#and you think despite all this stuff about the multiverse how does he feel about the chief being saved? hes probably rly grateful right?

[collieii]

someone probably said this already but in spiderverse i think it's interesting how when pavitr was first introduced everyone thought something bad was gonna happen to him bc of how confident and optimistic he was. and then in the actual movie we see that something bad was supposed to happen to him (police chief dying!) but it doesn't! miles stops it! and miguel berates miles for this, says it's going to cause the universe to collapse or whatever.

there's this idea that tragedy is inherent to spidermans growth, and while it's true that some spiderpeople learn important lessons through loss, no one stops to ask, is it really necessary? yeah, maybe the chief was supposed to die. but why does spiderman have to be formed through tragedy? why do we (as heroes) have to let people die? pavitr didn't lose anyone, and he's still a good spiderman! maybe, if he doesn't suffer, he'll end up better off for it!

so while miguel is arguing for all this big picture stuff about saving the multiverse he's lost sight of what it really means to be a spiderman, he's not looking out for the real individual people. yeah it's just one person who would die, but that one person means something to someone. shrugging and saying "stuff just sucks sometimes, we can't do anything about it" is the opposite of what superheroes do. pretty obviously, miles arc is also a reflection of the struggles people face in real life, working within unequal systems, where it's easy to shrug and say "that's just the way it is" and not ask "but why does it need be this way? can't we do something about it?"

miguel is arguing that you can't have your cake and eat it too. presumably, miles and co. are going to find a way to get around that and change things for the better (and maybe that's why miles has that line about two cakes in the advisors office!)

[lazyjellyfish300]

Love Across Dimensions

Miguel O'Hara x Reader s/o

TW: ANGST, LONG DISTANCE RELATIONSHIP, READER IS MID 20S, MIGUEL'S IN HIS EARLY 30S, FLUFF. MINORS DNI AS THIS WORK IS CONNECTED TO ONE OF MY NSFW BLURBS.

Synopsis: You're from a different dimension than him. You didn't ask to fall in love with the protector of the multiverse, and it sure as hell isn't easy being in a long distance relationship with him. But what you have is special, and that's always worth waiting for. The Nicholas Sparks movie Dear John inspired this a little. (The moon quote 😫🫶🏾)

A/N: spinoff of my phone sex blurb, Long Distance. Here's some more insights into y'all's relationship. This one is mostly SFW, maybe a NSFW version coming soon? Headcanons/outline ish? Idk what it is but here you go. NSFW PART 2

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- He walks through his portal at HQ with your lip gloss shiny all over his neck and doesn't think to wipe it off. Clearly he's not a makeup expert and forgets that this stuff smears easily. Hobie and Pav snicker together, " well, wonder where he's been." (They already know)

"Shut it, you two!"

"Sureee, boss."

-You have him get you a trinket from every dimension, it's not up for debate. It's always a snow globe or a postcard. Your fridge and your shelf space are both running out of room by now to store them. The postcards are filled with sweet handwritten words from Miguel, telling you about his day and the location they're from.

-He won't take you across dimensions with him. He crafted you your own version of a gizmo to call him and summon Lyla whenever you need her, but you don't have the ability to travel across dimensions yet. Even Miguel can't bring himself to break his own rules, despite how much he wishes he could just bring you here and keep you here himself. The threat of canon disruption looms over his head. Losing Gabi destroyed him. A piece of his heart never recovered. Losing you could be the straw that breaks him. Not to mention, he can't protect you at all times if he took you along on his missions. He takes comfort in knowing you're tucked in, safe at home watching your favorite movies or with your best friends at a new restaurant getting drinks.

-You always save songs that you think he'd like and have all the reels you want to show him saved in a folder called "Memes for Miggy ❤️." His playlist on your Spotify is just titled "🖤" because you don't want anyone to know it's just songs for you two.

-You hardly see him. Dating someone like him is not for the weak. You can usually count on seeing him maybe once a month if you're lucky. And he'll usually stay for the weekend. And it's always the best weekend of your life.

-It took a while for him to get there, but he's super romantic/poetic when he's in love. He reassures you as you two stand outside one night, his arms wrapped around you from behind, resting his chin on your head.

"If you ever miss me, just look at the sky. It's my anchor to you. Know that when you look up at it, that I'm somewhere in it, not far away. The colors of the sky, the position of the stars, the shadow of the moon and the rays of the sun are the same in every universe, including this one where we end up together."

-His favorite gift from you is a bottle of your perfume. He'll take a sniff every now and then and close his eyes and imagine you're next to him. You do the same with his cologne. He's left a ton of hoodies and sweatpants at your house. You wear them to bed every night and give them a spritz whenever you feel like his scent is wearing off.

-The first night after he leaves is the hardest. But the night after that hurts a little less. As does the night after that, and after that, and so on. The stab wound of his departure healing itself as it has dozens of times before by now. Your heart steadily molds back to its original shape in your chest, no longer shattered. You immerse yourself in your work and your friends, trying to go out every now and then, imagining he's right there with you. Because even though he's light years away, he still is.

-But sometimes , the ache of his absence hits you like a wave crashing against a cliff it threatens to erode. When you accidentally play that song that you two belted in the car together, or when you see the carmelicious fudge ice cream in your freezer that you haven't touched since the last time you two ate it together, sharing the carton. It hurts when you realize you're spending another Christmas Eve without him, leaving you with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk that you have to enjoy all by yourself, staring at his stocking you bought and stuffed for him hanging untouched over your fireplace. Hearing your niece and nephew buzzing about their Valentine's cards they get to hand out at school, knowing that the one you bought for Miguel will stay forgotten in the grocery bag in your closet. Tiny needles that pierce you. A jarring reminder that your heart is split in two across a vast continuum of time and space, with Miguel holding the other half on the opposite side.

-You cry, a lot. And little do you know, he does too. The last time after you guys got home from a few days at a little beach house in San Diego, you just sobbed and sobbed into his arms while he held you in your pajamas as you slowly walked him to your apartment door. His expression was sorrowful as he tried to brush your tears away, lip trembling as he tried to ward off his own tears that threatened to release, a tight knot causing his voice to choke in his throat.

"I'll back for you. I promise, baby. Think of me, okay? Use your watch to call me whenever you want."

You look up at him, mucus running down your nose and your eyes puffy and red, but you don't care. You bathe in the ruby ocean of his eyes for one more moment, windows to his precious soul that now inevitably belongs to you. You touch his cheeks, the smooth pattern of his skin imprinting itself in your palms, his warmth transferring onto you a final time before your body eventually forgets.

He walks forward across the threshold with a deep breath as he lets go of your hand at last, slowly closing the door behind him. The door barely clicks before he's ripping it back open, pulling you back into his arms as you wail and sob some more while he just rocks you gently in his embrace, his face buried in your neck.

Trying to tattoo the scent and feel of your body into his memory one more time. As though the very essence of you were all the rations he'd need to hold him off until that moment when he could feast on your beautiful smile once again. He tries not to think about how this could be the last time. The reality of the dangers of the job he signed up for are a painful reminder. Being Spider-Man is a sacrifice.

He finally closes the door behind him, and walks slowly through the orange glowing tunnel, tears leaking down his face, gasping as though the wind got knocked out of him. He hates saying goodbye, praying and pleading to whatever deity is out there that it wouldn't be the last time he did.

Why did the universe plant you so far away from him? Why did the love of his life exist on a plane of existence separate from his? The laws of time, space, and the formidable, neverending, infinite weight of the multiverse barring you two from each other.

But you're his true love. Of course he'd find his way back to you. In any universe.

------

💖

[evilwickedme]

This wasn't asked for because nobody in their right mind would ask for this but this is a fic rec list of fics I cannot stop rereading

Just started yet another reread of Inimitable Verse by deniigiq and I fully plan on rereading their into the multiverse series which occasionally crosses over also - this is a Spider-Man/team red focused series, think comics canon infused early mcu-spidey since only homecoming had come out for a non substantial amount of time they were working on the series and the daredevil stuff is explicitly tv show AND comics. Also the multiverse series is how I got into Murderdock and therefore how I got into Spider Gwen

Unpretty's Sorrowful And Immaculate Hearts series which is just a loosely interconnected series of DC fics. My personal favorites are Empty Graves, in which Martha Kent keeps killing time travelers trying to kill baby! Clark; any of their clois fics but especially Third Wheel; and Anti-Social, which is a social media fic mostly about Tim and Bruce that made me cry laughing. Catch Bruce trying to get Walmart's employees to unionize. Also shout out to unpretty's only fic with Jason in it, it looks awesome but is tragically incomplete

This particular Reverse Robin AU which put in the work to reverse every single younger generation and is chef's kiss I LOVE this version of Tim he's wild

Both of Shoalsea's fics are in constant rotation for me I talk about Into The Brighter Night all the time in the tags of reblogs and stuff it truly lives in my head rent free. Anyway Tim gets kidnapped by aliens and the batfam have to watch as yj98 saves him and it's angsty and funny and such a good take on what could have been if the new 52 hadn't happened. And Compassion Builds No House is about Tim and Pru from Red Robin. Ugh they're both so good

Speaking of Clois (I did you've just forgotten this by now) brilliant (like a confession) by kathkin (penny-anna on the hellsite) is so fucking good I'm. Okay. Anyway it'll be listed as inspiration if/when I finally post my two person love triangle fic for them

