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kikithefox231 · 1 year

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About me!

Hey! Call me Kiki or Amaryllis! I mainly scream about animation and cartoons here! :D ☆ Status:

Despite the horrors, I stay filled with whimsy! You can pry the whimsy from my COLD. DEAD. PAWS. :3

─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ─── Separate about page ─── ⋅ ∙ ∘ ☽ ༓ ☾ ∘ ⋅ ⋅ ───

⋆｡° ✩ More info ✩ °｡⋆

Fandoms: (Bolded + Italicised are the one's I am screaming and crying over right now) Amphibia ✮ The Owl House ✮ Svtfoe ✮ Gravity Falls ✮ Miraculous Ladybug ✮ The Dragon Prince ✮ She-Ra (Reboot) ✮ Ducktales (Reboot) ✮ Pokemon ✮ Over the Garden Wall ✮ Infinity Train ✮ Glitch Techs ✮ Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts ✮ Phineas and Ferb ✮ Milo Murphy's Law ✮ MLP ✮ Warrior Cats ✮ Your Name ✮ Weathering with You ✮ Suzume ✮ HTTYD ✮ Your Lie In April ✮ Exu ✮ Critical Role c3 ✮ Wolfwalkers ✮ Aggretsuko ✮ Genshin Impact ✮ Honkai Star Rail ✮ Animal Crossing ✮ Neko Atsume ✮ Spiderverse ✮ Murder Drones ✮ Nisekoi ✮ Nimona ✮ Zootopia ✮ Sonic Franchise ✮ Littlest Pet Shop ✮ Keeper of the Lost Cities ✮ Tamako Love Story ✮ Spy x family ✮ Percy Jackson and the Olympians ✮ One Stormy Night ✮

The Blorbos ever!!! Marcy Wu ✦ Star Butterfly ✦ Fluttershy ✦ Starlight Glimmer ✦ Cinnamoroll ✦ Willow Park ✦ Miko Kubota ✦ Jesse Cosay ✦ Lake ✦ Hazel ✦ Rayla ✦ Marinette Dupain Cheng ✦ Adrien Agreste ✦ Robyn Goodfellowe ✦ Mebh Óg MacTíre ✦ Leafpool ✦ Hollyleaf ✦ Yae Miko ✦ Sucrose ✦ Lady ✦ Webby Vanderquack ✦ Della Duck ✦ Fearne Calloway ✦ Goldie ✦ Gwen Stacy ✦ Serial Designation N ✦ Chitoge Kirisaki ✦ Miles "Tails" Prower ✦ Amy Rose ✦ Zoe Trent ✦ Penny Ling ✦ Coco Pommel ✦ March 7th ✦ Firefly ✦ Robin ✦ Bailu ✦ Huohuo ✦ Anya Froyer ✦ Mabel Pines ✦ Dipper Pines ✦ Pacifica Northwest ✦ Mei ✦

Characters that are me fr fr:

Fluttershy ⟡ Star Butterfly ⟡ Marcy Wu ⟡ Huo Huo ⟡ Miko Kubota

Socials: AO3 ✧ Amarylily YT ✧ Amaryllis Spotify ✧ Kikithefox Amphibia Sideblog ✧ brb-crying-over-amphibia ML Sideblog ✧ chaton-et-buguinette Glitch Techs Sideblog ✧ glitches-and-techs Svtfoe incorrect quotes blog ✧ incorrectstarvs A Miles a Day blog ✧ a-miles-a-day Hubris Bracket Blog ✧ hubrisbracket Art insp blog (warning: not tagged for mild gore, religion, flashing lights, and etc.) ✧ kiki-screams-abt-art

