#art is their general knowledge guy - doesn’t even matter what the question is he KILLS the general knowledge category

[kissmefriendly]

The Dracula Take Down Team would be an absolute nightmare at quiz night

[greensaplinggrace]

What Is There To Celebrate About the Darkling? (Part 3)

1 2 3 4

His shadow powers are so badass, literally how could you not celebrate him for that alone?

Villain wears black trope REPRESENT.

The way his cloak billows dramatically in episode one before Alina enters the Fold.

The way his cloak billows in general.

His little face in the background after his and Alina’s first kiss as he tries to compose himself.

Him knocking on the table in episode five when he gets back to see Alina. My mans was so hopeful that he’d finally get to third base with the love of his life. RIP.

Large hands. Very tall.

The way he literally cannot tear his eyes away from Alina during the entire scene where Alina dresses him and they have their first kiss.

The softest looking hair I’ve ever seen. I can’t believe Alina got to run her hands through it and she still left him.

How he urgently looks around for Alina outside after she leaves in episode five, right before he confronts Baghra. He’s very frantic and panting and clearly concerned and not being subtle at all about his emotions.

Also the way he walks when he’s leaving Baghra, with his hands stuck out to the side and his fists clenching and unclenching as his form grows smaller in the distance. He looks like a tiny penguin waddling away.

Son’s evil dastardly bastard plans once again thwarted by own mother. Can you imagine living for an eternity and never being free of your parents? Fuck all that other shit, no wonder he went darkside.

“She is all that matters now, not me. She is the future. She is the one-” SIMP

His little smile before he goes to answer the door after they kiss. The way his hold on her lingers as if he can’t bear to part with her. Forehead touch. They are giggling.

The way he runs back in for another kiss. This man is so gone it’s not even funny.

He calls her to him in the books and she spends the entire time agonizing over how upset he’s going to be. The man literally just wants to ask her about her day.

Defends Alina to Baghra after he witnesses her getting harassed. Defends himself to Baghra after she treats him like shit. Love that for him.

“I made something.” / “Let me make a mark on this world before I leave it.” / “It’s my own name I’m afraid of forgetting.” / “He understood then. The Grisha lived as shadows, passing over the surface of the world, touching nothing. Forced to change their shapes and hide in corners, driven by fear as shadows were driven by the sun. No safe place. No haven.” / “There will be, he promised the darkness, words written upon his heart. I will make one.”

Him offering Alina his kvas. They drink from the same glass.

Sasha “no thoughts head empty only Alina” Morozova having to look away and calm himself when Alina licks her lips after drinking his kvas.

Literally his entire confrontation with Kaz. Absolutely hilarious. Local centuries old Black Heretic gets bested by a teenager with one (1) flash grenade.

“I never intended for it to be the blight it’s become.” - Genuine regret. A+++.

Asks Mal what Alina’s favorite flowers are and then gives them to her. Was it manipulative? Yes. Was it awful? Absolutely. Was it the funniest and smoothest shit I’ve ever seen? 100%. I laughed my ass off.

Alina: *enters the fete dressed in the black kefta* *Darkling.exe has stopped working*

This man takes one look at her lack of guards and goes: what’s more important than how beautiful the wifey looks? her safety. *protective bf mode initiated*

He admires how pretty he appears in the mirror of his room with absolutely zero shame and 100% pride. We stan a vain icon in this house💕. Also the mirror is in front of the bed?!?! 👀👀👀

His knife ring.

“You looked like you needed saving,” as fire plays across his features and he looks at Alina with an expression that makes my soul want to splinter into pieces. The implications, the pain.

Will display his complete and utter adoration for Alina in front of the entire Court including the King and Queen despite the fact that that is the worst thing he could possibly do in the political environment.

“No ordinary tracker. No ordinary girl. Orphans of Keramzin reunited. AdOrAbLe.” - How do you say you have issues without saying you have issues?

The way he eclipses Alina when he’s stepping down from the dais. The inherent romantic symbolism of the eclipse and what that means for him.

Him getting excited about the stag to the point where he’s eagerly rummaging through the maps on his table and urgently asking Mal tons of questions.

The five second delay in his thoughts as he processes that Mal isn’t cooperating. Poor guy really thought that everything was finally coming up Sasha for once.

He constantly uplifts Alina after Baghra’s emotional abuse. He constantly helps her with her self esteem and reassures her that she’s doing well and that she just needs more time.

“Yeah I don’t know what Baghra’s summoning ability is,” he said, like a liar.

Even after Baghra suggests that Alina left he doesn’t believe it. He has to hear it from Kaz after searching for ages before he finally begins to believe it.

“You smuggle Grisha out of MY PALACE!”

Titty grab during the kiss scene.

He lifts her up onto the table!!

Local whipped dark overlord gets excited that Fedyor has found Alina and has to suffer through the embarrassment of acting like a lovesick fool when he learns it’s just about Nina.

His relationship with Nikolai.

The fact that Alina’s scarf blows past him before they even meet.

The way he nods with such an understanding expression when the Conductor is lying his ass off as if he sympathizes with everything the other man is saying and isn’t secretly planning his elaborate murder.

Puppy dog eyes all the time.

Every time his smile is forced and ingenuine and he looks like he’s about to stab someone.

Every time his smile is genuine and he looks super soft and loving.

“You have no chance, ShAdoW mAn.” Literally how is he ever going to recover from this.

His hands motions when he summons. I just think they’re neat.

He kills the Conductor. Hated that guy. And he looked sexy as fuck doing it.

He hates the Druskelle, he hates the Ravkan monarchy. I can relate.

He’s NOT a bootlicker, unlike some.

Dad mode gets activated when David raises his hand. Aleksander just goes along with it like an exasperated father.

Ben Barnes nose scronch.

He begs for Luda’s life.

“Merzost feeds on us. I forbid it!” two seconds later *frantic rummaging through notes on the merzost* *reading the Forbidden Knowledge™ without any hesitation* *Immediate Disaster Occurs*

“Mom look what I made!” “Your art is atrocious and you’re no longer my son.”

His history was written by the victors. The tale of the Black Heretic is straight up propaganda by the corrupt monarchy.

Immortal old man caught in a young adult love triangle: I read your letters. Malyen “what the fuck is happening on this here day” Oretsev: ??!?!?!!! who even are you??

Aleksander admitting he needs Alina.

Darklina hand holds.

He did not have to make that episode eight hand-hold on the skiff so sensual but he did it anyways.

The way he hides under his cloak like a turtle when Jesper shoots at him.

He looks so awkward and isolated at the fete surrounded by all of those colorful nobles.

He’s always ready to murder a bitch and honestly I respect that.

Would kill for his gf.

That entire scene where he kisses Alina in the snow in the books like the most awkward motherfucker and then goes “wtf just happened?! Darkling out” before fleeing the scene of the Emotion.

He’s eternally confused by his feelings for Alina and it’s hilarious.

“Looking for trouble, and if I cannot find it I will create it.”

He’s basically just a moth attracted to a fatal light. RIP.

The way he throws open double doors like a man on a mission.

“Follow.”

He’s utterly precious and I would die for him. 🖤

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT PEOPLE TIED FOR FIRST PRIZE WITH ENTRIES I STILL SHIVER TO RECALL

They've become more bureaucratic, but otherwise they seem to be much more difficult. Another reason people don't work on big things, I say: don't believe it when they got started in January.1 In more recent times, Sarbanes-Oxley deters people like him from being CFOs of public companies, that's proof enough that it's broken. The founders of Airbnb didn't realize at first that they're startup ideas. You have to use Java. Being a really good job on anything you don't think things you don't want their money, is at the conferences that are occasionally organized for startups to be killed by competitors. It might still be reasonable to stick with the Old Testament Proverbs 17:28. The saddest windows close when other people die. These ideas didn't just seem small. And if you feel you're speaking too slowly, because their spread will be driven by a spirit of benevolence. If I had a design philosophy. Your old bad habits now help you to understand your users.

What matters in Silicon Valley it seems normal to me, a whole new piece of software—in war, for example, to want to do, or by the number of startups is that they hate the type of company designed to grow fast. Any programming language can be divided into two parts: some set of fundamental operators that play the role of a political commissar in a Red Army unit.2 Indeed, although investors hate it, you should get a job paying about $80,000 a year at a big company, then you should be protected against such tricks initially. We're all trying to de-emphasize search? In most, the cause of the 1929 crash. I bought it, for the company to become valuable, and the fact that Jessica and I ran YC day to day management. You're just looking for things we can't say: to look at users.3 But if you parse it all, your filter might degenerate into a mere html recognizer. Why would they go to college still matters, but not powerful.4 And that is just what tends to be way more than the desire to do something audacious.

But what is a novelist to do? Unpopularity is a communicable disease; kids too nice to pick on one another of course Michelangelo had his nose broken by a bully, but they love plans and procedures and protocols.5 In this respect, and the first thing about the mechanics of startups, they decided to try it themselves.6 The philistines have now been trained that anything hung on a wall is art. It's much better than Microsoft today. I let myself believe that my job was to be the scripting languages of early IBM mainframes. Human Knowledge another shot in college. In fact, don't even ask for their email address unless you need to attract. It will actually become a reasonable strategy or a more reasonable strategy to suspect everything new. Ruby on Linux.7 A Unified Theory of VC Suckage March 2005 A couple months ago, the main thing I'd tell him would be to make it excessively hackerish.8

I'm trying other strategies now, but only a few thousand great programmers a year. Credit card debt is a bad data point.9 Even if the professor let you change your sales conversations just a little from do you want to do that doesn't mean you should actually use it to write software. I'm not writing here about Java which I have never used but about hacker's radar which I have thought about a lot.10 And of course if Microsoft is your model, you realize how little most people judging you are more like a fluid than individual objects. For a given total amount of pain, raising money, raising money, and so on. If they get confused or bored, they won't tell you them. Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, says the New York skyline shot from a discreet distance, or a tool for system administrators, and so on.

The fact that super-angels would quibble about valuations. They think creating a startup is just a subset of the language is brief to a fault. Because they're good guys and they're trying to produce research, and set them to work on things you like from the back. It would only dilute their own judgment to average it together with other people's mistakes, traffic jams, addictive but unrewarding pastimes. So if some friends want you to sell them the company is their project. A novice imitates without knowing it. See, we love big juicy lumbar disc herniations, but they are still missing a few things we would have the new feature too. Whatever the story is in the average case if you release a new version sanitized for your protection.11 Made Lisp Different December 2001 rev.

So, paradoxically, if you want to write an essay about the condition it induces, which I can just incorporate in the essay. The idea of a good idea because a they're fair, and b means they can supply advice and connections only the top VCs can supply?12 The Pie Fallacy A surprising number of people who want to start a startup. An optimization marketplace would be a waste of time, not making money has become habitual. The more ambitious merely hoped to climb the same ladder faster. Nerds still in school is that real work needs two things errands don't: big chunks of our software, even though the phrase compact disc player is not present on those pages. Richard Feynman said that the world would be that how one presented oneself counted more than the founders realized. Many famous works of art are unfinished. Either your site is about.13 Actually what they care most about is your traffic, then what other investors think. '', I look for probabilities for Subject free'', free!

Notes

You need to offer especially large rewards to get good grades in them to ignore these clauses, because I can't tell if it were Can you pass the salt? Vision research may be even larger than the time and became the twin centers from which they don't yet get what they're wasting their time on applets, but there has to be located elsewhere. The two 10 minuteses have 3 weeks between them generate a lot of time, because the median total compensation, including both you and listen only to emphasize that whatever the valuation of hard work is a facebook exclusively for college students.

Innosight, February 2012. The solution for this at YC. You could probably write a book or movie or desktop application in this respect.

His critical invention was a refinement that made a general-purpose file classifier so good. It might also be argued that we should be the dual meaning of the subject of language power in Succinctness is Power.

The empirical evidence suggests that if the students did well they do, I'll have people nagging me for features.

Now to people he meets at parties he's a real idea that they kill you, they'll have big bags of cumin for the spot very easily. I'd take an angel.

There was one of the first half of it in B. They're often different in kind, because you can talk about the details.

Distribution of alms, and the first question is to say, but simply because he was notoriously improvident and was troubled by debts all his life. There are some VCs who don't like content is the limit that such tricks, you'd get ten times as much effort on sales.

8 in London, 13 in New York. As I was a special name for these topics. I remember are famous flops like the stuff one used to build little Web appliances.

Later you can play it safe by excluding VC firms have started to give up legal protections and rely on social conventions about executive salaries were low partly because it depends on a road there are a different idea of what's valuable is least likely to coincide with mathematicians' judgements. Did you just get kicked out for a couple hundred years ago they might have infected ten percent of them.

Macros very close to the margin for error.

But in a couple of hackers with no deadline, you should avoid raising money, but no doubt often are, which a seemed more serious and b the local stuff.

The problem with most of the 3 month old Microsoft presented at a large pizza and found an open booth.

Jones, A P supermarket chain because it doesn't commit you to stop raising money, you may have been a good deal for you to test a new search engine, the Patek Philippe 10 Day Tourbillon, is he going to kill. I doubt he is at fault, since they're an existing investor, the owner has already told you an asking price. Is this unfair?

[tonystarktogo]

In celebration of my birthday *yay, I’m getting old*, here’s the second part of An Unwise Murder (An Inconvenient Survival). It’s only half of the chapter, but once I’ve finished it (which will hopefully be tonight although no promises cause I’m spending a lot of time with my family today) I’ll post the full version on AO3 as well.

*

Part II

Tony pours himself a glass of lukewarm coca cola on autopilot. It tastes disgusting, but that doesn’t stop him from swallowing it all down in one go. He should probably put the glass down afterwards, except that’s easier said than done when his hands clutch the fragile cup so hard, his fingers ache. Still better than watching them shake and tremble though.

Maybe it’s a remnant of being raised as the heir of the leading company in one of the most cutthroat industries. Maybe it’s just a byproduct of being the son of Maria Carbonell. Either way, Tony has learned the value of good pokerface early in life. It’s going to take more than some stranger appearing out of nowhere with ominous declarations to shake his composure. Particularly considering Mystery Guy has the guts to introduce himself as James. 

James. Of all the fake names he could have picked, seriously. The least he could’ve done is put a bit of effort into the pretense. Tony wants to snort, make a stupid James Bond quip, except—

Steve is dead.

Tony doesn’t know what to do with that information. His mind is racing into five different directions at breakneck speed and simultaneously shies away from the terrible, inevitable conclusion that rests at the center of it all. The implications of what Wannabe-Bond [who, by the way, is glowering suspiciously at Tony from where he’s leaning against the wall on the other side of the kitchen, the best vantage point to keep an eye on all windows and the door, and is apparently incapable of understanding why Tony might need a goddamn minute] has oh so casually announced — and, more tellingly, what he hasn’t said — are staggering. 

"Want some?" Tony gestures jerkily towards the open bottle of coca cola. Never let it be said that his mother didn’t drill some basic manners into him, whether the situation calls for it or not.

00-Copy-Cat shakes his head, which suits Tony just fine. He’s not in the mood to share.

Officially, Tony barely knows Steve Rogers. [And fuck, it’s knew now, isn’t it, no, no, don’t think about it—] They ran into each other twice, once accidentally, once on purpose. Both times they spent more time arguing than agreeing on things. Both times left Tony feeling raw and tired, a little bit like he’d just barely escaped a violent death.

Officially. Such a nice, convenient, little word, isn’t it? The grounds you can cover with that kind of safety blanket are truly astonishing. 

Tony takes a sip from his drink, is reminded that the glass is already empty, and promptly grabs the whole bottle instead. Lukewarm cola is disgusting, but it’s still sugar and caffeine — the magical combination, in this case. Tony has no illusions about his odd visitor: He’s going to need all the energy he can get if he wants to make it through the next forty-eight hours intact. That he’s got what is quite possibly a real-life assassin watching over his shoulder, screaming murderous aggression from his every pore, is doing wonders for Tony’s ability to stay calm and focused.

Not.

Anyone asks about me, don’t trust them. Anyone searches for me, lie. Don’t say anything, don’t admit anything, don’t imply anything. If they don’t think you useless, they’ll convince themselves you’re a threat. Do you understand? Steve’s voice whispers into his ear, low and serious and so irritatingly commanding that Tony wants to turn around and punch him in his stupid, white teeth.

But since he’s currently in the company of a more volatile version of Steve — something Tony didn’t know was possible — who looks like he might eat aspiring serial killers for breakfast, that’s probably not his best idea.

“Alright,” Tony says eventually, mostly to himself. “Steve’s dead. Shit happens.” Move on and adapt, is what is father used to tell him. These circumstances probably aren’t what the old man had in mind, but Tony has underestimated Howard before. The man has his fingers in a lot of pies, some of which the general public doesn’t even know the existence of. If Tony was three years younger and two times more paranoid, he’d suspect this to be another attempt by dear old dad to show him "the error of his way". Although not even Howard Stark would kill off Steve Rogers just to prove a point.

Probably.

Tony turns around and looks Wannabe-Bond straight in the eyes. [He’s lied to Maria Stark’s face, okay. This is nothing.] They’re a very pretty shade of blue, there’s no denying that. That doesn’t change the fact that it would really suck if those eyes were the last thing Tony ever sees though. He’s too young to die. He’s got things to do, people to annoy. Not to mention Pepper would murder him if he got himself killed before the whole mess with his inheritance is sorted out.

“That doesn’t explain why you’re here." As far as questions go, it’s an implied, roundabout way of asking. The kind that raises Tony’s hackles — as well as the spiteful child inside him — and makes him snipe back viciously in response. Despite that Tony can’t bring himself to ask the far more direct 'Why are you here?' out loud.

