#and the impact that would have on the mcu as we know it to have unravelled

[goodqueenaly]

I posted about it a few days ago, but if you haven’t seen, Steven Attewell, perhaps better known on here as @racefortheironthrone, just passed away.

Steven Attewell wasn’t just a great writer and analyst (though he obviously was), nor just a great podcaster (though he was that too), nor just a great academic mind (though he was that as well). Attewell was a supremely kind, thoughtful, funny, and upstanding human being, someone I was very fortunate to call my dear friend. Hardly a day or two went by without one of us bouncing ideas for an essay or post off the other, or swapping some historical trivia, or sharing thoughts about the latest MCU project. When I got engaged, he was one of the first people I told, and whenever I, say, read a book about New York’s gilded age, or listened to a podcast episode about Reginald Pole, or learned that some Americans were still using hand crank phones into the 80s (no, really), I often thought “Attewell would appreciate that”. 

Even now, it seems utterly surreal to think of him as passed. Just a week before he died, I had been telling him how much my fiancé adored his X-Men ‘97 podcast. A few days before, he and I had been joking about the recent east coast earthquake. I knew how excited he was about his “Tyrion IX” ASOS CBC essay, since he and I had been discussing it in the weeks before he died, and his Tumblr posts right to the end displayed that same high quality you could always expect from him. I keep waiting for my messenger app to pop up with his name again, or his familiar avatar to appear at the top of my Tumblr feed with another ask from him. 

We have lost a giant of the ASOIAF community, but far more importantly, we have lost a very good person. Read some of Attewell’s works - “Who Stole Westeros” is a seminal piece IMO, as is his CBC analysis of “Eddard XI”, but you can’t go wrong with anything he wrote, and if I tried to list every piece I could recommend from him it would be a novel in itself. Listen to some of his podcasts or vlogs - his excitement over X-Men ‘97 is infectious. Keep reading and writing, just as he was doing. Miss him and grieve, by all means, but know that for the many people, myself included, he inspired and touched and interacted with, his memory and impact won’t be forgotten. 

[delicatebarness]

bring him home | chapter one

Summary: You leave your room for the first time in a month as the memory of your first meeting with Bucky floods your mind.

Warning: MCU Spoilers. A lot of grief and sadness.

Word Count: 1376

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A/N: Why do I do this to myself?

Tags: Let me know if you want to be tagged in future chapters.

The atmosphere in the briefing room was thick with sorrow, each member of the team carried the weight of their loss, it was a heavy burden. Natasha, Steve, Banner, and Rhodey sat in silence, exchanging somber looks as they came together to discuss what needed to be done next. 

As they waited for you to join them, there was a noticeable sense of uncertainty. You hadn’t left your room in the month since the Snap, the grief had consumed you like a relentless tide. They had no expectations on your arrival, there was no hope that you would find the strength to join them. 

Yet, to their surprise and also their relief, the door creaked open, and you stepped inside.

Your appearance was a stark reflection of the grief you carried. Your eyes hollow, your shoulders slumped, and your face paled with the pain. It was as if the weight of the universe had settled on your shoulders, it was crushing you.

Steve’s voice broke the silence, he stood at the head of the table, his voice heavy with emotion as he spoke. “We’re glad you could join us,” he said softly, you could hear the relief in his voice. It was rare that he got to see you these days. 

You managed to direct a weak nod in response to him, your throat was tight with unshed tears. The concern that etched your friends and family’s faces only served to deepen the ache in your chest. 

As the meeting began, the discussion turned into plans for the future - how to rebuild what had been lost and how you help those who had been affected. Each word felt like a knife to the heart, a painful reminder of how you were one of the affected.

“We need to focus on finding a way to provide support to those who have lost,” Natasha said, her voice determined. “They need to know they’re not alone,” 

Banner nodded in agreement, “We need to consider the long-term effects of the snap, too,” he added. “The psychological impact.” You couldn’t help but notice his gaze land on you at that moment.

Rhodey chimed in, his voice steady. “We’ll need to work closely with the remaining governments and aid organizations, make sure resources are allocated where needed,” he said.

The meeting dragged on, tears had been threatening to spill from your eyes since you sat in your old usual spot. You weren’t focused on what they were saying, memories of happier times flooded your mind, each one a cruel reminder of what you lost.

Drawing to a close, everyone began to leave the briefing room. You couldn’t help but feel a sense of overwhelming loneliness wash over you. Despite being only a few feet away from friends and family, you felt utterly alone. 

Tears finally spilled down your cheeks, unchecked and unstoppable as the last of them left you sitting at the table. 

~

You remembered the first time you laid eyes on him, The Winter Soldier, your memory was as vivid as if it was yesterday. You were just a child, barely old enough to understand the world beyond the Red Room. Yet, even then, something about the large and mysterious man set him apart from the others. 

You had heard the whispers of his existence long before you ever saw him - the tales of a silent assassin who moved like a ghost were told in the girl's room after lights out. 

It was a cold, dreary day in the Red Room, it felt like it was being stretched on forever. You were alone on the training grounds, going through the motions of another grueling session. An intense workout on your small young body. He appeared before you as he silently spectated your movements. 

“I’ll be your trainer from now on,” his voice was low, almost monotone, yet it carried a demanding tone. 

At first, you froze in place, a mixture of fear and curiosity coursed through you. His movements were calculated and precise. Yet, beneath the facade of his programming, you sensed a flicker of something more. As a child, you sensed the spark of humanity that refused to be taken from him. 

As he began guiding you through the drills, he commanded with authority. “Stand straight, shoulders back.”

“Yes, Soldat,” you responded, straightening your posture as best as you could. 

His touch was firm but gentle, his instructions clear, you noticed how he never once fought back with his left arm. “You’re hesitating,” he observed.

“I, um, I’m sorry,” your small voice stammered, embarrassment rushed through you at your inability to keep up with his speed. 

“Focus,” he urged, you noticed the slight softening of his voice. For a moment, you saw your reflection in his eyes, a mirror image of the child you used to be before the Red Room stole you away and replaced your innocence with something darker. 

From that day forward, the Winter Soldier became more than just a trainer to you. He became your protector and silent companion. “You have potential,” he once remarked, his words causing pride and confidence to course through you for the first time. 

And though your time training with him was fleeting, the memory of him lingered long after you had completed your training and he vanished back into the shadows. 

~

You sat alone in your room, you still couldn’t believe you were back after over two years. It hadn’t changed since the morning you left with Natasha. Staring out the window, watching the raindrops race down the pane, you lost yourself in a sea of memories. Each one was a bittersweet reminder of what once was. The ache had yet to dull in your heart, the emptiness of lost companions. 

A sudden sound of gentle knocking on your door startled you. Blinking away the haze of sadness, you rose from your windowsill and made your way toward the door. You were met with the warm smile of your sister, Natasha, as you opened it. Her presence was a beacon of light in the darkness that had consumed you over the last month. 

“Hey,” she greeted, her voice a soothing tone that cut through the heaviness of the room. “Mind if I come in?” 

You shook your head, stepping aside to let her come in. She crossed the threshold, her eyes filled with a mixture of concern as she took in your teary eyes and the growing mess taking over your once gleaming room. 

“Have you found her?” you asked with a slight sense of hope in your voice.

Natasha’s expression faltered at your question, a shadow passed over her features. “She’s gone, too” she replied gently, her voice filled with regret. 

You nodded, a disappointing weight settling heavily in your chest. For weeks, you had searched tirelessly for any sign of your other sister, Yelena. Clinging to the hope that she was still out there somewhere, not vanished. 

Your sister moved closer, wrapping her arms around you in a comforting embrace. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. She placed a soft kiss on the top of your head as your arms wrapped around her waist. “I know it hurts.”

“I just can’t believe they’re gone,” you admitted, your voice trembled as your eyes began to fill with tears again. “Yelena, Wanda, Sam, Bucky…”

“I know,” Natasha murmured as her grip tightened around you slightly. “But we’re still here, we have each other.” 

You nodded, the tears spilling down your cheeks. “I don’t know what I’d do without you,” you confessed, grateful that you still had your eldest sister here with you and having her unwavering support.

As Natasha pulled back, her smile softened and her hands came up to cup your cheeks, wiping away the stray tears with her thumbs. “Just promise me one thing,” she said softly.

“What is it?” you asked, curious at the serious tone in her voice.