Tags I Track: #fav - favorite posts/posts I want to find later #my stuff #kiki stuff - both used for tracking my original content #kiki rambles - for stuff where I talk a lot in the notes #tagged - for tracking stuff I'm tagged in #Important!!! - important posts (feel free to block since they will contain topics like mental health and real world news) #funnies - posts that made me laugh #ive been personally attacked - what it says on the tin lol #thanks for asking! - for asks answered by me #thanks for answering! - for asks sent by me #bee bestie <3 - starting to use this tag for posts where I'm tagged by @mell0bee or mention bee bc there's so much and I wanna save them 🥺 Ultimate fav posts! ✪ Amphibia Trio Playlists ✪ Amity’s TRUE Hair Color!!1!1! ✪ PARTNER IN CRINGE!!! ✪ One of the most insane posts on this website (affectionate) ✪ HE'S SO CUTE SHUT UUUUP (picture of Georgia) ✪ Follow your dreams ✪ Leafpool request (spoiler: got kissed on the forehead 🥺🥺🥺) ✪ Princess Joe (of USA) ✪ "i appreciate the (extremely cursed) bee bee." ✪ polyamorous power move ✪ happy robotnik slaughter saturday everybody ✪ IT FINALLY MAKES SENSE TO ME ✪ it's okay fish. don't let this get you down. you are all of you. ✪ AROACE AND TRANS SONIC REAL?????? (NOT CLICKBAIT) ✪ Everything is canon. ✪ cant be mentally ill in PEACE!!! *sobs* ✪ last book that made you cry ✪ disney romcom (on a VERY evil and fucked up train) ✪ LGBT bar so good it made someone gay <3 good for them <3 ✪ POLY PLS ✪ Happy birthday Grimace! *fuckin dies* ✪ y’all are always finding new ways to make fossils fuels. ✪ Bill better sleep with one eye open lmao ✪ CONGRATS ON THE DIVORCE!!! ✪ "AND NOW YOUR BODY SHAMING!!!" ✪ POLY SHIPPING!!!!!! ✪ ALYAGAMI SUNSET FANART IM GONNA GO CRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAAAAGH!!!!! ✪ GO MILO GOOO!!! ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ ✪ (updating soon!)

Likes and Dislikes! ♡ Tea ♡ one-liners that cause me to break down immediately ♡ Extremely specific aus catered to me directly ♡ amvs ♡ Alt/indie music ✘ Confrontation ✘ Heavy gore ✘ Waking up early ✘ Horror movies ✘ Fermented Black Beans

Hobbies!

⟡ Traditional + digital art ⟡ graphic design ⟡ writing ⟡ singing ⟡ sowing

⟡ video editing

⟡ crying over fictional characters

Personal: ✿ I get socially anxious easily so I will try my best to communicate how I feel but just fyi in case! ✿ My memory is horrible so feel free to remind me of something if needed! ✿ I forgot to say this but I’m Asian GAKHSKSJ I’m Taiwanese and Chinese! I can understand and say basic mandarin but I don’t know how to read or write it sadly 😔 one day!!! ✿ I have ADHD so please be nice :’) I’m trying my best

Extras: ❀ I don't mind being tagged in things if we are mutuals! If you're not sure just ask me in advance! ❀ feel free to ask for me to use tone tags or tag trigger warnings for posts! If you'd like me to ID a post let me know! ❀ spam liking/reblogging is welcome! ^^ ❀ feel free to ask my a question! I am not guaranteed to answer it if I feel uncomfortable with it, however! ❀ fun fact: this URL is my animal jam username from ages ago lol ❀ I got called a donut once???

DNI List Please don't interact with me if you post: -nsfw -heavy gore -do not tag triggers -cp -extreme horror

⋆｡˚ credits: purple city divider ⟡ moon dividers

#kiki stuff #tw moving image #about me #cw gif

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starkwillendurestone · 4 years

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Thanks 4 the tag, @satanvincent

Rules: Answer 30 questions and tag 20 blogs you want to know better.

