#I 100%'d the game on easter to see him

[toxicanonymity]

🎃 blushing and kicking my feet I'm glad y'all liked my little fic of a fic 🥰🥰 I will definitely write a next part since there's interest:) If you want me to explore any ideas or kinks to write in lmk! I do have a rough plan and it does involve what's in the box lol. Thank you and keep being amazing! 🖤🖤🖤 P.s. only about 100 days left until Halloween!

cucking WHAT IF pt. 2

This follows: cucking stepdad w/ another Joel (by Toxic) and what if they continued pt. 1

The cucking continues!

by HALLOWEEN ANON

Anonymous asked:

As promised here is my part 2 to Thighs/Stepdad pool fun. I honestly felt kind of bad torturing stepdad after everything he went through yesterday so I was less mean than planned and added a reference about how he cums a lot based on Amazon. This will be the end of my fic of a fic with these fine Joels but I have something else planned that's with my own Joel creation (gilfy!sub!Joel). There's an Easter egg at the end of this fic if interested. :) I'm not as proud of this part but was still fun. Thanks Toxic we 🖤 you!- 🎃

Joel (SDJ) inspects the box that was rolled into his new room on a room service cart. On top of the cart was a steak, a bowl of strawberries, a bottle of Dom, and a pitcher of ice water. Under the long white cloth on the cart sat the box. It was light blue with a white ribbon. “The fuck…” SDJ thought as he stared at the giant bow. What could be inside? And what was this game you were playing with him? Haven’t you tortured him enough?

He takes a bite of steak and groans. Easily the best meal he’s had on this entire trip. He chews on the salty, slightly charred meat and forgot for a minute about his shame. His fork and knife digs into the flesh, cutting vigorously as he gulps down the champagne like Sunny D, straight from the bottle. He bites into three strawberries, one after the other. He chases down the sweet fruit with another swig of alcohol. But the steak is what is satiating his hunger. The knife scrapes against the expensive plate over and over. He vigorously cuts into it and fills his greedy mouth with the salty flesh, a little blood dripping down his chin.

SDJ falls back on the bed after inhaling the meat and fruit. SDJ looks at the box again and opens his phone back to the picture you sent him. His cock stirs in his pants and he sighs. Another slug of Dom. Before he knows it the bow is undone and he’s staring inside at the seemingly random items neatly piled inside.

A bottle of lube, a ziploc bag containing something hot pink, and a pool noodle cut in half. Joel stares at the contents until his phone buzzes. A video. From you. He scrambles to open it and sees you, just you, and a foreign hand on your thigh. “Hey” you say simply and smile. Joel’s heart breaks at the sweet greeting and sweeter smile. “Hey” you say and smile again as he rewinds the video. “Hey” Joel says aloud to your paused face. How can you look so cute but absolutely filthy at the same time? He presses play.

“I hope you enjoyed your meal, it was very generous of him [Thighs Out] to get you your own room and an expensive dinner…his idea not mine.” You roll your eyes and look off camera. A chuckle off camera and a pat of your thigh from the unapendaged hand on your thigh. You look back at the camera.

“I miss you” you purr softly, your wide “fuck me” eyes looking into his as he strokes himself through his shorts. “I miss the fun we had before, and I know you do to.”

You roll over on your tummy, Thighs giving your ass a squeeze as he stands up and helps you turn over. He holds the phone the entire time, only getting a glimpse of his hand or leg when he stands up to point it at you landscape style. You turn your head and give another smile, this one far more devious than before. “By now you’ve probably opened the gift I sent you. If you want to fuck when we get home, this is what I want you to do. First, open the Ziploc bag.” Joel fell off the bed and scrambled for the bag, his cock bobbing up and down as he flopped back on the bed with the other box contents.

“Do they look familiar?” you wink. “They should, if not look at your pictures again.” Panties. They were your panties. Still slightly warm and damp when he pulls them out of the bag. “BUT-” you loudly say and Joel is brought back to reality. Panties halfway from the bag to his nose. “That’s your reward at the end. First, get out the pool noodle.” Joel inspects it. It’s a foam pool noodle about 10 inches long, the kind with the hole in the middle that you can find at any dollar store or water park. Joel looks to the pool noodle hole to the lube. Oh no, he thinks. No no no no no n-”

“Ohh fuck yes,” you whimper. Thighs is groping your ass and trying to also keep your face in view. “That feels good. I think you know what I want you to do. I want you to show me how hard you want to fuck me. How much you want to abuse this pussy with your dirty old man cock. Get that cock nice and ready for me. Please, Joel? Look how much I need it.” Your fingers lazily spread your slick folds open, dragging your middle finger up and down your seam. Eyes still on the camera, still on Joel who is lathering himself with lube, pants and underwear on the floor. You drag your finger out and hold out to Thighs, showing Joel how wet you are and how fast Thighs tongue attacks your finger. You pull it away and curve it in a “come hither direction”, eyes straight forward so it looks like your talking directly to him.

“Please,” your finger goes back to your center and you groan. “Fuck yourself like a good boy so we can fuck when we get home.

You got it baby, Joel says aloud. He shakes his head and grabs the noodle. Still doesn’t make this any less fucking weird, he thinks, but worth it. Worth it for her.

The rest of the video is you fucking yourself with your fingers, and when that’s not enough you’re handed a hairbrush offscreen. You’ve never done something so dirty. You feel possessed as orgasm after orgasm takes you over and you can’t even talk dirty. Your face has little beads of sweat clinging to it, your face screwed up in ecstacy as you feel the next orgasm hit, hairbrush fucking you while Thighs Out rolls your nipple in his hand, knowing it’ll make you come undone.

“J-joel,” you groan. “You feeling good, Joel? Like watching me like this? I’m a fucking mess. I just know that cock of yours is ready for me. Are you getting ready for my slutty pussy, Joel?”

Joel gripped his phone with one hand and nodded even though you couldn’t see him. He squeezed more lube onto himself. He sighed and slowly brought the pool noodle down on his cock. The cheap foam made his dick itch a little but he powered through. His hips buck up and fuck the noodle, matching the rhythm of you fucking yourself with the hairbrush. Joel felt close to cumming, but still so far away from you. He wondered what you were doing now since the video wasn’t live. He paused it on your face, eyes closed and mouth open. You deserve more than just an embarrassing jerk off session in room alone. The fact was he was extremely horny and even lonlier. A dangerous combination. Joel swipes out of the homemade video and opens Snapchat. He exhales through his nose and grips the pool noodle.

“Not even half way done with the video and you’ve already got me close” he murmers, his phone pointing down at pool noodle fucking his cock. “Like making me look like a fool? Like a desperate old man fucking a pool noodle all by himself?” He ends the video when he hears his voice start to break. But the trooper he is Joel keeps fucking the pool noodle and sending you snap after snap of the sordid scene. He alters from fucking the noodle to fucking his own hand. Precum drips down his thick fingers. He flips the camera around and his fingers slide in his mouth, groaning your name as he pushes the fingers further in and out. He moans LOUD and keeps stuffing his fingers in his mouth while jerking off. The pool noodle is moving faster, and Joel can’t hold it in anymore. He pumps his cock with the cheap foam toy one last time, and you see, while watching the snaps with Thighs Out, the tip of his dick peeking out the top and rope after rope shoots out. “I-I love you baby,” Joel gasps as he climaxes. “I’ll do anything you want.”

You thought that would be it, and he’d try to come crawling back to your room that night. But Joel stays in the room all night sending you dozens of snaps of either his cock fucking his hand “still just wishing it was your soft skin on me” or his face while jerking off. He orgasms at least four more times that night based on the snaps you recieve. After the latest video just of Joel chanting your name and humping the bed, his dry spend mixing with the warm, fresh load that cake the sheets, you shake your head.

“We should have gotten him more water.” you say to Thighs after your stepdad’s last climax.

“Should have gotten him another pool noodle,” Thighs grins. The man was such a menace.

“Seriously! Here’s another one!” you yell, gesturing for Thighs to look. His gold chain glints in your eye when he leans down over you to watch your phone.

“Damn,” Thighs mutters to himself. Baby please let me worship your tits (cherry emoji)!! The video caption says while Joel moans your name. “He can really cum. Knows how to work the camera too”

“Liking what you see?” you jokingly purr, rubbing his bare chest as your own arousal builds up.

“No, no, it’s just…wow. It’s just so much cum, especially for his age. It’s really not a bad skill to have.”

You burst out laughing. “For who?! A horny firefighter??”

Thighs smiles, “No… a different profession. Or for some more of a hobby.”

You raise your eyebrow and stare. “What the hell are you saying?”

Thighs scribbles a woman’s name and a phone number on a napkin. “When you go back to your room tonight, or tomorrow morning,” Thighs gives you a wink. “Make sure you give this to him. Tell him to..just go with it. I could make him some good money.”

“Are you going to tell me what the hell this is?” you ask.

“It’s just an old friend. She helped me out when I needed some fun, easy work.” Thighs grins.

When you’re back in the room packing the next morning, (hell yeah you spent the night with Thighs), you do a quick google search of the number and name. A website called “Dire Desires” is at the bottom of the screen, with a matching name and number under contact information. It’s listed as an online business, and when you click on the link a wave of tits and larger than life dicks take over your phone screen. “Solo, happy ending, maintenance man fantasy, Stockholm Syndrome Sluts…” all these and more titles fill the screen and your stomach drops.

This is an amateur porn company. And Thighs Out is a fucking genius.

------------

Toxic: 👏👏 Bravo, awesome conclusion. HELL YEAH we spent the night with Thighs!!!! At the end I almost thought Thighs was recruiting him to the brothel lmao. I think stepdad would be an excellent candidate for solo male porn. And I like their porn themes too. (shout-out to maintenance man by @gracieispunk and my Stockholm readers, raider and vampire). Love what you did with all the cum. Thighs is right, SDJ knows how to work the camera too.

Sorry for stepdad's latest fic making you feel bad for torturing him lol but he was desperate to get his audience favorability ratings up and he's happy someone feels bad for him 😅

Ty for asking about the kinks I kept thinking but was blanking 😫 this was great!

P.s. I just remembered about the Easter egg, is gilf-sub some type of maintenance man 🤯

[its-a-gold-song]

hey yall here are my headcanons for pranks the marauders pulled during their times at Hogwarts :D (some of these are inspired by other folks on the internet so credit where credit is due and all that)

feel free to add if you want, i’d love more ideas :))

well first off I am 100% convinced that they had an annual prank war that started after fourth year. there’s a huge betting pool about who’s going to win and it’s a great time for everyone

sirius releases 100 dogs that look exactly like him in the castle and followed james around in the invisibility cloak

Permanent sticking charm on the slytherin benches in the Great Hall so that when they sit down they can’t get back up

there’s a spell that makes ducks when you try to cast a spell, and it’s not utilized in fanfics nearly enough so i propose a mega version on the teachers

swapping all of the slytherin robes with muggle prom dresses

clogging all of the toilets except moaning myrtle’s

pepper in all of the other house’s food (the food can’t be refilled without even more pepper being added)

the day before easter, filling the entire slytherin common room with eggs balanced so that they would all break as soon as someone walked in

conjuring slugs all over during Slughorn’s Christmas party

charming the giant squid to break into song at random intervals during the day

all of the doorknobs, quills, forks, serving spoons, and candy in the castle was somehow turned into a portkey that would bring you to a random spot somewhere else in the castle

all of the beverages being spiked with polyjuice potion with snape’s hair

casting duro on snape’s bag when he goes to pick it up (turning it to stone)

sticking all of lily’s school supplies to the quidditch goalposts

at christmastime: charming all the portraits to sing ‘Santa Baby’ nonstop and only get louder when someone casts Silencio

turning the entire great hall into an ice skating rink

they charm everything around snape to be slightly louder than normal and all the other students are instructed to act like everything is normal and they slowly increase the volume of everything every few days until snape announces he’s going to go see madam pomfrey about it and get his head checked, and then they reverse the charm just as he enters the hospital wing and snape looses his mind when pomfrey says that everything seems normal

hexes snape to say ‘minerva mcgonagall is my muse and my idol’ over and over and they doesn’t let up for weeks

giant cushioning charm on the courtyard/fields: giant trampoline!!

beating the record for earliest detention by charming the Sorting Hat to speak only in Gobbledegook

doing nothing all April Fools and everyone is so on edge and eventually they go to sleep only to be woken up at 11:59pm to fireworks and explosions

a game called Dungbomb Detonator where they have a dungbomb set to go off at a certain time, and they sneakily try to put it in each others bags and whoever has it when it detonates is stinky for the rest of the day and has to buy the other marauders candy from honeydukes.

[queenofbaws]

WIP asks with 📄 and❔ please!

ohohoho don't mind if i do!!

📄 What’s a WIP you never finished that you would like to go back and revisit?

waaaaaGHHHHHH the one that's been sitting gathering dust for the longest is my silent hill 2 fic, soft reset. this is. 100% like. The Fic that i feel the worst/most guilt about not having finished because...so much of it is written already, and it just...LIVES IN MY COMPUTER. it's one of those unfortunate situations where my spark of interest/motivation petered out at precisely the wrong time, so now i'm just stuck H O P I N G i'll get my silent hill muse back...

but hey, with the announcement silent hill 2's getting a remake (HOPEFULLY) soon, maybe that'll actually happen!!!

❔Choose a random WIP and talk about it.

(i'm just gonna go ahead and talk about soft reset since i already went and opened that can of worms, hehehehehehehe)

for anyone who HASN'T played silent hill 2, one of the neat little...let's say "easter eggs" is that as the game progresses, the protagonist, james, can, at certain junctures, run across some dead bodies. now, that's not groundbreaking, right? in a horror game? the protag is going to see some dead people. only...here's the thing. those dead people james finds lying around silent hill?

they're him.

this is canon. if you examine certain corpses in-game, you'll see that, well...they're james. they're his exact character model, down to the clothes. and that fact lives in my head 24/7.

the idea behind soft reset was born from that fact specifically, that there are just...a bunch of dead jameses lying around the town (if you know where to look, hehehe). with that in mind, it's sort-of-kind-of a timeloop/groundhog day fic, only...slightly different. each time james enters silent hill, he dies. and after a (pause here for comedic effect) soft reset, he enters the town again.

but maybe, just maybe...if he remembers the Very Important Thing he's forgotten...it'll finally stop, once and for all. or maybe it won't. :)

wip it good ;D

[buc3t4l0v3r]

Headcanon — the turtles playing Stardew Valley

Hello again everyone! I'm back :)) I was supposed to write headcanons more often because my hiper focus only allows me to think about tmnt (haha I hate tdah) well I was going to write more of those social media posts just like the Twitter one but I'm struggling to find a social media that makes sense (since they can't really use Instagram and Facebook is sooo boomer stuff) so I thought it would be cute imagine they playing one of my favorite games, in this case, Stardew Valley :)

So I hope you enjoy ❤

Leo

Leo is so focused on completing 100% of the game

He didn't join his brothers in the training because he was trying to finish the mister Qi's mission of completing the skull cavern*

All his animals are well taken care and happy

His farm is beautiful because he likes making pretty scenarios

Obviously downloaded a mod to make the town and the villagers look prettier (with Donnie's help, of course)

Favorite bachelor and bachelorette are Elliot because he's romantic and poetic and Penny because she's so sweet and Leo loves her 14 hearts scene**

His favorite event is the flower dance because he thinks it's so pretty seeing all the npcs dancing together and loves dancing with Elliot or Penny

No doubt he tried to ask Penny to dance with him in his first time playing and he was so sad when she didn't want to dance with him

Hates fishing

No really it's so fucking annoying

Leo doesn't like Mayor Louis nor Shane

He hates the fact that Louis is just stealing the villager's money and hates Shane because he tried to talk to him and shane told him to go away

So rude

He's so focused on his missions that he loses hearts with Penny because he didn't talk to her anymore after they were married

Year 5 and he's already a millionaire and is almost ending the game

Year 7 and he ends up the game

"Now what?"