I'm too anxious to catch up on this before it's done but jumble sale chic is hands down the best spideydevil fic series despite and because of the omegaverse

Make A Little Birdhouse In Your Soul is my favorite take on Jason, period, and has a lot of fantastic Damian stuff going on too. It's updating every few weeks still! Sometimes more often! I love you bacondoughnut it's me JustGail the person who will not stop commenting on your fic you're stuck with me forever

I lied above Rumspringa Murderdock is what got me into Murderdock but that series is second place. I found this one while scrolling through the tv show's mattfoggy tag, thinking I was safe

Speaking of Murderdock mattfoggy, The Lawyer All the Wickedness was written early on in spider-gwen's history and so diverges from canon really early in ways that I think are super interesting and creative

Oh also straight on 'til morning by merils (Tumblr url mamawasatesttube) does SUCH a great job unpacking Kon's trauma and building up healthy relationships around him including a budding timkon romance and yeah it makes me sad and happy at the same time

We're getting into poisonivory territory so just trust if you like the pairing and poisonivory is writing it you'll like it. Ok rapidfire

Like A Handprint On My Heart mattfoggy soulmate au with a twist

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Damijon future fic/au. Jon came back from the future when both of them were 19. Demisexual!Damian at its best. Damian's terrified of being abandoned by Jon again and it made my heart hurt

I feel like I've already recommended every JayRoy fic by poisonivory and genuinely I do reread them all, sometimes in order of publication if I'm in a particular mood. Maybe the one I've read most though is I've Got the Feeling You're the Right Thing After All which is about Roy and Jason starting a fwb thing while Roy still harbors old feelings for Dick. Can't see anything going wrong here lmao

Mmm this post is long enough so I'll leave it at just superhero fic for now but I do in fact have the ability to do a whole post just for the Witcher or Leverage so I might do that. Anyway thanks for following me on yet another burst of insanity it will happen again

[zephrunsimperium]

is Knowing Me, Knowing You a romantic billford story? what kind of story is it, actually? it looks interesting but I’m afraid to read any type of billford in fear of it being… not the best. what do you think of the ship, actually, since you’re such a fidduathor fan? also, does it end okay, even when incomplete? I have a lot of questions about the fic tbh. too scared to read it tho lol

Whooooo boy do I have a lot to say about this... I highly encourage everyone to read this entire post.

So, my thoughts on BillFord are extremely complicated. I am, first and foremost, a FiddAuthor shipper. That is the ship I consider canon and I even headcanon Bill to be aroace and actively encourage Ford and Fidds to get together because Ford needs to get over stupid societal homophobia plus it's fun to wear down the human's moral compass about hitting on a married man.

BillFord is a FASCINATING concept and it's not hard to see why the ship is as popular as it is despite the (well-deserved) stigma; a lot of things between them that can be read as fuel to the shipping fire. (ie the hair ruffles, the nose flick, the nicknames, the gold statue, the piano serenade, Ford being attracted to the strange, Bill offering to make Ford "one of us," even the possibly kinky undertones of glowy blue chains and bodily possession)

But the problem is that the ship can get very nasty very fast. Make no mistake, what Bill does to Ford is abuse. He is manipulative and violent and cruel. "Mystery bruises?" Literally torturing Ford on screen? Driving a wedge between Ford and his support system to the point that he has extreme trouble trusting people? Preying upon Ford's insecurities about being a freak? That is horrifying stuff, in particular because of how clear the parallels are to real world abuse.

With that in mind, let me talk about KMKY. I loved this fic to pieces. It’s written and organized incredibly well with a good mix of humor, sentiment, tragedy, and villainy without ever feeling off-balance tonally. The best thing about this fic, however, is the mature and nuanced themes about abuse: how hard it is to still love your abuser even when you start realizing that they're as bad as they are, accepting that you're a victim and have no reason to apologize, how an abuser's own trauma isn't an excuse for their actions. I really appreciate that the author has sympathy for Bill while still clearly acknowledging that "hey, what Bill did to Ford was abuse and Ford doesn't have to forgive him, much less take him back." A lesser writer would force Bill and Ford together, but that's not what happens because it's not what should happen.

So, for anyone who is interested in reading it... The gist of it is that instead of inviting Fiddleford to work on the portal, Ford makes a body for Bill to assist in person. The first 33 chapters develop their relationship (ft. Fiddleford being confused and stressed) and then Ford finds out Bill has been lying and eventually goes through the portal. It is very much a romance but the writing is so good that there are times when it's genuinely heartbreaking that the two of them won't work out.

I would definitely say that Bill is the main character (even though Ford has a significant amount of viewpoint time and he's the one you're supposed to root for) because he's the one who changes throughout the story. It's not a positive change, but it is an extremely compelling character arc. The characterization of Bill in this fic is particularly cool to me because he’s definitely a complete person, but he’s very clearly inhuman.

A little preview/incentive to read it: all of Bill’s underlings have individual personalities, Jheselbraum is a super important character and her characterization is... really cool (that's not a good description, but I was in love with it), the worldbuilding of all the places Ford visits in the multiverse was really cool and fun, there are great OCs like Wendy's mom, this mob boss guy that is a delight to hate, and a sarcastic kick-ass alien lady, Bill's backstory is really impactful, Pyronica is a bad bitch, Bill and Ford fight zombies while We Go Together from Grease plays in the background, there are cool themes about enjoying the mundane things in life and how society treats the Strange, and well-written humor that had me laughing out loud constantly. For as long as it is, all of it was extremely memorable and hardly any of it felt like filler. (I will warn you if you choose to read it, there is some serious steam.)

As for the ending... I totally understand why the author stopped writing it. They were trying to make it canon-compliant, but by the time it caught up to the show it was very clear that adhering to the canon material was holding them back. They did their best, but I could tell they weren't enjoying writing it and if you're not enjoying your art, then I don't think it's worth doing.

Wow that was a long post. Thanks so much for the ask, Anon! I hope this was a satisfying response!

[therealgchu]

WIP Wednesday - Seven Days sneak peek

got a sneak peek for the upcoming chapter 4 for Seven Days. will prolly publish it next friday.

this friday will be a new story in the Anamnesis short stories.

tagging the coemancer crew. let's see what you got!

if you want to read my other stuff, it's on ao3.

Seven Days is here from the beginning.

seven days was all she wrote...

"Anyway, I don’t think I  have a counterpart in this universe. From what circumstantial evidence I could find, it seems she died as a teenager about twelve years ago. I believe a shootout at the Syndicate warehouse. One of the victims was a fifteen year old girl. She’s only named as a Jane Doe, but her description and age fits. And, the fact that there were no other records for her, which tracks.”

“What does that mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It’s the first universe I’ve been in where my counterpart wasn’t present.”

That piqued his curiosity. “Have you run into her before?” he asked.

“Yes, but I’ve been able to avoid her every time, just like I had been able to avoid you,” she answered. “In some universes, she got out and made a good life. In some universes, she rose to the top of Seokguh Syndicate and was ruthless, expanding it to the UC, and even into Crimson Fleet space. In some universes, she met Sam,” she ended softly.

“And what happened in those?” he asked despite himself.

“Much the same that happened to me. Sometimes her Sam died, sometimes he survived. But, where she did meet her Sam, they fell in love, and were happy, at least for a while. I never hung around in those universes long enough to know how, or if, it ended.”

Sam’s head started churning thinking of all of the possibilities; he thought that all of the universes were the same. “Have there been any universes where I’ve been dead? Or haven’t been born?” he asked.

“Yes, several. In one, you had died as a child. In another, you had joined the Crimson Fleet, and died within the first week. In another, there was no Lillian to save you, and you had died smuggling those goods.”

“Oh god,” he whispered, his brain whirring with all the possibilities where he could have died. “So, there are universes where my gun actually jammed? Or, where I missed? There was that time I was out with my buddies rock climbing, and a piton almost slipped out…” He felt that if he wasn’t already sitting, he’d need to sit down.

“Yes, all of those times, in another universe, that happened. That is the nature of the multiverse,” she answered.

“Are there universes where I was never even born?” he asked.

“Most likely, though I haven’t come across one yet.”

His brain suddenly stopped on a thought, “And, are there universes where my mom survived her surgery?” he whispered.

The woman cocked her head to the side, “Yes, Sam. There is a mathematically high probability there are,” she said softly.

He sucked in his breath at the implication. He’d often wondered what his life would have been like had his mother survived. Jacob, while being absent a good deal when he was very young, wasn’t the cold bastard he became until after her death. When his mom died, all warmth left the house. Sam felt the only time Jacob dealt with him was to criticize and complain. He didn’t even feel like a father, more like a drill sergeant or cop, which is why Sam started to refer to him by his first name when he was a teen.

[weirdbeancurd]

The Hunter Becomes the Hunted- ASTV Tickle Fic

I ground this whole thing out in like one day, i was bored ok

Michelle is just my OC who's a more laid-back version of Miguel from another universe. They have a sibling relationship and love bothering each other. :)

Summary: Miguel's working himself to death again and Michelle and Peter team up to make him take a break, even if it does mean taking desperate measures.

“Take a breeaaaaak.”

“No.”

“What he said.”

“No.”

Peter and Michelle had been trying to get Miguel to stop working for what seemed like days. In fact, he’s probably been in his office for 3 days straight, and if the bags below his eyes told them anything, he was awake for all 3 of them.

“Hey, this stuff can wait, you got some sleep to catch up on. A lot of it.” Michelle says.

