#MCU programmer

[grhm2illo]

https://www.futureelectronics.com/p/semiconductors--microcontrollers--8-bit/pic16lf877a-i-ml-microchip-5373501

Embedded microcontrollers, microcontroller programming, USB microcontroller

PIC16 Series 14 kB Flash 368 B RAM 20 MHz 8-Bit Microcontroller - QFN-44

[nicla2llard]

Pic microcontroller, Programmable lcd microcontrollers, embedded microcontroller

PIC16F Series 1.75 kB Flash 224 B RAM 20 MHz 8-Bit Microcontroller - SOIC-18

[cleabellanov]

Fighting for good, one widow bite at the time: Black Widow's cultural impact

Critics scoff when I call the Black Widow movie a favorite, but hear me out. It deserved a better release window, maybe at an earlier time, when things would've been viewed differently. Sure, it doesn't rise up what it could've been, leaving so much lingering dreams in the hearts of us, fans. So much potential remains untapped, so many questions unanswered... but Natasha Romanoff? She rises above it all. If you doubt her power, think again, and as I said, hear me out.

Black Widow, the assasin with steely eyes that hide and protect a heart of gold, has transcended the screen to become a cultural icon. From her first appereance in the MCU in Iron Man 2 (2010) to Black Widow (2021), she truly went through a lot, took us with her, and thaught everyone some lessons on the way.

Shattering the mold of the damsel in distress: She's no sidekick, she's a strategist and a fierce fighter. She is a vital member of the Avengers, that's a fact we saw in the 2012 movie. After all, how many characters can you name that tricked the God of Mischief? Nat didn't only do it exceptionally, she is the first we saw doing this on screen.

Reclaiming Narrative: Unlike many superheroes defined by singular origins, Black Widow carried the trauma of a dark past, manipulated by the Red Room, a notorious spy program. Her movie explored this narrative, acknowledging the exploitation and abuse she endured. This resonated with survivors of violence and abuse, offering validation and representation. Her journey of breaking free from her past resonated on a broader level, highlighting themes of resilience, empowerment, and overcoming hardship. Furthermore, she hasn't always been a hero, an avenger. "Regimes fall everyday. I tend not to weep over that, I'm russian" and "I've got red in my ledger. I'd like to wipe it out" show how she's not just using the power she already has, but has the power to change as well. This isn't about brute force, it's about internal struggle and choosing to become a better version of herself despite her history.

Sisterhood and Solidarity: Black Widow's story wasn't solely focused on herself. In "Black Widow," she teams up with other women who share similar experience, even if at first this doesn't seem to work, indoctrinated as they are in the Red Room programme. This depiction of female solidarity resonated with audiences, particularly feminist movements advocating for women's support networks and collective action.

Representation Matters: Black Widow's portrayal as a skilled leader and strategist challenged existing portrayals of Russian characters in Hollywood. They are often depicted as villains or stereotypes, but her complex identity sparked conversations about diversity and representation within the superhero genre.

Defying stereotypes: As the sole original female Avenger, Black Widow carried a unique weight. She didn't need superpowers or a revealing suit — her determination and arsenal spoke for themselves. That's true power. I mean, in some situations she only had two cool firearms, but did better than Captain America with a vibranium shield! I also love how her costume evolved over time, prioritizing functionality over sexualization. Ditching the impractical neckline in her solo movie? A much-needed win! It shows that Black Widow commands respect through her actions, not her body.

Her impact and importance punches like her combat skills, if you ask me.

So, the next time you see the Black Widow, remember, she's more than just a character. She's a symbol of strength, resilience, and the unwavering human spirit. Thanks for being a constant source of inspiration, Nat ❣️

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #662

Top Ten MCU TV Shows 2024

Once more, with feeling, we return to the MCU. Last week I ranked my favourite MCU movies – the third time I’d done that in the nearly thirteen years I’ve been writing this dumb blog. Time passes, tastes change, and Marvel keeps making more movies. But one thing I’ve never done before is rank their TV shows.

There are two very good reasons for that. One is the simple fact that Marvel Studios haven’t really been in the TV-making business all that long; y’see, I’m not counting MCU-adjacent series such as Agents of SHIELD, Daredevil, or Jessica Jones; and as good as X-Men ’97 is, I’m also not counting the many animated series based on Marvel comics. No, I’m very specifically referring to the Marvel Studios/Marvel Television productions that are explicitly set in the MCU; so, basically, the ones they’ve made for Disney+. As a result, I can only go back as far as 2021’s WandaVision; and in all that time, they’ve only recently slipped past ten total productions (eleven series and two one-off TV specials). So I couldn’t really have done this list very much earlier regardless.

And the second reason is that I never thought of doing it till now.

So what we have here is something very simple: a top ten ranking of my favourite MCU TV projects. I say “projects” there, and “shows” earlier on, because I’ve decided to include their two TV specials into the mix here. The line between “short film broadcast on TV” and “one-off TV programme” is a very blurry one, but I do think both the Guardians Holiday Special and Werewolf By Night fall into the latter category, and therefore I think I should include them in a ranking of TV shows, rather than shoe-horning them into a movies ranking. But that’s all there is to say, really; this is a top ten of my favourite MCU TV.

Do not adjust your set.

WandaVision (2021): MCU’s TV adventure really exploded out the gate with this stunning, genre-bending, convention-defying mystery. Utilising TV tropes and formats perfectly, it gave us the tragic downfall of Wanda, allowing a slow-burn and rather uncanny conundrum to unfold week-by-week, a fantastic use of episodic TV. Mysteries, guest stars, new characters, big Avengers; it had it all, and some great theme tuns. And it set up…

Agatha All Along (2024): maybe it’s not quite this good, but my mind’s full of it right now. The best MCU show to give us an unfurling mystery since its predecessor, once again we have a drip-feed of revelations that often lead to more questions; once again we have a cool crew of characters to fall in love with. Some terrific acting, some great songs, some real emotional heft, and some overdue progressive representation. Glory at the end.

The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special (2022): at once light, breezy, and throwaway, and yet also incredibly emotional and potentially essential if you want to know these characters. Something of a hangout mini-movie, it’s a knockabout yuletide lark, but also manages to bring a tear to the eye with honest characterisation and earnest, old-fashioned love. Also has not one but two genuinely very good songs.

Ms. Marvel (2022): debuting a character so perfectly formed and perfectly cast, this is Iman Villani’s show and she knows it. Kamala Khan is a joy from start to finish, and her down-to-earth world with its down-to-earth characters is a refreshing change from the MCU’s gods and billionaires. Like Black Panther before it, simply telling these stories through the lens of another culture instantly makes them feel fresh and exciting. I hope we see more Kamala and her family very, very soon.

Hawkeye (2021): essentially a PG-13 Shane Black movie turned into a TV series, this is in many ways the perfect superhero Christmas film. But, er, a TV series. World-weary Jeremy Renner – finding new shades of Clint even now – contrasts beautifully with firecracker Hailee Steinfeld, with lots of great banter and warm feelings. But it doesn’t skimp on action, with some fantastic fights and one outrageous single-shot set-piece involving a car and a ton of trick arrows. More please.