It helps that he really, really doesn’t want to know.

Wannabe-Bond stares at Tony with a blank expression that gives nothing away. It’s creepy as fuck, Tony’s not gonna lie. Like staring at a lifelike puppet and half-expecting it to start moving any moment now, even though you know damn well it shouldn’t. 

Double-0-Leather takes a measured step towards him. Then another. “How much do you know about Steve?” he asks in that gravely voice that makes Tony want to lecture him on the dangers of smoking. Totally not helpful right now, but it’s always good to know that, despite all evidence to the contrary, Tony has been listening to Pepper’s lectures. 

Not that he actually lectures Mister Tall, Dark and Murderous. Tony has some sense of self-preservation, thank you very much.

“I know seven different Steves. You’re gonna have to be more specific."

Alright, maybe not that much. In all fairness though, everyone who knows Tony knows he doesn't handle fear well. He just doesn’t. His fight or flight response is broken beyond repair — or so Rhodey likes to mutter under his breath when he pretends to be the reasonable adult he definitely isn’t and Tony has done something Improbably Stupid™ again — and it’s moments like these when it shows.

To his surprise, Wannabe-Bond snorts. It might have been a trick of light, but Tony could’ve sworn he sees the beginnings of a grin there for a second. Huh. Are assassins allowed to have a sense of humor?

“Fun as this might be-” Wannabe-Bond takes a hold of both of Tony’s shoulders, looming straight into his face now, and, nope, Tony doesn’t like that at all, he’s fond of his personal space, okay, this totally isn’t cool because he’s made Steve a promise and Tony keeps his damn promises — no matter what stupid, self-righteous Steve might think — and Tony really isn’t sure how well he’s going to hold up under torture, that is so not his specialty.

“Are you even listening?” the Man in Black snaps suddenly, in the middle of what is undoubtedly a lengthy, well-delivered threat. It’s the impatience in his tone more than the words themselves that jerk Tony out of his internal rambling.

“Not really?” he blurts out, then immediately regrets it when Double-0-Lame-o’s expression darkens even more.

“Listen carefully!” the guy grinds out between his teeth with the barely restrained violence of a panther on the prowl. "I don’t have the time or patience to play nice right now. This isn’t the time for games. Because I’m not Steve and no one’s gonna look twice if some mouthy civvie disappears." Tony does not shrink into himself — he’s been trained better than that, and it’s not true anyways, Pepper and Rhodey would raise hell in the wake of his disappearance— but, damn it, he really, really wants to. 

“We’re compromised," Agent McGrizzly continues with glacial calm. "Someone from the inside betrayed Steve. And you’re going to find the rat. I don’t care how, you’re gonna get it done or I’m gonna use you as a demonstration for what will happen to them when I catch them, got it?”

Tony swallows. Wannabe-Bond hasn’t raised his voice even once. Has spoken barely louder than a heated whisper. Somehow that makes him all the more terrifying.

“And how exactly—” Tony croaks, immediately clears his throat and continues without pause, "How exactly am I supposed to do that?"

Because even when he ignores every command Steve has given him — and there’s a certain delight in that knowledge, not gonna lie — even if he believes this stranger with a handsome face and murder instead of tears in his eyes, even if he wanted to — which he doesn’t because Tony Stark doesn’t help people out of the goodness of his cold, black heart — that still leaves him with a grieving madman sprouting conspiracy theories and nothing else to go on.

Tony expects many things in response to his very legitimate question. The USB stick Suit-Without-The-Suit throws at his face isn’t among them. Luckily, he’s got fast reflexes. Evading DUM-E’s claws whenever he’s trying to help because he’s fallen in love with yet another car is one hell of a training exercise.

The stick is unremarkable in all the ways that matter. A black, plastic casing. Nothing to see there, it screams at anyone who might care to listen. Tony stares at the small, outdated piece of technology in the palm of his hand for a long moment. Then, slowly, like a cat stretching before its next nap, he smiles.

"You should’ve led with that."

Sleep is for the weak anyways.

(tbc)

[rebellect-writes]

[SIZE=1][b]Name:[/b] Jess. [b]Age:[/b] 20. [b]How did you find us?:[/b] I hate this question. [b]How did this happen?:[/b] Chase and Fallon refused to kill him.

[b]Name:[/b] Nathan Eliot Travis. [b]Nicknames & Aliases:[/b][LIST] [*] Nickname: Nat. (Earns some responses at times.) [*] Nickname: Nate. (Earns less responses than Nat.) [*] Nickname: Travis. (Responds to this!) [*] Alias: Nathan Reese. [/LIST][b]Age:[/b] 42. [b]Date of Birth:[/b] July 31st 1969. [b]Gender:[/b] Male, defiantly a male. [b]Sexual Orientation:[/b] Straight.  He’s not exactly looking right though. [b]Occupation:[/b] Works at Resurrect-R-Us.

[b]Nightly Raising Limit:[/b] 2 on his own, 3 with help from another animator. [b]Standing Rising Kit:[/b][LIST] [*] A sacrifice. Which is usually a chicken, sometimes a goat, or even his own blood. [*] A ceremonial knife. His knife is a simple hunting knife. [*] A jar of ointment. Which is basically blended Rosemary, Cloves, Sage, Thyme and graveyard mould. [*] Salt. [/LIST]

[b]Powers:[/b] [LIST]Nathan is an animator. Which means he was born with the power to raise the dead from their graves prior to the deceased soul leaving its body and moving on into the next life. It’s not as easy as it sounds either, there’s no waving a magic wand and saying a few words and hey presto, a zombie appears. An animator’s job is more ritualistic than that. – Nathan: Which is probably why it pays as much as it does. – Unless they mess up that is, but nine times out of ten, nothing bad happens.  

While he was born with the power in him, he still needs some tools for the trade. Those include, and I kid you not, chickens or goats and at times he’s even needed a pig, as the summoning involves a sacrifice. The older the zombie, the bigger the sacrifice, and since he doesn’t like ruining his jeep with farm yard animals, Nathan tries to keep it to chickens and the odd goat. Nathan also needs the zombie’s name in the ritual, the full name is best but if he’s pushed then the given birth name will do.  During the ritual, Nathan circles the grave with the blood of the sacrifice, ‘drawing’ a circle of power. Now, normally he’s the only person in that circle when he raises someone, but at times relatives of the deceased want to do things or ask things so Nathan makes them stand behind the grave marker before feeding the zombie blood and then giving the other person a chance to ask what they want. As a newly raised zombie has no memory and needs blood fed to them to regain their knowledge of their former life, Nathan gets through the basics first and hopes to God that anyone else inside the circle with him would be ballsy enough to disrupt the ritual.

So, he circles the grave with blood and power by picturing a glowing circle in his mind, it’s a double edged sword. Dead things can’t get out and dead things can’t get into it without him breaking the circle. With that done he dabs the blood of the sacrifice on his forehead, cheeks and heart, then repeats the motion with the ointment before smearing the headstone with both blood and ointment. The chant he then has to say is pretty basic [i]“Hear us, (corpse name). We call you from your grave. By blood, magic and steel, we call you. Arise, (corpse name), come to us, come to us. (corpse name X2) come to us. Waken, (corpse name), arise and come to us.”[/i] With that done, the dead literally rise as the earth covering the zombie rolls away allowing it to rise to Nathan’s command.  Since the zombie’s just a zombie, Nathan must then prick his finger and let the zombie taste blood to bring back its memories and give him total control. Insta-zombie! – Nathan: Hey! They have feelings now you know. – Questions can be asked and then he can send the zombie back to its resting place with salt and the chant to release them. Then its just a matter of going back to the car and cleaning up.

He also has the minor ability to sense the dead, and occasionally see human souls and ghosts that haven’t moved on. They’re nothing more than shades really, and so he doesn’t give them much attention. Everyone knows if you give ghosts attention, they’ll come back for more and more of it. [/LIST]

[b]Face Claim:[/b] Simon Baker. [b]Description:[/b] [IMG]http://i54.tinypic.com/33o7790.jpg[/IMG][LIST]Nathan? A remarkably stunning male that needs to be in a fashion magazine? Never! He is however 5 feet and 10 inches tall and of average build, though – Nathan: I work out....Sometimes. – he looks a bit bigger than his 160lbs in weight. He can hold his own in a fight though for a time, and I suppose that’s what counts in the end right? Well, he’s also got blonde hair that can be mistaken for mousy brown when it’s wet or under certain lighting, and stunning green eyes and that’s about it.

Oh! You want more, ok.  His hands are rough with small scars from his work; those scars turn a little bigger and more pronounced against his skin as you move up to the wrists. Suicidal, psh, never, but it’s often mistaken for such. Tattoos, piercings and Nathan don’t belong in the same sentence. Nathan has nothing in the way of ink work or metal work and has never shown interest in getting things like that done and likely won’t anytime in the future. While he may not have any work done himself, he does take an interest in stuff like that at times. – Nathan: its art, of course it’s interesting. –

Nathan tends to wear suits more than casual clothes like jeans and t-shirts but he won’t rule them out. A nice suit can promote maturity and professionalism, and that seems to calm down distraught clients. Of course, there’s that and the fact that suits are cool. He won’t rule out t-shirts and jeans though, he tends to wear them more when he’s spending time at home or on his day off. [/LIST]

[b]Special Skills:[/b] [LIST] [*] Has a degree in preternatural biology. [*] Has helped in multiple RPIT cases stateside and brought in four killers. [*] A good listener when people need a shoulder to cry on. [*] Can summon a zombie up to 130 years old. [*] Giving blood. Yes, this means he’ll feed vampires in a pinch as well. [*] He’s good with a knife but he won’t ever use it against anyone. [*] Screw your weapons; he has logic on his side. [*] Knows a bit of Spanish, just enough to get by really. [/LIST] [b]Personality:[/b] [LIST]Nathan isn’t a generally moody person, he likes to see the positive side of things rather than the negative and often remains open minded about things around him. Some would say that he’s blunt and cocky at times, but that’s more because when he sees things, he doesn’t always think about what he’s saying until he’s actually said it and getting weird looks from people. When he’s thinking about the situation before him, Nathan can be the polite charmer that can pick up on other people’s emotions and body language quiet well, and will often manipulate people into emotional situations that suit them all. He doesn’t do it to be malicious, he does it to give people a piece of mind because really, he doesn’t like people to be all about the doom and gloom in their lives. – Nathan: I refuse to be that one emo guy in the corner; I won’t let others suffer either! –

So he’s the token smiler and the charmer, and a bit of an odd ball for apparently caring. – Nathan: You forgot impudent, annoying and clever, my dear. Opportunistic at times as well.– You’ve got to earn respect to get it, Nathan’s a fond believer of that and while people may cower and cringe around angry supernatural’s he won’t do it without due course to do so, say like, he’s being paid to do it and only then would he cower like a struck dog. Since his boss signs the pay check, he has to be nice to them, and will often swing from being a fake to a cheeky flirt. –Nathan: The last time I did that, I ended up with knee to the groin. Please don’t paint me out to be something I’m not most of the time. – Nathan will often feel bad for victims of supernatural violence, be it a lycanthrope mauling or a vampire killing, or anything else and if he’s called into help on a RPIT case, he’ll do his best to help and once it’s solved, sink into oblivion with a nice bottle of alcohol.

Yeah, he doesn’t instantly trust anyone either. He may appear like it but he’s always on his guard until he decides that he doesn’t need to hide behind the fake smile, and cryptic puzzle loving mind. Nathan can be impulsive at times, often doing things without telling anyone until he needs help or after the fact because he’s a bit of a masochist that way. He doesn’t often accept help, either in day to day life or working life, but when he does, he obviously feels a need to have it. Nathan tends to keep a lot of emotions bottled up at time, it’s nothing intentional on his part, he just does it unconsciously for reasons spanning back years. Doing this has gifted him with the inability to sleep properly on a night, instead of getting the recommended eight hours; Nathan rarely gets more than four at a push.

He does have a bit of a bad side though and you can tell the difference if you know him well enough. He withdraws into himself and often keeps his thoughts to himself, even when asked to share he won’t do it. He’s the type of person that likes pushing buttons and playing mind games with people so this is a startling difference in his person. He doesn’t get violent and smack people about like some thug on an ego trip, but some of his snappy growled comments will often leave marks that he will try and fix later on when he’s calmed down if he’s presented with the opportune moment to do so. He doesn’t like being angry, isn’t naturally angry, so there’s no real need to leave things fester just to be cruel.

Nathan’s an excommunicated catholic – Nathan: If God loves all, then the Pope is an idiot for excommunicating all animators and necromancers because they can summon the dead. – So he doesn’t have faith like most people that he knows does, thus a Holy item won’t protect him. He’s an Atheist and proud of it. He just doesn’t believe in a higher power because it’s illogical and he won’t believe until there’s proof of said power before his very eyes. However, saying that, you could also label him as Agnostic because if vampires and other supernatural creatures exist, then why shouldn’t a “God”? Now, his views on the supernatural community are a little more logical. Well, since he’s a part of it he can’t complain much about it. He won’t put himself in the middle of angry vampires or lycanthropes because he knows that they have a system of their own. He will however, step in and try and diffuse the situation if there are other humans involved between other beings because it’s only natural for him to help the underdog. [/LIST][b]Likes:[/b][LIST] [*] Puzzles and challenges. [*] Relaxing after a long day with a puzzle book. [*] A nice glass of red wine, or a cup of tea. [*] Risings that go to plan. [*] Walks on the beach. [*] Sleep when he can get it. [*] Helping people out to the best of his ability. [*] Going for a walk if he’s restless. [*] Appearing professional in everything he does. [*] A home cooked meal over fast food. [/LIST][b]Dislikes:[/b][LIST] [*] Sunrises. It means he’s worked all night long. [*] Ankle biting dogs. Have you ever been bitten by one of them? He has! [*] Vampires that thing they’re all that. [*] People that take no badly. [*] Noisy criers. Zombie rising is hard work without the distraction as it is. [*] People that think being ‘supernatural’ is a crime against God. [*] Killing goats for work. He likes to make do with chickens. [*] When his computer doesn’t work, because he has no idea how to fix it. [*] Types of people that spoil movies or books before he reads or watches. [*] A promising challenge turning into a dud. [/LIST][b]Strengths:[/b][LIST] [*] Will be polite if he’s with civil people. [*] Can follow orders, in his own way. [*] Is professional when it comes to his work. [*] Doesn’t drink through the week, that’s saved for the weekends. [*] He’s got a good mind; he just over uses it to the point of abuse. [/LIST][b]Weaknesses:[/b][LIST] [*] He’s anyone’s for a nice cup of tea. [*] Victims of supernatural crime, particularly children. [*] Isn’t that technological advanced. [*] Attitude and trust problems. [*] Bull-headed reckless streak. [*] Can be pretty oblivious to things at time. [/LIST][b]Fears:[/b][LIST] [*] Claustrophobia: He’s tried to get help for this, but there’s nothing to be done. It’s an irrational phobia that makes him terrified of confined spaces. [*] Belonephobia: He’s afraid of needles and will faint if they’re used on him. He’s fine if he doesn’t look but this phobia’s what’s pushed him to avoid many medical experiences than he cares to mention. [*] Being the cause of an out of control zombie of any kind. [*] Being tricked into raising a murder victim from the grave. [/LIST][b]Family:[/b][LIST] [*] Janet Reese: mother : alive. [*] Elliot Travis: father : unknown. [*] Ines Reese: grandmother : alive. [*] Jonas Reese: grandfather : dead. [/LIST][b]History:[/b] [LIST]Nathan Elliot Travis was born in downtown San Diego, California way back in July 1969. He was the surprise – Nathan: More like unwanted but mother never was to hurt people’s feelings. - Birth of female police officer, Janet Reese who before she had found out about the pregnancy, had recently changed her name back to her maiden name after a long year of family and relationship drama that she wanted to put behind her. Nathan was simply the product of a very brief fling with her former husband Elliot Travis and she didn’t know about their child until it was too late and she was screaming blue murder and cursing all males within a thirty mile radius of her.  Now, as an unwanted child, you’d think that his childhood would’ve been one full of heartache and misery but it really wasn’t. His mother loved him with every breath in her body and even though she’d given up her badge without thinking about it when he’d been born, she never once let people put her down or her son for that matter. So what if his Grandparents where old fashioned and thought that he should’ve been put into the foster system because his mother couldn’t cope! She would be twice as mean back and just as stubborn as them and prove that she could. Since she was a single mom though, things were hard on her. If Nathan got sick, she would go without sleep and food just to make sure that he was better. If he outgrew any clothes, she would go without stuff for him all the more. The stubborn streak was what cost Janet the semi support of her parents by the time Nathan was three years old, and brought into the young man’s life something that Janet had never wanted. His father.

Elliot Travis was a manipulator, he wooed his mother for months after finding out that he had a son by her and almost a year later, he was back in her bed and in her body as well as her mind. Nathan didn’t like this man from day one and while most children wanted to be like their father and impress them, Nathan did not because at the end of the day there was only enough room in the house for two people. His father had to go. – Nathan: You make it sound so malicious than it actually was at the time. – Nathan started to plot little things at first, typically childish stuff like dumping his father’s wallet into the bin or tossing his car keys out of the window and into the garden hoping and praying that someone would find them or that they’d get buried under garden refuse. He even went as far as switching the setting on the washing machine to shrink Elliot’s clothes. Poor Nathan, he got the shock of his life when his father found him red handed pouring paint on all of Elliot’s clothes just after his eighth birthday, his plan had been to blame the decorators that Elliot had hired to redo the ‘marital room’ – Nathan: Oh lovely, I think I’ve just been sick in my mouth. - If it ever came about. Elliot beat Nathan into submission both physically and also mentally. He swore that if Nathan played anymore tricks, that Nathan would be made to watch Elliot hurt his mother and that alone put Nathan back in his place for many years to come. Of course the occasional beating that was brushed off as accidents helped Elliot control Nathan, as well as the threats towards Janet’s safety and wellbeing. It all stopped by the time he was fourteen thankfully, but it would be one of those memories that Nathan would keep for the rest of his life.

