#big bertha

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Fritz the Cat animation cels (1972)

[riberoibeis]

A friend was winding their shrimp tank down after ~4 years so they gave me their shrimp, including Big Bertha the gigantic and ancient Amano shrimp who has quickly become the queen of the tank and my heart.

VD: a tiktok set to the song 'Da Biggest Bird' by Saint Mercat∅r of Big Bertha the huge female Amano shrimp hanging out with Gonzo the bamboo shrimp and swimming into the cherry shrimp feeding frenzy to take an entire food pellet to eat by herself. I also introduce Medium Michael the normal sized amano shrimp, also eating his own pellet.

ID: a realistic chalk pastel drawing on grey paper of Big Bertha the amano shrimp, outlined in black and rendered in white with orange and blue highlights.

[mysteriesgalplusdamianthings]

New Chapter!

There wasn't much we saw of Maps in this chapter. But I love the change of art design. It's so much smoother and cleaner than the previous books.

But what I noticed was that there is something strange interfering with Maps signal. I'm not sure what it is, but Maps is determined to stay and help no matter what.

Also, it's pretty ominous how she said, "That field, where the battle always is..." Maps knows what's about to happen next, clearly. And it doesn't sound like it'll end too well.

On another note, Maps isn't interfering too much outside of assisting the team in a few battles. Is this due to some law/rule of time travel? Is she not supposed to interfere extensively with history?

These are questions I need answered.

This page was definitely a highlight. Seeing Maps take on Wonder Woman wasn't something I thought we'd ever see happen.

I wish we saw more of her combat, but it seems she possesses a gun that shoots out electricity/lightning that deals damage to her enemies. There are probably other cool features about that device, but we're not likely going to see much of it here, sadly. This is why she needs her own comics series as Meridian.

Maps and Cass teaming up would be so cool! I could see them in future time lines working together. Especially since this isn't their first time teaming up.

[hazel-of-sodor]

Have you done something about Big Emma/Bertha? (I think she (she had two names, hence why I put that) was designed to be an absolute unit and bank trains up the Lickey Incline?)

Not really, she was really popular for a while, and I've never felt I really had anything special to say about her. She was allocated to Wellsworth following Typhoon being reallocated to Tidmouth, but by 1963 BR attempted to withdraw her.

Before the North Western and British Railways could get into yet another brawl, a preservation group formed to save the engine approached with an offer to purchase her. The offer was unexpectedly large (its suspected the NWR made a generous donation) and BR happily accepted, not even complaining when the 58100 Preservation Group signed a deal with the North Western for her to assist with on their lines when not visting Preservation Lines in turn for taking on her overhuals.

Emma, as she prefers to be called, spends thetourist season touring preservation lines across the United Kingdom, a popular attraction where ever she goes. When not traveling she calls Vicarstown sheds her home, happily working with Typhoon, who she'd became close with during their time together on the Lickey incline.

An iincident of not occured in 2019, when a frieght stalled on the Lickey Incline. Emma had been traveling back towards the North Western following a visit to a heritage line when she was stopped and asked if she would assist. Footage of the 0-10-0 banking a modern train up the incline went viral, and was one of the last major railfan events before lockdown.

[skeletonfumes]

Day Shift (2022) J.J. Perry

[adokle]

The Red Spike by JoeAdok

Given recent events, felt like finally drawing Big Bertha from the Super Mario Bros. film in a vein a la that Mario chars lineup V.2's kinda what I had in mind for a koopacentric Dinohattan. Though I felt I couldn't not try a hand at a humanoid version too.

[megahorous]

Poison meets Rashid !

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #46: FRANCHISE

July, 1989

Great Lakes Avengers Assemble?!

I have been waiting for this.

I've read this issue before, in a collected edition of Dan Slott's Great Lakes Avengers miniseries. But now I have all the context leading up to this and I'll get to see what else this wacky group did in their early appearances.

And, hell. Out of everything in the Byrne run so far, this is his first shake up that's not deeply annoying!

Byrne is the one who pulls the trigger on the idea of a third Avengers team teased when Vision was trying to expand the Avengers. But not quite as he enVisioned it.