1. Name/Nicknames: Will

2. Gender: M

3. Star Sign: I’m a Cancer, bby

4. Height: 5′8″

5. Time: 11:37pm

6. Birthday: July 12

7. Favourite Band: I really only listen to female pop stars.

8. Favourite Solo Artist: Probably Carly Rae Jepsen

9. Song Stuck in My Head: I literally cannot get Miley Cyrus’ cover of “Doll Parts” out of my head.

10. Last Movie: I FR don’t know the last time I watched a movie. Probably “God’s Own Country” or “Moonlight”

11. Last Show: I am exclusively watching Critical Role these days.

12. When I Created This Blog: November 2010.

13. What I Post: Memes, D&D, personal shit

14. Last Thing I Googled: "Countries bombed by the United States since WWII”

15. Other Blogs: I have a few personal blog URLs saved.

16. Do I get asks?: Haven’t been called a fag in a bit, y’all slipping.

17. Why I Chose My URL: Sansa Stark is my favorite fictional character and she will endure being Alayne Stone.

18. Following: Hm

19. Followers: Not enough

20. Average Hours of Sleep: Around 7.

21. Lucky Number: 8

22. Instruments: Unfortunately, I have no talent.

23. What I Am Wearing: PJs and a tourist shirt

24. Dream Job: I dream of the day I can survive in the un*ted states as a waiter. It was so fun and stressfree.

25. Dream Trip: I just find Iceland to be beautiful and I’d love to see it.

26. Favourite Food: God I love Mexican

27. Nationality: United states.

28. Favourite Song: It really rotates between CRJ & Lorde.

29. Last Book I Read: LOL The Song of Achilles.

30. Top 3 fictional universes I would love to live in: All fictional universes are terrible? that’s kinda the point. they’re in conflict?

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smireyac · 4 years

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fuck this year man u dont even get cute emojis in the title this time

so lemme just start by saying fuck 2020

now that we’re on the same page, lets get into it

so i dont have to explain all the reasons why this year sucked bc u just need to google 2020 and there will be a million reasons why it was TOTAL FUCKING GARBAGE...... usually when so many people collectively say a year sucked ass, i can be like “oh it wasnt *all* bad for me, personally” haha not this year!!!

its super fucking depressing to look at how hopeful and positive i was about 2020 a year ago..... ofc there was no way for me to have known it would all go to shit but i still really appreciate the tone i had set... reading over the previous reflections and seeing how harsh and negative i was @ myself made the softness of last years post super refreshing....

now i said i dont *have* to explain all the ways 2020 was shitty, but i am gonna explain the biggest reason this year was shitty for me, personally..... it might seem really small in comparison to the ways 2020 was shitty as a whole on like a global scale? but really the biggest reason 2020 sucked ass was i didnt get to really hang out with any of my friends in real life for 9 out of the 12 months of the year.... and really it was like the first week of march that shit hit the fan so like really it was only 2 months that we got to see each other....... if u rmbr p much every previous retrospective post ive made, there was a big emphasis on friends..... ive come to realize that im actually a very *extra*verted person??? despite my overall shyness and homebody attitude, i would always choose to hang out with people over being alone so stay-at-home orders FUCKING SUCKED??? when we all thought it would be over in a couple weeks, maybe a month it was fine?? hey its a good time to draw or catch up on that reading and/or writing i said i was gonna do maybe even start learning to drive?? it’ll be no big deal THEN it wasn’t over in a month and it wasnt gonna BE over anytime soon and no one important was doing anything about it and its an election year and black lives have always mattered and yet everything is so uncertain and

[inhale]

[exhale]

this year was..... a lot...... too much in fact

in 2018, i had said that i watched vox’s video on the year in 5 mins and cried... if i watched this year in five minutes, i dont think i would be able to breathe......

SO instead of making myself CRY..... lets try to think about any GOOD things that happened and think about what we can do to make 2021 good for ourselves:

GOOD THINGS THAT HAPPENED:

-i *didn’t* lose my job!! sad that so many others cannot say the same but im trying to make myself feel *better* not WORSE so i got to keep my job and i actually work more hours than before so!!

-i actually *did* learn to drive this year!!!! and im pretty good at it??? for someone that just started this year anyway?? i probably *would* have my DRIVER’S LICENSE right now if it weren’t for a surge in cases in a certain STATE that i happen to live in......... but w/e its fine i get more time to practice and im ~~**DEFINITELY**~~ going pass my test and get my license ~whenever it is that i can reschedule my dmv appt~

lmfao its so funny that last year, i was absolutely *dreading* learning to drive but i so fucking get why everyone was like ‘you need to learn how to drive’ i legit love it so much???? ive always been a car person but that was like purely for the aesthetic but now that i can drive im just....... WOOOW this really is what freedom feels like.... like ik that public transportation is amazing and i will always champion it but nothing beats being purely in control of your destination.... i also wanted to buy myself a car for my birthday even tho i couldnt really drive yet but then sien had to fix smthg on her car and it was EXPENSIVE AF and my mom was like “u dont need to buy a car yet” so i put the brakes [haha] on that... but soon... once i get my license,,, then i will have u my love................. so with that being “my most serious goal of 2020″ im glad i did it

-i was one of lucky ones and got unemployment when i couldn’t work so i have a lot of money saved in the bank??? pls no one steal my identity i wanna use that money to buy myself a car and/or for when we move out 🤞🤞 we’ll just have to wait and seeeeee....................