Starts playing all over again

Has only two or three mods because he thinks mods ruins the game experience

Loves stardew valley

It helps him to calm down

If he can't control his real life, at least he can control his little virtual farm :)

Raph

Stardew valley? Pfff

Game for little girls

Omg I click on this cow and a little heart appears up it's head!!!!!!

Raphael pretends he doesn't like this game because he's too manly for this

But when no one is looking he's taking care of his farm

He didn't like the quest of introducing yourself to every villager

Because when he was about to finish it, he noticed the only one he didn't introduce himself to was sebastian

And when he tried to find sebastian to introduce himself he found out Sebastian almost never get out of his room

So he had to stay in front of sebastian's room door because he couldn't get in (only if he was sebastian's friend)*

It was 17pm when sebastian gets out of his room

Finally!!!!!!!!!

Now he hates sebastian

Okay he ends up loving sebastian

He's so excited when he discovers he can propose to the villagers

His favorite bachelor and bachelorette are Alex because he's athletic and Abigail because she's hot

Okay he likes sebastian too

Always forget to water his plants and feed his animals

So irresponsible

Okay raphael you didn't watered your blueberries and now it D I E D are you happy now?????

He doesn't really forget to feed his animals

He actually loves his animals

But he can't feed them because he doesn't has money

And he has no money because he doesn't work on his farm!!!!

Can't upgrade his tools because obviously he has no fucking money

He ends up downloading a mod to have infinity money

Now he can feed his cows :)

Favorite event is the Feast of the Winter Star (a.k.a Christmas)

Hates fishing

Hates Marnie because she's never at her store when he needs to buy food for his animals

Year 11 and hasn't even half of the game complete

Donnie

Oh look! The nerd!

This guy knows everything about this game

Each quest, each character, each secret, each Easter egg

There's nothing he doesn't know about

All his tools are upgraded

Perfect farm

Friendship with every villager

100% complete

But he can't stop playing anyway

Appreciates the developer's work on the game

How can just one guy make all of it???

He knows how to code but his art skills are not the best...

He knows the game is inspired by harvest moon

He doesn't like taking care of the animals

Thinks they're annoying

Favorite bachelor and bachelorette are Harvey because the guy is a doctor, hello???? And Maru because she's a nerd like him and makes machines

Doesn't really likes the events

He liked them at first but he plays this game so much that the events have become tiring

Hates fishing

Tons of mods to upgrade the game experience

Thinks Sam reminds him of Mikey

Can't look Sam and Mikey the same way he did

Mikey

His first time playing the game

He's so excited

Everything is so colorful and beautiful!

His farmer is a girl because he didn't remember which symbol were the feminine and the masculine

He named his farmer Mikey because he didn't find out she was a girl

Loves watering his crops

Sunflowers!!!

Loves giving gifts to the npcs

When shane was rude with him he was so sad :(

His favorite bachelor is Sam because he's a skater and likes PIZZA

Soulmates♡♡♡♡

Oh he likes Abigail too because she likes video games

Doesn't know how to upgrade his tools nor his house

Ask for Donnie's help

Ends up getting married to Sam

His farmer gets pregnant and he freaked out

"Omg how am I pregnant??!??@?@?!?!"

He finds out he's a girl

Still a noob

Thinks Maru acts like Donnie

Hates fishing

Always losing his items because he keeps staying awake until 2am***

Has the mod that makes his child grow up

Has 4 cows named Don, Raph, Leo and April

He's confused because didn't look like they appreciated it

Year 3 and still has more to learn

Favorite event is the Halloween festival

He saw Sam skating and loved it

Even if the character wasn't really skating....

* mister qi's mission is a mission were you have to finish the skull cavern which is super complicated because you have to find stairs to climb down the same time you have to kill the monsters around you

** heart scenes are exclusive scenes that you achieve when your love level increases in two hearts (so there's scenes for 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 14, the 14 one you can have only wen you're married)

* you can only enter other people's room when you have 2 hearts with them

*** when the time hits 2am your farmer falls asleep, then wakes up in their room and you receive a message saying your items and money were stolen

Tagging blogs I like :)

@turtle-babe83 @foreignbrunette @teenage-mutant-ninja-freak @turtlesmakemehappy @turtallyawesome @greenrenascentista

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

how would you do a percy jackson adaptaion?

okay, so I know this is a controversial opinion right off the bat: I really don’t think it should be an animated series.

A large part of the appeal of the series is that it’s a fantasy series set very very firmly in reality. Literally, apart from the camps, you could go to every location hit in the books. Riordan mentions specific streets, buildings and landmarks, and that was cool when I first read them. I remember being a kid and waiting for him to set a scene in a place near where I lived! I remember trips to New York and being able to envision an epic war happening in the streets. So I think any adaption needs to be live action just to keep that same feeling alive, while I’m not knocking on animation, I just feel like taking the story out of real life would make it loose a little of the charm. Like, the scene where Manhattan is completely frozen in time? It would be haunting to see that in real life, but I feel like it would be less impactful if it didn’t…you know…look real? The series should be done in a way that makes you truly feel like you could just turn a corner and walk straight into a snake woman going about her day. 

Now: another large part of the appeal of the series is how funny it is, but a lot of that…is Percy’s inner monologue. He doesn’t actually voice most of it, there was even a book where Annabeth described him as being quiet. So, I think the best way to work around this: make it Interview With A Demigod. 

Imagine it’s got an interview with a vampire-esque setup- and this even works because within the riordanverse, the books canonically exist because Percy sat down with a ‘camp scribe’ and had his quests recorded. So, like, this isn’t even entirely out of left field. But just imagine, a college-aged, maybe a little older Percy, I can see it so clearly in my head, he’s wearing a sweatshirt that at first glance looks like it says NYU but a trained eye will see it actually says NRU for a camp jupiter easter egg, he’s sitting in some dinky little diner (maybe it can even be a monster donut or something with a clever greek myth related name) with a guy who’s recording the conversation on some old-ass tape recorder that keeps acting up but they can’t record on a phone because of the whole technology thing. Every now and then it’ll cut back to them to get some great Percy thoughts out there. They open with older Percy saying the ‘look, I didn’t wanna be a halfblood’ and then explaining where he was when the whole mess started. Once he get’s to “was I a troubled kid?” the screen fades from older Percy to 12 year old Percy getting in a fight with Nancy and her gang, and the voice over says the ‘Yeah, you could say that’ part as we see him get threatened by the principal to behave on the field trip. Boom, we’ve got an opening. Lowkey….I’m seeing Jordan Fisher as older Percy, but I’m not 100% married to the idea. 

And before anyone tries to argue that showing an older Percy would spoil he’s not gonna die in last olympian- like, reading the books, we all knew he wasn’t going to die. It was a first person narrative and he was consistently speaking in past tense lmao like we Knew he was gonna make it. We still enjoyed the series. It won’t ruin anything.

I want part of the score of the adaptation to be instrumental versions of songs from the musical, I think that could be a sweet nod to that team. 

They really need to nail camp halfblood. I know that goes without saying, but in order to keep the pacing of the story decent we can’t spend as much time falling in love with it like we got to with the book. The book is like, 24 chapters and the quest starts at chapter 12- for a movie or tv show, that’s just gonna feel like it’s dragging. So, the insanity of the camp needs to smack you in the face right away, and then it needs to endear itself to the viewers quickly after that. Don’t try to ease the viewers (or Percy) into the mythology is real thing, rip it off like a bandaid. He’s on his way to meet Chiron and Mr. D for the first time and even if he’s not comprehending what he’s seeing, there’s nature spirits and harpies all around going about their day. Hestia waves at him and then disappears into the flames. Hecate kids can be seen casting a spell on the porch of the Hermes cabin. The Stolls are seen pranking some Aphrodite kids. He sees someone surely die on the climbing wall but then you hear a faint ‘I’m okay!’. The Apollo kids put a rhyming curse on another cabin. Pure chaos all before he gets the ‘so, gods are real’ speech. And then after that…show how warm Luke is to him at the cabin and at dinner. Show the kids all goofing off at the campfire and really make it clear that they’re children. Show the strawberry fields rolling in the wind and Percy sitting on the beach. The whole couple weeks where he’s searching for powers and learning greek and latin with Annabeth can be a montage. Make it clear how hurt and scared he is when he finds out he needs to leave.

It needs to really get you feeling how Percy’s feeling, every laugh, every tear, every moment of fear or confusion needs to shine clear through. Like…think of Spider-Man Homecoming, the Washington monument scene. All things considered, it’s not the most high-stakes scene we’ve ever seen in that franchise, and when it cuts to the kids in the elevator, they’re worried but not quite freaking out, but that scene feels very high stress to watch because the movie is good at getting the viewers to feel what Peter feels. A Percy Jackson adaptation needs a touch like that, because Percy’s a very emotional kid and that’s what a lot of the scenes hinge on.

Lowkey- I’d love it if the casts of both the previous movies and the musical had cameos or bit parts (the movie cast did Nothing Wrong, it was the rest of that team). It’d be hilarious to see, like, Jake Abel as the owner of the poodle, or Logan Lerman as Older Percy and the reporter’s waiter that keeps trying to get in on the conversation, or Brandon T. Jackson as a satyr who’s still stuck grooving out in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Kristen Stokes as a nature spirit, Chris as one of the ghosts stuck in the waiting room of DOA Records, just like any of those casts having small parts would be fun and sweet. 

There should be a lot of easter eggs for the bigger riordanverse. Promotions in the background for the new Tristan McLean movie. Gabe’s got a true crime documentary about the missing Grace children playing during his poker game. Mr. D is reading a paper about Rachel Dare’s father’s newest project. At some point while they’re still in New York they pass the Kane family’s mansion or whatever it was called. Annabeth keeps a picture of little her and Magnus on her nightstand. The barest of hints about the Triumvirate. Seeing kids in camp jupiter gear in some background shots, just out of notice of our main characters but implying the camps are going through similar problems (BITCH….if we got a titan’s curse adaptation…and we had a shot of Thalia in the foreground….but in the background we saw a blond boy in purple with a golden sword….well I would simply loose my Goddamn mind).

And show us how easily the mist lets things blend in, too- like, everyone thinks ‘Monster Donuts’ is just a normal chain, it’s just on an average street block, but if Percy looks through the window he can see who’s behind the counter. Show someone swindling some guys in a park and you have to look twice to realize he’s a gegeines. Like…how people are still trying to find all the background ghosts in haunting of hill house. I would LOVE to see a bunch of background monsters and mythical beings just going about their day as much as the mortals are while the gang’s questing. 

The effects need to be fun. The whole story needs to be fun, but one weird thing about the past movies are that like…in their attempt to make it gritty, none of the fantastical things happening on screen actually felt that exciting. We need bright colors and interesting choices, consistently cool action shots, a liveliness that makes you feel like you’re in the center of the action. I have absolutely no doubt Disney easily has enough funds to pull off great effects.

The characters need to be….in character lmao. Annabeth needs to be cocky and bratty with the skill set to justify it. Percy needs to be a sweetheart who pretends to be hardened because that’s what people assume he’s like. Grover needs to have dry humor and a Too Old For This Shit attitude whenever percabeth start bickering. Luke needs to be nice and friendly but in a specific way that you can look back after the betrayal and see he was trying to groom everyone. Sally needs to be loving, protective and strong. Chiron needs to feel defeated and determined at the same time. Mr. D needs to….be Stanley Tucci lmao

Also, I’d love if the adaptation could expand more on things that got brushed along in the books- Percy and Beckendorf’s friendship, Silena and Clarisse’s dynamic, make Nico’s crush on Percy a little more obvious, give Rachel some more development. One thing that haunts me about the books is Sally never found out that Gabe hit Percy. Absolutely they don’t need to make the abuse explicit, but I also personally feel like a lot of Percy’s mindsets throughout the series are somewhat a result of Gabe, and I’d like if that got, you know, acknowledged. Maybe in the scene where he figures out Gabe abuses Sally he could say ‘does he hit you too?’ or something to that effect. They could also go more into detail about Annabeth’s family, give Zoe some more depth….like the possibilities I’m screaming.

Okay this is already long and I’m getting tired but I can so clearly see a great adaptation in my mind….Disney please come through….It’s what we deserve…. 

