Text
The Incredible Hulk (1968) #226
#oh I remember this guy it’s been ages#hmm I don’t think we’ve seen the Hulk access Bruce’s memories prior to the gamma accident before#I really like this conceptually#like it gives Bruce’s life depth#to see someone he has a close relationship with prior to becoming the Hulk try to reach out to him#as well as a friend he made afterwards#throughout this the Hulk is just reacting in his usual emotionally way#he threatens the old professor because he’s offended that the guy called him ‘Bruce’#even when he realizes that he’s doing wrong and that he’s turning his friends against him#he reacts by stomping his foot which of course wouldn’t be as big of a deal for anyone else#but with the Hulk it’s very serious because he’s so physically powerful#the Hulk doesn’t have ill intent but my gosh he needs help#because the consequences of his actions are negatively affecting everyone including himself#and growing and changing entirely on his own isn’t exactly easy#or else he’d have done it years ago cause the consequences of his own actions hurting himself isn’t anything new#marvel#bruce banner#jim wilson#my posts#comic panels
0 notes
Text
a few little ideas (EGGHOG POSTING)
tails flying a mile or so away from where a big robot is and dropping her hammer so she can recall it. and the handle is going at such high speeds that the whole hammer shoots through the robot like a bullet. bonus points if it shoots right thru the cockpit and the robotniks barely dodge it (funnay). theres a lot of shenanigans you can do with amy's hammer. like her picking up rubble with the spikes and inspecting it like food on a comically large fork. or using the absurdly powerful recall mechanism to do serious damage to robots or eggs. the cops think a big boomerang did it
also, shadow isnt allowed to gun down amy, but he CAN gun down civilians. so i'm imagining scenarios where she uses her physical body to shield innocent people from getting hurt... it can only do so much since she's just one person and very little, but she tries her best.
she also gets the advantage in fights despite the boys' general overpoweredness because A. she has cartoon hulk strength, her hammer does too B. she's known the egghogs for so long that she can predict what they're going to do a mile away. the fights are still tense, of course, but she knows how to block and predict and croquet their attacks away. only shadow comes close to matching her physical strength, and sonic's legs surpass it, but it doesn't play that big a role. a lot of their combat is mind games
theres systems in place in the cockpits of manned eggman empire vehicles that make it so when it goes off balance, the buttons in the dashboard cant be pressed without some additional input so that it can be clung to for safety. one too many misfired missiles taught eggman that lesson real fast. the materials have also gotten progressively more and more impact resistant. despite everything they're still FAR from perfect
i also love tails getting in on the fight in more tactical ways like the plane thing. or sneaking thru chaos and bonking silver so he loses focus on his pk. tails inflicts psychological war on silver in the battlefield. call me maybe on repeat at full blast fucked up silver's whole deal until he got used to it after the fourth time. silver startles easily so air horns near his head or face will throw him off, too. as he gets older it gets harder to break his focus (hes done some FOCUS TRAINING) but its not impossible. easiest way is always to just hit him lol
god. tails broadcasting that amy is SOMEWHERE in this city they're about to bomb for a new development (another giant shiny empty city) but they dont know where and eggman INSISTS that he cant just bomb her without even seeing it because where is the DRAMA, it needs to be PERSONAL DAMMIT!!!! and shadow is screaming internally
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
Love is Healing - Chapter Three
Chapter 3/?
Warning: There are brief descriptions of Loki's wounds in this chapter. I don't think it's too graphic, but it is there.
After all the Avengers left the room Loki relaxed only slightly. His mother showing up on Midgard to reveal his punishment had thrown him a bit – if one could actually call this a punishment after all he'd been through with Thanos.
Loki had expected to be taken back to Asgard. He'd expected to have to face Odin. He'd expected to be locked up like a criminal. What he hadn't expected was to receive the same punishment as Thor had received when he'd gone to Jotunheim and almost caused all-out war with the Frost Giants.
"You've always wanted to be treated equally to Thor. I convinced Odin to do it this once," Frigga said. "Things could be worse."
Loki looked at his mother and glared faintly. "Define worse."
From what his mother had said earlier in response to Arianna's words about him having a reason for bringing war to Midgard, Loki assumed Frigga knew at least part of what he'd been through. She would know that physical punishment was all relative to him now. Maybe that was why Odin had agreed to this insane solution.
"You realize this punishment is meant to be for your own good," Frigga said. "Maybe you will find your humanity here? A light to fend off the darkness."
"And there is darkness."
Thor, who had been almost completely silent, said, "This will help, brother. I learned much when I was mortal here."
Loki outwardly ignored Thor and continued looking at his mother. He really did love his mother and he knew she loved him.
"You would leave me here defenseless against this world? This world that has been through much destruction in my name?"
Without his powers how would he protect himself?
The Man of Iron and Arianna didn't seem too violent, and the patriotic one wouldn't hurt a defenseless person. But Agents' Barton and Romanoff had every reason to want him dead, and the green beast was downright frightening. And what of the Chitauri and Thanos?
Loki had to suppress a shudder that wanted to take over his body. He couldn't take anymore torture. He just couldn't.
"Befriend Arianna," Frigga said. "She has a good heart." ----------
Arianna and the other Avengers – Dr. Banner included - had been out of the penthouse and downstairs for about thirty minutes. During that time Tony had been on the phone with his contractors. They would start rebuilding the penthouse first thing in the morning.
Arianna knew Tony wouldn't only help rebuild Stark Tower. He would also help pay for the damage that had been done to Manhattan earlier. Tony could help heal too, in a way, by making things appear as if they'd never been destroyed.
"I should be out there," Arianna said, pacing back and forth.
"And risk exposing yourself?" Natasha asked. "You know you have to wait."
Yes, she knew she had to wait. She knew she couldn't just go out and heal people on the streets even though she wanted to. She had to wait until the streets had been cleared a little and the wounded had been taken to the hospital
She'd made the mistake before by going public with her abilities and it had gotten her under government surveillance. That was how SHIELD had gotten hold of her. The reason she wasn't actually a field agent was because only Natasha and Clint knew Arianna could do more than heal the wounded.
"Are we going to ignore the fact that Mama Bear put our littlest Avenger in charge of her crazy son?" Tony asked, off the phone now.
"Was planning on it," Arianna said, rolling her eyes. "And I'm hardly the littlest Avenger. I'm taller than Natasha.
"Arianna!" a thunderous voice boomed from the staircase to their left. "Healer, come quickly!"
Arianna was already on her way to the stairs. She'd started moving as soon as she'd heard her name.
"What? What is it?"
"My brother is in need of assistance."
At the mention of Loki Natasha began following Arianna. Of course she wasn't going to let Arianna face him alone.
"Is he . . . powerless now?"
"It's much worse," was Thor's response. ---------- At the doorway of the penthouse, Loki's and Thor's mother was pacing back and forth. She seemed agitated and overwhelmed. She quickly broke her stride when Arianna reached her.
Frigga grabbed her hand and began leading Arianna into the room. Loki wasn't where he had been. In fact, Arianna didn't see Loki at all at first, and she didn't feel him either.
One of the things she hated about being able to invade minds was the leftover vibes she would get from the people whose minds she'd invaded. She could usually tell when said people were nearby.
Right now all she could feel was the worry coming from Frigga. She was thankful that there weren't any images to go with it.
"Where's Loki?"
Had they been tricked? Had Thor actually let Loki go after all the trouble they'd gone through to capture him?
"He's resting. It seems . . ." Frigga began, and Arianna noticed how the woman's eyes glistened. "Loki is a master of illusions. Without his magic . . ."
Frigga stiffened and looked behind Arianna. Arianna looked over her shoulder and was shocked to see everyone from downstairs there in the doorway.
"They won't hurt him," she said, hoping to get rid of whatever fear the woman may have had.
"It's not that. I just don't wish for them to see Loki this way. He wouldn't want him to see him this way."
"Oh. Well, they will see him anyway. He will be staying with me, and I will be staying here for the time being."
"Um . . . this is my house," Tony said from behind her.
"Yes," Arianna answered, turning around. "But none of you want me alone with Loki, so . . ."
"She has a point," Clint said. "She shouldn't be alone with him."
"I assure you, he cannot harm anyone now." Frigga grabbed Arianna's arm. "Come."
Arianna was led to the couch and around it. An audible gasp escaped her and bile threatened to rise. She swallowed compulsively.
Before her was a beaten and bloodied Loki. There were cuts and bruises everywhere she could see. His armor had been removed along with everything covering his upper body, and he was no longer restrained. He was laid out over the couch and he was on his stomach. Lashes from whips covered the pale skin of his back. There were scorch marks along his arms and back as well.
"What happened?" Arianna's voice shook with the effort it took her to not yell. "He didn't look like this before, so what happened?"
"His magic was removed. He must've been covering it up."
Loki must have had a serious endurance for pain because she hadn't seen any sign of him being wounded before. She had seen his memories – or some of them, at least – but she'd had no idea what she'd seen and felt had happened so recently.
She now knew why Frigga didn't want the others seeing Loki like this. He would probably be humiliated once he woke up.
"Can you help him?"
"I . . . it will take time. If I try to heal everything at once, it won't end well for me."
"Just do what you can."
Arianna nodded and moved forward until she reached the resting form that was Loki. She knelt beside him, the irony of which was not lost on her.
On closer inspection, Arianna realized that Loki was extremely malnourished. In fact, she was certain that if he'd been human before now he would've been dead.
"Dr. Banner, we need an IV drip. Now."
She didn't look up from Loki, taking it on faith that Bruce would listen. He was a pretty nice guy when he wasn't green.
"Tony, I know you can help him with that."
If Tony didn't have medical equipment in the building, he would know where to get some quickly.
Arianna brought her hands up and let them hover over Loki's back. She didn't really want to touch him, didn't want to feel what he'd been through, not again, but he did need to be healed. His whole body was probably teeming with infection. Now that he was mortal, he would need help fighting it off.
"Tash, go tell Banner he'll need antibiotics too."
Loki's body was filthy, but that was the least of her worries.
"Clint, I'm gonna need some warm water and a wash cloth. Cap, I need Tony to set up a room for him."
After each Avenger left to do his or her duty Frigga touched Arianna's shoulder and whispered, "Thank you."
"It's nothing. I didn't understand until I saw him."
Arianna jumped when a broken and shaky breath escaped Loki's lungs. She didn't know what that meant. She could heal people, but she wasn't a doctor.
"Ms . . . um . . . Loki's mom, I will have to clean him first. I can't leave the infection there. I may have to wait to heal the lashes."
"Please call me Frigga."
"Frigga."
"And what of the bruises?" Thor, who was standing off to the side, asked.
Arianna smiled softly. "Those I can heal."
Regardless of her fear, Arianna gently touched Loki's back. She had to fight her very nature so she wouldn't be pulled into whatever nightmare he was having, and she knew he was having a nightmare.
Arianna forced herself to focus so she could heal the bruises that littered Loki's skin. She was fairly certain the bruises were from when Bruce had lost his temper and banged Loki around a bit. Well, when the Hulk had banged Loki around a bit.
She didn't force her energy into Loki. In the state he was in it might throw him into shock. Plus, it was just rude, forcing your energy in to try and meld with someone else's. She was aiming for a stream not an ocean.
She was glad Loki was unconscious, though, because he might have known how to steal energy, latch on and just take, and she didn't want that either.
"Does anyone know how long he's been . . . tortured?"
"Perhaps a year," Thor said. "He's been away for a year."
"A whole year? You didn't know where he was?"
"I . . . we thought he was dead. We didn't know he –"
"The burns," Frigga interrupted. "Can you heal those? They are probably what bothered him the most."
Arianna nodded. She would do all that she could.
"It will take time," she said. "I am human and will have to rest frequently, but it will get done." ---------- "His room is ready," Bruce said. "We were able to get the saline and the antibiotics."
"Good. We may need to take him to the lab, though. I sensed there was internal damage. I need to know how bad it is."
Bruce helped move Loki, and Tony met them down in the lab. Arianna would have preferred being alone aside from Thor and Frigga, but it was Tony's lab and Bruce was an actual doctor.
Besides, she had no idea how to use the equipment in Tony's lab.
Arianna cleaned Loki off as best as she could, considering only the upper half of his body was free of clothing. The bruises Loki had been burdened with before were gone as they had been the easiest to heal, but everything else was the same on the outside.
Once she'd sensed internal damage, Arianna had decided to take a break to conserve her energy in case the damage was so bad that Loki would need immediate attention.
X-rays and Cat-scans were taken, revealing broken ribs and damaged lungs. Arianna was fairly certain that these particular wounds had come from the Hulk swinging him around and smashing him against the floor multiple times.
Bruce made sure the bones were set right before Arianna sent enough energy into Loki to help jumpstart the healing of his ribs. Then she changed her focus to his lungs.
Him being able to breathe on his own was the most important thing, in her opinion. It would save them the time it would take to hook him up to a bunch of machines, assuming Tony even had the equipment they would need for that.
Once Loki was stable enough, Arianna moved onto healing the burns littered across his skin. Or she tried to. The burns were extensive and to heal those she would have to manipulate his tissue to heal itself, which was hard by itself. Add in her exhaustion from all the healing she'd already done, and it was almost impossible.
She felt as if she'd been going at it for hours, and it wasn't until her head was hurting and her nose was bleeding that she realized she needed a break.
That and Tony saying, "A'right, Miss Miracle, you need food and a nap."
"I . . . okay, yeah. Is he gonna be okay if I stop?"
"He's as stable as he can be at the moment," Bruce said. "And he's better than he was."
"Are we leaving him down here, or . . . ?"
"We can take him to his room," Tony said. "I set up a room for you too, right next to his. Jarvis will keep watch." ---------- Arianna ate something small to put Tony's mind at ease, and it helped her headache go away. She wasn't able to sleep, however, even though she did lie down for over an hour in the bed Tony had provided.
She kept thinking about the words she'd pulled from Loki's mind. She hadn't meant to, but it happened when she was so fully connected to someone, and with the amount of healing she'd done to Loki, she was very much connected to him.
He was having nightmares and that was where the words had come from. One of his tormentors must've been equipped with the mission to make Loki feel unwanted and unloved because those were the words she had picked up the most.
No one had said anything to her when she'd come back up from the lab, but she could tell no one really understood why she was expending so much energy to help Loki.
Tony seemed to be the least judgmental, and then it was Clint. It had nothing to do with Loki and everything to do with the fact that he knew Arianna couldn't help but lend a helping hand to anyone that was suffering. Bruce was the most compassionate and she knew he would help her with Loki as much as he could. Steve was the least understanding, but only because he saw Loki as someone who had tried to destroy his home. Natasha was more worried because she knew how far Arianna could push herself.
Arianna didn't know what the big deal was. Everyone else on the team pushed themselves, risked their lives in the line of fire and what she did was no different. ---------- Frigga and Thor were in Loki's room when Arianna went in after resting but not sleeping. His mind had suddenly gone silent and she'd wanted to make sure nothing was wrong.
Thor was standing off to the side of the Spartan-like room. Loki was on the bed and Frigga was seated on a chair beside it, and there was an IV drip as well attached to Loki. Other than that, the room was bare.
"He's quiet," Arianna said.
"He's asleep," Thor said.
"No, I mean, his mind is quiet. I've been able to sense his thoughts from the first time I touched him. I don't sense anything now. Either he's stopped dreaming or he's blocking me."
