#inherit the earth comic

[inherittheearth-comic]

Leap!

Inherit the Earth #968

[vintage-tigre]

[gatorbites-imagines]

Hello!

I've been getting very into DC again, from all the comics I had in my attic.

So i would like to request a "meeting the batfam" like think.

Being Bruce's new boyfriend and meeting the kids and how would they react.

Have a nice day! (You're the only think keeping me from commiting a crime/jk)

Bruce Wayne x male reader

Headcanons

Ive been on a kick lately of making half-god characters, so reader is the son of a god, hehe ^^

You were the son of Ares, a half god, and the son of a god most feared, and that the Justice league had fought many times.

So, by relation, many people didn’t trust you when they learned about your parentage. Had you been any crueler of a person, that might have driven you down a path where you followed in your fathers’ footsteps, but you weren’t.

You ended up inheriting many of his powers, even gaining his clairvoyance and precognition in dreams. Said dreams had been your first sign that you were more than just your average person, as you foresaw many of the larger disasters around the world.

There ends up being a sense of duty in your heart as your dreams keep warning you about an invasion of earth, becoming more and more detailed every night. It reaches a point where you think you are going mad.

As a last-ditch effort, you end up in Gotham, where you spend days trying to find any of the bats, just trying to find somebody to believe you. In the end, you stumble across Bruce, who probably thinks you are on something because of the less than put together state you are in.

That is until you spill everything you have been dreaming about, and how its all happened, and how this dream keeps haunting you every night.

Bruce of course listens to everything you have to say, and takes you as seriously as anything else he would. He keeps your warning in mind and gets prepared, and when your precognition comes to pass, he is ready.

From then in, Bruce passes by your place every now and then, as you end up moving to Gotham as Batman is the only hero you feel takes you seriously.

Hes the one to help you figure out your true parentage, and gets you in contact with some people who can help you deal with your new developing powers. You two end up bonding a lot, and over time, fall in love.

You both make each other feel like a full person and like you are understood. The relationship is kept quiet on Bruces end, not because he doesn’t trust his family or anything, but because he just wants to keep it to himself for a bit.

It does get a bit hard to hide the hand shaped bruises on his hips or torso when your godly strength slips out, but Bruce has lived with worse aches and bruises in his life, so its not something people notice.

You never went out of your way to become a hero, even with your godly powers. You are happy living your life and being together with Bruce, much of your stress gone since you know Bruce will believe you when it comes to your dreams.

When the day finally comes where you go to meet his family, you can’t help but feel a little nervous. Sure, you’ve met them in passing as their vigilante alter egos, when they’ve followed Bruce during his meetings with you, but this will be as Bruces lover.

Bruce is endeared by how hard you want to make a good impression, how you fuss with your hair and your clothes to be most presentable. When you ask him if you need to bring a gift or something, he just laughs a little and kisses your forehead, telling you to stop worrying as he’s sure they’ll love you.

The family all know Bruce is bringing his lover that night for family dinner, but they all don’t know who it is, even Alfred is in the dark.

They are all a bit on edge, as Bruce doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to partners. And since he didn’t tell them a name, they assume its not the people he’s normally been with, like Selina or Talia.

Imagine their surprise when Bruce arrives with you on his arm, from your civilian clothes to your sheepish smile, to you looking downright nervous to meet them as you clearly want to make a good first impression.

It might take a bit for any of them to recognize you, as only a few of them might have met you in passing, but you probably end up telling them during dinner when they ask how you and Bruce met.

I can’t see them being against you more than they would any other partner, especially when you go out of your way to use your dreams and abilities to help as many people as possible.

Cass is most likely the one to warm up to you first, as she can easily read that you are a good person who loves Bruce very much, and Cass’s approval makes the others become less tense and more open to the idea of you.

Alfred is also happy that Bruce has found someone who isn’t a criminal or assassin for once, even though they all know you could punch a guy to smithereens if you wanted too, thanks to your godly strength.

But your personality makes it clear that’s not something you want to do, so that gives you extra points in their books. They most likely use their knowledge from Diana and her parentage when it comes to you, incase you end up doing something a little too godly without realizing.

They’ve all been around many different kinds of people and beings, so I don’t think anything you do put them off. They’ll all just need time to warm up to you, and see with their own eyes that you truly do love Bruce, and that Bruce loves you back just as much.

It would take a while, as they were all trained by Bruce and are all suspicious of anybody and take forever to trust. It starts to make you think they’ll never like you, even when Bruce tells you they will, they just need time.

You know you’ve gained their trust when they start showing up in your apartment, be it after patrol, during the day, or any other time, they’re likely to just appear. This also means you end up learning a lot more first aid than you thought you’d ever need.

The last to trust you is Damian, but you can tell you scored a win when he demands you learn self-defense, as your form is horrible, and he drags you down to the cave to walk you through the basics.

Bruce feels like his heart could burst with love when he sees his family accepting you, and he couldn’t be any happier. The batfam is pretty damn happy too, as Bruce starts taking care of himself because of you.

Can’t have a date if he hasn’t slept in days, or if he’s covered in bruises or has broken bones. You probably end up spending a lot of time at the manor too, since Bruce can’t just go into town to spend time in your apartment during the day, or else the paparazzi would find out about the relationship almost immediately.

So, all in all, his kids would like you quite a lot after they got enough time to learn what kinda person you were, and what your morals were. They might even start seeing you as a safe person to go too when they need someone to talk too or just need some company.

[weebsinstash]

hey, can I have more husband and wife family dynamics with thragg? maybe more about her pregnancy or the kids' childhood/baby time?

Sure can! It's been pretty fun writing about potential scenarios where this monstrous piece of shit can actually feel love. First and foremost I was watching a video on YouTube going over this scene again and uh Comic Readers KNOW How Fucked This Man Is. um, out of context vague spoilers but, I'm assuming people asking about Thragg have read the comics or are curious about the comics but like yall Need To Know how he treats the kids of his enemies

I feel like I need to share/remind people of this scene because like, this man can be kind of hard to pin down. He's from this loveless society that sees kindness as weakness and he's like King Dickhead but there are still times when he can be quite courteous, even apologetic, sarcastic, whatever. I think at the end of the day he's just a very selfish, explosive, emotionally impulsive man but revisiting this scene was a little surprising for me since I forgot he was even like, capable of "small kindnesses" like saying sorry or whatever. Like. Is him wiping her tears while smearing blood all over her face a well intentioned accident or is he like waging psychological warfare on this like, i think she's literally 5 years old. What is the purpose of him apologizing to a child for splashing blood of her family member on her when he intends to kill her or leave her for dead in front of her dying parents anyways. I'm still trying to get a feel on this man

THAT BEING SAID, moving on, we're talking about a yandere Thragg today and thankfully that comes with perks

- it's pretty obvious but like, you are his favorite mate and your children are his favorite children. I like to think of concepts with Reader being Ursaal and Onaan's mother or even the previously mentioned triplet idea with Mark being their sibling (otherwise I'd have to invent new characters and that doesn't, resonate the same, and I also really like Ursaal actually and I feel like there's some real story potential in Ursaal discovering more of her humanity through her mother's kindness and wanting to protect her mother from her father)

-can you imagine like. I still think about the idea where you're actually Nolan's mate but one day you mouth off to Thragg and he "puts you in your place" in front of Nolan as a punishment to you both and like a month later you find out you're pregnant and, I imagine abortions are only done on Viltrum if the fetus is too weak or defective, so you're forced to carry it and you and Nolan are lying that it's his and then one day Thragg just, passes by, sees your swelling tummy, takes one sniff of you, "it's mine" and demands a paternity test. And you'd think, "oh surely he'd just take the baby" which is what you'd prefer but, no it becomes a pretext for him to steal you from Nolan altogether

-you're fed incredibly nutrient dense, protein packed, ultimate pregnancy food because Thragg wants those babies as healthy as possible. Thragg has probably had other alien kids before but these are his first hybrid or nearly fully Viltrumite children and that makes them special. New dad Thragg holding up these little absolute mammoths of newborns with all their chunk and pudge and rolls and he's just so proud, "look at how robust these children are! Surely they have inherited my strength! Fine additions to the Viltrum Empire were born on this day" and you're like half awake in bed and he just, pets your hair

-ok just. Ok just picture it like. You're pregnant and upset and so stressed out because you didn't want to be Nolan's mate after he helped conquer Earth but at least you had known him and liked him initially. You're just constantly stressed out and angry and watching every single word you say around Thragg because you don't know him or what he's capable of, but I imagine a sort of scenario where he's taking you to the doctor and running tests and procedures and just, you know prenatal checkup stuff, but the doctors are all speaking to Thragg instead of you, you aren't even being told your own test results, and the two of you finally arrive back home and you just break down crying and kind of tear into him, "I'm sure YOU have had lots of kids before but I'VE never had a baby before and I don't know what to expect or what's going to happen or- or -" and you're just bawling because, it's not a lie you're scared. You're having a baby and you're gonna be a new mom and it's entirely against your will, out of your control, and that's incredibly stressful. And this becomes a moment where Thragg actually shows some humanity by sitting you down and discussing the doctors visit with you, and that's one of the first times the two of you actually have a civil, extended conversation

