably in a relationship with Sungirl for like two issues (#43-45) of teen titans and this is never mentioned or brought up again

-at some point after Thad is frozen and put in the Flash museum by Wally, the Flash museum gets set on fire in Flash #241 and Wally has to be like "Oh wait I left a boy in there" and takes the time to contemplate just killing Thad before finally carting his frozen body outta there like Wally?? Are you good buddy?

-final crisis rogues revenge is also very funny because it steps on the gas so hard trying to make you hate Thad so very much. which is fair he sucks so bad in it, but weirdly enough his body count was actually at 0 pre rogues revenge. he racks it up to 11 by the end with 10 security guards and one literal infant.

-actually rogues revenge is weird to read right after flash:FMA because its made pretty clear in FMA that the rogues really do want to kill flash. they werent tricked or coerced or anything, Thad went "I can make it so you can kill the Flash" and all the Rogues said "sign me up". there was no subterfuge in the "killing flash" thing. they all simultaneously shoot bart with ice and fire and lightning, and sure it was in a panicked "i dont wanna go back to prison" thing but WOW does rogues revenge want to make you think Thad did everything including pulling the trigger.

-in Teen Titans #98-100 a new Inertia shows up, clearly different from the last one, and with no knowledge of what the previous Thad did to Bart, and after Bart beats him unconscious they straight up Never Mention him again. the main fight is about Superboy Prime, so the rest of the issue is taken up with that. So I'm sat there like: is he. is he just lying there? did he escape? where did he go? does nobody have any interest in why he was there is the first place?

-the questions continue when New Thad is dissing the costume "they" gave him. like what? who is "they"?? is it Superboy Prime?? who are you and where did you come from sir???