#ill probably start the reboot soon

[brofightiscancelled]

mr rice can u please share your thoughts on ososan s1 and 2 vs s3 differences , like the direction they went that was less meta referencing the reboot nature of the show, and more on the mundanity and sisyphean nature of being directionless young adults (who are also virgins). Personally the bits focused more on the mundane were rlly good I think. U dont wanna see the matsus do chores? Play hide and seek? i personally enjoyed it. also, your omusubi thoughts if u have any?

i could probably write a thesis paper on this, and idk how having watched all 3 seasons back to back in the year of our lord 2024 affects my opinions, but ill try to keep it brief (1029 word stream of consciousness )

tldr: S3 lost sight of The Bit

dont get it twisted i LOVE slice of life stuff. i like characters. season 3 had some of my all-time favorite segments (pizza, the way home, mt takao). however to me what felt off about the season was moreso like… the Ratios. the Overall Season Balance, Ebb and Flow, it was all wrong. s3's skits were as a whole longer, fewer, and less funny. i did tier lists of every single segment from each season and i was shocked how fewer segments s3 had compared to s1. theyre too freaking long. and not even funny!!!

i didn't realize how.. idk stale? s3 was getting until cosplaymatsu and then i was fucking gulping for fresh air like FINALLY SOME GOOD FUCKING OUT-OF-CONTINUITY BITS!!!!!!!!!!! 

the thing is to me i think the Bit should trump all. s1 finale took this very literally, trampling all over the emotional cliffhanger for the Bit, but i think s2 finale also valued the bit of "well s2 is over so all that's left to do is die" while also retaining the emotional flow of facing mortality. i think s2 had the best finale for this reason btw. but ask me aboit that separately

to me osomatsu-san's Core Bit, at least that it started out with in s1, is "-kun is about these sextuplets being identical, so it's funny that they're all different as adults". the differences between them was in and of itself a punchline!! six same face!! to me as soon as you lose sight of this you lose my interest. no -kun flashback for s3e1 was a death keel. also, fuck you inumatsu

s2 took this core bit and ran with it a little further, now a little more confident in their characterizations they used the differing personalities as new comedy material. it's probably the platonic ideal of how ososan can combine its identities of "60's anime remake" and "jyushimatsu cordyceps"

i think s3's bit is, if there is one, at best, "there is no joke. we deadass just haven't done anything of value". which i just don't think is a good bit. it's one note, it's not versatile, and it gets dangerously close to being at the audience's expense- i think you can convey the lethargy and sisyphean existence without also making the audience feel like they wasted their time (i.e. the absolute worst sin a piece of media could commit). So the bit isn't good and they're not even dedicated to it in a way that matters. 

"does there have to be a bit" well yes! I think so. it's a gag anime. i guess that's the crux of my argument. if you dont have the balls to commit to character development you MUST commit to the bit. i think s3 fell flat for me bc it couldnt commit to anything

i watched osomatsu-san with a dear friend of mine who, bless their heart, still can't tell the sextuplets apart 3 seasons 2 mini serieses every bonus episode and 4 movies later. but they could still enjoy s1 and s2 because the matsus and their personalities were vehicles for the punchline- not the focus. as soon as they started writing about the matsus themselves and losing sight of the Bigger Picture (the bit) they got very lost. and im aware theyre an outliar viewer but i don't think it's unrelated. 

i think mt takao is a good summary of this issue. there's no bit- we're just slice of life moments with the brothers. but then tbey feel like they need to make a joke, lest people start expecting them to actually let these boys find happiness, so they just do a "and then we all died, jk, we can't actually accomplish anything of value" punchline at the end. it's a disservice to people who are invested in the characters, and for people who aren't, it's just not funny!

omusubi thoughts: theyre cutes. i could tell watching them that they were probably quite disliked for derailing the season so i immediately became like, fans in a hater way. lol 

i think their core bit is good: showa anime meets modern robots who don't Get It. but their storyline doesn't tie into their Bit, and its attempted tie-ins with the sextuplets never emotionally resonated. episode 12 was, affectionately, a huge waste of time (though the sheeh payoff made me woop and holler) considering i couldnt even get over my suspension of disbelief that the sextuplets would actually give a shit enough about them as People to bust their asses saving them (which, after their self actualization, they clearly still were treating them like machines. so it's like yeah i knew that shit was fake)

but like yeah after that they weren't their Bit anymore. they just became characters. maybe that's the summary of my issue w s3? no one is their Bit anymore. everyone's so attached to the Characters now that no one values the Bit anymore. we've gone so far into gap moe that ichimatsu isnt even scary anymore. if rental girlfriends had happened in s3 it'd be totty with the tiger cage 

but anyways. omusubi are interesting to me because i said earlier how s3 doesnt want to commit to anything, but it does seem like they wanted to commit to telling full character arcs, but had trapped the sextuplets into a Popularity-Induced Personality Prison where they've become too popular to meaningfully change, so they tried to do it with new characters and side charas (nyaa single mother arc peak). so like… i enjoyed the omusubi character arc bc it was at least something solid to grasp onto in this season with writing more fleeting than sand 

(but again, it still got invalidated and didn't matter in the end!)

in the end it is hard to cheer for characters if you know fucking nothing will matter in the end (very similar to my aggretsuko review i wrote in my head and didn't post anywhere), so if they're not at least funny about it i'm like What's the point.

a faustian tale, etc  

[lordkingsmith]

Adam Park OC Children

Adam’s a great guy and a total fucking sweetheart and the comics have and do him a disservice. I can’t fix that, but I can soothe my inner annoyance and give him a load of kiddos and loving relationships in all the alternate realities I can think of. And talk about the child he does canonically have in Coinless. Nameless Coinless boy also gets an au version. he deserves it, and his dad too.

Canon Children:

Unknown Mother;

Apparently a boy of unknown name, personality, or age. Child aged, maybe? So…probably anywhere from newborn to early preteens because the kid would probablyotherwise have been a sentry? I don’t know, I just… think they could have done a lot more with this mystery kiddo? child being assumed dead and then avenging Adam dying would have been a very cool plot twist! but no! he's so light on character he's not a character! He's a mention in a backstory to make Adam tragic! Who's his mom, who is he, how old was he, what illness did he die of, did he die of an illness, I-c'mon. there's light on character and then there's this. May the child come back in a reboot or just in general. And be a badass. I wish this for all of them, by the way.

My OC and Alternate Reality Kids for Adam:

Eugene Skullovitch;

Eugene doesn't believe in himself, but Adam does, did, and always has. They started dating after Adam encouraged him to play the piano in the talent show. Adam loves his music, and they're both encouraging of each other. Aisha is a surrogate for their son, Lukas. Given how close she was to Adam, it was only natural in her mind to offer. She loves him, loves he's found happiness, and when they decided they wanted kids she wanted to help that happiness grow. Lukas Park's 17, plays piano, and volunteers at the animal shelter. Adam's a doctor and while Lukas respects and likes this, he'd rather be a veterinarian. Or, like Skull, a professional classical pianist. They support Lukas with whatever he wants to do or be, and he loves the fact he's not being pressured. Skull once sat him down with a list of every job he's ever done (the list was actually more like an entire manila folder bursting out the sides, it was frankly impressive), a ranking system and how much each profession made. Everything from a cop to a detective to an undercover agent for the government to a waiter at a bar to a judge at a pet show to rockstar to pianist-it was comprehensive and a little overwhelming, but at the end of each profession Skull said if it was what he wanted, he'd be proud. At the end it left Lukas fairly calm and certain no matter what choice he made, it'd be the right choice for him, and his dads would support him in this. not associated with a color

Tommy Oliver;

They’d been friends since a bit before the transfer, and Tommy was Adam’s leader for years on three or four different ranger teams. There’s a level of trust there you don’t usually get, and they were both black and green rangers in their lives. After Tommy became Dino Thunder Black, and shortly after a divorce between him and Kat, Adam and Tommy started spending more time together. The getting together thing was an accident. Both of them at a Christmas party and then things going from one thing to the next, and Tommy says he’s never felt so at home waking up in someone’s arms.

They have one son together, Isaiah Park. Tommy cashed in on a favor owed by Grace, and soon enough JJ Oliver was trying to figure out where his baby half brother had come from. His opinion was Adam, because he was shorter. It wasn’t until several years later they were able to explain it in a way JJ would understand and accept. But they never let him live the cute story down, to his embarrassment. Given Tommy’s immunity to time fluctuations and manipulations by the Machine Empire, they found out they were living in the same town as Time Force. Tommy was able to complete a doctorate in, to Adam’s perception, a day. Tommy is a lead paleontologist due to this, and Adam works at the museum. However given Tommy being Tommy, there is currently a divorce. Tommy wears his trauma on his sleeve and Adam has given up trying to fix him.

Isaiah Park is sixteen. He’s quiet, thoughtful, and tends to think with his emotions rather than his mind. Lucky, charming, and a natural heartthrob to his school, though he doesn’t seem to notice. Loves music, especially classical, and reading. He hasn’t really thought about being a power ranger, though he wouldn’t say no if he was asked. He was babysat by the Dino Thunder team as a kid, and kidnapped by Mesogog once. All hell broke loose when this happened, and Isaiah’s unsure if he wants to be a ranger when this sort of danger could happen to any of his loved ones. Tommy and Adam are currently in the process of divorce, and Isaiah’s getting used to that idea as well, but it’s nice having JJ to talk to about it.

He has enough to deal with with his dads. They love telling the story of when he was three, they’d go “see you later alligator” and “after awhile Crocodile” and he’d respond, loudly and enthusiastically; “bye bye, froggie!” To this day he’s been unable to get them to stop telling this story to his friends, love interests, and any adult who’d listen. JJ feels the pain. Isaiah is not associated with any color. This is probably a good thing. However if he was, it’d be black.

Aisha Campbell;

It was just natural for them to get together. They’ve been friends together since forever, they’ve always been friends and it progressing to a little bit more made sense. They got married a little after joining SPD together. They have four kids together. Wendell, aged 26, Rocky, aged 26, Koniqua, aged 19, and Jacqueline “Jaq” Park, aged 17.

No way they weren’t going to name one of their kids after their closest friend aside from each other. Rocky was best man at their wedding even. When they found out they were having twins they simply used the middle name they were intending for a boy for Wendell. Rocky’s the older by eight hours, Wendell was a more difficult pregnancy and took his time, which actually was a foreshadowing to the twins’ personalities.

Rocky Park is rambunctious and a goofball. He loves making people laugh. Like his mom he’s empathetic and strong willed. Like his dad he’s prone to flashes of intense introspection, but never for long. Surprises people with his love of classical music. He’s enthusiastic to the point of being intense. Can be hard for him to dial it back. He’s a yellow ranger for his team.

Wendell is everything Rocky is not, and is a little bit of a little shit. He's often not noticed by other people, and tends to use that to his advantage. He knows his brother is a yellow ranger, and while he's not a ranger, he takes the opportunity to tackle or ram cars or steal from the monsters of the week. he's not noticed and it gives other rangers openings usually. He's given Rocky everything he's stolen, and is pleased when they're incorporated into the team's arsenal.

Koniqua is a lover of poetry, fables, and the history of the power rangers. She's determined to be one of the scientists who creates a new team, or unlocks the mysteries of the grid for general use. Pragmatic, quick thinking, happy to help her dumb brothers. They don't think she knows. She knew who'd saved her as soon as Rocky said "you're safe now civilian" and tried to act dumb. She barely resisted the urge to call him out. Doesn't bother fighting the monsters, her brothers got that covered, but she does help get other civilians to safety when needed. not associated with a color. She's going into historical costuming, with the intention of working for tv productions.

Jaq would love to know why earth is so valuable to bad guys that they keep trying to take it over. Genre savvy type, and doesn't take shit. Has psyched out two villains and one of the comedy duo by just asking over and over "okay but why". Not popular, has two best friends and they're all kind of outsiders. Prefers it this way. You will not find Jaq anywhere near the monsters when they appear, she's gone and dragging her friends off with her. not associated with a color, but has made the big bad main villain question themself and then cry. her brother was torn between disappointed, impressed, and terrified of his little sister. Jaq's considering maybe being a therapist specializing in rangers and their villains would be a lucrative career move.

Rocky DeSantos;

They make too much sense for anything else, they were best friends since the beginning. They adopted a kid who lost their home in a fire brought on by a monster. Peter's eleven and scared of the world. Adam and Rocky fully understand, but hope he can open up. They care for him and are worried about him. Peter DeSantos doesn't know how to feel about power rangers as parents after what happened, but he's glad Adam and Rocky are stable and they do try. It's just hard to open up. They have time, though, and that's what matters. Adam's been helping with his anxiety by showing him how to sew. Whenever he gets scared and his dads aren't there, he sews little projects. It helps and he's proud of what he makes.

tangential au; Rocky and Aisha and Adam are together with all above mentioned kids, and Aisha and Rocky's two kids. They live on a large ranch and the kids are thriving.

Scorpina; fascinatingly there is an episode where the Stone Canyon Trio deal with her in a human form as an exchange student named Sabrina. Adam was way into her. Coinless version Adam's finding Scorpina hot in general and she's flirting. A weird pairing but hey, there's a good history of evidence for mutual attraction! Of the trio Scorpina was always more flirtatious to Adam than Rocky or Aisha (this also makes him similar to comic!Skull in that a love interest is a long lived alien pretending to be a teenager for ulterior motives. imagine bonding over that extremely specific thing happening to you, yikes).

