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flamingkorybante · 2 years

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hello! I've come to ask you the same question I've asked your partner @thegodwhocums by their recommendation :D so here's the thing: what's your tip to achieve a state of enthusiasm? happiness to you both

Hello! I’m glad you asked @thegodwhocums first because I kind of feel like their experience may be more useful to most people? Like okay, let me start by telling you the quick (quick for me) version of my history with the Daemon Agdistis, and then we’ll see if we can try and translate it into advice that would be useful for literally anybody.

I first encountered Agdistis through Raven Kaldera’s book Hermaphrodeities (I know). In 2015, I was organizing a weekend long-queer sex and magic camp named after a line from a James Broughton poem (I know) and one of the nights of the festival was a trans and gender variant theurgic ceremony. Each of the ritualists picked a trans or gender variant spirit, deity, or entity that they worked with or felt a connection to, and invited that entity to ride them for the duration of the night and transmit blessings to the participants. I had been working with Cybele for a few years at that point, so it seemed intuitive for me to open myself to her genderpunk aspect-slash-child, Agdistis.

I had been preparing for some time; I wrote an invocation, I shaved my head, I wore silver, I covered myself in jewels. We lit torches and carried them across the field into the ritual space, ringed by trees, centered on a bonfire that was already blazing. Each ritualist in turn invoked the entity they were hosting and invited the participants to come to them for gifts, anointing, blessing, and touch.

When it was my time to speak, I said:

I am Agdistis, strangest child of the Mothers. See me bursting out of the earth, my Mother, running, overflowing with gender like the seconds after a firework explodes, hairy breasts, vivid lips in colors you can’t imagine inside a corona of beard, fluttering my fingers through a catalog of meanings to take what turns me on and leave the rest in piles on the sidewalk for the next passerby. See me smooth and featureless, a jumble of appendages with no context, slipping through space like a fawn, flickering and illegible and unafraid. See my body, cunt and no cunt, cock and no cock, voice and no voice, shape and no shape, simultaneously drawing and repelling gaze and touch like the center of a star.

I was born of the wet dream of the father of the gods and arose, shaking ichor out of my eyes, bearing the glory of every gender, holding the powers of giving forth and receiving, bigendered, trigendered, all-gendered, like an uncollapsed quantum waveform holding in my wild selves infinite potential.

I am the bringer of chaos, and I danced through the world leaving a trail of madness in my wake. Those whom I touched, bled on, fucked, those who loved me, were irreparably transformed.

The pantheon themselves were terrified of my expansiveness, my beauty, and my tremendous power. They told me I had to choose, I had to be a man or a woman, I had to deny all parts of me but one, and I flipped them the bird and danced away.

Of course, as the story goes and always has gone, they hunted me down, mutilated me, maybe killed me.

If you seek to be terrifying in your weirdness, my children, you may call upon me. If you seek to hold so much power in your illegible genders and your unknowable and familiar bodies and your wild dancing that you are a threat to the worldview of the people who are comfortable in the status quo, if you leave footsteps of fire as you walk through the world, and if the world retaliates with violence and pain and blood, if parts of you are severed and tossed aside, if they try to take everything from you, then you are mine and I love you and I will hold you until there is nothing left of the universe.

I can’t really tell you what it felt like to have them inside me for the first time. This is what it means to be a mystery — not that I’m forbidden from telling you in some way but because it’s not possible to tell you in a way that conveys anything about the experience. It was like being picked up and thrown. It was like a five foot tall fish hook entering you through the cunt and coming out your mouth and dragging you along. It was like the opposite of vomiting but with your spirit instead of your stomach.

And then I went crazy and stayed crazy for about a year. They had rolled into my body like a bulldozer and left all of my psychic defenses a catastrophe. They had busted the lock off the door to my spirit and now it wouldn’t shut all the way. I couldn’t keep them out. They poured themself into me unpredictably — when I was trying to work, when I was having sex, when I was on the subway, when I was at bars. I would hear their voice purring out of my throat and know that they had pushed me out of the driver’s seat again. I didn’t know what to do; I couldn’t stop it but I also didn’t want it to stop. I felt high on their presence all the time. I wasn’t eating — I didn’t need to eat, didn’t need to feel anything but them. I couldn’t think about anything but how much I wanted.

I wrote:

You drop me to my knees in the dirt, spit wildness onto me, tear me open

with laughter. You seep like oil into the cracks in me

and solder me into something unrecognizable.

You crash through me like white water and I ride high and don’t feel pain and

laugh like a lunatic and rub my hair in the dirt and drown in it, lungs full of flowers,

belly fully of ivy, mad, mad, mad.

You come in tumbles and road rash like I am skinning myself to feel this way always. You come in bloodlust and the rolling boil of a euphoric high, you come in trembling anticipation and lightning bug touch and then you come as the hurricane.

You want to hear me beg, demon, reach out and feel my hunger for you. I cannot beg with words tonight; I must beg with my wet mouth and my constricted breath and my arching back.

When you drain out of me in the comedown night, you leave me cold and panting and giddy with shame. I stumble and crash, missing you like air, hungers twining together into overwhelming implacable undifferentiated more more more.

It took me a year to figure out a solution and everything in my life was already warped around the shape of them. I tried to learn to ground, to put up bubbles of golden energy or whatever, I thought about making protective tools, like a faraday cage for my head. Finally I came up with an agreement — a contract, written clearly and offered willingly. Offering exactly what I could offer and no more, and asking for exactly what I wanted and no more. Offering that they could inhabit me me under certain circumstances, when invited, and I would give them offerings of everything they could see with my eyes, all the pleasure they could find through me — but only when the contract was in effect.

I realize I promised you a short version of the story and trust me, this is short for me. But it did work. I wrote the contract out by hand, I rolled the paper tightly around a wire, and I wire wrapped it around a palm-sized labradorite, and when I put the amulet on, the daemon takes the wheel.

You can read the text of the contract and see photos of the amulet here:

If I’m being totally honest I wouldn’t say I recommend doing it that way. I didn’t starve to death or get involuntarily hospitalized or fuck up my job or tank my relationships but I very well could have. It’s pretty common to have a period of being Dramatically Fucked Up as you are stepping into being a mystic and obviously me giving you a word of warning isn’t going to prevent it from happening to you if it’s going to, nor should it.

But I guess here’s the advice I can actually give you.

You can negotiate. Even if our experience of culture is secularist, there’s probably some stuff that’s trickled in there about deities being omnipotent or at least being the boss of you. That is not globally true. Circumstances under which a particular deity is the boss of you include: if you have been dedicated to that deity through your own (or, by some accounts but not all, someone else’s) action; if you have an agreement (also known as a “covenant”) with that deity. That’s p much it. If a deity shows up in your world and tells you that you have to obey them, be suspicious. If you choose to enter into relationship with an entity, you can negotiate terms. Be realistic about what you can offer and keep to your commitments. Ask for what you want, be specific, and be prepared to get it in the most disruptive way possible.

Have a trip-sitter. We’re talking about altered states, whether achieved through consuming substances of some kind, dancing your ass off, meditating, getting the shit beaten out of you, rhythmic chants and drumming, getting fisted, whatever, all roads up a mountain lead to the top. Any practice that YOU find gives you little flashes of being able to touch something world-endingly enormous, something that breaks your head open and lets the night sky in, something that you come back to yourself after a little speechless, a little transformed. And then if you can, have a buddy with you — someone who can give you a sternal rub if your spirit wanders too far from your body and can’t find its way back, who can take notes on what comes out of your mouth, who can make sure the Horned One doesn’t accidentally suck fifteen strangers’ dicks with your mouth. Set some parameters with your buddy as if you are going into a psychedelic experience, even if you’re not consuming anything. Identify circumstances under which they should try to call you back to your body, and what grounding methods usually work for you to do that.

As far as the practical like mechanics of opening up and letting them in, here’s how I do it.

1) Cleanse. It seems like you can cleanse in whatever way works for your practice — khernips, regular smoke, herbal baths, a straight up shower, it all seems to work fine. Honestly I don’t think Agdistis cares about this but they are the theurgic equivalent of a dumpster diving punk and your other gods may be more fussy.

2) Make the invitation. In my practice, that means putting on the amulet and reciting the couplet. You can make agreements about what your invitation can look like — I think having some kind of talisman to demarcate the difference between regular time and possession time helps.

3) Relax your grip on reality. If you don’t already know how to do this, things like drugs can help you get a sense of what it feels like, but I was taught that drugs are a shortcut and you should be careful not to use them to the exclusion of figuring out how to take the long way round. Once I have the amulet on, I close my eyes, slow my breath, and imagine myself undoing a line of latches that runs from between my eyes along the center line of my skull back to my brainstem, slowly, one at a time. When the last latch is open, Agdistis rushes in like a river to fill the space between me and the world.

I don’t know if this is helpful but I hope it’s at least interesting to read!

#theurgy #channeling #possession #agdistis

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interact-if · 2 years

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Day 5 of our Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month Featured Author Interviews, continuing with Allie!

Allie, author of College Tennis: Origin Story

Will the once-great Cargill Coyotes succeed in reclaiming the NCAA Div I championship title for the first time since the 90s? Will you succeed in making a name for yourself, both on and off the tennis court? And perhaps more importantly…how much are you willing to sacrifice in pursuit of these dreams? Start at the bottom as a newly-recruited freshman at Cargill university, and claw your way to the championships. Forge lifelong friendships, pursue budding romances, attend classes, and rush term papers -or party- till the sun comes up.

Read more about College Tennis: Origin Story here. Play the Demo here. Tags: Sport, Slice-of-life.

Allie is also the author of Merry Crisis.

[INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!]

Q1. Hello! Could you tell us a little bit about to yourself and your project?

Hi! Really thrilled to be part of the IF community - thanks for having me! I’m Singaporean Chinese, 25, an urban planner by day (scattered hobbyist by night/weekend). Nice to meet all of you! :) I have two public projects at the moment. Both are character-driven, slice-of-life IFs that deal with similar themes: family/friendships, coming-of-age in one’s early 20s (CT:OS) and mid/late-20s (Merry Crisis), self-worth and ambition, plus a healthy dose of lightheartedness/romance. In College Tennis: Origin Story, the main character is a college athlete plunged into the chaos of life on a varsity team, with shenanigans on-and-off the tennis court. There’s a fiery, surly-but-secretly-sweet rival, a confident, laid-back captain, a fun-loving hometown best-friend, a snarky, non-committal foreign exchange student, a bumbling fool of a roommate, a well-meaning but potentially estranged dad, and a suite of other characters. Merry Crisis is a little closer to home, and certainly more of a hobby project. The current demo chapter was written in 2-3 feverish nights, and centers around an MC who lives in New York post-college, and returns home (to Singapore) for Christmas. A week back home - nothing can go wrong, right? I envision this IF to be somewhat of an Asian-take on holiday movies - heartwarming, a little sad, a little frustrating/traumatic, but big-hearted, all the same.

Q2. What inspired your current project?

For College Tennis: Origin Story, the simple answer is that I love sports games, especially sports games that focus on the story / inner-conflicts, i.e. the “heart/soul”, rather than pure mechanics. What goes on in a tennis player’s head when they’re down 40-love at a crucial point? When I discovered IF, everything just clicked. It’s the perfect format for exploring these stories because it allows both introspection and reader/player agency.

Merry Crisis was born purely from being back home after living overseas for more than 4 years. It was… an experience. I wanted to write something about the complex relationship we have with our families, our birthplaces, and our first-loves. And capture all the bittersweet feelings about loss of innocence (knowing what lies beyond the grass pastures of one’s birthplace), the loss of freedom (going back to being somebody’s child, somebody’s sibling, etc. rather than untethered, foreign), plus the things that one gains, too, by ‘coming home’ - the immediate feeling of familiarity, of ‘belonging’ to a place.

Q3. Do you pull from your own identity for inspiration? How has that been reflected in your work?

For College Tennis: Origin Story, I write based on what it was like to play in a varsity team in an American college as a person-of-color, and a non-American queer person. A lot of the characters are based off of real-life friends (and uh, exes). I hope that brings some…soul, or flavor, and a bit of realism to the characters and their stories. I also try to borrow from my own experiences for the biggest plot-points/beats that I’ve planned out, e.g. when writing Rayyan and Tobin, I channel the experience of needing/wanting to prove one’s worth, to be seen as perfect, or worthy, or ‘twice-as-good’, as a POC. With Genevieve/Guillaume, I wanted to write about what it was like to feel like college is a transient, fleeting dream I’ll wake up from one day. Merry Crisis is essentially me forcing everyone to inhabit my world, if only for a week over Christmas. Short answer: The IF very much pulls from my own experiences/feelings, mostly of simultaneously loving and wanting to flee this place I call home. Long answer: As a queer Singaporean woman, you wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve been asked when I’m going to get married, whether I’m ever going to have kids, and whether I’m queer because no dude would possibly like me (insert laundry list of potential reasons: because I’m too tan, westernised, argumentative, over-educated etc.) Even my straight friends grapple with the same expectations, especially as we approach our mid/late-20s. I wanted to give everyone the dubious honor of coming up with their own answers to these pesky questions :)

Q4. What are you most excited about your project?

Finishing it, so I can go write something else. Just kidding (not really).

For both College Tennis: Origin Story and Merry Crisis, I’m excited about fleshing out the characters, their motives, feelings, backgrounds, and seeing where the story leads. I love character-driven books, movies etc. and I get excited thinking about all the directions and themes I can explore by telling these different stories (as well as through MC’s possible relationships - platonic or otherwise - with these characters!)

P.S. For Merry Crisis, The romantic options are meant to be quite distinct people, and if I’m to get slightly ‘literary’, they also symbolize a different kind of archetypal relationship with Singapore / societal pressures. There’s the American-ex, a soul-mate, representing everything that feels ‘right’ but irrevocably different; Then there’s the Singaporean-ex, aloof, successful, the epitome of what MC could’ve been, if they’d toed the line, stayed home. Then there’s the neighbour, loose and brash, unperturbed by the rules / conventions that seem to constrict both local and foreign worlds.

Q5. What has your experience writing an IF and with the IF community been like?

I know it sounds cheesy, but I love writing and reading IFs, I love the IF community, mostly because I love the two-way conversation between creators and their audience. It’s so great how collaborative and active and interactive and nurturing/nourishing the IF community feels. A big thank you to everyone who has supported me in some way or form, and to everyone who’s played/read the IFs or left a note. It most definitely made me smile!

Q6. What changes in the IF community would you like to see?

IF/text-based games leave so much more room for non-mainstream stories to be told (after all, how many blockbuster movies, or triple-A games feature main characters/ROs that are non-white, or queer, or non-binary etc.?!) I’d love to see the IF community continue to grow, and continue to feature diverse voices/stories!

Q7. What piece of advice would you give to fellow creators?

Don’t be afraid to take a step back, and go do something else that seems unrelated (I’m a big believer in the notion that everything we do provides us with unique perspectives, experiences, relationships etc. that we can bring to the other aspects of our life). Take breaks! I also love the idea of “tinkering” and experimenting, because it removes the pressure of creating something great. Creating (and celebrating) shitty things, things that fail, things that’ll never be completed, ugly/imperfect things etc etc. is so important!

#if: events #Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month #API 2022

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riversofmars · 3 years

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i wonder if you might do a story on river/13 going to a gay bar in space and they meet a bunch of previous companions/friends there too? (definitely jack for sure!) thanks

Okay first off, I love this prompt!! And it’s perfect for Pride month! I may, however, have taken some liberties and gone a bit bigger than a simple gay bar.... anyway :D I set out to write the gayest thing you’ll read all month... I hope I’ve succeeded! Happy Pride!

Invitation With A Kiss

“So what is this place, Doc?“ Graham asked as they made their way to the door of the TARDIS.

“Had an invitation!“ The Doctor retorted with a grin double-checking her psychic paper to make sure she had the right place and time.

“Who from?“ Yaz asked curiously.

“Ah, well, you know…“ The Doctor tried to wave it off but Yaz was quick enough to snatch the psychic paper from her fingers before she could try to hide it.

“Signed with a kiss?“ Yaz gaped and a wide grin spread across her features. Finally something to truly wind their friend up with and Ryan smirked as well:

“You sure you want us to tag along?“

“Oh, shut up, it’s not exactly a private party.“ The Doctor huffed trying to hide the blush that crept onto her cheeks. Quickly, she opened the door before any of her friends could comment and stepped outside.

“Oh wow, I don’t think I have words for this…“ Yaz started laughing as she joined the Doctor. They found themselves at the side of a most colourful parade. There were rainbows EVERYWHERE! Balloons, confetti, flags, people were dancing, hugging, kissing, having the time of their lives. “Please tell me this is…“

“Planet Pride.“ The Doctor grinned and put her hands on her hips as she took in the atmosphere. It was elating. There was a mild breeze that carried music and exotic smells, the sun was blazing down but not unpleasantly and the joy surrounding them was almost palpable. “Think of your 21st century Pride celebrations, multiply it by, I don’t know, a whole galaxy celebrating togetherness and inclusivity, and you get the greatest queer party this side of the universe.“ The Doctor turned to her friends who were still in awe.