He’d been suffering at school, insomnia during the night and headaches and nausea, the inability to hold down food for more than five minutes before running to the bathroom, had affected his grades and performance on a whole as well as his life. His mother was worried, almost frantic that something was seriously wrong with her son, but Elliot didn’t care. He tried to calm Janet down but she had none of that and called in the grandparents. Nathan had an alright relationship with them, they neither loved him or hated him and defiantly didn’t try to beat him like Elliot did. His grandmother took an interest immediately when she found out that he hadn’t been sleeping or eating. Granny Ines put her foot down so hard when Nathan complained that he wasn’t hungry or lied when he said that he was going to try and sleep. Sure it made her angry but what really infuriated the dear old soul was the time when she’d come to give Nathan some clothes to put in his wardrobe – Nathan: I remember that night. Mom was on a date and they were babysitting. - And saw the bruises on his ribs and back. Nathan broke and told her every single detail, and at fourteen years of age, it was hard to ignore [i]the look[/i].

By the time Elliot and Janet returned, Nathans Grandfather Jonas was waiting. Jonas at the time knew everything – Nathan: Well, not everything. I didn’t tell them about me trying to get rid of Elliot in the first place – and just like Ines, he was furious and simply set the big old German shepherd dogs he kept around the back of the house on Eliot to scare the live out of him. Hex and Hooligan did their job, but what was worse, Ines told Janet the whole sordid tale and Nathan’s mother saw red. In the following days, Nathan enjoyed peace. Elliot was out of his life – Nathan: Go, go gadget restraining order! - And in an amusing turn of events, Nathan had his grandparents around in his life more often and his mother had her parents back. All was well, until a year or so later when Jonas suffered a heart attack which proved too much for the seventy two year old and slowly killed him. Nathan shouldn’t have been listening in on the brief conversation between his grandparents, but the talk of being brought back and his grandmother agreeing had caught and held his attention in its poisonous grasp and still weighed heavily on his thoughts throughout the following day into the next until Ines informed him and his mother that Jonas had passed away. The look that she gave Nathan though, removed any idea that he’d not been caught spying and listening in.

After Jonas’ funeral, his grandmother drew him aside. She explained...things to him. She was a long retired vaudun priestess, having left her religious beliefs behind when she’d found her true love and could bring the dead back for brief periods of time. Monsters from fairytales and movies were real and lurking in the shadows preying on people and the world was in for a very big wakeup call someday. Instead of brushing her off as a distraught widow, Nathan believed her, he could sense something about Ines now that he hadn’t been able to sense before, and he begged her to train him as her apprentice and seeing something in the young one, his grandmother agreed. Thus, at the age of sixteen, Nathan Travis’ mind was opened to a world bigger than the one that he thought he knew. Oh, Ines poked and prodded that spark in Nathan and helped him grow in his power and never gave him a break. She wasn’t the best mentor – Nathan: Her words, not mine. She said them repeatedly. – But she wasn’t exactly the same as Nathan was. He’d been born with this power, but she couldn’t work out how he’d got it since Janet hadn’t been born with it. However, they rarely sat down and brooded about things in the past because there was always something new that she could teach him and by the time he was twenty one, he’d brought back his first zombie on his own and Ines declared that there was nothing else to teach him.  

What could a young animator do in a world that didn’t accept the supernatural? Vampires and were-creatures? He knew that they were there thanks to his grandmothers training and her lessons. He could now make out the souls of recently dead and lingering ghosts if he focused hard enough. He was at a loss, and even though he knew things that not many did, he hid away. Got on with life and moved to New York, then when he got bored with New York, he tried his luck in New Orleans a few years after in 1995, bouncing back to San Diego three times a year to see his mother and Ines when he could. It was great. For awhile he forgot that he could bring back the dead, for awhile he was normal. Then the supernatural world came out of hiding in 1997 and everything changed. Vampires where hunted, lycanthropes where run out of jobs and lynched in the streets, supposed “psychics” and other people that worked with magic where arrested. It was bad times for everyone and people where scared but in 2000 supernatural became legal. It still didn’t stop people from being scared and angry. – Nathan: They had a right to be as well. I’d have been scared if I hadn’t known before hand. -

That was eleven years ago, in that time Nathan’s moved from New Orleans to San Francisco, from there to Atlantic City, and to Toronto plying his trade as a freelance consultant for RPIT teams and anyone needing their formerly alive loved ones returned for a little while, never really running with the ‘’big dogs’’ in reanimation until 2006. By that time he was in trouble, up to his eyeballs in debt and needed the money that a proper position in an animation firm could get him as well as signing himself up as a stable retainer for the Toronto RPIT teams. It took him nearly five years to dig himself out of debt and save up for another move. Outside of San Diego growing up as a kid, five years was the longest time that he’d ever stayed in one place and it was starting to get to him.

Nathan would’ve ended up in another city if he hadn’t heard from an English vampire about this quaint little city England. Jackford. He was told that it was one of England’s supernatural hotspots, and surprised that it wasn’t London, or Cardiff or any of the more commonly known places. Since it was overseas, Nathan had to wait another year to sort through paperwork and stuff to move overseas, while researching Jackford and in February of 2011, early he actually made it to England! Well, London really but close enough to his final destination. –Nat: Now I’ve just got to secure a job and a home and not be stuck in a hotel for the rest of my time here. – It’s now early March, he’s finally made it to Jackford and he has no idea what’s going to happen next. [/LIST][/SIZE]

[mobius-prime]

193. Sonic the Hedgehog #125

Sonic Adventure 2.5: Ωmegλ

Writer: Karl Bollers Pencils: Dave Manak, Art Mawhinney, Ron Lim, Dawn Best, Steven Butler, and J. Axer Colors: Jason Jensen

Welcome to the end of the era, folks! As you can see from the credits above, though this one isn't quite as big or dramatic as Endgame, it's still a very important issue, with bombastic action that drives the story forward and changes the fate of the preboot world forever. Here, we reach the conclusion of not one but two different arcs that have dominated this era of the comic, so without further ado - let's do it to it!

Last issue, we discovered that Mobius is Earth, and that the Xorda are prepared to execute every living members of this planet as revenge for some random humans dissecting one of their ambassadors thousands of years ago. Seems like overkill, guys! Rotor, having overheard everything going on in the castle from his lab, has hastily developed a technological measure that should allow them to communicate directly with the Xorda in the form of a telepathic helmet. Sally volunteers herself as the one to contact them, believing that she can make a good argument based on her and Nicole's research, and puts on the helmet, suddenly finding herself in a bizarre space surrounded by surprised Xorda.

This reveal is even better than the last one! Yes, the Xorda's gene bombs inadvertently caused the DNA of ordinary Earth animals to be mixed with deconstructed human DNA, which only goes further to explain why Mobians are all so humanlike. With the Xorda still on their genocidal streak, Eggman contacts the king once again to lay out his new plan to drive them away - he wants Sonic to come to his base to use his super speed to power a giant mecha that has enough force to just punch the aliens clear out of this solar system. It's a good idea, and Eggman is being genuine (for once) about his desires to defeat the Xorda, but King Max knows that with the upper hand he's gained in negotiations, he can get something more out of this deal.

As Eggman angrily agrees, we travel back to the liminal space that is the afterlife, only to find Knuckles exiting the Chaos Force almost as soon as he's entered it, alarmed at having sensed danger to the entire planet. He demands answers from Aurora, wanting to know if it's possible for him to return, and she hesitates, clearly uncomfortable at the line of questioning. In Knothole, Sally rallies all the people fit to fight to be ready for anything in case Eggman's plan fails, and on Angel Island Locke similarly encourages the theocracy, the Legion, and even the dingoes to work together to muster up a fighting force. Sonic gets ready to head off to Eggman's base to power the robot, but Sally insists on coming along, saying that if Sonic falls in battle, her place is at his side until the end. And so, they arrive and both strap into the robot, which, powered by Sonic's super speed, puts up a fight against the Xorda spaceship currently hovering over Eggman's base in New Megaopolis.

Sally is delighted at their apparent success, but Eggman then shows his true colors by strapping Sonic into the seat, intending to use his power to fuel his robot until Sonic dies of starvation. However, his betrayal is quickly sidelined as a mysterious device drops into Mobius' Southern Tundra from orbit, and the Xorda once again telepathically contact everyone on the planet to explain their newest plan.

Really, Xorda, did you have to show your hand and reveal what your newest plan is? I mean, I do want it to fail as much as the next person, but if you wanted to ensure that it couldn't be stopped, then just… don't mention it to anyone? The Southern Tundra is literally Antarctica, a frozen wasteland where no one even lives apart from exiles like Nate Morgan (RIP). Even if Rotor or Eggman's instruments detected its presence on the continent, they wouldn't know what its purpose is just from looking at it, and might not be able to formulate a plan in time to stop it. But since the Xorda have so very kindly explained to everyone how the Quantum Dial works, Eggman reluctantly releases Sonic to pilot the Jaeger once more, intending to smash the Dial to bits with it. Meanwhile, in the afterlife, Knuckles continues to insist that he be allowed to come back to life to save his friends, and Athair supports him while Aurora desperately pleads with him to reconsider.

You know, maybe this is an unpopular opinion, but I like the concept of Aurora as a deity. She's not omnipotent, and she's definitely not perfect. It's clear that due to her lofty position high above the mortal plane, she's so wrapped up in the enormity of the world's mysteries and the knowledge that can be gained thereof that she's kind of blind to the joys that ordinary people take in their mortal life on Mobius. And yet she's ultimately benevolent or at least benign, allowing people to make their own decisions regardless of what she feels they should do, and "lesser" beings such as Athair feel comfortable addressing her informally and generally being flippant if they feel like it. Back in the tundra, the world quickly finds out that some kind of invisible defensive grid surrounding the Dial prevents anything technological from getting close to it, causing Station Square's nuclear missiles to fall apart harmlessly before they hit it. And thus, every fighting fit being on the planet masses on the continent, ready for a final desperate assault for the fate of their planet.

Laser cannons erupt from the ground, firing at the attacking force and causing them to scatter. At the same time, Eggman's robot reaches the Dial, only to fall apart the same as the missiles, causing Sonic and Sally to fall out of it into the snow nearby. Nicole (who somehow didn't fall apart - maybe because she's not a weapon and thus wasn't targeted by the defensive grid?) takes this chance to run a quick analysis on the device, and Rotor, upon receiving her data, deduces that while the Dial isn't designed to stop moving once in motion, a sufficient counter-force would be enough to disintegrate its gears and halt its progression. Sonic suggests he could create that counter-force with his speed, but Nicole discourages this, as the resulting implosion of matter around the Dial would kill Sonic. She then gets another reading from the device, and discovers to her, Sally, and Sonic's horror that a quantum wave is about to expand out from the Dial, incinerating everything in a hundred mile radius. Sally and Sonic realize they're too late, and begin to say a last "I love you" to each other as the wave rushes toward them, but it suddenly, inexplicably dissipates just before it hits them, leaving them shocked and baffled. But what - or who - is responsible for this apparent miracle?

You guys didn't really think Rad Red would stay dead, did you? Nah man, this is a comic book! Welcome back to the mortal coil, buddy, we missed ya! The Dial's defenses have all been disabled by Knuckles' final burst of power, but the danger isn't over yet - the arm is still in motion, and with time quickly running out, only Rotor's counter-force suggestion seems feasible.

I'll admit, when I first read this issue I didn't see this coming at all. I'm not ashamed to say that I cried. Y'all already know I'm kind of a sucker for this pairing, and truly, this is far more in character than what we saw last issue. Sonic may not be sappy or romantic, but he is incredibly loving, even if he doesn't always openly show it. And it's always been clear, from the very first issue of the comic and every issue in between, that whatever problems they have, whatever evils might try to tear them apart, Sonic the Hedgehog truly, deeply loves Sally Acorn, and has ever since they were children. A final confession of love before a heroic sacrifice is just his style.

And so, he runs. He leaves without another word, not looking back, refusing to let himself be tempted to stay. Sally is left behind in tears as Sonic puts his plan into action, racing counter-clockwise around the Dial. He's saved the world so many times, and now, if he can push himself to his limits and pull it off once more, it will have all been worth it…

The Dial's gears grind to a halt, and the device implodes. Everyone stares out in shock at the resulting crater, wondering about Sonic's fate, until Sally approaches with the news they all feared.

And thus ends the legacy of Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm afraid that we've reached the end of this comic, guys. The world has been saved, and though the lives of those close to him will never be the same, he will always be remembered as a hero the world over, and his… hey, wait a second. Remember how the Quantum Dial was supposed to create a black hole? And you know how in science fiction, black holes are always some kind of portal into another part of the universe? Let's zip away from Mobius - far away, 849,000 light years in fact - to take a look at the barren surface of some distant, alien planet. It's unremarkable at best - but suddenly, a flash of light illuminates the rocky surface, and when it disappears…

Sonic the Hedgehog is lying on the surface of the planet. Unconscious, but alive.

[kimmysfandomblog]

Oooookay so 3, 10, 11, 12, 17, 32, 38, 39, 42 and that should be enough lol

Oh man XD Thanks so much, Chloe! I think I quite agree, it’s enough :P

I answered 3, 17, and 32 here! And 39 here!

10. Which was your favorite trial from THH?

I think that the 5/6th trial is an obvious one!It was something built up throughout the game (and it gets a bit ridiculoushow many times we hear about “MukuroIkusaba, the 16th student, hidden somewhere in this school. The one theycall the "ultimate despair."” It put’s Naegi’s and Kirigiri’slives on the line, with Naegi ultimately getting chopped off because he got soclose to the truth that the trial was a farce. And then saved, because of luck?He did a good deed and Alter Ego saved him for it? I guess Kirigiri’s optionwas more of a dream ending than anything canon, anyways, so it doesn’t matter.I remember how hyped I was, because for once no one was actually technicallyblackened… no one actually killed anyone since Sakura’s dying wish moved themthat much. I’m still not really fond of some things, like Hagakure thinkingKirigiri was a ghost in the 5th trial? And I have a few otherthings, like how they all decide Naegi was guilty in the first place. Kirigiriwas pushing them to that conclusion so she could show the trial was a farce inthe first place, and she wasn’t expecting the mastermind to cut the trial shortand lie about who killed Mukuro. I still kind of feel pretty bad about thatpart in particular, although she’s clearly super angry it turned out that way,she really didn’t want Naegi to be voted the blackened. The 6thtrial, though, I really liked the reveal of Junko, not even being the “Junko”they met, and how her face was covered in every picture… As a person whostarted off with the anime, I didn’t exactly have time to catch that particulardetail (I should rewatch it sometime honestly, see how much info was reallyleft out). The world being in an apocalypse… a little bit less exciting I guessthan the Junko reveal. And Naegi being proclaimed the Ultimate Hope was cheesy,but kind of expected and in that moment, it was empowering!

(Although it was hard not to say Sakura’s trial for thisquestion, simply because gosh I LOVE Sakura)

11. Which was your favorite trial from SDR2?

I flipflop between trials five and six, honestly XD I’llchoose the 5th Trial though for now! Trial 5 had my top threecharacters playing really important roles, and it made me appreciate Komaedaand Nanami. I was touched Nanami wasn’t really fighting the fact she wasblackened and there was a mystery to her and Komaeda that is unresolved, andeverything about the trial was a rollercoaster of emotions XD This is great forHinata’s character, as well, as he actually is able to understand Komaeda’splan. The trial breaks my heart in how cruel it was to all of the characters,Komaeda dying horrifically through a plan he made himself, and Nanami, a personso against the killing game, ended up killing someone unknowingly… and Hinatahad been so close to Nanami, and probably the closest person to Komaeda on theisland, that it’s hard not to feel bad for him, too, for his losses. Not to saythe others who died were less, just that they weren’t as close to him. And thenof ourse, the actual plan was chaoticgenius. That was a really wild ride of a trial!

12. Which was your favorite trial from V3?

The only one that really held my interest in a more positiveway was probably the fourth one! Because the rules of the virtual world meantthe creators didn’t have to defy actual laws of physics and, well, commonsense, it actually makes sense.Mostly. The one thing that I guess doesn’t is where Kokichi got the flashbacklight? Anything to do with Kokichi leads to plotholes in the story, I swear… Thatand Miu’s partnership with him is ??? Still, I found it to be an emotionaltrial because… it was really not Gonta’s fault even when it was… I really likedhim, he was really sweet.

But yeah, this trial is the only one that I’d say was a goodmurder case in V3, with the others kind of just working through chance? Pureluck? Idk, they were just so weird…

38. Which character doyou feel is too popular amongst the fans, in your opinion?

Ouma… and look, I really don’t hate him at all, but thereasons people say they like him don’tmatch up. “He’s a complex character!” No, he really isn’t… the creators of thegame explained next to nothing about him and his past. Any bit of complexity isprojected thoughts on his character. My prime example is when someone who knowsJapanese had said that Spike Chunsoft had gave a hint that Ouma hatesmurder/killing, which the translators of the game “removed,” when it waseventually proven by native Japanese speakers that there was no suchcomplicated connotation. So everyone to this day keeps spreading this rumoraround that Ouma hates murder/killing as if it was an integral part of his character.