Hah.

Last times on West Coast Avengers: Between issues, Tigra, Hank Pym, and the Wasp joined the West Coast Avengers. Then Vision got kidnapped by every government in the world and disassembled into a pile of parts. Hank Pym puts everyone's favorite synthezoid back together but he's all white now and he doesn't have emotions and only has Avengers case files for memories.

The American government also forced the West Coast Avengers to take on US Agent or else reprisals. Hawkeye quit in a huff after US Agent tosses him after Hawkeye tried to punch him.

We learned in the big Avengers meeting over in Avengers that Hawkeye has a new group so let's get into it.

Geez, Mr Immortal, you're a bit manic there.

A bank robbery is happening at the Milwaukee Farmers and Merchants Trust. And we know this is Milwaukee because one of the robbers very considerately wears a Milwaukee jacket.

A dude we'll later learn is called Mr Immortal drops down from the ceiling, quips a bit, dodges some gunfire, hits a couple dudes, and then... doesn't dodge some other gunfire.

That looks like it hurts.

The robbers gather around the dead, deceased hero to make sure he's really dead.

And he's gotta be, right? Half of his chest is bulleted to hell.

And then things go to hell. For the robbers.

Flatman swipes the hostages with his stretchy definitely not a spoof of Mr Fantastic body. Big Bertha OH YEAHs through the wall. Dinah Soar flies through a Doorman shaped portal in another wall.

The Great Lakes Avengers are usually treated comically. They're a ridiculous team, operating in a ridiculous area, with ridiculous powers and the big joke about them in the Dan Slott series was how they were constantly overshadowed by the official Avengers and how none of the other heroes wanted to interact with them.

Except Squirrel Girl, who they hired by sorta lying that they were the real Avengers.

Ridiculous group with ridiculous powers they may be but in this action sequence, they're coordinated. They had a good plan to distract the robbers so the hostages could be pulled out of harms way. And then their ridiculous powers took down the gunmen no problem.

Yeah, these guys aren't going to be fighting Doctor Doom without hefty authorial fiat (but isn't that the way all comics work anyway?) but they're not bumbling amateurs.

And I appreciate that.

Last robber standing backs away in shock horror... right into the arms of Mr Immortal.

Who is not, in fact, dead. Or at least, he didn't stay dead.

Immortal, y'know?

Robber: "They're poppin' outta th' woodwork! Who are these geeks? Milwaukee don't have no super heroes!" Mr Immortal: "Guess again! Y'all are gonna be seein' a lot of us from now on! Y'all are gonna be seein' us in your nightmares!" Robber: "Wha...? No!! You're dead!!!" Mr Immortal: "Wrong-o, creep! I'm just as right as rain! But you aren't gonna be! By the time I get done with you... You'll prob'ly never be anything like right. Not never again!!"

Mr Immortal apparently goes a bit berserk after resurrecting.

He punches the robber down and then starts stomping him.

Flatman has to pull him off the guy. And Mr Immortal won't settle down until Dinah Soar talks to him in an empty text bubble.

Dinah Soar is the only one who CAN get him to calm down.

Flatman guesses its some kind of hypersonic. In the later Dan Slott series, its revealed that its actually True Love what does it. Yes, for serious. It was sweet, actually.

Last member of the team comes into the bank and tells the rest that there's a bunch of police and reporters who want to know what the devil is going on.

Mr Immortal goes out to address the crowd and press. When reporter Peggy Allen asks him who this group of do-gooders is, he dubs the team...

THE GREAT LAKES AVENGERS!

Hawkeye hears the news report in the random motel he's staying in after rage-quitting the Avengers.

His first instinct is to call the team and let them know about randos infringing the brand but then decides 'fuck 'em' because he's still mad about the government meddling in the team.

There's a knok knok knoking on Clint's door and making his bad mood worse, its Mockingbird.

He is very sarcastic about his day being ruined but she says she's here to save their marriage.

News to him. He thought they were dead set on getting a divorce.