[frontproofmedia]

Lara vs. Warrington 2 + Undercard Press Conference Quotes

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Published: September 04, 2021

Eddie Hearn: “Thank you for being here in Leeds today, what a turnout, it feels so good. I forgot what this felt like, the big stage, the media, the fans, the atmosphere and anticipation for a massive night on Saturday in Leeds. “20,000 people at Headingley Stadium, the home of Leeds Rhinos transformed for an epic night of boxing, live and exclusively on DAZN all around the world. “This is one of the best cards we have ever put on and on Saturday night you are going to have a night and experience you will never forget. Inside the stadium, inside the ropes, the fans in the arena will get one of the best nights of live boxing they have ever witnessed and on screen we will bring you the best talent line-up in boxing. “This Saturday Laura Woods leading the presentation with Tony Bellew, over to Darren Barker and Chris Lloyd, then we mix it up with Mike Costello the legend and Andy Lee. What a team we have here and what a night we have.” Josh Warrington: “It’s good to be back, it’s nice of everyone to turn up and nice to see there’s going to be a big crowd on Saturday night – it feels normal. This is what I got used to, I got used to this big stage ever since I won the World Title. I’ve been looking forward to this for such a long time, we were talking about conquering the world together, winning the Ring Magazine belt, Las Vegas, New York and ride off into the sunset. “What happened on February 13 happened, it was a hard lesson to take but this is where the next stage goes on, the next chapter begins. I’ve been about the game a long time and I can’t wait to redeem myself. “I take him [Lara] very seriously, I think the first time he said that he saw fear in my eyes, there’s not fear in there I was just looking straight through him. I didn’t think that he could bring what he delivered and that’s my mistake, that’s me being too cocksure of myself. I won’t make that same mistake again; I have the fear factor about this one. He said some random comments about me slagging his dad off, I slag my own dad off, but there’s no personal animosity between me and Mauricio – it’s just business. “When Anthony Joshua got his redemption against Andy Ruiz Jr, it was done and forgotten about and that’s going to be the same Saturday night. I’m sure he’s come over with a bit of an entourage, he looks smart today, had a haircut, but once he’s been done, he’ll have given me a massive lesson in my career but that will be it, we’ll move on. “I’m a proud man and it would have made my toes curl to see and watch somebody else fight Mauricio Lara. I want to get my redemption, I feel that Lara is a great fighter, a strong fighter, but I feel like I’ve been at a higher level for such a long time and beaten fighters that are such a higher level than what he is. “I turned a few book deals down last year and I think after February 13 publishers weren’t bothered about writing a book about Josh Warrington anymore. After Saturday night we’ll put it right, add a few zeros onto that book deal. Going back to normality, going back to a stadium, having people in the crowd – they’re my second wind, my adrenaline, my twelfth man, that little advantage. They’re part of Josh Warrington’s attributes, it’s going to be special to walk out, I’ll give them redemption.” Mauricio Lara: “I hope everyone is well, we have to think now that February 13 February is in the past. I’m now completely and 100% focused on putting on a good show on Saturday. I’m prepared not 100%, but 1000%. Perhaps people didn’t know me previously, but they do now in certain areas, there’s going to be a repeat of what happened – there are no surprises in life. “It really hurt me that a great champion like him [Josh] didn’t give me the credit for my performance but that’s in the past now. I can’t wait for Saturday to come along now and I’m going to show him, in his words, that we’re definitely not on the same level – I’ll have my hand raised on Saturday night. “I’ve prepared for a knockout, but I’ve also prepared for the twelve rounds, I can assure you it won’t go the distance.” Katie Taylor: “This is the first fight in a long time where I’ve actually fought in front of a live crowd, the fact that’s here in Leeds, some of my best memories as a kid are visiting this city, going to Leeds United games at Elland Road. This city has a special place in my heard and I never thought I’d have a chance to fight here. I’m just so excited about it. “This is a huge fight for both of us, I don’t overlook anybody, I can’t afford to get complacent and when you do it’s when you start to actually lose fights. I have prepared for this fight just like I’ve prepared for any fight. I’m expecting a tough challenge on Saturday, and I’m prepared for that. “I feel great, I know I can’t do this forever, but I still feel very fresh right now and I still have plenty more years in the ring. This training camp has gone great, I feel sharp and strong, I can’t wait to produce one of my best performances on Saturday night.” Jennifer Han: “My team and I have travelled a long way, all the way from El Paso, Texas, to be here to show the world what we have. I’ve worked my entire life for this kind of opportunity and I’m excited to be here – it’s my time. “It’s already been life changing, we’ve worked hard, and I’ve overcome many obstacles to get to this point. I’ve never fought on this kind of a stage, so this is going to be amazing. “I do have a lot of respect for Katie, I’ve studied her and it’s time to shine on Saturday.” Conor Benn: “It’s either going to be a proper serious fight or someone’s getting laid out, and it isn’t going to be me. That’s for sure. I work so hard, confidence is a luxury for the hard working, and people mistake by confidence for arrogance. But those people aren’t up with me running at 3 in the morning. I’m crushing it in the gym, and when I work as hard as I do, I have the right to be confident because I leave no stone unturned. “Look at the shape of me. That’s a testament to the five years hard work, that’s a testament to my team working overtime, my strength and conditioning coach, my physio, my nutritionist, Tony, my agent, it all plays a massive part. Teamwork makes the dream work they say, that’s where we’re at. All I have to do is focus on beating the geezer up in the other corner, my team allows me to do just that – I’ve done it now 18 times. “I’m very confident, Granados is a massive test, he’s been in with the top boys, the top dogs. He thinks he’s experienced and that he’s tested at a high level. What did Formella say, what did Vargas say. If they don’t want to believe the hype, I’ll make them believe the hype, it’s as simple as that. I work so hard to be denied and that’s where that ends. It’s been five years of hard work, I love this life, I’m a fighter. “You’ve seen the change, the transformation, it hasn’t come overnight, and it hasn’t come easy. I’ve put the work in every single time, I give 100%, I’m leaving it all in there Saturday night. “I don’t believe the hype whatsoever, not in the slightest, otherwise I still wouldn’t be getting up and doing my runs – I’d think I was all that and a bag of chips. I don’t rely on my power, I’ve been watching Granados’ fights, against Broner and Easter, he gave them one hell of a fight. One of the best Granados and I believe I’m going to get the best Granados. Create the hype and don’t believe it. “I’ve had so many people come up to me and say it’s going to be some reception you know; it’s going to be incredible. I’m thinking they’re going to top my O2 debut you know, I just have a feeling about it. I’ve had such a warm welcome here, big shoutout to the Leeds supporters, thank you. We’ve got a job to do Saturday but after that, I might join you lot in the pub and have a beer.” Adrian Granados: “First and foremost, I want to give thanks to God. Thanks to Eddie for reaching out for me, giving me this opportunity, everyone at Matchroom and DAZN. It was unfortunate, both of us were chomping at the bit for this fight, very exciting build-up and then a day before the weigh-in Conor tested positive for COVID. “This is the age we live in now, although I was very frustrating and upset, everything happens for a reason, and I believe it worked out. Now we’re fighting in Leeds in front of 20,00 people, I’m excited, I’ve already dreamt about fighting here, overseas, I come from Chicago. It’s a dream come true, everyone has been very welcoming and accepting. Now it’s fight time and I’m ready to get this fight going Saturday. “It’s boxing talk, I understand the confidence he’s portrayed and that’s why I’ve answered back and let him know I’m obviously not here to lay done either. I think it makes for an exciting fight, I think our styles are going to match well, l think we’ve got a classic in the making. May the best man win, may God protect us both and we both come out safely.” Jovanni Straffon: “It’s great to be back here in England. What I would say about the fight is it’s not a fight between Mexico and the UK, it’s me and my opponent in the ring. What I will say is that I have the hunger when I go into these fights, I look at this as if this belt was vacant and I have to go in and win it – I have to show that hunger to do that. “Any fighter that’s in front of me is a block in the road for and I have to take them away. They’re also a thief because they’re taking money from my family. I come to fight, and I hope he also comes to fight. “First and foremost, I’m not overlooking Maxi in this instance, he shouldn’t either. It’s dangerous when fighters do that, I want to show I have the hunger, if he wants to win this fight, he’ll have to kill me. On Saturday you’ll be shouting Viva Mexico.” Maxi Hughes: “I’m grateful for the opportunity, I’ve worked hard and been in the pro game eleven years. I believe I am just getting started, whoever’s the oldest world champion, I’m going to try and break that record. “A lot of people are now referring to me as the Cinderella Man, that couldn’t be truer, this morning my missus said to me this house needs cleaning before you leave this house. I’ve been cleaning the house, but when I go to the ball on Saturday night in Headingley I’ll be coming home with two glass slippers on. “It’s the experience, I’m older and wiser, you can’t buy or steal experience, you’ve got to go out and earn it. Doing this as long as I have and being around some top domestic opposition, it’s all led me to where I am. Everything happens for a reason, every fight I’ve took and not got the decision has led me to this, now’s the time to capitalise on it and reap the rewards of the resilience, hard work and dedication I’ve shown. “I want to put my name up there in the top ten across the world, hopefully across all the sanctioning bodies. While I’m in this red-hot form, get the win on Saturday and you better put me in the ring with Canelo in this form before it runs out. “Josh has been a great World Champion, not only did he win the World Title, but he defended it successfully in great fashion. You only need to look at what he’s doing in the gym, copy what Josh does because he’s laid out how you become and stay a world champion. We get on well aside from boxing, it’s been brilliant bouncing off each other in the gym. It’s been brilliant to share training camp with him.” Ebanie Bridges: “I’m actually really excited about this fight, watching her [Mailys] fight with Ellie, I think she has a great style, and our styles are going to gel really well together. I think with that it’s going to make it an exciting fight, she’s tough and I love tough opponents. I’m looking forward something exciting there, another good performance by myself. I’m only getting better, feeling stronger than ever, I’m looking forward to showing you all what I’ve got come Saturday night. “Training with Brian Cohen in America and having those eight weeks in Philadelphia, I’m really focused on footwork and balance – plating my feet. We all know I’m strong but if you can’t get into position, it’s not effective. Now I feel like I’m really nailing that, we saw that with Bec, about the positioning and planting the feet to throw those shots to get my full power into it. “My cut for this fight was easy, I just fought four weeks ago. I’m hungry as ever, I love to fight, I’m hungry to punch on.” Mailys Gangloff: “It’s a good fight because it will be at my perfect weight class, I think I’ll bring something that couldn’t bring the last time I was here. I’m very excited, I hope it will be a very good show.” Hopey Price: “It’s good to keep busy, I’m glad I got out two weeks ago and it’s good to be back home, in front of my hometown and fans. It’s another step up, another step forward in my career, there’s a lot of good fighters on this show, a lot of fighters from Leeds, but I’m coming to steal the show on Saturday night. “Another good performance this weekend and I’m looking to step up again and it won’t be long before the domestic titles come my way.” Zahid Hussain: “I’m definitely looking forward to it, in front of 20,000 people. I’d like to thank Matchroom, my manager Steve Wood and my coach for spending time training me.” “I’m just going to do what I do best. Experience is going to play a major part on Saturday night.” Jack Bateson: “I’m buzzing to be back here in Leeds with a crowd, now Covid’s on its way out. Thanks for the opportunity, Eddie and yeah, I’m looking to shine, it won’t be last time I’ll be on one of these big cards. I’m looking forward to it. “I’ve known Josh since we were young kids, growing up, I want to be where he is now. He paved the way for us and I’m sure that one day if I keep working hard, I can be where he is and doing it for the city.” Felix Garcia: “First and foremost, thanks for the opportunity to be here. I’m extremely happy to be here and I’ve prepared extremely hard for this night. Hopefully you’ll see the best of me on Saturday.” Brandon Stansfield: “This is a massive opportunity for me, a big stage now coming from Bradford Hotel on my last fight jumping to this fight, it’s a massive opportunity for me and I cannot wait. “I did quite well with tickets, a lot really. I’m one of the first ones on, I’ll get changed and watch Josh Warrington do his thing again.” Mali Wright: “I’m looking forward to it man, I can’t believe it, fighting in my hometown of Leeds. I went to university in Headingly, I used to live there, 2-minute walk from the stadium. It’s surreal even seeing my name here, so I can’t wait and I’m looking forward to it.”

(Featured Photo: Mark Robinson/Matchroom Boxing)

[jlf23tumble]

Agree so much with your post about the teams and fan engagement ! And love the way you articulated all of that. Although now I definitely am interested in knowing what your notes about the specificity of each team/artist cause I feel like they'd be fascinating to read. Hope you'll post them some day, and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us ! 😊

Awwww, that’s very kind! It’s definitely head canon city, I litcherally have ZERO clue what goes on behind the scenes (and I can’t stress this enough, none of us do), so this’ll look hilariously dated when we find out that blah woof was true all along, lmao (me @ myself, thinking of some random Grimshaw interviews from last fall, oh, bless). Let’s dig in!!

For those of you who just stumbled upon this post, it’s related to the one I made last night about how I think the management teams of all these men (mid-20s means = you’re a man, not a boy) are not, in fact, sabotaging them. They negotiate a lot of tricky interconnected arrangements that none of us are privy, to, plus they’re at least trying to achieve the goals their clients are going for. And they’re doing it—the trick is these goals are highly individual and not 100% sensical (at least given our own view from the afternoon, Arctic Monkeys ref, holllllllah!!!).

In addition, these goals constantly shift, as does the music industry itself—I drive my own self loony when I lurk on blogs that are seemingly broadcasting from 2012, confused by why xx’s team is so “terrible” because they aren’t throwing good money after bad to get on a radio playlist, or why they haven’t announced yy “properly,” as if they’re being paid to worry about this level of shit (which fires me up on about five levels, deep breaths in, deep breaths out). I’m much nosier about the signals we’re getting when we hear them talk in their beautifully media-trained way about their musical interests, when we get some of that sweet, sweet fan service with a Gallagher or a Capaldi, when we get that heads up about who’s attending what concert, stuff like that. These signals don’t necessarily indicate future collaborations, but they DO indicate what kind of image these guys want to have, the kind of music they want the public to associate them with.

Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself…their personalities and goals at the moment are all so vastly different, and I truly do love seeing how their teams are workin’ it accordingly. Again, please @ god, don’t @ me…opinions, massively unpopular opinions, dead ahead!

* Zayn. My read on Zayn is that he enjoys the creative process, loves writing and singing, digs collabing with people, but he doesn’t seem to give two shits about the biz side (and why should he? that’s called living the dream at this particular point in his career). His website recently added “tour,” which EYEBALL EYEBALL, but he doesn’t seem to be all that interested in putting himself back out on stage or into radio/print/etc. anytime soon, and again, why should he? His numbers are HUGE without pushing himself through the anxiety-provoking churn he endured for four years, so there’s no real drive for him to do any promo if he doesn’t want to (see: the netflix-like binge dump of Icarus Falls, which could be “sabotage,” or it could just be, “fineeeeeeee, here’s some stuff for you, enjoy”). What other artist gifts his fans with gorgeous covers of such a wide variety of songs that indicate he’s more interested in sharing them than selling them. Accordingly, his fan interactions seem fairly pure and not all that promo-y: he has a keen interest in fanart, he’s done some fan pop-ups/listening parties that are pretty low-key and *seemingly* fan-focused, and recently (with zero anything to really promote), he’s been posing for cute pics and chatting with randos on the streets of NYC. I recently read that his mgmt team is no longer with him, but that sort of folds into my feeling that he’s not pursuing anything biz-wise, hence no need to jump through those particular hoops (I think he’s also struggled with a lot of demons, so yeah, why add one more). Could he be adrift? Maybe, but the next guy is the posterman for lack of focus….

* Liam. Honestly, I worry about Liam most of all. His post-1D career seems very much adrift, and I like to joke that he’s giving me that tell-all about the D one sentence at a time, but goddamn, are people listening? The struggles with alcohol, the lack of focus on every level, the reliance on his dad’s career advice (which more clearly reflects his dad’s financial class, background, and history than it does Liam’s), and the overall confusion about look, sound, and direction also flow back directly into his team. I get the feeling that they aren’t sure what to do because LIAM isn’t sure what to do or what he wants, so they follow in his wake. He’s agreeable to a fault, so seeing him at a meet-and-greet at an HMV in Birmingham last week felt like a step back into 2010 for no real reason, just like hearing that he was more or less coerced into full nude photoshoots for an underwear ad (the decisions to say yes to both of those—who’s steering this ship? If it’s Liam, he needs to tell the team his overall goal, so they can plot a course he and his fans can follow; if it’s the team, ditto). Like Niall, Liam’s actually pretty good at the SM game: lots of selfies, snapchat filters, outfits, gym service, twitter interactions. But generally speaking, his promo is confusing, and that’s probably because there isn’t much *to* promote at this point, other than a mix of collabs, clothing endorsements, spon con, horse farms, and an album that’s always on the horizon. This might be tied to the general post-1D jolt they all went through, like a plane coming off autopilot and into the hands of someone who’s just learning how to fly it. Zayn debuted at number one, so his bump wasn’t as harsh, but the others are slowly, steadily finding their footing after taking some time to find themselves and their sound, releasing songs/albums, performing (or in Louis’s case, going through unspeakable tragedy). Liam’s still adrift…and somewhat admittedly, which is kind of telling in its own way. Just know that my nervousness on his behalf ratchets up every time he feels the urge to assure us all that he’s happy.