“Yeah, you’ve been working on that stupid project for days. And now you’re stalking the kids? They can handle themselves, you know.” Peter remarks.

“I am not stalking anyone. I’m making sure those brats don’t get hurt.” Miguel pauses. “And I don’t need a break.”

“Sure you don’t Migs. And you also don’t got a multiversal stick up your ass.”

Miguel just rolls his eyes. Those two could be a nightmare to deal with, but there was no way in hell either of them would pull him away from his monitors now, not when the kids needed him. Not that he was worried about them, or anything. He was just being a good boss.

“Fine,” Michelle snarks, clapping her hands together. “We didn’t want it to come to this, but you leave us no choice.” 

Peter nodded solemnly, turning to speak to Michelle. “I’ll stay here. You just do your thing.”

“What are you even-”

“Lyla, night mode.”

The room went dark, the hum of the lights cutting out along with his sight. Now, Miguel had better night vision than most, but pitch black was still difficult to navigate. He squinted through the darkness, only to get about 10 feet of visibility. The room was so silent he could practically hear the rise and fall of his chest, feeling like a prey animal lost in the night. Fitting, as there was a predator lurking in the shadows. Miguel whipped around when he felt something disturb the air behind him. There was nothing there. At least not anymore. What are those idiots planning, he thinks.

“I don’t know what you two are getting at, but I have work to do. Lyla, turn the lights back on.” No response. “...Lyla?” Well, that’s not good.

An eerie skittering noise graced his ears, prompting another turn of the head. Again, he saw nothing. It was oddly reminiscent of the way he first met Michelle; his arrival in her universe was met with instant suspicion and aggression, causing her to circle him like a shark. The way she cloaked herself in shadows made her a great asset for stealth missions, but he certainly didn’t like being the subject of her pursuit. Despite this, Miguel knew she’d never hurt him, so he could only imagine how her enemies felt. How ironic. The hunter becomes the hunted. Sighing in exasperation, he slowly makes his way forward, hoping to find his monitor in the dark.

“You’re wasting your and my time. Now if you’ll stop fooling around, I-”

Thwip. The familiar noise of a web shooter going off made him flinch. He was stopped in his tracks by a web tacked on his foot to the floor. Before he could begrudgingly tug at his leg, Miguel was tackled to the ground by a conviving spiderwoman, tearing the web in the process. Aided by the element of surprise, Michelle wrestles him onto his back, restraining both his arms by hooking her own under his shoulders. Now of no use to him, the lights flicker back on.

“Gotcha,” Michelle grins.

“You sure did. Now let me up.”

Their conversation is interrupted by a low whistle, Peter coming back into view. He wears an amused smile with a hint of mischief that makes Miguel’s stomach drop. The man takes a seat on his thighs, fully pinning him to the ground. Whatever it is that they’ve got in stock for him, it isn’t good.

“Well, Migs. You’ve forced our hands,” Peter shakes his head. “This isn’t healthy and you know it, so you, Mister, are going to take a break, whether you like it or not.”

“Yeah, sure,” He deadpans. “And how exactly do you plan on convincing me?”

“Oh Migs. That’s the best part. Remember this little weakness of yours?” Peter pokes him in the stomach, eliciting a yelp. Oh. Oh. Oh no. Now that got him squirming.

“And who knows your best spots better than, well, you? But, of course, you’d never tell us where you’re ticklish. That’s what she’s here for.” Peter gestures to Michelle, who waves back smugly.

“One of the perks of being the same person.” She wiggles her fingers in front of his face. A shudder goes down his spine. “Let’s get started, shall we? Peter, get his sides.”

Miguel chokes back a giggle when his fingers skitter across his waist. Laughter bubbles up in his throat, but is held back by him biting his lip. Despite his efforts, a couple noises still escape.

“Ngh! S-stop that- Peheter!”

“Wow, you weren’t kidding. The big man is ticklish.”

“Yup, and this isn’t even that bad of a spot. Try his ribs next.”

“Dohon’t talk about me like I-I’m not heRE! Hehehey!”

That sure got his attention. The wiggling fingers attack between his sensitive ribs, making him chuckle. Miguel feels his face heat up, hiding it in the crook of his shoulder. His captors catch a glimpse of his fangs before they're gone once more. Michelle sniggers. 

“Trying to hide your fangs again? C’mon, let us see!” She adjusts her hold so that a single arm restrains both of his, using her free hand to tickle the side of his neck.

Miguel lets out a high pitched yelp that tugs at their heartstrings. He snaps his head against her hand, which does little to lessen the sensation. Just like she planned, Miguel’s fangs are on full display, peeking out of his wide smile. Peter coos at the adorable sight.

“Stahahap thahat!” He tries nipping at her fingers in desperation.

“Hey, no biting. Peter, get his stomach.”

“Aye, aye, maam.”

His hand forms a claw and vibrates into his belly, causing Miguel to screech and lurch forward, nearly headbutting Peter. 

“SHIT! PeheheHETER! STAHAHA-” He cuts himself off with a wheeze.

“Bad spot, huh?”

“Yep. Wanna see an even worse one?”

“Boy, do I!”

“MichehehELLE I SWEHEHEAR!”

“One word: thighs.”

“On it.”

He scoots back to settle on his knees before digging his fingers into Miguel's thighs with one hand, and skittering gently along them with the other. 

"MIERDAHAHAHA! PUHUHUTA MAHADRE!" He was slowly slipping into spanish.

"Language, Migs. What if the kids hear you?" Peter teases, grinning maniacally.

"Aww, pobrecito." Michelle coos. His thrashing was near frantic, nearly bucking the two off.

However, determined to help their friend take some time off work, Michelle and Peter hold strong, much to his annoyance. The contrasting sensations of rough squeezing and light scribbling were absolutely driving him up the wall, but he would not give in. Sure, it was a silly hill to die on, but it was the principle of the matter, dammit! 

"Ready to give in yet?"

"PIHIHISS OFF!"

Michelle and Peter shared a look before they drew back, still keeping their victim pinned. Miguel took the opportunity to gasp for air, a goofy smile stuck on his face.

"Stubborn, isn't he? You got anymore tricks up your sleeve, Mich?"

"Hmm. Just one. Watch."

"Wahaht are you-" Miguel watches in horror as her hand hovers above the crease between his thigh and hip. Shit.

"Wait, nonono. Not there-"

"Well, are you gonna go take a nap?"

"..."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Hold tight, Peter. He's about to lose his freaking mind."

"Wait, Michelle, don't-"

Her fingers touched down and Miguel screamed. Her claws dragging against his skin felt unbearable, but his twisting and turning did nothing to deter her. 

"GAH! DOHOHOHO'NT! STAHAHAHA-" 

He could barely form words anymore. 

"Woah, you weren't kidding."

"Yeah, this spot's killer. You ready to take a break now, Migs? We can do this aaaaall day."

While normally he would've bared his fangs at them, the fight had been drained out of him. Miguel just whined through his cackling. His captors grinned at his wild reactions. It took a couple moments of uselessly babbling before he could even find his words.

"OKAHAHAYOKAYOKAY! NOHOW STAHAHAP!"

Michelle slows her scratching to let him speak.

"Alright. But you gotta say it."

"Mhmhmhm…nohoho…"

She swiped a claw over the spot.

"AH! Ohokayokay, fine! I'll take a break!"

Peter and Michelle loosen their grip on him and high five, finally satisfied. She keeps Miguel's head in her lap, ruffling his hair as he tries to wipe the grin off his reddened face. She takes her thumb to swipe away a couple unshed tears of mirth. He slings an arm over his eyes in embarrassment. 

"...Ihi hate you both."

"We love you too, Miguel," Peter says, patting him on the shoulder.

"So…who am I getting back first?" His smile suddenly turns vicious. 

Before Peter can get up to run, a web tacks him to the ground, halting his movement. When he looks up, Michelle is already gone. That little shit, he thinks, before he is tackled by Miguel and subsequently wrecked to the high heavens. 

2 hours later:

Michelle reenters the lab to find the two men nodding off on the couch. Peter looks relaxed as always, but Miguel appears to finally be at peace. The lines under his eyes aren't nearly as prevalent, and a single fang peeks out of his mouth cutely as he sleeps. Shaking her head fondly, Michelle turns away to let them get some well deserved rest. Or she would've, but a red web sticks her foot to the floor. Shit, she thinks. After the stunt she pulled earlier, Peter and Miguel show no mercy. After all, they know just where to tickle.