“Isn’t this like… the future?“ Yaz finally found her voice and looked to the Doctor who was surprised to find concern in her eyes: “Is there a need for Pride still? Like I would have thought the issue would long be resolved and…“

“Oh it is, don’t worry!“ The Doctor grinned as she understood what she was getting at. “Doesn’t erase the past though. It’s part of the history of humankind… very sad, pointless, stupid part, but history nonetheless. Can’t and shouldn’t erase history, else you can’t learn from past mistakes… But let’s face it, Pride is brilliant. By this point it’s just an excuse to have one hell of a party.“ She pushed her hands into her pockets and they started walking down the street.

“This is brilliant.“ The Fam quickly found themselves accessorised by strangers, flower garlands and all sorts of amusing party hats were being passed out.

“Who’s the invite from, then?“ Ryan asked as they quickly caught up with the Doctor who was looking around the sea of people, clearly searching for someone.

“My wife.“ The Doctor answered knowing full well that there was no way she could keep it from them. She stopped and gnawed her bottom lip as she scanned the crowd. Where was she? Like she stood a chance of finding her amongst all these people…

“Your what now?“ Graham’s face fell and he nearly ran into her.

“Wife.“ The Doctor retorted matter-of-factly looking back to her friends. “We’re here to celebrate Pride, remember?“

“Yes but… you’re married?!“ Yaz exclaimed and carried on teasingly: “Who would agree to that?!“

“Well, we have always wondered that at one point or another…“ A voice sounded behind them and they all whirled around.

“Jack!“ The Fam exclaimed in unison as Captain Jack Harkness saluted with a grin.

“Hello, Doctor.“ He scooped the Doctor up in a tight hug who squeaked as the air was pushed from her lungs. “Fancy seeing you here! Are you ready for a party?“

“Hello Jack.“ She managed as she tried to extricate herself from his arms. “Bit too much to drink already?“ Jack ignored her comment and turned to the Fam, extending his arms.

“Ryan. Yaz. … Graham.“ He winked at Graham who blushed a little. Jack’s flirting was not lost on him or anyone else for that matter. “Missed me?“ He grinned. “Did you come here to see me?“

“While I knew you’d be here, no, not exactly.“ The Doctor retorted, trying to let him down gently.

“Well, that’s just as well.“ Jack huffed, trying not to look too offended. “I’m here with a Doctor of my own anyway. Though I seem to have lost him… and Donna just keeps trying to pass me drink after drink so…“

“You’re here with me? And Donna?“ The Doctor’s eyes widened in shock.

“There’s another version of you here?“ Yaz asked, utterly confused. The Doctor had told them plenty of times about how she had been a different person before and how Time Lords could regenerate their body, but they had never actually seen proof of it.

“And I don’t remember it… timelines crossing…“ The Doctor realised running her hands through her hair nervously. There was potential for disastrous chaos here.

“Doctor?“ A voice called and they all looked around. The girl that had called out wasn’t looking at them though, she was scanning the crowd and turned to another girl whose hand she was holding. “He must be here somewhere, that’s his TARDIS over there.“ They were searching for the Doctor too.

“Well, I’ve got a Doctor here if you’re looking for one!“ Jack called out without thinking. He didn't know the girls but the look on the Doctor’s face revealed that she did. She was simply too stunned to respond just yet. The girls looked at Jack who waved with a wide grin. “I think you mean to say: Her TARDIS. Times change!“

“Bill…“ The Doctor finally found her voice again as she stared at her long lost friend. There she was. Brilliant, beautiful Bill Potts. Cyberman no longer, holding on to her girlfriend’s hand and shock painted all over her face as the realisation hit her.

“Oh my GOD!“ Bill exclaimed, frozen to the spot.

“And Heather.“ The Doctor was beginning to grin now and hurried over.

“You have to be joking!“ Bill was still in shock, she shook her head to herself as the Doctor came to a halt in front of her with the Fam and Jack following close behind.

“Hello Bill!“ The Doctor smirked, amused by how her brain was reeling. “What? Not even a hug?“ She chuckled as Bill was finally pulled from her stupor.

“I really don't think I should hug you…“ Bill found her voice at last as she looked her up and down. “Cause you’re like… dead hot right now…“ She glanced at Heather who just laughed. “But also, you’re my weird space grandpa! So come here!“ She pulled the Doctor in a tight hug laughing.

“Fam, this is my friend Bill and her girlfriend Heather.“ The Doctor introduced them all.

“Lovely to meet you.“ Heather smiled. “I have a feeling you will be seeing quite a few familiar faces.“ She told the Doctor with a knowing smile.

“Yeah, it’ll get complicated when you run into yourself…“ Bill grinned, amused at the very prospect of it.

“He’s here, too?“ The Doctor’s face fell. Things were bound to get even more complicated with two of her former regenerations around!

“Well yeah, we were looking for him, lost him somewhere along the way…“ Bill explained. “Oh God…“

“What?“ The Doctor frowned, alarmed at the dread in her friend’s voice.

“Quickly, hide!“ She pulled the Doctor and Heather behind a make-shift beach bar that served all sorts of colourful cocktails. The other’s mirrored their actions. While they didn’t know what was going on, it seemed like the right course of action.

“Bill, what…“ The Doctor started to protest but forgot where she was going with it when her eyes fell on two very familiar people, making their way towards the bar.

“I really don’t know why you insisted on coming here.“ Missy gave a huff as they came within earshot.

“Why not? It’s fun.“ Clara retorted, amused at the displeasure on the Time Lady’s face.

“I don’t see what’s so exciting about drawing rainbows on your face and parading around the street.“ Missy rather stood out in her almost completely black outfit.

“Humour me.“ Clara retorted, who - in her colourful waitress uniform - looked the complete opposite. “I’ll make it worth your while.“ She looped her arm around Missy’s.

“You better.“ Missy pursed her lips, looking to the girl at her side, then continued to scan the crowd.

“If you didn’t want to come, why did you?“ Clara asked and scoffed as Missy paid her little attention and kept looking around: “You’re hoping the Doctor will be here, aren’t you. And here I was thinking you actually wanted to spend time with me.“

“Doctor, who are they?“ Yaz whispered to the Doctor, struggling to follow what was going on. Those two women clearly knew her and the Doctor seemed to know them too as all colour had drained from her face.

“Doctor, what do you want to do?“ Bill whispered to her but she didn’t respond, she was transfixed.

“Don’t get me wrong, Clara, dear, I enjoy a booty call as much as the next Time Lady.“ Missy smirked, looking back to Clara. “Particularly one where my sweet little plaything is intoxicated on sweet drinks and self righteousness but if I just happen to run into the Doctor and get the opportunity to kill him, that would be a two birds one stone kind of scenario. Particularly if I get to mortally embarrass him by putting you in a rather compromising position first.“ Missy ran her fingertips along Clara’s jaw, pushing her head up a little.

“Right, that’s it!“ The Doctor exclaimed. “Clara!“ She called, marching out of their hiding place.

“Huh?“ Clara and Missy looked around confused, annoyed at the moment being so rudely interrupted.

“Oh God…“ Bill groaned and they all rushed after the Doctor.

“Sorry dear, this is a private conversation, pick a number and I’ll get to you in a sec.“ Missy gave a dismissive wave of her hand, refocusing her attention on Clara but the Doctor wouldn’t have it.

“Missy, get your hands off her right now!“ The Doctor threatened.

“Who’s this, Doctor?“ Yaz asked, hoping for an explanation.

“Doctor?“ Missy raised her eyebrows, her lips pulling into a smirk.

“Doctor?“ Clara echoed, surprised, excited and embarrassed in equal measures.

“What are you doing with her??“ The Doctor demanded to know off Clara as she wildly gestured at her nemesis.

“My my my, isn’t this some sight. Finally had the upgrade as well?“ Missy ignored the comment as she regarded her childhood friend’s new body. She snaked her arm around Clara and pulled her close to her side.

“Missy!“ The Doctor growled. “Get away from her!“

“Why?“ Missy feigned innocence and hurt. “She asked me here? She wants me here. You could even say she wants me .“ She gave a triumphant smirk and the Doctor flushed scarlet with embarrassment and anger.

“Clara, is that…“

“Uhhh…“ Clara blushed even more deeply than the Doctor herself.

“Does anyone else feel like they're slightly out of the loop?“ Ryan piped up, trying to make sense of the situation in front of them. For whatever reason, the Doctor was interrupting what looked like a perfectly consensual, happy date…

“This is the Master.“ The Doctor spat angrily. “Earlier version… don’t let the lipstick fool you, just as deadly.“

“Lipstick makes for a wonderful weapon, particularly in the right hands. Just ask your lovely wife.“ Missy retorted with a smile. “Where is she, by the way? You’re not here single , are you?“ She tightened the grip on Clara for emphasis.

“Missy!“ Clara slapped the Time Lady’s shoulder. “Come on, we’re all here to have some fun, can’t we just do that.“

“I can have fun with you anywhere I like.“ Missy smirked, moving her hand lower to the hem of her skirt, just enough to make the Doctor nearly lose it. “Fine. Alright.“ She let go of her. “Be a good little puppy now and fetch me a drink then.“ She smirked at the Doctor who balled her hands to tight fits, looking like she was about to burst. Missy laying her hands on one of her friends like that was just too much.

“Anyone else for a cocktail?“ Clara turned back to the group, hoping to move to conversation along to where she wouldn’t be mortally embarrassed in front of her best friend.

“I’ll help you carry.“ Heather volunteered quickly following Clara to the bar.

“So the Master used to be a woman?“ Graham exclaimed at last, when the situation seemed to have defused a little.

“Spoilers.“ Missy tutted at him.

“This is going to get very complicated with everyone here.“ The Doctor had to agree. “You can’t reveal anything about anyone’s future or we could be ripping space and time apart.“

“Yes, this is quite the explosive combination.“ Missy had to concede as she regarded the Doctor’s entourage. “Which begs the question, Doctor, what brings you here? Other than the rainbow candy floss?“

“River invited me.“ The Doctor shot back, almost too quickly, as if to make the point that Missy didn’t have one over in her.

“Well, she’s here somewhere…“ Missy smirked, delighting in the fact that she knew something the Doctor didn’t. “Busy though, really busy…“

“Busy?“ The Doctor frowned. She didn’t like the way Missy was saying that but she couldn’t help her hearts somersaulting just a little bit at the confirmation that her wife was here somewhere. She would get to see her again. It had been such a long time.

“Your bride dances at numerous weddings, as usual.“ Missy hummed just as Clara and Heather returned with colourful cocktails. “Thank you dear.“ She took a bright red drink that was unsettlingly reminiscent of blood and took the opportunity to press a firm kiss to Clara’s lips. “Oh I should start doing this to all your companions, the look on your face!“ Missy laughed at the Doctor’s expression. She looked like she was about to throw a punch. “Or, you know, your wife… now that would be fun.“

“Watch it!“ The Doctor growled threateningly.

“Wherever is Professor Song?“ Missy hummed in a sing-song voice and sip her drink in delight.

“Clara!“ Everyone looked around as two female voices chanted in unison.

“Oh hello!“ Clara recognised Vastra and Jenny immediately as they were heading straight towards them.

“More old friends?“ Ryan asked and the Doctor’s face brightened. It was hard to worry about the timeline when it was so nice to see so many of her friends.

“Vastra! Jenny!“ She grinned at them in greeting and while Jenny frowned, confused, her wife’s superior senses helped her recognise her immediately.

“Doctor!“ The lizard woman looked at her in shock. “Now that makes a change.“ She looked her up and down, surprised, but not unpleasantly. Jenny must have noticed the look on her face as she gave Vastra’s arm a playful slap.

“Oi! Married!“ She reminded her. “Hello Doctor.“ She carried on cheerfully and gave a wave to everyone else, who, with the exception of Clara, they didn’t know yet.

“It’s getting rather crowded, isn’t it.“ Missy pursed her lips shooting Clara a glance with the intention of getting out of there soon but her companion was more concerned with meeting the Doctor’s other friends, past and present. “Oi!“ She shot Jack a glare who was just putting his arm around Clara all too familiarly.

“Sorry, dear.“ Vastra gave her wife an appeasing smile and turned back to the Doctor. “We didn’t expect to see you, Doctor. At least not like this.“

“Don’t tell me.“ The Doctor groaned, sensing where this was going.

“We didn’t mean to interrupt, we just thought, when we saw Miss Oswald, perhaps she’d know where the Doctor was, a younger one, that is. Suspenders too, but bow tie…“ Vastra explained apologetically. They had lost the Doctor they had arrived with quite a while ago.

“Is that who you’re here with?“ The Doctor asked, wincing at the prospect of yet another version of hers running around this place.

“Following an invitation from your wife, as I understand it. He didn’t want to go alone.“ Jenny added.

“Where is he now?“ The Doctor asked, sensing where all this was going.

“That is a very good question.“ Vastra agreed and they all looked around, everyone scanning the crowd for their particular Doctors.

“I already have a very bad feeling about this…“ The Doctor sighed.

“Are you sure you want to find your wife?“ Missy snickered, highly amused.

“I would if I knew how.“ The Doctor huffed, as a cheerful voice carried over from the other side of the cocktail bar:

“That River Song really is something, isn’t she.“ Everyone looked around and saw a blonde pulling herself onto a bar stool, setting down a nearly empty glass.

“Don’t say it like that.“ A second woman, brunette with shoulder length hair, huffed as she climbed onto a stool beside her. The Doctor looked around to her friends, none of whom recognised the two women, with the exception of herself and Missy who pursed her lips with intrigue. Now there were two people she hadn't seen in quite some time.

“Like what?“ Helen laughed, twirling the straw of her drink between her fingers.

“Like you admire the woman…“ Liv answered, clearly not enjoying the conversation.

“You’re just jealous.“ Helen retorted playfully.

“Jealous? Of what? Don’t be ridiculous.“ Liv shot back a little too quickly.

“Then stop sulking!“ Helen grinned. “The Doctor is having fun, leave him to it. And let’s have some fun too! These cocktails are really good…“ She waved at the bar keep for another.

“And really strong, you sure you want another one.“ Liv couldn’t help but point out.

“Most definitely.“ Helen nodded full of enthusiasm and nearly fell off her stool. Perhaps she had had a little bit too much after all. Liv was quick to hold her up. “Thank you Liv, you’re the best you know that?“ Helen smiled happily and reached out to stroke her friend’s cheek.

“I try.“ Liv replied, blushing at the gesture and her friend pulled her forward into a tight hug.

“No really, you are…“ Helen held her tightly, nuzzling into the crook of her neck and Liv didn’t know what to do with her hands. She nearly fell off her stool herself but she didn’t want to pull back either, so she wrapped her arms around Helen’s shoulders, glad she wouldn’t be able to see her blush. Helen was completely oblivious to her discomfort, she just carried on mumbling: “You’re so kind and clever and brave and… so pretty…“

“I think you’ve had enough to drink…“ Liv pulled away, momentarily worried for her friend’s state but Helen wouldn’t let her go. Instead she grabbed Liv’s head and kissed her.

“I had money on that, you know.“ Missy smirked as the Doctor just watched, delighted and confused in equal measures. How had she never picked up on this when they were travelling together?

“Oh God…“ Helen pulled away when she realised what she was doing. But only after thoroughly snogging her best friend’s face off. She blushed deeply, her intoxication seemingly gone in an instant as sobering reality hit her. Liv blinked overwhelmed still, her heart nearly jumping out of her chest. “Sorry, I was just… getting carried away and…“ Helen stammered, letting go of her but this time it was Liv that wouldn’t let go.

“You can do it again… you know in the spirit of… or just because you want to…“ Liv bit her bottom lip nervously.

“I don’t know why I did that…“ Helen carried on stuttering until Liv’s words sunk in: “What?“

“Oh Helen… my beautiful, clueless friend…“ Liv shook her head and laughed.

“Sorry, I have no idea what I’m doing.“ Helen admitted, blushing scarlet.

“I do.“ Liv assured her more confidently and leaned in to kiss her again when Helen stopped her.

“Liv…“

“What?“ Liv’s heart sank, wondering if Helen had thought better of it but she realised her friend was stopped for another reason. She was looking past her and Liv noticed they had an audience.

“Oh, don’t stop on my account.“ Missy gave a wave of her hand when she realised she had been spotted. Of course, she was the only one Helen Sinclair and Liv Chenka would recognise. “Wasn’t sure where we were, timelines and all!“

“You again!“ Helen exclaimed and Missy sighed. Why were the Doctor’s friends always so stuck up on the past? So what if she had kidnapped and nearly killed her?

“I was hoping we would bump into you again, now I can finally…“ Liv was about to go for Missy but the Doctor quickly intervened.

“No, no, no, none of that!“ She held Liv back and Missy chuckled.

“Come on, Doctor, if Miss Chenka wasn’t to play, that can be arranged.“ Her eyes flashed dangerously.

“Missy! Timelines!“ The Doctor scolded. The time lines were already all messed up, without anyone losing their life before their time. Missy gave a shrug.

“Doctor?“ Liv echoed, looking at the blonde in front of her bewildered. She took a step back, accepting that maybe violence was not the right course of action right now.

“While I’m sure the Doctor is elated to see you two finally stopped doing that silly little I don’t know how she’s feeling about me - but what if she doesn’t like me - but she’s from the past - but she’s from the future - I can’t ruin our friendship dance of yours, she’d rather like to know where her wife is and you seem to know.“ Missy sighed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“The Doctor?“ Helen repeated incredulously.