* Niall. Truly the one following the original 1D template, right down to working with most of the same people but with more of the overall control in his hands instead of a faceless management squad. Of any of them, he seems the most ambitious, the most scientific about the sound he’s after and how he’s gonna get there. His promo is a mix of new and traditional—radio shows, talk shows, podcasts, special events, twitter interactions with fans, twitter interactions with entertaining celebrities—and it’s all hustle hustle hustle, build build build, as if he were a new ingenue instead of coming up hard on solo album number two. He’s explicit in his goals, which is refreshing, but it means he walks a weird line with fans: on one hand, he’s done with their bullshit, get ready to get rekt if you start commenting on his boring food seasoning or home décor. But on the other hand, he fully recognizes how much he needs them, which is why we get so many peeks into his “normal” life (yet zero percent of his actual personal life). It’s also probably why the blatant tweets of the last two days seem so jarring to me (I might be alone on this one, but I’m not a fan of directives in general, and asking me to call radio stations on behalf of a rich white man to become even richer just rubs me the wrong way, same with asking me to stream stuff to get you to number one…you’ve been there, buddy, how about you calm down and build some character at number 51). And speaking of calming down, it does fascinate me that both Niall and Louis namecheck Taylor Swift as someone who gets the whole fandom push/pull thing right, so watching them try to reverse-engineer her secrets is fun. Louis nails it (that hotspot treasure hunt: chef’s kiss), but Niall’s heavy-handed easter egg dump in NTMY, she would never!! I think Niall’s team needs to watch “Calm Down” about five more times before they try that again.

* Louis. I think Louis honestly has an AMAZING team in place, and they’re all clearly on his side, which makes for a refreshing change. Like Niall, he has publicly praised Taylor Swift for how she engages with her fans, but I think he’s missing a key point: she doesn’t let her fans dictate strategy, and I HOPE that’s the case for Louis, too. His old team *was* shit, so yeah, encouraging people to do fan projects to get the word out was a good idea, but turning that spigot off to let a good (paid) team step in and take over has been, uh, challenging. He’s dealt with more than his fair share of personal tragedy, but every time he gets some momentum going, it feels like something bts pushes him back off track, and he tends to keep it private, which only makes his hardest-core fans scream “sabotage.” Rightly so, he’s focusing on his personal life, and rightly so, his team is giving him the space to do that, even when it costs cash money and throws a lot of shit seriously for a loop. It makes my heart soar to see the potential of what his team can do/is doing, how much space he’s being allowed to process what he needs to process. Weirdly, that’s an unpopular opinion, and a lot of people want to indulge in an angst wank fest where Louis’s the victim of a terrible team that won’t DO anything (nevermind the fact that he’s probably ASKED them not to do anything), so they undertake a tremendous amount of performative unpaid labor that ends up being counterproductive on just about every front. Even worse, most of them can’t seem to process the fact that losing your mum is a blow, losing your SISTER is a blow, juggling other siblings or close friends handling some serious demons of their own in the aftermath of all of *that* is a blow, let alone handling your own personal coping mechanisms, nope, they want Louis to release release release, perform perform perform, c’mon, what’s holding him back, he *said* he wanted to release an album this year, there’s “no reason” for a delay, gotta be his shitty team, free him. It drives me ‘round the bend because it’s the same talk from late last year, you know, when we later found out that at least one family member was losing a fight with drug addiction. Louis’s fan engagement/promo is therefore hella fraught: he has to balance LouisTM on twitter (Mr. Donny, he’s hard, mate), his werk IG posts, and his constant edging because nobody can remember or trust that he’s got this, that multiple things are in play. But he also knows his fanbase, knows that it’s resistant to any kind of change, so I hope he pushes through and stays true to what he wants to do. I was really encouraged with his last promo round because he seems to have narrowed in on a something solid, he’s got a plan, and it’s not, “hey mr dj, put my record on,” it’s getting his fans to trust that he and his team know what the fuck they’re doing, and spoiler alert, it ain’t radio, but go ahead and keep pissing off djs by sending angry tweets their way. (Related: why is it so bad to avoid the radio when all of us admit that radio music is garbage? Is it because it’s more about you than him? Much to think about.)

* Harry. My very favorite head canon is that Harry is Jeff’s nightmare client: what was perfection at first because the Azoffs are old-school promo all the way (no SM, baby, gimme that sweet, sweet paper), and that dovetailed nicely with post-1D Harry, but it quickly veered into mulish teeth pulling. Low profile can quickly spin into no profile, and that really doesn’t work too well when you’re trying to sell sell sell, even if your brand is Harry StylesTM. HS1 and Dunkirk in their own separate ways worked VERY hard to push past the still-persistent way the general public views Harry as boybander Harry Styles, or more accurately, former boybander Harry Styles who dated Taylor Swift (if you venture out and ask someone who’s not a fan), but what I love about Harry is that much like Zayn, he doesn’t seem to be too bothered by all that. Sure, he’s ambitious, he wants to challenge himself and do things, but he’s no Niall Horan. He’s put in his time! If he gets a number one, then cool, but he’s not gonna chase it. And this is where Harry’s team really reflects his goals and energy: sure, they want him to do some promo (that “Do” tweet, the entire bit about the fan in Australia and Harry Lambert’s follow, goddddd, I loved it, petty Harry, resigned Jeff), but they clearly aren’t forcing him. He drops a song that makes a HUGE splash, and the follow-up is…liking some tweets and going to a John Mayer concert (not a John Mayer fan, so that wouldn’t be my first choice, but I respond to the zero fucks given about the whole thing). The music industry has changed a LOT in just two years, so it’s kind of cool to see team Harry pivoting a bit, seeing more SM interaction, the kindness generator, etc., but that said, the team takes their cues from him, and he clearly doesn’t want to do a whole promo circuit beyond persons a, b, and c, and magazine R, F, and A. Does it make sense to have Rob Sheffield write a profile about Stevie Nicks-blessed shroom-eater Harry Styles when his new song sounds like the Zarry combo of my dreams? NOPE, but that’s okay, Harry wanted to talk to Rob, so that’s what happened. The new song is more streaming friendly, and thank CHRIST, a lot less crusty white dude stuck in the ‘70s, so I can only hope that the rest of the album is thus, but we shall see! We’ll also see if Harry’s fan engagement shifts any further into the active zone…so far, it’s been “I’m gonna follow some larries, like these fun generator posts, check out a few dads” and staged photo ops with the same familiar faces, but I think he’s dealing with his own major bts issues as well (album delayed at least twice; that entire stalking situation). I still contend the album’s coming in the next few weeks, so it’ll be interesting to see if/how any additional promo rolls out in this new world order post-gryles landscape, how many interviews he’ll do, but I like that there’s a strategy that seems less stodgy…kudos to the new SM team, at least!!

Oh man, that got really long! Hope you enjoyed, and YES, opinions opinions opinions, and they’ll be stupid in about three weeks’ time, thanks for coming to my already dated buzzfeed article

[borkingbarnes]

50 questions!

Thank you for the tag @buckyland! You are literally the softest angel and I have mega amounts of love for you. 💗💗

Putting a Keep Reading bar bc its a lil long aha 

1. What is the colour of your hairbrush?  Black and red. Though I can't really brush my hair bc brushed out wavy/curly hair = hella frizz :/ 

2. Name a food you never ever eat.  Olives, bell peppers, Brussel sprouts. 

3. Are you typically too warm or too cold? Too cold. Always too cold, considering I live in a barren wasteland. 

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago?  jamming out in the shower lol 

5. What is your favourite candy bar?  Hershey’s cookies and cream 😍

6. Have you ever been to a professional sports game?  I think a professional hockey game when I was in elementary?? 

7. What is the last thing you said out loud? “what the fuck is this shit?” (directed at my final exam review) 

8. What is your favourite ice cream?  Vanilla or oreo! 

9. What was the last thing you had to drink?  Cofy. 💜

10. Do you like your wallet?  Yes!! It was a gift from Christmas! 

11. What was the last thing you ate?  a singular sunflower seed that was on my desk lol

12. Did you buy any new clothes last weekend?  No, I’m not a huge fan of buying clothes if I can't try it on first. However... this hoodie from UO is speaking to me but its so. frickin. expensive.  

13. The last sporting event you watched?  I think a men’s semi-finals volleyball match against UBC that hosted at my uni years ago? I had a huge crush on our setter at the time LOL 

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?  butter or caramel.

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to?  A text to my bf ranting about how the government will only allow me to get 1 month of BC at a time (before you could get 3-6 months worth at a time), which is fucked bc it just means more trips out?? 

16. Ever go camping?  Yes!! Hoping to go this summer if everything clears up by then.

17. Do you take vitamins?  Occasionally, if I open the cupboard and see it. But only the fruity chewable ones bc they're yummy lol 

18. Do you go to church every Sunday?  No. But my one of my friends does and he was supposed to send in a video of him playing some song for his church’s Easter service bc he’s got a degree in music and just overall v good at his instrument. His brother streaked through in the background of said video. He still sent it in. The church played it for the service. akljsldkj 

19. Do you have a tan?  No, she long faded :(

20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza?  yes. 100% yes. gimme some of that good good sweet and sour pork ANY day. 

21. Do you drink your soda with a straw?  I don't drink soda lol 

22. What color socks do you usually wear?  Those multicoloured Puma ones which everyone has that you can get in a bundle from Costco are all I wear 😂

23. Do you ever drive above the speed limit?  I usually go like 5 km/h above?

24. What terrifies you?  Failure, not getting anywhere in life, being trapped, losing my mom and grandparents, got reaching my goals. 

25. Look to your left, what do you see?  The disarray that is my unmade bed 

26. What chore do you hate most?  Dishes. 

27. What do you think of when you hear an Australian accent?  lol its terrible but they could literally be saying anything but my brain will immediately go “DEOWN UNDAHH” 

28. What’s your favorite soda?  I don't like soda, but will on a rare occasion take a sip of coke or sprite if my bf is drinking it. 

29. Do you go in a fast food place or just hit the drive?  Drive-thru 100%. I will avoid humans as much as possible lol that and im too lazy to get out of the car most of the time 😅

30. What is your favourite number?  8, 38! 

31. Who’s the last person you talked to?  Like face to face? I guess me mum? 

32. Favourite cut of beef?  T-bone 😍

33. Last song you listened to?  Atlas - Luke Christopher (very fitting for the current times if you ask me, and just overall one of my all time favs.) 

34. Last book you read?  The mind-numbing bullshit that is my textbook. 

35. Favourite day of the week?  Saturdaze

36. Can you say the alphabet backwards?  No. I have 1 braincell, and she is not able to complete such an extensive task. 

37. How do you like your coffee?  A good old double double if hot, but I quite enjoy a vanilla iced cofy.

38. Favourite pair of shoes?  My black Nike running shoes in general, my black Timberlands in winter, and my black suede Chelsea boots for a more dressy look! (I enjoy wearing the colour black if you couldn't tell😂)

39. The time you normally get up?  If I don't have any obligations: 10:30-11:30 😅

40. What do you prefer, sunrise or sunsets? Give me ALL the sunsets. 

41. How many blankets on your bed?  3. I am a cold, cold child. 

42. Describe your kitchen plates.  White, square ones? 

43. Describe your kitchen at the moment?  Littered with papers and writing utensils because my brother does his homework at the dinner table

44. Do you have a favourite alcoholic drink?  Caesars with Walter’s caesar mix 😍😍 Daiquiris are also yum! AND PINA COLADAS. 

45. Do you play cards? I play uno almost everyday on my phone LOL (hit me up if you wanna play together!!)

46. What colour is your car?  Gray 

47. Can you change a tire?  I don’t think so? Though I know the basics? 

48. Your favourite state? Tranquil. At peace. Basically how I feel when I’m floating on my back in water with the sun on my face.  If its US states then I haven't been too too many, but I absolutely adored Florida because of DisneyWorld. I also have some really good memories in Illinois 

49. Favourite job you’ve had?  I still have this job but a vet assistant! 

50. How did you get your biggest scar?  lol. ha im embarrassed. buckle up and prepare for story time. it’s kinda gory(?) so don't read if you don't like that stuff!! 

Box jumps in high school (we had a proper actual gym with weights and machines and stuff). I took my glasses off (idk why I decided to workout in glasses instead of contacts?) bc they kept sliding down every time I jumped. Mind you my prescription is like -5.50 and I have astigmatism so my depth perception is like non-existent without some sort of corrective lenses. But my half blind, non depth perceiving ass was like eh how bad can it be? Well it was VERY bad!! I completely misjudged how high I needed to jump (the box was on the highest side) and basically slammed my shin against the edge of the box (its wooden and very solid!!) and the weight of the rest of my body plus gravity caused my shin to dig and scrape against the edge of the box v deep on the way down. Idk if it was bone or what but there was definitely something flat and whitish in the deepest part?? Nothing broken luckily, but it hurt like a bitch. Found a first aid kit and bandaged myself up and limped around the whole day. Years later, there's still a longish scar and it’s indented along it. 

I also have a fading but quite large scar from road burn when my friend decided it would be funny to push me super fast just out of the blue while I was sitting on a skateboard and not stop me when I started teetering. I was wearing shorts and basically scraped my thigh and part of my butt against concrete. It was painful as fuck and didnt heal for a long time bc it was such a large surface area. I was P I S S E D. 

lol thanks for reading if you’ve gotten this far! Tagging some beautiful peeps if y'all want: @evanstar @fightmewiatch @jalapenobarnes @buckthegrump @tropicalcap @sgtjbuccky 

[nny11writes]

N, O, E, and L for the writer's asks, please :)

Strange, I...feel like you’re trying to tell me something, but what???? /j

N: Do you hide secrets/easter eggs in your books?

Sometimes! Usually easter eggs more than secrets get slapped in for the funsies. I usually pull from something else in canon, but my fandoms often overlap as I pull different things through. For instance, one a lot of people picked up on was in The Apprenticeship (CBNC AU) where Ahsoka pounced a red headed padawan who was happy to play along until someone else was there and he had a master that Ahsoka was sure was only half human he was so tall.

That was, indeed, Obi-Wan and Qui Gon. :)

Much less subtly, in It’s All Fun and Games Until I have memes, vines, and more in basically every chapter.  Everyone reading Let’s Try This Again knows this feeling from “...and they were roommates?” :p

O: What types of scenes are hardest for you to write?

Fighting and smut scenes are crazy difficult for the same reason, me feeling like everything is clunky and struggling to visualize where all the body parts are at a given time. I just, ugh, what is even happening????