Thragg thinking he's so fucking big and tough and then he sees you this little fragile fleshy untrained civillian with the big teary boo hoo eyes with your shaking hands on your little belly as you cry about being scared about giving birth to his baby and he's just, "shit I DO have feelings" and immediately feels the overwhelming need to comfort you. He'll comfort you under the guise of "stress isn't good for the children" which is true but, it's him blanketing his own concern and masking it under an excuse

-I kind of feel like that hypothetical event would be like, a footnote in your relationship. He starts treating you differently, attentive in new ways, more... emotional ways. He'll stop by while he's working on a break or something to check on with you and the assigned caretakers he has guarding you (because the very second you're confirmed pregnant you have 24/7 security) and he'll awkwardly grunt out questions about, have you eaten yet, are you experiencing any pain today, any discomfort, any new symptoms. He'll check in with your guards/nannies privately about if there's anything you're doing that he needs to know about, give tou a nice husbandly shoulder touch and then (reluctantly) getting back to work

-to be blunt part of me questions if he even has sex to create children or if he uses something akin to IVF and I only say this because of the absolute ASSEMBLY LINE he sets up on Thraxia. Trust me though he beats the kitty up with you CONSTANTLY

-I actually think after giving birth is like the ONE time you're allowed any birth control because apparently if you have too many pregnancies in too close time frames it actually sucks the calcium out of your bones and can give you osteoarthritis and Thragg wants you healthy, "for more future children obviously" which is such a lie because let's say you have your miracle birth of giving him twins or triplets or whatever but you hemmorage and become infertile or whatever. Mf is STILL keeping you around. When you think about it he technically doesn't even need you to help raise his children, he has people for that, but he forces you to be part of the process anyways

- tbh I kind of like the idea of Thragg developing some weird fucking like complex where he discovers he feels comforted cuddling you, like man gets hit by oxytocin like a fucking freight train, and it becomes him literally being unable to sleep without you in his arms. You could be in a yelling screaming argument with this man and he suddenly like, just completely shuts you down, "ENOUGH!! I require rest and I won't tolerate anymore of your childish whining!" And you could be spitting mad at him and he's just, picking you up just physically picks you up and drags you to bed anyways. Hooks his arms around your waist as the big spoon and buries his face in your hair even as you spit insults about how you hope he kills himself

Like I think I've mentioned this idea with other characters before but imagine Thragg waking up on the middle of the night IMMEDIATELY PISSED because the bed beside him is cold and he finds you on the couch, on the couch, maybe even without blankets and visibly uncomfortable, because yeah he WILL wake you up to drag you back to bed with him.

- Thragg being this warrior who literally watched people be disembowled and tortured and conquered races but suddenly you're in labor and he's in the delivery room (he refuses to wait outside) watching you literally scream in pain and he just, takes your hand and tells you to squeeze, and that it'll be alright, and he sees you so vulnerable and scared and emotional and you're looking to him for some kind of help but he can't, even with all his strengths and feats he can't help you right now, however this pregnancy goes is up to fate and the doctors and he feels like an actual visceral HUMBLING sense of helplessness that just makes him, even more obsessively protective over you

- deadass if it becomes a "he can only save one: you or the children" life-threatening pregnancy scenario, he chooses you. Says you can always try again but even if you wind up infertile and "useless" to him, he's too attached to you at this point, it doesn't matter if you "don't serve a function" or whatever bullshit Viltrumite mindset he may have had with previous mates before. You're different to him, and you're making HIM different as a person

- You're just half alive on the couch because Giving Birth is Hard and here's Thragg doing shit like personally bringing you water, feeling your forehead for any fever, monitoring your condition, aggressively interrogating your guards for extra info, sitting beside you with your babies in his arms. He lets you rest after giving birth and nearly bends over backwards

- I feel like at some point you're forced to accept a lot of real fucked up stuff and especially if you are a hybrid Vultrimite yourself and thus will be with Thragg for, basically forever, like some real "mate, do you have any cravings today. What do the children require" "ummm... at the ceremony last month, there was that... blue, little.... crab thing?" "A Florkian. They are incredibly rare" "oh... I'm sorry, I didn't know-" " -and since I observed that you were fond of the taste when you were consuming them, I went ahead and conquered their homeworld and farms have been established. I can have the slaves prepare a dish for you right away" "oh, thank you, ive been craving it ever since i ate it but i didnt want to bother by asking 🥰" "as your mate it is my duty to provide for you. Do not keep any of your desires from me"

- your children are getting trained as soldiers the second they develop powers and that's something you'll have to get used to. If your little babies get their powers at 5, they're still learning combat, getting knocked around, near beaten, "toughened up". Thragg will conceal the full extent of how they're treated from you because the way he sees it, you weren't raised on Viltrum and you're simply ignorant of their culture. He doesn't need you to accept how things are. Your kids will come home with black eyes and bruises and bloodied noses and he'll growl at you not to make them too soft as you weep over Ursaal missing a chunk of her hair because an opponent grabbed her by it and she had to break away and some was ripped out at her scalp, like. The psychological damage of asking your small child how their day with their father went, "it was excellent mother, I made my first kill!!" And then gleefully describing to you in detail how while their father was fighting an enemy soldier, the soldiers child attacked yours, and, your baby killed another kid. Like. That's the sort of thing you have to be raised with to block out of your heart. Going to hug your child who may not even be 10 years old and they have literal blood on their hands

-personal headcanon but also semi canon but I imagine Ursaal is the most competent of your twins and is Thragg's favorite. She just has a better tactical mind on her shoulders and isn't, uh. As horribly sadistically violent as Onaan. Like say your kids become platonic yandere or whatever, or, you have your own kids with thragg and the twins are separate but still attached to you. Onaan is the kid you find killing cats because he's jealous they get more attention than him while Ursaal is like, giving her father incredibly detailed reports and her own insight into what you've been up to, how you're feelings, things you say and do when Thragg isn't around

-so I know y'all see that image I posted with Thragg and his twins. I tried to censor, The Cape last time but I realized like, even with censoring the head it's still super obvious who that is, there's only one white furred creature in this entire show. I imagine after Thragg gets his Beast Drip that, once Throkk's daughter comes for revenge, she is also slaughtered, and her pelt becomes YOUR cape. Or maybe Thragg offhandedly mentions to you that BB Jr has vowed vengeance and you're casually flipping through a book, "is she as strong as her father, like if you had to rate it 1 to 10 with her father being 10 and 1 being a human. If the daughter is at about a 7 or below, Ursaal should be able to handle her, get herself a nice coat to match her father" and Thragg feels this warmth in his chest to hear you're actually observant of his/your children and their prowess, especially to hear you praise Ursaal in such a uh violent context, just casually suggesting his daughter could turn another sentient humanoid creature into a pelt to wear. This is another example of "living the viltrum life will eventually dehumanize you and rob you of certain empathies"

- I don't think you would actually have a title but could you imagine if Thragg decides you're like, officially his true mate, like the mate above all others, like you're the Empress in his little harem of concubines and ladies in waiting. I hc that your official title is something like Grand Duchess or perhaps if this is the twin/triplet scenario something more vaguely historical sounding like The High Mother or Regent Mother or, you get the point

-I still think "Reader turns out to be an incredibly late blooming hybrid" is a neat concept but I also don't know how they would miss that since during your pregnancy and all you're receiving medical care out the ass but like. Thragg personally training both you and the children as a family. Would be kind of humiliating honestly because it's kind of vaguely implied you should learn things before the kids do and if you struggle, here's Thragg, telling his kids in private they have to protect you and keep an eye on you and report any problems back to him

- thragg would definitely be training you in hand to hand but suddenly finds he can't bear hitting you in the face or hitting you at a certain strength. Like. Absolutely 100% you're gonna have a lot of scenarios where you're brawling or wrestling and he pins you and it swiftly transitions to you getting rawdogged from your high on adrenaline husband. Tbh that sex would probably be his favorite, where he has to defeat you in combat and then rewards himself. Can probably border from hatesex to consensual to noncon, not that he has a problem doing THAT to you either

- probably has portraits done of you and him. Idk do you think Viltrum has like enough art culture for portraits to be a thing? Most fascist tyrants have portraits. He would have several done: you and him, just you, you while pregnant, him and you while pregnant, you holding your babies, you and him holding your babies, and family shots as they grow up. Say you conquer a planet together as a family and one day you're revisiting and there's some sort of museum set up amd you find like a wall length portrait of, you and your children soaked in blood tearing carnage through the fire and flames and Thragg is beside you just nodding in approval, "they captured your image rather well"