But time off-panel and with a different writer has cooled Mockingbird's head. And since they're both going through some trying times now, maybe they should rethink things.

Hawkeye: "You mean now that I've been kicked off the team I founded I'm all of a sudden a pitiful soul so you've gone all maternal and decided to come back to the roost and take care of me! Well, thanks but no thanks, Bobbi!" Mockingbird: "You're not being fair, Clint. Although I guess that's nothing new, is it?" Hawkeye: "And just what is that supposed to mean?" Mockingbird: "It means you have all the sensitivity of a brick. I got mixed up with the Phantom Rider because he drugged me, used me, and when you found out, did you react like a husband whose wife has been assaulted? NO!! You went off on some stupid macho kick! And I was hurt enough to pay you back with your own coin. When I needed you -- maybe more than I ever have before -- you were too busy stroking your wounded male ego to notice. Something that could have bound us even closer together drove us apart. Well... that damage is done. Now I'm here to see if it can be undone. Because, heaven help me, in spite of everything, I still love you!"

I can't believe Byrne of all people is cutting through the bullshit and having Mockingbird say 'hey all that stuff we were yelling about wasn't the crux of the issue and you were being a major asshole, Clint.'

He's re-litigating a lot of Englehart's stuff. Redoing the Tigra plot. Revising Englehart's origin for Vision. Shoving people that had quit back onto the team.

I didn't expect him to use this power for good.

Because the Hawkeye/Mockingbird falling out was bad. Maybe in character for the two stubborn jerks. But it needed another look and here we are, taking another look.

Mockingbird doesn't even entertain the notion that its really a philosophical disagreement about cowboy manslaughter.

I'll have to see where it goes. Because it could go poorly in its own unique way.

Back over at the West Coast Avengers Compound, US Agent has made a good impression on one person and only one person.

The new cook, Mrs. Heyges, who is pleased to see someone that actually enjoys a big breakfast.

Most of the West Coast Avengers only have a slice of toast and some orange juice.

US Agent: "A man has to keep his strength up, Mrs. Heyges. And, of course, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Besides... You're almost as good a cook as my mother!" Mrs. Heyges: "Well, gracias, sir! I know that must be quite a compliment."

Based on her comments that she doesn't get to really cook for the others, US Agent muses that he should introduce a proper meal schedule.

Then, Tigra happens.

Looking for a proper meal of her own.

A.k.a. chasing a mouse.

She's seemingly gone full feral, although she doesn't have that same alien cat look she did last time.

Either Byrne thought better of it or it comes and goes for some damn reason.

She chases a mouse in, hisses and growls when US Agent grabs her, and sullenly creeps away when he slaps her for trying to bite him.

The cat instincts have taken over.

(I don't love that we're doing this again but it is better than her trying to hump everyone? I mean. Slightly better. The main reason I'm annoyed is that we're just doing this plot again. In a vacuum it wouldn't be so bad.)

(Also also, last time she jumped through a window to chase a bird. I can only assume she's destroyed the local bird population. Folks, Tigras are inside Avengers. Keep them inside for their own health and for the good of the ecosystem.)

Mrs. Heyges says that Tigra has been hunting the mice that get into the pantry. And she's new here and didn't really want to tell an Avenger what to do so she just sorta figured. Hunting mice was part of Tigra's job??

US Agent declares this very gross and decides something has to be done!

I mean. Something does need to be done. It speaks ill of everyone that nobody has noticed Tigra's issues until now. And the only dude that sorta knew she was going through something was Hawkeye and he stormed off in a huff.

I guess Wanda is going through some stuff. And Wonder Man is being kind of a creep about Wanda's stuff. And Vision is very neutral on everything these days. But fucks sake, Wasp or Hank Pym. You two are the adults here!

Over in the A-plot, Mockingbird has convinced Hawkeye to go to Milwaukee to check out the group calling themselves Avengers. Because it beats him sitting around feeling sorry for himself for rage-quitting the West Coast Avengers.

Although, he's rewritten history so that he was unjustly fired.

But since he had the impulse to go check out the Great Lakes Avengers, why not ride that impulse into something productive?