Loki (2021-23): I think you could argue that the only MCU shows thus far that essential to the overall narrative are maybe this and WandaVision. Here we totally unpick not just the central character – and Tom Hiddleston’s multi-faceted, many-layered performance is possibly the best in the entire franchise – but also reality itself. The design of the TVA is extraordinary, and when it goes weird – multi-Lokis, time-slipping, the works – it’s a wibbly-wobbly joy. And it has arguably the best single episode – certainly the best finale – of any MCU show.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (2022): Marvel is often funny, but Marvel doesn’t often do outright comedy; this, then, is a rare gem. A snappy, progressive sitcom in superhero clothing, we have a stand-out central performance, a ton of great cameos, lots of genuinely hilarious jokes, and some utterly bananas fourth-wall-breaking meta-gaggery. It cost a fortune and was, I believe, considered a bit of a disappointment, so we’re probably not getting any more. Savour this sweet miracle for what it was, and be grateful.

Werewolf By Night (2022): unashamedly echoing a particular style in a way not really seen apart from the sitcom pastiche of WandaVision, this is a love letter to all kinds of classic horror, with lots of high contrast shadows and keylit screaming. Manages to be a creepy and grisly thrill-ride, but also give us some nice emotional pay-off with Man-Thing at the end.

Moon Knight (2022): a show by turns masterful and frustrating, we’re here seeing something that sadly happens a lot in the MCU: a failure to stick the landing. The magical shenanigans of Khonshu are one thing, but the highlight here is the multiple personalities of Marc Spector/Steven Grant, and how their perceptions of the world colour not just our perceptions of the show but also Moon Knight himself. Meanders a bit with a woolly ending, but some of its highs are stratospheric.

What If…? (2021-2024): a really bold swing for the fences, this is an exciting adventure show that showcases different characters in new and interesting ways. Whilst you could argue that, with the whole multiverse to play with it’s rarely all that inventive or strange, it’s nice to see, say, Nebula as a detective, or a more playful T’Challa. The animation is often very good, and the way the stories dovetail is interesting. Apparently this year’s third season will be the last. Let’s hope it goes out with a bang.

[sashaisready]

The Blood Pact: Chapter 10- Doomed

Bucky Barnes Vampire AU x Female Reader

Reeling from a bad break-up, you're desperately trying to find a new place to live but the Brooklyn rental market is a complete nightmare. You take a chance on an intriguing newspaper ad and enquire about a room in a shared house, where you'd be living with two mysterious men. The catch is that they want something other than your money for you to pay the rent...the one thing they don't have

Series Masterlist

Chapter 11

Hi all! I've had some fun in this chapter weaving in some of the MCU canon with the world of this AU. Apologies that it's a bit of a backstory heavy chapter, but I wanted to provide context for Steve and Bucky and plant some potential seeds of doubt in reader's mind to set up the next part of the story. No major warnings here, references to the MCU canon and the stories we all know so well.

Thanks to all of you who have read, commented, reblogged - it means so much to me. Thank you!!

You were sitting in the living room, doing your best to appear nonchalant and relaxed despite being utterly desperate to find out how they’d been turned. It was the one question they had never broached in your time living here, and you always thought it rude to ask.

Steve plopped down into his favourite armchair and inhaled deeply. Bucky perched next to you, tense and stiff – his shoulders rigid. You couldn’t see his face as he sat right on the edge of the couch, looking over at Steve.

“Okay…well. I’ll start with my story, and then Bucky can tell you his. Right, Buck?” Steve asked.

Bucky nodded, rolling his shoulders. The discomfort was pouring off him. You could see this was very difficult for him, tentatively splaying your fingers across his lower back to show him you were there. He didn’t seem to react, but he didn’t move away either, so you kept them there.

Steve began his story. He and Bucky had been childhood friends both desperate to enlist in WW2 and do their bit back for the war effort back in the 40s. While Bucky successfully enlisted and was posted to England, Steve was struggling, he was on the weaker side and had an endless list of ailments and health conditions which prevented him from joining. But he persisted, desperate for someone to give him a chance and let him prove he could be valuable despite his physical shortcomings.

You looked over at Steve as he spoke, his muscles straining under his shirt and the chair sagging slightly under his bulk and you tried desperately hard to imagine him as ‘weak’ or have any sort of physical shortcomings – but your mind drew a blank. You couldn’t fathom such a thing. So much so that you wondered if he was teasing you.

Eventually Steve caught the eye of a Dr. Erskine, a radical scientist who pursued bold new strategy techniques which could win the war for the Allies. He thought Steve would be a perfect candidate for a top secret initiative – the Super Soldier programme.

You raised a brow. “Wait…did that mean?”

Steve nodded. “Yup. Obviously I didn’t know that at the time…but yeah”.

Erskine’s ‘super soldier’ plan was not as scientific as he’d initially lead Steve to believe. Essentially the US government had managed to capture a real-life vampire some years back, keeping him locked up in a windowless cell and ensuring his existence was top secret. They fed him blood and knew he would be useful one day. After WW2 broke out, that time had finally arrived - Erskine hypothesised that the ultimate weapon against the Nazis would be an army of vampire super soldiers – eventually convincing top government figures and military personnel to agree to his plan.

Your eyes bulged out of your head at the insanity. “What?? Are you kidding?” you choked out. Bucky, who had been silent throughout, absent-mindedly clutched your knee.

Steve nodded. “What better soldier than one with super strength and speed, who doesn’t tire and can rip the throat out from the enemy before they can even reach for their weapon?”

You scoffed, wincing slightly at the imagery. “Well…yeah. But what about the fact this ‘army’ wouldn’t be able to travel in daylight and would need a windowless place to sleep? Tents on the battlefield aren’t going to cut it. And what about when they get hungry??”

Steve grinned. “Apparently not everyone had your foresight, sweetie”.

Steve explained that he wasn’t enamoured with the idea at the time (once he’d got his head around vampires existing). But he was desperate to serve his country, and it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. So he freely went, taken to the vampire prisoner who was more than happy to oblige if it meant he got a real meal out of it rather than the animal blood his captors fed him. It hurt like hell and Steve thought he was dying, and the resulting days were the most painful of his life as his body transformed, but it worked. Gone were the illnesses, the weaknesses. His tiny frame bloomed into something altogether more muscular and intimidating. Suddenly he was the perfect super soldier, ready to serve.

It worked well at first. Steve and a few chosen others became the first unit of this new breed of soldier. They took down scores of enemies, their hunger satisfied by their victims so the army didn’t need to provide blood. They effortlessly snuck behind enemy lines and took out high rank officials before the guards even knew they’d broken in. Metal containers were constructed for them to rest in during the day, carefully watched over by armed soldiers. Steve was eventually reunited with Bucky on the front, his best friend stunned to learn about this new development.

He also met a plucky young British woman named Peggy Carter. Peggy was part of the super soldier initiative and was a huge support to him during his transition. The two were instantly drawn to each other, their chemistry undeniable. Steve didn’t know about the bond between some vampire and human pairings until years later, but as he learned more about his vampire life it immediately clicked that it was what he and Peggy had.

For a while, it looked like Erskine’s gamble had paid off. The super soldiers were dominating their targets, advancing as they eliminated some of the Nazis’ top men. They learned of a terrorist group called HYDRA, a unit of rogue Nazis looking for world domination and conducting inhumane experiments. The group successfully brought down several HYDRA bases. But then the foundations of government’s golden project began to crumble.