Not a scene, but I’d say overall I’m not that great at describing physical features/spaces and compensating by trying to either avoid or add the info in as appropriate. Good example is from How to Quit You. Catra’s had side burns the whole time because she has hirsutism in my fic (although to be fair I bounced back and forth on making her trans so really it’s player choice here for what you’d rather see). But did I remember to put that in at the start? Nope! Several chapters in (5 or 6?) I suddenly realized I never once mentioned it, so I added the scene where Glimmer watches her shave. Her gray fluff tufts are very important okay?  

E: What other writers are you friends with?

Any of them! :D okayokayokay, most of my mutuals are either writers, artists, or both (unfair you are all so talented and skilled and put so much work in????????????). I’m terrified to start listing because I absolutely 100% will forget someone and then feel terrible. (Brain is sometimes swiss cheese, ah well)

L: How do you select the names of your characters?

By struggling hopelessly, looking up baby names and then trying to dig deeper into said baby names (my faith in baby name sites is zero and I don’t want to appropriate someone’s culture), crying a lot, choosing a name, hating that name, eventually changing that name, suffering, asking why I am doing this to my child, then give up and post. And then when people say they like my OCs or I have enough time away from having written them I love them and their names. (Zanzi, oh my god, baby boi had maybe 3 or 4 names before this one because none fit, and then when I did choose one I later realized I accidentally yoinked the name from a great SW’s comic that also gave Ahsoka an older brother. Which seriously wtf brain? But I’d also already posted Ahsoka using a nickname for him so I fumbled around in the names to find something else. Zanzi survives! (fun fact Peckoo was Zanzi’s 2nd or 3rd name but I hated it so he became Zanzi’s dad instead))

[mllekaren]

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Don’t forget to like/kudos/comment/share your favourite fics :D

[orionsangel86]

Season 14 Wishlist

Alrighty then! As per the last few season’s, each autumn before the season premier I will write a wishlist of things that hopefully will happen in the coming season, which I will then go through once the season is over.

For those of you curious:

Here is my wishlist for season 12 and here is my season 12 wishlist review

Here is my wishlist for season 13 and here is my season 13 wishlist review

Now as a slight disclaimer I need to stress that this isn’t meta, or me promising anything to happen (since I’m not a showrunner nor psychic) and is purely meant for fun - having said that most of the items on my wishlist are at least somewhat realistic wishes and within the realms (at least in my opinion) of actually happening.

So without further rambling here we go:

A decent arc for Michael!Dean. Yes, we all expect it to only last 3 episodes. which I find deeply disappointing. I would prefer if things are not as they seem and it turns out to last far longer than that.

Scenes inside Dean’s head. Like we got with both Cas and Sam when they were possessed, I really want to know where Michael has got Dean stashed away inside his head - and exactly what kind of experience that is for him. I can think of a whole bunch of different ways that could go - will Michael put Dean through hell? Or will he distract him the way of the Djinn with his idea of heaven? I am extremely excited by this idea and hope they don’t pass on the potential.

The missing scene from 13x23 when Dean said yes to Michael. There was definitely more to that and I hope so much we will see it - though I don’t think this is particularly likely.

Cas’s grief. Obviously. Last year I was all about Dean’s grief arc. This year, I need Cas’s to be just as bad. This is 10 years since the original story. Stopping Michael and changing allegiance to stand with Dean was Cas’s origin story - Remember how he reacted in season 5 when Dean was thinking about saying yes to Michael? Oh ho ho I can’t even begin to imagine how this will affect Cas. I want this to be a mirror of last year, and far worse than season 10. 

Sam’s continued leadership role. Now where I want to see Cas absolutely broken with grief over Dean’s possession, what I think would compliment it perfectly is Sam’s fearsome determination and functional leadership. It would be a great way to show how far the brothers have come to breaking the toxic codependency which has bound them to each other - that Sam is capable of functioning without Dean and without immediately trying to sell his soul or give his life for his brother. 

Sam and Cas working together. One of the things that I really hated about the start of season 10, was that without Dean around, Sam and Cas’s relationship just fell apart, and Sam was made to look pretty much like a douche by the show implying he had kicked Cas out of the bunker and blamed him for breaking his shoulder?!? (I found the whole thing very out of character for Sam but then destiel’s continued refusal to become canon tends to make Sam look occasionally douchey - but that is a meta for another day). Give me Sam and Cas as a team. Supporting each other in their grief and acting like the brothers (in-law) that they are.

Jack and Cas father/son bonding time - I mean I saw the promo and it looks like Jack is gonna be grounded for a little while... >.> but once he has written 100 lines of “I will not suggest killing my dad in front of my father” I think Cas will forgive him. I’d like to see Cas trying to teach Jack human things or mundane tasks with Dean watching them with a fond expression!

Addressing Dean’s abuse trauma - this one has been going around on tumblr recently so I’m latching on to other wonderful meta a bit here, but since last season explored Sam’s Lucifer trauma (and to an extent Cas’s Naomi trauma), it would be fitting if this Michael!Dean arc is followed up with an arc of recovery for Dean, not just from Michael, but from everything he has suffered since the apocalypse.

More seeing “behind the mask” with Dean. I think he has already massively grown into himself and out of his fathers shadow, but I’d just like more examples like with the chick flicks and the cucumber water.

Cas truly breaking free from heaven. Now I think that the ideal situation would be that Cas is the one to fix heaven, and that he leaves the angels by choice, and with them all respecting him and being thankful to him. But Cas needs to start to break free from that duty and obligation that he still feels to heaven. Even in season 13 he carried that guilt, and whilst this is more endgame stuff, I desperately want to see more progress on this. 

More hints towards Cas desiring human things and human feelings and basically desiring humanity for himself (no jokes guys, this time I DON’T mean Dean). I am a staunch human!Cas endgame girl after all. The show spent a lot of time in season 9 and 10 building on this for Cas and then it went a bit quiet. I’d like to see those threads picked up again.

In fact, when it comes to Cas, how about he starts answering some of those hundreds of unanswered questions that have been thrown at him since Carver era? How about he finds his place, where he belongs and AS WHAT in general? Cas, you have a home now and a family. Stop lingering in doorways. 

Sam showing us more of his personality. I think now that his Lucifer trauma has been somewhat addressed, Sam should be a bit lighter and more carefree. I’d like to know some more about him other than his obsession with serial killers which is frankly a worrying hobby Sam!

Mary and Cas bonding - in fact I just want to see all of the rest of Dean’s family bonding with Cas more. I want more knowing looks from Mary and even a conversation about the topic - oh wouldn’t that be a dream!

Dean coming out of the closet. Yes yes I know I know. Every year... But it is 20gayteen and next year is 20BITEEN and dammit the world is full of rainbows right now - Bert and Ernie made it official... Why can’t Dean Winchester? I’m totally cool with someone slipping THIS to Dabb. I won’t even ask for credit. ;)

Last year I wanted Sam to build on his relationships outside of Dean and we did pretty well last year with that. But of course, I want more. Maybe some Sam x Rowena? I’m game. 

On that note WITCH!SAM. I am still a huge lover of Sam practicing magick. It’s a story line with so much potential.

More badass ladies kicking ass. Aww man we were kinda blessed with this last year weren’t we? Keep it up show. Please keep it up.

Billie continuing to play a large role as Death. I find her captivating and want more.

Wayward Sisters returning. It still hurts, but we need to know what happens next.

JODY AND CAS NEED TO MEET GODDAMMIT. Also I want Cas to reunite with Claire again.

As per last year: The return of the mixtape. BRING BACK THE MIXTAPE (yup I’m gonna wish for it until I get it).

Please dress Cas up. The closest we got last year was the cowboy hat and the dreadful nazi uniform of AU Cas. Why can’t we have him in plaid? PLEASE.

Absolutely no Lucifer, Lucifer vessel or any hint of Mark Pellegrino. Plus no Kentucky fried chicken pantomime villains either. I’ll be happy if season 14 is free from this nonsense.

Saving the best for last, what do I always wish for above all else? You guessed it - DESTIEL. Do I want it to be canon? Well yes eventually of course. But in season 14 my wish is for their story to continue as it did in early season 13. More obvious destiel content, more of destiel built into the narrative and ideally, made explicit. A love confession? Even if only to a third party? That is undeniably romantic. Zero “no homo’s” would be nice. I just wish for further development on the destiel narrative. That is all. 

As always feel free to add to this with your own wishes! 

BRING ON SEASON 14!! :D

[lovemesomesurveys]

Do you and your parents like any of the same bands/singers? Yeah. My mom and I like a lot of the same music. Is there any food in your bedroom? What? No. Do you know anyone who has road rage? Who? My dad. How expensive is too expensive for a pair of shoes? I can’t believe people pay $100 and more on shoes. $50 something is about my limit, and that’s expensive, too. To be honest, my more expensive shoes, like my Adidas, were gifts. How far away do your grandparents live from you? It’s about a 12 hour or so drive. We’ve made that trip a few times and it’s torture. 

What kinds of cereal are in the cupboard? I’m actually not sure. I haven’t had cereal in so long so I don’t pay much attention. Is there anything related to cats in your bedroom? Nope. What’s the last thing you spent over 10$ on? Starbucks. Over 30$? A present for my mom. Do you know who lives three houses down from you? Nope. I don’t know any of my neighbors. Do you think Canadians all really love maple syrup? Can you answer this, Lane? Haha. Is there a bulletin board in your room? Yes. Is your mom a big health freak or your dad? Or neither? My dad is a big snacker and he loves his sweets, so definitely not him haha. My mom avoids sugary things as a diabetic and tries to eat healthy. She and my brother are really into cauliflower mashed “potatoes” and “rice.” Her weakness is tacos. Easter or Halloween? I like both. Do you know anyone who wants to be the president one day? Nope. What kinds of chips are in the cupboards? I think we have some Pringles. Do you have your moms or dads hair? I have my mom’s natural hair color, but not style. Her hair is actually really curly, while mine is wavy.  What’s the first thing you see when you walk into your bedroom? My TV. Do you prefer the truth, even if it’s harsh? I guess. :X ha. It’s definitely hard to hear and I’m a sensitive soul. If you were going out with your celebrity crush, what would you wear? Omg. I couldn’t let him see me like this, I am an absolute mess. I’d have to get all fixed up first and then pick something nice. I would DIE if he saw me now. Have you ever skipped history class? In college sometimes. Do you own any yellow clothes? Yeah. Do you have any friends who have naturally red hair? No, but I have a cousin who does. Have you ever cried when a teacher retired? Not for that reason, but I cried at the end of the school year in 4th grade because my teacher wasn’t going to be my teacher anymore. He was everyone’s favorite. It was really cool; though, because he ended up teaching 8th grade and so I got to have him again when I got there.  Does your kitchen look like it was designed in a completely different decade? No. When’s the last time you wore heels? Never. Do you have your mom’s or dad’s eyes? My mom’s. Is there anything shiny in the room you’re in? Yeah. What’s the best date movie? Hmm. I don’t know. I am a sucker for the romantic comedies, though. How long has your current best friend been your best friend? All my life. Have your parents ever been out of the country? Yes. My mom has been to Italy, which I’m quite envious of. Are you older than the last person you laughed with? No. How many pairs of jeans, all together, are in your house? Pfft I don’t know. There’s 4 adults living here and we all wear jeans. We each have several pairs. Do you swear and yell while playing video games? No. Would you rather name your daughter Andrea or Eva? Andrea. Is there any alcohol in the fridge? I don’t think so. If you had to get up at 6am tomorrow morning, would it be painful? It absolutely would be. I don’t even go to bed until like 2 or 3 as it is. Have you ever seen the last person you watched TV with drunk? Yes. If you were adopted, would you want to know? At this point... no. Has a best friend ever ditched you for a girlfriend/boyfriend? Yes.

Would you rather get a new brother or sister? I’m almost 30 now, I’m pretty much good on siblings. My mom couldn’t have any more kids anyway. Unless she adopted, of course. It would be weird to have a baby in the house. My younger brother is almost 21, so it’s been a long time. Do you know anyone who has grossly skinny eyebrows? No. Do you have anything in your room you’ve had for ten years or more? Yeah, a lot of things. Do your pets chase after bugs? No. Would you ever kiss the last person who messaged you on facebook/MSN/etc? No. Do eat at home or in restaurants more? We get takeout to eat at home a lot. 

When’s the last time you were so excited you couldn’t sleep? Why? It’s been a long time since I haven’t been able to sleep for that reason. Audrey Hepburn or Audrey Kicthing? Hepburn.  Do you e-mail more often then you talk on MSN/AIM? I often check my email, but I don’t send any. I haven’t used AIM since like 2009. If your best friend’s birthday was next week, what would you get them? A couple Game of Thrones shirts. What is your mom’s favorite movie? She has a lot. How much older is your dad then you? He’s 28 years older than me.

What TV family reminds you of your own family? I don’t know.

Do you own any flip-flops? Nope. I don’t wear flip flops or sandals.

Did you ever really believe that the stork brought babies? I don’t think I ever thought that.

Are there any drawers in your house that are just filled with junk? Yeah. We have that designated kitchen junk drawer that a lot of people seem to have, but I personally have a few junk drawers in my room. My parents have theirs, too.

Is the last person you spoke to in love? Not that I know of.

How far away is Chicago from where you live? It would be a 31 hour drive. I would definitely be flying should I ever go to Chicago. 

Do you know anyone who always looks perfect? Who? I think my mom does. She��s always had really nice skin and looks great with or without makeup. I didn’t inherit that at all. Do you know anyone who has security cameras in their house? Yeah.

Do you think Zac Efron is really that good looking? Not really, honestly.

What was the last movie to make you cry? Endgame. D:

Has anyone you know ever pulled the fire alarm in school, joking around? No.

What time do you usually go to sleep at sleepovers, if ever? I was always the last one to fall asleep and the first to wake up. I hardly slept at all.

Who was the main character in the last book you read? This girl named Althea. 

Is the last person you said goodbye to single? No. Who are the last people you saw kiss? My parents. Have you ever posted a fan fiction on a website? Nope.  Do you ever fantasize about your future wedding? Who’s the bride/groom? No. I can’t see myself ever getting married, honestly.  Chapstick or lipgloss? Nowadays just chapstick. What was the last unpleasant thing to wake you up? My nightmare last night. Do you have any friends who are ALWAYS kissing their bf/gf? No. Does that get annoying? Uhh it would get uncomfortable and awkward. Would you rather look at clouds or stars? Stars. If you could trade appearances with the last person you hugged, would you? Yes. Do you have any relatives who are expecting a baby really soon? No. Do you ever wonder what the opposite sex do at sleepovers? Nope. When you get married, who will be the maid of honor/best man? Like I said, I probably won’t ever get married. Does your best friend get along with their parents? She did, yes. Unfortunately, they both have passed away. If you were to walk to Florida from where you live, would it take long? Uh, yeah. I live in California. Not happening. I’d never even attempt to walk to next closest city to me. Omg, according to Google it would take 885 hours to walk to Florida. :O  Do you understand why ‘To kill a mockingbird’ is called what it is? I don’t remember why, so I Googled it cause now I’m curious and apparently “Mockingbirds” symbolize innocence, so it’s “to kill innocence.” When’s the last time you broke plans? Why? I haven’t made any plans in such a long time. My friends kept trying for so long, but eventually they gave up cause I’m a mess. Have you ever been in a wedding? What were you? No. Would you feel safer with an alarm system or security cameras? We have both. Does the last person you touched smoke? No. Do you know someone who is CONSTANTLY texting? Does that annoy you? My brother is always texting, but no it doesn’t annoy me. Does it matter to you what kind of shampoo you use? I use a salon style shampoo for red colored hair.