Scorpina is not banished to the dark dimension, and like Rita and Zedd, becomes good via Z-Wave. She simply takes the form of her human persona, the now young adult exchange student Sabrina. As Sabrina, she decides to see if she can patch anything up with Adam. Adam for his part needs to think about it. It's not that he doesn't trust she's redeemed, it's just so much has happened can he forgive her and accept the version of her genuinely trying to make things right? It takes a year and a half, and in the meantime they do see other people. But, eventually, they get together. They have a kid who's half alien, as Sabrina's species wasn't changed, she is more interested in looking human to help distance herself from her misdeeds, and blend in. For a time, at least, she eventually goes back to her true form when their daughter Luna Park is thirteen and develops her stinger. This is mostly to teach their daughter how to correctly use said stinger and other abilities without hurting herself or loved ones.

Luna Park is nineteen, very fashionable, calculating, and very good at getting her way. She generally doesn't do this maliciously, and works at a youth center, as the fundraiser manager among other things. She's extremely good at getting people to invest their money in good causes and very good at public events. She's a shapeshifter, but not as accomplished as her mom. While she looks like she'd be snotty or full of herself, she takes a lot after Adam and is very considerate and very polite and encouraging. However this doesn't mean she's a pushover, and she's sent more than one person who thought they could rough her or get handsy to the hospital. Rarely uses her stinger, Luna is an accomplished fencer and hand to hand combatant, though prefers kickboxing to martial arts. Think Daphne Blake with a stinger. Luna is not associated with a color

in a tangential au, she's a power ranger mentor and the green ranger for the team, when necessary.

tangential coinless au; Scorpina keeps protecting Adam, affectionately nicknaming him 'my little froggie' (to his concern), and doesn't let him die. However this annoys him because it sometimes mean she doesn't even let him fight. Eventually they produce Luna, and she's raised in the palace, often passed around by the sentries and Kim. Adam's not allowed by Scorpina to partake in anything potentially life threatening while Luna's young, and he gets placed as stay at home dad/personal body guard to own child duty. Eventually, Luna becomes a commander of black sentries, and works fairly well with the coinless. for the most part. Not much is different personality wise except she's more willing to commit murder and injury. Skull adores her too, and helps with the training when she's a kid.

Carlos Vallerte;

Several years after Adam transfers Carlos his Color, and after they team up, and a year after Adam joins SPA, he and Carlos reconnect. They got along well each time they teamed up, and after everything they get the chance to actually be able to get to know each other again properly outside of power ranger stuff. While both are busy with respective lives and careers, they do have joint custody over two kids, Miguel and Gwena. Aisha surrogated for Miguel, Gwena is an adopted alien girl from Inquiris. It's been a challenge to balance their careers with their kids, but they make it work. Generally, they don't live on earth, they currently live on K0-35 when not on duty with their kids.

Miguel is 13, and quite interested in nature, and earth. He's never actually been, because life kept getting in the way, but he wants to eventually. He's been promised he will, and that's nice. He likes ninjas and puzzle books and horror movies. Especially likes vampires, Carlos is just. Accepting this is going to haunt him for the rest of his life. Told Miguel if he wants to become a vampire that's fine but he needs to wait, and find someone who's not on the galaxy's most wanted list. Or working with a warlord or conqueror. the list of suitables is extremely small. Miguel's also thirteen, and he's realizing maybe he just likes the species in general more than the idea of becoming one. Loves vampire and zombie movies best. Not associated with a color.

Gwena is seven and from Inquiris. Any question given to her is answered with a question. Given how much human children do this in general...you can imagine the annoyance. Carlos and Adam quickly learned to phrase the questions as open ended statements for Gwena to respond to with statements of her own. She's very smart for a seven year old, and wants to know all the answers to all the questions, but is happy to question everything for the sake of asking the question. One day wants to go to earth, but also wants to go back to Inquiris again. She's also heard a lot about two infamous women from Inqiuris; Dimitria and Divatox, twins and very proficient in their own rights. At the moment, she flips between pretending to be Dimitria the good mentor, and Divatox, the pirate. She's seven so neither Adam nor Carlos are worried, but they do hope she'll decide Dimitria, who's a friend of theirs, will be a worthy role model, and not Divatox before the Z-Wave. not associated with a color, that anyone knows of. However Inquirians tend to gravitate to white or red color schemes in their clothing so it's hard for her dads to actually tell. Likes fables and magic and playing pirates. Vicseron, a friend of Dimitria from Inquiris, is Gwena's biological father, but was killed. Her mother also died, and Gwena had nobody. Dimitria had reservations about how well she and Divatox could look after a child. She brought the child to the most dependable ranger couples she could think of.

Prince Trey of Triforia;

While Trey crashed in Aquitar and needed help, when they sent him to earth to the other zeo rangers he helped them first, several times. Adam was, like the rest of them, very curious who the mysterious gold was. When they met properly, he had a little bit of a crush. When Jason took gold so Trey could slow down whatever was happening to him (his logos, pathos and ethos had split into three people, thoufh all of them were of the same mind. Triforian thing, apparently. It took a bit to get used to, to say the least.) Adam spent as much time as he could in the command center with Billy and Trey. They talked quite a bit, and Trey got a bit smitten with the curious green ranger.

When Trey was restored and he got zeo gold back, he decided to stick around for a little while to assist the other zeo rangers, and he and Adam began seeing each other. Adam thought it was kind of odd a prince wanted to date him, but he wasn’t against it at all.

They have one daughter. Crown Princess Tara, aged 20. Adam’s a diplomat between earth and Triforia, and Tara lives mainly on Triforia with Trey. She inherited Zeo Gold, and is noble, calm, and carry’s herself regally as she can. She does have her moments though, and feels like she can’t live up to her parents legacy, sometimes. She does try, though. She never stops trying. She’s going to be the best queen. It’s hard for her to believe it, but she’s going to be. Trey’s a great king, and he’s her dad. And Adam’s awesome, and he’s her dad too. And her teammates are awesome too.

Tangential au; Triforian life span might be longer than humans (I’ve got no idea, heellpp) and she’s the gold to the canon grandson of Tommy’s team. She’d be in the equivalent of early 20’s, in the hypothetical longer lifespan idea.

(we needed a green/gold lol. and this works, they did talk a little in canon. not much but I'm taking the opportunity)

Dulcinea;

She thought he was charming and sweet, and every bit a prince if he just had the self confidence to see it, himself. She made a child using magic, some years after the events of the movie. It killed her, but the child is hers and Adam's. He was confused and deeply saddened when he got the kid and the explanation. He loves Garrett, but it's a bit difficult. Garrett is an owl shifter, like his mother. He greatly resembles Adam. Garrett is 16, and doing his best. He's friends with the punks at his school, and has the constant air of wiser beyond his years. Often lives with Rocky or Tommy and Kat or any other dozen of Adam's friends while Adam's working off earth. He's got an odd, very inhuman air around him, even to other half human alien hybrids. There's something about his owl self that bleeds into his human form. He's never felt at home anywhere he's ever been, and he feels like he should go back to the planet his mother's from, guard what's there. He's a bronze ranger, and Adam wonders if this is from Dulcinea.

Unnamed Mother;

Adam made a mistake in highschool and while the girl wanted to keep the baby, her parents didn't think it'd be a good idea. Adam offered to take the baby off her hands, and while his parents disinherited him over it, Nemo grew up with a village for parents. Skull, Bulk, Aisha, Rocky, and Tommy and a few others off and on, all helped him during high school, with Aisha and Rocky stepping in during college, and Skull after, helping with whatever expense Adam needed. Nemo's fourteen, healthy, happy, and thriving despite everything. Adam's doing okay as a single parent, it's been hard but he's doing good. Adam's a tailor and Nemo mentioned wanting to go into this as well, and Adam about teared up he was so proud.

Coinless verse child has been given a happy alternative woo~

-

if I missed any, let me know! I think I covered most of Adam's possibilities ^-^

[alicepao13]

So this had more of a teamwork feel than the last few episodes. It could belong in any season, really. Makes me feel that maybe starting the season the way they started it really was just bad scheduling.

If you want to know how bad CityTV is at scheduling, guy made a joke about the killer dressed in a superhero costume "like it's Halloween", and the episode aired a day after Halloween. So yeah. The only episode that shouldn’t have aired close to Halloween, aired on Halloween. Good job, CityTV.

Standard superhero/vigilante crime show episode with a twist. You can’t reinvent the wheel by following the same path others have made. But it’s okay, I don’t expect it from this show, or any formulaic crime show. I mean, you’d have to be an idiot at this point to expect that.

I keep seeing similarities between the Moonknight and the Night Keeper costumes. At least the Night Keeper costume is black.

I was hoping that Sarah had some kind of family story when she mentioned that she had experience with delusional disorder but of course it’s one of her multiple degrees.

The fact that Charlie and Sarah mentioned that they’d meet at dinner and then we didn’t see the dinner is A CRIME. But at least they remind us (in their own distant way) that they’re still together.

I’ll put a BOLO out for Charlie’s house, by the way. I’m hoping the reason it’s missing is because Charlie and Sarah are moving together in another house (now who has a delusional disorder, lol).

I was hoping for a comment about reboots. Come on, guys, you are a reboot yourselves.

As soon as the nephew pulled up with that car I knew he was the killer. Unsurprising.

Well, at least they put the murder weapon inside a cylindrical evidence tube. I'm saying that because I just watched a show where they put it inside a nylon evidence bag. In the year of 2023.

I love Verdi’s Dier Irae and its remixes. I have one in my playlist (mine is a 2WEI remix). Remixing classical music and mixing it with modern tunes is my jam. Although I kinda pity all those who will watch without headphones (which is probably most of the audience).

Damn, the house is great. And a secret compartment? Come on!

Jesse bragging about his skills. You go, Jesse.

Charlie sending Rex with Sarah like he won’t be the one to need him (I knew before I saw it, they like being predictable lol), because he wants her to be safe.

Thank you, killer, for tasing Charlie. It’s literally the only whump he’s had for ages. Bless you, kind killer.

By the way, I think Charlie has gotten too comfortable having a dog watch his six that now basically anyone can sneak up to him when he doesn't have Rex with him.

Charlie stumbling and trying to get up. Yes. I want more of that.

Googling how long it takes to get over an electric shock from a taser.

Okay, so it takes a few seconds. Maybe Charlie was a bit dramatic lol

Rex running because he knows his trouble magnet partner is in danger. I love it.

I was kinda hoping that Sarah would save him, but when you have Rex and the Night Keeper, eh, I wasn’t holding my breath.

“I've got my superpower right here” SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP oh my god this was so corny I loved it (this user is not immune to grown men being soft with dogs, it’s a very specific illness, non-curable).

I think they had like fifty team shots in this episode. It was like someone was annoyed by the lack of team screen time in the previous episodes and overcompensated. Also, do decide what the temperature is in the room. Some wore coats, and Sarah (who is always cold) wore a sleeveless shirt?

Overall, fun but unsurprising episode, in the tone of Hudson and Rex as a show. The level of enjoyment very much depends on whether someone cares at all about superheroes, in my opinion, because they got the characters and “actors” involved quite a bit. Easily rewatchable, more enjoyable than I thought (I audibly groaned when I saw the promo for this, mind you. CityTV call me, you need me). Plot loses cohesion in the third act but it’s okay because you’ll have figured out the killer way before that.

PS: It seriously helps to remember what the show is about. I’m talking to both the fandom and the writers here, but especially to the writers.

PPS: How many German shepherds next week? I’m assuming Diesel’s entire family are actors by now.

[dawnowar]

Havent updated this in 2 weeks and I'm halfway through my vacation already.

I'm in a hotel in Indianapolis getting nostalgic about the past because i woke up at 3am and i need to cool off b4 i can sleep. I think its menopause probably but also im not sure. Menopause is a very weird thing. I always thought with the boomers just ahead of me they'd talk about it and solve it before i got there but they dont and they didnt.

I'm too old for it already and just starting. Or maybe i started years ago. I was never too sure. Maybe the murkiness of it all is why no one talks about it.

Anyway ill be fine when I cool down from whats either the night sweats or overheating myself while i sleep because I get cold flashes which i didnt know was a thing but totally is.

So i went to download my ticketmaster tix to my phone to be doing something while i wait but instead of downloading the tickets, it was giving me error messages. I'm 3 hrs away from home on the way to the next show that I supposedly have front row seats for that I paid some extortionate amount of money for.

The only logical next step was to panic.

and then i thought to reboot the phone and try again which worked.

whew.

I'm ready to go back to sleep as soon as my body is ready to do that bit its both overheated and ful of adrenaline now. Being old people is weird.

Do not recommend.

[josolei-blog]

I finished classic Evangelion the other day so I had to draw the fave.

=Do not repost my work. Thank you.=

[raessafespace]

—————————————————————————

Just to make this clear,

I am aware that Wade/Grisgrisdoll/Kastoway (Ticci Toby‘s creator) has made a redesign for his old OC ,Ticci Toby, to reconnect with his past creative work and I think that‘s awesome especially because the design for 'Chickadee Springs' on it‘s own is actually good.

As a year long fan of Creepypasta who recently just got back into it, I can 100 % understand why old fans are not happy with this. Ticci Toby has been a huge comfort for a lot of people and certainly part of their childhood as well and for him to be completely redesigned while his old version is being completely abandoned- it sucks.

The whole situation has been a little confusing for everyone and as far as I know we are allowed to cosplay/draw Ticci Toby as long as he‘s not associated with the original creator or the canon reboot, which is a completely understandable condition.