"Is that bad?"
Arianna sighed. "That depends on how you look at it. If he's blocking me, it means he's aware enough to block me. It also means I won't be able to heal him, not if he's gonna fight me."
"He will sense you as you sensed him," Frigga said. "He'll think your magic is foreign. He will fight that."
"If I can make my way back into his mind, I can wake him up. I was hoping to heal him more fully first, but if this is the only way . . ."
"Is that not dangerous?" Thor asked.
"It's actually not dangerous at all, physically."
"And mentally?" Frigga asked.
Arianna hesitated before answering. "If Loki had his powers, I wouldn't try this. I think the worst he can do now is to just keep blocking me. He might be able to remove me if I make my way in."
"Have you done this before?"
"Yes, with trauma patients."
The younger patients almost never put up a fight. The adults, however, were another story altogether. She was sure that was because adults had defense mechanisms that children did not.
"What will you need?" Frigga asked
"I'll need the room so I can concentrate. I need it to be quiet." ---------- Arianna was surprised when she was able to easily gain access to Loki's mind. Most people who were unconscious fell deep inside of themselves. Add in the fact that she hadn't been able to hear or sense him before, she thought it would have been harder.
She'd found him within seconds, however, crouched behind a rock. He was hiding. That was probably why he'd suddenly disappeared from her mind. Whatever or whoever he was hiding from had shielded his thoughts from her.
Why was he hiding, anyway? There didn't seem to be anyone else around aside from Loki and herself.
As she grew closer to him, she noticed that all of the bruises she'd healed were still covering his skin in his dream state. None of what she'd been doing in real life was taking place here.
And where was here? It looked like the barren wasteland that she'd seen flashes of earlier. This was Loki's own personal form of Hell, probably, and he was stuck here.
She crept forward and knelt beside him, surprised that he hadn't even glanced her way. Did he not feel her there or was he just so overwhelmed that her presence didn't register?
"Loki?" she whispered and touched his shoulder.
He jerked away but finally looked at her nonetheless. His eyes were wide with fright and she regretted touching him. She was downright flabbergasted when he tried to cover his head. It was as if he thought she was going to hurt him.
Well . . . of course he did. This was a place of pain and he wouldn't have known anything else but pain here.
"Loki, I'm not here to hurt you."
"Everybody hurts here," he said, though he didn't move to get away.
"Loki, you're not actually here anymore. You – you got out."
"No one gets out."
"You did. You went to Midgard."
Technically, he'd been sent there, but she just wanted to help him wake up. Best not to bring up what he'd done once he went to Midgard.
"Thor is waiting there for you."
"He came for me?"
Loki seemed to want to believe that so badly, but he also seemed afraid to.
Arianna nodded. She would have to play this carefully. It appeared that this Loki, the part of Loki that was still truly himself was locked up here. This was probably a defense mechanism for the Loki that wanted to rule Earth. That Loki couldn't have had this one running loose or it would've messed up his plan.
"Loki, do you know who I am?"
"Should I?"
"Yes. Well, sort of. I met you earlier today."
She told him about how she could heal people and that she was trying to heal him, but he was blocking her.
"This is madness," Loki muttered.
"I know it probably seems that way, but you have to trust me."
She knew that was asking a lot, considering he didn't know her at all, but she did need his trust to even begin to bring him out of his head.
"What are you hiding from?"
"Thanos."
She remembered that name. Thanos was the one she'd heard threaten Loki. He was the one Loki was so afraid of.
"He can't actually hurt you here. He can only do what you allow him to do."
"Actually . . ."
A voice came from behind Arianna and Loki's eyes widened in fright again. She turned around to find a huge, purple man in black clothing and gold-plated armor. If this was Thanos, what exactly was he?
He had to be about seven feet tall and he looked to weigh at least a thousand pounds of pure muscle.
"I'm very much real."
His huge fist came toward her and she instinctively flinched even though he shouldn't have been able to touch her.
'He isn't real,' she thought even as his fist connected with the side of her head. She was sure if this had been real, she would've been knocked unconscious by the blow, assuming she would've still had her head.
He had proven that he was real, however, and Arianna was now afraid. She'd actually felt pain – not from the hit itself, but a sharp migraine-type pain. A mental blow to match the one he'd given her in the dream state.
Since she'd been knocked over by him hitting her, she scurried backwards as if she were crab-walking.
"I told him what awaited him if he failed. You will not take that away," Thanos said. "You can choose to leave him here."
Loki stiffened and she could tell he thought she would leave him. The truth was that she would if she thought she could bring someone back with her to help, but she knew what it was like to be trapped in her own head with no one to help pull her out and she wouldn't wish it on anyone.
Maybe if Loki had been truly evil, she could leave and not regret it, but now that she knew why he'd done what he'd done . . . she couldn't, with good conscious, leave him there.
Thanos couldn't really hurt her if she didn't let him. Maybe she would be able to pull Loki out of this despite what this Thanos had said. ---------- Loki hated himself at the moment. Not that he'd ever loved himself, but he really hated himself for being a coward. He didn't know this girl even though she'd said they'd met earlier and yet he still didn't want her to go. He didn't want to be alone anymore.
He especially didn't want to be alone here, but he didn't want the girl to be hurt either, not when she seemed so willing to help him.
"No one can help you," Thanos said. "No one would want to."
Nobody could love him. He was a monster. He was a Frost Giant. He'd never been anyone's priority and he definitely didn't expect this girl to pick him over herself. It was absurd to hope for anything other than a quick and painless death.
"Loki?" the girl said. She never had said her name. "Don't listen to him. I'm not going anywhere and I can help you. You have to let me."
Thanos yelled and Loki saw the Titan rush forward to hit the girl again, but she was quick and he ended up falling over himself.
If what the girl had said was true, if they really were in his mind, then he could do whatever he wanted here. He could take away his pain and he could get rid of Thanos even if the Titan was real.
The first thing he did was make himself strong again. He needed to assist his helper. She wasn't a fighter, he could tell by the way she carried herself.
What he really needed was a weapon yet he'd been made defenseless. Was he able to conjure one out of midair? Apparently he was, because as soon as he thought of one of his many daggers it appeared in his hand.
The girl was standing still with her hand in the air. She had her palm faced outward and Thanos . . . well, he was still too. He seemed to be attempting to move, but it wasn't working.
This girl knew magic – more than just illusionary magic. She was literally keeping Thanos still by sheer force of will.
"Now, Loki. You have to be the one to do it."
Since they were all in his mind that made sense. He couldn't actually kill Thanos since this wasn't physically real, but maybe just the act itself would force the Titan out.
Loki moved quickly. Within seconds he'd stabbed through the leather of Thanos' attire. He twisted the dagger and yanked upwards, properly eviscerating the image of the Titan.
Just like that, Loki opened his eyes to the world.
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
I'm bored so here's what I think would happen if SCP-682 fought a bunch of comic book characters.
Personally I view 682 as "Hard to destroy", not "Unkillable" but for each character I'll throw in one side for what I think would realistically happen and a total BS 682 victory.
Juggernaut: Stalemate
Little Known Fact (because he's nerfed in almost every movie/show he's in) but the Juggernaut is NOT a mutant. He is a title given to whoever is chosen by Cyttorak, a demon God of motion.
The powers given to the Juggernaut include invulnerability and immunity to ALL physical threats. Including starvation, dehydration, and disease. The only vulnerabilities are to physic and magic attacks, and even then he's a tough opponent. He's also LITERALLY UNSTOPPABLE. He can not be stopped by anything but himself.
In a fight with 682 The Juggernaut will continuously deal serious damage to 682, but ultimately won't completely obliterate the beast, meaning that due to their mutual lack of need for sustenance they will just keep fighting indefinitely. The only chance 682 has of winning is to learn of Juggernauts very limited vulnerabilities and exploit them.
Against the OP fanon 682 Cyttorak takes one look at 682, tells Cain Marko to fuck off and makes 682 immune to all physical attacks, literally unstoppable, etc. The world is doomed.
The Hulk: Hulk wins.
You may be thinking that 682 could just adapt to the hulk's punches and technically it can... But the Hulk has literally no limits on his physical strength. Eventually there's just not going to be any 682 left for it to grow back from.
Against fanon 682: 682 becomes its own version of the hulk and becomes infinitely powerful because it's basically feels nothing but rage 24/7. World Over.
Galactus: Galactus wins, Earth loses.
Galactus doesn't LITERALLY eat worlds, he just drains the energy of the planet and everything on it, leaving nothing but a dead rock drifting in space. Which is basically what SCP-2935 is, a portal to a dead world with no signs of life, including 682. So Galactus kills the entire planet, including 682.
If 682 had to SOMEHOW survive: It would be because Galactus made it his herald, granting it the power cosmic and having it search for suitable planets for consumption. The whole universe is fucked.
Deadpool: ???
In terms of sheer inability to die, Deadpool is literally on-par with 682 so there's no real way for one to kill the other... But I almost feel like they wouldn't even try.
Hear me out: SCP-682 is capable of companionship, it just hates living things way too much to actually try and make friends. Meanwhile Deadpool is surprisingly good at making friends, most of his friends find him annoying, but at the end of the day they still consider him a friend. Not to mention both have a mutual friend in death herself. So... Deadpool and 682 would form an unlikely, and extremely dangerous, friendship.
Let's just say, hypothetically, I was halfway through writing a timeline where 682 kills Deadpool but a guy in a familiar red costume broke into my house and started pointing a gun at my head until I made him win against "Godzilla's ugly brother." Anyway Deadpool grabs his Carbonadium katanas and starts slashing at 682, and it's anti-regenative properties were NOT cancelled out by 682s adaptation, meaning Deadpool wins. (Can you get out of my house now?)
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
SPOOKY’S 100 FOLLOWER SHOUTOUT!
Okay for real this is the fastest growing blog I’ve ever had hehehe. Never expected Grundy to get this popular this quickly!
Freaking love this zombaby and I’m so glad y’all love him too! As promised, gonna shout out some fantabulous bloggos that helped get Grundy to where he is today. XD
@akasupergirl/ @azombieme (I FREAKING ADORE GRUNDY AND KARA AND LIV. I swear Grundy’s loyal to Kara like he was to Shayera and Jade and Liv is totally his baby sister and is gonna protect her from.....everything. :P
Even pigeons, because they’re legion.)
@thecatgoddessbast (A blast from the past! Glad to see you again after I rampaged and caused chaos as a certain deranged pincushion of a mushroom way back in the time before present. XD
Now I get to do that as a zombie. :D Win/win!)
@starcityvigilante (OLLIE. FFFFFF-okay for real I’m HYPED to plot wacky ideas with you. Grundy has a MASSIVE grudge against Green Arrow and I’m like......*push these two together* you both get along right now.)
@folcire (We literally just started talking and I’m loving your Ivy already! Can’t wait to see how Grundy grows to see her the more he talks to her because they’re both sassy plant people that way. XD)
@themartlans (FFFFFF-J’ONN. Everyone’s favorite green uncle :D I freaking adore him and I HATE how the most he ever interacted with Grundy was him being tossed into the bay. >_<
They really need to talk more, and MAN! That Injustice verse of yours is SICK. Definitely hyped for making Grundy into an insurgent and a good zombie instead of Supes’ lapdog.
( Look at this face....LOOK AT IT.)
@blackwingsbluedings (One of the best Dick Grayson’s out there and definitely loving seeing Grundy be less smash and more “......hug?” They both need hugs I swear.)
@marvelousdamsels (We haven’t talked much but I adore your muses and I just hope Grundy doesn’t come off as too weird or clingy.......wait.......that’s......literally Grundy.....
:D)
@theirfirstexperiment (GRUNDY ON A RAMPAGE YOOOOOO! Better run fast. XD)
@amazonexile/ @gothamprens/ @captainstevertrevor ( Freaking love your muses and I love seeing Diana and Bruce actually WANT to help Grundy. It’s too easy just beating on Grundy and I love seeing them actually bother to try to get to the gentler side of the Hulk’s crazy cousin. XD)
@justiceebound / @nighttfight ( *slams fist on the table* YOU ARE AWESOME! Your Shayera is awesome, your Bruce is a national treasure and I can’t wait to throw Grundy at Supes and Diana, because these guys need a big reconciliation thing after all the chaos from literal years of slugging it out.
And I LOVE it. >:D)
@ofamazonia
@theamazondiana (Both of you are AWESOME Wonder Women and MAN I love plotting ideas. I’m tired of seeing Diana being turned into too much of a warrior while negating her role as a peace-maker and y’all NAIL her kindness and wisdom and need to give everyone a chance. Freaking LOVE IT!)
@raininginkyxto (LOL I always love imagining Grundy in Marvel and now poor Weasel is kind of stuck with him. XD Man, if the Hulks meet Grundy then that poor bar is going to really get smashed.....)
@notatomo (GIANT. Man I loved that movie as a kid and I LOVE the subsequent giant robot and tiny kid works inspired from it (example being the CRIMINALLY under-appreciated Sentinel series by UDON.) Can’t wait to see what happens when Grundy talks more to someone bigger than him. XD)
@liminalstctic (GRUNDY HEARTS TINY GIRL. XD Yeah he’s trying his hardest to help her. ;A;)
@dolceclavier
@gobsnacc
@adrenalinesaint
@ninelivesruined
@yellowskinnedwackyman (CREEPER! I’ll forever ADORE these two butts because they’re team Tree Lobsters.)
@collidingxworlds/ @thecursedhellblazer (I. Love. Your. Constantine. I swear I have so much fun writing Grundy trying to get drunk (and failing) and learning to cuss up a storm while still being a mad lad ready to throw down with mega-zombies to protect his tiny friend.
DC, make this friendship canon or so help me Grodd...)
@chaosmultiverse (I love your Klarion so much! He’s so much fun! XD And Teekl for the epic win!)
@raichoose (Herbert West and Solomon Grundy? THAT aIN’T GOOD! D:>)
@gctjinxd (Freaking LOVE your Jinx! LOL how she manipulates Freeze and how Grundy isn’t even REMOTELY phased by her powers. Like he is TOUGH. Even bad luck won’t stop him.)
@killcrcroc (BIG BAD KILLER CROC! I love your Waylon and I adore how he has a collection of watches and that awesome suit. XD Croc definitely deserves more love since he’s much smarter than he looks, and tough enough to even get Grundy to back down in a serious fight.)
@babydxhl (Baby Doll is criminally underappreciated and I love how she’s the opposite to Grundy. She looks child-like but is very crafty, mature and knows how to get what she wants, while Grundy is physically strong and big enough to bully his way into anything he wants, but is very simple and child-like and would rather watch the birds. XD)
@theednygma (An awesome Ed Nygma and I love how Grundy is so unsure of everything yet still goes along for the ride as a support. XD)
@sleightlyoffhand (BUNNY MAN! Okay the idea of Josiah monching on carrots in Grundy’s pocket makes me smile so much. XD)
@thanagrian (BIRD-NOSE! Honestly every time I think of Grundy and Shayera I get the feels big time. These two definitely deserved more than just two episides to give them a unique friendship.
(I love that STAR Labs mission so much in Injustice. XD)
@the-arkham-librarian ( I love Eliza so much! She’s crafty, stubborn, sweet and kind and just cares about everyone so much when few don’t. Grundy grew so attached to her I swear she’s like his little sister at this point. XD And he’s totes the best uncle along with Eddie.)