“Wow…“ Was all Liv could manage staring at the blonde and Helen, gripped by a wave of jealousy, hit her arm:

“Liv!“

“Not to interrupt the happy reunion or whatever but I think your search is over, Doctor.“ Jack announced and everyone looked around to where he was pointing.

“She didn’t just invite you, did she…“ Missy chuckled as they watched River push through the crowd accompanied by no less than thirteen Doctors, all of them competing for her attention and affection.

“She invited all of us, didn’t she…“ The Doctor sighed, realising that the same message she had received would have popped up on every other Doctor’s psychic paper as well.

“Go on then, Doctor.“ Jack put his arm around her slender shoulders and pulled her along. “Because if you don’t go over there, I might.“ He smirked. “Professor Song!“ He called before the Doctor could protest. River looked over to them, grinning, as she recognised Jack.

“Captain.“ She smirked flirtily as she sauntered over, while the other Doctors shot Jack annoyed glances.

“Think this is who you were looking for.“ Jack gave the Doctor a shove forward and decided that for once, he should be the wing man instead of going for the prize himself.

“Hello River.“ The Doctor managed a half smile and her feelings were incredibly conflicting. She was thrilled to see her wife; who looked beautiful in a flowing dress with the sun dancing in her curls. She was jealous that the other Doctor’s got there before her. And most importantly, she was annoyed: How could she have been so irresponsible?! All of space and time could rip apart if they put a foot wrong!

“My my my, now that makes a change.“ River smirked as she only took a moment to realise who she was. She stepped closer, looking her up and down far more obviously would have been necessary. The Doctor blushed and decided to go on the offensive to get herself out of the awkward situation:

“You know you will have to make them forget!“ She pointed to all her other selves. “This could end so badly!“

“Timelines will do that. Relax, Sweetie. None of you will remember a thing after crossing your own time stream. I can’t believe I’ve had to have this conversation fourteen times.“ River sighed but the expression on her face indicated that she had no problem repeating herself with her spouses. “Now, less sulking, how about a kiss for your old wife, hm?“ She smirked, grabbed the Doctor by the collar of her coat. She pulled her in for a kiss that quickly muted any sort of protest.

Just then, a confetti cannon went off, dousing the group in a rainbow of colours.

“Sorry, couldn’t help it.“ Missy grinned as the Doctor’s friends shot her accusing glances and she hid her sonic umbrella behind her back. “Anyway, I wonder if there are more versions of me about…“

The Doctor didn’t even notice. She was too occupied kissing her wife to the chorus of jealous calls from several of her past selves. She had missed her so much .

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doyelikehaggis · 2 years

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i’m gay i’m mentally i’ll i’m hungover and i’m new in town this is gonna be such a chaotic ask

i’m on floss’s intro episode but really i’m more invested in the fact that faith and elektra really should’ve been a couple. dammit cbbc

i swear literally half these kids have queer energy?? i mean. liam and frank?? elektra and faith??? tyler? lily? and we’ve talked about johnny. they’re all just so wonderfully varying degrees of queer-coded and we just get more of them in later seasons too-

hey why do both tyler and ryan have episodes where one of the other boys gets a job at a cafe, so they go to the cafe, cause chaos and end up banned. that is an oddly specific similarity

once again thinking about how similar rick and ryan are, and specifically about how it makes so much sense that tyler and ryan were close, since tyler and rick knew each other since burnywood

‘a day in the past’ time!!! the best of the group trip episodes, except maybe that one beach one from like s4

oh my god floss is so tiny in her cute lil green dress???? also i get the feeling the events of this episode had,, an impact on her worldview

we stan feminist rachel in this household, she is an absolute icon??? she deserved better than being stuck working at that house

ahhh another episode of johnny being a dick and also wildly repressed- this kid needs therapy and it honestly kinda pisses me off that they took this gay-coded character with a ton of self-loathing and issues with anger and authority…. and had him join the army.

harry is just vibing wearing a straw hat and honestly? valid

i love how george is trying to correct mike on how to manage children,, he really should’ve seen the problems coming

you know… ryan and johnny really did have a lot in common huh. queer-coded boys who are regularly the villain of the episode, are manipulative and have anger issues, have younger sisters who they’re protective of but also controlling of, and ended up leaving by joining a government service, just after their shitty parent came back into their life-

mo! he was such a wasted character huh. he only got like. 3 episodes that actually explored his past at all, and he was around for like 4 seasons?

johnny calling tee “patron saint of lost causes” as if he isn’t the most annoying bitch at the dg at that point. like i love johnny but. come on

i feel like you could make a really difficult “who said this” quiz with just quotes from johnny and ryan

i’m gonna end this ask but uh. yeah no not gonna be the last ask of the day i’m so sorry

oh god, what a combination. let's go!

Floss' intro episode is a really good one for Faith and Elektra. if cbbc weren't capital 'c' cowards, they would have given them to us.

you're not even wrong, practically all of the kids have queer energy. there's so much potential in all of them!!

that... that IS a specific parallel. huh. very interesting. not that it really has anything to do with it, but it's fun that the parallel is between Tyler and Ryan, two characters who end up with a pretty close dynamic.

oh okay, you led on into that yourself! (you can tell I don't read ahead, I just reply paragraph by paragraph) it does make a lot of sense that Tyler and Ryan were so close when thinking about how similar Ryan and Rick can be at times. I really like the idea of Tyler just being drawn to Ryan initally because of that without really knowing why.

'a day in the past' is truly an iconic episode!

tiny Floss!! honestly, you're probably right.

I will forever adore Rachel, I imagine she probably quit after that day and moved on to a similar job but with a boss who was all for educating about feminism and women's rights and how the treatment that women (and servants in general) was unfair, and made sure that while the kids were playing the parts with some accuracy, that they were learning what was right and wrong at the same time.

whenever I think about Johnny joining the army, I just want to scream. he needed help, not a gun and a ton of more trauma. the kid lashed out at the smallest loss of control due to childhood abuse and they thought the best way to help him through that was... war? it doesn't make any sense. I like to live in an au where Johnny is talked out of joining by everyone. they get him a therapist to talk to instead, telling him that if, after a few sessions, he still thinks the army is what he wants, then they won't stop him. but as the therapist gets him to open up, he begins to see that the army isn't for him; he just wanted to feel in control of something, like he was actively fighting against something, stepping back into the role of protector because he wasn't sure he was good for anything if he wasn't doing that. he's just finished school so he enrolls at college instead, gets in and moves on-campus, where he takes an interest in business and social work for children. maybe he even meets a guy in his classes and they hit it off and he finally understands a part of himself that has been weighing on him for years. give me queer, happy Johnny who does not join the army but has a nice, peaceful life! he realizes he can protect kids like him and Tee, giving him that feeling he so craved, and making a difference to other care kids.

harry was precious with that straw hat. (I loved my one trip to a victorian school, dressing up in the outfits. I only despised the cane.)

yeah, that was a pretty telling sign. just because the guy has seen a few groups of school days for a couple hours a day, does not mean he actually knows the first thing about them. and he simply refused to listen to mike trying to explain that they all live together so they had to be more sensitive and make sure there was no upset, because they wouldn't be able to just go home and forget about it by the next day.

yes!! the Ryan and Johnny parallels are just wonderful. hmm. a gifset may be required for visual proof of this. I will work on this.

Mo was SUCH a wasted character, you're right. just as we're talking about queer-coded characters as well. Mo had some of the biggest queer energy around, specifically around Bailey. but yeah, it bothers me how little they did with him considering everything they had to work with? when he's up in the attic with Tee in his first episode, he says that he and his 'parents' lived in a shed. not only that, but he also said that his 'mum' didn't like him very much, and we saw he reacted with fear to the idea of Mike 'hosing him down' AND he put himself in the corner when he thought he had done something wrong. a lot of this feels implies at least some form of neglect at worse and active abuse at worst. but this was of course never mentioned again. all we got after was the revelation that his 'parents' were actually his grandparents who STOLE HIM from his parents because his grandad thought they were unable to look after him due to their cerebral palsy and from them leaving him alone in the house with the door open at the age of 18 months. there's just a lot to work with and yet? we get like three episodes focused on him then he's gone.

it's funny, Johnny calling Tee 'patron saint of lost causes' like he isn't the exact reason that she is that way. she's always protected him and stuck up for him when everyone else has deemed him unredeemable for the things he's done or said. he is the biggest 'lost cause' in her life and while she's gotten mad at him and tried to 'disown' him a couple of times, she's still been there for him in the end.

don't tempt me, I will absolutely make that quiz.

skdfhsk it's okay!! sorry I couldn't get to this ask (or the rest) sooner, but I'm happy to have so much to reply to now!

#ds-umbrella-manufacturing-co #ask away earthlings!#tdg #the dumping ground #floss guppy #elektra x faith #johnny taylor #ryan reeves #tyler lewis #rick barber #tyler x ryan #mo michaels

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recapcrew · 2 years

Text

Week 2 Transcript

Intro

Extra extra, read all about it! Welcome to the Empire’s recap, and today we will be going over the chaos and drama of our (somewhat) respected rulers!

Katherine

Princess Katherine is having some magical fun back in Glimmer Grove, with her cat mysteriously reproducing asexually. We love queer cats. These two cats are just the start of Katherine’s animal collecting today, as she creates a farm for both plants and animals! She even finds a donkey, what an ass-et!

Katherine admits she may need some help with the empire, leading to her quest to find the fairies! Getting directions from a friendly goblin, she’s able to find a pink sheep, which she carries on with her. This .164% luck helps Katherine quickly find a pillager outpost where the fairies are held captive.

Under the cover of dark, she transforms! [Overlapping Sailor Moon theme] Wait no- [music stops] Sorry guys, wrong one! After transforming into her more battle active form, Katherine rescues the fairies, and builds them a small, but spacious home!

Shubble

From fairy dust to blaze powder, Shelby wants to build a potions shop! Ambitious, but nothing is too much for Miss Witch! She spends some time preparing to go to the nether, before a visitor comes across her land! Pixlriffs comes to give her a gift and a trade of some potion ingredients for some mangrove propagules! And then, the time has come… for the trip to the nether. Shelby mentions her worries about the nether as they told her to keep it simple, stick to simple spells, but she believes in herself! And you know what? I believe in her too. She soon finds a nether fortress and intends to build up a real blaze farm, with pressure plates and buttons and things! Collecting a few blaze rods and then getting the hell (heh) out of there.

Shelby: Grandma would never believe this!

We then get to see the new large purple mushroom she declares to be her potion shop! She hopes to get her potions brewing soon, and maybe build a bigger house or even a witch tower! Speaking of things brewing, here’s what pix has been up to recently!

Pix

Mangrove in hand, Pix finally starts his first proper build, even if it's still not a starter home. The Savannah Ruins are a beautiful mess of what feels like half the blocks in the game - that’s why he needed so many different farms! His first experience with Litematica is a success - and even has a place in his "lore". It’s a wristwatch that makes holographic projections of the past - handy for an archaeologist! And the ruins may be small now, but they won’t stay that way for long.

Pix: And what I want is for this whole thing to turn into a kind of an ancient capital that is just going to have fallen into ruins over time.

Pix both loses and regains an elytra offscreen, and he’s going to need it for his next mission: setting up a froglight farm in the Nether. A beacon would help with that, so finding a fortress with good wither skeleton spawning potential is priority 1. He’s a real Goldilocks about it being just the right biomes, but he finds one that does the trick for now, and might make a good farm in the future. While he’s there, Pix gets the skulls for his first Wither, which he takes down to a strip mine he makes quite far away from both his base and any signs of the Deep Dark (though now the seed of a Wither Versus Warden match is planted in our heads). He takes it down with ease, grabbing the diamonds it mined for him as well as the Nether Star, and already there’s a beacon shining out of the old savannah ruins.

fWhip

From a historian, to a scrunkly in the basement, fWhip's video goes way off track immediately as he finds a double skeleton spawner deep in his mine! He sets up a bone and experience farm and rather amazing mine entrance with the hope of luring- I mean, welcoming other rulers into the underground. Totally not to scam them, no no. With his new business venture and tunnel digging being rather... ahem… shady, he decides to get on the good side of the law by attempting to befriend Jimmy! A few bones and a bit of banter later and he might have his first alliance! Seeing as most of his kingdom will be pretty deep and far from surface resources, it's probably for the best that he makes some friends. This of course doesn't stop him tunneling under a literal God's fountain and badly covering up the hole. Let's hope that doesn't come back to bite him later.

Jimmy

The Sheriff starts off his day by showing off his new horses and new billboard of people who respect him. fWhip gained his place on the board through some subtle bribery. They form an alliance for when Jimmy sets up his gunpowder farm. Jimmy decides to set up his town in a bowl near his wagon. It’s a very large hole surrounded on all sides by mountains of terracotta, and settles on the name Tumble Town! He timelapses himself building the first building in the newly named empire, credit to MythicalSausage for the build! Princess Gem then messages him to go on a mining trip together!

Jimmy: What makes you a princess?

Gem: I sorta just decided to be one. What makes you a sheriff?

Jimmy: I sorta… just decided to be one too!

They end up stumbling upon the deep dark and running away from several mobs and a warden! During his brave protection of the princess, he unfortunately dies to a creeper. She brings back his stuff, including his sheriff's hat! Gem gets added to the “respect the sheriff” board, and they solidify an alliance through honeycomb before he travels home.

Gem

Princess Gem starts her episode with a bit of mining. She gathers together enough diamonds for an enchanting table and builds up her empire's enchanting setup on a rocky island near her village. She builds up a path connecting her lovely little docks with the rocky island, and creates a small bridge across the water to help traveling between the island! She then spots a strange fire in a cave nearby. The fire turns out to be wisps, like the ones from Brave! She follows them to find a small ruin with a banner that looks very sunny for being in a cave. Gem collects it, and decides to use the banner as the symbol of her empire, which she then puts on the newly built bridge.

Gem: Maybe the wisps are onto something. Maybe they’re leading me to something, something important.

Sausage turns up at her empire, and she trades honeycomb for a goat horn and a mending book! Then, it’s time to build a lighthouse! She timelapses the creation of a sort of rustic, medieval looking but bright lighthouse that covers up her enchanting table so it isn’t out on the rocks. She does some basic enchants on her armour - you never know if it will save your life! A few minutes are spent decorating the interior of her lighthouse, adding flowers and carpets throughout. It’s time to make a name for the empire! Gem names her empire Dawn, the dawn of a new era for her empire! Another new era is coming up for…

Lizzie

Lizzie!

Lizzie: Come along now child. Get your adorable little fluffy butt in there.

As the shenanigans with Lizzie and the animals continue, her friendly goblin neighbour pops up of nowhere and convinces her to go to his totally safe goblin empire to see his double skeleton spawner. Lizzie’s death and arrows in her can confirm that this was totally not a scam. She then goes to make a crystal mine so she can get access to the farm. After forgetting the two emeralds in her inventory and getting lost on her way, she wasted absolutely no ressources. After having decorated her mine exit, built a minecart system, obtaining a minister and a deputy minister of transport she finally can get the key to the skeleton farm from fWhip.

But this whole series of events was completely useless as she has no use for bones.

Lizzie: I may have just been scammed.

After recovering from this, she decided to build her first true building in her empire, a community center. But, being Lizzie of course, she breaks 53 stone shovels terraforming for her new build. All while listening to the beautiful song Ariana Goate made for her. [Goat Screams twice]

After meeting with Scott,

Lizzie: Thank you very much colourful man that is lonely and lives alone here in Chromia. Goodbye!

and Katherine

Lizzie: [gasps] So many naked sheep!

Katherine: Oh yes, aren’t they beautiful?

for the missing material needed, she can officially start building.

After 7396 blocks were placed, multiple stone shovels broken, the discovering of a “cheat” and four deaths, the community center is now open with a lot of empty space inside. But at least something that isn’t empty inside is Scott’s heart!

Scott

Scott’s plan this episode is to build a barn, before bringing us over to see his newly discovered skeleton spawner! This is incredibly useful as his export this season is colour, so he’ll need all the bonemeal he can get to grow those flowers! He also declares his new distaste for poppies! - …we see you Scott. We see you.

He gets to work on a barn design he found from bluenerdminecraft that he tweaked to fit in better! He quickly sleeps before heading over to build. After a barn building timelapse, he brings his animals to the barn and starts work on a ‘decorative’ wheat field. …It's not so decorative when you use it as a major food source, but we’ll just go with it.

Last episode, he met his best friend - a llama! We learn there are Lore reasons for his love of the creatures! He finds a llama to take back home, and then does some research to see where to find more llamas! He comes home with 2 llamas and 1 cow - there was another cow, but it fell off a bridge …it was a perilous journey. He forcefully makes friends with his llamas and gives them coloured carpets representative of his kingdom - Yellow, magenta, and cyan - the same ones my printer uses! Until he bred more of them and now they are the colour of the rainbow … or a certain flag.