It wasn’t noticeable at first. Soldiers go missing all of the time during battle, sometimes they’re transferred or missing in action and their bodies just aren’t recovered. There were no computer records in WW2 so it was easy to lose paperwork, or for files to get lost. But then it became clear something more sinister was going on. Some of Steve’s unit were struggling with their hunger, unable to control themselves. They’d sometimes go days without a kill, the thirst becoming more and more desperate as the hours rolled on. The military refused to find them an alternative food source. Eventually they started turning on their own battalion when it got too much. It started out as intending to only take a little blood, just to keep them going and not really hurt anyone, but discipline goes out of the window when you’re starving and haven’t fully adjusted to your new life yet. It quickly became clear they Erskine and his colleagues didn’t fully understand the importance of keeping vampires satiated until it was too late.

You gulped as you listened, horrified by the implication.

A group of them broke away, rebelling against their superiors and refusing to be minions to the officers any longer. They were hungry, they felt trapped. They staged a coup, taking out several officers and fellow soldiers as they seized control. Steve and some of the others managed to fight them off and subdued them to regain order. The offending super soldiers were convicted of treason and sentenced to death for their crimes, thrown out into the sunlight and left to die. The program was immediately eliminated and the original imprisoned vampire killed in order to prevent it happening again. Any evidence of it was buried, paperwork burnt and witnesses bribed. The only reason Steve and his small group were spared was because of their help in bringing the others down.

The government knew the remaining vampire soldiers would never reveal their true nature publicly and expose their program because it would put their own lives at risk. Steve was relieved from that unit, but his superiors made it clear they’d be watching him carefully. Over time his comrades depleted, some not being able to handle their new reality – stepping into the sunlight or fleeing from their post and disappearing into the world to start a new life. Eventually Steve was the only one of his original team who remained.

“It wasn’t entirely their fault” Steve said gravely. “They were wrong…but they didn’t really understand what they’d signed up for. None of us did. Transitioning to a vampire is an incredibly difficult thing to do, never mind when it’s happening to you during a war. It takes time to get your hunger under control and we weren’t treated as well as we could’ve been. It was a perfect storm”.

You nodded, smiling sympathetically. You wish you knew what to say, but no words came.

Steve eventually teamed up with Bucky again, forming The Howling Commandos – an elite combat unit lead by Steve to finish off HYDRA once and for all. He fed where he could, between the enemy and stray animals. He managed to negotiate keeping his metal container to sleep in. The unit continued where the super soldiers left off, destroying HYDRA piece by piece. Steve’s enhanced abilities and Bucky’s marksmanship meant they were a force to be reckoned with.

“And the rest is Bucky’s story to tell” Steve said gravely as his tale drew to a close.

You exhaled, reeling from these revelations. “My God, Steve” you said quietly. “I’m sorry you went through all of that…”

Steve smiled thinly. “Thanks sweetheart. It was a long time ago now. I definitely would’ve done some things differently had I known then what I know now. But it is what it is. I can’t change it”.

You smiled back at him, feeling empathy for all he must’ve seen. A young man so desperate to serve that he was willing to do the unthinkable. You felt anger towards his superiors, that they could have ever thought it was a good idea – that they unleashed something into the world they didn’t understand. You felt they had taken advantage of his patriotism to become their guinea pig. Steve had essentially given his life for his country, only to be shunned and left to fend for himself.

“What…what happened to Peggy?” you asked quietly.

Steve shifted in his seat, his eyes dropping to the floor. “It didn’t work out. Our lifestyles just weren’t compatible anymore. We tried, but agreed it was best we live our separate lives. She wanted to be turned but I couldn’t do that to her, it’s not something you fully understand until you do it – and then it’s too late to go back”. He spoke with his usual pragmatism, but you could see the peeks of his sadness under the surface. "I guess we were doomed..."

You nodded, your heart aching for his lost love. It all added a brand new dimension to him, inner depths you could never have fathomed. But of course it didn’t surprise you that Steve would put her happiness above his own.

“She died a few years ago” he said solemnly.

You felt a lump in your throat. “Oh Steve, I’m so sor-”

“Don’t be” he interrupted. “She died a very old lady in her bed, a life well lived. That was always what I wanted for her. What I could never give her”.

He smiled at you, but you could see how painful it was for him even after all this time.

Bucky rose to his feet, walking over to his old friend and giving him an affectionate slap on the shoulder. They hugged for a moment and it seemed to reset Steve, returning to his usual mask.

Bucky cleared his throat and sat back down next to you. He turned to you, his face solemn, brow knitted.

“Okay, Doll. I will tell you upfront, this isn’t a pretty story. I understand if it’s too much, or you change your mind about me, but Steve is right – I can’t hide it forever”.

You reached out to touch his thigh. “Bucky…whatever it is-”

“No” he interrupted. “Just let me tell it, and then you can think about what you might want to do next. Alright?”

He’d made it clear that he just wanted you to listen rather than respond, so you nodded and let him talk. You couldn’t imagine him telling you anything that would send you running out of that door, but the severity of his tone alarmed you slightly. He sighed as he launched into his story, the tension evident in his body as he hunched over himself and spoke to the floor. Normally he was cocky and smug, now he seemed like a completely different person.

Bucky explained that while Steve was undergoing the super soldier program, he and his unit were captured by HYDRA and forced to undergo experimentation. He didn’t offer any details as to what happened exactly and you didn’t pry. Your hand found its way to his lower back once again and you kept it there, your heart already aching at what he’d been through.

Officials were sure that the MIA Bucky and his unit were dead, but Steve refused to believe it. He was right of course, and he led a successful rescue operation. The two were reunited and that’s when The Howling Commandos were formed, Bucky was very willing to help snuff out the group that had caused him so much suffering. He was slightly freaked out by his long term friend’s transformation and new life, but once he got his head around it (and was convinced he wasn’t going to be dinner) he supported him. After all, they were practically brothers.

All went horribly wrong on a mission in 1945 when the group were attempting to take down HYDRA’s top scientist, Arnim Zola. Bucky fell from a moving train atop a mountain and plummeted thousands of feet to his apparent death. Steve and the rest of the commandos assumed he was dead as it would’ve been impossible to survive, with Steve mourning him for years to come as he adjusted to his new way of life as a vampire.

Unbeknownst to everyone, Bucky had actually survived the fall. But only barely, thanks to the experiments Zola had carried out on his body during his imprisonment. He was found by HYDRA close to death in the snow at the foot of the mountain he fell from, and captured once more.

Your fingers pushed further into his back as you listened, your head spinning as you tried to take in everything he must’ve been through. You knew nothing in your imagination would even come close to the horror of his reality.

The Allies were foolish to believe they were the only ones exploiting vampires as weapons, HYDRA were way ahead of them in that respect. They turned Bucky, bringing him back from the edge of death. With a range of brainwashing and experiments they were able to control him – forcing him to use his enhancements to do their bidding and take out enemy targets on their behalf. They wiped his memory so he only operated as a killing machine and nothing else. For decades, even after the war ended, they sent him out in the dead of night to take down those they wanted removed. Bucky became known as the Winter Soldier, a lethal force with his combat skills and enhanced abilities.