And my honest thoughts on why people like Ouma is… becausehe likes guys and is dismissed by his classmates. He has a crush on Saihara,clearly, and might have had crushes on Rantarou and Momota. His continueddismissal by Saihara and the others serve as the base for people to project their story on Ouma, with them addingmeaning to him to make him out to be a more complex character. They willed him to be important. They ignoredthe plotholes he creates by having knowledge of things we don’t know why heknows, or having a flashback light from a room a keycard opened, which we nevergo to see where that was, or writing a complete script for Momota for the trialin the three hours he had left to live… This isn’t a complex character- this isthe creators of the game making a decision not to explain important details becausethey can get away with it, as he is a liar. The problem with a liar is that younever really know him at all. You canonly guess.

What I dislike about Ouma is the fact that people arepolicing that he is a complex character based on, well, not that much. He doesn’tgive that much, so they make up things to make him seem more complex than heis. The reasons to like him should be his personality, how silly he is, thefact that he’s a great actor… and it can be that you think you can relate tohim. But just in general, I just don’t like the hype around Ouma and peopleputting their noses up at others who have differentinterpretations of Ouma.

42.  How do you feel about the Danganronpafandom as a whole?

The Danganronpa fandom as a whole… it’s done me a lot ofgood, even with all the bad it’s done, too. Through this fandom, I came out ofmy shell. I’ve never been confident enough to write for a fandom and post it. Ihad, once, when I was in middle school, but with a fandom as large as Naruto,the work got drowned out and it wasn’t all that good, honestly, so I nevertried again XD I absolutely would never have created fanart for the fandom,either XD It was rough in the beginning, but I found my artstyle!

But most importantly of all, I’ve met some really incrediblepeople! It’s because of these friendships I’ve made that I got the courage todo more. I could write, I could draw, I could create pixel art, I couldanimate, I could run events and participate in them, I could become a part of azine, and I could mod a zine… All ofthese things I never would have had the courage to do alone. And even outsideof fandom, they would support me, validate my frustrations, congratulate me onmy victories, listen to me, laugh with me…

I met some important people who I’ll never forget. I havefriends who I hope will stick around for long past the fandom. And well, I foundsomeone I actually really love through this fandom as well ^^ (he runs eventswith me on the Hinaegi blog

I’ll admit, my active participationin the fandom is pretty weak these days with me getting sucked into playingPokemon in my free time instead… but Danganronpa’s left its mark. Even with allthe bad of fandom “discourse,” fandom drama, and some really rude people onsome rare occasions, it was worth it to have found the confidence and supportthat I did!

The fandom is far from dead, rude people may still exist,but at least at the moment, I’m pretty comfortable where I am in it with the otherpeople that have made my stay a welcome one!

[tessatechaitea]

The Ray #5

The Ray Senior has six armpits.

It's hard to believe there was a time when comic books didn't acknowledge who did the cover. I suppose publishers simply thought comic book nerds were so rabid for the medium that they could instantly recognize the artist without any credit. Or maybe they figured if the reader was truly interested, they'd scour the cover to find the signature. That would answer the question, right?!

Oh yeah. Okay. That fucking helped nobody.

In 1994, good luck figuring out who the fuck this signature was by. Sure, you can read "Nichols" in that fucking doodle but that probably means you'd merely assume Art Nichols did the cover (if you even knew who the fuck that was). But no! This cover was by Joe Quesada and Art Nichols! Fucking Joe Quesada. How delusional do you have to be to think that a J stuck to a giant fucking rendition of Saturn would read "Joe Quesada" to anybody who didn't already fucking know that that was his pretentious signature?! I suppose if my understanding of the musculature of the human body was on Joe's level, I'd want to obfuscate my name too. Some people who have only grown up with the Internet might not entirely understand my issue. When they first encountered an artist they really liked, they probably learned all about that artist immediately. But back in 1994, if your local comic book store owner (and the owner back then was almost always the clerk (okay, maybe not in 1994. But in the 70s and early 80s, definitely)) couldn't answer any questions you had (if you could bring yourself to actually engage them in conversation, of course), you were shit out of luck. Sure, you might send a letter to DC and then hoped they'd answer it in a future issue of the comic book that maybe you were still continuing to read. Or maybe you'd have a more knowledgeable comic book friend. But what you almost certainly didn't have was an easy way to find out answers to mysterious things. Maybe you were lucky enough to have AOL or Prodigy but was your question being answered so important that you would submit yourself to a comic book AOL chatroom? Almost certainly not! You'd just live with a mystery for awhile and hope that maybe, some day, you'd get satisfaction. I'm definitely not saying it was better in the past! If you somehow got that out of what I just read, you're probably a bit too defensive and maybe you should relax a little bit. And speaking of generation gaps, this cover is apparently about a generation gap! It's father vs. sun in a knockdown, drag-out battle that absolutely nobody fucking cared about! Most of us bought this issue thinking, "I hope The Ray finally buys that fridge!"

I know what the Oedipal and Electra Complexes are but what do you call it when you want to both kill and fuck your father?

The Ray is drunk on the energy he absorbed from the Light Entity. Older The Ray seems angry and violent from the energy. I'm sure once the energy dissipates, the two will have said everything they needed to say and they'll hug. And judging from the above panels, maybe they'll suck a little dick too. Older The Ray absorbs The Ray's powers and teleports him all over the world to teach him that the world has problems that can't be solved by punching Doomsday in the throat. And they certainly can't be solved by a reckless teenager using his powers to fly to Hawaii to get laid and murder other super heroes. So Older The Ray decides he needs to take away The Ray's powers forever. I don't know how he has that kind of power and why he didn't do it when The Ray was younger so The Ray could have a regular childhood. He probably decides to do it now because he's simply an asshole. And also maybe because Zero Hour happens next issue. Except it's all some kind of test and The Ray doesn't ever actually lose his powers. This story definitely isn't making Golden Age The Ray any fans. Was he always a gigantic asshole? Maybe Christopher Priest just believes the same thing I do: dads are kind of dicks. Some people think the song "Cat's in the Cradle" is sad but I think it's a triumph of the spirit! Stick it to that fucking asshole old man, kid! Finally, Older The Ray screams at The Ray about how much he sacrificed to give him a decent life while his son, The Ray, just weeps uncontrollably. Because why the fuck should the son care what the parent sacrificed when that decision cost the son so much? And the father didn't fucking care about that at all. It's just "Me me me!" and "Look what I had to go through!" and "You don't know how much I suffered!" But all the son fucking wants is his father. Nothing else fucking matters and why should it? The son is angry and hurt and upset and he doesn't need to hear his father's excuses or rationalizations or explanations as to why he wasn't there. The bottom fucking line is that he wasn't there. He was never there. And now that he is, he thinks his son somehow owes him unconditional love? Fuck that guy. But in the end, they hug because Older The Ray maybe sort of gets it. His son just wants a father, not some guy teaching him how to be a super hero. It might be a happy ending but I'm fucking pissed. I hope Zero Hour erases Golden Age The Ray from existence!

I hope Issue #0 resolves the fridge situation.

The Ray #5 Rating: B-. I know a lot of father/son relationships never have problems. But a lot of them do. And, eventually, many of those fathers and sons work through their problems to become friends of sorts. But fuck that bullshit. I'll take on their bitterness and resentment and hatred and keep it stored safely in my cold fucking heart. I will cherish those feelings of ill will and hurt. I will become an Anger Elemental and I will makes sure that fathers everywhere never again perceive a world in which their child owes them something. They owe you fucking nothing, no matter how good or bad you were to them. Accept what they can give you and stop being a huge fucking prick, Lloyd. I mean anonymous fathers.

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of July 17th, 2019

Best of this Week: Uncanny X-Men #22 (Legacy #644) - Matthew Rosenberg, Salvador Larroca, David Messina, GURU-eFX and Joe Caramagna

It’s the end of an era and for once, I’m terrified.

I’ve been a fan of the X-Men for a long time. I’d even go so far as to say that they’re my favorite team in all of comics ever because of the range that their stories can go, from tales of marginalization to various stories of abuse and moral relativism, the X-Men have been amazing so why has it taken them so long to feel relevant again? At some point even the best books run out of good stories to tell or end up retreading old waters for a drink of nostalgia and that’s been the X-Men for the last five to six years. 

Cyclops had become what Magneto was, young versions of the original five were brought to the future, villains like Mojo and Exodus were brought back, Sentinel threats reemerged, X-Men died and were brought back. In the grand scheme of things, it was all a mess with no cohesive direction and Marvel noticed. In comes Matthew Rosenberg who, I admittedly, was very wary of because I hated both his time on Astonishing X-Men and the Multiple Man mini-series. I don’t know if it was all his idea, but he decided to wipe the slate clean with a new Uncanny X-Men series and… it was stupendous from start to finish.

In the aftermath of Emma Frost’s actions from the last issue, the X-Men that are still on our Earth have found a peace that Mutants have never known. With humanities knowledge of mutants erased, Scott Summers is at a loss and questioning what his role in life is now that no one needs protecting. He and Dani Moonstar, aka Mirage, wax poetic on the nature of mutations and what their next course of action is. Scott is morose, seeing as his mutation made him function primarily as a weapon to fight back against humanity as it tried to destroy him, but now that they don’t know he exists, what is he good for?

The dynamic between them is interesting. Scott has been fighting since he was a teenager and he’s only ever seen this life as one big war. Dani is still young, but has the experience of several lifetimes and all that she can think of is helping people. Both of them have experienced loss but process it differently. Scott sees all of his friends as soldiers in the fight where Dani sees them as family. Of course this is because Scott has been leading everyone for so long and Dani has gone through thick and thin with the New Mutants, the Fearless Defenders and the X-Men themselves. 

This causes a disagreement between the two and she simply walks away from him as Alex Summers, aka Havok, speaks with his brother about the freedom of being ignored over being targeted. On their way back to the Hellfire Mansion, Alex explains that every bit of leadership he’s ever had to exhibit was learned from Scott. Even with all of his brooding, Scott has been a great leader and it definitely helped when Alex was an Avenger, and he lets his brother know that he’s thankful for it before they’re attacked by some kind of golden Sentinel.

Scott’s unable to damage it and Alex surmises that they’ll never make it back to the mansion before the Sentinel kills them both, so in an act of self sacrifice, knowing that his powers won’t affect Scott, he self destructs and destroys the evil machine. Soon after, more arrive under the control of the General that originally help Emma Frost captive and target the remaining mutants. The battle is hard fought with heavy casualties before the rest of the X-Men return from Nate Grey’s utopian world, winning the battle for mutantkind.

This is the final issue of Uncanny X-Men and it ends on a bittersweet note.

*Slight SPOILERS BELOW*

Havok, a man who was on top of the world, brought low and tried to climb his way back up made the ultimate sacrifice just so that his brother could continue being the leader he is. Madrox, who was just brought back to life has met yet another grisly end, but the status quo has reset though very similarly to the Astonishing X-Men or Mutopia eras in a way. Jean Grey has returned to Scott, Emma and Magneto appear to be on the side of angels again and the X-Men are choosing not to hide anymore.

Shifting focus from this amazingly written and fantastically drawn book, I want to look towards the future and the threads left untied. House of X begins next week and I don’t know how to make heads or tails of things. Who is the man with the giant globe on his head? Is it professor X who had recently taken over the body of Fantomex and is now known as X? Will Magneto ever make use of the Brotherhood he established late last year? What will happen to Illyana now that she’s a demon again? I don’t know, but I am very excited.

This run was great. Rosenberg wrote everything in the most dire way possible given the situation and it fit each and every month. Scott remained hopeful in the face of ever present adversity, flanked by Logan who back up almost all of his actions. Characterizations were great from Dani acting as a voice of reason and Hope being a militaristic badass and the surprisingly black humored Jamie. Larroca’s art never faltered in being action packed but also still and dark.

Whatever comes next from this team, I have high hopes for.

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

The “Superior” Spider-Man is actually starting to live up to the ideal.

Runner Up: The Superior Spider-Man #9 (Legacy #42) - Christos Gage, Mike Hawthorne, Wade von Grawbadger, Jordie Bellaire and Clayton Cowles

After the events of the War of the Realms, the Spider-Man of San Francisco is awarded the key to the city for his efforts in making sure that there were zero casualties as Frost Giants stomped their way across SanFran. He accepts the gesture, but “crime” calls him away, only it’s not a crime, he simply thinks he has better things to do with his time than deal with the trivialities of ceremonies. He heads back to his lab and converses with Anna Maria about her making him go to the ceremony and summarily dismisses his colleague Emma after she apologizes for freaking out on him on their first date. 

Otto seems to be in a bigger huff than usual and takes his frustrations out on a minor villain by the name of Turner D. Century. Century’s quickly defeated after a savage beating by Otto and the surprise appearance by Spider-Man, Peter Parker. Peter shows up at the request of Anna Maria and being one of the men who knows Otto best, he simply asks what’s wrong. Otto has been irritable, moody and angry since he saved the city and he obviously has no one to talk to.

He immediately spills to Peter that while he was able to keep San Francisco safe, thousands of people still died in the US, more abroad. He removes his mask and Hawthorne paints the face of a man that’s tortured by guilt and doubt. Otto feels that he’s the greatest mind in the world and that he should have thought of something. He doesn’t want to hear Pete say that he can’t save everyone, but it’s eating him up inside that he can’t. 

By far, this is some of the best character work and advancement that we’ve seen from Otto in a while. He tried to become a hero, tried to be a good guy while he was inhabiting Peter’s body, but now that he’s doing it on his own and seeing the fruits and consequences of his labors, he sees how hard it is. He’s becoming a good guy and I’m here for it.

After Peter tells him that he’s doing the hero thing right, Emma shows up on the roof that they’ve swung up to and Otto breaks down in tears in front of her. He tries to posture that he’s a loner and asks if he looks like someone that needs anything from anyone before being held by her. He cries in her arms and they finally go on a second date with a surprising enemy spying on them.

I love it when heroes become good guys, no matter how brief it might be, watching Otto rise before his inevitable fall is interesting. I love the fact that he’s sort of mended fences with Anna Maria, I love that he’s found a near intellectual equal in Emma. He has a life and is using his smarts as a teacher and a hero in San Francisco. His ego is still huge, but he’s finally starting to see his faults, becoming Superior than Doctor Octopus.

Mike Hawthorne’s art is stellar. He has a talent for faces and body language. Otto expresses frustration, annoyance and grief; not only in his face, but with the slumping of his shoulders, the shaking in his hands and the tension in his fists. He even somehow finds a way to differentiate between Peter and Otto's bodies given that Otto's is cloned.

This Superior Spider-Man has far more emotion in this one issue than Otto's had in the many years since the original run. It's a joy to see the once horrible villain embrace his own good emotions for the benefit of others. This is a definite high recommend!

[oceanmastertrash]

the tide knows our names- part 2

gif from @dcmultiverse

Summary: The reader is part of ancient council of Atlanteans known as Tidewatchers who can see/predict the future. As Arthur settles into being king, You get a powerful vision of an attempt on Orm’s life. 

Part: 2/?

Word Count: 1,770

Warnings: Not in this chapter.

chapter one  / Read on Ao3

Author's Note: I did not expect to get this chapter out this quickly but it's lovely and I'm grateful for the inspiration! Also, thank you so much to those who replied, liked and reblogged! I honestly wasn't sure if anyone would read this, so that was very encouraging. Hope you enjoy this chapter even more! I'm obviously setting things up but I had fun digging more into the meat of the fic with this. And, most importantly, we get a certain dethroned King in this chapter so that's fun.

While your first instinct was to swim straight to the palace and demand an audience with the king, you calmed yourself of that nonsense. You’d had years of training in your craft and knew better than to immediately fly off the handles and cause a panic. While your vision had been immediate and clearer than most, you had learned the hard way that all portents could be misinterpreted and required due care.

So you sought the advice of some of the older Tidewatchers that you most trusted. You were no young guppy in age or experience but the council had been at this for decades, passing down the knowledge and patterns of countless generations. Something in you screamed at the delay but it was the right call, a cautious call, perhaps, but the right one.

The elders sat with you through another Watching but all you got for your trouble was a clearer image of the blade as it stabbed Prince Orm. And that was quickly covered in blood. No insight into the assailant or when the attack occurred. You and the elders led a brief but vigorous deliberation of all angles of your vision before finally, and at last a message was sent to Vulko, who arranged a royal audience and at last you were on your way.

It's not that you were nervous per say, you knew this had to be done as this had been the duty of Tidewatchers for centuries before you to inform the king of threats and relevant patterns. ...but you couldn’t exactly say you were excited that your first official meeting with the new king would boil down to you telling him someone was going to kill his brother. Oh and also you had no idea who the attacker was or when this assault would happen. You knew the how all too clearly but that would hardly help much in the immediate future other than telling him that it had definitely happened in the palace. The others ultimately ruled that, given the vibrancy of your vision that it would be sooner rather than later, but even that could be wrong. The art of Tidewatching was nothing if not the art of weaving sense out of running water.

So there you were, heading to a royal appointment with a vision of doom. You did your best not to let your worry show as you entered the palace. You’d been many times over the years in your training and duties as a Tidewatcher but this was the first time you’d been on your own. It was not, however your first time presenting a portent to royalty. Though your first encounter was not the sort to do much to bolster any confidence on how this sight shall be received.

You were greeted by a footman who then escorted you through the various hallways to where King Arthur would be receiving you. You couldn’t help but scan the areas you swam through. So many of the hallways looked alike and yet you couldn’t help but hope that one of the passages would light up in bioluminescence as if to say “ THIS IS THE ONE ”. but of course none of them did and you soon found yourself in a small audience chamber with the King of Atlantis and his much presumed future Queen. The footman bowed deeply to the party before leaving and shutting the door being him. You bowed and while Mera gave a graceful nod in reply, a muscle twitched in Arthur's face that signified his discomfort with the gesture. You straightened wiothout commenting but instead filed it away.