[alo-piss-trancy]

if you don't mind sharing, what are your opinions on the ud/g characters so far? id love to hear your thoughts on them :3

Yeah, I'd be happy to talk about my thoughts so far! :D Altho fyi I'm still on the 2nd chapter and I'm playing pretty slowly/taking my time with it, so I haven't met a ton of characters yet. I'm trying really hard to find all the collectables/win the arcade challenges and stuff so I'm going at a snail pace lol. It's been an absolute blast though!

BIG SPOILERS FOR U/LTRA D/ESPAIR G/IRLS (AND OTHER GAMES) BELOW!!!

K/omaru's kinda different than I expected her to be tbh but I do love what they did with her! I kind of had it in my head that she'd be more upbeat/heroic and like, stronger/more of a fighter than M/akoto, so to find out she's actually even quicker to give up/very defeatist was a bit of a shock lol. But I do really like it, both for development purposes as the game goes on and also bc she IS what a normal person in that world would be, depressed and scared shitless, panicky even with a weapon, relies a lot of T/ouko. Having the sister of the Ultimate Hope be... not Despair, but just a little less confident like that is very nice thematically. I love her banter with T/ouko a lot, they're funny af together. Not sure if I really ship them? They might be cute but also T/ouko is so 200% devoted to Master B/yakuya that even my multishipper butt has trouble separating them at all lmao. One-sided crush from K/omaru's side would be pretty sweet tho 💛

I don't trust M/onaca. Not even bc she's named M/onaca or bc of her creepy hollow gaze or overly uvu nice routine, but bc she has green hair. In my experience you NEVER trust an anime bitch with the cutesy green hair and golden/green eyes combo. They will be evil, or at least a bit unhinged every time istg. This bitch be plottin 🙃 That said, I'll admit her design is cute af, very aesthetic 💚 and I'm very interested in her development as a character. Her and the blue boi are cute although I'm positive she's going to betray his ass immediately when the moment comes. There is no love in her soulless little eyes and I fear for him

J/ataro (I think that's his name? The art mask boi) is my favourite Warrior of Hope!!! I mean, I'm like 80% sure his mask is made of human skin and I know he's committed many, MANY atrocities (that dancing puppet diorama of adult corpses was... something lmao), but ALSO... he's very polite, easily the nicest of the Delightful Children 2.0. He fixed their air conditioners and chairs and stuff and he's a good boi deep down kind of. Minus the murder I mean. And he has floppy sleeves and likes crafts and the fact that he literally wants ppl to hate him and doesn't think he's worthy of love slaughters my feelings 😭 He's like G/undham but EVEN SADDER and therefore he will be my favourite no matter what awful shit he's guaranteed to pull in the future akdkfk. I'm terrified bc I know in my gut I'll probably be responsible for his suffering if each boss battle is like the red-haired kid's and I'M NOT READY TO DO THAT TO HIM HHHH. I desperately want one of the other gremlin kids to be his friend (maybe the pink or blue one???) PLEASE JUST LET ONE BE NICE TO HIM. LET HIM BE HAPPY. I KNOW IT WON'T HAPPEN SO I MIGHT HAVE TO MAKE FLUFF AUS OR SMTH 💔

I... don't remember anyone else's names yet and I can't google bc spoiler potential RIP. So uhhh:

Pink girl: 20/10 design, kinda trash personality but she's also fun lol. Seems to like animals which is a plus. Is mean to craft boi, which is a minus. She's like if G/undham, S/onia, J/unko, and H/iyoko were blended into one evil little gremlin which I find pretty funny. I love that she's the fighter and I look forward to seeing what devastation she'll wreak 👿 She and M/onaca would be cute tbh (but again, I'm sure M/onaca will Ruin Her. Plz run pink child your devotion is going to be for naught c':)

Blue boy: He's a cute, composed boi and I feel bad for him lol. You just know he's going to absolutely snap towards the end. He seems like the smartest and most likely to succeed, which means he's gonna get screwed over big time. I like that he kind of babysits the other gremlins. RIP his crush on M/onaca, he's gonna get his heart broken. Also watching him talk shit to N/agito gives me such life y'all don't even know lmao. Those milkshakes were garbage and he should feel bad.

Red boy: Kinda annoying AF to me personally, but I do feel horrible for him. The scene where he's so desperate to stop his hand from shaking that he bashes it until he breaks it while K/omaru was begging and crying for him to stop was hard af to sit through, GOD. Everything about that scene was just hhhhh

I'm legit so scared to see these other kids break down after that, like goddamn... I don't wanna know what they've been through but also I do ajdjglk. Damn these game creators snipping my heartstrings, I just wanted to make robot bears dance dude 😭

Other chars:

S/hirokuma: predictably, Absolute Baby, 20/10, I will love and cherish him forever 💛💛💛 HE'S SO CUTE HHHH I ADORE HIM 😻 Even if he turns out to be evil or makes me mega sad ajdjgkhl I don't entirely trust him but I also don't NOT trust him???? Let's face it this game's gonna flip one over on me regardless of what I try to predict bc they love their plot twists and betrayals so I'm just chillin for the ride lmao

Y/uta: Not 100% convinced he's dead ngl but also... I wouldn't be that upset if he was tbh. Maybe bc I just like the angst of M/akoto getting his sister back and to have a potential wife in K/yoko in the end while A/oi lost her own wife and brother thru all of this hell 🙃 He seemed nice enough, the part where he mimicked writing names in hands bc u know he probs learned that from A/oi made me wanna cry 😭

ALSO I JUST MET WHO I THINK IS H/AGAKURE'S MOM AND HHHHH 😍😍😍 She's so pretty and her voice is 20/10 but I'm terrified she's either gonna turn out to betray me OR even worse she's gonna get killed bc I gave her the hit lists before I saved akdhkgl TOO LATE NOW THO AND I REFUSE TO LOOK IT UP SO I'M JUST GONNA HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT IF/WHEN IT COMES

That's all I can think of to say so far ajfkjk, hopefully it's coherent c': I'm thoroughly enjoying the game and it's variety of chars, tbh I think I actually might like it a little more than the 'main' ones :0c Mostly bc it touches on a lot of the stuff I liked about the novels/was implied in other games, it's nice to see the darker takes not be interrupted with as many running gags and such. The easter eggs are super fun too!

[aion-rsa]

Avengers: Endgame - Different Versions of Marvel Comics' Infinity Gauntlet Story

https://ift.tt/37j59uM

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame are only two of the many different takes on Thanos' epic Infinity Gauntlet story.

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The culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has arrived with Avengers: Endgame, where the greatest Marvel superheroes tangle with Thanos the Mad Titan, following up on the events of Avengers: Infinity War. Since showing up at the end of the first Avengers movie, it’s been pretty apparent that Thanos would be scouring the cosmos for the Infinity Gems/Stones so as to do an adaptation of the hit early '90s miniseries Infinity Gauntlet.

The comic has become rather iconic in Marvel history and it made sense that they’d spend the better part of a decade building towards it. As we now know, they didn't take to the source material all that closely. Sure, there was no crushing on Death or appearances by Adam Warlock, but it very much drew from that well. It's to be expected. Infinity Gauntlet is a storyline that’s been retold, adapted, and twisted in all sorts of ways since first appearing nearly 30 years ago.

Here are all the different variations of Thanos and Adam's Excellent Adventure.

INFINITY GAUNTLET (1991)

We’re going full spoiler on this.

As a follow-up to the two-part story Thanos Quest, the Mad Titan Thanos has control of all six Infinity Gems and is essentially God. Mephisto hangs around to feed his ego, while naturally plotting to overthrow him. Thanos also has his so-called granddaughter Nebula hanging around, stuck in a catatonic zombie state because Thanos is a jerk. Since Thanos wants to win the love of Death herself, he uses the Gauntlet to wipe out half of the universe. 50% of all living things simply vanish, including a big chunk of the superheroes. Adam Warlock is reborn and goes to the remaining heroes, coming up with this awesome plan of going to Thanos’ space home and punching him in his stupid scrotum face. This is really a swerve because he plans to have them all killed off as a distraction so Silver Surfer can sneak by and steal the Gauntlet off Thanos’ hand.

Meanwhile, Thanos’ whims have caused Earth to drift away from the sun, making it colder and colder by the hour. Odin and all the other heavyweight god types on Earth are blocked off from interfering. As a way of making Death jealous, Thanos uses the Gauntlet to create a mate in Terraxia.

read more: The Weirdest Thanos Moments in Marvel History

Mephisto suggests that Thanos hold back against the heroes to impress Death, so he scales it back a lot, which gives the heroes a 1% chance. As hard as they try, they still lose horribly and are killed one-by-one by Thanos and Terraxia. After Captain America goes full-on badass and stares down Thanos, Silver Surfer flies in and misses his mark completely. About then, all the galactic heavy hitters – the tapestry of the universe itself – show up. Thanos goes back to full power and makes mincemeat of them all. He transforms himself into a form that’s one with the universe, which leaves his physical Gauntlet out in the open. Nebula takes it and steals the power, reverting everything to how it once was...except for the part where she still has all the power.

Thanos teams up with Warlock and a couple of the more powerful heroes, ultimately defeating Nebula when Warlock takes control of the Soul Gem and shorts it out a bit, causing Nebula to drop the Gauntlet. A fight breaks out and Warlock comes out wielding the Infinity Gauntlet, swearing to use it wisely. Thanos fakes his own death, but is later seen living a quiet life as a farmer.

So that’s Infinity Gauntlet Prime. Let’s see how other writers and mediums have messed around with the formula.

Read Infinity Gauntlet on Amazon

WHAT IF THANOS CHANGED GALACTUS INTO A HUMAN BEING? (1992)

What If #34 was a humor-based issue of the series and while most of it is painfully unfunny, the opening seven-page short story is humorous and even a little bit uplifting in its own weird way. No joke, this is actually my all-time favorite comic book story.

As Thanos fights the cosmic entities, he decides to get creative when dispatching Galactus. He transforms him into a human being and sends him down to Earth. Galactus awakens naked in a trailer park, forgetting who he is while being a 100% facsimile of Elvis Presley! A single mother named Gertrude takes him in and thinks he’s the real deal with amnesia. She explains everything about Elvis to him and while he still has no memory, he trusts her and decides that he is indeed the King. He swears to do good with this second chance by not getting involved with the pitfalls of fame, such as drugs.

read more: The 100 Best What If Moments in Marvel History

Also, the comic features the million dollar line, “Ma’am, the hunger gnaws.”

Galactus gets back into music, trying to stay on the down low, but soon people take notice and we’re about to get the second coming of Elvismania. Right as he’s about to see to the public, Galactus is confronted by Adam Warlock, now in possession of the Infinity Gauntlet. He wills Galactus his memory, but the Eater of Worlds doesn’t want to return. He’s found a better identity as the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll and chooses to stay with Gertrude and her son, giving both Galactus and Elvis Presley’s legacy a second chance.

WHAT THE--?! #24 (1992)

Marvel’s lesser-known humor book from the early '90s once featured a Mad Magazine-style spoof of Infinity Gauntlet called “The Infinity Mitten.” Thermos and his advisor McFisto go on a double-date with Death and Taxes, but Thermos is disappointed that Death has no interest in him. Using the Mitten, he removes half of life in the universe...except on the first try he accidentally just removes everyone’s lower half. Earth’s heroes go after him, but brute force isn’t enough. After talking over various ideas to remove the Infinity Mitten, they go with challenging Thermos to strip poker. They all lose and die of embarrassment.

read more - Complete Guide to Marvel and MCU Easter Eggs in Avengers: Endgame

The cosmic beings show up to throwdown, but Thermos points out that he’s an atheist and they all vanish. Silver Surfer (or whatever his parody name is) starts whining about all the death he’s seen, causing Adam Warlox to finally snap at him for being such a downer. Warlox shoots him with a revolver, which Thermos steals and uses on Warlox and McFisto.

Thinking that killing off an entire universe of heroes and villains is enough, Thermos is shocked to see that Death is now dating Nintendo's Mario. Death explains that her new boyfriend is killing off the entire comics industry by himself!

WHAT IF THE SILVER SURFER POSSESSED THE INFINITY GAUNTLET? (1993)

I absolutely love this issue and would have liked a variation of this as the actual ending of Infinity Gauntlet instead of what we got. Surfer succeeds in snatching the Gauntlet from Thanos’ hands. First thing he does is set everything back to normal. Then he sends everyone back home except Warlock and Thanos, who he keeps as advisors...but really as witnesses as he makes the universe a better place. He starts off with the well-meaning moves you’d expect. He eliminates disease, hunger, soothes hatred (a Kree and a Skrull are shown greeting each other happily), and even makes Death into a more alluring figure instead of something to be feared. Then he goes to Hell to see if Mephisto would be cool being remade into something a bit more pleasant, but Mephisto instead starts a fight. Surfer vaporizes him and goes back to his home to think about stuff.

read more - Avengers: Endgame Ending Explained

Warlock and Thanos go to Doctor Strange because, boy howdy, Surfer’s going nuts with all that power. Strange figures the best way about this is to summon Surfer’s old flame Shalla-Bal to talk some sense into him, especially since Surfer’s thinking of removing randomness completely and giving the universe complete order. Arguments and fighting happen, but seeing Shalla-Bal so hurt brings Surfer back to sanity. He uses the Infinity Gauntlet’s power to destroy itself – and seemingly he and Shalla-Bal with it – but we discover that the two of them are secretly alone on a paradise planet of their creation to live the rest of their lives in secret.

As everything returns to normal, Thanos stands alone, holding up the scrapped remains of the Gauntlet. With a smirk, he says, “So close. Oh, yes... So very close.”

MARVEL SUPER HEROES (1995)

In a follow-up to X-Men: Children of the Atom, Capcom released a one-on-one fighting game called Marvel Super Heroes, which is loosely based on Infinity Gauntlet. In it, you control a hero or villain as you gather the Infinity Gems from your opponents, working your way to fighting Dr. Doom and then Thanos. Upon meeting him, Thanos will steal your Gems and complete the Infinity Gauntlet before the final battle. While there isn’t much story in the game, it definitely stays loyal to the comic in ways. For instance, Thanos’ battleground is his base from Infinity Gauntlet, where you can see the likes of Thor, Nova, Drax, Scarlet Witch, and She-Hulk frozen in stone as Mephisto and Death idle in the background.

read more: The Legacy of Marvel vs. Capcom

The game is kicking rad if you haven’t played it, letting you unleash the power of the various Gems in battle, each giving you a different ability. The console version includes playable versions of the bosses, as well as Anita, the emotionless little girl from Capcom’s Darkstalkers series.