- goooooddddd imagine you're just a normal human and you progressively start showing signs of aging. You start getting more wrinkles. Your body starts working in different ways, popping, cracking, aching. Onaan, Ursaal, and Thragg all notice and they're like FREAKING OUT HONESTLY. The children don't want to accept that their mother is actually going to be a speck on the timeline of their entire lifespans. Thragg doesn't want to accept that he has to let you go and you're never coming back. They all become obsessed with finding ways to keep you young, keep you alive, fuck it they'll clone you and transfer your consciousness into a new body if they have to! This is comic book world and these are obsessed aliens and they have OPTIONS

- something something "what if Reader isn't a viltrumite hybrid but is still like super-powered or a mutant or whatever and this isn't revealed until you like are fatally injured or even DIE die and suddenly you, pop back up". Cause I feel like this "close call" would drive any yandere literally insane because, what if there's no second chance, what just happened, can you still die, they can never never never never never allow you to get hurt ever ever ever again

Thragg just walks into the kitchen and you have the stove top red hot and you've just got your palm resting on it and you look to him kind of just shocked, all, "look... nothing happens... I just feel some of the warmth" and Thragg just puts his fist through your oven anyways, "you could've gotten hurt" and immediately picking you up and carrying you to some sort of perceived "safer place"

- this is like a specific scenario but like, can you imagine as a mom you like to brush and comb Ursaal's hair and you idly suggest she could always grow it out more and you could help braid it and things, but once it starts getting longer Thragg objects and says it could get grabbed during a fight and orders her to cut it but you step in and say she shouldnt have to, it's HER hair, and you two get into it, and one day Ursaal is brought home by her father and he's all but shaved her head after she had actually grown it out to a decent length. You and Thragg are at odds over how to treat rhe children and Ursaal begins to realize that many of the restrictions her father instills on her are because of a way of life she may not fully agree with, a life filled with violence and bloodshed with no room for love or kindness or creativity. She probably helps you from going over the edge too, honestly. If anything else through this life with Thragg, in your darkest places you may still find yourself thinking you have to keep going to try and help your children

- with others, Thragg is the kind of yandere where he's standing in the same room as you and you're both doing completely different things and he suddenly says, "so I noticed during the meeting that your eyes kept lingering on my mate" and without further warning he's beating up someone on the accusation they were lusting for his wife, no discussion, just fists , and he'll do shit like this a lot to the point people don't feel comfortable being around you and you're just further socially isolated

- I feel like Thragg would have some weird like fondness slash fetish for watching you breastfeed. Like, awww here's his cute little wife with his chubby little babies and you're giving them their nice milk, what a good mom, providing for the babies he put in your belly ❤️ part of me is convinced if you're a viltrumite or hybrid or whatever that you uh. Eventually wind up with a lot of babies. A LOT of babies. Do you think he would want a specific amount or its just vibes. Like you're over 300 years old and you've already got 50 kids with him but he sees you teaching one of your youngest sons how to throw a punch and suddenly he wants another

- all I'm saying is if he ever catches you self harming or attempting to hurt yourself he's gonna have a real extreme reaction. Like he finds you cutting yourself with a broken glass and you're immediately restrained and taken to a hospital, completely stripped, inspected for other wounds, and if there are any and especially a lengthy history of them, you're in such trouble. But I also think it would be extremely difficult to hide this from him since as time goes on you two are constantly having sex or he's inviting himself into your shower to bathe with you. You accidentally bang your arm on a counter or something and get a tiny bruise, this man will know about it and wants a detailed report on where it came from

- even when you guys aren't super familiar with each other and you've "just met" he's already protective and all that. Like you've just been brought into his home and you barely even know him still and he may even act mean and angry to you and then one day he sees you have a large bruise on your arm, "what is this?" ".... it's nothing, Grand Regent" "I asked you a question and you'll answer me: where did this come from" "... I spoke out of turn with one of your advisors and turned to leave without permission, Grand Regent" "And so they grabbed you?" "Yes Grand Regent" "who" "it was my fault, I-" "WHO" and the second you give a name or description he's wordlessly leaving the room and shows up again HOURS later with visible blood on him, "it has been handled. You are not to be harmed or punished without my permission or instruction"

- in some scenario where you leave the kids behind and try to run away, like... he isn't just gonna throw up his hands, "well I already got children out of her, she has served her purpose" and leave you the fuck alone. If anything this man would track you down just to tell you off for having the fucking nerve to disobey and defy him! I can picture an actively captured wife where you are constantly kept on some kind of restraint or have a bracelet or collar or even a LEAD THAT HE HOLDS and you're IMPRISONED rather than "I'm being monitored but otherwise I have my own agency". Thragg will make himself a throne that you can be chained to if he has to. He'll have restraints made that are decorative and complimentary of your features. Imagine he's making some sort of public appearance and while he's speaking he's got an arm around your waist and you're pulled up against him and meanwhile you've got. A bar gag and cannot speak

- really, truly, in a way, you become a symbol, but one of all different kinds. There are Viltrumites who see how their mighty Grand Regent treats his mate and they are viscerally disgusted (Kregg and Lucan comes to mind), like people who really start to question the society they are living in, questioning if it really must be so selfish and devoid of empathy, questioning if they really want to keep living this way and for their children and their children's children to live like this. Then there are others who see the way the Grand Regent controls his mate and see its as a sign of strength and permission to treat their own mates the same.

Mostly, though... the only thing that will take you away from Thragg is death. Until the day one of you dies, you're stuck with him, and there's basically no one around who's stronger than he is, period. You might as well cozy up and get friendly with your new husband, since you're going to be together for a long time and spend lots, and lots, and LOTS of time together ❤️

[iravaid]

The tragedy of Tommy and Simon Riley as brothers is so so much fun and also so painful, especially from Tommy's PoV because there's so little on him (and knowing the comics this is a blessing in disguise)

This is almost entirely fictional extrapolation, and I doubt that Tommy will ever be more than those 14 panels in a shitty comic series. But SHIT. Tommy and Simon Riley. If only they had more time.

Like. This is your big brother. He was taken a year ago, and now his body sits on his side of the couch in your childhood home. It doesn't matter because your big brother is never coming back, and you'll spend the last months of your life waiting for the body to reveal where those men buried him.

You don't know it yet but you're going to die on Christmas Eve. You and your family will be killed mercilessly and swiftly by people you never knew existed.

You put all this time, this love, this discipline into rebuilding your life and making something better out of yourself, trying to break this old cycles of abuse and violence. You try to define your life by creation and care, and you still die. You were always going to be the sacrificial lamb because this was never your story to begin with.

Your brother is going to die screaming, clutching your bloody corpse like he held you at birth, like he held you at seventeen and sweating out months of opiate abuse and begging him to let you go, like he held you on your wedding day when you were terrified of what the future held. Despite his flaws and despite the rage inherited from your father, he loved you deeply. But you're dead now, and the love has nowhere to go. And it becomes grief becomes rage becomes vengeance. A husk wanders the earth, now. Tearing out the throats of its aggressors in a road of destruction. Not to right any wrongs, but to give back the violence by which it'd been treated.

Your brother was killed, but he forgot to die when he was supposed to. Your name is Tommy Riley and you died just as the story required.

[theredpharaoah]

Dare I say we give Giles too much. I think him not giving Buffy the Slayer Handbook was dumb and ignorant. The Handbook didn’t just have rules for the Slayer, it was the definitive guide to magic on Earth and its history. The fact they never pull it out again after the first episode irritates the hell out of me. How helpful would that have been for all the Scoobies - Willow could’ve picked up magic way quicker. It probably would’ve helped Buffy hone the psychic abilities she never really developed. Remember how she’s supposed to be able to sense vampires and stuff? And in the comics, Erin had access to all the Slayer memories(I’m pretty sure) because he inherited the psychic side of the lineage. Again, that could’ve been cool to see and very helpful.

I also feel - as stated many times before - Giles completely failed with Faith. People talk about how Buffy built up that rapport with Giles and her friends - that she made their relationship the way it was. But that’s irrelevant because the relationship was present and stable at the time of Faith’s arrival. We see when Kendra comes that even the Giles is a bit taken-aback to her very by-the-book approach to being a slayer. So when Faith came - who is extremely similar to Buffy - how did Giles not immediately feel that paternal instinct he has with Buffy, Willow, and Xander? That sort of instinct comes easier the more people you consider to be your “children”. I mean it’s crazy that The Mayor had to take Faith out of that nasty ass motel. A literal demon had to go “that’s no place for a young girl”. And sure he had a motive but the fact that none of the decent people had already said it? And the way they handled the accidental kill of the evil assistant to the mayor? First of all, the Slayer killing humans is frowned upon but it’s not a hard and fast rule. I’m not saying they should just go around killing ppl, but I’m not going to feel bad that Faith killed a man who was working for demons anyway. And compare that to how they reacted to Buffy Killing Ted(when they thought she had); completely different reaction. And Buffy had exhibited far more animosity towards Ted, than Faith had for some random who got in the way.