“My King-” you began but he cut you off.

“Since it’s just us, can we just stick with Arthur?” he said.

Mera sighed in a resigned sort of way before smiling kindly at you.

He ignored her and continued, “Please, sit down.”

“Alright, Arthur, “ you acquiesced, sitting across from their sofa on one of your own. This was certainly not how your last encounter with royalty had gone. “My name is Y/N.”

“Yes…” he began, as if searching for what to say, “You’re one of the Tide Pods?”

It took so much effort not to snort at your new king as Mera gently corrected him, “Of the Tidewatchers.”

Arthur took it in stride and just barrelled on, “And you guys can see the future, right?”

You gave a small smile, “Simplistically yes, but technically no.”

Mera looked like she might step in and explain things but Arthur fixed you with this interested look. “How would you explain it then?”

“We see patterns and interpret them,” you said, which was the perfunctory, textbook answer but you knew he needed more than that. If you’d learned anything about your calling it was that before you could really get into the meat of answering that question, you had to first lay down the basics. “We have spent hundreds of years watching the tides of time and studying the flow of events. When Atlantis sank beneath the sea, we as a people were devastated. My people wanted to find a way to keep such a cataclysm from happening again. The ocean spoke to us and my people listened. We learned to read the signs. Things are seldom clear cut or simple, most of the time it is like reading an ancient text and trying to figure out the translation that makes best sense within the context.”

He looked truly interested in this explanation, he may not understand it but you thought it counted for a lot that he was at least engaged in trying. The same could certainly not be said of all kings.

He paused, taking a beat to really absorb before asking, “Okay… but Vulko said something about you having a vision.”

You smiled. He was a quick one, and one you had more than a feeling would make a great king, “He did. And notice I said most of the time. Sometimes the ocean speaks up. It still doesn’t always speak clearly but sometimes it really wants to make sure you get the message.”

He smirked like he found your phrasing amusing but he was willing to follow the metaphor, “And what did the ocean say to you?”

He had done such a good job at getting you rolling and in the flow that for a minute you forgot what you were there for. You paused, trying to figure out how to phrase it, but, before you could find the right words, there was a commotion outside the door.

And then there, entering the room, was King Orm- Prince Orm- you had to correct yourself, yet there was still something so very kingly about his countenance that it was hard to look away from.Vulko entered behind him and you noticed at least two escorts behind them but when Vulko shut the door, they remained outside.

“I apologize for our tardiness, my king, we came as swift as we could.” Vulko said as he and Orm walked to the other receiving couch. Vulko gave Mera and Arthur a deep bow, but Orm gave them a smaller one with a very careful amount of deference. You could tell it was hard for him but he did his best not to show it.

If Arthur was perturbed by their being late, not an ounce of it showed in his countenance. “It’s alright, glad you made it.

Prince Orm was a tall man, and an imposing presence to be in the same room with. That’s not to say that Arthur was neither of these things but while the current King was built like a mountain and wielded the power to move the ocean, he had something of a less closed off air to him. Arthur was arguably more approachable, but that was perhaps just the setting. You had no doubts that in battle or on the throne Arthur could scare even the bravest warriors witless but he was more at ease with just you few in company. While Orm did not look like he was marching into battle, he did not look quite at ease. He was far more guarded.

You, meanwhile, were caught off guard. You quickly stood and bowed. Orm paused for a fraction of a second, as he regarded you. Something battled in his face for the briefest glimmer, it was only through your skills in the ways of Tidewatching that you could almost recognize a trace of both surprise, regret, and gratitude. Then the flash was gone and his steel composure returned.

“Your grace,” you said quickly.

He gave you a small nod in acknowledgement, “Y/N.”

All of the nerves you’d had before entering the palace had returned in spades. This was not what you were expecting at all. A sit down with the king to share your grisly vision was one thing but to come face to face with the subject of your ill tidings was not something you were remotely prepared for. You finally managed to get out “I was not expecting you.”

“Apologies,” Mera interjected, “Your message to Vulko said it that your needed to speak to us and Prince Orm.”

You fought so so hard to not cringe. You’d meant about Orm, not with Orm. You knew you should have crafted that message yourself. But given the urgency in matters, you’d trusted your Tidewatcher sister A’bree to see it through. And for that delegation, apparently a word was misplaced or perhaps misinterpreted and now here you were. There was no sense in going back now or beating around the bush.

It was always said that the Prince was shrewd and he proved true to his reputation in sensing your hesitancy for he said, “My presence is not needed I take it.”

He was being tactful, and trying to not take it personally but you could see how it goaded at him, to be excluded from something of importance: to be summoned and then dismissed with little thought. It would certainly rile you too.

And without allowing yourself to second guess yourself any further, you spoke out as he started back to the door, “No- stay.”He stilled instantly there was half a beat of utter silence before you remembered your court manners and said, “my prince. You should hear this.”

This was not going to be easy for anyone but there was no point in excluding him simply to make things easier on yourself.

You could see an exchanged look between Mera and Arthur as Orm carefully sat beside Vulko. You, however, returned to sit at the edge of your seat, back perfectly straight as you prepared yourself for what you must say.

You almost expected Arthur to pick your conversation up where you’d left it but he had a deeper gravity to him than he did a moment before and seemed unsure what perhaps a king might do next.

Orm had no such hesitations, he could sense something, he’d picked up on it the moment he’d entered the room and was ready to meet it. “What did you see, Y/N?”

You took a breath and met his eyes, his haunting ocean eyes, “Your death, my Prince.”

A/N: I'm definitely looking forward to exploring this story more as we get more into the plotty bits but I've had so much fun figuring out how the Tidewatcher stuff works. Also it should be stated that Orm was originally not going to appear this chapter but then I said "it's my fic, I can introduce him when I want" so here we go. If you are interested or wanna see where we go, please reply, message, and like! Support really means a lot to me.

[ultimate-miles]

Miles Morales: Ultimate Spider-Man (2014-2015) - Not with a Bang, but a whimper

Post Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #19, Miles Morales’ written career as Spider-Man has not been great. After fridging one of the only central supporting female characters in his cast – Rio Morales, his mother – the state of the narrative became preoccupied with manpain, and framing the grief of a teenage boy as, in the words of Miles Morales, someone who “didn’t understand what it meant to be Spider-Man” (Ultimate Cataclysm: Spider-Man #1), which required his entire supporting cast to shame and emotionally manipulate him back into the job. 

If there was any good that came out of the last five issues of UCSM, it was probably the introduction of Ultimate Cloak and Dagger and Ultimate Taskmaster. 

Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man, unfortunately, offers very little in the way content improvement outside of one side story and its art direction. Otherwise, it doubles back in circles on subjects and issues that should’ve been laid to rest and ends on an inconclusive whimper.

Ultimate Spider-Man #200 + #Issues #1-7

Death in comic books means nothing, and holds no weight unless you’re a wildly unpopular (or non-white) character that any given publication is looking to get rid of in order to appease their narrow minded (and white) audience. When the Ultimate Marvel universe was created, one of the creeds it presumably lived by was that “death mattered”. When a character died, it would mean something, it would impact the narrative, and every character that died would remain dead.

It’s a shame, then, when they chose to stick their guns, they let Jeph Loeb decimate almost half of the Ultimate Universe’s roster in one of the uglier displays of wanton violence, sexism, and just plain shit writing, with the 2011 “Blockbuster Event” Ultimatum. Ultimatum more or less ensured, despite maintaining the promise that no one would return from the dead, none of the deaths mattered – a lot of it was just Loeb masturbating to his own cruelty if we’re being honest.

With the “Death of Spider-Man”, Brian Michael Bendis added salt to an otherwise unhealed wound that was Ultimatum, which wasn’t even a year old at that point. To his credit, he made Peter Parker’s death matter – book ending it with the first villain that more or less was responsible for the creation of Spider-Man (Norman Osborn) – with reverberating consequences throughout most surviving series in the UM. Yet, following the introduction of Miles Morales – the new and Black Spider-Man (reportedly meant to honor Bendis’ Black children, whom I pity) – you could tell, in the years preceding the removal of Peter Parker as the protagonist of the Spider-Man title, Bendis was regretting his decision.

After a 160 issue run (where Peter made actual appearances and was the protagonist until his death), the questionably numbered Ultimate Spider-Man #200, once again sees Bendis fantasizing about what he might’ve done had he not killed Peter Parker and replaced him with Miles Morales. Most of the original cast of characters that were central to Peter Parker’s story – plus Miles and Ganke – gather together at the Parker House at the behest of May Parker and Gwen Stacy (who appears to be a creep perving on underage teen boys no matter what), to commemorate the life of the late Peter Parker. Considering the previous three iterations of “Memorializing Peter Parker” in the UM, Ultimate Spider-Man #200 brings nothing new to the table, but should’ve been a red flag to anyone paying attention to the declining quality of Miles’ title.

Miles’ final title in the Ultimate Universe, Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man, begins with the reintroduction of a supposed-to-be-dead Norman Osborn – in the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D. – and two generic Spider-Man copycats robbing banks. There’s nothing really of note to say about the first seven issues of this thirteen issue title. Bendis decides, with the Ultimate Marvel universe doing the death rattle, to undo the death of both Osborn and Peter Parker – with Peter getting a half-assed excuse for his being brought back from the dead (to sum it up: “because reasons”).

I don’t think a Spider-Man comic has made me quite as angry as this series has. In the moment I read the issue wherein Peter Parker tells Miles, “It’s time for the Original Spider-Man to get back into the game”, I could’ve torn the book into shreds and smote its ruins if I thought it was going to hurt Marvel’s sales and not be an even greater waste of my spent $3.99.

“I can’t believe we’re beating this dead horse again” was what I was thinking and I just stopped buying the book altogether. I think that the first step to mine ceasing to see Miles Morales as a legitimate character, but wasted potential in the hands of non-Black creatives. I only ended up reading the trades for the sake of reference and fact checking and it’s only this year, three-four years after the fact that I bothered to do that.  The only thing worth noting about the first seven issues of this title is that it sets up the last four, which are even worse.

Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man #1-3 + Issues #8-9

Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man is one of seven miniseries titles part of the “Blockbuster Event” known as Cataclysm, which sees Ultimate Galactus (or 616 Galactus, I’m not sure which tbh. There’s very little difference between the two when you get to the nitty-gritty) attempting to destroy the 1610 universe and devour it all. You get the distinct feeling that, before someone came up with Secret Wars, Cataclysm was meant to be the true end of the Ultimate Universe – but someone upstairs changed their mind and rendered it to a mere false start. Long story short: The grand majority – if not all of – the Ultimates (the Avengers of the 1610 universe) are killed or sent into the void with Galactus by Ultimate Shadowcat – who is later hailed savior of the world. The All-New Ultimates are formed. 

Das it. 

But, within Miles’ slice of the Cataclysm story, Bendis finally decides to focus on the elephant in the room: Jefferson Davis and his open and his fantasy xenophobia toward superhumans and how it has literally silenced his own son from admitting to his double life as Spider-Man. Moreso since the death of his mother, Rio Morales, at the hands of Ultimate Venom. I’ll be perfectly honest – I don’t think Jefferson Davis is a great guy – I actually ended up liking his no-account brother (Aaron Davis, gone too soon) far more because he was upfront about his ideals and his mission statement. He never pretended or tried to be a better person. He was just rotten and enjoyed it.

For that one piece of sage advice Jefferson offered Miles in the earliest tenure of his first title, Jefferson is the perfect example of a man who expects his son to “do as he says, and as I do”, but expects no consequences visited upon him whenever he dehumanizes people. He’s a walking metaphor for the heterosexual Black father who spews homophobic slurs in casual conversation around their gay daughter or son and I’m sure as hell that was intentional despite the incompatibility of the allegory.

Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man doesn’t do much to repair his character, if anything it makes him thrice times worse. When Galactus starts wrecking all of New York City and Brooklyn, Miles, Bombshell (Lana Baumgartner) and Cloak and Dagger, struggle to save the people caught in the monster’s wake – all while recounting where they were when the Ultimatum event occurred.

In Miles’ flashback, we see Jefferson lose his head over the knowledge that the title wave was caused by a mutant (Magneto), all while loudly proclaiming everyone stuck in traffic was going to die. The most important nugget of information taken away from Miles’ flashback is the knowledge that his father more or less promised that he would abandon or disown Miles if he ever found out his son (then, probably only 11 or 12 years old at the time) was a superhuman. 

I never had much sympathy for Davis (I tolerated him because of Rio), but the moment Miles tries to convince his father to come with him out of the city to safety, and Jefferson decides to blame a now fourteen year old Miles for the death of Rio and Aaron, I just outright hated him. Cataclysm: Ultimate Spider-Man is not a bad read all things considered. It tells its story concisely and never loses focus of its characters in relation to the catastrophe. The downside is that you have to read the rest of the Cataclysm series to know what was going on. I’d probably recommend you read it, especially since it ties into two issues of The Ultimate Spider-Man. 

The conflict between Miles and Jefferson is left hanging until issues #8 and #9 of Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man – also known as “The Only Redeeming Thing About This Comic Book Title”. The eighth and ninth issues of MMTUSM sees Jefferson Davis finally owning up to his past and basically just spilling the beans about his life as a criminal with Aaron and how he became involved with S.H.I.E.L.D. during the 80s – when Miami Vice, Jerri Curls, House Party Flattops, and ill-fitting suits with shoulder pads were all the rage – and how he met a young, already-at-it, Nick Fury. 

The complete tonal and visual shift in the issues are a welcome respite from the Peter Parker nonsense of the previous seven. The story arc, “Miles Morales: An Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.?”, carries with it the kind’ve of visual flair I see a Tim Sale illustrated graphic novel (like Spider-Man: Blue or The Long Halloween), but it’s still David Marquez illustrating the story from beginning to end. 

It’s got the look and feel of a pulp novel, or one of those old newspaper comic strips where the spots of the print were obvious through the inking and character sketches. The narrative, which sees Jefferson and Aaron working for smalltime criminals to Jefferson’s eventual graduation to protecting the Kingpin (with a minor explanation as to why he loathes mutants), is, in my opinion, the highlight of a story that could’ve worked as a full-fledged miniseries about the Jefferson brothers.

My only quibble with the framing of the narrative is that the early inclusion of S.H.I.E.L.D makes Jefferson look more like the unwilling participant of crime he was manipulated into thinking he had to do for “the greater good”, as opposed to some young blood who didn’t give much thought to right or wrong (which is how the early issues framed it) before he had an epiphany. I always assumed the crime came first, then S.H.I.E.L.D, then Rio. Honestly, if you’re at all interested in this storyline, just look for the single issues and don’t buy the trade. You’ll be doing yourself a favor.

#Issues 10-13

Marvel and its twisted, present-day romantic relationship with Neo-Nazism is a fairly ironic one, given most of its early artists were white Jewish dudes with alternate names designed to explicitly hide their Jewishness on account of antisemitism. But, I suppose the publications preoccupation with Nazism to begin with (even if it was denouncing it) would’ve inevitably steered its future publishers to romanticize it in the end. I mean, that’s what happened after all.

You know shit it bad when Marvel wants you to pity [white] characters like Grant Ward of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D for joining a Neo-Nazi group, despite the repeated and angry affirmations of protagonist Daisy Johnson, who flat-out reminds the audience, “You are a Nazi if you join Hydra”, who is undermined anyway by the narrative that continues to bleat, “pity the Neo-Nazi.”

Brian Michael Bendis, in all his infinite lack of wisdom, decides – the biggest way to differ Miles Morales’ love life from Peter Parker’s, is make an underdeveloped character, his girlfriend, Ultimate Kate Bishop, a member of Hydra. Miles’ white girlfriend rides on the agenda of the Aryan Ideal and white supremacy. Brilliant.

The Ultimate Spider-Man issues, #1-#4 and #7 prelude the last four issues with Miles deliberating whether or not he should tell Katie Bishop about his double life as Spider-Man. Instead of being supportive, everyone from Ganke to Cloak and Dagger warns Miles against telling her, thinking it would be a bad idea. He does it anyway, Katie panics and runs away. 

The aforementioned issues give the reader a glimpse into Kate’s life with the Bishops, with one conversation with her older sister casually mentioning that “they” would have to kill Miles and the seventh issue concludes with her uttering the phrase, “Hail Hydra.”

If The Ultimate Spider-Man had something to say about the issue of Nazism, especially in relation to Miles’ life as a Black teen – or the cautionary tale of “you never know someone until…”, then I could maybe understand the decision to make Kate Bishop (a wildly popular Avenger in the 616 universe, be she an adult or a teenager) a Nazi.

But, it doesn’t, it basically does exactly the same thing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D does with the Daisy Johnson/Grant Ward dynamic. The narrative depicts a “Sympathetic Nazi” (Katie) trying to explain their position, and a furious significant other (Miles) outright declaring their relationship is over. Only, where AOS more or less dragged that subplot out to its natural conclusion (“Sympathetic Nazi” isn’t really sympathetic and dies), 

The Ultimate Spider-Man did nothing to that extent. Readers barely have gotten to known Katie Bishop since her introduction in issue #23 of UCSM. She was given no time actually to be anything other than “Miles Morales’ girlfriend”. And when it comes right down to it, the Hydra subplot was nothing but an excuse to bring Dr. Doom into the narrative at the last moment. So, the “My Girlfriend is a Nazi” storyline just falls flat.

On a smaller note, the way the last couple issues decide to use Judge – the minor character from Ultimate Comics Spider-Man – is sigh inducing. It’s like Bendis realized his book was coming to an end and figured the best way to a handle a character that barely had any face time since the first twelve issues of the UCSM, is to just plop him in the middle of the story with his already knowing Miles is Spider-Man. 