-i had mentioned playing dnd last year too and thats been going STRONG as hell thank goodness....... we couldnt keep playing in person but when we moved it to online, not only did we actually get to hang out a lot more, we made more friends??? introduced new people to the group?? its so good and in fact probably the only thing that kept me even a little bit sane this year......

-this is more of an honorable mention than an accomplishment but im this 🤏close to catching up with critical role and thats partially thanks to the pandemic lmao sooooo ???

aaaaaaand thats p much it lol i didnt really accomplish any of my other goals bc reasons................. but!!! as cliche as it sounds, with a light at the end of the tunnel, im confident that i can turn that all around this year.... so if 2016 was the year of change, 2017 was the year of getting used to shit, 2018 was the year of getting *too* used to shit and 2019 ended up being the year of friends, 2020 was the year of absolute shit and it doesn’t fucking count....... i learned a lot this year, biggest lesson of all is that life is short and if i were to have died at any point last year, what the fuck would i have to show for it??? so usually i end up giving a theme or name to a year after its done but this time im determined to make 2021 into what i want it to be SO i am declaring this year, the year of our lord 2021, the year of new experiences!!!! what the fuck does that mean you ask? well ill tell you!!! im gonna try new things this year!! make a very pointed effort to do things outside my comfort zone?? and for my goals this year, im going back to my old way of making a huge list of stuff u wanna do and seeing how much i can actuallly accomplish!! now i said theres a light but we really dont know when all this shit will end and life will go “bAcK tO nOrMaL” so whos to say ill get to accomplish any of it? at the same time, there are plenty of stuff on the list that i can do within the pandemic set parameters so!! lets see this list!!

2021 GOALS:

[check boxes bc there is no plain box emoji lmao]

☑️ read new books!! i’ll keep last years goal bc i didnt meet it and i have good reads now which tells me i just need to read 1.5 books a month to reach that goal!! huzzah!

☑️ watch new shows and new movies b4 u end up watching shit you’ve already seen a million times... i bought an old planner for 2020 instead of 2021 by accident but i hope it will help keep track of the movies/shows along with the books too!

☑️ listen to new music!! this years spotify wrapped was garbo it only had like 3 albums and a bunch of other shit i always listen to so i gotta fix that lmfao

☑️ write new stories!! i am comforted by the shit ive been writing for the past like 7 years but if my screenplay class taught me anything its that there are a lot of stories to tell and i got so many ideas floating around in this noggin!! instead of an arbitrary word count, why dont i say write idk 3 new stories, start to finish, in whatever medium idc screenplay, short story, comic, twine WHATEVER!! do it!

☑️ eat new food!! lmao this one seems the most silly to me but ive never had indian food, ive never had [not really anyway] korean food, i want to find new restaurants and eat new food!!! yum!

☑️ go on a road trip!!

☑️ visit some place ive never been before!!

☑️ go on a hike??

☑️ go to mexico again

☑️ ride a scary rollercoaster you previously wouldnt have

☑️ go to a club

☑️ get silly drunk fr

☑️ FUCK IT go on dates!! self date friend dates sister date cousin dates R- Romantic... dates ??? FUCK IT!!! YEAH!! DATE ALL UP IN THIS BITCH!!

☑️ learn to use blender

☑️ animate something

☑️ make a big painting

☑️ cosplay ???? AHH

☑️ learn to roller skate lmao u bought the skates and were so excited for them!!

☑️ go somewhere SUPER DARK and go see some real stars!!!!

☑️ and to top it all off, throw the airbnb house party that we’ve been talking about for MONTHS lmao

hmmmm,, i think thats a good enough list for now ?? another thing i wanted to accomplish.... that im scared to speak into existence bc then i cant back out of doing it...........and it doesnt align with the whole “new” spirit of 2021 but.......... i want to like start making apartments for rent????? like i want to have something of it to show by, if not the 8th anniversary then by the end of the year HHUFF THERE I SAID IT......... no turning back now..........

alright its almost midnight on.... whats this? its already jan. 1st??? lmao yeah fuck it i didnt keep up with anything i normally did this year who cares i made up the rules i can break them too lol

so yeah

we’ll see what this year brings us,,,,

hoo boy

#omg i talk #happy new year

0 notes

hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 8 years

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Once upon a time a certain big name within the Spider-Man fandom spoke upon issue #500 and how it wasn’t a good issue, specifically talking about the ending involving Uncle Ben and how it was ‘banal’.