You bristled internally slightly but didn’t let your face betray you. You were chilled by the revelations, struggling to reconcile the Bucky you knew, wisecracking and cocky Bucky, as an emotionless killing machine. But you kept reminding yourself that none of it was his fault, and none of it was his choice. Your horror sunk under the surface, not quite disappearing but relegated to the back of your mind.

In a twist of fate, he was eventually sent after Steve after HYDRA had learnt that their old enemy was still alive and kicking. During a well matched fight, Steve recognised his old childhood friend and tried to talk him down. Bucky of course didn’t understand who this was, his memory was sparse and muddled from years of HYDRA meddling with him. Thinking it was a trick, Bucky resisted – until Steve essentially locked him up and Bucky’s memories slowly returned. They eventually broke into HYDRA HQ together and took as many people out as they could, effectively eliminating them – although they are always careful to keep watch in case it returns, and know there are likely other branches operating underground.

Steve helped Bucky regain his shattered memories, they started the antique business and found vampire communities who helped them both feel more settled and understand more about a life in darkness. They both swore never to kill another human being again, seeking out alternative food sources and learning to curb their thirst. Bucky grappled with what he’d been through every day, but was in a far better place than he was a few decades ago.

You reeled from all of this information, unaware that your fingers had essentially formed a claw and your nails dug into his flesh.

He looked at you expectantly with wide eyes and you couldn’t deny the bolt of fear that hit you as the weight of his words sunk in. But overall you felt compassion for him, a desperate need to comfort and soothe him. You got to your feet and for a second you saw panic across his face - he must’ve thought you were retreating, but you launched yourself at him and clung to him like a koala on a branch, pressing your head against his. There was nothing you could say, nothing to say, just letting your body speak for you. You were here. You accepted him. Maybe…maybe you even loved him.

He squeezed you in return, pulling you closer and nuzzling into your neck. You stayed like that for most of the evening, just quietly holding one another. You only took a break when he insisted you eat, and then you were back on the couch curled up on his lap as the hours slipped away.

You must’ve fallen asleep at some point as you found yourself waking up in motion as Bucky carried you up the stairs. He shushed you and soothed you as he lifted you to your bedroom, his strong arms enveloping you. Despite your feelings of calm and contentment there was a snake in the grass, a traitorous thought bubble threatening to shatter your peace. It wasn’t Bucky’s past, you didn’t fear him, you didn’t judge him. It was something else, something fighting to break through as your heavy eyelids sagged and you gave in to sleep.

If Steve and Peggy were doomed, were you and Bucky doomed too?

[maswartz]

My idea for how the MCU should have done the Fantastic Four

Reed Richards- A young entrepreneur who made a fortune on multiple patents allowing him to indulge in many scientific curiosities. He holds degrees in multiple fields of science. The press has dubbed him Mr. Fantastic. After the accident he gains the ability to stretch his body to incredible lengths Susan Richards- An expert computer programmer and hacker she’s able to sneak into any network. Her programming software is used in all of the FF’s hardware. The accident gave her the power to create invisible force fields as well as cloak herself and others from sight. She calls herself the Invisible Woman as a result. Johnny Storm- A stuntman and experienced pyrotechnics expert he lives to chase the thrill. When his sister invited him on the trip he leaped at the chance. The accident gave him the ability to create intense heat and cover himself in flames. He declared that he was the Human Torch from now on. Ben Grimm- A test pilot who went to college with Reed and has kept in touch ever since. He volunteered to pilot the test flight but suggested that Reed either address the shielding or postpone until the storm passed. The accident mutated him into a rock covered Thing giving him increased stamina and strength. Before battle he recites the motto of the Yancy Street Gang “It’s Clobbering Time!”

Marvel’s Fantastic Four

Reed Richards creates a spaceship in the hopes of making spaceflight available to the public however during the test flight a cosmic storm strikes the earth. The cosmic radiation mutates Reed, his wife Susan, her brother Johnny, and the pilot Ben giving them strange powers. However they were not the only ones effected. Bolts of cosmic power strike all across the world (setting up future heroes and villains). One such bolt strikes a mountain sending cosmic radiation throughout it. A man named Harvey Elder was mining in the mountain when the bolt hit causing a cave in. However the energy mutated him and the life within the soil around him. He became the Mole Man and commanded an army of mutated worms, insects, and moles to do his evil bidding. Fighting him was the first test of the Fantastic Four!

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: The U-Foes

About a year after the cosmic storm hit Earth, Simon Ultrecht head of U-Forces a rival of Reed’s is contacted by a mysterious benefactor who managed to obtain a sample of the cosmic energy. Driven by greed Simon exposed himself and three others creating the U-Foes. The Fantastic Four must prevent these superpowered threats from wrecking havoc.

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: Doom

Little did the Fantastic Four know that the mysterious benefactor was watching them, studying them, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses until he had the knowledge he needed to strike. Victor Von Doom has returned to get his long awaited revenge against Reed Richards!

Marvel’s Fantastic Four: Galactus

Months after the battle against Doom a strange object enters Earth’s atmosphere, a silver man on a silver board. The Silver Surfer declares that Galactus is coming and that none can stop him from consuming the world. It’s up to the Fantastic Four to find a way to stop the Devourer of Worlds from destroying the Earth.

[grimmusings]

a permanent starter call for my alien!verse muses.

☠️ Brock Rumlow (Marvel/MCU) A no-powers AU where Rumlow is a mercenary sent to capture and contain the Xenomorphs for study and mass weaponization. His priorities may change when they start attacking the crew (but you never really know with him). 🚀 Chris Beck (The Martian) Set during Alien, Beck is the medical doctor and EVA specialist aboard the Nostromo when it goes to investigate a distress signal and discovers the Xenomorphs. 👽 Dwayne Hicks (Aliens) A Marine Corporal who is part of the team sent to LV-426 to investigate the colonies' lack of contact and Ripley's claims about the Xenomorphs, he ultimately escapes. His primary objective is to keep the aliens from spreading. 📚 Harrison Darcy (OC) An archeologist who discovers traces of the Engineers on Earth and boards the Prometheus to search for the origins of humanity. His primary objective is knowledge. 💪 Hercules Alcides (Greek Mythology) Set during Aliens, a no-powers AU where Herc is a Marine Corporal who is part of the team sent to LV-426 to investigate the colonies' lack of contact and Ripley's claims about the Xenomorphs. 🏴‍☠️ James Hook (Peter Pan) Captain of any of the ships that accidentally (or purposefully) discover the Xenomorphs. His primary objective is protecting the crew. 🎄 Janek (Prometheus) Captain of any of the ships that accidentally (or purposefully) discover the Xenomorphs. His primary objective is to keep the aliens from spreading at any cost. 🤖 Red (The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys) Science officer and an android with a fondness for humans aboard any of the ships. Her primary objective is protecting the crew. ⌨️ Samantha Cooper (OC) A programmer who's worked heavily with androids and MU-TH-UR, she's a science officer aboard any of the ships that accidentally (or purposefully) discover the Xenomorphs. Her primary objective is survival. ⚡ Thor Odinson (MCU) After the defeat of Thanos, Thor discovers an Asgardian ship has been attacked by Xenomorphs and sets out across space to hunt and kill them before they can infiltrate more worlds. 🧪 Victor Frankenstein (Frankenstein) Chief science officer aboard any of the ships that accidentally (or purposefully) discover the Xenomorphs. His primary objective is studying the species. 🛸 Walter (Alien: Covenant) An android aboard the Covenant, who ultimately fails in his mission to protect the crew and is left behind on Planet 4. His primary objective is to protect humanity. 🎲 Surprise me!

may dm for plots / may just be chaos. feel free to specify your muse, or i’ll try to leave it open-ended!