On this blog I‘ll be rewritting Ticci Toby as a character and his backstory. I might change subtle things about his appearance however they will not be prominent enough to make him unrecognisable. I‘ll also try to make his many disorders more realistic which I‘ll try my best to educate myself on everything. (I do not blame the creator for misinterpretating some of the mental illnesses in the original story since they were supposedly 12 when they published it.)

Here‘s a brief summary of the new Toby series (still in progress btw.):

One-shot chapters from Toby‘s POV

Possible one-shot chapters from Lyra‘s POV

Diary entries from a for now unknown character

Art pieces (by me) displaying scenes from the story

Design references

info about Toby‘s parents and his heritage

Toby‘s other relatives

Open asks

Little headcanon posts

Bullying

Toby‘s relation to school and voluntary courses

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While this is only the start of it and only a short post, I hope that people will enjoy my version of this character. The list will probably be updated multiple times.

I‘ll see you soon, bye!

[hawksugarbaby]

Todoroki x male reader- Caramel and Honey

Fluff + Au where todoroki rebelled and never became a hero 

Todoroki hummed to himself laying out the ingredients in front of him with his mixing bowl in the centre of the counter top, the mix of ingredients in organised lines from first to last except he was missing one ingredient.

It was soon to be your birthday, and todoroki being the gentleman as always was desperate to make you a cake as his local supplier. You deserved it for the kind smile you wore dropping of his orders at the back of the shop and hovering around for a few minutes to talk before disappearing into the wind again driving away in your van with (y/ln) Produce, stamped on the side of the van in big, black cursive.

He took over the shop from his mothers side of the family before she fell ill and had to go to hospital. not wanting anything to do with his disgusting father he chose to stay and manage the store of light pinks and pure whites. He heard your tires pulling up outside on the gravelly path and he opened the door for you to drop off your produce inside on the counters by the door.

"Hey Roki! How's it hanging, making anything special today?" you asked hauling a crate of freshly picked fruit for the season in and dropping it onto the steel top, wiggling under the weight and scooting forward a millimeter. "What do you consider special?" he asked bluntly helping you carry the boxes into the kitchen and put the items in their respective places.

Finally you brought in the cardboard box layered in bubble wrap filled with decorative jars of golden honey pockets of air suspended in the viscous liquid and Todoroki nodded happily in receiving everything he asked for. Sometimes you'd forget the blueberries, or the tea leaves or the bananas grown specially by your quirk. You grabbed a glass of honey flicking the lid open and dipped your finger into the glossy amber tasting it yourself.

"Something special? I would love a rustic honey cake. Just the way mum used to make it with our honey. Not the dumb store bought stuff, the stuff we make ourselves. With the bee's we lovingly care for, for a reason!" you shout but it was muffled by you sucking the honey off of your finger.

Todoroki wiped his chin and cleared his throat "you've got some... there's uh... like a little" you looked up at him and touched your chin the sticky threads of honey clinging to your hand. "Shit" you tutted and wiped it away with the heel of your hand getting that just as sticky as the rest of you. "Well this is embarrassing" you sighed and todoroki exhaled quickly, which was close enough to a laugh to make you smile. "Here" he ran a tea towel under the warm tap and wiped it over your chin and pressed it into your hand for you to clean your hands yourself.

He felt his own face light up red and grabbed a cup of blueberries in preparation for the blueberry muffins he would bake today and you blinked a few time's rebooting your brain after the short interaction making you flustered.

You wiped your hands down and neatly folded the towel over the side of the sink and shook your head clearing the busy, buzzing thoughts from your head and drew your eye's away from him focusing on the calendar hanging next to the wall. Delivery, nothing, delivery, nothing, delivery + (y/n) Birthday. You grinned and pointed to the red circle around the familiar number on the calendar and twisted your neck to watch him stir ingredients together into a pale yellow batter.

"You remember my birthday?" you quizzed and he nodded furiously beating the whisked eggs into the mixture and poured in the cup of indigo berries fresh from the bush. "Hey are you busy right now?" Todoroki asked moving on from the topic of your birthday and lifted his eyes from your strong arms he'd seen carry so many boxes of fruit, to your joy filled (e/c) orbs sparkling happily at the prospect of him. HIM. remembering your birthday.

"I can be not busy?" you raise your palms to the popcorn roof and flick out your phone calling a coworker. "Hey Bro, could you perchance come get the van from the Todoroki Bakery and deliver the rest of the products?" you ask and pushed the phone to your ear with your shoulder and mouthed 'frozen fruit' to todoroki and you quirked an eyebrow. He nodded to the bottom drawer.

"No I dropped a crate on my foot carrying the peaches into the shop and It hurts to walk on it I dunno how driving would go" you chuckle nervously and wink to todoroki who just looked back down at his muffins filling the white, paper cases not quite understanding. "No, I know it's so unlike me! But it's okay, Todoroki said he'd give me a lift home but can you just do the rest of the rounds?"

Your brother agreed and you said your bye's on the phone. "I now have the entire day off" you said proudly and leaned your elbows on the counter admiring todoroki's fluffy hair straying further from the style it was originally in while he pushed the baking tray into the oven. "Wait but I should check your foot if you hurt it" he said crouching down and pressing his cold hands against your ankle making you flinch "no I didn't really hurt my foot I just needed to get out of work" you chuckle.

"Oh okay. Will your dad believe that, aren't you supposed to be the big strong son?" Todoroki craned his neck up to look at you still resting with one knee on the floor and the other pulled up like he was going to propose. You lost yourself in your thoughts again imagining that instead of his hand on your foot he was holding out a small grey box with a gleaming band tucked into the cushion.

"Hey what the fuck is this?" your brother laughed at the scene in the kitchen and you whipped your head up to see him leaning against the door frame uncaringly. "Uhh todoroki was checking if my foot was swollen or anything. No evidence of broken bones yet! So you should just get going with the van here are my keys!!" you said hopping over like a professional actor and shoved the keys into his hand. "Mhm i'm sure that's what it was. OUTSIDE!" he shouted at you pulling you round the corner clipping your arm on the wooden pallets leaning against the wall out back scraping up inside your elbow.

"Hey what the hell, that hurt!" you shouted lightly tapping the bleeding scratched that didn't seem to want to stop bleeding. "Look I know you like that todoroki kid but you can't just skip work to spend the day with him!" your brother turned around and looked at your face, mouth agape and eye's furrowed into annoyance and he shrugged "what i'm just being hon-" "ARE YOU BLIND OR STUPID!?" you shouted back thrusting your profusely bleeding forearm in his face.

"Oh shit what! are you feeling okay?" he panicked suddenly drawing Todoroki's attention and he poked his head out the back door. Being the observant boy he was, his eyes went wide and he jogged over to where you were standing and wiped the blood away with the already honey covered tea towel but the crimson immediately started pouring out again. "He needs an ambulance" the dual haired baker tightly wrapped the tea towel around your arm which was quickly soaked in red.

You moaned in pain and annoyance feeling your head spin. "What could he have cut his arm on?" your brother asked and you held your hand out in front of his face snapping your fingers closed against your thumb shutting him up. "There's a huge fucking rusty nail... on the pallet you dragged me past you dickhead" you huffed. The ground span and swayed around you and the brightness in your vision was turned down so you could barely see the outlines of the boys surrounding you.

And then you were on the floor.

And then you were in the hospital. Staring at the white plaster ceiling at midnight with no one by your side. "Huh" you hummed and checked your phone hissing at the brightness lashing the dark hospital room.

todoroki was in the shop with a bowl and cake pan next to him. The jar of honey you scooped from open and his phone laying open waiting for your answer to his text.

You replied to the questions he asked and Todoroki's phone buzzed on the steel countertop and he perked up immediately reaching for the electronic, slowly running out of battery.

Roki 💖🍰

Hey are you okay?

Fri 12:18

Do you like pistachios?

Oh also raisins, do you like raisins?

Probably not, no one likes raisins

I like raisins...

Anyway. Text me when you see this

Fri 18:35

Roki 💖🍰

I hope you wake up.

I wasn't supposed to get a delivery from you today

But I wish I was cause I like seeing you

You make my heart feel... weird.

Good weird

Sat 8:44

Still don't know if you like raisins and pistachios

Sat 12:27

Roki 💖🍰

It's your birthday tomorrow you know.

Sorry I didn't text yesterday but you were sleeping anyway

How can you catch tetanus so quickly

It's supposed to take 4 days dumbass.

You got it in like 1. You fainted because of the blood btw

Mon 13:21

Please just wake up for your birthday.

I have something special for you

But I need to know if you like pistachios and raisins

Mon 14:56

Roki 💖🍰

Happy Birthday (y/n)

Tue 00:00

You chuckled to yourself at the sweet messages todoroki sent you over the course of the days and glanced at the clock. "I wonder if he's still awake" you croaked and wiped your eyes from sleep then yawned filling your waterline with unnecessary tears.

Bumblebee 🍯

Hey Roki. I'm up

I like/don't like pistachios

And I like/don't like raisins

Sorry for worrying you. Promise I won't get anymore tetanus

I'm going back to sleep

Come visit tomorrow

today*

Sent

Tue 4:13

"You better not be awake dumbass" you mumbled and turned over on your pillow burying your face into the uncomfortable pancake for your head.

Seen

Tue 4:15

The baker smiled and finally started working on his surprise for you chopping his toppings and thinly slicing/ throwing away his toasted pistachios and crunching on a few raisins while working.

At 2pm he walked in and went to visit you with his surprise balancing carefully in your hand. He carefully tiptoed to your bedside and pushed your side slightly. You snorted and rolled over, opening your eye's to an amused todoroki settling himself into the chair next to your bed. "Something smells great" you muttered pushing your face back into the pillow and smiling. "Thank you for visiting" you muffled and todoroki chuckled nodding.

"Happy birthday" he smiled pulling the foil off of the top of your surprise. You peaked your eyes open and sat up smiling brightly. "I didn't know how your mum made it but I made my own recipe" he scratched the back of his head and moved to sit next to you on the mattress. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder and kissed your cheek lightly before you could take off the handheld slice you were slowly lifting to your mouth.

"My heart feels weird around you" he sighed and thumped his forehead against your shoulder and you snickered, taking a soft bite of the sticky, nostalgic cake in your grasp. "I know. Thank you for the little updates by the way, very sweet of you" you emphasised the sweet as a pun on the honey cake but of course, it flew over todoroki's head. "But yeah. Thank you for the cake it's delicious" you complimented and leaned your head on his. "Can I go back to sleep now?" you joked and he smiled and pressed you down by your hard chest and lay on top of you. "Just don't sleep for 4 days again" he mumbled nestling into your t'shirt.

You stared down at the parting in his hair with huge, round eye's and put your hands on his back, grasping them together in a hug-ish type thing. "Okay"

[liunaticfringe]

(via Lucy Liu's Independent Woman - Interview Magazine)

There have been many great sidekick pairings in the history of modern literature. Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, Phileas Fogg and Jean Passepartout, Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet…the list goes on. Yet, it seems there has never been a delightfully tumultuous relationship that comes close to echoing the one embodied by rogue detective Sherlock Holmes and his faithful friend and assistant Dr. John Watson. Written in the form of short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the opium-den loving Holmes would terrorize London with his intellectual, astute, and stubborn prowess, with Dr. Watson providing medical expertise and chronicling their entertaining exploits along the way.

Doyle’s works have now long been entered into the public domain, with many film and television adaptions cropping up every few years. Still, when CBS announced in 2012 that it would be turning Doyle’s works into an hour-long crime-drama series titled Elementary, it elicited an unusually high response—this was mostly due to the news that a woman would, in fact, be portraying Watson. Her name would be Joan, not John. And she’s now a fallen from grace surgeon-turned-sober companion and private detective, forfeiting her “Dr.” title in the process. The woman chosen to take on this exciting, contemporary role of Joan Watson was none other than seasoned actress Lucy Liu.

Liu, who’s best known for her roles as a fierce and ill-mannered lawyer in Ally McBeal, an ass-kicking “angel” in the rebooted Charlie’s Angels, and an equally ass-kicking bad girl in the Kill Bill series, certainly provides the yin to the yang of Jonny Lee Miller’s gritty portrayal of Holmes. Elementary chronicles the duo’s relationship as they consult for the NYPD on various criminal cases while living in a shared brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. Initially starting off in Season One as a substance-free friend to the fresh-out-of-rehab Holmes with a keen interest in solving crimes, Watson quickly transformed into a sharp and observant right-hand woman who now clearly has the aptitude to work on her own. And it appears she’ll be doing just that—the end of Season Two left viewers witnessing Watson’s decision to move out of the brownstone and start a new career as a solo private detective, seemingly fed-up with Holmes’ erratic behavior.

The warm and delightful Liu recently called up Interview from her home in New York City to discuss Elementary’s upcoming third season.

DEVON IVIE: Were you on set today?

LUCY LIU: I was running around like a maniac, yeah. It’s beautiful today, it started getting a little bit cooler again. But of course I’ve been bitten by the two mosquitos that are still alive in New York City.

IVIE: I know you were recently at New York Comic Con. How was it?

LIU: It was amazing. It’s such a spectator place. Not only do you get super fans, but you also get people who are curious and inventive and imaginative. It’s fun.

IVIE: Did you run into any cosplayers dressed as Joan Watson?

LIU: Oh, no, I don’t know about that. That’s funny! We did a panel with a huge audience so I couldn’t really see if anyone was wearing anything specific, but it’s an excuse for kids and adults to get dressed up and just be crazy. You know you’ve made it when you have super-fans out there.