So over in Milwaukee, the Great Lakes Avengers check out mysterious lights over the Germania Building.

Mr Immortal sends Dinah Soar to check out the roof of the building and has Doorman make a portal (with his BODY) so Flatman can get inside the building and look for a way to let everyone else in.

Flatman thinks to himself how weird it is that when he goes through Doorman, he feels like he's briefly in another place entirely. Like, not even on Earth anymore.

Apparently, a subtle nod to Doorman's powers working through the Darkforce Dimension.

Up on the roof, Dinah Soar gets ambushed and captured by some manner of bola arrow.

At the mercy of this mystery assailant, Dinah Soar takes out a little whistle and sadly tweets on it.

Mr Immortal and Big Bertha hear the sad tooting and realize Dinah Soar is in trouble!

So Big Bertha gets Mr Immortal to hang onto her back and high jumps to the roof to get him there in a hurry.

To the mystery assailant's bafflement.

Mr Immortal: "You get clear now while I take care of this clown." Mystery Assailant who is definitely not Hawkeye: "'Clown?' Takes spunk to wear a suit like that and call somebody else a clown, pal!"

Glass houses, mystery assailant.

Big Bertha falls back to ground level, laughing all the way.

I am not sure why she does this. In other stuff, she's usually one of the more serious members of the Great Lakes Avengers.

Anyway, some more Great Lakes Avengers thoughts. Presumably Big Bertha could have pulled herself up onto the roof. She's got super strength. But mystery assailant has already captured Dinah Soar so Mr Immortal is going in alone to feel the guy out.

He doesn't die when he's killed. He's the best for gauging threat level.

He's also a clown, whether or not you think his costume is sillier than anyone else's. Lets say Hawkeye, for the sake of an example.

He acrobats around mystery assailant and proclaims "Okay, wiseguy... I don't know what your game is... but you're way out of your league... now that the Avengers are here!"

Leading mystery assailant to reveal himself to be... AN IMPOSTER DRESSED LIKE HAWKEYE??

Hawkeye: "'Dressed as Hawkeye...??' I am Hawkeye, an' I'm here to find out what you so-called 'Avengers' think you're up to! In case you don't know it, buster, the Avengers' name isn't up for grabs by any ol' Tom, Dick, an' Harriet!"

So Mr Immortal kicks him in the face for impersonating an Avenger. That's rude, y'know. Probably not a felony BUT MAYBE IT SHOULD BE.

Mr Immortal: "You think you can defeat the Avengers by pretending to be Hawkeye? The real Hawkeye would have blocked my attack easily!"

Mockingbird shows up and repays the favor by kicking Mr Immortal in the face for kicking Hawkeye in the face.

She explains that Hawkeye sucks ass at close quarters combat. I don't think that's entirely true but I like to think Mockingbird isn't above being a little petty.

Mr Immortal is alarmed that there's a woman impersonating Mockingbird now!

It turns out that Mr Immortal is almost current with superhero gossip.

He knows that Mockingbird and Hawkeye have split up, he knows that Mockingbird quit the Avengers. He doesn't know that Hawkeye recently also quit the Avengers.

So you can see where the confusion comes from.

You might not see why Mr Immortal decides his next move is to backflip off the roof.

Maybe he wanted to see how the "imposters" would react to it.

Well, not personally. He'd have to rely on someone else telling him how they reacted to it. He's temporarily dead from hitting the ground really hard.

But Flatman saw the whole thing and realized that Mockingbird sounds sincerely distraught that a dude just died.

Hawkeye: "Flatman?? I don't believe it! You got a partner called 'Ribbon?'"

Its funny that DC comics is apparently fictional within Marvel because the Avengers have also met the Justice League.

Silly comics.

Mockingbird berates Hawkeye's joke for being inappropriate. A man just died!

Flatman awkwardly explains that Mr Immortal doesn't really die.

So at Mockingbird's request, they all convene at Great Lakes Avengers' HQ... er... Big Bertha's place.

It's a fancy place.