“Promise me,” her voice wavered slightly. “You’ll remember that you’re never truly alone, even if I’m not here to remind you.” Her eyes bore into yours, sending a chill down your spine. Her eyes were full of knowing as if she knew something you didn’t.

You furrowed your brow, sniffling as the tears continued to spill. “I promise,” you replied.

---

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[burst-of-iridescent]

Hi! I love all your posts regarding atla and deep diving into Zuko and Katara's relationship-those analysis's are *chief's kiss* perfect

Anywho, I hope you don't mind me asking, but I'm guessing you heard about Bryke wanting to expand the atla universe, and will be creating a new movies, one of which, with the Gaang as adults, but as far as I know won't have any of the returning head writers like Aaron Ehasz..

so my question is: do you think there is any hope for these movies? Because to me I feel like it might just be a fully animated comic (we all know how those turned out) & just be 2 hrs of Katara and Aang saying "Sweetie" back an forth. Yes I'm still saltly

frankly? no.

and that's not even me saying it as a salty zutara shipper who doesn't want to see kat.aang as an established relationship. i doubt how good these movies are going to be because bry.ke have little-to-no understanding of their characters, especially katara and zuko, and at least since atla, haven't shown the self-awareness to hire a writer's team that can compensate for their shortcomings. i've said it before and i'll say it again: they have great, creative ideas and an excellent eye for stunning visuals and an immersive world. but when it comes to the nuances of characterization and story-building, they cannot do it on their own. lok proved that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

but more than bry.ke, these movies are also emblematic of a larger problem that i see in multiple franchises: the subordination of creative, meaningful storytelling in service to shameless nostalgia cash-grabbing. ask yourself, do we really need a story about the adult gaang? most of the main plot threads that they could've expanded on from atla have already been (mostly badly) answered in the comics: what happened to ursa, azula's potential redemption, decolonisation, industrialisation vs tradition, the founding of a new air nomad legacy, zuko's struggles as fire lord. any new story would either have to retcon previously established "canon" or put a new spin on old themes. the latter of which i severely doubt bry.ke's capability to pull off, particularly if any level of nuance is required.

atla is slowly but surely heading in the direction of star wars/harry potter/the mcu in producing new material just for the sake of making money instead of truly adding something impactful to the canon. the fact that absolutely no new atla material since the show itself has ever managed to live up to the original is proof that the franchise has no idea what it's doing.

and before someone comes at me to say that it's impossible to ever live up to the original - just take a look at the hunger games revival happening right now. the ballad of songbirds and snakes has been received so well because it isn't just a shameless cash-grab. it's a valuable contribution to the series that expands on the universe and themes of the original trilogy, giving more depth and nuance to the original books instead of detracting from them. because collins adds to the canon only when she has something meaningful to say, and for a franchise that she could have milked to absolute filth, that restraint reflects not only her integrity as a creator, but the value she places on the stories that she tells - which in turn makes her readers value and respect them as well.

and that's a lesson that i think every single storyteller should take to heart. if you want to be respected as a writer, you have to respect your characters and your stories first. because if you, the creator, don't... why should anyone else?

[ikamigami]

THE CYCLE OF TRAUMA

In this post I'll try to explain how Sun is trapped in a cycle of trauma and I'll try to answer the question whether he can escape it or not and how he can escape it if it's possible.

I think that I know the answer to why Sun is often pushed aside and doesn't even feel like MC in Sun and Moon Show sometimes.. it's because the show is telling two stories.

One story is the one that we see. The one which follows mostly what happens with Moon because Moon does more things than Sun. Sun is doing his own things in the background. Or he's a gag character in most of funny lore episodes. This story is the surface level of watching it and seeing the obvious parallels between events.

It's not a bad way to engage with the show but it's more like watching MCU - easy story to follow with foreshadowing, payoffs and parallels.

But there's also a second story.. a story hidden in details and subtle hints and lines which are echoes of the past events.. and the main character of this story is Sun who is a traumatised victim of abuse.

This is more deep reading of events in the show - we could say it's meta interpretation of it.

I'm not going to lie to you that I found it weird and a bit repulsive how awfully Sun is treated as a victim of abuse.. because his trauma was never addressed properly - Sun could never talk openly about what happened to him and no one even helped him with that.. sometimes they didn't even want to listen to him..

I didn't want to accept that Sun healed off-screen or just even got better off-screen because of how much he went through and things like that just don't magically disappear.. all this trauma couldn't just disappear.. especially if Sun never had a break. His life is traumatising event after traumatising event after traumatising event..

"Stop! How can you say that Sun didn't have a break when he literally did while Solar and Moon took care of everything?" you're probably asking this right now. And my answer is: yes, you're right, Sun literally had a break. Literally - a surface level of watching show.. a story that we see..? You probably don't know what I'm trying to say. But this is exactly why I'm making this post.

Today's episode helped me realize that what's happening right now is just another face of Sun's trauma.

Moon is not only acting similarly to Old Moon but he even tried to guilt-trip Sun and he minimized his trauma by mocking it which was the exact same thing Old Moon was doing during their fights.

Moon even said that only after two years Sun was able to grow a spine to stand up to Moon.. doesn't it sound familiar?

Old Moon said during one of their fights that Sun shouldn't apologize for yelling at him because he shouldn't apologize for having a spine.. hmm.. it's obvious parallel yet it's a reverse one.

Old Moon was trying to make Sun stand up for himself in abusive way.

Now Moon is trying to squash Sun's confidence by laughing at Sun's efforts of trying to stand up for himself which essentially mocks Sun's trauma.

And later when I was watching mgafs episode it dawned on me. Sun went to Monty for help when Moon is dangerous.. doesn't it sound familiar?

The last time Sun went to Monty for help was when kill code reactivated in Old Moon.. but before that Sun went to Monty for help when Lunar was pretending to be Old Moon and they couldn't switch places.

But who told Sun to go to Monty for help if situation with Moon would be too much to handle for Sun? Old Moon.

It seems that Old Moon's words still have an impact on Sun.

But there's more.. Sun locked Moon in a cell just like Old Moon did to him a year ago. Sun decided to use shocks to keep Moon from doing something stupid and harming himself.

It really seems that Sun was influenced by Old Moon's actions.

But also the only helpful thing that Sun knows is talking to Earth because Earth was the one who helped him back then.. so if Earth's words didn't help Moon what else can?

Old Moon never listened to Sun and now Moon also doesn't listen to him. So what left?

He went to Monty for help but it turned out that Monty can't help. Monty's words don't work anymore with Moon like they used to with Old Moon. Monty and Foxy's only solution is to forcefully snap Moon out of it by endangering Sun at expense of Bloodmoon's life cause who cares about Bloodmoon..

So the only answer is violence. But if you think about it Sun's life is filled with violence to the brim. Old Moon used to solve their every problem with violence. New Moon also tried to solve their every problem by killing whoever he deemed an enemy.

Sun tried to talk with Eclipse but it didn't work. The only thing that left was to expell him from his head which was a death of OG Eclipse.

He tried to warn Bloodmoon. It didn't work and he killed them in self-defence.

He tried to listen to V2 Eclipse (Eclipse with the star) but Eclipse could only threaten them and told them to kill Lunar. So the only thing that left was to push Eclipse through the portal and Moon killed him.

He tried to talk to New Bloodmoon but it didn't work either and the only thing that left once again was violence.

He convinced Moon to help Ruin which turned out to be Solar's and trillions of others' lives doom. So what left? They had to lock Ruin but it created more problems - Molten trying to kill him and now Ruin is once again working with Bloodmoon and we can only imagine that they're up to no good. So they'd most definitely have to use violence.

Sun tried to resolve things differently. He tried to help. But none of this worked. His help only made things worse. And everyone's answer seem to be only violence.. violence violence violence violence violence violence violence..

So it's not surprising at all that Sun is doing what Old Moon taught him. Even if it isn't what Sun wants. And the worse thing is that now others are trying to force him to make a decision that will have an impact on everything. It'll either work and things will get better or it won't and everything will get worse.

You may say that Sun has Earth and Lunar as a support. But while it is true that he still has them they already expressed that they don't want to help. And let's be honest, neither Earth nor Lunar did much to help Sun with his trauma. They aknowledged it but that's it. Lunar never talked about it with Sun. And the only thing Earth did was apologizing to Sun for making him sad by mentioning Old Moon's death because she knows how hard it is for him.