@fatherdamned ( I LOVE YOUR RIDDLER OMG! He’s so snarky but man he is SO DAMN FUN to write with! Grundy is there for his green friend, no matter what!)
@fartemis-crockpot
( I freaking LOVE Artemis and Grundy, especially in the Injustice Society stuff. Yeah Grundy’s been a butt before but he genuinely likes and cares about her and the rest of the team and I’m like....
Look at these bunch of a-holes. Yeah they’re a family and even if they’re bad.....they’ve got each other. And that’s what counts. C:)
@powerhours/ @lastofmars (Green dad? Green dad. I love your J’onn so much and I’m like *throws Grundy at green dad* Here give this disaster some love. XD)
@gothamdad (YET ANOTHER AWESOME BATMAN. :D)
@redsleuthed (TIM! I love Tim and I swear these two should talk more because Grundy doesn’t WANT to fight and I think just letting someone hear him out would help him immensely.
Plus that stuff with Freeze? Poetic cinema.)
@themusespace
@12thlevel (On this blog we stan socially awkward green boi with angery grandpa genius mastermind. XD)
@pluckyingenue
@seekthedarknesswithin (SHADE! I love Shade in Justice League where he constantly throws Shade at everyone so you can imagine how excited I was to see Shade on Tumblr! We haven’t done much but man.....even Grundy was excited to see an old friend from the Injustice Society/ Injustice Gang.)
@youstolemycoat (Okay, hands down, Nick Necro is so much fun to plot with. His Robin verse is so fun too and poor Grundy tries to help but a certain birdy won’t let him. XD)
@ufotm (Tiny alien baby. :3)
@thetrigonborn
@kitfreeman
@partcfyouruniverse/ @diamondcladclown ( An awesome mun and my goodness her Harley is EPIC! I love the metas about Harley too and you just GET HER. And that????? Is the sign of an excellent writer and mun.)
@bigbadkillercroc ( I love your Croc and the brotherly bond he has with Grundy! It’s so refreshing to see these two bonding instead of Grundy tearing off Waylon’s face like he did in the Solomon Grundy mini-series. :C)
@blizzardmuses (I LOVE YOUR MUSES OMG. Your Batgirl?????? I ADORE HER. I love Freeze as a member of the Birds of Prey and I love tossing Grundy at your muses because the guy needs love and an excuse to smash.....and I really love both lol.)
@starfirechan (You’re Starfire is so freaking CUTE! I love how she and Grundy get along so well since they’re kind of two misfits that aren’t very well-versed in city life. XD)
@gotham-crusader/ @maximummuses (One of the best Batman and Damian Wayne RPers out there! I have a lot of fun with our threads and even if they fizzle out there is so much heart to them that they’re some of my absolute favorites no matter what muse I put on. C:)
@teufortsquidman (PRAWN! Okay, a giant mega-zombie and an Eldritch abomination? Yeah they’re gonna be good pals lol. XD)
@tragedybcrn (Hands down one of the BEST Batman RPers I’ve talked to and plotted with. I love how Bruce helps Freeze and even Grundy try to be better than just crooks. Grundy though has had so many bad experiences that he can’t trust anyone anymore unless there is some SERIOUS help. But he’ll learn to at least try to trust Batman.....because Batman was genuinely nice to him.)
@krygothite ( I freaking LOVE your Bane! We haven’t written much but FFFFF0yeah he’s epic. XD And Grundy is kind of nervous about bringing Bane to Slaughter Swamp because Bane is tough but not kaiju-sized gators and snakes tough....
Or....maybe he is.....let’s test him. >:D)
@batvvmn
@redwinefangs (VAmpire Batman? Vampire Batman. We have an epic trifecta of vampire Bats, Freezy-wolf and zombaby Grundy and I LOVE it. These three are so much fun to plit ideas around. XD)
@bclaur
@stcrshnes
@titanicscionofthestars ( I freaking LOVE Sara! All across my blogs I love her and the way you write her! And I swear her reaction to Grundy being impaled????? MY HEART. ;A;)
@jcinthedance (JERVIS! Okat for real I love the image of Hatter and Grundy just enjoying a tea party at the asylum and being weird dorks. XD)
@adventurepunks (I absolutelky LOVE your Zatanna! She’s so fun and I’d love to plot more with her! :D)
@shesquiinnsane
@laughter-in-white (YOU????? Are??? Like the BEST Joker. Hands down. Your Croptop J is so much fun to plot with and he’s funny and being dramatic for Bats. And Grundy is like ‘yeah he’s crazy but he’s my crazy.’)
@yourfavoritesidekick
@smartvulpix (* glomps on you for being epic*)
@thehouseofivo (Your Freeze and Julian are AWESOME! Love throwing my guys at them both lol)
@lil-miss-romano
@sweet-tea-solly
@slauhter
@occultsleuth
@wiisectrpillar
@wonderlandcarpenter
@gunborn
#Rave to the Grave (Out of Character)#TOOK ME HOUIRS BUT I DID IT#Even if I didn't mention you you are STILL VALID#Love you all!
64 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Apprentice Read on AO3 Pairing: Din Djarin/F!Reader Rating: E for Explicit, Soon Wordcount: 5k+ Summary: Peli Motto took you off the streets of Tatooine to become one of the best apprentices she's ever had - but honestly, the DUM droids are setting the bar pretty low. Still, you work out well for the first few months until an armored Mandalorian stranger lands with a busted-up ship and a strange magic baby and, well, you're intrigued. Even though you know you shouldn't be. Peli's always teling you to keep away from anything hot but sometimes, to fix something, you have to stick your hand straight into the fire.
Chapter Two - The Beholder
The Mandalorian is always watching you.
You’ll be working on something on his ship and feel it - like standing with your back too close to a fire. The heat of his gaze gathers between your shoulder blades, amplified by the blankness of that damned visor.
He doesn’t give a flying kriff that you notice, either. You’ll glance over your shoulder at him and he’ll be there, lounging against something, effortlessly casual, and he’ll just look at you and shrug, as if daring you to say something.
You tell yourself that Mando is just protective of his ship. There’s a lot of surprisingly expensive hardware on it - the contents of that weapons locker, for example - and he doesn’t want you to fuck something up. After all, you are the apprentice. Peli vouching for you doesn’t make a damn lick of difference. This floating metal trap is his home, and the first time you met you spent some time insulting it. It’s understandable he’d want to keep an eye on you after that.
And you tell yourself you don’t like it.
At first you try to ignore it. You work, and you work hard because Peli expects nothing less. You end up with the arms of your coveralls tied around your hips, your tank damp with sweat and sticking to your skin, your hair an absolute mess, covered head to toe in engine grease.
You descend the recently-repaired ramp wiping your forehead on your arm, and here he is, leaning against one of the landing struts. “What are you doing?” he asks, making you jump near-out of your skin; you whirl to glare at him, clutching at your pounding heart.
“Taking a break,” you say, when you’ve recovered enough to speak. “I’ve been working all day.”
He surveys you impassively. Is there anything under that helmet, you wonder? Or is it just air and wires? Just like one of those droids. But no, the way he moves - all coiled, unreleased power, the potential for violence - you can feel he’s more than that.
You’re not sure if it terrifies or intrigues you.
You tell yourself it’s fine, that it doesn't really bother you. That every time he appears behind you your heart doesn’t skip a beat. But the sheer physicality of his presence is full of a devastating uncertainty and potential that you don’t know what to do with.
And he’s always watching you.
He says nothing, and you turn and shake your head, stomping off away from the ship. Razor Crest, it’s called. You think it should be called Tetanus Crest.
“What’s his deal?” you ask Peli as you grab some water inside. Your boss still has that weird green baby, but she’s given back your shirt, although you’re not sure you’ll wear it ever again. The thing coos and surveys you with googly eyes that creep you out only marginally less than Mando does.
“Whaddaya mean?” Peli’s only half-paying attention, too busy rocking the kid - Grogu - as she tries to get him to sleep in her arms. He waves his stubby claws, evidently enjoying himself too much to do so.
“He’s...very intense. Always watching me.”
“Well, he is a Mandalorian. They’re not exactly a friendly people. I wouldn’t take it personally.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s personal, Peli,” you say, shaking your head, “Every time he looks at me, I’m not sure if he wants to shoot me or fuck me.”
You expect Peli to tell you off for your mouth. She only covers Grogu’s ears and glances around to make sure Mando isn’t listening when she says, “Careful, Girl. It could be both.” She laughs as you blush, from cheeks to collarbones, and she wriggles her hairless brows at you suggestively. Then, her fun had, the mechanic shakes her frizzy head and sits back, her tone turning a little more to the serious.
“Don't worry yourself too much. I trust him. Mando won’t hurt you. If he did, he’d owe me even more credits'n he already does. But he’s...he’s a good man, kid. Grogu here is proof of that.” The stubby creature makes a happy burbling noise and claps his tiny hands together. You can’t help but smile a little.
“Plus, if he hurts you, he’ll be answerin' to me. And you can remind him of that, too.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t mind him hurting me in a couple of ways,” you say breezily, if only to see the shocked look on Peli’s face. You walk away laughing.
Well. Overall, that was...unhelpful. You grab a discarded rag and wipe sweat from your brow, probably only succeeding in smearing black grease all over your forehead. War paint, you think, not with a touch of irony.
You’ve had a few tumbles in the sand in your time. Nothing permanent, few even memorable. You even considered doing it for credits, when things started to get really bad, before Peli came along. But you’ve never been confident enough in yourself to just go for what you want, and you waited until the boys or the men or the women came to you with hooded eyes and soft, promising touches and you went along to see where it led you. It’s been a while, and sometimes the urge strikes you to head down to the Cantina and find someone for a night, but you always end up alone in your bunk with your hand in your pants and your lips clamped shut so you don’t wake Peli as you work out your own frustrations.
You could be wrong. You hope you’re wrong, in this case. Fucking a regular customer, much less one who is a Mandalorian, sounds like trouble. But it also sounds like a lot of kriffing fun.
The Mando in question is nowhere to be seen outside. You ascend the ramp slowly, cautiously. How a big, shiny, broad, tall, menacing Mandalorian can hide in a tiny little krill can like this is beyond you, but he manages it. He’s not in the cockpit when you ascend the ladder, but that’s fine - you’ve been working on the busted nav computer for the last couple of hours and it’s been impossible to concentrate with him breathing down your neck.
It’s been disassembled into a pile of wires and cables and circuitboards that make sense only to you. You sit in the pilot’s chair and pull it into your lap, humming to yourself as you tweak and twist things into place. You’re not sure how long you’re there for - long enough to rewire it into something that starts to make visual sense, long enough for your fingers and neck to cramp. Long enough to calm down after a very weird day or two.
“You’re good with your hands,” says a smooth, filtered voice by your ear.
You jump and the circuitboard almost slips from your fingers - you catch it pinned between your knees at the last moment, half-twisting in the chair to glare up at the Mandalorian who stands eclipsing the hatchway, leaning a forearm against the bulkhead, helm tilted as he watches you.
“How long have you been there for?” you ask, trying to keep your aggression levels down, but damn it he startled the fuck out of you and almost made you undo all the work you’ve been doing for the last - you check the nearest chrono - two hours? Have you really been up here that long?
Outside the viewport, the suns are starting to set, and the fading orange-purple light paints the brushed durasteel interior in hues of silvery midnight, lit only by the standby lights. It would be peaceful, if not for the metal hulk boxing you in and making your heart beat twice as fast at his proximity.
“Not long.” Mando nods to the boards between your knees. “You fix it yet?”
You draw a small, calming breath, hoping he doesn’t notice. “The computer? Sure. The ship? You’re asking a bit much for a day. Got at least a week’s worth of work left to get this thing into shape.”
“Will it fly?”
You snort. “Yeah, it’ll fly. Might explode or crash at any moment, but it’ll fly.”
He makes a sound like a displeased grunt, but it’s hard to tell through the vocabulator. Then he stills, just looking at you, and you turn your back, discomfited as always. You resolve just to keep working as best you can, even as his gaze bores into you.
The board is ready to go back in - you slide off the chair and onto your knees, carefully setting aside the mass of circuitry. Then, grabbing the front of the panel, you swing yourself underneath it on your back.
“Hey, uh - Mando? If you’re still there, can you hand me that board?” You hold your hand out from underneath the panel. Then you clear your throat and add, “Please.”
The wiring board is pressed into your palm, and you relax a little. You fit it into place - a lot easier now with the cables organized - and examine your handiwork for a moment. Then you run into a problem.
Easing yourself out of the cramped space proves to be more difficult than getting in had been. You realize you’re stuck about halfway through trying to ease yourself out on your back, and you end up jammed between the bottom of the seat and the top of the panel.
“Fuck!”
“Need a hand?” Mando’s filtered, scratchy baritone sounds amused, or maybe that’s just your imagination. You can see the edge of his gloved fingers hovering within reach. The muscles in your neck and back are burning and your hip is aching - if you stay there any longer, twisted up like a pretzel, you’re going to pull something. So you take his hand.
He doesn’t just pull you up, though, no. He reaches down with his other hand and a strong, metal-encased arm circles you, and you’re maneuvered out from under the panel, onto your feet and straight into his arms in one smooth movement.
You splay your hands on an impossibly shiny, smooth expanse of Beskar, your breath held up in its journey on its way from your lungs. He seems to eclipse your entire horizon, an expanse of silver and black.
This close, you can smell him, a mix of gun oil and cordite and oxygen that makes your mouth water. Everything about him speaks to the part of you that craves danger, but there’s no little warning voice in your head telling you that this is wrong.
He is the one to let you go - to pull back, almost apologetically, placing his hands on your shoulders and stepping back to extend the distance between you. “You okay?” he asks, for all the world sounding unconcerned, but there is something knowing in the tilt of his helm when you look up into his visor.
Kriff, he is so much bigger than you. You should find that terrifying. You should find this whole situation dangerous, alone with a strange, masked man in his ship where Peli wouldn’t be able to hear you scream if something went wrong.
But Peli trusts him, you tell yourself. And, evidently, he trusts Peli.
So where does that leave you?
“Nav computer should be fixed,” you say, and your voice is smaller than you would like. “Anything else you want, Mando?”
There is a moment that is far more heavily charged than it should be. Mando’s helmet inclines a little. His hands are heavy on your shoulders, and they slide slowly down, over your bare biceps, heedless of the buildup of sweat and grime as the leather drags roughly over your skin. It makes the hair on the back of your neck lift, a flush beginning somewhere in your chest and spreading outwards in both directions.
“Passive sensor’s acting up,” he says then, and the tension in the pit of your stomach fades, replaced by frustration. “Could you take a look at it?”
You sigh heavily, trying to contain any obvious display of emotion. “Sure,” you say, managing a smile. Then you realize his hands are still on your arms, and you don’t know what to make of that. “Where is it?”
The helm nods towards below the pilot’s chair.
You groan. “I gotta go under there again? Damn it. Let me go get my tools.”
Unexpectedly, Mando volunteers. “Wait here. I’ll go get them.”
“But you don’t know which ones I’ll-” need. You call after him but he’s already down the ladder. Sighing, you plop back into the pilot’s seat.
Now you have to add sexual frustration to your lists of complaints about this job. You never thought a fully-armored bounty hunter would do it for you - maybe it’s just been too long.