IVIE: When you first read the scripts for Elementary, what was it that attracted you to the role of Joan?

LIU: I liked the fact that it was going to be about [Joan and Sherlock’s] relationship and their friendship, and bringing that into modern times. And I thought it was wonderful to change up the gender.

IVIE: Did you immerse yourself in Arthur Conan Doyle’s work as preparation at all?

LIU: I did, I did! I started reading the short stories. I never read them before so it was a really great excuse to read them. I can’t believe it was written so long ago, because it’s so current. The characters are so colorful, which is why I think there are so many incarnations of Watson and Holmes.

IVIE: Do you have a favorite story? I love “A Scandal in Bohemia.”

LIU: There were some pretty amazing stories. The one that stood out to me, which was a Watson story that I got to know him a little more through, was “The Hound of the Baskervilles.” He really is on his own in that. Of course it turns out that Holmes has been there all along, but it’s interesting looking into his interior.

IVIE: Yeah, the entirety of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” is narrated just by Watson. And his diary and letters, too.

LIU: Yeah, I think it’s really cool. We started incorporating that into the show, too, the letters and journals.

IVIE: Has this detective genre always appealed to you? Did you grow up watching or reading detective whodunits?

LIU: I remember more of the old school Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys sort of thing. I also grew up with the Scooby-Doo mysteries. Remember when the villain would go, “I would’ve gotten away with it if it weren’t for you rascal-y kids!” Those were the kind of the things I immersed myself in. I have to say that my mother has always been a huge fan of Columbo and Murder, She Wrote, so this show was her dream come true. I don’t think she totally understood what was going on with Ally McBeal. [laughs]

IVIE: I’ve enjoyed witnessing Joan’s evolution throughout the course of the show, starting off as a sober companion and eventually ending up as a trusty sidekick and confidant to Sherlock. What can we expect from Joan in Season Three?

LIU: When you see them in the third season, you see some friction between the two characters. Joan is now on her own, she has her own detective agency, has a boyfriend, and has been without Sherlock for eight months. She’s got her own apartment, she’s settled, and he shows back up. I think she’s a little bit hurt by what happened and how their relationship and partnership ended, which was basically his decision and his choice, and he left it all in one little note for her. I think she felt that their relationship was much deeper than that, and that he was dismissive in the way that he handled that.

IVIE: How would you define the relationship between Joan and Sherlock?

LIU: I think that it’s a really positive and good relationship, overall. They really have a good chemistry together, work really hard together, and understand each other. They acknowledge each other and respect each other, which is a really important way to have a friendship. And they can learn from each other, you know? She’s very curious about him and I think he sees that she’s a very smart person—that’s vital for him in having respect for someone, having them be intelligent and thinking for themselves.

IVIE: Do you see any of Joan in yourself?

LIU: I do to a certain degree. She’s a lot more measured and patient, for sure. She’s a very curious person, which I think I am, and I think she isn’t afraid of change. She was a doctor, and then became a sober companion, and then jumped off and became a detective. I think sometimes it’s good to make big leaps.

IVIE: You’ve probably been asked this question many times, but do you think a romance between Joan and Sherlock could ever fittingly happen?

LIU: It’s a question that’s often asked and I think it’s really up to the executives. Rob Doherty, the creator [of Elementary] really feels incredibly strongly about keeping their relationship platonic. He has already taken great strides to keep the relationship as clean as possible according to the literature, but he has also changed so much of it by changing the gender of Watson. To have them have a romantic involvement would turn the whole thing upside-down in a way that might really jump the line. [Doherty] felt really strongly about it and I think that’s the one thing he really wants to stay true to.

IVIE: I totally agree. Even on the BBC’s Sherlock, there are campaigns to get Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock and Martin Freeman’s Watson to become romantically involved. It’s like, enough already, no!

LIU: No way, that’s so weird! People do have that level of friendship oftentimes, but it doesn’t mean it’s physical. I think that everyone just assumes because there’s chemistry the next thing should be happening. I would vote “no” for a romance. I think for sure the creator would vote no on that, too.

IVIE: I’ve talked to both women and men who watch Elementary, and they all consistently mention how well dressed and fashionable Joan is. Do you collaborate with the wardrobe department on styling decisions at all?

LIU: That’s awesome. Yes, I collaborate with Rebecca [Hofherr], who’s the costume designer, who’s wonderful. She’s very easy to work with. One thing we try to maintain about Joan and her style is that she’s a bit wrinkled, you know what I mean? Sometimes it looks like things are really put together, but we always want to make sure things aren’t too tight and are comfortable, kind of like she throws things together. We don’t want it to seem so business-y, so we go away from suits. Chic, but not corporate. Also just to make her seem like her outfits aren’t so put-together all the time. But I’m glad that people really seem to like it, it’s a relief! We don’t splurge a lot on the show, we try to do cheaper things, like things Joan would wear a lot. She wears the same white jacket and shoes frequently.

IVIE: Will we be seeing more of the infamous Clyde the Turtle in the upcoming season?

LIU: Clyde will indeed be in it again. We have to share custody of Clyde.

IVIE: Is it true that Clyde is actually two tortoises? Pulling a Mary Kate and Ashley in Full House on us?

LIU: Yes. It’s just like having twins on a show. Just in case one is crying and screaming and passed out or something.

IVIE: You made your directorial debut for an episode of Elementary last season [“Paint It Black”]. Do you have plans to direct an episode again soon?

LIU: That was so exciting. I’ll be directing another episode again very shortly in December, so you’ll be seeing it in a month and a half.

IVIE: Where did your interest in directing come from?

LIU: I guess I was curious about it. Having been in this business for a while, you kind of see and get a glimpse of everything doing film and television. I think it seemed like a natural progression to go into directing, and I hope to explore more of it, because it’s very exciting and a really good way to collide all the things that you’ve known and experienced in the business and put them all into one.

IVIE: Is there an ideal guest star that you’d like to see on the show in the upcoming season?

LIU: I would love to see Mycroft come back. I really think there was a wonderful tension for Mycroft and Sherlock as well as the triangle that occurred when Joan became involved with him. There’s something very deep about that relationship, and I also think that Rhys Ifans is a fantastic actor. He commands the screen, but off-screen he’s incredibly lovely. A real treat to have on the show.

IVIE: I remember the first few episodes that I saw Rhys in, I was like, where have I seen this guy before? So I looked at his Wikipedia page and it became obvious: he was the crazy guy from Notting Hill!

LIU: Yes, the roommate! So good! Everything he does, he just kills it, no matter the role.

IVIE: And it’s always good to have some MI6 action on the show, which Mycroft provided. Some international flair.

LIU: [laughs] International flair, exactly, some added spice. Just throw some spy stuff in there to throw people off their game. You just don’t expect it, you know? It came out of nowhere.

IVIE: That whole three-episode arc at the end of the second season…

LIU: That was awesome. I was lucky enough to direct one of those episodes, which is more narrative in tone. It’s more fun in some ways, too.

IVIE: You’ve done a range of acting work for both television and film. Do you now find yourself preferring one to the other?

LIU: I love both of them equally. The lack of predictability with television is something that’s constantly changing what your perception of who you think your character is. Suddenly I have a father that’s schizophrenic, or I discovered something else, or I have a relationship with Mycroft. The things that pop up and change the game for you and always keep you on your toes. The wonderful thing about film is that you have something that has a beginning, middle, and end, and you have a concrete amount of time to shoot it. And the process of that can be longer, like editing and advertising and testing the movie, so it’s very different. Television you just continue going, no matter what’s happening outside of your world. You get lost in that vortex a little bit.

IVIE: It’s interesting that America is now embracing the “mini-series” format that has already been so heavily utilized overseas, where there are a set amount of short episodes, and that’s it. In a way, it’s kind of like a cinematic experience.

LIU: I like that, too. It allows you to have a freedom of creativity and at the same time you don’t feel like you have to be contracted to something for that long; you’re really working on a piece of art. And then you’re done and you move on, or it comes back, like Downton Abbey. You don’t know. Those things become little masterpieces. The thing about television is that you see a range of actors now that you may not have seen five years ago even, 10 years ago absolutely not, and I think now there’s no wrong about doing television. There’s no definitive category for what kind of department you fall into anymore.

IVIE: What’s a fun, secret fact about your costar Jonny Lee Miller?

LIU: A fun fact about Jonny Lee Miller is that he oftentimes does handstands on a wall before he does a take, sometimes with pushups, to get blood to his brain and get him geared up for a long monologue that he may have. He stays there, hangs a little bit, and then turns around and does the scene. Most of the time in the brownstone more than anywhere else. He’s in full costume and everything. That’s trivia!

IVIE: I wish I could do wall-handstands by myself.

LIU: Oh my god, I need someone to push my legs up and then hold me there. I’m a cheat!

ELEMENTARY PREMIERES THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30 ON CBS.

[neechees]

the youtubers who did WHAT???

There's multiple videos explaining this, but this is the one I watched. The gist is that the youtube channel xtremegamez (consisting of 2 brothers) started losing views and and followers most likely due to the fact their entire channel consisted of clickbait & the promise of giveaways (usually of iphones) to loyal subscribers, which never came. They frequently jumped from the types of content they put out before putting out a video claiming that they both were dying & would die soon of an undisclosed illness, but having something to do with the kidneys. It's unsure whether or not either of them were sick to the degree they claimed (but given the circumstances its kinda leaning towards probably not), but in the video detailing this alleged illness, the brothers asked people to pray for them and. Subscribe to their channel for another giveaway (even though they were "dying?"). Their channel was deleted or disappeared for a while, making people believe that they had genuinely died, and then the two rebooted their channel recently AGAIN (2019/2020 I believe?) Proving that they didn't, they've never spoken about this again, they're back to doing fake giveaways, and that's avoit it

[zappho]

Some Meta on Murdock and mental illness

Generally speakig, The A-Team is a dumbass, light-hearted comedy with action on the same level as youtube poop videos. Obviously there isn’t alot of depth to be found here. The show had tons of different writers, all with their own take on Murdock and none of them offer any clear info or a proper backstory for the character. It’s basically up to the audience to fill in the blanks and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do by overanalyzing the mess that is the show’s canon.

The question of whether Murdock is ‘‘‘really crazy or just faking’‘’ has been around for over 30 years, but I’m gonna argue that he’s both.

When Kelly visits Murdock in the psychiatric hospital and confronts him about why he’s living there in the first place he gets instantly uncomfortable.

He really didn’t want her to ask, it’s why he’s been avoiding her. Joking about how you’re hashtag crazy™ is easy; having to admit that you’ve been institutionalized for over 10 years because you have legitimate problems is much harder. (Sure, the VA also gives him a convenient cover from the military police, but if that was the only reason for him to stay he wouldn’t react to Kelly’s question in this way). “It’s a long story”, is all he says. There are clearly some painful memories here that he’d rather not delve into.

He’d have to explain how he got committed in the first place. We know that after the gang was arrested for war crimes in ‘71, Murdock was still serving as a pilot in ‘72. They never clarified when and how Murdock was sent home, but i’m guessing without his only friends around and it being, you know...war, his mental health eventually deteriorated until he received a medical discharge straight into the VA hospital.

After Murdock gets wrongly released in season 1, instead of his friends being worried about his supposed cover getting blown they just shrug it off and go ‘Oh well!’ (This could all be due to the show’s inconsistent writing, but you know)

No longer being an inpatient would finally allow Murdock to be employed as a pilot again (his #1 passion), and yet he seems really disheartened about the situation. Even though the hospital gives him no privacy, the staff barely respects him and he spends most of his time there by himself, he still prefers to stay.

For a character who’s allegedly cheery comic relief, he sure gets his feelings hurt alot, mainly when dealing with other people’s ableism towards him. B.A. and Face are obviously just palling around, just guys bein’ dudes, they don’t want to hurt Murdock for real, they probably don’t realize how sensitive Murdock is about the subject. Usually he plays along or shrugs it off, but sometimes he gets genuinely upset. In the first half of In Plane Sight he’s so fed up with it he tries to ‘‘act normal’‘ until #Woke #Queen Hannibal reassures him that they love him the way he is.

PTSD was barely starting to become a diagnosis when the show first aired, but I think it’s fair to say he suffers from it. The pilot episode states that he has anxiety, paranoia and memory loss, so that checks out.

With PTSD you don’t just have to deal with flashbacks and nightmares, but also intrusive thoughts, images and memories about your trauma. Murdock copes with it by getting hyperfixated on a new activity or pretending he’s someone else. This is were alot of people will go ‘‘haha wow look how wacky and insane he is! He’s talking to his sock 😂’‘. But Murdock knows it’s all made up nonsense, he just needs his mind to focus on something else. What’s important here is that he never lets his coping mechanisms distract him when he’s flying, first of all he’s already focused and also he doesn’t wanna crash (lol). There’s a believability to his actions that’s missing in the 2010 reboot.

In the episode where the gang helps out the vietnamese cook from the POW camp where they’ve been tortured, Murdock tries to distract himself with some golfballs. He soon starts projecting his trauma on them however.

I think this is the only time in the show where Hannibal tears up, so this scene is kinda significant. As the leader, he probably blames himself for getting his team captured and tortured, and seeing that Murdock is still so strongly affected by it gotta hurt. 