(comments only; i’ll assume a like is just you being supportive, and i’ll promptly forget a message.)

mutuals given priority.

[mrfandomwars]

If I had the chance to alter the course of the MCU after Avengers 2012... Phase Two

CAWS and Iron Man Three would be connected to a degree, even if it's a "Natasha and Steve think HYDRA killed Tony because it happened right after they annoyed HYDRA" because IM3 and CAWS would be happening at roughly the same time (and include reactions to Tony supposed death, bonus points if they were trying to call Tony when they heard the news)

About why the rest of the avengers didn't show up: Clint had grabbed Bruce and was hiding in his barn (so the family is known about earlier) to keep HYDRA'S hands off of the Hulk and Thor had yet to return to Earth since the Battle of New York (and the Human Avengers have various opinions on the matter, from concern to being irritated over the fact that Thor's brother did the mess and he doesn't even show up again to give some answers); Rhodey is constantly on and off busy with missions at first and was closer to investigate Tony's "death" afterwards

IM3 Possibly also adds an explanation to why Rhodey was away during the New York Invasion or mentions that he did show up towards the end but was still far out in the city so he did technically meet the Avengers and helped out

Thor The Dark World would be relatively the same but with a bonus scene of Thor trying to contact the Avengers to warn them about the possible invasion so we have cameos of them

Age Of Ultron would NOT be age of Ultron and would focus on two things: introducing characters as new avengers (Rhodey, Sam and Wanda) as well as dealing with the leftovers of HYDRA

Rhodey and Sam would be the "newbies" of the team and would be treated like that for a joke (namely go pick up food) and said joke would introduce Wanda attacking them

I don't exactly remember the limitations that AoU had to deal with regarding the use of the Maximoff twins (beyond Wanda being the only one allowed to stay post the movie) so you have two versions of the plot involving her: 1, full mention of Mutants - say that the school was uniting Mutants of Various Factions but was attacked by HYDRA and she was kidnapped and cryo frozen on and off for fifty years while being brainwashed like Bucky (a small foreshadowing for the other Winter Soldiers). She remembers at the end of the movie and said movie ends with her and the avengers going to check the X-Mansion only to find it in states of decay and destruction, causing Wanda to have a breakdown and be comforted by the Avengers (first Steve, then Tony and/or Natasha and then the rest); 2, Wanda does NOT fully remember things and is referred to as 'enhanced' and not as a mutant. WandaVision could later be used to introduce the Multiverse via her grabbing past/alternate versions of the X-Men and Brotherhood to be her neighbours and show how she subconsciously remembers things

Continuing on, AoU - maybe called Continuing Legacy or something? - also would address why Tony continued being Iron Man when he supposedly gave it up/step back on IM3 irrc. I'm thinking a literal "was pulled into the fight no matter how much the avengers tried to prevent it" AND AND a scene that implies that Tony was told about how HYDRA was responsible for his parents death and that may or may not be part of the reason why he is involved again

AoU would have the climax of Rhodey, Sam and Wanda taking charge and directing the Avengers and showing that they Do deserve to be in the team and are equal with the others

GotG and Ant-Man... I think they would mostly remain the same with off-hand mentions of the avengers or of the Battle of New York. HOWEVER thinking about Hank being younger or mentioning he originally not having a problem with Tony Stark, "that he even worked with the kid to develop a stupid programm" at some point (it was Ultron) or simply refer him making Ultron and burying the drive containing it in Stark's backyard because it was too dangerous/not acting like it should, as if it gained it's own mind.

Also refer that Hank was literally dragging Janet to a "off the grid" vacation and that's why he wasn't in the Avengers or at least why the ant-man suit wasn't pulled into it

[meraki-yao]

Baby Meraki's Essay on Endgame Ending

I wrote this when I was 14, and still being upset over a month after watching Endgame. Me getting into marvel again reminded me that I have stuff I've made before but now I have a platform to share it lol

I’m an optimist when it comes to movies. I never pick on the movies I watch, even phantom menace. I know ways to make things sensible and enjoyable.

Endgame was a phenomenon. I admit this whole-heartly, and it was the most powerful and epic three hours of my life.

Tony and Natasha deaths were tragic but beautiful. As a fan I’m heart-broken, but as an audience, if they had to go, this is the best way. The infinity saga started with the birth of Iron Man and perfectly ended with the end of Iron Man. Natasha finally got to completely wipe out her sins, a beautiful soul

About Thor, I was disappointed in him at first, but I came to terms with it. After everything, he’s depressed. He tried and tried and literally gave his everything, and still. His brother’s gone, his father’s gone, his best friend’s gone, half of his people are gone, and the damage Thanos done is irreversible. Nothing he did works. And when life keeps you constantly defeated, that’s when you can fall into depression. And then food, beer and video games becomes the only things that can distract him from pain and the dreaded feeling of failure. I’m someone who has depressive episode every month for a week, I know how that feels. And to see him still be able to kick ass is awesome.

My only problem with this 182 minutes long masterpiece is Steve’s ending.

I love Steve. ( not romantically, ew) He means a lot to me. A lot a lot. Others favourite superhero may be Peter or Tony or Thor etc but I always go with the good ol’ Steve Rogers. He’s born with a heart of gold, and didn’t need the serum to be a hero. He always puts others in front of him, and always stands for what he thinks is right regardless of the negative effects on him personally. And miraculously, most of the times what he believes is right is actually correct. Also there are some personal reasons there. I love and admire him, and I’m glad that he got that dance, and his happy ending.

But is it happy though?

I can understand him stop fighting. I can understand him thinking about himself, being selfish. Bucky is capable of dealing with the future. He’ll have the other avengers. It’s gonna be harder without Steve, but he can manage. Sam will be an awesome Captain America, he proved himself capable in the comics, I don’t see how he can’t in the MCU.

I don’t like him giving up the future at all. But I can understand.

But I don’t believe he can be happy in the past.

The two possibilities of what happens after he goes back to Peggy:

He continues to fight. He saves Bucky from the nightmare that is the Winter Soldier programme. He destroys H.Y.D.R.A with S.H.I.E.L.D before it had a chance to grow. Maybe even deal with the infinity stone issue before Thanos. Then Bucky will be saved, Howard and Maria will be saved, Tony will be saved. Nat will be saved.

But changing so many events will lead to a completely different future. There are two Steve Rogers, HYDRA or something might find the frozen one before 2012 and winter soldier him. Without SHIELD, Carol wouldn’t be discovered. Nat would still be an assassin. The Avengers initiative wouldn’t exist. And possibly much darker things. And if me, a fourteen year old girl can figure that out, so can Steve. Actually, that’s the reason he went back to return the stones in the first place.