Reblogs and comments welcome :D

[silliest-heartaches]

I saw your Errorink headcanons

How do you think they would get along? (Because y'know, he destroys, he protects)

tbh aside from input from the creators that they would be canon friends (IN MY DREAMS) i have a lot of thoughts on why they would make great friends actually:

First of all, there is the idea that they have to make peace with the innevitability that regardless of what they do or how they feel about creation or destruction respectively, the balance will keep itself going purely because thats how creation and destruction of fanprojects irl work!! no amount of encouragemnt from ink or pestering from error are ever going to truly eradicate/permanently keep the growth of creations and aus in the multiverse!! I like to imagine its the same kind of silliness that good omens has (ie angel/demon being friends and maybe lovers just having the oppositr kinda jobs) except they both actually enjoy their jobs lol

I also like to think that the way they view the multiverse is not so black and white as they first may appear!! We already know that error DOES have aus that hes fond of and will not destroy bc he has a certain attachment to it, making us see that he isnt just some mindless killer who destroys for the sake of destroying (i forgot what his actual reason was aside from the anomaly stuff so in my head its bc all the multiverses mess with his code and overload his system which is why he hates anomalies sm ((including original ut funnily enough? Bc ig thats why his suffering happened in the first place (to me at least))) he is just selfish and wants everyone else to adjust to his comfort

For ink, he also views pretty much everything else aside from him as characters, and is thus not as connected to them as you may think. The reasons on why he protects these aus is kind of selfish (to refill his vials + the satisfaction of feeling like a real living being But More compared to other characters within their own universes) despite the good guy facade he tries to make himself have hes also inherrently selfish with his reasonings on why he wants to protect the aus in the first place

(i also wanna say that alongside all of what im saying ink genuinely does hold a lot of love for the aus and has a lot of fondness for certain characters aus etc, but it is very much in a fiction vs reality sorta way, bc thats how he views himself vs every one else)

except error. (well. sort of. but it kinda goes both ways. hes close enough)

tldr despite feeling that they are above it all and seperate from the aus and characters that they create (canon info for both i think) i think they can (and do) acknowlege that the world is bigger than them both despite those feelings and find themselves kindred spirits in the sense that their views and pov of the world is very similar on a base level and see eachother as equals because of it (something i dont really see personally with p much every other sans)

like yes other sanses and characters can be aware of and have beef with the multiverse in whatever way they can but none will ever be as innherently connected to the multiverse and what created them as much as error and ink do,,,bc to most everyone else, it is simply a part of their lives to move through aus with, comapred to errorink having the aus be their reason for existing and acting (the other guys drama being centered around different things much smaller in scale compared to error and inks whole deal being with the entire multiverse as it exists if im making sense)

also also theyre both described as immature and insecure so. i think they can have a lot of fun having childish banter thats cute and for the funsies (both dramatic jokey guys please hear me out)

[tobiasdrake]

Now that we have our new party member, it's time for another story time with Teaks.

This is the big one.

Okay what the fuck is this and why did my Captain's Quarters get wasted on it.

I would have been more than happy to let Hortence have the Captain's Quarters since she's been here the longest and has the most claim to this ship, crime notwithstanding.

I could deal with the fictional Captain Cliche having the Captain's Quarters despite Serai not even bothering to use that guise while she's here, thus resulting in an empty bedchamber.

But why does the new blood get it? I don't care if you're basically God, you fucking work your way up the ladder like the rest of us! >_< I'm so furious right now.

And yet you gave him the Captain's Quarters.

I mean. Okay, in fairness, Teaks did that. I don't know why she has the authority to do that, though.

No. I want to throttle you with my bare hands.

However, much like Garl, it is impossible for me to physically be angry with you for any length of time. So I just have all of this aggression and nowhere to put it. I just... I JUST FUCKING....

._. Will you please make me a sandwich I can drown my fury in, thank you very much.

Yes, the usual.

*sigh* Okay, Teaks. Now I want to hear a story. It's finally time to find out exactly who the Archivist/TIA and the Fleshmancer are.

Huh. I figured TIA was some kind of ungodly horror beneath those robes, but apparently he's just zombie-faced. Mm, I feel bad about telling him to go take a shower now. It would not help.

You guys should sit down and chat with Roro. She owns it. Has a whole undead style of her own.

Hold up, he's jealous of our ephemerality? He hates us 'cause we die? That's it? It's not, like, he hates us 'cause we're pretty or he longs to taste good food and not have to dress in rags or something? He's just pissy because he wants to be able to die too?

My dude, you don't have to unleash apocalyptic horrors upon mankind in order to fulfill that desire. If all you want is to be ephemeral, come hang out with me and Zale and we'll work on that. I'd be more than happy to experiment.

Ohhh, I get it. He doesn't have a heart anymore 'cause he used it for his experiments.

He's Disney evil.

You know, I thought you were going to tell me that Resh'an was responsible for Solstice magic but apparently it's just. Like. A thing that happened to also exist, and that trumps the Fleshmancer's stuff... because?

I may have to reassess my comprehension of the Fleshmancer and TIA. The Archivist's opening explanation of the lore made me think these guys were, like... primeval forces of good and evil or something, wreaking vast influence across some enormous multiverse.

Like. I figured they had terrestrial origins in some world somewhere. They had the vibe of ancient wizards who came from meager origins and ascended into godhood. In that regard, I suppose I had them pegged right.

But that seemed like a "Long time ago in a universe far, far away" type of origin, where they've been these ancient supreme beings of good and evil ever since. But Teaks is making this sound a lot more local.

They're just two more guys who accidentallied themselves into a horrifying curse. TIA has nothing to do with the source of Solstice magic. He doesn't even know what it is, really; Just that whatever we are, it sure does kick the shit out of whatever Aephorul's become.

He didn't create us; He found us and went "HOLY FUCK That's powerful! Let's use it!"

I've been shittalking him out of irreverence but. Like. Now, I think that we might be higher on the Hierarchy of WTF than TIA and the Fleshmancer are. Even if TIA is still, admittedly, higher on the Hierarchy of Knowing What The Fuck You're On About.

So if he founded the Solstice Warriors, does that mean TIA is the Great Eagle? Is he the guy I need to beat the shit out of for the unsettling horror of Mooncradle?

Because I can't do it until he tells us how to get onto Mesa Island. But I do want my Captain's Quarters back....

Or a longer window of Whenever We Goddamn Want if you have this fancy amulet. Which was just sitting abandoned in an ice block for how many decades/centuries?

Hey Resh'an? I don't want to tell you how to be the Immortal Alchemist but if you were that concerned with Solstice Warriors defeating Dwellers and you knew where this thing was all along, uh... what the hell, man?

When exactly did we lose track of this thing? Because absolutely none of the ancient Solstice lore I learned from Moraine suggests that it even exists somewhere to be found. We've been using these fancy time runes for day/night manipulation on a small scale while biding our time to strike at Dwellers on eclipse nights. Meanwhile our founder has had coordinates for Pocket Eclipse in his back pocket this whole time. I'm kind of angry about that.

Yeah, that's part of what had me thinking this was some kind of multiversal conflict. Obviously World Eaters must have, like... eaten some worlds in order to be a known thing, right? I assume we know about them from Resh'an; If he was our founder then our lore would be passed down from him. Though he didn't see fit to tell us about Pocket Eclipse so who knows?

Or maybe he did, and Moraine just didn't bother to tell me because I was kind of a shitty student.

Or maybe Moraine did tell me and I just wasn't paying attention. I was kind of a shitty student.

Hm.

In any case, to be known as World Eaters, one imagines they've eaten some worlds. And that this isn't one that they've eaten yet. So these guys can't be a purely terrestrial phenomenon, right?

Oh, so it's both. They are a terrestrial phenomenon but Resh'an created a multiverse through a grandiose gesture of magic.

That's...

That's kind of promising? Like. Metaphysically, that could mean that if circumstances conspire in such a way that we kill Aephorul in any one timeline or reality, fucker will be dead in all timelines and realities because there's only one of him.

This isn't an independent multiverse that Aephorul's invading and attacking. It's a multiverse of attempts to resist Aephorul. We only have to win once. Statistics are on our side.

Even if there's only 1 in 1000 chance of someone defeating Aephorul, if you roll 10,000 dice....

That's why he let us into his library even though we are clearly not the Chosen Ones. It's what he was trying to figure out at the start. We're a dice toss. ^_^

But that's also why he's being so KEEP ME OUT OF IT with regard to Aephorul. Because the same logic applies to him. Aephorul only has to kill him once. In a cosmic sense, we're all expendable compared to him, because there's millions of other versions of us. He can always go back to the drawing board and try something else. Maybe a different version of us, or maybe someone else who might actually be the Chosen Ones. But if anything happens to him, that's game over.

This makes way more sense when Teaks explains it than when TIA tried to. Probably because she's giving me the full story while he's a cryptic bastard. Resh'an is stuck navigating causality to try and find a chain of events that will lead to success against the impossible.

If the dude's so pissy about not being ephemeral, you'd think the sameyness of those realities might bother him a little. Wouldn't you eventually get bored conquering the same world over and over and over again?

These two are playing very different video games.

And that's what Resh'an was on about when he was like, "You don't understand; If Aephorul finds out that I'm here, he'll return."

It's not because he's hiding out from Aephorul. It's because he's violating the terms of the agreement. Resh'an is cheating right now, in a way that would give Aephorul tacit permission to do the same if caught.

Teaks, from now on, can we make this a rule? Can people tell you the lore dumps and then you can explain them to me? You're so good at this.

So now I'm starting to get more of an understanding of what Guardian Gods are too. Like, we knew it was the evolution of Solstice Warriors into some kind of deity. But, specifically, it's our counterpart to World Eaters; Guardian Gods because the pair become a force of Solstice magic that Aephorul can't pierce, on account of our magic being higher on the Hierarchy of WTF.

Uh, probably when he wins, I would say. No sense in doing it while Aephorul's still out there, right?

I adore you, Teaks, but sometimes you ask dumb questions.