Giles as an adult - and something of an educator - should’ve immediately clocked that Faith did not have the same upbringing as the other 3, that the Scoobies were falling into their childish instincts and alienating her, and he should’ve gone out of his way to include her and impress upon the others why they needed to accept her. Especially after they found out about her Watcher’s death and saw how terrified she was of Kakistos. Why did Buffy and Angel have to be the ones to find out Faith needed to be fought for - that she needed help to deal with her trauma. I was really disappointed in Buffy as she’d lost her watcher and relocated just like Faith. She also understood how lonely and dangerous it is being a Slayer. But I can’t blame Buffy all that much cuz she’s a kid. And Giles willing all of his things to Faith in the comics and only the Slayer Handbook to Buffy did not move me. Giles considered Buffy to be the “One True Slayer” was not a gag. Everyone considers her to be that, giving her this handbook after she’s been a Slayer for damn near a decade is insulting. She don’t need that shit no more - she had to learn it all on the job. And giving Faith his money so she could retire from violence? Faith’s violence wasn’t the issue, her relationship to it was. The whole thing read as very melodramatic and self-absorbed.

Giles was very childish and we see it all throughout the series, but especially in the later seasons. I mean when you actually think about it, he’s so ridiculous. Buffy was 22 at the end of the series. 22 and she has to take care of a teen sister, pay mortgage, bills, etc. Could you imagine that amount of responsibility at that age? Our society still considers 22 year olds to be pseudo-teens for the most part. And he left cuz he “didn’t want her to become dependent on him”…what type of shit? She was already dependent on you - you’d been her Father Figure since she was 16 and throughout a boatload of trauma. You pretty much raised the girl. And you know that - that’s why you had a dream of taking child Buffy to the fair. He’s human, but that doesn’t excuse the level of cowardice he exhibited for me.

Also, I think instead of killing Jenny in Passions, they should’ve had her live. I think she would’ve been great as Faith’s mentor. And while she didn’t take the Scoobies to task for blaming her about Angel and alienating her, I definitely think she would’ve gotten them together for their treatment of Faith. I also think she would’ve pointed out Giles’ differential treatments of the two.

[thewertsearch]

Ask Comp 13/05

@garnetduodecim asked: I always assumed jack spent the first 4 hours in the troll session, before destroying prospit, destroying Aradiabots, there were A LOT of them.

Maybe one of the Aradiabots got in a lucky shot, and was able to tag him with a weaker, non-God Tier variant of her freeze ability. That'd certainly at least delay him.

@morganwick asked: So, you were talking about Aradia "injuring" Vriska (post/704357246751113217) and comparing Vriska to a fairy godmother character (post/722100305374986240)?

@manorinthewoods asked: Serendipity Gospels is by Tamsyn Muir??? Really? Um, that's… hoo. That was one of the fanfics that I didn't end up liking. Might need to revisit that. Side note: 'Doc Scratch's School for Supernaturally Gifted Adolescents' feels more like something Locked Tomb-esque to me. So that's really… ah. ~LOSS (3/5/24)

I do wonder how similar the Gospels are to TLT's writing style.

Actually, can anyone confirm at what point the fic will be safe to read? I could just wait until I'm reading panels from after its publication date, but if I can check it out before, I will.

@abysswarlock asked: Ooh I’ve had this hypothesis for a while now but you just said something that made me lock in my guess that your classpect is Prince of Doom

The classpect wheel continues to turn!

I'm married to Doom for at least one of my 'sonas, but my Class is still up in the air, since we know even less about them than aspects.

@manorinthewoods asked: As a sort of Part 2 to that sylladex comment - how do you think the Sylladex works? Do you think that Homestuck will go into more detail about Sylladices, or do you think they'll fade into the background as different aspects of the magic system come to the fore? ~LOSS (24/4/24)

I think the latter is a lot more likely. Most aspects (lol) of Homestuck's magic system are there to serve the story first and foremost. As much as I'd love the comic to turn into a treatise on Sburb deeplore, it really doesn't feel like something Hussie would be interested in doing.

The story won't really suffer without, say, a detailed explanation of every facet of alchemy - I just really like speculating, because I'm all about shit like that.

@heliotropopause asked: What are your thoughts on Homestuck's translation convention(s)? As an example, take page 2251, line "Arrivederci, Megido.": Is she writing in something close enough to Earth English to scan as such to the reader, no translation necessary? Is Vriska saying a word in Troll Italian, which gets translated to Earth Italian? Is she expressing a sentiment in her usual language that's best translated as the word "arrivederci" as it's used in English? Has Doc Scratch secretly been translating all cross-species communication we've seen so far?

Vriska's arrivederci seems diegetic to me. If we inherited English from Alternia, it makes sense that some of our other languages might come from there too.

tl;dr: Troll Italy is real 🇮🇹

Anonymous asked: im not one to dip my toes into The Vriscourse but this one piece of analysis i really liked is that vriska is jealous of tavros, that hes had a much easier life compared to her and that hes allowed to be more of a wimp while she has to be the toughest fuck alive or else shell die

It's only one piece of the Vriska-Tavros puzzle, but it's an important one. She'll refuse to acknowledge it to the end, though, because the idea of being jealous of Tavros is disgusting to her.

@obscureaeguran asked: Are there any current theories of yours that you want to be wrong about?

Confident as I am in my Vriska death theory, I don't actually want to be right.

I really like Vriska's character, and I want to see her grow past the worldview that's preventing her from finding peace. I just don't think that's likely, given her current trajectory.

Anonymous asked: 'In what universe are 13-year-olds the people most qualified to make universes?' well per the beta version of homestuck (when hussie wanted to make the whole thing in flash before deciding against it) they were all going to be 10 instead, i think this is the much better option!

How young can we go, anyway?

AU where the Homestuck Babies aren't sent to Earth at all, and just start playing immediately.

@manorinthewoods asked: Have you played Deltarune? ~LOSS (9/4/24)

I have! I was actually replaying it on day one of the liveblog - hence the several references I made to it at the time. That feels forever ago, now.

@bladekindeyewear asked: Jade changed pretty drastically as a person after her dreamself died, if you think about it— demanding Feferi stop using her quirk in chat, standing up to the trolls for the first time, getting angry, to such an extent that Karkat was so surprised that it turned his opinion of her around completely in a single conversation. Even forcing a password system to keep talks linear instead of using cloud visions to do everything out of order. This doesn’t just feel to me like dream Jade being a “different individual”, it also feels like a metaphorical confrontation between her NEW self and her OLD self…

I think it's both.

Jade's been through a lot in the last couple of hours, and she really isn't the same girl who died on Prospit.

Being an oracle of Skaia's visions led to disaster. They showed her that John's Dream Self would awaken, leading her to believe she was finally going to meet him, but neglected to mention that she'd die the moment he opened his eyes - or that Prospit would die alongside her.

As a result, the new Jade seems to have made a decision to completely reject all prophetic information. She'll supply the minimum possible intel to her past self, and no more.

It's clear her Dream Self's death was a catalyst for a pretty dramatic shift in her worldview. She's angry - at the trolls, at herself, and at the world that betrayed her trust. She's tired of being jerked around, and her tumultuous emotions are making her rather testy. Basically, she's sick of all the bullshit, and she won't take it from anyone anymore.

Jadesprite has experienced the same catalyst, and has also come to mistrust the clouds, but for different reasons.

Jade rejects prophecies, in part, because she doesn't want to be deceived - but Jadesprite rejects them out of sheer hopelessness. She just doesn't care anymore.

They both have the same trauma, but they're dealing with it in very different ways - and at this point, I really do consider them to be different people.

And then on a metaphorical level, Jadesprite represents the 'silly', absent-minded childhood self that got Jade into this mess.

I think this taunt from Karkat hit very, very close to home for her, and I'm sure she associates the traits he described with her idyllic days on Prospit. It's part of why Dream Jade is such a perfect target for her fury.

@spyril4132 asked: i beg to differ on the entry item similarities only applying to prospit. iirc, rose shatters a bottle, and dave hatches an egg; both involve breaking open some sort of "shell", and neither are associated with a larger object, which could be seen as similar types of items. (while jade does break a piñata, she does so by shooting it, not by splitting it apart)

It's true that Rose and Dave's object's have some physical similarities, but John and Jade are both summoning the same tree, which feels like a much stronger connection.

Rose and Dave's entry cards also summoned auxiliary items, but they were different - a cabinet and bird, respectively. From where I'm sitting, the link between the two Prospit items does seem unique.

@skelekingfeddy asked: what herptiles would sally and sahlee have as their consorts? i feel like a monitor lizard would fit for one of them…maybe losas has like, turtle or tortoise consorts, what with their long-livedness and the wise sagely vibe and all.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing for Sahlee. Let's say they're Galápagos tortoises, because the Sage gives me Oogway vibes.

For Sally's Consorts, I'm going to get really funky and say they're a type of pterosaur.