Here are the various endings based on the different characters defeating Thanos:

Anita: Simply uses the Gems to free the heroes from their statue forms. Nothing else.

Blackheart: Is asked to hand it over from his father Mephisto, but Blackheart turns on him and chooses to rule reality.

Captain America: Reverts the heroes to normal. Then pals around with Thor and throws the Infinity Gems into a black hole so nobody can use them.

Dr. Doom: Bitches out Thanos and rules the Earth with the Infinity Gauntlet. Yeah, they don’t get very fancy with this one.

Hulk: Reverts the heroes to normal. Thanos wants to die, but Hulk leaves him begging. Hulk goes on a second honeymoon to Vegas with Betty, but he chooses to get there by leaping with Betty holding on for dear life.

Iron Man: Reverts the heroes to normal. Considers using the Gauntlet, but then refuses. Later, he’s bummed to discover that his nervous system problems are gone. He selfishly used the power after all. Cap tells him not to worry about it.

Juggernaut: Is ready to grab the Infinity Gauntlet and get his vengeance on Xavier. Suddenly, Adam Warlock pops in to take it away, thanking Juggernaut for saving reality and then sending him back to Earth. I hate Adam Warlock.

Magneto: Creates a second moon around Earth and makes it a permanent home for mutants, finally separating himself from the humans. He is the eternal ruler of New Avalon.

Psylocke: Reverts the heroes to normal. She returns to the mansion, thinking about how she has experienced being molded to the will of others before and would never, ever do that to another person.

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Shuma-Gorath: Absorbs the power of the Infinity Gems and grows in size, allowing it to feast upon reality itself.

Spider-Man: Reverts the heroes to normal. Goes home to Mary Jane to find out that he’s going to be a father. This is a lot less uplifting when you remember that this game was released during Clone Saga. Ugh.

Thanos: Has two separate endings. Either he chooses to become one with the cosmos as the true ruler of the universe, or he gives up the power and lives on as a farmer.

Wolverine: Reverts the heroes to normal. He realizes that he could use the power to find out about his past, but refuses. Instead, he leaves the X-Men to find the answers himself.

Thanos would return in Marvel vs. Capcom 2, still with the Infinity Gauntlet, but the game lacks anything resembling a coherent storyline. Then in Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite, the Gauntlet is treated as a red herring as Thanos is more interested in fashioning Ryu's dark energies into a Satsui No Hado Gauntlet so he can kill (or at least hurt) Death.

MARVEL SUPER HEROES: WAR OF THE GEMS (1996)

You would think that this would just be a lesser incarnation of the one-on-one fighter I just talked about, but no. This Capcom release is more of a sequel to the side-scroller beat ‘em up X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse. In it, you play through with your choice of Hulk, Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Iron Man. Coincidentally, Iron Man’s select portrait is just a picture of his sprite from the arcade game. Go figure.

The game is one big mishmash of both Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity War, which makes sense, considering Infinity Gauntlet wasn’t really filled to the brim with villains to fight. Here, you get to fight evil doppelganger clones of various heroes, like Hawkeye, Vision, Sasquatch, Iron Man, etc. At first you search for the various Infinity Gems, trying to stop the likes of Magus and Dr. Doom from getting their hands on them, but Thanos gets the last one. After going through Nebula, you face Thanos and...well, it doesn’t really have the same dire sense of danger when he isn’t at full godhood. At least in the arcade game, he’s got all six Gems. Here, he has one against your five. That’s hardly impressive.

read more - Who is in that Important Avengers: Endgame Spoiler Scene?

I guess Thanos has the Reality Gem because literally all he does is cause fire to burst from the ground and summon a closing stone wall. That’s it. He’s slow as molasses and his death throes feel like they take an hour.

Afterwards, Adam Warlock takes all the Gems for himself and sends everyone home. Feeling the need to give this epilogue some filler, they ask if Earth will ever truly be safe. When all your enemies move like snails, Earth isn't in that much danger, I suppose.

WHAT IF THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN OBTAINED THE INFINITY GAUNTLET? (1998)

So you know that part where Silver Surfer tries to swipe Thanos’ Gauntlet? It almost works in the sense that he removes the glove, but he fumbles and drops it. It’s then grabbed by none other than the annoying shape-shifter of the cosmos, the Impossible Man! Although Thanos is no threat to him, he does basically pee himself once all the cosmic beings show up. He escapes with Surfer and points out that he’s totally capable of handling the burden of wielding the Infinity Gauntlet. To prove his point, he brings Surfer to Zenn-La, his lost home planet. He’s reunited with Shalla-Bal and all should be good, but Surfer can’t help but feel that things aren’t quite right.

He’s summoned by Galactus because although Impossible Man’s claimed to be about using the Gauntlet justly, he’s in the middle of exacting revenge on Galactus for eating his home world of Poppup way back when. Surfer fights him and loses, but convinces him to do the right thing by pointing out that he can just rebuild Poppup and return all its people. Galactus agrees to help, but due to plot device BS, Poppup can only be created at the expense of the fake Zenn-La. Surfer ultimately goes along with it because while he can never accept his fake world as real, Impossible Man is too oblivious and simple-minded to really question his.

read more: What's Next for the MCU in Marvel Phase 4?

Poppup is reborn, the Poppupian race is reborn, and Impossible Man gives up his power to the Elders of the Universe. Everything seems fine, but then Surfer realizes that the Poppupians are all purple and green versions of heroes and villains, fighting it out like a bunch of goofs. He looks on in horror while a purple and green Forbush Man waves at the reader from behind his back.

WHAT IF: NEWER FANTASTIC FOUR (2009)

A little backstory on this one. Jeff Parker and Mike Wieringo were working on a What If issue about the New Fantastic Four (Spider-Man, Hulk, Wolverine, and Ghost Rider) remaining as a team. Unfortunately, Wieringo passed away during the making of it, so they had various artists finish the book in his place as a tribute. Even if it wasn’t such a heartwarming sentiment, What If This was the Fantastic Four? is an excellent comic to read.

This is the sequel, which asks what would happen if Infinity Gauntlet happened in a timeline with the New Fantastic Four, except that Ghost Rider is wiped out of existence from Thanos’ power and is replaced by Iron Man. Their first meeting with Thanos doesn’t go so well, since Hulk’s attempt to intimidate him with how strong he is in relation to his anger causes Thanos to wipe out a chunk of the Milky Way and state, “And I’m not even angry.” The omnipotent Thanos also separates Hulk and Banner out of curiosity and his desire to show off. During all of this, Wolverine notices how Mephisto is able to steer Thanos around with his words.

Like in regular continuity, Adam Warlock brings up his awesome plan of, “Do what I say and don’t ask questions so you don't know that I’m using your horrible deaths as a diversion,” but this time it doesn’t fly. As Stark puts it, “I don’t [know what I’m doing], but I don’t think he does either.” When they go at Thanos, Wolverine is the only one with a plan. He chooses not to fight Thanos and instead badmouths his partners while talking Thanos into thinking that Mephisto is trying to horn in on Death. Thanos buys this lie and vaporizes Mephisto. Wolverine worms his way into position as Thanos’ new right-hand man and explains to the other Fantastic Four members that he hopes that Thanos will reward his loyalty by forcing Jean Grey to love him.

read more - What is the Sound in the Avengers: Endgame Credits?

Thanos continues to effortlessly defeat all challengers, even when Iron Man creates a suit of armor out of a fallen Celestial. Wolverine talks up how Thanos hasn’t even physically touched Death and that love is all about contact. Thanos gets all flustered because it isn’t proper, but Wolverine eggs him on to just touch her face. As the nervous Thanos reaches out to do so, Wolverine chops his arm off with a smiling, “Sucker!” and has successfully cut off his source of power.

Hulk punches Thanos out, Spider-Man uses the Gauntlet to put everything back the way it was, the Gauntlet is given to the Watchers to guard, and Bruce Banner becomes an honorary Watcher. Free from being one with the Hulk, he lives in the Watchers' citadel for the rest of his life, practically bathing in the vast knowledge available to him.

Too bad they didn’t keep going with What If: New Fantastic Four stories. They were only two issues, but they were a lot of fun.

WHAT IF: SECRET WARS (2009)

This one only sort of counts. Thanos only gets one mention, but the story is more of an alternate history companion piece that makes a couple parallel references to the original story. In Secret Wars, Dr. Doom was able to siphon off the powers of Galactus and the Beyonder, making him nigh-omnipotent. In this reality, he keeps the power and fully defeats the heroes. He easily conquers Earth, all while leaving all the heroes alive and using his power to make sure Sue Storm’s pregnancy (which resulted in a miscarriage in regular continuity) is a healthy one. He leaves the world a utopia and flies into space. The thing to take away from this story is that at his heart, Dr. Doom is not a ruler, but a conqueror. That’s why he’s ruled the world no less than three times in regular continuity and always left it behind for the sake of struggle.

His attempt to take over various alien empires is met with resistance, so he wipes out all who oppose him. Then he seeks out even more power by slaying the Elders of the Universe and stealing the Infinity Gems. With the Soul Gem, he enters Hell, frees his mother, and kills Mephisto (which he says would only be temporary, since he’s the Devil and all). Next on the agenda is taking out the only beings higher than him on the food chain: the Celestials. The fight lasts 407 years (!) and in the end, Doom is supreme, albeit with the Infinity Gems destroyed.

During the battle, a shockwave knocked Earth out of orbit, much like in Infinity Gauntlet. Doom sees that life will eventually come to an end. Without a second thought, he uses the remainder of his cosmic power to set the Earth back in place and save the planet. The final scene shows, fittingly enough, that he’s become a farmer, freely appearing with no faceplate. He no longer feels ashamed of his scars and plans to rebuild his rule from the ground up, fully understanding the true potential of mankind.

Personally one of my favorite Dr. Doom stories.

SUPER HERO SQUAD SHOW SEASON 2 (2010)

The wacky cartoon series based on the toys with the creepy smiles is a fun enough diversion. The second season of the show is all about the Infinity Gauntlet with the first half of it being based on Thanos’ quest to get all the Gems. Thanos is voiced by Jim Cummings, meaning he sounds like pretty much every Jim Cummings voice you’ve ever heard. Interesting thing here is that Thanos has Nebula captive and he refers to her as his sister. So if you’re keeping score, she’s his granddaughter in the comics, daughter in the movies, and sister in the cartoon.

The whole Death concept is forgotten about here and Thanos is purely out for galactic power for the sake of being an evil overlord with galactic power. In the episode “Fate of Destiny,” he gets the full set of Gems and the Super Hero Squad goes on the attack. They are soundly defeated (mostly thanks to Thanos’ reality-warping catchphrase, “DO OVER!”), as are Dr. Doom and his underlings. Thanos is then challenged by the Silver Surfer, who is wielding the Infinity Sword, the ultimate weapon of the first season’s finale. Thanos challenges him to a winner-take-all fight, which Surfer accepts. When they shake on it, Surfer pulls off Thanos’ glove.

Unfortunately, the Infinity Sword has been slowly corrupting Surfer over time, so having the Infinity Sword AND the Infinity Gauntlet drives him over the edge. He sends his former teammates spiraling through the multiverse, giving us children’s cartoon adaptations of 1602 and Planet Hulk. Also, he knocks Earth out of orbit, making it increasingly cold. For the remainder of the series, he’s the main villain.

In the finale, “The Final Battle! (‘Nuff Said!)” The Dark Surfer is challenged by the team of Iron Man, Scarlet Witch, Hulk, Wolverine, Falcon, and Thor. Surfer chooses to split himself into six beings for his own amusement. Each Surfer is powered by a separate Gem, but the heroes have figured that each one is capable of countering a specific Surfer based on their own abilities/personalities. For instance, the Mind Gem has little effect on Hulk and Wolverine’s surliness is able to overpower the Soul Gem. With the help of Ronan the Accuser, they defeat Silver Surfer and get all the Gems together.

It’s not over until they find where he hid the Infinity Sword, leading to a final battle between Iron Man and Dr. Doom, where they accidentally destroy both the Sword and the Gems. The resulting explosion fixes the universe, including Earth, and all is well. Surfer’s back to his senses and willingly accepts his Kree imprisonment. No longer able to get his revenge on the Surfer, Thanos decides to go hang out at a chicken farm instead. Cute.

SUPER HERO SQUAD: INFINITY GAUNTLET (2010)

Around the time of the second season’s debut, they released a video game tie-in where you go around fighting enemies with two heroes at a time. In the story, Iron Man and Hulk are picking up some new boots for Thor’s birthday. The boots get mixed up with Thanos’ Infinity Gauntlet and wackiness ensues. Eventually, Thanos gets all the Gems. The duo of Iron Man and Scarlet Witch are able to defeat him, but then Silver Surfer swoops in to steal the Infinity Gauntlet. Corrupted by its power immediately, he does away with Galactus and, like in the cartoon, splits into six versions of himself. While Spider-Man sits this one out, the other twelve heroes pair up and fight the various Surfers one-by-one.

Once defeated, Surfer comes to his senses. He and Iron Man throw the Infinity Gems and Infinity Sword into a rift in reality, taking care of that problem. Meanwhile, all the villains are busy fighting each other. Iron Man figures to just let that sort itself out. The heroes celebrate Thor’s birthday, but it turns out his boots have been enchanted by Loki to make Thor dance for an eternity. Iron Man and Hulk search for the receipt so they can return it.

AVENGERS AND THE INFINITY GAUNTLET (2010)

This out-of-continuity story is a reimagining of Infinity Gauntlet as an all-ages comedy book. With the ultimate power of the Gauntlet, Thanos wipes out half of life in the universe for the sake of seeing chaos reign and the survivors destroy each other. The remaining heroes only know the where of the threat’s source and not the who or what. Sue Storm puts together a team of Ms. Marvel, Hulk, Wolverine, and Spider-Man. Dr. Doom bursts into the room and after a fight where he takes down everyone on his own, Doom offers to join the team. Their transport is US-Ace, the star of the forgotten 80s comic US-1.

The real treasure of this miniseries is watching Dr. Doom interact with the uncouth US-Ace. Especially when they visit the space trucker’s parents, who run a space diner. Ace’s mother bullies Doom into making everyone sandwiches, which is amazing.

Once they come across Thanos near the end of the third issue, they all get thrashed. He’s only stopped thanks to US-Ace driving his space truck into him thanks to his truckopathic link (Doom grumbles, “Oh Lord, he has a name for it...”). The act knocks off the Gauntlet and while Doom eventually gets his hands on it, it doesn’t work. Turns out he’s a perfect Doombot created by Doom to be released into the world if he were to ever go missing for whatever reason, such as, say, half of the universe's population magically vanishing into thin air. Spider-Man stops Thanos from getting the Gauntlet back on his hand and then uses its power to wish for a universe where Thanos never had the Gems in the first place.

Spider-Man ends up back on Earth where he’s the only one who remembers the entire adventure. He isn’t too broken up about it, but he wishes someone else out there would remember what he did. Elsewhere, Thanos plots his eventual revenge by sketching Spider-Man’s head into the ground, then adding an X over it.