[roobylavender]

ok so since @arkham asked (ily) i'm gna go into more detail about my issues with atsv but disclaimer beforehand that most of this will not be as coherent as i want it to be bc frankly i found the messaging of the movie to be very contradictory itself and when trying to reason through the logic of it often found myself musing in circles lmao..

let's start with the multiverse aspect. this plot point frustrates me bc it presents us with the illusion of choice. what i mean by this is that there is no other logical way for miles to respond to the multiversal dilemma bc logically and emotionally it only makes sense to rebel against predestination. i mentioned the illusion of choice in my book review for bloodmarked by tracy deonn, and my complaint there was that the mc was written to look like it was up to her final choice and say to cut herself off from her ancestors bc their line had been poisonous to her all along, as one of her ancestors had contracted with a demon. but what the audience was presented with was merely the illusion of choice. there was no other logical option presented but for the mc to cut herself off otherwise she would always be at risk from the demon that had cursed her bloodline. abandoning her ancestors for the sake of her new white friends was posited as logical when it was a choice the mc was driven into at all costs bc there was no other way the story could move forward without it. and to bring it back to atsv, i feel the same way here, bc when presented with that "choice," of either relenting to the algorithm or rebelling against it, what other option is there? the way the multiverse is framed as this fabric of complete and total prediction to which all spider-men are bound leaves little room for anything else to be explored. and it's odd bc there's a brief moment where peter reinterprets it all in a way explicitly distinct of the way miguel does—life happens, sometimes people die and the circumstances are completely out of our control, but that does not holistically control our life moving forward, beautiful things still happen, we still possess hands capable of saving others, we are not frozen in time by the death of someone we love and we carry them with us as much as we move on from them—but it's fleeting and never brought up again bc obv peter has to side with miles. so the movie even presents an opportunity for nuance but quickly waves it off and proceeds forward with its two polarizing views embodied by miguel and miles

and idk.. i can't really wrap myself around the ideology of any of it. obv cape comics are used to explore things that do not make sense happening in the real world but multiversal stuff is where it tends to lose me bc in real life there is no way to predict what happens in the future. you cannot realistically operate by knowing what happens in the future or in a parallel universe. you have to operate on instinct and principle and faith and sometimes that has to be enough bc you're mortal. you will die, people you love will die, there is no escaping it and there is no immortality and there is no possible way for you to save every person ever in danger. learning to accept that is key to being a hero bc despite knowing all of that you still try. you still do what you can for the people you can reach. and for the movie to make it into this thing where you are made beholden to the future and presented with the option of either accepting it or fighting against it feels so restrictive to me bc it turns heroism into something reactionary rather than principled. like we talk a lot about how it's not healthy for batman to move through life merely trying to prevent his parents' deaths in the form of other people bc it restricts the scope of what he is actually capable of doing. and in a loose sort of way i think the same thing applies here. which is funny bc the way the argument is framed in the movie it looks like it agrees with that, it looks like it's trying to say you can't mark yourself by the tragedies of your life and have to be principled and save people no matter what, but again, it's the illusion of choice. what miles is being presented with is no longer a tragedy that already happened, but now one that it is in his hands to either let happen or prevent bc it is fated to happen either way. what's past is postured as what's future and now you are restricted to moving about the world like you only have two options of how to move through it. so yes, miguel is wrong, but i think it's convenient for him to be so wrong bc it's the only way miles can actually be right. if that makes sense

the copaganda obv ties into all of this and makes it even more insidious but one moment in particular that really infuriates me is when miles asks gwen about her dad and how she can be okay with all of this and it's so.. clearly this kind of sly gotcha wherein she's shamed for not feeling as strongly opposed to her father's death—a feeling which very likely ties strongly into the way he nearly arrested and shot her at the start of the movie—compared to miles bc in that moment her dad is the "bad" cop and his dad is the "good" cop who is obv worth saving. like i've perused a lot of arguments pushing back against designating the film as copaganda and all of them seem to boil down to "well miles's dad is a good person!" and it's like yeah.. obv.. that's what the good cop trope is. it prevents you from holistically critiquing the system bc the hope of at least one person within it being good gives credence to the idea that more people within it can also be good. so on the surface the movie's ideology is simply about saving "good" people, but when you make "good" cops the face of "good" people, you're very facetiously propping up an entire institution and failing to even holding it accountable for its very serious crimes. and that's something further hammered in when miles's dad toasts to a rest in power mural of his dead brother while celebrating being made into police captain, and when gwen says the mask is her badge bc this is the only way she can think of how to convince her father that she's not bad, by posturing herself as adjacent to the law despite the fact that vigilantes are specifically operatives outside of the law who at their best are capable of doing things and extending empathy that law enforcement are not

and then i have a minor issue with every character outside of gwen and miles and peter b feeling really generic but like. that's not on my mind as much comparatively lmao

[thattimdrakeguy]

The Flash isn't all all-around horrible movie. There's a lot of good things in it. The problem with the movie is a bunch of stuff that eventually all comes together by the end and just wrecks the fucking thing like a ball that wrecks--Some sort of...wrecking ball if you will.

So seeing people online try to talk like Harvard graduates having a discussion about the prospects of the movie Flash by scrambling to the scattered pieces that were wrecked and trying to tape together something that made it seem good, is really funny to me.

There's some parts of that movie I thought were legitimately great. Some parts made me laugh my off.

I hated most of the "Hi, I'm Barry, an awkward, loser, virgin" humor. Since for a good chunk of the film the main Barry doesn't act like that. It's like it's hold back from Justice League movie Barry that people seem to have agreed to hate.

The movies main fault besides Ezra Miller being in the news so much for not so good things, is simply that it can't help itself.

The logic for multiverse travel makes no sense. The movie basically says "it's fate" at a certain point, and that's after the scientific explanation that makes no sense.

Why does Bruce Wayne look like the dude just for later on to look more like Bruce Wayne ever has before in the previous Michael Keaton appearances. (The costume department did a stellar job.)

The Lasso of Truth doesn't work like that.

People keep reacting to things the way people would not react to things.

The Chrono-Bowel, looks cool, but functionally it doesn't make any sense when the idea of Flash's time traveling is just running really fast. Trying to visualize that with a place were he can stand totally still sort of takes away the SPEED part of the speed-force that's necessary to be related to speed. Perhaps in another movie it would've been great beyond the shitty CGI that made things look like statues.

Most of the things that make it a multiverse movie would probably be better without it story wise, for the sake of simplifying things, even though I think Michael Keaton was at his best as Batman in this one. ignoring the really weird "You wanna get nuts" line, that doesn't work, because that's not exactly a thing he says. It's a thing he said once in a specific context.

The movie's version of time travel as it's previously shown to work no longer works, and they break it several times. Making it have no logic, which makes following things confusing, because things aren't happening the way they explain previously.

Supergirl hardly does jack shit, and says hardly jack shit. Her presence in the movie is so small, I sometimes forget she's in the movie. Her parts aren't bad. She just gets hardly anything to do, and feels like a tossed in character to go "Oooo, multiverse".

And it's mostly these things fans of the film keep showing going 'LOOK, IT'S GOOD, IT'S GOOD' even the visuals, which can at times get good. I think at first the visuals stink rotten ass, but do genuinely get better at a certain point just to get sort of hard to follow during the final act again.

So even if you really liked the movie. Why are you trying to excuse shit, that's shit no matter how you spin it?

'Oh, this scene with the baby is showing his intelligence and is very creative.'

It also looks fake as fuck and uncanny valley babies freak people the fuck out.

Despite how I don't think I can qualify the movie as a good movie critically speaking, I still think there's a lot of good stuff in the movie. It's just--no one really talks about it, at least much. It's strange.

It feels like no one saw the movie that says they liked it.

[shadowzgather]

✿ for all of our ships if you wanna or just pick whichever

SEND “ ✿ ” FOR 2 HEADCANONS FOR OUR MUSES’ RELATIONSHIP.

(Nimue X Darkwing)

Drake tends to get very protective in his relationships, so I have a headcanon that Nimue sees that better than Morgana did and doesn't mind it when he asks her to stay at his home to take care of Gosalyn when he's on a particularly dangerous case.

I also headcanon that because of how fast the two are bonding that he asks Nimue to come live with them sooner. Part of this is also due to the fact that Drake worries about her being alone in that tiny apartment of hers when he knows she doesn't have a lot in the way of friends or family.

(Nimue X Darkwarrior)

Initially, Darkwarrior had no intention of taking another partner. His tower had one bed. I headcanon that their was a polite argument over who would be using it until they ended up sharing it.

This is an add-on to the above but also the second headcanon. Darkwarrior was going to have a second bed made for Nimue. Then the blizzard hit, and they got "fisky" and now he no longer feels the need for that second bed.

(Morgana X Negaduck)

Morgana would never admit it openly before they got together that she found Negaduck attractive. Mostly, it was because of the similarities between him and Darkwing. Now that they are together these feeling are more genuinely towards him. Morgana does not try to change Negaduck despite giving up her life of villainy. She understands and accepts that this is who he is and what he wants and loves him the way he is.

Morgana is a very affectionately woman and takes every opportunity to express her affection for Negaduck, be it physically with hugs and kisses, to little gift in the form of things he likes. Despite this, she is careful not to do so in public as she knows he has a reputation to keep. She does not shy away from it if they are alone or if his Gosalyn is present, though. (In part because she believes it's good for Gosalyn to see the two of them with such a bond for when they eventually marry and she becomes her mother. Yes, she thinks that far ahead.)

(Morgana 91' X Jim Starling Because we do have this on Discord!)

Morgana sees Jim initially as a way to save the multiverse from another Negaduck but starts falling for him despite their age gape. It causes conflict in her because she does still love her universe Darkwing, but she feels Jim needs her more and that she can do more in the 2017 universe.