Compared to the rest of the gang, Murdock’s alot more fucked up over the war. There are subtle changes in his voice whenever he talks about it. In the ep about their old war buddy Ray, Face was reminiscing about how cool of a guy Ray was for borrowing him his helmet, Murdock’s memories meanwhile are much less upbeat. ‘My bird was the only one left in the sky’ he remembers while we see an image of a field filled with shot down helicopters. His experiences are bound to be different from the other three as a huey medevac pilot. Murdock did have one off-screen breakdown in the present timeline, after collecting every newspaper article about the upcoming execution of the team in Firing Line. Apparently it was bad enough that he had to be restrained. It’s been 10 years, so he’s recovering and getting better, but he’s still not all there yet.

Everyone knows Murdock’s just messing around when he’s being interrogated by the military about his connections to the team, but like what about when the military isn’t there; or NO ONE is. He often talks to himself or just puts weird shit in his mouth for no reason while nobody’s paying attention to him (eating leaves, paint, an entire raw egg, a frozen sandwich). Sometimes he’s just unhinged like that.

Another thing that’s brought up a few times in the show is his anxiety. Murdock’s often seen being generally tense, sweaty, uncomfortable or reflective in the background of a scene. (I have no idea if this was a deliberate acting choice but Dwight does have anxiety irl so who knows if that had anything to do with it, I mean who knowsssssss, i’m just observing)

He’s got a habit of fidgeting with his hands or touching his neck when he’s stressed out. Murdock also does it when he’s telling his psychiatrist Dr. Richter about his dreams “If you were me, wouldn’t you be terrified to put your head down?” he asks him.

Richter isn’t really paying attention though, because he’s so used to Murdock’s non-stop clownery, he can’t exactly tell when his patient decides to be honest about his feelings for once. He just replies ‘Well only if it was a bad dream’. Which really irritates Murdock because what other dreams besides bad would he have? So he derails the session by rambling some made up bullshit on purpose.

Richter knows that Murdock uses humor and fantasy to cope, but he’s obviously tired of Murdock’s cringe antics, he just wants to help him. But Murdock doesn’t like to open up and be confronted with his traumas again, he just wants to avoid talking about it all together. There are still parts of reality that Murdock’s not ready to deal with, or he wouldn’t always retreat into his fantasies.

Before he can continue messing around a helicopter passes by and Murdock freezes for a second. Richter assures him that the helicopter is real; Murdock nods and starts fidgeting with his hands again, seemingly in deep thought. We know from the season 4 finale that he hears the sound of rotor blades when he dissociates. He was definitely being sincere here.

After getting drugged by some military goons he has a few brief flashbacks (feat. cheesy 80′s neon filters): seeing the chopper fly away, getting stuck in a potted plant as if he was walking through the jungle, being surrounded by heavy smoke and sparks from the burning carpet).

Despite being the 2nd highest ranked team member, Murdock dislikes being in charge and gets severly distressed when anything goes wrong that he might even be slightly responsible for. Most notably is the episode where the owners of the diner get kidnapped after Murdock got knocked out by evil cowboys or hill billies or whatever they were. Instead of telling anyone what happened, he’s just lying on the floor, repeatedly calling himself a failure until the others show up.

Seems like Murdock gets startled more easily than the rest of the crew as well. We often see him flinch when guns go off; one time he literally wore fluffy ear muffs to a backalley shootout.

This short moment from Family Reunion always stood out to me. Face opens the van door a little too quickly and it takes Murdock so off-guard he has to take deep breaths to calm down.

Murdock sounds exhausted when he has to remind Face not to sneak up on him. Face also realizes he messed up, he just wanted to check up on Murdock and not trigger him on accident.

When it comes to portrayals of mental illness in fiction there’s obviously better representation out there than Murdock. But sometimes you just wanna see a mentally ill character have a good time instead of being miserable 24/7. And Murdock’s already got the worst behind him, he’s had therapy for years and friends who love him. I just think that’s refreshing to see, especially with a character who’s so kind and openly affectionate.

[jawritter]

The Arrangement

Part 16

Summery: You are a young girl that was raised in a small church in Dallas, TX. One of the only churches left in the state that still practices arranged marriages. When your betrothed ran off to California you thought you'd escape the fate you were trained for ever since a small child. Now upon the death your parents your fate seemed to be inescapable as he's returned, and is ready to take you as his bride.

Book Warnings: Arranged marriage, loss of virginity, smut, unprotected sex, angst, language, suicide attempt, battles with anxiety, struggles with mental illness, age gap (about 11 years), I think that’s it, chapters will have warnings of their own!

Chapter Warnings: Angst, fear of flying, anxiety, social anxiety, some fluff in there, I think that’s everything.

Word Count: 2905

A/N: This book is a book about Christian and church based arranged marriages, I would like to take this moment to say that I DO NOT have ANYTHING against the Chirstian faith, and mean absolutely no harm to anyone! Especially Jensen’s family! This is a complete work of fiction, and should be treated as such!

Beta’d by the amazing @deanwanddamons who was awesome enough to do all this for me! It was a lot of work, and she deserves all the praise for it!!

Pairing: Jensen Ackles x Reader

Want More? Check Out My Masterlist!!

***MASTERLIST***

***SERIES MASTERLIST***

Stretching against the sleep that your body was desperately trying to hold on to, you reach over for Jensen.He was usually laying right behind you, but this time the bed was empty. Patting around blindly at the sheets for a few moments,  you finally pry  your eyes open,  wondering where he had gone off to this early in the morning.

Jensen was a lot of things, but an early riser wasn't one of them. Staggering your way from the bedroom to the top landing, you hear him on the phone downstairs. The house was still dark as he paced the bottom floor, talking to the person on the other end.

You descended the stairs as quietly as you could, so as to not disturb him.

"Yes sir, I know that, but I don't see why it's necessary... We ended it already.There's no point in doing a reboot, and dragging it back up years later.... Well I'm going to have to think about this... what do you mean later this week? It's almost time for the holiday! I don't know if my wife is up to traveling all the way there, and I'm sure as hell not leaving her here… No.... No... NO! Look it's not like I don't want to do it, I just don't' know if it's the right thing to do  Jared. Fine... I will talk to Y/N, and get back to you later this morning.... Because I'm not making a decision this life altering without talking to my wife first Jared!!" 

Your stomach cramped up . Lovely, more changes. You were just getting used to the way things where, and here they were about to change again.

"Jared let me talk to Y/N, I'm not going anywhere, or agreeing to anything without first talking to her... I'm sure she won't have a problem with it, but still, she deserves a say in this. I'm not going to ruin our marriage running behind a TV show that honestly wasn't doing that great when it ended. We said we wanted to end it on a high note. We ALL agreed to that.. Look just give me a few hours, and I swear I'll get back to you... Yes, I know you guys can't do this without me... I know... Okay... fine... Okay bye.."

As soon as you heard him say bye, you quickly ran back up the stairs as quietly as humanly possible, and climbed back in bed, knowing he probably would come back up there looking for you.You didn't want him to know that you were listening in on his phone call. 

It wasn’t like it was your intention to eavesdrop on him while he was on the phone, you were actually headed towards the coffee pot once you heard that he was downstairs, but the tone of the conversation, and the continuous drop of your name, had stopped you in your tracks.

Now you couldn’t decide if you were happy you heard this or not.

Sure enough, as soon as  your heart rate started  going back to normal, you heard the door open and close, then felt the bed dip under his weight as he pulled the covers back, and pulled you back to his chest tightly.

"Baby, you awake?" he said, brushing your hair back away from your face gently, kissing and nuzzling into your neck.

"Yeah.. Where did you go?" 

"Well that's what I need to talk to you about. I know you just woke up though.Let me go and get you a cup of coffee before..."

Grabbing his arms you pull him back down so that he could wrap his arms back around you. You didn't know why, but you had gotten addicted to the way his body felt pressed up against yours. It was comforting, you didn't feel so lost and alone when he had you wrapped up with him.

"I don't need coffee. What is it Jensen? Is something wrong? You could feel your heartbeat shooting back up through the roof again. Fear and nerves gripped your throat like a vise, making your chest feel heavy, a panic attack right on the surface of your consciousness. Slowly, in your head, you started to count your breaths to calm yourself back down.

Jensen pulled you instinctively tighter to him, kissing the top of your forehead. 

"Nothing is wrong sweetheart. Everything is absolutely fine!" 

You knew he'd already worked you out. He had been watching you so closely, he could tell you where close to panicking.

"Jared got a call this morning from AMC. They want to pick up Supernatural again for a 16th season. They are wanting everyone to fly out to California this weekend to talk about the details and things." 

Jensen paused gaging your reaction. You played with your hair as he waited for you to process what he’d just dropped on you. 

The first thought that ran screaming through your head, was that you'd never flown before, like never. Second, was that you'd never even been out of the state of Texas. Third, was that you had heard about all the sin and things that were preached against in Hollywood. You'd never been around anything like that, and you knew you'd stick out like a sore thumb, and not know how to act.

"Talk to me baby. If you don't want me to do this I don't care who it pisses off, I won't go. Hell, I'm not never sure I want to go!" Jensen pulled you even tighter to him, nuzzling into you. 

"Jensen, if you want to do this, I don't want to be the reason you don't. I'll learn how to do all these things, I mean, I know I don't know much right now, but I'll do and go wherever you go, you know that."

Jensen sat quietly for a moment, his mind racing a thousand miles a second, just holding onto you like you were a life preserver, and if he let you go he’d drown.

"I don't know how to feel about it. I let that part of me go, left it behind me, and that wasn't easy to do. I don't know if I want to resurrect it. I don't know if it would be a good idea. Jared is all for it, but he was also the one who had the hardest time letting Supernatural go, so I don't know." 

He let out a deep breath. You could feel the tension building in his body. Turning yourself around so that you could face him, you tuck your head into his chest, listening to his heart beat, letting it sooth you.

"Baby, I'll do whatever you want to do. If you want to take a trip to California, we will go. If you don't want to do this we won't. If you want to revive Supernatural again, do it. I'll be right there with you."

Jensen placed his lips to the top of your head gently, running his fingers through your hair. 

"Let's do this.Let's fly out there with everyone and see what they have to say. If I don't like it, we can always walk away, no harm, no fowl. I won't walk in there with any expectations. While we're there, we can go check out some of California. You've never been out there, there is a lot I think you will enjoy that's not Hollywood related. We will spend a few days down there, just you and me. I will rent us a ridiculously  expensive room, and we can just spend some much needed time away from Texas for a while, make it a vacation of  sorts. What do you say to that?"

You did like the idea of Jensen showing you around California. At the thought of having him all to yourself in a hotel for a few days, anticipation pooled in your belly, and a heat pooled in your core, knowing what Jensen had in mind by alone time, and it was long overdue.

"Yeah, that sounds good, let's do it.." you tell him. 

Jensen leans down and presses his lips gently to yours in a sweet kiss. 

"Let me call Jared before he comes and knocks down the door... He's a little too excited." Jensen laughed and got up from the bed to call his friend back, leaving you with your thoughts. 

You were going to California.

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[kikithegeek]

An Amateur Review of Ridley Pearson’s Super Sons

Please be aware: This will contain some spoilers for the Super Sons graphic novels written by Ridley Pearson. If you do not wish to be spoiled on plot or character development, please stop reading this and come back once you’ve read through the books yourselves. Otherwise, enjoy this amateur review.

INTRODUCTION

As someone who grew up reading comics from Marvel, DC, IDW, and Archie, it was always fun when legacy characters were introduced or focused on. Characters that were students or the children of characters that my parents grew up with always felt nice to me, and even relatable when they were introduced or shown to be growing up in a similar or the same time period as my friends and I. Taking this into account, it’s no wonder that by the time I was in high school, some of my favorite comics involved Damian Wayne/Robin and Jonathan Kent/Superboy. Yes, I was definitely older than them by the time their series came in, but some of the problems they faced, even the small ones, seemed familiar to my own. Problems such as Jon’s reluctance of moving away from Hamilton County to Metropolis where he’d be leaving behind people he’s known for years into what is essentially a foreign environment for him, or both characters having to live up to the examples their parents have set; something I’m sure many of us can relate to as children are always compared to their parents or successful family members. The growing friendship between them was always a highlight no matter what type of adventure they were on.

In 2019, Ridley Pearson and Ile Gonzalez released the first book in their 3-part series starring Jon and Damian in a sort of rebooted universe. Fan feedback at the time was mixed, with some fans unhappy and others just happy they were getting more content featuring their favorite duo. Personally, I wasn’t paying attention all that much; I was in the middle of college and my focus had drifted away from comic books that year to focus on my studies, but with the recent pandemic and more time to read I’ve fallen back into the rabbit hole of super heroes and villains. I remember there being an outcry against the books when the previews began to be released, but after they did release and finished their run, I didn’t hear anything. No one really actively talked about what the books were about and most of what I heard seemed to come from people who read a handful of pages, if at all, and then never finished it. So, I decided to put my two cents in and read them. I’ll be looking at them as someone who has been a fan of their main-like counterparts for years, and as someone who also acknowledges that this isn’t canon to it and is an alternate universe (or alternate Earth in the cases of the DC comics multiverse), if anything to look at it from a neutral perspective.  

It should be noted that this isn’t the first time I’ve read through Ridley Pearson’s work. In middle school and even through high school, I couldn’t get enough of Kingdom Keepers and Peter and the Starcatcher, even getting tickets to see the touring cast of the latter’s theater adaptation when they came to my state. I’ve read a few interviews on his work with the Super Sons before going into the books themselves, and he doesn’t neglect to say that this series isn’t connected to the normal DC canon (whatever that is these days; any comic book reader knows that reboots, especially for DC in the last decade, usually happen quite a bit). Okay, that’s probably a given, and it makes things easier considering the main target demographic are kids aged 10-14. There’s a lot of content to go over when it comes to everything connected to Damian and Jon, even more so for Batman and Superman, so this makes it less difficult for kids who don’t have much experience with DC outside of the occasional tv show and movie to get into it.