This is my rebuttal to that.

First lets look at the scene in question and give a little context. It’s Spider-Man’s birthday and he’s spent his time on a trip through his life.

He’s seen a possible future where his identity has been compromised, where he’s wanted by the law and where he is ultimately killed in a last stand with the authorities. Then he’s witnessed his origin as a teenager and had to essentially sporadically hop to random points along his timeline in order to get back to where he started and avert a demonic invasion.

In typical Spider-Man fashion the moments of his life he finds himself returning to are far from pleasant ones as he finds himself in the midst of his battles with various foes, or trapped under machinery in Doc Ock’s underwater base, or even at the Brooklyn Bridge trying and again failing to save Gwen Stacy.

All of this is courtesy of Doctor Strange who inspires Spider-Man to keep on fighting after the latter incident.

And when I say he has to keep fighting...I mean he has to do all of this:

Bad ass.

Anyway by the end of the issue Spider-Man opens up a box from Doctor Strange with a note saying he has just five minutes. And its a doozy!

Okay so the main points of contention from this particular Spider-Man fan, when commenting on this issue, boiled down to:

1) This was underwhelming for a 500th issue of a historic title, with ASM #600 being better on that front

2) It’s almost like another Doctor Strange story because Spider-Man is up against Dormammu and Doctor Strange is involved

3) You expect a big ass battle, perhaps with all of his villains as the cover depicted

4) You never feel like its a personal enough story for Spider-Man because its cluttered with other stuff

5) The conversation between Peter and Uncle Ben is banal and says nothing of importance, not addressing Peter’s role in Ben’s death. Particularly this Spider-Man fan notes how if his father was alive again their conversation would be a lot more substantial.

So let’s address these criticisms one by one.

1) This was underwhelming for a 500th issue of a historic title.

I don’t entirely disagree with this.

For a $3.50 comic book in 2004 that was almost (despite the cover’s claim to the contrary) double length the story was mostly just a clipshow. For an issue which is a milestone amongst milestones (being halfway to issue #1000) something more seismic should’ve been in order. As was though the issue was something of a clipshow comic book which isn’t really acceptable when you consider other centennial Spider-Man issues have had stuff like a rematch between Spidey and the Burglar, the death of Harry Osborn, the death of Aunt May or even in ASM #700’s case a big status quo shift. Okay it was shifting into a bad status quo but that’s not my point.

My point is a centennial issue should carry weight to it. it should either be the culmination of something or the beginning of something that’d matter going forward. ASM #500 was the end of a three issue arc that had only one consequence thereafter, the setting up of another short arc involving Loki. Really the story was fairly skippable which for a centennial issue isn’t good enough.

However that being said the story should be evaluated unto itself and not just on the basis of how it marks a milestone.

2) It’s almost like another Doctor Strange story because Spider-Man is up against Dormammu and Doctor Strange is involved

Arguably, this point might be true of the three part story overall. However it is not true of ASM #500 in isolation.

Yes the main impetus is to stop Dormammu and yes Doctor Strange is involved and the one sending Spider-Man on his journey down memory lane.

However they are nothing more than the excuses to get the story going. The story being a highlighting of Spider-Man’s struggles, the cost of the costume and how Peter feels about that at the end of the day.

That’s what the story is really about and it’s not only squarely based on Peter but it is also most definitely by it’s introspective nature a Spider-Man story.

Really Dormammu and Doctor Strange could’ve been switched out for Doctor Doom and Reed Richards and it would’ve amounted to the same thing. Stopping Dormammu is the destination Doctor Strange is the vehicle getting us to that destination but the story is about the guy in that vehicle and his journey to reach that destination and what he feels about the journey once it is over.

3) You expect a big ass battle, perhaps with all of his villains as the cover depicted

We got that. See the splash page above. More poignantly seeing Spider-Man be thrown into all of his old battles at random with little respite and endlessly fight and fight and fight some more, triumphing over each of them and getting back home to help save the whole damn world is a pretty big feat of Spider-Man’s strength and willpower. It’s yet another ‘lift the wreckage off your back’ moment but done differently.