But it isn't what Sun needs. He needs help. You may say "why he doesn't talk to them about his trauma?" The thing is he tried. But when he needed help the most - after Old Moon's death - they told him to move on or Moon straight up yelled at him for just simply mentioning Old Moon.

So it's not surprising that Sun doesn't try to open up about it anymore. Because he learned that it's better not to do that. And that's why he thinks that his issues are less important than others' problems. Because no one cared to help him. But because Sun knows that they love him so there's only one reason why they didn't help him. And this reason is that his issues aren't that much of a big deal. Why should he bother others with his issues when others don't seem to care that much? They probably don't care that much because these issues aren't real problems.. I bet that this is what Sun thinks about that.

Let's get back to the main topic of this post. Sun is trapped in a cycle of trauma. From the beginning of his existence the only thing he knows is trauma. First with Old Moon who abused him physically, mentally and emotionally. Later Old Moon promised to change yet he left Eclipse in Sun's head which created another trauma for Sun and Old Moon didn't stop being abusive. Later when they thought that they defeated Eclipse another problem appeared - Bloodmoon. But it wasn't enough because it turned out that there's new Eclipse who activated Old Moon's kill code reopening Sun's trauma.

Eventually Sun's already poor mental state worsened even more and he experienced psychotic episode. And what others did at that time? They abandoned Sun and because he was too detached from reality he wasn't able to stop himself. And in such state he did things that he regrets. But even if he regrets them he can't do anything about it. He has to live with consequences of his actions even if he wasn't at fault for neither Old Moon's nor Lunar's death. But it only deepened his trauma.

At that point Sun thought that the only solution is to die hoping for fresh start like Moon had. Hence why he decided to be conduit for star's power and tried to sacrifice himself. Thankfully he survived and Eclipse was gone. Things seemed to get better. Unfortunately Sun's family didn't help him with his trauma at that time. Even if it was the best time to adress his issues considering that he was still suicidal back then.

Though Ruin already was a threat. After all he kidnapped Sun and the way Moon dealt with it wasn't the best - reminding Sun of his trauma once again. Yet back then Ruin's threat seemed so distant. Until he decided to bring Bloodmoon back. And also Solar's appearing disrupted dynamics in the family regardless of this being unintentional. Then Ruin blew up the Daycare and Sun and Moon were sent to Ruin's dimension.

And even if later things seemed to get better once again it wasn't long before Bloodmoon completely mauled Earth's body and they had to deal with them and also Stitchwraith threatened that if they'll try to interfere he will do worse things then simply kidnapping Earth.

At that time Sun seemed very distanced from everyone. He had serious memory issues and he wasn't answering any messages and calls. It didn't seem good.

And then Eclipse returned once again. And we all of a sudden found out that Sun was feeling great until Eclipse's return.. it doesn't add up.

And later Sun decided to leave everything to Moon and Solar to deal with while he was spending time alone in their house, drinking wine and relaxing with his cats.. and he seemingly got better. He just needed a break.

It doesn't make much sense when you consider everything Sun went through. Yes, on surface level Sun seems to be doing much better and break helped him.. but is it actually true?

If we look at it deeper through lense of a story of very traumatised victim of abuse.. it seems that this was Sun's another attempt at breaking the cycle of trauma. The first attempt was sacrificing himself. Second was to try and avoid getting engaged with anything. After all when he tried to help everything got worse. So he naturally tried to do the opposite.. which turned out even worse.

Solar died because of Ruin's plan and he wouldn't be able to do it if it wasn't for Sun convincing Moon to help him. Moon is now losing his mind because of Solar's death and like Sun said he wishes that he said more to Moon when he had mental breakdown. And now Moon is acting worse than Old Moon and Sun is basically reliving his trauma. Sun is trying his best to keep his family together but is he actually able to do that?

You may think that he is.. but when you consider Sun's mental state - depressive psychosis and delusions centered around guilt and unworthiness making Sun feel like he's the one who is bad.. it doesn't seem likely.

You can disagree with me but there's plenty of evidence that support my claim. Also Moon told Sun that he has a little bit of Eclipse in him still.. and not so long ago Eclipse told Sun that he would make a good Eclipse when this is exactly what Sun was afraid of a year ago. And Lunar back then told him that he's acting exactly like Eclipse.

I'm pretty sure that it's affecting Sun. As much as he tries to say otherwise. That Moon's words doesn't have any impact on him anymore. It's not true. After all, we can still see how much Old Moon's words affected him.

Having all of this in mind, I wouldn't be surprised if Sun ended up blaming himself for what happened. Also considering that things will get worse soon. After all, Taurus is after Lunar and he'll either execute them immediately or put them to test.. which probably won't be anything nice. And Earth is hiding that she's friends with Eclipse and she trusts him more than her family because she tells Eclipse things that she wouldn't say to them. And who knows what Ruin and BM will do. And lastly.. Sun will find out soon that Dazzle is victim of July 16th incident. It doesn't look too good for him.

Even if Sun keeps going for his family. Will he be able to take more of this?

I don't think so. Because why then showrunners didn't let things to get better even if a bit? Why everything seems to get worse?

But is there a way for Sun to escape the cycle of trauma? He tried to sacrifice himself which even if it'd ended with him being dead he still would do something good, right? He'd protect his family. He tried to distance himself from everything to not make things worse with his help. But it ended up making everything even worse. So is there any option left for Sun to break the cycle?

Yes, the help of others. Unfortunately it doesn't seem likely. Even now when Sun is clearly suffering he still chose not to talk about his own feelings but focused on Moon. Even when he's hurting so much that Monty and Foxy found Sun crouching outside Monty's house. Yet he didn't say anything. And what they did to help him? They told him that he needs to make a decision that he isn't capable to make in the state he is right now.

But what about Earth and Lunar? Like I said Lunar will have a much more concerning problem soon enough. And when Sun will find out about Earth's secret.. I doubt he'll trust her to talk about his own issues. You may say that he can change his mind about Eclipse. Maybe normally he could but not now. Not when he's reliving his trauma and his mental state is threatening to worsen. Sun isn't in any condition to deal with his own issues with Eclipse unless Eclipse will surprisingly not insult Sun and will be able to convince him that he wants to help. But Sun isn't in the right state of mind to deal with it, to rethink everything between the two of them and try to forget about trauma Eclipse caused him and his family.

And when Sun will learn the truth about Dazzle.. I wouldn't be surprised if it'll be a final straw for him.

So what else left? How can break the cycle? The answer is he can't. He could with a help of his family but it really seems not to be an option.

Though there's one thing that will stop the cycle of trauma once and for all. And it's death. You may say that Sun already tried to do that. Yes but also no. Back then Sun thought that he'll be lucky if he get reset and if not he'll at least sacrifice himself to protect his family.

But what about now? There's a plan to put Sun in dangerous situation that will cause Sun harm in order to snap Moon out of the state he's in. But if it won't work Moon will kill Bloodmoon and then I doubt that he'll stop at that. And then what?

This plan is messed up because no one can be sure if it'll work and there are very high chances that Moon's mental state will worsen either way. I bet that Sun will try to help no matter what.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Foxy wanted Sun to decide when he'll say enough is enough and he let them kill Moon which isn't an option for Sun - imagine keep going with this in mind that the life of your brother depends on your decision.

But when things will get worse will he be able to keep going? After all he wasn't able to help anyone, to stop anyone, to comfort anyone.. he tried everything yet things only got worse. And because of Sun's mental issues I'm pretty sure that he'll blame himself for everything. So even if Sun will still have Earth and Lunar (maybe).. can he be sure that his decisions won't end up harming the rest of his family?

I wouldn't be surprised if Sun will consider taking his own life as an answer to how stop this madness. If he thinks that all of this is his fault and he even expressed that himself that he was wondering if it'd be better if Moon and him never separated.. and even if Sun went to dimension where they separated but Eclipse never happened and they seem to have happy lives. That Moon didn't help Sun that much and even if he said that deep down Moon still cares.. now Sun learned that it isn't true. Sun can't handle this anymore.

Sun's mental state seems to be not good but considering what is about to happen it'll only get worse. I doubt that Sun will be able to think it through and stop himself from doing it while everything around him is collapsing and he thinks that it's all because of him..

I won't say that he'll succeed because there's high chance that someone will stop him or even if he'll attempt it he may end up heavily injured or in a coma and not dead dead.

But seeing how showrunners keep making things harder and worse for Sun and knowing that Davis wanted to include topic of suicide but previously received backlash for that though it seems that the issue either got resolved or they decided to implement it anyway it seems highly likely that Sun may try to kill himself.