He then shows us his skeleton farm and timelapses himself building a cute windmill to cover up the access, which of course is on theme as it is the most colourful windmill in the lands, before spending a little longer than a few minutes filling the land around it with several different flower fields and a path to link his empire together! An important decision has been made for the empire, and that is its name! Scott announces the new name for his empire is Chromia: the colour kingdom. The tagline being - a kingdom to dye for! Get it, dye? Like d-y-e? … Thank you random twitch viewer for that. Coincidentally, he also has Heterochromia! It just makes sense!

He picks some more colours for his llama collection. Less colourful than he would like, but colours nonetheless! Or tones, if you’re into colour theory. One of the colours he needs to be The Colour Kingdom is green, so of course it is necessary to build a small cactus farm before the end of the episode! It is very small. Speaking of small things, let’s talk about Joel, our very own 11ft God!

Joel

This week, our resident god welcomes us back by letting us know that he is tall, strong and sexy. It seems that Sausage has returned the strange shulker child to Joel, with a gift. After he points out the sad state of his base, he decides to instead work on an enchanting setup, but more on that later. He constructs a small bee farm for wax, and once again reassures us that he is the tallest and strongest on the server... I'm starting to sense a pattern there.

He attempts to prank Jimmy while gathering gold from the mesa. However, this plan backfires on him when he crashes into the ground. Materials acquired, he builds an enchanting island...thing (we're not quite sure what it is), complete with a floating path and trees. He then declares piglins to be the new head he's collecting this season, as his hatred for them has somehow managed to overtake his hatred of horses.

While acquiring experience to enchant, he attempts to prank his neighbor, Lizzie and returns the child to sausage with a gift. He then goes to Lizzie's Animal Kingdom to acquire amethyst for his portal build, though the trade is slightly derailed by one of her foxes escaping with some of the goods. With amethyst in hand, he returns home to rebuild his nether portal up in the air.

Sausage

Sausage begins his episode by finding out who the mother of the child is through Pablo the parrot. it is… Smallishbeans! Sausage then proceeds to deliver the child back to him since they share custody over it.

Sausage: Where should I put our child?

After returning home from the trip he begins to gather resources to build his animal barn but finds that he has no copper. fWhip answers his call for copper and trades him a stack of copper for 9 mending books! seems a little overpriced, but when you need copper, you need copper. Jimmy then wanders by in search of dark oak wood. This leads to Jimmy's entire conversation with Sausage in Spanish (Jimmy doesn’t know Spanish).

Sausage: ¿Cómo estás usted? Gracias, [unsure of this word].

Jimmy: Oh my gosh, wait-

Finally with no more interruptions he is able to start on his barn.

False

Falsesymmetry starts her episode out by going mining! She grabs enough diamonds to craft a pickaxe, and starts building a portal. Once she emerges on the other side, False finds herself in a crimson forest, where she witnesses a murder and a hogling dance, which are quite rare on Java Edition. After seeing a horrible death, False jumps back into the over world to decorate her enchanting room and cave area! Although afterwards she decides to move the upstairs, her base is starting to come together.

Throughout this episode, she states several times that she really does want to get home, and she doesn't really need a big base. Despite this, she goes on to add an iron farm and a large storage space, with a unique sorting system. Taking a step back, False admires her tower, and plans on making it taller so she can see everyone. While admiring her tower, she finds a dead body with clothes suspiciously matching her theme. Who was that man? Why is False taking their clothes? Why is False so paranoid? We may never know.

Joey

False may think she's being watched, but Joey knows he is - he just hopes the skeletrons like the view! The pirate sets out for diamonds, but mines a bit further down than he plans, and into the Deep Dark - and the local guardian isn't too pleased to hear an intruder. In the end, it's not the Warden that gets him, just falling off a cliff, - thankfully, his elytra is okay. What king of a future Neverland is complete without the perfect way to fly? After trying on a few temporary options for wings (and settling on the bones of his enemies), he sets out across the sea in search of treasure and the tools to make his wings less fragile and more magical.

Returning home, he builds the first dock for his port, and prepares to enchant his elytra in the ship's hold - except he doesn't have the levels. Thankfully, fWhip has a skeleton farm nearby that Joey can use, for the small price of the diamond pickaxe he just made. Sadly, Joey forgot that you can't enchant an Elytra from a table, only from books. Better luck next time, Captain!

Outro

And with that join us next week for more chaos and shenanigans! Thank you for watching, and thanks to everyone helping with the project, check them all out below!

#empires smp #empires season 2 #empires recap #empires season 2 recap

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carriagelamp · 4 years

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I read more books this month than I anticipated. I should probably wait before doing a February book round up, but I already feel like I’m struggling to decide which ones to cut from my list so I’m doing it this weekend instead of next. If I read much next week I’ll bump ‘em up into March’s round up

Asterix and the Missing Scroll / Chieftain’s Daughter

I got the last two “new” Asterix books out of the library so I could officially say I had read them all. Over all my opinion is… they’re fine! None of these would ever become one of my favourites, but they’re all fine stories. The art is good, it is completely in-line with the original, and the stories are… fine. I liked The Missing Scroll quite a bit more than The Chieftain’s Daughter but I never find a ~hurr hurr teenagers~ plotline that interesting, whereas I do enjoy seeing Romans get chased down by unicorns so that’s probably not surprising. There’s some spark I can’t put my finger on that the new Asterix books just seem to be missing though… a bit of humour or cleverness or something. Still, they’re fine reads if you’ve been hungry for more Asterix and I’m glad I read them. (Though the library gave me the American translation of The Chieftain’s Daughter, something I didn’t realize until I started reading and realized that this is wrong??? I’ve been reading these books since I could read and I know this is wrong??? What the hell is happening??? The I realized the publisher was different and I simmered in fury the whole time I read it — WHY ARE YOU CHANGING NAMES AND WORD CHOICES IN A WELL ESTABLISHED SERIES THAT ALREADY HAS AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION YOU ANIMALS WHY ARE YOU DUMBING DOWN THE LANGUAGE AAAUGH

The Bride Was A Boy

This one was cute! The Bride Was A Boy is an autobiographical manga written by a transwoman recounting her experience with transitioning, meeting her boyfriend, and eventually getting married. It’s mostly done in a 4-panel style and is interspersed with lots of information about the LGBT community, particularly in Japan. A lot of it was stuff I was already familiar with, but I still found it adorable and a very worthwhile read. it would be a fantastic book for young queer people who are looking for more of an introduction into international queer space

Cul de Sac: Children At Play

Cul de Sac is just a weird, fun newspaper comic series about the children who live in a small neighbourhood. It fully taps into the children-as-semi-feral-chaos-agents, and there’s something hilariously nostalgic about the whole thing. Lots of times when stories try to portray children there’s always something… wrong about it, something that doesn’t mesh with true childhood, but in this comic I can see glimpses of my grimy, dirty-covered self as a preschooler running around the pages. I would definitely recommend trying them!

The Cremation of Sam McGee

I reread The Cremation of Sam McGee and The Shooting of Dan McGrew and man, they don’t stop being buckwild. These are two really famous Canadian poems that were then illustrated by equally famous Canadian artist Ted Harrison. Harrison’s style is gorgeous and distinct and given what strangely grisly stories these poems are they fit the mood perfectly. Everything feels just a little tilted and wrong and unsettling. If you enjoy an occasional poem (especially ones that are super fun to read out loud) and haven’t read these before, I would recommend them! Or do what my teachers did, and read Sam Gee to a young child in your life and watch them be baffled and concerned and horrified.

There are strange things done / in the midnight sun / by the men who moil for gold...

The Gryphon’s Lair

The second book of the Royal Guide to Monster Slaying series written by Kelley Armstrong; I’ve been eagerly awaiting this book! It’s a very cool fantasy series because it really leans into environmental stewardship and the importance of studying animals and conservation so you can find ways to live alongside a healthy ecosystem. In this book Rowan is officially accepted as the Royal Monster Hunter, which means a whole new set of trials and burdens. She has to contend with a baby gryphon that is becoming increasingly large and dangerous, plotting family members, doubt about her abilities, a potential curse, and a daunting quest deep into the mountains in order to set things right. If you’re looking for some very gentle high fantasy, this series delivers.

Hogan’s Heroes comics

What to say here. Anyone following this blog has suffered the knowledge that I’ve been rewatching Hogan’s Heroes lately. When I found out that there was a short-lived, shitty comic series in the 60s? Of course I had to hunt them down. And so I’ve read them! And they sure were a shitty comic series from the 60s! They were, shall we say, of wildly varying quality. Some were actually really funny (like #5, it easily had the best art and best jokes imho), others were a slog, and most were fine and amusing enough to read the whole way through but not much more.

If you don’t know what Hogan’s Heroes is about: it was a 1960s sitcom that took place in a WWII POW camp, in which the Allied prisoners trapped there had a massive, complex sabotage/spy ring right underneath the camp. The whole show is about constantly outwitting the bumbling Germans while keeping up the pretense that they’re all just normal prisoners. The show is hilariously funny and I would recommend that, even if I can’t say the same for the comics unless you’re like me and are just really thirsty for more content...

Magic Misfits: The Fourth Suit (Ripley)

The final book of Neil Patrick Harris’ middle grade series, The Magic Misfits. In this fourth book, the group is fragmented and forced to meet in secret to avoid notice from the mysterious and powerful Kalagan whose cruel machinations have already turned the quiet little town on its ears, putting people’s lives in peril and destroy Leila’s fathers’ magic shop. The Misfits are going to need all their skills to finally unmask this sinister magician and break the mesmerism he seems to have placed over the entire town before it’s too late to save no only the town, but their friendship and trust.

Super charming series, and the illustrations are gorgeous.

Marsupilami

HOUBA! I watched a very bad TV adaptation of this as a kid that still managed to find a place in my heart, and so I decided to finally try reading some of the original comic! On one hand: it was exactly what I had hoped! The art is cute, the marsupilami is so dynamic and fun to see on the page (and has a way better characterization than he does in the show), and it’s really funny! Unfortunately! It is also pretty racist! Yikes! That seems to be a reoccuring downfall for some of these older Belgian comics... I also tried reading the first book of Les Tuniques Bleues and aye ye ye… I couldn’t actually get through that one. That being said, these were older volumes and frankly, North American media was also real fucking racist at that point so I’m not gonna write them off either. I really liked most of this book, and will probably try to get my hands on one of the more recent volumes of both Marsupilami and Les Tuniques Bleues to see if they get better with time. (If you’ve read either of those series and have volume recommendations hmu)

The Pagemaster

I’m a sucker for novelizations, I have no excuse beyond that. I recently rewatched The Pagemaster and decided to read the chapter book. And it was a solid little adaptation! It’s about Richard Tyler, a young boy with a head for statistics which unfortunately means he lives in constant fear of (in his opinion, statistically likely) injury or death. However that fear is put to the test when he gets caught in a horrible thunderstorm and has to shelter in a nearby library with halls and shelves that stretch beyond the imagination and with untold perils hidden among the pages of the books. Richard, with only his library card and three novels that hope to be checked out, has to venture through the different genres and horrors housed int he library if he ever wants to find the exit and get home to safety.

Pumpkinheads

A very charming little graphic novel. Cute art, and really loveable characters. Josiah and Deja work every year at a local pumpkin patch, and are best friends during those weeks. However this is their last year working there before going off to university and as the last day at the patch comes to a close they realize that they both still have regrets. Deja sets off on a mission to avoid work, eat all the interesting snacks around the patch, and get Josiah to find the girl he’s been crushing on every year and has never worked up the nerve to talk to.

After being deprived of human contact for almost a year, this book really hits you right in the heart.

The Screwfly Solution

A deeply upsetting scifi/horror short story! I read it on the recommendation of a friend and, yes, can confirm that this fucked me up a bit. I honestly don’t even know what to say about this that wouldn’t spoil it, but frankly with everything being as it is, this hit a little bit too close to reality. (That being said, it was very well written, like this is a very good story on a literary level and it does exactly what it sets out to accomplish.) If you feel like reading twenty pages and being really disturbed, give it a go! Otherwise go and read any number of the much happier books on this list!

The Whipping Boy

This was a book I remember reading as a lit circle book back in elementary school and really loving. After telling myself I’d reread it for years, I finally sat down with it again. If you somehow got through school without reading this one, it’s about a brat of a prince and his whipping boy — since it would be unspeakable to strike a prince, when the prince misbehaves it is Jemmy who gets whipped. Unsurprisingly, there is no love lost between the two of them, because the prince is always intentionally causing problems that Jemmy has to suffer for. Things begin to change though when the prince decides to run away and drags Jemmy along with him. On the run, being chased by highwaymen, and desperately trying to hide their identities, these boys go on a fast-paced adventure beyond the castle walls. It wasn’t as special as I remembered it being as a kid, but it’s a fine little chapter book.

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lokigodofaces · 3 years

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thoughts on loki ep 2: the variant (spoilers)

under cut to not disturb your scrolling

Overall I enjoyed so that's good

Uh frick my mind blanked so sorry if things are completely out of order

I don't know, I expected the renaissance fair to be 2012 or 2021 or 2024 (Loki's time, our time, current time in the "sacred timeline"). So I was genuinely surprised when it was in 1985.

Ok, i really like the title card thing. And how the year scrolls around. It's a nice aesthetic touch there.

I wonder why the female Loki variant chooses her locations? Does she have a thing for renaissance fairs, French cathedrals, and Oklahoma?

1985 is when Back to the Future came out. And it's y'know, one of the most popular time travel movies ever. So I think they chose that year as a reference.

Again, not liking that the minutemen only have numbers, not names. It is giving me lots of Clone Wars vibes. If you don't know anything about Clone Wars, the clones are given number identifiers by the Kaminoans. Things like CT-7567. The clones would give themselves names (CT-7567, for example, names himself Rex). A really good sign throughout the series that someone is a sketchy person is if they call the clones by their numbers. The clones don't want to be known as numbers. They are people too, they deserve names, so they come up with all sorts of creative names (Rex, Fives, Cody, Tup, Hevy, Hardcase, Echo, Waxer, Boil, Wolffe, Jesse, Kix, Fox, Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair, Omega, Tech, Matchstick, etc). The jedi respect this, and the only jedi that i can think of that called clones by their numbers is Krell, who fell to the dark side. the Kaminoans and other sketchy people all call them by their numbers and the clones don't like it. A big focus of the show is on the clone's agency (at the end, they all have brain chips that take away their agency and force them to kill jedi), and how the clones need to be respected. So for me to see in another series that people are only given numbers is bad. What's worse is that the minutemen are fine with this. They don't see it as dehumanizing or belittling. They are brainwashed into being okay with it. Which says a thing or two about the Time Keepers.

did. did the renaissance fair really have Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero" for their renaissance themed fight? Is this normal? Was it normal in the '80's? We saw later that the female Loki can do electronic stuff. Did she rig it to play it? For the vibes?

Also the stuff before the song was about fighting for a princess, and in the end she kidnaps C-20.

Okay, btw, I'm just gonna say Lady Loki for a while because no one has explicitly said Sylvie yet, so I'm going to refer to di Martino as Loki until she or another calls her Sylvie. Cool? Cool.

I was thinking the "Holding Out for a Hero" fight would be the roomba fight or something. It is such a good song that has huge potential for this genre. Why did they use it in a lame fight as that one?

When Lady Loki did the spell on C-20, it looked similar to what Wanda and Agatha can do. As in, it had similar visuals.

Loki reading a random magazine he finds while sitting with his feet on the desk bored out of his mind because he has to learn sh*t is a MOOD.

What is Miss Minutes? She can jump around anywhere, and pop into computers. But she can't be just a projection. She took the effort to dodge Loki swatting at her, so that may mean she was corporeal. She also could be something similar to the Kree's Supreme Intelligence?

So, did Mobius give Loki the shirt, tie, and slacks, but really didn't give him the jacket until they had to call him in? What? That makes no sense? Did the TVA not have any jackets with the variant label? Did someone have to custom design a jacket for Loki?

What is up with this show giving me things I wanted to see only in holographic form? First we saw Coulson's death, and now Loki in his Jotun form in a holograph of another variant.

Okay, Loki being someone the TVA has to constantly deal with is very on brand. Loki is a creature of chaos, of course he's going to unknowingly rebel against the sacred timeline.

Also, headcanon that the Jotun Loki we see is king of Jotunheim because that would be epic.

Also, for personal reasons I choose to believe there is a Loki variant that defeated the Avengers and immediately went queer rights.

Loki's reaction to there being many Loki variants. He's seen what his life is supposed to be. I think he is even more upset that the TVA often deals with him, that there are so many things that could have been instead if it weren't for the TVA and the "sacred timeline."

Also, I totally think Mobius was waiting for another Loki to show up to help him defeat Lady Loki. They get them so often, it makes sense.

Loki explaining the difference between illusion projection and duplication was great. And very helpful to me personally understanding lore. Also, Mobius, get your crap together. If you're a Loki expert, figure this stuff out.

Loki calling the TVA out on propaganda, we love that.

The wolf quote is actually very nice, I quite like it.

Okay, the TVA doesn't even bury or cremate or do any sort of ritual for their fallen minutemen, they just reset the timeline. Which to me seems like another way to show how little the TVA actually care for their workers.

There are statues of the Time Keepers in Ravonna's office. The camera pays extra attention to it. Keep reading for more about Time Keepers and cinematography choices.

What. What sort of relationship does Ravonna and Mobius have? What is going on there? I am really confused.