But what about the story itself?

THE STORY

(The majority of the story spoilers are beyond this point since I summarize the books. This is your last spoiler warning.)

The story itself takes place in an alternate future. America is called Coleumbria and the global climate crisis has gotten to the point where it’s a race to find a way to stop the rising temperatures and constant flooding. While Batman and Superman spearhead the projects set to stabilize and then reverse the Earth’s temperature, their sons are moved from Metropolis to a city called Wyndemer with other refugees looking to find somewhere safe from the floods. This causes tensions in the city to heighten as refugees, called “flood runners”, are harassed by locals. Without going too in-depth into the books (otherwise, we’d be here all day), I’m going to summarize them. Certain characters and events might be omitted, but hey, at least it gives you a reason to read them even if I tell you what they’re about.

The first book introduces us to this crisis and shows us how this world’s Jon (who still goes by Superboy in this) and Damian (who is going by Batkid) meet. While there’s some animosity between them at first, with Jon having a not-too-hidden bias against Bruce Wayne, the two eventually start to work together when they realize their individual investigations are connected. Jon and his classmate, Tilly, have been looking into a mysterious illness that’s hospitalized Jon’s mother among many others, and Damian has been investigating sabotages against Wayne Tech dams. They also meet a girl named Candace who is trying to uncover a mystery that’s plagued her since her mom’s passing. After finding clues at a food company called Sage Foods, the group is attacked and manages to escape after Jon is told their attackers were sent by a woman named Arvyc. After finding out that Candace and Damian had set Jon up earlier in the book to be attacked by a few gang members, the group have a short fight before they go to the train station to stop Arvyc’s gang.

The second book opens with the boys helping Candace make it to a boat while escaping a group of girls called The Four Fingers. While they didn’t have as much of a presence in the previous book, had been shown as adversaries of Candace’s. Continuing into their investigations into the virus, Jon and Tilly learn that it was man-made as Candace’s visions lead her toward Coleumbria’s capital. The Four Fingers, meanwhile, are adamant about finding Candace, so they’ve taken to stalking her friends, until they realize they’re “dead ends”, so they choose to follow their own leads. It is revealed that The Four Fingers and Candace all have powers that connects them to certain species of animals; with Candace, she has a connection to birds and she states her grandmother was the same. Tilly comes up with her own vigilante persona, Puppet Girl, and stays behind in Wyndemer as Damian and Jon leave to go to Cinapolis to find the virus’s source. However, the boys get captured and Tilly decides she needs to help them. Candace in the meantime has found an anointing oil her mother had left clues for her to find, which is the key to the throne of Landis, the country she and The Four Fingers come from. It ends with the Super Sons and Tilly saving Candace and helping her get on a boat back to Landis while Arvyc escapes from prison.

The third and final book opens with Jon, Damian, and Tilly trying to track Arvyc down and it’s obvious that they’ve been at this for some time now, but they soon become the hunted. Candace makes it back to Landis and finds one of the rebels her mom had led before she was arrested. As Candace continues on her journey, Jon, Damian, and Tilly are sent by Batman to a LexCorp lab to retrieve a virus sample, only to find it isn’t there. They decide to go to Landis since The Four Fingers were heading there with the virus (and Candace had gone with intentions to stop them), but Tilly needs to stay behind again. The boys and Candace continue their respective journeys through Landis, however a man who’s been pulling the strings from the shadows for the last two books, Sir Reale, has decided to send Arvyc after them along with Talia. Talia and Arvyc attack the boys who manage to outsmart them for the moment, and are reunited with Candace who has been tracking the virus with two warriors named Kizuka and Archer. Tilly, back in Coleumbia, is sent out to retrieve Damian and Jon by Bruce’s assistant, Patience. After meeting up with Tilly, the group find a lab where The Four Fingers have been preparing vials of the virus in order to release it via bombs, and a battle ensues where they learn that sunlight can kill the virus and that Talia is Damian’s mother. Learning that they couldn’t stop all of the shipments, the group gathers the people of the local town to help them in storming the factory. They succeed in killing the remaining virus, save for a vial to be used to create a cure. With Superman’s mission a success and Batman working on a cure, the book ends with Candace being crowned the new Empress of Landis, Jon’s mother waking up, and Batman making Damian Robin.

MY THOUGHTS ON THE STORY

All in all, the story was okay. Personally, I felt like it was rushed in some places, such as how we’re brought from one character or scene to the next with little to no transition or breathing space. The endings were also kind of abrupt, which I feel really brought down the ending for the final book. We don’t really linger on whether or not Superman’s efforts to reverse global worming worked or have a moment where Jon and his dad are able to reunite with Lois. I was also disappointed to see they didn’t go anywhere with the whole “Talia is revealed to be Damian’s mother he had never met before and barely knew anything about” sub plot they had going in book three. People who know me know that the League of Assassins and any character associated with them are among my favorite villains in the Batman mythos, and to see it be brought in only for it to not have anything done with it was disappointing. Heck, you could have taken Talia out of it and the story would have been the same minus Damian being momentarily shaken before getting back to business. At the very least, an ending scene where Bruce confirms she’s his mother would have been nice enough closure for it. This might have been due to there being a page limit (each book was roughly 151 pages long) which lead to things being cut out, but it’s still disappointing nonetheless, especially since I did find myself enjoying parts that had pacing problems.

Pacing and unresolved plotlines aside, some of the things I did enjoy though involved Candace’s story arc. She’s one of the characters made for this series, and watching her figure out her past and come into her own with her powers was really enjoyable. I also felt like small snippets of character interactions between the boys, Candace, and Tilly were really well written. They actually felt like kids.

THE CHARACTERS

Since there are a lot of characters in this series, I’m only going to focus on the four main characters since we’re with them the entire time.

Jonathan Kent is probably the one out of him and Damian who’s the closest to his original counterpart, and I don’t just mean in looks. While he doesn’t have as many powers as he’s come to have in the main DC canon, he does have some of the powers he has early on in his appearances, such as super speed, super hearing, x-ray vision, super strength, and being able to jump high/far. He’s a bit older here though, 12 instead of 10 making him closer to Damian’s age and allowing him to go to the same school as him and Tilly. He holds his dad’s lessons close and seems to be apprehensive about seriously hurting people, mainly in the beginning. Being older though, he’s a bit more mature than his counterpart was before he was aged up, and I feel that this version of Jon is a good blend between the two.

Damian Wayne on the other hand was given the most changes in terms of backstory and how he acts, which goes hand-in-hand. In the original continuity, he was raised by Talia and the League of Assassins, making him spoiled and a literal killer in the body of a child. Here, he was raised by Bruce (how or why, I don’t know. Talia wasn’t brought up until book 3 so I can only assume she gave him to Bruce as a baby and they agreed to never tell him for whatever reason) and Bruce refuses to let him be Robin, leaving Damian to become Batkid (which is a good reference to past incarnations of Batman’s son in older Elseworlds stories). He’s still arrogant and looks for a fight more than he should, but it doesn’t seem like he wants to kill. Beat up a guy who is already out of the fight, yes, but not kill. One thing people who’ve read the books will notice is I’ve been calling him Damian. Well, that’s out of habit; in this series he is pretty adamant about everyone calling him Ian. Why? Again, I don’t know, and part of me is bothered by it because we never find out why he hates his name. I can only assume Pearson had things planned that would explain this a bit more but had to cut them out due to page constraints.

Tilly is one of the characters made for this series, taking the name Puppet Girl as her secret idenity. She’s Jon’s friend and classmate, and is a computer expert, allowing for her to help the team from home until they need her to fly one of Bruce’s machines to them. She hangs around Jon a lot due to going to the same school and because both of them are interning for the Daily Planet. In all honesty, she reminds me of Kathy from before it’s revealed she has powers and is actually an alien since she acts as Jon’s best friend who isn’t Damian, as well as a girl who Jon might have a crush on or vice versa. The blond hair and the purple-pink outfit scheme doesn’t help.

Candace is our final main character and the second character made for this series. We meet her in the books before we meet Jon and Damian, and her story plays a huge role in the overall plot. Candace has been following a string of clues her mother left her shortly before her death, and we learn as the comic goes on that she’s meant to be the next Empress of her home country, Landis, but was forced to flee to Coleumbria when her family was usurped by a general. Over time, she unlocks her power to communicate and control birds, and later to control the weather. I found myself enjoying her story just as much, if not more than the plots that surrounded the title characters, which helps since her story is intertwined with theirs. If I had to compare her to an existing character in the DC canon, I’d say Wonder Woman due to her super human abilities and her being royalty.

THE ART

The art is also good, definitely better than what I can do. However, a complaint I do have is that the characters feel stiff and rigid. It might be the art style, but something felt off at times, mainly with the posing. Again, it’s still better than what I can do, but I feel like it could have been better. I did like how the backgrounds were vibrant and you could tell where the characters were just from a look, and the art is more detailed in general compared to other young reader graphic novels DC has been putting out. Art is pretty subjective, so I’m not going to go into this too much and a lot of these are my own opinions.

The art has come into debate as well, though not for the reasons I mentioned above. When previews for the first book started to be released, a lot of people were critical toward Candace and Damian, particularly toward their skin color. In the preview images, Candace was shown to have a blue-ish-gray tint (you can probably see why this didn’t go over well) and Damian was shown to be paler than Jon (Damian is shown in the original DC canon to be half Arabic and even though he was sometimes shown to have pale skin like Bruce’s, he was also shown to have a tanner complexion due to his mother’s side. Most fan interpretations as a result more often than not have him with tanned skin). After fan outcry, this was fixed with Candace getting a more natural skin tone and Damian’s being brought down to a darker shade than Jon’s. With Damian’s it’s more apparent in the second and third books since in the first one I did notices there were a few panels where his skin tone would be lighter than in others which makes me wonder if it was a last-minute recolor for the first book’s release.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, I’d say it’s okay. It’s not great, it’s not bad; just okay. I honestly think that if Pearson and Gonzalez hadn’t been given a page limit then it could have been better since the pacing wouldn’t be as big of an issue and they would have been able to get through all of the mini arcs they had set up. They obviously wanted to tell a bigger story but were only given so much room to work with.

It’s obviously not for everyone, and it’s definitely not the Super Sons people like me have grown up with, but that’s okay. Some of the kids I used to babysit who fall into the range of “I’ve never really read DC comics and only ever saw a cartoon episode on TV” read these books too and they liked it. Same thing for the few kids who did have prior experience with the Super Sons. What dragged them in was the climate crisis and (for the ones who read them after the world went into a lockdown) the fact the characters were trying to find a cure for a virus that was similar to the flu. Yeah, and these were written way before 2020, so that’s actually an achievement on Pearson’s part.

You don’t have to like them; heck, I didn’t really have any interest in them because of the backlash from people like me until my friends started asking me to make this review. But maybe give them a chance. Find a kid in your family or friend group and see if they’d be interested, maybe you can read it together once the craziness of the last year’s calmed down.

[trombonesinspace]

Typhoid Mary: feminist femme fatale?

“Season 4 was going to be Typhoid Mary, Alice Eve [who played the role in Iron Fist], we were doing a kind of...I had a much different version of her than what Raven [Metzner] had done in Iron Fist. I was kind of rebooting what she was going to be like, and we were going to do a, you know, kind of a warped love story/murder mystery kind of femme fatale, but kind of a modern-day, feminist version of it, as opposed to kind of the older, sexist kind of femme fatale archetype.”

-Erik Oleson, in conversation with Steven DeKnight, SaveDaredevilCon 

As I said yesterday, I have some thoughts about this! If you want some opinions nobody asked for, about a storyline that may never come to pass, you’ve come to the right place! Let’s dive in.

A femme fatale is a character type with quite a history, that can take various forms. She is always an attractive woman who brings ruin to the man who gets involved with her. But sometimes she is deliberately manipulative, while sometimes she is more a victim of circumstances. She may be evil, or she may be sympathetic/tragic. But whatever her moral alignment, she has two defining traits: sexual allure, and some form of negative consequences for the hero as a result of his involvement with her.

A woman who schemes against the hero, and succeeds in harming him, but without using feminine wiles? Not a femme fatale. The Marvel TV universe has featured several examples on different shows: Madame Gao, Mariah Dillard, Alexandra. And, ironically, the version of Typhoid Mary who appeared in Iron Fist. (We’ll get there.)

A sexy woman who tries to manipulate/damage the hero, but fails? Also not a femme fatale. I wish I could give some examples, but sadly I can’t think of any, in dramas at least. Our current media culture loves a sexy manipulator, no writer ever seems to introduce one into a dramatic story without making her succeed in her schemes, to some extent at least.

Which is unfortunate, from my perspective, because I loathe sexy manipulators. It’s a character type I really dislike, whenever I encounter her. As soon as she shows up, I know the hero is going to fall for her bullshit like a chump, and I’m going to end up respecting him less as a result. I could try to unpack my feelings about this a bit more, but that would probably make a post all on its own, so for now I’ll leave it at that.

This doesn’t mean I hate all femmes fatales—it really depends on her motivation and her behavior. If she isn’t trying to harm the hero, and it happens due to circumstances, then I might like the character, but the story becomes a tragedy. Which is not necessarily bad. Just, you know. Tragic.

Anyway! Let’s talk about Typhoid Mary.

Mary Walker is a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (multiple personalities), and high-level combat skills. In the comics, she is also a mutant with mental powers. She appeared in the Daredevil comics starting in 1988.