When Morgana does finally settle in to stay in the 2017 universe and commit to being with Jim, she is hesitant to accept all the luxuries of being in a relationship with a actor at first but ends up spoiling him right back with magical gifts and "other things" to show her love for him. It becomes almost a game or light-hearted competition between them in a way.

(Broker X Negaduck even though it isn't romantic.)

Negaduck is a fascination to Rose. She's always trying to see different reactions he has to things. Part of it is that this is the first time in a very long time that she had had anything resembling an actual friend. Make no mistake, she still considers it business, but she has never had a long-standing contract of this sort.

Is Broker romantically interested in Negaduck? That's hard for her to say. She does find him physically attractive in many areas but is mostly drawn to his personality. She'd most likely sleep with him if he was open to it and does like his scent enough to sniff his stuff if he is gone for long periods of time. (Not joking she sniffs stuff, but not drugs.)

[fleshadept]

Hi! I have been following you for a few months, and you seem like a nice, reasonable person. Our taste in movies seems to be quite similar, also. That's why I'm comfortable asking you a weird question/request. Would you explain to me why you think 'Everything Everywhere' is so good? I have heard everyone praising it to the heavens. So I was very excited when I watched it, expecting to absolutely love it. And then I was surprised how much I didn't like it. Don't get me wrong, there are parts of it that are good, but I'm genuinely baffled why everyone seems to like it this much. (I have long reasons too, I'm not just racist or some bullshit like that.) If you'd want to discuss this maybe, I'd write you off-anon sometime. (I could write anon too, because it'd be nice to get input from potentially more people, but I also don't wanna get attacked for not liking this movie...) Thanks for the reply.

thanks for reaching out! i've totally been there before with not vibing with stuff a lot of people really seem to like. i'd be interested to hear, though, why you didn't like it.

there are many reasons why i loved everything everywhere all at once. a primary one is that it is a very well-done story, and one that touches on parts of family that aren't often explored in film. at its core it's about a mother pulled in several different directions having to play different roles--mother, daughter, immigrant, business owner--and remember all the people she could have been as well, and her jaded, depressed, suicidal daughter trying to find a version of her mom that understands her.

the film uses multiverses as an interesting, comical, and touching visualization of the ways in which every person is, and can be, many different people. evelyn is a chinese-american immigrant who owns a laundromat, she's a mother, she's a wife going through a divorce. but she didn't have to be--she could have stayed in china, she could have become a movie star, never become joy's mother, never married waymond.

evelyn, our evelyn, did move to america though. she married waymond, her father refused to speak to her because of it, and she had joy. but she saw herself as a fighter. life had been hard, and she felt like she had to be hard back to survive. she didn't understand joy's sexuality, but she didn't do what her own father did to her over it. she tried to keep gonggong from learning about it out of fear of joy having to see the side of him that hurt evelyn the most.

and joy, she doesn't understand. she doesn't understand why her mom loves her, why anything matters if nothing matters, and most important she doesn't understand why she should keep going. she's tired. in a way, we can look at the theme of the movie as a debate between nihilism (joy/jobu topaki) and absurdism (waymond). nihilism is the idea that nothing matters, the universe is cold and unfeeling, so it's all meaningless. absurdism is the idea that all of that is true, so you choose what matters. nothing matters, so everything does.

which brings us to waymond. "when i choose to see the good side of things, i'm not being naive. it is strategic and necessary. it's how i've learned to survive through everything. i know you see yourself as a fighter. well, i see myself as one too. this is how i fight."

i think waymond is a big part of why so many people loved the film. he's the heart of it, and in a time like this, when everything is terrifying and seems to be getting worse, a film that acknowledges the hardship of it all, and that nothing matters, and that with every new discovery we feel like even smaller pieces of shit, a film that reasserts that kindness is everything not despite but because of it all, kindness is a way to fight, is really really touching.

it reminds me of a quote from ursula k. le guin:

“The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist; a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain.” The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

so the story is really really good. i think it's one of the best filmic illustrations of the tensions and depth of a mother/daughter relationship ever made. i saw my mom in evelyn, watching her daughter* deal with depression and suicidality and doing her absolute best to say i am here for you in any way she can. and i saw myself in joy, trying to be understood and reading my mom's attempts at connection as an attack or a dismissal.

technically, it's almost flawless. technically here meaning technique-wise. the editing is stellar, the production design is amazing, the film itself is absolutely gorgeous and the way they play with editing style, music, aspect ratio, framerate, and pretty much everything they possibly can to adapt to each alternate universe is absolutely flooring. it's new, it's inventive, it's creative, and it's so, so genuine.

for the past ten years or so since streaming services took off, there's been a shrinking of the film market so pretty much the only movies that get made are either REALLY high budget, blockbuster movies or REALLY low budget indie films. eeaao and its popularity feels like a bit of an equalization of that, hopefully a sign that more middle-ground films can be made more often again to let filmmakers breathe a little more if they want to make anything other than a marvel film or a franchise remake.

[moviewarfare]

A Review of “The Flash (2023)”

The Flash is a hero I adore from the comics. It is crazy that it took this long for him to have a live-action movie. Unfortunately, the DCEU Flash movie went through development hell. It had multiple directors leave the project, multiple delays, multiple reshoots, the Ezra controversy, and constant changes in leadership at WB. Despite all these shenanigans, does this movie manage to deliver a great Flash movie?

Firstly, they do deliver some strong and emotional moments. It's hard to be angry at Flash for wanting to save his mother and prove his Dad innocent. Seeing Flash cope with the unintended butterfly effects of going back in time and saving his mother, is a great concept. Barry's desperation to save this timeline because his mother still lives is powerful stuff. It has a heartfelt story of grief which I liked. Funny enough, Ezra has great chemistry with himself. Ezra plays the original and new timeline Barry who both interact with each other throughout the movie. I like the contrast between a slightly more mature and serious original Barry compared to the younger whiny new Barry. There are some genuinely funny moments between the two. I am also impressed by how convincingly they made it seem like there were 2 Ezras on set.

One of the biggest selling points of this movie is Michael Keaton's return as Batman. It is great seeing him again even though his performance can feel a bit stiff and wooden. I was worried about how they could convince me that a 70-year-old Batman would still be capable of fighting. However, the action scenes with him are awesome and very enjoyable. Ben Affleck also returns as DCEU Batman for 1 last time. He is not in it for long but he is good as well. His action scenes are pretty entertaining and his scene with Barry is a highlight. The music score by Benjamin Wallfisch is wonderful and I love how he incorporates the classic Danny Elfman Batman theme. The greatest part though is Sasha Calle as Supergirl. She is terrific despite not being in it for long. I also think the costume team nailed the Michael Keaton Batsuits and the Supergirl suit as they both look exceptional!

Unfortunately, the Ben Affleck Batsuit looks terrible. It is ugly and doesn't even feel like a proper Batsuit. Likewise, the Flash suit just doesn't look great. It looks too polished and very plastic looking. There are scenes where it looks like a guy in a giant red condom rather than a proper superhero suit. On that note, I am very mixed about Ezra Miller as Flash. He was all right in Zack Snyder's Justice League as he was more of a supporting role with a better script. However, his performance in this film comes off as way more obnoxious and annoying. It doesn't help that new timeline Barry is meant to be annoying on purpose but the result is both Barry's are infuriating. He does deliver during the more emotional moments but at other times, not so much.

I am also very disappointed in the action scenes with the 'Flash'. While the Batman action is awesome, the action scenes with Flash are just not that satisfying. They are bland to look at, especially when compared to speedster scenes from X-Men and even Avengers. The 3rd act in this movie is a little overwhelming with the amount of things going on. There are some things concerning the multiverse that occurs as well but feels kind of contradictory to the rules set. I also find the ending terrible and contradicts the whole message of the movie. Additionally, they do something in the ending that raises more questions than answers and feels a little dumb if they are rebooting the universe. My major gripe though, is the atrociously bad CGI. A lot of the shots in this film look very ugly thanks to poor CGI. Some scenes look like it is straight out of a video game than a movie. They also use it to recreate people's likeness including dead people and it is disgusting to look at.

Overall, what a massive disappointment this ended up being. You can see some element of great in it but it is all overshadowed by the bad. It is sad to see how poor the last couple of entries in the old DCEU are. It makes me more appreciative of James Gunn rebooting the DCEU. We still have 1 proper DCEU movie left with Aquaman 2 but my hopes aren't high.

For more reviews like this visit:

https://moviewarfarereviews.blogspot.com/

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Lotta Stuff

The Annecy cool-news train keeps a-rollin', while I'm still reeling in from the delight that is ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE.

Speaking of SPIDER-VERSE, more on Sony Animation's 2D animated Genndy Tartakovsky adult comedy FIXED was unleashed, though still no release date or how it'll be released - despite strong implication that it's bound for... The big screen! It's going to be completed in September, too. Right around the corner. I wouldn't be surprised if this dog takes BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE's 3/29/2024 release date, giving the crew the time they need to perfect the closer to this multiverse-spanning spider trilogy.