Who is this "analyst on the side?" What is going on there?

Ravonna is MEGA SUS. Along with that, the Time Keepers are mega sus.

She signs R. Slayer. Yeah. Slayer. Not at all subtle, Marvel. Letting us know that she'll do the deed if needed.

Mobius you are sending me mixed signals. What do you want?

Okay, Mobius saying Loki was a "cold, scared boy" and an "ice runt" and stuff was totally a jab at Loki being Jotun.

Mobius saying Loki is insecure because of Lady Loki is...probably true.

With the elevator, the camera stops and focuses on the Time Keepers.

The Creation of the TVA, the beginning of time, the end of time, all classified. That is sus.

Loki almost crying over Ragnarok was good. Let him cry over the destruction of his home.

Loki being the one to discover something the TVA had no idea about after a day is on brand for Loki. And it shows how the TVA really are vulnerable.

Mobius: Really? In front of my salad?

No but the object lesson was well done and actually did help me understand what Loki was talking about.

Casey! Casey drinks grape juice! Imagine how confusing this is for Casey though. Loki is captured, threatens to gut you like a fish (whatever that means), and now he's dressed like an analysist, stealing your juice box. Does Loki get Casey more juice?

Honestly, Loki looking at everything logically and scientifically is fantastic. Adds to the science = magic thing Marvel's got going on, since Loki is a sorcerer.

Loki saying volcanoes are cool is fun. I agree. Volcanoes mean the planet is geologically active, which means we won't die. Also, there is a volcano named Loki on one of Jupiter's moons. I wonder if the creators knew that and put Loki in Pompeii because he is already linked with volcanoes.

Mobius telling Loki to start off small and Loki completely disregarding that felt very personal to me.

Loki being absolutely chaotic and telling everyone they were going to die while speaking perfect Latin was iconic. I want more of that content. Let the man be buckwild.

Again, Loki finding something out after a day that the TVA never knew about is on brand.

"Be free, my horned friends, be free!" I love that way too much.

Mobius being obsessed with jet skis wasn't something I expected, but I'm down for it. Heck, even Loki admitted they were cool.

The discussion on beliefs is going to lead to saying the Time Keepers are bullcrap. Hopefully.

Grapes and nuts are "candy" on Asgard. So, when Loki was eating grapes in Ragnarok, we can interpret that as him eating M&Ms. Second, this might add to something I've seen around here. I've seen things about a book somewhere with Loki saying chocolate fountains are mythical (which is really funny to me). So, I guess Asgard really doesn't have chocolate.

Oh my gosh, so many apocalypses between 2047 and 2051...hopefully none of those happen in real life.

Roxxcart is probably part of Roxxon, something that has been around in Iron Man movies.

Lady Loki got the shovel thing from Roxxcart that she left in Oklahoma! The minutemen said it was from the early third millenia, which is where we are now! 2050 also fits that category!

I saw something about the file saying Class 8 hurricane...there are only 5 classes...which means this is a crazy storm.

Does B-15 want Loki dead? This is a legitimate question, because I think she does. Dead or pruned.

Loki looking around at the storm, I love it. This could be him loving science, or him missing Thor, since Thor creates storms. Also, at this point Loki probably things Thor dies shortly after him in the sacred timeline, so Loki would be particularly sentimental about Thor.

I love Loki drying himself off and not anyone else. And B-15 yelling about his magic. And Loki's motions are so fluid, it's so aesthetically pleasing, I love it.

Dudes, I thought B-15 was going to try to prune Loki when they were alone.

Okay, was Lady Loki bsing about the azalea sale, or does Roxxcart actually do that? I want to know.

Wunmi Mosaku did a really good job as Lady Loki, I loved it.

Loki being annoyed at Lady Loki and saying he understood how Thor felt, does that insinuate Loki can do what Lady Loki was doing?

B-15 and C-20 were both very shaken after being possessed by Lady Loki. I wonder how that felt for them? We've had different explanations of mind control/brainwashing/similar from Clint, Bucky, Daisy, Mack, Fitz, and Monica in the MCU (including AoS). I wonder what is specific to Lady Loki's possession.

C-20 kept going on about something being real. What was that about?

C-20 revealed the location of the Time Keepers to Lady Loki!

Lady Loki not wanting to be called Loki could be a sign she is Sylvie.

There's something weird where Loki's voice echoed around while the camera focused on Lady Loki. Maybe she's telepathic?

Someone needs to keep a tracker on people telling Loki this isn't his story in a show literally about him.

But, that does add to themes for his life, and how everything was always about someone else in his life. He was always a supporting character for Thor, for Odin, for Thanos. Now, even in his own story, everyone insists he doesn't matter.

I was wondering what the reset charges would be used for. I wasn't expecting a massive bombing of the sacred timeline! Wow! That was unexpected and I loved it!

Okay, this isn't from me, this is from New Rockstars. But to list all the places mentioned on chronomonitors, either bombed or not: Knowhere, Barcelona, Niflheim, Dartford, Phong Nha, Lisbon, Vormir, Thorton, Cookeville, Asgard, Rome, Sakaar, Barichara, Porvoo, Ego, Titan, New York City, Tokyo, Hala, Kingsport, Xandar, Beijing, Madrid, Portland, Jotunheim. Bolded are other planets. Those are almost all the planets visited in the MCU. So fun easter eggs there!

I like Lady Loki's aesthetic. The fingerless gloves, the cloak, I love it. And YES SHE ISN'T SEXUALIZED. So many genderbent characters are excuses to sexualize women. But Lady Loki is just as covered as the male Lokis.

Lady Loki just...left the time door open for Loki to follow...for a really long time...I'm worried he's running into a trap.

What is Loki going to do now?

Theory time y'alls: Lady Loki bombed the sacred timeline to flush the minutemen out of the TVA, leaving it defenseless. And she's gonna go after the Time Keepers themselves. We know she gets into the TVA from trailer footage, and that's what I think we're gonna see next episode. I think she (like the Loki we are following) is upset over the lack of free will, and she plans to change that. That's why she wasn't interested in helping Loki "take over" the TVA, because she doesn't want to become the leader of a new TVA, she wants it destroyed.

Alright, back to the Time Keepers stuff. They keep focusing on the middle Time Keeper. Even in the end credits they have a weird cut to focus directly on his face. I'm not 100% on this, but I like this theory. That face is similar to Jonathan Major's, the actor confirmed to be Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Kang is a well known time travelling villain in Marvel. Maybe he is Kang, and is using variant versions of himself (that's a Kang thing in the comics) to mess with the timeline, and no one expects that from him. Also, Renslayer was his S/O for a bit in the comics, and they keep framing her in front of that one Time Keeper's face. I feel like this would be a good way to set up Quantumania and to show how sus the Time Keepers are.

Also, Loki was absolutely adorable the entire episode. And he got to sleep! Yay for him!

Again, I enjoyed, and can't wait for next week!

#loki (2021)#loki (2021) spoilers #loki (2021) review #loki laufeyson #tva loki #dimartino loki #sylvie lushton #mobius m mobius #ravonna renslayer #hunter b 15 #hunter c 20 #miss minutes #time keepers #aaaaaaaa im excited for the next episode

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kiki-is-writing · 4 years

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the beginning and end of everything UPDATE!!!

DISCLAIMER: This is my original work. I choose to share my work here and here specifically for my comrades in the writing community. Plagiarism in any form will not be tolerated.

HI EVERYONE! I FINISHED MY NOVEL! Whooo hoooo!!!

It’s actually sort of surreal, I started it in June of 2020 and now it’s 2021 and it��s over! Ty, Jude, Ada, Dorothy, and Madison have been living in my head since October 2019, and less than a year and a half later, they’ve been brought to life! Crazy!!

A summary in case you forgot/are seeing this and don’t know who the hell I am:

Ty Kassisieh has no direction. He’s just graduated college with a degree he doesn’t care about and no clue what to do with his life. Per his parent’s request to be more like his genius twin sister Ada, he picks up a job at a local library to save some money. There, he meets his coworker Jude, who’s stuck in a position not too far from his own, and Ty immediately sees the potential for companionship. But after speaking to him, Ty discovers Jude is everything he isn’t: he’s cold, introverted, aloof, and worst of all, humorless. Soon, Ty forgets all about his initial goal and becomes determined to crack Jude and see what makes him tick.

Ty’s journey of self-discovery is uprooted completely as what begins as an investigation blossoms into a friendship, and then into something more. Ty is forced to confront the feelings he’s been pushing down since high school and come to terms with himself, his family, and the relationships he thought would never change. It’s only when he befriends a young library patron, Madison, that he finally begins to see the world for what it is and figures out how to pave his own path.

Here are some stats!

Word count: 65,900 (it’ll get at least 20k words longer)

Genre: Romantic comedy

POV: third person limited, present tense

Characters: Ty, Jude, Ada, Madison, Dorothy, Diane, Omar, Paul, Uncle Hubie, Ethel

Chapters: 15

Font: Times New Roman (sorry)

This was my second novel, but the first novel where I actually knew what I was doing, at least a little bit. And holy shit, I learned SO much about my writing process:

1. I cannot pants for the life of me. I have no idea what I’m doing without an outline. But sometimes, the outline doesn’t know best. I added a ton of subplots and off-the-cuff scenes halfway through that have no set up, gave up on subplots that weren’t working halfway through, it’s a disaster of a plot. BUt the important thing is that I know how to make it perfect. I know what the story needs and how to get that.

2. Why can I only write in bursts? I wrote like seven chapters, half the novel, in the month of July. There was a day where I wrote almost 5,000 words. And last night, I wrote for 6 hours straight, without eating, drinking, or going to the bathroom (because frankly, I forgot those things existed) and I cranked out a chapter and a half in a DAY. I had such a headache and was very hungry by the end, but it was SO REWARDING.

3. I noticed while drafting is how often bits of my real life bled through. Little anecdotes, arguments, dynamics and experiences. Those who know me particularly well can probably pick out little allusions to either some of my past works, my friends, and myself.

It was 1:00 AM when I finished, and I live on the east coast of the U.S. so we’d just had a huge Nor’easter (New England for blizzard) and I went outside in the middle of the night, in my pajama pants and my uggs, and stood in my backyard and looked at the trees and processed the fact that wow, I just wrote a novel. It was cathartic and beautiful and I 110% recommend standing in snow up to your knees by yourself in the middle of the night. Very peaceful.

As exciting as it is to be done, it’s kind of weird to be ending it. I started this novel from Ty’s first person POV, and he was just kind of another goofy, dorky character that shared my own sense of humor as well as my sense of perfectionism. But as I wrote, not only did I realize that third person worked so much better, but I started realizing how much of me and my own journey as a queer person had gone into this. It turned from a light-hearted, silly rom-com with little depth, a fun summer project to keep myself busy, to the most self expressive story I’ve ever written. I didn’t expect it to come out with much deeper meaning, it was summer and I was on a light-hearted rom-com kick, and life was carefree and silly and I wanted a book that reflected it. And then, school started, and life just descended into absolute chaos, and it was November, and it was NaNoWriMo, and I was writing my novel while watching CNN for a week straight. (But it all turned out great! New president!)

I can’t remember exactly when I started to incorporate my own struggles growing up as a queer kid, but somehow they bled through in the second half. The last scene of the book is (no spoilers) an incredible breath of fresh air for Ty. It’s something I can only wish for every queer teenager, that moment where you can finally be unapologetically and authentically queer without that nagging worry in the back of your mind. I’ve struggled over this past year with my identity, and as Ty found his place, I found mine as well.

Seriously, writing this book was one of the best experiences I’ve had. Yes, the entire time I had a separate document open, writing down every little thing that needs to change, but I legitimately feel excited for draft 2 and continuing working on this project. I think about how much this book helped me, unconsciously creating the story that I needed to hear, and how maybe, in ten, fifteen years, some queer teenager will be wandering around a bookstore and pick up The Beginning and End of Everything. Maybe just because the cover is pretty. Maybe they like the F. Scott Fitzgerald reference in the title. Maybe they heard about it on Twitter somewhere. But they pick it up, and see themselves in Ty, or in Jude, or in Madison. I know every book that gave me that feeling, I cherish them so deeply, and all I really want is for someone to get that feeling from something I wrote. To see themselves in the pages and know they’re not alone. It’s cheesy, but it’s true, and it’s important.

I think one of my favorite themes in the novel is the whole ‘someone’s got your back’ thing. I 100% did not mean for it to go in the way it did, but I was writing this as I was going through some Stuff, some stuff in which I realized that having someone, just one person in your corner can mean the entire world, if only for that moment. And if there’s no one in your corner when you need it, you can be in someone else’s when they need it. Frankly, I love how it plays out throughout the novel. There was always that theme of Ty and Madison sort of being there for each other, but as I found myself in the first semester of the school year building new friendships with incredible, smart, funny people (albeit most of that being online) and strengthening old bonds, it worked its way in, and it fits perfectly. It adds depth and strength to the story I couldn’t have done consciously.

Essentially, it is still the romantic comedy I intended it to be, but it’s also a coming-of-age (except much older than the traditional coming-of-age). Watching some of my close friends and family graduating college and continuing to struggle with their identities and places in the world I think is what truly carved out this idea. Because not everyone has everything figured out as soon as they graduate, and I feel like, as a teenager, that’s something my friends and I really need to get through our heads. A lot of us expect to have everything figured out as soon as we turn 18. But, we’re 18. There’s a lot of life ahead of us, and we can’t possibly know what we’re going to do so young. So I think that was my main source of inspiration for this novel, and I’m really proud of the way that fleshed out. Of course it needs lots and lots of work, but. I like it. The way my personal life bled through and strengthened the story is incredible to reflect on. Honestly, I really, truly, cannot wait to start working on draft 2.

taglist:

@alicewestwater @august-iswriting @lottieiswriting @phiwrites @jennawritesstories @chloeswords

#the beginning and end of everything #teenwriter #am writing #my writing #my novel #writblr #writeblr #writing update #teen writer #young writer #writingupdate #writer problems #writerscommunity #writing #drafting #nanowrimo #losenanowrimo2020 #camp nanowrimo

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koshercosplay · 5 years

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@iwanttowriteitall and I want to do away with the typical portrayal of the women getting ready to be brought before achashverosh for him to choose who will be crowned queen.

Because it's always these women who are mean and horrible to each other and fighting over each other to be seen, contrasted with Esther being the only calm modest one etc.

However... consider an au with all of the women getting ready together in their dressing rooms and helping each other, doing each other's makeup, fighting and then making up and continuing to just have a blast. Like c'mon they've got like unlimited access to resources like makeup, scented baths, oils, hair products, whatever they wanted. You can't tell me they wouldn't be having fun. Esther isn't particularly interested in beautifying herself, so she goes around supporting everyone else.

Consider an au where two queer women get called up to the palace and they're panicking about what they're gonna do if they get chosen. When they get to the rooms and discover all this excitable chaos though they dive right in while trying to come up with an escape plan, and when the other women discover that these two are queer they decide to help them and the women do their best to ensure that these two don't get chosen no matter what.

There is so much potential for humor and comedy and fun and women supporting women and suspense and drama here.