Shit, you’ve got to make an effort not to be alone with him, you think. Because if he’s just being a Mandalorian and he doesn't mean anything by it, it’s going to be embarrassing if you end up slipping up in front of him.
Soon he returns, a bag of your tools in hand, and surprisingly it looks like he’s found all the right ones. You nod appreciately, sliding off the seat and into the footwell again.
“Mind giving me what I need while I’m down here?” you ask, and there’s a pause where Mando’s helmet shows absolutely nothing, and your face threatens to flush again. “The tools, I mean.”
“The tools,” he repeats, his voice flat, emotionless. “Right.”
Fuck, you think. This is a bad idea.
Nevertheless, you forge on. You’re not going to run screaming from the ship and tell Peli it’s because the sexual tension - probably imagined - is too much for you to bear. You’d be fired and back on the streets in a heartbeat. So, you’re going to try to remain professional.
You move forward on hands and knees underneath the panel, until only your ass is sticking out from underneath it. You try not to imagine the Mandalorian’s gaze on you now . You concentrate on opening the little access cover to the passive sensor array, reaching into your coveralls for a clip-on flashlight which you fix to the strap of your tank top.
Yeah, it’s a mess in there, all right - corroded to hell with carbon scoring, probably from a glancing impact in a firefight. You don’t know why you find that thought exciting. You’ve repaired ships that have been in battle before, but - to be fair - none of them had been piloted by a Mandalorian.
“Hyperspanner,” you call, holding your hand out backwards. The smooth handle of the correct tool, thankfully, is placed in your palm. “Thanks.”
You forget the weird tension as you work, the immensity of the Mandalorian’s presence, your nervousness around him. You think only of what’s in your hands, the intricacies of electronics and wires and switches, the zen-like process of focusing on finding what’s wrong and fixing it.
In this case, it’s mostly a cleaning job. You end up covered in black carbon soot, coughing as you scrape clouds of it from the affected components. None of them look damaged, though, which is a good sign.
Eventually, you emerge, wriggling backwards hip-first until you can sit on your haunches with an elbow braced against the pilot’s seat. Half to your surprise, half-not, Mando is still there, though he’s taken up residence on the passenger seat instead, and he sits comfortably with an ankle crossed over his knee and his helm cocked at an angle to watch you work.
You flush as you realize he’d probably been watching your ass that entire time, even while handing you tools. Say what you like about them, a Mandalorian is definitely still a man. It’s right there in the name.
“Anything need replacing?” he asks, all business - but can you detect a warmer buzz in the modulation of his voice? Or is that just your imagination?
“Just my clothes,” you say, dragging up the bottom of your tank top to wipe your face. A little deliberate, since doing so reveals some of your stomach, but Mando’s only reaction is a small lift of his chin and a slight shifting in the chair. “Sensors should be fine now. And I’m gonna call it a night.”
He rises at the same time you do, and before you register what he’s doing, he’s in between you and the hatch, so large he covers entirely your only method of escape. You swallow the sudden lump in your throat, your hand tensing around the handle of your toolbox.
Peli trusts him, you tell yourself. He won’t hurt me.
“I wanted to...thank you,” he says and that is definitely not what you’re expecting. You blink a couple of times and he continues. “I’ve been watching you, and you work hard. You might even be able to get the Crest flying in better shape than before.”
“Oh,” you say, unsure. “Well...What can I say? I like fixing things.”
He nods. You think then that he’s done, he’s going to move out of the way, when he speaks again. “What’s your name?”
You shrug. “Peli just calls me Girl.”
“You don’t have a name?” If you could see his face, you’re sure Mando would be rasing an eyebrow at you.
“Do you?” you fire back and that silences the helmet for a moment. Then it shakes from side to side slightly.
“Fair enough...Girl.”
“Fair enough, Mando,” you echo with something like a smile. He moves away from the hatch and you let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. As you move past him you stop and turn, seized by a sudden impulse.
“Hey, we’re having a barbecue tonight with some deep-fried gorg, leftover krayt jerky and pika fruit. D’you...d’you want to join us?”
He's silent for a moment, processing that. Not looking at you. Then: “I eat on the Crest. Alone,” he says pointedly.
Peli had told you he never takes off the armor, on penalty of his Creed - whatever that is, it sounds sacred, and you don’t mess with anything that’s sacred. So you don’t take too much offense at the rebuff. Instead, you opt for a compromise.
“You don’t have to eat in front of us. Just come grab something and take it back with you. Or I could bring you something before I go to bed?”
The visor stares at you blankly for several long moments before inclining in a nod. “Okay,” he says. You’re not sure what he’s agreeing to, but at least he’s agreed to something. You find yourself oddly eager for his company, and try not to read into that too much as you smile and nod at him.
“Great! I’ll see you then, Mando.”
You sling the toolbox over your shoulder and descend the ladder, eager to get out of the Razor Crest and under a shower for at least fifteen minutes before dinner.
Maybe then you can work off some of the weird tension before you have to see him again.
38 notes
·
View notes
Text
Two Birds with One Stone (Bit 3)
Bit 1 | Bit 2 | Bit 3
Still @godsliltippy ‘s fault. I hope she enjoys this bit.
Many thanks to @scribbles97, @tsarinatorment and @janetm74 for the readthroughs and support ::hugs you guys::
Warnings: A bit of blood. Should have put this warning on the last two bits - my apologies.
Let’s get back into the mud with two very injured brothers...
-o-o-o-
Gordon went with him.
Mud kicked up and splashed all over them. Gordon fought to keep Virgil’s head from dropping into the stuff. “Goddamnit, Virg!” He struggled to hold his brother and Gordon did not miss the red that appeared on his now muddy bandage. “Shit. Why don’t you listen?!”
“Gordon, report!”
Scott’s voice raked the air in his helmet as Gordon bit into his lip, desperately attempting to both run a vitals check on Virgil and to stop the world spinning.
“Working on it, Thunderbird One.” His tone was sharp, but he didn’t have the energy for niceties. “ETA?”
“Eleven minutes. Status?” There was more big brother than commander in that request and it hit exactly where Scott had planned it to. Gordon’s shoulders relaxed just a micron and his breath came a little easier.
It was going to be a long eleven minutes.
The world spun again and he had to note that the pressure bandage was not doing everything it needed to do. There was more red than white and he still had eleven or more minutes to field.
Now his brother had been forced to stop moving, at least Gordon could examine his head injury. Unfortunately, up close, it was worse.
There was still metal in the wound. It reflected dully in the ominous lighting and if he hadn’t seen Virgil awake and functioning he would be even more terrified than he already was.
But that didn’t negate his brother throwing a bleed or some other nasty post initial injury.
Gordon shifted so he could support Virgil. He gently lowered his brother’s head into his lap. This freed up Gordon’s hands to grab at the engineer’s kit and drag out the mediscanner he kept in his baldric.
A flash of yellow.
The readout that was thrown to his HUD chilled him to the bone. “John, tell Scott to hurry.”
-o-o-o-
Thunderbird One was the fastest atmospheric craft on Earth, or the Solar System for that matter.
But sometimes she just wasn’t fast enough.
As John forwarded the mediscanner readouts and his brothers’ suit sensors, Thunderbird One physically screamed as her pilot pushed that increment more out of her engines and sliced atmosphere enough for the mach booms to merge into one devastating roar.
One made her own thunder.
It echoed Scott’s heart.
Virgil had a piece of metal embedded in his skull. It had already damaged a vein, but now it was pressing on an artery.
And Gordon…Gordon was bleeding badly.
A sound welled in Scott’s throat and here, alone, with only his angry ‘bird for company, he let it out.
It was more whimper than groan.
And to top it all off, all those people trapped in that factory still needed saving.
He could hear Virgil snarling from here at the thought of them leaving those people behind just because of personal injury.
“Thunderbird Five, task the factory collapse to the GDF. Get Aunt Val on the line if you have to.”
“FAB, Thunderbird One.”
There would be a delay and it pained him, but with both Virgil and Gordon down, Scott needed to see to his brothers.
One screamed even more as his hand twitched and nudged a little more power into her rockets.
He made it in ten point five minutes.
-o-o-o-
Gordon was wilting by the time Thunderbird One tore into the airspace above them. He was desperately trying to keep his blood inside him but the artery was determined and his ability to keep pressure on the injury was failing.
Which only made it worse.
Blood was running down his arm, the bandage soaked through, mixing with the mud his knees were sinking into.
He had briefly thought to make a run for it to Two, but that would have meant leaving Virgil and there was a good chance he wouldn’t make it anyway. Then both of them would be in serious trouble.
At least here, he could support his brother and keep calm.
Scott was coming.
Scott would fix it.
But god he was ever so cold and tired.
He knew the symptoms, of course, and he fought them. Hypovolemic shock was a nasty thing.
Everything blurred a moment as the world began to roar.
For a split-second Gordon hunkered down thinking the tornado had returned, but the clouds, though still dark, were moving on to terrorise someone else.
Instead, Thunderbird One shot into the sky, atmosphere screeching as she killed speed and spun into land. Gordon blearily noted that it wasn’t his big brother’s best landing. He basically dumped his ‘bird on the ground, leapt out and was running.
Oh, thank god.
The relief that washed over Gordon nearly took him out. He wanted nothing more than to collapse face first into the mud.
But Virgil…
Virgil.
Scott had two hoverstretchers trailing along behind him. Gordon blinked slowly.
And then Scott was in front of him saying something, hands were on his sore arm and they hurt, blue eyes were trying to catch his.
Gordon flinched away.
“Scott…Virgil…”
Scott said something else, but Gordon’s brain wouldn’t deliver the message to him.
Something clamped down onto his forearm and stabbed him. Gordon cried out and clarity hit his brain hard.
Scott was rebandaging his arm.
Virgil was on a hoverstretcher. How the hell did Scott get him there?
“Gordon, speak to me!”
“Ow.”
“C’mon, little bro, up you get.” Scott was lifting him to his feet, not unlike how Virgil tried earlier.
“Virgil!” Gordon tried to turn towards his injured brother, but Scott held him tight.
“I’ve got Virgil. We need to get both of you to a hospital.”
Gordon grimaced.
“Hey, it’s Topeka. Maybe Doc Chalmers will be on duty.” Scott shuffled him over to the stretcher and gently lowered him down. Scott held Gordon’s injured arm vertical as he led the two stretchers to the waiting green hulk of their brother’s Thunderbird.
Gordon stared up at her underside as Scott moved the stretchers onto the lowered hatch. “You wish, big bro. Maybe this time she will say yes.”
Scott grunted.
There followed a hovering older brother, needles, oxygen that cleared his head somewhat and ultimately the familiar roar of Two’s engines. His stomach lifted off the floor as she rose into the sky.
For a split second there was relief and then…
“Gordon?”
Virgil lay on his stretcher docked on the other side of the cockpit. Gordon blinked, forcing himself to focus. Scott had strapped Virgil down, his head held still to one side, fortunately facing Gordon and the rest of the cockpit. A loose bandage was soaking up the blood around his ear.
“Virgil, lay still!”
“Gordon?!” There was fear in his brother’s voice.
“I’m here, Virg. Scott’s got us.”
“Gords, please…” It was a wail of distress.
But then Scott was there, his body blocking Gordon’s view, his words as gentle as his hands.
His voice was ever so soothing. Virgil whimpered before falling quiet again.
Gordon closed his eyes, ever so, so tired.
Scott was here. He would fix it.
The roar of Two’s engines and his big brother’s voice followed him into a peaceful oblivion.
-o-o-o-
Next
42 notes
·
View notes
Text
Mongul
Wanted to chat about another Superman Rogue who has been around a while: Mongul.
Background
Now this guy enjoys something of a mixed reputation. On one hand he, unlike many other Superman classic Rogues, has actually been in some good stories. There’s the iconic For The Man Who Has Everything by Alan Moore which is the perfect encapsulation of his core character traits. There he’s a hulking brute, with enough raw power to go toe to toe with Superman and actually hurt him with physical force alone. He’s crude, making misogynistic comments to Wonder Woman, and gleefully reveling in the conquest he plans. Yet he’s also clever, using the Black Mercy to incapacitate his foe, and has an air of faux affability to him that only adds to his menace.
It should come as no surprise that an Alan Moore story is still Mongul’s best showing, but there are other stories worth mentioning as well. There’s Superman: Exile, the first meeting between the Post-Crisis Superman and Mongul and personally one of my favorite Post-Crisis Superman stories. There’s Mongul’s debut Pre-Crisis issue where he and Warworld first appear. There’s his attempt to hijack the Sinestro Corps during the Johns era of Green Lantern. Finally there’s his usage in Bendis Superman, which has been the first time in ages he’s been treated as a serious threat, and given an interesting way to serve as a contrast as Superman.
So why does he suffer from a mixed reputation? Well...
He sure does look familiar doesn’t he? He was created by Len Wein and Jim Starlin, and Starlin you might recall was the creator of Thanos, who was a ripoff of Darkseid. So Mongul is a copy of a copy, lacking the grandeur of Darkseid and the ambition of Thanos. He and Apocalypse are both cast in Darkseid’s mold, and have both gotten one really great and iconic storyline that guarantees they’ll stick around, but have also not traditionally fared well outside that one story. Also like Apocalypse:
He has a really bad habit of jobbing and being used by writers to prop up their characters. Jurgens used him to prop up Hank Henshaw in Reign of the Supermen and Henshaw again along with Zod in the Rebirth arc Revenge!, giving him a reputation as a joke. He also got killed by Sinestro pretty easily during his coup attempt.
Besides that he’s also unfortunately been treated as a generic tyrant for Superman to beat up, lacking much in the way of characterization, or in being a meaningful contrast to Superman beyond “Superman uses his strength to serve others, Mongul uses his to oppress them”. For a while I kind of wrote him off as a lost cause, someone that really didn’t offer anything as a Superman opponent beyond that one Alan Moore story. But recently I’ve changed my opinion; I’ve come to believe Mongul does in fact serve an important purpose and should be treated as an essential part of the Superman Rogues Gallery. Part of this turnabout was caused by really enjoying his usage in Bendis’ Superman run, which caused me to do a reread of Mongul stories, and got me thinking about who Mongul is, what he’s about, and what role he plays.
What Role Mongul Plays
A crucial realization hit me while I was rereading Mongul stories: Mongul is The Bully of the Supermythos.
He’s the guy who doesn’t delude himself into thinking he’s the hero like Lex does. He doesn’t consider himself above petty emotions or notions of right and wrong like Brainiac. He doesn’t have a sympathetic background like General Zod does. He’s the guy who enjoys pounding people into the dirt, who doesn’t mask his desire to lord over the populace behind pretenses of noble intentions. He’s gleeful as he crushes his enemies beneath his heel, he’s petty in that he enjoys forcing people to fight for his amusement, he’s dangerous in that while Darkseid can be bargained with, Mongul is always going to prefer to take what he wants via force and is powerful enough to do just that. In other words, he’s the exact kind of guy Superman started out wanting to take down, just living in the cosmic space where Superman can actually kick his ass without it feeling like punching down.
That core ethos, beautifully summed up in All-Star Superman, is in direct opposition to Mongul’s entire lifestyle. When the United Planets starts to form in Bendis’ Superman, Mongul is outraged, not just because it may pose a threat to him, but because the very idea of the “weak” uniting into a stronger whole downright offends him. He runs Warworld to cull the “weak and unfit” of the universe for his own amusement and entertainment, the petty schoolyard bully who has turned a planet-sized Death Star into his own playground, and he climbed to the top via crushing anyone that stood against him with his own two hands or outwitting them with his brain. He’s got no time for others who think they can rise above their station in life without the physical/mental power to back that desire up. If Superman believes that everyone is capable of greatness, Mongul is a firm believer that greatness is the sole purview of the very few (and really only himself).