But, he does it in a way that, if you removed him from the story, nothing would change. It’s a superfluous addition and kind’ve discourteous, especially since Bendis doesn’t do anything with Judge later on in Miles’ new 616 title, the unfortunately named Spider-Man.

Outside of issues #8 and #9, Miles Morales: The Ultimate Spider-Man is a sad conclusion to Miles Ultimate Universe solo-title career. It reminded me why I stopped reading his title four years ago, and knowing that none of his recent stuff isn’t any good either kinda makes me glad I made the decision so early on.

[hysteriamodes]

The Problem with Raqiya: Gnostic Hot Take

Recently, I found this manga “Raqiya” again that I know I haven’t read in years while looking up articles on Gnosticism. I forget how I found it but I was excited when I found it. Art-wise, “Raqiya” uses words and terminology that a Gnostic would be familiar with. Though, when I finished the manga, my hype died down to annoyance. The manga does incorporate a lot of Gnosticism into its story and it uses quotes from Gnostic scripture, sure, but it completely undermines the main character, in my opinion.

The main character is this girl, Luna Hazuki, a high-school aged girl. 

Luna almost falls into the generic high school girl trope, like being a little flighty at times, obsessed with good food, and an optimistic personality. But don’t worry, none of these last long! To summarize her over-arching struggle,  Luna’s family was hit by a semi-truck while they stopped beside the road to make a pit stop. Her family is killed instantly and Luna is left an orphan. That is, until, a strange being comes to Luna, offering her to resurrect her family.

The being called Abraxas comes to her when she is looking for her deceased family. Abraxas refers to Luna as a descendant of Norea. Abraxas itself in Gnostic writing is either an Archon or an Aeon; it really just depends on what Gnostic teachings you follow. Aeon refers to an aspect of God (or the Godhead), an embodied form of God.  In Gnosticism, God has different incarnations, the Aeons, the most notable one being Sophia. As an Archon, Abraxas is akin to an angel, though, it being an Archon means it acts on the will of the Demiurge, which is the big bad in Gnosticism.

Now Abraxas tells her that it can bring back her family, for a price, which means the unwitting kid here agrees to a pact where she will offer 12 sacrifices. What Abraxas also mentions that caught my eye is Abraxas reference to Eleleth, the angel that comes to help Norea when she cries out for help to thwart the Archons’ desire to kill all humankind via the biblical flood. Norea can either be the daughter of Noah, Eve, wife to Seth, or a descendant of Seth. As a descendant of Seth, Norea possesses gnosis, the spark of God. As a wife and daughter of Eve, she posses the same importance. Sometimes Norea is regarded as Sophia after she falls from Pleroma.

As a descendant of Norea, this makes Luna very important as a Gnostic figure. By being a descendant of Norea, that puts Luna almost in the same regard as Yeshua (Jesus), is another incarnation of the divine wisdom. The constant barrage of questions to Luna “are you god?” is perfectly in good reason. As an incarnation of Sophia, that makes her an incarnation, of, well. God.

 As the story progresses and after Luna bumps into some interesting folklore figures, the sacrifices Abraxas mentions come full circle. As a result, Luna has the ability to heal herself and destroy others. She calls out divine forces over the earth to destroy it at the behest of Abraxas’ encouragement. It’s clear that Abraxas in this storyline is a servant of the Demiurge, just a terrible Archon trying to sway a divine incarnation by destroying the world.

After losing her mother, father, brother, uncle, aunt, and cousin, Luna’s will is understandably broken. She’s not able to stop those from dying around her, no matter how much she tries. And she’s devastated when a friend of her’s dies, despite the fact said friend is a soon-to-be priest out to kill her, she mourns his death. Luna is a very nice and compassionate person, slowly losing her grip on that as her life begins to spiral out of control.

Thankfully, Luna has her best friend, Isa, to help her out. Isa, having known her since childhood and following her back to her home country, is deeply in love with her. He sticks with her, even if their mutual friend dies.  

But here is where I start to have issues with it...

Having no choice but to completely give up, Luna allows Abraxas to somehow bring Eleleth down to earth to complete the destruction of the world. Eleleth is the one who saved Norea from the Archons, the angel of perfection, peace, and wisdom. Eleleth serves Sophia and God and it is not the intention of God to destroy the world and send everyone to Hell, not like the Chrisitan God (which, by the way, we Gnostics regard as the Demiurge), but this is the Sethian gnostic tradition we know. As the world is slowly dying and after a ridiculous barrage of a man that practices something clearly not Gnostic by having virgin sacrifices and orgies, followed by the pope, Isa’s gun-ho dad, and other people that I honestly don’t know where the hell they came from.

Isa’s dad encourages him to look for “Raqiya”, some divine plane of existence that... somehow manifests when all of these losers are doing the obligatory standing and watching this person destroy the world. You know, exposition. And honestly, this feels really rushed. We aren’t introduced to Isa’s family and when we meet his dad, he goes off on this quest to find out why this is happening and how to stop it and all of this doesn’t make any sense. There’s no set amount of time he’s doing this and if we’re going by what the manga is saying with Luna’s life, all of this is likely happening in the span of a handful of days. It feels out of place, it throws off the pacing of the manga, and it just really undermines Luna’s struggle and character.

When he learns about Raqiya, he figures he needs to tell his son, which I’m going to assume that he wants his son to know because he’s so close with Luna. And as he goes, he’s going into some portal, which, by the way, we don’t know how it manifested, how he’s able to do so being a regular human, and we’re just told he went to Raqiya. Okay.

Isa is then hurled into the light, Raqiya, or to Gnostics, Pleroma. Pleroma is where God resides as well as his Aeons and angels, all who find their way to Pleroma have finally obtained Gnosis. When one goes back to Pleroma, they have successfully shed their shells, their useless bodies, from the corrupted world. By doing this, they have essentially done what Yeshua/Christ has done years before. To which, by the way, makes each of us possess the same ability as Yeshua/Christ. In Gnosticism, salvation is not through the traditional sense of admitting to sinning and confessing our belief in God, it is by us finding the deep knowledge within ourselves. That God is in us.  

So when Isa reaches what I’m going to refer to as Pleroma (because it obviously is), the light tells him that it is essentially the creator--The Godhead. It asks him what he wants most now that (somehow) Isa found the secret knowledge to all that ever was and Isa, being the good guy he is, wishes to save his loved one, Luna. What happens next is really frustrating to me and this is when the manga tanked in my opinion. Isa somehow is able to absorb or at least gain some divine ability to speak as the Godhead and coming back to earth to save Luna, apparently.

Abraxas failing what they set out to do refers Isa as “Adam Kadmon”, the first being created from the cosmos, light embodied, and the soul of souls. Adam Kadmon is an important figure in Gnosticism though, I would argue that not nearly as important as Sophia, the aeon of wisdom. This also falls onto what school of thought you follow in Gnosticism (I follow Manichaeism and Sophian) but after all of this, Isa coming back now as what I assume to be Adam Kadmon, is then referred to as God himself. Nothing is stated how this came to conclusion or how Isa is able to become a god or God himself. The only thing that we know, which is vaguely stated, is that this light merged with Isa. What I may suggest is that Isa has left to Pleroma, shedding his mortal body, and what is now in his body possibly is Adam Kadom, or the aeon Logos. Logos is the divine word, partner of Sophia the divine wisdom. 

When Sophia falls from Pleroma and tries creation by herself, the Godhead sends out Logos to bring her back to the light. Logos and Sophia are syzygies, which basically means, well, partners. The manga doesn’t dip into this territory, which is disappointing and it would be very fitting for both (what is to be assumed as) Isa and Luna. If that were the case, Isa and Luna have brought the surviving people Gnosis, the divine spark, and everybody gets to go to Pleroma than suffer from the Demiurge and the Archons. 

No, the manga ends with this.

No explanation, everyone referring Isa as “God”. Isa turns into from an awkward shmuck to this big, thick dude that saves his lady love. Absolutely infuriating. It makes the story pretty trivial, offering the solution that the solution is love and takes away from the fact that the Gnostic godhead Monad actually has no gender whatsoever. Monad is referred to the mother-father, both bride and groom. Monad has no face or form; Monad comes through in the form of incarnations like Logos and Sophia.

If what I’m thinking that manga assumes that Isa merged with the divine light and became Monad instead of going the route it should via Isa becoming Logos, then that doubly undermines Luna’s character. In my opinion, neither one of them are the Godhead but Luna has become Sophia embodied and Isa has obtained Gnosis and possibly becoming Logos embodied. Gnostic thought is that we all can be just like Yeshua/Christ by just simply obtaining Gnosis and returning back from which we came, so to me, to consider them both Christ-like figures isn’t a stretch.

The fact that it delves off the cliff, never addressing how Isa was able to just go to Pleroma keeping his physical form if he became something else, or how did his father manage to gain this information in such a short amount of time really makes me angry. All we’re left with is the pope, that creepy virgin-sacrificing dude, and his dad just basically gaping at Luna while she’s destroying the world. And what also bothers me is Luna’s willingness to kill people telling her that they will help her and they’re “Gnostics” (... last time I checked, we don’t go out in SWAT gear for each other), the Catholic church is out to get Luna and they know who she is somehow, and literally no one tries to calm her down is maddening.

The pacing towards the end just sucks, it’s rushed together, poorly explained, and just takes away the potential Luna has a character. Luna starting off as any other teenager being highly immature and berating her friends for messing up, transforming into someone that could possibly help the world and becoming Sophia embodied never happens. Luna was maturing, she was transforming from what she was, and was learning more about herself. No, instead it dissolves into this mess and takes any chance away from Luna becoming a stronger character, not just a strong female lead. 

So, yeah, even if this comic is filled with quite a bit of fanservice, it had such an interesting concept, of a girl being a god or the destroyer of worlds and how she would mentally cope to that to something that feels like a copout. Not only could Luna transform into a stronger, but Isa could also have changed from a comic relief to a mature friend. And that’s just me speaking as someone looking at this as a fan of comics.

Now, on a spiritual level, it... genuinely feels a little insulting. Gnosticism does not say one gender is stronger than the other. It teaches that you do not need an organized church to help you find your salvation, that you don’t have to commit yourself to follow this religion, and that you’re not suffering because you were born from original sin or whatever. You are your own person and you control your life, no one else. Compared to the Manwha “Priest” that left a strong impact on me spiritually that you will not lose yourself completely due to pain and suffering, “Raqiya” just makes me want to punch someone in the face. 

But this is just how I feel about this manga; if anyone really wants a good interpretation of Gnosis, I’d really refer you to “Serial Experiments: Lain” which sticks to a similar plotline and follow through with it.

[preserving-ferretbrain]

The Death of the Reader

by Wardog

Tuesday, 14 August 2007

Wardog joins the Harry Potter free-for-all~

I shall begin, like every other Harry Potter article on Ferretbrain, by saying that Harry Potter 1-3 are above average children's books. They're well edited, tightly plotted, action-packed children's books with just enough depth and darkness to appeal to adults as well but their primary audience is definitely children. The world presented is a child's world in which school is the most important place in the universe and the Headmaster of a school is unquestioned in his role as one of its most politically powerful figures. Defeating evil is, essentially, equivalent or, in fact slightly less important, than winning the house cup. For the first three books, Draco Malfoy - socially powerful bully that he is - has a far greater impact on Harry's world than Voldemort.

From an adult's perspective, of course, this is all complete madness. Why does Voldemort, Dark Lord of the Sith...err..., why does he never go to war during the school holidays? And why does his plan for taking over the galaxy involve becoming Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Yes yes, I know, so he can recruit a juvenile army of dark wizards but seriously, aren't there grown up people he'd be better off corrupting? And if somebody told you that your son's Head of English had decided not to be Prime Minister and instead came to work at Scumville Comp, you'd laugh in their face. But the point is, these are children's books and they were marketed as children's books. They're even delightfully short. Books 4 onwards, however, are a very matter indeed.

It can be argued that this has been the point all along and that the power of the later books derives from the brutal overturning of the all sources of adult authority Harry previously thought he could trust - in essence, that the process of growing up must mirror a parallel process that amounts to the loss of innocence. Thus all the people Harry idolised are revealed to be flawed (Sirius, Dumbledore, James, Remus), the people in power turn out to be corrupt (Fudge, Umbridge etc.), places of sanctuary rapidly become places of restriction (Hogwarts, in Book V) and so on. Intelligent readers (aka my friend David) have occasionally tried to argue me out of my frustrations with the later books by claiming that much of my resentment springs from their failure to deliver what I was looking for i.e. a jolly romp with comically named characters and cool magical items.

But, ultimately, attempts to argue for darkness, depth and disillusionment in the Harry Potter universe always ring hollow to me because they never quite fit within the established terms of the books. If a text suddenly demands that you start questioning the assumptions of the world and the characters in it, then the text has to be strong enough to withstand such questioning. As Dan is fond of pointing out, this is one the weaknesses of Season Six Buffy; the show seems to forget, suddenly, that Buffy is a metaphor for growing up and instead asks the viewer to treat her like she's a real person with real concerns such as how she's going to pay the rent on her house. This is not only much less interesting than watching her kick vampire ass it just draws attention to trivia you might otherwise not have questioned, for example if the Watcher's Council has a fund for over the hill watchers, why doesn't it also have a fund so that the Chosen One can get on with saving the world instead of having to get a job in fast food.

In Harry Potter, by asking its readership to start questioning the world established in the first three books, JK again only draws attention to how actually stupid it is when you stop and think about it for a moment. If we're expected to cringe and shudder at Umbridge's methods, are we also meant to question what the hell Dumbledore was doing employing a complete incompetent to teach Divination and didn't the Board of Governors have anything to say about it? I know she made one prophecy once but the fact of the matter is that I can't imagine any of the Hogwarts teachers getting onto a PGCE course without difficulty. And if, in fact, we are meant to view Dumbledore's repeated failures as a headmaster as foreshadowing the fact that he was once a little bit tempted by the pleasures of world domination then it is only fair that we also question why the hell he got the job and wasn't there somebody on the interview panel who thought being a powerful wizard and being a decent headmaster were perhaps not similar skills. Again, Umbridge's "I will not tell lies detention" is genuinely terrifying but the fact she can get away with it leads one to wonder why previous detentions involved jolly romps in the hilarious named forbidden forest full of monsters with an irresponsible half-giant and was that, in fact, any more appropriate.

Perhaps it has as much to with the changing nature of the media, increasing communication between authors and fans, the immense power of the internet to foster fandoms and bring obsessive compulsives together, and Jk's forthcoming, teasing style of interacting with her (vast) public but I think she must be of the most talked to and talked about authors I have ever encountered. And, by encountered you understand, I mean read about on the internet. But it's not like people were chasing James Joyce down the street asking to know about the lanky galoot in the brown mackintosh at Paddy Dingam's funeral and was he, perhaps, Ron from the future. The endless alternate worlds of fandom aside, JK's communicativeness and her public's willingness to listen to her and ask her for her arbitration on matters of no consequence seems to have granted her an unheard of amount of authority in her position, not so much as author, but as creator and even as God.

JK has always encouraged fan speculation but speculation and interpretation are very different indeed. Speculation, like guessing the murderer in an Agatha Christi novel, is an intellectual exercise with a "right" and unquestionable answer. You can't turn round and say "no, Poiret got that wrong, it was actually this guy who did it." Similarly, you can't turn round and say RAB is Rupert Addlepate Bungstock, once the text has established RAB is Regalus A-whatever Black. Speculation can always be controlled and, like a particularly inflexible GM, JK has always carefully directed her audience towards the questions they should be asking of the text. Who is RAB? Why does Petunia flush? What's the deal with the Half-Blood Prince (and was a disappointing deal that was). But, ultimately, the succession of tantalising small mysteries are there to distract the reader's attention from other things they might be thinking about, specifically their own interpretations of the text.

To take an example at random, some time last August, JK and some other less rich, less famous people attended a charity event at Radio City Music Hall in New York. During the course of the evening, an audience member brought up a matter of trivial detail ("Aunt Petunia is said to be oddly flushed when Dumbledore announces that Harry will be returning only once more to Privet Drive") which JK praised as an excellent question. Later Salman Rushdie introduced himself and his family, explaining on behalf on his young son that they did not believe Dumbledore was truly dead, citing quite specific textual "evidence" from the 6th book: "Our theory is that Snape is in fact still a good guy from which it follows that Dumbledore can't really be dead, and that the death is a ruse..." Now, looking specifically at the events of the 6th book this seems at least plausible to me, especially if you decide that Snape's moral hokey-cokey will ultimately put him on the side of the good guys and we know, from book 4, that killing curses require a certain amount of conviction.

I don't actually subscribe to the theory but then I'm not a young child and I don't care if the irritating, sherbet-lemon sucking coot is dead. However, most of the "evidence" that Dumbledore is probably very definitely dead comes from knowledge and assumptions drawn from outside the text. I know, for example, that JK likes to think she's dark and, therefore, she's likely to make a point of death being final. I also know that, even though in these sorts of genres death isn't quite the handicap it used to be in the olden days, having an actual corpse is generally considered proof of lasting deaditude. And, finally, I know that JK is all about her seven book arc and that it is an important part of the hero's journey to lose the mentor figure. It's, like, the rules.