#i need some megillas esther fanfic apparently #lol #text post #purim #queen esther

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normal-thoughts-official · 5 years

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Ok hmmmm fake dating art school au with Malec, Claia, Lukemaryse and (platonic, obviously) garrowbane where hmmm magnus is with an ex at the start and tries setting up Luke with people

well this got really cracky really fast

okay so im gonna go ahead and say that i have no idea how art school works in the US so for the sake of My Convenience™ imma go with the way it is in Brazil, which is "there are numerous kinds of arts going on in the same institute/college"

so im thinking..... clary obviously is doing visual arts, painting, whatever its called (this is probably where i should warn you that i know nothing about visual arts). maia is not really an arts major, but she's doing a course on technical/scientific drawing since shes a biology major and that's useful for her field studies. magnus is on the same course, except hes like an engineering major really. im a slut for inventor Magnus so yeah he wants to be an engineer to develop new kinds of technology so technical drawing is important for him. meliorn (watch me slip meliorn in literally everything i can) is a theatre major, and Luke and Maryse r both studying music

Luke and Maryse r older and like idk how common that is in the US but here in Brazil some ppl (spec retired ppl) come back to college to study something they have Always Wanted To but that wouldnt bring them money. i know that the whole "no free college" thing makes that harder but they can be post-graduates i guess. or Luke is and maryse is a regular major but shes a super rich hotshot lawyer who after the divorce decided to be less stuck up and dedicate herself to things she enjoys, and since shes rich, she has the money to do a major or a music course just for fun

anyway! Magnus is the kind of guy whos friends with everyone from all ages and courses. he quickly becomes friends with maia (shes on his course after all) and meliorn (who is a theatre major but takes classes in everything they can because.... they can)

i just realized maia/meliorn has a LOT of brotp potential but ok anyway

magnus and maia bond greatly over their shared interests (yeah shes a biologist and hes an engineer but magnus' interests vary a lot and also hes a fan of biochemistry. they also have relatively similar life stories and a similar sense of humor, even if maia is sharper at the edges - which is something Magnus likes, really. she's fierce and fun and unafraid and he wishes he were more like her sometimes. they have a mutual admiration and kind of protection pact). meliorn on the other hand is kind of the local queer cryptid in a way, which of course means magnus immediately befriends him, and Maia is just delighted at how much of a trickster they are. magnus also likes meliorn a lot because they're so... chill and easy and unbothered by social conventions to the point of being nearly unaware, which makes Magnus feel so comfortable. and meliorn thinks Magnus is interesting, and they all get along.

maia kind of brings luke into the group. luke is kind of maia's adoptive uncle. she lives alone but once she ran away from home luke was super nice and helpful and also one of the ppl who most encouraged her to go after her major like she wanted

luke and maia are clearly close and have each other's backs, but they also tease each other a lot. so when one day luke teases maia over her crush on clary, she retaliates by looking DIRECTLY at meliorn and being like "he's just jealous. did you ppl know he hasnt been on a single date in years" and meliorn, who thrives on the chaos, is like "oooh we should set him up" and magnus of course jumps at the opportunity

so the three of them keep trying to set ppl up with luke, and it just ...... never works. like doesnt come even close to working. its kind of a disaster actually. its awkward, it never clicks, and at this point luke is begging them to stop but you know thats not gonna happen. so as a last resort, luke lies that he's dating a woman from class. cue him asking maryse, whom hes never talked to in his life but is the only eligible woman his age at class, to like, please do him a solid. and maryse is just so shocked by this random (but handsome) man's life, shes like. lmao sure. look shes a post-divorce woman she wants to be free and cease giving fucks

and maryse kind of has fun pretending to date luke, but she's a busy woman and she doesnt hang out with them often, and they are like [BANGING POTS AND PANS] WE WANT TO ACTUALLY MEET HER

and luke is all like "well maybe if all of yall singles got dates we could have a date together otherwise get out" so maia asks clary out purely out of spite and turns out it works, but Magnus and Meliorn are like "uuuuhhhhh,,,,,,," so meliorn is like "what if we pretend to be together lmao" and Magnus is like shit we're gonna do that aren't we

i know its not exactly Magnus having an ex but look im struggling to put all of this together okay udhdhdbd also im not big on the whole "breaking up because of someone else" trope ya feel

god this is just the setup for malec to meet, im,,,, a mess

so anyway Magnus and Meliorn are determined to totally sell this to luke (maia knows its a scam of course, she can smell bullshit from miles away). and luke and maryse are also totally determined to sell this cuz everyone is an idiot. so they keep having, like,,,,, dates together, until eventually they kind of become a solid group of friends. they all welcome maryse and are really impressed by how critical she is of her pre-divorce self and how it did wonders for her, they think shes really strong. she even shares about how she struggled with her son being gay and her daughter deciding to become a forensic pathologist instead of a lawyer like her, you know. in short they all become good friends

so now everyone (but maia and clary who are happy and drama free and laughing their butts off at Magnus and Meliorn) is in a difficult situation because now theyre all friends! what are they gonna do, confess it was a scam all along? pretend to break up and make the whole thing awkward? they're trapped in their fake dating and it looks like they're just gonna have to, like ... deal with it

and in luke and maryse's situation it's even more complicated because they are kind of getting into each other, and theyre like groaning because theyre grown ass adults they shouldn't be living this trope. and yet

anyway as they become closer they start going to maryse's (shes the only one with a large enough place) and that's when Magnus meets Alec and meliorn meets izzy

which,,,,, despair

because they had been doing a great job of fake dating so far, excuse you, they are partners in crime. they're a well oiled lying machine and they work together flawlessly. magnus is not even a good liar but shit if meliorn didnt teach him every trick on how to not technically lie, and also they are very close and the kind of ppl who are comfortable with sharing affection, so yeah they drape their arms on each others shoulders and hold hands and kiss each others cheeks NO PROBLEM but now theyre both interested in someone else

hell, theyre both interested in maryse's kids

fuck

shit

goddamn

meliorn is all like "i told you we should have pretended to have an open relationship" and Magnus is like luke KNOWS im monogamous he would KNOW we're lying and meliorn is like FUCK and maia and clary are losing their shits

meanwhile luke and maryse are becoming more and more domestic and oblivious to the world. they will b like "you kids put the movie on, we'll make dinner" and be all like fluffy asshole

izzy quickly picks up that its a scheme cuz shes smart, and flirts with meliorn when maryse isnt around, while Alec is like SHIT dude i cant believe ur into a TAKEN MAN what the fuck kind of sad gay stereotype r u

but their pull is like,,, stronk and they frequently find themselves getting lost in their own little world and lowkey flirting and just being a liiiiil too close (especially in alecs case since hes like ..... stoic extraordinaire) and then theyre like AH SHIT WAIT and they jump and pretend nothings happening

and look, izzy would tell Alec about the scam, but she's, como se dice...... having way too much fun at his expense. she and meliorn start dating on like day 1 and make a pact to see how long they can keep the act up and enjoy the show

maia and clary have eaten their combined weight in popcorn by this point

the intrigue. the chaos. the misunderstandings

it gets more and more ridiculous as time goes by but Magnus is still determined to yknow keep the act up and not expose his and meliorn's lies

they just,,,,,,, live like this

it lasts for so long

like ..... months of ridiculousness

and alec is suffering because hes into a taken man whos obviously very in love with his partner and he feels guilty and all of that shit

and magnus just.... doesnt know what to do with his predicament. look he has anxiety this was a bad idea how is he gonna walk up to Alec and b like "hey so I'm not really dating meliorn it was all a scam so we could spy on luke and ur mom but it went too far" and the more time passes the more awkward it gets

the dam probably breaks when magnus finds meliorn and izzy on a date on accident, and hes like rjrhrjrjdnc SO THEY KNOW???? and meliorn is like nah only izzy knows we wanted to see how long itd take for u and alec to get ur shit together. and magnus is like oh my god and meliorn is like "in my defense i didnt think it would take literal months!!!!!! and then it started to feel awkward to just tell you to go for it"

so magnus is like FINE i guess i will TELL ALEC and ask him if he wants to DATE ME IN SECRET so we can keep NOT HAVING TO CONFESS WE LIED TO HIS MOM

and then i guess he tells Alec???? and he still isnt sure whether or not Alec likes him so he isnt planning to ask him out immediately afterwards, just, you know, let him in on the secret, and Alec is like "dude my mom is lying too" and Magnus is like what she and luke are like married

anyway knowing about that gives them full permission to come out as lying bitches so they're like "how dare you lie to us like this.. but also we did the same thing"

eventually luke actually asks maryse out

i dont even know whats happening anymore god im done

this is your fault anon

if anyone wants to actually write this, feel free rjrhdjdn honestly id read it

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collapseofeden · 5 years

Text

Far Cry 5 Deputy Ask Meme - Original here

This is a long post, I can’t add a read-more link via the app, so.. this is a warning..

The Basics

1. Give their full name, and describe them or post a picture! Elias Gael Miller.

2. How old are they? He’s in his mid 40’s.

3. Sexuality and gender? Queer man. He likes people no matter gender or sex but doesn’t fall in love easily.

Pre-Game

1. How did they end up at the Hope County Sheriff’s Department? How long have they worked there? Miller was originally from the Albuquerque SD and was one of their top sheriffs and was moved to Hope County just for Eden’s Gate.

2. Relationship with Pratt, Hudson, and Whitehorse? Miller bonded with Whitehorse first purely because of them being closer to age than Pratt and Hudson. (tbc)

3. Do they have an education? After college he did basic military training and after that he went to the police academy and started working at the SD right after graduating.

4. Where are they from? Did they speak a different language there? He’s born and raised in Albequerque, NM. English is his mother tongue and knows very basic Arabic.

5. Is there anyone outside the valley that might have come looking for them? His parents and two sisters lived regular lives and were ”only” deathly worried about him not answering their phone calls. They called the SD but never got an answer as to what was going on. They had been informed about what was going on and he told them that no matter what would happen they should not come looking for him.

6. Did they have a religious background of any kind? He wants to believe in something to have something to depend on or draw hope or faith from, but haven’t found anything. The rest of his family have various beliefs.

Inside Hope County

1. What was going through their head when the helicopter went down and during the subsequent chase? Pretty much ”typical that this would happen first thing after my transfer”. But it just made his anger toward the Seeds and Eden’s Gate grow stronger at the moment. And also amazed at how a man could get such a big religious following in a short amount of time.

2. Were they afraid of Joseph and Eden’s Gate? Angry? He wasn’t afraid of the individuals or their beliefs but more of what they could achieve and potentially ruin.

3. Did they trust Dutch? Not right after the crash and being rescued from the river. While spending that first day on his island he gained some trust for him, but not too much, but as the days and weeks went by he came to trust Dutch wholeheartedly.

4. How did they feel about their team being taken by the cult, did they count them as lost, did they want them back, did they not care? Despite just getting onto the team and getting to know them they were a team and on his side so he wanted them to be okay and survive. It did cross his mind that they might’ve been converted while he was looking for them, but he still needed to get them. Had they converted he would’ve left them.

5. How did they take to the idea of being part of, if not leading, the resistance? Being part of something so big was very new and difficult to grasp, but he did not mind being part of it and he quickly got into it and easily grew into a bit more of a leader.

6. Which companions did they recruit, and who did they travel with the most? He recruited all of them because they needed all the manpower they could get. Some he recruited only because of that and found some of those lacking, but the rest he grew close to. Sharky and Nick were by his side most of the time. When he felt like having some quiet time he would either bring Boomer and ’Burger instead or go alone.

7. Did they have time to find romance amidst the chaos? How did they do it? His priority was to bring down Eden’s Gate and didn’t really think of such things during his time in Hope County. Though he couldn’t deny that the Seed brothers were his type, but they were monsters in his eyes after all. He grew very fond of Sharky and deeply enjoyed being with him, but felt that Eden’s Gate was like a wall that stopped him for feeling more in fear of either dying. Though he did chance a kiss, which was reciprocated.

8. Feelings about Joseph? On one hand he was jealous of him - having such a strong belief for something. On the other he pushed his belief in a violent way, which no religion or belief should do, so his hatred for Joseph ran deep.

9. Feelings about the other Seeds? Just as insane and evil as Joseph, just in other ways.

10. How did they handle having to kill animals and other humans? Had they done it before? He’d killed both before. Farm animals while growing up and humans in his line of work. He’s fine with it as long as it serves a purpose - food, getting rid of evil etc. Tangent -> this he kind of struggled with, the true meaning of evil. If Joseph killing people for the sake of his beliefs is evil, isn’t Elias killing the Seeds and all the peggies evil? As his belief is that Eden’s Gate is a harbinger of death, for no good reason. And then the cycle repeats.

11. Which canon ending did they choose in-game, and would you have changed the ending at all? He chose to resist Joseph, but he was really close to letting him go but god damn it he worked so hard to take him down, he couldn’t just let him walk. As a player i of course have done the other ending as well, but it doesn’t fit him.

Personal

1. Favorite weapon(s)?

2. Stealth or firepower? A bit of both, depending on the mission, but he doesn’t want to waste ammo. Starting stealthy and see how far it goes..

3. How did they spend their time, when not fighting peggies? Hanging out with Sharky and/or Nick, having fun with the animal companions, hiking, reading comics.

4. Where did they live during the events of the game? The old Miller residence (haha) just north of Orville Creek in John’s region.

5. Any other facts you want to share about your Deputy!

#far cry 5 #fc deputy #fc rook #*elias miller

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itstwothirty · 2 years

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Your girl when she

Sees a photo of me holding a big fish

Is it making fun of nerds

Or is it nerds making dun of themselves

Or is it nerds making fun of everybody

Using the image of an anime girl stripping to tell a story about what women will do for sex

Is it communicating the desires of the woman? Assumed desires? True desires? True according to who?

Or is it assigning meaning to a sexualized body as a vessel of power dynamics

What is want? What about the wantedness of unwanted touch? Consent falls into moments of unwanted ness being claimed as wanted actions

Until a point where the wantedness may become an unwant once again

And so do I ironically think this is funny Bc it makes me think of men on tinder who post pictures of them with a big fish? Bc the literal joke Is just a meme? And the best way to understand the metaphor is to inspect its template

The expectation?

The model?

Your girl when she - alpha position, dominator, assumed property owner, irresistible masculinity

—but can be turned on its head to make fun of something quirky a girl might do and the entitled masculinity becomes a moment of witness and potentially even self reflective moment

—can be used to make fun of yourself by positing your interests as unpopular but subculturallu relevant or even sometimes communicating authentic passion

—easily comes back around to the need for external validation and the need to come after other men and assert dominance through acts of humiliation and honestly perform some made up roles but dance and dress nonetheless

-fish joke-tinder dudes. Unwanted nudes. Or maybe a heart of gold. But really truly an inevitability. They represent the zeitgeist. The disciplined self that seeks no individuality, but pursues life and is inescapable for one confronting the world of desperate men.

-everyone loves using anime girls half naked. Eye catching. Complicated. Why are you still looking? It’s always about forcing u to see something else (italics) something other (Italics) than the message. The something else? Hyper sexualized feminine body. She’s blushing and she’s not human. She’s cyborg. You wanna see a joke about something you see across Facebook, tinder, and Instagram? And it relates to Guys being dudes? Well you have to witness softcore fetish art too. Call her vanilla if u please, but she’s still a 2d girl. What would your mom think? And the woman in lingerie is there and she’s giving herself completely. But the byproduct is youre seeing something made by someone. And the other thought your having is what other things have been done w these girls? What kinds of jokes are being told?

And they feel harmless. Usually a few layers of irony and it’s funny Bc it’s almost intense but then you think about the leftists And the queers and the amount of trauma and advice and perspective on the world is communicated using this hyper sexual used anime girl. I’ve read some serious political theory block text memes with anime girls as the background. It’s like a sigil or in some ways

Claimed aesthetic? Is it just tht these girls are so ubiquitous that no one cares about the implications—we’re a few layers of irony in and so the answer is obfuscated by taste … whatever that is…. And trends.

Memes are visual trends. But they’re also textual. They are a medium. And they matter. Far more complex than the others. Anonymity first, naivety second, curiosity third, and full stop - embodiment. You’re making a claim. A specific claim to the meme when you make it. And that claim is easily lost, but infinitely replicable. And what does ir do when it’s telling the witness so many things at once? It loses its order. It is an agent of chaos. Fractals and more fractals and still a universal language. Language because it shares the same basic units. But ultimately confident in its unstable form. And so it domesticates the users, it teaches us that we are talking in tongues and copper tubes. We all see different things, so we are shown different things, even if it’s the same old anime titties.

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Wynonna Earp Season 4 Episode 7 Review: Love’s All Over

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This Wynonna Earp review contains spoilers.

Wynonna Earp Season 4, Episode 7

Damn, it’s good to have Wynonna Earp back. “Love’s All Around” has a clever premise that wastes no time throwing us back into this world after more than six months away. In a mix of Greco-Roman mythology and Midsummer Night’s Dream, Waverly makes a bet with a stripper/food deliverer/”love professional” named Demetri (I guess Puck was already taken) that love is real. Unbeknownst to Waves, Demetri is actually a Cupid and he has slipped a vial of love flakes into her blazer pocket. Whoever touches a flake will fall in love with the first person they see, which leads to Waverly inadvertently spreading the “love disease” around Purgatory. Hilarious chaos ensues.

While Waverly is spreading love, Wynonna is falling apart. Consumed by the guilt she has around killing Holt in the midseason finale (a choice her fractured relationship with Doc has now become a symbol of), Wynonna is self-medicating with a combination of alcohol, sex, and Peacemaker. She’s suffering and further isolating herself in her pain. She’s doing badly enough that she misses Waverly and Nicole’s engagement party and, when she tries to make it up to them, manages to bring them on a very terrible bachelorette party (which is, honestly, a pretty competitive descriptor to earn).

Waverly demonstrates characteristic patience with her sister while also trying to hold her accountable for her actions. This seems to only make Wynonna judge herself harder. Our central heroine makes frequent references throughout the episode to how much everyone loves angel Waverly, implying that she falls somewhere on the other end of the spectrum. It’s an old story and pressure point for Wynonna, who was framed as the “screw up” in their family and community for so many years. While Wynonna had found a purpose and a support system since her return to town in Season 1 that kept those negative voices at bay, old habits die hard and, while Wynonna’s self-criticism may have originally come from external forces, right now, in this family she has built for herself, no one is judging Wynonna harder or harsher than Wynonna is judging herself.

Well, Doc might be judging Wynonna a little bit. Roughly a month after the events of the midseason finale (spring has sprung!), Doc is still struggling to forgive Wynonna for killing Holt. He is on his own journey of self-forgiveness and recovery and, frankly, he isn’t willing to sabotage his own mental health to join Wynonna in her pain… especially when he knows that, in the long run, this probably wouldn’t help Wynonna. The two obviously still love one another, but they are currently at an impasse: Wynonna needs to believe that she lives in a world where shooting Holt in the back was the necessary option, and Doc needs to live in a world where there are better ways. Because of this, these starcrossed lovers are living worlds apart.

This becomes particularly evident when the gang (including Nedley, Nicole, Amon, and Bunny Loblaw) are doused with a cloud of love flakes and all of their walls come down. The way these two stare into one another’s eyes is so different from the Cupid-inspired desire of the episode’s other connections. Their love isn’t simple and manufactured, it’s so very complex (just as Wayhaught’s is shown to be, even if Nicole really wants to get her body closer to Waverley’s, like, five minutes ago). “I don’t want to let go,” Wynonna tells Doc as the effects of the spell fade. (Um, same-sies, but with this TV show.)