This core conflict allows writers to bring back the bully hunter of the Golden Age and early New 52 t-shirt and jeans Supermen. Here’s a guy, a foreign ruler no less, who is actively oppressing people. We get to enjoy seeing Superman taking on a foreign dictator because he’s off in space instead of doing so here on Earth where thorny parallels to American interventionism abroad would be raised. Superman can be the Champion of the Oppressed again, and that’s always something I enjoy seeing.
I’d also like to bring up why Mongul was originally created. Len Wein wanted a foe for Superman who could match him physically. In other words, Mongul is like Doomsday if Doomsday actually had a personality. Mongul offers the opportunity for deeper exploration of Superman that Doomsday can’t. We know this literally because Mongul’s best story isn’t just a slugfest between the two the way Doomsday’s is. For The Man Who Has Everything is one of the best explorations of just how damn lonely being the Last Son of Krypton is for Kal. Exile explores the ethics of Superman’s no kill rule, his belief in the sanctity of life, his struggles to hold onto that belief in the face of the cruelty of others. His usage in Bendis’ run is to illustrate just how fragile the United Planets is, how easily it can break apart, and how hard Superman is going to have to strive to make it work. PKJ used Mongul in his Future State Superman: Worlds of War stories to show the lengths Superman will go to liberate others, his defiance in the face of Mongul’s attempts to break him. There’s an opportunity for psychological evaluation of Superman when Mongul shows up that just isn’t there with Doomsday. That alone is reason to keep him around, but he also brings a bunch of cool shit in addition.
Cool Aspects Mongul Brings to the Supermythos
He’s got a Death Star that doubles as a gladiator coliseum, where we get to see Superman compete with other gladiators from across the cosmos. Mongul lets Superman channel that Conan brutality in a very entertaining way, putting Superman in a setting where he’s facing lots of foes who can go up against him with raw strength and numbers alone.
It’s a place that channels that pulp science fiction that Superman was borne from in a very entertaining way in my opinion. Also they should set a Superman video game there (but that’s another blog post). The gladiators are also useful, either as oppressed prisoners for Superman to liberate, and showcase directly how he makes life better, or as bloodthirsty mooks that can actually challenge Superman without dimishing him.
The Black Mercy is an awesome science fiction concept. While it’s been overused in relation to Mongul, it’s also the embodiment of the unknown wonders and threats of DC Cosmic. In the right hands it’s a great tool for exploring characters’ psychology.
Bendis and Fraction reestablished that the name “Mongul” is a legacy one. The current Mongul is from a long line of Monguls, the sons killing their fathers when their fathers show weakness. Given how Rebirth has established the importance of legacy to Superman with Jon, something continued by Bendis, this may be a very crucial aspect to play off of. The way “Mongul” as a mantle is assumed is a dark contrast to the way the “Superman” mantle is taken up by others after Clark. Exploring the Mongul father-son relationship in contrast to the Clark-Jon relationship may be in the cards for the PKJ run given Mongul will be the first classic Superman Rogue appearing in PKJ Action. If not I hope some other writer will take a chance to explore the way the two contrast and compare with one another because it could be very interesting.
What I Would Change About Mongul
I think there’s already a pretty damn solid base to build off of with Mongul, but some aspects that I would play up to better establish him as separate from both Clark and Darkseid:
Making him more of a hedonist. This is a guy who eat, drinks, and fucks, and enjoys himself while doing so. He loves being a bad guy and isn’t “weighed down by his sins” or any such nonsense
Showcase his knowledge more. Mongul is smart, he’s been all over the cosmos, he learned about Warworld and the Black Mercy, show that he knows other dangerous secrets as well. Weapons, planets, florua, fauna, Mongul knows stuff not even the Guardians do
Establish some underlings. Instead of having Mongul job, use some of his gladiators, elite ones raised above the riffraff who can pose a threat and hold off Superman while Mongul accomplishes his goals
Appearance wise I’d like to make him look more different from Darkseid. I’d want to draw on dinosaurs for his look. If you need to justify it, just have another son replace the current Mongul and become the new Mongul, or have Mongul modify himself with enhancements in order to beat Superman
Mongul is cool and brings a lot to the table, DC just needs to stop treating him as a jobber and more as a legitimate threat. I was happy with how Bendis used him, and I am hopeful that PKJ will continue to treat him well. He’s a villain who actually has stories that showcase why he rocks, and not just cool ideas that have never come together like other Superman Rogues. Hopefully he’ll get more opportunities to showcase that.
#superman#mongul#dc comics#alan moore#brian bendis#phillip kennedy johnson#len wein#jim starlin#warworld#future state
31 notes
·
View notes
Text
Humans are Space Orcs, “Rumors.”
This one is going to be interesting and contains a list of some random and outlandish rumors. Feel free to comment the rumors you have heard about humans and where, in the galaxy, they came from :)
As it turns out, there are a lot of misconceptions in the galaxy about humans especially from those aliens who have not yet seen a human. I, as a scientist, was interested in learning about these different viewpoints and how they diverge from each other because t-- in my experience -- there are many outlandish and sometimes wildly opposing rumors related to their species.
So as a little experiment, I have gone around the galaxy and asked all of the different species to describe a human to me in as much detail as they possibly can thinking it would be an interesting experiment to compare the different sides.
As a disclaimer, this will not be a full list, because I couldn’t get access to some of the species, but hopefully the scientific community might find this interesting.
Bran: Hulking monsters, that’s what I heard, hulking monsters with an immunity to poison. They can walk through water like it’s nothing, and they are absolutely unstoppable. You can't outrun them, you can’t outclimb them. They have a ravening, raving biological urge to hunt and kill. I have a relative who has met a human, and he told me that if you ever run into a human your best bet is to back away slowly. If you run they have a predatory instinct to chase you, so you have to be careful.
Celzex: The humans are nothing special really. Sure they are rather tall, and they have the proper thoughts of mighty warriors, but when you get right down to it they are merely naked giants. They have very long legs, and strangely enough they are not intimidated by our demonstrations of superior might in battle. Furthermore humans are very touchy-feely. They are always trying to touch you when they get the chance, which seems rather odd since they don’t seem to do it to any other species.
Iotins: Humans are like nothing we've ever seen or known. They are almost like magic, did you know that humans can detect, sense, and identify particles in the air at only a millionth of a percentile. There is no way to hide form a human , and if they want to find you they can do it. Humans are always hungry, and if it weren't for GA laws they would probably eat everyone. As far as a description goes, humans are…… bony and lumpy with legs that are too long and fingers that are too long.
Tvek: They’re beautiful…. Beautiful gods. So graceful like when they move they flow like water, when they smile they light up a room, and when they laugh it's like the twinkling of stars overhead. They are so wise, and just and fair and they understand so much that we never could. Humans are so powerful, and they could easily dominate the galaxy if they chose to do so, but they do not because they are wise and gentle. If you ever get the chance to hear a human sing, you should do it because it is as if the creator of all things lent secret power to their voices. Humans have the power to fly you know and they can control the element of fire.
Vrul: Illogical infuriating, and down right annoying in most cases. Even if you were to learn the human language, you would never be able to understand them because often they say things they do not mean or they say something and mean the opposite. Everything they do is in a strange code, like they will be talking about cats and dogs but really be referring to the weather. Not to mention they have a plethora of bodily signals that are impossible to read. They have too few limbs, to much hair, and an excessive amount of extra senses, like particle detection. Everything about humans is aggressive and violent and they should be treated as such.
Tesraki: Well I’ll tell ou about humans. I have heard so many stories that I might as well be an expert. First of all humans are freaky and hairless with massive holes in the side of their head and sharp bones sticking out of their faces that they use to crush their prey. Their skin is supposedly translucent so you can see their innards from the outside, like veins and stuff under the skin. I heard they are all rubbery and stretchy and their fingers have extra joints in them. They have full laws and you can see their bones protruding ready to break from their skin. Humans can hear almost as well as we do, but they can see hundreds of different wavelengths of color. People say that humans drink meat, but I am pretty sure they don’t drink blood. My uncle tells me that you should never sign a contract with a human because they will probably steal your soul. Oh, and never give a human your true name because they might come find you later.
Burg: Humans! Humans are rotting scum, absolute filth. They are a pathetic squishy maggoty creature that wins all of its engagements through cheating and guile. They have venomous saliva and are a walking biohazard. Everywhere they go they shed disease and dead molecules to permeate the air. I am told, if you live long enough with a human, you will be forced to clean your space of germs and dead human particles built up about your home. They have no honor, and their words are filled with lies. Their skin is soft and they hide their skeleton on the inside, and when they talk it is a grating screech all cut up and sharp. Humans are dul creatures, but they are useful in battle because of how durable they are.
Drev: Humans are strange creatures. They are a great warrior race, though they are small and weak in body. They have no armor to speak of and thus are very easy to kill. However, they grow stronger the more limbs of theirs you remove because they will replace them with machines. Humans are much more vicious than any other species we know because they kill to kill they do not kill for honor.
Rundi: humans are an absolute PR nightmare, that is what they are. Every time there is a human involved you can be sure they are going to do something reckless stupid or scary. Make sure that everything in your vicinity is non toxic to humans because they WILL put it in their mouths. Humans are like children, they are curious in a bad way and they have no issue lying to you if they see the need, especially in politics. If you have to oversee a human you will be constantly trying to justify their mistakes or getting them to behave. They are especially annoying in large groups were their social nature creates unusual hierarchies which are difficult to work with.
Prodigum An inconsequential might. A mere trifling interest. Humans are small, soft and weak, However they do have lovely singing voices. I have a colleague who owns humans. He keeps them in a cage and has them sing to him. Really humans are pretty easy to control as long as you feed them and give them shelter. Other than that they are no more useful than an exotic pet.
Gibb (one of the crazy ones): They are dark gods, dark gods concealed within a flesh prison just waiting to be released. They are a creature of immense power and strength being dampened by the hindrance of a physical form. Why do you think humans are so powerful, why do you think humans have an innate sense of danger because they are connected to the ether around them, and they long to return to the embrace of the universe as a being of pure power.
Gromm: To put it lightly, humans are kind of dumb. I mean they are very brave and they are very generous, don’t get us wrong but they are generally bumbling and like fun more than they are serious. I would suggest having a human as a friend but not a work colleague.
Common rumors about humans.
They drink blood
They eat flesh raw
They have control of fire.
They can divine the future.
They cannot pass through a circle made of ground sulfur.
They can hypnotize you with their singing.
They can hypnotize you if you look them in the eye.
They are really a parasite living inside a human meat suit.
If you make a deal with one, you are bound for life
You should never tell one your true name.
If you use their rue name they can hear you and will be able to find you.
They breathe acid.
They are venomous.
They are magic
They are indestructible.
They have wings.
They can smell fear.
You can fend of humans with talismans made of copper
Feel free to add to the list of myths about humans if I have missed some your help would be greatly appreciated.
572 notes
·
View notes
Text
RvB0: What went well, what didn’t, and all the in-between.
Since RT is making this a bit easier by releasing the complete seasons in long videos, this is arguably something that probably should be done to wrap up the whole thing, and maybe see how far the series has come.
Red vs. Blue: ZERO is arguably the most divisive season of the entire series of the show.
Now obviously, people are very resistant to change, but whereas the prior seasons had change that was received to varying degrees of positivity, it was overall, positive.
So let’s go over some history to better understand what happened.
The main aspect of the original Reds and Blues, intentionally or not, were based off of gaming stereotypes.
It’s WAY too long to describe here, so here’s a link to how it works: [here]
Seasons 1-5 is basically a showcase of these gamer stereotypes. Displaying them as their base personalities and grows them as these new characters.
The whole entirety of Project Freelancer is pretty much a deconstruction of gaming tropes. The AI are Lootboxes that give an edge to a player, they have leaderboards, and they go into lobbies with lower level players to basically flex all over them.
The Chorus Trilogy has an arc deconstructing the concept of these types of team battles, pointing out how it never really amounts to anything except profits for the one side that’s basically the third party (Think Mann Co from TF2).
Season 14 is basically a celebration, so we’ll skip that, but keep in mind Meta vs. Carolina, it’ll be important later.
Season 15 is basically an attempt to revive the series. Maybe a documentary on prior pro players, and how people might try to exploit them, or how people may have lost their streaming careers to some of the players humiliating them, but that’s a stretch. There is no real tie to gaming here, or during this arc. This is where the whole thing starts declining. A lack of actually tying it to a gaming trope arguably makes it much more different than the previous seasons.
So, where does RvB0 stand in all this? Well, it is a bit of a return to form by being a previous pro player wanting to get a new squad, but having to now adapt to a new team.
But the way we’re introduced to them is jarring. This isn’t some episode of DEATH BATTLE. We should get to know who these characters are by their interactions with one another, their dialogue, and their actions. But let’s take a look at what gaming stereotypes we’re working with here. we already covered Florida, and the Director is basically these guys’ sponsor who basically caused all of what happened. Carolina is the streamer who gets mad at losing her top rank, York is the nice guy who probably helped set up other peoples’ streaming equipment and is just a friendly guy to be around in general, South and North are what happens when someone gets a rare item from a lootbox and the other doesn’t, etc.
Shatter Squad, is unfortunately, a lot of repeat gamer stereotypes.
West is basically the dad who is an ex-pro trying to make sure his team succeeds, like Florida.
One is the competitive pro who doesn’t like having her top spot challenged, like Carolina.
Axel is the resident Cool Guy™ whose exploits are told by anecdote or flashback. Similar to Tucker, except minus the sex jokes. Or maybe he’s like Wash, in the sense that he’s an ex-pro who got out of the game but keeps being dragged back into it by other circumstances (maybe financial).
East is the new player, much like Caboose. She thankfully is different enough by way of being the stream mole who helps out the other team by sabotaging the team she’s a part of.
And Raymond is the guy who thinks that all his tech and equipment will give him an edge over his opponents, much like most of the Freelancers who had an A.I.
The action is actually good, except for one scene. The scene where East (temporarily) kills Tucker.
Like… Torrian. Torrian. Meta vs. Carolina is my favorite episode of season 3 aside from Hulk vs. Doomsday, and you have him go down to a dagger? You pretty much animated an epic fight scene with all the Reds and Blues in the RvB0 advertisement that really should have been Tucker vs. Jaune as a means of joint advertising- I’m getting off topic here.
The new characters are also a point of some good and some bad. Obviously, you can only do so much with the OG characters until it becomes stale. This is why Dragon Ball is starting to get boring. It’s also why Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure is still going strong. But trying to diversify the cast isn’t going to go well with a lot of the original audience. The most progressive thing the Blood Gulch Chronicles did was have Church challenge Simmons’ stereotypical comments regarding Donut. Change won’t go over so well with the audience.
In addition, the passing of Tucker’s sword to another character wasn’t going to go over so well without a big fight scene over the sword. Again, Torrian: YOU MADE Balrog vs. TJ Combo, All Might vs. Might Guy, and Blake vs. Mikasa. Out of everyone on that team, you of all people would have been more than qualified to animate a cool fight sequence that would showcase Tucker stopping East from just stabbing him. I know that the research is left to other people, but one of the big things about the characters is that they tanked a bomb worth a few dozen megatons of TNT… And Tucker goes down… To a dagger.