@sparten4ever92 asked: The HS version of Megalovania is slept on way too much, the Vriska guitar adds so much to it that the UT version just doesn't have. @sanctferum asked: Finally, MeGaLoVania by Toby Fox (feat. Joren "Tensei" deBruin on guitar)! Would you say that Tavros had an…unpleasant chronological progression? (btw I do love the bit of Spider's Claw that plays during the Vriska segment, which is (obviously) unique to this Megalovania) also, the audiovisual style of homestuck flashes is just really cool imo @mimescantscream asked: You have no idea how long we've waited for the Megalovania

This version of Megalovania was a great choice for Aradia's finest hour - or at least, her finest hour so far.

It's moments like this which are why I decided to stop listening to the albums in advance. If I hadn't first heard Aradia's Megalovania in this flash, it wouldn't have hit the way it did.

@elkian asked: MEGALOVANIA TIME BAYBEEEE! Also, let's go back to that theory you had about Aradia getting more alive, because you NAILED it. @iris-in-the-dark-world asked: i am so excited to see aradia again and finally as herself :33<

She's fucking BACK, baby!

Seeing Aradia smiling for real after all this time is genuinely heartwarming - and with her time-stop attack, she's almost unkillable. It'd take some absolute nonsense to take Aradia out of the picture again, and I think she'll be sticking around for a long time. Hopefully forever.

@grippingtraverse asked: notice any similarities during megalovania between aradia vs. jack & sans vs. player? 0u0

The best I can come up with is that Aradia and Frisk are both time travelers whose signature color is red.

Or maybe Jack is the Frisk analogue, since he's the one wiping out all life in the session, and Aradia is the last foe he faces.

@captorations asked: please consider, with this new information about aradia, what it could mean for her literary descendant dulcie septimus. please also keep considering this as you continue and see more of aradia. i am very normal about both of these characters

Ooh, they do have similar vibes, don't they? They're both doomed, they're strongly associated with death, and they both have a cheerful side that comes out when you don't expect it to.

@duorogue asked: "You have to give Nepeta some credit. The literal first thing she did after this traumatic murder was log into Trollian and report on Jack’s activities." To be fair to her, when I have a bad nightmare the first thing I do is log onto discord

nepeta hopping on mic at 2am to complain about the hat man (the hat man is doc scratch)

@absinthe-and-alabaster asked: when the writ keeper was introduced as fifth exile you mentioned that it was a little fucked up how the king was the only prospitian that was preserved - i just wanted to remind you that no, he wasn't ! on page 1974 we see all the other prospitians that were exiled with the white queen on her ship (including ms paint!) WQ just left them to go wander the desert

I'd actually forgotten about that. So much happened during the Act 4 ending that it completely slipped my mind. I even missed Ms. Paint!

Anonymous asked: Hey, as you noticed, the Dave Coin Split is a plot hole. We've never seen the timeline split because of someone's choice before. Compare to John flying to the seventh gate, there weren't two timelines based on his choice, the timeline only changed because Dave came back from the original timeline and changed it. And of course, like you said in the tags, Terezi shouldn't have been able to communicate with Doomed Dave, including to tell him the result of the FL1P. Have you noticed any other plot holes or things that don't seem to make sense?

While I see what you're saying, it might not necessarily be a plot hole! Certainly the Dave Coin Timeline was created in a different manner to Davesprite's - but that might just mean there are multiple ways to split a timeline, or that there are certain requirements that must be fulfilled for a decision to spawn one.

Because of things like that, it's hard to tell whether something's actually a plot hole, or if it'll eventually make sense in light of later reveals.

This is particularly true for aspects of the plot involving time travel, like the one you just described. Like, remember before I learned about Doomed Timelines, when I thought Davesprite broke Homestuck's predestination rules?

Anonymous asked: You said "God Tiering is just another way to inhabit your Dream Self," so do you think the things that Dream Selves can do (such as Jade growing extra arms) can be done by God Tiers?

I never really thought about that!

I think it's definitely possible. God Tier bodies can fly the same way that Dream Selves can, so other powers might transfer, too. Maybe the only reason Vriska, Aradia and John aren't shapeshifters is because Jade hasn't taught them to how to dream up extra limbs.

She might be one of the only Dream Selves who've learned how to shapeshift this fluidly. Logging thousands of hours on Prospit has its perks!

[arceespinkgun]

Essay: Galvatron, the Flawed Jewel

When I watched the 80s Sunbow cartoon, I always found Galvatron to be a rather shallow character. But in the Marvel UK comics, he is one of the most fascinating and compelling of all. I want to explore why that is. However, before I can, I need to briefly clarify who Galvatron was made from and how many versions of him are in this continuity. Time-travel makes this really complicated, but here's my best guess:

The first Galvatron (and Scourge and Cyclonus) went back in time right after he was thrown out of Unicron by Rodimus as he was in the movie. This Galvatron went back in time to escape from and find a way to destroy Unicron, but he, Cyclonus, and Scourge end up being erased from existence in the Time Wars arc after Shockwave kills Cyclonus, accidentally causing the space-time continuum to nearly collapse.

Galvatron II was plucked from an alternate future in which he tried to get Unicron to leave him alone by doing his bidding—killing and conquering. But the Unicron of the main timeline makes Galvatron II do yet more labor for him.

A third Galvatron was shown in the future stories, replacing the one who was erased from existence. This Galvatron temporarily succeeds in forcing the future Autobots off Cybertron, but ends up dead (maybe? He's shown slumped in a pile of corpses so) in a battle against Unicron.

I'm going to assume each Galvatron can be used to inform my interpretation of him in general.

Another detail to mention is that the Galvatron(s) of this continuity were always made from more than Megatron. All of them probably have some degree of Straxus in them as well. Straxus, who I must say sure is obsessed with Megatron's body, both injected his mind into Megatron AND built a second, lookalike Megatron out of some unnamed Decepticon to inject his mind into. In both cases, Megatron's personality seemed to reemerge as the dominant one, but this calls into question what Galvaton inherited from whom.

Straxus's alt-mode, which seems very similar to Galvatron's

With all of that out of the way, time to delve into the complexities of Galvatron's characterization!

One of the first things that surprised me about Galvatron in this continuity was the way he reacts to characters who are obscure and/or weak.

He knows all their names!

One big issue with this continuity is the overinflated cast (because the comic was supposed to sell the toys), so there were always tons of characters who almost felt like filler running around. A few characters who are known for their cool designs and toys, but still fill this role, are the Seacons. They're just described as engineers who were brought to Earth to fortify Shockwave's undersea base, not to fight. But when Shockwave sees Galvatron walking around on the ocean floor, he sends them out to fight him against Soundwave's advice, knowing they'll probably die. The Seacons' leader, Snap Trap, even just tells his team, "...do your best!" before the fight, which doesn't inspire confidence lol

But Galvatron is impressed with them, and even leaves them all alive! He says that by embarrassing Shockwave, it will all be in their best interest one day.

Some way too overexposed filler characters were the Sparklers/Sparkabots. When one of them, Fizzle, almost drowns, Galvatron... saves him for seemingly no reason?

At the same time, though, I think it's significant that this odd fondness does seem be predicated on these people not actually being able to do much to him or anybody close to his level. For example, several characters I'd classify as being on the level of fodder, Guzzle (another Sparkabot), Getaway, Chainclaw, and Crossblades are initially some of the only surviving Autobots in the future Galvatron II was from, but when they actually manage to defeat Scourge and Cyclonus, Galvatron is so disgusted that he saves Cyclonus's life just to immediately punish him by killing him himself.

When it comes to the big names, Galvatron seems to feel only contempt. In Galvatron II's future, he strings up Rodimus's corpse and shoots him again and again, symbolically killing him over and over. And in the multi-issue story ...Perchance to Dream in which Galvatron tries to trap various Autobots who are in stasis in visions of moments in which they demonstrated their inner weaknesses/flaws, we get to see Galvatron's own nightmare. While it's meant to be humorous, I think the fact that Galvatron's worst fear is being killed by Rodimus over and over again is important.

In fact, it's not just the Prime I suspect Galvatron is afraid of. Sure, maybe it was just cruelty or his desire to turn the Decepticons against the Autobots, but in the Time Wars arc, I think he used Scorponok as a shield because he didn't want to face Ultra Magnus in a fair fight, since Magnus had previously defeated Galvatron a couple of times.

So, Galvatron's afraid of other people who can best him, but what does he desire? Well, the entire series follows his mission to free himself of Unicron. He has major setbacks given multiple versions of himself die, and Galvatron II suffered a rude awakening when he realized his attempt to satisfy Unicron by following his orders was for naught and that that he remained a tool. In fact, I believe that Galvatron's interest in weak, obscure characters stems from how eclipsed he himself feels by Unicron.

Also, I love how much of Unicron's and Primus's personalities we get to see in these comics. Unicron is so immature which is great, because like, who does he have to impress? XD

Galvatron sometimes says he wants to take over the Decepticons and conquer the world when he's free of Unicron, but I honestly question if that's even true. Galvatron II doesn't spread his "empire" beyond the Americas, something that bothers his troops. They note he's acting like a child, revelling in random acts of destruction to no purpose.