The second half of Wynonna Earp Season 4 is burdened with the weight of Syfy’s cancellation of this beloved queer, feminist series. What might have been a perfectly fun spell-of-the-week episode of Wynonna Earp hits different when you know it is one of only six episodes left (barring the show getting picked up elsewhere, which I haven’t yet given up hope of happening). This was a fun episode, but in the long shadow of the show’s potential series finale, I perhaps unfairly want more. These kinds of “the gang goes mad” episodes are best when they tell us something new about our characters, and I’m not sure “Love’s All Around” did.

That being said, one of the thematic elements the episode pulled off was in eventually expanding the traditional definition of “love.” While the first few people who fell under the love spell became pretty horny, as more people fell under the spell, it became clear that sexual desire is far from the only expression of love. When Doc falls for Cleo, he spends his time doing emotional labor, encouraging her to forgive herself in a way that he hasn’t been able to do with Wynonna. And after Wynonna accidentally rains the love flakes down on the crew at Shorty’s, they spend most of their time dancing platonically in one another’s arms. Plot-wise, the rules of the love flakes were not as clear as they could have been, but, thematically, this episode nailed it. Waverly confirms it for us: “Love might be the only thing that’s real.” It might not last, and it doesn’t always look the same, but if this show believes in anything, it believes in love. If Wynonna Earp does end after this season, what a legacy that will be.

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Additional thoughts.

Wayhaught is having a “medium fuzzy” wedding, y’all… This is going to be the series finale, right?

I wish Wynonna Earp had found a way to lean a bit further into the aesthetics of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Fairies and flower crowns are not necessary, but always encouraged.

“I love you.” “Nope.”

Doc’s sweater this episode, tho.

Whoever came up with the name “Bunny Loblaw” is a genius.

Never bet against Waverly Earp. Duh.

I continue to wish Jeremy was in this show 160% more.

“At first I thought that was a new, woke term for ‘strippers.'”

It is vital that this episode has a consent clarification (and it does), though I’m not sure they totally nail it. Although Demetri tells Waverley that “sex doesn’t enter the equation unless it’s what the client wants,” that doesn’t mean “the client” isn’t ignoring the consent of the person they want to have sex with.

“We’ll find a fat baby to curse tomorrow.”

The couch!

“Be your own legacy, Cleo.”

Yikes, Cleo Clanton is ready to continue M’am’s killing campaign… and Billy might be on board too?

“I’m a damn good sidekick.”

Poor Rachel.

“Have a good evening, lesbians.” “Actually, Waverly is bisexual.”

There were so many good references in this episode, but my favorite was probably Bend It Like Beckham.

It’s official: Wayhaught’s love has defeated homophobia.

The post Wynonna Earp Season 4 Episode 7 Review: Love’s All Over appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2OvaxWJ

#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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renaramblesaboutcomics · 7 years

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Wednesday Roundup 25.9.2017

Okay, so I had another huge comic week, and looking forward this might be the last time that really happens for a while since at least three of these issues are here due to previous delays. and I’m trying pretty desperately to cut down on comics I’m subscribed to now. Which just emphasizes the fact that this week made it SO much more difficult to declare that because there was so much good.

... There was also some hilarious outrage on my part, too, so if you’re here for that you will not be disappointed.

Image’s Black Magick, DC’s Detective Comics, DC’s Harley Quinn and Batman, Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, DC’s Nightwing, Image’s Saga, IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Dark Horse’s Zodiac Starfore: Cries of the Fire Prince

Image’s Black Magick (2015-present) #8 Greg Rucka, Nicola Scott

Have I mentioned lately how Nicola Scott may be the most gifted artist in the industry in a while? Not since last month? Well we are definitely well past due time!

Story: Things are ramping up as the Hammer’s members increase their numbers and keep close watch on Rowan while Rowan settles things with her partner only to be manipulated once again by the terrifying forces of these unknown entities with that creepy AF girl with the stitched up mouth. That is a lot of stuff being unpacked in one issue and yet the moving parts never feel like they’re incongruent or taking away from each other. Seeing Rowan’s familiar watching the Hammer members, seeing Rowan struggle to be more open with her partner, and then seeing her old demons (literally) beginning to come to her work and haunt her there (literally and figuratively) all feels like it moves perfectly together.

I just really wish we didn’t have to do a “gay scare” which is a bit disappointing from Rucka, honestly. Haha get it Rowan was worried that her partner was onto her for being a witch and he just was mad because he thought she wasn’t coming out to him and it’s just all a good laugh. Or at least I would be laughing if either Alex or Rowan were confirmed queer women and so it isn’t just that he’s well meaning but oblivious while... literally taking away the possibility of representation.

Maybe this will be corrected later in that very way! Who knows, I’ll be relieved if it is, but until then it feels like an unnecessary marring of what is otherwise a great story I’ve been enjoying.

Art: I mean... just look at it! Nicola Scott is... arguably the best artist in comics right now. Her work is phenomenal and nothing presents that fact more than just how expertly she manages the medium in almost any way and how it adapts based on the type of story she’s writing. It’s very special for an artist’s style to work as well in a bombastic, colorful superhero comic then turn around and hit the perfect contrast of noir and witchcraft narratives. And all of her characters are distinct and especially her variety of noses, it’s simply gorgeous.

Nicola Scott very well may be the best artist in the business right now and any comic company that doesn’t snatch her up for major titles is foolish, honestly.

DC’s Detective Comics (2016-present) #965 James Tynion IV, Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Adriano Lucas

Well, it’s weird to say but if there was any issue for me to read before I took a short break from ‘Tec I am so glad it was this one. Which has all the makings of a backhanded compliment but we’ll see where I take it. Probably will seem like a backhanded compliment but I’m going to try to swing it toward positive.

Story: So I’ve been pretty sure I was going to drop ‘Tec for the upcoming storyline and then jump on again later for the next one, similar to how I did for the Monster Men crossover event, but I was really curious about Tim’s return and more specifically about the context of Tynion bringing Tim back which made me pretty excited for this comic. I love Tim Drake of old and reading this issue reinforced the fact that this current Tim Drake is the Tim of the 90s that I fell in love with -- the dork who loved Batman and Robin so much he put his life at risk to save the legacy of his heroes. And while this issue culminated mostly in a “slideshow” of Tim’s retconned retconned history bringing us back to the Tim origins from “A Lonely Place of Dying”, it actually felt really loving and refreshing to see the character I grew to love so much back in action.

I don’t care one bit about this Evil Future or Mister Oz or literally anything else going on right now. In fact I find that whole crossover tedious enough I dropped Superman a while back but I really did feel like I needed this reminder that we’re supposed to be reading this Rebirth Tim as the Tim we knew and cared about in the past. And that made this issue on its own worthwhile to me.

Art: Eddy Barrows is an excellent artist, through and through. The coloring’s fantastic, the art itself dynamic. Even with a familiar storyline and setup that we’ve all read before, he manages to find ways to make it read as unique and new through subversive angles and set ups. I really enjoyed his take on everything from Tim’s past. But even great artists sometimes fail the Batmanequin challenge. Which is, can anyone tell who the Batboys are apart from each other when they’re all the same age. The answer is no. His Tim looks identical to his Bruce to his Jason to his Dick and most of the time to his Damian and we’ve really got to change that at some point or else there will be a singularity of Batboys and we will all be sucked into an artistic blackhole and not in the fun way.

DC’s Harley Quinn and Batman (2017) #4 Ty Templeton, Rick Burchett

After this issue there’s only one issue left and in all honesty.... it’s about time we had some real emotional direction actually driving this comic because I’ve been asking for the last few issues “where is any of this going”. And since I all but refuse to watch the animated movie sharing a similar name, it’s that much more confusing for me trying to figure out what exactly this is all culminating in.

Story: Like I said, we’re finally getting some real tension in this issue as we have Harley confronting Ivy, it becoming more and more obvious that Ivy has a genuine problem with rejecting her own humanity for the sake of becoming as much of a plant as possible, and we also get that emotional catharsis of Ivy at least somewhat confessing that Harley is the only person she cares about. And it’s obviously a deep and intimate form of caring. She’s pained by the potential of Harley’s rejection and offended at the assumption that Harley would think of herself as anything less than her partner. But this comic, like all of comic canon, just refuses to give us THE WORDS. I’m so tired of partner being emphasized instead of girlfriend. I’m tired of cared being acceptable substitution for love. And I’m REALLY tired of Harley and Ivy only being portrayed as sexy and into each other in a way that’s meant to be attractive to guys. I’m not a guy. I’m a woman who likes other women. And I would like for this relationship, if it’s to be real on any level, be treated respectfully and given canonicity. Maybe we’ll get that next issue. I’m hoping, but since next issue is the last I’m not exactly expecting much.

Dick and Bruce are... still fun? I guess. It’s not really their story and I’m not sure why Batman’s even in the title at this point. His addition to this story culminates in a “not really”

Art: I gave Rick Burchett’s first two issues a hard time, especially compared to the guest artist for last issue, but this issue really had him stepping up his game and reminding us all why he’s been working with these characters and especially this style for the past twenty or more years. He really nails it... though it still has that edge of lacking refinement that we might see in something other than a digital first comic, the colors are really enhanced, the character and background art more detailed and controlled, and just overall this was a very pleasant looking and well laid out issue. Great work all around

Marvel’s Immortal Iron Fists (2017) #5 (of 6) Kaare Andrews, Afu Chan, Shelly Chen

We’re beginning to near an ending for this miniseries and I am growing an ominous, horrible feeling that I am desperately hoping is completely off base and unfounded outside of my constant apprehension of trusting comics too much. But we’ll get into that.

Story: As we left off last time, it was the culmination of all the storylines that we had seen building up in Immortal Iron Fists before then, Pei and her friends, the popularity drama that was the school dance, Danny’s feelings of responsibility and pride, the ten scrolls of Mara, and the strangely backward advice of the babysitter that Pei had been receiving throughout. And it all came down to a climactic battle with Danny and Pei finally at long last fighting side by side, both as the Immortal Iron Fist.

But suddenly there can only be.... one? And to save the world and inherit her responsibility as the Immortal Iron Fist, Pei had to choose whether or not she would take the dragon’s heart straight from Danny himself and use his chi to defeat Mara and his legion of demons. Which, of course, Pei refused and chose instead to sacrifice her own chi so that Danny could save the world.

This apparently erased Pei from reality and everyone’s memories in one solid swipe and sent her... to hell?? Where Brenda, who was in the storyline that brought Pei into the comics but has not been a factor through all of this miniseries, is a zombie champion fighter who saves Pei and her classmate that’s been in the coma because Mara was planning to use his body for his resurrection and also the popular girl, Danny’s girlfriend for an issue, an the babysitter are all daughters of Mara who are responsible for all this chaos.

And I genuinely feel like there’s been a lot of missed opportunities in the previous four issues that would have allowed this to be set up more. And that’s what is leading to the worries I mentioned in the opening. As far as I’ve seen, in Defenders or the solicits for Immortal Iron Fist, Pei has not been allowed to make much of an impact outside of Andrews’ runs. And.... I would really hate that a series that has sold e SO hard on Pei and on a new spin on Danny Rand to be a series that gives Marvel an easy out to erase those very things.

We have one issue left to go so I suppose we’ll have to wait and see in that regard.

Art: It’s still good art, still all-ages, but I’m starting to grow the opinion thanks to @secretlystephaniebrown and mine’s insightful talks that comis with cute art and lots of slapstick are pretty much utilizing a certain style to undermine dramatic writing or consequences in fear of being genuine. Or, in terms, bathos. And I really hope that’s not the intentions here because the relationship between Danny and Pei are genuinely sweet and good and if that’s the intention I really hate that comics don’t have the confidence to be dramatic fully in heart.

Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2015-present) #23 Brandon Montclare, Natacha Bustos, Tamra Bonvillain

I’m worried about my favorite adorable team of superheroes. How can there be a Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur if there is no Devil Dinosaur? But also... is this the inevitable end? Are there not more adventures to come of our favorite world class genius and dinosaur? According to solicits there’s more for Lunella but is there more for the friendship that warmed our hearts? Are any of us truly ready to say goodbye?

Story: Legitimately I have no idea what’s going to happen next with this comic because it seems like Lunella is sidekick hunting for the next couple of issues, so the real question is how ready did this issue make us to move on from the loving friendship between a girl from Yancey Street and her bumbling dinosaur? Honestly, compared to the majority of the tight and loving writing of this series, it doesn’t feel like this conclusion was something we were very well prepared for. Sure, Moon Boy and Devil Dinosaur are something we know of vaguely from other comics, but the anticlimax of the goodbye, and just how obvious it was that neither Lunella nor Devil were ready for it made the profound loneliness of this move feel so dissatisfying. Especially when Lunella returns to a doombot empty base instead of going home and emphasizes the strangeness even more.

I’m hopeful that this is set up, but I’m always on high alert for books like this that could easily be canceled by Marvel and worried about ending on a note I really wouldn’t want it to.

Art: As always, the art for this book is gorgeous and the coloring is fascinating and eye popping. The cooler hues this time around really helped with the more subdued and sadder tone of the comic which made the actions toward the end not only more disconcerting but plainly just more heartbreaking. It was an excellent choice and incredibly subtle but effective. This is a creative team that truly understands their crafts more than the vast majority of people in the industry today, and that’s saying something since quality is not exactly in short supply in recent years.

DC’s Nightwing (2016-present) Vol. 3: Nightwing Must Die Tim Seeley, Javier Fernandez, Chris Sotomayor

So I don’t.... really have any surprises in the works for those of you who follow my main blog at @renaroo who got to witness me liveblogging my experience reading this comic yesterday, but I’ll just put it definitively on the record here: Uh. Not a good effort here, guys. And this is officially the last thing written by Tim Seeley this gal is going to be picking up. Which I’m getting really tired of saying about writers who handle either one of my main two DC dudes -- Dick or Terry. Can we just... have anyone... care a little more? A bit?

Story: Okay so there’s about three plots going on at the same time during this comic and I’m going to address them in the three and then talk about the One Issue That Doesn’t Fit after. So four parts: The Robin Story, The Baby Story, and The Batman Story, and then The Good One. The way the plot is laid out you could argue that these three are interwoven enough to deserve going in a linear basis but I would argue no not really. Please take note that the title of this storyline according to the trade cover is “Nightwing Must Die”, a callback to the climax of Morrison’s run on the original Batman and Robin (2009-2011) series titled “Batman and Robin Must Die”. No, I’m not nerdy and observant, this thing is determined to hit you over the head with this allusion at every turn.

The Robin Story: Damian who has basically been forcefully emancipated from Bruce and sent to live across the country with the Teen Titans rather than ... idk just be sent to Gotham Academy which is a boarding school anyway, is pissed because internet forums have declared that the original Robin -- aka Dick -- is the best Robin and Damian sucks. Why Damian suddenly cares about 4Chan is beyond me but here we are. Now, despite there being an overly long and obnoxious storyline in Batman and Robin (2011-2015) called “War of the Robins” where Damian already went through this and beat up all his predecessors sans Dick because they have an actual relationship, or the entirety of “Robin: Son of Batman”, or the huge storyline “Robin Wars” where there were 30 Robins including Duke Thomas all over Gotham and something I didn’t pay attention to about the Court of Owls and Lincoln March -- this is a useless subplot that makes no sense for the characters or relationship that has already been established by Damian and Dick here. That’s what I’m saying.

Because this story isn’t interested in getting Damian right or doing him any service. This is dedicated to Dick in... about the worst way. And the weak motivation for getting Damian in Blüdhaven in order to reinact the events of “Batman and Robin Must Die” are so contrived that there’s really this feeling of “we need Damian in Blüdhaven come up with an excuse later” instead of it being something organic. For example: Damian is quick to bring up his concerns that Dick staying in Blüdhaven and starting a new life with Shawn is because he’s trying to become Batman of his “own franchise” and that he’s abandoning the rest of the family. This is really disconnected from the motivation of “who’s the best Robin” and would make more sense on a character level if Damian went to Blüdhaven of his own volition because of that concern to begin with. He feels pushed out of the family, and with Tim’s death he’s upset and surprised by Dick’s seeming abandonment of everyone else. Including him. The Robin with THE most abandonment issues this side of Jason Todd. Why not bring up something along the lines of “you haven’t been home since the funeral”. That would contrast the themes of family, Dick and Damian’s relationship, and Dick’s supposed worries about personal responsibility all at once.

This isn’t how that was handled and I am suspicious as to why. because we had to have that awful, ugly -- for me personally inexcusable -- panel where Dick tells Damian that he knows no one can balance being a superhero and having a secondary identity because Bruce sucks at it SO BAD that he now has the “burden” of being a father to a bunch of Batkids which he follows up with “And the one I think suffers the most from this is you, Damian. His only real son.”

So. You know. Fuck themes about nonconventional families and adoption I guess. Tim Seeley, go kick your own ass because you don’t even deserve the ass kicking from me.