The fight sequences of RvB0 are great. I’ll say that much. But after every fight, I fully expected Wiz and Boomstick to come in and explain why the fight went down the way it did. Though, that may be due to me actually being interested in RT because of DEATH BATTLE… For better or for worse…
The dialogue wasn’t that great though. A lot of the humor falls flat, and the only joke I legitimately laughed at was when a member of Shatter Squad (One IIRC) responded to Carolina’s bold and serious declaration of “We have to save Lavernious Tucker” with “Who’s Tucker?” This is a series where the comedy comes from dialogue. So slapstick and physical humor don’t land as much, and the whole thing of them making reference to their situation doesn’t let a joke land as well as it could.
People are used to the head bobs of prior seasons, so the expressive gestures is super jarring and actually makes dialogue harder because you have to accompany it with the gestures. The limitation of what they had in season 1-5 is what led to innovation. Limits are how you make something extraordinary. So the freedom of actual gestures makes the overall product feel less like RvB and more like Torrian‘s equivalent of RWBY. He wanted to make a bunch of cool fight scenes. Which like… He had the perfect place to do that: DBX. Want a character who can generate a clone and uses a bladed weapon to fight? Uh, Noob Saibot is right there. You could have him fight… I don’t know, maybe Shadow Jago? They both utilize darkness, it would be fun.
Regardless, I honestly hope that wherever Torrian takes his talents, that he’s going in a place that he likes and that can keep him and his family comfortable.
RvB0: It’s a mess, it hardly really connects back to the OG Reds and Blues, and while the new characters breathe a new life into the series that was sorely needed, it probably wasn’t what people expected. This changing of the guard type of story doesn’t really work when the previous guard doesn’t pass down the mantle.
Also, Carolina constantly calling Wash by his real name just feels like some random pandering. It used to be special that you didn’t know what the real names of the Freelancers was, but the constant use of it just feels like something to just be there to constantly use.
But hey, if you liked it, more power to you.
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
Demise of Dorothy Walker
(continued from previous note)
“Wait…how many times has she jumped out the window today, exactly?” Trish questioned, tilting her head with some obvious confusion. “Jess, are you aware that windows can be opened before you jump through them, if you’re that opposed to doors?”
Jessica ignored her, wiggling out of Trish’s loosened embrace and taking several steps back, crossing her arms over her chest as though to defend herself from any further attempts at being given affection. She nodded stiffly at Luke, attempting to take in what he is saying.
“From what the kid in the apartment said and what I saw on the surveillance film, before he fucking destroyed it, it doesn’t seem like he needs much more than a look. I don’t know, maybe he needs a certain amount of time, or access to his inner rage, who the hell knows. But maybe not. I don’t need anything to jump or punch someone, so why should he?”
“But you might have limitations that you don’t know about, or some sort of kryptonite that you have to avoid,” Trish pointed out, siding with Luke. “I’ve always told you that you should be doing more to understand your abilities. Who knows, Jess, they could be time limited, you could suddenly lose them one day, or maybe if you use them a certain amount of times they just stop or something. They might even be hurting you internally somehow, every time you jump or hit something, and you don’t realize it until you drop dead some day.”
“Cheerful,” Jessica said sarcastically. “I’ll cross my fingers, maybe we’ll all be so lucky.”
“Not funny,” Trish said sharply, narrowing her eyes at her. “I’m serious. You need to understand what has made you what you are, now more than ever. And you need to understand what has made Phillip who he is.”
“He killed the people who made us who we are,” Jessica pointed out. “What am I supposed to do, search for a secret diary? “Dear diary, today I injected Kangaroo Hulk chemicals into a girl and Pyro chemicals into a boy, I sure hope it causes world chaos?” Something like that?”
Trish looked at Luke for help, sighing. “I know you’re upset, Jessica,” she said quietly. “But we’re the ones supporting you. We’re the ones trying to help you, so if you’re trying the pushing away thing you love to do, it isn’t working, and it’s not going to make you feel any better. I’m not asking you to be happy, but save some of the venom for the people who deserve it.”
Jessica’s cheeks reddened, and she swallowed, biting down the inside of her cheeks with shame she didn’t want them to see. She tried to cover it by turning to throw away her now empty bottle.
“Fine. Guess we backtrack. I’ve got the contact information for the woman who started all this, the wife of the third doctor he killed. Let’s see what sort of contacts she might know to put me in touch with.”
88
Six miles away, Phillip Jones and his long term girlfriend, Rikarah Pallaton, were casually seated across each other at the small kitchen table of Rikarah’s apartment, laptops open side by side. Rikarah’s apartment, although not especially large or fancy, was far more comfortable and lived-in looking in its appearance than Phillip’s rented motel room had been, and there are far more indications of a man’s presence within its interior. Before contacting Jessica at all, Phillip had actually first been living there with Rikarah, and he had kept only enough of his belongings at the motel room for daily, necessary use- just enough to make it appear that he had no other place of residence. Although he had spent most nights there in the past several weeks, just in case Jessica or one of her associates happened to be watching him, it was never intended to be more than a temporary cover address.
The only person he felt himself to belong to was Rikarah, and the only place he wished to reside would be wherever it was she chose. For the past few years he had followed her in her frequent relocations across the country, content to join her and at times assist her in wherever she felt lead to be and whatever she felt lead to do. They had met at a bar some four years ago, on a night that Phillip had intended little more to get drunk and hook up with someone, but it hadn’t been long before he discovered that there was far more to Rikarah, his intended “someone” of the night, then met eye. The dark-haired, pixie-featured beauty with darkly themed tattoos over her torso, barely visible peeking out the edges of her tank top’s neckline, carried far more steely strength and sharply focused intelligence than her slight frame would ever indicate.
Rikarah, much like his sister, was a self-appointed vigilante, Phillip had discovered over time as she gradually let him into her world and her view of her life’s mission. Although she, unlike Jessica or himself, rarely, if ever, used her own supernatural abilities, and rarely did more for a living than bartend, waitress, or sell her own artwork online or in sidewalk sales, she nevertheless carried a power and purpose that Phillip at first was in awe of, then became seduced into emulating. For the first few years of his adulthood he had drifted, aimless, alone, and feeling that there was nothing to his existence that was worthy. Life held little to interest him, and he felt little connection to the world or anyone in it, even himself.
Rikarah had changed that. In her quiet, steely-eyed focus on her view of truth and justice, she had changed his life and forever altered its course. She had opened his eyes to the grade power he possessed and the responsibility this charged him with to use it for the world’s benefit. How could he not, when he had so much potential at his disposal?
Rikarah was physically weaker and smaller, lacked the sort of super powers that could be used on a daily and practical basis for protection or defense, and had no more money or family in the world than Phillip himself; if anything, she had been given far less in the way of advantage. And yet, by the time she was seventeen years old, she had already begun her life’s mission of identifying, and then ending the lives of people too twisted up in their abusive behaviors to deserve them. And she had started out with her very own family.
Over time, Phillip had come to understand and believe in Rikarah’s view of the world, and to accept her view of his responsibility to it. It was she who had urged him to find those who had persecuted himself in his childhood, to take them out before they could harm others. It was also she who encouraged him to find his sister Jessica and insert himself into her life, to begin to know her- and to gradually bring her to understand their view of the world, in hopes of bringing her to join them.
They both saw Jessica’s involvement in the death of Kevin Kilgrave as a very promising sign. If she had killed once, for the good of the world, it shouldn’t be too difficult to bring her into accepting the idea of killing again for the same reasons.
But Jessica had been quicker to catch on than they had expected- too quick, even for the fact of her being a private investigator by living. Phillip blamed Patricia Walker for that. The woman had been interfering with his sister’s life since they were barely teenagers, and now her claws had sunk so deeply into her that Jessica couldn’t seem to separate herself from her influence. Without Trish there, it would be easier to sway Jessica into their way of thinking. And the easiest way to weaken Trish, from what Rikarah and Phillip had come to understand, was to first remove her mother from the picture.
It would have been done anyway, at some point. It was because of Dorothy Walker that Phillip had grown up apart from his sister, living in abusive homes. It was because of her lies that Jessica had thought him to be dead for more than half his lifetime. She was a liar, a con artist, and a child abuser, an opportunist of the worst kind, even towards her own daughter. The world would not suffer for her loss, and its gains would be considerable.
88
The plan was simple. Rikarah had subtly tracked the woman’s routine for the past several days, and when Phillip let her know that the time had come for them to make their move, they arrived separately at her address, following at considerable distance. They had assumed and been correct to see that Dorothy would disregard Trish’s warning for her to leave town, too arrogant to assume anyone could want her dead or be successful in making it happen. Rikarah waited for her outside of her talent studio for up and coming young actors and models as Dorothy made her way to open for the morning, with Phillip following at a distance. As Dorothy moved to unlock the door, clearly intending to go about her day as usual to bully young girls in the name of “career advice and advancement” all while making considerable money, Rikarah called out to her in a cultivated mix of hesitation and urgency, stepping into her peripheral view.
“Ms. Walker? Ms. Walker- you’re Patsy’s mother, aren’t you? Dorothy Walker?”
She had deliberately used the name that Dorothy preferred to call Trish rather than Trish’s own preference, in a subtle alignment with the woman. Dorothy turned slightly, narrowing her eyes as she looked Rikarah up and down. Finding her to be physically unthreatening and not recognizable, she raised her eyebrows at her.
“Yes? Do you or your daughter have an appointment with me today? I don’t take walk ins, young lady, but if you want an appointment for yourself, let me advise you now that you should consider acting over modeling. You have the figure for it, but hardly the height.”
She turned back to unlock the door, but froze when Rikarah spoke again.
“Please Ms. Walker, it’s Patsy. She’s…I don’t like to do this, go behind her back, but you’re her mother, and I feel like you should know before anyone else. You have a reputation in this town, you’re so respected, maybe you can do something to help before it’s too late for her-“
“What’s happened?” Dorothy demanded, spinning around fast and facing Rikarah fully and with intensity. “Keep your voice down, if she’s doing something to ruin her reputation again- we can’t have this discussion out where just anyone can hear! Just who are you anyway?”
“I’m Emily Oliver,” Rikarah lied smoothly, and when Dorothy looked blank, she added, “I was an extra on It’s Patsy, they used me in party or school scenes a lot. I don’t expect you to remember or know me, Ms. Walker, but I’ve always followed and admired you and Patsy. I hate to see her destroy herself now when you’ve worked so hard to repair her reputation to everyone. That Jessica Jones, she-“
“I should have known it would have something to do with Jessica,” Dorothy hissed under her breath, shaking her head grimly. “That girl has always been a thorn at my side from the day she- but never mind, we can’t have this conversation out here. Emma, was it? Come inside, before the girls start arriving.”
She gestured for Rikarah to follow her, and Rikarah started to, then hesitated.
“Wait- I left my phone in my car. Someone sent me some photos of Patsy, they thought it was funny, I guess, but- maybe if I show you, maybe we can stop them from getting out to the media. Maybe-“
“Yes, yes, go get your phone, make it quick, now,” Dorothy said impatiently, nodding her head and flapping her hand as though to dismiss the younger woman. “Meet me inside. I’m locking the door, I can’t be having clients come in and overhear this. Ring the doorbell when you’re back, I’ll let you in.”
This was exactly what Rikarah and Phillip had been hoping for; they couldn’t have planned a better set up themselves. Nodding, biting her lip theatrically, Rikarah turned to walk towards the parking lot, taking her time about it, even as she watched out the corner of her eye to check that Dorothy did indeed go into the building and lock the door behind herself.
Now it was all up to Phillip. Retrieving her phone, she texted him a single word, “okay,” and he was ready. Exiting Rikarah’s car, even as she slipped inside it, he casually walked past the studio, hands deep in his pockets. To anyone passing by, he would look no more than a person on his way somewhere, uninterested and uninvolved in anything suspicious.
As he passed directly in front of the front door, he paused, looking towards it. With a few moments of intense concentration, he visualized Dorothy, waiting for Rikarah within. Twenty seconds later, screams burst into the air, and the sound of smoke detectors blared forth shrilly as Dorothy Walker’s skin began to burn.
With the same casualness as before, Phillip continued to walk, bypassing the dying woman as Rikarah pulled out of the parking lot. Several blocks later, as she stopped at a prearranged stop sign, he slid into the passenger seat beside her. Mission accomplished.
55 notes
·
View notes
Text
Thor 🗲 Intro
“Fortunately, I am mighty...”
OOC PORTION —
NAME: Danny
PRONOUNS: he/him
AGE: 23
TIMEZONE: GMT +1
TRIGGERS: None
IC PORTION; BASICS —
CHARACTER NAME: Thor Odinson
FACECLAIM: Chris Hemsworth
AFFILIATIONS: The Avengers
AGE: 1500s/appears mid 30s
SPECIES: Alien (Asgardian)
IDENTITY: Public
DOES YOUR CHARACTER LIVE IN THE MOUSEHOLE? IF SO, WHAT ARE THEIR DUTIES? Yes, but he doesn’t particularly like it there. He doesn’t feel the effects of the cold, but Thor has never liked being confined so prefers to get outside as much as possible. Thor has decided to take on the role of a hunter/gatherer. The vast forests of Europe aren’t too dissimilar to the Asgardian wilderness and, while the beasts aren’t as ferocious as back home, what’s a king to do if not revel in the hunt? When needed he will also help with aid work: he can cover great distances with ease and carrying heavy loads is hardly a problem for him.
DESCRIBE SIX TRAITS (3 positive, 3 negative) YOUR CHARACTER HAS AND HOW THESE AFFECT THEM:
Dependable: A man of his word, Thor is trustworthy and reliable; an asset in any team and to anyone who has a favour to ask. Endearing: Those who truly get to know Thor speak of him with admiration; his warm smile and welcoming personality don’t come to all, but if he lets his guard down you’re guaranteed a friend with whom you feel truly comfortable. Benevolent: Thor (usually) means well and (usually) tries to be kind to anyone he encounters. His exterior may come across as brash but there’s no malice involved, often just a difference in culture and upbringing. Obstinate: While being headstrong may not always be a negative thing, Thor hates to admit he’s wrong and has a tendency to steamroll down a chosen path rarely reassessing whether the choices he made were the right ones or simply the first ones. Distrusting: Thor enjoys being social but mainly around those he’s close to. He can appear a little hostile to strangers: while he wants to believe in the good in people, he’s been around long enough and seen a lot of the universe to know of the potential darkness inside them too. Reckless: Thor often acts on impulse and charges into situations unprepared. This can lead to serious damage caused to both himself and those around him.
POWERS AND/OR ABILITIES: Super strength: Son of Odin and King of Asgard, Thor is physically the strongest of all Asgardians, with feats including being able to go one-on-one with the Hulk and other powerful entities. Flight: Thor’s magical axe Stormbreaker grants him the ability to fly. Electricity Manipulation: Thor is capable of generating electrical energy within his body and can expel it in the form of lightning bolts. Using Stormbreaker makes the energy generation and expulsion much more powerful and efficient. Weather Control: Similarly, either with or without Stormbreaker (although with Stormbreaker is easier), Thor can control the sky and create storms. Durability: His Asgardian physiology grants much more durability than a human one, able to shrug off energy blasts and recover from injury much quicker. Thor can also survive in space and alien atmospheres. Allspeak: Also called the All-Tongue, Asgardians speak a magic-based language, granting the ability to understand and be understood in all the languages of the Nine Realms. Bifrost: Stormbreaker also gifts Thor the power to summon the Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge connecting all realms, allowing intergalactic travel between worlds in a matter of moments.