2. I’ve read a bit of the comics. Tony and Reed Richards said that the safest thing to do when you’re stuck in the past is keep a low profile. Interfere with as little people lives as possible. Steve can do that. He can marry Peggy but at the same time be quiet about his existence and only change Peggy’s personal life. Hard, but not impossible.

But the problem here is he will live the next 70 years, knowing about the future. He will learn about the assassination of President Kennedy, knowing that Bucky, dehumanized into an ice-cold weapon did that while the authorities couldn’t find a single trace of the ghost assassin. He will help Peggy deal with the investigation on the Red Room, knowing that a little Widow with scarlet hair and brilliant green eyes will exchange her soul for the world. He will hear Peggy talk excited about how Maria is expecting, knowing the cruel fate and responsibility that the unborn child will face. He will comfort Peggy while she sobs about the car accident that took Howard and Maria’s lives, knowing how devastated both Tony and Bucky will be in 2016 when they learn the truth behind the “accident”.

Steve Rogers is man who will fight the world for the people he cares about. He tried to drink himself to half death after Bucky fell. He fell into a brief depression pit after he realized he should have gone after Bucky, after he takes off the mask of the asset. He gave up the sheidl time and time again for Bucky, defying the United Nations to save him. He switched off the TV as Wanda was watching at the news, the reasons to hate herself. He carried Peggy’s coffin during her funeral with red and sorrow eyes. He grinned with pride as he saw Thor, with a new haircut, holding storm breaker, sparking off lightening everywhere when he arrived glorious in Wakanda. He sobbed and sobbed when he learned about Natasha sacrificing herself.

Steve is brave and kind and smart, but the one thing that makes Steve special is that he’ll never give up on you. Ever. He’ll be there for you no matter what.

I don’t believe anyone can bear the pain, the agony, the guilt of knowing the future, knowing these people’s noble but tragic destinies but being unable to do anything about that, let alone someone like Steve. Having the power to change things but can’t is so, so much worse than not having the power at last. It’s the same differences between having hope every day, but getting it destroyed everyday and just being completely in despair. It so so so so so so painful.

There is no outcome where he’s happier then he could be in the 2023 and the future.

But I admit, there is one weakness in my argument.

I’ve never been in love.

10/6/2019

Present Meraki here: After six years and a lot more happening, I take back my last two lines: I don't think you can call what they were in love. "The one that got away" maybe, but in love? I don't think so anymore.

[themarysuep]

Would you rather the mcu team be called young avengers or champions

Tbh the team should be called Secret Warriors with Kamala and her Asian inhuman sister and their problematic bestie Nick Fury. Marvel Studios should get with the programme.

(but to answer your question lol, I'm not sure. maybe young avengers is best bc it'll bring in a bigger audience I'd guess. but champions sounds better. whatever causes less hate to be directed at the project)

[grhm2illo]

https://www.futureelectronics.com/p/semiconductors--microcontrollers--8-bit/pic16lf877a-i-ml-microchip-5373501

Embedded microcontrollers, microcontroller programming, USB microcontroller

PIC16 Series 14 kB Flash 368 B RAM 20 MHz 8-Bit Microcontroller - QFN-44

[just-tryina-live]

Jewish / Girl / ADHD / Virgo / INFJ / 4w2 / Slytherclaw

Obsessed with time-loops and finding myself

Computer programmer in training

Cricut Crafter and Bullet Journaler

Many many fandoms, including but not limited to, Agents of Shield, MCU, Arrowverse, Supernatural, Criminal Minds, White Collar, Harry Potter, B99, The Good Place, The Blacklist, The Hunger Games, Wicked, Hamilton, The Naturals etc. Current hyperfixations: Supernatural, SOTR, Criminal Minds, PHINEAS AND FERB SEASON FIVE

[amarriageoftrueminds]

Do you see Tony stark as a male version of Peggy Carter? A rich high class brat that won't hesitate to do anything and side with anyone to shine and then act like everyones protective god mother? Or do you think he is at least a bit redeemable because he might have learned bit from his mistakes.

There are certain similarities. Peggy definitely has more in common with the Starks than anyone.

In her show, all her 'friends' are not from the same SEC as her, as with the Starks. In fact, her friends are... employees. Butlers, waitresses, housekeepers... they're almost literally being paid to be friends with her. You see that with Tony, too. His 'friends' are: an air force colonel (when Tony has extremely lucrative military contacts with the air force), his PA (who gets made his CEO and... immediately dumps him), his bodyguard, his robot butler, his other robot servants... and women who benefit financially from sex with him (Christine Everhart and Maya Hansen). In Peggy's case, she's that woman to Howard Stark. 😬 (And Steve).

In AC, the only time you see a person from the same socioeconomic class as Peggy, they're a villain. Similar thing with Tony's villains in IM (Obadiah Stane, Anton Vanko, Justin Hammer, Aldrich Killian...) they're just Other Tonys.

(So you can tell that TPTB have some kind of... English fetish going on and think upper classness is definitely part of her Specialness?)

While Tony has the same 'avoidance of all consequences for his actions' wealthy white privilege that Peggy has, there are certain important differences.

Generally speaking, they share one over-arching trait, which is: if you consider whether or not the world / people around them would be better off if they didn't exist, the answer is yes.

Without Tony, there'd be no Anton Vanko, no Aldrich Killian, no Quentin Beck (which means no Spider-Mans dimensional incursion), no Ultron (which, in another universe, endangered the entire multiverse), no dead Pietro, no dead Sokovians generally (meaning probably no Scarlet Witch, no Vision, no Westview Hex, all the knock-on effects of that?), no Snap. And Hulk or Thor could have put the nuke through the wormhole in A1 (except he wouldn't because it wouldn't have been written into the story at all since Hemsworth doesn't have short man syndrome.)

With no Peggy, Steve's story in CATFA isn't altered (because she didn't matter to the plot or his life at all). But there would be no Winter Soldier programme (since she wouldn't be around to give the man who started it a job at SHIELDra), ergo no Black Widows being mind-controlled either (since that was based on Winter Soldier tech), no continued Hydra (WhatIf confirms all this by showing that a SHIELD founded by everyone else who was there originally, except her, has no Nazis in it.) Ergo no Project Insight. No Winter Soldier means no assassination of Howard Stark, so no Civil War bust up of the Avengers, if Tony still exists (unless Zemo found some other way to effect it). C.1940s her male colleagues in SSR would have handled everything she interfered with in AC, Edwin Jarvis's wife wouldn't have been sterilised by gsw in the uterus, and Daniel Sousa would have settled down with a nice girl (nurse Violet, possibly Skye) and wouldn't have been assassinated by Hydra for whistleblowing in 1955, because there wouldn't be any Hydra.

.

Now the differences:

First, Tony is actually above-average at some of the things he thinks he's good at, so his arrogance based on that is at least partially warranted (which Peggy's conviction of her own competence, moral integrity, etc. isn't).

His estimate of his own ability is debatable, though, since his genius (in the MCU) stems from the Grand American Capitalist Tradition of stealing other peoples' work, doing a minimal amount to hone it, and then claiming all the credit / reaping all the financial reward.

(See: Iron Man suits, AI, E.D.I.T.H., B.A.R.F., Extremis serum, time-travel, etc. Tony's only original creations I can think of in the MCU are his robot-servants and the improvised booby-traps from Iron Man 3.)