In this original version, her personality fragmented due to childhood abuse, leading her to vow as an adult that no man would ever hurt her again. Her personalities are: Mary, who is timid and gentle; Typhoid, who is adventurous, lusty, and violent; and Bloody Mary, who is even more violent, sadistic, and hates all men.

Mary becomes romantically involved with Matt Murdock, who is cheating on his girlfriend, Karen Page, to be with her. At the same time, Typhoid is trying to ruin him, having been hired to do so by the Kingpin. Matt can’t tell they’re the same woman, because when she switches personalities all her bio signs change (voice, scent, heartbeat, etc) so much that he can’t recognize her. (Uh, sure.) She may also be using some of her mutant powers to confuse his senses. I haven’t read the comics, I’m relying here on what I could learn from the internet.

Eventually Typhoid drops him off a bridge, but then Mary finds him and gets him to a hospital, saving him. Karen is with him when he wakes up, but he breaks her heart by calling out for Mary.

This storyline...does not thrill me. As I said, I haven’t read it, but comics writing about mental illness is generally neither nuanced nor accurate, and comics writing about women circa 1988 is also not great, by today’s standards. And comics Matt’s disastrous love life is legendary—cheating on your girlfriend is bad, Matt! Don’t do it! 

I have, however, watched season 2 of Iron Fist, where we get a different version. This Mary Walker is a US army veteran, special ops, who was captured by the Sokovian military. Her personality fragmented due to the brutal abuse she received from her captors for nearly two years, until she finally escaped. She got a medical discharge from the army after being diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

Her personalities are: Mary, who is innocent and naive; and Walker, who is a ruthless, coolly efficient mercenary-for-hire. The existence of a third, ultraviolent personality, previously unknown to either Mary or Walker, is revealed near the end of the season. 

Mary meets and befriends Danny Rand, while Walker is hired by his enemies to stalk him, and eventually capture him so they can steal his Iron Fist powers from him. She later changes sides, getting hired to bring down Davos, the season’s main villain, by Joy Meachum, his former ally.

There are clear parallels to the Daredevil comics storyline, albeit in less extreme form—Mary befriends the hero, but isn’t romantically involved with him; her more violent personality works against him and fights him, but doesn’t try to destroy him. 

I enjoyed this version of the character more than I expected to, for a couple of reasons. For one, she is never the out of control, “crazy” stereotype of a person with mental illness. Both Mary and Walker are more-or-less functional adults, managing to live a strange hybrid life, aware of each other’s existence even though they don’t share memories.

But what I especially like is that she isn’t sexualized, at all. It’s incredibly rare, in my experience, to see a young, female antagonist opposing a male hero, and not have her be sexy. Older women are exempt from this obligation (see my list of examples above), but the young ones always vamp it up, and I am so tired of it. I am not opposed to sexy women, but I am very opposed to the requirement that all women must be sexy. (Unless they’re old.) Male antagonists aren’t required to be alluring, so why should women be? (Yes, I know why. I just don’t like it.)

There’s also a lot of potential YIKES in sexualizing a woman with a severe mental illness, which was caused by (among other things) repeated sexual violence. Could it be done in a way that isn’t super problematic? It’s possible, sure. Am I assuming that most television writers would give the subject the respect it deserves? NOPE! 

I’m really glad they chose to just not go there. Walker is extremely good at what she does, takes no shit from anyone, and (almost) never gets riled up. After everything she’s been through, nothing in her present life has the power to faze her, and none of the men around her have the power to intimidate her. It’s pretty great!

She isn’t the least bit coy or seductive, and, equally refreshing, none of the men try to sexualize her or hit on her. Everyone Walker talks to knows she is a highly skilled professional, and they treat her accordingly. Or, when someone does disrespect her, it’s never gendered as far as I can remember, and it stops as soon as she calmly states what she’s going to do to him if it doesn’t.

As for Mary, although she has a more feminine appearance than Walker (hair down and loose, makeup), she is also not sexualized. Her friendship with Danny, who is in an established relationship with Colleen Wing, is platonic, and no one else tries to hit on her that I remember.

So this is the version of Typhoid Mary that Erik Oleson was going to reboot, into a femme fatale. Only, you know. A feminist one. 

I...have some questions. What does that even mean? What does feminism mean to Erik Oleson? Let’s be real, the idea of a woman becoming an ultraviolent, sadistic man-hater as a result of sexual trauma would have been seen as feminist in some circles, back in 1988 when that version was written. So what, exactly, did he have in mind?

As I said before, sexual allure is a necessary component of a femme fatale. So she was definitely gonna be sexy. And you know now how I feel about sexy female antagonists. As for the “warped love story” part...Matt wouldn’t be cheating on Karen, since they aren’t together (please, for the love of mercy, don’t have them get together right before he meets Mary, we did that once and I do NOT want to see it again), but I am still not a fan of Matt/Mary as a couple.

Her Dissociative Identity Disorder raises some serious issues around consent, and even if the show chose to ignore that, there’s still the issue of past sexual trauma. Unless Oleson’s reworking of the character was going to include a completely different back story, a Matt/Mary relationship would mean Matt unknowingly having sex with a woman who has suffered brutal sexual abuse in her past. Not to mention, having sex with her that only one part of her personality actually wants.

Is it possible for someone with Mary’s past trauma and present mental illness to have a positive sexual relationship? In reality, of course! In the hands of writers with only a layman’s knowledge of psychology, on a show that loves to torment its hero, I wouldn’t bet on it. How do you suppose our poster boy for Catholic guilt would react when he inevitably finds out the truth?

Plus, aside from any issues around Mary herself, Matt starting a relationship with anyone other than the handful of people who already know his secret identity, means a whole new round of Matt lying to someone he cares about. Does anyone really want to see that? I know I don’t. Sure, maybe he’d tell her eventually, but how long would they have to date before he decided to trust her with the truth?

I’m not opposed to the Mary Walker from Iron Fist appearing in Daredevil, if the writers could come up with a new story for her (i.e, don’t just have her repeat all the same plot beats with Matt that she already did with Danny). But bringing her in as a femme fatale really doesn’t sit well with me. We’ve already seen Matt in an ultimately destructive relationship with a sexy, violent, morally grey woman. I really don’t want to watch Round 2: now with multiple personalities!

Of course, maybe we never will. The quote at the beginning of this post is from just a couple of weeks ago (July 25 2020), so Erik Oleson still seems to think it’s a fine idea. But obviously we don’t know yet if there will ever be a season 4, or who the show runner will be if there is. He may never get to make the story he was planning.

So yes, I realize I’m merely speculating about a completely theoretical story that may never happen. But I wanted to write this anyway. I had a strong “ugh, no” reaction to the idea of a feminist femme fatale Typhoid Mary, and I wanted to go deeper and pick apart my reasons for not liking the idea.

To the three of you who have read this all the way through to the end (this post is nearly 2000 words, yikes), thank you for indulging me! These are, as always, my own opinions, and YMMV. 

[dullweapons-a]

12 People is like to know better ; 

ONE ( alias / name )          ansem ; seeker of darkness ( & yes that’s gonna be my real name when i can change it lol ) 

TWO ( birthday )               april 9th 1998 babyyyyy 

THEEE ( zodiac sign )              aries I don’t know about moon & rising stuff ;; 

FOUR ( height )                ....5’ even.......short king here 

FIVE ( hobbies )            being gay , writing I guess , drawing , watching horror games , daydreaming my comic instead of actually writing it , probably other things but idk 

SIX ( favorite books )          i really like the novella: the strange case of dr jekyll & mr hyde ?

SEVEN ( last song you listened to )           jvla - such a whore // slowed & reverb because it makes me think of ray..........................he’s very thirsty hoe pls save him he’s wooing villains & princesses left & right ...........

EIGHT ( last show you watched )         true blood cause mom was watching it in front of me lol

NINE ( inspiration for muse )        oh gods this is hard ;;; ill more explain how they came to be i guess cause idk what inspired middle school year old me to make them anymore lol

     RAY CADELL

i made ray when i was like 12 ? so he was distantly related to my self insert who was ganondorf’s child . he was sunshine child back than because i didn’t know angst just yet .......either way he got a reboot in like 2016 & became more like we know today ? he kinda was just that stereotype of hardened solider i guess , made to balance out dawn & her positive outlook on life . soon enough i started to like him more than dawn & focused on him , getting inspired by my own ideas of masculinity when i first found out i was transgender ? at first those ideas where pretty shitty but he grew to be a man who cares about the people of hyrule & is strong for those he loves -- but he also has my habit of isolation & fear of people 

also geralt .

     DAWN DRAKENMIRE

i made dawn when an old friend & i were self inserting ourselves into our favorite things ( hers was percy jackson / harry potter & mine was Zelda ) so dawn was a child between our self inserts.....children i believe ? for some reason i felt like i had to have another character have a child so i can make a new oc ??? ( so dawn is related to both ganondorf & fucking hades kfajskdlf -- don’t worry none of that is canon anymore unless someone wants it to be ) she was kinda just an extra character for plot reasons but i hate having characters there for others plot so i took her & yeeted her off skyloft to where she meets ghirahim because i love that fucker . originally it was ghirahim to turns dawn & ayrin into demons but i since change that . 

she wasn’t always . . . so happy ? she was one of those stronk woman who were kinda mean towards other woman for being girl but fuck that shes now ball of sunshine ! ( ray and dawn did a swapy with their personalities lol ) i really just wanted a strong person who wasn’t an asshole really lol why girls in action movies so mean all the time ??? dawn can kick your ass & just be a ball of joy !

TEN ( meaning behind url )       well when this account was just ray it made a lot more sense cause he doesn’t care for his weapon form , its dull & rusty af . but now that dawns here it doesn’t really make sense anymore lol . i like it too much to change it so all i did was add the s at the end to make it known its two sword spirits 

tagged by / @volcania hewwo my friend i short too so i will be throwing hands with your muses personally uwu <3

tagging / uHHHHH  @lightumbra , @dragmiire / @lionfanged , @hylianremnants , @talonsoftheroc & yOU !

[songbirdsengines]

Thomas In Name Only

Okay, you know how I posted a thing yesterday talking about “Season 25″ of TTTE?

It got worse.

I have the Sodor Island Fansite article here. Please read through it as many times as you need for comprehension and take a short break to keep from destroying your electronic device before returning to this rant.

https://thesifblog.blogspot.com/2020/11/thomas-2021-what-to-expect.html

Is everyone cool now? Good. Let’s talk about this. Even if you don’t want to read the rant under the handy “Keep Reading,” please reblog this post and share this article with every fan of the show you are in contact with. With what was revealed, it is almost guaranteed that Thomas will not see 100 if something doesn’t change for the better and soon.

Apologies for the length of the following rant, but I think this all needs to be addressed. If you make it through, I encourage you to reblog and add anything I missed. From what I’ve seen, the man who spoke doesn’t know anything about Thomas or what makes it tick.

To set the stage, this was a conference call arranged to talk about the new series. This was in the form of an interview with a Mr. Campbell Bryer, who will be one of the show’s directors on Nelvana’s side. While we did not get any new visuals, we got a mountain of information. And, once I read through it, I was glad we didn’t get any visuals.

First off, let’s make the tone of the show clear. This is a reboot, plain and simple. The stories will be more about the engines playing than doing their jobs. There will be little to no railway realism whatsoever, even less than the recent seasons have been showing. From what I am understanding, the engines will have little to no responsibilities and will be free to do whatever they choose.

I also want to mention how much of the heritage they are intentionally stripping away. As we all know, Sodor is located off the coast of England, Barrow-in-Furness specifically. However, in this new iteration of the show, Sodor’s location will not be mentioned, and characters who speak will likely not have an English accent. This is a grave insult to the history of this series, which started in England. EVERYTHING about Sodor and its history has been incorporated into British history. Even the name “Sodor” comes from a British bishop!

Not only does this remove the history, but it also cuts off an essential aspect of the engines themselves. A lot of the original and most popular engines are BRITISH locomotives. As an example, Gordon is an A0, the prototype to the A 1/3. His only surviving sibling, Flying Scotsman, was the first engine recorded at 100 mph. To strip the island’s location is to deny the heritage of the characters we know and love.

While we’re on the subject of characters, the line up of characters is looking likely to change. The article mentions that we are likely to see more focus on the childlike characters, like Thomas and Percy, and even less focus than currently on older, more mature engines. Who does this rule out? I can think of three engines on the standard gauge lines right now.

Edward - Edward is the classic example of the mentor character. In most of the stories and episodes he is featured in, he approaches things with a level head and a fair bit of logic. He will likely completely disappear.

Duck - Duck typically thinks things through logically, like Edward, though he gets into more scrapes than the blue tender engine. It’s safe to say that Duck will be relegated to cameo appearances if he doesn’t disappear altogether.

Henry - Henry’s been on thin ice for a while now. While he’s not typically portrayed as wise, he could be considered the more level headed of the Tender Trio of Henry, Gordon, and James. With this, Henry has a real chance of never being seen again.

With this revelation, I have to wonder about the Skarloey Railway’s fate, where many of the engines are more on the mature side. I have a feeling that any railway that is not standard gauge will also disappear.

This brings us to another aspect of Sundrian life. What about the humans? The short answer is that they will become nonexistent. To start, the engines will be moving without any assistance of crews. This completely removes an aspect that has been seen throughout the show’s run, even if the existence of an engine’s crew was downplayed in certain eras. In general, humans will not have a forward role, meaning we also lose out on essential functions such as stationmaster, guard, and signalman.