Hawkeye asks how she can afford such nice digs but it turns out that when Big Bertha isn't superheroing, she's supermodel Ashely Crawford, darling of many Vogue covers. One of the highest paid models in the biz.

So Hawkeye asks what a successful model is doing "playing super hero."

And again, at this point the West Coast Avengers are silly. They're comical. They're not a joke.

Big Bertha: "I don't think of it as... playing, Hawkeye. None of us do. We're all just as serious about this as you are."

Yeah, Hawkeye!

Mockingbird asks how the group got together... and why "Great Lakes Avengers"?

We don't get the whole story now but it's implied that Mr Immortal go them together and stated that the name was his idea. He wanted to maintain the coastal theme but there's no north coast so...

But the real question that Mockingbird is getting at is who do the Great Lakes Avengers think they are, using the Avengers brand without permission? The Avengers are pretty fussy about who gets called Avenger! Says the lady who is not currently an Avenger!

I don't think she actually cares. But she assumes Hawkeye cares and she's here to get his mind on anything but fuming about US Agent or her.

Annnnnd Hawkeye has changed his mind!

Hawkeye: "I'm startin' to think maybe this Midwest team isn't such a bad idea. Your powers are kinda funky, and your code names stink... But with the proper management... my management... This could be a heckuva team!"

Ah, dammit, Hawkeye! You ragequit one team so you're going to force your way onto this one, huh?

I don't know how it will be handled immediately in this book but after the fact, in the later Dan Slott series, the Great Lakes Avengers view the whole thing pretty cheerfully.

The big league came down to coach their team. It gives them credibility and helps them be better at superheroing, which they're all pretty serious about.

I'll have to see how it unfolds as it goes though.

Current team lead Mr Immortal is still regrowing his brains and hasn't expressed an opinion on Hawkeye's pending takeover.

It is so funny though! Hawkeye gets forced out of the West Coast Avengers slash quits so his rebound is to just take over someone else's team!

He does the same thing when he accidentally screws himself out of a spot on Busiek's Avengers! Tracks down the Thunderbolts and goes 'my team now.'

It may be his real superpower.

Anyway, the other B-plot.

Wanda seems to be doing better after the whole husband robot thing and dropping a cliff on Wonder Man. Maybe. Hard to say. She's had a good swim, at least.

And then Roberto Carlos of the Avengers Compound Support Staff brings Wanda a letter from the Absolon College of Robotics.

Remember Absolon College had that big list of mutants to do Something With and Wanda is the one they settled on?

The letter claims that their research into artificial intelligence may be able to restore Vision back to his good ol' self.

Is... is it public knowledge that Vision was taken apart by the government and had his brain FUBAR'd??

Because if not, that's a red flag!

The other red flag is that the letter is from Jeremiah Random, which sounds like a made-up name!

This is going to end badly! And I'm not just saying that because the next time box says THIS ANCIENT EVIL!

Follow @essential-avengers because woo! Great Lakes Avengers! Love those guys! Like, comment, reblog maybe?

[tournament-of-x]

The Hole

Contestants Index

[redsamphoto]

New gallery on my website, Boom to Bust, photos from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Bodie, California. redsam.com

[sexynetra]

Alright gay bitches in my phone. I am currently watching drag race France s1 (no spoilers please!) but I need people to talk about it with so hit me up if you have watched drag race France and will allow me to scream to you about it/about Nicky Doll the loml

[angeloftheodd]

Feed Big Bertha Arcade Game 🎀❤️

Big Bertha was/is such a doll! 🥰 I loved her even during the 90s, when I would go out of my way to play her game. To win the game, the player had to throw balls into her mouth so she gained weight. I knew her existence was meant to be a fatphobic joke, but I’ve always adored her nonetheless. 💘

📸 CapeCod.com

[ru-the-fox]

Aca algo chiquito by Shamelesss

Source: Fur Affinity.net

[extraordinary-heroes]

Great Lakes Avengers #1 (Cover art by Will Robson)

[adair-trashart]

my mario zine thing awawawawa

heres the zineeeeeeeee

[ellamorgan333]

me and bertha