Second, Tony may have got into MIT as a legacy admission (nepotism), but he does actually have at least some of the expertise in a STEM field to warrant a place, which Peggy lacks.

(She gets an honorary degree from IIRC Oxford: ie. rewarded for doing no work. And while she claims competence in mathematics (as part of the AC retcon of her war record), outside of one code-breaking scene her alleged mathematical ability is never shown. And in fact there is a scene where a character has to explain to Peggy how many sides a cube has. No, I am not exaggerating. This literally happened.

And Bletchley Park's happy concession to her leaving mid-war suggests she wasn't a crucial employee. It's like the opposite of all those 'screenshots of my boss begging me to come back after I quit' stories.)

Third, while Tony may have inherited his company without earning it, he does have the necessary brains and thieving habits to create and maintain such a company if he wanted to. He was CEO for decades (since the age of 21) without the company imploding.

Although Obadiah Stane was dirty dealing under his nose without his knowledge so- er wow okay looks like he and Peggy are neck and neck? Except that Peggy did know she had bastards working for her and kept them on anyway (see: Zola, Mitchell Carson).

Tony has some appropriate skills; which cannot be said of Peggy in any of her unearned spying jobs.

Peggy is a nepotism baby who couldn't stomach any of the jobs she was handed on a silver platter, one after another, that she kept idiotically choosing to ask for despite her unsuitability for them (which she also cannot recognise).

And then she flaked out on these jobs from 'boredom,' even in the middle of a crisis like a world war (failure is never her fault, always the job's, always the mens').

Essentially she keeps asking for desk jobs she doesn't deserve, being given them because of glass ceiling nepotism, and then whining when she… is expected to do them? And is not respected when she doesn't?

She believes she is a brilliant, underappreciated spy, surrounded by inferiors, but cannot spot a single spy when they infiltrate her organisation or home (any one of many, many occasions: during the war and after).

She's a spy who craves attention.

Whose disguises fail in seconds, and are so inept that she cannot avoid detection by someone who barely knows her, even when photographed from the back!

(Contrast that with actual-spy Natasha, whose disguises are so good not even we realise it's her until she reveals herself! Or Coulson, who is not disguised but is so unassuming that he has no need!)

Peggy is a woman who thinks she is a sort of hero to other women... but is fine shunting the work which she considers beneath her off onto them... (but she reacts with outrage when men do that exact same thing to her) ...or fine with letting her rich male friends get away with chauvinism.

Who interferes to prevent male feminist colleagues from taking steps that would make life better for the Other Girls (whom she is Not Like and who Cannot Therefore be allowed to Become Like her.)

(Because as long as White Feminist knows Her value, she's the only person that matters!)

It takes a certain level of competence to correctly gage the extent of your own competence, or relative incompetence. It's the basis of true self-awareness.

She lacks that.

(Whether Tony also lacks it is... not clear. Maybe he does, too).

Peggy's continued bloody-minded belief that she is, eg. a competent spy and a feminist, directly contrary to the evidence... (because the writers aren't capable of recognising when they've written the exact opposite of what they vaguely intended) ...is the proof that she lacks the qualities necessary to actually be either of those things.

And to realise that she is just not physically or temperamentally suited to spying or heroism, at all.

She does share Tony's habit of blaming anything but herself for her problems, though. 🤔

When Peggy shows up hours late for work, eats like a slob at her desk while all the men are doing their paperwork, refuses to do said paperwork (even though that's the job she's been hired for and accepted) as if it's an insult to even ask her, shunts it off onto female underlings (can't expect Her Majesty to do it, but those working class sluts upstairs?), and then does nothing except sabotage her colleagues' work for months, then unilaterally hires someone (Johann Fennhoff) who cannot be trusted and so kills 40+ people...

She acts as if her male colleagues' lack of respect for her ability is due to ONLY sexism, and not to her being -- for example -- lazy, treacherous, bad-tempered, entitled, disastrously incompetent, and a self-outing nepotism hire, who is ALSO a woman.

(The fact that she is also sloppy/unprofessional at work is moot, since at least one of the male agents is too, and in this field her capacity for violence is a feature, not a bug.)

When Tony calls himself a "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist" he is at least getting 1/4 of those right... ish?

(Is it genius to commit industrial espionage and rip off the designs of other men including employees, do 12% of the work and then patent them as your own?

When it's JARVIS and FRIDAY who do everything for him, actually?

Is inheriting generational wealth a flex?

Does exchanging sex for favours make you a womaniser or a creepy Weinstein-esque loser?

Does making money off cleaning up the very mess you caused, for Rich-White-Guy tax write-offs, count as actual philanthropy?

Would an actual philanthropist list philanthropy last, of all those things on the list?)

He does appear to learn from his mistakes for a brief period...

(His Act 1 Fuck Up is usually revealed as a Plot!Coupon necessary for his Act 3 Success; the icing over of the Iron Man suit, the double-reverb attack gained from firing at Rhodey in IM2, etc.)

...But that is over-ruled at the beginning of each new Iron Man movie, when the lessons of the last one are ignored to set his personality back at 0. 🙄

In the case of the Avengers movies, though, he doesn't learn at all. Ultron tries to murder everyone (WhatIf reveals he would have eventually destroyed the entire multiverse.)

Hydra tries to enact Project Insight A.I. to kill millions...

And yet years later Tony is still claiming those two as morally correct successes, flawed only because they were made to fail (not because they were horrible fascist ideas to begin with), and redoing Insight as EDITH only giving it to a disaster teenage boy. 🤦‍♀️

Peggy, however, is pathologically incapable of learning from mistakes, because that first requires you to acknowledge that you are capable of making mistakes, which is inconceivable to her.

She has herself up on a high pedestal, as the pinnacle of womanhood around which the world and all other women surely revolve, and cannot be knocked off her axis.

The closest she has ever come to an accurate self-assessment was when Edwin Jarvis called her arrogant and ignorant and she flippantly pretended to agree. (Inadvertently proving him right).

Tony is possibly redeemable because he at least has sensible people around him, telling him he's a fucking idiot.

He does occasionally make the obeisance of saying 'my bad,' even if he doesn't fully comprehend it.

Peggy on the other hand isn't redeemable because she doesn't think she's ever done anything wrong in her life, ever.

She thinks she is practically perfect in any way. Atwell thinks she's a good enough sort of woman to fix any man! Like a lot of TERFs and white feminists, she would see the mere suggestion of any wrongdoing on her part as preposterous.

[practically-an-x-man]

Symbiotic? *big grin*

Ooooh thank you!!

WIP Folder Ask Game

Okay so this is easily one of my oldest fanfic ideas (at least, oldest of the ones I came up with while consciously aware that they were fanfic, lol). The document itself is the first few chapters of the fic, but it's SUPER old and choppy since it's one of the earliest fics I've written.

With that disclaimer... there's the old idea that's in the fic, and the revamped idea that currently just exists in my head. Some things change, others don't.