The first Galvatron spent a long stretch of issues (like a hundred or so IIRC) in the present time, wandering around and doing nothing in particular, only lashing out when he's reminded of Rodimus Prime, or attacked by other people, like his former lieutenants Scourge and Cyclonus, or the Wreckers. All of that on top of the fact that he very intentionally didn't start his fight with the Seacons... in fact, after that battle, he embarrasses Shockwave and undermines his command by claiming he'd come in peace. Galvatron also doesn't really take initiative to team up with his old self, Megatron, instead only doing so after Shockwave attempts to get over that humiliation by using Megatron as a weapon against Galvatron. And yes, then he finally starts to take initiative and battle people... but I almost wonder if that was Megatron's drive for conquest propelling the initial conflict, not Galvatron's.

This brings up another really interesting facet of Galvatron's character: his relationship with Megatron. In the story arc that introduced Galvatron, Target: 2006, his initial plan is to get Megatron's help in building a weapon to destroy Unicron. Notably, Galvatron does not tell him they are one and the same, and unsurprisingly, Megatron does not agree to work with him.

However, some time after incapacitating Megatron, Galvatron does tell the captured Jazz about his entire backstory. Also, the first ever glimpse of Galvatron's unstable state of mind came when Megatron decided to team up with the Autobots to defeat him. He can't seem to handle the cognitive dissonance of this.

Later, leading up the Time Wars arc, Galvatron does manage to get Megatron's assistance by instead convincing him they're the same. One of the first moments that peaked my interest in Galvatron was during this arc. When he sees the Wrecker, Roadbuster, about to shoot Megatron, and remembers that in his timeline, he suffered that injury as Megatron. And in that moment, Galvatron decides to spare his past self the pain.

There are so many layers to this. Imagine remembering horrible pain that your past self suffered and then deciding to suffer that as your current self to spare them that agony. It's not a selfish act, because you still have to feel it. It's bizarrely compassionate in a way. (It's also worth noting that as the timeline diverges more and more from his original one, Galvatron becomes more and more unstable, to the point that even Megatron grows tired of his madness and vows to not end up like him. Once again, something about cognitive dissonance is extremely difficult for Galvatron to handle).

Unlike this Galvatron, Galvatron II initially resents Megatron. Galvatron II actually manages to best Unicron by making Emirate Xaaron wake Primus to get the god's help (!) and then inspiring all the Autobots and Decepticons to fight Unicron (!!!) and eventually Unicron is destroyed.

Galvatron in this continuity is such a badass, I really can't overstate that

But with Unicron gone, Galvatron then sees Megatron as the one thing still holding him back. This is where the header image of this post comes from: Galvatron views Megatron as the flaw to his otherwise-perfect jewel. When Galvatron sneaks aboard the Ark, which Shockwave and Starscream have stolen, and discovers Megatron there, Galvatron blames Megatron for his mental instability. He nearly tries to kill him before he comes to his senses and snaps back to an attitude more like that of the first Galvatron and decides he might need to protect Megatron and team up with him.

This is the (not Straxus-made clone) version of Megatron and Galvatron II, who hadn't met before this point

However, this isn't to be. The Ark crashes when Ratchet sacrifices himself and only Galvatron is seen leaving it. He kills some humans and then unsteadily walks away from the ship, until he ends up at a settlement.

He ends up being tracked down by Fortress Maximus, who shoots him in the back, which triggers Galvatron and causes him to go into a rabid frenzy.

Pictured: Galvatron eating the forbidden noodles

Fortress Maximus beats himself up over causing this for a while until his Headmaster component, Spike Witwicky, tells him to own up to his mistake and fix it.

I want to shift focus for a minute to this final opponent Galvatron ends up facing. Fortress Maximus in this series is an extremely flawed Autobot: so worn-down and eager to stop fighting and have peace that he ended up essentially being a colonialist whose actions and inaction nearly destroy a once-peaceful world. He's a character who is super averse to conflict to the point of being callous at points, and he needed to learn to do his duty and take responsibility for his actions. I mention him because I think Galvatron is a parallel inversion of those character traits: what he actually needs is to just stop fighting, since it's when he isn't that he is actually at his most stable... but that need is getting obscured by his immense power, arrogance, and mental illness.

This conclusion may be reaching, but here is my ultimate take on Galvatron's character here: Galvatron's past self, Megatron, is someone with an indomitable will. No matter how embarrassing the defeat (and he has so many humiliating ones in this continuity, from standing on a cliff that falls out from under him, to freezing up because he was hangry and ate too much raw coal), he keeps going seemingly shamelessly. No matter how many times people like Straxus and Shockwave try to take over his mind, Megatron's personality just keeps reasserting itself in the end. He gets inappropriately intimate with his enemies, and just become more driven and more obsessed if anyone ever manages to get the better of him. He lives to fight, and enjoyed executing people before he ever started the War.

But I think Galvatron is not only a transformed Megatron (+ whoever else was sharing Megatron's head at the time), but a transformed Megatron whose will was shattered by Unicron. That deep down, Galvatron doesn't particularly want to keep fighting and conquering—that he's not at his happiest when he's fighting and killing some powerful opponent the way Megatron is. Instead, fights with people who could threaten him scare him. He doesn't even really care that much about conquering the world... the passion that Megatron had for being a dictatorial strongman is all but gone. Galvatron seemed most satisfied when he was just hanging around on Earth, doing nothing in particular, maybe in a body of water or something, alone, with nobody around to trigger memories of Rodimus Prime or Unicron or anyone else powerful enough to hurt him. Hot take, but I feel like with Galvatron, there could be a chance that he could be open to living peacefully if he were left alone, which is something I didn't feel was possible with Megatron.

...Also, this color scheme for Galvatron is the best ever. Just saying!

[melishatweedy]

My take on Mrs Melisha Tweedy and why she is the way she is:

One of the first things that stuck out at me from reading “Mrs Tweedy’s Pie for the Soul” was Melisha’s backstory. Her father gifted her a puppy but her mother was disgusted with this. She wanted him to buy Melisha something “valuable”. Melisha reacts the same way as her mother does.. however we see a glimpse of her father in her when she agrees to try to bond with the puppy.

It seems she tries to make her mother happy the most, by saying she wanted a “gold telly” which is… unheard of for sure… and unrealistic. This tells me that she comes from a wealthy family.. this is maybe where her lust for money and power come from.. her mother. Her father seems very down to earth. He talks about how a young girl shouldn’t want riches, she should want something along the lines of a puppy, like other kids her age. I was obsessed with getting a puppy when I was a young girl.. just like most of my peers. The way her mother talks to her father is the same tone as she talks to Mr Tweedy.. a learnt behaviour.

We also see that Melisha doesn’t get along with her young peers. She claims she has no friends and is okay with this. It seems her mother’s words about being rich and alone seemed to have stuck with her. She’s accepted she has no friends, which is probably why she wants to be rich. She doesn’t want to be both poor AND lonely, which she ends up becoming after the end of the first film, or even the start.

Conclusion? She’s just like her mother. Her father tried, probably countless times to bring her back into reality and show money isn’t everything. But she’s stuck in her mother’s ways.. which is what we see from the first Chicken Run. The way she talks to Mr Tweedy, the way she’s obsessed with being rich. She most likely feels like she’s failed her mother now she’s poor and on a farm worth nothing. There’s a hint of emotional abuse from her mother.. cold and bitter, especially about how she should act. Here she’s a child, a child who cannot make friends and cannot see why most kids love puppies and toys etc. Thanks to her mother’s rich tendencies.

But why did she end up poor? Where is all this money and riches she once talked about? My guess is something happened with her father and they went bankrupt. Her parents lost everything during the wars. She was probably a teenager when the Wall Street crash happened.. remember it did affect the UK too quite a bit. When she met and eventually married Mr Tweedy, she probably saw the already probably dying farm as a new big business adventure.. but it didn’t go to plan. And in the second film, where she’s now married to Dr Fry, it’s mainly due to money and power. She married Mr Tweedy for love and a big future.. possibly children, which we saw never happened... she married Dr Fry for his money and intelligence.

Mr Tweedy… where do I start? The comic relief of the film one may say. He is a funny character. But she wasn’t abusive towards him. Emotionally? Perhaps some may say. We see her call him all sorts of names.. but physically? No. (Apart from that boot to the ass but that’s not relevant here). A simple man from a long line of farmer, most likely inherited Tweedys farm from his own father.

We see from his excerpt that the marriage is all but dead. However he says that he likes “a kind word from the missus” which indicates there is still a spark there. They do love each other but she isn’t in love anymore. She still does give him these “kind words” from his segment, and we see in the film her pinching his butt in one scene. My theory is they did marry for love, but with the farm failing and them becoming poorer than usual, that once love is now gone, from Melisha’s side anyway.

They divorce because well.. there’s nothing left. The farm is gone, the chickens are gone, money.. gone. They probably sold the farm and then divorced, he mayhaps moved on to work on another farm as a farmhand, and she met Dr Fry and the rest is history. There’s one part in the second film which sticks out to me, where she says “my current husband” meaning she probably will divorce him and take a lot of his money, investments and inventions. Yall know miss Melisha signed her name on many of these things. All I can say there is girlboss!