WEAKNESSES: There aren’t many things on Earth that could pose a threat to Thor, so it’s hard to pinpoint any specific weaknesses. Perhaps for someone like Thor, the word god comes up so often that he sometimes forgets it’s not true: he is mortal and, while far more durable than a human, he can get injured and he can get killed, a fact that he often brushes to the side when charging into battle. However he has become far more self-aware after losing an eye (and almost his life) to Hela.
IC PORTION; DETAILS —
WHAT BROUGHT YOUR CHARACTER TO SOKOVIA?
Sokovia is where the majority of Thor’s allies are, and he needs their help. His world gone, his people stranded on the nearest hospitable realm in need of a home; Thor knew of a place where the Asgardians could blend in and live peaceful lives. The problem is, however, it seems Earth is not quite at peace right now. When he couldn’t track down the Avengers in New York, he followed the trail to Novi Grad. His priorities are conflicting: while he came back to Earth to ask the Avengers’ help in establishing a new Asgard on this planet, he feels he should stay to try and help his friends however he can in aiding the Nomad’s cause.
DID THEY SIGN THE ACCORDS? WHY OR WHY NOT?
No - the whole Accords situation is mostly unbeknownst to Thor due to being offworld at the time of signing. From what he can gather, it isn’t something that would appeal to him. He feels the affairs of humans are mostly petty ones and, despite his growing acclimatisation to Earth and its customs, he doesn’t understand why humans have to be so divided about, well, pretty much everything.
PROVIDE 3-5 HEADCANONS RELATED TO YOUR CHARACTER: 1. Although Thor is an alien, he has spent enough time on this planet (in both modern and ancient times) for the culture shock to lessen so that now Earth to Thor is more comparable to a human travelling to a different country - he acknowledges that the differences are neither better nor worse and he chooses to respect them. He knows he will make mistakes and appear strange, but sees that now as an opportunity for personal growth. 2. One thing he doubts he will ever understand however, is the human version of ‘entertainment’. Thor cannot stand movies. On Asgard, they would entertain themselves by slaying fearsome monsters or engaging in a friendly drunken brawl, the more broken furniture the better! But on Earth they amuse themselves by… sitting down and staring at a screen for hours on end. While both Asgard and Earth had/have magnificent technology, it’s clear they used it very differently.
3. Since returning to Earth, Thor has become intrigued in the Norse tales of himself and his people from over a thousand years ago and their alleged feats. He finds it highly amusing how inaccurate the stories are, but it has led to a fascination of human mythology and the various pantheons across history and the world. He wonders if he will ever meet any other of these so-called gods.
4. While a human brain only has capacity for almost a century’s worth of memories, an Asgardian brain is built for a few millennia’s worth. Therefore Thor has a much more acute long-term memory than his human companions, although occasionally his short-term memory leaves something to be desired, especially after several pints of mead.
WANTED CHARACTER CONNECTIONS:
Loki: His brother and the person he loves (and hates) most in the cosmos. I know a thing or two about brotherly love (I’ve been experiencing it for 23 years) so would love to write for Thor with his undeniably most personal connection. Wonder Woman: Both ancient, both ‘gods’ and both so very far from home. Despite their different allegiances I think it would be great to have Thor bond with perhaps the one person around here who may truly understand him. Superman: If anything they both have fabulous red capes. They are quite similar power-wise, although I know Superman is stronger but Thor definitely wouldn’t want to admit that. It could lead to some healthy (or unhealthy?) competition between the two, especially seeing as Thor isn’t too fond of the Justice League. Captain America & Iron Man: The two splintered team leaders. Thor respects them both (Tony a little less, perhaps…) and, since he doesn’t really understand the extent of the accords, would like to hear their sides of the story and what has happened since the Ultron incident. Bruce Banner: Thor has fought with the Hulk a couple of times but feels this has brought the two closer, learning more about how Bruce ticks and now he feels there’s a protective bond between the pair. I think the interactions they have could bring out the comedic style of writing which I love!
POTENTIAL CHARACTER ARCS: In the previous paragraph I said I like writing comedic characters (of which Thor fits the bill) but I also want to explore the deeper aspects of his personality such as the emotional pain of losing his parents, his childhood friends and his home. This could manifest in him not wanting to form bonds with others in the Mousehole at first because he’s lost so many people: why would he want to get close with anyone else only to lose them again? Perhaps a dramatic fallout with someone from a different team could lead to serious consequences for him or the team as a whole.
The reason I chose for placing Thor in Sokovia is that he’s seeking a location for New Asgard: maybe with all its emigrating population and empty buildings Sokovia could be the perfect location… I’m not sure how it would work in the group, but maybe Thor could eventually bring the Asgardians here, both to settle and to help with the restoration of the country.
CHARACTER BIO —
You know the story. An Asgardian prince, lacking in humility and exiled to Earth in order to learn what it means to be worthy. A classic tale, but at its heart, a tale of loss, and a tale of what it means to truly be human: even if you’re not. Thor has lived for well over a millenia, but only in the last decade has his life really begun. From landing on Earth a long time after people stopped worshipping him, he slowly began to understand the importance of relationships; from forming close bonds with the Avengers (and wary acquaintances with the Justice League and X-Men), to experiencing true love for the very first time. All his life Thor had assumed that humans were lesser beings, so why then did he feel he was learning so much more from them than he had ever learned from his own kind?
After experiencing the death of his mother, then later on his father and three close childhood friends, Thor was at breaking point when his home realm of Asgard was obliterated during Ragnarök by the fire demon Surtur. With the title of King thrust upon him, Thor decided his duty to his people had to consume him before his emotions did. Pursuing the quest of a new home, he led them to Nidavellir, the homeworld of the dwarfs; unsurpassable smiths and mechanics with the power to forge almost anything the mind can dream of, ruled over by their King, Eitri. Eons ago, Eitri had forged the legendary hammer Mjölnir (destroyed by Hela) at Odin’s request, now he oversaw the creation of the glorious axe Stormbreaker when asked by Thor, capable of summoning the rainbow bridge despite its apparent destruction on Asgard. Armed with his new tool and a promise to the Asgardians of a brighter future, Thor set out alone across the stars, heading to Midgard to find his old allies the Avengers. He’d helped the humans many times before, hopefully they’ll be able to help him and his race this time.
It took Thor losing everything to appreciate what he has. As he enters the next phase of his life in Sokovia, without family or a home, he is truly the definition of a nomad.
2 notes
·
View notes
Text
So this is a little outside my normal range of posting but I’ve mentioned Jim Sterling in passing and I think its really important right now to give them support.
Jim has been on the front line of video game journalism, continually exposing abuse and exploitative late-stage capitalist bullshit in the industry for years, decades even, on The Jimquisition (his weekly show, for those who don’t know) with very blunt and, well, colorful commentary that directly addresses those responsible. They’ve had problems with publishers and video game companies for a long time, because they do not stay silent. They continually point out the outrageous and disgusting practices of the industry, even when it’s become normalized, when it’s considered beating a dead horse, because without that voice, those companies win. These companies silence their critics and continue getting greedier and greedier, more and more morally bankrupt. I’ve watched Jim for years now, and I’ve seen the evolution of depravity from AAA publishers. This normalization of awful harmful practices is very real and very serious. Jim is providing an essential narrative in a world where video game journalism (and I’d go out on a limb and say many other types of journalism) are reduced to an extension of the PR companies of these hulking corporations. His news is not tainted by the companies he’s reporting on. They can’t be paid off or told off by anyone, and that is something I’ve respected for years, and why I stuck with The Jimquisition even after I largely stopped following games media as a whole.
The reason I’m making this post is that about a month ago, Jim reported on the gigantic abuse scandal at Ubisoft, and how the entire company structure basically exists to protect abusers and silence countless victims. It’s incredibly serious, and the corruption goes to the very top of Ubisoft and most likely plenty of other companies. Countless folks have come out with extremely credible testimony, and the abuse goes very far back. I won’t go into explicit details because it’s disgusting and upsetting, if you want more details click the link, but viewer discretion is advised of course. In Jim’s most recent video, (which I also recommend- its about Ubisoft literally using the black power fist as the symbol of an evil terrorist group in a recent mobile game) they say that the video covering the abuse has been one of their most shared in years, but had initially gotten some of the lowest views.
YouTube is hiding his content and burying this story, the same way the games media as a whole has. It is specifically effecting The Jimquisition, and newer videos since then have been performing poorly as well.
I’m begging you guys, DON’T LET THIS STORY DIE. THESE PEOPLE NEED TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. As Jim and many others sadly expected, this story is on its way out of the news cycle, and now Jim’s channel is suffering as a direct result of refusing to be silent and demanding these people be held accountable. I was shocked that something this huge managed to vanish so quickly, and I’ve hardly seen any outrage about it. This is bigger than video games. I know it seems niche on the surface, but this is not a video game problem. This is an abuse problem, this is an exploitation problem, this is a capitalism problem.
Please do what you can. Learn about the situation, watch Jim’s videos if you’re interested in that kind of thing (I really do recommend them, I’ve never seen another video game journalist be that unapologetic towards AAA companies) or just spread this for people who are. Don’t let this die. Don’t let this person’s channel suffer because they dared to call out abuse and demand justice.
Ubisoft spent years protecting mental and physical abusers. Don’t let them fucking forget it.
#i know this isn't my style but i havent seen anyone talk about it especially here so hey you want something done you do it yourself#please share this#abuse tw#jim sterling#the jimquisition#ubisoft
12 notes
·
View notes
Note
What makes an unlikable character likable to you?
If you were to ask me to explain it, I would say they’re more well-defined. They have personality. Main characters in manga, especially shonen manga where popularity in weekly polls is king tend to be written to appeal to as many people as possible. That’s why so many of the protagonists written in jump end up resembling one another. They are written to appeal to their audience first and as characters second.
They just end up being better than the main characters because they’re actually allowed to be characters.
Sometimes in an effort to make a character more likable, personality traits that stand out will be sanded off. If a person is always friendly, always smiling, and has an optimistic attitude it’s hard to hate them isn’t it? No, it’s more like there’s nothing you could possibly hate about them. Oftentimes these characters get reduced to positive traits with only job interview flaws as their character conflict, like they care too much, or they’re too selfless.
Part of having a personality, is having traits that people can dislike. The more you stsand out, the more under scrutiny you will be and the more things people will find wrong with you. They have to have qualities that people can find unlikable in the first place. It’s like the saying that having an opinion means someone out there is going to disagree with it. As villains and what are typically considered “anti-heros” are not meant to be likable, they are allowed to be more they’re own character. The characters often feel like their own person. They are allowed to be unlikable.
Risks is one of the things that creates the most inspired fiction. When you give a character unlikable traits, you are betting on that people will like them anyway in spite of their flaws. You basically have to do the work to make something compelling about their charatcter so people will look past their flaws. Which is why a lot of times, despite being terrible people these characters happen to be very emotionally driven, and even sometimes relatable. This kind of writing just doesn’t show up in protagonists often, because they’re not allowed to be their own characters, with their own flaws and complex inner worlds.
I always say the best characters are the ones that allow the audience to dislike them. Because that means the character is actually about something, and therefore you can agree or disagree with the idea. It’s why I don’t even react that much when people dislike characters that I like, because if people can disagree with that character it means that character stood for something or stood out in some way to be hated.
Here, I’ll give an exmaple of what I mean.
There are a lot of things to dislike about Shigaraki. He’s basically introduced as a violent manchild, who seemed to want to destroy, and make others miserable for no reason at all. The fact that Shigaraki is so difficult to like is what makes him appealing.
Shigaraki’s a genuinely damaged person and it’s hard to understand his worldview or even relate to him. The story actually has to develop him. As easy to dislike and hard to like as Shigaraki is, he’s an extremely strong presence in the story and he’s probably the most complex character who has gotten the most character development. All because he started as a gremlin who wanted to destroy everything and the narrative had to work hard to make him into a character you wanted to understand.
Shigaraki is an abused child whose entire life was destroyed by the flaws in the hero system that everybody else loves. He also takes in several other people who have fallen through the cracks of the system, and provides them friendship and a surrogate family where they have none. He has a unique dynamic with each member of the league, and he also reflects each of them in a way. Shigaraki and Dabi are abusive victims connected to the number one and number two hero respectively. Both Shigaraki and Himiko were born with quirks that do not fit into society, and were abused by their parents and not allowed to be the person they want to be. Spinner and Shigaraki are both shut ins who lived really empty lives because of how much society rejected them due to their quirks. Shigaraki and Twice are both heavily mentally ill, and the type of bad people that a hero would never save. Compress and Shigaraki are both show-offs.
Everything Shigaraki has in the story he had to earn. The story is way harsher on him as a villain than it is on any of the main characters. When he makes mistakes he’s never given any leeway. He loses things. His friends die as a result of his failures. He loses kurogiri, Magne, all for one’s resources.
Then we see him pick something up and build everything on top of that. Almost as if Shigaraki is the hero of his own story. A lot of the heaviest emotional themes of the manga, quirk discrimmination, abuse, the failures of society, are tied up in Shigaraki’s character as well and we actually see Shigaraki fight against it. Shigaraki even opens up and tells all of his worst trauma to his close knit group of friends.
Because there are several things to hate about Shigaraki, the story has to work hard to show you that underneath all that Shigaraki is still compelling and sympathetic. He’s also, allowed to be unlikable, and flawed, which causes him to be given the chance to work on and better those flaws which is why the Shigaraki we know now is almost completely different from the one we were introduced to at the start of the manga. A lot of very emotionally heavy topics are tied to Shigaraki as well because as an unlikable character he’s actually allowed to go to those dark places.
Let’s compare this to Deku. Just to be clear, I like Deku. I think he’s fine as a character. This isn’t meant to come off as hate, I’m just trying to explain why I like the things I like.
Deku himself has the makings of an interesting character, but all of his major flaws are sanded down. Deku is clearly a character that the audience is meant to like and relate to, and because of that he’s not allowed to stand out personality wise. Like, the reason Bakugo wins all the character polls is that like him or hate him, having a personality will always draw more attention.
Deku does have a character. He’s timid with extremely low self esteem, he doubts himself all the time, he’s basically a chronic overstudier, and overthinks everything. However, none of these traits are ever a problem for the story. Deku could have more pronounced flaws, if his tendency to self harm himself, or his lack of direction in his life, or the fact that he never has any self esteem so he thinks saving people means hurting and sacrificing himself were treated as more serious flaws that would be something to build a narrative around.
As it is, Deku basically has what are job interview flaws. He never has to change his personality much, he just has to get stronger. Rather than overcoming something or learning something, he just, gets physically stronger as the plot goes on.
Like. The real reason people were upset about Deku getting six quirks out of nowhere wasn’t because it was a power boost. Main characters get weird power boosts all the time that’s just how it is. It’s because Deku’s character is only ever progressed by getting random power boosts. They don’t feel earned.