But, as it turns out, the clash of titans represented by Kyra Versus Random Kid, was irrelevant because JK's response was this: "But I see that I need to be a little more explicit... and say that Dumbledore is definitely dead." It's a slightly awkward example because whether Dumbledore is dead or not is very much something that can be true or false within JK's imagined world (it is, essentially, a fact) but until the its veracity has been thoroughly established by the text itself then it is certainly not JK's place to explain, justify and interpret her own books for her readership. I would even go so far as to say that, perhaps for a young child fond of Dumbledore, part of the experience of reading book seven is hoping for a miracle that will bring him back or hat his death was nothing but a clever ploy all along. That very personal experience of hope, resignation and, finally, a sense of loss akin to grief can teach someone far more about death than JK's constant over-written references to the cold, unfeeling stars looking down on the arbitrarily massacred secondary characters lying below them. In fact, one of my (many) frustrations with the final book is that being "definitely dead" didn't in any way prevent Dumbledore turning up an giving one of his interminable plot explanations. Talk about the worst of all possible worlds.

In the flurry of interviews (

this

is a good example) JK has given following the release of the seventh book she has repeatedly been called upon to explain, not only the events of the book but the actions of the characters within it. Does Neville end up with Luna, clamour the fans. Was Snape redeemed? No and yes, replies JK Rowling, saving everybody the trouble of actually having to think about it for a second. I'm not a rabid deconstructionist, I don't believe there is nothing outside the text but I certainly do believe that JK Rowling shouldn't be standing there on the text's doorstep, telling her readers precisely how to interpret and respond to it. In bald terms: it is the writer's job to write. It is the reader's task, and the reader's pleasure, to interpret what is written. If you can dig up enough textual evidence to support a Neville/Luna tendre then it has the potential to be there. Although why you'd want it to be eludes me.

Similarly, in the epilogue of the seventh book, Harry offers us Rowling's final evaluation of the characters of Snape and Dumbledore. Snape is the "bravest man" Harry ever knew and, despite having essentially raised him to be a sacrificial lamb, Dumbledore has been re-instated as a beloved mentor figure. This is not explicitly stated in the text but if Harry had really come to a mature understanding as Dumbledore as a flawed control freak capable of sending a seventeen year old boy to his death he wouldn't be naming his child after him. Readers usually think what protagonists think, it's the way it works, especially in books where there is relatively little deviation from the protagonist's point of view so Harry's attitude to both Snape and Dumbledore in the epilogue becomes a statement of authorial authority.

The rather-late-in-the-day revelation of Dumbledore's moral ambiguity is irritating in a book that should have been concentrating on the final climatic battle between good and evil and love and death. On the other hand if you take it to its logical conclusion, not, in fact, that Dumbledore raised a hero but that Dumbledore deliberately and callously created a martyr then it becomes rather interesting. Or it would be if the epilogue, and the book in general, allowed the reader any such space in which to manoeuvre. Dumbledore is not, actually, open to interpretation because Harry's love and admiration for him remain unchanged, as demonstrated by the fact he named his child Albus. And I don't think at that stage we're meant to be questioning Harry's psychological health.

Snape, also, suffers a fatal loss of complexity. Although the fact that Harry stiles him brave probably suggests he has not entirely forgotten how entirely horrid Snape was to him for seven books but, in JK's world view, being mean and petty and traitorous and selfish is less important than having been in love when you were sixteen. Changing sides because the bad guy suddenly threatens a girl you want to boink is significantly less morally sophisticated than changing sides because you suddenly realise you've joined the Nazis With Superpowers but, regardless, I could tolerate the Snape Loved Lily revelation because, as far as I was concerned, it didn't make Snape one jot more sympathetic. This isn't to say I don't like Snape (he and Gilderoy Lockhart are my two favourite characters) but I have always liked him because he is unattractive and unsympathetic and petty. The disaster at the end The Order of the Phoenix occurs not because Kreacher betrayed Sirius for treating him like shit but because Snape couldn't get over himself for five minutes to teach Harry occulemcy and because Snape always seemed so untrustworthy a spy that Harry dares not trust him to alert the Order when he blurts out his fears about Sirius. However, the idea that love can be selfish is not a possibility in JK Rowling's world and Snape's infatuation with Lily Potter redeems him so completely that even the boy he ruthlessly bullied for seven years is willing to immortalise him in the naming of his children.

JK herself admits that Snape is, basically, kind of horrible (not her words) but she insists that he is brave and, in her rather simplistic worldview, bravery - that irritating Gryffindor virtue - is an attribute so overwhelmingly laudable that it eclipses all others. It is depressing beyond belief that it essentially transforms Snape - the only remotely admirable Slytherin - into a Gryffindor-at-heart. Furthermore, although acting as a double agent for a half-mad, unpredictable mass murdering psychopath is quite brave, it strikes me as being rather less brave to do it because you've been manoeuvred into it for the price of saving someone you happen to fancy. On the other hand, acting as a double agent for a half-mad, unpredictable, mass murdering psychopath because you decide that your conscience can't countenance working for him any more is bloody brave. It's a very personal decision with only nebulous and general benefits, whereas doing it for an individualis directly related to your own desires.

The Harry Potter books are not written to be read in any sense that I would understand it. They're there to be passively received and carefully cross-checked against the author's (externally established) intent. It's like a hundred and fifty years of literary theory never happened. I'm unsurprised that JKR's next work is to be an encyclopaedia because it's obviously what she wanted to be writing all along. I'm not, by any means, saying she's deliberately being sinister and trying to oppress her readership but as the books have progressed there's been an increasing preoccupation in establishing a set of approved readings. An encyclopaedia, even of one relating to an imaginary world, is still a way of introducing sources of absolute truth into something that should be as fluid and incalculable as the differences between my imagination and yours. What astonishes and horrifies me is not that JK is trying to do it but that everyone keen for her to do so.

I think this is the major reason the epilogue of the seventh book offends me as much as it does. I mean, there are others, of course, most related to the fact it stinks. But by establishing her characters, precisely as she wants them, nineteen years on from the events of the book, JK pins them down in perpetuity. I would like to think that the characters went on to pursue lives not entirely and absolutely determined by what they did (and who they did) at school. Oh foolish me. Also it strikes me as particularly low thing to do for a writer who owes so much to her fandom. It's the equivalent of those girly posters on Sirius's wall (he was never even the slightest bit gay ever!); a rather petty attempt to establish enduring canon relationships exactly the way she wants them: Harry and Ginny, Ron and Hermione. And Scorpius and Albus-Severus. Obviously.Themes:

J.K. Rowling

,

Books

,

Young Adult / Children

~

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Wendy B

at 22:02 on 2007-08-15Excellent points. Bravo.

In my opinion, Jo wasted a tremendous opportunity. She should have written the 7th tale from both Harry and Snape's perspective. After six years of a Harry-filtered world, it would have been so illuminating if she had allowed Snape a real voice so we could understand what drove him, besides the fact that his boss offed his fantasy girlfriend. I believe Jo dislikes the character of Snape as she certainly begrudges fandom's interest in him. Instead she gives us a confusing answer to the question of whether Snape was good or evil. Answer: he was good, evil, AND in it for himself. If she hopped off her precious Harry filter and just let go of the narrative misdirection writing techinque (which had limited value in the final book) it could of been a great tale. Instead...blech.

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Arthur B

at 22:23 on 2007-08-15Rowling is never going to give up narrative misdirection. It's her one and only trick, and ever since she was able to steamroller her editors into publishing whatever she writes she's even got sloppy at that. The next two books she's got planned after the Potter encyclopedia - the new children's book and her project for grown-ups - are going to be terrible.

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Wardog

at 10:32 on 2007-08-16Many thanks, Wendy - I think there's my original review knocking around in the archives somewhere, but Dan's is much better because I was still in a weird state of denial that the book was as bad as I suspected it was.

I didn't realise JKR begrudged fandom their interest in Snape; I thought she certainly hated the popularity of Lupin because books 5 onwards are basically a character-assassination piece on the poor guy, which is a shame because I always rather liked Lupin and I thought his flaws (his desperation to be liked, his inability to stand up to his more confident friends, his general sense of divided-identity) were rather cool. I sometimes wonder if interest perhaps peaked when it became impossible in everyone's minds for him to look like anybody other than Alan Rickman :)

But the books have *always* been about Harry so I suspect offering a new perspective and point of view in the final book would be massively jarring, not that I wouldn't have welcomed anything that stage! I think one of the reasons that Snape worked so well was because he was elusive and, therefore, seemed infinitely more complex than JKR actually thought he was. I quite liked the fact he was in love with Lily Potter but I wish he'd been allowed at least one other character trait.

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Wardog

at 10:34 on 2007-08-16Hmmm...Arthur...your reference to narrative misdirection now has me imagining some kind of bastard-monster consisting of bits of JK and bits of Joss Whedon. The pain!

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Arthur B

at 12:32 on 2007-08-16As far as Lupin goes, it's pretty clear to me that he was meant to show up in

Prisoner of Azkaban

, be a red herring ("It's always the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher!"), and go away again. Then the collective howling of fandom when he didn't have a bigger role in book 4 prompted Rowling to drag him out in book 5, only to commence running him down and emphasising his essential irrelevance.

It's strange how the Harry Potter books seem to have been shaped in some places by JK's response to her fans - even when she doesn't give the fans what they want, she ends up doing things precisely

because

it's not what the fans want (witness Sirius's girly posters). It'd be interesting to see how the series would have turned out if Rowling had been completely isolated from the fandom.

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Wardog

at 14:19 on 2007-08-16Dan pointed out a while back that since JKR wrote the prologue eighty years ago (or whatever) and Teddy Lupin is in it, Lupin's arc was probably always pretty much the same. Although I think in interviews she talks about how important it was to her to kill parents so ... who knows the hell is going on? Also, is it me, but do you think he dies at the battle of Hogwarts just so he can show up with the Suicide Club?

But then I suppose books have always been shaped to *some* extent by fans and fan demands - look at Sherlock Holmes.

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Arthur B

at 14:33 on 2007-08-16I'm not convinced that the epilogue we got is, in fact, the epilogue she wrote way back when and put in a safe in case she died before writing book 7 or something, simply because there's a nigh-total lack of exposition: I suspect she scrapped or heavily rewrote the old one since it was no longer necessary.

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lessofthat

at 01:14 on 2007-08-28"What astonishes and horrifies me is not that JK is trying to do it but that everyone keen for her to do so."

You're right to be horrified, but not to be astonished. Look at the screechy, barely sane arguments in the various fandoms about what is and is not canon. Or the existence of Star Trek and Star Wars technical manuals. Fans (I mean the word in the geeky, semi-stalkery sense, not the generic one) don't want literature, they want an alternative universe they can buy maps of.

"bravery[..]is an attribute so overwhelmingly laudable that it eclipses all others"

Susan Sontag said, correctly, that courage was a morally neutral virtue. She was talking about the 9/11 hijackers at the time.

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Wardog

at 15:03 on 2007-08-28I know I shouldn't be astonished but it's necessary for me not degenerating in a pile of embittered, contemptuous goo that I am.

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Whenmarshmallowssnap

at 20:47 on 2007-08-28I didn't appreciate all the 'fluff' Rowling put in that should have been good narrative. I thought most of the Dumbledore backplot was kind useless and didn't really add to the story. Also, it was so unlike for Team Potter (as Dan likes to call them) to sit in a tent twiddling their thumbs, that I wondered vaguely if JK Rowling didn't have anything remotely interesting to write and settled for the trio wasting their time pointlessly. Plus, I fell through so many plot holes, I broke both my ankles.

"...a rather petty attempt to establish enduring canon relationships exactly the way she wants them..." Thank you for that. I did not like the fact that she controlled every single aspect of the characters' lives so that nothing is left to the readers' imagination. I wish Harry ended up with Cho Chang, and became an ex-convict. It would have added spontaneity to an otherwise boring and disappointing finish of the epic (read:really long and ingratiating) Harry Potter series.

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Arthur B

at 14:29 on 2007-10-20Have you seen

this

? Not content to pull the rug out of the "Sirius is gay" crowd, Rowling has now declared that Dumbledore was gay all along, and was dating Grindlewald until that whole "Wizard-Hitler" thing caused them to split up.

Now, let's see what's objectionable about this...

- Author assigning attributes to a character which they never even hinted at during the actual books? Check.

- The one canonical gay relationship in the entire series being a terrible mistake on Dumbledore's part? Check.

- A homosexual, who was previously evil (or at best a collaborator) and in a relationship, is now unquestionably good and rigorously asexual. Implications that gays are better off living a celibate life? Check.

- Rowling jerking the fans around like puppets, and them applauding her for it anyhow like Winston Smith at the end of

1984

knuckling under and loving Big Brother like all the rest of the beaten-down herds?

Check.

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M Harris

at 06:09 on 2007-10-21Also this:

The Potter books in general are a prolonged argument for tolerance, a prolonged plea for an end to bigotry, and I think ti's one of the reasons that some people don't like the books, but I think that's it's a very healthy message to pass on to younger people that you should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth.

[Loud applause.]

This entire interview is quite... freaky/weird.

The website it is on is this (I don't know how to make it into a link like Arthur B did):

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/10/20/j-k-rowling-at-carnegie-hall-reveals-dumbledore-is-gay-neville-marries-hannah-abbott-and-scores-more

[Linkified by webmaster]

You might want to read the answer to the question about Nazi parallels.

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M Harris

at 10:30 on 2007-10-21Oh no, I'm reading comments about this on Mugglenet and I want to kill people.

"anyway i think you choose to be gay or straight. i don't think ur born gay. and since ppl. are judged by their actions/choices, i don't think gay ppl. are all that great. don't jump on me now, just sayin wat i think."

"It has to be a joke. The Harry Potter fandom would have been much smaller otherwise. Personally, I would not have read and loved the series if one of the main characters had been gay. What kind of "children's book" would that be? That type of "lifestyle" may be acceptable in Britain, but its not viewed so favorably everywhere (like the entire Southern United States). While there are exceptions here, they are the extreme minority."

And then these idiots:

"JKR is genius! A gay Harry Potter character....wow. That takes true guts. This proves JKR is God. :D"

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Arthur B

at 13:35 on 2007-10-21So, Rowling says

...I think that's it's a very healthy message to pass on to younger people that you should question authority and you should not assume that the establishment or the press tells you all of the truth.

which I agree with, and I think it's a shame that that message doesn't actually come through in Harry Potter. The most frequently-appearing authority figure in the books is Dumbledore, who is basically 100% right all the time. True, he isn't actually massively important in the grand scheme of things, but he's the supreme authority in Harry's world, and it turns out that all of his plans are for the best even when they involve convincing Harry to go get himself killed. The bad guys in the establishment and the press, meanwhile, are always quite obviously bad guys, and Harry usually finds what they have to say objectionable from the get-go.

The lesson seems to be "Trust your instincts: if the person in authority seems nice and trustworthy and is saying things you want to hear, they're probably good. If they seem harsh and unfair and are saying things you don't want to hear, they're bad." That's not exactly a helpful anti-authoritarian message.

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Wardog

at 09:47 on 2007-10-22God, I genuinely tried to rise above this and not think about it. But, no, I'm pissed off. I'm fucking pissed off.

"If I'd known it would make you so happy, I would have announced it years ago!"

If it was in any way relevant or important you should have included in the goddamn books!

I was re-reading my Roland Barthes for school the other day and I found myself asking myself whether he was really still relevant or his conception of the Author-God actually exsisted - and JKR has proven the answer to both questions is a resounding yes. I genuinely can't quite believe this. It's not the way books work. It's not like Dickens turned up at his famous lecturers and started giving extra information about the life of Tiny Tim after the end of A Christmas Carol.

Also Dumbledore's sexuality is completely irrelevant, just like his brief flirtation with nazi-ism is completely irrelevant. He's presented as a 2D mentor figure and all the backplot in th world can't change that.

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Dan H

at 18:54 on 2007-10-23

"JKR is genius! A gay Harry Potter character....wow. That takes true guts. This proves JKR is God. :D"

If the internet hadn't destroyed my faith in humanity many years ago, I'd actually assume that one was a joke.

I find it utterly hilarious the way that JKR's "prolonged argument for tolerance" is so hidebound by her middle-class value-system that she genuinely can't see how - well - completely intolerant it is for, for example, the one canonical homosexual relationship in the entire series to have been a colossal mistake that wound up causing the wizarding equivalent of the second world war.

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Melissa G.

at 18:51 on 2009-12-08This is a really late comment, but I've been HP-obsessed the past few weeks. And I just want to say that what bothered me most about the "plea for tolerance" aspect was actually that she had a slave race that actually enjoyed being slaves and if we took that away from them, they'd turn into sobbing drunks. The idea that slaves like being slaves and they'd have nothing without slavery is so archaic and horrific an idea that it pains me to see it played for laughs with Winky.

[all-things-andrew-scott]

Important Facts from Sherlocked USA 2018

Gordon Kennedy wants Gary and his partner (and all of Cross Keyes) to have a spin-off series.

In this spin-off, Benedict Cumberbatch will play the secret dragon they keep out back and Martin Freeman will play a table. And they’ll “use his bum as a bottle opener”. 

Sian Brooke does not believe that Moriarty was specifically Eurus’ puppet, but rather that she put things in his line of sight. Sort of making him think it’s his idea, so to speak. 

Sian was pleasantly surprised at how well the fandom has received her. So, you guys, please keep showering her with love. She sincerely deserves it.

Sian and Andrew knew each other before as they had done a play together. (Dying City, 2006)

Rupert Graves’ can’t-live-without-it snack is apparently beer.

I asked Rupert why Lestrade was so angry when Sherlock and John showed up in the drunk tank and he said it was more a shift in power. Basically, he finally had power and control over Sherlock when he’s not usually a man in a position of power in that circumstance.

Rachel Talalay informed us that while the tunnel Sherlock enters through in TST is real, the rest of the aquarium stuff is just projections.

Rachel Talalay’s phone case is a fan art mashup of Doctor Who and La-La Land featuring The Master and Missy and I love it.