My ultimate conclusion: she’s had a hard life, give the woman a break. she’s not the “villain from chicken run” she’s a businesswoman with goals and aspirations.

I am all for any other theories or discussions with any of you!! I love it.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk!

[ficsinhistory]

Continuing the series Miles and Gwen plague my thoughts, Morales-Stacy family version 😃

I personally like the original idea of the Earth-8 comic but I'll improve it with my touch.

First, I love that Miles and Gwen share last names. It's important both because it shows that Miles and Gwen are still their individual people, but they also love sharing each other's lives and that hyphenating shows that.

Their eldest daughter is not called Charlotte, but Elena. Elena Rio Morales-Stacy. In honor of her two grandmothers, since Elena is the Latin spelling of Helen, and Rio is kind of obvious, in addition to being a name that means light, which it would be for Miles and Gwen.

As for Max, his name is Aaron George Jefferson Morales-Stacy. Because there was no way Miles would stop honoring the most important men in his life, and Gwen would do it for her father too. Not to mention that the meaning of strong would be very appropriate.

Elena is 4 years older than Aaron and they would both have a good relationship with each other, despite normal sibling tensions. You know, sharing things, telling on each other, fighting on the roof of the house and breaking a chandelier once…

They would easily be the most beautiful children you would ever see in your life, I mean… have you looked at Miles and Gwen? The genes these kids inherited are insane! Beauty runs in the family blood.

I like to think that they are both a perfect balance of Miles and Gwen, and that Elena inherited Gwen's eyes while Aaron inherited Miles's. They would have curly hair and their skin tone would be more similar to Rio's.

To Rio's pride, btw, the two are bilingual, in addition to being well involved in the cultures of both parents. When Gwen became pregnant for the first time, she and Miles had a serious conversation about how they would raise their children, so both Elena and Aaron were raised in a Spanish-only household until they went to school. As Gwen at this point already spoke fluent Spanish, it wasn't a problem. Rio and Jeff also greatly influenced Elena and Aaron's early years of creation. You need to be proud of your roots after all!

Elena and Aaron, like their parents, would have a spider bond with each other, this being fraternal rather than the parents' obviously romantic one. Which would make them both very protective of each other, always letting them know that one is in danger. However, being her mother's daughter, Elena is the more protective of the two.

And this happens because Elena has a ridiculously refined and sensitive spider sense, something that Gwen suspects comes from herself, since from the films, it seems that Gwen has a spider sense beyond the ordinary and Elena would inherit it.

Aaron loves dancing. He especially likes breakdance and hip-hop, although he also knows salsa and ballet, being a popular dancer in the neighborhood where the family lives. Sometimes he participates in school competitions and the whole family enjoys watching. The Morales-Stacys are the best hypemans you will ever meet.

Elena is an excellent singer and is part of a band! Gwen and the Mary Janes sometimes like to go to rehearsals, and when they do a show, the whole family goes to watch. Elena also likes to sing in karaoke and at home.

Unlike Miles and Gwen, and just like Mayday, Elena and Aaron were born with spider powers. Therefore, Peter helped and continues to help a lot in their creation, having his own share of experience. He's Uncle Pete to them.

Elena and Aaron have a lot of uncles and aunts in general. Hobbie teaches them the importance of thinking for oneself and questioning absolutism (something both Miles and Gwen are grateful for), Pavitr brings sweets, practices dancing with Aaron, and the two of them plus Elena plan to break into the British museum. Gayatri also visits sometimes, helping Elena with her stage presence, as she is a model after all.

Noir and Ham always tell stories about their dimensions and this entertains the brothers a lot. Margo and Peni visit a lot too, as they and Gwen have game nights every Wednesday, as well as teaching lots of technological tricks.

Miles G. is a funny case in itself. Since I think he and Miles are going to become like brothers in Beyond, he definitely wanted to be present in the lives of his honorary nephews, and as soon as both Elena and Aaron were a year old, he started visiting them… and both of them cases, kids think he is their father and then confused because "daddy has a twin now?" when the two are together.

Well, that's what came to my mind. Thank you and good morning!

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

getting emotional about the last issue of sandman again (cw for major comic spoilers, discussion of suicidal thoughts)

because like. so we learn pretty early on what dream's deal with shakespeare was, allowing him better access to his creative potential in return for two plays, and we know this because we get midsummer night's dream, which was commissioned by dream for the actual titania as a parting gift before the faeries left earth forever

but we don't learn the second play until right at the end, after dream is dead, after the funeral, after sunday mourning and exiles, both of which make really beautiful endings to the story in their own right

the second play is the tempest. and there's a lot of the play that neil gaiman quotes in this issue, but i'll focus on the specific two that shakespeare reads aloud

the first is our obvious one - prospero's address at his daughter's wedding.

Be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended. These our actors, as I foretold you, were all spirits and are melted into air, into thin air. And like the baseless fabric of this vision, the cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples, the great globe itself, ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve, and like this insubstantial pageant faded, leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep.

it's a beautiful passage, and exactly what to put at the end of this story - prospero is reminding everyone that stories are just stories, they aren't real and can't hurt anyone, but also they are the one thing that lives forever. humans are shaped and formed by our dreams, by our stories, we come from them, and in the end, we return to them.

now, prospero is the character we focus on in this issue. because there's a three-way parallel here between dream and prospero and shakespeare himself.

dream and shakespeare have both lost their sons, were both irreparably changed by that. both regret decisions they've made in their lives, and wish to leave the path they've found for themselves, but don't feel they can - their responsibilities are too great, they have no choice but to be what they were born to be. both wonder what might have happened in a world where things were different, but they know that could never have been

and prospero is the balm to that. prospero has made mistakes in his life, he's in several ways the antagonist of this story, but at the end, he gets to put it all aside. his daughter lives, and is happy. he gives up his magic - the source of his power, but also his suffering - and abandons his role, leaves the island he'd been ruling for decades. and this is his happy ending.

when shakespeare asks dream why this play, why he wanted that ending, instead of some great tragedy or drama, something more fit for a king, dream responds "because i will never leave my island."

and we see throughout the issue that that was personal to shakespeare too, it was a wish fullfilment for both of them.

but then we get to the epilogue, the second quote i'm focusing on. because shakespeare doesn't know how to end the play, until he has that conversation with dream.

this is the tempest's epilogue, in full:

Now my charms are all o'erthrown/And what strength I have’s mine own/Which is most faint. Now, ’tis true/I must be here confined by you/Or sent to Naples. Let me not/Since I have my dukedom got/And pardoned the deceiver, dwell/In this bare island by your spell/But release me from my bands/With the help of your good hands.

Gentle breath of yours my sails/Must fill, or else my project fails/Which was to please. Now I want/Spirits to enforce, art to enchant/And my ending is despair/Unless I be relieved by prayer/Which pierces so that it assaults/Mercy itself and frees all faults.

As you from crimes would pardoned be/Let your indulgence set me free.

like most shakespeare epilogues, it's a direct address to the audience, talking about the play. prospero is asking forgiveness from the audience for all he did wrong, but then reminding them that he's only human, don't we all want to be forgiven? and after all, all of this was just a story. he only wanted to create something for you. so applaud the ending, tell him it was worth it, and only with your permission can he finish the story, and finally leave.

and that's the thing, about dream's particular brand of suicidal thoughts. being dream of the endless has been weighing on him for centuries, if not millenia, he longs for an escape, but he knows he can't. when they see it's breaking him his siblings try and convince him to leave, like destruction did, but it's not in him to abandon the dreaming like that.

and that amount of responsibility, of staying alive because you owe it to other people - it's a relief, then, when a battle comes along that's too great for you to face, but there's also a lot of guilt in it. because he gave up. and he knows he did. letting the kindly ones win was the most selfish decision he's ever made

and you might say, well, he's dead, he doesn't have to face it, but that's not wholly true. because all three of the last issues deal with some version of dream after death.

there's the dream of him hob has in sunday mourning, which isn't the true dream, he's dead, except of course it is dream, because he was only ever made of dreams anyway, so does it really matter whether it's real or not?

in exiles the protagonist talks to both morpheus and daniel in the desert, and for dream this was two very different time periods, but to the man crossing the desert, they happened simultaneously, so if time can be warped like that in dreams, who's to say that the ripples of morpheus won't continue long into the future?

and then we have the tempest. dream has appeared after death as a dream, as a mirage, and finally, in perhaps his truest form, as a story.

when dream said he will never leave his island, shakespeare reminds him that all men can change. and this is the fatal flaw of dream - he doesn't see himself as a man, as a person, as anything but the entity which must fulfill his function. he tells shakespeare that men have stories, men change - he does not

and when we end this entire 75 issue run with the epilogue from the tempest, dream is prospero. even after death he's still reckoning with the guilt of making that decision. even now, he won't allow himself that freedom.

and that's the reminder, that all of this was just a story - dream's story. the reader is a character in sandman, all of this was created for us. did he manage to create something beautiful enough, despite the pain? can he be forgiven for the decisions he made along the way? if eventually he gave up, does that make all the time he fought so hard for meaningless?

and he can't be free of the story until we answer that all important question - was it worth it?

to which the answer can only be of course it was.