The only exception is, of course, Sir Topham Hatt. As we currently know him, he is the leader of the railway and a father figure to the engines on Sodor, doling out praise and punishment as needed. However, in this new series, Sir Topham Hatt is relegated to the role of a joke, despite supposedly still being in charge. The article describes him as “really flustered and all over the place,” nothing like what we would expect.

With the mature engines leaving and Sir Topham Hatt reduced to an idiot, who will take charge of the engines and fill in a father figure’s role? Well, that would fall to Gordon, of course!

No, I’m serious. Stop laughing.

Gordon will be the father figure the other engines look up to. Gordon, the bully. Gordon, the snob. Gordon, the engine with one of the shortest fuses. Gordon, the engine that refuses to do work outside of what he prefers. Gordon, the engine who is known to harass engines (namely Henry) who are having problems. Gordon, an engine who is not known for being a role model, will be the father figure in this reboot.

One of the most significant causes of controversy in the latest few seasons of the show was the engines’ movement. While this was disorienting, the article promises that it will look tame compared to the reboot. We have been promised that not only will the engines twist and move similar to how they currently do, but those movements will be even more exaggerated than before. The engines will also be able to jump. Yes, you heard that right. Ant this is not described as small hops, no. The article mentions explicitly the engines turning while jumping. The only minuscule relief is the promise that the engines will not “use [their] wheels as hands.”

While those are the primary concerns, there’s more stake here. To start, this reboot will not have a narrator. Thomas’s stories began as bedtime stories to children and have had a storyteller in some shape or form throughout the show’s run. The series will also lean heavily on action and fun to convey stories, instead of the more action-and-consequence type of storytelling we see in the Railway Series and early seasons.

Probably the thing that is the most unforgivable to me is that they think this monstrosity will appeal to a “broader audience.” They say this as if older fans of the show haven’t been telling them for years what has or hasn’t been working well. We have posted and shared our concerns and they have either tossed them aside or did not take them into serious consideration. This is the worst I have ever seen Thomas, and this is saying something, considering the engines bouncing in the last couple of seasons made me feel PHYSICALLY ILL.

We can’t let this continue. If you have any method of contacting Mattel, utilize it. If you know someone who works at Mattel or Nelvana who might have any say in this, talk to them. Don’t directly attack, but bring up your concerns in a calm, rational manner and be willing to listen. If this new format does make it to air, don’t watch it, don’t buy any merchandise, and don’t go to Day Out With Thomas so Mattel can see just how much we are displeased with them. If this is the end for Thomas and the North Western Railway, we can at least say that we did just about everything we could.

And not only are we losing a beloved franchise, but we may also lose rail travel as we know it. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can easily look back and say that Thomas was my gateway into a lifelong love of rail transportation, especially steam engines. A lot of heritage railways rely on the Day Out With Thomas events to bring in visitors. If this franchise fails, they will eventually lose out on a significant amount of revenue. This will likely significantly hurt them and, while railways like Strasburg in Pennsylvania might be able to handle it, others may be forced to close down.

All I can say now is that it saddens me to see what has happened to the show that started a lifelong love of rail travel. I have to wonder what the Awdrys and Britt Alcroft have to say about this...

[elisaphoenix13]

Rescue

Was New York cursed or something? Was there a beacon that was only visible to bad guys and aliens with ill intent that shouted 'Attack Here'? At this point, Tony wouldn't doubt it. Everyone's dinner was so rudely interrupted by an alien attack, and Wanda had made everyone's collective favorite. Stew. Simple, sure...but it was hearty and filling and the witch didn't hold back with flavor.

Now they would have to return to cold stew. It was still good when heated up, but nothing beat fresh off the stove stew. Even Peter was a little peeved. So they left Diana with Cassie (at least they could enjoy the stew the way it should be enjoyed), and Harley made his way down to the lab. He was the team's external eyes and ears, and there had already been a couple of occasions that he saved someone from a back attack or from being swarmed.

"Dad! Peter's falling!" Harley's voice shouts over the comm, and Tony stops in mid air to look for his younger son.

Harley barely gave him the location before Tony was flying toward Peter and his heart dropped into his stomach when he indeed saw the younger teen falling from a skyscraper. Spiderman showed no signs of moving to save himself, so the billionaire didn't waste anymore time to swoop in and catch him before he painted the pavement. Except an alien had the falling body in its sight as well and Tony barely saw the large weapon it carried (some sort of plasma cannon maybe), before he was turning to cover Peter from the oncoming blast. Tony grunts when they're both forcibly tossed through a nearby abandoned building, and when they roll to a stop, the building groans dangerously above them before collapsing.

Tony had been knocked out for a couple of minutes, and when he came to, he found that both he and Peter were stuck. Miraculously Peter had escaped being buried under the concrete, Tony not so much. He attempts to lift the rubble on his chest, but when the surrounding pieces crunch in warning, he releases the concrete and gasps out. Don't freak out. Don't freak out. Don'tfreakout.

"F-Fri...reboot the comm and give me vitals from Karen." Tony hisses. His chest wasn't the only thing under pressure. His right leg was buried too.

He was trying to ignore the pain in his arm too. The scars were flaring up.

"Peter only shows signs of a minor concussion  and a few abrasions from when the building collapsed." Friday answers almost immediately, and the next moment he was overwhelmed by concerned shouting over the comm.

"Tones! I swear if you don't answer--" Rhodey yells.

"I'm okay! I'm fine Platypus. At least for now, but me and the kid are out of commission until someone can dig us out."

"Are you hurt or in immediate danger?" The colonel asks.

"Uh...no. I'm a little buried but the suit should hold. Peter got lucky but he's kind of counting sheep right now."

Clint was the next to speak up. "Uhh...guys? I think Mama Bear is about to give Quill a run for his money."

That was all Tony got before his comm went dead again. There was only one thing Tony could think of that would have Stephen supposedly giving Quill a run for his money. He was beyond pissed. He probably saw both Tony and Peter go down and have the building collapse on them, and pulled out all the stops. Right now, Stephen was the all powerful Sorcerer Supreme and his eyes were probably glowing green. At least he could come back from that by himself. Quill on the other hand would go completely berserk and only Scott or Cassie could bring him out of that. Safely at least. The space pirate would eventually calm down by himself but sometimes it took too long and he was a danger to anyone nearby, so Scott was usually sent in to calm the beast.

A loud boom not only echoes from outside his and Peter's location, but it also sent vibrations through the area. The rubble above and around them shuddering from the disturbance. Mama Bear was definitely pissed.

"FRIDAY, are you still talking with the tower?"

"Yes Boss."

"Initiate Rescue Protocol." Tony huffs out as he tries to move the rubble the slightest bit. The pressure was making it hard to breathe, even with the suit. If he could even move it just enough to relieve some of the pressure on his chest, it would be a relief. FRIDAY quickly had him stop though. Any more movement from his position could risk bringing more of the rubble down and potentially crushing Peter. He was also a little worried that Stephen's power could potentially disturb the ruins he and Peter were stuck under and bring it all down even more. Hence the rescue protocol. Tony was afraid that it could be dangerous to wait for someone to finish fighting off aliens to come dig them out.

He would have sighed with relief if he could breathe properly when he heard the sound of repulsors, and he waited nervously as he heard the rubble being shifted. It was slow going, and Tony was just waiting for the wrong piece to be moved, but he built AI's to help with these kind of situations.

The rubble to his left shifts, the Rescue suit appearing in the opening, and Tony immediately points over at Peter. "Get him out first before you help me."

Rescue steps over Tony and his concrete tomb, grabs Spiderman, and carefully takes him out of the ruins before returning to Tony. The billionaire waits as the suit scans for possible ways to safely move the concrete off of him, but when moments pass with no movement, Tony frowns.

"Hey! Hey! Today Spudicus!" Tony says to get Rescue's attention.

"There's a problem." Harley says. "Moving any of this could bring more down."

"Shit. Can Thumbelina be spared?" Tony asks and swears quietly when Harley shakes his head.

"Scott's down."

"Great. That means Porcupine isn't an option either."

"Yeah. Mom and Quill are pretty pissed right now." The teen elaborates before walking closer and gripping onto the slab of concrete on Tony's leg. "If you move the piece on your chest while I move this, we have maybe three seconds to get out."

"We're doing it." Tony grunts as he prepares to shove away the rubble on his chest. "On three."

Tony starts the count, and as soon as he gets to three, he and Harley both shove the rubble off and immediately fly toward the exit as the building groans loudly. More concrete crashes behind them, where Tony had previously been laying, and they barely manage to make it out of the collapsing building. The last moment had them rolling on the ground when some rubble clipped both Tony and Harley's suits, and they come to a stop against a nearby car, their breaths coming out in one woosh.

"Now I know why Mom is always yelling at you." Harley says when he catches his breath.

"Don't tell him. He might just kill me right now."

"TONY! ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

Tony cringes when Stephen flies over to them, his eyes still glowing green when he lands in front of the two, and the engineer allows his helmet to recede. The green glow in Stephen's eyes fades as he looks both his husband and son over (Harley had let his helmet recede as well), and then he rests his head on Tony's chest.

"I thought you and Peter were dead when I saw the building fall."

"Where is Peter?" Tony looks over at Harley and he points in the direction of the tower.

"Vis took him back home."

"Okay. Good. I'm assuming the invasion has been taken care of?" Tony looks around until Stephen looks up at him.

"Quill is cleaning up the stragglers but yes." The sorcerer then proceeds to smack the side of Tony's head.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"For putting Harley in danger! You should have waited!"

"It was his idea!" Stephen's glare intensifies and Tony sighs. "I'm sorry tesoro. For what it's worth, I did ask about our resident dumbass couple first."

Stephen huffs. "Speaking of, Victor was able to scan Scott on my way over here. He's just knocked out. He should wake up soon to calm Quill."

"I hope so. I don't want to pay more money than I have to."

The three of them move to their feet and Tony hisses at the pain in his right arm. He had completely blocked out the pain when he and Peter were stuck, but now that they were safe again, his scars were flaring up painfully with a vengeance. He holds his arm to his chest in reflex, but Stephen gently grabs his arm and waits until the nanites crawl away to soothe the pain with magic. It was just a temporary spell. Stephen would focus more on it once they got back home and didn't have to worry about alien stragglers around them. As it was, one saw them just a couple of minutes ago and was preparing to attack them until a pillar of light erupted from the ground and skewed it. It was promptly thrown halfway down the street.

"Go home. I'll come as soon as Scott wakes up." Stephen says as he gently releases Tony's arm and the nanites cover it again. "Thor will stay behind just in case too."

For once, Tony didn't feel like arguing. His arm ached, he was hungry, and damn he wanted that stew even if he had to heat it up. With that thought in mind, he and Harley fly back to the tower while Stephen flies back in the direction he came from. When they landed and made their way up to the family floor, their armor crawls back into their housing units and Tony throws his stronger arm around Harley's shoulders.

"How is SARA working out for you?" He asks as they step off the elevator and Cassie hands them reheated dinner.

"Really helpful." Harley answers and sits at the table.

"She's only connected to FRIDAY right now but maybe in the morning we can get her connected to Victor and Karen. We'll get her integrated to your room too. Sound good?" Tony says and Harley nods when he finds himself unable to verbally answer. Mouth full of stew and all.

"Totally would not recommend being pistol whipped. Thanks for asking." Peter says from his spot at the table, one hand holding an ice pack to his head, and the other holding his spoon. "I have a killer headache."

Tony rolls his eyes. "I'm sure Brucie gave you some pain killers. Besides, much better than being a smear on the ground. You're welcome."

The boys continue to snark at each other and the girls (Cassie and Dia) just roll their eyes as they clean up and reheat dinner for the rest of the arriving team. It was nothing new. There was always some kind of bickering afterwards, as well as some gushing if someone did something particularly noteworthy (like Quill playing baseball with a piece of rebar and a grenade that one time), and it was no surprise that Harley became a part of it. Today may have been his first time on the field, but Tony had worked with him so Harley knew how to use the suit in emergencies. That's really what the suit was for for now, but eventually Harley would be a new addition to the team.

Stephen wasn't exactly happy, but he eventually relented when Tony said the suit was only going to be for emergencies until Harley was basically wearing it like a second skin and using it like Tony. Mama Bear will put his foot down with no doubt when it came to Diana though. Not that Tony wanted to put any of his kids in danger, but he didn't have a choice with Peter, and Harley was extremely stubborn. Thankfully Diana seemed content to stay behind with Cassie (and the Barton kids when they were visiting). Sometimes she got scared when her entire family had to go save the world for the millionth time, but Cassie was really good about calming her down and distracting her. The team taught her what to do in case the tower was in danger of being attacked while they were gone as well.

"You can't keep blowing your lid every time I get touched!" Scott grumbles as he steps through a portal that Stephen had opened and Quill huffs.

"You were hit by a plasma ray!"

"Oh please. I heard about the time you went into god mode when I tripped and knocked myself out." Scott glares at everyone. "You're not allowed to laugh."

A few sniggers still went around the table anyway as they sat down to eat. "To be fair, I was already pissed off that time." Quill says.

Clint grins. "I wanna hear about Tic-tac's klutz moment."

"NO!"

Stephen sighs and looks at Tony and motions toward his right arm. "How's the pain?"

"Bearable until after dinner." Tony answers truthfully, and the sorcerer nods before turning his attention to his dinner and a book he seemingly pulled from nowhere. Which he probably did.

Leave it to Stephen to be able to read with all the talking and bickering going on.