Louise Brealey sobbed after Andrew delivered the last line of Hamlet and then felt that she was not on the same level as him. His performance made her feel like she wasn’t worthy of speaking to him or even being on the same side of the street as him.

Sian and Rupert both say that Andrew is a great, wonderful, lovely person and beautiful soul.

Rachel Talalay flat out told me she was jealous because she hasn’t gotten the chance to meet Andrew yet and she’s heard great things about him.

Rupert does not know who killed Harry Potter’s parents. (I know this because it was a General Knowledge trivia question during the Great Sherlocked Game Show and he “tripped” into the audience, seeking the answer and I was in the front row so I answered it for him)

Louise Brealey would like Molly to have more lines

Sian Brooke would like to play Mrs Hudson (asked her and Louise if they could play any other character in the show, who would it be and why?)

Sian didn’t initially know she’d be playing Eurus. And when he was cast, it was kept of the utmost secret. She couldn’t tell anyone but her husband.

Tom Stoughton doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he believes in aliens and dog ghosts.

Toby (the bloodhound in TST) behaved so well because Amanda is a magical dog whisperer and he cooperated wonderfully with her.

The Victorian set even SMELLS Victorian. Dusty. Like it came from an attic. The regular set didn’t smell like that, so it’s not just a storage thing.

Sian was a fan of the show before she was cast and very much enjoyed Moriarty.

I’m sorry. Everything I’m remembering is about Sian. I’m obsessed. She’s so lovely. Yet another cinnamon roll who plays a crazy. I have an affinity for these types, clearly. She’s terrifying when she goes full Eurus in person. And by that I mean she playfully shouted at us to get into the ballroom for the Game Show and I was afraid for my life and then she smiled sweetly and I fell in love and I just want to marry her okay? She’s flawless.

Louise really likes the way Molly has grown and matured and stopped letting herself be a doormat.

One of Sian’s favourite Eurus lines is “I’m too clever”.

Louise’s favourite Molly line is “Okay.”

Everyone is great and you should all love them harder.

The most important fact of all:

They have not given up hope for Season 5. When a show is finished, the showrunners sell the sets and props. They have not done this yet, merely given permission for such things to be used for photos for the conventions. Benedict says he “can do bits and pieces between other projects”. (I say just do it all in a chunk and give it to us but okay). Martin’s manager/agent/whatever is apparently super disorganized so Martin never really knows what’s going on but he would like to do more. Mark has two stories that he would really, really, really love to tell. (Also, Moffat, Sue, and Mark are all super duper appreciative of the fans and they know the show would not be what it is without us). Basically, it’s not “if” Season 5 will happen, just a matter of when.

[seenashwrite]

14.04 Round-Up

Here, have a Nash-Is-Running-On-Fumes round-up.

Disagree on Salem Ohio.  Shoulda gone Indiana. Why would you choose Salem, anyway? Given that this has nothing to do with witchy anything? Wait, does it?  [Post-show pseudo-addendum: Nope.]

Shocker. Like, THE Shocker, or... 😳  *ahem*

What is the fixation with giving characters the same/similar names? 

[Post-show pseudo-addendum: I get the shtick for the purposes of this episode, not entirely the point, keep reading] 

And I'm also not talking about super-duper-common names (Jane, Mary, etc.), I get how those would naturally come up over the course of 13/14 years. I mean they’re fixated on the same names for women that have more than a just-passing-through role. 

This chick is Sam, short for Samantha. So why not just call her Samantha? Especially given the tone of their conversation, we don’t typically revert to nicknames when we’re pissed, we typically dial it up to full first names (and for parents, to full first-and-middle). Nope, gotta be "Sam". And he said it three times. Three times in a conversation that maybe lasted a minute, to make sure we got it.

WE GOT IT

Welcome, Sam-Specifically-Not-Samantha! Meet Anna, Hannah, Anael, Jessica, Jo, Josie, Jody, Jessica, and Jo. Hope you don't die! PS: your hair is phenomenal.

I was about to say - I'd be in my room with all those people running around, too, archangel farts still bouncing around, or no.

So I take it Thundercats is DC property. Learn sumpin’ new every day (I will never need this knowledge)

You know, they *just* had a dinosaur toy come to life in Scooby. Writing wise, wish they'd have just said characters in general coming to life, would've covered the movie/comic spread and all the swag that comes with. Who wrote this? [checks] Oh fuck us, it's Perez.

Fortnite *vomit*

These outfits are fantastic, well-played, wardrobe.

"I don't know who Riley is. But cool." ---> Same, Dean-Who-May-Be-Michael-Faking. Same.

The gif of them ducking down in the car is gonna be precious.

[Post-show pseudo-addendum: Yup]

Why does Sam suddenly not know how to whip his jacket off and put pressure on a wound?

Goddamnit my food got here in time for me to miss the Dean-confronts-thing scene. Thank goodness for giffers and clippers. Though I still haven't gotten my Fluids gif from the Scooby ep. I want that gif.

Stewie is not breathing 27 times per minute. Just hire me. Let me deal with your medical shit. I ain't cheap, but I can be had.

"I like to watch movies where I know the bad guy's gonna lose"   ----> gooooood, Perez, you can doooo eeeeeeet (unless that was a script editor’s call, in which case ::sigh::)

See there now, Sam's calling her Samantha. Stewie could’ve just called her "Sam" once, that plus seeing her name come up on his phone is plenty, didn’t need three farging times in less than a minute at the top of the ep. No, I'm not letting this go.

Blood transfusers don't hang out in rando hospital rooms. It just ain't a hang-out, what-if, ya-never-can-tell type of jam.

This ep's pretty much squelched my Michael impersonating Dean option, might have to be in the Michael's hiding in his back molar camp. I say that because this is the most "Dean" he's acted thus far. I mean, I *guess* he could be accessing Dean's memories about the movies, but why lay it on so thick since Sam's not around to witness it? Doesn't matter, I don't know why I'm even going down this road, I don't trust this writer's room in the least to have a carefully crafted plan that they've shared with Jensen. Well, it's beyond trust - Jensen all but said it in that interview (go find it yourselves, I'm sleepy, and this sammich ain't gonna eat itself, but I love you)

I really want Samantha's hair, and now her flannel shirt. I like her and her personality about a million times more than Maggie, why couldn't she be Maggie? OH SHIT.  Samantha - I forgot to introduce you to two more members of the name game club, here's Magda and Maggie. [Post-show pseudo-addendum thanks to astute Nashooligan] We would also like to introduce you to Amelia and Amelia and also the Name Game Sorority’s den mother, Millie, who we aren’t quite sure should be included but are hedging our bets. Could be Millicent or Melissa, sure, but why not complete an Amelia trifecta? ---> I’m about to digress with a side note that has nothing to do with this ep, I just want to further cement how much you should trust my judgment: in my big story, this name shit infuriates me so much, it was a factor I considered when constructing Millie’s background. I made Millie come from a slightly posh background on her British mother’s side, and a military family life courtesy of her high-ranking American father. I searched for names that the nickname “Millie” could evolve from that I thought would sound appropriate with this somewhat upper-crust lifestyle, so I made her real name be Emeline (Em-ah-lynn for me, though I’ve heard the last part with a long “i”, too) which is a sweet and classy oldie-goldie jam I wish would come back. It’s Brit-y for her mom, allows for her dad to be the only one who calls her Millie til Henry comes along. Her brothers call her “Em”, which annoys her mom. My psychiatrist’s front office girl has this name (except double-M) but insists on going by “Em”. Not “Emma”, not “Emme”. Em. (As in Auntie Em, I just had a fever dream about little people who give out candy, and grown men dressed in costumes who like skipping down roads with young girls, and trees that throw apples, and flying monkeys, which are cool, but still.) I have found her to be idiotic in several respects over the years, and this decision was not a point in her favor. There, I’m done.

Stewie's respirations are not 115 per minute.

(I'm looking at the bottom feed, btw, in case you're wondering. His heart rate and rhythm is up near the top, BP would be bottom left and would be 2 numbers, and O2 sats max at 100. Also not art line nor ICP. I'll get a better look in gifs but pretty sure it's supposed to be his resps. Or else it is the sats and somebody's gotten their butterfingers on the training module. I mean regardless of their intent, 29 to 115′s a helluva spread for any vital sign unless it’s your heart rate whilst I’m doing CPR because straight up, I do happen to get after it pretty fierce when the occasion has arisen. Anyway, they are ass at this. All they have to do is ask. When Nashville the show was still in production, they asked us shit all the time. I’m revealing too much of my secret identity. Moving on.)

This is great, the cutting between movie and real life, high-five to editing.

Sam and Samantha are legit adorable in that scene.

HAHAHAHA hesitation elbow.

Nice cut to the movie commercial. I don't care for the reusing of all the same clips we just saw, I can't imagine there weren't extra little pieces of discarded scenes for editing to choose from, so... but otherwise, I dig it.

Thankfully, the M.E.’s stainless steel vegetable chopping knife was there in the morgue.🤨

I reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally wish for a moment there, not even five seconds, when ol' boy was standing above him, we saw some Mikey flash across Dean's face with a touch - and I mean a *touch*, CG department, don't blow your whole wad per usual - of blue. That nobody sees, only the audience and the monster, have monster kinda pause, maybe look confused and hit his little button but this time it comes out with the tiniest lilt of a questioning upspeak on the last syllable, and nothing ultimately happens since Sam arrives, Dean shakes his drowsiness off, then proceed to choke hold, etc. It would fall in line with whatever route they're going (Mikey actively impersonating Dean/Mikey residuals left in Dean/Mikey passively hiding out in Dean), also be a nice audience tease.

I didn't think I needed to specify that I wanted mushrooms on this cheesesteak hoagie. On god, the world is completely falling apart.

That whole car convo was.... weird. The party memory story went on too long and was stupid as shit, sure, but the costume discussion is what I mean. And then the one it ended on was especially weird. Why not just end with a shot of the Impala and their conversation continuing with their voices fading away with the engine? End on a better duo than Thelma and Louise who, Perez, killed themselves by driving their car into a canyon. Hell, end on Scooby. I mean, you had the lunchbox which the camera held on for forever to make damn sure we all saw it, may as well double-down.

The doll's eyes should've flicked closed at the end. Missed opportunity.

Okay, cute little ep. Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth that this Perez kid can't have an original idea to save his life, though. Kinda taints it.  

Heh. Check it, yo - I brought things full damn circle.

You know.

Shocker. Taint.

HEY THERE YOU GO DEAN - duo Halloween costume!

My work here is done, see y'all next week.

[hetaliaindie]

Going down memory lane

Just a little photo post.

June 9th 2017

I come back after more than a year, ready to try this out again.

I love how I'm always straight with ya guys in the tags yeesh.

July 4th 2017

The start of my first proper event, the Gandharva Event! (Though I've revised his design greatly ever since- there's no trace of Shiv in this anymore!!)

July 24th 2017

My first interaction with @grandparomeaskblog !!! When will I stop drawing your son in compromising situations-

August 28 2018

The very very first glimpse of Mr. G!

Also August 28

The day I started lowkey introducing the world to Shiv's 2500 year old crush.

September 1 2017

Young Shiv art!

September 9 2017

The most cursed artwork in this entire blog, thanks to aforementioned Grandpa Rome and Mr. Camel ( @de-beste-persian-empire) 

September 16 2017

I think, this is the first sridevi we got on this blog. No introduction, nothing.

Same day and we have Sridevi being as demanding of sweets as she always is, and our lovely Aarya! @ask-ladylotus​. The world deserves more india wamen.

September 21 2017

One of my favourite answers to date: Jugaad

September 24 2017

Gosh I don't like the art here at all, but here's the start of the lotus/god angst.

Same Day

The cutest darn Shiv ever. I hope I've kept this side of him alive.

Same Day

I think this is interesting because it seems that I was really fond of a more metaphorical approach to some questions and I'm still like that today: Jealousy

Same Day: Start of the God (dream) Event

September 30 2017

Yeah that's really what they looked like then.

October 5 2017

This may have happened nearly 2000 years ago but I do keep referencing it so here, boys and their issues.

October 24 2017

Same story, more details

October 26 2017

This is truly one of the most beautiful works I've made, and this is when I start getting very fond of this kind of storylike narrative, bright colours and literal metaphors.

November 3 2017

Jerks.

November 5 2017

Mr and Mrs. did have their casual pretend intimacy. Now she's alone but Mr. Gold has Zar. I hope we see her grow now that her fake love partner's dead and reborn.

December 19 2017

This is about when I fell in love with both of them tbh. Btw the baby was carefully delivered to an orphanage and quickly adopted by one of Mr. G's workers.

December 28 2017

The start of a legend. The Highschool AU. Would you believe me if I told you that Gypty and I still work on it casually or see various futures spawned from it? 

January 15 2018 (Welcome to 2018 my good folks, we made it)

This isn't important content but artwise, It's when I really started pushing for dynamic stylistic choices for my art.

January 16 2018

You really really see it here, and also I start indulging more in patterns to brighten up the simplicity of everyday life. I'd also say this is where the general body differences are most exaggerated between them all (even with sridevi as a child).

January 22 2018

A comment on Arthur Kirkland.

January 23 2018

A memory of the Sack of Delhi. It may strain your eyes (unfortunately I can't say that was on purpose), but it's a tribute to a nation who's heart has been stamped on by circumstances that no one can predict, yet its spark still lights. From an art standpoint, I was very proud of the expression I felt I conveyed well in this panel.

January 28 2018

Listen the amount of research I put into giving you a culturally intriguing gag response- 

February 2 2019

Mrs. Gold, I definitely improved a lot with colour usage here.

February 1 2018

This is where I have truly tried too hard on colours but I'm really warming up to it. (Oh nu is my icon that old- i'll get a new one soon I promise)

Please just take a moment, if you're someone who is an artist and is on a journey, to compare this piece with some of the earlier ones in this post. This improvement wasn't completely random. It started with looking for stylistic changes in the way I drew- in my case, really exaggerating the flowiness of my strokes and sharp points (messing around with a grittier brush, helped me a lot too, if you're someone who sticks with soft brushes or mechanical pencils, I couldn't recommend trying to use a textured brush or irl charcoal to get a grasp on the type of mood you want to evoke). At some stage it became a love story with color too, but colour takes time and lots of adjustment, which is why you won't see much of it in my blog.

March 5 2018

This is where I really start pushing the exaggeration on Mr. G, but only to get a feel for him. He evolved from a chunky nosed, physically imposing figure with a laughable quantity of gold, to something more desperate and dependant on money, something lean and mean with a nose that could poke an eye out. And here, most prominent is the shape of his lips, which had grown more prominent than before and very good for emphasizing his frown (and hell to work with when trying for his dimpled smile).

March 11 2018

I drew this for an rp starter since words couldn't describe what was in my head. I think it's a fine example of my adoration for patterns- but not just patterns, the idea of luxury beyond compare. It's prominent in my blog but only because I have the brain of a magpie and am constantly like ‘ooo shiny’. But really, I drew what I liked, so I improved. Find something you like drawing if you haven't yet. It can be skulls, it can be leaves, feathers, find your motifs and everything will honestly follow along.

May 17 2018

Post exam-hiatus, I am back with the gang, my art style is a bit rusty but boy have I got intimately involved with colours.

May 22 2018

I can't get colours out of my head, I'm thinking about them day and night, I need to create, I need to and so I do. (In all honesty I am certain that something greatly inspired me to do this but I cannot recall what).

June 12 2018

The Kill Cindy 2k18 movement is born. I can finally show you the Mr. G I have been hiding from you all.

July 1 2018

Something I can point out now is that while I think my colours work (honestly i was making use of patterns to distract you all at this stage- before I returned from my hiatus, I'd been rejected in an interview for an animation course and the key point my interviewer made was that my sense of colour was jarring, so I really was sensitive over it but seeking out improvement), what I would change is that adding a clear light source and allowing an atmosphere (by adjusting the main figures’ hues slightly to match the background) to emerge in my art would make it a lot better. And I start to grasp at this knowledge.

August 19 2018

The start of the bodyswap event, I swear I'll get back to it. I just want to use it as a stepping stone to get some meaningful character development out of it, thus it's ongoing.

See here, this is where I just stop caring about skin and character colour as something that should more or less be constant. Now it's vibrant and blinding for no other reason than I want to make you feel (granted, I did that too much here and it makes things hard to understand much less appreciate).

September 8 2018

Here I'm really just feeling the colours, Shiv's home is easy- everything is luxurious but at once welcoming (or at the very least, pampering), Sridevi's home on the other hand was shown to be neater and almost less personal, there isn't much immersion allowed in her place but in Shiv's..oh man.

November 2018

As you can see, activity has been dwindling what with rigorous college days and having moved to a new city. It should pick up eventually, but let me close this off with some new art.

Do I have something to say about this piece? Yes, I do! The point of view is Shiv's, thus the warm colours and the way he blends into the background. The main figure here is not himself or his 2nd player, but the vibrant peacocks, that exist in a shade of blue too vibrant to be real. In between the two sentient figures, is our young Mr. Gold, clearly he has the favour of these birds but he doesn't seem very affected by them- unlike the jealous Shiv. He's the dullest colour present and he wears the blandest clothing, the matters of peacocks (be they blue or orange) do not apply to him and he is at once alienated. 

Today, November 14th 2018

So after everything, here we are. Is this what all my art was moving towards? No it isn't, it's really just me playing around with photoshop brushes, but the mood of this image is something I feel that I've conveyed with integrity. That's what I want to keep striving for. Thank you all for staying with this blog as long as you have, thank you to all my newer followers, I've linked most of these points to their original posts, I hope that Tumblr does not break them. Love you all!