It might seem like I’m being harsh but this one moment is SO hugely stupid and never brought up again or refuted later to the point that not only is it gross on a real world level, it actually REALLY weakens the theme of families and the such through the rest of the story specifically because there’s now this big ugly turd of a plot thread looming and never dealt with.

Professor Pyg and Doctor Hurt are back from Dick and Damian’s time as Batman and Robin and theyve made a bunch of disgusting Dollatrons specifically of Damian and Dick, or Robintron and Deathwing. This actually matters a lot less to the story than you might actually think because Robintron and Deathwing don’t have a relationship outside of being made to believe they’re Robin and Nightwing and one ultimately kills the other once they remember this. It’s symbolic because the Robintron was in Dick’s original Robin suit and Deathwing was in the New52 Nightwing suit do you get it do you get it do you get what they’re trying to say here it’s clever. Anyway.

The symbolism on a meta level is pretty on the nose “The New52 Dick killed the innocence of the old timey Golden Age Dick la da da” but in story we don’t really have Damian go through an arc or actually develop as a result of this matter and neither does Dick. Does Dick feel like his identity as Nightwing has killed his relationship with Damian? With his other family? With his idealistic self? It doesn’t... seem like it. Dick just kind of... punches Doctor Hurt after he decides that tragedy doesn’t define him... or something. It was from the hallucinations and like a whole issue later from Deathwing killing Robintron. And then Deathwing and Doctor Hurt kill each other by stabbing and falling rocks. Both ways in which villains have NEEEVVVEEERRRRR returned from the dead from before so I’m sure they’re gone forever.

So the Robin Storyline as a whole? it kinda comes to a conclusion with a genuinely nice two page spread where Dick and Damian talk about missing each other and missing their time as Batman and Robin. Dick even confesses something that would have brought all these storylines together rather nicely if it was done correctly: when Bruce came back to be Batman, Dick thought of staying as Batman, too in order to stay with Damian and train and raise him. But ultimately he thought, at the time, that he wasn’t old enough or ready enough to take that responsibility.

Dick was not ready to be a father but now he looks back at himself and who he is now and is ready for another go, with Damian or with his own children in the future. ... EXCEPT that reading of how the themes would play out are completely undermined and broken beyond repair by having Dick say that UNBELIEVABLE comment about how Damian is the only REAL son to Bruce and that the “Batfamily” aren’t a unit like that. Therefore the Robin Storyline doesn’t really have a conclusion.

Damian’s going to go back to San Francisco and still get pissed at /b/, there’s no family unit for anyone to reflect on, and.... the baby storyline:

The Baby Storyline: I could sum this up with one gif. I really could. I’m not going to but because I know this is only entertaining to hear me yell for an extent, have the gif anyway:

Now I’ll go into what actually bothered me about this storyline. Because this is tied to Dick’s relationship with Shawn and their pregnancy scare alone, and we see Dick freaking out at the possibility of the immense responsibility he may be stepping into, it actually genuinely had the potential to be a huge deal, a big game changer, something that actually would have developed both their characters and really questioned what they would be doing going forward with their lives. Would they both give up their costume lives? Would they move from Blüdhaven if they’re not defending the streets and it’s a terrible part of town? Would the baby have superheroes in its life from an early age?

It doesn’t matter because in what could probably be the weakest fake out ever, Shawn’s not pregnant she’s just... apparently not as regular as she once assumed. Which, hey, I hear that that happens fairly often for my fellow uterus havers and you know what? They’re young adults in their first serious relationship so I actually get the freakout from both of them.

But it doesn’t end up meaning anything other than Dick screams at Damian a few times that they have to save his “girlfriend AND baby” and for some reason Damian just goes with it because Damian of course has never before in his life ever shown signs of jealousy and concerns about conditional love.

The biggest problem beyond the fact that this plot’s resolution is a huge PSYCH spitting in everyone’s face is that... what... was the tie-in here?

Was it JUST the drama of “PHEWWWW dodged that bullet, now let’s go give Sandy a makeover”? I guess so.

Because if this was actually tied to the plots of the storyline it would have ended with at least one speech from Dick to Shawn, to his monologue, or to Damian that back when he returned to being Nightwing because he feared being too young and to unprepared to take responsibility for raising Damian, he had been wrong. He’s not ready because no one is, but he has a relationship with Damian that proves that he’s more than ready to be a father then and now. That he might not do it Bruce’s way because he didn’t like Bruce’s priorities, but he would find a way to balance all the aspects of his life and so can Shawn.

But that would require this story to... care about Shawn’s character more.

I actually like Shawn? I want to see more of her and I think there’s a lot of potential there, but at the end of this story outside of genuinely good moments, like the time with her and Deathwing where she tries to soothe him, she’s... just a damsel to be rescued? Just a possible babymomma for tension?

If she was more than that, then the plot would have given her more to do once she joined Dick and Damian. Like even ONE scene of her and Damian playing off of each other in the aftermath would have done wonders, made her more than just an attachment for the advancement of Dick’s character, but we get more development for Deathwing and Robintron than for the potential love of Dick’s life.

Kidding. DC would never let Babs and Dick have actual meaningful romances outside of each other anymore. Just like DC will never let them have meaningful romances with each other!

So this was a trip into a cul de sac of disappointment.

Also condoms condoms condoms condoms condoms boys and girls. Wrap it before you tap it.

Or be a lesbian. But that’s my answer for everything.

#Shawn Tsang deserves better #Hollatchagirl

The Batman Story: Oh, Bruce. How your shadow lingers large over all things that have nothing to do with you.

This is the “actual” plot. The one about Shawn being kidnapped and it all ending up being a plot by Professor Pyg and Doctor Hurt to relive the “Batman and Robin Must Die” storyline because....

Well. That’s the problem.

Doctor Hurt, as much as I really wasn’t a fan of that storyline under Morrison, served a very specific purpose. He was the antithesis to Dick when it came to Bruce’s legacy. Dick was his ward but also Bruce’s light and when he ascended to becoming Batman he took most of that with him and grew into the cape, so to speak. He embodied the detective work that Bruce taught him (finding the clues in the mantle that found the secret door), he embodied the friendship (taking his place as Batman on several superhero teams), and most importantly he embodied the head of the family. Alfred gave him advice, but Dick kept the Batfamily together as best he could, specifically by raising Damian as Bruce had raised him. And none of it was easy.

Doctor Hurt worked as a villain to Dick’s Batman because he embodied the worst of Bruce’s darkness. The strange and forgotten stories of the past, the psychological horror, the devilish iconography. Those things that were Gritty McBadBat about Bruce were never things that Dick was going to embody as Batman. And that’s why Doctor Hurt and him battled, basically over the heart of Damian: Robin, the partner, the son, the future of the cowl.

I didn’t like “Batman and Robin Must Die” because rather than have a huge statement about choosing the direction for Batman’s future by having Dick battle and defeat Doctor Hurt and his continuity drag, Morrison literally deus ex machina’d by having Bruce travel back through time and save Dick and Damian and basically take control immediately. It was such an anticlimax to both Dick and Damian’s arc even though Morrison tried to play it off as being the culmination of Dick and Damian and everyone else looking for Bruce plus Bruce’s “Return of Bruce Wayne” storyline. It’s messy and just feels like “whatever” at the end.

I don’t like it here because .... Dick’s not Batman. He and Damian aren’t partners. Neither of those things have been factors for either of those characters for six years now and, I hate to break it to everyone here, but at least one of them was “dead” for at least three of those years anyway.

Doctor Hurt is a Dick Grayson villain, but he is not a Nightwing villain. And the attempt to make him one here fell incredibly flat.

Also why was Professor Pyg there? Does Professor Pyg now know Dick and Damian’s secret identities too? Was that throw away line about him building dollatrons for Hurt meant to tell us that no only Hurt knows the identities? How is that much better? Why does everyone know Dick’s identity and he doesn’t care? Why doesn’t Damian care that the random Robintron knows his full name and who his father is? Why doesn’t Dick? If only Hurt knows then how did Pyg brainwash Robintron and Deathwing? If Pyg didn’t why did Hurt need Pyg to brainwash them for this since he apparently already knows how?

This story basically sacrificed all logic within the story itself to tie-in Dick’s time as Batman, which he doesn’t want to go back to and isn’t even tempted to go back to throughout the story, purely to justify having the Bat as part of the cover logo still. That’s it.

The Good One: There’s a one shot at the very end of this volume, #21, that’s definitely filler in between storylines but is actually the best thing in this entire volume. Probably the best of this run of Nightwing I’ve read and... apparently will ever read since I’ve paid my penance and given Seeley’s turn a chance. It’s a classic team up between Dick and Wally with a pretty inventive villain named “Timebomb”. It’s funny, has a lot of heart, the coloring isn’t muted garbage, and it features some high stakes without losing its sense of fun. It’s a good issue. I would actually implore fans of Dick and Wally to pick it up. It does a great service to their friendship.

Art: The art is good, the entire “Nightwing Must Die” part was colored in this muted, pasty way that basically made all backgrounds feel like they weren’t a part of the scenes and made all humans look dead or undead as it were to the point that Dick and Damian -- both canonically characters of color and occasionally colored to match it -- have the same pallor of the rotting corpse faces sewn onto Robintron and Deathwing.

The exception is the blue used for Nightwing’s costume and gear and for Shawn’s hair because.... idk. I guess we’re supposed to guess that they’re important to the comic or something.

No seriously, I love the art but they have to buy some more markers. I appreciate that you can only do so much when supplies are low but c’mon.

It’s a joke I know it’s a style choice I just don’t like the style.

But I emphasize again, the art is good. I just personally would go for the last issue’s coloring more than the main storyline’s.

Image’s Saga (2012-present) #47 Fiona Staples, Brian K. Vaughn

The real question comes to be... will Saga ever have a truly bad issue? I doubt it. Like at this point I’m not really sure what a bad Saga issue would even look like, but I think there’s absolutely no doubt that mediocre issues or issues that were more build up for what is to come can exist. Again, I give backhanded compliments here but I mean them... in the best way possible? Never mind, these cold opens are hard.

Story: We don’t progress too awfully much in this issue. The Will is captured by a vengeful victim’s wife who means to torture him by making him suffer and forcing him to see the very people he loves die.... until money gets involved and suddenly like everyone else she wants to capture Hazel and company to make the big starbucks. But, strangely for Saga, for the first time in this series we really don’t.... go anywhere with this issue outside of what’s taking place with the Will’s torture. There’s no scenes exploring what’s going on with the other groups, there’s no narration from future Hazel, we’re left with the Will, his past we haven’t seen yet, and his current circumstances.

Now this could make sense, the jumping around Will’s past is in place of jumping around the stars, and how could Hazel ever know what’s happening to the Will here, but it just all feels like a departure from the near omnipotence of Saga’s story before. And mostly it just feels like a setup for explaining how we get all the characters gathered for the next part of the story. And that’s.... not as cool as it could be.

It’s definitely a weaker entry for Saga overall, but that’s like saying a TV show with 100 episodes may have some that aren’t perfect.

Art: Fiona Staples’ art continues to be the star of the series, but perhaps because of the restraints of the setup, this isn’t the most visually creative or wildest design ideas she’s had in this series. The reveal of the shrew woman’s face felt.... anticlimactic compared to some of the truly out there examples of aliens unlike anything I’ve ever imagined before and it made the pause for the joke “my husband was nearly as beautiful as me” feel like... “have you seen what some of the other alien species look like????”

Likewise the backgrounds of both the flashbacks and of the room Will’s tortured in are not as wild as we’ve seen before, but I have to say the creative idea of the floating prism in space kind of makes up for it because that was creative and visually awing. Again, much like the story itself, the art only suffers because in comparison to the rest of Saga I’m only kind of blown away and not totally blown away.

IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011-present) #74 Kevin Eastman, Tom Waltz, Cory Smith, Ronda Pattison

Man we are just in the forest for transitions in storylines right now. Nothing is bad but nothing is standing out and I was expecting much the same with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles considering that we’re on Part II of the Trial of Kraang, but you know, it wouldn’t be TMNT if they weren’t continuing to surprise me.

Story: So this is a court drama because if there’s one thing that TMNT is dedicated to it is DOING ALL OF THE THINGS and apparently court drama hadn’t been checkmarked yet so here we are. And as someone who really genuinely likes the minutia of continuity and rules and regulations of different worlds and the way laws work in different universes, I found things fairly compelling. Not the least of which because of the smart use of characters and how they fit into their roles -- especially Donny and Professor Honeycutt both working as the prosecution. Don, after all, is the sci-fi heart of TMNT and him being in the thick of this as Kraang is the most “his” of their roster of villains makes perfect sense.

We mostly hit the same beats you’d expect from a court drama -- an unfavorable judge, slimy defense attorney making things hard for our prosecutors, the prosecutors pull a surprise key witness, and all in the background we have the unraveling of victims and friends trying to deal with the uncertainty of the situation while also.... fighting an interdimensional alien war. Hm. Okay so that last part is pure TMNT shenanigans but the drama of the story is really structured and punctual.

Which.... basically means that this issue is something like 80% dialogue with little tiny bits of action to give the other three turtles and their friends something to do while Don and Honeycutt hold down the fort. And if you’re prepared for that going in, you’ll probably find the case as interesting and the way facts are being retold and manipulated fascinating, but if you’re not then it’s probably going to be a bit of a slog compared to the ninja action you’re usually used to.

Art: TMNT’s art is always so shockingly good that it’s hard to comment on anymore. I really like how varied and interesting alien designs are with people not afraid to be gross by “human standards” when making things. And I like that the turtles manage to be simple so that they stand out in every setting without feeling out of place, and still have enough variation and ranges of emotions that there’s no confusing them with each other when the masks are off. It’s very good art and that should always be applauded.

Dark Horse’s Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince (2017) #2 Kevin Panetta, Paulina Ganucheau, Sarah Stern

I have been on the edge of my seet for a few months now, waiting for news on when the next Zodiac Starforce was going to be coming out and, at long last, the answer came. It was today! And there was much rejoicing. From me. Because I’ve absolutely fallen for this team book.

Story: We learn more about the titular Fire Prince and honestly that’s where a lot of my apprehensions come into play. In the original comic series, the Starforce was comedic at times but its drama was never undercut by it. Relationships were taken seriously and the threat to the girls was certainly serious, particularly from their own goddess and from Cimmeria. So when the first half of this issue was spent with the Fire Prince and making his powers known but also having him laughably dance around and prove to be a bit of a sadsack and not even comparable to the last threat of Cimmeria -- having been imprisoned and shamed by her himself -- it was a little worrisome. The threat after a huge battle like last time shouldn’t really be followed up by something we’re directly told is lesser. And that fed right into the lesser fights too, with Savannah undercutting Alice’s threat by having to make a joke of why they were fighting and remind her of the fact that she even was a threat to the Starforce to begin with. I know I’m throwing this word around a lot lately but it feels like bathos -- like fearing the sincerity of the drama so going for a joke instead. And that wasn’t something I really remember happening in the previous volume.

That all said, the one thing always played straight and the risk that is never dampened is honestly the one that remains the most important overall, and that’s the relationships between the girls themselves. Lily and Savannah’s romance and Savannah’s obviously very supportive mother, Molly and Emma’s close friendship, everyone’s concern for Kim -- it’s all great stuff and taken seriously throughout which is why I still have a lot of hope and expectations for this series. It’s just so nice to see a book that’s so supportive and intent on emphasizing the importance of female relationships.

Art: The art for Zodiac Starforce is beautiful and popping, but it also has a very serious control of its style so as to not be cartoonish beyond the point of feeling the danger or concern for things within the story. Even so, there were a few things that felt off model this time around. It’s mostly nitpicking, but there was something different about the way Emma’s hair was drawn, specifically when she was Gemini, and there were a few times where Alice and her goons seemed to look very different from how I remembered them. but overall I can’t emphasize enough that it’s a beautiful book and really does capture the feeling of being a Western Magical Girl team story.

There was a lot of good this week in a lot of different ways but when I think of what I enjoyed the most I have to absolutely give it to Black Magick. This book captures a unique style and tone of two things I sincerely love -- noir and witchcraft -- and is really doing something special with them in the modern age. And those are the kind of daring choices -- much like doing a mostly black-and-white comic when almost all comics stick to high definition coloring -- that really capture my attention and help any book stand out in a given week. So that absolutely must be my Pick of the Week, even with some of my harsher criticisms sent its way.

And, once more, I am in a bit of a financial crunch for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which being the medical bills I’m paying for my dog, Eve, who experienced a catastrophic dog fight and underwent surgery recently. On top of that, I have exactly a month and a half to pack up everything I own and move halfway across the country again which is not helping those financial crunches I mentioned before either.

As such, I really would appreciate if you enjoy my content or are interested in helping me out, please check out either my Patreon or PayPal. Every bit helps and I couldn’t thank you enough for enjoying and supporting my content.

You could also support me by going to my main blog, @renaroo, where I’ll soon be listing prices and more for art and writing commissions.

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#Rena Roundups #Wednesday Spoilers #SPOILERS #Harley Quinn and Batman (2017)#Nightwing (2016 )#Immortal Iron Fists (2017)#Black Magick (2015 )#Detective Comics (2016 )#Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (2015 )#Saga (2012 )#Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2011 )#Zodiac Starforce: Cries of the Fire Prince

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