I'm not saying that he'll do that but this is just my hypothesis based on the analysis of events in the show and meta analysis of Sun's character and that his character represents a story of traumatised victim of abuse. I'd rather have them addressing it even if it'd mean that Sun will attempt suicide then them completely ignoring it showing viewers that "screw victims of abuse".

We may argue about whether VAs are doing good job with portraying this things in the show but I don't want to immediately say that there's no hope and that they just don't care about the fact that they made Sun to be a victim of abuse.

I'm trying to be positive about this and I hope that Sun's trauma eventually will be addressed. I'm trying to trust the process. Maybe I'm a fool for doing so but whatever. I don't care about it.

[pastafossa]

pasta who do you see as matt's endgame in the mcu? do you think he'd ever settle down?

Ooooh this is an interesting one.

Ok, so I have a feeling that in Netflix!Era DD, endgame was likely Karen, or that's the vibe I got based on S3, although Elektra was still a possibility. But the MCU entrance has obviously thrown that into the air and added a TON of possibilities, including some we haven't seen yet, and a few established comic characters that are showing up in Born Again like Heather Glenn and Kirsten McDuffie, so we have a TON of options here.

Required: these are all just guesses. I get ships are personal so if you ship one of the ones I'm guessing won't happen, just know I get it and I could be wrong (my favorite ship in the Netflix shows were Matt/Claire and my not-gonna-happen-but-fun-to-imagine Ship was Matt/Jessica, neither of which will happen in the MCU era, so I'm not going based on my own favorites).

Karen Page: I'm going to be honest, and this is just a guess: my intuition says their endgame won't be Karen. I don't have much to go on other than rumors that Karen may not be a permanent stick-around character, and those set photos of the Matt kiss scene with Heather, which means that even though Karen was around, Matt or Karen (or both) have seemingly moved on (Karen with Frank maybe?). So I don't think that's going to be the Matt romance endgame.

Jen Walters: I don't think it's going to be Jen, either. I get the feeling, as cute as I think they were, that that was meant to be a permanent thing and Disney's been pretty clear they won't be making another She-Hulk even if she makes some cameos elsewhere, which rules her out as a romance.

Heather Glenn: They've said he's going to be involved with Heather Glenn in Born Again this upcoming season, a new character to the show/this particular variation of Daredevil. She is an established character in the comics so it's not like this doesn't have backing, but I just don't feel like it'll have the impact Disney would want when looking at endgame. Supposedly now with the rewrites, they've leaned much more heavily into making it dark like the Netflix shows and following that general mythos, and that to me means they're likely to bring back:

Elektra Nachios: now this is our big wildcard since she's not confirmed, but she's where I'm leaning towards putting my money. She's insanely popular in the comics, she's well established, her relationship with Matt is a classic and a staple of Matt's various arcs, and Mattlektra might be an easy win for Dis after some lower ratings on their stuff. I've also read a few rumors that Elodie was spotted on the Born Again set, though whether that's for a cameo or not is unclear. Still, that makes it sound like she's going to be back. If I had to guess, it will be a, 'I would have been with you if you were here', and once she is back, that's where Matt's liable to head towards even if he's with someone else. Especially if our older Born Again Matt is just a little more jaded, a little more tired and lonely when it comes to love and what seems like his failures to keep Fisk behind bars - someone like Elektra who he feels understands him so well would be very hard for him to resist. And if his relationship with Heather Glenn is anything less than super solid in the coming season, Elektra's going to be able to get in there, and it would admittedly be interesting to see an older Elektra that's grown just like Matt has.

Matt stays solo: god I don't want this to be endgame because i want this man to have someone to love on him after a hard day, but this is entirely possible and in some ways, it would be a way for them to kinda easily dodge the ship question. I could absolutely see Matt trying to pull a tragic, 'my life is too dangerous for love' but I don't think this is where they'll go. They like the romance thing more, but maybe that's wishful thinking.

Other options: various comic characters are going to show up, and again, Kirsten's a possibility although I haven't seen any noise on her being a romance in Born Again, although if they have excellent chemistry that might be something they lean into down the line. As it stands though, I'm going to put my money on the writers bringing back Elektra for a Mattlektra tragic, fated love endgame.

[zeravmeta]

Thoughts on RvB Restoration Finale

not really that long just my 2 cents

I wanna say I liked the movie because I did enjoy myself watching it, but honestly I'm very much gonna stick to the RvB17 open ended finale

Overall the movie was... ok? It wasn't unwatchably bad the way RvB Zero was but it also just made a lot of choices that I disagree with fundamentally both with the writing and the core themes of the series as a whole. I've had this take ever since RvB14 on the fanbase and the writers but this movie flat out says it:

The writers are fucking unable to let go of PFL and Chorus in a meaningful way.

For a series thats core message is about saying goodbye, they literally dont let that part of the show die. They are functionally unable to let go of the past peaks of the franchise and write something new. And I get it: RvB fundamentally cycles with its storytelling, but what was so refreshing to me about RvB14-17 was that it actually progressed itself Past those peaks of RvB10 and 11-13 (and honestly people REALLY dont appreciate the good in those later seasons). It felt like a natural (if wacky) progression, and it definitely wasnt perfect but it gave the extended cast more opportunities to shine in ways we didnt appreciate before

This movie just doesnt do that? Honestly the fact that they KILLED Sarge and Doc was so... disrespectful to me? Like not in the sense that it was as bad as how RvB Zero (fake) killed Tucker, but more like it felt like the writers killed them off because they were following a book titled "How To Write Story" and saw 'killing off characters is good writing'. Sarge got a dramatic send off that also didnt feel that impactful? And I did see it coming from the start but having Doc be Washs' guilt haunting him just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Its a really self contained story, a whole bunch of characters outside the main 3 reds and Caboose felt ooc, a good chunk of characters dont even show up (dude where was DONUT??? youre telling me he only has 5 seconds in Simmons' mind in a cheerleading costume?), it was composed of like 3-4 sets total, Carolina, Tex and 479er all just kind of Show Up to be badasses in the way The New Person would show up in an MCU movie...

Honestly watching this movie I kind of felt like it would have a twist ending. Like the credits would play and then itd zoom out to show the Reds and Blues post S17 in a movie theater watching this dramatic finale, because thats honestly what it felt like: The whole movie was a cheap facsimile of RvB as a whole. The fact that Trocadero wasn't allowed/signed on to make the music for this finale really does influence this movie, since they used a whole bunch of songs and osts that felt out of place (though I will admit Vale Deah softly playing as Grimmons said goodbye to each other did make me choke up a little)

Despite my negative review, I do still recommend watching it, since there was stuff I did like: Simmons in a leader role, Tex and the fun reveal during her fight with Tucker-Meta, Grif FINALLY getting to retire, Caboose as a whole was really well written, there IS good in this movie! And again it's not unwatchable bad, it just... kind of leaves a somber, sour taste in my mouth. This movie threw a whole bunch of stuff to the wall not to see what would stick but to break it all and leave for the insurance money. Just a "hey since we're sinking might as well make all these callbacks and break a bunch of stuff along the way."

Welp. Goodbye, RvB. At least this way I know that RT dies without riding your coattails any longer. And hey given that RvB technically has 3 endings (RvB17, Zero and RvB19) you can just take your pick on what you like best anyways. Quick edit no jutsu I forgor to mention there is the sequence at the beginning of the movie where it is implied RvB19 COULD also be one of the simulations in and of itself so. yeah you can in fact just take it as you will

[jasminedragonart]

We all know that I think Brother Bear is the Magnum Opus of Disney and I've elaborated on that in a previous post. This one will therefore be dedicated to Pixar's Magnum Opus.

Moana, I hear you ask? Inside Out? Up?

No.

The Incredibles.

In order for it to be an amazing film there has to be layers to it. Inside Out, to me, is pretty one dimensional. I didn't get a lot out of it. Moana was okay, but nothing special, like I didn't hate it but I didn't love it.

But the Incredibles? It was amazing.

To start off with, this came out in 2004. Do you know what other superhero films were out in this era? Spider Man. Tobey McGuire's Spiderman. Other than that, the superhero franchise hadn't really hit off. It would be years until Iron Man, Captain America or even the Dark Knight would have the impact it would have on cinema. (The Dark Knight trilogy is great btw. I love and accept it as canon way more readily than I do the Snyder verse. That verse can go away and never see the light of day)

the point is, for this movie to have survived, nay, thrive, in a superhero-less world is astounding and I think that's just down to good writing, characterisation and the story itself.