Compare what Deku did: Have a deram.To what Shigaraki did: Spent two months homeless in the woods fighting Gigantomachia. Went to rescue his friend against an entire city of people. Opened up about his past and his motivation to his friends earning Spinner’s loyalty. Went one on one with a hulk. Had a mental breakdown in the middle of a fight, and THEN remembered all of his past memories and decided his desire was that he wanted to be free from the shackles of his trauma.
Nothing changed about Deku, he just got stronger because the plot needed him to be. There’s nothing wrong with Deku as a main character, but that’s exactly the problem. Deku’s not really about anything,. Deku at the start of the manga, and now is pretty much the same character but with a power upgrade. Deku’s “saving people” often comes off as just punching a bad guy because Deku never confronts the bad sides of society, he’s a total fanboy of the system. Whereas Shigaraki saves people by giving people who are victims of the system but won’t be saved by heroes, a home, and an emotional connection.
Deku has moments where he reaches out to other people too, but it almost always involves some kind of punching because he’s a shonen protagonist. That’s ultimately why a more unlikable character can come off as likable, Shigaraki’s not a protagonist or anything, he’s just a character.
195 notes
·
View notes
Text
The loss of heroes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Definitions
PTSD-. (is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
D.I.D- “a mental disorder characterized by the maintenance of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states.”
P.P.D- (depression suffered by a mother following childbirth, typically arising from the combination of hormonal changes, psychological adjustment to motherhood, and fatigue.)
Depression-Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems
Schizophrenia- schizophrenia (a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally. Schizophrenia may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling).
Hallucinations- perception of objects with no reality usually arising from disorder of the nervous system
Conventions-A convention, in the sense of a meeting, is a gathering of individuals who meet at an arranged place and time in order to discuss or engage in some common interest. Valkyrior- Within the context of Marvel's shared universe, the Valkyrior is a group of female warriors led by Brunnhilde / Valkyrie that was originally designated by Odin to bring the souls of slain heroes to Valhalla.
God Khonshu- Khonsu (Ancient Egyptian: ḫnsw; also transliterated Chonsu, Khensu, Khons, Chons or Khonshu) is the Ancient Egyptian god of the Moon.
Inertia- a tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged.
Iron man’s addiction- alcoholism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hero a person who saves others. What about the kids who don’t have their hero. What about the kids whose hero was iron man, captain America, Thor, hulk, people like that? Our heroes are gone and we don’t have hope anymore. People say it's all going to be ok, we’ll be ok but what about when we lost all hope. What about those of us whose heroes we remembered as the creations of stan lee. Imagine the silence that has echoed for almost two years and it is still here. It’s not going away. The yelling of the depressed scared kids comes across deafened ears. Our pain fills our ears, mouths, and brains its overriding everything we’ve got left.
Young people now barely past 23 still choke on the mornings of a certain September day. Seeing a corrupt country that still somewhat loved its country shattered to its bones. Broken-down voicemails of a man giving up his right to a family. People staring out windows as a pair of buildings seen as a CenterPoint of a nation crumbles to ash and death stung the air.
Kids shaking in fear as another child points a gun at them. Their last moments in a place that swore it would protect them. Their heads screaming a blissful cry of fear at finally not having to fear this moment again. Yet crying out for someone like their own ‘friendly neighborhood Spiderman’ to come and save them.
So many of us thinking maybe just maybe if ‘so and so heroes’ were real maybe things would be better. Maybe if they were, daddy/ mommy would’ve made it home because they could’ve stopped the fire, the crash, the shooting. Maybe if they were real we could go to conventions and have them give us another reason to smile.
Our generations need so many heroes, heroes like Valkyrie who shows strength in not only being a beautiful woman of color, a leader of the Valkyrior, and a woman who is on the LGBT spectrum. We need heroes some like Deadpool who talk people from jumping off buildings those who remind us we might not be great people but we can change and better ourselves. We need heroes like Moonlight, wonder woman, or Daredevil each of these three has different illnesses I will do a quick explanation of their illnesses, but we need heroes like this who remind us and tell us that it is ok. That even heroes aren’t perfect they are ‘human’ in so many cases.
Moonlight who is a male character who supposedly was given powers to him by an ancient Egyptian God Khonshu. He has been depicted as having D.I.D. He has also been shown hallucinating to the point that in certain comics even the reader becomes confused: Did he ever even have powers in the first place? What is he truly experiencing? There is cases wherein extreme fear of situations he takes on other personalities for long periods. His most notable secondary persona is Jake Lockley. Some even theorizing he may have a form of schizophrenia.
Wonder woman is a non-human who has a human appearance. She experiences a few mental illnesses although compared to some heroes they seem to lackluster and nonserious. Yet although hers are less than painful than some that does not mean they aren’t important just rather a different type. One said illness a very common one in heroes P.T.S.D. For her she had been living her life believing one thing only to find a large portion of the place the memories took place in being false. This and a mix of other things she has experienced sent her into a level of shock which sent her into a catatonic state. She would experience things such as hallucinations of a snake that came out of her arm and would talk to her. (Do not do what she did to help hers see a therapist for help if you can.) She ended up as much as some with an illness like P.T.S.D can she cured herself by doing a form of self-exploration.
Daredevil is a different character. His mental illness isn’t his only illness though. Matthew Murdock is a blind lawyer. He is an extremely interesting character being born from a poor family. His mother started experiencing P.P.D. This led to her attacking matt as young age her husband jack stopped the attack in turn she left and joined a covenant in which later on would meet and connect back with matt. The more important part of that is rather that he could inherit depression. Later on, in his life this mattering on which version his dad who was a boxer would be killed for not throwing a fight. Either being a gymnast/Boxer as a child or be taught by the character stick. Either way, he would at some point lose his sight from trying to save a man from a chemical spill. This would aide in his fighting ability because of his enhanced senses. Yet as with many superheroes’ death plagued him like his own shadow. His two lovers both killed by a very common villain named kingpin. Depression would become an illness he is constantly fighting. A section a comic would show in a set of three panels of his fist seeming to push through a thick layer of a gelatin-like substance that didn’t want to bend. This representing the battle against depression the words accompanying this would hit home for many. “Get up you have momentum now, don’t let the shadows pull you back in. Inertia is the enemy; do something, move. Move Matthew”
This is not to say generations raging back long before D.C. was even an idea didn’t need heroes. Yet rather than their issues were different not to say they didn’t deserve them. Those times didn’t have them and then seemingly losing them. Logically they probably did posters for survival and fighting spirit but they could see and hold the hope themselves without needing to hear things like this to believe they were safe…
“I am iron man” and think that he will protect me even through a screen or comic book page.
“I could do this all day” Imagining him using his shield to protect you from bullets physical and metaphorical.
“With great power comes great responsibility” Knowing that he’ll catch you as you fall into your depressive episodes.
“Odin’s beard!” Knowing that although he could be doing other things there were those with powers to hurt yet use them to help
“Excelsior!” That no matter what there will be hope and there will be those willing to save you in the darkest times.
Now “I am iron man” echoes in pained breaths. “I could do this all day” feels more like a mock of how hard our lives trying to break us down. “Odin’s beard!” Feels like lightning piercing the heart knowing it may never sing out its call again. “Excelsior!” Now there’s an emptiness it licks at the ears, eyes, brain, and heart and it feels like it will never refill.
The face of hope seems stripped away now as a series of movies and characters have finally waved a long-awaited farewell. Wolverine said goodbye as time has gone on the x-men series slowly seemed to lose its tact yet there was always a joy knowing there was a mix of different people keeping us all safe.
Iron man gave his most graceful goodbye, and now his addiction seems more appealing so there’s still a connection. America placed his shield away and watched his sunset, now fighting so that way someone is protecting others seems kind. Thor laughed booming and it echoes trying to claw anything close enough to that joy one last time.
Memories of our heroes will always be here leaving an aching in the lungs.
24 notes
·
View notes
Text
Did you see JESSICA DREW from MARVEL walking around Limbo? The CISFEMALE looks like ALICIA VIKANDER, and is NINETY SEVEN years old. I’ve heard she can be VIRTUOUS & WITTY but also COCKSURE & REACTIVE. When I think of them I think of HELPING THE INNOCENT BY HOSPITALIZING THE GUILTY, RAISING SPIDER-BABY, THE GREATEST QUIPS OF ALL TIME BITCHCAKES. They’ve been here WITHOUT their memories as an PI & FIGHTER at BAKER STREET INVESTIGATIONS & UNDERGROUND FIGHT CLUB for SIX MONTHS. I heard they’re seeking a sanctum.
// whew. jess has a history™. it's long af and spans nearly a century so im not gonna go into crazy detail, but it's still lengthy. and i'm also gonna modify just a bit to fit in with the mcu for plotting reasons and stuff. if you don’t really care about her full history then there’s some bullet points toward the bottom.
she was born in england in 1924 and brought as a small child to the transia (it's a small, fictional slavic country) where her father was conducting research. unfortunately due to her being a small child, she contracted uranium poisoning from her father's work and had to be placed in a cryogenic chamber and treated with radiation and a highly experimental serum derived from the blood/genes of various species of spider.
she spent decades in stasis, educated subliminally with special tapes. when she was finally awakened she had only aged into her early teens, but she'd developed superhuman abilities.
grew up, moved away, met a dude, fell in love, then accidentally killed him with her powers. so yeah that kinda torments her still to this day. well, when she still remembered it anyway.
got recruited into hydra who she was led to believe were the good guys, had her memories suppressed, was told the high evolutionary basically a "god" figure, idek evolved her from a spider into a human woman, had an agent pretend to fall in love with her, etc etc. basically got gaslit and brainwashed into becoming a high ranking member until she was put out on a field assignment and told to assassinate nick fury. during the mission he told her what hydra really was and she dropped their asses.
got her memories back from mordred the mystic, then lived in a shitty apartment in london for a while. ended up breaking into a convenience store across the street at one point to get some food, but got noticed by shield agent jerry hunt who pretty much hounded her until she dyed her hair and created a secret identity to hide from him
did the hero thing for a while, moved to l.a., dated jerry, became a bounty hunter, moved to san francisco, became a p.i., superhero'd some more, met carol danvers 😍
went on a mission to finally take down longtime archenemy morgan le fay, and did so, but not before some morgan did some magic shit and separated her soul from her body ?? so she goes to the sorcerer magnus and has him cast a spell to make everyone who ever met her forget she existed.
not long later she was found and revived by two hero pals, breaking the spell, but she was left comatose. dr strange gets involved, abra cadabra, jess ain't a cadava'. but she is however, powerless.
continued working as a p.i. until an encounter with the new spider-woman mattie franklin somehow restored her powers, which came back slowly and were very unstable. meets jessica jones, accidentally zaps tf out of her, then works with her to save the new spider-woman.
eventually struck a deal with hydra to spy within shield so she could get her powers back but the skrull queen veranke was behind it and manipulating her so she could learn to perfectly impersonate jessica. jess ended up held captive for two years aboard a skrull spaceship while veranke took her place.
she and the rest of the captives got saved but because of the havoc veranke wreaked, she didn't exactly receive a warm welcome back.
spent some time rebuilding her reputation until she was invited to join the avengers (for avengers 1 in the mcu, let's say). they did some good work and she eventually fell for clint/hawkeye. they dated a while but things went sideways when he cheated on her (but obvs that's subject to change depending on who picks him up, just leaving that in for now bc it seems kinda noteworthy).
skipping comic spider-verse stuff bc how does that work with the rp, idek.
left the avengers after that and mostly stayed out of their business so she wasn't around for ultron or civil war and instead got back to her roots with some good ol fashioned p.i. work. may have crossed paths with the defenders and other street level heroes during this period.
then of course, came the snap. jess was one of the ones that vanished. using this instead of her death during secret wars in the comics. when everyone came back she joined all the others to fight thanos and damn right she was part of that moment with all the female heroes like she should have fucking been irl.
when things settled down after y'know, dying, she realized that she wanted to be a mother and raise a child, and almost never got that chance. instead of waiting, she got herself artificially inseminated. which was good too tbh because like, look at her luck with men and imagine getting stuck in one of those relationships she'd been in so far. way better off doing it on her own smh
got invited to an alpha flight maternity ward by her captain marvel but when she went there it ended up getting overrun by skrulls and being super fucking pregnant she called carol for help, but the maternity ward was apparently in a black hole?? bc ofc it was lol. so jess protected all the women there, had an emergency c-section to give birth to her son gerry, then popped right off the table to finish kicking skrull ass. carol got there just in time for jess to collapse into her arms after the fight. headcanon — there was always a crush there but this was the moment jess fell hard.
had a liiittle teensy falling out with carol tho so she ended up kissing roger gocking/porcupine right in front of her during a battle that ended up repairing their friendship. then she went on to have a party announcing she and roger were dating but lbr she did most of this sub/consciously hoping to get a rise out of carol. but her spider-baby ended up crawling out a window and roger was the one to find and save him and there were some actual feelings there too, so. complicated. she kind of distanced herself from everything else to focus on p.i. work and raising her son.
not much later, jess realized her radiation immunity was gone and her powers were killing her, so she had roger take gerry to an upstate farm in case her condition could potentially harm her son, then set out on the search for a cure. that search of course, leading her to limbo city, nevada.
upon her arrival however, her memories quickly started to fade and by the time she woke up the next morning she had no specific recollection of memories. just innate and instinctive knowledge like her emotions toward people she was familiar with, emotional trauma that manifests mostly in her dreams, maternal instincts/yearning, her abilities both physical and learned, her interests and likes/dislikes, etc. things that come naturally to her, for the most part.
interestingly though, the town’s magic seems to have cured her??
gonna say she speaks english, romanian, german, hungarian, symkarian, russian, bulgarian, polish and spanish fluently, and knows a bit about a number of other languages.
incredibly intelligent, she is after all the daughter of a genius, raised among scientists conducting research, and her knowledge/intelligence was only maximized by her stasis education tapes.
exudes a high concentration of pheromones that can attract or repulse people, to put it simply. and ignore the original heteronormative connotations bc women aren't typically the ones she wants to repulse, and men arent always the ones she wants to attract. it's difficult to control but she learned over the years. even now without her memories she has innate control over it, but if she manages to work up a sweat (which isn't all that easy for her tbh) or misses a shower or two, well… it's gonna kick in.
she probably can't do it anymore in limbo because she can't remember how, but with her pheromones she learned to control them so well she was able to elicit fear, anxiety, attraction, hatred, pleasure, etc. and even used them to convince the hulk to make her a sandwich once.
fucking loves butter. she's been known to eat the stuff straight up. and a lot of it. lucky thing she has a spider-metabolism.
hc: she loves making puns, especially spider related ones. she also likes to annoy her spider-friends by spider-throwing the word spider in front of everything though it's obviously a joke, unlike in her cartoon where im pretty sure she was dead serious lol
hates rats. so much. she will tear down a whole skrull army but if one shapeshifts into a rat it's over okay, she already lost.
allergic to flerkens. which is great for visiting her bestie/crush, and her pet flerken chewie.
still has her suit but hasn’t worn it yet in limbo. she found it under her bed a couple days after “waking up” in limbo but put it right back because she figured it was probably some weird sex thing and maybe wasn’t even hers so, gross, yknow?
#jessica drew.#limbchq: intro#jessica drew ( intro ).#death tw#gaslighting tw#captivity tw#pregnancy tw#i've come to love her so much in a short time
0 notes