4) You never feel like its a personal enough story for Spider-Man because its cluttered with other stuff

See my rebuttal to point 2) and also take another look at those conversations I posted between Peter and Doctor Strange and Peter and Uncle Ben, not to mention these scenes.

This isn’t personal?

Also amongst the 38 pages of this issue do you know how many feature the Mindless Ones, Dormammu or none Spider-Man characters (exempting instances like the Juggernaut) and have mostly not been about Spider-Man’s main personal journey in the story? 7 tops. And two of those was setting up the mechanics of the story to allow Spider-Man to return to his own timeline.

So the story is cluttered by all those things being in...less than 19% of the story? So...egregiously less than even ¼ of the overall story?

Okay.

This is probably my biggest bone to pick for various reasons because it speaks to frankly looking at the story far too superficially and also allowing personal life stuff to cloud your judgement. And also because, as you will hear me repeat going forward, this scene was ingenious.

First of all let’s get a little messy here and talk about the commenter and their father. I do not know the commenter very well and know even less of their father. But I do not need to in order to make my point because it is incredibly basic and obvious.

The commenter isn’t Spider-Man, their father wasn’t like Uncle Ben and their relationship with one another wasn’t like Peter and Ben’s.

I know this because

a) No one in real life is like Spider-Man or Uncle Ben

b) No one’s life experiences is like Spider-Man’s, not even police officers who have maybe the closest equivalent to Spider-Man’s life (and from what I know of the commenter they have never been a police officer)

c) No two people are identical on this earth in their personalities which by definition means no two people’s relationship will be identical to any other two people’s relationship. Especially when it comes to a relationship between a parent and child which is about as personal as you could get.

All of which renders the criticism that they would’ve said something different or more substantial to their briefly resurrected father entirely invalid.

Frankly, anyone seeking to truly analyze the scene or critique it should not be asking what THEY would’ve done in Peter’s position and instead be asking what made sense for Peter in the context of his life, personality and history would do. And at the same time what BEN would’ve done, something the commenter entirely neglected.

Which is in fact the real genius of the scene. It flips the script quite a bit to instead of having Peter seek a lot of answers from Ben, it actually shows us that Ben has somethings he wants to ask Peter.

Which is ingenious because after 40+ years we are entirely aware that Peter misses uncle Ben and wants to see him again. But the scene in ASM #500 makes the point that actually Ben would miss Peter too and would need to get a certain amount of closure from him, which I will get into a bit more shortly.

I think if Uncle Ben returned we’d all expect Peter to want to confess and ask Ben for forgiveness for his part in Ben’s death. And the thing is...he did that, or rather he tried too. Because JMS opted to take things a step further. He had Peter begin to ask Ben for forgiveness and for Ben to cut him off before specifics were said.

Which is again ingenious. Let’s be real here, based upon everything we’ve ever known about Uncle Ben (and putting aside how the Ben in this story clearly is aware he’s dead), he’d obviously forgive his nephew for his lack of action when he was 15 years old, especially in light of all he’s done since.

What JMS did was subvert that expectation and have Ben not forgive Peter, but go so far as to say that he doesn’t even consider what Peter did as something his nephew needs forgiveness for, not from him anyway. In one stroke Ben conveys to Peter and the reader that Peter is not atoned for his original sin but rather he never needed that atonement in the first place. Which had writers really paid attention, should have ended any BS guilt tripping Peter visited upon himself going forward when you think about it.

So off the top the issue not only addresses one of the major points of discussion everyone would’ve envisioned for this sort of scenario.

In fact, really as far as Peter is concerned what else is there really to talk about with Ben?

Remember by all accounts Peter and Ben had a very positive and fulfilling parent/child relationship. Peter and Ben’s last interaction wasn’t an argumentative or negative one from what we know. So there is no ‘unfinished business’ left to settle between them like there was between Harry and Norman when either of them were depicted to have died.

What else does Peter, within the mere five minutes he has with Uncle Ben, really got to say to his Uncle? Especially when you consider from his experiences with this stuff Ben is probably able to know or observe the stuff that goes on in Peter’s life. Like Peter really doesn’t have to tell Ben he’s married, or that he’s a teacher or even that he’s Spider-Man.

What else from a storytelling perspective does the specific character of Peter Parker (not you, me, the commenter or anyone else) need to say to Ben once the issue of his guilt over his death has been addressed? The answer is nothing really, at least nothing that we the readers really need to see him saying.