I’m just bummed that despite having a million characters in Avengers: Infinity War, we don’t get to hear Dr. Doom sarcastically respond to US-Ace with, “What a colorful turn of phrase. Perhaps you will regale us with more of them over a ‘mess of biscuits’ later.”

Read Avengers and the Infinity Gauntlet on Amazon

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE: SEASON TWO (2015)

Ugh. So, once upon a time, there was this badass Avengers cartoon that people really liked. Then they canceled it and replaced it with Avengers Assemble, which I guess is still a thing. Anyway, much like Super Hero Squad Show, the second season is about Thanos and his quest to acquire the Infinity Gauntlet. By the halfway point, he has it and he loses in an incredibly embarrassing way.

Iron Man has Arsenal, a robot built by his father that can absorb energies and is programmed to protect Tony at all costs. After Thanos imprisons the Avengers with magic rock hands from the ground, Arsenal just walks towards him. Thanos -- with control over time and space and so on -- shoots lasers at him. Iron Man explains that Arsenal is able to absorb such a thing. Knowing this, Thanos' strategy is to SHOOT LASERS HARDER because holy shit. Arsenal yoinks the Gauntlet off Thanos' hand, freeing up the Avengers to beat Thanos into mush.

Then Arsenal becomes Ultron because reasons.

Oh yeah, there was a digital pinball game based on Infinity Gauntlet too, but I have no idea how to even write that up. I watched footage of people playing it and couldn’t make heads or tails of what the hell is even going on.

Gavin Jasper writes for Den of Geek and will never not love that Impossible Man/Roddy Piper panel. Read his other articles here and follow him on Twitter @Gavin4L

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Gavin Jasper

Nov 18, 2019

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[dear--charlie]

Dear Charlie,

My birthday is February second and I hate Groundhog’s Day because that’s all I heard about in elementary school on said day instead of Happy Birthday. I hear my parents fight sometimes, more often now than before. I love my siblings. The worst fight was when I hit my little sister with an xbox controller for saying something that I wouldn’t say to friends let alone family. I don’t outright like either sibling more. I wanted to be a doctor when I was seven, I want to be a teacher now. My dream vacation is Ann Arbor, Michigan — exploring the place for days on my own. The most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to me was being called (birth name) by a teacher I thought was accepting in front of the entire class. I still go to therapy and sometimes it helps. The hardest thing I’ve experienced is debatable between /him/ and my attempted overdose. I still haven’t overcome it. I don’t like what I see in the mirror. I think appearances matter in relationships in the sense that the sight of them makes you feel relieved and safe. My favorite movie is The Breakfast Club. The books Perks of Being a Wallflower and the Harry Potter series changed my life. The hardest I’ve ever cried was the day of my attempted overdose, right as I tore up my letters and heard my cousin (favorite person in the world) cry over the phone when I told her I was dying. I love my grandma, dad’s mom, the most besides my cousin, siblings, and parents. The words “we need to talk” do make me sick to my stomach. My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving. My favorite season is Autumn. My favorite color is yellow — bright, bright yellow. I love rain. I’m only scared of what me dying will do to others. I don’t believe in any god. I’m extremely allergic to poison ivy. My favorite food is mac and cheese or hash browns. My favorite restaurant is Hot Wok, a little restaurant in my mom’s hometown. I love to cook. I care very much about cleanliness. I’m rather liberal in my political views, it’s said I align more with the Green Party than any other. I am absolutely, indefinitely a feminist. My favorite flower is a sunflower. My favorite song is Everything Will Be Alright by The Killers. I would own an entire zoo and aquarium if possible — any animal is allowed in my house. I don’t have much hair to shave off, but I’d give it to anyone going through chemo. I’d love to live in Colorado or Washington. I’d like to honeymoon somewhere in South America or Mexico. My favorite kind of gum is the blue raspberry Hubba Bubba. My favorite candy is KitKats. I’m mean when I’m angry, I have a habit of cursing a lot (well, more than I already do). I’d prefer silver over gold. I didn’t/don’t really have a clique in high school, I was/am pretty alone. My ‘spirit animal’ would probably be my Patronus, aka the derpiest looking dog on the planet (Ibizan Hound). I think I’d be a sunflower or a marigold if I were a flower. I admire my mom and everything she’s done for me. I wish the traits that were more dominate are a strong jawline and no mental illness. I worry quite a bit that I’m a shitty person. /He/ hurt me most, if myself doesn’t count. I thought I was worthless for the same two previous reasons. My cousin can make me feel better when I’m sad. It depends on the person, but typically I prefer hugs over kisses. My house looks out of place in its neighborhood but it fits the definition of home. My dream car is a 1963 Chevy StepSide C-10 pickup in a pale yellow. People become cold because they forget how beautiful the human species is meant to be. When it comes to Nature vs Nurture, nature has almost nothing to do with it — if someone with genes against them is raised in a supportive environment, they’re able to get help and/or understand people care (which sometimes is all you need). I don’t believe in heaven. I absolutely believe in aliens. I hope mermaids don’t exist for their safety’s sake. I don’t believe in reincarnation. I don’t believe in the bible. Sadness that feels like emptiness is my least favorite emotion. The best day I’ve ever had was the second day of 2016’s Michigan road trip (on the way there). Decorating my first apartment with my cousin as a roommate would be the best day. I see myself both as a protector and one who needs protecting. I deal with my pain by taking it out on myself, writing, and isolating myself. I would set up my future first, then give the rest to my family if I had 100 million dollars. Wealth absolutely affects people’s morals if they’ve never known anything else. Writing is one of the best things to ever exist. If I could do it all over again, I’d change November 13th. My biggest mistake was letting myself think I deserve(d) all the bad I got. I wish I spoke Spanish fluently. I’ve only loved two people non-romantically, only one I was in a relationship with. I used to love the person I lost my virginity to. I do realize I’m remarkable. My enneagram is equal parts the Individualist and the Enthusiast. I think there are billions of ways to fix the education system but I’ll summarize in one word: personalization. People who commit suicide are strong — they endured so much, too much, and I love them all dearly for keeping a brave face for so long despite how hard it was. I, under no circumstances, think that people who commit suicide are selfish. If I could, I would tell them that I love them and I’m proud of them even if they aren’t proud of themselves. My favorite memory of childhood is/are Michigan summers, in general. I only like iced tea (sue me), but I love coffee only if it’s almost more milk/sweetener than coffee. The last time I wrote someone a handwritten letter was a couple days ago. The best gift I’ve ever received was the brown, frayed journal from Barnes and Noble my mom gave me on Easter in my freshman year. The best piece of advice I’ve ever received is that I can be my own happiness. The last time I cried was literally like two hours ago. I’m not super competitive about board games unless it’s Monopoly or Scattergories, then I will deSTROY YOU. My favorite board game is Scattergories. I only feel pressured to settle down by myself. I notice a person’s laugh/smile first, or their lack of one. My top three pet peeves are open doors, ignorance when knowledge is accessible, and blatant disregard for others’ wellbeing. I have a horrible fear of spiders, small spaces, and heights. I’ve always wanted to make /him/ pay for what he did but I will never have the courage to go through with it. I isolate myself and/or write when I’m overwhelmingly sad. I learned how to ski once but I don’t remember and never do it. Home is where you feel absolutely safe. Politeness is absolutely important. I don’t mind indecisive people, so long as they don’t blame others for it. There’s never a reason to go to war, not unless a country purposely hurt innocent people from another with its armies/weapons. A lot of things scare me, mostly the lack of empathy in others. I do believe in therapy. I only want to be genuinely happy in life, I don’t care about anything else. I look for someone to face the world with in a partner. I only want to change my mental illness, I don’t want it. I would change the world only to make people empathize and love others, not even love — just care and be aware that others matter. I want someone to love me as much as I love them. I want to feel important. I want to be loved for who I am. I want to be happy. I am not happy yet.

Love Always, Walking Supernova

[patheticphallacy]

Throughout every year, I don’t just read. As is made obvious by my Film Friday and Music Monday series, I love to talk about pretty much everything I come into contact with- films, TV, video games, music- you name it, I enjoy it!

In this post, I won’t be talking my favourite books of 2018, but I will be talking about pretty much everything else I enjoyed this year, starting wiiiiith….

  F I L M S 

Bohemian Rhapsody: a very divisive one. I went with my sister to see it and it was such a lovely experience;  I know some people hate the way bisexuality was portrayed, but I loved it.

Set It Up: I love Zooey Deutch. Also, if you ever want to see people acting drunk and doing it accurately, watch the pizza flirting scene, cause it’s amaaazing!

Venom: this film was trash and I love it! The cryptid love story we’ve all been waiting for Marvel to commit to since the original Spider Man noughties films.

Thor Ragnarok: ya girl can’t remember if this was a re-watch in 2018, but I’m including it. So beautiful and colourful. Infinity War could never have characterisation quite like this film  :]

Baywatch: I realise I’m just exposing my terrible taste in movies, oh dear. I put off watching Baywatch because of all the criticism, but I actually loved watching this with my dad. It’s funny as heck, has looooads of eye candy to satisfy my bisexual heart, and I actually love all the romances! [also Logan Paul gets dragged in this film]

Howl’s Moving Castle: My first Studio Ghibli [don’t yell at me] and I loved it! More than the book, actually, which was a surprise. I love Sophie, and Howl lives for the drama, which I can respect.

Kubo and the Two Strings: This is amazing. So soft and wholesome, amazing stop motion animation, an incredible look into feudal Japan and Japanese culture, and just left me feeling so warm inside!

Clue: I am so ashamed that I only watched this film for the first time in 2018. It’s so funny, to the point where I literally cried watching it, and I’m glad I watched it with my sister, who makes everything we watch together even better with her commentary.

The Duff: I am so glad this adaptation was good, even if it did get rid of all the sex positivity talk from the book. It’s super cheesy, but the romance is developed well, and I loved Mae Whitman as Bianca!

The Shining: My sister forced me to watch this after years of being a chicken who only saw the clips from Twister [the best disaster movie, holla] and was bored by the book [don’t come after me, my opinions on things are pretty all over the place and I stand by my dislike]. I have a great picture of my sister drinking a glass of milk and melting down all her easter eggs to dip strawberries into as we watched the film.

  T V  A N D  A N I M E

My Hero Academia: I watched the dub and I love it. Clifford Chapin as Bakugou? Amazing. Clifford Chapin giving a whole rundown of Bakugou’s character that made me love my angry misunderstood boy even more? SHOWSTOPPING, SPECTACULAR, OWE HIM MY LIFE.

Runaways: Seeing Gregg Sulkin and Ariela Barer portray my favourite couple in comic book history destroyed me. Ariela Barer killed it with every single outfit, and she’s only a year older than me, so I’m hoping we’ll bump into each other one day and we will fall in love. A girl can dream, okay?

Over the Garden Wall: My third re-watch of this animated show! I go hard for the Southern Gothic!

The Alienist: This show is so so dark, and I still haven’t quite finished season 1, but it’s incredible as both a period piece and a crime drama. Also has disability rep, Jewish characters, a man questioning his sexuality, and a woman in a main role who kills it, which is pretty new to me for a period show!

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: Uh, no offence, but this is the superior FMA anime. I’m still not quite finished, as I’m still reading the last few volumes of the manga, but boy I love the dub. I tend to watch this while I do other things on my phone or blogging, so I always lean towards the dub.

The Haunting of Hill House: Would I die for the Crain siblings and also the fact that the fifth episode at the funeral was filmed in 5 shots? YES. Did I actually die during that scene in the car in episode 8? 100%. I cried from fear at that scene. I had to go to sleep because it scared me so much. A beautiful ghost story, one that has cheap Hollywood jump scares quaking.

Criminal Minds: I included that specific poster because it has my three favourites on it. I’ve managed to watch over 4 seasons of Criminal Minds since December 1st, while I was completing uni reading and research for essay, and I honestly must congratulate myself for my dedication. It’s cheesy and not entirely accurate, but I love it anyway, and would willingly give my life for Dr Spencer Reid without thinking twice.

M U S I C

Reputation by Taylor Swift: A 2017 release I only truly appreciated this year. I had a rough time with a lot of stuff, and listening to Taylor Swift validate being angry kind of made me feel better? In a way that I don’t want people to look too deep into, thank you very much, I still uphold my Hufflepuff standing, but I am allowed to be angry and frustrated with the way people use me [thank you to all the Slytherins in my life for teaching me that!] [favourite song is End Game]

A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships by the 1975: Anxiety! Online culture! Matty singing more about addiction! I love this album, and cannot wait to see them at the O2 in January. I’ve been listening to them since midway through November nonstop. [favourite song is Sincerity is Scary, but my favourite 1975 songs are probably [So Far] It’s Alright and Medicine]

MANIA by Fall Out Boy: Fall Out Boy are really still killing it! This album has religious undertones throughout, which I loved, and it’s so loud and angry! Hell yes! [favourite songs are Stay Frosty Royal Milk Tea and Heaven’s Gate]

The Now Now by Gorillaz: Really, all of Gorillaz albums got me through this year. I spent at least a month only listening to them and watching all their music videos in chronological order. [favourite song is Fireflies, but my favourite Gorillaz songs are Melancholy Hill and Every Planet We Reach Is Dead!]

V I D E O  G A M E S

So…. the only video game I got into, again, was Night In the Woods? Woopsie?

Night in the Woods is about an anthropomorphic cat called Mae, who moves back to her home town of Possum Springs after dropping out of college. While it focuses mainly on Mae’s friendships with Bea [a snarky smoking alligator]; Gregg [a fox, and her childhood best friend]; and Angus [a bear, and Gregg’s boyfriend], there’s also major themes covered that I love in these small-town set stories, as well as stories in general: mental illness, family struggles and found families, and ‘the slow death of small town America’. It’s SOOOO GOOD, and I highly recommend it, especially for the story.

There was another bit of video game news I thought I’d talk about, as well as put down here certain games I have yet to watch people play, but am planning on doing.

THE LAST OF US 2 YAAAAAAY! I am such a big The Last of Us fan, so much so that I literally cried when I first saw the trailer/footage from the second game. The return of everyone’s favourite lesbian, Miss Ellie Williams, and everyone’s favourite gruff dad, Mr Joel Miller, so I’m buzzing. So so excited.

Now, two video games I swear I’m going to get to:

South Park: The Fractured but Whole: The Mysterion episodes of South Park have always been my favourite, so having a whole video game centred around them as superheroes? A DREAM. I also can’t wait to see Craig and Tweek, and Butters [who is my favourite South Park character besides Kenny!]

Finding Paradise: this is the sequel to To The Moon, one of my favourite video games of all time, so I am highly anticipating getting to this finally! I just need to know what’s in that pill bottle, okay?

  And that is all of my favourites! What films, TV shows, music and/or video games did you enjoy in 2018? Anything you’re excited for in 2019?

Thank you for reading, and happy new year!

  Favourites of 2018: Films, TV Shows and More! Throughout every year, I don't just read. As is made obvious by my Film Friday and Music Monday series, I love to talk about pretty much everything I come into contact with- films, TV, video games, music- you name it, I enjoy it!