[inherittheearth-comic]

Peckish Boar

Inherit the Earth #979

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 4 - Catholic Character Tournament

Propaganda below ⬇️

Knuckles

Knuckles is very heavily Christ-coded - walking on water, resurrection, prophecies, the whole nine yards. Not necessarily Catholic specifically, but I feel like there’s a comparison to be made between the Brotherhood and the Catholic Church as a structure. Also he’s made it to the semi finals of the Christ coded tournament if that means anything to you

God this whole thing was literally insane. Also pretty much completely forgotten as soon as p*nders was off the comic, which was probably for the best tbh.

Ken penders did a lot of wierd fucking bullshit, and made knuckles literally Jesus.

Nothing left to say except another fuck ken penders.

In the Archie comics, Knuckles inherits the role of being a spiritual leader to a lost tribe of Echnidnas, that have been wandering, searching for their prophesied homeland for centuries. Knuckles is the one to finally lead them there.

He also dies and comes back, and because of this is hailed as the prophesied “Avatar” by his people, the one who’s supposed to bring peace to their planet, Mobius. Cannot for the life of me remember where this went though.

It maybe isn’t allegorical as much as it is the writer thinking putting Judeo-Christian themes would make it cool or something. But the comparison to Jesus is at least intentional, whereas it probably isn’t with Shadow.

Shadow

In sonic destruction (the AI generated fan thing snapcube made a while ago) shadow was catholic or something which I think is reallyyyyyyy funny

Ok listen. I know this is a stretch but hear me out. He says “oh my God” in the Twitter takeovers so we know this is a possibility. I see him as a Christ-like figure because I saw his whole confrontation with Mephiles and was like “this is a thing that happened in the Bible??” and the pose Mephiles shows him in is literally like a crucifixion and Mephiles is meant to be a demon / false prophet reference. And also he’s called a demon in Shadow The Hedgehog 2005 then the guy who calls him that is like “I was wrong I’m sorry” and that also reminds me of a thing with Jesus in The Bible. But the biggest reason is his whole thing with Maria cause I think he’d come to earth and hear Ave Maria once and convert to Catholicism idk he’s like we’re comforted by a female familial figure named Mary sometimes called Maria?? And her color is blue????? Heck yeah I’m in because I Will Cry. Also feel free to share this as propaganda obv even if he doesn’t get in the bracket just. It’s funny.

I feel like he’d battle a lot with being seen or portrayed as a demon and how the aliens he’s related to very much look and act like demons idk lmao- and also I feel like confession would just be good for him I think he needs it for his mental health

There is a debate on the lovely website tunblr that Shadow T. Hedgehog is an allegory for Jesus Christ.

He is Jesus, idk what to tell you. He lived, he was sealed away, he was awakened again and deemed the ultimate lifeforms, he’s angry but not evil, does what he believes is best for people and the world at any given time. Total loser.

[wbmc666]

March Zine: The Woof by Maty G.

*wags tail* BARK BARK BARK! *licks your face* I'm so excited to introduce March's WBMC comic, THE WOOF by Maty G!!! 

THE WOOF is a cosmic mystery, a yappy comet from a strange galaxy beyond our own. I wanted to tell a story about big shifts, and the weird inheriting the earth- written as a historical account of the past. We’re all animals now. Everything we feel is joy. Woof! ~Maty G

The Woof is a 24pg zine being published in a limited physical run, available during March 2024 only!

The WBMC publishes a new zine from trans/queer artists each month and mails them to you! Join at $6/mo to get on our monthly zine mailing list AND a print with your first delivery!

Follow and support Maty’s work: IG: Rat__mall ratmall.blogspot.com 

Join the WBMC on Patreon!

[zahri-melitor]

Okay now I am thinking about the shape of what we define as a Justice League, as a Titans, and as a Justice Society.

Fundamentally I think everyone agrees that “Justice League” and “Titans” are separate concepts, even if the list of characters who have belonged to both is quite extensive and honestly we are now at the point where there have been Justice Leagues that ARE just a roster of Titans who are taking on the responsibility of the League (2010 Justice League lineup). Made more confusing by the CURRENT Titans being the people filling the Justice League role but still calling themselves Titans (2023 Titans line up).

But yes there’s an old truism from early 2000s comics fandom that “Titans are characters who if Nightwing snaps out an order, they will go do it” while “the Justice League are characters who if Nightwing snaps out an order, they’ll look over at Batman to check it’s okay”. And that’s murky as Wally West, just for starters, exists, and the premise that one day Dick will grow up and inherit leadership of the Justice League and everyone will follow his orders has been one that’s been baked into comics for near on 3 decades now. But fundamentally it’s that, if Nightwing and Batman are both standing there issuing orders, who are you listening to?

“Are the Justice Society and the Justice League two separate concepts” is something that is mostly answered yes, apart from all the aspects of their history that means that it is no: at one point in time they were the same body except one belonged to Earth One and the other to Earth Two; then we had a Crisis and they existed in the same Earth and the JSA were permanently fixed as ‘the WWII team’ except for the occasions when we still dip into Earth Two for some reason, aka why Power Girl and Helena Wayne are both fundamentally JSA characters not JLA characters because the timeline they come from usually is the one where the JSA was the primary team, except at this point I think the current go around of Helena Wayne is still from the current universe, just the future, and the reason she’s in a JSA book is because historically Helena Waynes have always been associated with JSA stories…

But if you’re saying “Justice League” then JLA and JLI and Justice League Detroit and Task Force pretty clearly all fall under the banner. And arguably so does the next level out like Extreme Justice and Justice League Elite and Young Justice and Justice League Dark and Justice League Queer and so on, in that basically all of them are specific spin off Justice Leagues, and usually constrained to a specific limited, themed team: “the kids” or “the magic users” or “the LGBTQ+ folk” or “the Authority expies that are about to go evil and die miserably plus a few people to keep them in line” and so on.

However if we do fold Young Justice in as an official Justice League, does that mean that Old Justice are also Justice League members? And if we contrast that to the Lost Children specifically being Justice Society members, is there an appreciable difference between why Old Justice are part of the Justice League and the Lost Children are part of the Justice Society, despite the fact the concept both lineups spring from (“forgotten Golden Age sidekicks”) is basically identical and mining the same region of comics for ideas?

And where are we assigning Doiby Dickles anyway?

[mamawasatesttube]

superpuppies!!!! 😭😭 if krypto’s lady friend was just a regular dog with no powers, i’m just picturing one of the puppies turning out inexplicably normal, just a non-super powered puppy who still manages to get into extreme levels of adorable mischief with its siblings.. maybe kon names it some variation of robin/rob/robbie, bc it reminds him of tim. :D i can also picture tim trying in increasingly mad-scientist ways to get his namesake puppy to develop superpowers bc this is not how kryptonian genetics should work, kon!!!! it’s gonna start flying any minute now!!

anyway sorry for rambling i just think. krypto puppies <333

okay sorry preemptively for overthinking this but i cannot help being the way that i am BUT--

so the concept of inheritance of kryptonian characteristics is... a lot more complicated than any comic has ever gotten into for sure. we know that kryptonian powers are related to their ability to process sunlight as energy to output in various forms, and based on clois having jon, which is definitely not a large enough sample size by far but is all we have, all the powers seem generally linked - it's unlikely, given the gratuitous assumption that jon is the standard case, that any given half-kryptonian offspring would only have some but not all powers. thus, it's possible to extrapolate (again albeit with a lot of caveats but we're working with what we've got here) that development of kryptonian powers is a function of inheriting the ability to process sunlight (presumably via specific cell structures and/or a designated organ [system?]). if we assume there is only one gene that controls the overarching development of these structures, and that it functions via mendelian inheritance patterns, such that kryptonian genes are dominant (DD) versus earth genes (dd), then we can construct a couple of punnett squares about it.

SO: as we can see in figure 1, all offspring of krypto and an earth dog will be heterozygous for kryptonian physiology. assuming no cases of incomplete dominance, they will all present with fully kryptonian-dog phenotypes (i.e., they get the full power set, like krypto)!

however. when these puppies grow up, if any of them also crossbreed with earth dogs (figure 2), there's a 50-50 chance of them producing heterozygotes (kryptonian-dog phenotypes) vs recessive homozygotes (earth dog phenotypes). so half of those puppies would likely be normal-ass puppies. which actually... might be dangerous to raise side by side with superpuppies shdjkfs they'd be delicate 😭😭

BUT all of this to say yeah absolutely krypto puppies <333 they can all get into shenanigans of varying sorts i believe in them so so hard. and they'll be so cute and wiggly and puppies :))!!!!!!