To start off with, I didn't know this was set in the 60's until like, a month ago. But now I do know I love it. It fits so well and answers so many questions. The 60's were like the golden age of heros, or, what we call the golden age. You had the batman show in the 60's, you had the golden age of comics. It's just right that the Incredibles is set in the 60's too.

In terms of storytelling this is good too. We see that they still have phones and computers and tv's but they're limited. No smart phones, the technology that we would see in present day is high tech to them. I love it because it isolates the characters so well. The reason why a lot of shows these days die is because they set it in our modern world. The convenience we have in being able to send messages to each other is just ridiculous. In order to create a good story you need a way to isolate your characters. There needs to be mystery. By limiting the Incredibles to what was available in the 60's Brad Bird eliminated the questions on why Mr Incredible didn't just send a text to his wife or Edna that he was in danger. Why the other heros didn't ask for help. Their technology is limited, their data plan is nonexistent, they can't contact people across the world and this is great for creating an interesting story.

Starting back at the beginning, I think it's really interesting how we're introduced to Buddy. A lot of superhero sidekicks are literally found like Buddy was hoping to be found. He has the intelligence too. He basically did a Tim Drake. He tracked Mr Incredible down, he made himself available and he showed that he had the skills to at least be a good hero. The only difference here is that Mr Incredible's world isn't Batman's world. Buddy didn't persevere like Tim Drake did, he took his knowledge and he twisted it for evil which, again is such a good analysis or interpretation of what Tim Drake could have been if he didn't put on those Robin colours and force Batman to take him on board.

Then we get to the lawsuit. So, if you didn't get it, the Incredibles kind of honoured marvel here. I think X Men was out by now. It should have been. Yes. It was out in 2000. So the concept of mutants being second class citizens was known to those who watched the beginning of the MCU. The Incredibles is paying homage to this by making supers illegal. The supers are creating too much damage, they're doing more harm than good. Therefore the common people are fighting back and making them retreat back into the shadows. Again, an interesting concept because what happened to all these villains? What happened when Bon Voyage escaped prison again? How many people did he kill without Mr Incredible there to help catch him? We don't know but it's always been a wonder of mine as to how the world is as peaceful as it is when we catch up with the Incredibles in present day. How did they get to that point?

I'll never know.

Mr Incredible and Elastigirl, I think are Batman and Catwoman. I think. Meta Batman and Catwoman. They have the same feel, the same banter of Batman and Catoman but they could be another superhero couple. Either way, they have their happy ending by getting married and having kids

There's an interesting post out there explaining the kids names and the connection to their powers which I loved. So, yeah, dash- superspeed. He's the Flash, he's quicksilver. He's basically kid flash right now, or impulse since, is impulse born with his powers? Whatever the case, he doesn't quite know the extent of his powers just yet because he grew up in a world where supers are in hiding. Which, again, makes me question what happens to those heros who don't hide. There had to be a penalty for them beyond being sued. Back to the kids. Violet- ultraviolet light that can be invisible. There's also something about her being a teenager and keeping everyone out which is why she has her forcefields. She's also Susan Storm, that's the inspiration for her character's powers. Jack Jack is jack of all trades. His inspiration, I think, is Legion. I'm not too sure. Either way, I love their names and how they tie into their characters and powers.

Helen and Bob are aliases. People know that right? I'm pretty sure they got different identities through the years after their covers were blown. They would have to. Even in the 60's people could be tracked down, that's why they have this rehoming program for supers. It makes me wonder what Bob and Helen's real names are. I think they're alias's anyway. Either way, their last name would have to have changed over the years. At the beginning of the movie it's Parr which means average.

Which is what they're trying to be. They're trying to be average. But they aren't, that's the whole point of the movie. They're the only ones who are capable of doing what the government, what ordinary people, can't. They're the only ones who can adapt and put themselves in danger to stop Syndrome who spent his entire teenage and adult life trying to destroy supers. The whole message of the movie is there at the beginning. Violet and Dash can't help but use their powers because it's a part of them. They aren't normal, they're never going to be normal and they shouldn't have to be.

Mirage is an interesting character to look at. She's very Bond esque. It felt like they were mixing genres by introducing her but it works. She's a powerful woman at the head of an organisation. But then there are layers to her. Her name is literally Mirage, she's not what she seems. She looks good but is secretly working for Syndrome. But the real message is that she's on the bad guy's team but she's not a bad person. She does what's right for Mr Incredible, she lets him and his family go. She also suffers the Bond girl trope where she's either killed off or injured but her character arc is kind of over at this point so it works. That's the point with some tropes, they're not necessarily good but they work because they serve a purpose. Mirage doesn't need to be in the picture anymore so she needs an excuse to not be there. She's injured, easy, she's out of the picture now. It's not bad writing, it's just practical writing. Otherwise we'd be asking where she was.

I think I want to dedicate this part of why the Incredibles is amazing to focus on the super's graveyard. Not only the one Syndrome made, but the ways the supers have died over the years. Edna describes so many supers dying from such mundane things like a costume malfunction. How many of them perished before Edna refused to give them a cape? How many funerals were there over the years?

I think it's also important we focus on the supers graveyard for another reason too. Bob isn't the only super out there that feels like his purpose in life was taken away. The reason why these people take such mundane jobs as covers is because they have something else in their lives that makes them feel fulfilled. By not being allowed to fulfill that purpose they're only left with the mundane, and for us it's okay because this is the only thing we know, but for them? With their powers? It must feel so... disheartening or another word I can't think of right now. But to be talked down to, to not be recognised. It's not narcissism that has them out there helping people. They're good people trying to do good in the world because they can. It's sad that they can't, and it's horrible that this good nature is took advantage of by Syndrome. He murdered them horrifically. He turned their strengths against them, he made a murder bot, isolated them on an island, and had them hunted down just because he was told to go home as a child. To not be put in danger like kids shouldn't be put in.

It begs the question again, what happened to the other villains? Where are they? Why is Syndrome the only one we see appear in this gap of superhero history? I was expecting the 2nd Incredibles to focus on more villains that had cropped up in the shadows while they were gone but it didn't. Not really. the 2nd one wasn't as good as the 1st one. It was good, but it was lacking the layers the 1st one has. The questions on why and where. A lot of the new one was focused more on the family than the plot where as the first one had a good balance of the two.

Anyway, back to the analysis. This is such a good origin movie for Violet, Dash and Jack Jack. You have the mentors in Mr and Mrs Incredible, the ones who are experienced and handling a lot of the action. Then you have the young ones finding their powers and discovering what they can do, what they're capable of. You feel happy when you see Violet protect her brother with her shield. You're elated when Dash can run on water. They're little things that an experienced hero isn't able to elicit because they're used to their powers and we see this in the ease Mr Incredible has in himself and his capabilities, same as Mrs Incredible when she's worming her way into the compound. This movie is both an origin movie as well as kind of like a comeback. Mr and Mrs Incredible are out of retirement and the kids are stepping up into roles they never dreamed they could have.

The colour story is good too. Mr Incredible's old suit is blue. It's the suit he wore as a standalone hero. It's the suit he wears when he goes out with Frozone and the suit he wears on the island for the first time. It's the suit he wears where he's separated from his family. He's blue, he's alone. Red is a danger colour, it's passion, it's what groups this family together. They are the danger to Syndrome. They also have the yellow there to lesson the impact of the red. It's a happy colour, very soothing and lets us know that they're on the good team. It's also Elastigirl's old colour, or one of them. It's Bob finally including Helen in his life

There's a lot more to this movie I can't think of it right now.

Pixar peaked with this movie though.

[starsopinions]

We NEED to talk about Loki: Where Mischief Lies

Written by Mackenzi Lee in 2019, Loki: Where Mischief Lies is in my opinion an amazing book and has way better representation than some other Loki content (not naming names but *cough* Loki season 1 *cough*). I never see people talk about this book which is honestly such a shame because it has some great storytelling. It does not get the recognition it deserves and if you are on the fence as to whether to read it or not, let me give my perspective!

(Only very small spoilers ahead, no big plot points.)