Returning to what I said above, JMS further subverts the expectations in this scenario by having Ben be the one who asks the questions. Cleverly though the focus is still on Peter. Ben is shown to be the one with concern for his son but in asking the questions we get to examine Peter.

Now this is not only brilliant for the reasons I’ve outlines, but because it is also touchingly realistic despite the fantastical scenario.

Whilst there are some shitty parents out there, most parents love their children, regard them as the most important things in their life and make their well-being their top priority.

In this issue we have a man who was the adoptive father of this kid who involuntarily had to leave his son when he was just 15 and still in need of parental guidance as he grew up. Now for a mere 5 minutes he gets the chance to see his son again when he’s all grown up. Even ignoring how he’s literally dead, Ben’s window of opportunity to raise and shape Peter, his son, closed a long time ago.

So instead (as discussed above) he does assuages Peter’s concerns and proceeds to do what frankly MOST parents in that situation would do. He seeks reassurance. Not for Peter’s sake but for his own.

He asks Peter two questions, the first of which boils down to

Have you tried to live a meaningful life?

Now granted Peter somewhat lies in his answer because when Ben asks if he ever walked away from what he believed ‘even once’ he says he never has when ASM #50 and ASM #100 alone are proof that that isn’t true. But then again earlier on Ben did comment that we all stumble and I suppose when you get right down to it, it’s more important that Peter kept coming back to his responsibilities as Spider-Man than the fact that on occasion he walked away from it for, at most, like a few months.

So Peter’s life is reaffirmed as one of meaning, which is a poignant question for a parent to have answered of their child. And also a poignant one for anyone to have to dig deep and answer of themselves as Peter did in that moment.

However it is not as poignant as Ben’s second question, one which goes to the heart of essentially every human being who’s ever lived.

Are you happy?

Let me break that down for you a little bit.

Uncle Ben is a man who never got to finish his job as a parent to his son Peter and never got to see the specifics of how his life unfolded.

Now in a very brief window of time he has the chance to find out first hand from his fully grown son if his efforts as a parent paid off.

And more pressingly he has the opportunity to know the thing virtually EVERY parent across the planet and all time has wanted to know.

Is my child happy?

Is the person whom I love more than anyone in my life or in the whole world, the person whom I can’t help anymore after years of trying to help them, are they happy?

Can I go back to where I came from, where I can’t see them or interact with them, with my mind at ease knowing that they are okay?

This is an entirely realistic thing for Ben to ask and something that fans probably considered a Hell of a lot less than Peter’s side of the scenario.

But the real brilliance of the scene is not in the fact that Ben as a parent would ask the question. But that it makes Peter ask it of himself.

Keep in mind the context of the scene.

Peter has just relived his life, or rather all the crazy super hero parts of it, i.e. the parts which have caused the most pain and problems in his life. The parts which do mostly amount to violence that’s gotten under his skin and threatened to break him. The parts which he has recently learned might possibly lead him down a dark path where he is falsely accused of a crime and killed by the very forces of justice he’s striven to help throughout his career.

And now Uncle Ben, his father, the man who’s death set him down that path which has cost him so much, the man whom miraculously he can see again for a mere five minutes and whom he would deny almost nothing to is asking him this question. The same question which, if you take a look back above, Doctor Strange was hinting at.

And it’s a question I think we’ve all asked of ourselves at one point or another. Hell you could go so far as to say it’s a question which hits right at the heart of life itself.

And in this milestone issue set on the anniversary of his very birth, Peter Parker tells the one man he could never lie to (and by extension the readers as a whole) that...yes.

Actually, despite all his suffering and talk of the ‘Parker Luck’, he feels he is very lucky and ultimately happy.

And that my friends is why the commenter was so very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very wrong in his assessment of this scene being unimportant and banal.

How on Earth could a scene which forces Spider-Man to take a hard look at his life, a life which he’s just revisited the worst highlights of, a life which has been published across 40+ years, and emerge saying that he is deep down happy and content, be meaningless?

How could it be anything even resembling banal?

That my friends is why for all it’s flaws and despite maybe not being enough of a milestone, Amazing Spider-Man #500 is most definitely a GOOD Spider-Man comic.

#Spider-Man #Peter Parker #uncle ben #ben parker #marvel #marvel comics #Doctor Strange #stephen strange #Dormammu #mindless ones #j michael straczynski

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