We got some of the major cast (such as Adam Devine, Idris Elba, and Olivia "Liv" Octavius herself, Kathryn Hahn), and Tartakovsky continues to describe it as more classic-like, an R-rated LADY AND THE TRAMP and ONE HUNDRED AND ONE DALMATIANS. "A very sweet, charming, sincere story of friendship and romance.” Basically, everything they revealed and everything they've been saying make this sound like a winner. Plus it's Tartakovsky, you can't go wrong. We get this - and possibly his action movie BLACK KNIGHT later on down the line - instead of his POPEYE... It's been hinted that some legendary animators have been brought to this project, too. Ones that the crew didn't think they'd get... Intriguing...

Also, it could be the first major-release theatrical 2D animated movie that isn't based on a beloved property or a sequel since... THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG? Because since then... It's been films like WINNIE THE POOH, TV series-based fare like SPONGE OUT OF WATER (mixed media) and MY LITTLE PONY: THE MOVIE. KLAUS was a Netflix film, though it did have a few screenings in theaters.

If it goes to theaters, and does pretty well relative to the budget (I'd imagine this didn't cost more than, say, $30m to make?)... Well, I don't know if it'd move the needle on more 2D films being made, let alone more adult 2D films being made... But it'd be notable and quite nice for this type of film.

In the world of streaming comes a Netflix-exclusive DreamWorks animated film written by Charlie Kaufman, of all people! (He did do uncredited rewrites on KUNG FU PANDA 2, to be fair, one of my all-time favorites.) Directed by Sean Charmatz, in his feature directorial debut, ORION AND THE DARK (based on the book of the same name) sounds like - seemingly - a whole-hog meditation on fear and the dark and the beauty the night can be... Wait why is this a streaming movie, then? I get that it's being produced up at Mikros, like the studio's CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS was, but I feel it should be a theatrical release. Sounds every bit as worthy of big screens as RUBY GILLMAN is. Either way, it's interesting to see DreamWorks having two theatrical titles a year (a sequel and a non-sequel), and also beefing up the slate with smaller, quirkier Netflix pictures. As expected, the look of the film is stylized and cartoony.

The teaser for Pixar's ELIO is finally here, from COCO co-director Adrian Molina. Just in time for ELEMENTAL's release. It looks like the colorful and fun-looking space adventure that was promised at this past D23, with neat environment and creature design, and alien humor to spare. I'm here for more space adventure animated movies. There's something rather amusing about this trailer debuting when virtually everything else on Disney's whole slate of live-action/VFX-heavy pictures got shuffled... Like almost aggressively so. AVATAR 5 pushed all the way back to 2031 (what the hell are our lives gonna look like at the end of this year alone??), STAR WARS here, Marvel there... Meanwhile, the animated pictures remain in place... Pixars in March and June, WDASes in November... Quite something.

Elsewhere, Jorge Gutierrez expands on MAYA AND THE THREE and, surprisingly, his THE BOOK OF LIFE... A new story set in the same universe, perhaps a new dynamic way of doing a shared universe that won't feel as complicated and tried-and-true as other ones out there? Good to see him getting to play around with that world of his, in addition to other projects he has lined up, including an adult dog cartoon of his own: I, CHIHUAHUA!

THE SPIDER WITHIN also sounds great: Horror and an abstract portrayal of anxiety attacks by way of the SPIDER-VERSE series, and one that I - an anxiety-sufferer - am game to check out. I'm guessing they'll put this on the Blu-ray/4K set of ACROSS... I mean I hope. That they didn't say where it'll be released colors me skeptical.

New WDAS short ONCE UPON A TIME UPON A STUDIO could either be a fun tribute to the studio's 100-year legacy, or just a cynical self-congratulatory cameo stew. I like that they're using hand-drawn for this, but there's something kind of... I don't know... Off-putting? About a studio celebrating its legacy in hand-drawn animation while... Actively not pursuing hand-drawn animation for feature films in the foreseeable future... It's only used for maybe shorts and Disney+ projects. I know they keep saying "We're gonna do 2D!" or "The director chooses CG or 2D", but I also know that that's bunk... Until an actual 2D feature is greenlit and is actually in production, then I'll believe it. Also... Making use of previously-unused audio of Robin Williams recorded during production of ALADDIN... Given what hell Disney put Williams through with that film, and since it's been almost a decade since Williams' death... I'm also a bit struck by that. I like the premise of this short fine, and it's cool to see characters spanning over 60 films and a plethora of shorts, but... given how Disney can be a little excessive in their self-congratulations and such, on their centennial year? We'll see. What I want to hear about is what WDAS is releasing Thanksgiving 2024... That's where my mind's at.

[themarcspector-hasmovedblogs]

sharing sunday

got tagged in sharing sunday by @multiverse-of-themind (🤩thanks)

tagging these people, if they want to share anything: @gothamrains / @bondgirl / @deathlessfable / @fayelistic / @thelittlestspider / @outfromthesea / @girlhello / feel free to tag yourself.

------

little thing i wrote that i never finished cause i've been cleaning my house but i missed these losers. literally all i wrote all week because i think of them when i clean....apparently.

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Cloud runs her slender fingers through Matt’s fluffy red hair and presses her forehead against his, before taking a few steady breaths she knows he can hear clearly. Then, she kisses him softly, and runs her fingers down his chest, before she places a peck against his nose before resting against the crook of his neck and staying there a little while.  They’ve had a lot of wine because her mother’s let her off the hook with Aeviternity stuff, and El’s out doing assassin duties, and Matt - well Matt - he just promised Cloud he’d stay in with her for the night if she promised to behave herself. Which is something she can’t exactly promise in her line of work, but she does promise just to get him to stay in, anyways. 

Though he can’t see it, his skin is a little flushed, and hers is too. And in-between their conversations about nothing really, they keep bringing up important topics like her art museum job, too.

Which Cloud finds interesting since Matt typically doesn’t seem too interested in her job.  He does not make fun of it like some of her ex-boyfriends or girlfriends, or make comments about how hot it is that he’s dating a nerd – no, she’s the one who makes those comments at him – it’s more or less something else that she can’t link, currently.

“You have something you’ve been keeping from me, Spirit Halloween,” she says, picking up her head to look up at him, despite him not being able to make eye-contact with her. “Spill.”

Matt’s expression screams confusion. “I don’t –”

“Spill –” Her tone says it all. He can lie to anyone, but he has tells she can read well. And she knows when he's keeping something from her. "--Matty, I'm serious."

[panda4starz]

This is my first time using Tumblr and my first time actually delving into the Undertale Fandom, so we'll see how this goes-

Apparently I got carried away-

Uhm, because I have low self-control and a need to keep using my first ever oc in everything, I decided to toss a Dragon Ball oc into the Undertale universe, but since I've also been looking into AUs and stuff recently, I decided to have her go through a scenario where it might be possible for her to join in on multiversal things.

So, I went with a semi-common scenario and took away everything from both her AND Sans because it was the only way I could think of to get her into the madness of the Undertale Multiverse. I shall go through said scenario underneath the image.

Can you tell it's my first time drawing a skeleton? Anyway-

Meet Mirai the Skeleton!

Firstly, some background on Gonan, the oc I threw into the Underground. She is a Dragon Ball Z oc, from the future timeline Trunks came from in the Cell Saga. She is the daughter of Son Goku and Chi-Chi and the twin sister of Gohan, thus making her half alien (Saiyan). This is important, as I am going to use this as an excuse as to why she turned into a skeleton after absorbing Sans' soul. Why and how? Well, Saiyans have the ability to transform into a giant ape, so I shall use that as said excuse.

Now for where the Underground comes in, Gonan has already finished dealing with the Cell Saga, and has stumbled her way into the Underground while trying to find something to do now that her life purpose has actually been completed with her enemy's deaths.

Unfortunately, Frisk the human has already fallen into the Underground and has been doing their run of Genocide, and Gonan is forced to go through the dusty and eerily empty Underground since the barrier kept her from going back the way she came. That and the Underground is proving to be interesting to explore despite the amount of sneezing she's being subjected to.

Gonan has the ability to sense other life forms, so she's also interested in those. It's also concerning that almost all of them feel different to humans, though she can tell that there is a human here, too.

She also senses that these life forms are disappearing, dying. It's concerning, so she hurries and takes the fastest possible route to get to the remaining lives, the monsters that are still alive since it seems the human isn't having any issues, unlike these other life forms.

Eventually, she finds Sans, who is in the middle of battle with Frisk. She gets there just in time to see Frisk die, and she's thrown back in time by a few minutes, extremely confused. First, she runs into a golden hall, and she watches as bones impale a human child holding a knife, and now she's a few rooms back. She goes at a slower pace due to her confusion, only to return back to that same room when time shifts again.

Gonan's experiencing the RESETs without knowing anything of this world or the power Determination can give. Yet, she does have Determination, so she remembers the odd shifts in time, it's just not enough to surpass Frisk, at least not yet. It's frustrating, so she tries to at least figure out what's going on in that golden hall. She begins to make it there quickly every time, and she overhears the dialogue that Sans spews out, something about timelines jumping left and right? Is he aware that time is doing this weird jumping thing? Does he remember too? What's causing it?

She tries to theorize, but it's hard with the ongoing battle taking place in the hall, and with her having to rush back into the hall every time the kid dies. Gonan can't decide if it's a bad thing to just stand by while this child dies, but she gets the distinct impression that she shouldn't disrupt their FIGHT or that she can't. It doesn't help that her Saiyan blood appreciates such a vicious battle that clearly requires much skill to survive, she can't help but watch as the two beings dance around the hall trading attack after attack, it's enough to get her to miss certain bits of dialog. But Sans seems to repeat the same lines every time, so she can stand to miss a line or two.