The characters

Loki in this book has me in an absolute chokehold. I’m sorry the heels? The nail polish? The Everything?? No, but for real, I think it does a really good job of portraying Loki in a new light but he still is Loki, he has the same humour and acts like how I imagine Loki would in these situations. In the book, Loki is a teenager and I think it would fit right into the MCU. I like how it gives a new spin on his character but it is still recognizable as the Loki we all know and love. I really like Amora’s character as well, I can’t say too much without spoiling but I like the way she acts in the second half of the book. And then of course we have Teo, he is amazing, he is literally everything to me. He is really kind and in every scene he wasn’t in, I wish he was. His relationship with Loki is so fun to read and I love how it develops over the course of the book. 

The plot

It honestly feels like a fanfic (in the best way possible). I can’t say much without spoiling (sorry aargh) but it felt unique to other superhero stories. It was so lovely to read something innovative and new and not the same old superhero story we are used to. I also enjoyed the way the plot was set up and how it slowly escalated. I love how Loki’s chaotic personality, Amora’s manipulative tendencies and Theo’s kindness reacted and impacted different scenarios. 

Representation

I really like how Loki is presenting himself in a more feminine way(nail polish, heels, his behaviour). My little headcanon is that this is him discovering himself and exploring being gender fluid for the first time. I also really like how his sexuality is actually explored, unlike in Loki, where it is not just mentioned and then ignored. I obviously can’t say much without spoiling but if you have read it you know what I’m talking about.

These were my thoughts without any spoilers (I wish I could say more)! I hope you will give Loki: Where Mischief Lies a chance if you haven’t already, I promise you will like it! Thank you for reading and have a great day<3

[luna-rainbow]

Thanks again for answering my ask and sorry to bombard you with these.

I absolutely agree with you about Bucky and Zemo on TFatWS. This might be long as I have so many thoughts about this. The series seems to fail to understand T'Calla wasn't just someone who helped Bucky although he was of course. He was his friend. The movies don't get everything right with Bucky but I think Bucky and T'Calla's relationship is one of the high points. We don't see them much but when you do you can tell Bucky respected T'Calla immensely and not just because he's a King. He seems to be really genuinely fond of Shuri as well, asking her to call him Bucky instead of the formal Sargeant Barnes.

I know I said it before, but the Wakandans are his friends/his protectors/his adoptive family. He is not just some white guy with colonialist arrogance who expects favours from the African State. If anything its the other way around- he fought because he felt he owed T'Calla and his family a debt.

As such- I do not think he would ever have helped the person who killed T'Callas father. Yes he didn't know T'Chaka, but that is his friend's father. Its like if he found out someone killed Steve's mother and worked with them. Like slapping his friend in the face, and I can't see him doing that.

Also, finally can we talk about how the show robbed us of the emotional impact of T'Challa's death on Bucky? He's sad about Steve leaving but I firmly believe would have grieved for T'Calla too. He's lost not one but two of his best friends within a very short space of time, so he's got grief alongside all his other problems to deal with. Don't know how that man managed to stay sane. Well relatively sane and didn't have a complete breakdown.

Thanks for all the asks!

I love the idea that T'Challa and Bucky had a strong bond. I agree I think Ryan Coogler intended in that short post-credit scene to show that Wakandans have accepted Bucky as part of the family.

The kids are peering down curiously at him as he sleeps, and he doesn't startle, nor does he startle them when he wakes. There's a high degree of mutual trust there. He lives in their community, not in a boxed off high tech room like the one where he was put to sleep. They dressed him in their ethnic clothing and colour-coded it to match Steve. Someone tied (and probably combed) his hair for him when he didn't have a prosthesis. Someone has folded a blue shawl and tied it into a pretty sling to protect the stump of his arm. This is the image of a guy that was being well looked after -- not just in an impersonal, we gotta keep him alive kind of way, but in a what can we do to make his life better kind of way, and if that isn't some sort of family I don't know what is.

I mean...compare with this costume...that looks like some random sweatshirt from some sports brand worn backwards with the extra fabric pinned and pulled over tautly over his right shoulder, complete with the soft elastic cuffs and the weird neckline. Coogler put more effort into a 30 second cameo than TFATWS did for one of Bucky's most emotionally poignant scenes in a series where he's the main character. Sorry I'm never going to pass on an opportunity to shit on the series.

And like yeah, while I don't ship T'Challa and Bucky (I really like T'Challa with Nakia in the MCU), I think they're an underrated dynamic. They strike me as somewhat similar in temperament? Both peace-loving, respectful and compassionate guys, who have a strong sense of loyalty and a fierce streak when someone they love is hurt. And both Bucky and T'Challa are older brothers to younger sisters, and they both have that oldest kid sense of weary responsibility. And for someone who was broken out of 70 years of brainwashing by being reminded of a promise he made, Bucky clearly has a strong sense of loyalty and responsibility.

So yeah, it makes no sense to me that Bucky would actively do something so personally hurtful, so disloyal and irresponsible to T'Challa, without adequate justification.

As for the mourning, yeah. At the time they didn't know how Coogler was planning to write T'Challa out of the story, so that might be why the mourning wasn't in there. To be honest, Bucky's feelings about Steve was handled poorly too. As I've mentioned before, the series avoids actually addressing how Steve's departure played out. Sam and Bucky are sad about Steve's absence, but never talk about the hurtful way Endgame!Steve abandoned both of them, which is far more emotionally relevant. They talk about him as though he had died in a noble sacrifice, not dumped the world on them and went to mess up someone else's timeline.

[italeteller]

Well, it's officially My Herover

What a god damn bummer

I remember starting the series, feeling not quite satisfied with the MCU at the time and loving Izuku and All Might and the way the series didn't take long to put Bakugo's ego in check

Then the sports festival arc blew everything out the water. Deku's resourcefulness during the obstable race, the cavalry team battle, Bakugo vs Uraraka, my boy Shinso, and the unforgettable Deku vs Todoroki really made me feel like this was a mangaka who could make an excellent story with any character, no matter how little screentime they'd had before

The Stain arc wasn't quite as impactful as the sports festival, but it did wonders for Deku, Iida and Todoroki's growth, and Uraraka's martial arts training was a welcome surprise

The training camp was Deku's finest moment. I don't care what anybody says, "My Hero" is the greatest Izuku chapter and both the manga and anime did magic with it

And then came the peak of the series, though we wouldn't know it for years. All Might vs All for One. I remember being stressed out of my mind that All Might would die, and happy beyond belief when he survived

But then cracks started appearing. The eight precepts arc skipped the all-girls team and gave Izuku a get-out-of-jail-free card to abuse his powers with no consequences whatsoever. The festival arc was great but seeing Nejire in a beauty competition didn't make up for her being skipped in the eight precepts arc

And then Izuku developed a second quirk, and the promise of six more quirks down the line, which was honestly the beginning of the end. I said as much when the chapter dropped and history had proven me right. Because Izuku was already gonna become the strongest hero in history, stronger than All Might, because that's how OfA works. There was no need to give him a swiss army knife of extra superpowers

The villain arc did little to ease my worries. It focused on the three villains that had already had the most screentime and ignored Spinner and Compress who really needed some more background exploration, and it made Shigaraki bonkers levels of powerful

And then there was the war. During the kids' first year of school. Midnight got killed offscreen, because I guess Horikoshi needed someone "important" to die but he didn't want to kill anybody actually important (seriously, go look at the list of casualties of the war. It's a bunch of nobodies and Midnight)

Star and Stripes came and died only to nerf Shigaraki, which wouldn't have been necessary ir Hori could balance his power sets

Nagant came, exposed even more the dark side of hero agencies, got immediately redeemed by Izuku and then blew up

Deku's vigilante arc was. A thing that existed. And it really showed how underdeveloped most of Class 1A were, because the big emotional scene where everybody asks Izuku to remember the good times they shared together was 80% "hey remember this one and only scene we had?". Points for Bakugo and Iida though, they got the good stuff

The traitor reveal arc was also a thing that happened. Woulda been nice if the kids had had some actual time to process their feelings and deal with the fallout of the whole thing

And then the final war. Boy, did that one drag on forever. Bakugo died, then he got better because a hero who never had any screentime with him sacrificed himself to save him except he didn't even die so no biggie

Toga and Spinner could have had something, maybe, but Hori didn't spent enough time to seriously make them impactful. Spinner especially, the whole heteromorph discrimination thing felt way too forced and tacked on at the last minute