In either form, it's an Marvel/loosely MCU fic following an OC named Persephone Michaels, who is bonded to a symbiote named Viper. Without Viper, Persephone is in organ failure, but Viper cannot survive in Earth's atmosphere without a host, so they need each other to survive. Viper takes shape as a jewel-green symbiote with darker green scales, as well as infrared vision and venomous fangs (and potentially the ability to spit venom like a spitting cobra). Logically, Viper would probably be some relative or offspring of Venom, with their similar abilities. Without Viper, Percy is a skilled programmer and hacker.

The original idea jumped back and forth between timelines - earlier, when Percy was in the hospital and amused herself by attempting to break into StarkTech and access the video files from Iron Man's suit-cam; and later, after Percy is bonded with Viper and is healthy, functioning as a low-grade vigilante. There are a few different threads I'd explore here, it was going to be a very ambitious fic: one being Tony discovering the break-in and eventually starting to see Percy as a sort of successor, even signing her onto a project to recreate the Vision AI and bring him back to life (this idea was before WandaVision was a thing), another being Percy and Viper discovering the wreckage from the crashed Sakaarian ship from the start of Infinity War and managing to heal a few people who were preserved in the trip through space and just-barely hanging on (including Loki...), an ongoing conflict between Viper and another symbiote OC named Pathogen, another supervillain trio based on Pathos, Ethos, and Logos... there are way too many ideas to list, honestly. Some of these ideas also explore wider Norse mythology and bring in a few more gods and mythic themes (Skadi, Baldur, the myth of Loki being bound with snake's venom dripping into his face, etc.)

The new idea hasn't changed things too much, mainly just added some more dimension to Percy's identity, her relationship with Viper and the other characters, and cleaned up a few of the plot points so it doesn't feel as "fanfic-y" (there's nothing wrong with tropes, but the fic is so old that some of the plot ideas just feel a little trite).

I do still want to write this someday, but I know it'll be a huge project (comparable to A Love Once New, and that one spans 72 chapters and 215,000 words by the end of it) so I'm kinda waiting to have the time and emotional capacity to put it together.

[adventures-in-a-world-of-fiction]

I’ve had a YouTube channel for nearly two decades. The first video I ever posted was in 2006. It was a Power Rangers fanvid and while it’s not the worst video ever created, it’s definitely not the best. It was a weird choice of song (Spirit of Man from War of the Worlds) and some of the clips are badly trimmed so there’s a frame or two of the next scene/shot at the start or end in a few places.

Since then, I’ve made a bunch of other videos, music videos for shows or fake trailers for some of my fanfics (many of those fics were posted on sites that no longer exist). I don’t post often these days, but every once in a while I’ll get struck with the urge to make a fanvid for a film or TV show that I like. Recently, it’s been The Sandman and the Dreamling ship in particular.

In all this time, my YouTube channel has never been monetised. When I first started the channel, that wasn’t even an option, as YouTube monetisation wasn’t a thing on the platform until December 2007, the year after I posted my first video, and even then, I don’t think it was available for anyone to apply to once they hit certain thresholds the way it is today.

So yeah, when I started, it wouldn’t have occurred to me to monetise my channel. Then I had a real world job and my video creation dropped off and in recent years, I haven’t met the monetisation thresholds, so it hasn’t been an option and I haven’t given it much thought. After all, I didn’t start making silly little fanvids expecting to make money from them, and most of them would be demonetised anyway because of the use of copyrighted material.

But recently I checked my analytics out of curiosity and I’m within reach of those monetisation thresholds. I got a load more views than usual around October and November last year for no reason I can see. There’s an obvious bump in the watch time analytics for a couple of months before it drops down to my usual trickle of views. I’ve no idea why it happened or why it stopped, but it was enough of a bump that I’m now at 3997 hours of watch time for the past year, with the monetisation threshold being 4000 hours.

Given how close I am, it feels like I should try to push to meet the eligibility criteria and apply for the YouTube partner programme, just so that it’s an option for me if I want it. And I clearly need to do it in the next few months, because I don’t expect to replicate that spike in views from October. But over the next month or two, getting 3 more hours of watch time than I got in the same time period last year feels like a realistic thing to achieve, even if almost all of my videos are under 5 minutes long.

Especially if I actually tell people that I have YouTube videos. So here I am, telling people. If you enjoy fan made music videos, please consider giving some of mine a watch.

Here are a few of them:

Ranger Spirit, the first ever video I ever posted on my YouTube channel, made in Windows Movie Maker, with all of the mistakes and badly trimmed shots:

One of my recent videos, Meet Me On The Battlefield, for The Sandman fandom:

Sticking with Neil Gaiman for the time being, an ineffable husbands video for Good Omens season 2, What Hurts the Most:

The video that got the most views during that weird spike in my analytics, I Don’t Deserve You for the show White Collar, focusing on the relationship between Peter, Neal and Elizabeth:

And for a silly challenge I gave myself, I tried to use footage from Dirk Gently’s season two to create a trailer that looked like a serious fantasy film. That was not easy, given how ridiculous the armies looked:

My channel has absolutely no consistency in terms of what I post. I will make videos for whatever happens to grab my attention at the time, so across the lifespan of my channel I have fanvids for Yuri on Ice, the MCU, Teen Wolf, Charmed, Voltron, The Chronicles of Narnia (both the old BBC TV show and the films), Doctor Who (and spin offs), X-Men, Kamen Rider Dragon Knight, The Sentinel, The Tribe, and more Power Rangers than feels comfortable now given my age. If any of those grab your attention, please take a watch and help me hit that 4000 hours threshold.

[nerdgirlriot]

Echo Random Thoughts

spoilers! so be warned...

wrt my previous post, i did enjoy Maya returning home and the main conflict within her is which side does she want to call family? the community that raised her or the man who gave her a purpose?

also it's telling how Fisk didn't want to bother actually learning ASL while Maya's family all learned ASL in order to communicate with her. Fisk just threw money at some programmers

speaking of Fisk, the show blatantly called back to his childhood in an abusive home and how that shaped him, so is everything in the netflix shows canon or just what gets rehashed in the new MCU?

after the magical realism of Reservation Dogs, I find it interesting that Echo also puts characters' connections to their ancestors on full display

but i wonder how much this plays into the "magical Native American" trope. Like...yes Maya "cures" Fisk, or seems to? She straight up gave him like 25 years of therapy in 25 seconds. is that...good? idk...

It does look like Marvel/Disney sought the advice and help of the Choctaw nation, but how much of the production crew were Indigenous? The writers? The directors? Like...there's a real sense of authenticity that Reservation Dogs has that I think Echo often lacks. Is it just me? Am I just spoiled because Rez Dogs was just so damn good?

same with the Deaf representation. I do appreciate that they eased up on Maya being able to magically lip-read, but how authentic were her experiences?

Or maybe it's just all Marvel-ized and super hero-y and I have to remember that this is the same universe where Wanda made an entire town re-enact sitcoms and Loki is God

I do love how the legacy of Maya's family allows her to connect to them as they "echo" through her. We have a title/codename!

also I want Kamala to come to Maya in full Nick Fury mode. Put her in Young Avengers too dammit.

Can you fucking imagine Yelena and Maya and Kamala and Kate on the same team????

also i loved Matt's smol cameo but I loled at the fact that it was just a teeny cameo and poor Charlie Cox won't be putting that cowl back on for some time (or at least until the new DD show gets its fucking shit together)