Eventually, the inevitable happens, and Sans deals his special attack. It's then that Gonan fully realizes that these battles rely on a turn based system, seeing as that's exactly what Sans is using against Frisk. But Sans is tired, it's clear as day as his eye sockets droop and he slips to a seated position on the floor. Out of all outcomes, this certainly isn't the one Gonan was expecting. But it's impressive how he keeps the kid from attacking even as he begins to doze off.

Unfortunately, the kid attacking once Sans let his guard down enough was also inevitable. Yet he still dodges! Gonan's impressed, she doesn't know if she'd have the same ability if she were as tired as Sans seems to be.

But Frisk attacks again, and it lands.

What Gonan could've previously interpreted as an impressive and frankly aggressive sparring match is quickly proven to not be so as Frisk's knife slashes through Sans' ribs, and blood starts gushing out-

Sans is dying, and Gonan is left shocked. This child just struck a killing blow to this... skeleton? Why? She's even more shocked to see how his bones seem to crumble just a bit, how powdery he's becoming.

How much it looks like all the odd dust piles all around the Underground.

Gonan cries out as Sans begins to stumble towards one of the pillars, and she rushes to his side to try and stop the bleeding, to try and help him like she should've been doing this entire time, why does she always remain on the sidelines as people die right before her eyes?! She could've saved him! But she stood there- just like she did when Gohan, her twin brother, had died in his final battle against the androids. As her thoughts run rampant, Sans' bones disintegrate into another dust pile, but she can still sense his life energy.

A little white upside-down heart appears above the dust, and it's cracking rather quickly. Determined to prevent it from shattering and hoping to save him, Gonan grabs the SOUL and tries to hold it together, keeping it close and hoping that maybe if she gives it some of her energy, he'll survive.

There's a flash, and Gonan goes light-headed. Luckily, the bright light blinds Frisk as well, much like a Solar Flare would, so she isn't disturbed as she tries to recollect herself.

The first thing Gonan sees is Sans sitting right in front of her, staring at her with wide eye-sockets. He's transparent, but he's there.

"Well... this isn't what I was expecting." Sans states as he continues staring at her, and she can't help but be elated that she saved him, she actually saved him!

"Oh, thank go-" she starts as she reaches out to him, but her breath gets caught in her throat when she sees a skeletal hand instead of her normally fleshy one. Having frozen in place after seeing the bones, she forces herself to flex and finger just to clarify, and yes, that is her now very much bone-y hand.

Sans rather helpfully supplies, "Yep, that's your hand now. Best get used to it. For as long as you have to, anyway." She looks back to him only to see his gaze is focused back down the hall, where Frisk is rubbing at their eyes to regain their sight.

Gonan looks to the kid. Then she looks to the pile of dust still on the floor in front of her. She thinks back to all the piles of dust she's encountered on her way here, and she looks back to Sans.

"There were other skeletons living here..." It's almost a question, but it really isn't. She watches as Sans grimaces and glances at his own dust, only to decide he'd prefer to look elsewhere.

"Just one other... The rest were other kinds of monsters. Y'know, the monsters humans trapped Underground." The statements confuse her a little, but she doesn't let it distract her too much for the moment.

"They were living beings. Did that kid kill them all?"

Sans looks back at her to see how her single eye light has shrunk to mere pinpricks, tiny yet surging with intense emotion. Her expression looks pretty peeved. Nice to know she doesn't seem to like to idea of another human committing mass genocide. He wonders what she plans to do.

"Yep."

Gonan takes a sharp inhale of breath and her eye light flashes to a teal sort of a color, her dark ecto hair (and isn't that interesting to see?) flashing as well, from a dark grey to a bright yellow, back and forth until she exhales slowly. The colors settle to what seems to be their normal white and black, and she looks down the hall to see Frisk has mostly recovered by now. She's still very much peeved.

"Kid," she begins, voice stern and earning her an annoyed expression from the child. "Why? I didn't think anyone would do something like this after what the androids put humanity through."

Sans doesn't understand what this weird human-now-skeleton is referring to, but he can only assume it isn't good. Frisk, however, doesn't appear to care. They take a step forward as their grip tightens on their knife. It's a threat, a promise. They intend to get their exp, even if they have to take it from this new skeleton. But their HP is down to one and they barely have items left to use after having to fight Sans. How aggravating. They get through one boss just to have their kill stolen, and in such an odd way. Oh well, they can always try again, they're determined after all.

But the thrum of their Determination seems weaker somehow. They're still determined, but...

Frisk tries to RESET.

They can't. They mutter as much, and Gonan hears them. Sans heard it too, though he isn't sure if he would've been able to before dusting. Odd.

"You can't mess with the timelines anymore...?" Sans mutters as his eye sockets widen.

Gonan looks to him and can't help but ask, "The kid was the one making time jump backward whenever you killed them?"

Both the transparent skeleton and the kid look at her almost bewildered, though seemingly for different reasons. Sans seems to shrug it off, "seems so."

"Well then, that's one less thing to worry about." Gonan turns her attention back to Frisk and opens her mouth to continue speaking, but Sans interrupts her.

"There's no point in trying to talk them out of it, I've tried. Not even my bro could talk them out of it..."

Immediately, Gonan's jaw shuts, and she reaches for the cloth at her waist that belonged to her brother. She doesn't need clarification to know that Sans' brother has gone to Otherworld, too.

Gonan's killed before, but she doesn't know if she can kill this kid. Yet, this kid caused Genocide to Sans' people, and he had fought so hard to stop them, it feels wrong to let them go.

Besides, they technically should be dead, had it not been for that weird time reversing power, which they've claimed to have lost...

As she warred against herself in her mind, she suddenly felt very disoriented, and the next thing she registered was a sickening squelch of something impaling flesh and the shattering of a SOUL. She felt weightless and heavy all at the same time as Frisk's body slumped to the ground, unmoving. Everything was still for a moment. Then two, then three. Eventually, Sans sighed in relief and slumped down into a pile of bones. It was then that Gonan realized that now she was transparent and Sans was in the skeleton body that seemed to be a fusion between her and Sans, now that she had an outside perspective of it...

Oh, she wasn't in a body anymore, Sans was...

... huh?

The rest went by in a bit of a blur, but Gonan eventually met with the king of the monsters after Sans gave some vague explanations and control over their shared body back to her. They found that, while Gonan could now RESET, she couldn't go back further than when she was trying to save Sans' SOUL, and the only one that saved was Frisk. They couldn't even reverse the absorption, so they were stuck together now.

Gonan has killed before. She technically had LV before she even went Underground. Most of those kills were mercy killings, killing those whose lives were only being uselessly prolonged, suffering too severe wounds to live further than the time it would take them to slowly succumb to them. She's killed plenty like those before.

Knowing the King of monsters didn't have much reason to continue on now with nothing of his kingdom or family alive, she offered to to the same for him.

It might've been the hardest kill she's ever done.

After passing through the barrier, Gonan didn't know what to do. Sans didn't either. But at least the skeleton could see the sky?

Without his brother or any of his friends here to see it with...

And she couldn't just return to her own few friends and family as a skeleton, she didn't even know where to begin with that.

The two of them in their shared body with their shared SOUL felt so lonely as they stared up at the stars, not fully able to appreciate it.

So lonely and so negative that it might've drawn some outside of the universe attention from a guardian or two.

------

And that is where I shall leave that off because that is where things branch off! Depending on that kind of Multiverse it is (honestly mostly on Nightmare, whether he is 'badmare' or 'dadmare') Gonan and Sans can go about things in different ways.

But key things that will always be the same is that:

Gonan will start going by Mirai, an alternative name she gave herself while she was dealing with time travel before going into the Underground.

Sans will mostly stay floating around Gonan as his ghostly skeleton self, lazing about and simply existing while making comments and conversation with Gonan every now and then. No one can see or hear him unless he is taking control of their body himself, it's the same the other way around Gonan's taken to referring to him as 'Phantom Skelly' if anyone asks. Most initially think she's crazy.

Gonan doesn't understand how to use magic and is frankly quite awful at it in the beginning. But she is determined to get it down!

She also isn't all that great at fighting with weapons, she's much better at hand to hand combat or using her natural energy since she's mastered that.

Sans is a little frightened of Gonan's physical strength, it's part of the reason he lets her have control of their body most of the time. However, if they concentrate, he can just take control of one limb and use that limb to use his magic to cover for Gonan when needed.

Gonan is always a little worried about having a skeleton monster body now, she doesn't know how they work. Sans' vague explanations aren't of much help, either. If she's lucky enough to get an actual vague explanation. Yeah, it's awkward asking someone about their bodily functions, but she needs to know this stuff!!

After seeing how little it takes to hurt a monster, both of them are a little scared of interacting with other monsters, especially since neither of them are all that emotionally stable. Gonan often resorts to griping her own arms instead of holding onto anything, or anyone else, even if she needs to check over someone physically for whatever reason.

Gonan actually gets along with Undyne really well if given the chance! She respects Undyne's will to protect monsterkind. Though, learning about anime may throw her into an existential crisis if Dragon Ball is involved-

Once Gonan actually meets or hears more about Papyrus, she can't help but agree with Sans. Papyrus is pretty cool.

And that's all I got for now! Wow, I got carried away-

Anyway, I hope to mess around with Mirai more in the future! I don't know how exactly I'll go about that just yet though.