All Might busted out a mecha suit to fight on All for One's level, which would've come in pretty handy when they fought against Shigaraki. Then AfO died, but then he wasn't dead and was actually the one who gave Shigaraki his quirk, and he ate Shigaraki's soul and became the big bad, and then he died literally 2 chapters later, and Shigaraki who had enough energy left for one last hit against AfO also died for good. Oh and Izuku lost both arms, which had been built-up to happen since the sports festival, but then he got them back one chapter later so. No biggie

And then the final chapters. Society got better, don't ask for details. Everybody is 8 years older, don't ask for timeskip designs. Izuku is now a teacher, but he gets a new mech suit that shouldn't have taken 8 years to develop considering All Might's took months, and he jumps right back up to be a hero. The end

My Hero feels like the new gen Naruto. A large cast with varied powers that 80% never get properly developed in favor of the big 3, and a very interesting world that barely gets explored

The 1A vs 1B arc really feels like the point where the series becomes something different. Side characters begone, it's the Izuku-Bakugo-Shoto story. Inko, the protagonist's mother, who always had been shown suffering through Izuku's many injuries and even got All Might to admit he hadn't been taking proper care of his protegé, got sidelined and we don't even see her react to the truth of Izuku's quirk. Izuku masters 6 quirks offscreen, whereas before the series made an absolute point of showing the process of him growing and learning and improving

I really loved this series, and I'm damn dissappointed in what it became, in case it wasn't clear. I hope Horikoshi has made enough money to rest for a while. By the end he constantly needed to take breaks because his health was just going down the drain. I hope he gets to kick back and relax, and if he ever writes anything else I'm not gonna read it

Good bye, My Hero Academia. I'll always cherish the first parts and the characters, almost as much as I'll mourn all the wasted potential they all had

[badlynamedurl]

I’ve had a cursed thought

If (when🤞) moon knight gets another season or maybe a movie, I can soooo see Marvel Studios introducing Shadow Knight. And I would hate it so so much.

If you don’t know who Shadow Knight is, he’s Marc’s brother Randall Spector who became a supervillain after murdering Marc’s girlfriend, he has a similar skill set to Marc and blah blah blah he’s honestly a pretty boring supervillain regardless of the juicy family drama. Obviously in the show, Randall dies tragically as a child, his death being the catalyst for Marc’s childhood trauma that would lead to him developing DID.

So how would they even introduce an adult Randall into the story? Well the multiverse of course! Now no ending for any character has any meaning because they just exist somewhere else, nothing matters!!

It would just be such an awful decision that would not forward Steven and especially not Marc’s development in any way. Just the cheap, shallow melodrama of “oh no!! My brother is alive again! But he’s a villain so I have to kill him but I don’t want to!”

But it’s easy melodrama to write, plus Marvel just keeps reinforcing this multiverse that everyone got tired of two years ago and insisting it’s key to all their future projects.

Idk why I’m getting mad about something that isn’t even real I just hate character resurrection so much, and Randall is not a character that needs to be brought back. Sometimes (every time imo) it’s way more impactful for a character to just die and never come back, that’s how it works in reality and I think that’s what gives mcu Moon Knights backstory more weight, because it was just a tragic freak accident that ended up shaping who Marc/Steven/Jake are. An accident that we watch Marc grow and forgive himself for in the show, we never need to elaborate or alter it in any way, shape or form again.

Ps. I know Moon Knight gets resurrected multiple times but that’s because god won’t let him die! which is way more interesting (and funnier)

[traincat]

Random question but do you know if the 616 Coffee Bean gang and Felicia have canonical birthdays?

Oh, this is a tough one. Superhero comics birthdays are a little rough -- sometimes there's no information, sometimes there's contradicting information, sometimes there's a birthday but it's for one Eisner winning miniseries that is about the fictional "real people" who, in the comic, inspired the superhero characters. (And even in that example it was two different birthdays, one in the single issues and one in the trade.)

I don't think there's an "official" canonical birthday for Peter. I've seen a lot of people use Spider-Man Day -- August 1st -- as his birthday, because it's the anniversary of Amazing Fantasy #15, Peter's very first appearance. Even though it isn't, actually, the anniversary -- there's conflicting dates for the release of Amazing Fantasy #15. Some information says it actually came out June 5th, other information says August 10th. So you can see how we're getting tricky already. I don't think there's anything wrong with using any of those dates for Peter's birthday, but if you're someone who wants one specific date -- there just isn't one. I know his passport is flashed in Spider-Man: Far From Home, although I can't remember if the date is shown (and I'm not looking at that movie again), so it's possible there's a concrete birthday that could be pointed to for MCU!Peter. But would it apply to 616!Peter? Shrug. That's the kind of thing people need to decide for themselves. Personally, I think the Amazing Fantasy #15 dates (all of the various ones) are really interesting if you wanted to run an astrological chart to look at the impact of the character on our world -- his continued relevance, the shifts in characterization and tone throughout the decades, how he reflects and is reflected upon by our real world. But that's a different thing than an in-universe canon birthday.

And it's difficult to use first appearances as birthdays for the other characters in the gang -- you could for Mary Jane and Felicia, if you wanted, but Harry and Gwen appear for the first time in the same issue, which would give them the same birthday by that rule, and the same goes for Flash, who appears for the first time in Amazing Fantasy #15 alongside Peter.

Harry does have a birthday listed in canon -- Dark Web #1 says his birthday in December 13th. I don't have any particular feelings on this or reason not to just go with it, aside from my deep and burning hatred for the whole Dark Web event. It's a little cute if Harry Osborn, given the sliding timescale, was born on the exact same day as Taylor Swift. He has the energy.

For Gwen and Mary Jane -- we don't have birth dates in 616. We do have issues that contain birthday parties. And I really need to get my refs folder back on my laptop because this would go so much faster if I could just look it up that way. (If you google "Mary Jane Watson birthday" it will tell you August 19th, but that's from someone's wiki for their fan project. There seems to be a general September birthday for Gwen from ITSV, but I don't know if I would choose to use that for 616 Gwen, personally. That's another "you gotta do you" situation.) Spectacular Spider-Man #9's backup story, Sweet Revenge, features a surprise birthday party for MJ, explicitly on her birthday. Again, the older comic dates screw us a little bit -- the cover date is September. The information I can dig up says this was actually released May 16th. Gwen has a birthday party in Amazing Spider-Man #87.

Again, I have conflicting dates for this one, but it's a little funny -- the two dates I've found are August 1st and August 10th, two of the dates given for Amazing Fantasy #15's release date. I kind of like the idea that it's actually Gwen's birthday that the grand Peter celebration falls on. There's something very starcrossed lovers about a date assumed to be Peter's birthday actually being Gwen's. Something something how intertwined Gwen is with the text, long after her death.

For Felicia -- I have nothing, unfortunately. I can't think of anything that would even give us a reference to get close to a month, let alone a date. The same goes for Flash. If anyone knows differently, please let me know!

[valkyrieandstrangeridingaragorn]

Okey, it's very concerning even from Peggy Carter fans self that in what if that Peggy immediately recognize Bucky just looking his eyes....

I think MCU want said that Peggy is 'more close' to Bucky or more awesome than Steve because how easy she can recognize him rather than Steve his bestfriend/his brother. Didn't they realize that they basically made PC becoming very sus and she not look 'heroic' at all?

What I get in what of they intended made PC look more awesome than Steve but somehow it make her look arrogant and annoying and worst of all they made other characters keep praised her like Melina Markov (Natasha 'fake' mom) and so on.

Ugh can MCU make other characters not praised other characters to make them look awsome, prove it and showing it to us that they are awsome

Now we in era of claimed it and not showing it

I think they got carried away In What If. They wanted to show her as this capable woman who can recognize Bucky by his eyes only and with his mask on, but they didn't realize that in doing so there are only two options: either she was close to him before Hydra or she had heard about the Winter Soldiers. MCU canon tells us the former is not the case since she couldn't care less about him, so we're left with the latter, which is proved later by Howard's line when he confirms he had heard the rumours.

After S1 of What If we had a bunch of articles saying she was a better Captain than Steve. I don't know if those people realize that the shield is not what made Steve a hero, but then again taking into account Marvel's treatment of Steve post-CW, maybe they don't understand that themselves.

I don't see why Melina would idolize someone like Saint Maggy anyway. Being a hero is not only a matter of power, it's about taking action when something goes wrong, whether it impacts you personally or not. It's Steve's "If I see a situation pointed south, I can't ignore it." Saint Margaret did nothing about the red room, she did nothing to help Bucky after he worked with them, they were content with "hearing rumours" and doing nothing about it. What's heroic about that?

When the characters are well written, they don't need those around them to praise their every move and existence. The audience is captivated by their actions and their words enough to not need a guiding hand telling us to love them. This is what Marvel is failing at in these new phases. In the past they would focus on the characters and let the audience decide who got a big fanbase and who didn't. Now they're trying to push certain characters forward and telling us we have to love them, and that's not how it works.

[buttercups-song]

Alright, so I’ve seen a couple of hot takes that there is no queerbaiting in the Loki show (and what’s even funnier that mcu has never queerbaited) because Loki is canonically queer… and like… alright so there’s no queerbaiting in spn because technically speaking cas is queer? Queerbaiting is a marketing strategy so even if we ignore what’s in the show, the chemistry between actors and some truly insane acting choices, the Loki show is queerbaiting because of how it was marketed, and especially how the first season was marketed. Before the show aired we were told that Loki was going to have multiple love interests, we were told that sophia di martino was playing loki (and told so in a way that suggested that she was playing ‘our’ loki). There is a part of the soundtrack that is literally named ‘lokius’. Even before this season started airing the marketing heavily focused on the relationship between Loki and mobius, reassuring us that Our Loki would be with Our mobius.

And alright I’ll give them that they confirmed that loki is bi/pan in episode three and let’s ignore that the confirmation was two seconds long, pretty vague, had no impact on the plot nor characters and wasn’t mentioned ever again. Ok. Fine. Honestly my much bigger gripe is with how they handled Loki’s gender.

Which is to say that they fucked up. Despite Loki being gender-fluid in the comics and despite how the show was marketed, the text of the show heavily suggests that both our Loki and Sylvie are cis. Ok so the arrest report in the credit says: “sex: fluid”. Which is completely different from saying (and showing) that Loki is gender-fluid. What is shown in the show (or rather in the credits, which let’s be real almost no one bothers to read) is that Loki’s sex is fluid… which yes he’s a shapeshifter. That’s not representation, they don’t say that Loki is trans, the fans can read it that way, but disney doesn’t have to fear backlash from conservatives because Loki in the show is not gender-fluid, he’s a shapeshifter (who doesn’t shapeshift for some reason). Sylvie literally says that she was born a “goddess of mischief”, every single other Loki is shocked by the idea of a ‘female version’ of them. It’s supposed to be a #girlboss moment but it’s not! It reads like every Loki is a (cis) man! And sure you can have a head canon that they’re shocked that Sylvie is exclusively presenting as a woman, or that Sylvie is not cis but obviously was born a goddess. But that’s not what’s in the text. From episode one when talking about the variant they’re hunting everyone in the tva uses ‘he’ pronoun when referring to them. Why? All they know is that they’re hunting a loki, so if Loki is gender-fluid (or even if their ‘sex is fluid’ as referred to in the show) why assume that the variant they’re looking for is a he? (Probably for the extremely obvious plot twist when Sylvie shows up). I’m actually so mad about this, gender-fluid representation is so rare and they took a canonically gender-fluid character and did what?

There’s so much queerbaiting in the show! And they know what they’re doing! It’s not a coincidence that they’re leaning so much into loki and mobius’ banter! It’s not a coincidence that in the First episode (!) of season two we get a scene in which Loki before pruning himself goes “if I don’t make it back, I…” which is meant to sound like a beginning of a confession! Which was a beginning of a confession last season when it was directed towards sylvie! It’s almost exactly the same scene! But let’s be real, he probably was going to say something like: “if I don’t make it back, find sylvie”.

Why are we still getting this treatment in 2023? (because it clearly pays well) If they didn’t want to give us good queer rep, why market it as such? Loki is queer in the comics, he wasn’t canonically queer in the movies (despite the immaculate vibes). They could have left it alone. I’m sure that many people still would have shipped Loki and mobius because of the incredible chemistry between actors and (let’s be real) that just how fandoms work, but that wouldn’t count as queerbaiting, because again that’s a marketing strategy.

[velvetvexations]

I saw a post recently deriding the take that superheroes are inherently fascist, but I think it's complicated.

They DID all come from that seed of vigilante bullshit where they all practically worshipped the cops (except early Superman who didn't spit on them but neither was he especially respectful) and warred against vague Crime as a concept, often represented by "the Underworld" conceptualized in a way that's very familiar to anyone whose seen people rant about antifa.

However, they started to inch away from that in the Bronze Age. It was a very, very gradual process, with some regressions like how post-Crisis Batman swung hard into Gotham being a nightmare of New York at it's worst in the 80s (although that came with plenty of criticism of the cops and elite), but by the time of the MCU it's notable that none of the Avengers fought crime. We could get into how it used a modified version of the Ultimates-set up (which was explicitly designed to be a little fucked, which is something I love about the first two Ultimates minis and especially the second) and that version of Hawkeye and Black Widow who are basically heroic CIA ("wOrLd SeCuRiTy CoUnCiL") assassins played totally straight that then shifts to being a billionaire's world shaping pet project, but at least in terms of vigilantism it takes until Spider-Man for someone to be like, going out at night to stop muggings like a "classic" superhero and I think his age does a lot to dial down the eyebrow you can raise at the fact that he's going up against a gang of ordinary criminals doing ordinary criminal things (just, you know, with scavenged alien tech).

Then we get Daredevil, which takes pains to portray the Kingpin as a very rich man gentrifying neighborhoods and terrorizing the underprivileged. Then season two introduces the Punisher, who I really thought would have already been absolved if you just limit his crusade to the specific mafiosos who killed his family, but despite killing a bunch of mafiosos anyway it still turns out to have been at the behest of a rogue element of the US military - I guess because they just needed a twist. It's hard to stretch out a Punisher story for too long for obvious reasons. Then in season one of the Punisher it's a PMC (including yet more rogue US military).

I didn't watch season two of the Punisher because I'd heard it was going to adapt The Slavers and got really excited, but then it turned out to not adapt The Slavers and I lost all interest. But that makes sense and fits into my thesis here, because even aside from how soul-crushingly bleak The Slavers was, THERE IS NO FUCKING WAY Netflix or Disney or ANYONE would EVER do the window scene, or at least not without changing it to a guy and that really feels like it'd drain the scene of half it's impact. But here we again see concern for optics.

Luke Cage was interesting because by starring an underprivileged Black man on the run for crimes he didn't commit, he was able to fight criminals without it being weird, and what's more they were Black criminals, reinforcing Black people are perfectly capable of being both villains and heroes in a narrative without white people one way or another. This was crucial, since racism is another common element of the problematic soup of traditional superhero narratives.

But while I haven't really been paying attention to cape stuff at all lately, other than that I don't really think there's been a lot that wasn't total sci-fi fantasy bullshit, including the following two Spider-Man movies.

Except, I guess, The Batman (2022). But that movie fucking RULED so it's fine.

[where-theres-smoak-2]

So here's a theory. I was thinking about the hela episode of what if and she says that line about her dad's new girlfriend Frigga, meaning Frigga is not Hela's mother which I can't remember if we had been told that before or not, I think we did but the reconfirmation got me thinking. Also something else that caught my attention was the scene of young hela with puppy fenris, it reminded me so much of the scene in 1x04 of Loki with young sylvie when she is playing with her toys. Which then got me thinking about Sylvie's family because we actually don't know much of anything about Sylvie's life or family before the TVA showed up. The conversation between Loki and Sylvie in 1x3 of Loki, where they talk about their mothers, is interesting because it could be an insinuation that Frigga is not Sylvie's adoptive mother.

Something else we don't know is who Hela's mother in the MCU is. Which brings me to my theory, what if in Sylvie's universe Odin never marries Frigga and it was actually Hela's mother who adopted Sylvie and not Frigga. That might explain why, unlike Loki, she wasn't taught magic as a child by her mother. Also Sylvie never mentions Thor or siblings at all, this could be because she doesn't remember them or it's too painful to talk about them (or the showrunners/ writers didn't think it was important enough to mention) or another possibility is that she never had siblings, maybe she was adopted after Hela was banished and if we go with the theory that Odin never marries Frigga and its Hela's mother who adopted Sylvie, then maybe in her universe Thor was never born.

I do think it could be an interesting idea to explore, how much of a difference it would make to have a loki raised by someone other than Frigga. It could show just how much of an impact being raised by Frigga and alongside Thor, really had on Loki.